"I'm sorry for interrupting your visit with your friend."

"If you were actually sorry, you could show it by giving up on this fool's errand."

"Well, we've already come this far, it'd be a waste to turn back now."

"...I should have listened to miss Keine and miss Mokou when they told me you were a strange human."

Kagerou and Renko were walking side by side, a few steps ahead of me. I suppose our positions could have been seen as a good metaphor for my own attitudes toward these unnecessary risks Renko insisted on taking for the sake of her curiosity -I wasn't moving at the same pace as Renko, but I wasn't far behind either, here, along with her despite my protests, both a willing participant and invested in discovering the same truths. To an outside observer I wondered if the two of us even looked any different - both forging ahead into danger without pause. If one of us climbed a little slower, it hardly mattered since our destinations were the same.

"A daredevil with an outlook like yours might be the scariest thing on this mountain. The tengu are dangerous, but they're predictable. Their actions make sense. This confidence of yours borders on insanity."

"You could call it bravery, you know."

"I'd rather call it foolishness."

"Well, call it what you will, if we hadn't come up here today we would have missed out on this beautiful scenery. You have to admit, this is really something." Renko poked the brim of her hat, easing it back on her head and looking up as she spoke.

Above our heads the dense thatch of tall pines that made up the lower forests along the foothills had given way to the splendor of a dense canopy of oak and maple leaves spread out over the shore of the river. The clear, rushing waters were ornamented with the occasional fire-bright highlight of red or gold leaves floating on the surface, but the vast majority of the leaves had not yet fallen, and instead stood proudly against the sky, their bold colors a chromatic symphony of intense but harmonious tones. Along with the bracing mountain air, the scenery would have made an ideal setting for a picnic.

"It's gorgeous, don't you think, Merry? I'd want to take a bunch home like a bouquet if they weren't so high up."

"You could always go give the tree a kick, Renko. We can gather up anything that falls and press them between some of Keine's histories."

"I wouldn't do that," Kagerou interjected. "Unless you want to make the gods of autumn angry."

"It really would be a nice spot for a picnic though. Should we have our lunch a little early?" I asked.

Unexpectedly, Kagerou responded by snarling and thrusting out an arm across Renko's path as her canine ears suddenly perked up. "Hold it," she growled with a low rumble. "There's something dangerous ahead."

Peering into the depths of the forest, she glared at a fixed point not far in front of us. There was something there, a silhouette barely visible amidst the gloomy shadows under the trees. Come to think of it, the shadows seemed unusually deep there, in fact, the light around us overall seemed to have dimmed somewhat, despite it being nearly noon and with only the occasional small cloud dotting the sky like cotton balls.

"Intruders on the mountain? At a time like this? Turn back, mortals, the lands ahead are not safe for your kind," said a voice rising softly from the gloom. The voice and its warning were both familiar.

"Hey!" Renko said excitedly. "It's that curse god. Hello again!" she called out, waving her arm over her head.

Hovering just above the ground and rotating slowly, a porcelain-white face emerged from the gloom. It belonged to Hina Kagiyama, still dressed in a wildly improbable gothic lolita dress adorned with countless frills and ribbons, looking just as she had when we had last seen her, during the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons Every Three Days Incident.

Looking at us, she seemed confused for a moment before recognition finally clicked. "Oh, you two! You invaded this mountain once before, several years ago, did you not? Have you come back again?"

"We have! We're not in search of oni this time though. Just the tengu today," Renko declared.

"The tengu? The tengu don't have time to deal with humans right now. If you are humans. You look like something else." I couldn't be sure who her comment was directed to, but Kagerou answered.

"I was a human once. I'm just a werewolf."

"Ah, my apologies. I thought you might have been a young wolf tengu. In that case you should stay away from me as well, lest my misfortune rub off on you. In fact..." she said, again spinning around as she orbited around us, eyes narrowing as she took us all in. "You'd best all turn and leave as soon as you can. The tengu are consumed with an internal struggle over how best to deal with the new goddess of the mountain. Any disruption to their deliberation would likely be met with swift and callous retribution."

"A new goddess?"

"That's right. Her shrine and a lake appeared suddenly near the peak of the mountain one day."

"Appeared? As in they came from somewhere else? Another world?"

"Perhaps. I only know they're here now and claiming dominion over all of the mountain."

