Chapter 8 – A Seemingly Pointless Stroll
After Kyouichi finished his meal, he thanked and bowed to the Saitous, telling them that he'll be yet going somewhere in the village. The truth was, he didn't quite know where he wanted to go yet, but he certainly didn't feel like spending the rest of the day in the guest room reading the borrowed books. He was thinking about seeing old Naota again and have that welcome party they talked about yesterday, but he decided that it would be better to have the welcome party after he gets his ID card.
Besides, he wasn't even sure if the retired carpenter would want to see his face again today. Their last conversation ended up in an awkward silence when it came to talking about youkai… For a moment, Kyouichi was even seriously considering visiting the shrine today, but shortly upon realizing the folly of this plan, he dismissed it as another one of his daydreams. Counting his remaining money, he even gave up on the idea of having some drink. He really had no idea what to do, so he just walked where his feet would take him. All within the boundaries of the Human Village, of course. At first he just strolled around the familiar streets near the marketplace, but to put more meaning to his wandering about, he decided to explore those parts of the village which Minako hadn't shown him yet. He didn't find anyone or anything particularly interesting in those unexplored streets and alleys.
The only noteworthy thing that caught his interest was one peculiarly looking building near one of the western farms. Kyouichi stood there, at the edge of the village, on the road leading west to the mentioned farm and turning gradually south, before it disappeared somewhere in the vast crop fields. This road seemed more frequently used than the one leading north and south. Even now, Kyouichi could see small groups of people walking down that road to and from the village. Oddly enough, none of them were accompanied by Ryuuken warriors. Many of them stopped at that strange building, standing approximately half way between the farm and the village.
Further beyond the building, there was a path leading southwards, eventually ending up at a distant large regular formation of stone objects – probably the local cemetery. However, the young human had his eyes fixed solely on that uniquely-shaped building that people seemed to be visiting on their way from the farms. By Kyouichi's rough guess, it was at least 300 meters away from the village, and the farm could be something over a half a kilometer away. He wondered what that building could be. It looked like a crossover between a ship and a shrine. At first, Kyouichi thought that it's just some odd granary, since it was standing near a farm, but for what convenient purpose would it be located there, away from other farm buildings could Kyouichi only guess. Not to mention its weird design... Seeing as more and more people were stopping by and apparently entering it, his curiosity and temptation to check out that unusual structure increased gradually.
He looked behind him to see if there wasn't anyone on the street headed to that building so he could at least ask them what it was. Luck smiled upon him, because he saw two people leaving their house right there where Kyouichi was standing. They looked like a wife with a husband. The husband looked like a middle-aged man with his fair hair slowly turning gray. He was wearing unusual clothes – like a black robe or a cloak and was possibly twice as old as his wife, if she indeed was his wife.
"Can we help you, young man?" asked the man, looking at Kyouichi, "Because you've been standing in front of my house for at least 5 minutes. If you came to buy something, my shop's open every weekday…"
"Oh, sorry… I didn't mean to." Kyouichi apologized. "I was only wondering what that interesting building on the road to the farm was. I've seen many people enter it and then leave after a while."
"Huh? What rock have you been living under until now, stranger?" asked the man. "You don't know about the Palanquin Ship? It's been converted into a temple last year."
"The Palanquin Ship?" repeated Kyouichi. The name sounded really familiar to him for some reason. A second later, he realized that there was an article about it in the chronicle, but he didn't really read it.
"Yes. Now known as the Temple of Myouren. You really haven't even head about it?" wondered the man in the black robe. "So you must come from another village then…"
"Actually, I come from the outside world."
"Ah, well that explains why you haven't heard…"said the man, putting his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight as he looked at the building in the distance.
