Chapter 3

Two weeks had passed since Reimu officially began on her quest to collect the fifteen Eyecons. Despite having a guidebook and the knowledge of how the Eyecons were made (an item relating to the historical figure, a person who has strong feelings and emotions towards said figure, and Kamen Rider Ghost's eye-seal), they had barely made any progress of their own volition, instead running into several Eyecons through pure luck. To that end, Onari decided to convert the temple into a paranormal investigations group-the Mysterious Phenomenon Institute. Akari remained skeptical of the whole situation, determined to prove there was a natural and physical reason for all of this.

"So we currently have Musashi, Edison, Robin Hood, and Newton," Takeru confirmed. "And that blue horned guy has Nobunaga."

Reimu let out a huff. "What was his deal, anyways? He just shows up and takes it. We did all the hard work."

"I'm not sure," Takeru admitted. "But anyways, we'll just have to wait for the next request. Where there's strange occurrences, there's Ganma. Where there's Ganma, there's an Eyecon."

Reimu nods and leans back, just as Onari calls out for them. The hunt had begun.

Somewhere in the outside world, ten days prior

Marisa slowly blinked awake. "Ow, my head," she grumbled. "What-what happened?"

"Rise and shine," a voice said. She could instantly tell something was off-she didn't know too many guys. "You've been asleep for a couple days. Take it easy."

She looked around confused. She was in some sort of white room. There was a window to the outside-the glare prevented her from seeing much-and she could see a curtain just to her side. She seemed to be in a bed of some sorts.

"You're in a hospital," the man explained. Blinking a few times, the witch finally spied a sharply-dressed man sitting across from her in a chair. He wore a black waistcoat over a white striped button-down shirt, black slacks, and a red tie. Perched atop his head was a black fedora. "Maybe not quite the ones you're used to, but a hospital all the same."

"Where am I?" Marisa sat up before wincing. "Ow."

"Like I said, take it easy," he sighed. "You were found several days ago in the Yatsugatake mountains, half-dead. You're lucky we were there."

"Yatsu . . . ?" Marisa didn't know of any such mountain range-and then it hit her. "I find her! I gotta find-" pain lanced through her skull again.

"Relax. Reimu's fine." The man eased her back down. "You can't do anything right now, anyways. You have to rest."

"How . . . ? Who are you?"

The man smirked. "Hidari Shotaro, detective, at your service."

The next few days Marisa recovered in the hospital, learning some necessities about the Outside World she'd have to know in order to not stick out like a sore thumb. When she was discharged, Shotaro offered his place to stay for the time being, to which she hesitantly agreed. They arrived via motorcycle at a small hole-in-the wall dive. "And I thought my place was run down," Marisa said. Shotaro gave her an unamused look and parked the bike. "Welcome to my humble home," he said, opening the door for her.

Inside wasn't special. It was a small apartment, fit for only a few people. "So you live by yourself?" Marisa asked. "Seems kinda lonely."

"I have a roommate, so to speak. He's currently out," he said. "Want some coffee?"

"Er, no thanks," she said. "I'm still not quite used to this whole 'outside world' business. And how you know of Gensokyo."

"Friends in high places," Shotaro said. "Ah, here's one now." He pulled out his ringing cellphone. "Haruto? Yeah, we're back. Yup, she's up and around. Recovered pretty quickly too." Shotaro pauses. "Hm? Yeah, here." He holds out the phone. "It's for you."

She hesitantly took it and spoke into it-she was familiar with the concept of the device thanks to Kourin-and said a tentative, "Hello?"

"Ah, is this Marisa?" a slightly bemused male voice answered her back. "This is Soma Haruto. Some of the big shots in your place hired me for a certain situation, and brought me over to Gensokyo. Lovely place, by the way."

"Er, thanks? But what-"

"Ah, right. Your boyfriend wants to talk to you."

"I don't have a boyfriend-"

"Marisa?" Kourin's worried voice interrupted her. "Thank the gods you're alright. I was so worried when you ran away."

