For three days a celebration was held with song and dance and music. All the friends and relations of the old couple were present, and great was their enjoyment of the festivities held to celebrate the naming of Princess Moonlight. Everyone who saw her declared that there never had been seen any one so lovely; all the beauties throughout the length and breadth of the land would grow pale beside her, so they said. The fame of the Princess's loveliness spread far and wide, and many were the suitors who desired to win her hand, or even so much as to see her.

Suitors from far and near posted themselves outside the house, and made little holes in the fence, in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Princess as she went from one room to the other along the veranda. They stayed there day and night, sacrificing even their sleep for a chance of seeing her, but all in vain. Then they approached the house, and tried to speak to the old man and his wife or some of the servants, but not even this was granted them.

Still, in spite of all this disappointment they stayed on day after day, and night after night, and counted it as nothing, so great was their desire to see the Princess.

At last, however, most of the men, seeing how hopeless their quest was, lost heart and hope both, and returned to their homes. All except five mighty nobles, whose ardor and determination, instead of waning, seemed to wax greater with obstacles. They were two imperial princes - Prince Ishizukuri and Prince Kuramochi, the Minister of the Right, Abe Mimuraji, the Grand Counsellor Otomo no Miyuki and the Middle Counsellor Isonokami no Marotari. These five men even went without their meals, and took snatches of whatever they could get brought to them, so that they might always stand outside the dwelling. They stood there in all weathers, in sunshine and in rain.

Sometimes they wrote letters to the Princess, but no answer was vouchsafed to them. Then when letters failed to draw any reply, they wrote poems to her, telling her of the hopeless love which kept them from sleep, from food, from rest, and even from their homes. Still Princess Moonlight gave no sign of having received their verses.

In this hopeless state the winter passed. The snow and frost and the cold winds gradually gave way to the gentle warmth of spring. Then the summer came, and the sun burned white and scorching in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, and still these faithful nobles kept watch and waited. At the end of these long months they called out to the old bamboo-cutter and entreated him to have some mercy upon them and to show them the Princess, but he answered only that as he was not her real father he could not insist on her obeying him against her wishes.

-.-.-.-.-
-7-
-.-.-.-.-

In this world of fantasy called Gensokyo perception and recognition are forces with the power to overwrite reality.

It was a world where youkai, who were no longer believed to exist in the Outside world, and gods, who had lost their worshippers in the outside world could find refuge, free from the existential threat to their existence that human empiricism presented to them. Here, gods could be believed in, youkai could be feared and, according to my partner at least, mice would eat cheese. For it was not only the existence of once revered or feared supernatural beings that was affected by the nature of Gensokyo, but the perceived truth of popular conceptions or superstitions that could take hold and become real here as well.

That was Renko's theory, at least.

After all, this was a land where it seems like Taira no Masakado really had hatched a frustrated conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and the story of Saigyou building an artificial human was neither apocryphal nor metaphorical. Mundane myths that in the Outside world might be dismissed as conspiracy theories or mere supposition held weight here, and could evidently even alter the course of history.

If you subscribe to Renko's theory, that all of reality in this world was controlled by common beliefs no matter how mistaken or counterfactual they might be, then it would probably be unsurprising to find that the characters from an ancient legend were walking around this world, where the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter might be closer to a historical record than a fairy tale. But even under that interpretation, Kaguya's assertion was hard to believe.

"I thought princess Kaguya was supposed to have returned to the moon at the end of the story."

"Yes, most humans do. The truth is a more complicated story, and humans like simple ones. I've been living right here for more than a thousand years." Saying this, she turned to glance at Mokou as if expecting a comment or rebuttal. Instead, Mokou was silently glaring at the ground. Kaguya was still smiling cruelly, seeming to enjoy whatever tormenting memory her words might be awakening for Mokou. To see a look of such calm malice decorating so beautiful a face was truly disconcerting.

"I knew humans had always been jealous of me, or wanted to possess me, or even be me, but I wouldn't have thought that even a human would have stooped so low as to drink my leftovers."

"Hey, shut up about that." Mokou groused, morosely.

"Really Mokotan, you did it to yourself. It's about time you stop resenting me for it."

"I said shut up!" Mokou roared, standing up suddenly, her face contorted into an ugly mask of hatred and disgust. As she rose, red fire once again began to crawl along her arm, as if summoned by instinct rather than any art or practice. I could feel the stinging heat of the flames already.

