Tenshi narrowed her eyes at a passage in her book. "Does kissing actually feel like melting into a sea of honey?"
"I am in the middle of work, Eldest Daughter." Iku's gaze glided across the sea of clouds as though sight was somehow necessary for what she was doing before finally turning towards where Tenshi was slouching on a keystone. "However, I would call that a rather liberal use of poetic license. Where did you find that book?"
"I got it from Gensokyo." Tenshi flipped the page and read through a couple of particularly rhapsodic passages, then looked up. "Wait. Since you have an opinion on that, does that mean you've actually kissed someone?"
"I have."
"When? Who?"
"It is a private matter. Are you so surprised someone would wish to kiss me?"
"So what is it really like?"
"It varies." The look Iku gave Tenshi was distant, but not unkind. "You will understand once you find someone you wish to kiss."
Once. It was one of those weaselly time-wasting words Tenshi had no patience for, especially when there was an obvious alternative. "So what if I say I want to kiss you right now?"
Iku stiffened for just for a moment before turning away. "I don't believe that would be appropriate, Eldest Daughter."
"Why not? If I say it's fine, then it's fine."
She knew Iku didn't have a real counterargument when instead of trotting out some boring old excuse about decorum, Iku merely flew away. Tenshi crammed the book into the waistband of her skirt, dismissed the keystone, and gave chase.
"So why can't we kiss?"
"I have work to do."
"It won't take long. You've already spent most of the day talking to me—"
"You mean I have spent it being harassed by you."
"—so it’s not like your work performance will get any worse if you take a break for one minute."
"That doesn't mean I should allow myself to be further distracted."
"Too bad, because I'm not going to leave until I've had my kiss. I'm going to stay here and keep following you and perhaps try out my new spell cards until you agree to it."
Finally, as Tenshi had known she would, Iku whirled around to face her. "If you receive your kiss, will you let the matter rest?"
Tenshi beamed. She would also have accepted annoying Iku to the point of inciting a duel, but reaching her actual goal was better. "Sure!"
"Very well."
As Iku leaned closer, Tenshi placed her hands between them. "Hold on. I want to be the one doing the kissing."
Iku raised an eyebrow. "More often than not, it is a cooperative effort."
"And I want to initiate it. Close your eyes."
Iku rolled her eyes as she closed them, but close them she did.
Tenshi paused, wondering how to proceed. It would have been helpful if the book had described the mechanics and not just the sensations. Should she ask Iku for instructions? No, she wasn't going to shy away from this challenge. Let’s see... One hand to remove her hat so it wouldn’t get in the way. Another on Iku’s shoulder for support. Then it was just a matter of moving closer — oh, and tilting her head to the side so their noses wouldn't clash, like that...
And there it was.
Kissing felt softer than she had expected, so soft it didn't at first feel much like anything at all. She pressed closer and closed her eyes, letting the tip of her tongue dart ahead. The soft sensation grew warmer and wetter, but what really piqued her interest her was the taste of the kiss: clouds and rainfall and some distant thing she couldn’t name, but which made her think of aurora borealis. Thunder? That would make sense.
Her mouth tingled by the time she pulled away, and she pressed her fingers tentatively against her lips. Yes. Definitely thunder.
She looked up. Iku's eyes were wide open, and some of the scarlet from her raiments appeared to have spread to her cheeks.
"Well." Iku looked aside as she slowly drifted away from Tenshi. "I hope this has satisfied your curiosity."
Tenshi licked her lips in an effort to dispel the strange numbness. It was a gradual thing, the way the warmth of the kiss kept spreading through her long after it was over. The feeling wasn't anywhere near the height of ecstasy the book had described it as, but it was nice. Really nice, she realised as it kept flourishing in her chest.
She grabbed the end of Iku's shawl as it floated by her. "Let’s do it again."
Iku halted for just long enough to finagle herself free. "We spoke of one kiss and one kiss alone."
"That wasn’t a proper kiss. We need to do it right."
Iku’s cheeks were growing redder by the moment as she turned away. "No."
"Come on! I know you liked it."
"That is enough, Eldest Daughter."
"Just one more, I promise."
"I said that is enough!"
"I bet it will feel even better the second time."
"I advise you to cease pestering me at once if you do not wish to regret it." The sudden crackle of electricity in the air suggested Iku meant it.
Tenshi grinned as she kept flying after her anyway. After all, few things were more valuable than excitement when living in a land of eternal boredom.
