#mimic fics

[mimicteruyo]

Surprise!

Like Sunshine After Rain (with Extra Mushrooms)

Word Count: 6,300 Rating: G Pairing: Sekibanki/Kogasa Tatara Summary: Kogasa's now regular stint at making dinner takes a sudden turn towards panic. Established romance (with recipes??)

[mimicteruyo]

Has Hell frozen over? It's a new multichapter Mimic fic!

The Day Tenshi Hinanawi Disappeared

Word Count: 16,800 Rating: T Characters: Tenshi Hinanawi, Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, Hecatia Lapislazuli, Iku Nagae (+ a bunch of smaller roles and cameos) Summary: It's a day like any other, with one crucial difference: Tenshi Hinanawi is nowhere around. It's as if she's somehow gone back to Heaven without a single word of farewell.

Only… she is still right there in Gensokyo. And getting more annoyed by the moment. Whoever's behind her "disappearance" is going to be sorry. Even if that means she has to go to Hell and back.

[mimicteruyo]

It's been so long since I last posted about a Mimic fic.

First Flights

Word Count: 3360 Rating: G Ship: Reimu Hakurei/Hieda no Akyuu Summary: Season 138. Akyuu invites Reimu over to observe what almost certainly isn't a nest of youkai thrushes.

[mimicteruyo]

Witchy Correspondence

[Touhou Ship Week Day 2: Sweet & Pride. Marisa/Alice, 1.1k words]

The rapping against Marisa's window was too localised to come from a human-sized hand. Marisa looked up from her book expecting either a fairy or a small bird and smiled to instead find a neatly-dressed doll peering inside. She dropped the book and walked out of the door.

She very nearly collided with Alice, who had been standing right outside. She stepped back to take in the folded arms and the look which suggested Alice was either suffering from indigestion or had just found evidence of a booklice infestation in her house.

"Here." She thrust a book Marisa had asked to 'borrow' for quite some time towards her. "Now you have no reason to come over."

Marisa took the book by instinct. She stared at it, then up at Alice. She tucked the book beneath her arm. "Okay. What's up?"

"You know perfectly well what it is. For future reference, I would appreciate it if next time you had the guts to tell me how you truly feel to my face."

"Uh..." Marisa blinked several times. There were only so many things this could be about, but even with that knowledge she was left groping in the dark. "Ya got allergies I didn't know about?"

"No."

"D'ya just really hate carnations?"

"Don't mock me."

"I ain't mocking ya." Marisa scratched the side of her head as she tried to come up with other possibilities. "Look, whatever's going on, I think we need to get back on the same page first."

Alice's coolness visibly thawed as she considered Marisa's words. "I agree."

"Just a tick." Marisa ducked back indoors.

It took some rummaging — more than expected, since she could've sworn she had left it on top of the pile rather than in the middle of it — but soon enough she had her guide to Western flower language in hand. She brushed aside the piece of purple string clinging to the front cover, grabbed her hat, and stepped back outdoors. "I'm good to go."

They didn't exchange a single word as they marched over to Alice's house, but the silence wasn't nearly as tense as Marisa might have expected. In fact, both the curve of Alice's shoulders and the casual manner in which her doll flew next to them made the walk seem like a typical forest excursion. It was like the matter was half resolved already, whatever it was.

Once at Alice's house, Marisa set her hat on its usual peg while Alice sailed past her to the kitchen and resumed orchestrating a small army of dolls as they chopped vegetables and minded pots and pans. Almost everything was in its usual neat order, and so Marisa's attention was quickly drawn to the chaos on the desk. Upon closer inspection, the papers covering the surface were filled with tables and explanatory notes in Alice's narrow and precise hand. Preparatory work for a new grimoire? She leaned over to study them, but a look from Alice through the open door kept her from filching a page or two.

Returning her attention to other things, she noticed a potted pansy on the windowsill, its lone blossom turned towards the sun. Despite the tension lingering in the air, the sight was a hopeful one.

"Now then." It seemed Alice's lunch preparations had entered a phase where her dolls required only a fraction of her attention. She returned to the sitting room and picked up an old book which had lain next to the papers on the desk. Its covers were an uninspired shade of brown, but the gilded letters on its spine revealed it to be a cousin to Marisa's book. Her brow furrowed gently as she opened the book and searched for the correct page. "When I first sent you a snowdrop, you took it to mean..."

