3/3

Goro

Today was Reimu's birthday, as well as Hinamatsuri, also known as the Japanese Doll Festival or Girl's day. During the past week, families across the village had been putting up their doll displays, as was customary for the holiday. Masato gave me the day off and encouraged me to go visit Reimu, so, following breakfast, I headed straight for the shrine.

Unlike most days, when the path up to the shrine was fairly quiet, today I was joined by several people pulling carts up the path, carrying display bases and carefully packed and secured dolls and doll making materials. Once I arrived at the shrine itself, there was a bustle of activity, as people worked to get their displays situated and set up. Reimu herself was directing the fairies and a couple others to clean and spruce the place up, Alice and Marisa were present helping some people unpack and set up, and Tenshi was going around offering peaches.

I walked up to Reimu, and she turned and faced me. "Oh, good morning, Goro," she said.

"Good morning," I replied. I looked around at all the activity, then said, "this place is rather busier than usual."

Reimu stepped forward to talk to me. "I do this every year, since my birthday falls on Hinamatsuri. Once a year, I invite families from the village to come up and put their dolls on display, so that people can see all the other families' displays in one place. We also hold a doll making competition, where girls from the village make dolls, and then Alice, our resident doll expert, comes and personally judges them based on craftsmanship, aesthetics, symbolism and the amount of heart put into it. The grand prize is 5,000 yen and their choice of blessings, but everybody also gets a free good-luck charm." She glanced over to the donation box, and the line of people leading up to it. "It's also one of my biggest days for getting donations, especially since before sundown it's one of the few times youkai are strictly prohibited from entering the shrine grounds, with some exceptions like Alice, and the fairies who live here. Ran almost always shows up, but Yukari may or may not." She stretched her arms. "Of course, afterwards there's going to be a party, with lots of booze and whatnot, but this time I sent out an actual guest list. Only us Daybreakers, plus Alice and Ran, will be here in the evening."

"Why Ran?" I asked.

"She always comes to special occasions at the Shrine with or without Yukari," Reimu explained. "Me and her also personally go back to when I was just a little kid."

"I see," I said.

"Don't worry, she doesn't know our secret yet," Reimu assured me. "Although, I feel she'll eventually learn the truth at some point. She's a really smart person; lying to her is almost impossible and she can tell if you're leaving out details, and trying to sell how Maruki ended up in the Shrine without telling her about the Metaverse was, well, not easy."

"I would imagine," I nodded. "We'll need to keep her in close check if that's the case."

"Agreed."

At Reimu's request, I helped to finish setting up the festival, and about an hour later everything was in full swing. Over forty displays lined the path up to the main shrine, and girls were getting the dolls they made ready to show to Alice. Traditional food and snacks, such as sakura mochi, strawberry daifuku, hina-arare and chirashizuki were passed around to all the guests, along with Tenshi offering peaches to everyone.

I approached Tenshi and greeted her. "Good morning, Tenshi-san."

"Good morning," she said back. "It's a surprise seeing you up here, since this is Girl's Day."

I chuckled. "Well, it's not like men stop existing for a day because of that."

"Heh, you got me there," Tenshi said.

"And besides, I'm also here to wish a friend a happy birthday," I said.

"Oh, right, today's Reimu's birthday," Tenshi said, taking a bite out of a peach. "You know, that's such a mad coincidence, Reimu being born on Hinamatsuri, and Marisa on Setsubun, don't you think?"

"Perhaps," I said. I examined one of her peaches. "Are these… safe to eat?"

"Totally," Tenshi said. "These are different from Celestial peaches, and don't have the same mystical properties. They still vastly outclass anything human farmers can grow, though." She took another bite. "You see, historically, in the old calendar, Hinamatsuri came around the same time the peach trees were blooming, but after Japan switched over to the Western calendar and shifted the holidays around to match, so that today was the third day of the third month, that's no longer the case, but peach blossoms are still symbolic of the holiday. That's why I come and offer everyone peaches, so that they can have that symbol and eat it too."

"Interesting," I said. "There is much about the holiday that I don't know."

"I mean, you're a guy, and guys don't really deal with the holiday beyond supporting their daughters," Tenshi shrugged. "If you want to know more, just ask us girls."

