Immediately, both Reimu and Keine got up and ran to check on the fairies and to their horror, there was a giant toad that had just caught Cirno and was now getting ready to eat her.
"Leave her alone!" yelled Keine.
The toad looked at the teacher and responded by jumping on her. Before it landed though, Reimu threw her gohei at it and hit the toad really hard. In response to this, the amphibian spat out the ice fairy while Reimu picked her up and ran to safety.
"Everyone! Get in the cave!" yelled the red and white miko.
Without any hesitation, the frightened fairies flew into the cave with Reimu and Keine close behind. As soon as they were inside, Reimu checked for her bag and pulled out an amulet.
"Keine, are there any rocks that we can use to block the entrance?" asked Reimu.
"No," answered the teacher. "Besides, that's our only exit!"
Reimu shook her head. "Not for long."
She threw down her amulet and opened a portal back to her shrine.
"Everyone! Get in now!" ordered Reimu. "I'll stop the toad."
"I'll help," informed Keine.
"No. You won't be able to do anything right now," informed Reimu. "Stay with the kids."
With that, Reimu rearmed herself with her gohei and ran outside the cave to face the toad.
"Well well, I didn't expect to see you here."
Reimu turned to see Suwako floating in the air with several iron rings and frogs stuck in ice crystals.
"Suwako. I should've known. What is it this time?"
"That ice fairy and her mother have been freezing my poor pets nonstop the past few weeks," informed the enraged deity. "This is retribution."
"Isn't it winter time though?" questioned Reimu. "I know there isn't much snow but still, it's normal for most of them to get stuck in ice right now."
"It's nearly spring," corrected Suwako. "They should be thawing out by now. Not freezing up again. Now hand over that ice fairy unless you want to be eaten too."
Reimu gripped her gohei and responded by throwing several needles at the frog goddess and deflecting an attack from the toad's tongue.
While Suwako pulled the needles out of her body, Reimu took flight and threw several sealing amulets at the toad and struck it on the side with her gohei. However, the amulets had no effect on the toad and her gohei simply bounced off the toad's rubbery skin.
Seeing this, Reimu pulled out some more needles but before she could throw them, she was pinned to the wall by the toads tongue. Narrowly dodging Suwako's attacks, Reimu tried to take flight but was slammed into the wall again.
This time though, the blow was too strong and Reimu felt something snap. To her relief, her weapons were still alright but when she tried to get up, she immediately fell back down and winced in pain.
"My leg."
Remiu tapped both of her legs and quickly learned that her right leg had been broken from the last impact. She tried to fly again but each time, she was attacked by the giant toad's tongue and unable to take off without using her gohei to deflect an attack.
Suwako on the other hand, noticed that Reimu had completely stopped attacking and was only using her gohei to deflect her toad's tongue and limped towards a cave.
"Broken leg?" asked Suwako sinisterly.
Reimu looked up to see Suwako gathering a large amount of energy.
"Try blocking this!"
Reimu watched as Suwako activated her spell card and released all the energy she had gathered.
"Frog Hunting 'Snake Eats the Croaking Frog'"
The bullets flew out and created a large explosion that shook the whole mountain.
"Competition eliminated," commented Suwako. She brushed off some imaginary dust and got on the toad she summoned. "Let's go."
Before she could leave, she heard several rocks shifting behind her and the sound of energy dissipating. Turning around, she saw Reimu lying down on the ground completely unscathed from her last attack and a large round forcefield slowly dissipating around her. The biggest surprise though was the fact that there was now another person in the fray.
"You alright?"
Reimu looked up to see Ryusei clad in his red samurai armor extending a hand towards her.
"Not really," informed Reimu. "My right leg is broken. I can't fight. How did you get here? Actually, scratch that, what are you doing here?"
Ryusei put her up against some rocks before drawing his katana.
"Kasen. She told me that Suwako was up to something and I needed to make sure it had nothing to do with you," informed the samurai.
He readied his sword to strike the Moriya Shrine's deity but was stopped by Reimu who pulled him back.
