Twenty Years Later- Bunbunmaru Spirit News archives

Incident that wasn't really an incident turns out to be an incident!

Sometimes, matters in Gensokyo are so strange that they take even the most experienced and skilful reporters by surprise. For example, when certain scheming humans and youkai plot a surprise party for Reimu Hakurei and send her to deal with a false incident, leading certain reporters to be unjustly attacked and harmed, one assumes that said false incident should remain false.

Such is not the case in Gensokyo. For despite my remarks upon the incident proving to be false to Miss Reimu Hakurei leading to my injury, it turned out the incident was very much genuine, for as we speak, a certain karakasa, Kogasa Tatara, has surprised us all by double bluffing us and filling Gensokyo with a great fog caused by 'dry ice', a strange substance provided to her by Yutaka Hadekawa, a scientist magician youkai.

While she gleefully proclaimed her great surprise to us in the fog, we are yet to see her, the fog being far too thick. However, by following Reimu Hakurei as she has begun to solve the incident, I have identified the first few affiliates of Miss Tatara.

The first girl to be attacked by Miss Hakurei was a young youkai of darkness named Rumia, who was quoted as saying that 'she never gets a break from being beaten up by humans' and that she had 'nothing to do with it'. However, she admitted that she was rather enjoying the cover of the fog, but Reimu left before she could say much else.

Afterwards, Reimu Hakurei attacked Miss Mystia Lorelei, yet another youkai associated with impairing the views of humans. It seemed that Reimu was not truly searching for the cause, merely attacking any youkai that would benefit from the cover of darkness. It seemed she had not heard the karakasa's bragging in the fog as I had, and was attacking aimlessly.

The next victims of her aimless assault were Miss Sakuya Izayoi and Miss Remilia Scarlet of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the latter of which called the incident 'totally unoriginal' and 'surprisingly surprising given the culprit's track record'. It was at this point Reimu deduced who the culprit was for herself, and looked in a more organised fashion. She started by going to the Myouren Temple, where instead of Kogasa, Nue Houjuu was waiting.

Their battle was disappointing, especially given Nue's reputed skill with danmaku, however, given the mist, who can blame them? Of course, I could easily blow the mist away with my wind, but pictures wouldn't be as authentic if I cleared the way, and it was thanks to my holding back that Reimu did not spot me.

However... it was also due to my holding back that I... um... lost Kogasa. So instead, I went to see the person who provided the dry ice to the umbrella girl, who's identity I deduced by asking Remilia Scarlet about the matter. Her recently bookish nature came in handy, as she quite plainly stated this mist was not at all like the mist she had made many a year ago.

She claimed the substance was 'carbon dioxide', which is the gas form of a substance called 'dry ice', a fact she had learned from reading her old friend, Patchouli's books. I then came to the conclusion that either Patchouli or her strange... partner was responsible.

So I immediately flew to the house which I had once mistaken to be an unholy abomination of a House Youkai due to its swift construction, and entered courteously into their library to ask them questions.

Aya: Hello, my good magician friends!

Patchouli: The next time she breaks one of our walls, we should kill her.

Yutaka: I don't have faith we would manage such a feat...

Aya: Excuse me, I entered your house, care to greet me?

Patchouli: Hello. Get out of our house.

Aya: Wow, you sound defensive. Defensive of... CAUSING INCIDENTS?

Patchouli: I had hoped that subject wouldn't come up...

Aya: Aha! My deduction was correct! You, you with knowledge of dry ice, you supplied Kogasa Tatara with the means to make a mist and surprise us all!

Patchouli: Actually, you are wrong.

Yutaka: Why yes, you are. I was the supplier of the dry ice, although Patchy knew, naturally.

Aya: You... don't seem all that scared. I... I'm going to put this in a newspaper, where everyone can read it, you know...

Yutaka: And I should think so! The boss is so lucky, getting to live in our... his flying mansion, where everyone can see, and we live here in the forest. The isolation was nice, but... I want people to come to me for assistance in incident creation too!

Patchouli: Seriously? That was the reason you...

Yutaka: Well, no, the Boss asked me to make the dry ice for Kogasa, and I thought that...

Patchouli: Once again, with your boss! I feel second best to him, I...

Aya: Hold on, back up. Dawitsu's involved in this?

Yutaka: Um... yes, he mentioned something about promising to help Kogasa with her incident in song, or something...

Patchouli: Can we stop talking about him? Yutaka does nothing but...

Aya: The HEATHEN!

Yutaka: Oh, come off it, just tell him you have a crush on him, get rejected, and have it over with. All this talk of evil religions isn't going to make him fall in love with you, you know...

Aya: I... I... I don't know what you're talking about!

Patchouli: For pity's sake... just change the subject!

Aya: Yes! Let's!

Yutaka: (sniggers to self)

Aya: Stop laughing! So, what did you do to get enough mist to cover all of Gensokyo?

Yutaka: It's quite easy. I just converted a patch of trees into concentrated carbon dioxide, and altered conditions to chill the gas into solid form, and placed caches of dry ice in various areas of Gensokyo. Once Reimu inevitably beats Kogasa, I'll fix the situation for her, because we know poor Kogasa won't be able to convert all this carbon dioxide back by herself.

Aya: So... you're closely affiliated with this incident. Are you going to fight Reimu? Perhaps as an extra boss?

Yutaka: Heavens, no! Well, unless Patchouli's...

Patchouli: Absolutely not.

Yutaka: Look, Patchy, I know it's your time of the month, but try to...

Patchouli: Shut up!

Aya: Um... can we keep this conversation focused?

Yutaka: Sorry.

Patchouli: It's okay. Next time, declare my menstrual cycle from a soapbox, so everyone can hear...

Aya: I said to keep it focused. So, will Reimu ever know you were involved?

Yutaka: As long as Kogasa doesn't say anything out of turn...

Aya: I see. What would happen if this mist remained?

Yutaka: Well, there is a potential for the gases to trap more sunlight than the usual atmospheric composition of gases, leading to temperatures getting higher.

Aya: Ooh, that sounds heavenly! Do you have to fix the mist?

Yutaka: Trust me, it's not a good warmth. I will revert as much as I can, but I make no promises.

Aya: I think the fact you've decided to stay hidden away from Reimu is cowardly. I have a good mind to tell her that you're responsible myself!

Patchouli: While she's searching for the ultimate culprit herself? She'll shoot you up herself, perhaps as an extra boss...

Aya: I couldn't be an extra boss, could I... ooh, actually, that sounds good... Aya Shameimaru, Extra Boss... I think I've got to go now.

Patchouli: Oh, that's great, you're leaving.

Yutaka: Indeed, it is... I mean, goodbye, Aya, you will be missed...

With that, I left the house, to write this very article. And, as you can guess by this interview, I'm due to be an extra boss! Me, an extra boss! I'm so excited! Oh, I hope Hatate takes pictures for me! Oh, but will she get my good side? Oh, I'm so nervous... oh no, I'm typing my thoughts! How to I delete this? Oh dear! Oh well, this article's too good to waste just due to a bad ending. Hooray!

Article written by Aya Shameimaru

Present-day hindsight: Like, Aya thinks she's so cool, calm, and confident, but, like, she's totally a little girl at heart. I tell you, after her fight with Reimu she told me all about it! She was all like, 'Hatate, did I look good?' and I was all like 'Your face was wrong, you were busy concentrating', and she was like, 'You're just a bad photographer'.

In the end, I never got to publish those pictures... like, a shame, she was so excited, too...