"Don't start a fire in a wooden building!" I cried, running to grab the water bucket from the veranda. Hefting it, I turned to face Mokou. With great effort she let out a long breath and the flames retreated down her arm, dwindling to a single glowing ember in her palm.

"Ohhh very scary. You'd better be careful, human. Mokotan here is the sort of person with no sense of self-preservation whatsoever."

"And just who's fault is it that I'm like that, do you think?"

"I don't remember making that choice for you."

"You're the ones who left that stuff here. You knew what would happen."

"Oh poor Mokotan. It's everyone else's fault when you make bad choices, right? Too bad that's one mistake you don't get to live down. Just think about what you're saying, you've got no reason to hold a grudge."

Mokou gritted her teeth, but maintained her composure.

"I'm not falling for it. If you're only here to try and goad me, then just go back to the mansion. There's a sick person here we're taking care of, and we don't need a plague like you fouling the air. For all we know you might even be the reason Renko is like this, so unless you're here to accept responsibility, you can get out of my sight."

"My my. Blaming everyone else again, Mokotan. It comes so easily to you. Eirin told me that that girl's condition was just an unfortunate accident. Not unlike yourself, I suppose."

"So you're admitting the distorted moon is your doing then?"

"I've nothing to hide from the likes of you. Yes. Eirin created that illusion and placed it in the sky."

"What are you scheming?"

"Don't say it like it's some grand evil plan, we're not hurting anyone and we have our reasons. That girl was an unfortunate casualty, but she'll recover and live out the rest of her short, boring life just fine."

"That sounds exactly like something a grand evil schemer would say."

"Well its a big deal for us, I'll admit, but it doesn't concern any of you. Are you really so eager to poke your nose into our day-to-day affairs?"

"I couldn't care less about your life."

"Well then perhaps you should mind your own business."

"You made it my business when you hurt my friend! This is what you do! You toy with humans, thinking they're all so beneath you."

"What a strange thing to say. Don't tell me you're so deluded as to still think of yourself as a human after what you did?"

Mokou paused, trying to hold her emotions in check. "...I'm going to kill you."

"Well, you're welcome to try, but am I really the one you want to kill, Mokotan?"

Throughout their argument I had moved away from them, both to avoid the threatening aura of barely contained rage emanating from Mokou and to try to protect Renko. With Renko unconscious I doubt I could have done much more than covering her with my body if the two of them decided to fight, but if it came to that I was prepared to do so. I hoped that Mokou would be able to remember her promise to Keine before things went that far.

As I was making such dark calculations, a voice called out from beyond the door as another figure approached the veranda from the courtyard.

"Kaguya, that's enough. You shouldn't be here, princess. This is a sick ward, set apart from the house to prevent infection. You should go back to where it's safe."

"Oh Eirin, you're so overprotective. I'm just here to play with Mokotan for a little bit. Besides, its not like anything here could harm me."

"And how do you expect me to treat a patient if you're busy killing each other here? Now go home. I've asked the Inaba to draw you a bath already."

Kaguya looked like she was about to protest, but after locking eyes with Eirin for a moment she stood up and turned on her heel. As we watched her go, Mokou looked like she was about to say something but thought better of it after another hard look from Eirin. As she disappeared back into the house Eirin let out a breath and turned to us.

"I apologize for the princess' behavior. You may be enemies, but she has no right to antagonize you under the circumstances."

Mokou scoffed. "Someone ought to beat some sense into her."

"Don't you start now," Eirin warned. "I still have a patient to treat. As long as we have a moment of peace though..." Eirin turned her appraising glare to me. "I'd like to examine you as well, if I may."

Although the immediate threat had passed I was still a bundle of nerves. I shrunk back at the suggestion. "Me?"

"Yes, there are several questions I'd like to clear up as well. If you'd come this way, please." She raised an arm to indicate the sliding door leading out to the courtyard.

I turned to look back at Renko, who was still sleeping peacefully. She looked untroubled, but I didn't like the idea of leaving her alone here.

"You can leave her here," Eirin said dismissively. "There's nothing you can do for her right now anyway, and it's not like anyone here will eat her."

Apparently the idea that I might refuse to be examined of my own volition hadn't crossed her mind. I didn't like leaving Renko undefended, not given how I had just seen Mokou react, but I was already indebted to Eirin for her help, and an interview and examination when Renko was suffering from an unknown malady didn't seem too much to ask that I endure. I attempted to convince myself that Renko would be just fine without me as I stood up. Being as I'd presumably still be staying nearby, I was pretty sure I would have heard if anything did try to eat her. Probably.

