Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight

Subject: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:00 pm

...WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING.
Oh there it goes.

Copy-pasted from VO. Yeah, this is my Touhou fanfic, for the most part it's about the Koumakan except for these early chapters which don't have much relevance.

Chapter 00: Welcome to the Gensokyo Tour♪

“Hey, you there! Hey! Wake up!”
Huh?
“HEY! Don’t think you can just sleep on my lawn and get away with it! Get up!”
Who is that? I can’t identify the voice.
“Can you hear me?! W-A-K-E-U-P!”
WHAM!
My eyes flew open as I was jolted upward, my breath forcefully knocked out of my lungs. It took ten more seconds for me to regain my senses from the blow. I was still breathing heavily, and, not talking to anyone in particular, demanded, “What the hell was that?!”
“It’s your own fault, sleeping there like that,” a voice sneered.
My breathing eventually stabilized and my face contorted into an angry grimace. I looked up to see who had hit me, and saw a girl with long blond hair in a curious black witch outfit, complete with a large pointed hat with a white ribbon around the base.
I grunted and sarcastically asked, “Is it Halloween already or am I at some cosplay event?”
The girl raised an eyebrow. “Halloween? Cosplay? What’re you talking about, ze? I wear these every day,” she said.
What a weird girl, I thought. She looked maybe sixteen, seventeen, and she played dress-up for fun? I took a look around to get my eyes off of her.
“Wait a minute, where is this place?” I asked, confused. The surroundings looked alien.
“You mean you don’t know?” she said, sounding surprised. “You’re in the Forest of Magic, in front of the Kirisame residence.” I looked back at her, she seemed proud of this. She pointed at the shack and added, “That’s my house, by the way.”
I scratched my head. “Well,” I mumbled, “looks like I’m not in California anymore.”
The Kirisame girl looked at me quizzically before continuing, “So anyway, who’re you and why were you sleeping on my lawn, ze?”
That’s the second time she’s ended a sentence with “ze” already. I guess it’s her catch…word, or something. “Me? I’m, uh…” I hesitated for a moment. Should I trust her…? Oh hell, who cares? “I’m Selphos. I don’t even know how I got here. And, you are…?”
“Marisa,” she answered, “Kirisame Marisa. I’m an ordinary oriental witch.”
My eyes widened and I scanned her figure again. “That looks like a pretty Western costume to me,” I remarked.
“Oh, I get that a lot,” Marisa said, waving it off. “Not many Japanese people dress or act like me, after all.”
“Yeah, I can tell already,” I said, but then it hit me. “Wait, wait- JAPANESE? How the hell did I get in Japan?”
“You didn’t!” she grinned. “This is Gensokyo, don’t you know that? I’m surprised you don’t know me, the great Marisa who solves Incidents!”
I was silent and thought about this for a minute. Now, I knew for a fact that there was nowhere in California, let alone America, let alone Earth, called Gensokyo. Maybe I was dreaming or something. No, wait, knowing me, if this was a dream I would’ve woken up already.
“Okay, um, Marisa, wait a minute,” I said, holding up a hand. “You said you’re a witch, and we’re in Gensokyo. Pardon my ignorance, but I’ve never met a witch and I know for a fact I wasn’t in Gensokyo when I went to sleep last night. And now your fierce punch wakes me up and I’m in a completely alien land?”
“Oooh, I get it,” she gasped. “You’re a human from the outside, ze! That’s why you have no clue what’s going on.”

“…The outside?”
Marisa nodded. “Yeah, Gensokyo split off from the rest of Earth a couple centuries ago. The problems with youkai and humans got to be too much, so this entire region was made into a separate, ‘illusionary world.’ That’s what Gensokyo means.”
Well, that certainly blows my mind. “If that’s the case, then, er, how do I get back home? I’m not even from Japan,” I said.
“You’re not?!” she exclaimed. “But you’re speaking fluent Japanese and I thought your clothing was Japanese too!”
I looked down at my shirt. That’s weird; I was wearing a very American O’Neill T-shirt when I went to sleep. This entire deal was screwy. And then there was something else.
“Japanese?” I said. “But I’m speaking English. And so are you. Very easily.”
Marisa tilted her head. “That’s really weird. But, Gensokyo doesn’t have to make sense like the outside world. If you’re actually American or something and speak English while the rest of us hear it as Japanese and vice-versa, then, um…” She trailed off, and then shook her head. “Well, it’s not like it matters at this point! You probably could get home if you had a talk with Reimu, the Hakurei shrine miko, but come on, you just got here. Have some fun for a while before you go back! Gensokyo’s so much better than the outside, ze.”
I’m getting the feeling she just randomly ends sentences with “ze” when she wants to and there’s no actual pattern. I sighed and shrugged. “Sure, why not, I’ll hang around for a bit.” It’s not like I really had a choice. I didn’t know a thing about this land. “So, Marisa, why don’t you show me around a bit?” I suggested sarcastically, but she seemed to take it seriously. She jumped up from the table and eagerly replied, “Alright! Lemme get my broom and Hakkero and we can leave ASAP!”
“Your—” I started, but she had already dashed out of the room. “…what?” What the hell is a Hakkero? And why does she need a broom?
Presently Marisa ran back, with a traditional dust-sweeping broom in one hand and a small, hexagonal wooden block in the other. “What’s that thing?” I asked, pointing to it.
“This is my mini-Hakkero!” she said proudly. “It’s a very potent source of magical power, ze. I can’t always take a bunch of mushrooms around with me.”
I looked at her blankly and decided to take her word for it. “And the broom?”
“Are you saying you don’t know the association between witches and brooms, Sel?” She had already given me a nickname. “We’re gonna fly on this!”
“We’re going to WHAT?”
“Fly! What, have you never flown before?” she said.
“Obviously! The only way humans can fly in the ‘outside world’ is in big vehicles we call planes, this looks dangerous!” I exclaimed.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything, ze!” she replied excitedly. She grabbed me by the arm and sat me on the broom behind her. “Hold on tight!”
Before I could protest, the broom zoomed out of the house with me and Marisa on it. I desperately wrapped my arms and fingers around the handle and held on for dear life. She saw this and laughed, calling me a coward.
“Give me a break!” I shouted against the wind. The broom was flying stupidly fast. “Where are we even going?” I added.
Without looking back, she answered, “To the Youkai Mountain! There’s someone I think you should meet, ze.”
Youkai Mountain? Is she trying to get me killed?!
She seemed to sense my worry and said, “Oh, it’s no one dangerous, she’s just a tech nut who’ll probably understand what you talk about more than anyone else in Gensokyo. We don’t really have science and that stuff here.”

