The next day I taught my classes as scheduled, trying hard not to let my lack of sleep show in front of the students while wondering how Renko, who was teaching her mathematics class down the hall, was coping. Despite my distractedness, class proceeded as usual, at least until a few minutes before the lunch bell was scheduled to ring.

It was just before noon when all at once we heard the sounds of a commotion rising on the street out in front of the temple school. Trying not to let the alarm show on my face, I peered out the classroom windows toward the wall surrounding the school grounds. It couldn't be... could it?

Of course as soon as I tried to look out the window several students became curious as to what I might be looking at. Within moments everyone had noticed the sounds of singing coming from the street and had begun noisily discussing it and trying to get a look for themselves. I sighed, closed the textbook I had been reading from and opened the shoji door on the outer wall of the classroom to look out toward the street. Sure enough, just beyond the wall that encircled the grounds of the temple school I heard what could only be the same sort of disorganized, unruly march we had seen the other day. Chants and lyrics were being cried out at random in raised voices that sounded angry in some cases, morose in others and ecstatic in still others. There was the sound of dozens of feet scuffing and leaping and I could see the occasional bit of someone's head peek up above the wall as people danced and flailed in the street. It was unquestionably the same sort of commotion that Renko and I had witnessed once before. By now the lunch bell should certainly have rung, but the fact that it hadn't meant that Keine must be looking into the issue too. Shutting the door to the outside, I walked to the opposite side of the classroom, saying "Everyone please wait here for just a moment," and poked my head into the hallway. Sure enough, Keine was there, standing by the open main doors to the school, looking out onto the street. I slipped into the hallway, shut the classroom door behind me and walked over to her.

"It's happening again..." she muttered as I approached.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"We can't let the children out with such a raucous disruption nearby. Keep the kids in their classes for now. I'll go out and put and end to this." Saying that, she stepped out, marching toward the school gates and closed the doors behind her. I turned back toward my classroom, wondering what Renko was up to when I saw her, leading a whole class full of students down the hall towards me.

"Renko, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Going to see what all the fuss is about. Aren't you curious, Merry?"

"It looks to be the same thing we saw the other day. Keine's already gone out to put a stop to it, so let's get these kids back to class. It could be dangerous for them out there."

"No way, I wanna see this," she said, stepping forward to go around me, toward the doors leading outside.

"Renko, you're a teacher! I expect you to be better behaved than the children. Take them back to the classroom until Keine comes back."

"It's lunchtime though, Merry! They wouldn't normally be in the classrooms anyway."

"Yeah, I wanna go play!" one of the children behind Renko yelled.

"It looks like fun out there, I wanna see!"

"I wanna go sing and play too!"

"I don't think what we're hearing is playing..." I said, trying to reason with them.

Renko slipped around me and open the door. "It looks like they're playing to me," she said with a grin. The children surged forward, trying to get a look around me. Over their heads I could see several of the children from my own classroom peering into the hallway. The school held five classrooms now, each with their own shoji doors leading to the outside. There was no way I could keep everyone contained from here.

"Alright," I said. "We can go have a look. But Renko, you help me keep the gate closed until Keine comes back. We can watch, but we need to make sure no one slips out."

Renko nodded then bolted out the door. A wave of cheers went up from the children and Renko's class as well as my own streamed out the door. At the sound of their cries the other classes let out as well and soon Renko and I were standing on either side of the school's iron gate, with a crowd of eager, excited children on one side of it and a crowd of rowdy, shouting adults on the other.

For the people who lived in the village this seemed almost like a moment of much needed relief. Humans living in Gensokyo made do, but life wasn't easy for most. Even Renko and I, who lead both more exciting and less physically demanding lives than most villagers, had toiled for almost ten years in dreary, uncomfortable conditions. The disturbance in the street had a certain appeal, I'll admit. People there seemed to be cutting loose with whatever emotion was most pent up in them, carousing or whooping joyously, wailing in hopeless, self-pitying misery or thrashing about in angry, chaotic brawls. There was no rhyme or reason to it and I saw a pair of people caught up in a scuffle lay their arms about eachother and fall to weeping on each other's shoulders a moment later. I wondered if occasional outbursts like this were simply part of the price one paid to live in the relative safety of the human village, beset on all sides by the usually invisible but ever present threat posed by Gensokyo's youkai.

Do we live to work, or work to live? It was a question that was no less important here than in the Scientific Century, I supposed. Although Gensokyo had not suffered the ravages of environmental collapse brought on by capitalistic excess that the world Renko and I came from had, the idea that one could never take a moment to simply relax and enjoy a life free of responsibilities without risking their livelihood and potentially their very survival was just as ingrained here in this society as it had been in Kyoto. Food needed to be farmed, shelter needed to be built, stockpiles had to be saved up against the threat of drought or blight and always, always, the gates had to be guarded from the Other, whether that Other was youkai, foreign interests or freeloaders in search of a handout. The political arguments spouted by the rich and powerful here were much the same as the ones I had heard in my own time, even if the threats and concerns were different. Perhaps all humans intrinsically lack the ability to determine the difference between means and ends or project how our own actions today might shape our circumstances tomorrow. Perhaps this wild, uncontrolled, cathartic dancing was not so different than counter-culture demonstrations I had seen on the campus of Kyoto University, or the labour strikes we occasionally heard about being aggressively put down on the news. Maybe it would be nice to not have to worry about such things any more. Maybe it would be nice to not have to second-guess my every thought and re-examine my every conclusion.

