-.-.-.-.-
-22-
-.-.-.-.-

"Oop, are you awake now?"

I opened my eyes to find Renko staring down at me. I was laying on my back among the thick clusters of spider lilies, with my head resting on Renko's lap. Her face was lit in beautiful purples and reds as the last rays of the sun began to fade. I tried to sit up, but Renko gently pressed me back down by the shoulder.

"Just rest for a bit, I don't want you to pass back out trying to get up."

"Renko... I..."

"I was surprised when you collapsed suddenly. I don't think the Yama was expecting that reaction to a lecture either."

I let out a deep sigh, enjoying the warmth of the air and peaceful sounds of the distant river. Something pleasantly cool was laying on my forehead. An ice bag, maybe? I reached my hand up to touch it and it suddenly darted away.

"A phantom? Renko did you just use a dead human soul as an icepack?"

"Hey, I had to make do with what was available. They're nice and cool, right? And they're only pieces of souls, potentially. Now that you're awake though, you have this coming." As Renko said that, she slid her hand, which had been behind my head, down the neck of my dress in the back. The skin of her hand, which must have been the one she used to grab the phantom, was ice cold. I shrieked involuntarily.

"Gah! Renko, get that off me!"

"This is your payback for making me worry by passing out."

I pushed Renko's arm away, but in truth I had no right to complain. What the Yama had told me was true. All this time since we had come here I had been relying on Renko for everything, trusting her to protect me without ever asking. Had she even once complained about having to look out for me? I stopped fussing and laid back down, feeling small and miserable.

"Hey, Merry?" Renko asked, a mischievous look on her face.

"Hmmm?"

"The Yama may have had objections, but personally, I don't mind."

"What do you mean?"

"The idea of you depending on me. It's A-OK in my books. You can lean on me as much as you want."

My face became instantly hot and I tried to squirm away, but Renko gently held me in place.

"Hey, you're supposed to be resting, remember? I'm glad to see you've got some blood flowing back to your head though. I think I'm lucky to have you rely on me this much. I wouldn't mind if you became so dependent on me that you took me for granted. You can, you know. I'll always be here for you."

I couldn't bear the embarrassment of looking her in the eye, so I squeezed both of mine shut. "Don't say things like that," I pleaded.

With my eyes clenched shut I couldn't see what Renko was doing, but I felt her moving. When next she spoke it was in a whisper, right next to my ear.

"You know, I kind of like seeing you like that. It's nice to be needed. And a needy Merry is pretty cute."

"Renko..."

"If Merry is the sort of person who's going to be dependent on me, then that means she'll have to stay by my side, and not slip off somewhere else, right? So don't go anywhere, Merry. Just stay right here."

Then I felt something brush my bangs aside and a moment later something soft pressed against my forehead. Numb as my skin was there from the touch of the phantom, I couldn't be sure what it was. A moment later I opened my eyes to see Renko staring down at me from above, sitting normally, wearing the same troublesome smile I had come to expect.

"Renko..." My voice sounded pleading to me, but I don't know what it was I had been about to ask for.

As if anticipating my reaction and dodging my unspoken question before I could ask it, Renko raised an arm, drawing my attention to the side. "Hey Merry, look at that."

It was only then that I noticed what was behind Renko's head, and indeed, all around us. Turning my head, I looked where she was pointing to see that we had come to the grove of flowering purple trees we had spotted earlier. Renko must have dragged me here while I was out.

The sight of the blooms surrounding us was enough to take my breath away. In the last few days we had seen countless flowers, some of them quite rare, and others magnificent in their splendor, but none that were anything like these. The trees surrounding us appeared to be cherry trees, but their blossoms, which should have been a pale pink, were instead a soft, beautiful violet, the same shade as my dress, a color that had been my favorite since childhood. All around us the short, gnarled trees were in full, profuse bloom. Despite this, the petals fell slowly, not in drifts and gusts as one might expect of a typical cherry tree, but only one or two at a time, with the petals falling straight and slow to the ground, untouched by any breeze. More than anything else they looked like tears, ominous purple tears streaming from the branches of these strange sakura trees. If scarlet petals so dark as to nearly be black had fallen from the Saigyou Ayakashi whose roots were entwined with a corpse, what could possibly be buried beneath these trees, I wondered.

