I still remember the day Renko and I wandered into this world, unknowingly leaving behind our homes in Kyoto in 2085, perhaps forever. We had been visiting the long-sealed room of Renko's great aunt, Sumireko Usami. There we had found a flimsy, hand-written notebook with the title 'Hifuu Club Activity Record' and within its pages a pebble of amber with an insect trapped inside. I wonder if, had I not recorded the details of those events in the first of my mystery novels closer to the time of our arrival, would I be able to bring myself to believe that any of that had happened now? Was that title really on the notebook? Was the amber that fell from the pages the same one that would later be given to me by the youkai sage?
The details of that event too seemed hard to credit. Just after the conclusion of the Spring Snow Incident, I had met with the sage for the first time. It was then that she had produced a piece of amber, likely the very same piece, and given it to me, before transporting me across the Great Hakurei Barrier, where I had in turn given it to someone else. A young child, who almost certainly must have been Renko's great aunt.
Now, looking at Renko and the loop of string in her hands, I felt again that same uneasy feeling of being involved in a paradoxical impossibility.
"So what you're saying then, is that the reason we're here in Gensokyo in 2008 is because the youkai sage constructed a time loop. For us at least, the summer of 2003 follows the summer of 2085 and we were naturally drawn backward."
"Everything known to science suggests that time can only flow in one direction, and that going against that flow would take an infinite amount of energy. If time were bent in this way though, that would let her get around that limitation. I think her powers might be capable of that. It's just a theory, of course, but my evidence is that amber. We know it existed in our time, and the youkai sage got it out of your hands, then gave it back to you only to make you give it to my great aunt. It's almost like she was trying to prove to me what she was capable of without actually appearing in front of me. If that is the case, then it strongly suggests that she's the one responsible for us ending up here and now, and not my great aunt. It also explains her motivations for this most recent Incident."
"What? How so? I follow you about your great aunt, but what's that have to do with Tenshi and the earthquakes?"
"Think about it, Merry. If time is looping, then that means that the youkai sage knows what happens in the future. At least as far as when she created the loop and brought us here, in 2085. If Ran is right and she's always trying to create the best possible path for this world..."
"...Then you think she wanted things to play out the way they did to ensure that a Keystone was placed in Gensokyo. To prevent a devastating earthquake that otherwise might have destroyed this place. Is that it?" I asked, finishing Renko's sentence for her.
"Exactly. If I'm right, then everything was set in motion to achieve that result. Yukari would have been the one to make sure that the sword was left where Tenshi could find it and dissuade anyone from stopping her from using it. The destruction of the Hakurei shrine would have been something that she somehow manipulated Tenshi into wanting. Making a big show of destroying the shrine again and punishing Tenshi in front of everyone would have just been a smokescreen to hide that she was responsible while also making it clear to anyone watching that you can't make the sort of changes to the world Tenshi did without getting punished by the powers that be. It's a cruel and cunning trap, setting the bait then clamping the jaws shut when someone takes it."
"In other words, you think the youkai sage had the same idea as Sanae did?"
"More or less, yes."
-.-.-.-.-
"Okay," Sanae had said, taking a steadying breath and trying to organize her thoughts. "It goes like this. The heavenly realms are accessible from various places in the Outside world. Anywhere where there's sufficient faith, right? If we can convince Tenshi to use her powers for good, we could have her do in all of those places what she did here. Drive Keystones into the earth to prevent major earthquakes. Think how many lives we could save in the Outside world! You two know when and where a major quake is likely to happen, all we'd have to do is point Tenshi at the right time and place!"
That was the nature of the project Sanae had proposed to us. A plan that might have saved tens of thousands of lives in Japan alone, if it had been able to prevent the Tohoku quake and tsunami of the 2010s or the Tokai Godzilla of the 2040s. If such a thing could be done, the humanitarian argument for doing so was compelling. But to do so would also necessarily mean intentionally causing a deviation from history -both of those tragedies had been recorded as historical events in the Scientific Century.
It was, of course, possible that the history of the Outside world occurring beyond the bounds of Gensokyo was already divergent from the timeline Renko and I knew -our knowledge of history wasn't exhaustive, and moreover we had no means of confirming details. In such a case the argument for taking on Sanae's project was even more compelling, though the effects of our interference on the timeline would be wholly unpredictable. Both of those earthquakes had touched off cascades of events with political repercussions felt around the world. The Tohoku disaster and resulting nuclear meltdown had spelled an end to commercial fission power around the globe, and the destruction and ensuing humanitarian crises of the Tokai quakes had resulted in political upheavals concerning immigration laws and the treatment of refugees throughout the great nations. Disrupting either of those chains of events, even with the best of intentions, might have completely unpredictable consequences of a sort that were far too serious to be undertaken lightly.
