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

[𝟒 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫]

"I knew it! It's an incident!"

These were the words that began the Hifuu Detective Agency's summer adventure. They were spoken or, more accurately, shouted, by Kochiya Sanae.

Our little office, located near the center of the human village, in a storage shed behind the temple school, had been noisier than usual since the previous fall. This was not, sadly, a sign that the number of clients visiting our office had increased unless you counted the newest generation of songbirds that had hatched from the nest in the roof as visitors. Even they had flown away now though, meaning our office would be silent if not for the frequent visits from our new part-time associate and full-time friend, Sanae, wind priestess and living goddess of the Moriya Shrine, who had become the third member of our team after our meeting the previous year, during the events that surrounded the arrival of the Moriya Shrine on Youkai Mountain.

Sanae's main job was acting as a priestess and messenger, gathering faith and recruiting believers for her shrine. That kept her busy most of the time, and so her visits to our office were occasional, but not infrequent occurrences. She wasn't here every day as Renko and I were since the office doubled as our home since coming to Gensokyo, but she stopped by often enough that I worried a bit whether her efforts to attract converts were meeting with any success.

What Sanae had been referring to when she made her sudden declaration that day was the unusual weather that lately had been cropping up unpredictably.

"Well, I'll admit the weather has been a little unpredictable lately," Renko said.

"It's not just unpredictable! It's been raining at the Moriya Shrine without stop, but Reimu was bragging about how it's always so nice and sunny at her place and the tengu are all complaining about the constant winds around their village. Here in the Human Village the weather is changing constantly. Anyone with common sense can see it's not normal for the weather to be so different across such nearby areas!" She delivered her impassioned speech standing upright on the tatami floors, with her fists clenched and her excitement clear in her voice.

Renko, however, was leaning back at her desk, sipping her tea slowly. She let out a sigh, saying "I know it seems odd, but in Gensokyo you can't be held back by common sense."

"I suppose I can’t really argue that it’s not unusual. You were even saying that the weather was weird the other day, weren’t you Merry?"

I nibbled on a rice cracker for a moment while I thought back over the last few weeks. "Well, when I was out walking the other day, it started out sunny, but then it clouded over and started raining by the time I got home." It had gotten to the point where you couldn't hang laundry out to dry even on a clear, hot morning without worrying it would be soaked by the afternoon. "Going by past examples, odd weather is pretty frequently a sign of an incident."

"You mean the Scarlet Mist Incident and the Spring Snow Incident? Those were both abnormal types of weather for the time of year though. There's nothing unusual about sudden storms or long stretches of sun in the summer, right?"

I tilted my head in consideration. Our first two incidents had certainly involved unusual weather, but neither the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident or the Eternal Night Incident had, and while the Night Parade of One Hundred Oni Every Three Days might have seemed to, that odd mist had just turned out to be the mastermind behind the incident herself. That meant that thus far, weather being a part of an incident seemed to happen about 40% of the time. That would be in the top tier of batters in baseball, but as odds for winning at gambling, they were pretty poor. There was a more pressing question to address though. I turned to Sanae.

"Sanae, have you asked Lady Yasaka and Lady Moriya about it directly? They're gods of wind and rain, right? They're not doing anything weird, are they?"

"What? They wouldn't do something like that. Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako might bring rain to a village if there was a drought, but they wouldn't make it gloomy at the shrine for no reason. If this keeps up, it could have a negative impact on the crops, and that wouldn't help our efforts to gather faith at all!"

Sanae crossed her arms and pouted, looking as if I had offended her. I suppose if the Moriya Shrine was trying to gather faith, it wouldn't do for them to endanger the crops.

"What about Lady Moriya? Could she be cursing the village with inclement weather because of something the villagers did?"

"She doesn't seem angry. Miss Renko, you haven’t done anything that might have offended her, have you?"

"Well there is a rumor going around that there's a detective agency that corrupted the pure and innocent daughter of the Moriya Shrine into a life of sloth and idle gossip. They sound like real bad dudes, right Merry?"

"Don't say that so casually, Renko. I think I see where your concern is coming from though Sanae. How are things going for your shrine?"

She sighed and looked downward. "Lady Kanko has been negotiating with the kappa again since yesterday afternoon." Here in Gensokyo, there was little doubt that these 'negotiations' would involve a lot of booze. Personally, I'm not much of a drinker and tend to feel out of place where a lot of drinking goes on. Sanae's even more of a lightweight than I am though. Her presence here at the office might very well have been a convenient way to escape being caught up in the boozing of gods and tengu.

