Tradition's End (A Touhou Project Fanfiction)

Take Your Chance

Eric, for his part, was confused.

He stood next to the table he'd been sitting at only moments before and stared at the blonde witch, moderately baffled. "Uh, hi? Marisa, what are you doing here?"

Marisa planted her broom upright onto the floor. Then, she leaned her back up against it, arms crossed, with a trademark grin stretched across her face. The broom stood firm.

"C'mon, do I really need a reason to check in on a friend?"

His brows raised, mildly shocked by her assertion. "Friend? You consider us to be friends?"

That seemed to catch her off guard a bit. Her expression shifted slightly, but not in a positive direction. "Yeah. Why? S'that a problem?"

"What? No! I'm not trying to say that!" He didn't exactly want to piss her off over a small misunderstanding. "It's just... For some reason, I didn't expect you to. I didn't think we were quite friends yet."

Marisa put a hand to her chest in mock offense. "Not friends? How cold... How callous! I didn't think you had it in you!"

Eric sighed. He... He really wasn't in the mood for shenanigans right now. "You know that's not what I meant..."

Marisa snickered briefly to herself. Eric had to wonder. Did she really get that much enjoyment from pushing other people's buttons?

"Oh, relax. I'm just screwing with ya. Any friend of Alice is a friend of mine!" Then, she thought for a moment. "Well, as long as they don't give me a damn good reason otherwise."

That... honestly made him feel a bit better. A smile tugged at his lips.

He was... He was always grateful to have made another friend. Even if said friend could vaporize him.

He snorted to himself. "I'll try to keep my heinous crimes to a minimum, then."

"Pssh, like you would, ze. You seem like the type of guy who wouldn't hurt a fly unless the fly somehow managed to hurt you first."

He... supposed that she wasn't exactly wrong with her assessment. Well, except for flies, ironically enough. Nobody wants a bug in their coffee.

Eric shrugged. "When you're in the food industry, the flies deserve it."

...

It was a short time later that he found himself back in his seat, sitting across from the Ordinary Magician. In front of each of them sat a cup of quality green tea.

He had offered, and she had readily accepted.

'Well, if you insist~ I'm not one to turn down anything free,' she'd said.

It was with that same enthusiasm that she sipped at her all-too-hot tea, awaiting his response to the question that she'd just posed.

Eric mulled over the best way to convey to Marisa that he very much didn't want to keep revisiting that terrible moment in the woods.

"How... how much do you know?" he ventured.

"Man, answering a question with another question... Ya really don't want to talk about it, huh?" Marisa was sharp as a tack.

He stared down at his tea. For some reason, he wasn't as determined to try and maintain a positive front as he was with Sekibanki.

I... feel like I can be completely transparent with Marisa...

"Can you really blame me?" His voice was quiet.

Marisa shrugged, "Eh, I guess not. Can't say almost dyin' is all that fun, ze. Believe me, I know."