It wasn't much later that the three of us were once more flying through the sky, headed this time to the Hakurei shine on the eastern edge of Gensokyo. This would be the third day in a row that Renko at least had been to the shrine. That might make her Reimu's most regular pilgrim, though 'devout' wasn't a word that applied.

Sanae propelled us up to the torii gates in a rush, shouting "Knock, knock! Anyone home?" as she did so. She was nearly bursting with excitement, and we hadn't even landed yet.

There was no response from the empty shrine grounds, however, and the scene looked just as desolate and deserted as always. We looked around for a moment, seeking any signs of habitation when suddenly Suika's face drooped into view, her horns reaching downward and her lose bundle of auburn hair falling like a curtain barring our path as she leaned over from her position on top of the torii to look at us. What was she doing up there?

"Reimu's gone." She said, sleepily. "She and Marisa flew off in a big huff. If I had known you were gonna come back with Renko and Merry I woulda stopped 'em for you. We coulda all had a little drink together instead." Rolling off of the wooden crossbeam, Suika landed on the paving stones of the shrine's path as Sanae brought us all to the ground. Suika squinted at us for a moment, then took a pull from her gourd, staggering drunkenly as she did so. "Real shame they left, there's not even any point if you're here."

"Oh, how do you mean, Suika?"

"It's just that they went looking for you, is all," She said, extending the hand holding the gourd toward Sanae. "Up to your place on the mountain."

"What? To my place?" Sanae's eyes had gone wide as dinner plates.

"Well, they got to talkin' and figured that new god on the mountain sounded pretty suspicious, so they took off to straighten her out some. Just a few minutes ago."

"The shrine maiden went after Lady Kanako? What should I do? We have to find her!" Sanae said, looking around nervously. As her eyes passed over the towering form of Youkai Mountain in the distance I heard her breath catch in her throat.

Renko patted her shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry. Reimu doesn't know where the Moriya shrine is, so she and Marisa will need to fight their way through the kappa and the tengu to find it first. If we head straight back, I'm sure we can beat them there. It's only proper you should be there to greet new guests, right?"

"Right! Of course. Excuse me then, I have to get back to the shrine!"

Sanae turned to leave, but Renko reached out, grabbing her hand again before she could call up the winds. "Hey wait, Sanae. Why don't you take me with you. If Reimu's on the warpath, maybe I can talk her down. I know her, after all."

"Renko! What are you saying?" I grabbed at her sleeve. "Reimu's already got it out for us just for showing up in the middle of every Incident. If she's headed up the mountain and planning to fight a god, you won't be able to stop her. She'll just blast you before you can say a word if you get in her way."

"Merry's right. I appreciate the offer, but if she's planning on invading my home then I couldn't risk endangering you."

"Sanae, don't treat me like I'm a stranger. If two of someone's friends are fighting, it's natural to want to intervene. You've never seen Reimu fight before and I don't want either one of you to end up getting hurt. Please give me a chance to talk her down."

"Seriously, Renko? What's Reimu going to say if she runs into us again? She was mad enough last time that she watched us for a week..."

"She can't get mad about this, Merry, it's not even an Incident. More like... a religious war. She hasn't told us to stay out of those yet."

"I don't think she'll see it that way."

"Well, that's exactly why this situation calls for the intervention of an impartial third party mediator. Sanae you don't really want a war against another Shinto shrine, right? I'm sure Reimu's just misunderstanding things."

"Well, a peaceful takeover would be preferable..."

"Peaceful is what I do! Come on then, let's get me up there so I can help sort this mess out. Peacefully."

I sighed in resignation. I'm sure if Sanae had flown off then and there, Renko would have just started hiking toward the mountain. For better or for worse, there was no stopping her.

Sanae turned her head toward me. "Well, if we're going to go, we better go. Are you coming too, Merry?"

"I have to now, I suppose. Renko will need me there to keep her from doing something stupid like trying to catch danmaku with her teeth."

"OK! It's decided then. Sanae, get us back to the Moriya shrine before Reimu gets there!"

Sanae nodded, with a determined expression on her face then reached out to take both of our hands. As the winds began to swirl around us once more, Suika looked up at us and exhaled a cloud of alcoholic breath.

"I dunno what's going on here, but when did you two become friends with this green miko?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to try to fight Reimu, I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding."

"Well it's not just Reimu. Marisa headed up there too, and she's faster, so you might have to fight at least one of 'em."

"Marisa? What's she got to do with any of this? She's got no stake in a religious war."

"Probably not, but going up the mountain was her idea. She came here saying she saw some suspicious person come off the mountain this morning and deliver two people to the village. She thought it was a tengu at first, doing some kinda reverse-kidnapping, so she followed and saw it was someone who was dressed like Reimu, but not Reimu and carrying Merry and Renko. When Reimu heard that, she prettymuch decided it had to be an Incident and set right off, yelling 'if those two are involved it's even more suspicious!'"

"Wait a minute, Suika! You mean the Reimu's about to start a religious war between the Hakurei shrine and Moriya shrine just because of us?" I blurted.

"I don't think she went there to start a war, exactly, but knowing Reimu, she might get one anyway. She's not exactly the most respectful human I've ever met."

"Wow!" Renko exclaimed. "I never though I was the sort of girl a war would be fought over. I guess I should be honored." Standing on the other side of Sanae she was too far away for me to smack. I settled for a glare instead.

"'Wow!' is not the right response, Renko! What are you going to do if someone gets killed over this?"

"Spell Card rules are there to prevent that from happening. But we'd better get back quick so we can explain them to Lady Yasaka. Let's go, Sanae!"

"Ah yes, let's hurry!"

All at once the wind roared around us, louder than ever before and the ground shot away, with Suika vanishing into a tiny dot surrounded by a cyclone of tumbling leaves. A moment later a fierce gale whipped us from behind and we hurtled through the sky, once again making our way to Youkai Mountain, into the teeth of the coming religious war.