Shrine Maiden (A Modern-Day Touhou Quest)

Rei pauses halfway out the front door as the hem of her jeans catches her eye. Her pants are dirty. She was covered in dust and dirt from unpacking and walking around the shrine. A second look shows her shirt is wrinkled and has a stain that was most definitely not drool blotting its collar. She couldn't go out like this. She looked like some kind of vagrant.
She discreetly sniffs at an armpit—smelled like one too.

Undressing quickly, she tosses the dirty clothes near the front door and walks back to her bedroom. She briefly eyes her pile of clean clothes before pulling out a pale, off-white blouse, a dark blue high-cut jacket, and a cute skirt.

Dressing with only the fading light of the setting sun shining through a window is somewhat odd. Not having a mirror to check herself out in a bit more so, but she couldn't do much about either. It also saved a bit of time since all she could do was run her fingers through her hair and hope it wasn't too messy.

A few minutes later, Rei is passing beneath the faded red torii, wallet tucked away and a destination firmly in mind.


The walk back into town is much quicker than the walk out of it had been. Partly because Rei had a good memory for that kind of thing—tournament-level chess had practically required it. And partly because she'd picked up her pace as the balmy warmth of the ocean breeze had shifted a bit toward chill. So what had been a meandering forty-five-minute walk from the train station turned into about half an hour on the way back.

Rei spots her destination as she walks past the now unfortunately closed ice cream shop. Glowing with a neon yellow light was a sign hanging off a building attached by a small, covered walkway to the station itself—a Western Union.

She'd seen the sign in passing on her walk to the shrine but hadn't thought much of it. It had, in fact, only registered in her mind once she'd realized just how bereft of modern appliances the shrine indeed was. There wasn't a single building she could think of in Seattle that didn't at least have a phone line—even the old buildings near Pioneer Square were modern on the inside. Hell, she'd gone camping with friends at places with electrical hookups.

Thankfully, Hafiz—a friend she'd made who'd been part of her school's study abroad program—had told her about using them to call internationally after his host family had complained about the expense. It's like a dollar for ten minutes, Rei… the only downside is it's not exactly private. She'd promised Auntie that she'd call her once she settled in Gensokyo. She could deal with a lack of privacy if anyone in the building spoke English well enough to eavesdrop.

Running fingers through her hair, Rei opens the door, ignoring the doorbell chime and zeroing in on a bank of pay phones. Fortunately, there's no one else trying to make a call. In fact, the only other person was a balding man sitting behind the counter, his nose firmly buried in an inappropriate-looking magazine.

She looks at the payphone for a moment before taking out a ¥500 coin and dropping it in. A deep breath in and out calms an odd fluttering of nerves—It was just Auntie—and she dials a number she'd had to memorize to graduate kindergarten.

The phone rings nearly a dozen times, long enough for her to debate hanging up and trying again later, before it picks up and a groggy voice answers. "Rei, it's two in the morning. I told you to call me when you landed, which would have been six hours ago, and also not woken me up in the middle of the night."

"Sorry, auntie," Rei grins sheepishly, "how did you know it was me?"

"Who else would call me in the middle of the night from Japan?" she could hear the sarcasm in Auntie's voice despite the tinniness of the connection.

"Oh, right, caller ID." her grin widens, "well, I made it to Gensokyo."

"Did you? Hmm…" There's a rustling sound in the background, "give me a moment, kid. I'll probably need to sit up for this."

Rei waits as she hears rustling followed by the sound of footsteps going down stairs and, finally, the sound of coffee starting to brew. "So, did you forget that the shrine had no electricity, or was it supposed to be a surprise? If so, well played, 'cause I sure was surprised."

"No electricity?" she couldn't tell if the note in Auntie's voice was confused or sleepy. "Well, it's been years since I left, and… Miya was always a traditional sort of person… just like her mother at that, so maybe it didn't. Sorry kid, if I'd remembered, I'd at least have made sure you packed batteries."

"It's fine. After this, I'll pick up some stuff from the convenience store." Despite waving off the apology, a frown crosses Rei's face. If Auntie and her mother were as close as Mother's letter indicated, she must have been at the shrine before… and a lack of electricity was an odd thing to forget.

If things ended as badly as Mother's letter indicated, maybe Auntie just wanted to forget everything.

"Besides the lack of electricity—sorry again for that—how's the shrine?" At least Auntie sounded apologetic enough that this probably wasn't some odd sort of prank. Not that pranks were something Auntie did. At all.

"The outside has seen better days. Like that place on First…," Auntie hmms in a way that could have been confusion or acknowledgment, "you know, the condemned one."

"Oh, right… The Henderson's house, I remember." Her voice stopped to sip loudly at what was probably coffee. "Wait, if it looks that bad… How's the inside look? There's no structural damage, is there? Do you need some money for a hotel?"

"There's a bit of dust, but I didn't see anything wrong with it. As far as I could tell, there was no water damage or anything on the ceiling."

