Here is my contribution to the Touhou Archive! It's been a while since I've done this so please point out anything that you think is critique-worthy in this and any subsequent chapters. Please feel free to message me if you want and I'll get back to you when I can! I hope you enjoy the story!

It was a sunny day in San Francisco. Due to it being a sunny day, in the middle of August, in San Francisco, most of the people who were out and about were trying their best to make sure that the heat didn't get to them. Due to the intense heat wave that had been plaguing the West Coast since April. The City had sent out multiple warnings for the heat, but that didn't stop the massive influx of Summer tourists from infesting the city.

Just like any day in San Francisco, there was a whole detachment of police whose sole duty was to patrol the Golden Gate Bridge. One of those officers was Corporal Timothy (or Tim to his friends) Garcia. Tim had only been on the force for roughly three years now, and had been wanting to be rotated to this department his whole career.

He stood next to his bike, which even though it made him look kind of silly, due to the girth of his biceps, no one decided to heckle him. About forty or so feet away from him, there were some teenagers hanging out. One of them had a Bluetooth speaker and was playing some song at an overly-loud volume. The lyrics of the song got to Tim, who felt that the lyrics were more than a little... uncouth, especially considering the location and what it was known for.

My legs are dangling off the edge, the bottom of the bottle is my only friend, I think I'll slit my wrist again and I'm gone, gone, gone, gone!

He grimaced at the lyrics that the kids were singing along to. If they were from around here they should have known better than to play something that... bad of form.

Probably tourists or something.

He looked down toward the other end of the walkway and watched the people come by. He watched as a few retirees, a group of Chinese tourists moving together in what almost be called a herd, and a very pretty woman who didn't seem to pay him any attention. She definitely had some pretty yellow eyes.

After a moment, he saw the kind of person that he had been trained to look out for, on top of everything else.

The person in question was a white male in what he guessed was his early to mid twenties. He was wearing sunglasses so he couldn't make out the color of his eyes, but the man must have had at least a sense of fashion because the sunglasses complemented the business suit that he was wearing. He thought that until he looked at the man's shoes and saw that he was wearing a pair of cherry-red Converse sneakers.

The way that the guy was carrying himself, along with the way that his head occasionally turned to look over the side of the bridge, told him that this man was looking to do. Tim had to act fast.

He slowly made his way toward the man, the throng of people parting for the man in uniform. The man didn't seem to notice him yet, him having stopped and leaning on the rail.

He had gotten so close, but in the end the man saw him and must have guessed he was coming toward him, because he clambered over the railing and was now on the cord, out of Tim's reach. Tim swore under his breath and ran to meet the man.

"This is Officer 1-8-5-6, we have a 801 in progress at The Bridge, past the First Arch! I need backup!" He shouted into the radio.

He wasn't paying attention to Dispatch anymore. He heard the radio chatter but he was too focused on the man that he couldn't make it out. When he got there, the man was standing with his back to the Bay, as if he was waiting for someone to meet him.

"Hey man! Do you need to talk to someone? I'm here for you man!" Tim said to the man.

"I don't need to talk, but I need you to listen!" He shouted back.

"Alright, man, I'm listening! What's wrong?!"

"Oh, so fucking much!"

The man began ranting and raving about all sorts of things as he paced along the cord with a manic grin. From what Tim could put together, this man had lost everything, and he decided that the most prudent action was to destroy himself.

"... And I am sure that all of this shit started because I just learned of some conspiracy shit! Everyone who can hear me, pay some damn good attention, because this rabbit hole goes so goddamn deep!"

"Come on man, we can talk about it at the station, just-"

"Find out everything that you can about Gensokyo!"

No one noticed, but the blonde woman that had passed by Tim, who had also stopped to see what the commotion was, visibly bristled at the mention of this "Gensokyo". She moved her right hand slightly, and an eye that no one seemed to notice materialized near the man, seemingly as if the bridge had grown it. The blonde woman got a good look at the man before he jumped off of the bridge.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Tim as he saw the man start to fall. In four seconds, he was going to hit the water at a high enough speed that it would shatter bone, pop organs, and if the man didn't just die instantly, he would suffer until he finally drowned.

Another second passed, and it seemed like the space around the man opened. Tim could see for a moment, so many eyes on the inside of the opening in space. In another second, the man was gone, along with the hole in reality.

