東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 3:Hopeless Masquerade

—7—


The next day I taught my classes as scheduled, trying hard not to let my lack of sleep show in front of the students, while wondering how Renko, who was teaching her mathematics class down the hall, was coping. Despite my distractedness, class proceeded as usual, at least until a few minutes before lunch.

All at once we heard the sounds of a commotion rising on the street out in front of the temple school. It almost sounded like… no, it definitely was…

Within moments everyone had noticed the sounds of singing coming from the street and had begun noisily discussing it. I sighed, closed the textbook I had been reading from, and opened the shoji door on the outer wall of the classroom to look out toward the street. Sure enough, just beyond the wall that encircled the grounds of the temple school I heard what could only be the same sort of disorganized, unruly march we had seen the other day.

Shutting the door to the outside, I walked to the opposite side of the classroom, saying "Everyone please wait here for just a moment," and poked my head into the hallway. Sure enough, Keine was there, standing by the open main doors to the school, looking out onto the street. I slipped into the hallway, shut the classroom door behind me and walked over to her.

"It's happening again..." she muttered as I approached.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Keep the kids in their classes for now. I'll go out and put an end to this." Saying that, she stepped out, marching toward the school gates and closed the doors behind her. I turned back toward my classroom, wondering what Renko was up to when I saw her, leading a whole class full of students down the hall towards me.

"Renko, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Going to see what all the fuss is about, obviously."

"Keine's already gone out to put a stop to it, so let's get these kids back to class. It could be dangerous for them out there."

Hearing that, all of the children lined up behind Renko let out an incredulous groan.

"But it sounds like they're having fun out there!"

"It's lunchtime already! I want to go out and play!"

"Those people sound like they're playing. What kind of a game are they playing?"

"What are they doing?"

Considering that some of the people in the mob outside were dancing and singing, I suppose that, at least to a child, the crowd outside might look like they were playing.

For the people who lived in the village, this must have seemed almost like a moment of much needed relief. Life in the Human Village was difficult and laborious. To be able to cut loose, even if just for a moment and dance without a care, singing 'who cares if the world ends?' or the like must have a certain appeal. An end to seriousness and propriety, an end to work, an end to boring village life...

Do we live to work, or work to live? It was a question that had no doubt been asked over and over throughout the history of human civilization. Humans of course are terrible and distinguishing means from ends and so this particular chicken and egg dilemma repeats itself again and again, day in and day out. This dance was a rejection of that. An act of resistance. A way to strike against the fetters of society… Ah, I'm starting to think just as crazily as the people out there, aren't I?

"Who cares!" one of the children shouted. "I don't want to have to think anymore!" With that cry, I saw a handful of children in the hallway twist past me and run out into the street to disappear into the sea of dancing bodies before I could stop them.

"Oh, wait!" I cried, abandoning my position to chase after them. In the space of a heartbeat the children split up and vanished into the surging crowd. I gasped in horror, trying to see where they had gone as Renko caught up to me.

"Hey Merry, what are you doing?"

"This is your fault for bringing the kids out here, Renko! Where did those children go?"

"I'm not sure. Where'd Keine go? Oh there she is... oh that doesn't look good either..."

Renko scanned the crowd and managed to spot Keine right away. She was standing in the street with her arms spread wide, shouting and trying to turn people away from the school, but no one was listening to her. As we watched someone shoved her angrily and she fell disappearing into the sea of bodies surging along the street.

"Miss Keine!"

Without thinking I plunged forward, driving into the crowd with my shoulder, forcing people out of the way as I rushed toward the place I had seen Keine go down.

I found her near the side of the road, sitting on the ground and looking a little disheveled but uninjured. She looked out at the crowd with an unhappy expression, sighing as she stood up and rested her hands on her hips.

"It's no good, no one's listening to me at all. We can't just let this happen though."

I was about to tell her about the children who had slipped past me and into the crowd when all at once a voice rang out, loud enough to be heard over all of the commotion.

