The walk towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion was shrouded in an increasingly thick, supernatural mist as the trees grew denser and slowly replaced by more gothic shapes. Sakuya led the party.
A comfortable silence had fallen over the group after Sakuya's formal introduction to Nowa, the last of the recent market's tension finally dissipating into the fog.
"Man," Marisa began, hefting her broom over her shoulder and breaking the quiet with a grin. "I can't wait to see Patchy's face when she gets a load of your magic, Old-timer. All those forbidden runes and reality-warping stuff is gonna give her a migraine for a week."
Nowa, walking beside her, glanced over. "Who's Patchy?"
"Who's—? Pfft!" Marisa sputtered. "Only the most know-it-all, book-smart, shut-in magician in all of Gensokyo! She lives in the Mansion's library. Has, like, every book ever. But her magic..." Marisa waved a dismissive hand, though her eyes sparkled with competitive respect. "It's all formulas and elements and incantations. Super powerful, don't get me wrong! But seeing her try to figure out your 'symbiotic framework rune' thing that just... works? It's gonna be priceless!"
Nowa processed this, his gaze drifting ahead to the looming silhouette of a massive, red-tipped mansion emerging from the mist. "A theoretical magician, I see." A dry, almost imperceptible smile formed on his lips. "I can relate to that. I've met her type across a dozen worlds too. They spend a lifetime mapping the ocean's currents but are terrified to get their feet wet."
"Hey, that's a good one!" Marisa laughed. "I'm gonna use that!"
From the front of the group, Sakuya walked ahead and glanced back. "I would advise you two against using that particular analogy in Lady Patchouli's presence. While accurate, it's unlikely to be received as creative criticism."
Nowa's smirk widened slightly. "Noted. I'll stick to the basics. 'Hello, I'm the walking violation of your life's work. Pleasure to meet you.'"
Reimu, who had been quietly observing the ever-approaching mansion, let out a short sigh. "Just try not to break her library. Or her brain. We're here for bread, not to cause an incident that requires me to solve it."
"Too late for that, Miko Ribbon," Nowa replied, his eyes fixed on the mist ahead. "The moment you people dragged me into this world, 'incident' became my middle name."
Then he stopped in his tracks, his boots stepped softly on the mist-dampened path. For a long moment, he simply watched the three women ahead of him: Marisa, a vibrant splash of black and white in the gloom; Reimu, a stoic red and white anchor to her side; and Sakuya, a silver-haired guide leading them into the unknown.
Then, the world shimmered.
A memory, sharp and sudden, superimposed itself over reality. Marisa's grinning profile flickered, replaced by Chris's scratched, enthusiastic, grinning face, his blood soaked scrap-metal gauntlet raised in a triumphant gesture. Reimu's steadfast back dissolved into Lancer's lazy posture with a dirt on his cheeks, a giant paintbrush strapped to his back, hands tucked casually in his pockets. And Sakuya's poised silhouette wavered, transforming into the image of his own younger self, awkward, hopeful, scratching the back of his head with a nervous, earnest smile, his hand wielding a blood-soaked crowbar as if they just got out of a battle.
The ghost of his first team, his found family, stood before him on this misty path.
"Guys…" he muttered the words, a hollow echo in the present, as his hand instinctively reached out to them. The vision lasted only a heartbeat, but the ache it left behind was as real and vast as the space between stars.
The vision collapsed, leaving him staring at the three real women, their backs still turned. His hand faltered, closing his opened hand before he dropped his hand to his side. His fingers twitched once against his thigh, a ghost of the reach he'd suppressed. The weight of the comparison was crushing. He was seeing the foundation of the group he once had, and the terror of that possibility was more paralyzing than any enemy.
"Hey, Old-timer! You gonna stand there all day gawking at the mist, or are you coming?" Marisa's voice cut through his thoughts.
He took a slow, deliberate breath, forcing the ghosts back into the locked box of his memory. The past was a grave. The present was…
5̶̪̾(̴̲̕f̵̧̐)̶̖̉5̶͔̈4̸̀͜4̷͉̏8̸͙̚4̸̹̐9̶͖͑5̵͠ͅ3̵̠̀[HOURS](̷̌ͅe̶̼̔)
ͯLͯͯEͯͯTͯ ͯTͯͯHͯͯEͯ ͯDͯͯEͯͯSͯͯPͯͯAͯͯIͯͯRͯ ͯBͯͯEͯͯGͯͯIͯͯNͯͯSͯ.
