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

—28—


It was several days later, after the end of classes for the day, that Renko and I were shopping in the market district. By now all traces of the mysterious floating spirits that had once crowded the streets of the village had vanished. As we wandered through the market district, our attention was naturally drawn to a small crowd that had gathered around one side of the road.

Our curiosities piqued, we drew closer to see that the crowd of villagers were all surrounding a seated figure bearing a distinctive, owlish-looking sort of bedhead. It was the Crown Prince, sitting peacefully with her eyes closed while nearly a dozen people surrounding her were all talking over top of each other. The people had all raised their voices to be heard over one another but they didn't seem to be yelling at the prince. Rather, from what I could make out, they were all just complaining about various, unrelated problems. After several minutes, everyone seemed to have said their piece and quieted down.

The Crown Prince nodded resolutely. "First off," she began, "The young lady with the missing bag. After you went to the tea shop you stopped in to look for a new hat for a moment. Check with the owner of that establishment, I think you'll find what you're looking for. Next you, young man, the reason your wife is mad at you is because you promised her you would do something, forgot about it, then forgot you forgot. Think back to last month. Didn't you make an appointment of some kind with her? Now, where is that kindly old grandmother, ah! There you are. I don't think there's any reason to be concerned about your knees, but the blurred vision is worrisome. I would recommend you see the doctor as soon as possible, lest it get worse. Next, the boy..."

It appeared we were witnessing a live demonstration of Shoutoku's ability to listen to ten speakers at once. The Crown Prince answered each of the villagers in turn and after being addressed, each of the villagers left with a satisfied expression after sincerely thanking her. Almost as soon as the prince had finished addressing the last of her petitioners, several more people in the crowd started speaking over one another again as the prince just sat and listened, nodding serenely.

If she were to open a business here in the village offering advice or counselling services for a fee, I can only imagine how useful such an ability would be for rapidly handling customers. The Crown Prince continued to listen to multiple people at a time, and quickly worked her way through the remaining people in the crowd. As the last of them left Renko called out to her, and she turned her charismatic smile towards us.

"Well hello again, my friends."

"That was impressive," Renko said, grinning as she walked forward. "Did we just witness the opening of the Prince Shotoku Life Counselling Center?"

"No, no," she said with a chuckle, "I just happened to hear someone complaining and offered some friendly advice, then a number of people gathered to hear me speak."

"Well it's still an impressive feat. Even if you were reading people's desires rather than listening to their words, being able to take in that much information, keep it all straight, respond to everyone in turn and then give accurate advice on top of that must take a lot of processing power. From one intellectual to another, you have my respect."

"Thank you very much for saying so. Looking at your desires though, it appears there is something you'd like to discuss with me? Shall I offer you some advice as well?"

"I don't know about advice, but I would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Hmm well if it's going to take a while, perhaps you could accompany me back to the Hall of Dreams and we could talk there."

"It shouldn’t take all that long, though if I were to accompany you there then I’d get a chance to talk to Miss Seiga again, right?"

"Seiga? Well I can't guarantee she'll be there as she comes and goes as she pleases, but she might be. May I ask what it is you want to ask about? Are you thinking of becoming one of my students?"

"Not at the moment."

"I see. Well at any rate, follow me if you would, I'll show you the way." Saying that, the Crown Prince headed for a small alleyway between two shops, where she bent to lift a crate that had been placed there. "We can get in through here," she said. As she lifted the crate, space seemed to distort in my vision as I watched the veil of a boundary shift and warp.

"You have an entrance to your mausoleum under there?" Renko asked, her eyes wide.

"The Hall of Dreams now exists inside of a senkai," the Crown Prince explained. "I can choose to connect that world to anywhere in this one, but it's more convenient if I connect it to a place where there’s something that can act as a lid for the entrance. If I were to simply connect it to the middle of the street, someone emerging from the entrance would be kicked in the head by passers-by."

