"So Renko, have you settled on an explanation?"
We had returned to our office behind the temple school and sat down around the kotatsu, loaded with a fresh batch of warm coals. My partner kept her coat on as the cold room slowly warmed.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it an 'explanation.' A working theory, maybe."
"A theory? About what? There's not really any mystery here other than why Orin was so worried, was there? Things are proceeding more or less as Kanako expected them to."
"You know I can't answer that, Merry. Not yet, anyway. Why not think on it for yourself? Just try and lay out a timeline of the events to date and I'm sure you'll see what I'm worried about." Having said that, Renko flopped over backward onto the tatami, unfolding her legs under the kotatsu so that her feet were just beside me. She took a moment to grab the cushion she had been sitting on and wedge it under her head before pulling her hat down over her eyes.
I stared incredulously at her for a moment, then got out my writing supplies, including one of the precious ballpoint pens Sanae had given me. If a timeline was going to be critical to understanding the mystery of this case, then I supposed that I should treat it with the same formal gravity that I normally would give to our typical list of questions. Please feel free to do the same yourself, dear reader.
Once I had written everything down, remembered bits and pieces and re-arranged everything until I was sure it was all in the right order, my timeline looked like this:
[Timeline of Events Surrounding The Origin of the Incident - The Moriya Shrine]
1. In order to secure a source of energy to power future innovation Kanako Yasaka (and presumably Suwako Moriya?) dug a hole leading from Youkai Mountain directly to the Hell of Blazing Fires.
2. There they gave the power of Yatagarasu to Okuu in the hopes of harnessing the power of nuclear fusion.
3. At some point prior to this, this plan was discussed with Satori Komeiji, the master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits and was met with her approval. It was kept secret from Sanae, however.
4. Okuu, having gained the power of fusion, devised a plan to invade the surface world and turn it into a new hell. Kanako was not made aware of this.
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Mastermind Behind the Plot to Incinerate Gensokyo - Okuu the Hell Raven]
1. Prior to any of this Okuu and Orin lived in the Hell of Blazing Fires. When the Palace of the Earth Spirits was given to Satori to allow her to monitor the vengeful spirits bound beneath it, they both became her pets.
2. When Okuu gained the power of Yatagarasu, she caused the temperature of the Hell of Blazing Fires to increase and steam geysers erupted from the surface near the Hakurei shrine.
3. Okuu devised a plan to use her new power to burn the surface world. Her motivation for doing so is unknown (she has forgotten it.)
4. At some point after this, Orin used these geysers to send vengeful spirits to the surface as a sort of SOS, calling for help to stop Okuu's plan
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Mastermind Behind the Plot to Release Vengeful Spirits - Orin the Kasha]
1. Prior to Satori becoming master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Orin lived with Okuu in the Hell of Blazing Fires. She referred to herself as a hellcat, but she seems to be a kasha.
2. After Satori's arrival, Orin was entrusted with the task of managing the vengeful spirits bound to the Hell of Blazing Fires.
3. Orin learned of Okuu's plan to burn all of Gensokyo and became worried that if Satori learned of it, then Okuu and possibly herself would be killed - either by the oni or by Satori herself.
4. Orin released vengeful spirits to the surface in the hopes that someone from above would come down and put and end to Okuu's scheme without seriously hurting her.
5. It is believed that Orin was not aware that Satori had been in conversation with Lady Yasaka prior to all of this.
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Mastermind Who Dwells in the Palace of the Earth Sprits - Satori Komeiji]
1. Satori is a satori, and was tasked by the Yama to watch over the souls bound to the Hell of Blazing Fires. Her purpose was to ensure that these damned souls continued to be tormented by the flames and did not escape. To achieve this, she moved into the Palace of the Earth Spirits and began caring for many pets, including Orin and Okuu.
2. As part of her payment for taking on this responsibility, Satori had the Yama locate and capture Satori's sister Koishi and bring her to the palace as well.
3. Other youkai moved into the city of Former Hell but avoided and scorned Satori because of her ability to read minds.
4. Satori is unable to read her sister's mind and has only a limited ability to perceive her. As such, she frequently loses track of her sister's location.
5. When we met Satori, she asked Renko to locate her sister again.
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Mysterious Vanishing Sister of the Mastermind - Koishi Komeiji]
1. Satori's younger sister is also a satori, however she is said to have forcibly closed her third eye after having grown tired of being hated by everyone because of her ability to read minds.
