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Ch. 43: Meeting of the minds

"Ah… This is really pleasant!" Yakumo Yukari gave a long, deep sigh as she let the aches and pains of her shoulders melt into the steamy water. Sinking a little lower, she felt the water slide up her chest, caress its way up her neck and finally tickle the base of her chin. Letting out yet another relaxed sigh, Yukari let her head drop at an angle against the edge of the hot spring she was lying in, using the rock behind her as a head rest.

"What do you say, Satori-san?" she opened her right eye towards Komeiji Satori, who was also in the hot spring, in a sort of a reverse wink. "You must be really proud of this place you have built…" she closed her violet eye and complimented Satori with a smile.

"…" Although Yukari could no longer see her, she was sure Satori was still carrying that deadpanned look she had just a second ago. Yukari could feel Satori's sharp disdain for her trained right on her face, but rather than make Yukari feel uneasy, that somehow only served to delight her more…

"… Whatever…" Yukari heard Satori murmur disinterestedly. A gentle ripple made its way across the pool's surface to softly lap Yukari's neck, which indicated to the gap youkai that Satori had sunk herself lower into the pool as well.

"Ah… Don't be so hostile…" Yukari said, eyes still closed, "Times like these are meant to relax. To forget one's burdens. To build new friendships and warm ties. I…" she suddenly opened her eyes as she sat up and reached across for a glass of sake, "Propose a toast to you, Satori, for having established such a successful resort!" she toasted Satori.

"… Which you nearly ruined, thanks to your shenanigans…" Satori did not reach over for her own sake cup.

"Ah well… All's well that ends well, eh?" Yukari, unfazed by Satori's coldness, downed the sake in one cheery gulp. "And don't look at me like that…" she grinned towards the emotionless Satori, "I apologized, repented, and made amends, didn't I? I was even struck across the face by an umbrella, for heaven's sakes!" she looked over to her left for support. On that side sat Hoshiguma Yuugi and Mizuhashi Parsee, their expressions as unfriendly as Satori's.

"Those were unnecessary apologies, repents and amends, Yukari-san," Parsee simply said.

"Oh? Do you mean to say you'd rather I don'tmake amends for what I did?" Yukari asked with mock hopefulness, "You were going to let me off scot-free?"

"She meant that none of this would have happened if you didn't mess around in the first place!" Yuugi said with an annoyed face.

It had been three days since the incident of the frozen hot springs. In fact, it was only up till last night that the hot springs became "unfrozen". Guests were perplexed, as despite the colder Autumn climate, it was nowhere near the temperatures needed to maintain the "ice" without so much as a single crystal melting. But of course, to those in the know, things were much more complex than that.

Firstly, the energy, although in solid crystal form, still had the potential to explode should Okuu accidently wish it. Yet, at the same time, Yukari could not remove the power she had bestowed on Okuu immediately, as it was that very power that kept the energy in crystal form. Things took awhile, but eventually with Yukari's aid and the er… supervision of two Oni and one wrathful satori, everything returned to normal.

Well, except with the unwelcomed addition of Yukari to the guest list.

"Relax… I took care of things, didn't I?" Yukari merrily poured herself more sake. Either she was oblivious to the three hostile presences around her, or she just could not be bothered with them.

A long time denizen of Gensokyo would place her bet on the latter.

"… And Okuu…?" Satori asked.

"She'll be fine, right?" Yukari answered offhandedly. "It's not like-…!"

Satori had suddenly gripped Yukari and spun her around, her eyes cold and piercing.

"Okuu…" she started in a chilly tone, "Will she be fine from now on?" she inquired in a way that sounded more like a threat to Yukari's well being.

"… Hmmm…" Yukari looked back into Satori's glaring eyes with some slight discomfort. If it was any other lesser youkai, she probably would have just walked out on her unconcernedly rather than yield, but a mind reader knows painful ways to hold one captive by their own knowledge… "Of course, of course… I gave my word, didn't I?" she looked away and tried to assuage the threat casually by shrugging her shoulders.

"She's back to her old self?" Satori was not satisfied.

"Sigh… Yes… She's back to her old self…" Yukari said disinterestedly, "Although why would you want a less-than-perfect hell raven I would never-"

"Yukari…"

"… I restored the border between energy and matter," Yukari answered clearly this time, "I removed her ultra-efficiency, her perfect control over energy, and changed her colour scheme back from blue to orange all in one go. Now she's just a nuclear fire spitting bird, happy?" Yukari smiled tiredly at Satori.

"… Fine…" Satori leaned back to show that she was no longer pursuing the matter, and Yukari let out another long, drawn sigh.

"So… It was you all this time, right Yukari?" Yuugi asked, "What I don't get is why you did it?"

"Eh?"

"Why the sudden move to meddle with Okuu's abilities?"

"Hmmm… If I were to put my finger on why…" Yukari placed her finger on her lower lip and gave the matter some thought, "I suppose it was because I had a chat with the Moriya bunch the other day and-"

"Ah…," the other three went flatly.

"Hang on, hang on, I'm not done yet-"

"So it is a deadly combination of Yukari-san screwing around plus a Moriya Shrine conspiracy…" Parsee looked at Yuugi and Satori with raised eyebrows, "Or rather… Yukari-san is screwing around with a Moriya Shrine-"

Yukari looked at Parsee in a genuinely offended manner this time, "Hey! Templates like that are-"

"Enough…" Satori placed a hand to her forehead. "Sigh… So, you talked to the Moriya bunch and… Kanako-san I presume?"

