Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nighttime was a time of multitudes. Most chose to use it to rest their eyes and sleep after a long, tiring day. Others would use this time to go out on the town, party and get drunk until they wound up asleep anyway, a more fun ending to a day giving way to the worst possible way to start the next. Some would just use these hours to do the menial jobs that most would do during the day, because someone has to keep the lights at the pub open when some drunks show up for an all-night get-together. Yes, these multitudes were simple, but it went to show that the world didn’t simply stop the moment someone went to bed.

There was another group, still. Some chose to use the night as a vehicle to escape the stresses of the day, much like the party bunch, though in a less intense, more relaxing manner. Stargazing was the hobby of choice for this sort of person; the simple act of going out and staring up at those little white dots was apparently quite special to some people. What could people make out with just the naked eye, especially without that pesky sun in the way to block the view? Perhaps the moon would be close enough that you could make out its craters, or the stars lined up in just the right way that they made little pictures. It was a simple, but peaceful exercise in self-reflection.

Or so Megumu said. Momoyo was always more of a partier, using the day to dig for rocks to eat and the night to go wild, scream at the top of her lungs and scare any other youkai who came within close vicinity of her. Momoyo was the one people called a princess, but in spite of that she was very much the beast to Megumu’s beauty. Not that Megumu was pure of heart mind you, but their interests and desires still could not have been more different.

That didn’t mean Momoyo wasn’t willing to try and see what all the fuss was about. After all, Megumu had specifically invited her on this outing, going so far as to even rope some crow tengu in to help carry their belongings. Either this or she ripped off their articles again, so she said. Momoyo didn’t get it, she wasn’t ever the business-minded type. She just focused on not tripping on any rocks on her way up this hill.

“Not sure why we’re even bothering walking,” Momoyo stated nonchalantly, swinging her pickax around as she spoke. “I know you hid your wings under that cape, but aren’t we supposed to be able to fly without any?”

“It’s all about the atmosphere, dear.” Megumu responded, not even bothering to open her eyes as she made her way up the well-beaten path. “I like to think it adds to the mood, too. What better way to emphasize just how high-up those stars are than to stick as close to the ground as possible?”

“...I dunno, feel like I could see that just fine from anywhere. Not like we’re going into space or anything.”

Megumu laughed and rolled her eyes, eventually slowing her walking speed as the top of the hill started to come into view. The view was plain and grassy, not to mention flat enough that they could sit or stand easily without the risk of tumbling down the other side. There was also a pretty slim number of trees, meaning the view of the sky was crystal clear. It was no wonder Megumu picked this as her go-to spot for stargazing, it was just about perfect for the job.

The group made it to the top of the hill soon-thereafter. Megumu snapped her fingers, and in response the crow tengu following her began setting up a small campsite using the supplies they were made to drag along. There was a blanket and some cushions, and one of them even brought some snacks. Most interesting is the odd device that one of them handed to Megumu, which the greater tengu took to spinning like Momoyo had done with her pickax. It was some kind of cylinder decorated with a bunch of star and moon shapes; to Momoyo, it looked pretty tacky.

“Nice job, you three.” Megumu stopped and clapped, smiling at the lesser tengu that had accompanied her. “You’re free to leave. I think Momoyo and I could use some time to ourselves. Don’t worry, I’ll give you each a little pay bonus for your next papers.”

The trio nodded frantically, before flying off fast enough for Momoyo to nearly miss them entirely. Jeez, these tengu were fast, it made keeping track of them a real pain in the behind. It was a big part of why Momoyo rarely bothered targeting any when they intruded on her home.

“So… Momoyo, dear.” Megumu turned to face Momoyo, her smile turning warmer. “You’re sure you’ve never gone stargazing before?”

“I’m sure.” Momoyo tossed her weapons on the ground and started stretching. “I live in a cave, I barely even see the sun when I’m not going to see you.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Don’t worry, I shall remedy this, on my word as Gensokyo’s leading stargazing enthusiast.”

Megumu then held the cylinder out to Momoyo, showing it off more closely for her partner to see. One end had a small hole, while the other was capped with what looked like a simple glass barrier. Momoyo took the object and looked it over a few more times, flipping it upside down and rightside up and all sorts of different orientations.

“So what’s this thing?”

“They call it a telescope. You close one eye, and look through the little end with the other eye, and it makes everything on the other end look bigger.”

“What? Sounds wild, I don’t believe that for a second…”

Despite assuming she’d called Megumu on her bluff, Momoyo decided to give it a go anyway. She initially had trouble deciding which eye to use, closing and opening each one back and forth, before deciding to just go with a random one. Once her eye of choice was decided she pressed the telescope up to her eye. The first thing she saw was the grass beneath her feet, but not just that; though the view was somewhat blurry owing to her lack of focus, she could make out individual blades, even the glisten of dew on some. Momoyo grunted in confusion, continuing to stare at the grass.

“...huh. Why’s the grass look so big?”

“Aha. That just means the telescope’s working its magic.”

Megumu encouraged Momoyo to pick her head up, pointing her toward the sky above. Momoyo obliged, figuring she’d just go along with whatever her partner suggested. What were once simple white dots were now slightly larger white dots with an even slighter bit of increased detail. She tilted her head, briefly removing the telescope from her eye.

“...yeah, those are stars.”

“See, you’re getting the hang of it.” Megumu gave Momoyo a pat on the back, evidently proud of the small bit of progress her partner was making. “Now, I’d like to show you something. I’ve been practicing a bit of my ability and… well, I think you might like it.”

Megumu spun around and smirked, a clear sparkle in her eye as she pointed up at the sky. Figuring she wanted her to look, Momoyo took a glance up at the stars above. From her perspective, all she could see was a bunch of white dots sitting around in the black abyss. She hummed as she continued trying to see what was so special about this view.

“...it’s stars.”

“Try looking closer. I gave you that telescope for a reason.”

Oh right, the telescope. That would probably help. With a shrug, Momoyo put the eyepiece back up to her face and tried to focus harder on what Megumu was pointing at. Surely there was more to be seen if Megumu was so bent on her looking at it, it was just a matter of actually figuring it out. When she couldn’t see anything yet again, she started swinging her head around to see if she could eventually find anything. She did eventually see something, it was just that that something was blatantly in the wrong direction.

“Uh, I see… two rabbits going on a date?”

“Momoyo, your head’s about ninety degrees off base, you’re losing it.”

Momoyo turned around to look at Megumu, squinting. She heard a bunch of words, or at least what she assumed were words, but they didn’t make sense. What the hell is a degree?

“What?”

“It means to look up, dear.”

Oh. She was that far off, huh? Sighing, Momoyo picked her head back up to gaze at some stars once more. She was more determined than ever to try and find something, anything in those lights, even if it meant giving herself a headache. She even tried floating off the ground slightly, hoping that maybe a single foot of height difference would make what she was supposed to see more apparent. Try as she may however, she just couldn’t figure it out. All she could see was a bunch of lights, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

“Damn it, damn it…”

Momoyo descended, squeezing the daylights out of the telescope. She wanted to snap the thing like a twig; how dare it not help her find what Megumu was trying to point out? Stupid faulty piece of junk, why’d it have to fail her? She very much almost did crush the telescope to bits, but there was one thing stopping her. It was a simple thing: Megumu. Megumu handed that telescope to her; she trusted in its judgment, and clearly gave it to Momoyo for that reason. That tengu was the smartest woman Momoyo knew, not to mention Momoyo was one of the only people she was fully honest and trusting toward. There was no way she wanted to deceive her, maybe Momoyo really just didn’t get it.

“...sorry, I give up.”

Momoyo handed the telescope over to her partner, who gazed at her with a clear level of concern. Momoyo really wasn’t the type to get angry over small things like this, so the fact that she was so visibly upset must have caught her off-guard.

“What am I supposed to be seeing? It’s just stars up there.”

“...ah.” Megumu gently drops the telescope onto the blanket near them, brushing her hands off after. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t clear enough about what you were supposed to look for. This is my fault, for all I know you could have been looking for a dot of a different color.”

Megumu extended a hand toward Momoyo, the latter taking and squeezing it gently. With some deep breaths, Momoyo was able to fully calm herself. Any ounce of stress faded away, leaving her just feeling embarrassed.

“...yeah, sorry. Again, I live in a cave. I just know those are called stars, I don’t know anything else.”

“Here, then. Let me point it out for you.”

Megumu pulled Momoyo closer, then spun her around to look back up at the sky. She used her free hand to point to a string of stars one by one.

“Notice how those stars are closer together than the others?”

Now that Megumu mentioned it… yeah, Momoyo could see it. There was a group of somewhat linear, tightly-packed stars just sitting there. The main part looked like a constantly-curving line, it almost looked like waves on the water… at least, based on the pictures Megumu showed her.

“Oh yeah, it’s kinda wavy…”

“Mmhm. And see those ones off to the sides?”

Now that she knew what to look for, Momoyo was able to properly pick up on details she would have missed earlier. Indeed, many of the starts that formed the swirly line had a few other stars to either side. Those lines on the sides were linear to each other too, making for a somewhat angular look. Momoyo wasn’t sure what it was supposed to look like, but whatever it was looked kinda need.

“Oh, yeah, I see… something. How are they doing that?”

“Need I remind you of my ability? To manipulate the starry sky?”

Megumu smirked once more. Now that the mood was lighter, it gave her the ability to act like her usual self-assured self. Sure she had an ego problem, but hey, Momoyo liked the same person Megumu liked, so it worked out.

“I can adjust how they look to be arranged basically however I want. See, these designs? They’re called ‘constellations’. I can basically make my own just by pointing and adjusting. Can you guess what this one’s supposed to be?”

Megumu continued to draw shapes with her finger to emphasize the appearance of this pseudo-constellation. Momoyo, meanwhile, was trying to think of what this visual could possibly be. A curved line, with other thingies visible on the sides. It wasn’t an elegant description, but how else was she supposed to explain it? There was only one thing that came to mind, but it seemed so narcissistic… screw it. She was gonna go for it.

