[Reconstruction - Four Days After The Disaster]
If you considered the crux of this Incident to be the earthquake which destroyed the Hakurei shrine and the commotion that surrounded that event, then you would probably think that everything was all over at this point. Reimu had defeated the mastermind behind the Incident, a Keystone had been placed in the foundations of the Hakurei shrine to protect it from any future earthquakes and Tenshi's true purpose was fulfilled with her continued presence in Gensokyo overseeing the shrine's repairs, just as my partner had predicted. There were no outstanding mysteries to solve and no leads left uninvestigated.
Why then, does this record still continue?
Because the true mystery wrapped up in this Incident was only now just beginning to reveal itself.
-.-.-.-.-
Our first hint of it was brought to us by a messenger from the Dragon Palace. A few days after our trip with Sanae into the heavens, my partner and I were lazing idly about our office after having finished our classes for the day at the temple school. Without Sanae to join us, the office was quiet as Renko leafed through the newspaper and I graded student assignments.
All at once the door was flung open and a profound voice announced: "Any further disasters will occur randomly and not as a result of heaven's will! That is all!" The door was then slid shut again, giving us just be briefest glimpse of Iku Nagae standing in its frame, posing dramatically. Renko and I glanced at eachother for a second before scrambling up to open it once more. Just outside we saw Iku, her backed turned to us, preparing to fly away.
"Ah, miss Nagae, is that you? Please don't leave just yet." Renko called out to her.
"I only came to deliver to you the message that the danger has been averted. With that done now, I will take my leave. Goodbye." Iku gave us the briefest of nods and prepared once more to leave.
"Well, hold on, the message can't be considered delivered if the receiving party doesn't understand it. Let me just confirm I have a thorough understanding of the situation surrounding the earthquakes."
Iku looked annoyed, but stayed put.
"All of this was because Tenshi Hinanawi, a celestial, extracted and concentrated human temperaments, forming a scarlet cloud and gathering power which she intended to use to cause a devastating earthquake, but only ever actually used to perform a test strike against the Hakurei shrine. Now that she has placed a Keystone in the foundations of that shrine, there is no further danger of a second earthquake. Is all of that correct?"
"Oh, I was hoping to avoid explaining that story to you, but it seems you already know it. Where did you hear all of that?"
"From Tenshi herself, when we went up to Heaven the other day.
"From the Eldest Daughter? Why would she tell you any of that?"
"I'm a professional detective. Getting information out of people is my trade. Speaking of which, now that it's over, did you really come all the way down here just to tell everyone involved not to worry about the earthquake?"
"That, and I'm supposed to apologize on her behalf. The Eldest Daughter says she only destroyed the Hakurei shrine by accident and meant to harm." She sighed heavily. "Though if you already know this much I don't suppose there's any point in me trying to sell you that story." Iku sighed again, then turned and walked into our office without being invited as if she had no choice in the matter. Renko smiled as she passed and I fetched her a cushion.
"The sad truth of the matter is that even with all she's done, I doubt Tenshi will be punished for her actions by those above her. I was instructed to convey her apology to the parties involved, but I was hoping to also teach her a bit of a lesson of my own for all the trouble she's caused once I find her."
"I see. What exactly is your relationship with her, miss Nagae, that you feel this sense of responsibility for her actions, but can't take action against her while you're both in the heavenly realm?"
"She is the eldest daughter of Lord Soryo Hinanawi, an important and influential man in the heavenly court. I am but a messenger of the almighty Dragon God, who can't be bothered with such petty inconveniences, but on a personal level the amount of trouble she has caused for those of us that work in the palace is almost unforgiveable. The nobles of the heavenly realm rarely concern themselves with happenings here on the mortal plane, however, so this is a good opportunity for me to pay her back for this excessive prank of hers."
"I see, I see. That's very clever of you since you were commanded to come down here anyway. Well, since you're here and out of sight of your superiors, would you mind indulging the curiosity of a mortal human for a bit longer?"
I would have expected Iku to refuse, given her brusque dismissal of such questions the other day, but being free from observation seemed to have loosened her tongue. She merely nodded.
