Chapter 65 – Seven Years Bad Luck
"I don't think we're going to figure out how to open it today." Marisa proclaimed skeptically. Reimu would very much like to disagree with her, but the portal wasn't opening up no matter how long she kept staring at it.
"So we are to simply go back to our tent after all the trouble of coming down here?!" Remilia raised her voice at the witch. "I'm staying right here."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I don't plan to camp here." the magician's only hope was the idea that Nazrin and Nue might have a clue how to unseal the dormant portal. "Nazrin, are there any more rooms in this temple?"
"None that I'd know of." replied the mouse youkai. Ï wish I knew how to read those weird letters. Maybe then I'd know what to do to activate this portal…"
"And much to our dismay, the only one who can decipher that gibberish is Patchy." Remilia now regretted that her old friend wasn't there. "Sure, it would take her some time, but she could definitely translate at least the text on that arch."
"If my ideas and opinions mean anything to you," Aya tentatively raised her hand as she spoke, "I have a gut feeling that we should first try to figure out the purpose of that mirror tower in order to learn the mystery of the portal."
"Yeah, that strange tower made me scratch my head too." Nazrin admitted. "But I was too focused on this portal wall to study the tower more closely."
"Just curious, but how long have you been here?" asked the journalist.
"A few hours? I don't know." the girl's shrug hinted that she didn't keep an exact track of time when she was immersed in her treasure hunting. "Is the sun still up?"
"And how did you manage to get inside ahead of us?"
"I used my mouse form to slip in~." Nazrin wagged her tail lightly. "For some reason youkai abilities work even here."
"Yes, we know that." Aya gave her a nod. "Whoever's behind this incident and this portal wants to make sure no gods or shrine maidens interfere with their plan. Little do they know that more than one youkai is eager to stop them."
"So our enemy is a youkai, huh? That's something we suspected from the very beginning." said Marisa.
"It would only make sense." the crow tengu elaborated. "Disable everyone's powers while keeping your own. That's quite a scary ability… If you ask me, my suspicion towards Yakumo-san keeps growing more and more."
"That makes two of us." Remilia shared Aya's idea at least partially. "She's always up to something…"
That's when Reimu recalled her dream where she heard Yukari's voice. "That dream…"
"Ah, that's right!" Marisa caught on quickly. "Reimu had this weird dream the other day, in which Yukari spoke to her. What was that she said again?"
Reimu had that expression on her face as when an idea clicked inside her head.
"It was kind of distorted, but the one part I did make out was her asking me to seal the gateway when I get the chance… Maybe this is the gateway she was talking about."
"Well, doesn't that make your job easier?" Marisa chuckled after a sarcastic remark. "The gateway's already sealed shut."
"All those vengeful spirits had to come from somewhere, though." Reimu was certain that their origin was the very stone wall she was gazing at. "Maybe we're here at the wrong time…"
"Aww~." Nue's disappointment from not being able to cross the barrier even from this location was as obvious as Reimu's frustration. "I thought I'd finally see her again."
"I'm sorry, Nue." Nazrin bowed in apology. "I'm at wit's end here. Maybe we should take a better look at the mirror tower after all." she hummed as she was seriously beginning to consider Aya's suggestion.
"What if we won't solve its mystery in time? The negotiations won't last forever. I'd say we have a couple of hours at best." Nue looked worriedly at the mouse youkai.
"We have to give it a try."
"Besides…" Aya interjected as she proudly turned her nose slightly upwards. "You have me on your team. My tengu intellect will surely figure out this puzzle long before the negotiating parties leave the village hall."
"Don't get too full of yourself or you might explode." Remilia scornfully muttered at Aya's bold declaration.
"Like you're the one to talk." Reimu told the vampire, even though she slightly agreed with her. It was usually the Scarlet Devil who had the tendency to think and speak highly of herself. Now that Aya dared to compete, though, Reimu even started hoping that she'll know what to do to get the portal open.
"Back to the mirror tower we go." the shrine maiden gestured to others to follow her lead. It was obviously no use staring at the wall and hoping that the portal would open up on its own. Nobody from the whole group had any objections to doing a little backtracking.
Before they made it to the mentioned tower, however, they stopped on the stairwell to observe that strange iron half-circle frame-like contraption.
"Anyone got any ideas what this might be?" Marisa directed her question at no one in particular.
"The ugliest candle stand I've ever seen." replied Remilia semi-seriously. Her maid didn't seem to share the sentiment, though.
"Not that it would be impossible to place some candles on each end, but... I doubt that's the original purpose of this odd wall attachment."
"Why not? I mean, this staircase is all dark... What else would anyone need here but a candle or a torch fixture?" Remilia steadfastly defended her own theory.
"True, this whole place is all pitch-dark." Marisa admitted. "But how would you place a torch on this thing? And what's that groove in the middle for?" she wondered as she ran her finger against it.
"There are other ways to spread light besides candles and torches, you know…" remarked the crow tengu.
"Oh, you mean those mushroom-like glowing glass thingies from the outside world?" Marisa's face brightened up. "I saw them in Kourindou… What were they called again?"
"No, Marisa," Aya interrupted the witch's train of thought. "I didn't mean light bulbs. And they look more like pears to me…"
"Oh, that's right!" Marisa snapped her fingers once Aya reminded her the correct term. "Light bulbs… I thought they were called Edisons or something… Hey, how come Aya knows about them?"
"Aya knows about them," the crow tengu referred to herself in third person, "because the kappa have replicated that technology from some outside-world devices that got through the border. They, as well as us, the tengu, have been using them for quite some time already…"
"Eh? I didn't even know… So the tengu village is fully electrified?"
