First off, to understand PSC, you kind of need to understand the game itself.

Touhou 14.3. Impossible Spell Card. You play as Seija, who is obviously a wanted individual, and everyone is after her. She goes through a series of days, taking on people/youkai of increasing power as the days go on. The thing that Seija does is that she collected (stole) nine items to cheat her way through this rebellion. The spell cards she faces are not meant to be survived (though they can be - despite the name, they are all survivable without any items), and she takes on some of the more powerful people in Gensokyo. In game, she can carry two items at a time, a main which has limited uses, and a sub which has passive effects.

They are as follows, each ability is main and sub, respectively, and yes, you can level them up.

Bloodthirsty Yin-Yang Orb (Reimu's) - Teleport to the boss / Smaller hitbox

Tengu Camera (Aya's) - Clear danmaku in front of you with photographs / Increase unfocused speed

Gap Umbrella (Yukari's) - Teleport to other side of the screen and able to keep hidden / 3 teleports without hidden

Miracle Mallet Replica (Shinmyoumaru's?) - Swing for damage (a decent chunk of the enemy's health, though windup takes time and leaves you vulnerable) / Increase main item's usages (this can make some interesting abuses of the main items, especially ones that give you invisibility or invincibility)

Substitute Jizo Statue (Mamizou's) - Survive hits with invincibility time / Survive one hit with almost no invincibility

Cursed Decoy Doll (Alice's) - Enemy aimed bullets follow this instead / Increase bullet shot spread

Four-Foot Magic Bomb (Marisa's) - Bomb will clear danmaku in its big explosion (good portion of the screen) after a delay / Smaller explosion effect is added to main item use

Ghastly Send-Off Lantern (Youmu's) - Invincibility for a small time window / Main item can counter bomb

Nimble Fabric (Hatate's) - Provides a few seconds of invincibility, but unable to move or shoot / Can be used twice, but only when main is used up

Everyone is looking to take Seija down, and they aren't playing around.

Funny thing is, yes, again, despite the name of the game, it IS possible to survive the cards without cheating, but you need luck and supreme skill.

Oh one more thing - I'm apologizing for misspelling Eientei as Eintei earlier in the story.

=The following was originally written up by user Smooglii. This arc is a collaboration between Supperdude9 & Smooglii, and been brought into ICB with their permission.=

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice. I own neither. This is a fan fiction of those works.

Beta Readers:

Another Duck

Smooglii

Supperdude9

A tiny girl, only a few centimeters tall, with red eyes and purple hair stood atop the great red gate of the Hakurei Shrine. She wore a pink leaf-and-grass-patterned kimono with a black and gold obi, as well as white frills along the bottom. She had a miniature upside down black rice bowl with a gold pattern on her head, and had a sewing needle sheathed on her back like a sword. Her name was Shinmyoumaru Sukuna.

Shinmyoumaru looked upon Gensokyo, spread out before her. It seemed even more vast than it had from her home in the sky. She saw the human village, and wondered what it must be like to live in such a place. It wasn't a world she had ever known, nor was it one that she could have known until the day she met Seija Kijin.

"You know how the Inverted Castle got its name?" Seija had asked on that day.

"Well, because it's upside down, right?"

Seija wagged her finger. "Yeah, but it wasn't always like that. The inchlings used to live above ground, and Shining Needle Castle, which they built with the Miracle Mallet, was right side up. They ruled over the land above, and everyone loved them. But then the youkai came, and used all of their power to sink it into the world of the oni. They rule over Gensokyo now."

Shinmyoumaru had paused, thinking that over. "I didn't know. I thought the inchlings had always lived down here, beneath the notice of the world."

"The Mallet still exists. It has the power to take Gensokyo back from the youkai, from the strong who oppress the weak and the small. The power to grant any wish. The youkai wanted it, but since only inchlings can use it, it was sealed away."

"It's too bad we don't have it anymore..."

Seija grinned at her. "Do you want to find it together? Because I think I know where it is."

Their quest had ended in failure. The small taste of power that the Mallet had given Shinmyoumaru was still fresh in her mind, but now it had lost that power, and Shinmyoumaru had lost her friend.

Where is Seija? Is she still fighting out there?

To Shinmyoumaru, who had never known the world above ground, this impossibly vast land was almost too big and wonderful. Even the air made her feel alive, and here, at its seat of power, the Hakurei Shrine, Shinmyoumaru felt ready to join it. As soon as the Miracle Mallet regained its power and she was able to grow big again, she wanted to fly into the village and become a part of Gensokyo's community.

Yet, she felt guilty as she thought of submitting to the rules of the shrine maiden and the powerful youkai. What about her ancestors, who had suffered humiliation and defeat at their hands? Reimu had denied outright that any such thing had happened, but Shinmyoumaru knew where she had grown up. Seija, too, had a history of disgrace. If she was still fighting, then to submit and join them now would be a betrayal of the friend who had lifted her up into this world. What could Shinmyoumaru do?

She decided to wait. Sooner or later, Seija would appear before her. Shinmyoumaru could feel that the incident they started together wasn't over yet.

Possible Spell Card

Episode 2

["Loyal"]

"We're just used, then thrown away."

–Princess Shinmyoumaru Sukuna, Touhou 14, Double Dealing Character - Stage 6 (Sakuya routes)

"So, your mission is to overthrow the strong and replace them with the weak. That includes who exactly?"

"All of 'em. The shrine maiden, the boundary youkai, the vampire, the moon princess, and all the religious heads. Even those in the Netherworld, Heaven, and underground, if I have to. They like to meddle, so they've got some influence in Gensokyo."

Damn it all. So, everyone I know, and a lot of people I don't. And hey, add one to the count of afterlife realms I'm casually finding out about.

I considered using a vial for the massive headache I had over this, but I eventually declined.

We were on the road between the lake and the human village, bordering the Forest of Magic. Seija was walking ahead of us, with Cirno and Wakasagihime floating behind. I guessed Cirno just liked flying, but I felt a little bad that Wakasagihime couldn't move on land without doing so. It may be slight, but flying does take more energy than walking, or so I was told. Anyway, I was questioning Seija, trying to figure out the details of her plan to conquer Gensokyo from a starting point of two weak youkai, a fairy, and a human who couldn't even fly.

I'm not sure when the phrase "a human who couldn't even fly" became so natural for me. To think that only a year or so ago, I was saying to myself, "Long live the laws of physics."

"Okay." I stopped, making her stop, because I wanted to get this right. "Assuming you somehow manage to take down all of the influential people in Gensokyo, and that's a really big somehow, how are you going to govern it? Are you going to abolish the spell card rules, or keep them? How will you enforce whatever your rules are?" These are kind of important things to keep in mind for a revolution, after all. I mean, you can't just destroy things for the sake of destruction.

"'You, you, you,'" said Seija, grinning and pointing at me with both hands. "This is our fight, 'John Smith.' You're going to be with me every step of the way. Like I said, we're changing the world."

You're avoiding the question. "In that case, tell me what those steps are."

This was beginning to sound familiar. Seija had roped me, against my will, and two other people with fantastic abilities into a group with a hardly-defined purpose and no clear way to achieve its nebulous goals. She had an unerring, completely illogical belief in not only the possibility, but the certainty of her eventual arrival at an impossible outcome. For reasons unbeknownst to me that probably had to do with their own personal agendas, the others in the group were going along with this, even though it was completely insane.

Ah, we're coming back to the old "everyone in Gensokyo is nothing but a part of Haruhi" thing again. I couldn't deny that there were certain similarities between Seija and Haruhi, the main difference being that I immediately disliked Seija. I was reminded of Remilia dubbing herself Haruhi's "dark half," and wondered if there wasn't a more valid contender for the title. Or maybe Seija is like a young Remilia, and she'll have her own mansion at the end of this.

Still, it was a bit uncanny how this kept happening. So, who's going to be the smiling yes man? I mean, Seija was like Haruhi, Wakasagihime was like Asahina, and... well, Cirno was in no way like Nagato. More like the complete opposite.

Ah, maybe we're opposites. Seija knows about her powers, Wakasagihime showed some guts, and I have something special about me in the form of the Paranormal Border. Maybe we'll find a mysterious transfer student who's a hopeless pessimist.

Isn't there already a group like that, though? Like the SOS Brigade, but not? One of them is still at large anyway, so I don't think we need a rerun.

As I was comparing my kidnapper to my girlfriend and trying not to think about the implications of that, Seija was obliging my request. I guess she gets bored easily, because she kept turning upside down and right side up every so often.

She "stood" in the air, upside down, crossing her arms. "All right, this is how it'll be. First, the youkai army. There's a book renter somewhere in the village..." She paused, scratching her head. "Su... Su? Dammit, I forget the name. Su-something, that has a collection of youma books. There are all kinds of youkai inside 'em; some sealed, some which have been totally forgotten, but who will be revived if you learn about 'em." She landed on the ground again, and gave me a shrug. "So! If we steal those books, we'll get the youkai. Simple, right?"

"That's not simple. How do you know they'll help us? Aren't they sealed for a reason?"

Also, I hope this book renter is not renting those books. Youkai, as I've discovered, are not all bad, but "youma" would refer to a truly sinister type of youkai; demons and evil spirits and whatnot. You know, actual malevolent beings for the sake of being malevolent. Real nightmare creatures.

Seija waved a hand to dismiss my concern. "I've got it covered. All we have to do is make them see that they need to fight with us. They'll want justice against the people who sealed them away, right?"

No, hang on. You can't just play this by ear! "What if these creatures are really dangerous? There's no telling what they might do." I pointed at our companions. "They might not be as willing as these two to join us." I did not want to see true evil.

Seija was just slowly spinning in the air at that point. "Then we beat 'em until they listen. That's what the shrine maiden does, right? When she ain't outright killing them, that is. You worry too much."

Are you a shrine maiden now? I wouldn't pay for your services.

It was a little nauseating to watch her turn in the air like she was. How does she not get sick from her constant flipping? I suppose a youkai like her would have to have a strong stomach, not to mention a resistance to spatial disorientation. Okay, tangent. "So, if, and that's a really big if, we manage to convince them to join, where do we go after we get these books?"

Seija tapped the parasol in her hand. "Oooh, you're gonna like this one. The Hakurei Shrine. Going right for the throat. Once we've got that force, ol' red-and-white won't be able to stop us. We'll take it over."

Are you suicidal? Am I?! I don't wanna take on Reimu! I pressed hard on my temples, not wanting to allow the headache to get even worse. I grunted, "And then?"

Seija looked back at me with another grin. "Then we get to use you."

I gave her a blank stare. "...Huh?"

"I keep telling you. We're gonna change the world, you and I."

She wouldn't elaborate on that, but I figured it meant revealing who I was and using me as leverage towards some purpose. She just smiled and continued leading us.