"I'm sorry, Kourin," she said, ashamed. "But Reimu-!"

"Is fine," he said. "She has her own things to do. Things you can't help with."

"But-!"

"Marisa." There was an edge to his voice that told her to calm down and listen. "She's all right. You know that she wouldn't want you to help her-she's proud, you know."

"Yeah," Marisa admitted. "I'll trust you, Kourin."

She couldn't see him, but she knew he was smiling. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but otherwise ok," she said.

"That's great to hear," she heard him sigh in relief. "Actually, I have something to request of you."

"What is it?" Rinnosuke wasn't the type to ask for favors lightly.

"We were supposed to send someone to the outside world anyways for a certain task. We had planned on sending someone else, but I thought I might ask you since you're already there."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You're not going to ask what it is first?" came Kourin's bemused voice.

"Since you asked me I know it can't have been that bad," she replied. She smugly added, "Besides. If you had tried to stop me from doing it I wouldn't have listened to you."

He sighed. "Of course. Well, listen to Mr. Hidari for the time being. He'll fill you in."

"Okay. And Kourin?" she hesitated, embarrassed.

"What is it?"

"Thanks for being worried about me."

He chuckled. "Anytime, Marisa."

The line went dead, and she handed the phone back to Shotaro. He had been silent the entire time, watching the exchange unfold. "You're lucky you have someone worrying about you," he said as he took the phone back.

"Yeah," she admitted. "Kourin's great. He's like the dad I should have had."

The detective decided not to comment on that. Hanging up his hat, he went to sit at a desk in the corner of the room. "So. You're our partner for this joint operation, huh?"

"I guess," she sits down on the couch. She took off her own hat and placed it next to her. "So what exactly are you? Normal people don't have connections to Gensokyo."

"Well, you see-"

Shotaro wouldn't get another word in, as the door suddenly banged open, startling Marisa and causing the detective to jump. "Hidari Shotaro!" said a rather angry female voice. "I leave you alone for one minute, and you're off kidnapping maidens! Shame on you!"

"Akiko!" Shotaro yelled back. "Stop barging in unannounced! Don't you have better things to do!?"

"Don't try to dodge the question, mister!" In walked a small, slender woman who had a presence far larger than her stature. She waved a slipper angrily into the man's face. "Philip told me you were taking this girl home from the hospital, you creep!" She zipped on over to Marisa surprisingly fast. "How are you feeling? He hasn't done anything weird to you, has he?"

"Uh," the bewildered witch replied smartly. "No?"

She looked at her with irritating sympathy, and abruptly stormed off to yell at Shotaro again. "Look at her! She's traumatized!"

"She's not," he groaned, flopping down into his chair. "She came willingly-"

"Seducing young maidens!?" she shrieked. "Are you that lonely you-" she gasped. "Did my absence leave you that wanting!? No! I can't! I'm loyal to Ryuu!"

With an exasperated sigh, Shotaro put his head in his hands. "Philip. I know you're there. Get in here."

In walked a gangly teenager clad in women's fashion. "Hey, Shotaro," he said far too calmly. "Akiko's amusing. I told her you picked up the Gensokyian and she freaked out."

"You know about Gensokyo, too?" Marisa asked, surprised.
"Gensokyo. Created in 1885 by one Yakumo Yukari." The teenager rattled off to her surprise. "Currently home to youkai and that which would be considered fantasy in our own world."

"You know your stuff," she said, impressed. "How?"

Philip began to answer, but Shotaro piped up over Akiko's ranting, "He's a walking encyclopedia-long story."

He stood up, ignoring the angry pipsqueak beside him. "So you're our correspondent from Gensokyo. You'll be helping us on this case: the Case of the Otherworldly Spirits."

"That's a lame name," Philip replied, not looking up from the book he was reading.

"Shut it," Shotaro shot back. "In any case, there are a few things you should know. While there are many things we do know about your home, we don't know everything. We'll need your assistance in our future endeavors. Likewise, your home needs our help-which is why we have a man over on the other side."

Marisa nodded. "All right. But who are you guys exactly?"