A very uncomfortable ten minutes later, the broom came to a stop on a flat area close to a cliff. I resisted the urge to look down, throw up, or both, and almost fell off the broom onto the ground.
“You’re a funny one,” Marisa said, covering her mouth to hide the giggles. “Come on, you gotta meet Nitori. That kappa’s all about machines and technology and such, ze.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me up, followed by leading me into a cave in the cliffside.
If I cared at all and had some capacity for human compassion at the time, I probably would have thought something like “her hand is warm.” But I was too busy thinking about how some witch had taken me for an insanely fast ride on a broomstick and was now going to introduce me to a geeky kappa. In my opinion, that wasn’t exactly the greatest way to set a first impression. Besides, my life isn't a dating sim.

We walked through the small cave and soon emerged into a town of sorts. People were scurrying around from place to place; there was a wide variety of sounds of conversation, movement, and other things; there was a very urban feel to the village. Could I call it a village? It was pretty big and developed.
“Marisa, what is this place?” I asked.
“We’re in the kappa city,” she answered. “It’s probably the closest you’re gonna get to the outside world in Gensokyo. Anyway, Nitori should be in this building here…” She turned sharply to the right and brought me in front of something that resembled an office building from home.
“You’re telling me the kappa have this and every other part of Gensokyo is like traditional Japan?” I said, looking around in awe. “This is like LA… or probably more accurate would be present-day Tokyo.”
She shrugged. “Pretty much, I don’t really know what the outside looks like besides what I get from Yukari and folks like you. Anyway, let’s go in!”
She pushed open the doors, which issued an artificial chime, and approached what I guess was a kappa behind the front desk. Sheesh, this was just like an office.
“Name?” the kappa asked, sounding bored. I noticed it was a girl.
“Kirisame Marisa,” Marisa said, “and this is my friend Selphos. We’re here to see Miss Kawashiro Nitori.” She sounded pretty formal, which surprised me.
“Ah, Kirisame,” the clerk grumbled, writing something down. I got the feeling Marisa came by frequently and wasn’t exactly a pleasant visitor. “Does your ‘friend’ here have any authorization?”
“Er, well…” Marisa scratched her head. “I dunno, I kinda just met him, he seems like the type Nitori would talk to…”
The clerk shook her head, and was about to say something when the staff elevator - elevator? - opened. Another female kappa with a green hat and blue garments of some sort walked out and stopped upon noticing me and Marisa.
“Oh, hey, Nitori!” Marisa said, waving. “Did I catch you on your lunch break or something? I was just about to visit you until I got hung up by the clerk here.”
Nitori waved back, but less enthusiastically. “Hi, Marisa,” she said casually. “Um, what brings you to my office this time?”
So it is an office! I wonder what the kappa here work on.
“I met a guy today who’s pretty into that techie kind of stuff you kappa are so fond of, ze. Introduce yourself!” The last part was obviously directed at me.
“Er, hello,” I said weakly. I was still a bit out of it from the broom trip. “I’m Selphos. Nice to meet you, um, Kawashiro-san?”
She blinked. “I appreciate the formality, but just call me Nitori,” she said. “You’re Marisa’s friend, so it doesn’t really matter. Did something happen? You look off.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, holding my hands behind my head. I had shaken off Marisa’s grip a while ago; it was beginning to feel awkward. “Marisa took me for a broom ride, you see.”
Nitori held her hand over her mouth and tried to suppress a laugh. “Marisa, you know better than to send people who’ve never flown before around like that! Alright, here, I’ll take you two to a local café. Ichigo, I’m stepping out for a bit.” The last sentence was addressing the kappa at the front desk; I found it odd that she had such a name, but it didn’t matter to me. What I thought more interesting was the presence of cafés and offices and other modern buildings in this small city in the mountain, which had a population consisting entirely of kappa. It made me wonder what humans in Gensokyo did, and how the kappa were able to do all this.

I walked with Marisa on one side and Nitori on the other, and they exchanged varied conversation not involving me on the way to this café Nitori was treating us to. I eventually decided to ask, “So, Nitori, what does your office do? It seems pretty different from the rest of Gensokyo I’ve seen.”
“I was wondering when you’d ask,” she commented before answering. “My company works on all sorts of scientific and technological advances, a lot of it based on materials from the outside world that find their way here. But, all this seems familiar to you. What about it? Are you from the outside, maybe?”
“Actually, well…” I shrugged. “Yeah, I am. Woke up in front of Marisa’s house this morning somehow. I’m probably missing school or something.”
“Haha, you got spirited away!” she laughed. “Old Yukari must’ve been at it again for you to wind up there, Sel.”
Now she was calling me that too. Something told me everyone was going to. Relatedly, why did everyone treat me like their best friend? Sure, two slightly weird people isn’t exactly enough to lump into “everyone,” but I got the feeling things weren’t going to change much.

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:47 pm

Chapter 01: The Gensokyo Tour, stage 2 - Human Village

“Alright, see you, Nitori. Thanks for lunch. Nice meeting you.”
“Same here, Selphos. Maybe you could drop by again sometime. It’s been a long time since I talked to a human about science. Marisa, when you bring him back, please make sure that he doesn’t feel like throwing up afterwards… again.”
Marisa chuckled. “I’ll try, ze. Not making any promises.”
“How reassuring,” I muttered, then said aloud, “We’ll be off, then. Good luck with that project.”

Marisa and I departed from Nitori’s office/lab, and she saw us off until we were too far to be visible. On the way back to the ledge, I nonchalantly asked Marisa, “You sure it was a good idea to just leave your broom on the cliff top like that? What if it fell or was taken or something?”
She looked at me as if I was speaking in a different language. Oh wait – nah, never mind.
“No way, ze. There are all sorts of protective magic on that flying stick, there’s no way I could just lose it like that. See, it’s right there.” She pointed ahead and, indeed, the broomstick was still lying there.
I shrugged and said, “We might as well get on it and ride back to your house or wherever, then.”
She shook her head. “Nuh-uh, we’re not going back home yet,” she insisted. “There are a bunch more places in Gensokyo I gotta show you, ze! Come on!”

Once again, I was pulled onto the broom and we sped off shortly after. This time, however, Marisa remembered to slow down when she heard me gagging.
“You’re a wimp,” she complained. “Riding like this is nothing. You should see other people like Reimu – they fly by themselves! No support at all.”
“And holding onto a house-cleaning tool, hoping you don’t fall off and plummet to your death, is better?!” I demanded.
“Well, I think so,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Anyway, now we go to the human village! And before you ask why, because I say so and I control the broom, ze.” That last line sounded almost like spite.
I groaned and kept the broomstick tightly in my grip. She had a point, it’s not like I could defy her in this position.
“Good that you see it my way!” she laughed. And so began the second part of my “tour” of Gensokyo.

