東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 12:Undefined Fantastic Object

—34—


"Well thank you very much for that, Captain. That was very informative," Renko said with a nod of thanks.

"You're welcome. I don't mind answering questions, but I'd prefer to talk about something happier now that we've reunited with Hijiri."

"Then we’ll have to get together to talk again sometime soon."

Just as we went to leave the aftcastle Byakuren popped her head out of the doorway to the reception room. "Oh, perfect timing," she said with a smile. "Murasa, Ichirin, could I ask you to join us now? I want to discuss some of the details of the interior of the temple. Also, could anyone go and get Shou?"

"Ah, sure."

"I'll go get Shou for you."

"Oh actually Ichirin, I'll go find her, if you don't mind," Renko suggested eagerly.

"Um, sure, if you don't mind."

"Think of it as a thank-you for answering my questions. Where would I find her?"

"There's a statue of Bishamonten set up near the bow on the lower deck. She's probably praying there."

Thus, as everyone else followed Byakuren back into the reception room to talk, my partner and I made our way through the hold in search of Shou. As we drew closer to the upward-curving far chambers of the hold, the sound of a voice chanting the heart sutra came to our ears.

It would have been rude to interrupt a recitation of the sutra, so we stood politely by the side until she finished her current repetition of the two-and-a-half minute verse. Renko called out to her before she could begin her next recitation and she looked up in surprise, apparently having been deep in concentration.

"Oh! Miss Merry and Miss Renko, I didn't know you had come to visit."

"My apologies for interrupting you, but Byakuren asked us to fetch you. She's having a discussion about the setup of the new temple."

"Ah, I see. Thank you then, I'll go to her," Shou said, unfolding herself and rising to her full height. She bowed deeply to us both. "Before I go, I'd just like to thank you again for all of your help. With how hectic everything was yesterday, I feel like I've neglected to even properly say thanks. Thank you for all of the help you've given to Murasa and Ichirin, for the assistance in rescuing Hijiri and for putting up with everything. I promise you that I'll pay you for the pagoda and the window Nazrin broke."

"Well I appreciate that very much, but for the time being, I'd actually like to ask you a few questions after you're done speaking with Miss Byakuren. Would that be alright?"

"Questions? What you would want to know about me?"

"Well, I've heard the captain's and Miss Ichirin's tales about what they've been doing since they fled the temple, but I haven't heard yours or Nazrin's. I'd like to know what was happening during the time when you first met Byakuren and now."

Shou's eyes narrowed at Renko's question, but my partner stared back at her with an innocent smile. After a brief pause Shou bowed her head to us and said simply. "Of course. I'll come find you later then," and walked past.

She had only taken two steps before she stopped and turned back toward us, smiling awkwardly. "...Um, where did you say Hijiri was?"

"In the reception room, down the hall."

"Ah yes, of course." With that Shou marched off, slightly hunched in embarrassment.

—

We had some time to kill at that point before the others got out of their conference, so we lounged around on the deck with Sanae and Unzan, who seemed to have been patrolling. Neither of them seemed to have been included in the discussion. Unzan never spoke, of course, and kept the same taciturn expression throughout, but seemed happy enough to give Sanae rides on his back despite the fact that she could fly perfectly well on her own. I wasn't sure if Unzan had come to respect Sanae after their fight the other day or if he was just secretly soft-hearted.

"Look at me!" Sanae cried, as she zipped in circles around us sitting on Unzan's shoulders. "I feel like I'm in 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙!"

Eventually, Byakuren emerged from the lower decks, with Suwako and Murasa following behind her.

Sanae instantly hopped off of the nyuudo's back and floated down to join us on the deck. "Ah, are you all done with the discussions, Lady Suwako?"

"All the important bits are agreed on. I'll start construction in the next few days."

"Thank you very much for your help," said Byakuren, bowing deeply.

Suwako waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine."

"Well then, if there's nothing else, I suppose we can go home." Suwako said, looking toward us. "Merry, Renko, do you need a lift back to the village?"

"No, we'll be fine" Renko smiled as she waved her off. "There are a few more things I wanted to look into here anyway."

"Alright then, let’s head home, Sanae."

"Okay, see you later then, Miss Renko, Miss Merry." Sanae nodded and she and Suwako waved to us one last time before flying toward Youkai Mountain.

