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

—1—


Three months had passed since the end of the Vengeful Spirit Incident. Spring had nearly arrived in Gensokyo by this point and thus it was also three months since we had first ventured into the city of Old Hell deep beneath the surface of Gensokyo, where we had so recently made a number of new friends (Underworld connections, you might say.)

What had we spent those three months doing, you might ask?

The answer is that we had been working on a project, a joint effort between forces both above and below the ground, both divine and monstrous in nature. It was just now reaching its final stages.

"Heeeave-ho! Heeeave-ho!" a dozen voices called out in rhythm.

In the dimly lit caves far beneath the surface, the brawny backs of the Underworld oni strained and pulled on a series of thick, knotted ropes. Impelled by the terrible force of their muscles, an enormous wooden ship slowly slid across the ground. This was the last leg of the ship's long journey and its final destination was just a few dozen meters away: The Hell of Blood Pools.

"Well I bet that's a sight you never expected to see, eh Merry?" Renko asked with a broad smile on her face.

"Doesn't it seem a little weird to launch a ship belonging to a monk like the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 onto the Hell of Blood Pools?"

"You're worrying about the details too much," Renko said, as she watched the progress with undisguised excitement. "The Hell of Blood Pools just happens to be the closest body of water. Or well, water-like substance."

The two of us were sitting on a reed mat, watching the ship's journey over the last meters of its months-long voyage. All around us a crowd of oni and other youkai was gathered, chatting eagerly in anticipation of the impending celebration of the project's completion.

"Just a little farther! Pull! Heave!" This exhortation had been bellowed by the oni sitting beside us on the mat, watching over the work. When she wasn't shouting to keep the other oni in line, Hoshiguma Yuugi was grinning fearsomely, nearly as excited as Renko to see the project complete.

The rumble of the ship grinding along the floor of the cavern echoed and resounded, rolling off of the stone walls like thunder as droves of oni and other youkai gathered around, having made their way down to from the city to the shores to watch the spectacle.

"Even though I helped with the repairs I never really thought I'd see this day. It's kinda moving, right Kisume?" said another voice. It had come from Kurodani Yamame, the tsuchigumo foreman who had acted as lead engineer in our endeavor, overseeing the repairs and transportation of the ship to the Hell of Blood Pools. Smiling as she sat beside Yuugi, she looked up at the ship as it passed us, holding a bucket in her hands. The bucket was home to (or perhaps part of, I still wasn't clear on that) her friend Kisume, a tsurube otoshi who dwelled within it and was nodding emphatically as she followed Yamame's gaze, watching the towering walls of the ship's hull slowly slide past.

Beside her, Mizuhashi Parsee sat, another of the youkai invited to the launch party, her gaze consciously fixed on the form of the ship. "I'm jealous of all the attention that hunk of dead wood is getting," she muttered aloud, but even she seemed almost happy as her lamp-like green eyes turned toward the towering tip of the ship's mast.

"Heeeave-ho! Heeeave-ho! Heeeave-ha!"

With one great, final shout, the workers, who had moved around to the back of the ship now, gave the hull a final, powerful shove. There was a cry of triumphant jubilation from all of the assembled throng which was quickly joined by the sound of an enormous splash as the prow of the long-dry ship cut into the red waters of the hellish lake for the first time. The ship plowed forward, throwing a gory wake to either side, then settling into its balance point. The 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 coasted a short distance on the surface of the lake, looking like a proper sailing ship for the first time in a thousand years. As thunderous cheers rang out throughout the cavern we all rose to our feet as one, spontaneously applauding.

From the deck of the ship, two figures appeared, then leaped over the side of the ship, plunging down to land on the edge of the shore, not far from us. One of them wore a spotless white sailor's uniform in stark contrast to the color of the blood lapping at the shore behind her. She ran up to greet us with arms spread wide and a look of pure elation on her face.

"Renko!"

"Captain!"

"It's working!"

"So far, so good!"

