If she flew, Reimu could reach Scarlet Devil Mansion in a matter of minutes, but her investigations never went that smoothly. Meiling couldn't abide flight. At the slightest suggestion, she melted into a quivering heap of motion sickness.
So they walked. Reimu didn't mind. The forests were dappled with lovely autumn shades—the Aki sisters had been busy this year. Meiling whistled a peppy melody Reimu didn't know. Fortunately, she no longer felt like spikes were being hammered into her skull; now, it felt more like an elephant stampede. She swayed as she walked, but tried to disguise it as a swagger.
They reached the gates by noon. It was closed.
Meiling scratched her head. "Oh dear." She rummaged through her pockets. "Lady Remilia will be awake, and I've been missing since daybreak. If I don't attend to her soon, she might think Flandre got loose and found a snack. We lose more of our serving staff that way."
Once she finally found the right key, the gates swung open with a push and a lazy creak. The gatekeeper paused; she turned back to Reimu with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, but I only have one job here, and I'd like to do it right. Would you check your weapons at the gate?"
Reimu bristled. She begrudgingly handed over her gohai. But as soon as Meiling's back was turned, Reimu blasted a passing fairy out of spite.
The place was bigger than Reimu remembered. The mansion—gardens, grounds, building—reached high into the sky, beyond the boundaries of sensible architecture. More than that, it felt alive. In the dark, it lurked; in the light, it loomed. Reimu couldn't suppress how impressed she was. As far as she could recall, she'd never been to the mansion during the day. Then again, at present, she couldn't recall much more than drinking and puking. Her stomach gurgled—she burped discreetly.
Meiling led Reimu through the front doors into the mansion's corridors. Dim, dank, and dour, even at this hour. In a place like this, how did a human like Sakuya...?
"Did you need something?"
Meiling shrieked and leaped a full meter into the air.
Behind them, the maid bore a silver platter of tea and a sour look at the both of them. Sakuya inclined her head. "Reimu," she said flatly. "Your presence here seldom means good news. To what do we owe the displeasure?"
Collecting herself, Meiling stammered, "Well, you see, um…"
"Your gatekeeper told me she found bodies in the garden. Human bodies. Outsiders."
The maid arched an eyebrow but said nothing. She turned a withering glare on Meiling. "And did you clean it up?"
While Meiling whimpered, Reimu cleared her throat. "I need to talk to Remilia. Sometime soon would be nice."
Sakuya's stone-faced mask cracked. A flicker of fear passed behind her steely blue eyes. "Now…may not be the best time. The mistress is in her room, and with her sister…well…snuggling…"
"Say no more." Reimu shoved past the maid. Remilia would see her now, whether she liked it or not.
Reimu tramped upstairs to the tower bedroom, down a hallway hung with old paintings. She admired the tall oaken door, and pounded her fist on the polished wood. From behind the door came squeaks and squeals and clinking chains. Shuddering, Reimu struggled to strangle her strange imagination.
"Remilia! A word with you."
The noise stopped. There were sheets rustled, curses uttered, and footsteps padded nearer. The door opened a sliver. Remilia, hardly presentable, peeked through the crack. Her body was draped in a bedsheet, her blue hair mussed, her scarlet eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Who let you in?" she muttered. "Shut up. Don't answer—Flan, that's mine, don't touch that!—I'll meet you downstairs, after I've had time to compose myself." The door slammed, the lock clicking with finality.
Reimu wouldn't give up that easily. "Remilia, there are human corpses on your lawn. I'd like you explain yourself." No response. "Until I get to the bottom of this, I'm holding you responsible." Quiet.
With no other option, Reimu went after Meiling to the garden. As they walked, the gatekeeper prattled on about how she and where found the bodies, but Reimu wasn't listening. She watched Meiling fuss and fret with private amusement. The girl could look cute when she was worried.
The garden was considerably less cute. Rows of roses intertwined with white tulips, though they were more or less the same color now. Twisted mockeries of human bodies lay sprawled in the dirt. Shredded skin, with white bone peeking through pinkish mush, and prettily-colored innards were scattered over an alarmingly large area.
Reimu had witnessed the aftermath of youkai attacks before, but this was beyond her expertise. If anything were left in her stomach, she'd have heaved it by now.
The wind stirred.
"Step aside, coming through, nothing to see here, ladies!"
A black-haired girl swooped down on black wings, hands holding down her skirt for modesty's sake. Gracelessly, she plopped her feet down in the tulips. She flashed a smile and a camera, temporarily blinding Reimu. The tall dark girl proffered an ostentatious bow. "Aya Shameimaru, tengu journalist, at your service!"
Reimu felt her ironclad optimism plop into a pile of molten glop. "Good to see you, Aya," she lied. Damn Marisa's big mouth.
