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

—4—


Spring. Perhaps at this point I can’t really consider it unusual that the season found all of Gensokyo found itself suddenly awash in disembodied spirits.

This had happened twice before, after all. Once during the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident, during which Gensokyo had been filled with flowers and phantoms and once during the Vengeful Spirit Incident, in which spirits began leaking up out of the ground at the geyser near the Hakurei Shrine. The Spring Snow Incident was also spirit-related, even if it didn't involve any phantoms invading Gensokyo itself. And if you consider temperaments to be part of a spirit then even the Earthquake Incident could be considered to be related. The world works in mysterious ways.

That said, there's no point in complaining that things were following a pattern that had become well-established by this point. The fact of the matter is we woke up one morning to find Gensokyo filled with tiny, drifting phantoms. As such, it was instantly declared an incident.

This time around the mysterious spirits appeared to mainly be concentrated in the human village, at least according to Keine and Kotohime, who had gone and taken a look around the surrounding area as soon as they had realized what was happening. The villagers were understandably worried by this phenomenon and the Temple School was closed until the incident could be resolved. Even inside our office, mysterious, insubstantial spirits could be seen floating around, competing with the birds nesting in the eaves for residency.

"So what do you think these things are?" Renko asked as she prodded at one of the semi-translucent globs floating through the air.

"Maybe the Great Hakurei Barrier is leaking again, or maybe they've come from the Netherworld somehow. At any rate they don't seem to be vengeful spirits," I said as I shooed one of the floating orbs away from my face.

"That's certainly the most obvious answer. The only question is where to begin our investigation. If they're coming from the Outside World then we should go to the Hakurei Shrine, but if they're coming from the Netherworld we should try to get to Hakugyokurou. Which do you prefer, Merry?"

"Is just staying here and letting Reimu deal with it not an option?"

"At this point probably not. I expect Sanae will be here soon."

I sighed at her. No matter what happened it seemed I was bound to get tangled up in whatever was going on. "Well then let's wait here for her."

"Really?"

"It would be a lot safer for the three of us to investigate together, don't you think?"

"That's so boring though, Merry! How are we supposed to make the world a more interesting place without an adventurous spirit?" As Renko said this she was already making her way over to the entrance to take her trademark trenchcoat from the peg near the door. It seemed she had already decided to begin. "Let's do a little research before she gets here. If we're lucky, we can identify the mastermind and Sanae can get this resolved quickly."

"Yes, yes. Of course, Miss Director. I should have expected as much." I said as I climbed to my feet and followed her to the door. At this point trying to stop her would be hopeless, so I had resigned myself to following behind her when all at once there was a knock on the office door.

"Oh, Sanae must be here already. Just a moment!" Renko called, grinning as she stepped over to grab the door and welcome our guest.

The person who was standing in the doorway when Renko opened it was not Sanae, however. Instead it was a small, hooded figure we had seen once before, with their face concealed in the deep shadows of a hood and a long metal dowsing rod held in each hand. Even with her face hidden by her hood, one look was enough to tell us who it was. Come to think of it, the last time she had appeared at the door of our office had signalled what most people would consider to be the beginning of an incident as well.

"Hello, sorry to bother you," Nazrin mumbled in her small, androgynous voice as she stepped inside without waiting for an invitation.

With a bemused expression, Renko closed the door behind the new arrival then turned to face her as she slipped her hood back off of her head, revealing a pair of large mouse ears poking up from her mane of dingy grey hair.

"Well, this is a rare pleasure. Welcome back to the Hifuu Detective Agency, Little Naz!" Renko said boisterously.

"I've told you before not to call me that. You have no right to be so familiar."

"Of course, of course. So what brings you here today?"

"I have a job for you."

"You hear that, Merry? A proper customer! How many days has it been since we had one of those?"

"Surely you mean 'how many months?'"

"Well either way, let's not let's not waste this opportunity. Please have a seat, Miss Nazrin and tell us what we can do for you."

