14 Scarlet Mist: Crossing Paths
Running up the Youkai trail at full speed wasn't an enjoyable experience. Especially when it was done alongside an escort mission.
"Cough, cough."
Not to mention that Akyuu wasn't doing all too well right now.
In all honesty, I was worried about the situation, about the Scarlet Mist incident.
A month has passed since it started, and there were still no signs that the situation will be resolved anytime soon.
As I thought about the lengthy incident-solving time, the other discrepancies between my knowledge and the reality of Gensokyo came to my mind.
I didn't know if it was because Spellcards were a new thing at this point in time, but regular extermination was the usual rule.
Reimu going ahead and completely evaporating a Youkai into their anatomical components was what usually happened when she went out to exterminate Youkai.
Unless someone starts a Spellcard battle, people fight or duel to the death when they fight.
Little details like that came to my mind when I realized that experiencing things in real life can't be compared to reading or watching about them.
Events happened differently. The timeline is slightly different from what I remember.
Not to mention all the insight I got from residents telling me about their daily lives.
In a sense, it was scary and exciting at the same time.
For example, the Embodiment of Scarlet played out differently than the story in the official material.
The rampage that's supposed to happen upon the culprit's arrival instead occurred in the incident, and the source of the rampage was the mist, instead of as a power move.
Things like that made me ponder which changes occurred because of me and which changes would have still played out even without my involvement.
As a matter of fact, I wondered how the events right now would play out in front of me.
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The first entry in the Touhou Series. Two playable characters, each having two distinct playstyles. Resulting in a total of four different endings you could reach. Six if you counted the Bad Endings.
Yet, it made no logical sense for them to knock twice on the Scarlet Devil's door and beat her up four times.
In fact, that line of thought gets worse with each new entry into the series.
Imperishable Night. I can't, for the life of me, imagine eight people just ganging up on a single person, especially on the stage 1 boss.
Wily Beast and Weakest Creature. Three playable characters. Each character has the option of three different animal spirits to choose from. The result is a total of nine endings.
There is no world that someone would get their ass handed on nine different occasions, not to mention by three people, each returning three times.
It just made no logical sense!
But according to Akyuu, the canon ending for Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is Reimu resolving the incident herself, without help.
I wondered, now that I am here, was Reimu truthfully the only one to resolve this incident?
Or will it play out differently?
"Rin, if I were you, I would keep my eyes on the road. One misstep, and you are barreling down a hill."
Getting myself back together, I hurried my steps a little bit more. I shouldn't worry about the past or the future too much.
What mattered was the present. After all...
"You know, Keine, it just hit me, but this undoubtedly is a land of fantasy."
"Wah-? Where did that come from?"
Looking out into the distance, I took in Gensokyo's beautiful sunset.
Under the red sky, the orange shade of the setting sun took over, painting a stunning landscape.
"Isn't Gensokyo beautiful?"
No answer. Keine just wordlessly followed my gaze before returning her attention to me.
"Seeing this landscape..."
I shook my head.
"Keine. I've made my choice."
"And what is it, Rin?"
Rin. At times I thought she was a weird girl or is eccentric the more fitting descriptor?
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't determine the type of person she was.
She is kind, undoubtedly so. At least her actions extolled the virtues of a saint. Yet, she always seemed to...
For some reason, it felt like Rin was always calculating something. It was as if she schemed with each of her actions, every move carefully laid out to take her one step closer to her goal.
In a sense, she gave me a similar feeling Yukari Yakumo gave me. Calculative, manipulative, annoying as your enemy, and even more annoying as your ally.
...
Well, maybe the last part only fitted to Yukari.
Still, whenever I watched Rin, it gave me an unnerving feeling similar to Yukari.
Rin. It was a warm summer day when I met her.
No, I met her for the first time deep into the night when she carried Akyuu.
But it was a warm midsummer day when I properly introduced myself to her for the first time.
A cheerful and bright girl, completely disregarding the grueling heat of a Japanese summer day.
Treating her patients with a bright smile.
Any other person would have collapsed long ago. In fact, half her patients were people that collapsed from heatstroke that day, yet Rin seemed to do fine as if it was a pleasant day.
Curiously, I stepped forward and...