“A centipede?” Momoyo points to the sky. “Maybe the squiggly line is the body, and those things on the side are its arms. Am I stupid?”

Megumu simply chuckled, the ensuing pause being suffocating. It honestly made Momoyo wonder what she was thinking; was she about to laugh at her for a stupid answer? Thankfully that didn’t end up happening once she turned to face Momoyo once more.

“No, you’re right. It’s a centipede, you got the logic down and everything.” The tengu’s expression oozed with pride at her partner’s accomplishment. “I figured you’d like seeing a giant drawing in the sky honoring you at your most… giant? Significant? Whatever word you’d prefer.”

“I like imposing. Is imposing a good word?”

“Sure, that’s a good word for it. You’re very imposing. In fact, I’m trembling in fear right now. Oh no, I may just faint…”

Without warning, Megumu dropped onto the blanket behind her with a soft thud. Momoyo’s eyes went wide; for a moment, she thought her partner really did faint. It took the tengu raising her hand for her to realize that no, she was just being dramatic. Damn her and her grandiosity. Seeing that everything was alright, Momoyo dropped onto the blanket with her, landing right next to their snack supply.

“Yeah, sorry I wasn’t better at playing along. I don’t know, my specialties are eating and fighting, more abstract stuff like that is, like… well, I’m under-qualified. I just figured I’d go along with all this because you seemed passionate about it.”

“Your vocabulary’s getting more sophisticated, you can at least be proud of that. Spend a bit more time with me and you’ll be reciting poetry for fun.”

“Eww, poetry. Can we just start eating now? I’m starving.”

“Joking, I knew that’d be a stretch. Dig right in, I’ll just lay here a little while longer.”

Megumu lied down, staring at the sky, while Momoyo reached into the basket to grab some random food. Bless the day, none of it was rocks; Megumu’s connections as a high-ranking tengu meant she was able to get the best food available, and this stuff was no different.

“And thanks for putting up with my silly little idea. May have been a stretch to expect you to get the appeal right away, but I’m glad you gave it an honest try.”

“Hey, anything to make you happy. Whether it be mining for rocks or cheesy crap like this, you’re my number-one priority.”

The pair went silent, before deciding to just indulge in each other’s company. Momoyo continued to eat like she hadn’t in weeks while Megumu just sat beside her, smiling as if this was a completely normal way to consume food. Today may not have gone as planned, but neither of them were about to complain about the end result. They still had each other after all, and who’s going to complain about being alone with the person you love on such a beautiful night?

Certainly not those two: For as awkward as today was, they sure were living the dream.

Chapter Text

Summary: Sekibanki and Wakasagihime attempt to go on a date together while Kagerou and Kogasa do the same. It’s deeply awkward.

“Look at ‘em go…”

Surprisingly, for as close as the core Grassroots Youkai Network was, they didn’t do much to mix up the dynamic. It had always been the same situation for years: Wakasagihime hung out with her girlfriend Kagerou, who helped bring her friend Sekibanki into their dynamic, who just recently introduced them to her own girlfriend Kogasa who now hung out with them occasionally. The only difference now was that instead of friends, everyone was each other’s girlfriends.

Yes, just a few weeks ago they decided to expand the nature of their relationship once Kogasa endeared herself to the others in the group. It worked out well so far, but it didn’t change much. There was more snuggling and smooching than usual, but things were about as standard as always. Maybe the boredom of everyday life was starting to finally get to them, because today Kagerou proposed something different: Pair off with the one partner they hadn’t gotten a chance to date yet and… well, spend some one-on-one time with them. So how were they spending their date?

“Yeah… those two sure are dedicated…”

The group was currently stationed near the steps to Myouren Temple. Sekibanki and Wakasagihime had found a cute little pond for the mermaid to relax in while they watched Kogasa and Kagerou hide behind a bush. The two of them were sitting and waiting to try and scare a passerby, but given the lack of actual passerby they instead just talked about scaring people. The whole thing was fairly amusing to the other two, who proceeded to yap to each other about the little show they were getting.

“Those two are funny…” Wakasagihime rested her elbows against the grass in front of her while she continued to just watch the action. “I guess that’s extroverts for you. They just love getting out there and making big presences of themselves. Even when they’re hiding.”

“Yeah. It’s always a trait I’ve admired about them.” Sekibanki crossed her arms and adjusted her capelet to be a little looser. “They’re always so eager to try and socialize, even when it feels impossible. I sometimes wonder how they do it…”

The pair continued to eavesdrop on their more social brethren, listening in on their conversation like a couple of paparazzi looking for dirt. From what they could make out, the couple were talking about… wait. Were they talking about the exact same thing as them?

“Gosh, we’re really hitting it off,” the duo could hear Kogasa muttering between giggles. “You’re really good at talking.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Kagerou half-explained, half-boasted. “I didn’t always have this many friends, so I used to chat with the rabbit youkai whenever I was bored.”

Kagerou wasn’t fibbing, as far as Wakasagihime could recall. When they first started to spend time together, Kagerou actually had something of a reputation as a loner. Her home was in an isolated little shack in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, far out enough that she often just went to Eientei to eat lunch with the bunnies there. She didn’t really consider any of them her friends though; most of them found her too intimidating to want to spend time with. It wasn’t her fault really, it just so happened that being a hungry, meat-eating youkai around a bunch of prey-based, veggie-eating youkai made one stand out for all the wrong reasons.

“You know, Banki…” Waka muttered. “When we first met, Kagerou thought I was the world’s largest smelt. She almost took a bite out of my tail then and there before I started yelling. Golly I was scared.”

“Hmm.”

Banki had already heard that story six time by that point, so she wasn’t even bothering to act surprised. It would probably help to try and keep the conversation going though, so she did her absolute damnedest to find a reasonable trajectory for it.

“I’m still a little surprised that you two went from that to straight-up dating. I used to assume you were just a masochist.”

“A-A masochist? Now you’re just being uncouth.” Waka partly hid her face, a tad embarrassed by the remark. “No, no. After she apologized we struck up a conversation and… well, you know her. The moment she gets going, she’s just really charming. The cool expression, the calm demeanor, that inner strength hidden underneath… I swear Banki, it was like I’d won one of those really nice raffles. She was perfect.”

“Hmm… yeah, I guess I get it.”

Sekibanki looked over at Kogasa, who was currently in the middle of practicing her ‘scary’ faces. None of them were actually very scary, but she wasn’t about to tell her that. They were too damn cute for her to want Kogasa to stop doing them. Hell, Kogasa as a whole was just really damn cute.

“I guess while we’re on the topic of how we’re all meeting, I’ve told you about how her and I met, right?”

“The time at the market, right? You said she nearly scared your head off while you were in the middle of work. I thought she wasn’t supposed to be scary.”

“It was a good first impression. Then she completely shattered that first impression and just started being… y’know, herself. And then I fell for her for a completely different reason.”

Sekibanki paused as she tried to put into words just what about Kogasa drew her to her. Why did she fall in love with Kogasa? It was a pretty difficult question to answer, the two of them just were not all that alike. Neither of them were scary, sure, but besides that they had extremely different personalities. Kogasa was cheerful, playful, adventurous, and she was able to maintain a job. Sekibanki, meanwhile, was aloof, haughty, and a perpetual part-timer. Just how did those two end up together?

“...she’s cute. Like… really, really cute. How can a single person be that pretty? She’s… I wouldn’t say she’s always happy, but she’s got this extremely admirable pep to her that makes me want to just follow her no matter where she goes. She’s the one who inspires me to get out of bed every morning and just get shit done, and I want to be there for her just like she is for me. I think… I think that’s why I love her.”

Sekibanki went quiet in that moment, just letting her words fill the air and color the atmosphere. It was about as flowery of language as she could muster; when she wasn’t acting arrogant or pretending to be scary, she was actually pretty lacking in confidence in regard to her words. She could only hope that she’d done a good job of explaining how her and Kogasa came to be.

“Oh… that’s very sweet.” Wakasagihime smiled softly as she made eye contact with Sekibanki, her expression warm as ever. “That reminds me a little of why I fell for her honestly. She’s got… just the most infectious personality you could imagine. I kind of wish I had that sort of positivity, instead of being… you know… sad, timid old me.”

Sekibanki was about to speak up once more before she caught something out of the corner of her eye. It seemed that a person was finally coming up the steps toward the temple, and Kogasa and Kagerou were over the moon. Finally, the fruits of their labor could be harvested. Banki couldn’t quite see who it was about to pass them just yet, so she decided to focus on reassuring Waka for now.

“Hey, don’t give yourself flack. There’s a reason Kagerou fell for you. And why Kogasa and I are also really fond of you.”

“...and that is?” There was a brief pause where Waka seemed to think over her words. “N-Not that I’m fishing for compliments, I’m just curious about what you had to say.”

“Oh, it’s pretty simple.” Sekibanki lowered the collar of her capelet to show off her own smile. “You’re incredibly sweet, and beautiful to boot. When I think of the word “princess”, you’re the first person that comes to mind… and it’s not just because of your name.”

Wakasagihime nodded, listening intently. She didn’t offer another comment, just wanting to hear Sekibanki fully elaborate on her choice of words.

“Seriously, you’re… kind, elegant, carry yourself seriously… you’re a lady in every meaningful way. I’ve always admired that about you, I just didn’t know how to really articulate it until we started, uh… this whole thing.”

Banki gestured around her, then toward the two by the bush. Waka was able to pick up on what she meant pretty much immediately. Still as happy as ever, she began to climb out of the water, plopping down next to Banki and giving her a hug, causing the latter to become flustered.

“Thank you. I’ve always admired your sincerity. And you’ve got cute and cool down pretty much perfect.”

