Memory and Reality

Memory and Reality



// prologue


“She looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping,” she said, drawing back from the sleeping child’s forehead.

“Try not to push yourself too hard, we just fixed the tear up.”

Brandishing her closed fan, she laughed. “You worry too much; those wrinkles are going to catch up to all those scars one day—Ow! Ow! Cut it out!”

“Hahaha! Like I said, try not to push yourself too hard!”

The repeated powerful slaps to her back, accompanied with that belly laugh. The Hakurei shrine maiden’s age certainly never changed that part of her, even at her ridiculous age. Most humans would be counting the decades they’ve spent six feet under.

“I seriously hope you’re not planning on discipline with that hand,” she winced, genuinely wondering whether that back slap dislodged something it shouldn’t have.

An awkward pause ensued, before the shrine maiden let out another mirthful laugh.

“I’ll be the best mother you’ve ever seen. Count on it, Yakumo.”


// scene 1

Looking up at the sky, Reimu groaned, as she soared through the evening skyscape. “Can’t she at least be a little more original?” she mused.

Earlier that day, she had been rudely interrupted from a late evening nap by a rambunctious, yet ordinary witch.

“Reimu! Wake up, you lazy git, c’mon!” someone had yelled, complete with spatter landing on her face. Thanks, Marisa, she internally grumbled, pushing away her visitor off her. Rubbing one of her eyes open, Reimu saw the impatient-looking witch crossing her arms, with a rare reddish-purple sunset behind her.

“What is it? I told you, I’m not cooking any more of your mushrooms for you,” she grumpily murmured.

“It’s way past dinnertime any—Dammit, no, look, we have an incident!”

Thus so, she found herself with her staff in one hand and a raring fist in the other, soaring up through the sunset.

“I can’t believe you somehow almost slept through midnight,” grinned Marisa mischievously. Honestly, she felt like slugging that grin off of that witch’s broom.

“No thanks to last night’s dinner that you so kindly scavenged for us.”

“S’not my fault you don’t have enough iron in your gut, I came out just fine!”

“No, that’s not—Never mind. So how are we supposed to find anyone again? Do we just go over to Hakugyakurou?” Reimu said, pressing on her temples.

“Yeah, we can ask the local spooks.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be any need for that,” a voice said to their side.

Both of them turned, finding the source of the voice to be one Ran Yakumo, accompanied by her shikigami cat, Chen. Reimu’s face soured as she saw them, though not from animosity. It was mostly just the intricately-forming spellcard circles behind them that she cared for. Suddenly, she was jerked backwards as a bullet stream barely missed her side.

“Stop spacing out, Reimu!” rebuked Marisa, as she let go of her partner’s robe.

“My bad,” she said, as she pulled out her sealing charms, and rolled out to avoid an incoming laser. With her sights locked onto the shikigami duo, she dashed around the streams of danmaku.

However, her attempts to close the distance were mostly in vain, as they kept a large radius away from her. The duo was difficult to pin down when they were together, she thought, looking down at them as she flew above.

Just as Reimu was about to pull out a spellcard, a tiny beam of light sliced through in front of her. The smell of sterilized air hit her, and she dashed backwards before the beam expanded into an enormous laser. The laser consumed her entire field of vision, and shook her about like an airborne quake.

Slowly, the beam narrowed into nothing, revealing Ran and Chen flickering in and out from a red and blue-tinged barrier. The originator of the laser swept down on her broom, pulling to a stop with a triumphant expression.

“Hehehe, what did you think of that one? Pow, right down the middle!”

“It was a good shot,” said Chen.

“Maybe we need to do a two-on-one next time?” smiled Ran, hovering near them.

“I’ll take you guys on any day!”

Reimu sighed, and clapped her hands impatiently. “Come on, cut to the chase, where’s the old lady?”

“Lady Yukari is waiting for Reimu near the mountain graveyard,” replied Ran. Under her white hat, the fox’s ears flicked towards the general direction. Reimu raised an eyebrow. “The mountain’s graveyard, huh?”

“Aw, wait, so it’s not an incident? Lame,” said Marisa with a pout.

“I’m afraid not,” said Ran apologetically.

“Let’s do more danmaku!” interjected Chen.

“All right!”

Then, in a flash, the witch left with her cat, leaving two behind. Reimu sighed. “I swear, being stupidly roundabout is her signature or something. Thanks, Ran.”

“Sorry to bother you.”


// scene 2

The grass rustled under Reimu’s sandals as she landed near the graveyard entrance. At the foot of Youkai Mountain, the graveyard sat silently, with countless tombstones surrounded by thick forest. “Village Grove of Memory” was scrawled on a sign, with the village’s name too worn out to be legible.

Reimu wandered in through the entrance, scanning for her caller. The graveyard seemed to be empty. Nobody but the spirits, and those aren’t great company either. Just as she was about to turn back, she felt a warm kiss on her cheek.

