-Six Years, Six Months Ago-

"Pant… pant… I… I did it!" proclaims the exhausted but victorious amanojaku. "With these tools, I'm invincible! Not even the shrine maiden can stop me now! Gensokyo, get ready to face your new ruler!"

Following her escape from the last group of would-be captors, Seija sits against a tree in a nondescript forest somewhere between Hakurei Shrine and Myouren Temple. Attached to her waist ribbon and tied around her torso are all nine cheating tools. Dark grey clouds hide the sky late in the afternoon; once the rain comes, any remaining tracks Seija left behind will be washed away.

They've given up for now but I'm sure they'll be back. No way they'll leave me alone if they were willing to bend spell card rules to capture me.

Her former partner's words replay in her mind as she reflects on previous battles, "Unfortunately… upheaval is impossible at this point. We've already lost this fight."

Seija grasps the Replica Miracle Mallet on her side and holds it up to her face, sneering. "Hmph. Idiotic weakling. I went to all that trouble finding the Miracle Mallet for her and she gave up that easily. Even if those annoying incident resolvers beat us once, there's no way we'd lose again now that I found these tools. The past ten days are proof, yet still she submits to them." Her eyes angle upward and stare through the thick trees.

Sure by now she told everyone the story I fed her. They've probably done their homework and cleared things up, too. No way she'll work with me again now that the truth's out. Guess that ship's sunk for good. Luckily, these tools hold all the power from the Miracle Mallet I'll need. I'm still not proficient at using more than two at a time but my improvement's been quick. Soon enough no one will stand a chance!

Drops of rain begin falling, prompting Seija to stretch her arms and stand up.

I should find shelter and stay hidden tonight, then leave the forest tomorrow.

Fortunately for her, the trees prove an effective shield during the downpour's early stages. She manages to find a particularly tall, wide, and slightly arcing trunk to fully protect herself before it really pours down. Using the Nimble Fabric as a blanket, Seija wraps herself up and attempts to settle into a comfortable position while leaning against the tree. Her initial high from victory simmers amid the rainy ambience.

…I won today. I escaped the strongest figures of Gensokyo. So why am I still in the same position I was before everything started? All this power at my fingertips and I'm hiding under a tree in the middle of a rainstorm somewhere in a random forest.

Over and over she retraces her steps from the past six months in her mind.

The inchling and I had something going there with our plan for a while, yet we lost. Still, when it first seemed like she might be beaten, I only thought it was a setback. Those three humans using their corrupted tools should have made them easily influenced afterwards. But Reimu cast hers aside before coming for us and captured Shinmyoumaru. The maid brought hers but was more interested in using it than anything else and went back to her mistress with no fanfare. In the end, only the magician was a potential target. I almost got her on our side, then it utterly fell through since I didn't know about the mallet's recoil effect.

Her brow furrows and she balls her fists.

That stupid recoil effect. All that work we did enraging youkai and empowering tools to gather allies, blown back in our face because the mallet ran out of power. Spent months tracking down these nine tools that still held residual magic while that inchling cozied up to Reimu and gathered back most of the mallet's scattered energy. Thought it was a bluff at first and we'd turn the tables on them, but that was giving her way too much credit. She lacks the conviction necessary to rise up from her station. And, even though she turned the power of the Miracle Mallet against me, I defeated her and the magic in my tools persists. With them I'll overturn the social hierarchy! I don't care if it's her birthright or whatever, I'm the one who found that mallet and I'm not giving this piece of its power back. For all I care, Shin can-

The amanojaku's eyes widen, only slightly.

'Shin…' Why did I just call her that? It was a shorthand meant to endear myself to her while we were working together. Guess I need to break the habit.

Smiling, she says, "Heh, lost with her and won without her, some partner that inchling was… Eh, shouldn't be surprised. An amanojaku doesn't need friends anyway. I only went to her because I couldn't overturn Gensokyo on my own before. That's now a thing of the past!"

"-yawn- …What a weird thing to remember." Stirring in bed is a very hungover Seija. "What time is it…?"

My head's pounding like Shin whacked me with her mallet…

She sits up and rubs her face when her nose catches a whiff of a calming aroma. Looking around the room, she spots a tray with a plugged teapot wrapped in a cloth and an empty cup an arms length from her futon. A note lies next to it, which Seija picks up.

This tea should still be warm when you wake up, use it to clear your head.
I've got food prepared when you want to eat. Don't worry about it going bad,
most of it can sit out. The rest is easily reheated. I'll be in the dining room.
Take your time.
-Shin

I told her already that she doesn't need to wait on me like I'm helpless, yet… Hmph, she never did follow up on telling me about that feeling I described to her. But this headache hurts too much for me to think about that topic right now.

In spite of the annoyance she tries to convince herself she feels, Seija pours herself a cup and finishes it in one long chug. The temperature is just cool enough that it does not burn, letting her rapidly drink with no consequence. And she continues doing so, downing a second cup nearly as fast. It greatly mitigates the throbbing in her head.

Thanks, Shin. …It's been six and a half years since that day. Why did I dream about it? Reminds me of how convinced I was that I'd soon be at the top. Turns out all I would accomplish is becoming yesterday's news. That said, can't deny how good it felt putting all those self-aggrandizing idiots in their place.

