☯of paradise

          “…Well, at least I have no books for her to steal from me." Unless Marisa wanted a copy of any of the Twilight books she’d been so graciously presented as a gift from the scientists. “Experiment, however? Do you refer to the labyrinth debacle I heard about, shrine maiden…?”

"Hmm...yeah, it was...an experience, to put it mildly. This stuff just gets more exhaustive and complicated by the minute. Don't think you showed up until after that, right?"

“Nice to see that you’re still the same as ever.”

"Back at you, Kanako. You're nothing if not consistent. So I probably don't have to ask after your well-being, right?"

          “This ‘Christmas’ seems to be a strictly Christian endeavor. With the amount of tension present between religions in Gensokyo already, perhaps any of us who’s origins lie there may be better off choosing not to celebrate.”

"Tell me about it. Still, the mood's been dismal lately since that experiment ended...a holiday's not that bad an idea. Even if it's just an excuse for Marisa to pester me about getting her a gift." Reimu scoffed.

"About the upcoming holidays… Planning anything, are you?"

She smiled quickly but followed it with a sigh."Tch, I don't know. Might be throwing a party...maybe...thought it'd be a good idea. Christmas isn't that big a deal to me, but it is around here, apparently. Besides, they're popular with our friends."

“… I guess I’ll just have to have my followers advertise it.”

Reimu narrowed her eyes a bit. "Tch...up to your usual tricks?"

"There must be food, clothing and other necessities distributed among the five of us — a hotel is simply out of the financial picture. Do you understand?"

"Fine, fine. Every single one of you owe me one."

"…I simply cannot keep ojou-sama and the others there while such violence is raging. Have you available space for us? I will be repay you in full, to the best of my ability."

Sakuya. You know I'm in an apartment, right? I sympathize with everyone but wouldn't you rather get a hotel or something...?"

"Ah… Reimu? I have a question, if you will."

"...Sure, I guess. What's the matter?" 

"Oh, really? I guess we just kept missing one another… Was there… Any particular reason you were looking for me? Or do you prefer to just keep every youkai around here under surveillance?" The last sentence seemed to be somewhat of a joke, though it didn’t sound too much like one considering the gatekeeper didn’t do jokes very well with anyone outside of the mansion. "I quite like Halloween, it feels almost homely… I suppose you can imagine why? And what’s all this about a war? I’ve not heard a thing…"

"There's...maybe two or three groups of people intent on wreaking havoc against the city itself, from what I've heard. And plenty of neutral people caught in he middle--which I'm more concerned about. Normally I'd not be that impressed, but looks like they're actually serious."

"I haven’t seen you for a long time… I wasn’t even sure if you were here or not. Are you having a nice Halloween?"

The question prompted a sigh. "I'd say it was nice, if it wasn't for all these idiots trying to wage war against everything that moves. What do you make of it?"

“Also the fact that majority tends to go slack-jawed whenever they’re reminded of this fact is a bit sad, you know.”

"Maybe everyone's bored and looking for some sort of entertainment." Which was pretty sad, really.

“You just let ‘em say that sorta stuff around you? After all the — the crap you did for these people and they just… what kinda crappy thank-you is that?!”

"You can't really blame them, can you? With all the things I can do, they're not going to see me as human. They even started lumping you in with me. You know. 'Bewitching' you." Reimu' shook her head. "I think you already knew that, though. I just...don't know why you stayed."

"Ah, it’s been quite some time since our last meeting. It doesn’t surprise me to see you here… How are you faring here?"

"What about you? Looks like you're not suffering too badly or anything, at least." Her tone's dry but there's a bit of concern there.