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[Reimu :: Forest of Magic]

"Do you hear singing?", Reimu turned in midair to face her companions. She seemed to think for a second before adding, "Well, it's probably nothing to worry about. This is the Forest of Magic. It might just be a singing mushroom or something."

Then, Kaida emerged from the foliage, crying for help. Reimu regarded her passively, betraying no sign of being shaken despite the newcomer's sudden and noisy entrance. "Or . . . not a mushroom, then," she said. "So, you're lost?"

[Kaida ~ Forest of Magic]

"YEEEE-HE-HEEEEES." Kaida whined, back slumped and arms hanging in a goofy manner, "I mean, there I was. Sleeping. Minding my own business. And the MYSTERY FAIRY picks me up and places me somewhere MYSTERIOUS. You know what that's like, right? So I've been wandering for the past hour. But look! You've found me! Everything will be okay once you tell me where I am so I can figure out how to get back home. My Pa is going to be pissed."

[Alice :: Forest of Magic]

Alice grumbled as they started talking and spoke up rather early on. "We don't have time to be inquiring about this, Reimu." She eyed the new girl. Some kind of beast Youkai, looked like a western Dragon type. "Well, We are in a hurry. If you need help out of the forest, you can follow us. We're not heading out immediately, we have important business here. But once we're done, we can lead you out. Understood?" Alice was obviously going to be impatient for the reply, as she was already tapping her foot.

[Kaida ~ Forest of Magic]

Kaida lifted a finger and opened her mouth to respond but stopped, noticing something very off. She stood quiet for a moment, which was rare when she was in a mood like the one she was in now, and looked at the people in front of her. Lulz, this girl is, like, floating . . . how did I not notice that befoooooore? And, uh, Eastern edge of the Forest of MAGIC? Now that's just silly. But I'm more concerned with the fact that she really thinks there's a such thing as a Mystery Fairy . . . What in THE HELL is going on here?!

"Err . . ." the dragon stammered, glancing down at Alice's tapping foot. It was slightly distracting. "I, uh . . . I guess I'll follow you, but uh . . . you guys are real right? I'm not dreaming? Or hallucinating? I can touch yooooou?"

Kaida put her hands out in front of her and waved them around slightly, looking as if she were trying to fan the girls away. "Huh. . . that's odd."

[Mystia Lorelei :: Nearer than she really should be to the boundary of Gensokyo]

"Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage~"

Mystia Lorelei was flying around wildly. From her song, one might assume she was playing Kagome Kagome with someone, but she didn't appear to have any partners. It's hard to stand behind someone if you're by yourself.

"When will you come out? In dawns and evenings . . .~"

Ordinarily, this could be considered normal behavior for her, were it not midafternoon. Mystia Lorelei was ordinarily one to shy from the bright sun. And now, she had entered an area she shouldn't. With that careless attitude and wild song, she could very easily undo all of Ran's daily work. Worse, she might even waken Yukari-sama, whose house was not far from here.

"The crane and turtle slipped~"

She really was too noisy. Simply too noisy to live.

"Who is it behind you?~"

[Kaida ~ Forest of Magic]

Kaida made a slight face, lifting the corner of her lip, as Reimu spoke. She caught sight of Chiyo, glancing at her before looking back at Alice and Reimu. Dog? The dragon had really lost her bearings on this one. She still wasn't positive she wasn't dreaming. The girl was almost tempted to start pinching herself or slapping her face, but decided against it because she had probably already weirded her company out enough.

"Uhh . . . o--okay then. Just go ahead. Err, my name is Kaida, by the way."

[Reimu :: Forest of Magic -> Kirisame Magic Shop]

After what felt to Reimu like hours of traveling through the ever changing maze-like Forest of Magic, the group came to a small one-story western-style house that seemed just a little out of place. From the roundness of the stones that formed its wall to the picturesque slope of its roof, the building seemed to glow with a charming warmth that stood at odds, and yet melded seamlessly, with the dark forest. A sign near the front door proudly proclaimed it to be the 'Kirisame Magic Shop'.

Reimu tried the front door first - it was locked. Usually, that meant Marisa was either out or engaged in delicate magic not-to-be-disturbed. Under the present circumstances, it struck her as ominous.

Wordlessly, Reimu drew one of her prayer strips, and, incanting under her breath, stuck it to Marisa's door, near the top. For a second, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the door faded away and vanished, leaving only the prayer strip behind, which remained where Reimu had placed it - now floating in the air. No barrier can fail to yield if the heir of Hakurei, keeper of the greatest barrier, desires.

The front room of Marisa's house was a storefront - as such, it was kept much neater than her living quarters. Still, it was extremely cluttered. Odd magical curios lined the walls - some made by Marisa, some found or otherwise procured. A large wood case full of various potions dominated the west side of the room. Like the rest of the inventory, the potions had no particular organization. Sifting through their handwritten labels, one would find love potions, fatigue lifting elixirs, and explosive jars lined up together with no hope of explanation. And behind the counter, under heavy lock, was a large grimoire that contained Marisa's magical knowledge - that which was for sale, anyway. For a fee, a magician could copy a spell from this book into theirs. For a larger fee, Marisa would decode it for the customer and walk them through its execution. One of Marisa's claims to fame as a magician was her adeptness at encryption and decryption. Where most spellcasters used a single code for all their spells, Marisa used no less than a dozen, all of them fiendish. Actually, many of the spells she had acquired from other magicians (either clandestinely or not) were simply written in the original code Marisa had first found them in. There was no need for her to rewrite it in a more convenient manner. She really was exactly that good.

In the back, behind the counter, was a door leading to the disaster area that made up Marisa's living quarters. Reimu glanced around for a while. Her intuition was telling her to head further in to Marisa's house, but there was no harm in looking around the shop first. For some reason, her heart was full of hesitation.