A faint noise could be heard echoing around the bamboo forest of the lost : floating through the still, heavy summer air, the sounds of dozens of rabbits rushing around preparing for something could be heard breaking up the usual backdrop of July's cicadas. It was, of course, coming from Eientei; as one got closer to the mansion, they'd be able to make out the rhythmical sound of mochi pounding, the melody of cheerful singing, and the (surprisingly regular) crash of something breaking. Only the keenest of ears, however, would be able to make out the soft yet insistent voice of someone trying to rouse a heavy sleeper.

"Princess, it really is about time you woke up..." Reisen repeated yet again, now with an added hint of pleading to her voice. "The rabbits have been preparing all morning, but we really must get you ready, too." How you can sleep through this racket is beyond me, though, she thought to herself as she stood in the doorway to Kaguya's room. The princess had a fairly large room to herself, with a comfortable futon in the centre of the floor. Perhaps too comfortable, since neither Reisen's voice nor the constant clatter of high-spirited rabbits passing in front of her room seemed able to drag her out of it. Then again, the princess's naps had been getting longer and longer : she was almost at three weeks of uninterrupted sleep as of today. She seemed to lack both the willpower and a reason to bother waking up... However, Reisen didn't give up, attempting to wake her a few more times. Finally, the sleeping princess stirred : a stretch, a yawn, and she was awake, albeit bleary-eyed and looking confused.

"Reisen ? Have you been standing there long ?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, it has been a few hours..."

"Is that all ? You should have let me sleep a little longer." Maybe a few more days, she muttered to herself, rolling over with a yawn and ready to go back to sleep. Reisen, seeing her morning's efforts about to go to waste, let out an involuntary yelp of panic, before trying to salvage the situation. "But, Princess ! The festival ! We need you to get ready for it !" This got Kaguya to turn back round, rewarding Reisen with an even more confused look. "Festival ? For what occasion ?"

Seeing this as an opportunity to grab her attention, Reisen launched into an explanation.

"The one-hundred-and-fiftieth annual "Arrival in Gensokyo" festival, to celebrate when you lifted the spell of eternity over Eientei, allowing it to fully enter into Gensokyo. The rabbits have almost finished with the preparations, but it just wouldn't be the same without our Princess." She looked hopefully at Kaguya, as if asking so will you please get out of bed now? Her hopes would be in vain, though, since it was much too early for such subtleties to by picked up on by the sleepy immortal.

"That festival ? The last one was merely a few weeks ago, why would we have one again now ? It's much too soon." Not prepared to let her go that easily, Reisen insisted. "Fifty-two weeks, to be precise. It is an annual festival, after all, so it would be a shame to break from tradition now, would it not, Princess ?" Kaguya, still not convinced, and decidedly oblivious to (or possibly ignoring) the thin layer of sarcasm in Reisen's voice, was about to go back to sleep, when Eirin walked past the open door.

"Ah, there you are, Udongein. The rabbits have almost finished setting everything up and pounding the mochi, so go and give them their next task." She then turned towards Kaguya, who was still lying down with her eyes half closed. "Good morning, Princess. There isn't much time before the festival, so you really ought to get ready now, if you would be so kind." And with that, she continued on her way, now with Reisen in tow, who was giving her a look of eternal gratitude, both of them leaving Kaguya alone with her thoughts. With Reisen out of the way, the sun was now streaming in through the open door, making it difficult to go back to sleep; Kaguya decided to accept her fate, and rose out of bed, stretching, and familiarising herself with her surroundings, which hadn't changed much despite the fact that she had neglected them for weeks. She stood there for a while, naked, her mind wandering, thinking about what Reisen had told her.

One hundred and fifty years. Has it really been that long since I lifted my spell over Eientei ? For most people, a hundred and fifty years would be a considerable amount of time, yet for me... I remember the first of these festivals as if it was yesterday, and yet we celebrate it again and again, year after year. Still half asleep, she started searching for her regular dress, before realising with a sinking feeling that a festival meant wearing her festival robes. She started looking for them absent-mindedly, not really wanting to succeed in her search.

What are we even celebrating ? I feel as if the only purpose this festival serves is as a reminder of how inconsequential time is for me. Maybe if we celebrated it every decade – century, even-, maybe they would seem like less of a constant blur to me. She came to her closet, the most likely place to find them; looking anywhere else first was purely procrastination. Sure enough, it was right there inside the closet.

