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Reimu stood at the shrine building’s side wall, restocking the amulets for sale with ones she had made yesterday. The amulets were selling poorly, as hardly anybody actually came by the shrine for religious reasons, but the shifting seasons might draw in a few people looking to refresh their divine protection.
While she was absorbed in her work, a voice spoke up from in front of the shrine. “Um, excuse me, are you the shrine maiden for this shrine?”
Ah, shoot, she’d been working without paying attention, and now she had completely missed a visitor arriving. Turning to greet the newcomer, Reimu said, “Oh, that’s me! Welcome to the Ha—”
As Reimu got a look at the visitor, the sight caught her off-guard. This wasn’t someone from the village; this was a girl with long green hair, dressed in a white-and-blue outfit almost like a shrine maiden’s. And there was something…odd about her that Reimu couldn’t quite place. Whoever she was, she definitely was not from around here.
Geez, her sense of customer service was way off today. Instead of gawking at the newcomer, Reimu cleared her throat and began again. “Welcome to the Hakurei Shrine. Are you here to make a donation, or do you need a service performed?”
The odd green-haired girl paused for a moment, as if unsure which she needed. “Um...I guess a service? But, basically, I’m here to ask you to close down the shrine.”
Reimu simply stared at her for a moment, unsure if she heard correctly. “Sorry, are you asking me to shut down the Hakurei Shrine? The shrine that is the religious center for the people of the village, and maintains the balance of Gensokyo’s existence? You want this place to close?”
The girl fidgeted for a moment, suddenly nervous at Reimu’s resistance. “Well...I mean, I guess you don’t have to shut it down all the way? But…” She looked around the shrine’s empty and unused grounds. “...as the way things are now, it doesn’t exactly have much activity, right? So...I think if my god came down and took over this shrine, we could gather a lot more faith, and make this shrine a better place.”
Reimu’s irritation was steadily rising as she spoke, but a bomb of confusion hit her at the words “my god.” She shook her head. “Wait, back up. ‘My god’? What god are you serving, exactly? Because I’ve been here for a while, and I’ve never heard of a shrine or shrine maiden besides the ones here. Care to explain?”
The girl’s face brightened, like an overenthusiastic student knowing the answer to a question. “Oh, that’s because we just moved here!” She turned and pointed to the Youkai Mountain off in the distance. “We’re on top of that large mountain over there. You can come and visit us, if you want.”
Reimu huffed and stepped towards the girl, irritation giving way to anger. “You just moved here, and you’re already looking to spread trouble? There’s no way this shrine is closing down, and...seriously, taking it over? Are you out of your mind?”
The enthusiasm faded from the girl’s face. “Well, I...it’s not actually that bad. Just...think about it, will you? Come by the mountain later, we’ll be waiting for you.”
Reimu turned back towards the wall of amulets, signaling that their conversation was over. “Do me a favor and buzz off, will you? Stir up any more trouble, and I’ll have to chase you and your god back to wherever you came from.”
The other girl stayed silent for a moment, and then spoke up. “Um...okay, I’ll leave. Sorry if I offended you...but, you really should come by my shrine sometime, okay?”
Reimu gave no response, and the girl finally turned and walked away, a breeze picking up as she left. With the stranger gone, Reimu finally realized what had seemed so off about her: she was strong, like some sort of mysterious youkai, or even a living god. A powerful newcomer suddenly arriving in Gensoyko...a living god asking to shut down the shrine...Reimu smelled an incident brewing, and she was not looking forward to it.
Reimu and Sanae stood at the Hakurei Shrine’s main building, bickering over how to restore the shrine's reputation.
“Reimu, if there’s so many youkai here, why don’t you just get some faith from them? You gotta take what you can from the visitors you get, right?”
Reimu crossed her arms and huffed. “Maybe you just don’t get it because you’re new here, Sanae, but humans don’t like youkai. This is supposed to be a place for humans to give faith, where they can come for divine protection. What kind of reputation would I get if I started letting youkai run around here the same as humans?”
Sanae just looked at her, confused. “But isn’t that drunk oni always coming by here? Why haven’t you chased her off or exterminated her for good?”
