東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 10: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Ten

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥
𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥.

—28—

She appeared at the Hakurei Shrine just as the party was winding down, looking very out of place. After all, you wouldn't expect to see a maid's uniform at a Hanami party. As soon as she arrived, flying in from the west, Sakuya made a beeline straight to Yuyuko, who was sitting on a mat in the yard behind the shrine with Marisa and Reimu. "I wouldn't have expected to find a ghost princess slumming around in a place like this," she said as she approached.

"Who, me? What business might a maid like you have here?" Yuyuko replied with a smile.

"At a ghost-infested shrine like this, it's humans like us who seem outta place," Marisa added.

"Is there a reason why you're here or is everyone just going to complain about my shrine?" Reimu asked, glaring around at everyone surrounding her.

Sakuya ignored them both and continued speaking to Yuyuko. "While you’ve been drinking beneath the cherry blossoms without a care in the world, the rest of us have been flooded with phantoms from the Netherworld. They must be somehow confused because they’ve started swarming around the mansion, so I came here looking for you to complain to."

"I haven’t just been sitting around here drinking. I’ve already told her to fix the barrier of the Netherworld."

"Then what’re you lazin’ around here for?" Marisa cut in. "Soon you won’t be able to get home."

It was at this point that another person showed up —or half a person anyway. Youmu slowed her descent and drew to a stop before the other girls. "There you are, Lady Yuyuko. Please don't wander off without telling me, you might end up somewhere strange. Like here." Noticing that Yuyuko’s cup was empty, Youmu seemed to pick up a nearby bottle of sake without thinking. As she poured, she said "I've already asked the Administrator to repair the border, but it looks like she’s still sleeping."

"Oh Yukari is like that♪" Yuyuko said, airily. "She does sleep through the whole winter, after all. Though, it’s been spring for a while now."

"It hasn’t been spring here for very long," Youmu pointed out.

"Yeah, and it’s your fault." Marisa grunted.

"Don’t worry, she’ll wake up soon. This happens every year, doesn’t it?" Yuyuko replied with an airy smile.

"I suppose it’s fine if she’s a little late…" Youmu mumbled.

"It’s not fine!" Sakuya, Reimu and Marisa all replied together.

"Worry about all that later!" Youmu cried, exasperated. "There's a more pressing issue right now. The shikigami that showed up at Hakugyokurou is pretty angry..."

"Shikigami?" Reimu asked. "Do you mean Ran? She's usually calm, but if you managed to tick her off..."

"Oh dear, Youmu. What did you do now?" Yuyuko frowned.

"Well, there was a bakeneko in the garden and I didn't know what it was doing there, so I tried to cut it down. But then Ran showed up, looking really furious... so I ran away as fast as I could."

I could only imagine. If Youmu had really attacked Chen, then she was lucky to have escaped in one piece.

"I think she was coming there to repair the boundary..." Youmu said sheepishly. "But uh... if someone doesn't calm her down, there's no way that's happening."

"Then why don’t I go teach her a lesson?" Reimu asked, climbing to her feet.

"I’ll cut her down if you won’t," Sakuya added.

"Yeah, we can cut her down real good." Marisa added as she rose to join Reimu.

"Well then, I’ll leave it to all of you," Yuyuko said with a smile.

"Is that really okay?" Youmu asked. "She's Yukari's shikigami."

"Yukari's shikigami isn't Yukari."

"Well if you’re both going to the Netherworld, there’s no point in me bothering, right?" Reimu asked, looking at Sakuya and Marisa.

"What are you talking about? I'm busy taking care of milady," Sakuya sniffed.

"I don't really care," Marisa grinned. "But I'm not gonna do your job for you. Let's just play rock-paper-scissors."

"How cliche."

"Indeed."

"Okay then, whoever doesn’t cheat has to go."

"Sounds good."

"Fair enough."

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"




In the end, all three of them headed out for the Netherworld. Unlike the previous case with the Scarlet Devil Mansion, we made no attempt to ride along on Marisa's broom this time, so I didn't get to witness anything that may have happened when the three of them confronted Ran in the Netherworld.

When the three figures had disappeared above the clouds, I turned to Renko.