“H-Hey, you don’t have to emphasize the cute part, we can pretend I’m just cool if we want…”

The duo snuggled together, just enjoying each other’s company and closeness in that moment. After a while they looked over at the others once more, now noticing that they could make out details on the person they were about to scare. They could make out a red dress and ribbon, some white, and… oh. Oh no. They were about to do something incredibly stupid, weren’t they?

“...oh dear, we should probably stop them…”

“Yeah, if we can-”

It was too late. The moment the red-white one turned the corner, Kagerou and Kogasa jumped up, yelling loud enough to cause their victim to jump in the opposite direction and fall onto a patch of grass. She winced and whined as she got up, and Sekibanki could faintly hear her complaining about grass stains before glaring at the duo. As Reimu brandished her gohei, the pair by the pond just stared at her, then each other.

“...okay, so we could stay here in safety… or we could go over and also get blasted with spell cards. Maybe even get our clothes ripped.”

The duo weighed their options for a moment as the other duo braced for impact. Kogasa brandished her umbrella like a bludgeon while Kagerou attempted to brandish a set of claws that did not exist, instead just showing off her excellently painted nails that were bound to get chipped soon. Reimu could probably crush the two of them at once and four likely wouldn’t make a difference either, especially since Kogasa was far and away the best danmaku practitioner of the quartet. Still...

“...I vote solidarity.”

“Y-Yeah, me too.”

Sekibanki and Wakasagihime, thus, flew right on over to join their semi-doomed friends, nominally to defend them but mainly so they didn’t have to lose alone. It wasn’t about winning, it was about asserting that the four of them were a unit. A very close unit at that, one that had no plans of splitting up anytime soon. Even if it meant getting embarrassed by Reimu in the middle of a date, by the Gods they were gonna stick to their words, and they weren’t going to regret it.

Chapter Text

Just a simple gap. A single little tear in the fabric of space-time was all it took for Yukari Yakumo to be anywhere and anywhere that she may want to be. What looked from the outside to be an ominous void of purple was actually her gateway to the entire rest of Gensokyo and any other place she could think of, right at her fingertips. All she had to do was slip through her portal and she was good to go.

“Ran, I’m going on a trip. Don’t burn down the house while I’m gone. That’s a reminder for your cat too, by the way!”

Just like any other day, Yukari was taking a trip through her gap to elsewhere, just her and her favorite parasol. Today’s destination? Hakugyokurou, a Netherworld shrine. It was helmed by her longtime partner Yuyuko Saigyouji, a spirited lady who just so happened to also be a spirit, a ghost to be specific. Besides her own servant Youmu and a bunch of assorted spirits, she mostly lived at the shrine alone so Yukari liked to make regular visits. This time however, it was Yuyuko who invited her over: It was early in spring, and she wanted to show Yukari some “special new cherry blossoms” that had just started blooming.

“Special, huh? I suppose I’ll have to see about that.”

After a few minutes of traveling, Yukari made it from her home in some far-off corner of Gensokyo straight to the Netherworld, right at the gate to Hakugyokurou. The front courtyard was just as plain and basic as ever, the handful of trees being expertly pruned being the only signs that anyone had ever lived here. Yukari reasoned that Yuyuko was either inside the shrine itself or behind it, where most of the really dense trees tended to grow. Only one way to find out, and that was to walk past the gate and take a look for herself.

Before she could get far however, she was stopped by a familiar sight, a long sword poking out from the periphery of her vision. It wasn’t a threat, it was just a means to try and get her attention, and it just about always worked. She looked down and to her right, and sure enough, there was the servant girl, Youmu Konpaku. Yukari was used to being one of the tallest people around, but still, the difference in height between her and the woman in front of her always provoked a giggle from her.

“Oh, hello. Mind if I inquire where the lady of this property would be?”

“You don’t have to go through that whole song and dance, you know.” Youmu then swung her sword toward her right, pointing toward the back of the property. “She’s back there. She’s been waiting for a while you know, hope she’s not disappointed you took so long.”

What a funny response. Chuckling, Yukari gave Youmu a thank you and strolled over to the back, slinging her parasol over her shoulder while she walked. The scenery transitioned from a plain, dull courtyard to a veritable forest of cherry trees and other related plants, a luscious display that, while not as closely tended to as the front garden, was still beautiful in its own right. Maybe it was just how natural it all looked that made it so magical to look at, even if the blossoms of the cherry trees seemed to glow faintly in the midst of all the Netherworld’s supernatural energy.

After a bit more walking, Yukari finally found who she was looking for. There was a young woman who looked to be just a couple of years younger than her sitting underneath one of the trees. Her hair was as pink as the petals falling above her, and her pale blue kimono was a symbol of simple elegance. Her expression was thoughtful, wistful, like there was more on her mind than anyone could imagine. If it weren’t for the hitaikakushi she wore over her hat, you wouldn’t even know that she was supposed to be a ghost. And ghost or not, Yukari adored her.

“Here I am~.”

Yukari approached Yuyuko with a wave. The ghost turned and waved along, a smile on her face.

“Hello dear. Glad you could make it, I hope the way here wasn’t too dangerous.”

“Hah, a jokester as always. No, I just had the ever-helpful Youmu give me an ominous warning on the way here. I’m fine otherwise.”

Yuyuko glanced over at the shrine, sighing softly at the mention of Youmu. If anyone understood the gardener’s mind, it’d probably be her. And thankfully she was here to provide a solid explanation.

“Oh, poor Youmu. She planned to take a break today to go see her girlfriend over at Eientei. You know, the clinic in your plane of existence.”

“Is that so? Why’s she here then?”

“Ah…” Yuyuko placed a hand to her own cheek, deep in thought. “It seems the Human Village has had a small breakout of sickness. It’s all hands on deck at the clinic, and when they only have two people with any medical know-how… you can see why they wouldn’t want to lose even one of them.”

“...I see. Yes, that is quite unfortunate.”

Yukari sighed along and placed a hand to her chin, deciding now was a good time to be wistful too. That seemed like a normal adult emotion to have at a time like this. It would probably only be fair if she did something to help Youmu cheer up at some point, but for now, she decided to focus on the moment at hand.

“Anyhow, you mentioned something about a special cherry blossom? What makes it so special? Can you show me?”

Nodding, Yuyuko simply gestured next to her, pointing at the tree she was resting under. That was simple, it turned out she was already there. Taking the hint, Yukari sat down next to Yuyuko, setting her parasol aside now that the tree was giving her enough shade. The two sat for a moment in silence, just letting their eye contact speak for itself. It was a relaxing moment for the both of them, just being here with each other.

“As you can see…” Yuyuko reached up with a hand, allowing some petals to drop down into her palm. She then held them out for Yukari to look at. “These petals are quite unique. One-of-a-kind, if I must say. I’ll give you a moment to look and guess what that could possibly be.”

Yukari leaned forward to inspect the blossom petals, trying to see if she could pick anything out. They certainly were pink, but so were half of the other petals around her. They had that same supernatural aura that every other part of the Netherworld seemed to possess, and they were still pretty as all Hell. These petals looked to be the most ordinary Hakugyokurou-native petals she’d ever seen.

“Oh, they’re very… pink. Quite pink. Like your hair.”

“Oh, they’re pink, are they?” Yuyuko giggled, before holding up her hands and blowing the petals right into Yukari’s face. This prompts a cough from the latter, who then quickly switches to laughing along. “It doesn’t surprise me that you’d focus on that. You’re not exactly subtle about what you like, are you?”

“I am nothing if not a youkai of habit.”

Yuyuko leans forward and pokes Yukari on the nose. She then stands up to get closer to the actual flowers, prompting Yukari to join her. Obliging, the latter uses her parasol to help prop herself up before taking a closer look at these supposedly-special cherry blossoms. And once again, she doesn’t notice anything new; they seem to just be regular cherry blossoms in every meaningful way.

“Want to give it another guess? Or should I tell you?”

“...I, hmm…” Yukari scratched her head, deep in thought. It wasn’t long, however, before she decided to just throw in the towel. “You know what? I’ll let you say it.”

“Defeated so easily? Oh well. I guess I’ll tell you.”

Yuyuko leaned forward once more, her eyes never leaving Yukari’s for this lengthy period of silence. It lasted long enough that Yukari was starting to wonder if Yuyuko had just forgotten what she was going to say. For all she knew she did, because the silence was broken not with words, but with the ghost picking her head up and planting a kiss on the lips.

“They’re special… because you’re here to watch them with me.”

Yukari, for as corny as she found Yuyuko’s comment, still blushed. It wasn’t common where she got to hear Yuyuko be fully sincere, she was usually so fond of her riddles and distractions, so when she did get to hear it it was downright refreshing. To thank her for her honesty, Yukari kissed back, hug included.

“Someone’s been reading a lot of sappy romance novels. Is that why I hear Youmu’s been taking so many visits to Suzunaan?”

“Hmhm. Guilty as charged…”

The duo embraced each other under the cherry tree, the faint glow of the blossoms and occasional bits of light peaking past the branches being the only thing illuminating them. It was nice to have this moment to themselves, just the two of them, happy together. Still, Yukari’s thoughts lingered on poor Youmu. It wasn’t like she couldn’t just reschedule her date, there were plenty of days in the year, but she wondered if she could do something to help both her and the girl from Eientei feel better. Think… she’s a rabbit, right? What do rabbits like?

“...say, Yuyuko. Does Youmu know how to make carrot cake?”

Carrot cake, sure. It was stereotypical, but who didn’t like carrot cake? And clearly the mention of cake had Yuyuko’s eyes lighting up; as long as food was involved, she was sold on whatever ideas Yukari had.

“Carrot cake? I don’t think I’ve ever had that before, but it sounds good…” Yuyuko’s words are briefly broken up by the growl of her stomach. “Haha, I may be a bit hungry. But why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking it would be a nice gift for her girlfriend. Most people aren’t going to complain about free sweets, after all. If not, I could see if Ran would teach her. I did stash a rather large recipe bank in her internal storage, surely she has a carrot cake recipe in there somewhere? Maybe we can raid your shrine’s kitchen for the occasion?”