"The Yama told me the purple here is the color of sin. Just as sunflowers attract exuberant souls to make them bloom, these trees become the temporary home of souls heavy with the burden of guilt, whether deserved or not. Though, to see something so pretty as this all around us, I have to wonder if the sins those souls carry could really be that bad."

To think that this was the color of sin. A beautiful, dusky violet, the color closest to my heart. "Yukari" I mumbled to myself. The exact shade that word always conjured in my mind.

"Hey Merry, what color flowers do you think our souls would turn into?"

"What's the point in worrying about our fate in the afterlife now? And what do you mean 'our?' Are you saying that even after I die I'm still going to be stuck with you? That sounds like a curse, Renko."

"All human relationships are a curse, aren't they Merry? It's bonds of love, friendship and family that bind souls to this world. If your goal was to attain Nirvana, then to love anyone would seem like a curse, wouldn't it?"

Her hand found mine and gave it a squeeze. "So then, yeah, I guess I've cursed you, Merry."

"How am I supposed to respond to news like that?" The feeling that came over me was the same as the one that had brought me here. If I had had the strength to resist the pull of that hand, I would never had stepped into Sumireko's room and come to this world to begin with. I would never have gone on any of our adventures, and even today I wouldn't have headed out the door to follow behind her.

"Well, I suppose if I'm already cursed at this point there's nothing I can do about it but to keep holding your hand."

And so I did. We stayed there, watching the violet tears fall as the sun dwindled to nothing in the sky, my head in Renko's lap, my left hand squeezing her right, the same old Hifuu Club as always.

-.-.-.-.-

"You two! Again! Why? How?"

The voice that interrupted our tranquility came from well above, descending toward us as the sky faded from blue to black. A single red and white butterfly, making its way downward, an unhappy expression on its face. Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden upon whom gravity had no hold.

Alighting beside us, Reimu glowered, knitting her brow as hard as she could and giving us a look that I suspect might have struck a youkai dead. I rose up from Renko's lap and we both climbed to our feet.

"I shouldn't be finding any humans here, at least not ones that are still alive. Especially not if I've told them before to keep their noses out of dangerous business and especially not in the middle of an Incident! Did you guys hear that the barrier is thin at Muenzuka and think you could get back to the Outside world on your own or something?"

"No, no, I promise we'd come to you if we wanted that, Reimu. We were just investigating this Incident as usual. We meant no harm to you or the Great Hakurei Barrier."

"I'm pretty sure I specifically warned you to stop poking your nose into strange things. You're a human villager now, and 'Investigating this Incident as usual' is not what villagers do! I warned you against trying to be something you're not."

"Maybe you need to rethink your definition of what humans are like, Reimu. I just happen to be a human villager with a strong tendency toward intellectual curiosity."

"I've never run into another villager like you, but I end up meeting you everywhere I go! This is the fifth time since the Scarlet Mist Incident! Look, if you two are here then you must have run into the Yama. She must have told you off too, right?"

"Ah, so you know she's here. I'm guess that means that you got a lecture of your own, right Reimu? What'd she tell you?"

"Renko, I'm going to guess you were told to mind your own business. You can start putting that advice to good use any time now. Besides, I asked you first."

"Well, you can't expect a maiden to reveal all of her secrets, right?"

"Stop trying to sound like Marisa, it's not cute when you do it. Speaking of which, she's the one who brought you here, wasn't she?"

"Oh very good, Reimu, how'd you guess?"

"You can't get through the forest on your own and I saw her flying back from here just a while ago."

"Impressive. You have the makings of a great detective, Reimu, if you ever feel like swapping careers with me."

"I'll pass. Since I am the Hakurei miko though, I'm expected to look out for people like you. What was Marisa thinking, abandoning the two of you here?"

"She ran away after the Yama lectured her. I don't think she liked it much."

"Of all the irresponsible... alright fine. I'll deal with her later. Right now, I can't leave two villagers in the middle of a dangerous place after sunset, you'd get eaten for sure. Take my hand, I'll bring you to the village, then I'll go knock some sense into that witch."

We glanced at eachother. Despite her anger, it wasn't an offer we could turn down. We each stepped forward and took a hand. Once more the eerie sensation of gravity losing its hold on us washed over me as we lifted off the ground.

"So, junior detective Reimu, have you figured it out yet? The mystery of this Incident?" Renko asked as the wind roared around us.

"Don't ever call me that. But it's not a mystery is it? Ghosts from the Outside world are haunting the flowers, right?"

