"C'mon, drink up."
"But I've really had enough."
Sanae's slurred protest came to nothing as Marisa gleefully poured the cup full. Sanae sighed and held onto the cup against her better judgement. She could practically already feel the talons of an upcoming hangover latching onto her skull, assuming her ever-growing drowsiness didn't get her first.
"There's no need to look so glum. Are you still achin'?"
"Not really." Sanae had barely noticed the bruises her loss had earned her in the first place. Getting soaked from top to toe had been far worse. The wound to her pride remained the worst.
Until then, Reimu's attention had been chiefly on draining her own cup. Now, as if reading Sanae's mind, she looked up. "Murasa's a tough customer. There's no shame in losing to her."
"Yeah, it's not like gettin' decked by Cirno or something. Reimu can tell you all about that one."
"Shut up."
Sanae blinked slowly at Reimu. "That can't be true. You didn't actually lose to Cirno."
"Of course not. Marisa just likes to remind me of the time I saved her from an antlion youkai's pit trap and got frozen bullets in my face for my trouble."
Marisa laughed. She kept at it even after Reimu made a rude hand gesture.
Sanae gave Reimu a wondering look. For all that her fellow shrine maiden was glowering, she too was smiling. "You really don't mind losing, do you?"
Reimu's smile dropped. "Of course I do."
"Yeah, it's the pits. Who'd enjoy it? I guess maybe someone like Kogasa might, but... Don't worry about it," Marisa added as Sanae gave her a blank look.
Reimu shrugged. "But it's not a big deal."
"She says that now. You should've seen her the first time I beat her. She kept stompin' the ground like she meant to tunnel her way all the way down to Former Hell."
"And I'll stomp you right now if you don't watch out."
Sanae's rallied her thoughts. "I didn't mean it in the sense that you'd like it. It's just... how can you take it in stride so well?"
Marisa got up from the porch and hopped to stand before Sanae on the Hakurei Shrine's courtyard. "Lemme guess. Back in the Outside World, you used to always come out on top?"
"Not always. But I guess..." Sanae peered forlornly into her empty cup, hoping Marisa wouldn't take it as on invitation to top it up. "I always did well enough at school in all the subjects I liked, and I got into the high school I chose without any problems. And then in the student council elections—"
"There it is. See, when ya get used to losin' when yer still a kid, ya learn not to lick your wounds for any longer than necessary. The longer your winnin' streak, the harder ya fall on your face in the end."
"I see..."
"Reimu an' me've got a lot of practice losin'. To each other, to start with. So our skins are pretty much strike-proof by now."
Sanae felt her eyelids flutter shut and forced them open again. Perhaps it was a good thing she was so drowsy. Otherwise, she might have begun to think wistful thoughts about the long history between Reimu and Marisa again.
"Anyway, think about it this way." Marisa leaned in closer to pat Sanae on the shoulder. "It hurts now, but it'll get better. The more you get trounced, the faster you learn to get back up again."
It was absurd under normal circumstances, perhaps, but the words and the friendly gesture were enough to make Sanae's eyes misty. "Thank you."
"No worries. I mean it."
Without warning, Reimu stood up. "I'll be back."
"Guess I should get goin'," said Marisa as soon as Reimu had vanished behind the shrine. "I have a rendez-vous for some midnight mushroom-pickin'. Or was tonight a hot date with a cosy bed?"
"Thank you again."
"Think nothin' of it. Just relax, okay?"
Sanae waved Marisa goodbye, then leaned against the wall. Left to her own devices, she could no longer resist the siren call urging her to close her eyes. And why should she? The warmth within her was so inviting it would have been folly not to curl up around it.
A string of stars peeked through the shroud of clouds. One of the many things Sanae loved about Gensokyo was just how dazzling the night sky could be. It almost made up for how dark and foreboding the wilderness became in turn. But even the darkness felt softer that night, sweeter and somehow floral.
Not somehow. Sanae definitely smelled jasmine in the air.
There were foreign fingers close to her scalp. Still warm and comfortable, but now significantly more alert, Sanae craned her neck upwards.
What she saw first put her mind at ease, then made her heart beat twice as fast. Through some strange decree of the gods, her head had come to rest on Reimu's lap. Reimu was in the process of weaving loose braids into Sanae's hair. If she noticed Sanae staring, she made no sign of it.
"R-Reimu?"
"Finally awake?" Reimu let go of Sanae's hair, only to pick up several further strands. She split the hair into three sections and began braiding anew. "You were dead to the world when I came back."
