12/31/16

The store was closed both for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and as he promised yesterday, Masato told me I didn't have to work either day, since there wouldn't be much to do otherwise; I had been very efficient in the cleaning, which I had learned from keeping my old apartment presentable for visiting detectives and police officers.

I looked around my room. So far, it seemed rather bare still, with only a futon, a candle, and a few changes of clothes in the closet, including the detective clothes I had brought with me which were neatly folded up. Since this was going to be my space for the foreseeable future, I felt it appropriate to add some furniture. Perhaps a work desk, or a comfortable chair in which I could read. Speaking of which, I should probably start a book collection. Without the modern luxuries of TV and the internet, and my schedule being much more open than it used to be, I started seriously wondering how I was going to keep myself from growing bored. I knew I was going to have to totally rethink how I spent my free time without any of the time-wasters I was used to having.

I thought back to what Lavenza had told me about forming social bonds, and how it would help my quest to avoid damnation, as well as solve the mystery of the Fortresses. Again, I thought about how, while I was good at forming professional relationships, I had never really had what I would consider strong personal ones. I always figured, given the absence of parents in my early life, and eventually being forced to live on my own, that I would always be more or less alone, so why even try? Perhaps that's why I took up such a demanding schedule, to hide from the fact that I was friendless. Now, I was forced into a situation where I not only could, but needed to build a strong social network. Not the easiest thing to do when you had no connections to speak of, and the place you found yourself in supposedly had man-eaters lurking around every corner outside the designated safe place for humans.

...but I could fly, which I never thought was possible, and Reimu wanted to teach me spell cards, which I hoped could help me get ahead in this place. Speaking of which, we never did get around to that, since Marisa interrupted us just before we could begin, and we had gotten our hands tied with taking down Yuyuko's Fortress. Given that today was New Year's Eve, I doubted she would want to give me lessons, if she even had time to do so. And with this new, unfolding incident on the Outside, and my wanting to investigate it, I felt it might be some time before I could resume my lessons with her.

Oh well, I thought. Guess I'll just have to find some way to spend my day before heading up to the shrine for the celebration. Thinking about what to do, I remembered Masato had told me that Keine sought me a couple days ago, when we were in the Fortress. I felt it might be a good idea to pay her a visit.

It was snowing this morning before I left the shop, but it had since stopped. Once again, people were clearing the streets and their doorsteps. Farmers came in with Rickshaws heading for the central marketplace. Chickens, cats and other small animals roamed loose in the streets. Yet more children held snowball fights. Up above, thin beams of sunlight had begun to break through the dense clouds, creating yellow streaks across the sky.

Masato told me that Keine lived in a small house attached to the main schoolhouse, which was one of the town's largest buildings behind only the town hall and the Heida House. I found it without much trouble, and went up to the door to knock, only to find a small note on the door saying that Keine had gone out to visit a friend - most likely Mokou, the woman who rescued me and whom Keine had gone to visit back on Christmas. It seemed hard to believe, this past week - easily one of the busiest and most interesting of my entire life. Already, it had seemed an eternity since I came to this place, which made me wonder what this coming year, and many more years ahead, would look like for me.

Reimu had warned me not to stray from the village or the path to the shrine without an escort until I learned spell cards, and I decided it would be best to follow that advice. So instead, I made my way over to the market to see if I could get something for breakfast. The scene at the market was bustling: vendors setting up their decorations and putting out special displays, and people making last-minute purchases for their New Year's Eve meals and parties. Even with the culture difference and tech gap, some things seemed perennial no matter where you were, and apparently shopping rushes were one of them. I found a covered cafe stand, where I decided to get a cup of coffee and a bowl of miso soup. As I looked around for a seat, I saw a familiar dress sitting at the bar…

"Good morning, Marisa," I smiled, sitting down next to her.

"Oh, hey! Didn't expect to see you here, Goro!"

"I had the day off, so I decided to come check out the market this morning." I took a sip of the coffee. "Mmmm… this is quite the interesting blend. Of course, nothing beats Sakura-san's blend, but this is very distinct from the coffee in Tokyo."

"Well, we pretty much have to grow all our own," Marisa admitted. "Japan ain't the best place to grow coffee, since it gets so cold in the winter. We have this species the Tengu came up with around the time the Border went up that can stand up to our climate, and someone smuggled some seeds down here so now there are coffee growers in and around the village. Other than that, Yukari sometimes drops off bags of whatever she can get her hands on at Kourin's, who then sells them to the restaurants and cafes in town." She looked at her pocket watch. "Speakin' of which, I'm goin' there right after this. You can come with me if you have nothin' else to do."

"Absolutely," I said. "What kinds of things does he sell there? I still have quite a bit from our infiltration two days ago."

"So do I. I managed to go around and sell all the treasure we found in the Palace; the Kappa bought most of it, but Alice also gave me some money for stuff she says is really good for making dolls but is hard to find; she actually asked me why I had a bunch of it all of a sudden. When I counted up the money, I realized I had just over enough to pay back my tab and Reimu's, and since she has no money I thought I'd go do her a solid. Kourin's got all the best stuff; you'd like it there, he sells stuff that falls through the barrier, and I go there when I'm lookin' for stuff for my experiments."

