東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 11:Imperishable Night

𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠. 𝑈𝑝𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘒𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘢 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ, 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑠.

"𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚, 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ, 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛."

𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑝𝑡.


—31—


From Youkai Mountain, far to the north, a thin wisp of smoke billowed.

"It would have been about 1,300 years ago now that I became immortal," Mokou began as she guided us away from the shack, into a secluded corner of the bamboo forest. "In 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑜 𝐶𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 there's a 'Prince Kuramochi'. That was my father. He was the noble who tried to fool Kaguya into accepting his proposal with a counterfeit of the jeweled branch of Hourai. I can think about it now, and realize that his disgrace at that incident was his own fault for trying to pass off a fake. At the time though... well, seeing my father humiliated like that made me furious. He wasn't the only victim of Kaguya's selfishness either. I wanted to get revenge on her, for the sake of all the lives she had ruined. I went after her, but I missed her by a hair's breadth. People were saying she had already vanished to the moon. It turns out she ended up staying on Earth all along, but I didn't know that then. The only connection to her I had was something she had left for the emperor as a gift. A jar that was being carried away by a bunch of soldiers."

"The elixir of immortality," Renko inferred.

"Yes, but I didn't know it at the time. The man carrying the jar was named Iwakasa. He and his escort had received orders to burn Kaguya's gift on the peak of the highest mountain in the land, so that the smoke might reach the moon. That mountain was sacred, and later came to be known as Mount Fuji."

"Right." Renko nodded. The story was the same as the one taught to every schoolchild so far. "They carried the elixir to the top of the mountain and burned it, creating smoke that rose to the heavens forever. That's why the mountain is called Fuji, from the word for immortality."

"That's the story. That's not how it went, though. Iwakasa and his men had orders to destroy the elixir, but it ended up destroying them instead. I followed them up the mountain, through the forests and foothills, climbing up the slopes after them, but I was only a scrawny little thing back then. I couldn't make it to the top. Somewhere along the line I collapsed out of exhaustion. Iwakasa and his men saved me. They knew I had been following them for some time. They let me march with them, and gave me food to eat. Together, we all managed to make the summit."

"I asked Iwakasa why he and his men were climbing the mountain, but all he would tell me was that it was an order straight from the emperor. When we got to the top, he had his men place the jar they had been carrying on the ground. Just as I was starting to wonder what they’d do next, they began tying ropes around it. They said the ropes would make it easier for them to fling the jar far away and that they were going to throw the jar into the volcano’s crater to burn it. I thought the emperor was trying to spite Kaguya’s gift since he was going to all of this trouble to try to destroy it, so I just stood back and watched. I’d climbed all this way thinking I could steal the gift to at least get some sort of revenge, but seeing what was happening I hoped seeing it destroyed might be enough to soothe the fury in my heart."

Mokou let out a long sigh then, looking downward.

"However, as soon as the soldiers approached the crater a strange woman suddenly appeared, and everything changed. She said she was Sakuyahime, and it was her power as a goddess that kept the volcano from erupting. She forbid the soldiers to throw the jar in.

"Sakuyahime?" I asked.

"The goddess Konohanasakuyahime," Renko explained. "She was the wife of Amaterasu's grandson if I recall."

I searched my own, somewhat dubious, recollection of Japanese mythology. "I was just thinking her name reminded me of Miss Sakuya."

"That name was given to her by Remilia, I don't see how it could be related. Then again, there was a legend that Sakuyahime conceived and gave birth to three children in a single night, which might be possible with Sakuya's time manipulation, but that's probably too far-fetched. Let's get back to the story."

Regardless of Renko's dismissal, it was a strange coincidence. I remembered that Eirin had been surprised by Sakuya's name as well. I wondered if it could have reminded her of Konohanasakuyahime.

"What came next shocked the soldiers even further. Iwakasa explained that he had been commanded to burn the jar in the sacred flames of the mountain by the emperor. Sakuyahime looked at him with contempt, saying 'if that jar is burned here, the flames of this volcano will rage out of control and consume this land. Even I, the goddess of volcanoes, would be powerless to stop it. Do you know what is in that jar?" Mokou looked down again, her brow knitted in anger.

"Then she told us. No one but Iwakasa had known up until that point. When the men found out, there was chaos in the ranks. Even I was affected."

