Curls of dark grey smoke were rising from Seija's body which was draped over one of the ceiling crossbeams at the bottom of the room when we ventured back to the large dining hall we had just left. The outermost edge of the bow tied upside down on the back of her skirt was glowing orange and slowly turning to ash. Soot, ash and fragmented bits of smashed furniture had completely redecorated the room in an instant and the smell of smoke was everywhere. Whatever Mokou had done must have been near-instantaneous because it didn't look like anything had actually caught on fire but all of the walls and much of the furniture in the room had been blackened or were now smoldering slightly. Mokou floated down and landed on the crossbeam of the ceiling beside Seija, who coughed out a cloud of smoke as she did so. I suppose for a youkai being flash-seared or suffering from smoke inhalation wasn't really much of a threat and I'm not sure if a creature made of personified fear and malice could actually be ignited, but being burned up was probably still pretty painful. I suppose for the sake of my own mental health I should be grateful that Seija looked more like a character from an old cartoon who ends up covered in soot after an explosion than the actual grisly reality of a charred corpse.

"...What happened?" I asked as Genji slowly floated over to Mokou. Whatever vertiginous reversal had been affecting us before was gone now.

"I blew myself up," Mokou said with a shrug. "She could turn my attacks back on me so Renko suggested I attack everywhere at once in a way that would affect us both. Since I can't die, it seemed like the easiest way." I noticed that there was no longer any sign of the cut on Mokou's lip. Even if I were to become as immortal as Mokou I can't imagine ever discarding my life so casually, but I suppose that's the sort of change in perspective that living for millennia and dying countless times can bring.

"It's just like Kuwabara vs. Toguro the elder in Yu Yu Hakusho." Renko explained. "Reflex-type characters always lose to wide-area attacks."

"Honestly, it's a little embarrassing I had to go that far," Mokou said, shaking her head. "This kid isn't really all that strong, just tricky. Once I finally hit her she went down right away."

"Well she's leading a resistance of weak youkai, right? It would be odd if she herself wasn't weak. Someone who was already powerful wouldn't have much reason to want to start a revolution, right?"

"Wait, does that mean Kaguya isn't the mastermind behind all of this?"

"Well, we'll have to investigate, but I wouldn't expect her to be. She's got no motive to do something like this."

Mokou growled then stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Well then who was that 'princess' she was talking about?"

Seija groaned at Mokou's feet and began to stir, moving to push herself off of the roof beam.

"Hey, no running away," Mokou commanded. With her hands still in her pockets she mercilessly stomped on Seija's back, eliciting another hacking cough and another cloud of ashy smoke.

"Arggh, it's not supposed to go like this!" Seija growled from beneath Mokou's boot.

Mokou leaned over, placing more weight on Seija's back and looming over her. "You were saying something about a 'princess' earlier. Who is she? Is she the mastermind behind all of this?"

"Heh. You... you want to know?" Seija choked out between coughs. "Then I'm not telling."

Renko snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" she declared. "You're an amanojaku, aren't you? That's why this Incident is all about reversing the natural order of things, right?"

Mokou nodded in recognition. "Oh I get it. I thought you were just being contrary to be a pain, but you're a natural-born contrarian, aren't you?"

Seija tried hard to press herself up and twist around, but Mokou kept her pinned beneath her boot. She settled for twisting her neck around as much as she could, smiling crookedly up at us. "You cant begin to imagine how people like me have suffered beneath the heels of those who are born into strength."

"A 'revolution of humble masses' might sound noble, but if an amanojaku is behind it then I'm guessing you've got some evil, hidden intention, right? I'm not going to be heartbroken over the failure of your uprising." Mokou said, pressing down hard with her leg and eliciting another wheezing cough from Seija. Seeing her standing over her defeated foe with her hands in her pockets and her foot firmly planted in the amanojaku's back, she looked strangely at ease, as if this were something she were used to. I wonder if deep down Mokou might be a bit of a bully.

