Opening AN: Took me long enough to post this chapter. As for the fic itself, changed the layout yet again, as my ambitions for this fic lay far beyond Touhou and into other IPs. Not gonna spoil them on what they are, obviously.
Edit 1: Notable edits include shortening the gang's game discussion, the retcon of kotohime being a Dreamer, and a portrait of Sabitsuki, Rust, and Kotohime.
Boundary Between Dream and Memory
Chapter Six: Flowering Household and Second Visit
Many hours had passed since the Sealing Club members and Yomika had visited Gensokyo, and with the current time in Gensokyo being close to midnight, the cover of night allows one to be sneaky should they choose to be, with one particular person named Sumireko taking full advantage of it, as she is currently spreading Occult Balls wherever she can around Gensokyo. What's helping Sumireko get away with this sneaky business is that her current form allows her to blend in with the night even to those with night vision. As to how Sumireko is able to get to Gensokyo without the Hyper Nexus, she has a special power she kept secret from everyone that allows her to travel to Gensokyo as a pseudo-shadow while dreaming.
Kinda strange how I ended up in the Hakurei Shrine when I came to, Sumireko thought as she placed an Occult Ball on the forest floor.
Considering that she's an Incident Solver of some sort, I need to be more careful on who I encounter before anything could happen, even with my shadow form making me practically invisible among the shadows of the night. Sumireko then began to fly up and out of the forest she was in to place another Occult Ball elsewhere. The lady who asked Sumireko to spread the Occult Balls around Gensokyo and sometimes supplies her with extra Occult Balls said that Sumireko was free to place them wherever she pleases, which Sumireko had no issue with, as it allowed her to explore Gensokyo to her heart's content within her time limit.
Sumireko eventually arrived at a bamboo forest of some kind.
Oh right, I forgot that this damned bamboo forest was here, Sumireko thought to herself.
Never liked this place, as it is easy to get lost in and there are areas of bamboo that are so dense that you can't even see past the first few rows of bamboo you see. Despite Sumireko's dislike of the bamboo forest, she decided to enter it, as she visited the bamboo forest once before, but flew out of it in frustration without even placing an occult ball, as she wasn't able to retrace her steps.
The only saving grace about this accursed bamboo forest are the cute, sleeping bunnies I saw every now and then.
This time, Sumireko decided to let the bamboo forest make her lose her tracks, as she wasn't here to sightsee, but was figuring out where to place an occult ball.
I don't think I'll come back to this forest after placing an Occult Ball here. If I can get lost here with a get-out-of-jail-free card that is flying, I can only imagine how lost one can get without being able to fly.
Eventually, Sumireko decided to place an Occult Ball in a random place on the bamboo forest floor.
A shame I didn't encounter any sleeping bunnies to watch, but oh well. I don't wanna come here ever again, and one Occult Ball in this forest is good enough. Maybe someone could even use the power in the Occult Ball to get out of this place should they lack the ability to fly. Sumireko then flew up and out of the bamboo forest to repeat this process throughout Gensokyo, stopping only when she ran out of Occult Balls for the night.
Eventually, enough time had passed in the Outside World for it to be around 10:30 AM, and with the current day being a Saturday, no school meant that kids and teenagers of all ages often had more leisure time to enjoy themselves. As for the Usami household, which currently included Sumireko, Renko, and their mother, with the mother having brown hair and eyes, as well as wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and black-framed glasses, they were passing time playing Wii Sports together in the living room. More specifically, the three Usami women were playing bowling, with the current turn belonging to Sumireko.
Sumireko finished lining up her shot and began to perform the motions of bowling with her Wii remote, causing her Mii to mimic Sumireko's motions and release the bowling ball. The bowling ball rolled down the bowling alley, and eventually, the bowling ball crashed into the bowling pins, causing all of them to go down at once in a strike, causing Sumireko to celebrate in excitement for her strike as she moved to sit down. As the game replayed Sumireko's strike, the in-game announcer began to speak. "Nice throw!" The screen then displayed the words of "Strike".
"You have to be cheating, Sumi, there's no way you can get four strikes in a row," Renko said in a competitive tone as she got up to play.
Sumireko smirked cockily in response. "Or maybe I'm just that good. Besides, you got a turkey yourself, so you have no right to complain."
"Now, now, settle down, you two," Sumireko and Renko's mother said in an amused yet placating tone as she adjusted her glasses. "While I like to see your competitive spirits up, I don't want to see this devolve into an actual argument, so let's just enjoy the game, shall we?"
"Okay, mom,"/"Yes, mom," Sumireko and Renko said in unison, respectively.
As Renko was lining up her shot, the three current residents of the Usami household heard the doorbell from the front gate ring.
"Oh, that must be Maribel and the others!" Sumireko said as she paused the game. "'Bout time they got here!"
"I'll get it," the matriarch of the Usami household said as she got up from the sofa and walked up to the front door.
Renko and Sumireko's mother eventually exited the house, and as she did so, she saw Maribel and two other teenage girls over the high fence and gate. As the matriarch of the Usami household approached the group of Dreamers, not that she knew of that specific detail, she overheard a snippet of their conversation. "They live in a place like this? Compared to our apartments, it's one fine house to live in, that's for sure," the foreign-looking teenager with a purple-plaid shirt and light lavender skirt said.
