~Boast with the Most~

Summary

Sumireko and Marisa have a friendly chat while Marisa goes over the grand adventures she's been enjoying lately, all of which definitely happened.

"So what have you been up to, Marisa? I bet you've had some real adventures today!"

"Well..." Marisa sipped her beer and smiled a dashing smile. "I did root out a coven of futakuchi-onna in the village last week. And this morning, Alice and I had to wrestle a huge, spiky mass of flesh-eating vines. It was touch and go for a while..."

"Flesh-eating vines, here in Gensokyo?!" Sumireko's eyes were as wide as chocolate coins. "Wow!"

"It happens." Marisa shrugged and leaned back, making a panicked grab at the wall to avoid falling off her stool. "Probably youkai messing around. But that's not all. I went fishing with Tamamo no Mae this afternoon! We caught a huge sea serpent, then I took her behind the bait shack for a roll in the reeds."

Sumireko spat out the sip of ramune she'd just taken. "Y-you-?! You had-?! W-with Tamamo no Mae?!"

Marisa winked. "You can have a lot of fun with nine tails!"

"Wow...!" breathed Sumireko, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Do I even want to know what-"

"Oh, and I also forged a knife that can cut through the heart of a star," Marisa added nonchalantly. "In the twin goddesses' sacred oven."

"Is there anything you haven't done?!" cried Sumireko. "What a day you must have- Oh!" A familiar red Alice band was coming towards them, a familar blonde Alice wearing it. "There's Alice now! Hey, Alice, Marisa was just telling me about the spiky plants!"

"A- Alice?!" Marisa's face went red. "Um, Sumi, the thing is-"

"Well, good evening, Sumireko! You were talking about the gardening?" Alice said, oblivious to Marisa's discomfort. "I didn't think it was that interesting, to be honest."

"Of course it's interesting! You two must've been so brave!" Sumireko gushed, pulling over a third stool for Alice. "I've never dealt with that kind of thing before!"

"Really?" Alice blinked, then she giggled. "I suppose we did have to be quite brave, weeding the begonias and trimming the hedge! It was a bit muddy. But Marisa's not afraid of anything, are you?"

"No, nothing! Anyway-"

Alice leaned over and planted a kiss on Marisa's forehead. "You look great in dungarees, too," she giggled. "Sorry I can't join you. I need to hurry home and give my dolls their bath. Enjoy your drinks!"

Alice wandered off. Marisa moodily downed her beer. It was a long moment before Sumireko broke the silence.

"You didn't fight the-"

"No."

"So you were just-"

"Yes! We were just gardening!" The words exploded out of Marisa. "There were spiky weeds! Then I was at Kosuzu's book club! We were reading 'The New Adventures of Tamamo no Mae'! And I didn't forge anything, I just helped Minoriko bake some sweet potato pies! Are you happy?!"

Sumireko burst out laughing. "I can't believe it! Marisa, you're such a dork!"

"Well, what've you done today that's so impressive?!" snapped Marisa.

Sumireko froze. "Um..."

"Well?"

"Well... I went shopping with Mum. We bought a bunch of food. And, um, tried on lots of hats," Sumireko sheepishly recounted.

Marisa smiled. "Go on."

"When we got home, I had a bath," said Sumireko. "Dad brought some Peking duck home for dinner, so we ate it. Then... Then I sat around in my pyjamas reading RWBY fan fics, all right?!"

"By the gods," Marisa crowed over her, "what an adventure! I can't believe you survived!"

"Shut up! It's not my fault there wasn't much going on..." sighed Sumireko. She slumped down in her stool and promptly fell on the ground with a soft thump. "Ow."

"If 'dork' is a real word, you're a severe one," Marisa sighed fondly. "But if I'm one too, it can't be a bad thing really. Listen, Alice taught me a few watering can tricks, so do you want a spell-card duel?"

Sumireko's face lit up. "Ooh, yes!" She picked up her hat and stood up in a flash. "I can show you my new scythe technique!"

"But you don't have a scythe. You've never used a scythe. I don't think the scythe shop's open today."

"A mere technicality! Let's do this!"