Through the window she can see light from the midday Sun, cluing her in on the current time.

Not as late as I thought, I should head to the dining room.

"We've officially completed phase one of planning!" Shin cheers, pumping her fist into the air and holding up a freshly finished glass of water.

"Ugh, not so loud…" Seija complains while rubbing her temple. On the duo's table is a simple but tasty spread of rice, vegetable, and fish dishes, of which a good amount has been eaten.

"Sorry. But at least you had fun last night, right?"

"Blasted airhead lasted longer than I figured. Thought she had my number for a second since I drank more than her beforehand."

"Either way," says Shin, "we didn't get a chance to properly celebrate last night, so I wanted to make it official."

Slightly smiling at her partner's enthusiasm, Seija replies, "True enough. Now that we have a path, it's time to scope it out, not to mention the capital itself. We'll need to figure out exactly what we'll do to the place once there, which likely means having to come home first to hash out the details before putting our plan into action."

"Basically what we did with Former Hell, on a larger scale."

"Yeah, this time with one less sword-wielding nitwit. It might take a bit but it sure as heck beats having to wait on something and dance around a bunch of idiots." The amanojaku winks. "Now we just have to work around lunatics."

"Do you never worry jokes like that will get you kicked out?"

"Like you could ever get rid of me."

"Ha! I doubt anyone can. Back to the topic at hand, there's one thing I want to clarify about our preparations."

"What's that?"

"Your cheating tools," the shorter youkai says with complete seriousness. "Do we try going for them before executing the plan? While we have the Ultramarine Orb Elixir as a trump card, it wouldn't hurt to have more than once ace up our sleeves."

Not having them's been less than convenient. Sneaking around Eientei, fighting the rabbits and Tenshi, it all would've been stupidly simple otherwise. Even Youmu only stood a chance cause we got careless and let her use them herself. …Bleh, getting annoyed just thinking about it.

Seija crosses her arms. "I'm… honestly not sure."

"Because of Yukari?" Shin asks.

"We've talked about it before, but finding her is next to impossible. And even if we do, her ability lets her escape at will. Fighting that border manipulation nonsense is one thing, her capacity to avoid us should she choose to is another. Best case, she's still smart enough not to keep them on her if we attempt an ambush. Not to mention any kind of attack gets us wanted immediately."

"The only way would be to find where she lives and steal the tools from there… if anyone knew where that was."

"Exactly. From what I can tell, it's somewhere close to or along the border, which doesn't narrow it down enough. Could be a place only she can access with her ability. Plus she might not even keep them there. We have zero leads."

"Well…" Shin trails off. Seija raises an eyebrow, prompting the inchling to continue. "My mallet could maybe get them back."

That's true, but…

"…That's not a bad idea and we do need to test the limits of the mallet more, but we have to start small. If it backfires on us, we'll be way worse off than we would be with no tools," says Seija.

"Then where do we start? I'm the last person who wants it to run out of power, believe me, but it's a waste not to utilize it more. The most we've done beyond usual uses are that stunt with the dango at the festival, amplifying Nitori's water, and Star's bomb." The inchling balls her fist. "Whether or not we want to admit it, we're letting the fear of us suffering my ancestors' fate dictate our actions. It isn't our style to be so lame and cowardly. I want to go out full force!"

"Heh, I get you. I'd hate to go wild with the thing," the amanojaku says with devious glee, "but we have to be in one piece to accomplish anything at all. Up to now we've only dealt with one kind of drawback: the mallet's power running out. Nothing explicitly bad has happened to us. However, taking into account your family history, we know it's possible for it to be much more severe."

Shin scoffs but smiles. "I guess you are the one who found it. Point taken. Not treating an oni's tool with respect is a recipe for disaster."

"Let's break the issue down," says Seija. She snags a porcelain mug full of water on the table and chugs it down. "If the drawback is proportional to the wish, we should minimize how much the wish is doing. And to best plan around it, we need a frame of reference for the ratio. Use your mallet to fill this cup up with water."

"A wish that minor probably won't have any apparent side effect. I've used it to get us some ingredients for meals before when we were missing some and it was too inconvenient to go shopping."

"Just do it." Complying, Shin holds up the Miracle Mallet, causing it to glow faintly. Within the glass manifests the purest water Seija has ever seen. Beyond that, nothing happens. After examining the cup and taking a sip for good measure, Seija continues, "Now let me ask, do you feel thirsty at all?"

"Huh?" Shin looks at her partner inquisitively before realizing what she is getting at. "No, not at all. You're thinking that since I was the one behind the wish, the drawback would be exacted onto me, right?"

"Yeah. By all accounts, nothing we've done with your mallet recently has backfired. The reason I went with this example is because you finished your drink only a few minutes ago. If you got thirsty, then we'd know the effect is immediate. So it's safe to assume that we're fine until everything blows up in our faces all at once."

"This supports the story of Issun-Boushi," Shin muses, staring at the mallet in her hand. "He knew not to overuse the Miracle Mallet and, after making his wishes to be normal-sized and have a princess by his side, lived the rest of his life with seemingly no issues. Provided we don't overuse it either, we shouldn't encounter any problems."

