東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 11:Urban Legend in Limbo

—31—

The most commonly believed conspiracy theory about the moon has to be the belief that the Apollo landings were all faked. In addition to that though, there had also been some fringe theories that NASA and other civilian space agencies had in fact encountered an advanced extraterrestrial civilization on the moon but had been concealing the truth of what they had found from the public ever since, I think.

In Gensokyo, of course, that wasn't a conspiracy theory at all. The Lunar Capital really existed, and both lunarians and moon rabbits lived there. This was an undeniable fact, so why would Doremy, who was obviously aware of the Lunar Capital's existence, ask us about something like that?

"Why are you asking about this, Miss Doremy? We all know what the Lunar Capital is actually like. You met us there, after all." Renko twisted her head.

Doremy shook her head slowly. "Oh sure, you guys know about the Lunar Capital, but most people in the human village don't, right?"

That was certainly true. Renko and I knew that Houraisan Kaguya, Yagokoro Eirin and Reisen Udongein Inaba were all people who had come to Earth from the moon, but most people here didn't. Even in the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 compiled by Hieda Akyuu, Kaguya and Eirin were simply listed as people 'with deep ties to the Lunar Capital.'

The majority of villagers probably never even thought about the Lunar Capital, or if they did, they thought of it as nothing more than a place in a fairytale. In that respect the human village's perception of the moon was not that different from the Outside World's. The moon was just something romantic to gaze upon while eating dango in the fall, and stories of rabbits making mochi on it were just that—stories.

"Alright, but I don't see what that has to..." Renko began speaking but suddenly her face went slack. All at once she hunched in on herself, tucking her chin to her chest while her hand reached up to fiddle with the brim of her hat. It was a sure sign that a brand new megalomaniacal delusion was quickly being assembled in the factory of her mind. After a moment of silence she raised her head and looked up at Doremy with a stunned expression.

"Miss Doremy, is something happening in the Lunar Capital right now?

I couldn't imagine where that question had come from, but upon hearing it, Doremy's expression vanished entirely. "This is why I didn't want to talk to you about this. Usami Renko, has anyone ever told you that being too clever is going to get you into trouble?"

"I might have heard that once or twice before, but I can hardly be blamed for putting the pieces you gave me together."

"Then you can probably guess why I don't want to talk about it as well. Have you ever considered applying a little conscientiousness to your deduction and being prudent enough not to mention something like that?"

"I'm sorry Miss Sweet, but Merry and I are the Hifuu Club, and as such we are sworn to uncover the secrets of the world."

Doremy let out an exasperated sigh as Renko's grin grew even broader. As for me though, I had no idea what either of them was talking about. I looked over at Renko and she gave me a wink.

"Well, I don't think Merry's figured it out yet, so why don't I save you the trouble of having to tell us anything, Miss Doremy? I'll lay out my theory about what's going on for her, and you feel free to jump in at any time if there's any details you'd like to correct. Now then, as I see it, Miss Sagume, that one-winged person we met, was a pretty important person in the Lunar Capital. And she sent Miss Doremy to ask us about any Outside World rumors about a city on the moon. Merry, what do you think the reason for that could be? Think back to the events concerning Hisoutensoku if you want a hint."

"Hm? Me?"

I thought for a moment. It wouldn't be that Sagume or the lunarians were simply interested in learning what the people of Gensokyo might know about them. If that was all that they wanted to know then Doremy could easily have learned that from administering the dreams of Gensokyo's residents. If they were asking about rumors involving the moon from the Outside World and it had something to do with the events surrounding Hisoutensoku then...

Ah, I see. Back then Doremy had asked us to do something too. She had wanted us to prevent a youkai from being born as a result of rumors that were spreading due to numerous people having similar dreams.

"Are you suggesting that Doremy's trying to do the same thing now that she was asking us to prevent from happening back then?"

"Something like that. Most people in Gensokyo don't know that the Lunar Capital exists, so what I'm betting Miss Doremy is planning to do is obtain any rumors from us about an advanced civilization that might exist in secret on the moon, and spread those rumors through the dreams of the people of the human village to make them a reality. If everyone in Gensokyo believes that the Lunar Capital is a real place with specific, agreed-upon properties then maybe a new Lunar Capital might spring into existence here on Earth."

I gasped in surprise. A Lunar Capital on Earth? What would that imply?

"Wait a minute, didn't the lunarians travel to the moon to escape from the impurity of the Earth? Why would they want to come to Earth?"

"That's a very good question," Renko replied. "What could be going on on the moon that would be bad enough to make the lunarians seriously consider returning to the impure Earth they had once abandoned? Maybe you can answer that for us, Miss Doremy. What exactly is happening on the moon?"