Renko smiled her troublesome smile but Nazrin didn't move from her spot in the middle of the room and didn't bother turning to address Renko. Instead she stared directly at me. "I'm not here to hire you, Usami Renko."

"Huh?" Renko had been marching over to her desk but stumbled mid-step.

"It's your partner whose help I need. I came here to hire her."

"Huh? Me?" The shock of the direct attention was enough to disrupt my professional presentation, I'm afraid. I pointed at my nose in surprise.

"Yes. I'd like to borrow your eyes. I need someone who can detect seals and see through illusions like the ones Nue uses." As she said that, she nervously shifted both of her dowsing rods to her right hand, freeing her left to drift to the pendulum hanging on her neck. "It shames me to say it, but even with all of my skills and experience I haven't been able to locate the entrance. I'm hoping you'll be able to."

"The 'entrance?' The entrance to what?"

"Hijiri can explain everything once we get over to the temple. Do you have time to assist me right now?"

I looked up at Renko, who had seemed a little shocked at being so carelessly dismissed at first but now had a sly grin on her face. "Ah, I think I know what this is about, Little Naz..." she said.

Nazrin whirled on her. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Your sudden appearance here at our office wouldn't have anything to do with all of these spirits floating about, would it?"

Nazrin glared at her in silence.

"My guess is you've figured out the origin of all of these spirits surrounding us. You were hoping to locate the entrance to the place, but you need a high-performance barrier detector to do that, don't you?"

"That's none of your business, detective. I'm here to hire her, not you."

"Ah, that's unfortunate for you, Little Naz," Renko said with a feigned sigh. "Merry and I only come as a package deal. We're the Hifuu Detective Agency. Two for the price of one. If you need a Merry, you get a Renko too, and if you need a Renko we throw in a free Merry. You can't hire just one of us, we're inseparable."

"That's ridiculous. You can't just arbitrarily dictate the rules."

Before I could say anything Renko ran over to me and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist. "It's non-negotiable! This is my Merry, and she's one of a kind. I'm not letting her go. If you want her, you'll have to take me too."

"Renko, get off of me, this is no way to act in front of a customer." I said that and tried to pry Renko off of me, but she clamped on tighter, snuggling her face into my side.

I reached down and grabbed a hold of her cheek, but even as I twisted she wouldn't let go, crying out in pain, but wrapping her arms ever tighter around me in spite of it. Nazrin sighed and covered her eyes with one hand, shaking her head back and forth.

"Fine, fine, I'll hire you both. Hijiri wouldn't approve of me trying to split up two people who are so close anyway."


—5—


And so we left the office, intending to head for the Myouren temple, just north of the village. Nazrin turned and began walking straight for the gates to the schoolyard as soon as she left our office but Renko signaled for her to wait for a moment as she ran to the ornamental pond in the school's courtyard and came back with Genji floating in the air behind her, a pair of pillows strapped to his shell.

"What's with the turtle?" Nazrin asked, looking up distrustfully.

"This is the newest member of the Hifuu Detective Agency."

"I'm Genji."

Renko grinned and waved me over as Genji descended low enough for the both of us to climb onto our seats on his back. The seating arrangements Renko had improvised were exceedingly simple— a pair of cushions with two wide ribbons run through their casings and tied tightly around the underside of Genji's shell, allowing for the two of us to comfortably straddle Genji's shell, one of us sitting behind the other. Renko had also suggested gluing a set of wooden handlebars to Genji's shell somehow so that the two of us could hold on like we were riding a motorcycle, but Genji had rejected the idea.

Nazrin looked as if she was about to protest, but instead just shook her head. "Whatever, let's fly then."

And so Renko took her seat in front of me and Nazrin hopped off of the ground and into the air, flying north as Genji followed behind her.

It was, of course, a very short flight. As we descended toward the grounds of the temple, a shockingly loud voice called up at us.

"GOOD MORNING UP THERE! WELCOME BACK, MISS NAZRIN!"

These words had been shouted by the newest member of the Myouren Temple, Kasodani Kyouko, a yamabiko who had been sweeping the path to the entryway as we flew in, but was now waving up at us, a warm smile on her face.

