Sanae Kochiya, our part-time assistant, is a living goddess and a full-time wind priestess in service to the gods of the Moriya shrine. While working in that role, she was always calm, proper, reverent and eager to help. Around us she was willing to be a bit more unrestrained.

"Seriously? You? Saving someone? Are you sure, boss? I mean, isn't your role normally to endanger people? Did you hit your head and develop an alternate personality or something?" she asked incredulously.

"It's not that shocking, is it? You're a religious person, Sanae, I'm sure people come to you all the time with their problems. Do you know of anyone in the village who you could imagine would be in danger and need my help?"

"People come to shrines to wish for divine help, not everyday sorts of problems. We sell amulets to help attract money, good luck, or love, but the rest is up to you. The monks and hermits are more about telling people how to live their lives, all we care about is making sure people revere the gods. Do that and food, clothing and shelter will all be provided by the mountain. What more could anyone need? If people come to me with problems I'll listen to them, but its not our policy to ask about the details or give people advice. If they really want that from us, I just tell them to pray to the gods directly for a revelation. Solving people's problems like that isn't really my job."

Renko heaved a sigh in response to that.

"Really Renko, I didn't think that sort of thing was your job either. Detectives are supposed to solve mysteries and collar criminals, right? Maybe teaching at the school and hanging out with Keine has awakened your sense of compassion. Oh! Or did the Yama come by and yell at you again? Or is she going to become a rival detective or something? Do we need to diversify the agency's offerings?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that Sanae. We've received a new commission from a client asking us to save someone. The only problem is they haven't told us who."

"So now you're doing social work instead of catching criminals?"

"Well I don't know that I've ever really caught a criminal, per se."

As Renko scratched her head the door opened again and someone else stepped into the room.

"If you're looking for a criminal to catch, I happen to know a serial offender who's constantly breaking curfew and trespassing without permission into dangerous areas," Keine Kamishirasawa said as she walked in the door. Then, "Renko? Merry? What are you still doing in your pajamas? You didn't get kicked out of your flat, did you?"

"Keine! It's Sunday, what are you doing here? The school is closed, right?"

"I came here to talk to you two, actually. I was thinking that I might be able to convince you to give up your life of misdeeds and maybe consider taking up a role with the neighborhood watch. Temporarily, at least. I even brought a pair of armbands for you, but you can't wear them on top of a nightgown. Given the way that you're dressed, I take it that you were both out all night causing trouble again?"

Keine stood in the entranceway of our office, hands on her hips and glowering at us both. Dressed as I was and confronted by our supervisor and guardian I couldn't help but shrink away. Sanae was the only one who was still smiling. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever written about the two of them meeting, but since Sanae often comes to visit us at our office it was inevitable that she would get to know Keine sooner or later. Both of them were quite civil in the others' presence but I don't think either of them really trusted the other. It's entirely possible that in Sanae's case that was just a matter of association though. I imagine Keine would be unlikely to trust anyone who was close friends with Renko.

"I'm all for allowing students the autonomy to learn on their own, but you two are teachers for goodness sake," Keine was continuing. "Don't you think it's time that you settled down and started doing something respectable with your lives?"

"But we're already teachers, Keine." Renko argued. "You can't get much more respectable than that. And detective work is a respectable career too. Sanae, you're well-respected here in town, tell her we're good people."

"Are you? Private detectives aren't police but they carry guns and they spend their time hanging out around hardened criminals and drinking in seedy bars, right?"

Keine sighed and stared hard at Renko as she tried to shrink behind Sanae. "Should I even ask what you were doing last night? Who's this mysterious client that hired you to save someone that you were just talking about?"

Renko blinked at the question and sat up straight, doing her best to put a serious expression on her face. "I'm sorry Keine, but as a private detective I have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of my clients. I can't disclose who's hired us." It might have been a more convincing statement if her nightgown wasn't slipping off of one shoulder or her cowlicks weren't standing out in every direction as she said it.

"Renko, you obviously understand right from wrong and can recognize the importance of discretion, so why not apply that knowledge and think about how you could use your skills to benefit others instead of just selfishly pursuing your own interests? I was being serious about coming here to ask you to join the neighborhood watch. There's a lot of people who your investigative skills could actually help. You wouldn't be out getting nearly eaten by youkai every other week any more and you'd be able to help villagers do things like find lost items, locate elder relatives who have wandered off or settle quarrels and domestic disputes. It might not be the most interesting work in the world, but you could be doing actual good and helping people instead of just playing around with dangerous monsters."

I had never asked Keine what the day to day life of a member of the watch was usually like. I had imagined that it involved training to learn how to defeat youkai who might attack the village, but given how peaceful things usually were in Gensokyo, perhaps that was a bad assumption. I wouldn't want to live in a world where Keine had to be even more constantly vigilant than she already was anyway. Working as a member of the watch isn't something I had ever considered before, but compared to the sorts of situations Renko often got us involved in, it might be preferable. Joining the watch might also help to give Keine some relief from the constant burdens she was always placing on herself. During the Incident involving Kokoro she had nearly worked herself to the point of nervous exhaustion and had had to take a week off of running the school afterward to both catch up on sleep and ensure that her youkai half was properly pacified. Despite everything, I considered Keine my friend. I wouldn't want to see her have to go through something like that again.

"If you'd be willing to consider the idea, I could actually use your assistance with the watch next week. You could think of it like a trial run, to see if you like the work since we're likely to be shorthanded for the next little while."

Renko perked up, looking inquisitive rather than defensive all of a sudden. "Oh? Why's that? Has something happened?"