Captain Murasa didn't brake her sprint one bit, leaping forward and meeting Renko's upraised hands with a double high five. She even turned to me, offering her hands excitedly. I timidly slapped a palm against hers, feeling awkward the whole time.

"Yamame too! We did it!" she shouted, turning to our companions.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this excited, Captain. Congratulations," Yamame said, releasing Kisume to meet the Murasa's high-five.

"Of course I’m happy. After a thousand years of hopeless toil, the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 is ship-shape again. It’s finally time for us to set sail and make our way to see Hijiri again! This is everything we’ve been waiting for!!"

Yuugi and Yamae glanced at each other, sharing a smile as they watched Murasa begin dancing in giddy circles, almost mad with joy. Ichirin stepped forward then, looking more restrained but no less joyful.

"Yes, yes. We’re all very happy for you, Captain." Yamame declared, still smirking. "Are you sure you’re ready to depart?"

"Yes, thanks to all of you, we're ready," Ichirin said, bowing deeply. "The ship should automatically be drawn toward Saint Byakuren's power. All we need to do is get out of the Underworld and we'll be on our way to see her again, right Captain?"

"Everything’s battened down and ship-shape. The next stop is Makai and Byakuren's resurrection!" Murasa replied with a nod, giving her a firm thumbs-up before turning to face us again. "I feel like words alone could never be enough thanks for all that you've done for us. Especially you, Renko," Murasa said, walking to stand beside Ichirin and offering a deep bow of her own.

"Don't go overboard, Captain. I didn't do any of the actual work,"

"What are you talking about? None of this ever would have happened if not for you! Praise God, Buddha and Renko! Oh... um I should probably stop saying things like that."

"Unzan would like to express his sincere thanks as well. We're very grateful," Ichirin said, patting Unzan’s enormous cheek as she bowed deeply.

"On that note, Renko," Murasa added, "Are you sure that this is reward enough for you? We don’t mind bringing you along of course, but that hardly seems sufficient for everything you’ve done."

"No, no, this is more than enough. I’m excited to undertake a journey like this."

"Well we’re glad to have you aboard then. I’m sure Hijiri will be thrilled to meet her benefactor, right Ichirin?"

"Yes, absolutely."

Murasa turned to get a better look at her ship and threw an arm over Renko's shoulder. "One last cheer! To victory!" she shouted, raising her other fist and letting out a whoop. I could only shrug awkwardly, feeling slightly out of the loop. I suppose that's natural though. I really hadn't had a hand in any of the work that had been done and was only here as Renko's plus-one. There was no reason for anyone to be thanking me.

Another pair of voices interrupted the cheering as two more figures drew closer, flying through the endless night of the caves and over the heads of the crowd to land just in front of where we had all gathered.

"Ta-dah! I brought her, just like you asked."

"There's so many people here, Orin! I've never seen this many. If I started doing fusion now, you could have so many corpses for the fires!"

"Not yet, Okuu! Wait until Renko says to start before you do any fusion, okay?" Orin said, pointing at my partner. Okuu looked about in confusion for a moment before spreading her wings and flying over to us.

"Hello, Okuu. Do you remember me?" Renko asked amiably.

"Ummm, you're Renko, right?"

"Very good! That's right. I'm hoping you could help me today, with just a little bit of your divine fire."

"Nuclear fusion! I can do that!" She declared happily

"Not yet though! Not yet! Wait until I give you the signal, it's still too early!"

"Unyu?"

"I'll have Orin tell you when it's time, okay? Just wait until she says the word. When she does, I want you to use your power to boil the Hell of Blood Pools, okay? Do you understand?"

"Okay, I got it."

"Alright then, Orin. You remember everything we discussed?"

"I remember, sis. This plan still sounds crazy to me though. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I've done the math a dozen times over. I'm pretty certain we'll be fine. How about your end, Lady Moriya? Everything ready?" This last bit Renko shouted toward the sky, or rather toward the unseen and distant ceiling of the cavern, somewhere above the reach of the torchlight surrounding us.

