Author's Note:

Another chapter, hot off the presses! We've been leading up to this one for a while now…

Let's see what everything has been leading up to…

~ STAGE 24: A Forgotten Truth ~

[START]

Thus far, Kasen had a positive impression of Luka East. She seemed level-headed, if a bit anxious and cynical. When Kasen sent Luka ahead, she expected the girl to wait patiently for her to catch up. Even if she took a little bit longer than expected to deal with Iku. It wasn't like the celestials would be so utterly devoid of mercy as to attack a helpless girl.

Then, Luka wasn't there. And a celestial immediately attacked Kasen. Neither left her with good implications. It wasn't until she had knocked the rowdy celestial around that she got clarification: Luka had gone on ahead.

Was it too early to scream? (No, no, it's fine.) Luka wouldn't let her down so quickly. It wasn't like she was a certain lazy shrine maiden, or a witch with a hoarding problem. Kasen wouldn't be three-for-three on troublingly irresponsible young women. It just wouldn't happen. Kasen rationalized that Luka had simply snuck ahead to scout, and that she was going to avoid directly confronting Suika. Yes, a sensible girl like that would surely take such an approach.

Even the gods couldn't comprehend the noise that left her mouth when she arrived at Suika's territory.

Devastation. Utter, complete devastation in every direction. It barely resembled a heavenly paradise, looking more like the aftermath of a warzone. Kasen's earlier assumption made her believe Luka had been spotted, perhaps even…

Fear gripped Kasen. Whatever had happened here, it was unlikely Luka survived. This sort of destruction wasn't something someone with her limited abilities could escape. As she flew through the wasteland, past the ashen remains of forests and flattened landscapes, Kasen had to admit to the harsh reality. Luka East was most likely—

"Pour one out and keep 'em coming!" Cheerful whooping..

"Ah, it's good to be alive! Haha!" Heartful laughter.

There, at the center of the destruction, two women sat. Drinking and making merry without a care in the world, as if nothing at all was wrong. On one end, an unharmed and in-fact revelrous Suika. On the other, a soot-covered Luka with a carefree smile. Indeed, the two of them didn't even seem to notice Kasen's arrival. It wasn't until she touched down that she caught their attention.

"Oh, hey!" Luka waved. "Kasen! You made it!" She motioned for her to come take a seat. "Come on, you should try this stuff! It's amazing!"

A sound like a wire snapping echoed in Kasen's brain, and she twitched.

Luka hadn't taken Kasen for the preachy type. That had been remedied.

"What were you thinking?!" Kasen seemed on the verge of screaming. "Challenging Suika on your own—are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

After she'd caught Kasen up on what exactly had happened, she could barely get a word in. "I didn't really have time to—"

"On that matter!" Kasen raised her voice so loud, Luka wondered if all of Heaven could hear her. "I had graciously assumed your trek up the mountain was, perhaps, some out-of-character moment! Perhaps even something born from desperation! But this—this is outrageous! Is this your true nature, Luka East?! Some reckless fool who charges in headfirst?!"

"If I can finish my sentence," Luka frowned, "I didn't really have time to react. Things just sort of… happened."

"Really. This—" Kasen gestured firmly to the panorama shot of Suika's destroyed islands. "—just happened? You had no say in the matter whatsoever, regarding your involvement in this 'game'? You couldn't, say, temporarily refuse or hide out and wait for me to arrive?"

"It's not like Suika would've agreed if I said that…" Luka replied.

"Hey, if you'd'a told me Kasen was comin', I might've." Suika poked in.

"What, you know each other?" Luka deadpanned.

"Basically."

Luka blinked. "... Why didn't you tell me?!"

"You didn't ask."

"Ugh, enough!" Kasen groaned, looking like she was holding back another outburst. "Ridiculous… I can't repeat it enough, you could have died picking a fight with Suika. Do you understand that, Luka?"

Luka rubbed her neck. "Yeah, yeah, I get it already. I got it before we even started. And it's not like I wanted the fight, so lay off already."

