Absolution of the Requiem

~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore

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TheTeff007:
I quickly realized a faceplam after seeing that Marisa created the cloud that made everybody gloomy. Really, that was hilarious.

And Koishi~ she really sounds like it would sound canonically! Which is awesome. GJ, sock.

an unmatched sock:
In case anyone has become a fan of me (for some reason), this is an explanation.

I'm awaiting some requested...items before I continue with the story. In the end, it will make it easier for both you all and me. Namely, for visualization purposes. However, I want these to be ahead of the story, so soon I will be updating, but it might still take a bit.

Sorry if you've been expecting something new recently, and have been disappointed with the lack of updates. I haven't forgotten, don't you worry.

Feel free to critique what I have now to offer suggestions for the future, if you so desire.

an unmatched sock:
Well dang, it's been a while. Sorry about my disappearance. First life and school and crap caught up, then I was hit with a severe case of laziness. Anyway, after far too long, time to keep the story rolling!

Also, my last post is kinda obsolete as of now, since I will not be doing what I had previously decided to do. So, on with the story!

As usual, feel free to comment and critique my work.
Chapter 2
Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

"Koishiiii!" A call rang out through the forest, disrupting the calm atmosphere. "Koishiiiii!" It was the shrine maiden's voice, without a doubt. "Dammit, where is that girl? I should have known better than to follow her." Thinking back on it, Reimu realized it was a stupid idea to follow the girl who disappears when you don't look at her to a place that you don't even know where it is. She was also perplexed, since some fairies in the Forest of Magic were aggressively territorial, yet she hadn't run into a single fairy, nor any pranks they might have set up. She quickly turned her mind back to the more important task in front of her: finding the young satori, and perhaps hitting her a few times for running off like that. "No, no, hitting Koishi would be a bad idea. I know what she's capable of, but Satori would't forgive me for it. Thank god she's not around to hear me..."

"To hear what?"

The sudden voice making Reimu jump, she quickly turned to find Koishi right behind her, as if she were there the whole time. "By the way, why did you stop?"

"Why did I stop?! You were...wait...but you...ARGH!" On normal days, Reimu would have hardly been able to put up with Koishi's antics. Today, she had very little tolerance, but she was her best lead on this incident. She took a deep breath, massaged her temples, and tried again calmly. "Koishi, you told me you were going to lead me to the beach. Remember?"

"Yeah, but you started walking ahead of me, so I started following. I figured you knew the rest of the way~!" The satori didn't even begin to realize that she was at fault for this, let alone that she was annoying Reimu, which most youkai know is something they shouldn't do.

Jeez, I'm glad she didn't just wander off on me... "Just, please, lead the way. I don't know how to get to the beach."

"Well, maybe you should get someone to take you there~."

Reimu had to stifle her anger yet again. Through clenched teeth, she could just barely manage to speak. "But you were the one who was lea-"

"Hey! What's that?" she interrupted, pointing further to the left than they were originally going, which led off of the makeshift path Reimu was following.

Reimu caught the movement just barely, but enough to recognize the small stature and general direction. No doubt about it, this was a fairy. Beating up a fairy or two will make me feel better...I hope... "Come on, Koishi. Let's go investigate."

"Yaaay! Adventure!" Koishi yelled, immediately taking off after the fairy. Reimu knew better than to lag too far behind her like she did earlier. However, after a few twists and turns, she lost sight of Koishi again.

"Dammit! Not again!" She slowed down, looking around for any sign of movement. When she saw what looked like the same fairy (although to her, a lot of fairies look the same), she took off after it, drawing her gohei and a few amulets. It's a shame I don't have Koishi, or at least her durability. Oh well, I might as well walk into this ambush prepared.... This time, she kept the fairy in sight. However, it must also have seen her, since it turned and started to spray danmaku at her. Very weak danmaku, but one aimed well enough that if Reimu kept flying straight, she'd be hit. A slight shift, and a homing amulet later, and the fairy was careening into a tree. Before she could react, though, another group of fairies burst out from the canopy and began firing upon her. These fairies were also not very powerful, and were brought down swiftly. As the last fairy fled the area, Reimu couldn't help but notice something. Usually, fairies have looks of happiness or determination. These looked annoyed, but not annoyed in an aggressive way. As if someone were talking to them, and they didn't want to talk back to them. "Very strange...even fairies were affected by the cloud." She surveyed the battlefield, seeing another fairy near a bent branch, but this one wasn't shot down...at least not by her.

Reimu cautiously approached the fairy, which didn't move. Occasionally, it would twitch, or a dark spot would appear somewhere on its skin or clothes, but nothing that would suggest it was a trap. She tried to use her native shrine maiden abilities to see if she could figure something out about what was going on. What she got was surprising; she could pick up slight traces of something holy! She couldn't feel it from the other fairies, but this one in particular seemed more affected than the others. "This...whatever it is, is obviously some sort of dark power...but then how could it be holy at all?"

