It was a straightforward equation. If the problem was not due to any action on Kokoro's part, but rather a result of her very existence and the fact that she was missing one of her emotions, then the quickest and most direct solution was to recover that emotion. To take a grimly pragmatic view of things, I suppose the other option would have been to completely destroy Kokoro, but aside from how unfair it would be to do that to someone who had done nothing wrong, it might also be difficult. Reimu's 'exterminations' were effective at preventing youkai we had met from continuing on a particular course of action, but everyone we had ever met who had been the target of one was still alive and kicking. She had told us that actually destroying a youkai would require doing something to disempower or erase the very idea of its existence as a source of fear. Exterminating a youkai in public could help with that, as it made them seem less invincible and it might even be sufficient to destroy a weak or little-known youkai. But to actually end a powerful youkai for good wasn't something that could easily be done on command. As such, our best bet to resolve the situation was to find a way to allow Kokoro to command the emotion of hope once again. Exactly how something like that could be achieved, however, was a mystery.

"Kokoro and I have been talking about how to do just that," Mamizou said, holding up two fingers. "The way I see it, we have two options. First, we could try and find the original mask of hope that Kokoro lost. That's what she and I are here in the village trying to do tonight. If we can't do that though, the only choice will be for someone else to gather a whole bunch of hope up and make it into a new mask. Right now all of the villagers' hope is being drawn into Kokoro and then leaking right back out since there's no mask to hold it in. In order to make a new mask, our first step would have to be to direct that hope to an alternate location. To use your airplane analogy, that'd be like bringing the plane down to a lower altitude. There'd still be a hole in it, but if we dive down to where the pressure's higher outside, it wouldn't matter."

It was odd to hear a youkai using a metaphor involving an airplane. In all of Gensokyo other than perhaps the Administrator the four people talking to eachother right now were probably the only ones who would even know what an airplane was.

Renko looked down, bringing her hand up to cradle her chin and muttering to herself as she thought. "How would we go about directing a lot of hope towards someone else?"

"I think the religious folks around here have already got that one all figured out," Mamizou said with a wry smile. "Though I doubt they know that they're helping us. They're keenly aware of the lack of hope among the villagers though and they're doing everything they can to address it."

"Oh, I see." Renko nodded. "You're suggesting that by recruiting people into their respective faiths, they're actually restoring the hope that's been drained from people?"

"In that case, I need to gather as much faith as I can for the Moriya shrine!" Sanae declared. "Once the people learn to put their faith in the gods, this Incident will be resolved!"

"It's not that simple," Mamizou said, blowing out a haze of smoke again. "Whether it's the Moriya shrine, the Hakurei, the mausoleum or the temple doesn't matter. All that faith is the reason that the whole village hasn't fallen into madness yet. They're only a stopgap measure though. The plane can only fly so low and the hole is getting bigger. Filling people's hearts with hope again stabilizes things for a while, but we need to figure out how to turn that hope into something permanent. We can't do that if we're having to dodge extermination every night though, so that means that this needs to be kept secret. I don't want those religious folks knowing about this until the last minute. Especially the Hakurei miko."

Renko looked over at Kokoro with an uneasy expression. "If Reimu found out about you and determined that you were the reason the riots were happening in the village..."

"...She'd exterminate her without a second thought." Mamizou finished Renko's sentence. I had to admit that was probably a fair assessment. Unlike Sanae, however, I doubt Renko would be able to talk Reimu out of taking decisive action once she had decided to make her move.

"Kokoro and I have been searching for her mask, but I think at this point we might be more effective if I switched to getting the religious folks to step up their efforts. If they can go beyond simply responding to riots and start really recruiting folks, then they can build up a lot more hope at once. Once they do, I'll just introduce Kokoro to whoever's gathered up the most and get them to help me try to make a new mask. If I'm gonna do that though..." Mamizou said, tapping ash from her pipe onto the ground then using its stem to point at Renko, "then that means that someone else should take over looking for the missing mask."

