"Aren't the brightest, are you?"

So blunt was Reimus words, that Louise was struck dumb for a few seconds.

Reimu had sat Louise down on the steps of the strange building near where Louise had landed, and had been sharing this odd green coloured tea with her while she told her story, which Reimu had apparently been drinking before Louise had arrived. She had just finished telling her the events that lead to her to be here, when Reimu hit her with that bombshell.

Then the indignation came. "H-how dare you! I had no choice-."

"Oh you had a choice, you could have chosen to not listen to the shifty gap lady that speaks in riddles, but that's not why I'm calling you dim." Reimu said dryly. "Did you even stop and consider what Yukari was asking you? Come to a new land and find a familiar?"

"W-what did you mean-"

"Where are you going to stay while you are looking for this familiar?" Reimu interrupted her again.

This question floored Louise, "Umm, well..."

"And what about food? Do you have any local money? Or skills in hunting or foraging?" Reimu pressed on mercilessly.

"Uhhh…"

"Did you even think of asking for a moment to pack a change of clothes?"

Louise stopped trying to talk, and elected to just stew in her own embarrassment and shame.

"Can you even defend yourself? Gensokyo is not the kind of place you can just wander about."

"I-I'm a mage you know, I'm not some weakling." Louise said, trying to regain her dignity after the verbal thrashing she just received. "I am the third daughter of the Vallière family."

"Oh yeah, you did say that didn't you?" Reimu said, "But that name doesn't really mean much to me, what can you do?"

"I'm sorry?" Louise said. She understood her family name wouldn't mean much in a different land, it's understandable, but she was annoyed at the phrasing.

Reimu then asked the question Louise was dreading. "How good are you at magic?"

"Er, well…"

"In fact, show me." Reimu said, standing up. "Come on, I'd rather not damage the lawn."

Reimu walked a few paces, noticed Louise was not following, rolled her eyes, walked back and pulled Louise to her feet. "Come on, I don't have all day."

Louise stumbled a bit, "I don't see why I have to prove myself to-" Louise tried.

"Well you do." Reimu said. "Because you ain't setting foot out of the grounds until I can confirm that I'm not sending you to your death. The minute you arrived on the grounds of this shrine, your life became my responsibility. Got it?" before leading Louise across the grounds towards the trees that surround the lawn.

Louise was led reluctantly, but she picked up on a word there. "Shrine? This is a shrine?"

"Never seen a shinto shrine before? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, who knows where Yukari gets you people." Reimu said.

"Shinto?" Louise said, getting a sinking feeling.

"My Religion," Reimu said, confirming Louise's fears. "This is the Hakurei shrine, and I am it's Miko, or Priestess if you prefer."

"Brimir, I don't suppose anyone here has even heard of the founder." Moaned Louise.

"The who?" Reimu said. "Kami, You're not one of those monotheists are you? I get real tired of being called a godless harlot. I have a god, just not yours, I am in no mood for a theological debate, I'm not particularly good at them, and they piss me off. Now if you please."

Reimu stopped leading Louise and pointed out a tree. "Alright, show me what you got. A few spells will be enough, no need to show me everything."

"Errr…" Louise hesitated, trying to think of a way out.

"You do have magic right?" Reimu said.

"Yes!" Louise said immediately.

"Then why are you hesitating?"

Louise stared at her feet, realising there was no way out of this. "...I can't cast properly. I have never cast a successful spell."

Reimu stared at her weirdly. "...Then how are you a mage?"

"I have magic." Louise sulked. "I just can't use it properly."

"Can you demonstrate?" Reimu said, hands on hips.

Louise sighed, before taking her wand out of her pocket, and aimed it at the designated tree. "Fireball."

As expected, the tree exploded, without a hint of fire in sight. A moment later the top half of the tree crashed down, having been separated from the bottom.

"Not bad, but it was no fireball, does this happen every time, or just attack spells?"

"Every time." Louise said glumly.

"...Are you sure you don't want to go home?" Reimu said.

"Of course I want to go home!" Louise snapped. "But I can't go back until I get my familiar. Otherwise my life will be over!"

"If you go running around Gensokyo without a means of defending yourself, your life will be over anyway." Reimu said, before sighing. "But fine, I'll just treat you like any other non magical outsider who decides to stay, and take you to the Human village."

"But I do have magic!" Louise exclaimed indignantly.

"I never said you didn't, but in its current state, you might as well not." Reimu said. "Besides, you need somewhere to stay, and I can't afford another freeloader. I'm sure someone in the village will be willing to put up with yo-… I mean put you up for the night."

