"Is that one of those tengu newspapers? I don't subscribe to them."

-Keine Kamishirasawa, teacher.

"Come to think of it, none of the tengu have been by to distribute papers for a while now"

-unnamed villager, tea shop proprietor.

"It's been more than a month since any of the papers were distributed, you say? I haven't seen miss Aya in about that long either. Did something happen?"

-Akyuu Hieda, 9th Child of Miare.

"I don't know what Aya's doing and I don't want to know. She's a pain. Suika or Yukari might know, but I have no idea where either of them are."

-Reimu Hakurei, Hakurei miko.

The numerous interviews Renko conducted all seemed to end up with results like those above. The facts seemed to agree with what Renko had noticed -the Bunbunmaru Shinbun hadn't been published in more than a month and no one knew why. None of the handful of competing newspapers that occasionally filtered down to human society from Youkai Mountain had released an issue in that time either, though in some cases that was unsurprising.

Moreover, the representatives of Gensokyo's ruling order that we could reach, namely Reimu and Akyuu, had no idea what was happening among the tengu either. It goes without saying that we were not able to find Yukari or Suika to ask about the matter.

And so, it was decided that, in order to sate my partner's completely unwarranted curiosity on the matter, we would take a hike up though the foothills of Youkai Mountain. I packed a box lunch into a picnic basket and we set out early the next morning.

As usual, the first leg of our journey consisted of leaving the village through the north gate and taking the now familiar trail to Misty Lake. We arrived while the air was still chilly near the water and the sun was only beginning to approach its zenith, walking along the eastern shore toward the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Do you plan on asking miss Meiling to escort us again, Renko?" I asked as the Scarlet Devil Mansion came into view around a bend in the shoreline.

"I don't see the need, do you? We'll make better time if we just go straight up."

As usual, Renko's curiosity was unfazed by any level of risk. We had come to the mountain once before, during the Incident involving Suika. At that time the tengu had attacked our group on sight. Renko and I had escaped unscathed, but only due to a combination of quick thinking on Renko's part, the intervention of miss Shameimaru and our having been escorted by Meiling, who had protected us from the initial assault. This time we had neither those protectors at our side nor any news of pressing import to the tengu with which to distract them. For Renko, however, such concerns were unworthy of her attention.

I let out a sigh as I thought back to something the Yama had told me two years ago. She had said it was my duty to act as a brake for Renko, who seemed to possess no concept of the risk that visiting the notoriously xenophobic tengu entailed. Agreeing with the Yama's message in principle and acting effectively on Renko were two different things, however.

"Renko, you realize the tengu aren't our friends, right? You've only met Aya a handful of times and half of those you were trying to foil eachother's investigations. The only other tengu we know you only met once and she came at us with a sword. There's not even a guarantee we'll see either of them. We could be murdered by a completely different tengu."

"Well, I'm sure I'll think of something. If not, we can always fall back on our relationships to both the youkai sage and Suika. The tengu already know they're here this time, but knowing we're entangled with those two still means killing us would be way more hassle for them then it would be worth. The tengu operate as a society with politics and negotiation, I'm sure they understand that."

"A fox who relies on the strength of a tiger is likely to end up in the tiger's belly, Renko."

"Don't say that, Merry. What if Ran hears you? You'd never get to mofumofu her tail again."

What a terrifying thought. I shut my mouth promptly. Renko chuckled as we marched along the shore of the lake, occasionally passing through banks of low-lying white mist that clung to the water. In the distance I could see the winding path of a river as it made its way down from the mountain to empty into the lake. Somewhere deep in the forest that covered the sides of the rising foothills, this river would become a waterfall that tumbled from a sheer vertical cliff, marking the edge of tengu territory. The cliff was far too tall, steep and slick for either of us to hope to climb...

