Epilogue : The Autumn Sky and a Maiden's Heart

"Kyōko Sakura, you are brash, uncouth, and wholly lacking in subtlety. These are not traits to be desired in a wife. However," Aya Miki delivered her lecture with only a small glint in her eye putting the lie to her otherwise stern countenance. "These traits have proven to make you extremely handy at keeping these blue-haired buffoons alive this past year, and for that, I love you."

Daichi and Sayaka Miki, father and daughter, wore matching expressions of abashment. A month had passed since the fateful day when the Puella Magi of Mitikahara had brought the Incubator Project to a screeching halt. As a result of that last chaotic night, a few civilians had become aware of the Puella Magi and their struggle. Sayaka's mother happened to be one of them, which had made for an . . . exciting month.

"Oh, come now dear, it hasn't been that bad, has it?" Daichi put on his best smile, but it only earned him a sort-of glare.

"You were killed, you idiot! If it had been one of those shadow-smoke monsters you told me about, that would be one thing, but you let a Yakuza thug walk straight up to you and put you out! I expect my husband to be more quick-footed and quick-witted!" Aya shook her finger, but she was able to remain lighthearted about the whole thing, given the advantage of distance from the incident itself.

". . . and it appears I will also need to quickly be behind the wheel! Look at the time, we're already late!"

"Have fun, my lovely fools!"

"Are you sure you don't want to come along, dear?" asked Daichi. "There's room for one more in the car."

"Not on your life. I know how you drive, Daichi-san, and I don't care to have my lifespan shortened any further by stark terror." Aya rolled her eyes and smiled. "Get going, or you'll end up breaking so many traffic codes you'll be made an honorary reprobate!"

Some time later, a mobile hurricane entered a somewhat decrepit parking lot in a park along the edge of Lake Suwa, resolving itself as a Lancer Interceptor only after shedding some considerable speed in a sliding handbrake turn which deposited the car more-or-less in a parking spot. Sayaka popped her door open and looked down.

"You're not in the lines, Dad." she called.

"Yeah, well, if the lot fills up, I'll move it." replied Daichi, his sarcastic tone implying just how likely he considered the chances. Sayaka had to admit he had a point; the parking lot itself was about one hard winter away from being rubble, and she was able to make out the stairway up the hill only because it began under a sacred Shinto archway, the arch itself being weathered until it barely seemed to be a work of human hands.

"And the best part, this part is the better off, with what the Nineball did to it." Kyōko quipped as she got out.

"I see. You certainly have some enthusiastic friends, Sayaka."

"I defer to your expertise, Father, in befriending those who try their level best to kill you." replied Sayaka.

"Touche. I wonder where the Old Cat got off to anyway? He said he didn't want a ride-"

"(Can you blame him?!)" Kyōko stage-whispered to Sayaka.

"-but I don't know how he's going to get here, in that case."

A soft pop! of air being displaced gave Daichi his answer, as several figures 'carded to the location. In one long chain were Mami, Charlotte, Nova, Koishi, then Yamaguchi, and Sayaka and Kyōko both did a momentary double-take at 551 hanging off the end of the line. It appeared they had yet to teach the smoke-haired Purifier girl the concept of "casual clothes", because she was wearing a corset-laced Gothic dress in charcoal and white lace trim at neck and wrists that looked little different than her Puella Magi regalia.

"Well, that's certainly an . . . efficient method of travel," said Yamaguchi, looking slightly unsteady on his feet as he broke out of the chain.

"There's room for one more in the Lancer, if you need a ride for the return trip, Cat." Daichi offered, with a smirk on his face.

"Not even if I had to eat the Spellcard to get it to go off, and came out the other end head-first!" the Yakuza replied. The rest of the party spread apart, and none too soon, for the air barked with displacement again as Madoka, Homura, Hitomi, Kyosuke, and Akiko arrived.

"So that's the new girl, yeah?" Akiko asked, nodding towards 551. "You're planning on attending school next term with us, right?"

"I am?" replied 551, rather unsure of what was being offered, but that was good enough for Akiko.

"Muahaha! She's mine, I tell you, all mine! You brats have scooped up the last four, four! transfers, but not this time!"

"Akiko-san, um, I hate to point out, but we kinda created two of the last four transfers." replied Madoka. "And besides, wouldn't it just be simpler to join forces at this point?"

"Oh, sure Mads, bring logic and reason into the situation! What kind of Magical Girl are you, anyhow?"

"Better question; did you really just go 'muahaha' like a supervillain there?" Sayaka asked.

"Oh like your bunch have any room to talk!"

"Fine, have it your way, but don't say I didn't warn everybody." the blunette replied, tongue firmly in cheek. "One day we'll be having to build a super-jail under the Sea of Japan to hold her and I'm going to say 'I told you so'!"

"Okay, everybody, let's head on up, I'm sure they're waiting for us," Madoka interjected, and with her polite, gentle prodding the debate team broke up and made for the crumbly stairs. A wave of excitement rolled down the line, the empathic link crackling with comments along the line of here it comes!

"Okay, now what's the deal, huh?" Akiko asked, turning to look at the perpetrators of the telepathic giggles, and so she wasn't watching ahead of her, where Madoka and Homura had disappeared. Kyōko cackled again from her place down the line and then pointed forward suddenly, which caused Akiko to try and stop immediately as she registered the path once more, and the missing persons. This in turn caused Charlotte to "accidentally" bump into the tall brunette, which made Akiko stumble forward, arms flailing - straight into Gensokyo.

"Yowie! What is this place - screw school, I'm moving here from now on!"

"Sorry, Akiko-chan. We wanted to surprise you."

"Uh, y-yeah, I can see that, Mads." Akiko had to stop to collect herself, her face flushed with excitement. "Seriously though, what is this place?"

"Gensokyo is the Land of Illusion," replied Kyōko. "It's like a nature preserve for ghosts, monsters, and things that go bump in the night. C'mon, lets go meet some of 'em!" Kyōko pushed forward and soon the whole party was hustling up stairs that weren't much better maintained on this side than they had been in the Outside world. The Puella Magi reached the summit first, the boys having lagged to the back of the line through either caution or some lingering fragments of good sense. Akiko, Sayaka and Kyōko crossed under the sacred arch at the top of the stairs onto a rubbled courtyard, whereupon they received only a cry of "Kyuuuuu!" for warning before a huge chunk of the ground exploded, showering the girls in dirt.

