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As per usual, the Three Fairies were listening in on Reimu and Marisa's conversation while hiding out of view near the shrine.
“I swear, I do all this work, and what do I have to show for it?” Reimu gestured at the donation box. She was probably complaining about it being empty again.
“Yukari'll probably bring you food and stuff if you're really struggling,” Marisa reassured.
“Yeah, I know, but… I just wish more people would appreciate what I do for them.” Reimu sighed.
“If it helps, I appreciate you.”
“You're just saying that because you always crash here.”
“Yeah, and I appreciate that!”
As the two girls continued their conversation, the Three Fairies started having a conversation of their own.
“We should do something for Miss Reimu,” Sunny suggested.
“Why?” Luna asked. “You've never been worried about her money problems before.”
“I mean, we're fine without money aren't we? And we're weak! Someone strong like her should be able to manage. But she said she didn't feel appreciated.”
“I see…”
“She's always such a good prank target, isn't she?” Star asked.
“Exactly!” Sunny exclaimed.
Suddenly, Marisa appeared in front of their hiding place. “Hey Three Fairies.”
“Oh! Perfect timing!” Sunny looked at Marisa. “How can we help Miss Reimu feel more appreciated? You're her girlfriend, right?”
“Something like that. Anyway, she'll probably be happiest if she gets more money in her donation box,” Marisa explained.
“How are we supposed to make money though?” Luna asked. “We've never needed it before.”
“Well, you could always sell whatever extra stuff you have.”
“We don't have extra stuff,” Sunny said.
“We could get a bunch of those weird mushrooms though,” Star suggested. “They always disappear from our play market stand when we leave them out overnight, so surely they'd be popular.”
“I don't think that's such a good idea…” Marisa said.
“Why?” Star asked.
“That's not important.” For some reason, Marisa looked nervous. “What about using your powers to do a street performance?”
“You mean like singing and dancing in the street?” Luna asked.
“You could also put on a play,” Marisa added.
“Then we'll put on the best play that Gensokyo has ever seen!” Sunny announced. The other fairies cheered alongside her.
“I'll be sure to watch,” Marisa said. With that, she hopped on her broom and left the shrine.
Once the Three Fairies returned home, they began to discuss ideas for their play.
“Obviously it's gotta be about an amazing fairy, right?” Sunny stated. Star and Luna nodded in agreement.
“What should we have her do?” Luna asked.
“Obviously, she has to be a great mastermind~” Star said.
“Aren't plays usually about the heroes that defeat masterminds?” Luna pointed out.
“What if the play was about the hero and the mastermind teaming up?” Sunny suggested.
“Yeah!” Star agreed. “Because they have to fight a bigger mastermind!”
“That sounds good to me.”
With Luna's approval, the basic plot of the play was decided.
“So, who's going to play who?”
That question was eventually settled after much petty squabbling and a game of rock paper scissors.
The next day, the Three Fairies set out to find a venue for their performance. Unfortunately, all they could think of at first were locations they couldn't use.
“We're not allowed inside of the Human Village…” Luna hung her head.
“And the Tengu Mountain is way too scary…” Star put her hands on her hips, looked up, and sighed.
“There are a lot of people around our old home, right?” Sunny asked.
“Yeah, but they're fairies. Fairies don't have money,” Star pointed out.
“What about Marisa and Alice?” Luna asked. “They live there too.”
Star nodded at Luna. “You make a good point.”
“In that case, to the Forest of Magic we go!”
And so they went. Even though they didn't live there anymore, they still went there to play, so nothing was unfamiliar to them. Since Marisa said she'd watch their play, they decided to do it near her house.
“Now!” With a cry, Sunny bent the light around her. In the air, the words “Were having a play hear!” appeared.
After a few minutes, Star perked up in excitement. “There's a bunch of people heading this way!”
“Where?! Where?!” Sunny asked.
“Be patient, they'll show up in a second,” Luna chided.
Just as Luna said, they did show up. As expected, it was mostly fairies. However…
“Oh my, a fairy play?”
Yukari suddenly appeared out of a gap.
“Um, um…” Luna panicked right away.
“Well, you see…” Star was trying her best to keep cool.
“We wanna raise money for Reimu!” Meanwhile, in a fit of panic, Sunny stated her intentions loud and clear.
“For Reimu you say? Sounds interesting~ Don't mind me.” Yukari giggled and moved her gap to a better viewing location.
The Three Fairies sighed, relieved.
