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

— 7 —

For someone or something to have been deliberately sealed away, there has to have been a reason. Anyone could understand that. For someone who had been seen as a saint to be sealed in a world populated by demons for a thousand years must have required some extraordinary justification. But what could it be?

"From what captain Murasa told us, her crime was sheltering and aiding youkai in her temple and pretending to be a human. That was apparently enough for the Hakurei shrine maiden and the Yama to sentenced her to imprisonment in Makai. For that same crime Murasa and Ichirin were sealed in the Underworld along with the remnants of Byakuren's ship."

I nodded. That was more or less the same story we had heard from the captain and Ichirin.

"I know a thousand years ago humans and youkai were much more hostile toward each other, so I can see how the punishment for such a crime would have been harsher back then. We also heard that Hijiri used magic to restore her youth, which sort of suggests she had already stopped being a human, so it’s possible that the Hakurei Shrine's policy at the time would have been to simply exterminate her, no questions asked."

Renko and I were sitting on the edge of the shrine's back porch, letting our bodies cool down after the soak in the hot springs. Marisa and Rumia had both already left for their homes and Reimu was busy preparing dinner, so it was just the two of us.

"Sealing just her into Makai seems like an extraordinary punishment though. I wouldn't expect a shrine maiden from a thousand years ago to be as lenient with youkai as Reimu is, but even if Byakuren had to be sealed away, why not just seal her in the Underworld with the captain and her ship?"

"Maybe it’s because she was a religious leader? They might have been worried about her trying to spread her teachings among the Earth Spirits. If she's sealed in a world full of demons, I can't imagine she'll find much of an audience for the teachings of the Buddha."

"I suppose it could be something like that, but if all she had been doing was sheltering youkai in her temple then I’d be surprised to see them go that far. If she were feeding her human parishioners to her youkai disciples or something then that might make sense, maybe..."

"Murasa and Ichirin’s word is all we have to go on, but from what they said, Byakuren didn’t sound like the sort of person who would do something like that. They just said she wanted humans and youkai to live as equals."

Of course we couldn't ignore the fact that Murasa and Ichirin were both Byakuren's disciples and considered her to have saved their lives. We had to take anything they told us with a grain of salt. Even still, the idea that Byakuren’s teachings—the belief that youkai could be just as unjustly persecuted as humans and that they could benefit from the wisdom of the Buddha just as humans could—they hardly seemed like enough of a sin to deserve the punishment she had received. The mismatch between crime and punishment was even more glaring in the modern Gensokyo that Renko and I had seen, where humans and youkai were able to coexist, at least to some degree.

"If you look at the story from the point of view of the people who were attending her temple it might make sense. They thought they were coming to her for salvation from a world full of youkai only to find that she was sheltering youkai. They would have felt betrayed."

"And that’s why they burnt her temple to the ground, right?"

But for both the Hakurei Shrine and the Yama to get involved and then dispatch such a harsh punishment seems surprisingly severe. What sort of sin would someone even have to commit for the Yama to do something like sentence you to be sealed in Makai?" Renko said, resting her chin in her hand.

I leaned back, trying to remember the details of our last encounter with Shiki Eiki three months ago. We had gone to Muenzuka with Sanae and Komachi to see her, and Renko's question about why Byakuren had been sealed away had been the last thing we asked about, just as the Yama was trying to leave. The answer we had gotten from her had amounted to little more than an admonition to mind our own business.

'She committed a terrible sin and for that she was sealed away.' That had been all the Yama had told us about her.

"I wonder what crime she even committed. Sheltering youkai? Deceiving her followers? It's possible she might have done something that the captain and Ichirin don't even know about."

"Is that what you're going to investigate this time, o great detective? Whatever it was, she's already been punished for it, Renko. Everyone has a few moments in their past they’re not proud of."

"Don't make it sound so sordid, Merry. This is a practical concern for us. Byakuren committed some sort of crime for which she was sealed in Makai. I don't think the Yama would lie, so we can treat that statement as fact. The fact that she’s still imprisoned even now means that it either had to be a sin worthy of a thousand years of confinement, or something that even now she’s continuing to commit."

