1/10

"Aaaaand… there!" I stood back and admired the high pile of snow I shoveled away from the front door to the shop. It stood nearly two meters high by now, and had frozen and solidified into a semi-solid hunk of ice. It amazed me just how much snow Gensokyo received, which rivalled or even exceeded the famously snowy Sapporo, which was known for its snow sculpture festivals; it made me wonder if these people did something similar.

"We got quite a bit last night, didn't we?" said Masato, coming out of the shop.

"Indeed," I replied. "I can't say I've ever seen this much snow in my life."

"Well, we are in the mountains," Masato said, "and on the windward side, too. Amazes me how weather Outside affects us here in Gensokyo, too."

I looked at him. "Outside, the city of Sapporo holds a snow sculpture festival every year. Looking at all this snow, I wonder if you all do something like that here as well."

"Well, we don't do anything formal, but some villagers make things like snow forts, snow and ice sculptures and whatnot; mostly, we use the snow and ice to help keep meat through the winter." He looked out toward the western fields. "There's an ice fairy by the name of Cirno who likes making sculptures. She's a complete idiot for the most part, but absolutely crackerjack at art, especially making things out of snow and ice. She lives by the Misty Lake, and if you go out near where she lives I guarantee you'll find plenty of her creations."

"I think I would," I smiled.

Masato went back into the shop, before coming out moments later with a set of skis and ski poles. "Snow's hard to walk around in, so most everyone in the Village gets around on skis and snowshoes during the winter." He handed everything over to me. "Here, you can have these. They're an extra set I've had for a long time. You look like you fit them, so I want you to have them."

"Are you sure?" I asked, taking the set from him.

"They're collecting dust otherwise," he said, "plus I'm too old to really go anywhere far from the shop during the winter, so I just have everything delivered. Besides, you're living here too, so I don't see why you can't use anything of mine I don't happen to use."

I bowed. "Oh, well… thanks."

After finishing up some final chores and helping a lady in and out of the store, I threw on my jacket and some heavy pants, strapped on the skis, and headed out into the white, wintery snowscape. Just outside the Village were farms and homesteads, where I imagined much of the town's food was grown. All the fields were covered in thick snow, the seeds beneath surely waiting to sprout in the coming spring. Strung in between those was the river; I followed alongside its bank to reach the shores of the Misty Lake.

Despite the winter cold, the river managed not to freeze over, while on the lake itself ice existed only in sheets along the shoreline. The lake got its name from the misty haze which formed over it during the daytime, and today, a white, eerie fog obscured its shimmering waters. It was a surreal scene, one which could send chills up anyone's spine, but I was Goro Akechi; I had experienced so many horrifying things both in real life and in the Metaverse that not much unnerved me anymore, not even this Silent Hill landscape, or the eyes of youkai watching me from the bushes.

Eventually, I came across a rather macabre scene: a giant, tentacled snow monster with a gigantic mouth grabbing and eating a snowman while others frantically ran away from it. Also present were intricate ice and snow sculptures depicting dragons, monsters, warriors and other mythical beings. And in the middle of it all, a small girl in a blue and white dress, with blue hair and a giant blue bow, with six ice crystals floating like wings behind her back, was busy rolling a snowball bigger than she was. Watching her from the side was a woman with blue-lavender hair and a similarly blue and white gown.

"Come… on…" she grunted as she pushed the mammoth snowball, which grew as it picked up more snow and left a trail of bare grass behind it.

"Cirno-chan," said the woman, "I understand your determination, but don't you think a life-size snow gashadokuro is a bit much, even for you?"

"Of course not!" Cirno pouted. "Don't you see my honor is at stake here? I can't call myself a real ice fairy until I make a grand gashadokuro statue!" She swept her arm out toward all the sculptures around us. "Can't you see? My menagerie is the pride of the Misty Lake! I must crown it with-"

Her eyes met mine.

