Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Thank you for waiting for this chapter! I don't have a ton to say here, beyond Endwalker was really good… That's it, that's all I've got for now.

Enjoy the chapter, and see you at the end notes!

~ STAGE 5: Bringing Home The Bacon ~

[START]

"Not a problem! Right this way, Miss East."

Reimu remained silent as both Hiro and Luka stepped outside. All the while, she kept her eyes firmly planted on Kotohime. The detective always looked unassuming at first glance, but even now Reimu could see her penetrating gaze going through both her and Luka. It was enough to make even a veteran youkai exterminator squirm.

It was a throwaway comment by that were-hakutaku she'd once heard, but 'Hijikata' was an old name in Gensokyo, even from before the barrier had been created. A name with influence among humans, and while its relevance had slowly faded over the years, it still held a degree of influence in the village. Kotohime was simply the first one in a long time to actually do anything with that influence. The foolish called her eccentric. Reimu agreed and knew, from the way she observed everything around her, there was far more going on in her head than any villager assumed.

The door closed with a loud Clack!, and Reimu felt Kotohime's sharp eyes focus on her. She took the dopey mask off.

"You wouldn't bring that outsider here without a reason." Straight to the point. "You've got a special case here. Care to share the details?"

"Of course." Reimu hadn't expected the conversation to go anywhere otherwise. "Where to start…?"

Recounting the previous day's events took a bit of time. Every now and then, Kotohime would stop her to interject with a seemingly innocuous question, before signaling her to continue. Though she smiled lightly, Reimu knew better than to trust that expression. Her work always went something like a man being nibbled to death by a tiny rabbit. Tiny, seemingly ineffectual bites until, before one knew it, they were missing a limb. It was terrifyingly effective.

Eventually, Reimu reached the end of her explanation, bringing them back to the present.

"That's certainly the situation to have landing in your lap so suddenly." She leaned back into her chair. "And you think this has something to do with a new scheme by the gap youkai?"

Reimu nodded. "That's why I brought the girl here. I was hoping you could keep an eye on her. Try to make sure Yukari doesn't try to start any trouble with her." Also she didn't have enough food to feed two people living in the same shrine for too long.

"I see." Kotohime smirked. "And here I thought you were doing this out of the kindness of your heart."

"That too. I'm quite famous for my giving, generous soul." Also for being near-broke at all times.

"As I know, eh?" Kotohime chuckled. "Well, unfortunately, your 'famous generosity' won't be enough on its own in this case. There's a slight issue we'll need to discuss before I can start taking steps."

"What's that?"

"Think, Reimu. About the story you've just told me. What exactly are you asking me to run around and spend favors for? To house in the village, of all places?"

She paused. "... An outsider?"

"... A potential youkai, Reimu." Kotohime raised her brow in the same way a befuddled mother would. "Don't tell me you seriously didn't consider that before you came here."

She hesitated longer than she would've liked. "O-Of course I did! I just wanted to make sure you were taking it into consideration, too!" She laughed weakly.

"Why do you even attempt to lie when you're so awful at it?"

"Shut up." Reimu pouted. "... She doesn't feel like a youkai, anyways…"

"That's ultimately a matter of opinion." Kotohime sighed. "You're asking something difficult of me, not to mention dangerous. You of all people should understand that much." She eyed Reimu. "What do you think the villagers would think if they learned about you being involved in hiding a potential youkai in the village?"

Reimu squirmed. "Couldn't we just… keep the whole thing a secret? I'm sure it'll be fine." It's not like their opinion of me is that great to begin with...

"Secrets have a habit of finding their way out and about, and rumors often carry on the wind with no way of stopping them. How they're handled can influence our reputation, which has quite a profound effect on our work." She raised a brow. "You ought to understand that better than me, Miss 'Youkai Shrine Maiden'."

"Yes, yes…"Reimu grumbled. She was going there, wasn't she?

Kotohime frowned, and took a moment to shuffle through the papers on her desk. At a glance, Reimu could read small tidbits from them. Requests for youkai extermination, incident damage reports, and so on. "Reimu, I shouldn't need to ask, but you do remember the reason why this village exists, yes? Or rather, both reasons?"

"That's a stupid question. Of course I do."

To any ill-informed outsider, the so-called 'Human Village' seemed a sanctuary away from all of the youkai who lived in the region. It certainly did fill that role, and to the villagers living inside of it, that was all it was. A safe haven where people wouldn't have to live in constant fear of being attacked by youkai.

