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...?

64. Into the Darkness

Chapter 64 – Into the Darkness

It wasn't easy getting used to waking up without an alarm clock or someone else to wake him up. Thank goodness for his house's convenient location near the farm and the early-rising roosters that served as living alarm clocks to all those who could hear their morning calls.

Kyouichi rose from his bed, realizing just now that he slept through the night with his kimono on. The growling in his stomach reminded him that he now had to prepare his own breakfast, aside from the everyday morning hygiene and making preparations for school.

"It's surely going to be a shock for Keine-sensei when she sees us in the classroom this morning…" he amused his still sleepy mind with that thought. Rising early with the sun was never one of Kyouichi's favorite things to do, but due to falling asleep so early yesterday, he had plenty of rest to manage even such an inhuman feat.

The flames in the fireplace have long since died out, so he didn't even have to waste water to put them out when he was finally leaving his new house.

When he entered the village through the western gate, he found nothing suspicious about the busy marketplace atmosphere to notice the lack of children heading to school. It was only after he got to the building itself, when he realized something that made him stop at the entrance door… and bang his head against it repeatedly.

"It's weekend~!"

---

Waking up to the noise of pickaxes hitting rock isn't anything pleasant, even to those who are used to it, but for the team of girls with such big plans for today, sleeping in was absolutely unthinkable. As soon as the prospectors began working in the quarry, Patchouli and her companions got up and started preparing for the day. A day that promised to be quite eventful to say the least.

"Where did I put my notes again?" Patchouli muttered as she hastily scurried through an unorganized pile of documents on her table.

"I have them right here, Patchouli-sama." Koakuma waved her hand, holding the notepad, which her mistress was looking for.

"Thank you." the sorceress grabbed it and raced through her own notes. All the points she wanted to make during the negotiation were there, so losing the notepad would be quite troublesome for her.

"So, what are you girls going to do while I'm in the village hall?"

"Oh, don't worry about us." Marisa replied. "We'll surely find a way to keep ourselves entertained." Her reassuring thumbs-up seemed more like an oath to commit at least several acts of mischief, if not crime.

"I just hope it isn't going to be anything foolish…" Patchouli sighed. "Like trying to break into the temple before the negotiations are over."

All other girls' faces turned suddenly at her, bearing expressions of surprise and nervousness.

"O-of course not!" Marisa immediately tried to deny it, even though it was mainly Remilia who Patchouli was looking at. "What even gave you such an impression?"

"I'm just giving you a warning; that's all."

"You can relax, Patchy. There will be no trouble while you're away." said Remilia with a fake expression of honesty. "Not from us at least."

"Good. Keep it that way." said the sorceress as she took her notepad and her bag. "Now if you excuse me, I must be off."

"But it's only morning." Marisa wondered why Patchouli was in such a hurry.

"Better be there earlier than to be late." Replied Patchouli and left her tent. All the girls breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew…" the ordinary magician wiped the sweat from her forehead. "For a second there I thought she actually suspected us from planning what we've planned." And she said it so loudly too, not even caring about the fact that Patchouli's own devil familiar was there with them. And the little devil, mischievous and cunning as she was, just quietly sat there, pretending to be minding her own business and not listening to what the other girls were talking about. But she knew about their "secret" plans more than well and she was ready to spy on them as soon as they'd leave the tent.

"So what shall we do to pass the time?" Reimu asked.

Marisa seemed to have it very clear. "While the cat's away…" she trailed off and took the book about hieroglyphs from Patchouli's table. Reimu and Remilia just shook their heads in bewilderment.

"You're a hopeless case." said the vampire. "Even at a time like this…"

"I'm just borrowing it for a sec."

"That's what you say every time to Patchy."

"Hmph." The witch turned away and began to skim through the pages. "What do you know?" You're almost never in the library."

"Patchouli told me all about you… We have more important things to do now, so stop fooling around."

After a while of silently ignoring the vampire and flipping through the pages, Marisa shut the book. "Alright, alright… Look, I'm putting it back where it was." She slowly put the book on the table as she promised. "See?"

Reimu found this situation very much to her amusement. "Where is Aya and her camera when you need her?"

"Patchouli will never believe me if I tell her about this…" even the Scarlet Devil doubted that Marisa was capable of such a thing.

"So if I can kick a bad habit, you too can simply stop drinking people's blood." the witch grinned and patted Remilia's shoulder as she walked away from the table.

"Deciding not to steal one thing now, but later doesn't equate dropping a bad habit." the shrine maiden retorted.

"And being a vampire is not a bad habit that you can kick." Remilia fought back as well. "That is if I even wanted to."

"Okay, so let's go outside and double-check if everything is the way it should be." Reimu took charge and moved the tent's curtain away when she almost bumped into another person.

"Ayayaya~! Has Patchouli-san left already?" It was the crow tengu reporter, most likely trying to catch the librarian for a short interview, but Reimu quickly and bluntly turned her down.

"Yes, she has and you should too."

"Who's there?" Marisa's voice sounded from behind Reimu before her fair-haired head poked out from the tent. "Oh, it's Aya. We mentioned you a few seconds ago."

"Aw, shoot!" Aya snapped her fingers in slight frustration. "So Patchouli went on ahead? I was really hoping I could ask her a few questions before she'd go…"

"Why don't you just go after her?" asked the miko.

"Because they're not going to let anyone else inside. Not even the press. Censorship of the worst degree, if you ask me…Well, if I can't hear what's being said there, I'll at least take a few pictures." she declared confidently. Of course, Aya had no clue what these girls had in plan for today, and none of them believed there was a reason to tell her about it.

"Good luck." Reimu uttered with a complete lack of emotion. She just wanted the nosy tengu out of the scene, so that she and her team could carry one with their secret mission.

"Ha! You underestimate me. I don't need good luck for that. But should I be lucky, I'll even get a chance to eavesdrop on the whole negotiation."

"Good for you then, but I really don't care." the shrine maiden couldn't wait for Aya to finally take off and mind her own business. But what she managed to do by her stern and indifferent reply was the exact opposite of her intention. She made the tengu even more talkative.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you aren't at least a little bit curious about what they're going to discuss on that meeting and why they'd want to keep it a secret from general public."

"Maybe they just find the likes of you annoying." Reimu brushed her off with her typical harsh frankness. "Not that we wouldn't be interested, but we got our own things to attend to, so we'd best leave you do your trade."

"Oh? And where are you off to then?"

"We're going to do some patrolling and keep a lookout for any large flocks of fairies." Reimu made up a cover story. "Now why don't you go and play paparazzi and let us do our work?"

She was on the verge of threatening Aya with a danmaku duel if she refused to leave in 10 seconds, but she was worried that the tengu might actually accept the challenge, thus prolonging her stay even further.

"Oh… pushy, aren't we? You know, all this time I get the feeling like you just want me to disappear." Aya giggled sheepishly.

"Really? How ever did you reach that conclusion?" Reimu asked with searing sarcasm in her tone.

"Well… for instance I don't see a reason why you'd mind my presence if you were going to do something as mundane as patrolling." Aya explained as she played with her pen. "Unless you girls were up to something, hm~?" she flipped the pen in her palm and pointed its tip at Reimu. A moment at which a nervous liar would start to sweat and stutter, but Remilia managed to save it gloriously with an ironic question: "Like what? Breaking into that temple in broad daylight?"

A suggestion too ridiculous to be taken seriously, or so Remilia and her companions hoped.

"I don't know." shrugged Aya. "Maybe…"

"Don't make me laugh."

"We're just wasting time here." said the shrine maiden and beckoned the other girls to follow her. "Marisa and I will take the western part and you two will check the eastern side." she gave instructions to Remilia and Sakuya.

"Wait, what about…?" and before Aya could finish the question, the four girls already took off, each pair headed the opposite direction to fool the tengu reporter.

"Patrolling, huh?" she smirked as she let out a light chuckle. "There's more than enough White Wolves for that. And they have much sharper senses than those four… Are the girls really that paranoid?"

As she watched them shrinking into tiny black dots on the horizon and questioned their action, her gaze trailed off, or to be precise, returned back to the ground and the archeological team's tent. "Anybody home?"

But of all the tent's usual occupants, only one red-haired demon girl, busy with sorting Patchouli's books was inside. She didn't even seem to notice the intruder as she hummed a quiet melody with her back turned on the tent's entrance.

"Oh, you're with Patchouli-san, right?" Aya spoke up to her without restraint, despite being unable to recall the girl's name.

"Hm?" the devil turned her head to face the tengu and quirked her brow.

"Shameimaru Aya. A reporter for the Bunbunmaru Newspaper." she briefly introduced herself and stated her intention. "I wanted to do an interview with Patchouli, but I missed her and…"

"I know who you are." Patchouli's familiar interrupted. "Why are you re-introducing yourself?"

"You do?" Aya blinked in surprise. "I just wasn't sure if the two of us talked in person before…"

"We didn't, but I did see you visit the mansion quite a few times. Besides, as a librarian's assistant, I also take care of the library's newspaper archive. As a reporter you're already well-known around Gensokyo to need an introduction."

"Ahahaha~. You flatter me, but… you'd be surprised. Not that many youkai and humans read newspapers. And out of those who do, not all of them read MY newspaper."

Although Aya doubted she'd get any interesting information out of the little devil, her inner gossiper dictated her to interview her anyway.

"So if Patchouli's already gone and there's no one else here besides you, would you mind answering a couple of questions, Miss… uhh…"

"Koakuma." the demon girl rolled her crimson eyes out of slight frustration that Aya didn't know her name.

"Pardon me." the tengu bowed apologetically. "I know I've heard it several times already, but it just dropped out of my memory." she shaped a sheepish smile with her lips.

Koakuma sighed and waved her palm, as well as the little wing on her head. "It's okay. I'm used to that. But I hoped a reporter like you would be a little better informed." she muttered as her gaze dropped to her feet.

"I'm usually good at remembering names and faces. It's just that I only remember those who make good article material."

"So you think I'm boring?"

"No, I didn't say that…" Aya replied, but Koakuma didn't give her much time to finish the sentence.

"Nobody cares about the servants…"

"That's not true. I did make interviews with a lot of servants."