"I'll watch over Renko," Mokou said, trying to sound reassuring.

I nodded and followed Eirin out of the room.

-.-.-.-.-
-8-
-.-.-.-.-

She lead me to the edge of the veranda surrounding the main mansion, rather than the outbuilding we had been in.

"I'm sorry to have to examine you here, but I can't allow anyone from the outside to pass the wards protecting the mansion. Now, have a seat, if you would."

As soon as I sat down, Eirin moved her face close to mine, and peered into my eyes. She examined every detail of my head, asking me to pull my hair away from my ears to peer into the canals and open my mouth to regard my throat. She used neither any light sources nor tools in her examination, but seemed to have no difficulty in the dimness of the moonlight. I groaned slightly as used the sides of her fingers to pry my eyelids wide and look into my pupils from other angles. After a moment she released me and took a seat on the veranda beside me.

"Do you have any training in hermetic magic, the Taoist esoteric arts or shamanic practices?" she asked with an air of consideration.

"No, I'm an ordinary human being."

"Would you consider a person who can see wards with the naked eye without any knowledge of magic or spiritual refinement 'ordinary'? Priests and magi often study for decades to achieve what you can do, and even then can only achieve it with careful preparation."

There was nothing for me to say. Hearing an expert calmly and dispassionately confirm that I was as freakish as I had always suspected was disheartening to say the least.

"You really are a most unusual specimen. Would you consider consenting to being an experimental subject?"

"What? No! I'd rather not. What sort of tests are you talking about?"

"Well to start with, I think it would be easiest if we remove your eyes and brain."

"I refuse! Completely!"

"I'm kidding. Calm down."

If either this last statement or the one before had been intended as jokes, then her sense of humor must be very dry. Both lines had been delivered with an absolutely straight face.

"So, about your friend. Has she always been able to calculate time and position from heavenly bodies?"

"According to her, yes. She says she can tell the time by looking at the stars and her position by looking at the moon, but you'd expect that to be the other way around if it were triangulation, wouldn't you?"

"Only if you assume the calculation was based on reflected light. There are other techniques for celestial navigation. A most unusual ability to be sure. What about you though? I don't even know your name."

"It's Maeribel Hearn."

"And your friend?"

"...Renko Usami"

"Usami? How is that written?"

"宇佐見, with the 宇, u, being the same character from uchuu - outer space."

"and 見, mi, being the same kanji as miru, I suppose? -To watch?" Eirin smirked, amused by some irony that was unclear to me. "What an unfortunate name. Well tell your friend to avoid looking at the moon when she wakes up. Her eyes are far too sensitive to the moon's influence. You should probably refrain from moon-gazing as well, unless you want to end up a lunatic."

"So that's it? We're just supposed to accept that we can't look at the moon any more and let it be at that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well forgive me for prying, but there are a lot of unanswered questions. What happened to the moon? Why do you seem to know about it? Who are all of you people and why are you living in a hidden mansion in the bamboo forest? Why does everyone here hate miss Mokou?"

"Oh, have you not been told anything then?"

"Only that that other girl who was antagonizing miss Mokou is supposedly supposedly Kaguyahime from the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Is that true?"

"I think that's what they call her on Earth, yes. As for myself, you can call me Eirin Yagokoro. I am princess Kaguya Houraisan's attendant. That's not my real name of course, but Lunarian names are unpronounceable to Earthlings, so it will do."

"Then you come from the moon as well?"

"Yes. I was one of the messengers sent from the moon to collect the princess. Instead of returning with her though, circumstances compelled me to go into hiding here on Earth. We've been living here ever since."

It was clear that Eirin had no interest in discussing these 'circumstances.' In the story though, the moon had been a place free from suffering or disease, filled with immortals from which the princess had been banished for some unspecified crime. I couldn't help but wonder what 'circumstances' could compel a messenger from that kingdom and the princess to not want to return. I had a more pressing question though.

"Does that mean that Mokou is from the moon too?"

Eirin frowned, crinkling her face as if she had smelled something distasteful. "No, that person is just the princess' playmate. An idle distraction to pass the time."

I couldn't imagine thinking of someone with such clear and open animosity as a 'playmate.'