I suppose that made sense. An elixir of immortality had to be the ultimate desire of any treasure hunter. How could anyone remain calm with a prize like that right in front of their eyes? Even if immortality is said to be a curse to be surrounded by so many other people who would want it too…

"Unrest seized the whole group at that point. No one was willing to be the one to throw the jar into the crater. This was exactly why Iwakas had avoided telling anyone about the contents of the jar. He tried to burn it himself, but the fire he set wouldn’t touch it. Maybe Sakuyahime was obstructing him, somehow. In the end, the men decided to camp for the night on the summit so that it could be decided what to do next. There was a tense atmosphere that night. Everyone sat in a big circle surrounding the jar and took turns watching it in pairs, never trusting that anyone else would be able to refrain from taking it. Even the men who had no desire to be immortal knew that the elixir could be sold for any price they could name. Could anyone pass up a temptation like that right in front of their noses? At first I was too nervous to sleep, but eventually the weariness of a whole day spent climbing caught up with me and I fell into a deep slumber."

Mokou stopped for a bit, gathering herself and breathing out a heavy sigh before continuing.

"The next morning, Iwakasa and I were awakened by Sakuyahime. Every one of the soldiers was dead. We were surrounded by a sea of blood and charred corpses. She said to us ‘while you were sleeping these foolish humans decided to take the jar for themselves and began killing each other.’ At the time, I couldn’t to think too clearly but now I don't think that was possible. Some of the bodies were torn to pieces, and others were burnt to a crisp. How could we possibly have slept through something like that? I think Sakuyahime must have killed them all but left Iwakasa and I alive because there was something she still wanted us to do."

For some reason Eirin's words flashed through my mind —𝐼 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑟 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐾𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒.

"’That elixir is a blight that will deceive any foolish human who sees it,’ Sakuyahime told us. ‘Even now it has brought all these men to ruin. I approve of your quest to destroy it, but it is too great a burden for me to bear. You must find another way.’ Iwakasa told her ‘I was told to take this elixir to the place closest to the moon and burn it there. Is there any place higher than this mountain?’ She replied by pointing to the northwest, at an ugly mountain called Yatsugatake. 'My elder sister lives there,' she said, 'and she is the goddess of immortality. Take it there and surely she can help you.'"

"That would be the goddess Iwanagahime, right? Mount Yatsugatake was originally supposed to have been taller than Mount Fuji, but the legends say that Sakuyahime got jealous and crushed Yatsugatake down."

"Keine mentioned that story to me once as well," Mokou said. "Apparently Youkai Mountain is supposed to be the long-forgotten, uncrushed form of Yatsugatake."

Renko nodded. "Really? Looking at it, it can't be anywhere near as tall as Mount Fuji."

"That’s what I thought too," Mokou said. "Personally, I think Youkai Mountain is the part of Yatsugatake that Sakuyahime knocked off in her fury."

"Ah!" Renko cooed, nodding along with Mokou excitedly. "That would explain it!"

Another mystery solved by my partner, the brilliant detective, though it has nothing to do with the current topic.

"Well anyway, Iwakasa decided to follow Sakuyahime's advice. We started descending the mountain together, with Iwakasa carrying the jar on his back, the only two left out of the huge group who had ascended together."

Mokou kept her eyes down, speaking softly now.

"...Still, I couldn’t get what Sakuyahime had said out of my head. The word ‘Immortality’ kept echoing over and over in my mind. Before I even realized what I was doing we came to a sharp decline in the path. I kicked Iwakasa as hard as I could, then I took the jar and ran."

I heard Renko swallow. It was a 1,300-year-old confession of murder.

"I wouldn't blame you if you despised me for it. I killed someone who had shown me nothing but kindness, just to get an immortal body." Mokou smiled sadly for a moment, looking toward Renko to see her reaction.

Renko shook her head before responding. "Well, I'm not going to condemn you, but I'm not going to pity you either. I think 1,300 years of self-loathing and regret is probably more than enough torture to endure for a crime of passion. I can't pretend to know what it's like to carry the weight of a sin for that long, but the fact that you haven't forgotten suggests you're still suffering in penance. I think it's something that can be forgiven, though. Keine seems to agree. She knows this story, but she's still been taking care of you, right Mokotan?"

Her head snapped back up to meet Renko's eyes.

"Seriously, don't call me 'Mokotan.'"

Renko laid a hand on Mokou's knee and gave it a squeeze. "Sure," she said. Mokou mumbled something under her breath that might have been a sigh or might have been "Thank you." Renko took Mokou's hand again and she smiled in a way that almost looked like she was about to cry.