"Hijiri is waiting for you, Miss Nazrin," she said in a much quieter, but no less excited voice as we landed. "Oh you're those two humans who helped out the captain and Miss Ichirin. Good morning to you too!"

"Good morning," Renko said as she stepped off of Genji's back. "Your voice sounds as cheerful as ever today."

"It's one of the first teachings of the Myouren Temple! "Greetings are a mental oasis,'" she replied happily, the floppy puppy-like ears atop her head flopping about in her excitement.

As a yamabiko, Kyouko was able (and more than happy) to yell at an incredible volume, with a voice so loud it could ring from the mountains. It was an ability that seemed rather at odds with the quiet dignity of the temple. She had come to the temple one day in tears, having journeyed down from her previous home on Youkai Mountain in a state of wandering, uncertain despair with no destination in mind. Apparently, a rumor had been spreading that echoes were in fact not the result of a yamabiko's cry but instead a natural process in which sound waves were reflected. This theory had caught on among the villagers, endangering Kyouko's existence. The Myouren Temple had taken her in to begin training her as a nun, and while she seemed to be enjoying herself it was as hard to reconcile her cheerful smile with her pitiable backstory as it was to associate her boisterous voice with the temple's meditative atmosphere.

For the sake of our own reputation I should mention that it was not Renko or I who had spread the rumor that echoes were the result of reflecting sound waves and not yamabiko. Since Kyouko had originally lived on Youkai Mountain, you can probably guess who started that particular rumor, but I'll leave her name unsaid.

Kyouko waved goodbye as we made our way down the path to the temple's entryway. Just as in the village, there were many disembodied spirits floating about everywhere. We didn't see a single worshiper on our way to meet Byakuren, which was unusual for the temple at this time of day. We asked Genji to wait for us outside of the main worship hall, and he happily nodded. As we stepped into the dim, incense-scented worship hall, Byakuren called out to us.

"Welcome back, Nazrin. Hello Miss Merry, Miss Renko. Please come this way." Saying that, she led us into a small, spare room in one corner of the main hall where we all knelt on the tatami floors, Byakuren and Nazrin sitting opposite Renko and myself. It seemed as if it had been Byakuren who requested our presence, but for what reason? "Thank you both for coming on such short notice," she began, inclining her head slightly.

"Ah, think nothing of it," Renko said, waving dismissively. "Now, I understand you need Merry's eyes?" Although Byakuren seemed to be addressing her comments primarily to me, Renko had no qualms about seizing the reins of the conversation. For my part, I was content to let her speak.

"Yes," Byakuren said, raising a hand to her cheek as she thought for a moment. "I suppose I should start my explanation by talking about those spirits. You notice how there are none present here?" I looked around, slightly surprised. I hadn't noticed it upon entering, but there were indeed none of the translucent wisps to be seen floating about here in the temple's main hall.

"I assume you're talking about the spirits we saw floating around outside?"

"Yes. Those spirits you've been seeing are mere vulgar spirits of desire. They are the sentiments of humans and youkai, which desire fulfillment in some way. They are distantly related to gods in that they are divine spirits born from the earnest desires of living creatures, but they are much, much weaker than even the most meager sort of kami. As you can imagine it's quite abnormal for such things to be so visible or numerous."

"They're desires? And a type of divine spirit? I had thought that divine spirits were just phantoms that received worship, and that phantoms in turn were just temperaments or manifestations of something’s nature separated from that things physical form?"

"You can think of them as newborn divine spirits. Typically they are so weak that they disappear almost immediately after being born. But yes, if they were to be worshiped, they would become stronger and could in theory even become gods."

"Ah, I see. So the type of divine spirit that could become a god would have to be the ideal of a person, representing all of their beliefs and achievements rather than just a momentary desire as these spirits are, right?"

