Bleh, I hate dealing with ghosts. And this place is way too dark.
While she has not encountered another living being since the attack, Youmu's flight has been intermittently interrupted by various departed spirits aimlessly roaming the cavern. She weaves around them with a wide berth. Her primary light source is her own phantom half.
Just power through it, this is more important than some dumb test of courage at the shrine. I'm still on edge about that cloaked person trying something again. They can turn around my sense of balance and even teleport if I get close to them. But I need to focus on the here and now, I remember Marisa telling me a story about some sort of guardian on the bridge between worlds.
Youmu continually scans the area for any sign of youkai, but no one appears. However, she hears flowing water deeper inside. As she approaches, she makes out another sound: crying.
Is someone hurt?
Ahead is a ravine with a river below. A bridge goes across the gap, so dilapidated it looks like it would collapse under the slightest pressure. On the side closer to Youmu, an upside down bucket is trembling slightly with sounds of a crying girl coming from inside.
"Hello? Is someone in there?" says Youmu, cautiously landing and walking towards the bucket.
"S-stay away!" says the crying voice inside. "Please, leave me alone!"
The fear in the voice makes Youmu flinch. "I promise I don't intend on hurting you! Did something happen?"
Peeking out from underneath the bucket, a small girl with dark teal hair and a white robe looks at Youmu with eyes red from crying.
Who or what made this poor girl so afraid?
"Y-you're not gonna hurt me?"
"No, I won't. What's your name? I'm Youmu Konpaku."
"My n-name is Kisume."
"Why are you so upset, Kisume? Are you the guardian?"
"Guardian? I think you're talking about Parsee. She lives near here," says Kisume, slowly calming down and pushing her bucket back upright. "Before you came, some person in a cloak got close and made me really dizzy before blowing me away with danmaku. I tried to fight back at first but nothing worked."
She was attacked and experienced dizziness, that's exactly what happened to me.
"I ran into that same person but managed to drive them off," Youmu explains. "Do you need any help? I'm headed to the Former Capital if you want to come with me. You'll be safe."
"You'd do that for me? Why?"
"You seem relatively harmless and defenseless. It'd be wrong of me to ignore you."
Kisume lights up at the words. "Alright! I'll stick right behind you! But, um, I can't fly."
What? That's rare.
"We'll go on foot, then. Stay close and don't lag behind. This bridge ahead is rickety, so if you fall I'll make sure to catch you."
The newly formed duo start carefully walking across the bridge. As Youmu hits the midpoint, a familiar figure materializes on the other end.
"Well look at the congeniality over here!" says the mocking individual. "You must be pretty confident about your chances of making it to the Former Capital if you brought that dead weight along!"
Kisume shrieks, jumping into her bucket, and says, "That's the one who attacked me!"
So it definitely was the same person!
"You! What do you want with me?" asks Youmu demandingly. "And why attack Kisume?"
The cloaked figure casually leans back on the air, flying to make it work. "I think you got bigger worries than that, ghosty. Or should I call you half-ghosty?"
"I'm half-phantom, not half-ghost!" roars the irritated gardener.
With a dismissive hand motion, the figure says, "Details, details. And what did I just say about bigger worries?"
The figure snaps their fingers and a storm of danmaku appears beneath the bridge, flying upward and destroying it instantly. Youmu slashes away any bullets that get close with Roukanken, keeping Hakurouken sheathed so that she can hold onto Kisume's bucket with her free hand. The weight makes her left arm tense, but she holds firm.
"You're really quick with that sword, I'll give ya that much," says the cloaked figure. "But I figure holding bucket girl over there slows you down, so you gotta choose: either let her go… or fall."
A brand new wave appears between Youmu and the figure, almost like a wall.
Even with one arm and one sword, this is nothing!
Youmu holds Kisume behind her, closes her eyes preemptively to thwart any attempts to confuse her, and carves a hole through the encroaching onslaught. Her slashes are precise and controlled, white light bursting around her from every destroyed bullet.
