Inubashiri Momiji sighed as she ruffled her snowy hair, disappointed once again that her friend, the Crow Tengu Shameimaru Aya, was late. Her shift hours had come, and she could not delay: so, with little remorse, she left her friend's house, and soared away at breakneck speeds, never bothering to look back and, perhaps, catch the sight of said friend return home at exactly the same time.
It had been one of those days. She, the Crow Tengu, had printed far too many copies of her newspaper 'by accident', and, wanting to deliver it to all walks of life as a 'free sample', she had convinced her to watch the home and ward off intruders till she returned. Momiji did not particularly like that tactic, owing to how it was usually her that the Crow Tengu would rely upon, which meant that her break hours were not being used to their fullest extent, but what could she do? Aya was far too good at negotiations, and she herself was never the type of person to say no, lest the requests be from Outsiders to the Village, so, in the event when she came to ask for her help, she hadn't the heart to not oblige.
It wasn't long before she reached the usual spot where she stood, when she wasn't roosting around the Waterfall of Nine Heavens: it was a nice little jutting of stone, that survived the rains and wind and looked much like a cresting wave in the sky, situated on the high tops of Youkai Mountain far above the Great Youkai Forest and clear on all directions. She landed with a silent tip-toe, and, now donning a face of diligence, went to her work of observing the autumn-hued mountain.
Still, even with this diligent face of her's, she could not stop thinking about what was happening within the higher order of Tengu society. She wasn't there when it happened, be it that her shift had been far from over, but those of the village, and the other Wolf Tengu close enough to Lord Tenma's abode to hear, had told her of how detrimental it was to the Tengu's relations with those higher up the mountain. Whatever it was, she hoped it would not be too much for both parties. In the worst-case scenario, it would mean forced eviction…
Her nose wiggled. She picked up something in the air. A scent, unlike that of the forest. And it was… close?
An intruder?
Strange. The last shift should have picked it up before her- heck, they should have seen said trespasser in this distance.
In any case, now was not the time for pondering. Unsheathing her sword and shield from behind her back, she rose to the air, and flew down the mountainside, to where the scent was strongest.
She entered a small clearing between the trunk of the trees. A little sniff, and she picked up the musty scent of old, barren soil. Nothing smelled like this, in this level of Youkai Mountain. Was something here? Momiji checked her surroundings for the scent's elusive source, but found nothing.
Could it be… She was starting to lose her-? No, she thought to herself as her grip tightened around her blade handle and shield strap, I just have to follow this scent.
Her lupine ears stood up, and she went to work. Sniffing the air, hearing the sound of the trees, and watching to see if the leaves, the stones, the individual grains of dirt, would move.
Silence.
And then-
Her blade fell with a clang. She shot out an open palm to the trees. Air made contact with her. No, with something tangible! She could clearly feel something there! Grabbing onto it, she pulled, with all her might, a loud yell escaping her mouth! This thing, this invisible thing, was not getting away!
Katsuragi Keima popped out of Komachi's hagoromo.
She gave a cry of surprise at the sudden appearance of the man as she let go of the man's yukata, inadvertently sending him rolling onto the center of the clearing. Momiji stared at the limp body, dumbstruck. She was correct! With trained fleet of hands she took up her blade, and, without another thought, rushed towards him, intending to pin him down and interrogate him of whatever he was here for. She could see, he was trying to get up. No time, she raised her weapon and aimed the butt of her blade-
"DO YOU WISH TO HIT A GOD!?"
Momiji halted.
Huh?
HUUUUUUUUUH?
"Wait…" Momiji muttered as she lowered, but still readied her blade, her eyes wary as she looked at the supposed 'God', "You're a God?"
"Y-yes, I am! The God of Conquest!"
God… of Conquest? What, a war God? Weren't those exceedingly elusive, now? And why would one be scaling Youkai Mountain, invisible? Was it to avoid detection from them, the Tengu, and ascend to Heaven? She had to be careful with these. War Gods were said to have awesome abilities of combat and logistics, so if he were to go all out against her, even with danmaku, then she wasn't sure if she would win even with the aid of the other Wolves.
Well, that was, if, he wasn't a lying human trying to wriggle his way out of danger.