The man had closed his eyes out of reflex when he jumped, but it seemed like it was taking much longer than he had researched to hit the water. It seemed like he was hitting things as he fell, but he was too afraid to open his eyes and look at what he was hitting.

When he felt the shock of cold water, his eyes shot open almost instantly. This caused him more than a little bit of pain due to the slight murkiness of the water. He could see clearly enough to figure out that he was upside-down, but other than that, all it looked like was water. He righted himself and then started kicking and flailing upward as hard as he could. He didn't have any air in his lungs, so he was more than a little terrified of the thought of drowning here. He knew that adrenaline was a powerful chemical, but he was approaching the surface of the water quicker than he expected. As his vision started to darken and tighten, he broke the surface.

When he broke the surface, he took in a massive breath that left him in a coughing fit. He pushed his sopping wet hair out of his eyes and looked around frantically. He wasn't in the San Francisco Bay, that was for sure. San Francisco wasn't this green and definitely wasn't out in the middle of nowhere like he was now. He just now realized, what with the adrenaline beginning to wear off, that it might be a good idea to call out for help.

"Hey! Hey! I'm out here! I need help! Someone call the Coast Guard!" He shouted as he tread water.

"Umm, it's too far for you to make it to the shore on your own." Another voice said in response.

He looked down and began to realize that someone, or something, was holding on to his waist. The something in question looked to be a green-haired girl. He stared at her, wide-eyed for a moment, and then blinked in surprise, as if he finally registered his situation.

"I didn't knock you in with me, did I?" He asked.

"I don't understand, Sir. But you need to get out of here before you catch a cold!" The Girl answered.

"Hey, hold it jus-"

He tried to say something, but the girl somehow had somehow began pushing him toward the shore, which was still pretty far away, but he could make out tiny figures moving around there. It was then that he finally noticed that the girl who had currently been attached to his waist didn't have legs, but a long, scaly, fish-like tail instead. When his brain finally registered what he was looking at, his eyes widened and he began to scream hysterically.

"What's wrong?! Is there a monster fish nearby?!" The Girl asked, letting go and looking around frantically.

This was just too much for the man, and he promptly went limp in the mermaid's arms.

Team Nineball sat underneath a tree on the shore of Misty Lake. They had spent the last few days preparing for a picnic that they had planned, and over those two days, all manner of interruptions and distractions had gotten in the way of actually getting to go out and enjoy the lake, which ranged from "Dai forgetting to buy eggs" to "stray danmaku to the head knocking Wriggle out for a day-and-a-half". They had everything ready now, though, and Cirno, their fearless leader, was sure that nothing was going to get in the way of them enjoying the weather. She was in such a good mood that she might even supervise the construction of a raft for the team to explore the lake with!

Cirno turned away from the lake and looked back at her friends, who were currently in the middle of enjoying the fruits of their labor. Wriggle was about halfway through one of the sandwiches that Daiyousei had painstakingly cut the crusts off of, while Mystia and Rumia played rock-paper-scissors for the last of Mystia's grilled lamprey.

"Would you care for another o-nigiri, Cirno-chan?" Daiyousei asked.

She offered one to Cirno, who took it from her without a second thought. Dai's o-nigiri were, according to the strongest fairy in Gensokyo, the best around. She turned around again and took a bite of it. Cirno looked out over the lake, which had been oddly calm today. Nothing seemed to be going on today, and that was both good and bad to Cirno. That was until she noticed some movement coming their way.

"What the..." She muttered.

"What's up, Cirno-chan? See a fish or something out there?" Wriggle asked, her mouth still full of sandwich.

"Maybe? I can't really tell. It's too far away." She answered.

She squinted and moved closer to the bank of the lake to get a better look at whatever was coming toward them. It looked like a blob moving toward them, but she couldn't tell too well, even when standing on the beach. Since it was coming this way, Cirno couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"I'll be back in a little bit, guys!"

She quickly took off, flying for whatever was coming toward the shore. She didn't fly super close to the surface of the lake since the last time she did, with her almost being eaten by one of the larger fish that live in the lake. As she got closer she saw that it was that mermaid girl who lived in Misty Lake whose name she couldn't remember. It was something super long and confusing. Cirno had never actually met her before, and only knew what she looked like because of the Bunbunmaru on some group she was a part of. There was a part of her that always wanted to meet her, though, and this was as good of an opportunity as any!

