From that point on, the Incident began bit by bit to subside, without any outside intervention.
The flowers that had been blooming in profusion began to disappear, leaving no hint they had ever existed in many cases and leaving perfectly intact plants in exactly the state you might have expected for this time of the year in others. The phantoms faded and vanished, and crops that had flowered neither ripened nor went to seed. Within a week there was no trace that anything anomalous had ever happened. With no impact to the village and no hint that anything had been amiss, it was easy to see how this Incident might have gone unremembered or fail to be recognized for what it was.
Just as the Incident had been carefully planned to be hidden by another Incident, so too did its resolution go unseen. And while the event was noted in the Gensokyo Chronicle as an Incident, even most of those involved would not recall it as such.
For my partner and I, however, the Incident was not only memorable, but still ongoing. The day after my partner told her story to Yuuka in the Garden of the Sun, all of the sunflowers which had been blooming out of season vanished without a trace. Upon hearing this, my partner came to realize that Yuuka had not acted alone, and that there had been an accessory to her acts after the fact.
-.-.-.-.-
"According to the old records, once, when the human village was a much smaller, struggling settlement, back before the Great Hakurei Barrier was erected, this hill is where society's unwanted were abandoned."
It was a few days after we saw her in the Garden of the Sun that Akyuu had invited us to go with her to someplace outside the village again. This time our destination was close by, a little ways past the Garden of the Sun, southwest of the village along a track that looked like it might once have been a road long ago but had long since been overgrown. Here, low, rolling hills hid from the view of the village behind the edge of the Forest of magic, crowning their slopes with delicate white flowers that gave off a sweet scent.
"Unwanted children who couldn't be cared for would be left here before they were given a name. It was thought that the poison from these lily of the valley flowers would carry them off to a peaceful sleep, and by night youkai would come and consume what remained, leaving no trace. There were always stories though that some of the children left here were cared for by those who found them and raised as youkai themselves."
Even in the Outside world of the Scientific Century, rumors of such unusual upbringings persisted, though they tended to involve wild animals raising a child rather than youkai. At any rate, such tales were generally presumed to be false -mere comforting lies told to ease the pain of those who had lost their offspring. Even a parent who was compelled by circumstance to abandon their child would want to be able to believe that the child had survived, and having such children become youkai meant that they would both be likely to outlive the parent and never need to be checked on. For parents facing starvation, such a fate for their children might have seemed the lesser of two evils.
From our point of view, whether we were looking at it from our position here in Gensokyo or from our homes in the Kyoto of the Scientific Century, it would be easy for us to condemn parents who took such measures as selfish and cruel. For the people of the time, however, for whom the necessities of life were not in abundance, and for whom neither a central government nor a benevolent administrator could be relied upon to provide for those in need, such logic was probably not so clear-cut. I offered no attempt at moral judgement, merely putting my hands together and bowing my head in solemn silence with a thought for those who had been lost here long ago.
"With such a tragic history, I'm sure that as soon as this place was no longer needed, it was abandoned by the village and never tended to. Now it's probably home to ghosts or some sort of youkai, right?" Renko said, a determined grin on her face. Clamping her hat to her head she began to stride purposely down the hill. "Come on, Merry, let's go see if we can find them," she said, reaching her hand out behind her for me to take, but not looking back.
"Well, perhaps." Akyuu said, "but there's also the fact that all of those flowers are poisonous and just walking through the field can give you heart palpitations, dizziness and nausea. There's a lot of good reasons not to come here, really."
Renko cringed and froze midstep, just as she had been about to walk into the field. Gingerly, she withdrew her foot, drawing it back from it's position over the flower she had been about to step on.
"It's not so bad as all that," said a girlish voice nearby. "I rather like it here." With a soft rustling of the underbrush, a unfamiliar figure came up the back of the hill we were standing atop. The creature that had approached was a doll. Not a doll-like girl, or something like Hina, with doll-like features and complexion, but an actual doll, with spherical joints and a body made of wood, plastic and porcelain. She was an exceptionally well made doll, with moving mouth parts and a face capable of expression, but she was unquestionably an animate object -When she blinked there was a faint wooden rolling sound from her eyes. She stood a little over a meter tall, on the larger side for a doll, and moved readily, seemingly under her own power. Her movements were uncanny though, with none of the autonomic motion typical of living things -she never inhaled or shifted her weight unconsciously, and only turned her head deliberately to address someone.