Having said that casually, the Crown Prince then reached out and grabbed both of our wrists. "Here we go," she said, and leaned forward as if to topple head-first into the ground beneath the crate. She fell without stopping, dragging us both along with her and off of our feet. There was no time to even scream as we were drawn head-first into a black and bottomless void. It was altogether a little too similar to our first visit to the Underworld for my liking: we tipped forward and fell into darkness before emerging in another world.

Somewhere far above us I heard the sound of the crate clattering back into place. There was a sensation of falling through nothingness for a moment and then the odd and impossible feeling of floating weightlessly as we might feel when flying with Sanae. There was nothing around us to see, but far below us something was glowing in the darkness, growing larger as we flew towards it, shining beneath our feet.

"At some point I'll have to make a proper entryway so that people who are interested in joining our order but who don't know how to fly can come and go easily." the Crown Prince said to herself before kicking off of empty air, accelerating smoothly as we drew closer to the light.

"So this is a senkai..." Renko said, looking about.

"It extends infinitely in every direction, and any part of it could connect to any part of Gensokyo if I wished to use it as an exit."

"So it's like the concept of 'subspace' from a sci-fi show?"

Renko continued to mutter about such hypotheticals to herself as we drew closer. As we did, the buildings and their surroundings in the little pool of light suspended in the darkness became clearer..

"I welcome both of you to our new senkai and training ground. This is the new Divine Spirit Mausoleum."

In the center of the space stood a large building done up in a traditional Chinese style with an ornate dragon-decorated archway out front and a roof tiled with yellow-gold ceramics. It was quite a bit more ornate than either the Myouren temple or the Moriya shrine, with numerous architectural flourishes. It was hard not to be impressed by the scale and pomp of it all as our feet touched down.

"So, what were the questions that you wanted to ask me?" the Crown Prince asked as she turned and led the way further into the complex.

"Ah, that's right. I wanted to ask if you knew anything about Yoshika, that jiangshi that Miss Seiga commands. Is she here?"

"I certainly know of her," the Crown Prince said as she guided us along. "I'm afraid I couldn't tell you where she is at the moment though. You'd have to ask Seiga about her whereabouts."

"I see," Renko said, following along. "Well in that case, let me ask about something else. I happened to come across Miss Futo the other day. We got to talking and it seems that she has very little recollection of her past or what her life was like prior to her resurrection. Do you know why that is?"

"That may be a side effect of becoming a shikaisen. Seiga had warned us that something like that might happen. Futo also came to ask me about this as well. The advice I gave her was that whoever she might have been prior to being reborn is inconsequential. She and I are shikaisen now, and students of the Tao. That's all that matters. My hope is that she will put her whole heart into training."

"And then, if I may be so bold as to ask, there are no gaps in your memory, Crown Prince?"

"There are none. You heard me talk with Madame Keine the other day."

"Then you must recall what sort of a relationship both Futo and Tojiko had with you in your previous life, yes? What sort of relationships do you have with both of them now?"

"Both of them were my trusted subordinates and students. I'm guessing that's not what you mean to ask though. Phrased more directly, your question is whether Tojiko was once my wife, is it not?"

"Most perceptive, o prince."

"Then to answer that question, she was indeed. Her role as my disciple is more important than that title though. Besides, would it not be thought of as queer if I were to call her my wife given current circumstances?"

"Some might say so, but I certainly wouldn't think that."

"Is that so?"

"Well, as I mentioned Merry and I come from another time. Such things were commonplace there, but I don't think Gensokyo is much different in that regard."

"Indeed. It sounds like you must have lived in interesting times."

"Speaking of Tojiko, it seems that her attempt to become a shikaisen failed."

"It's a tragedy, that. We all knew of course that what we were attempting was not without risk. She willingly partook in the ritual with full knowledge of what it entailed, but I am truly, deeply grateful that even after experiencing such disappointment as she must have, she continued to watch over the divine spirit mausoleum for all those years and still continues to serve by my side even now."

"I see. Let me ask you one more question then. Why is Seiga still here? Now that you've become a shikaisen, her work is done, isn't it?"

"It is. Should she decide to leave now, I have no right to stop her. It is my hope that she will stay on with us for some time longer and continue to be my instructor though."

