Chapter 2
Disastrous Fair
Night had cometh on the same day the news report about what happened at the Scarlet Devil Mansion went out. Reimu was seated on the shrine's veranda, drinking tea and watching the stars in the sky while thinking about the things that happened to the mansion and what she did during the day, about how she went to investigate this matter, only to find nothing in the end.
Behind her and within the shrine, a dual-horned girl with light brown hair—Suika Ibuki—was seen drunk and asleep on the tatami with a gourd containing alcohol next to her. Her snoring was a bit a loud, but it wasn't enough to disturb Reimu. The latter's shrine was quite a bit of a distance from the other residents, so nobody was disturbed.
While she was thinking about all these, an elderly turtle with a long, white beard floated over to her and rested on the part of the veranda next to her. The turtle said to her, "What is bothering you, Miss Reimu? Is it regarding the matter during the daytime?"
"What else do you think I'm worried about? Asides from not getting donations…" she said without turning to look at the turtle. "Having encountered several kinds of incidents in the past, I know for sure that one is arising very soon."
"Whatever the incident is, it is nothing that you cannot resolve," the turtle—Genji—told her. "Resolving incidents is one of your talents. You have accomplished well and beaten the odds to win in the past, and at times, you also have friends helping you out, so I am very sure that this incident, whatever it may be, will be no different. I have complete faith in you that you will without doubt resolve it and also find the people responsible for this! Believe in yourself and your friends!"
"Yeah, I know it's going to be like always. I'm going to resolve this incident no matter what," Reimu said. "Just hope it won't be too hard…"
Just then, Marisa landed in front of the shrine maiden on her broom. "Hey there, Reimu!" she said to her as she got off her broom and adjusted her hat. "How are things?"
"What business do you have here at a time like this?" Reimu said to her.
"Just decided to drop by and chat with you a little bit," Marisa said as she went up to the veranda and sat down next to her. "So… what's on your mind?"
"I was talking to Miss Reimu just now about how I have faith in her solving this newest incident," Genji told her. "I also told her that she has friends who are capable of lending her hands in times like this."
"Oh, I would be one of those friends, right?" Marisa said. "Of course it's me! I'm almost always on your side when you're resolving major incidents! We managed to pull through lots of problems together-ze! I'm sure we'll be able to pull through this together too without a problem, right?"
"Yeah," Reimu said with a slight nod.
"Speaking of which, have you looked into this matter and find out anything yet?" Marisa asked the shrine maiden. "And by the way, I also visited the mansion and returned Patchouli her books."
Reimu looked at with a slightly surprised expression and said, "That's unheard of! You would never return anything you borrowed until the end of your life! What's with doing that all of a sudden?"
"I just feel like I should do something to… comfort… if that's a good term… Anyway, I thought it would be better that after what happened there, I should return her the books I borrowed. They lost some stuff during the robbery, so it's best to return some stuff to them, even if those books weren't the ones stolen," Marisa explained. "Patchouli herself was surprised by my actions as well, and I gave her the same explanation I gave you."
"Hope you would do that often, especially to Alice," Reimu said. "God knows how many of her books you have borrowed and never returned."
"Maybe if something like that happens to her, I'll consider returning them early," Marisa said. "So back to my question…"
"I visited Rinnosuke, Yukari, and Kanako to ask them about this, considering that those people have access to outside world stuff," Reimu told her, "but they deny knowing anything. Well, Yukari was sleeping when I visited her, so I ended up talking to Ran instead."
"Yukari is sleeping? Why do I have the feeling that she may be hiding something by doing that?" Marisa asked.
"I don't know," Reimu said. "Ran kept on defending her mistress. Yukari may not be a saint when it comes to interacting with the people here, but she wouldn't fall as low as to allow danger to befall anyone in Gensokyo, so I don't think it has anything to do with her."
"Yeah, you have a point…" Marisa said. "Oh, one more thing… Ellen's shop got robbed, and I'm thinking that this is connected to the robbery that happened at the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
"Yeah, Aya and I heard about it during our investigation," the shrine maiden said. "We were wondering the same thing too, but we need more proof of it. Anyway, I'm glad that nothing bad happened today, and I sure do hope it doesn't happen tomorrow too."
