Bizarre Thefts of New Summer’s Dream, Touhou Proje

[lozffvii]

...sorry, title got cut off.

Title: Bizarre Thefts of New Summer’s Dream (may be changed at a later date)
Fandom: Project Touhou
Characters: (incomplete, and I want to keep any major characters secret)
Rating: 12+ (Mild language)
Warnings: None
Feedback: Yes please. uweanime.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fanfeed&thread=252
Synopsis: A year has passed since the events of "A Summer Day's Dream". After an incredible festival the previous night, the girls of Gensokyo are settling back into their usual routines...that is until more thefts take place, and in broad days light no less.
Now our favourite heroines from the eastern wonderland must track down this thief and teach him the error of his ways the only way they know how - Spellcard Battle.


Note: currently incomplete (Only Chapter 1 complete).
Note2: Each chapter will be broken down into 'Scenes' to make them easier to follow.

[lozffvii]

Chapter 1 – Unknown, Unforeseen, Undetectable Thief of Broad Daylight
Scene 1 – Alice Margatroid’s House, Morning
A stream of white light shines through the open window, illuminating the dark, cluttered workshop of the solitary doll enthusiast. Sitting next to an open cabinet on the opposite wall to the open window, rummaging through its’ contents is a young, short-haired, blonde girl. Unperturbed by the bird song drifting through the window Alice continues her frantic searching.
“No…no…” She grumbles, “Wh-where could it have gone?” her voice wobbles as if it’s going to break, “I only took my eyes off of it for a second!” She stands, tears already forming in her eyes; she walks briskly to her workbench, where magical blueprints are laid out in an almost perfect manner.
“I was so close…so close to perfecting my self-animate doll…” She looks up at the ceiling, tears already flooding down her cheeks, “WHERE IS MY DOLL?” She screams at the top of her voice.

Scene 2 – Hakurei Shrine Courtyard, Midday
The harsh mid-summer’s sun shines down upon the shrine’s yard with such intensity that it beats the still-hung-over Reimu Hakurei into the ground. The thoughts about what happened the past night are still just fleeting glances in her mind as she tries to clean up the mess that was made. The uninterested, almost cynical, shrine maiden considers the enticing thought she should cancel the next year’s summer festival.
Her chain of thought is broken by the sight of Suika Ibuki, the shrine’s resident unwanted guest, running around the main building. The increasingly flustered- looking oni only serves to agitate Reimu further. Thoughts of “It’s the fault of her and that giant of a friend of hers’ that I got so drunk last night, perhaps it’s time I kicked them out!” circle her mind. However, the appearance of a worried Yuugi Hoshiguma – the towering oni that she and Suika found in the Hell of Blazing Fires, piques her curiosity as to what the two could be looking so distraught about. She starts to walk over to them,
“Hey, why are you two running around like you own the place?” She asks the first thing that comes to her head, regardless of how clichéd it is,
“What are you talking about?” asks Suika, her tone suggesting that she isn’t even affected by the amount of sake she drank last night,
“You’re running all over the shrine like you’ve lost something.” She suddenly feels that she already knows what they’re going to say next,
“The sake, Reimuuuuuu! The saaaaakeeeeee!” chirps Suika,
“It’s disappeared!” Yuugi exclaims,
“I know – we drank it all last night.” Pouts Reimu, placing her face in her right palm, “Or, rather, that should be ‘the three of us’ drank it all last night.” She groans,
“No, you don’t understand –” Yuugi buts in, “We hid a bottle of the best of it in the storehouse last night, it was still there when we checked on it this morning, but it was gone by the afternoon!”
“This just sounds like a scam to get me to buy you more…” Reimu sighs,
“We’re telling the truth!” exclaims a depressed Suika, but Reimu has already decided to ignore anything else mentioned about sake – deciding that it’s probably best to go elsewhere, less noisy, for the time being to recover from her hangover. She tells Yuugi and Suika not to mess up the shrine while she’s gone and if possible to clean up the mess that was made the previous night, then she proceeds towards the shrine’s steps. However, no sooner does she pass the red tori does she spot two people ascending the steps towards her.
The first of the two walking up the steps is none other than Marisa Kirisame, the human witch and Reimu’s oldest friend, wearing the same outfit that she wore when they checked out the ship in the sky. Following Marisa is her closest neighbour in the forest of magic, Alice Margatroid, the magician who uses dolls. Both stop when they see Reimu at the top of the steps, Marisa grins and calls up,
“What’s this? Keeping a watch out for us so you know when to roll out the red carpet?”
“In your dreams, you’ve been an unwelcome guest since you first showed up as an underling of Mima!” Reimu struggles to hold a straight face, but the small smile that results is returned by an even bigger grin from Marisa.