Seija leans back on her hands and gazes at the ceiling. "But if we do, we'll be like his descendants who lavished themselves with its power before losing everything once they crossed the line by wishing for this castle. Let me ask you a follow-up question: after manifesting that water, do you feel the mallet's power waning at all? Is anything even remotely off?"

"No, can't say I notice anything. Since it's only completely run out of power once while I've been using it, I don't have a great frame of reference. But if Issun-Boushi wished for an entire person and didn't immediately experience a recoil, I'd think that means we could at least wish for your tools to return with no worries."

"It's entirely possible that was the absolute extent of what he could do. He was clearly cautious about the whole thing in the story. Also, you're actively using it right now to be human-sized. We've been using it to varying degrees for nearly two weeks since being released. The fact you haven't noticed anything during all that usage means that we likely can't know when it's running low, making it all guesswork. There's also one more factor to consider."

"Which is?" Shin asks, adjusting her sitting position to straighten her back more.

"My tools have been holding on to some of your mallet's magic this entire time. You never succeeded in getting that back. By the time we teamed back up, it was in our mutual best interest to keep them as is for use in our plans."

"And you think that lowers the cap on what we can do."

"Exactly," says Seija, also sitting up to get a better view of Shin. "We need to figure out how to use the Miracle Mallet most effectively, but that process inherently puts us at risk. Just letting its magic run amok, like we did the first time, we know won't hurt us but it took over half a year for it to recover enough such that you could become big again. That method's doubly unviable since it'll definitely get a few incident resolvers on us in no time flat. Our only option is doing controlled tests-"

"-which will still likely result in me being out of action for a while. And with a narrower focus, there's room for more specific recoil effects."

"Yeah."

There are too many unknowns no matter how we slice it. …Ugh, what the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't be so afraid of testing it, normally I'm fine with risks like this. But I just… I don't want her to get hurt.

"Ergh…!" Seija grunts. She hunches over and grips her skull harder than before. The pain is worse than anything she has felt since waking up.

Shin immediately puts the current topic aside when she sees this, asking, "Are you okay? Still hungover? We can take a break if you want to rest."

"Must be, and don't worry." Shaking her head to stave off the discomfort, the amanojaku continues, "I have one other hypothesis about the Miracle Mallet."

"If you're sure you're okay to continue, let's hear it."

"If we think of wishing on it like asking it to perform a task, then a harder task equates to more magic consumed, right?"

"We've established that, yes. Where are you going with this?"

"If I ask you to get something for me, what do you need to know to make that task easier?"

Placing her chin in her hand, Shin replies, "Well, first I'd need to know what I'm getting. If it's multiple things, exactly how many, how big they are, and so on are important pieces of info as more stuff makes it harder to transport. I'd also need to know where it is and how far away so I could appropriately judge the time necessary."

"Bringing it back to my tools, how much of that can we answer?"

"Nine items, each easily carried by a person individually. All nine at once would be a bit harder but you've shown it's not too hard to keep them all on hand. We know exactly what they look like so that's not an issue. The question here is where."

"If my guess is right, answering that 'where' question would make our wish on the mallet less unreasonable, even if the difference is small. A more reasonable wish means less magic consumed, hopefully."

"That's actually really clever," says Shin while nodding. "Still one problem, the one we started with: where the heck did Yukari hide them?"

Yep, she's exactly right. If we want to minimize the risk of a drawback as much as possible, we still need to find out where they are.

Both members of the duo scratch their heads, frustrated at the circular nature of this conversation.

There has to be a way of finding out. Wishing on the Miracle Mallet would be one way, albeit incredibly self-defeating. Something that can tell us where my tools are from anywhere… There's so many types of magic in Gensokyo that one of them besides the mallet has to be able to do this, right?

"This is probably wishful thinking, but most of them are everyday objects my mallet's magic infected. Maybe they were hidden in plain sight?" Shin wearily suggests.

"Not sure where you could hide a bomb using that logic besides with Star. And the Nimble Fabric's color scheme sticks out like a sore thumb."

"It is rather loud-" Shin, eyes wider than her head, slams her hands on the table. "Oh my gosh Seija we're so dumb! Hatate can find them with thoughtography!"

"You're right!" says an elated Seija. "She said she supported our plan so she might be willing to help!" However, after a few seconds of the duo silently grinning, the edges of her mouth fall and she continues, "We don't have a way of easily contacting her. I assume there aren't any more newsworthy events like the concert soon?"

"Nothing I've heard about. But since the passageway to the Lunar Capital is on Youkai Mountain, we can meet her there before scouting since that's where she lives."

"And what, walk headlong into tengu territory? We can't exactly blend in there. Not to mention that finding her would still be a hassle since we have no way of letting her know we want to meet up."

Tapping her head with her index finger, Shin confidently says, "She threw her lot in with us, two known troublemakers. If we start causing problems, that could put her in hot water. What would you do if you were afraid of an ally double-crossing you?"

"I'd keep an eye on- Ooooooh, I getcha. She's probably using her ability to spy on us daily."

"Yep! And while she can't hear us, she can see us. Let's advertise our intentions to her!"

Seija chuckles at her self-satisfied partner. "We're really using our thinking caps today, huh? Let's do it. I'm curious, though: what made you think of Hatate?"

"Have you seen her skirt?" the inchling asks with a raised eyebrow. "When you mentioned the Nimble Fabric, while not exactly the same, it reminded me of her."