I watched her back in silence as we walked. As crazy as this all was, for how insane it was... There was a grand scheme behind it all. That's what my gut was telling me. My empty gut. Man, now I'm regretting not eating.

I had to give her some credit and say that she had more of a plan than I initially ascribed to her, even though it hinged on our acquisition and taming of a bunch of sealed youkai who she probably only heard about through rumor. Still, I couldn't leave Seija's jab at Reimu alone, so I switched tactics.

"What exactly do you have against Reimu? I've never known her to be brutal or oppressive like you're trying to paint her."

"How long've you known her?" asked Seija over her shoulder. "A day, maybe a few more after the first incident, then a couple from the second?" She looked up at the sky. "Oh, right, and the time she visited you on the outside." She looked back at me again. "What's that add up to, a week you spent around her? Maybe? More? Less? You sure you're the authority on Reimu Hakurei?"

And you are?

I couldn't deny that I wasn't, though. I had seen two sides to Reimu: The stern, serious incident resolver, and the lazy, laid-back shrine maiden. I also learned a bit about her past, including a reason why she might have it out for youkai. But people have more than two sides to them, don't they? Even Taniguchi wouldn't become a vegetable if you removed his libido. At least, I hope not.

"Reimu told me she doesn't like killing youkai. She'd rather seal them if it comes to that."

Seija smirked. "Well, sure. Yeah, okay. That shrine's a den of youkai, and everyone knows it. But it's not youkai she kills; it's people who are inconvenient to her rule."

A den of youkai? Last I checked, the shrine grounds weakened youkai. Just what happened in the last nine years?

"Sure, she protects Gensokyo, but since when does Reimu 'rule' anything?"

"She wrote the rules, enforces the rules, and shows off so everyone knows she's in charge." Seija shrugged. "And since she's in charge, she gets to decide what counts as 'protecting' Gensokyo. Y'know the youkai who lives in the woods with dolls?"

"Alice?" What about her?

Seija raised a finger. "That's the one. Used to be human, but she became a youkai because she wanted power. Reimu lets her be 'cause she's from Makai. No one in the human village knows her except for that schoolteacher."

Makai. That's the "unimportant" world of spirits that Reimu has behind her house. I remember them mentioning it when we met Alice, but I figured she must be from the village since she referred to Keine as her teacher.

I stopped, putting my hands on my hips. I couldn't accept this. "So, hold on." I waited for Seija to stop again. "If Alice was from the village, Reimu would kill her?"

Seija sighed. "Exactly. Humans in the village are supposed to fear youkai, not aspire to 'em. Kinda puts a damper on your scheme when they start questioning your worldview, doesn't it?" She put her hands on her hips. "Hell, if it wasn't Reimu, then someone else from the village would make an attempt on Alice's life for something like that. The human village was put there in the first place so that they could clear this area of youkai." Seija narrowed her eyes. "I mean, imagine someone from there blatantly spitting in the face of that?" She shook her head. "No. No no no. That's the only reason Alice is still alive at this point; because she came from a different world. Anybody who threatens the balance is killed, without exception. Or didn't you guys try to kill that Sky Domain whatever person back then? And don't think I'm just guessing here. I know the lengths she goes to to protect her precious balance."

Seija sure seems to know a lot about the people in Gensokyo. Maybe she's more prepared for this rebellion of hers than I thought.

I didn't know what to think about what Seija was telling me, other than that she must be lying or stretching the truth. Sure, it had been a while, but something didn't sit right with me about the idea of Reimu killing a human for trying to become a youkai. Does the balance of Gensokyo really call for such a thing? If anything, Yukari was the type to kill without a second thought. Yet...

I had to take into account Gensokyo's history, and what it originally was. They set up out here to cleanse the area. That was what made the youkai seal Gensokyo off from the outside world in the first place, right?

Reimu killing Alice, though... I didn't even want to consider it.

The question is... was it possible? Because if Alice was from a village that was there to stop the youkai, and she had become one instead...

I dreaded it. I dreaded accepting it, because I already knew the answer. All due to human history.

...It was possible.

The realization hit me harder than I expected. I didn't have a proper rebuttal for Seija, even though I desperately wanted one, so I kept my mouth shut about that and we continued on.

"It isn't just her," said Wakasagihime. "Youkai exterminators from the village have been getting bold. They attack weak youkai, even if they aren't doing anything. Even I've been targeted by them."

"Mind you, those poor saps ain't even allowed to know about all this," said Seija. "As far as they know, we're their enemies. They live in ignorance and fear, and that's the way it's gotta be according to the strong."

"But that's what keeps the youkai alive, isn't it?" I decided to give reasoning with her one more try. "The humans exist for the youkai, or something like that? That makes it a necessary evil."

Wakasagihime took time to think that over. "I'm not so sure. There are plenty of youkai who survive without attacking humans. We live because they believe in us. Just because youkai enjoy fear doesn't mean we need it, you know?"

"Sounds like a dangerous idea," commented Seija.

"That still means you would need a mechanism for keeping superstitions alive. If the village were to embrace rationalism, it would be the end."

At some point, I started to question why I was arguing the need to inflict crushing stagnation on a group of people for the sake of legendary monsters who abduct and eat humans from the outside. Maybe it was just because I felt like I couldn't agree with my kidnapper. Maybe it was an outlet for the things that were running through my mind after my last encounter with Suou. Seija didn't want to kill Gensokyo, although it might be argued that she would end up doing so, but she saw problems with its current existence, just like Suou did. As I remembered Suou, I remembered what she said to me that night.

"You are a murderer for allowing this to happen."

That would apply to Reimu as well, wouldn't it? She kills to preserve the balance of killing people from the outside world. I wasn't from the village, so by the laws of Gensokyo that Reimu enforced, Rumia was allowed to try and eat me back in January.

It then occurred to me that I was arguing with myself, and losing. I had started to think in "what ifs." What if a new balance could be found, one that was truly self-sustaining and didn't require wanton murder? Do youkai even need to eat humans if they subsist on fear or faith or whatever? I'm pretty sure someone once said that they didn't. Heck, maybe I should have asked Wakasagihime that, but I was too focused on debating every other little point with the two youkai. I was overwhelmed by their arguments, and I was getting too easily flustered. Cirno didn't have any input on the subject, her eyes constantly searching our surroundings as she rolled her head from side to side. She was clearly bored with this conversation.

Before I knew it, it was noon, and we were there on the outskirts of the village. It was decided that Seija should hide outside the village while Cirno, Wakasagihime, and I undertook the mission to "liberate" the youma books. Before we did, Seija gave two of her stolen items to us "just in case." Cirno wanted the camera for some reason, so Wakasagihime took the cloth, which seemed to have gotten its color back. According to Seija, it would be a waste to give one to me. Not that I didn't agree, but I feel like she pointed that out just to jab at me.

I felt oddly self-conscious not knowing what I looked like to the people here, but knowing that they probably saw me as a teenage girl. I got a few stares from passersby, and I didn't know if it was because they didn't recognize me or because I had a youkai and a fairy with me or what. Come to think of it, I'm still wearing yesterday's clothes. I still didn't know how this disguise thing worked. I mean, I look down, and I appear to be the same, but I guess it just changed how others perceived me?

The human village wasn't all that different from how I remembered it. There weren't even any new buildings that I noticed, besides one: A grand-looking temple on the outskirts that seemed to have a few youkai on the grounds. I guessed that this was the Buddhist temple that Yukari had described. I learned its name: The Myouren Temple.

Myouren... Oh, shoot. Is this really it?

Then the owner came outside.

Oh my God.

From my dream, there she was.

Gensokyo's inspiration.

Byakuren. Byakuren Hijiri.

I never thought I'd get to see her, this beautiful woman. She was wearing the same thing I remember her wearing from my dream - a white dress with a black coat and cape.

Hell yes, thumbs up.

She was talking to the youkai about something - I was too far to hear it. I counted... five? Five women. They had their backs to me, so I couldn't see who they were, though I could see what they appeared to be. One looked like a dog youkai, one a mouse, a tiger, there was a girl in a Buddhist nun outfit, and one... sailor? I do remember Yukari commenting on a tiger youkai in the dream.

So these are the Buddhists. The same ones who help out with the human village, the youkai who assist with humanity here.

Wait, isn't this part of Seija's reasoning flawed? That... well... shoot. No, her argument was with weaker youkai. Besides, Yukari said that Byakuren and her temple would be beneficial to the human village, so like with Mystia and her grill stand, there would be some humans who would tolerate useful youkai.

Is that the exception to the rule, then? Provide a service, be useful, and you're accepted?

I think I would have stayed there gawking at the Buddhists, but Wakasagihime came back to get me. I shot the temple's inhabitants one last glance before I kept going.

Wasn't there also supposed to be a Taoist saint somewhere around here? I wonder where their temple is.

"So, first we have to find the book renter." Wakasagihime paused when we reached the village proper, looking at the market district before us. It was the one place of the village where youkai could enter without hiding themselves, or so I understood. Keine had made it sound like it was a rule, but I got the impression that the human village didn't really have much in the way of rules.

Man. To think that I saw that epic fight between Alice and Keine not too long ago right here... for me. Damn time travel.

The market was as busy as ever during the daytime, well, according to the last two times I had been there. Not much had changed, though I did see a few youkai here and there. They weren't even trying to hide it, and most of the humans would deal with them normally. Most of them. I even saw a stall run by a human that was selling goods specifically targeted at youkai.

Then I suppose that youkai are decent enough customers? I mean, if there are shops that cater to them specifically, then there is obviously a market for them and money to be made. Again, I didn't understand how Gensokyo's economy worked, and I didn't think I'd ever understand it.

"Books, huh?" said Cirno. She held Aya's camera up to her face and was looking around the market through the lens. "Eye bet Eye can track 'em down. Eye can smell books a mile away!"

No, no, Cirno. There's no need to show off here. Really. What are you, a bloodhound?

"Maybe we should ask someone," said Wakasagihime, looking at the passersby.

Ah, a sensible plan for once. I think this mermaid might be our best asset.

As luck would have it, the book renter was a well-known establishment in the village. It was called Suzunaan, and we were able to get directions to it pretty quickly. As we toured around the district on our way there, I thought about the world of the future in which I had found myself. Was it really that different? How could I tell? At least the people here didn't look oppressed. If anything, they seemed happier than before.

I looked out at the market again. A drunk was swapping stories with the merchants. A young girl with red hair and a cape was running down the road, past a group of village kids playing dice. A group of boys were helping an old man carry a load of fish. It all seemed so idyllic.

Maybe I can sneak away and talk to Reimu. Then I can get some perspective on this. It'd be no good to only listen to Seija's side of the story, right? She's an amanojaku; she was probably lying about the whole thing. But the Hakurei Shrine is far enough away that I'd arouse suspicion, and if Seija catches me... I thought about what to do, and decided that if I was going to learn about Gensokyo's recent history, there was only one person I could ask.

