Ten days after spring finally returned, the Hakurei Shrine felt alive again.
The breeze was warm, the sunlight gentle, and the air carried the scent of new blossoms. Everyone had gathered on the shrine's porch—Reimu, Marisa, Chris, Yuyuko, Youmu, Remilia, and Sakuya—sharing food and enjoying the calm that came after weeks of chaos.
Yuyuko leaned back, fanning herself lazily as she gazed at the sky.
"There are still some wandering spirits drifting around," she remarked, as if commenting on the weather.
Reimu sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"A certain blonde should've taken care of that already."
Yuyuko blinked, then glanced at Reimu like she had just said something insane.
"Reimu… did you forget? Yukari sleeps through the entire winter. She only wakes up at sunset and stays awake until sunrise. She's practically a reverse-vampire."
Marisa nearly choked on her drink.
"Reverse vampire?! That's just—actually, y'know what, that sounds right."
Reimu groaned, shoulders slumping.
"Of course she does. Of course."
Chris quietly munched on a rice cracker, his little legs kicking as he sat between Reimu and Youmu.
"Lady gap… lazy," he said, very matter-of-factly.
Sakuya covered her mouth, struggling not to laugh. Remilia didn't bother restraining herself.
"Pfft—oh my, the child has already understood Yukari."
Yuyuko nodded sagely.
"Truly, he grasps the nature of our world."
Youmu whispered under her breath, "Mother, you also slept through half of winter…"
Yuyuko ignored her completely.
Spring sunlight, good food, and the lingering absurdity of Gensokyo—all of it mixed together as they relaxed, knowing full well that if Yukari was awake…
…she'd probably just be annoyed that no one believed in her work ethic.
Marisa sighed as she spoke. "So, how do we contact Yukari?"
Reimu drank tea as she spoke. "Through Ran".
Marisa gave her a deadpan look. "How do we contact her?"
Chris just teleported, as he came back with his Reimu Fuma and his Golden Freddy, he liped then with his Grimoire as it flipped to the page. "This".
Sakuya blinked as she spoke. "Is that one of my time Abilities.... You copied that".
Chris just spoke. "Chen".
'Not, how that spell works, gremlin. ' Nidhogg answer
As Chris was standing, time moved rapidly, like days changing in seconds.
Marisa froze mid-blink.
"…What did he just do?"
Everyone watched as the sky flickered—day, night, dawn, sunset—cycling like a broken lantern slide. The wind shifted, the temperature swung, and even Remilia's hair briefly grew five inches longer before snapping back as time violently corrected itself.
And then—
PLOP.
Chen was suddenly sitting on the shrine floor, clutching a dango skewer she absolutely did not have moments ago.
She looked around, tail fluffed like a bottlebrush.
"H-Huh?! I was eating a snack and then—what just happened?! Did I teleport? Did someone kidnap me?! Did I fall into a gap?! AM I DEAD?!"
Sakuya stared at Chris, genuinely baffled.
"…That was definitely one of my time-stop distortions. Or something close. You copied that?"
Chris shook his head without hesitation.
"Chen."
The bakeneko pointed at him with wide, panicked eyes.
"ME?! I DID NOT DO THAT! I DIDN'T EVEN MOVE!"
Nidhogg finally muttered in Chris's head, utterly done with everything:
'That is not how that spell works, gremlin. You brute-forced a temporal summons spell with raw memetic energy. Do not do that again. Ever.'
Marisa, face pale, leaned toward Reimu.
"…Reimu, your kid just brute-summoned a shikigami through time."
Reimu sipped her tea in the most exhausted way possible.
"I know."
Sakuya lowered her head, sighing.
"Lady Remilia… we may need to consider the possibility that the child is capable of rewriting my résumé."
Remilia placed a hand on her forehead.
"At this point, Sakuya, he might rewrite your origin story if he tries hard enough."
Meanwhile, Chen puffed up her cheeks.
