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

—1—


Before I begin, let me set the stage. It was the previous summer when this first started, less than a year before the incident proper, just between the end of the Night Parade of One Hundred Oni Every Three Days and the beginning of the Eternal Night Incident.

Back then, in a maze of tall sunflowers, we met her.

I, Maéreverie Hearn, and my partner, Usami Renko, run the Hifuu Detective Agency, which operates out of a storeroom in the back of Miss Kamishirasawa Keine's temple school in the human village. Most days, our only visitors there are Miss Keine, the children from the school or, occasionally, the various oddball humans and supernatural entities we've befriended in our time here. Very few of these visitors are ever paying customers.

It was the third of these three types of visitors who came to the door one Sunday morning. A somewhat unexpected visit, as the temple school is always closed on Sundays.

"You must be almost as bored as I am, Detective," drawled a voice from the doorway.

"Gensokyo is a peaceful place," said my partner, the detective, from behind her desk. "You must be bored too."

"Well Keine is always saying when the neighborhood watch has no work to do that's a good thing." The person standing in the door let out a soft, drawn-out chuckle. She was a small girl wearing a kimono and a peaceful smile. Her name was Kotohime, and she was, like us, a human villager. She worked as a member of the neighborhood watch alongside Keine and despite her frail looks, we had been told she was a surprisingly strong combatant against youkai, being a descendant of the long dynasty of youkai hunters. In Gensokyo, appearances often had nothing to do with the threat an individual posed. "I'm not sure you'll find much work as a detective here in the village. I can't even remember the last time we had a good string of grisly, unsolved murders," she said with a tone that sounded like an apology. "I was kind of hoping things would get more interesting after you opened up shop."

"In most classic mysteries the police act as a foil to a great detective though, don’t they?"

"After the mystery is solved the police are supposed to arrest and interrogate the murderer, though. That seems like it would be fun."

"Basically, you're just looking for an excuse to handcuff someone, aren't you?"

"That's right. Could a detective be a criminal herself, I wonder?" She asked, producing a gleaming pair of steel handcuffs from the folds of her kimono.

Renko raised her hands, posing as if to surrender. "You've got the wrong girl, officer. Having the detective be the culprit would violate Knox's Ten Commandments."

Kotohime sighed and tucked the handcuffs back into a pocket. Being here at our office must mean she wasn't on shift at the moment, so why would she be carrying a pair of handcuffs around? Did she keep them handy at all times? Where might she have even found them? Kourindou, perhaps? Kotohime had always been a bit of an eccentric. The Neighborhood Watch was the closest thing the human village had to a police department but Kotohime was the only one who ever referred to herself as being a police officer. In fact, she might have been the only person in Gensokyo I'd ever heard use that word.

I suspected that her familiarity with the concept had come from reading paperback mysteries at Suzunaan (something I was guilty of myself.) Her conception of a detective's role involved more in the way of fistfights, cunning traps and high drama than the realistic story of someone who just conducts repetitive interviews and wears the soles out of all their shoes.

"If you ever do get a juicy murder case here in the village, be sure to let me know, ok?"

"Hey Merry, do you think something like that could happen? If people in Gensokyo start expecting there to be a bunch of mysterious murders now that there's a detective in town do you think someone would end up getting killed?"

"Well, if people keep reading mystery novels, they might start to expect that. If that were the case though, the murder would probably happen in the sort of place one would be more likely to expect it, like the Scarlet Devil Mansion or that abandoned mansion near it on the lake."

"Like in a Natsuhiko Kyogoku story? That could be fun."

"I'm not sure if anything of theirs has made it into Suzunaan yet. It's only 2005 here."

As we were chatting pointlessly there was yet another voice outside our door. "Hello, is anyone in?"

Renko glanced over at me. It was rare to have any visitors most days, let alone several on the same day. "Yes, we're in. I'm coming now." Renko stood up and hurried over to slide the door open.

Standing behind it was Akyuu's smiling face. "Hello, are you busy at the moment?" She tilted her head, peering around Renko to see Kotohime and I looking out in surprise.

"Don't worry about us, Lady Hieda, we weren't discussing anything important." Kotohime said with a laugh.

"Nothing that couldn't wait, anyway," Renko confirmed. "What can I do for you?"

"I was thinking of conducting an interview."