"You didn't know?" Aya looked at her in mild puzzlement.
"How could I have known?! You tengu never let anyone in your village. I haven't even seen a picture of it in your newspaper."
"Ah, that's because we're not allowed to take and publish photos of our village. Daitengu's regulations."
"I see… So where do you get your electricity from?"
"From the same source that powers the kappan industry. The mountain's nuclear reactor, of course."
"Oh, right... the "unyuu" crow…" the witch recalled as she humorously named the one powering the mentioned reactor.
"Raven, but we've digressed."
Indeed, the topic that Marisa started to discuss was far from being helpful in this current situation, so Reimu returned it back on track.
"So, what other form of making light you had in mind?"
"I said "spreading", not "making"." Aya corrected her.
Reimu looked puzzled for a second and wondered why Aya was splitting hairs over one word, but then it clicked in her head.
"Spreading… Like with mirrors or something?"
Aya's gentle clapping indicated that Reimu had guessed correctly. "Indeed. Mirrors."
"Oooh~. Look at the big brain on Reimu."Marisa applauded her friend's wit.
"A round mirror set in this frame could reflect the light from the tower and shine it all the way into the crypt." Aya elaborated. "I'd bet my camera that the missing object from this frame is nothing other than a mirror."
Although Aya's theory seemed quite plausible, it still raised one question, and Nue was the first to ask it:
"So, where are we going to get a mirror from?"
"I haven't found any mirrors in the temple besides the one in the tower." Nazrin shrugged.
"And we're probably going to need it right where it is anyway." the reporter added.
"Well, I do have some pa-qua mirrors in the shrine…" Reimu muttered the possible options she had to offer, but Remilia cut her off quickly.
"Save your breath, Reimu. I have hundreds if not thousands of mirrors of all shapes and sizes in my mansion. I'm sure one of them would fit."
"But mistress…" Sakuya again had to object. "That'd be too troublesome. Why don't we just look for one in this village?"
"In this dump? I'd be surprised to find a single mirror here."
"Oh, I know!" Marisa suddenly snapped her fingers. "My dad can help us out. He specializes in magic optics. I bet he could make us a perfectly-fitting replica of the original mirror."
"Really?" Reimu had her misgivings, especially on account of Marisa's "good ideas", but this time, the magician's suggestion seemed like the most reasonable one so far.
"Yeah…" Marisa nodded in response with a bright smile, which faded as soon as she realized that it meant they'd have to leave the ruins anyway. "Uhhh… oh… Don't worry, Reimu, we'll figure out what to tell to the tengu once we get out of here."
Reimu who put herself in charge of this little infiltration operation had no choice but to trust Marisa and her idea. As she breathed a sigh, she gave the witch an affirmative nod of approval. "Let's do it."
And so, Marisa made a wax copy of the mirror frame, so that her father would know the exact size and shape of the mirror he's supposed to make. With the fragile model in hands, the witch and the rest of the group proceeded through the narrow corridor back to the main hall of the temple. But something was not right.
"Sssh, keep it down!" Aya hushed the chattering girls. Her pointed ears caught the sound of someone's voice. And not just one.
"What's wrong?" Marisa asked her.
Aya didn't reply. She just continued along the corridor without a word. Marisa got her answer soon enough. Even before she got out of the tunnel, the bright flickering light of torches and echoing chatter of both male and female voices were a clear sign that more visitors have entered the temple.
"Who goes there?!" a male voice shouted as soon as the first girl emerged from the passageway. The sound of dozens of blades being drawn from their sheathes followed immediately after the question.
"Ah… I guess the negotiations are over then." Marisa commented nonchalantly. Truly, the main hall was occupied by over 30 White Wolves, but much to the girls' surprise, they were not the only ones to make the descent. Human peacekeeping forces – the Ryuuken and the yama-bito scholars were a part of that crowd as well. Aya quickly noticed the figures of Patchouli, Suika and Hatate among the others.
"Shameimaru? What are you doing down here?" the voice that apparently belonged to the commander of the White Wolf tengu asked the reporter.
"Umm… gathering information?" she replied sheepishly while scratching her head.
"And I'm resolving an incident." Reimu spoke as she came out of the shadows.
"The Hakurei shrine maiden is here too?" the commander blinked in surprise, which was further increased as 6 more people stepped out of the tunnel one after another. "What was the point of those stupid negotiations if half of Gensokyo has already been here before us?"
Remilia was truly surprised to see Patchouli, as she was certain that the negotiations would not turn out in her favor. "Patchy? That's… unexpected."
The quiet librarian didn't show the slightest hints of surprise at Remilia's presence, though. Remilia did exactly what Patchouli thought she would do. More surprising to her was to see Nue and Nazrin of the Myouren Temple.
"S-so…" the vampire stuttered, "I'm guessing the negotiations went well?"
"An agreement has been reached, that access to this temple should not be limited to a single party in order to speed-up the research necessary to resolve the evil spirit crisis."
"So… does that mean I'm not going to be punished?" asked Aya.
"That depends on the significance of the information you've managed to gather, Shameimaru." said the White Wolf leader.
"Aww, don't be so harsh on her, mister." Suika tried to ease up the atmosphere, at which the tengu warrior lowered the tip of his sword.
"Y-you should consider it an honor to have the trust of the oni, Shameimaru!" he uttered. "She tricked us all for your sake."
It was obvious that all the tengu still revered the oni race as their former masters, so Suika's fairy attack prank not only went unpunished, but it was considered as a gesture of great honor for those who could sneak into the temple thanks to her distraction.