"Yes, yes. The shaft is all complete. You can go at any time. I'll seal this whole chamber up tight." A moment later the figure of Suwako Moriya descended from above, floating down out of the darkness.

"Good," Renko said with a nod. "That's vital for producing the thrust we need to push the ship up to the surface. We couldn’t do this without the power of your godly might, Lady Moriya."

"Just make sure you offer some fine sake later. This sort of work is easy for someone like me."

"I couldn't ask for more. That's perfect, as expected of the god of the mountain." Renko bowed in thanks.

Yuugi raised herself up from her position on the mat beside us then, drinking dish in hand. "Well then, it’s about time for you to head out now, isn’t it?"

"I’m afraid so. Thank you once again for all of your help Miss Yuugi."

"It was just a fun way to kill some time. I'd like to invite you all to the farewell party, but it would be cruel to make these two wait any longer" Yuugi said with a grin. "It's a shame though, at least have one drink for luck before you go."

"Hah, thanks," Renko said, taking the offered cup and drinking it down in one gulp. Immediately she coughed, barely keeping the sake inside her, her face flushing red as the sting of the alcohol brought tears to her eyes. "Hough! That's serious stuff! It's good though! Okay, Merry. Let's get out of here before I'm tempted to stay!"

Yuugi laughed heartily and clapped appreciatively, then called out to the crowd. "Alright, we'd like to see you off but given how you’re leaving we wouldn’t want you to worry about us, so we should go." Having said that, she and the rest of the youkai present moved away from the shoreline, many of them waving goodbyes as they headed back through the tunnels toward the city. Only the eight of us remained behind on the shores of the reeking lake: myself, Renko, Murasa, Ichirin, Unzan, Orin, Okuu and Suwako.

"Okay, if you're going, then get aboard, I need to seal the passage," Suwako said.

"Okuu and I will wait for your signal," Orin added. Okuu nodded in agreement.

"Perfect."

"Let’s go Ichirin," Murasa said, turning back toward the ship.

"Unzan will carry you aboard. Let's go ahead and get everything squared away."

"Ah thank you, please pardon my step, Unzan. Come on, Merry, step on up."

"Pardon me, Unzan."

We stepped up onto the nyuudo's broad back and were swiftly carried to the deck of the ship where it floated in the Hell of Blood Pools. We made our way into a large, enclosed structure that made up the rear half of the ship’s main deck, which I had been informed was properly called an ‘aftcastle’. We were just settling in when we heard the rumbling of stone against stone followed by Suwako's voice shouting "Okay, we're ready!"

All that was left to do was to unfurl the masts then boil the lake and let the steam propel the ship upward through the shaft that Suwako had prepared. Renko had spent the last three months going over the calculations and preparing for this moment, perfecting her plan to create an artificial geyser as a means of allowing the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 to escape from the Underworld.

Captain Murasa ran a hand lovingly along the wheel of the helm, standing in silence for a moment before raising her head and staring straight ahead with a determined expression. "This is it! Next stop is the world of Makai, to free Hijiri from her prison. The 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 is underway!"


—2—


For anyone who may not have read all of my previous case files, you're probably wondering what any of that was about. I'll do my best to explain concisely. Three months ago, my partner and I ventured into the Underworld for the first time. Among many other adventures related to the so-called Vengeful Spirit Incident, we met Captain Murasa and Ichirin there. After that incident was resolved, Renko had turned her attention toward helping the two of them escape from their confinement in the Underworld.

Minamitsu Murasa, the ship phantom and Ichirin Kumoi a nun (and her partner Unzan who I suppose counted as a monk) were all the disciples of a famous nun named Hijiri Byakuren who had once preached the teachings of the Buddha up on the surface. When it was discovered that her temple was also providing shelter to youkai, however, it had been burned down by an angry mob. Byakuren herself had been sealed away in Makai by the Hakurei shrine maiden of that time with the Yama's help and Murasa and Ichirin had been banished to the Underworld along with the wreck of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛. That had been a thousand years ago.