"Pfffft, hahahahaha! Fair enough!"

Immediately the duo sets to work. A few minutes later they prop up four massive signs against every side of their table that read, "TO HATATE: MEET UP AT YOUKAI MOUNTAIN LAKE TOMORROW EARLY EVENING." There are little doodles of Shin and Seija's smirking faces in the bottom right corner of each, courtesy of the former. The Shin doodle has a hand making a V sign next to it while the Seija doodle has the amanojaku's tongue sticking out.

"That ought to do it!" proclaims a proud Shin, setting down her ink brush. "With one on each side, no matter what angle her photos end up taking, the message should be in frame. We just have to keep the signs near us until it's time to leave tomorrow to ensure she sees them."

"Guess we can kill time here for at least a day, then," says Seija, admiring their handiwork.

"Luckily I know exactly how to do that. It's like I said earlier, I always keep more than one ace up my sleeve!" As she says this, Shin pulls out a deck from her sleeve.

"Did you hide that in there while we were working just so you could make that joke?"

"…Maybe."

-Six Years, Five Months Ago-

Fairies fly around, youkai lounge around, and even humans walk around Hakurei Shrine. The day is truly beautiful, and not only because of the gentle shining light of early summer's Sun. A genuine wave of content permeates the very air, uplifting the spirits of everyone near it. That is, of course, due to the fact all these visitors took over the shrine in Reimu's absence. However, one youkai there floats on her own upside down, not interacting with anyone.

How are they all so cheerful and laid back? I know at least one of them has seen me. I mean come on, nearly everyone here tried to capture me only a month ago!

Seija, levitating over the donation box, scans the crowd. Present are all four incident resolvers who attempted to capture her on the seventh day of her escape. They engage in idle chit-chat with nary a care. The head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion simply relaxes on the shrine's steps, of course using a parasol as protection from the Sun. A pair of cat youkai, a nameless fairy and the strongest fairy, the profiteering kappa, an umbrella-holding tsukumogami, even a certain rokurokubi; all of them seemingly have yet to notice the amanojaku.

I heard the hermit was letting a bunch of youkai have the run of the place to lure Reimu back while she's distracted by some fortune telling gig in the village. Figured this would be the best time to gauge how others react to me after what happened recently. Shin- I mean the inchling isn't living here anymore and I guess the others have moved on. Either that or they're ignoring me for the sake of this scheme with Reimu.

Hidden behind her is Tengu's Toy Camera so that she can beat a hasty retreat should the need arise. To an observer, it would appear as though she holds none of her cheating tools currently.

Honestly thought a bunch of them would jump at the chance of getting me while I seemed unarmed.

Nearby, she spies Kasen Ibaraki, wearing a spare set of Reimu's clothes, and the shrine maiden herself conversing.

What are they-

"-YOUKAI EXTERMINATION!" Reimu shouts with a fire in her voice, apparently finishing a thought she was expressing to Kasen.

Instantly the expression of every youkai present - barring Seija - shifts to panic, like a group of students goofing off when they should be working as the teacher walks in. Pandemonium ensues and they all scatter to the four winds. Reimu makes a show of chasing them off, the other incident resolvers and Kasen taking their leave as well. While this transpires, Seija hides behind some nearby bushes and smirks to herself.

Finally, let's see what you're gonna do!

She flies out from her hiding place and, while Reimu sits down to catch her breath, performs a taunting gesture by pulling down her lower right eyelid and sticking out her tongue.

Reimu, surprised that anyone is still here, says, "Didn't you see what just happened? Don't make me exterminate you too!"

I'll never get your definition of 'exterminate' given that those youkai barely got a slap on the wrist.

"Oh, is that all? Here I was thinking I might need to be careful!" Seija responds, smiling with her back partially turned to her adversary.

"Look, if you're just here to be a nuisance, you can do it somewhere else. Stick around too long and you'll make the shrine look bad."

What? Seriously? That's it?

"Pretty lame response," Seija says, hiding her mixed feelings behind a veil of smugness. "Is that lackadaisical attitude because you know you can't catch me? Or is it your usual laziness? Hardly fitting for the Hakurei shrine maiden."

Reimu's expression is inscrutable. "What are you trying to get at here? While we might've failed to capture you, it's not like you're running around causing a bunch of incidents right now. If you start doing so, the others and I will stop you. Simple as that."

The amanojaku's veneer begins cracking as she says, "Don't you hate me? Here I thought you couldn't stand my presence! And you're just letting me go with a warning?"

"Oh you annoy me, sure. But to say I hate you? Maybe others feel that way, but I wouldn't go that far." Standing up, Reimu pulls out her gohei. Yin-yang orbs manifest on either side of her shoulders. "If you're trying to get a rise out of me, I'll be happy to send you packing physically if I have to, but that's only because you're in the way and being stupid. Also, let me guess, you're hiding one of those cheating tools so you can surprise me? No way you'd move around without them."

The hell is this detached response? And she even figured out the trick? Her instincts are way too good. Bah, fighting her wouldn't be satisfying at all at this point.

"I'm outta here," says the amanojaku after a brief stare down. She turns to leave and begins flying off.

"Hold on!" Reimu calls out, prompting Seija to stop in place but not face her. "Really, what are you trying to do? I briefly saw you among everyone else when I first got back and assumed you left immediately. The fact you're still here means you hid and waited. Why?"

