Gensokyo my Beloved

by Fonzi the Survivalist

It's late spring, year 125 in Gensokyo when a mass spiriting-away of outsiders takes place. The Hakurei shrine maiden thinks this is just a minor incident, easy to resolve. But is it...?

39. Follow the White Rabbit

Chapter 39 – Follow the White Rabbit

Kyouichi trotted briskly downstairs, and without thinking, headed for the mansion's main entrance. As he opened the main door, he stepped outside and took a deep breath of fresh air, looking around.

"This is where I met her…" he thought to himself. "Now I'm supposed to look for some small waterfall, huh?"

And so, the young man made one full lap around the entire mansion of Eientei, keeping his eyes and ears open for any signs of waterfall, but the dense bamboo forest was deadly silent. It took him over thirty minutes to return back in front of the main entrance, disappointed at his inability to find the next clue. Then he realized an important detail, which he didn't take into consideration.

"Oh gods, am I an idiot or what?!" he exclaimed into the silent dusk of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. "This isn't the place where I first saw Tewi! It was one of the offices on the ground floor!"

---

He made haste back into the main corridor, but stopped shortly afterwards, because he couldn't remember which one of the myriad doors led to the office where he met the mischievous rabbit for the first time. Then he remembered the prank she had played on him, by sending him into the wrong room at the wrong time.

"The bathing room." he muttered and kept on running, keeping his attention focused at the left side. The door to the mentioned room was quite easy to notice, because it was brand new and its shade was slightly lighter in comparison to the other doors. The old door had to be replaced after Kaguya made Swiss cheese out of it with her danmaku.

"Now if my memory still serves, the office where I first met Tewi is the eleventh door to the left from this one…"

---

And so, he slowly counted the doors as he was returning all the way up to eleven. He opened the door and immediately recognized the layout of the furniture in this particular office. It didn't even surprise him anymore that the room wasn't locked, despite the fact that there was nobody inside. This was definitely the place. He recalled as Tewi was sitting behind the table and playing with empty medicine boxes. However, Kyouichi now wasn't too certain what kind of "waterfall" was he supposed to look for. Besides some unknown liquids in the medicine jars placed on one of the shelves, there really wasn't any water in the room. It was just an ordinary office with a couple of chairs, two tables, a bunch of shelves and display cases, a single bed, one round window, several lanterns, a few houseplants to decorate the environment, along with some oil paintings depicting various landscapes…

"The pictures!" Kyouichi got a sudden idea and turned his head frantically as he was looking for a picture that had a waterfall. Within five seconds, he found a small, inconspicuous picture hanging just a few centimeters to the left of the office's door. It depicted a mountain stream, flowing from atop of a tall gray mass of rocks. It was no masterpiece, but it was tasteful and fitting as a room decoration.

"The silent waterfall…" he murmured as he observed the picture closely. "Tewi's message said to look behind it… The next clue must be behind this picture."

As he looked behind the picture, another small piece of paper has fallen down and landed by his feet. Not wasting any more time, he read the next message.

"Pretty easy, wasn't it? Now it's time to turn up the heat. If you want to know what to do next, you better hurry before you forever lose the text. A place that's always busy, where guests are not meant to go, you'll find it with burning sensation, if you're not too slow. Better run now, I hope you'll make it, if not… well then… bon appétit~!"

Kyouichi quickly brainstormed the most possible options, but only one seemed to be the most plausible.

"Bon appétit, you say? Is she sending me into Eientei's kitchen? By the looks of it, it seems that the message is hidden inside one of the ingredients for today's dinner… Well, here I go…" he shrugged and hurried to the door where the main dining hall was located. By applying even minimum logic, it was more than obvious that the kitchen's door was right next to it. Despite being normally off-limits to visitors the door opened up just as easily as any other door in this mysterious mansion.

"Hmph… I guess that to Eientei's residents, security is about as familiar a concept as natural death to domestic poultry…" he remarked sarcastically as he barged into the kitchen.

---

Just as Tewi described, the place was bustling with activity as dozens of Earth and Moon rabbits were busily preparing the ingredients for today's dinner course. For over ten seconds, none of the rabbits even noticed him, but once his presence became obvious to the cooks, some of the rabbits gathered around the outsider, trying to send him back where he came from.

"Excuse me, but you shouldn't be here~!" explained one of the rabbit cooks.

"The kitchen is off-limits to patients." another youkai rabbit completed the information.

"Please turn back and return to your room." the third rabbit demanded while waving a wooden ladle in her hand. Despite her attempt to look and sound intimidating, she looked endearingly childish.

Not needing much time to think, Kyouichi drew out the message left by Tewi and showed it to the bunch of spectating rabbits, like a policeman showing his badge.

"I have an official order from your boss, Tewi-sama to make an inspection here." he made up a lie, making his voice sound important while holding back any signs of snickering. He bit his lip in hope that the rabbit cooks would fall for it…

All the rabbits stood in silence with their mouths ajar. Kyouichi could only imagine what they could be thinking right now. For a moment it looked like they were going to drive him out of the kitchen by force, when suddenly…

"Mmm… okay…" nodded one of the rabbits and stepped aside from Kyouichi's way. "We really didn't expect Tewi-sama to send someone for inspection."

One rabbit's reaction caused a domino effect with the other rabbits, and within seconds, there wasn't a single rabbit in the kitchen who doubted the credibility of Kyouichi's claim. They all returned back to work, tying to make the best impression, but the only thing that the outsider thought about was to find the next message.

"…you'll find it with burning sensation…" he murmured the line from the paper found in the office. "What does that mean? Should I look for it in the oven?"

And he really did look into all the places that generated heat. The rabbit cooks were giving him sidelong glances, but avoided direct eye contact when Kyouichi looked back at them. He searched all the possible places that came to mind, but found nothing. He was getting more desperate by each second.

"Alright, everyone," he again centered the rabbits' attention at himself, "stop working for a moment."

The cooks and kitchen helpers obeyed, but were now looking at him with even more mistrustful eyes than before. Kyouichi had issued this order just so he'd buy himself some time. When no rabbits were working, it meant that the next Tewi's message wouldn't end up being destroyed in the cooking process.

"Is there something wrong, mister kitchen inspector?" asked the rabbit chef.

Kyouichi was silent for a moment as he threw nervous glances all over the kitchen, as if in hope that he'd notice a piece of paper somewhere.

"Hello? Mister?" the chef rabbit waved his hand to get the outsider's attention. "How long are we supposed to wait? If we don't hurry and prepare the food soon, everyone will be nervous. We understand Tewi-sama's directives, but we don't want to get into trouble with Her Highness, Kaguya-sama."

"What food are you preparing for today's main course?" asked the outsider.

"We're making a shabu-shabu with various different dipping sauces and seasoned rice." answered the rabbit.

"Is there going to be a hot, spicy sauce too?"

"Of course."

"May I take a look at the spices then?"

"Go ahead… They're lined up on the top shelf over there." the chef gestured at a line of bamboo spice containers.

Fortunately, the outsider was tall enough to reach the topmost shelf without the need to stand on a chair. He walked up to the shelf and began checking the content of each and every spice container, he even tested whether the paper he was looking for wasn't buried deeper within the particular spice. After checking the last one, he shook his head, feeling a mixture of confusion and frustration. He knew that he was at the right place, but looking at the wrong things. He really couldn't understand what Tewi meant by the line: "…you'll find it with burning sensation, if you're not too slow."

He was almost certain that he knew what to look for, and yet, it seemed that he got once again tricked by the mischievous Earth rabbit.

"So… can we return to work already?" the chef nervously stepped around from left foot to right, eager to finish what he and his team started.

"I… I..." Kyouichi stuttered for a moment before he waved his hand and sighed. "I guess so…"

He almost accepted the fact that he'd lose this little game and that he wouldn't get back what Tewi took from him.

The rabbits have already resumed their tasks in the meantime, but the chef wanted to satisfy Kyouichi's curiosity about today's dish.

"Some of the meat slices are going to be seasoned with shichimi spice before boiling. Eirin-sama likes spicy food."

"Yeah, that's good to know." grumbled Kyouichi upon hearing this trivial information, but the next second he realized that perhaps somehow Tewi managed to hide her message somewhere on the slices of beef.

As unlikely as that sounded, Kyouichi was desperate enough to give it a try. He started to examine the meat. However, there were simply too many meat slices for him to check in a short time. Again, anxiety and frustration continued to grow inside his chest as not even the 25th beef slice held any indication of hiding Tewi's next clue. The cooks were already starting to serve the food into dishes and the young outsider knew that he was running out of time. It would not be accepted well if he once again interrupted the rabbits in their work, so he just speeded up his search. Not even the 40th piece of meat yielded any positive result and Kyouichi was about to give it up, when suddenly one of the rabbits that was serving the meat seemed to have torn something away from one beef slice and looked at it in confusion.

"What's this… paper doing on the meat?" she murmured and discarded the object into a waste basket. "If mister inspector saw this, he'd scold us…"

Kyouichi noticed that with just the corner of his eye and immediately turned his head in that direction.

"What was that you just found?!" he asked the young rabbit maid with a heightened voice.

The surprised rabbit flinched for a moment, and then she denyingly shook her head with a sheepish smile. "N-nothing." she gave a stuttered reply.

"I saw you find something on that piece of meat. What was it?"

"It was nothing; just a little paper – probably from the wrapping." insisted the rabbit. "That meat piece is clean now. I threw the paper away…"

"WHERE?!" shouted the outsider.

The nervous rabbit pointed her shaky finger at the waste basket. "T-there… Please don't yell at me."

Without another word, Kyouichi leapt to the waste basket and started to dig around in its content like a homeless man. The spectating rabbits exchanged their surprised and confused looks. None of them dared to say anything.

"Salvation~!" cheered the young man as he found a piece of wet paper with Tewi's handwriting in all that garbage. "Thank you, all Shinto gods! Thank you, dear rabbits! Gotta run now, see you later~!" he bowed hastily and hurried out of the kitchen, slamming the door shut behind him.

Shortly after Kyouichi left, the rabbit chef bewilderedly shook his head. "What was that all about? First some crazy knife maniac maid shows up and starts cooking here, now Tewi-sama sends us this weird guy… What's next?"

---

Meanwhile the outsider unfolded the paper with fading Tewi's message and read it.

"You made it in time; you've found the right place, but don't slow down and keep up your pace. To find the next clue will be a bit trickier feat. Better get going now, time to move your feet. The message keeps moving from one place to another, carried by a guest of Eientei; see if you can find her. She's not a patient now, but used to visit as such. She prefers to stay indoors and not go out very much. A nurse who works from morning to noon; look for a veil of violet hair and golden crescent moon."

"Okay, that definitely sounds like Patchouli-sama…" he figured out easily. "So she has the next message without even being aware of it, huh? That shouldn't be so hard, provided that I know where to look for her…"

And so, the outsider directed his steps towards Eirin's office where he hoped to find someone to ask where to look for the temporary doctor. He knocked on the office's door and let himself in.

---

"Please excuse me…" he bowed apologetically before he even noticed whether there was anyone in the office at all.

"Yes? How can I help you?" sounded Eirin's voice from behind a screen and her head peeked out to take a look. "Is there anything you need from me, Ishimaru-san?"

"Sorry to interrupt your work, but… Do you know where can I find Patchouli-sensei?"

"Aaah, you couldn't wait to be with Patchouli-san again… I see…" she nodded understandingly and smiled.