"Ah-, Keine-sensei! Welcome to my humble clinic. Why have you come? Does your back hurt, or are you feeling dizzy?"
I was greeted by a cheerful smile.
"Huh? How do you know my name?"
"Are you kidding, Keine-sensei? Of course, I would know about you. After all, no other teacher is more popular than you at the temple school. I hear about you quite frequently when I am treating the children."
That was the first time I felt a hint of suspicion toward Rin in the back of my mind.
"I-is that so? Children are so lively, aren't they?"
Rin gave me a nod before she returned her attention to a patient in front of her.
There was a strange tranquility on her face when she was doing her work, a serenity that suggested that she had nursed people all her life.
No, it wasn't only that. The way she went above and beyond with her medical practices. Treating people under intense heat like that, showing so much patience, and going above and beyond to explain something a dozen times if necessary.
It felt suspicious, to say the least.
It was as if I saw someone desperate to be part of something. Desperate to fit in.
I would have looked past it, thinking a saint found her way to our village.
But the smile on Rin's face was empty. Emotionless. Not in the present.
It was as if she smiled while thinking up a convoluted plan.
As that thought crossed my mind, I was worried that being friendly toward everyone in the village was part of her plan.
Then...
Something unexpected happened.
While she was treating a patient, someone started pouring the contents of an alcohol bottle over her head.
It was cheap stuff, made to quench your craving for booze and nothing more.
Rin looked surprised for a moment, but there was no shock. She took it with grace, her smile not fading from her face. But now mixed with other emotions.
"Oh my. It's one thing to drink in broad daylight but to think someone would drink under this heat... Did pouring your beverage on me at least cool you down?"
Rin asked calmly, to the annoyance of her annoyed patient.
In his drunken state, the person saw red, swinging down his bottle towards Rin's head.
As I saw that I was about to step in, but Rin already disarmed the person. She did so without any technique. She merely took the bottle before anyone could react.
"Woah. Let's not do something we might regret later, alright? Now, let's get you fixed up really quick. Sadly, there isn't anything we can do to make your body break down the alcohol any faster. So, all I can do is make you lie down for a couple of hours until you are fine again. Meanwhile, I-"
While Rin was still diagnosing the drunk person, he once again swung his fists toward her.
"What does a woman like you know-"
Rin continued to dodge, not escalating the situation any further. For now.
"This is my last warning. If you don't sober up now, I'll make you."
That was the moment when all mercy left Rin. Suffice it to say that the aggravator in this situation didn't stop.
Just a moment before, he wasn't in a chokehold, but now he was on the ground, subdued safely under Rin's hands.
Rin maintained a firm grip on the drunk man, but it was only natural for him to struggle against it.
After all, if this was enough to calm an intoxicated man, the world would have a lot less trouble.
"Have you calmed down yet?"
Rin asked her words carrying concern to even someone who just attacked her.
Sadly, or maybe it was only natural, the man didn't calm down yet. Instead, he seemed more aggravated than before.
With a mixture of anger and frustration in his eyes, he tried to escape from Rin's grip. But Rin kept holding firmly onto him, carrying strength far above girls her stature. Her firm restraint prevented the drunk man from posing a danger to him and those around him.
Something that only provoked the man even more, so instead of physical means, he resorted to verbal.
"You think you can control me, huh?"
The man barked, his intoxication apparent in words.
"You're just an outsider and a woman at that! What does someone like you know about medicine! My family has made ointments for generations, and now some random stranger comes around, selling us things of unknown origins. I can't believe all of you would listen to a hoax like her!"
In that second, the air around Rin thoroughly changed as her grip tightened around the man's neck.
Sadly, the damage was already done, as the villagers whispered among themselves.
A dangerous glint flickered in Rin's eyes before disappearing as quickly as it came.
Seeing the reaction of everyone, Rin just sighed. Looking unamused at the crowd.
"So what if I am an outsider? My commitment to the well-being of the people doesn't change, whether someone like him or 13 of you appear before me."
At this point, the man has struggled so much that his strength left him. Rin eased her grip, taking in a more relaxed position of sitting on him instead.
"Besides, did anyone here know what their medicine did for you or why it helped? I did my research and surveyed the village. All your ointment did was numb the pain in the area it was applied to."