Louise ground her teeth. This Reimu girl was really rude, Louise didn't care how important she was, there was such a thing as manners.

"So anyway, get over here, I just gotta give you a blessing before I take you to the village." Reimu said.

I don't want your so-called gods blessing!" Louise snapped.

"Whether you want it or not is irrelevant, either I give it to you or I send you home." Reimu said, crossing her arms. "I'd prefer the latter, but here we are."

"Why?!" Louise groused. "What is this blessing and why do I have to have it?"

"It's a blessing of protection, and it's to prevent me from finding you half eaten in a ditch the minute I take my eyes off you." Reimu said with disarming bluntness.

Louise Recoiled. "Wh-what!?"

"Well you see…" Reimu began, before suddenly she lifted her palm, and a strange patterned orb appeared floating above it, and she lobbed it right over Louise's

head with a blur of speed, impacting something behind her with a meaty *thwack!*

It happened so fast that Louise could only flinch. She whirled around and saw what appeared to be a small blonde child laying face first on the grass, with the strange orb orbiting around her in the air.

Louise tried to see if she was alright, but was stopped by Reimu putting a hand in front of her. "Hold up, I wouldn't get too close if I was you." She said walking past.

"Why did you-" Louise said, but was cut off again.

"I'll explain in a minute, it will be a good educational moment, to show you just how out of depth you are."

The prone girl suddenly sprung in Louises direction, and she caught a glimpse of some very sharp teeth, before Reimu swatted the girl out of the air by smacking her head with a long stick with a string of papers tied on the end. Louise didn't remember her holding that a moment previously.

Reimu bent over, and lifted up the girl by her cheek. "Louise, this is Rumia, Rumia, this is Louise le something something something, and what might I ask were you trying to do on the shrine grounds?" She said with faux sweetness.

"Shwe ais an-" the girl tried to say, but Reimu holding her cheek made it rather difficult, so Riemu let go, and she tried again. "She is an outsider! I'm allowed to eat those!"

Louise nearly fell backwards with shock.

"Not on Shrine grounds you're not!" Reimu replied hotly, "what were you even thinking! I am standing right here and you thought that would be ok to just take a bite out of her? I know you are stupid but this is bad even for you!"

"I'm allowed to eat outsiders." Mumbled Rumia, sulking.

"Sh-she was going to eat me!?" Louise said unfreezing, and pointing her wand at the child.

"And this is exactly why you need my blessing of protection." Reimu said matter-of-factly. "And put that away, I'm standing right here."

"Why are you ok with this?" Louise exclaimed.

"I'm not, that's why I stopped her, she isn't supposed to attack people at the shrine." Reimu said.

"But she is allowed to attack people?!" Louise exclaimed, increasingly hysterical.

"Not in front of me she is not." Reimu said. "But in general, outsiders are considered free game as long as nobody is around to stop you."

"What, so people just eat other people as long as they are not from around here?!"

Reimu sighed. "I hate having this conversation… Did Yukari tell you anything about where she was sending you?"

Louise glared at Reimu and the currently sulking Rumia. "Only that my Familiar was here."

"Of course she leaves the difficult explanation to me." Reimu grumbled. "This is Gensokyo, the eastern wonderland. Humans make up roughly 20 percent of the population. The rest are youkai."

"Youkai?"

"Monsters, demons, fae creatures, basically beings that are magic in nature. And some happen to eat human meat, like Rumia here." Reimu said, tapping the small blond on the head with her stick. "It's not cannibalism, as most youkai would be downright insulted if you call them human."

"And you let them?!" Louise said.

"No! How many times do I have to tell you?" Reimu said indignantly, "I don't let them eat people, just like I'm doing right now, not letting Rumia eat you!"

"But, but-" Louise said, but Reimu finished the thought.

"Why am I not bothered by the thought that they eat people? Well I'd be lying if I said it didn't, at least a bit." Reimu sighed. "But Gensokyo was made for the youkai, this is their land, and they very much outnumber us. Yet we co-exist, because they need us, and in some way we need them too. I'm not going to lose any sleep if some strange guy I've never met gets eaten, not when it means that the people I do know are not starving to death because of it. If I never met them, it's not my problem."

Louise stared at Reimu, not really sure what to think, or even how to unpack that.

"And seeing as you were dropped right on my doorstep, you are my problem, which is why I need to give you the protection blessing." Reimu continued after a brief pause.