Renko watched her go for a bit, then turned toward Shou, who had followed Byakuren up onto the deck. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Shou said with a nod.

"You're questioning Shou too?" Murasa asked, turning toward us. "What's all of this about?"

"Come along Murasa, it's not nice to pry into someone's private conversation," Ichirin said, hooking a finger into the back of Murasa's collar and dragging her back to the aftcastle.

With just myself, Renko and Shou standing on the deck alone now, she gestured toward the short flight of stairs that lead up toward the forward half of the deck. "So you wanted to ask about my history?" Shou began.

"Yes. How did you end up meeting Miss Byakuren?"

"Well, that's a long story. Let's have a seat." she said.

Renko and I eased ourselves into a sitting position on the stairs as Shou collected her thoughts then began her story. "Well, to begin with, before I met Hijiri I was just a stray youkai living deep in the woods near where the Myouren Temple used to be. I call myself a tiger youkai for simplicity's sake now, but in truth I was never actually a tiger. I was originally a beast youkai of some other sort, but people who had never seen a tiger mistook me for one, and in time I became a youkai born of that fear."

I suppose that made sense, strange as it was. There wouldn't have been any tigers living in Japan a thousand years ago.

"I was living my days in carefree isolation in the mountains back then. When Hijiri came into the woods alone one day, I bared my fangs at her. She wasn't the least bit afraid of me and just said 'O sacred beast of this forest, Might I ask you to lend me your strength?"

"Your strength?"

"The Myouren Temple had just recently been built at the time and Byakuren intended to use it to save humans and youkai alike. She was worried that Bishamonten wouldn’t grace her temple as it was and that if she erected a large statue that youkai would be afraid to visit. Her plan was to have a youkai act as Bishamonten's representative to signal to other youkai that the temple was a safe space for them while also reassuring humans."

"Hah, I see! She did say that youkai and gods were essentially the same thing with only human preference determining how they were treated."

"Yes, the act of worshipping a stray youkai like me as one of the mightiest protector gods is the very crux of her philosophy. I am ashamed to say that my initial response was to laugh at her. The very idea of a religion that catered to both humans and youkai seemed impossible and since Hijiri had a scent that seemed equal parts human and youkai I thought she was suspicious. 'Why would someone who smells like a human want to protect youkai? Do you have some grudge against other humans?' That's what I asked her. She only replied that she wanted to create a world where humans and youkai could live as equals. That was a surprising response, but I didn’t agree with it immediately. In fact, my first reaction was to attack her. I assumed she must have been a human who had only recently become a youkai and was just trying to sound impressive. I thought if I threatened her, then she would turn tail and run away immediately. The memory makes my face burn with shame, but that was truly what I thought back then, so I pounced on her."

"And she fought you off?"

"Not at all!" Shou said, smiling at the memory. "I thought I could scare her by trying to bite her neck, but she never even flinched. She just smiled at me, saying 'There’s nothing to fear. Let me show you another way of life where you’ll never need to fear humans or be feared by them. Would you lend me your strength to build a world like that?' She said that without any hint of fear, and with complete sincerity despite me doing everything I could to put the fear of death into her. That inspired a sense of awe in me." Shou looked up to the sky with a wistful expression on her face.

"I agreed to follow her back to the temple," Shou continued, "and eventually I became an avatar of Lord Bishamonten and the icon of the Myouren Temple. I was given my name and this tiger-like form. On the one hand I was being worshipped as an avatar of Lord Bishamonten and on the other I was myself training as a nun and studying the teachings of the Buddha as a disciple of Hijiri. Eventually, Lord Bishamonten sent Nazrin to us to act as my supervisor in this role."

"Wait, Nazrin was assigned to watch over you by Bishamonten? Why does she call you 'Master' then?"

"Well, to the members of the Myouren Temple and within its walls, I am seen as Lord Bishamonten himself. As such, part of her duty in serving him entails serving me. If I were not in this position of acting as a stand-in for Lord Bishamonten... well, quite frankly, I don't she'd put up with me, much less call me 'master.'" Shou scratched awkwardly at her cheek then shook her head as she let out a sigh.

"I see, I see," Renko said, nodding. "Thank you Shou, I think I understand the situation pretty well now. Let's switch topics a little. Can you tell me what happened on the day Byakuren was sealed away? I heard from the captain that the temple was surrounded and Byakuren told you and the others to flee and leave her behind. You and Nazrin must have left the temple with that houtou in hand, correct?"

