Mentioned Characters: Reimu, Yukari

This is a story that may or may not have happened in one of the many Gensokyos in one of the many parallel worlds. The Hakurei shrine maiden was worried about the prolonged Scarlet Mist Incident. She was fed up with all the humidity caused by the mist, but more than that, she was concerned about all the battles of bullets she lost. It felt like she'd never be able to resolve the incident. Some days, she'd have to turn back before even reaching the vampire's mansion. Others, she'd enter the mansion only to get hit by bullets shot by the maid or the witch. She'd lost count of how many times she set out to resolve the incident only to fail. And with each failure, things only got worse.

In worlds with prolonged incidents, there exist beings that look different and are more powerful than their parallel-world counterparts. These beings are suspected of prolonging the incidents, and once their presence becomes known, resolving the incidents becomes all the more difficult. When Reimu had almost given up hope of ever resolving the incident, a voice called out to her. "Perhaps you'd like me to train you again?" It was Yukari Yakumo, one of the sages of Gensokyo, and in this world, she was Reimu's teacher.

Reimu had to resolve the incident, but that didn't mean she wanted to train with Yukari. In fact, that was the last thing she wanted to do. But it seems Yukari wasn't exactly asking. The sudden barrage of bullets came at Reimu with enough force that if any hit the shrine, there wouldn't be anything left. Reimu wanted to believe that Yukari would never damage her shrine, but no one can ever truly claim to know what that greater youkai would or would not do. Left with no choice, Reimu accepted Yukari's "offer." When the dust cleared, the shrine was unharmed, but the same couldn't be said for Reimu. She was covered in scratches and breathing heavily. "You could have gone a bit easier on me, you know!" shouted Reimu indignantly. "You've grown complacent," replied Yukari, showing no signs of remorse. "This incident has gone on long enough. If you truly wish to resolve it, you should stop complaining." It sounded like Yukari was truly concerned about what was happening, almost as if she was afraid. But that can't be right... can it?

Why was Yukari so concerned about the prolonged incident that she suddenly appeared and started training Reimu? It's true that Reimu probably wasn't taking this as seriously as she should have, but was that enough to warrant such a harsh training session? Yukari is usually just as laid-back (some would say lazy) as Reimu... Perhaps Yukari knew something that nobody else did. Perhaps she knew what was prolonging the incident or how to resolve it. Or maybe... she knew about the parallel worlds where this incident had already been resolved. If she knew that, she probably had an idea about what happens to worlds when an incident is never resolved.

No matter how complex the Spell Card might be, with enough practice, you can learn how to dodge them. You start to read the patterns and see the paths between every bullet. But while Reimu had managed to dodge a few of Yukari's attacks, she had many more. "How about this one? I taught you how to use these, so you should be able to dodge them." For her next Spell Card, Yukari threw out a hail of needles. Seeing the familiar tools of her trade used against her seemed to have lit a fire under Reimu. "You're really going all out, huh?" Fine! You asked for this!" Yukari smiled when she saw that Reimu had taken out her own needles. The shrine shined with the light of their criss-crossing bullets. But the night and the shrine maiden's training session were still far from over.