"Why do you keep implying that we have anything to do with each other?" muttered the annoyed outsider.

"Hmm? Well then why else would you be asking me where to find her?" retorted the Lunarian with the same wry smile.

"It's just… business…" Kyouichi gave an avoidant reply.

"Whatever you wish to call it…" she remarked with a giggle. "Patchouli-san works every day from early morning to noon due to her health condition. Since it's already afternoon, she's most likely taking a rest in her room. It's a small study here on this floor. It's, if I remember correctly, the 57th door from here on the left side of the corridor."

"Fifty-seventh? Okay, I hope I'll get it right…" said Kyouichi as he was about to leave the office.

"Wait a minute. I better take you there myself." Eirin unexpectedly volunteered.

"Aren't you busy?"

"I am. But it's just another check-up." she gestured behind the folding screen. "I'm checking whether Kurohana-san here requires any further treatment."

"Ai-chan is here?"

As a response, the girl's crimson-haired head popped out from behind the screen. "Oh, Kyouichi-san, good afternoon~!" she greeted cheerfully, "It seems I'll get to go home soon."

She certainly looked a lot better than a few days ago.

"And what about our final check-up?" Kyouichi asked the doctor.

"Patience, young one. I'll be on it as soon as I get the results of Ai-san's check-up, which may yet take a few hours."

The Lunarian then put her notepad on a table and told Ai to wait for a moment. "Alright, let me show you the way." she gestured to the outsider and he followed her out back to the main corridor. After more than a two minute walk, Eirin stopped at one of the doors and tilted her head to the side.

"This is the place." she announced and gently knocked on the door. "Let's see if she's even there in the first place…"

She opened the door and announced her arrival: "Sorry to intrude, Patchouli-san, are you here?"

"Eirin-san?" sounded the quiet voice of Scarlet Devil Mansion's librarian and resident elemental sorceress.

"Ah, so she's here after all." whispered Eirin and smiled at the outsider. "I don't mean to interrupt your well-deserved rest, but you have a visitor."

"A visitor?" asked the voice of Patchouli, followed by a short pause. "Okay…"

"Very well then. I'll get back to work then." said Eirin and gave Kyouichi a rather mischievous wink. "Good luck…"

"What does she mean "good luck"?" he wondered silently as he watched her returning back to her office. He then turned at the door and walked into the study.

---

The room was not larger than Eirin's office. However, most of the furniture consisted of bookshelves. There was only one table at the window and a single bed in the corner. Patchouli was sitting at the table so her back faced the door. Since her work for today as a doctor was over, she was dressed up in her typical attire. Even during her free time, she preferred to indulge herself in reading Eientei's literature. As Kyouichi entered the room, the girl didn't even bother to turn around. She just raised her hand and with a nonchalant tone she addressed him, thinking that her visitor was someone else…

"I was wondering when you'd come here again, Sakuya. Tell Remilia that I'll return back to the mansion tomorrow evening. You can pack up my things, since you're already here. Oh… and please bring me some tea. Some dessert would be lovely too…"

"I'm afraid I won't be visiting the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the following days, but I suppose I could at last fetch that tea for you." replied Kyouichi with an amused chuckle.

His voice was definitely not the one Patchouli had expected to hear. She froze in shock on her chair, slowly turning herself around.

"Ishimaru-san…?"

"Sorry, I should have at least greeted you when I walked in." he apologized for surprising her.

"No, it's fine… I should have at least taken a look at who my visitor is…" she admitted to be partially at fault. "I truly didn't expect you to visit."

"Yes, I should imagine… Hope I'm not disturbing your work."

"I only work until noon, so in my leisure, I'm trying to piece together the information you gathered from Kazemura and the text written by Satori-san while she initiated a mental probe into the mind of one of the affected fairies…"

"Any progress?"

Patchouli sighed and gently shook her head. "Minimal, I'm afraid… Aside from what I already knew, I had only managed to contemplate one possible last-resort solution to this… unpleasant incident."

"Really? What kind of solution?" inquired the outsider.

"Well…" she muttered quietly, as if she was shy to give the answer. Kyouichi leaned a little closer so he could catch whatever she was going to say. Finally, the sorceress spoke up again: "If we manage to confirm that the ruins discovered in Kazemura quarry pit are truly the cause of these unsettling events, we could simply ask the villagers to bury them again, cutting off their influence on the local fairy populace. However, that may turn out to be more complicated than it sounds. Like I said, it's just as a last resort…"

"Why would it be so complicated to bury those ruins? Just take a dozen of men with shovels and…"

"First of all," Patchouli cut his sentence off, "we're not even certain whether the ruins alone have any direct effect on the fairies and whether burying them would amount to anything, other than shutting down the very reason of Kazemura's existence. Not to mention that the history-obsessed yama-bito, who make up over 50% of the village's inhabitants, would be by any means willing to surrender one of their greatest discoveries along with the source of their income. Should it prove to be necessary to take such a dire action, it would most likely mean the end of Kazemura, forcing its inhabitants to relocate. I just hope that we won't be forced to make that decision."

"I see…" said the outsider once Patchouli made things a bit clearer for him. "So you want to go and take a look at those ruins personally?"

"Yes. Not only to investigate their connection to the fairy incident, but also to record and document them in order to preserve the memory of their existence, should we decide to bury them forever… However, I'm reluctant to go there alone. No. I need a team of people or youkai I can trust – someone who knows about ancient civilizations as well as someone who can fight well. Also, it would be good to have someone, besides me, who knows a thing or two about arcane arts… But that's nothing that you need to concern yourself with, Kyouichi-san."

The human again chuckled with amusement. "I don't meet even one of those three requirements… But, I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out, Patchouli-sama… Now, how about that tea?"

The purple-eyed youkai sorceress looked at him surprisedly. "Do you really want to go and bring me some tea?"

"Sure, why not?" smiled Kyouichi. "After all, I did come here to ask something from you, so I suppose I could at least do something in return… I'll be right back."

Before Patchouli managed to say anything, the young man made himself scarce, headed for the great dining hall where everyone could ask for as much tea as they could drink, without any extra charge, of course. In less than five minutes another knock sounded on the small study where Patchouli spent her free time in Eientei. Kyouichi had brought in two wooden cups with steaming hot tea.

"Thank you very much." Patchouli courteously thanked and gently nodded her head as she accepted the cup.

"No problem." replied the young man with a smile, taking a light sip from his cup. "Hmm… could use a bit more sugar, though…"

The sorceress also followed suit and after she had savored the not-so-perfect taste of Eientei's blend, she put the cup on the table and folded her arms over one another, looking at Kyouichi with an intense gaze. "Now… What can I help you with?"

"Ah, yes…" Kyouichi nodded and took out Tewi's last message. "Do you perhaps know someone called Tewi Inaba?"

"Tewi?" Patchouli repeated the name and her eyes widened a bit, as if she indeed knew someone like that. "I… did see her a few times when I visited this place. She's an Earth rabbit with substantial authority in Eientei. However, her demeanor would suggest otherwise. Her personality is rather… fairy-like, for the lack of better term…"

"Yes, I've found out… the hard way. Now that rabbit has something that's mine and I'd like to have it back."

"Come to think about it, Marisa also has some things that are mine and I'd like to have them back… But, you already know what she's like…"

Kyouichi knew that she was talking about her books, which Marisa liked to borrow and never return, and he couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Why don't you do the same thing to her then? Give her a taste of her own medicine…"

Patchouli only disapprovingly shook her head while frowning. "Me? Stealing from Marisa? I will never lower myself to HER level." she emphasized with a disdainful tone.

"But that wouldn't be stealing." argued the outsider. "You'd be merely getting back what rightfully belongs to you."

"I'm afraid that doing that would only fuel the fire, encouraging the witch to "borrow" more books and more often than before… Anyway, I believe that this conversation has gone off-topic again…" she remarked nonchalantly. "You mentioned Inaba Tewi, right?"

"Well… yeah…" Kyouichi's response was a bit delayed.

"Can't say I've seen her in the past few days, so you're probably asking the wrong person…"

"Believe it or, not, Patchouli-sama," he interrupted her suddenly; "you CAN help me, even if you probably aren't aware of it."

She gave him a puzzled gaze. "What do you mean by that?"

"You probably already know Tewi-san a bit better than I do and you also know what sort of a trickster she is."

"So far I've been lucky to avoid being targeted by her." murmured the sorceress and gently knocked on the wooden table. "Guess I'm an uninteresting person for her, which suits me just fine."

Kyouichi made a crooked smile, not too sure what he should say about Patchouli's last statement. Regardless, he continued explaining.

"So this Tewi somehow thought that it would be a blast if she took one of those potions I bought in Kazemura and left me a message with a proposal to play a game of following her clues in order to get it back. And so, here I am with the next clue leading directly to you…"

"Me? But I already told you that I haven't seen…"

"And I already told you that it doesn't matter." he cut off Patchouli's objection and passed her Tewi's last message. "Take a look. She doubtlessly means you in this riddle… Saying that you carry another riddle without your knowledge… Uh… no pun intended."

Patchouli accepted the paper and observed it with a mixture of curiosity and mistrust.

"Umm… Ick… Where has this thing been?"

Kyouichi chuckled embarrassedly. "You probably don't want to know."

She made something that looked like a very miniscule shrug and quickly raced through the short rhymed riddle. Then she suddenly snorted, as if she just got insulted.

"Hmph… So what if I prefer to stay indoors?" she commented one of the lines. "If I read my books outside, they could easily get damaged… Why, just a few hours in the sun and the pages would turn yellow… And I do go outside. During the past three months I've been outside at least once." she said that in a prideful manner, as if she just beat her own personal record.

"Whoa…" uttered the amazed outsider and nodded with respect. "And I thought I was bad…"

"In fact," Patchouli continued without paying heed to Kyouichi's last comment, "I've been outside last week when Marisa told me about the forest fire."

"Ah, but of course!" Kyouichi snapped his fingers. "Kogasa-san told us all about it! How you and Marisa combined your magic with her to put out a huge fire in a matter of minutes… *sigh* If only I was there to see it…"

Patchouli blinked a couple of times, her face barely conveying any emotion, but somehow she felt a sort of heartwarming feeling that her good deed has not gone unnoticed and that at least someone openly appreciated it.

"Kogasa-san, huh?" she whispered the karakasa's name. "She really saved us then…"

"Yes, she may have a good heart, but damn… That habit of hers…" said Kyouichi as he replayed the scene when Kogasa "surprised" him in his head.

"My… Just look how we always keep digressing from the topic." Patchouli remarked with a gentle smile. "So, if I understand this correctly," she gently waved the message in her hand, "Tewi has hidden a message in one of my pockets, huh?"

"So it seems." confirmed the young human.

Without further ado, the young youkai sorceress stood up and started tapping her hands over her pockets to feel if there wasn't any paper hidden inside them.

"Hmm… My pockets are all empty." she announced the negative result.

"Perhaps that sneaky rabbit didn't place that message inside your pockets…" said Kyouichi thoughtfully and measured Patchouli's short, but shapely figure from head to toe.

The girl's face suddenly turned a light shade of pink. "W-what are you hinting at?"

"Hmm… how should I put it as mildly as possible?" muttered the outsider and took a deeper breath. "Undress yourself."