"I know, I know… I'm just an insignificant little youkai who lives in the library. I can't compare myself to Patchouli-sama or her vampire friend. At least you didn't think I was a fairy maid."

"Frankly, I don't see that much of a difference." Aya gave a stinging reply. "And what kind of name is "Koakuma" anyway? That's more of a description of what you are, rather than a proper name."

Although Aya's way of interviewing and even leading a general conversation could often offend those she spoke with, this particular remark about the devil girl's name left Koakuma unfazed. She even showed a sly, albeit fleeting grin.

"I am called many names. Koakuma is just one of them. That's what Patchouli-sama called me ever since I was summoned by her."

"Ah, I see now…" Aya nodded understandingly. "So you're contract-bound to be called Koakuma…"

"Eh… not really."

"So what can I call you then?"

"Koakuma."

"Guh…" Aya was struck by the devil girl's wit. "I expected to hear your name from before you became Patchouli's familiar."

"Like I said, I am called many names. Which one do you want to hear?"

"Your first one."

Koakuma stood in silence for a moment, just blinking puzzledly at what Aya asked of her. "You do know… that I am a devil, right?"

"Are you testing me or something?" the tengu responded with a question.

"I should be the one asking that. You of all youkai should know that a devil never reveals her true name. If someone knows it, they could use it against that devil."

"That's… true." the journalist admitted as she fidgeted a little. "So does that mean Patchouli knows your true name if she was able to summon you?"

"Eh… not really." Koakuma shook her head lightly. "I just answered her summoning spell. There's a contract between us, but I keep my true name to myself."

"So that's how it is."

"That's why she and everyone else calls me Koakuma~."

"Yes, I get it now." smiled the crow tengu and scribbled a few notes. "But that makes me wonder…"

"About what?"

"Well, it just occurred to me, but you probably aren't the best of friends with the satori race, since they could find out about your real name."

Aya didn't even know how spot-on she was with her assumption until she got a clear resentful reply from the little devil's mouth. And even the moment before Koakuma spoke any words, one could easily notice her sudden change in body language, as her non-human appendages began to tremble, her eyes narrowed and her breathing intensified. She still kept her warm, but forced smile.

"There are few things the devils loathe as much as angels and celestials. They may still be the undisputed number one, but satori are a close second on any devil's hate list."

A few droplets of sweat formed on Aya's face as the little devil finished explaining. Who would think that this cute demon girl who worked as a librarian's assistant could hate someone?

"But you're an imp, aren't you?"

"Yes, an imp. And imps are a sub-species of devils. I never really met a satori before, but I know I wouldn't want to."

The crow tengu was amused by Koakuma's prejudice, as her weak chuckle suggested.

"Lucky you then. Because there were two satori in this village a month ago when the last fairy attack took place. You could say they worked as a part of our expedition."

The little demon dropped a book. "W-wh-what?! Two satori were here? I-in this tent?" she stuttered as she began casting her paranoid gaze in all directions, as if expecting to be ambushed. "You're joking, right~?"

"I'm not. It's true. Ask Patchouli if you don't believe me."

"Why would she work with those… things?" Koakuma wondered as she struggled to even imagine it. Aya appeared to be enjoying the imp's insecurity a bit too much.

"Not only that, but she also made quite a speech to Kazemura's villagers about how satori are wrongfully hated and discriminated. And judging by the applause that followed, I'm guessing she managed to convince a sizable amount of locals."

Even though Koakuma wasn't unaware that the crow tengu in general liked making up stories, if they couldn't find one to write about, something kept telling her that Aya wasn't lying. But her words, or to be precise, Patchouli's words have left her torn between her racial aversion and her unquestionable trust towards her mistress.

As she stood there immersed in her own thoughts, Aya took advantage of Koakuma's confusion and stated her true reason for the interview.

"I'm sorry. I've really gone off the track, but I only wanted to break the ice."

Koakuma blinked twice, as if she had just snapped back to reality.

"My main reason for interviewing you was spurred by my hope of getting any details about Patchouli's intentions. Especially if the negotiations won't turn in her favor." stated the reporter with a very serious expression.

"I don't know." the imp girl shrugged her wings. "But whoever wins the negotiation will then have to take responsibility for resolving the spirit incident."

"I know that, but doesn't Patchouli-san have some sort of backup plan? Some ace in the hole in case something goes wrong? I just… giving up just doesn't seem like her style."

Koakuma slowly shook her head. "I… am not Patchouli-sama. If she fails… then probably Reimu-san will take things in her own hands."

"I know you're not Patchouli." Aya frowned. "But you are her familiar. Hasn't she told you anything about her intentions?"

The little devil gave a mute, expressionless answer.

"I knew it…" the reporter sighed resignedly. "I was just wasting my time here, interviewing an unimportant servant."

With a feeling of disappointment, Aya slowly turned her back on Koakuma and was about to walk out of the tent, but the imp halted her.

"Not so fast, Shameimaru-san."

"Ayayaya~?"

"So you think I'm a boring, weak and uninformed underling, not even worthy of an article?" Koakuma asked with a sly simile blooming on her lips. Aya felt like taking her last sentence back as she recognized a slightly immature, but true devilish grin. The little imp knew more than she was willing to let on.

"That smile…" Aya flashed her own brand of "big scoop grin" and her pointy ears twitched a little with anticipation. "You know something after all, don't you?"

"Weeeeeell~…"

---

"Phew… that was a close one." Marisa breathed out after she and her three companions distanced themselves far enough from the village to avoid Aya's suspicion. For a couple of minutes they pretended to be patrolling, but now they were well out of sight of anyone in Kazemura. They found no possessed fairies in their half-hearted search, but they found a little clearing where they settled down to discuss their next step.

"So now we wait." Reimu sighed as she rested her back against a tree.

"Are we really going to sit here for several hours?" Remilia's question was letting everyone know that she had a slightly different idea than to sit and wait at such an uncomfortable place.

"Only for a while, ze. We have to keep the village in our sight after all. We'll just wait till Aya loses suspicion."

"Since we're already here, we might as well do some actual patrolling." Reimu mused aloud. "The last thing I'd wish for is having our plan thwarted by another fairy invasion."

"The last time we were here, it seemed as though they specifically waited for all of us to gather in Kazemura to attack us." Sakuya recalled with her finger on her chin in a bit spaced-out expression.

"Hey, that would actually not be so bad if they attacked the village now." said the ordinary magician, making the other girls raise their eyebrows. "If anything, it'd at least create a diversion for us to sneak into the temple without a problem."

"And you'd be perfectly okay with fairies laying waste to Kazemura while you'd be looting the temple?" asked Reimu with a disapproving scowl.

"Sure, I would." Reimu got a response quicker then she expected. "We'd just have to beat the mastermind inside and all the fairies would come back to their senses and scatter."

A moment of deadpan silence came about, as none of the girls could find the right words to convey their impressions of Marisa's idea of incident resolution.

"See? My ingenious plan made ya' all speechless. But alas, I can't make the fairies attack the village…" the blonde let out a disappointed sigh.

"No, like I said; that's the last thing I'd want at this moment." Reimu repeated her earlier statement.

"Then let's make a sweep of the area and then return to the village." Remilia seemed to agree with the shrine maiden's idea, but for her own reason. She really wasn't as concerned about the safety of Kazemura as she was concerned about her personal comfort. Standing idly on a meadow in a sunny day, with no place to sit down without getting her dress dirty was an unbearable thought. She liked getting things done fast and efficiently, just like Reimu, so making a preventive sweep was a hundred times more attractive to her than just waiting.

"I hope Aya's busying herself with something else than watching the sky right now." the shrine maiden uttered wishfully before she stood up and prepared herself for take-off.

"So just like that time when we were tranquilizing fairies… We'll split up, and if either of us sees something suspicious, we'll fire a signal danmaku."

"Roger~." Marisa saluted. "If I see any suspicious groups of fairies, I'll fire a signal shot."

"And I don't mean a signal Master Spark like you did during the harvest feast." Reimu wagged her finger warningly. "By the way, we'll split up to pairs, seeing that Remilia needs her parasol and she's too spoiled to carry it herself…"

"Hey!" the vampire in question found Reimu's remark mildly offensive, and it stung her even more when she heard her own maid suppressing a chuckle behind her back.

"Let's go, Marisa." Reimu asked her friend to follow and kicked off the ground.

"Right behind you." the blonde saddled her broom and jetted after the miko.

Remilia and Sakuya watched them in a brief moment of silence when the silver-haired girl opened the pink parasol and gestured to her mistress to move under its shade. But her kind gesture was met with a frown from the little vampire.

"Give me that parasol!" Remilia swiped the parasol out of Sakuya's hand.

"My lady…?" the time-manipulator blinked in puzzlement.

"I'll show her "too spoiled to carry it herself"." The Scarlet Devil grumbled agitatedly as she took off into the sky.

"Mistress…" Sakuya just stood there for a moment with a sheepish smile, giggling at her mistress's endearingly childish moments such as this one.

---

As Gensokyo's most notorious pair of youkai exterminators swept the area for any suspicious signs, they spotted several smaller flocks of fairies scurrying out of the treetops. None of the mentioned flocks were large enough to pose a threat, though, and none of the fairies showed any signs of spiritual possession or mind control.

"They look pretty normal to me…" stated Marisa as one small fairy group fluttered past her and Reimu. The miko could only silently agree. Those little winged female humanoid incarnations of natural phenomena didn't even shoot a single danmaku pellet. Reimu and Marisa had no reason for violence.

The situation was the same on Remilia's and Sakuya's side as well. And even if the Scarlet Devil showed some hostility, the fairies she encountered just scattered and fled rather than mounting a counterattack.

"These fairies don't appear to be possessed, my lady."

"I was only making sure they weren't just faking it." the vampire replied with absolutely no regret after she blasted several of them into fairy dust.

Both pairs of girls continued their sweep in a half-circle trajectory around the pine forest surrounding Kazemura until they eventually met once again over the village.

"There's Aya." Marisa pointed at the black and white-clad figure skulking around the village hall in search of the best vantage point. "We better land while she's not looking up."