"For 300 years after I drank the elixir, I was so burdened with regrets that I would have died if I could have. I was nothing but a menace at that point, causing problems for everyone around me unless I lived in utter isolation. After that, for the next 300 years I bore a grudge against the world and started wandering in the forests, killing everything I came across, youkai or otherwise. That just made me bored though. For the next 300 years after that not even youkai could hold my interest any more. I surrendered to tedium and just gave up. I stopped eating, or moving or caring about the cold or heat. I died over and over again and kept coming back. I lacked all motivation to live, but was unable to stop. It was some time after that that I ended up wandering here. It was only in the last 300 years that I found out that 𝑠ℎ𝑒 was here. Since finding my archrival we’ve been spending our time killing each other over and over."

"Kaguya, you mean."

"Yeah. She's here, and she's immortal too, so neither of us can win. It's a hopeless struggle" Mokou sighed again then stood up, brushing dirt off the back of her pants. "That's all I have to say really. I won't defend this life I live, but it's not so bad. A few years ago I met Keine and now you two."

Renko rose up as well, but from the way she was hunched I could tell she was lost in thought. "Thank you for that, Mokou," she said. "I'm sorry to take up more of your time, but if you don't mind I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask."

"Sure, go ahead."

"First off, since becoming immortal, have you noticed if anything about you has changed? Your body, or your state of mind?"

"Changed? How do you mean?"

"Well, your silver hair, for example. Was it always that color? Or that long?"

"This? No, my hair used to be black. At some point after I drank the elixir it started growing like this."

"You also said 'that you’ve gotten stronger since then…."

"Well, I've spent hundreds of years fighting. You end up learning things, just through exposure. Martial techniques and a little sorcery. Merry's seen some of what I can do. My specialty is fire."

"Ah, yes..." I remembered seeing Mokou wreathed in flames and floating high above me during her confrontation with Kaguya. It almost felt as if I had seen something like that before.

Renko had retreated her huddle again, turning up the collar of her trench coat before resting her chin in her hand. "Just one more question then," she muttered before unfurling to look at Mokou. "How exactly does the Hourai Elixir work?"

"Who cares? It's horrible. If Eirin's made any more, don't drink it, whatever you do."

"It's a matter of pure scientific curiosity."

"I'm sure you could go ask that quack if you wanted to know. She explained it to me once. She said that since a soul lives on even after the death of the body, you can just recreate a body from a single hair or a piece of ash as long as the soul persists. Do you need me to demonstrate?"

"Well, I'll admit, I would like to do some tests later, but that can wait for now. It's an interesting principle."

"Alright then," Mokou announced. "That's enough about me. Now I want to hear the story of Renko. Yours too, Merry."

"Who, me?" Renko and I both said in unison.

"I'm not going to be the only one baring my soul here while you get to keep your secrets. Where did you both come from, and why is Keine acting as your guardian? And don't skip over any details, I have all the time in the world." She grinned and looked between the two of us. "Fair's fair, after all."

Renko rubbed at her head and sat back down. "All right," she said, with a grin. "Fair's fair. I'll go first."


—32—


And so Renko sat down and began to relate the story of the Hifuu Club. She had only just begun though when we were interrupted by a rustling sound coming from the nearby bushes. All at once several rabbits leapt out all at once. They sniffed the air for a moment, then came to cuddle at our feet. A moment later a voice called out from the same direction the rabbits had emerged from.

"Oooh, the humans from the other day are friends with the princess' nemesis, I see," said Tewi as she emerged from behind a stand of bamboo.

Mokou was instantly on guard, rising from her position and turning to face Tewi. "You're those rabbits I saw at Kaguya's place. What are you doing here?"

"Scary, scary. We're not servants of the princess or the master. We're just the rulers of this bamboo forest. Have been since long before you ever came by, so show some respect to the landlady, you squatter.."

"Sorry, what was that?" Mokou asked, conjuring a ball of red flame in the palm of her hand. "I was too busy thinking about how good roasted rabbit tastes to listen."

Seeing the flame, many of the rabbits backed away. Tewi approached with confidence, however. "Cool down, Smokey, we're just here to have some fun."

"...I'm sure you guys can find somewhere else to have fun. I don't need any of Kaguya's friends stinking up my home."

"Oh Mokotan, you're no fun at all. You could at least play with the cute little inaba." The whimsical lilt of this last voice was familiar. With a sleeve covering her mouth, Kaguya followed Tewi's path out from the stand of Bamboo.

