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-25-
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In the Garden of the Sun, a melody was playing. It wound its way through the fields of unseasonal flowers in riotous bloom, melancholy but hopeful, a dreamlike, wandering tune. Most of those dancing to the melody did so without ever hearing it, bobbing and flitting instead to the rhythm of emotion that cascaded out in waves to be carried by the soft breezes.
The music drawled languidly from Lunasa's violin.
The music burst exuberantly from Merlin's trumpet.
The music wafted dreamily from Lyrica's keyboard.
Animated by the music, ghosts and flowers shivered and swayed. As the melody rose and fell, so too did all the plants and spirits in the field straighten or curl in on themselves, undulating in time to the calling of the Prismriver poltergeists.
We watched their movements from the road overlooking the garden, staring across its narrow length. "We got here at just the right time, Merry. She's right in the middle of it. Now where is she, I wonder?" Renko said, adjusting the brim of her hat as she peered over the tops of the tall flowers, her lips curled into a smile.
I knew already it would be pointless to ask her to explain what she was thinking. It would all come out in time, I was sure, and it was certain to be more outlandish than I could hope to imagine. I joined her in looking over the field and eventually spotted the dome of a pale pink parasol poking up over some of the flowers.
"Ah, there she is!" I called, pointing her out.
Renko grinned and took my hand. "Alright then, Merry. Here we go." Without a moment's delay she ran down the hill, dragging me along behind her as she pushed her way into the sunflowers, moving closer and closer to the sound of the music. For a while there was only the cool shade between the stalks, the beautiful sight of the swaying flowers, the calm swirling of the phantoms overhead and over it all the sweet melodies of the band. Then, all at once, the green of the stems and gold of the flowers parted to reveal the brilliant red and black check of Yuuka's skirt, a singular bloom standing out amongst a sea of thousands as we pressed through the field and came face to face with her, in the same narrow clearing we had first met her last year.
"Yuuka Kazami!" Renko called out.
She turned slowly, her expression only mildly curious at seeing us there.
"Two humans?" She asked. "Have you come to see the Prismriver's concert? How is it that you know my name?"
Renko removed her hat and bowed politely. "Ah, my apologies, I should have re-introduced myself first. I'm not surprised you don't remember me, we only met once, last year."
"Last year?"
"We were accompanying miss Hieda, the Child of Miare when she came to interview you."
"Oh yes, I remember that she had some other humans with her."
"My name is Renko Usami, this is Merry. We're from the village."
"Well, I don't see Akyuu with you now, so why are the two of you here? Did you come for me to beat the life out of you?"
She closed the parasol with a snap and began walking toward us, a ferocious smile resting on her face that I had never seen before. Even Renko seemed surprised by the sudden change in her character, but recovered herself quickly even as I took a step back, my boot splashing in the trickle of a stream that ran through the clearing.
"No, I wouldn't do something so ridiculous as trying to fight you. I'm here to ask you about this Incident that is covering Gensokyo in flowers. Even here in the Garden of the Sun, this sort of growth should be months away. I'm investigating this anomalous, out-of-season growth in my role as chief investigator of the Hifuu Detective Agency."
Yuuka stopped walking toward us and blinked in surprise. I let out a slow, relieved breath as her face once again settled in to the polite, slightly bored mask it had been before.
"Do the tengu hire human helpers now? Or are you working with the shrine maiden, perhaps?"
"You're referring to Aya and Reimu, I take it? I know them both, but I'm not collaborating with them. I'm here purely on account of my own curiosity."
"You seem to know a lot of people then, and not the sort of people most humans would bother themselves with."
"Well, as a detective, it pays to have a wide social circle."
"You fancy yourself some kind of investigator? Well then let me tell you something you should be happy to hear: Regrettably, I'm the perpetrator behind this Incident. Now that you know, what do the two of you intend to do about that?" She wore a simple, uncomplicated smile. Somehow, coming from her, it seemed the most ominous thing she could have done.
"Well, if it's alright with you, I'd like to ask you some questions about it," Renko said, tilting her head in consideration. "To start with, why do you say 'regrettably?' What is it you regret, exactly?"
"It's disturbingly cruel, really. Once the bottleneck at the Sanzu river is resolved, all of these lovely flowers will wither and die."
"Ah, so then the flowers are acting as homes for displaced spirits, and that's why they're blooming out of season. Would you say that's accurate?"
Yuuka's expression grew bored again. "If you already knew the truth, what are you investigating for?"
