The fog looked harmless. It was nothing like the scarlet clouds that had once heralded Remilia's arrival to Gensokyo, eerie and obviously supernatural in nature. This was mundane fog, obnoxiously thick but still just fog. It began where the courtyard ended, blotting everything beyond it with its soupy whiteness.
Reimu stared at it, hoping to disperse it with the ferocity of her glare. When that didn't work, she sat back down on the porch, Yukari's warnings chiming in her head.
It kills humans. Dead.
She lay down as the clouds shifted, luxuriating in the sunlight like a particularly content cat. There was a brief window of time each day, about half an hour following lunchtime, when the angle and the intensity of the sun were just right for basking in it. She stretched, blinding herself while embracing the warm brightness.
And did what she could to suppress the urge to act.
Yukari hadn't told her the whole truth — had Yukari ever done that? — but she had nevertheless made it abundantly clear there was nothing Reimu could do to help. This was an incident for the youkai sages to resolve. Not for a weak-bodied human who would suffocate the first time she inhaled the fog, no matter how willing she was to try.
For now, your duty is to wait and survive.
Of course, Reimu thought as she turned to her side, looking for the most comfortable way to lie down and thinking of the final flash of emotion in Yukari's eyes, solemn in spite of her humourless smile, it all depended on how far the fog stretched. Had it enveloped all of Gensokyo in spite of Yukari's assurances? If so, she was already out of a job. Humans were the lifeblood of Gensokyo, a living sacrifice to ensure the survival of those who were not them. Without humans, there was only a wasteland.
Reimu rarely cried. She didn't do so now, either, only the glare of the sun wrung some water from her eyes. It clung to her eyelashes and caught the bright rays, reflecting them in a mesh of rainbow.
She had long since lost track of time. It had been... three weeks, maybe? Or just two? The shrine was more spotless than it had been even when it was built. The courtyard was without a speck of dust. Her meagre stock of food was carefully catalogued and bolstered by the supplies Yukari had brought her. There was nothing else left to do but to sit around and dream. How someone like Byakuren had survived a millenium being sealed was beyond her.
Wait and survive.
She was used to being alone. She was always alone. But stillness? Fate had made a cage of what she yearned for only when she didn't have it. And without even bugs and birds flying about...
She closed her eyes and tried to nap. It was more difficult to fall asleep by the day, like her body had decided to rebel against the constant lazing about by remaining alert at all costs. She ignored its cries.
Yukari would come back one day. She would. She would tell more half-truths and entertaining lies. And one day, the fog would clear and unveil the truth behind it.
It was with these thoughts that Reimu drifted into an uneasy haze that was not quite consciousness and not quite slumber.
By the time she awoke, the sun was long since gone, its absence rendering the courtyard in shades of blue. She shivered underneath the cold comfort of the stars.
She got up slowly, idly wondering if she could afford an extra bowl of rice for the day. There was plenty left, but with no way of knowing when she would get more...
She halted mid-yawn.
There was an aperture in the mist.
She walked to it with stiff legs, mind whirring. There it was, no doubt about it: a narrow path flanked by fog, leading to a place unknown.
A trap, no doubt. The fog would close around her the moment she stepped into it, drifting in through every orifice in her head and strangling her from within. Whatever creature was behind the incident was likely watching her right now, stifling its giggles.
And yet...
Just one step. Just enough to keep her mind from consuming itself. Just enough to breathe. There could be no harm in that.
Somewhere, Yukari shook her head as Reimu took a deep breath and wandered into the fog.
And somewhere, much closer by, a delighted chuckle of triumph reverberated through the mist.