“Alright, Sel, we made it,” Marisa announced. “You can get off now, but try not to fall backward this time, okay?” I wasn’t sure if that was intended to be concern or poking fun. From what I’ve learned about this witch thus far, I had a pretty good guess that it was the latter.
I muttered some nonsense about the ridiculousness of it all before sliding off the still-floating broom and planting my feet firmly on the ground, sighing in relief. It was going to take me a very long time to get used to flight, if I ever did. I hoped I wouldn’t have to, but alas, fate is not so kind.

“So, Marisa, what are we doing here?” I presently asked, as she picked up the broom and started walking to the village entrance.
“I dunno, walk around, check out shops, stuff like that,” she replied unenthusiastically. “Personally I don’t really like the human village all that much, but it’d be pretty weird for you to be in Gensokyo and not come by here at least once. Oh hey, what’s that over there?” She pointed to my right, and I followed her finger… to a yakitori stand?
Then… thump.
I was pushed back as I heard something, or rather, someone, hit the floor. I turned my head back to see what happened, and realized a girl had run into me and fell down, dropping her groceries in the process. After a moment I realized she was wearing a pink and blue French-style maid uniform, the kind that’s so popular in anime and such. I didn’t think she was cosplaying either, so what was a maid doing here?
“Hey, watch where you’re going,” Marisa said to the girl, then blinked. “Eh, wait a second. Sakuya Izayoi from the mansion, right? Why’re you here, ze?”
The maid – Sakuya – rubbed her head and sat up. “Oh, you’re that black-white witch I’ve seen so many times,” she grumbled. “I was getting groceries, is that not obvious from the now-spilled contents of the basket I was carrying?” She sounded irritated.
“I have a name, you know,” Marisa said, with her hands at her hips. “Kirisame Marisa. You’d do well to remember it, considering how many times I bust into the mansion to ‘borrow’ Patchy’s books.”
Sakuya gave Marisa a look that made it quite clear that she didn’t care. I tried to help the situation by picking up the various items she had dropped in our collision, but was promptly interrupted.
“I can get that myself,” Sakuya insisted. “I don’t need the help of some human I’ve never even seen before, let alone one who’s apparently friends with Marisa.” She said Marisa’s name with contempt, maybe even malice, and proceeded to grab the rest of her groceries. I backed off and apologized, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Is she always like this?” I whispered to Marisa.
“Pff,” was her reply. “Only around me. She stopped being so uncaring about humans a while back, as far as I know. You’d do better not to interfere with whatever she does, that maid has a nasty temper and nastier knives.”
“Oh, well that’s – KNIVES?!” I jumped back and accidentally shouted the last word. I got the feeling random people were staring.
I heard a dark laugh from Sakuya. “Yes, I have knives, is that a problem?” she said with a sadistic-looking smile. “In my line of work one learns to keep weapons around.” As she said this, she clenched a fist and three knives appeared as if from nowhere between her knuckles, blades down. My eyes widened.
“Oh yeah, I should probably mention that she also manipulates the flow of time,” Marisa said, with what seemed like sarcasm but I could tell was truth. That didn’t help my worry at all.
Sakuya soon finished picking up and cleaning off her items and started to walk away. As she passed me, she quietly said, “I’d recommend you don’t spend too much time around that witch,” and then flew off.

I turned around for a second to watch her disappear, thinking about what had just happened. She seemed to be very good at her job, but that wasn’t my primary concern. After a moment, I realized that I thought she looked pretty cute. I couldn’t really figure out why. I turned to Marisa. “You know anything about her?” I asked, in a completely casual way.
“Eh? Well, she’s obviously a maid, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to be specific,” she said, looking up with her hand on her chin. “I told you she plays dangerous tricks with knives and time, and, uh, I think the first time I saw her she had red eyes. They’re blue now, as you probably noticed. If you wanna know about personality, I got nothin’. I just know she gets in my way a lot and she seems pretty loyal to her master Remilia.” She shrugged and looked at me. “Why d’ya ask, Sel? Does she interest you somehow, ze?”
I blinked. “No, it’s nothing,” I lied. “I was just curious, since I’ve never seen a maid before. They don’t really exist in the outside world.” That part was true though.
“Oh, well, that makes sense,” she said. “I’ll tell you this, though: there’s a LOT of maids at that mansion, but she’s the only one who actually get anything done. The rest are just useless fairies, ze.”
“I see…” I muttered, then looked around a bit. “Anyway, weren’t you pointing out a yakitori stand over there before Sakuya showed up? What’s so special about it?”
She pointed me in the right direction before answering. “See the girl there in charge of it? That’s Fujiwara no Mokou, ze. She used to be the daughter of a high-ranking Japanese family way back when, or so they say. Now she’s known as the ‘immortal phoenix’ or something like that, since she can’t die and she controls fire. I know that through experience, ze; not fun times.

“Anyway, why don’t we check the place out? I haven’t been there in a while and I know you never have for obvious reasons. I’m getting hungry,” she continued.
“We just ate at that kappa café!” I pointed out.
“Well yeah, but I have a separate stomach for yakitori,” she said nonchalantly. I could’ve sworn I heard something like that before, but whatever.
“I doubt that sincerely, but fine,” I sighed. “C’mon then. You’re paying.”
“What!” Marisa exclaimed, as if surprised. “But you’ve just been leeching off of me this whole time! Pay for something, or I’ll Spark the money out of you!”
“You’ll what the money out of me?” I said, confused.
“I said I’ll use a Master Spark!” she repeated, loud enough for nearby people to hear her and scatter. I still didn’t know what a Spark was, but from the public reaction I had a pretty good feeling I didn’t want her to use one on me, so I fished through my pockets and pulled out some bills.
“Woah, Sel, you’re loaded!” Marisa said, staring at the money. “This is, what, 500,000¥? Where’d you get this kind of money?”
I was as surprised as she was. “I-I don’t even know,” I honestly answered. “I had some American dollar bills in my pocket yesterday, but nowhere near an amount equivalent to five hundred thousand yen. For that matter, how did it convert like that? Is this more of that Yukari person’s shenanigans?”
“Probably,” Marisa said. “With Yukari, you can never tell what she’s trying to do, let alone why she’s doing it. Normally when humans get ‘spirited away’ they just stumble into the human village, talk to Reimu, and go home. You obviously had things happen quite differently.” She looked at me carefully. “Maybe you’re part of some important event that’ll take place? If that’s the case, I was lucky to have you on my lawn!” She beamed.
“Er, I don’t think you should be jumping to those kinds of conclusions,” I said hesitantly. “I got the feeling Yukari’s just screwing with your head a bit. Did you do something to her, maybe?”
Marisa shook her head. “She doesn’t really need a motive to mess with people or plot or whatever. I guess we’ll just take your coming as a nice treat. Wow, it’s really unlike me to say that,” she mused. “So yeah, let’s get some yakitori!”