"Cheers!"
Tenshi matched Suika's efforts to pour her most recent cup of sake down her throat as fast as possible. It wasn't much of a party: it was literally only her and the oni on one of the more remote flower fields of Heaven, and with only a paltry selection of snacks to boot. It was all the same more fun than any celebration organised by any other celestial during the past century. Suika was more than happy enough to drink with Tenshi — which was how it was supposed to be, naturally, because who wouldn't want to enjoy the company of an esteemed celestial? — and both the sake and the renkon chips were adequately tasty.
"So," said Suika as she filled Tenshi's cup for what felt like the fifth hundredth time, "no hard feelings between us?"
"Of course not." Again, Tenshi tried and succeeded in matching Suika's pace. "As if gifting a bit of land to you could be something important enough for me to worry about." After all, who gave even so much as a moment's thought to the mutterings of other celestials?
"You sure? You seemed a bit down after the deed was done."
"Ha!" Tenshi tossed her hair and let her gaze fall on the waves of white flowers surrounding their picnic blanket at all sides. "Why would I be upset?"
"Let's see... because I trounced you. And then I trounced you again. And then I trounced you— you get the picture." Suika settled herself more comfortably on the blanket and poured herself another drink. "I dunno, I expected you to be a sorer loser than this. Especially now it's clear I'm going to win every time."
Tenshi expected to feel annoyed. Instead, she found herself smiling. "That's what you think. One day you'll see exactly what I can do."
Suika lounged back and stretched out her short limbs on the blanket. "I'm ready for a rematch brawl whenever you are." Her eyes sparkled as she smirked at Tenshi. "Unless you're thinking of a different kinda duel."
Maybe it was the alcohol bubbling merrily in Tenshi's bloodstream that spurred the thought on. Maybe it was the carefree, slightly condescending, and above all strangely keen look Suika kept giving her. In any case, when it popped into her head it seemed like an excellent idea, and she wasn't the type sit on excellent ideas.
She sidled closer to Suika. "I know how we can compete. It will be fun."
"So it's not shogi, huh?"
"Finally someone else who sees how dull shogi is." By then, Tenshi was sitting right next to Suika. "You should sit up for this."
Suika grinned and hitched herself up with her elbows, then sat up cross-legged. "I'm ready. Gimme your best shot."
Suika's hair had looked coarse from a distance, but it was surprisingly feathery as Tenshi's fingers brushed against it. She cupped Suika's face, startled by the smallness of her jaw, and watched the flames of challenge rise up in her eyes.
Then, just as she leaned forward, Suika lunged ahead and greeted her lips first.
The kiss was immediately different from Tenshi's first: Suika's mouth was warmer and carried the bitter but not unpleasant tang of iron and alcohol. She was physical, too: she groped for Tenshi's hand while her tongue wrestled its way into her mouth. Tenshi wasn't going to bested so easily and quickly followed suit, turning the whole affair into a kind of brawl after all.
There were lights dancing in her eyes when she finally pulled away.
"Not bad." Suika still clutched onto Tenshi's hand. She dragged her lips across Tenshi's knuckles, then let go only to grab Tenshi's head with both hands. "Ready for round two?"
In very short order, Tenshi discovered just how fun competitive kissing could be. She would have laughed, but it was a challenge to catch enough breath for it between Suika's devouring kisses and her own equally eager counterattacks.
Finally, Suika relinquished her hold on Tenshi's head and reached for the sake again. "That was refreshing." She hummed as she poured herself another drink, as though what they had just shared had been just a peck on the cheek. "While I'm up here, I should see how many heavenly maidens I can get to kiss me."
Tenshi had been busy untangling her hair and catching her breath and now snapped her attention back to Suika. "What? You're not going to find anyone better at it here than me!"
"Don't get me wrong. That was great fun." Suika gulped down her drink, either oblivious or indifferent to having given offence. "But just because I like peach blossoms doesn't mean I don't want to smell roses and gardenias while I'm at it. No point settling down to kiss just one person when there's a world of flowers out there."
"Hm." Tenshi hadn't given the matter thought in either direction. Collecting kisses sounded like an exciting game with immediate rewards, however. It wouldn't work in Heaven, of course, where she'd have to listen to stupid rumours afterwards. But on Earth... "If you do it here, I will begin a flower collection in Gensokyo in turn."
