Isn't this breaking one of the biggest rules of Gensokyo? That humans from the village shall not choose to become Youkai?

Garrus said:

Isn't this breaking one of the biggest rules of Gensokyo? That humans from the village shall not choose to become Youkai?

This would seem to be an origin story before such rules came into play (???)

Also! She is a little girl.

Little girls get a free pass.
this explains a lot

Котенок said:

This would seem to be an origin story before such rules came into play (???)

Also! She is a little girl.

Little girls get a free pass.
this explains a lot

Yeah, that's kinda what I settled on. Reimu probably has some empathy for a suffering little girl, in comparison to, say... a smug magician who planned his transformation years in advance and acted entitled in front of her.

Well it happen in forest and may be several hundred years before reimu's generation

from the looks of it Rumia hasn't been a villager for a while now by the time this story happens

There's also the likelihood that it wasn't a deliberate attempt.