"It all happened one year ago..." continued the robed man. "That building was actually a flying ship crewed by youkai. It was passing even above this village on its course to Hokkai - its final destination located on the outer edges of Makai. There, the youkai crew was supposed to free their friend and their spiritual leader from her imprisonment. On their way to Hokkai however, the ship caught the attention of the shrine maiden, who according to the news articles, thought that it was a treasure ship. Of course, there was no treasure onboard, just a bunch of youkai, so as a shrine maiden that she is, she decided to prevent the youkai from causing whatever incident they might have had up their sleeve by dueling them. However, even with all of the crew defeated, the ship continued in its course without stopping. Eventually, the ship reached Hokkai and the Hakurei shrine maiden, after learning the youkai's plan, wanted to see who was sealed off in the depths of that hellish realm. Upon opening the seal, she met Byakuren Hijiri – once a human monk, who sought the secret of immortality, driven by her fear of meeting the same fate as her younger brother, Myouren. She indeed did manage to keep her youth using her power, but fearing that her power might eventually disappear, she helped many youkai in many ways. However, she also liked humans. She always had a vision, a dream of a future, where humans and youkai would peacefully coexist with each other. But the humans who were always at war with the youkai never gave her vision a chance. In fact, they feared her and despised her due to her benevolent attitude towards youkai. In the end, they conspired against her and sealed her away in Makai, where she was supposed to remain for all eternity. That was until a band of her most loyal youkai followers, who were previously saved by Byakuren, decided to free her. As the ship arrived at Hokkai, Byakuren was released from her seal. Of course, Byakuren, being a friend of youkai was seen as a potential threat by the Hakurei shrine maiden, so they ended up dueling. In the end, Byakuren was defeated, but Reimu didn't seal her off again. It seems they have made some agreement, but I don't know the details. In any case, Byakuren was finally given freedom after more than a thousand years. Boarding the Palanquin Ship, she made a decision to settle down here, near the Human Village. The ship was at first used as a granary, but later it was remade into a temple, where Byakuren lives and serves to this day. After such a long time, she finally got to see her dream fulfilled… at least partly."
"Whoa!" exclaimed Kyouichi, who patiently listened to the story behind the strange building. "And that happened last year, you say?"
The man in black robe nodded. "We are just on our way there. Would you like to come with us?"
"Wait. Doesn't that count as leaving the village? Won't I need a permission and an escort?"
"No, as you can see, it's just a few hundred meters away and the farm over there still counts as a part of the village." explained the man. "Besides, I am offering you an escort so there's no need to bother the Ryuuken patrols now."
Kyouichi wondered if that man was some sort of magician, but he didn't ask anything. He just nodded to his offer. "Yes, I'd like to see the temple from inside."
"Then come with us." said the man and started walking towards the temple followed by his young wife.
"People visit this temple really often." the man kept talking. "And even youkai come to pray there."
"So… another reason why the Hakurei Shrine is barely visited by anyone, huh?" presumed Kyouichi.
"I'd say that the Hakurei shrine maiden wouldn't be too pleased to have so many youkai visitors." said the man, "But yes, since this temple is so close to the village, the Hakurei Shrine can't expect to have many visitors."
"That's a little bit unfair." stated Kyouichi who believed that people should be more thankful for the services of the Hakurei shrine maiden.
"The whole life is unfair, young one…" replied the man.
They continued to walk down the path and after a short time they came to the recently established temple. They entered and found themselves in the praying room of this unusual Buddhist temple. There was a large Buddha statue in the back of the room and in front of it they saw a meditating figure of a young woman sitting and meditating along with other temple visitors.
"That lady over there is Hijiri-san." whispered the man to Kyouichi's ear.
Kyouichi took a good look at that woman. She had long, wavy, light-brown hair. He didn't see her face, because she was facing the statue, but Kyouichi could see that she wasn't dressed up like a Buddhist monk at all. She was wearing a black and white dress with long strips of black fabric going across the middle and white strips of fabric going across the arms. She was also wearing some kind of long cape which remotely looked like the robe of the man who came with Kyouichi.
"Well, are you going to pray here or have you just come to have a look?" asked the man.
"I suppose I could stay…" whispered Kyouichi and joined other temple visitors in their meditation.
After some time, Byakuren Hijiri slowly stood up and the other people did the same. She then took some object that looked like a scroll and unrolled it. A sudden flash of bluish and violet light illuminated the entire temple. The light seemed to be coming from that scroll she was holding. As Kyouichi looked closer, he could see that the scroll was covered with some large symbols or letters of some unknown language that were radiating that violet glow. As Byakuren unfolded the scroll, she lifted it above her head. This made it look like the upper part of her hair was violet, while the lower part of her hair was still light-brown.