"After all," she continued, "the flowers can be useful."
"Whoa," Renko gawked at the newcomer. "A doll youkai?"
"A doll youkai." she confirmed matter-of-factly. My first instinct was to look around and see if I could see Alice anywhere nearby, but there was no sign of the telltale rainbow glimmer of the magical strings Alice used to control her creations.
"You said these flowers are useful. How so?"
"They help me poison people who come to explore this place! Would you like to see?"
"I'd rather not, if you don't mind. We're merely here to enjoy a flower viewing."
"Don't be shy," she said, as her face clacked into a smile. "There's plenty for everyone." She spread her arms wide and all at once a dim haze of sweet-smelling pollen began to rise behind her, billowing toward us.
Renko turned to glance at me. I turned to Akyuu. A look passed between us for just a moment and we turned and ran, back down the side of the hill we had come up, toward the edge of the Forest of Magic, covering our mouths with our sleeves as we sprinted down the slope.
"Don't run away!" the doll called from the crest of the hill. We were just three helpless humans though, how could we do anything else?
We half ran, half stumbled down the hill, nearly breaking our necks more than once on unseen bits of vegetation or depressions in the terrain. We didn't stop until we broke through the line of trees that marked the edge of the forest, crashing our way through the undergrowth and small shrubs until we came to a point where we could no longer see the hill through the trees. We had all made it into the woods together, but Akyuu seemed to have fallen and rolled at some point as her hair and face were dirty and she was wincing as she held her shoulder. Renko was panting heavily and rubbing Akyuu's back, trying to assess her condition.
"She must... have been an abandoned doll... turned into a youkai by the poison... of the lily of the valley..." Akyuu panted. "If she's newly born, then she wouldn't know the rules yet... that makes her very dangerous."
I peered through the trees, trying to see if I could see any hint of pursuit. A young youkai would be just the opposite of someone like Yuuka, and consequently wholly without the social graces that I suspected had been our savior on more than one occasion thus far. The thought sent a shiver of dread up my spine. If she was a young youkai, she might not be the most powerful, but against any sort of youkai a human wasn't much of threat, and if she had the ability to manipulate poison, then there wasn't anything we could hope to do but flee. I turned to my partner, hoping she might have some wild idea.
"A doll that became a youkai all on its own..." she was muttering to herself.
"Do you have a plan, Renko?"
"I was just wondering what Alice would make of it. Is this the sort of being she was hoping to create?"
"That's what you're worrying about right now? If we manage to survive you can ask her, Renko."
"Well, she mentioned once before that her goal was to create a soul from scratch. A doll that became a youkai on its own would probably be something she'd want to research, but it ultimately not much different from the sort of creature that Youmu is, and not what Alice is looking for then."
"Renko! Leave the speculation for later. Can we focus on the task of not getting killed for the moment?"
The sound of footsteps crunching through the forest nearby froze us both mid-conversation. Renko signaled to me to get down and ran back to Akyuu's side, concealing the both of them behind the trunk of a tree.
My blood ran like ice in my veins as I huddled down in a bush, listening to the footsteps come closer, step by step. It occurred to me that they were approaching us from the opposite direction we had just come from -deeper into the forest rather than back toward its edge. That meant either the youkai was faster than us or we had gotten turned around upon entering the trees. Both prospects were terrifying.
My heart resounded in my ears. The footsteps grew closer still, then a rustling in a nearby bush gave way to the snapping of twigs as something forced its way into the same space we were in. The footsteps stopped. I held my breath and willed myself to be invisible. I thought I saw a brief, faint red flash through my closed eyelids, then all at once a voice called out.
"Why are you all hiding behind bushes? If you were planning to surprise me, you'll have to do better than that." The voice wasn't the one the doll had used, it almost sounded like... Reisen?
I opened my eyes and chanced a peek through the bush to see that Renko had already come out of hiding and was talking to the rabbit girl casually, as if this were an everyday event.
"Oh Reisen, we weren't trying to surprise you, we were just here for some flower viewing."