"An interview? Are you looking to go to Hakugyokurou? Or to see Miss Suika at the shrine again?"

A while back Akyuu had had a similar request, asking us to escort her to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to chat with Remilia and Sakuya about their involvement in recent incidents. The shrine would be a reasonable destination, but I didn't know if Suika was still hanging around there…

"No, I don't need you to introduce me to anyone this time."

"Oh," Renko looked a little disappointed. "Well, if you want an escort, Kotohime here would probably be better suited to it." She nodded toward our guest.

Akyuu smiled. "I suppose we could bring her along as well. Whenever I ask Keine for one she just tries to talk me out of leaving town, saying 'the Child of Miare is too important to risk outside the walls of the village.'"

As the Child of Miare, Akyuu was the village's figurehead, albeit one that didn’t have much in the way of political power. That said, she held a privileged position and got to live in the biggest mansion in town. Despite being universally respected, it always seemed to me like she was just a little dissatisfied with her position.

"Things were probably different in the past, but since the Great Hakurei Barrier went up, Gensokyo has mostly become a peaceful place. I think Keine worries a bit too much sometimes."

"Well that’s more or less her job. But if you weren’t looking for an escort or and introduction, what brings you here, Akyuu?"

"I've come to ask you all to come with me simply as friends. I was planning on going out to the Garden of the Sun. The flowers are spectacular this time of year. Would you like to go see them?"


—2—


𝐴𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑜ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑠. Was that the line from the poem by Kuretori Yamamura? I couldn't remember, but it came to mind as we came to the Garden of the Sun —an endless sea of sunflowers, stretching as far as the eye could see under the withering heat of a summer afternoon.

"Wow..."

In a bowl-shaped hollow south of the village, thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of sunflowers were blooming. Every brilliant face in the field was turned toward the sun, a softly undulating sea of yellow. The vitality and vibrancy of the colors rendered me speechless, and even my more empirical-minded partner had to ease her hat back and whistle in appreciation. "That is some spectacle alright, we should have come here sooner," she said.

When I had heard that there was a flower garden south of the village, I had initially been uninterested, never imagining such a visual feast. Renko had wanted to come here earlier on to take in a show by the Prismriver Ensemble, but the village gates were closed soon after dark and staying out all night was a sure way to earn ourselves a headbutt from Keine.

"These sunflowers are always amazing," Kotohime marveled. "What could be in the soil here?"

"Well they're not cherry trees, so probably not corpses," Akyuu said with a smile. I wish everyone here would stop mentioning corpses so casually. "Let's go have a closer look," she suggested.

Kotohime's eyes went wide at that suggestion. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I heard there's a ferocious monster that lives in this field."

Akyuu nodded as she picked her way down the slope leading to the edge of the field. "That's right. I'm here to interview her."

So there was more to this visit than just a flower viewing.

"Reimu has apparently exterminated her several times, but I've never actually met her. Not in this lifetime anyway. Some of my past incarnations had apparently interviewed her at some point, but things were a lot different back then, and there isn't much that's been written down about her." As Akyuu said this she was quickly moving down the embankment. Kotohime, Renko and I scrambled to keep up.

As we reached the bottom of the hollow, we found that the sunflowers were even taller than they had appeared from the road. They easily reached above our heads, forming natural walls, obscuring sight and making passage between them difficult in places. Just by virtue of their height and density, the sunflowers formed a natural maze. "There are a lot of prank-loving fairies who live here, so be careful not to get lost," Akyuu said as she vanished behind the leaves. Despite her appearance she seemed rather determined to press on.

"That sounds like something your escort should be saying," Kotohime murmured absentmindedly as she followed behind.

Renko and I reached the bottom of the slope, just before the dense wall of the sunflower stalks, watching the leaves sway in the summer breeze. "Well, what do you think, Renko?" I asked, trying to see where exactly Akyuu had vanished to.

She shot me a thumbs-up and a cheesy grin. "Let's give it a shot. Maybe we'll get to meet someone interesting. Even if we can't find this person Akyuu wants to interview we can at least play with some fairies."

"I just hope it's you playing with them and not the other way around."