"In that case, if Murasa and Ichirin manage to make it to Makai, do you think the Yama will try to stop them from freeing Byakuren?"

"Maybe. She might even end up sealing them both back in the Underworld. This could be a big deal."

Renko stood up and put her hat back on her head. "Finding out what crime Byakuren was imprisoned for is critically important to Murasa's mission to free her. We need to figure out what she did and see if the Yama will approve her release. The fate of the captain's rescue mission is in our hands!"

I sighed and stood up. "I suppose that since you’re the mastermind behind this whole incident you can’t exactly ignore a detail like that." I wasn’t opposed to the idea of investigating though. I wanted to see Murasa's mission succeed as much as anyone.

"That's what it means to be a detective sometimes, Merry. Now come on, we need to head back to our office. There's a thousand year old mystery to uncover and the hidden truth surrounding a guilty saint to reveal. I can't think of a job more appropriate for a great detective like myself!"

"And all great detectives need their assistant. Yes, yes. But for the moment let's just sit and relax."

I knew that if I didn’t try to reign her in Renko would just rush ahead, pulling me along behind her. I didn’t feel much like running anywhere after the long day and hot bath we’d just had. And so, I sat on the veranda with no intention of getting up. Renko for her part stumbled as she stepped forward almost as if I were holding her on a leash

"Without Sanae with us it’s really hard to keep the momentum up, isn’t it?" she asked, turning back toward me and fixing her hat.

"The Yama told me that I should be trying to slow you down, remember?"

"Are you still trying to follow her advice? You're so diligent, Merry."

"Unlike you, I’m capable of self-reflection, Renko."

"I self-reflect all the time. I’m a very modest and thoughtful detective."

"Thoughtful? How? Are you constantly thinking of new ways of being reckless?"

"I’m thinking of new ways of making the world a more interesting place!"

"Are you two still here?" Asked Reimu, interrupting our bickering as she walked out onto the veranda. "And why are you both hanging around my back yard and yelling? I hope you're not thinking that I'd feed you if you stuck around."

"No, no, our business isn't doing so badly that we have to beg for food here of all places."

Reimu shot Renko a seething glower. She raised two fingers and one of her ofuda appeared between them. "Go home," she said flatly.

"It was a joke, Reimu. A joke!" Renko said, raising both of her palms. Why did she always have to push things so far? The last thing I wanted was to feel like my life was in danger even at the Hakurei Shrine.

"Actually, there is actually something I wanted to ask you. Do you have time for a few questions? I promise I'll leave a donation on my way out."

"What."

"Which generation of Hakurei shrine maiden are you?"

"I don't really know. I've been working alone here as long as I can remember. I don’t remember the previous shrine maiden at all, and that goes double for any that might have been before her. "

We had asked Marisa similar questions about Reimu's past before, but she wasn't much help either. She had never met Reimu’s parents and only knew what little she could tell us from second-hand accounts. "When Reimu was little there was this giant old turtle who lived near the shrine. He used to take care of her. That's why she's lazy and slow to move, just like a turtle," was what she had told us. When dealing with Marisa though, it was always a good policy to not take more than 30% of any statement as an unvarnished truth.

"What about written records? Did the previous shrine maidens leave any teachings behind, or tales of their past deeds or the like?"

"That's what Akyuu's for, isn't it? Why not ask her?"

"I suppose that's fair. What about possessions? Did the previous shrine maidens leave you anything?"

"There might have been some old stuff in the storehouse, but I never really went through it all, and it all got flattened in the earthquake a while back. I gathered it all up and got rid of it."

"Ah, I see."

She was of course referring to the earthquake that had occurred last summer, which had reduced the Hakurei Shrine to rubble. Since then the shrine had been completely rebuilt. Natural disasters are the constant enemy of history, I suppose. That was really more of an unnatural disaster though.

"Why the sudden interest in previous shrine maidens? You've gotten yourself into the middle of something again, haven't you?"

"Of course not, Reimu. It’s just that we've known you for a long time, but there's still plenty of things we don't know about each other. Isn’t there anything more you’d like to know about me?"

"No. You guys can look into my predecessors if you want, but if whatever you’re doing causes an incident I'm going to exterminate you."

Of course we didn’t mention that we had already caused what might well be considered an incident. Even my partner wasn’t reckless enough to try to pass something like that off as a joke to Reimu’s face.


— 8 —


"Alright then, Merry! To Hieda manor!" Renko declared, raising one finger in the air as soon as we had arrived home and dropped off our things.

"It's evening already, Renko. Murasa and Ichirin are going to be looking for the pieces of their mast for a few days at least, so there's no reason to rush. Let's go tomorrow after classes."

Arguments like those had eventually won her over and we ended up returning home to sleep immediately after eating. I hadn't realized just how tired our busy day had left me and nearly overslept the next morning. That's irrelevant though.

The next day we taught our classes as usual at the Temple School, which had undergone significant changes since the previous winter. To sum up these changes in a single sentence, our school had mostly outgrown us. As a result it was now being managed by the Hieda estate directly. Keine had long been an associate of Akyuu's due to their shared professional interest in history and they had worked closely together for some time before our arrival, but the school had always been a private endeavor of Keine's. Akyuu had offered to help out with the financial burden of running the school on multiple occasions, but Keine had always been reluctant to rely on anyone else.

As the number of students enrolled in the school steadily increased, however, it was quickly becoming more than one woman could manage. The recent winter, with its heavy snows which had caused frequent closures of the school and high heating and maintenance costs had been an especially lean season, resulting in both Renko's salary and my own having been paid late.

Renko had suggested that we should raise the monthly tuition and set a cap on the number of students in the school, but limiting access to education was both counter to Keine's goal of growing the school and her moral sense of obligation to the children of the village. Adding more school rooms or hiring more teachers seemed entirely off of the table, however. Eventually the untenable stalemate had been broken when the Hieda household had offered to extend a helping hand in recognition of all of Keine's hard work.

Thus, starting this spring, the school had been renamed as the 'Hieda Public Temple School', and new teachers vetted by the Hieda family had been hired to teach classes in calligraphy and geography. The school had become something close to a public school, taking in children from all over the village. It was a very different experience from the days in which the school was mentioned in rumors as a shady place run by a half-youkai. Renko and I had been kept on as teachers and received a notable increase to our salaries, which couldn’t be called anything less than a windfall. Not only did the Hieda household pay our salaries and cover the school's expenses, but Akyuu was happy to let us still run our detective agency out of the storeroom behind the new classrooms. Truly, she had been very gracious to us.

In truth, it's only because Keine had been so busy handling the administrative tasks associated with the transfer of the school for the past several months that we had been able to so easily sneak out of town on a somewhat regular basis to assist with the work on the project of lifting the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 to the surface.

"Bye, Miss Merry!"

"Goodbye. See you tomorrow!"

Just like usual, my classes ended for the day with the sound of children laughing and playing as they scampered through the increasingly cramped schoolyard toward the gate. I let out a breath as I moved to close the door to the classroom and let the tension begin to drain out of my body. Despite all the changes, Renko's duties and my own remained much the same. I spent my days mainly with the younger students, teaching them to read and write while Renko continued to teach several levels of mathematics.

"Another day done. I suppose you two will be heading to your office now?"

Keine called out as Renko and I walked down the hallway together.

"Actually, we were planning to stop by Hieda manor for a bit."

"Hieda manor? Are you dissatisfied with your current position here?"

"No, not at all. We're both glad to still be employed, not to mention that the Hieda are allowing us to continue to both live and run a side business out of a building on school property. The recent raises are appreciated too. This is strictly a social visit, Renko and I have nothing to complain about."

"In other words, up until now the salary was too low, right?"

"That isn't what I meant to say!"

"It's alright, I understand. We were all a little fraught trying to make ends meet." Keine smiled but I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"So what did you want to ask Akyuu? If it's something related to history, maybe I can help."

"Oh, well it's about Gensokyo's history, but it's about something that would have happened a thousand years ago."

Keine frowned and tilted her head to one side contemplatively. "Hmm, in that case you might be better off asking Miss Akyuu."

