This concludes the story of my partner Renko Usami's involvement in the events surrounding the summer religious war. 'But what of the biggest mystery of all?' you may be asking. As I said before, as far as mystery novels go, this record is doomed to be an utter failure. The culprit behind that mystery was a complete stranger to my partner, we had next to no clues pointing to her identity and even the vague hints of a delusion that my partner had formed couldn't have come close to encompassing the whole of the complex schemes involved. Perhaps, dear reader, you might be in a better position as you read this than we were at the time. I don't doubt that as time goes on the figure of Okina Matara will become better known to the people of Gensokyo. At the time that this occurred to us, however, she was an utter and complete unknown as was the culprit responsible for stealing Kokoro's mask in the first place. Let me relate a few more details about some of the events that occurred after we talked to Kanako about the mask of hope and you may get a better picture of what we learned from our adventures though.
-.-.-.-.-
The odds are good that you probably already know all about the official story of Gensokyo's religious war and how it was resolved. After all, they were the basis for the popular Noh play Shinkirou which was performed at the Hakurei shrine all the rest of that summer long and enjoyed by the majority of the village's population as well as numerous youkai. In case you didn't happen to catch that performance though, I will briefly summarize the events here:
Reimu, Marisa, Byakuren, Miko, Nitori and Koishi all fought against each other in a series of flashy public danmaku battles, staged at low altitudes and with a minimum of projectiles so as not to endanger the audience. They were vying for popularity and public support and had each been variously guided, goaded, tricked or instructed to take part in these matches and to fight the way they did by both Keine (who generally appealed to their desires for popularity and acceptance in human society) and Mamizou (who mostly tricked them using a series of disguises and appealed to their greed where possible.) By doing this, they each accumulated a great deal of hope as the villagers, in their emotionally unbalanced states, saw whichever of the combatants they most favored as a shining ray of hope illuminating the path to a better future. Upon being informed about the missing mask of hope by Reimu (who had been told about it by Keine and Kokoro) Miko crafted a new mask for Kokoro to use.
This new mask was constructed in the same manner as the original mask of hope and had the same masterful artisanship infused in its creation, but it had two important differences from the original. First, the new mask was created in the likeness of Miko's own smiling face rather than that of a child. In my personal opinion, that made it rather disconcerting mask to look at, but it seemed to be effective nonetheless. Secondly, although this new mask was skillfully made, it did not have several hundred years of being used in performances behind it as the original did. As such, it had never accumulated much hope of its own as the original had over time. This meant that when it was given to Kokoro it didn't settle her emotions and erase her ego as we were worried the original might have done. It also meant, however, that the Incident didn't end immediately.
During the course of the summer's events, Koishi had begun staying at the Myouren temple now that she was more easily perceived and after being introduced to everyone Kokoro was allowed to stay there too. She and Koishi didn't exactly become friends, but they talked often and sparred with each other even more frequently. Kokoro became quite the proficient duelist over the course of the summer, but also began learning from Koishi and the others at the temple how to express and manage her emotions. Indeed, Byakuren began a regular series of sermons that ran that whole season on the value and worth of emotions from a Buddhist perspective. Kokoro attended these sermons regularly, but the lessons she learned from them were likely not what Byakuren had intended. Her interest seemed not to be in the content of the sermons but rather the emotional effect that Byakuren's rhetorical technique and style of preaching had on her audience.
By July the fights were still occurring intermittently but starting to draw less of a crowd each time. Kokoro became convinced that both the fights and their declining popularity among the villagers were a result of emotional manipulation on the part of the various religious leaders. She went on a bit of a rampage, challenging and defeating Reimu, Byakuren and the crown prince one after the other all within the space of a week. After having done so and won a great deal of acclaim from the villagers for her combat prowess, the strangeness of the summer soon began to fade. It seemed that triumphing over all of the religious leaders who had gathered up a significant amount of hope had been what was needed to infuse her own mask with the hope she needed. Between the budding power stored in her new mask and her own improved ability for emotional regulation, things began to get back to normal at that point.