We finished up our food and left the money on the table before making our way to Rinnosuke's shop. It was located just beyond the town walls, and near the edge of the Forest of Magic where Marisa said she lived in a house deep within. A sign above the door declared the business's name as "Kourindou."

I decided to open the door for Marisa like a gentleman, which made her hesitate a bit before entering. The inside of the store was rather unlike Masato's place, being a messy collection of shelves haphazardly stocked with such items as old toys, gadgets, manga, instant ramen and, of course, bottles and bottles of alcohol. Sitting behind the counter was a man with white hair, thick-framed glasses and a blue kimono reading a book. He looked up at us, saw Marisa and put his book down.

"Good morning, Marisa," he said flatly. "What can I do for you today?"

"Mornin', Kourin!" Marisa smiled. She then reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of yen held together with a band, and put it on the counter in front of her. Much of it was, of course, soaked in shadow blood, but Rinnosuke nor anyone else who had never been to the Metaverse couldn't see it of course. Hopefully.

"I'm here to pay my tab," she said simply.

Rinnosuke's eyes widened, and he put his hands on the table and looked at her in disbelief. "...you're doing what now?"

"I told 'ya, didn't I? I'm payin' off my tab. There's also enough in there to cover Reimu's tab, as well."

Rinnosuke paused for a second, staring at her like a statue, before suddenly reaching across the table and grabbing her shoulders.

"Whoa, hey! Whaddya' doin'?!" Marisa exclaimed.

"Who are you and what did you do with Marisa?" Rinnosuke asked her. "Are you that kitsune who tricked Reimu that one time? Or maybe a tanuki? Is this money real, or are you pulling some kind of prank?"

"What's with 'ya today, Kourin?!" Marisa said. "Of course I'm me, and of course the money's real!"

"But Marisa would never pay her tab!" Rinnosuke insisted. He then looked over at me. "What about you? Do you have something to do with this?"

"I might," I said coyly. Technically, I wasn't lying, since I did help Marisa and the others take all the treasure and rob all the money from the shadows in the Fortress, not that I could tell him that.

"I knew it! This has to be-" he then stopped suddenly, looked at Marisa, then back at me, then back at Marisa.

"...by the way, why do you have a man with you?"

Marisa jumped up and blushed profusely. "Ah! He's… he's just a new friend of mine! I brought 'im along because he ain't workin' today and needed somethin' to do!"

Rinnosuke rubbed his chin, and grinned lightly. "Hmmm… friend, I see. Are you sure that's all he is?"

"Don't tease me!" Marisa pleaded.

"My name is Goro Akechi," I bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rinnosuke-san."

"Goro Akechi…" Rinnosuke got up from his seat. The man was much larger than he seemed at first, being almost exactly my own height, perhaps slightly taller. "Can't say I've seen you around before."

"He fell through the barrier recently," Marisa told him. "Keine found him work and a place to sleep in the village."

"Ah, so you come from Outside, then? Where do you come from?" he asked me.

"Shibuya," I told him.

"Tokyo? That's a bit of a surprise. We do sometimes get outsiders, but not many from Tokyo. Did you just happen to be visiting Nagano or Yamanashi and fell through a weak spot in the Border?"

"Well, it's a long story, actually. I doubt you'd be interested right this second. But when I did fall through, I was found by a woman named Mokou, who kept me at her place for a week while I was unconscious before Keine came by on Christmas to visit her, which is when she found me."

Rinnosuke adjusted his glasses, and bowed. "Well, I guess either way, we're glad you can be here with us safe and sound. I am Rinnosuke Morichika, and as you can see, this is my humble shop. I collect all sorts of curiosities that fall through the Border from time to time, including some things you may recognize."

I inspected a random shelf near us, and was surprised to find a mint copy of the first volume of Fist of the North Star, still in its plastic sleeve. "Unbelievable," I said, wide-eyed.

"What? It's just a comic," said Rinnosuke.

"You don't understand; this is a first-release copy of this manga still in its sleeve! Something like this can easily go for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of yen out there!"

"Then I guess I'll change its price to 1,000,000 yen," Rinnosuke joked. He counted the stack of money Marisa handed him. "Yep, yep, yep… well, you weren't kidding. There is exactly enough in this stack to cover both of your tabs. I have to ask though: where did you get all of this money all of a sudden?"

"Let's just say we found a huge treasure cache and the kappa and Alice bought it all up," Marisa said. "We split it up of course, but even after that I still wound up with quite the share. And I thought I'd do Reimu a favor by takin' care of her tab for her as a present."

Rinnosuke chuckled. "Well, I guess that officially makes you a more caring and charming person than her. And a harder worker, I suppose."

"Oh please, I don't work half as hard as she does," Marisa dismissed. "Are 'ya just jealous of this handsome devil I got over here and you're tryin' to flatter me?"

"I'm merely stating the truth," Rinnosuke said. "You're still reckless and uncaring for other people's property, but you're also a hardworking, caring person who happens to also be reckless and uncaring for other people's property."

Marisa pouted. "Oh, so now you're tryin' to guilt-trip me? I'll have you know, I have no weaknesses!" She turned to me and said, "why don'tcha prove it to this guy? Hit me with your best shot!"