"I appreciate it, of course." Aya bowed to the little oni, "Right now we're on our way to Human Village. Feel free to explore this temple. All the traps have already been disabled… probably."
"You've been in the portal chamber then?" Hatate asked the group, even though she could easily guess the answer.
"It's a crypt." said Aya. "However, the alleged portal is sealed. But worry not! We're already working on a way to open it."
That last sentence caused the commander of the White Wolves to do a double take. "Wait, you're going to WHAT?!"
"I thought the White Wolves had a keener sense of hearing."
"My hearing is as keen as the blade of my sword. I simply don't understand the reasoning behind your intention. If that portal in the crypt is the true source of the vengeful spirit invasion, then it's in our best interest to keep it sealed."
That's when Reimu stepped in to offer an explanation. "The portal itself is not the source. It's merely a gate. Whatever place it connects to is the source of the spirits. Despite it being closed, I believe the mastermind behind this incident is able to open and close the portal from the other side at will. We all saw what happened here during the last fairy raid. If the spirits emerged from this temple once, they can do it again and in greater number. Leaving the portal alone won't help us here. The only way to resolve this problem is to stop the mastermind, and for that we need to find out how to activate that portal."
"Then destroy the portal, I say, and leave this "mastermind" trapped on the other side!" argued the tengu. The atmosphere in the main hall became tense after his suggestion. Whispers and murmurs flooded the entire dark hall. Some seconded his idea, others opposed it. Then the shrine maiden spoke again.
"I've resolved a few similar incidents before. The Makai Incident, the Flower Viewing Incident, the Subterranean Incident… All of them had one thing in common. A number of troublemaking entities suddenly infested an area that was never known as their natural habitat. This was caused by a sudden opening of a passage, or portal, in this case, which led me to the true source and mastermind behind the said incident. Sometimes the ones at fault weren't even aware that they were causing an incident, but that's not the issue right now. I just wanted to say that not even a single time was there a need to destroy the "portal". I will, however, keep that idea in mind as a last resort."
"The Flower View incident wasn't caused by a "portal", though…" Aya inserted a hushed remark, to which nobody paid any attention.
"Despite your previous experience, Hakurei-san," continued the leader of the White Wolves, "such reckless, irresponsible thinking is a gamble with the safety of Gensokyo. Gensokyo demands this portal to be destroyed. Here and now."
At that moment Aya loudly cleared her throat. "Pardon me, but may I ask who gave you the authority to speak for whole Gensokyo?"
"Nobody." the commanding officer replied. "But neither did anyone give you the authority to act for whole Gensokyo." he made a hand gesture towards Aya and all the members of Patchouli's archeological expedition team, including Nue and Nazrin, who had no part in Reimu's goal to resolve the incident.
"Are you questioning my competence?" asked the Hakurei maiden as she took a step towards the tengu.
"I don't know; should I be?" the White Wolf did the same, closing the distance between him and Reimu to less than one step. Their eyes gazed intensely at each other in a moment of tense silence. As if a fierce danmaku duel was about to begin. However, nothing of that sort happened. Perhaps thanks to Patchouli's suggestion that broke the brief silence: "So the interior is all covered with the same symbols as the outer obelisks… I'd like to see if there's anything written in that portal chamber."
"Be my guest." Reimu gave her an approval, as if the temple was a part of the Hakurei clan's property. "It's right down below us. There's only one way to get there, so you can't miss it. And like Aya said, all the booby-traps should be disarmed. Just watch out for that pitfall…"
Patchouli responded by a silent, but honest bow of gratitude as she started approaching the narrow passage behind the altar.
"H-hey, wait~!" Remilia suddenly stretched out her arm as her friend walked past her. "No way I'm letting you waltz into that dangerous place alone! I almost lost you once… I... I'm gonna keep a close eye on you."
"I don't mind." the librarian shrugged. "Even though there's no immediate danger from the spirits. However, the process of deciphering the text on the portal will be long and greatly uninteresting to the likes of you."
"I'm going with you anyway." Remilia declared stubbornly and clenched Patchouli's wrist in a strong grip.
The sorceress blinked as she observed her wrist with an expressionless gaze. "This is only going to make my work harder…"
"But I believe in you, Patchy~!" said the little vampire with a wide smile across her face. No further objections were heard from the lavender-haired girl as Remilia briskly led her down into the crypt.
"Somebody ought to keep an eye on them." Reimu muttered the same thing that the tengu commander was about to suggest. With a single hand gesture he sent several White Wolves to follow Remilia and Patchouli and to secure the portal chamber.
"From this day until the incident is resolved, Kazemura will form a forward outpost of Lord Tenma's armed forces. Also, seeing in what a hurry our envoy left for the mountain, I'd even dare to say that this village can expect our venerable lord's personal visit in the nearest days."
This news seemed to have surprised Hatate by no small amount. "Lord Tenma? Here? I thought he didn't consider this matter important enough to demand his presence."
"If he doesn't consider this important enough, then I can't imagine what issues he must be dealing with right now." Aya remarked with a slightly sarcastic tone.
"That was only the case for the negotiations, hence the envoy. I'm fairly certain that in the light of the latest information, he'll arrive to personally inspect the situation."
"He could have come much sooner, though." Aya muttered.
"Perhaps he could have," the White Wolf commander admitted, "but it's not my place to judge Lord Tenma's decisions, and neither is yours, Shameimaru."
"Don't know how his presence here would help us anyway…" Marisa whispered to Aya.
"He's wise and old enough to actually know something about this ancient temple or those who built it. He also has the exclusive access to some of the most ancient tomes and documents dating back to times when youkai roamed the world freely."
