Chapter Text
Stage 1 ~ A Morningless Day ~ The Missing Sunrise
Reimu
Drip.
Drip.
Drip…
Reimu awoke to a foreign sound within her shrine. She knew all of the aching creaks and moaning groans of the familiar old wood, but this new sound was something she had never heard before. Her eyes shot open, and she sat up in her futon. Her long dark brown hair fell down her back with the sudden movement. Reimu turned her head and looked in the direction of the sound, and found it came from outside her bedroom door.
The sliding door was cracked open a bit, and a soft golden light pooled in from the other room. She heard the murmurs of speech coming from within the shrine; her roommates she assumed. She couldn’t quite understand what they were saying, but, after listening for a moment, she heard the sound of laughter carry in. Reimu recognized the laugh as belonging to Suika. She sighed. The oni must be up to something if she were up this early. Usually Suika slept until 4pm on her most productive days. The fact that Suika was up before Reimu was a bad sign.
Reimu rose to get ready for the day. She crossed over to her window and saw the world was covered in an inky blackness. Thick clouds weighed heavily down on Gensokyo. The cloud cover was low and suffocating. It blanketed the land as far as Reimu could see. Rain fell fatly against the glass. The droplets streaked their way down the window, racing one another to the bottom.
Something about this blackness didn’t sit well with Reimu. Even with cloud cover as thick as this was, there should be at least a little brightness casting down. But, no, it looked as if it were still midnight. It seemed almost as if the sun hadn’t risen.
Reimu’s brow furrowed as she stared out the window. Her own reflection refracted back at her through the darkened glass. She caught sight of her own eyes in the mirror-like glass, and saw that her face was stern and serious. She tried to relax her brow, but she couldn’t.
Reimu considered what to do for a few long moments before she managed to pull away from the window to dress. She pulled on her red shrine maiden’s garb and slid open her bedroom door.
Strange sky or not, today was a very important day for her.
She walked down the short hallway on the other side that led out into the small sitting room. Her footsteps creaked against the dark brown wood as she went.
Inside the room was lit by a singular lamp that was pushed against one wall. Its warm flickering light bathed the room in its mute glow. The shadows that fought against this light were long and dark. They crept forth from corners and crevices, reaching their thin arms out to grasp at the world.
Sitting in the corner on the floor was Suika. Reimu took a step forward to her and saw that she wasn’t alone. Reimu had missed her before, but now saw Shinmyoumaru in the corner as well. Shimyoumaru was roughly a foot tall at the moment. She looked incredibly angry at something. She had been in the middle of a heated sentence when Reimu walked into the room, but when she caught sight of the shrine maiden she went quiet.
Reimu frowned as she looked the two women over. They were both crouched around something Reimu couldn’t see. Suika’s body was blocking the thing from view. Reimu attempted to peer around the oni, but to no avail.
Reimu opened her mouth to demand to know what they were doing, but before she could speak, Shinmy cut her off.
“Don’t be mad!” Shinmy said to Reimu. “Neither of us did it. It just… started.”
“What starte-” Reimu began but she was caught off by the foreign sound again.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip…
Reimu blinked and looked up. She saw, to her utmost horror, that her roof was leaking.
Today of all days!?
The droplets of water dripped down and landed in the something Suika was obscuring from Reimu.
“Suika, move.” Reimu commanded. She moved forward and attempted to shove the ginger out of the way, but Suika was far too heavy and sturdy to be pushed aside.
“Huh?” Suika asked, blinking slowly, one eye after the other. Reimu could smell sake thick on her breath.
“I said move!” Reimu said.
“Oh, okay.” Suika said. She stood up to her full height, which was just a head shorter than Reimu, and lumbered out of the way.
Reimu saw that they had been catching the leaking rain water in Shinmy’s bowl. No wonder the inchling had looked so furious.
The bowl was already halfway full. Every few moments another few drops would dribble down and splash into it.
Reimu sighed hard and stood up straight. She looked down at Shinmy and said, “When did it start?”
“The leaking started just about an hour ago.” Shinmy said. She looked heatedly up at Suika, “That’s when that oaf stole my bowl!”
“Me?” Suika asked, pointing at herself. “Hey, I’m helpin’. I don see you comin’ up with any better ideas.” Suika slurred.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Reimu asked Suika. She turned to the clock hanging on the wall. It was behind by five minutes, but nobody in the shrine knew how to fix it. Reimu did a basic calculation and found it was 7:10 in the morning.
“Me?” Suika asked. Then she broke out into a giggling fit. “Rei, the night’s still young!”
“Suika, it’s morning.” Reimu informed her seriously.
“...Really?” Suika asked. She looked out the window on the far end of the room, and, indeed, it was still black as night outside.
Raindrops pattered hard down the window as they looked out it. A dim flash of lightning flickered for a few moments in the sky. They waited, and listened, but the sound of thunder never came. It seemed that they were too far away to hear it.
“Go to bed.” Reimu demanded Suika, but Suika didn’t look convinced.
“You’re just tryin’ to get ridda me!” Suika objected albeit weakly. She looked to be tired, and didn’t have much fight left in her.
“Suika, I don’t want you running around all day while the cherry blossom viewing is going on!” Reimu said urgently. “You’ll scare my guests shitless.”
“Reimu…” Shinmy began, “I don’t think there is going to be a cherry blossoming viewing today… The storm…” She said regretfully.
“No! Don’t say that!” Reimu said. She made her way over to the window and peered out it. “The rain looks like it’s going to stop! When it passes, everyone is going to come.”
“Reimu…” Shinmy said. She trotted forwards across the room and rested her hand against Reimu’s shin. “I’m sorry, but the storm isn’t going to be passing anytime soon.”
Reimu bit her lip. “It has to. The viewing is the busiest day of the year for me.” Reimu said, a little desperately.
“Look at it outside, Reimu. Something is wrong.” Shinmy said.
“Something can be wrong tomorrow. Today things have to go right.” Reimu said. She looked down at Shinmy, and Shinmy looked back up at her.
They held each other’s gaze for a long moment as neither of them spoke. Their eyes communicated wordlessly for a beat, then Reimu sighed and looked away.
“...I guess we can reschedule the viewing.” Reimu said at last, defeated. “If this storm doesn’t blow away all the petals first.”
“This isn’t a normal storm, Reimu.” Shinmy said. She removed her hand from Reimu and made her way forward.
