東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 2:Hisoutensoku

—4—


Back when I was living in the Scientific Century, I would occasionally wander into Gensokyo in my dreams. At the very least, I remember having seen the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the Bamboo Forest of the Lost in a dream. They even found a discarded note that I wrote there which was kept by a member of the Heida family for hundreds of years before I was even born. How any of that relates to the fact that we had travelled eighty years backwards in time upon arriving in Gensokyo is still a mystery to me.

With this sort of a history, the idea had occurred to me, of course, that everything Renko and I had experienced since arriving in Gensokyo together had been one long dream. Perhaps she and I had both fallen into a coma back in Sumireko's room and everything since that day had been a shared delusion, experienced over the course of our ongoing slumber.

If that was the case, however, it could be equally likely that all of my experiences in the Scientific Century might be a dream as well. From the perspective of Relativistic Noology, there would be no way to distinguish if either of these cases were true. If my current life is a dream that the version of me who lived in the Scientific Century is having, how is that any different from if the whole of the Scientific Century was a dream that the me who lives in Gensokyo once had? What we call 'objectivity' is nothing more than a shared delusion, so whatever I was perceiving my reality to be was as real as anything else, at least to me.

I'm digressing, however. The reason I bring any of this up is simply that...

—

"I've been having some strange dreams again lately."

"Oh, it's been a while since I've heard about any of your dreams, Merry. I don't think you've mentioned them since we've come to Gensokyo, in fact."

It was a morning on the tail end of the rainy season, summer was just beginning in earnest. When I brought up this topic over breakfast, Renko leaned forward, listening with interest.

"Well, I haven't mentioned them is all, but I do still have dreams."

"Are you dreaming of the Outside World now? Do you think you've been crossing back over the barrier in your sleep?"

"I don't really remember them all that well, so I haven't been mentioning them. The dreams of Gensokyo I had back when we were in Kyoto were much more memorable."

"So what weird dreams have you been having then?"

"Hmm, it's a little difficult to explain. They seem like normal dreams, but something seems... off. Last night, for example, I dreamed I was sitting in the staff room at the school and Miss Keine came in to talk to me. The thing is, it wasn't Keine. It looked like her, and it sounded like her, but it wasn't her. I couldn't tell you why, but I was sure of it."

"A Keine imposter? Did she do anything?"

"Well, that's what it felt like. When I asked if she was really Miss Keine or not, she suddenly stopped, clicked her tongue at me in disgust and walked out of the room."

"Well that certainly sounds like a fake. Do you think someone could be trying to mess with your dreams, Merry?"

"Who would do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was a baku. They're supposed to eat dreams right? I bet your dreams are extra delicious."

"I wonder if something like that could really happen here."

"Who knows. Maybe it would be like when we went to TORIFUNE."

She was referring to something that had happened a long time ago, back when we had both been living in the Outside World. Back then, we had both fallen asleep together at a shrine and visited a tiny, far-away world called TORIFUNE in a shared dream. While there, we had been attacked by a creature living in that place and I, who believed dreams and reality were indistinguishable, had woken up injured and had to be institutionalized for several months as a result. Renko, who believed dreams were only that, had escaped unharmed. It was an event that very much called the concepts of Relativistic Noology to mind.

"That brings back memories. What would be the closest equivalent to a sanatorium here? Eientei?"

"Well, it would be a shorter trip than going to see you in Shinano, at least."

"Wouldn't something like that be more dangerous for you though? I'm used to seeing odd things in my dreams, but you've started thinking like a Relativist since coming here too. If you go around acting as reckless in your dreams as you did back at TORIFUNE, then you might end up getting eaten by a youkai in your dreams."

"Ooo, that sounds scary, Merry. No covering my eyes while I'm asleep, I guess."

"I'm not sure I'd have to, is what I'm saying. You should be on the lookout for imposters in your dreams too."

"I don't have to worry about that at least. I'm a great detective, Merry. If someone tried to do that to me, I'd expose them in a spectacular fashion. Maybe that's why they turned around and left your dream too. Your eyes were able to see through all of Nue's illusions, maybe they were scared that you’d see through their disguise and be able to identify them."