"You can't do that," informed Reimu. "Not in Gensokyo."
Ryusei gave Reimu a puzzled look.
"I take it. You're not from around here aren't you."
Ryusei turned to see Suwako riding on top of the giant toad with her cards and weapons drawn.
"You may look the part but I can tell by your style of combat, you're not native here."
The toad then shot out its tongue at Ryusei. In response, Ryusei unsheathed one of his hidden arm blades and cut part of the tongue causing the toad to wince in pain as it retracted it.
"See what I mean. In Gensokyo, we don't fight by clashing blades or slamming clubs," explained the frog goddess. "We use these spell cards and magic bullets to settle our disputes and say hello."
With that, Suwako activated several spell cards at once and sent several waves of bullets at Ryusei. Quickly, the samurai responded by pulling out his symbolizer and wrote the kanji for shield and blocked all the bullets. While this happened, he sheathed his arm blade and split his kantana into two. Instead of wielding a broken sword though, he was now holding an identical katana in each hand.
Once the bullets stopped firing, he ran through the smoke towards Suwako whom he caught off guard. Despite her status as a goddess, she could still feel the pain and impact of his attack and was sent tumbling down the mountain.
In response, the giant toad pounced on top of him and pinned him to the ground. The impact briefly disarmed him but he managed to quickly retrieve his swords again and dodge the next blow. He then jumped up and kicked the toad as it attempted to pounce on him again.
This caused the toad to fall off the side of the mountain and land where Suwako was. Believing that the battle was over, Ryusei sheathed his katana and walked back over to Reimu who had been watching the whole time.
"I'm gonna have to teach you more about our customs and battle system once we get back," informed Reimu. Just as they were about to leave, the giant toad came flying back with Suwako. Despite having a creature more than twice her size fall on top of her, she was completely unharmed and had no signs of damage on her whatsoever.
"You shouldn't have done that," informed Suwako.
She threw her iron rings at Ryusei and watched as he somehow managed to dodge all of her attacks while carrying Reimu with him.
"We need to go now," informed Ryusei. "Do you have another amulet?"
The injured shrine maiden shook her head.
"We can take her together. The playing field is even now."
Ryusei drew out his katana to deflect an attack. "No. It is not. You're injured and I'm clearly outmatched."
He dodged another one of Suwako's rings before pulling out his symbolizer to create a portal. Just as he was about to finish, he realized that Reimu was no longer with him and was now fighting Suwako in the sky.
"Great. Just great."
Ryusei abandoned the incomplete symbol and jumped down to take on the giant toad. Despite his lack of knowledge of Gensokyo's fighting system, he still knew that Gensokyo had a rule that forbade the killing of the enemy. Because of this, he purposely missed many opportunities that would've allowed him to quickly end the fight.
In the end, he realized that his strategy was not working and after delivering one final kick, he readied himself for his last resort. Striking the disklike guard on his katana, he watched as the blade of the sword covered itself with fire before making one final swing. Instead of hitting the toad with the blade of his sword though, he created a large orange energy wave that struck the toad square in the chest and sent it tumbling to the bottom of the mountain once again. Though the damage looked bad, the most harm it would do at max was knock the toad out for the next several hours.
While this happened, Reimu found herself struggling to fight Suwako who was using her full strength to beat the shrine maiden. It also didn't help that her broken leg was preventing her from fighting at her best. Barely missing another blow, Reimu found herself completely outmatched yet unable to retreat due to her paths being blocked by bullets. Once again, she was hit by Suwako's danmaku and was sent flying into the wall again.
Suwako watched as Reimu tried to get back up but was unable to due to her broken leg. Ryusei also noticed as he ran over to rescue her. Just as he was about to reach her though, Suwako threw out a bomb card which exploded and sent both Ryusei and Reimu flying.
The explosion also disarmed Ryusei of his katana and knocked his helmet off. However, it also put him and Reimu close to the portal. As he got up, the frog goddess walked over to his sword. Instinctively, he ran over to where his sword fell only to be stopped by two iron rings landing inches away from his feet.