"Wait, why? What has that got to do with anything?" Louise exclaimed.

"Everything." Reimu said. "The blessing is tied into the protective magics of Gensokyo, on top of making you harder to kill, it will also inform me or others if you are in mortal danger, or the spell card rules are being intentionally violated, and we can rescue you. Plus, it will surround you with the magics of Gensokyo, marking you as something other than an outsider, meaning that Youkai will know they are prohibited from killing you."

"Oh…" Louise said. "Is there any other way?"

"Well you can let me send you home, that's always an option." Reimu said, before sighing again. "Look I get it, you are hesitant to take a blessing from another 'heretical' religion. But this is the only way I can keep you safe outside of being your bodyguard, and I have better things to do then follow you around. So if you want to stay, you get the blessing. My house, my rules."

Louise sulked, "...Alright, but under protest."

"Noted, now get out of here Rumia. Go bother Wriggle or something." Reimu said, pulling out a square piece of paper from her sleeve.

"Okay~" Rumia sung, all traces of her earlier pout gone, and she flew away, her arms spread to either side.

"Did she just-"

"Fly, yes, people around here do that." Reimu said, walking behind Louise. "Now hold still."

Louise tried to turn but Reimu scolded her. "I said hold still, I just gotta find the back of your neck." So Louise just looked ahead and stewed on her bizarre day.

"You seem to know her pretty well." Louise said, as Reimu tried to part Louise's mass of pink curls.

"Rumia you mean?" Reimu asked, "She's been hanging around here since I was a kid. She's an airhead, and as thick as a house brick, but she's not bad once you get to know her."

"You mean, apart from eating people?" Louise said irritably.

"The worst she's ever done to me is nibble. Didn't even draw blood." Reimu said. "That's just the kind of place Gensokyo is, and you're gonna have to get used to Youkai if you ever want your familiar."

"What do you mean?" Louise said.

"Well, weren't Yukari's conditions basically 'not human' and 'not animal'?" Reimu said, finally finding Louise's neck. "By the sound of it she expects your familiar to be a youkai. This will sting a bit by the way."

Louise's eyes widened in realisation as Reimu placed the paper square on the nape of her neck. "Wait she wha-AUGH!"

'That was more than a bit.' Louise thought groggily as Reimu helped her up.

"Huh, guess you are pretty magical, I usually don't get that kind of reaction." Reimu said. "Anyway, grats. As far as any passing youkai are concerned, you are now a citizen of Gensokyo, your only concerns now are fairy pranks and being scared to death."

"Thanks I guess." Louise said, still slightly dazed and trying to get her mental faculties back to speed.

Before Louise could properly process it, Reimu had brought her back to the steps and put the weird tea in her hands again. "Take a breather for a bit, then we'll go down to the village."

"Yeah. Okay." said Louise, stewing in her own disjointed thoughts.


Apparently it was about an hour trip on foot to the human Village, which had given Louise plenty of time to stew in her thoughts, but there were questions she felt needed to be asked, and despite Reimus rudeness, she might be the best person to ask.

"Excuse me… Miss Hakurei?" Louise said, not sure how to address her.

"Just Reimu will do. You haven't been particularly respectful so far, no need to start now." Reimu said casually.

"Well neither have you." muttered Louise.

"So what's on your mind." said Reimu, unphased by Louise's comment.

"H-how would I go about getting a youkai familiar?" Louise asked, uncertainty dripping from her voice.

"I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree, I'm a priestess, not a magician." Reimu said, but noticed Louise's dejection, and sighed. "But I suppose I know enough about youkai to give you a general idea."

"There are many types of youkai, but as a rule, youkai are fiercely individualistic, and very proud. They are generally stronger than humans and they know it, so they won't accept subservience easily. So you will have to convince them that you are a worthy master."

"How do I do that?" Louise asked.

"Well for a start, you have to be able to provide for it. Many youkai have… unique dietary requirements." Reimu said.

"You mean humans don't you." Louise said, looking green.

"There are many youkai that don't, in fact one of the most numerous single species of youkai are mostly vegetarian, the Youkai rabbits." Reimu said. "But that's not the only weird diet, most demons require a bit of your magic to sustain themselves in the mortal realm, some youkai eat dreams, and other weird stuff. Food aside, some youkai might also require some sort of material compensation like gold or similar wealth."

Louise grimmised, it was better than human flesh, but the talk of demons and gold is leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Why is she the only one who has to deal with this kind of stuff? The rest of her classmates just got animals.