"WHAT?"! she exclaimed with a surprisingly loud voice, which immediately caused her asthmatic attack to kick in. Kyouichi figured that his joke was most inappropriate and as he apologized to her, he quickly opened the room's door, ready to run and call doctor Yagokoro for help. However, patchouli raised her right hand, halting him while her left hand reached for the top drawer of the table she was sitting at and grabbed an inhaler. After taking a deep breath through its mouthpiece, her labored, wheezing breathing returned to normal and she sighed with relief.

"I'm very sorry, Patchouli-sama… Even though that was just a joke, I should have thought about your health condition…" Kyouichi repeated his apology.

"Whew… so it was only a joke…" the purple-haired girl whispered to herself.

"Are you sure I shouldn't call Eirin?"

"I'm alright now." she calmed him down. "You just… uh… startled me. And you're not even a karakasa…" she remarked jokingly.

"All I meant was to tease you a bit…" muttered the outsider, looking down in guilt.

"But…" sounded Patchouli again, pausing herself for a long while, "you're probably right."

"About what?"

"That I have to check my clothes thoroughly…" she specified and a blush settled on her cheeks again.

"Eh? You're serious?" Kyouichi raised his eyebrows.

Patchouli took her hat off and shook it up and down in hope of finding any hidden papers that Tewi might have planted there, but to no avail. Then she raised her look at Kyouichi once more and nodded. "I guess it can't be helped… I'll have to take my clothes off after all."

Kyouichi widened his eyes in disbelief, unable to manage a single-word reply. He was struck dumbfounded and kept staring at Patchouli for over 15 seconds with his mouth ajar.

Patchouli in turn tilted her head to the side and nervously tapped her foot against the floor. Both of them were silent for a while.

"…"

"Why are you still sitting here? Get out of the room!"

"Huh? O-oooh, yes, yes, of course!" Kyouichi quickly, but clumsily stood up from his chair as he was returned back to reality. "Damn it…" he whispered in disappointment as he was leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

---

After waiting for over 20 minutes on the main corridor of Eientei, even Kyouichi's otherwise patient soul was starting to grow impatient.

"Oh come on… What's taking her so long?" he said to himself as he was walking back and forth in front of the door of the study. He bent over closer to the door in hope of taking a peek inside, but the door's design simply didn't allow it. "Sheesh! Why can't these doors have keyholes to peek in through? *sigh* I hope you're watching me from somewhere, Tewi, and having a good laugh… Just pray that I never find you."

Finally, the long wait ended when the study's door reopened and Patchouli stepped out fully clothed again. She silently shook her head when Kyouichi asked her what she found.

"In that case," said the young man, "Tewi must have hidden the message somewhere in your white uniform…"

"Hmm…" the youkai bookworm hummed and turned her face to a small pile of clothes lying on the bed in the room. "Should have thought so in the first place…" she muttered and slowly proceeded to search her borrowed uniform. "What's this?" she asked as she pulled out a paper card out of the pocket. "This must be what you're looking for…"

Patchouli stepped closer to Kyouichi and passed it to him. The outsider instantly recognized Tewi's handwriting.

"For finding the clues you sure have a knack, just track down the last one and don't hold back. The end draws near, your goal is in sight, give you a reward I just might. Once upon a time, in a bamboo stalk was found, on a shining night an infant, to life on Earth was bound. A silver platter full of tasty treats hides the last clue and towards your goal it leads…"

Kyouichi was starting to get a feeling that Tewi's riddles were gradually making less and less sense. Then Patchouli leaned over his shoulder to take a look at the text and make a quick analysis.

"Well, Tewi is obviously hinting at the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." she said without thinking. "And the "shining night" written in hiragana here, when written in kanji, makes up the name "Kaguya"."

"O-kay… so the next clue will be probably somewhere around the Moon princess…"

"On a silver platter of some sort, apparently…" concluded the librarian.

"But… Damn…" Kyouichi cursed again when he realized a problem. "She can't seriously want me to barge into Kaguya-sama's private quarters. I'll get killed!"

"Hmm… Perhaps we could ask her for permission then…" Patchouli suggested.

"And how do you suggest doing that?"

"If I'm not mistaken, Princess Kaguya has also volunteered to do the job of a nurse until the number of patients in Eientei decreases to… acceptable levels."

"Yes, I'm aware of that." nodded the outsider. "She's come once to our ward to check on us. But what if she is currently not working and staying in her quarters? Without any special permission I'll never be able to even get near her."

"Fortunately, I'm a bit more informed about this matter." said Patchouli and her lips bent in a light smile.

Kyouichi copied her smile and asked her to explain. "I'm all ears."

"You see, Kaguya-sama, as a voluntary nurse doesn't have her shift as long as other regular staff members. The same goes for me. However, while I work six hours from morning till noon, the princess has her shift from noon to evening, which means…"

"That she's now on duty…" Kyouichi finished Patchouli's sentence.

"You should be able to find her in one of the wards, tending to the patients, but I can't exactly say which one."

"Finding her is one thing, but how am I supposed to persuade her to let me inside her quarters?"

"Kaguya-sama's superior status gives her freedom to do her voluntary work for only as long as she sees fit. I believe I would be able to help you persuade her…"

"You'd… really do that for me, Patchouli-sama? Even after all the trouble I just put you through?"

"There's actually something I wanted to discuss with the princess regarding the fairy incident so I'm doing this for my own benefit as well."

"So are you coming with me then?"

"Yes. I believe I can get much more information about certain matters from her than from these books." acknowledged the sorceress and emptied her tea cup in one go. "We should probably ask Eirin or Reisen where to find her…"

---

And so, Patchouli and Kyouichi have gone to Eirin's office together to ask her about Kaguya's current whereabouts. The Lunarian doctor was already alone in her office, standing over some sort intricate laboratory apparatus and diligently examining the content of one of the vials.

"Sorry to bother you again, Eirin-sama." Kyouichi apologized right upon entering. "Can I ask you something?"

"And how can I help…" she turned around and saw that Kyouichi wasn't the only person who entered, "…you two? Would you perhaps be interested in buying some of my... special medicine?" she asked and made yet another mischievous wink at her guests.

"What's she talking about?" Kyouichi whispered his question to Patchouli.

The purple-haired elementalist didn't seem to have a clue either as she only shrugged in response.

"Oh, you know…" Eirin widened her smile, "aphrodisiacs and the like… I've got all that can make a young couple's life more… interesting."

"When will you cut those jokes out already?" Kyouichi asked with a chiding tone. "We've come to ask you where to find Kaguya-sama."

"Mistress?" the doctor connoted. "For what business?"

Patchouli opened her mouth to respond, but Kyouichi was faster. "You see, Patchouli-sama here said that she wanted to discuss something with her about the recent incident and I just kept her company on the way to your office…" he told a half-truth. "I'll be going back to the ward right afterwards."

Patchouli realized that the young outsider was merely trying to cover up his true intention just to make sure Eirin would have anything against him meeting the princess. However, Eirin's reply came as a surprise to both her and her human acquaintance.

"Well, she's on her "duty", as you may know, but in which ward can you find her exactly at this time is beyond me… She could be anywhere on this or the third floor… But once her shift's over, she's in her quarters as usual. Do you want me to pass on the message to her or…?"

"Uh… No, no…" Patchouli shook her head. "We… we'll find her somehow, thank you."

"Suit yourself…" shrugged the Lunarian and returned her attention to her mini lab.

---

"Oh, great..." muttered the youkai girl as the door to Eirin's office closed behind her. "It seems like we're going to be looking for a needle in a hay sack."

"Ha! I've had my share of scouring Eientei in order to find someone." said Kyouichi with an annoyed voice. "Even though I've had the fairies helping me…"

Patchouli let out another thoughtful hum and stayed quiet for nearly half a minute. Then she snapped her fingers with an idea popping up in her mind.

"Fairies... That's it!"

"Huh?"

"Well, not exactly fairies, but youkai with similar attributes – the rabbits!" Patchouli excitedly elaborated her idea.

"Hey, easy now, Patchouli-sama. Don't get another asthma fit…" Kyouichi jestingly calmed her down. "What was that about the rabbits?"

"Eientei is full of Earth and Moon rabbits who serve under authorities like Tewi, Eirin and ultimately – Kaguya. I'm sure that when the princess desires something, the servant rabbits respond immediately to cater to her every whim. They have to know where exactly their mistress is, regardless of the time. They can lead us directly to her!"

Kyouichi raised his eyebrow, as he was quite skeptical about the idea. "And they'll just show us the way if we ask them nicely…" he said with sarcasm. "Yeah, right… Like they'd let any outsiders disturb the princess without invitation."

"I've been in Eientei more times than you have, so I know that the princess is rather easygoing." argued the sorceress. "She doesn't mind visitors. On the contrary, she welcomes them."

"Yeah? That one time I've talked to her, she said otherwise…"

"Must be because she has seen too many patients lately. However, when we were sorting medicine the other day, she complained to me that being a nurse is no fun at all… I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking a break."

Kyouichi nodded after a long pause. "Okay. I admit you have to know Kaguya-sama more than I do. Perhaps you're right about her, but I'm still not too sure about the rabbits… I highly doubt they'd just take us directly to her. IF they even know where she is at the moment…"

"Trust me, they are intelligent creatures. I've read many books about them. Similar to the tengu race, they too have their hierarchy and they have a highly developed communication network within their society. Information, regardless of the content, becomes generally known in a matter of minutes to all of the rabbits living in one community. They love to gossip, just like the tengu."

Kyouichi let out a whistle of respect to both the rabbit race and Patchouli's knowledge. "Almost like a living Internet…"

"Internet, you say?" Patchouli turned her purple eyes at him. "I saw a book with that term in its title in Rinnosuke-san's shop, but I haven't read it yet…"

"Eh… never mind." the outsider dismissively waved his hand. "Let's get back on-topic."

"Yes, we should find us a servant rabbit first."

"There's one." Kyouichi pointed forward as one of the rabbits just exited one of the rooms, carrying something small in her hands.

Patchouli nodded and engaged her magical hover mode, since she wasn't a big fan of physical activity. Kyouichi trotted behind her, trying to keep up with the sorceress as she was approaching the unsuspecting youkai rabbit.

"Umm… Excuse me for a minute~!" she called with her subtle voice at the long-eared youkai. "It's urgent."

The female rabbit servant curiously tilted her head to the side and stopped just a second before Patchouli caught up to her. The elemental wizard elegantly descended back to the floor and bowed to the surprised rabbit. "I have an important business with princess Kaguya. Could you… tell us where to find her?"

The rabbit girl stood there with the same bewildered expression for a good while. Kyouichi sighed and placed his palm on Patchouli's shoulder, silently shaking his head. "Just as I thought… These young rabbits are about as competent as…"

He cut off the rest of the sentence in a surprised reaction to the rabbit's sudden take-off. She even gestured to them to follow her and so, without any needless words they hurried up after her. She flew fast and didn't turn back. To Kyouichi's surprise she didn't stop at the stairs to go up, but continued her flight onwards and at one of the crossroads she turned to the right.

"Could you… please… slow down a bit~?" Kyouichi called at her in between his huffing and puffing, since his legs were no match for the speed of her flight.

"Hurry up, Kyouichi-san!" Patchouli urged him to keep up. "She went that way!"

Kyouichi had lost sight of the rabbit, but at least Patchouli was considerate enough to stay a couple of meters behind. Due to all the sudden turns the servant rabbit made, she almost even eluded Patchouli.

