Chapter Text
It was the end of winter like any other in Gensokyo. The clouds had slowly begun to fade, the snow stopped falling, and the air was getting warmer every day. However, it was not spring yet. Not until the herald officially announced the arrival of spring would it come. The air was charged with anticipation, and people gathered in the streets hoping today would finally be the day she came. Truly, there was no day in Gensokyo as hotly anticipated as the first day of spring, and Lily White was always there to answer the call.
Lily White loved her job more than anything else in the world. More than meat buns, more than playing with her friends and doing cosplay, she loved her job, because she was good at it, and she was the only one who could do it. Announcing the arrival of spring. To anyone from the outside world, such a job would seem fairly pointless and redundant; after all, spring comes whether you announce it or not, right? But Lily White had been doing it for so long that the people of Gensokyo eventually began to believe that spring couldn't arrive without her announcement, and since belief became truth in this world, it was so. Spring would never come without her announcement, which made her job more than just a personal hobby of hers, but a sacred duty that only she could perform. It was just about time, too. Putting on her best hat, Lily White boldy opened her front door and leapt into the sky. As she flew through the air to the sound of the cheering townspeople, she took in a deep breath to say those familiar words once more.
"SPRING..." she began, as everything around her seemed to screech to a halt, the world holding its breath.
"...IS..." she continued, oblivious to a pinprick of light rapidly approaching from the distance.
"...HEEEEERE!" she finished, as the world seemed to come back to life, flowers blooming and the crowd of villagers applauding and banging drums before simultaneously gasping in surprise as that pinprick of light became a blazing fireball streaking through the Gensokyo sky. Lily White shrieked as the fireball nearly missed her, blowing her out of the sky with its immense force and crash-landing a mile away in the Forest of Magic with a massive explosion.
Reimu and Marisa arrived quickly at the scene to survey the damages and make sure there weren't any casualties. The explosion looked like it would be devastating, but the fairies were immortal beings, after all, so everything would be fine as long as no humans or hapless youkai had made their way in. The fairies were running around in a state of panic looking for each other and chattering amongs themselves in worry. The ground was upheaved and many trees were uprooted and destroyed, taking the fairies homes along with them. The fairies were all alive, of course, but losing their homes had them very upset.
"Jeez, sure don't see a scene like this every day, huh, Reimu?" said Marisa, kicking aside some rubble as they walked on the dirt path, the spurs on her new boots lightly jingling as she went.
"No kidding," she said crossly. "On the one day I think I can relax, suddenly some space rock comes out of the fucking blue and causes all this damn ruckus. What a pain." Reimu huffed in annoyance as Marisa smiled and lightly patted her friend's shoulder in solidarity, before the three fairies of light, Sunny, Luna and Star, approached them.
"Thank goodness you guys are here!" shouted Sunny Milk, running ahead of the other two as usual. "Everything was like BOOM, and KRRRSSHHH, and BLAOW! I thought we were gonna die! That was really scary!" she said, pantomiming explosions in between gasps for air.
"Lily White got knocked out of the sky!" said Luna Child, carrying a large amount of other fairies' books and knick-knacks in her hands. "You don't think she got hurt, do you? That was really scary! I hope she's okay!"
"Now now, I'm sure she's fine," said Star Sapphire, putting senbei in both of their mouths to keep them quiet before turning to Reimu and Marisa.
"Are you two here to help the fairies who lost their homes? There's only so much we can do ourselves, so it'd be greatly appreciated."
"Maybe later, Star," said Marisa, bending down to meet her at eye-level.
"Right now we're here to make sure there weren't any real casualties, and see what th' heck hit us in th' first place. D'you know where it landed?"
"As far as I can tell, nobody has died in the forest today. My life detection abilities would have told me about something like that. As for the space rock, you can't miss it, really. The fairies won't go near it, after all. It's just over there," she said, pointing to the vast plume of smoke on the other side of the forest.
The pair thanked the fairies for the help and wished them luck before making way towards the impact site. There, they found a long trail of scattered topsoil leading to the space rock's resting place. As they followed the trail, Marisa couldn't help but get excited, thinking that space rock might have valuable magic properties for her to take advantage of, and so close to home, too. It might be bad for the fairies who live here, but it was a lucky find for her. Reimu, however, couldn't care less as long as the rock itself wasn't as troublesome as its entrance.