Kasen didn't seem pleased with that response, but she didn't offer any further counterarguments. "Fine. At least you managed to survive somehow." A sigh.

Interrupting Kasen's rant, Suika loudly sipped from her gourd like she was trying to get their attention. Once Kasen turned to her, she offered a sly grin. "'Somehow' is sellin' the girl a bit short. She did pretty good!"

Kasen scowled wordlessly, to which Suika only raised both hands as if to say 'Hey, just speaking the truth'.

Feeling that the conversation was about to get lost, Luka finally cut back in. "Okay, well, if we've all had our fair share of yelling and drinking—"

"NEVER!" Suika chugged.

"—I'd like to actually get to the questions I came all this way for."

It felt a little unreal to say those words. It wasn't like Luka hadn't wanted to get this far, but it was quite literally the difference between staring down a mountain in the distance and standing at its peak. Trying to think of what to say made Luka's head spin. As she did, a thought occurred. "Does Kasen need to leave before we start? It wasn't the deal for her to be present, and I'd rather not make you uncomfortable or anything."

"Nah, she can stay." Suika answered. "What's one more audience member? Am I right, Kasen?"

She seemed to almost be staring Kasen down. What was it, a warning of some kind? Maybe an unspoken sign that she would hunt down even the hermit if she let these secrets slip.

"Yes," Kasen nodded. "of course." She seemed to bristle slightly at Suika's stare. Luka wondered how seriously Suika took that implied threat. "I'll let the two of you speak. Don't mind me."

Given Suika knew her, and seemed willing to wait for her arrival… (A hermit and an oni, huh. I can only imagine what kind of fights must've happened between these two.) Luka thought, before clearing her throat. "Cool. Okay, let's start with this one…" With such a tempest of questions, Luka decided to narrow the discussion. "Let's confirm what I was already suspecting: what exactly are—or, were—the 'Big Four'?"

Suika raised an eyebrow. "Sure seemed like you pieced together the gist of it earlier. Why ask me?"

"I want to hear it from your point of view." Luka said. "Maybe start with some history."

"Hmm." Suika hummed reflectively. "'Kay." Then, she started.

"If you're expecting some kinda grand origin story behind the Four, yer gonna be let down. Each of us were oni, all coming from our own walks of life. The biggest and toughest of our kind. I could go into detail about what led us to meet one another, but that'd just be splittin' hairs. It's boring, anyway—just us meeting through circumstances that weren't really all that special. All you really need to know is that over time, as we met each other and got to know one another, we decided it'd be a fun idea to group up. Make a gang, if you will."

Luka nodded. "I'm willing to guess it didn't stop at just the four of you?"

Suika shrugged. "Eh, it wasn't really my idea to do it. Really, it was just one of us who decided it'd be a good idea to gather up lackeys. But she had a lot of sway, and before we knew it we'd assembled a rowdy, loyal bunch. And when you gather a buncha youkai in one place, well… We tend to keep gathering. Forcefully or otherwise."

Luka noted the pride in that last sentence. "You say, as if your ability wasn't literally to make that possible. I can assume the tengu got caught up in that business?"

"They were real handy subordinates, even if they're all talk." Suika chuckled. "Ooh, kappa too, they were pretty good with human tools. Yeah, once you get that sorta thing going, it gets hard to quit it. You get caught up in the show of it, especially since it's making people fear you more. Your names get infamous, to the point where humans start tossing out titles for you. 'Bandits', 'the Great And Terrible Oni'—you know, one-off stuff before you really hit it big. You move around as temples get built, grow a bit bigger, until finally that last set of titles comes around."

"The 'Big Four', I presume?"

Suika grinned. "Meh, that's the name people remember now. It actually started as the 'Four Heavenly Kings'."

Something in Luka's brain rattled. Just slightly, before it was gone again. "Lofty. I'm guessing by that time you'd settled down somewhere to develop that kind of a reputation? Maybe… the Youkai Mountain?"