Granted, the two times I'd seen her, she wasn't on my side. Anyway, I noticed where she had to be about a few blocks down the street into the residential district.

"Hey, you guys go ahead. I'll catch up with you in a little bit."

The two turned to me. "Huh? Where are you going? What if we can't tell which ones are youma books?" Cirno looked disappointed all of a sudden.

"Just don't try to steal-" I realized I was in public. "Get them without me. Stake the place out." I paused for a moment. "You can read, can't you?"

"Yes," said Cirno quickly.

That's actually surprising. Didn't someone say that fairies are uneducated? Well, she can count. She has trouble with it, but she can. I wonder where she learned that?

Speaking of education... "Then I'll catch up with you later."

Sorry, you two. I have something important to do. With that, I walked away from my companions, towards the school.

"Why do I feel like we were just recruited and abandoned?" Wakasagihime sighed and looked at her remaining companion, who had her arms crossed and her cheeks puffed out.

"Who needs her?" said Cirno. She fluttered her wings and continued down the road. "It's just some dumb books, anyway. Eye can do it myself. You go have fun, too."

Wakasagihime shook her head, glancing behind them. "We should stay together. We aren't safe in the village."

"Whatever."

It was awkward for Wakasagihime to be floating beside the ice fairy. They were acquainted, and she had seen Cirno playing over the lake with the other fairies many times, but neither of them knew the other. How could they? The mermaid was an introvert, and Cirno was constantly boasting and surrounded by other people. It was normal.

However, it didn't seem normal that Cirno had been relatively quiet since the lake. She clearly didn't want to talk to Wakasagihime. This bothered her, and after a minute of silence, she tried making conversation.

"Do you think we can trust those two?"

It seemed like a fair question. Seija had at least sounded like she cared about Gensokyo's problems, but John Smith had raised some troubling questions. Who was to say that they could see it through?

"Who cares?" Cirno shrugged.

"I mean, they appeared over the lake together," Wakasagihime continued, "but they're clearly not on the same page. It certainly doesn't look like we can rely on Miss Smith."

"Who cares?" repeated Cirno, tilting her head back and rolling her eyes. "Just leave it to me." Cirno brought up the camera again and started looking through it.

Wakasagihime frowned. Just what is her problem? "This isn't something we can treat like a game," she said. "There are real reasons behind this fight. Did you even listen to Seija earlier?"

"Eye got reasons." Cirno didn't look at Wakasagihime, which annoyed her more.

This fairy was too flippant. Never mind Seija, could she trust any of the others? At least Seija cared. Smith did nothing but challenge her, and Cirno was clearly here for herself.

"Are you sure? You aren't just here to show off, right?"

Cirno turned around so quickly and fiercely that Wakasagihime's hand went by reflex for the checkered cloth tucked into her obi. Wakasagihime's irritation evaporated along with her confidence, and she immediately shrunk away as the tiny fairy drew near and bristled at her from behind the camera lens.

"Eye always have good reasons! Don't treat me like Eye'm dumb!" Cirno cried. "Eye'm super serious this time! You'll see!" She turned her back on the mermaid and flew as fast as she could down the road.

Wakasagihime took a moment to catch her breath.

Ah, what did I just do?

For that one moment, Wakasagihime had felt like hiding away somewhere. How could she expect to fight the shrine maiden again if she was so easily frightened?

For that matter, Cirno had gone from zero to mad shockingly quick. There would be time to think on that later; first, she needed to catch up with the ice fairy before she attracted too much attention in the wrong part of town. Wakasagihime flew after Cirno, who at least had the presence of mind to move in the right direction. By the time she caught up, they were in front of their destination, a small building not far into the village. Cirno was hovering in front and pointing her camera up at the lettering above the doorway.

"Suzu, na, an," she recited, then turned her head to glare at Wakasagihime. Her expression turned into a smug smile. "In kanji."

Wakasagihime didn't know how to respond, so she just smiled. "I see."

Maybe getting worked up over her was my real mistake.

Cirno dropped to the ground and swaggered into the building through the drapery in the doorway. Wakasagihime followed, and was met by the sight and smell of old books. There were thick shelves of them on both sides of the room, and more in neat stacks on the floor, curiously bound with string and weighed down by rocks. A vacant desk sat towards the rear of the room, in front of another doorway. This wasn't the kind of place either of them went to often, and it felt to both of them like they had left Gensokyo altogether.

A bell sounded when they came through the door, but no one came to greet them. Cirno immediately walked forward and started looking around the book piles. Wakasagihime looked down each of the aisles between the bookshelves, checking for humans. Besides books and scrolls, there were writing utensils, vases, small boxes with Shinto seals on them, a machine on the desk that resembled a horn attached to a coaster upon which sat a vinyl disc, and a fish rubbing of a dragon. "Evil Dragon" was signed on the bottom of the paper in a style that was clearly an autograph and not a label.

"What do evil books look like?" asked Cirno.

"Well..." Wakasagihime pursed her lips and put two fingers to her temple, trying to think of likely youma book criteria. "Magicians sometimes put locks on their grimoires. Maybe books with locks on them are powerful?"

"Locks, huh?" Cirno stared through her camera at a stack of books topped by a rock. She grabbed the rock, tossed it aside, and was about to grasp the top book when it flew into her face.

Before either of them knew what was going on, the air was filled with flying, flapping books and loose papers. Cirno shrieked and fell over as she was mobbed by them, and Wakasagihime backed into the rear doorway just as someone else came through.

"What-" It was a young human girl, wearing what looked like an apron over a checkered white and brown kimono, as well as a pair of glasses and four small bells in her light reddish-brown hair. She was holding another bound book. She and Wakasagihime stared at one another for one distended moment before Cirno cried out and all hell broke loose.

"They're attacking me! Get off!"

A book flew between Wakasagihime and the girl. Wakasagihime turned to look at Cirno. The girl's jaw dropped.

"Y-y-youkai?! What are you doing-"

"Take this, you-"

"Cirno! They're not attacking-"

[SPELL CARD: BLOWING ICE "ICE TORNADO"]

The inside of the book renter became a blizzard. Books and ice flew in every direction, swirling around the shop and knocking books off of shelves. The horn machine on the desk smashed to the floor in front of Wakasagihime as she threw the checkered cloth over herself and the small girl next to her.

"M-My phonograph! My Choujuu Gigaku LP!" The girl clutched her book to her chest and shook, trying to run away from the mermaid who was now clinging to her.

"Cirno!" screamed Wakasagihime.

The spell card burnt out quickly, and the entire storefront was now coated in a layer of powdered ice. Several books were still fluttering aimlessly in the air, dipping and weaving. One of them flew outside. Wakasagihime pulled the cloth off of them and rushed over to where Cirno was now floating, arms stretched out in the air above her, still grasping her spell card.

"What did you just do?! We can't cast spell cards in the village! Indoors no less!"

"Eye was defending myself!"

"I-I-I can't explain this to my parents!" the girl dropped to her knees and sobbed. "I just work here part time!"

The human, fairy, youkai, and books were all in a state of panic. "Why did the books start flying?!" exclaimed Wakasagihime, turning to the human.

The girl stammered for a full five seconds before finding the words. She squeezed the book in her hands, and it began to vibrate. "They're... they're tsukumogami! That's why they were bundled up! They're completely harmless!"

"It's her fault!" said Cirno, pointing at Wakasagihime. "She told me to look for locked books!"

"Strings and rocks aren't locks!" protested Wakasagihime. She turned to the girl and started bowing in the air. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive us! She didn't know what she was doing! We were just looking for, um, that is..."

"Why...?" The girl deflated, her head wobbling from side to side as she tried to process what was happening. "Why are you here?"

Wakasagihime's face was red with embarrassment, and she fought for an explanation that was not "We came to steal from you." Nothing came to her, and she was about to run away and hide when Cirno charged the girl and started wrestling with her.

"Give me that!"

"Cirno, what-" Wakasagihime tried to chase after Cirno, but she was already there. The girl screamed and took a swing at Cirno with the book in her hands. Cirno grabbed at the book, and the two of them began tugging on it, trying to wrest it from the other's grasp.

"Let go!" cried the girl. "This book is dangerous!"

Wakasagihime grabbed Cirno from behind and pulled her away. Cirno pointed at the book and shouted.

"It has a lock!"

Wakasagihime looked at the book. There was a small paper sealing charm plastered on the front.

She's... right. That is a lock. If a book like that is sealed, that must mean...

The girl clutched the book and turned her body away from the two of them, still shaking. She gave a defiant glare. "Please leave! I'll... If you don't leave now, I'll tell Reimu!"

Cirno opened her mouth, possibly to tell her to bring it on, but Wakasagihime put a hand over her mouth and dragged her backwards, still bowing. "We're terribly sorry! We'll be leaving now!"

Cirno struggled as Wakasagihime pulled her out of the building and around the side of it. Wakasagihime put her face close to Cirno's and said, "I think you're right. That's got to be a youma book. You did a good job, so let's wait for Miss Smith now, all right?"

When Wakasagihime removed her hand, Cirno blew a raspberry. "Why should we? Eye'll just go get 'em right now!"

Wakasagihime frowned and squeezed Cirno's shoulders. "Listen to me. If we try to force it, we'll just end up doing more damage and hurting the poor girl. We can steal the books if we have to, but we can't do this by bullying people."

"They're the bullies, not us." Cirno bushed off Wakasagihime's hands and crossed her arms, turning towards the front of the building.

Wakasagihime folded her arms and huffed. "Do you think that girl goes out and hunts fairies and youkai? She's not our enemy. If we can't respect her, how do you expect to be respected by anyone else?" She thought for a moment, and then added, "Besides, there's nothing strong about overpowering a normal human. Isn't that kind of thing beneath you?"

Cirno hrmphed, but didn't make a move towards the shop. She floated in place with her arms crossed and her lips pouting. Wakasagihime let herself breathe out.

It's just as I thought. She's only here to show off, isn't she? It didn't matter to her. Even if she and Seija were the only ones fighting for the right reasons, that was enough, right?

Even as she thought so, she felt thrilled. The human's fear just a minute ago exhilarated her like few things had. Not many people were afraid of mermaids.

This wasn't like what she felt during the last uprising. What she was now feeling was what it meant to be a youkai.

Like I said, the schoolhouse wasn't too far away, and thankfully, there wasn't a class in session. The door was open, so I knocked on it as I poked my head inside. Sure enough, Keine was in, speaking with a woman in an ancient-looking off-white robe (Heian era, if I had to guess) that ended in a modern-looking purple skirt. She had a tall, blue Shinto priest's hat atop her long silver hair, and wore a pair of purple boots. Her hat and sleeves had trailing ribbons that flapped whenever she moved. Apart from the skirt, it seemed like a traditionally male outfit, so at first I thought she was a man. Perhaps the most striking thing about her, however, was the way that she spoke.