When Marisa heard this interesting bit of information, a sly grin appeared on her face. "That's some news… Maybe I should give Patchy a rest and pay a visit to your master, Aya."
The reporter chuckled at her bold idea. "Good luck with that."
The witch was already envisioning her infiltration to what was possibly the most well-guarded place in Gensokyo, when a question popped up in her head. "Hey, wait a minute. If those documents you speak of are such a secret, how do you know about them?"
"Their existence is no secret." Aya cleared it up. "Their content, on the other hand, is for the eyes of the tengu royalty only."
"That sounds kind of shady."
"A tengu has more secrets than an aralia tree has leaves." Aya re-quoted an old Gensokyan saying.
"Where have I heard that one before?" the blonde asked as her eyes trailed off to Nue, who said the same thing just a while earlier. The shapeshifter found the witch's glance uncomfortable, as was hinted by her fidgeting wings. But then again, she was never very fond of excessive attention directed towards her, unless she was winning danmaku tournaments at local shrine summer festivals.
"Are you two done gossiping?" Reimu cut the conversation short to remind everyone what needed to be done. "We have to go to the village to make a mirror fitting that frame."
"We? You wanna come with me, Reimu?" Marisa tilted her head in slight confusion.
"Well, if you can do it by yourself, then there's no reason for me to tag along. Just try to make it back today, alright?"
"Uhh… sure. I'll take off as soon as my magic returns to me." said the witch and gave the frame's wax replica to Koakuma. "You can still fly, right? Good. I just need you to take it out of the temple and put it on the ground somewhere. But do it carefully!"
The imp looked reluctant at first, but nodded and did what Marisa asked. With her both hands free now, the ordinary magician could grab onto the rope hanging from the window and start climbing up towards daylight.
"I guess there's no use standing around, waiting in this dark, musty, uninviting place." said the Hakurei shrine maiden and followed Marisa out. The rest of her group also climbed out of the temple one by one. Sakuya hesitated between staying with her mistress and Patchouli and leaving the temple along with the other girls. After a brief pause and thought she figured that Remilia doesn't require her maid's constant presence. Needless to say, the time-manipulator didn't like that place any more than Reimu. She ascended up the rope with even greater speed and elegance than Aya did.
"Hey, wait for meee~! Ehehehe~!"even Suika had little desire to remain down there.
The whole group short of Remilia and Patchouli has gathered at the temple's provisory entrance, but they certainly didn't stay long to enjoy the warm afternoon sun. With hastened steps, they all hurried to leave the quarry pit to escape the influence of the power-draining field surrounding the entire temple complex. Even if no swarms of possessed fairies were threatening the peace of this day, at least Marisa needed her magic restored in order to make the trip to Human Village and back.
It took a few hours for the girls to fully regain their powers.
"Hey, I think I can fly again!" Marisa called out after she tried sitting on the broom and didn't fall down on her butt after lifting both of her feet off the ground.
"Good." said Reimu. "We'll be waiting for you here in Patchouli's tent. You better make it back with that mirror before sundown. I'm already sick and tired of waiting."
"Alright, alright… I get it. You're not the only one who'd like this incident to be resolved as soon as possible. I'll fly at full speed, but… " the witch paused herself in the middle of the sentence.
"But…?"
"Well… I have no idea how long it will take my dad to make the mirror."
"The sooner you go, the sooner he can start working on it."
"Hehe. True. Okay, Reimu. I'll be back in a moment! Probably…" the witch waved at Reimu and kicked herself off the ground. A moment after that, Suika poked her horned head out of the tent. "Heey~! Marisa~! Wait~!" she called after the departing witch, but she had already travelled too far to hear the oni.
"What did you want from her?" Reimu asked.
"I wanted her to buy some sweets for me while she's in the village~." Suika pouted in disappointment.
Her childishly honest reply made Reimu breathe a sigh. "We have more pressing concerns than that right now."
"But lack of sweets IS a pressing concern~!"
Nevertheless, Marisa was already gone, so Suika's concern, no matter how pressing, had to wait for its resolution a little longer.
Marisa's flight to the village was fast and unhindered. The weather provided optimal wind conditions, so she was able to arrive at her destination in less than half an hour. For a distance so long, that was considered very fast. Still, she didn't want to waste any more time in Human Village than necessary. Hopping off her broom just outside of Kirisame-ya, she marched straight towards the door and swung it open without even bothering to knock.
"Hi, dad! Listen, I got a favor to ask and little time to spare…" she started explaining before she even noticed that there were several customers in the shop. All of them briefly glanced at her before they resumed browsing the merchandise.
"Marisa?" the light-haired man on the other side of the counter opened his mouth at this unexpected visit.
"Yes, it is I, your only child… as far as I know anyway… I could use your services, and like I said, I'm in a hurry. Or at least Reimu is."
"Ah… not that I wouldn't be pleased by your visit, but there are people who came here before you, so…"
"Yeah, tell them to wait then. This is quite urgent." Marisa rudely interrupted him, and with a rude request, no less.
Her father sighed and bowed apologetically to his customers. He waved at Marisa to follow him to the storeroom in the back, so they could talk in private.
"I see your ways haven't changed at all, Marisa."
"Hey, this is my old home, is it not? I can come and go as I please, right?"
"Well, yes, of course you can, and I love you, but if you'll be rude to my customers, I'm going to lose my business."
"Oh, yeah, about the customers… Aren't you worried to leave them like that in the shop without anyone to watch over your stuff?" Marisa quickly changed the subject. Most likely to avoid her father's lecturing.
