Chapter Text
“Yo, Reimu!”
A voice called out to the shrine maiden, who didn’t bother looking up from the book in her hands. Even without seeing a face, Reimu recognized the voice as being none other than the one that belonged to the person who visited her almost every day, the person who, at this point, might as well be roommates with Reimu with how often she slept over in the spare room.
Marisa “Ordinary Magician” Kirisame.
That was what the witch liked to proclaim, but in reality, all of Gensokyo knew that Marisa was anything but ordinary. Her mastery of danmaku and expertise in various forms of magic separated her from normal humans, putting her on the level of, and sometimes even higher than, youkai. Paired with her overflowing confidence and extreme good luck (Reimu couldn’t keep track of the amount of times that Marisa had performed experiments ending with explosions and her barely surviving), Marisa was unstoppable the majority of the time. It was no wonder that the Scarlet Devil Mansion struggled to prevent her from breaking in, even with their magic seals and devil helpers and extremely capable time-stopping maid. “Danmaku’s all about firepower”, and Marisa sure did live up to her motto, being one of the most powerful in Gensokyo.
It was strange, to Reimu at least. Gensokyo was home to plethora of eccentric (and common senseless) individuals, but Marisa was what bewildered her the most. Unlike herself, whose powers were granted with her position as shrine maiden and came into existence without any effort, all of Marisa’s skills and abilities were earned through hard work. Reimu couldn’t imagine how many late nights and early mornings it took to become that capable; all that power, all that confidence, accrued over years of trial and error. All that power, all that confidence, just from one human filled with ambition.
Could someone like that really be human?
“It’s getting so chilly~!" Marisa sat down next to her. Reimu’s eyes immediately spotted the length of fabric around her neck. It was a deep blue, woolen scarf. "Soon you’ll end up spending your days under the kotatsu, am I right?”
“Scarf,” Reimu answered without thinking, before realizing how idiotic that sounded. But Marisa only grinned, adjusting the cloth around her neck.
“I gotta start dressing for the weather, y’know. Don’t wanna get sick and have to run off to Eientei,” she sighed. "Man, those immortals must have it nice, not having to worry about catching illness."
"Sick…"
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"You'll get sick…" Reimu mumbled.
Marisa paled. "Eh?! You're not seeing some kinda vision are you? I didn't know you could do that." The magician laughed nervously. "Don't tell me this is just another scheme to trick me into your services…"
Reimu shook her head, still gazing at the scarf.
Marisa dressed with the garments of a magician, acted with the recklessness of a fairy, and fought with the determination of an oni, but she was still human. She was still a human, who had to wear a scarf in the winter in order to protect herself from the cold and the dangers that came with it. Dangers that only affected humans.
Reimu smiled and patted her friend's shoulder.
"Be sure to dress warmly," she said.