Unlike during most nights in Gensokyo, the moon, surrounded by its distantly-watching cohort of stars, was not present to guide the way. Instead, under the great quilt of clouds that had moved in over the Myouren Temple, the only illumination present came from the dim flickering of the candlelit front lobby behind us, though it was quickly engulfed by fog, and the lantern that Byakuren held in her hand, swinging quietly as we walked, lighting up the dark green as we trailed off the main road and into the grass. The night was unexpectedly quiet, save for the barely audible shuffling of my shoes and Byakuren's sandals on the ground – even the wind, usually so ubiquitous and brash in its shuttling of Gensokyo's nighttime air, had deserted us behind the barrier of trees enclosing the temple grounds.
After several minutes, the lantern revealed a low stone rampart in a state of considerable disrepair, a wall that now barely served its original purpose as it had crumbled and collapsed in many places. Byakuren and I hopped over one of the holes created by the wall's dilapidation, the magician doing so with far more grace than my near-tumbling over the scattered stones on the floor, and we found ourselves in what could only be described as a graveyard. Rows upon rows of tombstones were lined up as far as the lantern would allow us to see. The silhouettes of those markers of death formed both the foreground and backdrop of the landscape, with only a few trees, the pink-petaled flowers sprouting on their branches, and the deathly-still grass matting the cemetery floor carrying the only signs of life in the vicinity.
Byakuren lifted her lantern, bringing the group of branches above us into view. The petals appeared almost sickly in the yellow glow of the candle inside the lantern, and the branches that held them were thin and malnourished, but that wasn't what had attracted her attention. Instead, she was looking farther up, where a small cone-like object was lodged in between the branches, seemingly pointing downwards at us. To my great alarm, the object abruptly began to shake and expand into a circular form, making its way downwards at an accelerating pace.
Byakuren pulled a slip of meticulously-painted paper from her pocket and threw it into the air. She knuckled her index and middle fingers and jabbed at the paper as it flew towards the mystery object. At once, as the paper disintegrated, the entire tree exploded into a green flame, causing the object to suddenly screech and bounce off the tree trunk, landing in a deformed and quivering lump on the ground in front of us.
"I do not have time to play with you today, Kogasa Tatara," Byakuren said to the lump, in the manner of a stern teacher lecturing an unruly student.
The lump was lifted up, and a small, petite girl, who looked almost at the point of tears, emerged from under it. She had curly, turquoise hair that matched the color of one of her eyes, its opposing number being a shade of dark crimson. The vest she wore was also turquoise, as was the hue of the rest of her dress. Clearly, she had some sense of fashion, even if she apparently did not enjoy any other kind of common sense.
Byakuren clapped her hands together, and the flame that had coated the tree was immediately extinguished.
"That hurt, Byakuren!" exclaimed the girl. She picked up the still-trembling mass from the ground, and pulled on a stick protruding from it. As the mass coiled around the stick, I realized that what she held in her hands was actually a purple umbrella, with a strange, red tongue-like feature trailing from its folded canopy.
"I have a visitor with me today. He is a non-magical human, so I would suggest you save the games for later."
"I'm not playing! You have any idea how hungry I am?" Kogasa stamped her foot on the floor in frustration. "Why won't you let anyone get scared by me? You even had to tell the youkai at the temple to look out for me!"
"My priority is the wellbeing of the residents of the temple. Unless you choose to join us, I will continue to ensure that as little people fall prey to your antics as possible."
"That's why I won't join you!" Kogasa pointed at Byakuren. "You think I'm just a nuisance! Anyone who doesn't take me seriously doesn't deserve my attention! Hmph!"
"That is why you will always fail to scare people. You are petulant, and hence predictable."
I felt somewhat sorry for the little youkai now, so I decided to help her out.
"You really got me there, Kogasa. I was scared for a bit."
Kogasa's eyes widened, and she looked at me expectantly. "You were?"
"For sure! You didn't even make a sound when you were coming down. If Byakuren hadn't been here, I'd already have run away long ago."
