東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 1:Hisoutensoku

—1—


The office of the Hifuu Detective Agency is located in a small outbuilding on the grounds of the Hieda Public Temple School in the center of the human village. It is open year round, but not every day, nor at all hours of the day. This is because since the spring of this year, Renko and I no longer use the cramped confines of that former storehouse as our home. Recently, Renko and I had been able to move out and rent a place in the village together. As such, our agency is now only open from the end of classes at the school every day until sundown, and is closed on unpredictable days, such as the holidays or any time the two of us leave the village on an outing. These somewhat irregular hours of operation may be why the numbers of prospective clients making their way to our office never seems to have improved unless you count the number of birds living in the nest on top of our office as visitors.

With our whole lives no longer bound up in that tiny little 8-mat room you may ask where else we spend our time? Well, aside from our new home in the village, we might be found at Suzunaan, or visiting Hieda Manor or the Kirisame General Store. It would also not have been uncommon to find us at or on our way to various locations outside of the village. These trips might be to locations as diverse as the Hakurei Shrine, the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Mokou's shack in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, or Kourindou. Probably our most frequently-visited destination outside of the village was the Moriya Shrine, however, as throughout the years since her arrival Sanae had remained our close friend and a part-time member of the Hifuu Detective Agency.

It was on one of those days when the temple school was closed, that Sanae arrived to take us back to the Moriya Shrine with her for a visit.

—

"Ah, it was a mistake to read a cooking manga before lunch. They always make me hungry."

"Oh? What are you reading, Miss Renko? Oh, it's 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑘𝑎 𝐼𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑏𝑎𝑛! I've read that!"

"Don't you want to try the six-flavor mapo tofu? It looks good, right?"

"Would you like me to make that for lunch?"

"Can you do that?"

"Lady Kanako!"

We were all sitting around in Sanae's room as she called out to the sacred altar on one of her shelves. Almost immediately Lady Yasaka's voice responded, seeming to come from the altar itself.

"I heard you, Sanae. I made that dish once because you asked but making tofu from scratch takes a long time. If you want something from that manga, how about umeboshi fried rice? I could whip that up right now."

"Ooo, I haven't read that far yet!"

"You can try to get there while I help make lunch."

"Sounds great. That okay with you, Merry?"

"Hmm? Oh, that's fine, I guess," I said looking up from the volume of 𝑄.𝐸.𝐷. I had been reading. We had often used the shrine to Lady Yasaka outside of our office as a telephone in the past, but here at Sanae's place her voice could ring out from any of the altars scattered about the shrine. It was slightly unsettling.

Coming up to the mountain and using Sanae's living room as a manga café had become a somewhat regular occurrence for us. Moriya Suwako, the hidden goddess of the inner shrine, had built herself a substantial collection of various series over the years, and Sanae had grown up reading them. Now she had gotten into the habit of enthusiastically sharing all of her favorites with us. As you might have noticed from my recent case files, we had become unnecessarily familiar with 𝑌𝑢 𝑌𝑢 𝐻𝑎𝑘𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑜, 𝐻𝑈𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑥 𝐻𝑈𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅, and 𝐽𝑜𝑗𝑜'𝑠 𝐵𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 by this point.

"Oh, it's starting to rain." Sanae said as she got up to head to the kitchen. It had been sunny as we flew here, but up in the mountains weather could change in an instant. Sure enough, we began to see the patter of raindrops on the window mere moments later.

"It's raining! It's raining! I'm going out to play!" This statement had come from the aforementioned secret god of the Moriya Shrine, a truly ancient native goddess who had been associated with the mountains of the Suwa region since time immemorial. Now her voice rang out from the hallway just outside of Sanae’s room.

"Don't stay out there too long! Lunch will be quick. If you're late, I'll eat your portion."

"Hoi hoi." Had been the only divine reply.

As a god who loved frogs, Suwako was always fond of rain. The way that Kanako interacted with the native goddess made the two of them seem almost like mother and child, despite the fact that Suwako was without a doubt the eldest of the three goddesses who lived here. Given the personalities of the people involved it was often difficult to say who was mothering whom in this house.

Sanae continued to look out the window for a bit, watching as Suwako frolicked and splashed in the puddles outside. "Some people like to stand in the rain without an umbrella. That's what it means to live free," she muttered, affecting the closest thing to a moody baritone she could muster.

"Is that a quote from something?" Renko asked.

"Haven't you seen 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝑂, Renko?"

Renko turned to me. "Have you ever heard of that, Merry?" I shrugged.