As we continued to converse and walk through the corridors Tojiko came floating out of a passage that adjoined the hallway. Upon seeing us, she immediately moved to bow reverently to the prince, but hitched momentarily when she recognized us. "Noble prince. Welcome back, my liege," she said with her head lowered.

"Rise, Tojiko. As always, it is good to be home."

"Have those two behind you come to take their vows as disciples, my lord?"

"No, not today, at least. It seems they have something to discuss with Seiga though. Is she here right now?"

At the mention of Seiga's name, Tojiko's head snapped up, her eyes fierce. "That wicked hermit? She's a curse. You two should strive to have as little to do with her as possible. Whatever business you think you might have with her, forget it. Turn back now and go home before you end up like me." Saying that, Tojiko floated forward, buzzing faintly with electricity as she glared at us.

I withered under her glare, but before she could say anything more another voice called out from above us. "Oh my, that's a rather inhospitable greeting." We all turned as one toward the sound of the voice to see Seiga, who was reclining in mid-air. "It's awfully rude of you to turn away guests who came all this way to see me. Do you really hate me so much, Tojiko? We've been together for 1,400 years now, you and I."

"It's a miracle that after 1,400 years of suffering your presence I still have any hint of sanity left to cling to! Now leave! Forget about these two mortals and begone or I'll cook you to char!" There was a crackle as a wave of sparks leapt off of Tojiko's skin and dress.

"Oh, how scary!" Seiga said, dropping to the ground just behind us. "We'd better go before lightning strikes." As she said that she turned to us with a mockingly fearful expression, then, in the blink of an eye, she dropped to the ground and spun, describing a nearly instant circle on the floor with the hairpin she had suddenly clutched in her hand. "Don't worry, they'll still be in one piece when you get them back!" she said as the ground fell away beneath us.

"Seiga, wait!" I heard Tojiko call as, with a sickening lurch in our stomachs, Renko, Seiga and I all plummeted through the floor into absolute darkness.

—

The next thing I knew we were sitting in a room. It appeared to be somewhere underground, with a vaulted ceiling supported by thick wooden beams. The air was dry and cool and Renko was sitting just beside me. We both climbed to our feet as Seiga stood before us, smiling pleasantly.

"Oh, where are we?" Renko asked, looking around.

"Somewhere underneath the Divine Spirit Mausoleum. I made us a little hidey-hole to scurry into," Seiga said with a girlish giggle. She must have known that there was a room somewhere below where we had been standing a moment ago and used her ability to pass through walls to bring us here with her. It must be handy to be able to travel so easily.

"I heard you had something you wanted to say to me. Are you ready to become a disciple and learn the secrets of the Tao?" Seiga asked, taking some cushions from a corner of the room. She offered one to each of us then took a seat herself.

"No, actually" Renko said, taking a seat just in front of Seiga. "I'm not interested in becoming a hermit at this time. I do have something I wanted to talk to you about though. Actually, if you don't mind, I was hoping I could tell you a little story."

"A story? What do you mean?"

"It's about the five lovely ladies who dwelled in a sacred mausoleum, deep beneath the earth. The Crown Prince, her wife Tojiko, the energetic little Miss Futo, Yoshika the jiangshi and yourself, Miss Seiga. I think maybe it could explain what your true purpose in turning Prince Shoutoku and the others into shikaisen was, if you'd be willing to listen to a story constructed by the imagination of an Outsider."

Seiga's playful smile fell away at that, becoming a slight frown. "My true purpose? What would you know of something like that?"

"Well I can't claim that I understand everything perfectly. This is just my imagination after all. A little delusion I've spun to answer the questions I had after the last time we met. I'd appreciate it if you'd be willing to hear it out though."

"So long as it's interesting I suppose I can listen." Seiga's playful smile returned and Renko lowered her head in thanks.

"Thank you. I'll do my best to keep you entertained." Renko paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts and breath before speaking. After a few seconds she began to reveal the truth she had constructed in her mind, the fantastic reality behind the Divine Spirit Incident:

"Miss Seiga. Your real name is Futohime no Mononobe, isn't it? You were once the wife of Soga no Umako and a traitor responsible for the destruction of the ancient Mononobe clan."