“Aha, you’re ready to go inside already? That’s convenient, now you have me thinking about food.”

Yuyuko semi-reluctantly broke the hug, though she maintained contact by holding onto one of Yukari’s hands. Even with the promise of a nice dessert on her mind, Yuyuko seemingly wanted to focus more on the sweet lady standing right in front of her.

“Let’s go then,” Yuyuko said, turning toward her shrine. “I’m sure Youmu will love the idea.”

With a nod, the duo left the cherry tree behind to get ready for stage two of their date. Sure, they didn’t have long to themselves, but every little moment they got together was still nice. Besides, it was for the sake of helping someone else with their own problems, and that was a nice, rare occasion for a youkai and a ghost. Overall, just a very nice day, and sure to be one of just many more.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Rin-Rin. You see that over there?”

“Rin-Rin…?”

You may recall the story of Megumu and Momoyo looking up at the stars from earlier. You may also remember that they weren’t the only couple in the area taking a look at the sky. Something about two rabbits, perhaps? Perhaps you were wondering at the time what those two were getting up to on a night like this, so close to Youkai Mountain? Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in.

“I’m just trying to think of a good nickname for you. Couples have cute, affectionate nicknames for each other, right? I don’t wanna just call you dear, that’s too formal.”

“I don’t know,” Ringo responded. “I don’t think I’m cute enough for that kind of nickname. You could probably do it better though… Ran-Ran? We can workshop that...”

The couple of the day, ex-moon rabbit soldiers turned dango chefs Seiran and Ringo, were currently out on a shorter, flatter hill looking up at the moon above. Ringo was sitting down on a blanket they had laid out, munching on a late-night snack of matcha-flavored dango, while Seiran was standing and looking up at the couple higher above them. They looked so large and imposing, which seemed to trigger Seiran’s curiosity.

“Ran-Ran is cute, I like that. But yeah, I think the girl on the left is a tengu, she must be hiding her wings under that big cape of hers. I dunno who that is with her, but she looks even bigger. Not taller, but she’s kinda jacked.”

“Why are you spying on random couples, anyway? Am I that boring?”

“N-No! Obviously not!” Seiran turned around and sat down with Ringo, flush red. “I just chose this spot because I figured we’d be, y’know, alone. Fairies don’t even hang out here, it’s that isolated. And there’s two people over there. Not like we could ask them to leave, we’re pretty weak by the standards of this place.”

Ah, that made sense. Ringo wasn’t fully sure why she was so bent on spending their alone time away from home – after all, they could probably just have stayed indoors if privacy was that important to her – but Seiran as a whole was a bit of an enigma to her. A hard worker who just wasn’t that great at anything she tried was a bit of a tragic figure if she really thought hard about it.

Not wanting to dwell on that point for too long, Ringo handed Seiran one of her dango skewers to munch on. This was one of her typical skewers, with one white, one pink and one green piece lined up one after the other. Seiran accepted with a muttered ‘thank you’ and joined in her snacking; even if the two had been rivals in sales at one point, even she knew Ringo was just that much better at making dango than she was.

“It’s not like we were doing anything important down here,” Ringo mumbled, at least having the decency to swallow before speaking. “It’s just a quiet, intimate moment under the moon and stars. We could talk about whatever we want down here, it’s not like the couple up there can hear us.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. As long as we don’t do anything weird, what do they care what we do down here? And obviously I wasn’t planning on doing anything weird, what kinda bunny do you take me for?”

Ringo chose to ignore Seiran’s question and instead resumed looking up at the moon. The moon… some moon rabbits may have been nostalgic for the high-tech, highly-pure landscape of the Lunar Capital, the bastion of the Lunarians’ empire and home of most moon rabbits by extension. It was a lot more advanced than Gensokyo, which was in an odd anachronistic place that none of the new citizens could quite get used to.

Those who left, however, didn’t look at their time in service to the Lunarians very fondly, the two of them included. Ringo deserted on her own accord, partly to try the Earth’s food and partly because her higher ups had always sketched her out. She was in intelligence, and thus knew plenty more than her fellow Moon Rabbits were privy to, but the few things she didn’t know always had her questioning things. Seiran, meanwhile, was deserted by her own higher-ups and left to become impure on Earth along with some members of her infiltration unit. She’d initially chalked it up to her own unpopularity among her peers, but eventually came to accept that the Lunarians were just that uncaring.

“...say, Ran-Ran?”

Seiran picked her head up and turned to look at Ringo. Her bunny ears pivoted slightly to hear her better.

“Hmm? Yeah, Rin? ...uh, wait, I think there’s a girl I know named Rin, shoot, I need to keep thinking of better nicknames…”

“Anyway, uh… so. The moon… how do you think they’re all doing up there?”

“...by they, you mean…?”

Ringo held up two fingers on one hand, bouncing the hand up and down a bit after. It was a simple shorthand for rabbit that she saw a few people using back home. To her relief, Seiran caught the hint.

“Oh, the other rabbits? I mean… I can only hope the Lunarians are treating them nicer. Relying on Earthlings to defeat that blonde lunatic ought to have doused those jerks in a nice humility shower. Spent their whole lives thinking their purity made them bigger and stronger, well the joke is on them.”

Seiran turns back to look up at the moon. She lifts both her hands and makes an obscene gesture with each, pointing toward wherever she thinks the Lunar Capital may be.

“You hear that!? Maybe if you weren’t so worried about your gosh-darn purity, you’d be able to do some thinking and realize that you suck too! Maybe even more!”

Seiran’s impassioned insults caused Ringo to break into a giggle fit. Oh Seiran, so passionate in everything she set out to do. It was one of the many things that made her so endearing, so unabashedly charming. For as charming as it was though, it was still very silly listening to her go on her mini-rant against the powers that be, those who claimed to have created youkai just to maintain superiority over the Earth. What a bunch of clowns, they deserved it.

“Hmm…”

Ringo sat up partly, using one of her hands to keep herself propped upright while her other hand continued to feed her. In between bites however, she performed her own obscene gestures toward the moon and its establishment.

“And you’d better not forget it! We’re all way happier down here! Even if my entire life up to this point were completely different, I’d still desert!”

Ringo felt lighter once she’d gotten those words off of her chest; sometimes it felt good to just say what was on your mind, even if it may have sounded ridiculous to someone else. Because it was true, Ringo was never prouder of herself than the moment she saw Reisen living happy on Earth and decided she wanted a piece of that impure pie as well. And it was even better now that she got to share this new life with Seiran, who had once just been a friend but was now her one and only.

“Phew… that felt nice, right?” Seiran sat up and glanced at Ringo, a bright smile spread across her face.

“Sure did. I wish we had more opportunities to just scream at nothing in particular.”

Ringo took one last bite of her dango, the skewer now picked clean of anything that could possibly have been edible. Not wanting to make waste, she stuffed the skewers into a bag, planning to throw them away once she got home. And speaking of getting home…

“Say, now that we’ve gotten that out of our system…” Ringo slowly began to stand up, a yawn escaping her lips. “What do you say to going back to my place and laying down?”

“So soon? How come?”

“I mean, I feel like it’d make more sense to sleep in the comfort of our own homes, where there aren’t any… I don’t know. There’s probably fewer bugs indoors than outdoors, right? And besides…”

Ringo pointed up toward the other couple again, who seemed to just be relaxing on the hill now. She could faintly make them out lying down on their own blanket, though she couldn’t tell what exactly they were doing.

“Maybe those two could use a bit of privacy? Don’t want to ruin their special moment.”

Seiran paused, the moment growing silent as she seemed to struggle for a response. Gee, Ringo didn’t think her explanation was that confusing, maybe she was just that bad at judging that sort of thing? When Seiran did eventually speak again, it was front-ended with a laugh.

“Alright, sure, we’ll leave those lovebirds be. Least we can do to thank ‘em for leaving us be, right? Your house then, let’s get going.”

And so without a word, the duo got up, rolled up their blanket and left the hill behind them. They’d traveled a while to get here, so the trek back to the Bamboo Forest where their homes were situated would be a long one. On the plus side, the two could just fly over if their legs ever got tired. More importantly, they had each other to lean on as always. It wasn’t like the Lunarians ever supported them, leaning on each other was pretty much same old same old. The difference now? They couldn’t be happier.

Chapter Text

Another autumn, another harvest festival. And another harvest festival meant another appearance from the one and only, minor harvest deity Minoriko Aki. She was a regular visitor to the Human Village, usually showing up to sell her crops that she’d been growing near the base of Youkai Mountain. This time of year however, instead of gathering money she was intent on gathering as much faith as she could to keep healthy throughout the year. And thankfully, she had help in that department.

“Say sis, this is where your stall’s parked, right?”

“Yep, this would be it! Let’s just put our stuff over here

Minoriko wasn’t alone when she made it to the Human Village that year. There was, of course, her older sister Shizuha, the goddess of autumn leaves; she was also here to gather her own faith, though helping out Minoriko with her festival stall was usually her most successful means of achieving this. The sisters were peas in a pod, remarkably similar in personality and temperament, they were basically inseparable.

“Phew, my feet were kidding me. Starting to think people who wear shoes may have a point.”

It wasn’t just the two of them, surprisingly. Minoriko had also invited the half-lucky cat girl Mike Goutokuji to help in attracting customers. As a maneki-neko, she was supposed to be able to attract both money and customers in equal measure, but due to abandoning her training she could only attract one or the other; thus, today, her goal today was just to help the Akis in gathering as much faith as possible. And besides that, she was mainly here to spend more time with Minoriko, whom she had an… we’ll say unexpected relationship with.

“You’re not kidding, Mike. I may just have to lean on you the whole time, I’m so tired.”

