Marisa made a habit of leaving Reimu out of her investigations.

It wasn't anything personal. Just, they had their own ways of doing things. Marisa could wander around the village without drawing too much notice, ask people probing questions about youkai without setting off a village-wide panic attack. She gathered evidence. She studied. It was a lot of legwork, but it was the kind of thing that a mere human needed to do to keep the title of Gensokyo's number two incident resolver.

Reimu... didn't really do that kind of thing. Even now, after knowing her for a decade, Marisa found her methods kind of inscrutable. Sure, she'd have a look around and ask a few questions, but nothing more. She rarely even acted interested. But more often than not, after days of investigation and analyzing half a dozen clues, Marisa would close in on the perp and find Reimu already there, two steps ahead and guided by nothing but luck and intuition.

Investigation was a hard job for people who couldn't intuit their way through things. Involving Reimu would probably just annoy her.

The fact that the village occasionally paid a handsome reward for youkai exterminations helped too.

Still. Reimu had her own way of doing things. And so, approaching the Hakurei Shrine from the air, Marisa wasn't very surprised to find that Reimu was already walking down the path toward the village.

"Yo!" Marisa called, swooping low on her broom. "Heading into town?"

"The weather's pretty nice," Reimu replied, cheerfully neutral. "It would be a waste to stay home all day."

"Uh-huh." Marisa nailed a landing next to her, noting with pride that she landed almost exactly even with Reimu, to the centimeter. "Mind if I chat while you walk?"

"It isn't like I'm doing anything else."

"Mmhm." Marisa swung her broom back over her shoulder and stretched, both gathering her thoughts and trying to convince Reimu that she wasn't concerned in the slightest. "So, y'know, I've been thinking. Everything about that night Kosuzu disappeared seems pretty suspicious, right?"

"I guess it was," Reimu admitted. "The gods won't tell me anything except that she's alive."

"I mean, like. I could almost believe that Sekibanki would snap and do that kinda thing, but sayin' Kogasa was in on it is kinda hard to believe, isn't it?"

"Mmhm."

"Right. And something's up with Akyuu, too. Laid off most of her servants barely a week and a half ago. Not really what you'd expect from somebody who's planning a feast, is it?"

"Not really, I guess." Reimu yawned and gave an expansive shrug. "I don't know what you think you can do about it, though. Half the village is already mad about the stampede at her speech. Even if you had a really good case, if you just went and attacked her, you'd probably cause a riot."

"I mean, it's Akyuu, anyway. Half the times it feels like a stiff wind would knock her out. You'd wanna be really sure you knew what you were doin' before you picked a fight." Marisa went quiet. They walked in silence for a few minutes, long enough for her to raise the next thought on her mind without it seeming like a continuation of the same topic. "Speakin' of which, though, I guess the feast is today, huh?"

"Oh, is it? I hadn't realized."

"Yeah, heard somebody talking about it in the village this morning." That was a complete lie. Marisa had memorized the date days ago. She'd spent two evenings scrutinizing the announcement posters for clues. "I was thinking I might drop by for a bit, if you wanted to tag along."

"Mmh." Reimu sounded artfully inconvenienced by the idea. "I guess there might be free food."

"And it's the Hieda family, so it's gotta be really fancy stuff too, right? Might even be booze."

"If there are a hundred youkai there, it won't last long."

"Of course... if Akyuu is up to something, this is probably it, right? Getting a hundred youkai together in one place isn't easy. Almost feels like it'd be best to just break in and start shootin', doesn't it?"

"It would be pretty convenient having them all in one place. A lot less work than tracking them down individually."

"As expected of the Hakurei shrine maiden, huh? Ready to take on a hundred youkai without even hesitatin'."

"It isn't a hundred," Reimu said. "There are two of us. That would be fifty apiece."

"More like sixty-forty. You lost our last duel."

"That was a fluke."

"Uh-huh. … besides, it's all theoretical anyway, right? On account of we're only goin' for the free booze and stuff, I mean."

"Obviously," Reimu said, stifling a thin smile.


There was a line to get in the front door gate of the Hieda manor.

