東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 4: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Four


𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴

—10—

It was a doll house.

Both in terms of its style and its content. The house was built to a human scale, of course, with human-size furniture and features, but every aspect of the cottage-style interior seemed to have been designed for aesthetic presentation and meticulously maintained in a spotless order. Not a scrap of paper was disorganized, not a bit of linen in the large kitchen was stained. Even the hearth was devoid of soot. The house was also filled with dolls. Dolls of every kind, from all over the world. Bisque dolls, fashion dolls, matryoshkas, marionettes, as well as hina dolls, bunraku puppets, a full-size model of Colonel Sanders and even haniwa and shakoki clay figures. Dolls, dolls, dolls, as far as the eye could see, lining every shelf and tucked into numerous display cabinets and curios. I wondered if we had had the opportunity to explore, we might have found full-sized terracotta warriors, department store mannequins or 18th century automata tucked away somewhere in the place.

"Are all of these dolls ones you've collected?" I asked when Alice had shown us inside.

"A few are. Most are ones I've made myself," Alice answered curtly. "I'm going to put dinner together. Feel free to look around, but do be careful. Many of the dolls are quite fragile."

Taking her at her word, Renko and I explored the many figures on display. I wondered if the Colonel Sanders statue could have been the same one that had been famously picked up and thrown into the Dotonbori river by jubilant fans after a baseball championship in the previous century, having now made its way to Gensokyo, but I recalled reading that that particular statue had eventually been found.

"Hey Merry, look at this thing!" Renko said, thrusting a small stuffed toy of some large-eyed fuzzy creature at me.

"What is that creepy thing?"

In response, Renko pressed on the toy's belly. Its eyes rolled slowly open and closed with a faint whirr and click of switches and its mouth articulated nonsense sounds.

"U-nye-loo-lay-doo?"

It must have been a toy from the last century, when they were just starting to computerize objects.

"Be careful not to break that, it's very valuable."

Alice had come in from the kitchen, bearing food and plates. She set them down at a small round table and we left the cabinets behind to take our seats. As Renko scooted her chair into place, a palm-sized doll walked across the table, carrying forks and knives and setting them down at each of our places, bowing politely to each of us.

"Is that an automaton?" Renko asked.

"No, I'm moving it with my magic."

Another doll floated in from the kitchen, balancing a heavy crock of soup. It looked like a lot for the doll to carry, but being as I am not a magician, I don't know if using magical power to manipulate a doll into carrying a pot would be harder or easier than just carrying the pot. At the very least, it seemed like it would take a lot of focus.

For reasons still a mystery to us, Alice had invited us here as we left the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She had provided us with filter masks to protect us from the clouds of spores dancing lazily in the air of the Forest of Magic and flown us to her house, a cute cottage with a well-kept garden sitting in a clearing in the midst of the dark woods. Now we were being served dinner by a collection of animated dolls that marched about seemingly of their volition. It was a very surreal experience.

"Dah-no-lah-lee-way. Yay. Yay."

"Renko, that doll is noisy, put it away."

"Isn't it cute?"

"Not at all."

Renko put the doll back on its shelf with a hurt expression. Sometimes her sense of taste is baffling to me.

At any rate, it was time to eat. I couldn't imagine what Alice's motivation for inviting us here could be, but as long as she was eating with us, it didn't seem likely that the food could be drugged. The meal she had prepared was simple but hearty. Fresh bread, chicken soup and a warm mushroom salad, all packed with savory herbs and hand-made. After we ate, over a cup of tea, Alice turned to us as more dolls carried the dishes to the kitchen.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions about the Outside world, if you don't mind," she began.

I glanced at Renko. So that's what she had wanted from us. I didn't mind answering, but having come from 80 years in the future of anyone here, we might have difficulty explaining. We ourselves still had no idea how we had come to be in this time, after all.

"Sure, what do you want to hear about? Politics? Religion? Culture? ...Fashionable dolls?" Renko asked as she folded her hands and sat upright.

Alice slowly shook her head. "No, I only have one question," she said. "I need to know. In the world you came from, is there such a thing as a fully autonomous doll? I mean a doll with a heart that can think and feel on its own."

Renko blinked in surprise. She took a moment to consider, then spoke.

