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

[𝟒 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫]


—4—


For a few moments, no one said anything. There was silence as Remilia gazed at the three of us smugly.

"Well, if you'll excuse me for saying so, I’m afraid I don’t quite follow your reasoning there. Could you explain why you think the culprit would want to keep you from leaving the house?"

Predictably, it was Renko who was the first to recover. Remilia for her part just shook her head, shrugging her shoulders in pantomimed disappointment at Renko's ignorance.

"Do I have to spell out even that for you? I am Remilia Scarlet, descendant of the great Lord Țepeș, and the eternal red moon who controls destiny itself."

"Ah, so you think that the goal of the mastermind behind these events has nothing to do with the weather itself, but that they're manipulating the skies specifically to keep you trapped here. After all, if you were to take action yourself, surely one or even two incidents could be resolved in the blink of an eye."

"Now you're catching on, human. I suppose on a mortal scale that puts you above Sakuya. You may continue to praise me more."

"I'll take that as high praise coming from you, my lady."

To me, Renko's characterization of events was so over the top I couldn't see it as anything but mockery, but Remilia seemed pleased by it all the same.

Sanae leaned over in her chair towards me. "Is this little vampire really that strong?"

"Well, she's certainly powerful, but Renko and I can't fight, so I can't really say."

"Hmm, having the strongest character be the harmless-looking loli-type is a bit of a cliché, but I suppose that makes sense."

"I'm not sure that's how it works."

"You both know that I can hear you whispering, right?" Remilia asked, casting a hostile glare over at both of us.

"If someone were trying to keep you cooped up in here," Renko continued, "why do you think that would be? What's the point of making it hard for you to leave?"

"I can't imagine. I'm content to stay here at the mansion. A proper ruler remains calm and holds their place, so pinning me down here is pointless. If someone is planning to try and conquer Gensokyo, they'll have to come through me eventually and when they do I'll just be sitting here waiting for them with a glass of wine in my hand."

Remilia posed, crossing her legs and turning to regard us in profile, holding her teacup delicately and narrowing her eyes with a practiced look of disinterest. She seemed quite capable of possessing the regal bearing of refined noble when it suited her, but she could rarely keep it up for more than five minutes at a time. Despite claiming to be over 500 years old, it was clear her body had never aged past that of a child's. I wondered if perhaps a vampire's mind might mature at the same rate that their bodies did, meaning that deep down Remilia was just as childish as she appeared to be.

"So you think the culprit is trying to conquer Gensokyo then?" Renko asked, eyes alight. "If so, then of course they'll be forced to come here sooner or later and bow down before your majesty. If their aim is something else though, then they might not even stop by. They might be manipulating the weather simply to keep you out of their hair."

Remilia puffed out her cheeks in an angry pout. The effect of her charisma was instantly broken, right on schedule.

"That's not fair! They can't just annoy me and then ignore me. Who would dare to treat the scarlet devil with such impudence? I ought to go and teach whoever's behind this a lesson they'll never forget." She turned and looked out the archway that led to the covered balcony. "Every time I go outside it looks like it's about to rain though." She whined.

"Well then, it seems like the perpetrator's plan is working as intended." Renko said, nodding to herself.

Remilia pouted and harrumphed quietly, looking down and running one claw-like finger along the edge of the tablecloth.

"Don't worry!" Sanae suddenly declared, leaping back up from the table. She had produced a short wooden wand topped with a rectangle of ceremonial paper from somewhere unseen. "As a wind priestess of the Moriya Shrine, no raincloud can stand before me! Let's take you outside, and I'll just blow away any storm that comes up with the miracle of divine winds!"

With the power we had seen Sanae wield, such an act was probably possible. However...

"Um, Sanae..."

"What is it, Miss Merry?"

"Lady Remilia is a vampire. If you blow away all the rainclouds, then the sunlight would still turn her to ash. She can only go out on days when it's overcast or at night." It was like something out of a comedy skit. I could imagine Sanae smiling proudly, standing on the roof of the mansion and blowing the rain clouds away with her wand as Remilia turned to a pile of ash gathered under a poofy hat right beside her.

"Oh. Being a vampire must be really inconvenient. That must be why you had to bother with all of that mist."

"I don't need pity from a human."