"Our goal here is to gather information. If something is really happening on the mountain, I'm sure the kappa or that curse god we met before would know about it. We might be able to find out all we need to from them. I would like to try to talk our way into the tengu city if we can though, I'd like to see it at least once." Renko said as she disappeared into a fogbank.

I followed her in, waving my hand in front of my face to clear away streamers of mist. The fogbanks that hovered near the edge of Misty Lake were always strange things. They were not uniform clouds, but instead filled with pockets and bubbles of clear air that made the visibility inside unpredictable. Sometimes you might not be able to see your feet, and at other times you might see halfway across the lake but nothing beyond that. More than once Renko or myself had gotten our feet wet stepping into the water on the edge of the lake after being deceived by the fog. For the time being though, I was more worried about keeping Renko in sight as she charged ahead. I was surprised when she suddenly stopped short and pointed ahead, into the blank whiteness that obscured everything.

"Hey Merry, look over there. Is that Kagerou?"

Sure enough, a few meters ahead of us was the silhouette of someone leaning out over the edge of the water, seeming to talk to another figure who was immersed in the lake, with just their head and shoulders bobbing above the waterline. I had met Kagerou Imaizumi several times at this point. Initially we had encountered eachother only briefly in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost while transporting Renko to Eientei during the Eternal Night Incident, but since then Mokou and Keine had formally introduced us. We had even had dinner with her a few times at Mokou's house. She was a very polite and timid person overall, but it was a bit intimidating sharing a meal with someone with such fearsomely sharp claws. Come to think of it, I think she had even mentioned before that she was friends with a mermaid who lived in Misty Lake.

As we approached, the two figures in the mist took notice of us, turning to look. Upon sighting us, the one in the water promptly vanished, dipping beneath the surface with a small splash. The one on the shore continued to observe us as we drew closer and soon became visible as more than a silhouette, resolving into the familiar visage of Kagerou, blinking in surprise as we emerged from the fogbank.

"Good morning, miss Kagerou! What a coincidence running into you here," Renko called, waving as we approached.

"Miss Renko? Is that you? And miss Merry too? What are you both doing here?"

"Just a little detective work. How about you? Visiting with your mermaid friend?"

"Yes. Or I was. It's okay to come out Wakasagihime, I know these two."

Slowly, a girl's face emerged from the water, wearing a look of trepidation. Her appearance was mostly human except for wavy cobalt-blue hair and what looked like fins poking out of her head where one might expect to see ears. She was wearing a seafoam green kimono despite being almost completely submerged. After glancing at us for a moment she turned to Kagerou nervously, saying "Kagerou, who are they?"

"Two humans who miss Keine is taking care of in the village. Miss Renko and miss Merry. They won't hurt you."

"Renko Usami, the famous detective." Renko said, doffing her hat and bowing slightly. "A pleasure to meet you."

"...My name is Wakasagihime." She muttered, looking down.

"Wakasagi? Is that written the same as the little smelt?"

"I'm not food!" She suddenly exclaimed, swimming swiftly away from us. "I don't want to be battered and fried!" With a loud crash she leapt and dived beneath the water again, revealing a glimmering silver tail for just a moment as she shouted "I don't even like tempura!" before disappearing.

It was hard to know how to react to someone responding to a greeting with so much fear. Kagerou sighed and apologized on her behalf. "You'll have to forgive her, she's rather timid around humans. She says village fishermen who come to the lake are always trying to catch her."

Renko chuckled. "Youkai really are a diverse lot, aren't they?"

"No less so than humans. What did you mean when you said 'detective work?' are you looking for something someone lost in the lake?"

"Not quite. It seems like something strange is happening up on Youkai Mountain. Merry and I were going to try to sneak into the tengu city to see what's up."

Kagerou's eyes went wide at that. "What? You want to climb Youkai Mountain? As a human?" She turned to glance at the mountain towering over the landscape to the north. "You can't! They'll kill you before you make it even half way!"