The humans who'd been invited to the feast were some of the richest in the village, and they'd dressed appropriately for the occasion. They looked like the kind of people one would expect at a banquet hosted by the most powerful human family in Gensokyo, wearing clothes that probably cost more than everything Sekibanki owned. Several of them were accompanied by servants, looking conspicuously plain among all the opulence.

Nobody else, though, looked even half as conspicuous as Mamizou, leading a rokurokubi and a karakasa obake into place at the back of the line.

The man in front of them glanced back. His eyes widened with disbelief as soon as he got a look at them. He quickly turned back around, but not quickly enough to avoid being noticed.

"Eh?" Mamizou said. "Something the matter?"

The man kept his eyes pointed decidedly forward, like he was afraid to look back and confirm what he'd seen. "I hadn't meant to stare," he said, in a voice that was both bashfully apologetic and rude all at once. "I had only thought that this was the line for humans."

"Oh, for the feast? Old news. Haven't you heard? Whole thing got canceled." Mamizou pulled her pipe out and gave it a waggle. "Mind if I have a smoke?"

"I—they couldn't have canceled the feast. Word would have been sent out. They have guards escorting guests in."

"Oh, yeah, they're letting people in. Just..." Mamizou trailed off, puffing into her pipe until she'd coaxed a fire in the bowl. After a long drag, she exhaled a cloud of smoke and continued. "Way I hear it, all the fish they brought in went bad, but they're still giving the leftovers away to those who'll eat 'em. A bit of ripe seafood never hurt anyone, right girls?"

Sekibanki stared back at her. Kogasa was a little quicker on the uptake. "Oh, um, right! … yum!"

The man sputtered, his cheeks reddening so much that it was visible even from behind. "The Hieda are a noble family. There's no way they'd have people line up to eat spoiled fish."

"Oh?" Mamizou raised her eyebrows, looking very genuinely surprised. "Drat. Don't tell me this is the line for entrails. I could swear they said that was around back."

He finally turned around to stare back at her, desperately searching her expression for the slightest hint that she was kidding. Apparently, he didn't manage to find one. After a few seconds, he slipped out of line, muttering to himself and tugging a retainer along. A few other guests trailed along behind them.

"That was cute," Sekibanki said, "but we should probably be trying not to draw any attention to ourselves. Kogasa and I are still all over wanted posters."

"Ah, cut an old lady some slack. I've been locked up for near a week and a half. Least you can do is let me have a little fun." Mamizou took a few more puffs from her pipe and blew them slowly outward, sending wispy clouds of smoke snaking through the air. "Besides, with what we know about this party, I probably did them a favor by scaring them off."

Sekibanki couldn't argue that part, at least. "Speaking of which, what are we going to do once we're inside? We need a plan."

"It isn't a half-bad question. Interrupting the party's one thing, but doing it without kicking off the human buffet early is another. Any ideas?"

"Oh!" Kogasa said. "Maybe we could convince all of the humans that the food is spoiled? Then they wouldn't have any reason to stay!"

"Ain't a bad plan, but I'm not sure if I have that much thespian in me." Mamizou looked to Sekibanki. "How about you?"

Sekibanki took her time to consider it. "... a fire," she said. "If we can start a fire, they'll have to evacuate the place. That should buy us some time, at least."

"Better. It'd be nice to snag all of Seija's troublemakers while they're all nice n' gathered like this, but that's a bit too much fighting for anyone with common sense. Tell you what—we'll get inside and take a look around. If we don't come up with a better plan by time the thing looks to be starting, we'll weigh our options."

"We have to get Akyuu back too!" Kogasa said. "She might be in trouble!"

"One thing at a time."

The group in front of them stepped through the gate, and the three advanced to the front of the line.

A very tiny gate guard smiled up at them.

"Good Evening Ladies May I See Your Invitations!" Rumia said, so stiffly that Sekibanki was surprised to see that she wasn't reading off of a card. She'd dressed up—or been made to dress up, more likely—for the occasion, in a yukata covered in pictures of fish. To an observer who didn't know any better, she looked like a perfectly normal child.

