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The Maidens' March was, for all intents and purposes, one of the oldest traditions still regularly carried out in the Human Village; by far predating the founding of the region that would later become known as 'Gensokyo'.
As its name suggested, it was a grand parade in which all the unmarried young women of the settlement would walk through its streets in one long line, each of them decked out in her very best clothes and refined with an almost unseemly amount of makeup, perfumes, and other cosmetics. Every girl was attended to by her respective mother; the older women positively glowing with maternal pride as they held the hands of their parental achievement and led it through the streets. In ages gone by, the celebration used to have a far more serious tone to it, for the elegance and grace a would-be lady displayed during the march stood in direct correlation to her chances on the marriage market - meaning those who did not or could not afford to pretty themselves up could faced enormous problems when looking for someone to settle down with.
Fortunately, it nowadays was a much more lighthearted event; a glorified coming-of-age ritual in which the girls could show off a bit and enjoy themselves as the rest of the village cheered them on from the sidelines of the alleys. Stands with snacks and drinks popped up like mushrooms; and to say that everyone involved had a jolly good time would have been quite the understatement.
Well, almost everyone. For Reimu Hakurei, it simply was a time of aggravating boredom. Like every year, she had pledged to protect the village from youkai attacks during the parade, for legend had it that the sheer concentration of handsome maidens in one place attracted them like moths flocking to the light. There even was some grain of truth to it – Aya was there to take pictures, of course. Keine also was nearby, a beaming smile on her face as ever so many girls she had educated and seen growing up over the years now walked by and waved to her in full bloom. Flinching her eyes, Reimu could even spot Mamizou in the crowd; her wry grin making her as enigmatic as ever.
But however many youkai might openly or secretly watch the spectacle, none of them felt like attacking it. And had not, to Reimu's best knowledge, ever actually done since the time Gensokyo and the rest of the planet had become worlds apart. Truthfully, her function here was a purely ceremonial one, and she had only accepted the request for her presence in the first place because she hoped it would send some pilgrims and donations to the Hakurei shrine. Part of her wished Sanae would have beaten her to it.
With no youkai to exterminate, the shrine maiden could do little other than watching the event itself. It might have been interesting if she had known at least one of the girls, yet as it was, they all were strangers to her – an endless line of neat, little dress-up dolls marching in step.
It was oddly irritating. She had no real reason to hate them, and still she could feel contempt boiling up in her with every passing moment. What were these people even celebrating? That the girls had learned to put on some lipstick? That they had managed to reach a certain age without getting disappeared? Or that it was now considered socially acceptable to bed them?
So ... naive. The entire village in a state of wild celebration. Its female offspring prancing down the roads as if they ruled the entire world – when in truth, the only reason why they even lived was that the powers that be allowed them to. And they were oblivious of it. The biggest worry in their tiny, innocent heads was the risk of accidentally tearing their clothes somewhere. Or stepping into a pile of mud. How terrible! But not to worry, at least it were not they who had to deal with rampaging demons, ghosts, gods, and heavens knew what else this world and the next ones kept throwing at them. They could just live their happy, little lives. These ignorant, miserable ...
Reimu reflexively took a deep breath and tried to calm down. This bitterness, she realized, did not come from anger about the villagers themselves, or over how they behaved. Nor did she think of herself as some kind of superior being to them. Quite on the contrary.
She envied them.
What was it like - such a simple, uncomplicated existence? For Reimu, a girl that had been trained as a living weapon since before she could read or write properly, it was not easy to imagine. She could see the rough outline – growing up alongside your family. Entering school. Having your first kiss. But the rest? What was it like to live a life where your role was not predetermined by your blood? How did it feel being so ... normal?
A sudden presence tore the miko from her thoughts. She did not bother to turn around, for much as a good hunting dog could identify its quarry by the smell alone, a good youkai exterminator learned to recognize her opponents by the subtle presence each of them emitted.
“A pleasant sight, is it not? I would join in myself, but I fear I might just be marginally over the applicable age range. Such a pity, really.”
“...what do you want, Yukari?”, Reimu grumbled through clenched teeth. She and the Youkai had a rather complex relationship that had seen them as both friends and foes, but Yukari Yakumo always and invariably spelled trouble. Then again, whatever incident or responsibility the gap witch wanted to shove on her probably was better than standing around while wallowing in self-pity.