"Truly, this is a fallen world, beset with countless sufferings." The voice was calm and almost cheerful. I would have recognized it anywhere. But hearing it here could only mean one thing….

"Desire always begets even greater desire, and these desires give rise to sins like greed, jealousy and arrogance, which torment humans and youkai alike. All who live in this world, whether human or youkai, suffer beneath the crushing weight of the chains they have forged of their own desires."

The people's dancing, which Keine had been unable to stop by any means, suddenly halted. The crowd parted to reveal the form of a woman in ankle-length robes and a conical straw hat who walked with dignity through the press of bodies, her head bowed. It was Hijiri Byakuren.

As countless eyes turned to observe her from all sides, she spoke clearly. "And yet, the Buddha would never abandon us. He watches over us with infinite compassion. We must learn to exhibit that same compassion. When we give up our desires and purify our hearts, we are freed from the burden of sin and can learn to approach enlightenment, even in this fallen world we now inhabit. This is the way of the Buddha's wisdom, and by learning his teachings any being, whether they are human or youkai, can come to know joy, peace, and redemption."

A cheer went up from somewhere nearby. All around us. People who had been dancing moments ago, began instead to pray. Some of the older people in the crowd even began to openly weep. All around us, many voices were muttering words of thanks.

"Let us all pray together," Byakuren said. "Give thanks for the three treasures of Buddhism and let us take shelter in the refuge that the Buddha has granted us. The doors of Myouren temple are open to all humans and youkai who seek salvation. Now, follow me if you would. Namu Amida..."

As Byakuren spoke a subtle halo of wavering rainbow light was growing around her. It was just like what we had witnessed yesterday, with the sole exception that the crowd who had chosen to follow the prince had mostly been younger people, while Byakuren's followers seemed to skew older.

Perhaps it's unsurprising then that it was the voice of a young person calling out that stridently interrupted her. "What in the hell is all this? Some sorta weird cult?"

Once again, it was a voice I would have recognized anywhere. Looking up toward where it had come from, I saw Kirisame Marisa sitting on the edge of the tiled roof of the building opposite the school. I could imagine that she probably came into the village with some regularity to shop, but what was she doing on the roof?

"Miss Marisa, welcome." Byakuren said, turning toward her. "I'm just bringing the teachings of the Buddha to the people of the village in need of salvation."

"That's suspicious. How is goin' to some temple and chantin' all day gonna save anyone. You need to actually go out and do somethin' if you wanna save people."

"If you can lift the burden of desire from someone's heart, then salvation will come to them. Misery arises not from material conditions, but from within one's own self."

"If you want to lift the burdens from someone's heart, you gotta actually help them. If your clothes are in tatters then your heart will be too. No one ever filled up their belly by prayin' about it. Food, a place to sleep and stuff like that, that's what salvation is."

Coming from someone who had left the human village to live alone in the Forest of Magic, it was a convincing argument. Marisa had no doubt endured no end of hardships to live as she did while still being a human.

Byakuren looked up at Marisa for a moment then nodded to herself, seeming to have come to a conclusion. "I see," she said, placing her palms together in front of her. "It seems you too are trapped in this world of suffering. To save these people, I must first save you."

"I don't remember askin' you to save me."

"Perhaps you will understand better if I demonstrate to you the power of Buddhism." Byakuren said as she began to rise into the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didja wanna go?" Marisa asked with a leering smile as she brandished her broomstick. "Bring it on, then." Were they about to start a danmaku match here, in the middle of the village, isn't that dangerous?

"Marisa! You can't fight here, it's dangerous!" Keine shouted, echoing the words in my head.

"Ugh, Keine, you're here too?" Marisa said, scowling. "Alright, fine. Let's do this up in the air then." With that she leapt off of the roof and onto her broomstick, turning it as she rose into the sky.

"The altitude isn't the problem!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Kamishirasawa. But in times such as these it is imperative that people understand the power and security that the Buddha can offer them."

"Bya— Miss Byakuren, not you too!"

"All of you should get to safety. Now, here I go. Namusan."

With that, Mariasa and Byakuren took to the sky, and a spirited danmaku battle began in earnest.

The people standing in the streets began to cheer, pumping their fists in the air and watching as the combatants fought in the sky above them. Keine was moving through the crowd, yelling at people to take cover "It's dangerous! Everyone, get indoors!"

I could only look around in a panic at the situation. Renko herself was of no use, looking up and cheering just like the others. As I sighed in exasperation at her and went back to looking for the missing children in the crowd, however, a different figure caught my eye. I only saw them for a moment before they disappeared back into the sea of people, but as soon as I realized who I had just seen, I tried to locate her again. There was no sign of her. If I had really seen her, she had vanished so quickly and completely that I could hardly be sure that she had been there at all.

But still... hadn't that been Komeiji Koishi?


—8—


In the end, the battle overhead finished in a decisive victory for Byakuren. The nun floated back down to the streets with a serene smile on her face and led more than half of the crowd back to the Myouren Temple with her. Marisa sighed and shook her head, saying "Crap. I sure got egg on my face," before flying off.

After that, all of the people who hadn't been led off to the temple dispersed on their own and the few children who had slipped into the crowd were quickly located and escorted back to the Temple School, where they joined with the other children for a typical lunch break and then their afternoon classes as usual. Well almost as usual. After all of the commotion the children were much rowdier for the rest of the day.

Eventually, we managed to make it to the end of the day without further disappearances or disturbances. As the last of the children were leaving the schoolyard, Keine headed over to the neighborhood watch office, her head down and arms crossed in front of her as she muttered darkly to herself about needing to figure out a way of handling this situation.

Meanwhile my partner and I retired to our office to feed the birds and chat as usual.

"I think we're going to need to have a stakeout tonight too. There's no doubt in my mind that something unusual happened to us during the night. Tomorrow is a holiday, so tonight we can stay up all night and find out what's really going on!"

"Renko, I'd like to get a good night's sleep for once." She was probably only thinking that this was a good idea because of her own sleep deprivation.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Merry?" she pouted.

I sighed at her. "Even if something strange did happen to us last night, you have no reason to believe anything would happen tonight."

"Well that's why we need to keep an eye out tonight. To see if it's a daily occurrence or not."

"Renko, all that happened was that we both ended up at home without remembering how we got there, right? That doesn't prove anything."

"It is unusual though."

"It could have just been Ran watching out for us and sending us home."

"If Ran could do that, don't you think she would have before? Besides, Banki was hinting that something strange has been going on too."

"There's no evidence that what she said had anything to do with the two of us coming home without remembering it."

"There's no evidence that it doesn't either. That's why we need to investigate, Merry! Science is all about challenging your assumptions and establishing hypotheses through repeated experimentation and observation! It's not about just sitting at a desk and thinking things up."

"You can't honestly believe that your methods are the least bit scientific, Renko. What about all of the crazy theories you've come up with based on nothing but the fact that they're possible?"

"Those are just hypotheses made to test potential masterminds, so it's alright for them to just be thought experiments."

"It's awfully convenient that you can just decide when something does or doesn't have to be scientifically rigorous… Oh, right, I almost forgot. I meant to tell you before, but I think I saw Koishi earlier."

Renko's eyes went wide and she leaned toward me. "Koishi? When? Where?"

"Out in the street, while Byakuren and Marisa were fighting. I only saw her for a moment, but I'm almost certain she was in the crowd along with everyone else.

"That's my high-performance boundary detector! How interesting. If she really has become a youkai of the unconscious mind, I wonder if being consciously perceived is dangerous to her? More importantly though, why does she only ever appear for you and not me?"

"She's probably only interested in people who can see her. That would be my guess, anyway."

"Well how does she know if I can see her or not if she won't ever come near me?"

"Who knows. Apparently she comes up to the surface every now and then. Maybe she's approached you a bunch of times and you just never noticed."

