"THREE MORE MISSING IN OLD HELL! CULT ACTIVITY SUSPECTED"
"LADY SATORI TO ANNOUNCE OPENING OF NEW ENERGY PLANT TODAY"
"Wow, that's the fifth kidnapping case this year!" said Nitori Kawashiro to no one in particular. The green jumpsuit-wearing kappa had just finished final inspections of the Earth Spirits Energy Plant control room before she sat on a sofa in the engineering lounge with a copy of the latest Bunbunmaru Newspaper in one hand and a cup of her very own cucumber coffee in the other. She felt lonely figuratively and literally as none of her colleagues were present in the spacious confines of the lounge. Nitori let out a sigh as her bright eyes slowly scanned the room for any sign of life only to find none.
Not that she blamed them for ditching her.
Earlier this morning, Orin announced through the PA system that all employees of the Earth Spirits Energy Plant were allowed to leave work by noon to help with preparations of the grand opening of Former Hell Solutions' new energy plant. However, before she even had the time to cheer the announcement added that it did not apply to heads of department as they are required to inspect each section of their respective sectors thoroughly before leaving. As chief supervisor and custodian engineer of I&E in the plant as well as being the lead researcher that discovered the new source of energy that runs it meant that she had a lot of inspecting to do. A lot.
"Well, at least they're having fun I suppose." she thought to herself. Sipping the last of her cucumber coffee she unlatched her modified Former Hell Solutions (FHS) safety helmet and put it on the table with soft metallic thud, letting her bobbed twin-tails free from her helmet's stuffiness. Nitori tried to stifle a yawn fruitlessly before looking at the newspaper's second headline. With a tired shrug she mumbled, "I guess I can finally start work officially tomorrow."
"I believe you mean tonight." corrected a voice from behind.
"Wait wha-?!" Nitori quickly turned around in alarm but was not fast enough to identify the person behind her before she instantly blacked out as she felt a hard whack to her head.
"…and that's how Nitori got kidnapped!" said an excited Marisa, her smile beaming towards her small audience of two.
"Oh come on." said a clearly uninterested Reimu dejectedly. "You pretty much just took the headlines from yesterday's paper and mashed it together with that one kappa's recollection of her last known location."
"As much as I would love to believe your story, Marisa, I'd have to agree with Reimu on this one." added Sanae, her face an expression of deep thought with her arms crossed. "It just seems too far-fetched."
Marisa scratched her head in slight embarrassment. She had to admit; her story was a bit much for them to buy into it. To be honest, she genuinely wanted to find out more about her friend's disappearance ever since she read about it yesterday. Why else would she be here in the Underground? She had been thinking about multiple scenarios that might shed light into the matter and frankly most of them sounded intriguing. She did contemplate snooping around for answers but, with Reimu and Sanae in tow, she just felt the urge to share her wonderful theory with them. Maybe if she described it in a more detective-esque manner…
"Oi, Earth to Marisa," said Reimu as she snapped her fingers in front of Marisa's face. "The speech is starting."
Marisa immediately snapped out of her reverie and looked straight up towards the large television screen on that was hung on the ceiling towards their right. They gathered together in Kisume's bar, the Falling Keg, to watch the grand opening of the new power plant live on camera since neither of them owned a television for various reasons (Reimu was too poor, Marisa's house was too isolated in the Forest of Magic for a signal, Sanae did not know Gensokyo even had televisions). It was also due to the fact that it was the only place in the Underground that had a television that wasn't a fancy establishment or someone else's home. It also had the added bonus of a beautiful view of the Underground at night, every landmark visible. Bright lights decorated the Palace of the Earth Spirits, the cityscape complimenting it nicely. The one that stood out most, however, was the blue column of energy that beamed upwards towards the Underground's entrance and beyond. Everyone knew that strange blue energy column came from the new power plant that became operational the day before.
The bar became silent as the FHS logo appeared on the screen before fading away to reveal a sharply dressed Parsee standing behind a podium as camera flashes pepper the stage. Her light green eyes calmly glare at the audience as the commotion finally began to simmer down.
"Good evening everyone," the company spokesperson began, her eyes never blinking. "My name is Mizuhashi Parsee and I stand before you tonight to commemorate the grand opening of Former Hell Solutions' new power plant. But first, a few words from our CEO, Lady Satori."
Then, a flustered bespectacled assistant was seen emerging from backstage and whispered something into Parsee's ear before retreating backstage again.
"Sorry for the interruption. It appears that Lady Satori is unable to join us this evening due to urgent matters." There was a vocal moan of disappointment from the audience on-screen and in the bar. The last time anyone had ever heard from Satori was over a decade ago and that was when she first announced the construction of the power plant.
