"Huh?"

Given the passion and eloquence with which Shinmyoumaru had explained her position before, it was clear that Renko's question had been completely unexpected. It was a rather un-princess-like response. She recovered quickly, again adopting a properly formal bearing and responding in a dignified, if insubstantial way: "Our goal is to create a better world. Where the weak can live happily..."

"I'm not asking about your ideology though," Renko interrupted, sensing she had hit a weak spot. "I'm asking about practical realities. Currently humans and youkai live separately but have occasional contact and even some interdependencies. This state of affairs remains stable thanks to the rules set down by the youkai sage, and the Hakurei miko exists to uphold that order. You're planning on toppling all of those pillars, right? If you do that, then what will take their place? Youkai are dependent on humans for fear to survive and the humans of the village rely on the youkai sage for tools, goods and staples from the Outside world. How are you planning to attend to all of those needs and what systems are you planning on putting in place to ensure that the new order is more equitable than the previous one? If you have a system that makes sense I wouldn't hesitate to support you, but I need to be well-informed to make a decision."

An uncomfortable silence stretched on for several seconds as Shinmyoumaru looked at Renko with an almost horrified expression.

Renko grunted. "I see, you haven't gotten that far. I take it that you're aware that youkai require human fear in order to maintain their existence? I'm not sure if an inchling is a type of youkai or not, but amanojaku certainly are. If you were to overturn the order of Gensokyo, that would be putting humans in a position similar to the one they're in in the Outside world. I just so happen to have grown up in the Outside world myself and I can assure you there are no amanojaku or really any youkai to speak of living there. I assume you wouldn't want to create a situation like that, right? -Or, let me guess. You were planning on still keeping humans in the same position they occupy now, but you just wanted to change which youkai are on the top of the food chain. Is that it? Well even that would have significant effects. If all of the youkai who are strong right now suddenly became weak, then the humans wouldn't have much reason to have to stay inside the walls of the village any more. They'd start venturing out, in search of land and resources and that would inevitably lead to more encounters with youkai. If those youkai had been significantly weakened, then humans would probably band together to destroy them. If that happened, then the weak, formerly-strong youkai would come to you asking for assistance and you'd have to choose who to support. All of those weak youkai asking for your help probably wouldn't want to work together either, so it would be like a return to the warring states period with every youkai warlord carving out their own little fiefdom and trying to rule over a parcel of humans. Do you think you have what it takes to unify a divided nation like that? And to do it before you run out of humans or the supplies needed to keep them alive? You'd have to form a new centralized government with some means of accessing the Outside world pretty quickly."

Renko was spooling off an elaborate fantasy simulation effortlessly. I'll admit a fantasy version of the sengoku era in which humans and monsters battle for control of a nation might make for a good manga, but it would definitely be the sort of story I'd rather see on a shelf in the Moriya shrine than in real life.

"Stop trying to confuse me!" Shinmyoumaru yelled. "Our goal is just to create a world where inchlings, tools, and weak youkai of every sort don't have to be oppressed! We can figure those sorts of things out later! Once everyone is free to act as they please, finding answers to problems like that will be simple!"

Renko shook her head. "Ah, that was too complex a scenario. Let's start with something simpler. In this new order you're hoping to create are you expecting to be on top and in charge of everything? Or are you promoting the idea of equality, where every youkai has an equal say in the affairs of the world?"

"Oh. Um, that last one sounds good."

"Well in that case, there's a temple not far from the human village that is dedicated to promoting the idea of equality between humans and youkai. I could introduce you to the head nun there, if you like. She's spent more than a thousand years thinking this over already."

"No! I mean... We know what we have to do already..."

It seemed clear from the look on Shinmyoumaru's face that at no point had any concrete vision or ideology motivated this insurrection. Hers was a revolution born wholly from a dissatisfaction with the status quo, the sort of revolution that could be stirred into action by passionate words and demonstrations but quickly petered out once the complexities of actual governance came into the picture. It seemed to me like someone must have taken advantage of Shinmyoumaru, filling her head with beautiful but senseless dreams in order to take advantage of the power of the Miracle Mallet or perhaps her status as the descendent of a legendary figure. As for the question of who would do such a thing, the answer seemed obvious.

"Mokou, do you think that Seija..."

"She's the real mastermind behind this." Mokou said with a nod. "Dammit, we let her get away too. Shinmyoumaru, do you know what an amanojaku is? If Seija put you up to this, she's been lying to you from the beginning. She's just using you."

"She wasn't lying! She's suffered too! We just wanted to get back at the forces that were holding us down..."

"So you're just a tool for her revenge then." Mokou shook her head sadly but lowered her hand. The fire she had been holding in her palm winked out. "A revolution that uses tools as soldiers and people as tools. You've been played, princess."

"That's not true at all, you just can't see the future she's shown me! We're going to create a world where people like us can be happy! All we have to do is smash the current order and a better world will naturally emerge! We'll all build it together! We would have been able to a long time ago if not for the strong youkai holding everyone down! The world we create won't need rulers or rules or a Hakurei miko to enforce them!"

