"...Through my divinations I was able to make contact with the Outside world. Or more specifically, with Sumireko Usami herself," Mr. Easy said quietly. "She taught me everything I know about the Outside world. She seems to be something of a fortune-teller herself, though she calls her art by another name. 'Psychic powers,' or something like that. I suspect that that's how we came into contact in the first place. Sumireko was... very interested Gensokyo, I'd say. She bombarded me with questions. I traded with her. She answered my questions about the Outside world, and in return I told her about Gensokyo. In her opinion, the Outside world is in a state of crisis. But it is a world free of the influence of youkai."
"...Wait just a moment," Renko interrupted, raising her hand then looking down in thought. "Sorry, could we maybe start a little further back? You mentioned that you contacted Sumireko 'through your divinations,' but you told us back at the fortune-tellers shop that you're an apprentice and not allowed to actually do any readings for customers. So then why were you practicing divination to begin with?"
Mr. Easy raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you wanted to know about Sumireko. What's the point in talking about me?"
"It's just that you've piqued my interest. You had said earlier you were on the verge of being expelled from studying at that fortune-telling shop but your room here is filled with all manner of books and tools for divination. It's obvious you must be rather invested in your work."
He let out a brief, bitter, bark of a laugh. "Just because someone studies something does not necessarily mean they have a talent for it. There are limits to what an ordinary human can achieve, and those limits are far below what youkai are capable of." A sarcastic smirk twisted his features as he looked up and gestured at the paraphernalia filling the room. "All of this is just the broken pieces of a dead dream. Soon I will be expelled from the grandmaster's tutelage. There is no hope for me to take on his place as the village soothsayer."
"So let me guess, when you found yourself falling behind in your studies you turned toward forbidden avenues of research to improve your results, right?"
That had to be another dig at the character from Fullmetal Alchemist that Mr. Easy so resembled. I was about to scold Renko and tell her this was no time for jokes, when I noticed a brief, pained expression appear on Mr. Easy's face and then be swallowed by his impassive mask. Renko seemed to notice it as well.
"I see..." she said, reaching up to fiddle with the brim of her hat. She was silent for a moment, then looked Mr. Easy in the eye. "You know, I think I can see why you couldn't cut it as a fortune teller. You're not that good at concealing your emotions and you panicked and tried to run as soon as I first asked about Sumireko. That's practically a confession of guilt. You realize that, right?"
I shot her a glare as Mr. Easy sat and sweated in silence. She was right, but it was still rude to say.
"Look, in light of the situation it would be best for you if you just came clean. You're trying to conceal something, but it's not going to work and you're just going to make things harder for yourself."
"You're doing much the same, are you not?" He muttered.
"Oh, did you notice?" Renko asked with a grin.
"Your presence here makes no sense. I've never seen you come around with other members of the watch before and a teacher would never be seen at an establishment like ours. Why should I tell you anything when you're lying to me about your own motivations?"
"Ah, I suppose that's fair," Renko said with a sigh. "You mentioned that you struck a bargain for information with Sumireko, so why don't you and I do the same thing then? I'll be frank with you about what I've been concealing, then you do the same, alright?"
Mr. Easy didn't respond. Renko glanced over at me, shrugged carelessly, then looked Mr. Easy straight in the eye with a serious expression.
"You haven't noticed us as members of the watch before because my partner and I have only just recently joined on a temporary basis. Normally, in addition to working as teachers at the school we operate as private detectives. Even that isn't why we're here though. Merry and I are from the future. Sumireko is my great aunt."
A moment of silence passed and then Mr. Easy's face contorted into a look of confusion. "Is this some kind of joke?" He asked bitterly.
"It's no joke, but I'm not surprised you don't believe me. Despite how unbelievable it may seem though, it's a verifiable fact. You can ask Miss Kamishirasawa at the school about it if you like. She's the captain of the neighborhood watch, so she wouldn't lie about it. Oh, but she's out of town right now. You could also ask the Hakurei miko or the Child of Miare about it, they'd all tell you the same. Beyond that though, I'm afraid I'm from the Outside world of the future, not Gensokyo, so I couldn't predict any events that are yet to happen here."