Reimu looked off to the side, caught in the consequences of her own actions. “Well, Suika is different...and it’s not like she comes by that often, right? So it’s fine.”
Sanae suddenly leaned in, eyes bright. “Ooh, an oni befriended the Hakurei shrine maiden? Tell me, tell me, what did she do? How did she do it?”
Reimu stepped forward, trying to push through Sanae’s intense gaze. “Hey, she didn’t befriend me. Make no mistake, nothing but humans are welcome here. She just...she helped me out in an incident before, and she needs a place to go sometimes, okay? And besides...it’s not like she’s a real youkai.”
Sanae leaned back, disappointed at Reimu’s very plain response. “Well, she’s not exactly human either...but, still, if she owes this shrine something, why not try and get some faith from her?”
Reimu rolled her eyes, annoyed that they were coming back to the same point. “A drunkard monster’s not exactly pious, Sanae. I don’t think I could get her to properly pray even if she knew how.” She paused for a moment, something crossing her mind. “Hey, I would’ve thought you three would have more ideas for getting faith out of humans. Didn’t you all come from the outside world, which has nothing but humans?”
Now it was Sanae’s turn to look off to the side, suddenly struck with a difficult question. “Well, the thing is...the human world is losing its faith. No matter what we did, we just weren’t getting enough faith. And believe me, Lady Kanako was aggressive, but it’s hard living as a god in a world that doesn’t want gods anymore.”
She crossed her arms, remembering their unpleasant life outside. “Religion has really faded in importance out there, and a lot of people are misusing it and giving it a bad name. Sure, there are still faithful people out there, but they’re getting fewer and fewer.”
Sanae looked back at Reimu. “So, we did the only thing we could. We faded out of that world, forgotten entirely, and came here. Unlike us humans, gods can’t exist without faith.” She paused for a moment, fidgeting. “Um, I knew we got off on the wrong foot when we first met, but...sorry for asking you to close down the shrine.”
Sanae turned to look at the shrine, her back to Reimu. “When I first got here, I thought a strong presence like Lady Kanako would be able to revive this place, but I see now that you don’t need that. I think with your power...we can revive this place as it is.” She turned her head back towards Reimu, looking at her over her shoulder. “So, don’t hold that against us, okay?”
Reimu just stared for a moment, completely thrown off by Sanae’s sheepish honesty. For the energetic and loud Sanae to suddenly get serious like that...and if Reimu was being honest, seeing her quiet side was kind of—
Reimu’s train of thought was cut off by someone yelling from the sky. “Hey, you two!” Both shrine maidens looked upwards and saw Marisa riding in and waving at them, Kanako floating with her. The two newcomers touched down by the pair, Marisa dismounting from her broomstick. “Already getting down to business, are ya? So, tell me, what’s the grand plan for reviving the Hakurei Shrine?”
Something inside Reimu was very irritated at their conversation being interrupted, but she pushed that aside. “Well, Marisa, it turns out that two shrine maidens aren’t much better than one. These two—” She pointed to Sanae and Kanako. “—only came here because they were running out of faith in the human world, so they’re not the best sources for ideas.”
Kanako smiled dangerously at that, her eyes dark. “While it’s true that we experienced great difficulty in the human world, don’t be so hasty as to say we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Marisa jumped in. “Oh, yeah, she’s right! Y’know, Reimu, I was talking with Kanako back at her shrine, and I think you should let her move here! It really sounds like she’s got this whole ‘god’ business figured out, so maybe she could give this place the boost it needs!”
Reimu, all enthusiasm snuffed out, slowly turned to glare at Sanae. Sanae, in turn, just shrugged and smiled apologetically. Reimu groaned and put a hand to her face. “Honestly, I should just retire already...this is getting to be a real pain in the neck.”
Reimu and Marisa sat on top of the steps of the Hakurei shrine’s main building, taking shelter from the bright sunlight. It was too early in the year for the weather to be truly scorching, but even on this spring day, the direct sun was uncomfortable.