Rei frowned as the questions resonated in her mind. It hadn't dawned on her that something might be wrong with the shrine. Was she going to have to get an inspection? How much would that cost? Almost certainly more than the few hundred bucks she'd brought with her, right?

"Well, if the inside looks fine, there's probably nothing to worry about." Auntie exhales into the phone and sips loudly. "I remember chatting with one of the contractors at the Henderson's house, and he said the inside was even worse than the outside. Full of mold and discoloration… and vandalism. I wouldn't think so, but there's none of that in the shrine, is there?"

"Yes, Auntie, the small town's church thing has been completely defaced by satanic graffiti." Rei doesn't even try to keep the sarcastic drawl from her voice.

"Hmph," Auntie garrumps into the phone. "If you're feeling well enough to be a sarcastic brat, things can't be too bad. Have you had a chance to explore Gensokyo at all?"

"Just from the train station to the shrine. Then I unpacked, took a nap, and watched the sunset from the back porch."

"Ahh, I remember doing that with Miya," Auntie's voice warms with something like nostalgia. "On days when the winds calmed down, it would look like the bay had turned to fire."

"Yeah, it was…"

Rei starts to describe her trip, starting after she left Auntie at the international terminal of SeaTac, to the flight itself, landing in Tokyo and arriving in Gensokyo. And as she talks, a faint tension starts to fade from her thoughts. Today had been exhausting. Unfamiliar. And hearing Auntie's voice felt kind of like coming home. Eventually, though, the time on her call runs to an end, and it's time to say goodbye.

"Before you go, a letter came in for you yesterday. I normally wouldn't open it," yes, Auntie, because opening someone else's mail is a crime. "But you're in Japan, and it looked official. Anyways. It was a law firm… Kotohime and Enigma—odd name for a law firm, but whatever—saying something about your inheritance from Miya. They have an office in Gensokyo, so if you have time, you might want to drop in and find out what they want."

"Ok. I'll do that." There was probably some paperwork she had to sign to gain ownership of the shrine. "Love you, auntie."

"Love you too, kid. Give me a call in a few days so that I know you haven't starved to death. And let me know if you need any money or anything."

"No. I'm good. Bye, Auntie."

She sighs as the dial tone clicks back on, hangs up, turns, and walks out, not sparing a glance at the bald man, still preoccupied with his dirty magazine. Outside, the night air had gained a bit of a bite to it, and Rei wraps her high-cut jacket tighter around her as she debates where to go next. The insistent growl and twist of her stomach told her it was time to find food, but that raised the question of whether to find a restaurant or get something to go.

As she debated quality versus speed, Auntie's comment about batteries tilts the decision in favor of a convenience store. She would need batteries, a flashlight, and probably a small radio or something… not to mention something to read. And, if she remembered correctly, she'd passed a convenience store—a konbini—on her way here.


The Konbini, a 7-Eleven of all things, is bright and welcoming against the chill of the night and far cleaner and nicer than anything she'd ever seen in the States. A girl with long blonde hair looks up from behind the counter with a smile and a wave, "Hey stranger, haven't seen ya' 'round here before. Whatcha need?"

Perhaps it was how long the day had been, twelve hours on a plane followed by another hour on the train. Or perhaps it was the soreness slowly building in her legs, she'd walked more today than she usually would in a week. Or perhaps it was just the hunger of not having eaten at all today. Whatever the case, something about the open friendliness of the blonde's face just rubbed the wrong way.

"Tch," Rei responds with a dismissive noise and then continues, unable to help herself. "Are you always so…" A waved hand punctuates her statement.

"Don't be like that, stranger." The girl seems utterly unaffected by either her glare or brusque words. "'Sides, I gotta do something to kill the boredom on the night shift… anyways, I'm Marisa. Nice to meet'cha."

"Nice to meet you," Rei responds as though the words were pulled out of her but refuses to offer her name.

Something that doesn't seem to deter the blonde—Marisa—at all. "Ooo, a mysterious stranger. S'like the most interestin' thing that's happened all month."

"Can you…" go away are words she's not quite cranky enough to say, "I need food, a flashlight, some batteries, and something to read."

"Gotcha," the blonde hops over the counter in a display of athleticism that would have sparked a bit of jealousy if Rei weren't so tired and hungry. She walks over to a freezer section and pulls out a pair of foil-wrapped somethings. "Since ya' got a bit of a Yankee accent, ya' might like these… bur-ee-toes we just got in last week. Bit heavy on the cheese, but the meat's nice 'n spicy."

Rei takes the burritos wordlessly, the weight of them doing as much as anything to reassure her that they'd be sufficient, and follows behind the blonde as she down another aisle. "We got flashlights for scarin' off wildlife an' creepy old guys, but they're a bit bright for readin', so you probably want one of these… and to go with… a pack of batteries."

A foldable night light with a clip that looks like it could be attached to a book cover joins her burritos and a twenty-four pack of AAs.