Once again, I was grabbed by the hand and pulled over to where Marisa wanted me to go. I’m glad I don’t have a girlfriend like this, I briefly thought as she bought “us” some food with my money. By “us,” I mean she got food for two and proceeded to find a table and eat it all herself. Normally that would have irritated me a fair bit, but since I wasn’t hungry anyway I didn’t really care.
A bit later…
“O-kay, I think we’re done with the village,” Marisa said, after the food was gone and we had walked around for a bit. I was glad to hear that; I was starting to feel uncomfortable, as if she was making it look like we were a couple. I didn’t get why. She dropped her broomstick on the ground, which instantly started floating a foot or two off the ground, waiting to be ridden away on. I rolled my eyes and sat on the back of it without complaint.
“Now then, we’ll go to the SDM!” Marisa announced, and we were off. It took a second for what she said to register.
“Wait a minute, why are we going to the Mansion?” I asked, trying not to sound demanding.
“So I can get some books, of course!” Marisa stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Who knows, maybe you could get… introduced… to some of the people that live there, ze.”
“What’s with the pause? Is there something I should know about the mansion’s inhabitants?”
Marisa just laughed. “You’ll see when we get there.”

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:49 pm

Chapter 02: Touring to the Mansion

“Marisa, um, is that girl in Chinese clothing supposed to be the guard?”
“Officially, yeah, but she’s always sleeping so I don’t have to worry about her getting in my way. Can’t guarantee the folks at the mansion are happy about it, though.” She laughed and pulled the broom down onto the grounds, where we disembarked and walked towards the entrance.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” I muttered. “The place is all red, and it’s called the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Emphasis on the ‘devil’ part there. I don’t think it’s a good idea to just march in through the front door.”
“You’re thinking too much, ze,” Marisa said reassuringly. “I’ve walked in through here a hundred times, at least.”
“Except,” I pointed out, “they don’t want you to come here.”
“Well, you have a point there,” she admitted. “But none of them are ever able to actually kick me out – oh wait, this isn’t helping your confidence much, is it?”
“Not particularly, no.”
“Sorry, ze. But you know what they say: a witch’s gotta do what a witch’s gotta do. Come on, I’ll make sure you don’t get killed or something awful like that.”

I had heard variants of that phrase but not in those words, and her attempts at reassuring me were backfiring horribly. I sighed. “Fine, fine. You just have a natural knack for getting yourself into troublesome situations, don’t you, Marisa?”
“Aww, how sweet of you,” she said, as if that was a compliment. “Here we are! You go in first.”
Why the hell should I take the first step into that place?! I shouted in my mind. “Er, no, ladies first,” I suggested, gesturing to the door.
“Oh, alright,” she said, disappointed, as she opened the door. “Chivalry won’t get you anywhere in Gensokyo, you know.”

Before I could respond, the door creaked and immediately a familiar-sounding voice rang out:
“Intruder alert! Who dares step foot in the mansion without permission?!”
I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again the same maid from before – Sakuya – was standing in front of us, pointing a knife threateningly.
“Me again,” Marisa said, with what seemed to be pride. I brought my palm to my face.
“Of course it’s you again,” Sakuya groaned, and then turned her head slightly to look at me. “And you, the strange human. Why are you here with the black-white?”
“It’s Marisa—”
“She dragged me along, I had no real say in the matter,” I said. “If I had my way I’d be up at the Hakurei Shrine bugging Reimu to send me home to California.”
Sakuya looked at me in such a way that I could tell she had no idea what I was talking about, nor did she believe me. Ignoring my explanation, she asked, “So, has the witch enlightened you on what we at the Scarlet Devil Mansion do to unwanted visitors?”
I gulped uncomfortably. “Um, kindly request they leave the premises?” I offered, knowing full well that wasn’t it.
“Wrong,” she said, pulling her hand back. “This!”
She tossed at least ten knives at me simultaneously. I gasped and hastily ducked to the side, the knives whizzing past me and harmlessly landing in a wall.

Marisa looked at me in awe, and Sakuya was dumbfounded. The former said, “Wow, Sel, those are some crazy reflexes,” and she turned to Sakuya and sneered, “I bet you weren’t expecting that, ze! Selphos here may look ordinary, but he’s an expert!” She quickly whispered in my ear, “…you are an expert, right? Please tell me you are.”
“Yeah, definitely,” I bluffed. “Just like I know kung-fu.”
Both girls stared at me again, this time doubtfully. “You’re lying,” they accused me, at the same time.
“Obviously,” I admitted, rolling my eyes. “What kind of ‘expert’ sits around reading and playing games all day? And an expert at what, exactly?”
“There’s Miss Patchouli…” Sakuya mumbled, before shaking her head and glaring at me. “How do you explain dodging my knives like that, then? I’d like to see you do it again!”
Again, she tossed a flurry of knives at me, and I rolled out of the way with under a second’s notice.

Marisa yawned. “Can we go now? You know by now that you’re just wasting time.” She was getting annoyed, and held her mini-Hakkero in her right hand.
“It rather defeats the purpose of being a backup guard if I let you go,” Sakuya pointed out. “Keep in mind that if I was feeling cruel enough, I could kill you both right here where you stand. Be glad I’m not.
“Anyway, Selphos I think she called you, mind explaining yourself? Don’t try to lie. I will notice and you will die.”
Fantastic, I thought. “I don’t know. Call it intuition, maybe, but somehow I was able to sense the attack and avoid it.”
“Liar!” she shouted, and surrounded me with knives which promptly flew towards me.

Oh, what the hell…
Then, the knives seemed to slow down.
So did Sakuya, and so did Marisa.
I didn’t understand, but I took the opportunity to jump out of the circle and grab a couple knives myself. Once I was clear, the rest of the knives crossed and stuck in the floor, ceiling, and nearby walls. I laughed darkly and threw the knives I held directly at Sakuya’s face, though she stopped them in mid-flight without even moving.

“What sorcery is this?!” she demanded. “You – Marisa – did you do something? There’s no way a normal human could have avoided that attack, let alone steal my knives in the process!”
Marisa shook her head with a blank look. She looked at me with an expression that was either fear, awe, or confusion, or maybe some combination of those, but I couldn’t exactly tell. “I didn’t do anything… Sel, what was that? What you just did rivals Sakuya’s own power. I saw you flash through the circle of knives in less than a second’s time – and you threw the ones you took as if you’ve been doing it for years.”