"...Yes, somehow, we managed to escape."

"And after you did, you hid with Miss Nazrin for a thousand years, is that right?"

"Yes. We waited until the situation calmed down, then returned to the site of the temple. Everything but the storehouse had been burned to the ground, and we overheard rumors that Murasa and Ichirin had been captured and sealed underground along with a ship. We waited for the last of the humans to leave, then decided to clean up the temple site, in hopes that Murasa and Ichirin might eventually return. Hijiri had divided her power into both the jeweled pagoda and the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 and without both there was no hope of ever rescuing her."

"How did you know that the ship and the pagoda would both be needed to release Byakuren?"

Shou looked surprised at that question, as if Renko had just asked something blatantly obvious. "Well you saw for yourself how powerful Hijiri was when she fought in Makai, didn't you? No simple seal could hold her. In order to imprison her, the Yama presented Hijiri with two options —Either she could be sealed by a barrier powerful enough to hold her, or she could give up most of her power. She chose the latter, and that power was divided and sealed into the storehouse and this sacred houtou. It seems obvious that returning these objects to her would have restored what she lost, allowing her to break free. She really is a truly magnificent magician."

"Ah, of course. Please forgive the stupid question." I looked over at Renko in surprise. Clearly the story Shou had just related differed from what we had heard from Murasa and Ichirin so far, but Renko proceeded on as if nothing had happened. "Now, if I may, Miss Toramaru," Renko continued. "I have one more question, and I'm afraid it's a bit of a sensitive topic. Please understand that I mean you no disrespect by asking this and I am making no judgment. I merely wish to understand the facts surrounding these events."

"What is it?"

"Excuse me for this. How is it that you could have lost something like that jeweled pagoda if you knew how important it was?"

Shou groaned and slumped where she stood, covering her face in her hands. "That was... I'm sorry... That was entirely my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"Originally, I had intended to keep it on my person at all times, but after Murasa and Ichirin were captured, I was worried that Nazrin and I might be caught too. I didn't want the houtou to be lost somewhere where they wouldn’t be able to find it if they managed to escape, so I decided to conceal it in a place that I thought they would think to look for it—beneath the burnt ruins of the Myouren Temple. I thought there was no way it would ever be dug up, and I even went to check on it every now and then..."

"But when Murasa and Ichirin escaped you went to look for it and found it had disappeared."

"...Yes. I'm so ashamed."

Shou's shoulders slumped and Renko stood up, smiling as she gently patted Shou's shoulder. "It's alright, I don't blame you."

"Pitied by a human. I really need more training..." Shou sighed once more then stood up. "Was that all that you wanted to ask me?"

Renko took off her hat and bowed. "Yes, thank you. That was a very informative talk."

"In that case, please come and see us again once the temple is built, I would love for the two of you to become parishioners."

"Ah, well thank you for that invitation, and I'm sure we will meet again at some point, but Merry and I are already regular visitors to the Moriya Shrine."

"Oh, that's no problem, the Myouren temple will welcome everyone. I'll look forward to seeing you again."

With that, Shou bowed deeply once more and descended below decks to return to her worship. As Renko watched her go, her fingers were once more dancing across the brim of her hat.


—35—


By the time Ichirin delivered us back to the road beside the graveyard just outside the village it was already dusk. The peach-colored sunset washed my partner's profile with warm light, highlighting the angles of a face lost in thought as we walked.

"You're thinking about what Shou told us earlier, right?"

"Caught that, did you? Good job, Merry. There's definitely some secret here, and Shou's probably the one most closely wrapped up in it." Her hand drifted to the brim of her hat as she spoke. I figured that Renko must have avoided pressing Shou for more details because she assumed she wouldn't get a reliable answer. It looks like I was correct.

It was obvious that the inconsistencies in Shou's story were important, but what could they mean?

"I assume you already have a brand new delusion that explains everything, right?"

"I have a hunch, at least. I just need some evidence to back it up now."

"Where do you plan on finding evidence?"

"Well, I know who I'd like to talk to but that just brings up the problem of how to meet her again." Renko folded her hands behind her head and stretched her back, looking up at the streaks of cloud decorating the rosy sky as she walked.