"Do you think it's a youkai that disguises themselves like Nue who's invading my dreams?"

"Who knows?. Maybe it was trying to get close to you through your dreams to assassinate you before you could find out who it was." She grinned at me through the drifting steam as I picked up my bowl of miso soup.

"Don't say something like that with a smile on your face, what if you're right?"

"You started it, Merry."

As my partner munched on pickles with a cat-like grin I could only sigh and drink my miso soup.

—’

In the Outside World, if you were to be plagued by bad dreams, the scientifically accepted response would be to forget about it as quickly as possible. The age in which anyone reputable would attempt a Freudian analysis of their dreams had long passed. Unlike my Empiricist partner, however, I am a Relativist who finds dreams and waking reality much closer to equivalent than most. Especially in a world like Gensokyo, where subjective perception holds power, an ominous dream wasn't the sort of thing that I felt could be completely ignored. As such, after our classes at the temple school had ended for the day, we made our way over to the grounds of the Myouren Temple.

"Well, if it isn't Renko and Merry. Ahoy there!"

"Ahoy, captain!" Renko replied, echoing Murasa like a yamabiko.

"What brings you two here today, have you come to join the temple? You two are always welcome here."

"I'm afraid not. We're already regular visitors at the Moriya Shrine."

"That's a shame. So far the only people who have expressed any interest in joining the temple have been youkai. We're happy to have them, of course, but it would be great to have someone who's well-respected in the village like you with us."

"Renko, Well-respected?" I interjected.

"I'm very well-respected!" Renko protested.

I wondered about that. If we didn’t have Miss Keine acting as our guardian and watching out for Renko, she definitely would have made herself a problem for the rest of the village by this point.

"We're not here about me today though," Renko continued. "Merry actually has a bit of a problem that she could use some spiritual assistance with."

"Oh. Yes. Um, I've actually been having some bad dreams lately. I was hoping you might have some charms for sale."

"Ah, I see. It's rough when you can't get a good night's sleep. You wake up feeling worse than you did when you went to bed."

"Oh, do ship phantoms sleep too?"

"I go to bed every night and wake up at sunrise every morning. Byakuren would get mad at me if I didn't."

"I see. Doesn't that harm your sense of identity as a ghost though?"

"Then don't think of me as a ghost. I mostly just see myself as the captain of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 nowadays."

"Your ship has transformed into this temple though."

Murasa blinked at that, looking stunned. "Um. Hunh. That’s a good point. What is my identity now that I don't have a ship to captain?" With a worried expression she rubbed her head with one hand, the broom falling forgotten to the ground. I wondered if Renko had unknowingly given her a major identity crisis.

"Oh, uh, yeah. If you're just looking for some sort of a protective charm, then I imagine Big Shou can provide you with something. Really though, what is a captain without a ship? Can I just be a captain phantom without anything to captain?"

"Try not to worry about it too much. Do you know where I can find Shou?"

"Hmm, uh, I'm not sure. She's probably working in the main hall right now."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to disturb her while she's working."

"Don't worry about it. I'll go see if she has something for you. Hang on just a minute." With that, Murasa floated off. It was only a few minutes later that she returned. "Here you go," she said, handing me a slip of paper. "Just put that under your pillow." I turned it over in my hand. It appeared to be a hand-printed recruitment flyer for the Myouren temple. At the bottom of the leaflet there was a stylized, deformed drawing of Lord Bishamonten. The squashed proportions of the figure left him looking unusually cute for a protector god.

"Hand-written by a living saint! Well, it’s just a copy, but that'll probably be pretty effective as good luck charms go, right?"

"Um, thanks."

So did that mean that little Lord Bishamonten had been drawn by Byakuren too? I wouldn't have guessed.

"They say if you put a picture of someone under your pillow you'll see them in your dreams, so it should help, right?"

"That's perfect, Merry. You couldn't ask for a better protector than Bishamonten, right?"