"The homeowner is gone. What should we do now?"

"Probably best to break up this party while everyone is still tipsy and giggly and before they get smashed and rowdy."

Nodding in agreement, we went looking for Akyuu, who no longer had a subject present for her interview. She seemed satisfied with the visit, saying "I've heard what I needed to." The story she would record regarding this event would no doubt be different than the one Renko had deduced. It would be a story more suited to Gensokyo, even if it was a facade constructed largely for Yuyuko’s benefit.

There was nothing for the three of us from the village to do but sit and relax, enjoying the cherry blossoms until Keine came to pick us up. I took the opportunity to excuse myself to the lavatory while Renko and Akyuu sat down on one of the mats.

Stepping into the deserted shrine building, I whispered a quick "sorry to intrude" as I slid aside the door. The shrine was small enough that there was no danger of getting lost here at least. I found the washroom and did my business. In the time we had been here I had already become accustomed to both the smell and the lack of toilet paper that was typical of life in Gensokyo, but I still made a point of being as quick as I could whenever I had to use the toilet. After washing my hands in the basin of still, chilly water, I hurried back down the hallway to rejoin Renko at the back.

I stopped when I felt something strange.

The yard at the back of the shrine was empty. There was no sign of Akyuu or Renko, nor of Yuyuko or any of the other revelers who were still supposed to be out behind the shrine. Even the ubiquitous phantoms, who had been swarming over and around the shrine grounds were gone. All signs of the party had also disappeared. No reed mats or sake cups remained on the lawn, nor was there any sign they had been hastily blown or moved away. It was as if the party had never occurred.

What was going on? Looking around, all I could see was the gently swaying cherry trees lining the path to the shrine, which, without anyone around nearby, suddenly seemed more dilapidated than it ever had before. Closing the door behind me I stepped out into the yard. Had I perhaps stumbled into some sort of barrier designed to ward off thieves? The shrine didn't look like it had anything worth stealing.

"I wonder if I should be telling you anything," an unfamiliar voice said nearby. Perhaps unfamiliar isn’t the right word. There was something intensely familiar about the voice, even though I had never heard its owner speak a word before.

I stopped and turned around —and there I saw her for the first time, looking horribly familiar. Long wavy blonde hair. A red ribbon tied around a white mob cap just like my own. A purple dress, much fancier than mine, but in the same shade I had always preferred. She carried a long, closed parasol laid across her lap and was wearing a pair of long white gloves. In her left hand she held a folding fan much like Yuyuko's. In her face I saw the same details, the same lines I'd seen in the mirror countless times.

Her face looked like an illusion, like I had somehow caught my own reflection off of some reflective surface and mistaken it for someone else. If not for our identical features though, no one could have mistaken her for me. Aside from the fact that she was seated in midair with perfect posture on nothing at all, there was something about her that seemed eerily out of place. Something wholly unlike me. Her strange purple eyes followed me with a cold bemusement, like a cat might watch a mouse it had cornered.

"A pleasure to meet you, Maéreverie Hearn."

"You're..."

"The Youkai Sage and your rumored look-alike. My name is Yakumo Yukari."

Saying this, she unfolded herself from her seated position and stepped down from the air to stand in the deserted shrine grounds before me.


—29—


I was stunned into speechlessness. She tilted her head and smiled as if I had said something funny.

"There’s no need to be so surprised."

"...why?"

"That question has far too many possible meanings to answer succinctly."

She covered her mouth with her fan, laughing only with her eyes. I wonder if she had picked that habit up from Yuyuko or vice versa. "And I only have time to answer one of your questions." She snapped the fan closed then walked over until she was close enough to hold it so the tip was just barely against my throat. "I'll answer one question. Choose wisely."

An impossible tumult of mysteries swirled through my head.

"Are you responsible for bringing us to Gensokyo? Have you been watching us since we arrived? Why did you send us to Hakugyokurou? What is your history with Yuyuko? Why are you appearing before me now? And why do you look so much like me?"

...is what I wish I could have said. But I didn't have the presence of mind. The question that tumbled out of my mouth was truer, but less useful than any of those. I said simply:

"Who are you?"