"Well, that's just the thing," Renko said with a grin. "Even though the story we heard from both Akyuu and the Yama was that the Great Hakurei Barrier weakens every 60 years, allowing a huge mass of souls into Gensokyo, I don't think that's the whole truth. If it was, it wouldn't leave so many things unexplained."
"Oh? Like what?"
"Well for one, there's far too many phantoms. As far as we know, there's nothing going on out there that would generate this many lost souls all at once."
"You seem awfully sure about that. Who are you people?"
"Merry and I happen to be Outsiders. More than that though, we happen to have a bit of foreknowledge about future events out there -not everything mind you, but enough to know that there's nothing going on to cause tens of thousands of deaths all at once anywhere around here. That's not the only issue though. There's also the fact that everything's blooming at the same time. I don't think I need to tell you that flowers don't usually work that way. Even if a huge mass of souls had shown up two days ago and immediately started possessing plants, it takes months for sunflowers to get this tall," she said, gesturing to the maze of stalks walling us in. "In short, this is more than just a natural event. Someone is interfering with nature to make things come out the way they are. That's why I wanted to talk to you, Yuuka Kazami. As the youkai of the Garden of the Sun, I figure you might have some idea who's behind it all."
At Renko's words Yuuka fell silent.
"Nothing to say? Well then, perhaps it would help if I could be a bit more specific." Lowering her face so that her eyes vanished beneath the shadow of her hat's brim, Renko extended her arm, one finger outstretched toward Yuuka. "Do you happen to know who's responsible for Gensokyo being haunted by the ghosts of flowers?"
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-26-
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Yuuka's eyes widened slightly at that, and went from regarding the both of us to focusing solely on Renko. It was exactly the look a cat might give a cornered mouse it saw as an interesting toy.
"Your name was Renko Usami, I think. What do you mean by 'the ghosts of flowers?'"
"I mean it quite literally. These blooms surrounding us, and all over Gensokyo, they're the ghosts of flowers that failed to bloom in the past, right? There's a wealth of phantoms appearing in this world right now, but most of them aren't human. There's phantoms from beasts and insects and plants too, aren't there? Phantoms are the temperaments of living things that may or may not be attached to a soul, but plants have no temperaments. They are alive though, so they must have souls. These blooms are what becomes of those souls that linger on, still attached to this world, right?"
I was blindsided by her logic. It made sense -plants were unquestionably a type of life, but to think that they could have ghosts seemed entirely beyond consideration. If plants had ghosts, did the mites living on our skin? Did bacteria?
"Its only by including the spirits of plants and animals that you could account for the vast numbers of phantoms being seen here. I'm sure there's some human souls in the mix too, like those haunting the grove in Muenzuka and making the trees purple, but all the out of season plants are ghosts and most of the phantoms are beasts. We both knew that much already though, so what I wanted to ask you about are the other strange things going on."
"Oh, there's more?"
"Well for one, no one seems to remember this Incident having happened 60 years ago, even though they should. Second, everyone seems to see this Incident as totally harmless, even when they shouldn't. And finally, the Child of Miare already knew about this Incident, but didn't warn anyone it was coming."
Renko began to pace back and forth, fiddling with the brim of her hat as she talked.
"If we consider these three points, the second one is obviously the most pressing. Why is everyone treating this Incident like it's no big deal? The human village is dependent on its crops for survival. If plants were blooming out of season, that'd be a serious issue. An entire harvest could be ruined, and everyone would be scrambling to glean what they could before it all rotted away. This is just as big a threat to the village as the Crimson Mist Incident or the Spring Snow Incident might have been, but no one's concerned. The Child of Miare, the figurehead of the village didn't even seem to think it was worth the trouble of warning people about. Why is that, I wondered? Well, when you have a situation like this where things don't seem to make sense, I've learned it's a pretty safe bet that your assumptions are wrong."
Renko paused, looking up at Yuuka, trying to get some sense of her reaction, but the youkai's gaze was still bemusedly fixed on Renko's performance. The cat was content to let the mouse finish its soliloquy before pouncing, it seemed.
"So if flowers blooming out of season would be dangerous, but there's no danger, where's the wrong assumption? Well, it's clearly the flowers. The only way this isn't a concern is if the things we see blooming all around us aren't actually flowers. From the spider lilies of Muenzuka to every bloom in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, to these very sunflowers we're in the middle of right now. Not a single one of them is a real, living flower, are they? They're just ghosts. That's why the Hakurei miko from 120 years ago abandoned her attempt to resolve the Incident. In fact, there is no Incident to resolve. Cirno -she's the ice fairy who lives on Misty Lake -even she knew that much. Why wouldn't she? Fairies are personifications of nature, they'd know better than anyone that plants have souls, and that what we're seeing here is a profusion of ghosts."
