As the crowds began to disperse, flowing away at random all around us we stood in the street, talking to Akyuu. She told us that the danmaku match we had just missed had been a very strange one. Apparently a crowd had spontaneously gathered up in the street and begun to dance, sing and cause havoc as we had seen before and, predictably enough, the crown prince had showed up to guide and proselytize to them. In the middle of one of her speeches, however, she had suddenly stopped, turned and stared into empty space, asking 'who are you?' to no one at all. Seconds after that, a fierce danmaku battle had broken out, with the prince seemingly fighting someone, but no one in the audience being able to see her opponent. Miko seemed to be having trouble seeing whoever they were fighting as well, as in the midst of dueling she would often freeze in place and look around, seemingly trying to listen to some unknown sound. The match ended with Miko being suddenly struck from behind and knocked to the ground. At that point Futo had rushed onto the scene, shouting a challenge to whoever had dared to strike the crown prince. Futo didn't seem to be any better at detecting the mysterious unseen opponent though and was quickly defeated as well.
Both Futo and Miko had already left by the time we arrived, but along with Akyuu we were able to stop a few of the other people who had been watching the match and ask them what they saw. The details were vague and incomplete, but many of the villagers reported having been able to see the Taoists opponent occasionally but inconsistently. Everyone who had seen her didn't seem to remember many details about her, but by canvassing a wide swath of the audience we were eventually able to put together a picture: Miko and Futo had been defeated by a single opponent - a young girl wearing a floppy black hat who had something like a tangled purple cord wrapped around her body.
"...That's definitely Koishi." I said with a nod when Renko looked to me for confirmation. Between her description and the difficulty people had had seeing her, there was no room for doubt. Renko asking me to confirm her identity wasn't surprising since she had never seen the girl. In fact, up until now, no one but myself, Parsee and a few of the spiritually sensitive children in the village had ever been able to see Koishi with any regularity. The fact that she was being seen by so many people now, even if only fleetingly, definitely suggested that something had changed.
Renko reached up and fiddled with the brim of her hat, nodding to herself. "I don't think Yamame had seen Koishi once in the centuries she'd been living in the Underworld and Yuugi only claimed to have seen her a handful of times. If this many people can see her now, then it looks like what Satori and Orin were saying about Koishi having become more noticeable is true. I wonder if she'd be willing to appear in front of me now?"
"Do you think the mask of hope has anything to do with this change in her?"
"Given the timing and all of the other possible suspects we've already ruled out, it seems increasingly likely. I just don't know how it might be related yet. Maybe inspiring hope in everyone is enough to make even a subconscious youkai noticeable? I suppose that there's also the possibility that both Koishi becoming more noticeable and the mask of hope disappearing are both the results of some as yet undiscovered external influence."
"If the two events are connected, do you think that means that Koishi stole Kokoro's mask?"
"That or she found it after Kokoro lost it. At any rate she's the person who's most likely to know where it is at the moment, which probably means that you're going to have to be the one to find out what she knows, Merry."
"First we'd have to find her."
-.-.-.-.-
It was not long after that that we headed home for the evening, though we stopped by the office just long enough to drop Genji back off at the pond in the yard of the temple school, give him his dinner and a bowl full of sake for all of his hard work first. While we were walking, I noticed a black shape flying overhead, just above the rooftops of the market stalls. I waved to her, and down came Marisa Kirisame astride her broom to talk with us.
"Hey there, you two," she said, looking around the streets excitedly. "Did either of you happen to hear if there was a fight earlier?"
"There was, though we didn't see it ourselves," Renko said with a grin. "I'm pretty sure it was between two of the Taoists from the Divine Spirit Mausoleum and Koishi from the Palace of the Earth Spirits though."
"Koishi? I hadn't heard that she was back up here. You said she fought Miko?"
"And Futo as well. She beat them both easily with a sneak attack from what we heard."
"What the heck kinda religion is she promotin', I wonder? This is gettin' to be the oddest Incident I've ever heard of," Marisa grumbled, scratching at her head.
"Oh, is this officially an Incident now? I take it that means Reimu is involved?"
"Yeah, she's been tryin' to drum up faith for the shrine. She was actually fightin' Byakuren in front of a crowd outside the Myouren temple just now."
"Oho, it's a proper religious war now then, I guess. A battle for the hearts of the people between the Buddhists at the temple, the Taoists at the mausoleum and a Shinto miko at the shrine. What about you, Marisa? You fought Byakuren yesterday so I assume you're involved too. Are you fighting on Reimu's side?"
"I'm fightin' on my own side. Popularity doesn't have to be religious, right? And with popularity comes money. There's already kappa settin' up concession stands and takin' bets outside of Myouren temple. I gotta get me a piece of that market too."
"You're fighting in a religious war for popularity and money?"
"So's everyone else. I'm just honest about it is all." She grinned. It was a very Marisa-like sort of honesty, I thought.
"Well I could use the help of an honest woman right about now, Marisa. Do you have time to help us out?"
"Oh? I'll listen. Help might cost you though." Between Renko and Marisa I couldn't tell which of their grins was more disconcerting. The combination of the two undoubtedly meant trouble.
"Well Marisa, since I know you're interested in treasures of all sorts and you're fighting in this Incident for the sake of popularity, what would you do if I told you that there was an item that will make anyone who finds it incredibly popular?"
