When the party was over, there was a strange feeling of excitment and tiredness left. Luna Child was yawning as she followed her fellow fairies back to Boss-man to give their reports of the day’s events. Everybody was tired, but Luna Child was especially tired after having to reconstitute herself from non-existence.

It was a good thing the San-Yousei always stuck together because she was half-asleep as she flew, having to grab Sunny Milk’s hand for guidance. Cirno was still chattering excitedly to Dai, but even she seemed tired as they flew over the Misty Lake.

“You okay?” Star Sapphire asked.

Luna nodded, “Just tired.”

“You guys can go home first,” Dai suggested as they stopped at the edge of the Forest of Magic, “Cirno and I can give the report first.”

Gritting her teeth, Luna shook her head, “No. I won the brawl! I want to pick my song first.”

Looking at each other, Sunny Milk and Star Sapphire smiled wryly, “You won’t change her mind, Dai. When Luna’s stubborn, she’s really stubborn. And she did win the brawl earlier.”

Wringing her hands, Dai sighed, “Okay then. Everybody hold hands, I’ll take us to Boss-man then.”

Linking hands, they formed a five fairy chain. The Forest of Magic was very easy to get lost in, but Boss-man had techniques that made it even easier to get lost in. Or harder. Luna was tired. She was glad that Dai was in charge of directions right now. She felt sleepy but she couldn’t sleep until she asked Boss-man something.

As they followed Dai to Boss-man’s latest base, Luna couldn’t help but think about the mystery that surrounded and was Boss-man.

Boss-man was a weird guy. He called himself Renku, but it was obvious it was a fake name. He knew it, they knew it, he knew that they knew, but it was just easier to not ask. Boss-man was Boss-man anyways.

What was weirder was Renku’s constant complaint that he was a human, a normal human. He obviously wasn’t, but it seemed that everybody else but him knew that one. Renku was… he wasn’t a magician, not like the librarian or even that weird still-human witch, but he seemed to be getting there. Or slightly to the left or right of there.

He definitely wasn’t normal though. He had powerful familiars that helped his magic, esoteric techniques that he couldn’t explain well, and most importantly, weird wisdom that didn’t make sense until afterwards. Privately, Luna thought he was a hermit, but that didn’t feel quite right since he wasn’t really religious.

It didn’t matter what he was though, so long as he kept things fun.

Eventually, they heard faint music playing, its origin unknown. This meant they were getting closer, so Luna forced back a yawn and shook herself awake.

Flying into the clearing, the fairies finally found Renku, sitting on a log, watching a --What did he call it? Oh right.-- a Holographic display of the surrounding land. Something weird and fancy like that. He was drawing things in the illusionary sculpture with a finger and muttering commands and suggestions to his familiars, the Twin Ungaikyo, “If you could add a bit of Clarity from this point to that one within that blotch of Obscurity, Shin… Yes, that should lead them into a false loop. Just to be nice, add in a few exit points for them to leave through when they get tired. Don’t want them wandering until they die.”

The fairies kept quiet, not wanting to disturb him. Boss-man was always nice about distractions and impromptu pranks, never getting angry and explaining why a prank was bad or why it was a bad time, but his mirrors were definitely not and were actually kind of mean about it too. Luna Child wasn’t sure how, but she was pretty sure Yami, the Dark Spirit Mirror, was responsible for the Day of Branches in the Face. The San-Yousei learned real quick not to prank Boss-Man too much, and especially not when he was focusing a project.

They still pranked him, but… they were more careful about it.

“Is Obscurity still surrounding the campsite, Yami? It is? Excellent. ” Boss-man continued muttering, still tracing and drawing his defences.

The Fairies didn’t know why he insisted on moving around and making temporary camps when he could just crash with the San-Yousei at their tree house, but… Boss-man was Boss-man and he was weird about independence and space sometimes. He enjoyed having them around, but sometimes he refused to see them at all and it always got Dai worried on those days. He always came around though and ever since the radio started, he almost always had them around. Still didn’t want to live in the tree house though.

Something about the tree being too small for him and not wanting to be a pet of ile? Or on a watchlist?

Absent-mindedly, Boss-man waved at the Fairies before making a pinching gesture, showing that he just needed a bit more time to finish up, “If you could lower the Clarity around us, Shin,and Yami, up the Obscurity a bit more, that would help. And… Huzzah. We have a new temporary base!”

Standing up and stretching his back with a crack, Boss-man turned around and smiled at the entourage of Fairies, “So did you guys have fun at the party?”