-.-.-.-.-
Despite those concerns, it seems interference of that sort is exactly what the youkai sage had done. Maybe in the case of Gensokyo, that was the right thing to do. If her goal as the Administrator of this world was to always choose the best path forward, then almost any action that protected Gensokyo could be justified regardless of its impact or potential impacts on any other world. If she knew a tragedy like the Tohoku earthquake was destined to occur in this world and had the power to change history, might she not have used Reimu, Tenshi and anyone else she pleased as pawns to prevent it?
"So Renko," I asked, pondering the question in my mind even as I spoke it, "why were you so concerned about the location of Gensokyo?"
"Well, think about it for a second, Merry. Gensokyo is physically connected to the Outside world. In the last 120 years, is there anywhere in Japan that hasn't had a major earthquake at least once?"
"But Akyuu said there have been no quakes here..."
"And that Keystone was only put down recently. It's possible that maybe the youkai sage had carefully located Gensokyo in a region that had managed to avoid being hit by any major quakes that originated outside of it for 120 years, but that's got to be pushing the limit on how long you could go without seeing something strong enough to level a village with no modern construction methods in a country like this. Depending on where Gensokyo is, with the great Tohoku earthquake only a few years away, well it may be that this is all happening now for a reason."
My mind flashed back to the pictures and videos I had seen in history classes as a high schooler. A massive earthquake, followed by an almost unprecedented tsunami. Entire villages wiped off the face of the earth without a trace by 20-meter tall walls of frothing mud. The resulting nuclear disaster that had put the word 'Fukushima' in the same terrible category as 'Chernobyl' internationally, a shorthand for a terrifying man-made environmental catastrophe. The direct casualties were thought to have exceeded 15,000 and the ongoing effects of the contamination and cleanup efforts had been a looming shadow over all of Japan for the first half of the 21st century.
Perhaps Gensokyo had once been meant to be among those places destroyed in that disaster.
-.-.-.-.-
After Renko had revealed her theory to me, we had discussed it for a time, but ultimately, there was nothing we could do about it. The youkai sage refused to appear in Renko's presence, and we had no way of confirming any of the details. When we went to bed that night though, the implications were still spinning through my head.
If a being had the ability to loop spacetime as Renko had suggested and was actively shaping history to choose the best path for Gensokyo, then our presence here had to also be part of that plan. What could the youkai sage want with us though? I had only ever seen her a handful of times and she had never communicated to Renko at all. What was the aim of Yukari Yakumo, and what role did she envision for us as her pawns? According to Renko's theory, our origin in 2085 might have been the starting point of the loop, in which case it seemed an unavoidable conclusion to think that we were central to her plans, but if that were the case why had we been brought back as far as we had? I couldn't imagine that Renko or I had done anything in Gensokyo in the time that we had been here that might have significantly diverted the course of this world's history. Giving me the amber to give to Sumireko suggested our coming here couldn't have been an accident, but could our presence have simply been forgotten? Had she found some other solution to whatever purpose she had intended for us and just abandoned us?
Listening to Renko's breathing on the futon beside mine, I tossed and turned restlessly. Random, disconnected thoughts flew through my mind, circling a central theme, but never filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle. What did the youkai sage want from us? How could we be instrumental in ensuring the best future for Gensokyo? What was the circle of cause and effect?
I remember distinctly the feeling of cold clarity that descended on me the moment it all clicked into place. The dreadful feeling of certainty that settled like a lens over my eyes, casting everything I saw in a new light. My eyes shot open as I sat up. Beside me Renko was curled into a ball, groaning softly in her sleep. I rose to my feet as quietly as possible, untangling the hem of my nightgown from my calves. I moved to the door and opened it gently, looking out at a bright moon shrouded by mist in the night sky. As if lured by the moon, I found myself stepping outside, barefoot and still in my bedclothes, with no destination in mind. Still staring upward, I wandered onto the compacted earth of the schoolyard.
"Good evening. The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"
The voice had come from above me. I turned in its direction with a gasp to see a solitary figure sitting on the roof of the schoolhouse, illuminated in the soft silver of the hazy moonlight. A golden-haired figure whose features were obscured by deep shadows, but bore an impossible resemblance to my own.