"Flower viewing? Behind a tree? The flowers have all gone anyway, haven't they? Even the blooms in the bamboo forest disappeared after that poltergeist band came to play."
"The Prismriver Ensemble? Did they come and play at Eientei too?"
"They tried to, but master wouldn't let them in. They just setup outside of the house and started making a racket though. I offered to chase them away, but the princess and the Inaba seemed to enjoy their music, so master relented."
"Huh, I would have liked to have seen that. So what brings you out so far from home, Reisen?"
"Master has a business partner we source some pharmaceuticals from out this way. If you're not planning on ambushing me I'll be on my way then," she said, turning on her heel and walking away before Renko could pester her any further.
I watched her go, wondering if the business partner she had spoken of might have been the same doll youkai we were fleeing. I didn't know anything about pharmacology, but I had heard that many medicines could be made from plants that were normally toxic. Could the medicines Reisen sold in the village be made from the poisons of a youkai doll?
I turned to Renko. "With any luck that doll will be busy with Reisen. What should we do now, do you think?"
"Well, I suppose that's up to our client. What do you say, miss Akyuu, do you want to try to interview that youkai, or should we head back to town?"
"I think I'll leave that one for Eientei's rabbit to deal with. There's already warnings in the Chronicle to avoid this place because of the flowers, I'll just add a note about hostile youkai as well." As Akyuu finished speaking she looked up. Music has suddenly begun to sound from somewhere above us. Staring up through a break in the canopy, we caught a momentary glimpse of the Prismrivers soaring overhead, playing as they flew.
Lunasa and her violin were taking the lead, both musically and in their flight, with support from Lyrica and her keyboard and Merlin's trumpet following well behind, adding only the occasional burst of energy to the song. The three were flying in formation, and a moment after they passed by, leaving a tranquil melody lilting on the breeze in their wake, we saw a large number of phantoms following along behind, stretched out like a long tail across the sky.
"Just like the Pied Piper of Hamelin," I said to myself as they soared past.
"I wonder if they're headed to play a show in the middle of that lily of the valley field..." Renko muttered. "Lily of the valley is supposed to be in bloom right now, but there were quite a few of them there. It's possible that some of those flowers could have been ghosts."
"If that's the case, the ghosts would be attracted to their music, just like the phantoms were when we visited the Prismrivers at their house. And if they're flying all over Gensokyo for their tour right now..."
"Then the Incident-within-an-Incident instigated by Yuuka is being resolved by the Prismriver Ensemble's concert tour!" Renko declared, meeting my gaze with a look of excitement in her eyes. The Prismrivers fly all over to gather up the spirits then every night deliver them to the Garden of the Sun for the nightly shows they had booked for all this month! Miss Akyuu, do you want to see them go gather up the phantoms?"
"If it means risking running into that doll again, I'll pass," she said, rubbing at her shoulder before fishing bits of grass from her hair.
Renko deflated a little, but contained her disappointment well. "I understand," she said. "This whole Incident will be over without a trace soon at this rate. Do you plan to keep a record of it in the Chronicle at all?"
Akyuu pondered for a moment, turning in the direction of the Garden of the Sun as she did. "It's only a small Incident, and one that won't present any danger to humans of the future. Maybe I'll tuck it into a note on Reimu's entry."
"What about Yuuka's entry?"
"She would prefer her kind-hearted gift to the flowers of the world to remain anonymous. I'll write about her as she requested -a terrifying youkai, and not to be trifled with," Akyuu said with a smile.
-.-.-.-.-
And that was the truth of Gensokyo, as you might find recorded in the Gensokyo Chronicle. What we call 'history' is just a long chain of facts that writers deemed worthy of being recorded. All of the nuance, circumstance and intention behind an act that isn't recorded fades into oblivion, like the blooms of bygone springs. Sixty years from now, this might all happen again. If it does, I wonder what, if anything Gensokyo might remember.
Certainly not that Yuuka Kazami was the mastermind behind it all, or that the Incident was resolved through her cooperation with the Prismriver Ensemble, or that the entire event was orchestrated for the benefit of the short-lived Child of Miare who might not otherwise get to enjoy a lifetime's worth of flowers.