"Thank you very much, I'll do my best not to take up too much of your time." Renko began. "Now, if I may ask, what exactly are the heavenly realms?"
"That's a rather philosophical question. Perhaps it would be easier for you to understand if I were to explain their origin."
"Please do."
"All the islands you saw in the heavens were once a single enormous stone. That stone itself was once a part of the earth long ago. In fact, it was a great Keystone. Long, long ago, in the time even before man existed or the the gods of the earth were born, that Keystone was ripped from the ground. This caused a tremendous quake so violent that every living thing upon the surface of the earth was killed and buried beneath the ground. With the Keystone suspended in the heavens and shattered, there is nothing left to prevent earthquakes here in the mortal world, and so the creatures that eventually came to live upon the dead and broken land are still subject to the aftershocks of that long-ago cataclysm."
It was quite a story to hear out of the blue. I vaguely remembered reading an allusion to such a story at one point in the Kojiki, but thinking of it at the time as just a mythological explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Here in Gensokyo though, where such mythological perceptions influenced reality, perhaps that and other stories were true. In that case were all earthquakes really caused by the convulsions of a monstrously enormous catfish that dwelled somewhere beneath Gensokyo?
"So why was that great Keystone originally removed from the earth then?" Renko asked, leaning across her desk with interest.
"That was long before the time of myself or any creature but perhaps the Dragon God, but my understanding is that it had something to do with ensuring that the gods of the heavens would be able to establish dominion over the gods of the earth. Even the great catfish that are the source of all earthquakes were originally beasts of the heavens."
"So by removing the Keystone and bringing the power of earthquakes to the land, the gods of the heavens intended to establish a means of ruling through fear. By controlling earthquakes, they could control the fate of all beings on the earth, is that it?"
"That is what I was told, yes."
"What about the moon then? Is that a part of the heavens as well. Was it once a piece of the great Keystone?"
"Almost. At the time that the islands of the heavens were created, multiple Keystones were pulled from the earth. The moon is one that was set in the heavens by the heavenly gods to remind the creatures of earth that they were not the masters of their own destinies."
"I see. Then the moon and the heavenly realm we visited so youkai mountain are two different things, correct? One is not a part of the other?"
"That's correct. The moon is much further away. Both were originally pure lands made sterile after being ripped from the earth. It was only much later that the heavenly gods decided to make the shattered pieces of one Keystone into the paradise you saw and allow those mortals who had been of service to them to ascend and live there."
"Then how about the Dragon Palace of legend. Is that another heavenly realm?"
"It is. It is the home of the great Dragon God."
"The Dragon God must be truly impressive. Here in Gensokyo they are revered as the supreme deity, but most everyone in the village only knows of their existence from the statue in the town square."
"That is as it should be. Any situation that required the Dragon God to descend to earth would have to be something terrible indeed. Besides which, the coming of the Dragon God to earth is always heralded by ferocious thunder storms. If they were to descend it is unlikely that any mortal would be able to notice given the conditions."
Certainly, no one we had ever talked to in the village had ever told us of a time when Dragon God had been seen in Gensokyo since its founding. If Renko's imagining of events was accurate though, such a thing might have happened less than a year before our initial arrival in Gensokyo. I wondered if there would be any records of a terrible storm at that time. Such questions had no bearing on our current situation though, so I will put them aside.
"So the Dragon Palace is separate from the moon as well then?" Renko asked, pursuing a line of questioning I couldn't imagine the point of once again.
"It is," Iku confirmed.
"Well then, I'd like you to take a look at this," Renko said, retrieving her copy of the Gensokyo Chronicle, flipping to a marked passage, and then handing it to Iku. This is a human book, representing mortal knowledge of this realm. It says here that all of the heavenly realms were created to assist those dwelling within them in attaining Buddhahood, but that they are full now, and very few mortals are ever allowed in. As a result, almost no one becomes a Buddha or Bodhisattva anymore."
"Oh, does it really?"