"But that would you mean never being able to get to the bottom of this incident," Marisa told her.
"If it never happens, then that's for the best of everyone," Reimu said before sipping her tea.
"Oh, one more thing," Marisa said. "Do you know that the Myouren Temple is going to have a fun fair to promote relationship between humans and demons tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Reimu said. "I doubt it can really make a big improvement, though. Humans' general view toward demons and demons' nature of craving human flesh make it so that both sides can never really have a good relationship."
"That's true, but at least not all of them are like that," Marisa said. "We have some friends who are demons, and some of them have no problem getting along with humans after all. Trying is better than not trying. At least they can get a small group of humans to realize that not all demons are what they think and the other way round-ze!"
"Whatever… I have no interest in going there," Reimu said before taking another sip. "By the way, something tells me that the main reason you're here is because you are afraid of getting robbed by those people from last night, so you're here to spend a night with me for safety."
"Hey! What are you talking about?! Why should I be scared of some people wearing masks and equipped with outside world weapons?!" said the surprised and offended witch. "It doesn't matter how powerful their weapons are, my Master Spark is going to blow them to kingdom come! I'm not scared about them that I have to come and spend a night here! Geez! Way to go on jumping to conclusions! Anyway, I'm leaving now. I'll show you that I have no fear of them coming over to my place at all! Furthermore, it's more dangerous if I'm not home, because nobody will be able to defend it!" With that, Marisa stood up, got onto her broom, and then took off into the night sky.
As Genji watched the witch leave, he said to Reimu, "Don't you think that you're a bit too harsh saying that to her?"
"Nah, she gets over people getting on her bad side pretty quickly," Reimu told him. "She's going to forget about it sooner or later, though I know if nothing really happens to her during the night, she's going to boast to me about how she made it through the night fearlessly and safely tomorrow. Not saying that I'm hoping for something to happen to her, mind you…"
"Of course, I know that," Genji said. "Even though you're not the kind of person to show it on your face or say it, you do care about your friends and the people of Gensokyo."
The next morning, a crowd was gathered outside the Myouren Temple. As Marisa said last night, a fun fair was held in that place for the purpose of trying to strengthen relationship between humans and demons.
Various food, game, and shopping stands were set up, some operated by humans and some by demons. There was also a stage set up in front of the temple, with the Prismriver Sisters on top of it performing music to keep the atmosphere lively.
Amidst the crowd, a girl with twin ponytails was walking around while taking pictures with her cell phone's camera. "Aya is so going to be surprised that I'm going to be first person publishing everything here!" said the girl—Hatate Himekaidou. "No way am I going to live in her shadow forever! About time I step in front of her and gather news and information firsthand! Heehee!"
Though little did she know that Aya was also present at the fun fair, boasting about how she was going to once again beat Hatate in gathering news and information firsthand and how Kakashi Spirit News would never become better than Bunbunmaru News.
While the activities went on and everyone enjoyed the food and games, the one who started the idea of this fun fair and the head of the Myouren Temple, Byakuren Hijiri approached the crowd and looked at everyone with a smile on her face. Standing next to her was one of her disciples, Shou Toramaru.
"I'm glad that everyone is enjoying this fun fair!" Byakuren happily said. "Looks like it is a great idea after all!"
"It sure is, Mistress Hijiri!" Shou said to her with a nod.
"I hope that by doing this, relationship between humans and demons will become better!" Byakuren said. "Both sides will finally be able to know that their views of each other had always been wrong! Both sides may have their flaws, but as long as one is willing to put behind their negative images and show each other their positive selves, they will surely be able to get along!"
"For your sake, I hope it really will be like that," Shou said. "Still, something tells me it won't be that easy… Even though we agreed on holding this fun fair, not every one of us is very fond of this idea. You know that some of our disciples have issues with humans and do not like them."
"I cannot blame them for thinking such things," Byakuren said. "However, if it wasn't because for the reason that they want to know humans better and form better relationships with them, they wouldn't have come to our temple and become our disciples in the first place. The fact that they came here means they are willing to change their views toward humans!"