My partner's version of events is nothing more than silly and romantic fantasy arising from a mind prone to grandiose delusions. It is unworthy of inclusion in such a serious historical tome, and thus it is relegated here, to these humble stories.
-.-.-.-.-
"Huh, a fairy."
Renko and I were walking home, a few paces behind Akyuu as the three of us made our way back to the village. As we walked, we noticed two childlike figures cavorting above the treetops high overhead. One was the ice fairy we had seen on the lake, and other was a fairy of similar size with green hair in a side ponytail. They were laughing as they passed overhead, rolling and weaving through the sky.
"Nah," my partner said to herself, smiling up at the pair of them. "Couldn't be. Unless..."
"What couldn't be, Renko?" I asked.
"Just an idea that popped into my head. There's no proof."
I stopped walking and spread my arms expansively at her, as if to say "and...?"
"I was just wondering, could Yuuka Kazami be a fairy?
"What? Why would you think that?"
"Well, it's just that Cirno's an unusually powerful fairy, and she's bigger than most of them. Yuuka is really powerful, and she's a full-grown woman. From what Cirno had said, it sounds like the existence of fairies is a prerequisite for the existence of natural phenomena. If there were a fairy that had existed for as long as plants have been flowering on Earth, she'd be really old, and probably really strong too."
"Nah, it's impossible, Renko."
"Why's that?"
"Because Cirno's the strongest fairy in the world, right? I believe my notes mention that once or twice."
"Well maybe Yuuka asking Akyuu to describe her as a terrifyingly strong youkai is much the same thing then. A much more mature and polite woman's way of standing on top of a hill and yelling 'I'm the strongest!'"
"Well, you could always go and ask Yuuka yourself. Just stroll right up to her and ask her who's stronger, her or Cirno."
"No thanks, Merry. I'm not in any particular hurry to go see the Yama again. Every maiden keeps a few secrets close to her chest. I can let this one lie."
"Oh, that's surprising to hear, coming from you. Aren't you the one who's usually saying 'scientific inquiry can't be delayed for the sake of mere propriety?'"
"Well, maybe I can stand to actually keep the Yama's advice in mind, just a little." She leaned in closer, lowering her voice so Akyuu couldn't hear from her position ahead of us. "You'll note I also didn't share your theory as to Yuuka's motivation in starting this Incident with miss Akyuu either. A part of me wants to see her reaction but... I think I'll let her deduce that one on her own."
She flashed me another of her blinding smiles and we continued walking toward the village, enjoying the sweet smells and sounds of birdsong in the air.
-.-.-.-.-
That would be a beautiful place to end this story, on a sweet and happy note, but I'm afraid there is one more event to relate. No spring would be complete without all of the beautiful flowers wilting away, after all.
-.-.-.-.-
As we drew towards the village, we encountered a face we would not have expected to see at all.
"Three humans with no ability to defend themselves walking alone this far from the village? Do you all hold your lives in so little regard as that?"
The voice had called out suddenly from behind us, and the three of us whirled around.
"Lord Yama!" Akyuu said with a formal bow. "It's a rare pleasure to see you again on this side of the river."
"Indeed, it has been a while, miss Hieda. I hope that you are enjoying your time among the living. You look well."
Akyuu smiled and self-consciously brushed dirt from her kimono. "As do you. Are you working at the moment?"
"Not at the moment, no. Another of the Yama is on duty for the time being, but as I have some rare free time, I thought I might come to this side and check up on the people that I had recently spoken to. I find that mortals have short memories, and repetition can be a useful tool when performing the important work of trying to save a soul from damnation." The moment she said this I saw Renko grimace unconsciously. "Speaking of which..." she began, turning to my partner. I could see she was again looking into her hand mirror, having angled it at Renko.
"Renko Usami!" she said in her small, but commanding voice.
"Yes!" Renko said, snapping to attention. She looked more worried than I had ever seen. There's a nasty streak inside of me that couldn't help but smile, which is probably the worst reaction I could have had in front of the Yama.