Rin said, addressing the person that was under her butt directly.
"You complain so much, but your practices were pathetic at best and outright harmful at worst. It's one thing to complain about me, but it's another thing to talk about things you don't really understand in the first place. Ignorance does not protect one from punishment. I only want that everyone receives proper treatment and the truth about their health. What is it that you want? Money?"
While Rin was talking, the surrounding crowd got bigger and bigger as onlookers and patients started to gather around the scene.
Public opinion took a turn for the worse, as while Rin's words carried truth in them, humans were hardly logical beings, as everyone focused on the subdued man instead of what Rin said.
Still, Rin didn't flinch or step back at the situation. It was as if she wasn't afraid to make the entire village her enemy.
Because of Rin's actions, the tension in the air continued to rise, but before it could boil over, I stepped in.
"Rin isn't wrong. We must recognize that progress and improvement are necessary. We can't ignore the dangers of our current practices and the improvements Rin's could bring. Perhaps it's time to reassess our knowledge and strive for a better future."
As I held my speech, the crowd gradually calmed down, slowly dissipating until only the patients that needed treatment were left.
Although Rin still seemed annoyed at the situation, she quickly set it aside as she prioritized the well-being of patients over how she felt.
Walking over, I was still shocked at the events that just played out.
"Rin?"
I called out to Rin, receiving a curt nod from her.
"Are you alright? That was quite the dangerous situation."
Rin sighed, finally letting go of the drunk person who had passed out at this point.
Her eyes lingered on me for a moment. She seemed to contemplate the appropriate words to say for the situation.
"Thanks Keine-sensei. I knew someone as beautiful as you would have a beautiful heart!"
Right, of course...
Huh?
"Huh?"
That was the extent of our first proper meeting. Rin turned around, sitting down to attend to her next patient.
"Oh, now that I thought about it. I believe I have yet to properly introduce myself to you, Keine-sense. My name is Rin Satsuki. Nice to meet you!"
As I heard that, I just realized the ridiculousness of this entire situation and started laughing out loud.
Rin Satsuki.
An eccentric girl is the best way to put her. I have difficulties reading her, but...
"Let's save Gensokyo."
As I saw her say that with a big smile, I realized she was a kind girl from the bottom of her heart. A kind girl who didn't back away from anyone or anything.
...
As we finally arrived at the Hakurei Shrine after a long sprint, we found it left unattended for seemingly some days.
As for the good news, the mist here was exceptionally thin, to the point where it basically was not present.
Still, I was worried for two reasons.
Mainly...
"Keine, how do you think Reimu will react if she finds out we used the shrine facilities without her permission?"
Keine just chuckled at my question, gently dismissing it.
"Even if she finds a problem with it, this is an emergency. Not to mention that she pawned her job of looking over the human village to me, so this is just repayment for me taking over her duty!"
Hearing Keine make a statement that felt out of character made my heart skip a beat. Seeing a different side from her usually serious personality warmed my heart.
"If that's the case, you are telling me not to worry, right?"
Keine gave me a mischievous smile, which was all I needed to know.
Inviting myself into the Hakurei-Shrine, I searched for the futons to prepare the bedding for Akyuu.
The expression on our little princess's face seemed to ease since we entered the sacred shrine grounds, easing my worries a bit.
"It was worth running here as fast as we could. Akyuu's expression eased a lot, and she is less pale now."
As I walked around on the shrine grounds, I realized for the first time that this was a very sacred place. A place for prayer. A place where a powerful god was enshrined in.
Even in its current neglected state was the holiness of this place more than obvious.
As everyone slowly relaxed due to the peaceful atmosphere of the Hakurei Shrine, I hurriedly prepared a room for Akyuu to rest in.
Only a few soft rays of light managed to pierce through the scarlet mist casting a warm glow on the tatami mats of the room.
Yet, even this soft light gave one a sense of safety. A feeling that everything will work out.
With gentle steps, I approached the closet and retrieved a fresh set of futons. Its soft cotton is perfect for helping a sick patient recover.
Carefully, I unfurled the futon and laid it atop the tatami, checking that nothing could aggravate Akyuu's condition further.