"You're thinking of Lady Shinki, right?" I asked.

"Exactly. The question is how do we get back to Makai. I suppose we'll have to ask Sanae to take us there."

"Do you think that gatekeeper will let us through?"

Renko continued to grumble, turning possibilities over in her head as we walked along the streets. As we walked, I happened to notice two women who were walking toward us along the road. With the low angle of the sun glaring in my eyes I couldn't make out their faces, but they were both wearing western-style clothes, which was enough to make them stand out amongst the villagers. One was wearing a simple white dress with a shawl over her shoulders. The other was completely bundled up in an oversized coat that concealed their features. As we continued walking, our paths drew closer. Just as I was beginning to get the feeling that the woman in the white dress looked oddly familiar, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and thrust out an arm toward me.

"Ohoooh! There you are! I seeeeee you!"

I had been struggling to place the face I could only partially make out in the glare, but upon hearing her voice I immediately recognized her. After all, I had last heard her speak only yesterday.

"Miss Louise?" I asked, shielding my eyes from the sun with one hand.

"That's me. We came by for a little visit."

I wondered if it was okay for people from Makai to casually travel into Gensokyo. I gathered from Reimu's reaction to everyone we had met there that there was some previous history involving that.

"We?" Renko asked in surprise, "Then that person beside you is..."

"Hehehe this here is...My mother!" Louise said, tugging the raised collar of the coat on the woman beside her out of the way.

Shinki's face stared out at me in alarm for a moment, a tuft of white hair sticking almost straight up from her head like an exclamation point, then she quickly tugged the hood back over her face.

"I'm supposed to be incognito here, Louise! We can't let anyone know I'm actually the god of makai! It's a secret!"

"Lady Shinki!" Renko said excitedly. "What brings you to Gensokyo?"

We had just been discussing how we might be able to get back to Makai to see Lady Shinki and now she was here. Speak of the devil and all that, but just how do things like this keep happening to my partner? Moreover was it really alright for the Administrator of another world to just show up here uninvited?

"I was just really worried about Alice." Shinki fidgeted nervously beneath her coat. "Is she looking after herself properly?"

"Mother's been in a panic ever since yesterday," Louise said with a sigh. "She was practically crawling up the walls with worry, and the only way to calm her down was if we agreed to bring her here to look for Alice."

"Can she do that? I mean, is that okay to do?"

"No, it's really not, so we should be heading back as soon as possible."

"I don't want to go back without at least seeing her face!" Shinki moaned. "At least let a mother catch a glimpse of her child!"

"We don't even know where she lives, mooother."

"That's why we've been searching this village. There's lots of humans here, so we were bound to run into a familiar face sooner or later."

"You could have just gone to the Hakurei Shrine and asked Reimu where to find her."

"...If we did that she'd send us back immediately."

That much was probably true. Renko and I looked at each other and shrugged. If we did anything to help Shinki find Alice we'd be risking another brutal scolding from Keine, but how could we say no?

"You just need someone to show you to Alice's house, right Lady Shinki?"

"Would you be willing to do that?" she asked, dashing up and clasping Renko's hands in hers. Looking into her eyes, which stared pleadingly at me from under the shadows of her hood, there was no way that anyone with a modicum of decency could have declined. I had to wonder if this woman could really be Alice's mother. Given the distance between her sincere if fragile demeanor and Alice's cold indifference it would have been more believable that the two were sisters, but of course I wouldn't say something like that to her face.


—36—


And so, just a day after being caught and lectured by Keine, and even though the sun was already setting, we made our way out of the village and toward the Forest of Magic.

"We've visited Alice's house several times, but I don't know its exact location." Renko explained as we made our way past Kourindou.

"If we can get close enough I'll be able to feel her magic," Shinki announced proudly. "Even if I don't have exact directions, I'm sure I can find her. She's my precious daughter, after all. A mother will find a way."

"Well, if that's the case then I'll leave you to it," Renko said, looking up at the sky. "I'm sure Merry and I can find our way back to the village from here."

"You're not coming with us?" Shinki asked.

"I wouldn't want to intrude on your family time. I'm sure you'd rather visit with Alice without us tagging along."

"But you're Alice's friends, right?" Shinki protested, looking almost tearfully over to Renko. "If I just show up there Alice might run away or refuse to let me in. Louise, don't you think it'd be better if they came along?"