“Soooooo, Reimu…” Marisa took a long sip of her tea. “What’s going on between you and Sanae, exactly?”
Reimu simply scowled. “Where is this coming from?”
Marisa smiled, the lack of a denial meaning that she had definitely struck gold. “Oh, c’mon. It’s obvious! You keep going to the Moriya shrine any chance you get, and I know you didn’t put their branch shrine here just for business. And besides, you’re always inviting her to every single party and celebration that happens here! What was the last time you invited me to something?”
Reimu laughed. “There’s no point in inviting you, Marisa, you always barge in whether you’re welcome or not.”
Marisa snickered. “Okay, you got me there. But still, I’m pretty sure Sanae’s been here more than Alice or Sakuya lately. You can’t tell me Sanae’s got more free time than Alice of all people. So, what’s the deal?”
Reimu felt heat rising in her face—that must have been from irritation at Marisa’s pointless prodding, right? “It’s just...it’s good business to be friendly with the only other shrine around, right? And besides...it’s still sinking in that I’m not the only shrine maiden here, you know? Plus, she’s…” Marisa’s smile had only gotten wider as Reimu talked, finally annoying her into stopping. “Alright, smartass, you look like you have a theory. Care to share?”
Marisa leaned forward, resting her face on her hands. “Reimu, c’mon. I’m just wondering when you’re gonna tell her.”
Reimu started scowling even harder. “Tell her what, Marisa?”
“That you love her, dummy.”
Reimu’s face turned red, driven by anger and—no, scratch that, definitely just anger. “Marisa, come on! Of all the stupid, idiotic things you’ve said, that really stands out! I mean, me? Love her? How could that even happen?”
Marisa’s face betrayed nothing. “Hey, how long have we known each other? Believe me, I can tell when you have a crush on someone. And you, my friend, are absolutely head over heels for her.” She chuckled and clapped her hands together. “Oh man, this is great! Patchouli owes me a book now!”
“Y-you took a bet on this? Are you seriously—first you have the nerve to accuse me of—and then you took bets on—ugh!” Reimu stammered, struggling to get words out past the sheer absurdity of what Marisa was saying.
Marisa just laughed, thoroughly enjoying seeing Reimu short-circuiting. “Honestly, I thought it’d be fun to just tease you about it, but if you can’t even deny it...man oh man, this is some hot juicy gossip!”
Reimu instantly leaned towards Marisa, putting a finger right in front of her face. “Marisa, if you breathe a word of this to anyone—”
Marisa put her hands up defensively. “Hey, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about your little crush...except for the people I made bets with. A girl’s gotta collect, y’know?”
Reimu groaned and flopped onto the landing behind her. “Honestly, Marisa...remind me why I’m still friends with you?”
Marisa laughed. “I dunno, Reimu. Probably my winning personality and reliable firepower?”
Reimu looked up at Marisa, a wicked grin forming on her face. “Seriously, Marisa, if anyone finds out about this, I’m telling Alice how you feel about her.”
That got Marisa's attention. “Wh—hey, cheap shot! Just because you’ve got romance trouble doesn’t mean that—“
“Hey, you two!”
Reimu sat back up, her and Marisa looking at the new arrival that had interrupted them. Waving at them and walking up the shrine’s path was—of all people, Sanae? What was she doing here, with such awful timing?
Marisa waved back. “Oh hey, Sanae! We were just talking about you!” Reimu subtly elbowed Marisa for that, but she only smiled wider.
Sanae walked up to the base of the steps that Reimu and Marisa were sitting on. “Um, I hope you were saying nice things about me...But anyways, it’s weird that you two are here. I would’ve expected you to be gone by now.”
Reimu spoke up next. “Fancy seeing you down here. What did you come here for?”
“Well, nothing too important...But, have you already found that ship flying in the sky, Reimu? I was sure you would have already gone to look for it.”
Reimu and Marisa looked at each other, surprised. “A ship flying through the sky?”
Sanae nodded. “I’ve been looking for it myself, so I was trying to see if anyone knew anything about it.”
Reimu looked confused. “Huh? Wait a—“
Marisa cut her off, amazed. “You mean the stories about that flying ship were actually true?”