"Let's hope that really is the case…" Shou said.
"Congratulations, little girl!" said the owner of a game that involved throwing rings onto various kinds of prizes as he handed over a doll to a blond girl dressed in a black and red dress who, strangely enough, had doll joints connecting the different segments of her arms and fingers together. "Hope you like your prize!
The girl took the doll and then walked away without saying anything. Looking at the doll while stroking its hair, the girl—Medicine Melancholy—said, "Placed there as a prize for people to win… What if nobody wins you? What will become of you? Will you be thrown away like old and unwanted dolls? It hurts me to think that people throw away dolls for reasons like that… Such is the unfortunate fate of all toys…
"Humans… They only think of wanting new things, and once they get them, they throw away the old things without much of a second thought. The memories that they had with them as they grew up… All those memories… Down the drain they go once the replacement comes… You might very well encounter such a fate if I had not rescued you. I, too, was abandoned when my owner no longer wanted me… I know very well what it feels to be abandoned and thrown away, never to be picked up by anyone again… It really hurts me and saddens me…"
As she continued to stroke the doll's hair, she said, "I will show those people… I will definitely show them the consequences of throwing away unwanted dolls… We dolls will surely rule over human and every other living thing… I will liberate us all from the curse of unwanted dolls…"
Some passersby looked at her strangely as she spoke to the doll, or she might be speaking to herself. They didn't give much thought and continued on their way. As Medicine continue to stroke the doll's hair, a group of people wearing leather coats and masks walked past behind her.
At the same time, Byakuren and Shou stepped onto the stage that the Prismriver Sisters were performing. The former's appearance on the stage caused some people to turn their attention to her, and then she said out loud, "Everyone! Welcome to the Human-Demon Bonding Fair! I hope that you all are enjoying this fun fair!"
"Human-Demon Bonding Fair?" Shou said in her head upon hearing that name. "At least it states the purpose of this fun fair…"
"The purpose of this fun fair is to strengthen the relationship between humans and demons," Byakuren told everyone. "The fact that all you humans, demons, and other kinds of species are interacting with each other happily means that you do not see each other as threats! For a long time, it has always been a misunderstanding that all demons are threats to humans and humans despise demons. Such is not always the case! As you have witnessed with your own eyes and experienced things firsthand, both sides are indeed capable of getting along with each other!
"It has always been my dream to strengthen the bond between all species! We are all living things, so we should show love to one another! We may not be the same species and may look different, but we all live, breathe, and talk! These are qualities that allow us to connect with each other, so why is there a need to feel enmity toward each other? This fun fair has proven that it is possible for us all to coexist with each other in harmony! I know that not all of you are going to agree with me right away, but I'm sure that as time goes by, you will be able agree with me! Make friends with different species! Get to know each other better! What a wonderful world it would be if we can all coexist in peace!"
Her speech struck everyone as powerful and convincing, and everyone, as far as Byakuren could see, raised his or her arms into the air and cheered loudly, agreeing with what she said. The magician was glad that everyone agreed with her, and Shou was surprised that she actually managed to get everyone, or at least a large amount of them, to agree with her. As long as her master was happy, she was also happy.
Suddenly, a loud sound similar to an explosion shocked everyone. Everyone immediately backed away from the source of the sound and looked at it. Standing in the center of the clearing created from everyone moving back was the group of people wearing leather coats and masks, and the person who made the sound by firing his shotgun into the air was the only one not wearing a mask. "Very nice speech! I sure am touched by this!" he said.
The man climbed onto the top of the stage and stood next to Byakuren, while his men stayed at the bottom and in front of it. Turning to the crowd, the man said loudly, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I figured that you might be bored and want some entertainment, so we will be here to entertain you."
"Hey! Who are you people?! How can you come up here without permission?!" Shou said in anger to the man.
Byakuren calmed her down and then said to the man, "Sir, I see that you would like to display your talents to the people. It is a good thing that you are concerned if the people are feeling bored and not, and I appreciate your actions. I apologize to you that my follower was a bit too rude to you just now, but she does have a point. It would be nice if you asked before coming up here."