"Motherrr, let’s not cause Alice trouble." Louise looked with exasperation at her mother's pleading face, but Renko nodded in understanding.

"I think I see why you'd want us to come along. In that case do you mind Lady Shinki, if I ask you a few questions while we make our way to Alice's house?"

"Of course!"

"Alright," Renko said, leading the way into the forest. "Let's go then."

I had to hustle to catch up as Renko strode fearlessly into the dark, trackless and miasma-filled forest with Shinki and Louise following behind us. Holding handkerchiefs over our mouths and noses, we hoped they would be enough to protect us from the forest's spore-choked atmosphere. Normally I would refuse to follow Renko into a place we had been warned extensively was deadly to regular humans, but with someone as powerful as Shinki accompanying us, I was sure we'd be alright. Probably.

"Umm, Lady Shinki? I don't suppose you have a light? It's pretty hard for us to see the roots on the ground here," I asked nervously, turning to speak to her.

"Oh, sorry. Will this do?" She said, holding out her hand. A perfectly white sphere of pure radiance bloomed there, illuminating our surroundings. I breathed a sigh of relief into the handkerchief pressed against my face.

By the light of that globe we made our way further in. It wasn't much longer before Shinki suddenly declared "It’s Alice! I can feel her!" before running ahead of us. Following after her, we quickly came to a familiar clearing with Alice's tidy little cottage standing near the center of it.

"That's Alice's house!"

Shinki let out a brief squeal of excitement and hurried ahead, but looking at the house I didn't see any lights shining in the windows. Louise seemed to have noticed the same thing.

"I don't think she's home, Mother."

"Maybe she's just about to turn in for the night." Saying that Shinki hurried ahead, floating at a sprinter's pace toward the front door. Renko jogged along behind her.

"Um, Lady Shinki, maybe it would be better if I knocked," Renko suggested.

"Oh... maybe. Go ahead."

Shinki took a step back and Renko rapped smartly on Alice's door. After a moment she stepped back and called out "Miss Alice? Are you home?" There was no response. Finally, in typical Renko fashion, she tried the doorknob. The door didn't budge an inch.

"...It looks like she's not home."

"Don't tell me we came all this way for nothing!" Shinki wailed. She seemed likely to collapse, teetering on the spot, her eyes brimming.

Personally, it seemed to me that if Shinki could sense Alice's presence, Alice might well be able to do the reverse, and could well just be hiding inside with the lights turned out or nearby, having fled at the first sign of her mother's presence. I didn't say anything though. The puppeteer had a right to her privacy.

"There, there~ Mother. You can't expect Alice to welcome us if we show up suddenly unannounced, right?"

"I'm her mother, Louise! Surely she can spare a little time for me. It's a mother's job to look after her children!"

"Isn’t it also a mother's job to watch her children grow up and leave the nest?"

"You sound just like Yumeko, Louise! Is it so wrong to want to see my daughter's face?" The floodgates burst and Shinki began to sob, wailing as she fell to her knees. Suppressing a sigh I handed her my handkerchief, wondering if just one would be enough.

"It's alright Mother. I'm sure Alice knows how you feel~," Louise sighed, squatting down and wrapping an arm around Shinki with a tired expression.

"Do you really think so?"

"Well... Prooobably."

Shinki began wailing again as Louise sighed and patted her shoulder. Watching the two of them, it was almost hard to remember who was the mother and who was the daughter.

"I'm going to wait for her, Louise. I'll just stay right here until she comes home."

"You caaan't. Miss Sariel will get mad if you don't come back today."

"I'm the creator god of all of Makai! That makes me more important, doesn't it?"

"That makes you the creator god 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑖, mother~. Not Gensokyo. You're supposed to stay in your world."

Shinki moaned louder, blubbering as Louise patted her back.

While I stood to the side, keeping my opinions to myself, Renko stepped forward. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to see Alice, Lady Shinki," she began. "I'll let her know that you came by and were sorry to have missed her. Before you go back to Makai though, do you have time for a few questions?"

"Oh, that's right! Louise, I promised Renko I'd answer her questions. We can at least stay here and wait for Alice until Renko's done talking, right?"

"Please try not to take toooo long." Louise said pointedly.

