A few days have passed since I fixed the door. Tomorrow marks the end of my stay at the shrine and I believe I have made good progress with Reimu. She went on to teach me the basic stuff to know about Gensokyo and its denizens, teach me essentials of the Spell Card Rules, the locations of various points of interest throughout the land, some of its people and much more. In exchange I helped with shrine duties like dusting, sweeping, obtention of certain items for rituals, and the weirdest one yet… writing a poster to attract people to the shrine.

So far my relation with Reimu has grown considerably in the span of the week, we went on to become good colleagues. I would say I had a long way to be friends, as I still had much to accomplish, still two weeks ahead of me, but not sure how she considers me though. Even though other people visited the shrine apart from Yukari supervising me, I finally got into meeting Marisa, Suika and Aunn.

Suika is very cheery and chill-spirited, and clearly likes a good conversation and good alcohol, maybe a bit too much… Aunn on the other hand, is someone that I can describe as "a solution looking for a problem", Reimu explained that her ability consists of detecting evil in sacred sites and tries to protect said sites even though no one asked her, she says that she constantly visits the Hakurei shrine a lot, but enjoys her company nonetheless. One thing that did chill my "blood" was something Aunn said to me, and I quote: "you're a good soul surrounded by a terrible curse, don't let that define who you are…HOWEVER, it's an omen for the rest of us". Whatever that last part meant, but the first part had me thinking for a while.

I got to know Marisa even better, but let's say that she did not make a good impression. Come to think of it, she wanted to kick my ass the first time I met her. but she quickly forgot about that, maybe because Renko told her she was fine. Marisa is someone I describe as a carefree person, despite her demeanor that is. She always refers to me as smokey whenever she had the chance back when she visited Reimu and says things before she can process them in her mind, Reimu told me that she also has a tendency to "borrow" stuff and not give it back, barges into others peoples home like she pays rent, goes on extreme and dangerous ways to gather ingredients for her already sketchy potions and her spells and Danmaku often hold no regard to those around her, enemy, ally or even herself.

But enough explaining of the past, today Reimu decided to keep chores aside and take the day off. and we pretty much lingered in the Shrine for the morning. but I had an idea in mind.

"So any plans for today?"

"No, we may take the day off but I actually don't have a clue what to do." she responded.

"Do you mind if we take a stroll back to my base?" I suggested

"To your base?" She asked in an intrigued tone.

"Well, back when Venetian nabbed my ass back at the mansion, we walked back to where I had initially set base, I never took in the view slowly, and would like to take in a lot before getting cramped inside a dark mansion for a week."

"I got it!" She exclaimed in realization of something.

"hmm?"

"I know a place in youkai mountain that you'll love, how about this, we take on the view you want and on the way show you my cool spot, but you have to promise not to tell anyone." She said in a cheery tone.

A promise… it's my time to reform myself again then, begin anew, and keeping a promise seems like a good way to start. Yes, I like this…

"Promise" I said as I extended my hand to her.

"Why so formal? Take it as a casual night out don'tcha?" Reimu said as she giggled a little.

"I guess my mother raised a gentleman." I said as I scratched my head.

"Come on, let's head out!" She says as she springs up to her feet.

"Hold on lemme change first!" I said, "Gimme four minutes!"

Reimu waited outside for me as I exited the shrine in my usual clothes. She was standing far away from the shrine, standing below the Torii gate.

"right! shall we?" I said as I pointed my hands downwards at the direction of the stairs.

"Walk? we'll take hours to even reach the base of the mountain!" She responded

"Oh, what you had in mind then?" I was intrigued.

"Follow my lead, Gensokyo's skies are unforgiving, yet beautiful." She said,

Reimu then slowly floats upwards, enough so that her feet are centimeters from touching the ground, I become surprised and step backwards a little, and while floating, she curls up a little and opens up in a quick move, and she flies to the opposite directions of the shrine, taking towards the sky.

"Hey wait up!" I said as I dash down the stairs, in a futile attempt to keep up.

As I take down the stairs, I can see Reimu's silhouette getting farther and farther away. My running isn't working, so I crouch down, take an impulse, and jump as high and horizontally as I can, phase shift into smoke and take off to the skies.

As I trail far away behind her, I turn my eyes towards the shrine behind me, getting smaller and smaller, but then I turn my eyes in front of me towards the land. I could not imagine a view more beautiful than this.

No words in my mind can describe how immense and decorated this land is, this is something straight out of a fantasy book, something in the likes of a Tolkien Fairy tale mixed with oriental beauty. I'm quite high up in the sky, finally within Reimu's reach, and looking around I see the great plains of Gensokyo and it's landmarks: The Human village, the youkai trail and forest, the magic forest, the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the garden of the sun, the Misty lake and youkai mountain. Astounding…

"How's the view?" Reimu exclaimed so I could hear her.

"It's out of this world!" I exclaimed.

"Good! Follow my lead then" She exclaims again before diving into a lower height.

I follow her lead, as she keeps diving, slowly and slowly reaching the ground, but then Reimu, instead of landing, zooms horizontally, meters above the ground. I level up with reimu and both of us are zooming all across the plains, reaching the Youkai trail and passing above the human village. I see a myriad of people, living life as if they were in the Edo period, like a time capsule conserving time.