She readied her poise as she gave out her signature warning to all the trespassers of the mountain: "None are to trespass the lands of the Tengu. Either you turn tail and go no further, or you face the wrath of the denizens of the Mountain."
"I wish to go further!" He answered without a second to pause, crossing his legs and planting himself firm on the floor.
Momiji pouted and puffed her cheeks. Brazen fools were the hardest to work with, especially those with personalities like his.
"Well," she began to explain with vengeful indifference, her annoyance having seeped into her tone, "You could have used the Moriya Ropeway to bypass Tengu lands, but, as you might have noticed, it is closed for the time being."
"Why?"
"Why?" she repeated, letting it roll in her mouth. "Well, there are… issues, with the Moriya Shrine and the Tengu. We have closed off access to it, until… well, an indeterminate time. So please, see yourself out of this forest, or I will be obliged to force you out."
A breeze from the distance blew through the trees. Momiji stood firm in all areas, waiting for her next answer. If he were to fight, then she would have to call for the other Wolf Tengu. Because only a war God would be willing to fight her, as opposed to an unarmed human.
The man's face grew grim as he looked down to consider.
"Look, I can't wait all-"
"Shogi."
Momiji held her tongue. A baffled look casted upon her face. Her eyes narrowed, and she asked, cautiously, "What did you say?"
"A game…"
Suddenly, a board appeared from a sudden poof of smoke in front of him.
"...of Shogi."
He clapped, much to the surprise of her ears. With a pose reminiscent of some praying monk, he pleaded to her with a vigor much unwanted by the wolf tengu, declaring into the winds: "If you win, then I will leave this place! If I win, then I will have unimpeded access up the mountain!"
"Oi, oi! Don't yell so loudly! What reason do you even have for coming up here?!"
A moment of silence. Then, he glanced at her. She flinched at those resolute eyes.
"The Moriya Shrine."
The Wolf Tengu glared. The… the Moriya Shrine, he said, and she'd first thought that he was trying to get up to Heaven. Why would a God visit another God, especially one of war visiting one of the wind and rain. What, was he hoping for a sudden downpour during one of his battles? Was that it?
Momiji began to consider the God's new proposition. He was asking her to have a single match of Shogi, a game she had been playing since her early childhood hundreds of years ago, between hundreds of opponents, from Tengu, to Kappa, to just masters bordering the line between mortality and Godhood. No matter the angle you looked at, this guy here was asking for far too much. Not from her, but himself. Wolf Tengu were renowned all around Gensokyo for their mastery of the ancient board game, so for someone to challenge them so confidently, and with such resolve, made the heritage within her boil.
"O-okay…" she agreed, shrugging off the hesitance in her voice from her actions, before she placed down her sword and shield and lowered herself to a comfortable sitting position on the ground. She hoped no one else was climbing up Youkai Mountain, by this point. "I will play."
The shogi pieces were all laid out, and each side had the standard number and type of pieces. Playing on a level playing field, he was, and Momiji could only scoff at the thought.
She bared her lustrous fangs beneath the canopy shadows.
"You'll regret this."
She moved her first piece. That piece, she concluded, will be the one winning her this match.
Most matches lasted thirty minutes. Heh, she was going to finish this in half that time.
She did, actually. In fact, she finished it in one-seventh of the time. A completely-one sided affair.
"Checkmate."
Momiji lost in four minutes.
The Wolf Tengu's snout snapped open.
The God pulled his hand away, and looked up from the board to stare at her. The moment her eyes met his, he smiled. The man was absolutely disgusting.
H-had she made a mistake with one of her moves? W-was it her game plan that was faulty? No matter the reason, she couldn't comprehend how she could lose. Cold sweat tumbled down her face as she stared at the sorry state of her side of the board.
"Humph," God scoffed, pointing his nose high and mighty into the air, "I have beaten hundreds of master Shogi players (including a 3D one); how would a dog like you EVER defeat me?"
W-what? Master Shogi players?
Oh no, a war God playing Shogi? A war God playing simulated battle.
War Gods were masters of logistics.
If war Gods were good at commanding hundreds of troops through actual battlefields, then… Oh no, she should have realized it sooner. War Gods are literally pre-programmed to playing shogi. How did she not realize it sooner!?!?!? The hundreds of master Shogi players he referred to were real life generals and other war Gods! She was sooooooooo stupid!!