Keine frowned. "You remember that amanojaku who was involved in the most recent Incident? She was spotted last night, flying over the eastern district of the village, engaged in a danmaku battle with a fairy. She's still on the run, but if she's around here somewhere now, she poses a clear and present danger to the village. Not just because of who she is, but because of all the people who are likely to come after her."

The person in question was Seija Kijin. She had been on the run ever since the climax of the recent tsukumogami Incident. Renko and I probably had a better idea of what she was capable of than Keine did as, along with Mokou, we had been there in Shining Needle Castle when she had been exterminated by Reimu and the other Incident resolvers. Keine didn't know about that particular little outing of ours at this point though, so we didn't mention it. If you want more details about that Incident, you can read my previous casefile.

"Ah, you're talking about that Bunbunmaru Shinbun extra edition that came out the other day, promising a reward for her capture, right?"

Keine nodded. "Exactly. Even if it's not true, the rumor of a reward from an inchling for catching an amanojaku has got all sorts of people excited about the prospect of some easy money. Kagerou, Wakasagihime and Sekibanki were all affected during that Incident, and it looks like they might be teaming up to hunt her too. I've warned them to stay away from the village if they're going to get in a fight, but I'm sure they won't be the only ones trying to chase her down."

"Oh! That's right! That's why I came here too!" Sanae exclaimed excitedly. "I'm going be the one to catch her! I wanted to ask you guys what sort of reward that inchling was offering. You said she had a wish-granting hammer, right? Do you think she could make a statue of me standing on top of the amanojaku in the village square? I bet that would let me gather a whole bunch of faith! I can put a plaque on it that says 'Moriya Shrine, whether your problems are a bad harvest or Gensokyo's most wanted, we've got you covered!' If I do that it won't matter that I ended up missing the whole Incident originally! What do you think? Will you help me find her?"

Keine turned her glare on Sanae. "Don't get them involved in something like that, these girls are civilians!"

Sanae looked up at her. "What's wrong tracking down a wanted criminal? I do stuff like this with them all the time."

"That's exactly the problem!" Keine growled. "I came here early on a Sunday morning to make sure I talked to the two of you before you could get involved with this, but I see I'm already too late. I knew someone would try and drag you into this sooner or later. Mokou even showed up after the danmaku match ended last night to see if she could take a shot at that amanojaku. She never takes part in Incidents, but she's real interested in this one for some reason. Look, no matter who comes to talk to you about this amanojaku I don't want you two getting involved, understand? Leave all of this to me."

Sanae blinked in surprise. "To you?"

"Normally I'd leave this to Reimu, but between all the tsukumogami here in the village that were affected and the direct threat to the villagers that a serious danmaku battle overhead would present, I can't let a youkai like this fly around unpunished. I don't care if I can catch her or not, but I'm going to track her down and chase her away from the village. That's the other reason I wanted to come to talk to you two. I'm going to gone for probably a day or two because of this. I've already arranged for my duties at the school to be covered by the other teachers. I was going to come and ask you to fill in for me with the watch until I return."

It was an unexpected request. Our investigations had unquestionably caused problems for Keine in the past, and it seemed she had finally decided that the proper course of action was to put a collar on Renko before she could start digging up trouble rather than try to catch her once she was already in the thick of things. At the same time, her asking us to cover for her with the watch in her stead meant that despite her knowledge of Renko's tendencies she did have some trust in our judgement and possibly even Renko's investigation skills. It would be hard to her turn down given all that Keine had done for us over the years. If you wanted to call a situation like this a trap, then it would have to be the sort of trap that Renko had stepped into all on her own.

Renko looked over at me with a pleading expression, as if to say 'what should I do?' I merely shrugged at her. It wasn't any of our business as to whether or not someone captured Seija. Renko had her own theories on why doing that wouldn't achieve anything of course, but we couldn't tell Keine about those without revealing our involvement in the previous Incident. You can go read that casefile if you want to learn the specifics. As far as I was concerned, obediently complying with Keine's request seemed like the reasonable thing to do. Which meant, of course, that Renko wouldn't want to do it.

"Keine, you can't just make me a member of the neighborhood watch. I've go no fighting skills or knowledge of police work." Renko pleaded.

"You won't need to do any fighting, things are peaceful now, probably because everyone who might normally cause problems is going to be out looking for that amanojaku. It's only for a couple of days until I get back. I'm sure you'll manage to figure it out, you've got a knack for getting people to work together and understanding the underlying root causes of conflicts. Besides, Kotohime will be there and she'll be in charge. She can show you the ropes. I'm confident you'll do just fine. Unless there's some reason why you don't think I should go take care of this...?"

She left the question hanging in the air. Renko looked over to me then to Sanae and finally back to Keine. Finally she lowered her head and sighed. "No. I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't. Go ahead and tell me where I need to go, we'll help you out, Keine. But just until you get back."

"Wonderful. In that case, I hereby deputize you both as temporary members of the neighborhood watch." She tossed a pair of black armbands onto the table in front of us. "Go home and get presentable, then put those on. I already told Kotohime you'd be showing up for training before noon."

"Eh? But what about helping me..." Sanae began to protest, but upon receiving a withering glare from Keine she shrunk away. Keine nodded to herself then turned and left, closing the door to our office behind her. A moment passed in stunned silence before Sanae spoke again. "...Keine seems like she's a good person, but I'm really glad she's not my teacher. The kind of teachers who can scold you and not be wrong about it are the worst."

Renko had no response to that. She merely stared down at the armband on the table and groaned.