#crackedgates

She hadn’t seen Nobu for a while now. Though she was occupied by so many other activities, so she didn’t have enough time to spend with her friends and family much. She wanted to change that, one whom she wanted to hang with was Remilia, and figured that Nobu would be able to help her with that. In that becoming more fun then she feels she isn’t. Only question is.

Where was Nobu...?

“Nobu...? Nobu! Where are you Nobu...”

“Analyzing. Several missing neurological components. Biology distorted. Traces of youkai detected.” She was listing continuously about what she diagnosed insides the others skull. It was strange. This girl was a youkai but of a different variety. Not only that but the parts of her brain for processing emotion were almost nonexistent. She reminded Deta of when Deta would overheat--void of emotion.

Nearing the gate leading to one of his most loyal customers, Rinnosuke would have his head slightly raised while looking at the mansion clearly visible behind the walls that surrounded it.

“Hey Meiling...”

It was weird, normally Sakuya would be very work focused, so she wouldn’t be coming to Meiling for just some friendly convocation or hang out. Or at least most of the time. As normally she had too much on her hands to fully have chance to properly hang out with Meiling.

Reimu didn’t indulge much in staying up-to-date on the latest news printed in the tengu’s Bunbunmaru (if only because, nine times out of ten, she was part of the article itself and didn’t need to rely on Aya’s exaggerated writing), but this particular issue’s headline was bold, centered across the top of the page, and most of all, extremely eye-catching:

MISSING VILLAGERS RETURNED SAFELY, KIDNAPPING INCIDENT RESOLVED!

Reimu’s eye twitched ever so slightly as she lowered the newspaper to meet the gaze of Kasen and a particularly pale (nervous?) o-gumo who Reimu could swear she had never seen before that day, her lips pressed into a thin line. She takes a moment to count backwards from five, exhale very slowly, and place the newspaper down on the table before she presses her fingers to her lips.

And then the dam restraining her frustration broke.

“What the hell is this all about?!” she demands, accusingly jabbing a finger in the direction of the offending paper and banging her other hand, clenched into a fist, on the top of the table as she keeps her glare locked on Kasen. “Kidnapping humans, not obeying the Spell Card rules, risking Gensokyo’s very stability — and this incident had to be resolved before I hear about it?!” She’s conveniently ignoring that none other than Toyosatomimi no Miko attempted to tell her about it, of course. Reimu will go her own way, thank you very much, even when that way ends up being completely useless.

The fairy was tugging on a stubborn weed when Meiling approached her. She jumped a little, which proved to be just what was needed to dislodge the roots. The fairy fell backwards with a fwump, landing on her lower back.

“A-ah, Miss Meiling. Um, sorry that I’m all there is. Not a lot of fairies around these days...”

She’s fine at least, might get a bruise at most. Still, there used to be a lot more fairies in the garden. Nowadays there’s one or two at most.