Touhou belongs to Team Shanghai Alice. So do concepts, characters and everything else you have experienced while playing the game, except the dishes. Here's another man who wants to use his ideas for a story.

Also, to clear up some confusion, Year 1 is the first year after escaping to the Outer World, but any events happening in a particular year may not necessarily be at the start or end of a year, with some exceptions like Christmas Eve.

I never thought what you said would come true.

Here we are, in the Outer World, in the same mansion that you had advised me to prepare.

I never believed that money would be an issue here until we had to finally make our new home here. Luckily for me, with your advice, everything has been prepared for this day. For the last five years, during the times I appear to be sleeping in Gensokyo, I am actually out here learning the ways of the Outer World, the world which you came from. Money, properties, investments, food, you name it, I have them now.

Those five years have finally paid off. The balance sheet looks good for the next few years if I stay cautious, the stocks that the humans here are so involved in seem to spiral up and down frequently. We are now a house of youkai and goddesses living among humans. Our presence has been largely undetected by the miko or any youkai hunters here, most people seem to think that we are a large family of females moving in from somewhere else. In fact, nobody here seems to believe that youkai still exist in a physical form, but they remain in existence as a form of folklore or something.

Through my contacts, each of us hold citizenship in Japan without a hitch and, to everybody outside the Yakumo Mansion, are just normal humans. Nobody knows what kind of world we came from, and what we could do in that world. All official information about us are faked; I did my research before creating those information for each and everybody here.

I had expected more, but it seems that the mansion is too large for the number of survivors now. Everybody in this mansion is somebody I know, which probably wasn't just people you hoped would survive. In fact, some of the ones who made it out aren't in this mansion. Of course, there were some who chose not to stay with us.

Youmu believed that I am the cause of the incident, considering that I paid Yuyuko a little visit just prior to that and was talking to her privately. When it happened, Yuyuko told me that she was bound to the Netherworld, but Youmu wasn't, that I should bring her along with me. Instead, Youmu chose to believe that I was coming up with a plan to separate her from Yuyuko, the one person she lived for.

The shut-in nerd of the vampire's mansion across the Misty Lake, on the other hand, said that she wanted to find something she lost. I don't know what that means, but apparently she knows something about the Outer World too. I dropped her off somewhere in another land known as Europe and didn't hear from her after.

There was a small youkai that came with Alice and Marisa, that night sparrow youkai Mystia we saw during the endless night incident. I don't know what happened to the trio; they went back to Mayohiga after Chen was screaming and begging for somebody to save Ran, who had decided to stay behind in Mayohiga to halt Usutho. I was too busy to notice if they did return after that, especially when I was sure Ran didn't.

I believed I saw the Hinanawi girl and her tutor at Mayohiga, but I'm not sure if they made it here. Suika and another girl, probably also from the Underground, walked hand-in-hand happily (mostly Suika being drunk) into my portal and didn't appear here too. The fairies, led by one they called "Greater Fairy", chose to stay behind in Gensokyo for some reasons I don't know. Well, if I had time, I would simply open a gap into that fairy's mind, but I didn't.

I saw Mokou getting blasted out of the skies during the evacuation. I mean, who would miss a large glowing sun falling out of the sky? I tossed her falling body into a gap and... well, I forgot about it. I wasn't sure where I sent her, but she probably would survive anyway. Eirin seemed pretty neutral about it though, considering the rivalry between the immortal and the immortal from the moon. Less troubles for me, I guess.

Your love-hate relation rival miko, Kochiya Sanae, was one exception among those who didn't stay; she knew Japan well and was surprised to hear that name when I told here where we were going. She mentioned this one Lake Suwa and asked to be brought there. We never made contact after that.

Losing Ran... well, she's supposed to just be my shikigami. Let's leave it at that.

The rest of us here are doing fine though, except Remilia, who seemed to have lost her sight from an attack. She probably shouldn't have stared into direct sunlight. How crude. The younger Scarlet Devil stayed as well, but she seemed too afraid to let Remilia know of her survival. Both of them, separately, asked me what happened to their wings and fangs. I learnt that I couldn't simply find human blood for them, so I got rid of their vampirism when they got here.

Same for everybody who made it out to the Outer World. Yeah, I decided to do it after all. I remember you insisting that. The one boundary I couldn't change was immortality; Mokou probably will survive another disaster alone if this world goes supernova.