That was the simplest, surface-level purpose of the village.

Kotohime slid forward a small stack of worn papers. At the top of the cover page, Reimu could see the title: 'The Truth about the Enigmatic History Society'. Skimming it, she recognized the format.

"One of that annoying crow's articles?" Reimu asked.

Kotohime nodded. "It's just one example among many. Gensokyo has existed for longer than you or I, and it's been held together by a fragile balance all this time. The core of that balance is upheld by this village, by the perceptions of villagers. But not every human knows this, and sometimes the resulting paranoia leads them to do reckless things with no regard for the consequences." Her eyes narrowed. "I should know, considering I was also one of those types at one point."

Reimu could feel the pressure from Kotohime's gaze, and couldn't help but avert her eyes. "What are you getting at?"

"Even though Gensokyo has no formal rules on money or currency, we still deal in one particular form of it: fear. But fear is a dangerous currency. If poorly handled, those who provide it may lose trust in their supposed protectors and fly into a panic. They could also become too complacent, and feel there's nothing left for them to be afraid of." Kotohime steepled her hands. "Do you remember when I approached you about this agency of mine, all those years ago?"

"I recall being locked in a jail cell." Reimu smirked wryly.

She chuckled. "Part of the reason I formed this little circle in the village was so I could do my part in maintaining the balance of Gensokyo, in ways that you couldn't." She gestured with her left hand, "Whether that means stressing the 'greater threat of youkai' by having a scary-looking swordsman guarding the village," then with her right, "or building trust and unity with the villagers by having a certain fixer running around. Do you understand the point behind all this?"

"Of course I do. Why are you pressing me on this?" There wouldn't have been much point to a Hakurei shrine maiden if she didn't know that much. Gensokyo wasn't made just for the humans who lived in it; if anything, their presence and happiness were respectively a necessity and a coincidence.

Youkai needed to be feared to continue existing. The villagers needed to fear youkai for their everyday lives to continue as normal. That was just how it was.

"I just want you to make sure you understand what you're asking of me. You have a bad habit of not always taking your job as seriously as you should." She might as well have started wagging her finger. "Which leaves some of us the job of cleaning up your slack."

"Okay, I get it! Geez..." She just wanted the lecture to stop. "You keep going on about 'potential youkai', but I'm serious when I say I feel like she's not a youkai."

"Are you certain she's not a god, then?"

"I'm sure. I'd be able to tell if she were."

"Alright. Then what would you call her, then?"

"A…" Reimu searched her mind for the best possible description she could find. "'Not-youkai'."

"Succinct." Kotohime sneered. "How about this? Given the story, we're unclear on whether she's human or youkai. So, to be on the safe side, why don't we just call her a half-youkai for the time being?"

"That feels kind of presumptuous."

"Maybe." She smiled reassuringly. "But we have a few of those hanging around the village already, so it would be the easiest way to get the villagers comfortable around her. Besides, it's better to be half-right than completely wrong, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not so sure..."

"Do you happen to have a better explanation for that ambiguous backstory of hers?"

"Um, not really, but—"

"Then it's settled! Thank you for your cooperation."

Reimu wasn't so sure about that. But it really wasn't worth fighting Kotohime over it. If Luka ended up with an unwanted reputation, that was just going to be her problem. Hopefully she would be able to deal with it.

"It'll take me just a bit of time to pull through the necessary favors to get a house constructed. In the meantime, you can look after her right? You still have that guest room at your shrine."

But, her food. "I—"

"Excellent!" No, but—Oh, forget it. Kotohime pulled back the newspaper and smiled. "Naturally, this is going to be quite a lot of work for me to add on top of my already busy schedule." A dark light smiled in her eyes. "So as you can expect, I'll be wanting some sort of compensation."

"E-Er…" Reimu scratched her chin nervously. "About that. I don't exactly have anything to pay you with."

"I expected as much." Ow. "Don't worry. I was looking for something much more service-oriented from you."

Why did she have a bad feeling about this? "And that would be?"

"Don't worry. It's just a simple extermination job. Let me explain..."

A lot of things were bothering Reimu. Her empty cupboards. Her empty donation box. Yukari's stupid smug face. Kotohime's stupid smug face. All of them floated around her head like a flock of annoying birds, pecking and cawing and not shutting up. It all made a request that shouldn't have been a problem feel so much more annoying and exhausting than it should've been.

