-.-.-.-.-
-19-
-.-.-.-.-
"Alright, c'mon, get off already, you're gonna break my broom."
Marisa brought us down on the dirt path that cut through the endless, blood-red sea, maneuvering somewhat clumsily with the extra weight of two passengers. Standing beside us, she let out a low whistle as she looked out over the terrain.
"It looks like it's just flowers, but every one of them is full of ghosts."
"Well Merry, shall we start walking? This way looks like it leads to the Sanzu River."
"Is it even safe for us to go there? While we're still alive, I mean?"
"You'll be fine as long as you don't try to cross it," Marissa opined. "Or at least the river won't hurt you. You should look out for wandering ghosts though, not all the ones around here are harmless. And of course there's hungry youkai to watch out for. Oh and some of the fish in the river are big. Like REAL big." She said, spreading her arms wide for emphasis.
On that less-than-reassuring note, Marisa took her leave, flying off into the sunset with a scattering of stardust. We waved at her for a moment, then set off down the road at a grim march. It wasn't like we had much choice about where to go. Staying put was just as risky, and going back through the forest would be impossible without Marisa's help.
Aside from the overwhelming red of the spider lilies, there were other flowering plants dotting the field as well, now that I got a better look. A ways down the road a substantial grove of trees with purple petals stood starkly, apart from everything else. I racked my brain, trying to think of a tree that might match. They certainly didn't look like camellias, and seemed a bit too substantial for wisteria.
"Hey Renko, what kind of trees do you think those are, with the purple flowers?"
"Well there's wisteria, paulownia, and a couple different species of plum with flowers that color, I think. We'll have to get closer to be sure though."
Between here and there was an ocean of the spider lilies. Of all of the flowering plants I knew of, they were easily my least favorite. Their leafless visage made them look like no other plant, and that creepy, blood-red, alien look was intensified by the countless phantoms that floated and twined amidst them. With the Sanzu River rolling in the distance and the threat of hungry predators all around us, it would be hard not to classify this entire outing as a near-death experience.
Research into near-death experiences had been among the foundational works responsible for the creation of Relative Psychology as a field. While still couched in the objective language of the times they had been written in, several studies had examined the neurological and cognitive impact on patients who had had such experiences and concluded that their memories of the events contained the same level of complexity and data as any real-world memory those individuals possessed. In short, the experiences were indistinguishable in the minds of those who experienced them from any other memory that they had, and impossible for an individual to discern from everyday reality based on the information available to their brains. Despite the impacts that this research had eventually had on the scientific community, contributing as it had to the death of the old school of scientific objectivity, even Relative Psychologists had always held that such experiences were necessarily unique to the individual and thus it would be impossible to draw any conclusions from the study of the content of such experiences that could apply to anyone beyond the individual experiencing them.
"Just think, Merry, you and I might just be the first people to stand together on the shore of the Sanzu River and make objective observations on a shared near-death experience!" Renko said, as if reading my mind.
"At least in Gensokyo other people have surely been there together before us. And even for us I'm not sure it's a first. We've been to the Netherworld, Renko. Wouldn't that be a near-death experience too?"
"Well, it's a good thing you keep good notes then, Merry. Maybe someday Dr. Latency can write a follow up to Swallowstone Naturalis Historia. It could be the foundational text of a whole new school of thought."
"Gah, why did I let you talk me into using that penname. If I have to publish my writings under that moniker, I'll just keep the worlds I see to myself."
Our argument was cut short by the boom and screech of a danmaku battle erupting in the skies not far ahead. The combatants were a good ways off, but even against the skies that were beginning to fade from ochre red to twilight purple I could make out that one of the combatants was Marisa, already fighting while standing upright on her broom.
Renko jogged a few steps forward excitedly. "Who's she fighting with, Merry? I can't tell."
"Hey Renko, are you crazy? There's no cover here, we have to get clear." I said while tugging on her arm. She turned to me with a pitiful frown on her face, as if to plead for a chance to watch. Danmaku can make for a beautiful spectacle, but it's far too dangerous to take in without appropriate protection.
