Ye who art divine
Protect us from the youkai
She is really drunk

Gensokyo stands separated from the world, since around a hundred-and-fifty years ago. A barrier of common sense stands between the fantastical inside and the mundane outside, and the two rarely mingle together.

On the edge of this barrier is the Hakurei Shrine, standing neither in or outside Gensokyo, but in both realms at the same time. In Gensokyo, it stood in a high place up in the mountains, overlooking the entirety of this fantastical realm. The shrine which lay was an old, decrepit Shinto shrine that rarely saw any visitors, except for a few errant youkai. The only time the shrine might be called ‘popular’ in any way was in spring, where the cherry blossoms behind the shrine would bloom and their flowers would fall. Some would come to this spot for some flower-viewing.

“Ah, quite quaint, isn’t it?” Remilia sat on a large cloth, observing the products of the spring as she tended to do. A vampire doing something as quintessentially Japanese as flower viewing might seem odd to some, but this mixing of cultures was common in Gensokyo. The mistress sat under the shade of a cherry tree, safe from the damnable sun.

“It is indeed, mistress.” Sakuya took a sip out of an elegant porcelain cup, joining in the relaxation. Immortal folk like them had a lot of time on their hands to spend on transient activities such as this. The head maid had seen countless flowering nights in her long life.

I mean, I get how it can be meditative, but… On the contrary, Licorice had limited time in her puny mortal life. She didn’t exactly come from the right culture to appreciate viewing the flowers all day. …it’s quite boring, honestly. At least the food and drink is good. She thought of this event as more of a picnic; perhaps flower viewing was an excuse just to go outside and have one. She was chewing on a cupcake while she did her best to appreciate the flowers.

Licorice suddenly heard another girl’s voice behind her back. “Yes, the flowers are beautiful. You know what’s not beautiful?” She turned around to find a girl, fully clothed in a red dress, with a enormous red ribbon, and straight black hair. She seemed to be pissed off by their presence. “Youkai loitering around the shrine! There’s a reason why I’m not getting any visitors or donations, can you guess the reason?”

Sakuya put down her cup of tea, sitting most calmly and elegantly. “Maybe because the shrine maiden is too busy being a mean old git who has nothing to do but bully us peaceful folk?”

“Plus, this shrine is ugly. Just like Reimu’s face, ha!” Remilia couldn’t help but laugh at her own low-level, childish roast.

“You-” This Reimu was gritting her teeth in frustration. “It’s bad luck to disrespect a shrine! You shall suffer divine retribution, I tell ye, di-vine-re-tri-bu-tion!”

Remilia only shrugged at threats of damnation. “From who? The god of this shrine you don’t even know the name of?”

“I’ll just beat up your so-called god if they ever dare show their face.” Sakuya had a smug smile on her face as she casually threatened to fight a god. “Maybe they’re a coward, considering that they haven’t.”

Reimu was ready to throw hands now. She stomped toward Sakuya and Remilia. “Alright, you two. No loitering!”

“Calm down, Miss Reimu.” Sakuya took out a bottle from the basket that contained their supplies. “Sit down, and have some fine sake, won’t you? The food’s free too, as provided by our gracious mistress.”

“Cheap tricks like that won’t work… on me.” Reimu looked hesitant. “It’s my job, as the shrine maiden of Hakurei, to exterminate any youkai causing trouble!”

“Ahh, you know.” Remilia turned to Sakuya, ignoring the angry shrine maiden. “I was thinking about how poor the Hakurei Shrine is. Maybe I’ll provide some of my grace: a little monetary donation for the poor little girl who has to live here.”

“Money?!” Reimu had to stop herself from drooling at the mention of food and money. “I… Fine, just this once.” She snatched the bottle from Sakuya and joined them in sitting under the cherry tree. Remilia looked satisfied over having shown superiority over the shrine maiden.

Reimu took one sip out of the bottle, only to notice someone unusual who had been watching them argue. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask this, but who’s the… maid?”

“Ah, she’s Licorice Meidou. Our new maid.” Licorice waved her hand towards Reimu as the mistress introduced her. “I found her lying outside the gate, and decided to take her in.”