I blinked. Did I just do that? After I thought for a minute, I threw my head back and laughed, declaring, “I must be a blue mage! Who would’ve thought it – me, some random teenage human, able to copy an enemy’s abilities by witnessing them enough! There’s no other explanation.”
Marisa stared at me as if I had gone mad. “That’s… there’s no way, ze. No one in Gensokyo has powers like that.”

Sakuya huffed, and decided to change the subject. “You know, someone like you could probably be pretty good in the mansion,” she suggested half-heartedly. “We could use more people that can actually work.”
“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “The last thing I want is to stick around here. I want out of this crazy place.”
“Sel, I think you missed something,” Marisa noted. “You just learned that you have an amazing ability. Something like that in the outside world would probably get you locked up for madness, ze. What’s the point of going back now?”
We were still standing directly inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The door was open, but it felt like there was some sort of invisible wall preventing me from escaping.
“Uh, you got me there,” I said, defeated. “But if I’m staying in Gensokyo I want my own place, not this creepy scarlet mansion.”

“Where would you go?” Sakuya said. “The human village won’t accept someone like you.”
“Whose side are you on, Miss Head Maid?!” I demanded.
“My own side. I’m just pointing out the facts of the matter, since I clearly can’t just force you people to stay out of the mansion.”
I groaned. “Marisa, take me to Reimu’s place,” I requested. “We’ll work something out there.”
“Okay, okay,” she said. “Be lucky!” she added to Sakuya. “I didn’t get any books from Patchy today, at least~”
“Just get out of here,” Sakuya said, clearly getting tired of it all. “I have to go tell Lady Remilia about this…”

As we walked away, I stole a glance back at her. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but she looked back at us the same moment. It wasn’t until then I realized how beautiful she was, for a maid. Something about her face… her figure… her silver hair… entranced me.
Or was it something more?
I quickly turned back around, trying to fight back the redness in my cheeks. Marisa looked at me quizzically, but said nothing. We mounted the broom and rode off.

-----
I'm not so fond of these earlier chapters. Oh well.

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:50 pm

Okay so since I'm skipping some chapters due to irrelevance and uninteresting...ness I'll give a brief summary:

Chapter 03: Marisa drops me off at the shrine (quite literally), Reimu reluctantly agrees to house me for a while. Shortest chapter thus far, I didn't really like it.
Chapter 04: A week has passed, Reimu leaves for the day and tells me to stay at the shrine and make sure it doesn't get attacked. Instead, I get warped to Yukari's, who claims to know nothing of me or how I got to Gensokyo but invites me to stay for a drink anyway. Sure, Why Not.
Chapter 05: Reimu comes back highly pissed at me; half of the shrine's supply stores have been stolen. Lots of yelling later, she kicks me out. With no better ideas, Marisa takes me to the mansion to get a job there. I'm reluctant to do this, but I can't really live anywhere else, so... yeah.

Chapter 06: Enter the Mansion of Scarlet

“And… touchdown.”
Marisa and I landed on the mansion grounds, where Meiling, the guard, was sleeping as usual. I had yet to see her awake. We started walking towards the entrance, and Marisa asked, “What’s up with you today, ze? You’re usually more easygoing than this. It’s been a long time since I heard Reimu get in a fight like that, too.”
“Oh, it’s drama,” I said, waving it off. “She probably thinks it has something to do with how I stayed at Yukari’s house for a couple hours today, but I don’t think so. I think that meeting she had with the Moriya people got her.”

“Eh? What meeting?” Marisa wondered. “I saw Reimu earlier today, she was in the human village buying some materials for… something. I couldn’t tell. She looked like she was trying to avoid something. Or was it someone?” She glanced at me darkly.
“Hey, what’re you trying to say?” I shot back. “I already told you, I don’t know of anything that would’ve pissed her off! She just told me to stay at the shrine and keep watch over it!”
“Woah, calm down,” she said. “I didn’t say you did anything. I was thinking maybe Reimu was trying to hide something from you, like the fact that she stole your money.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve figured that out. My theory is that she no longer saw any use for me and planned to have some youkai attack the shrine while she was gone. If that was the case, I’m glad Yukari got me out of it.”
“Give me a break, she isn’t that inhumane – ow!”
Marisa had walked right into the door while she wasn’t paying attention. “Smooth,” I said.
She glared at me and rapped the knocker a couple times for good measure. When the door didn’t open, she grabbed her Hakkero from her pocket and started charging it up.

“Wait a minute!” I cried. She paused, and I tried the door. It was in fact locked. I reached in my own pocket and got out two small pieces of wire, and used them to pick open the lock. I opened the door and made a “ladies first” gesture.
Marisa shoved her Hakkero back in her pocket and started to say, “How did you – oh, whatever.” before stepping through and pulling me after her.

We walked through the halls quietly, trying not to alert security – i.e. Sakuya – now that we were inside uninvited (again). As we passed several doors, Marisa stopped at one and whispered, “Go on ahead. There’s something I gotta do here.”
“Library?” I sighed.
“You betcha,” she said with a mischievous grin. I shook my head in disapproval and walked on, hearing her open and close the door to the library.
I reached the entrance to a room with scarlet double doors, and foolishly opened one door and stepped inside.

The next thing I knew, I had a knife at one side of my throat and a sharp fingernail at the other. Two faces filled my field of view: on the left was Sakuya, who glared at me with such intensity that she might have been trying to kill me with just a look. On the right was a girl with pinkish clothes and hat, light blue hair, and a dark smile that showed pointed fangs; I assumed this was the Scarlet vampire girl. This was reaffirmed when I noticed her black leathery wings.

“Uh, hello,” I said weakly.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Remilia Scarlet, and I’m the mistress of this mansion. Who would you happen to be?” Her tone indicated that she looked down on me quite a bit, though I could tell I was physically far taller than her.
I hesitantly introduced myself. “I’m called Selphos, and I came here looking for a job as a serv—butler.”
“Well, isn’t that special,” Remilia said. “Sakuya, pull back. Let me talk to him myself.”

Sakuya frowned and withdrew her knife, taking several steps back. “Can you trust him, my Lady?” she asked. “This is the boy who appeared alongside the black-white witch last week.”
“We’ll find out,” she answered calmly, keeping her finger at my neck. I would argue that that was even more unnerving than a blade. “So then, Selphos, why do you wish to work under me?” she inquired.

I was careful with my reply. “I needed somewhere to stay, and the shrine maiden – Reimu – said you could use another good servant. I was hoping I could come here, prove my worth, and work as a butler.”
“Very interesting,” she said. “You see, there’s one problem with your plan. Do you know what it is?”

I shook my head.

“You were apparently uninformed that I am the Scarlet Devil, and you trespassed onto my property through a locked door!” she shouted, and stabbed her nail into my neck. It was like a dagger. I felt blood leaking out… my view dimmed… could this be the end, so early?
The last thing I saw was Remilia grinning cruelly and approaching me… then I blacked out.

