Daitenku Temple

"So let me get this straight," Takeru clarified. "You need to collect fifteen of those 'Eyecons' so you can come back to life?"

Reimu nodded. "Yeah. Apparently they're around here or so. At least, that's what my gut tells me." She leaned back, sitting cross-legged. "I really don't want to travel all over the world looking for these stupid eyeballs."

It had been an hour since Reimu had unceremoniously crashed in through Takeru's roof and into his basement. She spent that sixty minutes further proving she was dead and telling him an abridged version of her unlife's story. Likewise, Takeru told her of his ambition to become a ghost hunter—of which he had little success.

"So where are you going to start?" the young man asked. "It sounds like you have your work cut out for you."

"Dunno," Reimu admitted. "Usually I just follow my gut instinct, but I'm not feeling anything right now."

Takeru stood up. Climbing to the basement's upper section, he grabbed a book off of his desk. "Well, I've been studying people of interest myself," he said. "Apparently it'll help me in the ghost hunting business—dad always said so." Flipping through the tome, he eventually settled on a well-opened page. "Miyamoto Musashi—my personal favorite. We could try searching for his."

"Where would we even find his? Does he even have an Eyecon?" Reimu asked. "Who is Musashi, anyways?"

This proved to be a mistake on her part, as she was subject to a lecture from the other about the greatness of the swordsman. Tuning him out, she thought about her situation. What exactly was she supposed to do?

"Find the Eyecons he said," she muttered. "At least give me some direction."

Takeru stopped mid-rant. "Well, how about visiting a museum? They might offer some insight."

Reimu was about to answer, when she was interrupted by a loud presence from upstairs. "Master Takeru!" the obnoxiously loud voice shrieked. "Terrible news!"

"What?" Takeru started. "Reimu, I'll be right back. Onari, what happened?" he asked as he ascended the steps.

Reimu shrugged and sat in the basement, content to not do anything for now. She still had a nagging feeling in a tiny corner in the back of her mind that she was supposed to go with him, but she brushed it aside.

After a while, she decided to go upstairs and check things out. If she were going to stay here, she might as well check things out, right? Walking up the stairs, she was greeted to a state of panic. Several people—monks, she guessed—were scrambling around. A bald man was screeching in a very familiar voice, "Master Takeru!" Frowning, she saw them rush off. "I have a bad feeling about this," she muttered. She made haste and followed.

Takeru scrambled backwards, clutching his staff. "Get away! Don't come any closer!"

"Hand over the Eyecon, boy," one of the hulking figures in front of him said. His companion, wielding a trident, hopped forward, cackling.

"This thing?" Takeru asked, stealing a glance at the sphere in his hand. "My dad gave this to me. I'm not gonna let you have it!"

"Young master!" Onari and Akari had arrived at the scene. "You must run! You cannot handle them!"

"What's going on?" Akari asked, frightened. She saw Takeru swinging at empty air. "What's he doing?"

Takeru kept trying to hit them, but to no avail. He was losing ground fast. The monster that spoke earlier—he had a sword for an arm—spoke again. "One last chance, boy."

"I'm not going to give up that easily!" Takeru shouted, panicked. "Get away!"

"Then you'll die as a stain on my sword," the sword-armed monster said simply. He raised his blade. Takeru thrust out his rod in desperation.

A rock flew through the air and smacked into the monster's head. He turned, angered. "Who dares?"

Reimu stood in the forest pathway, juggling a rock in one hand. "Hey, Ganma. I was told I gotta exterminate you if I want to come back to life. No hard feelings."

"That one has an Eyecon!" the trident-wielding Ganma hissed. "Give it to us!"

"Sorry, but no thanks," Reimu deadpanned as she formed a handsign, her Ghost Driver burning to life. "I'd rather take yours." She loaded her Eyecon—Yurusen had told her it was called the Self or Watashi Eyecon—and pumped the lever. "Henshin!"

Once again, a strange black armor adorned with glowing orange accents formed around her. She felt the strange jacket slide over her shoulders and the mask click into place, causing a rush of power to surge through her. "Ghost bustin' time," she announced.

The Yari Ganma, she decided to call it, thrust his spear at her stomach. Dodging it, she threw a quick couple of punches at it, only to be interrupted by the sword-arm-Ganma's slash. "Hey, eyeball," she called out to Yurusen as she rolled between the Ganma's attacks, "Do I have anything that'll help me out here?"

The mischievous spirit poofed above her. "Well, you can fly," she said.

"What!?" Reimu gowled angrily. "Why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

"You didn't ask~" Yurusen grinned its toothy grin. "Also put you hand next to your Driver's eye."

