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...?

68. The Element of Surprise

Chapter 68 – The Element of Surprise

As soon as dawn came, the whole team made their move, carefully transporting the mended mirror to its intended destination. Even though Marisa's father was expected to arrive today, nobody was willing to stay inside the tent to welcome him. Curiosity alone drove all the girls and one male back into the bowels of Poseidon's Temple. Of course, now that they knew its name they tried to keep calling it properly. At least the more academically-inclined individuals did. Other girls just stuck with the simpler designation that omitted the god's name. Even as they descended the slopes of the quarry pit, they discussed the temple's origin. Unfortunately for Reimu, their whole conversation sounded like it was spoken in a different language, which to some extent, it indeed was, as far as the names were concerned, anyway.

"So Poseidon, the god of the seas…" Marisa tried to impress Patchouli by showing off her knowledge of Greek Mythology, which was rudimentary at best, and primarily acquired from Patchouli's books that she stole. "That's the one with the trident, right?"

"In one of his most common depictions," Patchouli immediately caught on, like she was playing back a pre-recorded educational recording, "Poseidon is an older muscular male with curly hair and beard, sometimes riding a chariot dragged by horses that can run on water or by a hippocampus. Often referred to as the savior of ships, earth-shaker and the tamer of horses."

"A hippo… what now?" Marisa got distracted, as well as amused by the name of a mythical creature.

"Literally a "horse-monster". A horse with the lower body of a fish." the sorceress tried to provide as terse and simple answer as she could.

"That's kind of hard to imagine."

"And I thought Gensokyo's youkai were strange." said Reimu as she tried to imagine the creature in question.

"There are many fascinating creatures in foreign mythologies. I can lend you a book on them if you're interested."

"H-hey~!" the blonde witch suddenly felt oddly discriminated. "I always have to either fight you or take the books without your knowledge… no pun intended. And you let HER borrow books from you just like that? Where's the justice in that?"

"Where, indeed?" Patchouli sighed as she asked the rhetorical question. "For if there truly was such a thing as justice, you'd have returned me my books, rented me your house and served me for the rest of your life as my personal maid, catering to my every whim."

"Oh… So you have a thing for maids, huh? I see… Is Sakuya not treating you well enough?"

"Stop twisting my words, please."

"I concur wholeheartedly." Sakuya gently spoke her sentiment with a threateningly sweet smile and her hand dangerously close to her thigh strap, bearing a set of throwing knives.

"Well, not to worry, Patchy, I can still cater to your whims, if you'd like that." the ordinary magician grinned teasingly while making her suggestive proposal.

"I'd hit you for your constant shameless flirting with Patchy," Remilia spoke casually, as if she was just describing the weather while sitting in a garden and having tea, "but I don't want to break that mirror you're holding."

Neither threats nor calm words seemed to deter the witch from teasing everyone around her. "Oho! A rival in love has spoken. I'd best be on my guard."

"You better be." the vampire scoffed lightly. "Lest I bring up your attempts to sway Patchy's heart to a certain puppeteer…"

"Eep!" Marisa quickly realized the seriousness of the threat and the horrible potential consequences its fulfillment could have, and thus decided to stop with the teasing jokes. For now…

---

The group's descent into the temple's main hall was eased by the newly-installed pulley lift, similar to those that the quarry workers used to move the mined rock and excess soil out of the pit. Remilia still preferred to fly by her own natural propulsion, and like a childish little vampire that she was, she made it inside as the first, not forgetting to let everyone know about it.

The pulley mechanism squeaked and the ropes that held the flimsy-looking wooden platform of the lift were making an ominous cracking sound as they stretched under the weight of the girls who dared to stand on the lift. For safety's sake, no more than 3 persons were advised to board the platform, as they were told by the pair of yama-bito workers who operated the winch.

"Sure beats climbing a rope…" Reimu remarked as the lift was slowly lowered down.

"They had this lift installed yesterday. By the time I finished translating the text on the arch, it was already in use." Patchouli too found this method of entering and exiting this archeological site more convenient than having to rely on Koakuma or Remilia. Perhaps she would have made it down by using just a rope, but climbing it up would be a physical feat beyond her strength and will. However, she still had the image of one similar device breaking and collapsing in fresh memory. "Let's just hope this one's a bit safer than the one they used to pull out that heavy stone tablet from one of the obelisks…"

"Aww, and I was hoping I'd get to hitch a ride on Remilia." Marisa faked a disappointed tone. Since she had the privilege of carrying the mirror, someone would have to help her get inside the temple. This contraption, however, completely marred her hopes of being carried by someone who could still fly in this no-magic zone.

"What makes you think I'd carry you? I'd just take the mirror." the vampire didn't hesitate to point out the flawed logic of Marisa's thinking.

The lift reached the bottom, making a dull thud as the wooden planks met with the stone floor. Reimu, Marisa and Patchouli stepped away from the platform and met up with Remilia. Marisa tugged the rope twice to give the operators a signal that they could pull the whole thing up again.

"What took you so long, slowpokes?" Remilia grinned at the girls.

"I should really have let you carry that mirror." said Marisa, stretching out her arms towards the young vampire.

"Nice try. You think I don't know that mirrors are made of glass and silver? I'm not touching that thing without my gloves, which I forgot to bring."

"See? You WOULD have to carry me down after all, if it weren't for that lift."

"In your dreams maybe. I'd ask Koakuma to carry it." And right on cue, the winged demon girl glided down from the window and landed next to the group.

"You needed help with something?"

"We're fine, thank you." Patchouli answered her and took a better glance at the mirror. "Not all mirrors are made with silver, you know… This one, however, appears to be."

Marisa was impatiently stepping from one foot to another. "Hey, let's put it into that frame already. My arms are growing tired~."

"Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the team?" Reimu glanced upwards to see the lift coming down again with another three passengers.

"At this rate, the sun will set before they all get lowered down here. And besides… do we even need them all to be down here? We already hold the key to resolving this incident. The rest of the team are just spectators now."

"We'll make sure to remind you that line when a humongous swarm of fairies swoops down upon you from that portal." Aya just hopped off the lift's platform to reinforce the crowd along with Suika and Sakuya.

"You mean spirits, right?" Marisa corrected her. "Fairies were only being possessed, and did not actually emerge from this temple."

Aya shrugged her shoulders. "Spirits, fairies, dragons… Come what may, we'll just stand back and let you deal with them, since we're nothing but spectators after all. Oh, and we'll also let you solve the portal's riddle by yourself, as you already have the key."

"Tsch… smart-ass tengu…" the witch grumbled under her breath, and reluctantly stayed with the group until every last member of the team was standing down in the temple's large main hall.

"Alright, everyone's here, can we go now?"

"Lead the way, our savior." Aya gave Marisa the okay signal. The witch thought of replying with some witty comment, but decided against it. She lugged the mirror into the narrow passageway behind the altar. Despite everyone's misgivings and doubts, she had a good feeling about this, and with each step she made deeper into the temple, it intensified. Her heart raced with excitement when she entered the mirror tower. Only several meters separated her from the moment of truth. The rush was quite exhilarating. She just had to descend one flight of stairs and fit the mirror into its frame. She was so focused on what was to come, that she failed to perceive what was now.

"Awaaaa~!" her mind snapped back to the present when she felt her foot slip on the stair. With her ability to fly disabled, she was hopeless against the cruel force of gravity.

And just as her self-preservation reflex commanded her to close her eyes and brace for impact, she realized, she wasn't falling anymore.

"Huh?" she tentatively opened one eye to see what saved her from certain fall.

"I'm not gonna let you break the same mirror twice. Not on my watch…" Suika's voice, as cute and childish as it was, now sounded rather intimidating.

"T-thanks, Suika… I owe you one."

The witch regained her footing and continued down the stairs, very carefully this time.

"You're damn lucky she caught you," Reimu glared at her angrily, "because if the fall wouldn't hurt you, I sure would."

Finally, the last step was descended, and Marisa now stood before the iron half-circle that was fixed to the wall on the landing between the two flights of stairs. "And the moment we've been waiting for…"

She slowly lifted the mirror plate and with utmost care, she guided its edge into the small groove in the frame. The aged frame put up some resistance, so Marisa had to push the mirror with her left hand.

"Need any help?" Remilia asked from behind her back.

"No, I almost got it… Just a little more… Bingo!"

She let go of the silvery round plate, and it remained seated in its new home. Everybody held their breath, imaginations running wild with thoughts of what was about to happen…

"O-kay… why isn't anything happening?" The blonde blinked after she couldn't remain silent anymore.

"I'm going to check the portal and see if anything happened." Remilia offered herself to be the forward scout, and as fast as she said that, she glided down into the crypt.

"I doubt you'll see anything, Remi." Patchouli tried to stop her, but the vampire was gone before she could hear the librarian. "The mirror isn't getting any light…"

Sure enough, the staircase was still as dark as ever, with only a small fraction of daylight seeping in through the top of the mirror tower.

"Great. So what now?"

"I presume the sun needs to be at a very specific position to shine precisely through the small window of the tower, which may require a specific hour, day, season and even location to work… and since we're not in Atlantis…"

"Why didn't you tell us earlier, dammit?!" Marisa yelled at her.

"Because it only occurred to me now. Looks like I'll need to conduct some studies outside of the temple this time. Koakuma?"

"Yes Patchouli-sama?" the imp familiar parked up.

"Could you please fetch me my astronomy charts? I left them in the tent."

"Of course. Anything else?"