Keine observed me throughout the whole process. Then, when I was seemingly done, Keine carefully moved Akyuu's delicate form into my arms, and I carefully placed Akyuu on the futon.
As Akyuu's body touched the soft bedding, her face relaxed as if all the pain shown on her face before was a lie.
That was good. That was what Akyuu needed the most right now.
Rest.
I tucked Akyuu in, wrapping the blanket around Akyuu in a way it would be most comfortable for her.
"Don't you want to change Akyuu into a fresh set of clothes before tugging her in like that?"
I put my hand on Keine's shoulder, giving her a big smile.
"That's your job?"
"Ah-. That makes sense. It's my job to change Akyuu into a fresh set of clothes later."
"Glad we reached an understanding."
*nod*
*smile*
"EHH?! Why is it suddenly my responsibility? You are Akyuu's attending physician. You are the one that needs to tend to Akyuu day and night!"
Heh. A surprised teacher.
Cute.
Not that I could say it out loud.
"You are absolutely right. As Akyuu's attending physician, it's in my job description that I need to handle everything that could endanger Akyuu's health."
"Then what are you doing leaving her side? Or why else would I need to take over for your job?"
This time I didn't give Keine an answer. Adding to her confusion, I just wordlessly pointed outside into the air.
Keine looked to where I pointed, then back at me, needing a moment to understand what I meant.
"You don't mean!"
"That's right, I'll deal with the root cause of Akyuu's struggle."
"You can't seriously tell me you are trying to resolve the scarlet mist incident right now!"
"What? Did you think I was joking when I said, "Let's save Gensokyo," then?"
"I didn't think you meant that when you said it. Hell, you are just a nurse, Rin!"
You know, I am starting to regret teasing Keine now. Mainly because her grip around my collar was damn tight.
"So what? You think I am too weak to resolve an incident?"
"That's not it... No, that's precisely it! Rin, you are a newcomer to these lands. You are just barely adjusting to your surroundings. You only recently carved out a place for yourself in the human village, and now you are telling me you are going head-first into great danger? The only reason I allowed you to leave the town was because it was necessary for your job since you needed to gather herbs, but this is different. Do you even understand how dangerous it is for humans to leave the village?"
Trying to push Keine's hands away, I replied-
"Yes, I know-"
"NO, YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T!"
But I was cut off as Keine snapped at my words.
Seeing the situation, I couldn't help but...
Let out a gentle, amused whisper.
"Rin, are you even taking this seriously-?!"
I gently placed my palm on the top of Keine's head, moving it back and forth. Getting caught off-guard by my action, Keine released her grip on my collar and let me fall on my butt before taking some steps back.
I understood Keine's worry. After all, she just told me. Reimu pawned her job off as the guardian of the human village to Keine.
It was under her responsibility that no human befell any harm. But she didn't only do that because it was her job.
It was because she genuinely cared for people.
Even an outsider like me. Though she probably already saw me as one of the village's people.
Still, I couldn't step back, especially since...
[5* The Scarlet Mist Incident]
...a certain window was constantly looming over me.
Still, I knew the perfect word to de-escalate the situation.
"Spellcards."
"Huh?"
You can't be serious-.
"Keine, if I am in danger, I'll just start a Spellcard battle."
"No, but-"
Seems like I need to bring out my other argument to convince Keine.
How bothersome.
"Do you really think I don't know?"
As those words left my words, Keine looked at me with curiosity with a hint of wariness.
"What do you mean?"
I gave Keine a gentle smile.
"The reason for Gensokyo's creation."
I noticed Keine was one step away from pouncing on me and asking me how I knew, but she held back at the last second.
"D-Did Akyuu tell you?"
"Well, at first, she tried to avoid outright spilling the truth to me. But after a while, it was more of a bother for her to pretend I didn't already figure it out. So she just let the cat out of the bag."
Keine gave me a nod, seemingly already giving up on convincing me to not go out into the red mist.
"Rin. You know that despite all the rules in place, that incident resolving is still pretty dangerous?"
I already turned around, waving my hands at her words.
"Reimu and Marisa took a little bit too long for my tastes. So, it's on me to cure Akyuu now."