"Right there, Renko said, pointing out the passage. When we went there that didn't seem to be the case though. The islets stretched out among the clouds as far as the eye could see, but there were no cities or congestion. In fact, I think I saw more celestials at work rebuilding the shrine then we saw anywhere up there. Despite that, would you characterize the statement in that book as accurate?"
Iku looked over the text for a moment before responding haltingly. "...No comment."
"Oh? Should I take that to mean you don't know or you're not permitted to say?"
"Let's move onto the next question, shall we?"
Renko laughed. "Fair enough. In that case, lets talk about Tenshi. Who is she, and why is someone with such a tendency to be a troublemaker in the heavenly realms? She doesn't seem like a hermit who has transcended earthly desires, not does she seem to be on the path toward Buddhahood."
"She is the eldest daughter of the Hinanawi household, as I mentioned. The Hinanawi family were once priests in service of the Nagi clan and charged with controlling earthquakes. When the Nagi clan were elevated to the rank of divine spirits and enshrined as gods, the Hinanawi were allowed to ascend to the heavenly realm for their service. Tenshi was but a young child at the time, but she was allowed to accompany her parents and become a celestial as well. She has not, in any way, earned the right to such a prestigious position."
"Oh my, such a harsh judgement. So in that case is she a human?"
"She once was. She had a different name then, I'm told. Upon rebirth as a celestial, her name was changed."
"Then being a human daughter of the Hinanawi line, her ability to control earthquakes using keystones is hereditary then?"
"I would assume so."
"Excellent. Alright then, just one more thing I wanted to ask about. We saw Tenshi carrying a very unusual sword. I believe she called it the Sword of Scarlet Perception. What exactly is that thing?"
"It's a divine implement which can only be wielded by a celestial. It has the power to read the true nature of anyone it's pointed at by drawing out their temperament as a scarlet mist. That cloud you saw was the result of her doing that. She must have been at it for quite some time to build up a thunderhead of that size."
"That's more or less what I heard from Tenshi too, but how exactly does that work? How does a person's temperament become a scarlet mist, and what does that have to do with unusual weather or earthquakes?"
"Hmm, how could I explain this in a way a mortal would understand? A temperament is the essence of someone. Their preferences, personality and opinions. It's the largest part of the soul. The Sword of Scarlet Perception pierces the envelope of a temperament which binds it to the rest of the soul, allowing some to leak out. The sword was intended as a weapon though, so much of what it releases it doesn't need. It's intended purpose is to reveal an opponent's weakness. Things like emotions and moods are of no concern to it and so it leaves them be, only drawing forth the most central, rarified essence of an individual which it releases as a scarlet mist. The parts it discards bleed into the air around the site of collection and affect the environment, influencing the weather. The purified essence of the individual along with a measure of their spiritual power is gathered up and boils off of the blade for its wielder to read. That's why the blade seems to be burning, it's constantly releasing more of the scarlet mist. The intention is that that power would then be gathered up by the wielder and used to strike at their opponent's weakest spot. Tenshi is not skilled enough to do that though. She just lets the power collect, and when enough of it gathers, it becomes unstable."
What a terrible weapon. A blade designed to find and strike at whatever was most vulnerable in an opponent's personality stuck me as a uniquely inhumane sort of tool. Hearing this certainly explained why it had been so unpleasant to have my temperament read at the shrine the other day though.
"So when enough of that power builds up it causes an earthquake. Earthquakes are at the very core of the dominion of the heavenly gods over the earth though. Doesn't that make that sword an extremely important item to the celestials?"
"Yes, it's the treasure of the Hinanawi family, and has been kept in their possession for generations."
"And it's been given to someone who causes earthquakes out of boredom now?"
"It should never be in the hands of someone like her. I have no idea what her father was thinking." Iku sighed again, resting her cheek against a palm propped on the desk. "It's possible that he may not even knows she has it, though it would be improper of me to suggest that he wasn't properly caring for such an artifact."
"Isn't it more improper to let an impulsive and irresponsible child run around with a dangerous weapon like that?"
"It is not my place to interfere or criticize the affairs of the Hinanawi household. I can't imagine her father doesn't know she has it though. I'm sure he's just busy with other matters."
At that Renko merely groaned, running her palm down her face in concern.