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Chapter 7
White Lotus


After returning from visiting the Supreme Leader, Remilia, who looks just like the one from the other world, was told by her maids at the Scarlet Devil Mansion about what happened after she left.

Looking at Sakuya, was who on her bed and having her wounds tended to, she said, "Those people will pay for doing this! It seems that the Supreme Leader's theory is correct, about alternate universe counterparts of people from our world being here…"

"I'm sorry for being unable to stop them, milady…" parallel Sakuya said in shame to her.

"It's all right," Remilia told her. "It's normal to be caught by surprise by unexpected opponents."

"I have not been able to figure out why they would want the fortune cat back," added the maid. "I doubt the Hakurei shrine maiden wants it back simply because it originally belongs to her."

"You have a point," said Remilia. "Why bother coming all the way here and using the help of alternate universe counterparts to steal something that can be easily bought in stores? There's got to be something about that fortune cat we don't know about…"

"What do you propose that we do?" asked Patchouli, who was tending to Sakuya's wounds using magic.

"One of the security cameras captured footages of them, right? Tell the Supreme Leader about this, and we'll also use the footages to spread the news," replied Remilia. "We're going to get the whole town and even the country to go after them!"


After escaping from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the girls received a call from Miko, who called to ask how things were on their side. After learning about what happened, she suggested them to head over to the Myouren Temple, as the people there were secretly against Eiki as well, so they would surely welcome the Resistance with open arms.

The Resistance did as they were told and headed for the temple. Because the president contacted the temple about this beforehand, the Resistance was indeed welcomed with open arms.

"It's good to see you, Miss Hakurei!" Shou said as she approached the Resistance when they stepped out of the van with Nazrin at her side.

"Even before Miko told us about you people, I knew you would be against Eiki, though at the same time, I feared that what happened to Byakuren would be enough to scare you into following her," said parallel Reimu.

"Our master fought hard to stand against the tyrannical rule of the judge, so we would never let her sacrifice come to a waste by siding with Eiki just because of that," Shou told her. "We have been secretly gathering people who were willing to step forward to do something. We were told that you have a plan in bringing her down, so we waited for a long time for you to return to liberate us all."

"Sorry to keep you waiting," said the shrine maiden. "Things took longer than expected, but it was worth it in the end."

Shou and Nazrin looked at the counterparts, and the tiger demon said, "So they are the counterparts the mayor told us about?"

"Nice to see you-ze!" Marisa greeted them. "You look the same as the ones from our world! I'm sure you'll get along with each other!"

"How about we get inside the temple first?" suggested Nazrin. "I don't think things will be good if other people see you…"

Sekibanki went back to the van to hide it somewhere safe. As they headed in the direction of the temple, they saw Kyouko, who seemed to be a year or two older than the one the girls from the other world knew. "Good afternoon! Welcome to the Myouren Temple!" she cheerfully greeted them.

After the yamabiko was greeted back, Shou and Nazrin took them to a room deep in the temple that would keep them from being seen by anyone outside. Along the way, they also encountered other people living in the mansion, and they all look just like their counterparts.

"You should be safe here," Shou said when they arrived in a particular room. "Please make yourself at home."

"Come to think of it, I've never been into every part of our Myouren Temple yet," said Marisa as she looked around the place. "I wonder if every single part is the same."

"It probably looks the same, since the design outside and the rooms we've seen all look the same as ours," said Reimu.

"Then I guess it can change into the Palanquin Ship as well," said Marisa.

"Yes it can," said Minamitsu, who came into the room with them.

After sitting down and being served with snacks by Ichirin, parallel Reimu explained to the folks at the temple about what their plan was, concluding with that their next destination was the underground.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Nazrin.

"I have confidence that the special suppressor will definitely work," said parallel Reimu. "All we need now is the special blaster made to work with it, because the suppressor alone won't do anything to her. Speaking of the underground, I've received a mail from Yukari regarding the location it is hidden in. I sent the map Miko gave me to her to find out more about that place."

