"Well at least the smell's gone."
Reimu had spent the entire night cleaning her shrine in an attempt to get rid of the smell that her previous kid had left behind. Even though Yukari's spray really helped, it was only temporary and after the effects wore off, the smell got worse. Luckily, since Yukari took the source of the smell with her, Reimu only needed to scrub the area a bit before the smell went away.
"Phew, that took forever."
Reimu set aside her cleaning materials and opened up a small white note.
"Gonna be late. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Make sure no one is there."
Reimu sighed and crumpled the note. She then went back inside her shrine in hopes of getting some well needed rest when she felt something cold land on her back.
"Wake uuuup Rei-mu-san!"
Reimu knew the sound of that voice all too well. She also knew what that meant.
"Cirno, get off me. I can't play with you right now," informed the shrine maiden
"I hope you can play with her one week from now," came a cold but heartwarming voice.
"Letty! What are you doing here?"
Reimu bolted upright and saw the yuki-onna sitting right next to her with the ice fairy. Both were in their usual attire albeit, Letty's was a bit more messed up than Cirno's at the moment.
"I came to place a babysitting request," answered Letty. "You see, Cirno's gonna be joining me in hibernation soon but it's not ready yet…"
"Ah."
Reimu took the ice fairy off her back and continued to listen.
"So you want me to keep an eye on her until you come back to retrieve her right?"
"Correct," answered Letty. "It should only take a day to finish so I won't be gone for long. If you choose to accept, I'll send you a list of things that you should do for her. Normally, I wouldn't mind your methods of babysitting but since Cirno is gonna be hibernating with me, she will need to undergo special procedures throughout the day."
Reimu thought about it before taking a look at Cirno who was curiously poking one of the fumo dolls.
"Alright then, it shouldn't be that much trouble. I accept."
Letty smiled and called Cirno over.
"By the way, I never thought I'd see you and Cirno together like this," commented Reimu.
"I take it, you've read Aya's article on me," replied Letty.
"Yeah. I thought you would avoid Cirno," responded Reimu. "After all, you did say you were superior to fairies and called them anomalies of nature. So, don't you, um, hate them?"
Letty flew towards Reimu.
"Let me tell you a little secret. What you said is true but that doesn't mean I dislike them," informed Letty. "I just don't like being associated with them in public as that would weaken my own abilities as a yuki-onna. In private though, I don't mind fairies at all. They're just like little children who attach themselves to various people. I don't hate Cirno. I love Cirno. She is my daughter and the very pride and joy of my life. If any harm comes upon her, I promise you, the person responsible for it will regret the day they were born."
Reimu nodded and with that, Letty smiled and left with her ice fairy.
"I-i-i really hope I don't meet Suwako any time soon."
"Wow, so is that why you're so worried?"
Reimu nodded as she sipped a cup of hot chocolate. Ryusei had returned with several chocolate powder mixes and pieces of scrap metal with orange cracks on them. According to Ryusei, the metal was supposed to be energon, the same metal that he used in most of his weapons. However, since he didn't have time to finish the extraction, the metal still had many impurities and looked like some random rusting rocks. As for the hot chocolate, Ryusei's previous mission had led him somewhere very cold and he bought several packs just in case he had to trade with someone.
"Got any more hot chocolate?"
"Yep. Here, do you guys even have chocolate here?" asked Ryusei.
Reimu nodded.
"But it's not that much. Chocolate is really hard to find around here so most of our sweets are made of bean paste, macha, or rice flour," informed Reimu. "Still, sometimes Yukari brings some over and trust me when I say this, most kids go crazy for it. Except for Remilia. She has her own supply."
"Ah. I take it, her maid grows the ingredients?" asked Ryusei.
"No. They're already packaged and in the form of squares, bars, or truffles. I don't even know where they're from," replied Reimu.
"Ah. I think I have an idea but I'm not gonna confront him for now," commented Ryusei. "By the way, I finally got my facts checked. If you're still interested, I can tell you what happened between my master and Yukari now."
"Mmm. Maybe later. I'm still worried about how to take care of Cirno," replied Reimu. "Since she's a fairy, she has many friends and no doubt, they're gonna show up as well."
"Like who?" asked Ryusei.
