Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

Gensokyo, at the gate leading towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Meiling groggily woke up with the Sun still shining on her face as she rubbed her eyes.

Although she has been fighting relentlessly in the Naruto world for several days, it all happened while she was taking a nap in Gensokyo. Opening her eyes straight ahead, she found herself refreshed with a renewed vigor, and she didn’t feel a single trace of fatigue from all the fighting she did in her dream.

She opened her arms and stretched, greeting the afternoon Sun once more.

Then, she suddenly remembered that an alert went off in her heart, warning her that she was being awakened in Gensokyo. Hence, she was forcefully brought back into reality.

She turned her head to the right like usual, and sure enough, Sakuya Izayoi was right there, waiting for her to wake up.

Sakuya is the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and the only human living inside it. She looked about sixteen, with bright, silver hair that was braided on both sides of her head. She also donned a traditional European maid outfit.

“Sakuya! What’s up?” Meiling smiled.

“What’s up? You must have slept a little too well this time,” Sakuya sighed. “Listen – although our Mistress lets you sleep on the job, that doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to slack off all the time.”

Meiling recalled that, in the past, whenever she fell asleep on the job, she would still be alert to her surroundings. If anybody were to approach the gate, she would wake up immediately to deal with any trespassers or redirect any lost humans.

This time, however, she didn’t notice Sakuya’s arrival. Sakuya called out to her from afar, and even tried shaking her awake when she got closer, but Meiling was still fast asleep.

Sakuya had to use both hands and held her shoulders firmly, shaking her awake like a mystery box, and only then did the rainbow-colored dragon arouse from her slumber.

I have never seen Meiling like this before, Sakuya thought to herself. If this continues, it might lead to trouble. I’d better give a stern warning to her.

“I’ll let it slide this time,” Sakuya said coldly. “You must never fall into a sleep that deep in the future ever again.”

“Yes, I understand!” Meiling answered with a cheerful smile. Despite this, she knew that she couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t repeat this again in the future. If her newfound ability is bound to activate, she will once again fall into a deep slumber, and Sakuya would definitely notice.

But, there’s nothing I can do about it! Who gave me such a weird ability, anyways?!

“Come,” Sakuya interrupted her thought process. “Our Mistress has something important to announce to everyone.”

This is why Sakuya came to check up on Meiling. She merely caught Meiling fast asleep by sheer coincidence.

“What is the announcement?” she asked with trepidation, but Sakuya simply turned around and gestured her to follow.

If Mistress wants to hold a meeting, then I have to be there. Right!

This is the first time I’ll be meeting my Mistress – Remilia Scarlet! She excitedly thought to herself.

Trailing behind Sakuya, she was still deep in thought about the situation in the Naruto world.

After all, she fought tooth-and-nail for Hidden Eddy the last several days – she was bound to obtain lingering attachments to the village. Entering the mansion, she felt a pang of grief in her heart from the forceful separation.

She planned on giving a proper farewell before travelling back to Gensokyo – she still wanted to spend some time with Kushina Uzumaki; she wanted to inform the kind innkeeper that she was still alive; she wanted to stroll the streets at night once more…

Just as she was recalling her moments as a world-hopping tourist, several bells chimed in her head.

[Achievement Obtained – Defend Hidden Eddy; Kill Sandaime Mizukage; Form a Bond with Ashina Uzumaki;

Rewards – Adamantine Sealing Chains, Summoning Technique: Katsuyu, Body Flicker Technique¹]

Before she could react, a forceful ball of knowledge was tossed straight into her mind, causing her to stop in her tracks to process the knowledge.

Calming down, she widened her eyes in shock. This knowledge forced into her head – they were all ways to train the ninjutsu given to her.

Traditionally, ninjutsu requires chakra. However, the ninjutsu bestowed to Meiling did not require any chakra; instead, it was modified to allow her to utilize her qi to perform these new abilities.

She once again widened her eyes at the realization – it seemed that she is able to obtain rewards by completing certain milestones or achievements while venturing through new worlds. The harder the achievement, the better the reward, and these achievements seem to be related to the plotline that she was tossed into.