"Why're we staring at this fairy?"

Once again, Reimu was startled by the sudden interruption to her thoughts. "Koishi! Will you stop doing that! I swear, you're going to give me a heart attack..."

"Aren't you, like, a teenager or somethin', though?" Koishi innocently asked.

"That's the point, Koishi. Now, if you would please continue leading me to the beach..."

"Ooh! The beach~! Good choice for destination!" In order to prevent herself from strangling Koishi, Reimu gripped her gohei to the point where she was sure it would break, and slapped her forehead. "Hee hee~! I know the way from here, so just follow me~!"

"How does Satori put up with this girl..." Reimu muttered under her breath.

Koishi's path was random, to say the least. She must have led Reimu throught at least three spider webs (direct-hit webs to the face, even) before they reached a clearing containing a strange house in the middle of the woods. "What? What're we doing at Alice's house?"

Koishi turned to face her without stopping. "This is the way I always go~!" With that, she opened the door to Alice's house, and walked right in. Reimu stood transfixed in front of the door, sure she'd hear the sounds of dolls brandishing weapons and a subsequent battle. When she heard nothing, she tentatively opened the door. First enough to peer in, then enough to take a step, then enough to fully enter. The house was dark and seemingly deserted. Reimu could see mudprints where Koishi walked, so she just followed them. They took her through her dining room and into a hall, where all doors except one were closed. As Reimu passed the open door, she happened to glance into it...and saw Alice sitting on her bed, in only a bathrobe, her hair still damp, looking like she was having a doll clip her toenails. The doll also turned, as if she were also staring. The two just stared at each other in stunned silence before Alice made the doll drop the clippers and close the door.

Face still red, she followed the footprints through a window next to the back door, and there Koishi was, sitting on a stump and humming. "Koishi, what the hell?! Do you always go through her house?!"

"Didn't it get you a little...excited?" Koishi replied, her hat at the perfect angle to make her look ominous, as if she planned the whole thing.

"Excited? What are you..." Reimu started, cutting herself off as she realized what the young youkai implied. "No no no no no! You're the one who led me through Alice's house in the first place, so this is all your fault!" As she yelled, she could feel her face get even hotter.

Koishi simply giggled and leaped back to her feet. "Come on, it's just a short ways to go now~!

Reimu had no choice but to keep following her, if she ever wanted to get anywhere. After a bit of wandering, they eventually found an area that seemed incredibly overgrown, even for the forest. Strange mushrooms and even more bizarre plants covered the ground, making a path almost impossible to find. Reimu decided after a vine wrapped around her leg to instead float about instead of walk. Koishi had been floating since they reentered the forest. Eventually, they found an area with less trees, but the ground was still covered with strange plants. Suddenly, Reimu thought she heard a noise coming from one of the nearby trees, and in her moment of distraction, she ran into something that refused to budge, but it turned out to be only Koishi, who had stopped. "Hmm...I don't remember being here before..."

Reimu was about to completely lose it at that statement, but another noise stopped her as she was bringing her gohei down towards Koishi's head. She knew it was coming from behind one certain tree, so she took the chance and got closer while Koishi pondered where she was. "Hello?" No response. Suddenly, a cloud of purple danmaku flew out of the shrubs near the trees! Reimu was almost caught off guard, and barely managed to graze it.

From the bush, a youkai stepped forth. "Intruders! Turn back now!" She was wearing a brown dress, with strange shoes with no soles, and a red spotted cape with a skull brooch holding it around her neck. But her most noticable feature was the spotted red cap she wore on her head, like a mushroom. As she walked out, she crossed her arms under her cape defiantly, determined to let none pass.

Which was the perfect excuse for Reimu. With a devilish smirk, she pulled out a few more homing amulets. "Try it," was all she said.

The mushroom girl scowled at this. "You will not pass, humans!" She then spread her arms, and dark purple clouds began forming around them. "Now perish in my toxins!"

Reimu waited for her to make the first move, which didn't take long. Dark purple clouds and danmaku were sprayed, but there were significant gaps. She began throwing her amulets, which made quite a few satisfying hits in the first few volleys. A few more waves of this, and the mushroom girl couldn't take it anymore. She switched to waves of danmaku, followed with a swift purple orb launched at where she was when the wave should have hit. Reimu switched from her amulets to her needles, and was about to throw the first few when suddenly Koishi jumped between them. "Hey hey! I remember now, we're going the wrong way!"

The mushroom girl stopped her assault, and Reimu spun around from the momentum she was going to put into throwing her needles. "I feel like I've been saying this phrase a lot, but dammit, Koishi! You don't just run headlong into a danmaku duel!" Indeed, Koishi took a few hits from stray danmaku, shown by a few marks on the back of her shirt, but those were already clearing up, and she didn't even seem to notice she was hit.

"Uh-huh...Well, anyway, we need to go THAT way!" she practically yelled in Reimu's face, pointing directly behind her.