"I will," I smiled.

I toured some of the displays with Reimu, who explained to me the symbolism behind the displays, the dolls, and the way they were set up and placed.

"The top tier displays the Emperor and Empress," Reimu explained. "These are the two most important dolls in the entire set, and all families make sure girls get them before their first Hinamatsuri. The second tier has three court ladies, the third tier has five male musicians, and the fourth has the Minister of the Right and the Minister of the Left. The fifth tier holds three helpers, and the sixth and seventh tiers hold items that are used at and away from the royal residence, respectively. This doll set, particularly the Emperor and Empress dolls, are often passed down from mother to daughter, and put away once the girl has reached the age of ten and they stop partaking in Hinamatsuri."

I examined one of the displays, examining each of the sets of dolls with the context that Reimu had just given me, depicting all the various aspects of the Heian Era imperial court. "What about you?" I asked. "Do you have a doll set as well?"

"I do," Reimu said, "although it hasn't seen the light of day in 17 years. The Hakurei Hinamatsuri doll set is one of the oldest in Gensokyo, and our Emperor and Empress dolls are more than five hundred years old. Once my successor comes around, she will inherit the set and display it with all the other girls here, just as I did before. It was my mom's idea to have a Hinamatsuri festival here at the shrine because of when my birthday was, and I've continued and expanded the tradition since then."

"I see…" I thought for a moment. "If I might ask, what kind of person was your mother like?" I asked.

"My mother… I have a picture of her, if you want to see it."

"Sure," I nodded. Reimu went into the shamusho for a moment, then came back out holding a framed photo, showing a younger, shorter Reimu alongside a woman in a traditional miko outfit with a single, long ponytail reaching down almost to the ground. "This is my mother, and me back when I was about six years old."

"She's quite a beautiful lady," I remarked. "And, she also looks tough."

"I mean, all Hakureis are," Reimu said. "You have to be in order to keep Gensokyo's balance. We're trained, disciplined, and hardened against anything and everything we might conceivably face, whether it's a powerful youkai, a rampaging vengeful spirit, a wrathful god, or even just a human man kidnapping and attempting to molest a girl, which has, unfortunately, happened many times in the past. This duty is one all Hakureis must accept and carry out, and most do so without question, to maintain the family's honor… most."

"'Most?''" I asked.

"Well, as recently as my grandmother, there have been some who have failed to take up the family's duty, either because they couldn't or, in her case, wouldn't. According to Yukari, my grandmother was an irresponsible girl who would always sneak away from the shrine and party in the village and who did not like to train. She got pregnant as a teenager, then after the baby, my mother, was born, she started threatening people to donate to the shrine so that she could steal from the donation box to get more cash for her partying. She was exiled to the Outside after that, and my great-grandmother was forced to raise my mother as her own, and train her properly. Neither she, my mother, me, or anyone else ever found out what became of her after that, and Yukari never kept track of her whereabouts due to her being disgraced."

"That's too bad," I said, shaking my head. "Some people, no matter the circumstance, just never become productive members of society, either because they refuse to, or simply cannot. People like that Outside tend to end up homeless or in prison, hopped up on drugs, delusional, and spouting nonsense. Again, as a detective, I witnessed a great deal of this. Shinjuku back alleys full of prostitutes selling their bodies just to get by, drug dealers, and gangs." I shook my head. "I hate to say this, but your grandmother, with her personality and no support, most likely ended up just like them."

"I…" Reimu sighed. "I don't like to think about it, an ancestor in that kind of situation. I'd rather die at the claws of a youkai than waste away on the street. Besides, it's not like I ever knew her, so it's never really on my mind."

"I get it," I said. "It's hard to imagine a family member doing something like that. We can only hope she eventually managed to turn her life around." I was still hesitant to reveal my mother's true nature, but that didn't keep me from sympathizing with Reimu about the issue.