Her eyes widened.

"Yes, you would ask me that, of all things. Who am I?" She pulled her fan away from my chin and narrowed her eyes, once again hiding her expression behind the folded paper. "Alright, I'll answer you. But only when it suits me. Right now you should remain in the dark. You're not ready to know yet."

"What a selfish response…" I muttered to myself, in a voice I had hoped was too quiet for her to hear.

"Yes, it is. I am a selfish gap youkai, I suppose. I do as I please, I lay out the riddles and it’s up to everyone else to decide what to make of them.. You have a partner who is good at solving riddles, don't you?"

Personally, I would have preferred if she could just be straightforward. I wasn’t about to say that though. Instead, I asked "What is it that you want from me?"

"Well, since I won't answer your first question just yet, I'll give you an explanation on why I’m here. As a generous favor to you, from a selfish youkai." With a mysterious smile she put down her fan, laying it on thin air as if a table were beside her. Instead of falling, it simply vanished. In its place she reached into empty space and plucked something from nowhere. Opening her palm she offered it to me. "In return, I have a favor to ask of you. Do you know what this is?"

I moved forward to get a better look —and gasped when I caught sight of it.

It was the amber, without a doubt. The same amber jewel we had found in Usami Sumireko's room, with a prehistoric insect sealed inside. The very item that might have been the cause of our wandering in this world. The same amber that had disappeared without a trace when we crossed the border between worlds.

"Why do you have that?"

"I told you, only one question. Take it."

Having said that, she dropped the amber into my hand. It landed without a sound, or any effect. No sickening warping of space or feeling of vertigo as it had induced last time. It sparkled with a dull orange light, but looked otherwise normal to my eyes, free of any distortion or interference surrounding it.

"I'll have you deliver that for me."

"Deliver it? To whom?"

"I'll show you to the one who should have it. Take this."

This time she thrust her parasol out to me by its handle. Taking it in my right hand, it was extremely light, far lighter than an object of its length, tipped with an ornate metal cap should have been.

"That parasol will guide you to where you need to be."

She then drew out her fan again, and drew a line in the air behind her with it.

The next moment space itself ripped open, a yawning gap blooming from the wound the fan had cut in the fabric of reality. I gasped. Beyond the edges of the gap it was not another world that I saw opening, but countless eyes. Had Nietzsche been staring into this gap when he penned the immortal words 'for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you?'

My legs began to shake. The space beyond the gap filled me with a nameless dread. To cross over might be to commit myself to an endless wandering from which there could be no return. It felt no less suicidal than walking off of a cliff.

"There's no need to fear. As long as you have that parasol, you won't get lost," she said with a wry smile.

I stared blankly back at her, then looked at the parasol. Fearfully I opened it. The thin smile that she wore to see me wielding it was mysterious. An unsettling and unknowable smile of unknown meaning and purpose.

"Well, off you go now."

"Where am I going?"

"I told you only one question. But I'm feeling unusually generous." She hid her mouth behind her fan as she laughed. "Tokyo, 2004. You'll understand the rest when you meet her. You're the one who has to deliver it though, so don't forget."

And then her hand was on my back. I stumbled and reeled, and the void between worlds swallowed me hungrily. Everything twisted, spinning end over end, inside out and backwards.

—and then everything went dark.


—30—


I found myself stomping onto an asphalt sidewalk, landing with a heavy step as if I had stumbled mid-stride, rather than tumbled through a hole in space.

It was dusk. A red sky shone in the gaps between densely packed buildings that crowded against one another. Somewhere in the distance, crows cawed. It was Tokyo. I'd been here before with Renko. But this...

In 2085, Tokyo had been a shell of a city, a sleepy, rural backwater known mostly for its temples and sightseeing destinations. In that time most of the asphalt had been stripped away, obliterated by the twin forces of urban redevelopment and environmental catastrophe. This was an older Tokyo, livelier, with little of the quaint magic I had known. In this time, it was still very much the capital of Japan. The roads before me were swarming with cars, thousands of them, packed bumper to bumper with noisy, rumbling engines belching noxious fumes even as they languished in a standstill. I had never seen so many cars before in my life. Compared to the world I had spent the last six months inhabiting, the scene was overwhelmingly advanced, a mystifying array of wonders. To my experience though, it all looked wildly outdated, dingy and old-fashioned.

