Marisa gently flew towards her home, carrying behind was a jam-packed sack, filled to the brim with contents that she got from raiding Castle Dedede during the time that Kirby lifted the entire castle across her home continent.
As expected of her kleptomancy, anything that she considered magical was now inside her sack, and she flew away from the treasury.
However, there was something there that made her leave way earlier than usual, and that was a chest that she laid sight on during her giddy hoarding time.
The presence of energies that made her shiver and contort her face in uncertainty.. It seemed to have frightened her for some reason
Not to mention said chest seems to vibrate every once in a while, hinting at a possible presence inside it..
Nevertheless, it was in one of her many reasons on why she left way earlier. The others being the guards discovering her and the possible chance that Kirby would mess up and let the entire castle fall into the earth below, to which it didn't.. Thank the Sparkling Stars for that.
Before that, she would follow Reimu back to her home, the shrine maiden had apparently gotten herself a shrine built somewhere in Dreamland thanks to the support of her parents.
"So.." The magician stared at the shrine beyond the torii gate, no longer flying on her broom "This your new shrine?"
"Uhuh" She nodded with a smile, waddling forward past the donation box, where a Cappy had just dropped in a star coin in front of the two
"No way" Marisa couldn't believe it, Reimu..? Receiving actual donations for once? "You're actually getting donations"
"The troublesome youkai ain't around to taint my reputation here no longer" She shrugged before smirking "Besides, im now doing way beter compared to my last life, you know with the donations and all that"
"Ahahah.." Marisa flew inside the shrine that Reimu stepped in, of course it was just as simple compared to the Hakurei Shrine in Gensokyo, a kotatsu there alongside a few decorations.. Is that a outside world fridge? Looks weird.
"Gonna restock the fridge first" Any food that she carried during the whole incident were now placed inside the Dreamland-styled refrigerator, closing it with a thud and turning towards her "So what brings you to this place anyway?"
"Well I followed you here for.. Actually you up for dinner?" Her stomach had grumbled just in time.
"..." She would sigh out loud, opening the fridge once again.
And then it was just a whole hour of reconnecting with a friend that you haven't seen for the past several years, Reimu and Marisa had reincarnated here but they never met as they grew up until now.
It wouldn't be long before she waved goodbye, grabbing the sack once again and flying away while Reimu muttered something under her breath
"Kleptomaniac.." She shook her head with a smile
Once she arrived home, she hopped out of her broom and set it upon the wall, before proceedings to enter a room that she designated as "Storage Room"
The purpose of this room became quite obvious as she immediately dumped the components of the sack there, books and scrolls of all kinds fell and clattered to the stone floor, before Marisa dropped down and sat, a hand on her chin.
"Hm.." She stared at the scrolls, before crawling over to begin organizing her hoarded stuff.
Each of the scroll found there had contents that were mostly about something like "Bluster Affinity" or "Sizzle Affinity"
Funny enough, if she were to follow some of the instructions here, she could apparently imbue her Hakkero with said affinities.
"Interesting.." She nodded, before dropping the scrolls on the pile before her, yawning as she looked outside her window, seeing the solid stars on the ground lighting up in the darkness of the night
"Guess it's past bedtime.." She muttered, walking out of the storage room slowly before facing the bed.
And then she jumped into the matress face first..
"Mmmmgh" She muttered, flipping over and raised an arm into the air, her arms are somehow sore now.. Perhaps from the incident earlier that she tried to solve first.
She had to admit, Kirby was fast during the whole incident, but not as fast as her though, she ain't admitting that a mere puffball is superior to her just yet!
Speaking of incidents.. The thought of post-party incidents had nearly slipped her mind just now, and she smiled in her mind at the thought of it
She oughta bring the tradition to Dreamland! And then it'll be just like Gensokyo..
"Tomorrow then.." She yawned, before gripping a pillow close to her
And the large crickets outside chirped.
...
A day had already passed since the Sparkling Stars were returned back to their original place, wherever they are.. and the food reprovided back to the rest of Dreamland, all thanks to Kirby..!
And the other two that followed in his path
Dreamland would soon recover from this, and the rest of Dreamlanders would go back to their daily lives not long after,
now feeling content with the food that they had gotten back from Dedede.