Mr. Easy glared at her, saying nothing but clearly unconvinced.
"Anyway, my partner and I were transported from the Outside world into Gensokyo and across time against our will. This seems to have been triggered by a certain artifact we found in my great aunt's possessions decades in the future. We've never been able to determine why we came here or what it had to do with my great aunt Sumireko though. That's why we're looking for information now."
Frowning, Mr. Easy crossed his arms, seeming to be waiting for Renko to continue. When she didn't, he scoffed dismissively. "You're insane," he growled.
"You'd be surprised how often people tell me that. Even my partner here says it all the time, and she knows I'm telling the truth."
"You can't honestly expect me to believe any of that."
"Believe it or not, that's my story, told openly and without deception."
"Are you telling me you only knew that I had made contact with that girl because of your knowledge of the future?"
"Well no, as I said, I'm also a detective. We knew that we had been sent here after coming into contact with one of Sumireko's relics, so I don't doubt that she had some connection to Gensokyo, but Sumireko has never appeared in this world to my knowledge. I have reason to believe she will though at some point, which means she must have first learned about this place from someone who lives here."
"You don't know that. You said you don't have any means of contacting her, didn't you?"
"Oh boy. Look, this will take a long time to explain but we happen to know a youkai who is able to harness both tools and magical power from the Outside world. Through the connection she has, she's occasionally able to see glimpses of the world beyond the barrier and she mentioned having seen someone recently who looked a lot like me. Now we can't be certain, but that leads me to believe that her connection to the Outside world probably works in both directions and my great aunt probably first discovered Gensokyo and maybe even harvested some magical power from here that way. She would have then been curious and wanted to know more, so she would have gone looking for another source of information. I'm guessing that's you, and by virtue of the magic she had collected from Gensokyo she was able to use a tool to have some sort of contact with you. Did I get any of that right?"
"...All of this is preposterous. You have nothing but guesses to go on. Even if she had learned of this world, what makes you think she would try to learn more or be interested in coming here?"
"She's an Usami." Renko said with a grin. "If she could see a mystery like that and then ignore it then she could never be related to me."
"You still have no reason to suspect that I have had any contact with her."
"Well, the only things that can cross the Hakurei barrier are objects, natural forces and information. Unless she's somehow learning more about Gensokyo by throwing objects back and forth across the barrier, it makes sense to assume she would be communicating with someone. In order to do that there would have to be someone on this side doing the same thing she was doing for their magic to overlap. There had to be someone who was looking for answers from an outside source, using some kind of tool. Who would that be but a fortune-teller? I decided to start asking around at all the local practitioners of that trade, but I hadn't expected to get lucky on my first shot."
"Even if I were to believe you, you're just piling assumptions one atop the other. You can't know if that's how any of this works!" Mr. Easy seemed rather incensed by Renko's train of thought. I suppose if you had spent years trying to learn to predict events then seeing someone take the sort of wild guesses that Renko preferred and then have them turn out to be accurate would be a little galling.
"Be that as it may, was I wrong about any of it?"
Mr. Easy closed his lips and did his best to conceal his frustration, but honestly, we wasn't great at it.
"I actually agree with you. It was a long shot that I wasn't expecting to work out so easily, especially on the first try. It almost makes me feel like someone is manipulating events, leaving me a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. For now, let's just assume that's my great aunt's guidance and not question it any further, shall we?"
"This is my fault for being careless," Mr. Easy grumbled. "I don't know what clue I left that lead you to me, but there must have been something and you've found me now. What do you want?"
"You can believe that if you want," Renko said with a nod. "As for what I want, well honestly there's one question that's at the heart of this, and I think you know the answer. Back in the time I came from, my great aunt had been dead for many years. I think you've probably been feeding Sumireko information with the intention of trying to get her to come here, haven't you? But I think you either know or suspect that if she does that, then she's going to die. Is that about right?"