Yuuka let out a mirthless chuckle. "That's quite the wild tongue you have there. I think you've let it get away from you though. If all of these flowers surrounding us were ghosts, would we be able to touch them?" As she spoke she reached out toward one of the nearby sunflowers, tilting her parasol to allow her to gently stroke the radiant halo of its petals.
"These flowers are definitely substantial," Renko admitted. "We had to push our way through a bunch of them to get here, and we saw plenty of spider lilies interacting with physical objects just like you might expect in Muenzuka."
"Then your theory's a farce, isn't it?"
"Not necessarily. It just so happens that I know a ghost and a half-ghost who happen to be perfectly solid. One of them is even an excellent swordswoman, with a strong physical presence. They both have strong personalities and wills though. One's a schemer and the other is highly focused. I think for a ghost, their form is dependent on ties that bind them to this world. The stronger the regret or desire they bear, the more substantial their presence. For flowers that live only to bloom and spread their seeds across the world, having their entire purpose in life be frustrated would leave them quite regretful indeed. The flowers we see blooming now are not just out of season, they're gorgeous. Spectacular blooms beyond what you might see even if the season were correct. They're the blooms the plants dreamed of having, the flowers they always hoped they could be."
"You must be a true romantic to think flowers have feelings of regret." Yuuka said with a thin smile. "They don't. Plants are simple things, striving only to live and spread. Flowers bloom because that's part of their life. Some of those flowers are plucked. Some get trampled down. Many flowers die. Plants have no regrets, that's just the way of nature."
"Yes, that's entirely true. Nature has no regrets. Which is exactly why this Incident is unnatural. Plants don't mourn for dead flowers, but maybe a youkai might."
Once again Yuuka went silent, merely watching Renko with interest from beneath the shade of the parasol.
"Some flowers bloom, and others die without getting the chance. Some become beautiful and last a long time, others get trampled in the mud, or eaten by vermin, or shriveled by blight. If there were a powerful enough youkai though, one who mourned for the loss of such flowers, might they not lend some portion of their power to souls of those plants? Might not their regret at the lives unlived be enough to give substance to the ghosts of the flowers that never were? It would take a tremendously powerful youkai to do such a thing of course, especially to do it everywhere, and all at once. Even a youkai that powerful could probably only maintain the blooms for a short time, I imagine. But if such a terrifyingly powerful, strong and flower-loving youkai existed and was willing to spend her power that way, well then, I would say that it was her who was the true romantic, don't you think? There might even be someone else here I could ask about that. Lunasa once told me that the Prismriver poltergeists were all the result of one girl's wish. Magical creations made from the spirits of the departed and given new lives and physical forms. If a human could do something like that with the power of their love, then what could a youkai whose love was just as strong do for the objects of her affection?"
Renko looked up at Yuuka, tilting her head to reveal her eyes from beneath the shadow of her hat's brim even as Yuuka tilted her parasol to conceal her face.
Seeing that no response was forthcoming, Renko continued. "Well, that's what I had imagined, anyway. A youkai who truly, deeply loved flowers, holding a requiem for the plants that never got a chance to bloom. A wake for blossoms that never got a chance to live, no matter their season, covering all of Gensokyo so that everyone from the least human to the greatest youkai could take part and celebrate. In order for such a plan to go off without a hitch though, such a youkai would need the complicity of the true powers of Gensokyo. They'd need to assure those powers that be that there was no harm in it and tell them not to ruin the secret."
"Whatever for? If the Incident were as harmless as you say, why bother informing anyone? What would it matter if anyone knew if the flowers were real or ghosts?"
"For the sake of the flowers. The ones that never got to bloom, that is. Nature may not mourn its dead, but if a youkai did, I'm betting she'd want those flowers to experience all the joys they couldn't in life. If people were afraid of or disgusted by the flowers like they are by ghosts, that might not happen. Better, from such a youkai's point of view, that everyone knows that they're harmless and treats them like they would any other flower."
"Even if they had such an aim how would they conceal their intentions? Flowers blooming everywhere would seem like an Incident. Even if people knew it was harmless, they'd still want to know why it was happening, that would lead to curious humans like you causing problems, wouldn't it?"
"Not if they timed it right. Not if they conducted their plan in such a way that the Incident could be confused for something else. Not if there were a natural cycle to the Great Hakurei Barrier that allowed some souls to enter Gensokyo every 60 years. Souls that normally take up residence in the spider lilies and higanzakura trees of Muenzuka. Then, if someone only looked around that area they would think everything was normal. If they only looked somewhere else, they'd just think what was happening in Muenzuka was happening elsewhere too. That way this culprit could cover the world in flowers, have a convenient cover story as for why it was happening, and get off without anyone the wiser."