"Ah, well now, that's the thing." Mamizou stepped forward, making it clear that she'd be the one doing the talking in this situation. "Us three, we're youkai, not humans."

"Oh... then why aren't you inside?"

"Runnin' late. We were running some pretty important errands." Mamizou leaned in conspiratorially. "The kind of stuff that came all the way from the top, if you catch my drift."

Rumia stared at her, smiling and blank. "Nope," she said, after a few seconds. "I don't know what that means!"

"... the point is, we're part of this whole thing. Mind if we head on in?"

"Oh! In that case, you just need to recite the secret passphrase!"

"Passphrase?"

"Right. The one to prove that you're part of the club!" Rumia said pleasantly, not seeming to harbor the slightest trace of actual suspicion toward them.

"Right... well." Mamizou spoke more slowly now, choosing her words carefully. "The thing is, nobody's had much time to—"

"Rumia." The voice wasn't that loud, and the speaker was obscured by the wall, but it was a voice that they were all familiar with by this point—Seija. Sekibanki's joints locked up in indecision, and then she grabbed Kogasa's arm, tugging her aside and hiding against the wall. Mamizou showed the slightest hint of surprise until, in a quickly-dispersing puff of smoke, she was suddenly disguised as a human, complete with blonde, not brown, hair.

Rumia squinted up at her. "... was your hair like that before...?"

A figure stepped out around the corner. From most angles, it was hard to identify Seija—she was wearing that same hood again, and her robe was just baggy enough to conceal her wiry form. Still, she was obviously in a hurry. A simple glance to the side would have spotted Sekibanki and Kogasa pressed to the wall, but she was focused on Rumia. "Come inside. I have a job for you."

"Okay! … only..." Rumia glanced back at the line. "I was guarding the gate, on account of you asked me to?"

"Don't need it anymore. Anybody who wants in can come in, at this point."

"Oh. Okay!" Rumia beamed up at Mamizou and recited, "Welcome To the Summit For A Peaceful Gensokyo Ma'am And Please Enjoy Your Meal!"

"Sure thing, kiddo. You take care, okay?"

At the sound of her voice, Seija shot Mamizou a brief, suspicious glance. Then, she turned and stalked off, dragging Rumia behind her.

"Well?" Mamizou looked over to the two, as Sekibanki reluctantly pried herself off of the wall. "Time to get to work, girls."


Kogasa had never been inside a manor before.

Not that it was much different from other human houses she'd been inside. Just... bigger, really. She was pleased to note that this one had an umbrella stand next to the shoe rack, though—two red, one white, and a green bamboo umbrella, and one modern-looking one made out of metal and plastic. She lingered, inspecting this foreign interloper, until Mamizou called back and urged her to hurry up.

The manor's many corridors had signs posted to herd guests toward the banquet. They mostly weren't necessary. A long, thin procession of humans led through the house, all headed toward a single destination. They could hear the banquet before they even saw the door. The sound of almost two hundred people packed into a single room had a way of making itself known.

They stepped through into the banquet hall.

It was one of the biggest crowds that Kogasa had ever seen, and crammed into a single room, it felt twice as big. So much noise and movement left her overwhelmed for a few seconds, just hurrying along in Mamizou's wake. Even in the middle of the crowd, though, some details quickly became apparent. One was that the humans and youkai weren't really intermingling. The humans were all clustered on the near side of the room, and rather openly keeping their eyes on the youkai. The youkai, too, were sticking to their own side of the room and having muttered conversation. Half of them kept shooting anxious glances toward the human side.

The place had been convincingly decorated for the occasion. Five long tables sat in the center of the room, with flower arrangements heaped at their centers and dining arrangements already laid out. Name cards directed the guests to sit in alternating human-youkai pairs, but barely a dozen scattered people had sat down yet. And...

"There isn't really any food..." she mused aloud.

"That's an amanojaku for you," Mamizou called back. "Won't even give them a good last meal."

The last few humans hurried out of their way, and the three were able to emerge into the relatively unpopulated center of the room. Mamizou beelined toward the end of one table, where there was nobody else to overhear them. She turned around, getting a better look at the place. After a few seconds, she smirked. "Oh. Guess that's why the youkai're acting like somebody's stomping over their grave."