"But that doesn't matter. Incident or not, as a wind priestess and representative of Moriya Shrine, I can't let this bad weather go unattended! For the sake of the Moriya Shrine's prestige, I have to find and resolve the source of this anomaly before the Hakurei Shrine does! If I do, our shrine will become famous all across Gensokyo!"

Sanae thrust her fist into the air defiantly, passion burning in her eyes. 'Ah, the passion of youth,' I thought, then immediately chided myself for sounding like an old man.

"Well," Renko began, laying her hands on the desk and tilting her head interrogatively, "if there is someone behind these sudden changes in the weather, I suppose that the Hifuu Detective Agency would like to find out who they are and ask them what their intentions are."

"You seem awfully low energy, Renko. Are you feeling alright?"

"Sanae's got more than enough excitement for all of us, I'll let her take on the job of dragging you away from your reading this time," she said with a grin.

Sane whirled to face me, an earnest, pleading expression on her face. "Miss Merry, if we let things continue like this all of Gensokyo could be in danger!"

"It's just a little weather."

"What if it starts snowing? Or hailing? Disruption of the natural environment is a big deal! It could turn into a crisis if we leave it alone."

"If something like that happened, I'm sure Reimu would do something about it."

"That's why we have to get moving now! We can't lose to the Hakurei Shrine! With me on your side we could not only solve the mystery of this incident, but resolve it at the same time! We could save all the village's fruit and veggies from ruin! Then every time someone eats it could be an act of devotion! We could gather SO MUCH faith!"

"I suppose you have a point. Even if there's not a disaster, irregular weather can affect crop quality."

"Exactly! The fate of the human village has been entrusted to us!"

"Even if you're right, no one's entrusted it to us..."

"Miss Renko, is your great detective brain ready to solve this mystery?"

Looking across the room at Sanae, Renko's eyes lit up.

"Well confronted with a direct challenge like that, the director of the Hifuu Detective Agency can’t exactly say no."

Renko strode over to the wall near the door and took her hat from the peg, placing it onto her head and smoothing the brim with her fingers.

"Oh, here we go," I muttered, pressing my hand into my forehead.

Renko's trademark trenchcoat followed the hat, settling into place around her shoulders. The weather was far too hot for such a garment, but that didn't matter in the least. Even animals had the sense to change their coats in the summer, but neither common sense nor mammalian biology held any sway on Renko any longer, it seemed.

"Is this irregular weather really an incident, as Sanae has proposed? Let's begin by gathering testimony and eye-witness reports. Ladies, the Hifuu Detective Agency is on the case! Move out!"

Renko threw the sliding door open and pointed into the hot summer air. Sanae flicked a crisp salute and ran out, saying "Understood, Boss!" as she did.

I sighed, heavily. "Yes, yes. I'm coming."

Somehow, even with the three of us, it was the same old Hifuu Club as usual. Now I could never hope to win a majority vote against these two. My participation in any insane scheme they might suggest was a foregone conclusion. Sanae led the way, a big smile on her face and determination shining in her eyes. Renko was close behind, her keen intellect peering hungrily behind her stare for a complex mystery to bite into. I was walking a bit behind them, resolved to act out my role as babysitter.

"Why do I have to watch two grown-up kids after a full day of watching a classroom?" I muttered to myself.

"What was that, Merry? If you don't keep up we won't be able to hear you!"

"Nothing, nothing. Where are the two of you even going, by the way?"

They both glanced at each other then turned and spoke in perfect unison.

"To the Hakurei Shrine, of course!"


—2—


"What do you three Outsiders want here? Seeing the three of you together is suspicious. Especially you, you look like you're about to melt."

That was what Reimu said as the three of us came up the stairs to the Hakurei Shrine. The sun was shining brightly overhead, casting stark shadows that looked like pits in the ground. One of them was shaped like a girl in a wildly unseasonable trenchcoat.

"Don't worry about me, this is my summer coat," Renko laughed, liar that she was.

"We're on inci—mmph!"

"Hold on Sanae, just a minute," Renko said, reaching out to cover the priestess' mouth. Sanae continued to make muffled noises underneath Renko's hand.

"Nothing much going on today, Reimu, we're just here to visit the shrine and pay our respects."

Reimu glared over at Sanae, then back to Renko, crossing her arms. "That's pretty suspicious. Wait, are you here to pay respects to my shrine or hers?"

"You have both here now, we can do both at once."