At least Kotohime was looking after Luka while she worked. Having her wander the path to the shrine on her own probably wasn't the wisest choice, given how many youkai tended to hang around there. It was safer to let her stay back in the village, plus Kotohime could take the time to explain their arrangement. Nice and convenient, just how she liked it.

Speaking of Kotohime.

"This youkai's been appearing outside the village lately, causing all sorts of trouble." As she walked through the woods surrounding the Human Village, their earlier conversation replayed in her head. "Here. After speaking to some witnesses, I was able to compile together a sketch from their descriptions."

Reimu fished out a slip of paper with a crude, almost-childlike drawing splattered on it.

"... Is that some kind of weird cat? The whiskers look kind of big..."

"I-It's supposed to be a boar."

A giant boar. Large enough to dwarf a human in size, covered in scars and radiating bloodlust. What a coincidence. Now she half-regretted wasting her time watching Meira show off, instead of stepping in while it was distracted. She probably could have saved herself a lot of trouble.

Back to her thoughts… Supposedly, the boar had actually been randomly appearing at the outskirts of the village, sometimes even managing to sneak inside of it somehow. At first, the villagers had assumed it was just some sort of curious, long-lived animal, but then it started attacking anyone who came close to it before fleeing. The natural response was to have some of the local youkai hunters deal with it the next time it showed up, but when that next time came...

"It disappeared? Completely, without a trace?" She remembered asking. "Something that big?"

"That's right. No damage to anything, hardly any signs it was even there at all. Almost like it was never there. Strange, isn't it? But that's not all…"

Kotohime decided, on a whim, to start personally investigating the case. And when she did, some more irregular details started appearing. The boar never seemed to appear in the same place twice. A few frantic eyewitnesses whispered that they swore its eyes seemed to move with more purpose than any normal animal. And, above all else…

"... It's rubbing against houses? What?"

"There's more. After it happens, the people living there notice that a few of their precious belongings are suddenly gone the next day. No signs of entry, again. It's almost like a ghost stole something."

"That's quite a coincidence."

"It's enough for me to be suspicious. It could just be the villagers' paranoia getting to me, but regardless, I'd like you to investigate this. See if you can track down this animal. At the very least, it'll keep the villagers calm. Just a regular job for you, yes?"

"Bleh." Reimu mentally stuck her tongue out. That was what it always started as. Then it either turned into a waste of time or an incident, and neither was preferable. When was she going to find a money youkai she could beat up? At least then she would be able to take it easy for a bit…

"I heard a 'bleh'. Is something wrong, Reimu?"

Aaand there was the tag-along. While Kotohime handled Luka and Meira was left at the gate, Hiro was with her for some reason. He was hunched forward, investigating what Reimu could only assume was a fascinating mound of dirt.

"Just mourning the payment I probably would've received if she hadn't picked this job in particular as payment." To just imagine, a few extra weeks of not having to worry about food... "And still wondering why I need to bring along a helper for a small fry like this."

"Aha," Hiro stood. "Again, I don't disagree, but Lady Kotohime insisted."

"She definitely did, which is still a mystery to me. Can you even fight?"

"I'm not really a fan of violence…" He rubbed his neck nervously. "Usually when a fight breaks out, I tend to just run away."

"So you're useless."

"Basically!" He laughed. "At least, when it comes to fighting! You're probably more used to that stuff than me, so I'll leave it to you."

… Once again—"Why did she send him along for this?"

"That being said…" Hiro eyed her thoughtfully. "The payment wasn't the only reason you took this job, right?"

… She avoided looking directly at him. "I don't have to answer that."

Hiro chuckled wearily. "You are the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, aren't you? Isn't it your sworn duty to put the villagers' minds at ease? Especially when there's a youkai causing trouble?"

His tone was light and friendly, but the words hit her like an arrow to the back. "Urg…"

"I also just footed the bill for a bunch of food and other things for you." And another. "And Lady Kotohime is doing you quite a favor by taking care of your outsider problem for you." Another one. "In fact, that she's even having me help you track down a giant boar youkai with for no extra charge is really generous—"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Reimu pried his words from her spine. Was he doing that on purpose? "Just, please get back to doing… whatever it was you were doing."