By securing the cooperation of the tsuchigumo and other youkai, Murasa and her companions had spent the millennium since being sealed underground slowly repairing the shattered ship bit by bit, eventually restoring it to its original condition in the hope that someday they might use it to free Saint Byakuren. That was the point at which we met them. Renko then devised a plan to lift the ship and its inhabitants out of the Underworld using an artificial geyser.

To create that geyser, she enlisted the help of several other parties involved in the previous incident. That incident had begun with the two goddesses of the Moriya shrine, Yasaka Kanako and Moriya Suwako had, in their pursuit of a source of electrical energy, gifted the hell raven Reiuji Utsuho with the power of the god Yatagarasu. Utsuho, better known as 'Okuu' was a raven who lived in the depths of the Hell of Blazing Fires. Her acquisition of the power of Yatagarasu had granted her control over nuclear fusion—the divine fire of Yatagarasu. So empowered, she had been able to expand and intensify the flames of the smoldering remnants of the Hell of Blazing Fires, which had in turn caused a hot spring to erupt near the Hakurei shrine.

At the time Okuu had seen the new power she had gained as an utterly unbeatable force and had hatched a plan to use it to conquer the surface. Her best friend, a kasha named Orin had realized just how dangerous such a plan might be and, fearing for her friend's life, she had released a number of vengeful spirits up to the surface to act as a warning. This had eventually caught the attention of the Youkai Sage and others, who had dispatched Hakurei Reimu and Kirisame Marisa to investigate the matter. As a result of their involvement, Okuu had given up on her expansionist ambitions and returned to her life tending to the flames of the Hell of Blazing Fires and living as a pet in the Palace of the Earth Spirits. That happy ending was more or less the way the Vengeful Spirits Incident had been resolved though there were other events taking place at the same time as detailed in my previous case file.

Although Okuu's plans had been foiled and she herself had been forcibly subdued, she still retained the tremendous power that had been given to her. Although Orin had also returned to her duties managing the vengeful spirits trapped in the Hell of Blazing Fires, the geysers that had once released them onto the surface continued to erupt. Some of these were being harnessed by the Moriya Shrine to generate geothermal electricity while the one near the Hakurei Shrine was being used to operate an onsen.

The essence of my partner's plan was to harness the energy of a geyser to carry the ship to the surface. Given the size of Murasa’s ship it would have been impossible to fit it through any of the holes that already existed linking the surface and the Underworld and since it had already been re-assembled, maneuvering it any significant distance underground would be tremendously difficult. Renko’s plan therefore was to instead blast it out of the Underworld and up through a new shaft leading to the surface that had been dug by Moriya Suwako, one of the goddesses of the mountain who had used her ability to reshape the earth to easily complete the work. According to her, the shaft should reach the surface somewhere around a third of the way up Youkai Mountain, on the northern side, where it wouldn't be too conspicuous.

By following this roundabout method, Renko hoped that the removal of the ship from the Underworld wouldn't constitute a breach of the non-aggression pact between the youkai of the surface and those living in the Underworld, who had agreed not to interfere in each other's business. If the expulsion of an ancient sailing ship from the Underworld could be claimed as just a coincidence caused by a geyser, then no one could complain about it. Although the rules about travelling between the Underworld and the surface seem to have relaxed since The Vengeful Spirits Incident, she figured it was safer to have a plausible alibi in case anyone objected.

‘A mysterious treasure ship was thrown to the surface by a naturally occurring geyser.’ Essentially, that was the cover story my partner had decided on. To make it believable though, that unlikely coincidence needed to be engineered. To achieve this, she had recruited the help of a goddess from the surface and various youkai under the command of Hoshigama Yuugi from the city of Old Hell in the Underworld. For something that was supposed to be a coincidence, it had taken an impressive amount of work.