"Aha! Yep, that's it. Actually, we settled here before Gensokyo even became Gensokyo."

She knew that before Suika said it. Actually, her entire synopsis thus far felt rather familiar to Luka the longer she went into it. This was it. Luka was sure, this was where that memory came from. And along with that understanding, something else crept in.

Luka recalled it clearly. A face not unlike her own, but different in many ways. It was only for a moment, but she'd seen it. Felt it. A connection so far away yet so close. She clung to that image, imprinting it into her rapidly-turning mind.

Seeing such a shocking sight naturally created the question: who did that face belong to? Without knowing, it would remain just a surreal moment in her memory. But, as she'd taken her time to settle down after fighting, a theory had formed in Luka's mind.

She didn't forget Kasen's theory, and she hadn't let go of it either. There was still a very real chance these dreams, these uncharacteristic visions nestled in Luka's mind, probably belonged to someone else. A distant message could have been tucked away in them. Seeing a face that wasn't her own while she suffered from such a strange, de-personalized episode—it wasn't a coincidence.

They were all connected. Luka's theory was thus: the red-haired woman was the one who owned those memories. And somehow, she had given them to Luka. Everything else was just speculation. But still…

Luka couldn't help but feel a confused warmth in her chest. Was that what her mother's face looked like? Maybe…

"'Ey." Suika whistled. "You fall asleep?"

"Oh, sorry. I got caught up in my thoughts for a second there…"

There was still more she needed to confirm. One specific point, though it wasn't one Luka was counting on getting a proper answer for. As keen as Suika seemed, Luka doubted she'd remember someone based on such a vague description. Still, it was worth a shot, right?

"All those subordinates around, you wouldn't happen to remember any one in particular, would you?"

"Whazzat?" Suika raised an eyebrow.

"Blood-red hair, fiery black eyes. Those ring any bells?"

Suika stared at Luka blankly. "You're gonna hafta be a bit more specific. We had a lotta underlings. You got a name for that face, or anything that'd make 'em stand out from the crowd?"

"... I wish I did." Luka sighed. "Forget it, let's move on." As expected, that was too little to go off of. It was only the smallest glimpse of a face, after all. She'd have to take a different approach. "Let's see…" It wasn't a guarantee, but maybe if she could get some names, it might fire up the visions in her head again. Give her more to go off of. "How about we go into the names of the Four? Skipping the obvious one, of course."

"Aw, but I'm the best one." Suika whined. "Oh well. I guess if I hafta move on…

S'pose I oughta get Yuugi outta the way if I'm doin' introductions. That's Yuugi Hoshiguma, by the way. Real intense character, but I don't know a more oni-like oni. She'd always butt into things head-first, and is probably the one among us who takes honesty and bein' straightforward most seriously. 'Course that makes her kinda muscle-brained, but that also means she's tough as hell too. Prolly the toughest of us all!

Speakin' of. The Four didn't really have any kinda specific jobs or roles—oni don't really care that much for that sorta stuff—but I'd say she was probably the closest thing we had to muscle. Real big and bad sort. One of those 'can make even a bawling brat shut up' sorts! If she was around, you knew a fight was bound to get crazy. Made her real popular with the mooks under her."

As she spoke, an image conjured itself into Luka's head. Indeed, she could see a muscle-bound woman who stood head-and-shoulders above everyone present and who definitely looked like the sort who would bench press entire buildings in her spare time. All while a cheering crowd formed around her, chanting her name.

… But that was it. Just a distant echo. Luka couldn't get much else, and especially nothing that connected to her hypothetical mom's face. "She sounds pretty over-the-top. Who's next?"

Suika cupped her chin. "Ehh… Why don't I let Kasen tell ya about this one?"

Kasen suddenly straightened, like she'd been jolted by a cattle rod. "W-Who? Me?"

"Yeah." Suika smirked. "You're plenty familiar with her, right?"

