Morgana

Rushing up the mountainside under the starry sky and crescent moon, I couldn't help but feel the same sort of thrill that I got discovering and tearing through palaces.

We'd already done the research. Futaba provided the coordinates of the shrine, Ren figured out a hiking path on Google Maps. All that was left to do was run up the path, through the woods, and around rocks and shrubs, until eventually I reached the mysterious Hakurei Shrine.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm quite proud of my skills as a thief. After all, that's what I was literally created from the hopes of humanity to do: gather tricksters and take on distorted hearts with style. And while I had the shape of a cat, I was no mere housecat. I mean, how many other cats do you know who can eat onions or throw darts?! And besides, now that we were out of business as Phantom Thieves, what better way to keep my- er, our skills fresh than by investigating alleged paranormal things such as this?

It took an hour or so of dashing through the woods outside Ren's home, but I knew I was close when two things happened. First, I smelled something unusual nearby. It was distinct from a palace, but there was no doubt that whatever it was, it was the real deal, as reality was distorting around it. Then I found a chain link, barbed-wire fence with prominent NO TRESPASSING signs on it. To anyone else, a warning to stay away; to a thief, a challenge of the highest caliber. Finding a hole in the fence, I jumped through, and followed the scent to its source.

After a couple minutes, I found it: a long set of stone stairs leading up the hill, atop which was an old, decrepit shrine, shadowed by the trees and in great disrepair. The smell was strong here, especially as I approached the main building. The door was rotten and riddled with holes, so I simply slinked on through. Inside, there was dust, debris, and walls lined with graffiti. It was dark and eerie, so much so that Makoto would probably start having a panic attack if she were here with me, while Haru would probably try politely asking for the ghosts to come out so she could talk to them.

I could feel a distortion here, but again, it wasn't like a palace distortion, so I wasn't totally sure how to cross over from reality, if that was even possible. I will admit, a "border between fantasy and reality" wasn't the sort of thing Master meant for me to be able to cross, but I also knew I had never gotten anywhere by not taking risks and challenging the impossible. So I just poked around, exploring the place and collecting intel. It was a quiet night, and even the animals were avoiding this place, as there was not a single sound coming from anything nearby except myself.

Venturing into a closet, I sniffed around, trying to find some way of crossing that barrier. That's when it happened: I could feel myself being pulled into another reality, just like when I entered a palace. The closet remained the same, dark and isolated, but now there were items inside, including shoes and what appeared to be multiple shrine maiden outfits.

Most of all, though, there was noise. A lot of it.

I peeked out of the closet, and what I saw was shocking: the dark, eerie room was now brightly lit, and full of girls in all kinds of dresses drinking lots of booze and making a ruckus.

"MREOW?!" I wasn't expecting a crowd to show up all of a sudden, but now that I was across the barrier, I just had to keep exploring. So, I quietly and stealthily made my way through the room, avoiding the maid who was slinging knives into a dartboard (poorly), a green-haired priestess stumbling around slurring gibberish, and a black-haired girl singing Song of the Volga Boatmen in Russian very loudly and horribly off-key.

It seemed like the girl's night out from Hell, at least until two faces caught my eye. The first was behind a set of bars and was being accosted by small girls with fairy wings who-

…hold on, that looked like… was that Dr. Maruki? What was he doing here? Did he survive the collapse of his palace?! And… over to the other side was…

"C'mon, won'tchu sleep with me tonigh- *hic*"

"Go home, Kaguya, you're drunk."

"I cannot refuse a meal set before me!"

"Huh- what?"

There was no doubt: that was Goro Akechi, over whom a long-haired girl whose clothes were starting to fall off lurched. So… that other Akechi was right, the real one was still…

…I shook my head. I couldn't process these revelations over the loud, drunken antics going on. I dashed toward the exit, over a passed-out orange-haired girl with horns, and slipped outside.

Once out on the front porch, I took a moment to catch my breath before sitting down. The sounds of the party were still behind me, but once I settled down, I looked around, and the scenery was breathtaking: scores of cherry blossoms in full bloom. A bright, starry sky with galaxies and nebulas, with none of the light pollution of the city. A sprawled-out valley with a lake reflecting the moon and sky. All around, haunting, yet beautiful, otherworldly cries.

My eyes widened, and I gazed out in awe. This… this had to be Gensokyo.