"Well, there is no place to register nor does there seem to be anyone I should be asking first," the man said. "How can you blame me for coming up here without asking first, then?"
"Well, you can…" Byakuren said, but the man interrupted her.
"You made a nice speech, but there are some things that I think I really should speak out," the man said, and then he turned to the crowd. "All right, listen up! In case you people haven't figured it out yet, we were the ones who broke into the place known as the Scarlet Devil Mansion yesterday night!"
What he said surprised everyone, and talks of those people filled the air. Aya forced her way to the front of the crowd and took pictures nonstop. "Whoa! So those are the people who robbed the mansion and defeated Remilia?!" she said. "I can't believe I'm looking at them now! How bold of them to show up in daylight and in front of so many people too!"
"You see," the man said, causing everyone to become silent, "this world has some fixed laws for all living things. You know, fishes gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and cows gotta eat grass. The fact that humans and demons cannot coexist in peace is only natural, as it is the nature of demons to consume human flesh and bring them trouble! I'm not saying that it's impossible for both species to coexist in peace, but what I want to say is… What's the point? Demons are born to eat human flesh and bring misfortune to them! They are made to bring chaos and destruction! What is a demon that doesn't do any of those?"
Everyone talked with other about this upon hearing what the man said.
"If there is something about you that you are born with, why go against it?" the man continued. "Shouldn't you put more effort into doing that? Can you persuade a bird to not fly? Can you tell a fish to stop swimming and walk on dry ground instead? Try telling a lion to stop eating meat and eat vegetables instead! Yeah, I dare you! It's natural for humans and demons to dislike each other, so why change that? If that is the way of nature, then let it be! In the same way, humans are evil by nature! Everyone is born with the instinct of doing things that only satisfy his or herself! Leave a child untrained, and he will grow up to do things that are unethical. Much like how demons should devour humans and cause trouble, humans should commit crimes and do all sorts of unethical things, because being sinful is the nature they are born with!"
The crowd talked among each other about this. Byakuren wasn't pleased to hear what the man said, but she held back her discontentment and said to the man with a smile, "It may be true that all living things are born with certain natures and instincts. Indeed, birds have to fly and fishes have to swim. Demons indeed have the nature of devouring humans, and it is true that humans are evil by nature as well. However, their natures differ from birds and fishes in the way that those are not elements necessary for their life. Birds are creatures of the air that must rely on flight in order to survive, as their bodies are not made to face the hardships of the ground, and fishes must swim, as they are not born with bodily functions that allow them to survive on land.
"The natures of demons and humans, on the other hand, are not necessities that will bring them burden if they do not perform them. In fact, their natures are considered unethical and immoral to the eyes of most people. Therefore, I see a reason for humans and demons to change from their sinful natures and adopt a more ethical way of living, not to mention coexisting with each other in peace and harmony."
"I can tell that you know a lot about human nature and such," the man said to her. "Unfortunately, our opinions differ, and I am not the kind of person who accepts differences in opinions! People who insist to think differently from me never get out of it so easily!"
Sensing danger, Shou said in a threatening voice to the man, "If you dare lay a finger on Master Hijiri, I will not let you get out of it so easily!"
"You don't have to get so agitated, Shou," Byakuren said to her. "Violence is not a way to resolve things."
"That's what they always say," the man said. "However, humans are evil by nature, so it's only natural that they resort to using violence to resolve things. Why stop yourself from using such a method when it is in your nature to do so?"
"Sir, I can tell that you have some sort of a troubled past that you think like that," Byakuren said to him. "Would you like to come into the temple and speak with me privately about your past? I can try to help you and give you guidance."
"The last thing I need is a psychologist giving me dumb and useless advices!" the man rudely said to her.
"How dare you?!" Shou angrily said. By this time, Byakuren's other disciples—Nazrin, Ichirin, and Minamitsu—had come onto the stage and glare at the man angrily, and they were ready to go for the offense if they had to.
"You better watch your language in front of our master," Ichirin said. "We won't tolerate you speaking to her with such an unclean tongue!"