"I'm a living god. I guess that puts me above vampires on the power scale."

"What misguided arrogance! How could some third-rate god compare to a timeless existence like mine?" Remilia said, climbing out of her seat again. She stared hungrily across the table at Sanae. "Shall we see who's really the greater power here?"

"A living miracle of existence against a fragile creature of the night who hides from the sun? This'll be easy."

"Hmm, it seems that before I seek out the mastermind responsible for this inexcusable rudeness there's an impudent human before me who is also in need of punishment. Enough talk. Have at you!"

Sanae smiled fiercely back at Remilia as she brandished her wand. A pentacle of light suddenly twinkled into existence above her head. In response, Remilia drew her right arm back and a crimson spear of blazing light roared into existence in her palm, flickering with blood-colored flames.

Renko and I climbed to our feet as well, our chairs clattering backwards.

"Oh! Sanae versus Remilia. That's an interesting matchup, especially up close."

"That's not the point, Renko! We have to get to cover!"

I grabbed Renko by the arm and turned, tugging her along as I sprinted for cover behind a bookshelf in the far corner of the room. She lacked any sense of urgency, and as soon as we were safely tucked away she sidled over to the very edge of the shelf to peek out from around its corner at the spot above us where the two had risen half-way to the ceiling, circling each other in the air.

A moment passed, and then the room was suddenly illuminated by the colorful glare of an instant eruption of danmaku.

—

How did it end, you ask? Well, by the time the sound of bullets crashing into the ground around us subsided enough for me to look out from our cover, Sanae had been backed up against a corner of the room, trapped between two walls and the ceiling.

"It can't end like this for our hero. Renko, Merry, lend me your strength!"

"I'm not really sure what kind of strength I could lend you." Renko called up to her, emerging. Fully from behind the bookshelf.

Sanae's eyes flicked over to me as I emerged as well. "Sorry," I said with a shrug. "I've got nothing."

"Come on, that's not right!" she said, turning toward us. "The combined power of friendship always overcomes the demon king! Come out here and try something. It'll be like a spirit bomb! If you die, we'll just find the dragon balls and revive you or get a world tree leaf out of a chest. There's bound to be one around here."

"Too late, human!"

Sanae turned back toward Remilia just in time to catch a volley of gleaming scarlet projectiles to the face. Her body collided with the wall before tumbling down onto the carpet in a heap. With Remilia posing smugly in the air above her, I almost expected to see the word "KO" flash across my vision in huge letters.

"Ugh, owie. That might have been a bit of a mistake."

"Well, for a human, you were actually surprisingly entertaining. What would you say to becoming a part of our little scarlet family?"

"You want me to join your family? Does that mean you want to drink my blood? Or wait, is this whole mansion just your vampiric harem? What about that maid? Have I stumbled into a yuri scene now? Lady Yasaka, protect my innocence!"

"Could you two please keep her from babbling about nonsense?" Remilia asked, turning to face Renko and I.

"What? It’s over already? You were playing along so well!"

"Sanae, are you alright?"

"Ugh, I think so. Ow though."

"Did you hit your head when you fell?"

"A little bit. She’s pretty nasty!" Sanae declared as she rose to her feet. She didn’t seem to be injured in any way, but she was definitely sulking.

"Well, thank you for the match. It was a good way to fight off boredom. I haven't been able to go outside lately and Patchy left before I even woke up this morning." Remilia said, settling back into position on the throne which perched on its raised dais.

Sakuya suddenly appeared beside her mistress. Looking behind me I found that the table and sofa had already been restored to its original state. The tablecloth, place settings and dishes, which had all been scattered in the commotion of the danmaku barrage, were now nowhere to be seen. Sakuya must have taken the time to repair or replace and clean away the damaged articles during a period of stopped time, but I felt bad that we must have created more work for her.

"Lady Patchouli returned just moments ago, Milady," she said, inclining her head respectfully.

"Oh, is that so?"

"She's locked herself in the library, would you like me to go fetch her?"

"Crawled back in her hole already, without even stopping to say hello to me? It must be something important for her to have bothered going out on her own so just leave her be for now. Leave her to her little devil then if she doesn’t have time for this one."

"As you wish, Milady."