I thought about it for a moment then nodded along with Renko. An individual who merely felt a desire like 'I want to save the world' or 'I want to make people's lives better' wouldn't be enough for anyone to worship, but if that belief were combined with the positive karma built up over a lifetime's worth of accomplishments in pursuit of that goal, then that collection of spiritual energies could be worshiped. In that case, did it mean that any idea, believed firmly enough and pursued earnestly enough could become a god?

"Alright," Renko said, nodding. "So normally spirits like this exist, but are too weak to be seen and quickly fade away. What's that got to do with my partner's eyes?"

"The fact that spirits of desire have become visible, even to ordinary humans, means that there is a tremendous surge in the strength of people's wants at the moment, especially in the vicinity of the human village."

Renko blinked in surprise, momentarily at a loss for words. "A surge in desires? Um, what exactly do you mean by that? Merry, do you know of any major unfulfilled desires in the village?"

I thought for a moment. "It's early spring, so perhaps all the farmers have been praying for a good harvest? You'd think this would be a yearly occurrence if that was the case though."

We tilted our heads in consideration and Byakuren nodded sagely.

"It's not surprising that neither of you understand. The reason for these strong and unusual desires is located somewhere underground, not far from this very temple."

"Underground?"

"Yes, and quite nearby. That's part of the reason I built the temple here in the first place. The proximity of the graveyard isn't the only reason I chose to build the temple here. There is something very powerful under the ground not far from here. I felt it when we first arrived, but I don't know what exactly it is. I thought that if we built our temple here, I might be able to investigate it and, if necessary, seal it away."

Renko and I looked at each other in surprise. A power of some kind was buried beneath the temple and strong enough to give Byakuren some concern?

"Just to be clear, this isn't something in the Underworld we're talking about, is it?"

"Yes, this power is quite different from that of a youkai. In fact, I would even go so far as to say it’s that of a saint, or a revered monk.."

"A saint?"

The idea of a revered monk being sealed underground brought to mind the story of the monk Kukai who was supposed to have achieved enlightenment somewhere on the slopes of Mount Koya. Apparently the process had involved him voluntarily mummifying himself. What was it they called people who did that? A sokushinbutsu, I think.

"Well anyone with enough holy power that you can detect them from here while they're buried beneath the earth would be your ally, wouldn't they?"

"...No. A human saint would likely be the enemy of youkai." Myouren Temple, of course, was devoted to the truly egalitarian ideal of humans and youkai living together in peace. Having a saintly youkai exterminator arise all of a sudden would certainly be a problem for what Byakuren was hoping to achieve.

"I built our temple here with the intention of ensuring the integrity of the seal on whatever is buried beneath us and in the hopes that Nazrin might be able to discern the true identity of whoever it is that had been sealed."

At this point Nazrin spoke up. "I managed to determine that the saint is sealed somewhere beneath the cemetery. There should be a surface-level entrance somewhere, but even with my dowsing I haven't been able to find it."

"I would have liked to allow Nazrin longer to look for the entrance on her own," Byakuren continued, "but at this point, events have forced my hand. The mass excitation and strengthening of all of these desire spirits is an omen that whatever being is sealed beneath us is about to awaken. Even if no one in the village knows who's sealed down there, the prospect of their awakening calls out to human desires."

Renko was silent for a moment, fiddling with the brim of her hat as she looked down, chin tucked to her chest in thought. "Well, I think I see why you called us now. Your aim is to make use of my partner's eyes as high-performance boundary detectors and locate this saint before they can awaken, is that right?"

"It is exactly as you say."

Byakuren nodded, evidently satisfied that Renko understood her intentions. Whether or not I wanted it, the power to detect barriers seemed to be a unique talent I possessed. No matter how strong, every barrier always has to have some imperfection or fray to its edges to act as an entrance, and readers who are familiar with my previous case files will recall occasions when I had broken such seals before.

"Just as a warning, this might be dangerous. I’ll be acting as your bodyguard, but we don’t know what might come out once we break the seal. Plus there’s been a strange youkai spotted in the cemetery recently. It might attack us if we try to interfere with the seal."

"Strange youkai?" Renko asked. "It wouldn't happen to be a karakasa obake, would it?"