"Once we get our TV working we'll have to have a DVD viewing party!"

"We don't have enough power for something like that yet," Kanako's voice said, calling out from the altar again. In the Moriya Shrine it seemed like Kanako could constantly hear every word spoken, regardless of location.

The Moriya Shrine was the only place we knew of in Gensokyo with any electricity at all but even their setup was extremely limited. In all, the power at the Moriya Shrine wasn't reliable for doing much more than charging portable electronic devices.

"How's the nuclear fusion thing with Okuu been going, Lady Yasaka?" Renko asked.

"I've been letting the kappa do a lot of research with her, but they're still at the trial and error stage. Ideally, I'd like to produce a stable and reliable source of energy that doesn't depend on the power of Yatagarasu. We could probably harness more power from what we have now if we built a large-scale generator, but I don’t like the idea of being dependent on the mood and health of that hell raven. Besides, in a place like Gensokyo there’s no reason that we should be limited to a form of power as inefficient as electricity. We’re still considering our options."

"You’re looking for a power source that’s more efficient and versatile than electricity? That’s quite ambitious."

"Well for now we’re still at the dreaming stage, unfortunately. Sanae, are you coming to help me or not?"

"Ah, sorry. I'll call you when lunch is ready, feel free to read whatever you like until then." Saying that, Sanae stood up and rushed out the door.

I had wanted to get up and go help myself, but Sanae had left before I could say anything, so instead I took the opportunity to finish reading the volume of 𝑄.𝐸.𝐷 I had borrowed and returned it to the shelf. As I did so, I noticed a conspicuously empty space on the shelf below the one I had taken it from.

"Hey Renko, do you remember what used to be on this bookshelf?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure, but I think there are a bunch of books that have been gone for a while now. Sanae must have loaned that series to someone."

"Who would Sanae even loan manga to?"

"Maybe a kappa or a tengu would be interested in manga from the Outside World."

"Do you think it could have been Reimu?"

Given the recent events and their position as business rivals there was still some resentment between the two shrine maidens. If a shared love of manga could help the two of them bridge that gap, then that could only be a good thing. On that topic, I wonder if Marisa had ever gotten around to beating 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡 3?

—

Not long after that, Kanako called us into the dining room as she set out a steaming dish of fragrant rice flavored with pickled plums that instantly set my mouth to watering. Over our meal, I asked Sanae about the empty shelf.

"Oh that's for 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑙" she said happily. "A tengu is borrowing it." The manga was perhaps the most famous cultural artifact of its type from the previous century. Even I knew of it, though I had never read it.

"A tengu's borrowing it?"

"Mhmm! A newspaper reporter came here for an interview and became interested in manga. She said she’d like to try putting out something similar so I gave her some of our series to reference. I figured what better reference could there be than the best-selling manga in the world? Oh, I leant her a few others too."

"Huh. Do you think you'll get them back? Tengu are long-lived, she may expect to be able to borrow them for a hundred years or something."

"Don't worry about that, I told her if they weren't returned promptly she'd be cursed," Suwako said with a smile that was anything but friendly. Coming from an actual curse god, that was a bit unnerving.

"Do you think the tengu could really make manga of their own?"

"Before cameras were common there must have been illustrations in the tengu newspapers," Kanako reasoned. It was a good point. I don't know when the kappa had figured out camera technology, but the long-lived tengu had to have used drawings in their newspapers prior to that. It was possible reporters like Shameimaru might be quite proficient artists for all I knew.

"Getting a steady supply of faith is good and all, but having to leave manga behind was one of the worst parts of coming to this world," Suwako sighed, resting her elbows on the table. "I want to read something new. And maybe see some new anime too. I'm tired of re-reading everything. You know what I mean, Sanae?"

"Yeah, me too. I want to know how the series I was watching ended. What do you think happened in 𝐶𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑠?"

"We discussed this at length before we crossed over," Kanko said firmly. "We even waited until 𝐺𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛 ended for both of you."

"The Youkai Sage sends coffee and sugar into the village regularly, why can't she import manga too?" Suwako pouted.

"Well, there's some manga that shows up at Suzunaan from time to time, have you looked there?" Renko asked.

Sanae sighed. "I went and checked. That's all Showa-era stuff I've never heard of, and almost none of it is complete sets."

"I want to read the rest of 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑥 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟! How did the Chimera Ant arc end?" Suwako shouted.