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:30 pm

Chapter 07: First Night

“My Lady, was that… necessary?”
“I’d say so. I haven’t tasted human blood in a long time; it’s only natural to crave it.”
“Well, he could have made for a good servant…”
“Are you questioning my judgment, Sakuya?”
“Of course not, my Lady.”

My vision gradually returned, and I let out a weak groan. My neck still stung.
Sakuya flinched. “He’s conscious?” she said in disbelief.
My eyes shifted to Remilia, who still had traces of blood – my blood – on her lip. “The wound wasn’t fatal. It was just a small cut,” she explained. “Besides, I didn’t drink much.”
That explained why I felt light-headed and not dead. Rationality questioned the safety of the consumption of blood, but I ignored the thought; she’s a vampire in Gensokyo, after all. I shook my head and grumbled, “What was that? Some sort of test? Was I supposed to die?”

Remilia leaned against her chair leisurely. “Yes and no,” she answered. “You would have failed the ‘test’ if you fled or died. Your survival proves to me that you’re at least somewhat better than most humans.”
Personally, I thought fleeing would have been a better idea, but I suspected that I would be killed anyway if I tried.
“Anyway…” Remilia nodded to Sakuya, who stepped forward and spoke in a very authoritative voice:

“Congratulations, Selphos, you have been deemed worthy to be hired as a butler of Lady Remilia Scarlet here at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I am Izayoi Sakuya, and I will be your superior until further notice. You are to do exactly as I tell you, and my orders can only be overridden by Miss Patchouli Knowledge, the Lady’s younger sister Flandre, or the Lady herself, in ascending order of authority. You will address them by their titles I have just mentioned – in Flandre’s case, Young Lady – and myself as ma’am. Are you following me?”

I had struggled to a standing position during her speech, and I now nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” I said.
“Good, because I’m not done,” she said, continuing: “Young Lady Flandre remains in the basement, and Miss Patchouli in the library. You are to alternate with me for attending to them at mealtimes and teatimes, which will be at…”
She droned on and on about schedules, duties, uniform, universal rules, and much more, occasionally stopping to confirm that I was still listening, where I would answer affirmatively and she would continue.

After probably half an hour, Remilia – no, Lady Remilia – stopped Sakuya and declared, “I think that’s enough for now. Selphos here can’t just absorb everything you’re saying in one go. Teach him the rest as he works.”
Sakuya looked disappointed, but ceased her monologue, stepped back, and curtsied to the mistress. “I apologize, my Lady. I suppose I set my standards too high for a new human on the job.” Her tone was condescending and it annoyed me. I wanted to lash out at her and show her what I was capable of, but reason persuaded me to restrain myself. Did I really think I liked this maid? Was my judgment clouded somehow? I tried to clear my head of such thoughts and just gave her a cold stare.

A knife sticking out of the wall behind me later, I dropped it. She sure knew how to get her way…
Remilia giggled and said, “Sakuya, you should take him to the dressing room to get him in uniform. Make sure he gets a different room than the maids, but I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
“Will do, my Lady,” Sakuya answered. She turned to me, ordered me to follow her, and left. I sighed and walked after her, closing the mistress’s door as I exited her room. I caught her smiling slightly and she mouthed, “Good luck.”

I couldn’t tell if that was an earnest smile or if she was just amused by my circumstances.

-------------
That's a bad title, considering the next few chapters all take place in the same night. *shrug*

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:31 pm

Chapter 08: A New Home and a New Girl

I learned rather quickly that this mansion is very, very large.

It took roughly five minutes for Sakuya and I to reach what was apparently the dressing room. When she opened the door, what I saw looked more like a big lounge with a door to the side marked “UNIFORMS,” a row of doors on the other side, and another unmarked door at the opposite side of the room from the entrance. Naturally, there were plenty of maids present; I noticed they were all fairies less than three feet tall with identical faces, hair, bodies, and uniforms. The only difference was that one out of thirty had a red shirt instead of blue. I suppose they were “officers”?

As Sakuya led me through the “dressing room,” many of the maids turned and stared at us, for a fairly good reason: it was rather easy to guess that none of them had ever seen a man before. I tried to ignore them, but it was a futile effort, not helped by several of them daring to fly up for a closer look. Sakuya grumbled something unintelligible, grabbed several knives and stabbed each of these offenders, causing the rest to gasp and hide behind chairs and tables. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or mortified.

We finally reached the next room, which like the rest of the mansion was painted red, and it was only sparsely furnished. I saw a clothes rack holding a number of old-fashioned black-and-white butler uniforms, a small bed, a tea table, and another door which I assumed led to a washroom.
After I had looked around and taken everything in, I asked, “I assume this is going to be my room?”
Sakuya folded her arms and nodded. “Correct. Everything you need is in here. It’s only the bare essentials in a small bedroom, but as a starting servingman you aren’t allotted much anyway. If you perform your duties well, the Lady may see fit to improve your living conditions. However, it is purely up to her discretion.”

I sighed. “So then, this means I’ll have to pass through the maids’ room every time I need to reach mine?”
“Yes, that is the case,” she answered. “I imagine you’ll find ways to avoid a scene. You seem like a resourceful young man, especially considering the power you’ve developed. However, I am at least generous enough to ensure that none of the maids bar myself will be able to access this place.”
I looked up. “Wait, why are you permitted to enter?”
“Someone has to keep an eye on you,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m your superior, remember? Therefore it’s my job to make sure you’re working diligently and efficiently, and that extends to the time you spend in your own chamber.”

“That feels like an invasion of privacy,” I complained.
“You don’t have a choice,” she pointed out. “With your standing, you’re at the mercy of any higher authority. I’m not even obligated to keep the maids away from you, but I’m doing it anyway to make your life easier. Appreciate that.”
“Y-yes, ma’am,” I said quickly. “I’ll make sure to remain in your and the Lady’s favor as best as I can.”
“That’s good to hear,” she said, turning around. “I’ll leave you to yourself briefly now. You have ten minutes to get into uniform and whatever else you feel you must do here. At that time I will return and you will begin your duties.”
She left the room and walked away. I saw her momentarily before she disappeared and left a small card on the ground of the maids’ lounge. I guessed it was one of her time-manipulating sleights of hand at work and closed the door.

“Well,” I said quietly, “welcome to your new home, me.”

----------------------------

Fortunately I had no problem putting on my butler suit and everything in my room seemed to be in fine condition. I thought it was strange that they had a room set up in advance like this; with no males in or anywhere near the mansion, why would they need a separate room for a butler?
However, my thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Before I could go to open it, Sakuya came in herself and said, “Your allotted time has elapsed. Now, we will begin your duties.”