"Have you already forgotten what your own father's field of expertise is? Magic optics. Some of my proud inventions are even used by our militia. And some are used as anti-theft countermeasures in my shop. No items leave without me knowing about it."
"Of course I haven't forgotten about what you specialize in. In fact, that's why I've come here today." Carefully, Marisa put her wax mirror frame on a table. Her father observed the object curiously, both with his naked eyes, as well as his magic detector. Of course, he didn't find anything unusual about it, which is probably why he looked so confused.
"What is this?"
"A wax copy." Marisa gave a teasingly short answer.
"I can see that, but what exactly is it a copy of?"
"Can't you tell? It's a mirror frame."
"A half-circle frame, huh? And I suppose you need a new mirror to fit it with."
"That's the idea, yes." his daughter nodded. "Will it take long? I hope not, because Reimu's gonna give me an earful again."
"Reimu? So you broke one of her mirrors or something?"
"Uh… not exactly. You see, we found this strange iron fixture in the temple in Kazemura and Aya said that it probably held a mirror once, but since there was no sign of the mirror anywhere, I got an idea that you might help us make a new one…" Marisa explained so fast that her bewildered father was barely able to keep up.
"Wait, Marisa, slow down." he held his open palm up in a halting gesture. "You found that frame where again?"
"Kazemura's temple." she repeated.
"The one everyone keeps talking about?"
"Why, yes. What other temples are there in that teeny-tiny little village besides that one?"
"I thought it was off-limits until the yama-bito and the tengu wouldn't come to an agreement on who should claim the right to explore it first."
"Yes, well… allow me to bring you the news before any newspaper: They have come to an agreement. Just a while ago. Now the temple is merely an "enter-at-your-own-risk zone". Just like any other place in Gensokyo. And yes, it was off-limits until then, but that didn't stop some shady characters from sneaking in."
"You're talking about yourself, aren't you?" Kirisame-san smirked at his child.
"Hehe, not this time, ze. Although we did slip in before the temple was officially open, we weren't even the first ones to explore it."
"I knew it. You did break in after all."
"It's not like I was the only one." Marisa retorted, trying to make her trespass sound less severe.
"That habit of yours, which you share with Reimu - to dive head-first into any incident, regardless of possible danger, doesn't usually bother me. However, word is that this incident is different than the ones before."
"Dad, EVERY incident in the recorded history of Gensokyo was different than the one before it." the young witch made a good point. Her answer seemed to have dispersed some of her father's worries.
"I guess you're right. But that still doesn't mean you should be reckless. I mean it. It's not your job to resolve these incidents; that's what the shrine maiden is for."
"I know it's not my job, but it's too much fun for me to pass up and leave only for Reimu to enjoy."
"Just keep in mind that not every thrill is worth the risk."
"Are you kidding? It's totally worth it, ze!"
Kirisame-san let out a sigh of resignation. "Where did I go wrong as a parent?"
"When you married that woman…" Marisa shamelessly pointed out her dad's decision, which she never approved of. "But that has nothing to do with the fact that I love danmaku fights, does it? Which is another point I wanted to get across. With the Spell Card system, there's nothing dangerous to worry about. In the end, all incidents are just a game."
"Is starting forest fires and attacking settlements a part of the Spell Card system too? Do you think that's just a game too?"
"That's merely a way to provoke a Spell Card duel. And it's not even as severe as when that celestial wrecked Reimu's shrine and threatened to destroy all Gensokyo with earthquakes just to start a danmaku battle with someone."
"That… is also true." Marisa's father admitted. "Hmm… Perhaps I do worry too much."
"Though I can't say I blame Reimu for running out of patience. This incident has been dragging on for over half a year and only now we've confirmed where the spirits came from. We'll need a mirror in order to open the portal in that temple and go to whatever place it leads to."
"Ah, right. The mirror." Kirisame-san almost forgot why Marisa paid him a visit today. "So you're saying there's a hidden portal within that temple that gets activated by a system of mirrors?"
"Well… I don't know." Marisa shrugged. "At least that's what Aya thinks."
"Fascinating…" As a magician and craftsman, Kirisame-san naturally became interested in the intricate workings of an ancient system that used light and mirrors to trigger a magical device.
"Whatever… Are you going to make that mirror or what?"
"It's not that I couldn't," he replied after taking a closer look at the wax frame that Marisa brought him. "but there's only so much about the original mirror I can tell from its frame."
"What do you mean?"
"All I can learn from it is the mirror's diameter and how thick it was, but that's about it. I have no idea what kind of mirror it was. Was it flat or parabolic? And if parabolic, was it convex or concave? Or perhaps it was polygonal. Was it made from standard or magical materials? Was it enchanted or engraved?"
Marisa honestly didn't expect her simple errand to be that complicated. All of those questions have caught her completely unprepared and clueless.
"W-well… How about just and ordinary flat mirror?"
"Are you sure, Marisa? All those little details I mentioned could mean the difference between your progress in resolving this incident and stagnation. Especially when the said mirror is used for a process as complex as opening a portal."
"I… I don't know. We haven't found even as much as a single shard of the original thing. Just make me a regular mirror that fits the frame's size. That should do the trick."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Well, then we'll keep trying out all the variations that you suggested until we get it right."
"That sounds so… inefficient."
"You have a better idea then?"
Kirisame-san hummed as he considered what would be the best thing to do. "Maybe if I saw the original frame, or even better, the portal itself, and had an idea how many mirrors in total were used to open it, I'd be able to figure out the mirror's exact properties."
"O-ho!" Marisa exclaimed. "So you say you'd like to join our archeological expedition team? That'd actually be awesome!"
