The Scarlet Mist part 2​

Editor: Acerman

-Morning, Hieda Mansion-​

"Did you pack your lunch?"

"I did."

"Did you pack your handkerchief?"

"Yes, I did."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm feeling alright."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

I looked at Akyuu direction and stared her dead in the eyes.

She looks anxious and worried, if someone you know start to go somewhere dangerous, you probably worried about them.

HUG!

"Fueeeeeee?!"

PAT HER!

"Stop patting me!"

I released her.

"I said it's gonna okay, it's just gonna be like the usual with thick mist in the way."

"That's what I'm worried about, the one causing this incident may be waiting in the mist."

"Then I just need to run away. Akyuu-chan," I knelt to face her face to face," Just trust me okay?"

"…just comeback when it's time for dinner…"

"Of course, just wait for me okay."

I walked outside.

-Human Village-​

Even though I can make a joke about Akyuu act like a mom, I won't. Child of Miaree probably never married because they don't want to make any deep connection beyond friend.

I'm looked at the people's activity in the village.

The people still go on about their lives, but the mood is kinda bleak.

I looked to the sky.

The red mist still filled up the sky, even though the sky covered by the mist it's still light outside. Guess it blocks out the sun but not its light.

I better get out from the Village to start my investigation.

-Outside Human Village-​

Holy shit, this is the first time I saw a mist that reached up to my knee, there's even higher mist that reaches up to my face in the distant. The Tengu really got to work their ass off to keep the village safe.

Oh well, let's get to this.

I started feeling the mist with my ability, sensing where it was going…

…no good, it wasn't moving in this area. Okay, that's one less reason I can give about I know where the mist come from.

…let's just walk directly to Misty Lake.

"Open path for me you second rate mist!"

The mist parted to reveal the path for me on its own.

"Huhu~ I'm such a badass, I can even make mist run away from me."

Suddenly, I hear a girl's voice up above me.

"More like, it ran away from a weirdo-ze."

Just as I noticed that unique way of talking, I looked up.

I see our beloved Ordinary Thief, riding on her broom.

"Oh hi, Good morning Marisa."

-Marisa POV-​

"Oh hi, Good morning Marisa."

The boy with black Yukata looked up to see me.

"I know the mist can make humans unhealthy but I didn't know that it can make you crazy-ze"

"Nononono, I'm not being crazy, I'm just clearing my way from the mist."

I smiled.

"Clearing your way? Where are you going? How did you move those mists?"

He suddenly looks tired. Does he have low blood pressure?

"You know what, how about we just go about our separate way and talk again on another time?" he suggested.

"No way-ze, you look like know something about this mist-ze."

He sighed.

"You know, young people shouldn't sigh a lot-ze. It's said that your happiness will go away with each sigh you make-daze."

"..You are the one that is making me sigh, Marisa."

"What did I do? I haven't done anything-ze."

"You 'haven't done anything'…I see."

"Don't sweat the small stuff-daze."

I just kept.

"So, do you have a clue about the suspect behind this mist-ze?"

He crossed his arms.

"I won't call it a clue, but there's a place that I want to investigate."

"Really? Then let's go-ze!"

I got down from my broom and landed on the ground.

"…what do you mean by "let's go"?"

"It is like what the word means, we will go together-ze. I can't let a weakling like you go alone somewhere in this mist-ze."

His face got a funny look after I said that.

"…let's go then."

He started walking and I went to follow him.

-A few minute later on the road-​

"So, me and Reimu started a competition about who can stop this incident the fastest-ze."

"Is that why you are tailing me?"

"Yup, and you seems to know something about this mist-ze."

"Like I said, it's just a guess."

"And I too take a guess that you knew something-ze."

"…I don't care anymore."

I grinned. He gave up the argument.

I put my hands behind my head and looked around at our surroundings.

Since we've start walking, the mist's never approached us, as if it was avoiding us.

"…You must be really weird that even the mist avoiding you-ze …"

"Yeah, the mist didn't like me apparently."

I squinted my eyes.

"…Yes, they are moving as if someone controlling them-ze…"

I stared at him.

-Me POV-​

She's staring at me.

I feel it through my back as I kept walking down the road.

Suspicion to the max directed at me!

"…Marisa, you keep calling me "you" for a while, did you forget my name when we first met?"