Of course, if Renko's plan had gone off without a single hitch, then there never would have been an incident requiring the involvement of the Hakurei shrine maiden at all. Well, as they say, 'the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'

But let me return to the point where I left off. If I proceed chronologically you will see soon enough just how far off course that plan would end up drifting.

—

The 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 had unfurled its towering sails with a great rustling. At the same time a deep thrumming vibration and a soft orange glow had become visible from the shoreline. The usually-chilly underground air began to warm as a red mist started to rise from the sea of blood beneath us. Ever so slowly, the ship lifted into the air, raised perhaps not by the slow boiling of the lake but by the magical power instilled within it by Saint Byakuren.

"Oh, we're floating, Merry!" Renko had announced excitedly, rising from her seat to peer out one of the aftcastle's windows as the rising angle of the ship slowly became sharper and sharper.

"Weren't you just saying this is going to be dangerous? Sit down Renko, and get away from the window."

"This ship was once Hijiri’s legendary flying storehouse" Captain Murasa announced, staring forward with her hands resting on the helm. "Hijiri’s power resides within it now. That same power will guide us right to her automatically." She sounded proud as she announced that, but didn't that mean that as captain there was nothing for her to do?

The ship floated higher into the air and maneuvered its way toward the entrance to the vertical shaft that Suwako had dug down from the surface. With every other exit to this chamber sealed up, the steam from the boiling lake of blood would have nowhere else to go but up. All we had to do was wait for the pressure to gradually build and bit by bit we should be carried to the surface. I was a bit concerned about whether such an ancient ship could withstand the ordeal, but I tried not to think about that as we sat waiting for the process to begin.

"We'll be on the surface soon. I wonder what Shou and Little Naz have been doing since we were entombed." Murasa mused to herself. "Hopefully they've been alright."

"Once we make it to the surface, Shou's pagoda will probably react. Maybe she'll come and find us." Ichirin suggested, lifting into the air as the ship slowly tilted further and further upward.

"It's been a thousand years since we've seen them. Do you think they'll still remember us?" Murasa asked, her feet remaining firmly planted on the deck before the helm even as the ship continued to tilt.

"Of course they will. The four of us swore that we'd do everything we could to free Saint Byakuren and rebuild the temple."

"That's right! Now isn't the time for doubt. We've already come all this way, all that's left now is one last sprint! To the surface!"

Murasa threw her arm forward as Ichirin stood proudly beside her, eyes full of determination. Behind them Renko was humming the theme to 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑌𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑜 slightly off-key. By this point the ship had tilted to such a degree that Renko and I had had to move to stand on what I would normally think of as the wall of the aftcastle, rather than the deck. All we could see through the opening at the front of the aftcastle was the prow of the ship, dozens of meters above us. It continued to rise, ascending towards the opening of the shaft as we approached the hole. As we rose, the orange glow that had been building at the shore rotated out of sight, but I could see its light reflecting off the ceiling of the cave and intensifying, casting odd vertical shadows along the walls of the shaft we were ascending into.

"A little bumpy, eh Merry?" Renko asked me as she adjusted her balance to stand beside me on the wall of the now-vertical aftcastle.

There was a loud snap as the sails caught the current of the rising column of heat and steam and we began to shoot judderingly up the rocky tube.

"We're riding on a geyser, Renko! I feel like I'm going to bite my tongue!" I stammered through the vibrations.

Unable to stand, Renko and I were both clinging on to the walls of the aftcastle for support. Above us Murasa continued to stand rooted to the deck in defiance of gravity, tilted almost 90 degrees from our perspective. Ichirin floated in the air, aligned with us but looking upward through the aftcastle’s window. Renko attempted to follow her gaze, but as she did, the ship bucked, turning slightly as the boiling blood battered the stern. The sickening twisting motion instantly threw us both off of our feet, but rather than landing on the hard planks, we found our falls cushioned by Unzan's muscular form as he flattened out into a mattress-like plane with supports for our heads at one end. With a sigh of relief I nodded towards his eyes and brow, which were still visible poking out of the top of one end of the squarish cloud and relaxed my body, feeling the inertia press me further against his back.