"Oh, the world of dharma is filled with light." she started chanting, "May the light of Buddha shine on your path of life and illuminate your souls. May it wash away all your sins, hatred and sorrows and fill your hearts with love and joy. May it enlighten your minds and bodies and protect you from illness as well as from evil. May it dissolve all doubt and show you the one truth. May it bless you and let it reflect itself upon this world through your good deeds. May it shine brightly, not letting you stray away from the righteous path and may it guide us all to the ultimate goal – a future where all beings, humans and youkai alike live alongside each other in love and harmony, not only in the afterlife, but in the present world as well."
A sudden bright flash from the scroll blinded Kyouichi and probably everyone else in the temple for a few seconds as Byakuren finished her blessing chants. Shortly after Kyouichi regained his sight, he could feel as if his soul had a nice big energy drink. He couldn't even describe this strange feeling, but he felt like it gave him hope… hope and willpower to carry on living no matter what misfortune might strike him during his life.
"Whoa!" Kyouichi exclaimed. "This Byakuren sure knows how to lift one's spirits."
Based on that story he heard about her from the man in the black robe, Kyouichi sympathized with Byakuren and her ideals without even knowing her or talking to her. He could now understand why her temple is so popular among the denizens of Gensokyo, but he could also understand that Byakuren's vision, no matter how righteous and virtuous it was, could hardly ever become true. At least in this world. There will always be humans who will despise the youkai and there will always be youkai who will hunt humans. Even if there would be only one race of beings in the world, there would still be conflicts. To achieve ultimate peace would seem like an impossibility to Kyouichi, but Gensokyo seemed to be the closest place to a real Paradise on Earth.
"Her blessings give hope and strength to those who need them." said the robed man, "But naturally, the temple is only popular to those humans and youkai who agree with her ideals. In other words, you may find some of the most human-friendly youkai and some of the most youkai-friendly humans among the temple visitors."
"Oh, so there are youkai here too?" asked Kyouichi and started looking around at the people in the temple.
"Shh~! Not so loud, young man. It's not very polite, you know." the man warned him with a hushed voice. "Of course there are youkai here too. They're all over Gensokyo. We are the minority here. Even Hijiri-sama herself is a youkai."
"Huh? Didn't you say that she was a monk or something?" Kyouichi whispered his question.
"She became a youkai, through her extensive devotion to magic." whispered the man back.
They slowly left the temple along with other people and were headed back to the village.
"So humans can become youkai too?" asked Kyouichi while walking.
"Naturally, they can. By many different ways and depending on many different conditions, humans, animals and even objects can become youkai."
"I see…"
Kyouichi started to think of all sorts of conditions required for someone or something to become a youkai – based on what he heard in fairy tales and legends and such. Before he knew it, he already reached the village with the unknown robed man and his wife who didn't say a word for the entire time.
"Well, here we are, back in the village." said the man. "As you already know, this is my house and my shop at the same time. But I'm afraid my shop will be of little use to you since you are not a Gensokyo native…"
"Really? What are you selling here?" wondered Kyouichi.
"Mixed goods, but mostly magical items like wands, trinkets, potions, scrolls, decorative Spell Card cases, spell books, robes and so on."
"So I'm guessing that you're a mage then."
"Yes, although not the best one, but still good enough to make business here." replied the mage.
"I see. So it seems I really won't be your customer…"
"So it seems… Unless you were a collector or if you wanted to buy a gift for your magic-using girlfriend or something…" said the merchant mage.
"Errr… yeah…" uttered Kyouichi while thinking: "Don't be ridiculous, old man."
"Well anyway, even if you could use magic I couldn't help you today, since I'm closed on weekends."
"Alright, alright… Well it's been nice to meet you, mister. I should get going now…"
"Yeah, likewise, young outsider. And if one day, you would somehow gain the ability to use magic, then I hope to see you at my shop, hehehe…" said the man in jest. "And don't let the youkai eat you."
With that said, the mage turned and slowly walked towards his house. Kyouichi started to walk back home, throwing one last glance at the mage's house. After he made a few steps however, he suddenly stopped upon realizing something surprising. He turned again to check if his sight wasn't fooling him and if he wasn't imagining things, as he often used to. This time, however, it seemed his senses were sharper than he thought. His eyes weren't deceiving him, for he could clearly see the name etched on the door of the mage's house, just before he opened them to enter. The name said: Kirisame.