"Kaguya! What are you doing here? What are you even doing awake while the sun's up? You ruin enough of my nights, I don't need you ruining my days too." Mokou continued to hold the dancing flame, but made no other move.

"That's rude. I'm not a ghost, Mokotan. I'd have to die for that, and you haven't managed that just yet." Noticing the two of us sitting beside Mokou, she tilted her head. "Oh, it's our two recent guests. Did you all want to come visit us again?"

Mokou paused, dumbfounded at the offer as the ball of fire in her hand flickered and died. "What?" she asked flatly.

"Last time Eirin wouldn't let you into the mansion, but now I can show you all around, if you like. You'll have to be careful though, now that everything's contaminated with impurity, I've discovered some things can be quite fragile!" Kaguya smiled innocently.

Mokou glowered and took a step forward. "Just what the hell are you up to Kaguya?"

"Why are you so angry all the time, Mokotan? Can I not invite my new friends over to my house to play? Making faces like that all the time will probably shorten your lifespan."

"Since when are they 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 friends?"

"Making friends with the allies of your enemies is basic diplomacy, Mokotan. Oh, are you worried that all your friends are going to like me more and not talk to you any more? Well I suppose when you have so few, that is a bit of a concern."

"I'm going to kill you."

"I can't die though."

A wash of cinders and sparks whirled off of Mokou and sailed into the air as pulsing waves of heat distortion spread out from her back like wings and flames began to lick around her arms. Tewi and her Inaba scattered, taking up positions behind stands of bamboo in a wide ring around the pair as they glared at each other. I tugged at Renko's sleeve, urging her along as we sidestepped away from Mokou. Before anything could begin, however, another voice called out and another figure emerged from the bamboo thicket.

"Princess? Tewi? Where did you go?"

A moment later Reisen stumbled out from between the dense stalks and into scene, emerging in the space between the two adversaries. Seeing the two of them glaring daggers at one another, she stiffened. "Ah, uh princess, please don't start a fight at this hour."

Kaguya sniffed. "I only came here to invite friends over. Mokotan's the one overreacting."

Reisen turned to look wide-eyed at Mokou, then back to the princess. "Friends?"

"Not Mokotan, those two humans over there."

Reisen noticed but seemed only more confused. "Why would you want to invite more impure Earthlings into our home?"

"The mansion's already been full of impurity anyway. Thanks to a certain someone."

"That’s… that’s not my fault, I tried to stop them…"

Kaguya laughed daintily behind her sleeve as Reisen's shoulders drooped sadly.

"This all happened because you decided to land here of all places, so really it’s your own fault that you can’t go back now. Did you really want to leave just because you got a message from someone back home?"

Reisen groaned, looking almost nauseous. Tewi gave her a friendly slap on the back. "You’ve got terrible luck for a rabbit. You tried to escape only to end up with Master and the Princess."

Reisen groaned in dismay. "Be quiet. It doesn’t matter now. I couldn’t go back now even if I wanted to. I could never face my comrades after fleeing in the face of danger like that."

Tewi nodded. "Look on the bright side, you’ve met me now. If you play your cards right maybe you can learn to have some fun and not be such a failure as an Earth rabbit."

Reisen looked up at the two of us with an anguished expression. "Is this what life as an Earth rabbit is like? I don’t think I’d want to live like you and the rest of the inaba…" As Reisen let out a big sigh, my partner took the lowered tension as her cue and approached.

"I wanted to thank you for your help caring for me this last week as well," she said. "My name is Usami Renko. It's a pleasure to finally see you."

Reisen looked up, her face registering confusion for a moment. "Huh? Oh you're the sick person. You look different without the mask on. Caring for you was Master's orders. Don't get the wrong idea, it’s not like I did it because I wanted to."

"Well, orders or not, you have my thanks all the same. It was due to your and your master's care that I was able to make such a swift and complete recovery. There was something I wanted to ask you though, if you don't mind."

"Me? If you have questions about your treatment, it would be better to ask Master..."

"No, no, this is something I specifically wanted to ask you, Miss Reisen."

Renko met Reisen's look of utter confusion with a catlike grin. Specifically the grin of a cat about to strike.

"So I heard you fled from the moon. How is it that you ended up at Eientei and not anywhere else?"


—33—


"What?" Reisen seemed completely blindsided by the question. "Why would a human care about that?"