Around noon, Alice arrived, and the girls who had made dolls lined them up to have them inspected. There were a variety of different dolls on display, ranging from simple paper dolls, to handcrafted wood and cloth dolls complete with detailed faces. We stood back a distance from the line, and watched as Alice came up to each girl, starting with the youngest and working her way up to the ten year-olds. She picked up each doll, gave it a thorough 360-degree inspection, and gave her compliments for what they did well along with constructive criticism for what they could improve. Occasionally, she would pull out one of her own dolls and show the girls examples of her work to help inspire them and give them ideas for improvement for their next projects.

We were joined by Marisa, who was munching on a peach, and who stood to my right while Reimu was to my left. "So," she said between bites, "whaddya think of the festival this year?"

"Honestly, nothing out of the ordinary so far," Reimu replied. "Which is just how I like it. I'd prefer my birthday to be as free of incidents as possible."

"Have incidents ever occurred on your birthday?" I asked her.

"Sometimes," she said, "but usually nothing major. Most youkai know that I enforce the 'no youkai until the last villager has gone home' rule pretty strictly. Part of setting up for today involved placing extra-strong wards around the shrine that create an invisible dome around it that repels youkai, except for any on my exception list. I'm also good at sensing auras, so any youkai that attempt to sneak in just before the wards are put up, I would soon detect their presence, find them, and promptly kick them out. It's even strong enough to repel Yukari's powers, not that it matters since she's always on my list. It's not perfect, though: it can't stop gods or half-youkai from getting in, although thankfully neither of those have ever been a problem. The wards themselves are a complete pain in the ass to make and only last a few hours, which is why I don't have them up full time."

"I thought the reason you let youkai into the shrine is because you're lonely," Marisa smirked.

Reimu chuckled. "...well, perhaps."

"Wait, you admit it?" Marisa said, surprised.

"Why not?" Reimu shrugged. "I naturally attract youkai anyway, and many of them are good friends that I like to hang out with. The shrine also doesn't require that much faith, which is part of the reason it was chosen to anchor the Barrier in the first place."

"Who is the god of the shrine, I wonder?" I said. "You say you don't know their identity, nor do you ever see them…"

"It's always been like that," Reimu said. "The Hakurei God truly is a mystery. Not even my ancestors, save for, supposedly, the first Hakurei Shrine maiden, knew their identity, and from what I can gather the god just… sort of appeared one day and became enshrined here. Yukari probably knows their identity, but she won't talk about it. I don't even know what the Hakurei God is supposed to be a god of, and therefore what kinds of blessings they're best at giving. All I know is that they must be very powerful, powerful enough to not only require fewer prayers than other gods, but also to help power the Barrier itself. Actually, one of the only things Yukari has ever told me about them is that they're probably the most powerful being in all of Gensokyo, even more than the Patron Dragons."

"The 'Patron Dragons?'" I asked.

"You might recall how I said the Sages made deals with dragons to erect the Hakurei Border?" she said. "Dragons are among the strongest beings in Gensokyo, although they tend to remain hidden away most of the time. Each of the three Sages sought out the help of a dragon, who they then established a contract with, giving them access to the dragon's power and aid whenever an incident occurred that was beyond their ability and that of the Hakurei to handle, in exchange for certain conditions, chief among them that the dragons' identities never be revealed to anyone besides the Sages, and that, should a sage ever die or give up their duty, the dragons would then find a suitable replacement, who would then need to take the same vows. The Sages and Dragons then pooled their power to create the Hakurei Border. The creation of the Border was the only time anyone ever got to see the dragons, and then only briefly. One was said to be as black as night, another as red as blood, and the third as brilliant as gold. The three dragons then took off into the sunset, never to be seen again."

"Hmm," I thought. "Black as night, red as blood, brilliant as gold… I wonder who or what those dragons might be…"

Our attention slowly turned back toward the lineup of girls who were having their dolls examined by Alice, who was currently picking apart one such doll with her eyes.

"The wood is good quality," she commented, "and I could tell you really put effort into making her appear as lifelike as possible. Still, the joints are a bit stiff, and the dress could have been hemmed better, and not have so many threads sticking out. If you'd like, I could give you one of my doll's old dresses to help you get a better idea of what the dress should be like."

The girl bowed. "Thank you, Alice-sensei."