Time to think about what we can do from here.

Yakumo Yukari
Year 1

P.S.: Remilia asked about a rematch. Hope you didn't forget that. She's now blind though, so you probably would win! *heart*

Everything's going well. Eirin decided to continue medicine practice somewhere out of town, Flandre's back to learning, except that she goes out to a school instead of home tutoring that Eirin initially offered, despite everybody being wary of her rumors of her insanity, and Remilia's studying something that she had "found interests in".

I'm worried about that kappa though. She stayed in the house, refusing to go out at all, for one entire month after we came here. She didn't look particularly sick when I saw her on the first day, but she did look worse after a month. Fortunately, something clicked in that mind of hers and she went out for the first time... which became her last. Nitori came back looking happy, wandered around the mansion looking for something and finally asking me for permission to convert the storage room in the basement into her private workshop.

Minoriko helped us with the moving of stuff and Nitori told us that we should use her bedroom as a storage from then on, and then she moved into the basement workshop. Ever since, apart from meal times and some rare occasions, she never left the workshop. She didn't appreciate anybody entering the workshop, and it went on even up till today. Nobody knew what she was working on, and she didn't even appear to be inclined to tell us on what she was doing, apart from some security improvements for the mansion that she wanted to try. I only hope she doesn't destroy the basement and take the mansion with it;, the rumors of her projects in Gensokyo weren't relieving to the ear.

That annoying crow tengu and her partner became less annoying (laugh) and, after reading the newspapers, decided to pen some articles for the fiction column. It was going well, so I didn't really bother them.

The Aki goddesses/sisters took to tending my kitchen and the front and back gardens, maintaining them and keep it neat, a feat which business partners visiting my mansion for proposals seemed appreciative of. After Yuuka's incident with the yakuza earlier in the year, the two of them even offered to take over Yuuka's prized sunflower patches, something which Yuuka wasn't ready to give up, but ultimately did.

Speaking of the yakuza, that was also the same incident when we found the Hinanawi sisters and that Nagae Iku. I took Yuuka out to a private dinner to get her to agree to be the second elder of the Yakumo Mansion, but Yuuka's mannerisms ended up irking some nearby yakuza members who were dining there as well.

In the ensuing brawl, the yakuza men, being no match for Yuuka despite losing her youkai powers, were beaten up badly, some of them probably dead on the spot, but one of them managed to escape. We didn't want word to get back to the yakuza's boss, so we gave chase and... that guy got into a car and ran Yuuka over. She didn't die from it, but she lost movement in both legs and had to go on crutches.

Now, you would be thinking that the thug got away. Spoiler alert: he didn't.

His car rammed into somebody built like a wall, a somebody named Hinanawi Tenshi. That celestial stood as if she was hit by nothing, then two other girls from the shadows of the side street punched through the glass windows, pulled the thug out and separated his body into pieces with some western-looking swords, while another woman dressed in black tuxedo and pants, wearing a hat I only saw a few times in Gensokyo, stood at the side and watched the entire incident with crossed arms.

They later introduced themselves to us, saying that they were recruited into the same yakuza that attacked us, but only decided to betray their clan after they saw me. I told them about the whole incident and why I was in the Outer World. Iku, the one in the tuxedo, struck a deal with me: allow all four of them, which was simply herself, Tenshi and her two sisters, to live with us in return for the help.

I didn't hesitate. There had already been word that one of the yakuza in the country had recruited some pretty powerful girls to beat up their rivals, and with them defecting to my side, I could probably be yakuza myself.

To be on the safe side, I kept them in the house for a while. Tenshi, in particular, complained about being bored, but didn't cause any other problems for me, apart from blasting loud music in their rooms, a habit most likely started from their time with their ex-yakuza. For the next two months, nobody harassed us. Even if they did try, they would have to contend with the Hinanawi Sisters, who offered to do security for the Yakumo Mansion.

Also within the two months, they managed to piss Nitori off with their loud din. However, a miracle came when Nitori had the idea to do up some soundproofing during a regular argument with Tenshi. Apparently, the conservatively-looking Iku liked the idea of a soundproofed discotheque and they took one third of the hall for that. After that, peace in the mansion returned.

Back to the quiet days~

Yakumo Yukari
Year 2

I know what the younger devil is capable of in Gensokyo, but over here she seemed obedient. Very obedient, to be truthful.