"Huh?"

"Look there."

Mamizou pointed to the human side of the room.

There, walking together around the edge of the room, were Reimu and Marisa. They walked in their own little insulated bubble. The other humans had enough sense to stay out of their way.

"Oh!" Kogasa slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent any other surprised gasps, then parted her fingers to squeak out, "We should hide!"

"Hmm." Mamizou reached up toward where her pipe would have been, only to come away disappointed when she found that she'd extinguished it when they came inside. "Maybe not. I doubt that amanojaku invited them, so if they're here, it probably means something else is up."

"Great," Sekibanki said. "Now we'll just get exterminated along with everybody else."

"We shouldn't stick out here anyway. We still haven't found Akyuu, after all. And I've got a feeling that wherever we find her, we'll find Seija too." Mamizou turned back toward the far side to the room, the youkai-heavy side. "Let's keep moving. The way I figure it, the Child of Miare's chambers are probably the best bet for finding her."

"You know your way around this place?" Sekibanki asked.

"Eh, here and there. Had some literature discussion with the young mistress of the house one time. … snuck in disguised as a servant just to take the lay of the land a few other times. You never know when you'll need that kind of thing."

"I'm sure."

"I don't want to hear any lip about it from the girl who hangs around the village all day pretending to be human." Mamizou picked her way through the crowd of youkai, slipping between people or elbowing them out of the way using some arcane selection process known only to her.

Kogasa had been afraid that some of the youkai might recognize them and try to stop them. Instead, their attention was focused practically everywhere else. Particularly, on the far side of the room. She glanced back, trying to see what was so interesting back there.

One final group of humans had just finished walking through the doorway. Behind them, two of the youkai who'd dressed up a bit more for the occasion—the guards, she supposed—were moving into place to block access to the door.

Closer to the center of the room, a guard closed another door, then stood imposingly in front of it.

"Um...!" Kogasa blurted out. "I think they're about to start!"

Mamizou shot a thoughtful glance back to see for herself. "Guess they decided they're in a hurry." They'd already been approaching the crowd of youkai. Now, she dove into it, fighting her way through with her elbows. "Excuse me! Coming through. 'scuse me. Didn't get your foot out of the way in time, so you earned that."

By the time the door came into sight, the guards were already pushing it closed. Mamizou lunged forward and slapped a hand on the edge, straining to keep it in place. "One second, young lady. Forgot my purse outside."

The guard stared back at her. "Er, ma'am, you know that the feast is about to start, right?" She glanced around to make sure no humans were nearby, then added, "Y'know? The feast?"

"Not a problem. Save us some leftovers, alright? I'll bring back a doggy bag."

The youkai opened her mouth to protest, but Mamizou shot her such a convincing smile that she hesitated.

A second was all it took. The three of them slipped through the door and back into the mansion's corridors.


"Dammit," Marisa said, as the two stepped forward into the center of the room. "Somebody just left."

"Let them go," Reimu said. "If it was a youkai, we can chase them down later."

She'd already been producing a stack of ofuda from her sleeve as she spoke. Now, she fanned a few in her fingers, pulled them back, and flung her arm wide, tossing them out across the room. They smacked against the walls in a scattershot spray, spread out in all directions. A shiver ran through the air, followed by a series of firm clunks, as every door locked itself in a very terminal-sounding sort of way.

Marisa gave a low, appreciative whistle. Cheaty Hakurei sealing techniques. Some day she was gonna learn those things, and nothing would ever stand in her way again.

For now, she raised the mini-hakkero overhead. Energy glistened above it, resolving into a tiny point of light. It trembled, glowing brighter as she compressed it hotter and hotter, then exploded. A sharp, nearly deafening snap whipped across the room with enough force to knock off hats. Not much of an attack, but a heck of an attention-getting device.

"So, hey!" Marisa shouted. Nearly a hundred youkai stared back, while a few particularly insightful ones started beating on the doors. "Afternoon! Nice of everyone to join us. Except, me n' Reimu are pretty curious to know what's actually goin' on here. So, if anybody wants to fess up before the exterminating starts, we'd be pretty grateful. Oh, and..." She glanced back over her shoulder, toward the crowd of terrified humans behind them. "You guys just sit tight back there, okay? This might get kinda messy."