After the four girls touched the ground they decided that the best place to wait for the arrival of the tengu envoy would be none other than the Hearth.

"They better have some red tea…" Remilia muttered as she entered the tavern.

The Hearth was as busy as ever, but the first thing one would notice upon entering would not be the chatter of the yama-bito patrons, but the noisy girly voice that could belong to only one oni in Gensokyo.

"Come on~! Ain't nobody gonna challenge me in arm-wrestling? Is this tavern full of weaklings, or what?"

Obviously, none of the patrons were stupid enough to let themselves be provoked and accept a challenge from an oni, even if she was a little girl. It was no wonder that her table, and for that matter, the tables adjacent to hers were vacant. As soon as she saw who entered the establishment, she almost toppled a few pieces of furniture in her cheerful dash towards Reimu.

"Reimu, Reimu, Reimu!"

"Oh great… what's she doing here?" Reimu's mood dropped by a few degrees as soon as she noticed Suika trotting towards her. "Ungh~!" The charging oni girl threw herself at Reimu, and of course, knocked her off her feet.

"Hey, listen, listen! Nobody wants to compete with me. Not in arm-wrestling, not in drinking, not even in rock-paper-scissors. Can you believe it?"

"Ugh…" Reimu winced both out of pain and due to the foul smell of Suika's breath. "I can't imagine why…"

"Oi, Suika!" Marisa greeted her. "What are you doing in these parts? Is the Heaven's sake no good for you anymore?"

"Not really. I just happened to read the last issue of the newspaper. I wanna know what's inside that temple. Besides, Kazemura has the best beer in Gensokyo…" the oni pointed at the empty beer glass resting on the table where she was sitting.

"Could you please get off me? You're embarrassing a shrine maiden." Reimu tried to push her aside. Futilely. "And furthermore, you reek."

"But I was bored~." Suika said as an excuse for knocking Reimu down. "I know that today's the day when the temple will be entered for the first time, but when you wait for something with such anticipation, every hour passes so slowly~. And after winning a couple of bets, nobody wants to play with me anymore."

Finally Suika rose from the floor, allowing Reimu to stand up as well. "Have you no shame scamming the locals with your impossible challenges?"

"I needed to buy all that beer with something. Oh, I know. I'll treat you all for a few rounds, what do you say?" the oni's eyes brightened up at the idea of spending the otherwise boring afternoon with Reimu and her company.

"No. We're not here to drink." Reimu resolutely refused the offer, making Suika's smile fade.

"Awww~. Why not? You're not going to be the ones taking part in the negotiations anyway."

"That… is correct." Sakuya nodded agreeingly. "However, we've got business to do, so we need to remain sober."

"Oh, business, huh? What kind of business?" Suika asked curiously as she led the girls to the vacant table. Nobody was hurrying to answer her, though.

"Can't tell me? You know… the more you try to keep something a secret, the more curious those around you you're going to make."

"Village security mostly." Reimu uttered the same old half-truth as she did to Aya. "Patrolling the area, making sure everything's okay…"

"Wow, Reimu… you suck at lying." the oni stated bluntly. "Plus, if you were saying the truth, it wouldn't take you that long to answer."

"Damn… I knew coming here was a bad idea." the miko quietly cursed her decision to walk into this tavern.

"I don't know..." Marisa shrugged. "What's the harm if we tell her? Maybe she'll even side with us."

"Side with you?" Suika repeated with amusement. "Sounds to me like you're up to something not-so-legal."

"Well, yeah. We want to be the first ones to get into the temple." Marisa fessed up the truth, and with a face of a poker player to boot.

"You're not telling this to anyone, okay?" Reimu leaned towards her threateningly. "Otherwise I'll spike your sake with roasted soybeans when you won't be looking."

Whether it was due to the threat or simply because she was Reimu's friend, the ginger-haired oni nodded in compliance. "You got my word."

It was a well-known fact that oni didn't tell lies, so Reimu was most satisfied with that answer.

"How are you gonna to do it? No, wait…" Suika corrected herself. "When are you gonna do it?"

"In a few hours." said Remilia. "At the precise moment when the tengu delegate arrives. Waiter, one red tea, please!" she shouted at the bartender, who only raised his eyebrow before returning to cleaning the glass he was holding.

"There is no waiter here." Suika giggled. "You have to order everything at the counter and carry it to your table. Didn't you notice when you were here last time?"

"Some tavern this is…" grumbled the vampire dissatisfiedly. "Anyway, we can't get into that temple while there are tons of tengu standing guard. That's why we have to wait for the right moment."

"Oh, you want to get inside unnoticed." Suika nodded understandingly.

"As if that wasn't obvious from the start!" Reimu planted her palm on her forehead.

"Are you ready for what's down there, though?" the oni finally asked a question that was very relevant, and to which none of the girls could give a truthful answer.

"An anti-magic field. Or even a siphon." Marisa speculated. "And a divine-power siphon of even greater effect."

"Well… I can imagine you don't really believe that bookworm of yours is going to tip the results of the negotiations in your favor, but why would you want to go into that dangerous place totally unprepared, willing to throw all your powers out of the window?"

"Most of our powers." Remilia corrected her. "But otherwise, you are right. We'll just have to risk it."

"Nonsense!" the little oni squeaked out. "If I were you, I'd recruit an immortal into my team. Not a fairy, though."

"We've already thought about that." the vampire waved her hand dismissively. "It's going to take ages and tons of patience to convince those two Lunarians to get here. Besides, what makes you think I even want them here? We just don't have enough time."

"I… wasn't talking about those two." Suika shook her head, now that she recalled that two immortal Lunarians resided in a mansion far to the south.

"Huh? Then who?"

"An immortal who lives nearby. A friend of Yukari's, a veteran from the first Genso-Lunar war and a guru of brewing booze out of everything."

"You mean that snake alchemist?" Reimu tilted her head. She did vaguely remember him helping the girls out in the last fairy attack. "What was his name again?"

"Yup, him." Suika gave a confirmatory nod. "Xeng-Yao. If you want, I could fetch him and be back in the village within an hour."

"You'd do that?" Reimu blinked in disbelief.

"Sure~! Just say the word."

"Word." Remilia spoke in Reimu's stead. One could see she wasn't enjoying the oni's company very much.

"Fine. Go get that alchemist." the miko finally decided. "And if you meet Aya, don't tell her anything, okay? Or better yet, avoid her entirely, if you can't tell a lie."

"Okay, I'll go as a cloud then." said Suika and already stood up from the chair. "You'll be staying here, right?"

"Unless the tengu envoy comes sooner than expected, yes." Reimu reassured her, and so the little oni nodded and took her leave.

"I bet a lot of these folks will gather around the village hall to hear the results first-hand." Marisa mused as she took a look around herself.

"That's neither going help us, nor hinder us." Reimu shrugged her shoulders, questioning why Marisa even brought it up.

"Just saying…"

In the meantime, Remilia, firmly decided that she'd show everyone that she's not spoiled. She stood up form the chair, walked up to the counter and climbed up the tall stool with some minor difficulties. Finally the bartender noticed her.

"Can I get you anything, young lady?"

"I'd like some red tea, please." she asked with an unnaturally calm tone, as she was still irritated that the bartender ignored her the first time.

"You're in great luck, you know that?" the human smiled and put some fresh water on the stove to boil.

"Why?"

"We usually don't serve red tea, you see. In fact, we never have, and probably won't be after we run out."

"So where do you have red tea from then?"

"Ah, about that… a few months ago, there was this young lady merchant stopping by in the village and offered me a bagful of it. She said she had too much of the stuff to know what to do with." explained the balding barkeep. "So I bought it from her."

"A lady merchant?" Remilia wondered who that might have been. "What did she look like?"

"Hm.. about this tall." he stretched out his palm. "She had short black hair, plain clothes, nothing too eye-catching. She said she won that tea in a tournament or something."

And then Remilia realized that the mysterious merchant the bartender was talking about was most likely the winner of the danmaku tournament held at Reimu's shrine in summer. Each of the participants committed some prize for the winner to have, and Remilia's contribution was a rich supply of red tea.

"Nue…"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Heh…" Remilia found this both insulting and amusing at the same time. Her facial expression was likewise ambiguous. "I'll be ordering my own red tea… in a Kazemuran tavern. I knew there was something odd about its fate strings…"

After a few minutes the water in the kettle boiled and Remilia was served her own red tea. Many thoughts ran through her head as she took the cup and carried it back to the table. One of the most resonating thoughts was: "What was Nue Houjuu doing here?" The more she stared at the rippling surface of her favorite beverage, the stronger her suspicion grew.

"Is something wrong, my lady?" Sakuya was unsurprisingly the first to notice the spaced-out expression on the face of her mistress.

"You got a fly in your tea or something?" Marisa made a poor guess to justify Remilia's weird stare.

"This tea…" the vampire spoke after a pause.

"Oh, so they serve your favorite blend here too?" the maid smiled fleetingly.

"No. This is my red tea… from my mansion."

"What do you mean?" Sakuya blinked cluelessly.

"Did you know that Nue Houjuu was here?"

"She was here… I think that time when we were catching fairies for Eirin." Marisa hummed as she reminisced. "But what does that have to do with your red tea?"

"I meant more recently." Remilia clarified. "Do you remember Tanabata?" she aimed the question at the Hakurei shrine maiden.

"Tanabata? What about it?" Reimu's memories of that day were apparently quite hazy.

"I offered a sack full of my finest red tea as a prize for the winner of the tournament's main event."

"Yeah, I remember that."

"Do you also remember who the winner was?"

"Uh… I didn't really watch it to the end." Reimu confessed with a hint of guilt in her voice.

"Nue!" Marisa replied instead. "Pesky youkai made me lose before the semi-finals."

"Well…" Remilia elegantly sat down, stirred her tea and raised her gaze to resume her eye contact with the girls. "It would seem that our tournament champ visited Kazemura recently."

This statement made the girls stare at Remilia in silent confusion.

"The barkeep just told me he got his last and only shipment of red tea from some merchant girl from Human Village, who also told him that she happened to win the tea in a certain tournament."