"Maybe it would be nice to just cut loose!" Someone nearby shouted. "I don't want to have to think anymore!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" several children cried. It was only in the moment that I saw a handful of children in the crowd twist their way through the narrow bars of the school gate and disappear into sea of marching bodies that I realized the person who had been shouting that was me.

"Oh, wait!" I cried, reaching out through the gate toward them. In the space of a heartbeat the children split up and vanished into the surging crowd. I gasped in horror then began climbing over the gate without a moment's hesitation.

"Hey Merry what are you doing?" Renko called out. She had taken up a position in front of the gate to prevent any more children from escaping.

"This is your fault for bringing the kids out here, Renko! I'm going to find them!"

"That doesn't sound like a good idea. What about Keine?"

"I can't let them go! Get the other teachers to help you keep everyone safe!" I said as I dropped down on the far side of the gate. If Renko said anything more, I didn't hear it. I was too focused on plunging into the churn and press of bodies around me, searching desperately for scampering little legs. After about a minute of searching I still hadn't found them, but I did see Keine, standing in a small island of calm she had carved out for herself. She was posed with her arms outstretched and shouting but the crowd was flowing around her, giving her perhaps a half-meter of clearance on each side but still moving forward undaunted and her voice was barely audible over the chants and shouts surrounding me. As I debated whether to go to her or keep looking for the children, I saw someone angrily shove her and she fell to the ground. Without any further thought I rushed forward to where I had seen her go down.

"Keine!"

"I'm here!" I found her hand reaching up toward me from between a pair of legs and hauled her to her feet. She had a muddy boot print on her shoulder and her hair was a mess, but she seemed uninjured as she found her balance and looked bitterly at the crowd moving past us.

"I'm sorry Keine. Are you alright? About a half-dozen kids got past me and disappeared into the crowd," I blurted all at once.

"What?" She looked genuinely distressed. "No one here is listening to me. I don't think I can stop the crowd, we have to find them."

"Do you think you could spot them from the air?"

She blinked at me. "Flying? In the middle of this crowd? I'm not sure..."

All at once a voice rang out, loud enough to be heard over all of the commotion.

"Truly, this is a fallen world, beset with countless sufferings." The voice was calm and almost cheerful. I would have recognized it anywhere. "Desire gives rise to greed and greed gives rise to jealousy, miserliness and arrogance. These sins torment the living and damn the dead to hells of their own creation. All who live in this world, whether human or youkai suffer beneath the crushing weight of the chains they have forged of their own desires."

All around us the dancing had stopped. The crowd, which had been moving like a frothing, unstoppable river just a moment before, turned as one to look toward the silhouette of a woman who was descending toward them, flying in from the north, her face concealed beneath the shadow of a wide, woven bamboo hat. People parted and made space as she lowered herself to the ground, landing not far from Keine and I. Once she alighted she was perhaps a centimeter or two shorter than me, but she had a presence that held everyone including me in place by virtue of her sheer, overpowering charisma. Saint Byakuren, mother superior of the Myouren temple. She was surrounded by a fainter version of the rainbow aura she had adorned herself with when fighting against Reimu and the others. When she spoke, however, it was not with the iron conviction that had filled her voice back then, but with a welcoming sense of assurance that managed to sound convincing and hopeful without being smug or superior.

"Despite the weight of these sins and despite our foolishness in burdening ourselves again and again with their heft, there is hope for us. The Buddha would never abandon us. He has shown us the way to salvation and watches over us with infinite compassion. He knows that the struggles we endure are no different than his own and there is but one way to escape the cycle by which we doom ourselves. To know the Buddha's compassion is the first step on the road to salvation. By learning to free yourself from worldly desires you can calm the terrible fires of want and needless consumption that wound you and compel you to crave ever more. To purify your heart with the teachings of the Buddha is to be free from sin, free from longing and free from pain. The state of Buddhahood is something that can be attained within your lifetimes, if you are willing to devote yourself to achieving a more perfect understanding of the Buddha's wisdom. Each and every one of you has the essence and the potential of the Buddha inside yourselves."

A cheer went up from somewhere nearby. All around us. People who had been dancing moments ago, who had been fighting, wailing inconsolably, smashing signs in front of businesses, or kissing passionately stopped what they were doing and began instead to pray. Beside us, an old man clutched at a necklace of prayer beads and silently wept. The only voices besides Byakuren's were muttering words of thanks quietly from all around us.