"Master, we should have them all captured right now!" Minamitsu said to Byakuren. "They are wanted due to what they did to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Now that they're in front of our eyes and planning to cause trouble, what other chance is there for us to arrest him? We should put an end to their villainy at once!"
Even though Byakuren agreed with Minamitsu and was also starting to become fed up with the man's attitude, the magician continued to keep her composure. "As you can see, you and your men are in a grim situation now. After the report of what you've done went out, we have every reason to arrest you. However, as I believe in showing mercy and giving people chances to redeem themselves, I am willing to talk to the police department to not make harsh the punishment you may receive if you are willing to turn from your ways."
"Turning from my ways? Ha!" the man said. "How about this instead? Do you want to see a magic trick? Do you want to see me make a person's head disappear?" Without a warning, he raised his shotgun at Minamitsu's head and pulled the trigger, completely blowing it, along with the neck, off the body. Instead of blood and pieces of flesh flying all over the place, however, drops of water splashed all over the place.
Despite this unusual sight, it was still enough to horrify the onlookers, and screams filled the air as everyone started to run for his or her lives. The masked men started to fire from their machine guns at the scattering crowd, shooting down some of them from behind. Horrified by the sight of people and demons alike getting shot, Byakuren shouted at the masked men, "STOP! STOP IT AT ONCE!"
"Darn it! Those people have gone too far!" Nazrin angrily said. "That does it! If words won't make them listen, we'll use force!"
"As much as Master Hijiri does not like the usage of violence, I agree that there's no choice now!" Ichirin said. Both the demons, along with the latter's Nyuudou companion, quickly jumped to the bottom of the stage and started beating up the masked men who were firing at the escaping crowd.
Minamitsu's head reappeared when water came up from where the neck used to be and molded itself into the shape of one. "How dare you do that me?! You'll pay!" the ship ghost angrily said before jumping at the man and swung down her anchor, but he quickly jumped back.
"Of course, you're a ghost, so a blast to the head definitely won't do anything to you," said the man, not looking surprised at all, "and that is why I prepared this!" He pulled out a short chain from underneath his trench coat and flung it at the ship ghost. The chain glowed with golden light when it was close to Minamitsu and lengthened, binding itself around the ship ghost and causing her to fall over.
"Hey! What's this?!" she cried as she struggled to free herself, but to no avail.
"It's a special kind of chain used for binding spirits temporarily. I stole it from the magic shop at the village," the man explained. "I studied well the kinds of opponents I would face before coming here."
"Why you?! Let go of Minamitsu at once!" Shou shouted as she ran forward to stab the man with her spear, but the man stepped to the side and disarmed her by pulling away the spear. He then punched her across the face and kicked her in the guts before pointing his shotgun at her, but Byakuren quickly struck him in the hand from above and made him fire at the floor instead.
"This is as far as you go!" Byakuren said to him in an angry voice. "I do not like to use violence nor do I like to get angry, but you leave me with no choice! I will not let you harm my disciples or anyone else any longer!" She whipped out a scroll in an instant and unrolled it. Rainbow-colored light come out from it and was then "absorbed" into Byakuren's body.
While this was happening, however, the man quickly struck her in the abdomen with his hand, and the light that the scroll gave out suddenly faded. Byakuren looked at her hands and the scroll in surprise and said, "What happened?! How come my strength didn't increase?!"
The man suddenly grabbed Byakuren by the hair and slammed her face against his knee before flinging her off the stage and onto the ground, a sight that horrified and angered her disciples greatly. "How dare you?!" shouted Nazrin, but failing to focus on her enemies proved to be a fatal mistake for her, as one of the masked men shot her multiple times from behind with his machine gun. "AH!"
"Nazrin!" Shou cried out in horror.
"How dare hurt my comrade?!" Ichirin shouted as she ran up to the man who shot Nazrin and punched him across the face really hard. In fact, she punched him so hard that he flew away quite a bit of a distance. Another one of the masked men tried to hit Ichirin from behind with the back of his machine gun, but the demon swiftly moved to the side and then punched him in the waist, followed by punching him in the body multiple times. She gave him the final blow to the face and shattered his mask in a single hit.