"When will you understand that nothing you throw at me can't be cut through with my Roukanken!" says Youmu with confidence. "If you're being serious at least try using spell cards!"
"Don't need 'em, not for you. Why bother when you're so blind to what's around you?"
"Wha-?"
From behind, a single bullet hits the handle of Kisume's bucket, knocking it out of Youmu's hand.
The girl in free fall yells, "HELP ME, PLEASE!"
NO! How did that bullet get behind me?! I don't detect anyone else's presence! Gah, now's not the time to think about that!
Youmu opens her eyes to swoop down and catch Kisume, but as she is about to grab her, the girl vanishes from sight.
"What?!"
With no chance to react, the cloaked figure teleports behind Youmu and says, "You're so naïve."
She's too close, I have to do something. Concentrate!
Both parties' perceptions of time slow down, the result of Youmu's mental state. She begins to turn around as the attacker starts making a swinging motion with their arm. The extra processing time lets Youmu see that, underneath the cloak, they wear a smiling mask that resembles a traditional Jizo statue. In their hand is a golden mallet with a red symbol on the side, coming down on the gardener's head.
There's no time to defend! But that mallet is-!
She is unable to finish her thought as the mallet finally makes impact, returning both's perceptions of time to normal. Youmu's consciousness fades and she falls into the river, dropping her Roukanken which the figure catches. The river washes the half-phantom away as she blacks out completely.
"Ugh…"
My head feels ready to split open. Where am I? And what is that light?
The groggy girl lifts her head and looks around. Circling around her are three will-o'-the-wisps.
Faster than should be reasonable, Youmu shoots up with a jolt and screams, "WAH! GET AWAY! I'LL CUT YOU DOWN!" But when she goes to unsheathe Roukanken, it is not there.
Huh? Where is it?
Youmu scans her surroundings: she is on a rocky shore next to the river, clothes soaking wet and no idea how deep into the cave she is. There is no sign of her sword. A few paces away is Kisume floating in her bucket, who looks incredibly confused.
"Kisume? You're alright? What happened to you back there? And how are you flying?" says Youmu, rubbing her eyes.
"What kind of question is that? Any youkai worth their salt can fly. To answer the other stuff, I have no idea what you're talking about. I saw you floating along in the river and fished you out. Thought someone dumped another body down here but realized you were still alive. Well, half alive? Never met a half-phantom half-human before. I dropped some wisps near you to see if it'd wake you up," says the girl. "Also, how do you know my name?"
"Wait, what?" After saying this, the gardener feels a sharp pain and rubs her head.
Geh, that stings. Right, the assailant hit me with that mallet.
…
THAT MALLET!
Youmu's mind races through everything that has happened thus far.
That's the same mallet Seija Kijin used when we were trying to capture her seven years ago: the Replica Miracle Mallet! And the cloak, the sudden teleporting, those correspond to some of the other cheating tools she used. Not to mention the sudden disorientation matching up with her ability to flip things. No one's seen her since she hijacked the fireworks festival two years ago, guess she's decided to make a move. But that mask she was wearing, I've never seen it before. Hiding her identity doesn't seem like her style. And that's not the only strange thing.
She turns to Kisume and says, "We were with each other at the bridge when that cloaked person ambushed us. You said she attacked you earlier and that you couldn't fly."
The bucket girl shakes her head. "Sorry, lady, but we've never met before."
This doesn't make any sense. Even her demeanor is the reverse of what it was. Kisume was right next to me until she suddenly disappeared during that person's attack. Was it a trick?
A word from before rings in Youmu's mind.
'Naïve…' Dang it, I must've fallen for some kind of illusion. But Seija can't do anything like that from what I recall. It was extremely realistic, too. There's more to this.
"It seems to be a case of mistaken identity," says Youmu dejectedly. "Can you tell me where in the cave we are? Is the Former Capital close?"