"We are," he paused for dramatic effect, "Warriors of justice, defeating evil from the shadows. Mere urban legends to the public. Masked forces of good!" He posed, saluting across his chest. "We are . . . Kamen Riders."

A beat.

"You mean that children's thing Sanae likes?" Marisa tilted her head.

"Of course," he grumbled. "Yes, there was a TV show. It was adapted from accounts from some of the older Riders."

"Oh, okay."

Shotaro sighed, his momentum gone. "You, a magician well-versed in youkai extermination, will be helping us, the Kamen Riders, out with a threat to both the outside world and your home. Long story short, the residents of another world have started to invade this one. Strange spiritual activity, invisible spirits, and general paranormal pandemonium. Sound familiar?"

Reimu's broken body flashed through Marisa's mind. "Yeah."

He nodded. "We're working to find out what exactly is going on and how to stop it. We'll investigate things from both inside and outside Gensokyo. Even as your friend attempts to come back to life, it's our job to find the root of the problem and exterminate it." Shotaro gave a wry smile. "And that's where you, as a professional, come in. Sound good?"
She nods after a second. "I'm in."

Akiko, having fallen silent for that last bit, pipes up. "Wait, you said you were a witch. You mean just a Gaia Memory user, right?"

Marisa snapped, producing a shower of sparks. "Nope. What's that?"

Her eyes widened. "I didn't hear anything about this."

"See?" Shotaro sighed as Philip chuckled. "I didn't kidnap her, you loon." Turning to Marisa, he said. "First thing's first, you're going to meet who you're going to be working with. Philip, what's the status on the others?"
"Tomari and Kisaragi are available," Philip said without looking up. "Hino, as always, is gone, but he does have internet for Skype-at least for now. Kazuraba is unavailable, as is Godai. Tsugami should be available. Soma is in Gensokyo, as you know. I haven't heard back on the others. Would you like me to do a lookup?"

"No, that's fine," Shotaro dismissed.

"Who? What?" Marisa asked.

"The other Riders," Shotaro said. "You'll be meeting them soon enough."

Marisa nodded. As the other three went on to discuss other things, a wave of tiredness overtook her. She leaned back, pulled the brim of her hat over her eyes, and fell asleep.

Present

"Get back here!" Reimu cried, flying after the retreating car. The Machine Gun Ganma, as he had been christened due to a Tommy Gun on his arm, had fled in the backseat of a white Mercedes. She swerved out of the way of his gunshots, firing back with the Gan Gun Saber in gun mode. The spectral shots missed their mark, due to Ganma swerving back and forth between cars on the highway.

"Reimu, wait!" Takeru shouted. He followed behind her on motorcycle-back. "You're going to hit the civilians!"

"Well, what am I supposed to do!?" she shouted back. They sped down the road, Takeru weaving through traffic. "He's getting away!"

Takeru shouted something back, but in that moment, Reimu jerked back, diving low. Suddenly a blue-hooded figure on a motorcycle soared through where she was initially.

"You," Reimu growled. She touched down, glaring at the blue man through her mask. The man didn't respond, just revving up his motorcycle and zooming away. She grabbed onto Takeru from behind. "Floor it!"

The two motorcyclists raced, ramming into each other in an attempt to knock each other off. The empty road stretched on even as they dueled atop their steel horses. Yet, it was the living flesh that lost in the battle of the spirits, with Takeru spiraling out of control after the blue rider smashed into his machine. Reimu rolled and recovered, sparing a glance to make sure Takeru was okay-and other than a little bit of tumbling, he was thankfully fine. "You got questions to answer, bub," she demanded to the hooded, horned figure striding towards her. "And I want the Nobunaga Eyecon back." She rusehd in.

Reimu found herself unable to hit him. Every punch she threw was deflected, every blow blocked. The twin-horned man slapped her aside. "Say something!"

Reimu threw another punch, which was caught by an armored fist. "You're weak," he said in a taunting tone. Pissed, Reimu tried to throw another punch-but he was faster. His fist smashed across her chin, and, for a moment, Reimu saw stars. "I've seen your fighting style. All you do is dodge. But what about something you can't avoid?"