"HELLO?! Why am I here?! Someone explain before Ran beats me for disappearing again!"
Chris lifted his Fuma Reimu plush and held it toward Chen.
"For Ran."
Chen blinked.
"…Oh. You want me to bring Mistress Ran?"
He nodded.
Chen sighed, resigned.
"Okay, okay, I'll get her. But if Yukari scolds me, I'm blaming all of you!"
She vanished in a puff of foxfire—much calmer than how she arrived.
Everyone looked at Chris again.
Reimu gently pat his head.
"Next time… ask before bending time."
Chris just shrugged.
And the shrine collectively decided that was the best they were getting.
Youmu who was confused as she spoke. "So, like, what did he do?".
Sakuya sighed as she spoke. "Special time change, where I put an area in a time Bubble and imagine something there, then I move the time until that's object appears, it only appears because the object or person was ment to be there eventually seeing the day and night changes 4 time, Chen was ment to visit the shrine, for who knows what in 4 days".
Youmu tilted her head, looking at the spot where Chen had been.
"So… he forced time to… fast-forward until Chen arrived?"
Sakuya pinched the bridge of her nose, the way only someone suffering a metaphysical migraine would.
"Not quite. What he did was a Temporal Bubble Override. It's a technique where you isolate an area from normal time, then accelerate the internal timeline until a specific event—an arrival, an object, a person—naturally occurs."
She pointed at the still-spinning teacup on the table, which was only now catching up.
"I normally do this carefully. Precisely. With finesse. And only within limits. Because the only reason anything appears is because Fate already dictated it would show up eventually."
She gestured upward, where the sky still flickered faintly like a lightbulb traumatized by what it had just endured.
"What Chris did, however, was… brute-force it. Instead of gently nudging time, he basically grabbed the entire timeline by the collar and shoved it forward four days in ten seconds."
Youmu's jaw dropped.
"So… Chen was destined to visit in four days… and he just… skipped the waiting?"
Marisa pointed at Chris accusingly.
"HE FAST-TRAVELLED IRL!"
Reimu rubbed her temples.
"Which means the next four days of weather, sunlight, temperature, and fate calculations all just… passed locally."
Sakuya nodded grimly.
"Yes. Which is why I saw my paycheck be deposited, spent, and overdrafted all in ten seconds."
Youmu blinked rapidly.
"So… it's like a microwave for destiny?"
Everyone slowly turned to stare at her.
Reimu: "…That is disturbingly accurate."
Marisa: "Yeah, actually. He microwaved Chen."
Sakuya muttered something under her breath.
"And here I thought I'd seen the limits of time manipulation."
Chris tilted his head innocently.
Nidhogg muttered in his mind:
'Tell them you will NOT be doing that again.'
Chris shook his head immediately.
"No."
Everyone froze.
Marisa screamed into the air.
"HE DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT FIRST!!!"
After a few minutes, Chen had come back with Ran.
Ran arrived with Chen in her arms—one looking apologetic, the other looking like she'd just gone through three timelines at once.
Ran adjusted her hat and cleared her throat.
"Unfortunately… Lady Yukari will not be awake until nightfall. She is currently in her seasonal hibernation cycle."
Reimu stared at her with a dead expression.
"…She's asleep."
Ran nodded firmly.
"Deeply."
Marisa threw her hands up.
"Of course she is! The world's strongest gap youkai, weakened by the natural predator known as nap time."
Sakuya checked the sun's position.
"It's noon. So we're stuck here for… several hours."
Ran bowed politely.
"I apologize on her behalf. Please endure."
And just like that, they were in waiting mode.
A few minutes later…
The shrine grounds settled into that peaceful, warm early-afternoon lull.
Reimu brewed more tea.
Marisa leaned back on the porch, hat pulled low.
Yuyuko lounged like she owned the place.
Youmu hovered protectively nearby, trying not to hover too obviously.
Remilia and Sakuya stood under the shade, debating tea quality for no reason.
