Links to other sites:
Archive of our Own:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/55260253
Fanfiction.net:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14347730/1/I-Have-the-Right-to-be-Happy
Reimu frowned at the liquid in her cup. Others would have tipped it back without complaint, but five-sixths full wasn’t full to her. She looked up at Yukari. “Hey, Mom! Get some—!” She slapped a hand over her mouth in realization.
“Oho?”
“
Ohohoho?!”
“‘
Mom?!’” everyone said in unison.
Technically, it wasn’t a drunken tirade, but that didn’t mean she would be taking prisoners. Human and youkai, friend and foe, weak and strong, all felt her wrath in the form of her gohei, ofuda, and even throwing needles until they were all gone.
Reimu had hoped she wouldn’t wake up tomorrow, or at the very least, she would never see another soul ever again, but she didn’t get through half the morning until Marisa opened the door and greeted her with a teasing “Morning,
big sister!” She scrambled to grab whatever was near and flung her gohei at the girl as hard as she could.
The witch side-stepped the throw easily. “C’mon, it’s time t’ get up!”
“No.”
“Oh yes, it is!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed with a hangover?!”
“So should you, but someone cut our drinking party off early.”
“Shut up.”
Marisa rolled her eyes as Reimu rolled over. “Well, get up; there’s somethin’ I wanna do today.”
“And what’s that?” the other girl mumbled.
“Eat your cooking, of course!”
“Will that make you leave?”
“Maybe.”
Reimu groaned as she pushed herself up. “Let me get dressed first.” Marisa gave one deep nod and stepped back outside. Once the shrine maiden was ready, she moved into her kitchen. She looked at her supply of rice and scowled.
Reimu set her food down at her place at the table and said, “If I hear a single word out of you, I’m kicking you out, got it?”
Marisa smirked cheekily. “Mm-hm!” she hummed with an overexaggerated nod.
The shrine maiden wasn’t convinced, but she gave her her food anyway. She stared the witch down as the two ate in silence. Occasionally, Marisa would suck in a breath like she was about to speak, but thankfully she stuck to Reimu’s rule.
Marisa set down her chopsticks and leaned over onto an arm. She gave Reimu a wide smile.
The shrine maiden glared harder. “…What?”
“Welp!” the witch started as she pushed herself up. “I’m off!”
“Where are you going?” Reimu asked before she remembered that she didn’t care.
“Patche’s! See ya!”
She grunted in response as Marisa flew away. She cleaned up the mess, then looked through the door that the witch had left open. She frowned and closed it.
Reimu lay down in the middle of the floor, frowning at the ceiling as if it would make whatever bad thing that happened next be unable to. It came a lot quicker than she anticipated when Yukari’s face appeared over her own. She snapped herself upright, pushing the youkai’s face away. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
Yukari pressed a hand to her cheek and made a dejected face. “How can you say that to your poor mother?”
“I’ll exterminate you! For real! Future of Gensokyo be damned!”
The youkai chuckled. “Then who would help me eat all this manjuu?”
Reimu glared at her. “…What’s your angle?”
“My ‘angle?’ Reimu, does everything I do have to have some mean-spirited motivation behind it?”
“Yes.”
Yukari sighed and rolled her eyes before taking a seat at Reimu’s table. “Come. Sit. Eat.”
“Why should I?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll eat all the manjuu, and you won’t get a single bite.” Reimu stood there just staring at the intruder casually eating her snacks. “Could you put some tea on?”
Reimu stormed out the door.
She couldn’t find a hole to crawl into even if she tried, so long as Yukari existed. Somehow, that old-as-the-Earth youkai just knew everything about everyone at every time. Everyone did, especially those—
A camera clicked.
Pesky tengus…
She threw a fistful of ofuda at the source of the sound, but Aya dodged out of the way easily. “Ooh, is the little girl in a bad mood? Seems you’re off your game today, too!”
Reimu didn’t reply. Words wouldn’t teach this youkai a lesson, only her gohei and throwing needles. She threw three of them at Aya and charged her right after.
The tengu’s eyebrow shot up before she slipped out of the way of the purification rod’s swing. “Jeez, you really
are in a bad mood today.” The shrine maiden tried again with the same results. “You know, I don’t think this counts as a spellcard duel. In fact, if you tried this against anyone else—” Aya strafed again and—“OW!”—looked down to find a needle sticking out of her skin. “What the hell is your problem?!” Reimu smirked before trying the same strategy again. Aya dodged a longer distance away this time, but that didn’t stop the thrown needles from seeking out her flesh. She quickly moved her arm down to prevent them from going into her stomach, but she really should have just dodged again. She did a short dodge again, and when the shrine maiden swept past her, she used her hauchiwa fan to knock her out of the sky and into the forest below. “If we weren’t friends, I’d kill you, you know!” Aya called out before flying away.
Reimu hit the ground, unfortunately still breathing, but thankfully not too injured. She rolled over, and a raindrop landed in her eye.
It was official: The Hakurei shrine maiden was a barbaric, mannerless, evil, attacker-of-innocents and breaker-of-spellcard-rules.