"You mean Kogasa? No, she's no threat to humans. It's a more dangerous sort of youkai. We've had to restrict villagers from visiting any graves in the area for the time being." Once again Byakuren closed her eyes and laid a hand on her cheek. "I'd like to escort you myself but..."

"No need to explain," Renko interrupted, holding up her hand. "As the head nun of this temple, you can't risk open conflict with whatever might be down there. That's why you're using us and Nazrin as your proxies. We're not members of this temple and can investigate on your behalf." I remember that the captain had once mentioned that Nazrin lived outside of the temple and wasn't one of Byakuren's disciples. I began to wonder now if that was her own choice or if having someone who wasn't bound by the strictures of monastic life might be advantageous. "Well you've called the right people. I understand your need for discretion perfectly."

Renko nodded and folded her arms, looking sure of herself, but I wondered just what kind of person would be buried deep beneath a cemetery in Gensokyo and be powerful enough to make Byakuren worried? Surely it had to be someone famous, maybe even Kukai himself, though how he would have gotten here from Mount Koya, I can't imagine.

"Of course we’ll pay you for your work, and I'll do my best to try to keep you out of harm’s way."

"It shames me to ask this of you especially when you've already done so much to help Murasa and Ichirin."

Renko waved her hand dismissively, saying, "no need for any of that, please. We'd be happy to take your case, Miss Hijiri. Merry and I will do our best."

"Renko, don't make decisions for me, I haven't agreed to any of this yet," I interjected.

"Oh come on, Merry! This is Hijiri Byakuren herself asking! She bowed and everything! You’re not going to just ignore her, are you?"

"...I didn’t say I was going to refuse. Everyone here at the temple is always nice to us, so I’d be happy to assist them if I can."

Byakuren bowed once again. "Thank you then, we appreciate your efforts. Namu Amida Butsu." She pressed her palms together in prayer and bowed her head. I sighed silently to myself. How did I manage to get into a situation where someone like Byakuren was bowing reverently to me?