"So wait, you two...aren't trying to go further into the forest?" The other two shook their heads. "Well, in that case, farewell, humans."

"Hey! I'm no lousy human! I'm Koishi!"

"Uh...What's a Koishi?"

Ignoring her previous comment, Reimu added "She's a satori."

"No, Satori is my sis-"

"Anyway..." the girl interrupted, "I have no problems with you leaving the forest."

"C'mon, Reimu~! This time we'll get out of here!" Koishi said, already bounding off.

Reimu started to follow, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, before you go...in that direction are a group of hills...and if you happen to run into one like me...well..." She seemed to be holding back something. "Just tell her...her sister hasn't forgotten her. Alright?"

The shrine maiden nodded, then went after Koishi. Luckily, Koishi wasn't going too fast, but she seemed to be going on a much more direct route. Within about fifteen minutes, they exited the forest, and saw an expanse of hilly land before them. Reimu was both glad and a bit pained to be directly in the sun again, but at least there was a nice breeze, and the lack of the Forest of Magic's strange miasma made her feel better. Shielding her eyes with one hand, now envious of Koishi's hat, Reimu kept following her, both of them again walking. They came to a hill with an overlook on it, when Koishi suddenly stopped. "Hey Reimu...random thought. Do you think that if music is played here, the hill will...you know...come alive?"

Reimu looked at her quizzically. "What on earth gave you that idea?"

Koishi just shrugged, but didn't resume walking. "Someone's here~! Friends, yay~!"

"What?! How'd you know I was here?" came a voice from under the plateau. "I can't even see you two..."

"Hee hee~! I can read how desparate you are to make an impression on us~!"

"Hmph!" With that, a girl rose up from the plateau. This one also wore a brown dress, but she was barefoot and wore a blue undershirt. There were a few patches sewn onto the dress, and the shirt was stitched up on one sleeve. On her lavender-colored hair sat another mushroom cap, but this one was brown with spots instead of red, and she looked quite a bit younger. She looked uncomfortable being near them. "Wh-what brings you to the lands of the Youkai Hunter?"

The name sparked a memory in Reimu's mind, of the Bunbunmaru that Aya occasionally gave her for no reason except to advertise and try to make her subscribe to it. On one, a fairly recent one at that, it stated that a lot of minor youkai mysteriously disappeared, usually being found some time later in the hills, obviously dead. They blamed what was called the Youkai Hunter, someone who was not only tracking down and exterminating youkai, but utterly killing them. Despite how devastated she would have been if it had been one of her friends claimed by this so-called hunter, she didn't pay any mind to it then at all. Now, it makes sense, as she looks around and sees the occasional bone or carcass baking in the sun. "So...you're implying that you're this 'hunter' you speak of?"

"Y-yes, I am. These youkai died by the Hunter's hands. That's me, Rima Kinoko!"

"Because...you look like a mushroom."

"Well, I am. That doesn't mean I can't be a killer!"

"Alright, prove it!" Koishi mocked, speaking for the first time. "See if you can kill me and my friend here~!"

"Koishi!!!" Reimu shot a very irritated glance at her.

Rima seemed taken back as well, obviously not expecting them to want a demonstration. "Uuhhh...umm...alright, but you asked for it!"

Reimu sighed, and pulled out her needles again. Koishi cracked her knuckles, and the cords from her third eye began fanning out a bit.

"Hah!" Rima yelled, growing a line of mushrooms straight at the two. The mushrooms then sprang up from the ground and turned into danmaku, heading in the direction of their targets. Some of them just barely missed, as Reimu made only small movements to better control the flight path of the bullets. Koishi made a large sweeping motion, easily evading with room to spare. Reimu began throwing her needles, which Rima could only barely dodge, and Koishi added in a few heart-shaped bullets with intersecting paths in her direction. Rima happened to notice these, and went right between them, where they wouldn't hit. However, that landed her right in a stream of needles. Reimu smiled at the shroomgirl's misfortune, and kept up the assault. After a few more volleys, Rima shouted "That's it, I'm using a spellcard!"

She actually seemed to grow it out of the ground, resting on a mushroom, which she picked and held over her head. "Mold Sign 'Spore Cloud'!" she yelled. She began throwing huge bubble-shaped bullets, with a bunch of smaller bullets inside of them. After a short time, the smaller bullets were released, and dispersed like a cloud of spores. This continued until the bullets got to the smallest they could be. However, the pattern wasn't that thick, and easily dodgable. Koishi was having no trouble sliding back and forth between bullets, while Reimu used the opportunity to get close to Rima.

Rima's focus was on Koishi, wondering just how she was able to weave so flawlessly through bullets, when she caught a slight motion from her peripheral vision. When she turned, she saw the shrine maiden darting towards her. Panicking, she threw a wave of brown bullets at her, but Reimu squeezed through them and got right up to her. "Call off the spell, and let us pass. NOW!" she yelled, pointing her gohei at the shroomgirl's neck. "Do it, or so help me I'll make you hurt for a week!" Rima could only stare back at her wide-eyed, not knowing what to do.