2. Since then, possibly as a result of closing her third eye, Koishi seems to have become a youkai of unconscious thought, wandering around at random, invisible to most, but occasionally noticed, especially by children. She may also have the ability to manipulate the unconscious mind, but being unconscious herself, she may not know this.
3. For some reason I can see her, but she runs away from Renko.
4. Some human children in the village can also see her.
5. Are her actions related to any of this? Could they be? Is she even capable of planning anything?
[Timeline of Events Concerning the De Facto Ruler of Former Hell - Yuugi Hoshiguma]
1. She is one of the oni who was once called one of the 'Heavenly Kings of Youkai Mountain,' and possibly before that one of the 'Four Heavenly Kings of the oni'. Other members of this group include Kasen Ibaraki and Suika Ibuki who both are thought to have gone to live above ground. In Suika's case, at least, this is known to be true.
2. About the time that the Great Hakurei Barrier was established she moved underground along with the rest of the oni and many youkai and took up residence in Former Hell, where she became the chief of the oni living there and by extension de facto ruler of the city.
3. Although quick to anger and capable of terrible violence, she takes good care of those who follow the rules of the oni within Former Hell, and is willing to help even those youkai who are despised by the outcasts who occupy the city. In particular, she seems to care for Parsee despite the fact that Parsee is hated by most residents of Former Hell and doesn't seem to actually live within the city.
4. She seems to have an interest in aiding captain Murasa and Ichirin in their quest to return to the surface with their ship.
5. She does not seem to have any knowledge of the goings-on at the palace or Lady Yasaka's interference in the operation of the Hell of Blazing Fires.
[Timeline of Events Concerning Two Residents of Former Hell - Yamame Kurodani and Kisume]
1. A cheerful, outgoing tsuchigumo and a quiet and shy tsurube otoshi, they both came to live in Former Hell with the rest of the reviled youkai, around the time that the Great Hakurei Barrier was erected.
2. They often play in the vertical shaft connecting the surface to the Underworld. Yamame claims that she sets nets up there to catch suicidal humans to eat.
3. Yamame is a very outgoing person and knows Yuugi, Parsee and captain Murasa well. She also appears to know Satori, but doesn't like her. She had not met Koishi, however.
4. She also seems to be acquainted with Orin, but had no idea about the happenings at the palace.
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Hashihime Who Jealously Guards The Bridge Between Worlds - Parsee Mizuhashi]
1. She is a hashihime who guards the bridge connecting the vertical shaft to the surface to Former Hell. She looks like a foreigner and has an accent.
2. She has the ability to manipulate jealousy and evoke it in others with her gaze. For this reason she is either unwilling to live in the city or unwelcome there and appears to spend nearly all of her time on the bridge that she guards.
3. Despite the old stories about the origin of the hashihime, there does not seem to be any connection between her and Ibaraki Doji.
4. She seems to dislike Yuugi, but Yuugi often comes to visit her. In Yamame's opinion the two are good friends. I wonder if Mokou and Kaguya might have a similar relationship. (Mokou would definitely claim they do not.)
5. Yuugi and Parsee seem to have some sort of professional relationship as well, with Parsee performing some task related to watching the bridge for Yuugi.
[Timeline of Events Concerning the Disciples of the Sealed Saint - Captain Murasa, Ichirin and Unzan]
1. Captain Murasa is a ship phantom, Ichirin is a youkai capable of commanding a nyudo and Unzan is her nyudo partner. All three of them fled to the Underworld along with the wreckage of something that was at one time a Buddhist temple and at another time a large sailing ship.
2. All three are disciples of Byakuren Hijiri, who was supposedly a Buddhist nun who became a magician and has been sealed in Makai. Their goal is to escape from the Underworld along with their ship, then use that ship to release Hijiri from her prison. At current though, they have no means to extricate the Holy Palanquin from the depths.
3. Another youkai seems to haunt the area around their ship as well. This youkai is known to make people mistake things for other things.
And that's about everything. I sighed and looked over my jumbled notes then rested my head on my hand. To me, everything still seemed to make sense. There were a few unusual irregularities such as Okuu forgetting her motive for wanting to burn the surface world to ash, and Orin not having told any of her friends in the Underworld about her troubles, but those were matters of personal choice -there was no solving the mystery of why an individual might choose to believe or act in a certain way. Their choices were a result of their own inviolable perceptions, after all.