I nodded. “Understood, ma’am, I’m ready.”
“Good. Now, I believe you picked up my time manipulation with that copy ability of yours, so follow my lead and efficient movement will be made much simpler.”
She snapped her fingers and the surrounding area quickly faded to a dull grey. I recalled that this is what time stopped looks like, and after checking to make sure I could still move freely I nodded to Sakuya, who turned around, opened the door, and started dashing forward. I couldn’t tell what her hurry was, but I followed suit as quickly as my legs could carry me.

When we stopped, color faded back into the vicinity and I realized we were in a kitchen. Sakuya turned to me, and said, “I assume you’re capable of making tea for Miss Patchouli.”
“Ah, yes ma’am,” I said after a moment. “I had to make it myself back at the shrine or Reimu would—”
“That’s nice, but I didn’t ask for an explanation,” she said, cutting me off. “Anyway, make a simple red tea and take it to Miss Patchouli in the library. Considering that you initially entered with the black-white witch, I can imagine you know where that is.”
With that, she left before I could answer. In truth, I couldn’t at all remember where Marisa had separated from me to swing by the library, so I hoped I would be able to guess its location correctly.

The tea was successfully made and I took it out of the kitchen, but I stopped and looked around. It occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea where I was trying to go. I thought I could at least remember the correct direction, but my mind was drawing a total blank; I decided to just turn and walk in a random direction and hope for the best.

I eventually reached an unmarked door and tried it, and it opened. I stepped forward and realized too late that there was a staircase here, so I proceeded to fall, stumble down the stairs, and break the teacup and saucer somewhere along the way. This… was very obviously not the library. That’ll teach me to wander aimlessly and expect it to work.

“Oh, hello!”
I heard a young female voice nearby, and looked up. I met eyes with a girl wearing red clothes and a poofy white hat similar to Remilia’s, with blond hair and strange metal things on her back that vaguely resembled wings. Her thin smile revealed fangs as well.
“Young Lady Flandre?” I asked weakly.
“Ooh, you know me,” was Flandre’s reply. “I’m guessing you’re a new servant, from your clothes and how you address me. Did you come to bring me something?”

“Um, actually, I intended to go to the library and… took a couple wrong turns,” I answered. I had a bad feeling about this.
“Aww. Well, since you’re here, will you play with me?”
I staggered to my feet. “S…sure, Young Lady. Did you, er, have anything in particular in mind?”
“Just call me Flan for now,” she said. “And yeah! Let’s play with danmaku!”
…My bad feeling was right.

--------
That is such a crappy way to start a battle scene~ Oh well.

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:34 pm

I advise playing the given music link while reading. Either that or U.N. Owen was her.

Chapter 09: Antique Terror♪

My method of learning how to play with danmaku was a very dangerous, unwilling crash course.
Flandre decided to “play nice” and follow the spell card rules, which Reimu had described for me for no particular reason several days ago. That at least meant her attacks wouldn’t be fatal, but she made no guarantees that they wouldn’t hurt. There was only one problem: I couldn’t fire off any of my own shots. I effectively would have to rely on my evasive abilities unless I could develop a means of attack.

It didn’t take long for me to realize it was very likely that that strategy was not going to work, but I had no alternative. Merely seconds after Flandre began her assault, dozens of bullets had come inches from causing me a lot of pain. She laughed at my defenselessness, and it was an insane, sadistic laugh that sent chills down my spine. Her attacks were relentless; if this was merely play, I thought, no way did I wish to see battle!

I ducked and rolled and sidestepped constantly, never given a moment to rest. Then Flandre held up another red card in her hand: it had an image of a mythical sword of some sort, and as she shouted “Lævateinn!” that same weapon materialized in place of the card. She swung it in a circle around her, and a wall of scarlet fire extended from the blade as smaller shots trailed behind it. “Try to dodge THIS!” she challenged, swinging again with a much longer range.
I hit the floor to avoid being sliced, and ran to the side opposite the direction the sword was traveling. But just when it looked like I was clear, she brought it back around the other way before I was able to evade it. Moments before it made contact, however, the aura around the sword disappeared and the attack seemed to be nullified. I sighed in relief, but Flandre’s following giggle made me even tenser than before.

“You idiot,” she said, “That counted as a hit! Two more and I can really hurt you!” She laughed that crazed laugh again and swung Lævateinn in another wide arc. This time I rolled under it and followed the arc a short distance, remained clear of the stray shots behind it, and waited. True to my expectations, her attack pattern was unchanged and the sword, narrowly missing me, was unable to maintain the flame any longer and burnt out.
“Not bad, but I’m not done!” she cried, discarding her weapon and drawing another card. “Counter Clock!”

“Agh!” I jumped away as two big blue crosses appeared and span in opposite directions, overlapping each other. “How many spell cards do you have?!” I demanded.
“More than you can survive,” she said, grinning cruelly. “Now, feel my destructive power!”
As if it wasn’t enough for me to have to avoid the crisscrossing lasers, Flandre fired another swarm of red bullets in the middle of the attack. I could feel them grazing against me, but I sidestepped too early and felt a sting in my side. She had scored another hit, canceling the attack, but moments later it started again fiercer than ever. This girl had it out for me!
Seconds dragged on like hours as I came closer and closer to a very painful end to this game, but eventually Counter Clock ended and Flandre revealed yet another card. “Taboo Sign!” she declared. “Four of a Kind!”
She split into four clones, which then simultaneously held up identical cards. “Starbow Break!” they said at once. A spell within a spell?!

Waves of bullets of all colors of the rainbow thundered down on me, one after the other, a merciless, unending assault. This was impossible! As the wall of shots approached me, I pulled a simple playing card, the ace of spades, from my pocket and shouted, “Enough!”

I tossed the card at the ground and time slowed to a crawl before stopping altogether. I dashed forward past the bullets up to the four Flandres and saw the original had left her ancient sword on the ground. I snatched it and jumped and slashed one of the copies, the raw power of the weapon reverberating in my hands. I landed and sprung back up again, slashing another three times to cut each of the Flandre clones, before dropping Lævateinn like a hot potato. The sword felt like it was burning a hole in my hand.
I snapped my fingers and time flowed freely once again, and the damage was done. The fakes flashed white and vanished, leaving the original Flandre to scream in pain. She was physically unharmed – I guessed that the sword being hers made it impossible to wound her with it – but somehow my attack had still done considerable damage. She dropped to the floor and nursed her invisible wounds for several seconds, before glaring at me and angrily declaring, “I’m done playing! Now I’ll destroy you!”