"Well, there's Sunny Milk, Luna Child, Star Sapphire, Daiyousei, and two other greater fairies who I don't remember their names," answered Reimu. "If any of them show up, then Eternity Larva, Lily White, and Clownpiece might show up as well and my shrine isn't big enough for me to handle all of them."
Ryusei thought for a moment before replying.
"Why not take them on an exploration trip? If your shrine can't accommodate all of them, then take them on a small trip. Just make sure their guardian figures know."
"That would be great, if they could listen. Fairies are like children that have the minds of a toddler," explained Reimu. "They get distracted and tend to lose interest in things after a certain period of time."
"Hmm. Why not come up with various activities for them to do then?" asked Ryusei. "That being said, I don't know what activities they should do since they are all fairies, not young boys training to become warriors."
"I'll think of something," replied Reimu. "By the way, got any more hot chocolate?"
Ryusei checked their stash and shook his head.
"We have the packs but not the milk. Just how many cups did you drink?"
"Only three," replied Reimu. "Why?"
"I only had one cup so why are there two extras?"
Reimu looked over to where her samurai friend was pointing and immediately knew who the culprit was.
"Sumireko? Were you supposed to be visiting today?"
"Yep," answered a girl with a black hat and pink dress. "Gensokyo hot chocolate is so good! Not even the outside world stuff can compare to this."
"That's not from Gensokyo," informed Reimu. "And you're drinking the last cup. We're all out of milk."
"Oh. Sorry I didn't realize it."
"It's not a problem really," replied Ryusei. "I'll go get some more later. Who are you though and did you come to pay tribute or something?"
"I'm Sumireko Usami, a high schooler that can travel here. How about you? I haven't seen you before."
"I'm Ryusei. I'm just an ordinary villager," replied Ryusei. "I'm pretty handy with a sword but can't use danmaku."
"Ah. I see," commented Sumireko. "I thought you were also from the outside world cuz well, you did say that the chocolate wasn't from Gensokyo."
"It's a gift," lied Reimu. "It was from Yukari and since he visits so often, I thought I'd let him have a cup."
"Ah. Mind asking her where she got it from then?" asked Sumireko. "Maybe I've been getting the wrong brands…"
"We will once she shows up again," answered Reimu. "How long have you been here?"
"Not that long. By the time I got here, I heard you saying something about fairies and children though I wasn't paying much attention."
"Ah. I see," commented Ryusei. "Well, you interested?"
"Yeah!" exclaimed Sumireko. "Except, I haven't seen fairies or interacted with one before so I can't be of much help unless someone wants to introduce me to one."
"Oooyy! Reimu!"
Everyone looked up to see Marisa flying in with the Three Fairies of Light and Kasen climbing up the stairs. The moment Ryusei saw them, he picked up his sword and armor and got ready to leave.
"Fancy seeing you here Sumi-ze," greeted Marisa.
"S-s~same he~re," panted Kasen. "Geez that was a real pain. I can't believe the Akis live this far."
Ryusei stopped to help Kasen rest at the shrine and out of curiosity, decided to stay a little longer.
"Sunny, Luna, Star, don't forget to drop in a donation," reminded Marisa.
"We will!" promised the Three Fairies.
"Are those fairies?" asked Sumireko.
Upon seeing Reimu and Ryusei nod, her face sparked and she pulled out her phone.
"KAWAII! They're so cute! Why can't the outside world's kids look like this?"
She began to take picture after picture until Marisa took away her phone.
"Don't snap pictures of other people's kids without permission ze~"
Everyone looked at Marisa and the Three Fairies of Light dumbfounded.
"Since when did you adopt them?" asked Reimu.
"Who's the father?" asked Ryusei.
"I thought you knew better, Marisa!" yelled Kasen.
"Don't you already have a pet at home?" asked Sumireko. "And give me back my phone!"
Sumireko snatched her phone back and watched as Marisa carried Sunny Milk in her arms.
"I figured I'd help take care of them," replied Marisa. "Though they live pretty close to your shine, they like going out on many adventures that you don't have the time for. So I figured I'd join them to make sure they won't bring back something dangerous. We just came back from visiting Keine and Kourin moments ago."
"Ah. I see," commented Reimu. "Well in any case, I've got some senbei. Help yourself."
While this happened, Kasen stole a few glances at Ryusei's armor.