Flandre became the typical school-going girl with above-average grades, wearing the public school uniform and skipping happily to-and-fro school. She could speak Japanese, but it came with the accent of a foreigner due to her origins, and it kind of stood her out in the public school. At least she did look like she was young enough to fit into the grade she was in.

All in all, Flandre was the innocent child in our odd family. She blissfully passed every day of her life in the Outer World without any problems, except for one: the fact that Remilia is unaware of her survival.

Flandre said that she was afraid of angering her Remilia again, and that she would punish her again. On the other hand, she did want to make amends with her sister, and offered to assist her in her daily needs. Of course, Remilia is unaware of it, and only thought that somebody, apart from myself, was helping her. Whenever she spoke to her caregiver, she would speak as if she was talking to somebody lower than her rank.

Actually, that wasn't really far from the truth. Going by hierarchy, Flandre would have been directly below Remilia as the younger daughter of the Scarlet family. There were a few times when Remilia, in her own fits of spoiled brat attitude, would unknowingly snap at Flandre, insulting her invisible caregiver that her own younger sister was more worthy of living than the caregiver herself. Of course, that comes with no surprise; everybody knows how haughty she behaved in Gensokyo. Throughout all these verbal and sometimes slightly physical abuse, Flandre kept quiet, earning herself the nickname "you dumb girl" from Remilia.

Over time, I became curious as to what happened that made Remilia banish her own sister into the basement for so long, so I asked... during dinner time. I didn't specifically mention Flandre's name, but Remilia, she became very sharp after studying psychology. She managed to pick up very subtle hints in my words and accuse me of stuff nobody else would imagine to be true.

To make matters worse, just before I asked, Remilia was just finished lecturing "that dumb girl" on how to properly feed her.

I let you imagine what happened after.

What surprised me was that, just two hours later, they became reunited. It's really curious how two sisters with polar differences can make up within such a short period of time.

Yakumo Yukari
Year 3

The boys and girls of the scientific era enjoy their electronic computing machines, and soon enough, computers began to make their way into households, the Yakumo Mansion included. Within a matter of weeks, everyone has one in their rooms. Perhaps Nitori was the most excited one; I haven't seen her that happy in years.

These computers do help a lot in the human world. Advertisements, news reports and even the radio have begun talking about it. Both Aya and Hatate were glad they never had to handwrite their stories again, I was able to keep documents on a piece of circuit board, something which I never thought possible, and Flandre had something to doodle on instead of looking for scrap papers.

It never occurred to me that humans could also manipulate the boundary of reality and virtual. These computers promised to reduce the problems of paper usage and storage by simply making them "disappear into thin air". Also, computers seem to do computations faster than even a youkai like myself.

I have some contacts in the business world who were banking on this revolutionary device for profits, and Nitori seemed to be happy about it. Earlier today, I brought in one of those friends who was already an expert with this technology and both him and Nitori disappeared into the basement workshop for hours.

When he finally left shortly after sunset, Nitori even offered to walk him to the gates of our mansion, something I didn't really expect from that kappa, not after her seclusion underground for years. I did ask her what she made her so happy, and while she always seemed to love talking about her work when I asked her (and only when I am the one asking), this time she smiled sweetly and brushed me off.

I'm glad that she's happy with what she was doing, but at the same time, I am curious about what went on throughout the day with my friend, who seemed to have made a promise with her to not discuss anything they had been doing with anybody else.

Anyway, I'm using my computer to store our financial records too. According to what I calculated (with the aid of this computer), it seems that the financial situation for the Yakumo Mansion isn't going well. I hadn't noticed it, but after plotting some graphs with one of the programs, the result was a steady decline.

A little investigation into the annual balance sheets and I realized that it wasn't just us; there seemed to be some economical downturn worldwide, affecting the yen currency. We could continue living the way we did, but I might need to do something about the inflow of money, as investment returns aren't as sound as half a decade ago.

Lastly, I should also note that this entry into my diary isn't done by my hand, but another device on the table that is connected to the computer, a keyboard. The words look standardized and the characters are executed with perfect strokes. I must admit that this looks neater than my own handwriting.

Perhaps I should start making a copy of this diary into this computer as well to save some storage space for the diary itself, huh?

Yakumo Yukari
Year 4

Outrageous! The humans have invented a method similar to the opening of boundaries to chat with one another!