"Nice flower." Still, Marisa followed suit and opened her guide just as she had back then. "But then I remembered what we'd been talkin' about the week before and looked it up. It means hope."

Alice nodded. "And a few days later, you sent me..." Her eyes moved to the pansy on the windowsill.

"Think of me," Marisa said, with a slightly awkward grin.

"Then it was lilies-of-the-valley..."

Marisa quickly flipped through the pages. "Return of happiness."

"Exactly. And finally..." Alice seemed more hesitant now, as though she had already seen the conclusion of the exercise. Regardless, she sought out the correct page in her book and looked at Marisa. "What does yours say about carnations?"

"Maybe I oughta know what yours says first."

The narrowing of Alice's eyes suggested she was unimpressed, but she obliged Marisa anyway. "Disdain."

"Okay. Mine has 'em meaning fascination and distinction."

"It doesn't specify anything about yellow carnations in particular?"

"Nah." Actually, now that Marisa studied the page more closely, she discovered a list in smaller print specifying the meaning of each individual colour of carnation. Bringing that up seemed counterproductive, however, and so she insisted on the point that really mattered. "I meant only what I thought the meaning was."

For a moment, Alice said nothing. Finally, she closed her book and looked aside. "...That would explain it."

"But, uh..." This was surprisingly embarrassing. Marisa scratched her cheek before continuing. "What's in this book ain't actually what I meant with it. I had hanakotoba in mind."

Alice's next pause only lasted a moment before she returned the book to the desk and walked over to the nearest bookshelf. After a few moments of scanning the titles, she extracted a volume with blue covers from the shelf and studied it with care.

Finally, she stilled. "...Oh."

"...Yeah." Marisa's cheeks were suddenly on fire. Pure and deep love. Because that had seemed like the right message to send at the time.

"...That is rather saccharine of you." But even as Alice closed the volume with a snap, she failed to contain her growing smile. Clearly, the sappiness had been taken in its intended way.

"Yeah, I'm movin' onto the sugary part of floral courtship." Marisa grinned, both because it seemed likely to distract from the blush still warming her cheek and because things were definitely looking up. "Think ya can rise to the challenge?"

Alice carried the guide to hanakotoba to the desk and placed it on top of the first book. "I have no intention of losing to you when it comes to doing research." She hesitated for just a moment before she smiled at Marisa in her usual pleasant way. "I have enough food for two if you'd like to stay for lunch."

"Sounds great." Even as Marisa settled herself for a longer stay in Alice's house, she was already planning what kinds of flowers she might send over next.

[mimicteruyo]

The Reversal

[Touhou Ship Week Day 1: Confession. Kogasa/Sekibanki, 1.3k words]

"Married?"

Kogasa nodded vigorously. "That's what she told me. They're doing it next month!"

"It's the first I've heard of it." Sekibanki turned back towards the door and pulled on her second boot. "Who around here officiates weddings for youkai? Are they having it at Myouren Temple?"

"At Misty Lake. I don't think it's an official thing." Kogasa tried not to hover, but it was hard not to when every fibre in her body brimmed with nervous energy. "Wakasagihime said they just want to celebrate how much they love each other. We're both invited if you want to go."

She hoped Sekibanki couldn't hear her heart thumping in her chest as she waited for a response. This was the critical point. There were several different ways in which Sekibanki might respond, and some of them meant Kogasa would never bring the subject matter up again. Well, maybe not never, but she would have to wait for some years at least.

Fortunately, Sekibanki's shrug was of the casual sort. "Why not?" Her boots now firmly on her feet, she stood up and glanced over her shoulder at Kogasa. "I don't really see the point of it, but I don't mind it either. See you later."

Kogasa's heart was pounding so wildly she almost missed her cue. "Have a good day!"

She continued to quietly vibrate in place for a long while after Sekibanki was gone.

Two weeks later, Kogasa walked back home through the Human Village while humming a tune to herself, her arm around a bag of groceries. She would usually have been at her forge at this hour, but if she followed a routine too closely, she would become predictable, and so she had instead done some bartering in the village for some lovely soup ingredients for her and Sekibanki.

She slowed down as their home came to view. Whenever her thoughts reached Sekibanki, they anchored themselves there, and she suddenly found it nigh impossible to think of anything but Sekibanki's blunt but considerate demeanour, the warmth of her rare smiles, and Kogasa's own increasingly elaborate dreams for a shared future with her.