“Meiling?” Sakuya turned around, noticing that Meiling was not following her.

“Coming!”

These achievements are tough. I killed many strong ninjas, but the achievement explicitly stated ‘Sandaime Mizukage.’ In other words, even if I kill strong ninjas, it wouldn’t be enough; I made many friends there, but the achievements specified Ashina Uzumaki…

Meiling knew what she was going to do before she travels to a new world – determine the criteria for achievements. Then, she will, at the very least, have some sort of direction when she steps foot into another world.

Before this, she thought that she was simply bestowed the ability to travel to other worlds to experience the life there, but now that she is aware of the existence of rewards, she felt a sense of vigor and determination inside her. In a sense, these rewards strengthen her and grant her new abilities too.

Meiling wanted to test her new abilities, but she knew that it wasn’t the right time to do so.

Soon, she found herself in the meeting hall.

It was incredibly spacious in the hall, and it could probably fit an entire party. However, it seemed particularly empty with just a few people in attendance. Apart from Meiling and Sakuya, there were two other people in the hall – Remilia Scarlet, and Patchouli Knowledge, who is her good friend and close confidant.

Remilia sat on a throne-like chair, while Patchouli sat on her right side.

Remilia looks just like a child, but she is, in fact, a five-hundred-year-old vampire. Her curly hair is a light, baby blue, and her pupils are as red as blood. She dons a frilly, light pink dress, with a matching light pink ruffle hat on her head. Her most striking feature is the pair of bat-like wings that sprouted out from her back.

On the outside, she seems like a spoiled little child of a great baron, but do not be fooled, as great strength courses through her blood. Meiling knew that, if she picked a fight with her, she would, without a doubt, lose.

On the other hand, Patchouli looks like a teenage girl, but she is a magician who has lived for more than a hundred years. Specifically, she is born a magician, rather than a human who becomes a magician.

She has long purple hair and dons a long, comfortable, lavender dress, with a matching ruffle hat similar to Remilia’s. Unlike Remilia’s, a crescent moon is pinned to the front of her hat. Patchouli unfortunately suffers from asthma, which is further exacerbated by her recluse lifestyle, where she usually confines herself to the labyrinth-like library of the mansion. Despite her poor physical health, she is an extremely powerful magician.

“Sakuya, Meiling. Sit,” Remilia nodded. Her voice is child-like, yet held a strong sense of charisma and majesty.

Sakuya sat to the left of Remilia, while Meiling sat beside Sakuya.

Remilia spoke with a seemingly excited tone, “The day has finally come – my long, unfulfilled desire of controlling the entirety of Gensokyo in the palm of my hand! Gensokyo will be mine… mine!”

“…”

“…it’s not as dramatic as it sounds,” Patchouli weakly coughed. “Remi simply wants to block out the Sun so she can finally walk outside. I guess, in a sense, she will be controlling Gensokyo in the palm of her hand.”

“Come on, Patchy, don’t spoil my fun!” Remilia pouted before turning to Sakuya and Meiling. “Anyways, Patchy will be using her magic to augment my powers, and I will cast a scarlet mist that will spread over the entirety of Gensokyo and block out that annoying ball of light in the sky!”

Wait, is this… the Scarlet Mist Incident? Meiling thought to herself.

In Touhou, the Scarlet Mist Incident was caused by Remilia Scarlet – she casted a deep scarlet mist that shrouded all of Gensokyo’s skies due to her disdain for the Sun. No matter where you were standing in Gensokyo, if you look up, all you would see is a deep, scarlet fog over the sky.

Then, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, Reimu Hakurei, and a Black-and-White Magician, Marisa Kirisame, would come knocking on the Scarlet Devil Mansion to solve the Scarlet Mist Incident. After fighting their way through the mansion, they would defeat Remilia and force her to retract the scarlet mist.

…which also means that I will be fighting Reimu and Marisa soon, Meiling thought as she touched her chin.

Footnotes

¹ Body Flicker Technique, or Shunshin no Jutsu. This allows the user to move at an untraceable speed. It looks like teleportation, but they are simply moving way too fast (like any respectable ninja).