Marisa's grin widened and she dismounted from her broom. "You've got my attention."
"Hey Renko!" I hissed. "You can't tell her about that!"
"Relax Merry. I have it on good authority that Marisa is an honest woman." Renko grinned maddeningly. I suppose Mamizou had only told us not to tell Reimu about Kokoro or the missing mask. I didn't think Marisa was the sort to be quite so quick to jump to conclusions as Reimu... probably.
"Merry and I are looking for this item right now, on behalf of a client of ours. I can't be certain yet, but so far all signs point to it being in Koishi's possession."
"You mean that Koishi's becomin' popular? Is that even possible for someone who only kinda-exists? What is this item anyway?"
"I can't tell you any more than that with any certainty yet. We have to talk to Koishi first in order to confirm the facts. But supposedly this item is something that would fill everyone near it with hope. Something like that would be a pretty surefire way to gather faith and resolve this Incident, don't you think?"
"Maybe. Why would Satori's sister have somethin' like that though?"
"Well that question is part of our current ongoing investigation. If we could talk to Koishi, I bet we could get the answers to all of these questions at once. So what do you say, Marisa? If you see Koishi, could you bring her to us? We're detectives, not treasure hunters, so all we need from her is information. Anything else she's got is none of our concern."
"Hmm, didn't you say your client was looking for this item though?"
"Our client hired us to find out where it is. I don't know what they're intending to do with that information, but you're both fast and a skillful negotiator, aren't you, Marisa? If we're able to report to our client where it is, it's not up to us if a third party gets to it first."
Marisa seemed to think about that for a moment, looking Renko over dubiously. After a moment she shook her head, still grinning and climbed back on her broom. "Well from one honest woman to another, I'll thank you for that information at least. If I happen to see Koishi, I'll let you know."
"As one honest woman to another, that's all I could ask."
With a wave of her hand Marisa flew away, a manic grin back on her face.
"What was that all about, Renko?" I asked once she had departed. "Don't you think telling her makes it more likely that Reimu will get suspicious?"
"Finding someone like Koishi is a big job. We need all the help we can get. Besides, I have a feeling this religious war is going to keep Reimu pretty busy. That's no reason for us to slack off though. You and I should plan our next move."
"What sort of move did you have in mind? Koishi could be anywhere."
"That's why I'll have to depend on my trusty, high-performance barrier detector, Merry."
"I'm not a radar, Renko. I might be able to find something if it were right in front of me, but I'm not going to be able to point you toward where it is."
"And what exactly would you two be walking around looking for at sunset?" a voice from behind us asked. The voice was a very familiar one, though perhaps a little more growly and frazzled-sounding than usual. Even without turning around, the speaker was easily identifiable.
"Good evening, Keine!" Renko said, whirling around with a blithe grin on her face. Keine was standing behind us, wearing the armband of the neighborhood watch along with a harried expression.
"Good evening yourselves. What are you two up to?"
"We just happen to be working on an official request, a proper case for the Hifuu Detective Agency."
"Is this the sort of case that's going to involve you descending into Hell or being abducted by an undead hermit?"
She was already half right. Keine's intuition for the convolutions of Renko's schemes was getting downright scary.
"No, no, I have no intention to go anywhere like that at the moment. This case is just a simple matter of lost and found."
"That sort of thing should be left to neighborhood watch."
"Well I suspect the missing item in question isn't in the village at the moment, Keine."
"Then what are you looking for here?"
"Well, although the item we're looking for likely isn't here, we've heard reports that it might have been found by someone in the village. That's who we're trying to find now. Being professional detectives, we of course have duty to maintain strict client confidentiality though, so I'm afraid I can't tell you any more than that."
Keine frowned, looking from Renko to me and then back again. "You're not getting involved in anything dangerous, are you?"
"Of course not, miss Keine. Our first duty is to those who depend on us, after all."
Keine's frown deepened. "Speaking of people who depend on you," she began, raising a finger. "Since you two aren't doing anything important right now, why don't we all go check on Mokou while it's still light out? I haven't been able to go see her lately and I'm worried she might not be eating. Go put your things away at the school and then I'll meet you there."
We couldn't help but glance at eachother in surprise. "Um, but miss Keine, we're in the middle of working on a case right now..." Renko protested.
"Like I said, 'Since you aren't doing anything important.' There was slight growl to her voice. Was it my imagination or did Keine seem to be a centimeter taller than usual? While I was wondering that she patted Renko on the back and walked past her, turning the corner off of the village square and heading home. I suppose after everything we'd been through, Keine still didn't trust us much. Really, given all the times Renko had selectively omitted truths or lead her astray, who could blame her for that?
"Renko if she's going to Mokou's now, she's going to meet Kokoro. Do you think that's safe?" I whispered.
"Anything that adds more stress to Keine's life right now probably isn't what I would call 'safe,'" she replied. "But I'm not sure what we can do about it at the moment. Come on Merry, let's go grab Genji again and see if we can't cut her off."
I couldn't deny that simply having the two of us in her life was probably already a significant source of stress for Keine. She had done so much for us and was always so overworked and here we were about to make things even more complicated for her. We'd have to do everything in our power to make sure this went as smoothly as possible.
How is it that I always get tangled up in complex and bizarre situations like this, I wonder?