“Yeah!” Sunny Milk chimed in, “We brought back some food for you!” The fairies all raised a basket of food. The San-Yousei had all brought in cakes and cookies and sweets because those were the best. Dai and Cirno had brought back some boxes of actual food because Dai was boring and naggy about making sure Boss-man had actual meals or something. Luna kind of got it, but Boss-man was pretty good about taking care of himself already. It was a party! Bring back sweets for the Boss! He never got to have any.

“Ooh, scones. Haven’t had those in…” Boss-man trailed off as his face settled into a pensive gaze, “...Has it really been decades? Wow. That is depressing.”

The San-Yousei all very carefully did not look at one another. Boss got like this sometimes, getting melancholic over something weird. They had long learnt not to make fun of it though because that made Boss smile. It wasn’t the nice one either, it was the one that was really off. It didn’t make it any less easier to handle though.

“If you haven’t had any in decades,” Cirno chimed in, steamrolling over the gloomy atmosphere, “Then you should have some now!”

“Yeah!” Dai clapped her hands. At her signal, all the fairies began shoving sweets for Boss-man to take. Weirdly enough, Cirno was the best at getting the Boss to slip out of his funk, as he called it, where she just steamrolled over it and dragged Boss-man into something more fun to think about.

“You truly are wise,” Boss-man chuckled and nodded, taking a blueberry scone to nibble at. Smiling at the taste, Boss-man asked, “So what’d you do? I saw what happened through Scrying, but I want to hear from you guys.”

It was technically Luna’s chance to tell the story since her Moon Militia won the brawl, and she did, but the others quickly jumped in, filling in for their parts. It was fine though. It was just how things worked. The fight was over who got to start it anyways. Goodness, she was tired.

“So when I got sploded…” Luna trailed off as she realized that probably wasn’t the best place to start, seeing as how she was literally non-existent for the first bit.

“So when Luna got sploded,” Star Sapphire filled in, “Me and Sunny got her beret and took her outside so she could reform faster. There was a HUGE danmaku battle.”

“And then we kind of just huddled with the rest of the guests,” Luna took back the reins, “We hid under the trees. It was scary.”

“And terrifying!”

“And awesome!” Sunny giggled. She trailed off when her compatriots looked at her. “What? No?”

Luna rolled her eyes before continuing, “And then your Fortune came on! And everything chilled down.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Except not,” Sunny Milk corrected, “Because humans and youkai were being stupid and rude.”

Sighing, Dai added context, “They were panicking. You know, because of the sploey thing earlier.”

“Should’ve listened to Boss-man then and panicked earlier!” Sunny Milk crossed her arms with a huff, “Danmaku was over, Flandre wasn’t going to splode us anymore, and everybody was being stupid. So I yelled at them.”

At Boss-man’s raised eyebrow, Luna Child and Star Sapphire nodded in confirmation. Beating her chest, Sunny Milk boasted, “I told them how rude they were and then I gave them our gifts!”

“Oh?” Boss-man tilted his head, “They got the IOU?”

“Yeah!” Sunny Milk nodded, “And some of the cloth we made for you. We didn’t make clothes for them, but we gave them some of it so they could do what they wanted with it”

Fiddling with his tenugui wrapped around his head head, Boss-man nodded, “That’s a good gift, indeed.” Turning to face the other two, Boss asked Cirno and Dai, “So what’d you guys do?”

“I gave a gift too!” Cirno proudly announced, “I made an ice sculpture for the book-lady and I told her it wouldn’t melt ever. She scoffed, but when she took it, almost dropped the thing with how cold it got! I don’t know what fancy words she got, but she looked real happy!”

“I kept things from escalating,” Dai smiled, “Nobody died or got hurt, so everything went fine.”

“Sounds like you guys had fun,” Boss-man grinned.

“We did!” the fairies all chorused at once. Boss-man smiled. It was a nice one, one that seemed actually happy instead of the wry ones that felt icky, so the fairies felt nice.

Shoving the rest of his scone into his mouth, Boss-man stood up and stretched, cracking his back. Grabbing a bundle of poles, Renku fiddled with them as he asked, “So who’s picking the music first?”

Grinning wildly, Luna raised her hand. Boss-man always exuded music, BGMs he called it, and it played whatever he was feeling. If he wanted to though, he could focus on bringing forth a specific one, but Boss-man said he liked just playing what was going on. It wasn’t clear what he meant by that, but the music was always good. It just made the times when they could choose a song extra special since they were the only ones who got to make requests

Tapping her chin, Luna tried to search her feelings to pick a good song. Boss-man had a lot of songs and it was easier to tell him what sort of feeling they wanted than to search for a specific one. Music was something that reflected your soul and soul reflected music. Or something. Boss-man said weird stuff, but Luna tried to follow his advice. It was weird, like him, but good stuff.