"Someone like me is everyone's enemy. I don't need to explain myself to you."

Guess she forgot about that detail.

Seija swiftly leaves, using the camera to make her exit all the faster. Reimu, while puzzled, does nothing to stop her.

Seija's eyes snap open, seeing nothing but the faint glow from a waning candle on the dining table. She and Shin fell asleep in this room due to their desire to stay near the signs. The former has her legs underneath the kotatsu and a pillow to cushion her head; the latter is inchling-sized and sound asleep on top of Seija's abdomen. Neither bothered changing into nightclothes and instead fell asleep in their standard outfits.

Again? Two similar dreams in a row. Didn't something like this happen before- Agh!

A recurring feeling to match the pleasant one she experiences with Shin returns to torment her mind. She does her best not to convulse such that the inchling's rest would be disturbed.

Another headache. Memory's fuzzy, I can't place this sense of familiarity. But these dreams are just more memories, so they can't mean anything bad, right? The question is why am I remembering them?

Sparing a glance at her partner, the amanojaku attempts to clear her head. Slow and deep breathes, in and out.

It's still dark out, I'll think about this more later.

If Seija had been alone, it is possible she would have failed to find sleep for the rest of the night altogether. However, the calming presence with her proves to be enough.

"So you think these dreams showing you your memories are suspect?" Shin asks, contemplating the scenes Seija just finished describing to her. The duo ended up sleeping in, giving them a late start. They intend to leave for Youkai Mountain in five and a half hours.

"Yeah," says Seija with a subtle nod. "I don't exactly think about those days often. No reason why I should be reminded of them now."

"Why's that? I figured you'd be on cloud nine during that time, if anything."

Makes sense she would think that from her perspective.

The taller youkai shrugs dismissively. "Eh, just didn't find them very memorable. Hard to top the first ten days, y'know?"

"Right…" Shin's eyes narrow. "But didn't you say before you laid low after evading capture? Why put yourself at risk by going to the shrine?"

Dang it, this is exactly why I didn't want to bring this up.
…
Everything that's been happening to me recently isn't normal. I started this conversation since I felt she needed to know about these dreams, just in case. She deserves some kind of response.

"I was admittedly a bit… listless at the time," Seija answers, attempting to stay vague. "Heard youkai were taking over the shrine and figured it might be pretty boring, turns out it actually was."

"Well, I suppose that's understandable. Not sure what I would've done to pass the time had I been in your position. Thanks for telling me about all this. The fact you're comfortable enough confiding in me is reassuring."

"W-well, duh. Who else am I gonna tell?"

Shin holds a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. "If you say so. I stand by my promise before: whoever's messing with your head won't win while I'm around. If these dreams are part of that, then they're just wasting their time."

An almost blinding radiance emanates from the inchling's grinning face. Seija averts her eyes but smiles in return, scratching the side of her head with her right pointer finger.

Seriously, when did you become so reliable?

To gaze at Youkai Mountain from a distance at this time of year usually means to see an eclectic mix of green and orange wrapping around the sky-piercing mound. The warmer colors would begin from the top as the goddess of autumn leaves paints the foliage by hand, with the lower parts soon following. However, this year is an exception. Compared to Hakurei Shrine, Youkai Mountain could still pass for being in summer.

"You think Shizuha is saving the mountain for last?" Shin asks, closing in on the lake near the mountain's peak with Seija. She is human-sized and geared up with her bowl, needle, and mallet. "I've never seen it so green in the second to last month of the year."

"It makes sense for a god wanting faith to prioritize locations with humans. The village already had autumn leaves, too," says Seija while scanning the area for any youkai who might see them. Her hair ruffles in the strong wind.

"Good point. Still, the fact not all of them are done at this point makes it seem like she's slacking off." The inchling lets out a hearty sneeze. "It's chilly but not as cold as I expected given our level of elevation. You're fine even with those short sleeves, I hope?"

"Of course I- ACHOO!"

Eugh, my nose is stuffed.

"You really need some proper clothing for colder weather," says a smirking Shin.

Seija rolls her eyes. "We can discuss your fashion opinions later, we're nearly there. Let's dive into the trees so no one at Moriya Shrine can see us."

While making a beeline for the ground, the duo catches a glimpse of a handful of visiting humans at the entrance to the mountain shrine. They just disembarked from the ropeway connecting it and the foot of the mountain. Beyond them is a crowd forming on the shrine grounds.

Surprised this many humans are willing to come out here so late in the day. That tram does wonders for Kanako's business, I bet.

The conniving pair pierce the tree line and make their way to the lake on foot. Staying on guard, they do not encounter a single soul by the time they reach the water's edge. The current time is right on the border of afternoon and evening; the sky retains its blue hue, but the Moon is visible above the far side of the lake. If Hatate received the duo's message, she should soon arrive.

Apparently a passageway to the Lunar Capital is here somewhere. We weren't able to ask exactly what triggers it appearing, but it shouldn't be too hard to find. Worst case, that's another question for Hatate's thoughtography.

Shin removes her bowl and excitedly sits down to stick her feet into the lake.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Seija asks, standing behind her. "I bet the water's freezing."