"Kaguya had claimed that miss Mokou was the daughter of a nobleman who had proposed to her, but the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is more than a thousand years old. If she were that noble's daughter there's no way she could have lived that long, so Kaguya must have been lying then, right?"

"Oh not at all. Had Mokou not told you that she is an immortal?"

"An immortal?"

"Yes, a true immortal. In the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter as you call it, is there no longer any mention of the elixir of immortality? It caused quite the clamor at the time."

My eyes must have looked like dinner plates with the shock I felt. "Yes, that's how it ends. Princess Moonlight gives the elixir of immortality to the emperor and returns to the moon. The emperor, for his part couldn't bear the thought of living forever without the princess, and so ordered his soldiers to carry the elixir to the top of the tallest mountain and burn it. That's apparently where the name 'Mt. Fuji' comes from - it's a corruption of fujimi, immortality, since the elixir of immortality was supposed to burn forever, producing the never-ending smoke from the mountain. Nowadays though, the volcano is dormant."

"Yes, that's how it goes. I'm glad it's not been forgotten. That elixir was one of my finest creations. It wasn't burned on top of the mountain though, as evidenced by Mt. Fuji becoming dormant like you said. It seems someone stole it before it could be incinerated."

"So you mean to say miss Mokou drank that elixir? And became immortal as a result?"

"Of course. Just like myself and the princess as well."

There was simply no way to respond to a statement like that other than to gape in stunned, slack-jawed silence. And so I did.

-.-.-.-.-
-9-
-.-.-.-.-

"I've hated them for... a long time." That's what Mokou had said, but was this really what she had meant? Could any human hold a grudge for more than thousand years? If it were true, it would explain at least why Mokou lived in the forest, apart from the village. As an immortal, she couldn't hope to blend in with other humans for more than a generation or so and she wouldn't need to worry about the dangers of living outside the village which might be lethal to anyone else. What's more, it was all too likely that they might have faced prejudice from the humans living in the village if they had tried to stay there. After all, a creature that can't die and doesn't age would hardly seem human, and the border of the village was the line that divided what was human from what wasn't. To be an outcast like that, human but unable to live among humans... well I could see why Keine felt the need to take care of Mokou, though I wondered how much care an immortal could actually need.

These thoughts tumbled through my mind, and I tried to grasp them, to sort out the implications, to evaluate their meaning, to assess what they meant for Renko and her friendship with Mokou, but try though I might, my mind wouldn't stick to the topic. Instead, after all I heard, my thoughts kept drifting elsewhere, to a discussion I had had a long time ago, in a time that was now far in the future. Memories of Renko's voice filled my mind.

"What if there were a whole hidden world on the moon? A Lunar Capital with an advanced civilization of noble scholars. There could be rabbits making immortality elixirs and watching the three-legged crow living in the sun while worrying about humans being excited over Moon Tours."

I had heard her say that as we sat on the patio of a trendy café on our university's campus, eating cake made with artificial strawberries and dreaming of taking a trip to the moon we couldn't afford while paying for our meal wirelessly with cards linked to our parents' bank accounts. How far away all of that seemed now.

It was also Renko who had first mentioned an immortality elixir, but it was me who had put the question to her first.

"So would you take it, Renko? If you happened to get your hands on it?"

"The elixir of immortality? Of course I'd take it!"

She had said that then, without a moment's hesitation, but that had only been idle chatter. Presented with the actual opportunity would she really be so ready to leave humanity behind? If Mokou had been in that conversation instead of me, would Renko's answer have been different? Confronted with an unthinkable scenario, my mind seems to have a tendency to run in a million directions at once, all of them seemingly concerned only with trivialities like these.

I realized that Eirin was still looking at me, a little uneasily now. I made a point of closing my mouth.

"Is it really so shocking a concept to you? There are plenty of youkai here which, compared to a human lifespan might as well be immortal, and gods can live as long as there is belief in them, which is much the same. Though I suppose to be fair if you were to divide the lifespan of those beings by my own, the result would be close to zero."

Close to zero? Eirin unquestionably had an eternity ahead of her, if her story could be believed, but I wondered just how long she had lived before taking the elixir.

"Well at any rate that's enough about me and your friends. I'm here to find out about you now. I'll give you a one-week supply of medicine for your friend in the morning. That should be enough to help her rest until she's recovered. I think answering a few of my questions is a reasonable fee to pay in trade."

When she put it that way it was hard to refuse. I swallowed unconsciously as she moved to peer into my eyes again, looking directly at me, but seeing only the organs of my vision themselves.