"Oh, very good, who told you that?"

"The Yama. It's a natural phenomenon that happens every 60 years. Meaning that if not for you two and Marisa I wouldn't even have to be out here or going to fight anyone."

With that, Reimu let out a great heaving sigh and the rest of our flight passed in silence.

-That was the end of our investigations for the day.

-.-.-.-.-
-23-
-.-.-.-.-

It was completely dark when we arrived at the village with Reimu. It was far too late for either of us to consider doing the usual chores, so instead we stopped in for a late dinner at a restaurant, swung by the bathhouse just long enough to scrub off our sweat, then returned home.

After coming in the door and hanging up my things I collapsed on the tatami mats, utterly devoid of any will to ever get back up. The exhaustion of the day's exertion and excitement had at last caught up with me, and a weariness that was much deeper than the ache in my muscles coursed through me.

"Don't sleep there, Merry. Let's at least pull out the futons first."

"I'm sorry, someone decided to drag me over half of Gensokyo today. I'm a little sore." I huffed.

"Ah, there's no helping it, in that case. Alright, you just sit tight Merry, and I'll work my magic."

I listened to the sound of Renko dragging a futon out of the closet and dumping it down beside me. She unfolded the mattress and I willed myself to roll over onto it. It was soft and clean-smelling. After a hard day of walking in the sun it felt almost as nice as Ran's tails. If only the mofumofu were here, I might well dive into it and never wake up.

"Hey don't go to sleep yet, I haven't even started."

I had only a moment to be confused before there was a sudden vice-like grip on my right calf. Renko's hand, lubricated with a few drops of oil from the lamp, slicked its way along my leg as she pressed the heel of her other palm into my sore muscles. The initial reaction was pain, but after just a few seconds the burning sensation spread out into a dull, squishy warmth that suffused my entire lower half.

"Jeez, Merry, you're really stiff. You should exercise more often."

"Ah, sorry. Ohhhh that feels lovely, Renko, thank you. Do you think you can grab that envelope over there?"

"Hmm? This?" She reached up to grab the papers with her dry hand. Inside the envelope were the essays the children in my composition class had written. The class wouldn't meet again until the day after tomorrow, but if I was going to be awake anyway, I ought to finish grading the papers before turning in.

"A bunch of essays?"

"I asked them to write about something they saw yesterday. Just an exercise to get a handle on how they're progressing, really. Ah! Ow, that hurts Renko!"

"Sorry, you want me to stop?"

"No, it's the good kind of hurting, that's where I'm stiffest, just be a little gentler, please."

"OK. I can do that. Here's the essays." She laid the sheaf of papers in front of me, then set to work with both hands, pressing both of her thumbs firmly but slowly into my aching muscles. "That's an interesting exercise, Merry. Was your goal to try to see how this Incident looked through the children's eyes?"

"Maybe a little. Ohhhhh right there. They're pretty cute: 'I made a necklace for my sister because there were so many white little flowers around our house.' Isn't that sweet?" I read over the writings as Renko worked on the knots in my legs. "How's this one: 'I played all day in the flowers. They were the prettiest ever and I had lots of fun until my parents yelled at me for staying out past dinner time.' Oh, this one's from the one of the best girls in my class. 'It is beautiful to see so many blooming flowers, but to see the flowers of all seasons bloom at once while phantoms and fairies abound in the village is worrisome.' Oh. Hmm. 'There were a lot of fairies around so I chased them. I caught one and fed it to my dog.' Good writing, but I think I'm going to have to talk to that boy."

"Their writing is impressively polished for such young children. I've noticed their handwriting improving too. You're doing unexpectedly well, Merry."

"Well, I've been teaching Japanese for more than a year now. What do you mean by 'unexpectedly?'"

Renko just grinned and moved down to my foot, applying a bit more oil to her hands as she firmly pressed into the joint of my ankle. I had gotten to about the tenth essay or so when something caught my eye. A boy had written about going fishing with his father at Misty Lake. They had noticed some unusual flowers blooming and a few frogs floating in blocks of ice on the surface of the lake. This was generally seen as a bad omen, as it was known to be a sure sign that the ice fairy who lived on the lake was nearby. She was well known among the village fishers for causing trouble. Sure enough, right when they had been about to pull their nets from the water a fairy in a blue dress had flown past, freezing their nets solid and nearly capsizing the boat, yelling something about a once-in-sixty-years party as she did.