How long should she wait to pop the question after bringing up the subject of marriage in the first place? Would a few weeks be enough for it to be a surprise, or should she allow months to pass first? Waiting for more than a year would be torture, but at least then she could almost guarantee Sekibanki's jaw would drop at the proposal.

She tried not to sigh as she gave a tiny wave at her neighbours. Maybe she shouldn't have brought up the subject at all. But then, the mere thought of proposing to Sekibanki only to discover she was virulently hostile towards the very concept of marriage made her blood turn to ice.

She suppressed a shudder as she opened the door. No. If Sekibanki really hated the idea, she would have made it known. That meant there was a chance. Kogasa just needed to find the right time to ask. "I'm home!"

"Welcome back." Sekibanki briefly turned her head to frown at Kogasa. "How many spring onions did you get?"

"Guess!" Kogasa set the groceries with their abundance of spring onions on the table, then straightened up, curious. For whatever reason, Sekibanki was crouched down facing a wall. "What's going on?"

"I think there's a mouse hole here."

"Huh?" Kogasa walked over to crouch down next to Sekibanki. "Do you think it's a problem?"

She scanned the wall. No matter how hard she peered at it, the small hole she was meant to see refused to make itself manifest. "Um. Where is it?"

Sekibanki jerked her head to the side just as she often did when she was about to wake up. "...Must have been a trick of the light."

"That's a relief." Kogasa bounced back to her feet. "I'll get started on—"

"Hold on. There's something else."

"Oh." Kogasa crouched back down, whispering conspiratorially just for the fun of it. "What it is?"

Without another word, Sekibanki raised her fist, which had until then rested on her knee, and rotated it until her fingers were turned towards the ceiling. She opened it.

A thin band of gleaming metal with a turquoise stone caught all the scant light in the room.

Kogasa stared at the ring, then at Sekibanki. She felt as though she should have been able to put the pieces together, but her mind drew a blank.

Sekibanki's expression remained passive even as she spoke in a very deliberate tone. "Kogasa Tatara, will you marry me?"

Kogasa crossed her hands over her mouth.

After several long moments — through which Sekibanki waited silently — Kogasa managed to drag her fingers from her face and her initial sensation of being struck by a thunderbolt made of sugar ebbed enough to allow other emotions in. Even then, she could only make sense of feelings that were at least cousins to astonishment. "Am I dreaming?"

"Want to get pinched for proof?"

Kogasa pinched herself instead. The sting of it felt real enough, and Sekibanki was still there. As was the ring. As were the echoes of the question.

"Yes," she finally responded, still feeling like she had wandered into a wonderful dream. "Yes, of course! But how did you..."

"Know to ask?" Sekibanki raised an eyebrow. "You were almost subtle about it, but I also know you pretty well by now. The look on your face didn't make sense if the whole thing had been just about a wedding invitation."

"I... still didn't think you would..."

"Care enough to propose?" Sekibanki looked down at the ring still on her palm. "I'm not gonna lie and say I would've thought of it if you hadn't brought it up first. Still, I already knew that if I ever wanted to marry anyone, it was you."

Kogasa couldn't help but sniffle as a swell of emotion nearly blinded her. "I love you, Sekibanki."

Warmth splashed in Sekibanki's eyes. "Likewise." She held the ring up. "Want to try it on?"

Holding back both sobs of joy and amazed laughter, Kogasa offered her hand and held her breath as Sekibanki slid the ring onto her index finger.

"Feel free to put it in another finger," Sekibanki said as she straightened her back to shrug. "I have no idea which one it's supposed to go on."

"I don't either." It seemed perfect exactly where it was, however. Kogasa stared at the ring, wondering where Sekibanki had scrounged it up from, when a sudden thought made her jerk her head up. "Wait. Shouldn't you have a ring too?"

"Maybe. Do you happen to know any blacksmiths who could make that happen?"

The giggles Kogasa had been holding back now burst free. "You won't believe it when you see it!"

"No doubt." Sekibanki's small grin tugged the left side of her face ever so slightly higher than the right. "Look at me successfully surprising the master of surprises."

This was usually the cue for Kogasa to pretend she was indignant, but she  couldn't dim the smile on her face even a little. "That's not surprising. You've learned from the best."

"Fair enough."