She's asking me to insult her? I knew I had to be careful with this one, since I didn't know what all of her sore spots were.

I cleared my throat and fired my first salvo. "Okay, well… you're stupid."

Marisa beamed defiantly. "Oh yeah? And what?"

"You're short."

"That just makes me cuter! And?"

"You're messy."

"Uh-huh! AND?"

Hmm, seems she really doesn't get offended easily. Time to get creative.

"I love you."

That last one caused Marisa's eyes to fling open, her face to flush completely red, and, eventually, her to faint.

I looked at the floor where she had fallen, and then back up at Rinnosuke. "Ah. did I do something wrong?"

"I doubt it," Rinnosuke said offhandedly. "She has a big ego, but short-circuits whenever the subject of love is brought up. I swear, it took me forever for me to explain to her that, no, kissing doesn't make you pregnant."

Marisa eventually got back up, got in my face and poked my chest angrily. "T-T-T-T-THAT'S CHEATING! D-D-DUMMY! I CALL FOUL!" She glanced over at Rinnosuke. "You saw, didn'tcha?!"

"Well, this is my shop."

Marisa took my arm. "C'mon, we're leavin' for today."

"You're not going to take something and then, well, put it on your tab?" Rinnosuke grinned.

"I did what I came 'ere for. Now, let's go!" She led me outside and toward the forest.

"What the hell was that for?" Marisa yelled at me, still blushing like a beet.

"You do seem to pride yourself in being cute," I smiled, "and I think the way you react to things like that adds to your charm."

"Grrrrr- I-I'm not some kawaii anime girl you can toy with all day! I'm a hard-working magician, dammit! I don't like 'ya teasin' me like that!"

"Your face and tone of voice say otherwise," I noted.

"S-s-stop it… dummy," she stammered, pulling her hat down over her face.

I looked at the forest behind her. It was dark. It was thick. And I swore I saw a glowing set of eyes stare right back at me at one point. "So, this is the Forest of Magic? Looks pretty intimidating."

Marisa perked back up; seemed as though talking business was enough to snap her out of her fits. "Oh, yeah, well, that's because it is. There's lotsa nasty stuff in there. Giant, glowing mushrooms sprayin' deadly spores everywhere. Man-eating plants. And, of course, tons of youkai. In other words, a magician's paradise."

"That all doesn't sound like a paradise…" I said somewhat nervously. Making your way through a deadly forest when you had no powers was much scarier than facing down a horde of Fafnirs when you did, and few people were keenly aware of that sense of powerlessness like I was.

"Eh, you get used to it, long as you know the right routes through the forest. Also, you never fly into or out of the forest except in designated places."

"Then why aren't we flying straight to your house?" I asked.

"'Cause you said you wanted to see this place, right? Well, I'm showin' you what one of Gensokyo's most dangerous places is like, and why I'm a badass for livin' here! Now, follow me, and make sure you don't leave my sight!" She then strutted straight into the woods, and I followed close behind.

Winter days aren't very bright to begin with, but as soon as we were in the forest proper it was like flipping a light switch. Light barely touched the ground here, blocked by the thick foliage of the trees above us - and according to Marisa, it was even darker, like perpetual night, during the Spring and Summer when the deciduous trees had all of their leaves. Other than that, it seemed like a normal Japanese forest near its edges, but once we got further in was when stranger things started popping up: large mushrooms, most of which glowed and glittered, and some of which Marisa stopped to pick. Wide, stinking flowers, like Indonesian rafflesias. At one point, a long row of Jizo statues, one of which had notably more offerings than all of the others; Marisa stopped and left a piece of fruit for it.

"What's so special about this one compared to the others?" I asked.

"Dunno. I just think it's the cutest, I guess."

We hiked for a total of about half an hour - if I had to guess, about two kilometers, before we arrived at a large clearing, the white, cloudy sky shining above us. There, on top of a snowy knoll, was a quaint, western-style house.

"We're here," Marisa huffed. "This here is my house."

"It's quite lovely," I complimented.

"Eh, it ain't much if you ask me. I literally just found it one day and called it mine. No one's showed up to take it back, so I think I'm good."

"Ah yes, classic adverse possession," I noted. "Which is perfectly legal, believe it or not, assuming you can make it to 20 years before the owner shows up and maintain it."

"Well, let's see: I found it when I was ten, and my 27th is on February 3rd, so-"

"You're 27?" I asked, confused.

"You surprised?" Marisa smirked.

"I mean, I don't mean to make assumptions of people's ages, but I would have guessed you were about a first-year in age."

"Yeah, I've always wondered about it a bit myself, too. Eirin thinks I grow slower than most people, for some reason. That's why I'm still so short and, er, yeah," she said, holding her hands to her chest. "But, she says I'll also age slower, so I live longer in the end, which is nice. Plus, it still means I have a chance to grow big, and in all the right places!"

"I… see. What about Reimu? Now that I think about it, she looks rather young like you…"

"Her birthday is actually a month after mine, if you can believe it. We were born the same year. She's also kinda like me, slow to grow for whatever reason. Exactly why, Eirin isn't quite sure either, but it sounds like she'll also get to live a bit longer too."

"Very interesting. So I'm actually almost a decade your junior, despite looking like I should be your senpai."