Subject: Re: Illusionary Fantasy of Midnight Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:36 pm

Chapter 10: Repercussions

Flandre’s eyes glowed bright red, and instantly the same color covered the floor as an image of her was emblazoned upon it. At the same time, the walls of the room seemed to catch fire. Had I unlocked a power from the very depths of Hell?!
She raised her arm and I heard a high-pitched noise as a thin laser pointed in my direction. I quickly jumped away before she summoned a sort of energy spear, shouted “Heartbreak!” and threw it along the guide laser in less than a second. I tried to make a run for the door, but after another “Heartbreak” came dangerously close to my face I doubled back. I recalled Marisa once telling me that Remilia was very fond of Heartbreak, so why was Flandre using her sister’s attack? Was this part of her power, or was she enraged enough to borrow that of her sister?

She flung the spears again and again as if from an infinite supply. One of them cut my left sleeve, another left a small gash in my forearm. Then, my hand flashed and a blue card formed out of the sparks; it had an image of a laser-like spear inscribed on it.
A dark smile crept onto my face. “Now I’ll show you, you insane little brat,” I muttered, then yelled the incantation: 「ハートブレーカー！」
My sudden shout caught Flandre off guard and tossed a dark blue version of her own projectile at her.
“What?! Agh!” she screamed, as it pinned her against the wall. “How did you – That can’t…”

As she struggled in vain trying to free herself from my Heartbreaker, the door of the basement was thrown open and a small figure flew down to the ground. “What happened here?!” the new arrival demanded.
“Big Sis, help me!” Flandre pleaded. “The butler stuck me to the wall!”
Remilia turned and glared at my barely-harmed self. “You did what?”
“M-my Lady, your sister was assaulting me with countless dangerous attacks!” I stammered. “I had to defend myself somehow!”
“You could have killed me!” Flandre cried. “First you slash me with my own Lævateinn, then you copy Heartbreak and almost impale me with it!”
“Young Lady Flandre, you were swarming me with innumerable shots of all colors and sizes and my only method of survival was desperate and lucky evasion. I came inches from death many times, and you call it all a game?”
“SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!” Remilia shouted. “You’re arguing like young children trying to avoid trouble! Now… who should I believe? Both of you are only telling me part of the story. Perhaps I should simply punish you both?”

In the middle of Remilia’s sentence, another figure appeared at the open door. It was Sakuya, who held a plate of food, presumably for Flandre. I froze upon seeing her.
“Selphos?” she called. “What are you doing down here? Did I not instruct you to bring tea for Miss Patchouli?”
I winced. “Er, I got lost… and Young Lady Flandre wanted me to play with her…”
She shook her head and walked down to us, standing at her mistress’s side. “If you’re going to work here, you must memorize key locations such as the library. Now, where is – Ah! My Lady, your sister – !”
“I’m fully aware of Flan’s condition, Sakuya,” Remilia said. “Apparently, these two got in a fight. Look, you can still see the burn marks on the floor from her spell border.”
“I thought I heard noise down here, but I hesitated to investigate,” Sakuya remarked.

“Hey, uh, can someone help me here?” Flandre pleaded from above. “This kinda hurts…”
Remilia rolled her eyes. “Selphos, retrieve your spear,” she commanded.
“Y-yes, milady,” I said quickly, and approached the wall the little sister was pinned to. After several pathetic jumps, I shrugged. “It’s out of range. I can’t jump that high.”
“You stupid human, Heartbreaks don’t need to be physically picked up! Just summon it back to your hand.”
“U-understood.” I held my hand up and the Heartbreaker vanished, reappearing in my grasp before being unsummoned and disappearing. Gravity took hold of Flandre, and in trying to catch her I was knocked to the ground. She stood up, dusted herself off, and giggled. “Thank you, butler boy,” she said in a condescending tone.
Ungrateful wretch, I thought. I could’ve just left her there!

“Anyway, Young Lady,” Sakuya broke in. “I brought your food. I do hope you enjoy it.” She set the plate on a small table and tried to leave, but Remilia stopped her halfway up the staircase.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.
“Ah, well, you see, Lady Remilia, I…” Sakuya fumbled with her words and eventually came up with “I-I must go and check on Meiling and the maids to make sure they’re doing their jobs. Yes.”
“This is unlike you, Sakuya, trying to leave early and stuttering with an excuse when questioned. Why don’t you stay at least long enough to hear my verdict?” Remilia said.

I gulped nervously and glanced at Flandre. I couldn’t tell from her expression whether she was amused or worried.
Sakuya hastily nodded and descended the stairs again. I’d never seen her this antsy.
“So then,” Remilia began, walking down after her servant. “Flandre, my oh-so-dear sister, you will be confined to this basement for the next twenty-four hours. And Selphos…”
“Y-yes, my Lady?”
“Since this incident is solely due to your ignorance, you are to spend as much time as is necessary composing a detailed map of the mansion. It is to include every room you are able to access.”
“Lady, is this map to include the contents of the rooms or just the locations?”
“Actually, I didn’t think of that. Yes, make a full floor plan.”
I was stunned. “Wh… That’ll take months…”
“Kyahahahahaha! No, I was joking. I may be the Scarlet Devil, but I’m not that cruel. Oh, that was priceless…”
Sure have a cruel enough sense of humor, I thought, looking away in contempt.

“Big Sis,” Flandre interrupted, “am I gonna have to eat and play all alone again? Not even Sakuya can visit me?”
“Yes, that would be the point of the punishment,” Remilia answered. “Her sleights of hand with time will enable you to still receive your food. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this, Flan, and besides, one day is fairly generous.”
Flandre pouted and her sister turned back to me. “You are dismissed,” she said. “Your task is to begin immediately. Sakuya, you may leave as well.”
“Y-yes, my Lady,” I stammered, while Sakuya simultaneously said “Understood, Lady Remilia,” as we both turned to leave. Just her tone reminded me that we were of very different standing.

She led me out of and away from the basement, and brought me to the library. “Now, this is where I told you to go. Step inside and explain the situation to Miss Knowledge, and she should be able to assist you.”
Sakuya opened the door and I sighed, walking towards the room. But then, immediately before I entered, she grabbed my arm and quietly told me to wait. I turned around to face her, confused.
“Listen, I apologize for this,” she said in a hardly audible whisper. “I should have better informed you about the mansion’s layout. Here – I prepared some extra tea in case you had a problem.”

She revealed a cup of simple red tea, identical to that which I had tried to deliver. I received it gratefully, but asked, “Why are you doing this for me?”
She hesitated for a moment before answering, then said, “I felt responsible and somewhat guilty for what happened. Don’t ask why, it’s nothing personal. Understood?”
“All right,” I nodded. “Thank you, Sakuya.”
She was turning to leave, but stopped momentarily when I mentioned her name. She glanced at me and simply said, “Good luck, Selphos.”

And she walked away.