These eyes that could see the boundaries between worlds seemed also to have a knack for getting me into trouble that somehow they could never see coming.

"So do you only perceive the borders between things, or can you interfere with them as well?

"Uh, well..." My intention had only ever been to observe, but Renko was fond of saying that observation was itself a way of interfering with the properties of an observed system. Besides which, I couldn't deny that there had been times where my curiosity or Renko's insistence had pushed me to do more than casually regard these borders. Whether it was the door to Flandre's room or our entry into this world in the first place, I couldn't deny that my presence had had an effect on boundaries whether such was my intention or not.

"So you can effect them then, at least to some extent. How exactly does that work?"

I fidgeted nervously with the fabric of my dress. I couldn't describe the process by which I had made those changes. In general I tried my hardest not to think about how my abilities worked or what it meant for me, as a human, to be capable of such things. If I tried to though, there wasn't much I could say. Boundaries changed when I got near them, becoming more malleable and predictable. There wasn't any technique to it, any more than there was technique to digesting food or growing hair.

"I would appreciate if you could co-operate. With your help, I might be able to devise a long-term treatment for your friend."

I blinked in surprise.

Eirin sighed. "I suppose it would be easier if I were to start by explaining why we placed that illusory moon in the sky." She rose to her feet and, motioning for me to follow, began to walk toward the gate in the wall surrounding the mansion, looking up at the moon as she did so.

Walking alongside her, I could see the barrier that concealed the mansion from the inside just beyond the outer wall. It was similar to the sort of barrier you might find around a shrine or temple, but much stronger and less permeable, reinforced and built up with enough strength to physically distort perception, but still flexible enough that those who knew the right approach could effortlessly pass through it.

"After I descended to Earth to rescue the princess, the both of us were unable to return to the moon," Eirin began. "This mansion, and the wards around have served as our refuge for more than a millennium, concealing us from the eyes of any pursuers from the Lunar Capital who might have sought us out as well as keeping us from being affected by or affecting human affairs. While we have had to shelter on Earth, we have, essentially remained apart from it. Until your arrival tonight, the only visitors to Eientei in the past thousand years have been the rabbits, youkai or otherwise that call this bamboo grove home."

"If you've lived in seclusion all of this time, I should thank you for seeing Renko then, I hadn't realized how much we were asking of you."

"Well, as luck would have it, the situation has recently changed. Not long ago a rabbit escaped from the moon. Of all the places in the universe she could have travelled, she somehow came tumbling directly into our laps, crashing down in this very forest. Initially we had thought she might be a scout or a member of a hunting team sent to locate us, but it soon became apparent that she was a defector from lunar society, and had come to Earth to flee rather than pursue. As exiles ourselves, we decided to give her shelter here."

"Would you be talking about that rabbit we met earlier, by chance?"

"Yes, Udonge, I call her. Reisen Udongein Inaba. She lives here as my research assistant and the princess' pet."

"That's quite a long name."

"Is it strange? The princess and I came up with it together, we were hoping for a normal, Earth-like name."

In my opinion the name was anything but normal, but I kept my view to myself. I recognized the word 'Udonge' as being the name of a mythical flower said to bloom only once every 3,000 years, and I had heard the princess refer to her as Inaba, but 'Reisen' was still a complete mystery. Rather than focus on the awkward mouthful of a name, I asked another question that had been bothering me.

"Humans first landed on the moon in the mid-20th century did they not? How is it that humans have never discovered rabbits living on the moon? Just how long ago did that rabbit fall to Earth?"

Eirin paused for a moment to ponder. "By human calendars it must have been 30 or 40 years ago. Talking to her was the first I had heard of humankind landing on the moon. Quite frankly, I had always imagined such a feat to be beyond Earthlings. Udonge said that humans had invaded the moon by riding simple rockets powered with chemical explosives, though I can't imagine even humans would be foolish enough to put a living creature through such a ridiculous and risky ordeal."

I had to do the mental math for a moment and try to remember my history. Roughly 40 years before 2004... Could she have been referring to the 1969 Apollo moon landings? Certainly no astronaut or moon orbiter had ever reported discovering a lunar civilization, but in a world where the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was apparently a historical record, I could hardly expect history as I knew it to be the same.

While I was thinking about such things, Eirin continued her story.