"Yeah, their dad works at a--" Maribel was about to say when she suddenly spotted Sumireko and Renko's mother in the corner of her vision and turned to see her. "Good morning, miss Tsubaki," Maribel said as she took a small bow, causing Madotsuki and Urotsuki to look at the Usami household matriarch.
"Good morning, Maribel," Sumireko and Renko's mother, now named Tsubaki, said as she responded in kind before she took a look at Madotsuki and Sabitsuki. "So these are the new friends Sumi and Renko were talking about?"
"They are, indeed," Maribel answered before turning towards Madotsuki and Urotsuki. "Would you two like to introduce yourselves?"
"Sure," Urotsuki said as she turned to face Tsubaki and Madotsuki nodded. "Name's Urotsuki, nice ta' meetcha."
"And I'm Madotsuki," Madotsuki said as she did a small bow.
"Nice to meet you two, as well, Urotsuki and Madotsuki," Tsubaki said as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm glad to see my two girls and Merry make new friends so soon, so come on in," Tsubaki said as she opened the front gate and gestured to Maribel, Madotsuki, and Urotsuki to come in, to which the three wordlessly followed.
"'Merry,' eh? Sounds like you knew Maribel for quite some time, miss Tsubaki." Urotsuki said as Tsubaki led the three Dreamers to her house.
"You'd be correct, as my two girls and Maribel go way back." Tsubaki answered. "They've known each other since kindergarten, so you can say that Merry and her parents are like family to us at this point."
Tsubaki then opened the front door of her house and entered it, who was then followed by the three Dreamers.
"Wii Sports, eh?" Urotsuki commented as she saw the game the Usami sisters and mother were playing. "Can't go wrong with that."
"Yeah, Renko, mom, and I were in the middle of playing it to pass the time while you three got here," Sumireko responded. "Wanna watch us play?"
"Yeah, I'll watch," Urotsuki answered as she took a seat on a nearby couch.
"I'll watch, as well," Madotsuki said as she also sat down on the couch Urotsuki was sitting on.
"Me too," Maribel said as she did the same.
"Alright then, without further ado," Sumireko said as she spun dramatically to face the tv screen, "let the games begin! Or resume, in this case." Sumireko unpaused the game as she and Tsubaki sat down while Renko began to line up her bowling shot.
Eventually, the Usami sisters and mother had finished the bowling game and the scores came in. Sumireko, despite having four strikes in a row, only landed second place, while Renko was only barely higher than Sumireko in first, and Tsubaki was in third.
"Now that was a good game," Renko said with a hint of pride.
"I'll beat ya next time, that's for sure!" Sumireko exclaimed in response. "Good game, though."
Tsubaki chuckled at her daughters' interaction. "That was fun."
"Now that the game's over, anyone wanna do anything for the sleepover?" Renko asked everyone as she turned towards the group.
"As much as I'd like to join your sleepover, I'm a bit too old for that, I'm afraid," Tsubaki answered in a teasing manner.
"Mom!" Renko exclaimed exasperatedly and a hint of embarrassment.
Tsubaki chuckled at Renko's response. "I'm only teasing you, dearie. In all seriousness, though, I'll be getting ready for work, so make sure no one gets too rowdy while I and your dad are gone, you hear?"
"You got it, mom," Renko replied.
"Good," the Usami household matriarch said as she nodded in approval before she left to get ready in the bedroom she and her husband share.
Once Tsubaki entered the master bedroom, Urotsuki decided to ask Renko a question. "So Renko, what does your mom do, if ya don't mind me asking?"
"She works part-time as a convenience store cashier," Renko answered. "It definitely ain't much compared to my dad's breadwinning job in finances, but the extra income doesn't hurt."
"So what's your parent's jobs, Uro?" Sumireko asked.
Despite Sumireko only having known the two dreamers for three days at this point, today included, Urotsuki didn't mind the shortened name as she felt she had quickly made a strong bond with the Usami sisters and Maribel. "Dad's in the US army that's stationed near here, and mom's an elementary teacher."
"Wow, your dad's in the army? That's pretty cool," said Sumireko. What about you, Mado?"
"Dad's a construction worker, while mom's a cashier at Mcdonald's," Madotsuki answered.
"What about your parents, Maribel?" Urotsuki asked.
"My father works as an engineer while my mother works as secretary for a paper company, though both of them had a love for music, and mother always wanted to be a musician," Madotsuki said. "More specifically, father was a pianist back during high school and college while mother was a violinist during her middle and high school years, and it was their love of music that got them together."
"Aw, that's so sweet!" Urotsuki said. "Sucks that your mom didn't land her dream job, but does she make music during their free time, at least?"
"Yeah, they both do, especially with Vocaloid and UTAU," Maribel answered. "They aren't the famous Vocaloid and UTAU producers you hear often in those circles, but they find it fun and fulfilling."
That's pretty cool," Urotsuki said. "So, any of you three got any games? I, for one, have a famicom in my room, while an Xbox and Xbox 360 reside in the living room. Now before you all say anything, yeah, I know just how god awful the Xbox does here, especially compared to how it does in America, but my dad and his military friends are hardcore Xbox fans and often party up online for matches whenever they can, so it would be a sin for them to not be able to play games with each other."