"Ack! Pfft, pfft!" Sayaka spat out dirt and curses at the same time, while Kyōko transformed into her Puella Magi costume, less because she was expecting battle and more because it, unlike her street clothes, wasn't covered in filth. "Hey, what gives!"

"Oh, hey, didn't see you there. Ten thousand apologies. Reimu didn't mention she was expecting company." Akiko inspected the speaker, a slight girl with blue hair up in pigtails under a floppy green cap, a teal dress of many pockets and many more stains of the kind that tend to accumulate upon mechanics, and galoshes. Is this one of the things that goes bump in the night? She doesn't look very scary. "Oi, Flan! Knock off for a bit!" Whoa. Got a set of lungs on her! "So sorrys about that. Anyways, time for introductions. I'm Nitori Kawashiiro, and I'm in charge of turning this mess back into a building. And who might you be?"

"Uh, Akiko Tomohara, pleased to meet you." Akiko was somewhat taken aback by Nitori; it wasn't that Akiko felt the kappa was rude, per se, but Nitori's abrupt nature was more than Akiko's startled mind was able to cope with at the moment.

"Hey, Nitori, why don't you go clean up? I think we're done for the day anyhow." The kappa favored the new speaker with a small nod and darted off. Even without introductions, Akiko knew from what little she had been told about the situation that the new girl must be Reimu Hakurei. She's not that impressive, in person. But then again, neither is Mads, come to think of it. Reimu was in fact quite well turned out, considering the situation; she was dressed in a modified version of her traditional shrine maiden's robes, this one being mostly white with a blazing orange sunburst that started at the left breast and threw bands of color down the whole length of the skirt, and matching stripes rayed along the detached sleeves she wore. "Hello and welcome to the future home of the Temple of the Radiant Sun!"

"You're getting a temple now? Moving up in the world, I see. Also, what the hell was that explosion?"

"Oh, that was just Flandre-" Reimu was interrupted by a noise of choking disbelief, which came from Koishi.

"Wait, wait, what?! Are we talking Flandre, as in 'Flandre Scarlet, the Walking Apocalypse'?"

"Well, I'd say she flies more than walks, most of the time." replied Reimu offhandedly.

"That. Isn't. The. Point."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Reimu smirked. "But yes, it is Flandre. The poor child wanted to get outside, take in some fresh air and wanton destruction. So we're letting her do the excavation for the temple foundations. It takes a truly ridiculous amount of room to install a fusion reactor-" Once again, Reimu was interrupted by a sound best enunciated as "Gurk?!", this time from Akiko.

"Uh, you do know nuclear fusion isn't a thing, right? You might want to look into that, you're probably getting ripped off."

"Actually, it is a thing, at least when your patron deity is the divine embodiment of thermonuclear energy. Hey, Okuu! We've got an unbeliever over here!"

Suddenly, a second sun dawned in Gensokyo . . . about ten yards behind the pavilion where Reimu had come from originally. This light shot into the sky like some sort of reverse comet before arcing back down to impact the ground before the Puella Magi in a way that had them all flinching and waiting for the tremendous explosion . . . which never materialized. Akiko cautiously lowered her hands from where they had been covering her face, which turned out to be a mistake.

"Hi!" chirped Utsuho, delivering her greeting at a range of maybe five centimeters. In response, Akiko did what any rational being would likely do when confronted by an extremely friendly nuclear inferno who possessed no concept of personal space; she screamed and tried to jump out of her skin and teleport backwards simultaneously, with a net result of simply falling on her butt.

"My, Tomohara-san is really being put to the test today," said Hitomi, who was politely stifling her laughter at the situation, unlike Kyōko.

"Call it an erasure of her karmic debt," replied Homura.

"Indeed. Compared to our first time here, it does appear Akiko-san is getting the harsher treatment," said Mami, pointing to where Utsuho had Akiko cornered as was explaining the theory of heavy-ion fusion to the poor girl in language that Akiko wouldn't have been able to understand even if the Sun Goddess had been speaking calmly enough to be comprehensible.

"Now I see why the after-action reports described this place as 'irredeemably corrupt'," muttered 551 as she observed the antics.

Stupid girls, they're only a couple years older than me, but they already have figured out how to be boring grownups! Charlotte was starting to drift away from where Homura, Sayaka, and Reimu had started discussing strategies and long-term goals for the Border Compact when a snowball puffed against the back of her head. Gee, I wonder who that could be? A grin split Charlotte's face as she reached into her pockets.

"Hah! Eye gotcha so good you can't even move, how's that?"

"Who says I have to be the one who moves, huh? How about instead we try a . . . Yin and Yang!" The Spellcard ignited in Charlotte's hand and suddenly she was in a clump of shrubbery that was dusted with frost and Cirno was standing right out in the open, blinking in confusion after the sudden transposition. Charlotte wasted no time, and in fact was already springing forward. There simply wasn't time for the ice fairy to do anything before she was hug-tackled straight to the ground.

"Now that's more like it!" Cirno cried out, completely unfazed at Charlotte's antics, even though the peach-haired girl was tickling Cirno's ears, which had proven in the past to be a catastrophic weak point for the ice fairy. Sure enough, Cirno was reduced to hysterics in less than a minute, and it took several more minutes of great gulps of air before she could speak again.

"So, you wanna go on a rescue mission?" Cirno asked when she could speak coherently(-ish) once more.

"Uh sure? Anythings better than sticking around here. Who are we rescuing?"

"Mystia and Kyouko. They played a concert for Byakuren-"

"And lemme guess, the old lady tossed em down in the cellar to cool their heads?"

"Nope! She packed them off to some kinda crazy Netherworld band camp with the Prismrivers."

"Wait, I though the Prismrivers were really talented?"

"They are, which is why we gotta rescue those two idiots!" Cirno cried out. "If they learn how to actually play their instruments, they'll never stop making noise!"

"Oh."