"Oh… thanks," Alice said, smiling. She then moved onto the next girl, a somewhat strange-looking one with green hair with two twintails tied in front of her. "Alright, you next. What do we have here?"

The girl presented her doll, a cloth one which looked like a miniature version of herself, dressed in a burgundy and magenta dress with spiral designs on it. Alice picked it up and began inspecting. "Wow, I must say, this is really well done! The dress is perfectly sewed, the hair is almost lifelike… it's almost as… if… er…" She looked at the doll, then at the girl, then at the doll again, as if coming to a dawning realization. She then glanced over at us. "Um, Reimu, could you come over here for a second?"

I walked over with Reimu to Alice. "Sure, Alice, what's wro-" She saw the girl, and immediately jumped back.

"What the- what are you doing here, Hina?"

"Hina?" I asked.

Reimu sighed. "Hina Kagiyama, a misfortune goddess who lives in the Youkai Forest. She absorbs misfortune from her surroundings and collects people's Nagashi-bina dolls." She turned back over to Hina. "You know damn well you're not supposed to be here today."

Hina smiled. "Well, I just wanted to be here for 'Hina' Matsuri, that's all. What's wrong with entering into the doll-making competition with these girls? It's not like your wards forbid gods, after all."

"First of all, this competition is meant for village girls," Reimu scowled. "And second of all, I don't want a misfortune goddess tainting the shrine!" She whipped out her amulets and her yin-yang orbs began spinning behind her. "Now, do you want to leave on your own, or must I throw you out myself?"

Hina then held out her arms, shone in a flash of light, and assumed her true form of a fully-grown woman. "If you insist on a spell card duel, I'm always up for one."

"Alright, that's it," Reimu said. "Prepare to-"

I put my hand on Reimu's shoulder. "I'll take this dance for you."

"Huh?" Reimu wondered.

"Today's your birthday," I smiled. "You should be resting and enjoying the day, not getting into fights. Besides, this will let me demonstrate the skills you taught me in front of you."

Reimu thought for a moment, then stepped back. "Well, alright. Good luck!"

I stepped forward and presented myself to Hina. "I shall be your opponent today, Kagiyama-san."

Hina crossed her arms. "Oh, and who are you?"

"I am the Charismatic Ace Detective, Goro Akechi, Reimu's protege in the art of Spell Cards." I lifted up into the air, to the amazement of the villagers who knew me but hadn't previously seen me flying, and surrounded myself with an arcane circle. "You would do well not to underestimate me."

Hina took to the air herself and summoned a circle of her own. "Well then, if that's the case, then I won't hold back!" She then unleashed a thick barrage of red and blue amulets.

"Shit, she's goin' all-out from the start!" Marisa exclaimed.

"I hope he'll be okay," Alice said. Fortunately, I was okay, able to quickly weave in and out of the amulets while returning fire. I used my bullets to drill a hole through the ordinance and land a hit on her, after which she declared her first card, a blooming flower-like pattern of oval, red bullets. It wasn't too hard to counter, I found; I simply continued to dodge and fire until I managed to get a hit in, breaking the card.

"Geh!" Hina flinched, then steadied herself. "Not bad. But we're just getting started" She then resumed the waves of red and blue amulets, following them up with circular pulses of red, blue and green standard bullets. Again, I was able to dodge all of them and force her to use her next attack, waves of eight bright, red orbs which came out in a complex spiral pattern, some of which boomeranged back after traveling a certain distance. This time, I was worried about getting boxed in, and decided to use a spell card to break out. I chose one of my newly created cards, born from a freshly-fused Persona.

"Justice Sign: Protector of Nations!" This card summoned Principality, who created several lighted shields arranged in a 3x3 pattern. I could hold them in one place to deflect attacks, then release them in a wave with beams of holy light in between them. Since I used my first spell card, it also altered Hina's bullets from my perspective, revealing their elemental affinities, in this case Fire. I held the shields long enough to outlast the bullet wave, then fired them straight forward, plowing through her bullets and letting one of the lasers pierce her.

"Eeeah!" she squealed, reeling back. That's when something strange happened: usually, after a card was broken, it would appear in front of its user before fracturing. When Hina looked back up, however, she saw two cards, the one she used and one she hadn't yet, shatter in this fashion.