"Hey Kawagahime-chan! What happened to that guy?" she asked.

She flew down a little more and poked the man's face in an attempt to wake him up. This didn't work, and after a few more pokes, the mermaid lightly slapped her hand away.

"I-it's Wakasagihime, and I don't know. He kinda just fell into the lake, I think. I was sitting on a rock and then heard a loud splash so I went to investigate. The funny thing is I never saw him falling." Wakasagihime answered.

Wakasagihime looked to have a little trouble pulling the guy, so Cirno decided that she'd help her new friend out by grabbing his legs and matching her speed.

Boy, this guy is heavy! It's crazy that Waka-chan was able to push him at all! If only Rumia were here, she wouldn't have any trouble with him. Wait, no. She'd probably eat him.

"It's weird that you said he was just falling. I mean, how many humans do you know who can fly here?"

"Well, there's... umm... Kirisame-san and Hakurei-sama. He might be an outsider."

"Or... He's a Lunarian secret agent! I've seen that rabbit who works for Eintei wear something like what this guy's wearing, like with that thing on his neck!"

"I, uh... I don't think that's correct..."

With the two of them, it didn't take them long to reach the shore, where the rest of Team Nineball had been awaiting the return of their glorious leader. When they figured out why their leader had left them alone, they, along with Cirno, gathered around the unconscious man and studied him.

"Whoa... So you're saying that you found him in the lake? What kind of idiot falls in a lake?" Wriggle asked.

"Maybe he wanted to go for a swim in the lake," Rumia answered. "It's really hot out and if I didn't forget my swimsuit, I'd be in now!"

"In his clothes, Rumia-chan? That doesn't make sense!" Cirno added.

"Maybe he was learning to fly and he didn't know how to land, so he hit the water to crash land?" Mystia offered.

She had finished rifling through his pockets and laying out all his stuff on the beach. He had a small black rectangle, and a small brown square that were wrapped in some sort of clear cover that she'd never seen before. Along with that, he had some kind of knife that folded in on itself that Wriggle and Rumia thought was the coolest thing ever.

"Umm, excuse me, everyone..." Wakasagihime said in a meek tone.

It was clear that Team Ninball had completely forgotten about her and were more engrossed with the things that Mystia had looted from the man.

"Hey, what's all this green paper for?" Cirno asked.

Apparently, she had figured out how to get that clear stuff off of the brown rectangle and had started going through its contents. She handed the rectangle to Daiyousei, who pulled a couple of cards out of it.

"These are some weird spell cards. What's an 'American Express'"? She thought aloud.

"This one's got his picture on it!" Cirno stated.

Team Nineball gathered around their leader so that they could look at it. The picture of the guy looked a bit different, but it was definitely him. In this, he had a moustache compared to now, and wasn't wearing those weird-looking clothes that he was wearing now. The clothes were still definitely weird to them, but this was him.

Cirno squinted and moved the card closer and then further away from here eyes.

"It says Ray... Dobbs? I think that's how you read it." Cirno stated.

"Wow, Cirno! I didn't know you could read!" Wriggle said, her voice full of astonishment.

"Heh, Dai-chan taught me! It only took me three years!"

"So cool..."

"Umm, excuse me..." Wakasagihime said again, her voice a little louder now.

"I wonder if we'll get a reward for taking him to the Hakurei Shrine! Maybe we can get Reimu to help us prank Marisa!" Cirno said, her voice filled with determination.

"We could eat him," Rumia said. "I'm still kinda hungry..."

"E-excuse me, everyone!" Wakasagihime shouted.

This got the attention of Team Nineball, who all looked quizzically at the mermaid.

"Umm, could one of you please try to wake this guy up, please?" She asked.

She pointed to the guy, who was still very much unconscious.

"I'll give it a shot! I'm the strongest, so I should be able to!" Cirno said.

Before she even tried to start, she went and refilled her cup of tea, and hovered her hand underneath it. Cirno concentrated, and frost began to appear around her hand, with a small layer of frost beginning to form on the bottom of the cup. After a few more minutes of this, small crystals of ice began to form in the cup itself. Cirno dipped her finger into the cup and nodded in confirmation.