"I think I know where she's going." the purple-haired sorceress informed the outsider. "Looks like the princess is sorting the freshly made medicine again… The rabbit is headed for the pharmaceutical department."

"I… hate… running…" wheezed Kyouichi as he was running out of breath.

A couple of more seconds and he could finally come to a halt when he saw the rabbit floating in front of one of the doors, as if hesitating to enter. However, she seemed to have overcome her doubt and entered the room in the very next moment. Patchouli shrugged and followed suit with Kyouichi in tandem. Together they entered a big room that resembled a smaller warehouse. Thousands upon thousands of boxes with medicine of all varieties were neatly placed on tall shelves, ready to be distributed. Some of the medicine was placed on wooden pallets, fresh out of the lab and yet to be sorted… And near one of those pallets, sitting on a comfortable-looking chair with one leg folded over the other and a cup of some refreshing beverage in her hand, was one very relaxed Moon princess.

---

"Sorry to intrude~!" Patchouli politely announced her arrival, which had startled the black-haired beauty into jumping on her feet.

"W-what?! Who?! I… I'm not slacking off~!" she immediately began to pretend that she's working before she lifted her gaze up at her surprise visitors. "Huh? Patchouli-san? And… umm… Outsider-san?"

"Well, what do you know? Who would have thought it'd be that easy…?" Kyouichi commented the success of Patchouli's idea.

"Yes." nodded the sorceress. "Sorry to bother you while you're on duty, but… I had something important do discuss with you. If you don't mind, that is…"

"Mind? No, no, of course I don't mind." Kaguya shook her head and her expression changed to make her look somewhat guilty. "To be honest… I'm glad you showed up, Patchouli-san…" A deep sigh escaped her lips. "I deluded myself into thinking that I can help Eirin as a nurse… But this job is not easy at all. I'm already tired of it and I haven't been doing it for even a week."

"Oh, tell me about it." said Patchouli with contempt. "Although I did get to put some of my knowledge to good use, I'm not cut out for this kind of work. I prefer the library."

"I can totally understand what you mean." the princess sympathized with her. "But at least I learned my lesson from it."

"Yes, me too." nodded the sorceress agreeingly.

"I knew you were a kindred soul, Patchouli-san." Kaguya smiled at her. "You know what? Why don't you follow me so we can discuss whatever you'd like in better comfort?"

She took her drink and led the way out of the room.

"Oh, is he coming with us too?" she asked and beckoned at Kyouichi.

Patchouli had already prepared an explanation. "This is Ishimaru-san… My friend Remilia had hired him to take a look around Kazemura and take notes of anything suspicious regarding the incident with the aggressive fairies. It is because of this trip he took that he ended up here. He's made an important discovery and after the trouble he went through, I think he at least deserves to know what's going on here."

"O-okay, Patchouli-san, I was just curious." shrugged the smiling princess.

She gracefully walked along the confusing and endlessly long corridors until the group had reached the familiar staircase. From there she headed her steps upwards to the top floor – the one that was out of bounds not only to regular patients and visitors, but pretty much most of Eientei's staff.

---

"It's not every day that I let my guests here, but… I just feel like taking a break from this boring work."

"We're both very honored to be invited to your quarters, Kaguya-sama." said the outsider and bowed to the princess.

"Oh, now I remember~! You're the one that asked me for my autograph, right? The one from the Rehabilitation Ward…"

"Uhh, yes that would be me."

"I wanted to ask you about the current version of the Taketori Monogatari that's being passed on in the world beyond the barrier… I'm pretty sure it had diverged from the original – the true story of what happened."

"Well, if you have the time to listen, then I will gladly tell you, Princess, but I believe Patchouli-sama has more important things to discuss."

"But of course." said Kaguya and stopped in front of a door that looked just like any other in Eientei. She placed her slender finger over it and a silent click could be heard as the locking mechanism was magically disengaged.

"So, welcome to my little kingdom." she gestured into her living quarters and entered as first. "It's nothing in comparison to what my chamber on the Lunar Capital was, back when I was still an official princess, but to tell you the truth, I like it much more here on Earth…"

"Wow…" uttered the amazed outsider.

"Amazing..." whispered Patchouli in awe.

For both of them this was the first visit to the otherwise forbidden chamber of the legendary Moon princess. However, Kyouichi's amazement was amplified simply because he was an outsider and that he never even dreamt of being where he was now and meeting people and youkai he has met so far. The fact that he was still alive after more than a month in this world was a miracle by itself.

Both he and Patchouli were now admiring the luxurious interior of Kaguya's private quarters.

Vast, spacious and bewildering… Those were some of the many words one could use to describe the interior of this place. Traditional Japanese furniture made of the finest polished mahogany was only one small part of princess's luxury. She seemed to be fond of reading, or at least had a taste for using books as a part of decoration, because there were two massive bookshelves on the left side of the room, separated by a doorway leading further into other chambers.

"As you can see, I don't have a throne or anything as you might have expected." Kaguya explained as she led the way towards a large low table topped with various dishes with desserts, fruits and decorative houseplants. "I really prefer to sit on the ground like so…" she suddenly dropped to a sitting position on one of the comfortable cushions at her table.

"Or sometimes," she continued, "I just lay comfortably down on the side like this…" and she did exactly as she said. She then elegantly ripped a single gape berry out of the cluster on one of many plates and savored it slowly.

"So, what do you think?" she asked both her guests. "Are you impressed?"

"Totally…" uttered the outsider who was still studying his surroundings with his mouth agape.

Patchouli seemed to be a bit less impressed due to the fact that she spent most of her days living in the no less luxurious Scarlet Devil Mansion, but she had to nod in acknowledgement.

"Well, if you asked Remilia, she'd probably say something like: "Pfffha! You call that impressive?" But I have to admit that it pretty much rivals our mansion. The only major difference is the style."

The princess smiled. "I see. I haven't really seen what your mansion looks on the inside, besides the foyer and the dining hall, so I can't really judge that… Seems like yesterday when I first heard the news of if appearing in the middle of the lake. Heard there was some strange red mist too…"

"Yes, that would be her doing." Patchouli indirectly referred to Remilia Scarlet and her reckless attempt to make Gensokyo a vampire-friendly place even during daytime.

"Oh, by the way… why am I still wearing this nurse uniform?" Kaguya asked herself, looking down at her chest. She slowly and reluctantly stood up, as if it consumed all of her energy and after stretching her neck left and right she turned again to her guests.

"Alright…" she exhaled heavily. "Please excuse me for a moment while I change into something more comfortable. Why don't you two sit down somewhere?" she prompted her guests, because both of them were still standing. "I'll be right back and bring you some snacks. Please don't eat those on the table, okay? I really like those…"

"…and hate to share." added Kyouichi, as if he was finishing Kaguya's sentence when she was already gone.

Patchouli shrugged in response. "Princess-like manners, I guess… But here's your best chance to get the next message, Kyouichi-san."

"You're right!" the outsider called out spontaneously, because the sheer magnificence of Kaguya's living quarters made him forget what he had come here for in the first place. He once again took out the piece of paper that Patchouli found in her uniform and unrolled it. He reread it a few times and then shifted his attention to the great table in front of him.

"A silver platter full of tasty treats hides the last clue and towards your goal it leads…" he repeated a line from the short text left by the youkai rabbit. "Damn… all of these platters are silver! My, what a specified hint, Tewi-san… Again, we can't help it, but to look everywhere."

"Somehow I doubt it's hidden among the fruits, though…" stated Patchouli as she watched the outsider picking through the grapes, apples and oranges.

"Please…" he looked at her pleadingly. "Can I ask you for assistance one more time? The princess can return any minute and I don't have enough time to check every platter. I need you to help me."

"But I already am..." said the sorceress. "I'm helping you by logically eliminating the least probable places."

"Hmm… I guess that IS some sort of help… But rather than telling me where not to look, could you please tell me where would you look first?"

Patchouli took a deep nasal breath and slowly scanned the surface of the table from left to right while humming quietly.

"How about that bowl with fondue?" she pointed with her hand and resumed her "scanning".

"Fondue?" Kyouichi repeated as he gazed at the said bowl. "You know, Tewi had already hidden one of her messages on a piece of meat. I somehow doubt she'd be so… unoriginal to make the same thing twice."

"Really?" Patchouli raised a surprised eyebrow. "In that case, it can be really anywhere… Perhaps even in that salad over there…"

"That really didn't help us at all." grumbled Kyouichi and randomized his search.

"Or maybe…" continued the purple-haired elementalist, "maybe Tewi simply put her message UNDER one of these silver platters."

"Now that's an idea!" called the human and started to lift the platters to look under them, but his luck remained to be poor. Meanwhile, Patchouli stood up and sneakingly walked towards the doorway between the bookshelves and focused her hearing sense to check whether the Moon princess wasn't about to surprise them. She could hear muffled sounds of rubbing cloth and a silent creaking of wooden floor somewhere far. Then she heard Kaguya's voice saying something.

"Mmmf… How… am I… supposed to… put this… on? Umf…"

Apparently the princess had a bit of a difficulty putting on some part of her usual attire without the assistance of her servant rabbits.

"Hey, Patchouli-sama, where are you going?" Kyouichi called at the librarian. "Now is not the time for studying books! I still haven't found anything and need your help!"

The girl nodded with a wry smile. "I think we still have some time before the princess returns… Hey, how about that platter with mochi? Isn't that a card over there?"

She pointed at a tall pile of rice cakes and a small paper card leaned against it. Since Kyouichi was sitting at the opposite side of the table, he couldn't see it, but as soon as Patchouli informed him about it, he looked around and grabbed the said card. For a moment he felt like he was about to celebrate, but as soon as he noticed what was written on it, his hopes diminished again. The card simply said: "Do not touch! Yes, that goes for you too, Tewi!" The text was written by none other than Princess Kaguya herself.

"Hmm… I guess she really must like these..." stated Kyouichi while gesturing at the cakes.

"That warning is like an invitation for Tewi to do something funny." remarked Patchouli after reading the card.

The outsider carefully lifted the platter and looked under it. "Ah~… Nothing… As if that was anything surprising."

"Then we have no choice but to take this pile apart." said the youkai sorceress. "But knowing Tewi, she most likely wants you to get into trouble by having to look inside the rice cakes for her message…"

"You mean she slipped a message inside the mochi?" he asked in disbelief. "Like a fortune cookie?"

"Something like that." nodded Patchouli. "Try poking a toothpick into one to sense if there isn't any… foreign object inside…"

"Your idea is brilliant, Patchouli-sama, but I see no toothpicks." retorted the outsider with a hopeless face.

"Then you have to eat them to find out…" said Patchouli nonchalantly and again slipped away to the bookshelves and checked if she wouldn't hear Kaguya's footsteps. After focusing her ears, she could hear the princess still grumbling over her clothes.

Kyouichi hesitated for quite a while, but he finally made that hard decision. He took the topmost mochi and stared at it intensely. "I guess she won't notice when there'll be one mochi missing…"

He opened his mouth and took a careful bite from the rice cake. It was like any traditional Japanese rice cake – sweet, sticky and chewy. A real jaw killer. Kyouichi felt like he had enough after eating one. Not that he disliked mochi. On the contrary, he actually liked them, but he considered all that chewing required to eat them as quite annoying. After a long minute he finally managed to swallow the first rice cake, but as his luck would have it, he didn't find anything inside.