"In our world's terms, what you're describing would be called 'Artificial General Intelligence' or 'strong AI'. Around the beginning of the 21st century, it was widely believed that the development of a strong AI was immanent, and would bring about a so-called 'technological singularity' in which the progress of scientific and technological development would shift from developing at a human pace to a unpredictable and exponential rise in development as strong AIs made stronger AIs and so on. This was generally predicted to occur some time around the middle of the 21st century." She paused then, thinking for a moment. "Before I continue though, Miss Alice, there's something you should be aware of."

"What is it?"

"Merry and I are from 80 years in the future."

Alice's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm afraid I don't have all of the details myself, but somehow, when we crossed the boundary into this world, the two of us were sent back in time. So what we know about the Outside world is from our time, roughly 80 years ahead of the current state of affairs out there. Is that OK?"

"I'm only interested in the development of living dolls. Besides, this is the history of the Outside world, not this world. I don't see what harm it could be for me to hear about it."

"Alright, let me answer your question then. As of 2085, strong AI, that is AI with a will and mind of its own, doesn't exist. As such, no doll with a heart of its own has yet been created."

"I see."

"The biggest thing standing in the way of its development is our understanding of the human mind. After all, in order to give a machine a human-like intelligence, we need to first be able to define the 'mind' of a human, and understand the processes of will, intelligence and emotion. No concrete and universally accepted definition of what it means to have a 'mind' has ever been reached. If a machine is made to act like it has a 'heart', can we say that it has one? Or is it merely operating as it was designed to? Ultimately both science and philosophy struggle to prove whether others or even ourselves really have a heart, or agency, or will, or if we merely react in a complex way to various stimuli."

Alice was silent for a moment, leaning back in her chair and considering the questions Renko had posed. I could have contributed to the conversation, talking about Turing tests, Chinese room experiments, Philosophical Zombies and the like, but I wonder if the residents of Gensokyo, where science and technology are well behind that of the Outside World, would even be able to understand the premises. As a Relativistic Noology major, even I had only a surface-level awareness of such concepts insofar as the ways they relate to psychological models of the mind.

"In the time that we come from," Renko continued, "scientific consensus is beginning to favor the view that free will itself may is nothing more than a comforting fantasy, with humans being deterministic creatures subject to the commands of their biology, as the existence of the mind can't not be conclusively proven."

"Are you suggesting then, that even for all of us, there is no such thing as a mind?"

"I'm saying that's the consensus view of the scientific community in the world we come from," Renko replied with a wry smile. Alice frowned in response.

"If we could make a machine that was capable of conversation, emotional expression, and gestures that were as close to a human's as possible, then that machine would appear to have a 'heart'. But since we can't prove the existence of the 'heart' in humans either, we'd never know if we had succeeded or not. Both the AI that falls in love with humanity and the AI that rebels against humanity have long been staples of science fiction, as both are fantasies based on the assumption that recognizing a non-human mind as such would be self-evident. Whether there is such a thing as a 'mind' or not and whether or not we could succeed in creating one may be things humans are not capable of knowing. Certainly, since the dawn of humanity there have been non-living objects that humans have thought of as alive, or even ascribed wills to."

"...That's the conclusion of the Outside world of the future?"

Renko smiled, but with a hint of sadness. "For now. If the 'mind' is ever fully defined then perhaps an AI based on that definition could be built, but the AI would only be as complete as the definition of the mind allowed for. Since we're in this world now, I suppose we'll never know."

Alice seemed to consider this for a moment, but was suddenly overcome with a grim expression and turned to look up through the window at the clouded skies overhead.

"Miss Alice? Is something wrong?"

Alice shook her head with a small sigh. "No, it's just that I'm afraid we're about to have uninvited guests."

"Uninvited guests?"

"Yes, please excuse me for a moment or two. I'll go greet our visitors."

We watched Alice's back as she got up and walked out of the living room, wondering who in the world would come to visit at a time like this. A moment after the front door thudded shut, Renko and I glanced at each other, and then both grabbed the filter masks Alice had lent us on our trip here. Making our way to the front door, we ventured out into the yard of the cottage and looked into the darkness of the surrounding woods. We both turned to look as, seconds later, a brief flash of light illuminated the sky above us.