Beyond that there were a few other inexplicable details, like why Koishi avoids Renko so assiduously, or the identity of the unknown youkai affecting people who go near captain Murasa's ship, but I couldn't see any connection between those details and the Incident. Certainly, I couldn't imagine that there was some overarching secret connecting the Moriya Shrine, Orin and Okuu, Byakuren Hijiri and Parsee, for example. Something that broad would seem to be beyond the scope of even Renko's delusions, in my mind. To me the most unfathomable mystery of all was just why my partner had been so surprised to hear that Satori was aware of Lady Yasaka's plan to feed the eye of Yatagarasu to Okuu. Personally, I didn't see how having her be party to that plan or unaware of it made any difference. What exactly was the mystery Renko was trying to solve? From the questions she had asked and the people she had chosen to talk to, it seemed to me like she was focused on something concerning Koishi and her sister, but I couldn't see how that had anything to do with the events going on in the Hell of Blazing Fires.
"Well, what have you got, Merry?" Renko asked, sitting up and placing her hat back on her head as I sighed over my paper.
"Nothing at all. I'm not a delusional megalomaniac like you Renko. All I can see from that exercise is that you made me waste a bunch of this precious ink."
"Oh? That's a strange thing to hear. You out-guessed me during the last Incident, Merry. I thought you were eyeing my position as Director here."
"That was just a coincidence, a momentary flash of inspiration, or maybe a psychotic break with reality."
"That's how it works, Merry. You feed all your information and logic into your subconscious brain and it analyzes the details and find connections in the background. Then at some point a solution bubbles up out of the churn. No one gets to see how the connections get made. That's why I can't tell you what I'm thinking until the moment I reveal everything. There's no 'process' to it. I just come up with these theories. I couldn't tell you how though."
"So I suppose that means that even after all that work on my part you won't be telling me what you're pondering now either?"
"Well, right at the moment, I'm just worrying about Reimu and Marisa. I'm hoping they're strong enough to defeat Okuu and anyone else who might get in their way down there. I'm no fighter, but Yuugi, Parsee and Orin all seemed like they might be pretty nasty to deal with, and who knows what Okuu's actually capable of?" As she held her hands over the brazier in the center of the table her face seemed lined with genuine concern. If this Incident couldn't be resolved by force, then we were wholly reliant on Lady Yasaka being as capable as she though she was at keeping Okuu from getting to the surface. The consequences of her having misjudged that particular assumption could be disastrous, and even Renko didn't seem to think it would be possible to talk Okuu out of unleashing wanton destruction if she were to throw off her leash.
"Look on the bright side, Renko. If Gensokyo gets turned into a sea of fire, you'll never have to hear me tell you 'I told you so' ever again."
"As nice as that might be, I'd rather hope that this all gets resolved in such a way that Reimu gets her hot springs. Maybe if she wins against Okuu we can all have a party at the Hakurei onsen after."
"Ugh, I don't know about that name. She might have to call it something else. 'Hakurei Onsen' sounds like some place that would be run-down and shabby."
"Well, be that as it may, as long as I get to go to a hot springs with Merry, I think I'd end up enjoying myself. For now though, Merry, do you really not have any idea of what I'm thinking about?"
"None. The events we've seen don't contradict eachother and everyone involved has a sensible motivation. Everyone seems to be pursuing their own goals for their own reasons, so I don't see anything amiss."
"Yes, it certainly looks that way on the surface. Everyone has a perfectly good reason to act the way they are, almost as if everyone's desires were perfectly lined up to create exactly this situation through a natural confluence of events. It's very sneaky. There's just one bit that stands out, one person who's actions don't have any reason behind them."
"You mean Okuu, right? You don't think she actually forgot why she wanted to attack the surface world?"
"No I'm sure she did forget. That aligns with everything else we know about her. I don't think she came up with that idea all on her own either though. I think everything that's been happening is going exactly as planned, from the jobs everyone down in Former Hell is doing to Okuu's attempt to start a war, to Reimu and Marisa going down to stop her. Every step of this process has been sketched out from the beginning and accounted for."
"That's ridiculous, Renko, half of those people don't know eachother and of the ones who do only about half of those can tolerate eachother's company. Why would they all work together?"
"Why indeed, Merry, what purpose could unite such disparate factions into a common cause? My hope is that everything will continue to go as planned and Reimu and Marisa will wrap this up with a little help from their Yokai friends. That would honestly be the best outcome here, for the mastermind's plan to go off without a hitch."
"Wait, you think Okuu being defeated would still be part of the plan?"
"Well really it would just be the cleanup. The important bit would be getting those two down into the Underworld, with a bunch of youkai watching over their shoulders. That's the point of this whole affair, I think."
I stood starting at Renko with a wondering expression as she leaned back from the kotatsu, looking up at the ceiling and lost in thought.