Soon we were landing before the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. As would seem to be the norm, Meiling Hong, the mansion's gatekeeper, was snoozing while standing leaned up against the red brick column beside the iron gate. Watching her peaceful face as she slowly breathed in and out, it was hard to believe that the story once deduced by Renko and expanded by Patchouli could be correct.
Renko leaned forward towards Meilng and cleared her throat. Getting no response, she said softly "Uhh, excuse me."
"Whaazat! Who's there? Oh. It's you guys again."
Meiling had risen to her full, impressive height in an instant, taking a ready stance before she even seemed to be fully awake. Upon recognizing us, she relaxed, returning to a casual position. I wondered how many times we had participated in this exact sequence of events now.
"Oh, there's another one with you today. You were here once before, weren't you miss? With the new goddess from the mountain?"
"That's right, I'm Sanae Kochiya, a wind priestess from Moriya Shrine. We're neighbors now!"
In the last year, we had escorted Sanae and Kananko to the mansion once before, and introduced the two of them to Sakuya, Remilia and Patchouli. Remilia had played the part of the bored noble entertaining a poor provincial guest to the hilt, rankling Kanako, but ultimately nothing had come of it.
"Well, miss Kochiya, what can I do for you today? You too, miss Renko and miss Merry."
"We're all together today, and we're just here to investigate an odd rumor we heard."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"We heard miss Patchouli has been going out and visiting people on her own, which seems unusual."
"Oh, she has been going out a bit more lately, that might well be true. She mentioned she was doing some sort of research." Meiling nodded and smiled.
"Research, eh? I wonder if it has anything to do with the unusual weather we've been seeing. Patchouli is normally the sort to seal herself up in the library, I would think unpleasant weather would be the sort of thing she'd want to avoid. Meiling, did miss Patchouli say anything about where she was going or what she was researching?"
"Err...no. I generally try to avoid asking her questions. She's out again right now, but if you'd like to come in, you could ask her yourself when she comes back. I don't know when that will be though."
"Ah, thank you, perhaps I'll take you up on that offer. Is the lady of the house at home?"
"Yes, she and Sakuya should both be in the audience room at the moment. The weather's been a bit unpredictable lately, so the mistress can't really go out. I bet she'd appreciate having someone to talk to! Come on in."
With that, Meiling swung the heavy iron bars of the gate open. As soon as we took a single step onto the path leading toward the grand doors leading in, however, Sakuya appeared before us without a sound, materializing as abruptly as ever. I imagine that, working for a vampire as she did, she was unaccustomed to worrying about the impact her sudden appearances might have on someone's heart.
"Miss Usami, miss Hearn and... miss Kochiya, wasn't it? Welcome once again to the Scarlet Devil Mansion," she said with a formal bow.
"Hello, Sakuya. Sorry to show up unannounced once again," Renko said, removing her hat and bowing.
"Hello, sorry to be a bother," I said, bowing as well.
"Wow, are you always in costume like that? You really do look just like a real maid." Sanae said, staring wide-eyed at Sakuya.
"I am a real maid, and I don't think you're one to talk about wearing a costume."
"I suppose there really all sorts of things in Gensokyo. I didn't think maids existed outside of cafes in Akihabara any more."
Sakuya stared icily at Sanae for just a moment before turning towards the door and simply saying "This way, please. I'll show you to the audience hall, where the mistress is awaiting you."
We followed behind her, with Renko whispering to Sanae as we did so. "Sanae, have you ever even been to Akihabara?"
"Once! On a school trip!"
"It must be different in your time. In mine it's all smelly old men in pachinko parlors. I can't imagine any of them in a maid's uniform."
We heard the clang of Meiling shutting the gate behind us as we stepped into the mansion. By now the dim interior and vast, spacious hallways were familiar to us, but having seen it only once before Sanae continued to look around at every detail in awe.
"So, miss Sakuya, we heard that miss Patchouli has been going out on her own lately. Do you have any idea what she's been researching or where she's been going?"
"She mentioned going to the shrine the other day, but I'm afraid I don't know her motives in doing so. She said something about 'temperaments.'"
"Temperaments?" Renko asked in surprise.
"Yes, she said magicians are naturally sensitive to them, though I'm afraid I don't know what that has to do with the shrine."
I looked over at Renko. The topic of temperaments immediately called to mind the flower Incident from years ago. Back then, the great Hakurei Barrier had weakened, as it tends to from time to time, and a large number of phantoms had appeared all over Gensokyo. Renko's theory on that Incident had concluded that most of those had simply been temperaments -detached and short lived partial fragments of souls.
"I haven't seen any phantoms accompanying the unusual weather. Hopefully this doesn't end up like the last Incident." I whispered to Renko.
"I don't think it will, but I don't know what the connection between temperaments and weather could be yet either. Maybe this Incident is about unlikely things happening. Normally I'd give snow in July and Patchouli getting up and going wandering about the same odds."
As Renko and I continued to whisper to eachother and Sanae continued to marvel at the surroundings, we found that we had quite suddenly come to the entrance to Remilia's audience chamber. Sakuya threw open the ornate oak-paneled doors and ushered us inside.
"Pardon me, milady, I've brought some guests to see you," she said with a elegant bow.