"See, Letty-sama? A visitor has come to pay his respects for my talent!"

I eyed the various sculptures and statues. "They're very well-made, I'll give you that." I looked toward the other woman and bowed. "My name is Goro Akechi. A pleasure to meet you."

"Goro Akechi?" she asked. "Can't say I've met you before… ah, I must be getting forgetful," she shrugged. "My name is Letty White, and this here is-"

"My name is Cirno!" Cirno bellowed. "I'm the strongest fairy in Gensokyo!"

"Is that so?" I asked. "Can you prove it?"

"What do I need to prove?" she asked. "Don't these magnificent creations of mine speak for themselves?!"

I smirked and rubbed my chin. "What if I didn't believe you? What if she created all of them and you're claiming all the credit?"

Letty hung her head low. "I'll admit, I might be a yuki-onna, but my artistic ability is nowhere near the level of Cirno-chan's, nor is my imagination and creativity as vast."

Cirno glared and grinned while pointing at me. "You see? You see? You are a fool for doubting the talents of yours truly! There is no challenge which I cannot overcome! That is the power of Gensokyo's strongest fairy!"

It was clear to me now, judging by her haughty demeanor, that she had an impossibly inflated ego and was likely a moron as well. Normally, I'd simply call her out, break her down, burst her bubble. But, I also realized I hadn't actually seen her in action yet, and she might very well be able to rend me limb from limb if she wanted too. I also felt a little playful in the moment, so I decided to tease and exploit her a little.

"Well, if that's the case, then there's one type of snow sculpture which I'm absolutely sure you cannot make!"

"Is that a challenge?!" she growled. "I'm telling you, there is no challenge I cannot overcome! I will prove you wrong!"

I crossed my arms. "Well then. If that's the case, then the sculpture I'm thinking of is…"

Twenty minutes later, Cirno had erected a ten-meter tall Jack Frost on the shore of the Misty Lake. Most of that time was spent trying to describe what a Jack Frost looked like to Cirno, correcting her as needed; once she had a good idea what a Jack Frost was, the actual sculpture went up in seconds.

Once it was fully up, Cirno turned around and smugly puffed out her chest. "Aha! Fool! You dared to underestimate the talents of ME, and have now been humbled like the mere peasant you are!"

"Oh, I'm so humbled and defeated," I said, feigning sincere defeat. "I just thought that such a sculpture would be impossible to make, hee-ho!"

"Hee-ho?" she asked.

"That's what Jack Frost says, hee-ho!"

Cirno thought for a second, then chirped "hee-ho!"

"Hee-ho!" parroted Letty.

"Hee-ho!" Suddenly, several other voices came out of the trees; they were all fairies. All of them circled the towering Jack Frost, and soon the air was full of disorganized choruses of "hee-ho!"

"Uh-oh," said Letty, "I think that's all those fairies are going to be saying for a while."

I sighed. "It would seem so. They already look like they're worshipping it."


1/11

Early in the morning, Reimu came by to bless the shop, as she did last time. Once she finished, however, she asked if she could meet with me privately. This struck me as odd, so I realized it had to be important.

Both of us realized going up to my room would just prompt awkward remarks from Masato, so instead we went across the street to Suzunaan and found a quiet reading room in the back for us to chat. The only other people there were an older man behind the counter (Kozusu's father, Reimu told me) as well as a woman with very dark brown, bordering on black, hair and dark red eyes similar to my own, reading what based on the cover seemed to be a revenge tragedy. She looked up at us briefly before going back to her book. The store also sold coffee; I bought two cups for me and Reimu before we went to the back and sat down.

"Thanks for hearing me out," she said to me. "You're… you're the only person I feel like I can share this with, at least right now."

"No problem," I said. "Although this is rather strange."

"Yeah…" Reimu was silent for a moment. "A couple nights ago, I… I had a dream. A really strange dream. All day yesterday, I couldn't think about anything except it."