Sanae paused, amazed for different reasons. “Huh? You didn’t know? But it’s impossible to miss…” She pointed up towards the clouds. Reimu stood up and walked down the stairs, and Marisa pushed off the landing to hop on her feet. Following Sanae’s lead, they both looked upwards, where an incredible ship-shaped shadow seemed to melt between the clouds and the sky.
Reimu put a hand over her brow to block the sun’s glare, having trouble believing her eyes. “You weren’t kidding…”
Marisa copied her movement, but also stood on her toes, as if the extra inches would reveal the shadow’s secrets. “Look at the size of that thing!” She settled back down, and darted back to the stairs to grab her broom. “C’mon, you two, I think we just got ourselves an incident!” Without even waiting for a response, Marisa boarded her broom and shot up into the sky.
Reimu and Sanae looked at each other for a moment, taken aback by Marisa's unstoppable enthusiasm. Reimu, suddenly noticing that they were alone and standing together, blushed and stepped back. “I, uh, I gotta go grab my rod, so uh...you go after her, I’ll catch up.” And she turned and walked towards her living quarters to—
“Hey, Reimu!”
Reimu’s heart skipped a beat. Oh, great, what could Sanae want to tell her? There...there was no way she heard her conversation with Marisa earlier, right? Heart pounding, Reimu turned to face Sanae.
“Your rod’s over here, dummy!” Sanae was waving Reimu’s purification rod above her head. Did...did she leave that on the steps? Did she seriously try to walk off to grab her rod when it was just laying right there? Great, what would Sanae think of that? She wouldn’t think Reimu was trying to avoid her, would she? Though with how oblivious and optimistic she tended to be, she wouldn’t feel that way, right?
Barely containing her shame and embarrassment, Reimu walked over to Sanae and accepted the offered purification rod. Their hands brushed together for a moment, causing Reimu’s heart to skip again, but she held it together. “Th-thanks, Sanae.”
Sanae just beamed at her, then stepped back. “Don’t wait too long, we gotta catch up to Marisa!” And she took off, flying after Marisa.
Reimu just watched Sanae go, trying to calm her pounding heart. Geez, her hands had gotten all sweaty, too...hopefully Marisa would drop the topic after this, because another encounter like that might just kill her.
Reimu and Sanae sat on the Hakurei shrine landing, each holding a bottle of strange blue liquid.
Reimu looked at the liquid in her hand, unsure what to think of it. “What did Reisen say this stuff does, again? Temporarily removes your ability to die?”
Sanae held her bottle up to the light, studying it with a hand on her chin. “That’s what she said, yeah. It sounds really powerful...but something about it scares me, you know?”
Reimu swirled her bottle idly, watching the elixir spin around and settle down. “Frankly, I don’t trust anything Eirin makes that’s stronger than cold medicine. Reisen made it sound like we don’t have a chance without this, but I don’t really buy it. I mean, Marisa and I beat everyone at Eientei before, so how bad can those Lunarians be this time?”
Sanae hummed in acknowledgement, still trying to see the potion’s secrets. “I get that. They must have some kind of weapon, if they’ve got Eirin so unsettled, but even they don’t stand a chance against Gensokyo's greatest incident-solvers.”
Reimu set her bottle down beside her, having seen enough of it. “You got that right. Marisa and I have been busting everything from vampires to nuclear gods ever since we were kids. Not a chance we screw this one up.”
Sanae looked at Reimu, pouting. “Hey, I’m pretty good, too! I was the first one to get to where Byakuren was sealed in Makai, you know.”
Reimu laughed. “Sorry, sorry. You’re right, I shouldn’t count you out. You do actually do good work when you get around to it.”
That just made Sanae’s pout deepen. “Don’t say it like that! It’s a lot of work being a shrine maiden for two gods, you know! And besides—” She gave another swirl of the elixir. “—Eirin and Reisen are trusting me with this one. Even they know I’m reliable, right?”