"So have you played some of your dad's games?" Sumireko asked.
"I have," Urotsuki answered before she chuckled. "In fact, I sometimes even join in on his matches with his army friends. While they can be pretty foul-mouthed to the point of every other word being a curse word and argue a lot, it's still banter at the end of the day."
Renko had a look of interest on her face. "So do you join in those arguments?"
Urotsuki laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it, as my mom would be very angry at dad for allowing me to participate in those shouting contests, as she has already reluctantly agreed to me playing split-screen with my dad when they are on. Enough about me, however. What about the rest of you? What systems do ya'll got?"
"Well, you've seen our Wii," said Renko. "We actually have a lot of systems. Aside from the Wii, we got a couple of Game Boy Colors, two DS Lites, one for each of us, and a PS2 and PS3."
"Man, now you two certainly got a diverse library from having all of those systems," Madotsuki complemented before turning to Maribel. "What about you, Maribel? What game systems do you have?"
"My family's loyalty is exclusively towards Nintendo, so we got all of the consoles from the Famicom to the Wii, Gameboys and DS included," Maribel answered.
"Sheesh, now that's a lot of consoles to manage," Urotsuki commented. "I'm not too sure if I should envy you for the sheer number of consoles you own or pity you for having to keep track of 'em all."
Maribel chuckled. "You can do both, Urotsuki.
"Since everyone gave their answers, seems like I'm the last one left," said Madotsuki. "My family only really has the Famicom and the Wii, with the Famicom in my room and the Wii in the living room."
Shortly after Madotsuki gave out her answer to Urotsuki's question on their games, Tsubaki exited the master bedroom with a purse in her hand and headed towards the front door, as she got ready for her job. "Sumi, Renko, I'll be leaving now! Can one of you lock the door when I leave?"
"I got it, mom!" Sumireko answered as she got up and headed over to the front door.
"Thanks, Sumi," the Usami household matriarch said as she opened the front door. "All of you should stay safe while I'm gone, you hear?"
After the Sealing Club members answered affirmatively, Tsubaki turned to look at Madotsuki and Urotsuki. "As much as I'd like to get to know you two better right now, work waits for no one, but I'm glad you two quickly became friends with my daughters and Maribel after they transferred to your school."
"'S'all cool, miss Tsubaki," Urotsuki replied with a smile. "I'm glad I made friends with them, as well."
"Same here, miss Tsubaki," Madotsuki said as she nodded in agreement.
"Glad to hear that, you two," Tsubaki said as she also nodded in agreement. "Goodbye, all of you!" She said as she turned around.
The Secret Sealing Club members all said their goodbyes at Tsubaki, and after the members did so, Tsubaki closed the front door, which was Sumireko's cue to lock it. Once Sumireko did so, she returned to the rest of the group and sat down.
"While this talk of video games is interesting, I'm also wondering about the reason for our sleepover, that being our second Gensokyo visit," Sumireko said as soon as she sat down. "I'm assuming we get there the same way as last time?"
"You'd be correct, Sumireko," Madotsuki answered. "All of us will sleep while having contact in some way while us three Dreamers will think of heading on over to the Hyper Nexus."
"Wait, now that you brought it up, Sumi, I just realized something," Renko said as she turned towards Madotsuki and Urotsuki. "When we visited Maribel's dreams, we all went to sleep, but when we went to and left from Gensokyo, we didn't even bother with sleeping. You two know what's up with that?"
"I can answer that, Renko," Urotsuki replied. "There are two ways to enter our dreams and the Hyper Nexus. One is to simply sleep and the other is to teleport there with our Nexus Effect, which normally teleports us to our own nexus in our Dreams, and both require us to think about where we're going."
"Makes sense, though now I have another question," said Renko. "Will this affect Sumireko's sleep as well as my own?"
Urotsuki shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. Us Dreamers never really needed sleep to live ever since we got our dreams, so it never really came across our minds. All I can say is that I can only hope that both your and your sister's sleep isn't ruined by this."
"Considering that we're intending to sleep to get to the Hyper Nexus, I'm leaning more towards you two not losing any sleep than the other," Madotsuki added.
"I hope so, I'd rather not have to wake up with my brain fried from a lack of sleep," Renko said.
"So, anyone else got any questions?" Urotsuki asked.
"Is Yomika coming along with us?" Maribel asked.
"She is," Urotsuki answered. "She'll likely be waiting for us at the Hyper Nexus by the time we get there."
"What about your other Dreamer friend, Sabitsuki?" Sumireko asked. "Is she coming along?"
Urotsuki and Madotsuki glanced at each other before they answered at the same time. "No."/"She's not."
"Any idea why she can't come?" Sumireko asked again.
Sumireko's question caused Madotsuki and Urotsuki to flinch. After a short while, Urotsuki decided to answer Sumireko's question with a half-truth. "Sabi ain't coming right now because she's in a hospital and they still need to check up on her." As Urotsuki gave her answer, Madotsuki glanced at Urotsuki with an unreadable expression on her face.