SMAAAAAAAAASH!
She then turned to her Nyuudou companion and said to him, "Unzan! Get that man who hurt Master Hijiri at once!"
The cloud-like being nodded before flying over to the man, and he raised his massive fist over him to get ready to crush him. The man, however, was not daunted at all. He simply took out another chain and threw it at Unzan, and the Nyuudou quickly found himself bounded tightly, just like Minamitsu. "What the?!" Ichirin said in shock. "Unzan!"
"You fiend!" Shou shouted as she held up a miniature pagoda. She fired a beam from the pagoda, but the man swiftly dodged it and then charged at Shou to punch her in the abdomen before snatching away the pagoda. "Ugh!"
"You have a spear and you don't know how to use it! In fact, you don't fight or behave like a tiger demon! You are a shame to your own species!" the man said to her. "I'll be keeping this! I heard that this is capable of producing treasure. Becoming rich is not what I crave for, but my men would surely enjoy having something like this, so I'm taking it."
As he walked away, Shou got up and reached out to him, "Wait… My pagoda… Don't take it…"
The man told his men that they should be leaving. Suddenly, he was told to stop by someone, and then he turned around to see the Prismriver Sisters standing there. "Either you don't care about us or you never realized that we are here the whole time and saw everything," the eldest of the sisters, Lunasa, said.
"You seriously think we're going to let you get away with this so easily?" the youngest sister, Lyrica said.
"So you like to play dangerous magic tricks? We'll show you danger, then!" the second sister, Merlin, said.
The man raised his shotgun and was going to point it at them when someone said to him from behind, "Hey you! Now that I'm done helping the people evacuate, it's time that I…" He didn't bother to let the person finish speaking nor did he bother to turn around; he simply pointed his gun to the back and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
"GYAAAAAAAA!" screamed a horrified Aya as the shotgun blasted a hole on her body. The tengu fell back onto the ground and rolled around while crying in agony.
Horrified, Lunasa and Lyrica quickly rushed over to the tengu to see if they could help her. The villains quickly used this opportunity to make a run for their truck, which wasn't parked too far away, but Merlin quickly flew in front of them and blew her trumpet as loud as she could to release a sound wave that sent them flying back.
The man growled in anger as he held up Shou's pagoda while still seated, and it fired a beam at Merlin, blasting her back through the air.
BAAAAAAAAANG!
The poltergeist screamed as she hit the ground and then lied there charred and motionlessly. Her sisters screamed her name in horror and then quickly flew in her direction, but the man turned to them and fired from the pagoda. They managed to get out of the way, however.
After that, the man and his subordinates quickly ran for the truck, got into it, and drove away. The two poltergeist sisters rushed to their unconscious sister to help her, while Ichirin and Shou ran after the truck, but they stopped when the vehicle went too far into the distance.
News of what happened quickly spread throughout most of Gensokyo, courtesy of all those who managed to evacuate to safety. Everyone was shocked to hear that quite a number of people had lost their lives, and some of those who were lucky enough to escape the jaws of death were injured. This was the first time the doctors of Gensokyo found themselves really needed.
As some of the victims were badly injured and in a dire situation, some emergency procedures and operations were done on spot, at the location of the fun fair.
Eirin Yagokoro, the Lunarian doctor of Eientei, was busy giving out orders to the doctors, nurses, and her assistants. "Bring anyone who is gravely injured to me!" she said out loud. "The rest of you can deal with those who have more minor injuries! Take them back to your working places if you see the need for it! Make sure to act fast!"
As she was giving out orders, two rabbit demons, in their human forms, came over to Eirin with Aya using a stretcher. "Help me… Eirin…" the pained and crying tengu said. "I… I don't… want to die… yet… It… It hurts… a lot…"
"Don't worry," Eirin said to her. "Nobody's dying on my watch! You should be lucky that you're a tengu. This gave you a better chance at survival. All right, I'll treat you at once!" The doctor then led the rabbit demons into a tent that was set up for the purpose of operating on patients.
While the doctors and nurses were busy with helping victims, the police were at the scene to investigate things. They talked with the people who witnessed everything and managed to survive the onslaught to gather as much information as they could.