In the past, telephones, radios and perhaps letters were the only methods of communications with somebody else, but these humans, they invented something known as the "Internet"! I have no idea what that name means, but... Yakumo Mansion now has Internet connecting all computers in the house to the "world wide web", whatever that also means.

Long story cut short, but within months, the number of mails in our mailbox dropped, mostly being delivered through the Internet, also known as "e-mail". Registering for an Internet connection for the Yakumo Mansion comes with one of these "e-mail addresses" for others with the "e-mail" capability to send virtual mails to us.

Both Eirin and I have benefited from this as we need to maintain constant contacts with people, while both crow tengus could simply submit their own contributions directly to the newspaper company without needing to leave the mansion.

Flandre suddenly became one of the few children in her school to have access to the Internet at her age, and many of her friends seemed to be jealous of it. Remillia herself was envious of her own little sister, as she was unable to use the computer while blind. Flandre would keep telling her about what she did on the computer and both would end up arguing over it.

Perhaps Yuuka benefited the most from the Internet; she began "surfing the Internet" whenever she wasn't sleeping, looking at pictures of different flowers and landscapes without needing to walk around. Yuuka had previously borrowed or bought many flower books to admire, but she seemed to have quickly tire of those, and was enthralled when she began to find new photographs of flowers online.

Shizuha learnt about how the Internet could be used to find information on flowers from Yuuka and both Aki sisters began researching more information for the gardens. With the help of a large "printing machine" capable of creating images and documents from the computer, the gardens almost became an educational ground for ecologists. A nearby private school, an establishment which the Yakumo Mansion has contributions in, became interested in the garden and seeked permission to bring their students occasionally for their science lessons.

This has also made the Yakumo Mansion one of the popular spots to view from the outside when autumn arrives, as both sisters would paint a large tree grown in my garden to reflect the fall season. The work was splendid and, also with the help of the Internet, the tree became popular worldwide. Of course, the garden itself is not opened to public, but it seemed that many people were content viewing it from the public road.

Yakumo Yukari
Year 5

"Yukari," Shizuha greeted as the master of the mansion entered through the gates, carrying something covered in white cloth in her arms. "The back garden is ready."

"Thank you, Shizuha," Yukari nodded and turned to the other. "And you too, Minoriko, for doing this in short notice."

Minoriko adjusted a straw hat, wiping some sweat off her brows with a gloved hand. Yukari noticed that both Aki sisters were not wearing their favorite hats for once. "Always a pleasure... even for such occasions. Both of us think of it as a final good deed for her."

"Is everybody out at the back garden?"

"Yes, Miss Yakumo. Surprisingly, it didn't take much to get Nitori out of the basement."

"And Yuuka?"

"The Second Elder is staying in the house with the little one."

Yukari then looked down to the white cloth in her arms, then up ahead again. "Should we do it the traditional way, or as I had planned?"

Shizuha scratched her head through her own hat. "We don't really have a miko here to do that, so let's keep to the simple one as you had planned."

Following closely behind, the trio slowly made their way to the back of the mansion, where the rest of the survivors, all dressed in white like themselves, were lined on both sides of the stone pathway, forming a directed path towards a shallow hole that was recently dug out. Most of them kept their heads low as Yukari passed them, but none of them cried.

The trio came to a stop at the edge of the hole, the rest moving to take their spots around the hole as well.

"It was my decision to bring her home," Yukari simply announced. "I don't think it right to let others handle the funeral of Remilia Scarlet, who died far from her home. It was also my decision to bring her back to the Outer World, and it so it will be my responsibility to... take care of things."

Minoriko and Shizuha held on to Remilia's body while Yukari got into the hole first, then knelt down together and handed her back to Yukari, who laid the body into the grave dug for the elder vampire. "How odd to be burying a vampire without a casket," Yukari said, trying to break the quiet mood. "Well, let's hope nothing like this happens again..."

"... ever," Yukari ended her epitaph, then nodded to both Aki sisters to cover the grave up.

As both of them worked, Yukari looked around the grave and noticed everybody present was standing in the same position around the grave they had the year before, except both Yuuka and Flandre were present the second time. It had been Remilia, and then Nitori's turn came after nine months. And this time, despite Sanae already renouncing her faith, we had a miko to perform the last rites for Nitori, Eirin has returned and even was standing next to Mokou, who had came with Sanae.

"So you decided not to curse Nitori, huh, Eirin?" Mokou grunted, ignoring the fact that she was not standing under the shelter of the umbrella Eirin was holding.