"Symbol 'All Ancestors Standing Beside Your Bed'!" Reimu heard from the side. Apparently Koishi decided to break this card with one of her own. As if Rima didn't have enough to worry about with a pissed-off shrine maiden threatening her, now a cascade of lasers is falling towards her! She was already stunned from Reimu's outburst, making her an easy target. A distinct sound of a spellcard breaking could be heard as Koishi's danmaku practically smothered the girl.

Once Koishi finally stopped pelting her with danmaku, Reimu could see that the girl was on her front, trying to stand up. The most she could do was prop herself up on her elbows. Some hunter she was. But still...poor girl, beaten to a pulp. I only wanted to threaten her to make this go faster... The twinge of guilt slowly growing, and now noticing Koishi was next to her (apparently oblivious to Rima's state), Reimu quietly said "Come on, let's go." As they turned to go, Reimu could hear slight sniffling behind her. Eventually, she couldn't take the feeling of guilt, and turned back to her. Rima, now almost to her knees, turned to the shrine maiden. "Another mushroom girl told me...that if I found one like her, to tell you this: She hasn't forgotten you." Now that she said that, she did notice that Rima's eyes were almost exactly the same as the other mushroom girl's eyes.

Rima didn't say anything to reply, she instead turned away from her, and began visibly sobbing. "S-sis..." could just barely be heard from her. Taking this as a cue to leave, Reimu turned to catch up with Koishi, her heart strings being tugged. However, she could almost feel something tugging them back, and remembered the cloud, and the reason why she was here in the first place. As she reached the top of the hill where Koishi was waiting, she looked out and saw Gensokyo's new river, which branched off of the main one from the Youkai Mountain. Again, this wasn't here before. "Well, we're almost there~!" It's as if Koishi didn't even remember the engagement she was just in, or what she had done. "Ready to go down the river?"

Reimu nodded, and the strange duo continued on their way to the beach, Reimu's only lead in this incident, and where Koishi wanted to spend the day.

an unmatched sock:
Chapter 3
Summer Eclipse

Reimu couldn't help the slight guilt at the treatment of the mushroom girl. Which was unusual, she never felt guilty about any youkai attack. Maybe the guilt stemmed from the fact that she wasn't the one who won, and instead got a worse beating than she would have gotten normally, if she resisted. Although she could have acted on her threat, her intuition told her that she could easily be pushed around, so one threat could have been enough. Of course, now she'll never know.

She took a sidelong glance at her hat-wearing, oblivious companion. How did she wind up getting stuck with Koishi on this trip? Oh, right. The beach. Which shouldn't exist. "Hey Koishi, just when are we supposed to get there? I would like it to at least be today."

"Don't worry, we're getting close~!" came the reply.

Reimu's arms drooped at her sides. "That's what you said back in the Fore- what the..." Her attention diverted to something else unnatural: on the largets hill's crest, there was a gaping hole. It had to be almost a quarter of a mile wide, and even longer on the other sides. It was probably a good sixty feet deep, or lower. It looked like the ground was simply torn away from the rest of the land. In fact, that's the exact place she's felt something strange from for months now. Every time she would pass through that spot, the air would seem to shimmer, and she would feel dizzy. "Koishi, could you follow me for a second?"

The young satori swivelled around, and walked over to Reimu in stride. The pair proceeded up the hill, towards the hole. "Stay here," Reimu commanded, and took off from the ground. As she suspected, the strange feeling in the air wasn't there anymore. Whatever was once concealed in the hole, it's not there anymore, which raised Reimu's suspicions. She floated silently back to Koishi, and the two resumed their journey.

After another good ten minutes of walking, Reimu was finally starting to feel the summer heat and the sun beating down on her head. Much to her delight, ahead was a winding river, which seemed to go right to where Koishi was taking her. "All we need to do now is follow this river! We'll be there in no time, like I told you~!"

"For once, Koishi, I'm fine with this course we're going on."

Koishi looked at Reimu, wondering what she meant by that, then shrugged it off and proceeded down toward the riverbank. Soon they were flying over the running waters, and Reimu was enjoying the feel of the water spraying on her face. Luckily, they weren't troubled by too many fairies, although the ones that favored hiding in the water and jumping out at them proceeded not only to be annoying, but to thoroughly soak both girls. Before long, Reimu was instead shivering, and longing for the sun to evaporate the moisture from her clothes. She suggested they sit on a clear part of the bank, and it was while they were waiting to dry off when Reimu looked back to check on how much progress they've made.

"We haven't gone very far at all! I can stil see the hills from here! What the hell?!"

"Well, when we're following the river," Koishi explained, wringing out one of her third eye cords (Wait...they can get waterlogged?), "obviously we follow its twists and turns. We've come a long way, if we were fish or something."