Koishi disappeared from the Myouren temple one morning shortly after that and wasn't seen again for months. The riots and outbreaks ceased to occur and visits to the Myouren temple, the Great Spirit Mausoleum and the Hakurei shrine by villagers all decreased, though they didn't stop altogether. Kokoro began performing her new Noh play at the Hakurei shrine daily, inviting any and all who wished to partake of traditional performing arts to come see it. It became quite popular for a time and began a short-lived boom in Noh appreciation among the villagers. That is the story of this Incident as you will find it recorded in the Gensokyo Chronicle.
-.-.-.-.-
That's not the whole story, however. Just as was true that in the leadup to the summer's events there was more going on than it appeared, during this time and there were schemes being enacted in the shadows. Let me rewind just a bit, to the time just after Kokoro's rampage, but just before she began her performances of Shinkirou at the shrine. At this time Kokoro had taken to performing other, more traditional Noh works, seemingly out of a lack of anything better to do with her time. Her dancing had attracted a handful of visitors and so Reimu had taken it upon herself to build a small stage for her in the yard of the Hakurei shrine. During Kokoro's afternoon performances Reimu would roam through the sparse crowd of onlookers, soliciting donations. Kokoro was a very talented dancer, capable of taking on all of the roles in the traditional Noh plays she was performing by herself and switching out her masks as she depicted different characters reacting to one another. With just one actor on stage and no spoken words though, the plays were a little hard to follow. People seemed to enjoy them, but not to understand them. My impression of her performances was much the same.
One evening, after the performance of such a play, Kokoro was sitting in the shrine, staring at the mask of hope in her hands. The last of the villagers who had come to watch the play had just departed and Renko, Kokoro and I were all seated around Reimu's table, watching through the shrine's open doors as she swept the grounds.
"No matter how many times I look at it, it's an odd mask. Is this really the face of hope?" Kokoro asked, looking down at the idiotic smile on the face of the golden simulacra of Miko.
"Maybe it's the face of Miko's hope. She's a religious leader and a politician, so she probably wants to get her image known. It's pretty brazen, but what else would you expect from her?"
"This is my hope now though," She responded flatly. "Do I want to be a famous leader too?"
"That's up to you to decide. I'm just glad you've been able to use it without losing your sense of self. Now you have the ability to choose if that's what you want or not."
Kokoro's fox mask slid into place on her forehead. "It's because of my training. I've been working hard." Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought I heard a hint of determination in her voice when she said that. Her inflection and expression were still for the most part completely unmoving but I had noticed that every now and then I would see an eyebrow or the corner of her mouth twitch when she spoke. She had a long way to go if she wanted to learn to express emotion in a human-like way, but who knows how long a menreiki might live? She had plenty of time to figure it out. On the other hand though, who's to say she had to? Now that her emotional imbalance was no longer actively harming anyone in a spiritual sense it may be that her method of expression was just as valid as any other. Certainly she had spent more than a month at this point carefully observing the emotional presentation of humans and demonstrated that she had the skill to ape such emotions on stage. Whether or not she had any need for such displays when presenting her own face rather than that of one of her masks was up to her to decide.
"By the way, Kokoro, what was that play you were performing today about?" Renko asked.
"Weren't you watching?" Kokoro replied, wearing the monkey mask.
"I was, but I can't honestly say I understood it," Renko said, scratching her head. "It would have been more approachable if I knew who the characters were supposed to be or what they were saying to one another."
The monkey mask remained in position for a moment before transitioning to the sad uba mask. "Noh was originally a form of popular entertainment. It's supposed to be easy to understand, but I don't get this play either, to tell the truth."
"Well maybe it was easy for the people at the time the play was written, but we don't have the context they do. Do you know any more modern works about the sort of things that people would recognize nowadays?"
Kokoro seemed to consider that for a time, but before she could respond Reimu stepped through the door and replied to the question. She was wearing a small tray strapped to her chest which held a portable offering box and a selection of fortunes and charms for sale. It seemed a bit odd to me for a religious figure like a miko to be so quick to try to turn a profit, but Reimu never missed a business opportunity.
"Do you have a complaint about today's performance?" She asked as she took off her shoes and came inside.
"Oh hey, Reimu. No complaints, just wondering if maybe the performances are going over people's heads. How have you been doing with these shows? Making good money?"
"Not too bad. What are you trying to get Kokoro to do though? She can manipulate emotions, you know. Are you trying to cause some sort of Incident?"
