Chapter 3

"So no one in the village heard anything?"

Momiji and I continue towards the tengu village, discussing what she knows about the case already. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. From the sound of things, nobody saw nothin'. Now, anyone who knows anything about murder mysteries knows that this is a classic sign of a village-wide conspiracy which will naturally lead to sideways glances from/at everyone I see, meeting with shadowy figures in the dead of night, bringing down some corrupt official, and then getting the girl and riding/walking/sailing/pogoing off into the sunset while stuff explodes behind us. However, given how close-knit the village seems based on the "greeting" they gave me at the shrine, I doubt they'd protect a killer of three of their own.

"No, no one. You'll see when we get there, but the walls in the village's buildings are very thick. Tengu have much greater hearing capabilities than humans, so we have to heavily soundproof our homes to have any sort of privacy."

"Hm, but did anyone see anything?"

"Well, it probably happened during the night when everyone was asleep, but a shop owner says she saw a strangely-dressed man walking towards this path to the shrine. She called out to the guy, but he just kept walking."

"Is it rare to see strange people in the village?"

"Not really, no. It's pretty common to see worshipers heading to the Moriya shrine. A lot of people in Gensokyo haven't mastered flight, and they all have to walk through the village to get there."

"Wait, I thought flight was commonplace around here."

"Well it takes a fair amount of skill at controlling your life energy to be able to fly, and not everyone's up to it. It can also be pretty tiring, so most of us will walk when we're not in a hurry."

"Is that why you're walking back to the village?"

"Well, everything is more or less under control right now, and an outsider like you wouldn't be able to fly so soon after arriving."

"Wait, so you're telling me that I'll be able to fly eventually?" Hot damn! I can see it now: 'Hello, this is my captain speaking. I'd like to welcome me to Ben Airlines, with direct service to wherever the hell I want. I will be allowed as many carry-on items and liquids as I fucking want. I hope I enjoy my flight!'

"You might be able to eventually, but it'll probably take ten years minimum for a human like you to master it."

Sulk mode: activate. Shoulders put in slouch position. Face set to 'pout.' Actually, whatever. I'd probably end up literally nose-diving into a tree or something.

It won't help me but I have to ask
Is there something real that's behind the mask?
Something true we don't know about?
A little faith-

"Whatwasthat?!" Momiji's hair shoots straight up and she stops dead in her tracks.

"Oh, that was my phone. Sorry." I look and quickly reach down and hit a button, silencing the music. "That was an alarm telling me I have an appointment in an hour, but something tells me I'm not going to make it."

It takes a few seconds for her to calm down, but Momiji eventually closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and starts walking again.

"What the hell kind of alarm was that?"

"A song. Don't like it?"

"No, it's not that. It just- it caught me off guard, that's all. Anyway, the village is just around the corner."

Indeed it is, and damn if it isn't a sight to behold. It's a series of terraces cut into the side of the mountain going down as far as I can see. Bamboo and wood buildings rise out of the ground, ranging from single-story houses to sixty or seventy feet tall. All the buildings have wooden staircases that go to every floor, not unlike fire escapes. They're all set along a wide cobblestone street, which is full of people. Not humans, as most everyone I see has wings or animal ears or both. Merchants hawk produce from carts set next to the buildings and children playfully chase each other through the street and into alleyways. Everyone seems to be going about their daily business.

They seem to be, anyway, but there's a feeling of tension hanging in the air. People have nervous looks of their faces, and I see more than one flinch and frantically look around at the slightest noise.

As soon as Momiji and I start walking through the village, everything stopped. Everyone looked at us, some with fear, some with anger, and most with disbelief.

"Mommy, who's that weird looking guy?" I glance to my left and see a young boy pointing at me only for his mother to hurriedly pick him up and carry him into a house, slamming the door shut. Momiji sees this too, and sighs. Guess this is bugging her as much as it is me. She stops and loudly claps her hands.

"ALRIGHT people, nothing to see here. Back to your business!"

A female voice rings out from the crowd. "But who's that guy you're-"

"Don't worry about it Rie. This guy's harmless. And besides, he's with me."

Everything is dead silent for a moment, and then people start going back to what they were doing. Some keep staring at us, but step aside so we can pass. Momiji starts walking again, and I follow her.

"Damn, that was crazy! Are you that important around here?"

"You kidding? I've been protecting the village for years. You can't do that if the people don't trust you. If I tell them there's no problem, then there's no problem. Come on." She points to a two-story bamboo building a bit down the road. "The house is just up there."

When we get there a large crowd is gathered outside. They're mostly standing around gossiping.

"I heard it was that green-haired spirit."

"Nah, it was that vampire chick that lives down by the lake."