"Yeah, and there's still a lot of youkai and other things that live here that look way younger than they actually are. They're kinda vain like that. Take Remilia, for example. Looks and acts like a bratty preteen girl. She's 515."

"Some people grow old without growing up, I suppose," I shrugged. We both chuckled.

The inside of her house was, somehow, exactly what I expected based on her personality: piles and piles of trash, treasure and other random items strewn about in piles reaching all the way up to the ceiling. About the only semi-organized area of her home was her workshop, and even then she had vials of chemicals stashed on the shelves and in cabinets with no regard to order or even safety (including, disturbingly, mercury stored in a glass jar shut with a cork), stacks of books with titles in languages ranging from Japanese to English to French to runes I couldn't identify, a mini-greenhouse containing, among other things, nightshade, marijuana, ayahuasca, and tomacco plants, and a terrarium with the largest salamander I had ever seen. Over by the fireplace was a large cauldron, which Marisa claimed she made both potions and meals in. Her kitchen was mostly stocked with dry goods, with the exception of chilled food kept inside an old Whirlpool fridge which had been haphazardly refurbished and was powered… somehow. Looking around, it certainly left no doubt that this was the home of a witch.

"Now that I've given 'ya the grand tour, whaddya think?"

I looked around at the disaster area of a home once again. "It's… very unique," I tersely praised.
"But, why did you bring me to this place?"

"You said you had nothin' goin' on, right? And we still got a few hours to kill before we gotta head to Reimu's. Why don't we just have lunch and visit for a while-"

There was a knock on the door.

"Eh? A visitor?" She went toward the door. "Prolly just Alice, or maybe Reisen since I sell medicine ingredients to them. I'll be right back."

As Marisa went to go grab the door, I decided to have a look around and see what ingredients we had, and what we could throw together to make lunch. For a Western-styled witch, she had very traditional Japanese tastes, with the fridge holding large amounts of fish, a pantry full of soba, udon, ramen and other types of noodles, some stock and bouillon in the pantry, heavy burlap sacks full of rice, and some fruits and vegetables in a basket off to the side. Her well pump was located in a utility room, seemingly added on to the house, and there were several buckets on the floor beside it. I had to admit, she did have a rather well put-together little-

"How many times do I have to tell 'ya that yer not allowed at my house?!" I heard her suddenly yell. "Now get outta here before I Master Spark 'ya in the face! ...No, he's not my boyfriend or anything! Now GET OUT!"

I heard the door slam, and when Marisa came back she was steaming.

"Who was that?" I asked. "Unwelcome guest, I assume?"

Marisa sat at the table and sighed. "That was Aya. She was tryin' to interview me for her trashy tabloid about me, you and Reimu. Honestly, that demon. Does she have anything better to do?"

"Who is 'Aya?'"

"Aya Shameimaru. She's one of the tengu that live on Youkai Mountain. She runs this newspaper called the Bunbunmaru, and she publishes some of the most ridiculous crap in there. She used to have a version she sold in the Village as well, but Mamizou managed to do a smear campaign against it, so she stopped it. Ever since then, I swear she's been getting more desperate for material, so she's been pestering me, Reimu and a few others more over the smallest things. My money's that she's been spyin' on us for some time."

I froze in place. "Shit. That means she may have seen us enter the Metaverse and could tell others."

"I was fearin' the same thing, but she didn't seem to bring up anything about us disappearin' out of nowhere every time we entered, and I definitely didn't bring it up or else she woulda got suspicious."

"Even so, it sounds like we need to be very careful around her. If she's following us around, it's only a matter of time before she discovers our secret. Tell me, what does she look like in case I ever run into her?"

"Oh, right, you didn't see her 'cause you were back here. Well, she's kinda tall, I'd say only a little shorter than you, and she bobs her hair in a way that hides her pointy ears. Usually she wears one of three outfits: if she's on guard duty at Youkai Mountain she'll be wearin' one of the standard tengu warrior outfits with the detached sleeves, baggy pants and combat boots, and she'll have a shield, a leaf fan and usually a spear. She doesn't actually have wings, but they got this cape that can turn into crows wings to help them fly better, and she'll be wearin' that too. If she's in the Village, she'll crossdress as a paperboy in a brown jacket, a red tie and a cabbie hat. The rest of the time, she's in a white shirt, has the little red tokin hat that the tengu like to wear, red geta shoes and a really short black skirt that I wonder how it's even legal. She'll also be carryin' a notepad."

"You mentioned she was a tengu. Does she have any special powers?" I thought about tengus in the Metaverse, who typically had powerful wind attacks.

"She can move really, really fast. Like, faster than the speed of sound fast, and she's one of the only people I can't beat in races. That means she can literally be on the other side of Gensokyo right now and be here within seconds. She can also whip up mean winds, and can even listen in on them to try and make out people's voices so she can go bug 'em for material."

"I… see. She will be a very tough obstacle to our plans indeed. If she spreads word about the Metaverse and it becomes common knowledge… well, I don't actually know what would happen, but the results would most likely be catastrophic for our investigations."

"How so?"