"Anyways," she continued, "We have come a long way since our humble beginnings as Gensokyo's first low-cost provider of electricity 15 years ago. The idea of providing energy throughout Gensokyo came about when Lady Satori saw that our nuclear reactor, maintained tirelessly by Okuu, was producing far more than we needed. Needless to say, the rest was history. Her noble intentions paved the way for technological progress that brought Gensokyo to what it is today. The Human Village with its dainty houses has now expanded into a bustling metropolis, skyscrapers towering high and rife with trade. Yagokoro Clinic grew into a pharmaceutical giant thanks to the sudden boom in economic activity courtesy of our company's contribution to society. Although the improvements were brought about on their own, we helped in providing the spark it needed to grow either by supplying electricity or offering jobs at our fine establishment."
"Gee, sure helped us shrine maidens with reducing the number of shrine-goers we get" said Reimu sarcastically as Parsee paused for a drink of water, her left eye twitching in slight annoyance.
"Come on now, Reimu," said Sanae calmly. "It's not like it is doom and gloom for the shrines, right? I mean, Wi-Fi is free for all and everyone is given smartphones."
"Yeah, yeah whatever."
"Shut up you two, she's about to continue." snapped Marisa as her eyes were glued to the screen before them.
"As I was saying," she started, her tone flat as ever. "We have come a long way as a company and have enabled Gensokyo to prosper alongside the Underground. Which brings us to here today with the new power plant we're in. Before this, we have relied on nuclear energy. It is clean and efficient and in constant supply thanks to our resident hell raven, Okuu. However, the residue is harmful and difficult to dispose and poor Okuu will not live forever no matter how long her lifespan is. Thus, we needed a cleaner, safer solution: Hell Energy." The audience gasped in shock at this revelation. "Before you start, we have taken drastic measures to ensure the incident from 20 years back does not repeat itself. It was a time before the company was founded and we have improved greatly since. With the help of Ms. Kawashiro Nitori, extraction of Hell Energy is now safer than ever."
Deep in thought, Marisa's face stiffened as she processed this new bit of information on her friend. She knew that Nitori had taken up the job offer and that she would be working on FHS' new 'energy solution' about a year ago. Something about refining her 'ground-breaking discovery'. Now, the dots began to connect. Ever since the Lunatic Kingdom incident, Gensokyo got hold of knowledge that multiple Hells existed due to Hecatia's involvement in the event. It would be a no-brainer that FHS would locate the Hell of which the infamous Hell Energy originated and then extract it with Nitori's help. If there was anything that she knew about messing around with dubious items is that it is better off not to.
Sanae perked up when she heard the term "Hell Energy". From what she heard from Kanako when they first moved to Gensokyo, it was discovered by accident when one of Satori's pets stumbled upon an ancient relic in Former Hell hence the name given. This then triggered a series of events that lead to the bloody incident two decades ago. Later, after her encounter with the Hell Goddess, she heard from the tengu that Former Hell Solutions had formed a partnership with the kappa to develop inter-dimensional portals and energy purification filters.
The very idea of it sounded ridiculous to her but Sanae had to remind herself that common sense is a rarity in Gensokyo. Still, this 'Hell Energy' seemed like the perfect energy resource needed to solve the Outside World's energy crisis with its zero emissions and renewable properties. With such an energy source, global warming would be a thing of the past and space travel could finally be made affordable to the public. Her face lit up at this thought. If she could somehow bring this wonderful energy over to the Outside where she initially lived, she just might be able to fulfill her childhood wish of flying to the moon. Normally. In a spaceship.
The mention of Hell Energy suddenly got Reimu to raise an eyebrow. She heard of it twenty years ago back when she was five. Her memory of it was hazy but she knew that it was the cause of a great catastrophe that led to the deaths of thousands, human and youkai. Judging from the sudden looks of shock and anger among the bar patrons and the gasps heard on the television, no one forgot either. What she did know for sure, it was that this massive incident was responsible for her mother's disappearance. Her intuition was also acting up, causing her to feel jumpy as if a threat would spring out at any moment. Something was about to go down. And it definitely won't be pretty.
She made a quick glance towards her friends to see how they reacted to it. Marisa seemed to share the same concern as she saw her face harden momentarily before relaxing again.
Sanae, on the other hand, looked rather interested in it based on her sparkling eyes and small girly grin. Her reaction made sense to the Hakurei shrine maiden as the Moriya shrine pretty much popped into existence when she was in her teens, about ten years after the incident.
Suddenly, she saw both her friends' eyes widen in shock alongside the screams of the bar patrons. She quickly turned towards the TV and saw that Parsee now had a machete impaled through her chest from behind, her mouth wide open in a silent scream. Then, the machete was swiftly pulled out the same way it came in resulting in a hole in her chest that looked like a twisted imitation of Yukari's gaps. What shocked her, however, was the wielder of the machete: Wearing a bloodied lab coat, her signature twin braided red twin-tails made it known that it was none other than the co-founder of FHS, Orin. Marisa's story didn't seem too far-fetched now.