Renko seemed about to say something in response when there was a sharp whistling sound followed by a thud and a fine spray of dirt and flower petals as a projectile of some sort shot between the two of us and gouged a groove in the path at lethal speed. I yelped and flinched back, falling to a seated position as all around us and further out hundreds of similar small impacts rained down, tossing fragments of shredded spider lily into the air like a spray of blood.
It took me a moment to gather my wits and realize that I had simply fallen from the shock rather than been hit. Looking around, I saw Renko crawling on all fours just off the side of the road, patting about amongst the flowers.
"Renko! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, it didn't hit me. I want to see what it was though."
"They're just magic, right? Or light or something? Let's try and get to cover Renko, we can't stay here."
"No, not this time. That was some kind of physical object, like one of Sakuya's knives, maybe."
"Renko, who cares! it won't matter what they are if one hits you!"
"Oh, here it is!"
Renko rose up from among the flowers holding something in her hand, pinching it between finger and thumb. There, it caught the ruddy hues of the sunset, shining with a metallic gleam. A small brass disc with a square hole punched through the center.
"Rokumonsen," she muttered. "Six pennies."
"Renko!" I cried exasperatedly as I grabbed her by the arm. "Bullets!" I dragged her along by the arm, looking for any sort of cover. The best I could find was a low hill covered in more spider lilies that was at least enough to stand between us and the ongoing firefight if we laid on our bellies in the dirt.
Renko and I dived to the ground. A moment later a laser strafed over the position on the road where we had been standing, scorching a track through the flowers where Renko had found the coin. I grimaced and kept my head down as the battle raged overhead. When I glanced up I found that Renko had crawled toward me, her face poking out at me from between the stems of two of the lilies.
"Hey Merry, look." She said, holding up the coin.
"Yes, its a coin, Renko, a really old one. If we survive maybe you can buy a soda back at Korindo."
"Not with six mon, I couldn't. This sort of money is only used to pay for one thing -it's the boatman's fee a soul pays to cross the Sanzu River."
"Then that means..."
Slowly, carefully, we both raised our heads above the lip of the hill, looking in the direction of the ongoing battle. They were closer now, diving and and swooping through the air amidst clouds of glowing stars and waves of ringing metal. We could see that Marisa's opponent was a woman in a kimono with red hair. She wore a completely unconcerned expression as they fought, dodging and hurling out waves of danmaku as if idly scattering petals on a pond. In her right hand she held a large scythe, its blade reflecting the bloody glow of sunset in a fiery streak.
"Is that a shinigami?" I gulped.
"The boatmen of the Sanzu River. A real live grim reaper. For certain values of 'live,' I guess."
I wondered if it would be possible for Marisa to defeat such an opponent. Could one hope to triumph over an incarnation of death itself in battle? Danmaku games were intended not to be deathmatches by design, but if the loser had to obey the request of the victor...
"I wonder if shinigami in Gensokyo always carry scythes? I would have expected them to have a notebook instead. There was an old manga about that, wasn't there?" Renko mused, excitedly. She was getting entranced by the spectacle of the danmaku match.
"I read it a long time ago, but I don't remember the details. It's probably just being serialized now in this world. Now keep your head down or you're going to get a hole through your hat, Renko!" I said as I pulled her back by the collar of her blouse. She brushed my hand away, but retreated, keeping only her eyes above the lip of the hill.
Another scattering of coins pounded into the ground behind us, sending up a spray of dirt and petals. Renko crawled down the hill to pull the coins out of their furrows.
"Renko! Stay put. It's not safe to go after those. Since when are you the type to dig coins out of the dirt?"
"These coins are really old, Merry. They might be worth something! If we can find someone in the village who would take them, that is."
"I don't think stealing money from a shinigami is a great idea Renko. Anything you find we should plan on giving back."
"Oh come on, Merry, she's literally throwing it at us. That can't be considered stealing."
As I had turned to scold Renko, I didn't manage to see the decisive blow. Given the amount of light that washed over me from behind, illuminating the entire field of flowers with rainbow hues as bright as the midday sun, that's probably for the best though. I whirled around just in time to see the shinigami tumble from the sky trailing wisps of smoke and crash into the ground, sending another flurry of red petals skyward. A handful of phantoms scattered into the air, then hung there, slowly floating about.