"That's right! Especially now! It's really dangerous up there!" a voice called from further out in the lake. We turned to see that Wakasagihime had resurfaced and was calling to us from far enough out to ensure we couldn't reach her. "For the last month or so everyone on the mountain has been really on edge."

"Oh? Any idea what that's all about?" Renko asked with a grin.

"I heard from a kappa that there's someone new who settled on the mountain and they're causing the tengu a lot of trouble. When the tengu have trouble, everyone on the mountain has trouble."

Renko turned to me, an excited gleam in her eye. "You hear that, Merry? It's just like I thought! Hey, do you know anything about this newcomer?" She asked, turning back to the mermaid.

"I know you shouldn't pry into it!" She cried and then vanished again beneath the glassy surface of the lake. A few bubbles rose, but after a minute there was no further sign of her.

Renko turned to face us with her chin held high and one hand fiddling with the brim of her hat. "Well, this is getting interesting quickly. A mysterious newcomer on the mountain, the Bunbunmaru Shinbun suddenly going silent and all of the mountain's residents suddenly on edge. This definitely smells like an Incident, wouldn't you say?"

"If it is, and we're there when Reimu arrives to deal with it, what do you think she'll say to you, Renko?"

"I would hope she would praise my sensitivity to these sorts of occurrences. Maybe she would even employ us as professional Incident-detectors."

"I don't think I'd want that job. Aside from the fact that Incidents are the sort of thing any rational person would want to stay away from, I think expecting a salary from Reimu might be the worst money-making idea ever proposed."

"You're being too short-sighted, Merry. Who wouldn't want foreknowledge of events that could affect all of Gensokyo? If we can prove our worth there's sure to be a market for something like that. We live in an information economy, after all, and what information could be more precious than the hidden secrets of the world laid bare in an Incident? It's a perfect opportunity!"

I almost wished the Yama could be here now. It's one thing to tell me my duty is to act as a brake on Renko's curiosity, but I'd like to know how she expected me to stop a freight train full of nonsensical reasoning like this. Lecturing me is all well and good, but she could have at least included some pointers.

"Alright Merry, our destination is in sight. Let's charge in!"

"Miss Renko, are you actually being serious right now?" Kagerou asked, her tone still full of disbelief. "You can't go up Youkai Mountain. No human could. What would miss Keine say if she knew where you were right now? Wakasagihime, what should I do?"

A soft splash echoed from a little further off in the lake. The mermaid had apparently surfaced again, even farther out. "Why ask me? Do whatever you want, Kagerou!"

Kagerou grumbled in frustration, a surprisingly low, throaty growl. "Ugh. Alright, fine. I'd feel bad if I let you do this alone. I'm a werewolf, so I'm a little better equipped to handle the mountain. I'll escort you, but only because I feel sorry for miss Keine. I see why the two of you need someone to take care of you now."

"Thank you very much, Kagerou, that's a wish come true." Renko said with a bow. She turned toward the lake again. "Why don't you come with us too, Wakasagihime? I'm sure Kagerou would appreciate your company."

"I'm not going up there! The river gets really shallow in some places. I'm not a salmon!"

"Oh, man. I haven't had salmon in ages. Merry, do you remember that artificial sashimi place downtown we used to go to? Doesn't salmon sound good?"

There was a splash from out on the water as Wakasagihime once again dived out of sight. Kagerou looked at Renko incredulously and let out another sigh. Cupping one hand to her mouth she called out over the lake. "Sorry about this, Wakasagihime. I'll come back when I'm done."

From somewhere far off in the mist, a voice resounded. "Okay! Be safe!"

Kagerou turned to Renko wearing a look that was as cold as iron. "Don't do anything dangerous or take any unnecessary risks, OK? I'll take you up, but when we see the tengu guards, I'm sure they'll make it clear even to you that going any further up the mountain is impossible."

"Nothing dangerous," Renko swore, holding up a hand, as if reciting a pledge. "You have my word."

I could only sigh, for what I'm sure was the thousandth time this morning.