—29—


In response to Renko's accusation, Seiga's expression remained unchanged. She neither nodded nor disavowed the name Renko had given her, but kept smiling. Taking that as permission to continue, Renko began her explanation.

"The reason I came to this conclusion was due to reasoning that began with noticing two inconsistencies regarding Miss Futo and Miss Tojiko. Tojiko has no legs and Futo lacks any memories of her previous life now that she's been reborn as a shikaisen. What could be the cause of these two anomalies? Tojiko's missing legs in particular struck me as odd, as it just so happens that I count several ghosts among my friends and acquaintances and all of them have their legs and feet intact. In general, it seems like ghosts in Gensokyo retain the appearance they had prior to their deaths more or less, so why does Tojiko have no legs? Well I can't say for certain as there's no way I could test this theory, but my guess is that if ghosts retain the appearance that they had when they had in life, then Tojiko must have lost her legs while she was still alive."

In my mind I ticked off the ghosts we knew. Yuyuko and Captain Murasa both had their legs and generally appeared as human. The poltergeists of the Prismriver Ensemble were quick to remind us that they were not the same thing as ghosts, but whatever the differences, their bodies seemed completely intact as well. Renko's theory was plausible, but what would something like that mean?

"If that were the case then it would make sense for Tojiko to have wanted to become a shikaisen. By abandoning a body without legs, she might have hoped to be reborn into a more functional form. That would also explain why she had become a vengeful spirit when the resurrection process failed. If, as you suggested, Futo had spoiled her attempt, then her rage at having lost her shot at restoring her body might have prevented her spirit from moving on. The only problem with that is that Tojiko doesn't seem to have much of a grudge against Futo at all.

"I asked you about that and you suggested that perhaps her grudge had faded over time. However, Tojiko is a vengeful spirit, so her nature is basically that of a grudge given form. If that grudge had faded over time, she would be weak and diminished. That doesn't seem to be the case though. She has quite a solid presence and seems to be able to generate powerful electrical discharges at will. Whatever grudge binds her to this life seems to be very much intact. Moreover, she seems to clearly hate you, Miss Seiga. I don't think it's too large of a logical leap to suggest that these two observations are likely connected. In short, I believe the reason that Tojiko's form appears the way it does and why she bears such enmity for you in particular is that you, Miss Seiga, are the one responsible for taking her legs."

Seiga's smile never changed one bit. Her face was nearly unreadable, but if anything the accusation seemed to evoke a spark of curiosity in her eyes as she watched Renko expound her case. Her face almost seemed to be saying 'you already know the answer, don't you?'

"Now, onto the question of Futo," Renko continued. "She's missing the memories of her life before being resurrected. Looking at the Crown Prince, we can see that this loss is not an intrinsic part of the process of becoming a shikaisen. In which case the most likely explanation for her missing memories is that someone did something to take those memories from her. Once again, I am lucky enough to be acquainted with someone whose memories were forcibly sealed away. If the same thing was done here, then the reason for it may have been to prevent Futo from realizing who she was before becoming a shikaisen. Specifically, to prevent her from realizing that she was never Futohime."

If that was the case then Futo's childish behavior wouldn't be a result of memory loss. It would instead be the result of Futo being an entirely different person. But if Futo wasn't Futohime, then...

"So now the question is who is Miss Futo, really? And who was responsible for stealing her memories so that she could be convinced that she had been Futohime before becoming a shikaisen? Well it would have been surprising for Futohime—who, as the wife of Soga no Umako, would have been Prince Shotoku's elder—to become the prince's disciple to begin with. It would seem much more plausible that if Prince Shotoku were going to bring someone into another life with him, it would be one of his wives, especially given that we already know that Tojiko, his third wife, was one of the people who would be following him.

