Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Marisa excitedly busts out the front door of her secluded forest home and flings herself over her trusty broom with one destination in mind: the Hakurei Shrine. It only takes her a matter of minutes to arrive at the often-barren grounds but today it’s noticeably busier than usual. She swoops down from above like a larger than average raven and touches down near the large torii gate, nearly running into a few pedestrians on the way down.
“W-Woah! Excuse me!” Marisa pulls back on her broom and slips between a man and a woman carrying large cardboard boxes. “That’s strange, I didn’t expect anyone to be here today…” Marisa rubs the back of her head while she straightens out her favorite hat. “What brings you to the shrine today, Marisa?” A familiar voice calls out to Marisa from nearby.
“Hey Aunn! I’m taking Reimu out on another date today, didn’t she tell you?” “Nah, she usually keeps all her romantic activities to herself, says that she doesn’t want to tell me anything that’ll distract me from my guard duties.” Aunn poses her paws out attempting to display her prowess. “Aww you’re such a good dog, aren’t you Aunn?” Marisa smiles and reaches her hand out to pat the happy komainu who gleefully smiles in reciprocation.
“What’s got this place so busy though? Is she holding a festival today or something?” Marisa holds her hand against her hip, still not sure what to make of the increasingly growing crowd. “I guess that’s something Reimu didn’t tell *you* about, the Hakurei Shrine is having a sale!” Aunn excitedly shouts as she points to the rather long line extending from the donation box down the steps and out the gate. “A sale…? Ah I’m sure some of the yokai are causing trouble so the human village is setting shop up here for now, makes sense.” “No that’s not it-“ Before Aunn can explain what’s going on Marisa rushes off to go see Reimu.
Marisa gets about halfway to her destination before she bumps into a rather drunk oni. “Watch where you’re going pal! I’ve got important cargo here!” “Suika you’re always carrying sake around.” “Oh yeah, you’re right. Well, it’s extra special this time because I had to pay for it!” Marisa looks down and notices a large cart full of sake bottles that Suika is carrying behind her. “What stall did you get all of that from? I’m surprised you were able to afford all of that.” Marisa squints as Suika continues on her way, “I didn’t get it from a stall, your girlfriend gave it to me for a whopping 5,000-yen! I tried to tell her that seemed like too much of a steal, but she was dead set on getting rid of it.” Suika pops open her gourd and takes a swig as her and the cart disappear out of view.
“Something is very wrong here… hang on Reimu!” Marisa picks up the pace and makes her way through the crowd of customers before eventually reaching the donation box. “You can’t cut in front of us!” An angry voice rings out from the line behind her as a commotion begins to break out. “Who do you think you are?!” The line begins to form into more of a mob causing Marisa to take a few steps back. “Who do you think you guys are?! This is a shrine for crying out loud, not a marketplace! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!” Marisa looks over her shoulder and notices the donation box with significantly more coins than usual, half of the box is nearly filled. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen the box holding that much yen at a single time, this was simply unheard of.
“Marisa what are you doing?! Get inside!” An arm reaches out through the doors of the shrine and pulls Marisa inside leaving the mob to eventually disperse back into the earlier line. “Ow… a bit of a warning next time would have been nice.” Marisa wipes off her apron and stands herself up, looking over to an exhausted Reimu and the gap yokai. “It’s you, I should have known you played some part in this!” Marisa flips up her broom and twirls it around in her hand, aiming it directly at Yukari.
“My my, I haven’t done anything this time little witch. Isn’t that right, Reimu?” Yukari, hiding comfortably within her gap with her fan held up to her face, asks the worn-out shrine maiden. “She’s right, this one is all on me. Yukari is just helping out with the logistics.” Reimu groans as she leans back trying to pop her back before walking over to the counter. “The logistics? For what? Don’t tell me you’re actually selling-“ “Selling my goods? I am, yeah. I’ve been doing it since 6:00 AM and the line still hasn’t gotten any shorter it seems… don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep them satisfied though.” Reimu opens a cabinet overhead and pulls out a tea set from the back shelf.
“Marisa, if you don’t mind can you get these pots wrapped up for me and stowed away? I’ve got to take inventory on the sake after Suika bought most of my stock.” Reimu wipes her forehead and heads out of the kitchen before her wrist is grabbed by Marisa. “Reimu… I’m here for our date, did you forget?” “No… I didn’t.” Reimu shrugs off her hand and leaves her alone with Yukari.
“Can someone please fill me in on what’s happening here?!” Marisa annoyingly shouts as Yukari sighs behind her. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Reimu’s lack of funding for the shrine, and other… expenses… has driven her to the point where she needs to sell her belongings for the shrine to survive.” “What…?” Marisa asks dumbfounded. “You two have gone on quite a number of dates up until now, haven’t you?” “Well yeah, we got some soba, went to a firework viewing, oh we even relaxed at the hot springs in Former Hell! That was soooo nice and soothing~” “Yes, it is, I’ve been there plenty of times myself but that’s not the point…” Yukari waves her fan before folding it, staring at Marisa with eyes that would frighten any sensible human.