Keine had a well-developed expertise in ancient history, but when it came to the history of Gensokyo specifically, there was no way she could compete with the Hieda family. The Hieda household had been compiling the history of the local region for countless generations. Although Keine included the history of Gensokyo in her studies, especially since becoming a were-hakutaku, there was just no way she could grasp the vast archives compiled by the Hieda family throughout the centuries.

"Why the sudden interest in history? If you've started enjoying getting into the past I can give you a comprehensive guide."

"No, no need for that, but thank you," Renko replied. "My inquiry is related to an investigation being carried out by our detective agency, so I'm afraid I'll have to keep its nature confidential."

Keine's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Oh, I see how it is," she said despondently. History was Keine's true calling and an endless source of fascination for her. That very fascination was also one of her biggest failings though. Her knowledge was so extensive, and filled with so many dates, names and events that it became impossible for her to converse on the subject with anyone who was not as fascinated with the topic as she was.

—

At any rate, we left the temple school behind and headed to the Hieda estate. Upon arriving we were soon told that the child of Miare was not available though. "She's gone to Suzunaan again" was the answer when we asked after her.

It was a common enough story. Despite being the symbol of the village and a figurehead leader of the humans of Gensokyo, Akyuu was the sort of person who preferred to wander around —and even out of the village—with as few attendants as possible.

Suzunaan, the village's book rental shop, was one of her favorite haunts. Renko and I made our way there from the estate. Suzunaan was an unusual store in the village, and one that I frequented as well. In addition to books written or reproduced from older texts in Gensokyo, it also collected and rented a chaotic miscellany of books, magazines and manga from the Outside World. For Renko and myself, it was a rare and cherished reminder that the world we now found ourselves living in was indeed connected to the one we had come from, however distantly. For my part, I had long ago given up any thoughts of ever returning to the Scientific Century, but knowing that the Outside World hadn't just been a delusion the two of us shared was still a welcome comfort.

"Hello! Welcome!" A cheerful voice greeted us as we came through the curtain and into the store. It had come from Motoori Kosuzu, the only daughter of the store's shopkeeper. Although I’ve never mentioned her before in these records, she’s someone I was quite well acquainted with, having frequented Suzunaan myself numerous times over the years.

"Hello Kosuzu," I greeted her. "Running the shop by yourself today as well?"

"Dad's out collecting overdue books. Was there something you were looking for?"

"Yes, but it's not a book, I'm afraid," Renko said with a smile. "We heard Akyuu was here, we were hoping to talk to her."

"Oh, she's just reading over some books in the back."

"I'm here," came a voice from behind a line of bookshelves. "I can hear you." A moment later Akyuu emerged carrying a handbound volume. "Oh, I had thought my family had sent someone to come look for me, but it's just you two."

"Sorry to disturb you Miss Akyuu, we'd just like to ask you a few questions about an ongoing investigation of ours."

"Alright. Wait just a moment, please. Kosuzu, I'd like to take this, and the two others."

"Okay, let me just check them out." Kosuzu replied, running over to take the book that Akyuu was waving. While Kosuzu filled out the paperwork for the books Akyuu was borrowing, I browsed through the section containing the recent arrivals from the Outside World. There were a few titles that caught my eye.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, let's head back to the manor to discuss this." Akyuu said, walking over toward Renko and I after completing the checkout.

"Would that be alright? Our questions aren't urgent, so if we're interrupting something we can catch up later."

"No, it's fine, I was just returning some books."

Despite Akyuu's friendly smile, I felt a little bad for stealing a customer away from Kosuzu, so while she and Renko talked, I selected three titles from the latest trove of Outside World books and checked them out. "I'll take these too, Kosuzu."

"Oh, thank you. I'm always glad when you and Renko come by, Merry. No one else ever checks out the Outside World books." Kosuzu said that while smiling brightly and wrote down the titles of the books I had selected. Money changed hands and she bowed, saying "Please return them in two weeks," as usual. I claimed my prizes and headed back to catch up with Renko and Akyuu as they headed out the door.

"Shall we go then?"

"Yes. Thanks again, Kosuzu." Akyuu waved as we left.

"Okay, bye-bye!"

Heida manor is not far away from Suzunaan, so the walk back to Akyuu’s place didn’t take long. As usual, as soon as we were admitted we were shown to a spacious reception room and a few minutes later Akyuu entered and took a seat on a cushion across from us.