"Such a youkai would also know that the unusual flower blooms would be sure to get the Hakurei miko investigating things, along with numerous other troublemakers who like to stick their nose into strange events, even if those events were known to be harmless. She'd have to come up with a plan for that too -and she did! Just lead any Incident-solvers who show up to Muenzuka and let them see the souls inhabiting the plants there, along with maybe the shinigami who frequently lazes about in the neighborhood and the Yama who comes across the river to scold her now and then. To them, Muenzuka would look as it did every 60 years, and they'd unwittingly provide the perfect cover story to anyone who asked. After hearing that, the Hakurei miko would stop looking. It's hiding an Incident inside of another Incident. After discovering the cause of the Incident no one would think to look further, once they already have an answer. A brilliant disguise, if you ask me."
Beside my partner, who was continuing to ramble on with a smile on her face, I let out an exasperated sigh. If you want to conceal a tree, hide it in a forest, as they say. It made sense, as did her assertion that no normal person would go looking into the details after hearing a widely accepted and satisfactory explanation. 'Normal' however, was not an operative word for describing Renko.
"So with those facts in mind, we can build a pretty good picture of what this youkai might be like. She'd have to powerful, first off. Tremendously strong, but a true romantic at heart and a dedicated lover of flowers. She'd have to be acquainted with the child of Miare so that she could make sure no one remembered the previous cycle, and old enough to have seen the 60 year cycle of the Great Hakurei Barrier before. The Child of Miare hadn't yet been reincarnated for the previous incidence of this cycle so then our culprit would have to have known miss Akyuu's other incarnation who would know about it, the only other Child of Miare to have ever seen the Great Hakurei Barrier - Aya Hieda, who was there when it was erected 120 years ago. Finally, it would have to be a youkai with power over flowers, or maybe power over ghosts. Someone with the skill to call these souls back and give them new forms. Such a youkai would be quite a remarkable individual, don't you think, miss Kazami?"
The parasol shading her face lifted, turning slowly, rising up just enough to reveal the lower half of Yuuka's face.
The smile that floated there was as beautiful and tranquil as any flower.
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-27-
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"It's quite rare to meet a human capable of stretching their imagination to such an extent as to come up with a story like that."
"Thank you very much," Renko said with a small nod. "Your compliments are appreciated."
"It wasn't meant to be a compliment. Seeing a human act so cocky makes me want to torment you," she said, her smile twisting into a cruel grin. A new wave of horror washed over me as the predatory aura radiating out from her seemed to intensify. "No need to be scared though. I've had ample chance to tease lately, so I can keep my baser instincts in check. For the moment."
I found myself taking a step back. As I did so, Renko extended an arm, as if to protect me.
"If you were offended by my investigation I apologize. My intention was merely to assuage my own curiosity."
"I'm not so petty as to care much about anything a powerless human has to say about me. If you've already figured out that much though, I'll give you a piece of advice."
"Oh? What would that be."
"Don't be spreading your stories around. There are plenty of ghosts in Gensokyo at the moment, none of which can talk. Two more more would hardly even be noticed." Saying that, Yuuka turned on a heel and began walking, folding down her parasol as she did so, and quickly vanishing among the sunflowers at the far end of the clearing.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Renko cried. She took my hand and started running, dragging me along through the wall of upright stalks, shoving flowers out of the way as she chased after Yuuka's back. There wasn't time to question what we were doing. Every time I thought to try, I had to swipe a sunflower out of my way as we crashed through the dense field, panting as we ran.
Then, all at once, the walls around us gave way to a clearing. Running without any sense of direction through the field, we had emerged into the same clearing we had eaten lunch in on our first visit to the Garden of the Sun. Here, a small hill rose out of the mounded sunflowers, just barely as high as the tallest of the stalks. On the crest of that hill, a small stage had been built, extending its height another meter or so. There, the Prismriver Ensemble was performing, their instruments floating untouched in the air before them.
Numerous fairies and phantoms surrounded the stage, frolicking and cheering as a the band performed. At the end of the stage though, one special seat had been set aside, a front row seat right in the heart of the action. Yuuka stood with her back to us just beside that seat, and in the seat itself, a familiar figure sat, smiling and cheering.
"Alright everyone! We're gonna take ten, then we'll be back to rock so hard even Lunasa's going to get crazy!" Merlin called from the stage.