"The thing about amanojaku," Renko said, grinning as she leaned down toward Seija "is that you can count on them to always do the opposite of what you ask them to do. So if I ask you to lie, I can be just about certain I'll get the truth. That's a rarity, really. An guaranteed liar is something more dependable than almost any human or youkai. What an upstanding person you are, Seija. Now whatever you do, don't tell me where the princess is. I would absolutely hate that."

Seija glared at Renko and bit her lip to keep from speaking. Renko only grinned wider. Renko may not have been the one standing on Seija's back, but she can be a bit of a bully too sometimes, especially if she feels justified in teasing someone. Maybe we all have a little amanojaku in us.

"Ah! What are you doing to Seija?" a voice called out from behind us.

We all looked up to see who had spoken, but Seija was the first to say anything. "Princess! Don't let them-"

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as Mokou once again stomped on her.

The voice that had called out belonged to a girl who had just entered the room. She was small, slight in every dimension with fine features and several of the oddest accessories I had ever seen. She was wearing a lacquered hat that looked like the lid of a rice bowl which I suppose made sense seeing as she was standing inside what appeared to be a oversized flying bowl the size of a large washtub. She was carrying an ornately decorated golden gavel with dangling tassels in one hand and the other was resting on top of what appeared to be a huge, meter-long sewing needle laid across the rim of the bowl. Aside from the odd accessories, she was wearing a beautiful and elaborately embroidered silk kimono in a rich color that was somewhere between red and fuchsia. Now she was leaning forward, over the edge of her bowl which had tilted slightly. "Leave Seija alone!" she shouted.

Seija again struggled and pressed herself up with both arms just enough that she could speak. "Get out of here, princess! These guys are after your treasure!" She earned herself another stomp for her effort.

"You want my treasure?" The girl in the bowl asked. "Who are you? You're dressed in red and white but you don't look like a shrine maiden. You're not the Hakurei miko are you? Are you a thief? I knew the path to revolution would be difficult but I didn't expect to have to contend with bandits even before we had to deal with the Hakurei. Whoever you are I won't let you hurt Seija any more. Get off of her!"

Mokou looked over at this new girl, hands still in her pockets, tossing her head to throw her bangs out of her eyes. "So you're the one behind this Incident then?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes! And there's no point in trying to steal this mallet. Only an inchling like me can possibly use it!"

"Wait a minute." Renko said, nudging Genji away from Seija and over towards the girl in the bowl. "You're an inchling? with a mallet? Riding in a bowl? Are you supposed to be Issun-boshi or something?"

The girl stood proudly upright, the bowl wobbling unsteadily in the air beneath her. "I'm his descendant! Issun-boshi was the founder of our clan. I am Shinmyoumaru Sukuna, princess of the inchlings. What about you? I see you're riding on the back of a turtle, are you supposed to be the descendant of Taro Urashima? If so, you're in the wrong castle. This isn't the Dragon Palace, it's Shining Needle Castle."

"My apologies, but I can't lay claim to any such storied heritage. I'm just an ordinary human. My name is Renko Usami. This is my partner Merry and the turtle's name is Genji. The one stepping on your friend is Fujiwara no Mokou."

"Well I appreciate the introductions, but could you get off of Seija? You three are humans, right? Except for the turtle, but he's a weak youkai. You should all be on our side. We're trying to overthrow the powerful youkai who have been oppressing all of us! Wouldn't you like to see the order of things flipped around?"

Renko looked over at Mokou. "Well I think we could discuss it, at least. Mokou, what do you say?"

Mokou frowned, but lessened the pressure she was applying to Seija. "I don't think it's a good idea to let her go, Renko. You can't trust an amanojaku to play fair."

The moment Mokou stopped pressing Seija to the ground she pushed herself up again and cried out. "Princess! Use the mallet! Give me a hand here!"

"Oh, good idea." Shinmyoumaru said with a smile. She took her fancy gavel and waved it in the air. "Miracle Mallet, heal Seija of all her wounds and give her strength!" Shinmyoumaru twisted her wrist and the gavel rung as if had struck an invisible gong. A vibration of translucent force cascaded outward from the point of impact in a ring, growing, then shrinking again once it touched Seija. It collapsed into her body like a ripple in reverse. The ring looked exactly like the ones that had washed over our office, animating Renko's coat, only much smaller. I wonder if anyone else saw it.

