"YUKARIIIII!" Marisa shouted. "LEMME IIIIIN! I JUS' WANNA TALK T' HER! YUKARIIIII!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," a voice spoke. Marisa whipped her broomstick around to the woman behind her. The gap youkai was sitting on one of her rifts with her fan hiding half her face.

"Why not?!"

"Because she has not yet fulfilled her obligation."

"What obl'gation? I didn' hear anything 'bout 'n obl'gation!"

"Hm. How curious. I wonder why."

"Don' ac' dumb with me!"

"The word you're looking for is 'coy.'"

"Whatever! Where's Reimu?! What'd you do t' her?! Why aren' you letting me ge' t' the shrine?!"

"So many questions from such a little girl," the youkai murmured to herself. She closed her fan and rested it on her lap. "Reimu is at the shrine." She continued before Marisa spoke again. "I haven't done anything to her. And the reason I'm not letting you near the shrine is because I don't want her to be distracted right now."

Marisa crossed her arms. "So she can f'fil her obl'gation…?"

"Precisely," Yukari spoke with a nod.

"An' jus' what is this obl'gation?"

"That's not something for you to worry about."

"Like hell it is!" The witch whipped out her mini-hakkero and started firing.

Yukari fell backward into her gap and reappeared right behind the girl. "If you ever find out what's going on,"—Marisa threw her elbow back, trying to hit the woman in the face, but the youkai caught it with a hand—"I promise you that it will be from Reimu herself. For now, I suggest you turn around and go play with another one of your little friends, alright?"

"No... way!" Marisa wrenched her arm away from her and fired a laser that the youkai dodged easily.

"Fine then. But don't blame me for the beating you're about to receive."

Reimu didn't know what she was supposed to do. The only thing she could think of was to apologize to Aya, but… well, that tengu deserved what she got! So… what?

She looked up at the sound of giggling and stomping feet. She moved to the door and slid it open. Outside, Chen was chasing a blue butterfly. She chased it as it zig-zagged, then in a circle, until finally, it flew higher than she could reach. The bakeneko jumped at it, but not high enough to be able to damage the fragile creature. Despite her failure, she continued to chase the insect into the surrounding woods. She disappeared into the trees, and then, after a few moments, her head popped out of a bush. When she spotted Reimu, she bolted towards the shrine maiden, calling out her name.

"…Chen. What are you doing here?"

"Lady Yukari sent me here to come check on you because you looked sad!" the cat said, chipper as ever.

"Did she now…"

"So she said to try to cheer you up, but try not to… uh… 'let on that…' ummm…"

"She didn't want me to find out she sent you here, you mean."

"Yeah!"

"Uh-huuuh…" Reimu frowned at the thought of Yukari being sympathetic. And why did she herself make her food? Wasn't it always Ran that did the cooking? And everything else, for that matter? Wait, did that mean that Yukari lived in a house? Reimu always thought that she lived in that gap-dimension-thing-place.

Suddenly, she remembered that there was a guest in front of her. "I'll go put on some tea," she said, stepping back into the shrine.

"Okay!" the cat chirped.

Once the tea had been brewed, she put two cups on a tray and set them down next to Chen. Reimu sat beside her as the bakeneko grabbed her drink and brought it to her lips. "NYOW!"

"It just came off the stove, you know," Reimu deadpanned before she blew on her own tea.

"It's hot!"

"Uh-huh."

The two sat there sipping their tea. It was just like before, the shrine maiden reflected. The perfect amount of chaos and calm.

"Hey!" Chen spoke. "Lady Yukari said you called her 'mom.' Is that true?"

Reimu's grip tightened on her cup. "…Y-yes. …I did."

"Why?"

"I… don't know."

"You don't? Humans are weird…"

"…They sure are." The shrine maiden took a sip of her tea. "Hey…" When the bakeneko made a curious sound, she continued. "What's Yukari to you?" The cat cocked her head at the question. "Like… Is she more than just your master? Do you consider her a friend?"

"Lady Yukari is like a granny!" Chen spoke happily.

A puff of air slipped out from Reimu's lips before she sealed them again. "'A granny,' huh? And how about Ran?"

"Ummm… Another granny!"

Reimu started chuckling until it grew into full-on joyous laughter. "H-her, too?! Ah-HAH!" She snorted. "Ah! I don't—! I don't usually do that!" she defended.

Chen, giggling along with her, asked, "Do what?"

"N-nevermind that!" the shrine maiden explained, covering her smile with a hand.

Like anything else good, the day had to come to an end. Reimu bid Chen farewell and returned to her duties. As she swept, she pondered who'd come to visit next, a smile on her face. The day continued on as it had since she had wounded Aya, but the sun shone just a little bit brighter, and the breeze blew just a little warmer. When dusk turned to night, she retired to her bed, thoughts of Marisa walking up the shrine steps in her head.

Marisa did not come that day. Or the next. No one did. Yukari, however, showed up at the end of the week. And she brought with her an out-of-place dish: A steak, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus.

Reimu's eyes flicked from the plate to the youkai. "Doesn't this seem a little… heavy for breakfast?"