"What kind of dream was it?" I asked.

"It was… very vivid," she told me. "I was in this… lab-like place, with glass and whiteness all over the place, and Marisa was there with me. It was in the Metaverse, since we were in our Metaverse outfits and had our Personas but not our regular powers. There were shadows, of course, but the strangest part was that you were there, but in a different, dark outfit, and you were with a guy in a black long coat and frizzy hair."

I stood up, my eyes widened. "Is… that so?"

"Yeah, I don't know why you were like that, it was really weird. We followed you two, and ended up in an auditorium where this scientist - I think his name was Dr. Maruki - was controlling a girl named Kasumi or Sumire, and he went on about granting everyone their wishes, or somesuch. He ripped out her Persona and made it attack us, but then some other people, the 'Phantom Thieves,' like who you told us about, came in and helped us take it down. After that, I pinned Maruki to the ground and tried to kill him because I thought he was threatening the Barrier, but Marisa stopped me and we got into an argument about our morals."

Phantom Thieves… Yoshizawa-san… Dr. Maruki, controlling Personas, controlling a Palace… all this appeared far too real to be a mere dream, and I of course said nothing about Dr. Maruki or the names of any of the Phantom Thieves to her or anyone else. Why would Reimu have a dream in which they appeared at all, much less one which was so vivid? There had to be an explanation, maybe Doremy knew. I should ask her the next time I see her, I thought.

"That's where the dream ended," said Reimu, after a moment's pause. "When I woke up, it was still dark out. I couldn't fall back asleep after that, so I spent the rest of the night making more blessing amulets."

"I see," I nodded. "...what was the 'me' in your dream like?"

"You? Well… you were dressed in this dark outfit covered in purple stripes and had a creepy-looking black mask covering your face. Your Persona was also different: it was this black-and-white thing with a sword; I think I heard you call it 'Loki.' You acted differently as well. You were a lot colder and condescending. When we tried asking why you were there, you said you didn't recognize us."

I tried very hard to hide the feeling of dread bubbling up inside me. Reimu knew now what my Black Mask identity was, even though she knew nothing about the context. What I wondered was, how did she know what it looked like? I had never told her any details about that part of my life. This only reinforced my concerns that something had messed with Reimu's dreams, perhaps with the intent of ruining me. It also troubled me about how she described Dr. Maruki, whom I had never mentioned, and how he was apparently running a Palace, nor did I say anything about Yoshizawa-san, much less my suspicion that her cognition had been tampered with to make her think she was her dead sister. Again, questions for Doremy and Yuyuko the next time I met them.

"Interesting," I nodded. I wanted to move the conversation along quickly, so the next thing I asked was, "you also mentioned you and Marisa fought over your morals. What do you mean by that?"

Reimu sighed. "Well… that part didn't really seem out of place for me."

"Oh?"

"Me and Marisa have a lot in common, we're close friends, and we care about one another, but there's one subject me and her have never been able to reconcile on, and that's how we view our incident resolving and Gensokyo as a whole. I'm the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, and therefore I'm the one chiefly responsible for upholding Gensokyo's laws, both natural and societal. I uphold these laws, like my ancestors before me, because they are integral to maintaining Gensokyo's balance, between nature and civilization, human and youkai, light and dark, and I will do anything to enforce them and keep things fair for everyone, even if it means having to kill. We created the Spell Card Rules so that people could resolve disputes without having to worry about power disparities between them. I'd say it's very effective, because Gensokyo has become a brighter, more peaceful place under my mother and me."

I nodded, taking Reimu's views in. "That sounds like a lot of work."

"It is," Reimu admitted. "The Shrine Maiden doesn't get many days off, which also means I don't socialize with the villagers much, and they tend to view me with suspicion as a result. Most of my friends are youkai and the like, since they seem to be drawn to me, for whatever reason. It's something Marisa doesn't truly appreciate."

"How so?"