Renko and I, who had only been introduced to the series by Sanae, and who consequently had only read up to the end of the 23rd volume could only nod in complete agreement. Back when I was living in Kyoto, acquiring the entire series as electronic media would have been simple. I wish I had known to look for it back then.

We finished our lunch while pleasantly discussing such things. As Kanako started washing up, she looked up suddenly and called down the hall "Oh, it looks like someone is arriving. Sanae, can you go see who it is?"

"Ah, okay!" came the reply. We heard the sound of Sanae padding out of the living room, and then a while later she returned and poked her head into the kitchen. "It's a bunch of kappa, Lady Kanako. They say they want to talk to you. Should I let them in?"

"Kappa? Tell them to expect me in the kagura hall. Did they say what they wanted?"

"They said something about a budget."

Kanako sighed. "Are they here to try to extort more money? Our resources are limited too. Alright, I'll talk to them. Sanae, can you finish up here?" She dried her hands on her apron then took it off and hung it on a hook next to the stove.

"More cost overruns for the Geyser Center?" Suwako asked from the living room, resting her chin on the table. The Geyser Center was the name the goddesses had given to the institution for their fusion energy research project. It was some sort of underground facility being built over the remains of the Hell of Blazing Fires by the kappa, apparently near the bottom of the shaft that Suwako had bored into the mountain and where Kanako had taken us to meet Okuu for the first time. The project had been plagued with cost overruns from the beginning, however. Even in a world of fantasy budgetary concerns seemed to be the biggest constraint on the progress of research, just like in the Outside World.

Kanako walked brusquely, heading for the door. "Well, I better go see what the latest problem is."

Before the goddess could leave, Renko spoke up. "Lady Yasaka, would you mind if Merry and I were present for these talks?" Renko asked, grinning her catlike gin.

I immediately reached out to grab my partner by the sleeve. "Renko..."

"You want to attend? Why?" Kanako asked, looking surprised but not offended.

"Well as a student of physics I'm interested in the practical details of a fusion reactor, but moreover as a villager, I might be able to help you come up with a solution to any budgetary concerns."

Kanako and Sanae exchanged glances for a moment before shrugging.


—2—


And so we walked with Kanako to the kagura hall of the Moriya Shrine. I'm not sure why Renko bothered bringing me here, but as Kanako sat down and settled into a dignified pose, we both took up positions on either side of her just as if we were her secretaries. Sanae ushered a group of several kappa in after that, and at the head of their group was a familiar face.

"Hello there, Nitori."

"Geh, it's Lady Ibuki's friends! Why are you here!?" cried Nitori, pointing a finger towards us. Despite the fact that we had been acquainted with her for years now, Nitori had yet to recall our names or ever treat us with anything other than an unctuous mix of fear and cloying subservience.

"Hello Nitori, we're just visiting the shrine, and thought we might as well take the opportunity to sit in on the negotiations while we're here. I heard from Marisa that you're leading the kappa fusion research team. Is that right?"

"Um, I guess so. I'm the one who tamed that crow."

Marisa had indeed mentioned something about that to us, such a feat would no doubt garner Nitori enough credit to become head of the nuclear research team. I was starting to wonder just why Renko had wanted to attend this meeting. By having two known friends of Ibuki Suika to be present, she was putting Nitori in a position where she couldn't risk making any unreasonable demands.

"Sanae, you may go," Kanako said, turning to Nitori as her priestess left the stage. "Now, what was it you wanted to discuss?"

"Geh, uh, well, um, actually..." Nitori began, shrinking back from us, then suddenly prostrating herself on the floor of the stage. The other kappa followed her lead, bowing their heads almost to the ground. "It seems that our research budget is, um, running a little low already, Lady Yasaka. Your benevolence."

"Our budget is limited too," Kanako said, directing an unimpressed stare toward the groveling kappa. "We can’t give you what we don’t have. If you're facing cost overruns, shouldn't those expenses be borne by your people? This is a joint project, after all."

"Well, that's what we agreed upon, but my superiors see this whole project as being something that's mainly of value to your shrine. We kappa fully understand the importance of fusion power, but we only have so many resources. If we're to finish the project, then we’ll need your assistance as a sponsor."

"In other words, you're asking me to get your superiors to loosen the pursestrings for you."

"Ehheheh, um, well something like that, yes."

Kanako rested her chin on her hand, sighed and then turned to my partner. "Renko, what do you think of their request?"