"After Udonge came to live here we were quite suspicious for some time, expecting lunar invaders to follow her at any moment. When none did though, we eventually relaxed. Until just the other day that is, when she received a message from the Lunar Capital. The message was something like a rescue beacon, an indication that a messenger from the moon was being sent to take Udonge back. Udonge has no desire to return to the moon and what's more, if she were to do so, the citizens of the moon would inevitably learn of our hideout here. Thus, I created that illusion in the sky with the express purpose of making navigation between Earth and the moon impossible. This will prevent the lunar messenger from arriving and Udonge from returning. It's simply an unfortunate coincidence that your friend has a habit of attempting to compute celestial navigation paths with her brain -it's exactly the sort of computation my illusion was designed to foil."

"So all of this is a result of your attempt to hide from the people of the moon?"

"Yes. As long as that illusion is in the sky, there will be no passage between the moon and Earth. However, seeing how easily you and your friends were able to find us here, I can't discount the possibility that the Lunar Capital might have already landed a strike team on Earth before I erected the barrier. I'm going to have to put up another ward just to be safe."

I could see her reaching out to touch the barrier that hung in the air, but what could I do about it? I could clearly see the barrier, but I had no way of counteracting it. I had a vague suspicion that this could harm Renko somehow, but no proof that it was something I would want to stop even if I could. As I watched, Eirin laced her outstretched fingers into the latticework of the barrier's wards.

"You can see what I'm doing, can't you?"

"Yes, I suppose. You're touching it, but you haven't really changed anything yet though."

"Quite right. Your eyes seem to be similar to Udonge's. I suspect you'd be able to see any changes I made to this barrier by the way the changes altered its wavelength and phase. Well, let's conduct a little experiment then." Eirin smiled and released her hand from the barrier. "Udonge, I know you can hear us. Come here, please."

"Yes, master!" came a shouted reply from the opposite side of the inner stone wall.

A moment later Udonge appeared in the air as she leapt clear over the wall to land in the courtyard - easily four meters straight up. I tried to remember the long name Eirin had mentioned for her. She called the girl 'Udonge', but I think she had said her given name was 'Reisen'? I wondered what I should call her as I watched the tips of her long, springy ears bob up and down as she walked toward us.

"You called, master?" She had a worried expression on her face, a far cry from the look of beleaguered annoyance she had worn while caring for Renko. "I heard you mention an experiment..."

"Don't worry, Udonge. I'm not testing any new drugs this time."

Reisen let out a sigh of relief and lowered her tensed shoulders. Eirin had called the rabbit girl a 'research assistant' but I wondered if her role was closer to a lab rat.

"Now, Udonge change your phase and try to hide for a moment."

"What, right now? Hide from what?"

"From us. Now come on."

"Alright." Reisen sounded unsure, but a moment later, her red eyes began to give off an unsettling glow. In the space of a second, the space in front of her warped and distorted nauseatingly and she vanished. I couldn't see Reisen any longer, but I could see a large, wavering gap right between us and and where she had been.

"Now, do you know where Udonge is?" Eirin asked, turning to me.

I suppose to a normal person this question wouldn't have seemed condescending, but with the harshly distorted lens of a barrier swimming right there in the space in front of me it felt like someone daring me discover the secret behind a game of peek-a-boo. The distortion Reisen had created was odd, unlike any I had seen before - it was if a cardboard poster of exactly the scene in front of me, minus Reisen's image had been cut out and held up in front of her, but with an aura of blurry distortion around the edges of the cutout. Mutely, I raised an arm to point at the barrier.

The distortion dissipated into visual fuzz and faded away, revealing an upset-looking Reisen.

"No way! How could an ordinary human have spotted me?"

"I'm suspecting more and more that this girl and her friend are not what might be considered 'ordinary.' Well, Maeribel Hearn, you pass."

"Was I taking a test?"

Eirin ignored me. "Reisen, we need to extend the outer barrier. Doing so will weaken our protection against impurity, but we need to avoid detection at all costs. Assist me, please."

"Understood, master."

"Maeribel Hearn, you may return. However I'm afraid that I'm going to have to alter my earlier instructions. After your friend awakens I'm afraid you won't be able to return home."

"What?"

"I'm admitting her to long-term care for observation. You will also need to stay as her escort and caretaker. Now that I've seen what you can do, I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave. You'll both be staying in this mansion forever. Don't worry though, your every need will be attended to, and we generally avoid using humans as test subjects unless strictly necessary."