Laying on our backs it was easier to look out over the deck through the aftcastle’s window. As I turned my head to get a better view, a blur of movement from just outside caught my eye. It had looked, for the briefest of moments, like a humanoid shape had run across the deck in front of the doorway.

I found myself rolling over towards the door and muttering "who was that?" without even thinking about it.

"What is it, Merry? What's wrong?"

"I could have sworn I just saw someone outside the window..."

"We're the only people on board though, aren't we?"

"Could someone have gotten aboard without permission?"

"What if it was someone like Koishi from the Palace of the Earth Spirits?"

It was a distinct possibility. Someone with Koishi's ability to pass unnoticed could have been aboard the whole time without anyone being aware of it.

"...maybe, but I'm not sure. It could have just been my imagination."

Even if there had been someone there, there was no way I could go looking for them under the current conditions. Even standing would have been near impossible with all of the shaking. The last thing I wanted to do was ask Captain Murasa or Ichirin about it. No sense in ruining this long-awaited moment for them. Once we reached the surface, I'd have a look around then, and let them know if anything seemed amiss, I told myself.

Looking back on events now, that one momentary decision turned out to be fateful. If I had simply spoken to either of them about the question of a stowaway now, so much of what followed might have been avoided. It was, unquestionably, a misjudgment on my part.

For as you might have guessed, the movement I had seen had in fact been a sign of the presence of another person on the ship. A person whose aim was nothing less than to sabotage our voyage as it departed.


—3—


The amount of time we spent riding that torrent of hot steam and shaking madly was probably only a few minutes at most, but living through it, it definitely felt 10 times as long. The geyser beneath us was far from stable and the rushing force of its blast wave had the ship constantly listing from side to side. It didn't take long at all for me to start feeling seasick.

"Are you alright, Merry?" Renko asked beside me.

"Is it possible to be seasick when we're not at sea?"

"Don’t worry, I have something that will cure your seasickness immediately," Renko said. "The ship sort of sounds like it might be coming apart."

Sure enough a terrible groan echoed through the ship just then as a deep vibration thrummed through the deck.

And just like that my seasickness was replaced by an overwhelming dread. I wouldn't exactly call it preferable.

"What was that, Renko?" Murasa shouted, grabbing the helm

"I suppose the force of the geyser might not push exactly straight up, even with the tunnel focusing it," Renko mused. "Or maybe this shaft might be a little narrower than expected. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to do all the calculations by hand."

"You’re just thinking of that now!?!" I shouted incredulously.

"You two hold tight onto Unzan!" Ichirin called out.

At this point I had rolled over and grabbed onto the front of Renko's shirt to shake her, but Unzan's strong arms soon pulled us apart, pressing each of us into the soft warmth of his vapors. Was their plan to have Unzan protect us even if the ship broke up? I was so grateful that tears came to my eyes.

Buried in the cloud-stuff of his body, I couldn't see much of anything but from the sound of the terrible wrenching booms echoing from every direction, it sounded like that might actually happen. A horrible, chattering, grinding sound joined the cacophony as the mast scraped against the walls of the shaft. The shaking intensified and somewhere deep below us, in the lower decks of the ship, there was a sound that I could only describe as the hull of the vessel crying out in pain.

I wondered how much tunnel there was left to ascend through. I wondered if there would be anything more than toothpicks left of the ship by the time we got there. I wondered why I kept following Renko into situations like this when nearly every moment of our time in the Underworld had included at least one narrowly-avoided threat to our survival.

"Ichirin, look! I see sunlight!" Murasa called out, pointing out of the window before her.