Reimu grunted. "I've heard from Keine that the three of you have been hanging out together in the village. What are you plotting? Don’t start talking about exchanging shrines or something stupid like that again."

"We're not plotting anything. We're just friends who hit it off, like you and Marisa. You don't think Marisa's up to something every time she comes here, do you?"

"Only about half the time for her. Whatever. It's too hot for this today. Just don't cause any trouble." Reimu said, fanning herself with one hand.

Sanae threw Renko's hand off her mouth, exclaiming "I knew it! The weather is weird here too!"

"How is it weird? It's just sunny. That's normal in the summer."

"Just ignore her, she's being silly," Renko said with a fixed smile as she reached out again and grabbed Sanae's face, pinching thumb and forefinger into either of her cheeks. "Sanae, may I have a word?"

The two of them put their heads together. Renko seemed about to speak, then stopped herself and waved frantically to me, beckoning me over. I tried to suppress my sigh as all three of us huddled together in the heat.

"W-What is it, Miss Renko?" Sanae whispered.

"We're trying to solve this incident before Reimu, right?"

"Oh, right!"

"Well, she doesn't seem to have noticed that anything is out of the ordinary yet, so just play it cool and don't give away any info."

"Oh, I see."

"Reimu never investigates an occurrence unless it affects her directly, so as long as it stays nice and sunny here, we have a head start. Just leave this to me."

"R-right."

"What are the three of you whispering about?" Reimu asked, peering at the three of us side-eyed.

"Just a maiden's secrets. While we're talking though, it really is kind of hot here. Have you been getting a lot of sunshine lately?"

"Almost nothing but. It did rain for just a little bit earlier today, but it stopped almost right away. I'll start to worry about a drought if this goes much longer. You guys know something about the weather though, don't you."

"Well, you know what they say, Reimu, summer weather's always fickle."

"They say that about autumn weather." Reimu declared flatly. "You guys are being even more suspicious than normal. Are you plotting something with the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion? Why them?" I supposed Remilia had once tried to cover Gensokyo in mist, but it was still a surprising thing to be accused of, I thought.

"Because they're suspicious too! Patchouli came by just a little while ago mumbling about something weird."

"Patchouli? She came by herself? Not with Remilia or Sakuya?"

Reimu turned and called into the shrine. "Patchouli was alone when she came here, right Marisa?"

The paper door separating the main room of the shrine from the veranda slid open and Marisa stepped through it. She was wearing just a pair of bloomers and white cotton undershirt and fanning herself with a paper fan. Compared to Renko's ridiculously inappropriate coat, she looked much more comfortable, though walking around in just her underwear was probably a little too comfortable.

"Oh, Renko, Merry and the mountain priestess. That's the most visitors this shrine's seen all month."

"You don't need to mention that. Do you remember what Patchouli was talking about?"

Marisa waved the fan busily. "Yeah, she was goin' on about somethin' that made no sense, like always. Seriously though, Reimu, why is it so damn hot here?"

"Because it's summer. That's when hot happens."

"It's not nearly this hot back at my place. It's been drizzlin' almost non-stop. I don't remember your shrine gettin' this hot normally."

"It's always drizzling in that forest though, right?"

"What's wrong with that?"

The three of us shared a glance while Reimu and Marisa talked. The Hakurei Shrine was baking in the sun, the Forest of Magic was awash in drizzle, and the Moriya Shrine was seeing a steady downpour. At this point it was hard to chalk these observations up to anything normal.

"If Patchouli's coming out here without Sakuya, something unusual must be going on,"

"Are you three sure you don't know anything about it?"

"We're innocent. But maybe we should head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion next to investigate."

"Go right ahead. It's too hot to be going out in this weather."

"I'll do that," Renko said with a smile. "Other than the heat, anything else been going on recently?"

Reimu tilted her head, thinking back for a moment. "Not much, about a week ago Yuyuko came by for a visit."

"The Administrator of the Netherworld?"

"Yeah. It started snowing here when she came by. It all melted as soon as she left though."

Snow. In July. Just like Sanae had said might happen. I glanced over at Sanae, but she quickly shook her head, indicating that she didn't know anything about it either.

"Oh, Yuyuko came here too?" Marisa asked, stepping out onto the veranda beside Reimu.

"What? Did she go to your house?"

"Yeah, it started snowin' out of nowhere an' then down she came. I thought I had slept clear until winter or somethin'."

"Hmmm, now she's suspicious too. Maybe she's gathering all the winter up in the Netherworld this time."