"However, all that is secondary to the most important part." Reimu said, catching Louise's attention again. "You've got to get their respect. And for that, you've got to be strong, strong enough to make them fear your strength, even a bit."

"Strong enough to fear..." Louise said, mostly to herself.

"It's always worked for me." Reimu said, shrugging.

Louise looked at Reimu, but didn't really see any arrogance in her demeanour. Not for the last time, she wondered how strong Reimu was.

Then she thought about the obvious problem. "How strong do I have to be to impress a youkai?"

"In your case, try a fairy." Reimu said, "They can occasionally be bribed with sweets."

"Hey!"

"And here we are." Reimu said, stopping suddenly, causing Louise to stumble.

Louise was so absorbed in her own thoughts and the conversation that she didn't notice them approaching a simple stone and wood wall, with an open gate large enough for two carts to pass each other comfortably.

A man leaned against the wall, with an odd spear like weapon, with what appeared to be a curved blade on the end.

"Afternoon Miss Hakurei." The man said, nodding to her. "Who's the pinkett?" Louise could swear there was a hint of accusation in his voice.

"The is Louise le something or other." Said Reimu, annoying Louise to no end. "Don't worry, she's human, she's an outsider intent on staying."

The man nodded. "You'll want Keine then, You're in luck, she just got back from the bamboo forest. Need a hand?"

"I know the way, thanks." Reimu said, walking through.

Louise looked around as they walked in the gate. It was a rather humble sort of place, the buildings being made out of wood and paper, with people dressed in rather simple but colourful clothes that Louise had never seen before. Louise assumed these were the commoners of the land, and seemed to be rather well off if the wide range of colour is any indication.

"Watch that guy by the way. His mother has been bothering him about finding a wife, and he isn't smart enough to know when he is batting in the wrong pitch." Reimu said.

"O...kay?" Louise said, looking back at the guy. Before deciding to change the subject. "So who is this Kiene person?"

"Well, for the most part she is the teacher for the local school." Reimu said. Making Louise raise her eyebrows. "But she is also the village's guardian, and the most respected of the village elders. We kinda have a thing going where I bring any non magic outsiders that decide to stay to her, and she helps them get situated into the village."

"But I'm not going to stay here forever, just until I get a familiar." Louise said.

"Yeah, however long that takes." Reimu said.

Louise had no response to that.


Louise sat on her knees as she waited for Reimu to finish talking in the other room. It's only been a few minutes and already she was getting pins and needles, why did this house have no chairs?

Just as she was nursing yet another tea, Reimu and Kiene returned to the room.

Keine was a tall mature woman, with a motherly figure, and waist length blueish-silver hair. She has a rather sensible blue dress and a quite frankly ridiculous hat. However despite her odd choice in headwear she carried herself with a serious air, feeling like a particularly stern teacher, which fitted, as apparently she was one.

"Ok, Now I've talked to Keine and she has agreed to let you stay. But on a few conditions." Reimu said.

Louise had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.

"Now, as you are a magician, with rather unusual circumstances. You will be living with Kiene directly, as it would be unfair to expect anyone in the village to handle you." Reimu said.

Louise didn't like the implication, but held her tongue.

"That said, I will not allow you to freeload." Keine said. "While you are staying with me you will work to earn room and board."

Louise Grimaced. "Are you saying I have to work as a servant?"

"Beggars can't be choosers." Reimu said, bending forward to get in Louise's face. "And what's more, you will treat Keine with respect. You may be some big noble where you are from, but here, you are just a girl who Keine is letting stay out of the goodness of her heart, and if I hear you are causing her any trouble. I will come and send you home. Got it?"

Louise shrunk under Reimu's glower. "Y-yes."

Reimu straightened up, the steel in her gaze gone. "Good, I'm going back to the shrine. I'm now behind on my chores, and Marisa's picking me up for drinks later. Can you take over from here?"

"Very well Reimu, don't worry, I'll take care of Miss Louise." Keine said.

"Thanks." She said, heading for the door, before remembering something and turned back. "One more thing Louise, if you ever decide to give up, just come up to the shrine. Other than that, see you round." She then left for real.

Louise fumed. That Reimu woman seems to do nothing but look down on her.

"I wouldn't let Reimu bother you. She means well, but that girl spends far too much time around Youkai for her own good." Keine said, catching Louise's attention, "Youkai respect her forceful personality and sharp tongue, so she's never really had a reason to filter her speech."

"But she's a priestess isn't she?" Louise said. "Shouldn't she be used to dealing with people?"