Leaning her head back to look at Seija upside down, Shin replies, "Remember, Moriya Shrine uses the Nuclear Furnace for power and a direct line to it exists here. That affects the water too since this lake belongs to Kanako. It's so warm and relaxing, you should give it a try!"

"Huh. Alright."

The amanojaku mimics her partner and lets the water encompass her from the shin down. True to Shin's words, it feels incredible.

This incessant cold breeze barely bothers me now, wow. If we have to wait, this is a great place to do it. I could get used to this…

In spite of their earlier caution, the duo allows themselves to be completely taken in by their bliss. They lean back on their hands with closed eyes, listening to the peaceful noises of rustling leaves.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh…

And so the leaves rustle more.

Ahhhhhh…

And more.

Ahhh…

And yet more.

Ah… Eh?

The rustling has become obnoxiously loud. They turn around to see Hatate flying between the trees and rapidly closing in.

What the-?!

The tengu grabs the back of both their collars, prompting them to tense up and prepare for a fight, but Hatate then lets go.

"What was that for?" Seija asks, standing up and adjusting her collar.

"You'll totally get caught if you keep that up," says Hatate. She bears a sly smile. "I want to make sure you won't do something like this at the Lunar Capital. I considered pulling you into the woods purely to make us even for what you did at the concert, but I think this gets my point across well enough."

"Look at the nerve on this one! We were only sitting there for about a minute."

"A crow tengu's speed makes a minute translate to all the time in the world. …Also I thought entering that way would be cool."

Now that we're talking to her in a less serious context, she must be comfortable cutting loose a bit more.

Shin and Seija exchange a look and shrug before the former asks, "Putting that aside, you got our message?"

"Yep. We can speak over there, under the trees, so anyone flying over won't see us. There's a nice log to sit on." Hatate points to a spot about twenty paces away. Soon the three get there and she sits down, asking, "So what's up? Your little message was pretty cute and clever. Glad you realized I'm doing daily check-ins."

"You know about my tools, yeah? We don't know where Yukari hid them after they were confiscated," Seija explains. "Can you use your ability to find them?"

"Hmmm. It should be possible, but why not just wish for them back or create new ones with the Miracle Mallet? That was what created them, right?"

"Their creation was more of a freak accident caused by my mallet's power spreading out everywhere," says Shin.

"What does that matter?"

"It's like asking lightning to strike somewhere a second time. The first was pure chance and didn't cost anything. Trying to force it to happen again requires concerted effort."

"I still don't quite follow. Hard shouldn't mean impossible."

Seija stretches her neck and says, "More effort means more magic consumed. If the mallet runs out of energy, things backfire. And too big a wish causes the drawback to be upfront, at least from what we understand. I can only imagine outright creating nine new magical items would require a ton of energy and might explode in our faces. We figure even one unique magical item is worth far more than any amount of money, status, or even food and water."

"So it's possible but a risk you don't want to take…" Hatate trails off, taking out a notebook and writing details of the conversation down. "I wonder if providing an appropriate host for the magic, like the items your tools originally were, would make it less costly?"

"That's along the lines of our logic about how the mallet works," Shin says with a nod. "We decided that if the only way to get her tools back is through wishing for it, knowing where they are would lessen the cost. That's assuming we can't go there ourselves, of course."

"Knowing Yukari, they could literally be anywhere, so I don't blame you for thinking that. Relatedly, wanna know a little secret?"

Oh?

The reporter continues, "I've tried looking into her before. I mean, she's super suspicious, right? Some kind of invisible hand manipulating Gensokyo behind the scenes?"

"I take it that means some kind of barrier prevents you from getting dirt on her?" Seija asks.

"Here's the weird thing, I can get a picture of her in her house anytime I want."

"Huh?!" the duo exclaims in unison.

"Lemme show you." Hatate unhooks her flip camera from her skirt and Shin peeks her head over the former's shoulder. "Let's use a simple example: 'Yukari Yakumo' and 'Yukari Yakumo's home' will be our key phrases."

She finishes inputting the words, presses the confirmation key, and a picture appears on screen. In it, the one and only Yukari lies asleep under a blanket in a nondescript room. Sitting beside her is her shikigami Ran Yakumo, in her standard outfit consisting of a white dress with purple cuffs and similar collar decorated by an indigo tabard. Her white hat that normally covers the top of her blonde hair and fox ears sits to her right on a tall stack of books. Ran herself is holding one such difficult looking book; while the image obviously lacks motion, the intense look in the fox's yellow eyes gives the impression she is reading incredibly fast.

It's this easy for Hatate to see even these two? Her power is even stronger than I thought.

While Seija is attempting not to show her interest as visibly as Shin, Hatate says, "Before you start thinking my ability is, like, super strong or something, you need to understand the limitations. I've mentioned before that it's reactive, which is almost an understatement. Here's a fun question: when do you think what this picture depicts happened?"

"Is it not right now?" Shin asks.

"I don't know. Presumably it is, but I can't say that definitively. When it comes to these key words and phrases, I have to be extremely specific to know something for sure. Otherwise I'll end up thinking one thing when the truth is entirely different. It's important to note that a picture that's more relevant to the search will take precedence over the current time. Simply adding 'current time' can result in an error since the other phrases might be two things, places, or people in separate locations. And, fun fact, that photo of Yukari and Ran? I've gotten countless others that are nearly identical."