Unbeknownst to them, a party was about to start, in celebration of the Food Theft Incident being resolved, Marisa would go around Dreamland, searching for both Kirby and Dedede, and others that were in the incident to provide the invitation papers to
She snickered to herself, one hand covering her invisible mouth while the other held onto the papers.
"Oh this'll be fun!"
First things first, Castle Lololo.
From what she's heard, Kirby first crossed through this so he could reach Float Islands and eventually into the ruinous areas of Bubbly Clouds..
Oh there it is!
Not far from the coast, a Castle sits right above the waters, the guards there now having recovered from going in the pink puffball's way, then Marisa would fly towards one of the balconies
"Oye!" She called out to a guard, a waddle dee that stood firm with a spear on hand, the Shotzos in sight would start aiming at the Witchling before she stopped in her tracks and raised her arms in response "Hey hey! Im not here to barge in! Im here to send an invitation!"
"Wanya.." The Waddle Dee looked around before shrugging, raising one arm as if to signal the other Shotzos to stop aiming at her. And they did
Then it turned towards the entrance and made two steps, then gestured to the Witchling to come in "Wany wan wan!"
"Alright!" She chuckled, following the Waddle Dee into the castle.
As they passed through the corridors, from statues lining up the walls to portraits of artworks that seemed like they've been newly replaced, courtesy of our lovely puffball ofcourse, they would soon run into them
Both Lololo and Lalala were walking down the corridor that the two were in, discussing about their future plans and their current condition..
"You've been doing good sis?"
"Oh I have! Just a simple slice of Maximatoes is enough to get me going even after all of that" She shrugged, to which they went silent as soon as they eyed the Guard in front of them
"Wanya wan wan!"
Lololo and Lalala would immediately turn their heads towards Marisa, the Witchling extending her arm oit with a paper in hand
"Invitation for today's party?"
"Eh? Really?" Lololo walked towards her and accented the invitation letter, the two twins would read it out loud
"To any who receive this paper, you are invited to the post party incident! Where drinks and food are provided in celebration of solving yesterday's troubles and crises.."
They both lowered their papers and eyed Marisa "really?" Lalala voiced out
"A party for us?"
"Yep! Im also planning on inviting King Dedede and Kirby?"
"Oh! You're inviting his maje- wait what?"
"You know.. The pink puffball"
Lololo squinted his eyes "Seriously? After what happened?"
"Hey Lololo, im pretty sure she meant that we could bond with the little guy even after what happened! I mean..." She looked out at the window
"Our lord DID steal all the food in Dreamland, and we were just stopping him from getting the Sparkling Star.. For all we know he could be a very nice guy! We just so happen to go off at the wrong foot"
Lololo would look at her sister, before he relented. "Fine.." Letting out a sigh, he nodded at Marisa "we'll be there at the requested time and location, do you mind if I bring some of my guards there too?"
Marisa waved goodbye at the two shortly before flying off, her eyes now staring at two of her letters..
"Maybe I should drop them off first instead of explaining the whole shebang, may oughta make things easier that way..?"
She would kick her broom before zooming off, eyes now landing on Mount Dedede.
Lololo would look at her sister, before he relented. "Fine.." Letting out a sigh, he nodded at Marisa "we'll be there at the requested time and location, do you mind if I bring some of my guards there too?"
"Your majesty! A letter has arrived!" A Waddle Dee ran towards the King, whom he was currently resting in with an ice pack in his head
"Hhuh..?" The royal penguin muttered, placing down the ice pack before munching on a spare Maximato left over from the half-empty food stash, then he gulped it down "What's the hubbub coming from you..?"
"A letter has arrived! A Witchling has stated its for you!"
The Waddle Dee would raise the letter towards his king, to which he snatched it out of his small arms and eyed the contents of the letter
"A party huh? At the.. ah.. I-iyori Shrine?" He turned his head to Bandee "And im invited!?" He seemed more happy at that aspect it seems..
"M-maybe? I mean, a Witchling did ask me to deliver it to you!"
"Alright! Even if it's about my loss, I ain't complaining! I better get in peak shape too!" He grabbed the ice pack and threw it out, maybe towards the window too where it sailed off..
"Wanya.." The same waddle dee gasped
"My servants! I need to prepare myself!"
...
Kirbh yawned, stretching his arms out as he rubbed his eyes, what a good sleep! But sleeping on the grass like this wouldn't be good on the long run..