"Pffff~!" Marisa failed to hold back a chuckle. "Nue sold the tea!"

"Exactly." Remilia rolled her eyes. "But that's not what bothers me."

"Then what?" Reimu asked.

"It's that she was here… I don't recall Patchouli recruiting her, or any of the Myouren Temple residents into the archeological expedition team."

"So what if she was here?" shrugged the ordinary magician.

"I have a strong feeling that she still is. And she's spying for the Myouren Temple."

"Aren't you just a bit too paranoid?" Reimu wasn't in a mood for Remilia's conspiracy theories. "Why would the Temple of Myouren be interested in the temple of Kazemura? They are our allies in this incident."

"I think they want exactly the same thing we do - to solve the spirit incident. Except, they want to beat us to it."

If Reimu's face looked confused a moment ago, it was nothing in comparison to her current grimace. "Eeeeeh~?! Why would they want to do that?"

"You're the shrine maiden. Think a little." the vampire frowned at Reimu's lack of understanding. "If they successfully manage to quell the spirit incident, it'll bring them more followers, more faith, and thus, more power. And all that at the expense of your shrine and the Moriya Shrine, if they solve it before everyone else. Don't tell me you've never thought of that possibility, Reimu."

Even though it seemed far-fetched at first, Reimu was slowly beginning to realize that Remilia had a point. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that someone attempted to upset Gensokyo's religious balance, but could the Hakurei maiden really trust the words of her former enemy?

"Didn't you also try to solve this incident by yourself?" the miko locked her dark eyes with Remilia's. "Your motive is still not quite clear to me, you know… Why are you even helping me?"

"What do you mean "why"?" Remilia shot back an incensed question. "My mansion was attacked by possessed fairies. Repeatedly! I had every right to take appropriate steps. I didn't quite expect that such a minor annoyance was only the beginning of a full-blown incident, though. As soon as it became clear, I realized that cooperation would be more comfortable and effective way of its resolution, even though nothing would bring me greater satisfaction than serving the culprit the dish of revenge with my own hands…"

"Well said…" Marisa nodded with acknowledgement. "But even if what you say about Nue is true, what do you want to do about it? The tengu envoy will be here any hour, so wasting our time with some wild-goose chase could rob us of our only chance to infiltrate the temple unseen."

"We'll proceed with our infiltration as planned. If she's really here, we'll surely run into her…" Remilia replied and started to enjoy her red tea in slow sips until Suika returned from her errand.

---

"I'm hoooome~!" echoed the high-pitched voice of Suika Ibuki as she kicked the tavern door open and barged in as if she owned the place.

"About time you returned." Reimu looked at the oni in a mildly scolding way. "So… Did you bring the alchemist?"

"In a manner of speaking…" Suika stepped inside, allowing the taller figure standing behind her to enter the tavern as well. The light thumping of boots walking over the wooden floor mixed with silent hissing as the person approached the table where the girls were sitting.

"Ah, Kung-Pao-san…" Marisa extended her greeting to the half-snake, messing up his name in the process.

"That's Xeng-Yao." he rolled his yellow eyes as he corrected her.

"Yeah, that's what I said. It's nice to have you with us again."

"Like I got a choice." the alchemist grumbled and shifted his gaze at Suika. "This oni just barged into my lab and took me away; can you believe it?"

"Tee-hee~…" Suika let out an innocent giggle and put on an equally innocent-looking expression.

"So that's what they call "spirited away by oni", huh?" asked the grinning magician.

"But sssince she's one of Yukari-sama's closest friends, I sssupose I can overlook that… Ssso anyway, what are you children up to?"

"Hey, who are you calling a child?" Remilia immediately took offense from the way Xeng addressed the girls, even though it was she, who next to Suika looked the youngest.

"Come on… I bet I'm older than all four of you together." the alchemist responded without a hint of doubt.

"Even older than all four of us plus Suika?" Marisa raised an eyebrow.

Suika only shaped a broad grin. "I love bets!"

"I still think my age is greater…" As a Hourai immortal, Xeng-Yao had quite the confidence in winning this bet.

"You'll buy me a drink if you lose, though." Suika stated her victory conditions.

"Fine."

"Okay, so let's hear your age first, Xeng-Yao-san."

"Well, if memory ssstill servesss, then it should be 1873."

"Oooh… that's… admittedly older than I am, but… you did say you were older than all 5 of us, so…" Suika looked at the other girls in hope that their sum total of ages would be enough to trump that of the immortal half-snake.

"Well, they say a lady should never reveal her real age, but a bet is a bet and an oni can't lie, so… I'm precisely 1311."

"Really?" Marisa looked slightly surprised, but not by the oni's age. Her surprise stemmed from the fact that Suika, and even Xeng, for that matter, knew exactly how old they were.

"I'm just surprised, because long-lived youkai usually don't bother counting their birthdays… especially those who lived in the underground. How can one even keep track of time down there?"

"Hey, seasons in the underground change the same way they do on the surface, you know…" Suika pouted.

"Ah, right… I forgot."

"As for me, even though my age doesn't mean anything, ssince I can't die, it'sss still short enough, so it doesn't yet take me hours to just sssay the number. Of courssse, if I'll be that old, I won't bother with counting anymore."

"Well, in any case, we're losing the bet and I'm losing my drink~!" Suika flailed her little arms. "Help me out, girls!"

"I'm 508." Remilia said in a rather quiet voice.

"So that makes us 1819 years old… Hmm… still not enough."

"Sakuya is 21, right?" the vampire gave her maid a questioning glance. Not even she was certain about that, but Sakuya silently nodded.

"And here I thought she wasss Lunarian. Mussst be the hair…" Xeng breathed a slightly relieved sigh.

"It does look a bit like Eirin's but no. She's a human." Remilia denied Sakuya's possible extraterrestrial origin.

"Hmm… true. I highly doubt that such a thing as a Lunarian maid even exisssts. They've got their rabbits to do all the menial tasksss for them."

"I just turned 19 this summer." Reimu shrugged. She didn't seem to care about who would win this silly bet, but she played along anyway.

"1859. Aargh~!" Suika's last hope was the blonde magician, who yet had to reveal her age.

"I'm almost as old as Reimu." said Marisa. "Although a few months younger, so I guess still 18…"

"1877! Ha! We won!" the little oni rejoiced as she hugged the shrine maiden. "Only by a 4 year difference, but a bet is a bet, so… you know what to do, Xeng-san."

"Yeah, yeah…" the old alchemist grumbled, but instead of standing up and buying Suika a drink at the bar, he put his backpack on the table and pulled a peculiar-looking bottle out of it. As if he was prepared for it all along, he also pulled out a shot glass and filled it with the bottle's content.

"Hey, what are you doing? You were supposed to order me a beer~." Suika objected, but Xeng tried to persuade her that what he had to offer is something far better.

"Oh, but you never specified what drink you wanted, ssso you can't really complain." he passed her the shot glass with the smile of a winner on his face.

Suika just disappointedly stared at the shot glass. Even her horns seemed to have drooped a little. "Such a spoonful… There's not even enough for a sample."

"Do give it a try." the alchemist insisted. "It'sss one of my own recipesss."

Suika tentatively took the tiny glass in her fingers and took the smallest sip just to figure out the drink's taste. A second afterwards, her face reddened and as she exhaled, a bright flame spouted out of her mouth, igniting the wooden chandelier hanging over the table, as well as the tip of Marisa's hat. The girls barely managed to duck and cover to avoid the scorching fire.

"Whooo~! That surprised me." Suika admitted. "I like it."

"Yeah, you're not the only one surprised." Reimu mumbled as she crawled back up from under the table.

"Aaaah~! No! Not again!" Marisa just now noticed the small flame dancing on top of her hat.

As the bartender saw the flames, he briefly disappeared under the bar to resurface a second later with the sound of loud humming and something that looked like a water hose in his hands. And as he pulled the lever on the hose's side, a strong stream of water gushed out, making short work of the fire. Of course, the girls were not exactly happy about being soaked.

"Aaaah, running water~!" Remilia took cover under the table again.

"What the hell is that?!" Marisa, who was a bit too late to avoid the water current blinked at the bartender.

"Ah, this? It's a kappa-made motor-powered fire extinguisher." the owner of the tavern smiled as he presented the device. "After the last fairy attack when this place almost burned down and was saved only by the rain, I thought having one of those would be a wise investment. And it looks like I was right. Sorry about your clothes, though."

"Damn… Suika, this is all your fault." the witch cast an accusing gaze at the horned youkai. But instead of feeling guilt, Suika's attention was fully occupied by Xeng's bottle. "I don't know what it was, but it was really good. Can I have one more?"

"You'd have to win another bet to deserve it. Or you could buy it."

"Ehehe… I'm sort of running low on money, but I'll take another bet any time."

"I'll passss." Xeng-Yao hissed as he shook his head. "Anyway, now that we've wasssted enough time with these silly gamesss, would somebody finally tell me why was I abducted in the middle of my work?"

"Ah, about that…" Reimu was about to give him the basic briefing, but the sudden commotion that has started in the tavern drowned out her voice.

"The tengu ambassador's here!"

"Oh, right. Here they come."

"So the negotiations can begin now… Time to gather around the village hall."

Those were some of the reactions of the tavern's patrons that Reimu's ears managed to distinguish from the jumbled cacophony of voices.

"Damn… they're already here." she muttered a curse as she hurried to the exit. "There's no time. I'll have to explain everything to you as we go."

"What's all the fuss about?" Xeng-Yao apparently didn't pay much attention to most of the daily events in Gensokyo, since it appeared he had no idea what was going on in Kazemura ever since his last visit.

"Damn… I'm all soaked…" Marisa's main concern was obviously not the stress from her decision to take part in a plan that could go wrong in so many ways, but the fact that her entire dress was uncomfortably wet, heavy and cold.

Remilia and Suika were luckier, although even they didn't appear to be in a state of perfect mental calmness either. The great tengu envoy was here and they haven't even briefed one of their key team members about what they were planning.

"Something tells me this won't be a very smooth operation…" Remilia muttered quietly as she left the tavern after everyone else.