"Well..."

"We all have our choices, Mokou," Yukari cut in, covering for the Lunarian. "What would be yours?"

"What? I..." Mokou, despite knowing Yukari's tendencies in Gensokyo, was not prepared to have a question answering her own question. "I have someone to look after. I can't stay here. Actually, I brought Sanae here with no intentions for myself to stay."

"If it's because of me-"

"Nothing to do with you, Eirin. I've left it all behind in Gensokyo. Besides, it wasn't you that I didn't like in the first place, but Kaguya."

Everyone else seemed to pay no attention to them and quickly made their way indoors to avoid the heavy downpour after the goddesses were done covering the grave for the second time in eight years, leaving the four of them still in the garden. "What the hell was Nitori doing underground?" Eirin asked.

"I really have no idea," Yukari said. "The last time I spoke to her was even before Remilia's passing."

"Nitori's always working on some projects on the Youkai Mountain. Maybe she's continuing that project even when she's on Earth?" Sanae suggested, then shook her head. "Can't be. You said she was dealing with some computers in the basement. I don't think there were any computers in Gensokyo, seeing that computers only became widely available a few years ago, based on what Mokou has been telling me on the way here."

"Now that Nitori is gone, we will have to do something about that basement as well. Maybe I can find out some clues to what she had been up to all these years. Those friends of mine who used to work with Nitori, I have already lost contact with them. Hopefully Nitori left behind a journal of sorts."

"I hope you find something," Mokou simply said, then began to walk towards the front entrance of the mansion, but stopped before turning back. "Can I leave Sanae with you, Yukari?"

"No problem. I do have many spare rooms. Why don't you stay for the night?"

Mokou pulled out a waterproof card case and waved it at them. "I got a return ticket back to Nagoya tonight. The shrine needs me."

"A shrine, huh."

Mokou then looked at Eirin, who was still standing beside Yukari. "Well Eirin... if you aren't staying... I could... walk out together with you."

"And would you?" Yukari turned to the Lunarian.

"The hospital needs me," was all she said before sighing and walking back into the Yakumo Mansion.

"But Mokou," Sanae started as the immortal began to turn. "You took the trouble to bring me here. At least allow me to repay you by making you something, since we haven't had dinner yet. That's if Yukari doesn't mind me using the kitchen..."

A loud grumble emerged from the direction of Mokou above the din of the heavy rain, but ultimately she turned around and faced the gates. "Kagoshima may be far from Nagoya, but I will always be here in spirit. In fact, I've already given you my namecard, so it is still possible for us to keep in contact. Drop me a call if you need help. I'm sure we will meet someday again, Sanae, and I hope that you would have found the ending to your life's story by then." Raising a hand to bid goodbye, she made her way out of the Yakumo Mansion's grounds.

As both of them walked towards the door leading into the mansion, Sanae went ahead in the rain and held the door open for Yukari. "You think she's still guilty about not being able to help Keine?" the ex-miko asked as Yukari walked through the door with appreciation.

"Who knows."

It didn't matter what I did; it was destined that Yakumo Mansion would lose two. At first, we lost both Eirin and Remilia, the former who simply ran off for whatever reasons she had. I know what Eirin was thinking and why she didn't try to save Remilia; it had already been too late to save her.

Immortality doesn't work the way we thought it would, even in Gensokyo. Had Eirin tried to save the poor vampire child, she would have been left in a permanent state of half-life-half-dead and will never recover from it. By allowing her to pass on, Eirin granted Remilia escape from her disabled shell. She made the right choice, but why did she chose to disappear from us?

A friend of mine taught me a method to find out where Eirin went: through the bank card that she would inevitably use for survival on her own. I gave everyone access to the mansion's funds, Eirin included.

I didn't had to worry about them spending excessively as most of the residents stayed home, apart from the occasional trips to the town. Nobody had left Kagoshima for the past eight years, and it seemed like it was going to be this way for an even longer period of time. Well, I was glad they didn't decide to explore out of Kagoshima; I'm running into some money problems now after many of my investments filed for bankruptcy.

Seems like these investments had been risky, and I was lucky to have rode on their fortune for so long, or so my friend said. She's young, but has the wisdom and street-smarts of one beyond her youth. I have never seen such a smart human in Gensokyo, and she would have been a perfect shikigami if not for the fact that magic doesn't exist in the Outer World, only to be replaced by common sense.