"If you wish to truly know peace within all of your hearts then let us all pray together," Byakuren said. Her aura had faded a little more, retaining just enough magic to make her voice audible to whole crowd, I expected. "Give thanks for the three treasures of Buddhism and let us take shelter in the refuge that the Buddha has granted us. The doors of Myouren temple are open to all humans who seek salvation and any youkai who wish to know true peace as well. Now, follow me if you would. Namusan."

With that, Byakuren turned and began to walk. As before, roughly half of the crowd began to follow along behind her while those who remained milled about aimlessly. The only difference between what we had seen with Miko and what was happening here was that most of the people following the crown prince had been on the younger side. Byakuren's audience seemed to skew older.

"What the hell is all this?" A strident voice suddenly called from above.

Once again, it was a voice I would have recognized anywhere. Looking up toward where it had come from, I saw Marisa Kirisame sitting on the edge of the tiled roof of the building opposite the school. I could imagine that she probably came into the village with some regularity to shop or swap rumors with the people living here, but what was she doing on the roof?

"Is this some sorta' weird cult or somethin'?"

"Marisa, welcome." Byakuren said, turning toward her. "I'm just bringing the teachings of the Buddha to the people of the village in need of salvation. Have you come to join us in prayer?"

"That's a suspicious bit o' nonsense. What do I or any of these people need with salvation? Goin' to some temple and chantin' all day doesn't fill your belly or put a roof over your head."

"Those who learn to live free of desire save themselves through acts that bring good karma. For those who have achieved salvation, the needs of the material world fall away. Desire for worldly rewards are the root of all suffering. Only those who learn to do without can ever know true peace."

"Nah, you've got it all backwards. Get yourself somethin' good to eat and a warm place to sleep an' then you can worry about all that spiritual stuff. People gotta be comfortable before they'll wanna listen to some preacher yammer at 'em."

I could only imagine that someone like Marisa was speaking from experience here, having eschewed both the safety and material security of the village to live on her own in the Forest of Magic herself. Her viewpoint sounded imminently practical, with the sort of sensibility born of hard-won experience.

Byakuren looked up at Marisa for a moment then nodded to herself, seeming to have come to a conclusion. "How sad," she said, placing her palms together in front of her. Silently, the rainbow aura surrounding her flared in intensity, becoming instantly both brighter and more solid-looking. "You have trapped yourself under so much desire for material comfort that you cannot even see how the things you take from others only serve to weigh you down. I think of all these people here you are the one who most urgently needs to learn my teachings."

"I don't remember askin' you to save me."

"Perhaps you will understand better if I demonstrate to you the power of Buddhism." Byakuren said as she began to rise into the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didja wanna go?" Marisa asked with a leering smile as she turned her broomstick upright and let it carry her into the air. "With all that sermonizin' you were doin', it can be hard to tell when you're not just blowin' hot air," she said, sweeping the broom underneath herself and taking a seat on it in a practiced motion.

All at once the crowd that had been following Byakuren with somber, thoughtful expressions on their faces erupted into loud, raucous cheers, hollering as if they were watching a prize fight. Were the two of them about to start a danmaku match here, in the middle of the village, directly above a crowd of people?

"Marisa! You can't fight here, it's dangerous!" Keine shouted, echoing the words in my head.

"Ugh, Keine, you're here too?" Marisa said, scowling. "Alright fine. Let's do this up in the air then." With that she kicked one leg over her broomstick and turned it upward, rocketing into the sky and leaving a trail of sparkles behind her.

"The altitude isn't the problem!" Keine shouted after her, but her words were drowned out by the cheers of the crowd as Byakuren kicked off of empty air and soared after the witch. "Byakuren, not you too!" Keine cried in desperation.

The nun stopped in midair and turned back to face Keine, bowing apologetically. "I'm sorry for the disruption, miss Kamishirasawa. But in times such as these it is imperative that people understand the power and security that the Buddha can offer them." She then turned and raised her voice to address the crowd. "All of you should get to safety. I will return shortly and show you the comfort and peace that strength such as this can provide. Now, see for yourself what the Buddha has taught me. Namusan." With that, Byakuren leapt upward, leaving a streaking trail of rainbow light behind her and met Marisa in the sky with a resounding boom. Luminous bullets flew in every direction and a spirited danmaku battle began in earnest. The people standing in the streets began to cheer, pumping their fists in the air even as the occasional stray bullet glanced off of nearby roofs or thumped into the mud of the streets.

I looked around frantically for the children I had been chasing. Keine was moving through the crowd, yelling at people to take cover to little avail as most were just ignoring her and continuing to stare upward. Renko had made her way beside me at some point, but she was of no use, looking up and cheering just like the others. While I was scanning the faces of the people in the crowd looking for the wayward students I spotted something else for just a moment. Amidst the sea of faces turned toward the heavens to watch the spectacle, I had caught a glimpse of one pair of innocently smiling eyes that had been looking directly at me instead. Our gazes met for just an instant as I swept the crowd, then, as I realized who I had just seen I turned to look back. There was no sign of her. If I had really seen her, she had vanished so quickly and completely that I could hardly be sure that she had been there at all, but still... hadn't that been Koishi Komeiji?