There, near the base of the window, Reimu had constructed a makeshift miniature wooden stairway for Shinmy. The stairs climbed high and allowed for Shinmy to look out the glass. Shinmy trekked up the stairs until she came to a stop at the windowsill. She looked out of it as she rested one tiny hand against the cold glass.
“The clouds are so thick, I can’t even see the sun.” Shinmy said.
“‘S cuz there is no sun.” Suika slurred. She approached Reimu and slung one arm over Reimu’s shoulder.
Reimu let out a little squeak as she was yanked down to eye level with Suika. She had only just managed to avoid getting a horn to the temple.
“What do you mean there’s no sun?” Reimu asked Suika.
Suika let out a little burp before she continued.
“I can feel’it. The night ain’t over yet. The sun hasn’t come up.” Suika said.
Reimu frowned at this.
“Are you sure?” Reimu asked the shorter woman.
“Yup. The sun’s late, I guess. It happens sometimes.” Suika reasoned.
“Sometimes?” Reimu’s grimace deepened.
“Sure, don’t you r’member that time… wait- no- you weren’t born yet.” Suika said, putting a finger to her lips as she thought. It looked like the concentration was putting a toll on her. She made a face and shook her head. Her horns swung from side to side. Reimu had to flinch back to avoid getting gored by one.
“Maybe if we just wait it out, the sun will come up…” Reimu said hopefully.
“Reimu.” Shinmy said flatly. “The sun isn’t coming up.”
“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Reimu said, folding her arms.
“Oh, I don’t know! Maybe go solve this incident!” Shin objected. “Isn’t that kind of your job?”
“Bah…” Reimu waved this off. “I’m going to make some coffee. If the sun isn’t up by the time I’m finished with my cup… I’ll look into it.” Reimu said begrudgingly.
Shinmy simply sighed. She trotted down the miniature wooden stairway. She followed Reimu as she made her way off in the direction of the kitchen. Suika slowly and drunkenly trailed them as they went.
Sanae
Sanae found herself scrubbing the floors of Moriya Shrine. She had woken up early, put on breakfast and coffee, then immediately gotten to work.
The shrine was quiet for a long while as Sanae worked on. Gradually the scent of coffee wafted through the halls. Its lingering bitter aroma mixed with the lemony cleaning scent of the floor cleaner Sanae was using.
It was just past 7:30 in the morning when Suwako and Kanako woke up as well, and, at that point, she had already gotten in an hour’s worth of chores.
Outside, the world was black and bleak, but Sanae simply attributed this to the surrounding cloud cover. Every so often, a blanket of clouds would smother the tip of Youkai Mountain. She had never seen it particularly as bad as this, but she reasoned that must be the cause.
Sanae wore a pair of hakama pants along with a blue and white top. Her pants were scrunched up to her knees as she worked to scrub the floors of Moriya clean.
The light inside Moriya Shrine was bright and warm in comparison to the abysmal storm outside. Every so often, a flash of lightning would break the blackness, but the storm was too far away for any thunder to carry over.
Sanae hummed tunelessly as Kanako and Suwako made their way through the shrine; first to get coffee, then to their respective haunts.
Despite the rain, Suwako made her way outside. She went out back to spend time by her frog pond, which was swollen and overflowing from the rain.
Kanako originally headed in the direction of the sitting room; she wanted nothing more than to crack open a new book and spend her morning lazing away before the followers braved the storm up to Moriya.
About twenty minutes passed since the time the goddesses rose from their sleep, when Suwako came back into the shrine.
Sanae watched in horror as Suwako’s heavy brown boots trekked mud in through her newly cleaned halls.
“Hey! Watch it!” Sanae cried as Suwako trudged past her, leaving dirty wet footprints in her wake.
“Oh, sorry.” Suwako said, looking down at her boots. She seemed to be lost in thought about something.
Sanae was overcome with bubbling anger. After all her hard work swabbing the floor clean, after her fingertips had turned soggy from the sponge, after the floors had almost been done, Suwako had decided to track the mud in.
Sanae suddenly stood from where she had been scrubbing; so suddenly, that Suwako flinched back.
“I’ll. Be. Right. Back.” Sanae said through clenched teeth.
She immediately ran to her room, ears practically steaming. Her face was red and scrunched up. Her blood was pulsing hotly through her veins. Her heart was pounding in her chest.
She slammed her bedroom door open and made her way over toward her futon. She snatched her pink pillow up, held it to her face, and let out the most furious and desperate scream she could muster into the cushion.
Releasing her rage into the pillow took some of the edge off. She threw down the pillow and let out a grunt.
She wanted to tell off Suwako, but she didn’t have it in her. She was her shrine maiden after all.
As Sanae took a moment to fume, her eyes cast over towards the window… It was awfully dark outside. She frowned and approached the glass.
Thick heavy raindrops were pattering against it. They trailed their way down, leaving streaks behind.
Sanae put one hand up against the glass and the heat from her skin fogged the glass slightly.
Suddenly she wasn’t angry. Instead, she felt a strange sense of dread. She knew, as she looked out into the abyss, that something was wrong. Gensokyo should not be this dark at this time in the morning. This wasn’t some cloud cover that had smothered the mountain. There was something otherworldly about it.
Sanae moved back from the window and exited her room again. Her fogged handprint began to fade from the window’s glass as she left. She passed over where she had been scrubbing and over Suwako’s muddy footprints.
Sanae came over to Kanako where she was lounging on her couch skimming a light novel.
“Kanako…” Sanae said slowly.
“Hm?” Kanako asked, looking up. The thin wrinkles on her face deepened as she looked up at Sanae. “What is it?” Kanako asked.
“Have you looked outside at all?” Sanae asked.
“Just this morning when I woke up.” Kanako said. She tilted her head. “Why?”
“I think somethings wrong.” Sanae said. “Don’t you?” She pushed.
“Hm…” Kanako said. She closed her book and leaned forward. “The mountain did look a little strange.”
“I think somethings up too.” Suwako’s voice came from behind Sanae.
Sanae jumped and whirled around.
Suwako had changed into a set of dry clothes. She had taken off her boots, and no more muddy tracks were behind her. She had a white puffy towel wrapped around her neck. She looked over at Kanako.
“Everybody, come outside.” She said.
Kanako begrudgingly rose from her seat and crossed the room. They all made their way through the shrine to the back door. Suwako slid it open, and a gust of wet wind blew in, spattering them with a sheet of rain.