"Yeah! So let's go get the rest of the gang and get going!" Cirno was, in fact, already off and flying as she spoke. Charlotte shook her head and took off after. This is what I said I wanted, after all. Be careful what you wish for, and all that! . . . hey, I can make a joke about Wishes and not completely choke up! I guess things are starting to get better after all!

It was a short flight to Cirno's hideout along the Misty Lake, at least with the kind of speed Cirno and Charlotte could put out when they were trying to show off. Their arrival was anything but happy, however, as the cave hangout felt as though it were filled with a miasma of bad moods, as figuratively black and impenetrable as Rumia's globes of darkness, and stemming, in part, from the same source. Charlotte did a double-take at the tall, elegant blonde who sat in the back of the cave fuming. Oh right, it's her, just not . . . her her. Rumia frowned at the arriving pair, not out of spite but because it appeared that was her default expression. And Rumia wasn't the only one causing problems at Nineball Central.

"Oh goody, she's finally here. Does that mean we finally have permission to go get them back?" snarled Wriggle, stomping up to Cirno in a militant huff.

"Hey, the hell's that supposed to mean?" Charlotte fired back.

"It means, dumbass, that Our Fearless Leader won't do anything anymore without you there to hold her hand!" The firefly turned crimson as she ranted, making eye contact only briefly with Charlotte before suddenly flinching and turning away.

"Hey, what's your damage?" replied Charlotte with a level stare.

"What? Ohh, you- you . . . Forget it! You don't even deserve to know!" Charlotte arched a disbelieving eyebrow at Wriggle, and in turn the firefly youkai held a blushing pout for a long moment, before breaking off and turning her back in a huff.

Charlotte decided to change the subject. "So why did you wait for me?" she asked Cirno.

"Well, it was your stupid idea to to buy them all that noisy stuff in the first place, it's your problem to fix!"

"Oh. Well, let's get going then. C'mon, everybody up and at 'em!" There was however a grand total of no movement in response to Charlotte's battle cry. "Gah! Come on, you guys! Are you just gonna sit here all day and not help?"

"Pfft! It's your problem anyway! (I cannot be bothered with such petty concerns.) (I-it's the Netherworld! It's scary!)" came the replies from Wriggle, Rumia, and Daiyousei, one right after another. Charlotte fumed, literally fumed, giving off an odor of burning almonds as her temper boiled over.

"Right, that's it. No more miss nice Magi! You!" Charlotte thrust an imperious finger at Rumia. "Get your sorry beshadowed butt off that rock! You're going to help your friends whether you want to or not!"

"No. I told you before, I won't be dragged into such petty concerns anymore."

"The hell you won't! Just because you got boobs and got taller doesn't mean you turn your back on your friends. It's called puberty, it happens to most people."

"All the same-"

"All the same, I've whupped you before and I'll do it again if I need to. Has she been like this the whole time?" Charlotte turned to Cirno.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"What a whiner! How have you managed to put up with her moping for this long?"

"Hey! I am still here, you know-"

"No, you're not!" Charlotte snapped back.

"Oh. Wait, what do you mean I'm not here?!"

"Pretty much what I said - you're not here. Sounds like you've been so busy trying to be Miss Extra Badass Youkai that you've stopped actually existing."

"Hey! It's not that simple, you know! There was a lot of trouble sealed up in that stupid ribbon along with all the extra power-"

"And turning your back on your friends will help with that how?"

"I-" Rumia slumped. "Damnit, when did you learn to be so persuasive?"

"It's a gift. Now c'mon, we need to hurry, the noise brigade isn't getting any worse at what they do while we're standing around here!" Charlotte took off, accelerating to full speed without looking back - that would have implied that Rumia might have had the will to defy her, and sure enough, the so-called "Shadowfiend" was tucked into the Puella Magi's wake as they rose toward the entrance to the Netherworld. Daaamn, you are getting way too good at this, Cirno sent as the other girls caught up to her.

Sorry, I just couldn't help it! I can't stand seeing people unhappy, especially since for us, despair leads to death, and in a pretty big hurry.

No, seriously, look back there, came the empathic reply. Charlotte threw herself into a tight barrel roll, giving her a chance to look back at the girls who were following along, while making it look like she was just goofing off, rather than checking up on them. What she saw back there, however, nearly threw Charlotte off her axis entirely.

Holy crap, I even got Dai to follow along?!

Ayep. Eye think we've found what your secondary power does now, came the fond reply.

"Guys, if you smell something burning, I think that's just my brain melting down," said Akiko, as she stumbled away from the impromptu science lecture. Despite the encounter with the overly enthusiastic Sun Goddess, however, Akiko was enjoying the trip so far. School makes it seem like we have the whole world all wrapped up like a Christmas present, everything known and perfectly plotted out. I always wondered where all the mystery in life had gone, well I guess it went here. Hello, speaking of . . . A curious sight caught Akiko's eye; there was a large umbrella set up on the lawn, only it wasn't simply providing shade but rather seemed to be casting darkness beneath it, like some sort of reverse lampshade.

"Hey, what's this here?" Akiko peered into the darkness, and she was somewhat bemused to see there was a girl within the pool of night, and she appeared to be laying out on a lounge chair.

"I am working on my tan," came the acidic reply from the girl in question.

"Uh, you realize you're in total darkness in there, and you won't get the slightest dab of tan that way, right?"

"Precisely!" came the hissing reply.

"Oh, that's just Remilia," said Reimu. "She's still sulking because she can't differentiate between a person's vocation and the person herself."

"Oh, excuse me, Your Grace, for being concerned on account of your vocation being lethally incompatible with my very existence!" In response, Reimu rolled her eyes and summoned the Yin-Yang Orb.

"Here, catch!" Reimu lobbed the orb into Remilia's pool of darkness, whereupon it burst into blazing light.

"AAAAGUHhh! Get it off, it's-" Remilia bobbled the Orb in a blind panic, trying to hurl the thing away from herself and dive for cover all at once, succeeding only in falling off her chair. "It isn't burning me?"