"Oh, dear, I hope Sabitsuki is alright," Maribel said.
"I hope so, too," Urotsuki said a bit too quickly for it to be a natural response.
While Renko and Sumireko took note of Urotsuki's quick reply, they didn't push on it as they were already informed of Sabitsuki's reluctance to have others share info on her from Madotsuki, Urotsuki, and Yomika, so the two Usami sisters didn't push for answers.
"Any more questions about our eventual Gensokyo journey?" Urotsuki asked. When everyone else replied in the negative, Urotsuki began to speak. "If that's the case, then that leaves only one thing. Anyone know what to do to pass the time until nightfall comes?"
"Normally, Merry, Sumi, and I play games on the Wii, but given that there's five of us and consoles can only fit four players at most, one of us will have to be left out," said Renko.
"Yeah, let's not do that," Sumireko said. "I want all of us to have fun while hanging out."
"We could go to an arcade," Madotsuki suggested. "While we won't all be able to play games together, the experience is good enough for all of us to enjoy."
"Yeah, that could work, so I second Mado's arcade offer," Urotsuki said.
"I'm fine with that, though I also want to do some bowling or pocket circuit as well," Renko said.
"You guys go to a pocket circuit?" Urotsuki asked with surprise.
"Not as much as we used to as kids, but it's still pretty fun," Renko answered.
"In that case, I might be willing to try it out," Urotsuki said. "You think you up to try out some pocket circuit, as well?"
"I'm not particularly interested in joining the pocket circuit, but I'm willing to go if all of you are," Madotsuki answered.
"Alright, so we got an arcade, bowling, and pocket circuit as possible options," Sumireko said before turning to Maribel. "What about you, Merry? Got any places we could go?"
Maribel had a thoughtful look on her face as she began to think of an answer. Eventually, she came up with two answers and began to speak. "While a library might be a good place to relax after having some fun, I've also been wondering if we could all go on a Dream Tour."
Everyone barring Maribel exclaimed with surprise in response as they looked at Maribel in bewilderment.
"Not mine of course," Maribel said as she remembered the Purple-Dressed Woman incident two days ago. "I was wondering if we could go see Urotuski's or Madotsuki's Dream Worlds."
"We could do that, though I'd have to know just what time does Renko and Sumireko's parents come home before we do that," Urotsuki said.
"Mom comes home at 6 PM, while dad comes home at 7, and that's at their earliest for today," Renko replied. "Also, our bedroom's big enough for all of us, and we even also have enough spare futons."
"That's about six hours at minimum," Sumireko said. "If we have enough time to take a Dream Tour, I'm taking back my arcade vote and voting for that, instead!" Sumireko said excitedly.
"So eager to see our Dream Worlds that you've already voted for it before voting could even begin, eh?" Urotsuki rhetorically said. "Six hours is more than enough for a Dream Tour, let alone the rest of our options, so I suppose we can add that and the library to the menu."
"Anyone else got any offers?" Madotsuki asked. When no one replied in the affirmative, Madotsuki nodded to herself. "Then let's take a vote on what to do to pass the time before we head off to Gensokyo."
"I already voted for the Dream Tour, so no need to ask for my vote," Sumireko reminded.
"After getting a taste of Maribel's Dream Worlds, I've been wondering what both of your Dream Worlds look like, so I'm voting for that," Renko said.
"If a Dream Tour doesn't take place, then I'm fine with going to an arcade," Maribel said, implying that she also has a vote for a Dream Tour.
"Three votes for a Dream Tour and one for an arcade, eh? How interesting," Urotsuki commented. "I'm fine with either, though in case of a tie, I'm leaning more towards a Dream Tour, so put my tie breaking vote on that."
"I'm also fine with either, though I'm actually leaning more towards going to an arcade," Madotsuki said.
"Looks like time for a tie breaking vote," Urotsuki said. "Mine is on the Dream Tour, while Madotsuki's sounds like it's on an arcade." Urotsuki briefly turned her head to Madotsuki, the latter nodding to confirm Urotsuki's words. Once Urotsuki got her confirmation, she turned to face the Usami sisters and Maribel. "So what are your tie breaking votes?"
"Dream Tour," Renko tersely answered.
"Same here," Sumireko responded similarly.
"I also vote for a Dream Tour," Maribel said.
"Looks like a Dream Tour won out, so there's only one thing left to do," Renko said. "Should we go see Urotsuki's Dreams or Madotsuki's?"
"I'm suggesting Madotsuki's Worlds, as I've already hosted enough tours before you three came along and I want some variety," Urotsuki said.
"I'm fine with that, so put my vote in for that," Madotsuki said in agreement.
"While I can't exactly say for Sumi and Merry, I'm fine with either of you, though if you two suggest Madotsuki be the host for today, then I'm voting for Madotsuki, as well," Renko said.
"I'm also fine with either of your Dreams, so if Madotsuki is willing to host, then my vote's also on her," said Sumireko.
"Seems like the vote is unanimous, as I'm also fine with seeing either of your Dreams," Maribel said as she turned towards Madotsuki.