"Wait! Waaaaiiiiiit~!" yelled Kyouichi at the mage who was about to enter his house after his wife.
"What is it? Did you forget something?" asked the mage.
"You're Kirisame-san?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"You're Marisa's father?"
The man just opened his mouth and looked at Kyouichi with an expression full of surprise. "…You…" he said after a while, "…you've met my daughter?"
"Well, yes. Just yesterday at the shrine… Is she home at the moment?"
"She… she doesn't live here with me…" Kirisame-san slowly replied. He closed the door on his house and walked towards Kyouichi.
"How is she doing? Is she healthy? Does she have everything she needs? Is she…"
"Whoa, mister, slow down!" Kyouichi stopped Kirisame-san's barrage of questions. "I've only been in Gensokyo for 3 days and I met Marisa only yesterday. I barely know a thing about her. I thought that she lived here in the village like everyone."
"S-sorry… I overreacted there a bit…" muttered Kirisame-san. "It's just been so long since I've last seen her…"
"Where does she live then?" asked Kyouichi. "Why doesn't she live with you and her mother?"
"Her mother passed away long ago, when Marisa was just a baby." explained Marisa's father with a sad and serious voice. "I took care of her as best as I could, but I knew that I couldn't take on her mother's roles upon myself as well. I got married again for Marisa's sake, even though I knew my new wife was no replacement for her true mother. I really do love my wife, but as Marisa grew up a little, she and my wife didn't get along too well. Eventually, Marisa decided to move away on her own. She was already a much better magician than me in her age, so she settled down in the Forest of Magic, where she built her own house by magic. She visits me only on rare occasions now… She works as a youkai hunter, much like the Hakurei shrine maiden. The two are really good friends, or so I heard."
"Yes, it seems they are…" nodded Kyouichi. "But I barely know them yet, to tell you the truth. However, they both seemed like nice girls, so I guess that I'll eventually get to know them better."
"If that's so, then please… I know that I may be asking too much, but please, at least tell my daughter that I love her very much… and ask her if she could pay me a visit sometimes… at least once. It's been ages since I've last seen her…"
Kyouichi just stood in silence and after a while he replied: "Alright, Kirisame-san… But I'm not promising you anything, so please don't put your hopes too high."
"Thank you, noble young man… Thank you…" humbly thanked the mage as he bowed down several times to Kyouichi.
"And my name is Ishimaru. Ishimaru Kyouichi and I really don't think that I'm noble…"
"Ishimaru-san, is it? I'll be expecting you. Even if you won't convince Marisa to come, just telling me how she is doing will be enough for me."
"Although I have no idea where she lives exactly, I think I'll be seeing her sometime during the next week. There should be a hanami at the shrine."
"Once again, I thank you, Ishimaru-san. You're one of the very few people who know Marisa and visit the village."
"Well duh, I live in the village with the Saitou family."
"I don't know all the people in the village by name, but the name Saitou does seem familiar…"
"Maybe it's because of the textile shop in the center of the village…" Kyouichi helped to refresh Kirisame-san's memory.
"But of course! That lady… I think her name is Minami or something like that."
"Minako." Kyouichi corrected him. "She lives at the northern edge of the village, just if you wanted to know…"
"Well then, I look forward to seeing you again, Ishimaru-san." said Kirisame-san, turning back and heading home again.
"Say…" said Kyouichi suddenly, "Haven't you tried using the services of that Fairy Post Office to contact your daughter?"
"To be honest, I wouldn't trust a fairy even with taking out my trash. I did hear a lot of praises on that post office, though. Still, I think if Marisa saw some fairy trying to make her way into her house, she'd most likely make short work out of it with magic."
"Alright." said Kyouichi, chuckling at the thought of Marisa zapping some poor postal fairy. "I was just wondering. See you next time, Kirisame-san."
Kirisame-san bowed and returned back to his house. Kyouichi also headed home after that, since he couldn't think of anything else to do or anywhere else to go.
"Oh, you're back early." said Minako when she came to see who was knocking on the door of her house.
Kyouichi just shrugged. "Walking around the village alone and without any goal just isn't much fun…"
"True, but don't worry, you'll make more friends at school, I'm sure." Minako reassured him.
"I think I'll take a look at those books I borrowed."