Kanako’s face turned thoughtful as she stepped into the threshold of the door.
The light from inside the shrine stretched its way out the door, clawing through the darkness. Their elongated and otherworldly shadows reached far into their backyard.
From the frog pond still enveloped in darkness, frogs and toads cried out happily. Their creaking cries swept through the quiet that had taken over the three women.
“You’re right.” Kanako said, suddenly very serious. “The wind… something is wrong with it.”
“How so?” Sanae asked.
“It’s blowing southeast.” Kanako said. She took a step forward out into the rain and looked up at the clouds. Her graying purple hair and clothes swirled around her as they were assaulted by the storm.
“The southeast, you say?” Suwako said, stroking her chin.
“Yes. And it’s… I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like it’s being pulled. It feels like something either extremely massive or extremely powerful is pulling it all in one direction. The wind isn’t blowing, it’s being drawn in.” Kanako said.
“Not to mention how dark it is.” Sanae said. She looked out into the backyard. They could only see about a dozen feet ahead of them before the haze and shadows blotted out the world beyond.
“Sanae, I think an incident is brewing.” Kanako said. “I want you to investigate.”
“You do?” Sanae asked. She looked back into the warm lit shrine and suddenly didn’t feel much like braving the elements.
“Yes.” Kanako said. She stepped back into the shrine and slid the door closed behind her.
“But the floor, and-” Sanae began.
“You can deal with that when you’re back.” Suwako said. It seemed she had absolutely no intention of cleaning her muddy tracks herself. She would simply wait until Sanae was able to do it.
“Dress warm.” Kanako said. She crossed back into the shrine and Sanae and Suwako followed.
Sanae broke off from the two gods and once again made her way into her room. She went to her dresser and began digging through it.
She pulled on a navy blue windbreaker over her blue and white sleeveless top. The coat didn’t have a hood, but Sanae suspected the wind would blow it down anyway. She then pulled on the warmest socks she could find before she made her way back out into the main sitting room of the shrine where the goddesses were waiting.
“I’m heading out.” Sanae said, voice cracking. She would really much rather stay nice and warm inside.
“Stay safe.” Suwako called after her.
Sanae collected her gohei and made her way to the front door, and she slid it open. Beyond the door were a few humans waiting. They all sported varying colors of umbrellas. The heavy rain came down hard on them, creating a patter patter. The humans all looked up at Sanae with wide eyes as she stepped out onto the front porch.
“Miss Kochiya!” One human said. He had a head of shaven gray hair and deep wrinkles upon his face. “The sky is black as night! What on earth is going on!?”
Sanae zipped up her windbreaker. She looked at this man sternly and attempted to sound sincere.
“I’m looking into it right now.” Sanae said.
“Is there a youkai about?” One woman asked. She was considerably younger than the man. Sanae recognized her as the old man’s daughter.
“If there is, I’m going to stop them.” Sanae said. Sanae then excused herself and took to the air. She gave the humans one last quick glance before she headed out down the mountain in the southeast direction.
Marisa
Marisa’s alarm clock went off at exactly 6:30. She hadn’t been sleeping though. Marisa had been sitting at her small cluttered desk inside her small cluttered room. Inside the room it was dark and musty. A fine mushrooming mold grew from the crack between the floor and the ceiling. The only light source came from a singular desk lamp that sat upon the desk Marisa had been slaving over.
Marisa looked, red-eyed, over at the alarm clock in the corner. Had she really been up all night? Morning had come sooner than she had thought.
Marisa let out a yawn and stood. Her legs and back were sore as she straightened herself up. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a happy grunt as a few of her vertebra cracked back into place.
She went over to her alarm clock and silenced it. She then let out another eye-watering yawn. Another late night turned into early morning... She was overcome with the urge to snuggle up into bed and sleep until 2:00pm, but it just so happened that today was a very important day for her. She was to make an important deal with the river kappa that day. Being the leader of the black market wasn’t easy, but it paid well. So, she would weather the blunt of the day, and tackle the trade exhausted.
Marisa moved over to her dresser and threw on some clean clothes. She tugged on her favorite outfit, a black dress with a white undershirt, with a pair of long, fuzzy, brown socks.
She then exited her bedroom and made her way to her kitchen.
The kitchen was a tiny room, but it was bigger than her bedroom. On one wall, there was a very large bay window. The glass on the window had been cracked, but Marisa couldn’t remember how it happened. Upon the windowsill were various exotic plants and flowers that she had liberated somewhere from some people along the line.
Above, there was an incredibly dusty and cobwebbed metal chandelier. As Marisa plodded into the room, the reverberations from her footsteps sent shockwaves up to it. The chandelier shook slightly and little bits of dust rained down upon Marisa. Marisa sneezed at this and cursed.
She made her way over to the fridge and swung it open. Inside were various test tubes and mason jars filled with questionable liquids. Marisa gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought, and eventually she decided on a container full of… what used to be natto beans.
She pulled out the container, and opened it. She began scarfing it down right there in the light of her open fridge.
Her nose scrunched up as she felt another sneeze come on. She lowered the natto from her face and covered her nose with her elbow. She sneezed into it twice, before shaking her head.
“Dammit.” Marisa said as she sniffled. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and as she did so, she caught sight of her window.
Outside, it was black as night. Raindrops pattered heavily on the glass. The trees of the forest were barely visible through the rain and gloom. Their branches and leaves were swept side to side as they were assaulted by the onslaught of the storm. Marisa lived in the lower elevations of Youkai Mountain nestled deep into The Forest of Magic. The light from her fridge was dim, but it faintly reflected out the bay window. Its faint glow illuminated a large oak tree nearby. In the tree, a family of birds was bunkered down in the storm.
“Hm…” Marisa said, taking another bite of her food. “Weird…”
And her thought ended there.
Marisa quickly finished up eating her breakfast before beginning packing for her day. She slung a thick heavy brown bag on her shoulder and filled it up with a binder filled with ability cards. She then tugged on a pair of thick high boots and her hat before she wrenched open her front door.
Immediately she was hit with a wave of rain. The wind blew flatly against her, nearly toppling her large witch’s hat from the top of her head. She steadied it before heading out into the storm.
Marisa made her way across the mountain towards the Genbu Ravine. Within the first moment that she stepped out into the storm, she was drenched. Her hair and dress clung to her body at strange and awkward sopping wet angles.
The trip was laborious and wet. The rain whipped and lashed against her as she flew on.
She had to squint to see. It was so damn dark out. The birds below her, which would normally be active this time of the morning, were quiet. Below, the only movement visible was the swaying of the trees in the storm’s wind.
She flew around the mountain, circling its base, until she came to the Genbu Ravine. She looked down at the ravine and saw that it was flooding. Dozens upon dozens of Kappa were attempting to dam their city so it wouldn’t be swept away by the rising waves.
They looked panicked as they scurried here and there, toting enormous bags of sand up to the banks. Their little blue heads bobbed back and forth as they hurried along.
Marisa looked down on them, but they paid her no heed. They seemed frantic as they tried to save their town from the encroaching river.
Marisa slowly landed at the gate of the town, and for once, she wasn’t met by a pair of guards. She suspected that they too must be working on the dam.
Marisa stepped through the gate, mud gushing up under her boots as she went.
“We need more bags on the west end!” Called a kappa in a raincoat as Marisa passed. She bumped past Marisa roughly knocking her in the shoulder, but she didn’t stop to apologize. She went on her way, running down the street in the direction of the river.
Marisa raised an eyebrow. It sucked that their town was about to be swept away, but she had a deal to make. This wasn’t her problem after all.
The streets were nothing but mud as she made her way along. The tall buildings on either side of her loomed up toward the blackened sky.
Her boots sloshed wetly through the muddy roads as she made her way along. By the time she made it to her destination, her boots were muddied up to the shins.
She grumbled, but supposed there was nothing to be done about it. Instead, she simply approached the enormous warehouse that was her target.
The warehouse was the largest of the buildings along this street. It had one room jutting out the side of it. Upon this room was a single black metal door with a buzzing light on above it.
There was a light on behind the door. A warm glow pooled out through the cracks of the doorframe.
Marisa made her way up towards the door and knocked three times on the cold wet metal.
Nearly immediately, the door swung open. The inside room’s light spilled out into the darkness of the surrounding world.
Nitori Kawashiro stood in the doorway looking frazzled. She was wearing a raincoat and thick rubbery blue pants and boots. She had a wild look in her eyes as she looked Marisa over.
“What do you want?” She asked.
“I’m here for our deal.” Marisa said. She motioned to the bag that was slung over her arm.
Nitori’s eyes went hot and wide. She grit her teeth together.
“Does this look like the right time to be trading stupid cards!? My entire town is going to be swept away!” Nitori hollered. She was fuming.
“Hey, you don’t look too busy though.” Marisa objected.
Nitori huffed and puffed out her chest. She held out a clipboard that Marisa hadn’t noticed she had been carrying.
“I happen to be the lead of the emergency committee. I was just getting my things.” Nitori said. Then, her anger flickered, “Hey, are you going to help us or not?”
“Help you how?” Marisa asked.
“I don’t know!” Nitori said. “Help us dam the sides of our village.”
“Eh… it seems like you’ve got it covered.” Marisa said.
Nitori huffed again, and shoved her way past Marisa out the door. She quickly slammed the door closed behind her, then she turned to Marisa. She pulled up her hood, and the rain hissed against it as it pattered down it.
“If you’re not going to help, then get the hell out of here. You’re just going to get in everyone’s way!” Nitori said.
“Fine, fine.” Marisa waved this off.
“Well?” Nitori gave her a once over. “Go then!”
“Bleh… Whatever. I went out into the storm to be shooed away? Fine, treat your best business partner this way…” Marisa said. She straddled her broom and kicked off the ground.
“Get outta here!” Nitori continued waving Marisa off.
Marisa stuck her tongue out at Nitori before she took to the sky again. She zoomed off away from the kappa village.
Aya
Aya awoke just a few seconds before her alarm went off. She rolled over, and looked at her clock to see it read 6:59. Its blazing red letters mutely enveloped the entire black room. The red light from the numbers reflected off the red of Aya’s eyes.
She sighed and sat up in bed.
Just as she did so, the alarm burst to life. Aya quickly slapped it, turning it off. She looked down at the numbers again and saw they now read 7:00. She yawned and rose from her futon. She stretched her hands over her head for a moment, and flapped out her black wings behind her.
She crawled out of the futon and stood. She crossed the room to flick on her lamp. With a click light rushed into the room.
The bedroom was a bit cluttered. On her desk in the corner there were piles upon piles of old newspapers and newspaper clippings. Hung on one wall was a corkboard with pictures pinned on it. She left her futon unmade as she crossed over toward her window and pulled apart the red blinds.
Outside, she was met with darkness. Her form reflected back to her from the blackened glass. She frowned at herself as she looked out past her reflection. Enormous raindrops were colliding with the glass, streaking their way down. The sky was pitch black, a thick layer of cloud cover was smothering the tip of Youkai Mountain.
Aya’s frown deepened. Something was definitely not right… But, that wasn’t really her problem now was it? Things like this usually fell upon Reimu and the magician to solve.
Reimu…
She felt a bit sad for her. Today was supposed to be the cherry blossom viewing festival. Aya took one look outside and decided that it must have been canceled. Poor woman… Well, at least the strange storm would give Aya something to write about. Hell, it might even be front page material.
With this thought in mind, Aya’s mood rose. She quickly got dressed. She pulled on a white short sleeved button up top with a pair of black slacks before heading down her stairs to the kitchen. Her wings bobbed excitedly as her socked feet pattered down the stairs.
She made her way into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. The coffee pot grumbled and hissed to life as it began to heat up. As it was brewing, Aya went to work readying herself for her morning paper route. She didn’t particularly like the rain as it got in between her feathers, weighing her down. But, it wasn’t like she had never delivered her papers in a storm before. She was a professional afterall.
Aya trotted into the other room and retrieved her large delivery bag. She then began to pack it with newspapers. She crammed them in expertly, wasting absolutely no space, and managed to get her entire route’s papers packed away neatly.
The coffee pot in the kitchen began dripping, alerting her that it was nearly finished. She put her delivery bag by the door and hurried back into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. Aya collected a mug from one of her cabinets.
On the mug, it read Bunbunmaru. It was one of her promotional mugs that hadn’t sold. Aya had been offering them with new subscriptions, but she only ended up with a few more patrons, and a lot more mugs than she knew what to do with.
Seeing the thing soured her mood slightly, but she shook this feeling off. She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against her kitchen counter as she drank it.
She took careful slow sips from the steaming hot liquid, attempting to down it as quickly as was safely possible. She had to get a move on, or she would be late on her paper route.
She sat alone in the kitchen and listened to the rain tapping on her roof and windows. She again cast her eyes out the window and saw that it was still pitch black. She frowned. Maybe later in the day she would stop by Reimu to see what was going on…
The coffee was black and bitter, Aya had forgotten to buy sugar the last time she had been to the market, and she was suffering because of it. She hated overly bitter things, and coffee was at the top of her list. Still, she needed the boost so she drank it.
Before long, she finished her drink. She put the mug in the sink and ran some water over it. Then, she headed out in the direction of her front door. She pulled on her shoes and a long brown coat before she collected her hauchiwa fan. She slung her bag over her shoulder as she opened the front door.
The rain immediately gusted against her. She gasped. It was cold, colder than she had expected.
She exited her home, and turned to lock the door behind her. The silver house key was slippery and wet in her hands as she attempted to twist it in its bolt. It took her a few tries, but eventually she was able to succeed.
Aya took to the air, kicking off against the muddy threshold of her door. Her wings opened wide and flapped wildly as she attempted to rise up into the sky. For some reason, though, the wind, which was typically so easy to manipulate, wasn’t cooperating today. She managed to get into the air, but it had taken significantly more energy than usual.
Confused, Aya attempted to ride the winds of the storm. She tried to sway back and forth on an upcurrent, but the wind kept breaking apart around her. She flapped awkwardly in place for a few moments until she was finally able to steady herself.
Below, someone was walking down her street. Of course, to Aya’s luck, it was Hatate.
Hatate looked up at Aya struggling to keep to the air and let out a little giggle. She pointed up at Aya and called, “You look like a baby learning to fly!”
“Shut up!” Aya called down at her. “This doesn’t involve you.” It didn’t, but that of course didn’t stop Hatate from jumping into the air as well.
But, like Aya, she struggled to fly. She flapped wildly as the updrafts broke underneath her. She squawked as she struggled to make it up to where Aya had stopped in the air.
By the time she managed to get up to her, Hatate was panting.
“What the hell is up with this wind?” Hatate asked. She unsteadily dipped down a bit before she was able to right herself again.
“I have no idea.” Aya said. Then, she had a realization… if she couldn’t control the wind, that meant… Aya waved her hauchiwa fan, intending to ride its blast, but when she flapped it, nothing happened. No gust of wind, no sudden air current, the rain wasn’t even disturbed.
“Oh no…” Aya said, face gone pale.
“What’s wrong?” Hatate asked. She had given up flying and landed on Aya’s roof. Aya touched down next to her. She suddenly felt faint.
“If I can’t control the wind… I’m not the fastest in Gensokyo anymore…” Aya said. She had to steady herself to prevent from tumbling off the roof with her weak legs.
Hatate looked like she wanted to laugh at this, but she remained quiet.
Instead, Hatate said, “It seems like there’s an incident a-brewin’. I’d love to stay here and laugh at you all day… but this affects me too…” Hatate said. She fluttered her deep brown wings behind her. Little droplets of rain dripped down from her feathers.
“An incident? You’ve got to be joking.” Aya said weakly.
“Look at the sky, idiot!” Hatate said, gesturing up.
Around them was cloudy abyss. In the distance, a few lightning strikes lit up the sky. They were so faint the thunder didn’t carry over to where they were.
“An incident…” Aya said again. She gripped roughly onto her hauchiwa fan. What good would she be trying to solve this incident when she could barely fly? Still… she couldn’t rely on Reimu or Marisa to do this for her. She would have to do something about it herself.
“Hatate.” Aya said, “If my readers form a mob around my house for the lack of newspaper today, I want you to deal with them.” Aya said.
“You think people would mob over a day without newspaper?” Hatate scoffed.
“They might for mine.” Aya said.
“Screw off, Aya.” Hatate said. She stuck out her tongue at the other woman and jumped off the roof, messily taking to the air. “Don’t screw up this incident. All of us tengu are depending on you.” Hatate said.
“Yeah…First, I’m going to Reimu’s to see if she has any clues.” Aya said, waving. She unsteadily took to the air, and began making her way down the mountain.
Marisa and Sanae
Marisa zipped over the kappa village leaving the swollen Genbu Ravine behind. She was furious that her deal had fallen through all because of this stupid rain. She had expected to make a substantial profit today, but now it seemed like that the situation was beyond salvaging.
Marisa sighed as she glanced back over her shoulder at the kappa village behind her. The small figures of kappa were continuing to rush to dam up the river. She grumbled and stuck her tongue out at them-
“...Watch out!” Came a voice from in front of her, but it was too late. She collided with something hard, and went tumbling head over heels out of the sky. Her feet swooped up over her head, and the world was upside down. In a brief flash before she hit the muddied ground, she caught a glimpse of green hair.
Marisa landed hard on the sludgy ground. She slid and skidded to a halt several feet away. Whoever she had crashed into had landed as well, and equally as gracefully.
Marisa groaned. She had landed flat on her back looking up at the black sky. She laid there for a moment and questioned why she had even bothered going out today. She grunted and sat up. Her entire backside was thick with mud and dirt. Her hat had fallen off and was several yards away. She unsteadily got up, made her way over to it, and picked it up. She began brushing the wet earth off it as she looked around for whoever had crashed into her.
There was a groaning sound from a bush nearby, and out popped Sanae. She sat up, and pushed the branches of the bush aside.
“Marisa?” Sanae asked.
“Sanae? What the hell are you doing here?” Marisa asked.
“Sorry… I didn’t see you. It’s so dark and the rain is so thick…” Sanae apologized as she climbed her way out of the bush. Several twigs and branches were still attached to her. She picked them off one by one as she looked up at Marisa.
“What’re you doing out in the storm?” Marisa asked. She reached up and sat her sopping wet hat back on her head. It dripped mud down into her hair.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sanae asked. “I’m going to solve the incident!” Sanae said.
“So you really think something is up?” Marisa asked, folding her arms.
“Something has to be.” Sanae said. “What about you? Are you going to try to solve the incident too?” Sanae asked.
“Me…?” Marisa asked. She thought about this for a long hard moment. She could just go home and dry off. If she did that, she could sleep off the storm and wait for the rain to pass… If the rain even did pass. If this were an incident there was no guarantee the rain would stop anytime soon. That would mean less deals to make with the kappas. Meaning less money.
Marisa frowned.
“I guess,” She began, “I can look into it.”
“Good!” Sanae said. “Um…” She considered something for a moment. “Which direction are you headed?”
“Hell, I dunno.” Marisa said as she gave Sanae a shrug. “Well, which direction are you headed in?” Marisa asked.
“Southeast.” Sanae said, “That’s where Kanako says all the wind is being pulled towards.”
“The wind is being pulled?” Marisa asked, wide eyed.
“Yeah, by someone or something. I’m betting it’s one nasty youkai.” Sanae said.
Marisa chuckled, “I’ve dealt with worse than a single nasty youkai.” Marisa said, waving this off.
“For the time being… since we’re going in the same direction, why don’t we stick together?” Sanae asked.
“Really?” Marisa asked, “I dunno. I kinda work alone.”
Sanae scoffed at this, “Since when? I’ve known you to team up with people in a pinch.”
“Bah, fine.” Marisa said. She looked around for her broom and found it stuck upside down inside of the hollow of a tree. She yanked it out and held it upright.
“Happy to work with you, partner.” Sanae said, giving Marisa a smile.
“Yeah, yeah.” Marisa said, but she did give Sanae a small smile back.
Both women looked up into the sky. The rain hadn’t changed since either of them had left home that morning. It was simply a constant patter down from the ink black sky.
Surrounding them, the night’s crickets and frogs still chirped merrily on as if the night hadn’t ended yet. The sound of their creak-creaks filled the air as Sanae and Marisa fell into a silence.
“Well… Shall we?” Sanae asked. She touched off the ground and hovered a few feet up.
“Gotcha.” Marisa said. She straddled her broom and too took to the air.
Together, they both lifted up into the sky, breaking through the canopy of trees above.
“Southeast?” Marisa asked.
“Yes, in the direction of the human village.” Sanae said.
“Lead the way, partner. ”
Reimu and Aya
Aya flew unsteadily down Youkai Mountain in the direction of Hakurei Shrine. The rain whipped against her as she flew. Above, the sky was black as night. The cloud cover was low and heavy. She flew down through the clouds, blind, as she raced lower and lower down the mountain.
Finally, she passed through the barrier of clouds and came to the foot of the mountain. Straight ahead of her was The Forest of Magic, and further beyond that was the human village. She set her sights on it and its tiny rows of straight houses.
Aya flew over The Forest of Magic, passing lowly over the trees below. Below, she saw the tell tale light of faeries zooming and zipping about through the cover of the trees. There were a lot of them… that was never a good sign. That meant that there was magic or energy in the air, and that pointed towards an incident.
Aya’s wings flapped clumsily as she made her way to the edge of the forest. Just up ahead was the human village.
The human village was burning mutely, fighting off the blackness of the surrounding world. Red and yellow lanterns were glowing hotly in shop windows and homes. Their warm tones painted the streets in an unearthly hue, distorting the features of the people that made their way through them.
She cut through the human village, flying above the slanted roofs. There were many fires burning, Aya could smell the smoke rising up through their tall chimneys. Aya could only hope Reimu had a fire burning as well. Aya was chilled to the bone, having flown all the way down from the top of Youkai Mountain.
Finally, she could see Reimu’s high stairway in the far distance. Aya saw Reimu’s windows were glowing, meaning there was a lamp lit inside. She was grateful at least someone would be there to let her in. Even a small reprieve from this storm would be a godsend for her. She was so cold she was nearly trembling. She just knew she was going to catch a cold.
She touched down in the Hakurei Shrine’s courtyard, and quickly hurried up to the front door. Above, the roof’s overhang protected her from the rain. She sighed happily and rang out her hair.
Aya then knocked on the door. She waited… and luckily she heard footsteps approach. A shadow passed by one of the nearby windows, it was moving to let Aya in.
The door creaked open a moment later. Inside the threshold was Reimu. She looked tired and irritable, but that was almost always her constant mood.
“Aya.” Reimu greeted her briskly. “Why are you here?”
“Reimu!” Aya gushed, “Somethings wrong! Very wrong!”
“Ah…” Reimu sighed and shook her head. She seemed to know what Aya was talking about. She looked at Aya through her thick dark eyelashes and Aya saw another emotion in her eyes… disappointment.
“I’m sorry about the cherry blossom viewing, Reimu.” Aya said.
“Yeah…” Reimu said thickly.
“Can I come in?” Aya asked, eager to get out of the storm.
“Fine.” Reimu said. She stepped aside, letting Aya come in.
“Thanks.” Aya said. She shook out her wings where she stood, spraying behind her with thin wet droplets. She then moved and entered the shrine.
It was as warm and cozy as she had hoped. She let out a sigh of relief upon stepping inside.
“Take off your shoes. You’ll track mud in.” Reimu said.
Aya did as she was told and stepped up from the threshold. She followed Reimu as Reimu led her further into the shrine.
They headed in the direction of the kitchen, and the smell of coffee wafted over to Aya. Aya smelled the warm bitter scent, and wondered how Reimu could be making coffee at a time like this.
Inside the kitchen Suika and Shinmy were sitting at the kotatsu. Suika had her chin down on the table. She looked to be either asleep or on the verge of it. Her eyes were closed and her breathing came out in calm, even puffs.
Shinmy sat on a tower of pillows that allowed her to be at the appropriate height of the tabletop. She eyed Aya judgmentally as the tengu walked in.
“Now you’re having guests over? Reimu, this is no time for friendly chatter.” Shinmy said.
“Hey, I didn’t invite her.” Reimu said, jabbing a thumb over at Aya. “She came here all by herself.”
“Nice to see you too, princess.” Aya said, rolling her eyes.
“Now,” Reimu said, moving over to the kotatsu. She took a seat and motioned for Aya to sit down beside her.
Aya did just that. She was dripping wet. Rain dribbled down from her wet clothes and puddled on the floor. She tossed off her bag of newspapers.
“What do you want?” Reimu asked Aya. “You couldn’t have come down here in this weather for nothing.”
“Reimu, something is wrong. Terribly wrong. I can’t control the wind anymore!” Aya said desperately.
“Oh no.” Reimu said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes.