Renko's grin shone out from the shadows beneath the brim of her hat as she took my hand and pressed through the leafy barrier of the field's edge. As soon as we entered, we quickly became lost. There was a clear path here, making it less oppressive and confusing than the Bamboo Forest of the Lost but that path twisted and meandered between obscuring walls of tall sunflower stalks that pushed up against it on every side. The stalks were narrow and flexible enough that they could be pushed aside enough to move between, but once you were more than a few steps into the field, it was difficult to make sense of where you were or how the twisting paths related to one another..

"Oh, look Merry, a fairy!" Renko said, pointing overhead as a figure zoomed by cradling a sunflower in both arms. She ran a few steps ahead after it, until it disappeared from sight, pulling me along. By the time we stopped, we had passed between several narrow gaps watched over by tall, golden-faced flowers and no longer had no idea where we were. As living embodiments of nature, I imagined the fairies must feel right at home in this field. From somewhere nearby we could hear their laughter, making for a tranquil scene in the dusty warmth and comfortable shade of the flowers.

"Where do you suppose Akyuu and Kotohime got to? I can't see or hear either of them," I said as I parted two tall stalks to peer through.

I wasn’t really too concerned about it as Akyuu had Kotohime with her. The odds that they would immediately come across the rumored ferocious monster living here just by wandering blindly into a field seemed low. Somehow the odds of us running across the monster first seemed higher to me.

"...I hope it’s someone we can talk to…" I muttered to myself as we walked along.

"What was that, Merry?"

"I must be spending too much time with you, Renko, I'm starting to become reckless."

She grinned again. "It’s to be expected that you’d have a little Renko in you with us having lived together for so long. I could give you a little more, if you like."

I reached out and pinched her forearm. "Phrasing, Renko."

"Ow! Ow!" she yelped while hopping away from me.

The moment she finished speaking though, I heard something strange. Several sunflowers all began rustling at once just as the sounds of laughter around us abruptly ended. It took me a moment to realize that the rustling I had heard hadn’t been a breeze or some animal passing through the sunflowers, but rather the sound of a number of fairies suddenly stopping whatever they were in the middle of and rushing away from us in all directions at once. Once the frantic rustling ended we were suddenly immersed in a deep silence. I was eerily reminded of an article I had once read describing how earthquakes could be predicted by looking for spikes in the number of runaway pets in an area.

"Hey, Renko..." Unexpectedly, I found myself whispering. Somehow, some deep and instinctual feeling of dread had washed over me, despite the bright sun still shining overhead. "What do you think that was all about?"

Who knows. What do you think, Merry? Snakes or oni? Or maybe a new kind of youkai." She grinned as she turned to look in the direction opposite the one the fairies had fled, trying to see anything between the dense walls of green. I followed Renko’s lead and soon, we emerged from the row of sunflowers into a small clearing. There, stepping out from between the stalks at the opposite end of the break is where I first saw her.

The first thing that appeared was a pale pink parasol, nearly white under the bright sun. A knee-length red plaid skirt emerged underneath the parasol next. A sudden gust of wind rustled the sunflowers and she lifted the parasol, revealing wavy, shoulder-length dark green hair and a pair of eyes that narrowed as she looked us over.

"Ah, I thought I felt some humans around here." She wore a gentle smile as she walked toward us, but the primal sense of danger she exuded was overwhelming. So much so that I found myself unable to speak. Looking at her was like looking over the edge of a precipice hundreds of meters above the ground. It inspired that same sense that one was only seconds away from certain death if they didn't move away. "Who are you?" She asked.

If she had been a human, she would have been a bit older than us, a woman in her 30s, perhaps. Looking at her though, the question of her humanity was instantly decided by her presence alone. Although she didn't have horns, wings, fangs or any other obvious signifier, there could be no doubt that she was a youkai. Having lived in this world for a year I was developing a sense for supernatural creatures and if that sense could be trusted at all, she was an extremely powerful one. A youkai of a sufficiently terrifying nature that she didn't need a hideous appearance or even the cover of night to inspire fear in humans. The kind of creature that any sensible human would recognize as a predator without needing to see her hunt.

And yet, despite that, the human who stood beside me seemed to be completely oblivious to such danger. Renko stood idly in front of me, smiling at the approaching youkai and glancing around at the sunflowers surrounding us.

"You must be the owner of this field of magnificent sunflowers," my partner began appreciatively.

"I wouldn't say that," the woman replied, drawing closer. "The flowers don't belong to anyone, they're just here. Like I am, asking you who you are to be in this field."