"Ooo, maybe that's why the shrine is so hot. Maybe we can go bag ourselves some winter youkai and bring 'em back here to keep cool."

"It's summer though, it's supposed to be hot. Just go and catch the ice fairy who lives near your place if you want that."

"It's not hot enough to want ice at home. Maybe you're hoardin' all the heat here. If you just gave me a little, we'd both be just right."

"Well then, go find Suika and make her gather a bunch of warmth together in the forest."

"Oh, that's a nice idea. Where is she, anyway?"

"Huh, now that you mention it, I haven't seen her in a while. I wonder where she went?"

"How unreliable, she up and vanishes right when we need her most." Marisa flattened herself on the veranda, stretching out shamelessly to lay on her stomach.

Renko crossed her arms and nodded. "Alright then," she declared. "Our next destination is either the Scarlet Devil Mansion or Hakugyokurou. Thank you very much for that information, Reimu."

"Wait a minute, you guys are investigating something, aren't you?"

"Ah, sorry Reimu. Trade secret."

"That's suspicious. Too suspicious! Especially you two. Renko and Merry. You're always right in the middle of any incident. Maybe you two are the reason weird things keep happening."

"You're giving us too much credit, Reimu. We're just regular flesh and blood humans with no special powers."

"Is that why you brought in someone who isn't a regular human?" Reimu asked, glaring at Sanae.

"Who, me? I suppose I do count as a goddess."

"Self-proclaimed goddess," Marisa retorted.

"I’m descended from a long line of living goddesses!"

"I'd say that proves you're not human, but you're way too weak to be an actual god."

"I don't want to hear that from you! You haven’t managed to gather any faith even with our branch shrine!" She glared in the direction of the branch shrine around the corner from the main building. "A shrine maiden who neglects her sacred duties will end up receiving divine punishment!"

"A shrine gettin’ a divine punishment? Does that even make sense?"

"Shut up, Marisa. What do you mean ‘divine punishment?’”

"Something like your shrine collapsing in an earthquake. I bet it doesn't even have any modern earthquake-proofing."

"Things like that never happen. We barely ever get earthquakes here."

Reimu glared at Sanae who glared right back, banging her fist against one of the pillars at the front of the shrine. Before either of them could speak again though Renko cut in, stepping between them. "Whoa there, Sanae. Save it for later. We still have lots more information to gather."

Sanae fumed for a moment but ultimately she snorted dismissively and turned away, saying "You're right, let's go. If Reimu wants to laze around here and slack off, she can. I'm going to go gather faith instead."

"Yes, yes."

"That's the spirit. Come on, Boss, Miss Merry, let's go!"

Without another word, Sanae extended her hands out behind her for us to take. As soon as Renko and I took them the wind whipped up around us and the ground began to fall away.

My partner pressed her hat tightly onto her head, calling "see you around, Reimu" as we lifted away.

Sanae flew for a minute or two in silence before turning her head back towards Renko. "Alright Boss, where to now?"

"Between the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakugyokurou, we may as well head to the one that's easy to get to first. Let's head for Misty Lake."

"The big red mansion. Aye-aye!"

The wind swirled and roared behind us and we began to move faster, hurtling over the trees below as our course bent northward, toward the lake. By far the most convenient thing about having Sanae as a part-time member of our agency was our newfound ability to quickly fly from location to location without hiking whenever she was around. It was a welcome change of pace for my overworked feet, especially after a full day of standing at the front of the classroom. Though, a part of me wondered if we might eventually deserve some level of divine punishment of our own for using a living god as a taxi in this way.


—3—


Soon we were landing before the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. As would seem to be the norm, Hong Meiling, the mansion's gatekeeper, was snoozing while standing leaned up against the red brick column beside the iron gate. Watching her peaceful face as she slowly breathed in and out, it was hard to believe that the story once deduced by Renko and expanded by Patchouli could possibly be correct.

Renko leaned forward towards Meiling and cleared her throat. Getting no response, she said softly "Uh, excuse me."

"Whaazat! Who's there? Oh. It's you guys again."

Meiling had risen to her full, impressive height in an instant, taking a ready stance before she even seemed to be fully awake. Upon recognizing us, she relaxed, returning to a casual position. I wondered how many times we had participated in this exact sequence of events now.

"Oh, there's another one with you today. You were here once before, weren't you Miss?" Meiling tilted her head as she looked Sanae over.

"That's right, I'm Kochiya Sanae, a wind priestess from Moriya Shrine. We're neighbors now!"

