Summary:
Reimu knows - she just knows - that Alice's miraculous resurrection is going to be bad news for her and Marisa. She goes to the Scarlet Devil Mansion library seeking a sympathetic ear. But Patchy is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Murasa, and possibly at Shinki's behest, is creating a bona fide Incident. And Alice is as powerful as ever, but with the control of a heedless teenager! Meanwhile, Murasa has to carry out her mission, aided by the liquor that cleanses the doors of perception, but can she sustain her Buddhist purity and still complete her goals?
The way Murasa kept popping up, without anything being able to stop The Ship. The passengers she carried - especially Shinki's insanely powerful 7-coloured daughter, now overpowered, under-trained and underage. With 100% memory loss, to boot.
The way all the omens had switched from omnibenevolent to ominous.
And most of all, the way she couldn't find Marisa anywhere.
All this led Reimu to the conclusion that this was a bona fide Incident in the making.
To make her plans, and, if she was honest with herself, something Reimu could have a hard time being in matters of the heart, seeking a sympathetic ear, she hied herself over to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Was that a look of sympathy, or even pity, in Meiling's eyes? Reimu had no time for such thoughts.
It took her an hour of scouring the mansion to convince herself that Patchouli Knowledge was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, when Remilia saw her dashing around her castle, she just assigned Flandre as an escort. That girl followed her out of the castle, heading to Marisa's house to check on her one last time.
The giggles and sounds she heard from Marisa's bedroom indicated the black-and-white witch had returned.
But not alone.
This is how Alice felt,she thought. If Alice wasn't so dangerous, she'd have a great deal of sympathy for her. I should, she saved me and Marisa from her daughter. Then again, I always felt that it was save Marisa and I was an afterthought. Still, Alice had sacrificed her life, after a fashion. I am an idiot. I deserve this.
When she recognised the other voice, Reimu realised that she had accomplished both of her goals:
She'd found Patchy, too.
Controlling Alice had always been a work in progress. It was far easier to guide The Ship than to steer The Daughter anywhere. Murasa had managed so far with a combination of guilt, shame, invoking Shinki's wrath, claims of superior wisdom, and so on. All of them were only fractionally effective, and she was often wracking her ... well, she did; 't have brains anymore but she did have wits, after a fashion - for new ways to manoeuvre around her. Right now was the time that Murasa worried the most. It was a certain expression that Alice got on her face. It said "You are stalemated, dear captain. Your guardianship is an illusion."
As they headed to their last destination, Murasa suddenly found herself surrounded. Yuyuko Saigyouji, Soga no Tojiko, Youmu and Youki Konpaku, Aunn Komano and a half dozen other Onryō grabbed her and whisked her into a translucent boudoir that looked like it was part of a ghostly harem. More to the point, they all acted as if they were part of Murasa's harem!
As she went down in a sea of ghostly beauty, Murasa mused that her pirate nature had to be satisfied at some point, fight the desires of the flesh as much as she might. She apologised to her heroine and crush. She apologised to the Buddha. And then she surrendered.
Whatever confrontation the shrine maiden had pictured, it certainly was not this. Alice, far from seeking vengeance, had simply snapped her fingers, and Reimu and Patchouli were tied to Marisa's bed with a thousand silken ribbons while Alice and Marisa did whatever they wished with them. As an added fillip, Alice's dolls were all sitting on shelves watching the action as if they were at the theatre. They even applauded Alice and Marisa's vigour. Reimu was a Stoic, and if there is one thing Stoic's understand, it's when fighting won't do any good, and one must simply make the best of the situation.
The mission was a failure, and Murasa had succumbed to the crudest temptations. Where was there any progress? Any achievement? Murasa poured these sentiments out onto the ghost of a parchment and sent it off, in the form of a phantom house swift. Within minutes, a scroll appeared. It was from Hijiri Byakuren.
The scroll contained a single sentence:
"If you have learned, you have done nothing wrong."