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

—31—

A few days later an agreement was reached and formal negotiations were conducted over a banquet on the grounds of the Hakurei Shrine.

In attendance as representatives of the Moriya Shrine were just two people, Yasaka Kanako and Kochiya Sanae. In attendance as representatives of the tengu were a half-dozen important looking tengu nobles and Aya Shameimaru.

Hakurei Reimu, Usami Renko and myself were all there as official observers and witnesses. Kirisame Marisa, who hadn't been invited, but couldn't be kept away once she realized something was going on at the shrine, was also in attendance.

Two long, parallel lines of rush mats were laid out in the yard before the shrine, with the tengu sitting on one side and the Moriya congregation sitting opposite them. The meeting grounds were surrounded by a blaze of beautiful autumn leaves that were now beginning to fall and clutter the courtyard as well. The atmosphere was tense as the meeting began, with the tengu remaining cautiously distant and restrained.

"Don't be so scared, this is supposed to be a party." Kanako called out from her side of the yard. The tengu turned and looked amongst themselves in response, seemingly judging one another and deciding who would make the first move. Surprisingly, it was Aya who stepped forward and spoke first. This was a fact that many of her own delegation greeted with sour looks. Kanako and Sanae nodded in greeting as she approached and bowed to them.

"Thank you for inviting me to this banquet today. I'm Shameimaru Aya, official proxy empowered to negotiate in Lord Tenma's name. I've been asked to speak on behalf of all of tengu society today, so please consider my words to be those of Lord Tenma himself."

"When did you become so high an' mighty all of a sudden?" Marisa asked, rudely interjecting.

Aya laughed brightly in response, turning up her nose proudly. "Well, it seems my initiative on this matter was appreciated by those higher up." Behind her several grumbles and bitter glances passed among the nobles of the tengu delegation, but no one spoke up. It seemed to me that by bringing forth Renko’s suggestion of meeting at the Hakurei Shrine while all of the other tengu nobles were still locked in indecision, Aya had managed to win herself some favor from the powers that be in tengu society.

"As for this party, we would of course love to join you in partaking in feast and merriment, but doing so is difficult when in the presence of a stranger with unknown intentions. If you would be so kind as to tell us your purpose in coming to Youkai Mountain as you have, then perhaps we can all drink in peace."

"Our purpose? Our intention is the same as any shrine's: to gather faith and provide the blessings to the people of this world in return, that all may be enriched by our presence."

"That story is suspicious."

"You have no reason to suspect us. It's not our intent to swindle your people out of their savings or homes. We have nothing to sell and no expansionist plans. We merely seek a place to practice our faith in peace and the opportunity to bestow wisdom, truth, moral decency and stoutheartedness to those who would hear our message. Those who choose to follow our faith shall find me to be a beneficent and bountiful goddess, able to enrich both the physical and spiritual lives of those who devote themselves to my worship." Kanako spoke with a solemn and determined delivery, but a mischievous smile played on her face as she did so.

"Though, to be honest," she continued, "I would rather be less formal than that. My goal at the moment is not to win new worshipers, but merely to gain your trust. Faith will come later. For now, it’s enough that you are willing to drink with me" As she said this, Kanako placed a glass bottle of sake in front of her on the mat. It was one of the big ones — 1 sho or 1.8 liters. The goddess grabbed it by the neck and removed the cap as she raised it in toast. "How does that strike you?"

"What a straightforward goddess. I wouldn’t mind drinking with someone like that," Reimu said, eyeing the bottle.

Aya scoffed dismissively. "You’re inviting a tengu to drink? You may end up regretting that after I’ve crushed you both. I’m happy to drink a god under the table if that’s what you’d like."

"Oh? You think yourself strong enough to contend with a god? Shall we test your mettle then? Let us sample this gift from the gods in celebration then."

"Oh, um, I guess I can have a little bit too then," Sanae added nervously.