Still ticked, Reimu rolled away from her two foes and did as instructed. Immediately, a glyph formed and spat out strange-looking sword. "Huh. Uh, I've never used a sword before," she turned to the wraith.

"Not my problem~" Yurusen chortled from its perch high in the trees.

"Ugh, whatever." Reimu swung the sword as she would her purification rod, smacking the Yari Ganma's thrust away. "Huh, I could get used to this."

Reimu's second wind, combined with her new tool, pressed the Ganma back. Already a natural at flying, she used hit-and-run tactics to wear out her foes. "You little . . .!" the Yari Ganma growled, charging at her again. He leapt at her, thrusting his spear to kill.

Reimu pumped the lever of her Driver outwards, forming a mystical glyph in the air behind her. She made a quick hand sign, and then pushed the lever in. Feeling the familiar rush of energy in her foot, she rose to meet her opposition, twisting out of the way of his thrust and smashing him in the face with her heel. Landing, she was mildly surprised to see the white part of the Ganma's head and chest—now apparently some form of raiment—fall off, revealing a black creature with blue eyes. However, she had no time to contemplate this thing's mysterious existence, for in the next instant it exploded into a cloud of inky black. "Ghost busted," she announced, before looking around for the other. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"He took off after Takeru while you were occupied with the other," Yurusen called out, pointing with its stubby little arm-nubs. "They went that way."

Reimu cursed and lifted off in the direction they went. She quickly found them—it appeared that in an attempt to outrun the Ganma, Takeru had gone back to the shrine, hopped on his motorcycle, and booked it down to the beach. The monster once again had him cornered, preparing to strike him down. Reimu dove feetfirst, her armored soles smashing into the thing from behind. "Really, again?"

"I thought if I went to the beach, the similarity to Musashi's situation would inspire me to defeat him," he muttered in shame. "It's stupid, I know."

She sighed. "Look. There's no shame in running. But throwing your life away is stupid."

"I know, and yet . . . !" He pounded the sand. "I can't do anything! I can't even be a good ghost hunter like this!"

His necklace shone with a red light. "What's that?" Reimu asked, curious.

"The handguard from Musashi's sword," he said, amazed. "What's going on?"

Once again, Yurusen interjected from out of sight. "Hey, Reimu! Quick, draw an eye seal on that thing with your fingers!"

Confused, Reimu did as she was told. Both human and former human alike were surprised as the guard dissolved into red mist and coalesced into yet another weird jacket-thing.

"W-what is that!?" Takeru scrambled back.

"I don't know!"

"You've synchronized with Musashi's spirit," Sage's voice boomed. Glancing around, they found an image of him floating over the waters. "Don his Parka Ghost to be filled with his powers and experience."

Reimu shrugged and placed her hand on the Driver. "Musashi! Come!"

The red Parka Ghost obeyed, descending into her Driver and, to their surprise, turning into an Eyecon. "Is this . . . ?"

Having been forgotten for the moment, the Katana Ganma roared a challenge. He was now surrounded by several other Ganma—they seemed to be lacking the fine raiment that he had donned. "Come! Meet your death upon my edge!"

"Now's a good a time as always," Reimu shrugged. She popped out her Eyecon before loading in Musashi's. "AYE!" the Driver cheerfully sang out. "Get ready people!" Reimu's orange parka disappeared, and the red Musashi parka appeared in front of her, slashing at the oncoming horde of Ganma—with what, Reimu couldn't exactly tell. She pressed the lever.

"Eyes open! Musashi!" She felt the Parka Ghost equip itself, feeling an odd satisfaction as the face-mask clicked into place. "Swords swinging! Blades ringing! It's the master swordsman!"

She felt a rush of power fill her, like before—though this time, it felt different. "Nice," she said, summoning her sword. Before she could even think about it, she had already split apart the weapon into two swords. "So this is what it feels like to be Youmu."

"Unrivaled under the heavens," Takeru said in amazement. "The power of Musashi!"

She easily cut through the oncoming horde of shambling Ganma. She was surprised to feel her hands moving in such ways, striking in manners she didn't think she was capable of doing. Deciding to go along with it, she soon found herself pointing a blade at the Katana Ganma—the only one left standing. "Come at me!"

The Ganma growled and charged, swinging an arm blade down. She twisted and delivered two shallow cuts, causing him to bleed the same inky-black blood the rest of the Ganma had bled. Each time he attacked, she counterattacked. No wasted movement, no lost time. Each strike was a work of art, honed to perfection by years of practice—Musashi's practice. The monstrous wraith was sent rolling, howling in pain as Reimu stood over it.