Immediately turning around, she found… nobody still. Exasperated, Reimu gritted her teeth. “Damn it, come out already, Yukari,” she called out, with more than a touch of annoyance in her voice.

“You’re late, Reimu!”

She turned around, expecting to see an amused border youkai. However, what she saw was someone entirely different. Clad in red shrine maiden robes torn up in places, with a black bodysuit underneath, a muscular woman glared at Reimu. Her toned arms bore countless scars from claw, teeth and blade alike, and her long black hair blew in a weak breeze.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Reimu snapped to attention, bowing down immediately and belting out a quick apology. The Hakurei maiden, whose dictionary was missing the word “humility”, almost prostrated herself before the scary-looking woman. A flood of emotions rushed through her.

“Never mind. Let’s just start,” the woman said, tightening some yellowed wrappings around her hands and feet.

Then, just like that, a lightning-fast blow landed on her side, destroying any emotional thoughts Reimu had had. The girl flew across the graveyard and crashed into a tree like a rag doll. Every limb and sense in her body shrieked in protest as she struggled to sit up.

Before she could, she felt a rough hand grasp her arm. “Reimu! Did you even wake up this morning?! Get up!” the woman yelled, pulling Reimu up. Her eyes blearily opened between the bangs of her brown hair as Reimu tried to steady her feet. Her mind screamed that she had to try to run; that was all she could do.

Her feet left the ground in a hurry, blasting herself as far away from the woman as possible. “That’s more like it!” the woman called out as she chased after her, an explosive energy trailing behind her. Reimu could see the woman becoming ever smaller in her vision. Somewhere in her chest screamed for her to stop, to go back, but at the moment her flight instincts had taken full control.

However, as Reimu cleared the height of the highest tree, she suddenly received a sharp jab behind her, sending her careening towards the ground.

“Nothing above the treeline! Come on, are you still asleep?! How are you going to survive those youkai if you can’t even get this right?!”

Yet again, she was yanked up, made to run around like a tailless lizard, and smacked down in a matter of seconds. After some time, however, she was managing to barely evade a few of the blows. Considering the woman’s fists as a danmaku pattern, Reimu tried to intuitively avoid the next one. Even so, her lungs were burning overtime as she skirted the blows the woman threw at her, flying through the forest like wounded prey.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, her mind came to a resolve. As a right hook came rocketing towards her, the world seemed to slow down. She twisted her body around the woman’s attack, and thrust her fist at her shoulder.

Unfortunately, Reimu’s pain had dulled out her senses enough that her hand never registered if it ever hit anything. Reimu’s dirt-caked outfit fluttered in the wind as her consciousness drifted in and out. Her failing eyes managed to look up at the brilliant purple sky before she blacked out.


// scene 3

One last border—!

A white and purple blur whizzed through the trees. Shortly after, a thundering crash was heard nearby, and a black and red one followed suit. The normally peaceful mountain was racked by the high speed chase.

The white and purple blur came briefly into focus, revealing a blonde-haired youkai, dressed in a torn up dress of those colors. Leaning backwards in midair, she put up a hand, and a magic circle swirled about it.

The black and red blur came crashing in not a moment later. A muscle-bound woman, clad in an unorthodox-looking shrine maiden outfit, came to reveal herself from it. Her wound-up fist then crashed into the magic circle the youkai held up.

Time halted briefly before the youkai was blown backwards into the ground, creating a huge trail of dug-up earth. The human screeched to a halt similarly, though she was still able to keep herself on her feet.

Silence pervaded the forest for a few seconds before the crickets could be heard again.

“Ugh… It’s my loss.”

“Hah. Hah hah. Haven’t met a youkai this strong before. You got a name?”

“Yakumo. Yakumo Yukari. I don’t think the infamous Hakurei miko needs an introduction, though.”

“Hah, haa. Great—I’ve never been good with words anyway. Oof, I’m gonna feel that in the morning. Let’s call a tie.”

“Agreed. Would you have any trouble getting back home?”

“I don’t need sympathy from no youkai—Erk!” the miko said, wincing as she tried to cover up her flank. Yukari could spot the red spreading from between the woman’s fingers, even from the distance that she was at.

Before she could make another snarky comment, however, she heard some footsteps approaching. Both of them tensed up; they were in poor condition to fight off anyone, human or youkai.

“Yukari-sama!”

Yukari’s face softened considerably, once the fox shikigami showed herself. “Oh, it’s Ran. Could you be a good girl and help us out here? Make some tea, or something.”


// scene 4

A kiss on her forehead.

That was the first thing Reimu felt when she woke up. The next thing was an unfathomable amount of pain searing through her entire body.

She screamed without restraint.

A good few seconds later, she recovered, though still breathing heavily. Her eyes were now wide open, and looking up at a smiling Yakumo Yukari. Her head was laid on the youkai’s lap, as if lulling her to sleep.

“So, did you get to meet anyone important?”

The youkai managed to intercept an outstretched hand headed for her throat. “Is… Is this your idea of a joke?”