"Still itching for a fight?" asked Suwako menacingly.
She summoned her weapons back and clashed them together.
"Pick it up," ordered the deity.
Ryusei looked around before making his decision. Instead of retrieving his blade, he pulled out his symbolizer and ran to the portal. On his way there, he picked up his helmet and threw Reimu over his shoulders and finished the kanji before jumping in and disappearing.
Suwako frowned as she retrieved the blade and a sheet of paper that had been left behind.
"That was disappointing."
Looking at the sheet of paper they dropped, she smiled and tucked it into one of her pockets.
"Looks like we'll meet again."
She then left with the giant toad to recover from her fight.
"Thanks for keeping her safe and good luck on your recovery."
Okina and Yuuka picked up their fairy kids and bid Reimu farewell before leaving. Despite Reimu's protest, they still opted to pay her for keeping Lily White and Eternity Larva safe from Suwako and her giant toad's rampage. In addition to the 2000 yen payment, they also gave her some fruits as a thank you gift.
Meanwhile, Keine checked Reimu's right leg before leaving to get some bandages. The moment Reimu got back from the Youkai mountain, Keine immediately rushed over to check on her injuries. To keep the fairies distracted, Ryusei took out the fumo dolls along with the other toys and books from their storage place with Reimu's permission. Currently, he was reading a children's story book to Sunny, Star, and Daiyousei.
"It's definitely broken," commented Keine. "Wait here."
"Mom!"
Reimu turned to see Letty entering the shrine with Mai.
"Hello Cirno, did you behave?" asked the yuki-onna.
The ice fairy nodded and began to show her all the activities she had done that day. Reimu couldn't help but smile at the heartwarming sight. After a while, the ice fairy showed her sister the fumo doll and after a few small exchanges, began to play with it and a few other fumos. While this happened, Letty took a seat next to Reimu and watched them interact.
"Thank you for everything today," said Letty. "Cirno told me what happened and I'm grateful that you managed to rescue her from such harm."
Reimu smiled and shook her head. "No problem. I really liked babysitting her. She wasn't very troublesome and easy to take care of."
"Yes and also, thank you for helping Cirno with Mai. I noticed that she had problems with her but didn't have time to address them," informed Letty. "I'm glad the two are getting along well now."
The two sat in silence while Keine returned with the bandages and wrapped Reimu's leg.
"You're gonna need to visit Eirin tomorrow," informed Keine. "Until then though, don't move it and keep it raised like this."
Reimu nodded and watched as Marisa came in to pick up her fairies.
"Well, that's my cue. I'm gonna leave now. If you need more help, you know where to find me," informed Keine.
She placed her payment in Reimu's donation box and left with Marisa and the three fairies of light. While this happened, Hecatia showed up to retrieve Clownpiece. Just like Keine, she dropped her payment inside Reimu's donation box and left moments later leaving only Cirno and Daiyousei.
"Mom, can I get this doll?" asked Mai.
"Ask Reimu first," smiled Letty.
Reimu smiled and checked Cirno's activity card before nodding. "She can have it. I have plenty."
Mai smiled and mirrored Cirno in cuddling the doll and running over to Letty.
"We'll be taking our leave now," informed Letty. "Get well soon and see you next winter."
With that, Letty dropped her payment inside Reimu's donation box and left her children. Once she was gone, Reimu checked to see who was left and if Ryusei was still around. To her surprise, Daiyousei and her friends were the only fairies left and Ryusei was tucking them into a spare futon.
"Do they have any parental figures?" asked Reimu.
Ryusei shook his head. "Daiyousei doesn't. Her friends do. It's Kasen but only occasionally. I'll cover for them."
He helped clean up the shrine before moving outside and looking at the night sky. Despite how calm he looked, Reimu could tell that he was still mad over what happened earlier. After checking on the sleeping fairies, she limped her way over to Ryusei and joined him in looking at the night sky.
"Sorry about your sword," apologized Reimu.
Ryusei didn't look back at her and instead continued to look at the night sky.