"Oh, is that how it is then? Alright, I’ll take you all on." Aya declared, standing up. "What can I get you to start? A bottle or a whole cask?" Sanae recoiled in alarm at that and Aya grinned, seeming pleased at that reaction. "Well then, if that’s your intent, in my role as a proxy for Lord Tenmaa, I officially declare that the tengu people are willing to establish a friendly relationship with the Moriya shrine, on the sole condition that our people continue to receive these sorts of blessings."

"But of course. It is natural to expect a god to repay their followers faith with blessings in kind. I find your terms acceptable and look forward to furthering our relationship with the tengu. Would our three witnesses be willing to vouch that these negotiations have concluded with the agreement to a treaty of friendship between the tengu and the Moriya shrine?"

"Yeah, whatever." Reimu answered.

"Witnessed and verified." Renko said with a nod.

"Yes, yes," I sighed, anticipating that, somehow, I'd have some explaining to do to Keine again.

"Good then!" Kanako declared, clapping her hands together. "In that case, all that's left to say is 'Cheers!'" She turned then, looking toward an empty space where none of the tengu were sitting and saying "Before I pour though, why don't we invite the last of our guests to partake? Who is that there beneath the hood, are you a kappa?" I had seen that there was someone sitting there from the beginning, of course.

"Hyui? No way! My optical camouflage should be impenetrable this time!" There was a smearing of light and color and Nitori appeared on the spot.

"Ayayaya, what are you doing here? Aren’t you Momiji’s kappa friend?"

"Kappa dwell on the mountain too. Come, drink with us, and let your people know of the blessings we bring to all who call Youkai Mountain home."

Nitori looked from Kanako to Aya with a worried expression. "You… You want me to drink that?" she asked, eyeing the tall bottle nervously. "I… uh… I’ve been getting really into making pickles lately. Why don’t I just go grab some cucumbers and I can use that to pickle them instead!" She yelled and scampered from her seat, sprinting for the torii gates and once again disappearing in a blur of indistinct color. There was a scattering of laughter, even from among the stoic tengu.

"Hey, don’t leave me outta this! I wanna drink too!" Marisa yelled from her position beside Reimu.

"You just came here for free drinks, didn't you?" Reimu grumbled.

"This meeting's only being held here because you wanted the same. Don't be stingy. Come on, Renko, Merry, you have some too."

"I’d be glad to," Renko said with a grin.

"...I'll have just a little."

From there, the party continued just as you might expect, a typical Gensokyo party, held in the typical Gensokyo place. The fact that there were so many new faces at the shrine didn't change the atmosphere a bit.

—

After that, the disturbances centered around the appearance of the Moriya Shrine came to a close. If my goal here were to write a history of the beginning of Gensokyo's first religious war, then I would put my brush to rest here. As this is instead intended as a mystery story and a tale of my partner's grandiose delusions, however, there's a bit more to cover.

This next bit of the story took place a few days after the banquet, again at the Hakurei Shrine, or rather off to one side of it, in a small space just in front of the storage shed.

"Huh, it's... a little small, don't you think?"

"What does size matter to a god? It's good enough."

Renko and I had come here to see the newly completed Moriya branch shrine. Looking at its size, I couldn't imagine Kanako would be very impressed. Overall, the impression it gave off was closer to a large birdhouse than a proper reliquary.

"Hopefully putting this up will start bringing more worshipers to the shrine."

"You'll probably have to do a lot of proselytizing in the village to get people to come see it first."

"Ugh, that sounds annoying."

"Can you afford to be so laid back about it? What will happen if the Moriya shrine really does end up becoming more popular and ends up stealing all of your worshippers?"

"If that happens I'll fly up there and exterminate them."

It was a typical Reimu response. I was considering what I might say in reply when a voice called out suddenly from above us. Looking up, we saw Marisa descending towards us, rotating on her broom with a small woven basket dangling from the handle.

"Heya Reimu." She said, smiling as she touched down lightly. "Oh Renko an' Merry too. Hey there. I brought some chestnuts."

"Did you go back to the mountain?"

"It's harvest season."