Suika chuckled and retrieved Tenshi's cup from where it had rolled to the edge of the blanket. She poured it full and held it out to Tenshi. "Try this bouquet for size."
Gensokyo in autumn was a land of rot and overripe colours. Tenshi could barely resist pinching her nose shut against the stench of death all around her. At the same time, it was that very stench which fuelled her imagination as she stomped around the wilderness, looking for a diversion.
She heard the brook before she saw it, a thread of silver snaking across green and brown and the flaming red of the first spider lily blossoms of the year. She strode over and had crouched down to dangle her fingers in the cool water when she spotted something colourful upstream.
A lacquered bowl bobbed up and down in the current, looking as though it might topple over at any moment. Tenshi had to squint only for a moment before her superior sight revealed the contents of the bowl: a small person — an inchling? — with vivid violet hair, clutching onto a silver needle with one hand and the rim of the bowl with the other, evidently holding onto her dear life.
Excited by the sudden injection of adventure into her life, Tenshi was already on the move. She leapt into the stream, indifferent to how rapidly the water soaked through her boots, and, as the bowl careened past her, scooped it from the stream in one deft movement.
"You're welcome," she said while the object of her rescue was still staring at her, evidently shocked into slack-jawed silence by the sudden reprieve. "Deeds like this are nothing to a celestial like me."
The tiny woman closed her mouth but continued to stare. Looking at her more carefully, Tenshi saw that her kimono was of the very finest weave and beautifully patterned. It could almost have passed for a celestial garment, which wasn't something she was used to thinking of anything she saw on the surface. Of even more interest was the tiny mallet attached to her wrist from a cord stuck through its handle, which regardless of its size was clearly a magical treasure.
Finally, Tenshi's rescuee tilted her head. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of being introduced to you before."
"Tenshi Hinanawi, Eldest Daughter of the Hinanawi clan." As she spoke, Tenshi realised she was still standing midstream and that her toes were starting to grow scales. She balanced the bowl on her palm and waded back onto dry land.
"I'm Shinmyoumaru Sukuna." Shinmyoumaru inclined her head ever so slightly, which considering her size meant the movement was barely imperceptible. "Princess of the inchlings."
"So I rescued a princess." This was beginning to sound like a proper heroic adventure.
"'Rescue' is a bit..." Shinmyoumaru paused, peering closely up at Tenshi's face. Slowly, she began to smile and nodded. "Indeed. I'm very grateful."
Tenshi ignored the hesitation and tried instead to recall how stories like this usually continued. She had paid little attention to fairy tales in the past few centuries, but she was confident she had the right answer. "Rescuing a princess means earning a reward."
"What do you have in mind?"
Asking for the princess' hand would have been too hasty, especially since the rescue, while very cool and heroic on Tenshi's part, had come about by happenstance instead of at the end of a long quest. However... "How about a kiss?"
Shinmyoumaru blinked. Her surprise quickly morphed into another, more receptive smile. "Indeed?"
"It's what a brave hero deserves."
"I can't argue with that. Will it be acceptable as I am now?"
What did that mean? In any case, Tenshi wasn't going to quibble about the particulars. "Of course."
"Very well. Lift me higher, please."
Tenshi decided that if they were going to do this, they should do it properly. Holding the bowl with both hands, she raised it so that Shinmyoumaru was on level with her face.
Poised, Shinmyoumaru leaned against the edge of the bowl and rested her hand next to Tenshi's mouth. Her touch was surprisingly sturdy, like the startlingly strong grip of a tiny bird. She closed her eyes and leaned forward.
The tiny kiss landed on Tenshi's lower lip. It was chaste, but warm, and just a bit ticklish. It was a little like being touched by a sunbeam.
Shinmyoumaru stepped back in the bowl and tilted her head. "Was that acceptable?"
Tenshi suppressed a rare and sudden urge to laugh. "It will do. Unless you'd like to do it again."
"Ah." Even with a celestial's eyesight it was difficult to be certain, but Tenshi thought she saw a glint of mischief in Shinmyoumaru's eyes. "A second kiss requires a second heroic deed, no?"
Tenshi smiled back. "Looking forward to that."
"And who knows? Perhaps next time, I'll be the one rescuing you." Shinmyoumaru inclined her head, but as she straightened it, she looked up with the utter confidence of someone secure in their place in the world. "Now, perhaps you could return my vessel into the river?"