"Oooo, looks like Marisa won. Let's go have a look," Renko said, forgetting about the coins and rising to stand.
Renko took off at a sprint, snagging my hand as she passed by and dragging me along as I was climbing to my feet. I was too busy trying to maintain my balance to complain as she pulled me along.
Marisa had sat back down astride her broom and was coasting in a slow circle above where the woman had crashed to earth. As we approached, she burst from among the spider lilies, rising into the air once again, holding her scythe. Now that we were closer, I could see her clearly. Rather than the horrific imagery the concept of a grim reaper might have conjured up, this woman looked entirely normal, flesh and blood and a smiling, if slightly exasperated face beneath a hairdo the same beautiful red color as the sunset skies. Even her kimono seemed like a modern, untraditional design, and she wore it with a pair of thick-soled platform clogs, making me think of looks I'd seen in fashion magazines. I wondered if, as a shinigami, she might be familiar with trends in the Outside world.
Floating a few meters above the ground, she took notice of us as we approached. "More humans?" She asked. "You've won the right to stay here, but it's a shame to see so many suicidal people in such a beautiful place." She delivered the comment with the same gravity one might reserve for commenting that an ice cream shop only had their second-favorite flavor available, brushing off her skirt with her free hand as she did so.
"I'm afraid you have me mistaken for someone else," Renko said as she approached. "I'm Renko Usami. This is my partner Merry, and as far as I'm aware none of us are suicidal," she said, removing her hat in greeting. "I take it you must be the boatman of the Sanzu River?"
"Oh, have we met before?"
"No, as far as I know I've never had a near-death experience before. I just assumed as much from seeing that scythe you're holding and all these six-mon coins you were throwing around." Renko said, holding up her prize.
"Oh I see. I should take those back though," she said. Then, in an instant the shinigami was standing immediately in front of us. There had been no visible movement between her position floating in the air several meters away and where she stood now, plucking the coin from Renko's hand. Renko blinked in surprise. Evidently she hadn't expected teleportation either.
Seeing the shock on our faces, the woman smiled happily. "I'm Komachi Onozuka. As you guessed, I am indeed the shinigami for this area, but if you're not suicidal, then a human has no reason to be here. The same goes for you, miss witch!" This last bit she had turned to shout toward Marisa, who was now descending toward us.
"Hey, you don't give the orders here, I won the match! So how 'bout you get all these phantoms bundled up and ferried across the river already?" Marisa said. She had one hand on her broomstick to steer and was busily trying to swat several swarming phantoms away with the other.
Komachi sighed and planted the butt of her scythe on the ground, looking about. "I'm working on it. There's a lot here though, and then you came along. I just thought I'd take a break for a moment to shoo you off. Nothing wrong with doing a good deed here and there to break up the work, right?"
"You have a lot of these 'breaks?' When I found you, you looked like you were sleeping off a few drinks."
"Hey, I'm a shinigami. If I'm taking a nap that's a few souls who get to live a little longer, right? That's a good deed, isn't it?" she said, unapologetically.
All at once a new voice cut into the conversation, a young, feminine sounding voice, but one roaring irately, and speaking with a tone and surety that suggested they were used to issuing commands.
"Komachi! Have you been slacking off again!?
It was a surprising sight to see a shinigami go rigid with fear, pausing for a moment to shudder before woodenly turning to address the newcomer who was striding toward us along the road, coming from the direction of the river ahead. The girl approaching us had a face that looked neither young nor old, but her petite stature combined with the official looking uniform she was wearing might have made her look like an elementary school student from done formal academy or a child dressing up as some sort of police woman. She was carrying a short stick embossed with writing that looked something like the keisaku Zen monks would be slapped with during meditation and glaring directly up at Komachi as she approached, ignoring the rest of us.
"Ugh, uhh... lady Shiki!" Komachi stuttered as she turned to face the approaching figure.