Good.
Less visitors to laugh at her. Less visitors to donate to the shrine, but it was a small price to pay if it meant there wouldn’t be any youkai to mock her.
“Reimu,” a voice spoke.
“Yukari,” the shrine maiden growled.
“Do you have any explanation for your behavior?”
The girl fixed her jaw for a moment. “No. I don’t. In fact, I think I was justified in what I did.”
“You do…?” Yukari asked. There was neither amusement nor confusion in her voice. “Do you truly believe that what you did was right? That there won’t be any repercussions? Any consequences? If you do, then I’ve truly never, in all my life, met a bigger fool.”
“What about it?!” Reimu snapped. “I’m supposed to just take it?! All the insults, all the digs, the—! the—! the—!”
“
No, Reimu,” Yukari interrupted. “But what you did—that one action you took—!” The ancient youkai took a deep breath. “It is likely possible that one attack undid every effort you made to—”
“WHO CARES?!
WHO CARES?! WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF I DESTROYED EVERYTHING?! WHAT DO YOU CARE?! YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING! YOU’RE NEVER THERE FOR ANY INCIDENT! YOU’RE NEVER THERE TO HELP WHEN WE ASK FOR IT! YOU’RE NEVER—! THE ONLY TIME YOU SHOW UP IS WHEN THERE’S FREE DRINKS AND FREE FOOD! YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING!” As Reimu ended her onslaught, her entire body shook with rage.
Yukari took a silent, deep breath. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, measured, and steady. “I understand. And I am sorry.” A moment’s silence passed. “Youkai will come for you. I will not let them take your life. I will let you take time for yourself. I suggest you think about the consequences of your actions and what you will do to fix this.”
Another leaf fell to the cobblestones, and Reimu swept it away. It was peaceful. Everyone was leaving her alone, and no one was making fun of her. It was nice. She looked up at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. She set down her broom and went inside. It was only as she was about to check her supply of rice that she remembered that she was bordering on having none left. Still, though, she had enough for one meal. Then she’d go get more. She opened it up and found that it was full. Yukari had probably filled it, she figured. And if that was the case, then she may have put a few sacks of rice in her storeroom. That’d be nice. But she’d check later. For now, she’d make herself a meal and eat alone.
Another leaf fell to the cobblestones, and Reimu swept it away. It was quiet. No one had come to the shrine in a week. It was… nice. She…
She’d had a dream last night. It was about… when she was younger. Before she met Marisa. She was always alone. Just like she was now. Before the youkai would come bother her every day. She was tired.
She set down her broom, went inside, and laid down for a nap.
Her mother wouldn’t be coming home, the priests said. Something happened to her, and now she…
Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes hurt. She looked down, gripping her dress tightly. She felt a hand on her head, and she batted it away. The priest tried to console her, but she yelled at them to go away. She retreated into the shrine.
“Rei—” one started. A small clay pot was flung from inside and shattered on the cobblestones, the water inside escaping into the cracks of the path.
She heard the retreating of footsteps as she lay in the middle of the room, sobbing. She’d been sobbing for some time when a hand touched her hair and began caressing her. The voice that spoke reassurances was so familiar, yet so foreign.
Reimu woke up with wet eyes. She wiped them dry with her sleeve before she realized that the smell of food was in the air. She pushed herself up and looked towards her kitchen.
“Good morning,” the gap youkai spoke, her voice clipped.
The shrine maiden’s voice was hoarse from disuse as she started, “Yuk—” She cleared her throat. “Yukari… What are you doing here?”
“Cooking.”
Reimu was silent as she stared at the woman’s back. “No, you… What are you doing…
here?” she asked, unable to find better words.
Yukari turned back towards her. “I came here to check on you. As I typically do.” She turned back to her task.
“…You… don’t usually cook for me.”
“How observant. I’m glad you’re keeping your wits sharp.” In a louder voice, she said, “No, I don’t.”
“So… why are you?”
Yukari continued cooking in silence. “Did you do as I asked?”
Reimu fidgeted for a moment.
“Do you
remember what I asked you to do?”
The shrine maiden continued to stay silent.
The youkai began plating the food. She set the cookware and utensils aside and grabbed the meal. She entered the main room and set it in front of Reimu. The girl stared down at it before flicking her eyes back up at the woman. Yukari took that as an opportunity to continue. “I asked you to reflect on your actions and what you would do to fix them.”
Reimu crossed her arms. “I’m not a child, you know.”
The aged woman leaned in. “You may be a 16-year-old youkai slayer, but you are a
16-year-old youkai slayer. Everything that you know is not everything there is to know. And when there is so much to know, can you truly say that you know anything?”
The girl squirmed under her gaze.
“Eat.”
She tentatively picked up her chopsticks and began picking away at her meal.
Yukari sighed silently as she watched her eat. She opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it.
“…Wh-what?”
“Nothing.” The woman’s eyes drifted away. “It’s nothing.”
A/N: Am I layin’ it on too thick?