Tenshi stayed by the river after placing Shinmyoumaru's bowl back in the water and waving the inchling goodbye. She watched her vanish downstream, wondering just what the magical weapon in her possession could do.
It was only after she had already turned away, still smiling, that something about the encounter struck a discordant note in her mind. She looked back at the river, but Shinmyoumaru was long gone, hopefully still afloat.
Tenshi shrugged and went on her way. She'd ask about it the next time they saw each other, assuming she still cared to at that time. In any case, she knew they would meet again.
"How about this one?" Nitori raised up a strange metallic sphere with two long prongs at the front, painted all over with patches of what she had previously referred to as camouflage. "It's for catching and retrieving fairies who think it's a good idea to play around inside large machinery."
Tenshi wrinkled her nose at the sphere. "I'm not planning on building any large machines."
"As you say," said Nitori in a tone that made it obvious what she really meant was 'good'. "Let's see, then..."
Tenshi looked on as Nitori rummaged through even more boxes. The kappa had been extremely suspicious when Tenshi had first showed up at one of their hidden workshops near Genbu Ravine, and even assurances that she was prepared to pay for any doohickeys which piqued her interest had only barely kept Nitori from fleeing the scene.
Now, however, Nitori seemed to be back in her element. As much as a kappa could be in their element while not in water, anyway. She straightened her back and held out what appeared to be a collar with red light bulbs all around it. "Here's a good one. It's a tracking device for following the movements of tengu."
"How does it work?"
"Well, first you sneak it around a tengu's neck, after which you can use this monitor..." Nitori paused with her other hand in the box as Tenshi yawned. "Well, as a customer with discerning tastes, maybe you're looking for something of less tengu-related use."
"Rather."
"Hmm..." Nitori stroked her chin. Her entire face lit up the moment she came up with an idea. "Wait just a minute!"
She vanished behind the beaded curtain, then quickly returned with a long metal tool balanced against her shoulder. It had a crooked handle covered in camouflage print and at the end of the pole was a thick metal plate.
Tenshi raised her eyebrow at it. "What's that supposed to be?"
"It's a metal detector. The best one on the market." Nitori held it out for inspection. "Try it. You wouldn't guess how light it is just from looking at it."
Tenshi took the metal detector and turned it around in her hand. It was far more unwieldy but somehow lighter than the Sword of Hisou. It was obviously not a weapon, let alone a weapon suiting her dignity, but she could still picture the look on her opponent's face as she entered the battlefield brandishing it. "This one could be fun."
Nitori rubbed her hands together. "You'll like it even more once you give it a whirl. See the button by the side of the handle?"
Tenshi did, now that it had been pointed out to her: the dark grey nub blended into the camouflage like a snow hare vanishing into a blizzard. As soon as she pushed it, the edges of the plate lit up in a shockingly vivid red.
"You see, it's much more than a regular old metal detector." Nitori eyed the tool as fondly as if it were made of solid gold. "While its special mode is on, it can also detect magical objects from up to twelve feet below the ground."
"So it's a treasure hunting tool?"
"Exactly! It works wonders."
Tenshi grinned and tried holding the detector in different poses. The handle was a bit annoying, but she could get used to it. "That sounds like a decent way to pass an afternoon. I'll take it."
"Very good, very good. Now, about payment..."
"Oh, I plan to be generous." Tenshi settled the metal detector against her shoulder. "Close your eyes."
The corner of Nitori's mouth twitched. "Only after you've paid."
"If you insist." And without further ado, Tenshi grabbed Nitori's arm and pulled her into a kiss.
Nitori's mouth was refreshingly cool and tasted faintly of cucumber. After some initial rigidity, her lips softened beneath Tenshi's, and she slowly closed her eyes. Tenshi followed in suit, focusing on the sensation of slowly drifting downstream.
Once she released Nitori, the kappa's eyes remained shut for a while longer. Once she finally snapped them open, she kept staring into the middle distance. A blush as luminous as the lights on the metal detector crept up her cheeks.
"You're welcome." Tenshi skipped away with her new gadget.
She was already a fair distance away from the ravine when she heard Nitori calling after her. "Hey! That wasn't proper payment!"
Tenshi raised her hand to her ear. "I can't hear you. Did you say that was the best payment?"
