When Murasa awoke, the sun was overhead, shining brightly in a cloudless sky. She quickly stood up and practically bolted onto the main deck. The ship was docked next to bamboo that seemed to extend on for forever.
"Well, look who finally decided to join us!" said Joseph.
"Any crew worth their salt would gave dropped you by now!" teased Johnny, echoing her first words to them.
"Leave her alone, the both of you. She was clearly exhausted. And it's not like any of you made an effort to wake her up." said Giorno.
Murasa gave a half smile, and stretched towards the heavens. She felt amazing.
"No need to scold them, Gio. Joseph's just mad because Jonathan totally destroyed him at that contest."
Joseph's grin melted into a sneer, and Murasa stuck her tongue out at him. He glared at her for a while, and eventually stuck out his tongue as well. She retaliated by crossing her arms, but he mirrored her, and crossed his arms further than she did. They both stood like this for a while, until Murasa slowly shuffled over and flicked his nose.
"Ow! That's cheating, you salty sea dog!" he yelped, raising his hands to protect from any further attacks.
"All's fair in love and war, toots. But, where are the others?"
"They're on shore. Or, most of them are. Mr. Speedwagon has a cold, so Erina and Baron Zeppeli are nursing him back to health." said Johnny.
Murasa winced, and reached at her shoulder to find that she still had Speedwagon's coat wrapped around her shoulders. This was her fault.
"I see. Well... We might be up against something dangerous, so it's for the best." she said, putting it on properly. "We've gotta get a move on. Time's a-wasting."
She ambled her way off the boat onto shore, and saw Shizuka chasing Josuke around with a turtle, Jonathan and Jolyne building tiny sand castles, and Jotaro wading in the water with Gappy.
"Oi! Crew! We're heading into the bamboo!" she said, waving them over.
"Ah, it's time to go?" Jonathan said, standing up and brushing the sand off his trousers.
They all stood at the entrance of the forest, not too thrilled to go in. It was dark, and the bamboo was so condensed that it looked like it would suffocate them.
"...Anyone got a light?" said Shizuka, a touch of fear in her voice.
"I've got a lighter." said Jotaro.
"I dunno... It's preeeetty dark in there. A lighter probably won't cut it." said Joseph, peering into the thicket.
"We could light some bamboo on fire, to make a torch?" Shizuka anxiously replied.
"Bamboo burns too quickly," contested Murasa. "And besides, it'd make the forest go up in flames. There might be an oil lamp on the Palanquin somewhere, but I wouldn't know where to look..."
"We don't have time for that." said Giorno flatly.
"So what are we to do, then?" said Jonathan, folding his arms.
Murasa sighed, and turned around to face them. She really didn't want to do this, but the situation was dire.
"Just... Follow my lead, try to keep up, and stay behind me. I don't want any of you to get hit."
Her entire body glowed with a soft green light, and her physical form fizzled away, only to reappear a little ways away, still glowing.
"Well, come on then! We're losing daylight, and if the sun sets, it'll only get darker." she taunted, her old mischievous spirit resurfacing.
They continued on like this, with Murasa firing off a bullet every so often to see a little farther ahead, until they came to a clearing with bamboo that was scorched and burnt to ash.
"Woah... This doesn't look like the product of any normal fire..." said Josuke, pinching some of the ash between his fingers.
The bamboo across from them rustled and shook, and a humanoid shape scurried away deeper into the forest. It sent shudders down Murasa's spine, for some reason.
"If the bamboo here is burnt like this... Then that must have been the girl we're looking for." she said. "We can't lose her. Let's pick up the pace!"
They started to move faster, coming upon more and more burnt out clearings, until they found a tiny settlement, with moon rabbits scurrying here and there. A pillar of fire appeared in the air, seeming to come from the heart of the small village. A woman with long, dingy white hair and a red and blue dress approached them, exhausted and covered in soot. Her face was covered by a doctor's mask, and she was brandishing a scalpel at them. Her grey eyes were colder than the slush that seemed to make them up, and pierced into their very beings like daggers.
"I don't know who you are, but if you're planning on hurting Princess Kaguya, you'll have to eliminate me, first. We've enough trouble already. Begone." she hissed.
"No, we're here to help," Murasa explained. "We're looking for Fujiwara no Mokou, and she seemed to end up here."
The woman slightly lowered her scalpel, but her gaze narrowed even further.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"On my honor, the honor of my crew, and the ship we sailed in on, we mean no harm. We've come to deal with Mokou, nothing more, nothing less."
The woman slipped her scalpel into a pocket in her dress, beckoned for them to follow her, and set off at a brisk pace. They jogged to keep up with her, and zigzagged through a maze of corridors, only to end up in the center of a miniature community, engulfed in a firey blaze. A girl stood in the center of all the destruction, the crackling flames distorting her figure. Her hair was pure white, and filled with talisman bows, while her clothes were a striking red, covered in those same talismans. The flames lapped at her heels like loyal pets, and her dull, red eyes glimmered like tiny onyxes at the chaos. This was the immortal Phoenix of Gensokyo: Fujiwara no Mokou.