"So it sounds like what you're proposing is either some form of anarchy or maybe a direct democracy if you could use the power of the mallet to truly make everyone equal in strength. I think that would be difficult to achieve though and I'm not even sure it would be desirable in a place like Gensokyo. This world is protected from the Outside by a barrier. If no one had to follow any rules, don't you think someone might decide to break it? If that happened I don't think the way of life you're envisioning would be possible."

"So does that mean you aren't willing to join our cause?"

"Hmm, I think you maybe need to rethink some parts of your strategy before you I could say one way or another. The idea of making a more equal and democratic society in which the voices of both humans and youkai have their say would be good, but the way you've been going about it is all wrong. You don't have any sort of unified philosophy to bring your forces together and as a result the tsukumogami you've created and the youkai you've empowered have taken to attacking people at random. That's not a very democratic approach. Violence may be a necessary aspect of any revolution but if you can't even present a shared set of goals and ideals for you soldiers to rally around you're going to get nothing but chaos."

"I know that! That's why We've been using the mallet to fill weak creatures with the spirit of revolution! It's telling everyone who it lends its power to fight against those more powerful than themselves! That's how we'll bring about a grassroots uprising!"

Come to think of it, Genji had told us that the power he had felt radiating from this castle had carried an agitating message with it. It didn't seem to be very specific though. I wondered if that was a limitation of what could be done with a wish from the mallet or just a result of the way Shinmyoumaru had been using it.

"By the way," Renko continued, switching topics without acknowledging Shinmyoumaru's protest, "you've been saying 'we' and 'our' a lot, but you and Seija are the only people we've seen in this whole castle so far. You've been creating tsukumogami and you eagerly invited us to join your cause, so I'm guessing your revolution isn't all that popular just yet. How many are there who've pledged to join you so far, Shinmyoumaru?"

There was a long pause during which the small princess glared at Renko, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

"Ah. Is it possible, by chance, that your revolutionary army consists of just you two?"

"Who cares?" Shinmyoumaru shouted. "We have the power of the Miracle Mallet on our side! That and the two of us are all we need! Seija told me that I have the power to liberate the oppressed and I have her by my side to guide me!"

Mokou groaned audibly and shook her head again. "Have you seriously been listening to everything that amanojaku told you?"

Shinmyoumaru glared at her. "That's the sort of baseless discrimination we're going to put an end to! Don't assume Seija is a liar just because she's an amanojaku! It doesn't matter anyway! Even if Seija is lying to me, I'm the one with the mallet and I believe in her cause! We weaklings are being oppressed! If we want a better world we have to make it for ourselves, and I have the power to do it!"

As Shinmyoumaru said that, her eyes shining with a hopelessly naïve conviction, another voice echoed in my head. It was a familiar voice but I hadn't thought about the words in years. "Let's wake up! Dreams are things to be made into reality! We should take those dreams of yours and make them real!" It was something that Renko had said to me more than a decade ago, when we were both still living in the Scientific Century. As my dreams had become more lifelike I had begun to loose the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. I had complained to Renko about it in desperation, heaping the burdens of my strange ability on a classmate that I had only just begun to know at that point. That trite exhortation had been her response.

"Well said, Merry, I couldn't agree more." I turned and blinked at Renko. Had I spoken? Searching my memories I found I recalled my voice repeating Renko's words from back then aloud. I didn't recall ever having intentionally done so though.

Renko reached up to grab the brim of her hat and tugged it down, casting her eyes into shadow. "Miss Shinmyoumaru, I think your determination is admirable. I can see that you're dedicated to this cause and I suspect that if I were to try to dissuade you from pursuing your revolutionary aims it would only make you more stubbornly resolved to see them through. In fact, I think I would have a hard time even arguing that you were wrong. The society in place in Gensokyo is unfair. It would be better if everyone could have a say in their own fate. But to achieve that you need to have a practical, down-to-earth plan. I think I can help you with that while still keeping the truth of your dream alive and well."

The princess blinked at the sudden turnabout and responded once more in a very un-princess-like way.

"...What?"

Renko grinned and extended a hand out toward the girl floating in her bowl. Shinmyoumaru looked at it suspiciously and made no move to approach. "Shinmy, if you want to stage a democratic revolution then it stands to reason that you need popular support. Not just power, but the backing of Gensokyo's humans and possibly even some of the powerful people who call this world home. I think there are some, like maybe that nun I mentioned at the Myouren temple that we could convince to aid us. If we can present a compelling vision for a new way forward to benefit all of Gensokyo, then I think people would be willing to listen to what we have to say. Doesn't a popular uprising sound more likely to succeed than just two people staging a coup?"

Mokou turned on Renko, a panicked expression on her face. "Renko, what are you saying? Did you forget why we came here?"

Renko paid Mokou no mind and instead nudged Genji forward, her hand still extended.

"I gave you my name already, but I didn't introduce myself properly. I'm Renko Usami, Gensokyo's foremost negotiator. I think you should hire me to negotiate with ruling powers of Gensokyo on your behalf. So that we can establish a brighter, more democratic future for everyone who lives in this world."