Reimu’s hand struggled to escape Yukari’s vice grip, but even with her monstrous strength, Yukari felt the girl weaken faster than normal. Soon, the shivering she felt wasn’t a result of struggling.

“I-I… I didn’t… W-Why…” sobbed Reimu. At this point, tears were flooding down the side of her face, and she made no effort to stop it. She felt her entire body lock up, paralyzed from what had just happened.

“Why did you have to stop it?”

Yukari’s eyes were downcast. She lowered Reimu’s hand, and averted her gaze upwards. Nothing of the purple sky from before remained, only a black sky dotted with stars. Her memory, however, was still fresh, both in her mind, and on her body.

“In humans, the border of memory and reality is a frail one, comparable to wet rice paper. It’s a terrible flaw to have, though I guess it’s necessary for a human.”
“H-Huh? What?”

“Ah, never mind. Just cry your heart out.”

Yukari then turned her gaze away, and Reimu followed suit. Through her tear-soaked eyes, she could see that they were sitting near a grave, with a bundle of lilies near the headstone.

Upon it, one could barely make out the name “Hakurei”. The dates underneath the name were in even worse shape, being completely illegible.


// scene 5

“So you manipulated the boundary of memory and reality, just to pull this little stunt today? Reminiscing is fine, but I’ve never seen you this beaten up since the last time she was alive.”

“Come on, Ran, it was just a little bit of fun,” said Yukari, wincing as Ran dressed her wounds. She’d called the shikigami over to escort them both to their residence, where Reimu promptly proceeded to pass out.

“The Izayoi maid came for a ‘visit’ thanks to that purple sky of yours, too. Turned everything to shreds!”

“I don’t see anything out of place, though,” said Yukari, looking around the room that they were in.

“W-Well, I mean, she cleaned it up afterwards as an apology,” said Ran, exasperated. “Why are you so attached to her, anyhow?”

“Hmm? Reimu, you mean?”

“Yeah. I mean, is it really just because you were friends with the previous miko?”

“Ah, well, there’s a bit more than that.”


// scene 6

“Yep! Been married 20 damn years and I don’t even have a single kid.”

The Hakurei miko in front of her chugged the tea in one swoop, while Yukari’s tea stayed in her hands, with a confused expression on her face.

“Not only that, but they say I don’t have any aptitude with the powers exclusive to the shrine maiden of Hakurei. They’re whispering about the “end of the Hakurei line”, or something. S’not my fault my siblings all died.”

“Oh, powers exclusive to the shrine maiden?”

“Yeah, hold on,” the miko said, rummaging around in her robes. She then pulled out a moderately-sized orb with a black and white yin-yang motif, and threw it towards Yukari. The youkai caught it gingerly, examining it curiously.

“Apparently it’s the go-shintai for the Hakurei clan deity. Hell if I know if that’s true, I can’t use it at all. Oh, be careful, the orb’s supposed to be an anti-youkai weapon?”
“I think you probably should’ve thought about that before you threw it at me.”

The miko laughed. “Hahaha! Well, you’re not dead, so I guess that shows how useful that thing is. Why don’t you try communing with it, who knows, maybe you could use it better than I do. That’d be hilarious. A youkai using an anti-youkai weapon!”

Yukari’s face turned pale as she listened to her visitor’s explanation and looked at the orb in her hands. She could feel her powers draining from just holding it, but something within her resonated with it as well. No, there’s no way.

She closed her eyes, and the orb began to glow, as she tried to commune with the deity linked to the shintai. Unexpectedly, she started to get a response, and before she could sever the connection, a bright wisp of light escaped from the orb.

Yukari’s eyes jolted open, and she saw the miko’s eyes similarly shocked. Without a sound, both of them agreed to scramble out of the way, Yukari dropping the orb as she did. The wisp flew around, before erupting in the air in a brilliant display of light.

“Hahahahaha! No way! You should take my place or something!”

“Ha, maybe then you’d actually get an heir.”

“—You know what…”


// scene 7

By the time Yukari finished her story, Ran’s face was as white as a ghost, trying to keep her composure.

“All I needed to do was work a bit of magic, take her place for a bit as a surrogate. The clan heads were certainly happier for it.” said Yukari.

“S-So she’s not actually a blood descendant, then?”

“She’ll always be her mother’s daughter, though. I just like to pop in on things every once in a while. You know how irresponsible I am.”

Before Ran could say anything in reply, a voice called out from outside the residence. “Ran-samaaaaa! I’m hungryyyy!”

Her ears perked up at her shikigami’s voice, and she turned to Yukari. “Go on, I’ll be waiting,” her master said. The kitsune hesitantly stood up, and bowed away, leaving Yukari alone with her thoughts.

A few moments later, she stood up, and walked to the adjacent room. There, the current Hakurei shrine maiden slept, and Yukari sat down next to her. She bent down, and kissed the young girl on her forehead.

“Sleep well, my little Reimu.”