"It’s not my problem if a tengu catches you."

"They'd still have to catch me for that. Here, Renko, you take some chestnuts too, I bet they're tasty roasted." Marisa reached into the basket and brought out a pair of chestnuts, each still covered in dense thatch of prickly spikes. They were enormous, each one larger than my fist.

"Oh, thanks," Renko said, eyeing the spikes, "but I'm not sure how we could even get them home like that."

Reimu looked the nuts over dubiously. "I’ve never seen chestnuts that big before. Are you sure that that's what they are?"

"I found this really monstrous chestnut tree. Oh and I heard a weird rumor too."

"A rumor about a youkai chestnut tree?"

"It has nothin’ to do with the chestnuts. There’s this rumor among the tengu that there’s another god in that wind god’s shrine."

"What? Kanako didn't say anything about that."

Reimu frowned. I couldn't help but glance at Renko guiltily. I wondered if Kanako had told the tengu about Suwako willingly or if tengu spies had perhaps discovered it without her knowing. I had no idea how long the Moriya Shrine had intended to keep the curse goddess a secret.

"You two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

I snapped out of my thoughts to find that Reimu had fixed Renko and I with a cold and unforgiving stare.

I flinched back as Renko scratched at her cheek. "I've got no idea what you're talking about," she said, looking away.

"Don’t lie to me. My intuition is telling me you know something."

"That’s no good. If your intuition figures everything out, when do I get to be a detective?"

"That wind god might be hidin’ somethin’. She didn’t really seem like a shady character to me though. She was pretty cheerful," Marisa said with a grin.

"Japanese gods are usually cheerful. Still, it’s a little suspicious how she won over all of the mountain youkai so quickly. If there is another god, maybe that has something to do with it."

"What should we do, Renko?" I whispered, tugging on the sleeve of her coat.

Renko looked at me then turned back to Marisa and shrugged. "Ah, it can't be helped, I guess. If you want to find all the secrets of the Moriya Shrine, it’s imperative that you go in properly equipped. Fortunately for you, I happen to have Gensokyo's best barrier-detector right here." Renko said, suddenly grabbing me by both shoulders and shoving me forward.

"Ah, Renko! Don't push."

"A barrier-detector?" Reimu asked, looking at both of us with open suspicion.

"Genuine, grade-A. Top of the line model. She can see the gaps in barriers. The hidden god at the Moriya Shrine lives behind the barrier between those pillars on the lake."

Reimu's stare seemed likely to burn a hole clear through me. "You were the one who found the hole in the barrier during the Eternal Night Incident too, weren't you?"

"She did? I didn't hear about that. Well shoot, with a recommendation like that, I can't pass up the chance to try it out! I'm borrowin' her." Marisa said, grinning maniacally as she grabbed my wrist with one hand and settled her broom into a hovering position with the other.

Marisa tugged me toward the broom, but Renko seized my other wrist and hauled me back toward her. "Hey, hold on a minute, that's a one-of-a-kind original model. You can't just grab her. You've got to bring me along too so I can make sure she gets proper care and maintenance."

"What? No deal. I told you before that three people is over capacity. No way I can get up the mountain carrying you both. Get Reimu to haul you up."

"Me? Why do I have to carry her? Who even said I was going?"

"Well actually I have some business of my own up at the Moriya Shrine, so I'd appreciate a lift, if you don't mind."

"Alright, fine. Grab my hand."

—

And thus, the four of us departed once more for the Moriya Shrine. I didn't know it at the time, but as we left we just narrowly missed Sanae, who was headed to the Hakurei Shrine from the village and arrived to officially inaugurate the Moriya branch shrine only to find the entire place abandoned.


—32—


"Are these the pillars with the barrier on them?"

"Yep. How about it, Merry? Can you see a gap?"

"They've done a good job of patching the hole we made when we went in last time. Probably to keep an overly-curious someone from poking their nose into other people’s affairs again."

"Why are you two always the first to end up in the middle of any sort of a problem?"