"Ooh, there it is, Reimu! Let's go check it out," she said, practically skipping towards the meteorite. As they moved closer to it, they got to see what it looked like. It was a strangely-shaped rock, seeming to have a twisted form and parts that stuck out in odd ways.
"Strange," said Marisa. "By th' looks of it, I'd say it looks like it naturally formed like this. There's no sharp edges indicating anything broke off, but if that's th' case, how did all these bits sticking out not get taken off by th' impact? One tough rock, that's fer sure. It's already cooled off, too."
"What a creepy-looking rock," said Reimu, unimpressed.
"It almost looks like it's got wings or something. Let's turn it over." she said, getting ready to grab a prominent part of the meteorite.
"Ayayayaya," came the sound of trilling laughter from behind. "Not so fast, humans!"
Reimu turned around to see the source of this voice, and came face-to-face with a certain crow tengu confidently making her way towards them in her tall geta shoes.
"Not until I've taken a few snapshots of this fine specimen."
"Shameimaru. Should've known you'd show up." said Reimu, maintaining a cold indifference towards the reporter. A troublesome person had shown up yet again.
"Ayayaya~! It's only natural that I, the fastest in Gensokyo, would arrive on the scene so quickly! A scoop like this doesn't fall out of the sky every day, you know!" said Aya, sashaying past them and towards the meteorite. She crouched down and began to take pictures of the meteorite with her camera, moving between angles periodically. "Quite an event this is, wouldn't you say? I wonder if we've another incident on our hands."
"Ugh, I hope not," groaned Reimu. "I've had enough excitement from space to last a lifetime."
"Are ya done yet? I wanna see th' rest of th' space rock," said Marisa impatiently.
"Very well, I suppose that's enough for this side," said Aya, standing aside. Marisa and Reimu both walked over and grabbed prominent edges of the strange meteorite, and using their combined strength flipped it the other way. What they saw gave them pause, for staring back at them was what appeared to be a human face on the stone's surface, almost life-like in its detail. It was beautiful and yet highly unsettling at the same time. If they didn't know any better, the trio could swear the rock was staring right through them.
"Would you look at that. It's even creepier on the other side," said Reimu flatly, trying to cover up any feeling of discomfort she had standing next to it.
"Oh yes, how very interesting! How very interesting, indeed!" Aya said in a voice of pure delight. She snapped photo after photo, practically dancing between angles. "Incident or no incident, what on earth could such a thing be? This isn't just a scoop, this is the find of a decade! Oh, what a lucky day for me!" she trilled, pirouetting to face the others with her notebook and pen at the ready.
"I'll have to get your statements, of course. What do you believe this strange meteorite is? Where do you think it came from? Why do you think it came here?"
"Woah, woah, woah," said Marisa, holding out her hands. "Let's just calm down, now. Yeah, it's a weird-lookin' rock, but it's probably not much more than that, right? We don't know any more than you, anyway."
"Give us some time to check it out before you put the screws to us, would ya? Sheesh." Grumbled Reimu, crouching down in front of the meteorite.
"Yes, yes, I suppose you're right. Forgive me, it's been a while since something this interesting has happened. I have enough to write my preliminary article, anyhow. Auf wiedersehen, my friends! I'll be back tomorrow for more updates!"
Aya said, before taking off for the mountain at mach speed, leaving behind a gale that knocked off Marisa's hat. As she left, Marisa picked it back up and turned to Reimu, who was still looking intensely at the strange space rock.
"What d'you think it is, Reimu? It's definitely not just any rock, I'd say." asked Marisa.
"I dunno, Marisa. Whatever it is, it gives me the creeps. I don't like it. I'm gonna ask around, see what I can dig up," said Reimu, standing back up again. "Do whatever you like, but I advise you to be careful around this thing. It seems like a rock for now, but I've got a bad feeling about it."
"Fair enough," said Marisa. It was a little disappointing for her, since she probably wouldn't be able to get any magic materials from it like she hoped, but looking at the rock unsettled her and filled her with a vague sense of dread. As annoying as it was, Reimu's intuition seemed right on the mark once again. The two went their separate ways through the forest, unaware of the slightest finger twitch from the meteorite's hand as they left.