"Despite all that I have said you still lack an understanding of your own weakness and your place in this world. Just moments ago you came very close to being devoured by a newborn youkai. What will it take for you to realize the peril your actions put those around you in? Do you intend to continue walking this tightrope until someone close to you falls to their demise merely for your own enjoyment? You will remember that I warned your partner of her dependence on you, but that warning is something you should take to heart as well. This girl has come to rely upon you for protection, and yet you not only offer her none, but knowingly place her in dangerous situations through your actions. How do you think such an attitude would be judged if you were to stand before me?"
"This time we were invited out by miss Akyuu! Surely the fact that this danger was undertaken in the line of duty has to count for something!"
"Your so-called 'duty' is but a convenient excuse for indulging your own curiosity. Your sin is a willful disregard for the danger surrounding you and those who follow you. Repent, or be condemned!"
In a flash, the Yama was floating directly in front of her, swinging her stick down on Renko's forehead, where it stuck with a dull thwack.
"Ow! My grey matter!" Renko moaned. "How will smacking me improve my odds of survival any?"
"Humans are highly adaptable creatures, Renko Usami, and you are a remarkable individual amongst them. Your adaptability can be your downfall though. Humans have within them the ability to become accustomed to anything when exposed to it on a regular basis, even lethal danger. This leads to the sin of pride, and often a life cut short for a simple lack of care. Many are the carpenters who have stood before me after falling from a roof, as are the fishermen who have drowned in calm waters. It is only through constant vigilance and the use of appropriate care that one can hope to live a long life. If you must leave the village to satisfy your intellectual curiosity, then you are free to do so, but do not be so prideful as to assume that doing so is safe. Lacking humility is also a sin worthy of condemnation. Repent!"
The thwack of the Yama's stick against Renko's forehead resounded twice more. As Renko cringed away, the Yama exhaled a single breath and turned to face me, still hovering in the air.
"Maeribel Hearn!" she called stridently.
I took a breath to compose myself and nodded, my hands clasped in front of me.
"You are also complicit in Renko's sin. Your admiration for her abilities only serves to fuel her pride, leading both of you toward your destruction. I think that you know this. If you wish to stay by her side, then you have a role to play in containing her behavior. Not merely for your own sake, to save yourself from embarrassment, but for hers, to keep her self-destructive tendencies in check. So long as you continue to unquestioningly accept her demands of you, you are guilty of encouraging her to sin, and corrupting the soul of another is also worthy of contempt. Repent!"
Her blow landed directly in between my eyebrows. It hurt, with a sting that almost felt like I could feel the indentation of the kanji written on her stick as she stamped the mark across my forehead.
"Unlike your partner, you have an exceedingly well developed sense of danger. You should use that talent to act as a brake on her, or else you are squandering your gifts when they could be protecting those you love. You should be more assertive toward Renko. She is neither your superior nor your parent. She is your equal. Remember that, and envision yourself on equal terms. Your relationship with her could be a blessing in your life. But it could equally well be the thing that ends it. If you wish for that relationship to continue, then you must realize that it is you, Maeribel Hearn, and not any other human or youkai who is responsible for protecting such a reckless person. There is no one else who is present frequently enough to be her savior, and no one else whose judgement she will trust as she does your own."
I winced, expecting another blow, but none came. Blinking rapidly, I looked at the Yama, who had returned to the ground and was regarding us both.
"You expect me to protect Renko?" I asked incredulously.
"To protect one that is dear to your heart is a responsibility that falls on both of you. Such is the burden you have chosen for yourselves. Do you understand this?"
"Yes, yes, yes, no need to hit me again." Renko groused.
"...yes." I mumbled.
"Good. I hope for your sakes that the day I stand before you in judgement is far off. Good day, the both of you. Miss Hieda." With that and a brief nod, the Yama departed, stomping off along the road toward the Forest of Magic as fast as her short legs would carry her.
I let out a sigh of relief while Renko stooped to retrieve her hat from the ground. Beside us, Akyuu was laughing happily.
"Oh dear," she said, covering her mouth with one hand. "You two have terrible luck, it seems."
"Yeah," Renko sighed, rubbing her forehead. "That's my second near-death experience."
"Well, my near-condolences on your near-loss then. You should listen to what Lord Yama says though. She never lies and what she says is out of consideration for others. If you take her warnings to heart, it's a rare opportunity to know your fate in the afterlife before it befalls you. It's not often she has free time, and she chose to spend it coming here to check up on you two."