"Calm down, Captain, you’re hallucinating! We need to do something!" Ichirin called out from beside her. The aftcastle of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 is located at its stern, and with the angle we were tilted at, I couldn't see what was happening. The captain seemed to have fallen into despair, nonsensically imagining an impossible sight as we were still dozens of meters below the surface. In my head I was busy reciting a rapid-fire litany of prayers to every deity I could think of. I prayed to God the Buddha and even Saint Byakuren. I prayed to the Saint whose face I had never seen to shield her followers and their foolhardy passengers on their quest to free her.

"There's no time for this! Murasa, watch over Renko and Merry. Unzan, let's go!"

"What? Where are you going?"

"Outside! I’ll open up the tunnel with Unzan!"

I barely had time to notice her running for the door before the support of Unzan's arms withdrew from around me and Murasa rushed over to us, supporting our weight against the crushing force of our acceleration.

"Well Captain," Renko said unsteadily as she climbed to her feet, "It looks like you've got your work cut out for you."

"Renko, could you please take this seriously? We could be killed here!"

"Oh, this is nothing compared to when the temple was burned down. This ship is Hijiri’s, her power will protect us" Murasa’s voice was worryingly numb, as if she were reciting a mantra by rote. I held on to her tighter. I could only pray that her faith wasn't misplaced.

While this was happening, Ichirin was somewhere outside with Unzan. From our position in the aftcastle Renko and I couldn't see a thing. From what I heard later, it seems that Unzan was able to hurriedly enlarge the mouth of the tunnel we were racing toward using only his fists. If Sanae had been present to witness it, I'm sure she would have had some appropriate quote memorized to compare Unzan to Star Platinum. Given the way in which Ichirin and Unzan worked together, almost like two bodies under the control of one mind, the comparison might not even have been too far from the truth. Unzan is a lot more intimidating to look at than Star Platinum though. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then just go ask at either the Moriya Shrine or the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library.

At any rate, Ichirin and Unzan's efforts were not in vain. At least not completely. With their help we made it through the narrowest part of the shaft. But seconds later we heard something shatter with a final resounding crash as the ship continued to surge upward, impelled by the relentless torrent of blood.

"It's... the surface! We made it to the surface!" Murasa cried as the vibrations died away and sunlight, shockingly bright and all-encompassing, suddenly washed over the ship, illuminating every inch of the deck.

We had emerged from the shaft and been tossed into the air, and were now slowly rotating, the prow of the ship descending to bring us level again. The scene below us might once have been a tranquil and secluded mountain valley, but the geyser that had carried us here was now tumbling down in a sizzling rain of boiling blood, making the natural landscape look hellish beneath us. It was a less than auspicious sight to commemorate the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛'𝑠 first moments above ground in a thousand years.

"Did... did we make it?" I asked with a quavering voice.

"Well, we're alive and airborne, so that's a good start. I'm worried about some of those noises we heard though," Renko said, climbing to her feet and rubbing her chin contemplatively.

"Don't talk about it like it's not your problem! Captain Murasa, is the ship alright?"

"That sound earlier, that was something bad. It could have been the mast." She lifted her head to peer out over the deck, looking worried.

Suddenly, Ichirin came back through the door, with Unzan hovering close behind her. "Murasa! The mast snapped! Pieces of it got blown all over the place when you came out of the hole!"

"What? I spent an entire century fixing that!" Murasa ran outside with both hands clutching the sides of her head. Ichirin turned and left with her. I looked worriedly at Renko then the two of us shakily followed.

On top of the aftcastle, the damage was immediately apparent. Where the mast had stood there was only a jagged, splintered stalk. The mast itself, with its broad sail and all of its rigging was nowhere to be seen. Elsewhere on the deck, boulders and debris were strewn about, along with splinters of wood and bits of smashed planks where falling rocks had punched clean through the upper deck. Murasa had fallen to her knees, staring in slack-jawed distress at the broken stump while Ichirin and Unzan stood on either side of her, Ichirin gently patting her shoulder. I didn't doubt that if I could have seen the ship from the side or below, there would have been more clearly visible damage to the hull as well.