The blonde woman raised her hands in defense while a playful tone of indignation ran across her face. “Nothing at all. I just heard that there was a festival here today, and that my favorite little miko would also be present. You could say I had no reason not to come.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Nothing? No incident? No ... I don't know ... roaring onis, or psychopathic vampires, or mysterious flying obje-”
“There currently is no incident in Gensokyo, Reimu. I'm just here to watch the Maiden's March, and the many brilliantly dressed young ladies that partake in it."
"Alas,” Yukari remarked as she gazed across the still continuous stream of women that flowed through the masses like a river, “I can not help but feel that one of the young ladies which should be here is missing.”
“...you mean Kosozu? Because I haven't seen her, either. Did she makes a mess with one of those books again? I know that tanuki is here, but ...”
Then something in Reimu's head clicked. “A-absolutely not!", she sputtered forth.
The gap witch snickered. “But why? From what I can see, even you of all the people dressed up for this special occasion – these are hardly your work clothes, are they now?”
Reimu quietly cursed herself. She indeed was wearing a slightly different apparel than usual - a combination fashioned after the outfit that, as far as she knew, resembled that of shrine maidens from the outside world; with wide, red trousers that could almost be mistaken for a skirt, and a white kimono jacket above them. She rarely wore it, finding the aerodynamic qualities of her normal clothes preferable, but given the nature of the event, she thought some sligthly more formal attire would be reasonable.
“I only wear those because my normal ones are dirty. Besides, I'm here on business. Someone has to defend the parade from you-know-whats – I can't just join the march and leave it vulnerable to...”
“. . . youkai that will not attack”, the gap witch sighed. Really, why did the girl always have to be so hard on herself? Kasen certainly was a bad influence on her. She would have to have some words with the mountain hermit eventually. But for now ...
Placing both of her hands on the shoulders of the miko, Yukari actually lowered herself to get on eye level with her. “Listen”, she said. “I want to ask you a question. Just one. No catches, no tricks, none of the usual shenanigans. But I want you to be honest with me on this one, Reimu. Just this one.”
“Do you want to take part in the march? If you really don't want you, I will stop pestering you right now and leave you alone. But you must be honest with me.”
Reimu's head moved back and forth between the gap witch and the still ongoing stream of smiling young women. It was ridiculous, and she knew it was ridiculous. She would always be the miko of the Hakurei shrine – it had been her fate, her destiny since before she had been born. Yet much as no-one had asked her whether she explicitly wanted this destiny, no-one had said that she could not take a break every now and then, either. That, at least for the span of a few hours, Reimu the miko could not just be Reimu the girl.
Cracks began to show in the mask that a lifetime of stubborn duty had formed over her face, but the light that shone through them promptly faded away.
“I can't”, she muttered.
“But why?”
With a sad smile of resignation, Reimu pointed to one of the pairs in the parade. “You will realize”, she said with a very quiet voice, “ that each of the girls is led by her mother. So I ... I guess I'm right out."
“I see”, was all that Yukari Yakumo said. Without so much as another word, she grabbed the hand of the miko and dragged her out into the street and into the center of the procession. The latter, surprised by this sudden disturbance, came to a grinding halt, and for a good while, the eyes of the entire crowd were focused onto the weird couple that had so rudely forced its entry into the line.
Reimu wanted to die. She admittedly had wanted to take part in the march, to be like other girls just for once, but not like this. The word 'embarrassing' did not even remotely describe their situation, and she was blushing so badly that she likely would have glowed in the dark. If there were any youkai whose special ability lay in sinking into the ground, she would have switched places with them immediately.
Then something magical happened. The parade continued moving. The onlookers started cheering again; louder even than before. It was as if the shrine maiden and the gap youkai had been part of the march all along.
Reimu, of course, could not see this - her downcast eyes intently fixed to the ground. But all this small miracle took was one apologetic nod of Lady Yakumo – one that an unskilled observer might interpret as that of a woman who had hurried her little girl to a school performance despite of being late, and one that a skilled observer would correctly identify as the implicit threat of personally turning everyone involved inside out if they gave said little girl a reason to be disappointed.
The shrine maiden did not quite understand what was happening around her as she blindly followed the lead of the hand that was pulling her along. But in an odd way, it felt good. And when she finally dared to fully raise her head again, Reimu wore a soft, if shy smile.
Just like all the other girls.