Still beaming, Kogasa threw her arms around Sekibanki's neck and leaned in to kiss her. As soon as it broke, another joyful thought sprung up in her mind. "Now we get to plan a wedding!"

"Oh. Right."

Kogasa grinned and leaned her face against Sekibanki's. "We'll make it fun."

She could feel Sekibanki's face rearrange itself back into a smile against her cheek. "I know."

It was easy for Kogasa to slide into a second kiss, hoping to preserve Sekibanki's smile with it for as long as possible. Even as it faded, she knew they would share a future of endless hope together.

[mimicteruyo]

Closing Time

The night had grown old, and the first signs of dawn were already threatening to spill over the horizon. Accordingly, the bustle around Mystia's cart had long since petered out.

As it happened, Mystia had rung the bell to announce she was closing over half an hour ago, but still two customers remained. She sincerely hoped they weren't planning to dine and dash — between them, they had ordered enough food and drink for eight.

She wiped the counters again, neatly dodging around Kyouko as she entered the cart to escape the bugs outside. It was her policy to keep serving until the very last customer paid up, and she wasn't quite bored enough to revoke that policy just yet. She could wait for as long as it took. Or for at least another fifteen minutes.

She hummed under her breath as she worked, replaying sections of her new song in her mind over and over. She had it almost right by now. She couldn't wait to surprise Kyouko with it.

"How long are they gonna take?" Kyouko kept tapping her foot while simultaneously idly banging her tray against her leg. "Soon I won't make it back to the temple before I need to start sweeping the courtyard."

"You can go. I can handle two customers alone."

Kyouko paused in her fidgeting to shake her head. "It's okay, really. I wanna see how much our total for the night is."

"I've already estimated it." Mystia grinned. "We just might have enough."

Kyouko's ears perked up. She was at least as excited as Mystia was that they just might be able to buy the extremely cool Outside World guitar with its even cooler flame decals in time for their next concert. When she resumed drumming her leg, she did so with a song on her lips.

Mystia paused and listened to her closely. The tune sounded good. And completely unfamiliar.

"...Duelling new songs?" she finally asked, tilting her head.

The surprise on Kyouko's face quickly morphed into delight. "Just wait till you hear mine! It's gonna wake up everyone in Gensokyo when we play it!"

They were grinning at each other, already picturing the roaring smash concert, when there was a heavy thump against the cart. Mystia jumped without meaning to as they turned their heads just in time to see a clawed hand latch onto the door frame.

The person who dragged herself into view was a kamaitachi not much larger than Mystia and Kyouko. She was unsteady on her feet, and the corners of her lips were shiny with grease. "I wanna isshue a complaint."

Mystia resisted the urge to sigh. "If you could first move to the front of the cart, dear customer. Then I'll be happy to hear your complaints."

The kamaitachi didn't budge. She swayed in the doorway like a reed in heavy wind before rising to her full, still not particularly impressive, height. "The food here'sh dishgracheful."

Now that was just plain rude. "I'm sorry to hear that, b—"

"The menu'sh all wrong," the kamaitachi lamented as though she was beginning a long tale of woe. "There ain't anything shweet on it to go with my drinksh."

Mystia and Kyouko exchanged looks.

"I will keep that in mind the next time I revise it," said Mystia. "If you want something sweet now, I could try making you a peach sa—"

"And another thing!" The kamaitachi interrupted. "Where'sh all the chicken?!"

It had been a while since Mystia had last been asked about the lack of poultry on the menu. She hadn't missed it at all. "We don't serve bird meat here. How about some grilled lam—"

"I already had lamprey!" The kamaitachi said in a voice halfway between a growl and a whine. "'Shnot the shame at all! I want chicken! Or shome other bird, at leasht."

Mystia had heard it said that the customer was always right. She suspected whoever had coined the phrase had never dealt with a drunk customer only a few moments away from suggesting she could go for some grilled shop owner.

She glanced at Kyouko again. The situation wasn't necessarily dangerous yet — she could still play her ace in the hole and offer a free drink  — but with the kamaitachi so firmly blocking the only way out, she was starting to have a less than great feeling about this.

As it happened, Kyouko looked just about ready to shout. Knowing that would definitely start a fight, Mystia hurried to speak. "Dear customer, how about we—"

Before she could finish, the kamaitachi yelped as she was swept away from the door. A spray of red and yellow bullets shot into the night after her.