"Wha- HUH?! How did… I haven't even used that one yet!"

Interesting, I thought. Why would my attack cause her to…

…aha. She was a curse goddess, so of course she would be weak to Bless attacks. It seemed my cards applied elemental properties not just to myself, but my opponents as well.

Hina glared at me. "Grrrr… damn brat!" She then immediately came at me spinning like a top and flinging more bullets everywhere, her final attack. My card was still active, so I capitalized on her rage and let her simply run into the shields, which clinched the match for me. She fell down to the ground, defeated, and I touched down in front of her.

"It would seem the righteous have cleansed the wicked," I quipped.

"How… how did you…" she wheezed.

"I told you I am Reimu's protege, and not to underestimate me," I smiled. "But you failed to heed either fact."

She got back up and smiled sheepishly. "Well, gosh. I guess I did." She looked at Reimu, then back at mine. "Looks like the Hakurei found a good student, and a quite handsome one at that."

"I am the 'Charismatic Ace Detective,' after all," I replied.

"No doubt." She handed me one of her dolls. "Here. A small token of my appreciation. I wish you well on your training." She then took off into the air, and soared up toward the mountains.

I looked back around at the crowd, who were all dumbstruck at what they had just seen. It was eerily quiet for several moments, before one of the girls broke the silence.

"Akechi-san is so cool!"

Before I could react, all of the girls ran up to me, chirping my name and going on about how awesome I was, flying and using spell cards to expel a misfortune god. I could see, off to the side, Alice and Marisa with their arms crossed and grinning while Reimu sighed, seeing as how she, the birthday girl, had all of her thunder taken away by me so easily. Each of the girls offered their dolls to me, and I felt I had no choice but to accept all of them. Despite their ages, all of them acted just like younger versions of all my fangirls Outside.

I started wondering if I would ever escape, or if I was forced to accept being constantly surrounded by a horde of girls wherever I went and did anything even remotely impressive.


Later that night, once everyone else had gone home, the other Day Breakers convened on the Shrine to help Reimu celebrate her birthday. Reimu insisted on traditional Japanese food. Youmu cooked up some hot pot, and the rest of us jumped in every now and then to help with the prep. She also made sure to fry up some Abura-age, which was not only Reimu's favorite food but also Ran's, fittingly enough for a kitsune. Tea was also brewed, and Nitori ensured there was enough sake to go around as well, although Ran had also brought her own case of Sapporo with her.

Once the food was laid and we said our prayers, Reimu took the first bite, after which the rest of us began to eat.

"This is quite wonderful as always, Youmu," Ran complimented.

"Thank you, Ran-sama."

Ran looked around at all of us. "This is a rather peculiar group of people you have here today, Reimu."

"Actually, if anything, it's the group Goro here has made friends with since coming here," Reimu said. "That includes myself."

Ran looked at Mamiko. "And, I can't say I've met you before."

"I am Mamiko Shinshou, faithful servant of Alice-sama."

Ran smiled, and turned to Alice. "It looks like you've achieved your long-held dream of a living doll."

"Well, yes," Alice said. "I will say, though, that I somehow didn't look ahead to living with another person, and it's been quite an adjustment."

Ran turned to Aya next. "Nor did I imagine Reimu ever tolerating, much less welcoming, your presence."

"You could say we reconciled and made up," Aya replied. "Quite a lot has been going on recently."

"Indeed," Ran noted. "I heard the Tengu authorities ended the caste system only yesterday. Even I was caught off-guard. It had been in place for as long as I've been Yukari-sama's shikigami. To think they would abandon it with such little notice…"

Aya stretched. "Yeah, but honestly, I'm glad it's gone. In fact, you could say I had a hand in abolishing it, convincing Megumu to actually do it."

Ran turned to me and smiled. "And of course, as Reimu said, this is quite the circle of friends you have made, Akechi-kun."

"So it is," I smiled back.

Ran looked down and closed her eyes. "I wonder, though. I heard of the incident a few nights ago where several 'calling cards' from a group called 'the Day Breakers' turned up at the concert by the lake, and I knew Megumu was in attendance. And before that, calling cards rained down upon the Myouren Temple." She looked around at all of us, then smiled. "And now I suppose I get to meet the mysterious 'Day Breakers.'"