"Oh! Does this mean that the Hifuu Detective Agency can say they've been hired by the famous Futatsuiwa from Sado herself? That's quite the honor," Renko said with a grin.

"Save the self-congratulations until after you've cracked the case, detective. If you really are as good as everyone in the temple thinks you are, maybe you can figure this out before things get any worse."

Renko turned to me and grinned. "We'd be happy to help you out, miss Futatsuiwa. The Hifuu Detective Agency is on the case. We'll help you find your missing mask, Kokoro."

Just like that it was decided. Personally I would have liked to have had some input before we agreed to take a commission from a known bake-danuki who was legendary for her tricks and schemes, but when a customer asked Renko directly like this there wasn't much I could do but sigh. Proper customers were a rare and valuable resource for us and not to be squandered.

Upon hearing that, the smiling god of fortune mask slipped back into place on the side of Kokoro's head. With a completely flat expression she raised her hands in the air. "Yay," she declared, without any hint of emotion in her voice. She then ran over and took one of Renko's hands in both of hers, shaking it vigorously. It was odd to see her moving so enthusiastically with a completely slack face, but she seemed to be in a good mood, at least.

"Alright then. I think the first thing to do is ask you some questions if you don't mind, miss Kokoro. Would you mind coming back to our office for a proper interview?"

"I'd be happy to tell you anything you like," she said, again, completely tonelessly.

"Sanae, you're welcome to attend the questioning if you like, but it's well past your bedtime and this is sort of the boring part. I can fill you in on all the details later, if you like."

"Oh um, it is pretty late..." Sanae crossed her arms and pondered, looking up. "I think that there's more reason than ever for the Moriya shrine to be trying to gather faith in the village now. But I'd also like to be helping you out, Renko... Umm, miss tanuki, is it okay if I consult the gods about this? My gods, that is, Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako. I won't let a word of this leak to Reimu. The Hakurei shrine is sort of our competitor."

"Those're the mountain gods, right? As long as they don't go spreading it around, I don't see how that could be a problem. It couldn't hurt to have a couple divinities working with us."

"Right then." Sanae nodded. "Renko, if you don't need me for the interview then I'm going to go report home. Hopefully I can convince Lady Kanako to help us out..."

Before Sanae could say anything else or Renko could respond we all noticed the villagers around us begin to move with a sudden, perceptible sense of purpose. Many turned around from where they were standing and began to walk back the way they had come. Even Keine, who was still standing beside Renko turned and began slowly walking back into the neighborhood watch office. Everyone else seemed to be wandering back towards the homes they had originally emerged from.

Mamizou stepped out of the way of a wandering villager and took a long pull from her pipe before exhaling. "It's well past the hour of the ox now. I think that lasted even longer today."

"It's 3:42 AM," Renko said with a nod, glancing upward. That tracks. I take it this happens every night? People start to come out of the trance and go back to what they were doing on their own?"

"Yeah, but it's taking a bit longer every time." Mamizou said, looking about. I thought back to how Renko and I had ended up back outside our own place the other night. At least the two of us had already been dressed to go out. I hated the thought of unconsciously wandering around the village in my night clothes and then tracking mud into my futon the next morning.

"Actually, now that I think about it, why are these people wandering at all? Their emotions being drained explains the masks, I guess, but what would make people drained of a part of their souls get up and wander around?"

"I'm guessing it has to do with the hope and faith that's been getting stirred up during the day. When people loose all their hope again at night, I'm guessing they unconsciously go looking for it." Mamizou said. She didn't sound very sure about it though. "At any rate, I should get going too. You've got your job detective and I've got mine."

Just as Mamizou turned to leave, her huge, bushy tail swishing past us to follow behind her, Renko called out. "Oh wait! One moment, miss Mamizou!"

"Hmm? More questions?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at us.

"No, I just wanted to let you know that since this is an official request our standard rates apply. Typically, there's also a retainer to be paid up front."