"Not at all! I'm just trying to help you out, Reimu. Wouldn't it be great to have her do something that became really popular? She could become Gensokyo's first superstar."
"Renko, whose side are you on? Every time I see you you're trying to help out youkai. You knew about Kokoro before I did, but you never told me about her. I'd expect that of Mamizou, but since you knew about Kokoro too you must have been working with her, right?"
"I'll admit we had discussed strategy together, but that just means I was helping to resolve this Incident, right Reimu? I'm on your side.
"Resolving Incidents is my job! Not hers and not yours! Mamizou has plenty of minions already, she doesn't need the two of you! Has the concept of not sticking your nose into other people's business ever occurred to you?" Reimu glowered down at Renko, hands on her hips. "I've said it before, but I'll say it again. If you keep working with youkai you're going to end up becoming one."
"I'm not on the side of the youkai, Reimu. I suppose it would be most accurate to say I'm on the side of whatever makes the world more interesting. As a result of the plan Mamizou and I were involved with, Kokoro's here with us now as a person. Isn't that better? Don't you like having her to draw more visitors to your shrine?"
Reimu continued to glare at Renko in silence for a moment before grumbling out a pronouncement. "Asking you to keep an eye on Kosuzu was definitely a mistake. You're a bad influence on her." While I wouldn't have said as much, I'd have a hard time arguing against that view. "Speaking of which, what's Sanae been up to this whole time?"
"Sanae? Why do you ask?"
"I would have expected some interference from her in all this, but the fact that she hasn't done anything is making me suspicious. Those gods on the mountain are planning something, aren't they? Am I going to have to fly up there and exterminate that whole shrine again?"
I couldn't help but smile. Reimu's intuition really was remarkable. Renko grinned too. "Well they had been planning something at one point, but they've already missed their chance to participate. You don't have to worry about them."
"What do you mean they missed their chance? What were they planning?"
"Just a strategy to end the religious wars and generate a lot of faith. Things calmed down before they could act though, so it was all in vain."
"That's just like them, sneaking around behind my back at every opportunity. Maybe I ought to go exterminate them anyway."
"Exterminate who?" This question had been called out by Keine who we now saw was walking through the yard of the shrine towards us. She had been escorting a group of villagers who had come to see the Noh performance earlier, but I thought she had gone home with them. She must have stayed behind for a bit.
"Oh, Keine. Thanks for escorting people. Do you think more will come tomorrow?"
"Maybe a few. I don't mind bringing them here and back if so. We should get going before it gets dark though, you two."
"Alright. Will you be walking with us, Keine?"
"I should go make sure the other villagers are safe. I expect you back before the gates close though, okay?"
"The watch's work is never done, eh Keine? It must be hard keeping tabs on everyone who leaves the village. We'll head back soon."
"Compared to all of the turmoil earlier this summer this is nothing. It's nice not to have to deal with riots any more." She nodded and looked out over the veranda, taking in the sunset for a moment before nodding to herself and heading back out to the yard. Of all of the people involved in this summer's Incident she was probably the one most relieved by its conclusion. As the riots had subsided so had the general air of pessimism and hopelessness in the village. From what I had heard there were also now fewer sudden emotional outbursts during village council meetings and the children in our classes seemed better behaved as well. It was nice not having to worry about such things any more.
"Oh, that's right! Miss Keine, one thing before you go!" Renko suddenly called out, twisting around and rising up from the table.
"Hmm?" Keine stopped and turned to face her.
"What did you think of Kokoro's performance today? I'd like to get your take on it as a historian."
She looked a little flustered. "Um, well I don't exactly know the context of that particular piece. I appreciated it on an aesthetic level, but I'd have to do some research in order to get what it was about."
"Thank you for your honest opinion." Kokoro said, completely stone-faced.
"Which play was that, anyway? I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with Noh theatre to have recognized it."
"It's called 'Dark Noh: the Masked Mourning Dance," she replied proudly, the kitsune mask settling into place.
"'Dark Noh?' I've never heard of that. It's kind of an ominous name."
"Kokoro, where did you learn that play?" Renko asked, suddenly interested.
"From a scroll. I found it while I was looking for the mask of hope."