"Are you going to-" Wakasagihime began.

"Yep!" Cirno said.

With that, she promptly poured the ice-cold tea onto the man's face.

"Gah! What the-!"

"Ray Dobbs" reacted to the ice cold water in a way that both Wakasagihime and Team Nineball did not expect. Expecting more ice-cold water, the man reflexively rolled to the left and back into the lake. This sudden shock definitely woke him up, as in just another second, he was standing, eyes wide open. His eyes darted between all of the different creatures that had found him. He was silent for a good amount of time, eyeing each of them fearfully. Eventually Cirno decided to break through the tension that was in the air.

"Hiya Ray, I'm Cirno!"

"... How do you know my name?" He asked.

He pointed his finger at her accusingly as he stared down the Ice Fairy. Cirno either didn't notice how angry he was, or she simply chose not to notice.

"I found this in that brown thing you had in your pocket!" Cirno answered.

She held up the card that she had read from, which prompted him to squint at her in suspicion.

"... You went through my pockets?" He asked.

He looked down and realized he was still standing in the lake, and quickly removed himself from it, sitting down on a flat enough rock and taking his shoes off to dump out the extra water that had gotten into them.

"Yeah! How else were we supposed to see if you had anything cool on you?" Wriggle asked him, still fiddling with his knife.

"How about... you wake me up and ask me, kid?" Ray retorted.

The members of Team Nineball all, almost simultaneously, looked to be lost in thought. After a moment or so of deliberation, they all spoke up in unison.

"Didn't think'a that!"

Ray sighed in exasperation at the antics of these little kids, and recomposed himself.

"Okay, so how about this? You give me back all of that stuff you stole from me and I don't call the police on you." He threatened.

"What's a 'police'?" Rumia asked.

"Umm, Ray-san?" Wakasagihime interjected.

Ray turned to look at the mermaid, looking her up and down. His eyes widened at the sight of her.

"T-t-t-that tail is real, isn't it?"

He pointed at her, his finger shaking. This reaction caused her to puff out her cheeks, cross her arms, and look away from him.

"Yes. I'm actually a mermaid, and you're very welcome for me saving you from drowning out there on Misty Lake." She said with a huff.

"Uh, thanks. I appreciate it, but..."

Ray looked around at his current location. This place obviously wasn't anywhere in the United States of America, but based on the landscape he guessed he was in... Japan?

"Where am I?" He asked.

"You're in Gensokyo, dummy! What, does the Outside World not know about us?" Cirno answered.

Upon hearing that, Ray's looked at Cirno quizzically. He stepped forward a bit, as if he could hear her better that way.

"Wait, you said... Gensokyo?"

"Yeah, I said Gensokyo! What," She repeated, floating up to meet him eye-to-eye. "D'you have water in your ears or somethin'?"

Seeing this, he took a step back and looked at the fairy. He ignored her, staring off into empty space. He ran his hands through his wet hair, his blank stare having changed into a sort of half-smile as he turned around and scanned his surroundings slowly, he began to chuckle.

"I actually do have a bit of water in my ears. Can you repeat that again for me, please?"

He placed his fingers on his left wrist to check his pulse, did the same to his wrist, and then also checked his pulse via his carotid artery just to make sure he wasn't actually dead.

"Cirno-san's right, Ray-san. You're in Gensokyo now. I'm not an expert on how outsiders come here, but I know someone who is. There are a few other problems in getting to them, though." Wakasagihime said.

"I'm sorry, I'm still a little shaken up from my... uh... predicament that led me here, apparently," He replied. He sat back down on the shore and looked out at the lake that had broken his fall. "I need a minute if you all please. I don't know if you'll listen to me, but I'd really like all of my stuff back. If it comes down to it, we can work out a trade or something."

"What?! No! Finders keepers!" Rumia protested, clutching the knife (that she'd folded so as not to stab herself) to her chest.

"Look, kid," Ray said, as he turned around on the shore to face Team Nineball again. "I can't keep calling you that. What's your name?"

"I'm Rumia, the darkness youkai!" She said.

He finally noticed that this "Rumia" was making sure to stand in the shade of the tree that they were picnicking under. There must have been a reason, but an explanation would have to wait.