“…you shouldn’t hire strangers you find lying outside your house.” Reimu sighed. Was this little devil planning to commit another incident? “What’s your big plan? I’ll go easy on you if you confess.”

“What, just because I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I have some evil plan! How rude!” Remilia crossed her arms, and looked genuinely offended at Reimu’s suspicion. “Do I ask you what you’re doing every time you come into my house without invitation?”

“It’s because you’re up to no good whenever I have to make a visit!” Reimu turned to Licorice. “So, are you up to no good?”

Why would I confess if I was? “No, I’m just an ordinary human, Miss Reimu.” She did look most ordinary, Reimu had to agree on that point. “Lady Remilia has treated me decently.” Outside of the times that Licorice had been scared shitless by the mistress and her dog (Sakuya), she was generally satisfied by her employer. She had little work to do, as Sakuya didn’t trust her with much, with a flexible schedule. In turn, she was clothed and had a place to stay. The only problem was food and drink, Licorice didn’t know where the kitchen was and she had been a bit hesitant to ask the head maid. Our heroine sustained herself through mooching off of Meiling.

Remilia was even smugger than usual when hearing praise directed towards her from her underling. “You see? I’m just a charitable, kind young lady. Unlike a certain miser who claims to be hallow.”

“Yes, as charitable as a blood-sucking, human-eating vampire can be.” Reimu seemed unimpressed of Remilia’s claims of charitability. “Miss Licorice, you should be careful around the youkai. Take care so that you won’t get turned into a meal by this little brat.” This was a warning that Reimu had felt like she needed to give as a shrine maiden.

Sakuya stood up with a knife ready to go in her hand. “Miss Reimu, I won’t have you so wantonly insult the mistress-” She stood down as the mistress swung her hand down, signaling that she should stay down. “We’re here today for flower viewing, not fighting. You can spar all you like on another day.” It was odd to see the mistress act maturely for once. “Also, I wouldn’t cook her into a meal! She’s too precious as a blood bank.” Remilia tugged onto Licorice’s sleeve. “Speaking of which, I’m quite thirsty.”

“…Right, right. That’s my call.” Licorice obliged, extending her arm to make Remilia’s job easier. The mistress bit down, draining blood from our poor heroine. This feeling of having her blood sucked had felt quite disgusting and horrifying at first; Licorice had gotten used to the feeling as time passed on. Now, it felt indifferent from any other chore. Theirs was an odd symbiotic relationship of sorts.

Reimu was involuntarily witness to this scene. She lost a bit of appetite for her own drink due to the somewhat grotesque scene of someone drinking blood right in front of her. The mistress retreated from Licorice after a couple seconds. “Mm… That hit the spot…” Sakuya tried to use a towel at hand to wipe her bloody mouth; Remilia wiped the blood on her sleeves out of a childish habit before Sakuya could do so.

Poor Reimu reluctantly returned the bottle of sake toward her mouth. She took a few gulps to calm her nerves down. “…I think you’re lying about the part where you’re an ordinary human.”

“Hm?” Licorice looked surprised at this statement. “I’d say I’m pretty ordinary.” You should probably ask that question to the woman sitting next to me…

Reimu smashed the bottle of sake down. Luckily, it didn’t break. “Are ordinary humans this calm when letting a vampire feed on their blood?!”

“…I guess, yeah.” Licorice didn’t exactly have a framework on how other people would react. “I mean, the mistress doesn’t take much, so it’s not like she’s hurting me.” She pointed an accusatory finger towards Reimu. “Would you rather have the mistress hunt others down for blood?”

“Eh…” Reimu fell silent upon hearing Licorice’s point. “I guess… If it does help keep the peace in Gensokyo, then it isn’t… Hmm…”

The shrine maiden didn’t mind if there was less trouble in Gensokyo. Less trouble meant less work for her. She liked the sound of that. “So be it.” She took out a cupcake from the basket, and took a bite out of it. Reimu suddenly looked a whole lot more relaxed.

The rest of the flower viewing went without incident, and the mistress left a pitiful monetary donation for the shrine. The irony of a youkai, the thing she was supposed to be exterminating, donating to her shrine was lost to a materially satisfied, and highly chemically inconvenienced, Reimu.