Reimu leaned back on her hands. “No, it’s true. You get pulled in ten different directions at once, but you work hard to fulfill all your responsibilities. And you even do it all with a smile. Honestly your enthusiasm is—” Reimu suddenly noticed how bright Sanae’s eyes had gotten, and processed the words coming out of her own mouth. Crap, what was she doing? The Hakurei shrine maiden did not heap praise on people like that; she had an image to maintain.
Sanae squealed and threw her arms up. “I can’t believe it! That’s the nicest thing I’ve heard you say about anyone! But, don’t let me stop you! What were you about to say about my enthusiasm?”
Reimu blushed, turning fully away from Sanae. Honestly, for so little praise to get that big of a reaction out of her...why was she so weird? And why did Reimu think it was so cute? “Nothing, Sanae. Forget I said any of that.”
Sanae whined impatiently. “Come on, Reimu. What was it?”
Reimu crossed her arms, refusing to look at her. “Nothing, Sanae. Didn’t I tell you to forget about it?”
Sanae, not taking “no” for an answer, grabbed Reimu’s shoulder and started shaking her slowly. “Reeeeiiiimuuuuuuuuu, what were you gonna saaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?”
Reimu, giving up, shook off Sanae’s hand and turned back towards her. “Okay, okay, cut it out already. You can’t tell anyone this, but...I was gonna say that your enthusiasm...it’s infectious. You can really brighten up a crowd, and honestly, it’s kind of incredible to watch.”
Sanae’s eyes lit up again as her body shook with barely-contained excitement. “You really mean it?!”
Reimu huffed and crossed her arms, trying (and failing) to keep herself from blushing further. “What, you didn’t hear me the first time? Because I’m not saying it again.”
Sanae squealed again and pulled Reimu into a side hug. “I can’t believe it! Reimu Hakurei thinks I’m incredible! She thinks I’m incredible!”
Reimu squirmed a bit at the sudden hug, but made no real attempt to escape. “Hey, I didn’t say that you were incredible, I said that your skills are.”
Sanae, either not hearing or simply not caring about the correction, pulled back from the hug, positively beaming. “Oh, man, Marisa’s gonna be so jealous when I tell her about this!”
Reimu crossed her arms in an X shape. “You can’t tell anyone about this, Sanae.”
Sanae drooped ever so slightly. “Not even Marisa?”
Reimu shook her head. “Especially not Marisa.”
Reimu carefully grazed between the ring of fireballs floating past her, keeping one eye on the three fake moons whizzing about. Reimu, Sanae, Marisa, and Reisen had gathered to fight this star-spangled fairy with a torch. All the normal fairies in the area had been supercharged because of her, making the region nearly impassable for even seasoned incident-solvers.
And now, even with all four of them together, this torch-wielding jester fairy was absurdly tough. With Reisen’s trump card of lunatic eyes rendered completely useless against someone who already fought using lunacy, they’d been forced to just whittle her down with bullets. She’d withstood their onslaught for far longer than any normal fairy could, and her own spellcards were getting faster and wilder, forcing them all to adapt on the fly. And now these summoned moons circling her...even if they were part of a spellcard, they looked pretty lethal.
The four of them danced around Clownpiece, cutting what paths they could through the ever-increasing rings of fireballs. Marisa, spotting an opening, dived through it all. Hakkero in hand, she pulled up directly next to Clownpiece. “Take this! Master Spa—”
A moon came swinging from behind Clownpiece and directly into Marisa, slamming into her and dragging her away. To Reimu’s eyes, Marisa seemed to teleport away from the fake moon and reappear at the edge of the battle, physically unharmed but clearly shaken. That must have been from the elixir’s effect—none of them had gotten hit in battle before that.
“Uhh...make sure those things don’t hit you! They’re bad...” Marisa trailed off, still disoriented from the elixir rescuing her.
That was definitely easier said than done, especially with the fireballs still getting more and more intense. Still, Reimu spared a moment to check on her teammates. Sanae was behind to her left, keeping her distance and pelting Clownpiece with a consistent stream of long-range bullets. Marisa was to her right, far enough to be safe but too far to do much damage. Reisen was closer in than Reimu, dodging like mad but struggling to fire off shots.