---

Time was running short. Reimu could already see the small squadron of approaching humanoid figures coming from the west. Every White Wolf tengu stationed in the village was on high alert and hurried to create two long line formations in front of the village hall.

"Looks like Sakuya's information was right." Marisa hummed as she noticed the tengu leaving heir regular stations to form the two mentioned lines. At least for a brief moment she forgot about her wet clothes.

"Yes, yes, leave your posts and gather at the hall like good obedient puppies." the vampire commented the organized chaos that has erupted in the Kazemura's tengu outpost.

"Alright, youkai." Reimu spoke to Xeng. "The plan is to get into that temple without getting spotted by anyone. You'll go ahead, since you're immortal and you'll warn us from any dangers or possible traps that might be in there."

"Whoa, really?" Xeng looked almost pleasantly surprised. At least now his immortality and immunity to physical pain could be put to good use. "We're going to sssneak in? What are we looking for inside that temple?"

"The source of the spirit incident." the miko replied briefly as she kept leading the way in a hastened pace towards the quarry pit. But as she was about to float down and descend to the bottom, she noticed that the excavation site was not entirely evacuated. "Ah… damn it! What are all those tengu still doing there?"

The envoy and his bodyguards have already landed in front of the village hall, yet the White Wolves that were stationed to guard the pit and the access to the temple itself were still standing guard at their designated posts.

"Well, this could complicate things a bit." Remilia was staring to see that her prediction was coming to life. "I hate it when I'm right sometimes…"

"Why aren't they leaving their places? You said they'd all gather to greet the envoy! You said they're oath-bound to do so!" Reimu's panic has caused her to raise her voice as she accused Remilia and her maid of being unreliable.

"Well… Who should have known there'd be that many oath-breakers?" Remilia shrugged.

"Your espionage skills suck! How are we supposed to get inside now?" the shrine maiden yelled at her, but Remilia just stoically watched her goal that was just several tens of meters away.

"Sheesh… one minor unforeseen obstacle and you're already helpless, Reimu. So what? We'll just have to use the Plan B."

"We don't have any Plan B!"

"Then we'll just make one up on the fly." the little vampire brainstormed while taking a good look around. Her sight suddenly centered on Suika, who seemed like a perfect candidate for the plan she had just come up with. "Ah, yes… That will do…" she smiled contently as she walked towards the oni.

"Hm? What?"

"The envoy already passed halfway towards the hall! We're running out of time!" Reimu let everyone know that their mission was drawing to a failure with each passing second.

"What Marisa said on that meadow gave me an idea. We'll use a diversion. You can make miniatures of yourself, right?"

"Uhh… yeah…" Suika was starting to see what was on Remilia's mind.

"Well then… what are you waiting for? Let's make them think the possessed fairies are back for revenge."

"Eh? But I don't look like a fairy… and besides, the tengu's eyesight is too sharp to confuse me…"

"Don't worry about the little things! Just do your stuff!" Remilia hushed her protests and gave her an encouraging tap on the shoulder.

Suika briefly considered the plan, but she didn't have any better ideas either. "Alright then… I'll give it a try."

Suika took off into the sky and disappeared behind the trees. After all, no magician would want the audience to see how they made their trick. In the meantime, the robed envoy was just meters away from the village hall and the elder was already preparing to greet him. To Reimu this all seemed like complete and utter failure of Remilia's plan, but the vampire hasn't folded her hand yet. The burden of success or failure now rested entirely on Suika and her actions.

"It's over… the envoy is inside the village hall. The White Wolves are already breaking the formation and returning to their posts." Reimu's gaze fell downward as she sighed resignedly.

But the miko, and pretty much the whole village of Kazemura was in for quite the surprise.

"Look!" Marisa pointed at the eastern horizon. "I see Suika's mini clones! Time to start mass hysteria, girls~." She chuckled mischievously as she took off into the air and began flying through the village, screaming: "Fairies~! Fairies incoming from the east! They're launching another attack! Everyone, get ready for battle!"

It didn't take long before the White Wolf tengu began turning their heads to the east. Suika did her best to make as many miniatures of herself as she could. The swarm of mini-Suikas didn't look as massive as the fairy swarms that attacked the village, but the oni managed to divide herself into at least a few hundred little beings. While not as intimidating at first glance, even those few hundreds could be a threat if they could sever the shimenawa rope barrier… and if they were actual possessed fairies.

"Another swarm's coming from the east!" the tengu commander drew his sword and pretty much all the White Wolves followed suit. "Sound the alarm!"

In less than a minute, the entire mining village was engulfed in chaos. The alarm bells echoed from every corner and all the occupants of the village – tengu, yama-bito and human alike were rushing out of their dwellings to see what was happening.

"We mustn't let them into the quarry!" the leader of the White Wolves shouted. "Everyone, scramble and engage them head-on! Protect the spirit ward and the village hall at all costs!"

Now that an official order from the commander was issued, not a single tengu soldier remained on the ground. They rallied together and charged the approaching "fairy swarm" without wasting any time.

Suika's distraction, as well as Marisa's alarm calls seemed to work perfectly to create an opening that the girls were waiting for.

"Wonderful…" Remilia smiled contentedly at how the situation developed. "Girls, we now have unrestrained access to the temple. It's time to cross the spirit ward."

But Marisa put a hand on her shoulder. "Um… did that one White Wolf tengu fall asleep?" She pointed at the small figure dressed in the red, white and black uniform, who in spite of all the chaos in the village and even a direct order from her superior, still stood vigilant right at the only access into the uncovered temple.

---

"Ah… that's not good." Even Remilia's smile faded when she noticed that rogue guard. "What's wrong with her? Is she deaf? She got an order to engage the fairies, so why the hell is she still standing there?!"

"Looks like the tengu have thought of everything." said Reimu. "So much for our "perfect" plan…"

"Um… isn't she standing there simply because she can't take off?" Sakuya suddenly reminded all the girls that the solitary tengu guard was standing right in the middle of a powerful anti-magic field.

"Oh… right. But she's still a problem."

And as if the girls didn't have enough problems, another tengu noticed their little gathering at the edge of the quarry pit.

"Ayayayaya~! Another fairy attack and you girls are just calmly standing here?" the reporter crow tengu, Aya Shameimaru landed right in the middle of their little circle. "By the way, nice of you to notice the fairies while they were still far from the village, Marisa… What's wrong?" she noticed that all four of the girls were staring daggers at her. Only Xeng-Yao's glance was neutral.

"We'd just get into their way…" Reimu waved her hand as she gave her an excuse why she was just idly standing and not fighting the fairies.

But then Aya said something that made everyone a little nervous. "You know… White Wolves are generally known for their sharp senses. Especially sight and smell. So… I wonder how long it's going to take them to find out that they're going up against a swarm of oni…"

"And the jig is up…" Reimu has completely given up on the idea of entering the temple undetected. If even Aya knew that the fairy attack was a ruse, there was simply no way the girls would set a foot inside the temple without being chased by a company of tengu soldiers.

"Good. Can I go home now?" the immortal alchemist wondered if his presence in the village was still necessary.

"What's the matter, Reimu?" Aya smiled sweetly at the shrine maiden. "You look so sad. Don't worry. Aya's here to help you out~."

"W-what?"

"Eh?" even Marisa was shocked by Aya's words.

"Lucky for you, I found out about your plan before the whole thing started."

Reimu blinked at her confusedly. "Y-you did? How?"

"From a well-informed source." the crow tengu widened her smile and looked at Patchouli's tent that stood nearby. "You can come out now… I think…"

A moment later, Koakuma's shy face popped out from behind the tent. It seemed she was hiding and watching the whole thing.

"Koakuma!" Remilia gasped. "You told the tengu about our plan! Did Patchouli sign you up for this? No… there's no way she could have known about it."

"I think you should thank that little devil." said Aya as she beckoned Koakuma to come out of her hiding and join the girls. "If she didn't tell me about your plan, I wouldn't be able to help you overcome your last remaining obstacle…" she slowly walked to the edge of the pit to take a look at the lone guard. "Well, if it isn't Momiji." Her excellent sight was able to identify the White Wolf tengu even from such a distance.

"Inubashiri? Then… perhaps we could convince her to let us through?" Marisa really wondered how Aya planned to help them here.

"No, I'm afraid not. We're not exactly on the best terms with each other… I wonder why the commander chose her to guard the temple while all the other soldiers are fighting off the oni… I mean the "fairy" menace. But it's strange… I would have sworn I saw her among the other White Wolves that went after the fake fairies. Must one of those déjà vu moments…"

"Then how are you going to "help" us?"

"We'll need to make it look like an accident." Aya hummed as she rubbed her chin.

"Make WHAT look like an accident?" the witch expected a little more specific answer.

That's when she noticed Aya wrapping her fingers around the handle of her leaf-shaped fan.

"Wait, are you really going to…?"

"Forgive me, Momiji." the crow tengu apologized before she gently waved the wrist of the hand that held the fan. She thus created a concentrated blast of strong wind that was sent right at the unsuspecting White Wolf tengu girl.

In the following second the girls witnessed as Momiji suddenly flailed her arms in an attempt to maintain balance, but failing and falling through the temple's window inside.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaah~!"

"Oh my! Someone fell into the temple!" Aya pretended that she just noticed the event and wanted to help out. "We need to do something!"

"Damn…" Marisa cringed when she thought about how deep and painful Momiji's fall had to be. "I don't think she's going to like you much more after this."

"She doesn't even know what hit her." Aya reassured her and floated over the shimenawa rope fence into the quarry pit.

"Well, it's now or never." Remilia shrugged and followed suit. Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya caught up to her shortly afterwards.

---

Everyone and especially Reimu could feel as their magic is rapidly seeping away once they entered the dangerous zone over the excavation site. By the time they made it to the window where Momiji fell trough, they couldn't even keep themselves afloat. As a non-flyer, Xeng-Yao just took a dive right from the edge of the pit; fell over 10 meters and with an unpleasant crackling sound of breaking bones, landed flat on the rocky bottom. He didn't mind it, though, as the Hourai Elixir regenerated his body and he was able to stand up within seconds.

"Momiji, it's me, Aya! Are you alright?" Aya poked her head into the temple's window, but besides pitch-black darkness, she couldn't see a thing. Only a weak moan could be heard from somewhere below.