"Okay then, I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."
Kyouichi closed himself in the guest room, where he tried to make a bit more room on the floor. He then took the first volume of the Gensokyo Chronicle in his hands and skimmed through its pages. He certainly didn't intend to read all of those books from start to finish. He just wanted to know something more about the great youkai of boundaries, Yukari Yakumo. Something that wasn't just a legend or an opinion, but a historical fact. As he skimmed through the pages for the second time, he came across that name, almost at the very beginning of the book.
"Ah, here's something…" he muttered as he was checking the date of the event regarding this youkai. "Holy…! That really was more than 1200 years ago!"
Kyouichi returned a couple of pages back to the article's title – The need of recording the history of a land called Gensokyo; by Hieda no Aichi. The whole article was about a dozen pages long thesis describing various reasons for starting the compilation of the Gensokyo Chronicle. Not only was this area populated by humans, which alone would be a reason to start a chronicle, but also by youkai, who were residing in Gensokyo long before humans settled there. The humans didn't settle directly in Gensokyo, but rather in its surrounding areas. They didn't know about the youkai at first, but they found out about them shortly after they had settled, over 1200 years ago. It was because of the youkai, that this land was called Gensokyo – literally meaning Land of Fantasy or Land of Illusion. Many of the youkai were hostile, so humans rarely ventured deeper into their territory. Some of the youkai, however, were friendly towards humans such as the kappa. Among the non-hostile youkai was also one of great wisdom and power. Her name was Yukari Yakumo.
She often used to appear out of nowhere to surprise humans and to cause mischief, but she never meant harm. Many human warriors have tried to hunt her down simply because she was a youkai, but they were unable to defeat her no matter how hard they tried. She seemed to be curious about humans, but not just any humans. She seemed to be mostly attracted to exceptional and gifted people whose abilities could be considered supernatural. One of those humans was Hieda no Aichi. According to Aichi, Yukari appeared to her when she was a child and told her that she has a very interesting ability – to remember everything. Although Aichi didn't believe it at first, it seemed that her power "awakened" one day and she was able to recall events even from the first day of her life. Before Aichi became 18 years old, Yukari appeared to her again and suggested that Aichi should compile a chronicle similar to Kojiki, but about Gensokyo and its inhabitants. Since that day, Aichi and Yukari became friends. Yukari would regularly inform Aichi of noteworthy events and Aichi would record them into the chronicle.
"Hmm, interesting…" muttered Kyouichi. "So this Yukari is older than the recorded history of Gensokyo… Let's see if there's anything more about her in this volume…"
Kyouichi found another article which mentioned Yukari. Its title was: Saigyou Ayakashi – The great youkai cherry tree. This article said that there was once a very talented poet called Saigyou Houshi who lived from 1118 to 1190. He loved nature, which inspired him the most in making his poems, so he spent most of his time traveling. When he felt that his death was near, he decided to take his final breath under the most beautiful cherry tree he could find. A few decades later, after Saigyou's death, the cherry tree under which he died became even more beautiful. The rumors of its divine beauty spread across the land and many people wanted to see the tree. Many of those who saw it were charmed by its beauty into resting at its roots. But the tree actually drained the essence from their souls and eventually it developed youkai abilities. It could then charm anyone near it into resting under it – permanently.
The cherry tree became known as the Saigyou Ayakashi. Since it was very dangerous, it was placed in the Netherworld by Yukari Yakumo, where it couldn't kill anyone, since everyone in the Netherworld is already dead. The tree's influence however, reached even beyond the borders of Netherworld, affecting people in the world of the living. It weakened the boundaries between the two worlds so that it could draw the living into the Netherworld and kill them there. Apparently, placing Saigyou Ayakashi in the Netherworld was but a temporary solution. Yukari Yakumo tried to find a way to seal the tree so that it would never bloom again and therefore render it harmless, but she only managed to weaken the tree's influence. By that time she hadn't yet mastered her ability of manipulating boundaries to the extent where she could seal the tree completely or erase it from existence.
That changed when she met another unusually "gifted" human child – Saigyou Houshi's daughter. Her name was Yuyuko Saigyouji. She was blessed (or perhaps cursed) with powers relating to death and spirits of the dead. She was unaware of that power, but as more mysterious and unexplainable things started to happen around her, people started to believe that she was cursed or possessed by a demon. At first, Yuyuko could only control a few spirits and communicate with them.