Hiro hummed jovially and resumed his work. She never knew what to think of him. Reimu's intuitions towards most people were usually fairly passive, but she always had an odd sensation when she looked at him. Not a bad one, nor a sense that he was suspicious in any way, just that he was… odd. Harmless yet a little unsettling, in a way. She didn't know how else to explain it.

At the very least, he was dependable. His earlier stunt was far from the first time. Be it a small thing like a lost cat or a human gone missing, he had a habit of nosing his way in whenever someone needed help. He always demanded nothing in return and always seemed purely happy to see everyone alive and grateful, which made him quite popular with the villagers. It was a kind of pure attitude that was enough to shame mere mortals like her.

It was kind of annoying, honestly. It made her want to throw a rock at him. She chose self-restraint (for now).

"Find anything interesting in that dirt?" She prodded.

"Hm." He was oblivious to her tone. "Something like a trail. … Or two, it seems."

Oh, he actually found something.

He leaned closer to the mound, gliding his hand over it. Reimu followed his eyes, and saw something—something like a concealed set of large prints in the dirt. Looking closer, she recognized them: boar's prints. The whole scene painted quite a clear picture.

"It almost looks like someone scraped dirt over the prints to hide them." Reimu narrowed her eyes. "Wait. You said there were two trails. Where's the other?"

Hiro silently gestured his head to the side. Reimu turned to see a tree.

"It's a tree." She observed.

"Look at the base. About a meter above the ground."

Her eyes squinted. "There's… some dirt?"

Hiro nodded. "These kinds of animals tend to scratch their bodies against things like trees or posts, usually on trails they tend to take normally. It's one way of tracking them."

"Huh. Didn't take you for an expert on feral hogs."

"Aha, well, not me." He rested his hand on the boar's print, as though reflecting on something. "I had a good friend back outside who was the hunting type, so I ended up with lots of know-how against my will."

"I see…" She didn't really care.

He narrowed his eyes and rotated his gaze all around them. Every now and then, he would settle on a spot for a bit. "There are more of these spots here and there… Prints, wallows, rootings, broken branches. Actually, there're far too many trails scattered far too widely for it to be natural, even accounting for this thing's size. Some of these…" He trailed off.

"What?" Reimu furrowed her brow. "You didn't finish."

Hiro turned his eyes back to the print he was kneeling in front of. "Look at the way the dirt is covering this."

She stared at it for a few seconds. "It's dirt, what am I looking for?"

Hiro smiled wearily. "Well, ignoring how strange it'd be for a boar to cover its own trail, look at the… Oh, right, you probably can't see them." He sheepishly rubbed his neck. "Looking closely at it, there's something that looks like human handprints in the parts covering up the prints. I can make out slight bits of fingerprints."

Reimu's eyes widened. "A human covered the trail?"

"Maybe. Or it could have been a human-like youkai." He cupped his chin. "Either way, we can assume somewhere in this, a person is involved. Maybe an owner, or an accomplice…"

Reimu thought back to Kotohime's earlier observations. Was it actually possible the boar was being used to search for something in the village? What could it be looking for?

"... Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It'll be better to track down our troublemakers and question them first." Hiro said. "Give me just a bit… I might be able to puzzle something out from this big maze they made." He stood and began tracing their surroundings with his eyes.

That would probably take a little while, and she wasn't feeling very patient. Reimu stepped away to take a closer look at the rubbing mark on the tree they'd seen. Of course, she didn't really know what she was looking at beyond seeing a clearly-made dirt patch on coarse wood. She ran her hand across it, thinking to herself.

Maybe… If I set up a barrier somewhere in here…

A barrier was a simple thing to set up, just a boundary line between things. If she overlapped those lines, she could set up a small field that she could do just about anything with; say, reserving the space for a giant three-dimensional cube and setting off an alarm if anything went inside of it.

Reimu pulled out a small handful of 'gift envelopes', which were really just ofuda charms she'd drawn the word 'money' on. As for why she did that, none could ever understand the inner mechanisms of her grand machinations. Was it to deceive any crafty youkai who would steal from her? Or perhaps to make them lower their guard before being exterminated? None could ever tell.

(She'd done it once as a gag to make herself feel less poor, and it became a habit. That was it.)

Anyways. At least 4 would do for setting up a barrier.