From somewhere in her white shirt, Aya withdrew her bunkachou and started scribbling in its wrinkled pages. After scanning the scene, she strode toward Meiling, her first victim. "Meiling," she said, too happily and far too fast, "when you found the bodies this morning, what passed through your mind? Was it fear? Guilt? Anger? Ah, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself—when did you find these dreadful, disgusting, definitely not delicious-looking meat slabs?"
Meiling trembled under Aya's expectant gaze.
Since silence was unthinkable, Aya persisted. "And what did you tell the shrine maiden? You know, after she got totally plastered?" She cackled. Prodding Reimu with her pencil, she added, "Although, if you're available for comment, that's completely different."
Reimu frowned. "Don't you have something better to report on, like the festival?"
"All hail Moriya Shrine," Aya crowed—"they've filled our tabloids for months! Actually, you were going to be our top story until this happened. Good timing—the Local News section needed spicing up. The question: who could have done this?!"
Reimu waved her off. "Sakuya mentioned she saw something suspicious last night—a prowler on the grounds. You can ask her about it…inside."
Aya glowed with glee. "A mysterious stranger? I smell a scoop!" Oblivious, she charged into the house in pursuit of the maid.
With a sigh of relief, Reimu knelt to examine the carnage. She plucked a clump of cotton from a patch of thorns, squeezing the tuft of fluff in her fingers, and pocketed it. Clues were clues. Anything would do.
She wrinkled her nose. "It stinks."
"That would be the corpse-flowers."
A high, cold, lofty voice; like chilly wind wafting through a tower. Reimu turned to see the smirking little girl in a frilly lavender dress. Remilia twirled her silk parasol, fangs glinting. She twitched her wings, long and leathery and sinewy. Those things must make daily life immensely difficult, Reimu mused. Sleeping, bathing, changing clothes…
Sakuya stood stiffly by her mistress's side, the end of a chain in her hand. The staid maid led a golden-haired girl in scarlet dress. Flandre Scarlet tugged at her collar, rattling her chains. Fortunately, Patchouli's charmed links held fast. Nobody complained that Remilia treated her sister like a wild beast, especially when it kept Flan from ripping their faces off.
"You smell the corpse flower," Remilia said, "a tropical plant that emits an odor like rotting flesh. However, these bodies are not yet one day old." She licked her lips. "Fresh flesh." Her foot poked a bloody lump. "Look at this, Flan. This was a man."
Flandre cocked her head. "MAAAN?" she repeated. "What's…a man?"
"Nothing but a miserable pile of secrets, dear sister. Never you mind."
Dropping to all fours, Flandre padded over to personally inspect the evidence. Her face split into a grisly grin.
Reimu swallowed. "Remilia, how much do you know about this…thing? Did you see anything last night?"
"This is the first I've heard of it," replied Remilia, shrugging. Then she shrugged off her sister, who had taken to nuzzling her in uncomfortable places. "Not now, Flan, we have guests…"
"If it was youkai doing, there would be too many suspects to name," said Reimu, thinking aloud. She stroked her chin, like a great detective. "Except maybe Meiling. She's too honest for her own good."
"Much agreed." Remilia glared at her gatekeeper. "China! To me."
Wilting, Meiling trudged to her master's side. "Miss, um, I have a name, it's…"
"Irrelevant. Go back and watch the gate."
By now, a sizable crowd had gathered, mostly girls who could fly over the gate and had nothing better to do. Aya had returned from chasing down the maid and was now grilling Mystia Lorelei for anything the birdbrain could tell her.
Remilia raised her voice. "Any of you who don't work for me: get off my property. As you can see, my darling sister is growing quite ravenous. There's no telling what she might do."
Probably outrun us, answered Reimu's logical mind. She hated that part of herself—more often than she liked, it was right.
"Fine," Aya sniffed. "I've got my scoop, anyhow. Toodles." With that, she took off. The rest of the crowd dispersed.
"You too, shrine maiden." Remilia held Reimu in an unreadable stare. "You have your shrine duties, don't you? What do a few dead humans mean to you?"
They knew more than they were telling. But not even the world's most powerful vampires, a cowardly gatekeeper, and a time-stopping knife-nut maid could break open the sacred gate. No one in Scarlet Devil Mansion could've done it.
No, not quite. There was one. Patchouli might, but why would she want to? She was always cooped up in her lonely library, scrawling out long lovelorn letters to Marisa. At least she had her assistant to keep her company. (Reimu had heard the devil girl's name once, but promptly forgot; from that point, she called her Koakuma.) They had the knowledge and the power, but who had the motive? Reimu chewed her lip.
She announced that she would leave the mansion.
"Goodbye, Reimu," said Remilia with a sinister smile. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
Indeed she did—nothing but more questions. As usual, looking into trouble only led to more trouble. But she would figure this out. Her integrity as shrine maiden was at stake! Now that she'd seen the scene of the crime, she'd go to Youkai Mountain and ask around, looking for clues. That'd be fun.
Right about now, I could use another drink…