She took out her smartphone and showed them the map and also the information that was sent along with it. "Looks like the outskirt of the town," said Nazrin. "I can't be sure, since I only went there once to help someone find her lost property. You'll probably have to ask someone who knows his way around the underground if you want to find it."

"If Miko hid it there herself, I'm sure she knows how to find it," said Reimu.

"Problem is that she can't be seen hanging out with us," said parallel Reimu. "Now that our existence is known to the folks at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, everyone else is going to know about us eventually."

"Word of us is likely to reach the underground as well?" asked Youmu.

"Trust me; news get around very fast here," parallel Marisa told her.

"You won't be able to get to the underground through the normal entrance, though," Shou told them. "It is guarded."

"Guarded?" asked Reimu, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"It's been like that since the underground settlement was established," parallel Reimu explained to her. "Since we are wanted, the guards definitely won't let us pass. However, I have heard about secret entrances unknown to the law, and they are used by people who are avoiding the law or those who are smuggling illegal things."

"Just so happened that there is one in our graveyard," said Nazrin. "People still use it, and the law still has yet to find out about it."

"Shady people hide out in the underground nowadays, and I heard that they even established their own secret settlement down there," said Minamitsu. "The underground is a vast place with several areas that are unknown to most people, thus making it the perfect hideout for those on the run from the law."

"Which makes it the perfect spot to hide the blaster," said parallel Reimu. "All right, we'll move out during the night. We'll get there using the entrance in the graveyard."

"Will there be anyone down there willing to help us?" asked Sakuya.

"That's a good question!" said parallel Marisa. "I don't know…"

"Are the folks from the Palace of Earth Spirits against the Supreme Leader?" asked Reimu.

"Honestly saying, I don't know what their affiliation is…" replied parallel Reimu.

"We don't know which side they are on either…" said Shou.

"Looks like if there's anyone willing to help us, it's those people hiding out in the secret settlements the ship ghost said," said parallel Marisa.

"Maybe or maybe not, since they're all probably rowdy people who do things as they please," Minamitsu told her. "Just because they hate Eiki doesn't mean they are willing to cooperate in overthrowing her."

"You think Miko know the affiliation of the folks in the palace?" asked Reimu.

"I was thinking of asking her as well," said parallel Reimu. "I'm sure we'll get an answer from her."


Not very long after Remilia proposed the idea to use the footage recorded from the security camera as evidence of the Resistance's presence, word was sent to different news studios. Aya and Hatate both arrived at the Scarlet Devil Mansion to get information on this as a result.

Showing the two tengu said footage from Meiling's shack, Remilia said to them, "Is this enough for you to make pictures for your newspapers?"

"This should be enough," replied Aya. "Reimu and Marisa are well known, so even without pictures, most people should know what they look like, even if it's been five years since people saw them."

"Let's get the footage processed into pictures, then!" said Hatate. "I'm going to make sure that their younger clones get what's coming to them as well for humiliating me yesterday!"

"Then I leave everything to you!" Remilia said to them. "See to it that everyone is after their heads! The Supreme Leader is going to be so happy about this!"


That night, about 10 P.M., the Resistance set off for the underground. Sekibanki, Sanae, and Sakuya didn't go along, as they stayed behind to keep watch and warn the others of the situation on the surface. Parallel Marisa borrowed her goggles, as they needed it in case the blaster was hidden inside something. Led by Shou and Nazrin, the group walked through the temple owned by the Myouren Temple.

Thanks to flashlights lighting the way, they were able to see names written on the tombstones, and some of them were names of people the girls from the other Gensokyo knew, much to their surprise.

"Yuuka, Elly, Kurumi, Rumia… I can't believe these guys are dead…" said Marisa in disbelief.

"Yuuka wasn't a very nice person to begin with," parallel Marisa told her. "After she was killed for acts of violence, Elly and Kurumi tried to avenge her. You know what happened after that…"

"What about Rumia?" asked Marisa.

"For eating people," replied her counterpart.

"But humans are her diet!" Marisa told her.

"Doesn't mean it's legal, though," said parallel Marisa. "Eating humans or any intelligent life is a crime here."