"Marry, thou understandst me not! An attack was upon my personage made, and that of many this day! Hath the hailstorm of spells upon paper across the land escaped thy notice, even as it were upon thine own door perpetrated?"

What in the world...

"Spells...?" Keine looked exasperated, but upon seeing me in the doorway, she brightened up. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't notice you, come in! Do you need something?"

"Er..." I kept staring at the strange woman, who rounded on me as if I had offended her.

Maybe I should have come at a later time.

"Hark, villager! Do thy slacking guardian of today's maelstrom inform! Pray, verily thou knowst of what I speak?"

What? I don't speak whatever language that is! It sounded like extremely archaic Japanese, but she laid it on so thick that I had to take a few seconds to decipher it in my head.

"Um, no. Sorry."

The strange woman folded her hands inside of her sleeves and closed her eyes with a look of quiet frustration. Keine took this moment to escape from the topic.

"My apologies, miss...?" She looked at me inquiringly, and it occurred to me that Keine might know everyone in the village.

"Smith. I had some questions about Gensokyo's recent history. I've been, er, out of the loop."

This sounds suspicious as hell. Why didn't I think ahead? Yeah, nice job, idiot. Judge Seija for winging it, and then go and wing it yourself.

However, Keine seemed happy at my request. It was an opportunity to escape an obviously frustrating conversation with that strange woman. "Of course," she said. "I am Keine, the schoolteacher. What would you like to know?"

You know, Keine is quite the warm person when she isn't in village defense mode.

Of course, there was something on my proverbial back burner that I desperately wanted to know. What happened during the incident five years ago with the nuclear youkai? That's what I wanted to ask, but I resisted the urge. Maybe I was better off not knowing. That's what I told myself, anyway. I've seen enough movies and read enough manga to know that time can be quite fragile.

You know, despite the times I've abused it myself.

"Wasn't there an incident not long ago involving weak youkai?"

"Ah, yes," said Keine. "Something like that happened. I don't have all the facts, but apparently, it was the work of an inchling."

An inchling? I thought Seija caused it? "Like the one-inch samurai? That kind of inchling?"

Keine nodded, and she seemed really happy to give up information. She really was a teacher. "I visited the Hakurei shrine not long ago, and the inchling was living in a small cage there. Apparently, she had used the power of the Miracle Mallet to grant strength to the weak, but it had a number of side effects. For instance, a lot of items in the village began to act strangely, and some awakened as tsukumogami. Even now, the effects of the incident haven't completely gone away." She smiled a tired smile. "It has been quite troublesome for a lot of people."

The Miracle Mallet. A legendary magic hammer said to have been owned by a powerful oni. The one-inch samurai, who was mocked for his height, defeated the oni by pricking his insides with a needle after being eaten, and obtained the Mallet. The Mallet was then used to grow the one-inch samurai to a normal size. Keine explained that the Miracle Mallet possessed the power to change the size of objects, as well as to grant wishes. That's right - a bona fide wish-granting artifact existed in Gensokyo. Something like that could probably resolve an incident all by itself. However, only inchlings could use it, and when used to grant a wish, a price is paid proportional to the scale of the wish. In that light, it sounded more like a monkey's paw to me.

Speaking of them, apparently, inchlings are a race of tiny people descended from the one-inch samurai. For unknown reasons, the princess of the inchlings tried to rise up and overthrow the powerful youkai of Gensokyo, but was defeated by the very tools that had been awakened thanks to the Mallet's power. Afterward, the Mallet lost its power because it had been over-used.

"Actually, the incident went on for quite a while, but nobody really did anything until the very end. It took us years to even realize that something was going on." Keine sighed, and looked at the strange woman whose eyes were still closed. "That's because of all the religious battles that were going on around that time."

The strange woman's eyes opened. "Ah." She gave a spirited bow. "I did verily in that incident partake. However, I of this inchling business have been ignorant. 'Tis the price of my hermithood."

By the sound of things, there were a lot of incidents in the last few years. I suppose I should ask about the religious battles next. Seija mentioned "religious domination" back at the lake.

I studied this woman's face, trying to read her. She looked calm, like she had brushed off her earlier irritation. "You were involved in some kind of religious war?"

Again, human history. Different religions generally do not get along.

The strange woman smiled and nodded with nostalgic vigor. "Yea, a rousing bunch of battles it was! Many a Boddhist youkai did I fight to submission, and much support for the Tao was in those merry days earned."

I'll be damned. A Taoist. Wearing a Shinto priest's hat, but she's a Taoist. I wondered if I might run into them. They're among the "powerful" we have to fight, right? I decided to save myself some trouble and ask her where their temple was. I couldn't see it from the village after all, but they seemed to have a presence here.

She winked at me. "'Where' is not the question thou askest, but 'how doth thither one arrive,' is it not?"

It took me a few seconds to process what she said. "I... I guess?"

The woman proudly puffed out her chest. "In this case, I shall thou inform: A holy place of the Tao it be, a place secluded, wherein might a hermit a hermit's life live. Only if worthy and prepared thou art to walk the Tao shalt thou be granted access by means of the infinite space two forms betwixt."

Aaand I was back to my headache. Yeah, okay. Sorry I asked.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she threw up her arms as though miming shock. "Ah! I art terribly remiss! Woe that I proselytize whilst thou doth not even know my name!" The woman bowed deeply and exaggeratedly, her hair and ribbons flowing down to the floor. "Mononobe no Futo art I, for to a clan most ancient do I belong."

What's with this girl? Her words and her actions are all over the place. She's some ancient clan member? Like Mokou, right? Does that mean she's ancient, or just her clan? Judging by her speech, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the former. Then again, I've heard of the Mononobe clan before; they were allies of the Fujiwara clan, weren't they?

So, let's recap. Yatsuhashi said that Seija started an incident, which Seija didn't contradict. However, according to Keine, that incident was actually started by an inchling princess. I went ahead and guessed that they did it together. The princess used the wish-granting Miracle Mallet to overturn society, which wound up causing weak youkai and tsukumogami to start attacking people. However, nobody really noticed because of the religious war that was happening between the Taoists, Buddhists, and some others. When they finally did finish, Reimu and her allies used the tsukumogami they had to defeat her.

Another thing I was told is that Reimu participated in the religious battles, fighting against Buddhists, Taoists, and everyone else to try and assert herself as Gensokyo's number one youkai exterminator. I found it a little strange that Reimu would care so much about popularity, but in my time, she was pretty much the only religious influence. I didn't know of any other major religious temples or shrines in Gensokyo - Shinto had ruled back in the day in my eyes. Maybe the appearance of all these other rival factions and religions made her less easygoing? I wasn't sure if this little history lesson helped me exactly, but it did give me some context so I felt like I had a better idea of what was going on. It felt like I was pulled into the middle of an ongoing battle between Seija and Reimu.

No, this battle had definitely been going on for a while. If this tsukumogami stuff had been happening as long as Keine said, then that means Seija was causing trouble for Gensokyo a long time unhindered. Also, this means if any tsukumogami appear in the future from my perspective, then it'll mean that Seija is active. I wonder how far back it goes from this year.

I was in the middle of thanking Keine for her help when Mononobe cried out and ran towards the window.

"They hath come!" She whirled around to face us and pointed at the window. "The youkai invaders doth return for a second time!"

What?! Don't tell me they found us!

Keine and I rushed to the windows in time to see a dark figure swooping over the village at high speed, dropping what looked like a small paper bundle in front of the schoolhouse. They were gone before I could get a good look at them.

Is this really an invasion? How did Keine not notice if this happened earlier?

Keine sighed. "So that's what you were on about." To Mononobe's bafflement, Keine walked out the door and picked up the bundle.

"It's the newspaper." She came back in, carrying it. "This one is a tengu newspaper, the Bunbunmaru. It isn't normally delivered in the village, but I receive it because it helps me keep tabs on the youkai. So does the shrine maiden. You would know all this if you got out more." Keine held up the paper for her to see, whereupon Mononobe visibly wilted.

"A-ah. So it were that sort of thing..." Then, as if to save face, she added, "But thou shouldst take caution regardless. If that paper be written upon by tengu, it may yet be tainted by evil magics."

"Unlikely," Keine said flatly, unfolding the paper to look at it. She then narrowed her eyes. "Odd that it came twice in one day, though. I guess it's an extra?"

As Keine read the paper's single page, Mononobe leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Prithee, Miss Smith, inform myself of what a newspaper is?"

Really? Oh. So I guess she hasn't been around since at least the printing press. Were you sealed up or something? "Er... It's like a herald, but in writing. I think that's the best way for you to understand it."

She seemed to understand, and nodded sagely. "I see. Hence the words 'news' and 'paper.'"

Keine's right. You should get out more.

"Shoot." I turned to see Keine purse her lips, and that familiar look on her face was there - defense mode. "I see why they delivered this to me at work." She folded up the paper and set it aside on a desk before turning to us. "Sorry, but I have to close up now. I have urgent work to do. If you have further questions, Miss Smith, I'll be in later." She focused on her other guest. "I trust you will not make trouble in my village, Miss Taoist?"

Mononobe shook her head. "Alas, it is time that I to my home return. For this enriching experience I thank thee both, and wish that thou completest thy work most urgently!" She then crouched down to the floor, inserted her fingers into a gap between two tatami mats, and pulled the entire mat up, pushing away a couple of desks and chairs in the process and revealing a dark hole beneath it.

My jaw dropped.

What? How did she do that? Why did she do that? Where does that hole go? Seeing my surprise, Mononobe grinned at me.

"Prithee, young Smith, harken to my words: If ever thou art by youkai pursued, or mayhap a Boddhist, I swear to thee that thou canst take shelter within a crack or cranny, and Senkai shall welcome thee."

Then she slipped into the space and closed the floor behind her.

It was like someone else's version of a Yukari portal. A ground portal. That... was surprising. But I wanna do that!

I looked at Keine for answers, but found none. She had left, leaving the door open behind her. Checking to make sure no one was watching, I tried opening the floor, but couldn't get my fingers between the mats. And yes, I felt stupid for trying. Seems like everyone has some kind of portal power these days. I sighed and started towards the door. As I passed the desk with the newspaper on it, I glanced down at the headline and a chill ran through my body.

REBEL AMANOJAKU COURTS ALLIES, SETS COURSE FOR HUMAN VILLAGE

Oh, come on. The hope of us not getting heat before I could get to Reimu was dashed. You have got to be freaking kidding me! I snatched up the paper. Beneath the headline was a photograph of Seija, Cirno, Wakasagihime, and a girl I didn't recognize on the road between the lake and the village. Is that supposed to be me? Was Aya following us that whole time? I suppose I should be glad that cameras can't see through seeds of non-identification. Also, I can't help but notice that I'm wearing a ponytail in this picture.