She pressed one against the tree, making sure the charm stuck to it. "Right around here…"

*Rustle, rustle.*

"Huh?"

She turned towards the noise, and was greeted by a bush; the leaves having just finished swaying from whatever moved them. Clearly not suspicious in the slightest.

Carefully, slowly. Reimu took a few steps towards the sound. Raising up one of her charms with one hand and reaching for the bush with the other. Then, she gripped it, leaned forward, and poked past it—

Nothing. Nothing but more forest, as far as the eye could see. No signs of movement, or that anything had been there.

"?" She didn't just imagine that sound. Her gut feeling told her something was wrong. She took a few more steps. "That's odd… Where could it—"

"Wait, Reimu!"

Huh?!

Just as the familiar voice cried out, she heard the sound of something snapping, then whipping. Before she could react, something shoved her forward. She was lucky to have braced her arms out as quickly as she did, otherwise she'd have gotten a mouthful of dirt and grass.

"Oof!" She flipped herself back over. "What in the—?"

Just as she did, a blue hat fluttered down right in front of her.

"Phew! Just in time!" Hiro, hanging upside down by his leg, was strung up a pretty good distance in the air. He held his glasses to his face like a treasured family heirloom. "Are you alright?"

"Why are you asking me that? I should be asking you!" Reimu stood and brushed herself off.

"Well, something like this doesn't really hurt. It definitely surprised me, though!" He was slowly rotating as he hung from the rope. He craned his head up to look at it. "Wow… Either this is an old snare one of the village hunters set up, or our friend's human accomplice knows out to set up hunting traps!" He laughed like a man not strung upside-down a meter off the ground. "The ropework's really impressive! I'm totally stuck!"

Reimu again fought the urge to throw a rock at him. "Don't compliment the booby trap!" She groaned. She needed to get him down somehow.

"Just, stay put for and I'll cut you loose in a second. Not sure with what, though…"

"I usually carry around a pocket knife, but I think I left it back in the office before we left..." He folded his arms. His eyes looked off to the side, as if pointing. "Oh well. I can 'hang around' for a bit while you take care of business."

"..." Where was the nearest rock? "Right. After I deal with the person hiding in the brush over there."

She heard that reaction. Off a good few meters from the trap, the foliage rustled just a little. Just the same way as it had earlier. Hiro's sneaky glance helped, but she technically heard them before he did anything; whoever they were, they weren't very subtle.

"Just come out already." Reimu made sure to look directly at their hiding spot. "It'll save us both a lot of time."

There was a moment of hesitation, but after a brief pause, a silhouetted figure slowly stepped out into the open, peering just where Reimu could see them.

"You came with a friend. That's uncharacteristic of you." Unnatural, almost glowing pink eyes. That was the first thing Reimu noticed about the woman standing in front of her. Her skin tone was browner than what Reimu normally saw in Gensokyo. Then there was her clothing: a striking black dress with an intricate pattern sewn into it. "How unfortunate. I was hoping to trap you with that, to be quite honest."

"Uh-huh." Reimu eyed her carefully. "Let's just get to the point. Are you the one ordering that boar around? That oversized pet of yours is making some serious trouble for the villagers."

"Maybe, maybe not." She could make out the faint outline of a smirk on her face. "What will you do if I am?"

"Preferably, ask you to stop. Optionally, make you stop."

"Hmm. Choices, choices." She tapped her chin. "Let's see, how about…"

She darted back into the treescape before Reimu could even react.

"Hey—!" And here we go. "Gah, come back here!" Reimu sprinted after her.

She might as well have been chasing a blur. Each time she closed in on the woman, she would suddenly swing around a tree and be several meters ahead of Reimu by the time she turned. How well did she know the forest? Still, Reimu kept on her tail. She had no intention of—

*Snap!*

Her leg barely tripped something. She didn't even have to look to see what it was.

"Wah?!" She instinctively twisted to the side, and the whipping sound of rope shot right past her legs. Another snare trap! "Knock it off already!"

"Lucky dodge…" With a disappointed "Tch!", the figure blurred back into the greenery. This was starting to look like a pattern.

"That's it!" With a swipe of her hand, she started tossing ofuda. *Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!* The slips of paper flew out, turning in the air to hit their marks—only to miss, the woman darting behind a tree or rock for cover each time one drew close. "Argh! Quit hiding, coward!"