Seija grinned as she lay on the floor. The next moment Mokou cried out in alarm as her body flipped over and she suddenly hurtled toward the floor above us. She caught herself before impact and resumed floating (still upside down) but by then Seija had climbed to her feet and darted away to take up a position behind Shinmyoumaru with her back to us as before, looking over her shoulder at us all.

"Seija, are you alright?" Shinmyoumaru asked without taking her eyes off of Mokou.

"I'm better now. I can help you fight."

"No, if they've already beat you, there's no point to putting you at further risk. Besides, I would hope that I could convince them to join us. You retreat for now and wait for me."

To my surprise, Seija nodded, offering no argument. "As you wish, princess," she said curtly, then sprang down a distant corridor, disappearing into one of the countless sliding doors lining every hallway.

Mokou struggled in midair, trying to right herself. A moment or two after Seija disappeared the effect seemed to wear off and she was able to flip the right way around and return to floating at our side. "Yeah, you better run..." she muttered under her breath. She stared down the hall where Seija had fled for a moment longer then turned to address Shinmyoumaru. She looked the girl over for a moment, then spoke with clear skepticism. "So you're a descendant of Issun-boshi?"

I can't blame her for being suspicious. Shinmyoumaru was on the smaller side, but she was definitely human-scale. She looked perhaps just a little shorter than Remilia. Inchlings were supposedly supposed to be about the size of an adult's hand.

"I am," Shinmyoumaru answered. "We inchlings have suffered terrible oppression for countless generations. This is where that ends though! Our revolution will overthrow Gensokyo's tyrannical rulers and avenge our humiliation! What's more, we inchlings will act on behalf of weak creatures everywhere and establish a just society in place of the current system. Doesn't that sound better? Wouldn't you rather live in a Gensokyo that's not ruled over by powerful youkai?"

"I'm not sure which side you'd place me on. I'm human, but I have no interest in politics and I'm strong. The way the world works right now has no impact on me one way or the other. Generally though..." Mokou said reaching a hand out in front of her. A hot flame blossomed in her palm. "I don't like it when people threaten my friends or cause problems for the human village. I guess that puts me on the side of the existing order."

Shinmyoumaru frowned, but didn't seem intimidated. She turned to Renko and I. "What about you two? Will you join our revolution? I see that your coat has become a tsukumogami. That's due to the power of this mallet. Wouldn't you like to aid your loyal tool and join us in creating a world that has a place for creatures like that in it?"

It was an odd proposal. If she had been asking me, I would have felt bad saying 'I'd rather my coat stop being a person' right in front of the coat itself, but it would have been the truth. Who needs clothes with opinions about whether or not they should be worn? As for my partner though...

"Hmm," she said, fiddling with the brim of her hat. "Honestly that's an interesting proposal. The hifuu club was originally founded as organization for two delinquents with no regard for the rules and distaste for the state of the world as we knew it, but I wouldn't exactly call us anti-establishment."

Mokou swiveled her head about, shooting Renko a significant look. The flame in her hand dwindled. "Renko what are you doing? You're a civil servant. What would Keine say?"

"Well it's an interesting idea. I would hope that Keine would welcome robust political discussions. Honestly the system in the village right now is basically controlled by Akyuu and she's in complete co-operation with the Administrator. Isn't that a lot of power to concentrate in one youkai's hands? I think we should hear miss Shinmyoumaru out. Wow, that's a heck of a name. Do you mind if I just call you 'Shinmy?'" She didn't pause to wait for an answer. "Anyway, I think on the surface Shinmy's dream sounds admirable but the trouble with revolutions is they tend to be beautiful on paper and ugly in reality. Once dreams have to give way to the harsh dictates of power and reality they tend to get pretty brutal, cutting off everything and everyone who doesn't fit the shape of their ideal."

Shinmyoumaru frowned at that. "What are you saying, exactly?"

"Well, have you given any thought to what form of government you would institute after overthrowing the powers that be? Have you drafted up a manifesto, or laid out a revolutionary constitution? What's your founding vision? What exactly are you planning to do once you're the ones on top?"