(A/N: Hey look I'm not dead.)

I was irritated.

It turns out I prefer homeostasis. Being pulled from my mansion and made to obey the orders of some summoner who will no doubt reuse me if I prove useful, and furthermore being made to assault all manner of obviously powerful people so that I either get beat or indeed prove useful… Is irritating. I want to be back in my mansion with my tea and my French bread. And my chess board so I can win against Komachi for the umpteenth time.

At first she wanted me on some form of stealth mission for a single person, and then for no reason decided she'd rather make everything big and obvious. I hope something terrible happens to her in this destructive chaos.

So now the whole sky is being lit up with all manner of spells and weaponry, and there are a number of people who are obviously more dangerous than others. I try to keep weaker ones between me and them, but there's one I just can't shake off; someone with some sort of weird puffy-ear hairstyle with a shiny sword and a purple cape and, of all things, earmuffs.

Earmuffs!?

My name is Toyasotomimi No Miko. I am a Taoist prince of legend and have the ability to hear all desires, whether they're spoken or not. For this reason, I wear earmuffs to help block some of it out. Due to my respectable lineage, I also carry a sacred sword passed down for generations. Today has been a very… Interesting day. In spite of my earmuffs, I had been hearing three desires over and over all day. A desire for memory, a desire for blood, and a desire for gathering… All from the same location. Upon my arrival there, I witnessed the close of a fight between a youkai and an outmatched witch, and the beginning of a fight between a magician I do not recognize and her apparent servant, a reaper whose mere presence fills my heart with dread. It is no secret that, as a hermit, I must fend off reapers to stay alive. I had never faced this one before, and have no wish to.

It is evident I was being somewhat foolish at the moment. Pursuing him alongside myself is a shinigami whom I do not recognize. She appears to be a ferrywoman and has a spirit with her, which concerns me further; although I know this attack is not centered on myself, it is all too convenient if it were to be. That is, I may imply by the spirit's presence she could be hunting, and may only appear to be a ferrywoman. So why would I join in? Quite simply, because of the shinigami herself. It's simply a matter of currying favor with those who will someday once again try to hunt me down.

I yet managed to make one thing unmistakable; that the three desires are quite separate yet tied together. The desires for mist and memory seem to come from the spirit, and the desire to kill from the reaper. Yet somehow they're connected. I didn't truly comprehend why, though I assumed the ferrywoman knows. Lady Komeiji may, as well; I noticed her amongst the melee, though she was caught up in the grander portion of the 'everyone versus everyone' fight that inevitably occurred; such is Gensokyo.

I gasped in surprise and just barely parried a sudden blow from the reaper. Sparks flew, and I was certain that any lesser weapon would have broken. However, my sword is quite blessed, and I am no slouch in swordplay. Unfortunately, I was never taught to fight against such an unusual weapon as a scythe, a sorrowful affair as it seems to be the weapon of choice for reapers, and this one knows his weapon well. I quickly responded with several strokes, but each one was barred and retorted; I only barely avoided harm. Our blades clashed in the sunlight several more times before an ice fairy of some sort flew up behind him with a sizeable snowball; her fate quickly sealed as the reaper disappeared before my eyes, only to reappear behind the fairy and cleave her in twain.

"Get away from me, idiot." He spake in sepulchral tones. "I don't have time for this."

He then used some curious magic to distance myself from him; much the same as a ferryman would, which I personally found quite vexing. He did not seem willing to fight so much as perhaps one in his position ought to. Fortune was, sadly, not with me that day. For I had heard the music begin but had not even stopped to consider the danger I was in; I had long since forgotten the power-multiplicative properties of music when wielded as a weapon, and when it is a trio of musical poltergeists together with a trio of musical tsukomogami, one can hardly expect to come away unscathed.

The music caught up with me just before I caught up to the reaper, distracted with the ferrywoman, to attack. Probably for the best, as he turned to face me with that dreadful scythe; I would hate to have been defeated, much less upon the very grounds of my enemy, miss Hijiri. Since the music downed her as well, I think I can claim at least some dignity…

Funny. Earmuffs lady is persistent. Oh hey, look, a bunch of people with earmuffs. Ha, you're distracted! Get 'im, Koma! Er, wait, why- woah, leggo my hai- waaa!

Aaaagh! This idiotic excuse for a swordswoman won't let up! I have enough trouble with Komachi as it is, curse her! Wh- no, this must have been planned. That's far too much power. I have to… Get away…

Lost, lost, hopelessly lost…