On our way up to the heavenly realms, we again ran into miss Nagae.

"Oh! You're back again? Or wait, you're a different person, aren't you? Did you know that there's a youkai who looks exactly like you? She just left here, looking for the Eldest Daughter. I think she was headed to the shrine."

That was as far as the conversation got before, at Renko's insistence, Sanae wheeled around and brought us down and eastward, hurtling toward the Hakurei shrine grounds.

Upon landing there, we encountered Suika, who told us much the same story.

"Yukari? She just left. I think she was looking for Tenshi."

Renko looked over at Sanae, but she had collapsed on the stone steps of the shrine, panting heavily. Before Renko could even open her mouth she wheezed "I'm not a helicopter!" I just flew down from the mountain, back up again, and then back down again, carrying the two of you most of the way. Even divine winds can only blow so far!"

Given everything Renko had already demanded of her, we were in no position to protest. Instead, Renko closed her mouth, then sat down on the steps beside Sanae, patting her on the shoulder.

"Good work, recruit." She said, "You did all you could. That'll be all for now."

Sanae groaned and attempted to go limp, but there was no way to do so comfortably on the stone stairs. "What were we chasing her for anyway? She doesn't really seem like the type you'd want to meet if you could avoid it."

"She's the key to a puzzle. I need to know what she thinks of this whole Incident."

"This Incident? You mean the earthquakes and the weird weather? That's all over, isn't it? Tenshi got what she wanted. She fought Reimu and put down a Keystone."

"I was beginning to think so too, but if the youkai sage is looking for Tenshi now, after everything's all over, there must be more to it than that. Tenshi caused an Incident that could have threatened all life in Gensokyo, but that wasn't enough to get the sage moving. So what's happening now must be something even bigger than that."

After a statement like that, I had to intercede. "Are you sure this isn't just another one of your delusions, Renko? You don't have any evidence that anything like that is happening except that the youkai sage has been flying around looking for Tenshi. Maybe she just wants to talk to her."

"Don't say that, Merry, that option would be boring. That's antithetical to the purpose of our detective agency. Now, what do you suppose the best way to find the sage would be? If she's looking for Tenshi, I suppose we could just stay right here and stake out the shrine until she comes back to finish it."

"You have classes to teach at the temple school. It's summer break now but how long do you think Tenshi will be at this? Besides, I think the sage wont come here as long as you're waiting for her, Renko. She's done everything she can to avoid you."

"Am I really that awful, Merry? How can she hate me so much if she's never met me?"

"Maybe she doesn't like people who constantly stick their nose into affairs when no one's asked them to."

"How sad, that's more or less inevitable for me. It would be fundamentally against who I am to stop. I guess I'll just have to keep settling for discount Yukari and stay with you, Merry." Renko said that, then leaned over to where I had taken a seat beside her, throwing an arm over my shoulder and latching on in a lamprey-like hug.

"How am I 'discount Yukari'? And why are you clinging to me? Get off, you're hot!"

"Hey you two, come on, could you not flirt right in front of me? We talked about this already."

"We're not 'flirting!' She's just gone all boneless on me. Get off, Renko!" I pushed my palm into her face, trying to pry her off, but her arms just clamped on ever tighter.

Sanae sighed. "So what now, boss? Are we done for the day?"

Renko suddenly sat up, releasing me and rising to her feet. "Before that, there's one more thing we should try," She said. Without another word, she turned and climbed up the steps the rest of the way to the Hakurei shrine grounds and proceeded over to the side of the establishment where the meagre form of the Moriya branch shrine still stood. I got up and followed her, arriving just as she clapped her hands together and bowed respectfully in front of the shrine. Rising up only part-way, with her head still bowed, she said "Lady Yasaka, are you there? Sorry to disturb you, but might I beseech you to appear here for a moment?"

For a moment there was only silence, then a sourceless voice sounded in all of our heads at once. "It's very bold for a person who isn't a trained shaman, shrine maiden or wind priestess to summon a god. Especially when that person hasn't made any sort of offering or donation."

A moment after saying that, however, Kanako Yasaka, chief goddess of the Moriya Shrine appeared on the spot. "Nonetheless, I am here now. What did you want?"

Sanae, who had followed along behind me, had arrived now and excitedly greeted the goddess as soon as she saw her. "Ah! Lady Kanako! You came to the branch shrine, welcome!"