"Well, I have actually run into shadows of people aware of the Metaverse, many of whom had ties to the Kijiro Group, a massive conglomerate who at one point poured billions of yen into researching cognitive psience, as it's called. Their shadows were capable of doing things normal shadows cannot, since they can essentially manipulate their own cognitions at will. Now, imagine if that started happening en masse here. Our investigations would grind to a halt, and people would be all over us, including many who would try to kill us. So not only do we have to keep our Metaverse lives a complete secret, but we have to keep others from knowing as well. If that means having to 'silence' them if all else fails, then so be it."

Marisa gulped. "Well, hopefully it doesn't come to that. Most especially because Aya's an old and powerful person who could wipe the floor with us if she ever got serious."

"We'll just have to be careful, and hope it never becomes necessary," I said.

After that brief conversation, we went ahead and made some soba. Marisa insisted that I do some of the cooking, despite my repeated warnings about my lack of skill still. She, of course, didn't listen and taunted me, calling me an entitled city boy who was used to having everything be done for me. When the actual soup was done, though…

"...I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to glow purple like that," Marisa winced.

I looked at the recipe scribbled on the cabinet door again. "I'm fairly certain I followed them exactly, but…"

Marisa picked up a noodle from the purple, bubbling soup. "Well, hopefully it tastes better than it looks." She stuck it in her mouth, chewed it a bit… then promptly spat it back out all over the table, reached for her still piping hot tea and chugged it all at once.

"Bluh, bleh, GAH!" She flipped her bowl over the table, spilling the toxic sludge everywhere. "What the HELL is this… this Mystery Food X?! Where'd 'ya learn how 'ta cook, truck-drivin' school?!"

"I warned you, I'm just that horrible of a cook," I shrugged. "I don't know why, really. Everything I cook for some reason always comes out like-"

Suddenly, Marisa shoved a piece into my mouth. The second the noodle entered, I could tell something was very, very wrong. The horrid, rancid flavor, the indescribably awful aftertaste, the non-Euclidian way in which the hellish aroma danced around in my sinuses… no human, or any other living thing, deserved to have this torture inflicted upon them. My eyes watered, the blood drained from my face, and before I knew it Marisa was holding my head over a bucket as I vomited into it.

Gasping for breath and my face red, I wearily looked up at her, shaking as chills overtook my body.

"Man, you're such a lightweight, pukin' and fallin' to the ground like that. Guess you can't dish it out if you can't take it," she smirked.

"Marisa! There you are!" came a voice as the door flung open. We jolted our heads around, and saw Reimu stomp into the kitchen where we were.

"Oh, hey there, Reimu! Didn't know you were comin' to visit!"

"Why are you not at the shrine? Everything's set up but the party doesn't start for a few more hours, so there's absolutely nothing going on right now! I demand that you and Goro come with me right this second so you can end my boredom!"

"We were gonna come to the shrine when it got dark, but-" Marisa and I then observed Reimu walk over to the table, where there was still a bowl of Mystery Food X on the table.

"You should have told me you were making lunch, I would have come over if you did," she said as she took the bowl and chugged it all down at once.

Both of us panicked. "Uh, wait, no, Reimu, that's-"

Reimu set the bowl down and wiped her face with her sleeve. "What? Was that bowl one of yours?"

"Ah, no, that's… I made an error in the preparation, so the soup is all but inedible…" I hung my head low in shame, confessing that to Reimu.

"So? Honestly, it wasn't that bad. Maybe a little bland, but nothing to puke in a bucket over, unlike you apparently."

I was absolutely dumbstruck.

"Er…"

Marisa leaned in and whispered, "Reimu doesn't have much of a budget for food, so she's built up insane tolerance to all sorts of crap. One time I walked in on her eating dirt, and dropped my other plans just to take her to go eat an actual meal. And there was one time she ate rotten leftovers and I had to literally revive her; sometimes I swipe food from places just to drop it off at the shrine and make sure she's eating alright."

"What are you whispering about?" Reimu demanded.

"Oh, uh," Marisa jumped up, "I was just tellin' him about that one time I challenged you to a drinkin' contest."

"I don't care about that," Reimu dismissed, "I demand that you two come with me and cure my boredom. You can continue your date there if you want, I honestly don't care."

"EHH?" both me and Marisa exclaimed in unison.

"I'm joking," Reimu snickered. "But in all honesty, I'm really, really bored, so can you two come with me and play Daifugo or something while we wait for everyone else to show up?"

"I don't mind," I said. "Why don't we get going?"

Marisa was still blushing like an apple, even as she grabbed her broom and we got ready to head out.


When we arrived at the shrine it was about 3 P.M. All the stalls were set up, but the only person there was the bird girl from yesterday, who was busily gutting and prepping eel to sell, as well as the fairies Reimu was bossing around. Reimu introduced me to them: the one in the American flag costume was named Clownpiece, and was supposedly a Hell fairy who was living under the shrine after some incident a year and a half back. The other three were named Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire. They lived in a tree somewhere behind the shrine. Reimu warned me that all three were mischief-makers, as all fairies tended to be, but other than that weren't much to worry about due to being too stupid to do anything harmful; apparently fairies were all immature in both appearance and behavior, and would get into fights over the smallest things and then promptly forget the reason they were fighting to begin with.