"Marisa is naturally very social and outgoing, and can make friends just like that. She strives very much to become a magician, although she never likes to show just how hard she works. She's also very boastful about her power and skill, which almost rivals mine, but at the same time she only seeks out those who are stronger than her to fight in order to improve her skills."

I smiled. "It seems she's very dedicated to bettering herself, and helping you keep Gensokyo's peace."

Reimu looked down. "That's… her reasons for solving incidents are different from mine, though."

"Hm?"

"For starters, she's a kleptomaniac and hoarder, always on the lookout for more treasure to add to her collection, or to sell off for cash. She's also under the impression that Gensokyo is a dog-eat-dog place with no real laws, where the strongest come out on top and impose their rules on the weak, a system, she says, screws over ordinary humans like her, and that's why she fights, in order to climb up that ladder and escape being oppressed." She slumped over. "Gensokyo was once like that, back when the youkai were at the height of their power, but because of the work of my family that hasn't been the case for centuries, especially after we introduced the Spell Card Rules. We maintain a careful balance; if either side becomes too powerful, Gensokyo itself would cease to exist, and because Gensokyo is a last, best place for all things supernatural, that would cause their mass extinction worldwide."

"I see… however," I said, "might most humans agree that would be a good thing?"

Reimu looked up. "...what do you mean?"

"If youkai and other beings prey on humans, wouldn't their extinction allow humanity to live without fear?"

Reimu slumped again. "...you'd think. But it's not just youkai: gods are also at risk of extinction. And if that were to happen, who would humans cling onto? Humanity can't function on its own without someone to look up to and guide them, and that's why they create gods. At least, they used to. I've seen the Outside, and have heard what it is like: constant war, corruption, poverty, inequality, racism and persecution, the destruction of nature, and climate change. That's what humanity devolves into without faith. We don't have that here in Gensokyo, because we still have magic and mystical things. Believe me, a group of desperate humans is scarier than any youkai."

I shook my head. She certainly struck a chord: the state of human society was, frankly, deplorable, deplorable enough to allow people like Masayoshi Shido and Donald Trump to run for and attain positions of power. I had hoped to fix that with my power, to cleanse all the filth. Ren wanted to do that as well; where we differed, however, was our methods. I wasn't above killing, but he insisted on changing their hearts and making them confess themselves. On one hand, I was convinced that humans couldn't be saved once they jumped off the deep end of sin and evil. On the other hand, there were few things more satisfying than seeing assholes own up to their crimes and live burdened with them for the rest of their miserable lives.

And, as I had learned from dealing with Yuyuko, perhaps there were some souls who could genuinely be saved, and things weren't as black and white as I had once thought.

"As a detective, I often had the misfortune of seeing society's worst on display," I said. "It seemed like every day on the job, I would come across at least one instance of either prostitution, gang activity, rape, murder or some other violent crime, and there were several days where I saw many or even all of those. And, of course, smaller but still notable crimes like thefts, burglaries, carjackings and whatnot are perennial and abundant. I've also investigated cybercrime, such as website hackings and identity theft." I stood up. "But, I've resolved to bring true justice to the world. Even if I can't change the world by myself, I strive to make it a better place for at least a few people."

Reimu smiled. "With an attitude like that, I'm sure you'll be a great ally in resolving incidents. Ever since you first flew, I knew you had potential, potential to become an incident resolver just like me and Marisa. And like I said before, having a third main incident resolver around will help me a lot."

"I appreciate it," I nodded.

"Aaaaand…" She bore a wicked look on her face. "Since I have you now, surely you'll come back to the Shrine with me to practice."

...well, I guess I just had my day planned for me.