"That's all." Patchouli sent the little devil on her way and turned back to the group. "Don't worry, this is only a matter of a few measurements and simple calculations. Just a couple of minutes is all it…"

"Patchyyyy~!" Remilia's call distracted the librarian from finishing the sentence. The bratty vampire was back, and she looked disappointed as much as Patchouli could tell. "Nothing happened~! The mirror didn't work."

"I was trying to tell you that before you went down there…"

"Huh? Tell me what?"

"Never mind." the youkai magician sighed and began walking up the stairs. "Koakuma will be back soon with everything I need to determine our next course of action."

"Hey, where are you going? What did you mean to tell me, Patchy?" Remilia's questions went unanswered, as her purple-haired friend found herself a new object of fascination - the mirror well in the center of the tower. It was basically a round stone waist-tall structure, like a well, but instead of a hole, its surface was a large mirror surrounded by what appeared to be several rings, each divided into a different number of segments, and each segment baring a different symbol.

"This definitely looks like a dial." Patchouli muttered as she gently traced her finger against the metallic surface of one of those rings. She then pressed her whole hand against one, and to her great surprise, the ring turned, making a few ticking sounds similar to winding up a clock.

"And the dials turn… This is most fascinating." Her purple eyes were wide with awe, as she tested out each of the 4 dials. Even though some moved harder than others, all four dials could be adjusted. The fact that she had an elaborate dial mechanism built by an ancient civilization put her in a state of trance.

"Is this perhaps a calendar? I can only wonder…"

"Uh, Patchy? Did you really need to mess with that?" Marisa worriedly watched as her fellow magician played around with the dials and listened to the sounds they made.

Remilia tugged Marisa's skirt and silently shook her head. "She's in her own special world again… We'll need to wait for her to calm down before she'll react to anything we say."

"But… What if those dials were set up just the way they were supposed to be, and now thanks to her meddling, we won't be able to open the portal?"

"I remember exactly how the dials were arranged before I started turning them." the purple-haired magician showed that she was not as spaced-out as she appeared to be.

"Hey, I got an idea." Marisa then snapped her fingers as a grin stretched over her face. "Why wait for the sun to align itself with the tower's window when we can just use another mirror to direct the sunlight right where we want it?"

Patchouli stopped playing with the dials for a moment, looked at Marisa, blinked a few times without showing any expression and nodded: "That might actually work."

"Of course it will work!" the blonde puffed up her chest as proudly as she could. "Did I ever get any bad ideas?"

None of the members of the group decided to comment on that last part, but they had to admit that Marisa's simple solution was rather ingenious. The only problem was that they didn't have a second mirror to reflect the sunlight into the tower. The one at its top appeared to be in a fixed position, just like the one on the staircase.

"Too bad I can't just Master Spark it." Marisa sadly looked at her Mini Hakkero. "That would surely provide enough light to open 10 portals."

"And destroy half of the temple in the process." Reimu added. "Yeah, you truly never get any bad ideas."

Ignoring her friend's statement, Marisa hummed and rubbed her chin, lost in her own thoughts. "Looks like we'll have to wait for my pa's arrival after all."

---

And so the group began to argue whether they should stay in the temple and wait, or return to the surface, as nobody was truly sure when Marisa's father was supposed to arrive.

Their bickering was interrupted by Koakuma, who had returned from the tent, bringing a stack of parchments with diagrams, charts and scribbles that only Patchouli seemed to be able to make sense of.

"Ah, thank you…" Patchouli expressed her gratitude as she took the parchments and immediately began studying them.

"What were you arguing about?" the impish familiar cluelessly shifted her confused gaze from one girl to another.

"Nothing. It's okay." Remilia tried to pull wool over her eyes, but it didn't appear as though the young devil girl believed her denial. "We won't be going anywhere, right, Patchy?"

"I certainly won't." Patchouli spoke for herself, as she put one parchment aside and began reading the next one.

"Hey, Koa, did you see a middle-aged man with short fair hair, like mine coming to the village?" Marisa quickly diverted Koakuma's attention from the argument. "He likes wearing these unfashionable robes, usually dark… He's supposed to arrive with the merchant caravan."

"Hm?" the imp tilted her winged head to the side. "I didn't see anyone coming to the village… I think. I wasn't really paying attention."

"I just hope he'll come before sundown."

For a few more seconds only the sound of rustling paper could be heard as Patchouli conducted some quick calculations based on the astronomy charts she was holding. Then she finally broke the awkward silence by clearing her throat.

"I'm seconding Marisa's suggestion." she declared while neatly folding the parchments and handing them over to Koakuma. "Otherwise we'd have to wait until winter."

"Great. That settles it then." The witch sighed with relief. "I can get out of this ruin and wait for my dad. See ya around~." She then walked out of the tower section by herself.

Reimu rolled her eyes and followed suit, uttering: "I sure love pointless trips." as she was leaving.

"What's she talking about?" Patchouli couldn't fathom the reasoning behind the miko's reaction. "We've just made a fascinating new discovery."

"Which didn't help us in any way…" said Remilia. Her gaze trailed off to the corridor out of the tower. Even though she wasn't a big fan of natural sunlight, she was still tempted to follow the two humans who have left the party.

"Do you at least have any idea what the dials are for, Patchouli-sama?" asked the silver-haired maid.

Patchouli didn't answer immediately. She slowly walked around the whole dial contraption, scanning it from every angle. Then she crouched so that her eyes were on the same level as the mirror's surface. "Could you please turn any of the dials for me, Sakuya?"

"Eh?" the maid looked slightly puzzled. "Which one?"

"Doesn't matter… Just turn one to any direction."

"Well, if it doesn't matter, then here goes…" Sakuya shyly stepped up to the dials and turned the outermost dial in a clockwise direction by a few digits. "Is this good enough, Patchouli-sama?"

Again, the short bookworm was silent. She tilted her head slightly to the side and issued another command to the head maid. "Okay, now try the second one. The direction doesn't matter, but try turning it half-way."

"Half-way? As you wish…" Sakuya's face shaped a scowling grimace as her effort was met with the aged device's stubborn resistance. She had to push quite hard to make it turn, but she carried out Patchouil's request to the letter. "Anything… else… Patchouli-sama?" she uttered words between her panting.

At that point the librarian's mouth opened and she stood up. "One of the dials slightly titled the surface of this mirror. The second one definitely did something too… but I don't know what."

"Wonderful." Remilia muttered in a completely unamused tone. "Should we leave you to your research then?" She was just about to ask Sakuya to accompany her to the surface when all of a sudden, Hatate stepped up to the mirror well, camera in hand and snapped a few shots of the device.

"If there's any hidden machinery inside, I will be able to reveal it with spirit photography."

"That would be quite helpful, yes." Patchouli appreciated the tengu's assistance.

When Hatate was done taking pictures, she then proceeded to tapping the buttons on her camera and looking intensely at the display.

"How long is that charlatan divination of yours going to take, I wonder…" Aya meanwhile poked fun at her rival's expense. But Hatate was so absent-minded, she didn't even pay attention to what Aya said.

"This is strange…" she mumbled and continued pushing the buttons and swiping her finger over the device's glowing little screen.

"Is something wrong?" Suika asked her.

But instead of replying to the oni, Hatate spoke to her cellphone. "What do you mean "Please update to SpiritPhoto v 1.1"?!"

Aya just gazed at her with mouth ajar. "I'm not even sure what to say to that…"

"Guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Excuse me, I'll be back in a few hours!" and before anyone could stop her, she disappeared in the passageway.

"Well, that was a bit disappointing." Aya crossed her arms and leaned her back against the tower's wall.

"I wish I could disagree with that." Remilia let out an exasperated sigh. "Looks like no miracles are going to happen after all. Come on, Sakuya, get my parasol. We're out of here."

"Yes, milady."

And just as the vampire and her maid were about to leave the temple as well, they were pushed back into the tower, as someone was just coming through the narrow passage in the opposite direction.

"Well, hello there, Remilia and Patchouli and Sakuya and the rest of you all…" Marisa greeted the group, followed by the less vocal Reimu and another person. "Long time no see."

"I'm going to give this one more chance." said the shrine maiden as she crawled out of the tunnel.

"Greetings, young ladies." a male voice belonging to the person who followed Reimu and Marisa echoed within the tower's walls. "Pleased to meet you all. My name's Kirisame."

A robed man dusted off his attire and straightened up to his full height as he finally reached the end of the passage. All the members of the team focused their attention on him.

"Wow, that's quite the collection…" he chuckled as he briefly scanned all the persons in the room. "Saclet Devil Mansion, Myouren Temple, Hakurei-san, some tengu, an oni, and of course, my beloved daughter… Hehe, all that's missing is a bit of Eientei and Netherworld and your group would be complete."

"Actually…" Marisa smiled sheepishly, "we already had a few members from Eientei and Netherworld, but they've already left."

"I didn't know all of you girls were so much into history and archeology. Have the danmaku duels lost their popularity among Gnesokyo's youth?"

"Ahem, dad, please… Stop embarrassing us in front of everyone." his daughter whispered to him, but loudly enough for everyone present to hear. "I thought I already told you clearly that our team was assembled to solve the spirit incident that's been causing trouble since spring."

"Oh, come now, you know I was just teasing you a bit." the father gave Marisa a pat on the head.

"Judging by some of their expressions, I think your humor might have gone over some of the girls' heads."

"I hope you told them I've come here to help, not just to joke around."

The family reunion was interrupted by Remilia's straight-to-the-point question: "Excuse me, but have you brought a mirror with you? We could really use one to get the portal to open."