Meanwhile—
Chris and Chen played in the backyard.
Chen chased Chris around the old cherry tree, tail wagging wildly.
Chris darted around with his plush Reimu in hand, laughing as Chen swiped at him with the playful fury of a domestic cat in full gremlin mode.
Chen pounced—Chris teleported two feet left.
"Hey! No fair!" she yowled.
Chris giggled. "Gremlin Chen."
Chen puffed up, offended. "I am NOT a gremlin! I am a majestic bakeneko!"
Then she tripped over a stone, rolled twice, and bonked into a tree.
Chris immediately helped her up.
She purred.
Nidhogg spoke only to Chris:
'This one has the intelligence of a fruit, but admirable spirit.'
Chen tried climbing onto Chris's shoulders.
Chris tried lifting Chen.
Both failed.
They fell over together into the grass.
Ran watched from the porch, hands folded, smiling warmly.
"…They're getting along well," she admitted proudly.
Reimu sighed.
"He plays better with youkai than he does with humans."
Marisa smirked.
"Kid's already fitting into Gensokyo better than Reimu does."
Reimu smacked her with a paper fan.
Yuyuko waved lazily.
"Let them play. It's peaceful. Besides—night will come soon enough."
And so, they waited.
The calm before Yukari.
Remilia looked at them as she spoke. "You, know, Reimu, you wanted to know the boy's last name".
Reimu saw Chris as she spoke. "Yes, why are you asking?"
Remilia looked at her as she spoke. "I had my connection look at the birth certificate with the name Chris, and I found 20".
She snapped hee fingers as 20, 20-year-old birth certificate fell from the sky, landing on the ground.
Remilia let the papers scatter like oversized snowflakes, each page glimmering faintly with a charm to prevent them from tearing or getting dirty.
Reimu blinked. "Twenty? There are twenty Chris' born that year?"
Marisa whistled. "Geez, that's a lotta Chrises. Was everyone on a naming budget?"
Chris stared at the pile, suddenly sweating. Oh no. Oh no no no. If they look too close—
Reimu crouched and picked one up, flipping through it. "Okay, so what's the point, Remilia? You trying to drown us in paperwork?"
Remilia smirked in that elegant, smug Scarlet Devil Mansion way. "I'm telling you that one of these is the real one. But… the records are inconsistent. Several were magically altered sometime in the last decade."
Sakuya appeared behind Remilia, hands folded neatly. "Lady Remilia means that someone intentionally wiped or scrambled his trail."
Marisa's eyes lit up. "Oooh, mystery! Is Chris secretly some kinda outlaw? A prince? A youkai in disguise? A tree spirit who killed Yuyuko?"
Chris choked. "WHAT? No! Why would a tree kill Yuyuko?!"
Reimu deadpanned. "Don't say that around Yuyuko. She'll start laughing and then blame the nearest forest."
Remilia continued, ignoring the chaos. "I had Patchouli analyze the magical residues. Nineteen of these certificates show tampering from the same source."
Reimu looked up sharply. "Nineteen?"
Chris felt his stomach drop.
Remilia pointed elegantly at him. "Yes. And the remaining one—the only untouched, authentic document—belongs to you, Chris."
Silence settled.
Even the wind held its breath.
Reimu: "…So what's the problem?"
Remilia's eyes narrowed. "Because the magic used to erase his other records—"
Patchouli appeared in a puff of dusty, book-scented smoke, finishing the sentence in her monotone:
"—matches the magic signature of Yuyuko's death."
Everyone turned to Chris.
Chris: "I DIDN'T KILL YUYUKO OR USE TREE MAGIC WHAT IS HAPPENING—?!"
While everyone was busy flipping through the stack of drifting papers, murmuring, comparing seals and handwriting, Chris quietly slipped away.
Reimu: "Hey, don't mix them up! We need to narrow it down!"
Marisa: "I swear this one just changed font when I blinked—Patchy, is that normal?"
Patchouli: "No. And stop breathing on the ink."