A few moments later, a pink-haired lady with a tabard and a green skirt came out onto the porch, and sat next to me. "Sheesh," she said. "Reimu can't manage her guests at all. No wonder no one comes up to worship the shrine's god, and leave donations behind."

I looked at the woman, and she certainly had a peculiar appearance, with her odd hair color, fully-bandaged right arm, hair buns, and a dress which was somehow hag-like and not hag-like at the same time. She herself didn't seem old, but also clearly wasn't a young lady. She was somewhere in between, those years where you're a little older, a little wiser, but still charming. "Hm," I went, confident she couldn't hear me. "Well, she isn't Lady Ann, but I will admit she's charming and beautiful in her own way."

She turned to me and smiled. "Well, thank you, Mr. Kitty."

…

"GRK!" I jumped back, tail puffed-up. "WHA- how did you-"

She chuckled. "Ohoho, you don't assume an old hermit like me would be able to understand animals? I talk to my pets all the time at my home."

"I, er…" I wasn't expecting this. A person who could understand me, without having been to the Metaverse? How is that possible?

"I mean… who are you?" I asked

She stood up. "I am Kasen Ibaraki, a great Sage of Gensokyo. A youkai like you should know my name, after all."

"I-I'M NOT A YOUKAI!" I protested. "I am Morgana! And of course I don't know you, I'm not from around here!"

"...oh?" She sat back down. "What do you mean you're 'not from around here?'"

"I came here to investigate the rumors about the Hakurei Shrine," I said. "Then I ended up in this place." I chuckled. "Seems like I can cross that barrier between fantasy and reality after all!"

"Hmm…" Kasen thought. "I see. A cat-like creature who can cross the Hakurei Border as he pleases… as a sage, I should consider you a grave threat, yet I also don't sense any malicious intent in you. For sure, you're no ordinary cat."

"I'm not a cat," I said. "I am Morgana!"

She smiled. "Heh, stubborn little thing, aren't you?"

The door slid open again, and a girl in an… interesting shrine maiden outfit came out. "Geez," she sighed. "What is it about booze that turns those people into stupid, rude slobs?"

"You're one to talk," Kasen said. "You're one of the worst drunks I know."

The girl looked around, then down at me. "Hm? A cat?"

"I am not a cat!" I protested.

"Geh," she groaned. " Another youkai?"

"AND I'M NOT A YOUKAI! I AM MORGANA!"

"Noisy little thing, aren't you?" she said.

"I- I mean, shouldn't you be freaking out at a talking cat? Not that I'm a cat!"

"You expect me to think a talking cat is weird?" she said. "Must I remind you that I'm Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden?" She paused. "...wait, hold on…" She knelt down, picked me up, and held me in front of her.

"...have I seen you somewhere before?" she asked.

I thought for a moment, then I realized: she introduced herself as Reimu Hakurei. That was the name of the strange girl who was in Maruki's Palace, first when we freed Sumire, then when we fought Maruki himself. She looked a little different - I recalled her having black hair instead of brown - but she sounded the same, and felt the same too. She had some kind of aura which was… lazy and yet tough.

"...mreow?"

She put me down. "Well, whatever. Maybe I'm just breathing in all the sake vapor." She went back inside.

I looked at Kasen. "She seems rather…"

"That's Reimu Hakurei," she explained. "She keeps the order here in Gensokyo. Although, she can be a bit of a gruff, lazy boor, as you've just seen."

Reimu came back out a minute later, holding a dish with cut-up fish on it. "Here," she said, setting it down. "Maybe you'll stay out of trouble if I give you some."

I sniffed the plate, and it… "...it's delicious?!"

"I thought you didn't have enough of a food budget for that," Kasen said as I ate.

"I mean, animals come to the shrine all the time," Reimu shrugged. "Gotta have something for them, you know."

"But then they keep coming back," Kasen said, "just like all the freeloader youkai you play host to."

"Like you?"

"Er-" Kasen got huffy. "I'm just here to make sure you're doing your job!"

"Yeah, sure, let's go with that." Reimu looked down at me. "So, Morgana, huh? Where'd you come from?"

"Supposedly, from Outside," Kasen explained. "He claims he can freely cross the Barrier."

"...oh?" Reimu looked at me again, this time with more of a glare. "Is that so? You think you can just waltz right through the delicate barrier between fantasy and reality keeping this place together, is that right, Mr. Kitty-cat?"