I was never in the position to win.
Standing on trembling legs, she gave her hesitant curtsy of surrender to the overwhelming presence still sitting on the floor, and, teary-eyed, she uttered, "Y-you may pass, G-God of Conquest…"
The Shogi board popped out of existence. The God of Conquest rose from his spot, spectacles glinting in the light peering at them through the canopy.
"You have delayed my journey," he said, voice hollow, an impersonal apparition to the Wolf Tengu, "Pray you do not delay it any further."
And thus, he leapt into the air, fell a short distance till he almost touched the ground, and then swooped upward into the sky.
Strange things happen in Gensokyo. Broken seasons, red mist, fake moons, flying boats, flying people, and so much more. Momiji had seen enough of it for her to find little surprise in anything else, but today, though? She was starting to doubt her capacity of common sense.
I wanna… I should take this to Aya…
She collapsed onto her knees.
But I don't want her to know my SHAAAAAAME!
O - O - O - O
"You nearly didn't catch me."
"That's the least of your worries, 'sides, I wasn't expectin' you to try and act like you can fly, much less you suddenly jumping all superhero-like!"
Two mouths grumbled as the mountain air parted from their path. Keima, looking up as high as his head could tilt, waited in anticipation for the peak of the mountain to reach his view. Komachi, on the other hand, grimaced over what she'd just seen, confused and befuddled over what to do with what she'd just seen, but then she began to scoff, the idea morphing into something humorous in the Shinigami's mind.
"You're lucky that it was me who got caught, Onozuka," Keima stated in a low mutter, clearly irritated by the obstacle he had to deal with. Komachi, on the other hand, fell into a giggle.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for protecting me, my prince~" the Shinigami joked through her vixenish smile, before she flew higher in altitude till they passed where the forest stopped reaching, and the large rocky cliff sides began encapsulating all that they could see. "Anyways, the place is close, so wait just a bit. We couldn't fly before, cos the hagoromo just couldn't deal with me speeding up so fast and cloaking us both at the same time, but now, with you in the clear, and the hagoromo not slipping, anymore, I can reach the shrine in a minute."
The boy gave a respectful nod in response, before he went silent to contemplate whatever it was he would always think about.
"But a game of Shogi?" Komachi muttered, nonplussed and rattled by what she had just seen. Keima, swaying on her arms beneath her, scoffed at the silly question. Her scythe flapped wildly behind her like a tail, her veiling hagoromo securing it to her waist. "How did you guess? And how are you so good?"
"Just good intuition, and don't underestimate my gaming skills." Keima, without a second's thought, replied, before he began scanning his surroundings. There, in the distance to his left, he could see some constructs on the cliff side. He asked if those buildings were the Tengu settlement. She said yes. He took a mental note of its cliff-side location. Next to it was a great waterfall, whose load crashed with such power that even in this distance he could hear clearly the rushing of the water. The right held little for him to see, for it was the back of the mountain the right hid behind its own back, and, according to Komachi herself, none, including most of the residents of the Mountain, themselves, are allowed access there. The Road of Liminality, where they exited from, was only at the near outskirts of that unknown. Keima glared at the unseen mountain hidden behind its sides. He couldn't help but ponder of the sights and oddities there; an untouched place, in a world already untouched by modern society. A mystery within a fiction.
Is it some Extra Stage area? Will that place appear in a future game? So many questions…
Before he could play around with those ideas, Komachi rose over the cliff edge. Something entered… no, something covered Keima's view.
A great lake, of blue murkiness deep as space, and surrounded by grand sentinels in the shape of polygonal towers, spanned the entire plateau before them. The miniature sea glowed in the basking sun, and the cool air blew great, enchanting ripples in the otherwise calm surface. The great Onbashiro pillars loomed silent over them, radiating the presence of sleeping beasts so strong that Keima scowled a doubtful baring of teeth on instinct
Komachi, on the other hand, just gave a familiar whistle.
"The Wind God's Lake," she named, before she paused to heft him up for a few more seconds of flying, "That just means we're almost-."
DORODORODORODORODORODORO
The Shinigami shot a glance at the sensor pinned to her chest.
Keima's eyes bulged at it.