Yes, a change of scale is what I need. After all, most people measure their lives in seconds, whilst I could measure mine by these festivals. It's only natural that my scale for time should be adjusted accordingly. With a bittersweet chuckle, she called for some rabbits to help her into her festival attire : it was a heavy, multi-layered robe that would be difficult for anyone to put on themselves, and was especially oppressing in this season's heat, which further lowered the princess's motivation for the festival. When the rabbits arrived, she greeted them with a slightly forced smile, and resumed her train of thought as she watched them help her into her robes.

It's fine for them, I suppose; one day, they'll die, and on that day, their lives will be delimited between a fixed date of birth and death. Their lives will eventually have a full stop, in turn giving meaning to the sentence they've written with their existence. These seconds, minutes, even these festivals, they're the words and punctuation that end up writing a story, yet mine just keeps on being written, never arriving at a full stop, and thus losing all meaning to it. Each instant is precious when there won't be an infinity more. A hundred and fifty years is significant when you might only live to one hundred, maybe two hundred years. When you're immortal, however, no matter how large a span of time, no matter if it feels like forever, it will always be nothing compared to what lies ahead. What lies ahead...She shuddered, shaking her head as if to chase away those thoughts.

"We've finished, Princess !" One of the rabbits said, smiling happily up at her. Kaguya smiled back, patting the rabbit on her head in recognition. Well, since they seem to enjoy it, I might as well go through with it. I just wish it was enough to break up the monotony of this endless cycle...

The rabbits had now set up everything needed for the festival. The formal part of the festival, the part which required Kaguya, consists of a simple but meaningful ritual : Reisen, dressed even more formally than usual, carries a branch of the udonge tree up to a pedestal, where Kaguya awaits. The branch in question, frozen in time by Kaguya's spell of eternity, has therefore not yet bloomed. When it reaches the princess, she removes the spell, causing it to bloom instantly. The branch, here, is a representation of Eientei as a whole, which was also frozen in time, until the spell was removed over it, allowing it to "bloom", entering Gensokyo and the start of a new era for its inhabitants. After the branch blooms, the regular festivities ensue, including eating, drinking, and dancing (usually all at once).

Kaguya, now fully prepared, made her way up to the pedestal. As she got into place, sweating under the many layers of robes she was wearing, she looked over the many rabbits, all eager to get to the "good part" of the festival. A gong rang; this was Reisen's queue. Kaguya only needed to wait, watching as Reisen approached with the branch. The rabbits, under Eirin's watchful eye, waited either side of the long, thin carpet that Reisen walked along, and were as focused on the branch as anyone could hope for.

Here we go again. I lift my spell, we eat and drink, and then repeat it all over again an instant later. The only notable thing this time is the heat, she noticed, only now becoming fully aware of the abnormally high temperature, even for July. Looking around at the crowd, she saw that she wasn't the only one who had noticed it, as some of the rabbits were complaining about it, a few even fanning themselves to keep cool. She then noticed a faint sizzling sound, which seemed to be coming from the branch itself.

Could it be...?

Reisen had noticed it too, and had paused, staring at the branch. Moments later, she leapt backwards in shock, as the branch exploded into flames in her hands.

It must be !

As the rabbits scattered in all directions and the branch spat vivid flames all around it, Kaguya, instead, looked upwards. Against the sun, a familiar silhouette greeted her : fiery wings, long flowing hair, and an oversized ribbon on her head; it was Mokou, descending from the sky, ablaze in a display meant to impress the people beneath her.

"Didya miss me, princess ?"

This is what I have been waiting for : an interruption, a break in the flow. And there she is, in all her fiery glory, just waiting for me to...

Kaguya leapt into the air, fist first, aiming at her rival, who was expecting it : with a smirk, Mokou lunged right back at her. Their fists collided, sending a loud crash echoing around the forest. For a second, the two rivals looked into each other's eyes, grinning. The impact seemed to revitalise the princess : gone was the air of boredom she had about her only a minute ago, and in its place was a sparkle of pure glee in her eyes.