"You kidding? It had to be that psycho flower bitch!"

"I bet it was-"

The group seemed to all notice us at once. One glance at Momiji and a path opens. We walk through, and I notice yellow crime tape blocking the entrance to the house. Nice touch. A man with short blue hair is leaning on the wall next to the door with his arms behind his back. He stands up straight and nods to us as we approach.

Ducking under the tape, she addresses the crowd with a dismissive wave. "Alright people. Go home. Standing around ain't gonna help." Nobody moves, and the crowd goes back to their gossip. I hear a few talking about me, but I try to ignore them.

Momiji sighs and the blue-haired guy cracks a small smile.

"Never works, huh?"

She shakes her head. "Worth a shot. Thanks again for covering for me so I could go deal with that, uh, group. Anything new?"

"Nope. Aya's still inside taking pictures, and the rest of the kappa haven't shown up yet to process the scene. Looks like following that mob to the shrine went well. Who's the new kid?"

"His name's Ben. He's an outsider who offered to help us out. Ben, this is Taki Shirokishi. He's the chief of police for the kappa village."

Taki bows, and I return the favor. Or at least I try to. Ever look up the rules in Japanese culture for bowing? I have. It's nuts. I'm pretty sure I screwed something up, but he just smiles. I guess he didn't expect me to know anything, so he cut me some slack.

"Ok, Ben and I are going to look at the scene. Let me know when the rest of the kappa get here, alright?"

"Will do, Momiji." Taki returns to leaning against the wall.

"You ready Ben?"

"Guess we'll find out. Let's go."

She slides open the door and walks inside. Well it's now or never. Might as well.

RUN AWAAAAAAAAY!

Just kidding.

The first thing I notice upon entering the house is the thickness of the walls. The door is a normal width, but the walls must be at least a foot thick. I guess Momiji wasn't kidding about the soundproofing. The interior looks like a strange mix of traditional design and modern technology. The floor is covered in tatami mats, and a low table sits in the middle of the room. I guess this is the living room. I can see a stairway straight ahead, and another room off to the right. There's a light switch on the wall, which surprises me. I flip it back and forth, turning the lights off and on.

"How long has the village had electricity?"

"Oh, probably a year or two. Kanako had some sort of power plant built down in Old Hell. At least half of the village is hooked up via underground cables, and more buildings are getting retrofitted every week. "

Interesting. But looking around, there's definitely something missing here.

"I hate to ask, but, uh, where's the bodies?"

"Oh, they're upstairs. Why don't we head up there?"

She heads up, and I follow. The walls are the same thick stone as the exterior walls, but painted a soft yellow. The second floor is a hallway with a door on either side and a third one at the end. the door on the right is open, and light is coming out. Momiji goes past the door and turns around.

"They're in the room on the right. You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I reach the door and go inside.

I always wondered if violent media really desensitized you to violence. Not caused violence, that's silly. But whether years of CSI and hundreds of the hours on XBOX Live made me immune to sights of blood and gore.

The result: kinda, I guess. It's pretty disturbing. The room seems undisturbed with the exception of three dead bodies. The scene isn't all that bloody, but the position of the bodies creeps me the hell out. It's the family: father, mother, and young son. The three of them are slumped together against a wall. They all have their arms tied behind their backs and their feet are bound together with rope. They're dressed in plain clothes, I'm guessing pajamas. They all have several puncture wounds in the abdomen, but the father on the right has several more than the others. There's not much blood on the floor, though.

"That's the Daiichi Family. Father Yuto, mother Yuki, and their son Kenji."

"Huh. I used to be friends with a guy named Kenji."

"Used to? What happened?"

"Long story. Anyway…hello. What do we have here?"

I notice something on the ground and pick it up.

"You're right about this guy being an outsider."

"You find something?" She comes in to look at what I'm holding.

"Yeah, look at this," I say, while holding up a small metal cylinder. "You know what this is?" Momiji shakes her head.

"It's called a shell casing. It's left behind when you use a weapon called a gun."

"Never heard of it. How's it work?"

"Basically, a gun uses explosives to send a small metal bullet flying at whatever you want dead. This casing holds the bullet and the explosive. When you're done, you eject this and use another one."

"Is it a big thing?"

"Well it could be, and I'm not an expert on them, but I would guess this guy used a handgun. You could easily hide one of those in your clothing with a few dozen bullets ready to go."

"Why on earth would humans develop something like this?!" She sounds shocked. "I mean, you don't revive like us youkai do. What possible reason is there for something like this 'handgun'?"

I shrug. "Simple. It's for when there's someone that's still breathing and you would like them to stop. It's designed for warfare but it's pretty common in everyday life. Back where I'm from, there's some powerful groups influencing laws to keep the people armed and dangerous at all times."