"In that case, I want everyone to hold each other's hand," Madotsuki said as she held her hands out to Urotsuki and Renko, them being the closest people to her. Once everyone had done as Madotsuki asked, Madotsuki closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Soon, the Sealing Club members felt the pull of teleportation, and they all disappeared from the Usami household's living room.
While the Sealing Club members had a Dream Tour in Madotsuki's Dream Worlds, Yomika was in the Hyper Nexus, as she was looking for a certain heavily rusted door. Eventually, Yomika had found what she had been looking for and approached the rusted door, opening and entering it.
When Yomika's vision returned and she exited from the rusted door, she found herself in an alleyway in the middle of a cloudy day. As Yomika walked down the alleyway, she walked past a few dumpsters that had clouds of flies and reeked of rot, as they had not been cleaned out in years.
Eventually, Yomika exited the alleyway, and she was greeted with the sight of a ruined Japanese city. Abandoned and scavenged vehicles in various states of disrepair littered the streets while every now and then, light trash such as plastic bags and sheets of paper were being dragged along by the wind. In addition, she saw a person or two shambling around without a thought some distance away, though Yomika knew that they were not people, but actual zombies, as this world had suffered a zombie apocalypse for a handful of years at this point. Yomika took in the sights of a ruined city for only a brief moment before equipping her Tengu Effect and began to fly to her destination.
Eventually, Yomika was greeted with the sight of a certain white, discolored, and drab apartment building that has seen better days, with that building being her destination. With Yomika's destination in sight, she flew down to a balcony that led to an apartment unit, and as the sliding glass door was covered up by a curtain, Yomika began to knock a certain pattern, with that pattern being two long knocks, followed up by three short knocks, followed up by three long knocks.
After a few seconds of waiting, Yomika heard the shuffling of footsteps getting closer to the sliding door. "Who is it?" A female voice tentatively said.
"It is I, Yomika," Yomika introduced herself in a contrastingly calm tone. "No one else is with me, Sabitsuki. As for why I am here, I have a suggestion that I want to make, as well as to update you on Madotsuki and Urotsuki's state of affairs. May I come in?"
Yomika was answered by the curtain covering the sliding glass door being opened, revealing an albino girl with a slim build, a tough look on her face, and who appeared to be somewhere between their late teens and early adulthood, though instead of having the pink or pale blue-gray irises that are omnipresent among albinos, her irises were blood red, and she wore a gray shirt and a white skirt. As to what the albino was currently doing, she was holding and aiming a gray pistol with her right arm at the source of Yomika's voice, though the albino lowered her arm and her gun disappeared in a faint flash of light when she saw Yomika.
"You scared me, Yomika," the albino girl said in a relieved tone as she slid open the sliding door and relaxed her tough look.
"Apologies for scaring you, Sabitsuki," Yomika said as she did a small bow. "While what I wish to discuss with you is not exactly urgent, I did not want to walk up numerous flights of stairs to get to you."
The now named Sabitsuki snorted in amusement. "Come in, lazy bones," she said as she moved aside. Yomika wordlessly complied and entered Sabitsuki's room before closing the sliding door and the curtain behind her as Sabitsuki went over to go sit on her bed.
"So what did ya wanna talk about?" Sabitsuki asked as Yomika unequipped her Tengu effect and also sat down on Sabitsuki's bed.
"Madotsuki, Urotsuki, and I decided to enter another world, and I was wondering if not only you would be interested, but also if your mother would grant you permission to leave and join us," Yomika answered.
Sabitsuki gave Yomika's suggestion some thought. While Sabitsuki's answer was already certain, she did not know how her mother would respond. "I'd gladly come along, though I'd have to ask if mom would allow me to go, and while I doubt I'll be able to leave immediately, given that she's working on the cure for this damned zombie apocalypse, I'll let you and the others know when I'll be cleared to leave."
"That is all I ask of you," Yomika said as she did a small bow of appreciation.
Sabitsuki hummed noncommittally in response. "On a different note, how are the others?"
"Madotsuki and Urotsuki made friends with a Dreamer named Maribel Hearn and her two friends."
"Oh? What are Maribel and her friends like?"
"We have only known them for two days as of now, but they all seem to be pleasant folk, especially Maribel, as she seems to be the kindest of the three. As for Maribel's two friends, they are sisters of different ages, with the older sister being Usami Renko and the younger sister being Usami Sumireko. Renko is the hardest to pin down, but from what I have seen, she seems to be the serious and inquisitive type, as she asked the most questions about our Dream powers."
"Wait, Renko and Sumireko knows about Dreamers such as us?" Sabitsuki asked.
Yomika nodded in response. "She does, and both she and Sumireko learned of it through Maribel."
"I know you said that revealing us being Dreamers is our decision to make, but are Renko and Sumireko trustworthy?"
"Renko and Sumireko are indeed trustworthy, as while they didn't specify when Maribel revealed her Dream powers, they seem to have known it long enough that it is normal to bring it up with each other."
"Hm, fair enough."
"Getting back on track, Sumireko's personality is the easiest to figure out, as she is a rather energetic girl, and from what Madotsuki and Urotsuki have told me, Sumireko is also a chuunibyou."
"So to summarize, Maribel's the nice girl, Renko is the serious girl, and Sumireko is the energetic girl?"