“Hey, don’t threaten me with a good time…”

Shizuha rolled her eyes at the couple as they parked at Minoriko’s stall. Minoriko, who was currently carting around a bunch of her goods, set her cart down and began unpacking the assortment of food she’d prepared in advance. She was selling it all for real cheap, figuring that if she didn’t Mike’s abilities had the potential to backfire on her. Mike and Shizuha helped her unpack as well, and thanks to their efforts it only took a few minutes for the group to be ready to open.

“Thanks sis, Mike.” Minoriko moved the cart aside and clapped, breathing a sigh of relief. “Goodness, I can’t believe I baked so much. The humans are going to be eating like royalty.”

“On the plus side,” Shizuha commented, “that’ll just make them like you even more. What kind of human wouldn’t look at all this inexpensive, delicious food and think you’re the most generous goddess they could ever meet?”

“Good point!” Minoriko smiled as she looked around at the group of humans and occasional disguised youkai walking about the festival. “Anyways, I should probably get to selling. Mike sweetie, go ahead and sit down. What do you think you’ll do, sis?”

“Me? I’ll probably walk around and help advertise. I got this fun idea to let people suggest colors to paint the remaining uncolored leaves if they agree to stop by your stall and offer some faith. Wish me luck, you two.”

Shizuha stepped away, waving farewell as she began work on her goal to attract faith. It sort-of worked in tandem with Mike’s job, some may even say Mike’s presence was what encouraged Shizuha to go through with the idea. Regardless, she was gone, and Minoriko and Mike were left together to man the stall. Mike sat down on the stool next to Minoriko, who moved to man the counter. It was time for business, and to pray that said business would be booming.

The first few minutes passed without much fanfare. It was just a matter of waiting for that faith to gather itself, praying that Shizuha’s marketing and Mike’s ability would pull through. Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait too long for the fruits of their labors to fall into their laps, as a group of villagers approached the stall ready to buy.

“Hello, welcome again! It’s been too long!” Minoriko began going on a spiel, hands outstretched to show off as many of her goods as possible. “I’m the goddess of the Autumn harvest, Minoriko Aki. Behold, the fruits of my labor! Put your faith in me, and you too shall find your crops plentiful in number and in size!”

The villagers took a look at each item, seemingly sizing them up to see if they were worth the extremely cheap price they were being sold for. Mike sat nearby, legs crossed and and tail flicking as she watched these humans just go about their business; she didn’t get to interact with humans much, she mostly lived with other maneki-neko before moving to Gensokyo and mainly interacted with youkai and minor gods after. They were so simple, so quaint. She had no choice but to respect that about them.

“Hmm…” One of the villagers began to speak, clearly indecisive about his options. “I think… I will have...”

The villager soon turned to look at Mike. A cat girl wasn’t exactly something you saw often in the Human Village, cat youkai mostly hung out near the farms terrorizing the local mouse population. Since she was a maneki-neko however, he didn’t seem concerned about her presence. There were a few youkai humans were able to accept, depending on how helpful they were, and maneki-neko were fairly high up on that list.

“Oh, a real maneki-neko, and not one of those statues either. How much did you pay for one of those?”

Mike furrowed her brow. Yeesh, she forgot just how many people were only familiar with the little cat statuettes. She didn’t know whether to interpret the question as being about ownership or being hired help, either; she wanted to be charitable and assume the latter, but it was hard to tell with humans. Before she could embarrass herself with a poorly-thought out response, Minoriko responded to the villager as kindly as possible.

“Oh, no no no. She’s my partner.”

Minoriko grabbed Mike’s hand and held it up, squeezing it gently. The cat girl looked aside and blushed, a bit awkward about even minor public displays of affection like this.

“This is Mike. We’re equals in this operation, just like my sister. Just be nice to her, okay?”

“...ohhh. A business partner. Okay, I understand.”

The villager bows slightly, his expression seeming apologetic. He still didn’t get it, but it was close enough that neither felt like correcting him. He and a couple of friends of his would end up buying a few pastries and going on their way, thanking the stall workers with both words and money. The pair looked at each other during their break, chuckling a little at what just transpired.

“Jeez, I was worried he was gonna say something really insensitive. Like calling me your pet or something.”

“I know, right?” Minoriko rested an elbow on the counter, laughing a little louder. “I know you like to do cat stuff, but people will really just see cat ears and assume ‘regular cat’ and not ‘person who kinda looks like a cat.’ Humans are strange.”

A few more customers would come and go, and for the most part the festival was fairly uneventful. There were plenty of people who simply showed up, bought some food, and said nothing to the goddess or her partner the whole time, seeming to just be kind of hungry. Minoriko didn’t pay these people any mind, some people just liked food and all she could do was hope that her promises of more food if enough people prayed to her was enough to attract their faith. There were only a handful of others who even bothered chatting.

“Oh, those are some cute ears on that girl,” one anonymous villager commented. “Not used to youkai that aren’t freaky or monstrous.”

“Hey, I’d say to give youkai a chance, but a lot would still probably eat you.”

Mike laughed, her humorous tone seeming dissonant to the mildly morbid joke she’d made. Still, her delivery was enough to get at least the villager she was talking to, plus a few others nearby, to chuckle. It helped to remind them of what they should be scared of, but also that they didn’t have to be scared of everyone and everything.

“So she’s like a cat?” Another villager, clearly a regular human, asked. “Does she like being pet?”

Well, at least it wasn’t depersonalizing. This one, Minoriko jumped at the opportunity to answer.

“Oh, just so the crowd knows…”

Minoriko reached over and placed a hand on Mike’s head. She then began to scratch behind her ears, a gesture which surprised, but obviously did not upset Mike. Sure, her face flushed a deep red, a sign of at least some embarrassment, but anyone close could probably hear the sound of her purring. The fact that she was enjoying the affection so much only made her feel more awkward, so thankfully Minoriko stopped rather quickly.

“Only I have petting privileges. Unless she wants to start charging for that, too?”

Minoriko turned to look at Mike, who looked back with an awkward expression. What’s one way to make a situation like this less emotionally confusing?

“How’s one-million for five seconds sound?”

There, a joke should do the trick. Minoriko laughed hard enough to make herself cough, and the villagers in front of her laughed along as they left with their purchased merchandise. ‘Such good friends,’ they heard one villager comment. That was one thing Mike learned during her time living as a part-time businesswoman: The right joke at the right time can make a sale all the more effective. Her and Minoriko resumed eye contact, and the goddess closed her eyes with one last chuckle.

“Sorry for putting you on the spot like that, dear. I know you don’t like affection from random people, so I had to come up with an explanation on the spot.”

“Ah, don’t sweat it.” Mike gripped Minoriko’s hand once more, a simple but reassuring gesture. “It’s embarrassing, but I wanna get better with PDA anyway. Just maybe give me a little warning next time?”

Minoriko gave a soft nod as they resumed work. Mike kept her hand raised, and through a bit of maneki-neko charm customers continued to flow in and out. Like a stream running downhill, traffic was steady and predictable, making it extremely easy for the duo to handle. Mike’s lowered hand continued to hold onto Minoriko for dear life, deciding to rely on that comforting touch as boredom slowly overtook her. It was a solid reminder of why she didn’t work as a maneki-neko full-time: Multi-hour long shifts were boring.

It was, perhaps, a blessing then that the crowd eventually began to trickle off as the autumn festival neared its end. Minoriko relaxed and leaned forward as she celebrated her well-gotten gains, which she said she would be splitting evenly between herself, Mike and her sister. By the end of a long line, there were only a couple of customers left. Perhaps less fortunately, this last customer was one very, very important one.

“...ah! Hakurei!”

The last two to show up to the stall were quite familiar faces. The first was Reimu Hakurei, the human caretaker of the Hakurei Shrine, and possibly the strongest woman in all of Gensokyo. She was a simple girl who enjoyed basic things – mainly food and money – so a stall like this with a lot of food for a little money was right up her alley. Right next to her was actually Shizuha, returning after a lengthy walk around the festival grounds.

“Reimu got here late,” Shizuha explained to Minoriko with a deep breath. “She had an incident she needed to take care of first.”

“Oh, an incident? Do tell.”

“It’s not that big a deal.” Reimu opted to explain what the ‘incident’ was herself, thankfully. “I had to go to visit Myouren Temple. Byakuren saw something she thought I should check out… it was just a raijū that hadn’t figured out how to take humanoid form yet, thankfully not too hard to shoo off. Besides dealing with some other troublesome youkai, really not that bad of a day.”

The way Reimu talked about ‘dealing with’ youkai with such nonchalance was slightly unnerving to the group she was hanging out with; after all, the Akis were such minor deities that they were basically indistinguishable from youkai. They did their best not to show it however, deciding instead to just maintain that casual tone with their conversation. It was better to do this than to make Reimu antsy, after all. The shrine maiden seemed to not notice the others’ discomfort, and chose to simply continue the conversation.

“Anyway. How’s your stall been doing?”

“O-Oh, the stall!” Minoriko grins as she shows off the small selection of food that’s still available. “Yes, it’s been going great. I’m not sure what I want to do with the leftover food though. Any ideas, Mike?”

Once again Mike was put on the spot. Though she panicked initially, she was able to calm down pretty quickly. It was a much less embarrassing situation this time around, so she was able to take a deep breath and think about her answer. Said answer was boring, but at least it was honest.

“...we can just eat whatever Hakurei doesn’t buy, right?”

“...that works, dear!”

Reimu raised an eyebrow as the couple moved a bit closer together. Now that there weren’t that many witnesses, Mike felt just a tad more comfortable getting snuggly, so this minute movement was basically just her testing her own boundaries.

“Dear? I didn’t realize you two were a couple.”

“Really?” Minoriko’s eyes widened at Reimu’s admission. “I didn’t think we were that subtle about it. We were kinda holding hands the whole time.”

“I mean we usually aren’t,” Mike added. “But y’know, some things had to come first. You needed food, the village needed food, I needed to help you get food…”

Reimu shrugged in response. She was usually fairly energetic in how she talked to people, but given how late it was she was probably just tired. No one would have blamed her if she decided to just cut the conversation short then and there.