Nitori's next cries were genuinely inarticulate as Tenshi kept making her way eastwards, grinning all the while. Either Nitori would come to realise the true value of an opportunity to kiss a celestial, or she would try to find a way to extract further payment from her. Either option suited Tenshi just fine.
But none of that mattered at the moment. It was looking to be a lovely day in Gensokyo, she had a brand new toy to keep her entertained, and she had nothing better to do but to find fresh opportunities to add more kisses into her collection.
The rainfall was both sudden and predictable: grey clouds had only just finished gathering overhead before they burst open to drench Gensokyo with what might soon become a torrent.
Tenshi wasn't worried. As soon as the first cold drops landed on her skin, she grabbed Shion's hand and dragged her off the road, confident her natural luck would lead them to shelter. Her faith was rewarded: in less than a minute she spotted a centuries-old oak already in full leaf, with more than enough room beneath it for two travellers seeking respite from the rain.
She found a suitable seat by the roots and let go as Shion crouched down next to her. She listened to the rattling of raindrops against the leafy canopy until her ears adjusted to it, then flicked her hair to dislodge the droplets clinging to it. "Are rainy seasons always like this? What a drag."
She leaned against the trunk. As her eyes glided over to Shion, she stilled. "What happened to you?"
"The rain happened." Shion pushed her sodden hair away from her face like shifting aside a pair of heavy curtains, dripping water everywhere as she did so. She gathered full fistfuls of her curls and squeezed them like one might a towel, turning the constant dripping from them into streams. Water scattered from her eyelashes as she blinked at Tenshi. "It's a downpour."
Now that Tenshi looked around, it did indeed seem like the world beyond the tree had turned into a waterfall. She studied her own at best mildly damp clothes. "I must have avoided it through luck."
Shion nodded as she wrung the water out of another chunk of her hair. The remaining moisture dyed her twilight curls the colour of midnight and as they frizzed out, they became even more voluminous than usual. "I think if you were anyone else, you'd be even more soaked than me."
"Fortunately, I'm me." Tenshi glowed with smug satisfaction for a moment, then realised Shion was shivering. "Are you cold?"
"I can handle it."
"Hold on." Tenshi undid her apron and held it out. "The fabric's more absorbent than you think."
Shion shied away from the shimmering fabric like it might sprout fangs. "Are you sure? But it's such extravagant material..."
"Ha! Boons like this mean nothing to a celestial like me!" Tenshi pushed the apron against Shion's hand. "Take it!"
Finally, Shion took the apron. However, instead of drying her limbs with it like Tenshi had intended, she simply clutched it against her chest as though merely holding it was warming her up.
"You know..." Tenshi watched the raindrops hammer the leaves. "It never rains in Heaven, so there's no snow, either. There aren't any seasons in general. The wind is always sweet and pleasant and the temperature is always right. The sunshine never burns anyone no matter how bright it seems."
Shion let out a longing sigh. "It really sounds like paradise."
"It's nice at times, but it gets really boring. There's no adventure to perfect weather."
Shion nodded, but her smile was gone. She had put her arms around herself and was shivering more violently by the moment.
"Come here." Tenshi pulled Shion closer and helped her settle into the crook of her arm, where Shion proceeded to shudder and huddle closer to Tenshi, dripping water all over her.
Tenshi adjusted herself to make their positions more comfortable — somehow, the smaller Shion tried to make herself, the more gangly space she took — which resulted in her head resting against Shion's shoulder. In retrospect, it really was stupid that the weather in Heaven was so static. It wasn't like the cold or the rain could ever truly bite through the skin of a celestial.
She compared the hues of her and Shion's hair, then studied the few errant raindrops still clinging to Shion's lashes. It struck her suddenly that Shion's face was right there within kissing distance.
So why haven't I kissed her yet?
As soon as the thought occurred to her, nothing was more obvious than straightening up, lifting Shion's chin with the back of her hand and bringing their mouths together.
Shion's lips were chapped, the skin uneven and fragile where it had broken, but soft and sweet where it had already healed. Her mouth was warm and tasted of rain, reminding Tenshi of the end of autumn even here at the cusp of summer, along with a sting of bitterness which felt as sharp as iron. It stunned Tenshi at first, but after adjusting to the first taste, she pushed forward, yearning for more.
Meanwhile, Shion's lips trembled against Tenshi's. Suddenly, her tongue flicked towards Tenshi's in a tentative, almost disbelieving response. When that was eagerly received, a deep sigh, captured between them, escaped from Shion as the tenseness of her body began to melt away.