"Call it a gift. Curiosity and a knack for gathering information, mainly."

"—Ah! Right here. It looks like someone's just gone through here. I think we can catch the edge..." I pinched at the fluctuating surface of the barrier, and it lifted away, like a skin on hot milk. With just a tiny bit more tugging, the barrier tore, opening a yawning, vertical gap in front of me.

"Alright seriously. If you're Yukari's alter-ego just tell me."

"I'm telling you, I’m not her!"

"Who cares about that? Charge!"

With that, Marisa urged her broom forward and we plunged into the gap. We emerged, as before, on a road much like the one we had just flown over, but lined with countless Onbashira where outside there had been only a few. It was the first time I had seen this space in the daylight, and while it didn't have the foreboding aura that the looming pillars had lent the place during the night, I couldn't help but wonder why the barrier had shown signs of someone having recently passed through it. In all likelihood either Kanako or Sanae were already here...

While I was thinking about such things, Marisa suddenly stopped the broom short, causing me to lurch forward against her back. Reimu stopped next to her at the same time and let go of Renko's hand, sending her abruptly plummeting a meter to the pavement below. She landed roughly, falling flat on her butt.

"Oof! Hey, watch the landing."

"Merry, you'd better get down too." Marisa brought the broom down enough that I only fell a few centimeters after hopping off to land just beside Renko. I helped my partner to her feet, then we both turned our eyes upward, to where Reimu and Marisa were hovering before a god.

Yasaka Kanako stood looking at all of us with an astonished expression. "I thought I felt someone coming through the seal on this place. Again." She said, frowning down at us from where she was hovering in the air.

"That's a false accusation. I've never been here before in my life," Marisa replied, grinning.

"Not you, the two in the back. I thought I told you that this was to be a secret place?"

"Well, it seems these two had already heard about it from the tengu. I'm afraid there's a limit to how far a regular, powerless human can be expected to protect a secret," Renko said with a grin.

"Good grief… Regardless, I can't allow you to go any farther."

"That’s a suspicious thing to say. What are you hiding here?"

"A friend. But she is not to be disturbed!"

—

Just as before, I won't waste ink on a futile attempt to paint with words the beauty and complexity of the danmaku combat I witnessed. I will say though that I don't think Lady Yasaka really intended to stop anyone. After a few quick and playful exchanges, she raised her hands, palms upright, still floating in a sitting position in mid-air and said "Alright, that's enough."

"Wait, you're givin' up just like that?"

"I've tested your power. You're up to the challenge. But you should know that what lies ahead of you is a terrifying curse god. If you choose to proceed further knowing that, then it's not my responsibility to stop you. If you give her a good fight though, she'll probably let you go without much trouble. She's been bored lately."

"A curse god? Now I really do have to go see her. I might have to seal her before she does anything terrible." Reimu growled.

"Well that's a new one to me. May as well give it a shot though, let's see what a curse god has to offer!"

"Hey, wait for me!"

And with that the two of them were off again, shooting down the stone path and weaving amongst the Onbashira as they raced to be the first to challenge Suwako. We watched them go for a moment, then Lady Kanako turned to us, floating above us with her arms crossed.

"Now then. I believe I mentioned last time that if you can't manage to keep a secret you'd be cursed."

"Sorry about that. I'll leave a bottle of sake as an offering for you, so why not just let this slide?"

"Well, I hadn't planned to keep Suwako a secret forever, and she was getting bored lately so I suppose in the end it's alright. If you're going to offer me sake though, see to it that it's the best sake in the village."

Renko laughed, then put her hands together and bowed her head in worship. I hurriedly followed her example and bowed my head respectfully.

"Now, I see that Sanae is not with you. You must have just missed each other, she was on her way to the shrine."

"Oh? To the Hakurei Shrine? Yeah, we must have left right before she arrived."

"She was on her way to inspect the branch shrine."

"Ah, in that case, I guess this is good timing."

Kanako frowned at that response. "Are you not here to see Sanae?"