"Also, I'm a bit tired after that rampage, so I think I'll take a nap until nightfall. Sakuya, prepare a bed."

"Of course." Sakuya bowed respectfully, then rose and vanished.

Remilia turned back to us and yawned. "Well, that was fun, humans, but you may take your leave now. You make a decent stand-in for Reimu, even if you're the wrong color."

"My name is Kochiya Sanae! Remember it for next time!"

"I look forward to it. If you do well, I'll permit you to play with Flan."

"Flan?" Sanae asked, confused. It seems that Sanae hadn't been introduced to the younger Scarlet sister yet. I shuddered to think what might happen when she was.

"Still, it's troubling to think I still might not be able to go out for very long." Remilia looked once more toward the doorway to the balcony. "Ah, I have an idea. You there, Renko!" She said, whirling back towards us with a broad smile.

"Me? Yes, ma'am, what is it?"

"I want to hire you. Find the mastermind behind this incident and bring them to me. Do you understand?"

Renko was frozen in shock for a moment, then returned Remilia's smile.

"Yes, ma'am!"


—5—


"Excellent, now all I have to do is sit back in this throne and wait to become Gensokyo's greatest armchair detective."

"Oh. Uhm, actually, Lady Remilia, it's the person who finds the culprit who's the detective. That would be Renko, not you, in this case." I had raised my objection without even thinking or paying any attention to who I was talking to. As a lover of mysteries, I couldn't allow such a misconception to stand. She glanced over at me with a look of disdain before scoffing dismissively when I flinched away.

"I will do the important work of solving the incident, so the menial labor of catching and retrieving the criminal can be left to maids or gatekeepers or the like. That's why armchair detectives are the best sort."

Personally, I thought that sounded more like the archetype of the gentleman or lady detective. Perhaps Remilia might manage to be both sorts, though having the detective of a series being a vampire in the form of a ten-year-old girl would certainly be an abnormal twist.

"I'll give you until tomorrow to catch the mastermind and bring them here."

"Consider it done. You can count on the Hifuu Detective Agency."

"Wait a minute, Renko. Don't you think you're promising a bit too much?"

"Don't worry, Merry. The great detective herself is on the case. We'll have this wrapped up in no time." She gave me a mischievous wink, to which I had no response but to sigh deeply.

—

After that, Remilia retired to her bedroom and the three of us headed for the library in the basement to speak to Patchouli. As soon as we reached the doors to the library, however—

"I'm sorry, Lady Patchouli has asked that she not be disturbed while she works on her research. I'm afraid I can't let you in." The little devil bowed politely and smiled kindly, then slammed the heavy door in our faces.

As such, we had no choice but to withdraw, and as we made our way back up the stairs toward the entrance hall as we discussed our next moves. With the time limit Remilia had imposed on us, there was a real and sudden sense of urgency to our investigation that had been absent before.

"What do you think Miss Patchouli thought was important enough to be worth going out to look into?" I asked.

"It might have nothing to do with whatever's affecting the weather. Sakuya mentioned that Patchouli had said something about magicians being sensitive to temperaments, so I have to assume it was something to do with that. We'll have to talk to someone who's knowledgeable about ghosts and temperaments and the like. Or maybe we ought to try talking to another magician."

"Someone who's knowledgeable about ghosts? That would have to be the Lady of Hakugyoukurou, right? Or maybe Miss Youmu?"

"Well, we could also try going to Muenzuka to see if the Yama or her shinigami subordinate are there. They'd probably know, and that would be easier to get to than the Netherworld. Oh, or we could just go talk to the Prismrivers, they're even closer."

"Oh! I've heard of them!" Sanae interjected. "They came to play at the shrine for a party."

"All the way up on the mountain? I'm surprised the tengu would invite them."

"It was the kappa. Do they live around here?"

"Yes, they're not far at all. We'll introduce you to them, Sanae."

"Awesome! Even in the Outside World it's rare to get to meet an idol group in person."

I could understand Sanae's excitement, but I don't think I'd call the Prismriver Ensemble 'idols' exactly. Superstar acts with producers and elaborate stage shows aren't really a thing in Gensokyo and even with all of the parties they attended they didn't really have that kind of star power. I suppose if anything they might be closer to the sort of cheesy lounge singer someone would hire for a private party... though saying that to their faces would be a bit rude.