A sparkle, visible even in the dark of the night, appeared in her mismatched irises.
"Hurray!" she cheered, and giggled. "I'm so happy I scared you, mister. It's been so long since someone said that to me. I feel full already. What's your name?"
"I don't remember. You can just call me 'the traveler', I suppose."
"What are you and Byakuren doing so late out, mister traveler?"
"We are looking for one of my associates," Byakuren cut in. "Would you happen to have seen anyone here?"
"Sure did. I saw a girl in glasses walk by a couple hours ago, but she was way too fast for me to scare."
"That must have been Mamizou. Have you not seen anyone else?"
"Nope. That's all that's been happening." Kogasa yawned. "I'm so bored. Wanna come hide with me, traveler?"
"Again, Kogasa, he is with me," Byakuren said stiffly.
"Oh well. I guess I'll come with you then." Kogasa reopened her umbrella, letting the pattern emblazoned on it come into full view. It was the face of a one-eyed monster, its glaring iris a bright scarlet, the same color as its jagged mouth and protruding tongue. A black rubbed ferrule capping the umbrella served as the eyebrow, wiggling and twisting as Kogasa threw the umbrella's canopy wide open.
"We'd hate to trouble you, Kogasa," I said hurriedly. It seemed odd that a youkai like her would want to follow a human, but then again, she was probably lonely, especially given that probably next to no one ever visited the cemetery. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to take my words the way I meant, and her smile instantly vanished, to be replaced by a frame of desperate sadness.
"I knew it," she muttered forlornly. "No one ever wants me to be with them. I'm totally worthless as a youkai, or even as a living being."
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean? Everyone tells me the same thing, that I'm annoying to be around, or that I should go do something else. But what else can I do? Scaring people is all I'm good for, and I'm not even good at that!" She once again looked on the brink of breaking down and sobbing.
Byakuren sighed.
"You know what, Kogasa," she said as Kogasa's round eyes watered. "You are right. You are as worthless as you think you are."
"Byakuren! Please don't say that."
But just as Kogasa's petite features began to scrunch up, Byakuren continued.
"But that is why you should stop thinking that your life has no meaning, or that your only purpose in life is to shock others. Because if you believe something for long enough, it will become your reality."
I looked at Byakuren. She no longer looked frustrated or annoyed. Somehow, in the fading glow of the lantern, I could see that she was speaking from her many centuries of experience, her many years of facing a fate she sought to defy for as long as she possibly could.
Kogasa stopped pushing the tears from the sides of her eyes and looked up. Byakuren placed a hand on her head and drew her into her arms.
"Instead, believe that you can do something for yourself. Believe that you can make your own purpose, your own reason for living. Define your life by what you can do, not what you have done. That way, you can be at peace with yourself."
Kogasa sobbed for a few seconds into Byakuren's robe, Byakuren patiently patting her head as she poured out the last of her sorrow. When Kogasa drew her head away from Byakuren's embrace, her face was not one of despair, but one of a newfound defiance.
"Will you let me come to the temple with you, Miss Hijiri?" she said, hiccupping quietly.
"Of course, but only if you promise to stop scaring people."
"But then how will I feed myself? I need to eat spirit to survive!"
"You need to practice being hungry. That is part of our way of life, the practice of austerity and self-denial."
"I don't think I'm ready for that right now." Kogasa twiddled her fingers shyly. "But could I… come to the temple later?"
"The Myouren Temple is open to any person, at any time." Byakuren smiled. "For now, though, we should get going."
"Do you still want to come with us, for now?" I asked.
Kogasa nodded. "I'd have nothing to do otherwise. But where are you two going?"
"To the Great Mausoleum," Byakuren replied. "That is where I believe Mamizou should be."
Kogasa shivered. "I don't like that place. It's too big, and it's creepy at night."
"That seems little different from this cemetery, to be honest," I commented.
"I guess you're not wrong." Thus, Byakuren and I resumed our walk, with our cute new follower in tow.