"I told you I'm not some ordinary cat!" I protested. "I am Mor-"

*nyaaa*

I turned around, and saw a strange black cat with two tails and a red belly come up from behind. It jumped up, walked over and… well, rubbing its face against my fur.

"Mr-mrow?" I was confused. I looked like a cat, but truth be told, I didn't know much about fellow felines. I didn't even know if this was a boy or girl cat. So, uh, I just, kinda returned the favor, I guess? If nothing else, it was being friendly, and very affectionate too, as though it were-

*BOMF*

"Wh-whoa!" Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke, and the next thing I knew I was in the arms of a red-haired girl with twin braids and cat ears.

"Yay, I found a friend!" she chirped.

"Uh-huh, sure," Reimu said, flatly. "If you want booze, Orin, I'm pretty sure everyone drank it already."

Orin shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm here because Satori-sama sent me to pick up Okuu."

"Oh, right, she's here isn't-"

At that moment, three people flung open the door and stumbled out, including the singing black-haired girl and two blondes. All of them reeked of bad sake.

"Ahahaha, I feel great," said the one with the pointy hat. "Like I could use the power of the Sun itself! *hic*"

"Oh, azz if!" said the other blonde, with a hairband. "You wouldn't know a solar reaction if it bit 'ye on the ass! *hic*"

"You magicins' know shit 'bout solar reactionzz!" said the black-haired girl. "Okuu creates suns from nothing."

"That'zz impozzible, there's gotta be components, 'ye Bolshevik bozo!"

"Oh, that'zz it! Okuu make goulash out of black-white!"

"No can do, birdbrain! She'z mine to fight with!"

"Luv *hic* Sign: Master-"

"Greh…" Reimu sighed.

WHOMP PUNCH WHACK THWACK

"...what was that?" I said, looking at Reimu in between all three of the drunks flat on their faces, limbs sprawled out.

"Ooooh, watch where you're pointing that thing, girlfriend!" she smirked, looking down at them. "You could have really hurt someone!"

"As if! You threw them all flat on the ground!" Kasen complained.

Orin put me down, left, then came back with a cart, which she loaded the black-haired girl into as the latter groaned. "Unyuuuu…"

"Geez," Orin sighed. "Spirit of a Russian, liver of a preschooler." She then trotted back into the night.

Reimu turned back to the blondes. "Haah, what am I going to do about you two?" She sighed. "Guess I'll just have to lay out a couple more beds tonight…"

At that moment, the door opened up yet again. It was Akechi, with a bunny-eared girl under one arm and the long-haired girl over his shoulder, both wasted beyond belief with spinny-eyes and blabbering drunken nonsense.

"Going home already?" Kasen asked.

"The party will be over by the time I return," Akechi replied. "I just wanted to get these two back before they lost any more of their clothes."

"You sure you can carry two girls at once?"

"They're not that heavy," he commented. "Somehow, I feel just a little bit stronger and more motivated after a couple drinks." He then… levitated into the air, still carrying them, and flew into the night, shouting "let's talk again tomorrow!"

…was that really Akechi? He seemed like a different person just now… not least because he was fucking flying.

"I'll go inside and help carry the rest out, along with what few other sober people are in there," Kasen said.

"You do that," Reimu said. She looked at me, touching my tail. "I want to have a word with this one."

"Oh, okay…"

"So," Reimu said, eating the last of the hanami sweets, while I sat across the floor. "You can come and go through the Barrier, is that right?"

"I suppose," I said. "But, more importantly, you're Seraph, aren't you?"

Reimu thought for a moment, then pointed up. "...oh yeah, aren't you that short, mascot guy who led those kids against Dr. Maruki in my dream? Morgana, right?"

"Er, well, yeah," I said. "I mean, how did you get there to begin with?"

"Some hag was sending my Dream Body there," she said. "We actually met her today, because she was causing an incident, throwing the seasons out of whack. He managed to pacify her somehow, and that drunken mess was the hanami celebration and everyone congratulating Goro on his first incident solved."

I clenched my teeth. "I mean, I just… so many questions! What's a Dream Body? How'd Akechi and Maruki get here to begin with?"

Reimu ate another sweet. "It's a long story, and they'll probably give you the full story later. Short version: Goro was doing something with you guys in a cruise ship place, got separated, and ended up here when the place exploded."

