"Huh, it's... a little small, don't you think?"

"What does size matter to a god? Besides, that took me all day to make. I'm not a carpenter, you know."

Renko and I had come here, along with Reimu, to see the newly completed Moriya branch shrine. I supposed that to a metaphysical being like a goddess, who could create her physical form in any way she liked, the nature of a shrine wouldn't matter much. Looking at its lopsided roof though, I couldn't imagine she'd be very impressed. Overall, the impression it gave off was closer to a large birdhouse than a proper reliquary.

"Hopefully putting this up will start bringing more worshippers to the shrine."

"Well not on it's own, it won't, I don't think. You'll probably have to do a lot of proselytizing in the village to get people to come see it first."

"Ugh, that sounds annoying. What's the point of a god's blessing if you still have to do all the work?"

"Can you afford to be so laid back about it? What will happen if the Moriya shrine really does end up becoming more popular and ends up stealing all of your worshippers?"

"Then I'll fly up there and exterminate them. They weren't really all that tough."

"Standard Reimu policy, no crisis of faith that can't be solved with violence, right?" This snide comment had come from above us. Looking up, we saw Marisa descending towards us, rotating on her broom with a small woven basket dangling from the handle.

"Heya Reimu." She said, smiling as she touched down lightly. "Oh Renko an' Merry too. Hey there. I picked up some nice chestnuts."

"Oh, did you go up the mountain again?"

"It's harvest season. There's all kinds'a stuff up there if you know where to look."

"If a tengu catches you trespassing, you're on your own."

"If a tengu wants to chase me, they're welcome to try. I'm a pretty good runner. Here, Merry, you take some chestnuts too, I bet they're tasty roasted." Marisa reached into the basket and brought out a pair of chestnuts, each still covered in dense thatch of prickly spikes. They were enormous, each one larger than my fist.

"Oh, thanks," Renko said, eyeing the spikes, "but I'm not sure how we could even get them home like that."

Reimu looked the nuts over dubiously. "Those are the biggest chestnuts I've ever seen. Are you sure that that's what they are?"

"Probably! There's a huge chestnut tree up there that I'm pretty sure is half youkai. These're bound to be good for somethin' -Oh and I heard a strange rumor while I was up there too."

"A rumor about a youkai chestnut tree?"

"Forget the chestnuts. It's about that shrine on the mountain. I heard it from one of the wolf tengu. Apparently there's a second god hidin' up there."

"What? Kanako didn't say anything about that."

Reimu frowned. I couldn't help but glance at Renko guiltily. I wondered if Kanako had told the tengu about Suwako willingly or if tengu spies had perhaps discovered it without her knowing. I had no idea how long the Moriya Shrine had intended to keep the curse goddess a secret.

"You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

I snapped out of my thoughts to find that Reimu had fixed Renko and I with a cold and unforgiving stare.

I flinched back as Renko scratched at her cheek. "I've got no idea what you're talking about," she said, looking away.

"You sure about that answer? My instincts are telling me you know something."

"Reimu, how are you ever going to become a proper detective if your intuition gives you all the answers? You've got to learn to read people. If you did, you could have known about this way sooner."

"No one could guess what you know or don't know, Renko, you seem suspicious all the time anyway," Marisa said with a grin. "Now fess up about this other god."

"Ah, what can I say. If you want to find all the secrets of the Moriya shrine, its imperative that you go in properly equipped. Unfortunately for you, I'm the only one with a Merry to drag around, and she's Gensokyo's best barrier-detector." Renko said, suddenly grabbing me by both shoulders and shoving me forward.

"Ah, Renko! Don't push."

"A barrier-detector?" Reimu asked, looking at both of us with open suspicion.

"Genuine, grade-A. Top of the line model. She can see the gaps in wards. The hidden god at the Moriya shrine lives behind the barrier between those pillars on the lake."

Reimu's stare seemed likely to burn a hole clear through me. "Hmmm, you were the one who found the only unsealed door at Eientei too, weren't you?"

"Well shoot, with a recommendation like that, I can't pass up the chance to try it out! I'm borrowin' her." Marisa said, grinning manically as she grabbed my wrist with one hand and settled her broom into a hovering position with the other.

