Life...
The element of nature...
It exists in many different forms...
It exists in many different environments...
There is not a place where life doesn't flourish...
There is not a life that thrives independently...
Yet for one life to thrive...
...Another has to cease...
This is the spiral of life...
...A spiral none can escape...
This is the story of an individual...
Who will become the caretaker of life...
...In a land with an imperfect spiral...
A land called Gensokyo...
This is her story...
A young maiden's chronicles...
...
Hakurei Shrine
It was a peaceful time...
Everyone in the human villages went about with their lives. The adults ran their shops while the children played around in the streets.
But for some people, they have some other matters to attend to, as they left the confines of the villages to head to the shrine on top of the small hill to the east.
That shrine is the Hakurei Shrine.
The news have spread that the current shrine maiden trainee has finished her training, and will be becoming a full-fledged shrine maiden. It has been many years since her predecessor passed on, and people are glad that they are about to have a new guardian to protect them from the various Youkai that plagued everything outside of the villages' confines, and some have taken to come to the Shrine to see the new shrine maiden's initiation ceremony in person.
While the Hakurei Shrine occupied a large piece of land (enough for a manor to be placed on top of it), the main shrine building is barely larger than an average house, and right behind it is a storage shed that's only slightly bigger. The Shrine has seen better days, and some hoped that the new shrine maiden can bring it to revitalization.
That being said, though, the visitors were few in numbers, including villagers, village peacekeepers, and officers of the Gensokyo Police Force.
There are also the shrine maidens from the lesser known shrines of Gensokyo, who came to get a first glimpse of the latest successor of the land's most important shrine.
The crowd's murmuring decreased as the would-be shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine emerged from the shrine's main building.
"So this is the next Hakurei shrine maiden..."
"Is she competent, though?"
"She is just a child..."
"The youngest Hakurei shrine maiden ever..."
The crowd's murmur continued to lower in volume until they became silent as the new shrine maiden stopped at the center of the altar.
Then with no further adieu, the initiation ceremony began with the new shrine maiden performing the kagura dance, just the way she had practiced and rehearsed in the last month.
If it were any other Shinto shrines, the initiation ceremony would not be this extravagant. But this has been the tradition of the Hakurei Shrine and the clan it is named after since before Gensokyo sealed itself off from the outside world.
The crowd and the lesser shrine maidens watched with awe how elegant the new Hakurei shrine maiden performed the kagura dance. The ritual went on without a hitch, and is about to reach the final stages...
...And then the mystical mood gets ruined by the sound of someone making a loud entrance.
"HELLO DADDY! HELLO MOM! I'M YOUR CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB!"
Eyebrows raised and eyes wide open in confusion, everyone turned toward the torii arch where the loud singing came from.
Ascending the steps is a western blonde girl wearing a black pointy hat with an equally black leather coat over a black blouse and pants. Strapped to the side of her waist is a rectangular mechanical device in which the loud song she is singing along with is coming from.
"Isn't that... Mr. Kirisame's daughter?"
"Marisa, isn't it?"
"What is she doing?"
"Is that even appropriate?"
Stardust Witch
Marisa G. Kirisame
"HELLO WORLD, I'M YOUR WILD GIRL! I'M YOUR CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB!"
The girl, Marisa, continued to loudly sing along with her song-playing device for several more seconds, with everyone in the shrine grounds watching in utter confusion.
Then the song suddenly went out, and Marisa's singing came to a halt with it.
"The heck?" Marisa, speaking in a foreign language, wondered what just happened, as she grabbed the song-playing device and raised it up to her face for a close inspection. "Why'd it..."
"Miss Marisa, please don't ruin Miss Reimu's big day..." A shorter witch, this one with brown hair and looking like a Yamato, came into view, holding in her right hand a glowing magic wand. She is followed by four others.
Marisa frowned upon hearing that. "Oh, you Little Witches..."
Ignoring Marisa (for now), the Little Witches walked past her to stand before the crowd, then bowed as they apologized to everyone on Marisa's behalf.
At that moment, the newly inducted shrine maiden walked down the altar, past the crowd and Little Witches, and stopped before Marisa.
The blonde witch raised a hand to greet the shrine maiden. "Hi, Reimu. How ya doin'?"
Young Maiden of Paradise
Hakurei Reimu
The shrine maiden, Reimu, answered with a hard tap to the witch's head.
"あなたのマナーはどこですか?" Reimu then berated Marisa in the Yamato language.
"What are you saying?" Marisa, pressing a hand on where Reimu had tapped her, said. "Gimme a moment, please." She then summoned a star-tipped magic wand into existence in her right hand, and started waving it gently.