"My apologies for interrupting your time with Kosuzu." Renko began.

"Think nothing of it. I can go there any time I like. Now, what can I do for you?"

Taking a sip of tea, Renko began. "I'd like to know about an incident that occurred in Gensokyo a thousand years ago. I'm told the Hakurei shrine maiden of that time was involved, so I was hoping you'd have some record of it."

"I hope you've got more than that for me to go on. I can't give you much with only that information."

"Indeed I do. It involves a Buddhist temple located somewhere around here that was burned to the ground by humans living in the area after accusations arose that the nun running the place was sheltering youkai. The name of that nun was Hijiri Byakuren, if that rings a bell."


— 9 —


Akyuu's eyebrow twitched, ever so briefly. "...What's making you interested in such an old story?"

"It concerns a case our detective agency is investigating," Renko replied smoothly, glossing over the fact that the investigation had only begun as a result of her idle curiosity. "Client confidentiality means that's all I can tell you, I'm afraid."

Akyuu put her cup of tea down on the low table and let out a small sigh. "If something like that happened, it would have been recorded in the writings of the second Child of Miare, Hieda no Ani."

"So does that mean you have something?"

"A story like this is from a time long before this area was called Gensokyo, so it wouldn’t really be accurate to say it happened in Gensokyo. I should have something from around that time, at least. The human village was just a remote settlement on the edge of the wilderness back then."

"But despite its size and how remote it was, the Hakurei Shrine and its maiden were present even then, right?"

"Originally the human village was barely anything you could call a village. It was a small settlement in the mountains overrun by youkai of every sort, but the village slowly grew as more youkai hunters settled here. Back then the Hakurei Shrine and its maiden were the only sources of authority for the small community. Youkai were a constant threat, so it's not surprising that the people would rely on someone who had the ability to oppose the youkai to lead them."

"Hah, that's a bit different than the way things are nowadays."

"Over time, as more people arrived with the power to oppose youkai incursions, the prestige and power of the Hakurei Shrine diminished. In the time of Hieda no Ani, the shrine was known to exist near the human settlement and it is said that its maiden was able to hear the voices of the gods and protected the village from harm."

It was a little surprising to hear that the Hakurei Shrine, which we had always known as a lonely, nearly forgotten place, had such a prestigious history.

"Among those who settled here were a Buddhist nun and her entourage, who established that temple you were asking about that was eventually burned down. It was called the Myouren Temple, it seems..." she said, tapping her forehead, as she scanned through documents only she could see as if she were reading from a database.

"There's a temple by that name in Yokohama too, but I doubt it's related," Renko mused.

"This one seems to have been a temple of the Shingon sect, dedicated to Bishamonten. The temple was a little ways up into the mountains, and had apparently been named after the younger brother of the nun who established it, who was also a Buddhist monk. He’s probably the same Myouren mentioned in the 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑖 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖. That's a Heian-era picture scroll. It comes from another Shingon temple that worships Bishamonten, so it would make sense."

"Oh, the 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑖 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖, of course," Renko said, groaning loudly. "I knew I'd heard of that flying storehouse somewhere before." Personally I think I had heard of that scroll before, but I had no idea what it contained so I couldn't imagine what Renko was groaning about.

"I have no idea if this 'Byakuren' was really Myouren's sister or not, but Myouren had become quite famous at this time for healing Emperor Daigo of a serious illness. There's no mention of Myouren having a sister at any point in the records and this temple would have been built several decades after his death."

So far, everything Akyuu had told us lined up with Murasa's version of events. If Byakuren really was a magician who had rejuvenated herself then it wouldn't be surprising to see her opening a temple decades after Myouren's death.

"Why was the Myouren temple burnt down?"

"According to Ani's writings, the temple claimed to offer the blessings of the Buddha and protect people from evil spirits while actually harboring youkai and other creatures in secret. Apparently Byakuren’s disciples were secretly youkai disguised as humans. When the humans discovered this, they formed an angry mob and assaulted the temple."

"That sounds like a case of mass hysteria. That was when the Hakurei shrine maiden intervened, I take it?"