"Well thank goodness it's so rare. Its a bit of a pain for those of us who are still alive."
I reached out and grabbed my partner by the cheek. "You heard the Yama, Renko. You need someone around all the time to keep you from doing anything stupid."
"Agh! Ow! Ow! Hey Merry, what are you doing? I haven't committed any sin!"
"I'm protecting you Renko, just as instructed. You were about to say something disparaging about the Yama again, I just know it. This is the duty that falls to me, not any other human or youkai." I said as I twisted my grip, bending her neck to the side.
"Ah! Ow! Who assigned you to such a duty? This is cruel and unusual punishment, I want to talk to a lawyer! I want to talk to The Hague!"
I released my grip and turned to face her, matter-of-factly, hands on my hips. "You're the one who assigned me, Renko! The moment you invited me to join the Hifuu Club. If you're going to decide that I'm stuck with you for this and however many other lifetimes, then you need to take responsibility for that choice. I'm not stuck in this relationship with you, you're trapped in this relationship with me."
Though she had been flinching away, Renko blinked twice then eased back towards me, lowering her hands from where she had raised them to guard her face.
"Yeah," she said, softly taking my hand. "But if you're you're going to hurt my cheek like that, don't follow it up by saying something to make me smile. That's just cruel."
Perhaps the happiness I felt as she slipped my hand into hers was a sign of my dependence upon her. Perhaps in the eyes of some it was a mark of my sin. But whether we were here in Gensokyo or back in Kyoto, whether it was now, or 50 years later, in a familiar world or a strange one, wherever our shared fates would take us, I knew one thing for certain: I wanted to be there with Renko Usami, hand in hand, come what may.
The sound of the Prismriver's music echoed from somewhere far off, carried by the wind. Somewhere, I supposed, ghosts would be following that sound. Rising from the temporary forms they had taken to become mere phantoms, steaking through the skies on their journey toward the endless cycle of rebirth, to be reincarnated, know the joys and sorrows of life once more, to die, and begin again.
This cycle was the destiny of all living things, Renko and I included. On some far off day, even if nothing else separated us first, our lives would eventually end. In time we would stand before the Yama, separately or together and then we would be parted, our ultimate fates unknown and unknowable.
For now though, I could be close to Renko. I could feel the warmth of her hand as the wind teased my hair and whispered through the grasses. Petals blew in from somewhere, decorating the brilliant blue of the sky with a splash of color for a moment before twisting away and vanishing in a gust.
Perhaps, like those petals, you have some destination in mind, but no way to reach it, relying upon the wind and blind luck to see your through safely. Sometimes that's good enough. But if, in your journeys through life, you should ever find that the winds of fate drive you up against an obstacle you have no way to surmount, then might I suggest you take a temporary detour, and find your way to the storage shed behind Keine's temple school. There are no windows there for your winds to rattle against, but if you reach out and knock, you may find two souls within who can help you to find a way past the obstacles you are facing.
We remain at your service, and eagerly await your visit, the one and only Hifuu Detective Agency.
[End of Book 5: Phantasmagoria of Flower View]
-.-.-.-.-
Author's Afterword:
Thank you for reading this far. I am Shinobu Asakihara, the author.
Regarding this Incident, much of the information about it comes from bits of character scenarios or databooks that are hard to find. I doubt most players would play through the game as every character and note the details of everyone's story, but I hope you could enjoy my creation nonetheless. Maybe a few details are different than what you expected, but just like in Touhou, sometimes hair or eye color are different. You can still like it.
Regarding the relationship between Yuuka and Akyuu, those of you who have read my other works may find it familiar. To those who haven't: go read those, YuuAkyuu is good.
Next up is Mountain of Faith. I hope you look forward to it.
-.-.-.-.-
Translator's Afterword:
That was Phantasmagoria of Flower View, in my opinion one of the best books in this series. I hope you enjoyed it. There will be a brief hiatus of 1-2 weeks before you can expect Mountain of Faith to begin as I have to write a number of certification exams in the next few weeks. Rest assured this series has not been abandoned however, and will resume once I have time to take up the translation again.