"You're quite a ways from the path. The main route with the bridge upstream is a good five ri away."
"Five?! It won't be hard to make up that distance, but I must have been out for a while for the water to carry me that far. I should check in with Lady Yuyuko, assuming my phone wasn't washed away…"
Against all odds, it is securely clipped to Youmu's skirt and functional. Something else is still missing, however.
That's right, Roukanken's gone! That sword is irreplaceable, I need to get it back. But where did it go? Is it lost in the river? No, no, that's not right. The attacker, who for now I'll assume is Seija, grabbed it right before I passed out from the mallet strike. Perfect, now Roukanken is in the possession of the most wanted youkai in Gensokyo. That's no ordinary sword, she could do real damage with it. I have to find her as soon as possible!
Youmu immediately takes off flying and yells back, "Thank you for your assistance, Kisume! I have to go now, hopefully we'll meet under better circumstances next time!"
"Uh, sure. Good luck with whatever it is you're doing," says Kisume, waving goodbye but still confused about what's going on.
Time to make a call!
After Youmu swiftly dials the numbers, Yuyuko answers the call in a few moments.
"Ah, Youmu, it's been a while since our last call. How's the Underworld? Did you find out anything?" says the cheerful ghost.
"Lady Yuyuko, I was attacked by someone I have strong reason to believe is Seija Kijin! She knocked me out and stole Roukanken and is likely plotting something down here! But I haven't confirmed if she was the one who left the message or not!"
"Slow down, Youmu, you're talking far too fast without a breath. Seija knocked you out? I wouldn't think she would be capable of defeating you given what I know of her."
She's right, I need to calm down.
"Somehow Seija made an illusion to trick me into letting my guard down. What bothers me is how she did it. None of her cheating tools can do something like that. It looked and sounded exactly like a real youkai and I was even able to physically interact with it," Youmu explains. "Another strange thing was this mask she was wearing. I assume it was to hide her identity, but I can't help but think there's something significant here."
"If that's what your instincts tell you, then it's likely worth looking into. Can you give me a description? I'll ask around and let you know if I find anything."
That's oddly proactive of her. She must be getting concerned if she's taking direct action.
"The mask had a face similar to a Jizo statue. If it wasn't for Seija wearing it I'd describe it as comforting and reassuring to look at."
"Hmmm, that isn't much, but I'll see what I can do. Try to capture her and get your sword back if you can, but remember that telling Satori Komeiji about what's going on is still one of your primary objectives. You two can help each other."
"Understood," says Youmu. "I'll check in again in an hour if you haven't called me by then."
"Bye-bye and good luck. Don't let your guard down," Yuyuko says firmly.
"Yes milady!"
The phone goes silent.
An uncharacteristically serious warning, too. Even if she has Roukanken and the cheating items, Seija on her own doesn't seem like a huge enough threat to make Lady Yuyuko so worried. Is it something else? Regardless, I've got a lot of time to make up if I wanna catch up to that annoying contrarian.
Youmu picks up speed and rockets over the river, more determined than ever to reach the Former Capital.
About eleven minutes after her call with Yuyuko, Youmu finds herself back at the ruins of the bridge. On the side of the ravine that goes further into the cave, a woman with blonde hair and green eyes paces furiously. She wears a white scarf and a dress with blue, brown, purple, and white all mixed in different patterns.
Is that the Parsee the fake Kisume mentioned?
"Hello!" Youmu calls out. "Are you the one who oversees those who travel between worlds?"
As Youmu lands next to her, the youkai says, "And who might you be? It's rude to ask before introducing yourself."
"Oh, my apologies, my name is Youmu Konpaku. I'm the gardener to Lady Yuyuko Saigyouji of Hakugyokurou," says Youmu with a bow. "I'm sorry to be abrupt, but I came here on a mission and need to capture someone I believe has infiltrated the Underworld with malicious intent. If you're the guardian named Parsee I've heard about, I kindly request you let me by."