"Damn you, Tewi!" he uttered as he took the second cake and stuffed his mouth with it. "Omnomnomnom nomnomnom~ …"

While Kyouichi was battling with a whole platoon of rice cakes, Patchouli peeked in a bit further and managed to see the half-naked Moon princess standing in front of a mirror in another room as she was putting on a light-pink shirt… with problems.

"Don't worry~!" she called out to the guests. "I'll… be… ready… sooon~!"

Patchouli couldn't help but to giggle. "Kaguya-sama, the head does not go through the sleeve~!"

When Kyouichi heard that, he straightened up in shock. "Mnf…*gulp*. What are you doing?! Now she'll be here sooner!"

He grabbed yet another rice cake from the platter and started chewing vigorously. He already ate two and found nothing. While he was chewing, however, he did feel something rough rub against his tongue. His eyes widened up. He stuck out his tongue a bit and salvaged a thin piece of paper from his mouth with his fingertips.

"Ow yeaw~! Finawy~!" he cheered as he put the paper on the table and stuffed the rest of the rice cake into his already full mouth. Now all he needed was to rearrange the mochi pyramid in a way that Kaguya wouldn't notice anything missing. However, he could already hear the princess's footsteps drawing closer, accompanied by her distant call. "I'll be right there~!"

In the nick of time he managed to make the mochi pile look almost untouched along with the warning card, but his mouth was still filled to the brim with the last mochi he ate. Kaguya was already there, dressed in a bright-pink shirt with many white bows along the buttons and a long dark burgundy skirt with yellow bamboo and flower pattern decorations and a wide frilly white hem. Her skirt was in fact so long, that it completely obscured her legs and feet and she dragged it behind almost like a wedding dress.

"Are you sure that this is more comfortable than what you were wearing a while ago?" Patchouli asked her with an uncertain look.

"Oh, it's comfortable, alright." said the princess with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just a bit hard to put on…"

"Ever thought about unbuttoning that shirt before putting it on?" Patchouli continued to tease her.

"And risk breaking my nails? No way!"

"Considering that you regularly have to recover from total obliteration, that was a poor excuse, Kaguya-sama…"

The princess resignedly sighed and nodded. "Fine… So I just don't want to unbutton it all the time… What a pain…" she then brought her attention to Kyouichi, and the fact that his cheeks were strangely bulging out didn't escape her. It took her no more than a second when she looked at the platter with mochi to notice that something was out of the ordinary. Her reaction, however, was not an angry outburst. Instead, she smiled and nodded understandingly.

"Ishimaru-san?"

"Mmmnfmnfmm!"

"What's that you're eating?"

"Mnf… Nuffin?"

"I'll give you ten million yen if you can whistle right now."

Kyouichi took a deep breath through his nose and attempted a whistle, but all he managed to do was to make himself look hilarious. He repeated the process yet several times, only to fail again and again and making Kaguya laugh louder and louder. Patchouli too had to hold back her urge to laugh so she turned away for a while. Once the princess's hearty laughter subsided she took the warning card into her hand and shook her head lightly. "Some people just don't listen, do they? I thought you outsiders could at least read…"

Kyouichi finally managed to swallow the last remnant of the rice cake and lowered his head shamefully. "I'm sorry, Kaguya-sama… It was the sixth Impossible Request…"

Kaguya giggled in response. "Is that right?" she asked and took a rice cake from the top of the pile. "Well, at least we have the same taste in sweets… I have to admit that whenever Reisen makes these, I can hardly resist…" she took a very small bite, and after a while of chewing, she looked up at her guests again. "I can understand that you couldn't resist either. Oh well, no matter… Reisen will make me more whenever I ask her to so… I suppose it's alright for both of you to have some more."

While Patchouli turned her face to her again and courteously refused, Kyouichi profusely shook his head. "Oh no… I've had just about enough! No more rice cakes for me!" he declared and with a sleight of hand he grabbed Tewi's message from the table and hid it inside his pocket.

Kaguya looked confused for a moment, but then she just shrugged and assumed her favorite reclining position on her side, supporting her upper body with an elbow on one of the cushions. "Very well… Let's entertain ourselves with a conversation then. Patchouli-san had something serious to ask, if I'm correct…"

"Yes. Regarding the fairy incident." confirmed the librarian tersely.

Princess Kaguya took another mini-bite from her mochi and when she swallowed it, she nodded. "I'm not really in a mood for serious things much, but I guess it's better to get over with that now than later… So, Patchouli-san, what's on your mind?"

Patchouli didn't speak up immediately. She took a while to formulate her thoughts into coherent sentences and once she had done so, she began explaining.

"As you have doubtlessly noticed, Gensokyo is facing a serious incident." she preambled.

"That's hardly anything new, Patchouli-san, is it?" reacted the princess.

"Everything's new, Kaguya-sama. Even all those seemingly harmless incidents that have cropped up during the past decade were all of different nature."

"I don't bother myself much with incidents." said Kaguya. "That's the shrine maiden's job after all."

"Indeed. However this time, things are different then during any of the previous incidents. At least the ones I remember… After all, the fact that Eientei is currently brimming with more patients than usual is merely a part of the effect that this incident is taking."

"But not all of these humans were attacked by crazy fairies." the princess pointed out. "Many of them have merely common illnesses and minor injuries from work accidents and such…"

"Yes, I was getting to that…" Patchouli nodded. "Another reason is the mass spiriting away of dozens of outsiders into Gensokyo. They are not adapted to this place and it stands to reason that they are the first ones to be hunted down by most of Gensokyo's youkai. Not a small number of this latest "batch" of outsiders has already met their demise here."

"Humans come and go, Patchouli-san. Such is the fate of all living beings… with a few exceptions, of course… Uh, no offense, Ishimaru-san…" she looked sort of pityingly at Kyouichi who curiously raised his eyebrow in response.

"If this does not alarm you," continued the sorceress, "then what would you say if I told you that I suspect there to be a connection between the mass spiriting away and the fairy incident?"

"Please, go on…" the princess prompted her.

"Actually, to be exact, the first time I had the chance to observe the strange behavior of some of the fairies was shortly after the New Year – approximately a month before the spiriting away… In any case, while the connection between these two events still remains to be hypothetical, I am much more certain about the connection between the crazed fairies and the archeological discovery in the village of Kazemura. In other words, the ruins."

"Yes, word has reached me about that discovery as well." nodded Kaguya. "So you think that the Kazemurans have awakened some sort of ancient curse?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." said the sorceress and searched the inner pocket of her long nightgown-like robe. After a moment she drew out the sketches which Kyouichi had given to her earlier and presented them to the princess. Kaguya observed them briefly, without having much of a clue about what they depict.

Patchouli went on with her explanation. "These sketches, or should I say penciled imprints come directly from the Kazemura ruins. The symbols at first appear to have no greater function besides being mere ornaments. However…" she reached inside her pocket once more to draw out her personal memo where she copied Satori's writing during her "trance". "This is the exact copy of the text written by a certain Satori Komeiji, a mind-reading youkai who has agreed to help us solve the fairy incident. She has written this text while she observed the mind of one captured fairy specimen here in Eientei in a trance-like state. During this trance she seemed to be rambling incoherent nonsense and her behavior nearly turned into that of the crazed fairies. At least that's what I've been told by those who were there with her in that room. When she came to, she could not remember anything during her… experience and neither could she understand what she had written… Now take a closer look, Princess, at these symbols and then again at the ones from Ishimaru-san's sketches…"

Kaguya did as Patchouli asked and her lips suddenly parted in surprise. "Some of them… match…"

"Quite a striking resemblance isn't it?" the sorceress beckoned at both documents. "This made me believe that the ruins are all marked with words… Meaningful texts in a language long forgotten. Now, to be honest, I haven't even begun to try and translate these symbols. I'll start as soon as I'll be back in my library. However, since I'm already here, I cannot help but to ask you, as someone who's lived here long before this place got its name, whether or not have you seen any similar symbols…"

Kaguya studied the documents for yet a few moments, then she shrugged and shook her head in a negative reply. "They're not Lunarian, that's for sure… And I can't say I have come into contact with this… language yet. Try asking Eirin, she's much older than I and knows… well, almost everything."

"Eirin-san was there personally when Satori wrote that strange text. In fact, it was her who had brought it to my attention after she couldn't figure out what these symbols mean."

"I see…" shrugged the princess once more. "In that case, I'm afraid I won't be of much help to your effort, Patchouli-san." She regretfully lowered her head. "This language is foreign to me."

Patchouli went silent for a moment and once again took a look at both of the documents once Kaguya had returned them to her. She seemed to be lost in deep thought, when she suddenly nodded and looked up at the Moon princess again.

"Never mind then… Thank you anyway." she said quietly.

Kyouichi who just sat there in silence for the whole time of their conversation could tell that Patchouli was a little disappointed. However, it appeared to be only his own inability to perceive her mood, because the youkai girl managed a light smile in the very next moment.

"Guess it's up to me and my books after all…" she said while looking at both Kyouichi and Kaguya. "Frankly, I'm looking forward to see if I'm up for the challenge. Just one more day of voluntary work…"

"What? You're still working here tomorrow?" Kaguya asked her incredulously. "I think I've had enough of my work yesterday… I'd rather be dying three times a day than having to sort medicine again."

"I don't think it was THAT bad." shrugged the librarian. "I've had more work with building a rocket once…"

Kyouichi turned his surprised face at her immediately. "Eh… say what?"

His question, however, remained unanswered, since Kaguya spoke up again, taking the center of Patchouli's attention.

"By the way, Patchouli-san… What did you mean when you said that this time things are different than during any previous incident?"

"Apart from what I already mentioned? Well, this incident is not one of those that will get resolved in a day, I'm afraid. And due to the fact that the boundary youkai is missing, I'm forced to speculate her to have a hand in these unusual happenings."

"Yakumo? Yes, I've heard that she hasn't been seen for a while." confirmed the black-haired Lunarian. "Isn't she acquainted with that Hakurei shrine maiden?"

"As far as I know, yes." replied Patchouli.

"Why not let her handle this as usual?"

"Yakumo-san cannot be reached or found unless she wishes so. So far it seems she simply prefers to stay hidden. Not even the Hakurei miko can do anything about that. Furthermore… and I'm almost embarrassed to say that, but perhaps the cause of this incident is not caused by the ruins after all, but by a living being who has or had some connection to this ancient civilization that used this language. I think so mainly because of Ishimaru-san's report where he stated that his magic detector didn't pick up any signs of magic in the whole quarry area. This seems rather contradictory to my theory, so I'd also like to visit the ruins personally for a detailed analysis. Preferably with a team of cooperative companions…"

"Hmm… Now that sounds interesting…" hummed Kaguya and straightened herself up. "Kazemura, huh? I haven't really been there. It's a rather new village, right? Established no longer than a couple of centuries ago… I've heard that the surrounding landscape is very beautiful. Perhaps I could take a look there at least once. Perhaps we could go together?"

Patchouli didn't expect the Moon princess to react so positively. "That would be splendid… Would you really like to be a part of the team?"

"Well… I'd like to see the sights and enjoy the fresh mountain air… Hmm…" she paused herself in a thoughtful expression. "Depends on what would you expect me to do as a part of the team… Because if you'll ask me to dig around in dirt in order to find some rocks and bones, than I'll refuse your offer like I refused all my suitors." she added with a mirthful giggle.