Amid the commotion, no one noticed Chris pick up a slightly older, yellowed certificate—the one with a name that made his heart seize.
Name: Christopher Evan Afton
Born: January 12th, 1975
The Afton name burned itself into his mind like a curse.
They can never know… not that name. Not that world. Not that family.
He tightened his grip, walked behind the shrine, heart pounding in his throat. Using a small flicker of magic he shouldn't have known, he ignited the paper. Flames licked the edges quickly, hungrily.
It burned faster than normal paper should.
Almost like it wanted to disappear just as badly as he needed it to.
Chris whispered under his breath as the ashes fell through his fingers.
"…I won't be connected to them. Not here. Not ever again."
Behind him, a twig snapped.
Sakuya stood there, silent, silver hair glinting like a blade in the wind. Her eyes lowered to the ashes in his hand.
She spoke softly—too softly.
"That certificate you burned… it was yours, wasn't it?"
Chris froze.
Sakuya stepped closer, her expression unreadable.
"You didn't want Lady Remilia to see it."
A flicker of recognition crossed her eyes—not of his name, but of the fear behind his action. A fear she understood all too well.
Sakuya: "You're hiding something… or someone."
Chris swallowed hard. "…Please don't tell them."
Sakuya paused. The air seemed to warp, time folding slightly as it always did when she was thinking too hard.
Finally, she turned away.
"I didn't see anything," she said. "But secrets have weight. Be careful not to be crushed by yours."
And just like that, she vanished—leaving Chris alone with the embers of his past.
Behind the shrine, a sudden chill swept through the air.
A chill that didn't belong to Sakuya.
A breeze carrying the faint scent of cherry blossoms and… ghosts.
Someone else had sensed the burning.
Someone who knew death.
Back at the shrine, the group was still sifting through the remaining certificates.
Marisa held one up triumphantly. "Oi! I think I found it! This one's gotta be him!"
Reimu snatched it. "Let me see—"
Name: Christopher Thunderspark McBoom III
Born: ???
Species: Technically human (classified unstable)
Notes: Do NOT let him near explosives
Reimu squinted. "…Marisa. Why did you think THIS was him?"
Marisa shrugged. "I dunno. It just felt Chris-y."
Patchouli walked over, glanced once, and deadpanned, "This child detonated himself into another dimension at age five. This is documented."
Sakuya held up another one. "Here's a Christopher."
They all leaned in.
Name: Christopher von Yakumo
Adopted Mother: Yukari Yakumo
Status: Boundary Accident
Reimu: "…Oh no."
Marisa: "Yukari had a kid!?"
Reimu: "NO SHE DIDN'T—WAIT—CHEN! WHERE DID YOU GO!?"
Chen, proudly holding the certificate up like a trophy: "Lady Yukari said she left him in a gap once! I'm going to go find him!"
Ran grabbed Chen by the collar mid-sprint.
Ran: "NO. SHE MEANT A METAPHORICAL CHILD. A PROJECT. A MISTAKE. SOMETHING. NOT A PERSON."
Chen: "Ohhhh… but it says 'Christopher' on it—"
Ran: "It also says he was 'lost between the 4th and 5th dimension.' NO ONE survived that!"
Then Remilia held up another one.
Remilia: "I've found one more Christopher."
Everyone groaned.
Remilia read aloud:
Name: Christopher the Vengeful
Occupation: Ghost who haunts a single teacup in the Scarlet Devil Mansion
Cause of Death: Slipped on Patchouli's books
Known Quote: "WHOEVER DID THIS WILL PAY"
Sakuya froze. "…Milady. That ghost has tried to kill me four times."
Patchouli turned a page. "Actually, it says here you caused the accident."
Sakuya: "I refuse to acknowledge this."
---
Finally, Marisa found one last paper and held it up like treasure.
Marisa: "This one! This one HAS to be the real Chris!"
Reimu: "If this is another ghost, demon, or interdimensional accident, I'm sealing YOU."