"Uh, sure. Thank you very much" I said, smiling nervously. I was more than a little skeptical but still grateful to have it.

—

That night, I placed the flyer under my pillow before I went to sleep, trying my best to convince myself that it would provide some measure of defense. When I finally got to sleep, my dreams were strange, but not in the way I might have expected. The first thing I remember being aware of was a girl I had never seen before who was floating in front of me wearing a black and white dress covered with fluffy little balls sewn along its outer edges. This improbable garment was paired with a long, shapeless red hat that looked like something you might expect to see on a depiction of Santa Claus.

"...That's a pretty weak defensive measure," The floating girl said derisively. "It looks like I can’t depend on you after all, not that I expected much different. You never seemed particularly strong to me." She shook her head then fixed me with an unhappy glare. "Oh and by the way, it's not a baku that's after you. Keep that in mind."

Overall, it was a very strange dream.


—5—


Let's leave the topic of dreams aside for now though and move on to another story. This one took place on a sunny afternoon in the Forest of Magic. This time, the events recorded here neither qualify as an incident or even one of those problems too small to be considered an incident, but serious enough to get Reimu to leave her shrine, so it’s difficult to recount all these little vignettes as a single coherent tale. Until I sat down to write out this volume, I never would have thought that all of these different events could possibly be consolidated into a single story. Therefore, until the resolution is reached, I hope you’ll forgive me if this record reads like a series of fragmented episodes.

Anyway on that day we had been venturing to Kourindou. On our way out of the store we happened to run into Alice, who then invited us both to tea at her house. As always, Miss Alice was a gracious and attentive host, so we were happy to take her up on her offer.

"So I ended up meeting your mother the other day, Alice," Renko began as we took our seats whilst Alice was in the kitchen brewing a pot of black tea. From where I was sitting, I could see her posture visibly stiffen. We had met Shinki during the course of investigating the Treasure Ship Incident, which is detailed in my previous casefile.

"I know."

"Oh, you heard?"

"Marisa mentioned to me that you helped release Byakuren from her imprisonment in Makai. She found the idea of an incident having been caused by two ordinary humans rather amusing. I was surprised to hear that you had gone to Makai in the flesh though. I hadn't expected you to be that reckless."

"Makai seemed pretty fun. Lady Shinki is a pretty interesting person."

"...I suppose if you didn't have to live with her she would seem that way."

Alice came back into the living room carrying a tray of cookies and tea. She set the tray down, took a seat in the chair and sighed softly as she took a sip of her tea. "I also know that you told my mother where to find me here."

"Oh, should we not have? She seemed really worried about you."

"That's just how my mother is. She exaggerates everything, especially her worries. Please don't take anything she says too seriously."

"Well, to hear her tell it, you ran away from home without telling anyone where you were going. Would it really be so bad to just let her see that you're alive and well?"

"You don't know my mother very well. It's not that I hate her or anything like that, but if I were to see her, she would doubtlessly try to drag me back to Makai with her. I'll see her when I'm ready."

Judging by her reaction when we had brought her to Alice’s house, I could believe that. I looked over at Renko, who met my glance and smiled back at me. It was a story that would have been just as common in the Outside World as it was here in Gensokyo. A daughter yearning to live her own life, free of a mother's excessive coddling.

"At any rate, I'll ask you to refrain from bringing up my mother again."

"That's fine. Speaking of Makai though, have you met Miss Byakuren since she's been released?"

"No, not yet. I doubt she'd remember me though."

"I bet she would. She's a very friendly person, from what I've seen."

"I've heard she founded a temple here now. I'd rather not be preached to, to be honest. Besides, if I went to see her, she'd probably ask me to make a statue for her temple."

"Would that be a problem? You collect all sorts of dolls, don't you?"