"Hmm, well you heard correctly, I'm Parsee Mizuhashi. Hakugyokurou is in the Netherworld, which I suppose explains that phantom floating around you. But how would someone from there know about an intruder I don't and why wouldn't I have seen them?"
"I encountered the intruder before and I believe it's Seija Kijin, who has items that allow her to teleport. I can only assume she used them to sneak by you. She's the one who destroyed this bridge."
Youmu's last statement causes Parsee's eye to twitch. "So you saw this bridge get destroyed and didn't even stop her?! You useless idiot! You know how annoying it'll be to fix this thing? I wish I could be as carefree as you!"
"Huh? What's gotten into you? And I'm far from carefree, thank you!"
"You anger me even more than the last humans who came down here. Well you aren't going any further! Jealousy Sign - Green-Eyed Monster!"
Why does it always come to this?!
Youmu jumps back right before giant green danmaku orbs manifest in front of Parsee that begin following the former's movements.
Cutting through those would be child's play normally, but with only Hakurouken my options are limited.
Flying in such a way as to not trap herself, Youmu manages to outlast the spell card. "Why are you attacking me?! We could work together to catch Seija!" she says.
"I'm the youkai who rules over jealousy, I can think of hundreds of reasons for why I'd want to defeat you! Tongue-Cut Sparrow - Large Box and Small Box!" Parsee begins teleporting, leaving behind an afterimage that releases circles of bullets around her alongside the real one.
It's far from the hardest I've had to deal with but I don't have time for this! Her dominion over jealousy must have consumed her, making her irrational… wait, that's it!
All it takes is one opening for Youmu to charge right through the attack and, having surmised the pattern, get right behind Parsee's next teleport location.
"Sorry for this." Her apology does nothing to dull Hakurouken's blade. It gleams from the green light around them as the half-phantom unsheathes it and thinly cuts Parsee's left arm, barely leaving a mark.
"GAH!" the jealous youkai yelps. Her danmaku immediately fades and she floats to the ground, landing on one knee, before saying, "My… arm and my head… feel like they're on fire! What did you do to me?"
"My ancestral blade Hakurouken has the power to cut through confusion," says Youmu, sheathing her sword and floating down next to her defeated adversary. "Your jealousy of others had overtaken you, so I freed you from that grasp. However, it can be a painful experience for humans and youkai. Now I must insist you let me go further."
Parsee does not say anything. At first she stares at the ground with a blank expression, until she abruptly starts bawling.
What? Is it the pain from the cut?
After a few moments Parsee partially regains her composure and stands up, looking ready to crack at any moment. "I'm sorry, many emotions I haven't felt for a long time rushed back all at once," she says with a tone opposite her earlier one. "Sympathy, remorse, compassion, they were always overshadowed by jealousy. You have no idea the gift you've just given me. It's unlikely this will be permanent given my nature, but I'll treasure this moment of clarity. I'm in your debt, Youmu Konpaku. Thank you. My deepest apologies for assaulting you like that."
"You weren't in your right mind, it's nothing to apologize for," Youmu says sheepishly, unprepared for the sudden gratitude.
Her jealousy runs much deeper than I imagined. It's not just something she controls, it's her very essence. She has my sympathy.
"From here is a straight shot to the Former Capital," says Parsee. "With the speed you displayed, it should only take about twenty minutes if you move quickly."
"Okay, thank you."
"If we ever meet again," Parsee continues, "I'll likely have reverted to how I was earlier. Just know that even like that, you've earned a place of trust in my heart."
I honestly didn't mean to accomplish something of that magnitude, but I appreciate the sentiment.
The two bid each other farewell and Youmu heads out once more towards the Former Capital. Despite still missing Roukanken and losing time for her mission, after the encounter with Parsee, the gardener cannot deny the feeling of satisfaction that comes from helping another.