"This isn't normal. Stop them."

"Stop what?"

"The cicadas. Stop them." Repeated the girl. Her head covered with tainted bandages, she was suffering from a giant and horrible headache, but she was alive and still kicking.

"Oh? I though you would enjoy. You used to find them relaxing when you were a little girl. You were so cute back then..."

"I'm not a kid, and cicadas in the middle of winter isn't normal." Said the girl in a patronizing tone.

Usually, Yukari Yakumo wouldn't let anyone talk to her like that. In fact, she shouldn't even be here. But sometimes drastic happened, and Yukari, just like everyone else in Gensokyo, has to make sacrifices.

"All right. I'll leave you alone, I'm going outside, in the snow, taking my cicadas with me."

The mighty youkai left the room, closing the paper door behind her.

In the corridor, her servant was patiently waiting for her to notice her presence. As soon as the door was shut, Yukari's smile turned into a frown.

"Don't stand here just like that. Tell me everything !"

"I'm sorry." Ran bowed her head, trying to hide the irritation in her voice. "As far as I know, while Reimu Hakurei was out, several outsiders crossed the border. I don't know how many exactly, but I identified at least two human groups and one isolated youkai."

"And where are they?"

"It seems they went into hiding, which leads me to believe that everything was planned from the beginning."

"Anything noticeable?"

"The humans were armed. I believe they were probably soldiers of some kind."

"Don't you 'probably' me. Give me reliable facts. What about the lone youkai?"

"Hum, kimono. Maybe a zashiki warashi."

Yukari turned to Ran, and then she slapped the fox.

"I told you, no 'maybe', no 'I think', no 'probably' ! I don't want you guessing ! You're not perfect ! What if I trust you while you're wrong?"

"I'm sorry, my lady." Said Ran as she bowed her head.

"And drop that tone with me. You have a shikigami, use her ! Send her after that kimono youkai, and figure out what her deal is. I want to know if she has anything to do with this. Understood? Meanwhile, you're going to the human village. Invent something, but keep them on guard. I want those outsiders to be isolated, marginalized, and treated as outcasts. I want them to be as visible as a black spot on a white clothe. Am I clear?"

"That will be easy, my Lady, it seems that one of the villagers was murdered by an outsider a few days ago."

"I don't care how you do it. Now go !"

Bowing, the shikigami disappeared immediately, leaving a furious Yukari alone. Clicking her tongue, the youkai sage walked toward the kitchen. Soon, Reimu would be hungry.

Yukari wasn't really happy to be the one nursing the ungrateful miko back to health, but if she was quick to anger, she was luckily aware of that. Leaving the cold-blooded tactician in charge of the whole investigation was a good idea. Way better than taking care of that herself. She knew perfectly well that if she tried herself to discover the whereabouts of the outsiders, it would end up in a bloodbath. Yukari was many things, and being a sage was one of these. And a sage knows its limit.

"YUKARIII !"

Sighing to herself, the Great Youkai Sage returned to see Reimu, hoping the foul-mouthed maiden wouldn't ask too many questions about her wound. She walked in the girl's room one more time, closing the door behind her.

The paper door seemed extremely fragile, and yet, being under Yukari's magic, it would be able to withstand fire as well as many powerful spells.

While Yukari Yakumo was sacrifying her sleep and therefore her beauty to the clueless shrine maiden, Ran Yakumo was in the lost village of Mayohiga, trying to not lash out at her own servant out of frustration. Being slapped by her mistress was rare, and extremely humiliating, and to add insult to injury, Ran's own servant wasn't that eager to help.

"So I have to find that youkai? But how do I know which one is new and which one has been living in Gensokyo for a while?"

"Your cats," Ran said calmly, doing her best to resist the urge of slapping the young youkai around, "They know Gensokyo. As you said 'as if they made it themselves'. You can ask them."

"I dunno about that, Miss Ran, they've been unhelpful recently."

"Hmm? Well, they're not the only one being unhelpful. Now go find that youkai. I don't care how."

"Well, I'm not sure I can-"

"Find her or I'll suck your power off and make you clean Mayohiga by yourself." Interrupted Ran.

"I'm going ! Right now ! I'll find her, please rely on me !" Chen said, before turning away and jumping over a roof.

Sighing again, Ran Yakumo left Mayohiga, leaving the old village completely deserted.

While the fox was on her way, Akyuu, the living memory of Gensokyo, started noticing something unusual. At first, it was the silence. She didn't pay much attention to it, as she was absorbed in her reading. But when she heard the shouts, she understood that something was going on. As she closed her book and stood, she could hear a single person speaking, making some kind of speech. And when she opened the door, the village square was silent again, except for the whispering. And what Akyuu saw was an one-of-a-kind event.

The villagers were all gathered in the square, forming a compact crowd. For the small woman, it was impossible to either charge in the crowd and elbow her way in, or try to see what was going on in the middle of the square. Left outside, she could only listen. And what she heard made her extremely worried.

"She went with that outsider, right? Maybe that's his fault."

"And you would think being a Hakurei meant being protected."

"What the hell happened anyway? Look at her. Most youkai break the neck before... before the eating. But it looks like she was eaten alive."

Akyuu ran away from the crowd, and went to the school. With enough luck, maybe Keine was present. The girl didn't have any respect for the unpredictable half-beast, but being half-youkai, the teacher would be concerned by the situation. Hopefully concerned enough to actually do something. Like trying to reason the villagers before something stupid happened.

As she bashed the school's doors, Akyuu remembered a theory she read in a book from the outside world. According to that theory, it was extremely easy to manipulate a crowd, as the excitation was absorbed by its member, boosted, and sent back to everyone else. If 'warmed' enough, a crowd could easily turn into a lynch mob, ready to commit murders after murders? And as she ran around the school, checking every room, every closet, Akyuu remembered that horrible theory, and started thinking that it has to be stopped quickly.

And Keine Kamishirasawa was nowhere in the school.

"Talk about being a teacher when you just leave whenever you desire !"

The crowd opened as Ran Yakumo walked in the village, proudly showing her nine tails. Yakuri's servant was extremely smart, but as the Sage herself said, she was perfect, and the moment she walked in the crowd, she made a crucial mistake.

For her, the plan was simple : use the death of the other Hakurei girl as an excuse to set the Human Village against the outsiders, until she figured out what said outsiders were planning, while Chen was investigating the youkai's whereabouts. She expected her plan to produce results before her mistress' call.

Unfortunately, by laziness or stupidity, the strategist underestimated the outsiders. She expected them to be confused, lost in the nature. But that wasn't the case. They were already in the village.

"Greetings." Said the kitsune to the elder.

"Greetings to you, fox lady."

"I bear a message from the Youkai Sage, she asks your cooperation about-"

"I'm sorry, my lady," interrupted the old man, "but as you can see, we have a dead young lad to bury. We can offer an ear to your worries, but no cooperation."

For a second, Ran hesitated, calculating the possible outcome of different actions, until she decided the best course of action.

"Understood." She bowed her head slightly. "I will now return to my master, and carry your message. You have my condolences."

That was Ran's second mistake. Instead of calming the crowd, a youkai offering her condolence only angered them further.

"I accept your condolence. Good day to you, m'lady." The old man bowed, and, turning his back to Ran, started talking to another human.

Rejected, the fox bit her tongue in irritation, and walked away as the crowd dispersed.

After walking for a few minutes, the fox lady stopped in the middle of the road and turned around.

"I am here. Won't you come out for a talk?"

For a few minutes, the road was totally silent.

And then there was a gunshot, and a bullet hit Ran Yakumo in the back of the head.