Renko let out a puff of air and sat down on the floor, groaning and tilting her head back. "Hmmm. Merry, do you think that our returning home without intending to the other night might have been because of Koishi?"

"Huh? Even if she could manipulate the unconscious mind, I don't think she'd do something like that."

"Well there's got to be some sort of connection. We both acted without thinking and now you've just seen the youkai of thoughtlessness herself. That can't just be a coincidence."

"I think it is."

"Work with me here, Merry!"

"I'd rather go home and get some rest."

Our banter was suddenly interrupted by the door of our office being thrown open with neither a greeting nor a knock. That meant there was only one person who could be at the door. Sure enough, when I turned around it was Kochiya Sanae, our friend and part-time assistant standing in the doorway.

"Hello!" she said cheerily, beaming at us both.

"Oh, Sanae, welcome!"

"Am I interrupting anything?" She asked. "It sounded like you two were talking about something interesting."

"As usual, Renko's trying to talk me into doing something reckless."

"Not for no reason though, Merry. There's an ongoing incident in the village, Sanae."

"An incident?" Sanae asked as she kicked off her shoes and joined us in sitting on the tatami. "Do you mean those weird gatherings where everyone starts dancing all weird and singing gloomy songs?"

Sanae seemed to be aware of the recent commotion. Actually, that made me wonder...

"Hey Sanae, the Myouren Temple and the Divine Spirit Mausoleum have both been taking advantage of recent events to try to gather more followers. Is the Moriya Shrine doing the same?"

"Us? Umm no. Lady Kanako said that we should just wait and see what happens."

I glanced at Renko before looking back to Sanae, a little surprised. "Are you sure that's okay?" I asked. "At this rate Byakuren and the Crown Prince are going to divide the village's population up between them."

"That's what I thought too!" Sanae exclaimed, suddenly incensed. "I said the same thing to Lady Kanako yesterday! After I heard how many people were following those two around, I went back and told her 'Now is the time for the Moriya Shrine to show off and welcome new believers,' but she was all like 'There's no need to rush. Let's just see how this plays out.' And then I asked her 'why?' and she just laughed and wouldn't answer!"

Sanae groaned. It was certainly surprising to hear. I would have expected the Moriya Shrine to jump at the opportunity to recruit more worshippers. I wondered what Lady Kanako might be planning. Surely she must be aware of what was going on from listening through all of the branch shrines in the village.

"I suppose even if a whole bunch of people were interested in visiting our shrine, it would be hard to transport them all up there at the moment. I think that's why she's waiting... but It sounds like she has something bigger in mind."

Hearing Sanae's words, Renko folded her arms and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "A series of spontaneous commotions in the village, a gaggle of new worshipers for both the temple and the mausoleum, Banki suggesting there's something going on in the village at night and Koishi wandering around unseen. What could it all mean? I wonder if Lady Yasaka knows more than she's letting on. I can't help but think that all of this is connected, but there has to be something that we're still missing..."

Renko seemed lost in thought for a moment then suddenly lit up and turned to Sanae, seeming to have realized something out of the blue. "Sanae! I just got a great idea. Can Merry and I have a sleepover at your shrine tonight?"

"What? Um, yeah that should be fine," Sanae replied, blinking in confusion at the sudden change of topic.

I couldn't imagine what Renko was thinking. "Renko, what are you planning now?"

"Don't worry about it. Besides, Tomorrow's a day off," Renko said with a grin.

"Seriously. What are you thinking?"

"Nothing special. Sometimes it's just important to see things from a different angle is all," she replied with her usual troublesome grin.


—9—


It had been a while since we had had a sleepover at the Moriya shrine. When we arrived this time we were greeted by an excited Suwako. "You two are staying over tonight, right? Let's play some games!"

We followed her into the living room of the residence behind the outer shrine where we found Kanako sitting at the living room table and drinking tea. Kanako looked very much at home, the very image of a parent relaxing and looking on approvingly as her daughter chatted with her friends. I suppose it wouldn't really be completely incorrect to call Suwako and Kanako Sanae's parents though.