Doremy sighed deeply and hung her head. "You're a really horrible person, Usami Renko, you know that? My own personal nightmare. Well I suppose if you can make a quick deduction like that, then there's no point in me trying to come up with some lame excuse. Alright, you're right, the Lunar Capital is in the middle of its greatest crisis."

"Did someone from Earth send up a rocket and hit something? I think it was around now that they started landing again on the moon, wasn't it?"

"If it was just that, then the capital could have dealt with it the same way they did in the past. To put it simply, the Lunar Capital is currently being attacked by a terrorist with a longstanding grudge against the lunarians. They unleashed something like a bioterrorism attack, spreading impurity all over the surface of the moon."

"Oh dear, that doesn't sound very tranquil at all."

"Exactly. As a result of that, the Lunar Capital has been frozen to prevent it from being contaminated and all of its people have been evacuated to the Dream World. They're all living through an endless dream of the Lunar Capital, and I'm the one who's stuck caring for it. Sagume's got me working myself half to death to keep anyone from waking up."

Going into an endless sleep in order to avoid a threat? That sounded like something right out of sci-fi.

"So the version of the Lunar Capital that we went to where we met those rabbits, that was..."

"That was the dream version of the Lunar Capital created as an emergency refuge and the dream versions of the Lunar Defense Corps. I've been working very hard to keep almost all of the moon's citizens from realizing that they're living in a dream, but now some Earthling idiot has come bumbling in and screwed everything up! The whole plan is in jeopardy because of you!"

"Ah, I see. Two humans appearing suddenly on the moon without any way of getting there would raise some questions, wouldn't it? Come to think of it, Ringo mentioned that she couldn't detect any impurity on us when we were there. Was she the one who figured it out?"

"You see, being too clever just causes trouble. Yes, that's exactly what happened. Ringo was the only person who noticed anything directly, but we can't risk any of the members of her squad figuring it out and spreading word among the rest of the rabbits. We've had to put them all into quarantine. Your presence is like a communicable disease more dangerous than the impurity being spread across the actual Lunar Capital."

"It sounds like we ended up getting Ringo and the others into a lot of trouble. They’re not going to be put down or anything, are they?"

"The lunarians won't do anything that might end up spreading impurity. But they can't risk letting those girls communicate with anyone else, either. Some or all of them will probably end up getting sent down to Earth as part of an invasion force."

"An invasion force? So then the Lunar Capital is going to try and invade the Earth? You're not seriously expecting us to help you with something like that, are you, Miss Doremy?"

Renko glared at Doremy who just shook her head and sighed again. "No, I don't expect you would, which is why I never wanted to involve you in the first place. This is all just an insurance policy, an emergency measure to be put in place in case all other measures fail. No matter how thoroughly they were to purify this world, it would be an incredible humiliation for them to go back down to the impure soil of the Earth. Even Sagume, the one who came up with this plan, doesn't want to see it enacted."

What did she mean by 'purify this world?' What exactly would a lunarian purification entail? Hopefully whatever plan the lunarians might be hatching would remain as just an emergency backup plan. Both for the lunarians' sake and our own.

Renko remained silent, brooding for a moment before speaking. Eventually she looked up. "So even though you were worried that I might figure it out, you chose to interrupt our dreams and come here in person to get the information from us directly, Miss Doremy? As the Administrator of the dream world, couldn't you have just gotten anything you needed to know on your own?"

"Just because I’m the Administrator of the Dream World doesn’t mean I know everything."

"Even so, if you really wanted to collect rumors from the Outside World about the moon, you could have created any sort of situation you liked that would have gotten us to tell them to you, right? But you didn't do that. Instead you showed up here and just asked us, which means that what you actually wanted was for us to... ah. I see what you're up to."

Renko nodded to herself, her grin growing wider by the moment.

"—What you're really trying to do is pretty much the same thing that Orin tried to do during the Vengeful Spirit Incident, isn't it? You're not really going to try to relocate the Lunar Capital to Earth, you just wanted us to think that so we'd run and go tell the Hakurei shrine maiden that the lunarians were about to invade, didn't you? You were hoping that if we ran to Reimu, she'd end up going to the moon to investigate and end up taking care of your terrorist problem for you while she was there, weren't you! Or maybe you were hoping that the great Lunar Sage, Yagokoro Eirin might hear about this and decide to help you out since you know she's hiding somewhere here on Earth, right?"