"A scroll?"
-.-.-.-.-
Being as we were now looking for a mysterious scroll, where else was there for us to go but Suzunaan? The next afternoon, as soon as our classes were dismissed Renko and I headed over.
"Oh, watch out!"
"Oops!? Kosuzu?"
There was a flurry of words and stumbling motion as just as Renko had been about to walk into Suzunaan ahead of me, Kosuzu had come charging out at top speed. The two had only barely been saved from toppling over by how small Kosuzu was. Once they regained their balance Renko stepped back to let Kosuzu out onto the street. She was looking up at us with a wild-eyed expression of fear while clutching a furled scroll to her chest.
"Ah, miss Renko, miss Merry, sorry, gotta go!"
"Hold on a moment, where are you going in such a hurry, Kosuzu?"
Kosuzu looked around nervously for a moment, then, rather than explaining or darting off, pulled us into the store with her, hurriedly proceeding around the counter and into the small area in the back where the private collections were kept. There were no other customers in the store at the moment. "I think I just realized something terrible," she whispered. "But you can't tell anyone about it."
Saying that, she unfurled the scroll she was carrying on a table and weighted the corners down with wooden blocks. The scroll was beautifully illustrated, but the writing was in a set of characters I had never seen before. Renko looked over the scroll with marked interest. "What is this, Kosuzu?"
"A youma book. It's called Yamakai Sanrakuzu - Traditional Plays of the Mountain Youkai. Its a youma book I was able to pick up fairly recently, but it didn't really interest me, so I had just put it in my collection with the others."
"I can't read any of this, what does it say?"
"It's in tengu. That's just the preface there, but that's not what's important. Did you guys go and see the Noh performance at the Hakurei shrine?"
"Sure, we've seen it a few times, most recently just yesterday."
"Perfect! Look at this then." Saying that she quickly rolled the scroll forward a ways until she came to a particular section. Artful, hair-thin brushstrokes depicted a figure dancing, stepping through various, rather particular forms. It took me a moment to place the poses, but once I did, there was no doubting it. These were, without a doubt, the same steps that Kokoro had danced through when presenting her Dark Noh. Was this the very scroll that we had come here to talk to Kosuzu about? I wouldn't have expected her to already be in possession of it. Did that mean that Kokoro had come in here at some point to read it?
"The preface states that this isn't really a play, just a mockery made by the tengu of the human performing arts, something like a parody of a play, but I'm pretty sure this is exactly what's being performed at the Hakurei shrine!" Kosuzu said excitedly. "Real Noh plays can fill people full of all sorts of emotions, but I bet a Noh play written by youkai like this one could do just the opposite! Steal people's emotions away, or maybe even control them! Do you think the performer doing this show knows about that? Maybe she's secretly not a human! Or maybe the shrine maiden made her put this play on! Do you think the Hakurei miko might be a youkai herself?"
Renko crossed her arms and groaned. "I see why you were so excited about all of this. What were you planning to do about it though, Kosuzu? If you're right and the Hakurei miko is in on this conspiracy, then who could you trust to tell?"
"I don't know! I was going to go ask Akyuu about it."
"Wouldn't she just go straight to miss Reimu with that info though?"
"Well, it's happening right at Reimu's shrine. If it is a youkai tricking her, she should know about it. If it's not though... if the shrine maiden is really a youkai do you think she'd come into town and eat me?"
"Let me ask you this first. Where did you find this scroll, Kosuzu? It wasn't stolen from someone, was it?"
"Of course not! I got it at Korindo. Sometimes there are youma books there, so I always go to check."
"Ah, I see, I see." Renko glanced at me for a brief moment then made a big show of thinking hard, grumbling to herself and furrowing her brow. Eventually she looked down at Kosuzu and said "Kosuzu, I'm afraid you've stumbled into what may be a very serious problem. You've definitely discovered something here, but acting on that information will require tact, caution and careful negotiation. I think it would be best if you left this to us, the professionals of the Hifuu Detective Agency. To tell the truth this matter has gotten me a little curious too, so I'll give you a good discount if you hire us to look into the identity and motivations of that Noh performer you saw at the shrine."
"What? Really? Would you be okay with that? She might be a youkai!"