"Sorry to intrude, Lady Yasaka."

"Welcome, both of you."

"Would either of you like some tea?" Sanae asked. "Lady Kanako, can I get you some more?"

"Oh, yes please, that'd be nice."

"I'll take some as well."

"Sure, just a moment."

It was as ordinary and comfortable of a greeting as one could hope for from any family, enough so that one could forget that the people whose hospitality we were enjoying were in fact two and a half gods.

"So, Lady Yasaka," Renko asked as Sanae poured tea into Kanako's cup, "you're aware of what's been happening lately in the village, aren't you?"

"The recent public disturbances you mean? Yes, it seems as if a great many people's hearts are in turmoil at the moment."

"I heard from Sanae you're not planning on doing anything to capitalize on the situation. Is that right? The Myouren Temple and the Taoists both seem to be recruiting a lot of followers."

"In times of upheaval, it's not uncommon for religions to come to the rescue, it's true. After all, the purpose of religion is to provide a guide on how best to live one's life. If there were neither gods nor Buddhas in the world then people would be absolutely without guidance, and have no clue how to behave. By providing rules, faith instructs people how to act: live this way and your life will improve. Perform these rituals and your soul will be saved."

Kanako then put down her teacup, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Renko. "That said, I believe the current frenzy of religious fervor in the village is only temporary."

Renko leaned forward, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Oh? Why do you say that?"

"What's happening now is nothing more than a bout of mass hysteria. Anxiety spreads among the villagers and creates more anxiety. Put simply what we have here is an anxiety bubble. Even with all of the crises that occurred last year, it's not like the people of the human village had their lives uprooted by natural disaster or political chaos. Left on its own, all of the turmoil would naturally settle down soon. But at the moment people are allowing themselves to give into their anxiety and wallow in baseless fear. Eventually that bubble of anxiety will burst, and once it does all of this current faith the villagers are displaying will suddenly subside. If our shrine were to attempt to profit off of all of this temporary anxiety by gathering faith, that would only make the situation worse and heighten everyone's anxiety."

"Hah, I see. But what do you think caused this recent bubble of anxiety to form?"

"Well, there are likely various reasons and causes, but the main factor is that the villagers seem to be frustrated with everything they have to endure and have no hope for the future, nor any idea how to improve their situation. When faced with such a circumstance, faith can give people guidance of the sort the villagers desperately need, but that same faith quickly fades once people have escaped from their current crisis. In order to ensure that faith lasts, you have to convince people both that you can help them, and that they will continue to need your help in the future, instilling a sense of dependency. That is a tactic commonly used by cults."

"The Taoists, Buddhists, and likely even the Hakurei shrine will all compete for worshippers. The people's faith will find a home and they will feel at ease. When they do, this anxiety bubble will burst and suddenly all of the faith that had been gathered will be lost. The other factions will grow desperate, preying on people's anxieties to keep their faith flowing. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 is when we will make our move."

"In other words, Lady Yasaka, you'd be fine if the Hakurei Shrine, the Myouren Temple and the Divine Spirit Mausoleum were to come to blows over this. If they were to engage in a religious war and all three started raiding each other, that'd work out nicely for you, wouldn't it?"

Lady Kanako flashed Renko a wicked-looking grin. "Well, it wouldn't bother me."

I suppose the Moriya Shrine was trying to take advantage of the situation after all. The gods can be cunning indeed.

"Right now none of that matters anyway," she continued with a shrug. "For the time being, our first priority has to be making it easier for the villagers to visit the shrine."

—

After that we had a delicious home-cooked dinner and spent several hours playing games with Suwako. As night fell we retreated to Sanae's room with a spare pair of futons. As soon as the door was closed, however, Renko dropped hers in a heap and turned to Sanae.

"All right, part-timer," she said, "Now for the real reason we're here. The Hifuu Detective Agency is conducting a stakeout tonight. In the human village, around the hour of the ox."