—6—

A graveyard, when explored during the day rather than at night, possesses an air of tranquility and quiet dignity rather than seeming macabre or gloomy. Or at least that would normally be the case. With all of the spirits floating about and swirling around the gravestones, the effect was a bit different. Even knowing that these spirits were merely visible manifestations of desire, they still looked much like the disembodied souls we had seen throughout the Netherworld.
We walked through the cemetery behind the Myouren temple with Nazrin at the front, Renko and I behind her and Genji bringing up the rear. We had never visited the cemetery prior to the construction of the Myouren Temple, but we had at least passed close enough to see the sad state it had been in, with gravestones toppled and overgrown. It looked much better now, with the grounds beautifully maintained. But despite that, seeing spirits swarming around the headstones was still enough to make it seem creepy.
"It seems like there are even more spirits here than there were in town, don't you think?" Renko asked as she walked along.
"You're probably right," Nazrin responded. "My guess is that they're gathering here naturally, being drawn toward wherever the saint is buried."
With no one around but the four of us and spirits floating about everywhere you looked it was hard to imagine a more stereotypically graveyard-like scene.
"How about you, Merry? Have you seen any barriers yet?"
"I can barely see anything through all of these spirits." I was resolved to try and help Nazrin look for any signs of an entrance to the barrier since she had gone to the trouble of contacting us, but if it was the sort of thing that was easy to find then I'm sure she wouldn't have bothered.
As I was saying this, I was interrupted by the sudden and sharp sound of a snapping twig. We all turned to look, and an ominous figure rose up from behind a headstone and leapt towards us.
"BOO! Be afraid, huma—gurk!"
The cry had come from the leaping figure, and been cut off when Nazrin had intercepted her in mid-air. sweeping her legs out from underneath her with a dowsing rod and sending the assailant pitching forward to strike her head a tombstone. It looked rather painful.
"Owww!" the figure moaned from where they had landed on the ground.
"Oh, Kogasa, was that you?" Nazrin asked, glaring down at the crumpled form of a girl clutching a closed, eggplant-colored umbrella, whose singular eye seemed to be wincing in pain. It was clearly Tatara Kogasa, the karakasa obake we had met once before.
"What's the big idea? I was just trying to surprise these humans!"
"Unfortunately for you, I'm acting as these humans' bodyguards today."
Renko leaned out from behind Nazrin, waving cheerily. "Hello Kogasa, that was a pretty good attempt. Have you had much luck here in the cemetery?"
Kogasa looked at Renko as she climbed to her feet. "Oh, you're that human who told me to try scaring people here! It had been going okay until recently." I thought back to when my partner had first suggested this graveyard as a good place to try to scare humans. I suppose it must have been a pretty good suggestion if Kogasa was still here. "Things have gotten much worse lately though. I've got a real problem now!"
"Oh? What's wrong?"
"There's this girl I’ve never seen before keeping watch over part of the cemetery now. I tried chasing her off but she just ignored all of my attacks..."
"I wonder if that's the same dangerous youkai that Little Naz was talking about?"
"I told you not to call me that. But it might be. Let's go have a look."
"Can you do something about her?" Kogasa asked excitedly. "Please chase her out, this is my favorite hunting spot!"
A lot of people were making requests of us today. If only this was typical for our detective agency.
"If that youkai is guarding something, that's probably where we'll find the entrance."
"I know that, but I was hoping we could find a way around her. She's the kind of youkai I'd rather not fight if I could avoid it." Nazrin said brusquely, "Let's see if you can identify the entrance first. I'll try to draw her away, then you two see if you can figure out how to get down to where we need to go."
I suppose that was as good a plan as I could hope for. I didn't know what kind of youkai might be standing guard, but as long as I wasn't expected to fight it, I suppose I couldn't complain.
"...Alright, I'll do my best."
"I'm counting on you."
"By the way, Little Naz, what sort of youkai are we dealing with here?"
Nazrin let out an exhausted sigh, seemingly tired of complaining about the nickname. "You'll understand once you see her."
—
And so we made our way to another section of the graveyard, where a single figure was standing stock still in the shadow of a lone tree. Renko peered through the haze of spirits for a moment then turned back to us.
"That's a jiangshi, right?" she asked.
"Obviously."
It would be hard to come to any other conclusion. The figure was that of a young woman standing completely rigid with her arms locked stiffly in front of her, a paper charm stuck to her forehead which dangled down in front of her face and a fancy red blouse of silk brocade in a distinctly Chinese-looking style. If she wasn't a jiangshi, she was doing her best to be mistaken for one, remaining utterly motionless and staring straight ahead. Her complexion looked very healthy for a zombie though.
I wondered for a moment what Sanae would have made of her if she had been here but then quickly put that thought aside. The jiangshi was completely motionless, standing with her eyes closed, looking almost like she was asleep. We watched her for several minutes from behind a large grave marker, but she didn't move once.
"Maybe she’s sleeping? It’s the middle of the day. Don’t jiangshi only come out at night?"