“I just mean in general. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two interact… ever. Is this a recent thing…?”

Minoriko and Mike gave each other a quick glance. Shizuha joined in the glancing as well, having dealt with the lovebirds from the very beginning. Even if their relationship was apparent to them, maybe it made sense that it wasn’t to anyone else. They didn’t interact much outside of their little bubble and weren’t exactly the most popular people in Gensoyko, so perhaps no one keeping track of their personal lives wasn’t a shock. Oh well, maybe they could stand to be a little more obvious.

“Since the yamawaro took over the card market, I think.” Mike decided to mimic Reimu’s shrugging, not sure how else to respond. “We were both involved in card dealing. I sold cards for money, and she used it as an opportunity to hawk her food. Once I bought one of her baked sweet potatoes, I was hooked.”

“You know what they say.” Shizuha looked over at Reimu and smirked softly. “The way to a youkai’s heart is through her stomach.”

“So says Marisa. Maybe I should check to see if I’m a youkai, I’m just about the same.”

Reimu started laughing at her own joke, with the other three deciding to join in to be polite. With that last bit of conversation out of the way, the shrine maiden finally made her purchases: Some sweet potatoes, a few other veggies, and some pastries, likely for dessert. Reimu was lucky enough to have enough cash for it all, though perhaps the vendors were even more lucky as she never challenged them to a fight for the right to take the food for free. Once she left, the trio began to pack up the remainder of the food and make their way out of the festival grounds.

“So how did you two do?” Shizuha led the walk away from the Human Village, going slow enough to not get too far ahead of Minoriko who was pushing the cart, or Mike who was sticking next to her. “Enough faith for you?”

“I think we did well.”

Minoriko glanced down at the cart she was pushing. At the start, the thing was absolutely filled to the brim with food and other related goods. Now, there were only a few of the less popular items left, enough that she could very easily see the bottom of the cart. She smiled at Mike, not bothering with any physical intimacy this time given she needed both hands for her current task. The cat girl decided to at least try to help by walking to the front and pull the cart from where she was standing; it didn’t help much, but Minoriko visibly appreciated the sentiment.

“I feel satisfied, personally. How about you two?”

“Same here, I feel great.” Mike looks over at Shizuha, curious. “How about you? How did your adventure go?”

“...hmm. Expect to see a lot of yellow this year.”

Thus today’s mundane adventure came to an end. A little money and plenty of faith made their way to the Aki sisters, and Mike got to enjoy the spoils along with them. It wasn’t Minoriko’s first harvest festival appearance, but it was her first with Mike actively helping her efforts, and as far as she was concerned they made a great team. Mike, too, adored getting to work alongside Minoriko, as while she didn’t enjoy working per se, any excuse she had to spend more time with her was well worth some tedium. And sometimes, an excuse is all you need.

Chapter Text

“...holy me- what is she doing?”

The Moriya Shrine was typically a very boring place to live. It was pretty much just a traditional Japanese home with a few more modern amenities than were typically allowed for Gensokyo’s residents; visitors weren’t allowed in the residential area of the shrine, so there was no real risk of exposing villagers to the horrors of, say, cassette tapes. As a result, rarely did anything actually interesting happen within the confines of the home of goddess Kanako Yasaka, her beloved pest Suwako Moriya and their adopted daughter slash holy warrior Sanae Kochiya.

Today, however, something was different. As when Kanako walked into the kitchen for breakfast that morning, she did not just see the usual sight of Sanae cooking breakfast while Suwako just barely made it back in time from her long journey to say hello to every single frog around Lake Suwa. Sure, she did see both of those things, but there was one distinct difference this time: Sanae wasn’t alone in the kitchen. And who exactly was there with her, helping to prepare breakfast for the trio-turned-quartet?

“...Sanae, why’d you let a stray fox into the house?”

Sanae turned to look at Kanako, seeming almost offended by the remark on the fox’s behalf. The fox, for what it was worth, turned along with her and smiled in Kanako’s direction, the expression coming across as coy rather than sincere. This was Tsukasa Kudamaki, a kuda-gitsune that Sanae had previously shooed out of the shrine for trying to turn it into what basically amounted to a crime den. Kanako remembered her pretty clearly as a former employee of Megumu Iizunamaru, that tengu she’d considered trying a bit of polyamory with at some point, but also remembered her being unpleasantly smug and transparently fake. And given Tsukasa’s relationship with Megumu had seemingly been reduced to occasional contract work, she was frankly annoyed to see her at the shrine at all.

“Oh, good morning, Lady Kanako.” There came Tsukasa with the honorifics, polite as ever. “I just wanted to be a dear and help Sanae cook breakfast for you. And also hopefully reintroduce myself so we can get off on the right foot once more. Is that acceptable?”

Kanako narrowed her gaze at Tsukasa, trusting the fox girl about as much as she trusted a Lunarian to not contemplate mass murdering people they didn’t like. She took a glance at Sanae, whose smile never left her face even as her eyes grew progressively more nervous. All the while she could see Suwako sitting down cross-legged at the table sporting an expression that was somehow even more smug than Tsukasa’s. Something told the goddess she’d been out of the loop of something for a long time, and it was up to her to figure out exactly what that thing was.

“...again. Sanae. Why did you let her in here?”

“Oh? You’re asking me a question? It’s- it’s as simple as Tsukasa put it, really. She offered to help, and we both agreed it’d be a good way for you two to get reacquainted.”

“...right. And why exactly do I need to get reacquainted with her?”

There was a lengthy pause after Kanako’s question. Maybe Sanae and Tsukasa just didn’t know how to answer the question. Maybe her tone had them second-guessing the answer they were initially planning to give. It was hard for her to tell, but thankfully her weird fake-frog wife over at the table was considerably easier to read. And right now, Suwako was looking like she was about to burst into laughter.

“Do you know what these two are plotting?”

“Oh, trust me. I have an idea.”

Suwako gave that look she always did when she felt like she got one up on Kanako. Great, now Kanako really felt like she was out of the loop. She decided to walk over to the table and sit down while she waited for Sanae and her foxy companion to finish cooking breakfast, making eye contact with the grinner next to her.

“Is that so? And what might that be?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to spoil their moment.” Suwako pointed over to the other duo in the room, who started talking to each other about something Kanako couldn’t quite make out. “But if it’s what I think it is… oh boy, is this gonna be hilarious.”

Great, now Suwako was being vague. That was always Kanako’s least favorite part of dealing with her, she tended to be so unclear about her intentions, or even what she was doing at any given moment. It meant she basically had to play detective whenever anything happened around the shrine, and as the one who fancied herself the head of the house this obviously wasn’t something she was fond of doing. This time at least, she figured she didn’t have to go very far to find the truth: She just had to go straight to the source. And that source was standing in her kitchen.

“...what did you want to say?”

The duo looked at each other for a good while, as if they were each hoping for the other to speak on their behalf. Someone had to bite the bullet and accept Kanako’s possible rejection of whatever it was they wanted to say, but who? There was a lot of murmuring as the duo quietly argued among themselves as they tried to figure out who should speak. They eventually settled on Sanae, the one Kanako trusted more to not make stupid decisions.

“So, uh… Tsukasa and I… we are currently, uh…”

Kanako soon looked down and noticed a sight she didn’t anticipate in a million years: Tsukasa had reached over to Sanae and squeezed her hand. What was she doing holding Sanae’s hand like that? There was no way… unless… no. Are you serious?

“...us two are dating now. And, uh… Tsukasa wanted to see if she could move in with me. To my room.”

Perhaps one announcement would have been enough on its own. But both of them at the same time? That had Kanako’s eyes looking like saucers. Suwako, meanwhile, was snickering as she banged her fist on the table, clearly trying to hold back a much louder laugh. The noise seemed to startle Tsukasa, who briefly broke her composure as she looked back at Suwako.

“L-Lady Suwako? Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yes, everything is just fine. I think you did a good job fessing up to the big one, I’m just looking forward to her reaction.”

And how would Kanako react? A large part of her really just wanted to grab Tsukasa by the back of that stupid dress of hers and toss her out of the shrine. The only thing stopping her was wondering just how she managed to woo Sanae, her own daughter? She remembered when Sanae got back from dealing with that giant centipede and was ranting and raving about how Tsukasa had ‘tricked’ everyone, told her to ‘die like the pitiful human she was’ and was overall just really mean. Then there was the last time she tried moving in to the shrine, basically just to turn it into the base of her stupid, evil operations. Nothing about these two getting together made sense, so what even happened?

“...maybe I’m just confused.”

Kanako stared up at the women in the kitchen, who right now were brewing tea. Neither of them made eye contact with her, or even each other. Everything just seemed deeply awkward in that moment.

“How did the fox of all people woo you? I thought you hated her.”

Sanae looked down at the counter, pursing her lips as she attempted to come up with the right words for this situation. Kanako had fully clocked her, she really did hate Tsukasa once upon a time. And yet that wasn’t the story that was being told today, that wasn’t how she felt about her in the years since they first met. Realistically it didn’t make sense for her to go from hatred to a romantic admiration in only four years, but that was how it all shook out.

“...I… uh… I mean…”

She gave Tsukasa a look; the latter responded by just pouring the tea into vessels for everyone to drink out of. Tsukasa didn’t seem particularly shocked or offended, as if she already knew how much Sanae used to dislike her. There was potential for an argument to break out, at least. All that really mattered was how Sanae explained how they got together in the first place.

“...I guess you’re not wrong. I didn’t really like her once upon a time. But I mean… look at you and Lady Suwako. You went from going to war to being like… the quintessential bickering married couple.”

Kanako stared at Sanae blankly; Suwako, meanwhile, had finally broken into hysterics. The poor woman laid her head against the table while she continued to slam her fist into it, the sound of her laughter could more than likely be heard from outside if they even had any visitors today. Sanae’s answer was one of those ones that was technically true, but didn’t feel right to agree with. The kind of answer that made one go ‘sure, but.’ And sure enough…

“Sure, but I’m fairly sure you still didn’t like her two years ago. It took us several centuries to have any sort of camaraderie.”