Okay… Reimu thought to herself. Everyone’s safe, and we’re still winning this fight. The fairy’s attacking pretty wildly, but she must be getting exhausted. If we can get just one good attack off, then—
An explosion of fireballs interrupted Reimu’s train of thought, forcing her to quickly fly upwards to dodge them. What she noticed too late was the summoned moon whipping around towards the clear space she dodged into, about to run her over.
I knew I should’ve drank that damn elixir. Eirin was right, these Lunarians are different.
As Reimu braced for impact, a wave of miraculous energy washed over her from her left, coating her in some kind of defensive barrier.
“Yasaka’s Divine Wind!”
Green waves of energy rippled out from Sanae, clearing the field of fireballs. The moon barreling towards Reimu collided with her, but instead of crushing her like a boulder, it deformed and flowed around the barrier protecting her, like a half-filled balloon limply rolling across the ground. Reimu just stared in awe as it rolled away, leaving her unharmed.
“There’s our opening, Reimu! Now!” Reisen’s yell snapped Reimu out of her stunned amazement, and she closed in on Clownpiece alongside the rabbit.
“Fantasy Seal!”
“Discarder!”
From close in, Clownpiece had no chance to dodge or block, and their dual spellcards hit dead-on. She was thrown backwards by their power, utterly defeated. Breathing heavily, Clownpiece lowered her torch, forfeiting the match.
“Hah, hah, hah...W-why...? But I heard that as long as we fairies, symbols of life, controlled this place, the people of the moon wouldn't be able to do a thing!”
Reisen’s eyes narrowed. “Hey, who exactly did you hear that from?”
Clownpiece looked at her, still catching her breath. “My honorable friend. The one who refined us fairies' power was her, too.”
Reisen’s expression softened, confused. “’Refined’? What does that mean...?”
Clownpiece shrugged. “I don't really get it either, but apparently it's something really amazing.”
Reimu cut in, not interested in hearing the details. “Look, we just came here looking for whoever’s invading Gensokyo. Your ‘friend’ sounds like they’ll know who’s behind it. Can you guide us to her?”
Marisa and Sanae swooped in, finally catching up. Sanae, eyes bright, spoke up. “Ooh, are we really pulling a ‘Take me to your leader’? It’s usually the other way around, you know!”
Everyone, including Clownpiece, just looked at her, not at all understanding what she was referencing. “Y-you know, like those old sci-fi movies! The aliens come down from their ship like ‘Take me to your leader’ and they seem peaceful at first, but then...ah, forget it.” She waved a hand in front of her face, trying to clear the air of awkwardness.
Marisa turned to Clownpiece, trying to get back on track. “So, that aside, can you take us to whoever’s giving you orders?”
Clownpiece nodded slowly, shoulders drooping. “Yeah, I guess...I got no fight left in me, so I think you’ve earned that much...Follow me.” She turned to fly off, everyone following.
Reimu grabbed Sanae’s shoulder, holding her back while the other three went ahead. “Hey, Sanae...thanks for that. I was a goner, and you really saved my butt.”
Sanae beamed. “All in a day’s work for the Moriya shrine maiden! Besides, I had to keep an eye on you. You’re irreplaceable!”
Reimu flushed a little, not expecting the direct compliment. “Wait, what are you saying?”
Sanae chuckled. “I mean, you’re the Hakurei shrine maiden. You keep Gensokyo safe, and you’re the greatest butt-kicker on our team up here. We’re in a lot of trouble if you go down, you know. And I know I can’t work for two shrines at once.”
Reimu just stared for a moment, apparently not used to receiving compliments either. “Uh, well...I guess we do make a pretty good team, huh? I kick butt, and you save mine.”
Sanae’s eyes sparkled. “I guess we are a team! Reimu and Sanae, partners in saving Gensokyo! Should we have some sort of motto, or maybe a team uniform...? Ah, forget that, we’re gonna be left behind at this rate!” She grabbed Reimu’s hand and shot off towards the others, Reimu nearly getting dragged behind her.
Partners, huh? That doesn’t sound bad.