"What was that? 'Ugly'? My looks are none of your concern, what matters is that the moment I take my eyes off of you for a second I find you lazing around, socializing with humans. Exactly where in your job description does it say that that is one of your duties?"
"Uh oh, looks like the boss is angry now," Marisa cackled from above.
"I was just getting to it now, boss. Off I go, lots of souls to collect," Komachi said, quickly stepping away.
The new girl, who had been called 'lady Shiki' was surprisingly fast. She dashed the last few meters and caught Komachi by the hem of her skirt before she could escape. "Komachi!" She said sternly. "I know full well that this should be a busy period, but when none of my scheduled cases show up for their appointments, what am I to do? If I have to leave the office to come chase you down, think how much that increases the backlog! While adequate rest is certainly something you should make time for, prioritizing that over efficiency in a time of overwhelming demand is not only wasteful but counter-productive! Surely you can see that if you just buckled down and got the job done quickly you'd have more free time in the end. Putting selfish sloth like this ahead of your assigned duties is grave malpractice and a sin, Komachi. Should I add that to your permanent record?"
Komachi's shoulders slumped, her cocky posturing instantly replaced by an attitude of absolute defeat. "Yes, ma'am. Please excuse my thoughtless behavior. I'll try to do better," she droned monotonously.
"If you regret it, then let that show in your work ethic! I'm not requesting that you never take breaks. What you do on your off time is your own business. But to slack off when there are clearly souls in need of your ministration directly in front of you is unthinkable! When your work doesn't get done, my work can't get done, meaning that every minute you spend napping is a minute of overtime I'll have to make up with! Mistakes are perfectly understandable, but as an official representative of the Ministry, your malfeasance constitutes petty corruption! Komachi, are you listening?"
"Yes, of course I'm listening, Lady Shi -Ow!"
The newcomer had interrupted Komachi's apology by giving her a whack on the head with her stick, a feat that had required her to rise to float a half-meter above the ground as she continued her lecture.
Judging by Lunasa's description, this must be the lecture-loving Yama that she had met in Muenzuka. She was nothing like I had pictured a Yama in my head - fastidious and domineering, yes, but much less intimidating. For a being entrusted with the authority to condemn the souls of the dead, she was surprisingly cute.
"If you understand then get back to work. I'll be returning to my chambers in a moment, but I expect to be informed that I have cases awaiting judgement shortly thereafter. See to it that I don't have to come out here to talk to you again."
"Yes, yes, right away," Komachi said, already flying away. The expression on her face suggested she was relieved to have gotten off with only that scolding.
The Yama watched her go, hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. Then, with a sigh, she turned to face us.
-and our gazes met. For a moment I felt a shock run through me, chilling me to my very core as the Yama looked into my eyes. Evidently she felt something too, for at that moment her eyes went wide and her eyebrows first rose in surprise, then hunched down distastefully. Under her withering glare I found myself instinctively clinging to my partner's sleeve.
"What is it?" I asked timidly. "It's a bit unnerving to be looked at that way by a Yama."
"If that's who you are? I presume there's no point to introducing ourselves, and I won't pretend that we're saints, but why give my partner such a glare?" Renko asked.
"You two..." she said, but then shook her head from side to side, saying nothing more.
-.-.-.-.-
That was our first meeting with Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu, as she would later introduce herself. The Yama of Gensokyo and divine judge of paradise, albeit this strange and dreamlike paradise for youkai. Even now, as I write this record, the meaning of her gaze and cause for her stern expression remain a mystery to me.
-.-.-.-.-
-20-
-.-.-.-.-
"Hey, you down there, don't ignore people!" Marisa was hollering down from above, still turning in slow, lazy circles on her broomstick. As she called out, the Yama looked up, seeming to note her for the first time.
"You're that shinigami's boss, right? I assume all of these phantoms are just here because she's been slackin' off, but what's with all these unseasonal flowers?"
The Yama sighed, still hovering above the ground. Slowly, she began to rise in the air, gaining momentum and moving sideways, to keep pace with Marisa and remain directly facing her as she slid through the air, all without moving her body the slightest bit. It was an odd sight, seeing her match the broom's position as they both turned in circles above us.