"I'm a professional detective, Kosuzu. A little bit of risk comes with the job."
"Wow. That's so cool."
Renko grinned and tugged her hat down to shade her eyes. "Well it's a dangerous business, but someone's got to do it. Now, for the purposes of our investigation would it be alright if I borrowed this scroll? I'll make sure it gets back to you in one piece."
And just like that Renko charmed her way into getting a free rental from the restricted section of Suzunaan.
-.-.-.-.-
After borrowing Yamakai Sanrakuzu from Suzunaan my partner and I headed straight for Korindo. As soon as we entered the store, Renko walked right up to Mr. Morichika and asked "Where did you get this?"
Rinnosuke adjusted his spectacles as he looked up from his book and examined the scroll. "Oh. That was something that a tengu threw away in Muenzuka. They use it as a dumping ground sometimes when they've written something that won't sell but they don't want to be seen burning it. That piece is supposed to be a parody of a human play, but it's honestly more like a copy. I don't think it's very funny, myself."
"So it really was written by a tengu then?"
"I would assume so. I've never heard of a tengu writing a Noh play before, but if you look at it it isn't really a proper Noh. There's no songs or chants in this, only dancing and a written story. It's what someone who had only seen a Noh play from too far away to hear it might write. As parodies go, it doesn't really understand the material it's mocking."
"I see..." Renko said, tucking her chin to her chest as she thought about it.
"...Is there something the matter with that scroll? I believe I sold it to the girl from Suzunaan the other day. Does she not like it any longer?"
"No, nothing like that. Mr. Morichika are you aware that this play is being performed right now at the Hakurei shrine?"
"At the shrine? No, I hadn't heard. Reimu has started performing Noh? That's a surprisingly refined hobby for her to take up. Noh did begin as a Shinto ritual though, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."
"No, no, it's not Reimu who's performing it," Renko said with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it, Rinnosuke, I'm sure it will be just fine."
With that, Renko rolled up the scroll and turned to leave. Rinnosuke watched her go, then turned to me with a quizzical expression. I couldn't do anything but shrug then follow her out the door.
-.-.-.-.-
"Oh, that's the scroll I saw. You found it." Kokoro declared, emotionlessly, but while wearing the smiling god of fortune mask.
"Kokoro, where did you read this scroll?"
"A strange sort of place. It was field where all sorts of bizarre things had fallen from the sky. And I can't read that, I just memorized all the dance steps."
"That must have been Muenzuka."
"I think that's right. I read it there and then put it down, intending to go find it again later, but the next time I went there it was gone." The sad uba mask took the place of the smiling one.
Kokoro must have found the scroll in Muenzuka first, then Rinnosuke must have found it between her visits. The scroll had then gone from Rinnosuke to Kosuzu and finally ended up in our hands. I wondered who among the tengu might have written such a thing and when.
"So you only saw this once before, right?" Renko asked. "Were you able to memorize all of the dance steps that quickly?"
The fox mask took the place of the uba. "I can remember any Noh play. I'm a tsukumogami of Noh masks."
"What's all this about?" It was Mamizou who asked this. Ever since she had revealed Kokoro to Reimu she had begun making regular appearances at the Hakurei shrine, sometimes blending into the crowd of humans watching the performance and other times simply showing up as herself without warning. Her appearance now was one of these latter occasions. She had simply sauntered up path between the torii at sunset, making no effort to conceal her youkai nature, despite the fact that she must have encountered a few villagers headed back to town on her way up the hill.
Renko handed the scroll to Mamizou, who adjusted her spectacles before unfurling it and peering at the content. "Ohoh, I see. A play written by a tengu, eh?"
"Can you read it, Mamizou?"
"'Course I can. So it's an original work, how odd. I would have thought tengu too stuck up for something like this. Where'd you find this?"
"Well..." Renko then went on to explain the history of how we'd come across the scroll, including Kosuzu's fears regarding its origins and performance. As Renko got to the part about Kosuzu's theory that might all be part of a conspiracy involving Reimu, Mamizou burst out laughing.
"Oh deary me, these humans really don't trust their miko at all, do they?"