"She told you there's no chicken," a voice rang from without, chirpy but almost rivalling Kyouko's bellows in resonance. "Let it go!"

"What'sh the big idea?" The kamaitachi stumbled back into view, more startled than angry. "I ain't looking for trouble. I jusht wanna eat chicken! Even ya musht...er..."

With a look of dawning horror, the kamaitachi vanished into the night.

Mystia stirred as she heard running footsteps heading away from the cart and rushed outside. "Hey! You can't leave without paying!"

The kamaitachi didn't even slow down. There was a tinkling of coins as she threw something haphazardly onto the grass. "I'll pay the resht later!"

"...Oh no." Mystia already knew she would never see the rest of the money. She could eat the loss, but it was situations like these which made her wish she had higher profit margins.

"...I'll go see what she left behind." Kyouko had hurried over to Mystia's side and now scurried into the shadows.

Before Mystia could follow after her, the lone remaining customer seated herself by the bar. The small chick dozing off in the soft confines of her hair accessory opened its eyes and made a small peep.

"Go back to sleep." The mysterious customer stroked the chick gently with her index finger as she gave Mystia an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I ended up causing you trouble. I didn't mean to."

As nettled as Mystia was, she found herself sighing. "No, I understand why you spoke up. I really do."

The customer nodded with the same solemnity as Wriggle did whenever she and Mystia got together to lament the challenges faced by insects and small birds respectively. "I'd like to make up for it anyway."

"That's very generous of you, Miss..."

"You can call me Kutaka!"

Just then, Kyouko stumbled back into the cart, cupping her hands. "I think I got all of it. The grass is pretty tall so I can't be sure, but..."

Mystia studied the miscellaneous small coins on Kyouko's palms. While she still couldn't make heads or tails of written language, she had always been quick at counting. "It's better than nothing." She peered closer. "And the bits of coloured glass?"

"Maybe they're supposed to pass for jewels?" Kyouko took one of the smooth-edged glass drops between thumb and forefinger and brought it closer to the nearest lantern. It shone like a ruby in the light. "I don't think even fairies would fall for these, but they're still pretty."

"By how much did she leave you short?" Kutaka asked, leaning across the bar.

"Only a little." Mystia said, giving Kutaka a resigned smile. "You don't have to worry about it."

"I want to take care of it! I need to pay now anyway."

Mystia could have continued to demur, of course, but it would have felt churlish. Besides, fancy guitars didn't pay for themselves. "In that case, thank you."

Kutaka smiled as she paid, almost as if she loved using money. "Thanks and goodbye!"

Just like that, she was back on her feet and gone with a cheery wave.

"Um..." Kyouko blinked like someone waking up from a dream, then gave Mystia a worried look. "Is it enough?"

Mystia laid the money on the bar so that Kyouko could see it for herself, then remembered she wouldn't know the total. "It's enough."

Kyouko's ears rose. "So that means..."

Mystia grinned. "The guitar's ours."

"YES!" While nowhere near her maximum volume, Kyouko's cry of joy rang out far and wide. Without further warning, she threw her arms around Mystia and squeezed her tight. "Can we go buy it tomorrow?"

Mystia hugged her back, laughing. "Of course! And then we'll practise our new songs!"

"The next concert's gonna be the best one ever!"

They kept laughing for a long while. Only after they pulled apart did Mystia notice something strange. "Hold on. Where did the tray go?"

"Oh no!" Kyouko stared into the night, then dashed out of the cart. "I'll be right back!"

---

By the time the tray was found and Mystia and Kyouko had hauled the cart to its usual spot at the edge of the clearing, Mystia could taste daylight in the air. "I'm going to be so tired tomorrow."

"Me too." Even as she said it, Kyouko was smiling. "It's gonna be worth it."

They parted ways with a wave and a promise to meet up again as soon as possible.

Mystia watched Kyouko vanish down the path before turning towards her home. As she walked, she tossed the glass jewels Kyouko had graciously left in her care in her hand. She smiled at them, wondering if real rubies, emeralds, and sapphires would actually be a disappointment in comparison.

Just as she thought that, the shadows shifted by the tree to her right. She jerked back, immediately regretting she hadn't been holding a spell card instead. Her horror diminished as she saw pale wings and an earnest smile. "Miss Kutaka? I thought you'd gone home."