"This is the picture of the person in question," said Hatate, showing Kotohime the picture of the leader that she took using her cell phone.
Kotohime took the cell phone from her and inspected the picture. "So this is the guy? Never seen him around here before… I've seen pictures of how clothing in the outside world look like, and he's definitely wearing clothes from there… I guess he's probably an outsider, or maybe he got those clothes from Kourindou or somewhere… Anyway, with this picture, we can post wanted pictures of him and get the people help find and capture him. Thank you for your cooperation!"
"I'm glad to be of help!" Hatate said. She was glad that she was finally able to beat Aya in giving away information first for once, but at the same time, she felt guilty that it had to be in this kind of method. She only won because Aya was in a state of emergency.
As Kotohime was still looking at the picture, Reimu and Marisa arrived at the scene using flight. The former looked around the place and said, "Man… What a mess… I don't think I've ever seen such a scene in Gensokyo before…"
"The people who did this sure showed no mercy…" Marisa said. "Good thing I didn't attend this fair…"
"You're here at the right time," Kotohime said to Reimu. "Since protecting Gensokyo is a duty of yours, you better have a good look at the man responsible for this." Then she showed Reimu the picture of the man. "We're going to pass out wanted posters of him, and I would appreciate it if you are willing to lend us a hand in capturing him and his crew."
"So this is the guy responsible for robbing the Scarlet Devil Mansion and then causing trouble here?" Reimu said. "Knowing what he looks like is a good start. Hope he's not hiding in a well hidden place…"
Reimu then walked away to look around the place more, while Marisa looked at the picture on the cell phone. The former noticed the Byakuren and some of her disciples in front of the stage, so she approached them. "Things really didn't go well today, didn't it?" Reimu asked.
"It's really horrible…" Kyouko said with tears in the corner of her eyes. "I have never witnessed or experienced such a horrible incident in my life… Lots of people were killed… Blood was everywhere…"
"We weren't able to stop them…" Shou said in a sad tone. "I wasn't able to stop anyone… I tried to fight their leader, but he defeated me with no effort at all… He's right… I can't use my spear… I have always been using it as a decoration and a walking stick… Tigers are supposed to be strong and powerful, but I… I… I'm such a useless weakling… He even stole my pagoda with no effort…" The more Shou talked about this, the more she started to cry.
"It's all right…" Byakuren said to her. "You tried your best… You do not have to blame yourself… It's quite natural to lose to enemies you are not familiar with… Learn from your mistakes, and you will be able to succeed next time…"
Reimu noticed that Byakuren was on her knees, looking rather weak, so she asked her, "Are you feeling all right? You look under the weather…"
"I believe it's this…" said Byakuren, looking at what appeared to be an amulet placed on her abdomen. "He must've stuck this onto me when I wanted to power myself up using magic, and it prevented that from happening. I've been feeling weak since then… It must be an amulet that seals away magical powers… Being a magician, magic is very important to me… I can't take it off too, and touching it causes me to get zapped too…"
Reimu inspected the amulet and said, "Yep, it's a magic-nullifying amulet. Obviously, those with magical powers cannot remove it without getting hurt, as it would lower its usefulness. I can take it out for you." She grabbed the amulet by its corner and, with a strong yank, pulled it off Byakuren's body, and the latter was able to stand back up.
"Thank you very much! Strength has returned to me now!" the magician said to the shrine maiden with a smile.
"You're welcome," Reimu said, and then she heard someone calling her. She turned to the source and saw Minamitsu, still bounded by the chain and lying on the ground. Unzan was lying not too far from her in the same predicament.
"Mind getting this off me too?" Minamitsu said to her.
Reimu walked up to her and inspected the chain. "A ghost-binding chain, I see… Where did that guy get all these? Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this chain, as they are designed to wear off by themselves."
"How long is it going to take?" the ship ghost asked her.
"Judging from the spiritual power I am sensing from this chain, it'll probably take a few more hours before it loosens itself," Reimu replied.
