"I don't know much about it either, but it's basically said to be a world above the clouds where there's no hunger or disease, right?"
While we were eating dinner at Mokou's house, my partner had asked Keine about the heavenly realm. That had been her response. It wasn't particularly helpful.
"Well, if I remember the Gensokyo Chronicle correctly it's supposed to be situated above the skies of the Netherworld, right?" Renko asked around a mouthful of boiled bamboo shoots.
Keine regarded her with a critical look that seemed to peer deeper than her lousy table manners. "I suppose I ought to tell you the truth, since you'll just go poking your nose into it anyway if I don't. Akyuu told me that some of the information in the Chronicle is intentionally inaccurate. The location of the heavenly realm is one such detail."
"Oh? how so? And why?"
"Well, from what Akyuu told me, the heavenly realm is an infinite expanse -bigger than Gensokyo, the Outside world, the Netherworld and Higan combined. All the dead who are judged worthy by the Yama and any hermits who, through their training, have managed to completely abandon worldly desires are said to reside there. Supposedly, the peak of Youkai Mountain is the closest point to it of anywhere in any of the worlds connected to Gensokyo."
"Ah I see. I never would have imagined that Akyuu would hide such a secret. I'm guessing she was worried that..."
"Villagers might try to climb the mountain in search of a way to enter Heaven? Yes. They say in the heavenly realm there's no need for work, no hunger, no disease and freedom to sing and dance and live happily all day. Even knowing that the tengu would turn any human away before they could make it in, there would still be some who would think to try to get there if they knew. That's why the Gensokyo Chronicle says it's somewhere that's impossible to reach."
"Keine, you know about it though, have you ever tried to go?"
"I'm not conceited enough to think that I belong in a place reserved for saints. Besides, my life is in the village. If I had no work to do and no one to look after, I'm sure I'd go crazy after three days."
"Ah. Yeah, that sounds like you."
"Do I need to bother telling you that you're not to make this information public?"
"You can count on me, Keine. As a professional detective, discretion is the core of my business."
Keine shot Renko a suspicious look. I'm not sure if people native to Gensokyo would have any preconceptions about what a detective was supposed to be like, but if the only exposure to one you'd ever had was Renko, I imagine they'd seem like shady characters.
"Why all these questions about the heavenly realm all of a sudden? Is Kaguya planning to try and trick her way in there or something?" Mokou asked.
"It might be amusing to see her try and charm her way past the Dragon God, but no, not to my knowledge, anyway. Just consider it idle curiosity about one of the few remaining blank spots on my mental map of Gensokyo."
-.-.-.-.-
Back at Eientei, we had asked Eirin why a celestial might want to interfere with the weather in Gensokyo, but she had merely shrugged.
"Boredom, maybe?" had been her answer. "Mortal creatures and their world far below are seen as beings of no consequence or import to the celestials. Perhaps some youkai on the surface did something to offend them. It wouldn't be unlike them to punish all of Gensokyo for the transgressions of a single individual. Ultimately though, the why of it all is none of my concern. I've merely asked Reisen to ascertain whether there's any risk to Eientei."
"That's worrying. Would they really mess with the weather and cause earthquakes just to kill time?"
"I don't see what's so surprising about that. The people of Gensokyo cause Incidents and have danmaku battles just to kill time. This is much the same, just on a different scale. Do you think anyone mourns for the moths that get mistakenly drawn to glowing bullets?"
"What a terrifying perspective. Does the moon count as part of the heavenly realm then? Is that how the Lunarians see the people of Earth?"
Eirin tilted her head, considering the question for a moment. "I suppose the answer to that question is a matter of perspective. To people on Earth, there's little difference between the moon and the heavenly realms, as both are unreachably beyond a mortal's grasp. To Lunarians, the two seem very different though. Celestials are beings that are elevated by gods, but the Lunarians became what they are through their own actions long ago. It's a matter of some contention as to which people might be closer to some divine ideal of perfection. As for their views on Earthlings, to my knowledge most celestials are simply disinterested whereas Lunarians find humanity and the Earth distasteful and disgusting. Well, most Lunarians anyway."
"So then the heavenly realm isn't somewhere Lunarians can easily get to either?"
"Not to my knowledge no. I don't have any knowledge of what the heavenly realm is like myself or what the celestials' motivations might be, but I remind you that I am an exile from the Lunar Capital, and have been living here in isolation for the last thousand years. It's entirely possible my information is out of date."
-.-.-.-.-
Renko relayed the above conversation to both Mokou and Keine over the dinner table. "So in the end, Eirin thinks she knows who, or at least what kind of person might be behind the unusual weather, but we're no closer to knowing their name or intentions."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to try and prepare ourselves and make do then. Certainly you're not thinking of trying to find a way into Heaven, Renko." Keine said with a pointed look toward my partner.
"Would you believe me if I said 'no?'" Renko asked with a grin.
"No!" Keine stood up from the table, glowering at Renko. "Why are you like this? First the Netherworld, then Youkai Mountain, now Heaven! These are places that any other villager would see as permanently unreachable! Why can't you understand that?"
"Keine, it's fine." Mokou said, trying to calm her down. "Even if she were to try to, it's not like Renko could break into Heaven and spend her life doing nothing but idling about and playing games, right?"
"Oh, I was just planning on investigating, but if I could manage that, it doesn't sound too bad."
"Renko!" Keine cried, her brow knot with frustration. Mokou had been trying to make her position sound reasonable, but it was Renko's nature to be anything but. I sighed and shook my head at her.
"I'm telling you for the last time," Keine said threateningly. "Leave the investigation and resolution of Incidents to the experts. That's what Reimu is here for. I'll go and talk to her tomorrow and tell her what you've found. The information you've uncovered could be useful, but you shouldn't have been pursuing it. You're a teacher at the temple school and a human from the village. Your only concerns should be being a role model to the children and keeping yourself safe, in that order! What kind of person would want to live an idle life of just pointlessly killing time or shorten their life by getting involved with all of these dangerous people and events when they don't have to?"
"Hey Keine, you mind leaving this lecture for later?" Mokou asked. "All of those criticisms could apply to me too."
"Well then maybe you should smarten up too, Mokou! You may not be a teacher, but what are you doing lazing around here all day? Would you even have eaten if I didn't come by? Half the time I come here you're asleep, no matter what time of day it is. Moreover, the roof on this place has been sagging for more than a year! Are you just going to leave it until it collapses on you and make me dig you out?"
Mokou let out a sigh as Keine began her sermon in earnest. It seemed the dam had broken, and the pent-up stress of the last week was now flowing unstoppably. The three of us settled in for a long night as Keine's eyes flashed in irritation.
-.-.-.-.-
Of course, at this point, we had no way of knowing that Keine wouldn't get a chance to talk to Reimu. We had no way of knowing that, by morning, the Hakurei shrine would have been reduced to rubble by an intense but highly localized earthquake.
Similarly, we had no way of knowing that, by this point, several people had already encountered the mastermind behind this Incident. In the sense that multiple people all confronted the mastermind of their own accord at different times, this Incident was similar to the Night Parade of 100 Demons Every Three Days Incident. In that case though, we had been the first to locate the party responsible. In this case, we hadn't even heard of her yet. But the next day we would. We would meet her that very day -the day of the earthquake.