There was a brief exchange in glances, one that didn't escape Luka's notice. Both Kasen and Suika locked eyes, and Luka swore Kasen had muttered some curse over the open air. The only thing to escape into spoken word, however, was a sigh from the hermit. "To be honest I don't really want to…"

Luka, however, wasn't going to let that slide. "Sorry, but I'm going to insist. Please." She fully intended to let Kasen have it if she knew something beforehand and didn't tell Luka.

Seeing Luka's intense stare and Suika's amused grin, Kasen finally surrendered. Positioning herself, she cleared her throat. "The second of the Heavenly Kings… That would be Ibaraki."

Luka noticed the vacancy in that title. "No first name?"

Kasen frowned, pausing. "That was all she really cared for anyone to know her as. Something as casual as a first name would've implied familiarity. That… was not something she offered to everyone."

"Hm." Luka detected a distance to Kasen's words. But strangely, she felt the truth in them. "She sounds like a cold person."

"Mm. Perhaps, but I would say she's more of a manipulative sort. The kind who wants everyone she sees as beneath her at arms-length. To be sure, she can promise so many great things to you with honeyed words and seemingly earnest offerings. Perhaps she even believes what she says is true and that her offers are legitimate. But it's never anything in the end. Just the ramblings of a woman consumed with a kind of hunger she's never fully understood.

I suppose, of the Four, she thought herself the real 'brains' of the bunch. Always scheming, always conniving. She's just a fool, nothing more."

Kasen's words were tinged with an emotion Luka hadn't heard from her before. Even the brief show in her dojo wasn't like this. This wasn't just emotional—it felt personal.

And, Luka hadn't missed the name that had been dropped. Nor had she forgotten Kasen's last name. "'Ibara' and 'Ibaraki'... There some connection between you two?"

Kasen flinched. "Y-You noticed, huh?"

"Hard not to." Luka frowned. She could see the discomfort on Kasen's face. "... You can stop. To be honest, I'd rather not pry."

"Mm." Kasen looked down, a slightly guilty expression on her face. "Thank you."

Luka nodded. She had more reasons for backing off than just consideration for others. Kasen's tale of Ibaraki had only brought about the same light buzz as Yuugi's. Like she was hearing a story she might have been told once upon a time, but only that. Only that. Another dead end.

Frankly, she was three down so far, and it wasn't looking good. But that number, 'three', also carried with it another question Luka hadn't forgotten.

"Before we keep going…" Luka turned her eyes back to Suika, narrowing them. "The ones we've mentioned: Yuugi, Ibaraki, and you… These are the 'Big Three' the tengu spoke about?"

Suika nodded. "Full points. Yep, that's us."

"Then… there is a fourth one of you, that the tengu don't want to mention." Luka said. "Who are they?"

Suika's expression darkened. Indeed, when Luka had started speaking, her smile had already subtly faded as if she knew where this was going.

"I'll correct you on one thing: 'Was'. There was a fourth member." The shift in tone was almost jarring. Suika had gone from a wistful smile to a deep frown, her lips tightening like she'd eaten something bitter.

"... That's a different 'was' than the others." For what little she knew about the two women in front of her, this kind of attitude didn't seem so strange from Kasen. But, Suika? She didn't seem like the type to talk like this. "I take it they didn't just quit—?"

"She's gone."

The silence that immediately filled the open air could have cut someone.

"As in…" Luka hesitated. "how?"

"Gone gone. As in, she isn't around anymore."

Luka pursed her lips. She didn't want to poke any bears, but there was something she wasn't getting. "I don't get what you mean. You're talking like she died."

"Hah." There was no warmth to Suika's laugh. "'Died', now that's a fun one. No, she didn't 'die', at least not how I'm sure a former-outsider like yourself is thinking. We're not physical beings like humans who die when their heart stops, or their head gets chopped off."

"Then, why do you keep talking like she is?"

Suika raised a brow. "You really don't get what I mean?"

Luka shook her head.