All of us looked at her in shock.

"Come on, now," Ran said. "I took one of the cards for myself. I know Reimu's art and Youmu's handwriting whenever I see it, so at least you two must be in on it. Then, of course, this started not long after Akechi-kun came here to Gensokyo. Am I right to say you're the leader?"

…well, I knew we weren't going to keep it a secret from someone as smart as Ran for long.

"Yes…" I said, shaking my head.

"Ohoho, no need to be ashamed," Ran said. "From what I can tell, you all are doing good work. Still, how you all are doing it seems mysterious. It doesn't seem to involve Spell Card duels, that much I can tell. So, what exactly is it that you all are doing?"

Reimu looked at me. "Should we tell her?"

"We might as well," I said. "It would also give her some closure on how the Outside incident actually went down."

Ran tilted her head. "Hm? What do you mean?"

I got up, and motioned everyone else to do the same. "Follow us. I have something to show you outside."

I uttered the keyword to Ethos right as I was stepping out of the door, in such a way that all of us would walk out of the Shrine in the real world, right into the Metaverse. Ran was the last one out, and when she emerged, she stopped in place, gazing at the tower off in the distance.

"...what in heaven…?" she said in amazement. She looked at us, all in full Metaverse attire save for Alice, and stepped back in shock. "What are those outfits? What is this place?"

"Yeah, just what I expected," Marisa shrugged.

"This is the Cognitive World, or Metaverse," I explained. "It is the place where the thoughts and subconscious desires of all sentient beings manifest in a physical form." I looked down at myself. "And these are the outfits that manifest whenever we enter this place."

Ran looked down and thought for a moment, before commenting. "Hmm… interesting. A realm where the cognition of humanity is made manifest…"

"The incidents we solve are related to the 'distortions' of people across Gensokyo," Youmu further explained. "Do you know about 'shadows' Ran-sama?"

"From Jungian psychology?" Ran replied. "The thoughts and emotions which people keep repressed? I am very familiar with them."

"This is the place where people's shadows appear," Nitori said.

"When a person's desires become highly distorted and their shadow drifts far away from them, they form 'fortresses' wherein they become subconsciously imprisoned within their own sins and regrets," Byakuren said. "I myself was once a victim of this distortion, before this fine group came and broke my chains, and I joined their crusade in gratitude."

"Yuyuko, Byakuren, and Megumu all had distorted desires," Reimu said, "which we discovered and destroyed, and allowed their shadows to return to their real selves… or, in Byakuren's case, become her power instead."

"Become… her power?" Ran asked, a little confused.

"All of us have faced our own shadows," I explained, "except for Mamiko, who herself is a 'rogue' shadow who, through complicated circumstances, came to possess a doll Alice had created. That's how she came to life."

Mamiko pointed at the tower. "I had been enslaved in that place, Ethos, the amalgamation of man's twisted desires, but the Day Breakers freed me."

"Indeed," I said. "Our shadows challenged us to overcome our weaknesses, and we all resolved to do exactly that. Once that happened, once we gained full control of our thoughts and desires, they became 'Personas,' which are also our main weapons to defend ourselves here."

"Normal magic doesn't work here," Marisa explained. "The magic here is based on the things that people think and believe, their cognitions, their view on how the world works. If you don't have a Persona, you're kinda screwed. People's shadows also take the forms of monsters based on their distortion. Beatin' them and convincing them to change is required to make them act normally again."

"Interesting…" Ran noted. "If it's possible, could I see these 'Personas' in action?"

I shook my head. "It's too dangerous. The only shadows in this location are in that tower. And without ambient magic, even a powerful kitsune such as yourself would soon run out of power, and be no match even for the weakest of shadows. And certainly no shadows usually-"

Then, as if on cue, a shadow crested the stairs, carrying a mace and pointed at us. "You!" It declared. "You're the ones who have been desecrating the Tower of the Masses! I must not allow your incursions to go any further!"

We all turned to it and assumed attack formation. "On second thought, perhaps you'll get a demonstration after all."