"I already gave Marisa a mirror when she stopped by the other day."

Marisa nodded. "Yes, and we already put it in its place. Now we just need another one."

"Did you know your daughter carelessly smashed that mirror you gave her? We had to have it mended." the red-white-clad maiden nonchalantly broke the news to the man, as if Marisa wasn't even there.

"Don't be such a fink, Reimu…"

"Well, I didn't bring any mirros, Remilia-san, but I did bring all the necessary materials and tools to craft one. All I need to know are the measurements and I can get to work right away."

"Uh… have we met?" Remilia was slightly baffled that Marisa's father, whom she never seen before knew her name.

"Oh, pardon me. Not personally, no." Kirisame-san apologetically bowed to the young lady. "But there aren't that many vampires living in Gensokyo. I've seen you several times before, though. Last time during the summer festival at the shrine… Better luck in the tournament next time… Oh, and of course, Marisa told me quite a lot about you. Not as much as about Patchouli-san or Alice-san, though… Ow!" he let out a pained yelp as Marisa stepped on his foot, hardly by accident.

"What I meant to say is that you're quite well-known, that's all."

"Well, dad, turns out you don't need to measure anything, as the mirror we need is just going to be used to reflect the sunlight from outside into that window of the tower." Marisa pointed up as she explained the situation.

"Quite an amazing building, isn't it?" her father observed the mirror at the top of the tower, as well as the one at its bottom. "Is this the portal you told me about?"

"No, that one is further down below us, in the crypt."

"A crypt, huh? Can I take a look?" the man's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Sure, why not. Just don't fall into that deathtrap with spikes on the bottom."

A worried expression crept to Kirisame-san's face as he heard his daughter's friendly warning. "I'll try to be careful then. By the way, where have you put that mirror that I gave you and that you supposedly broke?"

"You'll find it halfway down the stairs. Try not to touch it, though."

"Alright… Now, please, excuse me while I take a look around this wonderful temple… Makes me wonder who might have built it, and how long ago…"

"Actually, we already learned that…" Patchouli was about to reveal the building's origin when Marisa hissed out a "Shhhh~! Quiet Patchy! Not a word about Atlantis to my fa…" the blonde quickly realized the slip of her tongue, but even when she used both hands to cover her mouth, the cat was already out of the bag.

"Did you say Atlantis?" Kirisame-san slowly turned his fair-haired head backwards before the rest of his body followed suit. "As in that same Atlantis which disappeared under the ocean and that people only believe to be a legend?"

It appeared the man was familiar with the myth, so Patchouli saw no point in hiding the discovery from him. "Even the city of Troy was once considered a mere legend until Heinrich Schliemann discovered its ruins, but I digress. This is with almost full certainty the Temple of Poseidon of Atlantis. Although, I expected there to be at least a statue of the god inside…"

"Incredible…" Marisa's father whispered in an awestruck state. Suddenly every little cobble looked like a treasure to him. "Such a discovery… But… isn't it a bit… out of place?"

"That it is, indeed." Patchouli admittedly nodded. "Or perhaps not, seeing as how all things forgotten by the outside-world humans have a tendency to show up here, in Gensokyo… But I'm afraid the only way of learning the full story behind this temple is to open its portal. And I believe we need but one more mirror to do so."

"I cannot express my amazement. This is one for the history books… I'll make you any type of mirror you'll need, but please, let me see the portal first."

---

"Astounding." Kirisame-san now stood in awe in front of the alleged portal arch, that was now crawling with scholars, tengu guards as well as curious visitors. "Though if you ask me, it wasn't the best decision to open the temple to the general public. It's already crowded enough as it is with all the savants and tengu soldiers, the latter of which are just getting in the way. It's not like their swords are going to be any good against intangible forces that drain all magic away…"

"That, unfortunately, was the only viable option during the negotiations." Patchouli cleared it up, sharing the man's opinion on the redundancy of the armed forces inside the excavation site.

"That's alright, Patchouli-san. Considering the nature of the tengu politics, it's already a small miracle that they agreed to these terms, rather than taking over the whole village by force."

That's when Aya interjected. "Ah, but even for old Tenma, this situation needed a more delicate approach, because not only would most of the involved parties shun such a move, it would also be a huge risk to take. If anything would go wrong, he'd take the full blame."

"I see. So he spreads the burden of responsibility to the humans and yama-bito."

"And everyone else who enters the temple." Aya nodded affirmatively. She stole a glance at a group of White Wolves standing guard in front of the temple arch. "Our guards aren't completely defenseless against spirits, you know…" she continued, "but down here, it would probably make no difference if they posted straw dummies instead. You know what I think they're really here for? To keep an eye on visitors and making sure nobody touches anything or takes any souvenirs they find inside…"

"Of that I have no doubt, Shameimaru-san." Kirisame agreed, as he kept his eyes on the magnificent arch. Everything inside the temple seemed to have a hypnotic effect on him. Thankfully, his daughter was there to remind him that he didn't come here just to do some sightseeing.

"Well, daddy, you've seen the portal. If there isn't anything else you wanted to have a look at, it would be a good time to cut us another mirror while the sky is still clear. You know how capricious the weather can be this season. It'll be your fault if you can't provide us with a mirror before it gets cloudy."

"I fully understand the situation, Marisa. But I truly needed to see the portal with my own eyes…" he tilted his head slowly upwards as he trailed the center line of the arch all the way up to the ceiling. "If my rough estimate is correct, we should now be standing precisely below the tower."

"Maybe… Why?"

"I am highly intrigued if there is any hole in the ceiling right below that mirror dial…"

Even though the interior of the ruin was relatively well-lit by lamps and torches, that was only the case for areas that were easily reachable. The ceiling, however, still remained almost completely shrouded in darkness. "If only I could see the ceiling better…"

"That can be easily achieved." Remilia snapped her fingers, like she used to do when she requested something.

"Yes, mistress?" Sakuya instantly answered the call, but it wasn't her help that the vampire needed.

"Not you, silly. You don't have any wings. I'm asking Koakuma here."

Koakuma gave her a weird look, uncertain whether she should be happy that her wings have made her so useful in this expedition or whether to be annoyed that Remilia now abuses her with menial tasks that she could have just as easily accomplished herself.

"Here you go." Remilia already borrowed a torch from a nearby stand and handed it over to the demon girl. "You know what to do, I assume."

"Yeees~." the imp replied obediently, and with the torch in her palm's grip, she flapped her wings to soar up to the darker upper part of the crypt.

"And don't hit your head!" Remilia gave her a friendly, albeit a little unnecessary warning. The torch would show Koakuma when she was nearing the ceiling. And when the solid surface became clearly visible, the devil girl tried her best to hover in one place so that everyone on the ground could have a good look.

Aya also tried using her camera and its flash to scan the shrouded ceiling. As she waited a while for the picture to develop, she tilted her head and hummed.

"Hmm… So, black today, huh, Koakuma-san?"

"That's… not exactly helpful, Aya." Marisa tried to sound condescending while holding back a chuckle. Everyone else was more focused on the temple's ceiling itself, which was rich in antique ornamentation. Along the middle section of the crypt, in one coherent axis, a pattern of circles marked the center of the hall. From each of these circles, symmetric ornaments were spreading outward, like from the center of a flower.

Kirisame-san believed that one of these circles was somehow linked to the mirror well in the tower above, but he wasn't quite certain which one. The one which Koakuma was hovering next to didn't seem in any way out of the ordinary.

"Can't see well enough…" he focused his eyes, but try as he might, all he could see was a line of several black circular ornamental hubs. "Umm… young miss, can you tell me if you see anything unusual about those black circles? Does any of them reflect light or does any of them have any holes?" he hollered up to the little demon. The hall echoed loudly with his voice and all the scholars in the crypt were giving him quizzical stares.

The light of Koakuma's torch briefly danced around a few of those circles before her voice replied: "Nothing. They're just painted black! No, wait a minute… This one here… it has a small hole in the middle!"

"Good. Do the other circles have holes like that too?"

"Let me take a look." After a brief pause came the answer that Kirisame-san was the most anxious to hear. "No, it looks like it's only this one."

Right as Koakuma confirmed his theory, Kirisame-san stepped right underneath it and looked down at his feet. "So if the mirror in the tower somehow lets a portion of light through, and if that hole is indeed connected to it, a ray of light should then be shone… right onto this stone cobble… Hmm…"

"What is it, dad?"

"It's strange… as if there was something missing… Hmm… I just hope that I'm wrong."

"Just craft that mirror already and let us figure out what to do next."

"Alright then." the man cleared his throat as his gaze returned to horizontal position. "You've kept your part of the bargain by showing me the portal, now I'll keep mine. Let's go back to the surface."

"It was about time…"

---

The weather looked still favorable for the archeological expedition, so Kirisame-san heeded Marisa's nagging and got straight to work as soon as he got out of the quarry pit. He worked fast, but he still didn't want to rush anything, so that his product's quality wouldn't suffer.

"Now just a little polish and we can see if it does anything with that portal."

"I can hardly wait." Marisa was already rubbing her palms in anticipation, and she wasn't alone. Pretty much every other member of Patchouli's team, Nazrin and Nue included, were impatient to see whether their little mirror experiment would yield any results.

And just as the mirror before them was nearing its completion a sudden commotion from outside the tent got everyone's attention.

"What's going on outside?"

It sounded like people were getting worked up over something.

"I'll go take a peek." Aya volunteered herself as she stepped outside. "Oh, my… So he did actually come… I was starting to have my doubts."

"Who came?" Reimu wanted to know.

"Why Lord Tenma, of course. Every White Wolf is lining up for a greeting salute. Yeah, a little déjà-vu, huh?"

It didn't take long for the rest of the tent's occupants to crawl out and see what was happening.

True to Aya's words, two lines of tengu guards have assembled in front of Kazemura's modest village hall, raising their weapons high to honor their leader.

From the west, a small group of flying silhouettes appeared, one being particularly large in stature.

"Let me guess," said Marisa with her eyes set on the arriving group, "the big one is Tenma."

"Well, they're not called daitengu for nothing." Aya replied and snapped a shot of this rare visit.

Truly, once the figures were close enough and preparing to touch down, even the less sharp sight of human observers could see that Lord Tenma was one giant of a man, or tengu.

He could easily stare face-to-face with the tallest of the yama-bito without having to tilt his gaze upwards. His long white hair and beard were a testament to his age. A golden tokin with purple bonten-fusa, a symbol of his status. He wore a bright golden-brown silk kimono with aralia leaf patterns. From his back, a pair of large grey feathered wings spanned widely and gently flapped as he was descending to the ground. Even from this distance his prominent nose could not be unnoticed. The four figures who escorted him were white wolf tengu, but unlike most of the guards that were stationed in Kazemura, these soldiers sported heavy armor and each a different set of weapons.

As soon as the tengu leader and his bodyguards landed, a group led by the elder of Kazemura approached him, making their way through the alley formed by saluting guards. They exchanged a couple of courteous bows and a few words before the yama-bito elder nodded and gestured in the general direction of where the group of girls was standing. As Tenma slowly walked around the edge of the quarry pit, he lifted his hand, as if he was responding to the salutes of his troops. And just as he lowered it, so did the soldiers lower their weapons and began to return to their duties in an orderly fashion.

"Hey, wait a minute." Patchouli muttered, as if she was just thinking aloud. "They're not headed for the village hall. Where are they going?"

Truly, the group that became the center of attention of everyone in Kazemura, didn't make a turn towards the modest village hall, but instead, proceeded alongside the shimenawa fence towards the residential area.

"Are they perhaps going straight into the temple?" Aya speculated. "But if that was the case, they could have just landed near the temple…"

And indeed, they didn't stop near one of the access ramps that would take them down into the quarry pit, they were just casually walking onward. As they neared the only tavern in the village, Suika dared to make her own assumption of the leaders' planned destination.

"Maybe Tenma-san is thirsty after the trip and wants to taste the local selection of ale."

As expected, nobody really took her seriously, but there weren't many options left in the village where these men of great importance could be possibly headed. And once they passed by the Hearth, and still didn't turn towards its doors, everyone became really confused.

"Okay, either this big old tengu landed here just so he could take a stroll around the quarry and leave the village by the southern road, or…" Remilia paused for a few seconds as her eyes trailed off to the other side of the pit. "Or he's inspecting the shimenawa barrier."

The thought of that made Reimu feel a little antsy, as the symbolic, but nonetheless important rope fence around the pit was partially her work. And having her work being so closely scrutinized by someone of Tenma's standing made her exude sweat in spite of the chilly autumn air.

The two men and their armed escort were just about to pass along the tent where the girls were watching them. They have completely hushed their chatter and just waited for them to move along, but the daitengu suddenly stopped to take a good look over the rope fence and into the quarry pit at the uncovered temple. He stood there motionlessly for a good while. Surely never in his life had he seen such a thing before. The yama-bito elder kept muttering something to him as both of them had their backs turned at the band of girls. Then, all of a sudden, Lord Tenma turned around.

All the girls gave him wide-eyed looks, as he, in turn, gave the group a once-over. Everyone expected him to keep walking and finish the lap around the pit, but to everyone's surprise, he stepped forth with his eyes fixated on one person in the group. And that person was…

"Uh… a good day to you…" Remilia shyly greeted him with a slight delay. The hulking tengu was unmistakably staring right at her.

"Hmmm…" he hummed in a deep voice as he sized the little vampire girl up. Some girls took a step back, but Remilia remained where she was, unflinching, staring right into Tenma's eyes. The daitengu then bowed, just as he did to the yama-bito elder when he arrived.

"May the gentle winds caress you, Scarlet-san…" he uttered a strange greeting before he straightened up. "A pity that our very first meeting is marked by such circumstances, but… I still must express my utmost respect for the work you and your team has carried out in gathering and recording information about this fascinating discovery."

It wasn't very surprising that he knew the vampire's name. Remilia was quite well-known throughout Gensokyo, as one of the only two representatives of her species. Tenma was apparently well-informed… or was he?

"Huh? What was that?" he leaned his ear to Kazemura's elder who just tapped his shoulder and whispered something to him. "The other short, purple-haired girl? Oh, I see… Knowledge-san, was it? Ah, I apologize. I automatically assumed that Scarlet-san was in charge of this expedition team."

It's true that in certain light, Patchouli's and Remilia's hair colors looked similar, but it was still quite the surprise to see Lord Tenma make such a faux-pas right at the introduction.

"Pleased to meet you, Lord Tenma." Patchouli quietly greeted him.

"W-wait, I'm important too, you know?" the flustered little vampire pouted at her best friend and then at the daitengu. "She lives in my mansion because I let her, so basically…"

"Yes, yes…" Sakuya stepped in to prevent any further embarrassments by gently pulling her mistress away from the tengu lord.

"Hey, let me go! Sakuya? Sakuya!"

"Well then, Knowledge-san," Tenma continued after clearing his throat, "once again, I wish to thank you for all your hard work on helping us understand this discovery at least a little more."

"I can't possibly take credit for all the work." Patchouli shook her head. "All of what I've been able to learn is a result of combined effort of everyone who had been a part of this expedition team, and you're only looking at a small part of it."

"Of course… I extend my gratitude to everyone who made this all possible and…" he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed a familiar face. "Aya? Now isn't this a surprise!"

"Lord Tenma! It's an honor to see you again." The crow tengu reporter prostrated herself.

"So you've been a part of this team, I take it? Had I known this before I sent Himekaidou-san to investigate this temple…"

"Oh… but Hatate's help was also invaluable to the research, right Patchouli-san?"

"It helped us understand the nature of the temple, so we could accurately pinpoint its origin." the youkai magician nodded affirmatively.

"She might be my rival and all, but we have previously joined forces to unveil the temple's mystery… well to some extent."

"So is it true? The temple being the source of evil spirits and that there's a gateway leading to another realm?"

Patchouli nodded and gave him a brief run-down of the situation as well as a few basic facts about the temple itself.

---

"I have only heard of that place." Tenma said as he gently tugged on his beard. "I wonder… Its discovery sounds strikingly similar to the history of our sacred mountain."

"Oh, you mean how the mountain was supposedly torn down by the goddess of Mt. Fuji, but reappeared restored in Gensokyo?" Marisa joined the debate.

"Exactly. I wonder if that's Lord Poseidon's way of trying to preserve his temple when the city of Atlantis was destroyed. Or perhaps he's planning to move here."

"If that's the case," said the blonde witch, "he sure has some weird manners."

Patchouli expressed her doubt about the viability of this theory by a light shrug. "Poseidon isn't known for commanding the dead."

"So… Hades, maybe? What if this is all some great conspiracy of the Greek gods to take over Gensokyo?"

"Rather than pondering the possible theories, I'd prefer sticking to the facts. And the fact is that we need to solve the riddle inscribed on the portal arch in order to learn anything more about this incident."

"Oh, come on, Patchy, I'm telling you, all we need is the mirror, which should be finished any minute now."

"Ah, excellent!" Tenma's eyes glistened with excitement. "It seems I have arrived at the right time…"

Just as he said that, the tarp covering the entrance of the tent moved aside and Kirisame-san stepped out, holding a polished round plate. "Did someone say "mirror"? So… what was that commotion outside all about?"

Obviously, he had no clue of what was going on outside of the tent while he worked on the mirror. It didn't help that the bright sun blinded his eyes that were more adjusted to the much dimmer interior of the tent. He didn't even notice that he held the mirror at such an angle that reflected the sunlight directly into Lord Tenma's eyes.

After a brief moment of embarrassing silence of all parties involved, Kirisame-san opened his mouth and immediately turned the mirror away. "O… oh, my… Sorry about that."

"Kyaaaah~!" A girl's shriek distracted him from finishing the apology. As he turned his head in the direction of its source, he saw Remilia covering her face from the ray of sunlight reflected by the mirror right at her. Her body appeared to be giving off smoke before she quickly took cover behind Sakuya.

"Watch where you aim that thing~!"

"I guess "reckless" runs in the family..." Reimu's frankness casually slipped out of her lips as she shook her head.

Now Kirisame-san had two youkai to apologize to, and so he did, being extra careful not to blind anyone else with his mirror in the process.

"A mirror is the key to opening the gateway?" Tenma raised his eyebrows.

"Well, that we are all about to find out… So, are you all ready to descend into the temple once more?"

Some of the girls didn't even reply and simply started walking towards the slopes of the quarry pit.

Lord Tenma chuckled at their reaction. "I'd say that's a "yes". I wouldn't keep them waiting. I myself am immensely curious to witness the gateway's opening."

---

After several minutes, the whole archeological expedition team was now inside the Temple of Poseidon. All except Koakuma, who got stuck with the unfortunate task of hovering around the mirror tower, holding the large and heavy mirror and trying to keep it steady in one position, as it reflected the light directly into the second mirror fixated at the top of the mentioned tower. She winced as she kept arduously flapping her wings, weighted down by the mirror.

"Uuuu~. Patchouli-samaaa… Hurry up and open that portal~!"

Inside the temple, a part of the group was standing around the mirror well. Aya, Suika, Remilia, Patchouli and Sakuya could all see that the ray of sunlight from above was touching the well's surface, but being reflected at a random part of the tower's wall.

"Ah, yes, I should turn these dials so that the light would be reflected to the mirror on the stairwell."

After some adjustments, the elemental sorceress found the right combination that sent the light beam further down the desired path.

"Yes! That's it!" Marisa's voice echoed from the stairwell as she confirmed the light's presence and its correct position. "We have light down here!"

Marisa checked the beam's path and noticed that it was shining right onto the second to last step of the stairwell. The one which triggered the spear trap.

"Yeah, I can see what you were trying to warn us about, but that's not very helpful anymore."

"Marisa!" Patchouli called at her, "Can you see where the light is reflected to?"

"I can, but it's not much of a help, ze!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll go take a look." Remilia took action and flapped her wings. In a moment, she was gliding down the stairwell right past Marisa, all the while trying to avoid the ray of harmful sunlight.

"Hmm… That really isn't very helpful anymore." the vampire stated as she landed at the bottom of the stairwell.

"What about the crypt? Any light there?" the witch asked.

"I doubt it, but I'll go check it out anyway." Already feeling disappointment, Remilia took flight again, this time in a less energetic manner and flew over the spiked pitfall deathtrap to land at the top of the portal arch.

"Any luck down here?" she called at the remaining part of the group. Reimu, Xeng-Yao, Kirisame-san, Lord Tenma, Hatate, Nue and Nazrin were all staring intently at the portal wall.

"Hey! Can you hear me? I asked you something!" Remilia raised her voice, slightly annoyed that her question got ignored.

But then she saw it herself. A flash of light came from right underneath her feet. It was as brief as a lightning, but it illuminated the whole crypt for that split second.

The crowds of scholars and tengu soldiers alike were glaring at the wall in shock.

"Well…" Reimu finally noticed Remilia, "Something is definitely happening…" She grabbed her gohei tightly and readied a handful of ofuda as another flash appeared.

"Hey everyone, get down to the crypt!" Remilia shouted back at the girls on the upper level.

It didn't take long for them to gather in front of the portal. By now the flashes were increasing in frequency and in duration.

"This is most peculiar…" Kirisame-san whispered as he observed the spectacle. The whole portal wall was covered in glowing glyphs, much like the arch that embraced it. These glyphs were the source of the mysterious rhythmical flashes, like a beating heart.

It wasn't long before the rest of the team gathered in the crypt, each one of them mesmerized by the light show that was taking place. But at the same time, everyone was on edge and ready to flee or fight.

"Hey, Patchy, some more of those weird symbols appeared on the wall, can you translate them as well?" Remilia asked before Patchouli even descended the stairs to the Crypt's bottom level.

And when the youkai magician made it to the bottom and had a good look at the flashing wall of glyphs, she tilted her head and shook it.

"Remi, there is no text to translate. Have a better look…"

As the flashes intensified, it was possible to see that the glowing glyphs were in fact a picture. A work of art depicting Poseidon's torso towering over what looked like a closed gate, surrounded by water.

"Is that the…?"Remilia was finally beginning to see the picture.

"So I was right after all… Yes, that's Poseidon. Also known as Neptune in the Roman pantheon. And it doesn't seem like he's going to open that gate unless we solve the riddle…"

"Riddle? But we don't even know where to start!" Marisa exclaimed with no small amount of frustration in her tone. "It's so vague! Those 10 kings or what they were are dead for millennia."

"Indeed… And we are in a crypt…" Patchouli finally took her eyes off the glowing portal wall to look around the rest of the crypt, which was lined from floor to ceiling with countless burial chambers, each sealed by a finely crafted stone panel.

But before she could even give a suggestion on how to solve the portal's riddle another, much brighter flash distracted her from her thoughts, as it did pretty much everyone else in the crypt.

"Something's going on again!" Remilia pointed her finger at the wall again.

"Riddle, shimiddle…" Marisa became confident enough to grin again. "Apparently all we needed was to wait a while."

The crypt became quickly filled with thick smoke, which, combined with the flashes of the glyphs, made everyone feel like they were standing in the middle of a storm cloud.

"Everybody stand back!" yelled the panicking commander of the white wolf tengu. Only the sound of dozens of swords being drawn out of their sheathes resonated in this thick milky mist that had shrouded the crypt in its veil.

"Patchy! Grab my hand now!" Remilia urged her friend to grasp her hand, so that they wouldn't get separated if things suddenly became chaotic.

But just as suddenly as the smoke appeared, it dissipated, revealing the crypt with more persons than there originally were.

Reimu was just about to declare a pre-emptive Fantasy Seal when she noticed several human-like silhouettes standing in front of the portal. She could only make out their outlines, as the light of the glyphs behind the silhouettes was blinding her rather than revealing the unknown visitors' features.

"W-who are you?"

---

"And where in the hell have we teleported ourselves now?" one of the unknown figures spoke in a slightly raspy, but young female voice.

"I think I just heard someone say something." another person spoke, also sounding like a young female. "By the looks of it, it seems like we're in a dungeon of some sort."

As more of the smoke cleared, everyone could see that all the mysterious figures were female. They all seemed utterly confused, but given their sudden appearance, everyone treated them as potentially hostile.

"Don't come any closer! Identify yourselves immediately!" the white wolf tengu soldiers yelled at them. "One wrong move and we'll kill you!"

"Nepu! There's really someone here!" a girl with short lilac hair, dressed in a white-purple hoodie and wearing a pair of striped white-blue thigh-highs excitedly spoke to her companions in a high-pitched voice.

"You noticed that just now?" asked a shorter girl with long brown hair adorned with a green ribbon, clad in a blue coat, which looked a few sizes too large for her. "Seriously, though, Nep, I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with inputting the coordinates."

"But Iffy, I typed them in exactly as you were dictating them."

"Yes, while playing a game."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is the best time to be all chitty-chatty, Nep-nep." a girl with long light-pinkish hair, wearing a light tan woolen sweater and a short red plaid skirt sheepishly tried to interrupt the conversation.

"Oh my, it seems we are surrounded." a tall long-haired blonde in an elegant white and green dress summed up the situation.

"And outnumbered to boot." said a black-haired girl with long twintails, dressed almost like a maid.

"I'm not afraid to take them all on, if need be, but I suggest we should try to negotiate first." The last girl in the group, with a small frame, short brown hair, wearing a puffy white hat and a dress of matching color quietly muttered in a stoically calm tone.

Much less calmer than her, the tengu soldiers kept barking warnings and questions at them, which could be summed up to "don't move", "identify yourselves", and "state your business".

That's when the purple-haired girl cheerfully raised her hand.

"Okay~! Leave it to me! I'll do the talking."

"We're doomed…" said the one in the blue coat.

And so, the most talkative girl stepped slowly forward, still smiling even at the sight of an overwhelming number of angry-looking men with sharp swords.

"That's close enough!" the white wolf tengu captain demanded her to stop. And she stopped. "Are you the leader of this group?"

"Please…" Lord Tenma approached the captain, placed his palm on his blade and slowly lowered it. "Allow me to lead this parlay."

"My lord, you can't trust them. For all we know, they could be the ones responsible…"

"Thank you, captain, for you well-meant advice, but I believe a leader, if that's who this young lady is, should speak with the leader. Now, please lower your weapon and kindly order the men to do the same."

Unable to disobey his lord, the tengu captain gave the order. "You heard the Lord! Lower your weapons!" All the White Wolves have sheathed their swords as they were told.

"Now," Tenma took a step forward, "why don't we start with an introduction first? I'm Tenma and I represent the tengu of the sacred mountain Yatsugatake. Are you the leader of this group?

"Leader? Uh… well… Ehehe, I'm the main character, but I mostly listen to what Iffy says." the girl shyly giggled as she flung a brief glance at her companions. "Oh! I'm Neptune, by the way. Nice to meet you, Tenma-san. That shorter girl in blue coat is IF, but we all call her Iffy. Both letters of her name are uppercase. She's kinda like our older sister. Compa is the one wearing the sweater and the plaid skirt. She makes the most superblicious pudding in the world. Noire is the black-haired tsundere girl who doesn't have any friends besides us."

"What did you call me?!" the girl in question responded as one would imagine most people react if someone introduced them in such an unflattering way. "And cut it out with saying I have no friends!"

Completely ignoring her friend's complaints, the lilac-haired girl continued in the introduction. "That tall blonde is Vert and the last, but not least – Blanc."

Patchouli, who was standing just a few meters away, watched the awkward scene with her mouth ajar. "Not quite the Neptune we expected…"

"Ehehe~. Did my reputation precede me? But you know, you shouldn't believe every gossip people say and… Did that elderly man just say he's a tengu?" the girl who introduced herself as Neptune changed the topic just as suddenly as she appeared in the crypt. "He does have a nose like one. I mean, I've certainly seen stranger things, but a tengu encounter would be a first. Are we perhaps in Lowee?"

"I don't know any Lowee, I'm afraid." Tenma frowned. "Are you trying to tell me you girls don't even know where you are right now?"

"It's all Nep's fault!" the girl with the shortest name joined the conversation. "She messed up the coordinates on the teleporter and it spat us out in a completely wrong dimension. Again…"

IF's explanation of the situation didn't make it sound any less confusing than Neptune's blathering. "Eh… telepo…what now?"

"It's a big metal machine with a chamber for several people and… uh… If this isn't Gamindustri, then could you please tell us where we are, Tenga-san?"

"You're now in Gensokyo. And it's "Tenma"."

"Gensokyo?" Neptune blinked as her face assumed a puzzled expression. "Have you girls ever heard of such a place?"

"That I haven't. And I'm quite well-traveled…" IF replied negatively.

"It sounds like some sort of theme park's name…" Compa was just as clueless as her friends.

"But it sounds so familiar…" Neptune scowled from searching the deepest depths of her faint memory.

"I also feel like I've heard the name before," said Vert, "I just can't put my finger on it…"

"My first association is also Lowee…" Blanc muttered in a barely-audible voice.

"Hey, hey, Tangram-san, are you the leader of this Gensokyo?"

"Te-n-ma!" the daitengu blushed as red as a beetroot after hearing Neptune mangling his name for the second time. "But… no… I don't rule over all of Gensokyo. Just one of its parts."

"Ah, so you probably won't be able to help us with our inter-dimensional travel."

"I've already recalibrated the coordinates, but it's going to take a moment for the teleporter to activate." IF informed her cheerful purple-haired friend after she tapped her finger a few times against a strange small box that emitted beeping sounds each time her fingertip touched it.

"You know…" Reimu just couldn't remain quiet anymore and finally decided to enter the conversation. "I find it awfully coincidental that you lot appear exactly here in this suspicious temple, when there's a major incident taking place and exactly at the moment we attempt to open the portal that you're standing in front of. And of course, you all play dumb to avoid suspicion of being accused of perpetrating the whole incident... And… is that you, Yukari?"

The shrine maiden suddenly trailed off and focused her gaze on Vert.

"I apologize, but it seems you must have mistaken me for someone else." the blonde girl calmly denied Reimu's false assumption.

"So you know absolutely nothing about the host of evil spirits that has been possessing fairies in droves and subsequently raiding random locations around Gensokyo, right?" Reimu asked in a sarcastic tone filled with mistrust.

"As interesting as that sounds, we indeed don't know anything about that." Noire crossed her arms and responded to Reimu's accusation with cold denial.

"Oh! This girl…" Neptune widened her violet eyes as she beheld the shrine maiden.

"Is something wrong, Nep-nep?"

"Do you recognize her by any chance?"

All of a sudden, the very lively young girl snapped her fingers. "Of course! She's a shrine maiden!"

"…"

"…"

"No way, really?" Noire tried to make her question sound as sarcastically as possible.

"Leave it to Nep to ruin a dramatic pause moment with something dumb like that…" IF buried her face in her own palm.

"Our Nep-nep is random like that."

"Well, at least she isn't wrong for a change." Blanc found something positive about the obvious statement.

"But she's not just any shrine maiden, you know." Neptune continued and began casting glances at all the girls surrounding Reimu. "The witch, the maid, that little vampire girl, the other little girl with horns…! Your cosplay is really top-notch, girls!"

Again, a moment of awkward silence settled in the stone crypt of Poseidon's Temple.

"Our what?" Marisa blinked in confusion.

"You mean you aren't just dressed up like that for fun, so you could have people take pictures of you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but maybe you'll start making sense after I knock it into your head." Reimu again regained her battle-ready stance.

"Nepu! So is this for real? Are you the real Hakurei Reimu?"

The shrine maiden dropped her jaw as the girl she had never seen before somehow knew her name before she even introduced herself.

"H-how do you know…?! Are you a satori too?"

"Wahaaa! Iffy, Iffy, did you hear? This is amazing! So we weren't that far off course in the first place, we just ended up in a different game!" Neptune was super-excited after hearing Reimu's reaction. The shrine maiden and the rest of Gensokyo natives who gathered in the crypt, on the other hand, were just cluelessly staring at the mysterious girl's antics.

"Game? Does this look like a game to you?!" a little pulsating vein popped up on Reimu's forehead.

"That's all well and good," IF spoke in a serious voice, "but regardless, this isn't our intended destination. Not to worry, in a minute the teleporter will be fully-charged and we can be on our way…"

"Aww… Just when two main characters meet for the first time." Neptune's voice reverberated with evident disappointment. "Let me at least shake hands with her!"

And so, Neptune caught the shrine maiden completely off-guard. She grabbed Reimu's right wrist, made her drop her paper amulets and shook her hand.

"What are you doing? Let me go of my hand this instant!" Reimu felt threatened and was on the verge of hitting the girl with the purification rod, but against her better judgment decided not to.

"My little sis is gonna be soooo jealous, hehe~! Now if only I could have a picture of the two of us taken."

She didn't have to wait for too long to get her wish granted. Another flash, this time coming out of Aya's camera, briefly illuminated the crypt's interior. After a short moment and a quiet buzzing sound, a fresh picture commemorating the handshake came out of the slot.

"Oho! Can I have that one? I'll give you one of my puddings if you let me have that picture!" Neptune released Reimu's hand and reached out for the picture Aya was holding.

"How about an interview instead?"

"Ten seconds to go, Nep. Get ready." IF announced after checking the timer on her handheld device.

"Ah, that's a pity, it doesn't look like I'll be able to tell you all about myself in such a short time~."

"Wait!" Reimu halted her, even though Neptune hadn't moved anywhere from her place. "Do you think we're just going to let you get away as our prime suspects behind this spirit incident? Think again!"

"Five seconds…"

"Ah, I'm sure you'll figure everything out eventually. You're the main character, after all. We have our own little incident to resolve so… maybe some other time~. See ya~!"

"…two…one… Aaaand go!"

"Hey! Wait!" Reimu's shout got drowned out by the loud noise and the accompanying flash of light as all the six girls from an unknown world disappeared before her very eyes, leaving no traces of their presence in the crypt.

"And they're gone…" Marisa spoke after a moment of quietness.

"What the hell was that all about?" Reimu and her company were obviously dumbstruck by the sudden and unexpected visit, and even though the girls seemed amicable, nobody could be truly sure whether they truly weren't the culprits behind Gensokyo's recent incident.

"Regardless of what it was, I have some material to write about." Aya looked content as she slid the photo into her portfolio.

The portal's wall was still glimmering with the light of its glyphs. The god Poseidon still held the gate stubbornly shut pushing some girls in Reimu's group to the point of frustration.

"We are so close… I can feel it." Remilia sounded positive, even though she had no idea how to tackle the ancient Atlantean puzzle inscribed on the arch.

"And can you also feel how we are supposed to get that damn thing open?" Marisa scowled as she looked down at the vampire. Silence seemed as the best answer Remilia could think of, but the crypt didn't remain quiet for long.

---

They spent a good half of an hour arguing about what their next course of action should be. Before they knew it, the glyphs on the wall began to fade, returning the crypt back to its dimly-lit state.

"Oh, great. Now what?" Reimu just about had it with the pointless bickering when she noticed her surroundings becoming darker.

"I guess Koakuma got tired of holding that mirror for us." Marisa quickly drew a logical conclusion. Not that she could blame the young imp. Anyone with a hint of self-respect would have given up on such a dull and thankless task by now.

"It's back to square one, I'm afraid." Patchouli masked her disappointment under her usual quiet meek demeanor.

On their way to the surface, Reimu finally dared to be verbal about the thought that she had been flirting with for a while now.

"I honestly don't see much sense in staying here when we're barely making any progress. I'm going back to my shrine and I will only return to this hamlet when you get the portal open."

"Oi, Reimu, you serious?" Even though Marisa had already heard her friend voice similar ideas before, this time she really looked serious about keeping her word. "What if it only takes us ten minutes to solve the riddle?"

It was almost humorous to see Marisa's pessimistic attitude towards the team's progress thus far do a 180-degree turn when she tried to convince Reimu to stay.

"I somehow doubt that, but should you really pull it off, I want Aya to snap a picture of the opened portal and bring it to me as proof. Then I will not hesitate to fly back top-speed. Otherwise, I'm just wasting my time here."

"Oh? So sitting on your porch and drinking tea is not a waste of time during a full-blown incident? Good to know."

"Look, I'm just tired of this tomb-crawling business. Every time I step down into this temple, full of anticipation, I'm only met with another obstacle that hinders me from doing my job."

"Aw, come on, Reimu." Remilia made the miko turn away from Marisa as she tugged on her red skirt. "Of all the times you could choose to act as a spoiled child, you decide to do so now? You, who solves every incident by trying time and time again until you succeed?"

"I'm afraid if it doesn't involve shooting the crap out of her enemy with danmaku, her determination seems to have a declining tendency." Marisa humorously summed up her friend's motivation.

"Look who's talking." Reimu scoffed as she was ascending the stairwell back to the mirror tower. "Weren't you whining to Remilia about how to solve the riddle just a while ago?"

"Hey, we all have a way of venting our frustration, you know." the blonde defended herself, even though the thought of her acting in that way made her blush. Fortunately, nobody could really see her face too well with so little natural light.

---

When they made it to the tower, they were greeted with the sight of Koakuma leaning her mirror plate against the wall.

"No good, Patchouli-sama." she started lamenting as soon as she saw her mistress. "It's getting cloudy outside. Looks like it's going to rain soon."

It was still admirable of her to keep floating in one place with that mirror in hands for so long. She probably would have held it even longer if she believed there was any sense in it, but the weather just cancelled everyone's plans for a smooth puzzle solving.