"Well, that would be nice, but I was hoping I could have a confidential chat with you first."

"Oh, something you don't want Sanae to hear? What is it?"

"Well, it concerns our identities to begin with. Has Sanae told you about us?"

"...That you're from the future? She mentioned that you said that."

"That's correct. Merry and I are time travelers from the year 2085, albeit unintentional ones. Right now, in the world you came from, it's the year 2007, correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

Renko nodded, then began to pace slowly back and forth. "Well, that brings up an issue. Something that's been bothering me ever since I first set foot in this shrine. Namely, its resemblance to the Suwa Grand Shrine of the Outside World. It seems clear from a number of details that this must at one time have been a part of that shrine. The Onbashira in particular are pretty unique, and a clear tie to that location. But if the Akimiya of Suwa Grand Shrine is here now, then what happened to it in the Outside World? It was still there when we saw it in the 2080s and there was no record of it ever having vanished back in the 2000s."

Kanako's eyes narrowed, but she didn't immediately respond.

"Please understand that if the Suwa Grand Shrine really did disappear, that has some pretty big implications for Merry and I. It would mean the history of the Outside World is not as we remember it, making it all the more likely that we can never return to our own time. We have no way of checking on what's happening out there, so knowing the fate of the Outside World's Suwa Grand Shrine is very important for us."

"I suppose if I simply told you that the Suwa Grand Shrine is still in the Outside World that wouldn't be a satisfying answer for you would it?"

"With all due respect, no. Since we can't go and look ourselves, we have no way of confirming whether or not you're lying to us of course and we'd like to believe you, but if you can't provide a reasonable explanation of why this place looks like the Suwa Grand Shrine and how it could be here without having been taken from the Outside World, I'm afraid we'd always still have doubts."

Kanako sat in the air, glowering at us in silence.

"If this once was the Suwa Grand Shrine, where are the other three shrine complexes? Why is it called the 'Moriya Shrine' instead of Suwa? If it never was the Suwa Grand Shrine, why does it look like the Akimiya? I couldn't find a good answer to that question, so I did a little research. Into the traditional indigenous beliefs of the Suwa people and the differences between divine spirits and myriad gods, specifically."

"That's quite the scholarly bent you have. Did your research bring you to any conclusions?"

"Well, nothing more than an inference, I must admit. A story built from the information I've gathered, shaped to fit the facts I've observed. My best guess, if you will. I can't deny that there may be details I don't know about, and in fact I'm hoping you can tell me something that will collapse my theory entirely. If you'll allow it, I'd like to explain my theory to you and see if you can confirm or refute the correctness of it, Lady Yasaka."

"All right then, let's hear it." She replied, reclining in her seated position with a look of supreme confidence and a faint smile.

Renko returned her smile then adjusted her hat, poking it back on her head with one finger and staring into the god's face.

"It all hinges on one hidden identity, which everything else was crafted to conceal. Yasaka Kanako. You are Sanae's biological mother, aren't you?"


—33—


The expression disappeared entirely from Kanako's face for an instant —before immediately being replaced by raucous mirth.

"Bwahahahaha, what sort of nonsense is this?" the goddess asked, slapping her knee and pressing a hand to her belly. "You have a rare talent to come up with something so outlandish. I'm flattered you would come to such a conclusion, but I'm curious; however did you manage to come up with such a strange idea?"

"I'm very happy to hear you taking my theory so well. I'll explain the rest of it, and hopefully you can tell me where I've gone wrong, but I must ask you to bear with me and try to keep an even temper. Some of what I have to say may be offensive to you."

"Well, I'll hear you out, at least."

"Thank you, I appreciate your willingness to confront unpleasant truths. I'll start with something that I hope you will be able to view as an honest question and not an intentional act of blasphemy. Lady Yasaka, in truth you are neither the god Takeminakata nor the goddess Yasakatome, are you?"

The smile on Kanako's face instantly vanished and her eyes narrowed.

"Who did you hear that from? The tengu?"