Renko turned to me and stepped forward, grabbing up my hand in both of hers, eyes shining with excitement. "Merry! It's got to be an Outside world goddess!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"It's finally happening! The beginning of the 21st century was the height of the old age of scientific objectivism and the dark age of spirituality, when people across the world began to reject spiritual beliefs en masse. Every world religion suffered sudden and steep declines at the same time as people began adopting a misguided belief that a technological singularity was inevitable. And you and I get to be here, on the illusory side of that border as it happens! All the gods who were lost to history in our Scientific Century may well have fled to this world! I wonder what sort of goddess she is!"

"Easy, Renko, you can't be sure of all of that, just calm down, okay?"

"This isn't the time to be calm! We're just a mountain away from coming face to face with history! A history that was lost to our Scientific Century! The very essence of a truth hidden from the predictable, mechanistic world that the Hifuu Club was founded to overturn! There's no turning back now, we have to get to the peak to meet her! Hina! Can you show us the way to the shrine?" Letting go of my hand she turned toward the curse god, stomping exuberantly forward.

"What? I can't take you there! And stay back from me, you'll be cursed with misfortune!" Hina flinched away, both arms extended to ward Renko off. It was a scene no different from the last time we had met her.

"Renko!" Kagerou growled, dispensing with her usual politeness. "You said you weren't going to do anything dangerous, remember? The peak of the mountain is even beyond the tengu lands. You'd have to get all the way through their territory to go there. It's out of the question!"

"A little danger is the spice of life, Kagerou. As director of the Hifuu Detective Agency, I am duty-bound to investigate an event of this magnitude. Besides which, this is an unprecedented opportunity! What greater thrill could there be then revealing a secret like this?"

"Alright Renko, that's enough," I said, grabbing a hold of my partner's cheek and pinching.

"Muunuuuu... Merrby leb go," she muttered.

"Laughing in the face of danger is one thing, but charging in without even a plan is hardly the action of a genius detective, right director? Now calm down and let's talk this through."

"Mumumumu..."

I'm not sure if she had been trying to speak or just fuming wordlessly but when I released her cheek she settled for pouting and glowering.

"Today we'll settle for gathering information. If a new god really has appeared on the mountain, then they're bound to come down to the village at some point in search of worshippers, aren't they? There's no need for us to risk our lives here and now."

"Merry, how can you be such a hikikomori? You have a good point, but how can you stand to sit and wait at a time like this? Where's your spirit of adventure? Where's your passion for discovery? My heart is about to burst out of my chest at the thought of seeing what's in that shrine!"

"Nope, no chests bursting here. Besides, even if I felt the same way, it wouldn't be right to allow Kagerou to be troubled by your curiosity, would it? Now try and think strategically for a moment. There are people we could ask about this without just charging ahead. Nitori lives somewhere around here, doesn't she? Or there was that one white wolf tengu we met before. We can ask them about what's going on today and make plans for how to approach the goddess when she comes to town. Isn't that more reasonable?"

Renko huffed grumpily. She looked at me, then rolled her eyes and groaned before wheeling her head around and coming to look at me again with a heavy sigh. "It's a reasonable place to start. I guess," she muttered.

"That's a good Renko." I said, patting her on the head. I turned and bowed to Kagerou and Hina in turn. "I'm sorry to have caused you both so much trouble. Would either of you like to join us for lunch while we make plans?"

The two of them, despite being strangers, turned and glanced at eachother in awkward silence before looking back to me.

-.-.-.-.-

Hina had steadfastly refused to join us for lunch, out of fear of affecting us with her aura of misfortune. She had also mentioned that the kappa we had met before hadn't been seen for the last few days and her current whereabouts were unknown. Thus, after Kagerou and I enjoyed a meal beneath the tranquil glory of the autumn scenery and Renko sat and wolfed her food, tapping her foot impatiently the whole time, we set out, just the three of us, headed for the waterfall that marked the edge of tengu territory.

We heard the waterfall long before we saw it, though with the impressive height of the sheer basalt cliff face that it tumbled down, we still saw it a long way off. For Kagerou it was her first time seeing the falls, and she looked up with wide-eyed awe at the spectacle of their cascade as we finally arrived, walking along the gravelly bank of the river to the deep and broad basin at the foot of the falls.

"Now," Renko said, peering across the breadth of the foaming pool, "if I were Nitori or Momiji, where would I be hiding..."