Shorter, same hair color, and an annoyed look on her face. That's gotta be me. You know, I'm a pretty girl, now that I think about it.

Wow, where did that come from.

I looked at my disguised self again. Huh. Would it be wrong to give myself a thumbs up?

No, wait. This isn't the time for that. Evidently Keine sees me as someone different from the person in this picture, or else she would have taken me down as soon as she saw it. She must be scouring the village right now, and if she finds Cirno and Wakasagihime...

Screw that. There's still the bounty. Now all the subscribers of this paper will know...

The frown that formed on my face actually hurt me.

...Subscribers...

I banged my head on the wall a few times.

Keine said Reimu gets this paper.

Crap! Reimu would end up knowing we were coming. Damn you, Aya Shameimaru! Is this the thanks I get for that interview?!

I cursed my bad luck, and the tengu, as I ran out of the building and hurried down the street.

I ran all the way in full sprint. Sure, lots of people noticed, but I didn't care. The Suzunaan book renter was an unremarkable shop, thankfully not that far from the schoolhouse. I spotted Cirno and Wakasagihime hanging out beside the building, and when I stopped in front of them, Wakasagihime came forward.

"We think we know where the youma books are and how to identify them," she said, "but there's, um, a small problem."

I had to take a few seconds to catch my breath before I could even think. I shouldn't have told them to wait up for me. We can't even complete the mission now!

"Worry about that later. Aya - someone took our picture." I gasped. I shouldn't have been that winded, but I ran as fast as I could. "The village guardian knows we're with Seija now, and she's looking for us. We have to get out of here."

"What?!" cried Cirno. "We can't leave!" She thrust her finger into Wakasagihime's face, raising her voice. "You made us wait! Eye could have done it already! This is your fault!"

You're starting an argument now? Didn't you hear what I just said?!

Wakasagihime's mouth fell open, and she tried to stammer out a reply, but I put my hand between them to break it up. "There'll be time for that later! We have to run!"

After a final glare between the two of them that I didn't understand, we dashed for the nearest exit from the village, trying as much as possible to stay out of sight. I kept my eye on the sky. Where is Keine? She'd probably be looking for them from above, right? Even when we made it out of the village, there was no sign of her.

"Where do we go now?" asked Cirno.

"Find Seija," I said, "and get the hell out of here." I didn't care where - maybe even retreating to the Bamboo Forest? All I wanted to do was to get as far away from the village as I could.

"She's practically on the other side of the village," said Wakasagihime. Her eyes were on the horizon, scanning the area around us. "There's nowhere to hide around the outside except for a few trees. Maybe if we can make it to the lake, we can-"

"So logically, if there is nowhere to hide behind except trees, she's behind a tree somewhere, right?" said a voice behind me.

I turned around and found myself face to face with a smiling Keine Kamishirasawa.

Oh, damn it all.

I bent down, hands on my knees, trying to get oxygen back into my lungs. A few seconds of that, and I stood upright again and saw her coming even closer. The smile she had, and the look in her eyes...

I wanted to start crying in frustration. You're gonna hurt me, aren't you? You're gonna kick my butt right now.

Officially. My. Worst. Day. In. Gensokyo. Ever.

I raised my hands. "This isn't what it-"

I don't know why I said that, but I didn't get to finish, as Keine reeled her head back and slammed it into mine with a crack. A burst of stars, and my vision went black as I hit the ground, pain overpowering all of my other senses. I faintly heard the sounds of danmaku fire above me, followed by Keine's voice.

She... headbutted me. WHY?!

That headache wasn't going to get any better.

"If you run away now, I won't have to exterminate you. Do you even realize what allying yourself with the amanojaku means?"

"It means," shouted Wakasagihime, "that we youkai can no longer tolerate being oppressed and abused in our own safe haven!"

"Wrong answer."

[SpElL cArD: "20xX: aN aFtErLiFe OdYsSeY"]

I didn't regain my vision until halfway through this spell card, but when I stopped seeing spots, stars, and all that good stuff, I saw amulet danmaku bursting from the ground beneath Keine and from the sky above her as she flew around her two opponents, trapping them between stalks that simply stayed put. Keine flew above Cirno, who had gotten herself stuck as three stalks appeared around her, and fired four waves of red danmaku in a row with no gaps between them. It would have been impossible to dodge, but Cirno didn't need to; she brought up the tengu's camera and snapped a photo of the danmaku. At once, it froze, and seemed to fade away; for you see, the magical attack that Cirno had taken a picture of was captured into a photograph, with all of the danmaku sealed inside.

What in the world?! That camera ate up the danmaku with the pictures it took! What an item! I want one!

Cirno gave a triumphant cry and activated a spell card of her own.

[SPELL CARD: ICE SIGN "ULTIMATE BLIZZARD"]

A Lunatic card?

I'll hand it to Cirno, she seemed to have gotten better at making spell cards in the last nine years. This one shot out a short, wide spiral of small danmaku all around her, as well as cones of larger danmaku that, a second after being fired, jerked their way towards their target like fast but clumsy homing shots. Keine dodged this like a pro, but it stopped her from moving around for her own spell card, which freed Wakasagihime up to fly around Keine's danmaku stalks and start shooting at her as well. Keine looked like she was having trouble keeping up with the two of them. Is this happening? Am I seeing this? Are Cirno and Wakasagihime actually getting the upper hand over the defender of the human village?

It then occurred to me that instead of standing here and watching like an idiot, I should be looking for Seija. Surely she could see the battle going on here. Where was she? I started to move back towards the other entrance to the village, the one by which we had left her. I could still hear their banter in the distance.

"You fight surprisingly well for a fairy and a weak youkai," Keine called out when she found an opening between their attacks. It seems she couldn't land a solid hit on Cirno, but Cirno's spell card ran out before she could hit Keine, as well. "Well, I guess even you can survive if you cheat."

"You cheated first when you used that Taboo card," said Wakasagihime. "Or is that okay because the shrine maiden said so?"

I think that pissed off the school teacher. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, little mermaid!" She drew another card.

[SpElL cArD: "eMpErOr Of ThE eAsT"]

Not this one again! I had seen this one before, and it was just as impressive and harsh this time, not that I saw most of it since I was heading in the other direction. Red and blue lasers launched from her in all directions, one after the other, each filling in the gaps that the other left only a split second after the last disappeared. Each pair of lasers was buffered by a small pause, but the pause got shorter with each repetition. Blue butterfly shots swarmed around Cirno and Wakasagihime in curving patterns that were difficult to predict while focusing on the lasers, while red ones flew straight at them.

Cirno had to use her camera, but she still took a hit and tons of near-hits. I thought she was going to fall, but she stayed aloft as Wakasagihime cheated her way towards Keine with her fabric and tried to hit her with her own shots. Keine moved between laser barrages to avoid the shots and Cirno's spell card, which made it even harder to avoid the lasers, but the small pause she made when she fired the lasers was enough to spell her downfall as Wakasagihime scored a lucky hit.

At least, I'm pretty sure their surviving that one was luck. They didn't do as well as Alice had, even though they cheated, and their movements weren't as precise as Alice's either. They simply weren't on her level.

Keine was livid. "Why exactly did you ally with her? Was it a whim? Did she tempt you with charismatic words and unrealistic dreams?" Keine began to growl, and her eyes glowed for a second - her youkai side was reacting. "She is an amanojaku. Whatever you believe in, she will use it to her own advantage, and abandon you when she is done. She is not your friend, or your ally. She is using you!"

"I don't care," said Wakasagihime. "I've felt the pain that youkai now suffer in Gensokyo, and no amount of Buddhist temples is going to fix it. If I don't stand up and fight, who will?"

"What she said!" yelled Cirno.

I won't deny it; this feels weird. I've been told about the oppression of the weak, but I don't think I've seen it yet. What exactly has been happening in this future Gensokyo?

Obviously, I had to consider that Seija might be lying. After all, she was an amanojaku, right? A creature of deceit? But then, why did Wakasagihime feel so strongly about it? Cirno I could chalk up to her apparent need to impress everyone around her, but didn't she say she had been targeted? Shoot, I wish I could talk to Reimu right now.

Keine closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself down. "So, you'll fight me? Knowing that your commander has abandoned you in this pointless battle, you will continue to fight against Gensokyo's leaders and their most impossible spell cards?"

Wakasagihime nodded. "We will."

Whatever's giving her that conviction, I wish I had some of it.

Keine sighed, and pulled out another Taboo card as she opened her eyes. "Then I will show you what happens when the weak attempt to fight the strong!"

[SPELL CARD: REVERSE SIGN "OVERTURNING ALL UNDER HEAVEN"]

Wait, what? That doesn't sound like one of Keine's spells.

I looked back. Keine was upside down, and bright purple danmaku was being sprayed all around her. She had already been hit, judging by the state of her dress, and it only took a few seconds before she was hit again as she moved drunkenly between the chaotic danmaku, trying to regain her bearings. Then I saw her; Seija was circling Keine, directing her spell card as she laughed and mocked Keine.

"You're awful judgy for a schoolteacher, ain'tcha? I bet you expel your students when they fail dress code, you ugly hag!"

That comment sounded hypocritical, but I'll let it slide. I think she meant it that way, anyway.

"What kind of lonely, pathetic woman goes out of her way to use Taboo cards on a fairy?!" Seija dared to get closer. "Are you getting off? Huh? Is this what you do to wipe away the shame of being a filthy, dumb werebeast?" Seija backed up when Keine took a swing at the youkai. Seija seemed amused by that act of defiance. "Why not just eat the history of your birth so no one has to remember you? Don't show us all your sad fetishes, you pervert!"

"Seija!" shouted Cirno. "You're late, late, late! Where were you?!"

"Eh?" Seija flipped backwards in the air to look at Cirno. "I was waiting for her to open up her ugly virgin backside so I could sneak attack her." Her grin got wider. "What did you think?" When we didn't answer her, she pouted. "Aw, don't tell me you thought I'd leave you guys!"

Okay, Seija, the insults are getting excessive. That virgin one was uncalled for.

I couldn't help but feel a little proud, though. Wait, why should I feel good about this? I had to remind myself that this girl had kidnapped my family and was holding me as a hostage against my friends. How did I forget that? Even for a moment? Maybe she has some kind of supernatural charisma. Or am I just that weak?

Keine was in bad shape by the time the spell ran out. She looked furious at having been humiliated like that, and for a moment, I thought I could see her glowing red with anger. Actually, that was something else entirely. It was from behind her, and growing in intensity.

I could feel the heat of it too.

Oh no. Not her.

I really felt like crying.

"Watch out!" I yelled. I have no idea if Seija heard me, because she saw the same thing, and flipped out of the way as a giant streak of flame shot past her and stopped abruptly in midair a short distance away.