“I thought for sure we were in trouble…” Luna said.
Yukari wouldn't be the only scary guest though. Aya appeared, no doubt eager to write an article, and there were even some people from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Luckily there were less scary faces too, such as Marisa and Alice.
“Heya Three Fairies!” Marisa waved. “I told some people you were gonna put on a play soon, so if we could discuss marketing fees after the show-”
“Not a chance! This is for Miss Reimu!” Star shouted.
Marisa shrugged. “I figured as much.”
“Should we start now?” Luna asked.
“The crowd's already so large, and I can't tell if anyone is still heading over here since there's a lot of people…” Star explained.
“Let's do it!” Sunny yelled. She flew up and shouted. “I’m a mastermind. Bow before me!”
Luna rushed into position while muttering something about how Sunny wasn't supposed to start yet. “I-I’ll never defeat… No no that's not right… You'll never defeat me!”
“You’re right, she won't!” Star shouted, flying in front of Sunny. She pointed at Luna. “Because I'm going to defeat you first!”
“Nuh uh! She's mine!” Sunny said. She moved in front of Luna and held out a protective arm.
“Stop interpreting our fight!” Luna added. She sighed soon after realizing she once again got her line wrong.
And so Sunny and Luna started fighting Star. They couldn't decide who should win during the planning phases, so they decided to fight for real and base the rest of the play on that outcome. Many of the other fairies flew away out of fear, while everyone else stayed, dodging every so often.
In the end, Sunny and Luna won. It was two against one after all.
“Now, uh…” Sunny turned to Luna and whispered. “What should we do now?”
“Well, all good stories end with a kiss, don’t they?” Luna whispered back.
“Does that mean we have to kiss?”
“It doesn't have to be for real. We can just cover our lips.”
“Oh, okay.”
And so Sunny and Luna moved their faces close together. They put their hands in front of their lips so others wouldn’t suspect they weren’t actually kissing. Then they parted.
“The end,” Luna said. Finally getting one of her lines right, she smiled.
“If you liked the play, please give us some money!” Star shouted.
Aya was the first one to fly to the three. “Now now, what could some fairies want with money?”
“It’s a surprise for someone, so we can’t tell you!” Sunny explained.
“A surprise I see… Well, thanks for the news story!” Aya handed Sunny a 500 yen coin and left.
Next, the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s maid appeared, holding out a 10,000 yen bill. “The Mistress thought this play was delightfully entertaining, so she wanted me to give you this.”
After that, Alice appeared. “This sure was an interesting way to spend an afternoon. If you want, I could make costumes for you next time.”
“Next time?” Luna asked.
“That does sound like fun…” Star seemed to seriously consider it.
“Maybe we should!” Sunny said. “We’ll let you know, okay?”
Alice handed over a 1,000 yen bill and left.
Finally, as the Three Fairies started discussing future play ideas, Marisa came to them. “That was really hilarious!” She tossed a 500 yen coin into Luna’s hands. “See ya around!”
Since there was nobody left around, the Three Fairies started heading back home. Later, they would each find 1,000 yen mysteriously inserted into their pockets. They weren't sure where it came from, but they figured Reimu could deal with it if it were cursed, and thus added it to the money pile.
Taking advantage of Luna’s silencing ability and Sunny’s light bending ability, the Three Fairies snuck over to the Hakurei Shrine’s donation box. They dumped all of the money inside and tried to leave quickly.
Unfortunately, they bumped right into Reimu. Reimu grabbed the three of them before they had time to react. Sunny turned off the light bending.
“Oh, so it was you three. What are you doing around my donation box?”
“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” Sunny explained.
“A surprise huh?” Reimu sighed. “You didn't put anything weird in it, did you?”
“Depends on your definition of weird…” Star trailed off.
“Well whatever. There probably isn't even anything in there to ruin anyway… You’re free to go.”
The Three Fairies immediately flew out of her sight, but stuck around to watch her reaction to their surprise.
Reimu began opening the donation box. “Now let's see what they did this time… Oh?”
She picked up the money and counted it. Then she counted it again. Then again, until she could finally believe the sight before her eyes.
“This isn't going to turn into something weird later, is it?” Reimu asked aloud. She couldn't sense any kind of magic on the money though. “Where did they even get this…?”
Reimu’s question would be answered later when she read a newspaper article about some fairies putting on a play to make money for a mysterious “someone”. She decided to temporarily overlook any incidents of her food disappearing after that.