"Hnnn… Aya?"

"Yeah! Are you hurt?"

"N-no. I'm fine… But I can't fly out of here!"

"Don't worry, Momiji, we'll get you out!" the crow tengu reassured her.

In the meantime, Koakuma made it to the temple with a coil of rope in one hand and a pack of torches in the other.

"Okay. Tie that rope around that stone obelisk."

Koakuma nodded and without hesitation began fixing one end of the rope around the mentioned obelisk, so that the girls could safely and painlessly descend as well as get out of the temple once their job is done.

"Done!" the little devil showed an "ok" gesture.

"Alright… let's go. One by one, but don't take all day." Reimu tightly grabbed the rope and slowly approached the dark window backwards.

"It's going to be hard for you to descend without a light, Reimu." Aya halted her.

"But I can't hold a torch. I need both my hands to hold the rope."

"Don't worry. Momiji's going to help you." said Aya just as Koakuma passed her one lit torch. "Momiji! We're dropping a torch down there, so try not to get hit in the head!"

"Okay!" echoed Momiji's reply from the darkness.

True to her word, Aya let the burning torch fall to the bottom. The weak light it provided was still enough for her to see that Momiji was alright and without a scratch, just a little freaked-out. Reimu looked over her shoulder and slowly began her descent. That's when Momiji objected.

"Hey! Why are you going down here? I don't need your help! I can climb up by myself!"

"Hush, puppy!" the descending shrine maiden silenced her. "We have an important job to do here."

"So my fall wasn't an accident?" It was obvious from the wolf tengu's voice that she wasn't very pleased about it.

"Sorry about that, Momi~." Aya apologized from above before she quickly and deftly climbed the rope down after Reimu. "It was for a good cause. You endured your fall bravely and hey, there's not a scratch on you, so why should you even complain, right?"

"Shameimaru… Aya." Momiji had a bitter expression on her face as her lips let out the crow tengu's name.

"This thing is even bigger than the Vampire Incident… if you can still remember that one. If Lord Tenma was to win the negotiation, he certainly wouldn't want any non-tengu even setting a foot near the temple, and the threat of the vengeful spirits would never be averted. Only now we have an opportunity to explore this place before any of the involved parties claims the right to enter it."

"You doubt Lord Tenma's competence?" Momiji's right sword-wielding arm jerked a bit as she almost subconsciously pointed the blade's tip at Aya. "I should have you all arrested."

"I know how you feel about this, but… there's seven of us and only one of you. Your fellow White Wolves are busy dealing with a false alarm and you can't even fly, let alone use danmaku, so… I'd say you don't have a choice."

Sakuya was the third girl to make it down to the dark hall, ready to watch over her lady's safe descent.

"If you slip, I'm ready to catch you, my lady!"

She soon found out that her worries were completely unnecessary, as the vampire made it down in the most impressive fashion that made even Reimu nod in acknowledgement. She hopped down and halfway during her fall, she flapped her bat wings once, which was enough to slow her fall down to make a soft landing.

"You can still fly?" Marisa was impressed too.

"Only magic and divine energies are drained by this place. I can still use my youkai abilities and my wings, though."

To confirm her claim, the little devil familiar copied Remilia's way of descent and glided down in a spiral motion. Lastly, the immortal snake youkai, completely uncaring about his personal safety simply dropped down and crashed in what looked like a very painful fall, but it was of no consequence, like all injuries ever since he drank the forbidden medicine.

The party was now complete, with Momiji unwillingly becoming its eighth member.

"Trust us," Marisa patted Momiji's shoulder, "we're only shortening the inevitable. See… what would happen if Tenma was to win the negotiations? He'd try to send his best people to try and solve the incident, who'd be unable to figure out what to do, so he'd call in the shrine maiden." she pointed at Reimu. "And that shrine maiden would bring a bunch of friends along to get the job done quicker, so… in a sense, we're saving everyone a lot of time." A silly grin at the end of her justification only intensified the scowl on Momiji's face.

"And you all believe you know what you're going to do down here…"

"Sure. Find the culprit, beat them up, loot some treasures and go home." the witch shrugged as she explained her incident-solving modus operandi.

"That's nothing that Lord Tenma and the tengu couldn't take care of…" the wolf tengu girl apparently disagreed with them, but as she looked around herself, she understood that she alone would not be able to stop them. "I'm outnumbered, so I can't detain you physically, but if you'll go any further into the temple, I'm going to climb up that rope and report your trespass to the others."

"And that is exactly why you're coming with us." Remilia announced with a smug smile. "Koakuma and I are the only ones who can fly here, so now that you've revealed your intention to us, I know exactly what I need to do. Koakuma, fly up there and pull the rope all the way up, so that nobody who doesn't have wings could get out of here."

"Okay~." the devil girl chirped happily as she took off to carry out the task. She really felt special now that she was one of the two only persons present whose flying ability was unaffected.

Momiji gritted her teeth angrily as she watched her only hope and leverage of preventing the trespassers from venturing even further disappear from her view. Koakuma flew back in to report that she had accomplished her mission.

"Well done, Koa. Everyone, grab a torch and let Xeng-san lead the way."

"You're not getting out of this unpunished." Momiji warned the girls as she touched Remilia with the tip of her finger, at which the vampire gasped in shock.

"My lady, are you alright?" Sakuya tilted her head, not sure what made her lady react that way.

"And you're not… Momiji Inubashiri." said the vampire once she saw and felt the fate string knot.

"What?!"

"Come again?"

"Eeeeeh?!"

"Say what?"

Everyone reacted in a similar way except for Momiji herself. She just stood there for a moment, only blinking her eyes a few times before she broke the silence with an amused giggle and raising her hands in surrender. "Ahahaha~! You got me, you got me~."

Not a second later, her entire body became a disfigured blur that reshaped itself back, this time revealing the girl's true form. Short black hair instead of white, a black dress with a short skirt, a pair of matching thigh-highs, a long trident instead of her sword and the shield reformed into a snake that coiled around her arm. A pair of asymmetrical blue and red wings protruded from behind her.

"Nue!" Marisa blurted out.

"You know, I got a potion that doesss something like that." Xeng remarked as he observed the transformation with mild amazement.

"I knew I saw Momiji flying towards the Suika swarm a moment ago! That was no déjà vu." Aya finally realized that her senses were still as good as ever, only she didn't put enough trust in them this time.

"You saw through my disguise, but… let me ask. Was it a convincing acting?" Nue wanted to know what others thought.

"Fate strings never lie." Remilia traced an intangible, invisible line leading to the shapeshifter. "So… you sold my precious red tea to the tavern keeper? If you didn't want it, you shouldn't have accepted it in the first place you know."

While Remilia was conversing with Nue in an almost friendly manner, Reimu immediately assaulted her with questions.

"What were you doing here, posing as one of the tengu? Are you a spy for Byakuren?"

"No, Hijiri doesn't really know about it." replied the nue with a denying headshake.

"So why are you here then?" Reimu repeated her first question.

"I… can't tell you that."

"What was that?" the miko stepped a little closer in an intimidating way and began to softly tap her purification rod against her palm. "A youkai is going to talk back to me? Maybe I should simply make you tell me the truth."

Few youkai in Gensokyo would remain calm and cocky when the Hakurei maiden threatened them, but this nue only scoffed at her. Reimu's blood was slowly but certainly reaching the boiling point in face of such arrogance.

"You are really asking for it!"

"You're in no position to interrogate me, let alone make any threats." Nue grinned as she reminded Reimu that she was deep in the zone of no magic and no divine powers. "Down here you're just an ordinary teenage girl."

Reimu realized that she had to change her tactics in order to get an answer out of Nue in this situation. "Then maybe you'd like us to tell Byakuren about your shady activities."

Surprisingly enough, this threat worked like a charm.

"N-no. Please… don't tell Hijiri about this!" the shapeshifter's dark-red eyes blinked pleadingly.

"Hmmm~. I'll think about it. But only if you tell us what you were trying to accomplish here!"

"Well…" Nue bashfully tapped her index fingers against each other as she hesitated to answer.

"Well…?"

"There is this youkai in the outside world… We've been good friends for as long as I can remember."

"What? There's a youkai still living in the outside world?" the miko raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Fool! There are still thousands of youkai, not just living, but thriving in the outside world even now. Did you really believe the entire world's youkai population is living in Gensokyo like sheep in a corral? We live all over the world."

"So you're telling me you wanted to slip through the barrier to meet that friend of yours? As if I'd allow that to happen!"

"Precisely. I knew that using the most well-known gateway to the outside world was out of the question. I had to look for an alternative…"

"Alternative? You mean… this temple…?"

"Yes. Didn't you know? This temple right here houses a portal. And not just any portal. It's supposedly a portal that enables one to instantly travel from here to any other temple, torii and even mirror in the outside world. Provided the mirror is large enough for one to fit through, of course."

"And you know this from where?"

"The tengu already have more information about this building than you. All thanks to the unique talent of one girl who once worked as a part of your wonderful archeological expedition team."

"What?" Reimu wasn't the only one who gasped from this surprising news.

"D-don't look at me like that~!" Koakuma waved her palms in the air. "I didn't know anything. Honest~!"

"It wasn't her, indeed." Nue confirmed Koakuma's innocence in this matter. "It was Hatate Himekaidou and her deep analytic spirit photography that gave the tengu faction the informational upper hand. At least until a few days ago."

"Hatate?!" Aya couldn't believe her own pointy ears. "She's here?!"

"Oh, yes." Nue nodded. "In one of the tents. But not working as a freelance newspaper editor this time. She's here on an assignment that was given to her by the great Tenma himself. An honor she couldn't refuse."

"Well I'll be… Hatate was hired by Lord Tenma. I don't think I can stomach that… Not that I'm jealous, but by the fact that someone thinks she and her questionable information gathering methods are good for something."

"Apparently, all that I've told you about the temple and its portal, she was able to learn just from spirit photography alone."

"So how did you know about Hatate and her mission?"