“Are you sure about that, Kanako?”

Suwako had stopped laughing for a moment just to correct Kanako. What a smartass, this sorta thing was fairly regular for her.

“We were snuggled up in the same bed like… a year tops after our war ended. Fun fact Tsukasa, I was the big spoon. Usually still am.”

“Okay, she doesn’t need to know that.”

Kanako crossed her arms and exhaled, choosing not to acknowledge Suwako’s comment further. She’d been embarrassed plenty, and saying more would just be self-incriminating. So instead she returned her focus back to the new couple, who had now moved onto plating the table and serving up those cups of tea.

“Needless to say, I’m still confused. I have my reasons for why I moved on so quickly from my war with Suwako, so what would yours be?”

“...okay. So, uh, us two… Tsukasa, help me out please…”

It looked like Sanae had given up on trying to explain herself, at least without outside assistance. Tsukasa, for what it was worth, was putting on a much braver face. She was probably used to bullshitting people, trying to be honest wasn’t much in her wheelhouse, so Kanako wasn’t exactly confident in her chances. Tsukasa scooted over to her side of the table, smiling.

“Of course. It was… shortly after the incident with Hell, and after I’d given up on trying to assassinate Reimu Hakurei… per Zanmu’s wishes, it wasn’t my idea to kill her…”

Tsukasa coughed. She still wasn’t aware that Zanmu just gave her that impossible task to remove her from that incident’s equation, but that whole series of events was still clearly a sore spot for her. Running away with her tail between her legs was not the way a kuda-gitsune liked to carry itself.

“I started loitering outside your shrine again after that whole incident ended, and since I wasn’t bothering anyone, Sanae and I started talking while she did her chores. She’s a real bright and responsible woman, I’m not sure you know just how good you have it.”

“We’ve raised her most of her life.” Kanako closed her eyes and half-pouted. “So I’d like to think… ugh, yes, we do appreciate you, Sanae. Truly and honestly, even if we don’t say it… perhaps as much as we should.”

Damn, Tsukasa. She even had Kanako feeling a little guilty. There was something about her use of language that was just so utterly persuasive. No wonder someone might find her charming, her voice just made you want to agree with her.

“I-It’s fine, Lady Kanako, I think she’s just complimenting me.”

“...right, that’s what I meant… anyway. She’s really quite charming and sociable when she isn’t trying to one-up Reimu as an exterminator, or a shrine maiden, or just generally letting her ego get to her head. Though honestly, even when she does, it’s endearing just how hot-blooded she can get.”

Sanae blushed as she settled in, a tad embarrassed by receiving yet another compliment. Kanako, meanwhile, still had her own concerns. Sure, Tsukasa was just as convincing as ever, but… she didn’t quite feel as though she understood her yet. She likely just needed to press the two of them more; she understood that the two liked each other, but she still lacked the confidence that Tsukasa wasn’t just being manipulative.

“...and?”

“And? What about ‘and’?”

“I’m trying to get to know you. As far as I know, you’re a shifty weirdo who lies to people for fun. How am I supposed to know you’re not pulling her along? Be honest with me, Tsukasa.”

Tsukasa froze up at Kanako’s jab, taken aback by being so blatantly called out. That sly smile of hers quickly vanished, and the room went silent once more. Kanako had no way of knowing just what Tsukasa was thinking at that moment, so she could only guess, but she liked to think her guesses were on the money. It would be a few more minutes before the fox girl spoke again.

“...I don’t know.”

“...you don’t know?”

Kanako finally got a response that felt at least somewhat genuine. Unfortunately, now she was just confused by what Tsukasa even meant. She didn’t know? As in she didn’t know how to make it clear she was worth trusting? Why would that be the case, wasn’t Tsukasa supposed to be this smooth talker who could convince people of just about anything? Or were her successes in that arena just flukes?

“Uh… Lady Kanako?” Sanae finally spoke up again, her hand moving to brush Tsukasa’s tail as she did so. “For what it’s worth, she hasn’t tried to trick me into anything since I last beat her in danmaku. And that was two years ago now, I think.”

Kanako turned to look at Sanae. Their relationship was deeply complicated, but to simplify things, Kanako took her well-being and safety extremely seriously. Any sign that Sanae wasn’t alright was something she’d always vowed to keep a close eye on, even in those instances where Sanae’s misfortune was entirely her own fault. So whenever her shrine maiden had anything to say, she took notes.

“...is that so?”

“Yeah, it is so. I get why you don’t trust her… I mean, we both know her history…”

Sanae gave Tsukasa a pat on the back. The kuda-gitsune looked up at her, her expression still extremely uncertain. As far as Kanako could tell, the duo did have some legitimate camaraderie in spite of her own concerns. Kanako relaxed her body language as she tried to focus on Sanae’s words, trying her best to be hopeful about all this.

“...but I trust her. She has trouble opening up even now, look at what you had to do to get that reaction out of her. But I’m speaking from experience, she’s much kinder and more trustworthy than I think even she’s willing to admit, at least with people she trusts. So, please. Just give her a chance? She’s already pledged to help with chores if she does move in, and she doesn’t need a guest room, she can just stay in mine.”

Sanae’s plea was brief. She didn’t say much before resting her case, likely hoping what she said would be enough. But was it? Kanako wasn’t sure, truthfully. As much as Sanae seemed to genuinely believe what she was saying, and as much as Tsukasa’s own demeanor had shifted away from the smug jackass she’d known about for so long… she wanted to be sure. So she did the one thing she usually did when she wasn’t sure about something like this.

“Suwako? Thoughts?”

Yes, Suwako was still here. She sat up and looked at Kanako, feigning a stern expression in a manner that was extremely obvious. Not even now could she prompt her many-years-older wife to be any sort of serious. At the same time, when she eventually spoke, her words were clearly sincere.

“Confession? They already fessed up to me.”

“...they what?”

“A few weeks ago, actually. Tsukasa wanted to move in and so they asked me, she didn’t wanna say why she needed a place to stay but I got the idea. But you know me, I’m not around that often, so I just told them to take it up with the head of the house. You know, you. As for what I think of her?”

Suwako’s eyes gazed at Tsukasa. Everything from the uncertain expression to the drooped ears to the tail laying flat on the floor behind her stood out as somewhat pathetic-looking. They weren’t performative, however, this felt entirely genuine. Tsukasa was, at her heart, a kind-of pathetic individual, someone who wanted to be an evil manipulator, master con artist and wealthy businesswoman, but was either too inept or not serious enough about villainy to actually get the job done. Maybe part of her wanted to just stop doing that; youkai losing their driving forces was both rare and risky however, so perhaps it was more likely she just wanted some form of stability.

“...I say give her a chance. She makes Sanae happy. And if Tsukasa ever double-crosses her, what’s stopping Sanae or especially you from just blasting her into the sun? You won the Suwa War, someone like her’s not even remotely an issue for you.”

Even Kanako had to admit that Suwako had a point there. There really wasn’t anything stopping her if she wanted to just nab Tsukasa and toss her out into the frigid autumn air. The worst case scenario really was some hurt feelings for Sanae… but maybe she could stand to be more trusting. Sanae trusted her, Suwako seemed to trust her… it may not hurt to try.

“...so, Tsukasa. Be frank with me. You’ll promise to be nothing but kind to Sanae, will you?”

Tsukasa glanced up at Kanako. The fox girl nodded, her expression still sheepish.

“...good. You can be a jerk to anyone you want, as long as they don’t live in this household. Do you understand?”

Kanako decided to add that last part as a sort-of olive branch. She was fully aware of the static nature of many youkai, how they were stuck in their ways per their very nature. It was another way to ensure Tsukasa remained on her best behavior around Sanae and the goddesses too, since she wouldn’t be channeling her inner asshole into every single interaction around the house. As far as Kanako was concerned, it was a genius idea.

“...alright. Pleasure doing business with you, Lady Kanako.”

And it worked! The tension in the room immediately faded as Tsukasa’s smile returned. Her expression lacked its natural smug aura however, now replaced with something that felt far more genuine. Sanae, too, smiled for the first time since she was still making breakfast, evidently relieved that Kanako was finally willing to trust her judgment in dating partners. Finally the group could enjoy just a normal breakfast together, without anymore complications getting in the way…

“...uh, Sanae?”

Kanako spoke again, startling Sanae. The latter asked a simple ‘yes?” to hopefully get the next part out of the way. What was so drastic that Kanako demanded her shrine maiden’s attention?

“I have to apologize. It seems that because I took so long to accept Tsukasa’s presence, the tea’s gone cold. Please do forgive me.”

Sanae awkwardly laughed, and soon the group got to properly eating and drinking. Thankfully, room-temperature tea was the worst thing to happen for the rest of the day, which ended up being very relaxing. After that conversation in the morning? They all could use that break.

Chapter Text

“What a day…”

Reimu Hakurei had a very long day. She’d been traveling around Gensokyo for several hours, and right now she was about ready to clock out, have dinner and get a lengthy rest. That was all she wanted, no more, no less. She even bought some food from a lesser goddess and her weird cat girlfriend so she wouldn’t have to rummage through her kitchen for anything to eat. She got her food, she had her shrine to go back to (thankfully it wasn’t blown up when she made it back), her night was basically set.

Landing in front of the shrine after a lengthy trip, she stepped toward the door as if she didn’t just spend the past several minutes flying here. She was fickle about that sort of thing, whether she felt like flying or not was purely up to chance. She waved good night to Aunn, who was just standing outside on guard duty, and opened the door to the safety and comfort of the indoors. To her surprise, however…

“Oi, Reimu. Took ya long enough to get back, eh?”