"Who are you to ask this? Marisa Kirisame, I believe? A human magician who ran away from home and settled in the Forest of Magic, abandoning your familial duty despite being the only child of the Kirisame household and rightful inheritor of the village tool shop, yes?"
"Hey! What kinda shady weirdo goes around revealin' all a maiden's secrets? I'm honored that my prestige has grown enough to reach the far shore of the Sanzu though. Or did'ja hear about me from some ghost with a grudge?"
"Do you suspect there are ghosts with cause to hate you? If so, I'll hear about it in time."
"I'm the very epitome of saintly righteousness. If you already know my name though, I should hear yours."
"I am Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu, the Yama for all of Gensokyo, as appointed by the Divine Ministry of Right and Wrong. As for the flowers you asked about, their blooming is a result of possession by these lost souls who have nowhere else to go. They have not yet been ferried to the other side, are unable to perceive their surroundings, have no connections left to tie them to world and, in most cases, are not even yet aware that they are dead. With no direction, they cling greedily to any life they can find, eventually possessing plants en masse as they are too weak to act upon more complex creatures. Upon being embodied, their joy, sorrow, anger and other emotions compel the flowers to bloom as expressions of the feelings they can no longer release. When their passions have spent their course, the flowers will wither, and these souls will come to understand their deaths, making them ready for transportation to Higan."
"Ewwww, are you saying that all of these flowers are dead human beings? I picked and scattered a whole bunch on the way here."
"That would be mass murder then."
"Nah, I'm just helpin' wayward souls to achieve Nirvana, right? The whole point of them bloomin' the flowers is to die, right?" Marisa grinned unapologetically.
The Yama sighed. "I think it would be better if we talked about you for a bit. I see that you are a bit too comfortable with lying."
"That isn't true. I've never told a single lie in my entire life."
"Have you heard the saying 'if you lie, the Yama will rip your tongue out?'"
"Huh? That's the sort of junk old fogies yell at kids."
"You should heed their words and take some time to re-examine your life. If you continue to follow this path and were to come before me as you are now, my judgement would indeed be that your tongue should be ripped out."
"I see, in that case, you're sayin' I should keep someone else's tongue in my pocket in case of my sudden death?"
"I would just have that one ripped out too. A better course for you would be to correct that sassy mouth of yours."
"So if I want to keep a hold of this tongue of mine, I guess I'd best just take you down then, shouldn't I?" Marisa pulled her trigram furnace out of the pocket of her apron, flipping it in the air before snatching it and bolding pointing it at the Yama.
The smaller girl replied by sighing again. "Such a senseless waste of a life. With such a mindset as that, it may be that the purpose of your existence is simply to serve as an example to others. If you wish to avoid eternal condemnation, I advise you to repent."
"I'm not afraid of hell. The only thing I fear is not being able to use magic."
"The purpose of the hells is not only to punish sinners. They exist to discourage the living from sinning to begin with as well. If you can't see that, then I'll need to provide more personalized instruction. Look now upon your life and mend the error of your ways! The pain of self-reflection is nothing compared to what awaits you!"
And thus, once again my brush is put to shame. Mere words can not describe the beauty and the fury of the danmaku battle that erupted. In one sense the battle was decided instantly, but in another it was long and drawn out. While the Yama retaliated with bursts of glowing bullets of her own, her attacks were half-hearted. Far more impressive was her skill at dodging. All of the danmaku battles we had seen to date had lasted only a matter of minutes at most. The Yama, however, continued to coolly avoid Marisa's attacks for more than ten minutes, glaring dispassionately with an expression of disappointment rather than fury as she moved seemingly without effort to narrowly avoid each blast.
Eventually Marisa's impatience gave way to frustration. After watching volley after volley of stars go wide, Marisa surged ahead and flung herself from her broom, launching herself toward her opponent in an arc, just as she had when fighting Patchouli. The hakkero glowed in her hand, motes of light streaking as they coalesced to a point...
"MAAAASTER..."