“Ooh!” Luna exclaimed as inspiration struck her, “Something with the moon please. Something uh.. Chill? The kind that makes you go vum~ vumvumvuuum~ vuuum~ vumvum~~vuuuuum~~ vumvumvum~ vum~ vum~ vumvumvum~ vum~ vumvumvum vuuuum~”

Boss-man chuckled, “Heh, sounds like you want a bit of Sinatra then.”

A lilting melody picked from strings began to fill the air. Soft, wistful, yet filled with hope, it was exactly the kind of feel that Luna was looking for. As it played, the fairies began to spread out and relax. Boss-man continued to fiddle with his tent, setting up his campsite. Dai and Cirno hung out for a bit, Cirno talking about nonsensical things while Dai fiddled with papers on a wooden board.

Around the clearing, other fairies had begun to flit in. Lesser, well-established ones, ones that had fleeting concepts as their existence and even frailer memories, but they came and danced at the edges of the clearing, humming along to the song.

Before Boss-man, the San-Yousei and Cirno would have chased them off, defending their territory but… well, they were the San-Yousei and they were the biggest so they had to watch out for them. Making sure that Boss-man had a good portion set aside just for him, they took some food and offered it to the fairies, inviting them into the clearing for a small gathering.

Cirno sometimes helped, but today she felt like staying next to Daiyousei. A few fairies did wander to them and Dai began talking to them, telling them about… stuff. Luna didn’t know, but the fairies who talked to Dai always seemed… more, and they would always have names later, so Dai was probably doing something right.

As the gathering settled into an easy rhythm, Luna found herself alone. Sunny Milk was entertaining the fairies with lights, refracting them to show a story that Star Sapphire was narrating. Dai was still telling her group stuff and Cino had begun playing Danmaku with another group, so Luna found herself drifting to Boss-man.

She did have something she wanted to ask him, but… she didn’t know how to star---

“Hey Luna,” Boss-man asked, solving her problem and giving her a new one, “Do you need something?”

Freezing, Luna then forced herself to relax. Bossman was nice and she could take her time in voicing her thoughts. Sometimes, Boss-man would even help with that bit, “Kinda? I want to… talk.”

“Mhm, then talk. Or take your time,” Boss nodded. He continued setting up his tent, but Luna didn’t mind that. She knew he would listen even as he did other things. What did he call it? ADHD multi-tasking? Whatever it was, it was something that Fairies did all the time; talking and doing work. Everybody else treated them as flighty but boss was always patient.

“I want to read.”

“That’s a good hobby.”

“I want to work at the Library too,” Luna Child confessed, “There’s so many books and I want to read them.”

“Patchouli’s?” Boss tilted his head and then shrugged, “ You’d have to get her permission, but I don’t see why not. Actually, why are you asking me this? You don’t need permission.” He paused and scratched his head, “From me at least. You probs need permission from Patchouli, but Marisa steals books all the time and she’s fine.” He frowned in thought, “ Well, she will steal books all the time in the future. I think,”-- Boss-man then began mumbling to himself. Luna was patient about it though. She figured that mumbling to yourself was just something seers did. He then cleared his throat and continued--“Eh, I’m sure if you’re polite, you’d probably be even more fine than her.”

“Nothing else?” Luna Child asked carefully, “Like it’s weird or something? Or that Fairies are too stupid? That reading is dumb?”

He stopped fiddling with his tent. Turning slowly, Boss-man glared. Not at Luna, but something around her, “...Has somebody been telling you that?”

Looking down, Luna remembered a time before the San-Yousei. When it was every fairy for themselves. Fairies couldn’t die, but they could forget and… every time a Fairy died and came back, memories didn’t. Luna didn’t know why, but she remembered things then, remembered after death. It was lonely to remember that time now. Sunny Milk and Star Sapphire were lovely and she loved them and it was wonderful that they remembered too with her, through every death and restart now, but… they didn’t get why reading was important, why records were important. It was scary and hard being the only one to remember.

“Not really?” Luna murmured, because nobody had ever explicitly told Luna that reading was strange. It was how they acted. And even if fairies had better memories now, remembering things through their deaths; remembrance had evolved to reading and recording and Luna Child seemed to be alone again. Alone in wanting to… oh, she didn’t know how to explain it. Luna Child wanted to read and she wanted to record and she just… she didn’t want to forget, “...It’s just how things are.”

There was small silence and then a gentle palm patted Luna’s head. “Sometimes the world feel that things are one way and everybody agrees, acting as if it’s how things simply are,” Boss-man kept his voice steady, intonation calm and deep, but he somehow made the next statement seem more, “And sometimes it takes one idiot to say no and change things.”