"The humans were on the verge of slaughtering everyone within the temple's walls, so she arrived to try to deescalate the situation. In the end, the temple was still burned to the ground but the youkai who had been hiding inside of it managed to escape. Apparently they were aided in this by the nun. The humans were angry that the youkai had escaped and wanted to send out search parties to find and kill the fleeing youkai, but the Hakurei shrine maiden talked them out of it."

The story mostly lined up with what we had heard from Murasa, though now at least we knew what role the Hakurei shrine maiden of the time had played in the whole affair. Murasa’s story didn't explain who had called the Hakurei shrine maiden in the first place, why she had involved the Yama, or why Byakuren had been sealed in Makai for a millennium though. I wouldn't have expected Murasa's story to include any of those details if she had escaped from the temple before it was burned down though.

"Apparently the Hakurei shrine maiden confronted the nun running the temple directly," Akyuu continued, still reading in her head. "The details of that confrontation aren’t recorded, but it says the nun was sent to Makai. Two of the four youkai who escaped were captured and sealed into the Underworld along with several items that were said to contain most of the nun's power. Two more youkai are said to have escaped and were never found, but there's no further mention of them anywhere. That's all that it says about the whole affair," she said, opening her eyes.

Renko and I looked at each other, then back to Akyuu. Renko's glance communicated the same conclusion that I had come to—there was a serious discrepancy between the version of the story we had heard from Murasa and the one just told to us now.

"...Is that record all you have?" Renko asked.

"Yes. Would you have expected something more?"

"No, I'd just like to confirm the details. According to the records of the Hieda, it was the Hakurei shrine maiden who sealed Byakuren into Makai, right?"

"That's what it says. Do you suspect that the records are wrong?"

"Not exactly, but I was hoping to know what sin Byakuren was condemned for."

"For deceiving humans and sheltering youkai, obviously." Akyuu replied without the faintest shadow of doubt on her face.

"Well, I suppose I don't know much about how sin or punishment were viewed back then. Being sealed into a world full of demons sounds pretty bad though. Worse than being sealed in the Underworld, at any rate."

"I imagine that both punishments would be seen as roughly equivalent to exile. In both cases it's just one step below a death sentence."

"So then being thrown into the Underworld or being thrown into Makai would have been more or less the same thing to the people of the time?"

"No. Makai would be the harsher sentence. The Underworld was still Hell at the time, but if you were sealed down there while still alive you might have been able to live among the oni rather than be condemned to the punishments reserved for the damned."

So then being thrown into the Underworld was seen as the lesser punishment, to some degree. If being sealed underground for a thousand years was considered a lesser punishment, then youkai must truly have been hated back then. I didn't know how long youkai could live though. If they could persist for 10,000 years, maybe their imprisonment was something like a 10-year prison term to a human.

"Would a punishment like that have been intended to be eternal?"

"Punishment of a youkai is different from punishment of a human. A seal placed on a youkai would be intended to last indefinitely from a human point of view. If that seal were to fail, then the youkai just has to be sealed again. The incident last winter broke the seals to the Underworld, for example, but the question of whether or not those seals will be replaced depends on what happens with the youkai who live down there going forward."

"So really it’s up to whoever places the seal?" So would you say the crime of harboring youkai in a temple deserved a punishment like being sealed in Makai?"

"I can't pretend to know what the Hakurei shrine maiden of the time was thinking or whether it was justified, but if she sent Byakuren to Makai then I think it's safe to say she didn't consider her to be a human any more."

"So then banishment to Makai is the sort of sentence that would only ever be used as a punishment for a youkai?"

"Yes. It would be the sort of thing that would be done to a particularly dangerous youkai. Though it is possible that such extreme measures were only taken to satisfy the fury of the assembled mob."

"And Saint Byakuren resigned herself to that fate..."

"I couldn't say if that's true or not. There's no record of her having fought to escape, certainly."

Renko groaned thoughtfully, resting her chin in her hand. I joined her, folding my arms and tilting my head in consideration.

There was one clear difference between the version of events that Akyuu had related to us and what we had heard from Murasa: Akyuu’s version contained no mention of the Yama being involved at all.

I wondered what the reason for such a difference could possibly be.