I turn my head to smiled at her.

"Oh, then can you remind me, seems like I forgot-ze."

She said with a smug smile on her face.

She probably thinks she can kick my ass if I do something weird, but little did she know, my ability pretty much shut down her ability to hurt me. All of her attack are almost projectile based so unless she bum-rushed me with her broom powered mini-hakkero, I'd be perfectly fine.

I stop and turned towards Marisa.

She took down her hands down from her head.

Seems like she think we are gonna fight or something, sucks to be her because she's wrong…

"Then let's start from the beginning, my name is Arah, Nice to meet you, Magician Girl"

"The names Kirisame Marisa, nice to meet you too, Photographic Memory Boy-ze."

AWKWARD TIME!

We stared at each other for a full minute…

Nobody said anything…

We just stared...

The thing is, I'm the one starting this intentionally, so the only tense one is Marisa. She knows I have more than one ability but she didn't know what it is, she probably thinks it has something to do with the mist but once again she's wrong…

Let's break this atmosphere.

"Now that we've introduced each other, let's continue our walk."

I continue walking.

Wait for it…

"Eeeeeeeeh?!"

There we go…

Something passed by me from the side and then landed in front of me.

"You think you can get away?! You must the one that controlling the mist-ze!"

Surprise surprise, it was Marisa; she was mad because she just got played.

"There's a few thing that need to be corrected. First I'm not controlling the mist, I'm merely changing the direction of it, second I'm not getting away, I'm just continuing our walk, third I feel like we have this kind of conversation before."

"Change the direction? Is that supposed to be your other ability-ze?"

"Maybe…"

She's back with the staring again.

"…all right then, challenge accepted-daze!" her smile also become smug again, "I'll expose your ability-ze, also you probably are not the culprit. Human can't make this much mist anyway."

So tired, dealing with this girl is so tiring…

We started our walk again.

"By the way, where are we going-ze?"

"…and NOW you ask me where we going?!"

I gave her the look.

"When I saw you moving the mist, I thought you are just giving excuse to run away from me, so I didn't care where we were going that time-ze."

"…then as your punishment, I won't tell you until we arrive at that place."

"Come one, just tell me where it is, walking in this mist is boring-ze."

I have a feeling this is gonna be a long walk…

-Afternoon, Misty Lake-​

"-then the mushroom actually swapped, that's why my mixes always explode."

' ...she, keep, talking….kill meeeeeee…'

But on the bright side…

"…we've arrived."

"Isn't this Misty Lake?"

"Yeah, since Misty Lake has a lot of mist, it may have something to do with the Red Mist."

"Make sense, but the lake only produces regular mist. The colors are different from the mist that behind us-ze."

"Well, that's why I'm here."

"What do you mean-ze?"

I ignored her question and began to walk around the lake.

"Hey, wait for me-ze."

She started following me.

When I arrived at Misty Lake, I started to sense that the mist was actually moving. Its direction was moving everywhere except the lake. This exception can be speculated as it doesn't need to move into the lake area because the culprit is in the area. With this I have an alibi about how I know the source.

As I was walking around the lake, I heard another voice above me.

"What are you doing here Marisa and whatever your name is?"

I looked up to see Reimu.

…What?

"Yo, Reimu! I was just following him. What about you; what are you doing here-ze?" Marisa responded.

"Well, I'm just flying randomly by following my instinct. First I encountered the Darkness Youkai, then my instincts kicked in and directed me toward Misty Lake."

Reimu glided toward Marisa.

Darkness Youkai? That sounded like Rumia, and following instinct…that infamous Reimu instinct directed her to here in one day, but if she arrive in here in one day, then why the incident take more than half a month to be resolve? Lost in the mist? Lost in a danmaku game and ordered to go home by Remilia? The winner of danmaku can order the loser after all.

Just after I finished thinking, I noticed.

Both of them are staring at me.

"…"

"…"

"Is there anything that I can help you with, Reimu?"

"You!" Reimu pointed at me.

"I heard that pointing at someone is considered as rude behavior."

"I don't care!"

…How did she become #1 in the popularity vote again? Oh yeah, Japan has a huge boner for their Main Character archetype. But seriously, I do understand why she got picked.

"Marisa said you know something about the mist, spill it!"

I see Marisa giggling behind Reimu.

…That little snitch.