This is what I've lived for. Scenes from her previous fights flashed before her eyes, reminding her of feelings of pain, joy, but most of all, freedom. Freedom... At that though, she flung off her ceremony robes, leaving only the centremost layer. The rest spiralled downwards, creating a rainbow of colour falling softly to the ground, leaving Kaguya in a plain white silk robe, as if she had just shed herself of all unnecessary colour, to focus on the raw emotions of the moment. Beneath them, the rabbits had all taken refuge inside; Reisen and Eirin were nowhere to be seen. The branch was still burning, but now seemed pathetic compared to the fiery immortal hovering before Kaguya. The two rivals leapt back, putting a good distance between each other. Coming to a standstill, Mokou snapped her fingers, summoning a wall of fireballs around her. "Ready ?" she asked, sending the fireballs hurtling towards the princess before she could reply. She narrowly avoided them, feeling the fire licking around her face, blistering her pale, cold skin; she didn't seem to mind the pain, her smile only growing wider as the flames scorched her.

This is the first time I've felt my skin in decades. These flames aren't just hurting me, they're waking me up; this feeling of danger, of pain, is what I need to remind myself that I'm alive.

Mokou started firing wave after wave of fireballs in all directions, trying to trap the princess in a blazing inferno she had formed between them. However, Kaguya was used to her rival's simple strategies, and weaved gracefully through the inferno, rising up and diving back down with the speed and elegance of a night sparrow hunting at dusk. The smell of burning hair filled the air, but she didn't notice : she was focused on finding an opening in her rival's barrage of flames... which she found, when Mokou took slightly too long to summon the next wall of fire.

Now to have even more fun.

Seizing her chance, she flew towards Mokou at full speed, turning round in mid-air to deliver a powerful kick; the crack of ribs rang out throughout the forest, and Mokou was sent spiralling through the air, crashing into a bamboo trunk, breaking it in half. A rush of adrenaline washed over the princess, who was now breathing heavily, her smooth skin now rough with burns and with a crazed look in her eyes; she was unrecognisable from the gentle (if bored) princess that had been holding a ceremony a few minutes ago.

I forgot how just how good letting yourself go feels. Letting your feelings out, unrestrained; this is what freedom feels like.

She laughed : it was a twisted, sadistic sound of over a century's worth of repressed urges bubbling over, ready to be taken out on her rival. She flew towards Mokou, ready to follow up with another powerful kick on her rival who was still recovering from the blow; she leapt into the just in time, as Kaguya slammed into the ground where she had been resting. Ready for more, Kaguya followed her into the air. Now that they were both airborne, Kaguya started shooting out rings of deadly projectiles. Mokou had no problem avoiding the simple rings, but she was taken by surprise when Kaguya shot one straight at her from behind; the ball of pure energy slammed into the back of her left knee, tearing right through it. This was no regular danmaku battle; they were fighting to the death. Mokou cried out in pain; it was a sound familiar to the princess, yet a sound she had forgotten. Hearing the familiar cries of pain from her rival seemed to further revive her.

This feeling of power is what I've been missing. Being able to kill someone over and over again, and be able to do it over again the next day, is the only distraction fitting of those who cannot die.

Mokou recovered from the initial shock of her wound, surprisingly fast considering its magnitude. She glared at the princess, who smirked right back at her; this was enough to provoke Mokou into charging straight at her. Yelling bloody murder, she lunged forwards, setting herself entirely aflame, delivering a crushing headbutt to the princess, who blocked it with both arms. However, she had been hit with such force that she staggered backwards, dazed by the blow; her arms were broken. Mokou saw this opening and took full advantage of it : she delivered a blazing uppercut, smashing into the princess's jaw, then rose up into the air to gain momentum, before crashing back into the princess with a flurry of blows. Her final kick was delivered with such force that Kaguya was slammed into the ground, coming to rest in a patch of bamboo shoots.

This pain truly makes me feel alive again. Although, I won't be for very much longer...

Mokou descended onto the broken, burnt body of her rival with a victorious smile on her face. "Out of practise, huh ? That's what you get for living in a cushy mansion for all those years." She straddled Kaguya's limp body, her legs on either side holding her rival still, raising her fist up for a final blow.

How long has it been since I was last killed ? However long it may have been, I might as well share the feeling with her...

"Hundreds of years together and you still don't know me", Kaguya said as she closed her eyes, using her remaining strength to activate her power over the instantaneous. Before Mokou even realised what had happened, a bamboo stalk had shot out of the ground, piercing through both Kaguya and her own heart. Her look of shock only lasted a second, before turning to resigned irritation.

"You just couldn't let me win, could you ?"