"Okay, Rumia The Darkness Youkai, Wakaflakahime over here-" Ray started.

"It's Wakasagihime." Wakasagihime interrupted.

"Yeah, sorry. Waka-," He shook his head and placed a hand on his forehead. "I'm not saying that every time. You're Waka-sama from now on, okay?" He finished, his finger pointed at Wakasagihime.

"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-waka-sama?!" She stammered out.

Wakasagihime's face went red and she covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, we're in Japan apparently, you saved my life, and so now you're Waka-sama."

This must've embarrassed the mermaid, because in the time that he blinked and turned around, she had disappeared under the water.

"... Okay, so do you, uhh, know who it was she was talking about?" He asked Team Nineball.

"Yeah! Waka-sama was talking about Hakurei-sama, the Hakurei Miko!" Daiyousei answered energetically.

"Maybe she'll be grateful for bringing Ray-san to her!" Wriggle added.

"Yeah, maybe we can get her to help us prank Marisa-chan!" Mystia also added.

"Let's go, Team Nineball! Next stop; Hakurei Shrine!" Cirno ordered.

"Yeaaaah!" They all cheered in unison.

They all started flying along the shore of the lake, seemingly all-in on taking Ray to some shrine. Ray checked the small of his back and felt his assurance still there. He sighed in relief in knowing that he wasn't unarmed in what could be a hostile environment. With that, he started walking along the shoreline.

Reimu Hakurei, the sole miko of Hakurei Shrine sat on the porch of her living quarters. On the little table that sat next to her there was a teapot that steamed with hot tea. The miko sat and enjoyed just how quiet today had been. It seemed like every other day, especially during the Summer, that there had to be some small incident. For the first time in what felt like forever, she could sit on her porch and enjoy some peace and quiet.

She took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes. She listened to the birds singing, the wind blowing, the faint sounds of a commotion slowly getting closer to her shrine...

It couldn't even last a whole day, could it? She thought as she placed her cup on the small table.

She opened her eyes and looked in the direction of the commotion. Over the treetops, that dumb ice fairy and her gang of idiots flew over the treetops with each of them holding on to the limb of some poor human. She sighed in exasperation and stood up, stretching a bit before she walked down to meet the descending Team Nineball. Rumia wasn't with them. Reimu guessed that she must have gotten lost on the way here. That tends to happen when you can't see where you're flying. She put her hands on her hips and looked at the gang of idiots as they helped the man land.

"Hey, Reimu-sama! We found an outsider!" Cirno stated.

"That's obvious, Cirno-san. Exactly where did you find him?" Reimu asked.

"He fell outta the sky at Misty Lake! Waka-sama brought him to the shore and he said we could keep his knife if we could think of an easy way to get to you!"

"Yeah! His knife is super cool!" Wriggle added.

"Y'know, I didn't think that 'picking me up and flying me there' was what I expected you to do. Or maybe I should've expected that. I don't even know anymore." Ray said.

"You asked them to help you, and so they helped you. You're lucky that they didn't kill you. Either way, what's your name and what do you remember before you came here?" Reimu asked.

"Uhh yeah. Name's Ray Dobbs. Pleasure to meet ya."

"Reimu Hakurei, miko of Hakurei Shrine and the Hakurei Barrier"

He extended his hand for her to shake, and she followed through with it. He was surprised at just how strong this young girl's grip was. She couldn't have been more than eighteen at the oldest.

"Yeah, I uhh... don't know how I got here. I slipped off a bridge and fell into the lake. Uhh, Waka-sama must've thought I was gonna drown so she got me to the shore." He said.

He felt something hit him on the top of his head, and when he looked toward the attacker, he saw that it was Reimu, who held a stick with long white ribbons coming off of it.

"What was that for?!" He shouted as he rubbed the spot where she bonked him.

"You're lying." She replied.

"What?"

"I can see it in your eyes. You're lying. What actually happened?"

He looked around, before closing his eyes and staying silent for a few moments. Eventually, he sighed and looked back at Reimu.

"Okay okay, I tried to commit suicide. There. It's all out in the open. Part of why I tried to do it is because of this place existing, apparently."