"Archeological expedition?"
"Yeah. A small group of researchers and those who are better danmaku fighters than thinkers." she gave a brief description.
"U-huh. You don't even need to tell me which subgroup you belong to."
"Ehehe…"
"Okay, and who does the research part? Who's the one in charge?"
"Patchouli was the one who assembled the team. I guess you could say she's in charge, even though it seems like everyone does what they think is best anyway."
"Oh, Patchouli Knowledge, huh? The one you had a crush on?"
"Wha…? D-dad!" a reddish hue quickly engulfed Marisa's flustered face.
"Or was that your neighbor in the Forest of Magic, Alice? I've lost track…" Marisa's father added more fuel to the fire.
The witch's cheeks now resembled a pair of ripe tomatoes. "Cut it out already!"
"What? I have nothing against your way of life, or your love interests, or sexuality. This is your life, so you must find your own happiness. And who better knows what's the best for you than you, right?"
"Let's just… get back on topic."
"Alright… so you girls are researching the temple and you wanted me to join your all-girl team? Isn't that against the rules?" Kirisame-san didn't shake his joking mood even when the conversation got back on track.
"Well, we're not really an all-girl team, since we already had Kourin with us, and now we have this Chinese youkai alchemist, who turned out to be an expert at disarming traps."
"Your offer sounds tempting, but as you can see, I have a lot of customers and I can't simply close my shop whenever I like."
"The hell are you talking about?! Your shop is right inside your house, so you can do whatever you like at your own home."
"While that's true, closing the shop and sending my customers away just like that would not be good for my business. But I should be able to meet you in Kazemura tomorrow."
"Better than never, I guess, but… Should I fly back to Reimu empty-handed?"
"Fine, I'll cut you out a normal mirror to try out for now." the father finally agreed to oblige his daughter's request. "Don't blame me if it won't work, though."
"Don't worry, dad. I'll just call bullshit on Aya's mirror theory and thus, effectively avoid being scolded by Reimu." the blonde showed a thumbs-up with a wide grin.
Kirisame-san just closed his eyes and shook his head. "…Saying "that's my Marisa" never felt so… painful."
The crafting process didn't take him long, as one would expect of a master of his craft. But his face was filled with anything but reassurance as he handed the finished product to his daughter. He had great doubts whether this plain piece would suffice to open the ancient portal, but he still wanted to help. He even handed Marisa a cloth bag, so that she'd be able to safely transport its fragile content on her broom.
"Thanks, dad! I'll make sure to pass on the good word." Marisa smiled as she tied the bag on her broom's tail.
"I wish I could help you more, but this will have to do for now."
"Help more? You've just helped us resolve an incident."
"Don't you think it's a bit premature to utter such statements?"
"Aww, come on, dad. I'm trying to give you some credit here. You know, make your job sound more important than it is…"
The man's smile turned into a crooked grimace. "Ugh… That last sentence just rubbed me the wrong way. Go. Fly back to Kazemura before I change my mind and charge you full price for that mirror."
Perhaps Marisa had no intention to offend her father's profession, but she was well aware that her choice of words wasn't always the best. She owed many a danmaku battle to her knack for unintentionally evoking anger with her words.
"Y-yes, I better get going… Ehehe~… See ya!"
Marisa left the shop, slaloming past the customers until she reached the main door. She mounted her trusty bamboo broom and took flight. This time she moved a little slower, as she didn't want to lose her precious cargo.
"I still have plenty of time left anyway…" she spoke to herself as she could see that the sun was still fairly high over the horizon. "Ha! I bet even Reimu will be surprised to see me back so soon."
Several minutes have passed since she took off from Human Village and she was just passing over the Hakurei Shrine. The brightly glittering surface of Misty Lake slightly blinded her eyes, but otherwise the visibility was more than optimal. She had a good view of nearly every known part of Gensokyo. Flakes of yellow dotted the green sea of leaves on the trees below her. Autumn was on its way to Gensokyo, but still a little shy of showing its full beauty. Marisa took a deep breath in and sighed, knowing that she still had the longer part of the flight ahead of her. She decided to keep her bored mind busy by thinking about what she'd like for dinner. Her distance from Kazemura was gradually shortening until she could see the familiar-looking hills that surrounded the village like a natural system of fortifications.
"Hmm… maybe I'll just have some grilled pork after all... And chase it down with some of that fine local ale. Mmm… Yeah, that sounds like a plan, ze!"
Right after saying that, her heart skipped a beat from the sudden shockwave that hit her only a split second before a thundering echo reached her ears.
"What the…?!" the witch slowed her flight and threw her confused gaze back over her shoulder, in the direction where she heard the booming sound coming from. "Was that a thunder?"
Needless to say that the bang made every little hair on her body stand, and the fact that the "thunder" occurred on a day with a mostly clear sky only added to the surprise factor.
"Out of the freakin' blue…"
After failing to notice anything suspicious in the sky, Marisa slowly started scanning the horizon. And that's when she saw it. Smoke. It was rising from near the lake. And since there was only one building near the lake, Marisa quickly realized that what she heard was no thunder, but an explosion. And the Scarlet Devil Mansion was its epicenter. Around the rising pillar of smoke, she could see tiny black dots of falling debris, which were most likely the roof tiles of the said mansion.
"Holy crap! The mansion exploded!"
She watched the scene of the disaster for a decent while as her mind struggled to decide what action to take. She knew that she was supposed to go straight to Kazemura without taking any detours, but this situation was too serious to ignore.