Now Reimu was fully enraged. Summoning the Gangun sword, she slashed widely at him, which he easily dodged. "Your defense is worthless and your attacks are sloppy."

"Shut up!" she screamed. She charged at him again, her sloppy movements leading him to knock her to the floor. Standing up, she summoned an Eyecon. "Edison!"

Even as the Ghost Driver sang out "Electrical Inspiration! King of Invention!" her opponent held up a familiar orb-shaped trinket. "That's the Nobunaga Eyecon!" Takeru shouted, having recovered somewhat. "Don't tell me he can Ghost Change too!"

His answer was a resounding "My conquering drama! Victory at Okehazama!"

She picked up her fallen sword. "Take this, you freak!" She snarled, firing electrical bullets at him. None of them hit their mark-they were deflected as her opponent summoned a weapon as well.

"The Gangun Hand," he gloated. "A weapon far superior to that multipurpose tool mercenaries use."

"We'll see about that!" Reimu scanned her weapon across her Driver. "Take this, you blue freak!"

"Omega Shoot: 「Yin-Yang Lightning」!"

"Omega Spark!"

Reimu's blast of electricity met a swarm of lasers, fired by copies of the rifle-like Gangun Hand and was overwhelmed. She cried out as a storm of shots slammed into her. Even as her armor dissipated into black ink and she rolled across the ground, the blue-hooded man opened his own Driver and cancelled his transformation. The armor dissolved, revealing a thin man in a black-and-blue jumpsuit. He looked down at his fallen opposition. "I am Specter," he said. "And I will be taking those Eyecons."

Reimu groaned and tried to rise, reaching out for the fallen Edison Eyecon. A sudden boot on her wrist caused her to cry out in pain. "You're not worthy of the wish," he said. "You're just using it to save your own skin."

"N-no . . ." she gasps.

"Would you be willing to put someone else's life over your own?" At the shrine maiden's silence, he snorted. "That's what I thought." He brought his boot back.

"Stop!" Suddenly Takeru tackled Specter from the side, knocking him over. The ghost hunter stumbled before placing himself in the way. "You're the person from the shrine earlier! Why are you doing this?"

"It has nothing to do with you, ghost hunter," Specter replied, getting up. "Move."

Takeru refused. Specter looked like he was about to go ahead and deck the kid, but he sighed. "I'll be back," he warned. "For the rest of the Eyecons." He strode away, but not before calling out, "You're too soft, hunter."

"What's his problem?" Takeru muttered before turning back to Reimu. "Reimu! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she gritted her teeth as she tried to stand up. "Nothing I haven't had before."

The two made their way back to the shrine, Reimu somehow bleeding despite being a ghost. After the initial freak-out by Akari and Onari, they tried to bandage her up the best they could. It seemed that they managed to stop the ghost-blood-for now, at least. "I have no clue how this is happening," Akari muttered. "But she seems to be okay."

Reimu hadn't said a word throughout all of this, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. "Hey, Reimu?" Takeru asked. "What's wrong?"

Reimu shot up, startling Takeru. "Argh! That guy just pisses me off!"

"Specter?" Takeru asked, brushing himself off. "Well, he did beat you."

"His attitude! His superiority! His stupid face!" Reimu punched a pole and winced. "Ow! I swear, I'm gonna blow him to the Sanzu River the next time we meet."

"Uh, okay."

Reimu stormed off, fuming. Takeru just sighed. "Well, there she goes."

"She's quite a handful," Onari commented, leaning against a post.

"She's a bit rough around the edges, but still good at heart." Takeru agreed. "But this Specter guy worries me. And I can't help but feel I know him from somewhere."

"Answers will come in due time, Master Takeru," the monk replied. "For now, you must have patience."

Takeru nodded and looked to the sky, wondering what the future would bring.

Haruto leafed through an ancient tome. "Fascinating stuff," he complimented.