"I'm sorry, but professional confidentiality prevents me from revealing my sources. The fact stands though that the story Sanae told me and the stories I've heard about Takeminakata have a critical inconsistency."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"Sanae said you were the god of Youkai Mountain itself, an embodiment of an aspect of nature. That would make you a myriad god, which in turn would make it impossible for you to split your presence among multiple locations."

"Ah, I see where you've gone astray now. That's not quite what Sanae meant."

"Oh?"

"As you know, the true object of worship in this shrine is Suwako," she said, turning her head to glance down the path. Sounds of a danmaku match in progress could still be heard echoing from that direction. "Suwako is a myriad god. When we came to this world, we tried to find a place as close to the appearance of the original Suwa Grand Shrine as possible for her to connect with. That's why we transported the lake as well. The Suwa region was mountainous in the Outside World, and Youkai Mountain and its foothills were the closest thing available here. Then, since we had decided that we didn't want to allow Suwako, a curse god, to be the visible face of the shrine, it was decided that I should be venerated as a god of the mountain. Thus, worshippers would not only praise me, but the mountain and all of its bounty as well, allowing both Suwako and I to both benefit from the faith. At the time that Sanae told you this, she was still trying to conceal Suwako's presence, and so she ended up phrasing things in a way that confused you."

"I see, I see. So that's how it is. There's still one question though."

"And what is that?"

"Well, if you still claim to be Takeminakata then you would have been the one who battled and defeated the goddess Moriya long ago, correct? That's why Takeminakata took the symbol of a snake as a sign of your dominance over her symbol of the frog. Do I have that right?"

"Yes, very astute."

"Well if you were the victor in that battle, why are you now serving Suwako? If she's the goddess Moriya, who you defeated, doesn't it seem odd that you would now be going to such great lengths to gather faith for her benefit? It almost seems like you're as much of a priestess of Moriya as Sanae is. In fact, everything about this shrine, from its name to its appearance to its location seems to be for the benefit of Lady Moriya. It's almost as if the roles of winner and loser in that conflict were reversed."

"Back in Suwa it would have made sense if, upon defeating the goddess Moriya in battle and finding out that that alone wasn't enough to claim the faith of the people, Takeminakata had decided to work with Moriya. In that case, you might see a system like the one present in the Suwa Grand Shrine where Takeminakata and Yasakatome are worshipped publicly and Mishaguji is worshipped in secret. In a place like that a cooperative relationship between Moriya—who afterwards became Mishaguji and Takeminakata would make sense."

"This isn't Suwa though. You have no reason to continue that system here, or even to worship Moriya at all. Moriya isn’t native to this land, so you could have just gathered faith for yourself. There’s no reason for you to raise faith for Lady Moriya in secret."

Kanako went silent, fixing Renko with a hard look. I couldn't tell if it was because Renko had hit the mark with her accusation or if she had merely offended the goddess by calling her subservient to Suwako.

After a moment, Kanako let out a long, exasperated breath. "I would think this might be obvious to even a human, but I suppose that even for a mortal you are young and inexperienced, so I will explain. If you continue working with a partner for a long time, it's natural to develop a sense of camaraderie and even feelings of kinship and love for them. They become a part of your life, in one way or another. This applies to gods as well as humans. Suwako and I have worked side by side for many human lifetimes, and we have raised Sanae together as well. If I had brought Suwako to this world, but in so doing cut her off from a source of faith, that would be like a death sentence to her. For Sanae's sake, if no other, I couldn't act so selfishly. If that means that some measure of the faith I gather in this land goes to her, and the nature of our home becomes slightly less convenient, then that is a reasonable price to pay for Sanae's happiness and Suwako's companionship."

"Well then why go to the trouble of endangering her by bringing her here? Even in the 2080s, when Merry and I went to the Suwa Grand Shrine, Mishaguji was still worshipped there. Would she not have been safer staying in the Outside World?"

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't dream of it. She's family."

"And did she see things the same way? Lady Moriya told us you made most of the decisions about the relocation of the shrine on your own."