It was never easy for Seija to relax and enjoy a victory.

Today—the feast, the whole Gensokyo Carnivore Club—was the culmination of a long, long project. It had been months of hard work. More to the point, it had been months of peace. She'd wheedled and negotiated with dozens of youkai to get the group together in the first place. On more occasions than she could count, she'd bitten her tongue rather than berate one of them to the extent she felt that they so richly deserved. Even now, seeing it all come together, she couldn't feel much but minor anticipation for what came next.

Seija thrived on strife, and strife had been in short supply lately.

There were signs that was changing, though. Earlier, two guards had come running up from the front gate to report that the shrine maiden and the black-white witch had both forced their way in. It wasn't the kind of thing that boded well. Normally, she might let herself feel hopeful about the odds of a hundred youkai vs. two humans, but she hadn't exactly recruited the most dangerous youkai around. Half of them could barely even fight beyond the level needed to take down a lone, disoriented human.

It had been enough to convince her to bring Rumia inside, and send the order to start the feast as soon as the last humans were in the room. And now...

Shouting came from the direction of the feast hall, and Seija cocked her head, listening. It didn't let up, but became a dull, distant roar, as more and more voices joined the chorus.

"Huh," Rumia said, staring at the door. "They're eating really loud, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Seija replied, so dryly sarcastic that it wrapped back around to earnestness. She pushed herself to standing and walked over to open the room's single closet. Inside, bound at the wrists and gagged with her own sash, she'd stashed Hieda no Akyuu. The real one.

"Looks like I was right to pack you after all," Seija said. She grabbed Akyuu by the wrists and hefted her up over her shoulder, only straining her wiry muscles a bit in the process. She rolled her shoulders to get Akyuu settled into place, then crossed the room, opening a door that led out into the gardens.

She hadn't taken a single step before the door on the other end of the room, leading into the rest of the manor, flew open. Yaeka came stumbling in, half breathless and too panicked to even pretend to be Akyuu. "The shrine maiden!" she gasped. "She's attacking. We need to get out of here before she comes this way."

"Uh-huh." Seija glanced over to Rumia. "You remember what to do, right?"

"Stay Here And Fight Anybody Who Tries To Chase Miss Seija!" Rumia recited.

"Wait, wait!" Yaeka rushed into the middle of the room. "You can't just drop everything and run! Everyone's locked in there with her! We have to do something!"

"You're half-right. Me, I'm getting out of here. But if you want to help them out? Go for it. One more youkai might slow her down a bit."

Now, Seija kept her eyes on Yaeka's face, studying it, drinking in every little tic as she slowly realized what was happening here. "I... but they're our allies, you promised me that—"

Yaeka kept going, babbling her way through attempts to rationalize the situation. Seija lingered for just a moment, letting herself bask in it before she stoked those fires further. "Allies? You think I care about any of you?" A dry chuckle. "That's cute. Just real cute."

"But you—!"

"Don't owe anybody anything." Seija turned around, and shot a rude gesture back over her shoulder for good measure. "You have fun, though."

Seija shut the door behind herself and took off running.

A freshly-betrayed ally, an innocent human slung over her shoulder, and self-righteous youkai-hunters gunning for her.

She hated to admit it, but it felt damn good to be a proper villain again.


They'd barely gotten three steps outside of the feast hall before something had slapped into the door behind them. An explosion had rattled the walls. It was followed by a chorus of shouts, which was only growing louder with each passing seconds.

It was all the more reason to keep moving. Mamizou led them hurriedly down the many corridors of the Hieda manor, stopping now and then to peek through a doorway or down a long hall. They took a sharp turn, heading toward what Sekibanki dimly remembered as the Child of Miare's quarters. This deep into the manor, everything felt surreal. Their surroundings were as abandoned and still as they'd been the day that Sekibanki had infiltrated the place, but in the background, they could hear the constant, muffled roar of the mass brawl going on in the feast hall.