He hopped to his feet, rubbing his back from his position, the grass was good alright, serves great for cushioning his whole puffy body, but it tends to be quite cold every now and then..
Oh well! He'll have his own house hopefully!
..eh? Kirby looked up, a paper seemingly laid ontop of his head
"Ooyo?" He muttered, grabbing the paper and held it in front of him as he eyed it's contents..
"Euuh.." He looked around, spotting a hopping Cappy
"Auh! Poyo!" He ran towards him
"Ah? Hey! Its you!" The Cappy would smile at the sight of Kirby "Never thought I'd see you here! Im quite grateful for what you did earlier"
"Poyo poy!" He happily responded, before his face contorted into that of confusion, presenting the paper that was given to him at the Cappy
"Eh?" He soon grabbed the paper with his other hand, keeping up the cap with his other arm, he gave the paper a glance before he eyed the puffball again "You want me to read it?"
"Ay ayaai!" He raised his arms up into the air, smiling and nodding intensely, the Cappy would soon chuckle at his enthusiasm and waved him off
"Alright alright fine fine, whatever you say young hero"
And Kirby learned of a eventual party that was soon gonna happen.
...
Marisa flew towards the shrine grounds, eyeing the surroundings and then the shrine in front of her.
Without hesitation, she soon flew in, looking at the interior and then towards the Kotatsu where she could see the Poppy Sis happily tucked in, sleeping comfortably with no end in sight.
Nodding to herself, she flew outside, not long after she would attempt to crack her knuckles..
Right, she doesn't have human hands
"Alright, time to get to work in decorating this place..!"
The other Dreamlanders that were currently visiting the Iyori Shrine all eyed the Witchling in confusion.
"But first! I better call for my ma for help.."
...Girls are preparing, please wait warmly.!
"Nnguh.." Reimu groaned in her sleep, grabbing the edge of the blanket over the kotatsu and pulled it closer to herself, she had a good night's dream today but all of that is somehow being ruined by tons of footsteps and such..
"What the..? What's with all the commotion.." She pushed herself off the kotatsu, and fixed herself up.
As she walked towards the entrance to her shrine while rubbing her eyes, she would hear muffled noises of all kinds, something like from a party..
"Eh..?"
"Oh g'morning Reims!"
"EH!?"
Truth be told, she was flabbergasted.
Infront of her, many visitors had arrived, but they were all discussing and seemingly enjoyed themselves. A Sir Kibble would walk past "Sorry for attacking you yesterday Miss Reimu, had a grumpy day there.."
"R-right" Oh it was the same knight that tried to attack her during that incident.
Lololo and Lalala seemed to have been enjoying the food that was prepared for them alongside Waddle Dees of all kinds, sitting besides them as they chatted the various ongoings.
She saw a Waddle Doo eat, very confusing stuff but it can absorb just like how any mouthless Dreamlanders can do.. Eugh
Anyway is that the same food that was given back to all Dreamlanders?
"Marisa..?"
The Witchling turned towards her, cheeks bulging "mmghmh?"
"How-"
Marisa gulped it down, she couldn't bother to ask just how she has a mouth beyond that mouthless face anymore.. "Yeah? You asking about the party? I organized it by the way"
"Y-yeah.. I mean, come on!" She shouted at her "Why would you even host one IN MY SHRINE!?" Some of the visitors turned their head towards her
"Sorry, but still. Why!? My food expenses will soar through the roof!"
"Oh don't worry! The visitors here were kind enough to provide their food, besides! We got Dedede visiting over soon!" She enthusiastically filled in the info for her
"SAY WHAT!?"
Her head snapped towards the Torii Gate with widened eyes as a fat penguin would walk under the gate woth a few Waddle Dee escorts, said penguin would look around with a smile
"Ooh! I like the atmosphere, great party you all hostin', mind if I join!"
"Your majesty!" Lololo and Lalala were quick to notice him, but he waved them off soon after
"Hey, no being formal! this is a party after all! And as your king, I order you to ENJOY IT!"
"Aye!" They nodded, before continuing to eat their food.
"Oh well, so this is what they call a shrine huh? Looks pretty peasantry to me.." Reimu felt a vein pop in her head, but he was coming towardd her, so she had to compose herself quickly.