"I don't 'get crazy,'" Lunasa mumbled as the three of them shuffled off the side of the platform.
Renko rushed forward, weaving her way through the crowd to the seat at the foot of the stage.
"Miss Akyuu?" She called.
"Oh! Hello there, glad to see you two could make it to the show as well. I came by to invite you both this morning, but you were out."
"Never mind about that, what are you doing here, unescorted in the middle of an Incident?"
"I'm not unescorted. Yuuka brought me here. Yesterday she took me all over Gensokyo to see the flowers." Akyuu turned and smiled up at Yuuka. The youkai returned her smile tenderly, standing next to her and tilting her parasol to shade them both, as if she were caring for a delicate flower. "This is a once-in-sixty years event. I probably won't live to see it again, or be here for the next one. Why don't you join us in watching a once-in-a-lifetime show? The Prismrivers are amazing live."
Her eyes shining with excitement, Akyuu turned back toward the stage. Even with the performers absent for the moment, the crowd was still electrified, cheering and eagerly waiting for the the show to resume.
"Do join us. Anyone who loves flowers is welcome here," Yuuka said calmly, smiling as she turned to face the stage as well, though her eyes stayed fixed on Akyuu, sitting in the shade of the parasol.
Looking at the two of them there, I suddenly felt like I understood. We allowed the crowd pressing around us to flow closer to the stage, pushing us away from Akyuu's seat. "Hey Renko," I said, speaking in a voice that might as well have been a whisper over the cheering around us. "If Yuuka is the culprit behind this Incident, what do you think her true motive was? Did she really just feel sorry for the flowers, or do you think she wanted to show all of these unseasonal blooms to someone? Yuuka knew the previous Child of Miare. The last time this Incident occurred, Akyuu hadn't been reincarnated yet. I think Yuuka might have been waiting 120 years to keep a promise she made to Aya Hieda."
Renko turned to smile at me, then took her hat off and bowed floridly. "Well Merry, I think Yuuka and I will have to relinquish our claims. With an idea like that, I think you must be the most hopeless romantic of us all." Giggling softly she pressed her hat onto my head.
I pushed her arm away and straightened my cap. "Maybe so, but given how much she likes flowers, I can understand her feelings for Child of Miare."
"Oh, what do you mean?"
"Flowers have a short lifespan, but even if they wither, they return the next year, just as beautiful." I turned back toward the stage. A sudden gust of wind blew across the clearing, bringing a storm of petals with it. We watched as Akyuu reached up to hold her fluttering hair.
"Come to think of it, Akyuu's always wearing that big flower ornament in her hair, isn't she? Maybe that was something that Yuuka gave to her predecessor, Aya."
"Wouldn't that be a romantic little story," Renko mused with a smile.
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The cheerful, lighthearted melody, tinged with an edge of sadness resounded throughout the field and high into the clear spring air. Amidst the crowd of dancing fairies and phantoms the two figures at the front sat side by side, leaning into eachother beneath a parasol. Renko and I sat on the grass halfway up the gently sloping hill, listening and holding hands.
"Hey Merry?" my partner had leaned over, whispering in my ear, despite the fact there was no one close enough to hear us over the music.
"Yes?"
"If you and I do end up staying here for the rest of our lives, then someday we're going to end up in front of that Yama again."
"...Why are you thinking about something so morbid at a time like this? Are you feeling alright Renko?"
"Yeah, I'm OK. I was just thinking..."
Renko leaned away, giving my hand a squeeze as she turned to face me. Her eyes looked like she might be about to cry, though that could just have been the pollen.
"If I'm going to get reincarnated," she began, "then I want to spend another life with you. I don't know how long we'll be able to be together here, but if I ever see that Yama again, I'm gonna refuse to go to any of the heavens or hells. I want a chance to spend a whole lifetime on Earth with Merry. If the Yama doesn't want to let me go, then I'll pop her in the nose and go looking for you myself."
I sighed and leaned back toward Renko, resting my head on her shoulder. "Don't threaten to assault the Yama, Renko, she'll hear that someday. As for me, you were saying before that I was supposed to take care of you when you're withered and old. Now I don't even get to get away from you in my next life? Is it my destiny to be dragged around by whoever you become forever?"
"Would that be so bad?"
"Somehow I don't think I'll get a choice in the matter, no matter what I say. I can't picture myself living any sort of life where you don't show up and make yourself a part of it."
Renko smiled and adjusted her hat, pulling it down to shade her eyes. She scooted closer so we could both lean against eachother as she gave my hand another squeeze.
Enjoying the music and the warmth of the afternoon, we passed the day this way, shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand.