KirbiMiroir's Touhou Novelisations

Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil
It was a peaceful summer's evening. A small, run-down Shinto shrine stood amongst the cherry blossom trees. The shrine seemed deserted, given its appearance and the empty donation box. The only person in the area was the shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei.

Reimu was asleep, lying on a blanket which had been laid plain across the wooden floor of the shrine. She was only wearing a red-and-white summer dress, as this summer was an unusually hot one, and the ribbon in her dark brown hair had been untied. During her quiet sleep, however, Reimu noticed something - that it was seeming to get colder. It didn't seem normal for this to happen during the late summer...

"Open up, Reimu! Open up!"

Reimu was immediately startled by the voice. She got up in a tired manner, struggling to concentrate among the constant banging on the shrine's sliding door. She eventually got there, and pulled the door open. There, she saw an angry blonde witch, almost exactly the same height as Reimu herself, dressed in black and white with a wide-brimmed hat.

"Oh, Marisa!" Reimu said, still somewhat startled. "What brings you here?"

"Can't you see?" Marisa grabbed the shrine maiden's arm and yanked her outside. From there, Reimu could see that the sky was engulfed with a deep red mist. "The sky's gone bright red! Doesn't this look like it's leading up to an incident?"

"Well, um..." Reimu decided that now was the right time to start sounding serious. "Of course it is! As a shrine maiden, it's my duty to find the cause of this unnatural weather!"

Marisa stared at her quizzically. Reimu took this as a look of concern, and stared at her in return.

"Well..." Marisa sighed. "I guess you're right. Go on, head out and resolve this incident!"

"What's with this patronising attitude?"

"Well, you wouldn't know about this incident if not for my intervening..."

Marisa was going to continue talking, but had noticed that Reimu was nowhere to be seen. Had she set out already? Or did she not care about the incident? Eventually, she decided that either way, she didn't have to be at the shrine anymore, and began to walk away.

Just then, Reimu opened the sliding door, now in her "work clothes", a red skirt, a red top with white sleeves and a white sarashi. She was now carrying her purification rod, consisting of a wooden shaft with a trail of colourful ofuda attached, and had two red-and-white yin-yang orbs floating in the air around her.

Marisa turned to face the shrine maiden. She was quite startled, but didn't want to admit it. It would be humiliating to admit that she didn't think about Reimu getting prepared first - after all, who would go out in the cold wearing a summer dress?

"So, uh..." Marisa couldn't think of what to say. "...you're heading out now?"

"Yes. Look after the shrine while I'm gone, okay?"

Reimu began to run out into the darkness, looking back to see Marisa waving. She had noticed that the mist was much darker at one point - that had to be the source of this weather.

...

The plains of Gensokyo looked quite different under the scarlet mist. The fresh green grass seemed an eerie reddish-brown, and the cobalt night sky was now deep black, void of any colour, making it appear that one was staring into nothingness. Reimu noticed this very early as she ran across the grass, which she didn't expect to feel as soft as it did - an illusion caused by the scarlet mist.

Along the way, the shrine maiden spied a group of fairies. There were eight of them, less than four feet tall, each with the same blue dress and ginger hair. They were almost indistinguishable from each other, if not for the different plants that they carried. They're completely harmless, Reimu thought. ''But I don't want to anger them. I'd best avoid them for the time being.''

Reimu jumped into the air, and as she did, an invisible aura formed around her. She was floating through the sky, high above the wandering fairies. As she rose higher into the air, however, she began to notice more fairies. They looked a little like the ones on the ground, but had red dresses and blonde hair. They weren't holding plants, however. Each fairy carried a small card in one hand, and as they noticed the shrine maiden, they raised their cards one by one.

Five tiny red shards burst from each card. Reimu observed these attacks carefully, and began to slowly drift off to the right. She watched as the shards flew around her, then tapped one of the yin-yang orbs with her purification rod. The orb began to fire white arrows at the fairies. As the arrows touched the fairies, they faded away into the darkness. Knowing that the fairies would come back to life through the power of nature, Reimu continued to fly on.

Then, Reimu noticed something in the sky. It was a yokai, taking the appearance of a human girl. The shrine maiden noticed the short blonde hair, the eyes as red as fire, and the black and white outfit like that of a schoolgirl. She looked like a yokai of darkness - the cowardly kind that rarely shows themselves.

As soon as she noticed the shrine maiden, the yokai snapped her fingers. As she did, three rings of blue shards appeared around her, spreading outwards. Just after she did this, she began to drift over to the left. Reimu read the pattern and drifted to the left as well, while her yin-yang orbs fired arrows at their target. The yokai then held a hand into the air, from which little white particles flew out in all directions.

Reimu looked at the attack, trying to read the motions of the bullets. Before she could come up with a suitable way to dodge, however, the particles were nearly on to her. She stayed still, and felt as the dots of white light brushed against her clothes, not causing any real damage. Just then, she noticed that the yokai had launched another attack - four rings of shards, two green and two yellow. She began to glide to the right, making it past the attack, and noticed that the yokai was right in front of her.

Ceasing the opportunity, Reimu channelled all of her energy into the yin-yang orbs. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't see as the yokai let out a burst of colourful particles. Eventually, she heard a cry of pain, and opened her eyes to see the yokai startled, and the bullets around her disappearing. The shrine maiden flew over to her, and was about to strike her with the purification rod. Before she could, however, the yokai vanished, concealing herself in the darkness and making her escape.