“This is serious! That means I’m not the fastest in Gensokyo anymore!” Aya said.
“Oh no.” Reimu repeated with the same genuinity as before.
“What I’m saying is, this is no natural storm. Something is wrong with the wind.”
“See! The rain! The wind! The sky!” Shinmy urged, “Reimu, this has to be an incident!”
“That’s what I’m saying!” Aya said.
“You promised you’d look into it after your coffee. You’ve finished, so go!” Shinmy said.
“I… haven’t washed the cup yet.”
“Forget the damn mug, Reimu!” Shinmy said, slamming her tiny fists down on the table.
“FINE!” Reimu said. She rose to her feet. She looked down at Aya and pointed at her roughly. “You’re coming with me. I’m not doing this on my own.”
“What?!” Aya objected, but Reimu silenced her with a look. “I’m not doing this alone.” Reimu said flatly. “If you’re so concerned about this damn wind, then come with me to fix it.”
“Fine, fine.” Aya said. She rose to her feet.
Reimu beckoned her forward.
“Stay safe!” Shinmy called after them as they walked out of the kitchen towards the front door.
There was a coat rack beside the door. Reimu yanked on a long tweed coat with a huff. As she was buttoning it up, she looked over at Aya.
“Do you have any leads?” Reimu asked. She left the room momentarily, then came back with her gohei and Yin Yang orbs.
“No, but I think we should head toward the eye of the storm. Maybe we can find answers there.” Aya said.
“Fine.” Reimu agreed briskly.
Reimu turned to the front door and slid it open. Both women stepped out.
BGM: Gensokyo ~ A Day Without the Sun
Reimu and Aya made their way out into the courtyard. They both stopped in the center, and took to the air.
The downpour fell heavily upon them as they looked off into the distance. There, down the stairs, were the faint blue glowing lights of rain faeries. They danced and skipped through the sky. Even from here, Aya and Reimu could hear them giggling and squealing.
Reimu sighed as she eyed them. She turned to Aya and asked, “Are you ready for a fight?”
“Yep.” Aya said. Truth be told, she was still uncomfortable with her wobbly wings, but she wanted this incident to be over. So, it had to be done.
They both exchanged a solemn nod before hurrying off in the direction of the faeries.
They were soon engulfed by them. Wave after wave, the faeries surrounded them. The faeries soon took notice of the two intruders, and they began shooting danmaku at them. They giggled excitedly. They were agitated from the magic that was coursing through the air.
The faeries’ hot danmaku sizzled against the rain. As the droplets evaporated on the surface of the bullets, a fine mist rose up.
Green, Blue, and white bullets blazed past Aya and Reimu. The two women were able to avoid the bullets easily, having been skilled incident solvers. They worked well together as they had done in the past. They didn’t have to speak to one another, instead, their bodies moved in sync as they wove and dodged around the bullets.
They flew over the stairway, and headed off to the southeast. The path clipped slightly through the human village. Reimu attempted to fly up higher to parade the faeries away from the humans down below, but the faeries didn’t fall for it. Instead they kept shooting bullets indiscriminately in every direction.
Down below, humans ducked for cover as the burning hot bullets rained down upon them.
As they flew, they caught sight of something out of place up ahead. It was black and blue and had fuzzy edges. It seemed to notice that it was spotted because it swooped quickly out of the way.
“Up ahead!” Reimu shouted over to Aya. Aya simply nodded.
The two women dove forward and picked up their pace, Aya flying a little awkwardly as she went. Reimu’s path was steady as she continued on though. She wanted this to be over. She just wanted to get past these damned faeries to find the culprit.
Aya and Reimu raced forwards chasing after the black ball. It hurried off in the other direction, and they corrected their courses to follow it.
Just then, a wave of round blue bullets swept past them. Aya managed to dodge it just barely. Reimu had no trouble making her way around it.
The particular faery that had shot the wave snickered as she fired another, then another.
“I don’t have time for any damn faeries!” Reimu shouted, her Yin Yang orbs swirled around her hotly. She shot a blast of danmaku at the faery that had shot the thicket of bullets at them.
The faery was blasted upside her little blue head, and she crashed down out of the sky.
“There!” Aya shouted. She pointed with her hauchiwa fan up ahead at the black and blue ball that was only a short distance away.
“Do you think this youkai has something to do with the storm?” Aya called over to Reimu.
“If they didn’t, why would they run?” Reimu asked.
Both women dove forward after the thing as it zipped away over the forest that surrounded the human village.
They were flying over trees now. Their path ahead was lit with storm faeries and their bullets. The peek of brightness fought hard against the blackened sky. Their shadows cast down otherworldly like on the trees and branches below.
The black and blue thing seemed to feel threatened by their approach because it spun around and hung back for a moment. It fired its own bullets at Aya and Reimu. Fat, heavy, threatening purple bullets whooshed back towards Aya and Reimu.
Both women split up, Aya hung left while Reimu went right. They sped up along the corners of the battlefield, easily dodging the violet bullets.
Upon seeing how easily they dodged the danmaku, the black and blue orb let out a little squeak of surprise. It dashed forward, leaving Aya and Reimu behind.
“Dammit! Don’t let it get away!” Reimu yelled.
Both women darted after the blue and black thing.
They chased it, weaving through the faeries and their danmaku, for nearly fifty yards until the thing finally spun around to face them.
A cloud of blackness dissipated from around it and faded out into nothingness. Left in its place was
Shion Yorigami
The Most Unfortunate, Down on her Luck, Goddess in Gensokyo
She was looking particularly run down today. Her long blue hair was messy and wet. Her clothes were torn and dripping. Her big navy blue eyes looked up at Reimu and Aya apologetically.
“H-hey, Reimu.” Shion said weakly. Her breathing was trembling from the cold. She put her two index fingers together as she looked at Reimu.
“Shion? Why are you out here?” Reimu asked, a little startled.
“I lost my key and got locked out. I tried knocking, but I guess nobody heard me.” Shion said, a nervous smile stretching across her lips.
“Then why did you run!? Why did you attack us?!” Aya demanded.
“You guys looked really serious about something… So, I wanted to get out of your way.”
“Ugh!” Reimu grumbled. “I’ll give you my key! Just get out of our way and go back home!”
“Thanks Reimu…” Shion said. She moved forward and held out her hand for the key, but Reimu didn’t move. Instead, Reimu stiffened.
“Wait…” Reimu said.