"After we talk to them maybe we could go by Alice's house in the Forest of Magic too."

"I'm not sure we can get all of that done before it gets dark, Renko."

"Well then why don't you both come and sleep over at our shrine again? This time we can get Lady Kanako to appear at the branch shrine and go tell the teacher at the temple school that you guys are safe and staying with us, and you'll be back by morning."

"Do you think asking a goddess to run errands like that would be alright?"

Sanae laughed off my concerns as we made our way out of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Sakuya appeared at the door to bid us farewell and see us down the flower-lined path to the gate. As we stepped through, Meiling called out to us while swinging the heavy iron bars shut again.

"Were you able to meet with Lady Patchouli?"

"No, she was busy. We got turned away at the door."

"Ah, that's a shame." Meiling folded her arms and went back to leaning up against the pillar beside the gate, but she had an oddly thoughtful expression on her face.

"While we're here, Meiling, have you noticed anything unusual about the weather lately?"

"...The weather? That's a little out of the blue, why do you ask?"

"We've been hired by the lady of the house to investigate the source of some unusual weather that's been cropping up."

"She hired you? Rather than just getting Sakuya to do it? That's impressive, you must have really earned her trust. I envy you, Miss Usami."

"Well, I hope to prove worthy of it, but back to the question, Meiling, have you noticed anything odd?"

"Before I answer that, can I ask why you're asking me?"

"No reason to it, I'm asking everyone is all."

Renko said that, but there were layers to the question. On the surface, it seemed a reasonable enough question to ask, and one that we might not expect Meiling to have an answer for beyond what she might have noticed from standing outside all day. If the story Patchouli had once told us about Meiling's origins were right though, she might have a deeper and unique knowledge of heavenly phenomena. If you don't know what I'm talking about there, then you're in much the same boat as Sanae, who was regarding Renko with a quizzical look. I refer you to my first book, concerning the events of the Scarlet Mist Incident and Renko's deductions from shortly after our arrival in this world if you'd like to know all the details.

Meiling crossed her arms and closed her eyes, grumbling as she tried to think back. "Well, the weather's been fickle lately, but the will of heaven is beyond the knowing of any earthly youkai." Opening her eyes she looked upward. There was no wind at the moment and the sky was mostly obscured behind patchy layers of clouds. Beneath that, fog clung to the lake, as it frequently did, obscuring vision. In all it seemed like it might be ideal weather for Remilia to go out in, if not for persistent, nagging feeling that it might rain at any moment.

"I can't really point to any particular bit of weather that seems out of place but if I were you, I'd try to be careful."

"Why do you say that?"

"The qi of the world has been odd recently. I expect that Lady Patchouli was probably looking into why."

"The qi?"

"Hmmm, I guess you could say that nature has a 'feeling' to it, or a 'temperament.' Right now those 'temperaments' are all mixed up. I spoke to Lady Patchouli about this a little bit before she went out."

"Oh, I get it now!" Sanae suddenly declared. "Miss Gatekeeper, you're the culprit behind this incident!" She said, clapping her fist into an upturned palm.

"What?" The word had been spoken by Meiling, Renko, and myself.

"Don't you see, Renko? The villain was hiding right under their master's nose, too close to be seen. Meiling can manipulate qi, right? She's been using that to alter the temperament of nature and the weather changes as a result. Let's haul her back inside and collect our pay!"

"Wait, why am I the mastermind all of a sudden?"

"No questions, criminal. You have the right to remain silent!"

"Okay, cut, cut, that's enough." Renko said, grabbing Sanae from behind as she drew out her wand again.

"Renko, why are you stopping me?"

"Please don't make things any more complicated than they already are, Sanae. Sorry about this, Meiling. Our new part-timer is very eager, but a bit quick to jump to conclusions."

"I see. No offense taken, I’m used to this sort of thing from the mistress."

"Hey! Don't group me together with the pipsqueak vampire!"

"Whoa there, Sanae. Say any more and Sakuya will be sending you home with a few shiny silver souvenirs. Just stop for now." Renko said, and clapped a hand over Sanae's mouth.

"Mmphhm!"