"That doesn't mean...Wait." She turned towards the river, but saw nothing except the occasional fairy or the shadow of a fish. "Hmm...I thought I heard something. Anyway, let's just try to follow a straight course this time."

Koishi nodded, and the two proceeded onward, but at a slower pace. They hadn't realized how tired they were until they took a rest. The fairies seemed to be attacking less and less, until they simply ceased. Reimu took out her gohei, on edge for what might be ahead. Upon asking, Koishi said the same thing as before, so Reimu had no idea how much longer they would be following this river. The silence was quickly making Reimu paranoid, especially since one can't exactly create conversation with Koishi unless you're prepared for absolutely any topic and a change of topic at the drop of a hat.

"Baaa dum." Koishi broke the silence, with two ominous-sounding notes. Reimu raised an eyebrow at this, then focused on where they were going again. "Baaaa dum." Reimu shot another glance at Koishi, who caught it this time, but didn't respond to it. "Ba dum ba dum ba dum ba bum ba dum ba dum ba dum ba bum" The ominous tune continued from Koishi, and it was making Reimu sweat.

"Koishi, stop it. You're scaring me more than usual."

This didn't stop the young youkai, who kept going, slowly crescendoing until Reimu started glancing around anxiously. "Koishi, seriously. Knock it off." UInbeknownst to them, a dark greyish-blue shape was beginning to rise silently from the surface behind them...

"Koishi, I'm giving you 'til the count of three to stop that noise." The two had slowed down quite a bit since Koishi started.

"One..."

Koishi still didn't stop, and the nagging fear was pressing more into Reimu's mind.

"Two..."

Reimu could feel her grip tightening on her gohei as her hands turned clammy. Whatever weird mind power Koishi was using to creep her out wasn't funny anymore.

"Thr-"

"Ba da DAAAAAAA!!!" Koishi yelled, throwing a small line of danmaku at Reimu. While Reimu screamed and panic-dodged, Koishi started laughing hysterically, clutching at her sides. Reimu's face turned bright red, and Koishi finally calmed down enough to speak. "Ohh...Yo-You should have seen your fear! Ahh, that was hilarious~."

"That wasn't funny, Koishi! You really had me thinking something was going to happen. Anyway, let's just go."

"Ok, ok. To the beach, then. Your face was priceless..." Reimu rolled her eyes, glad for once that Koishi couldn't remember much of anything. But still, she couldn't get rid of that nagging, creepy feeling that seemed to be slithering upwards, trying to drag her down into the water, never to be seen agai-

She shook her head to clear these thoughts out. Being this close to Koishi for this long has certainly had some negative side effects, she reasoned. I just want to get this incident over with...

The two kept going, Reimu pulling ahead slightly, not even noticing Koishi falling behind. She heard a splash and looked back, only to not see Koishi anywhere. She instantly thought she was trying to scare her again, and stopped in mid-flight. "Alright, Koishi. You had your laugh. Now come out," she called. The young satori was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't uncommon for her. Reimu sighed. "I'm not falling for it this time, Koishi. I know you're just trying to scare me again." She heard a splash off to her right, but she couldn't see what it was that made the noise. She floated absolutely still, trying to pick up any type of noise. Her intuition was screaming at her to get away from the water, but she ignored it.

She heard another splash behind her, this one even larger than before. She turned to get a better look, but all she saw was a flash of red and blue-gray, and what looked like an odd fin, and the next thing she knew, she was underwater! Whatever had her had immense strength, and she wasn't used to underwater battles. It seemed to be pulling her away from her destination, and more frighteningly, the surface! Thinking quickly, she found a few needles, and proceeded to jab them into the creature's back. It writhed, and began swimming faster...and deeper. She pulled out a spellcard, her consciousness slipping fast. Her mind rang with its name: Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal"!!! Multicolored orbs sprang to life from her form, and she felt whatever it was let go. The orbs all followed, condensing onto one point, and exploded.

Despite this victory, she felt so far from the surface, and the air was escaping from her lungs quickly. She could feel herself starting to black out, when she felt another force help raise her. This filled her with hope, and the surface rushed to greet her. Once her head was back above water, she took the largest and most fulfilling gasp of air in her life, After she was breathing mostly normal again, she realized she wasn't treading water; something was holding her. She weakly turned her head, to see bright red hair and a pair of eyes that blended into the water behind a pair of goggles. She shifted her weight, and used the now-free hand to move the goggles off of her eyes, resting them on her forehead. "You alright there?" she asked, her voice not sweet, but not exactly rugged either. She looked like she was only a few years older than Reimu.

"Uh...yeah..." Her mind still sorting out the fog of adrenaline, it stumbled on one crucial fact, and she felt a little more revitalized. "Hey, we need to get...out of the water! there's something...else here with us!" She punctuated this with a couple of coughs.