So. Who was Futo before her resurrection then? Well, I'll admit that this is just a guess, but I'm going to wager she was Kashiwade no Iratsume—Prince Shotoku's fourth wife, who was purportedly his favorite and died within days of the prince. As for who stole her memories, well the obvious answer would once again be you, Miss Seiga. But why would you do it? I believe the answer was that your intent was to remove all traces of the existence of Futohime. By faking the deaths of Prince Shotoku and Kashiwade no Iratsume, then having them become shikaisen and finally turning Iratsume into Mononobe no Futo, you’d have essentially erased your name from history. The real Futohime would be forgotten and all that would be remembered was you: Seiga the immortal hermit."

For Seiga such a gambit might make sense. After all, she had even told us that she had faked her own death and left her life behind to become a hermit.

"So we know why you wanted to take Futo's memories. What about Tojiko's legs though? What was your motivation there? Well, it took me a bit to figure that part out, but eventually I realized the answer to that question had been right in front of me at one point."

Renko chuckled and took a breath then continued.

"Tojiko hates you and was always telling you to stay away from the Hall of Dreams, but you aren't the only one she chased off. There was one other: your jiangshi, Yoshika. That's when I realized why she, a ghost, would be so repulsed by Yoshika. It wasn't because Yoshika was a corpse, it’s because she’s Tojiko's corpse! At least partially. The legs you stole from Tojiko's body eventually became Yoshika's legs, didn't they? If that were the case, I can imagine full well that Tojiko wouldn't want to see Yoshika marching around with her own rotting flesh. Once I realized what you had done to Tojiko, I started thinking more about Futo again. I wondered exactly how you would have gone about stealing her memories. If you could affect Tojiko's spirit by removing the legs from her corpse, I wondered if you could affect Futo in the same way, removing her memories by taking from her corpse the part of her body that contained them."

Renko took another breath before making her accusation.

"That was your end goal here, wasn't it, Miss Seiga? So you could construct Yoshika as your ideal jiangshi, using the top half of Futo’s body and the bottom half of Tojiko’s."


—29—


"Well, Miss Usami, that 𝑤𝑎𝑠 an interesting story," Seiga said, resting her cheek on her hand. Her smile deepened, bewitchingly. Ghoulishly.

Renko shook her head from side to side and raised her palm in protest. "It's not over yet, I'm afraid. If any of the events I've laid out to date are true, then they beg two more very important questions. The first is simply how much of this plan was Prince Shotoku aware of and onboard with? The second, of course, is if Futo’s true identity is Kashiwade no Irastsume, then why would she switch the clay vessel Tojiko was planning to use as a body?"

I suppose if Futo hadn't actually been a member of the Mononobe clan then that would have removed the motive Seiga had suggested she might have to switch out Tojiko's jar.

"Let’s start with the second question. Assuming that Futo was in fact Kashiwade no Iratsume originally, would she have had a reason to do such a thing? Iratsume was one of Prince Shotoku's wives, so there's a possibility that there may have been some friction there if both women were competing for the prince's attention. I don't think that's the case though, seeing as the prince sees Tojiko and Futo both as disciples now rather than as wives. They both seem to be fine with that change as well, suggesting that the idea of this change in their relationship to the prince is something she would have discussed with them before they all undertook the process of resurrection."

"Even if that wasn't the case though, Iratsume wouldn't have had any reason to be jealous of Tojiko. She was the wife that Prince Shotoku was said to have favored in his later years, after all. If anything it might have made sense for Tojiko to try to interfere with Iratsume's resurrection, not the other way around. The cause of this has to be something other than a complicated marital relationship."

"So then who switched out the jar? When confronted with this sort of a contradiction, the thing to do is to find the simplest answer possible, meaning that whatever happened is what was supposed to happen. In other words, Tojiko had always intended to fail in her attempt to become shikaisen. Becoming a vengeful ghost was always her plan."

Seiga's face, which had retained the same placid smile this whole time, wavered slightly when Renko said that.

"Why would Tojiko want to give up the chance to become a shikaisen and become a vengeful ghost instead? Well it makes sense if you consider the fact that as a ghost she would be conscious and able to move about during the whole time that the Crown Prince and Futo were asleep. That would allow her to achieve the thing she really wanted—to keep an eye on you, Seiga, the only other person who she knew would be around and able to act the whole time the prince was awaiting resurrection."