Not her, not her! I was wondering if she was going to show up. Well actually, I was hoping she wouldn't. Keine was bad enough, but... her?

"You took your sweet time," spat Keine, holding her side.

The fire parted to reveal the form of Fujiwara no Mokou, the immortal human.

We were in serious trouble.

"In a bad mood, are we?" Mokou said, scanning the two youkai and the fairy. She brought out a cigarette and lit up.

Keine grunted, tenderly moving her right arm. "I am getting sick and tired of being humiliated around my village."

Mokou took a puff. "You'n me both, sister. Let's back a little further away; this is about to get destructive." The immortal let out a puff of smoke as she cracked her knuckles. "Time to kick some ass."

I couldn't help but shrink.

As the two of them launched away from the village, Seija formed up with the other two. "So, you weaklings got some kinda plan against these guys?"

"Ha!" Cirno posed in the air, her fists on her hips and pride on her face, but I could see she was breathing hard. "We've already got the upper hand! Water and ice beat fire!"

"Sure, why not?" Seija shot me an uncertain glance. "Good talk. Let's mess this sad sack up so bad, she'll be missing the hag and her death train!"

Please do not remind me of that. I still haven't forgotten how her body was when it was hit by that thing. Also, were they really going to do this? Against both defenders? At very least, I have to admire their guts. Keine by herself is one thing, but defeating Keine and Mokou together? That's... impossible.

Well, I suppose they do have the luck of Keine not being in hakutaku form.

As Seija, Cirno, and Wakasagihime charged at Mokou, the immortal flicked away her cigarette and drew her first Taboo card.

[SpElL cArD: rEgReTfUl LiFe "iMmOrTaLiTy'S rEcKlEsS sAcRiFiCe"]

Fire poured from Mokou's body, enveloping her as she flew directly at Seija, who fired a stream of shots and moved out of the way. She almost didn't move far enough; Mokou exploded, creating an enormous fireball that threw more fire in every direction. It was danmaku fire, but I could feel the intense heat from where I was. Cirno managed to get out of the way as well, but Wakasagihime wasn't so lucky. She fell to the ground after being roasted by the spell. Through the resulting smoke, I saw Mokou's body being reassembled.

Did she actually kill herself with that spell card?! She did. That spell card destroyed her body. What kind of power does that card have to kill its user?! Mokou, I know you like to make a point, but that's just nuts!

Then again, didn't one of her spell cards the other night - that is, nine years ago - have the name "Self Destruction?" I wasn't paying much attention to Mokou herself during that spell card. Maybe that happened then, too. Dying once wasn't going to slow her down, of course. As Seija and Cirno recovered from the shock of the attack, Mokou's body lit aflame once more, and Keine joined the battle with another spell card.

[SpElL cArD: gReAt FiRe "FlOwEr Of EdO"]

Ah, yes. Edo, the city that became Tokyo, was infamously prone to fires. There was even a saying about it: "Fires and fights are the flowers of Edo."

At any rate, it's an appropriate spell card to use in conjunction with Mokou, in more ways than one. The sky became absolutely filled with red danmaku that Keine fired in all directions. Cirno's camera could simply wipe away the danmaku, but Seija, who had the parasol, didn't have much to work with. She could wrap around the edges of my vision, and presumably that of others, but that wasn't going to do much good with the whole field dominated by the human guardian duo.

"Hey, Smith!" Seija shouted. She quickly pointed her thumb at the downed mermaid before she went back to dodging.

For a second I wanted to tell her where to stick it, but then I realized something. If Mokou and Keine won, I'd be the one left standing. And Keine had no qualms about hurting me.

What would Mokou...

I shuddered, thinking of what an immortal fire-user would do to an enemy of the village.

Self-preservation wins again. I did not need that kind of pain.

Time to play the role of healer again. I started running towards where Wakasagihime had fallen, readying a vial while keeping my eyes focused on the center of the battle as much as I could so that Seija could take advantage of my vision.

"Hey, shorty! We need to work together, so watch out!" Seija barreled through Keine's spell card, slamming into Cirno just as Mokou reached them. As another huge explosion sent a shockwave across the village outskirts, the two of them reappeared on the other side of my line of sight, in the middle of Keine's danmaku field. Yellow shots had appeared, mingling with the red ones, making the space that much tighter.

"The camera! Use the camera now!" Cirno fumbled with her tool, accidentally snapping a picture of the ground. Seija turned them both over and flew "up" into the free space that it created below them.

"How many more shots you got with that thing, pipsqueak?"

"Number on it says three!" Cirno yelled. "Stop calling me names! Eye'm stronger than you, you know!"

"Sure y'are, champ! But are you stronger than that?" Seija pointed her foot at Mokou, who was charging again. The two of them swapped sides in my vision as Mokou blazed near them, setting off another blast where they were. I was almost to my target, which meant I was nearly hit, and the shockwave knocked me off my feet.

I'm going to get hit here! Please, Seija, don't lead her this way!

Purple danmaku had joined the red and yellow, and together with Mokou's fire, there was no room to move at all anymore. Cirno cleared their landing with the camera, but more shots encroached right away, and it seemed like Mokou was getting faster. Add to that, her danmaku was impacting near me, so I couldn't watch the battle anymore. I had to watch out for myself. Scrambling to my feet, I made a dash for Wakasagihime while downing the vial.

Scratch that, I ended up drinking three. I'm not cut out for dodging danmaku.

All of a sudden, the temperature dropped.

[SPELL CARD: FREEZE SIGN "PERFECT FREEZE"]

The Perfect Freeze!

"You bet Eye'm stronger than her!"

Suddenly, all of the danmaku on the field stopped. It didn't go away; it just turned white and froze in midair. Even Mokou's fire froze, just like it did two nights before. I glanced up and saw that Cirno had added her own round shots to the field, which had also frozen. Even more remarkable, however, was Mokou herself. Cirno and Seija must have swapped away again while I wasn't looking, because there was another explosion happening where I last saw them... and it was frozen too. Cirno froze Mokou's own suicidal explosion. She's just a big ice ball!

After a second in which Keine and I were both utterly dumbfounded, the frozen shots scattered, moving in random directions. Keine, who was surrounded by her own shots, was grazed as she narrowly avoided several direct hits. Seija, however, had seized the opportunity and was next to Mokou's ice ball, blasting it with danmaku as it broke apart and melted at the same time, flames licking out of the cracks in the sphere.

Taking the chance as well, I reached Wakasagihime and passed her my barrier. She was still conscious, but rattled, and she smiled in appreciation when I healed her.

"I should have used the cloth," she said, struggling to get up. "I'm sorry. I was taken by surprise."

"Er, don't be. I was surprised, too." Why are you apologizing to me? Geez, you're more like Asahina than I thought.

"What the hell?" said Mokou, now free of the ice ball and steaming. Seija and Cirno hadn't beaten her, obviously, but her spell card was over. "What the hell? Why is a fairy making a fool outta me? Is this some kind of prank, Keine?"

"I wish," grumbled Keine. "The Miracle Mallet has lost its power, so the weak youkai should be settling down again. Maybe this is some kind of last stand."

"Screw that," said Seija, pointing up at the two defenders. "You think you can just label it like that?" She used her fingers as quotation marks. "You think we'll just 'settle down' after you hand out your 'discipline'?" The amanojaku flipped off the two of them with both hands. "This is what you get for treating us like children!"

"You're children, all right," said Mokou, readying another spell card. "Rebellious little kids tryin' to dominate their elders. Well, let me tell you something..."

"You gonna tell me to get off your lawn, immortal?"

"Seija!" cried Wakasagihime. She was pointing into the distance, towards the road on which we had come to the village. When I looked, I couldn't help but sigh.

"Oh, hell no."

There were youkai. There must have been dozens of them, some flying together, some looking as if they were racing one another. A few of them were firing danmaku at one another when they got in each others' way. Every single one of them was moving in our direction. I dropped to my knees, feeling my hope all but vanish.

This is because of that paper, isn't it?

Keine swore under her breath. "Leave it, Mokou," she said. "We've got trouble."

Mokou grimaced. "Aw, hell. No way, I've gotta take these guys down. They're the problem, if you ask me."

Keine shouted at the other defender. "The village isn't safe! We both have to be on this! There's no time to argue!" She began to fly away, towards the village. Mokou glared at us, bringing out another cigarette to light up.

"You got lucky, kids." She let out a puff. "Don't ever come back here again." With that, Mokou left us.

I can't believe it. Are we lucky? Are we about to get really unlucky?

Seija doubled over backwards in the air, shaking with uproarious laughter. "They ran away! They actually ran away! How weak! How pathetic! I can't believe those idiots are actually scared of us!"

I don't think it's us they're afraid of, Seija. No, it's definitely not us.

Cirno was just as excited. "Yeah! You all saw! Eye beat 'em both! Who's the dumb, weak little fairy now?!"

Did anyone call her dumb just now? Maybe Cirno is holding a grudge.

"Shouldn't we be running away, too?" said Wakasagihime, pointing up to the incoming threat. "Our tools are almost used up, and if we have to dodge that many spell cards..."

"She's right," I said. They're getting too close! "We can't stay here! We have to hide somewhere!"

"Eh?" said Seija. "Why do we have to do that? This is perfect."

Perfect? How can this be perfect?! We're about to get overrun by youkai!

"It's just a bunch of weaklings in that crowd." Seija confidently crossed her arms. "We can beat 'em, and then they'll join us." She looked directly at me. "You guys bungled the book job, so here's where we make it up!" It was obvious who she blamed.

Don't you dare lay that on me. And that's not how it works! You can't make people your friends by beating them! I know that youkai have that whole respect thing, but there's a limit!

I looked back at our foes. I could make out a youkai at the front, a woman with long, brown hair in a white dress that turned red around the bottom and to one side. There were many more behind her: The red-haired young girl in a red cape who I'd seen in the village, a white-haired, wolfish-looking woman carrying a round shield and scimitar, and... Aya? Nitori? There were more tengu and kappa there, off to the left side and away from the more random assortment of youkai. My eyes kept moving to the left as they caught more movement coming from the lake.

Fairies. Lots and lots of fairies. It felt like the whole world was coming down on us, here next to the human village. I tried to see if I could catch a glimpse of that nuclear youkai from my dream, or maybe someone who looked like a mind-reader, but no such luck. Or rather, maybe we were lucky they didn't show up, too.

"Hmm, this might be a problem for you, though." Seija looked at me. "You can't dodge for crap, and since you're with us, they'll target you even though you're a human."

Gee, thanks for thinking of me.

"I'll get her to safety," said Wakasagihime. She came down to where I was. "But how are you guys going to deal with that many youkai?"

The amanojaku chuckled. "We've been fighting a colossal enemy from the beginning. How do you think we're going to deal with it? We're going to cheat." Seija looked at Cirno, and the two of them exchanged grins.