“Now how many of those dates did Reimu plan?” “Umm… zero?” Marisa gulps as the realization finally sets in. "Oh no... Reimu, don't tell me you're doing this for my sake?” Marisa walks over to the counter and picks up the tea set, instantly recognizing it and the value it holds. “This is, this is marked with the Hakurei family name, don’t you know how important this is?!” Marisa shouts out to Reimu who doesn’t respond back, Marisa puts the tea set back up in the cabinets as the gap slowly closes behind her. “I’ll take that as my cue to leave, I’ll trust the rest to you, Marisa~” Yukari waves goodbye as the gap closes for good.
“Did you hear me Reimu?! I said that-“ Marisa walks into the back room of the shrine to see Reimu huddled in the corner hugging her knees. “I know what you said, Marisa… it isn’t the first item like that I’ve sold today.” Reimu wipes her face on her knees and tries to stop her sniffling. “Well that’ll be the last one that gets sold today, I’m stopping this now, Reimu!” Marisa walks over to the disheveled girl and sits down next to her, Reimu tries to look in the opposite direction but can’t bring herself to.
“I-I’m sorry that you’re always the one that decides where we go for our dates, Marisa… and that I’m not able to pay for them-“ “Reimu, don’t say anything else about it, alright?” Reimu lifts her head up with tear stricken eyes and falls into Marisa’s open arms, pulling on her sleeves and quietly sobbing into her neck.
“It doesn’t matter where the destination is or what we’re doing, as long as we’re together! That’s what matters to me, Reimu.” Marisa tears up a bit herself and brings Reimu in closer, trying her best to provide her with warmth. “I’m the Hakurei shrine maiden, my title means something, my role in Gensokyo *means* something… so why don’t I have anything to show for it?” Reimu tightens her grips around Marisa’s arms trying her best to recompose herself.
“You don’t need money to prove that you’re worth something. I’ve never felt once that you were a lower person because the shrine doesn’t receive tons of donations, that’s just your head messing with you~” Marisa lifts her hand up and gently combs it through Reimu’s soft brown hair, pulling it back over her ears. “We’re a bunch of broke idiots, huh? That makes us a match made in heaven.” Reimu sniffles but finally shows signs of her normal self shining through. “Now that’s my girl~ If you’re up for it I’ve got the perfect idea for a tour around Gensokyo, and it won’t cost you anything but a kiss or two.”
Reimu smiles as Marisa helps her up on her feet, “I think I can take you up on that offer.” “Perfect, just give me a quick second to grab my broom!” “But you already have your-“ Marisa takes off through the shrine before Reimu can cut through her poorly thought out excuse as she stands in the center of the grounds courtyard. The line is still showing no signs of slowing down but Marisa is about to change that.
“Oi! All of you listen up now, this sale is officially over! There will never *be* another sale like this here again; if you’re looking for goods at a great price, I know a kappa that has some shops in the human village that sells high quality goods for about 10 times the price!” Marisa shouts ecstatically and receives a wave of boos in return. “Now get out of here ya’ freeloaders! If you do want to stop by, make sure it’s for actual donations next time daze~” Aunn awkwardly stands by and watches as the crowd exits through the gate and vanishes as quickly as they arrived.
“Wow Marisa that was amazing! Are you sure you aren’t a komainu yourself?!” Aunn’s awestruck eyes watch on as Marisa pounds her fist against her chest. “This much skill takes years of practice, you’ll get there eventually.” Reimu walks out from the shrine and views out along the empty grounds, a sight she’s more used to seeing. “You cleared them out fast, I’m honestly impressed.” She finishes tying her bow around her ponytail and holds her arms against her hips. “You said we were gonna go on a tour, right?”
“That I did! Aunn, I trust that we can leave the guard duty to you?” Marisa holds her broom out in front of her as she steadily starts to float off the ground on it. “I’ll alert you if anything suspicious happens while you’re gone!” Aunn promptly plants herself in front of the gate with her head twitching in all kinds of directions. Reimu smiles and comes in behind Marisa, settling herself down near the end of the broom. “That’s a good girl Aunn, see you soon~”
Reimu doesn’t typically share a broom ride with Marisa, and that makes the moments when they do extra special. It had been Reimu that instructed Marisa how to properly fly in the first place and she didn’t think that she needed the broom to be able to take to the skies, but it added to her charm, and she didn’t dare to take that away.
“Off we go!” Marisa kicks back as the broom sweeps a gust of wind off the shrine grounds and soars off into the clouds, Reimu quickly grabs a hold of Marisa’s waist not expecting them to gain speed so quickly. She looks down behind them as a flurry of stars protrude from the sides and shine through the clouds themselves even in broad daylight. She comfortably rests her head against Marisa’s back as she awaits their first destination.