"The digging part is entirely up to the local prospectors. I'm going there merely to see whether there are any other arcane, youkai or divine powers at work near that area that a regular civilian-class magic detector wouldn't pick up."

"Are you saying that I own some cheap piece of garbage?" asked Kyouichi in regard to his magic detector which he received from Kirisame-san as a gift.

"That device is indeed trustworthy and surprisingly accurate. However, not perfect." stated the elementalist. "Apart from someone who can understand the arcane arts, I also need someone who can sense divine and special youkai energies. The first candidate that would come to mind would be Yukari-sama, but she is not even among our options. Besides that, I'd also need someone who possesses some knowledge about history… A linguist wouldn't be a bad idea, but a historian is a must."

"Then Keine-sensei and Akyuu-chan are probably your best bet." Kyouichi suggested.

"Yes, I've been considering those two as well." nodded Patchouli. "And lastly, since now the northeastern Gensokyo has become considerably more dangerous in the recent days, the team is also in need of a capable guard… Not that I couldn't take care of myself in a fight, but just in case of another surprise attack from the fairies, it'll be better to be surrounded by a handful of capable danmaku fighters. Reimu and Marisa will probably come with me, but it can never hurt to have some extra firepower…"

"Now that sounds like something I could do." said Kaguya and smiled. "At least it'll be a refreshing break from my constant battles with Mokou… Alright, Patchouli-san, you convinced me. When are we going out for this trip then?"

"I'll visit Eientei personally when the time comes. Right now, I can't say how long will it take for me to assemble the team, so please be patient."

"Alright…" the princess nodded lightly. "I'll be looking forward to your next visit then."

"And I thank you in advance for your willingness to help." bowed the librarian of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"My pleasure." said Kaguya and again took a bite of her rice cake. "Mmm… dewifouf…" she mumbled with her mouth full. She flushed it down her throat with a cupful of cool green tea and then she arched her back while stretching her arms above her head to relieve the stiffness from her body. Despite all the serious talk she just had with Patchouli, she seemed very laid-back and carefree.

---

"Now… You've been mostly just sitting here quietly, haven't you?" she asked Kyouichi. "I hope our conversation with Patchouli-san hasn't bored you too much."

The outsider raised his brow. "Bored? Not at all! I just… didn't really have much to say. The nearest time I'll go to Kazemura again will be in my next life."

"Because of what happened to you there?" inquired the princess.

"No. Because I'm going home – Tokyo, to be exact."

"The capital of Japan… Hasn't always been that way, though."

"Yes, Kaguya-sama I'm aware of this, thank you…" he replied with a light chuckle.

Kaguya also let out a light giggle. "Why of course. You come from that city after all."

"Actually, I come from Sapporo, but never mind… You could say that I come from Tokyo, since I've been living there for the past couple of years…"

"Then if you would have lived in Gensokyo for a couple of years, would you say that you come from Gensokyo?" she asked a bit teasingly.

"Most certainly not." replied the outsider sternly.

"Neither would I, to tell you the truth." confessed Kaguya. "I've basically spent more time here on Earth than on the Moon and yet I wouldn't dare to say that I come from here. However, you know the old saying – home is where your heart is… And for me that place is now Gensokyo. I wouldn't return to the Moon if they dragged me. And believe me, they tried…"

"Are you now talking about the true version of the Story of the Bamboo Cutter?" asked the human.

"Oh, yes. A part of it… Would you like to hear my whole story?"

"Yes, please. Very gladly."

"In that case, I'd first like you to tell me how the current-day version of the story goes in the outside world." requested the Moon princess and grabbed another rice cake to snack on.

"I'm not sure if I'm a good storyteller, but I'll do my best…"

He took a deep breath and began recounting the classic folk tale in his own words, as he remembered it being told to him by his grandmother when he was barely a ten year old. The fact that he was now telling the story about Princess Kaguya to Princess Kaguya struck him as awkward, to say the least. The Moon princess seemed to be listening carefully and nodding to herself as Kyouichi got to the part about the Five Impossible Requests. Meanwhile, Patchouli's attention seemed to have drifted away to her left side as she stared at Kaguya's decent collection of books. Her curiosity had built up to the point when she stood up by herself and walked over to one of the bookshelves, throwing an asking glance at the princess.

"Mind if I have a look?" she uttered a question quietly, interrupting the outsider's storytelling.

"Uh… sure, go ahead." replied Kaguya and with a somewhat distracted look she gestured to Kyouichi to continue.

After a couple of minutes, the story had come to its end where Princess Kaguya supposedly left the Earth and returned home to the Moon, abandoning the people who had found her and raised her. Kyouichi didn't even omit the part about the Japanese emperor, who like so many men before him, sought to marry the princess, but she rejected his proposal. However, as a parting gift, she had left him a flask filled with the elixir of immortality before she returned home, never to return to Earth again. The emperor, however, said that he didn't want eternal life if he couldn't spend it with her. And so, after the Moon people have come to take the princess back home, the emperor had ordered his men to take the bottle of elixir to the tallest mountain and burn it there along with Kaguya's farewell letter. He hoped that his message would reach the distant princess. It is said that the word "immortality" (fushi, or fuji) has become the name of that mountain and that the smoke from the burning letter and elixir still rises from its peak even today.

Once Kyouichi's narrative was over, Kaguya lightly snorted and smirked. "I see… The present day version hasn't changed much over the past few centuries. I guess the major diversion from the truth must have come sometime earlier… Sometime around the tenth century by your calendar perhaps… Storytellers use to add their own elements into the stories to make them more… appealing. In any case, thank you for the story, even if I've heard it from many outsiders before you."

"You're welcome." said Kyouichi and bowed once more. He then took a while to think about the whole story he just told and then he chuckled softly. "Well, apparently you either returned from the Moon or… never went there at all." he speculated.

"All will be made clear to you in a moment." said the smiling princess. "It is now my turn to once again retell the truth of my past and present. Please, make yourself comfortable and listen carefully. Oh and don't be afraid to stop me when you'll feel like I'm talking too much. I've got a whole eternity of time, so I often get carried away and go too much into unnecessary details when I tell stories."

"Don't worry about that, princess. I'm much better at listening to stories than at telling them. I won't stop you from talking about details. I want to know as much as possible."

Kaguya was glad to hear those words. "The humans live very hectic lives because your lifespans are so short… I understand that, so I will try not to waste your time with unnecessary trivialities. But if you'll have questions, just ask them."

Kyouichi nodded and decided to ask his first question now, regarding what the princess had said just a moment ago. "You said that you've got a whole eternity of time… Did you mean that literally?"

"Why yes." responded Kaguya with a little surprised expression, because she found his question rather stupid. "Didn't you know?"

The outsider embarrassedly scratched his head. "Actually… now that I think about it, since you did give the emperor the elixir of immortality, it would be only logical to assume that you'd be immortal."

"Ah, yes…" the Lunarian nodded. "The elixir… It all started with the elixir…" she muttered with a spacey look as she reminisced. "Before the beginning of the story you just told me, I lived on the Moon. That, I believe, you're well aware of. As a Lunarian it comes as granted that each person is born with some unique power. We are, after all, the originators of all magic."

"Wait." Kyouichi halted her. "Are you saying that all the magic has come from the Moon?"

"It's not like I made that up, Ishimaru-san. The facts speak for themselves. Our magic is far beyond anything any of the Earth's human sorcerers or the youkai possess…"

"And yet you were defeated by a human shrine maiden…" Patchouli murmured over the book she was just reading. "Also, the youkai of boundaries would most likely argue with you about that statement."

"That time it was merely a game." Kaguya retorted with a colder voice. "Hardly a real battle… The miko AND the oh-so-powerful Yukari Yakumo were both standing against me, so the odds were… slightly in their favor. Besides, the old youkai learned her lesson not to mess with Lunarians after her repeated fiasco of an invasion. Not even she can hold a candle to the power and knowledge that we possess. However, I have no hard feelings for her or the one who wears red and white. But I'll get to that part later… Now where was I? Oh, yes… So I said that all Lunarians are born with some abilities, and some of those abilities are considered as prodigious even among our people. I was such a child… not only was I born in a royal family, but on top of that, I was born with a gift that was envied by many – the power to manipulate eternity as well as the instantaneous. That alone, however, doesn't mean I was born as immortal, oh no… It all happened much later. While I was still an infant, my family had learned about my unusual gift and thought that it could greatly benefit the entire Lunarian society. That's when they had allowed their most trusted sages and scholars to study my innate ability. That's when I first came into contact with Eirin, one of the eldest scholars. She was one of the key figures in the establishment of the Lunar Capital."

"My word!" uttered Kyouichi in amazement. "How old is she?"

"Millennia…" came a vague answer from the princess's lips. "I myself haven't dared to ask her about her exact age."

"So… uh… how long does an average Lunarian live? Or is Eirin-sama immortal too?"

"We live, by your standards, a very, very long time… Some have even lived so long that it is said they are immortal…"

"So your people are something like the Tolkien's elves?" asked the confused young outsider.

Kaguya only shrugged at the question. "I have honestly no idea what are you talking about."

"Ah… The Lord of the Rings…" sighed Patchouli nostalgically as she kept on reading one of Kaguya's books. "That brings back some memories…"

Kyouichi realized that he should specify the meaning of his question to the princess, and at the same time, he was surprised that Patchouli knew about that story. "I simply meant to ask whether the Lunarians don't die of old age, but can die from illness or injury."

"Our society has pondered the same question for ages, but in the end, we've all become aware of our own mortality. Long-lived we may be, but none of us was born to live forever… That very thought has haunted the minds of basically every Lunarian, but my birth was supposed to change everything…" Kaguya made a longer pause, as if she was once again visualizing something from a very distant past. Then she just nonchalantly grabbed another rice cake from the platter and smiled. "Excuse me for a second…" she took a bite and after swallowing it, she cleared her throat and continued.