"You're in no real condition to talk right now, let alone swim or walk. I'll take ya back to where I set up shop; I can explain myself when you're ready." Reimu thought she noticed something odd when the girl was talking, but put it off for now. A shop could mean food, and she felt really hungry right now for some reason. So, she nodded. The other girl smiled at her compliance. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep your head over the surface. We'll be there in no time."

The last line sparked another memory in Reimu's mind. "Hey...you haven't happened to see a youkai with a wide-brimmed black hat around, have you?"

She thought for a moment, slowing their pace so she could think. "Can't say I have, sorry."

The next few minutes were a daze to Reimu, who still seemed to be in shock that she almost drowned, or worse, was dragged underwater by some youkai to be drowned and eaten. She could see in the distance what looked like a wooden stand, with some stools outside of the counter, under a small roof. It looked like a bar. "Well, here we are. One sec, and I'll hoist you back onto land...you go and take a seat. I'll be right with you." With obvious effort, she lifted Reimu out of the water so she would be sitting on the shore. She walked the rest of the way, while the other girl dove back beneath the river's surface. She walked over to the bar, which only had one person all the way down on the end, drinking out of a strange, swirly straw. Reimu noticed a hat, strange wires around her, and strangely long sleeves...

"Koishi?!"

The girl turned towards the one addressing her, then smiled and waved while still drinking. "Where the hell have you been?! All of a sudden you just vanished on me- AGAIN! I don't know what your problem is..." Reimu glanced at Koishi's sealed third eye. "Well, that's not entirely true," she quickly added, "but that's not the point!"

Koishi finally stopped drinking, and set the glass on the counter. "Well, you see..."

But before she could begin, she heard a splash from the river, which was awfully close to the counter, she now noticed. Out of the river stepped the same girl who carried her back to the stand, with bright red hair. Now, she could get a good look at what her savior truly looked like. She wore a plain white dress with a dark blue jacket overtop of it, which looked a little too big on her body, but the sleeves looked rather slim. From the angle, she could see what were probably red stripes across her back. Most peculiar, however, were her feet; when she stepped onto land, instead of feet were flippers, like she had seen for sale at Kourindou sometimes, except these looked...real. Now that she noticed it, her fingers had webbing between them that would make it easier for swimming...

"Sorry that took so long. Just had to leave myself a reminder back home." She walked up to the counter, resting her elbows on it. Despite the flippers looking more awkward than actual feet, she seemed to have no problems walking with them. "So, what can I get ya, miss...?"

"Reimu Hakurei. I'm surprised you haven't heard of me." That sounded much more pretentious than she meant, but she was still annoyed at Koishi for ditching her for a stupid drink.

The woman seemed a bit shocked at this, and blinked a couple of times, as if not sure if her eyes were deceiving her or not. "You're the Reimu Hakurei? The shrine maiden? Wow, I guess you look a bit different when you're soaking wet underwater, huh?" With this joke, she smiled, and Reimu noticed her teeth were all sharp. Her gut was telling her that something was definitely wrong here, but this time she listened.

"Yeah...so, what's your name? And what exactly were you doing that you could come to my rescue so quickly?"

"Oh! Where are my manners. I'm Kuhai Hoshokusha, owner and proprietor and only employee of my humble business right here. This is a stand for drinks, mixed or otherwise." She pointed to a board with the names of various drinks and their ingredients listed. There were mixing suggestions under almost every entry. "What'll you have? First one's on the house. Oh, I need to get something, too, one sec."

"Yeah, well, you still didn't answer my..." Reimu's voice trailed off as she saw what is probably Kuhai's most notable feature: the large shark fin on her back. "Hey!"

Kuhai quickly stood up, holding a couple glasses and a container used for shaking drinks. "What?"

Reimu was already in a battle stance, holding several amulets and her gohei. "You're that thing that grabbed me earlier! I hope you have good reason for it, or you're gonna pay!"

Kuhai sighed, then set down everything she was holding. "I do have good reason. Predators have to eat, and human isn't exactly bottom-barrel food scraps. I rarely partake in human consumption, so I figured I could indulge. I've seen quite a few humans with the ability to fly, most from that human village. One was even dressed sorta like you."

Reimu's already grim face only became angrier. "You haven't convinced me yet."

"I only ever attack humans with little or no power. No sense in wasting my energy in a struggle. Usually I do what I was doing with you: pull them underwater and wait until they stop moving. When you stabbed me, I thought nothing of it. Some humans I've taken even had swords, and I still won. It was that spell card of yours that tipped me off that you were powerful. Even after taking the hit, I realized I had to get you back to the surface so you could live. I didn't realize my mistake could have been so...drastic, had I not realized, or if you didn't act fast enough. I am, truthfully, sorry about this." She was back to resting on the counter, making direct eye contact with Reimu.

The shrine maiden lowered her weapons, buying the shark's story. "Alright. But how did you find Koishi?"