Well, on one hand she wasn’t alone, like part of her was hoping she would be. On the other, if she were going to spend this evening with someone, it may as well be Marisa Kirisame. The black-white one was already seated on a cushion at Reimu’s table, even having broken out some sake. It made Reimu wonder just how long she’d been here for. Not feeling like asking, she just set the food out on the table and sat down next to Marisa, ready to just get to eating.

“Gotta ask what took you so long? I thought you were just visiting those Buddhists.”

“I was supposed to. But first I got stopped on the way over by someone asking… something, I don’t remember, I just said yes because I wasn’t paying attention. Then I got caught up in a spell card battle, four on one…”

“Woah woah woah, four on one? Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Reimu shrugged nonchalantly at Marisa’s question. Given the complete lack of singe on her dress or fraying in her hair, it was pretty easy to assume how exactly the fight went. Reimu continued, not bothering to offer any explanation on what happened.

“There was a raijū at the temple, that’s what the issue was. It took me ages to get rid of the damn thing… ugh, then I had to pretend later that it wasn’t an issue at all… my job’s annoying.”

Reimu groaned as she portioned out her dinner. She didn’t have any meat to go with all these veggies, so she was trying to go for whichever plants had a lot of protein content, mostly whatever legumes she had available. Marisa, meanwhile, was happy to just grab whatever Reimu didn’t want.

“I know, your job’s hard.” Marisa gave Reimu a pat on the shoulder, before bringing her in for a side-hug. “You gotta clean up the shrine every morning, then you gotta wait to see if anything needs beat up, then you beat them up, then you pretend to look busy the rest of the day… I don’t envy the cleaning, I wouldn’t bother if I lived here.”

“I know, I’ve seen your house.”

Reimu smirked as she got to eating, Marisa quickly joining as well. It was typical autumn flavors, but she was always rather fond of seasonal autumnal cuisine. Especially sweet potatoes, that scent was to die for. She swayed back and forth slowly as she ate, a little bit restless. She was trying to think of something else to say; she may have wanted some peace and quiet earlier, but now that Marisa was here she didn’t wanna deal with silence again. Her voice was just that fun to listen to. What was there to talk about, though? Think… think…

“...say, Marisa.”

“Yeah?”

“...is it just me, or have people around Gensokyo been more… romantic, lately?”

The question nearly got Marisa to drop her drink. It was such an odd thing to ask, what did Reimu even mean people were getting “more romantic?” As far as she could tell, the level of romance in Gensokyo had been about the same throughout the whole year, nothing out of the ordinary at all.

“Whataya mean by that? Things feel normal to me.”

“I don’t know, I’ve walked past, like… four different groups getting cuddly and romantic today. And one of them wasn’t even a couple, it was four people on a date together.”

“Damn, really? Kind of an odd coincidence that so many people would be going on dates today, but you sure that ain’t all it is? A coincidence?”

Reimu stopped eating for a moment as she got to thinking. Between that polycule she saw earlier outside Myouren Temple, the handful of couples in the temple itself, and gods-damn Minoriko of all people having a girlfriend now, it felt a little odd. Gensokyo wasn’t usually so lovey-dovey, a lot of people’s attraction was left in private or through winking and nudging. It wasn’t like no one was dating, it just… wasn’t usually so blatant.

“...do you think it’s an incident?”

“An incident? Oi, I think the lack of sleep’s getting to your head.”

Marisa pulled Reimu in even closer, practically squeezing the poor shrine maiden from the force of her side-hug. She eased up once she saw Reimu wincing, but still held on like her life depended on it.

“Starting to think dealing with the Lunarians still has you on-edge. And I get it, the one I talked to seemed empathetic but… bleh, she’s sketchy, she’s unpleasant, and she ain’t even fun to root against, let alone be around.”

“...I doubt it’s the Lunarians-”

“Are you sure about that? We just dealt with a damn Lunarian conspiracy, we saw what they did to Yuiman, and your mind isn’t going to what else they could get up to? I’m not saying that’s how I feel, I don’t think they’re behind anything at all right now, I’m just saying I wouldn’t be shocked if that’s how you felt.”

Reimu really didn’t want to admit that what Marisa said was true. They’d just crushed a Lunarian plot a few days ago, they seemed pretty thankful for taking Yuiman off of their hands, and yet… she couldn’t help but worry. Wouldn’t be the first time the Lunarians had a convoluted plot to try and commit omnicide on Gensokyo, and there was a lingering worry that the second time wouldn’t be the last. How long would she have to deal with this sort of paranoia before she accepted that, yeah, she’d probably be fine for the next ten years or so?

“...alright, you’ve got me.” Reimu threw her hands up in defeat, at least not so recklessly that she was tossing her dinner around. “I admit, the thought of the Lunarians using, like… love magic to distract us from the giant spiders razing the ground crossed my mind on the way here. A couple of times.”

Marisa nodded at Reimu’s answer. Instead of trying to gloat like she would have any other day, she just squeezed Reimu a little tighter in a show of support.

“Hey, I get it, you’re worried. We saw some real screwed-up crap out there. But think of it like this: Big incidents like this don’t happen consecutively. It takes time, several months at least. So you know what I suggest you do?”

“...what?”

“Take it easy, okay? Stick to your chores for a little, let yourself enjoy a bit of romance every now and then. You’re having a good time with me, aren’t you?”

Reimu shrugged, before nodding slightly. Yeah, she was having a nice time snuggled up with Marisa and enjoying dinner. Even a basic dinner like this was better with the right company, and Marisa was very much the right company.

“There we go. Way I see it, sure, may be a little odd for so many couples to be out and about being romantic. But I don’t see any danger, I don’t see what’s wrong with a little bit of a break from the norm. Enjoy the break to the fullest, I say.”

“...alright, sure. I’ll try. Thanks, Marisa.”

“Haha, I’m not used to you being so uncertain. Guess I got you a bit flustered, eh?”

Reimu rolled her eyes before shutting up and returning to eating. Her partner laughed, before joining her in enjoying some fresh autumn cuisine. And that likely should have been the end of that, just the two of them enjoying a nice night together. It certainly would have been, but…

“Reimu!”

A head poked through the door, the head’s presence plus the sudden voice startling the couple. Ironically, Marisa was probably more surprised than Reimu; perhaps it was because of the person the face and voice belonged to.

“Aunn?” Reimu picked her head up to look at the komainu on the other end of the room. “Something wrong?”

“There’s some new ladies here to see you. And I think one of them brought food? Do you know who they are?”

Reimu blinked, not expecting visitors at this hour. She turned to Marisa, wondering if she’d invited company over, but the latter only shook her head and held her hands up in defense. So if Marisa hadn’t invited them, then who was it? Sighing, she decided to step away from the table and check for herself, especially in case this was some weird threat. Damn it, please don’t let her be right about the Lunarians being up to some bullshit…

“I’ve got this… hello?”

Reimu approached the door and looked outside to see if she could identify the people responsible for interrupting her and Marisa’s private get-together. Oh, she recognized these people alright; they weren’t Lunarian, but those two…

“Salutations, Hakurei. I do hope you’re having a good evening.”

It was those two women from the last incident. There was the woman with short gray hair, half a mask and the most ridiculous-looking wings she’d ever seen. And next to her was that off-putting pale-haired woman with the pet snake made out of fabric. She’d forgotten their names already despite Marisa having said one of them earlier, but what she wasn’t bound to forget was what the woman on the right was holding: Just a ton of cooked meat from an animal she didn’t immediately recognize.

“Thanks for letting us stop by for tea.” The woman holding the meat said with a smile, hoisting her haul up for Reimu to see more closely. “I brought deer. It’s cooked, seasoned and guaranteed to taste delicious. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten a good hunt in…”

Oh, shit. That’s what she was getting up to before she made it to the Myouren Temple, wasn’t it? One of these two must have asked if they could visit later. Great, and she said yes without thinking about it at all, and now she had to have more than just one other person over for company. It’d be rude to turn them away now though, and they did have that meat that she was so-dearly missing…

“...alright, come on in. Aunn, you too, may as well.”

Reimu turned around and returned to the table, the three outside joining. She sat back down next to Marisa while the newly-arrived couple sat across from them and Aunn took one of the other sides. Marisa, meanwhile, was as friendly as ever, deciding to offer the couple some proper greetings where Reimu failed.

“Oi, Yuiman. Ariya. Good to see you again, it’s been too long. Can’t believe we put off our end-of-incident celebratory tea party for so long. How are you two doing?”h

“Excellently.” Ariya helped Yuiman set their food out on the table to join the platter of vegetables and assorted plant-based foods. Finally, a properly balanced diet. “Yuiman and I have recently become a couple, now that we’re properly reunited. It seems we both had some lingering feelings left over from before I was sealed away… a tragic tale with a rather happy ending, wouldn’t you say?”

“...I’m just happy I get to travel freely again. Away so long I’d never seen Gensokyo with my own eyes…” Yuiman smiled, her eyes having a notable sparkle to them. “It really is a beautiful place you full-humans have here. I think I’ll enjoy spending time here…”

“Great!” Marisa grabbed Reimu’s hand and lifted it up in a simple, celebratory gesture. Reimu jumped a bit at her hand being nabbed, but didn’t yank it away. “Gensokyo’s the most widely-accepting place there is, for better or worse but mostly better. Let’s just enjoy a nice meal to make sure you start off on the right foot.”

“Right, absolutely.” Reimu glanced up at her hand and smiled. “Hope you enjoy Gensokyo. Just remember to stay on your best behavior, okay?”

And so the conversation finally came to an end, and dinner resumed without any more interruptions. All in all, in spite of Reimu’s complaints, today was simple, almost mundane. It wasn’t like anyone was complaining about that fact, however; the plainness just made it easier for everyone to get together and enjoy some quiet time together. Not just Reimu’s group, but plenty across Gensokyo as well. It served as a nice reminder of a simple fact.

Sometimes a mundane day can be nice: It makes it easier to cherish and enjoy whatever does come up.