"Ah, my apologies. My name is Usami Renko, I'm a human from the village. This is my partner, Merry. There are probably two other humans around too, they're our friends."

"I see. I haven't seen your friends yet, but I sense they're nearby. I'm Kazami Yuuka, a free-spirited youkai that calls this place home. If you came here for the Prismriver Ensemble's concert, it's not until after dark."

"No, we're just enjoying the flowers and this nice weather. Are we intruding on anything here?"

The woman stopped in front us, smiling from beneath the parasol. "No, you're free to look around as long as you don't harm the flowers. Though be careful not to be misled by mischievous fairies."

It was surprising and a little disconcerting to hear someone who radiated such an intense feeling of predatory danger being so polite and friendly. That's what I was thinking as our conversation was interrupted by a rustling in the nearby flowers. They parted as Akyuu and Kotohime emerged into the clearing, blinking in surprise to see both us and this youkai standing here.

Akyuu paused for a moment as she took in the scene, then smiled as she jogged up to the three of us. "Ah, Renko, Merry. There you are. Would this by any chance be the youkai of the flower garden?" As she approached she turned to look up at the youkai's face, shaded by the parasol.

Yuuka seemed surprised and blinked a few times as she looked down at Akyuu. Then the corners of her mouth curled upwards as she seemed to realize something. "Yes, that's right," she began after a moment. "And you would be the Child of Miare, from the human village, wouldn't you?"

It was Akyuu's turn to be surprised now. After a moment she nodded. "Yes, that's right. Are you perhaps acquainted with one of my previous incarnations?"

"How nostalgic. Yes, you sound just like them. What is your name now?"

"It's Akyuu. Hieda no Akyuu. I'm the ninth Child of Miare. You would be Kazami Yuuka then, correct?"

Yuuka smiled amiably and turned to the girl. As she began to raise her arm, I saw Kotohime suddenly tense into a ready stance, but she merely used her hand to pass her parasol to Akyuu. "The sun is strong today. Why don't you use this while you're here... Akyuu."

Akyuu timidly took the parasol with both hands, saying "Oh, um, thank you very much" as she did.

"Take care of that umbrella. It's the only flower in Gensokyo that never withers." Akyuu looked up in confusion at that comment. Instead of explaining herself, Yuuka simply said "Just call me when you're ready to leave. I'll show you the way out." With that, she turned to leave the little clearing.

"Ah, yes, I will, but first would you mind waiting just a moment?" Akyuu called out.

Yuuka turned back. "Oh? Are you not here just to see the sunflowers?"

"Well I am, but I was also hoping to interview you, Miss Kazami Yuuka."

"You're going to include me in your book again? Well I don't mind. We can walk and look at the sunflowers as we talk. What did you want to ask?"

"Hmmm... let's start with..."

As Yuuka was talking she had taken the parasol back from Akyuu and raised it to shield them both. She turned and the two of them walked off, side by side under its shade, leaving Renko, Kotohime and myself alone in the clearing.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to follow Renko. Didn't you want to hear that interview?"

Renko smiled wryly and took her hat off, fanning herself with it for a moment before responding. "Even I can read the room sometimes, Merry. I think those two could use some time to reminisce." She shot me a wry little smirk.

"Did she even really need an escort?" Kotohime asked. There was no sign of either of them among the tall stalks by this point. "It feels like sticking around would have been a bit awkward."


—3—


And so Renko, Kotohime and I spent the morning exploring the Garden of the Sun before spreading out our lunch boxes and enjoying a meal. Several times during our lunch we were besieged by fairies that attempted to make off with our food, but even that seemed an enjoyable distraction beneath the bright sunshine.

Akyuu seemed to spend the whole day chatting with Yuuka and it was nearly sunset before we saw her again. When she arrived, she and Yuuka were still walking side by side. Upon seeing us, she turned and bowed to Yuuka. "Thank you for the interview," she said with a smile. "I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your day."

"Well, if it's for the sake of the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒, I don't mind. I trust you'll do as I asked?"

"Of course," she said, bowing again before turning and walking up the hill toward us. The smile on her face as she approached seemed to suggest that the interview had gone well.

"Hello again," Kotohime said as she approached. "What’s that on your back?" She was pointing to a tall, withered sunflower that had been inserted into the waistband of Akyuu's kimono, reaching up so that its face was just behind her head, seeming to give her a halo of wilted leaves and petals.