"Oh, she's who you meant? Huh, strange that I forgot her...Anyway, I saw her flying around, going in the opposite direction from you, and offered for her to come here. She accepted, and I got her a drink, then went back out and found you. Oh yeah...first drink's already free, as a promotion. And both because you're the Hakurei maiden and I...y'know...almost killed you, you get another two free drinks. Redeemable anytime."

Reimu practically grimaced at her business tactics. She also noticed that her right arm was down below the counter, not resting on it. Kuhai seemed to be focusing, as if waiting for something. "Everything alright there?"

"Yeah, just wait...one...Ha!" the shark yelled. Reimu looked over the counter, only to see Kuhai's arm was stretching all the way from the counter to the river! In her hand was a fish, struggling out of the water, being pulled by her arm, until it assumed a normal length. Kuhai smiled at the fish, which had to be a good foot and a half long, before moving it closer to her mouth. Right before the bite, however, she caught Reimu staring at her. "Should I wait 'til you leave?"

"Your arm..."

"What about it?"

"It went from here to the river..." Reimu pointed weakly at the water, unable to comprehend how her body could do that. She had seen youkai take beatings that would leave ordinary humans little more than pulp and ash, but never had she seen one with a rubber body.

"Well, since I was denied one meal, I got another. Gods have to eat too..."

"Wait wait wait, you're a god?"

"Former god. I gradually kept losing faith, so now I guess I'm just a regular youkai, like her," she pointed at Koishi with the fish. "One legend was that I had red hair. Obviously, true. Another was that I was over fifty-five feet long. That's not true, but that's about the extent I could, say, stretch my arm or my torso. It would be uncomfortable, though.

"Right...well, let's go, Koishi."

"By the way, if you don't mind me askin', where were you two heading?"

"We're going to the beach~!" Koishi said, the first thing she's spoken since they got there."

"Beach, eh? Well, you two were going the wrong way. It's further east. You can still follow the sun, it hasn't reached the highest point yet."

Reimu slowly turned to Koishi. "Wrong...way?!" To which Koishi laughed nervously and shrugged.

"Well, we won't lose our way now, let's go!"

"And don't forget to tell people about this place! I could use some more business!" Kuhai called after them.

Reimu turned back shouting "Sure thing," only to be greeted with the sight of the shark swallowing the fish whole. She shuddered at the image, realizing that she could have been in the fish's place...and she silently thanked the gods that she was who she was.

Proceeding the correct way down the river, the journey wasn't too boring with stray fairy attacks, but it wasn't exactly exciting, either. After about twenty minutes, she figured the sun's approximate location, and was baffled at how it could still be technically morning. Her worries about time were quickly washed away as they finally arrived at their destination. Koishi yelled in joy, and ran straight for the waves, running along their edge, splashing the water with every step. Reimu was completely absorbed by the sights of sparkling sand and water, the roar of the waves, the scent of the salt air...she was overcome. She had practically forgotten why she was there. "It's...beautiful."

A sigh rang out next to her. "Isn't it? Just gorgeous~." Reimu jumped from the new arrival, a rather tropical-looking girl with a flower she's never seen behind her ear. Her hair and eyes were both teal, like the ocean. Yet, she had a gentle face, like the sun in the early morning. Her dress could be considered anything but tropical; it looked more like a dancer's dress than summer attire. She was also about as tall as Reimu. "Oh, sorry. Did I scare you? Everyone seems to be on edge ever since that cloud went by."

"Cloud?" Reimu mused, trying to remember. "Cloud...Oh! That's right! It apparently went here, but...I have no idea where it went from here. Dang...so close and yet so far..."

The girl giggled and started walking slowly forward, spinning gracefully a few times. The sunlight practically bounced off of her, making the scenery even more gorgeous. "By the way, I'm Yoake Ensosha. I don't think we've met. I'm what some people might call the "Embodiment of Summer", but I prefer being called the Pirouette of the Dawn. I guess I'm just a morning youkai, tee hee~!"

Reimu thought that her behavior was just plain weird, that such a friendly youkai could exist without some sort of drawback. Yet, even with this girl's sunny disposition, she could feel something wrong...and whatever it was, it was approaching fast. She looked back and forth, but couldn't find Koishi. Only to realize she somehow got behind her, and started drawing hearts with eyes in them in the sand.

"So," Yoake continued, "you said you wanted to know where the cloud went? Well...I can tell you~."

"Really? Well, where is it? I really don't have time for games." She wanted to hurry this up; the longer she stayed, the worse she was starting to feel as whatever was ailing her was now acting up again, either from this girl's likable attitude, or whatever danger she could feel was coming up.

