That intruder, that thief! – that was Patchouli’s first thought as she noticed that there were two books which were missing from the shelves, again. She saw that intruder flying away just a moment ago, and since these books still were not returned two hours later, she surmised that the intruder had escaped from the mansion with the books.

Yet, when she examined that bookshelf a second time, she noticed that there was something odd about it. On the ground was a book that was not there before. When she picked it up, she realized that she had never seen this book before, and that it did not belong to her. To whom does this belong? Surely it belonged to Marisa, who just flew away. I guess she just dropped it while flying on the way out. Should I keep it? After all, she steals my books, so it should not matter if she loses her own books.

Then again, Patchouli knew that although Marisa planned to borrow her books for a very long time, it was still not forever. After all, she still remembered that Marisa once told her that she could have her books back after she was dead, which was reasonable since humans lived far shorter than youkai. She also knew that Marisa was careful to take good care of the books, and not let them be damaged – for this reason, Patchouli was not worried about the condition of the stolen books, and never did try to chase her down to retrieve her books back after Marisa had escaped with a book. Therefore, she decided that she could look over the contents of Marisa’s book for a little while, but that it would be good at least to return it to Marisa after a few days.

Three days afterward, the day that Patchouli decided to return the book to Marisa, was the first time in 2 years that Patchouli stepped out of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It was an hour past noon when she left the mansion, carrying a bag that contained the book that she was about to return, but it took a while to adjust to the light. In fact, it took one whole hour to adjust to the light. When she finally started to float across the bridge towards the forest, it was already two hours past noon.

As she floated through the forest, she started to think about where exactly Marisa lived. After all, she generally had a good sense of where things were in Gensokyo through some non-magic books that she has read that pointed out features of Gensokyo, but admittedly, she has only read a few of these Gensokyo guide books. When she came outside at the other side of the forest, she then realized that, although these books pointed out natural features of the land, in no book of hers did it ever mention Marisa, and worst of all, she realized that she did not even know where Marisa lived.

But then, she figured that at least Marisa was well known, or at least that was what she had heard from the other residents of the mansion, Sakuya and Remilia, who went outside more often. I guess I better ask around for directions. She spotted a random youkai randomly floating in space, who did not seem too unfriendly, and said, “hey there! Mind if I ask for some directions?”

“Huh? Oh, hello there.”

“I am looking for someone named Marisa Kirisame, do you know where she lives?”

“You mean the witch?”

“Yes. I am looking for her.”

“I heard that she lived somewhere in the Forest of Magic, but I can’t help you any more than that. Sorry.”

“Alright. I guess I better start looking for her there. Bye.”

“Bye.”

After a few moments, she was back in the forest. She did not know what time it was, although, judging by the direction of the sunlight and the season, she judged that it was perhaps three hours past noon. It was very dark on the forest floor due to the canopy overhead.

She wandered through the forest for a long while, trying to do a systematic search through the forest, but after losing her path several times, she decided to use magic to keep track of her path. It was a magic map that traced her path and recorded to the places that she has already been at. By that time, however, she judged that four hours had already passed from noon, and since it was the winter, she also judged that nightfall would be soon.

She tried to hurry up her pace, but noticed that her asthma started to kick in. Not finding Marisa's residence for a long time, she wanted to ask someone in the forest about where Marisa lived, but could not find a single person, youkai or human, in this forest of magic at daytime. Even worse, she only now realized that she did not even know what Marisa's residence looked like. She considered the fact that she might be able to ask some youkai at night.

However, she noticed that she was getting more and more tired as she continued to fly across the forest, and that her asthma was getting worse, but only mildly. She was getting dizzy, and the world was starting to become a haze. She tried to continue onwards, guided by her magic recording map, but it was getting more difficult to fly across the forest, and when she decided to land on the ground and walk on the ground, the bag that she was carrying (which carried the single book) was feeling heavier and heavier. She judged that it was already about five hours past noon, and the forest ground was already somewhat dark, and the sky overhead was already a dark blue.

She was trying to carry on, but she had little strength left. With her asthma becoming worse than before (though still mild), she knew that it would be best to leave the forest and go back to the mansion, but she did not even know the way out of the forest. Although she knew that she would eventually go out of the forest by walking in a straight line, she did not even know the direction of the mansion. She decided to make her best guess on which direction the mansion was, judging from the direction she thought that the sun had set, and the direction that she thought that the mansion was in, and proceeded in that direction.

But she could continue onwards only very slowly as her strength continued to drain out of her, and after about a half hour, she sat down on the forest floor, too tired to move on, holding the bag, which contained the book, close to her. Perhaps I can sleep here. I wonder whether I will be safe here at night? But she had no further time to think about this, because in just a few seconds, she collapsed and fell asleep right there on the dark forest floor, as the evening slowly turned into night.

When she woke up, she felt like she was on a bed, and that there was light meeting her eyes. And when she opened her eyes, she saw that the light was coming through a window. Where am I?

“So, you’re awake now already?”

She recognized that voice. It could only be one person.

“Marisa?”

Note: Do you think that this was cheesy? Well, I tried a little for this one, and I think I can have a story going a little. It might take a while for me to update, but I will get to it soon. Till then, please review! I do want to get the characterization right, and although I don't exactly know how asthma works, I also want to get that right.