Keine sighed as she observed Rin's back which slowly disappeared into the distance.
Now that she thought about it, the preparations Rin did during the last weeks were all so she could be out for incident resolving if Reimu and Marisa didn't already solve it in the time she was preparing.
"Well, where is a set of fresh clothes in this dilapidated shrine?"
...
How useless.
In the end, defeating the Youkai of Darkness didn't help me solve this incident.
She knew nothing about it, or at least nothing I already knew.
"This mist is aggravating the Youkai and Fairies, making them more aggressive~."
That's what she told me.
I whacked her with my gohei out of anger for telling me the information I already knew.
She almost looked pitiful with how she held the spot on her head I hit.
Still, it wasn't completely pointless.
"What makes them aggressive is the dense magic in the mist. It makes them more excited."
After she told me, a specific thought flashed across my mind.
I could have thought about this myself.
Still, with everything Rin and Rumia told me, I was curious why...
"Why are you still sane if the magic in the mist is dense enough to excite your kind?"
She just showed me her teeth. Well, she smiled so big that she showed me her teeth.
"This seal on my head would be pointless if this bit of mist could aggravate me, wouldn't it~?"
A seal?
Now that she mentioned it, the ribbon tied to her hair resembled an ofuda from our shrine.
But I don't have any recollection of sealing a Youkai like her. Was it one of my predecessors that put the seal on her then?
Not that it really mattered. If Rumia was truly dangerous, my predecessor would have exterminated her at a later point in time.
That she was still alive meant Rumia wasn't dangerous.
"On a side note, could you remove it-"
"No."
Still, information was information, and thanks to what Rumia told me, I got an idea of how to track the source of this incident.
If the mist is made by spreading out magic, all I need to do is follow the trail of higher mana density.
After all, it only makes sense that the mana density would be the densest at its epicenter.
Breathing in and out, I closed my eyes to focus more on my spiritual sense.
The flow of air I feel brushing against my skin, the faint smell of iron, and the sound of rampaging Youkai fighting each other.
I blocked all those sensations from my mind and focused on the traces of magical energy around me.
It was dense.
Drowning everything around it. Yet, I felt faint traces of someone's od amidst the proliferating magical energy.
"Got you."
Having my next lead, I followed it.
I followed it.
And followed it.
Of course, some Youkai and Fairies bothered me while I followed it, but in the end, they were exterminated like the rest.
I continued to follow it.
I followed it until the lead cut off.
As I finally reached the trail's end, I opened my eyes.
"What a surprise."
I am back at the human village.
Looking around me for a minute, I came to the only logical conclusion...
The culprit must be amongst the villagers!
...bleh-.
Just kidding.
There was no way that would be the case. That's what my intuition told me.
"Sigh..."
I don't have to succeed on the first try every time.
Once again, I focused and followed the trail of od.
Once again, I opened my eyes when I reached the trail's end.
This time, I found myself in front of the Hakurei-Shrine.
"This might take a while..."
...
How bothersome.
The various creatures that attacked the big fairy couldn't be called strong. I would even go so far as to call them totally weak. In fact, they were probably the weakest of the weak.
Still, what they lacked in strength, they made up with numbers.
I shoot one down, and two would appear.
In fact, it started to piss me off.
What's the point of recklessly throwing themselves at me only to get pulverized into their atomic particles?
There was no need to go that far, yet they were mindlessly running to their death.
"Sigh..."
How annoying. I used most of my potions up in my last spar with Reimu, but at the pace those things are approaching me, I can't afford not to use them.
Taking out two round bottom flasks, I threw the space-colored potion into the middle of the crowd.
"Hope you like the taste of my special potions, da ze~☆."
*BOOM!*
"Fufu~. Magic and Danmaku are all about firepower, after all."
In my potion's wake, only destruction was left behind.
Fallen trees, pulverized rocks, and a crater about a diameter of 2 meters wide.
As impressive as the firepower of my concoction is, it's still far away from my desired results.
"Yare yare da ze~☆..."
As frustrating as it was to think about it, I won't even get a startle out of Reimu with these.
Seeing my results, I took out the trusted notebook I always kept on me and started taking notes.