"So? You the host of this party or somethin?"
"No-"
"Eeyup!"
She angrily turned towards Marisa, who flew over to her with a wink and gestured her rounded hand to Reimu "She's the one behind all of this, with a little help from me and my ma' of course"
"Ahehehe!" He grinned, patting the Poppy Sis in the head with a chuckle "You a bold one that's for sure! Celebrating a party because of my defeat? I ain't letting that slide y'know!?"
She grumbled, swatting the hand off her head, but the king didn't complain
"Oh well! I don't mind anyway! If it includes food them im all for it!"
He walked over towards the table to grab a watermelon before throwing it into the air, and then he chomped on it..
Geez showing off that much?
"Anyway, if you got my two servants Lololo and Lalala over too" He wiped his beak off of any food debris "then who'd you invite else?"
"Oh, we got Kirby coming over too" Marisa said
"Say WHAT!?"
"Haii!!"
Both King Dedede and Reimu turned to face the newcomer, a puffball whose eyes were shining at the sights of the party.
Many visitors would immediately recognize upon hearing of his arrival, greeting his name with a tone of appreciation and excitement, to which Kirby would respond back with a happy wave
"HIM!? YOU INVITED HIM!?"
"Of course! It's a post incident party, it aint one without the hero to celebrate it of course!" Marisa shrugged, she kept on watching as Kirby ran over towards the table and hopped ontop of it
"Hey! Manners!" Lololo called out, but Kirby ignored him until a plate was presented to him, he instinctively grabbed it with confusion and eyed Lalala who shook her face
"Come on little one, you know you can't be rude like that you know?"
"Poyo.." He wondered, slowly accepting the plate and hand grabbed a few food that he saw delicious in the table to his plate.
"Gh.." King Dedede had to restrain himself, all the while a Waddle Dee would try and tug onto his cape to calm him down
"S-sire calm down..?"
"Not when Kirbeh is aro-" And his eyes widened when Kirby approached him.
Marisa and Reimu would pause from this, the latter's face turning worried while the former had become intrigued by this turn of events
"Marisa, I swear if they destroy this shrine.."
"Haaaia!" Kirby raised a hand to the air, attempting to greet the king in response
"You just beat me in a Boxing Arena yesterday, and the first thing you do after seeing me again is by GREETING ME!?" Dedede's fisted hands were practically shaking at this point and Reimu had noticed, her other hand slowly manifesting a ofuda just in case they start throwing hands on shringe grounds around visitoes
"Huh..?" Kirby tilted his face, before he presented the plate to him "Food!"
"Ah-" And King Dedede stopped..
"Ooh, Kirby's really not getting it huh?" Marisa mused to Reimu, to which she sighed out in response.
The royal penguin had gritted his teeth, before slumping forward and sighed too, grabbing a food from Kirby's plate and chomping it down
"Can't even be mad at you for that one.."
"Wanya.. Whew.." The Waddle Dee that tugged onto his cape was soon relieved, tensions now having gone down between the two.
"But I ain't letting my humiliation go that easier Kirbeh! Because-" The Waddle Dee's eyes widened, and King Dedede pressed his finger to Kirby's face, a squeak sound would be heard upon contact "-next time..! Im getting back at ya! You'll be getting the clobber of your lifetime from me someday, You hear!?"
"Uhh.. Poyo!" He responded, confuzzled at first, but he kept his smile up nevertheless.
"Ugh, oh well.." And King Dedede shook his head before joining Lalala and Lololo, who had watched the entire thing, in filling their stomachs..
Reimu would soon let the ofudas fade away in a sparkle "I thought they were literally gonna wreck my place again.."
"Ain't it the wonders of post-incident parties? It brings people together!" Marisa happily replied, laughing before patting Reimu in the back "Go and enjoy yourself, I'll be back with the others if you need me" Before she too flew off-
"So how'd you organize all of this again?"
She stopped in her tracks "oh! You'll have to thank my ma' for that" She pointed at the side of the Shrine, to which Reimu followed her gesture..
"She had the bright idea of having her friends come over with their dishes prepared, and soon got almost tons of Dreamlanders to join in on the fun!"