"Hey Ryusei, how come you don't have any Shinto markings on your armor?" asked Kasen.
"Huh? Why do you ask that?" asked Ryusei.
"Well," started Sumireko. "Most samurai are shinto and that's usually reflected in their armors and behavior. From what we know, you constantly visit this Shinto shrine but you don't have any markings. Could it be that you're actually a buddhist?"
Ryusei got up and shook his head.
"No I'm not. And I'm going to get the milk."
He picked up his sword and left the shrine for the human village.
"Wait… is he really a shintoist?" questioned Sumireko. "Reimu, is your boyfriend a shintoist?"
"We're not dating," informed Reimu. "And no, he's not a shintoist or a buddhist."
"Then what religion is he?" pondered Marisa.
"Right now, Ryusei's religion is the least of our worries," informed Kasen. "That being said, I seriously hope he wasn't offended. I noticed a cross symbol on his chest piece and that might have to do with his religion."
"Ah yeah! He said he was gonna get the milk. I really hope he comes back soon," added Sumireko.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" asked Reimu. She turned to Kasen to see if she knew what Sumireko was talking about but even she was puzzled.
"Oh, uh, you don't need to worry about it right now," commented a nervous Sumireko. "What's more important is the thing you were gonna tell me before he left."
"Oh right! I've been babysitting youkai kids and fairies as a part time job," informed Reimu. "Usually I don't do it but since I'm really hurting for money and most youkai kids and fairies need someone to watch over them, I agreed to watch over them as long as I get paid afterwards."
"Ah, I see," replied Sumireko. "And you're looking for activities right?"
"Yep," replied Reimu. "Mainly outdoor ones since my shrine can't accommodate all the fairies coming into my shrine."
"Wow!" exclaimed Kasen. "You're getting that many already?"
"Not exactly. I'm supposed to babysit that childish ice fairy but knowing how fairies behave, more fairies are gonna show up to play with us while I'm babysitting," informed Reimu.
"Ah. That makes sense," commented Marisa. She took a look at the Three Fairies of Light who were now playing with several other fairies. "They are very close to each other after all."
"Where do you plan to take them?" asked Kasen.
"Near the misty lake, forest of magic and youkai mountain," replied Reimu. "Letty's the one who requested that Cirno visit those three areas and learn what things can be found there other than frogs and toads."
"Oh, then I can fix your activity problem very easily," informed Sumireko. "Tell me, have you ever heard of a game called Bingo?"
Everyone gave Sumireko a puzzled look.
"Yeah I figured but it's a fun and simple educational board game that can be played anywhere by all ages," explained Sumireko. "I don't have any pictures but I can make the tools and show you how it's played if you lend me some paper."
Kasen and Reimu handed her a few sheets of paper and watched as Sumireko drew a large 5x5 grid on the paper and wrote an item in each box until all the boxes were filled. Afterwards, she repeated the same process on another sheet of paper but replaced the letters with numbers. Once she finished she wrote the word "BINGO" on top of each page and showed it to Reimu.
"These are Bingo cards," explained Sumireko. She held up the one full of numbers. "Typically, it's played with this card. Someone will draw and call out numbers until someone wins by getting five numbers vertically, horizontally, diagonally, or all the numbers on the board. They must also yell 'Bingo!' once they meet one of the aforementioned conditions so that everyone knows that they won."
She then held up the other game card. "This is the one that they use in my school to teach kids and myself. Instead of numbers, it's got words or symbols but it is won the same way the number one is won. There are two ways to play this version, the first way is basically the first version but with words instead of numbers. The second version is basically another way to do a scavenger hunt except, with the same rules as the other two versions. Also, there can be multiple winners in this version since the game doesn't stop until everything has been found or everyone gets bored. There's also a version that has pictures instead of words but I'm not a good artist…"
Reimu and Kasen looked at the cards before turning to Sumireko.
"How do you know all of this?" asked Kasen. "I've heard of this game but not in Japan."
"My English teachers sometimes teach us using this game," explained Sumireko. "They also give it to us whenever we go on field trips with them."
"Mind if I play a few rounds?" asked Kasen.
"Sure," replied Sumireko. She quickly made a few more cards before handing one to Kasen.
"Will you join us, Reimu?"