"Huh, that's interesting," I murmured.

"What's that?" Renko asked.

"Here, listen." I said, and read her the essay. As soon as I got to the bit at the end, the massage stopped. I turned and looked back. Renko had a far off look in her eyes, her hands frozen around my toes.

"That is interesting." she muttered.

"Is it really that big of a deal?"

"The fairies remembered this Incident happening before, Merry. Even though humans and youkai didn't."

"I suppose that's true. Does that mean the massage is over though? What about my other leg?"

"Sorry Merry, this is a detective agency, not a massage parlor, and you've got work to do. I'll have to give you a raincheck for the other leg."

Saying this, she tossed my notebook and brush set over to me from where I had set them against the wall. Getting up, she wiped off her hands on a towel and began to pace back and forth.

I sighed. Among my primary duties as a detective's assistant was helping Renko sort out her thoughts on any given case. It looked like there were a few more hours of work in the day before we could sleep. I heaved myself into a sitting position and gathered up my writing desk as Renko began to dictate, pacing the whole time she did so. By the time she had worn herself out, this was the list of questions I had compiled.

Mysteries concerning the blooming flowers:

-Why did all of the flowers suddenly begin blooming yesterday?
-Why are not just spring flowers blooming, but out-of-season flowers as well?
-If the flowers are being made to bloom by lost souls, why would they possess flowers?
-Why is this unusual flower behavior not occurring in the Netherworld, where phantoms should be even more common?
-If crops are the domain of the gods, have they no say in this Incident? If they do, why are they allowing it to endanger the harvest?

Mysteries concerning phantoms:

-Are the increased number of phantoms we've seen really caused by an increase in the number of deaths in the Outside world?
-If so, what accounts for these deaths? Is the history of the year 2005 no longer as we knew it?
-Are the phantoms we see actually human souls?
-If only some of the phantoms are souls and some are merely phantasmal temperaments as Lunasa suggested, then which has increased? The souls? The temperaments? or both?
-Are the phantoms causing the flowers to bloom? If so, which sort of phantom is responsible?

Mysteries surrounding memories of the Incident:

-Why do neither the humans of the village nor the tengu remember this Incident having occurred before?
-Why had the Hakurei priestess not been told to expect this Incident?
-Why do fairies remember this Incident recurring?
-What causes this Incident in the first place?
-If this Incident is not a natural occurrence, who is responsible?

Having written all of those questions down, I asked another one.

"Renko, do you think that there's someone behind all of this?"

Her eyes narrowed as she paced, her chin cupped in her fist as she pondered. "There are a few too many unnatural aspects for me to believe it's an entirely natural phenomenon. First. the flowers all bloomed on the same day. Different flowers take different amounts of time to mature, so if this really were a natural event, you'd have thought they'd all come in staggered waves. For it to happen the way that it did seems to be purely for the purposes of creating a spectacle."

"All right."

"Then there's the question of people's memories of it. Keine's a historian and Aya's a journalist, both with extensive access to records, but both of them had either forgotten about this or never knew in the first place. Akyuu, who has even more extensive records did know about it, but she didn't share that information with anyone. Not even the Hakurei miko. Someone had to have told her not to. There's a secret someone's trying to conceal here with this cover story, a spin that someone's trying to put on this event."

"All right then, who's our villain? Who would benefit from concealing the truth behind the real nature of the Incident?"

"Someone who would be able to get Akyuu to play along. My first guess would be your look-alike, Merry. If this Incident does correspond to a weakening of the Great Hakurei Barrier, then who's to say that's a natural occurrence? Maybe the administrator has something they need to do in the Outside world and they either cooked up a story to tell Akyuu or convinced her to play along. Of course, that's just a guess. It could also easily be the work of some being we've never met who just does this every sixty years for some benefit that's not immediately obvious to us. That still wouldn't explain why no one remembers it though."

"So then what would explain that?"

"Well that's the question, Merry. If we knew that, we'd know it all. We can try to reason it out though. In the past four Incidents, the culprit was relatively obvious, even if their motivations or even what they were trying to do wasn't. None of them were trying to conceal their identity, and even Suika wasn't that hard to find. In this case however, if there is a mastermind pulling the strings, they have a reason to not want to let people know about it."

"All right, Renko. If you happen to figure it out or feel like telling me what you're thinking, let me know. In the meantime I'm going back to my grading. And I'm going to hold you to that raincheck."