Despite it all, we were still flying though, drifting slowly and aimlessly through the sky, slowly rotating as the breezes swirled around us. Beneath us, the geyser was dying down, the pooled blood slowly flowing back into the hole we emerged from, the whole scene looking like a terrible wound in the earth. I suppose somewhere below Okuu had stopped boiling the blood pools.

"This is terrible, Miss Ichirin. How did this happen?" Renko asked as she walked toward them.

"The mast snagged on something just before we emerged from the tunnel. It got pinned when the ship listed after that hit, then the base of it just… shattered" she said, flinging her fingers apart expressively. "Pieces of it went everywhere when the geyser erupted."

"Uaaagh! That mast contains Hijiri's power!" Murasa screamed, still holding her head with both hands. "Without it, even with Shou's sacred treasure we won't be able to unseal her. Ichirin! Did you see where any of the pieces went? I'm changing our course, we have to retrieve as much of that mast as we possibly can!"

"I suppose we'll have to do that. With any luck maybe Shou and Nazrin will find us while we're searching."

Exhaling slowly she nodded to Ichirin then turned to face us. Renko put her hands together and bowed deeply as the two turned around.

"I'm sorry for all of this trouble," she declared. "This was probably caused by my sloppy calculations."

"Ah, I wouldn't think of blaming you, Renko. Things might not have gone as planned, but we never would have made it even this far without you. There's still hope!"

"That's right, we're grateful to you for helping us make it this far," Ichirin added.

Murasa and Ichirin are both good people. If only they knew how rare it was for Renko to apologize for anything. I walked over and held her head down as she bowed.

"Really, it's alright to blame her. She has it coming."

Renko brushed my hand away and stood up. "Maybe I can think of some way to help you find the missing pieces..."

"You don't have to help," Ichirin said. "That'd be far too much to ask. There must have been dozens of pieces, we couldn't keep you that long."

"It was that bad?" Murasa asked, looking despairingly at Ichirin

"It’s actually worse than that. A whole bunch of fairies came out to investigate the commotion. I saw several of them flying off in different directions carrying pieces of the mast."

"we're going to have to search the entire surface of Gensokyo, aren't we..."

"Yeah," Ichirin replied. "Probably."

Murasa fell to her knees again, turning her head to stare at the shattered stump of the mast. "How could this happen? There's no way the mast should be able to break into pieces like that."

"It definitely seemed strange. The ship took some hits from the geyser, but the way that the mast just exploded seemed unnatural."

Murasa and Ichirin tilted their heads in contemplation as they stared at the shattered base of the mast. I thought back to how the ship had looked when it was intact. The mast had been a single, solid piece of wood that reached down to the bottom of the whole ship. I would have just expected the top to snap off until it was small enough to fit through the hole. For it to have shattered into pieces near the base didn't make logical sense.

"Could Yamame have screwed something up when she was helping us rebuild?" Murasa asked.

"No... someone must have interfered..."

"Interfered...?" Ichirin suddenly fell silent, then looked at Murasa with an expression of alarm. Murasa returned the look, seeming to have hit upon the same idea at the same time.

"Merry, Renko, have either of you seen anyone else on board this ship other than us and Unzan?" Murasa asked, sounding almost panicked.

"Someone other than you two? Well, I haven't, but Merry, weren't you just saying something like that?"

"Ah well, I wasn't sure, but I think I might have seen someone else's shadow running past the aftcastle door just after we set out..."

Murasa's expression became even more distraught. She slowly raised her hands to cover her face and screamed into them. "Guaaahh! It's her! It has to be! I can't believe she's doing this to us at a time like this!"

"She who?" Renko asked.

Murasa ignored her and stepped toward the ship’s railing, stomping angrily as she trod over the deck. "Nue! I know you did this! Come out! You'll answer for this!" she shouted.

There was no response to the call, only a cheerful yamabiko's echo from the direction of the mountain a moment later, shouting "Come out!" back at us, in a playful tone.