And that was just the "strongest" ones: she also told me that fairies in general were "cannon fodder" and could be easily killed by just about anything, which was why they swarmed and attacked in groups. However, because they were nature spirits they could endlessly respawn when killed.

"Here, let me demonstrate for you," she said. "Clownpiece, come up here. The rest of you, stand back." We did as she asked, and Clownpiece came up to Reimu.

"What can I do for 'ya?" she asked. Reimu then pointed her gohei at the fairy, causing her to explode into flames, torn clothes and ofuda. When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of her left.

I was aghast. "Did you...just...kill her?" I asked in shock.

"Give it a minute." After a few moments, a light shone, then formed into Clownpiece, good as new.

"I hate it when you do that," she pouted.

"Yeah, sorry, I just had to show this guy what I meant," Reimu said to her. "I'll let you have an extra macaroon after dinner. Deal?"

"Yay!" the fairy cheered, running off with the others.

"You see? They don't fear death, because they just keep coming back," Reimu explained. "You can't really kill a fairy unless you destroy the thing they spring forth from. In Clownpiece's case, that means destroying Hell, and, well, good luck doing that."

"I see… I wonder how many other surprises this land has in store for me?"

"Right now, you're just scratching the surface. But, I'm sure you'll see what I mean in time."

It wasn't long before the sun went down and the lanterns started lighting up. The darker it got, the more guests showed up, one of the first of which was a woman with pink hair, a red tabard and a green skirt; Reimu explained this was Kasen Ibaraki. I recalled her name from Keine explaining she was one of the sages, and Yuyuko mentioned her yesterday as well. Supposedly, I was looking at Ibaraki-douji, one of the oni which served the powerful Shuten-douji. I wondered if I would get to meet him as well; it didn't take long for a short girl with horns and chains on her arms to show up, for me to learn "he" was a "she," and she went by the name "Suika Ibuki" these days. It made me wonder just how many things history got wrong about these figures. More guests soon arrived, including everyone I met yesterday. Ran showed up with a cat-girl in orange clothes, whom she explained was her shikigami, which I had always thought were made of paper (apparently, they could be bound to living things as well). In a twist, Ran revealed she herself was also a shikigami of Yukari; given Ran was a nine-tailed kitsune and therefore extremely powerful in her own right, it made me wonder what kind of being Yukari was and what amount of power she wielded, and if Yuyuko's claims about her "boundary manipulation" were real.

By late evening, the party was in full swing. The sky above was lit up by the half moon, and without the light pollution of Outside cities, the full beauty of the stars, nebulas, and other wonders of the cosmos were laid bare for all to see. All the guests and all the stall keepers brought something to share with everyone. There were eats, there were drinks (lots and lots of drinks, and of many different kinds), there were games. Some of them also conducted danmaku duels, giving me a crucial glimpse as to what they were like. To be sure, they were spectacles, with many, many laser bullets fired back and forth in a vast, dizzying array of beautiful, masterful patterns ranging from simple bursts from the user all the way to woven grids and symbols. These were spell cards, Reimu explained, and each spell card had a story, a theme, and much symbolism behind it, and if I was to craft spell cards as beautiful yet devastating as these I was going to have to put a lot of thought into what their themes, history and identities were, and how to convey that into laser bullets. Merely watching them was enough to leave me spellbound, I couldn't even imagine how much of a rush it would be to actually be involved in one. I was going to have to practice, and thankfully I had the system's master as my sensei… even if she was, well, rather difficult in personality sometimes.

For the most part, everyone settled into their own little social groups. Of course, being the only guy present and, until recently, an Outsider, I did attract more than a few glances and questions from curious girls. Many asked who I was, what I was doing here and what relation I had to Reimu. Already, rumors began to swirl regarding me, things like, wow, ain't he a cutie, or, did Reimu get a boyfriend? Are they going out? Apparently, girls in Gensokyo liked gossip just as much as girls back in Tokyo. Only, every single one of these girls was a youkai, a goddess, or both, with the exception of Reimu and Marisa, who were surprisingly good at keeping them all in check, and they all showed the two a lot of respect.

As the evening wore on, everyone came up with new ways to pass the time until midnight. Some people grew tired and left early; I couldn't blame them, since I found myself yawning a lot and drinking lots of tea and coffee to try and stay awake. Meanwhile, Suika showcased her immense strength by doing a handstand and balancing a large boulder on her right foot, Marisa and some of her friends were gathered around a Daifugo game (by the looks of it, Marisa was the beggar), while the bird-girl (whose name I learned was Mystia) had closed up her eel stand and was now doing a singing show with another girl with green hair and dog-like ears. For the most part, I just kept to myself, dropping into conversations here and there but never truly mingling. This was a habit of mine, born from having gone my whole life without any real friends, and even with the Phantom Thieves I found myself off to the side while they talked and did their own things (although since they knew about my plan from the start, they may have been actively shunning me as well).

"Hey there," came a voice. "Can I talk to you?"

I turned around. It was Kasen. She was up on the roof, seated next to Reimu and overlooking the party. "You can fly, right? Could you come up here?"

"...sure," I nodded. So I jumped up to the roof and sat down next to them.

"Lovely night we're having, aren't we?" she said. "A little chilly, of course, but that's to be expected for winter."