"Which means you're either always getting the same thing or they're in that exact position extremely frequently," says Seija.

"Both are equally likely. Yukari sleeps for extremely long periods and Ran, as a shikigami, doesn't need to move around or do anything on her own if it's not necessary. I do know that outside forces can interfere with my camera. Trying to take photos of the happenings within Hell or Makai, among others, gives me static and errors; certainly nothing I can use. Anywhere not easily accessible from within Gensokyo, primarily the Outside World, also gives me issues, but I can still get some things from there. It's iffy. The Lunar Capital is worse, a strong barrier not unlike the Great Hakurei Barrier surrounds it and is very inhospitable to any kind of magical prying. Going back to Yukari, my real suspicion is that she's somehow rigged my photos of her. No matter what I try, unless she gets directly involved with an incident, the pictures are always the same story. I can't even get a look at the outside of her house, let alone its location."

"Huh." Shin places a finger on her forehead to think. "If you can get more specific photos of her when she's involved with an incident, that must mean the issue is tied to her home's location and not her, right?"

"My thoughts exactly. It's said she's responsible for the creation of the barrier; having a similar type of magic protecting where she lives is entirely plausible." Stretching her arms over her head, Hatate adds, "At the end of the day, though, this is entirely educated guesswork. I might be utterly misunderstanding how this all works. That said, I'm confident in my skills and can't think of many other explanations."

Divination, thoughtography, whatever someone wants to call it, the core idea isn't new. This type of magic has existed forever. Anybody with something to hide and the means to hide it would logically wish to do so.

"I wanna backtrack to the time vs relevance issue," says Seija, messing with her hair as the breeze picks up again. "If you look up any of our names right now, what will you get?"

Hatate holds up a finger. "Before we do that, there's one more axis you need to consider: intent. This is still my ability doing this, so what I want to get, or even what I'm thinking about, will subtly influence the result. Say I input 'an idyllic location' and enter the search, that's a super vague and subjective idea, right?"

"If it were me, I'd probably think of some kind of grassy area with a large river running through and colorful plants everywhere," says Shin.

"And that's my point," says the tengu. "My first thought would be a quiet room with a window to a majestic mountainous area. Basically, where I already live. Your answer, Shin, is closer to the stereotypical one but still had personal biases thrown in, such as you specifying a river. Probably because you enjoy rafting, right? I've read about your exploits."

"I wasn't actively considering that, but yeah. That probably influenced my response."

I'd go for, well, probably something similar to the castle. An isolated place where I can rest my head. Wouldn't necessarily need to be naturally occurring.

"Those, like, unconscious predispositions we all have affect everything we do, including our abilities. That applies to humans too, but there's more to it in our case. It's really neat, actually; the nature of a youkai is determined when they're created or born. Our abilities are an extension of that nature, even within the same species. Compare me to Aya and you can see what I mean. I'm called a shut-in and have an ability that lets me stay in one place to gather information. Aya is the fastest tengu of them all, goes from place to place constantly, and can manipulate wind. But it also begs the question of whether or not we're more than that nature, y'know? To what extent can we change? All of us have room for improvement, after all. …Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent here, I just think about this stuff sometimes. Back to your question, Seija."

'Whether or not we're more than that nature…' What nonsensical flowery prose. Still, the disparity between her and Aya when it comes to showing genuine introspection is stark. I can understand why Shin calls her articles better written.

"Basically, when you type my name, the first thing you think of when it comes to me will influence the result," Seija surmises.

"Yeah, and that influence, whether I'm causing it consciously or not, will be strong since just typing your name is vague. If I do it right now…" Hatate quickly conducts a search. She holds up her camera for the duo to see and it is Seija standing where she currently is. "…I get you right there since we're literally in the middle of a conversation that's at the forefront of my mind. If I type your name and add 'Replica Miracle Mallet' to the search, I'll get the last time I saw you with it." This time her camera depicts Seija fighting Hatate six and a half years ago when the latter attempted to capture her. "Meeting someone personally can permanently skew my search results, which has become a more noticeable drawback as I've taken to doing more fieldwork. And that's the gist of the rules that govern my camera."

"The fact you got a picture from back then means time isn't an object at all?"

"Insofar as my ability to specify a time, yes. But think about how absurdly vast time is and how specific I'd need to be to get, say, a picture of a fight I wasn't there for a decade ago. I would not only need correct details on who was involved, but also the exact time and location. That's the brunt of my job, really; spending hours, days, and weeks just trying to get the right pictures. Once I have the facts and evidence, writing an article is the easy part. Admittedly, Aya likes to disparage me for taking too long."

So she can see any past event, then? Hm, I wonder…

"Now that we fully understand how it works, let's start searching!" the excited Shin proclaims.

"There's a part of me that wonders if I even should help you get back those tools since it means you'll be harder to deal with later," says Hatate mischievously.

Seija raises an eyebrow. "You did not just take up that much time explaining only to deny us."

"Kidding! Kidding. You've lost with them before and you'll need all the help you can get against the Lunarians. Just make sure not to mention my name if you get caught. Deal?"

"Not like we have a choice here."