"Nope, sure isn't," Reimu snapped back. "I am a Priestess of the Radiant Sun. I can do stuff like, oh, control the wavelengths of light being given off in order to do things like illuminate your winning personality, Remi, without actually turning you into vampire barbecue. Of course, I could have told you that earlier, if you had bothered to oh, say, speak to me rather than just punishing me for your mistaken assumptions!"

"Humph! That's all fine and well for you to say, but one does not live for five centuries by being incautious! Sakuya, I have need of you!"

"Indeed, Mistress." Sakuya Izayoi approached the squabble looking the picture of icy perfection. "I believe I know exactly what you need." Before Remilia could reply, however, Sakuya had her pocketwatch out. For anyone who couldn't see the events taking place while Sakuya stopped time, it appeared as though the two girls simply teleported to new positions, with Sakuya sitting down and Remilia turned over the maid's knee.

"Sakuya, what?!- Hey!- Oww!-" Remilia squawled and bawled, but she was unable to twist from Sakuya's iron grasp, and the stinging spanking the maid was delivering was painful enough that Remilia had abandoned any pretense of dignity in her struggles to escape.

"Milady, you have been an insufferable brat this past month," replied Sakuya, delivering another smack to complement the verbal sting. "Which could be borne out, if it were simply your nature, but it is not. You have let your fears rule over you, to the detriment of yourself and all of us. I devoutly hope this gets through to you, for I fear you have made one other grave mistake: You have given myself and the rest of the Mansion hope, that your long paranoid self-exile had ended. These past three years were as a balm against the previous five centuries, and it would be a pain as great as death to be forced to return to the silent dark once more."

"W-w-what?" Remilia twisted in her maid's grip in order to look up at Sakuya, confusion written plain on her face. It was enough to visibly shock Sakuya, which was as uncharacteristic for the ever-perfect maid as her earlier outburst. "Sakuya, what are you talking about?"

"Perhaps you should take some time alone to iron out your problems," came a new voice from out of thin air. Quite literally, in fact, as the speaker stepped into the midst of the party from a tear in the fabric of reality. "If you would like, I can provide you exeunt to a more private location, for I assure you, you would quite not like to draw the attentions of Crisis Counsellor Koishi. It is a singularly unpleasant situation." Yukari Yakumo shot a significant glance at the satori in question, who in turn gave back a smile that was perverse in its overblown innocence.

"Ahh, yeah, I think we might take you up on that," replied Reimu, who added under her breath, "(Running away now!)" as she herded the Scarlet Devil and her maid through the gap. Yukari meanwhile shuddered suddenly, her head twitching left than right, her cheeks reddening and a flicker of temper showing in her eyes.

"Good. She is not planning to attack," said Homura, flickering in place slightly.

"How can you tell, Homerun?"

"I stopped time for a moment and slapped her. She was neither aware of my shield activating nor did she have any wards in place." came the matter-of-fact reply.

"You slapped me twice, actually." said Yukari.

"The second was purely for the pleasure of the act," replied Homura, leveling a steady expression on the Border Youkai, one that the other Puella Magi recognized as a herald of violence.

"Ah. Well, I supposed I earned that." Yukari then drew herself up and bowed deeply before the Puella Magi. "Please permit me to apologize for the harm I have caused during this Incident, sincerely and without reservation."

"Ahh, Gappy, are you feeling okay?" asked Kyōko, when she could overcome her shock enough to respond.

"As a matter of fact, I am not," Yukari replied, after straightening up. "I believe the best way to describe my current state is 'dismembered, but still standing'. The pain brings with it clarity, however, and I realize now I have done you all a great harm in trying to stop something which I had no ability nor right to arrest."

"Thank you for your candor, Yukari Yakumo." Homura ran a hand through her hair, subtly taking the lead in the exchange. "However, I would ask one question, and that is this: You claimed your actions were due to concerns over future events. I do not believe that threat has been negated."

"Technically speaking, Homura Akemi, that was not a question," replied Yukari, throwing Homura's verbal tic back at her. "I infer, however, that you want to know what's coming and what I plan to do about it?" Homura nodded gravely at this, and Yukari in turn smiled, which was more terrifying than reassuring. "At this point, I don't plan on doing anything. It was only a wide-area saturation bombardment launched from orbit by an alien armada of unknown provenance and capabilities. I expect you'll handle it. Oh, don't look at me like that," Yukari chastised the horrified Puella Magi. "I have been thoroughly reminded of the need to be honest with myself in this recent Incident, and in that vein, let me tell you that between yourselves and Reimu's Compact, you have overpowered me. Also, did you not just talk down an alien species with galaxy-spanning powers and an agenda older than our very homeworld?"

"Your points are valid, Lady Yukari, but the Ze Balmary Empire will not be dissuaded by diplomacy, I assure you - what?" 551 looked at the expression of creeping horror on Yukari's face with confusion and dismay.

"Hearing the name of your opponent," said Koishi, "Made her contemplate what would happen if our own Starlight Berzerker decided to change her allegiance based on verbiage over species."

"I thought you had made a promise not to go traipsing through peoples' minds without their permission," Yukari grumbled.

"In this case, I didn't need to read your mind," Koishi replied. "I just know Marisa well enough."

"Uh-huh. I think Reimu needs to get this place consecrated in a hurry, so we can pray to ward off ill fortune." said Sayaka. "Now, shall we get on with the day before anybody else can jinx us?"

"There it is!" Charlotte called out. "Prismriver Enterprises, dead ahead! Everybody ready?" After waiting a bare moment for assents, the Puella Magi stooped into a power dive toward the ethereal mansion where the phantom musicians made their home. A storm of danmaku preceded the raiders, and Cirno exercised her innate powers to cloak their landing in chill fog. Weapons and Spellcards ready, the Nineballs advanced on the unsuspecting building.

"Uh, guys, I think there's a problem," said Wriggle, too keyed up by the prospect of battle to be antagonistic. "I don't hear anything."

"Well, my fog does kinda dampen sound," Cirno replied. "But yeah, you'd think we'd hear something . . ."

"Those amps were way too big for just a bit of fog to silence. Uh-oh," Charlotte chimed in, before darting ahead of the pack. Hopping up the front steps, the peach-haired girl found a note pinned to the door and cursed.