[HOURS](̵̲͝e̷̱̓)̷̛̯7̷͕̒0̷̖͒6̶̖͋4̸̯̒6̸̳͆6̵̮̋[HOURS]
He sniffed the air, his head snapping towards the dense trees, the smell of a familiar bleed of a world screaming for help that no other beings other than his kind smelled. 'Here they are.'
Back within the serene room of the Yakumo household, the scene was anything but serene.
Chen, having delivered her report with wide-eyed excitement, was now bouncing on her feet. "And then he tugged me! And he fixed the stool! And he didn't get mad at all, he was really nice! Can I go back? Can I, can I?"
Ran Yakumo, her nine tails swaying in a calm pattern, gave her a gentle smile. "Perhaps later, Chen. Seems like your last night's action was correct. He is… surprisingly gentle with strays." Her primary focus, however, was on the shimmering border-window that displayed the group's progress through the Forest of Magic. Data streams flowed around her, the emotional resonance, mana fluctuations, social cohesion metrics of his.
"He is stabilizing," Ran reported. "The incident with the child was a critical stress test. His response has increased his social integration probability by eighteen percent. The undoing of the rain was another demonstration of his capability. And Sakuya Izayoi's formal introduction and the following invitation… This is an unforeseen positive development. This legitimizes his presence in the eyes of one of Gensokyo's most powerful factions."
Yukari Yakumo lounged on her futon, observing the scene through half-closed eyes, a faint smile formed on her lips. "The weapon learns to sheathe itself. He is being domesticated by the most potent forces in existence: a warm meal, a purring cat, and the stubborn friendship of a few irritating girls." She snapped her fan open. "The SDM is the perfect next stage. Remilia's dramatic antics and Patchouli's curiosity will either forge him into a proper part of the scenery or cause a magnificent explosion. Either way, the outcome will provides us with valuable progression."
Her smile was one of supreme confidence. The gamble was paying off. The Flame of Noah was being cooled, tempered not in the fires of war, but in the hearth of Gensokyo itself.
And then, the confidence shattered.
Yukari's eyes snapped wide open. Her fan froze mid-snap. The lazy, lying back posture vanished as she sat bolt upright, her head tilted slightly as if listening to a sound only she could hear.
Ran felt it a moment later, a wrongness, not an attack, but a… a silent tear. A hole. "Milady? What is—"
"Quiet," Yukari hissed, her voice devoid of all its earlier amusement. She raised a hand, her fingers weaving through the air, pulling at the very threads of the boundary between known and unknown. The viewing portal flickered, the image of the group distorting into static snow.
Chen whimpered, sensing the sudden, profound shift in the atmosphere and cowering behind Ran's legs.
"A tear somewhere…" Yukari whispered, her brow furrowed in furious concentration. "It's not a corruption this time… It's a… a null. A point of non-existence in the informational field. I can sense the breach has happened, but I cannot find it. It has no boundary to manipulate. It simply… isn't where it should be."
The color drained from Ran's face. For her master, the absolute master of boundaries, to be unable to locate something was a logically impossibility. It was like a fish being unable to find the water. Her composure cracked, her tails puffed out in alarm, and her voice rose in a panic she had not felt in centuries.
"That's impossible! Your perception encompasses all of Gensokyo! How can there be a breach you cannot pinpoint?!"
Yukari's hands fell to her sides, clenched into white-knuckled fists. The static on the portal cleared, showing Nowa and the others walking towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion, blissfully unaware except him. Her voice was low, cold, and laced with a fear she rarely showed.
"Zero isn't hacking the system this time," she stated. "He's created a file that doesn't exist in the directory. A ghost in the machine. And if we can't find it, we cannot defend against it."
Her gaze, sharp and deadly serious, locked onto Ran. "Go Ran. He already knows there's a breach, tell him we need his assistance now."
Ran, her heart hammering against her ribs, gave a swift, terrified nod. "At once, Milady!" In a blur of motion and panic, she was gone, tearing through the boundaries towards the group, a single, horrifying message to deliver: their one hope was now their only hope, and the enemy just changed the rules of the war.