They read it:
Name: Christopher The Absolutely Normal Human
Occupation: Farmer
Age: 20
Special Traits: None. Completely normal. Never encountered magic. Cannot spell the word 'occult.' Fears butterflies.
The entire shrine turned and slowly looked at Yuyuko.
Yuyuko cheerfully waved her fan. "I didn't do anything! I promise!"
Reimu: "…Butterflies, huh."
Yuyuko giggled. "Coincidence~!"
Marisa dropped the "normal" certificate. "We're never finding the real one, are we?"
Reimu sighed, rubbing her temples. "It's Gensokyo. Be glad none of these were a youkai named Christopher who eats human names or something."
A bush rustled.
A man emerged.
A completely random guy, waving politely.
"Hi! I'm Christopher. I was told someone here had my paperwork?"
Everyone blinked.
Silence.
Then Reimu calmly pointed at the exit.
"Wrong shrine."
He nodded. "Ah, again? Sorry!"
And wandered off the mountain.
Chen proudly held up the certificate like she'd found the Philosopher's Stone.
"LOOK! This one could be Chris!"
Everyone crowded around.
Name: Christopher Smith
Birthday: 1975, March 7th
Born: Saint Laos Hospital
Family: Completely normal, nothing weird at all
Reimu raised a brow. "Huh. That… actually looks normal."
Marisa squinted. "Suspiciously normal."
Sakuya crossed her arms. "…This is too normal."
Youmu leaned over. "Wait, what's wrong with being normal?"
Marisa pointed dramatically at the paper.
"Because this kid—" she jabbed a thumb at Chris "—is NOT normal. He teleports. He has a talking book. He keeps summoning things that shouldn't exist."
Nidhogg flipped a page inside Chris's mind.
'They are… surprisingly accurate.'
Chen pouted. "But Chris could be normal!"
Reimu slowly turned her head toward Chris. "Can you sit still for 20 seconds without something exploding?"
Chris blinked. "Uhhh—"
A teacup behind him detonated.
Reimu: "Yeah, no."
Sakuya picked up the paper again. "Saint Laos Hospital… where is that?"
Marisa shrugged. "Never heard of it."
Remilia raised a finger. "It's not in Gensokyo."
Reimu: "Chen, why would Chris be born OUTSIDE Gensokyo?"
Chen beamed proudly. "Because he's a foreign exchange baby!"
Everyone stared.
Ran sighed. "Chen. That's not a thing."
Chen: "But what if it is?"
Suddenly, Yuyuko gasped dramatically. "OHHH~! Maybe this Christopher Smith is actually his false identity! Maybe he's on the run!"
Youmu panicked. "Lady Yuyuko! Why would you assume he's a criminal!?"
Yuyuko: "Because it would be fun!"
Patchouli, flipping another certificate, muttered: "Statistically speaking, at least one of these is a felon."
Reimu held the paper to her forehead and groaned. "This is the fifth Christopher today. How many could there possibly be?"
Marisa peered at the certificate more closely. "Wait… 'Family: Completely normal'? That's a lie."
Reimu: "Why?"
Marisa: "Have you EVER met a truly normal family?"
Sakuya nodded. "She's right."
Even Remilia agreed. "Normal families do not exist."
Chen gasped. "So this certificate is a FAKE?!"
Everyone: "YES!"
Chen dropped it like it was cursed.
Meanwhile behind the shrine, Chris folded his arms and thought smugly:
'I burned the real one. They'll NEVER know.'
Nidhogg sighed.
'They absolutely won't. And you are somehow getting away with this.'
Youmu rubbed her temples, trying to be the only adult in the room.
"Everyone… please. Think logically for a moment."
The entire shrine became silent — not because they agreed, but because the concept of logic briefly stunned them.
Youmu continued, pointing at the certificate.
"He's clearly a spirit. He was born outside Gensokyo. The hospital is probably in the Human World.