"Alright then, just for this round."
"Bingo!" yelled Reimu.
"And how many wins is that?" asked Sumireko
"10 wins and 0 losses. How good is Reimu's luck?"
"Very good," replied Marisa. "Trust me whenever I say this but every time you play against Reimu, you play to lose, not win."
"Ah well," sighed Sumireko. "What did you guys think?"
"It's pretty fun," answered Marisa. "Knowing those three, I'm sure the fairies would love it."
"Yeah. So uh, how do you make more?" asked Reimu.
"Well, if you want, I can make them for you and bring them here in a few days though you're gonna have to pay me. It cost a bit of money to print paper," answered Sumireko.
"How much?" asked Reimu.
"10 to 80 yen a page. How many kids?" asked Sumireko.
"10 kids at max," informed Reimu. "But I'll probably need 90 copies since we're going to three different areas and knowing most fairies, they'll like to play the game at least three times in one area."
"Okay then, I'm assuming black and white, no pictures right?" asked Sumireko.
"Colored but no pictures," corrected Reimu. "How much would that be?"
"7200 yen," answered Sumireko.
Reimu got out the money and handed it to Sumireko.
"Thanks. I'll have them done soon. I'm gonna go exploring the three areas right now to see what should be put on the cards."
With that, Sumireko flew off towards the forest of magic. Marisa also got on her broom with the Three Fairies of Light as well and got ready to head off towards the human village.
"I'm gonna drop in on Keine and get some more food. Kasen, I'll drop him off later," informed Marisa.
She then flew off with the fairies leaving Reimu and Kasen the only people at the shrine. The two sat in silence before Reimu spoke up.
"So how did it go?"
"Ah. Yeah, Keine wasn't too happy to say the least. She did help but only slightly," replied Kasen. "Namely, she did hold new activities after and outside of school but you have to pay per hour to participate in them so it didn't help that much."
Reimu sighed. It seemed like Keine figured what was going on and decided not to participate at all.
"On the other hand, the Aki sisters wanted to know if you can help them with a new spell that is being casted on Rumia," informed Kasen. "Her need and reliance on humans as a food source is gonna to be removed with this spell making her a regular youkai of darkness."
"That's pretty good but why are the Aki sisters the one asking me?" asked Reimu. "Did someone complain to them or some sort?"
"No, they didn't," replied Kasen. "The Aki's actually came across her while she was starving and felt bad for her so they decided to get rid of her need to eat humans in order to help her starve less. Also, they plan on adopting her."
"Those two really don't know the meaning of danger, eh?"
Kasen gave a nervous laugh.
"Yeah. But on the bright side, at least that means you have one less youkai to worry about."
"Once a youkai, always a youkai," stated Reimu. "It's just that I don't have to worry about her eating me or anyone now. Tell them I'll do it tonight. Besides, what happened to you earlier. You seemed pretty beat up."
"Oh it was nothing," responded Kasen. "Just some Moriya shrine antics and whatnot. I'm gonna temporarily stay at your shrine and maybe Marisa's house for now okay? My pets are being cared for by Kagerou so there's no need to worry about them, hehe."
Reimu watched Kasen retreat down the stairs with a very suspicious look.
"She's clearly hiding something."
Reimu had been cleaning her shrine and helping Kasen get herself situated in the shrine. Even though letting Kasen stay was a very big risk, the chances of her learning more about her friend's secret was greater if she shooed her away. Especially since Kasen would ask to stay at his place if Marisa and her said no. Speaking of which, nearly 12 hours had passed since Ryusei had left her shrine and she was beginning to get worried.
"A trip to the grocery store shouldn't take that long," commented Reimu. Just as she was about to close her door and get ready to rest, her samurai friend returned with the milk.
"I'm back."
"You were at the human village right?" asked Reimu.
"Yeah I was. Sorry it took so long though, I was going to the grocery store," answered Ryusei.
"Naw don't worry. Going to the grocery store to buy some milk is normal alright," commented Reimu. "BUT DID IT REALLY TAKE YOU 12 HOURS TO GO TO THE GROCERY STORE?"
"It-it was– It was very hard to find," replied Ryusei.