"It's not the sword that I'm mad about," informed Ryusei. "Sure it's on the list but the most upsetting thing at the moment was your behavior back there."
Reimu looked at him shocked.
"I told you that we needed to leave but you chose to stay and fight. I told you about your broken leg and even if it wasn't broken, we would still be outmatched," explained Ryusei.
"I knew what I was doing. I fought her before," countered Reimu. "I could've won the fight if my leg wasn't broken."
"But it was," retorted Ryusei. "Also, I don't know anything about Gensokyo's combat system aside from the fact that I'm not supposed to kill anyone. I have no spell cards and my weapons aren't meant for this type of combat so it's a two-on-one no matter how you look at it."
"That didn't stop you from taking out that toad."
"It was luck. I had every opportunity to kill that thing but to avoid breaking your world's rules, I didn't take it. That attack I used to knock it out is a last resort. If my aim or power used was off by even one number, I could've killed it."
"You didn't though," added Reimu. "Besides, you could've used it again on Suwako and helped me end the fight on the spot. Why didn't you?"
"I don't think you know this but just because the deities and immortals in this world can't be killed by normal means doesn't mean they are immune to everything," informed the samurai with a scowl. "My sword might not kill Suwako but it can still cause her enough pain to violate your rules. Also, with the right conditions, it could potentially kill her or people like her."
"Can it harm God?" questioned the Shrine Maiden.
Upon seeing Ryusei's reaction, she realized the stupidity of the question.
"Sorry. So it only harms the physical form right?"
Ryusei did not answer and continued to look at the sky.
"Master Cross is not going to be happy about this."
"Can't you get a new katana?" asked Reimu.
"Yeah sure. Just buy it from your local blacksmith, of course not," replied Ryusei. Though he sounded and looked calm, Reimu could tell that his voice was laced with tiny hints of anger.
"I'm supposed to take on an apprentice tomorrow," informed Ryusei. "But now that I no longer have my sword, I won't be able to teach him properly."
"Him? What's so important about him? From what I've seen and you've told me, you aren't the type of person to start teaching," asked Reimu.
"Do you think I want to get an apprentice?" asked Ryusei angrily.
"I'm only doing it because Master Cross is making me. Otherwise, I would rather head back to the Adventurer's Guild and earn more funds," informed the samurai through gritted teeth.
"So then why haven't you?" replied Reimu. She was starting to get annoyed now. "You have all the time in the world yet you're always visiting me and doing things around my shrine when you could be taking on new tasks and missions. I've seen your record. You're top 200 out of nearly 2 million registered adventurers. You complete tasks and earn a lot in less than a day but you prefer to hang out at my shrine and do things you don't need to do."
"BECAUSE YOU'RE MY FRIEND AND I CARE ABOUT YOU!" Ryusei finally yelled. He was about to say more but stopped and turned to the doorway. Reimu did so as well.
"Okay now, come out Daiyousei," ordered Reimu.
The green hair greater fairy emerged from her hiding place but stood behind the doorway as if she were scared that something bad was going to happen to her.
"Are you fighting?" asked Daiyousei. Her large green eyes glistened with worry. "Ms. Keine says fighting is never good, especially with friends."
"No no. Don't worry," reassured Ryusei, his voice softening slightly. "We aren't fighting. Reimu and I were just…"
"We were having a conversation about something," finished Reimu. "It's nothing okay. Just go back to bed."
Daiyousei nodded, seemingly reassured, and left moments later. Once Ryusei confirmed that she was out of earshot, he picked up his helmet and got ready to leave.
"Look Reimu," he began, his voice calmer now. "I know this is your home and that you've beaten these people before but you can't let prior experience blind you to reality and the conditions of the fight," informed Ryusei. "I've been through this before and trust me, it cost me a lot more than just a broken leg. I don't want that happening to you."
With that he put on his helmet and opened a portal.
"Get well soon Reimu."
The shrine maiden watched him drop in a gold square and disappear from her view before going back to staring at the night sky.
"Thank you, Ryusei."