I began to read over the remaining essays while my partner continued to pace back and forth, muttering to herself about phantoms, flowers and fairies the whole time. I did my best to pay her no mind.

"Ah! That's it!" She suddenly exclaimed, startling me in the midst of writing a correction.

"What is it, Renko?" I asked, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"Its the phantoms, Merry! They're the key to everything. If I'm right, that explains the discrepancy with our understanding of the history of the outside world! In that case, that would mean the culprit is Akyuu herself, given her silence.

"Wait a minute Renko, you can't just accuse the most respected person in the village with no evidence."

"Which is why we need to head to Misty Lake, Merry! No time to waste." Renko was already on her way out the door, grabbing her hat and coat as she left.

I scrambled to my feet and lunged after her, grabbing her sleeve. "Renko! It's night out already. What would Keine say if she saw you trying to leave at this hour. What would the Yama say? Calm down and let's talk through this. You think you've got this Incident figured out?"

"Well, as usual, it's just a theory," she began. "But it's one of the more probable possibilities that explains everything we've seen so far without the need for any characters or events we don't know about."

"And that theory is...?"

"Nuh uh, not yet. Like I keep telling you Merry, a great detective can't reveal their hand before all the bets are in. Which means there's a few more questions I need answered before I can name names."

"And you think us two girls walking alone into a haunted house in the middle of the night to talk to the Prismriver sisters is the best way to get those answers?"

"No, no, no, Merry, don't be silly."

"Oh, so you're planning on going to the Scarlet Devil Mansion then, and having us go disturb a vampire?"

"Not at all. The person we need to talk to will be found on the lake itself. It's the fairies, Merry. They hold the key to this whole Incident. No one ever thought to ask them though." She grinned her most troublesome smile. "Now help me figure out where we can borrow a boat at this hour. You and I are going to go meet an ice fairy."

-.-.-.-.-
-24-
-.-.-.-.-

In the end, I managed to talk Renko down from trying to head out immediately with the logic that even fairies needed to sleep and we would probably have better luck finding our target tomorrow morning. Luckily enough tomorrow was our day off, meaning we'd be able to spend our time exploring to her heart's content. I just hoped my legs were up for it. Thus, we turned in for the night. Myself to a nearly instant, death-like slumber, and Renko to a night of restless tossing and turning, too excited to actually sleep.

When I awoke the next day, my partner was already dressed and ready, sitting at her desk, reading a copy of the Bunbunmaru Shinbun.

"Good morning, Renko," I yawned. "Did you sleep alright?"

"I was so excited to find out what's going on that I barely slept a wink. You should be good and refreshed though, and I'll sleep well once I have this all worked out."

"Yes, yes, of course. Did you go out and buy a paper this morning? Anything good in it?"

"As soon as the sun came up. This one's got Aya's story on the flower Incident in it. As we expected, it's happening in every corner of Gensokyo. Also the Prismrivers are going to be going on tour, having performances at a variety of locations, starting with the Garden of the Sun as usual, but going just about everywhere, including some places I've never heard of. Beyond that, Aya's got a prediction here that says that the blooms have only just begun and soon Gensokyo will be buried in flowers."

"Buried in flowers, with the Prismrivers playing everywhere we go. As if things weren't lively enough lately."

Renko read me an article or two while I finished waking up and getting ready, then we had our breakfast, packed a lunch and left the house, heading for the north gate of the village and Misty Lake beyond it. The morning air was clear, offering a spectacular view of Youkai Mountain as we made our way along the path beside the river.

"Let's try and hustle, Merry. If at all possible, I'd like to get back to the village by noon."

"Noon? What for? I packed us a lunch already."

"Well, it all depends on how long it takes me to get a straight answer out of the ice fairy, of course, but my hope is to make it to the Garden of the Sun today too."

"The Garden of the Sun? You're going to see Yuuka, I take it? Exactly who do you think the mastermind behind this Incident is, Renko?"

"No spoilers. First things first, lets focus on getting a story out of that ice fairy. Which starts with finding her."