—32—


Once you wake up, a dream becomes just that: an ephemeral, vanishing vision with no bearing on your existence. When I woke up the next morning, Renko was sitting cross-legged at the edge of my futon, still in her nightgown but staring expectantly at me. If she was trying to impress me, the least she could have done would be to throw some proper clothes on first.

"Good morning, Renko,"

"Good morning, Merry. Did you have a nice dream?"

"No, actually. I had to listen to someone expounding insane theories all night."

"Learning in your sleep is very efficient. You should be thanking me." She grinned even broader.

In the end we had told Doremy about some of the conspiracy theories concerning the Apollo landings. I earnestly hoped that everything Doremy had told us about the backup plan to relocate the Lunar Capital to Earth would indeed end up being nothing more than bait to get Reimu involved. I had also asked Doremy to convey our sincere apologies to all of the rabbits of the Lunar Defense Corps we had met for getting them tangled up in all of this. If my message ever reached them, I wondered if they would even understand.

I gave up on sleep and sat myself up opposite Renko. "So what do we do now?" I asked. "You intend to act on what we just dreamed about, right?"

"I'm not sure at the moment. I don't think there would be much point in going to talk to Dr. Yagokoro about it. She's probably already aware of what's going on. Telling Reimu about everything that's going on on the moon would only make things more complicated, and spreading rumors in the village about an upcoming lunarian invasion would just be counterproductive. I don't think there's really anything we can do at the moment. We just have to hope that Sagume's plan works and the lunarians can repel the terrorist attacking them without having to resort to doing anything that would actually endanger the Earth."

"That's surprisingly passive coming from you, Renko. Isn't the whole of the planet technically still in danger at the moment?"

"I don't want to hear that from a hikikomori like you, Merry. I'm trying to look at this situation as an opportunity. If the lunarians do end up invading, it might be the sort of situation that would force the Youkai Sage to take action. If we just leave this all to Reimu, then maybe I can take advantage of that."

"Do you really think it will be that easy to put an incident to use for your own purposes, Renko?" I asked with a sigh. I could tell that trying to dissuade her from taking such a self-serving stance would be futile. Ultimately, there really wasn't anything we could do to avert a lunar invasion, and it didn't seem like it was about to happen overnight either. For the time being, all we could do was wait and see how things played out.

"For the moment we have more pressing concerns anyway. Like the question of 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 of the Hakurei Shrine. Do you still have that amber, Merry?"

"Yes, yes, it's right here."

I went over to the chest of drawers where I had been keeping it. Sure enough, it was still there, sitting right where I had left it. It was odd to see what had once been such a mysterious, almost legendary object for the two of us twinkling silently in my drawer. Its mystique had faded somewhat by being so close at hand.

If this amber really was as important and dangerous as Doremy claimed, then I almost expected that the Youkai Sage might open up a gap and steal it from us while we were sleeping. That hadn’t happened at any point though, and there wasn’t anything we could do to keep it from happening, so it seemed that the best thing we could do was to just make sure we didn't lose the stone at any point between now and our planned trip to the Hakurei Shrine during the next full moon, three days from now.

Besides, the amber also seemed to be filled with a spiritual power that made its presence obvious, so it wasn't the sort of thing we could carry around anyway.

"For the moment our first priority is to solve the mystery of the Hakurei Shrine."

"Yes, yes. Hopefully everything goes smoothly."

That's how we thought about things at the time, the Hakurei Shrine and its mysterious 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 were one problem and the Lunar Capital and its plans were another. It wouldn't be until much later that we learned just how closely those two things were related.

—

That evening we were invited by Keine to have dinner with her and Mokou out in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. This was just a typical friendly visit, of course. Neither Keine nor Mokou had any idea that we knew that there would be a minor incident in three days or that we were planning to take advantage of it. Of course we didn't mention anything about it or about the Lunar Capital or its invasion plans. We simply enjoyed a quiet, peaceful dinner together.

Of all the people we didn't want getting involved, Mokou was probably near the top of the list. When it came to anything involving the moon or its people, we couldn't expect her reaction to be anything less than disastrous.

"So Mokou, how are things with you and the Princess of Eientei going these days?"

Renko had raised that question while she and Mokou were sitting around the shogi board after dinner while Keine and I cleaned up the dishes. Mokou, who had been just about to place her knight, froze in position, the piece in her hand suspended above the board. She looked up at Renko and frowned.

"What's this all of a sudden? Are you trying to distract me from our game by mentioning her?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. I was just thinking that I couldn't remember the last time Keine complained to us about you getting into another fight with her and needing to be patched up. I was hoping maybe the two of you might have gotten tired of killing each other."