"As for readin', we've mostly got manga." Marisa leads her to an aisle set against the far window of the store and gestures. "I'll be at the counter when you're ready to ring up."

Rei nods absently, feeling guilty at how she'd treated the friendly girl as she starts to browse the selection available. She selects the first two volumes of a story about a shrine maiden in historical Japan—something she figured was appropriate given her current condition—and something with a spiky-haired kid fighting some shadowy monster. After a moment of consideration, a comic of a woman in traditional Chinese clothing sitting in front of a Go board joins her other selections.

With her shopping done, Rei walks over toward where Marisa was doodling in a notebook behind the counter. The blonde looks up with a smile, "find everything, stranger?"

"Yeah, thanks… and umm… sorry for the, you know," she waves her hand in explanation, "I'm Reimu. Rei, for short."

"Well, Rei, welcome to Gensokyo." She reaches out to pick up the comic with a shrine maiden on the cover, revealing a pentagram tattooed on her left wrist. "Ooo, the Eastern Utopia series, I love this one. The mangaka live around here, ya' know. Likes to come in for a bottle of shōchū and yakiniku a couple times a month."

"Are you Wiccan?" Normally, she wouldn't have said anything, but something about the blonde's demeanor forces the question out.

Marisa stops scanning her purchases and fixes her with a piercing, yellow-eyed stare. After a moment, the look disappears behind an apologetic smile, "Sorry 'bout that. Lot of folks in Gensokyo get a bit superstitious about that sorta thing, so I can't exactly wear my hat to work, but I gotta be me, ya' know?"

Rei didn't, not exactly, but being Asian in America had given her something similar. "It's tough. When I moved to America, I remembered just enough about Japan to make things awkward at first, and by the time I'd adjusted well…"

"I hear ya'. Pops died when I was young, and I bounced around for a while until I landed here." She swipes the last item across the barcode reader, and a bill for ¥2850 pops up before it's replaced by an even ¥2000.

"Bit of a discount for a stranger in a strange land." The blonde smirks as Rei eyes the till in confusion. "An' maybe a little somethin' to sweeten the pot if ya' end up wanderin' 'round Gensokyo at night lookin' for somethin' to do."

"Thanks," Rei hands over a pair of thousand yen notes and accepts her bag of groceries in return. She pauses for a moment in debate before deciding that she rather liked the blonde and didn't care if this all seemed a bit unusual. "I'll be staying for at least a week or two. If you want to hang out or something, I'm staying up at the shrine overlooking the bay."

"No shit. Always thought that place was haunted." Marisa's face brightens with genuine happiness. "I'll stop by sometime with a bottle of sake, and we can do the whole otsikumi thing."

"That's not until September…" Rei's deadpan does nothing to dent the other girl's enthusiasm.

"Sure. Sure." Marisa waves that away as though not worth mentioning and hops back over the counter to walk her toward the door. "See ya' 'round, Rei."

"Later, Marisa." She walks back into the night, a feeling of lightness and ease surrounding her.


Said feeling of ease has faded to nothing before she's halfway back to the shrine. The rest of her walk is accompanied by nothing but the ache in her legs and an occasional, juggled bite of a burrito clearly seasoned with curry spice rather than anything more appropriate.

By the time Rei arrives back at the shrine, she has just enough energy to shuck her clothes into a pile and climb beneath her bed sheets. She's out like a light almost before her head hits the pillow.


Under the light of the waxing moon, a single drop of crimson paint falls onto a faded gate.


Rei has successfully made it through the day. Not only that, she's made a friend and found out that there may be more to deal with regarding the shrine than she had thought. She has three actions that she can take tomorrow (please do not feel rushed to choose any particular option there are no 'bad ends' in this quest). Reminder: Rei has ¥37500 left.


Exploration Options - Find a new place at random or look for a specific one
[] Explore the neighborhood around the shrine

[] Explore Gensokyo

[] Find a bathhouse

[] Find the lawyer's Auntie told her about

[] Go to the used bookstore


Social Options - Hang out with the people you've met
[] Meet up with Marisa


Hobby Options - Improve an existing hobby or learn a new one
[] Go to the arcade

[] Read manga

[] Buy gardening supplies

[] Start a new hobby.
-[] write in which. Previously mentioned hobbies are art, exercise, sports, history, movies, camping, and music. Other hobbies can be written in (with GM approval)


Shopping Options - Make the shrine and your existence there more pleasant
[] Buy home repair supplies

[] Buy a solar-powered generator

[] Buy groceries


Other Options - The world is vast beyond belief and mysterious beyond words
[] Write in. In lieu of writing out a neverending list of things to do, I'll leave this here if voters want to do something else. Write ins may well end up being incorporated into the turn options even if not chosen.


[AN]
Regardless of the world, Reimu and Marisa are gonna be friends—also, confirmation for anyone who wasn't sure whether Rei was, in fact, a Reimu.