1/12

Yesterday wound up being a strenuous day. Reimu insisted on practice-sparring using non-spells, in order to get me used to the high speed and sheer firepower. She reasoned that since I was already so good at flying, aiming and maneuvering, that I was ready to jump right into more advanced practice than others would normally receive at this stage. Needless to say, I didn't do too well at first, as Reimu effortlessly tumbled and rolled around my shots while retaliating in kind, and cancelling bullets wound up being far more complex in practice than in theory. Then there was micro-dodging, which demanded grazing right alongside huge lasers or streams of bullets; Reimu explained that mastering this technique was nigh-mandatory to dodge heavier and more complex Spell Cards. She decided to save Spell Cards for when I was more proficient with basic combat, so we wrapped up before sundown and agreed to gather everyone at the Shrine the next day to discuss our next Metaverse moves. However, I looked in the sky, and noticed a pair of telltale crow wings. Knowing about Aya at this point, I suggested to Reimu that we switch our meeting spot - our hideout - occasionally to avoid being found out easily, to which she agreed after I explained my logic some more.

This meant that all of us had now convened on Marisa's house, whose tree cover allowed us to meet more covertly; although Aya knew where the house was, Marisa reckoned she had likely been specifically tailing the two of us that day for some time before accosting her, so if we all went there separately and took different paths we could throw her and anyone else off.

"Sorry 'bout the organized mess," Marisa apologized. "Woulda tidied up a bit more if I knew this was gonna be our meetin' spot."

"As if," Reimu snarked. "I know you, and I know you don't care about how your house looks to guests."

"Like I said, I'm usually the one visitin', so I don't get many guests of my own."

"Then how do you stay in business?"

"That's-" Marisa pouted. "It doesn't matter. I make enough money gettin' stuff to the doc and barterin' in the Village. You won't believe how many pounds of staples a few grams of weed can get'cha."

"What are you, a magician or a drug dealer?"

"Alright, you two," I said, holding my head. "Let's just all get straight to the point."

"Have we made any breakthroughs on the Outside case?" Youmu asked.

I shook my head. "Sadly, no. I'm going to request to meet your master and Doremy again at some point, to see if I can dig up some more clues."

"I see," she nodded. "I'll let Yuyuko-sama know."

"Thanks. Now then… with that in mind, let's focus on our other priority right now: Hijiri-sama's Fortress. We know she has one, we just don't know the keyword."

"The keyword…" Marisa thought. "Oh, right, you mean the kind of place their Fortress becomes?"

"Exactly," I said.

"I'm sorry, what now?" Nitori asked.

"People's Fortresses take a form depending on how they view the location the Fortress is projected over," I explained. "For example, our previous target, Yuyuko Saigyouji, saw Hakugyokurou as her own grand, personal castle rather than the shine it is in real life. Likewise, Hijiri views the Myouren Temple, either metaphorically or literally, in a similar way."

"So, like perhaps another castle?"

I shook my head. "Probably not. Distortions can vary wildly, and no two distortions manifest in exactly the same way, as it is all based on the ruler's cognition. The Phantom Thieves described all the different distortions they've taken down, two of which I got to see: a gym teacher who abused the students who held the school to be his own castle; an artist who took the credit from all the students he taught who saw the atelier he kept them all in as a grandiose art museum dedicated to his many fake accomplishments; a mob boss who extorted students who viewed the whole of Shibuya as a bank from which he could endlessly suck money into his pocket; one of their own members, who was suicidally depressed and felt trapped inside a tomb in which she would die so it became an actual Egyptian tomb; a corrupt corporate executive with political ambitions who viewed the company headquarters as a spaceport from which he would propel himself toward the stars; a female prosecutor who felt the system was rigged and that the only way to get ahead was to falsely prosecute innocent people and who perceived the city's central court as a heavily rigged casino; and finally, a highly corrupt and twisted politician who viewed the Diet Building as a cruise ship on which only the strong could be carried into Japan's bright future while the rest were left to drown."

Reimu sighed. "That's quite a lot of variation. It's almost like my own travels: just when I thought I'd seen everywhere in Gensokyo all of a sudden I get dragged someplace out of the way filled with strange things and even stranger foes."