They're actually excited about this, aren't they? To them, fighting something so clearly impossible is something fun. A challenge, maybe? Or maybe that's just Cirno. Maybe Seija's only fighting because the sensible thing to do here is to abandon our dignity and run away for the rest of our lives.

"C'mon, champ," said Seija, motioning for the ice fairy to follow. "We ain't done with the smoker just yet. I got a plan."

The two of them headed towards the human village, with one side protected by Keine and the other by Mokou, who flared up as soon as she saw them approaching.

Waksagihime floated up to survey the area. "I think we should sneak into the village," she said. "There isn't a lot of cover out here, and we can hide you in a building while the guardians are distracted."

Always with the logical plans, Wakasagihime. I'm glad I got put with you.

We made a dash for the entrance as battle erupted above us once again.

[SpElL cArD: "fIrE bIrD -lEgEnD oF ImMoRtAlItY-"]

Fireballs rained from the sky over the entrance to the village where Seija and Cirno were, with Mokou moving freely between them as she dodged Seija's and Cirno's shots. It was odd, though – this was a Taboo spell card, yet the fire moved slowly and there were plenty of gaps. Even Cirno had no trouble dodging it.

Taboo spell cards unleash the user's full power in danmaku form. Is there some kind of trick to this one? I didn't understand it.

Seija and Cirno had no real interest in defeating Mokou's spell card, though. Instead, they flew past her, over the village and into the streets through the easy-to-dodge danmaku. Mokou grimaced and gave chase, bringing her spell card with her. Luckily, danmaku fire didn't seem to burn wood.

"This is our chance. Get inside, quickly!"

We hurried into the village and looked for a likely hiding spot. All of the buildings we saw were already occupied, with the people of the village taking shelter from the sudden battle overhead. Some of them pointed at us and shouted as we passed. It suddenly occurred to me that there had to be youkai exterminators in the village, or even more defenders. I hoped that we wouldn't run into any.

Meanwhile, the youkai had reached the village, and were battling with Keine for the right to get at Seija.

...who was in the village.

...the youkai were fighting with Keine to get into the village, and were being dropped.

I paused, as it dawned on me. Oh Seija, you tricky bastard. Again, I wanted to be impressed, and again, I shut it down. Seija tricked Keine and Mokou into defending her by proxy of the human village. Well, they're attacking her too, but still...

The enemy of my enemy. It was working.

Enough thinking. I had to hide.

Somehow, we found ourselves back at the book renter, Suzunaan. With few other options, I suggested that we duck inside. Wakasagihime agreed, but said that it was probably best if I go in by myself. I thanked her for the escort, and she rose into the air to go find Cirno and Seija.

For some reason, there was a lot of ice strewn on the ground outside, melting and soaking into the road. When I stepped through the doorway, a bell chimed, and I was greeted by the sight of a disaster area. The room literally looked like a tornado come through it, with powdered ice covering everything, books and other objects strewn everywhere, and a lone girl in a yellow apron trying desparately to reconstruct the chaos with her bare hands. She looked up at the sound of the bell, and her eyes widened.

"W-w-we're not, um, can I help you?" she stammered, obviously still flustered by whatever had happened here. I had a pretty good idea already.

I left Cirno for half an hour, and she did this? Is this the "small problem" Wakasagihime was talking about? Why did this happen? Why would this ever have happened? I told them to stake the place out! I felt really guilty and responsible for this. Man, it wasn't a good idea to let them go.

I was so stunned by the state of the room that I forgot to answer the question. It probably wasn't too important, however, as she asked a second one.

"What's going on outside?" she said. "People are shouting and running. I heard that youkai appeared..." She looked around at the room nervously, as if intentionally trying to hide the obvious fact that a youkai and a fairy had been in here.

I spoke quickly. "Er, yeah. It's really dangerous out there. Youkai everywhere. Can I maybe hide in here for a little while? You know, hunker down until the coast is clear?"

The girl smiled nervously, taken aback by my quick talking. "I-I don't mind, but please don't touch anything. I have to clean this place quickly. The books are sensitive to moisture, so..."

I don't know whether to regret that I wasn't here to stop whatever Cirno did or be glad that this place's manager or whatever doesn't know that I'm with her.

Since I didn't have anything better to do, and it would be ungentlemanly to sit around and do nothing while she cleaned up a mess caused by one of my allies, I offered to sweep the ice out of the room while she rescued the books. She accepted with some gratitude, and fetched a broom for me, but warned me again not to touch anything because everything in the room was delicate and expensive.

There might have been another reason for her request, as a great deal of the books in the building - notably the ones she seemed to have rescued first - were bound with string. Books were piled up on the desk, the tops of shelves, and cleared areas of the floor, some stacks topped with rocks, and I thought I saw them quivering.

Are those youma books, or is this place just haunted? Maybe both. I don't think I want to touch them, in any case. I was ready to pack it in, not wanting any more insanity. After assuring her that I would keep my hands off the merchandise and my broom away from anything breakable, I set about earning my asylum.

I'm not sure how much time passed in there, but I managed to eject most of the ice from the building before it melted. After the last of it had, and there was nothing being actively soaked, the girl suggested that we take a break. She provided a chair for me to sit on, and sat down herself at the desk. She looked almost as tired as I was. I felt awkward and anxious, sitting inside a strange book renter while a fierce battle raged outside. Is this how civilians feel when they're in a warzone? Speaking of warzones, I had no way to tell how the battle outside was going. Maybe Seija was already defeated. How am I going to find her again? I felt helpless. I also noticed that the girl was staring in my direction. It occurred to me that I had not introduced myself.

"Ah, sorry. My name is John-" Wait, she probably thinks I'm a girl. Crap. "...Smith."

"John Smith?" Her brow furrowed in apparent confusion.

Yes, it's a weird name. Don't think about it, please.

"That sounds familiar, somehow..."

Familiar? How? It suddenly occurred to me that Yukari's spying service had probably shown everyone the time I used that name, which meant that it would have been reported in the newspaper, or by gossip, or however this thing spread.

This is what I get for being consistent. At least no one's picked up on it yet.

"It's a common name," I said quickly. "A lot of people have it." In America. "May I ask your name?"

"Ah, I'm Kosuzu Motoori. Just Kosuzu is fine, though. Suzunaan is my family's store, so I work here part-time." She gave a small bow.

So she's not a manager. There goes my streak of lucky guesses. Then again, she looks pretty young for a manager, so that was probably a stupid thought.

Just then, I had another stupid thought. I'm trapped in here with a collection of youma books. Maybe we could use that army of sealed youkai after all. Just act casual.

"So... there are youma books here?"

She paused, and eyed me suspiciously. "Where did you hear that?"

Crap. "Er... just a rumor." I shrugged, hoping that sounded natural. "Do you mind if I took a look at one? I'm kind of curious. Books written by youkai must be something else, huh?"

"Oh? Are you showing those books off now?" Someone spoke from the entryway. I turned and saw a bespectacled woman in a long checkered scarf and brown kimono. She had a small leaf-shaped accessory in her long brown hair, and a playful smile on her face. The bell in the entrance chimed as she pushed her way through the drapery.

Kosuzu went red. "No," she said, "she was just asking to see them. I wasn't going to show them."

What's the point of being a collector if you can't show off your collection? At least, I assumed it must be a collection. The only other reason I can think of to gather books like that would be to protect them, and in that case, why not keep them in the Hakurei Shrine like Mima? I was pretty sure hiding away evil stuff was part of Reimu's job.

"My, my. What happened to this place?" The stranger's eyes did a circle around the room as she walked forward. "Were you invaded here? With all the youkai casting spells in the village, it's almost like everyone's plumb forgotten the rules." Her gaze turned from Kosuzu to me, and she tilted her head ever so slightly. Her expression didn't change. "Actually, I was just visiting the Myouren Temple. Seems like they've been having trouble, as well." She was speaking to Kosuzu, I think, but she was looking at me. "Something stolen, the way I heard it."

"Oh?" said Kosuzu. "I've been hearing about things like that lately. Tools acting funny, becoming tsukumogami, or going missing." She paused, and added, "It has nothing to do with night parades, though."

Night parades? That came out of nowhere. Apparently the stranger knew what she was talking about, because she shook her head and turned it to look at Kosuzu.

"No, no. This item was definitely stolen. It's not something that becomes a tsukumogami and wanders off on its own. It's already somewhat animate, after all."

One of Seija's stolen tools? But she said her tools were tsukumogami. She also didn't mention stealing any of them from the temple. I asked her what it was, for curiosity's sake.

"A seed of non-identification," she said, looking back at me with eyes that seemed to sparkle. The smile she wore now was different, her lips curling up and down mischievously. It reminded me of the smile that Haruhi got whenever she had something on someone. "It belongs to one of the disciples there."

My blood ran cold, and I found that I had stood up for some reason. I think it's because part of me wanted to start running away. "Ah," I said, trying to sound normal. She knows. How does she know? Can she see through it, somehow? Who is this woman?!

Either she's a human defender with abilities, or she's a youkai. Neither was appealing to me at that moment.

Kosuzu looked confused, and thankfully she didn't notice me standing up. "Non-identification? What does that look like?"

"It doesn't look like anything", said the woman, bowing her head and chuckling to herself. "That's why it's called a seed of non-identification, right?"

"Hmm." I gulped silently. "I guess that would be hard to find again if you lost it."

I didn't know whether to look for a quick exit, or what. This woman had to know.

"Well, I reckon they've got ways of tracking it," said the woman. "After all, the youkai in the temple are real strong." She turned to face the door. "Well, I was just checking in. You'll be all right here? It might get dangerous."

"I think so," said Kosuzu. "The commotion seems to be elsewhere in the village, so as long as it doesn't come this way, I'll be fine."

"Good, good. I'll see you another time," said the woman, and after giving me one last glance and smirk over her shoulder, she vanished through the entrance. The little bell chimed as she left.

She must have been with the Temple or something. She has to be a youkai.

This is bad. This is really bad. I just collapsed back onto the chair, feeling extremely tired.

"I'm sorry, that was a friend of mine," said Kosuzu. "Er... I'm afraid I can't show you my youma books, but would you like to see a book about youma books?"

"No, thanks. I'm good." I let out a long sigh of relief.

What do I do? Do I leave? Whoever that woman was, she rattled me, and I knew she knew about me. Maybe that woman expecting me to run. But if I don't run, then someone's going to come for me here, right? That's got to be what she's planning. It's like Mononobe said; I'm being pursued by youkai and maybe Buddhists, too.

...Mononobe.

That's right. She offered me shelter if something like this happened. All I have to do is get into Senkai. But how? I stared at the floor, trying to remember her words.

Why am I considering her words?

Was I seriously considering this? Was I actually going to attempt this?