"Ah, of course, no problem." She said turning back towards us and reaching into her shirt.

"I'm afraid I must also stipulate that as a reputable business operator, we don't accept fake money. I have to pay my rent after all and if Keine finds out I'm trying to do that with a bunch of leaves, I'm afraid I'll have to point her in your direction."

Mamizou's face folded into a frown. "I'll bring something by your office tomorrow. Surely you can wait until then."

"That's perfectly acceptable." Renko shot me a wide grin and a thumbs up. I did my best to suppress a sigh.

-.-.-.-.-

After that we all parted ways. Sanae flew back to the mountain, Mamizou disappeared into the night and Kokoro followed Renko and I back to our office in the storehouse behind the temple school. I had raised a word of protest about entering the school grounds so late at night, but being as we weren't actually going into the school and we couldn't do much to search elsewhere in the dark of night, Renko proceeded on without hesitation.

"Don't worry, Merry, it's just an interview. I'm sure we'll be done before Keine comes to her senses. Even she has no reason to be at the school before sunrise on a Sunday."

In the dead of night the deserted grounds of the school seemed vaguely lonely with the looming shape of the expanded school building looming over us. Renko opened the door to our office and made her way inside by feel before striking a match and lighting the oil lantern on the table. I shut the door behind us as we entered then Kokoro and I took our places at the table alongside Renko. With so little light it would be pointless for me to try to take notes, so I simply listened attentively, ready to commit the conversation to memory. With the dim, flickering light of the lantern on the table and Kokoro's pale, expressionless face opposite mine it seemed more like a gathering for telling ghost stories than an interview, but perhaps that was just the perception of my overtired brain.

"Alright miss Kokoro. It occurs to me that I didn't take the time to properly introduce myself to you. My name is Renko Usami and I'm the director and chief investigator of the Hifuu Detective Agency. Merry here is my assistant and will be recording our conversation. The shrine maiden with us earlier was our part-timer, Sanae Kochiya."

The comical-looking Hyottoko mask slid into place on Kokoro's head. "Hata no Kokoro, Menreiki" she said. Was that mask supposed to be mocking, I wondered? Awkward? Surprised?

"Hata. That's the name of a very old clan. Let's put that aside for now to focus on the issue at hand though. Kokoro, do you have any idea where you may have lost your missing mask?"

The sorrowful uba mask replaced the Hyottoko. "...No," she said, emotionlessly.

"Well that's expected. Do you know when you lost it?"

"I'm not entirely certain. I woke up one day feeling strange and disoriented. I thought it was because I was upside down, but once I got down I realized that there was more to it. I felt like I had lost all hope and when I checked, I came to realize that one of my masks was missing. It could have been lost at any point before that."

"Hmm. Well how long ago was it that you began feeling hopeless?"

"...about a week ago, I'd say..."

It was a more recent answer than I might have expected. Presumably that meant that her influence hadn't been impacting the village for much longer than that. Certainly she can't have been without the mask since the middle of last year when the pervasive feeling of stagnancy had already begun to settle into the village, could she?

"And where were you at the time that you realized your mask was missing?"

"In a tree. In the forest at the foot of the mountain... but I panicked when I realized my mask was gone and ran about in a frenzy looking for it, so I don't remember exactly where anymore."

Renko let out a frustrated breath. "Well that's not much to go on. What does this mask of hope look like?"

The fortune god mask slid back into place. "A smiling child's face. Made of white cypress and painted with glue and crushed seashell." As always, her voice and face were completely neutral but she was leaning forward, as if speaking excitedly.

"A child's face, huh. Well that sort of thing might have been interesting enough that someone could have picked it up if it was lying about. A fairy maybe, or even a kappa or a tengu if it looked well-made. Hmm." Renko pondered for a moment, tilting her head down to her chest then looked up with a ready smile. "I think, miss Kokoro, we're going to need to call in an expert for this one."

I looked over at Renko in surprise. "An expert?"

"That's right. When it comes to finding missing things, there's no one better."