Remilia was slumped on her throne, staring lackadaisically out the open doorway to the covered balcony when we entered, but upon hearing Sakuya and noticing us, she instantly straightened up. The same boredom that had turned her in a boneless lump the moment before somehow became the haughty and refined ennui of a worldly noble looking down upon the petty amusements of their inferiors. "What's this?" she asked, looking us over with that same predatory, appraising gaze that I remembered. "I thought perhaps Patchy had returned from wherever she's been sneaking off to, but it seems you've brought a more exotic taste for me to sample."
"Oh, that's a new one. Merry, would you think I taste 'exotic'?"
"I'd expect you'd taste more 'weird.' I think she was talking about Sanae though."
"Me? I'm not weird."
"I was definitely referring to you. You came here once before. You're the one who's like Reimu, but a different color, if I recall."
"I'm nothing like her! Comparing us would be like if I said all vampires a just like Kyuranos! If that were the case, I'd just blast you with my Ultra Beam!" Sanae shouted, crossing her arms in front of her face.
"Foolish human, didn't I tell you that crosses have no effect on me?"
Although it was only her second time meeting Remilia, Sanae seemed to have no reservations around her. Remilia, for her part, seemed eager to play along, cackling maliciously and leaning back to dodge as Sanae pantomimed special attacks. Maybe the two had more in common than one might think?
While Sanae and Remilia continued to play the part of comic book heroes and villains, Sakuya was quickly and quietly setting a table over on the side of the room, having produced four velvet upholstered chairs, a table cloth, place settings, tea and scones in the moments between blinks. Remilia gestured invitingly to the table as Sakuya finished her work, and we moved our discussion over towards it. As we took our seats at the table, Sakuya bowed respectfully and vanished without a word.
Smiling in a way that seemed to serve to highlight her pointed fangs, Remilia lifted her teacup and stared through the wafting steam towards us with her crimson eyes.
"So, what quest is so great as to bring three hapless humans into the very lair of a vampire, hmm?"
"Well, you had mentioned that Patchouli was out earlier, actually we wanted to-" Renko began, but was almost immediately interrupted by Sanae who suddenly leapt to her feet, tipping her chair over backwards with a crash as she did so.
"I see it now! You're the culprit behind this Incident! You've been dispatching your hench-wizard to locations around Gensokyo to mess up the weather, thinking no one would find out! Well, I, Sanae Kochiya, holy warrior, am on to your scheme and I will not let your villainy go unpunished! Die, monster. You don't belong in this world!"
Remilia chuckled, swirling the tea in her cup and regarding Sanae coolly. "Foolish human. You cannot stand against the might of the descendant of Țepeș. Mortals like you should be bowing down in tribute to me."
"Tribute!? You steal men's souls and make them your slaves! With the power of faith in the Moriya shrine I will end your reign of terror. People of Gensokyo, lend me your faith!"
"The power that you could gather is but the flame of a candle before the wind. The light of your faith would be forgotten in an instant if I had a mind to cover the world in darkness."
"No! The power of one human may be small, but the power of faith is infinite! The light of mankind's faith will shine forth!"
"Man's faith? Pah! What is faith? A miserable little pile of lies humans tell themselves as they shiver in my night. My strength will crush the spirits of man and the strongholds of your faith with it!" By this point Remilia had risen to her feet too and was standing with one foot on the table, hands posed threateningly and eyes gleaming.
"Okay! That's enough. Save the confrontation for the next issue, we have to cut it here or there won't be a good cliffhanger." Renko interjected, also standing and waving her arms between the two of them.
"Renkoooo, you're ruining it! We were just getting started. The hero of light was just about to triumph over evil and restore hope to the world. It might have been more dramatic if you had thrown your teacup with that line about faith though, Remilia."
"The cunning vampire would simply have altered the hero's fate and ushered in a thousand-year empire. And Sakuya gets testy when I break the teacups. Now, where were we?"
Renko shrugged and patted Sanae on the shoulder. Sanae pouted for only a moment before turning her chair upright and sitting back down. Remilia followed suit, stepping back off of the table and plopping down in her seat. I revise my earlier statement, the two definitely had a lot in common. To a frightening degree.
"Now then," Renko began. "We've been looking into some odd irregularities in the weather around here and..."
"Oho?" Remilia's blood-red eyes narrowed as a wide and mischievous smile played across her lips. "So you've noticed then. Even Sakuya hasn't picked up on it yet."
"Ah, so you already know then?"
"Indeed I do, though it's not my doing, nor is it Patchy's. Sakuya never notices anything though. Even back during that moon Incident, she had no idea until I pointed it out to her. It's nice to see that not all humans are so dull."
"So then, do you have any idea who might be behind this bad weather or why?"
"A human detective is asking the queen of the night to do her work for her now? How disappointingly lazy. I don't have any idea as to who, but I would think the 'why' of it all is perfectly clear."
"Well then, if you've already made it that far I must admit I'm impressed. Perhaps this detective still has something to learn from a devil as aged and wise as yourself. If you would be so kind as to instruct me, I'd be very grateful."
Remilia chuckled softly as Renko stared intently at her, clearly enjoying the spotlight. "Well, you have humility, at least. That's more than I can say for Sakuya, even if you're a transparent liar. I'll tell you anyway though, as having you pursue this mystery suits my purposes. The culprit's motive is clear, detective: they seek to keep the eternal scarlet moon from going outside!"