"Yup," Yukari answered.

"And?"

"It sounded interesting, the stuff she talked about…" Yukari offhandedly remarked, "Commercially viable nuclear fusion and all that…"

"…" Satori narrowed her eyes at Yukari in disbelief, "You really were screwing around, weren't you…?"

"Ah… Come on! Did you realize how big an opportunity I had?" Yukari pleaded Satori.

"No…"

"Sigh… Look," Yukari took a deep breath to prepare her explanation, "Kanako gave Okuu the power of the sun, right?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"But one glance will tell you that that is some really dangerous power, right?"

"Mmm hmm…"

"But let me ask you this… What makes it so dangerous?"

"I… huh?" Satori blinked confusedly at Yukari.

"Nuclear fusion," Yukari repeated patiently, "What makes it so dangerous?"

"… Ah… I see…" Satori, reading off Yukari's mind, understood her meaning, "I get where you're going…" she looked away pensively.

"What? We don't get it," Yuugi spoke up for Parsee and herself.

Turning to the duo, Yukari continued, "It's simple! Nuclear fusion releases huge amounts of energy, which, being energetic, would naturally escape out in an unrestrained, explosive manner. Well, that and the radiation, but the explosive factor is the main problem here…"

"So by removing the boundary between energy and matter…" Satori continued for Yukari, "You can immediately capture that energy in an ambiguous, non-energetic but pure state… Instead of a chain of giant explosions, you get…"

"Massive amounts of safe, stable energy crystals, yup!" Yukari finished happily, "Which really doesn't hurt anyone, so long as you don't get caught in it when it's forming… Readymade crystal batteries! Just plug in and play!"

"I still don't see where you come in…" Yuugi scratched her head.

"Haha… My dear Yuugi-san," Yukari seemed to puff up a bit, " 'Remove the boundary between energy and matter'… Now who else but yours truly can do that?" she said proudly.

"… Ah…" Parsee and Yuugi.

"Don't you see? That mountain goddess thinks she's got the solution to humanity's salvation, and thus the fast ticket to more worshippers. Pfft… but really, I'm the only one capable of bringing through such a breakthrough!" Yukari crossed her arms before her chest smugly.

"You would… If, you didn't also cause chaos and havoc at the same time…" Satori rebutted, "Plus, does Gensokyo really have the need for such things? We don't even use electricity…"

"That's right, or were you doing this just to prove a point?" inquired Parsee, "Like show Gensokyo that you're better than Kanako-san, perhaps?"

"Nah… Like I said, I was just bored…" Yukari sank back into the water and drank herself a bit more sake.

Once again, Yuugi, Parsee and Satori found themselves staring at Yukari in disbelief.

"… Next time," Satori shook her head in resignation, "If you want to cause mischief, do it elsewhere, preferably outside of Gensokyo."

"Aw… Let me have my fun," Yukari pouted towards Satori, "It's almost winter, and I'm going to sleep soon! Besides…" she sank lower still so that her lips were barely over the water surface. Staring through the gentle, white steam, she allowed her eyes to rest on the little ripples breaking across the hot spring's surface. It was…

"… There's nowhere else as interesting and as fun as Gensokyo…" … Surreal.

"…? Sorry, come again?" Parsee asked while Yuugi looked at Yukari quizzically. What did Yukari just murmur…?

But Yukari did not respond. Instead, without turning her head, she glanced towards Satori with a knowing smile. Satori had a look of concentration on her face… She was obviously reading Yukari's mind for answers-

…! Satori's composure, for the first time this afternoon, faltered, her mouth parting just slightly and her eyes looking as if they were looking at Yukari in a new light. Yukari, savouring the change in Satori's expression, widened her smile to a warm grin, and Satori looked away with a troubled expression.

Yuugi and Parsee glanced from mind reader to gap youkai and back, utterly clueless.

"So, Satori-san!" Yuugi reclined her head back towards the rocks once more, "I've settled and resolved everything for you. I've made good the mistakes that I've committed. I trust you're happy with my handiwork?"

"… Yeah, everything's fine now…" Satori murmured without looking at Yukari.

"Then you'll have no problems with me staying here for a while longer?" Yukari closed her eyes and looked as if she intended to sleep there and then, "And just let me relax and… dream about better days to come…?"

"… So long as you keep your hands to yourself- Hey… Hey!" Satori snapped towards Yukari. She was momentarily alarmed by the sudden blank state of Yukari's mind, but…

"Heh… She's actually fallen asleep…" Satori shook her head again, this time truly giving up, Yukari's chest rising and lowering slowly before her as the gap youkai slept on.

"Well, leave it to her to be able to sleep so comfortably after the last few days of chaos…" Parsee shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, especially since she's the perpetrator," Yuugi could only grin at the silliness of the whole situation. Turning to the remaining two ladies, she gestured to the outside of the pool, "Well then, shall we leave ol' Sleeping Beauty here while we go get ourselves some alcohol?" she suggested.

"Sure," Parsee and Satori replied, and the three of them got out to give the venerable trouble maker some peace.

Sleep tight Yukari, your part in the story is done. Wait… That sounded rather ominous…

And come to think of it, didn't she say in an earlier chapter that she wanted no part in this series…?