"Remilia's not gonna like this…" Of that she was certain. However, her certainty was not as evident when it came to deciding whether she should hurry to Kazemura, deliver the mirror, and inform everyone of what happened, or investigate the cause of the explosion on her own. If this was another fairy attack, she would face them without any help. But if this was just the first explosion of many, Marisa was possibly the only person who could save the mansion from sustaining even more damage. The combined sense of duty and curiosity got the better of her.
"Ah, to hell with it! I'm gonna check it out."
And so she did. As she drew closer, she could make out a gaping hole in the roof. She also noticed the absence of the youkai gate guard in front of the main gate. "If even she isn't there, sleeping, this really has to be serious…"
Marisa was fairly familiar with the mansion's layout, as she was a frequent, if often times uninvited visitor.
"The hole is right above the library. Lots of smoke, but no visible fire. Okay, time to make the usual Marisa entry!" she declared as she tightened her grip around the broom's handle and braced herself for impact. The broom accelerated like a rocket and its pilot aimed it right at one of the library's stained windows.
After feeling a brief resistance and hearing the sound of shattering glass, the witch opened her eyes and found herself in the smoke-filled library, where all hell seemed to have broken lose.
She pulled her neckerchief up to cover her mouth and nose at least a little from the suffocating smoke. She couldn't see far, but she could hear noises coming from all directions. Flying danmaku, falling bookshelves, crumbling wood, fluttering of many wings, echoes of distant voices and a child's laughter. Still no signs of a fire, though.
"Hellooo~! Can anyone hear me~?!" she yelled into the chaos that surrounded her. And she received her answer faster than she expected. She heard loud creaking and as she threw a glance upwards, she noticed one of the tall bookshelves was about to collapse right on top of her.
"Whoa!"
Marisa kicked her broom into maximum speed just in time to descend low enough to avoid being swatted. Fortunately, the falling bookshelf hit the opposite one and stopped. The witch still had to dodge all the falling books, though. And some of the titles were quite heavy indeed. She quickly got out of the danger zone, but upon looking up, she saw that the shelf that had collapsed has blocked the very window that she used to enter. Something quick zipped past her shoulder and was gone before the magician could follow it with her eyes.
"What was that?"
Another shadow flew across her field of vision. It was small and flew erratically, and apparently it wasn't the only one of its kind. Once one of those shadows launched a short barrage of danmaku at her, Marisa could already guess that they were fairies. The visibility was too poor to tell whether they were the mansion's resident fairy maids or some wild ones. Marisa didn't care whether their aggression was triggered due to their alarmed state or due to being possessed, she simply responded in kind and began shooting them down, all the while following the voices that she could hear in the further end of the library.
She already flew a fair distance, but she could still see no flames that would be the cause of the smoke, however, she could hear that she was getting closer to the voices. She couldn't make out any words, it was more like battle cries or when someone was exerting some extremely laborious physical activity.
"Hey, Meiling, how many have you got?" the childish voice asked.
For a moment the battle cries ceased to give a reply. "Fifty! I think."
"I got seventy-four! Ha! You're dead in the water! And there's another one~!"
Before Marisa realized what was going on, a hailstorm of danmaku started pouring down on her from above.
"Damn it!" she made almost every known dodging maneuver in the book just to get out of that one, and another wave was already flying her way. What else could poor Marisa do to avoid it, than darting off behind the cover of another enormous bookshelf?
"You can run, but you can't hide~!" declared the author of the previous danmaku salvo before her silhouette appeared again above Marisa. "Forbidden Barrage "Starbow Break"!"
The library's ceiling became flooded by a host of large shining orbs of all colors of the visible light spectrum. They stood in perfect stasis for only a second before they started raining down.
"Hey, I remember this." Marisa thought to herself, just barely grazing past a cluster of those rainbow orbs. "To be honest, I think "Four of a Kind" was harder…"
Even though the barrage appeared impossible to dodge, the witch was already familiar with it and its slightly predictable nature. By making only minimal movements, she focused on squeezing herself into the gaps between the orbs, which were just large enough for a single person.
"Hey, cut it out already, I'm not a fairy!" she yelled at her assailant and shot a few of her own magic missiles back. The bombardment stopped. All the orbs disappeared with a loud popping sound and the shadowy silhouette began to descend.
"Oh, it's Marisa~!" Now, with a clearer view of her target, Flandre Scarlet realized her mistake, but didn't really feel any need to apologize. "Why are you dressed like a bandit?"
"Oh, this?" Marisa pulled her neckerchief back down. "I thought it'd help me breathe easier in the smoke, but it's no good."
"Meiling, we got a third player!" Flandre called out at the other resident of the mansion. "But we are both too far in the lead for you to catch up, Marisa!"
"Just what the hell is going on here?" asked the confused witch. "You and Meiling should both get out of here!"
"Why? This is so fun~!" the little vampire tilted her head.
"Do you want to suffocate?"
"Suffocate? Me?" Flandre giggled as she waved her palm. Only on fried garlic fumes, maybe."
"Then you really ought to put out that fire before your whole mansion burns down!" said Marisa in an urgent tone.
But the younger Scarlet sister only blinked back at her in puzzlement. "What fire?"
"All that smoke has to come from somewhere! You should know after you blew up a part of this mansion!"
"Oh!" it appeared as though Flandre recalled only now that something as insignificant as an explosion occurred inside the mansion. "That wasn't me!" she staunchly declared, but immediately bit her lip and averted her gaze, muttering: "Well… maybe a little…"
"Look, we should meet up with Meiling, you can tell me what happened along the way."
"Okay."