"I'm not foolish enough to dive head-first into an unexplored temple, especially after what Hijiri said about the vengeful spirits and how scary they are. But the tengu who have occupied this village all seemed so calm and confident, and they didn't even mind guarding that same post where I was standing, so… I decided to find out what they know first. After all, a tengu has more secrets than aralia has leaves, or so the saying goes. That probably answers your question why I was masquerading as a tengu guard."

"I guess so, but why Momiji of all White Wolves?" Aya inquired.

"Because, Himekaidou-san's mission is a secret one. No one is supposed to know she's here. She never leaves her tent and only a few select White Wolves are assigned to permanently guard the tent."

"Heh, even now she's a shut-in." Aya giggled amusedly.

"The person who I copied just happened to be one of them, so I had to learn her behavior, her way of speech, her accent and all the minute character quirks, so that I could convincingly act my part and get to all the information. One small mistake and her camera could reveal my true form. So… did I play her well, Shameimaru-san?"

"Uh… yeah." Aya embarrassedly scratched the back of her neck. "You really got me fooled; just… your voice was a bit different."

"Ah, the voice. Unfortunately, I can't disguise that."

"Voice imitations aside, I want to ask one thing. Since the White Wolves aren't afraid to guard the temple, does that mean it's safe?"

"From what I learned, yes. At least for now. According to her analysis, the temple doesn't have any graveyard; only an underground crypt deeper in the catacombs and that is too small to be the source of so many vengeful spirits. And from her latest photos, she detected no spectral presence in the entire complex."

"Then where did all the spirits come from? That portal?" Marisa furrowed her brow.

"That seems like the only logical answer. Perhaps they're souls from the outside world. The only thing that's a bit annoying is the anti-magic bubble that we're in. Well, for some reason youkai abilities are unhindered, so I don't really mind."

"Did Hatate figure out its source?"

Nue shrugged, as she had no clue. "She wasn't able to pinpoint any concrete object. Maybe it's because of that portal I told you about."

"Where is that portal?" Reimu wanted to see the thing with her own eyes.

"How should I know? I'm down here for the first time and it's not like I was able to peek into Himekaidou's photos and notes for too long. We'll just have to find it ourselves, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Ah, never mind." Nue waved her hand, hoping that her little tongue-slip would go unnoticed. "Anyway, I told you everything I learned from my time in Himekaidou's tent. Now promise me you won't tell Hijiri that I was here."

"Why are you so afraid to let Byakuren know that you wanted to see an old friend?" Reimu couldn't understand. "Not that I'm going to let you through that portal, if it indeed exists."

"True. She IS a nue and she could have made the whole thing up just to mislead us." Marisa pointed out as she gave the shapeshifter a mistrustful glance.

"Yeah, a pity we don't have Satori-san with us this time." said Aya, making Koakuma shudder lightly.

"Please don't say the S-word in my presence. Especially in a scary place like this~."

"Fine." Nue pouted, offended by everyone's suspicion. "Don't believe me. Like I care. I just don't want you to rat me out to Hijiri, since… well… it's a long story. But you'll find out one day."

"Trying to get to the outside world will only get you into trouble." Reimu gave her a warning, but Nue's confident smile didn't fade.

"Maybe."

"Maybe it'll even get you into trouble with me, or Marisa."

"Or that other miko." added Remilia. "Or even that half-phantom samurai wannabe."

"Maybe." Nue repeated. She was determined to go after her goal and no amount of warnings, threats or other obstacles would stop her.

"You just don't listen, do you?"

"Only when I want to~." the nue replied playfully.

"Okay, now how about we went looking for that portal? You know… jusssst a suggestion." Xeng-Yao impatiently tapped his foot against the stone floor of the dark hall.

"Good idea." Marisa grabbed a torch and lit it against Reimu's. The other girls followed suit and soon there was enough light in the hall to reveal the same strange symbols that decorated the outer obelisks to be engraved all over its walls.

"This is going to be a pain for Patchy to translate…" Remilia almost felt pity for her friend.

"True, but that's not what we're here for anyway, so let's just find that portal." Aya suggested.

Besides the thick stone pillars that supported the ceiling, there wasn't much inside the large hall. There were no desks, but there were various small statues, ceremonial water basins and one main altar assembled in a symmetrical fashion. The main gate, which appeared to be made of wood, seemed to be unharmed, even though the whole temple was buried under a mass of rock, which was at one point a searing molten mass. One could only wonder what sorcery protected the temple from certain doom and preserved it in an almost pristine condition for all those millennia.

"Creepy statues." Marisa noted as she walked past one of them.

"Better not touch them." Reimu advised her.

"Wouldn't touch them with a 10-foot pole."

"I don't see any known religious symbols." Remilia scanned the altar, the pillars as well as the ceiling.

The air inside was damp and heavy, but the group continued on towards the altar, where they saw the only passage leading deeper into the temple's bowels.

"Over there." Aya pointed forward.

Passing through the arched passage the girls and one male youkai found themselves in a narrow corridor that sloped slightly downwards. They needed to walk behind each other in a line in order to get through. And as they walked in wordless silence, listening to every little sound that could herald danger, Aya couldn't help but to notice the loud, slow and deep breathing coming from the person walking behind her.

"Um… Reimu? Could you please stop? It's very unnerving."

"Eh?" the shrine maiden quizzically looked back at her. "What am I doing?"

"Why are you breathing so loud? Are you feeling sick? Should we go back to the hall?"

But Reimu still had no clue what was Aya talking about. "I'm breathing normally. What's your problem?"

"That's my line. Everyone, hush down for a moment."

The whole group stood still in complete silence. Now that loud breathing could be heard by everyone, even Reimu herself. And what startled the shrine maiden the most was the fact that the sound was coming from her.

"Aya's right." Marisa confirmed. "You are breathing a little loud."

"W-what's that?!" Reimu's eyes widened in shock as she asked with a shaky voice. "A vengeful spirit? No way!"

That's when Remilia realized something. "Hold on a second."

"Have I been possessed? Now that my divine powers are disabled… I… I…" poor girl was on the verge of fainting; only Remilia's idea prevented that scenario.

"Patchy's medallion. You took it with you, right?"

"Eh? Y-yeah." Reimu blinked as she slid her free hand underneath her vest to get a hold of that round amulet that she wore all the time. She wore it long enough to consider it just another part of her clothing, sometimes even forgetting that she had it, like now.

Upon closer observation, Reimu realized that the breathing sounds were coming directly from the amulet.

"It's the medallion!" she called out as she pulled it from under her top and held it in her palm. Only one person who had any connection to the trinket came to mind. "It's Yukari! I just know it!"

That indeed sounded like a possibility to all the group members who had any knowledge about the bimetallic amulet.

"Holy cow, Reimu, you're right!" Marisa parted her lips in amazement.

"And by the sound of it, she's… sleeping?" Remilia tilted her head.

"That's Yukarin, alright." the witch now had no doubts about the source of the breathing. "So she HAD something to do with this incident after all. We must be getting close, now that we're within the medallion's operation radius."

Reimu immediately tried to establish communication with the long-absent youkai by yelling at the medallion. "Yukari! Hey! Yukari, can you hear me? It's Reimu!"

To her disappointment, however, the only reaction she got from the other side was a few incomprehensible murmurs, like those of a sleep-talking person.

"Give me that amulet." Remilia demanded suddenly as she extended her open palm.

"What?" Reimu refused to part with it, as the vampire's demand was rather sudden and unclear.

"Give me the amulet, Reimu." she repeated. "If we're close enough, I may be able to track its fate string all the way to where Yukari is right now."

Now Reimu didn't hesitate to surrender her medallion to Remilia for a while as she didn't sound like she wanted to betray her. The shrine maiden has long since forgotten that the original owner of the amulet was in fact from the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Here."

"Thanks." Remilia clenched the amulet tightly in both hands, as it was too large for her to hold in one palm. After a quick glance, her scarlet eyes glittered with hope and a faint smile appeared on her face. "I see a promising line… It leads further down the corridor. Let's see where it leads."

"Alright then. Xeng-san, lead on." Reimu asked the immortal, who served as a trap bait and always walked first to check for anything that could threaten the other team members.

"As you sssay, Reimu-san."

---

After a while, they reached the end of the narrow tunnel and found themselves inside a strange, not-too-large round room with its ceiling even higher from the ground than it was in the main hall. A small ray of sunlight was shining in through a small opening somewhere near the top and reflecting from what appeared to be a mirror placed horizontally in the middle of the room on top of a pedestal, facing the ceiling. Another passage was at the opposite end of the room, but this time it led down in a steeper angle and the sloping floor was replaced with stairs.

"And what room is this, I wonder." Sakuya quizzically eyed the interior from top to bottom.

"I believe we are now right under, or should I say at the bottom of that tower-like extension that was among the first things along with the obelisks to be unearthed." Aya quickly identified the location.

"Doesn't look like one was supposed to climb up to the top of the tower…" said Marisa. "There are no stairs or even a ladder. Unless the folks who built it knew how to fly, that is. And what's with that mirror over here?"

"It reflects the sunlight from the top." the crow tengu stated the obvious, but then she noticed something that her eyes missed the first time they looked at it. "And the mirror is leaned… in that direction. I can only guess what purpose it served. I also wonder whether the pedestal is leaned from the ravages of time or intentionally."

"We can try to solve that mystery later." Reimu returned everyone's focus back to what they were following. "Where does the fate string lead now, Remilia?"

"Further down." the bat-winged girl replied as she bobbed her head towards the descending stairway.

"Then let's go." Reimu urged the team to move on.

After an agreeing nod from Xeng, the team resumed its slow descent into the deepest parts of the temple. Remilia kept her eyes on the medallion as she walked and listened to the continuing sounds of someone's sleep breathing. Occasionally the sounds would be interrupted by some muttering. This time, the team was even able to hear some words.

"Mnmnfm. Ran's tails are so nice and fluffy~." The voice was definitely female, and to all those who ever encountered the boundary youkai, an unmistakable sign that it belonged to her.

"I don't know if she really can't hear us through that amulet, or if she's just so fast asleep that nothing will wake her up." Remilia wondered as she kept walking down the stairs.

