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In the final hour of the sun’s journey across the sky of Gensokyo, when the light was still present yet scarce, a knock on the front door of Marisa Kirisame’s house could be heard. Curious as to who could be visiting so close to the arrival of night, when nocturnal youkai would certainly make any return trips home perilous, the magician figured it had to be a powerful human or even a youkai. Confused - yet intrigued - at the unannounced visit, Marisa opened the door to see her guest for herself.
She was surprised to see that it was a young girl in a fancy pink dress and mob cap, carrying an open parcel that sheltered her pale skin from the fading sunlight. Not because a visit from a child was unusual. Well, it would be. But weirder was the identity of this child: the vampiric mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Scarlet.
Remilia gave a small, quick bow before speaking. “I apologize for arriving without prior notice; however, it simply could not wait.”
“Huh? Remilia?” Marisa blinked. “What are you doing here?” She carefully looked around. “Especially by yourself, so early in the evening…”
“I was worried about getting here too late...I didn’t want to drag Sakuya or anyone else into this if I was. So I had to arrive here alone.”
Marisa could see the urgent look in her eyes, and prompted her to continue. After first noticing that the light of day that threatened her was now gone, allowing her to close her parcel and set it aside for now, Remilia did just that.
“I was just coming by to warn you of a premonition I had. Although I took some time getting here, so I would say you have now…” She paused and allowed her face to scrunch up in thought. “20 minutes until it happens.”
“Until what happens?”
“Something.”
Marisa gave a slow, unamused blink. “‘Something.’ That’s it?”
“Well, I only receive so much information…” Remilia huffed indignantly.
Marisa rolled her eyes. Remilia claimed to have the ability to manipulate fate; and because of that, she could also see fate itself. But conveniently, this was a power that seemed to have a mind of its own. Remilia couldn't consciously see what the future held. It had to appear to her itself, usually at random.
And Marisa was one of the people who thought of it as bullshit. Either she was exaggerating what she could do, or Remilia was making excuses not to make so many “prophecies” for people. In Marisa’s opinion, the former was more in character.
“But I can tell you that it’s coming soon,” Remilia continued. “And it’s coming for you .”
“Yeah, yeah. A lot of people have it out for me. Including Patchouli…” Marisa waved it off. “Hell, maybe you’re pulling my leg to help in some revenge scheme for her...spook me into giving back the books I borrowed from the library.”
“Stole.”
“Borrowed.”
Remilia could only shake her head and sigh. “Fine, feel how you want to feel. However…” Remilia grabbed hold of Marisa’s hands and placed a small object into them. “Take this timer. I’ve already got it set. Keep in mind just how much time you have left…”
With that, the vampire took her closed parcel and flew away.
After watching Remilia’s already small figure become but a distant dot on the horizon, before disappearing into the darkness entirely, Marisa finally closed the door and re-locked it. She peered down at the timer given to her, as if confirming it was as Remilia claimed. 16:24 was what she saw on its face.
She tossed it to the floor, along with all her other junk and trinkets, although gentle enough to avoid breaking it. It looked exotic enough to possibly come from outside of Gensokyo, so maybe she could sell it to Rinnosuke later. But that also required her to be in the mood to part with anything, even the most useless of items. And a timer wasn’t entirely pointless to have; even if the context of why she got it was baloney to her.
Her thoughts were interrupted by yet another knock at the door. Marisa groaned, having already walked to the center of the front room before this.
She turned to glare at the door. “Remilia, is that you again? Bug off if you’re just going to keep trying to scare me! That’s not gonna work on a seasoned youkai exterminator!”
A silence lasting several, long seconds followed. Marisa briefly believed that whoever was out there had given up and left. Until she heard a rock collide with the outer wall of her house, close to one of the glass windows.
With a start, Marisa went to said window to get a good look at whoever was now trying to break in. However, she couldn’t see anyone outside. They must have fled when they failed and opted to prevent themselves from getting identified. Cursing under her breath, Marisa closed the curtains to all her windows. She then proceeded to reinforce them with guarding she borrowed throughout various fortified places throughout Gensokyo. Who knows when the would-be intruder might try again.
A ticking resounding in her head as she finished her work, leading her eyes back to the timer she almost forgot about. It now read 7:14.
As she went to grab wooden boards and furniture to block the back door, she told herself she wasn’t hurrying because of the timer. No, there was no telling how long the intruder would wait before returning. They could try waiting until they felt she was asleep. They might strike again quickly, under the belief she wouldn’t expect a second attempt so soon after the first. Hell, they might not even come back tonight, but the next. If they even did at all.
What was worse was not knowing who it was, though. Was it a youkai? Probably a stupid one, like a fairy or weakling. Their aim hadn’t been that good, after all.
She started to think that maybe she was overreacting. The rock could have been a way to get her attention. But if that were the case, then her visitor wouldn’t have run off right after. Which only fueled her suspicion and anxiety.
Who was fast enough to get out of sight that quickly? Very few people were. Not even a trace was left behind, besides…
Marisa froze midway into shoving a table against her door when she realized something. It had sounded like a rock was thrown at her house. Except she had never visually confirmed it. All the rocks outside weren’t in the right position to have been the one. And she did the mental calculations to determine the trajectory, just to be sure.
So, not only did not know the identity of the thrower...she didn’t even know what they threw . Or if they even threw anything to begin with…
With those terrifying prospects in her head, Marisa sat down in the center of the front room. She faced the front door, not wanting to turn her back to it. It also comforted her that all that was directly behind her was the closet in the center of that wall. On either side of that wall were hallways; long enough hallways that if she heard anything occur around the house, she’d have time to readjust her position. She wouldn’t allow anyone to break in, but in the case that they did, she would face them head-on.
Against her better judgement, she gave a final glance to the timer. 30 seconds. Too little time for something to suddenly spring on her. Now she was sure that Remilia was either trying to prank her earlier, or had been completely wrong in her “premonition”.
Until a loud bang rocked her front door, causing Marisa to leap to her feet. The force on the other side registered the resistance, and went to the doorknob. It began to jiggle, as if the person or thing were trying to tear it off. They might not yet realize her door was indeed opened from the outside with a push - a consequence of not reading instructions when repairing it - and the resistance was simply from barricading it.
As the doorknob kept wildly jingling, the thing on the other side rabid to get into her house, Marisa’s hand went to her pocket. Her fingers curled around her mini-hakkero. She pulled it out and slowly raised her arm until it was pointing straight at the front door. Despite her fear of what she was about to face in just a few more seconds, she was comforted by the idea that she could just Master Spark it away. Master Spark never failed her before. Except when it did…
The timer reached zero and gave a little buzz to announce it had. The doorknob stilled, and save for the alarm, it was silent. Marisa waited with baited breath for “something” to happen.
Behind her, the door to the closet flew open with a start.