"Collecting is an entirely different matter," Alice replied with a sigh as she nibbled on a cookie. A truly autonomous doll with a heart of its own was the ultimate goal of her work as she had described it to us, but that required the nearly impossible task of defining what exactly constituted a 'heart' and finding a way to prove whether a creation could really be said to be conscious or not. Even in the Scientific Century from which Renko and I had come, the idea of creating a definition that clearly separated a sentient program from a program that was merely created to appear to be sentient was a challenge that no one had solved.

"Well, how are your dolls coming then, Alice? Have you made any progress with your research?"

"It's on hold for the moment. I'm beginning to think that it might be easier to just learn to control dolls to do whatever I need of them myself rather than bother trying to make one capable of thinking and moving on its own."

"That’s a classic dilemma in robotics. Instead of trying to make a robot that can do everything a human can, it’s often more practical to make multiple simple robots tailored to specific tasks."

"Then what’s the point of having a consciousness?"

"Oh, you're really tackling the complex issues. Merry, as a student of Relativistic Noology, what’s your opinion on that?"

"It might be better to approach this as a question of what you’re really hoping to get out of that doll. In Relativistic Noology it’s generally thought that humans aren’t really drawn to the self-awareness of others. Some Relativistic Noologists even believe that the reason why we find babies cute is because we see them as lacking consciousness."

"That theory that says parents only love their children because they can shape their egos?"

"That's right. That's why a parent is more attached to their own children than other people’s children,as children that aren’t yours represent something that not only doesn’t have a consciousness yet, but also can’t be predicted or controlled.."

"That's a pretty messed up way of thinking."

"Well relativistic noologists tend to be pretty skeptical people. Why is it that you want to create a self-aware doll though, Alice?"

"Hmm... for now, let's just say that it would be the highest possible level of achievement for a puppeteer. Is that a good enough answer?" I didn’t really feel like it was, but perhaps there are things even Alice couldn’t readily put into words. I swallowed my question, bowed my head, and took a sip of tea. "Lately, I've actually been taking my research in a slightly different direction, though."

"Oh?" Renko asked with interest, "How so?"

"I'll show you. That's actually why I invited you here today, I wanted you to see it." Saying that, Alice finished her cup of tea and stood up. I moved to do the same, but she gestured for me to remain seated. "It will take me a few minutes to get it set up. Just wait here and enjoy the sweets, I'll call you when it's ready."

With that, she turned and walked out the living room and to the entryway, opening the front door, then shutting it behind her. We were left alone in her house, with only the glass-eyed stares of dozens of dolls and the sound of the few puppets still tidying up the kitchen for company.

"Hey Renko, what do you think she's going to show us?" I asked.

"No idea. If it's Alice though..."

It wasn't long before we heard Alice's voice through the window, calling us out to her garden. We finished up our tea and headed outside.

"Whoa!"

"...Um, what is that?"

Outside of Alice's house an enormous doll was standing beside her. It looked much like her other dolls but was easily three times Alice's height, perhaps five meters tall in total.

"You know that oni that hangs out around the Hakurei Shrine?" Alice asked, "I got this idea after fighting her."

"You mean Little Miss Melon?"

"Yes. I saw her ability to change sizes and wanted to see if I could duplicate it with magic. Since I’m just using a spell I’m afraid it doesn’t last too long and it takes a while to set up. I call it 'Goliath Doll.' What do you think?"

Alice said, laying a hand affectionately on the doll's enormous foot, then smiling up at us with just a hint of smugness in her expression. Personally I wasn’t sure what to think. Even one of Alice’s dolls was hard to consider cute if it was towering over you. As for my partner on the other hand…

"It's awesome!" Renko exclaimed. "Can you move it around just like your other dolls?"

"Yes, but it moves quite sluggishly." Alice gestured faintly, causing the doll to lift its foot and begin walking towards us with heavy footsteps that sent vibrations trembling through the ground.

Renko cheered. "Sanae would love this, it's just like something out of an old-school robot anime."

"I don't think there's any sort of giant robot that's supposed to look like a western doll."

"Having her actually walk like that puts a lot of strain on her joints, so I think if I ever use her in a fight, I'll just have her float," Alice said speculatively.