"あなたはまだその奇妙な外国語を話していますか?" Reimu said again.
"Well, I ain't got a clue on what'cha sayin'..." Marisa answered as she continued waving her wand.
"私はあなたが言っている1つの単語を理解していない..." Reimu lamented as she face-palmed.
Marisa tapped her wand a bit against her left hand, as though to fix a problem it is experiencing. "Yannow, Reimu, ya kinda looked fat in this getup of-" She chipped while at it.
The witch suddenly found herself being grabbed by the collar of her blouse by Reimu.
"What's wrong, Rei-" Marisa tried to ask, but is interrupted when the shrine maiden started to shake her furiously.
"FAT?! FAT?! DID YOU JUST CALLED ME FAT?!" Reimu, now speaking Marisa's language, yelled furiously at the top of her voice as she continued shaking the witch.
"SorryIdidn'tmeantosaythatsorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" Marisa tried to apologize to Reimu, but the shrine maiden continued to shake her with utmost anger.
Meanwhile, the crowd whom have been ignored so far continued to stare dumbfounded at the event unfolding before their eyes.
...
Much later in the day, the initiation ceremony has completely wrapped up, and the crowd departed from the Hakurei Shrine to get back to their daily lives (or work) in the villages.
Marisa, a bit dizzy from Reimu's furious shaking of her, sat on the veranda while leaning against one of the support pillars. The black-furred cat that came with her put a paw to its face, as though mimicking the human act of face-palming.
"Ya don't need to react so comically, Reimu..." The witch told the shrine maiden.
"Don't you dare call me fat again, Marisa..." Reimu responded with a threatening tone while she swept the shrine grounds. "Or I will tell your mother about how you rudely crashed the ceremony."
"Alright, alright, I geddit. Geez, what's your problem with The Runaways?" Marisa said. She then looked around the shrine, as if looking for something, or someone. "Say, where'd Green Hair gone to?"
As if on cue, the "Green Hair" in question appeared from inside the main building, carrying a few cups of tea and a small bowl of rice biscuits with her.
"I was not expecting you, Miss Kirisame..." Ruukoto greeted. "Should I prepare a cup of tea for you as well?"
Marisa raised a hand to decline. "Nah, I'm good." She said. The witch then noticed that there are five teacups on the tray Ruukoto is carrying. "But ain't that a bit too much for just Reimu?"
"The tea and snacks are not for me alone, Marisa..." Reimu clarified. "They're for them." She added as she gestured to the side of the veranda opposite from Marisa.
Sitting at the opposite side of the shrine is a small group of shrine maidens, whom are chatting among each other. Of course, the current subject of their chat is Marisa herself.
"You girls see how Mr. Kirisame's daughter almost ruined Miss Hakurei's performance with her loud entry?" Asked the purple-haired shrine maiden wearing a red flat cap with three stars on it.
"She's actually friends with Miss Hakurei! What kind of friend do that?!" Said a blonde shrine maiden wearing a red ribbon on her head.
"I wonder if she picked up her delinquent attitude from her mother, who I heard is a westerner?" Wondered a long, dark-haired shrine maiden with a white ribbon at the back of her head.
"I'm also a westerner of Yamato descent, and even I don't get her bloody attitude..." Commented a shrine maiden wearing a bandanna over her blonde hair, who spoke with a western accent not unlike a certain little puppeteer from Makai.
Marisa, who heard the four lesser shrine maidens' chat loud and clear, can't help but scoff at being their subject. "Well, they kinda remind me of Ako and the others..."
"They're shrine maidens of their own families' shrines, so please don't compare them with those good-for-nothing witch friends of yours." Reimu rebuked just as she finished sweeping the leaves into a neat pile. "Now, Marisa, you stay here while I go clean up the storage shed..."
With that, the shrine maiden set her broom aside, and went to the storage shed behind the main building.
"Heh. One year later, and she's still pissed 'bout losing her purple hair..." Marisa, now sitting by herself, mused, as she watched Ruukoto putting the teacups and bowl of rice biscuit by the lesser shrine maidens' side. "They kinda remind me of Ako and her gang..."
The witch then noticed the lesser shrine maidens all turning their attention toward her.
"What? Why are ya girls lookin' at me like that?" Marisa asked. "Ya wanna listen to some of my favorite songs? I've got Nine Inch Nails' full collection in here." She added as she raised her song-playing device into view. "No? How 'bout AC/DC? Or how 'bout-"
Marisa's cat put its paws to its face again.
...