"Even in Gensokyo, research positions are subject to the whims of politics, eh?" Renko smiled bitterly, folding her arms as she considered the problem. "Lady Yasaka, is your intention to maintain complete control of the fusion reactor once this project is completed? Allowing other investors to shoulder some of the financial burden would help, but if we allow them to be involved in this project we run the risk of them stealing some of your progress or even jockeying for control if their contribution is beyond the scope of what the Moriya Shrine can manage."

"That would be a concern. I would like to keep this project between us and the kappa ideally, but if we were to bring someone else in I suppose it might be acceptable to ask for assistance from the tengu."

"Hmm, the tengu, eh? You could sell exclusive rights to report on the reactor facility, I suppose."

"That's no good. An individual tengu wouldn't have a significant amount of funds to contribute and we couldn't engage with tengu society as a whole because exclusive interview rights would be meaningless if they were given to everyone."

"That's true..." Renko groaned as her fingers played over the brim of her hat. "...In that case, I guess we've got no choice but to raise the funds we need ourselves. If we can do that then we won’t have to worry about meddling at all."

"If we could do something like that then we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with!"

"Alright then, now we just have to figure out how to do it. Do you kappa have anything we could sell? Maybe some inventions we could monetize?"

"Inventions? We’re already in the habit of selling anything that would make a good profit."

"Well, about things that wouldn't?. You kappa are always working on all sorts of personal projects, right? Why not see if you could sell some of those?"

"Unsuccessful inventions...?" Nitori asked. Her contemplation was echoed by the other kappa, who all began chatting amongst themselves, abuzz with whispered conversations. "Do you think there's a market for junk that doesn't work?"

"If you're selling to humans, then probably. Even if useless or something that a human wouldn’t understand, if you've made something that looks neat or moves in an interesting way, you could probably find someone who would be willing to pay for it. You could clean out all the failed test units and half-finished prototypes you have in storage! For villagers it would be a wonderland of new and strange devices. You could hold a huge kappa bazaar, everything sold as-is!"

Nitori blinked in surprise. "Would humans really pay for stuff like that, Lady Ibuki's friend?"

"Well, it's all a matter of marketing. If you market them to people who like unusual things, I'm sure you'll get plenty of takers. You'd just have to be a bit creative in thinking about potential applications and advertising strategies."

The kappa once again descended into a huddle of whispers, all of them contemplating the idea of selling their various odds and ends.

"A bazaar of failed kappa goods... That certainly sounds better than having to grovel to sponsors..." Kanako chuckled to herself as I sighed beside her. "Renko, you're specifically targeting people like Rinnosuke and Marisa aren't you?"

"Merry, giving people what they want is a mutually beneficial arrangement that forms the basis of all economics. Besides, they're both inventive people, who knows? There might be something revolutionary among inventions the kappa consider failures."

"You just want to see what sort of weird things the kappa have come up with for your own amusement, don't you?"

"You're not a satori, Merry, no reading my mind."

I sighed at her as the kappa continued to chatter excitedly.


—3—


The next event I’ll relate happened a few days after that.

Classes had ended at the temple school for the day and Renko and I were sitting in our office as usual when there was a knock at the door. It was such an unusual event that Renko and I were both startled for a moment, glancing at each other to confirm what we were hearing before Renko leapt up to open the door. As it slid open it revealed not a customer, but instead a goddess.

"Yoo-hoo" she said cheerily.

"Lady Moriya! It's rare to see you so far from the mountain. Please come in, is Sanae with you?"

"No, it's just me today. I wanted to talk to you about that discussion you had the other day," she said as she moved past Renko and into our office.

"With the kappa, you mean?"

"Yes, they came to discuss fundraising, right? Well apparently they've settled on the idea of running a bazaar as you proposed."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm happy that I was able to help, then."

"The kappa have gathered up plenty of junk to sell, but now they’re discussing how best to advertise the whole affair. We’re mainly expecting to have human customers, so I thought it would be best to get your opinion since you two live in the village. Any ideas?"

"Hmmm... An ad that would get the villager's attention, eh? The tengu newspapers would be the obvious answer, but not everyone here in the village reads them, so I'm not sure how effective that would be." She folded her arms and tilted her head back in thought.

"That was our feeling too. Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Hmm. Merry, what do you think?"

"Me? I think this was your idea, Renko. You figure it out."

"Don't be like that, Merry. Watson gets to solve the mystery sometimes too, you should take the initiative."

"This isn't a mystery, Renko. But if I think about it..." I suppose in a situation like this there was no harm in throwing out any sort of theory, no matter how unusual. "...People here tend to trust word of mouth over anything else."