Kutaka beamed. "I was waiting for you."

"Um... why?"

"Actually..." Kutaka tilted her head to the side rapidly as if trying to dislodge something stuck to the side of her head. "I forget why. I know there was a reason, but..."  Eventually, she simply shrugged. "Since I'm here anyway, how about we walk together?"

Mystia hesitated. But then, why not? Kutaka didn't seem like someone who was simply biding her time to mug Mystia. "I'm not going far, but I'd be glad for the company."

Kutaka joined her side. For a few minutes, they simply walked without speaking. The silence lasted long enough for Mystia to start feeling awkward, and to allay the feeling, she focused on the chick in Kutaka's hair. It was fast asleep now and looked very cosy as it bounced up and down with Kutaka's steps. Mystia envied it a little.

Kutaka noticed Mystia's stare and smiled again. "I gave it some morsels from my dish. I've never seen a chick peck at anything so eagerly before."

"I'm happy to hear it."

"You're a wonderful cook! The noodles were so tasty."

"Um, thank you." Mystia peered at Kutaka in confusion. Maybe instead of a mugger, she was a confidence trickster. Even with that suspicion, Mystia saw nothing but sincerity in her expression. "I think it'd be even better with some seaweed powder in the sauce, but that's hard to come by."

"I see." Kutaka stared up at the pale dawn. "If I ever see some, I'll keep you in mind!"

"You don't have to."

"It's selfish of me, really. I want to know what your sauce will taste like with it!"

Mystia found some of the tension she had been unknowingly carrying in her body evaporate. "If I find some myself, I'll make sure to save it until your next visit."

"It's a promise!"

They continued talking for the remainder of the short trip, soon finding a rhythm of conversation that suited them both. In fact, by the time they parted, Mystia found herself with too much left to say.

"I hope to see you again soon!" she said quickly, hoping it wasn't too weird.

Based on the jaunty wave Kutaka gave her, it wasn't. "I don't have a lot of spare time, but I'll do my best! Take care!"

Mystia watched Kutaka go, then flew up to her house. As long as the night had been, it had been a good one. The next day would be phenomenal.

She got ready for bed in record time and was soon dozing off, thinking drowsily about food and music and having fun with her friends.

Oh, that's right. I forgot to invite Kutaka to the concert. But that could wait until another day and another closing time. For now, it was time for night sparrows to sleep.

[mimicteruyo]

Garden of Eternity

[Touhou Ship Week Day 7: Free Day. Yuuka/Mokou, 1.1k words]

Mokou smelled the flowers long before she could peel her eyes open. It was cacophony in scent form that somehow managed to come together to form a striking perfume. She tried to recognise the scent of at least one individual flower in the mix with no success.

Once she was more awake, she discovered that what had been a grassy meadow when she had laid her head down had transformed into a garden. Instead of blades of grass and dandelions, she was resting on a blanket of sweet alyssum and surrounded by primroses and irises so violently violet they seemed more like purple flames than blossoms. Ahead, sunflower stalks rose towards their namesake, their flowers still raw and green.

She lay back down and admired the clusters of lilac blossoms swaying on the branches at the edge of her vision, their scent suddenly distinct and intoxicating now that she could see them. Had they been in bloom when she had last been awake? She couldn't remember. When had she fallen asleep, for that matter? All she knew was that she was more alive breathing in the sudden summer enshrouding than she had been for quite some time now.

The wind carried with it the sound of someone gently humming to themselves. Mokou listened for a while, her eyes still on the lilacs, then spoke without moving. "Did you mean to use me as a flowerbed?"

The tune tapered to silence. Yuuka's voice was as pleasant as ever and ringed from far closer than Mokou had guessed. "Of course not. Corpses make for far better fertiliser than live bodies."

Mokou was careful not to crush the sweet alyssum as she turned to her side to look at Yuuka. She was vaguely aware her new position was bad for her back — and the fact she noticed that was practically a miracle by itself. Either way, she chose to bear it. Her body would recover from anything she put it through one way or another, while the blossoms around her only had one chance.

The section of the meadow Yuuka knelt in was dotted with poppies as red as her dress. She looked at once like a flower herself, one which had only sprouted into existence alongside rest of the meadow's splendour, and like she was as permanent as the ground beneath them. She appeared to have already forgotten Mokou's presence as she tended to the flowers. Her smile as she cupped her hands around a struggling sunflower sapling was as gentle as a dewdrop on a rose petal. Mokou knew her well enough to be certain she would never bestow a look like that upon anything else in the world. Even witnessing it from the sidelines was another small miracle.