Reimu felt something wrong in the air. It was a feeling that she experienced from time to time when an unwelcome visitor shows themselves, which usually meant that she had her hand in this.

"Oh, is that so, Mister Dobbs?" An unknown voice asked.

Reimu sighed and looked up behind Ray, who, curious of what the miko was looking at, turned around to see who was the owner of said voice. The woman in question was blonde and he guessed in her mid-to-late twenties, and was wearing the weirdest clothing that Ray had ever seen. As she descended from the hole in reality that she had came through, he saw that it had an infinitesimal amount of eyes within. Just looking at the gap in space made him confused and scared. The woman lowered herself down, a parasol protecting her from the sun's rays. When she finally touched the ground, she began to walk over to the two of them.

Ray looked around to see where those fairies had gone, but when he saw them hiding behind a tree, trembling at the appearance of this woman.

"Tell me why you spirited him away, Yukari-san." Reimu demanded, her tone stern as she glared at her.

"Hmm, oh my, my dear Reimu, I'm afraid that I honestly have no idea why I chose to save such a scruffy-looking human such as Mister Dobbs here," Yukari replied. She walked closer to Ray, who didn't move or attempt to stop her. He didn't know if it was curiosity or fear that kept him from moving, but when she got close, close enough where he could feel her breathing on him, she finally spoke again. "Why not ask Mister Dobbs here why I spirited him away? I'm sure a man as smart as him would be able to figure it out."

"It's because an outsider like me wasn't supposed to know about Gensokyo, right?" Ray asked.

That had to have been the correct answer, because that got this "Yukari" nodding along to him speaking. In a second, she grabbed hold of Ray's tie and pulled him closer to her again, as he instinctively pulled away from her. He had to admit that she had very beautiful eyes.

"Correct, Mister Dobbs. An outsider, especially an outsider from the other side of the planet of all places, shouldn't know about Gensokyo. It shouldn't even register in your mind that a place such as this should even exist. Now if you don't mind me asking," She tugged on his tie again. "And I expect that you don't, how did you discover the existence of our beautiful land?"

Ray wasn't in any position to argue with this woman, if that was how she could be described. This "woman" was more of a monster than anything else, but his hands were tied.

"Alright, I'm not gonna argue with you, but how about we all sit down and we can talk about this over something to drink? I'm a little parched after, y'know, almost dying and being carried like a parcel."

The trio found themselves in Reimu's small home on the premises of the shrine. All of them sat around the table drinking tea and waiting for Ray to collect his thoughts. Team Nineball apparently had disappeared, albeit only with his knife.

With a contented sigh and a smile on his face, Ray set his cup down and began to speak.

"So I found these documents online, and-" He started, before he was so rudely interrupted by Reimu.

"What do you mean 'on line'? What does he mean, Yukari?" She asked.

"Darling, it's all over your head, but he found it somewhere it shouldn't be." Yukari answered.

"So anyway, I found them online, on a whistleblower onion site I frequent on the deep web. I'm assuming since you were nearby when you heard my tirade when I decided to jump that you frequently visit the 'Outside World'?" Ray asked the youkai.

"Why yes, I do. How else would I keep tabs on you silly outsiders? Many of the things that you do still affect us in ways that you just couldn't possibly comprehend without weeks, possibly months, of conversation and lecturing." Yukari answered.

"Okay then. So you wanted to know how I found out about Gensokyo? That was how I found out. Someone leaked it, most likely from the Japanese government and that was how I found out about this place, even though I still had no idea how to get here, who leaked it, or even how it got on to that specific onion site."

"Then why did you even believe any of it?" Reimu asked him.

"Because this document had three different signatures in Japanese. The Emperor at the time, the Prime Minister at the time, and," He looked Yukari in the eye. "One Yukari Yakumo. There were also a photograph taken with you, multiple Shinto monks, and the PM and Emperor."

"My, my, Mister Dobbs. You've certainly done a fair amount of looking into things that you shouldn't have. At the time, I thought that taking the photograph was a mistake, but the Emperor insisted, and I respected him well enough to oblige."

Yukari held up a fan in front of her face, concealing her grin from view.

"It comes with the territory. The truth should always come to light, no matter the cost. The cost this time just happened to be almost everything." He said.