"A succinct and correct summary, Sabitsuki."
"If mom does give me permission to travel with you all, then I'd like to meet the three girls."
"They would also like to meet you, especially since they already know a little bit about you and they all expressed at least some desire to put a face to your name." Yomika saw Sabitsuki begin to speak, but she signaled Sabitsuki to stop, which Sabitsuki reluctantly complied. "And no, they do not know of either the disease that ravages this world nor of said disease being within you, only that you have endured a disaster of some kind."
Sabitsuki snorted. "Ain't that an understatement," she said ruefully before deciding to change topics. "So about Madotsuki, Urotsuki, and you traveling to a new world, did Maribel join them, as well?"
"Yes, she did, as well as Renko and Sumireko," Yomika said as she nodded.
"Say what now?" Sabitsuki said with confusion. "How did the two sisters come along?"
"To make a long story short, they all figured out that contact of any kind is enough to bring non-Dreamers into our Dream Worlds, so on the next day after the initial test, we decided if non-Dreamers could also come along with us while we travel to the Hyper Nexus. Our test was successful, and we even met up and introduced ourselves to two Dreamers in a world called Gensokyo."
"Man, if you all are already getting into new worlds so soon after meeting me, I can't wait to come join you all. So, Yomika, what's Gensokyo like?"
"We have only been there once, and our visit was somewhat short and uneventful outside of our meeting with the two Dreamers we encountered, but I'll tell you what we've learned."
After Yomika shared what she knew of Gensokyo, Sabitsuki began to speak. "So to summarize, Gensokyo is a magical world that's parallel to your own world, it's possibly both a Dream World and a real world, and was created as a safe haven for yokai due to humans slowly no longer believing in myths and fairy tales, right?"
"That would be correct," Yomika nodded.
"So do you know how a world can both be real and a Dream World, Yomika?" Sabitsuki asked.
"To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. I can only presume that someone has decided to project one of their Dream Worlds into reality, and that implies that a Dreamer would have near-god-like abilities, among other implications."
"Considering that yokai apparently exist in your world, that could possibly be quite true, though until you know for sure, thinking about it won't likely come up with anything useful." Sabitsuki's face then lit up in realization. "Oh, that reminds me, how is Chie doing so far?"
"Chie has been doing better since she was adopted, and she has been slowly getting along with her adoptive parents," Yomika answered.
"A shame that I won't be able to see her until I have permission to leave, though I understand why you, Madotsuki, and Urotsuki hadn't brought her along with you here."
"Indeed," Yomika said as she nodded in agreement. "It was one thing that Urotsuki, and, to a lesser extent, Madotsuki, kept on urging me to continue traveling to this world, but it is a different story to even think about bringing a child here. At the very least, I'm glad the two share our stance on bringing Chie here."
Sabitsuki hummed noncommittally as she nodded in response before the conversation lulled to a stop. When both Dreamers realized that the previous conversation was over, Yomika decided to speak up. "Has anything changed since my last visit, Sabitsuki?"
Sabitsuki shook her head in denial. "No, nothing much has changed since mom decided to work on the cure to the Rust Virus within me."
"Speaking of the disease, if your mother develops a cure for it, will you accept it?"
Sabitsuki paused as she began to think of an answer. After a while, she eventually came to a conclusion. "To be perfectly honest, I still don't have an answer to that question. On one hand, not only has the Rusting disease plunged the world into an apocalyptic pandemic, but it also took away my friends and turned me into a carrier." Sabitsuki paused and took a deep breath to recollect herself as bad memories briefly began to resurface. "On the other hand, the virus has become a part of me, for better or worse, both in terms of it integrating with my biology and it leaving a heavy impact on my life, and since it has somehow gained a semblance of sentience, it has become… agreeable on deciding to not infect others, and I don't want it to turn hostile if I do accept the cure."
Yomika nodded to show she had listened and understood Sabitsuki. "I can understand your uncertainty, as I would also be unsure on what to do if I were in your place. All I can say is that whatever your answer will be, I, Madotsuki, and Urotsuki will stand by it."
Even if it means I fully turn into a zombie and attack you all? Sabitsuki immediately wanted to say, but she clamped down on that thought, as it would only make things worse. "Thanks, Yomika, I appreciate it," Sabitsuki said with a smile that had a hint of hollowness to it.
Yomika picked up that Sabitsuki wanted to say something else, but decided to not mention it, so instead, she simply nodded in response, bringing the conversation to a close.
A brief pause had ensued, and eventually, Sabitsuki felt comfortable speaking again. "You have anything else to talk about?"
"No, outside of our sudden conversation about the cure to the Rust Virus, my visit here was mainly to keep you up to date on my own world and to ask you if you wanted to travel to the Hyper Nexus. While I can decide to stay for longer, Madotsuki, Urotsuki, Maribel, Renko, and Sumireko have decided to travel to Gensokyo once again, and since Gensokyo is relatively more dangerous than even your world due to yokai, I worry that they may end up in danger."
Sabitsuki snorted. "Quite the worry wart, aren't ya?" Sabitsuki asked with a hint of humor.
Yomika nodded in response. "That, I do not deny."