"Indeed, it really is quite nice." The half-moon shone brightly, illuminating the sky and casting light down upon the valley below blanketed in thick snow.

"Reimu here already told you my name, but you haven't told me yours," she asked.

"My apologies. My name is Goro Akechi. I'm from Tokyo."

"Reimu told me all about you and how you came here. It's a pleasure to meet you." She took a sip of tea, while Reimu blew on hers to try and cool it down. "That must have been very scary for you, almost getting killed. It's also quite an unusual way for someone to arrive here, people simply believing you couldn't have survived that."

"I still have a hard time believing it myself," I said. "Sometimes I wonder if this is all just a dying dream."

"Believe me, you would know the difference," Kasen assured me. "I've travelled all sorts of realms, both dream and reality. All of them have their own look and feel. You wouldn't believe just how many alternate realms exist in this world, and it's taken me a long time to see them all."

"I don't doubt that," I said, of course knowing there was one realm I had been to that she didn't even know of. "Still, Gensokyo is quite an interesting place by itself. Certainly, I never would have imagined meeting Ibaraki-douji personally, when I had grown up believing the story to be only a legend."

Kasen looked downcast. "...I don't like hearing that name anymore," she sighed. "It reminds me too much of my violent, shameful past."

"Oh, I see. I apologize, then," I bowed.

"No, it's okay. It was my name for a long time, after all." She lifted her right arm, which was covered in bandages… or so I thought, until she explained, "a long time ago, my malevolence was contained into my right arm before it was cut off and sealed by a legendary blade. There is no arm under these wraps, just magical smoke. Since then, I've done all I can to atone for my evil actions, practicing hermit arts, taking care of animals and guiding the shrine maiden, such as Reimu here. That's how I came to be one of the three Sages of Gensokyo, dedicated to maintaining its balance."

"More like, you barge into my shrine whenever you feel like it and lecture me on how I'm not being a proper shrine maiden or something," Reimu griped.

"Somebody needs to keep your destructive tendencies in check," Kasen told her. "And someone needs to instruct you on how to properly run a shrine so you don't resort to get-rich-quick schemes that invariably blow up in your face, such as that fortune-telling venture that one time or how the fox girl tricked you so thoroughly."

"I tied her up and fed her ofuda until she cried uncle, though, isn't that enough?"

"That's just torture," Kasen scolded, "and it's part of why people don't trust you. Humans, youkai, all of them regard you as a lazy shrine maiden who hates everyone and beats them up."

"But that's because everyone already treats me like an outcast," Reimu countered. "Everyone thinks I'm just some reclusive weirdo who hides up in this shrine and comes down to smite them for no reason. I'm just trying to do my duty here, which is maintaining Gensokyo's balance and punishing those who step out of line. Even if that means crossing people, like that fortune teller: not only did he turn himself into a youkai, but he also revived himself to do so, both crimes I can't ignore, so I had to kill him. I don't care that his family hates me, I was just doing my damn job."

At least you've never assassinated anyone in cold blood, I wanted to say.

"You seem troubled," Kasen asked.

"Oh, sorry," I said, shaking my head. "It just sounds like Reimu-san's job is a very difficult one."

"That's understating it," Reimu told me. "For me, there's no such thing as a day off. It's always either solving incidents, exterminating problem youkai, or organizing parties, like this one. If I didn't have a bad tendency to attract people here to the shrine, I'd be alone all the time." She held her head low. "Honestly, if I had the ability to pass the job off to someone else, I would. But, I can't, there is no one else to share the burden with." She started crying, and covering her face. "I hate this situation! I just want to end it! I just want to live a normal life!" She kept sobbing, even leaning into Kasen who tried to console her.

"Reimu… I've never seen you cry like this, or be so up-front."

"Now do you see it?" Reimu cried. "I hate this fucking job! How can you possibly expect me to be good at a job I don't even like?!"

By now, Marisa had noticed Reimu was in distress, and I watched her hastily tear herself away from her game to fly up here and get in between us to hug her. "Hey, you can stop cryin' now, 'cause I'm here with 'ya."

Reimu sniffled. "Marisa…"

"I keep tellin' 'ya you don't gotta suffer alone. Ya just gotta remember I'm always there for 'ya, through thick and thin, huntin' youkai, plannin' parties and everything in between."

I smiled. "You say you bicker all the time, but in the end you two really are close, aren't you?"

"What can I say?" Marisa said. "We're both loners and outcasts, so we gotta have each other's backs no matter what. Actually, I guess that's four of us now, since we got you, a guy from the Outside who everyone forgot and who has no connections here, and now Youmu as well…"

"Oh?" Kasen wondered. "Did you become close with Youmu-chan all of a sudden?"

"Er, yeah," Marisa stammered, realizing she may have said too much. "You could say it's a recent thing."

"I spoke with her and Yuyuko earlier today… I can't quite put a finger on it, but it seemed as though they were different people. Youmu seemed more confident and protective of Yuyuko than usual; she was even watching me closely the whole time I met with her. And Yuyuko is usually pretty lazy and always snacking, but this time she was stone-cold serious and wasted no time getting to business… business which filled me with foreboding, unfortunately."