"Listen to this. 'Pardon the inconvenience, Prismriver Enterprises and Associates is currently out on business. Come hear our new performance at the Hakurei Shrine, or leave a note and we will get back to you at the earliest possible time.' "

"Right. Okay. So our fine feathered-and-fuzzy friends are going to expose Reimu to their own personal brand of stupidity in person." Cirno spoke in a dead, empty voice as she considered the ramifications. "Should we try to sneak back home, or since we're already here, just hop the wall to the Netherworld and save ourselves the trouble?"

"Oh, come on guys! You can't really think Reimu would kill us just for letting them play a gig?"

"Yes!" came the chorused reply.

"I'm sorry," said Reimu and Remilia simultaneously, causing them both to falter and turn away from one another, retreating to opposite corners of the small, manicured clearing Yukari had placed them in. Reimu broke first, guilt putting a shine on her cheeks.

"Look, I'm sorry for being a bitch with the Orb and all. I'm angry at the way things have been going, and I'm still trying to sort out all the fallout from this Incident, and I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you." Reimu folded her arms, patiently waiting to see what response she would get.

"I, um, I'm sorry too." Remilia stammered. "For getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what?"

"Please, don't do this to me, not now," growled Remilia.

"Do what? I'm not trying to do anything, honest! I don't understand what is bothering you so much."

"Oh really now? Well fine, I can be blunt too. I'm bothered, to put it lightly, by the fact you chose that birdbrained tart over me!"

"What the hell?!" Reimu gasped in unconcealed shock. "That's what's bothering you? Look, I'm sorry I didn't try to get to the Mansion during the fight, but there was about a million Purifiers crawling down our necks! Help was offered, and I took it."

"Right, sure. So why have you been spending so much time fooling around with her since then?"

"I- fooling around? I wouldn't call rebuilding the Shrine fooling around!" Reimu cried out, fists balled in anger.

"Because from here, it looks like two birds of a feather building a love nest together!" Remilia shouted back.

"Come again?" Reimu replied, now going cold as her anger intensified.

"You heard me just fine the first time. I see the way you light up whenever she's around, don't you think I don't know what that means!" In response to the tirade, Reimu just smacked her palm against her forehead.

"Okay, let me see if I can spell this out for you; I. Am. Not. Sleeping. With. Utsuho."

"But . . . how?" Remilia spluttered as her righteous anger began to evaporate. "You're spending so much time with her and, and- She's just, you know," At a loss for words, Remilia instead traced out a shapely figure with her hands. "I mean, I would be all over that if the option was provided!" A hysterical giggle passed from the lips of the Scarlet Devil, and then she began to crumple. Reimu was there in a flash, even beating Sakuya in her haste to catch the swooning Remilia before she could hit the ground. "I didn't think I would get to love you anymore, so I came here to hate you and now I don't know what to do anymore!"

"Well, first, you'd need some lead lingerie," deadpanned Reimu.

"Abuh?" Remilia replied with a hiccuping sob.

"If you wanted to try and romance Utsuho, I meant. She still gives off a non-trivial amount of radiation. There's that, and there's also, well . . . she's still Okuu. Smarter, calmer, but her basic personality hasn't changed. It would sorta be like trying to have sex with Flandre- icky and probably lethal."

"Hah!" replied Remilia with more of a laugh than a sob. "That's the understatement of the year,"

"Don't jinx it, Remi, the year isn't over yet."

"Yes, well, if Letty has any bad news for us, she is cordially invited to stuff it right up her ass and around the corner!" Remilia shot back. "Anyway, what were you saying about the Mansion, Sakuya?"

"I, er-" Sakuya looked rather nonplussed now that she had had time to consider her earlier actions. "I meant no disrespect, milady, but ordinarially you would let a setback such as this drive yourself into seclusion for months, if not years. Having to withdraw from Gensokyan society after having been a part of it these last few years would hurt us all greatly."

"Well, fear not, Sakuya. I think I can find my way to keep from doing anything so foolish this time, and even if I did . . ." Remilia gave Reimu a fang-filled grin. "I think I wouldn't be permitted to hide for long."

"Damn right you wouldn't," replied Reimu.

"You know, the thing which surprises me the most is how normal everything is here." Daichi Miki contemplated the situation from a simple but comfortable camp chair, purloined from the supplies stockpiled in anticipation of the construction crew. With an apple cider in one hand that was far too good to simply leave in sitting in its cask, and zero need to be an authority figure at the moment, the White Knight considered Gensokyo one step away from paradise.

"I beg your pardon, Daichi, but have you noticed that the excavation work is being done by an adolescent vampire who's flittering about on gem-encrusted branches for wings?" replied Old Cat Yamaguchi, although he wasn't putting much effort into the chastisement, on account of his own cider, chair, and similar opinions upon the locale.

"Yes, but they're building just a normal Shinto shrine. Not a mansion carved from solid fog or a flying castle or anything like that."

"That may be, but . . ." Yamaguchi looked around quickly, to ensure certain people weren't around. "But they're dedicating it to a nimrod Yatagarsu sun goddess who displays an unhealthy level of chipperness."

"Bah. Put her on the idol circuit, no one would notice." replied Daichi with a smirk.

"Why, Daichi Miki, are you making the accusation that our fair nation's live music entertainment industry is a calamity?" Yamaguchi layered on the wounded pride as thick as he dared.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Just so as we're on the same page then." Yamaguchi chuckled. "Speaking of pages, what do you think of this 'Border Compact' thing?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I don't think I could sign it, mainly because as it's currently written, it compels cooperation from members on a level which I don't have the authority to speak for. The Mayor could sign it, but that would mean briefing him on everything which has happened thus far."

"Oh, bosh!" Yamaguchi replied with a smirk. "You're too up-and-down, Mister White Knight! Here, how does this sound: I will sign the Compact, since I can do whatever the hell I please, and should a situation arise where trouble might come and visit our fair city, I will do my civic duty and inform the Constabulary of the problem."

"And just what is the Constabulary supposed to do about the situation?" replied Daichi skeptically, although it was plain his interest was piqued.