The sensor, it was blaring! A Runaway Spirit?! Where?! There looked to be no one here, for miles!
And then the bubbling water reached his ears.
"Komachi!" Keima cried quickly, grasping her arm to, "Cloak us, now!"
Without a second thought, she followed his orders and frantically pulled at her hagoromo, desperately trying to get it on both of them. Keima smacked the sensor multiple times, till it grew quiet. That distracted the Shinigami, though, for she was now smacking him back instead of accomplishing her original task.
"Don't hit my boobs!" Komachi screamed, red as her hair beads.
"I'm trying to shut it up!" he retorted with equal fury and anxiety, before pulling at the hagoromo, too, "Now just cloak me, before-!"
A pop entered both their ears.
Both pairs of eyes turned to the source. The water, it was… boiling? No, it was being disturbed, it was… it was turning into a geyser. Something was-
One great, last and desperate tug and grunt, and both of them disappeared from the world.
O - O - O - O
The great darkness parted; the curtains of glass bead trickled down for the light to finally reach her, and she inhaled fresh air, nose flaring from the stunning difference to the stench of the lake bed.
Tired, battered, and in need of sleep, Yasaka Kanako, toes skimming the water, looked miserable to the world. Her fist clenched. Her body tensed itself awake. She needed not dwell in her little patheticism. The Moriya Shrine had been without her for almost a day now, thanks to her prior insistence in something as silly as fasting beneath the Lake, and she was regretting ever thinking of such a decision. Just what was wrong with her, doing something as time-consuming and, frankly, useless as a day-long fast? Was she turning senile, because in the past few days, it really felt like it.
The fast had done little to reorganize her thoughts, for the onerous Kanako could not bear to tear herself away from her gripes and spiteful temper to look and marvel at the lake's fish or starry void. She dwelled, stewed and bubbled in her meditations. The lambent rage within her rivaled that hell raven's latent energy, so much so that she had to fire off her Onbashiro's into the air three times last night, making fireworks for the night, and perhaps trouble for the Shrine once Heaven took notice. She felt like going on a rampage. She wanted to. But she could not. Her pride did not allow it.
It was not like this sensation had never dawned in her before. She had had her bouts of frustration, and far too many times her dealings with the Mountain denizens had resulted in debilitating quantities of alcohol, not out of celebration, but out of the Shrine's fear that she would go and tarnish the name of the Moriya for the sake of forceful threats. In the past, some things went the direction of her second wind in Gensokyo. The Autumn Goddesses far below the mountain had pledged their allegiance to her the moment she touched down, owing to the fact that, in years past, they had been old friends. The Kappa of the Untrodden Valley and Genbu Ravine were easy to sway, especially with outside world technology swaying in front of their faces. They had a reliable energy source from Old Hell. The Hakurei were not much of a bother, anymore, and their spot at the summit of Youkai Mountain made for a great vista for a Goddess like her to peer down on the land and make herself feel high and mighty.
The excitement of those advantages, though, were but morning glories to the coming night.
Nothing went the way of the Goddess, anymore. The past few rotations had seen her shrink her smallest, crumble the most, and commit depredations to those closest to her. The first two, she relented. They were stupid decisions, all on her part. The last one, though? That one, she could not feel any ounce of guilt for; for how could she not be allowed to confute the people who whisper into her ears such fallacies as her being senile and unreasonable and too bold and too desperate and too easily angered and…
Kanako's fist loosened, till her fingers hung down. The sun was high in the sky. The breeze was cool and nice. The mountain air was clean and refreshing.
But for how long?
The bags on her eyelids felt like massive weights. She took her eyes to the clouds, and crumpled her face at the sight of such long-gone majesty, till they looked as tragic as the broken mirror hung on her chest, cracked from the pressure of the lake.
'You can't linger in these feelings', snapped a part of her hidden away. She agreed, but how could she at least ride through the swamp of tar? One method lighted in her brain.
Her lungs softened. Her mouth opened. She had not done what she was going to do in years, but, with the specter of incapacitating tension looming over her shoulder and the lack of any ears close by, she could not help but find some means of expressing herself in the philosophical, the metaphorical, and the musical, once again.
Yasaka Kanako began to sing.