I shrugged and picked up the pace, lengthening my stride to keep up with Renko. As I watched her figure marching ahead of me, the words the Yama had spoken to me yesterday came echoing up from my memories. She had said I was too dependent on Renko, and here I was following behind her again on another mad adventure. This was always the way it was for us. In my mind I often pictured us side by side, but in truth I was always a bit behind her. Sometimes it was only a few centimeters when she held my hand, leading us into some terrifying unknown, and other times it was a few steps like now, when the way was clear, but her drive and thirst for knowledge spurred her on faster than I could keep up. This place, just behind her was where I hung while she pulled me along. Was the Hifuu Club, our two-person occult circle really anything more than just the orbit she swung me through as she travelled along? Renko, the moving, vital force, me the dead weight caught up in the gravity of her personality, tidally locked in a perpetual orbit, saved from falling only by her constant forward momentum.

"Hey, Merry, you're staring into space. What's wrong?"

"Mmm, it's nothing."

She halted for a moment and turned to face me. Birds sang in the distance as the smell of the blossoming flowers perfumed the air all around us. Nearby, the river rolled on, peacefully. She tilted her head as she turned to regard me. "Want to hold hands?" She asked, offering hers to me.

Something kept me from reaching out. Did I want her to keep dragging me around? I couldn't really say that I minded, but what about the burden I put on her? She had once told me that without me around, she wouldn't have the confidence to act the way that she did. Did that in turn mean that by my presence I was endangering her?

Renko stepped toward me and grabbed my hand, giving it a good squeeze. Her grip felt soft and sure, and above all right. The way the Hifuu Club was supposed to be.

"You're still thinking about what the Yama said yesterday, aren't you?" She said, giving my hand another squeeze. "I told you yesterday, no matter what the Yama says, I don't mind having you be dependent on me. I wouldn't mind if you would rely on me more often, in fact. I'm happy to be here for you, Merry."

"The Yama sees everything Renko. Someday you'll have to answer for encouraging me to sin like that."

"The Yama told you one thing, but she told me another. Wanting to have you by my side, holding my hand isn't a sin in my books, so if you're worried about your immortal soul just say you did it for my sake. After all, I'm asking you to. Now and forever, Merry. Stay connected to me. Your hand in mine, divine judgement be damned."

I shook my head, half from embarrassment by association at hearing her deliver that line with a straight face, and half so I wouldn't have to meet her gaze. "I don't know how you can say something like that without cringing, Renko." She flashed me a catlike grin, then turned away, still smiling.

"Come on, Merry, we've still got a ways to go."

And so we set off again, hand in hand, making good time as we marched down the trail. Renko walking just ahead as I followed behind, just the same in this new world we had come to as we would have been back in Kyoto.

-.-.-.-.-

In time we came to Misty Lake.

"All right, Sherlock, where do we go from here? I don't suppose you have any idea how or where we'll find this ice fairy now that we've arrived?"

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard. Nothing would normally be frozen right now, so all we have to do is look for somewhere with ice. What's more, we usually go around the east side of the lake to get to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and we've never seen her that way, so my guess would be that she probably lives somewhere near the western shore. Let's head that way."

It didn't take long for Renko to be proven right. Not twenty minutes later, Renko pointed out something gleaming in the middle of a patch of low-lying mist near the shore. As we got closer we could see that it appeared to be a miniature ice floe, with what looked like a child dressed in a simple blue frock sprawled out on it, sleeping on her back with her mouth wide open, displaying about the same level of tact I might expect from the youngest of my students.

For a fairy she was rather large, about the size of a fourth-grader. Although they all looked like children, fairies varied widely in size, with the smallest being about twice the size of my hand. The smaller ones seemed to be mostly mindless, floating about with about the same level of presence as an insect. Larger ones could be quite talkative, however, and were often mischievous and capricious. Among the children in my class, fairies weren't generally seen as dangerous, but were frequently a nuisance. Getting tricked by one was usually cause to be laughed at by your peers, but when outside the safety of the village, their games could quickly go from annoying to dangerous. Among the fishers in the village, this particular fairy was apparently well known as a nuisance, but that was all I knew about her.

Renko walked to the edge of the shore and leaned out to reach for the tip of the iceberg. She gave it a nudge and it wobbled slightly, sending ripples over the surface of the water. Still, the child on the ice kept sleeping, scratching contentedly at her side. Renko gave the ice another shove, calling out as she did so.

"Hey there!"

All at once the girl jumped up into the air, hovering in place and looking about. She had leapt up facing away from us, revealing that rather than the insect-like wings that most fairies sported, she had a constellation of small icicles that floated in the air behind her. They didn't seem to be connected to her by any visible means, but kept pace with her as she moved, constantly floating in the same position as if somehow attached to her back.