"I thought you liked free food," Yukari said before sipping her tea.

The shrine maiden sighed before sitting down and beginning to eat.

"Ah, I was right!" Yukari spoke quietly and playfully. "More importantly, did you consider what you were going to do to fix your mistakes?

Reimu's next bite stopped just short of her mouth. "Ah… That…"

"Yes. That."

"Uh…" The shrine maiden's eyes drifted away. She set Yukari's fork down and let a long breath escape from her nose. "The only thing I could think to do was apologize to Aya, but…"

"'But…?'" Yukari pressed when the silence grew a little too long.

"But is that really… it? That's not going to work. …Right?"

The youkai let the girl sit in suspense as she took a drink. "No, of course it won't."

"Oh…" Another silence filled the room.

"Truth be told…" Reimu looked up at those words. "I couldn't think of anything either." The shrine maiden's eyes widened, and her head tilted slightly. Yukari closed her eyes and smiled. "I think this a wound only time can heal."

"You're serious…? Wait, wait, wait! What about Keine?! Can't she erase history or something?! Or any other youkai?! We can just make it so that night never happened!"

"It's not that simple, Reimu," Yukari spoke.

"How?! It's dead simple!"

"No, it isn't." It was. But it wasn't. The problem was that they were both right. But Yukari, being older and wiser, was more right. "Reimu, please… just… trust me…"

"What? You said we need to fix the spell card system! …Or something."

"No. What needs to be fixed is something else entirely; I just…" Yukari closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nevermind that; you're free to go."

"'Free to go? What does that mean?"

"That I'm no longer holding you captive. Anyone and everyone may come and go as they please to and from the shrine once more."

"Since when were you holding me captive?"

Yukari cocked her head. "Since Marisa tried to rescue you, I suppose."

Reimu cocked her own in turn. "Marisa tried to rescue me?"

"Oh yes. And she failed. Not that you needed rescuing, of course." The woman took another sip, and the shrine maiden blinked at her.

"…I'm so confused."

"By what?"

"By everything!"

"Ah, I see. Well, none of it's really important, so don't think about it and eat."

Reimu stared at the woman for a while before sighing. "Fine…"

"So then I said, 'Nex' time ya wanna tussle with me, ya better rethink it!'"

"Really…" Reimu drawled.

"Yep!" Marisa lied. "'Course, I still couldn' ge' close for some reason."

The shrine maiden rolled her eyes. "I wonder why…"

"But anyways…!" the witch started as she plopped herself down beside her friend. "How've you been? As Yukari's prisoner, I mean."

"Fine, I guess? Nothing really happened. Chen stopped by once, but that's about it."

"Chen did? I thought Yukari said you weren' taking visitors…"

Reimu shrugged a shoulder. "She said she was giving me time to think or something."

"Oh yeah! An' she said you'd tell me what that was all about."

The shrine maiden closed her eyes. "She wanted me to think about 'the consequences of my actions.'"

"You mean stabbing Aya."

She winced. "Yeah…"

"Wha' was with that, anyway?"

"It's… nothing."

"Didn' seem like nothin'. Ya sure y're okay?"

"I'm fine!" Reimu snapped. When she realized that her friend had jumped back slightly, she turned away and mumbled, "Sorry… But I'm fine. Really."

"Uh… Okay." Marisa slowly tapped her finger against the wooden porch. "Hey! We shoul' go do somethin'!"

"N-no, that's… alright."

"Why? Y'know, y're acting real weird lately…"

"I just… don't think it's a good idea…"

"Wha's not a good idea?"

"…Leaving."

"'Leaving?' What are y' talkin' 'bout? Y've been stuck at th' shrine fer two weeks now!" The witch pushed herself up. "Fer all you know, there's some new youkai runnin' around!"

"Is there a new youkai running around?"

Marisa started running away, broom in hand. "Le's go find out!"

None of the humans of the village reacted to Reimu's presence, besides the usual amount of fear and respect. The youkai, on the other hand, fled from her faster than ever. "Maybe I shouldn't be here," Reimu spoke.

"Whaaat? O' course not! You bein' here is the best thing you can be doin'!"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, where would you rather be?"

"I don't know…"

"Then this 's where y're meant t' be!"

"I'm not so sure…"

"It'll be fiiine," Marisa said as she ducked into Geidontei.

"Wait—!" Reimu started as she followed the blonde girl.

"Miyoi! Two orders of tonight's special!"

"Marisa!" the shrine maiden hissed.

"Ah, hello, Miss Marisa!" Geidontei's centerpiece spoke. "And Miss—!" Miyoi blanched. She bowed her head until it was nearly touching the counter. "Greetings and good tidings to you, Lady Shrine Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine," she said to the wood.

"Uh, you don't have to…" Reimu spoke as she held her hands up.

"Please! Forgive me for my insolence!"

"Miyoi…!" Reimu hissed as politely as she could. "Stop shou…!"

"I shall now commit ritual suicide if it pleases you!"

"No! Just—!" The shrine maiden looked around the bar. Seeing all eyes on her, she turned around and hurried out the door and out of the village.

Reimu had another dream of a woman stroking her hair as she lay in her lap.