"…and if I don't want to?"

Reimu brought out her needles.

I retreated one step backward.

That thing is thick dude! Holy shit! Seeing it in person is fucking terrifying!

"Ready to spill the beans?"

Her eyes look serious.

I took a few steps backwards, my feet entering the waters of the Misty Lake. Reimu tensed, preparing herself if I should try to flee.

…I'm actually getting scared by a girl that's looks younger than me.

"…Huhuhu, so the infamous Hakurei Reimu gonna make me talk, huh?"

I can't believe this, I finally fighting one of touhou characters, and the first fight that I have is with fighting Reimu, the main fucking character.

I made my Spell Card appear between my fingers.

"Spell Card?" She inquired.

Yes, spell card. My spell card, I tried creating a spell card a weeks ago and it's surprisingly worked, but I only created three usable ones. How to make a spell card is as follows, name your attack and how you will attack in a piece of paper; it must have a meaning and be elegant in name, and if it works then it will become a Spell Card.

I kept it a secret until now because I've only been able to create 3 of them since then.

This thing is really handy; it can disappear and reappeared at will. No need to store it in some place.

"Since you challenged me, I get to choose the rule right?"

"Seems like you knew about Danmaku battle, Arah."

"Yeah, but I'm still new to this stuff so don't expect anything special from me."

"That's good then I'll win and you'll be forced to spill the beans." She smirked.

"Okay, whatever you say Reimu."

It's not like I can beat her anyway, gotta always put your expectation below the bar.

"3 Cards, whoever breaks everything first wins."

Lv.4 is weaker than Lv.5, but it's still enough to make me fly with the speed of a helicopter.

I gathered the wind and turned it into 2 wings of tornadoes behind my back, allowing me to fly above the lake. The lake mist starts to disperse because of my wind.

Reimu summoned her 2 yin-yang orbs and followed up after me.

"You are pretty good with flying, even though you're just a newbie."

"Thanks. I'm trying my best."

I distance myself from Reimu. Since I'm being challenged, that means I'm the one that must spew all the barrage, but I must do it neatly, elegantly las said. That also means Reimu's gonna throw those fucking needles at me. This is gonna suck…

Inhale…

"Okay…let's start this. Direction Sign "Molecule Collector""

I became enveloped in a magic membrane, indicating my spell started.

I gathered many molecules in the air. Because the surroundings were cold, what I gathered were Cold Molecules, resulting in the creation of a Cold Ball. I split it into 12 basketball sized spheres, and positioned 6 spheres above me and 6 spheres below me.

I thrusted my hand forward, 2 balls from above slowly moved forward. These balls would slowly move forward toward the target but it will pick up speed along the way and accelerate fully after they neared the target.

I started my suppressing fire forward, I gathered Cold Molecules again in my hand and shot them forward, neat shotgun style. These would suppress Reimu from moving freely and then be hit by my Cold Balls at the end.

In theory it was perfect, but in reality, Reimu just dodged everything.

My shotgun shot got dodged with zigzag style and my 2 homing cold balls just get ignored by moving forward, more over I'm a stationary target right now.

In the end, I got rapidly punctured by Reimu's needles; my magic membrane broke, resulting in breaking of the Spell Card.

"Dammit!"

"Not bad, keep going."

I didn't know if she meant to taunt me there, but I'm pretty sure I perfectly trounced there.

I activate my second Spell Card.

"Nature Sign "Storm in Summer""

Once again I was enveloped with a magic membrane.

I put my hand forward directing it toward Reimu while flying backward, a tiny ball appeared in front of Reimu's body. Reimu noticed something about it and flew away from it. She made the right choice because a second later that tiny ball exploded and wrecked havoc on its surrounding. I called it Wind Mine.

Reimu start moving toward me and I traced her movement with my hand. I put the Wind Mine where I expected Reimu to fly. Reimu kept raining me with her needle even though I was putting Wind Mine on her.

It stings, it stings, it stings, it stings, it stings, fuuuuuuuuuuuck I want to scream.

I heard my spell break, that means the needles will stop for a while. I'm not gonna be surprised if when this is over my body's gonna looks like a porcupine.

I'm exhausted, both bodily and mentally. I can only glare at Reimu right now.

And Reimu still smiled at me, that fucking monster.

Finally, I activated my last Spell Card.