"She'll wake up if you get near her. More importantly though, is she guarding anything? Do you see an entrance anywhere?" Nazrin asked.
I stared out over the graves just behind the jiangshi. There was definitely a strong barrier of some kind that had been placed somewhere around where she was standing. I couldn't tell what might be beyond the seal, but without a doubt something was sealed under this section of the graveyard. Part of it wavered slightly in my vision. That was probably the opening.
"There's something underneath that tombstone diagonally to the right behind the jiangshi. That might be the entrance."
"You can really see it, can't you?" Nazrin said, with something that almost sounded like respect. "Nue had said you could see these things, but I hardly believed it. Alright. I'll get her attention, then you two run in and see if you can break the seal. Once the entrance is visible then I can—"
"Hey Miss Jiangshi. Are you awake? Or moreover, are you alive?"
This interruption had come from Renko, who, completely ignoring Nazrin's plan, had simply emerged from the row of tombstones we had been crouching behind and begun walking toward the field where the jiangshi was standing. She was waving one arm over her head and shouting. Nazrin's sentence ended mid word as she looked over at Renko, then back at me, her jaw slack with shock.
With a guttural, wet-sounding growl the jiangshi awoke. Her eyes popped open and stared at Renko. Awkwardly she turned her body to face her and took a single shuffling step forward, then opened her mouth to speak.
"Dooon't come any closeeer! This is no place for the likes of you to enter!"
"Really? Sorry about that, I didn't know."
"Did you come to visit a grave?"
"That's right, I'm just a harmless visitor. What about you?"
"We are jiangshi! Arisen to protect this magnificent mausoleum."
We? Were there more jiangshi like her around? I certainly didn't see any.
"A magnificent mausoleum? Sounds prestigious. You must be quite the guardian."
"Right, so knowing that, you should leave. Or otherwise become one of our companions."
"I think I'll pass on joining you, but I would like to meet the person inside of that magnificent mausoleum. Would it be alright if I go inside?"
"Oh, go aheeead. No, wait. Was I supposed to let you through? Are you from the temple?"
"Not at all," Renko replied without hesitation. "I'm just a human from the village who has nothing to do with the Myouren temple. Are people from the temple not allowed in?"
"Whatever the case, I was resurrected to protect this area from the temple's inhabitants! You shall become one of our companions!" As soon as she said that, the jiangshi suddenly leapt forward, rushing toward Renko in the same rigid position she had been standing in, her mouth wide open and teeth bared.
She didn't get far though. She had stopped at the very edge of the mausoleum's shadow, reeling backward the moment she had crossed into the sunlight. She growled once again, an unpleasant sound, but not an angry one.
"The sun is so bright!" she moaned.
"Well it's the middle of the day," Renko said, almost apologetically.
"Guuuaaarrrh. I'm going to sleep until it's night."
"Oh, alright. It's actually a bit shadier over there by that other tree."
"Thanks. Wake me up when it’s 10 PM."
"Sure, goodnight."
Just as Renko had suggested, the jiangshi walked stiffly over to a nearby tree before closing her eyes and going still again, arms still locked in front of her. Renko shrugged, then turned and waved us over.
"Well that went well," she said.
"Do you have a death wish?" Nazrin spluttered as she emerged from behind the gravestones.
"Renko is missing the part of her brain capable of feeling fear," I said with a sigh as I stood up and followed her. My partner's recklessness is nothing new to me, of course, but I feel like as a human it would be a stretch to say that there was nothing wrong with her.
"A person who is bitten by a jiangshi becomes a jiangshi. There's no negotiating with that. If she had gotten to you you'd be worse than dead!" Nazrin chided as she marched forward.
"If someone is capable of talking then they're capable of being negotiated with. I'm a negotiator."
Given Renko's track record in that role I don't think I'd proudly claim that title if I were her.
"Well at any rate she seems to be asleep now, so let's see if we can find that entrance."
With that we made our way over to the tombstone of the grave with the visible distortion above it. The weakest part of the barrier seemed to be covering the area directly behind where the jiangshi had been standing. There was no doubt that this grave acted as the entrance to a boundary.
"Merry is it under this grave?" Renko asked.
"I think so."
"We'll have to move the headstone then. That won't be easy." It was Nazrin who said that. Generally most seals I had seen couldn't be opened with physical force though.
"Renko, do you remember our first outing as the Hifuu Club? This is just like when we went grave-robbing in Rendaino."
"Oh yeah, that brings back the memories. Do you want to try doing the same thing we did back then?"
"I guess it's worth a try."
I was talking about something that had happened back in the Outside World, of course. It was just after I had first met Renko. As part of a club activity we had gone to Rendaino just outside of Kyoto in search of boundaries to explore and it was there that we had first seen the cherry blossoms of the Netherworld. Back then, we had opened a rift between worlds simply by turning a gravestone around.
"Ready Renko?" I asked, leaning my shoulder against the stone.
"Whenever you are. Let's go!"
We pressed together, our feet sinking into the soft earth as we strained against the stone. Slowly, the headstone rotated a quarter-turn.