"Hmph. As if that could happen... but now that you mention it, I guess we have been killing each other less frequently. Ever since the veil around Eientei was dropped, she seems to have changed a little bit. Now she spends more of her time playing with the rabbits and less of it antagonizing me, I guess."

Saying that, Mokou put her piece down with a click and leaned back from the board, letting out a small sigh.

"Sometimes I wonder if she and I were just killing each other so often because that's all we had to do. Now though, I've got other joys in my life, other things to spend my time on... I don't mind if I only get to kill her once every now and then. Maybe I've changed a little too. I'm not sure if she feels the same way though."

Is it possible for an immortal who has lived for more than a millennium to grow a bit more mature? It was odd to think about given her age, but it seemed that way to me. Then again, during the Tsukumogami Incident, she had gotten into a killing rage at the mere mention of Kaguya's title.

"That’s a nice sentiment" Renko replied, picking up a piece of her own but staring toward the kitchen and Keine's back rather than the board. "Having someone who means the world to you is a wonderful way to give your life meaning."

Mokou noticed where Renko was looking and her face reddened slightly. "...I wasn't talking about just Keine. You know what I’m actually trying to say, right Renko?"

"Why Mokou, I didn't know you felt that way. I'm honored, but you shouldn’t cheat. Besides, I have Merry."

"Idiot. That's not what I was saying."

Renko smiled as she placed her piece. "Mokou, what do you think you would do if Kaguya were to go back to the moon?"

"I... What?" Mokou, who had been studying the board intently as Renko placed her pawn looked up, her expression becoming suddenly serious. "Why are you asking all of these questions about her all of a sudden? Have you heard that she's planning to go back or something?"

"No, no, this is purely a thought experiment. A hypothetical." Renko waved her hand dismissively.

Mokou sat back and groaned, ignoring the game for the moment. "Seriously, Renko. This is suspicious. What's going on? Are those guys up to something?"

"It's nothing like that, I'm just asking a simple question."

"Whenever you start asking questions, it usually means you’re trying to get information out of someone."

Bullseye. Renko could hardly deny that she shrugged her shoulders.

"I suppose you've got me there, but it's not like there's anything going on."

"You're up to something again." She glanced toward the kitchen then leaned forward, whispering to Renko over the board. "It's something you can't tell Keine about, right?"

"...Well you're not wrong..." Renko admitted with a grin.

"You're incorrigible. Please try not to cause Keine any trouble." Mokou let out a sigh and made her move, clacking a piece into place on the board. "If I found out Kaguya was leaving, I'd do everything in my power to keep her here. I'm not letting her run away until she and I have settled things."

"How do you expect to ever be able to 'settle things' if neither of you can die?"

"It'll be over when one of us admits that we've lost. Of course I'd never bow down to her, so I guess you could say it'll be over when she admits defeat. Until then, I'm not going to let her just disappear."

That might have sounded noble, but knowing Kaguya, that almost sounded like Mokou was saying she wanted her to stick around forever. I wonder if after so long Mokou can't really be honest about her feelings. As I was thinking that, Mokou lowered her eyes and said something that was almost too quiet for me to hear.

"...I wouldn't want you guys to disappear suddenly either..."

"Sorry, what was that Mokou?"

"Nothing. It's your turn, Renko. Make your move already."

After that she didn't say anything more.


—33—


At last, the night of our grand plan to infiltrate the Hakurei Shrine has arrived!

The full moon shone high and bright in the sky. Keine was of course busy with her duties as a historian, so with Patchouli's help we were able to escape the village entirely unseen. She transported all of us to the stone steps just before the Hakurei Shrine, then just a little before midnight we spotted the familiar shape of Gensokyo's youkai-exterminating shrine maiden flying overhead, headed for the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"She's gone," Patchouli rasped as Reimu faded from sight. "Let's hope Remi can hold her attention for a while."

"Thank you for all of your help, Miss Patchouli. I appreciate you talking Lady Remilia into causing an incident."

"If she can blow off some stress this way, then my life will be easier. She's been in a bad mood ever since she failed to capture that amanojaku a while back. Hopefully Reimu will give her a good fight. Let's go."

Saying that, Patchouli offered us each a hand. When we took them we all rose into the air, ascending the stone steps on the side of the hill, then touching lightly down in front of the shrine. The vacant shrine was particularly silent and eerie in the bright moonlight.

"Let's see that jewel," Patchouli demanded. I produced it from my pocket. It was glowing faintly with a warm orange light but otherwise looked just as it always had.

"Be careful with that. We're right on the edge of the Great Hakurei Barrier here. That thing could end up opening a hole to the Outside World by accident."