"Accelerator "One Way Road"

Magic membrane enveloped me.

The source of my power, the symbol of my power, I will put everything in this attack. I must be stationary for this.

I held my right wrist with my left hand, pointing my palm at to Reimu. Vector Change Full Power!

Everything in my surroundings turned dim. Slowly the dimness spread everywhere, the sky, the lake, the forest, I rob light from everything and gather it in front of my right hand, creating an abnormal sight, everything turn dark except this gathered light in front of my right hand and what's looked like its path, and this path in question are pointing toward a single girl, Hakurei Reimu.

She probably noticed it was some kind of Laser Danmaku and start getting out of the way but I continued tracing her with my right hand, making her look like in the spotlight. Everywhere she went the light kept shadowing her, she kept trying to dodge the light until the light get smaller and smaller until it's the size of Reimu.

"EAT THIS!"

I release the gathered light toward Reimu and in the blink of an eye my vision turned white. I didn't know what was happening but I kept releasing all the light forward, hoping it would bring Reimu down, but that didn't happen. In the whiteness of my vision I saw 8 rainbow balls, hurling toward me and her voice in the whiteness.

"Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal"!"

…A bomb huh?

…Dammit.

*KABOOM*

I heard it again, it broke, fuck…

I closed my eyes for a second and opened it a second later.

I see so much water in my vision and felt a falling sensation. Fuck, I lost my concentration there for a second and cancel out my wings.

I better buy something that will dry my clothes in the System.

I closed my eyes for the water to come.

*GRAB*

"?!" someone grabbed my arm.

"Woah, don't just suddenly falling all of sudden. If you died drowning, it would be bad for my image you know."

I looked at the source of the voice.

"R-Reimu?!"

"Seriously, at least spare some of your power to fly at least." She sighed at me.

"A-Ahahaha, sorry for trouble." I just smiled awkwardly.

"Come on, I will drop you on the shore."

"Yes, please."

-Misty Lake Shore-

"That last Spell Card wasn't not bad. I even support it because it's really flashy-ze."

"Yeah, you even make me use my Spell Card."

Somehow after I arrived on the shore, I got lectured and reviewed by those two girls.

"The first Spell Card is kind of okay because it's an opening spell, but still it's lacking in intensity."

Reimu gave me her comment about my spell card. What the fuck is happening…

"The Second Spell Card also needs some work, if it's only appear in front of the target then they just need dodge somewhere not front of them. Are you listening?"

"Y-yes, I am listening."

"Good, and finally the last Spell Card, all I can say is I can feel it, your feeling behind that attack, I accept it. Good job for creating that spell." She smiled.

Reimu smiled.

*Bu-Kyun!*

*BLUSHED*

My heart was pierced by her smile.

Now I fully understand why she's number one in popularity contest.

…But Reimu, you presenting me with a bait and I will not waste this opportunity.

"U-um, I didn't know you actually felt that way to me from a spell card battle Reimu." Said me while blushing,

"Feeling? What feeling?" Reimu inquired.

"Well, like you said, you accepted my feeling in that battle," I explained.

She thought on what I just said before blushing.

"No! That's not what I meant; I meant your feelings that made the spell card, not 'that' kind of feeling."

She took the bait!

"'that' kind of feeling?! You mean a couple-like kind of feeling?!"

"Couple?! Yes, I mean, No, it's not that kind of feeling, but more gratitude kind of feeling!"

"Gratitude?! You mean like a parent?! Reimu wants to take more further I see, not become a couple but become a parent, I see." I nodded understandingly.

"Parent?! No! No! You are misunderstanding, I just-"

Somewhere in the sideline, a lone girl watched the conversation.

"…Reimu's getting played like a fiddle-ze."

Author note:

Heyo, Author here. I genuinely surprised I made myself a danmaku battle, more over fighting Reimu of all people and in Original Danmaku style, not the spin-off fighting style. I'm rough on this stuff really. In the first place. I don't really understand the Danmaku Rules either so I'm trying really hard to have it make sense in my version of explaining, understand? No? Me neither. English also not my first language too, so that's a problem.

...I swear to god that sound effect is not there when I first write this, I think my editor is 'weeb'er(is this an actual word?) than me.

And more importantly, a first review, Thank you opalander, each review is important for attracting other readers after all.