Still, she thought she had seen that exact smile once before. When had it been? She only seemed to run into Yuuka once in a century, but even that meant they had met at least...

She sat up and looked away before she blurted out the question that leapt to her tongue. It could wait. For now, she wished to savour the utter sense of calm in the garden for a moment longer.

Looking to her left, she saw the dandelions which had dominated the meadow before hadn't been eradicated: they continued to bloom alongside the poppies and more showy garden plants. They had been weeds, once, then becoming a blessing from the gods, then simply becoming something to grace the lands she wandered through regardless of what anyone else thought of them.

She stood and navigated carefully to where the patch of dandelions was at its thickest. She had expected to see insects once she got close enough to flowers, but she was still surprised to find a bumblebee crawling all over the largest of the dandelions, clearly savouring every moment as it gorged itself on its pollen and nectar. It wasn't alone, either: the longer Mokou stood in place, the greater the number of bumblebees buzzing around the flowers.

"I thought bumblebees were extinct."

She spoke the words to the wind, but Yuuka's ears had always been sharp. "Yes, I feared the same. But it seems they have recovered quite admirably."

Mokou left the bumblebees to their toil and began ambling towards Yuuka, keeping an eye out for more dandelions as she did so. She discovered several which had completed their bloom, their spherical clusters of cloudy seeds swaying in the wind as if begging to fly away.

She bent lower as she walked and snapped the stem of one of the dandelion clocks. It took her several blows to dislodge all of the seeds, but soon enough she got to watch as they floated towards where the sunlight was at its brightest and slowly scattered.

She turned to see Yuuka smiling at her. It was a different smile from the one she had given to the poppies — it was sharper, for one — but it seemed genuine enough.

Mokou placed her hands in her pockets as she studied Yuuka. Suddenly, the question which had attempted to escape from her earlier was simply in the air between them. "Do you ever feel old?"

Yuuka's eyes grew darker. Her smile didn't waver for a second. "At times, yes." She turned away to gaze at the garden and observed it for so long Mokou wasn't certain she ever meant to continue until she suddenly did. "The changing of the seasons keeps me feeling young. Why would I worry about the years on my shoulders when there are new blossoms blooming every single day?"

Mokou watched her in silence for a moment longer, then walked over to stand by her side. She swept her eyes across the flowers all around them, wondering all the while just how differently Yuuka saw them from her. "It's a good thing you relish change."

"Indeed. Still, there is something very delightful about a flower that blooms in all seasons."

Mokou brought her attention back to Yuuka and found herself to be the target of close scrutiny and a bright smile. It was not the smile she usually greeted people with, nor was it the one she reserved for flowers. It was stunning all the same, especially as it reached her eyes and lit them up like rubies.

Mokou extracted her hand from her pocket and held it out. Still smiling, Yuuka took it.

"So." Mokou faced the horizon. "Just how far does this garden stretch on?"

"Quite far. We could take a stroll through it if you happen to have the time."

Mokou flashed a smile at the sun and squeezed Yuuka's hand, breathing in a scent that seemed to contain the flowers of all seasons at once. "I still have all the time in the world."

[mimicteruyo]

Close Encounters

[Touhou Ship Week Day 6: Conflict. Reimu/Parsee, 1.1k words

The obvious inspiration]

Reimu swerved violently to the left as a trail of green bullets approached her with surprising speed. "It's still after me!"

"I can see that." Yukari had sounded casual since the beginning of Reimu's journey into the underworld, but now her tone was so remote Reimu suspected she had gotten into the snacks again. The distant sound of chewing before Yukari continued confirmed the suspicion. "If you keep going towards the wall, I can warp you over to the other side."

Reimu looked up ahead as she considered her options. Her opponent, a bridge princess with glowing green eyes and strange rummage sale clothes, hovered in the air above her with her fingers splayed against her forehead presumably so she could better direct the spell. She was watching Reimu's plight with a quiet smile and seeming indifference to the spirit needles Reimu kept pelting at her. "It'll be hard to hit her from that angle."

"Do as you see fit. I have every confidence in your ability to overcome this little obstacle."

"Because otherwise you'd have to come over yourself and clean up this mess?"

