This is the Hifuu Detective Agency: Case 9 - UFO

by That-which-isn't

The story of the Underworld concludes and Gensokyo's religious war heats up as Renko and Merry take on the judgements of heaven itself to right a millennia-old miscarriage of justice. At the risk of instigating a new Incident of their own creation, they journey from Hell to Makai in pursuit of the truth, but have even they been deceived?

38. Undefined Fantastic Object - Challenge

[A Challenge to the Reader]

It's time once again, dear reader, for you to pit your creativity against that of the great detective, if you dare. I've cut off the answer to that last question of Renko's because, as you may have guessed, understanding it is key to understanding this whole Incident. Renko got an answer that night, and asked some more clarifying questions too, but of course I can't reveal any of that to you if you want to try to figure things out on you own. It may seem to you that Shinki is the one who gave Renko all of the wild theories that Renko came up with this time, but I assure you both that Renko had already deduced the truth of the matter (as she sees it) by this point and that her fantastic delusions stretch far beyond anything Shinki said to her.

I will give you one more hint here, to assist you in deducing the truth behind this Incident. My advice is this: try to keep Renko's view of the explanations for previous Incidents in your mind as you read over this one. One of the characters who appears in a previous story proved key to her discoveries by their very nature. To say any more though would be to give the whole mystery away. Everything else you need to come to the same conclusions Renko has can be found in the previous chapters of this casefile. To synthesize these clues into a coherent narrative as Renko has, you need only find them, and consider them with the same reckless imagination that powers Renko's delusions, which, I admit, is a tall order for anyone whose mind is not given to wild flights of fancy.

At any rate, the question that your story must answer to address this riddle is simple: What was the crime committed a thousand years ago by Byakuren Hijiri, for which she willingly accepted a sentence of a thousand years of imprisonment within Makai? Once you know the answer to that, the rest of the inexplicable details of this Incident will fall into place.

And so, dear reader, I ask you once more: what is the hidden truth for which the Yama pronounced her sentence upon a repentant sinner?