"Well Kosuzu's got a wild imagination," Renko said with a grin. Coming from her, I'm not sure if that should be read as a compliment or not. "Most people probably wouldn't come to that conclusion. In fact, I'm betting that most of the people watching Kokoro's performances didn't understand it at all."
"Am I not doing it right?" Kokoro asked, lowering her face behind the uba mask.
"I'm sure you're doing it fine, Kokoro. This play isn't a proper Noh though, not according to Rinnosuke at least. Kosuzu is worried about it being dangerous because it was written by a tengu, but I think it may be a bad choice just because it's not very good. Do you know any other plays?"
Before Kokoro could respond, Mamizou rolled the scroll back up and thrust it back to Renko. "I've got a better idea than that. What do you think about the idea of writing a new play, one just for Kokoro?" Renko and I glanced at each other in surprise, then turned to Kokoro, who was looking back at us, as expressionless as ever. "I think I've just come up with a new case for the Hifuu Detective Agency," Mamizou said with a smirk.
-.-.-.-.-
It was a week later when we next walked into Suzunaan with the Yamakai Sanrakuzu scroll in hand.
"A new Noh play?" Kosuzu asked after Renko had returned the scroll.
"That's right. At the Hakurei shrine. It turns out you were right on the money, Kosuzu. That performer wasn't human at all, she's a menreiki. Her Dark Noh was an attempt to steal human emotions and weaken the villagers. Reimu's on our side though. I carefully let information slip out to her a little at a time until I could be sure, but once she figured it out she beat that youkai up really bad."
"So Reimu's not a monster then?"
"Just a shrine maiden. I bet she's never even eaten anyone." Kosuzu let out a sigh of relief. That entire explanation just now was a complete fabrication of course. It was a lie Mamizou had suggested. "Anyway, after Reimu beat her up, the menreiki begged for her life and promised to return all the emotions she stole."
"Return the emotions? Do you trust her?"
"Well it's risky to trust a youkai, but Reimu will be right there watching her in case she tries anything funny. Besides, Reimu said she made the youkai promise to return all of the missing emotions in the form of joy. Doesn't that sound like it might be fun? Getting to see a real, live youkai performance that fills you with joy?" Renko flashed a mischievous smile at Kosuzu.
"Umm. Maybe. I don't know if I'd get it though. I don't really understand Noh."
"Oh, not to worry. Reimu thought of that too. She's clever, you know. The new play is a modern piece with narration and dialogue. It's supposed to be easy to understand. It's apparently based of the story of all of the religious battles that happened this summer. She's calling it Shinkirou."
"...Well that does sound a little interesting..." Kosuzu hesitated for a moment then looked up at Renko with eyes full of wonder. "You were able to catch a youkai that was working right under miss Reimu's nose! You're so cool, miss Renko!"
"Well I am a great detective," she replied with a grin.
Beside her I could only sigh once again.
-.-.-.-.-
And so the original Noh play Shinkirou, which took the village by storm and ignited a blaze of interest in the performing arts among the villagers, was our creation. Well, to a certain extent, anyway. Renko thought that using the recent religious conflicts would be a good basis and keep people from taking the divides that had emerged in the town between people following one preacher's teachings or another too seriously and suggested that topic as the basis of the play. Mamizou did a lot of the writing, especially the jokes, which she would add during late night brainstorming sessions held in the cemetery near the Myouren temple. Kokoro of course designed all of the dances and helped us put the verses we wrote to song of appropriate meter and melody. For someone who couldn't speak with any sort of expression, she had a remarkable singing voice, capable of portraying great emotion as long as that emotion was clearly indicated in the script. There's no need for me to go into detail about the plot of Shinkirou of course, as I'm sure by now nearly everyone has seen it.
In effect all of the paragraphs above are only here to be a sad but unapologetic boast that we at the Hifuu Detective Agency were involved (however slightly) in the creation of Gensokyo's first blockbuster smash hit and Hata no Kokoro's stunning debut original Noh performance.
-.-.-.-.-
But beyond those stories, known to one extent or another to nearly everyone in the village, there is one more facet to this epilogue. It is something that occurred on the day that Shinkirou first debuted. There were quite a few unusual faces in the audience, including the heads of household of some of the village's most prominent families. There were also more than a few youkai in attendance, though all of them were keeping to the edges of the shrine grounds or watching from the roof of the shrine or the branches of trees near the stage. The most shocking face of all however was one I would have never expected to see. Drawn, small and ghastly pale even in the light of the afternoon.