All at once I realized that I was standing at the edge of a pedestrian crossing. Parasol in hand, I was backed up against a crowd standing before an intersection against a backdrop of stalled traffic. The countless faces surrounding me were all blurred and indistinct, as if they were covered in a thin gauze or seen through a rain-spattered window.

The light changed from red to green and the crowd began to move. I found myself walking with them, half pushed by their mass, half pulled by the parasol which seemed to move as if tethered to a string being reeled toward some inevitable end. My feet were moving regardless of my will.

Where was I going? My feet seemed to know the way as they led me through streets and overpasses. Everywhere I looked, an overwhelming press of people crowded against me. The sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians, the streets were choked with cars, and the windows of every building overflowed with light and movement as people swarmed about like ants. It was the Tokyo of 2004, if Yukari could be believed, 80 years before my time and 136 years into its existence as the political and financial center of the country. This was during the dark days of the late period of unchecked capitalist growth, with all the endless recession and increasing social stratification that we had read about in history class. Or maybe just past that, when the booming footsteps of the oncoming collapse could just begin to be heard. It was a time that I had only read about in historical discussions of the origins of the ecological crises of my own time or seen used as a backdrop for violent period-piece media.

The people pressing all about looked much the same as people of my time, just dressed in outdated fashions and carrying an assortment of clunky antique electronics. Although I had never been to this time, it all evoked a strange sense of nostalgia in me.

The parasol continued to guide me, from street to street, and then eventually into a narrow alleyway. I threaded the path without hesitation, as if I already knew where to go and who to meet there. I had a sense that at the end of my path I would be meeting someone for the first time, someone that, somehow, I would already know very well.

My feet took me to a park. It was a small, enclosed space, opening unexpectedly in the midst of office towers and drab apartment blocks. It was a tiny park, with barely enough room for a few children's toys and a handful of stunted trees. A sand box, a slide and a panda-themed playground ride tried without much success to proclaim the wedge-shaped space a place for children and not an architectural afterthought.

I stepped into the park and found myself walking right up to a little girl. She must have been only three or four years old, but she was alone, without family or friends to watch over her, sitting on the spring-mounted panda ride, looking as if everything in the world was hopelessly dull.

The little girl looked up when my shadow, lengthened by the setting sun, fell over her.

ー"Who are you?"

I crouched down, hiding my face in the shadow of the opened parasol.

ー"A friend. It's nice to meet you."

ー"You're not my friend. Are you looking for money? I don't have any, okay?"

ー"I'm not looking for money. I'm here to give you something."

It was as if someone was talking through my mouth. Regardless of my will, I watched my arm reach out and hold the amber before the girl. Her eyes widened at the sight of it.

ー"It's pretty."

ー"It's for you."

ー"I'm not supposed to take things from people I don't know."

ー"Well this is yours. I'm really only returning it to you."

My palm turned over, dropping the amber into the girl's hands. The jewel caught the glow of the sunset, bending the ruddy light around the insect frozen in time.

ー"Make sure to take good care of it."

ー"Why are you giving this to me?"

ー"This is... to save you."

ー"Save me? From what?"

ー"As long as you have this, someday, someone will come to rescue you. So keep it with you, just in case you need it."

ー"Like a whistle?"

ー"You can think of it like that."

My hands reached out to touch the girl's forehead. Even though I was watching my body do these things and say these words, I could only watch, uselessly willing myself to stop.

ー"You have a most unusual power. But you already know that."

ー"How do you know that?"

ー"Because I know you well."

ー"Who are you, lady?"

ー"Someday, you'll find out on your own."

The child glared at me suspiciously.

ー"Until then, keep your powers a secret. You're very special."

ー"Special?"

ー"Yes. That's why I know you can handle this. You'll keep it a secret, right?"

ー"Okay."

ー"Very good. Now promise me you'll take good care of that jewel."

ー"Cross my heart and hope to die."

She offered a hand to me, pinky first.

ー"Stick a needle in my eye."