"The sages and scholars believed that my unique power can bring about a miraculous change. A revolution that would defile the rules set by the gods. And they were right. In their joint effort they somehow managed to brew the potion of immortality, using my power as a catalyst. After me and one legendary place on Earth, they named it the Hourai Elixir. It was again Eirin who came up with the formula which was tested on one Moon rabbit. The result was a success. Even after countless attempts to end her life, her body regenerated completely. Ironically, it was this series of tests that have split the opinions about the elixir into two opposing factions. While one faction insisted this invention to be available to all those who are worthy, the more… conservative minds, my family included, claimed it to be a blasphemy that should have never even been created, let alone used. And so, after many decades of political struggle and even civil wars, it has come to pass that the use Hourai Elixir is strictly forbidden to all Lunarian citizens and its purpose was reduced solely to be some sort of bait to tempt mortals from Earth and manipulate them according to our will. Needless to say that no human ever received the elixir even when they survived whatever trial my ruling parents have put them through. Every time they used that experimental Moon rabbit to demonstrate the elixir's effect, and the foolish humans, blinded by the vision of eternal life, did everything at their bidding. All of that happened before I even became self-aware. Later when I grew older, Eirin became my tutor and had explained everything to me. I spent countless days contemplating about the possibility of living forever. Then one night I confronted Eirin with a request. I asked her to brew some of that elixir for me, even when I knew that it was strictly forbidden. She didn't agree at first, but I've made my point by telling her that if anyone deserves to benefit from its discovery, it should be me, because without me, there would be no Hourai Elixir. I told her that I was aware of all the consequences that it might bring and she had finally obliged my request with one last warning. But I just did what I had intended from the start. And that's when I became immortal. I have crossed the point of no return, because the elixir's effect is irreversible. To test it, I jumped out of one of the palace windows and fell to my death… only to wake up, surrounded by a curious crowd of people and my crying parents. When I stood up and dusted off my dress, as if nothing happened, everyone had their eyes and mouths wide open. I openly explained to my family that I drank the elixir, because I didn't fear the consequences. Of course, my conservative father was outraged by this and has forsaken me despite mourning my "death" just minutes before. Oh, the irony… He had me arrested, trialed and sentenced to death for an act of utmost treachery and heresy. However, when the day of my scheduled execution came, they couldn't get me to stay dead. They've tried everything, just like on that test rabbit, to no avail. It was horrible. I admit that I truly wished for death many times then… But in the end, I always regained my consciousness with my body renewed. When the executioner finally gave up, my father decided for a different punishment. One that was considered by many Lunarians even worse than death. I was exiled to Earth… So that you'd understand me better, Earth was, and still is considered as a filthy, disgusting place filled with impurities and reeking of death. And any human is believed to be foul and impure as well. I too once embraced such beliefs before my exile, because that's what every Lunarian is being taught ever since childhood. Nothing but a bunch of hypocritical, prejudicial nonsense… However, like I said, I once viewed this place and humans with the same contempt as anyone from the Moon. So when I heard what my punishment would be, I screamed and begged for forgiveness. Of course, they wouldn't listen and so they sent me here to live my eternal life among the humans. I was magically turned into an infant again and sealed within a bamboo stalk. That's when the events of the Taketori Monogatari happened… well, most of them anyway… The trick behind the Five Impossible Requests, which I asked of all my suitors, was that I made sure that they were… impossible. The stone begging bowl of Buddha from India, the jeweled branch from the island of Mount Hourai, the robe of the fire-rat from China, the dragon's necklace and the swallow's cowrie shell… they were all already in my possession."

This revelation was truly something the outsider hasn't expected. "Huh? You already had all of these items?"

"Why yes." nodded the princess with an innocent smile. "Let me show you…" she suddenly stood up, and raised her hand with her palm upwards. A bright sparkle was conjured out of thin air and after a moment, the light formed into a rectangular shape. Kaguya was simply drawing out one of her Spell Cards. When the light faded, the card was resting on the princess's palm. Then, without any declaration, she raised it above her head and another bright flash illuminated the room for a brief moment. When Kyouichi wiped his eyes, he could already see the five legendary items hovering silently around the Moon princess, each surrounded by an aura of different color. Again, he couldn't keep his mouth in an intelligent position and opened it wide. "J-just when and where did you get all of these?"

"Believe it or not," continued Kaguya with her nonchalant tone while explaining, slowly making the five radiant items spin around her, "I used to do quite a bit of traveling back in those times… That's what the present-day version of the story doesn't mention. A few of those items I acquired during those travels, such as this branch, this robe or this shell… As for the other two, the necklace and the stone bowl, they were already found long ago. All by nameless humans, who were like so many before them, tempted by the elixir, promised to them by the lunar emperor… Ironic, is it not?"

"But you said that you were exiled to Earth…" Kyouichi pointed out. "How did you manage to take those two things with you?"

"The necklace was given to me as a birthday present by my father, so I basically had it with me all the time. As for the bowl, it's again thanks to my dear Eirin… When I was held in prison for those few days before my "execution", she managed to smuggle it to my cell on my request. You see, all of these artifacts bring interesting benefits. The stone bowl can completely rid anyone from hunger and thirst. You won't get to enjoy any taste as you would by eating a tasty meal, but you'll never starve… Despite the fact that the elixir grants immortality, it unfortunately doesn't rid you of sensation of pain, thirst or hunger. The stone bowl came quite in handy not only in that cell, but also here on Earth during my travels that no tales speak of… Since I was immortal, I wasn't afraid to wander this world by myself meeting and sometimes fighting youkai that are unheard of even here, in Gensokyo. I've quested for these items to make my life here more… comfortable. However, when I had enough of traveling I again settled down at my "home", which is like the folktale says – the house of the old bamboo cutter and his wife. They were probably the only two humans in the world I actually liked at that time. Later that feeling became ever stronger… it became… love…" she paused herself again in a silent reminiscence of the old man and woman who raised her with love and care as their own child. After a good while has passed, when the only sound that interrupted the silence was the rustling of paper as Patchouli turned a page in a book, Kaguya resumed her story. "Then I had a vision."

"A vision?" repeated Kyouichi with a curious expression.

"Yes, a vision. In it I've seen my father in despair, greatly regretting everything he had done to me. I've seen him forgiving me for drinking of the forbidden elixir and even the day when he would send his emissaries to bring me back to the Moon… Oh yes… Many nights when the moon was full, I used to sit on the porch of that old house, staring up and… crying. A part of me was happy that my "crime" had been forgiven, but the main reason for my tears was the fact that I didn't want to abandon my human family who had adopted me. It was around that time when for some reason, men from far away began to visit the old bamboo cutter only to take a look at me. Some just curious, others… well, like the story goes, sought to marry me. I knew that I was going to return home soon, so marrying a human would be most unwise… Furthermore, I kept my true identity a secret from everyone until I was certain that I'd be going back home… I rejected all of my would-be husbands one by one. Some, however, didn't get the hint and were annoyingly persistent. So I got an idea of asking them my Five Impossible Requests, asking each to bring me one of the items I already owned. And five humans were stubborn enough to accept my requests, some of them dying in their attempt to fulfill them. That part is pretty much the same as it's said in the folktale, including the part about the emperor. But where the story and reality differ the most is the end. On the night when the lunar emissaries have arrived, I was most surprised to see Eirin among them. I had but a brief chance to explain my desire to stay on Earth to her, and I'm forever in her debt for what she did afterwards… Just before the emissaries have made me wear the Raiment of the Moon, which would make me lose my memory of the time I spent on Earth, Eirin had created a magical distraction, allowing us both to escape. By doing so, she had made it clear to everyone that she was sided with me and like me, she became an exile. We ran and ran without stopping for the whole night. When we lost our pursuers, Eirin told me about a place where we could find refuge and perhaps, even live peaceful and happy lives after all of this… And that place is right here – Eientei… In fact, there wasn't any mansion here when we first arrived here. But together with our magic, we built our new home. The place got its name because it was magically sealed in time. Nothing that ever happened in Eientei could become history, or to be more exact, to become recorded history. That all had changed with the arrival of an Earth rabbit, Tewi Inaba, but I've digressed… Anyway, I've lived here with Eirin ever since our daring escape from the agents of the Moon. I love it here very much… Hmm... I still miss my human stepparents sometimes, but most of the sadness from our sudden parting is already long gone… When I think about them, I think about the happy moments… After some time, Eirin decided that I should not spend my eternal life on Earth alone, so she finally took the forbidden elixir herself."

"Eirin-sama became immortal too, huh? She apparently really cares for you."

"She's more close to me than anyone from my family could ever be. She did so much for me… She's the most important person for me. I love her very much…"

Kyouichi was stunned for a good while when he finally spoke up. "Now… now it all makes much more sense to me! Thank you, Kaguya-sama, for telling me that story. It was… well, much better than what's being passed down these days in the outside world. And unlike the modern Taketori Monogatari, it has a much happier ending."

"Huh? You think the story is over?" asked the beautiful Lunarian, "I was just a bit lost in thought for a moment… So now you know how I ended up living here. By the way, was everything I said clear to you or do you have any questions?" she asked considerately.

"Actually, one thing still isn't quite clear to me." admitted the outsider. "About that Hourai Elixir…"

"Yes?"

"You said that its use is forbidden to all Lunarians and yet, they still haven't forbidden its production. Why is that?"

"As I said earlier, they keep using it as tool of manipulation."

"But they could just fool any human by simply filling some flask with water and telling them that it's the Hourai Elixir…" Kyouichi argued.

"Indeed, they not only could, but have done so on many occasions." confirmed Kaguya. "However there is one thing I haven't yet explained about the effect of the Hourai Elixir. That is the fact that it grants eternal life only when one gets a taste of it for the third time… Yes, however strange it sounds, that's how Eirin made it. The amount isn't crucial at all; it's the number of ingestions. You could empty a whole bottle in one go, but you wouldn't become immortal and at the same time, if you tasted just three drops of it, you would make your physical form eternal. That is the trick behind it. The first taste will make the user stop aging or growing up, the second taste makes the user incapable of becoming ill and the third one… makes one immortal… Now, since it's been over 1400 years since I was last on the Moon, a lot of things could have changed since then. Perhaps it is legal to use two doses of the elixir in case of some serious disease… Even though the pure environment of the Moon should prevent anyone living there from ever getting sick. Who knows? Perhaps today it became completely legal… Perhaps they sell it among soft drinks… And perhaps things haven't changed at all. Perhaps they use it for experiments on Moon rabbits or perhaps they are making a stockpile of it in case of some dangerous enemy would attempt to invade the Moon… Like that's ever going to happen." she dismissively waved her hand and giggled at that silly thought. "However, Reisen, as all Moon rabbits, has an ability that you could call telepathy. She's basically our source of information about the happenings on the Moon, because she can communicate with other Moon rabbits even over this great distance. Maybe I should ask her to find out something about the recent policies on the use of Hourai Elixir…"

"I would think that with your and Eirin-sama's exile from the Moon, the Lunarians have lost their means of making that stuff."

"I doubt it." Kaguya replied negatively. "Like I already said, the first dose of the elixir was made when I was a baby, unaware of my ability. And Eirin – merely a person who invented the recipe. Her knowledge could be still kept archived somewhere on the Moon and my power, could be recorded and stored, perhaps even duplicated for the sole purpose of reproducing the Hourai Elixir. But I can neither confirm, nor deny these theories…"

"May I have another question for you?" asked Kyouichi again once the princess went silent.

"If you think I know the answer, just ask." she encouraged.

"Why did you even want to become immortal in the first place?"

"And why not?" replied the Lunarian with a question of her own. "Wouldn't it be a waste of Eirin's hard work if nobody would ever get to enjoy the benefits of her discovery?"

"For Eirin's sake?" asked the human with a raised eyebrow, apparently not ready to believe this to be the princess's sole motive for committing her greatest crime. "Was that the only reason?"

"As I said earlier, I was also tempted by curiosity and will to live a life as an eternal being."

"And do you really think it was worth it? Going through all that trouble, pain and life in hiding? You even lost your title, because as I understand it, you're no longer officially a princess."

"That's true." agreed Kaguya with a carefree tone. "It's probably just a force of habit for everyone to address me as such… As for your question, yes… Yes, I think it was worth it. Despite all the hardships I was forced to go through, I live a peaceful and happy life without regrets for the past. And what's the most important thing; I have something that I didn't have even as an official princess of the Moon – freedom."

"What about the future then?" wondered Kyouichi. "You must be well aware that in the end, everything and everyone around you except Eirin-sama will eventually… disappear. Aren't you haunted by the thought of ending up only with Eirin, suffering for the rest of eternity?"

"Naturally, I am aware of this law… Nothing on Earth that has a form will remain intact and that nothing that lives will live forever… It is due to the impurity that permeates the Earth, stealing the eternity from all things and beings, seeping away from their lifespans…"

"Yes." smiled the outsider. "And science even has a name for it – free radicals." he added in jest.

