Chapter 17
I awoke in an empty room on a futon. I could hear faint voices coming from the other side. My body felt drained so I slowly got up and used the walls as support to get to the door. As I slid the door open I saw pretty much everyone I've met in Gensokyo all in one place and there were even more who I did know. Everyone's attention turned to me when I opened the door. I wasn't mentally prepared for this. Reimu broke the silence by saying "Oh, I didn't realize you're awake. How are you feeling?". I responded " I'm … doing alright… thank you" . I felt awarded standing and I think Reimu sensed that, so she told me to sit next to her. Which I did. Their conversation continued but I couldn't follow it until Remilia replied with her arms resting on the table and her face resting on her hands " Sure I can do that for you, but I want one thing. Make Hibiki stay in the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Everyone was shocked, including myself. Reimu was the first to object. She said "that's not, first off last time I left Hibiki in someone else's care they abandoned her." She said while also eyeballing Reisen who profusely apologized. Marisa cleared her throat and said " Surprised nobody asked this yet but How come Erin isn't here? You know the head of the whole forest. I mean Yuyuko I get but not her?" Reisen seemed very sad but answered. " You see, The Master and Princess disappear without a trace. This happened a couple of days after Hibiki went off with Sanae." She seemed like she wanted to say more but she stopped herself and said "Anyways lets get black to the topic at hand, talking about Hibiki's living conditions right? We should focus on that." I think everyone basically got the hint that Reisen didn't want to talk about this. Reimu and Remilia continued their conversation "Secondly-" she was cut off by Remilia who said while using one hand to signal Reimu to stop talking " The someone you're referring to isn't even here, and do you have any plans on helping Hibiki recover her stamina?". Reimu didn't really have an answer to that question. Remilia continued "As I thought. Hibiki will be assisting Patchouli in the library-" Reimu objected by saying" Isn't that just manual Labor? How is this any different then overworking her?". Remilia answered again by saying " as we all know Patchouli isn't a very active person. In this aspect wouldn't you say they're similar?" Keine interrupted " I hate to interrupt your quarrel but does anyone know what academic level Hibiki is on, or at all?". No one answered but everyone gave a stare that said "I have no idea." Keine signed and said "that's not good. She can be one of my students and I'll catch her up to speed.". Reimu then asked "Hey Kenie, isn't your school only a few blocks away from the shrine? So Hibiki should stay-" Remilia cut her off by saying "Ture but Hibiki would walk home alone yes. Keine don't you have students that live near the mansion?" Kenine was going to respond but Remiu turned to me and asked "well Hibiki what do you want to do?" I was prepared for this, but the more I waited the more people said it only made sense that I had a say. I looked down at the table and said, "I… do want to be a burden to anyone.". I did know what to say since if I choose I would be hurting them. Remilla then asked me a question " Hibiki, what's your opinion on fighting?" I responded without thinking " I. don't like it". Remilia simple and said "don't you think that settles it Remiu?" Reimu feels kinda defeated at this put and sign. She said defeatedly "Fine you can have her but it's getting late she'll start school in the morning and head to your mansion later.". After this point everyone seems to be going home. Keine told me separately "remember that tomorrow you would have to call me Miss Kamishirasawa ok?" I nodded and she left. I was worried about Reisen but she seemed ok. I didn't want to ask any question if it would make her feel worse. When Reisen left it was just Me, Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae. Remiu asked Sanae "I know Marisa crashing here is a given but why are you here?" Marisa added jokingly " what are you switching sides or something?" Sanae hugged me and said " because I want to spend the rest of my day with my best bud!" Sanae continued but poutingly "And no, I'm not switching sides" Marisa laughed and said "ya but you did once though." Sanae, feeling embarrassed, said " Th-That was a long time ago. Away do you guys have any games here or something?". Reimu pulled out a futon and signed, then she said " If you have the time to play, you have the time to fly back". Sanae pouted and said. "You don't have to be rude about it" she pulled out 2 futons from the same place Remiu did and set it next to us. We all slept in the same room. However I couldn't sleep. I turned to Sanae and was awake but probably less away than I was. I whispered to her "hey?" She turned around and asked "what's up?". I then asked her what they've been talking about while I was unconscious. Sanae explained it to me. She said that they needed to figure out what on earth they were going to tell the humans in the human village. Since telling them they have no idea would sacrifice their trust between them. The story they craft was that during the research of the seal crystal one of them broke leading to the monster's outbreak. With the help of the shrine maidens I was able to summon a hero that slayed the monster and after that the hero vanished. I asked if the people would even believe that and why me? Sanae assured much more crazier stuff has happened before so this won't be too much of a stretch. She then told me that they were originally planning on saying that Yukari did so instead but she's nowhere to be seen. I still didn't understand why I was in this story to begin with. When I asked Sanae again she just giggled a bit and said that it was much easier this way. We said our goodnights to each other again and fell asleep. That night I had a dream. It was a voice saying " Hibiki. Things will calm down for the time being. Reserve your strength. You'll need it for the tragedy that lies ahead."