Entry 4: Boxes
Reimu, Mima, and Sanae all stood before the mountain of boxes they had removed from the sub-shrine. By all known laws of mass, there should be no way for so many boxes to fit in so small a shrine, but this was Gensokyo, so such laws bent at the knee to the might that was magic.
"I know magic was involved and all," Mima said, "but God damn, that's a lot of shit."
"Mima-san, please don't call all my old luggage 'shit'," Sanae said.
"Don't you Outsiders often refer to your stuff as your 'shit', though?" Reimu asked. "At least, that's what Sumireko's told me."
"Yes, but Sumireko-san's a good deal younger than the rest of us," Sanae pointed out. "I feel like her slang's not a good example for the rest of us."
"Says you, kid," Mima retorted. "New slang just hits differently. We all know this." All eyes went back to the boxes. "Gotta say, though, you brought a lot of stuff with you when you migrated."
"Kanako-sama had said that it would be best to leave no lingering attachments to the Outside when we moved," Sanae answered. "To my teenager mind, that meant 'bring everything I could'."
"And yet, somehow, you didn't notice all those boxes go missing?" Reimu asked.
"I failed a spot-check, sue me."
"So, what now?" Mima asked. "Should we go through all the stuff? Take a trip down memory lane?"
The two shrine maidens looked at each other for a moment. "I don't see why not," Sanae decided. "Even I can't remember half of the stuff in there."
"Then let's at least move it all inside," Reimu said. "Wouldn't want Marisa showing up and pinching anything, would you?"
By the time they had managed to move all the boxes, it was long past noon.
Presently, Reimu, Sanae, and Mima all sat in the main room of the shrine, with a box each in front of them. Normally, someone in Sanae's position might feel a bit nervous about having other people going through her stuff, but it had been so long since she had last seen any of the stuff, she honestly couldn't recall all of it.
Mima dug a hand through the box in front of her, and pulled out a small, red square-shaped object. "Ain't this one of those Game-boy things?" she asked. "The one that guy Kourin has is way bigger than this."
"That's because this one's a newer model," Sanae answered, taking the device from Mima. "My old Gameboy Advance SP. I thought I forgot this back home. Battery's probably flat by now, though."
"What does SP even mean?" Reimu asked.
"Special."
"Makes sense," Reimu muttered, as she rummaged through the box before her. She pulled out a lacy item, paused, then looked into the box. "Sanae, I've found a whole lot of your underwear."
"You WHAT?!" Sanae shouted, taking the box away from Reimu. "This is where they went? Why? Do you know how uncomfortable it is to bind my chest?"
Reimu's gaze fell flatly on Sanae's chest. "Yeah, I can tell," she said. "Definitely makes me glad I'm not as endowed as you are."
"Oh? Had a little breast envy in the past, Reimu?" Mima asked.
"Show me a girl who'd claim they haven't felt that, and I'll tell you 50 reasons they're full of shit," Reimu replied. "Now, saying they've had the feeling, but grew out of it, I'd buy."
"Way to cover your own ass, there," Mima snarked, before peeking over Sanae's shoulder. "But damn, girl. You were what, sixteen when you first came to Gensokyo, and you wore cup sizes that large then?"
"Definitely didn't get it from Suwako's side of the family," Reimu added. "You sure you're not blood related to Kanako as well?"
"Reimu-san, I do not know how Gods reproduce, outside of the way humans do," Sanae answered. "And Mima-san, stop going through my bras!"
"Fine, spoil sport," Mima pouted, before going back to her original box. "Let's see, we've got... Ah ha! Photo frame get!" Mima produced, as she stated, a photo frame. "Let's see... Who's this blue haired, cardboard cutout twit?"
Reimu looked at the photo in question. "Oh. I think I've seen that guy before, on some of the oddities that Rinnosuke gets in. What'd he call it... Gunpla, or something?"
"The heck's 'Gunpla'?" Mima asked.
"Gundam plastic model kits," Sanae answered, taking the photo from the ghost. "It often gets short-handed to Gunpla. They're plastic models based on giant robots featured in an anime series that's been going on since the 80's. As for who this 'cardboard cutout twit' is, his name is Athrun Zala, a main character from Gundam SEED, which aired on TV back in 2002." She paused for a moment, before realisation dawned on her. "Oh Gods, I'm old."
"Ah, wait 'till you hit 100, then you can complain," Mima said. "Still doesn't explain the cutout, though, or why you're posing with it. Or why you have it framed."
"I was an absolute geek as a kid, sue me," Sanae retorted. "I didn't have many friends growing up. Reimu can attest that being a shrine maiden at a young age leaves you socially starved."