"Mm. Lemme ask you this: if we define humans as 'physical' beings, what do we call youkai by contrast?"

"...?" Again, Luka was at a loss. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Geez, nobody gave you the run-down? What kinda half-youkai are you?" Suika shook her head. "Spiritual, girl, we're spiritual! We don't exist in physical bodies."

'Spiritual'. That word pulled out an old memory: a conversation dating back to her arrival in Gensokyo. In a shrine maiden's words: 'They need to be believed in to exist. Feared, specifically. If people don't fear youkai, they'll forget they exist and stop believing in them. Without that fear…'

"... Right." Luka felt something in her chest sink. "Then… when you say she's 'gone'..."

"She was 'forgotten', yeah." Suika nodded.

Luka hadn't deeply considered the idea since she'd first had it introduced to her. Beyond that initial horror, it seemed like such a distant worry. Especially in Gensokyo, a place that—as far as she was aware—had been made specifically to prevent such a thing.

"Was it before Gensokyo was made?" Luka asked, to which Suika nodded once more. "What happened?"

The dark expression in Suika's eyes only deepened. Luka wasn't sure if it was sadness or anger. "Yer puttin' me in a rough spot, Luka. Dredging up some bad memories."

"We made a deal." It felt a bit dirty, forcing her to continue. But, something about this line of questioning—no, something in Luka compelled her to press on. "Please."

Suika sat there for a few moments in silence. Deep contemplation ran across her face, and Luka wondered if she saw a tinge of regret as well. Eventually, she spoke.

"Before I start, has anyone filled you in on why youkai vanish when they're forgotten?"

Luka shook her head. "No, everyone's just kind of talked like it's a normal thing that happens. There actually is a 'why'?"

"In a sense. They're not wrong to say that, I s'pose." Suika said. "You might say that is the 'why'."

"What is? That it's normal?"

Suika sighed. "S'all just talk and theory by brainiacs, but it's like this: everythin' in this world is ruled by laws. You know, 'up is up', 'down is down', things like that. What people call 'common sense' is basically just a buncha rules that human society subconsciously agreed on and decided to make the 'default'.

So, for example, say when you're a kid you believe in bedtime stories about a monster under your bed. As a kid, it's reasonable to think that way, 'cuz it's dark and scary and you can never tell for sure if there is one or not. You invent a 'rule' in your head that it's there. Then you get older—and after you've flashed a light under there enough times, you realize there's never actually been a monster there. So your rule updates, and now it's no longer real. Common sense is just humanity doing that as a collective whole for thousands of years."

"Okay… I kind of get it," Luka commented, "but what does this have to do with the Fourth?"

"Easy. Who do you think the monster under the bed is?" She paused, waiting for Luka's answer.

"... Youkai?" Luka muttered.

"Ding-ding." Suika chimed. "We're the monster. As long as the kid thinks in their head that we're under the bed, we're still real. Our spiritual existence means we're dependent on following those 'rules'. 'Course, that comes with other baggage, too…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll put it like this, if the kid earnestly believes there's a monster under their bed, then what does that make the monster? Who are they? How do they live? Can they crawl out from under the bed if they want to?"

That single question ricocheted against Luka's heart like a bullet. "They're still a person, aren't they? They can do what they want."

Suika responded with a coldness that betrayed every impression Luka had of her. "It'd be a warm and fuzzy world if that were true, wouldn't it?"

Luka felt something aching in her. That chill, that cold sweat. Suika's words felt like a violation of every single instinct in her body, every feeling in her soul. It was so fundamentally wrong that she had to suppress the desire to scream.

It took her a moment to quell those sensations, before she was ready to speak. "What happened to her?"

"Do I really need to clarify?" Suika frowned.

"Answer the godsdamned question." She didn't know where that venom was coming from. Maybe it was an extension of her anger at Suika's claims.

Suika seemed slightly taken aback by Luka's growling, chuckling at it. "Where do you get off, making demands?" Before Luka could protest, Suika continued. "Fine, fine. If you need me to clarify, then I will.