I was already aware of that, of course. This amber was what had brought us to this world in the first place, after all. It was because of the danger of accidentally ending up in the Outside World that Patchouli was accompanying us in the first place.

"Let's have a look inside the inner shrine," Patchoulid suggested, walking up towards the donation box. Directly behind that were the doors to the inner shrine itself. Whenever we had entered the shrine building it had always been through Reimu's residence in the back. Patchouli strode forward and slid the doors wide. It was dark inside, and as we moved to follow her, she conjured a small flame in her palm for light.

There wasn't much to see within the confines of the inner shrine. It was a single, undivided room with tatami floors and only a single object occupying the empty space. The object in question was an enclosed altar, a square mikoshi painted with vivid vermillion that looked to be quite ancient. The outer face of the mikoshi had a shelf on which a few decorations and several bottles of sanctified sake had been placed. Behind that was a sealed, cube-shaped wooden box. By all reason, that box should contain the Hakurei Shrine's 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖, the sacred, physical embodiment of the Hakurei god.

Physically speaking, the only thing keeping anyone from just walking right up and touching the mikoshi was the shrine maiden and the boundary denoting the shrine as a sacred space. Sneaking in here in the middle of the night while Reimu was away had taken care of the shrine maiden as an obstacle now there was only the boundary surrounding the mikoshi itself.

Here in Gensokyo, however, this boundary was not just a social one, but something that would physically keep people out.

"Of course there’s a barrier surrounding the mikoshi…" Patchouli muttered, eliciting a nod from me. To me the barrier appeared clear and solid, the sort of strong protective ward that someone would only bother putting up if there were something inside of it worth protecting. By all rights the Hakurei Shrine’s most sacred treasure should be inside of that box.

In my hand I held the amber that we had been told was the 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 of the Hakurei Shrine. But if Renko was right then there should be two pieces of amber. If I opened the mikoshi, would I find a jewel identical to the one I was holding?

"Well we've come this far, it would be too anticlimactic for us to turn back now. Merry, can you open that?"

"Why am I always the one who ends up having to desecrate something sacred?" I asked without expecting any sort of answer.

No matter how strong the barrier, there's always some imperfection, some flaw. In this case, I saw it right away. I squinted at the barrier and saw a tiny ripple in the surface of the boundary. Taking a step forward, I hooked my finger into it.

"I’ve said it before but your boundary vision is truly remarkable ability," Patchouli stated, sounding genuinely amazed. "I didn't see any flaws in that at all."

What could I say? To me it was just a matter of pulling it apart. I moved slowly, but the barrier offered no resistance. As I drew my hand back it pulled easily aside. Once I had it out of the way, the physical doors of the mikoshi opened with a faint click.

Slowly, I pulled the doors wide. Patchouli raised her light so that we could peer inside. The box was empty. Where the 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 of the Hakurei Shrine should be, there was nothing but empty space.

We all looked at one another. To me it made sense. No one knew what sort of god lived at the Hakurei Shrine because there wasn't one here. The 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 that should have held the god had never been here. Instead that amber had been...

...Which meant that the amber that the Youkai Sage had given me back then must have been the same one. I had carried it into the Outside World and given it to a young Usami Sumireko.

That had to have been the 𝑔𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖 that belonged here.

Renko nodded to me. She didn't need to say anything. I gently placed the amber I was holding inside the mikoshi.

Something was bound to happen. Everything was back where it belonged now.

I don't know why, but I believed that. I carefully closed the doors of the mikoshi.

It happened without warning.

But in a way, it was exactly what I had expected.

This is what we had thought would happen, isn't it? Isn't this why we came here?

Behind the closed doors of the mikoshi the amber jewel shone brightly. From the cracks between the doors and the frame, golden light spilled out, blindingly bright, as bright as it had been on the day when we had first been spirited away to Gensokyo.

And then, the world distorted.

That which had been closed was opened.

A gap in space blossomed before us.

"Renko—"

I reached out to my partner.

"Merry—"

Her hand closed around mine and squeezed it.

There was no time for us to call out to Patchouli, though I'm sure she must have been right behind us.

The gap in the boundary swallowed us both headfirst.

—and then, everything went dark.


[Notice of Temporary Suspension]

*This is the author. Thank you for all of your comments. I am announcing that I am taking a break from this series, as I have been struggling to maintain the update schedule for some time. My progress has been slow and inconsistent, so my plan is to take a break to recharge and then write the rest of this story all at once. I ask that you bear with me. You're leaving it here? Now? You dragged out writing the final volume for a year and now you're not going to finish it? I hear your complaints and ask your forgiveness. There are still roughly a dozen or so chapters (really?) left until the end. I hope that you'll stick with me throughout.