“Huh?” Shion looked up at Reimu with a set of curious eyes.
“You’re the one that caused the storm!” Reimu said, jabbing a finger in Shion’s direction.
“Huh!? No I’m not!” Shion objected.
“Reimu, I really don’t think-” Aya began, but Reimu cut her off.
“It’s your bad luck! This could have happened any day out of the year, but it had to happen on the cherry blossom viewing day!?” Reimu looked ready to explode, “You brought on this incident today with all your bad luck!”
“Reimu! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Shion squeaked.
Reimu grunted, her Yin Yang orbs began to vibrate aggravatedly.
“We don’t have to fight!” Shion said weakly, but she seemed to know it was too late for words. Reimu was furious.
Reimu raised a handful of sealing spells, and pointed them in Shion’s direction. Her eyes glowed hotly in the rain. The message in her gaze was clear: Revenge.
BGM: Luckless Goddess Caught in the Storm
Reimu sent a wall of seals shooting forward toward Shion.
Shion let out a little surprised yelp, and jumped out of the way in just the nick of time.
Aya sighed, she thought this battle was pointless, but Reimu had already started it. Unfortunately, it seemed she needed to finish it.
Shion toppled back, just narrowly avoiding another blast of seals from Reimu. She looked at the two women in front of her desperately, but saw no pity. So, instead, she let out a defeated sigh and started up her own spellcard.
Purple and black bullets exploded from Shion. They were large and sluggish. Then, Shion fired tiny fast moving bullets through the cracks of the larger ones.
Aya began firing her bullets as well. They sprang forth from her, and Aya honed them on the blue goddess before them.
Shion did what she could to get out of the way, but a few of Aya’s bullets singed at her arm. She gasped and looked over at Aya. Their eyes met; blue against red.
Shion frowned and sent two enormous purple bullets cascading down towards Aya. Their violet hues enveloped the three women in the battlefield, paleing their skin and clothes.
Aya awkwardly zoomed out of the way. Her wings were still uncertain on this unsteady wind, but she managed to dodge the spellcard nonetheless.
“I don’t want to fight you, Reimu!” Shion called over toward Reimu.
“It’s too damn late!” Reimu shouted back.
Reimu then shot wave after wave of sealing spells at Shion. One met its target. It plastered itself flatly against Shion’s leg.
Shion let out a little shriek as the magic in it weakened her. She reached down, and attempted to tear it off, but to no avail.
Shion made an angry noise and straightened herself.
“Fine! If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get!” Shion yelled.
Suddenly, her hair had a life of its own. It curled and twisted in and out like an octopus. Her face darkened, and her skin pailed.
Shion then dropped her current spellcard and started up a second. This one was pure black, like the sky. She shot black whispy bullets at Reimu and Aya. They filled the battlefield with their inky smoke.
These were much harder to dodge than the previous spellcard had been. Reimu and Aya struggled to jump out of the way of them as they came crashing forward.
More and more black bullets came from Shion and her writhing blue hair. Her eyes had a strange glint to them. Her face was serious.
One of the black bullets grazed past Reimu’s cheek. It was strangely ice cold, as most danmaku were blazingly hot. She winced and pulled away from it.
Reimu grunted and shot another deluge of seals up towards Shion. This time, one landed on her wrist.
Shion let out a pained shriek and attempted to pull it off, but it wouldn’t budge. The skin around the seals began to smoke a thick heavy black mist.
Shion dropped her spellcard yet again, and prepared her third and final one.
Suddenly, a spiral of purple burning hot danmaku exploded from Shion. The spirals whipped and lashed around quickly and wildly like angry venomous snakes.
This sudden change of spellcards caught both Reimu and Aya off guard. They both flew backwards to avoid getting whipped by one of the arms of the purple undulating beast. Shion was buried deep within the heart of the reaching monster, safe from their attacks from where they were.
“I’m going in.” Reimu said to Aya.
“Right behind you.” Aya said.
Both women stared at the thrashing arms of the beast for a moment, timing their attack just right.
Then, they leapt forward into action. They squeezed through the gaps between the swirling bullets, and approached where Shion sat in the center.
Shion looked taken aback that they had managed to enter her shield so easily. She squeaked and fired a wave of tiny white bullets at them. The bullets rained down on them like thick heavy snowflakes. Reimu and Aya managed to easily dodge them though.
Reimu held up her hand of seals and shot it forward. The seals whizzed past Shion’s head, only just barely missing her face.
“The next one won’t miss!” Reimu shouted.
Shion’s face turned from one of anger and seriousness to one of pleading once again.
“Reimu! I give! I give!” She said.
“You yield?” Reimu called up to her.
“She yielded at the start of this fight.” Aya said, rolling her eyes.
“Yes! Please stop shooting!” Shion said, dropping her spellcard.
Reimu took the cessation of her danmaku to be a sign of surrender, and she lowered her hand of seals.
As the danmaku died and faded away into nothingness, the darkness encroached around them once again. The sound of rain tap-tapp ed all around them.
There was a beat of silence as they came down from their adrenaline highs.
Then, Shion broke the quiet, “Reimu, this really hurts!” Shion said, quickly closing the distance between them. She flew up to Reimu and held up her leg and wrist that had been sealed.
Reimu sighed and yanked the two spell seals off of Shion’s body.
Shion let out a little cry as they were torn off, but once they were gone, it seemed that she felt much better.
“Thank you, Reimu.” Shion said weakly.
“You’re going to thank her for trying to beat you up?” Aya asked incredulously.
“She’s thanking me for going easy on her.” Reimu said.
Shion rubbed her sore wrist and leg as she looked up at Reimu.
“You didn’t have to attack me though…” Shion said quietly.
Reimu let out a grunt, then began to fish in her pocket. She pulled out a small brass key, and held it up to Shion.
“Don’t lose this key too.” Reimu said.
“I won’t, Reimu!” Shion said, lips spreading into a smile.
“Good.” Reimu said. “Now get out of our way. We’re on a mission.” Reimu said.
Shion gave Reimu and Aya a quick bow before she dashed off around them and back in the direction of Hakurei Shrine.
“That seemed unnecessary.” Aya said to Reimu. “You just wasted your energy on her.”
“Whatever.” Reimu said, waving this off. “Are you coming or not?”
Aya simply nodded.
Together they made their way off in the direction of the storm.
STAGE CLEAR