Reimu sipped at her sake, savoring the flavor and warmth. “Alice, run that by me one more time?”
There was a festival being held at the Hakurei shrine. Now well past sunset on a warm summer day, all the humans from the village had left, leaving just Reimu and friends of the shrine there. Reimu, Marisa, Keine, Sanae, Alice, and Mokou were sitting together at the shrine, several bottles of sake shared between them.
Alice nodded. “As I said, I haven’t been seeing anyone lately. My tea parties with Patchouli are the only regular social event I have, and she hasn’t been able to make it for several weeks now. To be honest, it’s a little lonely…”
Keine nodded sympathetically. “It must be rough, having a smaller friend group that isn’t available.”
Reimu glanced at Marisa. “Y’know, Alice, if no one’s coming to visit you, I know someone who’d be happy to drop by.”
Marisa, picking up on Reimu’s idea, spoke up. “U-uh, yeah, I’d love to come by your place! Uh, for the tea parties, yeah.”
Alice seemed to lift a little at the idea. “Oh, could you? That’d be lovely. It’s at my house, every Monday and Thursday at 2pm.”
Reimu, sensing a rare opportunity to tease her oldest friend, continued. “Geez, Marisa, took you long enough. Y’know, Alice, for a while now Marisa has—” And she suddenly coughed and sputtered, thanks to Marisa subtly elbowing her.
“Sake’s hitting ya hard, huh? A-anyways, what she meant to say was that, I, uh, I’ve got a tea set that I’ve been meaning to use. Mind if I bring it along?”
Alice laughed daintily, making Marisa blush a little harder. “Sure thing, I can’t wait to see it.”
Mokou snickered, cheeks very red from excessive sake. “Please, you have a tea set? You’re the least formal person I know!”
Marisa slammed her cup down, not accepting Mokou’s words. “Hey, cut it out, firebird, or I’ll light you up with my hakkero!”
Mokou’s face darkened with aggression, and she held up a conjured flame in her hand. “Oh, yeah? You wanna test that?”
Marisa glared back at her, reaching for her hakkero, when Sanae waved her arm out, cutting off their imminent duel. “Come on, you two, there’s no need for that! We’re all having a nice time here, don’t get so worked up over Marisa’s love life!”
Everyone stared at Sanae, Marisa blushing heavily. Sanae looked back at everyone, blinking in confusion. “Hey, why’s everyone looking at me? Did I say something weird?”
The group’s gaze turned towards Marisa, who pulled her hat down to hide her eyes. “No, Sanae, it’s fine...someone had to spoil it eventually. Though, if we’re spilling secrets, then you should know that Reimu is ju—“
At that moment Reimu clamped a hand over Marisa’s mouth and pulled her back, cutting her off. Mokou, seeing that the party had turned rowdy, swung at the nearest person to her, which happened to be Keine. Keine just leaned back as Mokou missed, overshot, and collapsed on the floor with a groan.
Sanae turned to look at Keine and (an embarrassed) Alice, confusion all over her face. “Seriously...did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
Keine looked at the wrestling Reimu and Marisa, and sighed. “No, Sanae. I think it was just...sooner than she expected, that’s all.”
Reimu shifted under her blanket, settling into a comfortable position on her futon. She looked at Sanae, who had pulled her futon over to be right next to Reimu. What in the world was she doing, getting so close like that?
“Hey, I don’t remember putting these futons together. Why don’t you go next to Marisa if you want company?”
Marisa snored from the other side of the room, dead asleep on her futon. Sanae giggled and pulled her blanket tighter. “I can’t talk to her, she’s already out. Though, speaking of her...what was she trying to say about you earlier?”
Reimu flushed hard, turning her face away from Sanae to try and hide it. Damn, I was really hoping she’d forget about that. “It was nothing, Sanae. Don’t worry about it.”
Reimu didn’t even have to look at Sanae. She could just feel Sanae’s enthusiastic smile burning into her. Geez, didn’t she have the good sense to drop an unwanted topic?
“Reeiiiiiiimuuuuuuuuuuuu, come onnnn. What was she gonna sayyyyyyyyyy?”