"Have the sword make eye contact with the belt!" Yurusen's shrill voice cried out. Reimu glanced at her weapon—indeed, it did have a strange eye-shaped symbol on the hilt. She glanced at her Belt—indeed, it did have a strange eye-shaped part. She lined the weapon up as instructed, and felt a rush of power fill her. She moved her weapons into a stance as a red glyph blazed to life behind her. Even as the Ganma, having gotten to its feet, charged again, in one last, desperate move, she held out her blades, which glowed red with the glyph's red energy. Ducking out of the way of the sword-armed foe's attack, she raised her blades and crossed them. "Omega Slash!" her Driver announced as her finger brushed against a button on the sword. She brought her swords down, scoring a red cross on the thing's chest. With a cry of pain, the Katana Ganma flew back, launching its own Parka up and exploding into an inky black mess. Out of the corner of her mask, Reimu noticed a practice sword fall to the ground, along with what seemed to be an Eyecon—which promptly shattered.

Reimu collapsed. "That . . . was exhausting," she grubled.

Takeru scrambled over to her. "That was amazing!" he gushed. "You were like Musashi and everything!"

"Shut up," she moaned. "My head hurts."

As Reimu lay on the beach and Takeru flapped his tongue, a pair of onlookers surveyed the scene, unknown to either of them.

"You didn't say anything about a meddler," a dark-haired man in odd raiment spoke to his companion. The other, an older man in a dark coat and hat, simply snarled with maligned teeth. The pair walked away, vanishing into the evening sun.

Back at the shrine, the bald monk and the loud woman—whom Reimu had come to learn as Onari and Akari—were fussing over Takeru, making sure he wasn't hurt or anything.

"I told you, I'm all right!" he stressed. "If you act like this, I won't be able to become a proper ghost hunter!"

Reimu sighed. "Takeru, tell them to pipe down. It's getting on my nerves."

"I'm trying," he responded. "They're not listening to me."

"Master Takeru, who are you talking to?" Onari looked about. "There's nobody there."

"A ghost," was the simple reply.

Onari freaked out, scrabbling about to find said specter. Akari, on the other hand, adamantly denied Takeru's words. "There's no such thing as ghosts. They're not scientific," she shot back. "Akari, I almost died to one this afternoon. I'm fairly certain they exist," Takeru deadpanned. "You always claimed alchemy didn't exist, yet look at that incident from a few years back."

"That never happened!" she denied. "It was some feat of ancient science, not magical hocus-pocus!"

Reimu wanted to scream, but she was too tired. "Hey, eyeball. How do I make them shut up?"

Yurusen floated up through the ground. "Well, whether or not they can see you depends on your emotional state. If you're moping about like you are, they can't see ya!"

"I'm not moping! Just tired!" she snapped. Akari and Onari's heads shot in her direction. "Oh," she said in a small voice.

"Who are you!?" Onari shreiked. Akari immediately ran over. "Where did you come from? Why are you here?"
"Just shut up," she moaned. "It's too loud with you three making such a racket."

Onari went off on another tangent about how he wasn't noisy while Akari smugly turned to Takeru. "See? She's real. Not a ghost."

Exasperated, Reimu let herself go incorporeal again. Physical, intangible. Solid, phantasmical. "You convinced yet?" Reimu asked the scientist.

"That's not—there's a reasonable explanation for—" Akari stammered, making several noises Reimu didn't think the human body was capable of making, and promptly collapsed. "Reimu, next time, please refrain from causing her to overload," Takeru said as he propped her up. "Onari, can you take care of her?"

With Onari taking care of Akari, Takeru and Reimu retired to the basement. "So what now?"

"Welcome back~" Sage greeted them.

Doing a double take, Reimu ran down the stairs. "Wait, what are you doing here, old man?"

"I just finished moving in, so I'm pretty tired," he said, relaxing under a kotatsu that wasn't there before. He was wearing some kind of janitor's outfit in replacement for his flowing robes.

"Reimu, who is this?" Takeru asked hesitantly.
"The weirdo that gave me this," she said, holding out her Eyecon. "It holds my soul, I think."

"Yeah, about that," Sage scratched the back of his head. "I forgot to mention you only have ninety-nine days to gather all fifteen, or you won't be able to come back to life."

"What!?" Reimu demanded. "Why didn't you tell me that before!?"

"Sorry, sorry," Sage laughed, not sounding sorry at all. "It must've slipped my mind."

"Ugh!" she threw her hands up in frustration. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Nothing for now!" he said cheerfully. "Actually, since today's just about over, you really only have 98 days left."

"Thanks for the help," she grumbled. Ignoring a cheerful "Anytime!" she climbed the steps to the upper loft where Takeru was reading his book. "What are you doing?"

"Fifteen Eyecons for fifteen historical figures," he said, perusing through his book. "I know now why that number triggered something in the back of my head."

"It did?"

"Take a look," he said, ignoring her. He held it open to Musashi. "See anything?"