"So, um." Kogasa shot a worried direction back toward the way they'd come. "This is good, right...? If they beat up all the youkai before they eat any humans, there won't be any reason for anybody to get angry after this, will there?"

"Probably," Sekibanki said. "I don't think Seija planned on somebody stopping it this early."

"I'd still sleep a lot easier if she didn't escape with one of the most important people in the village." Mamizou packed her pipe and re-lit it again as they walked, leaving smoke trailing behind them down the hallway. She paused at another intersection, then chose one of the halls and led them down it. "Think I hear somebody this way..."

Sekibanki could hear it, too, as they got closer. The frantic sounds of somebody trying to do half a dozen things at once, with muffled voices underlying it. As they got closer, she could just make out the words.

"—slow those humans down. If we barricade the doors from the outside, they'll have to fight every single youkai before they can get out."

"Got it! … huuuh, but won't that trap all the youkai too?"

"They're already trapped in there! Only thing we can do is turn it around on the humans."

Mamizou's hand settled onto the door and she shot a glance back, silently urging the two of them to get ready. She pushed the door open.

The room's purpose was immediately apparent, between the ancient scrolls lining one wall and the more homey living area on the other side—it was Akyuu's personal quarters. Inside, Rumia looked up in bewilderment, still holding a paper where she'd been very seriously writing down her orders. The room's other occupant had been dictating, but now trailed off.

Undisguised, Yaeka barely looked any more imposing than she did as Akyuu. Short, and with fluffy hair and thick, fuzzy eyebrows, she looked more like the personification of a teddy bear than anything dangerous. She whipped her head around to glare at the door, only to freeze in surprise as she saw who was leading the group.

"Mamizou...!" Yaeka squealed, taking a step back.

Mamizou didn't dignify her with an immediate reply. She exhaled slowly, a smoke cloud roiling out of her nose to fill the room. "That's my name. Don't suppose you have anything to say for yourself, do you?"

"How did you get out?! Why are you—?!"

"Y'know, lockin' me in a cage is one thing, but working for an amanojaku, that's just unforgivable."

"You, you should know me better than that, come on! I was using Seija. Once youkai were on top again, I was going to ditch her!"

"Uh-huh. And that's why you're the one left here holdin' the bag, and she's nowhere to be seen, right?"

Yaeka reddened, but didn't respond. Mamizou sighed. "Thought I'd taught you to be a bit brighter than all this, but you never were one for making good decisions. Would y'like to point us to that amanojaku friend of yours before I start beating some sense into you, or are you dead set on makin' me work for it?"

Yaeka's flush deepened even further. Rather than respond, she leapt forward. Her body exploded outward into the form of a tiger in midair. A leg as thick as a young tree knocked the desk over and sent papers flying. A paw the size of a dinner plate slashed down to smash Mamizou.

Except Mamizou was now standing half a meter to the side, and still in motion. She whipped her sake jug around on the end of its cord, smashing it against the side of Yaeka's tiger head, and managed to catch it on the rebound to take a sip.

Rumia hopped away from the fight, dropping her pen and paper in the process. Sekibanki latched onto her shoulder, giving it a squeeze and meeting her eyes. "Do you know where Seija went?"

Rumia stared blankly up at her, then spread her arms into an awkward-looking fighting stance. "I'm supposed to fight anybody who tries chasing Miss Seija," she said uncertainly.

"And I'm not—" The Mamizou vs. Yaeka brawl drifted closer, and Sekibanki had to pause mid-sentence, sidestepping a toppling desk. "I'm not going to ask twice." Sekibanki's eyes flared with a light so bright that it washed out the features of the girl's face. Her head rose up, looming over Rumia atop a neck almost a meter long.

Rumia tried to hold her ground, but a terrified squeak escaped her lips. "Miss Seija ran out the door," she said.

Kogasa took a few steps toward it, then paused. "Um, Miss Mamizou, do you need help, or...?"

"Wouldn't be much good if I couldn't take this little ingrate." Mamizou paused to hop over another attack, and jabbed the burning tip of her pipe into Yaeka's eye in retaliation. "You two go ahead. I'll catch up when I'm done here."