That… wasn't quite right, but then again I doubt Akechi would be willing to share with her the truth. "Okay, and Maruki? What happened after his Palace collapsed?"

"I stopped him from jumping off a cliff," she said. "Then we came back here and I locked him up for threatening the Barrier. Ever since then, I've been making him do work around here, although the fairies like to get in his way."

"Okay, alright," I nodded. "And, obviously, you know about the Metaverse?"

"Of course I do, Goro's been leading us through places called Fortresses, which are a lot like your Palaces, including a big tower called Ethos in the center of it all, like your guy's Mementos."

Okay, wait. So, not only did Akechi survive his encounter with his cognitive double in Shido's Palace, but he's been leading girls into the Metaverse taking on a phenomenon similar to the Palaces, to Mementos? I…

…I honestly felt like a simp.

"But yeah, getting back on topic," Reimu said. "How can you cross the Barrier? No normal being should be able to do so. It separates Gensokyo from the Outside, and allows things people no longer believe in to thrive here."

"Well, obviously, I'm no normal being," I said. "I was born from the hopes and dreams of humanity, I'll have you know. It's my duty to enter the cognitive world and correct distortions, to guide humans back onto the right path by giving them hope and courage to do the right thing. That means I can flow seamlessly in and out of cognitive realms at will. I heard about Gensokyo, and its 'barrier between fantasy and reality' and figured I should be able to pass through it just the same, especially since Ren's house is just a short hike from here."

"Ren?" Reimu asked.

"You probably know him better as Joker," I said.

Reimu shook her head. "No, I think I know who Ren is. Goro often speaks of him. They were good friends."

"Indeed…"

"Anyway," Reimu continued, "you can cross the Barrier. But, you don't strike me as suspicious, just a curious little cat…like thing. So, I'll let you come here under some conditions."

"Oh, are we making a deal?" I said excitedly.

"I suppose. First, everything that transpires here stays inside the Barrier. No giving out explicit details to Outsiders, and certainly don't tell anyone of Goro or Maruki. Second, you cannot talk around the normal villagers. Youkai and gods are fine, but if a regular human hears you speak, they'll lose their shit."

"I was surprised anyone could understand me at all," I said. "Normally, only those who hear me in the Metaverse can understand me in the real world too. To everyone else, I just sound like a noisy cat."

"Well, obviously, that wouldn't be true here if Kasen and Orin understood you, since neither has been to that place. We have a saying that common sense doesn't exist in Gensokyo, so that might be why everyone can hear you talk."

I thought for a moment, then said, "ah, I see. So, if people around here are used to hearing cats talk, then that means they all can understand me?" I chuckled. "Nyahahaheow! It's a change in cognition!"

"Er… something like that," she said.

I scratched myself. "Still… another Metaverse incident, and in this place? I kinda wanna check it out myself sometime, but…"

Reimu got up. "Well, we can continue this chat some other time, I have to finish cleaning up. I'm usually away from the shrine most days, but unless there's an incident or a party I'm usually here in the evening. And if you want to speak with Goro, well… his schedule's kind of all over the place, since the shopkeeper makes him work mornings, and then his afternoons are mostly taken up by him running around doing deals and missions for us."

"That's okay," I said. "I'm just glad that he seems to be doing well, taking care of you ladies."

Reimu blushed. "Oh, well, yes, right."

We saw Dr. Maruki go by with both of the blondes under his arms. "Oh, right, I never got their names."

"Alice and Marisa," Reimu said. "And, yes, the same Marisa you saw that other time. She's my friend, and Gensokyo's other main incident resolver."

"Really?" I asked. "She, uh…"

"You think she's bad drunk, wait till you meet her sober," Reimu grinned. "She'll probably try to 'borrow' you and make you her familiar or something."

Suddenly, a trapdoor under me opened. "Nyah!"

"Reimu, I wanna bedtime story!" one of the fairies from earlier asked.

"Alright, alright," Reimu sighed. It seemed everyone was packing in for the night, so I took my leave. I went back to the same closet, and managed to return to the outside world easily; I figured that as long as I wasn't being observed I could go to and fro. Walking back down the mountain, my mind raced, as I had just confirmed Gensokyo existed, there was a whole new Metaverse incident afoot, Akechi and Maruki were alive, and I had just forged my own confidant, just like Ren used to.

…I just hoped they all would be okay with Akechi, considering what he did, and what he was like.