Marisa had an idea where Meiling was as her danmaku and battle cries were still filling the library's interior. As the witch drew closer, Flandre tried to explain what led to all the chaos.
"Fairies started playing danmaku in the library, so I wanted to join them. Then Meiling came, so she probably wanted to play too… And… and then… I tried to "kyuu" one of them, but she flew away, so I "kyuued" one of the bookshelves instead, and one of Patchouli-sensei's books fell down and opened, and it went "booom" and… there was all this smoke. But I don't mind. Makes the danmaku game more interesting. I didn't even know Patchouli-sensei had such books. And I wonder why she never teaches me about them… Just the boring stuff all the time…"
Marisa only nodded, pretending to have an idea what Flandre was talking about, but she figured that the only person in the mansion she could get a sensible answer from about what happened was the gate guard. And the gate guard was apparently busy fighting back against the fairies.
"Hyaaah~!" a rainbow flash appeared and a loud slam was heard. "Seventy-one…"
"Oh, no! I got distracted by talking to you and now Meiling's gonna take the lead~!" Flandre hurried towards Meiling to start picking off all the fairies around her, just to steal her "opponent's" scoring opportunities.
"Yo!" the witch informally greeted the mansion's gatekeeper once she was close enough to see and hear her clearly. "I heard you had a fairy problem…" she said as she demonstratively dispatched a few of the little youkai with well-aimed shots.
"Did you come to steal books while the mistress is away and we are busy? I won't allow it." the orange-haired youkai eyed her with suspicion.
"At ease, kung-fu girl. I've come to help after hearing the explosion."
"Then you've come a little late. Hyaaah~!" Meiling punched the last fairy and sent her flying to a wall. After the impact, the little youkai vanished in a cloud of fairy dust. "I think that was the last of them…"
"In that case, I still won!" Flandre happily swung her wings up and down.
"But if mistress gets the news of this… I might as well pack my things and leave."
"Whoa, don't jump to conclusions, Meiling." Marisa tried to calm her down. "I'm sure she'd understand that you tried to do your best, but… it'd help a lot if you could tell me what happened here. Maybe I'll even come up with some excuses you could use to soften up Remilia."
"Hmm… I'll tell you what I saw, but we should move someplace with fresher air first."
"I was just thinking the same thing."
They met in the mansion's foyer after a while. Marisa listened to Meiling's version of the story as she sat on the stairs.
"…and that's about all I can tell you about it."
"So you're saying the attacking fairies weren't the fairy maids, but after their attack, the fairy maids joined them?" Marisa raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, it's a lot like what happened earlier this spring, only in a much smaller scale. I was able to handle the situation along with Sakuya-san, so barring a few broken windows and vases, the mansion was more or less unharmed."
"This doesn't make any sense. We built a shimenawa rope fence around the whole quarry pit, so the spirits should no longer be able to cross it and possess fairies."
"They must have been the remnant of the swarms attacking Kazemura then."
"True. We sure as hell didn't get them all, but damn… they sure like targeting the mansion."
"Indeed. Makes one wonder what draws the spirits to this place. Or the one controlling them."
Marisa hummed. "Maybe that's a question for your mistress. Or Patchouli."
"I'm a mere gate guard. I spend most of my time outside, so even the fairy maids know more of the lives of Remilia-sama and Patchouli-sama than I. I mostly gossip with Sakuya-san, but I doubt that even she knows everything about them. If any of them have a hobby of collecting ancient artifacts, that could make earthbound spirits angry, then I'm afraid I know nothing of it."
"I'll ask them when I return to Kazemura… Which, reminds me that I really should go. I have to deliver this mirror to… huh?" As Marisa took the cloth bag into her hands, she immediately felt something was not right. The clinking and rattling sounds coming from inside were definitely not a good omen. "Oh, crap…"
"What's wrong, Marisa?" Flandre peeked from behind the witch's shoulder to have a look.
Marisa quietly unwrapped the bag and with a sad expression in her face, revealed a pile of mirror shards. "I made my trip for nothing…"
"Ooh, shiny~." Flandre, clueless of what the shards originally formed, found their glitter mesmerizing.
"Was that mirror important to you?" asked Meiling.
"I must have smashed it when I crashed through the window… Damn. This mirror should have led us to resolving the incident. Sure, dad promised to stop by in Kazemura tomorrow, but… it still feels bad to return to Reimu with a pile of shards in a bag."
"I know how it feels." Meiling put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Ah, damn… look at me. Crying over some stupid broken mirror. It can't even begin to compare to the damage to this mansion…" even though Marisa wasn't actually crying, she realized that her situation was still hundreds of times better than that of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's residents. "What are you going to do, Meiling? Flan?"
"I'm gonna draw some pictures~!" the little vampire didn't need much time to think about it, and even a situation such as this didn't seem to bother her.
A faint smile stretched across Meiling's lips. "I'll stay here, until Remilia-sama's return, of course. I'll look after her sister and keep guarding what's left of the mansion. Only she can authorize its repairs."
"Then I should go and tell her as soon as possible, so that she can give the permission and start repairs right away." Marisa stood up and sat on her broom. She then threw a quick glance at the bag of mirror shards and began wrapping it up again. "Who knows… they say that shards bring luck. Maybe they'll negate my seven years of bad luck that I should get for breaking a mirror."
She retied the bag to the tail of the broom and seemed to be ready to leave.
"Say hi to nee-chan for me~!" Flandre began waving her hands at the witch before she even took off.
"I suppose I should open the main door." said Meiling and proceeded to do so. "We don't need you breaking another window, do we?"
"Heh, I'll save that for when Remilia restores her mansion to its full glory."