Reimu ignored Yukari's cheerful and false protests about how lending Reimu a fraction of her powers was a fair trade-off to having to venture into a dank cave filled with noxious youkai and focused on the fight.

As vexed as she was, she had to admit the spell was clever: the bullets chased her much faster than she would have expected from a spell card belonging to the kind of small fry youkai she inevitably ran into at the beginning of each major incident. In fact, she was already a little curious in spite of herself about what other attacks the bridge princess had up her sleeve.

But this wasn't the time to think about such things. She zigzagged ahead, trying to find a balance between moving fast enough to keep the trail of danmaku from overwhelming her but not so fast she wound up boxing herself in. A glance to her right told her she most likely couldn't circle back without being hit in time to resolve the spell card. Yukari's plan seemed like the best one, annoyingly enough, but maybe if she was careful she might...

The bridge princess was now right in front of her. From close up her smile wasn't half as satisfied as Reimu had assumed from a distance. Her lips were curled upwards, sure, but there was something hollow and sad behind the green glow of her focused eyes.

Reimu shook her head at once in irritation. She really didn't have time to worry about things like that.

However, she couldn't help but notice the bridge princess was now within arm's reach. And there it was. The way to get out of this mess without Yukari's help.

She made another swerve, then reached out. The bridge princess did little more than blink as Reimu's arms latched around her shoulders. In fact, Reimu wasn't sure she was fully aware of what was happening at all.

Reimu didn't have time to worry about that, either. She quickly brought a yin-yang orb beneath her foot and kicked herself off it to gain momentum. Holding on tight, she swung herself around the bridge princess as though she was circling a slender tree.

The bullets were momentarily tricked: they kept moving forward while Reimu was back in front of the bridge princess. It wouldn't last. She began at once looking around for a clear path to safety. The spell card was near to resolving, but was it near enough that she would survive staying where she w—

A pair of arms locked around her neck.

She swivelled her gaze back forward to discover the bridge princess' face inches from hers. Her eyes were no longer glowing, but her irises were very green indeed. Her expression was unreadable.

Reimu stilled for a moment without meaning to. Common sense suggested the bridge princess was trying to trap her in place so that the spell could catch up to her, which in turn meant she ought to wrench herself free as soon as possible.

Before she did that, however, the bridge princess bowed her head until it came to rest upon Reimu's shoulder. The movement was followed by a sigh not entirely unlike the sound Reimu made when collapsing onto her futon after a long, wearisome day. Unlike that sigh, the softness of the bridge princess' voice carried a palpable sense of longing to it.

At length, Reimu realised the spell card had resolved itself around them. She likewise noted that at some point she had gone from holding onto the bridge princess for practical reasons to hugging her back. Neither of these things seemed important enough to make her relinquish her hold just then, especially since the bridge princess' body felt so pleasantly cool against hers.

After several quiet moments, the bridge princess raised her head and blinked. The next, her arms sprang away like she had been struck.

Reimu loosened her hold likewise. The instant she did so, the bridge princess slipped away from her arms and fled deeper into the cave.

---

There's a city close ahead."

"Great."

"You're not at all curious about an underground city in an abandoned cave?"

"I'm just trying to get this over with."

"I see." Yukari's tone was light and decidedly teasing even through the distortion caused by the distance between her and Reimu. "Still thinking about your new girlfriend, are we?"

"Shut up."

As it happened, Reimu was indeed thinking about Parsee Mizuhashi. She had returned to challenge Reimu by a chasm leading to the depths without so much as a nod at their initial encounter. Reimu had fought through her trick spell cards, watched her flee again, and moved on. Clearly whatever madness had taken hold of both of them earlier had already evaporated.

Only... there had the look Parsee had given her while glancing back during her escape. Her eyes had gleamed with what Reimu's gut told her was a very dangerous power, but that hadn't been all there was to it. It had been a look of recognition, a kind of understanding whether real or just imagined. Something that seemed like a perfect match to the sigh of quiet relief which still rang in Reimu's ears.

She smothered the urge to turn back. She didn't want to give Yukari any more fuel for her teasing comments, and this wasn't the time anyway. There was an incident to solve, and beyond that she longed to see daylight and breathe clean air again as soon as possible.

Even so, as she kept flying forward she found herself idly daydreaming about coming back one day soon to find Parsee again and perhaps finding some answers.