"She would say that, wouldn't she? She knew what coming here would mean. Just because she didn't take a hand in the process herself doesn't mean she was opposed to it."

"I see. It wasn't my intention to criticize with that, just to understand. I apologize. Let me return to my original question though. Is this place the Suwa Grand Shrine or not?"

"The fact that you're even asking that means that you believe that it is not, correct?" Kanako asked, crossing her arms.

"That's fair to say, yes. It's the single biggest mystery here. Why would a shrine in Gensokyo, which has no connection to Suwa so closely resemble one in the Outside World? Moreover, why would it resemble that shrine on the surface, but only consist of part of the shrine that's present in the Outside world and call itself by a different name? Personally, I have a theory to explain that."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"Simply that the Moriya Shrine has always been a shrine built to closely resemble the Suwa Grand Shrine, even when it was in the Outside World."

I let out a small gasp. In all my considerations of the facts, I had teetered between the idea that this place was the real Suwa Grand Shrine from the Outside World or that it had been built here to resemble it. I had never considered the possibility that it had been a replica from the beginning.

"Here in Gensokyo, there is no connection to Suwa, and as such, no faith to be found in the nature of that land," Renko continued. "Only Outsiders like Merry or myself would think there was any connection to Suwa at all. Everyone else here, from the tengu down to the villagers, wouldn't even know what Suwa was or that there was a shrine there. Therefore, the only reason this place would look the way it does is if it had always looked that way from the beginning."

Renko was right, this wasn't a problem anyone else in Gensokyo was likely to experience. Because we had had experience with the Suwa Grand Shrine of the Outside World, we were bound to look for meaning in this place's resemblance to it, but just as one might find something that looked like a message in a string of random letters, we had concluded that the inexplicable detail had had meaning when in fact there had been none.

"Now, if the Moriya Shrine is only an imitation of the Suwa Grand Shrine, what does that mean? Does it prove that you’re not Takeminakata? No. Since you’re a divine spirit you could exist both here and at the Suwa Grand Shrine without issue. Does it prove that Suwako isn’t Moriya or Mishaguji? Also no. In fact, the most likely explanation is that this shrine worshiped Moriya before she was conflated with all of the other myriad gods of Suwa into the figure of Mishaguji. A shrine like that might be modeled faithfully after the Suwa Grand Shrine since both ultimately worship the same goddess, or it might even be so old that the Suwa Grand Shrine could have based its design on it. That would explain everything, wouldn’t it?"

Kanako only glared at Renko in silence.

"Except for the most important question, of course," Renko continued, pacing as she pontificated. "That being the question of why you would have bothered moving the shrine to Gensokyo in the first place."

"I already explained the answer to that question myself."

"Yes, yes, you told us that you came here to give up on the dwindling faith of the Outside World and gather new faith from the people of Gensokyo. It's a very reasonable explanation. Or it would have been if we hadn't heard Sanae tell us about her past. She mentioned that she lost her parents when she was only a baby and had been in the care of her grandmother since. She also mentioned that she had been able to see you and Lady Moriya for as long as she could remember and that the four of you had lived together as a family. This ability to see things others couldn't led to her being ostracized from her peers, however, and made it difficult for her to blend in. After training as a wind priestess, despite her grandmother's wishes, she came into her own power as a goddess, capable of working miracles and beginning to form a cult of worshippers of her own. That was the extent of the story she told us." Renko paused, giving Kanako the chance to refute any detail, but she only continued to glower in silence.

"Sanae was very grateful to you and Suwako for bringing her here, supposing even that you had abandoned your holdings in the outside world for her benefit, to save her from being forced to live a life in service to the demands of humans desperate for a miracle. She never suspected that as she came to be worshipped as a goddess she was stealing faith from you and Suwako, endangering your survival by her mere existence. If your goal in moving to Gensokyo was to protect yourselves from being usurped by her and let her live her life as a regular human girl, she hasn't caught on at all."

Kanako didn't answer, simply staring expressionlessly at us.