"Why would I sit still and take the hits?" She cackled. "Come, this body's more than fast enough to dodge some slow paper charms!"

Ugh, shut up already. Time for the other option—

Reimu readied another ofuda and sent it flying. It curved in the air, angling itself to hit the woman behind her cover. She would've seen it coming just like every other one. There were only a few places she could go to this time. Just a few.

She loosened her arm, and a small metal needle slid through her sleeve and into her hand. The ofuda turned, and the woman's silhouette darted from cover, out to a nearby tree.

"There!"

In the brief opening, Reimu flicked her wrist forward. The glint of metal shot from her hand, darting cleanly through the air between them, before embedding itself right in the fleeing woman's leg. She heard a yelp, and she fell forward, right into the brush.

"Phew." A perfect throw. Even if her target was a human, as long as she hit her mark, those divine throwing needles would still hurt enough to stop anyone in their tracks. "Just stay right there. If I see you start moving, I'll throw the next one at your other leg."

So she said, but since she'd fallen into the thick foliage, Reimu's view of her was even worse than before. She took her steps carefully, mindful to avoid tripping any more traps.

A rustle. She was moving again.

"Ugh, what did I just say?" Reimu shifted her arm to pull out another needle.

Just as she did, she heard a sound like a piece of rope cutting, then a tree branch snapping forward. Right in front of her, above the—

"Gah?!" She ducked and slid to the side, right before the wooden limb could slap her across the head. "That does it, now I've—" Something caught her leg and snapped. The familiar sound of whipping rope, only now it was from every direction, and it was more than a leg getting yanked upward. "HAD IT?!"

A webbed pattern of rope, suspending her in the air like a bag—really, a net?!

"Haa…" The woman was in a kneeling position, a small blade and a cut rope next to her. "Agh—" With a grunt, she yanked the needle from her leg. "Gah! Ah, ha… My, that hurt. It's been a while since I felt something that potent…"

"If that impresses you, you should cut me free. I've got a whole set just like that." Reimu glared.

"Oh, I'm not stupid enough to try and fight you head-on." She stumbled to her feet. "I'm well-aware of what you're capable of. It's always unwise to underestimate a Hakurei Shrine maiden."

Reimu raised an eyebrow. Her tone was a little too familiar. "Sorry, do I know you? I don't really do well with faces." Or names. Actually, her memory was downright horrid.

"Not personally, no; it's a bit of an indirect association"

"You're going to need to narrow it down a bit, that's a lot of people." Regrettably.

A laugh. "Ah, it doesn't really matter." She seemed to pause to contemplate something. "Hm… Since I'm here, and I have you like this… Surely, she wouldn't mind."

Reimu sighed. "Dare I ask?"

"Me killing you ahead of schedule, naturally."

Of course…

The woman lurched forward, dropping to all fours. Suddenly, her body became a silhouette, then her silhouette began to shift. It contorted, morphed, changed, growing in size, bristling, until…

A boar. The same one she'd seen earlier, a perfect-ish match for the sketch she'd been given.

"Oh, Kotohime's weird cat." Reimu blurted out.

"Hm?" She grunted, her voice deepened by a few octaves. "It's a boar youkai, you simpleton."

"Hm, I have been craving tonkatsu..."

"... What?" The boar shook its head. "Forget it. I'm just going to kill you and be done with it. You can sort out your nonsense on the River Sanzu."

The boar snorted, and turned to her. Her tusks looked as sharp as they did earlier. Without a doubt, if she tried to run her through, she would probably die instantly. Reimu didn't have anything sharp enough to cut the ropes making up her net. Technically, her needles might work, but it would take way too long. She was totally trapped and left exposed in the open.

A grunt, and then a roaring charge. The boar rushed at her, intent on finishing her off right there. Her tusks came ever closer, just a few meters, feet, inches—

"...?!" The boar seemed shocked. She struggled, but her muscles didn't seem to respond to any command it gave. Only her eyes and mouth were barely capable of any movement "... W-what...is—?!"

It took her a few seconds to realize what had happened.

On the tree. On a nearby rock. On the ground. All of the ofuda Reimu had been throwing. Wherever they 'missed', they attached to whatever surface they landed on. Their placement had somehow managed to create the perfect perimeter for a barrier, centered right around Reimu. And as long as the charms retained the divine blessing they were given, Reimu could still use them for whatever she wanted.

