>Why did we leave Makai, anyways? And how did we end up a youkai? What was Makai life like?
>Your transition to youkai and departure from Makai both ultimately stemmed from the same event: When Reimu, Marisa, Yuuka, and Mima came to Makai to investigate that damned tourist agency that started sending demons to Gensokyo through a dimensional seam in some cave somewhere. You think you could have gotten over getting beaten by each of them in the city, but when they fought Shinki and she had to destroy and recreate significant portions of Makai during the fight, well... you lost it a little.
>It was just too painful that many of the places Shinki destroyed were places that you had some fond memories of - playgrounds from when you were a (younger) child, familiar places in the mansion, and city blocks where some of your friends lived (even if they made it through fine themselves, admittedly).
>But you couldn't bring yourself to blame Shinki for it - she... had actually treated you very well before that, and instead decided that this was more the fault of the four invaders than Shinki herself, so you stole a particularly powerful grimoire from the library - one Shinki had warned you was very powerful, and dangerous to use, though you didn't care at the time - and tracked them down for revenge. Painfully enough, even with the grimoire's help, all of them managed to defeat you again, and you had to return home to Shinki and Yumeko, beaten and sobbing.
>At first, the two of them were sympathetic and comforting. But after a while, you discovered that using the grimoire had also started your transition to becoming a youkai, in a way that Shinki had no way to stop. After that, she always looked... somehow disappointed in you. Your best guess was that she was upset with you losing to them, or getting so upset about what had happened, but you never actually confronted her about it.
>After several months of this, you eventually left, taking the grimoire, Shanghai, and a few other dolls with you to Gensokyo, to try again at taking revenge on the four that caused the whole mess.
>But it... didn't really work out that way. The recent spellcard system honestly struck you as a better way to handle fights than the all-out battles they had fought in Makai, and you were still uncertain you could beat any of the four going all-out with the Grimoire - all of them had improved to some degree.
>And yet... Marisa was friendly with you, even if she kept beating you in spellcard duels and making rather silly, trivial demands after winning. She was obnoxious every step of the way, but she genuinely helped you get established in Gensokyo. The first time you beat her in a duel, shortly after that, she wasn't upset at all... and couldn't quite bring yourself to demand more than extra help with setting up your house as your prize - help that she'd been doing a little of anyway.
>Ultimately Gensokyo won you over, and you were almost half-hearted about your first challenge to Reimu during the long winter several years ago. Since then, you've been much more focused on the independent doll project and happenings in Gensokyo than what happened in Makai.
>"There's not much to tell. You are correct, I do hail from Makai, but that was another lifetime ago. Life here has been more pleasant on the whole."
>But you're not sure how much of that you really want to reveal for now, so you stick to a minimalistic explanation.
>Byakuren nods. "It's good to confirm that, at least. But I am curious about what life was like growing up as a human in Makai, and why you became a youkai."
>"... ah, this is a little rude, but may I ask you to get dressed again so we can talk properly?"