Marisa tugged me toward the broom, but Renko seized my other wrist and hauled me back toward her. "Hey, hold on a minute, that's a one-of-a-kind original model. You can't just grab her. You've got to bring me along too so I can make sure she gets proper care and maintenance."

"What? No deal. I told you before three people is over capacity. No way I can get up the mountain carrying you both. Get Reimu to haul you up."

"Me? Why do I have to carry her? Who even said I was going?"

"Oh, you wanna stay behind and miss out then?"

Reimu looked over to my frightened face, then over to Renko's insufferable grin, and finally over to Marisa's crazed smile. She sighed.

"Alright fine. Grab my hand."

-.-.-.-.-

And thus, the four of us departed once more for Youkai Mountain. I didn't know it at the time, but as we left we just narrowly missed Sanae, who was headed to the Hakurei shrine from the village and arrived to officially inaugurate the Moriya branch shrine only to find the entire place abandoned.

-.-.-.-.-

"Are these the pillars?"

"Yep. How about it, Merry? Can you see a gap?"

"They've done a good job of patching the hole we made when we went in last time. Let me see if I can find something else."

"So you've already met this god? Why are you two always the first on the scene?"

"Call it a gift. Curiosity and a knack for gathering information, mainly."

"-Ah! Right here. Someone's just gone through here. I think I can catch the edge..." I pinched at the fluctuating surface of the barrier, and it pulled away, like a skin on hot milk. With just a tiny bit more tugging, the barrier tore, opening a yawning, vertical gap in front of me.

"Alright seriously. Merry. If you're Yukari's alter-ego just tell me."

"I'm telling you, she's not me!"

"Whoa! did you do that? It looks just like hers, just without the little bows."

"Yep, that's my Merry. The door's open now, ladies. Shall we?"

"What the heck, we're here already. Charge!"

With that, Marisa urged her broom forward and we plunged into the gap. We emerged, as before, on a road much like the one we had just flown over, but lined with dozens of the Onbashira where outside there had been only a few. It was the first time I had seen this space in the daylight, and while it didn't have the foreboding aura that the looming pillars had lent the place during the night, I couldn't help but wonder why the barrier had shown signs of someone having recently passed through it. In all likelihood either Kanako or Sanae were already here...

While I was thinking about such things, Marisa suddenly stopped the broom short, causing me to lurch forward against her back. Reimu stopped next to her at the same time and let go of Renko's hand, sending her abruptly plummeting a meter to the pavement below. She landed roughly, falling flat on her butt.

"Oof! Hey, watch the landing."

"Merry, you'd better get down too." Marisa brought the broom down enough that I only fell a few centimeters after hopping off to land just beside Renko. I helped my partner to her feet, then we both turned our eyes upward, to where Reimu and Marisa were hovering before a god.

Kanako Yasaka stood looking at all of us with an astonished expression. "You two! What are you doing here again?" She thundered.

"That's a false accusation. I've never been here before in my life," Marisa replied, grinning.

"Not you, the two in the back. I thought I told you that this was to be a secret place!"

"Well, it seems these two had already heard about it from the tengu. I'm afraid there's a limit to how far a regular, powerless human can be expected to protect a secret," Renko said with a grin.

"Perhaps you are right. It was short-sighted of me to believe you could be trusted. Even still though, I can't allow you to go any farther."

"Oh, that sounds pretty tempting. What are you hiding here exactly?"

"A friend. But she is not to be disturbed!"

-.-.-.-.-

Just as before, I won't waste ink on a futile attempt to paint with words the beauty and complexity of the danmaku combat I witnessed. I will say though that I don't think Lady Yasaka really intended to stop us. After a few quick and playful exchanges, she raised her hands, palms upright, still floating in a sitting position in mid-air and said "Alright, that's enough."

"Wait, you're givin' up just like that?"

"I've tested your power. You're up to the challenge. But you should know that what lies ahead of you is a terrifying curse god. If you choose to proceed further knowing that, then it's not my responsibility to stop you. If you give her a good fight though, she'll probably let you go without much trouble. She's been bored lately."

"A curse god? Now I really do have to go see her. I might have to seal her before she does anything terrible." Reimu growled.

"Well that's a new one to me. May as well give it a shot though, let's see what a curse god has to offer!"

"Hey, wait for me!"

And with that the two of them were off again, shooting down the stone path and weaving amongst the Onbashira, shoving and slapping at eachother to be the first to challenge Suwako. We watched them go for a moment, then Lady Kanako turned to us, floating above us with her arms crossed.