"My back?" Akyuu asked, feeling behind her. As her hands closed around the stem a panicked expression suddenly appeared on her face. "Gah!? Has that been there the whole time?"

"You finally noticed? The fairies put it there while we were watching them."

Akyuu spun around, trying futilely to remove the offending flower. "Get it off! Get it off! Mi-Miss Yuuka why didn't you tell me it was there?"

"I thought you knew, so I left it." she replied with a laugh.

Kotohime stepped forward and slid the flower out from Akyuu's belt, discarding it.

"I warned you to watch out for fairy pranks, didn’t I? One of them slipped it in there while you were distracted. It was when they made the flowers all turn to face you."

"This is why I hate fairies!" Akyuu grumbled as Kotohime picked dead petals out of her hair.

Yuuka smiled. "How cute."

Akyuu's sulky expression only intensified as she saw Yuuka smiling down at her. "Right, we're done here!" she declared, spinning on her heel and beginning to march down the path, back towards the road to the village. As she passed by us her face was quickly reddening.

Renko and I exchanged a quick glance then bowed to Yuuka before turning to follow Akyuu. I looked back once as we were leaving. Yuuka continued to wave from beneath her parasol until we were all out of sight.

—

"Well, she was quite different than I expected. I had heard rumors she was a terrifying monster," Kotohime said as we walked back toward the village under the beautiful colors of sunset.

"Powerful youkai are usually very polite," Akyuu said curtly.

I thought back to other youkai we had met. Ran and Yuyuko had both been well spoken and meticulously well-mannered, though I didn't doubt that either of them would make for a terrifying opponent. That tendency toward politeness might well be the reason Renko and I were still alive after having encountered so many dangerous beings.

"Besides which," Akyuu continued, "she doesn't seem to be very interested in most humans. I'm not sure if she even noticed you were there, Kotohime."

"Oof. As a descendant of youkai-hunters, that stings a little."

Renko nudged Kotohime with her elbow. "Do you want to go back and pick a fight?"

Kotohime laughed self-consciously and shook her head. "No thanks. Just being near her I could sense the difference in strength between us."

Given the impression she had left on me, I wasn't surprised to hear that even a professional youkai exterminator found her intimidating.

"By the way," Renko asked, turning now to Akyuu, "what was it she asked you to do?"

Akyuu looked over her shoulder at Renko as she walked, laughing softly. "She asked me to write in the 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 that she's a terrifying, malicious youkai."

Renko grinned. "Oh do youkai get to make requests about how they're recorded now?"

"Well, much of the information in the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒, is self-reported anyway, and judging from reports from others that I've heard, she's not a weak youkai trying to make herself appear strong, so I don't really see the harm in it. She must have her own reasons for wanting to have a fearsome reputation."

"And you don't mind helping her out with that."

"I don't see any reason why I shouldn't. Yuuka is a youkai with the potential to be dangerous to humans, and that's what I'll write."

Akyuu seemed to consider the request a reasonable, if comical indulgence. Renko, however, didn't seem convinced, fiddling thoughtfully with the brim of her hat as she walked along. In Gensokyo, where perception held power, the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 was a vitally important book, especially for youkai whose lifespans far exceeded those of humans. A youkai who was recorded in those pages could expect future generations of humans to only learn about them by means of the 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 unless they made a point of regularly interacting with the people of the village. In effect, false information written down by Akyuu might, in time, become true simply by virtue of having been recorded. If that were the case, then I could understand why youkai would want to use it to promote themselves, though I wondered if we should say something about it. As Outsiders, it probably wasn't our place to criticize Akyuu's judgment.

As the four of us walked home, chatting, I couldn’t help but continue to think of the implications. What if Akyuu ended up really hating a youkai and wrote that they were weak and stupid? In time, wouldn't that cause them to lose their power? Thinking about it from a youkai's point of view, she might be the most powerful human in Gensokyo. Perhaps that was the reason why the Children of Miare and the Hieda household are held in such an esteemed position in the village.

That is the story of how we met Miss Kazami Yuuka. It was almost a year after that that something strange began happening with the flowers of Gensokyo, heralding the beginning of what would eventually be called "The Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident."

It was she who acted as the mastermind responsible for this incident.