Flipping through my notes, the familiar scent of ink and old parchment filled my nose. Countless pages were filled with the remnants of my past research and experiments. Some were completed, and some were uncompleted.
I continued to flip through my past records, carefully turning each page to not damage them more them necessary. The passage of time and decay is ruthless, but it also shows change.
The faded ink, the creased corners, and the oxidation of the paper. It all showed how much I improved. I saw that I'd taken yet another step toward my goal.
After a while, I finally reached the pages where the research for my exploding potion was.
The exact measurements for the ingredients down to their third decimal digit, what container to carry them in, which shape was the most optimal for an explosive, energy, radius, how the explosion moved through air, ground, and water, smell, sound, and feel of the aftermath.
I recorded everything that came to my mind down to the last detail. Consider every possible variable, which numbers I can tweak, and which numbers I can't change. All to optimize it as much as possible.
No line missed, no possibility unconsidered, I came to a simple conclusion.
"Ver. 36 of the potion has no room for improvement unless I make a new discovery."
Right now, I can only think of two ways to further improve what I already reached.
I either find new ingredients or find a better container.
Noting that down, I closed my little notebook again.
"Sigh. It's not like making a breakthrough is easy..."
While my thoughts continued, I was pulled out of them by a sudden gentle tug on my sleeve.
I turned around, seeing the big fairy I almost forgot about.
"Ah- Are you alright? I hope you didn't get caught up in my explosion. I think I already introduced myself, but I believe introductions are in order again. My name is Marisa Kirisame, and yours?"
The big fairy seemed to hesitate to answer me for a moment, but after a short moment, she came up with what she wanted to say.
"I don't really have a name I go by, but everyone calls me Dai-chan, which is short for Daiyousei..."
They literally call her big fairy?
Now that I look at her again, she is rather large for a fairy...
*blush*
"Well, Dai-chan. What is a poor and defenseless big fairy like you doing in the middle of the forest?
You do know it's dangerous around here, right?"
Daiyousei fidgeted for a moment before answering me.
"I was playing hide and seek with my friends, but all of a sudden, some of them started acting weird, and then they started attacking each other, and then more..."
From that point on, Daiyousei's words became a mess as her mouth seemingly couldn't keep up with what she had in her mind.
Seeing that, I put my hand on her head and gently caressed her.
"Dai-chan, calm down. Now that I am here, you don't need to worry about low-life youkai like that. I am going to solve them in a jiffy."
As I finished talking, it was as if she remembered why she ran away in the first place.
Once again, she clung to my clothes, but this time with more desperation.
"Marisa-san, please save my friends! Save Cirno-chan!"
"Woah-! Yes, of course. I'll save your friend! For-"
Before I could finish saying what I wanted, Daiyousei fell unconscious in my arms.
"Hah... Now it seems cruel to charge her for my services."
I chuckled. Not that the Kirisame Magic Shop had many customers.
Still, I didn't know where her friends were to save them.
"I have my work cut out for me today, don't I?"
Lifting the big fairy up, I carried her back to Kourindou.
"Who is that guest your brought back with you, Marisa."
Kourin asked from behind the counter. He didn't look when I entered, his eyes fixed on my most prized possession.
"Oh, this? It's Daiyousei, da ze~☆."
"Is that so?"
His words carried the meaning of "Is that all"?
"She's a customer."
He gave me a curt nod, still focusing on the artifact before him.
Seeing that he was still busy, I laid Daiyousei in the nearest free space and sat down beside her.
"How long until it's finished?"
"Just a moment."
This time it was me who nodded.
I wanted to hold some small talk, but I knew how tedious and complicated doing things like this is.
So, I did my best not to bother Kourin.
"Time passes rather quickly, doesn't it?"
"Sure does."
"I am surprised Reimu didn't already solve this incident."
"So am I."
"Do you think something happened to her?"
"Hahaha-haha-ha... To Reimu? That's a good joke."
*Screw, screw*
*Tinker, tinker*
"It is, isn't it?"
"It sure is, da ze~☆."
...
"Marisa, wake up."
"Huh? What happened?"
Kourin just handed me a neatly packaged wooden box.
"Huh? Are you already finished? That quickly?"
Looking at me, he pushed up his glasses before returning to sit behind the counter, waiting for customers.