"Nice. The first search can be simple to give you an idea of the process: 'Seija Kijin's nine cheating tools'." She types out the words as she says them, hits confirm, and only gets a picture of Seija from over six years ago. "Figured this might happen. It can be slow-going, so bear with me. You probably wanna get comfortable."

Yaaaaaaaaay. At this rate we won't have time to scope out the entrance to the Dream-

"Got a hit," says an incredibly smug Hatate.

Seija rushes over to check the camera. All three present see on screen a location completely foreign to them. It seems like a building but not one Seija has ever seen before. It is built from what she assumes is stone, but the walls are continuous, like giant slabs. It is also smoother than basic stone on top of being a purplish color. A double-door made of glass is at the front, with signs attached that say things like "HOURS: 5PM-3AM" and "TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO COMPLY WITH GOVERNMENT AND HEALTH REGULATIONS". The building itself appears relatively new, as though it were recently built. At the very top are neon Japanese characters that read "OLD ADAM BAR". Seija's Replica Miracle Mallet is lodged behind and blends into those characters, such that no one would ever notice unless they knew it was there.

"I considered the possibility Yukari kept them with her or hid them somewhere in Gensokyo, but the most effective - and honestly most obvious - place to hide them has to be the Outside World," Hatate explains. "You two would never be able to get there. And she would probably separate them so it'd be harder for you to get them all back at once, so I started by looking for the one you like the most, Seija."

She found it just like that. The fruits of years of practice, I guess. I've honestly missed that dumb replica.

"Judging by the language on the building, that's in Japan?" Shin asks, who at this point is having trouble keeping her hair out her eyes as the wind continues to get worse.

Seriously, what's up with this wind? I don't see any storm clouds but it's gotten progressively worse since getting here.

"Presumably, let me run a few more tests." Hatate rapidly types for a couple seconds and then says, "Yep, included 'Japan' in the search and got the same thing. Are you gonna try wishing for it to return now?"

Seija pushes her hair out of her face and says, "Hold off on that until we know where all nine are. It's possible Yukari set up some kind of failsafe or alarm, like Eirin did with the elixir."

As soon as the words leave Seija's mouth, they all hear a distant SNAP from behind. They turn towards the lake and see a flying figure in a white collared shirt and black skirt above the water, the Moon superimposed behind them.

No way, that's-!

The figure flies up even faster than Hatate did earlier, making it readily apparent they are Aya, and says, "What's this merry band up to? Hatate, I know your newspaper is desperate to be even close to mine in sales, but consorting with the likes of those two is going too far. I'm afraid I'll have to write an article about this. Hopefully your actions today don't go over too poorly with Miss Iizunamaru."

Shoot! We're covered from above, why was she flying so close to the lake? Why is she even here?

"Don't jump to unfounded conclusions for once, please," an already annoyed Hatate retorts. "A reporter conducting interviews is hardly something to get upset about. You've done plenty with other questionable parties, too. I'm just trying to get information for an article."

Good thing twintails is quick on the uptake.

"Yeah? You three have been talking non-stop for a good few minutes now. Couldn't make it out exactly, but I saw you showing them some pictures you were taking with your camera. What was that about?"

"I just wanted them to confirm a few facts about their role in the fire-fighting and clear up some details."

Aya places a hand on her hip. "I'd almost be inclined to believe that if it wasn't Seija Kijin we were talking about. An interview with her is an exercise in madness. Besides, my article about the concert already got all the necessary facts out there."

"For one thing, Shin being here makes your point about Seija void. For another, your article made them out as having ulterior motives when all they wanted to do was save a concert they came to see! You just write out whatever drivel is convenient for engagement and call it 'truth'! A waste of your picture taking skills, honestly."

While the tengu go at it, Seija and Shin exchange eye contact. They both get the idea that this argument is less about them and more a recurring interaction these reporters have.

"-then let me ask you this!" Aya prattles on. "How in the world did you get them to agree to meet you? And why here, instead of the Shining Needle Castle? There has to be a reason for why you all chose this spot."

Dang it, Aya may bend the truth in her articles but her intuition's the real deal. This is going downhill fast.

"I went to them and these were their conditions! This place at this time!" Hatate partially lies.

I've gotta step in, she can only cover for us so much.

"Ha! You two birdies sure are dull," Seija declares. "But now that you've shown up, crow, I'm outta here. Shin had to practically drag me to this anyway and twintails' questions were stupidly easy. Not sure how either of you can call yourselves reporters if you can't even figure out what happened at a concert with hundreds of witnesses."

"You're not leaving that easily, I will find out what's really going on here," says Aya, holding up her fan.

"I already told you!" protests Hatate.

"I'll admit she seems less on your side than I thought, but then why did they choose this time and place for the interview? Even you have to realize there's more to this. Help me capture these two and we can sort out the details later. It'll be lucrative for both our papers if we can get some truth out of them."

Shin stares at Aya angrily. "We didn't do anything wrong! You have no grounds for this!"

"Call it a reporter's intuition if you must!" Aya counters. "Hatate, it's now or never. Help me take them down if you really aren't on their side."

The purple-leaning tengu turns and looks at the duo. She initially appears conflicted but steels her resolve.

Good, you realize there's only one way all three of us are getting out of this. And that means…

"Fine then!" says Seija, gesturing outward with her right arm. "Come at us with everything you've got! We'll flip it right back at you!"