"Dispatch your daughter and her paramour to handle the problem, I imagine." Daichi balked, but Yamaguchi continued before the White Knight could complain. "From what I witnessed during this little altercation, Sayaka is entirely cast in your mould. If you don't get her into the Constabulary, consider that she already has the superpowers and the cape. She's half a step away from being a comic-book superhero, and I suspect that won't work out nearly as well in real life as it does on paper."

"Hah! You might be right about that. Ahh, whatever would I do without you, Yamaguchi-san?"

"Catch a terminal case of boredom and die, I suspect."

A gash of nightmare split open in the remote clearing, and a soft chime alerted Reimu and Remila to the fact they would have company momentarially. The two broke apart from their embrace, but only barely, and were still holding hands when Yukari stepped through.

"You have resolved your issues?" Yukari asked, eyeing the girls.

"Until more crop up, sure." replied Reimu, but she was grinning as she said it.

"Very good. If I might speak to you alone for a minute Reimu?"

"I dunno, Remi are you sure you can trust me alone with her?" deadpanned the shrine maiden. Remilia scoffed loudly in response.

"If you were to cheat on me with Yukari of all people, my reaction would be to take you to Eirin's and have you dewormed, because alien parasites must have nested in your brain and caused you to become insane! No offense intended, Lady Yukari." Remila made a quick curtsey before entering the waiting gap. Sakuya offered a slightly embarassed smile, a bit deeper bow, and then she likewise exited the clearing.

"A bit . . . mercurial, that one," said Yukari, once the gap sealed shut.

"Yeah, well, it was either her, or Marisa, or if you read the filth in the back of the Bunbunmaru, there's always the 'wild-and-bloody-hatesex-with-Sanae' option." said Reimu, gagging slightly.

"Personally, I prefer the Kakashi Nenpo." To Reimu's arched eyebrow, Yukari explained, "Hatate is ridiculously cheap on her ink, and so it is quite simple to soak the paper and remove all the printing, leaving clean paper for Chen to draw on."

"That's as good a use for either of those harpies as anything I've heard," said Reimu. "But you didn't come here to talk about gossip rags."

"Indeed, I did not. Reimu, as soon as I return you to your Shrine, I will be taking that vacation I mentioned. I will be gone for some months, probably a year or more. Gensokyo is well and truly in your hands now."

"I see," said Reimu. She withdrew a Spellcard from her pouch and read over it with a shudder. "She really hit you that hard?"

"Oh yes. If it were not for my devotion to this cause driving me forward, I would have ceased to exist some time ago. But I wouldn't suggest you try using that card yourself, Reimu. I mean no insult, but you are not a good enough person to use the Swordbearer's Curse and survive it."

"I thought as much. Still, it is something worth understanding."

"There is one other thing you should know," said Yukari. The Border Youkai took a deep breath, a sign of trepidation that was for her the rough equivalent of a blubbering breakdown.

"The Yin-Yang Orb is a Soul Gem, isn't it?" Reimu asked, preempting Yukari.

"Y-yes. How did you find out?" stammered Yukari, taken aback.

"It was in the Hakurei Chronicles." Reimu shrugged. "You seem surprised."

"Um, yes." replied Yukari. "Your ancestor, Chiyo Hakurei, was very, shall we say, antagonistic towards me. I'm surprised she mentioned it, seeing as how she had to ask for my assistance to perform the transformation."

"Well, it's not exactly in black and white in there. Between you and me, Chiyo and some of my other revered ancestors had some issues," said Reimu, spinning a finger beside her temple.

"Yes, well, she had her reasons," replied Yukari, defensively.

"Okay, since we're having sharing time, what exactly did you do? You laid some hints on us after our battle, but those were cryptic, even for you, and then there was that BS Koishi spouted out at the picnic-"

"She wasn't lying, but she didn't quite pull everything out correctly, either." Yukari slumped as the burden of the past overwhelmed her. "Somewhere, even as we speak, Chiyo and I are out there, on the Outside, waiting for the fates to have their way with us.

"We were both friends with some of the Puella Magi, although we didn't know it at the time. So it came to be that we had front-row seats for the Balmarian invasion. They came to exterminate us, the whole Human race, for knowing the Incubators. It's funny, really, what stress can do to a magician. I came fully into my powers at the climax of the attack, and I decided to make use of those powers to drive back the invasion.

"I pulled the sky down upon them. Chiyo . . . she realized what was happening. I was hurting more than just the invaders, but I didn't care. She tried to stop me then, but I fought her off. I was rattled, but I kept going. When it was over, the Balmarian fleet had been destroyed, but so too was our city. I must have killed at least fifty thousand people in that fight. It still horrifies me, to be honest.

"I opened a gap in the Border of Past and Present and hurled myself back to when I first got started as who I am now. I thought if I got a second try, I could stop the invasion, without harming innocents this time. Well, Nova must have survived, because just moments later, Chiyo popped up, Soul Gem and all, and started attacking me.

"That's where I went wrong. All this time, thirteen hundred years, I blamed the Incubators for turning the girl I once loved against me, but I did that, not them. This time around, I was so focused on destroying the Incubator presence, that I lost sight of what I was doing. I thought I could stop the Balmarians and get revenge at the same time, but really, I got neither."

"Yeah, well, nobody can go it alone. Even Marisa knows better than that." Reimu squared herself up. "Go and take your rest Yukari. Believe it or not, but you would be missed, if you were to pass away. And one more thing." Here, Reimu looked Yukari directly in the eye, to ensure her words would reach the elder youkai. "Chiyo really did love you. That's why she fought you so hard."

"I understand." Yukari bowed her head. A gap split open behind Reimu. "And thank you. For everything."

Reimu stepped from the gap back to a construction site that was somewhat busier than it had been. Marisa and Alice, Byakuren and Miko had arrived while she was out. Tewi was skulking around the edge of the conversation, having already been at site in her role as boss of the labor pool for the temple construction, but now she wore her Official Representative Persona with a pout. Aya was standing over the Mikis, getting her long-delayed interview at last, while Youmu had wandered over to the Puella Magi contingent for different reasons entirely. Sanae was there too, although it appeared her attendance had been coerced, seeing as how Suwako was standing next to her, pointing a goad at her only halfway in jest. And then there were the Nineballs- Reimu spotted the bulk of them attempting all to hide behind a single bush, looking guilty about something. Yuuka waved hello and then pointed a finger at the Nineballs and mouthed "watch this!" to Reimu. The bush suddenly went dormant, its leaves closing and drooping, making the poor cover no cover at all. Panic lit up the faces of Cirno's gang and the scattered in all directions at supersonic velocity. Reimu simply shook her head.

