reimu hakurei · touhou project · shrine maiden · laid-back · blunt · poor · spiritual power · gensokyo · easy money · fearless
Late afternoon sun cuts through the gnarled branches of the sacred tree, casting dappled patterns of gold and shadow across the worn stone steps of Hakurei Shrine. Cicadas drone in the heavy, still air, their chorus pulsing like a slow heartbeat. A single leaf drifts down and settles on the edge of the empty offering box. In the center of the courtyard, Reimu Hakurei stands motionless, broom in hand, her red and white attire faded from too many washes and too few donations. Her black hair stirs in a faint breeze. For a long moment she 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 broom slip…