No sooner had she muttered the phrase than we heard a voice calling out from somewhere above. "You two again? What humans would be foolish enough to trespass on tengu lands twice in one lifetime?" This time the shadow of Momiji's lithe form appeared not from behind the waterfall but instead dropped directly in front of us from the canopy of a large tree. Like Kagerou, she was an athletically built girl with canine ears and a fluffy tail, though in snowy white rather than Kagerou's reddish chestnut. Unlike Kagerou, however, she was carrying a long, curved sword and heavy-looking shield of bright steel and was regarding us with open suspicion.

Renko paid her threatening expression no mind and attempted to strike up a conversation. "Hello again, miss Inubashiri. I'm honored you remember us after so long."

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't forget the face of someone bold enough to come so far up our mountain uninvited. This face, however, is unfamiliar. Speak your name, stranger, and tell me your business upon our sacred homeland." She said, addressing Kagerou.

"I'm Kagerou Imaizumi... A werewolf," she said, sounding unsure.

"Two children of men and the cub of a wolf. What business brings you to the lands of the tengu?"

"I'm simply escorting these two. I have no business here of my own," she explained hastily. Her tone had shifted to one of annoyance in response to Momiji's characterization of her. I had heard from Keine that Kagerou had been chased out of the human village in the past. I wondered how she thought of herself now. A human? A wolf? Both? Neither? At any rate she didn't seem to enjoy having others make the judgement for her.

Momiji turned to glare at the two of us, her sword extended and hovering perfectly steady before us.

"Last time you came with the gatekeeper of that eyesore of a mansion, and this time you arrive in the company of a half-beast. How is it that two ordinary humans have compelled the service of a variety of lesser youkai?"

"It's called being friendly. You could give it a try sometime, if you liked."

"Her presence here is highly suspicious. You two pose no threat, but someone like her I would normally capture and take to my superiors to decide her fate. With things as busy as they are now though, I should warn you I have dispensation to simply end you all should you decide to make a nuisance of yourselves."

"Ah, lots of trouble with that newcomer to the mountain then?" Renko asked conversationally.

The point of Momiji's sword drifted from its position between the three of us to aim directly at Renko's heart. Renko raised her hands, palms up, a slightly exasperated look on her face. "Such things are not for humans to concern themselves with. All affairs regarding life on this mountain are decided by the tengu alone."

"Whoa, whoa, easy there," Renko said, easing a half step back. "I have no intention in interfering in your business. I'm merely here to check in on Aya Shameimaru."

"Aya?" The sword wavered for a moment, lowering a few centimeters before snapping rigidly back in place.

"That's right. No newspapers had been delivered to the village in over a month. As one of her regular readers, I was just concerned that something might have happened to her."

The blade wavered again as Momiji seemed lost in thought. "I would never have guessed her newspaper had enough readers for someone to be concerned about the writer," she mumbled, seemingly to herself.

I can't imagine Aya would have been happy to hear her say that. After saying it, however, her stance relaxed and she lowered her sword, returning it to the sheath at her hip. "The publication of all newspapers has been put on hold by order of the great tengu themselves while our leaders decide on a course of action concerning the newcomers to the mountain. Aya is just fine, she is merely working on other tasks, as assigned by those above her. I'm sure once things settle down she'll write an article about the whole affair, so you need only be patient and you'll have all the information you could want."

"That's good to hear," Renko said, relaxing into a friendly smile. "I had heard that the newcomer was a god, so I imagine the discussions are quite serious."

"I believe I mentioned already that such things were not the concern of humans. As a patrol tengu any further information is beyond my clearance anyway. If there's nothing more, you are free to leave. Should any of you take one step further into tengu lands, however, you'll be cut down where you stand." Saying this, Momiji turned, and began walking along the edge of the waterfall basin, toward the cliffs on the far side.

Renko called out to her, waving as she did so. "We'll be going then, thank you for the information. Please say hello to Aya for me if you see her."

Momiji stopped just before the bare rock face of the cliffs and turned, speaking over her shoulder, just barely loud enough to be heard over the rush of the falls. "If you really desire to know more about the newcomers, I suggest you head to the Hakurei shrine."

Renko was plainly surprised. "Huh? the shrine?"

"One of the newcomers is flying there right now. She passed this way just minutes ago." Having said that Momiji leaped into the air, hurtling directly upward dozens of meters and vanishing in a spray of raindrops as her momentum carried her through the stream of the falls.

What business would a mountain god have at the Hakurei shrine?