And on there, a Witchling, same as Marisa but with white hair and the signature black cat ears was cooking food. She stirred the cauldron, but not before she noticed Reimu
"Oh! Hi miss Reimu! My name's Keke, Marisa's my daughter you know.." She turned back towards the caultron "Hope you don't mind me bringing my cauldron here haha.."
And she could only blink in response. Huh so that was her mother..
Anyway
Reimu would eye the piles of food onto the table, but Kirby would poke her to get her attention, she was presented with a half eaten cake.
Kirby smiled with a face full of cake.
"..." She eyed him for a second, then she patted him in the head too "So you're Kirby"
"Hai!"
"Hm.." The shrine maiden nodded, accepting the cake from him soon after "Name's Reimu, shrine maiden of the Iyori Shrine"
And the party went on as usual..
The field of flowers swayed from a gentle breeze, the pure land itself seemingly empty for the time being
There not far from the River where grudges and such pull souls down, a person who brings judgement stood still.. The Yamaxanadu herself. Eiki Shiki
She tapped on the Rod of Remorse impatiently, looking forward with furrowed eyebrows, what was she waiting for? A planned meeting with two souls from the concealed land of fantasy.
Yet they've never appeared in front of her, nor have they willingly gone to her.. To avoid judgement like this is just plain stupidity at best, no soul doesn't escape Eiki's judgement after all once they go to Higan..
Why would Reimu and Marisa avoid it anyway?
However, when minutes turned into hours and much more, their scheduled meeting became overdue, and she had to call for her shinigami to search for them. There weren't any new souls going in after all.
But then it finally had been a day, and she just judged a few souls to reincarnation and even to hell along the way.
She sighed
"Where could've the two have possibly been then?" She mused to herself, folding her arms and her feet tapping the ground..
"Eiki-sama!" She ran back to her, two of her hands holding onto her scythe with a remorseful face "I couldn't find the souls of Reimu and Marisa, I asked all day! Even I went to the netherworld to discuss about it with Yuyuko-sama.."
"Settle down Komachi, you still have a few more souls to ferry across.." She scolded, before frowning "That aside, are you sure you haven't seen their souls?"
"None at all! It's like they've been whisked away, out of Gensokyo even.."
The yama looked down in contemplation, two souls who were supposed to meet her in person had disappeared.
She furrowed her eyebrows once more, something was amiss, and she had no idea where to begin.
"This might be a problem.. Nevertheless, you should go back to your job then, we still have a line of souls awaiting us"
She'll have to leave the disappearance of Reimu and Marisa's souls to the higher ups in hell and even to Yukari and the others then. She still has more souls to judge much to the displeasure of Eiki
After all, she still is remorseful that she has to judge the sinful with her rod like this..
...
It was September 22, a day before Monday
Renko tapped on her pen, eyeing the notebook in front of her, she had been contemplating after a while now.. She was supposed to be finishing her assigments but her mind had apparently trailed off for some reason
And then she laid back on her chair, a yawn emerged from her mouth as she stretched her arms..
R-renko!" Maribel, her dorm roommate called out to her
"Yeah?" She called back "what is it?"
"Something is happening! Check the TV!"
"Alright alright, hold on" The prodigy would push the table infront of ber, letting the chair on wheels roll back before standing up, she walked towards the living room where Maribel seemed to have been fixated more on whats going on in the TV
Some breaking news perhaps?
"What is.. it..?"
Infront of both of the university students, the TV had been broadcasting what seems to be a destruction of a forest in Europe, alongside several helicopters of all kinds with their searchlights on.. Is that an Attack Helicopter too?
The japanese news anchor infront of her had been actively informing the watchers on what's going on in Europe too, mentioning what looks like "a cyan-colored monster emerging from a star shaped portal" raging total destruction on the edges of cities in Europe, around the forests. This prompted many other countries to take action with their military. But so far they've been unsuccessful for the most part.
Renko looked down as Maribel pulled out her phone and began to scroll past many tweets about the whole commotion.
There were tweets praying about the victims that were caught in the crossfire by the unknown creature, others memeing about it, and the other quarter? They were all comparing it to a particular villain from a nintendo game released many decades ago. Heck, many of them have even gone as far as to argue whether or not it's actually the same being as that of the one in the games.
"Kirby..?" She said to herself "What the.."
Renko had her mouth open for the whole hour and past during the entire broadcast, her mind completely slipped from the assignment that she was supposed to finish just way earlier...