"But, but, how can they do that?! People must get killed by these, right?"

"All the damn time." I flick the casing back on the ground. For a few seconds Momiji just stares at me, dumbstruck. She really seems to having trouble understanding all of this. Finally she speaks up.

"Just what the hell is wrong with outsiders?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Momiji doesn't say anything. Instead she goes back out into the hall, shaking her head. I figure I should look at the other rooms.

"Um-"

"mmmmmmmOOOOOOMMMMMIIIII!"

I hear a loud voice, and a black and white blur shoots from the bottom of the stairs directly towards Momiji. She tries to dodge, but doesn't have a chance in hell.

When the dust settles (ok, so there wasn't any dust but it makes it sound more dramatic) Momiji is lying on her back, with a figure hunched over her. The figure has straight black hair, pointy ears, and is probably female judging by the black and white skirt. I mean, I'm not saying guys don't wear skirts. I once got wasted at a party and woke up the next morning in a frilly pink skirt. I looked sexy as hell in it, but not everyone can pull that off. Wait, what? Never mind. Anyway-

"Aya, would you get off of me already?" Momiji is flailing around trying to get the skirt, and also the rest of the figure, off of her with no success.

"Aw, don't be that way!" Aya says softly. "You know how much I like seeing you, and especially-"

"AHEM. Uh, as amazing as I'm sure Momiji's boobs are, isn't this an active crime scene? With, like, a bunch of people right out there?"

Aya pulls her face out of Momiji's shirt and turns towards me, her face something along the lines of 'excuse me, but I'm in the middle of something here.' After seeing me, it changes to a mischievous grin. That's…probably not a good sign.

"Why, hello hello! Who do we have here?" Aya rushes me in an instant, and is standing right in front of me before I have a chance to blink. She gives me a quick once-over. "So, are you Momi's new boyfriend? She's got good taste, gotta say. I bet she's gonna OUCH!"

Aya falls to the floor in a fetal position from a massive slap to the back of the head. Behind her Momiji stands panting, arm still in post-slap position.

"For FUCK'S SAKE Aya, you need to stop greeting me like this. And no, he's not my boyfriend. He's that outsider I told you about on the phone."

"Aw, you're no fun." Aya starts standing up, rubbing her head from the blow. "Can't a girl get some action?"

"Not when the village is in the middle of the biggest security crisis since Reimu and Marisa tore through here." Aya central command. Set face set to pout. Pout mode activated! Engage pout attack on Momiji.

"Fine. But your ass is mine when this is done."

I'm guessing that was a figure of speech. She turns back to me and whispers in my ear.

"That wasn't a figure of speech, in case you were wondering."

…

"So uh, anyway, aren't you worried about anyone outside hearing you?"

Aya shakes her head.

"Nope! All the houses in the village are completely soundproof."

"How? The doors are paper-thin."

"Well, there's more than one way to block sound. Around here, we get magic spells cast on all the exterior and interior doors. Blocks out everything."

"Why just the doors? Why not soundproof the whole house?"

"Nah, that ain't gonna happen. It takes a lot out of ya to just do the doors once a cycle. The whole house would be exhausting."

"You mean the 60 year cy-"

Aya stops smiling and glares at me. "What did you just say? I thought you were an innocent outsider." She starts coming towards me.

FUCK, why did I say that?

"Don't hurt him Aya!" Momiji shouts, grabbing at Aya's sleeve. "He can explain!"

Aya doesn't stop. Instead she shakes Momiji off and picks up her pace. She grabs me roughly by the shoulders and just stares at me. For a second or two, she leans in until our faces are almost touching. Then she starts smiling. I'm just waiting for an attack. How's she going to do it? Kick to the gut? Knee to the groin? Rip my arms off and slap me with them, what?

"You're a Touhou fan, aren't you?"

What.

Aya starts laughing hysterically, and lets go of me to grab her sides as she leans against the wall.

"AYAYAYAYAYAYAHAHAHA I KNEW IT!" Aya's laughing so hard that she starts having trouble breathing. I'm still trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. Momiji looks like she's in the same boat.

"Uh, Aya, what did you just-"

"Ayayaya Momi, are you in on it to?"

"In on what?"

"She means what I told you about earlier, Momiji. But how do you know about it Aya?"

Aya seems to have calmed down enough to stop laughing and pushes herself off of the wall. She sticks out her thumb and points it at her chest.

"Hey, I'm the editor and reporter for Gensokyo's finest newspaper! I was able to figure that one out years ago."

"But why didn't you publish a scoop that big?"