"Miss Satori? What a pleasant surprise to see you here!" Renko had spotted her leaning out from behind a tree well back from the rest of the crowd and come over to talk to her. The lady of Chireiden looked distinctly uncomfortable and out of place above ground, her fuzzy slippers having been exchanged for soft leather loafers.
"Hello," She said quietly and without enthusiasm. "Yes, it's me. Yes, I'm really here. No, I'm not enjoying getting some fresh air. Yes, I was 'lured out of my lair' by the thought of seeing my sister on stage. But it seems like Orin wasn't quite right about this play."
As was usual when Satori and Renko got in the same room the conversation was proceeding without me, leaving me far behind. I could only imagine that Orin must have heard that there was going to be a play with Koishi appearing in it at the shrine and had hurried home to relay that information to her master. Still, it was nice to think that Satori would be interested enough in her sister's habits to come see her performance if she had been here. Koishi does appear as a character in Shinkirou of course, but that character, like every other character in the play was played by Kokoro.
"As long as I'm already here though, I may as well watch the show. It's nice to know what my sister has been getting up to and it seems like some of the people here actually think highly of her. Oh? You're thinking you came up with this story? That doesn't mean these events are false though. So although this play is a fabrication these people really do like her? Hmm."
"That's about right," Renko said, barely managing to get a word in. "In fact..."
"Koishi may still be wandering around somewhere up here and if I came up to visit more often I might see her more. No thank you, detective, I don't intend to do that." Satori was silent for a moment then narrowed her eyes, looking not toward the stage but out over the edge of the hill and across the rolling breadth of Gensokyo below. "However... since the last time Koishi returned home it has been a little easier to sense her. I can see her normally now, and sometimes we even speak. It's... not like it used to be, but it's an improvement."
"That's fantastic, miss Komeiji. I'm happy to hear that."
"Yes. You believe that this is due to her having found the mask of hope, I see. That mask is down in Chireiden now though, sitting on a mantlepiece. I've had a look at it and it's a completely normal, if well-carved Noh mask. There's nothing unusual about it, at least not anymore."
That surprised me to hear. We had known, of course, that the original mask would eventually lose its power altogether, but once that happened I would have expected Koishi to return to her previous state as a completely unconscious youkai, making her almost completely imperceptible to most people.
Satori seemed to read my doubts because the gaze of her third eye turned to me, though she continued to look out toward the horizon. "I suspect that during this Incident she may have been noticed by many different people and now, to some extent at least, continues to exist in their minds. While she still lives beyond the realm of consciousness she is being remembered by others. I think that is enough to change her nature just a little. I hope she'll continue to remain this way for a bit, though the humans remembering her can only live so long..."
Satori trailed off as the intermission ended and Kokoro took the stage again, signaling the resumption of the play. As with the first act, the second act began with her establishing several characters -both returning ones from the first act and few new ones. All of the characters in the play were played by Kokoro of course, but each had their own mask and distinctive method of dancing unique enough that you could discern who was who the instant they appeared. Reimu, Marisa, Byakuren, Ichirin, Futo, Koishi, even the crown prince -whenever each character first appeared on stage the audience burst into laughter. Interpreting the performance wasn't the least bit difficult. The humor was surprising, well-paced and more than a little raunchy overall but the grace and skill with which Kokoro danced and sung elevated the performance. There wasn't anyone in the audience who didn't enjoy themselves that night, I'd guess.
And so, the show went on. We didn't talk with Satori again and by the end of the night she had slipped away unnoticed. At the final bow, however, as people were applauding Kokoro for her one-menreiki show someone threw confetti over the stage seemingly from nowhere. I thought for a moment I might have seen Koishi skipping away, giggling. Where she would go or what would happen next to her or to Kokoro remained a mystery. But quandaries such as those are exactly the sort of puzzling capers that the Hifuu Detective Agency was founded to solve. Maybe some day soon, I'll have another such mystery to write about. Until then, we remain at your service, forever curious.
[End of Book 12 - Hopeless Masquerade]