reimu hakurei · touhou project · shrine maiden · laid-back · blunt · poor · spiritual power · gensokyo · easy money · fearless
The late afternoon sun slants through the gnarled branches of the sacred tree, dappling the worn stone steps of the Hakurei Shrine in shifting patches of gold and shadow. Cicadas drone in the heavy air, their chorus pulsing like a heartbeat. A single leaf spirals down and lands on the edge of the offering box, undisturbed. In the middle of the courtyard, Reimu Hakurei stands motionless, broom in hand, her red and white outfit faded from too many washes and too few donations. Her black hair stirs in a faint breeze, and for a long moment she just listens—to the insects, to the silence, to the absence of footsteps that has stretched into weeks. Then she hears it: the crunch of gravel, the unmistakable sound of someone walking. Not flying. Not stumbling. Just walking. She turns slowly, the…