Marisa's cry was interrupted as the Yama surged forward, moving animatedly for the first time in the fight. In an instant she met Marisa's charge, and before the spell could be completed she struck, simply whacking the witch out of the air with the small stick she carried in her hand. Marisa plunged, tumbling head over heels. Her hand reached out and snagged the handle of her broom, which had dived seemingly of its own accord to meet her before she could fall all the way to the ground. She was left hanging, suspended in midair by one arm as the broom hovered in place, ever so slowly descending.
"Ow! What the heck was that for? This is supposed to be a danmaku battle, but you're barely even shootin' back!" Marisa fumed as her hat floated to the ground, swaying gently.
"I had hoped I had given you ample opportunity to cause a commotion. I do have a schedule to keep, I'm afraid. If you require further correction though, I can stay until you've run yourself out of magical power."
"Sorry about your schedule then, 'cuz I've got plenty of power left to spare," Marisa said as she threw her other arm over the shaft of the broom and climbed back into position.
"Being arrogant and refusing to respect the needs of others will only serve to shorten your lifespan. It's not my intention to condemn you to hell, miss Kirisame. Rather, it's precisely because I would like to keep you from being condemned that I'm doing this. You should reconsider your actions and strive to do good deeds. Especially if you intend to live as dangerously as you have been. You and I might be meeting again sooner than you'd think."
"If you think you can just -Ow!"
"I will continue to correct you for as long as is necessary for you to understand," the Yama said, tapping the stick against her palm.
"I'm not gonna -Ow! Quit hittin' my head, you're gonna make me stupid!"
"Stupidity is not a sin. Perhaps if you were a little less witty you might feel the need to think before speaking and give some consideration to your words. With a stubborn and egotistical outlook like yours, the person most affected by your lies is yourself, Marisa Kirisame."
This time Marisa was smart enough not to try and respond. Instead she merely glared at the small girl hovering beside her, both hands covering her head as she fumed.
"I am well aware that there is no one in this life who does not lie. Lying itself is a forgivable transgression. When used to demean and entrap others or aggrandize oneself however, lies become harmful, and a burden upon one's soul. Worse still, a consummate liar becomes desensitized to their own untruthfulness. If you continue down this path, you will lose the ability to know what's true any more. About yourself, about others, about anything. A person with no conception of truth can never find salvation."
"I'm tired of listenin' to somethin' that sounds like it came out of the mouth of some old fogey. I can decide how to live my own life just fine."
"Indeed you can, which is why you must take responsibility for your own actions. Deciding to lie is your own choice, for which you alone are responsible. The effects of your lies impact more than just yourself, however. You are not alone in this world."
"Well, my family disowned me, so I kinda am."
"You have already lost one family through your actions, true, but you are lucky enough to have found another. Will you continue to treat those around you so callously that you would thoughtlessly risk losing them too? My intention is to save you from condemnation, Marisa, and there are none so easily lost as those who have no ties to the world around them, even while alive. Better to enjoy the connections you have and allow their care for you to keep you from inflicting the torment of seeing you condemned to hell on them."
"What the hell? I came here to do a good deed and solve an Incident, why do I have to be lectured by the Yama for that? I'm done here."
"No, we are not done speaking, you and I," the Yama said.
Marisa, however, turned to address us. "Sorry you two. You wanted to find out what's going on? Well here's your chance. Good luck with the Yama!"
With that, she swooped down to grab her hat and was gone, escaping at a speed that nearly boggled the mind, already only a speck in the distance, connected to our current location only by a river of glittering stardust. The two of us could only watch in amazement as our only way back to the village disappeared.
Overhead, the Yama watched her flee then sighed heavily. Then, floating down toward the ground again, she turned toward us. Her piercing gaze, which seemed to see through everything in an instant, gave her a larger presence than her small form would suggest. Looking down at us from above, with the sun setting behind her, she cast an ominous shadow, eclipsing us in her shade as she stared down in judgement. I can only imagine the fear a soul standing before her might experience.
"You are Renko Usami, and Maeribel Hearn, correct?" she asked, as her feet lightly touched onto the road. Although she had landed just in front of us, she was looking at a small hand mirror she had produced from one of her pockets rather than our faces, holding it askance so that our images were reflected. It was to these reflections she seemed to be directing her question.