I'm going off track.

Back to Eirin. Within just a week, after checking through the transactions history of my account, I found out that the Lunarian has already made it to somewhere as far as Osaka, rented an apartment there and seemed to be withdrawing money on a daily basis. I could have put a stop on that to force her to return, but that would probably lead her to think that I'm cutting her off forever. That is not what I planned to do; this mansion only existed because you foresaw our situation those thirteen years ago.

As the weeks flew by, apart from the hospital calling me to ask if Eirin was still around, everyone in the mansion seemed to grow less concerned about her. Iku suggested that she needed some time alone due to her pride as a doctor, while Sanae thought she was afraid that Flandre would take it out on her.

Flandre... she's became a totally different person after Remilia's funeral. Two days after that, she came into my room and asked about the things Remilia and I always talked about for the past seven years. She was surprised when I told her the truth about Remilia's decision to study psychology, commenting that her sister would never had bothered learning something she couldn't use anymore, namely on you.

When I couldn't answer her questions anymore, she changed the topic and began asking about her "family", which I had assumed was the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but I played dumb and pretended I didn't know what she was talking about, a promise I made to her older Scarlet.

A week passed and Flandre returned to school after leave granted to her on grounds of Remilia's passing on expired. One of her homeroom teachers seemed to have noticed a change in her behavior, something which he said was "pretty mature for her age". I don't know if it's good or bad, but Flandre did change; she became even quieter and unwilling to speak of her troubles, but simply say that it was her own fault and brushed us off.

The day Nitori left us, Flandre, despite standing in very close proximity to Remilia's grave, did not show much emotions, apart from slight gloominess, much like the others and myself. At least she did show some surprise when Mokou and Sanae came to the mansion, so I'm pretty sure she's still normal.

Sanae, desperate to prove her worth to stay in my mansion despite us welcoming her, took to cleaning the whole household on her own like a maid. She seemed pretty good at that, most likely from serving her goddesses in the Moriya Shrine on a daily basis, so I let her do that. If I didn't know her better, I would be wondering if she really was the same vandal that burnt twelve shrines to the ground.

Yakumo Yukari
Year 8

She had made sure everybody in the house was asleep, that all lights had been turned off before making her way down to the basement workshop.

It was just five days after Nitori had passed away, and the entire Yakumo household was still undecided on what to do with the stuff Nitori left behind in the workshop. A consensus among everyone was to have the basement cleaned out and used as a storage room once again, but also agreed that there might be something important that Nitori was working on in the workshop. With nobody coming forward to volunteer to find out what Nitori had been doing, Yukari took it upon herself to investigate.

Quietly, she opened the basement doors and slipped inside, locking the door behind her before flooding the basement with the overhead lights. The rectangular windows on the walls were swollen shut since that day; Yukari reopened them to allow air to flow in.

Nitori's bed had been left unmade when Mokou lifted her out to the garden, and there were many strands, even tufts, of her hair on the pillow itself. What surprised the owner of the mansion was the fact that the sheets were rather clean, considering Nitori had probably been too sick to leave her bed during the last days of her life. As she bent down to check under the bed, she saw what she had expected to see: the black colored box.

It was left opened and two shiny vials were in it, along with two syringes with needles intact. One of the syringes was holding some liquid in it, while the other one was empty, most likely used. It didn't matter which of the two she used, Yukari thought to herself. I had replaced the Hourai Elixir with something else, and so was the other vial that I planted inside the box. No matter her decision, she wouldn't have been able to save the poor kappa.

It was all instructions from Nitori, to not save her life. I don't understand why she would rather die than to continue her work, whatever she was doing down here. She probably had her own reasons, most likely not for me to know, or she would have already told me about it.

The least she could have done was to tell me what she had been doing here... that inconsiderate kappa.

Well, it's time to find out.

As she had noticed five days ago, there had been some used syringes on one of the tables, which also held a rack of corked test-tubes, each tube holding, from her own judgment, the same colorless liquid in various amounts. Yukari took one of the tubes from the rack, uncorked it, sniffed the liquid and raised an eyebrow. Is that... water?

She did the same with the syringes by pulling back on the plunger and smelling the leftover contents in it. Has Nitori been doing... water?