"Given what little you remember of your past, I don't blame you for being so. On a lighter note, you also gonna ask my mom about this?"
Yomika nodded in response. "Indeed, I do plan to ask your mother for permission to travel with us after I wrap things up with you." Yomika then had a thoughtful look on her face as an idea suddenly came to her. "Actually, now that I think of it, with the visits to Maribel's Dream Worlds and Gensokyo proving that non-Dreamers can come along with us and your mother being in the loop of both us being Dreamers as well as my otherworldly status, I'm wondering if she would like to come along."
Sabitsuki snorted in amusement. "You'll have to ask her for that, though I'm guessing that mom will be more inclined to not accept your offer than otherwise, at least for now. She's working on the cure, after all."
"Well, it would not hurt me to ask, so I might as well," said Yomika. "So to sum it up, you wish to come along with us someday should your mother agree to it, correct?"
"Yeah," Sabitsuki answered as she nodded. "While this place is home, I'd want to see places that are much less dreary and depressing than here."
"That is an understandable reason," Yomika said before getting up. "Well, if you do not have any further questions about what we brought up, I will head over to see your mother and put my words into action."
"Guess I'll see ya later, Yomika," Sabitsuki said as she waved.
"Farewell, Sabitsuki," Yomika said as she turned to leave, though Yomika only took a single step before she realized she forgot to ask Sabitsuki a question and turned back to face her. "Before I go, Sabitsuki, do you know the current whereabouts of your mother?"
Sabitsuki shook her head in response. "I don't right now, sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it," Yomika said in a rare case of her using contractions in her speech, "I'll just head on over to places she frequently visits," she continued before exiting Sabitsuki's room and closing the door behind her.
Once the door was closed, Sabitsuki flopped down on her bed and began to stare at the ceiling. Just before Sabitsuki could begin on what she could do once she is allowed to travel outside of her own world, Sabitsuki felt a familiar presence began to make itself known in her mind.
"Thinking on what you want to do once you leave this place, eh?" the presence said in a mocking tone.
"How optimistic of you."
Sabitsuki narrowed her eyes upon hearing the mocking tone in the being's voice.
"Shut up, Rust, I don't want to talk to you."
The presence, now known as Rust, began to manifest their physical form within Sabitsuki's mindscape. Rust's appearance was nearly identical to Sabitsuki, with two differing details being the two blood-colored horns jutting out of Rust's forehead and the razor-sharp teeth that show whenever Rust decides to bear her teeth when smiling.
"How rude of you to shut me down just as I decided to show up," Rust said in a faux-hurt tone.
"I was only teasing you, ya know."
Sabitsuki mentally frowned at Rust in response, but decided not to say anything and ignored Rust as she resumed her thoughts on what she'd like to do in the world her otherworldly friends lived in.
Sabitsuki, and by extension, her mother, Madotsuki, Urotsuki, and Yomika, all of them being aware of Rust in some way, never really trusted Rust, and for good reason, as Rust originated from the Rust Virus within Sabitsuki gaining sentience, and no one, not even Rust herself, knew why. While Rust was convinced(read: being beaten into a bloody pulp) to curtail her more malevolent ways twice, Rust's origin as a bioweapon meant that Rust had a natural inclination to be unpleasant at best. Rust, for her part, kept her word, and when Sabitsuki's mother performed tests on Madotsuki, Urotsuki, and Yomika to see if they had caught the Rust Virus, they were all surprised upon finding out that the three otherworldly Dreamers were completely clean despite having minimal protection.
While Rust wanted to continue teasing Sabitsuki, she was content with the light jab she gave Sabitsuki and took Sabitsuki's silence in stride as she faded away and retreated to deeper parts of Sabitsuki's mindscape.
With the sun currently rising from the horizon in Gensokyo and having nothing else better to do until Meira comes by with their breakfast, Reimu was sweeping away dirt and stray leaves on the pathway to the Hakurei Shrine. While monotonous, sweeping was also relaxing in a way, especially with the calls of crows adding some variety to the sounds of the surrounding nature.
By the time Reimu was halfway between the shrine and the stairway leading up to the shrine grounds, she heard two crows fly towards her, with one of them being Ichigo.
<"Intruders! Intruders!"> One of the crows cawed.
<"Idiot, they aren't intruders, they are the six visitors I told you about!"> Ichigo cawed, correcting the other crow.
Reimu stopped sweeping as the crows landed on her shoulders. "So they arrived once again, huh? We didn't exactly bar them from entering again so long as they don't cause an Incident, so don't think too much on it, you two."
Reimu turned to face the shrine, expecting the Sealing Club members to appear in her vision, and she was proven right as she overheard part of their conversation.
"It was night back home, so why is it morning here?" Renko asked.
"I donno," Urotsuki answered. "While the time can vary when we visit Sabi's world, it never deviated to this extent."
Sumireko chuckled. "Sounds like a mystery worth investigating for the Secret Sealing Club!"
Yomika was the first to notice Reimu. "Good morning, Reimu," she said as she bowed, causing the others to look in the direction Yomika was looking.
"Good morning to you all," Reimu said as she bowed.
"Mornin', Reimu!" Sumireko cheerfully said. "Wassup with the crows hanging on you? They aren't exactly birds associated with shrine maidens."