In the year since the last casefile I recorded, we had escorted Sanae to the Scarlet Devil Mansion once before and introduced her to Sakuya, Remilia and Patchouli. So for the following passages, bear in mind that she was already acquainted with its residents and staff.

"Well, Miss Kochiya, what can I do for all of you today?"

"We're just here to investigate an odd rumor we heard."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"We heard Miss Patchouli has been going out and visiting people on her own."

"Oh, she has been going out a bit more lately, so that might well be true. She mentioned she was doing some sort of research." Meiling nodded and smiled.

Research? I wondered if it has anything to do with the unusual weather we've been seeing. Patchouli is normally the sort to seal herself up in the library, I would think unpleasant weather would be the sort of thing she'd want to avoid.

"Meiling, did miss Patchouli say anything about where she was going or what she was researching?"

"Err...no. She's out again right now, but if you'd like to come in, you could ask her yourself when she comes back. I don't know when that will be though."

"Ah, thank you, perhaps I'll take you up on that offer. Is Sakuya or the lady of the house at home?"

"Yes, they're both here. The weather's been a bit unpredictable lately, so the Mistress can't really go out. I bet she'd appreciate having someone to talk to! Come on in."

With that, Meiling swung the heavy iron bars of the gate open. As soon as we took a single step onto the path leading toward the grand doors leading in, however, Sakuya appeared before us without a sound, materializing as abruptly as ever. I imagine that she was unaccustomed to worrying about the impact her sudden appearances might have on someone's heart.

"Miss Usami, Miss Hearn and... Miss Kochiya, was it? Welcome once again to the Scarlet Devil Mansion," she said with a formal bow.

"Hello, Sakuya. Sorry to show up unannounced once again," Renko said, removing her hat and bowing.

"Hello, sorry to be a bother," I said, bowing as well.

"You really dress like that all the time, don’t you? You really do look just like a real maid." Sanae said, staring wide-eyed at Sakuya.

"I don't think you're one to talk about appearances."

"You're the first real maid I've ever met. I didn't think maids existed outside of cafes in Akihabara where they call all the customers 'Master' anymore."

Sakuya simply turned towards the door and before saying "This way, please. I'll show you to the audience hall, where the Mistress is awaiting you."

We followed behind her, with Renko whispering to Sanae as we did so. "Sanae, have you ever even been to Akihabara?"

"Once! On a school trip!"

"I see."

We heard the clang of Meiling shutting the gate behind us as we stepped into the mansion. By now, the dim interior and vast, spacious hallways were familiar to us, but having seen it only once before Sanae continued to look around at every detail in awe.

"So, Miss Sakuya, we heard that Miss Patchouli has been going out on her own lately."

"Yes, it's rather unusual for her."

"Do you happen to know where she was going or why? Apparently she showed up at the Hakurei Shrine."

"The shrine? I'm afraid her movements are a mystery to me. She only said something about 'temperaments.'"

"Temperaments?" Renko asked in surprise.

"Yes, she said magicians are naturally sensitive to them, though I'm afraid I don't know what she meant."

I looked over at Renko. The topic of temperaments immediately called to mind the flower incident from years ago. Back then, the Great Hakurei Barrier had weakened and a large number of phantoms had appeared all over Gensokyo. Renko's theory on that Incident had concluded that most of those had simply been temperaments -detached and short-lived partial fragments of souls.

"...I haven't seen a mass outbreak of phantoms anywhere, have you?" I whispered to Renko.

"No. I wonder if maybe whatever Patchouli has been doing has anything to do with this incident?"

As Renko and I continued to whisper to each other and Sanae continued to marvel at the surroundings, we found that we had quite suddenly come to the entrance to Remilia's audience chamber. Sakuya threw open the heavy and ornate doors and ushered us inside.

"Pardon me, Milady, I've brought some guests to see you," she said with an elegant bow.

Remilia was slumped on her throne, her head turned to stare lackadaisically out the open doorway to the covered balcony adjoining the audience chamber when we entered, but upon hearing Sakuya and noticing us, she instantly straightened up and turned to face us. The same boredom that had turned her into a boneless lump the moment before now somehow became the haughty and refined ennui of a worldly noble looking down upon the petty amusements of their inferiors. "What's this?" she asked, looking us over with that same appraising gaze that I remembered. "I thought perhaps Patchy had returned from wherever she's been sneaking off to, but it seems you've brought a more exotic taste for me to sample."

"’Exotic?’ Miss Renko, I think she just called you weird."

"I think she was referring to you, Sanae."

"Me? I'm not weird."

