Ichirin took us aboard by means of a large hole in the side of the ship rather than the deck, presumably so that she could stow the fragments of the mast away first. When we entered the confines of the ship however, we found it lousy with fairies. They were almost all fairies of the smaller sort, each only slightly larger than my head, wings and all, and were flitting about senselessly, playing with blocks of glowing wood and dancing cheerfully.
Upon seeing them, Ichirin immediately grew incensed. "Ah! Not again! Put those down! I had just stowed all of those! Don't touch mother Byakuren's sacred treasures! Unzan!" Having deposited us on the deck of the hold, Unzan responded to the call and sent one enormous hand swooshing down the length of the ship, sweeping from side to side, bowling over a handful of fairies as it flew and scattering far more as they fled out of the way. Several of the fairies dropped pieces of glowing wood, which hung in the air, or began moving around the hold on their own, pinging off of the walls at odd angles. As soon as the pieces were dropped, however, other fairies quickly moved in to seize them. Overall, Unzan was almost completely ineffective at shooing the fairies away.
Sanae, Reimu and Marisa arrived, following Ichirin and Unzan through the hole in the hull just then and looked over the scene. Perhaps 50 of the chunks of wood were bouncing about in here along with at least three dozen fairies who were chasing them. Beyond the field of fairies and flying wood chunks, the main pillar of the mast along with the bundled mainsail was laid lengthwise along the bottom of the hold, still splintered at the bottom, but recovered, at least. "This keeps happening," Ichirin cried in exasperation. "We keep capturing pieces of the treasure, but with all these holes in the ship the fairies keep getting in and taking them again!"
"So get rid of the fairies." Reimu said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, just blast 'em." Marisa said, nodding in agreement.
"They wouldn't put up much of a fight." Sanae concurred.
Ichirin looked over at the three of them for a moment, then bowed her head. "Ahimsa, or non-violence, is one of the principle virtues of Buddhist practice."
The other three girls looked at one another for a brief moment. A shock of blue-green beams, a swarm of charged ofuda and a galaxy of tiny stars rippled through the hold. A moment later a gust of wind blew the smoldering, twitching forms of several dozen fairies out of the hole in the side of the ship.
"Namu amida butsu," Ichirin prayed, bowing her head solemnly as she stood by the breach in the hull.
"Alright. Merry, Renko, how about you tell us what's going on here." Reimu said, glowering at us with her hands on her hips.
"Hold on Reimu, no need to be rude. You've just come aboard, you should come meet the captain of the ship first, don't you think?"
"The captain?" Reimu asked, her eyebrows raising up.
"Merry, haven't you told these people what we're doing here? I had thought they were collaborators you had found on the surface," Ichirin said, looking at me quizzically.
"Oh... um, how should I explain. The situation has gotten a little complicated..." I began, unsure of where I was heading. "It would probably be easier to explain everything to everyone all at once though, so let's go do as Renko suggested."
"If you say so," Ichirin said with a shrug. She secured Sanae's sack full of floating wood behind a rack of long oars mounted on the wall, tying it into place then lead the way to a steep and compact set of stairs leading up towards the deck. We all followed her, with Unzan at the rear. Sanae turned and walked backwards as we emerged, marveling as Unzan squeezed his way through the cramped doorway at the top of the stairs. Ichirin lead us straight across the deck, past the shattered stump of the mast to the wheelhouse at the aft of the ship.
"Murasa! Renko and Merry are here! They've brought a number of friends and lots of pieces of the ship full of the holy mother's power! I think we might have enough now!"
Renko entered just behind Ichirin, and I followed right behind her. As Ichirin finished exclaiming her greeting the three figures in the wheelhouse all turned to look at us. The first, standing in front of the tiller, was captain Murasa, who rushed forward with an astonished expression, looking between Renko and Ichirin with her arms spread wide, not knowing who to hug first.
"Seriously? Buddha, gods and Renko be praised!" She swept Renko up with both arms, squeezing her with enough force to pin Renko's arms to her sides. "Is that true, Renko? I could kiss you!"
"Well I'm flattered captain, but I think Merry might get jealous."
"Don't even start, Renko, I know you're about to try and find some double-entendre again" I said, reaching over and pinching Renko's cheek before she could say something ridiculous.
"Gah, you see, captain?" Renko said, trying to twist her face away from my grip, "Now you've gotten me in trouble. Merry's passion burns hot and fierce. Hands off if you don't want to be singed."
Murasa laughed and released Renko, as Reimu, Marisa and Sanae filed into the now-cramped room, all of them looking not entirely sure what to make of the situation.
I let go of Renko's face and looked over to the other two figures who had been in the room since we arrived. The first was a tall woman whose hair was cut in a short, boyish bob. Both her hair and part of the multi-layered, gi-like robes she was wearing appeared to have been dyed in irregular stripes, intercutting golden blond with a bold black in a tiger-stripe pattern. The expression on her face was calm and serene as she looked over our group's arrival. The other figure was...
"Ah!" Sanae cried, as she extended one arm, finger pointed at Nazrin.
"Ah!" Nazrin cried, mirroring the gesture towards Sanae.
"It's you!" they both said in unison.
"You're that youkai who attacked Renko!" Sanae said, pulling out her wand.
"You're that miko who attacked me!" Nazrin replied, snatching her dowsing rods from the spot where they had been leaning against the wall.
"Nazrin, why were you attacking Renko?" Ichirin asked from the position by the wall she had been crowded into.
"Nazrin! You didn't tell me you got in a fight! What were you doing attacking humans?" The tiger-patterned woman chided.
"No time for questions!" Sanae declared. "Any youkai who threatens humanity must be exterminated!" She raised her arm to wave her wand but ended up elbowing Reimu in the nose. "Oh! Sorry Reimu!"
"Wait a minute, what's gong on here?"
"Hold on, don't push!"
"Hey watch it, that thing's pointy!"
"Okay, if I just step here, I think I can get a clear shot, hey Marisa, duck for a sec. Maybe take your hat off too."
"Don't shoot danmaku in here, there's nowhere to dodge!"
"Wait, why are we shootin'? Agh, hey get off my foot!"
"It wasn't my fault, they attacked me first. So I broke the wall of the house and escaped."
"You broke Renko's wall?"
"Oh excuse me, I didn't mean to grab you, Marisa shoved me."
"That's cuz Sanae shoved me!"
The scene was chaotic mix of acquaintances, enemies and first-time meetings, with nine voices all clamoring over eachother and as many bodies all trying to cram into the same room. Nazrin had climbed over me but had snagged one end of their dousing rods on the wheel of the tiller. Murasa was trying to dislodge that while Sanae was waving her wand at Nazrin, causing occasional bursts of half-hearted wind as her aim kept being thrown off by interference from one party or another. Behind us all, Unzan was trying to crowd through the doorway into the wheelhouse. The chaos continued for a moment or two as everyone tried to find a place to stand.
From the floor, one overwhelming shout rang out. "EVERYONE SHUT UP OR I'M EXTERMINATING THIS WHOLE BOAT!"