"Her actions are really quite understandable if we try to put ourselves in her position. A mysterious, wicked hermit has seduced her husband and promised him immortality—with the slight caveat that in order to attain it, he has to die first. Her husband has fully bought into this plan and is planning on taking her and another of his wives with him to be resurrected. She's willing to play along, even if it costs her life in order to ensure that she can follow her beloved husband, but she can't help but wonder what's in it for the hermit? What could your purpose be in all of this?"

"Your resurrection ritual works by transferring a soul into another vessel. From the moment that happens to the moment the resurrection is completed, Prince Shotoku's body would be lying empty, a vessel without a soul. And during that time, the wicked hermit who had seduced her husband would be free to do as she pleased with it."

"She came to the conclusion that your aim in all of this was to possess Prince Shotoku's body. To prevent that, she was prepared to not only give up her life, but her chance at resurrection. Tojiko had watched you seduce her husband but she had never realized that it wasn't his body that you wanted, but her own. Perhaps watching you defile her corpse along with Iratsume’s was what turned her into a vengeful spirit in the first place."

The prince, her disciples and the hermit all appeared to be working together, but in truth each had their own motives. It was just as Renko had suspected.

"Now, since the questions of Tojiko's and Futo's involvement are accounted for, let's return to the question of the prince. How much did he know and was he onboard with it? Personally, I believe he knew everything. At the very least he must have known of your intention to erase Kawashide's memories and give her a new identity as Futo. And since the Crown Prince is an accomplice to your plan, then Tojiko must also be, albeit an unwilling one. As one of the Crown Prince’s followers, she would have to play along. If the prince was really a part of your plan then perhaps she thought it would be kinder this way. After all, if I'm right, then Yoshika's face is actually Futo's face. Or Iratsume's face, anyway. Seeing that and knowing what had happened would be awfully cruel for her. Given the circumstances, maybe it's easier for her to forget who she was and assume a new identity."

Renko paused for a moment and brought her eyes down from where she had been looking as she expounded her fantasy and met Seiga's gaze directly.

"Now, Miss Seiga. Since we know that your aim wasn't the Crown Prince himself but actually his wives, that brings us to the ultimate question."

"Oh, is it time for the finale?" Seiga asked. "Don't let me down now, you've been quite the storyteller so far."

"It is. And I think I can find the answer by asking a different question first. A very obvious one, which would probably be the first question anyone who was even a little familiar with Japanese history would ask: why is prince Shotoku a woman now?"

Renko took a deep breath and began to lay out her conclusion.

"Let's try to look at things from the Crown Prince's point of view. You were the prince's teacher, Miss Seiga. A Taoist master who guided him, making him into more than just a leader of men. You made him into a saint, into the legendary Prince Shotoku, who changed the fate of a nation. You had promised him a way to escape death, become a shikaisen and eventually become a god. To Prince Shotoku, you must have seemed like a divine being yourself."

"How strange it must have been for him to find that this divine being who had become his teacher was not interested in him at all. Not for his power, his riches or even his faith. Her only interest seemed to be in his wives’ bodies. He must have understood that you preferred women to men and that you were willing to change the fate of an entire nation just to stitch together the corpses of the women you desired to make your perfect doll."

"For someone like the prince, who was attempting to become a divine being in his own right, you shattered his mighty pride."

In the end, that's all this story really was. Not a history, nor a dramatic tale of a saint who sought to become a god. It was the story of one pitiful man who fell in love with a woman who had no need for him.

"That’s why the prince wished to be reborn as a woman, and for his wives to become nothing more than his subordinates. It was all so that when he finally became a hermit like you, he could also become the girl of your dreams."

Renko shook her head.

"I wonder, was the form that the Crown Prince inhabits now something that Prince Shotoku dreamed up himself? Or is she yet another idealized doll of your design, Seiga? One that you spent the last 1,400 years creating?"