"A few more hours? Oh well, better than years…" said Minamitsu. "At least it doesn't hurt being bounded like this…"
Reimu stood up and sighed before saying, "I didn't think that things would become like this… Looks like these people are more dangerous than I thought… I really can't leave them alone anymore…"
Kotohime, Hatate, and Marisa walked up to Reimu, and the former said to her, "Hatate also recorded a video of those people's leader when he got onto the stage and made his speech. I believe we can learn some things about him if we view it."
"I'll get Nitori to bring us a projectile," Hatate said. "That way, more people can see it with ease and not crowd together in front of the cell phone."
"Okay, just do whatever you think feels best," Reimu said. "I know very little about high-tech stuff from the outside world and whatever the kappas are making after all…"
Reimu, Marisa, Kotohime, Hatate, and some policemen were at the sole police station of Gensokyo. They were all seated patiently in front of a white piece of cloth hanging down in front of the wall, waiting for a certain girl to finish connecting Hatate's cell phone to a projector via a cable.
The girl had blue hair tied into twin ponytails, wore a blue hat, and had a pair of goggles worn over her forehead. She was dressed in a blue shirt that had its sleeves rolled past her elbows, and her trousers were the same color. She also wore brown gloves. It was a getup fitting for an engineer.
After about a minute of tinkering with the projector and the cell phone, the girl—Nitori Kawashiro—turned to the audience and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. It's done!"
"Please go ahead and play it," Kotohime told her.
"Okay," Nitori said as she pressed a button on top of the projector to make it project whatever was currently on the cell phone's screen onto the white piece of cloth. She searched for the video and then played it for everyone to see.
They sat through the entire footage of the man getting onto the stage and giving his speech about how all living things should behave the way their natures were and how he refuses to accept other people's opinions. The footage ended shortly after his men started firing at the crowd. Once it was over, everyone was more or less at a lost of words.
Marisa eventually said something, breaking the silence. "Man… That guy's pretty crazy…"
"I can't agree with what that man said," Reimu said. "Byakuren is right; humans may be evil by nature, but that doesn't mean they cannot survive if they do not do evil things. Demons, even if they feed on human flesh, are capable of going throughout their entire life without eating such things too. Unless it has to do with something like fish swimming, I don't find it necessary to live exclusively by the nature you are born with."
"You won't believe the kinds of people this world contains, I tell you," Kotohime told her.
"Right, such as you collecting things that people normally do not collect," Marisa said.
"Any worse than you borrowing things for a lifetime?" Kotohime said to her. "Anyway, while this video didn't reveal anything important, such as what his name is and where he ran to, we at least learned what he is like. From what we've gathered so far, he is very well prepared for almost every situation and plans ahead. The fact that he managed to break into and then leave Scarlet Devil Mansion unscratched and then mess with the Myouren crew, only to get away mostly unharmed, are good proof of it."
"Indeed, such a person can be very dangerous," Reimu said. "But he's a normal human after all, so I doubt he can be that tough to deal with."
"I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you," Kotohime told him. "Information is power, and with good usage of it, even strength can be overcome by it. I have a dreaded feeling that even as we speak, he is already planning his next move… The fact that we don't know where he is at the moment and what he is planning are both dangerous to us…"
"Hmmm… Perhaps there are some things back at the lab and the workshop that can help us track him and his group down," Nitori said.
"Really? If that's true, then technology sure is useful-ze!" Marisa said.
"Trust me; technology IS incredibly useful! You better not underestimate the power of science!" Nitori told her.
TO BE CONTINUED
Nitori has a wardrobe change here. Unless I bring it up, she'll be in that getup throughout my series.
It's not only the voice of the man that I envision being similar to The Dark Knight version of the Joker, but the character himself is based off him. Basically, that man is the Joker, but ill-tempered and, perhaps, more well planned. His name will eventually be revealed, so please be patient.
I like to imagine that Minamitsu has a water-like body that renders her invulnerable to most attacks, especially physical ones. It's just like Logia Devil Fruits from the One Piece series.
I also like to imagine Ichirin as a boxer. Unzan is known for punching, so why not? You'll have to expect certain characters having skills they aren't explicitly stated to have in my series.