Kanako raised a hand in greeting as Renko began speaking. "Sorry to call you here on zero notice, but it must be nice to be able to instantly be in another place. Cuts down on your commute. Anyway, I asked you here because, as you can see, Sanae is very tired, having helped us chase the youkai sage around all day. Rather than exhaust Sanae any further, I was hoping perhaps you could tell me a bit about her."

"You mean Yukari Yakumo? I think 'great youkai sage' was the title she used. I've only met her a few times though. What did you want to know?"

"Well, for one, I'd like to know what she talked to you about. You first met her a short time after coming to this world, correct? I assume her initial visit was a sort of welcome wagon, explaining how things are to be done in Gensokyo?"

"Most of that sort of information came from her shikigami, actually. The few times she stopped by herself, she mainly just wanted to check up on us and ask what we thought of Gensokyo. Her conversation was generally light and trivial, as you might expect for someone who's just stopping by to introduce themselves."

"At any point did she or Ran give you any pointers or lay down any restrictions on how to gather faith?"

"No, not that I recall. I took that to mean we were free to pursue our goals as we saw fit. Why all these questions about her?"

"Just consider it my own curiosity for now, as I've never had the pleasure of meeting her. If she didn't tell you anything, what kind of impression did she make on you? As a youkai, I mean. What did you think of her on what a human would call a 'supernatural' level?"

At that question, Kanako frowned, crossing her arms and tilting her head in consideration. "Hmmm, that's an odd question. As a god, I've known many youkai in my lifetime, but she was definitely something special."

"Special? how so?"

"Hm, it's difficult to explain it in a way a human would understand. Youkai and gods are completely different things, but they have some similarities. Just as gods depend on faith, youkai depend on fear. For gods, faith grants them power and substance and for youkai fear is like food is to a human, they need it to survive. That's because youkai are born of fear. When people fear something, they give that fear a name, and that name comes into being. Over time it comes to gain attributes and a nature. As more people come to agree what the nature of that thing they fear is like, a youkai is born. More fear and recognition makes for a stronger youkai. A yamabiko, for example, is a youkai of echoes. People heard their own voice reflected back at them or footsteps somewhere they were alone and thought there must be some creature there with them. As people agreed what that creature was like, yamabiko were born. Yukari Yakumo is supposedly a gap youkai, but I don't think she's born of a fear of gaps. She seems broader and more powerful than that."

"Interesting, what sort of youkai do you think she is then?"

"I've only met her a few times, I couldn't say for sure."

"If you were to speculate though, what would your guess be?"

Kanako exhaled slowly, looking upward as she thought. "I've only talked to her a little, you understand, but looking back to the youkai I've met since coming here, she seems to have a much broader understanding of science and technology as it exists in the Outside world than anyone else in Gensokyo. You mentioned to Sanae that she occasionally imports things from the Outside world into the human village, but I think she is much more familiar with the state of things out there than that would suggest. She is called the 'youkai sage' though, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she is so knowledgeable. If I were to meet her in the Outside world, I would have thought that she were a scientist or established expert in some field related to physics or mathematics. I might even venture to say that she has knowledge exceeding the bounds of 21st century scientific discovery. I'm not an expert in Outside world science myself though, so I can't be certain. It's a shame you haven't met her, Renko. If you really are from the end of the 21st century, I would be interested to hear how her understanding of scientific concepts compares to your own. Indeed, perhaps if you met, you might be able to tell me what kind of youkai she is. Somehow, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that she was a youkai created by the fear of a concept that humanity hasn't even discovered yet, or perhaps has only been discovered by scientists on the bleeding edge of modern innovation."

Renko's gaze suddenly lost focus, and her hand came up to grasp her chin as she muttered to herself. "Could that really be it? Is that why she won't appear in front of me? Is she afraid that in my knowledge I might have some understanding of what she really is?"

I turned to look at Renko. "Youkai rely on human fear though, Renko. If she were the youkai of a concept not yet discovered by humanity, she wouldn't have any fear to empower her. Wouldn't it make more sense to be the other way around, for her to be the youkai of some concept that people fear in this time, but that because of your knowledge of the science of the future, you wouldn't?"

Renko groaned and pressed a palm into her forehead. "Either way, one thing seems to be clear. She's never going to let me see her, is she?"