She committed an act worse than sin, for youkai. The worst one, probably. She tried to break the fundamental law that keeps us 'under the bed', so-to-say. In doin' that, she—"

"Suika." Like a clean knife, Kasen cut Suika short. Luka had been so utterly focused on Suika's explanation, she hadn't paid much attention to Kasen. Seeing her now, her face was clenched-up. Eyes shut, teeth gritted. She seemed like she was trying to hold herself back. "That's enough."

With two words, Luka's fraying patience lost another thread. "No, let her finish! What happened?" So steeped in her thoughts, Luka didn't bother thinking about why Kasen was having such a reaction to this.

Kasen didn't let it go. "Suika," She urged, as if saying a thousand words in one pleading stare.

Faced with two opposing faces, Suika seemed lost in her gourd. Staring into it, as if lost.

Eventually, "... Nah." She said, "I'm done."

Luka just about nearly blew her lid. "Are you kidding me?!" She shot to her feet. "Come on! I came all this way, dealt with so much bullshit, and you're going to stop right at the end?!"

She wasn't sure why she was so upset. What had gotten into her? Although, maybe that was why responded the way she did—precisely because it spurred such an instinctive response. Even without a name, this unknown Fourth had ripped such an extreme reaction from her. Enough to blind her in her indignant outrage, to even call out an oni in *pure frustration. After all… what if this was one of her parents? The thought shook Luka to her core.

"I said I'd tell you about the Four." Suika was firm. She didn't budge, nor did she raise her voice. "Didn't say a damn thing about what happened to our mystery 'Fourth'. Those were our terms, right?"

Her calmness snapped Luka from her rage. She stilled her breathing, sobering slightly. "... Sure. Fine." But she couldn't let go of this. It was the closest to a lead she'd gotten. She had no idea where she would find anything else worthwhile, and she refused to waste another two years sitting on her hands. "Give me a name, then. You said you'd tell me about the Four? Then give me that much, at least."

Kasen noticeably bristled, while Suika narrowed her gaze. Focusing on Luka, studying her. She was probably thinking about the kind of gall Luka had to argue terms with someone who'd nearly killed her. Maybe that was why she eventually relented. "Alright. I can give that."

Kasen balked. "Suika—"

"No, she's right. Oni's code: we keep our word. You get that, don't you?"

Kasen didn't offer a counter-argument. She was silenced. And unbelievably lucky that Luka was too engrossed in this topic to call her out in her meddling.

Suika sat upright, looking Luka in the eyes. "You listenin'? I ain't gonna invoke her name twice."

"What is she, an evil wizard?" Luka groaned. "Just spit it out."

Suika frowned. Then, after a lengthy pause, she spoke:

"Konngara Toraguma. That was her name."

'Konngara'.

Suika wasn't lying. She had only said it once, like she swore. Yet it rang, echoing in her mind like a bell. 'Konngara', 'Konngara'. That word repeated itself again and again and overwhelmed everything else in her mind.

It muffled even Kasen, who was barely a whisper through the cacophony. "Luka? What's wrong?"

'Konngara'. 'Konngara'. A splitting pain carved into her skull. Like a searing flame, it burned its way through her brain. 'Konngara', 'Konngara', 'Konngara'. It scorched even her vision, everything going red.

She must have started clutching at her head, eyes bugging. "Aa… Ggh…" She felt like tearing herself in half. That splitting sensation only grew more and more intense as she fixated on the word.

'Konngara'...

'Konngara'... … …

"...Boss?"

Then, it all went black, and Luka was plunged into the darkness.

Author's Note:

Whoops. I'm keeping everyone in suspense for just a bit longer, huh? Though, there was a pretty significant lore drop here. I wonder how many people in the fandom these days know who Konngara is? Seems like the characters from that era have been forgotten… I'd be pleasantly surprised if there's anyone who recalls what bizarrely popular fandom theory I'm pulling from here.