Her voice traveled through the open land, far enough for it to dash into every pillar. Her pitch echoed in her booming throat. Her eyes closed. The shimenawa on her back laid unmoving.
Nature lent its ears and eyes to her fervid performance.
It was an old song, come from a great poet and songwriter that Yamato had forgotten, a ballad of the Gods and their struggles for the world, and the performance made to her during her first steps into the Shrine. It had never been played elsewhere, but her mind. It had no instruments, but the sound of the echoes as they returned, themselves embodying the reward of one's efforts having been reaped after the sowing. It was for no one, but herself.
The highs, the lows, they all reverberated through her skin as she listened and sung out her frustrations. The sweat of her brows tumbled as the sun watched her closer. And then…
The climax.
The apex of the song.
The Earth, Sea and Sky stood at awe as her voice overtook her majesty.
A Japanese Opera Masterpiece.
The Goddess still had her voice.
She inhaled the moment the song ended. The air began to calm, and the clouds began to move at the call of the high winds once again. Her eyes opened once again, and she hoped that they at least looked staunch for the time to come. She had much more things to do, and the singing shouldn't have told her so: she herself should.
"Well, then…" she muttered to no one but herself, adjusting the sleeves which had moved during her gesticulations and prodding the tuffs of hair on the side of her head till they puffed as much as she would like her image to be associated with. "Best not keep myself awake. Need to rest up for tomorrow. More… faith to gather, and all."
A melodious croak answered her. She looked down. A little frog's head was peeking out of the water. Kanako frowned.
"Don't tell anyone."
Her now tired and hoarse voice were enough for her to prove her point. The sneaky amphibian submerged, rather frightened, and finally the loneliness set in once again. She took that as an assurance that the calm had return, and that would be inoculated from disturbances. So, without further ado, Kanako hovered away, exiting the area. When she was out of sight, the lake stilled. There was no need for the land to perform to an absent audience. Slowly, the breeze followed, then the chirping of the birds and the incessant buzzing of the dragonflies. Kanako had left nothing behind; no disturbances, just the utmost respect in the form of harmlessness. She rarely returned so quickly, and so, with that fact in mind, the world around the Wind God's Lake slept.
And then two heads popped out from nowhere.
O - O - O - O
"Whoa…" Komachi wowed, mouth agape and eyes wide as she separated from Keima, bringing along the hagoromo on her scythe handle, "So… a Goddess has a Runaway Spirit? And Kanako sings… and she sings really good? What is going on, I don't even know."
Keima grimaced, sympathizing with her concerns. Placing a hand on his chin, he began to explain his thoughts: "Judging by how surprised you were that she sang, I'd say that wasn't usual of her. We'd better act fast."
"You think she's got a gap in her heart because of whatever's happenin' with the Tengu?"
"Of course it is," he snapped at her, much to her surprise, "All the tell-tale were leading us on that direction. The Moriya Ropeway being closed, that Wolf Tengu specifically mentioning it being closed, our resident Goddess singing about…"
"The hardships of a God?" she reminded him.
"The hardships of a God, and, most importantly, the newspaper that ties that together. We solve her problems with the Tengu, we close the gap, and when we close the gap, we catch the Spirit, with an empty bottle, this time."
"Touch wood, Katsuragi. Touch wood."
Keima shot her a glare. She answered with a sardonic roll of the eyes.
"So, then, Katsuragi, does that mean you won't be doing your romancing?"
"Best case scenario, yes."
"So, you're a politician, now?"
"In 281 GAL games, yes."
She leered before continuing with her questions. "Worst case, then?"
"I have to make her value me more than whatever she's trying to get from the Tengu."
Komachi's face scrunched up from his preposterous premise. Walking close enough for her to see her reflection on the lake, she replied, sardonic in tone, "If she went down in that lake just cos' of the Tengu, then what you're doing's gonna be pret-ty hard." Her scythe handle stamped the ground. "I don't… have to do much, this time, right?"
Well, now that was a good question. Would he reward her lack of use with naps, or should he walk down the path that could make her a respectful worker? Even if Eiki was a past capture, his respect for her work… and the fact that a bit of leniency wouldn't hurt if he, for some reason, ever met her in the future made him consider.
"I…" his word lingered in the air, "Might need you for a few errands."