"That's autumn for you." Aya could tell by the grayish light reflected in the mirror well, that the sky was indeed pulling a curtain over itself. "Still… it doesn't mean we cannot try to take a closer look at the statues in the main hall."

Aya had suspected they were somehow linked to this whole 10-king riddle all along, but she first wanted to let Patchouli carry out her attempt to open the portal with the reflected sunlight.

"To be honest, I didn't pay them much attention during my stay down here." the youkai magician admitted her oversight.

"Those statues…" Tenma's voice preceded his large figure, which just barely squeezed through the all-too-tight stairwell passage. Shortly thereafter, he was joined by his loyal escorts, as well as Hatate. But the reporter didn't seem to care about exchanging small talk with the rest of the group, as she was headed straight for the main hall, all the while tapping away at her camera's buttons.

"Tenma-sama?" Aya turned around to face her superior.

"There's obviously more than ten of them, most likely to make the puzzle more challenging."

"That's true." Nazrin's mouse ears perked up, as she also recalled counting the statues when she first explored the temple. "But I'm afraid my dowsing rods won't be able to tell me which are the correct ones. Or what to do with them."

"Another peculiar detail of note," Tenma continued once he dusted off his robe and wings, "is that the hall's floor tiles are the same size and shape as the statues' pedestals. I somehow doubt the reason behind it to be purely esthetical."

It hasn't even been half of an hour since his arrival to the excavation site and the leader of the tengu was proving his usefulness and ability to pay attention to details.

Marisa combed her fair hair with her fingers. "So we need to rearrange them… How?"

"Well, Kirisame-san, that's the charm of puzzle solving. We first need to identify which ten of the sculptures represent the ten rulers."

"In that case…" the witch's eyes slowly shifted sideways, resting upon her comrade in magic. "Patchy, it's up to you once again. Don't keep us waiting three years…"

"Um, you know…" Patchouli wanted to start a long-winded speech, when she felt the tap of Tenma's large palm on her shoulder

"I have every confidence in your success." he said, as if he was counting on her to do all the work.

"Mu… mukyuu~!" the all-too-familiar expression, applicable in so many situations escaped Patchouli's lips. This time it most likely signified the magician's fluster. It's not like everyone expected too much of her, except she had absolutely no idea on how to tackle this problem. No more than any one random person standing in the temple.

"I'd say you have an equal chance of solving it yourselves."

"That didn't sound very confident." Reimu commented Patchouli's reaction, while she was mentally packing up her belongings and preparing for a trip back to the shrine.

"Aw, come on, Patchy." Marisa, the moral support extraordinaire, saw that Patchouli's spirits needed some lifting. "You're just being too modest. Ehehe… I hope for all of our sakes that you are, because I can't tell an alpha from an omega when it comes to Greek… and that's not even the language we're dealing with here."

A long pause followed as Patchouli quietly scanned everyone present in the room before her gaze stopped at one of the shortest girls in the group.

"At least I know who's going to do all the pushing."

The look on Suika's face suggested that if she had a gimmick word like Patchouli, she'd most certainly use it.

"That's not what I signed up for~!"

"I'm not going to pretend to be knowledgeable in the field of archeology," Tenma muttered humbly, "but perhaps we could get a hint or two by using spirit photography."

Aya's frown was nothing to be unexpected after hearing that suggestion coming out of Tenma's mouth. Once again, the greenhorn rival journalist appeared to be more useful, but Aya knew better than to let her pride get in the way of putting an end to this incident.

"I do suppose you're right…"

"Aya…" Tenma addressed the black-haired reporter oddly by her first name. "Your journalism rivalry with Hatate aside, there is no reason for you to think that I consider your work less important."

"Tenma-sama…" the usually cheerful and confident crow tengu exposed her bashful side. "I don't think I've been that helpful to you."

"What are you talking about?" Remilia interjected to speak her mind. "You helped us figure out that we needed a mirror… It's not like you at all to feel all insignificant. Just like how it's not like Reimu to suddenly feel so apathetic when she's in the middle of solving an incident." she crossed her arms and let one of her fangs jut out from between her pouting lips. "Unless I beat her in a duel, that is…"

"Like when did that ever happen?" the shrine maiden raised her brows. Her question, however, died unanswered in the echoes of Tenma's laughter.

"You should listen to young lady Scarlet. She speaks some sense. Your work for this team as well as for the tengu community is of high importance. It's just that there are some things Himekaidou knows better, just as there are things that you know better."

"Should I perhaps write a detailed report about our findings?"

"No. I'll just read both your and Himekaidou's newspapers and make my own judgment. I'll most likely find the truth somewhere in between. Now, please excuse me, I'll have to fly out through the tower's window, as my bulky form won't allow me to fit through that cramped passageway. See you on the other side."

"Hey, wait!" Aya tried to halt him, but tenma had already taken off and disappeared. "What do you mean "I'll likely find the truth somewhere in between"? My articles contain only pure, undiluted, unbiased, unaltered truth."

Reimu pretended to be suddenly attacked by a coughing fit. "Yeah, right…"

"Shall we proceed to the main hall then?" Sakuya suggested before she entered the narrow tunnel, shortly followed by others.

---

True enough, when the whole team reassembled in the main hall, they saw the daitengu curiously inspecting one of the statues. Hatate, standing at the other side of the hall, was snapping shots of literally everything in sight. She gave off the vibe of a newbie crime scene investigator, trying her best to look thorough and professional. Patchouli walked on to join them, but the rest of the team just idly stood there and watched.

"I thought you were going home." Marisa jabbed at her old friend, who didn't show any signs of leaving the temple.

After a short pause, the shrine maiden turned to her with a deadpan expression and said: "One day… No more."

"Ha! I knew you were just bluffing."

"I'm not bluffing." Reimu corrected her. "Just postponing my departure."

Marisa already had a witty retort on the tip of her tongue, when a loud sound of a heavy object grinding against a stone surface interrupted her act in the phase of intention.

Tenma just took the liberty of pushing one of the statues onto the next floor tile.

"Alright," he dusted off his wrinkled hands and nodded to himself, "now we know that the pedestals aren't fixated to the floor." And while it was indeed an important find, his act achieved little beyond disrupting the statue formation's symmetry.

"Tenma-sama." Hatate shyly approached the great tengu and bowed. "I have taken pictures of every stature from all angles as well as the walls, floor, ceiling and the altar."

"What about the support pillars?"

"Ah! How amateurish of me to forget about them. I'm sorry. I'll get right to it!"

Even though Tenma's thick beard made it hard to see his facial expressions, his following reaction gave his hidden smile away.

"Good girl…" he mumbled as she patted Hatate's head.

It was more that he found Hatate's slight ditziness cute rather than a serious praise for a job well done, but whatever the case was, Hatate found this situation quite embarrassing, as she immediately scurried away to finish her job.

Aya, who witnessed it all, let out a muffled groan. "I want to be praised by Tenma-sama too."

"Good girl…" Reimu jokingly patted Aya on the head, impersonating Tenma's voice, all the while trying her best not to laugh.

---

At that point, Patchouli's team had split to two. One group stayed in the hall trying to solve the puzzle, while the others returned to the surface for some fresh air. Hatate needed privacy to apply her ability on the series of photos she had taken, so it was no surprise that she disappeared in one of the many tengu tents that dotted the edge of the quarry pit.

"I knew my dad would stay down there." Marisa chuckled as she and Reimu walked towards Kazemura's central well to quench their thirst. "No doubt he's going to fill in at least three diaries with notes…"

Reimu didn't react to Marisa's chatter, as if she was spiritually in a completely different place. Her eyes were more curious about the sky than the path she was walking on, as was obvious from her occasionally tripping over a stone or two.

"What's wrong, Reimu? Still having second thoughts about going home?"

"It doesn't look like the sky will clear up before the sun sets…" she said after a moment.

"Ah… Yeah. Too bad, huh? We'll need sunlight if we are to make any progress with the portal opening. But I'm sure we'll get it open. Piece by piece the temple is revealing its secrets to us. We need to be patient… Especially you, Reimu."

"Patience has never been one of my strong suits." finally the shrine maiden returned her gaze back to horizontal position.

Marisa could only laugh at her statement. "If that were true, you would have quit being a shrine maiden years ago. But no. You're like me. You keep trying until you achieve your goals. If that's not patience, then I don't know what is."

Marisa lowered the bucket down into the well and let it fill up.

"I'm the last Hakurei in Gensokyo. It's not like I could simply quit being a shrine maiden even if I wanted to."

"Exactly. That's why I can't understand why you'd suddenly want to turn your back on us, when it's your destined duty to protect this land."

The witch felt the weight of the filled bucket tug on the rope as she tried rolling the winch backwards. "Oi, don't just stand there. Give me a hand."

Reimu stepped up to the crank from the opposite side and together with Marisa they began pulling the bucket up.

"There could be a hundred other incidents taking place where people would need my help right now, but I can't respond, because I'm stuck here."

"I know it's not easy, but sometimes you have to make a choice and accept the lesser evil for the greater good."

"You know why I decided to postpone my return trip to the shrine?" Reimu asked.

"Pray tell."

"Because I have a gut feeling that something is going to happen soon that will require my attention."

"Well duh." Marisa responded at the same time as the bucket was reeled back to the top. "We're on the brink of opening the portal. You don't need to be clairvoyant to see that."

"You seem to be pretty confident about it. But that's not exactly what I had in mind."