Then we fly off to the plains and towards the Misty lake, where we meet more youkai and fairies alike, all flying around the lake and in the trees around us, playing and having a good time. I could also see the Scarlet Devil Mansion opposite of Youkai mountain, A trail connecting the lake to the mansion.

"How bad will it be being in there?" I asked Reimu as I pointed towards the mansion.

"Can't really say much, but watch your mouth when in front of Remillia and don't try to be an explorer in there, there are some secrets never meant to be uncovered of the mansion." She responded.

"Noted," I said, "now follow my lead!"

I took up to the skies way ahead of Reimu and she followed behind.

Then after staying in the sky, looking to where it was located, I found the garden of the sun and dived towards it. and as i got close to it, I glided a few meters away from the sunflowers, as the wind I dragged moved some of the sunflowers, Reimu was close to me but above me, keeping her distance from the sunflowers.

"Are you crazy?! Get back up before you do something stupid!" She exclaimed to me.

"Come one, the view is amazing here!" I said.

I flew side to side for a while, and then took off again to the top, with the winds aggressively shaking the sunflowers, with Reimu following behind me.

"Do you have a death wish or what!? What if Yuuka found you?!" Reimu exclaimed.

"What's fun without a little risk? and besides, I've been in the field already and never found her, this place is just so immense!" I responded.

"You keep saying that and you are gonna regret when you do actually see her." She said back.

"Anyhow, how about that little place you wanted to show me?"

"Right! but do you mind if we stick a bit at your place? The only route is only accessible by walking and it's quite close to your place."

"Sure! Follow me."

We land in front of my pillbox, but I can see some key differences that I haven't seen before: the hole that acted as a door was now replaced by a Naval style door, the walls beside the door now had two metallic trapdoor "windows" and I could see a small generator outside running. I certainly remember not doing that at all. Then it hit me…

"Reimu, hold on a moment please."

"Ok?" She said.

I walk towards the door and knock slightly…Nothing. I then take out my cogwheel club and bang it towards the door, an echoing sound bleeds outwards. The door then begins making noise, like a vault safe unlocking, the door opens and I am welcomed By the Venetian guarding the now open door.

"..." I stood there looking at him in silence, the Venetian does so too, Staring me with those spherical eyes towards my soul. she then looks at Reimu behind me, and then looks at me again.

"YOU ARE HERE EARLY." The Venetian speaks in its signature voice.

"Just passing by… tomorrow I gotta do more work." I respond

"I gave him the day off, and we are just passing by to… visit, if you would call it." Reimu adds

"I SEE. DO PASS INSIDE THEN, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE." Venetian says as he moves aside and waves us to pass in.

Both of us enter, and forget the changes I saw outside, Inside was another deal.

I would describe the size of my pillbox as reminiscent of a medium sized living room, and the decor is quite… comfy, cozy, semi-bohemian even. The first thing I even noted is that the room was warm.

"Did you do this? Love the decor but… where did you get all of this?" I asked.

"I TOOK THE LIBERTY TO ACCOMMODATE THE ROOM TO SOMETHING OF YOUR LIKING, I USED FURNITURE STORED IN YOUR AMMO STASH REALM AND BASED MY HIPOTESIS OF YOUR LIKING BASED ON VARIOUS PHOTOGRAPHS STORED IN THE STASH TOO. BUT I ALSO TOOK THE LIBERTY OF RESTORING CERTAIN MACHINES TO USE THEM AS ESSENTIALS FOR OUR PROLONGED STAY.

"Oh right! you finally figured it out, do you have the cube then?" I asked.

"THE NODE IS GUARDED WITHIN MY BODY." He said

"I see," I agreed.

"SO, BASED ON YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS ALONE, I CONCLUDED A MIX BETWEEN SOMETHING COZY YET UTILITARIAN AND PRACTICAL WOULD WORK FOR YOU, SO I DIVIDED THE WHOLE ROOM INTO 5 SECTIONS: KITCHEN, REST, ELECTRIC, WATER AND WARDROBE. KITCHEN WISE I HAD ACCESS TO A WOODFIRE STOVE IN YOUR STASH, THE STOVE YOU HAD STOREd ALSO SERVES AS AN SMALL OVEN, SO I HAD TO CUT A HOLE OPEN IN THE CEILING TO FIT THE VENT WHERE THE SMOKE GOES, AS TO THE SMELL OF COOKING… I'D SUGGEST YOU OPEN THE WINDOWS, AND A SMALL CABINET AND SHELVES WITH PANS, A KETTLE AND COOKING ESSENTIALS. ELECTRIC IS DIVIDED INTO SOME ADDITIONS THAT ARE POWERED BY THE GENERATOR OUTSIDE: THE ELECTRIC RADIATOR, THE CEILING LIGHTS, THE-"

"Jesus man, this thing is pure talk…bla blah blah, ceiling lights, heat radiator, etc. Why does he keep using fancy terms, here, imma make it simple, there is a cooking station in the bottom left corner by the door, a top feeding water sink in the middle of the left wall, a heat radiator in the upper left corner, a sofa in the middle of the front wall, a small wardrobe upper right corner, a standing light in the bottom right corner, a single lightbulb ceiling light in the middle of the ceiling and a large carpet in the floor. Simple yet cozy, I don't know why it takes a billion years for this tin can to explain, even Reimu here is bored" I just went on in my head.