Reimu facepalmed upon hearing this as she realized that first, she had never shown Ryusei around Gensokyo and second, he didn't have a map so obviously, he would have gotten lost. Besides, 12 hours was a new record for how long it took for an outsider to visit the human village and reach the shrine. Not bad indeed.
"Well, at least you're here. How much did you buy?"
"A few cartoons," answered Ryusei. He handed her the milk and the duo made themselves another cup of hot chocolate and sat outside watching the moon until Reimu decided to break the silence.
"Kasen's staying over tonight. I think she's asleep so mind telling me what happened between Yukari and your Master?"
"Are you really sure she's asleep?" asked Ryusei. From his experience, fake sleepers were the number one reason for why many secrets were discovered other than expert spies.
In response, Reimu kicked the futon that Kasen was sleeping in and upon seeing no reaction, she shrugged and went back over to Ryusei.
"Definitely asleep."
"Alright then. I'll tell you now."
"My master met her back when he was sent to a high school from the outside world. Every samurai student has to do this so that they could not only get used to but also learn more about the place that we constantly visited for various quests," started Ryusei.
"At first he just saw her as a normal classmate who was interested in the paranormal and thought nothing more of it. He was very focused on his combat training and did not wish to fall in love just yet. Still, he ended up going to the same university as her and her friend and it was about this time that he started learning about the supernatural."
"So they knew each other for a long time but never interacted?" questioned Reimu. "That's interesting. I thought they'd fall in love at first sight."
"They didn't. Their first interaction happened when she and her friend stumbled into his homeworld by accident," informed Ryusei. "At the time, they were on a break and my master decided to return home and further his combat training. By chance, a dangerous bandit was on the loose and had been attempting to rob travelers of what they had and my master had been dispatched to dispose of him."
Many years ago…
"Those two don't look like they're from around here," commented a masked man. "Jake, I want you to point your bow at them and call in the others when I'm done."
Another masked person nodded and pointed his crossbow at the two travelers while the former jumped down with black katana.
"Run those hands up and drop everything!" yelled the bandit.
"Merry, do you think we can get out of this?" asked one of the travelers
"No Renko. I'm still tired from last night," responded the other traveler.
The bandit smiled. This was going to be easier than he thought.
"Unless you want an arrow through your heart, hand over all your money and jewels," declared the bandit.
"We don't have any of the sort. We're just students from a university," claimed Renko. "We don't have any of that sort."
"Hmph, we'll see about that."
The bandit thrust his sword at the two girls but was stopped short by a naginata piercing his torso and his sword arm being cut off. The katana was then caught by a man in a black and yellow robe who had another naginata in his other hand.
"Are you alright?" asked the man.
"W-who are you?" asked Merry.
"That's not important right now. What's more important is who are you and what are you two doing here?" responded the man. He pulled out the naginata that he had thrown and suddenly spun the weapon and deflected a crossbow bolt.
"Get behind me!"
The man deflected another shot and jumped up to attack the person who was shooting them. In a few short seconds the bandit named Jake was dead and his body, out in the open with his partner.
"It's dangerous to travel around these areas without a bodyguard or weapon," informed the man. "I'm taking you to my village. You can get help there."
Both Merry and Renko followed the savior to his village where to their surprise, everyone was dressed in clothes from the 12th century but had various pieces of modern technology such as powerlines, light switches, washing machines, ovens, stoves, and electric razors. Additionally, they had many buildings that did not match up with the time period of the people. Yet many of them were still using blades and bows instead of firearms and gunpowder powered weapons. There also weren't any cars and instead, people rode around in horse carts and carriages.
"W-where are we?" asked Renko.
"This is my village," informed the man. "Judging by your clothes, you girls aren't from around here. Am I right?"
Merry nodded while Renko clung onto her arm in fear.
"What do you plan to do to us?" asked Renko.
"Easy now," informed the man. "I'm going to talk to my teacher. He'll find a way to send you back and if he doesn't then, we'll find someone to help you get adjusted until we're able to do so."
He then disappeared into a building that resembled a temple. The two women waited for several minutes before another much older man came out to greet them. Unlike the previous person, he wore the clothes of a daimyo. Additionally, instead of the robe being a mix of two colors, it was completely grey. He also carried a sword instead of a naginata.
"What are your names?" asked the man.
"I'm Maribel," answered Merry. "Renko here calls me Merry."