"Not really, while she is a Miko, she never completed her formal training, and her shrine gets barely any patrons outside of festivals." Keine said.

Louise could only stare dumbly at Keine.

"I am dead serious." Keine affirmed.

"And she is one of the most important people in Gensokyo?" Louise muttered, more to herself.

"Yukari told you that I presume?" Keine asked. "She is not incorrect, despite her easy going nature, Very few people have done more for Gensokyo than Reimu Hakurei, which is impressive for one so young. But that is neither here nor there. Reimu gave me an abridged version of your circumstances, but if you wouldn't mind I would like to hear it from your mouth."

Louise thought about it, and decided that there was no real point in hiding anything, as Reimu had said, her social status didn't mean anything here, and they were going to work her like a commoner so what did it matter if they knew she was a failure. So she gave a more complete version then she gave Reimu, including why it was so important that she get a familiar.

"I see," said Keine. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you much with your quest, but provided you are willing to put some work in, I'll be providing you with food and a futon. Also, should you wish to learn about Gensokyo, there are few more knowledgeable than me, and I am personally acquainted with all of them."

Louise was grateful, Keine seemed far more polite then Reimu already. Louise thought it wise to reciprocate. "Then I will be in your care." she said, bowing her head.

"Very good." Keine said. "Now if you don't mind, I need to ask a few more questions. First, are you any good with housework?"

"Umm… no. Back at home the servants did that." Louise said, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Hmm, shame. That would have made this simpler if you could directly contribute to the house's upkeep." Keine said. "No matter, are you experienced in any form of manual labour?"

"...I can ride a horse… and I can knit." Louise said, really not liking where this was going.

"Oh dear." Keine said, shaking her head. "Never mind, I'm sure I'll find something to do with you…"


Chapter Notes:

Louise gets a rude awakening to the nature of her quest, As expected, Yukari was not entirely straight with her, leaving out a few very important details to how this game is played.

Reimu is being a bit mean here, but to be fair, Louise is just a random brat that Yukari dropped on her, and is now making her job more difficult.

And just be clear, that guy at the gate is nobody important, just a mob character. I just decided to add a little splash of colour to the world by reminding people that non named characters exist and have lives outside of their brief interactions with the protagonist.

Also to address some of the Guest Reviews, Yes, I am aware that Touhoufantic tackled a somewhat similar story concept, in fact, that was probably my primary inspiration for this story, I just wanted to try putting a different spin on the concept of a Louise in Gensokyo story, where instead of her being groomed into something specific by anyone, Yukari just sort of drops her into Gensokyo and then gets the popcorn.

And to address the monster of a guest review… Well, fair for the most part, the first chapter was fairly exposition heavy (so is this one unfortunately), but I honestly couldn't think of another way to really write it without excluding key information to the readers, and while I did skip the summoning because most people are probably familiar with it, and I couldn't really think of any unique spin to put on it to make it interesting enough to read, I did feel I needed to at least explain the basics, in case the person reading had never actually seen FOZ or read any other FOZ fanfics (like I got into the fandom btw).

Plus I am not of the opinion that Exposision is innately awful, as long as the dialog feels at least somewhat natural, with characters giving reasonable responses to reasonable questions at reasonable times, and a lot of good stories do start with exposition especially if the setting or premise is not something that can be immediately understood or intuited by the audience (The Hobbit springs to mind, it starts with a detailed explanation of hobbits and the shire, goes to Thorin explaining the quest, fairly exposition heavy, but yet still interesting. Also consider Star Wars, literally starts with an exposition dump).

But if I am entirely honest, the reason some of these early chapters are kinda exposition heavy is because I am trying to establish a complex status quo. This story is going to be largely episodic in nature once I get the ball rolling, with Louise having lots of strange misadventures in the land of Gensokyo, interacting with Touhou's large cast, and growing both in skill and as a person. That is the main reason I wanted to write this story after all, just to drop Louise in Gensokyo with a vague goal with a lot of milestones between it and herself, and watch how she develops as a character.

As a side note, I was a little amused how that review mentioned she would be under Reimu's care, when the very first thing that happens in the next chapter is Reimu making it perfectly clear that she has better things to do than babysit her, some unintentional irony there. But yeah, I understand that conflict is important for a story, and there will be conflict, but as I mentioned above, the format I'm going for is episodic, so the conflicts will often be smaller interpersonal ones as she buts heads with various residents, and internal ones, as her goals and who she wants to be changes as she grows as a person.