"Of course it is," came the answer of the Great Unmoving Library. "It's the collection I've been gathering throughout my entire life."

After the meeting, Remilia had allowed Haruto to come to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to gather the info he wanted. After enjoying a friendly spar with the gatekeeper and a spot of tea from the maid, he was taken to the mansion's expansive library. Exchanging a terse word with the taciturn librarian, Haruto set about perusing through magical tomes to find what he needed.

"This stuff on the creation of artificial life is fascinating," the wizard said while munching on a donut. "I know a thing or two about alchemy myself."

"Hm?" Patchouli looked up from what she was reading. "Ah, that. That bogus tome."

"Bogus? How so?"

"It claims to be able to fix homunculi broken beyond repair," she dismissed. "It even talks about magical constructs gaining souls. Even for this place that's fantasy."

Haruto smiled a little. "Maybe, maybe not. Mind if I borrow this? For a friend."

"Sure, as long as you bring it back-unlike a certain other magician I know."

Koakuma, Patchouli's ever-present aide, offered, "More tea, Mr. Soma?"

"Ah, thanks," he said, replacing his cup. "Miss Knowledge, you're lucky to have such a lovely assistant."

"Aw, you're too kind," she says, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"Please, cease your pointless flirting and get back to work," the librarian deadpanned annoyed.

Sharing a chuckle with Koakuma, Haruto went back to reading before piping up, "Little Devil? Really? I know she's a succubus, but c'mon."

"She's the one who chose the name," came the reply.

He looked at said demon, who just shrugged. He began his search anew. "Now this is something," he mutters. "The Kingdom of the Great Eye."

"That thing?" Patchouli glanced up. "It's a record of a kingdom long gone, from over a thousand years ago."

"Hm," Haruto flips through it. "How interesting."

He got more engrossed the deeper he read. A kingdom worshipping the eye of a dead god. A mad king. A curse that would last for over a thousand years. "This could be what I'm searching for," Haruto muttered. "A key to-"

But that thought would have to wait, as an explosion rocked the west wing of the Library. "Oh no," Patchouli paled. "She got free."

"Who?"

"Hey, I was right!" A childish giggle echoed through the library. Fairy maids scattered everywhere. "Big Sis can't fool me! There's a nice-smelling toy here!"

Patchouli attempted to stand, but doubled over from a coughing fit. "Damn, not now!"

"Trouble?" Haruto closed the book and set it aside. "Don't worry, I got this."

"You can't. Flandre Scarlet is a nightmare. Even if you're a magus, she'll still rip you apart!"

He smirked. "I'm too stubborn to die."

"There you are!" the same girlish squeal was accompanied by a frightening visage-a blonde child in a red dress, crystalline wings glistening in the library's magical light. A twisted, delightful grin graced her features, as a child on Christmas day. Even at this distance Haruto could feel her radiating power. A bead of sweat ran down. "Hey, mister. You're not going to break, right? All my other toys break and end up as messy stains on the wall. Sakuya always yells at me when that happens." She giggles. "Come on! Let's play!"

Haruto held up a hand, rings glinting on his finger. They burned with a magical light. "Well, now. I've always been told I've been good with kids, and I'm pretty good at soccer." The wizard smirked. "Yeah, I'll play with you. But don't complain when you bite off more than you can chew."

Amidst the wall of flame that descended upon him, Patchouli heard a single word cut through the chaos. A lone invocation, carrying with it power and promise of something else-hope.

"Henshin."

"How dare you mess with mi familia!" The Machine Gun Ganma's bullets peppered the ground in front of Reimu, causing her to leap to the side. "You're a dead man!"

She charged, deflecting his bullets with her sword. "Take this, All Crapon!"

"Al Capone!" Takeru said, dodging a swing from a Ganma Commando. He responded by embedding an axe blade in its gut, causing it to disappear in a burst of black ink. "Seriously, get their names right! That's the fifth time!"

Reimu only gave a cry as she knocked the Empowered Ganma back with a slash. "I'm weak, huh!? I can't fight, huh!?"