The man smiled and allowed them to come inside.
"Are you both students?"
"Yes. We are university students," answered Renko.
"Ah. I see. Has my student introduced himself to you yet?"
"Student?" questioned Merry.
"Yes. He told me you both went to the same university as him. Did he not tell you who he is?" asked the man.
"No. Who are you talking about? Is the person who saved us?"
The man nodded and invited them over to sit with him.
"I'll call him over after this," informed the man. "His test is about to start."
"So that was their first meeting."
"Yep. No names, nothing. He just saved them from bandits."
The two sat in silence drinking hot chocolate until Ryusei pulled out his symbolizer.
"I'm gonna have to leave for another week. Hopefully, I can return sooner but until then, I'm off. Let me know when you catch the thief," informed Ryusei.
He drew the Japanese symbols for "portal" and left the shrine and Gensokyo.
"Hmm. You have a pretty interesting relationship," commented Kasen.
Reimu turned around to see Kasen wide awake and watching her.
"Kasen! H-how long ha-have you b-been-"
"Now, now, don't worry. Your secret's safe. I won't tell anyone. Besides, that was a very interesting story to say the least."
Reimu sighed and headed inside.
"Please don't tell Yukari. He's not from here or the outside world."
"I know," replied Kasen. "I knew he wasn't from around here when it took him 12 hours to go to the grocery store. Who even takes that long? Also, the fact that he's wearing armor that's not used in the outside world anymore told me he isn't from Sumireko's world either."
Kasen stopped upon seeing Reimu trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Look, I won't tell anyone. Just let me stay here for now," reassured Kasen. "I won't even tell Marisa or Yukari okay."
After a few minutes of silence, Reimu finally responded.
"Okay. But if you break that silence, I will tell Yukari everything."
Once again, Reimu had found herself waiting for the parental figure to come over at the front step of her shrine. Unlike last time, she was a bit more prepared and ready in case something happened. For one, aside from her usual weapons such as her gohei, needles, and amulets, she also had her ying yang orbs hovering next to her. She was also carrying a backpack that Ryusei had given her to carry the activity cards that Sumireko had given her a few days prior.
In addition to those cards, Reimu had received some food from Ryusei and extra supplies from Kasen. This was all done in case the fairies got bored or wanted to do something else.
"Reiiimu!"
The red and white shrine maiden turned around to see Cirno running over to her with Letty following her closely.
"Morning Reimu," greeted Letty. "I'll be back by tonight. Cirno, behave yourself and listen to Auntie Reimu, okay?"
"Okay mom!"
Reimu watched Letty plant a kiss on Cirno's forehead before leaving. Once she was gone, Reimu brought Cirno inside the shrine.
"Are any of your friends coming over?" asked Reimu.
The ice fairy nodded and began looking around. After a few minutes of looking around, the little fairy gave up and sat next to Reimu at the table.
"Cirno, are you looking for the dolls?" asked Reimu.
Cirno nodded and Reimu got up to get the fumo dolls. Due to how popular the dolls were in addition to how difficult it was to get one, Reimu made sure to store them in an area that was both Marisa-proof and Yukari-proof or at least she hoped it was. Knowing Yukari, she'd probably gap the dolls to her so there really wasn't any point in making it Yukari-proof. Still, she hoped that Yukari wouldn't bother stealing from her since she didn't have the money or materials for replacement dolls.
A few minutes later, Reimu was back with a large box that contained all the dolls.
"Which one do you want?"
Cirno grabbed the Cirno fumo and began running around while playing with it while Reimu watched her and sipped some tea. Minutes later, the three fairies of light showed up and joined Cirno in playing with the fumo dolls. The rest of the fairies arrived soon after while Reimu counted the remaining dolls and put them away.
"Okay everyone! Line up and when I call your name, say that you're here," instructed Reimu.
"Cirno!"
"Here!"
"Sunny!"
"Here!"
"Luna!"
"Here!"
"Star!"
"Here!"
This went on until Reimu had accounted for every fairy and put on a sunhat.
"Okay everyone, we're going to be visiting the following three areas today: Misty Lake, Forest of Magic, and Youkai Mountain. Be sure to stay close by and follow me at all times," informed Reimu. "You can take the dolls with you if you want."