The shadow quivered, then dissolved and re-formed into a levitating, dark-clad figure. The corrupted form of Izanagi, Magatsu-Izanagi. In a flash, our group and the shadow lunged into the center of the courtyard, clashing our weapons and summoning all our Personas for Ran to see: the Serpent, Magdalina, Freytis, Kikuri, Mima, Hiroari… and, of course, both Bond and my assortment of Wild Card Personas, repelling the power of the shadow who mostly retaliated with Curse and sword-based attacks.

"Doktor, analysis!" I asked.

"Let's see… aaaaand… there!" Nitori exclaimed. "It's weak to Nuclear attacks! Blast it to smithereens!"

"Looks like I'm on deck," Marisa said, tipping her hat. When the shadow was distracted, a quick Freila was all it took to knock it down to the ground. We surrounded it, guns drawn, while it knelt defeated on the ground.

"Any last words?" I asked.

"I…" the shadow replied with labored breathing. "The… masses… the desires of…"

"Bzzt! Time's up!" Aya smiled, with almost murderous glee, before we pounced on it, slashed, bashed, sliced and diced it up to bits, reducing it to shadowy smoke and a pile of money and treasure.

I walked back over to Ran while dusting myself off. "So… what do you think?"

"...I must say, that was very impressive," she said, bowing. "I can tell you all have much experience in this realm."

"Eh, only a couple months at most," Marisa said. "Ain't too hard to figure out once you get the hang of it."

"We should return to the real world," I said. "Now that we've shown you enough to convince you. Plus, dinner will get cold."

"Yes, we don't want that," Ran said.


"...and so that's how Maruki ended up in the Shrine." Reimu finished off her sake dish, then set it aside. "Honestly, I'm still trying to make sense of what all happened."

It was much later, after dinner, dessert and presents, and all of us were gathered around, drinking alcohol and munching on rice crackers and oranges.

Ran took a moment to process Reimu's monologue while finishing up her last can of beer, before putting it aside. "I… see," she said. "So, in other words, Maruki attempted to change the cognition of all of humanity in order to create a world without pain and suffering, these 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' were already attempting to stop him, and an outside force put your dream self there to try and kill him?"

"I know it sounds completely ridiculous, but yes," Reimu nodded. "And then when I woke up, he was right next to me, so I just dragged him into that cell and have been holding him there until the Sages can come and give him his fate."

Ran thought for a moment, then replied, "oh, yes, that policy. I completely forgot."

"There is another reason we're keeping him alive," I said. "Outside, he was a prolific Cognitive Psience researcher. Actually, his using that knowledge was what let him nearly take control of the Metaverse to begin with. Because of that, he is a valuable well of knowledge on how it operates. In addition, he never bore malicious intent, in spite of all the damage he caused and nearly caused, and his powers have been wholly stripped from him. He poses no risk to Gensokyo in his present state."

"And besides, Reimu'll whip him back into line if he gets any funny ideas," Marisa said.

"Err… that's right," Reimu affirmed. "I'll definitely keep him in line."

I nodded, then turned back to Ran. "If I may make a request, now that you know our secret."

"Absolutely," Ran said.

"I want you to share this knowledge with no one else, not even your master."

Ran looked surprised. "...but, an incident of this magnitude, why should I not inform Yukari-sama of it?"

"Because," I replied, "we believe all of this is all part of a larger incident, one where some sort of malevolent force is distorting the desires of those in Gensokyo for an unknown purpose. We've already found, and resolved, the distorted desires of dozens of people across Gensokyo, ranging from ordinary villagers to some of Gensokyo's most influential figures. More importantly, the fortresses we have found so far all belonged to people in leadership positions. The fact of the matter is, we have no idea who all across Gensokyo has fortresses. Quite literally anyone could be a fortress ruler, including Yukari. Should they become aware of our activities, they would move to take us out in real life, and their cognitions would be such that infiltrating their fortresses would be effectively impossible, due to the massive amount of security inside. So, I request, until I say otherwise, that Yukari be left out of the loop for as long as possible."

"But, wouldn't it be easy to see if she has one or not?" Marisa asked. "Like, just say her name into the key?"