Scene 3 – Hakurei Shrine, Afternoon
The three sit on the veranda, drinking the recently-brewed tea, gazing out at the shrine’s yard, when Reimu asks;
“So why have you come here, anyway. It’s not everyday that you come here and certainly less often you bring Alice with you.”
“Yeah, well, it’s just that today we both appeared to hove lost something, ze.”
“Lost something...?”
“Yeah, I mean, firstly Alice came to my house accusing me of having stolen a doll that she was experimenting on. Then, next thing I know is: as we’re searching for it, I find that some of my books were missing, ze.”
“Books…?”
“Yeah, the waterproof ones that I got from Patchouli – I was reading them in the bath last night.”
“Wait.” Reimu turns to face Marisa, “Why’d you come here? Don’t tell me you suspect me!”
“No!” Marisa and Alice are startled at Reimu’s deduction, “We just thought that you might be able to help, ze!”
“Hmmmm…” Reimu sips her tea, “I don’t know, but Yuugi and Suika were complaining about having lost some sake earlier.”
“Huh?” Alice pipes up, “Y-you don’t think that there’s been another incident, do you?” Reimu and Marisa grimace at the thought of another incident being caused by someone stealing things,
“Well, then only thing I can think of right now is to check with Patchouli.” States Reimu,
“Huh? Why’s that?” Asks Marisa,
“Well,” Reimu finishes her tea and stands up, “Because she’s the only one likely to steal a magically-imbued doll and her own waterproof books. I hope that she has and that there hasn’t been anything stolen from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, otherwise we really will have another incident on our hands.” There is an obvious tone of doubt in her voice. Marisa and Alice finish their tea and stand next to Reimu. When Reimu has finished leaving Suika and Yuugi instructions the three leave for the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Scene 4 – Scarlet Devil Mansion Exterior, Late Afternoon/Early Evening
The singing of birds and the chirping of cicadas are broken only by the snoring of the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s gatekeeper, Hong Meiling. The intrepid trio quietly walk around the snoozing chinagirl and into the main courtyard; which results in Alice asking whether they should really be walking in unannounced; this is met by Marisa informing her that they do it all the time. Unbeknownst to them, however, there are a pair of crow’s eyes watching them from the Mansion’s tower. The three enter the mansion with about as much subtlety from the wooden door as a brick through a window.
The loud creak awakens Meiling from her slumber, only to be met by a pair of glowing red eyes and a knife to the forehead.
ZA WARUDO

Scene 5 – Scarlet Devil Mansion Library, Evening
After a little while of walking through the mansion, the three finally make it to the library, the residence of Patchouli Knowledge, the seven-day magician. The gigantic wooden doors of the library are even less subtle than the front door of the mansion, with the enormous groan from the centuries-old wood that echoes throughout the once-peaceful library. The first face the trio meet is of the ‘little demon’, Koakuma, who happened to be standing in front of one of the titanic bookshelves opposite the door.
“Oh, hey, Koa-chan, could you show us to Patchouli?” Asks Reimu, which is met by Koakuma frowning at Marisa, “Coincidently, this is about the books Marisa took.” Reimu adds,
“Koaaaaaa…” Koakuma says in a soft tone, as she walks off,
“Oh, uh, wait up.” Reimu calls after her.
After what feels like five minutes of walking through the library, they finally meet up with Patchouli, who appears to be deeply engrossed in a magic book of some form. When she finally looks up at them she lets out a brief sigh and comments:
“Wasn’t it about this time last year you accused me of stealing something from you?”
“This time I’m hoping you stole something back from Marisa.” Reimu states with a pleasant smile, trying to soften what she just said,
“A-and my doll!” Alice stutters,
“Mukyuu…” Patchouli sighs again, “What is it with you and thinking that I’ve stolen things from you guys?” She stands up, “As much as I’d love to steal back some of my books, I lack the physical energy and strength to go all the way to Marisa’s house.” She turns to face Alice, “And I have no interest in dolls.”
“Oh, no.” Reimu pouts, “And I was hoping this incident would be sorted out quickly.”
“I thought that Hakurei shrine maidens were supposed to revel in sorting out incidents.” States Patchouli,
“Yeah, but there have been so many over the past few years that I’ve just gotten tired.”
“When were my books and your doll taken?”
“During the day, right ze?” Asks Marisa,
“Yeah, my doll was just taken from right under my nose.” Adds Alice,
“And Suika and Yuugi’s sake!” States Reimu,
“Well, unfortunately, we’ve had something stolen from someone today too.”
“ ‘Something from someone’…?” Asks Reimu, which is followed soon after by a large boom coming from under the library, which knocks several books from the shelves.
“My books!” squeaks Patchouli, as she runs to them, picking them up one after another,
“Why do I get the feeling that that boom was a little too well-timed, ze?”