"Indeed," Youmu said. "If there are endless possible distortions, which vary from person to person, then determining what Byakuren's keyword is could prove very difficult. Certainly we won't be able to just endlessly try to guess what it could be unless we were very good at thinking outside of the box."

"Right," Reimu affirmed, "we only got into Yuyuko's Fortress because I just so happened to say all the keywords right as we were walking past it."

"Then," I proposed, "we should do some reconnaissance, and figure out what her keyword is based on the clues we find."

"But how?" Marisa asked. "It's not like we can just go up to her and be like 'hey, tell me your keyword or I'll beat you up.' 'Specially since she's stupidly powerful, both physically and magically, and is, get this, completely immune to danmaku for whatever reason. Seriously, she's only beatable because she puts timers and limits on her attacks, which of course she wouldn't do if she ever got serious."

"Not to mention the unwelcome effects it would have on her Fortress if and when we do get inside," I replied. "So, obviously, we'd have to go down another route."

Reimu thought for a moment, then said, "what about her followers? We could try asking them."

"Could we?" I asked. "They all seem to hold her in very high regard. I doubt they would betray her."

"Well, they won't betray her, since all of them owe her quite a bit. But they're all still youkai, so there's only so much trying to get away from their normal behavior they can do before inevitably lapsing back."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… alcohol for instance. Buddhists are forbidden from having any, and Byakuren is very strict about enforcing it; she won't even let other people drink in her presence, and their parties don't serve any either, since alcohol and meat are all forbidden on the temple's grounds. The few occasions they manage to slip away, however, her youkai followers absolutely do drink until they're hammered, as pretty much all youkai instinctively crave booze. So if you can earn their trust enough to go take them out to a pub, they might spill some things they wouldn't if they were sober and within earshot of her."

I rubbed my chin. "I see. Not the most ethical or reliable plan, but it is a very good plan overall. No wonder you're Gensokyo's great incident resolver."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Marisa pouted.

I turned and smiled. "Don't worry, you're excellent as well."

Marisa blushed lightly. "Ah… thanks."

"Now then," Reimu said, "who should be the one to do it?" The room was silent for a few moments, before all eyes turned on me.

I knew what that meant: I had just been "volunteered."

"Er…"

"You'd be the best one to get us intel," Youmu said. "You're experienced at this, so you could figure out the keyword more easily than the rest of us, and you call yourself an 'ace detective.'"

"Furthermore," Reimu added, "you're not suspicious. If any of us went to the temple, especially either me or Marisa, they'd be on guard since they'd realize we probably have ulterior motives. You're an Outsider with no apparent powers other than flying, they're still largely unfamiliar with you, and you're a rather charming guy in a place full of women who have to practice chastity, so they'll be much less careful around you."

"Good point," I replied, "...except I don't know how I feel about that last part."

"Don't worry, they won't do anything to 'ya inside the temple," Marisa said. She then glared and smirked. "...but I can't make any guarantees once you peel them away from there and 'specially after they get drunk."

"That still sounds worrisome…"

Marisa shook her head. "Eh, don't worry. At least one of us should be watchin' 'ya from afar, ready to bail 'ya out in case things start goin' south."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Youmu said. "After all, we're in this together."

"Excellent," I said. "I can go in, and one of you can watch from nearby just in case."

"Right. So… what should the rest of us do in the meantime?" Nitori asked.

"We should all focus on preparing for the infiltration," I said. "Making and buying supplies, perhaps a day or two of honing our skills in Ethos. That way, once her keyword is found, we can jump in almost right away. And, of course, finding any leads toward solving the Outside case, since that takes precedence over Hijiri's fortress."

"You should start quickly," Reimu advised. "Next week, Byakuren is holding her once-monthly 'Overnight Sutra-Chanting Live Concert,' and her followers will be going around advertising for it. It's the only time of the month where they can be away from the temple for days at a time without her suspecting anything, plenty of time to secretly get information from them and let them recover from any hangovers."