"Ah, yes, I went to speak with them yesterday. They mentioned a bizarre incident which might be unfolding on the Outside, which could threaten the Barrier."

Reimu instantly perked up and stopped crying, her sorrow replaced by clearly discernible dread. "...what about the Barrier now?"

"Supposedly, Doremy came to her and several others about a significant disturbance in the Dream World, which is growing by the day, sourced in Tokyo. She's afraid it could affect the Barrier due to its effects on human perception and belief. Normally, something like this would call for Yukari to step in, but she's hibernating, so Yuyuko reached out to me to try and solve it, since I too can come and go from the Barrier. I'm already preparing spies to go out and investigate it. But it sounds quite serious, so I think it would be risky to try and send you back, Akechi-san, until it is resolved."

I shook my head. "I have already intended to stay here," I said. "Because of how I came here, trying to reintegrate into society would be very difficult, especially since all my assets and possessions would have been taken by now. But, I do agree, this situation sounds very dangerous. And I would be willing to help however I can."

"I doubt there's much a human like you can do about it, but I appreciate your enthusiasm."

"I was a detective out there, and I'm very good at making deductions. If nothing else, having a second opinion on the evidence would help you solve the mystery and figure out how to best respond to it. I already offered my services to Yuyuko-san."

Kasen rubbed her chin. "A detective… I suppose having one would be useful for us. How about this: if I need you again, I'll come get you. You live at Kirisame-san's shop, correct?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"Excellent." Kasen then got up and stretched her arms. "Well, I already promised Suika I'd share a drink with her when the ball drops in a few minutes, so I'll be leaving you three. See you next year." She jumped down from the roof and went over to a stand where Suika was seated.

Once she was out of earshot, Reimu was the first to speak.

"Do you think that disturbance could be related to the Metaverse?" she asked.

"I'm almost certain," I said. "Especially since it's centered in Tokyo, where the Phantom Thieves performed all their heists." I paused for a moment to think. "I learned recently that the proper term for Palaces, at least here in Gensokyo, are 'Fortresses,' places where people's hearts are imprisoned by distorted desires. Out there, there's a very large Fortress, one which all others are born from. It is called 'Mementos.'"

"Mementos?" Marisa wondered. "Sounds sketch."

"Large, individual fortresses like Yuyukos only come about when someone's desires are extremely distorted; the rest of the public has one, massive, shared Fortress, in the form of Mementos. So while venturing through one person's Fortress changes only their cognition, altering Mementos can change the entire public's."

"So what you're saying is…" Reimu asked.

"I think the source of this disturbance is someone or some force manipulating Mementos. I want to see if it can be accessed from here. I've already told Youmu I wanted to meet up on Monday to discuss the plan as a team."

Reimu seemed hesitant. "That seems very intense. We dealt with one person's 'Fortress,' which was pretty tough. I can't imagine taking on the entire public all at once."

"We won't be changing a heart, per se," I clarified. "We're just finding the cause of the distortion and getting rid of it."

"But even then, whoever or whatever's doin' it is prolly, like, obscenely powerful," Marisa noted. "I bet they could vaporize us just by bein' in the same room."

"Then we just go in absolutely prepared," I said. "After all, the fate of Gensokyo, and perhaps humankind, could lie in the balance here. We have to at least try."

"Seems like a big ask for us still bein' new at this whole Metaverse business," Marisa gulped.

"But, we are master incident resolvers. We've taken down severe border threats before, and Goro's right: as long as we go in on top of our game, and perhaps combine our strength, we can come out on top."

"Someone's feeling better," I smiled.

"We are good friends, even if we bitch at each other 90% of the time," Reimu joked.

Then, all of a sudden, a shower of shooting stars covered the sky. Tens, if not hundreds, of bright trails streaked across the heavens, a dazzling yet highly improbable display, especially given what other people were yelling, cheering and screaming all at the same time.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

"WOO, HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

"2017, WOOT WOOT!"

"HAPPEH *hic* NYU YEEER! *hic*"

We looked up, and all marvelled at the display. "Guess it's the New Year, already, huh?" Marisa asked.

"I have to say, Sanae really outdid herself this time," Reimu said.

"This is all her work?" I asked her.

"Sure is."

Marisa slapped her hand on the roof. "Hey, since we're already at a shrine, why don't we make our New Year's Wishes?"

"Well, I wish for billions and billions of yen," Reimu snarked.

"You know the gods won't grant that kind of selfish wish," I laughed.

"Yeah, especially not mine." She cleared her throat. "In all seriousness, I wish for some major change in my life. Like I said, I don't like my life where it currently is. I want some sort of big shakeup that'll change my life for the better, get me out of my heavy, thankless work."

"I totally hear 'ya," Marisa said. "Well, if I had to wish for somethin', I just want another year filled with big, exciting adventures for us to go on."

"I think that wish has already been granted," I smiled.

"Yeah, seriously. I bet it's never gonna get borin' with you around." Marisa chuckled, then took a sip of sake. "What about you? What do you wish for?"

What do I wish for? I thought about it for a minute. What was it that I truly craved which I was missing from my life, especially now that I was in this place?

"...I wish for long-lasting, meaningful friendships," I said. "And maybe, perhaps maybe, love."