"Again, my apologies, Miss Meiling. We'll be taking our leave now." She turned and frog-marched Sanae away from the gate, one hand still clamped over her mouth. She kept it there until we were a good dozen meters away.

"Mmmuhua-pwah! Renko! Why did you stop me? How can I use the power of miracles to solve an incident if you won't let me fight?"

"Miss Sanae, are you trying to act like a foil on purpose?" I asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

In detective novels, you always have the great detective first. That would be Renko. The second character is usually their assistant, or someone they're telling the story to after the fact. That's my role. When a third character accompanies those two, it's almost always a gendarme or rival investigator. Someone to present their own theories and complicate the matter. Sanae was playing that role so perfectly I couldn't help but think it might be intentional. The main difference was that in detective stories, the foil is usually a comedic character. For us here in reality though, it was actually quite a nuisance.

"Anyway, come on, Renko! She's a youkai who can manipulate qi, and she just told us that the balance of qi affects the temperament of nature. That's what you call 'self-incrimination,' right? It's gotta be her. Now's when you're supposed to say 'It's elementary, Watson!' and reveal how she did it."

"Sherlock Holmes is a bit dated, Sanae. The key to being a modern great detective is humility."

"Humility?"

"Exactly. No matter how many clues you've gathered or how reasonable your conclusions are, you can never be certain that you haven't missed a clue somewhere. There's always the chance that there's some crucial bit of evidence that would completely overturn all of your previous deductions."

"What? How can you be a great detective if you can't be sure of your conclusions?"

"That's just the reality of it. An infallible detective is just an outdated idea. Approaching deduction with a scientific mindset that seeks to constantly disprove and test their own theories is the proper approach for the modern era."

"Wow. I guess it's hard to be a great detective, huh?"

"Take what Renko says with a grain of salt, Sanae. She just likes to use that excuse so she can't be held responsible when her grandiose delusions miss the mark."

"That's not true, Merry. My aim is just to make the world a more interesting place by exposing its hidden truths."

"I wonder just how many times now you've risked our lives so that you could boldly and unapologetically come to the wrong conclusion? Do I have to go find the Yama to give you another lecture?"

"But those risks are part and parcel of making the world more interesting. If not for me, we wouldn't be investigating this interesting conundrum now, and we wouldn't have Sanae here to keep us company either. I think you could spare the occasional 'thank you', couldn't you Merry? Even just a little one?"

"I might have been willing to say it, but now it sounds like you're trying to shake me down for gratitude."

"You're so adversarial, Merry. Are you getting jealous again?"

"I should hit you Renko. No, scratch that. I am hitting you." she scampered away as my hands hammered down on her shoulders.

"Ah, why are you always so violent, Merry?" she said as she flinched and laughed.

"Um, would you two mind not flirting so openly in front of me?" Sanae asked. "It's kind of awkward. I can give you some couple time later if you need it."

I whirled on Sanae. "Flirting? Who's flirting?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh, was that not flirting? It's hard to tell with you two."

"It wasn't flirting!" I shouted, turning back to Renko. "Now come on, we were headed to the Prismrivers', weren't we? Let's get moving before it gets dark."

"Oh hey, Merry, wait for us!"

"So you were flirting then?"

I strode indignantly away from the two of them, making my way down the shore of the lake. With the two of them egging each other on, this level of constant tension was simply exhausting. I made no effort to conceal my sigh as I led the way forward.


—6—


Anyway, we made our way to the abandoned-looking western-style house that the Prismriver Ensemble called home not long after that.
"I wonder if anyone's home?" I asked as we arrived.

"It certainly doesn't sound like it," Renko replied.

The mansion of the Prismriver Ensemble always looked abandoned, that was nothing new, but usually there would be some sort of music coming from it whenever they were home. Renko made her way onto the warped and creaking boards of the porch and rapped with the heavy iron knocker. Silence was the only reply. They must have gone out somewhere.

"Well, it seems like we're out of luck. Should we head for the Forest of Magic then?"

"I don't mind going to see Alice, but do you think you could find her home from memory?"

The forest of magic was dense and sprawling, and while it was easier to navigate than the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, it would still be easy to lose your way if you didn't know where you were going. And that was even before you took the drifting clouds of hallucinogenic spores into account.