Including, for example, creating a sealing field for an overgrown boar youkai.

"I may have misheard, but didn't you just say something about 'not being stupid enough to fight me head on'?" Reimu smirked. "It's bad form not to follow your own advice. Here's an incentive to help you remember—"

A card materialized in her hand.

"Divine Arts「Omnidirectional Oni-Binding Circle」!"

The space around them was engulfed in a purifying light. It swallowed up both Reimu and the boar, but naturally only the boar was receiving any kind of damage. It seared away at her without dealing any kind of visible damage—a purely spiritual attack. And yet, no matter how much damage the boar was taking, she couldn't move a muscle. That was also natural. A seal like this would bind anything that stood in it, including humans, which was why Reimu herself could never move while using it. But if she was already tied up by a net, that weak point was a little moot, wasn't it?

*SQUEEAAAL*! With one last shrill sound, the boar's body went limp. Reimu released the seal, and she flopped right onto the ground. Her form began to shift once again, shrinking and morphing, until once again there was the woman she saw earlier lying unconscious on her side. Unmoving, but still alive.

"Phew." She could have gone a few steps further and totally exterminated her, but that monologue had her curious now. Some questioning was in order. "Now, how am I supposed to get down from here…?"

Suddenly another rustling from afar. Reimu craned her head towards it. Another enemy?

"Hey, I found my knife!" No, just Hiro with a stupid grin on his face and a pocket knife twirling in his hands. "Turns out I did grab it before we left and didn't realize—" He stopped and blankly stared at the scene. "Oh, you're already done."

"Almost." Reimu wriggled a bit. "Can you cut me down already? I've got some questions to ask our new 'friend'."

"I'm really telling the truth, I don't know what you're talking abooo~ut!"

So said the boar youkai as she was quite literally hogtied and hanging upside down from a makeshift spit-roast (fire not included [yet]). Reimu made sure the knots were tight enough such that she couldn't move—not until she'd gotten the answers she wanted from her.

"And I'm telling you that I don't believe it." Reimu growled. She really didn't. The woman could cry those fake tears in those big brown eyes of hers. "You had a reason for snooping around the village, I'm sure of it. Now confess, boar youkai!"

"Again! Babi ngepet! Why do you keep calling me that?!" She thrashed about. "And I really mean iiit!" She looked like she was about to start sobbing. "I swear to you, I'm telling the truth!"

"Maybe I ought to light a fire… Make some pork stew…"

The woman started blubbering incoherently.

They'd been at this for a few minutes on a constant loop. She would threaten her and play tough, and the woman would feign ignorance and protest her treatment. She denied having infiltrated the village, even asking 'Why would I be stupid enough to try stealing things from a village full of demon hunters?!' Reimu almost believed she actually didn't know anything. Regardless, Reimu would get her answers soon, she was sure… She just needed to press a little harder. Not actually do anything, but just scare her a little more. That would probably work. Right?

"Er…" Hiro, who had been standing off to the side, looked uncomfortable. "Reimu… Do you mind if I try to talk to her for a bit?"

"Hm." Reimu stared at the woman for a few more moments. "... Go ahead, 'good cop'." It wouldn't hurt to let Hiro take a crack at it.

He looked at her strangely, and then carefully approached the woman. "Right then… Miss? Might I have your name?"

"R-R-Rimba! I'll tell you whatever you want! You want gold?! Riches?! I'll steal anything you want! Please just get that crazy shrine maiden away from meeeee~!"

Hiro squirmed a little. "L-Let's calm down a little. I don't need you to steal anything. We just have some questions about some of your recent activities."

"I! Keep! Telling You!" Rimba tried to kick around, but could only helplessly bounce herself around. "I don't know anything about that! Why don't you believe me?!"

"Because it's sketchy and also you tried to kill me." Reimu retorted.

"WHEN!? WHY?! WAS I DRUNK?!"

Hiro raised a hand to Reimu, a signal and expression reading 'Please stop antagonizing her'. Reimu pouted and let him go on.

"Okay," Hiro nodded patiently. "Let's say I believe you. You don't remember anything about your most recent activities. Not a thing about you entering the village, or stealing various valuables, or the encounter you had with Reimu just a few minutes ago. Not a thing. Say we focus on that. What do you remember from before all of that?"

She went quiet, her face scrunched up in a desperate search for any kind of thoughts. "I… I can't really remember."