"Uh, no? Oh, the page number is circled."

"Exactly." He flipped to another one—Sir Isaac Newtwon. "And this?"

"Another page circled. Aaaand why is that important?"

"There are fifteen circled pages," he said. "It's just a hunch, but that might be our first clue to gathering all fifteen." Takeru frowned. "But why did Dad know that? And why did he send me this?" he glanced at the blank Eyecon on the table.

Reimu ignored him, electing to instead raid a few cabinets and drawers scattered about. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I need a change of clothes," she replied simply. "I'm not going to wear this for a hundred days."

"What makes you think we've got clothes down here?" he said. "We can go shopping later or something."

A package fell through the roof and onto Takeru's head. Rubbing the sore spot, he picked it up. "It's for you," he said, handing it to Reimu. She read the note aloud. "Reimu, I've taken the liberty to throw a few outfits together for you. Think of it as a special favor. Lots of love, Yuyuko~." She made a face. "Ew, there's a lipstick mark."

"I guess that takes care of that," Takeru shrugged.

"I guess," Reimu plopped down onto the metal floor. "Ugh, what did I get myself into this time?"

Back in Gensokyo, uncertainty was in the air. Even the humans and lesser youkai could sense something was amiss. In Rinnosuke's shop, several of the higher-ups had conjured.

"So what exactly is going on?" Byakuren asked, thanking Rinnosuke for the tea he set out. "Something's happened-something that could affect Gensokyo's balance in tremendous ways."

Yakumo Ran nodded. "Unfortunately, we're almost at a worst-case scenario. The Shrine Maiden has been killed."

Several gasps went around the table. "That can't be," Miko said in disbelief.
"That's why Sakyua looked so horrible when she returned," Remilia realized. To her side, Kanako and Suwako nodded—Sanae was in just as bad a condition. "They may have taken it pretty hard."

"They may have not been the closest of friends—or friends at all, really—but they certainly respected each other as allies and rivals," Eirin said. "In fact, I can say that about most everyone in Gensokyo. We may have all had our personal disputes with the miko, but I am certain I speak for everyone present, at the very least, when I say that Reimu was a respectable peacekeeper and an important part of our lives."

The group was silent for a few seconds. Then Byakuren spoke up. "Rinnosuke, how is Marisa?"

The half-youkai sighed. "Not good. She looked a mess when she arrived yesterday, and she basically spent all night crying. She's currently asleep." He gave a tired half-smile. "She has a rather sensitive side, you know."

"What about the barrier?" Yuuka brought up. "Isn't it tied to the maiden's life force?"

"About that," Ran began, "Currently, Yukari is in hibernation, using her own power to fix the barrier. It's unstable, but for now it will hold. And second—"

"Second, Reimu's currently a ghost~" the group turned their attention towards the arrival of the Netherworld's princess. "And she's got less than one hundred days to come back, or it's poof~"

This caused a great ruckus among those gathered. The people present argued and bickered for a few minutes before Ran shouted above the din, "Enough!"

They all turned to pay attention. "Yes, Reimu is alive—in a sense. Currently, she is in the outside, looking for artifacts to restore her life." Ran raised a finger to quell the talking. "However, you have been called here for none of those reasons. If that were the case by itself, the Yakumo family would have no need to reveal its weakness to you all. No, what comes next is actually far worse." That got their attention. "What killed the shrine maiden wasn't of Gensokyo—nor was it of the outside world as we know it. We have taken to calling it the World of the Ganma, named after the denizens. It is a place filled with restless spirits, drawn towards rich life and magic," she said. "They've taken an interest in this Land of Illusions and they want it for their own—the reason for which we presently do not know why."

Suddenly a door slammed and they could all hear retreating steps. Rinnosuke ran to a back room, only to return disturbed. "That was Marisa. She must have heard you say that Reimu was technically alive in the outside. I'm guessing she means to break through the barrier—and given its weakened state, it's something she'll be able to do."

"Rinnosuke, wait," Ran said. "I can't! I have to stop her before she hurts herself! She doesn't know what's out there!"

"Don't worry, I'll get a guy on it," a new voice piped up. The assembled crowd turned towards a figure that had been standing in the shadows of a corner of the shop, unnoticed. "Who are you?" demanded Remilia.

"Some help I brought in from the outside," Ran stated. "Someone who has dealt with similar situations in the past."

"Yeah, Miss Fox hired me as a specialist, so to speak." The person wore tight pink pants and a leather jacket over a flower-patterned shirt. Two rings glowed softly on each hand. "A little bit of hope, so to say."

"Excuse me, but who are you? I can sense immense magical power coming from you." Yuuka tilted her head.

Soma Haruto smirked. "Just a wizard."