However, her powers developed to a point when she could invoke death, although inadvertently. Ever since then, she was treated like an outcast, even by her own family. It was sometime during this period of her life when she met Yukari Yakumo. Since everyone despised and feared Yuyuko and her powers, Yukari became her only and best friend. As they were getting to know each other a bit more, Yukari told Yuyuko about the Saigyou Ayakashi, the great evil youkai cherry tree and about her plan to seal it. She even told her how to get to the Netherworld and showed her the youkai cherry tree itself. A couple of months later, Yukari Yakumo finally figured out how to permanently seal off Saigyou Ayakashi and she went to tell the news to Yuyuko. However, she couldn't find her anywhere where she used to hang out.
The last place that came to her mind was Hakugyokurou – the huge mansion with a shrine overlooking the Netherworld. In one of its many gardens was the Saigyou Ayakashi. When Yukari appeared near the cherry tree, she had found her friend Yuyuko lying underneath its partly blooming blossoms in a pool of blood and a knife in her hand. It was too late to save her. She committed suicide, most likely because she couldn't bear to live with such horrible powers.
Although Yukari was crushed by this tragedy, she didn't lose her mind. She even got a better idea as to how to seal off the Saigyou Ayakashi – using Yuyuko's body to create the seal. She then sealed both Yuyuko's soul and Saigyou Ayakashi's cherry blossoms, so that it would never bloom fully again. At the same time, Yuyuko's soul was meant to forever remain in the Netherworld and never to enter the reincarnation cycle, so that she would never feel pain again. Such was Yukari's wish.
After receiving her final judgment, Yuyuko was granted eternal residence in Hakugyokurou in exchange for the task she was appointed to by the great Yama judge - to manage the souls of the dead. Thus she became the princess of the Netherworld. There she could put her powers to good use. However, upon entering the afterlife, she lost most if not all of her memories from the time when she was alive. Yukari visited her again after a longer period of time to start their friendship all over again. The most recent addition to the article made by Hieda no Akyuu states that Yukari and Yuyuko remain as best friends even to this day.
"Now that was one heck of an evil cherry tree." stated Kyouichi when he finished reading the whole article. It gave him a hint that Yukari was a good-natured youkai, at least toward her friends. However, he also learned that she was mostly interested in exceptional humans gifted with extraordinary powers. Since Kyouichi considered himself as a completely ordinary young man, who has led a boring life even by the outside world standards, he saw his chances of ever meeting Yukari as very low.
"But why would she take me here then?" he contemplated. "Was it really her doing? Do I have some latent powers which I don't know about? …Yeah, as if… A whole train got spirited away after all. I really doubt that every single person riding it would be gifted with unusual powers. In fact, I doubt that anyone was…"
Kyouichi was really curious about the true reason why he and many other people with him and before him found themselves in Gensokyo. However, his contemplations would have to wait, since he heard Minako calling: "Supper is ready~!"
"What a perfect timing!" he sighed, closing the first volume of the Gensokyo Chronicle. "All that reading made me really hungry."
Hoping that some day all his questions will be answered when he reads enough books and meets many people, he left the guest room and headed straight into the kitchen.
By the time Kyouichi finished his meal and returned to his room, it was already too dark to read. Since there were a lot of flammable materials in the guest room, it had no lamps or candles.
"Oh well, I'm getting up early tomorrow anyway." he said to himself. "I might as well get used to this routine…"
He got undressed and stretched himself on the futon. Going to sleep without setting an alarm clock made Kyouichi feel a bit uneasy. Especially when he knew that he shouldn't oversleep.
"Hopefully, Minako-san will wake me up in the morning…" he thought.
He closed his eyes and just waited until he drifts away into the world of dreams, but for some reason he just couldn't fall asleep. Maybe it was because he was excited about his first day at the new school or because he was a bit nervous before he started working part-time at the bookstore. This was nothing unusual to Kyouichi, since he usually had a hard time falling asleep after a weekend, because now his mind had to focus on more important things. He even came up with a name for his little sleep disorder – the Sunday Syndrome. In the end, however, he always managed to clear his mind of stress and fall asleep, although a bit later than intended.