The spiraling staircase leading down was relatively short. There wasn't anything unusual about it save for one iron half-circle frame that jutted out of the wall and looked like a candle stand, but had a thin groove along its entire length, as if it was meant to hold something. Xeng eyed it with a healthy dose of suspicion as he walked around it, but it didn't seem to trigger any trap even when he tried touching it.

"What is that?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know. I didn't build thissss place."

"I don't know either." said Nue. "But I think we're about to enter the crypt. It should be directly under the main hall."

As Xeng continued forward and already saw the end of the staircase, a sudden loud mechanical noise startled him for a second.

"Kyaaaah~!" Koakuma let out a shocked scream and clung to the nearest person, which was Sakuya.

"Xeng-san, are you alright?" the maid, like all the other girls witnessed as a multitude of spears sprung out of the wall and impaled the half-snake in more than one spot.

"Oh, look, there are ssstill active trapsss around here." he stated with stoic calmness. "I felt that last step was a little loose as I ssstepped on it. Probably that triggered the spear trap."

"A-aren't you hurt?" Aya asked with a trembling voice, even though she knew about Xeng-Yao's immortality. "Hurry, girls, we should get him out of there!"

"Hurt? Ahahaha! That'sss a good one." he laughed as she coughed up some blood. "Nah, I'm fine, really. I jussst can't move right now and am blocking your path along with these spearsss."

"Stand aside, I'll break them apart." Remilia offered her vampiric strength to help him out, but the alchemist kindly refused.

"No need for that, young lady." With his one free hand, he reached down to his belt, where he had a set of various potion flasks strapped for immediate use. He took one of those flasks and with the help of his teeth, removed the cork. "I'd recommend you to ssstand back. Thisss acid smellsss very nasssty."

"Acid?" asked Marisa.

"Yessss. A very potent one." Xeng nodded as he spilled a small amount of the liquid over the spear poles. With a loud hiss and a tear-inducing white vapor, the acid immediately began eating away the iron, corroding it within seconds.

"Pew~! That's gross." Remilia pinned her nose with her fingers, which made the rest of the girls follow suit with a different grimace of displeasure.

In just a few moments, all the spears that were pinning the immortal down were now severed, but still lodged in his body. One by one he removed them simply by pulling them out. "It's a pity that Hourai Elixir doesn't work on your clothes too…"

"I could have just broken the spears and pulled them out of you. It'd be much faster and definitely less noxious."

"Sssorry. But I'm used to handling my problems by myself."

"Weren't you just trying to use every situation to advertise your products?" asked Marisa, when the air became at least breathable.

"That'sss… part of the reason." Xeng smiled sheepishly as he pulled the last spear out of his gut. His wound closed up in the next moment. "But isn't it wonderful?"

"What is?"

"The presence of trapsss in a temple. That meansss a high chance of something valuable being kept inssside the crypt."

"Maybe they just didn't want anyone desecrating the tomb." Sakuya shrugged.

"Wherever there are traps, there's got to be treasure, I tell you." Xeng-Yao insisted.

And wherever there's treasure, there's got to be...

"What's that light over there?" Aya saw a flickering orange light at the end of the dark passageway ahead. It looked like regular torchlight, but even that was enough to unsettle her.

"There's someone down here besides us!"

"Ehehehe~." Nue tried her best to make her giggle sound innocent, but nobody would buy it this time.

"You know something? Tell us!" Reimu hissed at Nue, as she tried to keep her voice down, but sound intimidating at the same time.

"Why don't you go and see for yourself?" smiled the shape-shifting girl. "It's obviously someone who's better at avoiding traps."

Reimu contemplated the thought of whacking the nue with her wand to knock some sense into her, but something distracted her from her musings.

"I'll go on ahead then." Xeng volunteered to scout ahead and find out whose torch light was illuminating the chamber at the end of the tunnel. It was probably for the better, since when he was halfway through, the floor suddenly opened up under his feet, and the half-snake disappeared from everyone's sight. "Whoaaaa~!"

"Another trap." Remilia stated in an unamused tone.

"You told us this place would be safe." Marisa looked accusingly at Nue.

"Yes, from the vengeful spirits, but not form the traps."

"You could have at least mentioned them. Or was getting rid of us a part of your plan?"

"I thought they'd be disarmed already." Nue tried to excuse herself, but at this point she couldn't possibly become any more suspicious in everyone's eyes. She didn't mind that the slightest, though. She walked over to the edge of the pitfall where Xeng-Yao fell. The alchemist waved at her from the bottom, which was, unsurprisingly fitted with spikes and littered with a few skeletons of previous unwelcome visitors. Again the group had to wait while he freed himself from this entrapment. With Koakuma's aid he was pulled back from the death pit and could continue heading on through the passage.

---

No unpleasant surprises awaited him at the end of the tunnel as he entered a large chamber. It was no smaller than the main hall above. He found himself standing on top of some sort of balcony, from where two sets of stairs led down to the bottom along the walls. Soon after he made it there, the rest of the team caught up to him and gazed upon the chamber's interior with no small amount of amazement. The source of the light, as it turned out, was not a single torch, but a whole set of them, already placed along walls, pillars and directly below the balcony. Nobody saw anyone, though.

"Just look at the size of this place." Reimu couldn't even see the end of the hall with the light provided by the torches. "Remilia, are we going the right way?"

"We are." the Scarlet Devil nodded. "Further down the stairs, but then we must turn back, facing this balcony."

"Okay, slowly and carefully down the stairs, everyone."

After choosing one side to descend to the bottom, the group continued on, noticing that there were three levels at which one could leave the stairs and continue along the ledges, much like in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library. The walls were not lined with books, though, but with stone panels, each bearing different symbols. Even though the whole hall wasn't well lit, one could estimate their number to be in hundreds, if not thousands.

"Are these all graves?" Marisa wondered about the panels as she climbed down the stairs along with the rest of the team.

"That would be the most logical thing to be in a crypt, yes." Nue sarcastically flattered her observation.

"Didn't you say the crypt's too small to be the origin of so many spirits?" Reimu reminded her.

The shapeshifter tilted her head to the side as she sized the whole room up and shook her head afterwards. "There may be a lot of graves here at first glance, but definitely not a hundred thousand. That was about the size of the fairy swarm we had to deal with back then…"

"Ever considered the option of multiple bodies being buried in one grave?" Aya asked with a smirk.

"That's a possibility, I admit. But I'm sure the one down there will be able to tell you more about this crypt." Nue gestured at the end of the staircase, where the team was headed.

"I can hardly wait to meet them." Reimu prepared herself for whatever could await her at the crypt's bottom level.

Once there, everyone's attention was drawn to the huge arch that spanned form both sides of the crypt all the way up to the balcony where the girls descended from. No symbols on the wall itself, just blank stone. And standing in front of that huge arch was a small shadowy figure wielding a strange pair of sticks, tapping them against the stone and listening to the sounds they made. Only now the figure turned around after sensing someone else's presence.

"Kyaaaaah~! How did you all get down here? Oh… Nue is that you?" a girly voice came from the mysterious figure's lips and she slowly stepped into the light of the torches.

A short girl with a pair of mouse ears and a tail appeared, casting puzzled glances at everyone present.

"Yeah, Nazrin. It's me." Nue breathed a sigh of guilt.

"You were supposed to watch the entrance and make sure nobody would fund us!" the mouse girl chided the shapeshifter.

"Sorry." Nue lowered her head. "I wouldn't be able to stop them anyway. They all came down here in hope of solving the spirit incident."

"Did the negotiations already end so quickly?" Nazrin blinked surprisedly.

"No. They've only begun." Aya informed her calmly, yet her face still showed a decent level of confusion as to what she and Nue intended to do down here. "May I ask what business YOU have in this temple?"

"I second that question." the shrine maiden stepped up to her.

"Looking for treasure, of course~!" Nazrin beamed at her and excitedly pointed at the wall of the arch behind her. "See? This is it!"

"The treasure?"

"No~. It's the portal to other realms~! Although, right now, it's closed and I don't know what opens it."

"What about the crypt?" Marisa was curious about something else. "Are there any valuables in the graves?"

"From a simple thief to a grave-robber. That's some development there, Marisa." Reimu jested at her friend's question.

"No, strangely enough." Nazrin's answer surprised the witch. "It seemed like there were some artifacts buried along with the dead, but now, all the treasures from this temple are gone. My dowsing rods keep constantly pointing at this arch here. As if there was something behind it, but…" she paused to knock on the wall with the mentioned rods again, which didn't have any effect besides making some noise. "There's nothing behind it. It's a solid wall. No cavities. No secret tunnel. A dead end."

"Reimu." Remilia lifted her eyes from the medallion.

"What is it?"

"The fate string. It leads and disappears right into that wall."

"Eh? Fate string? Do you have some new dowsing device there?" Nazrin blinked at them cluelessly.

"So it is true… The portal exists."

"As much as it pains me to admit it, Hatate does deserve some credit for figuring it out without even stepping inside." said Aya.

"Hey, don't I also deserve some credit for figuring it out from her?" Nue flashed a smile full of mischief.

"Indeed you do." Aya praisingly tapped her shoulder. "Say... do you want to start working for Bunbunmaru Newspaper?"

"I'll pass." the youkai of the unknown form turned down Aya's offer in a heartbeat.

"Girls!" Reimu agitatedly stomped her foot on the ground to get attention. "Cut this nonsense! We need to find out how to open this portal."

"Is that really the best idea?" Sakuya wondered.

"It is." Nue nodded affirmatively. "I want to see my good old Mamizou again."

"Not on my watch!" Reimu re-declared her staunch promise not to allow any youkai leave Gensokyo as they please.

"But you want to see your own youkai friend too, am I not correct?" Nue's lips still formed that same confident smile. "This portal will be opened, either by you or by me and Nazrin. It's only a matter of time."

"Unless the mastermind behind the incident beats us to it." Marisa made a very good point. None of the girls could dare to guess when the portal would re-open to bring a host of evil spirits into Gensokyo yet once more. Nor could anybody know where the portal would take them, if they managed to open it. But Reimu realized the truth in Nue's words. The fate string showed Yukari passed through the portal and she was willing to go to any length to follow her there.