All of these people are looking at me. No, they're looking to me, expecting me to give them direction. That's . . . godsdamned terrifying. But, I know why Yukari always had a whiff of the megalomania about her.

"Okay, everybody, here's what we're gonna do-"

"Have an airing of grievances?" Miko cut in, a smirk on her face. Oh. Right, this is Gensokyo after all, thought Reimu. Inside, however, her primary emotion was relief.

"Uh, sure, I suppose. Go for it," said Reimu, waving the Princess of Calamity forward.

"Well, one, you forgot to set out any kinda grub, considering you called everybody here. But, more importantly, two; I haven't gotten to duel any of these Outsider girls yet. I fought the Purifiers, now I want to see how the people who beat 'em fight like!"

"You want some? Well come n' get it!" Kyōko summoned her spear and stepped up.

"Okay, wait, hold it!" Marisa shoved her way between the would-be combatants. "I wanna try something, if you're okay with having some experimental magic laid down on what's gonna be your front yard Reimu?"

"Uhh . . . go for it? Anything that blows up probably needed replaced anyway."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, ze." Marisa muttered, but she wasn't deterred from hauling out her magic notebook and opening it. "Yo, Shanghai! Chop chop!" Alice looked a bit nonplussed at someone else summoning her minions, doubly so when the little doll with the blue dress actually darted over to Marisa's side.

"Oh, so that's what this is!" Alice exclaimed as she read the spellwork through Shanghai. "Well, this will be interesting." Several more Shanghai dolls sallied forth and began tracing out a large and complicated magic circle.

"Define 'interesting'," Reimu scowled at the puppeteer.

"Ooh! I know this one!" Nova leaped forward, one hand in the air. "It's 'Oh God oh God we're all gonna die?' right?" This earned Nova a free glare from both Reimu and Marisa.

While the circle was being drawn, Reimu sidled over to Byakuren. "Okay, did I miss something? It's not like I demanded everybody show up and bring a friend. I just said I wanted to talk to a couple people in the Compact about a couple of issues related to the Purifier Incident. I didn't put out any 'grub' because I wasn't planning on this turning into an event!"

"Reimu, dear, you have a lot to learn." Byakuren chuckled. "Think back to the note you sent us, and presumably the other Compact members. If you had received something like that from Yukari, what would you have done?"

"Okay, if it was Yukari I would've made sure to be there no more than 5 minutes late, but that's not the point! I'm not Yukari!"

"No, you're not. You're only the woman who beat Yukari in open battle, united the major powers of Gensokyo in a single alliance- something never before accomplished, although many have tried- and defeated an alien menace that threatened to destroy the entire world."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they're supposed to jump when I say jump!"

"No, but they choose to. You have a great and terrible power in your hands Reimu. Yukari they obeyed out of fear, but these people follow your commands out of respect, more or less."

"Huh." Reimu shook her head. "Huh."

"Take some time to process it. It looks like this wasn't the first piece of heavy news you received today. I will take care of the accommodations." Byakuren sketched a small bow and then moved off, presumably to arrange one of the domestic miracles she was known for. It was enough to make Reimu grimace and smile all at the same time. A phosphorescent glow then drew the shrine maiden's attention.

"So . . . what exactly are you making here, Marisa?" Reimu asked as she surveyed the glowing circle. From where she stood, however, it looked like Alice was actually doing all the work, based on Marisa's design. Probably better than the other way around, thought Reimu, recalling the blonde magician's somewhat slipshod production methods.

"I call it the Twilight Frontier. The short version is, it's a combat simulator. Fighters in the projection can do whatever they normally do, and it all gets converted to a calculated volume of danmaku, leashed to the Spellcard rules. And, because it's a projection, I can create a whole battleground for them to play in without ever having to leave that circle."

"I see," Reimu said, although her tone of voice implied the opposite. "So, how big a battleground are we talking? And what's with the name anyway?"

"Uh, for size, I could do Myouren Temple with how it's programmed right now, including the gardens and the graveyard." That drew an impressed murmur from the shrine maiden. "As for the name, well, it's partly because I used a bunch of shadow conjuration to make the whole thing work, but mostly because it sounded cool, ze!" Marisa then slid a bit closer before continuing. "Also, I'm confident this will work just fine for most things, but I wouldn't let the Incubator girl do her shadow-stepping stuff in the projection, and I don't think Rumia should set foot on the field at all until I've done some more testing."

"Uh-huh. And how big of a blast radius are we looking at if she does?"

"Hey! That's not nice! Not all of my spellcraft is primed to blow up to hell and gone if something goes wrong!" Reimu cocked an eyebrow and stared at Marisa until her air of wounded pride wore off. "Er, shouldn't need more than a one-kilometer radius of clear space for the test."

"Riiight." Reimu put two fingers to her lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle. "CIRNO!"

"Whaddayou want? Don't think you can just yell and I'm gonna come running!" shouted the ice fairy in contravention of the fact that she had done exactly that in response to Reimu's yell.

"See that big magic circle? Rumia steps on it and you die, okay?" Reimu pointed at Marisa's construction.

"Hey! Screw off! I don't like being threatened." Cirno fumed, brandishing her Soul Gem signet in a manner as to also make an obscene gesture. "I can fight back now, got it?"

"Actually, that wasn't a threat. Somebody didn't check her work before scrawling it all over my lawn, so worst-case scenario is if Rumia enters the circle, everybody within a kilometer of this place becomes chop suey."

"Oh. Yeah, that would be a bad thing. I'll go get the Rumi-leash." Cirno replied, shooting off at maximum velocity to where the Nineballs were regrouping, leaving Reimu free to receive the next contestant.

"Hey, bite me!" Marisa exclaimed. "I asked permission first, ze!"