"Try to dig. Even if it seems mundane, like a regular day. Try to think."

"..." She took a shaky breath. "I… I can only remember the regular stuff. Nothing weird. I met up with the other grassroots youkai, we exchanged some local gossip, I set up some traps to prank the village hunters when they wander into my part of the forest…"

Reimu listened passively. "(… So they were 'pranks', huh?)" ← Malicious intent.

"After that…" Rimba seemed to strain. "I think… I decided to… look into something…? No, I went to sleep? That's not right…"

"Easy now. Try to remember."

"...I-I can't. I can't remember. Why can't I remember?" She paled in a way Reimu rarely saw in youkai. "I-I'm being honest. About all of it! I mean it! Really!"

Hiro studied Rimba for a few seconds. "Hm." He turned back to Reimu. "Well?"

Reimu also stared at the woman. After a moment of silence, she stepped forward and placed herself right in front of her. She looked carefully into her eyes, studying her for any kind of sign she was being dishonest. All she saw was fear, and not just the kind of someone fearing for their life. There was an uncertainty, a confusion. An understanding that something was clearly wrong with her own recollection, and she didn't know what caused it. It was clear and obvious, just looking at those brown eyes of hers.

Brown eyes…

"..." Reimu cupped her chin. "She could just be saying stuff to try and weasel out of consequences."

"I—" Rimba whimpered.

"But." Reimu's tone silenced her. A sigh. "... I don't think that's the case. At least, that's what my gut is telling me."

"So what do you think?" Hiro asked.

Reimu frowned. She thought back to the piercing pink eyes she saw before. Maybe… a vengeful spirit? She'd been told something once by Yukari, regarding the nature of youkai. Their spiritual existence made them different from humans in regards to how they would behave if possessed by something like a vengeful spirit. A human possessed by a vengeful spirit may behave differently, but the core of their person would remain. A youkai, on the other hand, would have the core of their existence overwritten. It would be as though their personality was completely different; a description that certainly fit the situation she was seeing right now.

The problem with that observation was that said possession usually meant the original personality was 'dead', for all intents and purposes. Freeing them from the control of a vengeful spirit wasn't an option. So why did Rimba's personality return to normal after she was defeated? Was it something else entirely? Either way…

"I'm not sure." She concluded. "And I'd be making some huge guesswork to try and figure out what happened. For right now, let's just assume she's innocent of it and move on."

"H-Huh? You're sparing me?!" Rimba looked overcome with joy. "T-Thank you, oh gracious shrine—"

A purification rod immediately shoved itself right into Rimba's face, and she yelped accordingly.

"Now listen here." Reimu's tone darkened. "I don't need any youkai's admiration or respect, got it? So don't get the wrong idea, or start visiting my shrine!" She made sure to stress the latter part. It was hard enough to get worshippers at her shrine, and she was already sick enough of uninvited guests.

"Y-Yesh ma'am!" Rimba cried with a purification rod smushed up against her cheek.

With an understanding nod, Reimu marched off. "Good. Anyways, take it from here Hiro. Tell Kotohime whatever you want and do as you please with the were-boar. Roasted or stewed, it doesn't really matter to me."

"Huh?" Hiro stumbled. "E-Er wait, what about you?"

"Tired. Going home. See you later."

And so she did. She didn't concern herself too much with the mess she left behind. She already knew Hiro would cut the babi ngepet free and tell her to 'stay out of trouble' as a polite warning. She could guess he would provide a summary of the day's events to Kotohime, and the detective would take that information in her own way.

Whatever it all meant, she didn't have the time nor the patience to go through all of it at the moment. Whatever troublemaker spying on the village was dispatched for the time being. That was enough for her to consider the matter resolved. If it turned into more, then she would deal with it then.

For now… Home. To hopefully sleep, and move onto the next step in dealing with her new outsider-related headaches.

Author's Note:

And here we are, at the end of another chapter? Gee, I wonder what this is all about…? Obviously I don't want to give anything away, so I can't actually answer that and instead will comment about it facetiously. But I will say my writing style is kind of an unholy combination of architecture and gardening. Some small seeds may take time to be revisited, but I do have plans for them. When will they happen? Well, that's for me to know and you to hopefully enjoy experiencing!

I'll see you all next chapter! Happy belated New Year, and here's to hoping 2022 is kinder to all of us!