She spoke matter-of-factly, as though nothing could have been more natural than having Sanae's upper body draped across her knees. Sanae just barely managed to kerb her initial impulse to bounce onto her feet, stammering excuses. Or try to bounce to her feet, anyway: her limbs felt like they were made of warm jelly.
Blood packing into her cheeks, she sought purchase from the porch. Her hand fell upon something delicate and plant-like. She plucked it between her fingers and brought it to eye level to discover a sprig of jasmine.
Further detective work revealed further surprises. There was jasmine strewn everywhere on the porch, more than an entire tree's worth of blossoms. And Reimu wasn't just fixing Sanae's hair; she was weaving the flowers into each braid she made, one after another.
Sanae went entirely rigid. She was certain that if she moved, she would spook the moment away like a bird fleeing cover.
Of course, suddenly freezing did exactly that. Reimu frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Nothing..." Think loose and relaxed and carefree. Sanae was pretty sure she only managed choked. "Did you leave to fetch these?"
"No. I heard fairies making a racket by the pond." Reimu plucked another flower from the porch and spun it in her fingers. "I thought you made these."
"How?"
"Through a miracle."
"I couldn't have." Sanae hesitated. "Unless... how long was I asleep?"
After a jasmine-filled pause, Reimu returned to her work. "We'll figure it out later. Or not."
Now that the initial shock was winding out, Sanae found herself in a renewed struggle with slumber. Battling against the alcohol in her bloodstream, she blinked rapidly. "Because this is Gensokyo?"
"Exactly." Reimu's smile was at once guileless and uncanny.
"I love Gensokyo. I really do." It was no use: the score would soon be Sleep Two, Sanae Zero. "Even if I think... I understand it less the more time I spend here."
"It's harder to love things you understand completely."
"Really?"
"That's what I think, anyway." Reimu twisted the end of a braid to secure it. Instead of getting started on another, she simply rested her hand against Sanae's temple. "Humans can't love anything in its entirety. But humans also can't understand anything completely, so it evens out."
Sanae almost succeeded in breaking the seal upon her eyelids. Reimu wasn't usually a philosophical drunk.
Reimu appeared to realise the same thing. She resumed her braiding. "Or some rot like that. I don't know."
"You don't know because you're human."
"That's it. Because I'm human," Reimu repeated, almost as softly as Sanae had first mumbled the words.
For a moment, the scent of jasmine once again spoke the loudest.
"I don't think I really understand you." Sanae felt at once giddy and drowsy, like she was talking to an imaginary Reimu dwelling in her mind rather than the real deal. "And I'm probably too human to understand you completely. But I would like to try. I want to think that even if I understood everything about you, I would still love you."
If Reimu said anything in response, the words drowned in the warm fog engulfing Sanae.
Sanae woke up on Reimu's spare futon, feeling like a gang of oni had used her temples as punching bags. Reimu was kind enough to not audibly mock her plight as she came to see if Sanae was ready for breakfast.
"I'm sorry to take advantage of your hospitality like this," Sanae croaked, trying to get past the feeling of the inside of her mouth having morphed into sandpaper.
"You're fine."
They ate breakfast in near silence, with Sanae struggling to taste a single mouthful. She couldn't shake the feeling she had done something spectacularly stupid the previous night. Still, Reimu kept smiling. Whatever folly Sanae had gotten up to, it couldn't have been the end of the world. She tried to find comfort in that thought.
She wobbled as she stepped onto the courtyard. The sun stabbed her directly in the eye as she looked into the horizon. Still, it would be fine. She was strong enough for the trip back to the mountain, where she hoped to spend the rest of the day curled up with a blanket drawn over her face.
"Sanae." Reimu was looking aside with a strange smile. For all that her usual expressions were obviously spontaneous, this was looked like it had been carefully curated. "I know I sometimes groan when you show up, but it doesn't really mean anything."
"I know." Sanae hadn't been sure, actually, so it was a relief to hear it.
"Good. Don't be a stranger."
"I'll see you soon."
Sanae was halfway back home when the wind whipping through her hair made her aware of something unusual against her scalp. Examining her head revealed a slew of jasmine flowers tied to a single loose braid, barely thicker than her waviest curls. The blossoms were wilting and mostly bent, but still fragrant with night-time softness.
Mysterious or not, the flowers were a blessed omen. Sanae let go of her hair and flew onwards with renewed strength.