"I think we can manage with Sanae. I wouldn't know the way on foot, but her house is in a decently-sized clearing. It shouldn't be too hard to find her from the air."

"Alright then, just leave it to me!" Sanae said, offering us each her hand.

And so, we once again found ourselves sailing through the air. By the time we reached the edge of the Forest of Magic on the opposite shore of the Misty Lake, the sun was beginning to descend in the west. The skies, which had been overcast all day, were now beginning to darken.

"Oh, I think it's starting to rain a little," Sanae said as droplets of water spotted her face.

"Marisa mentioned that it's been raining in the Forest of Magic," Renko said, squinting her eyes and holding her hat on with her free hand.

"Is this even rain? It's really cold and it kind of hurts!"

The weather was growing more inclement by the second. Something small and hard fell against Renko’s face and her hand shot out to catch it. It seemed that tiny white grains of ice were pelting us as we flew. Hail? In the middle of summer? As we pressed on the temperature was dropping noticeably in a clearly unnatural way.

"I can see a building over there but don't know if I can keep flying in this!" Sanae shouted. With both of her hands holding ours there was nothing she could do to shield her face from the stinging pellets.

"Hold on, Sanae, it's not much further!"

A hailstone struck Sanae and she stumbled for a moment in the air. For a split-second the feeling of gravity returned in a rush that strained our arms and sent our stomachs lurching as we dropped precipitously. It astonishes me to imagine that back in the Outside World there are people who would willingly pay to experience a feeling like that. For my part I can't recommend bungee jumping at all, especially without a rope.

"Can you get between those trees? We can avoid the hail if we can get into some cover."

"I can't see it! Hold tight!" All at once we were plummeting, careening downward at speed. I was worried we would crash, but as we drew nearer to the ground the buffeting winds pushed back against us, and we found ourselves coming to a halt just above the forest floor when gravity next kicked in. We landed hard, but safely, with Sanae releasing our hands and rubbing her eye as we all scurried towards a nearby tree for protection.

Beneath its branches it was a relief to be on the ground, but it was hard to believe it could be summer. Frozen pellets littered the ground in scattered white drifts and rattled through the leaves overhead.

Once Sanae had recovered Renko pointed a little distance ahead, where the line of trees gave way to broad clearing. On one side of the clearing stood the familiar outline of our destination.

"That's a witch's house?" Sanae asked, pointing toward Alice's familiar two-story cottage. Renko and I had been here before of course, but I suppose this was Sanae's first time seeing it.

"I just hope she's home. Come on, let's run, even if she's not, it'll be safer there under the eaves than here in the forest."

I nodded, and Renko took off at a sprint, holding the collar of her coat over her head and crouching over to shield herself as she ran. Having not brought coats of our own, Sanae and I had to make do with covering our heads with our arms as we ran through the dimness toward the glow seeping from the windows of the house. While we panted under the overhang of the roof, Renko reached out and knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" Alice's voice called from within. We were relieved to hear it. A moment later the door opened and Alice's face looked over the pitiful sight of the three of us, underdressed, soaked, shivering and disheveled, huddling outside her doorway in the dim.

"What are you two doing this deep in the Forest of Magic at dusk? Oh wait, you three. I've seen you before too, you were at one of Reimu's parties. What are you all doing here?"

"Sorry to appear without warning," Renko said, removing her hat and shaking rain and ice from the brim. "We were on our way here to ask you some questions, but got caught in some unexpectedly bad weather."

"Well, if you've already come all this way, come in. No sense in staying out there and freezing," Alice replied, opening the door wide and gesturing for us to enter.

"Thank you," Renko said with a quick bow. "Sorry to disturb you."

Sanae and I bowed and thanked her as we made our way into the house as well. Inside, the air was much warmer and the sounds of the hail faded away once we were inside. They were replaced by a new, sharper sort of clatter, however. The sound of hammering rang out, a series of sharp, repetitive thumps like someone doing some sort of carpentry work was coming from around the corner of the entryway.

"Oh, that would be the dolls, I guess. Are you having them do renovations now?" I asked.

Alice shut the door behind us, then nodded. "Just some preventative maintenance. I'm nailing down some furniture in case of earthquakes."

The three of us looked at each other upon hearing the unexpected word.

"Earthquakes?"