I mean, there was no way it would work, right? It would be... impossible.

...Impossible.

I heard a stray shot hit the rooftop.

Impossible. And of course I knew Gensokyo's policy on the impossible.

I don't believe I'm gonna try this. I'm actually going to try this.

"Hey, Kosuzu. Does a crack contain infinite space?"

"Huh?" She looked totally lost. I guess I was expecting too much from her. She seemed like the kind of girl who didn't get involved in too much action. I knelt down and felt the cracks in the floorboards. It wasn't a tatami mat, but it would do, right? Try as I might, though, I couldn't get my fingers in between the boards.

What else did Mononobe say? Most of it was confusing, but... I remembered one thing: "Only if worthy and prepared thou art to walk the Tao shalt thou be granted access by means of the infinite space two forms betwixt."

So basically, I can do it if I convert to Taoism? Maybe I should try something else first. Anyway, I feel like I should be helping Seija instead of hiding. Not that I care about her well-being, but it's kind of important for my family's and mine, you know? But again, what happens when I step outside?

If that woman was out there, I'd be walking right into her grasp. If Kosuzu is her friend, then she wouldn't want to create a scene in her place of work. No - that woman had to be waiting outside for me.

I have three options. I can leave, and either find another hiding place or try to help Seija. If I do that, I might be attacked by youkai, and I can't stand up to them. I could hide out here, and almost certainly be tracked down by the Temple. If she isn't waiting for me, then I bet that woman was going to go tip them off. Buddhists are pacifists, right? Maybe I'll get off easy. Then again, they were participating in some kind of religious war not long ago.

Finally, my last option is to keep scratching at the floor like some kind of lunatic.

"Um, Miss Smith? Are you okay?"

Another stray danmaku shot, this one rattling the windows from the impact.

Desperate times call for idiotic measures.

You know what? Fine. Fate threw me a bone today, and it's high time I took an option that wasn't given to me by Seija or her pursuers. At very least, I might get some spiritual guidance if I make it. It was also about time I got a miracle going for me.

I dug my fingernails into the crack. Taoism is about following some kind of divine order, isn't it? Doing things naturally? I tried to slip my fingers in. I tried to assume that they would go right in, like it was normal.

"Miss Smith?"

Please, let me in! I'm hunted by youkai! I need shelter! I'll even consider converting if you open up!

"Miss Smith, what did you just do?!"

"Eh?"

I opened my eyes. I hadn't even realized that they were closed. What I also didn't realize was that I had pulled away several floorboards and was staring into a dark hole underneath.

Holy crap. I did it.

I actually did something. I had created a damn portal!

When did this happen? Was it before I offered to become a Taoist? I only said I'd consider it!

I pondered how. How did I do this? I mean, I never had this ability. Heck, I never knew about this ability until that day.

I felt like I had done a superhero feat out of nowhere, like a sudden showing of super strength, or if I had sat down and finally bent that spoon with my mind. My heart was going crazy and I was breathing fast. I just couldn't believe it worked, that I did that. But I was there, and I could feel the hole I had ripped into the ground. I could see it with my very own eyes.

Speaking of seeing, it was difficult to tell what exactly was down the hole from here. It looked dark from the outside, but there was a bit of light coming from beyond a mist that hung still inside the hole, never flowing outward. The closer I got to the hole, the brighter the light seemed to become, and when I put my face up to it, I could see that it was about a two-meter drop.

Okay, I did this. Now what?

Yet another stray shot, this one hitting the wall of the building. Kosuzu gasped, making me look up.

Looks like I'm going.

Ultimately, I chalked up my accomplishment to three things. One, I still had magic in my body. Two, I knew the process on how to make this happen.

And three?

This was Gensokyo, baby. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Impossible be damned.

I stared at Kosuzu for several seconds, trying to think of something to say. "I can explain."

She just stared back at me, and she looked like she was about to cry or faint over what I did. I tried to find the words. But then again, what could I say? I pretty much ripped up the floor of her workplace after having helped clean it up. I felt really bad about that part. At least some of the water was now draining into the hole.

"Um... I'm leaving now. Through the floor." I gave her a bow. "Thank you for sheltering me."

I never expected to say such a thing.

Neither of us said anything after that, so I escaped from the conversation by slipping down the hole, pulling the floor shut behind me.

Reimu had been enjoying her post-incident downtime. The days felt most relaxing after resolving an incident, and the shrine received more visitors and donations, too. Now she could really enjoy some alone time - that is, except for the inchling princess and Genji, who were still around. Suika tended to drop by a lot, even though she had apparently taken over part of Heaven and was spending a lot of time there. There were also those fairies who kept showing up to play pranks on her, Marisa who would come by for tea all the time, and that hermit from the mountain who kept trying to lecture her about one thing or another. Actually, for how quiet it was, Reimu hardly ever remained alone for long.

Still, she enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of the shrine, with its view of Gensokyo and the human village, which was why the existence of the rebel amanojaku - the one who had encouraged the inchling princess to start the recent incident - annoyed her so much. First, she had stolen powerful tsukumogami and continued to cause trouble even after Reimu had defeated her, which was against the rules. Then she had started using those tsukumogami to cheat at danmaku, which was even more against the rules. Finally, Reimu was now looking at a giant mass of youkai, fairies, and danmaku raging above and inside of the human village, which broke just about every rule she had worked so hard to enforce ever since the end of the Vampire Incident. Gensokyo had been plunged into chaos in just a few hours, and it was all the work of a single weak youkai.

Suffice to say, she was upset.

First, Reimu had to find her own allies. She couldn't contact Yukari, so she was on her way to find Marisa when she spotted her at the edge of the forest, watching the carnage.

"Hey, Reimu," said Marisa as Reimu floated near. "What the heck is goin' on out there, huh?"

"I don't know," said Reimu, "But I'm sure it's that amanojaku's fault."

"I don't get it, ze. Is the bounty that high?" She put her hands on her hips. "Man, it seems like everyone's after her now, and they're invadin' the human village to get to her. They kind of look like they're fighting each other instead, though..."

"The spirit of competition, maybe?" Reimu shrugged. "Anyway, we just have to beat up the culprits. Youkai are supposed to behave themselves in the village."

"I don't know about you," said Marisa, "but I'd rather not take on that many youkai by myself, ze. I'm crazy, but I ain't that crazy."

"Excuse me, you two. Lady Remilia would like to know what you are planning to do about this situation." Reimu and Marisa both jumped at the sudden appearance of Sakuya in front of them.

"Son of a-" Reimu gripped her gohei tighter. "Geez, Sakuya! Why don't you fly up like a normal person!?"

The maid gave a bow. "My apologies, but time is of the essence. There's more than one strange thing about this incident."

"When isn't there? And what in particular?" asked Reimu, her eyes narrowing. Remilia had sent Sakuya with them to resolve the last incident, but she had kept a hands-off attitude as of late. It had been like that since the end of the Underground Incident. If she had a personal interest now, something new must have happened. Something that Reimu didn't know about.

Sakuya hesitated and threw a glance at Marisa before continuing. "There are actually four culprits this time. One is the amanojaku. She also has the mermaid youkai with her; the one who was rioting on the lake during the last incident. Third is the ice fairy, who was also causing trouble."

Marisa scoffed, while Reimu just sighed. "Cirno again? Does she like being my personal target practice?"

Marisa gave a nod for Sakuya to continue. "Who's the fourth?"

"The fourth... is a human, we think." Sakuya looked back at the carnage. "We are not sure who she is, and our scouts have given multiple differing accounts as to her appearance, but she appears to have the power of the Paranormal Border."

"So what, ze? Reimu and I could pull that off, and so can-"

"A healing Paranormal Border. She is in possession of Lady Patchouli's cherry blossom potions, which were stolen from the mansion."

The witch and the shrine maiden shot quick glances at each other, wide-eyed.

"What?" blurted Marisa. "But... but that power is-"

Sakuya nodded, a somber look on her face. "I know."

"...Son of a mother f-"

"So," Reimu cut Marisa off, "a mysterious girl has Kyon's power, and she's helping the amanojaku for unknown reasons." Reimu looked back out at the village, musing to herself.

"We don't know what to think. It's been so long since..." Sakuya sighed, looking back at the carnage. "Damn it. Why does she have his power? Why here and why now?"

"We'll need to know - Yukari might have an idea why, but I haven't heard from her in forever." Reimu shook her head. "I don't like this one bit. Even for an incident, this is too weird."

Marisa, who had been deep in thought since her curse, spoke up. "Geez. For her to have the healing Border..."

"It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen in Gensokyo."

"But after all this time, for it to come back in someone else, ze?"

"Again, not the weirdest thing to happen here."

Marisa gave a small glare to Reimu. "How are you not concerned over this? After what happened underground-"

Reimu glared back. "I am concerned. My feelings over what happened are the same as yours. But we need clear heads about this. Any distraction is costly. Distractions are costly. You know this."

Marisa opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. She tensed up for a few seconds before letting it loose. "Nah. You're right. Gotta think clearly." Marisa crossed her arms. "Well, usually we just fight our way through the enemies, but this is too much, ze. Apparently, they can't be beaten with danmaku, either."

"Only because they're cheating," said Reimu, with a sour look on her face. "If this continues, others might try to cheat against them, too. Once people start using their full power against each other, the balance of Gensokyo will be overturned."

"Then we gotta stop 'em," said Marisa, edging up on her broomstick. "I don't want youkai to start goin' crazy and killin' folks again, ze."

Sakuya gave another bow. "Lady Remilia feels that we must join forces. She wishes to get to the bottom of the mysterious human, so you have the Scarlet Devil Mansion at your disposal."

Marisa nodded, and the two of them looked at Reimu. After giving it some thought, Reimu nodded as well.

"We need to get everyone. Marisa, pay a visit to Hakugyokurou. Sakuya, head to Eientei. The Myouren Temple as well, if you have time."

"I always have time," replied Sakuya, smirking.

"Where're you gonna go?" asked Marisa as she lifted into the air.

"Me?" said Reimu, looking up at the sky, "I'm going to Heaven."

It's true - Mokou does kill herself for several spell cards. And yes, I think she does make a statement with them - "I'm willing to do this to myself during a non-lethal fight." That would be very demoralizing for an opponent.

Also, ladies and gents, if you have a PS4, or are considering getting one, two Touhou games are coming out the fall of 2016 on that system. They are both fan made. One, Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity, stars Remilia and Sakuya, and will appear on the PSN - which is download only. The second one, Touhou: Gensou Rondo, will be released on disc in early September, and is a danmaku fighter. Not a fighting game in the traditional sense, but I highly recommend checking out both titles' trailers to see if they interest you. I myself am definitely getting them. Of course I won't pass up the chance to play as Mistress Scarlet.

READ AND REVIEW! Lady Yukari demands it! And show Smooglii some love!