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "I think she has some issues to work out."

"What was that?!"

"Nothing!"

Reimu went on to bash around the Ganma a bit before deciding that she had had enough. "Newton, let's go!"

But before she could Ghost Change, a scream gave her pause. Turning, she winced behind her mask at the sight of Akari and Onari-what are they doing here-held hostage by the footsoldier ghosts. Takeru was on the ground, bleeding from a wound to the head.

"Make one move and your friends are dead," the Machine Gun Ganma gloated.

"That's playing dirty," she growled.

"You gotta do whatever it takes if you want to win, girlie," he said. Taking advantage, of her hesitation, he revved up his arm gun and fired.

Reimu flew back, smashing into the wall. She ignored the cries of her companions as she struggled to rise. Then she froze at the sound of footsteps.

Specter gazed dispassionately at the scene in front of him, casually burning his Ghost Driver to life with a hand flick. "Henshin," he said, dropping an Eyecon in the Driver and pulling the lever, thrusting his hand out to the side. Spectral blue armor formed around him as the Driver sang out "Ready, go! Hellbent! Pulse-pounding ghost!" With the Parka Ghost settling onto him and his horned face clicking into place, the other Rider once again stood before them.

"Specter! What are you doing here!?" the Ganma growled. "Whatever it is, don't interfere. I'm getting revenge for mi familia, capiche?"

"Move." Specter brushed him aside. Enraged, the Ganma fired upon the Rider's back. Reimu was at once thrilled and relieved to see him take damage-he could be hit, after all. The blue ghost Rider snapped his head up, supposedly glaring at the one who had dared to shoot him. Simultaneously changing out his current Eyecon with a light blue one and summoning the Gangun Hand, he fired a few retaliatory shots with the weapon as the Driver sang "Triangular Pyramids! Do as the Pharaoh bids!"

What happened next came as a mild surprise to Reimu-though, looking back, she supposed that it shouldn't have. As the Ganma Commandos abandoned their hostages to rush Specter, he flipped the weapon upright-and a scythe blade extended from the tip. With a single slash, he cut the grunts down.

"You rat!" The Machine Gun Ganma reminded them of his existence with a burst of gunfire. Whirling around, Specter charged through the hail of bullets, spinning his scythe before relentlessly slashing away at the vengeful spirit. Specter didn't even give an inch-before Reimu knew it, Specter had trapped the Ganma in a pyramidal prison-and a blink later, all that was left was a broken eyecon and a burnt hat.

"Anyone who gets in my way will pay for it," Specter said, weapon slung across his shoulder, "No matter who they are." He turned to Reimu.

"I have a score to settle with you, jerkface," she growled, standing up. "Give that back!"

She could feel him smirk as he collected the dropped Newton Eyecon. "Come and get it."

With a snarl, she cranked open her Driver's lever and formed a hand sign, mystical eye-glyph blazing to life behind her. Specter copied her actions, forming his own blue glyph.

"Omega Drive!"

At the shout of the twin Ghost Drivers, both Riders lept at each other feet first. They stayed there, suspended for an instant. Then the force between their two kicks burst, knocking them back. Specter rolled and stood up. "A tad better," he allowed. "But still weak."

A smug chuckle resounded from Reimu's prone, armored form. "Gotcha." In her hands was a blank Eyecon-the kind similar to the one she had to begin with.

"You wouldn't dare." Specter sounded horrified.

"This is your soul, right? One wrong move and bam, straight to Shikieiki to you," she taunted. "If you know what's good for you, you won't-"

The next moment, she was flying through the air, her world ablaze. With a sickening crack, she slammed into the building wall. Not even able to hear the cries of her companions, she couldn't do anything as Specter began to rain upon her blow after blow as a man possessed. With a roar, he slammed his fist into her head. She heard a crack, and when her head stopped spinning, she was staring up at the world through a crack in her mask.

Specter snatched the fallen blank Eyecon from where it lay, and vanished without another word. Reimu was dimly aware of her name being called, but the pain was too much, and darkness overtook her.