Scene 6 – Scarlet Devil Mansion Basement, Evening
The basement was as dark and dank as could be expected, yet was reasonably well-lit in places where the torches lining the walls hadn’t been destroyed by something. A little way down the corridor, the twin doors to the basement’s main room were broken off their hinges and lying in a smashed-up heap against the opposite wall. A large number of the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s fairy maids were huddled around the doors and the doorframe, looking completely clueless as to what to do.
Having left Alice behind to help Patchouli clean up her books, Reimu and Marisa walk towards the doorway and attempt to push past the maids to get through the door. Upon entering the room the first thing that greets them on the other side is Sakuya Izayoi, the head maid of the mansion. Looking as distraught as the other maids, Sakuya points out the visage of a crying Flandre Scarlet sitting on the floor in the centre of the room; sitting to her right is Remilia Scarlet, the head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Flandre’s older sister, apparently trying to comfort her younger sister.
A brief glance at the room itself confirms to Marisa that this was the epicentre of the explosion that they heard a few moments earlier – the walls of the room appear to be heavily scorched and there are pieces of chairs and table littering the floor.
“Whoa. This is one hell of a warzone, ze!” She comments, almost ironically,
“Unless you’re here to help me comfort Flan, get the hell out.” Remilia states in a cold, serious tone,
“Hey, what’s wrong, Flandre?” Reimu kneels in front of the sobbing little vampire,
“Someone stole it!” Flandre sniffs,
“Stole what?”
“My teddy bear!” She hics,
“Are you sure you didn’t just lose it?”
“No. I know it was stolen.” She sniffs again, “Coz I left him on the table that went boom and only looked away for a minute and he was gone!”
Reimu stands up, “Y’know what, Flandre?”
“Huh?” Flandre perks up and looks up at Reimu,
“We’re gonna find your bear, then we’re gonna kick the hell out of whoever stole him from you!” Reimu’s energetic speech causes Flandre to immediately brighten up,
“Sounds like a plan, ze! And while we’re at it we can find the other things that were stolen!”
“Sakuya!” Remilia calls out,
“Yes, milady?” Sakuya walks forward and stands next to Reimu,
“I want you to accompany them and ensure that that sneak-thief gets what’s coming to him!”
“With pleasure, my lady.” Sakuya beams.
Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya turn to leave the room, leaving Remilia and Flandre to play with each other. As the three approach the stairs leading up to the ground floor Marisa states;
“This is gonna be kinda like old times, right?”

Scene 7 – Scarlet Devil Mansion Courtyard, Late Evening
The sun has already set most of its way beyond the horizon by the time Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya have left the front door of the mansion. No sooner has Sakuya closed the door behind them that they suddenly get swamped by a large murder of crows that seem to come from nowhere.
“Wha-what the-!” exclaims Reimu,
“You guys!” Shouts a figure making itself seen through the buzzing crows,
“Huh, A-Aya?” Exclaims Marisa, finally seeing the infamous tengu reporter of Bunbunmaru News, Aya Shameimaru, through the now-clearing fog of black feathers,
“What’s up with you all of a sudden?” Shouts Reimu,
“I want you guys to help me!” States a teary-eyed Aya,
“That’s one helluva way to try and get us to help you, ze.”
“Wa-wait, why do you need our help?” Asks Reimu, “Don’t tell me that someone’s stolen something from you too…?”
“M-m-my…camera…” Sniffs Aya, already very close to just breaking down and sobbing,
“N-no way!” Exclaims Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya in unison,
“I can’t believe that the thief could really be that good!” States Sakuya,
“Yeah, stealing Flandre’s stuffed bear is one thing, but stealing Aya’s camera is a whole different matter – Aya is never without her camera!” Adds Reimu,
“I guess we’ve really got our work cut out for us this time, ze.”
After comforting the weeping Aya, the trio follow Aya back to the Youkai Mountain in the hopes of finding some leads on a possible suspect.

Chapter 1 End

Omake Scene – Scarlet Devil Mansion Basement, Evening
The basement was as dark and dank as could be expected, yet was reasonably well-lit in places where the torches lining the walls hadn’t been destroyed by something. A little way down the corridor, the twin doors to the basement’s main room were broken off their hinges and lying in a smashed-up heap against the opposite wall. A large number of the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s fairy maids were huddled around the doors and the doorframe, looking completely clueless as to what to do.
Having left Alice behind to help Patchouli clean up her books, Reimu and Marisa walk towards the doorway and attempt to push past the maids to get through the door. Upon entering the room the first thing that greets them on the other side is Kogasa Tatara, the cursed-umbrella youkai.
“E-eh? Wha-what?” A dumbstruck Reimu and Marisa babble in unison, “WHAT THE HELL?”
“Did I surprise ya?” chortles Kogasa, sticking out her tongue in an attempt to look cute.

Chapter 1 Omake End