Komachi sighed in dismay and smacked her forehead in some gesture of tire. "Gimme a break..."
"Knowing how much Eiki loved you, I thought I'd take the obligation of making you a hard worker," he bluntly retorted, his stone-cold face driving home the point.
Komachi, startled by his words, sputtered spit into the air before she screamed at him, "Oh, don't you DARE think it's like that between me and her!
"Oh, how delusional can you be, you idiot!" Keima yelled back with an assertive finger between him and her, much to the surprise of Komachi, "No female heroine misses someone that much without having affection points invested in them, nor do they suddenly find romance a good replacement unless that's the case!"
"C-can we just shut up about that," weakly countered the Shinigami as she crossed her arms and looked away with faltering crossness, "You're gonna make a Goddess fall in love with you: might as well make up some plan for the impossible right now!"
"Pfft, I already have."
Komachi blinked, lips stretched to a taut, straight line and eyes shooting him a baffled glance. "What? Really? Since when?"
She swore his glasses gleamed as he began his explanation: "Well, I'm helping her with the Tengu, right? That just means that I might run into the Wolf Tengu we met. I can't be a human, because the Human Village is miles away and no human's coming up the Ropeway, and I can't be a Youkai because someone's gonna notice."
Komachi, listening to his introductory explanation, started chuckling the deeper he went. Something this preposterous as what this man right here was suggesting just did not make any sense to her. "Wait, wait, wait, s-so you're-" she paused to take in escaping breath, "You're saying that you're actually gonna-"
"Why not? No one knows who I am, and I convinced that Wolf Tengu pretty easily."
His partner stopped laughing. A look of stricken disbelief came over her.
"You're not kidding, are you?"
"Why would I kid?" Keima pouted, shooting irritated glares at her.
"B-but they're originally from the Outside World! They would recognize you in an instant!"
"That's where you're going help me!" His finger rocketed outward towards her.
"Don't look down on me because you think I'm gonna pee my pants staring down a heart of a Goddess! Your worrying won't get us anywhere, but if you wanna stop me from doing this, then you'd better follow my instructions to a Tee, because I'm…"
O - O - O - O
The sudden gusts swooping down upon the Moriya Shrine gave a light startling to the Shrine Maiden in her usual sweeping. It kicked all the autumn leaves into messy splatters of ill-defined shapes all around the Shrine grounds, and in a usual scenario, it would have made much fuss from the Maiden, but this time, she could not bring herself to do so. Instead, she looked up into where the wind had come from, the Heavens, and stared, seemingly creating premonitions and questions regarding the strange tides. It felt like no wind. No tree around her even rustled. The laundry she had hung must have felt nothing, as well.
But then, just as her brooding went to rest, she heard something. She turned to the steps leading to her home, and… Wait. Was that the clapping of shoes? She hadn't heard such cacophony in quite a while, now, on the account that everyone who wished to visit the shrine flew in, so who could it be?
She tensed. It couldn't be: a worshipper? Here?! The Ropeway was still closed, so how could one come so far up here?
What devout followers!
Quickly throwing her broom aside, she rushed to greet the visitor. The smile on her face grew at the thought. For once, this would please her God, who had just arrived back from her fast, and who looked to be dying for an occasion like this. Oh, joy!
"W-welcome to the Moriya Shrine, good worshipper, are you here to... make a... donation?"
The top-hat popping from beneath the stone made her slow down.
And then the modern spectacles and tuxedo made her stop.
She couldn't even bother to register the PFP on his hand, because his dress code had shocked her blind.
Black as night, and so dapper his sharpness began to fright, the stranger finished the tremendous climb, and stood, impossibly imposing, at the torii of the shrine.
She approached warily, her mind apprehended and numb with paralysis. Questions, though, do not wait for their dams to control them, but before she could speak her mind he tossed to her his little electronic device, and patted his hands of the gamer's sweat.
His gaze looked far into the Shrine.
"Send this message to the Goddess, would you kindly:" he turned his deep gaze to the shaking Shrine Maiden, "'Kanako, I'm here to offer'."
I'm going to role-play God.
The Once-Troublesome Mysterious Avatar of Mountains and Lakes. The Independent and Inflexible God that Likes Hills.
Yasaka Kanako
Heaven Watches Second Capture Begin