I tried to imagine a doll of this size hovering attentively over Alice's shoulder like her little ones often did, but I couldn't picture the image as anything but frightening.

"Umm, 'if you use her in a fight?' Miss Alice, were you planning on attacking someone with this thing? That seems pretty dangerous, doesn't it?" I asked timidly.

"Dangerous is just another word for 'strong,' isn't it?"

"Oh, I see," was the only response I could think of.

"After all of those earthquakes and the mess with the vengeful spirits, I started thinking it would be good to have a trump card for self-defense, just in case I need it. I'm not going to turn into an idiot like Marisa who only cares about power, but it's reassuring to know I can take care of myself."

As soon as she said that, the doll suddenly began to shrink, descending into its own footprints.

"Ah, it really doesn't last very long," Alice said with disappointment as the doll returned to a normal size.

I turned to Renko, who was also glancing over at me. We both seemed to wear a similarly uncertain expression. Although Alice was just as personable as ever creating something like this was just a little bit worrying.


—6—


And now our story jumps once again to another day. It was a day when we didn’t have any classes to teach, and Sanae hadn’t come by either, so Renko and I were just lazing about in our office.

It was just after the end of the rainy season, at the beginning of summer, and the sun was already hot enough outside that just walking around was enough to make one feel exhausted, so like any sensible person I was staying inside and out of the heat.

Unfortunately not everyone in the office was a sensible person. "Hey Merry, let's go do something," Renko said, looking up at me from where she had sprawled on her stomach on the floor. The expression on her face reminded me of a dog begging for a walk. "The weather's gorgeous today, let's not waste it by staying inside and reading."

"I'd rather not spend a day off getting sunburnt, sweaty and exhausted, if it's all the same to you."

"Don't be a hikikomori, Merry. We could do something to beat the heat. Misty Lake is always nice and cool, why don't we go take a dip? Maybe we can meet up with Wakasagihime and Kagerou."

I had to admit that did sound appealing. It's not like our office had any sort of cooling.

"Oh, or maybe we could go to Hakugyoukurou, it's always cool there."

"How would we even get there, Renko?"

"You could call Ran, she seems to have a way of getting there."

"Only the Youkai Sage could do that. You can't just call a youkai to be your taxi." I said that, but we had been fairly regularly using the shrine outside of our office as a telephone to contact a goddess, so it's not like I was any better.

"Well, you could pretend to be your doppelganger."

"Ran would definitely see through that instantly."

Renko seemed like she was about to offer a rebuttal, but our conversation was interrupted by a knock on the office door.

I stood up and hurriedly walked over to open the door. Behind it, Shameimaru Aya was standing with her best sales smile beaming towards me.


"Hello! Shameimaru Aya here, the pure and honest tengu reporter."

"Hello Miss Shameimaru. Are you here to deliver a special edition?"

"No, not today. Today I'm actually performing some important market research."

"Market research?"

"Yes. May I come in for a moment?"

I invited her inside and offered her some cold barley tea. She downed the offered cup in a single gulp, then produced a small paperback book from her shoulder bag, handing it to Renko and saying "This is what I wanted you to look at."

"Is this... a manga?" Renko asked, turning it over in her hands. From the covers it definitely looked like one. The art adorning the jacket could have been the sort you might find on any number of typical shounen battle manga but both the binding and printing styles looked nothing like the sort of tankobons you'd expect to see in the Outside World. "Wait a moment, is this a tengu-made manga?"

"Indeed it is. After seeing the manga at the Moriya Shrine we wanted to try making our own. It's intended for distribution in the human village, so I'd like to get a human opinion on it. Moreover, I've heard they have a lot of manga like this in the Outside World, so I'd like to get your opinions as Outsiders as well."

"Well, it doesn't look too long. Do you mind if I read it right now?"

"Please do."

Aya nodded encouragingly and Renko sat down at her desk and peered at the book, reading quickly through its pages. My partner had a slightly worried expression as she flipped through the pages. It didn't take her long to reach the end, at which point she leaned back and grumbled with an uncertain expression on her face. "Hmmm. It's uh..."