Flashbacks to two years ago told her that it wasn't as simple as she had thought. Nitori was clearly using this liquid to enter a state similar to comatose. There were multiple occasions where she hadn't left the basement for days in a row, then I found her here with a needle sticking into her forearm while she was seemingly... dead in her armchair until I pulled it out. Sometimes she will snap at me for "disturbing her work", while on other occasions she thanked me for "saving her from a disaster". I only stopped bothering her after a while, when she began to regularly show up for meals again.

When I was sleeping back in Gensokyo, I was actually fully aware of what I was doing. Had Nitori somehow gained my powers and was actually opening boundaries and travelling in her dreams like I did?

Unable to think of any possibilities, Yukari replaced the tube on the rack and left the table, heading towards the next table on the right. The table held a monitor and desktop accessories that were connected to a CPU below; Yukari guessed that, among all the CPUs and monitors in the workshop, that setup was most likely Nitori's main computer.

Dragging a roller chair from another table, she slid into it and hit the switch to turn on the monitor. Damn, password protected, as I thought. Time to make a call...

"Ahhhhh..." the man scratched his head as he entered the basement workshop. "This... erm..."

"Nitori has passed away earlier this week. You do know about that, right?"

"Oh," the man lowered his head. "I'm sorry, I really didn't know about that, Yakumo. All I had known was that she was ill. Well, that explains why she hasn't been doing anything for the past two weeks."

"Two weeks?"

"Yeah. Both Nitori and I are working on the project- ahh!" he caught himself on the verge of blurting something out. "Sorry, I'm not supposed to be talking about that."

"Project?"

"I can't tell you, Yakumo. Nitori made me promise her."

Yukari leaned back on the roller chair, causing some creaking sounds from the back support of the chair, and smiled creepily. "Maybe the Hinanawi sisters can persuade you to tell me."

"Ahhhh..."

"Hmm?" Yukari crossed her arms and continued to smile.

"No need for that, Yakumo," the man shook both hands in protest. "Since Nitori has passed away, I guess I could."

"You guessed right. Now it's my turn to guess," Yukari sat back up straight and swiveled herself to face the monitor. "Whatever both of you had been working for the past few years, it's locked on this computer, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you know the password?"

The man hesitated, then sighed and moved over to the keyboard and tapped on it, hitting the ENTER key after a few keystrokes. "I don't really like to be doing something like this, Yakumo. Know that I only do this because you threatened me."

"I was only joking. Besides, whatever promise you made to Nitori, she's no longer around to enforce the deal."

"Never mind that, I'm in," the man took the seat that Yukari vacated and offered to him, working on the computer with both the mouse and keyboard.

"Why the secrecy between the both of you?"

"Nitori said she didn't want to tell anybody about it until it was ready. "

"And what collateral was at stake if you told anybody about it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. It was based on mutual trust. She was funding the project too, which now I know is probably through your household, Yakumo."

"She didn't seem to use much of my money though."

"A bit here and there. The hardware we started with is pretty much being used throughout the entire project and we seldom needed anything new."

"Are you not paid to help her?"

"Not at all. I enjoy doing this, and I do have an idea on how to make use of the results of our project. I discussed it with Nitori a few times and she was generally agreeable with my proposals. Of course, she will get to benefit from the proposal as well."

"And would you still honor that now? Let's put it this way, Nitori has been living under my roof for... years, and I have been financing this project, albeit unknowingly."

"Yeah, I have no issues, but only if this works out. If it doesn't, as I told Nitori, she will still get to keep the fruits of our labor and use it for her own purposes. Part of the deal, though, was that I will gain equal access for my uses."

"What 'uses' do you have for this project?"

The man finished off whatever he was doing on the computer, double clicked the mouse and pushed himself away from the computer table, stood up and spread an arm towards the monitor. "First, you need to know what we have been doing."

A.N.: Pretty short for Yukari's segment, since this particular chapter had been written two years ago. I had intended for Yukari's chapter to be letters only, but with the development of Letters to Reimu over the three years that I had been working on this, I feel the need to expand it a little more. Yukari's chapter ends at Year 8, just after Nitori's passing on, and adds on to some of the earlier mysteries that had been left unsaid.

Yukari is also the last character that I would be working on for Letters to Reimu. After all, the point of this story is the letters. However, as you would have noticed, there are still many questions, mysteries and cliffhangers left unaddressed, even with Yukari's letters explaining some of them. Although this is a letters-focused story, it is still a story and needs to be completed.