"Well it's a bit of a strange story. Here were Doctor Yagokoro and Miss Kaguya, hiding out in Eientei, concealing themselves from observation by the moon, then down you come, supposedly none the wiser, fleeing from the moon as well, and out of all the places on this broad planet you could have landed, you end up here, practically in their backyard. It seems a little unlikely, don't you think?"

Reisen put her hands over her eyes and groaned. "Well, sure it sounds bad if you put it like that."

"How did you discover Eientei, Reisen. What's really going on here?"

Reisen sighed again, her ears bobbing as her head lowered. She spoke without looking up. "You make it sound like I'm some devious master spy, but it wasn't like that. I fled the moon by stealing a lunar veil. As I was descending, I noticed just one place on the whole world where the wavelengths of space had been distorted, in exactly the same way they are around the Lunar Capital. I thought maybe there might have been some other rabbits who had escaped before me living there, so that's where I landed. I was very surprised to find that it was Master and the princess living there instead."

"You say the wavelengths were distorted, what do you mean by that?"

"Everything has a wavelength, and she can see and manipulate them," Tewi scoffed from beside Reisen. "She could shorten your wavelength and you'd become snippy and foul-tempered, or lengthen it and make you laid back. She can use it to hide too, but she can see when someone else does it. It's a useful ability that's completely wasted on someone as boring as her."

So then Reisen had been manipulating wavelengths, not actual space. Did that mean the hallway had only appeared to stretch? If so, how had it been effective in acting as a trap? I was sure Renko would have an easier time following this explanation than I would and looked over at her.

"Wait, so you mean to tell me you can observe patterns arising from fluctuations on a quantum level? And interfere with them as well without introducing decoherence? In that case you should be able to alter the properties of matter on a quantum scale! No wait, if we hold to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, then any manipulation of quantum fields would necessarily converge into a new equilibrium dependent on the observer. But how could the wave function of a quanta be changed without violating the uncertainty principle? Are you suggesting that in Gensokyo Laplace's Demon really exists?"

Renko's academic curiosity had been piqued, and her nature as a super-unified physics major was showing through. As she continued to churn out technobabble her eyes lit up more and more. She kept turning away from Reisen to mutter some arcane theory to herself, only to flip back with a question a moment later, drawing closer and close with each cycle, and never once allowing a pause for an answer or even to take a breath until at last she was on her tiptoes, leaning in as Reisen bent backwards to avoid her face.

"What are you asking? Why should I have to explain my abilities to you?" Reisen asked.

Remembering herself, Renko turned away again, backing off and coughing into her fist.

"Ah, pardon me," she said. "As a student of physics, I would love to question you more thoroughly and test the nature of your abilities at some point if you'd allow it, but I'm getting distracted from your story. You were saying you used your eyes' ability to see through the barrier that concealed Eientei?"

Reisen blinked at Renko's sudden turnaround. "Um... yeah."

"Is that something any moon rabbit could have done?"

"Umm, maybe. We all have some ability to sense or modify wavelengths, but mine is much stronger than most."

"I see. In that case I just have one more question. Who was it on the moon who got back in touch with you after you left? What kind of a relationship do you have with them?"

"Why would you want to know that? Even if I told you, you don't know anyone on the moon."

"If you were fleeing pursuit, I imagine that there must have been some communication back and forth between yourself and the Lunarians in order for them to try and retrieve you. You wouldn't have revealed yourself to just anyone though, not after going through all the trouble of getting here. So I figure it must have been someone you had some sort of relationship with. I heard that you were a deserter from the Lunarian military, so perhaps it was your old commanding officer?"

"N-no. It was one of my comrades. A fellow moon rabbit. They reached out to me because they were scared that a full-scale war between the moon and the Earth might be about to start. I don't think they ever expected me to respond."

"Aha. And let me guess, you were only able to communicate with them because of your unique ability to modify wavelengths, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So they were worried about an all-out war between Earth and the Moon, huh? Even though there hasn't been any large-scale lunar exploration by humans in decades? Alright, that explains a lot. Thank you." With that, Renko bowed politely then turned on her heel and walked away. Reisen was left in shock, looking between Kaguya, Tewi and myself as if waiting for some explanation of Renko's line of questioning. Not that any of us could hope to provide one.

"What was that all about?" she mumbled.

"Oh Reisen, you’ve finally made a friend on earth! And she seems really interested in you!" Kaguya chirped gleefully.

"I'm not making friends with her, why would I have an Earthling friend?"

Renko turned and spoke over her shoulder as she walked away. "I'd be happy if we could spend some time together, Reisen. There's a bunch of stuff I'd like to try with you."