"Please speak freely, we welcome your honest criticism," Aya said.

"Ah, well, even so, you'd be better off getting a larger sample size. Merry, you read it, see what you think," Renko said, handing the volume to me.

"Me? Alright." I turned the volume over in my hands, looking at the cover. The illustration adoring the jacket was well-drawn, but the lettering at the top of the cover simply read "Manga." There was no artist's name to be found. I suppose that might be typical of a prototype though. I opened the book and began to page through it.

"Oh..." I muttered as I flipped through the pages. The expression on my face was probably a mirror of the one Renko had worn just a moment before. "Um, I see."

The content of the book was exceedingly simple. It told the story of an evil youkai sending assassins disguised as friends after a human hero who protected a human village by exterminating monsters. The drawings themselves were well executed, though barely stylized at all.

Having read through much of the manga at the Moriya Shrine, I have to say that this one was a bit lacking. The story was almost all conveyed through text and narration and both the hero and their villainous opposite were poorly defined characters with neither backstory nor any sort of personality to them, making the hero’s betrayal by his friends seem irrelevant. While the art was well executed, it wasn't very dynamic, making it hard to tell what was going on in the panels despite the story being all about battles. Overall the drawing style lacked any variety, which combined with the one-note narrative, left the whole manga feeling very flat. Even the final confrontation was written as if the author had gotten bored with the concept, being resolved unsatisfyingly in the space of only a few panels.

It would be unfair to compare this manga, which just from the quality of its presentation would make it an impressive product for an amateur to have completed, to the professionally made, and in many cases, famous series found at the Moriya Shrine. As such, I was hesitant to voice my opinions. Additionally, if the intention was to sell this manga to villagers, who might not be familiar with the medium, it could perhaps prove novel enough to actually be well received. Even still though...

"Well, what do you think?" Aya asked, rocking forward on her tall geta.

Renko and I glanced at each other. Seeing my reluctance, Renko cleared her throat. "Well, it's not like I've ever drawn a manga or anything myself, and while I may be from the Outside World, I don't consider myself to be a manga expert by any means. But compared to other manga that I've read..."

"Yes?"

"Hmm, how should I put this… If you're selling it to villagers who've never seen something like this before then they may still enjoy it just for its novelty."

"Ayayaya, So you think so too." Aya said with a sigh. "I stopped by the Moriya Shrine before I came here. The wind priestess told me it was 'boring' while Lady Moriya said 'pretty good for a first time effort, but that’s about it .'"

I suppose those two would definitely be a hard-to-please audience.

"Can you tell me what its failings are?"

"Well, the art itself isn't too bad. My main critique is the storyline..." Renko then spent some time pointing out specific flaws in the storytelling. Her points were almost entirely the same ones I would have raised. Aya listened intently and politely, then let out a deep breath.

"Well, thank you for that honest review. I suppose there's more to making manga than just copying what we've already seen."

"...By the way, did you draw this Miss Shameimaru?"

"No, not me, of course not," Aya said with a completely fixed smile. "Though I was hoping that if you two had liked it I might be able to sell it at the village's bookstore. Since you both find it boring though my pride as a tengu won't allow me to try to distribute it. Well, thank you for your time then, I appreciate your honest feedback," she said bowing briefly before turning to leave.

"Oh, Miss Shameimaru?" Renko asked as she slid the door open and stepped outside.

"Yes?" she asked, turning her head to regard Renko over her shoulder as she stretched out her wings.

"What are you going to do with that prototype?"

"Hmm, since I can't sell it, I'm not sure. Maybe I'll take it to the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

"Yes, I've heard that the library there only collects useless books so I'm sure they'll be glad to have it." She smiled briefly before flexing her black wings and launching herself straight up into the air with one powerful flap. We watched her disappear into the endless azure expanse of the summer sky. As Aya disappeared from sight I wondered if she might have drawn that manga herself or at least written it. If so, then I hope she hadn’t spent too long on it.