Marisa was the first one to dive her cupped hands into the bucket of refreshing cool water and take a swig.

"Ah… Why wouldn't I be confident?" she asked. "Some of the most capable minds in Gensokyo are already on our side and working tirelessly to learn as much about this temple as they can. As a friend, I trust Patchouli just as much as I trust you. I mean look at her. A shut-in bookworm who spent most of her time indoors reading and writing books. And now she doesn't mind living in a tent and sharing it with the rest of us while she's studying the temple. With that determined mindset there's no way she cannot succeed."

Reimu also took a few gulps of water before she responded with a headshake. "That's not what I was talking about. The gut feeling that I have tells me we'll run into some trouble soon. I can't tell whether it will be before or after opening the portal, but I can't shake it no matter how positive I try to be."

"Hehe. Truth be told, I'm counting on something like that to happen as well. This village doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment."

---

Marisa was mostly just joking, not having the slightest clue that her semi-serious wish might be mere hours from being fulfilled. For in a place both near and far away, on the other side of the temple's dormant portal, a plot was being brewed.

In a dark hall, not too dissimilar from the one in the Temple of Poseidon, two figures were sitting at the table as the third entered.

"Ah, welcome back, Hagoro." a female voice, belonging to a brown-haired woman in a white toga, greeted the arriving guest. " What news from Aegae do you bring? Is our guest still sleeping tight?"

The one addressed as Hagoro pulled down the hood on their robe to reveal a young feminine face and a head of long white hair. "Of course… I honestly don't see how she'd be an obstacle."

"I know her well enough not to underestimate her." spoke the third person in a deep male voice. His dark indigo skin and a pair of horns protruding from his head made him all the more fearsome in this dimly lit hall. "Once she wakes up, it'll only be a matter of time before she escapes."

"My, my, Aoi…" the seated woman spoke in a slow and arrogant-sounding tone. "If she's as formidable as you present her, why don't you lock her away in Tartarus? You and your kind are already more than well-accustomed to traversing the underground, are you not?"

"I would not advise mocking my ancestry when you're within my arm's reach." the male spoke calmly, but he made it very clear that would take no crap from anybody. "You might have cheated death, Cleito, but it doesn't mean that it can't come back for you."

"Save that temper for when you'll be facing the enemy."

"Ahem…" Hagoro cleared her throat. "I also have a bit more troubling news to relay, if only you two would stop bickering."

"Oh? And what troubles you, my dear?" Cleito tilted her head to the side.

"The Gensokyans are getting close to activating the gateway. It won't be long before they solve the puzzle with your ten sons."

Cleito just scoffed. "Isn't that what we wanted them to do for us in the first place?"

"Yes, but not so soon." Aoi replied with a frown. "They weren't supposed to open the portal until winter. That's when our greatest deterrent for invasion sleeps and is the least likely to wake up when we'd least need it. With her out of the way, though, we'll be able to roam Gensokyo unchallenged for long enough to make our ends meet. We'll turn over every stone, even if it means razing some places to the ground in the process."

"Such hatred for your homeland…" Cleito smiled amusedly.

"I have no home. Just like her." Aoi pointed at Hagoro, who didn't seem to show any emotion.

"My poor dears… Then why wait until winter when we can start an invasion now? We've been poking Gensokyo time and time again with our fairy raids to assess their combat capabilities, and while they are impressive, they're going to need a lot more than that to face the might of our orichalcum army."

"We don't have enough spirits to animate even one tenth of them." Hagoro objected. "I would hate to have my plan thwarted due to our bad timing."

"Even one tenth of that army is more than enough to conquer Gemsokyo, but if you want more spirits, then you only have to wait. The war-torn Panthea is about to experience a second Titanomachy. Then you'll have more spirits than you can shake your finger at."

"Bad timing or no, we need to do something before the Gensokyans open the portal, lest we lose our element of surprise." the blue oni suggested.

"While I still have control over the spirits in Gensokyo, I can't summon them back. It seems there's some sort of barrier in place."

"Well, then I suggest you disable that barrier." Cleito slowly stood up from the table. "In the meantime, I'll set the portal's destination to Old Atlantis. That should buy us more time to prepare."

After Cleito left the hall, Aoi glanced over at Hagoro and asked: "How are you going to destroy the barrier with so many tengu guarding it?"

The robed girl stood silent for a while, as if she was thinking about something, then she answered: "Just wait and see."

---

Hours have passed without anything eventful happening in Kazemura. Reimu and Marisa were passing the time by playing various games, but a few hundred meters away, in another tent, Hatate had just finished analyzing her photos and she came to a shocking discovery. So shocking, that she stood up, spilled an ink flask and turned over a chair as she ran out of her tent.

As fast as her body would allow, she ran towards the Temple of Poseidon to break the news to everyone inside. Time was of the essence.

"Lord Tenma!" she exclaimed as she jumped straight down from the unearthed window in the main hall.

"Ah, Himekaidou-san. Is something the matter? We've already managed to identify 6 of the 10 rulers."

"Lord Tenma, you need to leave the temple immediately! No, everyone needs to leave!" the crow tengu was hyperventilating and her hasted speech didn't make much sense.

"Calm down. What are you talking about?"

"Look for yourself!" Hatate pulled out her camera and showed Tenma the fully-developed pictures that she took. They were all riddled with spots.

"What are these spots supposed to be?"

"Vengeful spirits! They'll storm the place in thousands. We need to leave the quarry pit now!"

"By the gods…" Tenma's metaphorical alarm bells were ringing as he slid through the photos. He turned to his most trusted bodyguards and asked them to help evacuate everyone from the temple as soon as possible, but without raising panic. While two of his escorts hurried to the crypt, his other two urged him to depart as quickly as possible.

Needless to say, panic had already erupted in the main hall, with everyone trying to get out first. And since there was only one way to get in and out, a tidal wave of bodies has amassed itself near the lift platform. Humans, tengu, yama-bito and other youkai were pushing and shoving each other off the lift's platform, hoping they'd be among the first ones to be pulled out. But the lift could only carry 3 persons at a time, so once it got down, they couldn't pull it up.

---

"Ayaya? Did you hear that?" Aya's sensitive ear picked up the noises of the commotion from inside the tent. "Could it be that they've finally solved that statue puzzle?"

It didn't take any amount of persuasion to make Reimu and Marisa get up on their feet and rush outside.

A cacophony of screams was coming from the bottom of the quarry pit as small groups were hastily pouring out of the temple.

"They don't seem to be cheering." Marisa stated the obvious as she reached for her Mini Hakkero.

They all ran down the slopes to the bottom of the quarry in spite of everyone else running the opposite direction. Shortly, they ran into Lord Tenma himself.

"Tenma-sama, what's going on?" Aya quickly asked.

"The temple is not safe anymore. You all better turn around and run before a host of vengeful spirits overrun the place."

"But Patchouli's in there! As well as my father. We need to help them get out!" Marisa objected.

"No we're not." her father's voice made the blonde witch exhale in relief. There he stood, along with Patchouli and the rest of her team at the bottom of the pit. They all appeared unharmed, but more than startled. Hatate was there too, urging the group to move faster and to get past the shimenawa fence.

"This is exactly what I was talking about." Reimu muttered a whisper to Marisa.

"Yeah, but as long as we stand on the wrong side of the fence, there's no way we can stand a fighting chance against anything."

Marisa had a point. Reimu reluctantly made a 180-degree turn and began to ascend the slope.

---

Once the whole group was catching their breath safely outside the shimenawa barrier, Aya began to question Hatate what exactly led to the wave of panic that had spread all over Kazemura. And so Hatate began to explain…

"So, you're saying that you evacuated the whole temple just because your photos came out all fuzzy and dotted with spots? You've got to be kidding." Aya couldn't believe what chaos Hatate started for such a silly reason. But Tenma believed her.

"I cannot let any possible risk be ignored, Aya."

"But how can the spirits suddenly infest the temple with the shimenawa fence warding them off?!"

"Look!" Hatate opened her mouth and pointed a finger over Aya's shoulder. As her black-haired rival turned around to see what she was pointing at, she couldn't help but to part her lips in surprise as well.

There, just about fifty meters away from where they were standing, a section of the rope was dangling from the hokora, obviously cut by some sharp tool.

"What the…? Who did this?"

Nobody in the group, including Tenma was able to answer that.

"A sabotage… now that's unexpected." Tenma scowled as the unthinkable thought just crossed his mind. There was no way anyone could have just walked up to the fence and cut the rope without any of the White Wolves noticing. Unless there was a traitor in their ranks.

Reimu hurried to the damaged section of the fence to observe the cut.

"Will you be able to mend it, Hakurei-san?" Tenma asked her, even though he already knew she'd respond negatively.

"Even if I did fix it, the damage had already been done. For all we know, hundreds of invisible spirits could have already crossed from one side to the other by now… What purpose does mending the rope have now?"

"That's most unfortunate…" Tenma lowered his head apologetically. "I'll make sure to investigate this act and severely punish whoever is responsible."

The daitengu's promise of justice and retribution did little to lift Reimu's sunken spirits. All she could do now is prepare for the worst.

Whoever the culprit was, they were long gone. A feeling of guilt began to rise up inside her chest, blaming her that she should have obeyed her intuition and be more vigilant.

"Frankly, it could have been anyone…" Marisa had drawn the widest possible outline for the circle of suspects.

Reimu couldn't understand the motives behind this vile act either. After shaking her head in disbelief, she could only conclude one thing.

"Nothing good can come out of this."