"Perhaps I should have told you that if you can't manage to keep a secret you'd be cursed. Though somehow I doubt that would have been any more effective."

"You may well be right. Sorry about that. I'll raise a glass in your honor tonight."

"Well, I hadn't planned to keep Suwako a secret forever, and she was getting bored lately so I suppose in the end it's alright. If you're going to offer me a toast though, see to it that it's the best sake in the village. I've sampled what they drink down there and I think distillery technology will have to be among the first of the blessings I endow."

Renko laughed then put her hands together and bowed her head in worship. "Ah, in that case I may have to raise several glasses to you." I made no such promises, but bowed my head respectfully.

"Now, I see that Sanae is not with you. You must have just missed eachother, she was on her way to the shrine."

"Oh? To the Hakurei shrine? Yeah, we must have left right before she arrived."

"She was on her way to inspect the branch shrine."

"Ah, in that case, I guess this is good timing."

Kanako frowned at that response. "Are you not here to see Sanae?"

"Well, that would be nice, but I was hoping I could have a confidential chat with you first."

"Oh, something you don't want Sanae to hear? What is it?"

"Well, it concerns our identities to begin with. Has Sanae told you about us?"

"...That you're from the future? She mentioned you said that, though I don't see any reason to believe such a story at present."

"That's correct. Merry and I are time travelers from the year 2085, albeit unintentional ones. Right now, in the world you came from it's the year 2007, correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

Renko nodded, then began to pace slowly back and forth. "Well, that brings up an issue. Something that's been bothering me ever since I first set foot in this shrine. Namely, its resemblance to the Suwa Grand Shrine of the Outside world. It seems clear from a number of details that this must at one time have been a part of that shrine. The Onbashira in particular are pretty unique, and a clear tie to that location. But if the Akimiya of Suwa Grand Shrine is here now, then what happened to it in the Outside world? It was still there when we saw it in the 2080s and there was no record of it ever having vanished back in the 2000s."

Kanako's eyes narrowed, but she didn't immediately respond.

"Please understand that if the Suwa Grand Shrine really did disappear, that has some pretty big implications for Merry and I. It would mean the history of the Outside world is not as we remember it, making it all the more likely that we can never return to our own time. For all we know, if things out there are changing, then the two of us may never even come to exist. We have no way of checking on what's happening out there, so knowing the fate of the Outside world's Suwa Grand Shrine is very important for us."

"I suppose if I simply told you that the Suwa Grand Shrine is still in the Outside world that wouldn't be a satisfying answer for you would it?"

"With all due respect, no. Given the importance of the matter and the fact that we're friends with Sanae, I wouldn't put it past you to tell us a comforting lie if you thought the truth would be upsetting. Since we can't go and look ourselves, we have no way of confirming the matter, of course, and we'd like to believe you, but if you can't provide a reasonable explanation of why this place looks like the Suwa Grand Shrine and how it could be here without having been taken from the Outside world, I'm afraid we'd always still have doubts."

Kanako sat in the air, glowering at us in silence.

"If this once was the Suwa Grand Shrine, where are the other three shrine complexes? Why is it called the 'Moriya Shrine' instead of Suwa? If it never was the Suwa Grand Shrine, why does it look like the Akimiya, and why create a lake here? I couldn't find a good answer to that question, so I did a little research. Into the traditional indigenous beliefs of the Suwa people and the differences between divine spirits and native gods, specifically."

"That's quite the scholarly bent you have. Did your research bring you to any conclusions?"

"Well, nothing more than an inference, I must admit. A story built from the information I've gathered, shaped to fit the facts I've observed. My best guess, if you will. I can't deny that there may be details I don't know about, and in fact I'm hoping you can tell me something that will collapse my theory entirely. If you'll allow it, I'd like to explain my theory to you and see if you can confirm or refute the correctness of it, Lady Yasaka."

"All right then, let's hear it." She replied, reclining in her seated position with a look of supreme confidence and a faint smile.

Renko returned her smile then adjusted her hat, poking it back on her head with one finger and staring into the god's face.

"It all hinges on one hidden identity, which everything else was crafted to conceal. Kanako Yasaka. You are Sanae's biological mother, aren't you?"