"Oh, these two?" Reimu said as she indicated towards one of the crows with her free hand. "They hang out a lot over here often and serve as a warning system for intruders, among other things."
"That's pretty cool, how'd ya tame them?" Sumireko asked again.
Reimu flinched at Sumireko's question. "My mom did," she answered robotically and tersely.
"You mom tamed them? How'd she do it?"
Madotsuki and Urotsuki, being experienced on personally sensitive topics being brought up, with Urotsuki also feeling a hint of sorrow from Reimu for reasons unknown to the former, glanced at each other. Urotsuki soon nodded to Madotsuki to indicate that she'll be the one to defuse the situation. "Let's talk about something else other than how Reimu's mom befriended crows, shall we?" Urotsuki said, attempting to change the topic with the bluntness of a sledgehammer.
"But why, Urotsuki?" Sumireko asked. "We were just getting to the good parts!"
Before Urotsuki could respond, Reimu decided to answer. "I don't want to talk about it any further," Reimu suddenly said with finality.
"O-oh," Sumireko said, her cheerful mood deflating. "Sorry for bringing up your mom."
"It's fine, Sumireko, you didn't know," said Reimu before taking a deep breath. "On a different topic, what brings you all here again?"
"To put it simply, we just wanted to take in the sights of Gensokyo and wondered if someone could guide us," Maribel answered.
"In other words, we're tourists," Madotsuki dryly said with a hint of self-derision and humor, causing Urotsuki to snort-laugh in response.
"So you all came here to sight-see, hm?" Reimu rhetorically asked. "I suppose I can't stop you all from doing what you all want, but if you wish to continue this, then I highly suggest you all learn magic so that you can defend yourselves from yokai, or at least buy time for your escape."
"Can't you teach us magic, Reimu?" Renko asked.
"I can," Reimu answered, "but to be quite frank, I don't consider myself to be a good teacher, so I can only really teach you the basics at best. After I teach you all the basics, I can refer you all to Meira for further training."
"So what's this I hear about you referring me to teach these people?" Meira interjected, causing the others to turn towards the steps, where Meira and a smiling young woman with red hair tied in a ponytail and a luxurious-looking purple kimono that was embroidered with various flowery patterns walked up the steps that led to the Hakurei Shrine.
"Good Morning, Meira and Kotohime," Reimu said.
"Good morning, Reimu and everyone else!~♡" Kotohime returned in a cheery tone as she looked at the group, though when she locked eyes with Yomika, she froze in surprise as she received what seemed like a telepathic message.
A fellow Dreamer.
"Mornin', Reimu," Meira said as she nodded towards Reimu before looking at the Sealing Club members and Yomika, unaware of Kotohime's pause that the latter shook herself out of upon hearing Meira's greeting. "Mornin' to the rest of ya, as well." When the Sealing club members and Yomika returned Meira's greeting, Meira asked a question. "So what brings you six over to Gensokyo once again?"
"To answer your question, Meira, these six wanted to take a sight-see around Gensokyo and were wondering if anyone was free to guide them," she said as she gestured to the Sealing Club members and Yomika.
Meira turned to face the Sealing Club members and Yomika. "Ya'll really up to this?"
"Yep, we all are, even if Yomika here is a tag-along more than anything else," Urotsuki answered as she gestured towards Yomika.
"If that's the case, I suppose I can't exactly stop you, especially since you guys seem to just be able to get to Gensokyo through your own means," Meira said.
Just then, a third crow flew by and landed on one of Meira's shoulders.
"<Marisa's here, Marisa's here!>"
"Ah, Marisa's here!~♡" Kotohime said as she looked up to the sky to spot Marisa. Everyone else mimicked Kotohime's action, and sure enough, they all saw Marisa flying towards their location on her broom.
"Look, Marisa's flying!" Maribel exclaimed with awe.
"So how common is flying around here?" Renko asked.
"Flying is generally one of the first few spells any aspiring magic user in Gensokyo learns, despite its relative complexity compared to the basics," Meira answered.
"So why is flight learned so early on?" Urotsuki asked.
"The main reason is that flight, for all of the initial difficulties of learning it, makes traveling long distances very convenient," Meira answered.
Shortly after Meira gave her answer, Marisa flew down to the ground and landed. "Yo da-ze, Reimu! I got somethin' cool 'ta show ya!" she said as she hopped off her broom and held it upright in her right hand.
"Can it wait until breakfast?" Reimu asked. "I'm hungry."
"And that's exactly why I wanna show you it right now!" Marisa answered. "Better to have a danmaku battle on an empty stomach than to vomit your recent meal in the middle of it, right, da-ze?"
"Don't worry Reimu, I'll take on Marisa's danmaku challenge in your stead," said Meira.
"I was hoping to show this off to Reimu, but oh well," Marisa said, and before Meira could give out a retort, Marisa pulled out a glassy-looking magenta orb from under her hat. "Behold, and look at this mysterious and occult-ish power!"
While everyone had varying degrees of curious looks on their faces when Marisa revealed the magenta orb, Sumireko, on the other hand, had a shocked look on her face.
Shit, I'm gonna be in so much trouble.