"Who goes there!" She yelled at the empty lake in front of her. "You must be pretty stupid to pick a fight with the strongest person in Gensokyo while she's sleeping!"

"Ah, sorry." Renko called from behind her. "We're not here to pick a fight. If we were going to attack the strongest person in Gensokyo though, wouldn't when they're sleeping be the best time to do it?"

She whirled around to face us. "Humans? What do humans want with Gensokyo's strongest?"

"Would that be you then?" Renko asked with a smile.

"Even moles living under rocks know that much! I went and told them myself a few days ago! You must be especially stupid humans. I'm Cirno! The strongest ice fairy in the whole world." Between her childish voice and the proclamation she wouldn't have sounded a bit out of place in the middle of the schoolyard at lunchtime.

"I'm Renko and this is Merry. We were hoping we could find the strongest person in Gensokyo to interview today. If that's you, then I guess we're on the right track."

"What's an 'interview'? You sound just like that tengu lady, she wanted one too."

"Ah, you must mean miss Shameimaru, I think I saw you playing with her the other day."

"Yeah, her. She kept asking boring questions, so I iced her. You want an interview like that too?"

"Hmm, not one like that. My interviews are more interesting. I only interview the strongest people, to get the best answers to the hardest questions. Today I'm asking questions about fairies, so lucky me finding a strong fairy to talk to, you probably know it all!"

"Hey, for a stupid human, that's pretty smart of you! I have the strongest answers in all of Gensokyo. No one knows more than me."

"All right then. Merry, be sure to write all of this down, it's not every day you can get answers like these. OK to begin with let's start with the easiest one. You're Cirno, the ice fairy, right?"

"Anyone could tell that just by looking!"

"They say fairies are the embodiment of nature, but there's no ice in nature right now. Despite that, you stay active all year round, even when the ice is melting in the spring, right?"

"Of course, that's 'cuz I'm the strongest!" She lifted her chin, smiling proudly.

"Quite impressive. There are lots of other fairies besides you though, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm the strongest one out of all of them."

"So does that mean that other fairies disappear when the aspect of nature they embody disappears?"

"Hunh? What does that mean?"

"Well, for example would a fire fairy disappear if their fire went out? Or are they like you, sticking around even when there's no ice?"

"No, that's silly. They'd just go make a new fire. I think you might be too stupid to do interviews."

"I see, so fairies are the cause of natural phenomena then, not the effect."

"I guess?"

"Wait a minute, Renko. What are you thinking?" I interrupted.

She cleared her throat, turning to me with a smile. "It's just this: my theory is that fairies like Cirno here are not born as aspects of nature, but rather as personifications of that nature. It is only because of fairies' existence that natural phenomena can come into being. If Cirno were only as strong as the ice, she would melt in the spring. But rather than that, you can see that she is able to make ice where there otherwise would be none. Here in Gensokyo at least, if not for Cirno, I don't think there would even be such a thing as ice. She's the element of nature that makes ice possible."

"What are you talking about, human?"

"Ah sorry, being this stupid, I get distracted sometimes. Let's get back to the interview. There are flower ferries too, right? I think we saw some at the Garden of the Sun."

"Those guys are everywhere! But I'm stronger than all of them put together. I could freeze any flower. Just like schwooooooo and then they'd be all fsching!"

"So for those fairies, they aren't born from the flowers, but rather the fairies are responsible for making the flowers bloom, right?"

"That's right. Are you learning how to not be stupid? You've got a long way to go to catch up to me."

"I think maybe I am. Just a little. Thank you, Cirno, those were some very strong answers. I appreciate you giving me so much to work with."

"Of course! Only the strongest answers from me. Next time come with less stupid questions!"

I couldn't help but smile. Renko had a natural gift with children.

"Oh! Before I go, one more question, Cirno. This one's hard though, you'll have to think back a long way."

"I can answer anything you can ask. I can even answer a bunch of stuff you can't ask, I'm that strong!"

"All of Gensokyo is full of flowers right now. I heard something like this has happened before, maybe around 60 years ago. Do you know anything about that?"

"That's right! It's the once-in-sixty-years flower party!"

"Oh really? Well what's this party for? Why would the fairies go to the trouble of making so many flowers bloom all at once?"

"You don't even know that? That's the easiest question of all. These aren't flowers, stupid! These flowers are all ghosts!"