"You are a pair of Outsiders who arrived in this world a little over two years ago. You teach arithmetic and Japanese at the temple school and operate a detective agency on the side. In short, you are a pair of overly curious people with a tendency to poke your nose not only into the affairs of others, but into any dangerous or unusual event you happen to notice."
Not one word of her statement was a question.
"Well well, that's a very handy little tool you have there if it can show you all of that. Still, I'm honored to know that my reputation as a detective precedes me. It's a rare honor to meet you, lord Yama." Renko said, removing her hat. I glanced over at her, then nervously bowed. It's difficult to know how to react when an introduction is so hopelessly one-sided.
The Yama exhaled and tucked the mirror back into a pocket, turning to look up at Renko. Despite the difference in height, her glower was commanding. "Yes," she said. "Your reputation indeed proceeds you, but I wouldn't be so sure that it would constitute grounds for celebration. I think that you, Renko Usami, are a bit overconfident."
-.-.-.-.-
-21-
-.-.-.-.-
Renko cowered in mock terror at the accusation, putting on a pitiful expression and covering her head. For my part I committed a heroic effort in swallowing my instinct to laugh or tease. As one might have expected of the Yama, her analysis was remarkably precise.
"Knowledgeable, insightful, and thoughtful, not only on the basis of logic but also in the areas of improvisation and imagination. On top of this, you possess the eloquence to transmit the fruits of your thinking to others. You comport yourself well, miss Usami, with capabilities well beyond the needs of most humans. Despite this, you have the drive and courage to challenge your superior abilities and constantly improve yourself. This is commendable."
After the dressing down Marisa had received, it was surprising to hear the Yama praise Renko so readily. The grin she flashed my way was beyond insufferable.
Upon seeing that smile, however, the Yama thrust out her stick at Renko, hovering up off the ground to level it at her sternum. Renko raised her hands to shoulder level, holding them palms up in a gesture of surrender as she grinned.
"Your pride in your abilities often crosses the line into arrogance, however, just as your courage is allowed to become recklessness and your intellectual curiosity is debased by a callous disregard for the will of others. You have taken to regularly walking an incredibly narrow tightrope, using your wisdom and eloquence to keep you from tumbling off of the side. In the two years you have been here you have nearly ruined your partner Maeribel Hearn numerous times merely in order to sate your own curiosity. On occasions you have been aware of this and proceeded anyway, and on others you have recklessly stumbled forward with little understanding of the risks you were taking and exposing your friend to. Both are actions that would have reflected poorly on you had things gone just a little bit differently and you had been delivered across the Sanzu River to meet my judgement."
Renko kept her mouth shut, but her grin faded. I let out a small breath and thought back to our first audience with Remilia in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, or the time we had read to Flandre in her room, or my first encounter with Youmu in the Netherworld. Even the moment when Renko had confronted Suika about her identity or the time I had spent in Eientei before Renko had awoken. Every one of those encounters had been a moment of life-threatening danger, and all of them had been a direct or indirect result of Renko's curiosity. Even our very presence in this world was only a result of Renko's desire to plumb the depths of the unknown, and to do so with me dragged along behind her.
"Are you saying that powerless humans have no place outside the village? No role here in Gensokyo other than to act as a power source for our youkai betters?"
"I am telling you that it is only because of your outstanding abilities that you have managed to win over the people of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the princess of the Netherworld, a nine-tailed fox and the immortals of Eientei. You are free to indulge in that risk as you see fit. Knowing that an injury that could be healed with a night's rest for a youkai could easily be fatal to you, if you still wish to proceed in the way you have, well, as I mentioned before, stupidity is not a sin. But to risk the life of the girl next to you, who does not possess the means at your disposal to narrowly escape from these self-invited disasters is beyond arrogant. Are you prepared to face my judgement bearing the weight of her death on your shoulders as well as your own?"
To this, Renko could respond only with silence, hunching her chin to her chest and retreating into consideration.