"Are you suggesting we start spreading rumors among the students at the school? I don't think Miss Keine would approve of that."

"No, that wouldn't work anyway. Our target market is adults in the village, not children. Lady Moriya, where is the bazaar going to be held?"

"It hasn't been decided yet, but it will have to be somewhere relatively close to the kappa's workshops. That probably means somewhere near Misty Lake, or the stream of Genbu Ravine."

"Huh. That’s a fair ways from the village. For anyone but the fishermen who are used to leaving the village, I think getting people to go that far away might be a little difficult."

"Right. For people who can’t fly it’s a bit of a hike," Suwako said, crossing her arms behind her head as she looked up in contemplation.

"So all we need is something that would make people want to go visit the ravine then," Renko added, nodding. "Lady Moriya, is there anything we could use as an attraction for the bazaar?"

"An attraction, eh? We'd need something attention-grabbing enough to make people want to leave the village. I'm not sure if we have anything that flashy."

"Maybe we could make something then."

"Like an exclusive product?"

"Or maybe something like an event or attraction. Something that would give people a reason to go there beyond just shopping."

The idea of having some sort of eye-catching attraction to draw attention to a sale was certainly a proven practice. "Maybe we could hire the Prismriver Ensemble to put on a show..." I ventured.

"Oh, we could ask the Myouren Temple crew to fly their ship around with advertising banners or streamers or something."

"I don't know if they'd be willing to help out with something like a bazaar, Renko. Doesn't that seem a little worldly for a Buddhist temple?"

Even if they had been willing to do it, the Myouren Temple had become an everyday part of village life at this point. Most of the villagers had even been there to see it transform from a treasure ship into a temple. The Prismrivers were also old news.

"Hmm, let me just clarify something," Renko said, holding up a finger. "The way I see it, there are three problems that we're dealing with here. First the target audience doesn't yet know about the bazaar. Second, we need some sort of attraction to make it worth people's time to leave the village. And finally, people need to know where the bazaar is going to be taking place, right?"

"Yes, that's more or less it."

"Alright then. How do we address this? It seems like it's mainly just a matter of publicity. We need to get the message out in a way that draws attention, calls to a target audience and spreads easily throughout the village."

"That seems easier said than done."

"Finally, our third problem is the mental hurdle and physical hurdle of going to a place so distant from the village. This is especially true for people who have never left the village, who might not even know where Misty Lake or Genbu Ravine is. Which means, we'd need to have something eye-catching that immediately tells you at a glance where the venue is. If we have that, then the psychological hurdle of leaving the village would seem much lower."

"You mean like situating the bazaar at a well-known landmark?"

"We could do that, but if we can create something that’s easily visible and noteworthy enough to get people talking about it, then we could make our own landmark that would not only drum up publicity but also make it clear where the event is being held."

Renko smiled her troublesome smile at me. I thought for a moment then clapped my hands together. "Oh! Like an advertising balloon!"

"You're reading my mind again, Merry. Not just any ad balloon though. It needs to be something big. Something the people will see in the streets and look at, saying 'what is that thing?' Something that the people of Gensokyo will never have seen before..."

"Something they've never seen before..." Suwako repeated, deep in thought. All at once she raised her head and smiled. "I know just the thing! I'm glad I came to ask you, Renko, you really are a great friend to Sanae! Just leave the question of the balloon up to me!"

"Yay, problem solved!" Renko announced and held up her hand for a high five. Suwako leapt up to meet her palm with a ringing clap. They seemed to have come to some shared understanding, but I couldn't for the life of me imagine what they were picturing.

"If Gensokyo doesn't have it, I just have to make it myself. A divine artifact! A veritable gift from the gods! [CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY] as they say, right?"

Suwako cheered happily, dancing on the spot.

"Some people like to stand in the rain without umbrellas, that's what it means to live free. Just like Roger Smith says! That's what it means to be free!"

I hadn't the faintest idea what she was talking about but I nodded and smiled.

"Oh. If we’re making something that big we’ll need to have a plan for what to do if it becomes a tsukumogami too. Eh, we’ll figure that out later. If it’s just going to be a simple balloon then I’m sure we can provide power through the Geyser Center. Alright, that's the plan. Thanks, Renko. Thanks, Merry. I'll take care of the rest." As soon as those words of thanks were spoken, Suwako instantly disappeared.

I turned questioningly toward Renko, who was still grinning her Cheshire grin.

"Merry, I think things are about to get fun."