"Sure. If you call a whole day quick."
What?
I looked up at the clock. Barely five minutes passed.
"That's another good joke, Kourin. I see that only five minutes passed since our conversation."
He looked up at the clock, noticing the time. He smirked as he saw the handles moving.
"Marisa, it's rather impressive to think that you slept exactly five more minutes than 24 hours."
I was about to tell Kourin to stop joking, but as I looked around the shop, I realized that one day indeed passed.
Standing up, I took my witch hat and broom and left the shop.
"Don't forget Daiyousei."
"I won't."
So, I woke the big fairy up, who started to panic as she realized she didn't wake up to a familiar ceiling.
If I am honest, it was cute to observe. But now wasn't the time for things like that.
"Daiyousei, where are your friends? I can't save them if I don't know where they are."
As she slowly calmed down, her memories from yesterday slowly returned to her.
"Right! We played at the large, misty lake!"
The misty lake? For some reason, I have a good feeling about that lake.
"Misty Lake it is."
I stepped on my broom, making it flip into the air. After a moment, it stopped, floating perfectly still above ground.
"Climb on."
"Huh? O-oh. Okay."
The time fairy climbed on my broom, clinging to my back for more stability.
"Hold on tight."
"Marisa, no flying in my-"
"Take off!"
"Shop..."
Sigh, it's okay if she creates a mess, but she should clean up after herself if she does.
...
How exciting.
I know I shouldn't feel this way. Especially since the lives of so many people are on the line, but knowing that I am going to be one of the central figures in resolving this incident...
I couldn't help but be excited like a little child on Christmas.
In that sense, the knowledge of my first life was rather convenient.
I knew that the source of this incident was somewhere around Misty Lake.
So, naturally, I beelined towards the big, misty lake.
Though, if someone were to ask me how I found out...
I couldn't give an answer. My best excuse would be that Misty Lake was suspicious, especially since the Scarlet Mist wasn't around the lake.
Which made sense if you knew why the Scarlet Mist was created in the first place.
Still, even with Dash leveling up to level 2, it felt plenty slow.
"Hey, is there any chance I can exchange Skill Points for System Points?"
[Limited Time Event List:]
[SP Converter:]
[For a limited time, you can exchange Skill Points with System Points.]
[Eligible for this Event: Every User who unlocked the System Shops.]
[Time Duration: 3 days]
[Remaining time: 00:01:11]
[99% Discount:]
[For a limited, there is a 99% Discount for your first SP exchange.]
[Eligible for this Event: New Users to the System.]
[Time Duration: 3 days]
[Remaining time: 00:01:11]
...
I'LL EXCHANGE ALL MY SYSTEM POINTS!
[Purchase successful, 13 Skill Points will be added to your account.]
Jesus Christ, I almost missed an important event...
If I looked one minute later, I would have almost missed the event...
I would have killed someone if that happened.
That said, is the conversion rate seriously 1 to 10.000? I wouldn't have been able to afford one skill point if the beginner event wasn't in place.
Thanks to it, the conversion rate was only 1 to 100. Not that it was cheap in any way.
Still, I knew exactly where to put my newly earned Skill Points.
[Consume 20 Skill Points to upgrade the skill?]
Life is but a cruel comedy...
Yes.
[Dash Lvl 3 (Over the level Cap)]
[Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion employed by lifeforms with legs to rapidly move on Earth. Dashing is the act of focusing all your strength on just running and nothing else, but you have surpassed its limits and left the land. Step into the air.]
As I read the description, I gulped in anticipation.
I jumped up, using all my might to step into the air. At first, it failed, and I sunk down as I should.
But with my second step, I still sunk, but much slower than I should have.
With my third step, I still sunk. But this time, I didn't return to the ground.
Lastly, with my fourth step, I started to walk up the air.
Finally, I learned how to fly like any decent Touhou girl should be able to!
With my Dash over the level limit, I ran past the tree crowns and straight to the misty lake.
...
"So..."
Three girls reached the same destination at the same time out of coincidence.
"Why are you two here?"
"Aw~, I am not first?"
"Wow, the gang's all here. That's unexpected."
Time until the incident is resolved:
Less than a day.