She grabbed her backpack and watched as the fairies each grabbed a fumo doll and followed her out the door to the Misty Lake.
"By the way, you should take the route that goes around the human village. I tried the usual route last time and got into some trouble"
Kasen's warning still echoed in Reimu's head and though Reimu probably would've ignored it, she decided that for the sake of the kids, she'll listen to Kasen even if the route was a bit more riskier.
"Reimu! Kya! Fairies!"
Reimu turned around to see a disguised Mamizou, Kosuzu, and Akyuu heading towards her. Mamizou was a bit worried while Kosuzu had stars in her eyes and Akyuu a serious look on her face.
"They're so cute!" squealed Kosuzu. She jumped over to hug one of them but Reimu stopped her while Akyuu held her back with Mamizou.
"Sorry about her but what are you doing with them?" asked Akyuu.
"Babysitting," answered Reimu.
"Waah! You're so lucky! Not only are they attached to you but you get to babysit such cute things!" sparkled Kosuzu. "No wonder the youkai have been acting up less! I wish I could be part!"
Mamizou sweatdropped and helped Akyuu restrain her friend.
"I'm sorry about her. It's her first time seeing fairies like this. I admit, they are adorable but still, she needs to exercise some self control. We'll make sure she doesn't do anything. In the meantime, good luck."
Reimu bid them goodbye and checked on the fairies to see if they were still following her. To her relief, they all were still following her and soon enough, they made it to the Misty Lake. Upon arriving, Reimu opened her bag and handed each fairy an activity card which they all looked at in confusion.
"Kids, we're gonna play a game," informed Reimu.
"What kind of game is it?" asked Cirno.
Reimu got out one of the example cards and several markers that Sumireko made and bought for her and demonstrated how to play.
"It's called Bingo. All the items on the card are something that can be found in this place," informed Reimu. "When you find them, mark them down on your card using one of these markers. Every time you get five items in a row, column, or diagonal line, come find me, say bingo, and show me where you found each item and I'll give you a prize. If you finish the entire page, I will give you another prize. Ready? Set. Go!"
Each fairy grabbed a color marker and ran off to look for the things on the list while Reimu watched them to make sure that none of them were getting into trouble. So far, the only bad thing that had been done was Cirno freezing several frogs and toads and Clownpiece picking a few flowers near the lake. As far as she was concerned, none of them were doing anything bad and were just acting the same way children did.
"Bingo."
Reimu turned around to see Daiyousei holding out her card with 5 boxes marked in a row.
"Wow. That was fast, where did you find all of them?" asked Reimu.
The green hair greater fairy pointed out each one and once she finished, Reimu rewarded her by pulling out a box full of candy and allowing her to take one. After that, Daiyousei ran off to join her greater fairy friends in finishing the card.
"Reimu! I got bingo!" yelled Cirno and the Three fairies of Light.
Reimu smiled and asked them to show her where they found each item before checking how many boxes they got.
"Wow, you guys are almost done," praised Reimu. She pulled out the box and watched as the kids each took several pieces of candy before running off to finish their cards. She figured that Cirno and the Three Fairies of Light would finish quickly in this area because of their abilities and Cirno's familiarity with the Misty Lake.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the remaining fairies came back to Reimu to show what they had with Reimu either giving them candy or correcting them about how the board was supposed to be.
"Lily, it has to be 5 in a row like this, it can't just be 5 random boxes," informed Reimu as she corrected the spring fairy's boxes. She then handed some candy to Clownpiece and Eternity Larva.
"You two are pretty close to finishing. All you need is one mor-"
"Bingo!"
Reimu turned to see Cirno and the Three Fairies of Light holding up completed boards. In response, Reimu repeated the same process and as soon as she finished she opened her bag to search for something.
"Got it. Now you four have two options," informed Reimu. "Since you four finished first, you get to choose one fumo doll each. It can be the one that you're currently holding or a new one from here."
She pulled out an amulet with the words Hakurei Shrine written on it in Japanese and opened a gap to reveal a large number of fumo dolls. The fairies eyes widened and they quickly ran over to compare dolls before making their decisions. Once they finished, Reimu went back to watching the fairies play until all of them had completed their cards. By then, Reimu had finished preparing herself to go to the forest of magic and was just waiting for the fairies to finish playing around.