"OK OK, We get it. looks good and that's what matters here." I interrupted the venetian, with a slightly annoyed tone towards the machine.

"Although now that I think about it… the middle of the room could use something."

"WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST?" Venetian asked.

"Oh! how about… a kotatsu?" Reimu answered for me.

"I love the idea, back at your shrine, Yours is so comfy, its borderline a cozy trap." I added, "But where could I get one here?"

"Maybe Rinnosuke's shop got an extra one, you could ask him."

"Is that the guy that runs the shop by the magic forest you told me about? I happened to see a building by the forest as we flew by."

"yeah, but we are getting out of the point here! The sun's about to dawn in a few hours and you don't wanna miss the view from the mountain." Reimu drags me outside

"Good idea, sorry for the brief visit but gotta bounce, i'll be back! I love what ya did with the place!" I said to the Venetian as I exited the door.

"THE PLEASURE IS MINE."

Reimu and I are walking a trail of stones and rock to a deeper part of the mountain, with some trees and foliage covering part of the trail, that is where we are met with a cave, we keep our pace steady as we enter it. I keep wondering where she is taking me.

"This does not look like a good place to see the sunset," I said to Reimu.

"I said the same thing, but the view shut me up!" She responded.

"At least I would like to know what kind of place you are taking me to."

"A hot spring." She says as she points ahead of me.

And I kid you not, each day this place does not fail me to surprise me.

An immense pool of steaming warm water, clear as glass. but the one thing that standed out was the open view that gave a view to far away Gensokyo, as if the hot spring was an indoor pool with a balcony view to a city, only this time it was natural and hundred times beautiful. The onsen from the hotel at Kyoto does not even dare to compare to this beauty. Like an open mouth scaled to a thousand, the teeth being the few stalactites and stalagmites in the open whole, and the tongue acting as the great pool of water.

"woah…"

"It really is mysterious Asia" I said to myself.

As I said that, the sunlight from the outside bleeds through the upper part of the open cave from far away. light the refracts from the pool into the roof, it is out of my mind that even a place like this even formed naturally.

"Legend has it that this place was once a dormant giant that fused with the mountain, the giant roamed the land looking for a hot spring that accommodated to his standards, and he found upon himself a large body of water. He sat upon it and was so satisfied, that he took an eternal slumber upon it sitting up. Nature slowly took over him and he became a large chunk of Youkai mountain, and the remaining water that was left divided by his body became the Misty lake. That's why It kinda looks like a mouth." Reimu explained.

"Yeah, it kinda does," I said as I kept looking towards this eye candy.

"Only certain people know about this place, there is another hot spring not too far from Moriya shrine but this one's reserved for the top brass of Gensokyo like the sages, incident resolvers, royalty and people with power. but you are the first one outside of that to know about this place." she kept going.

"Why would you show a place like this to a nobody like me?" I asked her

"Well, I had a great week with you. Aside from the rough start we had with the shoji, you are the first one to ever volunteer to help the shrine, mostly I have to deal with the stuff myself and it is quite tiring and repetitive. and sure, you still have more to do with the others, but you took initiative and did a great job!" She responds

"Well… you commit to a deed or favor, never half-ass it! It either comes back to bite you in the ass, or leave you guilty thinking. I even go to some extent to commit to the bit or do a good job flawlessly, I still feel bad for the brand new shoji you destroyed though."

"Sorry about that" she says in a lowered tone.

"It's ok, when things are wrecked, be calm and adapt your materials to keep on. Always keep on" I said in a proud tone.

"Anyhow… wanna take a dunk?"

"Wait seriously?" She exclaims dumbfounded.

"Come on, secret hot spring in a cave, sun about to set, it would be a sin not to do it!" I persuaded her.

"I got a towel, and you can stay at my place, I'm even surprised it got heating. Whatcha say?" I tap her with my elbow

"Yeah, why not, gimme some time to undress." she says as she starts to loosen the ascot and shirt.

"hey hey hey! not in front of me!" I said as I turned my head to the side.

"what? it's not like we are being watched right now, besides, I have been around many hot springs with male and female youkai nude, it's not uncomfortable for me. I may not know how things are on the outside but Gensokyo has very old values and traditions, back then men and women used to bathe in the same hot spring." she says in a giggling tone

"Well in that case… LAST ONE TO GET IN MAKES BREAKFAST!" I exclaimed as I rushed towards the hot spring as I undressed myself in the process.

"HEY NO FAIR!" Reimu follows suit as she dashes and undresses at the same time.

Now both of us, in the nude, are racing towards the hot spring, tailing each other, and as we get close to the water, both of us take an impulse and leap upwards into the Crystalline water.

Reimu won…

Thank god I make killer scrambled eggs.