Tenshi had closed her eyes and would have been happy to remain as they were for a couple more centuries at least, when Shion suddenly grew entirely slack and swooned backwards. As Tenshi loosened her hold, Shion slipped from her arms and fell against the roots of the oak, hiding her face with both hands.
Tenshi frowned. It couldn't be that the kiss had been bad: Tenshi had been a part of it, after all. So what did that leave as an explanation? "Are you sick? Did you forget to breathe?"
"No!" Shion's voice was thick with tears, and when she slowly lowered her hands, her face shone like a red lantern. "It's just... I'm so happy..."
Tenshi stared, then saw the truthfulness of Shion's words. She began to grin.
"Here." She helped Shion back up, warmed by a surge of pride. "If that made you that happy, clearly we need do it a lot more often."
Soon enough, even the memory of the sound of rainfall was forgotten.
"What exactly do you think you're doing in my courtyard?"
Tenshi looked up from the metal detector to beam at a fuming Reimu Hakurei with her hands on her hips and a stack of ofuda clutched in her fist. "What does it look like? I'm searching for treasure."
"No. What you're doing is being a nuisance." Reimu pointed towards the torii. "Get lost. Now."
"That's a wonderful way to greet guests. No wonder you never get any donations."
"Guests," Reimu hissed, "don't dig holes all around the courtyard and then act wounded when they're told to leave."
Tenshi focused her attention back on the detector's lights. She knew from fortune-telling she would get another blip somewhere nearby. Maybe this time she'd actually find something good instead of more magatama shards and pulped ofuda. "I have dug plenty of holes and I'm still a guest, so clearly you're wrong."
Reimu pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm not even asking you to fill in the holes you've already made. Just quit making it worse or I'll kick you out."
"I'd like to see you try." Tenshi looked up to smirk at Reimu when the obvious solution occurred to her. "You'd mind this a lot less if I paid you, wouldn't you?"
The curve of Reimu's mouth remained firmly downturned. However, it didn't hide the lustre of greed lighting up her eyes.
Tenshi settled the metal detector against her shoulder and stepped over to Reimu. "You should have said that from the beginning. I'm happy to do that."
She clapped her hand on Reimu's shoulder and, since there didn't seem to be any need for further preamble, brought their lips together.
It occurred to her belatedly that this was her first kiss with a human. She had never thought of what it might be like, but she hadn't expected Reimu's mouth to feel so... insubstantial, like only half of her was present. It wasn't a bad feeling by any stretch, but it was a little like kissing air rather than a person. Would it be similar with a ghost? She would have to find one at some point to try it out.
Reimu had gone utterly rigid. Tenshi took it as a sign the payment was complete and pulled away. "There. Happy now?"
The impact of Reimu's knuckles on Tenshi's nose didn't quite send her flying. It did, however, hit her with enough force and suddenness to make her stagger backwards.
While Tenshi was still trying to understand what had just happened, Reimu took a threatening step forward, her fist still upraised, her eyes blazing. "You rotten celestial!"
Tenshi brandished the metal detector, ready to strike back if necessary. "What was that for?"
"That's my line." Reimu ground her teeth together as she spoke, looking more like an oni than most oni did. "I don't care who you think you are, but if you think you can go around kissing people without asking them first, I'm going to send you packing before you can even finish saying 'delinquent'."
"I'd like to see you try and stop me." But although Reimu's ire was amusing, this violently angry reaction to being kissed was one Tenshi didn't particularly care for. She flipped her hair. "In any case, I have no intention of kissing those who fail to see what an honour it is. I'll be taking myself and my kisses elsewhere."
"You'd better."
And so, when Reimu's demeanour showed no signs of softening and her knuckles began to turn white, Tenshi whipped around and stomped away from the shrine.
She hadn't made it far when a whim made her climb into the nearest tree. She crossed her legs over the branch and let her fingers dance across the sprouting leaves. Spring in Gensokyo wasn't always the stuff of poetry, but it had its perks.
Much like kissing. A game or not, she really had made some good memories with them, some of which still made her lips tingle and her chest feel warm. Even better, she had just learnt an excellent new way of provoking people when needed.
She held onto her hat as a gust of wind threatened to snatch it away, enjoying the swaying of the branch for a moment longer before jumping back down. No point wasting time sitting alone in a tree. Not when there was a world's worth of memories left to make.