"Roger!"

And with that Renko began to lay out her plan. Her aim was to observe the human village from the sky with Sanae's help late at night and hopefully be able to see what was going on from a higher angle.

Personally I thought it would have been easier to rely on Genji if that's what Renko had planned, but when I brought that up, Renko just said "Genji's old, Merry. We can't push him too hard." Just once I'd like to see her be that considerate of me.

"So with that in mind, should we take a nap first, or do you just want to stay up?" Renko asked once she was done explaining.

"I'm already tired from last night. I'm going to go to bed." I sighed and began spreading my futon out on the floor. Renko sighed in disappointment at me as she sat on her futon.

"Are you sure, Merry? What if I end up having an affair with Sanae while you're asleep?"

"Wait, what? This is all so sudden, Boss. I had no idea you felt that way about me."

"Well I'm lonely, Sanae. Merry never pays any attention to me, but you'll give me some comfort, right?"

"Umm, Miss Merry? What should I do?"

"I'm sleeping, you two. Good night."

"Uh, I don't really know what to do, I haven't really..."

"It's fine. I'm a teacher, Sanae. I can teach you all sorts of things."

"Wait! Miss Renko, this is cheating, right? You don't want to become an adulterer."

"Merry said it's fine. Just relax and come here."

"Really? But… Ah! Quit it, Boss! Eeek!"

I opened my eyes and turned to look over at both of them. Renko was tickling Sanae's side with both hands. Upon seeing me glaring at her, Renko froze, her fingers still poised in position. A catlike grin slowly spread across her face.

"Oh, were you wishing this was you, Merry?"

"Hardly."

"Then were you getting jealous, maybe? You know I'd never really cheat on you, don't you Merry?"

"I'm not jealous and I don't care if you're cheating."

"Wait a minute. Boss, were you just using me to flirt with Miss Merry?" Sanae cried, puffing out her cheeks in a pout.

"Wait a minute, Sanae? Does that mean you're actually interested?"

Sanae glanced nervously from Renko to me, then back again. "No! I wasn't... Miss Merry, help!" Sanae cried, as she scooted away from Renko and ran around her before crawling into my futon. I could only sigh and put an arm around her back as she snuggled up beside me.

"Alright, let's just ignore Renko there and have an affair of our own, Sanae."

"WHAA!?"

We ended up spending much of the night teasing Sanae like that.

—

The clock in Sanae's room showed a quarter to two when Renko woke me up. We snuck quietly out of the shrine, then took Sanae's hands as she carried us into the air and down toward the foot of the mountain.

"So what do you think is going to happen during the hour of the Ox?" Sanae asked.

"Probably nothing," I groused.

"Have faith in Banki. I'm sure something will happen."

I sighed doubtfully, but dutifully turned my eyes toward the quiet village below as it came into view. I wasn't expecting to see much of anything. Which is why I was completely taken by surprise by what I did see.

The moment that the clock struck two, the entire village wavered in my sight, shimmering as if lying beneath a heat haze.

Noticing that I had covered my eyes and looked away to avoid being disoriented, Renko asked "What is it, Merry, do your eyes see something?"

"Something's wrong with the village... everything looks sort of foggy to me..."

"I knew it! Sanae, take us closer, let's have a look."

"Right, Boss!"

We swooped lower and drew to a stop, hovering in the air above the rooftops. The sight we perceived there under the moonlight was nothing I could have expected. I covered my mouth and gasped in surprise. Sanae and Renko stared wide-eyed at the scene.

In the northern quarter of the village, a large number of people could be seen marching down the streets. Without light and seemingly without any destination, people were wandering pointlessly with unsteady, sleepwalking steps. The image that was called to mind was a zombie outbreak. Strangest of all, the faces of every last person wandering the streets were covered with expressionless, blank white masks.

That was how we stumbled on the strange incident that was occurring in secret behind the scenes of the public and spectacular religious war. This was the moment that we first became aware of it.