Chris is short for Christopher — that part makes sense.
And 'normal family'? Human families are normal."
The group slowly nodded, as if she had just explained quantum physics.
Reimu: "You know… that actually makes sense."
Marisa: "Yeah, that checks out."
Remilia leaned back smugly. "Of course. A perfectly ordinary dead child from the Human World who became an anomaly after passing into Gensokyo. Makes sense to me."
Sakuya: "Statistically the simplest answer is often correct."
Chen clapped. "So he WAS Christopher Smith!"
Chris internally panicked.
'…I am REALLY going to agree with this so they don't know I'm Afton.'
Nidhogg flipped a page with the emotional equivalent of a facepalm.
'This is the stupidest plan that will somehow succeed.'
Chris nodded politely like a well-raised child.
"Yes."
Everyone immediately accepted it.
Reimu exhaled. "Good, mystery solved."
Marisa tossed the certificate onto the "Probably Real" pile.
A pile that was now taller than Chris.
Remilia sipped tea. "Well, that's one mystery down. Now we just have to find Yukari."
Sakuya: "And pray she doesn't turn this into another incident."
Youmu nodded, satisfied that her "logic" had saved the day.
Meanwhile, behind the shrine, the ashes of the real birth certificate still sat smoldering quietly, completely unnoticed.
Night fell, and as promised, Yukari finally woke up — stretching, yawning, and drifting lazily out of a gap like she'd just rolled out of bed after a 10-year nap.
Reimu immediately explained the leftover spirit problem.
Yukari listened… blinked… then burst into laughter.
"Oh, that? Don't worry, I'll fix it~"
She waved her fan dramatically, opened a gap—
—then promptly fell back inside and disappeared.
She did not fix it.
Not even a little.
Remilia sighed. "I told you. Never rely on the Gap Hag."
Marisa: "We should get that embroidered on a pillow."
So once again, as always, responsibility fell on the actual sensible person:
Youmu Kompaku.
With a resigned breath, Youmu nodded. "I'll guide the soul to the Netherworld myself."
She prepared her half-phantom, the lantern, the proper ritual stance—
But before she stepped forward, a small hand tugged at her sleeve.
Chris.
He looked up at her with those glowing blue eyes and simply offered:
"I help."
Youmu froze.
"…Guiding souls isn't something just anyone can do. It requires precision, spiritual sensitivity, calm—"
Chris calmly picked up the wandering spirit, soothed it like one would a child, and started gently nudging it in the correct direction with the kind of practiced ease that made Youmu blink.
"…Or you can just do that," she muttered.
Together, the two guided the lost soul through the boundary, sending it peacefully into the Netherworld.
Youmu watched him in stunned silence.
He didn't struggle.
He didn't hesitate.
He didn't even flinch at the presence of death.
He moved like someone who had done this many times before.
Or someone who was… used to it.
A bit too used to it.
Nidhogg hummed in Chris's mind.
'You truly are a strange creature, little one.'
When they returned to the shrine, Reimu noticed first.
"Chris… did you… grow?"
The boy blinked.
He was now the height of a seven-year-old.
Reimu poked his cheek. "You were shorter this morning!"
Marisa: "You sure he's a spirit and not a magical bean?"
Remilia sipped her tea. "Children grow. Spirit children grow… weirdly."
Sakuya raised a brow. "Actually, that rate of growth is abnormal even by Gensokyo standards."
Chen tilted her head. "Does this mean he'll outgrow me?!"
Chris just hugged his Reimu Fuma plush and shrugged innocently.
Inside, Nidhogg whispered:
'Growth triggered by soul contact… how interesting.'
Reimu placed her hands on her hips.
"Okay, that's it. I'm putting 'Chris grows when doing creepy spirit stuff' on the Incident Board."
Marisa: "Is that under 'major problem' or 'minor nuisance'?"
Reimu: "Yes."
To be continued
Hope people like this ch and give me power stones and enjoy and enjoy this longer ch