"A 'Sutra-Chanting Concert,' you say?"

"Oh, yes, that," Nitori cut in. "It's something she does once a month to try and get new followers, where she beats a wooden fish and chants sutra all night. It's really popular among humans and youkai alike, if for no other reason than that it totally conks you out and gives you the best sleep ever. Actually, there's a running pot in the ravine, and if you can stay up all night without falling asleep you get the pot. So far, the only person who's won it is a certified lunatic who came up with a rig that pumped caffeine straight into his bloodstream, but the resulting trip to Eientei meant he had to spend almost all of it in medical bills, and he now has insomnia and a chronic jitter and stutter."

I winced. "I'm surprised he didn't die."

"Eh, remember, us Kappa are made of much tougher stuff than humans."

"Even so…" I tried to forget about it and turned back to Reimu. "Anything else I should know?"

Reimu thought for a moment, then said, "you should try to ask out either Ichirin, Shou or Minamitsu. Those three are her oldest and closest followers from before she was originally sealed away, so they'd likely offer more details on her past and behavior and would also harbor grievances which newer followers wouldn't. Of those three, Shou is probably your best choice, since she cheats on drinking alcohol the most out of any of them, though Minamitsu isn't far behind, being a sailor and all."

After Reimu finished speaking, I thought about my options, which mostly boiled down to earning the trust of her acolytes and then getting them soused enough to spill the beans. But… what if, perhaps, she had foes? From my impression of her, the idea of her having enemies seemed far-fetched, but it was certainly possible. If they existed, they might be more willing to go on about her weaknesses and inadvertently spill a keyword while they were at it.

"There is one more thing I would like to ask."

"What's that?" Reimu said.

"...does she have any rivals or enemies? People whom we wouldn't need to inebriate to get solid information on her?"

"Enemies?" Marisa said. "Well, prolly her biggest one is Toyosatomimi no Miko, who's the leader of a Taoist sect here in Gensokyo. The place where she lives can't be reached by normal means, but she does make frequent trips to the Village and other areas trying to spread her religion. The two of them don't get along, at all, so she'd absolutely and gleefully tell you about how much Byakuren sucks. If you happen to see her, she's got blonde pigtails that look like an owl's ears, wears purple earmuffs, usually has a purple and red cape and carries a big-ass sword."

"I see," I nodded. "Then, let's get this operation started. All in favor?"

"Aye!" everyone else said in unison.

I smiled. "This will be our first official operation as the Day Breakers. Taking down the Fortress of a Buddhist nun. Who knows what it will look like?"

Marisa looked around. "Although… if we're basically superheroes, we're gonna need like a swanky superhero base with gadgets and a giant screen and stuff, like in those old western comics that pop up at Kourin's sometimes."

"Is that really necessary?" Reimu asked.

"Yes," Marisa said bluntly. I wasn't sure what to think, and over to the side, Nitori seemed to be deep in thought.

Then, she snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" She got up and bolted toward the door.

"Where 'ya goin?" Marisa asked her.

"Back home. Give me a few days, I'll blow all your socks off, I promise!" She then disappeared into the forest.

"Someone's excited," Marisa said, before getting up and stretching. "Well, anyway, I should prolly get to work makin' potions and shit so we have 'em for when we do manage to get inside that Fortress."

"I'll go brew more of that special tea so we can have it handy too," Youmu said.

"And I'll try to liaise with Kasen and Ran so we can work out a plan to investigate whatever's going on Outside." She looked at me. "And remember to come get me before you take one of them out on the drinking date so I can make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Understood," I bowed, before dismissing the meeting and showing myself the door. The rest of the day I helped out Masato with the shop, and he had me cook dinner again, this time goat soup, which was… alright, I suppose. Definitely an acquired taste.