Reimu paused as she looked over the exterior of the storage shed. The shed looked like it has not been used by anyone in decades, as the door and the heavy-duty padlock (that is hanging loose) on it are both covered in mosses.
"How long has it been since this shed was last used?" Reimu wondered out loud.
"Very long, I'm sure..." Replied an old, masculine voice.
Reimu looked to her right and saw nobody...until she looked down and saw Genji there.
Divine Aide of the Hakurei Clan
Genji
"Gramps, you...haven't been inside the shed yourself, have you?" Reimu asked the divine turtle.
"Can't say I have..." Genji replied. "At least not during your mother's tenure as the Hakurei shrine maiden..."
Reimu approached the door of the storage shed, and started trying to figure out how to unlock it. "Are there anything interesting inside that you would like to share?" She took the time to ask a trivial question.
"There are trophies from some of the largest Incidents ever to be solved by the previous shrine maidens..." Genji answered. "Those, and an amulet whose sole purpose is to produce any kind of fragrance..."
Reimu almost collapsed upon hearing the last one. "Fr-fr-fragrance...?!" She uttered in disbelief. "Why does the Hakurei Clan have an amulet with such a mundane purpose?!"
"I...don't quite understand what Ayano was thinking at that time either..." Genji explained, unused to being so awkward. "She was...the quirkiest Hakurei Shrine Maiden I've ever served..."
"I hope she isn't as quirky as Marisa..." Reimu remarked just as she got the door open... by accidentally tearing it down altogether (the hinges have deteriorated after so many decades).
The shrine maiden stared awkwardly at her handiwork before dropping the detached door on the ground.
"Remind me to fix that, gramps..." Reimu said before she strutted into the now-open storage shed, with Genji following right behind.
The inside of the shed is in no better condition than the outside. Thick layers of dust covered most of the things, and the ones that don't have dust on them have what looked like water marks on them, indicative of water dripping down from the leaky roof. At least the contents are all neatly arranged by the last person to have stepped inside the shed.
Reimu coughed a bit from the dust and decades-old stagnant air. She then summoned the Ying-Yang Orb to use it as a light source, illuminating the inside of the storage shed.
Genji was right about the trophies, all of which are stored in glass cases. Though some of the trophies have their glass cases worn out by the lack of maintaining. There are also small wooden chests under the stands in which the trophies are placed on. Reimu opened one of those chest out of curiosity, finding a scroll that described the Incident in which it came from. As the scroll has partially crumbled due to age, Reimu carefully put it back in the chest and closed it. She assumed that the other chests also contained scrolls that described whichever Incidents their accompanying trophies came from, but decided not to disturb them for the sake of preserving history.
There is also a trophy stand that didn't look like it ever had a trophy on it. Genji claimed that all Hakurei Shrine Maidens have at least one extra trophy case prepared just in case.
As Reimu slowly explored the storage shed, she soon came across an ornately decorated wooden chest, which seemed odd as it looked like it hasn't been there for very long, as indicated by the lack of dust or water marks.
"Hm...that is strange..." Genji pointed out. "It appears to be radiating some kind of magic energy..."
Curious about the ornate chest, Reimu approached it, with her gohei ready just in case. She poked the ornate chest with her gohei, and got no response of any kind.
The shrine maiden's curiosity peaked as she went and opened the ornate chest, in spite of Genji warning her to be careful...
And here you have, my dear readers! The long awaited sequel to Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream.
I present to you: Young Maiden's Chronicles 2: Seasonal Fantasy. This story will be covering the Windows Era 1 games, that are: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Perfect Cherry Blossom, Immaterial and Missing Power, Imperishable Nights, and Phantasmagoria of Flower View.
Unlike what ZUN pulled off, though, the PC-98 characters still have roles here. Not as major as they had in Spirit Dream, but still better than pretending they never existed.
Marisa singing The Runaways' Cherry Bomb, as well as referencing Nine Inch Nails and AC/DC in name? How does Marisa know about them, you ask? Well, they'll all be explained in Young Maiden's Chronicles: Exotic Inventory, which will be released within the next day or two.
Also, those four lesser shrine maidens - or Shrine Maiden Mob as I prefer to call them by - are inspired by the nameless shrine maidens drawn randomly by ZUN (except one who's very much the girl from the CD label of Dolls in Pseudo Paradise). You can find illustrations of them under "Miscellaneous arts by ZUN" in the Touhou Wiki.
"And that, as they say, is that..."
The song Cherry Bomb and its lyrics are the property of The Runaways. Part of the song is used in this story with no profitable intents whatsoever.
Afterword ends here.