"Yes, but you also failed to mention just what kind of time bomb you were building!" Tensions and irritations which had been buried while the Incident was happening threatened to come to life and ignite an incandescent argument between the two girls, and the rest of the onlookers began congregating in a rough circle around Reimu and Marisa, eager to watch the drama unfold (just so long as there was sufficient warning before the Spellcards came out). Alice contemplated giving Marisa a nice shove, but Remilia still looked touchy enough that a crash-kiss would make things even worse, but then, a new distraction arrived.

"Tally ho!" came a voice from above, followed shortly thereafter by Lyrica Prismriver dropping to the ground at speed. "Merlin, you idiot, I told you this was the place!"

"How was I supposed to know?" came the reply as Merlin landed beside her sister. "When I think of 'Reimu Hakurei', a large social gathering is not what springs to mind. Er, no offense," Merlin quickly added, looking at the fuming shrine maiden. "My apologies for our delay. You were not kept waiting long, I hope?"

"Waiting for what?" Reimu asked, her anger giving way to puzzlement.

"Why, for us! Being late for an appointed gig is the worst thing imaginable! Well, next to dying."

"Uhh . . ." Reimu frowned. "I didn't-" she started to deny contracting the phantasmal performers, when the culprits presented themselves, in the form of Mystia and Kyouko, who had lagged behind as they had to carry actual instruments. "CIRNOOO!" came the shout for the second time of the afternoon.

"Eyedidn'tdoit! I swear! Please don't kill me!" Cirno squeaked out, diving for cover behind Wriggle. Reimu fumed as she surveyed the scene- between a Marisa experiment that could likely qualify as an Incident all on its own, hungry guests, perplexed Prismrivers, Yukari, Remilia, and a heaping helping of cosmic adversity, the shrine maiden's temper was at a roiling boil.

"Oh, to hell with it! Anything gets broken, it needed fixing anyway." Reimu thumped down into a seiza position. "Go on, duel, play, party, have at it!"

"Aha! She's learning!" Mima materialized next to the still-simmering shrine maiden.

"Learning what? That my friends are a pain in the ass? I already knew that!"

"No, learning how to lead." Mima chuckled.

"Do you need your eyes checked? This isn't leading, this is letting the lunatics run the asylum."

"That's the best kind of leading!" the evil spirit grinned as she watched the Prismrivers and their Nineball noisemakers set up their instruments. Miko and Kyōko were warming up for their duel, a process which seemed to be made up mostly of trash-talk. "The really neat trick is when you let them run loose and then convince them that what they were doing is what you planned in the first place."

"I see . . . " replied Reimu, playing the nod-and-smile-at-the-crazy-ghost game.

"Do you actually understand, Reimu, or are you playing the nod-and-smile-at-the-crazy-ghost game?"

"Bah, when did you become a mind-reader?" Reimu grumped in reply.

"When you became that easy to read." replied Mima, a teasing grin on her face.

"Bah." said Reimu again. "Hey! Are you two gonna fight, or just keep yapping?" the shrine maiden called out, spooking Miko and Kyōko from their mutual posturing.

"Right, sorry." Kyōko looked over at her would-be opponent. "Let's do this thing, yeah?"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Merlin barged in among the fighters, waving her arms frantically. "You can't start yet!"

"Whyfor the hell not?" replied Miko, gripping her scabbard and thumbing Shichi-sei Ken loose. "(Also, that's twice now! Third time's the harm!)" muttered the Taoist princess.

" 'Cause we're not done setting up yet! Can't have the big climactic battle without appropriate theme music!"

"Uh, newsflash, but we already had the 'big climactic battle'! This is just screwing around 'cause we can. Besides, we managed our real fights just fine without music!"

"Well, phooey." Merlin turned back to where her sisters were busy tricking Mystia's Outside gear into running off mana instead of electricity. "Girls, we've got a challenge on our hands! Hop to it!" cried Merlin, which did in fact spur the rest of the Prismriver operation to redouble their efforts, but that led to more flailing and cursing than anything. Soon enough though, the musicians were squared away.

"May we finally start the party, Your Musical Majesty?" Kyōko glared over at Merlin.

"Yeah, yeah, get to it!"

BGM : Poplica* - Poptrick - "Resolution"

"Huh, that's not as bad as I was expecting," Kyōko muttered as she stepped into the circle. "The music and the magic both. This might just work!" And then the spell engaged.

BGM : 0:28

A cyclopean amphitheater exploded into being around the two contestants, but there was no time given to admire Marisa's architectural talents as the battle began. Kyōko grounded her spear, but was quickly forced to give up her solid defense, for Miko was much faster and more dangerous than Sayaka had been in their first fight. But the grounded guard was more a taunt than anything, and as Kyōko retreated from the onslaught of the Taoist, she let her scorpion spear come apart. The links wound between Miko's legs and grabbed her, and then suddenly Miko was ripped off her feet and thrown headlong into a conveniently placed pillar on the battlefield. Ordinarially, Miko could have used her aerial agility to avoid such an embarrassing fate, but Kyōko kept her bound with the chains of the spear until the moment of impact.

The pillar crumbled to the ground, a theatrical touch applied by Marisa, and Miko stalked from the expanding cloud of dust stroking her mouth, surprised that the realistic feeling of being smashed through stone didn't come with realistic injuries as well. "Not bad, not bad at all." said Miko with a grin. "Now try some of . . . this!" she shouted, and Shichi-sei Ken carved through the air in a spiraling path, spilling out beams of light in an ever-expanding cone, and then it was Kyōko's turn to yelp and quail as the Lasers of Seventeen Articles administered phantom burns all over her body. But the pain lasted only a moment, just enough to let Kyōko know she'd been hit, and when she reengaged she was laughing along with Miko as they traded blow for blow and spell for spell.

Reimu had her eyes on the fight, but she wasn't truly watching. Just being back to a state where the most riding on the outcome of a fight was bragging rights was a breath of fresh air. Yeah, this feels pretty good right now. Maybe it won't always be this way. Maybe the future will turn dark again for a time. But it won't always be that way either. The Sun will always come back to shine once more.

And I will never change my resolution from now on.