His expression hardened, but Reimu could still see that beneath it he was hiding some emotions from them, but she didn't want to pry. He was telling the truth.

"He sounds like a certain troublesome Tengu we both know, doesn't he, Reimu?" Yukari asked.

"That he does, Yukari-san." Reimu answered.

He looked at one of them and then the other, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth slightly open. Both of the ladies here noticed and laughed about it.

"You'll meet her soon enough. I can guarantee that to you." Yukari said.

She took another sip of her tea, and then her gaze met his. Ray visibly shifted as she stared him down. After a moment, she spoke again.

"Now Mister Dobbs, usually outsiders such as yourself are given a choice of whether to leave Gensokyo or stay. Most outsiders will simply remember it as something akin to a dream, as I will transport them back to their homes. Those that don't simply won't be believed by the average outsider."

"Yukari-san... What are-" Reimu started.

Yukari raised her hand, and Reimu ceased to speak. Reimu's gaze had softened considerably over the last few moments, and this reaction sent a shiver down Ray's spine. His hands began to shake under the table and a cold sweat started to form on his brow.

"Reimu, hush. I understand that you're normally the one who tells outsiders the procedures for dealing with them, but this one here is a special case."

"W-what do you mean I'm a 'special case'? Don't you guys deal with us outsiders on a regular basis? You've got procedure after all." Ray said, his voice having raised slightly in octave.

"You're different. You aren't from Japan," Yukari raised her index finger. "You didn't come across the border of your own volition, and I didn't spirit you away because I wanted to be benevolent," She raised her middle finger. "And you know too much for me to simply let you leave here." She raised her ring finger.

"Can't you just like, make me forget with your youkai powers or something?"

Yukari closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Sadly, Mister Dobbs, I lack such a power. Many outsiders don't have much of a presence here due to the general secularism of the Outside World, but you're also very different from them," Yukari leaned forward, her hands on the table. "You believe in ghosts, don't you? In creatures of the dark? In the things that go bump in the night?"

Ray nodded his head.

"You could say that, yes."

Ray took another sip of his tea, took a deep breath, and his hands stopped shaking. Whatever was in this tea was definitely a lifesaver.

"So you're telling me that I'm stuck here now, is that right?" He asked.

"Yes, Mister Dobbs. You're not going to be able to leave Gensokyo." Yukari answered.

He took another sip of his tea, breathed in deeply again, closed his eyes, and then opened them just as fast. He now had a small smirk on his face.

"Okay then."He said.

"O-okay then? Usually, you outsiders have some sort of nervous breakdown when you realize you can't visit the Outside World again." Reimu responded.

"I mean that is definitely a downer," Ray chugged his tea, placed the cup on the table, and then stood up. "But it's not like I have a choice in the matter, and you know, I really have to thank you, Yakumo-sama."

Yukari's eyes widened and her mouth changed into something similar to a slight sneer.

"Y-yakumo... Sama?"

"You must understand how much I owe you," He got down on his knees and grasped her hand, which elicited a small noise from the gap youkai. "You kept me from making one of the worst mistakes of my life, and I don't know what I can do to repay you."

Reimu couldn't hold back at this point. A small giggle escaped her lips as she covered her mouth to hide her smile from Yukari, who glared at her with an intensity of a thousand suns.

"Y-yes, you do owe me! You owe me your life, and you should make the most of the second chance that I've given you! Many humans don't have a chance such as this happen more than maybe once in their whole lifetime!" Yukari said.

She looked away to hide the redness that had begun to form on her face.

"I never knew that the great Yukari Yakumo could get flustered!" Reimu mocked.

The shrine maiden had lost any composure that she might have had at this point, having devolved into a fit of laughter. She fell back on her matted floor as tears began to form from just how much she had been drawn to laughter.

"I-I believe that Ran and Chen need me for something! Reimu, you are to help him acclimate to Gensokyo for now!"

Before the shrine maiden could protest, Yukari, without even standing up, fell through a hole in the floor and was gone. Ray and Reimu were left in her little home, with Ray's eyes moving from where Yukari was to where Reimu was sitting. He pointed at the spot and blinked a few times in disbelief, and then his gaze focused on Reimu.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to that." He said.

Reimu sighed in defeat, and then took another sip of her tea.

Why is it always something with this place?