"I'll do my best," Renko said, nodding. She then stepped forward and squatted down, bringing herself level with where Shinki was kneeling on Alice's porch. "Lady Shinki. The questions I want to ask you are about Miss Byakuren. I'm afraid during all of the commotion yesterday they simply slipped my mind."

"About Byakuren? What do you want to know?"

"I'll get straight to the point. Lady Shinki, are you the one who turned Byakuren from a human into a youkai magician?"

I opened my eyes in surprise at that question, but Shinki's answer was even more surprising.

"Yes, that's right," she said, nodding casually.

I thought back to yesterday. During the fight between Reimu and the other incident resolvers and Byakuren, Miss Yumeko and Lady Shinki had said something about Byakuren using one of Shinki's spells, hadn't they?

"It was nice seeing Byakuren using some of the magic I taught her again. It brought back memories, didn't it Louise?"

"Mother, I wasn't there."

"Oh, right."

"So how was Miss Byakuren able to become a youkai magician, Lady Shinki?"

"By making a contract with me. Making a contract with a demon is the quickest way for a human to discard their humanity. You only need a small amount of magical potential to get started. There's also several spells needed to become a proper magician, and Byakuren mastered all of them. When a human does that, they're usually called a 'transformed magician' but Byakuren did it so perfectly that she's at the level of a natural born youkai. She's the most skilled transformed magician I've ever seen. In a way, she's almost like one of my daughters, since I helped her create her new body."

"I see, I see. How interesting. What about the seal that was placed on Byakuren and Houkai? Who created that, the Hakurei shrine maiden of a thousand years ago?"

"Yes, that's right. She didn't do it by herself though. She had an artifact with quite a bit of power stored up in it. It looked a lot like the little pagoda you used to break the seal, actually, if I remember correctly."

"A pagoda?" Renko asked. Both of our eyes went wide at that statement. "Was it—"

"It was the one that tiger-striped disciple had yesterday. It was only because she had that that I guided you all there, it looked like just the thing to undo that seal and sure enough, it worked!"

So the pagoda that Shou had supposedly fled the Myouren temple with was used by the Hakurei shrine maiden to seal Byakuren? Which meant… Which meant what, exactly? As I struggled to make sense of the questions swirling around in my head, Renko covered her mouth with both hands and let out a slow breath.

"Lady Shinki, just a few more questions then, if you would. Was Byakuren’s magical power any weaker during the time she was sealed compared to when she first made a contract with you?"

"Yes. Most of her power had been sealed in that pagoda and then returned to her when she was unsealed. So I expect she’s back to normal now." Shinki tilted her head at that question, wondering where Renko was going with it.

Renko nodded and took a deep breath then raised her head to look Shinki in the eye. "Alright then. I just have one last question, and it's an important one."

"Go ahead," Shinki said, nodding.

"Did Miss Byakuren ever tell you why she wanted to become a youkai magician in the first place?"


[𝐀 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫]

It's time once again, dear reader, for you to pit your creativity against that of the great detective, if you dare. I've cut off the answer to that last question of Renko's because, as you may have guessed, understanding it is key to understanding this whole incident. Renko got an answer that night, and asked an even more important question afterwards, but of course I can't reveal any of that to you if you want to try to figure things out on your own.

It may seem to you that Shinki is the one who gave Renko all of the wild theories that Renko came up with this time, but I assure you both that Renko had already deduced the truth of the matter (as she sees it) by this point.

I will give you one more hint here, to assist you in deducing the truth behind this incident. My advice is this: try to keep Renko's view of the explanations for previous incidents in your mind as you read over this one. One of the characters who appears in a previous story proved key to her discoveries by their very nature. To say any more though would be to give the whole mystery away. Everything else you need to come to the same conclusions Renko has can be found in the previous chapters of this casefile. Theoretically, anyone who has read this story up until now should be able to come up with the same theories that my partner did. Probably. Maybe. If they had a brain that worked like hers, anyway.

At any rate, the question that your story must answer to address this riddle is simple: What was the crime committed a thousand years ago by Hijiri Byakuren, for which she willingly accepted a sentence of a thousand years of imprisonment within Makai? Once you know the answer to that, the rest of the inexplicable details of this incident will fall into place.

Can you discover, dear reader, what was the thousand-year old crime for which the Yama pronounced her sentence upon a repentant sinner?