"As I thought about it though, something else occurred to me. If Sanae’s power was passed down along family lines then what if she wasn’t first in her family to have been worshiped as a goddess in her own right? The ability to create miracles has been in her family for generations. I saw a bit of it during her fight with Reimu. If she could wield power like that in the Outside World, then I can see why she would have been worshipped as a god. Merely being able to fly would probably have been enough for that. If Sanae were an aberration, a power never seen before in the world, then worrying about how she could live with the demands her powers would place on her would make sense. But that's not what she told us. If this power was inherited then it would have been something her mother was capable of and something her grandmother would have been able to do too."

Still Kanako remained silent, neither interrupting to object nor urging Renko to continue.

"Possessing a power like that in the Outside World was enough that a teenage girl would be worshipped as a goddess. If wind priestesses had been present in every generation of her family, going back for generations. Then what if one of them was venerated as a god in their own right at some point? For that matter, what if all of them were? What if the people who came to petition Sanae for miracles weren't people who had somehow heard about her power, but people who already expected her power to be there. People who knew of her family's abilities and came specifically seeking the power of a wind priestess. Sanae probably didn’t realize it but I suspect her family were the founders of a longstanding religious cult."

"That's why Sanae's grandmother didn't want her to become a wind priestess and why the rest of her family fought over it. That’s why she suddenly found herself being worshiped even after her uncle’s plan was shut down. People had already expected her powers to be there. Sanae's grandmother must have intended to dissolve the cult after the death of Sanae's parents, but the rest of the cult's hierarchy wouldn't allow it. I'm betting the children at school knew that too. She thought they were ostracizing her because she could see things they couldn't, or because she didn't have parents, but in actuality everyone had probably heard that her family was part of a religious cult."

"This cult was centered around your shrine and worship of what other people might have thought was the goddess Moriya. But who they were actually worshiping here were the priestesses of the Kochiya family. The women who could wield Lady Moriya's power to create miracles. That would explain everything that's happening here, everything that is, except for you, Lady Yasaka."

Kanako's expression remained unchanged as Renko pressed on.

"If this Moriya Shrine of the Outside World venerated Moriya and trained a line of wind priestesses to worship her, then there's no need for there to be another god in the shrine, no connection to Takeminakata or Yasakatome. And yet, here you are, as much a part of this shrine as Suwako. How could that be, I wondered, and where had you come from? I didn't have an answer to that question until someone happened to mention to me the idea that you might not be as old as you claimed to be. That you might be a much younger god. But why bother claiming to be Takeminakata or using the symbol of a snake, which was tied to him as victor over the frog god? The only reason for you to assume such a false identity would be to hide your true nature under the handy guise of the Suwa Grand Shrine. You had to conceal the fact that you are a goddess who doesn't belong at the Moriya Shrine from a certain someone."

"The one who you two goddesses loved as if she were your own daughter. The one who you both wished to spare from the position of being a useful tool and servant to the family cult she had been born into. Because you didn’t want her to find out who you truly were."

"A divine spirit is a god born from the worship of a person’s spirit. If that person had been worshipped as a living god during their own life, and if they had been enshrined as a god immediately after their own death, then even in a place like the Outside World, where the power of faith is waning, it would be surprising if they did not become such a spirit. If someone were to die unexpectedly at a relatively young age, and be in the unfortunate position of leaving behind a young daughter, well then, might their regrets not be enough to tie them to this world? And if such a spirit had come from someone who had been worshiped as a goddess in life and possessed the power to work miracles, such a ghost would likely be strong. So strong, maybe that even the tengu would fear their power. Especially if they were also empowered by all of the faith that the Kochiya cult had gathered up until now."

Renko stopped pacing and looked up at the goddess one more time. She still remained silent, glowering down at us.

"Well that's my theory, Lady Yasaka. You can see why I didn't want to say it in front of Sanae. Though, I suppose I should be calling you Mrs. Kochiya, then shouldn't I? That was your name in life, wasn't it Kochiya Kanako?"