Reisen groaned unhappily in response as Kaguya smiled at her.

Mokou looked appraisingly at Renko as she returned. "You're pretty bold, aren't you."

Renko laughed. "I prefer to think of it as just being persistently sociable," Or perhaps her curiosity was natural for an aspiring physicist, though I refrained from stating my own opinion on the matter.

Just then another voice called out, from deeper in the forest. "Kaguya? Where did you go?" A moment later we saw Eirin making her way over from another break in the grove, a little ways over from where Kaguya had emerged. Stepping into the same clearing surrounding Mokou's shack that the rest of us were in, she paused to take in the scene. Myself, Renko, Mokou, Reisen, Kaguya, Tewi and perhaps a dozen of her inaba all turned to look as she approached.

With all eyes on her, she paused for a moment. "My," she said. "Quite the full house today."

Kaguya was the first to break the awkward silence. "Oh Eirin!" she cried happily. "Reisen's just found someone who likes her!"

"Udonge? How curious. What individual would have such weird tastes?"

"Wait, Master, what do you mean by 'weird tastes'?" Reisen asked in exasperation.

Rather than answering, Eirin tapped Reisen on the shoulder, saying "You can play with your new friend later, Udonge. For now, I'm going out, so I expect you to look after the princess."

Reisen sighed dejectedly. "Yes, Master. Where are you going though?"

"To the Netherworld. It seems I have a patient there who went crazy after being affected by your eyes. That rather violent one who came through here the other night waving a sword about."

"Her? I think she and her master may have already been crazy before they got here. Wait, does this mean this is my fault, master?"

"It does, Udonge. So as punishment you have to do whatever the princess tells you to while I'm gone."

Kaguya squealed in delight. "Oh how wonderful! What should I do first? Do you have any suggestions, Mokotan?"

"Why would you ask me?" Mokou growled.

The field full of people was quickly caught up in a lively discussion. While Renko and I watched the chaos from the sidelines, Eirin approached us, and turned to Renko.

"How are your eyes doing now?"

"I'm feeling completely fine, thanks to your treatment. Was my condition ever really that serious to begin with though?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Ah, it's nothing, forget I asked. Whether or not you were responsible for my injury in the first place, I hold you blameless, and because of that I’ve learned to appreciate my vision all the more."

"Good then. My apologies for the trouble you had to endure." Saying that, Eirin gave a half-hearted wave and walked away.

Renko watched her leave. "You're not going to question her too?" I asked.

"No. Not just yet. I need to put everything together properly first."

"Put everything together? Have you come up with another one of your theories then?"

"I can't be sure. We’re missing a lot of information so there’s plenty I’m not certain of yet, but I think if I take my time and think it through I’ll be able to put it all together. I'll confront her at the next full moon."

I blinked in surprise. "The next full moon? That's a whole month away. Do you actually have a theory or are you just stalling for time, Renko?"

"Don't underestimate a great detective Merry, it's just a matter of timing. Even I can't move the heavens and choosing the right time and place to gather everyone together for the denouement is a very important skill for someone in my position." Renko winked as she pulled down on the brim of her hat. "This is Gensokyo, after all, where the world operates on the logic of belief and shared assumptions. When an observable event appears to contradict the premise of those assumptions, well that's a clear sign that what you're seeing isn't what you thought it was."


—


[𝐀 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫]

Now, it's time for my customary challenge letter. Can you deduce the truth behind the Eternal Night Incident, as my partner did? As usual, success will require not just a thorough understanding of the facts but a willingness and ability to construct an imaginative scenario that transcends the details of the incident as they are commonly understood.

The key questions to consider are these:
• What does impurity affect?
• What exactly does the Hourai Elixir do?
• What were Eirin's motivations for a) making the elixir, b) running away with Kaguya and c) hiding the full moon?

Of course the answers to these questions found in the following chapter are just the theories and explanations dreamed up by my partner's mind, which perhaps had a bit too much free time to ruminate on such matters of late. Those who have read my previous books should now be well acquainted with the self-aggrandizing flights of fancy my partner can sometimes conceive of and the twisted logic they have been known to employ to make their stories fit the facts we have found. I will make no claim to Renko's story being the unquestionable truth of the matter.

But I wonder, can you predict it all the same? In the end, as always, only those involved will ever know the whole story. But for Renko, and for you dear reader, the question remains: what was the truth hidden that night along with the full moon?