"I was definitely referring to you. You came here once before. You're the one who's like Reimu, but a different color, if I recall."

"I'm nothing like her! Comparing us would be like if I said all vampires are just like Kyuranos! If that were the case, I'd just blast you with my Ultra Beam!" Sanae shouted, crossing her arms in front of her face.

Remilia recoiled from the gesture for a moment before recovering her position on the throne. "Wait a moment, didn't I tell you that crosses have no effect on me?"

Although it was only her second time meeting Remilia, Sanae seemed to have no reservations around her. Remilia, for her part, seemed eager to play along, cackling maliciously and leaning back in her throne as Sanae acted out more special attacks. Maybe the two had more in common than one might think?

While Sanae and Remilia continued to play the part of comic book heroes and villains, Sakuya was quickly and quietly setting a table over on the side of the room, having produced four velvet upholstered chairs, a table cloth, place settings, tea and scones in the moments between blinks. Remilia gestured invitingly to the table as Sakuya finished her work, and we moved our discussion over towards it. As we took our seats, Sakuya bowed respectfully and vanished without a word.

Smiling in a way that seemed to serve to highlight her pointed fangs, Remilia lifted her teacup and stared through the wafting steam towards us with her crimson eyes.

"So, what quest is so great as to bring three hapless humans into the very lair of a vampire, hmm?"

"Well actually, we wanted to—" Renko began, but was almost immediately interrupted by Sanae who suddenly leapt to her feet, tipping her chair over backwards with a crash as she did so.

"I see it now! You're the culprit behind this incident! You've been dispatching your hench-wizard to locations around Gensokyo to mess up the weather, thinking no one would find out! Well, I, Kochiya Sanae, holy warrior, have come the right the evil you have wrought! I will not let your villainy go unpunished! Die, monster. You don't belong in this world!"

Remilia chuckled, swirling the tea in her cup and regarding Sanae coolly. "Foolish human. You cannot stand against the might of the descendant of Țepeș. Mortals like you should be bowing down in tribute to me."

"Tribute!? You steal men's souls and make them your slaves! With the power of belief in the Moriya Shrine I will end your reign of terror. People of Gensokyo, lend me your faith!"

"The power that you could gather is but the flame of a candle before the wind. The light of your faith would be forgotten in an instant if I had a mind to cover the world in darkness."

"No! The power of one human may be small, but the power of faith is infinite! The light of mankind's faith will shine forth!"

"Man's faith? Pah! What is faith? A miserable little pile of lies humans tell themselves as they shiver in my night. My strength will crush the spirits of man and the strongholds of your faith with it!" By this point Remilia had risen to her feet too and was standing with one foot on the table, hands posed threateningly and eyes gleaming.

"Okay! That's enough. Save the confrontation for the next issue, we have to cut it here or there won't be a good cliffhanger." Renko interjected, also standing and waving her arms between the two of them.

"Miss Renkoooo, you're ruining it!" Sanae whined. "We were just getting started. The hero was about to triumph over evil and restore hope to the world. It might have been more dramatic if you had thrown your teacup with that line about faith though, Remilia."

"The Scarlet Devil would simply have altered the hero's fate and ushered in a thousand-year empire. And Sakuya gets testy when I break the teacups. Now, where were we?"

Renko shrugged and patted Sanae on the shoulder. Sanae pouted for only a moment longer before turning her chair upright and sitting back down. Remilia followed suit, stepping back off of the table and plopping down in her seat. It seemed that all that was needed for the conversation to continue was for both of them to let out a little of their excitement.

"Now then," Renko began. "We've been looking into some odd irregularities that have been affecting the weather recently."

"Oho?" Remilia's blood-red eyes narrowed as a wide and mischievous smile played across her lips. "So you've noticed then. Sakuya hasn't even picked up on it yet."

"Ah, so you already know then?"

"Indeed I do. Sakuya never notices anything though. Even back during that moon incident, she had no idea until I pointed it out to her."

"So then, do you have any idea who might be behind this bad weather or why?"

"I don't have any idea as to who might be responsible, but I would think the 'why' of it all is perfectly clear."

Renko's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Well then, if you've already made it that far I must admit I'm impressed. If you would be so kind as to forgive my human ignorance and instruct me, I'd be very grateful."

Remilia chuckled softly as Renko stared intently at her, clearly enjoying the spotlight. "Well, you have humility, at least. I wish Sakuya could be so humble. The culprit's motive is clear, detective: they seek to keep the Eternal Scarlet Moon from going outside!"