"Too true, that," Reimu agreed. She grabbed another box, opened it, and immediately grinned. "Oh oh~. Guess who found the albums?"
"Oo! Show, show!" Mima demanded flying over to Reimu's side as she pulled one of the large books out. Even Sanae was overcome with more curiosity at this point.
Reimu flipped over at a random page. "Let's see... 'Sanae-chan, age six', eh?"
The picture showed a young Sanae, wearing a pastel blue dress that was caked in mud, grinning like no tomorrow. "Aw, look at her," Mima cooed. "Such a cute little baby."
"Man, I hardly remember this time," Sanae said. "I look like such a troublemaker, don't I?"
"That hasn't changed a bit," Reimu pointed out. "Remember how we first met? You basically barged in here and demanded I close up shop."
Sanae, at least, had the decency to look mildly bashful about it. "I'm... really sorry about that."
"Don't be. It's kinda a right of passage," Reimu shrugged. "Basically every friend I've got has either caused an Incident, or tried to kill me."
"Even Marisa-san?"
"Especially Marisa," Mima said. "I would know; I trained her."
"A hell of a first Incident that was, too," Reimu added, flipping to the next page. "Never did figure out what it was about, either, aside from you testing me."
"Really all there was to it, actually," Mima admitted. "Oo! Stop stop stop! Mama Kochiya spotted!"
The pages stopped moving, and all eyes fell on the main person featured in the photo. The easiest way to describe her was 'a much older Sanae', with hair a much paler green, and eyes a deep, calming blue. The smile she had as she stood next to what looked like Sanae at age 12 was the warmest smile Reimu had ever seen captured on camera.
Sanae inhaled sharply, her expression becoming sad. "It's... been so long since I last saw her," she muttered. "I'd almost completely forgotten what she looked like."
Mima placed a hand on Sanae's shoulder. "You never truly forget the people you love," she said softly. "Memories may fade with time, but they're never truly gone."
It was surprisingly, uncharacteristically deep of Mima to say, but Reimu chose not to point that out. This was a rather emotional moment for Sanae, after all, and it at least proved to Reimu that Mima had that thing called 'tact'.
Slowly, Reimu flipped to the next page in the book. The picture on it showed a wedding between the dubbed 'Mama Kochiya' and an admittedly handsome man. They both looked to be in their early-to-mid twenties, at least. "Is that... your father?" Reimu asked.
"I... think so," Sanae said. "He passed away shortly after I was born. Traffic accident, I was always told. Mother always said he was a kind man."
"Certainly looks like a kind man," Mima noted. "Anyone'd be lucky to land someone like that."
There was a moment of silence, followed by a small sniffle from Sanae. "Want to put the albums away for a bit?" Reimu offered. Sanae nodded in response, and the album was put back in its box.
Sanae was quiet for a while. Neither Reimu nor Mima dared to speak, either.
"Why," Sanae muttered. "Why did Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama hide these things away?"
"Probably to avoid these sorts of situations," Mima offered. "Homesickness is a powerful thing, after all. I can only imagine that they wanted to keep you from feeling down."
"But... all of it?" Sanae asked. "Every last memory of home, stored away like this? It's..."
Reimu placed a hand on Sanae's head. "Give yourself a moment," she said. "Take as much time as you need to collect your thoughts, okay?"
Fifteen minutes passed before Sanae regained her composure. "Apologies for that," she said. "I was... momentarily overwhelmed."
"Ain't nobody gonna blame you for it," Mima said. "There may be God-blood running through your veins, but you're still human at the end of the day. Don't let anyone deny you of that,"
"So, what do you want to do now?" Reimu asked. "We could take a break, if you want."
Sanae shook her head. "I think... I want to talk to Kanako-sama about this," she said.
"Go directly to the source, then," Mima surmised. "Want us to come along? Or is this going to be a 'on my own' deal?"
Sanae thought about it for a moment. "I think... I'd like the assistance, actually."
"10-4, boss lady," Mima saluted. "If things get hairy, I've a laser with their names on it."
"Please do not fire lasers in my shrine."
Far away, at the Moriya Shrine, Kanako shivered.
"Something up, Kans?" the other God of the shrine, Moriya Suwako, asked.
"Just a bad feeling," Kanako answered. "I can't shake the feeling that things are about to go bad for us."
A/N:
You know, I would have had these chapters up sooner, but some absolute loser of a tool just HAD to DDoS AO3, didn't they?
Hopefully, I got the homesick feeling down right. Next up, Phantasmagoria of Dim Dreams.
Also, little shoutout to one of my other works, Operation Genos. If you know, you know.
See ya then.