I said, twining my pinky around hers beneath the grip of the parasol.

ー"Well then, I'll see you later."

ー"Bye-bye?"

ー"Bye-Bye. For now."

I could feel myself rising up as my body stood, then turned on its heel and began walking. As my feet carried me out of the park, I craned my neck around to see the girl still straddling the panda ride, staring at me and waving.

ー"Goodbye, Sumireko."

I couldn't tell if it was my intention to say that, or the voice that had spoken through me. Either way, the short trip ended there.

The world ripped open. Myriad eyes stared back at me from the rift. A wide-mouthed gap sucked me in.

—and then everything went dark.


—31—


All at once, I was standing on the veranda behind the Hakurei Shrine.

Reed mats were laid out in the yard and the figures of several people and countless phantoms were enjoying the blossoms beneath the cherry trees as the sun began to dip below the horizon. It was the same Hakurei shrine I had left not long before.

In my hands I held neither the amber nor the parasol. The amber I had given to Sumireko, but when did I lose the parasol? Had I ever even had it in the first place? Was it even me who had exchanged words with the girl in the park?

"Oh, Merry, there you are."

The voice beside me was both nostalgic and familiar.

I turned to see my partner, Usami Renko standing there, looking worried.

"You were in there for a long time. Don't tell me you're constipated."

I stared at her, unable to form words, unable to form thoughts between the sense of disorientation, fear, relief and confusion warring in my mind.

"What’s wrong? You’re staring into space. Are you daydreaming again?"

"Renko... I..."

My mouth refused to work properly. My legs were weak and shaking. Rather than saying anything, I reached out and grabbed Renko’s shoulders, leaning into her to keep from collapsing as my legs gave out.

"What’s wrong Merry? Are you drunk? Are you sick?"

"Renko..."

I buried my face in her chest and closed my eyes tightly. I felt like if I didn't cling to my memories of the last few minutes they would disappear like a mirage. Even the face of the girl I had spoken to was wavering in my mind, crumbling like a sandcastle before the waves.

"I.... I met her."

"Met who?"

"The Youkai Sage. My look-alike. And also..."

"Also?"

I tried to say it. I willed the words 'Usami Sumireko' to form but they disappeared from my tongue. They were unspeakable, vanishing into fantasy before I could make them reality. I tried to say anything about the world of 80 years ago, and my trip to the Outside World, but the words wouldn't come. Stubbornly, my body refused to co-operate.

"Hey Merry, what happened? Did the Youkai Sage do something to you?"

"I... I can't... Sorry Renko. I'll tell you all about it later. Just let me do this for now," I said, and clung to Renko like my life depended on it. My one stable rock amidst a sea of fantasy and illusion that threatened to wash my grip on reality away. As she had been since I first met her.

For some reason I suddenly found myself missing the warmth and security of having Renko at my side. Why was that? When she put her arms around me and stroked my hair, I was surprised to find I was suddenly so overcome with relief that I had to hide my eyes against her chest to keep from crying. Pressing into her hug, I closed my eyes and let myself be enveloped by her scent, my thoughts drifting away.

If it was me who had given the amber to Sumireko, then the object itself was a causal ouroboros. It simply looped endlessly, across an 80 year gap carried by Sumireko so that it could be found by me, taken by my lookalike and returned to Sumireko by some combination of the two of us. Where had the jewel originally come from? It was a question I'd have to shelve for now. Or more appropriately drop in a Klein bottle, I suppose.

The question of where the stone had come from was less important than the mystery of why the Youkai Sage had had me deliver it, however.. I racked my brains trying to see the shape of the sage's plan, but I made no progress. I was no great detective, after all, and I couldn't even be sure if the problem was something I had overlooked or information I simply didn't have. One thing stuck with me though. From my dreamlike memory of the Outside World of the current era, the words that someone had borrowed my mouth to speak:

"𝘈𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

What could they mean, and could they be tied to the reason we had come to this world 80 years before our own time? If so then by who's will, and to what end? As my mind swirled with these unknowable unknowns, I let my consciousness recede, and allowed myself to simply feel Renko's arms around me, basking in the sensation of the one thing in this world that felt familiar, that truly felt right.