Spell Card System
Ethan, who was now in the form of a female doll, was resting in the Forest of Magic with Reimu when he was asked a question, "Is that still you, Ethan? I think one of the many souls within you is taking over your body — no, your mind itself."
Reimu added, "You've been acting a little strange lately, as if you're kinda used to being feminine."
"Now that I think of it, I feel like someone else is in my mind," Ethan pondered, "I am gaining access to memories I don't even recognise."
"What is your name?"
"Why, it's Ethan. And also, Amelia…?"
"Hmm. An unfamiliar name and a different way of speaking… Yeah, that confirms it. There's someone else taking over your mind."
"Amelia, she might be a victim of Flan-chan too."
"Ethan, we're not sure if your memories would still be intact. So please, don't let that 'Amelia' take over your mind."
A sphere of dark cloud flew over them and dissolved as it hit a tree. Then a small girl in black clothes appeared, "Ow~ That tree is blocking the way."
Reimu smirked and gestured to Ethan, "You still don't know a lot about Gensokyo, right? Well then, observe how 'Spell card rules' work."
She walked in front of the small girl and called out to her, "Rumia, it seems your friends aren't here today. Want to play with me instead?"
The small girl, Rumia, smiled widely and nodded, "Sure, shrine maiden! Let's play danmaku!"1Danmaku (弾幕, "barrage", lit. "bullet curtain") refers to a style of shoot-'em-up video game featuring complex patterns of dozens to hundreds of enemy bullets, which the player dodges.2Touhou's treatment of danmaku is incorporated into the setting itself, where it is essentially a supernatural martial art practiced by the inhabitants of Gensokyo.
Ethan blushed at the sight as he watched from afar, "What a cute and innocent girl, I wish she's not a man-eating-youkai or something."
Suddenly, the whole area was flooded in a fog of darkness while Rumia announced her 'Spell card,' shouting, "Darkness Sign: 'Demarcation.' This time, I made it so that it'll be hard for you to see my bullets!"
Ethan was wondering what she meant by "bullets," until a wave of countless glowing orbs were fired at Reimu. The projectiles coming from Rumia moved in an obvious pattern which the shrine maiden gracefully dodged. Reimu also responded by shooting back needle-shaped projectiles that accelerated at insane speeds. However, they seemed to be enjoying the fight, it looked dangerous yet safe, every "bullet" was delivered in a way that could be dodged, and they all conveyed a beautiful duel.
After the fight when Rumia was defeated, she surrounded herself in a black sphere again and flew away, hitting a tree for the second time. Reimu patted her shrine maiden uniform and went back to Ethan, who was now acting strange and different.
She asked, "Ethan, you get how the 'Spell card rules' works now? It's basically a duel."
"Ethan…? Am I not Amelia…?" a different Ethan replied.
The Forgotten Joke
Reimu pointed her gohei accessory at Ethan and exclaimed, "Amelia, I demand you to stop taking over Ethan's mind!"
Amelia, the stranger in the doll, shook her head, "Who… Where am I…?"
Reimu frowned, "You're not aware?"
The stranger in the doll shrieked, "What happened to me?! Why do I look so pale?!"
"You're a doll," Reimu answered.
"A doll?"
"Yes, a doll."
Few minutes later, they started understanding each other. It turned out that Amelia's soul was summoned by the doll vessel since they're both mutually girls. However, her soul took over Ethan's consciousness in the process. When she checked her memories, she told Reimu, "I noticed something strange. It seems like all my memories are of Ethan. Could it be possible that I'm starting to become like him?"
"Maybe," Reimu shrugged, "Inform me if there's another soul taking over you, we can't risk that happening."
They arrived back at the Hakurei shrine where they saw the Touhou's clone of Dio but as a maid. She goes by the name of Sakuya Izayoi, as told by Reimu. Then Reimu asked her, "What brings you here?"
Sakuya seemed a bit surprised, and said, "You don't know? Such a lazy shrine maiden—"
"I'm tired of hearing that, Padchou—"
"Anyway, there's something strange happening lately. Everyone seemed to know this word 'Joe,' as if it suddenly appeared in our minds."
"I wonder who's Joe…?"
"That's the question I find a bit unsettling, even my Mistress had asked that. Do you think of this as an incident?"
"No, it's just a strange occurrence."
"Reimu, pull yourself together! Everyone is in danger here! I went to buy groceries in the Human Village once and I keep hearing 'who's Joe' everywhere!"
Amelia mumbled out loud, "Joe… I think I know that name."
Reimu became interested and looked at her, "Ethan might know about 'who's Joe,' try to remember something from his memories, there might be a clue."
"Joe is one of the souls from Ohio, a victim of Flan-chan. That's all I could know." Amelia implied.
"Wait," Sakuya interrupted them both, "How did Miss Flandre get here?! And what's Ohio?!"
There was a moment of silence between them that lasted until Reimu began clearing things up with Sakuya. They spent the evening talking about Ethan's story involving Yukari, the first suspect to the Great Hakurei Barrier's inactivity, and Flandre, the vampire that caused the death of the souls from Ohio. It turned out that Flandre was the sister of a more mature vampire, Remilia Scarlet, who Sakuya apparently works for as a maid. The mansion they live in was called the "Scarlet Devil Mansion," it's where the story took place, the mysterious mansion.
Reimu picked up her gohei and gestured to the door, "We're heading to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. This is an incident and as the shrine maiden, my job is to resolve it."
Sakuya took a sip from the tea cup she held, and sighed, "It's been a long time since I saw you like that, Reimu Hakurei."
"I mean… tomorrow." Reimu chuckled.
Sakuya spat her tea and grumbled, "What a lazy shrine maiden."