As they were saying this, parallel Reimu stopped in front of a particular tombstone to look at it with a sad expression. Her counterpart looked at that tombstone and was surprised to see a familiar name on it. "Genji?!"

"He insisted on buying me time to let me escape, even though he wasn't really capable of self-defense in the first place…" said parallel Reimu in a sad tone that sounded like she was going to break down into tears soon. "I wouldn't let him do so, but as we were running, he turned and confronted Eiki's men without me realizing it… By the time I realized it, it was too late…"

She bent down in front of the grave and lowered her head to pay her respect to the turtle. Her counterpart also did the same thing, despite him not being the same Genji she knew. When they were done, they got up and continued on their way, and then they came across a large and well-decorated grave. In front of it was engraved the name 'Byakuren Hijiri.'

"This is… Hijiri's grave…?" asked Youmu with a surprised look.

"Yes…" replied Shou with a sad look. "Our beloved master… She was hailed as one of the greatest person to have ever lived. A role model, teacher, and motherly figure… When Eiki tried to take over the world, she stood against her, reasoning that a world were people's lives are controlled for the sake of peace is not true peace, but her worlds were unable to reach the ears of the judge, who was blinded by rage at the tragedy five years ago… She fought until the very end, and she never got the chance to bid us farewell, as she was brutally killed in battle with Eiki…"

The atmosphere was very melancholic when the others heard the story, especially to the girls from the other world. It was depressing enough to learn about what happened to this world, but after seeing all the people who lost their lives as a result of this enforced peacekeeping, things became much more depressing than originally thought.

"We really have to stop her," Reimu said in a tone that implied anger while looking at the ground. "We have to stop her before any more lives are lost."

"Right, I think I've heard enough of what happened already! I'm angry!" said Marisa with a look of anger.

"It doesn't matter how tough things will be, I simply cannot sit by and allow Eiki to do as she pleases anymore!" said Youmu angrily. "I will see to it that she gets what she deserves!"

With newfound determination to bring down Eiki, the group headed through the graveyard again until they came to a certain grave. Shou and Nazrin pushed the tombstone as hard as they could until the entire grave slid away to reveal a staircase underneath it. "This is it," she told the others when they were done. "The path to the underground settlement is straightforward once you're down there, so you shouldn't be able to get lost."

"All right, we'll take it alone from here," parallel Reimu told her. "Look after Sekibanki and Sakuya for us as well, and remind them to contact us if there is anything important."

"We will," Shou said with a nod.

The Resistance then went into the staircase one by one. When all of them went underground, Shou and Nazrin pushed the grave back to its place and then looked around to make sure that nobody was watching before quickly returning to their temple.


Parallel Reimu and parallel Marisa used their flashlights to light their surroundings and the way forward. After descending the stairs, there was a winding passage heading downwards before their eyes, so they followed the path until the descent stopped and they arrived at a more spacious area.

"You know, I was thinking if there are secret entrances like this back in our Gensokyo," said Marisa.

"There are at least secret passages leading to the underground science lab," Reimu reminded her.

"Underground science lab?" asked parallel Marisa.

"Yeah, our Kanako ordered the construction of such a place in our Gensokyo," her counterpart told her. "They make lots of things related to science and technology down there. I've only been there once or so. The folks back in our world are mostly ignorant about technology, to the point of being afraid of them, so building a place like that on the surface would likely cause a ruckus. Even so, there are some buildings I've come across in the Human Village that have electricity, most notably restaurants."

"Makes sense, since those kinds of places rely heavily on electricity and running water in order to operate nowadays," said parallel Marisa.

They continued down the only path, and after minutes of walking, they saw light coming from the end of a tunnel they were in. When they exited the tunnel, they found themselves standing on an edge, and in the distance at the bottom, they could see that the source of the light was coming from a town.

"Is that… the Former Capital of your world?" asked Reimu.

"Yes, that is the underground settlement I told you about, Sub-Capital," replied her counterpart.


TO BE CONTINUED

Hope none of you have a problem with who got killed off in this world… I apologize beforehand if you were hoping to see them in some form in this story...