"You must come to recognize and understand the privilege you enjoy in being allowed to indulge your curiosity in this world to the extent that you have. You are neither strong, nor do you properly understand the gift that you have been given in being sheltered by the strong. You make trouble for those around you, confident that their abilities will shield you from the consequences of your actions. If you have a fear of death, and if you wish not to lose Maeribel Hearn, then you must realize and accept than you are weak in this world, and that that weakness puts you and those around you in danger when you choose to pit yourself against those with power."
Renko kept her face downcast, with her eyes shaded beneath the brim of her hat. In the shadows beneath it though, I could see she wasn't looking at the ground, but instead over at me. She crossed her arms in frustration and seemed about to speak, but thought better of it.
Returning to her position on the ground and rotating slightly as she descended, the Yama then turned to me.
"And as for you, Maeribel Hearn..."
It would have been foolish not to expect this. I had steeled myself in preparation, but it was still hard to know what to expect.
"I think that you have become a bit too dependent on the abilities of Renko Usami."
She paused then, seemingly expecting a rebuttal, but finding none from me, she proceeded.
"Dependency on others is not in and of itself a sin. All humans are dependent upon their societies and relationships with others. To make another responsible for all of one's material, emotional and spiritual needs, however, is the attitude of a child. To be independent means to build a network of support for oneself such that even if one were to lose something they depended upon, they would have the means to find a replacement and carry on. Independence also means having the capability to support another should circumstances compel them to depend upon you for a time. Children cannot do this. You, Maeribel Hearn, could not do this. If the need arose, could you live in this world with the aid of Renko Usami? If someone were to come to you in need, could you shelter and protect them under your own power?"
There was truth to the accusation.
But even so, even if the critique rang true, how could one respond after being so bluntly and suddenly condemned?
"I... I think that..." I began.
The Yama had little interest in my stuttering objections. She continued apace. "Like Renko Usami, you have taken for granted the protection that you benefit from, though in this case your protector is Renko herself, making use of the strength she has inconsiderately borrowed from others. You know well enough that in this world a being's nature descends from the way in which it is perceived by others. How, Maeribel Hearn, do you imagine you are perceived by those around you? As a subordinate of Renko? As her dependent? To be recognized only as being connected to another is a dangerous business, Maeribel Hearn. It is the domain of familiars and shikigami, beings with little will of their own. If you continue in this way..."
Somehow the Yama's voice seemed to be distorting, taking on a metallic ring to it as if I were hearing it echo down a long hallway. At the same moment the scene in front of me was distorting similarly, stretching as if I were watching it from a great distance. My head grew suddenly cold.
"Stop, please... I don't..." I managed to squeeze out.
I watched, with an eerie sense of calmness as my vision shook and then tilted wildly. "Oh, I must be falling," I thought with cool detachment. Somewhere, someone was calling my name.
My next memory was awakening, as if from a brief nap in Renko's arms, my weight supported by her body as she struggled to hold me up. Coming to my senses, I tried to get my feet under me to stand again, but found that my legs were cold and limp, utterly without strength. The Yama, who had been pointing her stick at my chest as she spoke, had lowered her arm.
"Forgive me," she said. "For me to question the nature of your existence was going too far. Your reaction only goes to show what I had feared, however. Renko Usami, Maeribel Hearn: you are both much more distorted than you think you are, both in terms of your nature in this world and in terms of your affairs."
"What does that mean, exactly?" Renko asked. Her voice was close to my ear, but my vision kept blurring in and out, making her image indistinct. For a moment I thought I saw her differently, a Renko-shaped boundary, loose around the edges, containing all the things that Renko was, but straining at the seams, bulging and distorting as if trying to find a new equilibrium upon which to balance or a new shape to fill. A system on the verge of a tipping point.
"I can't say any more. Such questions are beyond the jurisdiction of the Ministry. It is enough for me to say that if both of you were to continue on the paths you are currently walking, then it is unquestionable that in time you will pay for those sins with your very bodies. Such is the inevitable nature of karma."
The Yama's words seemed to come from terribly far away. They were the last things I can remember hearing before everything went dark.