Looking up sighly, careful to not dislodge his hand, Luna saw Boss-man gazing with a stern but kind gaze at her. “It’s a good hobby to have and helps pass the time. Knowledge is power and all that jazz, but I like reading for the sake of reading. May even be the only thing keeping you sane someday,” Reaching out with his other hand, Renku poked her in the forehead lightly, “You do what you want and damn the words of what should be. If you want to work at the Unmoving Great Library, I’ll find a way to get you in there.”

Blushing, Luna Child fidgeted, “Thanks, boss-man.”

“Thank you for trusting me with this, just keep at it, eh?” Boss-man replied, showing an odd insight in how important this was to her. Luna Child smiled softly. Boss-man was weird like that, super wise and super stupid, all at the same time.

“I will!” Luna Child lunged into a hug, gripping him tightly, “Thanks for not making it weird.”

Patting her head, Boss-man chuckled, “I think you just made it weird?”

“Don’t draw attention to it then,” Luna Child sighed. This was what she meant. Super wise and super stupid at the same time.

“Eh, go and learn to read, you little munchkin,” the boss gave her a noogie, “Unlock unimaginable power or just drown in mythos. Basically, have fun,” Letting her go and chuckling at her pout, Boss-man poked her forehead again, “Only thing I’ll tell you to do is not give up.”

Rubbing at the flick, Luna Child nodded, “Thanks.”

“...Is reading really that powerful?” Cirno chimed in, pausing in creating a slide for the fairies to slide down on. A few of the smaller ones crashed into one another, but they simply giggled about it.

“Yeah, it really is,” Boss-man smiled before frowning, whipping his head to gaze around the entire clearing, “Wait. How many of you can read?”

Almost every fairy in the clearing shrugged.

“Uh,” Sunny Milk hummed, dangling upside down on a tree branch, “Only Luna?”

“I can too,” Dai interjected with weariness. She seemed to be becoming like a miniature Boss-man these days, just… perpetually tired but still trying their best.

...Wait, Daiyousei knew how to read? That was news to Luna Child.

Cino cocked her head, “You can?”

“Write too,” Dai sighed, lifting the flat board with a sheaf of paper on it to demonstrate, “Why do you think I have a clipboard?”

Luna Child blinked as she realized that ever since the Gensokyo Transmission Association had been founded that, yes, Daiyousei had started carrying around a clipboard. How had she not noticed that? ...She had noticed, but she didn’t really pay attention to it, so it slipped her mind, and wow, she really was a ditz, wasn’t she?

“...Doodling?” Star Sapphire suggested as she braided a fairies hair.

Cirno nodded in agreement, pointing at the Fairy of Shimmering Starlight, “Doodling.”

Miming using a club, Sunny Milk pondered aloud, “I thought it was a weapon?”

“Only sometimes,” Dai shrugged, putting it back into the pocket, ignoring Boss-man’s sputters. Boss-man always got weirded out by the pockets fairies had. Always asking; how’d it fit!? Where’d it go? How!? It was just a pocket. Everybody had those.

Luna thought that Boss-man was weird, but he was nice.

“...I’m going to teach you all how to read,” Boss-man suddenly declared, “Nobody should go without being able to read.”

Almost immediately, every fairy, from palm-sized to full-sized, shrouded him and babbled. Some seemed excited, some seemed wary, and all were very loud in their comments. Boss-man’s face didn’t change, but his eyes widened just a bit and he almost seemed regretful at making the announcement.

Luna Child smiled. He wouldn’t give up though. Boss-man said a lot of things, but when he said he would do something, well… that thing happened whether anybody liked it or not.

Boss-man was weird, but… it felt nice having someone to fuss over them. It would be nice to not be the weird fairy. Though… weird was relative like Boss-man always said. Things now were weird compared to before.

Fairies were flitty things, things that worked together sometimes, but never for long and always only sometimes. Before, the San-Yousei were the weird ones, maybe Dai and Cirno too, because they were the only ones who worked together. Fairies grouped up, but were never a group, but… Luna didn’t know how to explain it properly, but these days, fairies seemed to work together better. They still fought, but… Luna didn’t know how to explain it, but it felt like fairies were becoming more.

Soon, the fairies would leave and disperse, the San-Yousei back to their tree, Dai and Cirno to their Igloo on Misty Lake, and Boss-man would be alone again, just for a short while but… Luna hoped that he wouldn’t be lonely then.

Looking at Boss-man, she couldn’t help but notice his smile. It was one of the weird ones, the ones that seemed sad, but this one looked more happy than the usual ones at least. That was good.

Tonight was a good night.