"Well, Yukari wanted to keep it under wraps. In exchange she got me some facetime in the series."

Momiji seems confused by this. "What do you mean?"

"She means she's pretty prominent in the series. She's got two games devoted to her. She went from a minor character to protagonist pretty much overnight."

"Exactly! Isn't it cool to be important like that? But that's not all. Yukari gives me inside scoops on everything going on in Gensokyo too."

"Wait, didn't you tell me she does that because you caught her in bed with-MMPH!"

Aya rushes to cover up Momiji's mouth, a sudden look of fear on her face. Momiji, meanwhile, is just flailing around.

"Momi, Momi, didn't I say you were the only one who could know that? Yukari's already mad enough. I don't need the other three on my ass!"

"…ANYWAY, back to what we were talking about. So how soundproof are these doors?"

"Oh, completely." She starts smiling and rubbing Momiji's head. Then she starts speaking softly into her furry ears. "I could make Momi here moan and scream all I wanted and no one would know."

"MMMPPPHHH, MPPH MMMPHH!"

"3 That's right, my cute little puppy. You're all mine! 3"

"Uh, do you mind if I test that?"

"Sure, go nuts!"

I walk down to the end of the hall to the bathroom and shut the door behind me.

zzzzziiiiiiiiiiippp…

"Ok, we need to talk buddy! You- hey, put out that cigar!"

"Oh bugger. I say, you are a boring fellow! Fine, anything else you want me to get rid of?"

"No, the top hat and monocle are fine."

"So what do you want old chap? You haven't been paying much attention to me lately."

"Well, after everything that's happened I just haven't been in the mood. And I just can't have you popping up like this all the time. I mean, I just looked at a bunch of murdered bodies! I don't want to look like some sort of freak that gets turned on by that!"

"Oh, please. If anything, the lasses'll think you were looking at them. Besides, you want 'em, right?"

"That-that's not important."

"You're telling me you don't want to butter their crumpets?"

"Look, it doesn't matter whether I want to or not. You need to control your limey ass better. I'll deal with you later."

"Whatever you say, my lord. Cheerio!"

zzzzziiiiiiiiipppppp…

I open the door back up and start walking out. I stop when I see Aya and Momiji in the hall. "Uh, did you hear anything I said in th-"

I stop when I notice the scene in front of me. Momiji is sulking in a corner with her arms curled around her knees and her ears flattened against her head.. It looks like there's a fresh tear on her shirt. Aya is on her knees buttoning up her shirt, nursing a fresh hand-shaped red mark on her face. She jumps a bit when she sees me. I can practically see the anime sweat drop.

"Uh, did you hear any of that?"

…

"Ok, I guess the doors are soundproof. That explains why no one heard anything."

Momiji's ears perk up. "How so?"

"Well unless he had a special and highly illegal modification on it, the killer's gun is extremely loud. Loud enough to cause hearing damage."

"Ayaya, I knew it was a gun!"

Wait, what?

"Like I said, master investigative journalist."

Oh, whatever.

"So, what kind of guy do you think we're looking for Ben?"

"Well, did you see anything missing or rummaged through?"

"No, I didn't. Did you see anything in the rest of the house Aya?"

"Nah, it all looked normal. I took a bunch of pictures, but I doubt I can use any of them in the paper…"

"Anyway, robbery is out as a motive. He came here to kill the entire family and seal them."

"How do you know that?"

"Well with this soundproofing, he didn't need to kill to cover his tracks. And did you notice how the father was more wounded?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"The killer probably figured that he was the biggest threat, so he neutralized the threat. Probably shot him first to scare everyone into submission."

"So why tie them up? I mean, Momiji knows I like tying people up, but if I just wanted to kill someone I'd kill them. Why the extra work?"

"…"

Aya cocks her head to the side. "What?"

"Nothing. But this guy is a sadistic bastard. Probably figured he might have some fun with his prey before he killed it."

"Ayayaya, what kind of monster is this guy?"

"Definitely human."

"No way. Whenever I have to deal with real dangerous criminals they're always youkai. I've never seen humans anywhere near violent as this."

"Believe me Momiji, we humans are more violent than you can imagine. This guy is a monster for sure, but he's definitely human."

The real story starts here. If things go right, it will get so dark that you'll need night-vision just to read it. I should note that Ben's conversation with his, uh, thing was the first thing I came up with when writing Lucid Dream. The entire thing came to me in a dream. Why was I dreaming that it was British? I have no idea.

Aya's personality is a mix of the more pervy depictions I've seen of her and someone I knew back in high school. She's a lot of fun to write.

*Legal Stuff* The song used as Ben's alarm is "Never Gonna Catch Tomorrow" by Lostprophets. *Legal Stuff*