"This is Professor Usami, we are going through the barrier, communication might not get through on the other side. Over" Usami Renko said in her communication device.

"Copy that professor, good luck to you and your team, over.." came the reply.

It's been almost twenty years since Maribel disappeared in one of their club investigations and never to be heard ever again. At the same year Maribel disappeared, psychics and other people who could see glances of the other worlds or boundaries surrounding them were used in an experiment to take a glance through the other hidden realms.

Countless experiments were made but none of them were a success except the one in Japan. The experiment done in Japan was a great success, for the first time people could see through the other side of the boundaries and record it. The experiment was repeated countless times and sent through surveillance equipment. The images of creatures never seen before, humanoid creatures flying with or without the aid of wings. But that didn't last long, they could not see the other side after 2 years no matter what they tried. The data really pushed forward the barrier technology further ahead.

Twenty years later since the experiment, they found a way to go through the boundary. Renko was in the group of people who were selected to go through to the other side and explore.

Renko was not excited at all, this was the place Maribel had disappeared, this was the place that kept appearing in the dreams and it wasn't curiosity that made her want to go to the other side. No, it was that little hope she had left of meeting her friend again that made her volunteer for the team.

After a brief short work of what felt like a walk through some kind of thick fluid, they were greeted by a sight of an old shrine, very old and deteriorating but it looked like it was taken care of, surrounded by cherry trees. But that wasn't what caught their attention, only the trees around the shrine were lush green but the landscape surrounding them was lifeless and barren with dead trees decorating it.

"We were not expecting visitors this early in the morning or from the other side of the barrier" The team turned their head to see a boy walk out of the back of the shrine. "It makes my job a lot easier that you have came earlier than expected"

"I would have offered tea but we're out of it so I think water will do. Now, follow me if your little group wants some answers" The boy turned around and promptly went to the back of the shrine, he glanced back at the group then sighes. "Are you guys coming or not?"

The members of the team looked at each other and followed the boy, recording everything; the sight, the sound and any other thing in the surrounding.

There was a small house at the back of the shrine and a table out in the open with chairs arranged around it.

"Sit" The boy motioned to the chairs "I'll bring the water while you think of questions you want to ask"

The boy came back with a tray full of cups probably full of water as he said he would bring and placed the cups in front of the five people sitting around the table.

He clapped his hands and smiles "Time for question and answers, I've been alone for the last 8 years with only the goddess in the shrine and she is too weak to be able to have a proper conversation. Raise your hands if you have any questions alright!"

"I have one" A member of the team raised his.

"Ask away, I'll try my best to answer"

"What is this place and what happened"

"Straight to the big question I see" The boy smiled gleefully. "This land here is what used to be Gensokyo, a place where the forgotten creatures of fantasy would often seek refuge from the genocide that the humans in the outside world were unknowingly committing" he sighed

The boy suddenly lost the playfulness in his eyes and continued. "20 years ago, the barrier called the great Hakurei barrier was experiencing an anomaly and during that some things from the outside world appeared, those things as we found out were surveillance devices which were being used to peek into Gensokyo and that started all this… well most of it anyway"

"How did a few devices do all this?" Another one asked.

"The creatures of fantasy or Youkai came into existence from the fear of the unknown of beliefs that humanity always had….. but when humanity started using science to explain everything that was unknown to them, the Youkai and other similar beings lost their source of existence. The reason the barrier was created was to keep all that science and logic out and keep the fantasy alive" The boy took a deep breath and sighed.

"Those devices sent images and other information about Gensokyo and that led to speculations on what was inside. You outsiders started using your science to speculate on what was inside and what all those creatures were, for a moment the residents were rejoicing that the people of the outside world had started to believe in their existence until some of them were ejected out of Gensokyo or simply turned to dust. You people tried to explain their existence using the evolution theory and denied their existence"

He took a sip from the cup and continued. "Slowly the perfect balance in Gensokyo was destroyed and the barrier started to become strange, slowly denying the existence of those whose existence were known in the outside world and ejecting them. That included the air. Suddenly Gensokyo was nothing but a vacuum, almost everything died. Some of us were lucky to have created our own pocket of air to survive but everything else died"

The story almost seemed like a pile of shit but some of the evidence said otherwise. The team just sat there in awkward silence processing the information.

"You wouldn't happen to know what this is right?"Renko pulled out an old book and handed it to the boy.

"It's the Gensokyo Chronicles which was published about 70 years ago" He answered and stared at her. "Are you perhaps related to Usami Sumireko?"

"Yes, she was my aunt and how did you know?"

The boy pointed to a corner of the cover of the book. "This here is a symbol which says 'owned by Sumireko Usami', it's a magical symbol. Any more questions?"

"Yes, 20 years ago me and my friend came to the spot from where we entered today" Renko started. "She disappeared right at the moment when she touched the barrier….. would you happen to know where she might be, or at least the place of her last moment?" Renko felt bitter when she said that out loud.

"If she touched the barrier from the outside 20 years ago then you will have a better chance searching for her in some historical records" The boy replied. "Since the barrier was experiencing a time anomaly, she might be sent back in time or thrown into the far future of simply into space"

"In a few days the barrier will disappear and I will too. I struggled to stay alive just to tell the tale of the mass genocide humanity has committed and to tell that we used to exist" The boy pulls out a gun from nowhere and points it at the team. "Please get the hell out of here from the same point you came in. I want some privacy during my last few days of existence"

Finally the outsiders had left, the boy sighed again. "The amount of bullshit I have to spout for that damn gap Youkai"

"So...with this you can get out of this place now huh" Hakurei Reimu, the new Hakurei God slowly became visible behind the boy.

"Yeah, now I am just waiting for Yukari to give me a ride"

"Then see you later, some of the people are get ting quite rowdy without you there to stop them" Right after saying that Reimu slowly started to disappear. "See you on the other side"

"Yeah, see ya on the far side of Mars" The boy said with a smirk on his face. "The first human colonization fleet will reach Mars in 5 years, just thinking of their face when they realize that the whole of humanity were fooled is too funny, right Yukari?"

A gap opened up in the air and Yukari peeked out of it with a scheming smile. "Your ride is here~"

"Huh….. God damn it Yukari!" A gap opened up beneath the boy and he fell.

The end

Author's note:

Hello there, this little nonsensical plot came into my mind while I was sitting in the middle of the examination room and writing the answers for my exams haha.

The other story on my account is not my story but since the author of that story had seemingly abandoned it so I might pick it up and try to continue it... Fuck this was my first time writing anything.