"Ok then. It went..." But before she could finish, the ocean erupted, and one of the most bizarre things Reimu's ever seen came out of it. It looked like a big black orb, about one and a half times the size of her head, its surface constantly shifting. Behind it there was a ring of much smaller orbs, attached to its back like flower petals, which were turquoise in color. It had one huge eye, with what looked like two irises. The inner one was yellow, and the outer, which looked like the sun, was the same color as the petals. It looked between the three on the beach, before fixing its gaze on Yoake. As its eye settled on Reimu, she started feeling grumpier to the point of being sick. These things were connected somehow, but Reimu didn't get much of a chance to act on it. It charged directly at Yoake, who didn't even have time to respond with danmaku.

Reimu expected to hear the noise of impact, but instead heard something far different. She heard Yoake scream, and then the creature phased into her. Yoake started struggling against something, and a dark aura could be seen around her. This closed on her, clinging to her skin and clothes, and slowly she stopped moving. Once the last bit of the visible aura vanished, she turned back to the other two. Koishi was watching around Reimu, who had drawn her amulets and gohei once again. Yoake's movements, at first very fluid and graceful, were now blocky and forceful, as if her body wasn't her own anymore. Her eyes opened, but now they were the same yellow as the orb's, and the pupils were horribly contracted.

"Human and youkai. Your efforts are in vain, and you should turn back now, while you still have the chance." It sounded like Yoake, but the words were not her own. "I will show no mercy if you do not comply."

Reimu was looking for an excuse to fight since she didn't get to actually duel Kuhai earlier. This was just what she needed. "Well, we don't want to comply. We have a counter offer, actually. You surrender, and take us to your boss, right now!"

The possessed Yoake scowled, displeased that its warning wasn't heeded. "Then you shall perish on this beach, and we shall continue as planned!" With this, Yoake started making movements to send rings of danmaku out from her. It wasn't much, but it was enough to force the pair to move. Koishi used her one attack that launched curtains of bullets, with one blue bullet acting as a target marker, and Reimu launched her homing amulets. Within seconds, Yoake was forced to the defensive. She could only fire when she had the chance, which wasn't often. Even a borrowed form can only take so much punishment, though. So, Yoake tried to call a spellcard. The first one she pulled out was shot right out of her hand, so she backed off a bit to get more room for declaration.

"Sunlight sign 'Burning Pirouette'!" After the card disappeared in a flash, Yoake began dancing a dance with many spins in it, slowly getting faster. With each complete revolution, a wave of triangular bullets was launched at the two. They had little problems dodging through the waves, but Yoake's constant movement was making it difficult to pin her down for a good strike that will call off the card. Koishi seemed to have an idea, though, as she cut off her attack and began getting closer to Yoake. Reimu had no idea what she was up to, and probably didn't want to know. Yoake seemed completely focused on Reimu, luckily.

As Koishi got behind Yoake, she declared, of all cards, "Instinct 'Release of the Id'~!" Yoake's card was nullified, and heart-shaped bullets now began pouring out of Koishi in all directions. Reimu was smart enough to back out of its field of influence, but still kept a close eye on the two. From out of the cloud, she could hear Koishi yell "HUUUG!!" and start chasing the possessed summer youkai around.

"You imbecile! Get away from me! I didn't know my mission would involve going up against you!" Yet, Yoake's natural grace enabled her to move between most of the bullets. Koishi chasing after her didn't do much to change the situation, and Yoake seemed desperate to not make contact. Reimu couldn't blame her, honestly. A few pained shrieks and playful yells later, the hearts finally began to disperse, as Koishi's spell runs out.

Despite Yoake looking pretty beaten up already, she still wasn't giving up. She pulled out another spellcard, this time infused with shadows. "You will pay for causing me this indignity! Eclipse 'Cold Sun'!" This doesn't sound like one of Yoake's spells, Reimu thought, especially with the sudden spike of irritability she felt. This only happened whenever it felt like the other creature had more influence over Yoake's actions. As the card vanished, a shadow passed over the sun, causing the area to become much darker. From the eclipse, rings of sunlight started flying at Reimu and Koishi, focused more on Koishi this time. Black lightning started arcing from Yoake, which seemed very unnatural. Reimu took this opportunity to switch to her needles, flinging as many as she could.

Slowly, Reimu worked Yoake's strength down until a distinct *SNAP* filled the air. The spell broken, the eclipse began vanishing, until everything was normal again. Yet still, Yoake wasn't done, she tried once more to hurl danmaku, only to be hit by another salvo of needles. Light began pouring out of the poor summer girl as she and the other creature were forcefully separated. Yoake was now unconscious on the ground, and the creature was speeding across the ocean. "Koishi, follow me! We're chasing after that thing!"

Sure she had found a lead, Reimu began following the mysterious thing over the ocean, Koishi following close behind, excited to be on more of an adventure than she had expected. With any luck the thing will lead the duo right back to where it came from, which, as Reimu was assuming, would be that black cloud. It is time to put an end to this incident, once and for all!
I think I need to work on battles in story format. I don't think I did this one justice. I'll try harder next time. Feel free to comment, if you wish, as usual.

TheTeff007:
The entire scene with Kuhai just seemed hilarious when you picture it~

Great Job, as always

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