I shook my head. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. From what I've been able to gather so far, these fortresses haven't always existed. It's entirely possible all of them were only recently formed. In fact, there might be fortresses forming as we speak. Just because she, or anyone else, isn't distorted now doesn't mean they can never become distorted enough to form one. We don't know what causes some people to form fortresses and others to simply become loose targets drifting throughout Ethos. If someone were to learn our identities and then later form a fortress, it would cause massive complications for us from the start. That is why I want as few people to know about us and our activities for as long as possible, even if they are a Youkai Sage." I finished off my sake. "Still, you did spearhead the investigation into the incident which turned out to be Maruki's Metaverse meddling, and you do seem wise and trustworthy. I believe our secret is safe with you, plus you deserve to know what really happened."

Ran nodded. "I have lived for over a thousand years, grew all nine of my tails, and have seen and resolved countless incidents, and never once have I met an incident of this complexion, one involving the collective consciousness of humanity and the beliefs that shape the world itself. The Hakurei Border exists to shield things from waning belief, but somehow I never thought much of it, of the way cognition shapes the world around us…"

Reimu shrugged. "I guess it's just never been the basis of a full incident before now."

"Perhaps you're right," Ran said.

Alice looked over to Reimu. "You know, I've noticed you're moderating yourself much more than last month, with the alcohol I mean."

"Honestly, I don't know what got into me that night," Reimu said. "Sure, I can drink myself a bit loose and tipsy sometimes, but that night I felt like a demon was possessing me and making me drink as much as possible until I blacked out. Then I had that dream where I fought Maruki, and then he woke up here." She sighed, and rested her arms on the table. "I really wonder if some force was sending me to that place to try and kill him, and I damn near did so twice. He was really powerful at the time. Maybe his actions were getting in the way of someone else's plans and they decided to have me, the Crimson Slasher, go and assassinate him? Who would even have that kind of power?"

"I don't know…" I said.

We sat silently for a couple moments, before Byakuren broke it. "Do you remember any other details from that night?"

Reimu looked up. "Well, I mean… At one point, when it seemed like he had turned the tables against me and the Phantom Thieves, all of a sudden doors appeared on our backs, feeding power into us. I heard a couple of them talk about some figure floating behind the battlefield, but I was too focused on the fight to try and see for myself."

Ran shot up. "Doors… On backs…"

"Is something the matter, Ran-sama?" Youmu asked.

Ran shook her head. "...no, it's nothing."

"Well, whatever you say…" Marisa said. I'm sure we all had the same thought: Ran might know who that person was, or perhaps not. Even if she did know, she might not have wanted to discuss the matter if she didn't need to. For now, I knew our main concern was solving the mystery of the Metaverse incident centered in Gensokyo, and making sure our secret didn't get out.

"In any case, I will keep this a secret from Yukari-sama for as long as I can," Ran said. "In return, I only expect you all to keep up your work in resolving this incident. Know that you all can call upon the resources I have, including myself, should you ever need my assistance."

"Thank you, Ran-sama," I said.

"On the subject of Yukari," Reimu said, "any idea when she'll be waking up?"

Ran shook her head. "I haven't a clue. She has been hibernating longer than usual this year, but she has slept this late sometimes in the past. She has never missed flower-viewing, so I am confident she will stir by then."

"My forecasting device is predicting that the sakura blooms ought to occur right around the first calendar day of spring this year," Nitori said. "We should all get together someplace and celebrate!"

"Excellent idea," Byakuren said. "We can all gather at the temple and enjoy the blooms there."

"Don't forget about the blooms here at the Shrine," Reimu said.

"Or the Netherworld," Youmu said. "We have more and more beautiful blossoms than anyone!"

"I'll make sure there's beer," Aya said. "Tengu-brewed sake is some of the best there is!"

"Aw, c'mon, it wouldn't be flower-viewin' without sakura-mochi!" Marisa said.

I chuckled. "It seems we have all bonded as a group of true companions, haven't we?"

Mamiko looked around, and smiled. "I'm glad I could have all of you as my first friends. I'm sure I will learn a lot."

Alice patted her on the back. "You will. I'm sure of it."