A few minutes later, the two immortals were lying on the grass on either side of the bloodstained bamboo shoot, both in perfect health, albeit exhausted. They lay there for a while, panting, looking up at the thick canopy of bamboo leaves above them that filtered the summer sun into an archipelago of rays which covered the ground.

"That was fun."

Mokou's words were the first to break the silence after the two had caught their breaths. She turned towards Kaguya, who was already looking at her, grinning. "I didn't expect that to work so well. Have you forgotten with whom you're dealing with ?"

Mokou let out a sigh, turning back towards the sky. "It's been so long, I'd forgotten how much of an asshole you were."

The princess only laughed in response, before falling silent again. Lying there under the sun, next to the person who she had just killed, she felt truly happy for the first time in decades. Her body felt fresh, as she had been fully renewed; she even lacked the usual bruises and scratches of everyday life.

The cicadas, which had ceased their constant noise out of fear, had slowly begun to chirp again; the forest was regaining its calm yet heavy atmosphere.

"Where were you, Mokou ?"

No reply.

Kaguya sat up, forcing herself into Mokou's peripheral vision. "It's been years. Long enough for me to actually notice your absence. You can't have been rolling around in the mud eating insects for that long without getting bored." The princess's mocking tone got a reaction out of her : Mokou sat up, glaring angrily at Kaguya, before turning away again.

"I've been busy."

Kaguya waited a second, but when she saw that Mokou wasn't going to add anything to her statement, she pressed her further. "Busy doing what ? There is nothing worth doing here." Mokou turned back to face her. Her fiery gaze was strangely subdued, more of an ember compared to the usual inferno of her stare.

"I know. That's the problem." She paused, but felt Kaguya's gaze encouraging her to carry on, which she did with another sigh. "I've lived in this forest long enough. So, I decided to travel, to explore. But the thing is, Gensokyo's a small place. I've been everywhere, seen everything. There just wasn't anything that caught my interest, anything that made me think that I could, ya know, spend a few millennia there. Everything outside this forest is just so... alive." She looked like she was going to say something else, but stopped; she had already said more than she had wanted to.

They fell silent again. A gust of warm summer air swept through the bamboo leaves, making a pleasant rustling sound. The only obvious trace of the battle was the crimson bamboo stalk, sticking out of the ground between the two immortals, pointing towards the moon that was visible in the sky despite the bright sun.

"I missed you."

Mokou sat up, looking surprised; Kaguya's words sounded far-off, and were barely audible, which made Mokou doubt she had heard her properly. "You what ? You missed me ?"

"Well, that isn't strictly true," she corrected herself in the same distant tone. She then shook her head, snapping out of her apparent daze. "In truth, I missed killing you over and over again."

A smile spread across Mokou's face, matching the princess's expression. "That, I can believe." She seemed to ponder something for a few seconds, before asking : "If you enjoyed fighting me so much, why did you send those humans and youkai after me instead ? I made it seem like you'd gotten bored of fighting me or something."

Kaguya let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh, Mokou, I thought you would understand. You hadn't visited me for quite a long time. I had hoped that it would inspire you to take revenge on me in person..."

Mokou, who had already started smiling at the word "visited", let out a bittersweet chuckle after she had heard the princess's explanation. "You must have been bored if you missed me that much. You could always have visited me for a change, you know." She paused, before resuming in a more serious tone "Yeah, I realised that was probably why, afterwards. But by then I had already given up on this place." Looking down, she added in a disgruntled growl "It wouldn't be the first thing I've given up on with time."

Kaguya nodded, placing her hand on Mokou's arm. "I know. As time passes, more and more different things seem to fade out of importance. Time seems to strip everything of meaning... in truth, time itself was one of the first things I gave up counting," she said softly. However, Mokou scoffed bitterly at the princess's attempt at compassion.

"Time ? That's the least of my worries. Hell knows how long I haven't kept up with time. No, I've even given up eating, drinking, sometimes even sleeping. I just can't be bothered. I'll die and then be reborn again in perfect health, so why bother ? I'd given up on living, Kaguya. So don't ya think, giving up on our little feud seems normal next to that ? I'd almost forgotten why we were even fighting in the first place. Do you remember my father, Kaguya ? The one I've supposedly been taking revenge for all this time ?"

The princess shook her head, lowering her head. "No. I don't even remember his face."

At that, Mokou teared up.

"Neither do I", she whimpered.