Aya sighed and flopped back, stretching her wings to work off a little tension. The night had started off feeling like a big adventure. The snacks that she'd brought still littered the floor of the shrine, mixed in with enough scribbled notes for half a dozen articles. It had been fun at first.
Now, though... she should have told Reimu to turn back as soon as she ran into that oni, she decided. Looking back, that much was obvious. She'd thought that Reimu could handle it—she was pretty strong for a human, after all—but there was stuff underground that just didn't have equals on the surface. Over the night, she'd been able to hear Reimu's voice growing weaker.
The yin-yang orb, sitting on the table in front of her, remained silent. She hadn't heard a peep from it in fifteen minutes. There hadn't even been a confrontation or something before the silence. That was the worst part. For all she knew, Reimu had been clubbed over the head and eaten by some youkai, who was now listening to the orbs for entertainment.
But Aya wasn't giving up that easily. She leaned forward and gave the orb a sharp smack on the side. That always seemed to help with kappa-made radios. “Reimu. Hey, Reimu, are you there? You've got to answer if you're there, you know. You're startin' to make me pretty worried. Ehe.”
Miraculously, she heard something stirring on the other side. She went dead silent, unable to take her eyes off the orb, until she heard coughing. “Hey! Reimu! Can you, um, give me an update on what happened?”
“Huh...?” Reimu's voice sounded far away. There was a rustling noise as she apparently picked up one of the orbs. “Nothing... I just... nngh. It's really hot down here. I think I fainted. I really need a drink...”
Aya had grabbed her notebook and prepared to take notes, but now froze. “A-ah, huh, is that so...? Where are you now?”
“I don't know... some cave. The walls are on fire.”
“Right, right! The Hell of Blazing Fires, remember? Okay, remember that mansion you just said you were at? Do you think she'd give you some water if you went back?”
There were a few seconds of silence, and Aya was afraid that she'd lost Reimu again. “But the incident...”
“Hey, hey, that's going to be fine, alright? We'll figure something out. For now, let's get you home.”
Once Reimu had gotten a drink and rested up for a few minutes, Aya had a harder choice to make. Reimu really shouldn't have been traveling in her condition... but she also really needed to get out of the Underworld. Half the youkai down there were man-eaters. She wouldn't last long if word got around that a weakened human was trapped down there.
So, she'd talked Reimu into leaving the safety of the Palace and heading back toward the surface. It came with its own risks. “Alright, I'm back at the edge of the, um... the...” Reimu trailed off, her voice barely above a mumble. “Capital. The city.”
“Right, right, that's good! Do you see the cave in front of you?”
“Yeah, but...”
“You're almost home, okay? Just head back up the blowhole.” Aya paused for a few seconds, and heard no response. “Reimu? Did you hear?”
“Huh? Yeah, I'm going...”
This wasn't good. At this rate, Reimu was going to collapse again. Unlike the blazing hell, the rest of the Underworld was full of youkai. If she fainted again...
Right. Aya had made up her mind. Grabbing the yin-yang orb, she rose to standing, pulled her geta back on, and hurried out the door. It wasn't a long run to the geyser, but she still didn't dare to stop talking to Reimu for a moment. “Hey, are you still going?”
“I'm at the hole... it's really tall, though.”
“Just hold on, I'll be there soon, okay? Reimu?”
“'m comin' up...”
Reimu sounded half-dead. No time to waste, then. Aya kept up her sprint to the edge of the geyser. When she reached it, she tossed the yin-yang orb to the ground and leapt, pivoting midair to fly down at an angle along the walls.
The moonlight faded behind her, but there was still just enough light for her tengu eyes to pick out the walls. No sign of Reimu, though. Aya's thoughts grew more frantic. Tucking her wings in, she pulled herself into a straight dive, hurling toward the bottom as fast as gravity would let her. She was just starting to lose hope when she finally spotted a speck of red and white in the depths below.
Unfurling her wings and exerting her full force, she barely managed to come to a stop meters above Reimu. The shrine maiden looked terrible. Her skin was both too pale and red at the same time, and her flight was slow and meandering. The yin-yang orbs trailed behind her in a ragged line. Her eyes stared blankly into the near-total darkness. “Somebody there...?”
“Hey. It's just your friendly neighborhood Shameimaru.” Reaching down, she touched her hand lightly to Reimu's. “I thought you could use the help. Grab on.”
Reimu still didn't seem able to see her, but the sound of her voice brought a tired smile to her face. “Thanks...” she said. Her too-warm hand wrapped around Aya's, and soon, they were headed for home.