"Free… what?" the ex-princess attempted to repeat the expression. "I… I have to ask Eirin about that…" she concluded with a somewhat embarrassed tone.

"Also…" continued the outsider, "What you just said was a bit… contradictory to what you said earlier. Didn't you say that even Lunarians die? Doesn't that make them or the Moon basically the same as Earth in that aspect? If your people lived forever, why would the Hourai Elixir be forbidden then? It would have no effect on anyone. What exactly makes us the impure ones and you the pure ones, I wonder…"

"I'm afraid the concept of purity and impurity is too abstract for your simple mind to comprehend, Ishimaru-san. We are a completely different class of beings than humans or the youkai. Purity is a trait that every single Lunarian is born with. Losing it, means that one is cast out of the capital. The Moon is eternally pure, unlike the Earth and so, the Lunarians rarely ever stayed here for a prolonged period of time. Impurity is an evil force that can spread like a disease. There is even a plant called udonge – a sort of tree that grows in the Lunar Capital. It only blooms and bears fruit when it comes into contact with this impurity. Since it feeds on it, it never bears fruit on the Moon. However, the Lunarians use it as a detection mechanism in case of any invasion attempt, like a few years ago… Once it detects an impurity, it bears a beautiful seven-colored gem. By the way, this jeweled branch of Hourai, which was one of the Impossible Requests, is nothing else, but a branch of an udonge tree from Hourai…"

"Interesting…"

"And to fully satisfy your curiosity, I also have to tell you that since we drank of the forbidden elixir, both me and Eirin are already impure, just as any human from the Earth. That means we cannot return to the Lunar Capital."

"Another contradictory statement from you, Kaguya-sama…" remarked the outsider. "Why have you spent over a millennium in hiding from the lunar emissaries then? They couldn't have brought you or Eirin back if they'd see that you're both "impure"."

"Not unless we'd undergo the purging ritual… But neither of us wished to return to the Moon anyway. In fact, we still live in hiding… sort of… Not as worried as a couple of centuries ago, but still. It would be most bothersome if the lunar emissaries were to find us again, which they nearly did not too long ago… That's when we had to magically seal off the real Moon in one of Eientei's chambers and replace it with a fake one, so that the agents from the Moon could not find their way here to Earth…"

Kyouichi was having a hard time even trying to imagine this, but he vaguely had an idea about what event was Kaguya referring to. "You're talking about the Imperishable Night…"

The princess smiled again and made a confirming nod. "Looks like someone's done their homework..." she remarked jokingly. "Yes, that night. I was nearly discovered… The lunar emissaries were looking for Reisen who was hiding here in Eientei. We dreaded the thought that they would find us, so we've had the real Moon sealed off just for that one night of the full moon. The presence of a fake moon in the sky naturally alarmed the sensitive youkai, which has consequently drawn the attention of the Hakurei shrine maiden. She, in cooperation with a youkai found her way into the mansion and even to the room hiding both me and the true Moon. I was worried about being discovered and they, in turn, demanded that I return the real Moon to the sky immediately. Naturally, this conflicting situation escalated into a battle. I tried to break their spell of everlasting night, but in the end, I was outmatched… Fortunately, all ended well, as no lunar emissaries made their way to Earth on that night and I could restore the real Moon at the break of dawn. Both parties were pretty much satisfied."

"So, back to my earlier question… You have no worries about the future?"

"I learned to enjoy the moment and that what exists here and now, instead of dwelling too much on the past or thinking too much about the future."

"Apparently you don't seem to be troubled by such thoughts now." said Kyouichi when he heard Kaguya's carefree response. "But what will you do in… let's say… 5 billion years, I wonder."

"Five billion years?" repeated the Lunarian fugitive with a bit clueless expression.

"The estimated time when the Sun will run out of its hydrogen reserve…" Kyouichi elaborated. "The most definite end of all life on Earth, IF any life will remain here up to that long… The Moon will most likely suffer the same fate, unless your mages and sages think of some trick to restore the Sun or live without it… Have you ever thought about that, Kaguya-sama? You… floating in space for eternity, gasping for air, feeling the chill of minus 100 degrees or worse, nothing to eat or drink, nobody to talk to and unable to die… for the whole eternity… Sounds worse than going to hell, if you ask me. I don't think you or Eirin deserve endless suffering, Kaguya-sama."

The princess took her time to imagine the scenario and after a pause, replied without giving any hint of being worried. "Even when I have to admit that what you just said made me feel uneasy, I have already made my choice and can't do anything about it… There's an old saying that goes: If a problem can be solved, it's needless to worry about it. If it cannot be solved, worrying won't help you."

Kyouichi was surprised by her attitude, but he himself felt a bit guilty for making her realize how cruel the immortality can be. He bent forward in apology. "I'm sorry, Kaguya-sama… I didn't mean to unsettle you… I just… feel a bit sorry for you…"

"You don't need to apologize for my decision… What has to happen will happen and I'm ready for it." said the princess reassuringly.

That's when Kyouichi remembered the old youkai alchemist who claimed to have invented an improved Hourai Elixir, which negates any and all unpleasant sensations in addition to granting the benefit of immortality. He gasped loudly and opened his mouth to tell the princess about it, but in this very instant he realized that by doing so, he could get himself into all sorts of trouble. Devoured and tormented by this internal conflict, he swallowed his words and didn't say anything. Now it was him who felt uneasy for keeping this secret from her and he didn't like that feeling at all. The princess noticed his sudden change of mood and stole a questioning glance at him.

"You looked like you were going to say something."

Kyouichi camouflaged his original reckless intention by pretending he just wanted to ask her another question.

"Uhh… yes, yes. It's probably a silly question, but is the Lunarian race older than mankind?"

Kaguya surprisingly shook her head in a negative reply. "No, it is not."

"That's… unexpected." said the outsider with a puzzled look.

"The genesis of our race began with Lord Tsukuyomi. He was a sage who had realized that the impurity was stealing life from all living things. The legend has it, that watching the full moon over an ocean, he had become determined to free himself from the impure Earth. He managed to leave the Earth and took up residence on the Moon. He took only his most trusted of relatives with him and together, they founded the Lunar Capital. Since the Moon was completely without impurity, those who had moved there forsook any lifespan."

"Sorry to interrupt you again, but… with all due respect, that again doesn't make sense." said the human outsider. "Are you saying that the founder of the Lunar Capital was a sage from Earth?"

"What doesn't make sense about that?"

"Everything!" declared Kyouichi who was now really confused about everything he had heard up to this point. "While it does explain as to why do you Lunarians look like us and even speak our language, it completely undermines all your claims about all magic originating from the Moon as well as that "purity" vs. "impurity" concept, which my simple mind cannot comprehend, as you so graciously pointed out. Since this sage was a human, no matter what sort of life he had led, he must have been just as impure as the next commoner. However, he was apparently quite… gifted to be able to travel to the Moon by sheer power of will. The Moon might be a place without impurity, but he surely must have brought some of it with him."

"Observant you are, I'll give you that." Kaguya acknowledged. "Yes, some miniscule amount of impurity does indeed exist on the Moon. However, this amount is so negligible that it can't be even measured."

"But that already means that the Moon is not perfectly pure." argued the young human and even Patchouli seemed to have nodded in agreement. While it seemed that she was diligently reading one of Kaguya's books, she still paid attention to the conversation.

"By the way… if he's the lord of the Lunar Capital does that mean that you're…?"

"A child he had with one of his wives, yes… The very person who raised me and later attempted to execute me for drinking the forbidden medicine."

"I see… But there's another thing that confuses me…" Kyouichi was about to point out another inconsistency. "You said that those who were taken to the Moon had forsaken their lifespans? After you just told me that even Lunarians can die? Forgive my rudeness, but I'm more than confused by your statements."

Kaguya still kept smiling warmly, not feeling offended in any way, because she was convinced that it was not her statements that were confusing, but rather Kyouichi's inability to understand that made him so puzzled.

"To forsake one's lifespan…" she began to formulate an appropriate explanation, choosing words carefully. "…means that one becomes neither alive, nor dead. In that sense, the Lunarians are pure. Of, course, since the lunar citizens or the rabbits aren't immortal, they can still die in, let's say, battles or accidents. Even the lunar citizens bear just the tiniest trace of impurity and even they may eventually die…"

Finally, Kyouichi got a satisfying answer that made his image of the Lunarians more clear. It turned out that the Lunarians had an unwavering tendency to view themselves as perfect beings, when in fact, their basal essence was technically the same as that of Earth's humans, who they all originated from. Nevertheless, one could never deny the obvious facts that the Moon people were superior to the humans in pretty much every aspect, save for the personalities. Their wisdom, vitality, longevity, magic power and technology they possessed, all by far surpassed the Earthlings. They were probably the closest tier of beings to the gods.

Kyouichi decided that he had bothered the princess with his incessant questions far enough and that he should take his leave soon.

"Very well, Kaguya-sama…" he said as he bent down before her for the last time. "I thank you very much for being able to bear with my impertinence and willingly answering all the questions I asked."

This was for the first time that the young outsider had seen the beautiful Moon princess bow down as well. "And I thank both of you for sharing your time with me and having this interesting conversation… I enjoyed it a lot. I was actually made to think deeply about many, many things. That doesn't happen with every human guest I talk to… Umm… you can borrow that book if you like it so much, Patchouli-san." she addressed the purple-haired youkai girl who appeared to have lost herself in the book's pages.

Patchouli's amethyst-colored eyes have peeked from behind the tome she was indulged in and blinked twice, as if she had returned to reality from a daydream.

"Is that… okay?" she asked with a quiet and timid voice.

"Why of course~!" nodded the owner of Eientei with her ever-sweet smile. "You can borrow even more if you like. It's the least I can offer for your hard work… Not just that, but... think of it as a token of gratitude… for our sprouting friendship."

The princess's hearty offer left the sorceress speechless for a few moments before she put down the book she was reading on her lap and her face brightened up with a similar smile.

"Thank you very much." she replied simply, but her words were filled with a feeling of happiness. "Then I'll just take this one…" she tapped her hand on the book's cover. "I'll make sure Marisa won't "borrow" it by accident."

Kaguya giggled in response. "Why not lend it to her for a while as well?"

Patchouli gave her an incredulous look. "No offense, Kaguya-sama, but you apparently don't know much about that human. When she borrows something, you're likely to never see it again. Unless you're fine with waiting until her death, I'd strongly recommend against lending her anything… Just hope she won't become a youkai then." she added jokingly.

"Well, I guess that makes me lucky, since she doesn't know about my little library…" said the princess as she was seeing her guests off. "Goodbye to you both then… Please come again sometimes."

Kyouichi hoped that this was the last time he saw Eientei and that he'd have no reason to visit it again. He guessed that the princess probably directed those last words at Patchouli and not at him.

"I already said I'll stop by once I had assembled a team to observe the ruins in Kazemura." replied the sorceress.

"That's right." the Lunarian nodded with a smile. "I just hope the weather won't turn bad on the day of our trip…"

"We'll choose a day with a more suitable weather then."

"I see… Well then, until next time, Patchouli-san."

With those words, Patchouli and Kyouichi left the princess's quarters, closed the doors and headed back to the staircase.

As soon as the princess was left alone, she realized something. "Oh, my… I'm so forgetful… I didn't even tell them about Mokou. Oh well…" she shrugged indifferently. "Perhaps some other time…"