Reimu huffed and rolled onto her side, putting her back towards Sanae. “What part of ‘it was nothing’ did you not catch? I’m definitely not telling you, Sanae. Drop it.”
The seconds went by with no response from Sanae. Ah crap, was I too harsh? I should apologize…
Reimu’s next thought was interrupted by her blanket suddenly getting pulled off her. She exclaimed in surprise as Sanae pounced, snuggling up to Reimu’s back and draping her own blanket over the both of them. Way too close, what is she doing?!
“S-Sanae? What are you doing?”
In response, Sanae just put her chin on Reimu’s shoulder. “You looked so cold and lonely, Reimu! I thought it’d be a lot warmer this way!”
Reimu’s mind was going a mile a minute, but if Sanae was acting like this...she was pretty physically affectionate, but this was really outgoing, even for her.
Right?
Reimu shifted back to look at Sanae, cheeks burning from how close their faces were now. Hopefully the dark room would hide that, right? Gods, it was too late for her to be dealing with questions like that.
“Sanae, if you’re that cold, you can just…” Reimu trailed off as Sanae’s sweet eyes stared into her, completely melting any resistance she had to Sanae sleeping so close to her. “...you can just stay here, then.”
Sanae smiled wide at Reimu’s acceptance, settling in and grabbing Reimu’s arm.
“Goodnight, Reimu.”
“Uh...goodnight, Sanae.”
Sanae closed her eyes, leaning against Reimu as she slowly drifted to sleep. Reimu kept turning her gaze between Sanae and the ceiling above them, in absolute awe of what was happening. The woman she was head over heels for was clinging to her and falling asleep next to her? And was just doing so because she wanted to? How did this happen?
Even as Sanae went deeper into sleep. Reimu was having trouble calming down. Though, looking at Sanae’s completely unguarded face next to her did help...and it also gave her a very troublesome idea that just wouldn’t leave her mind.
No, I really shouldn’t. There’s no way she’s doing all this because she likes me...Though, it’s weird that she complained about being cold when it’s so warm out...Maybe she just sleeps cold, I don’t know. But she’s never been this clingy before...And besides, she’s already asleep, right? I can just do it once, get it over with, never think about it again, and she won’t even know it happened. Just a win all around, right?
Finally deciding not to let this opportunity pass her by, Reimu carefully brushed Sanae’s bangs aside, and gently kissed her on the forehead. She moved slowly, doing her best not to wake Sanae up.
Okay, there, I’ve done it, now I know what it’s like, so I don’t need to—
Sanae squeezed Reimu’s arm even tighter and squealed, a blush growing on her face. Clearly, she was not as asleep as Reimu thought she was.
Oh, heavens preserve me.
“Uh, Sanae, look, I’m really sorry about that, it was—”
The rest of that sentence quickly didn’t matter, as Sanae leaned forward and planted a kiss on Reimu’s cheek. Sanae settled back, eyes bright and cheeks red.
“It’s okay, Reimu. I...I love you too.”
Reimu just stared in shock, completely overloaded. “Wait—you—you love—what do you mean ‘too’? How—who—sorry, what?”
Sanae giggled at Reimu’s flabbergasted words. “Well, I’ve had my suspicions for a couple months now, and tonight basically confirmed it, even before this. And to be honest...I’ve kind of had feelings for you for a while now, so I thought this would be a good chance to get to the bottom of it.”
Reimu’s heart and mind were racing, but she still heard something very important in there. “Hang on, what suspicions? What gave it away?”
Sanae squeezed Reimu’s arm again, putting a hand over hers. “I know you try to be the super cool Hakurei shrine maiden, but you’re not as good at hiding it as you think. And...Marisa pretty much told me a while back.”
Reimu groaned, betrayed. “Marisa told you? That’s it, tomorrow I’m killing her.”
Sanae squeezed Reimu’s hand and pulled herself a little closer. “Come on, Reimu, if it weren’t for her pushing us together, how long would it have taken you to confess?”
Reimu huffed, torn between gratitude and stubbornness. “Fine, I’ll just kick her ass instead.”