"There!" Renko pointed upward. "Are they playing danmaku?"

"Is that Reimu and Marisa up there? I don't think Miss Alice has anything to do with this winter Incident though, does she?"

"Well let's go find out, shall we?" Renko was already halfway across the garden, heading toward the line of trees surrounding Alice's house, following the path that Alice had taken into the woods.

"As long as we can watch from somewhere safe."

Renko nodded and the two of us headed through the cold grass and dark trees. keeping well back from Alice, who was marching straight forward ahead of us. As we followed, Reimu and Marisa were still fighting somewhere in the forest far ahead of us, blasting their way towards Alice's house. For the most part we could only make out their danmaku rather than spot either of the girls themselves, but eventually they came into view and Renko and I took to watching the scene from behind the broad trunk of an oak as Alice stopped to wait for them.

"It's been a while, Reimu,"

"What? We've only just met."

"So you don't remember me then?"

"What? Reimu, you know her?" This was from Marisa, who was still sitting on her broom, her boots dangling just above the ground.

Reimu shrugged. "I don't remember one way or the other."


"Well I suppose I shouldn't expect any better than a head full of springtime from the sort of person who would hang around with an uncultured hedge witch like her."

"As opposed to what, a greenhouse witch?" Marisa interjected.

"As opposed to a properly accredited urban magician."

"Ah, well welcome to the wilderness then, I guess."

"I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from wasting my time needlessly, please. I'm worried how milady is faring without me."

This last interruption had come from a fourth voice. Walking up behind the others, Sakuya was striding through the forest, picking her way through the fallen leaves and undergrowth in heels with perfect elegance. She was still wearing her maid uniform, complete with apron and headdress, though she had wrapped herself with a long muffler as well. All three of the people who had set out to resolve this Incident had assembled at Alice's house now, despite the fact that there seemed to be no connection between her and the prolonged winter. What could it mean?

"If you're so concerned about her, why not go back? If you're here you should be spending your time worrying about yourself."

"Oh yes, I am worried about myself now too."

"That seems prudent. For what reason do you worry? About yourself, I mean."

"Well I only brought three changes of clothes with me. For myself. And a spare set of knives."

"I see. Wait...KNIVES?"

"You're the one wasting time with this banter!" Reimu shouted. "It's cold, so finish up and let's get moving already."

Alice cringed away from Reimu's outburst. "You have that right at least. Spring in this lonely backwater is dreadfully cold."

"Not normally," Marisa interjected. "It's almost as if some power were at work to make things so unpleasant."

"Well it's not my doing, if that's what you're implying. Someone is gathering up all of the spring for themselves."

"And you wouldn't know anything about that, I suppose?"

Sakuya stepped forward, her eyes flashing.

"I might have some idea about who's behind it, but such trifling matters don't concern me."

"It's not a trifle to me! You can tell me what you know peacefully or under duress. The choice is yours. Maybe I should just take your spring and add it to what we've already collected."

"Hey, that's my line." Marisa grinned as she edged forward. "Leave her to me."

Reimu sighed. "Alright, she doesn't seem to be the mastermind behind this nonsense, so you go ahead, Marisa."

Sakuya nodded, retiring to stand demurely at the edge of the space the two were already squaring off in. "Agreed. Let's leave magicians to magicians."

The grin on Marisa's face was somewhere between giddy and gruesome. "I've got this. I'll grab her spring and we can get back to searching."

"You haven't got a prayer, you black and white amateur. They call me the seven-colored puppeteer. That makes you only 28.5714% as powerful."

—And so began the danmaku battle between Alice and Marisa.

I could devote an entire paragraph to the running battle between the two magicians that unfolded between the trees and against the backdrop of the starry skies that night, but it has little to do with the main point of this record so I'll skip it, adding only that it was a spectacular display, mesmerizing in its complexity and brilliance.

In the end, Marisa was victorious. Alice, who fought with the aid of dozens of magically manipulated marionettes that allowed her to fire on her opponent from numerous angles at once, seemed to be holding back to some extent, though perhaps that was only my imagination.


"Now, tell us where the person who's been stealin' all our spring is," Marisa panted as she descended after the duel had concluded.

Alice was laying face down in the cold dirt as several hovering dolls clutched at her dress to lift her out of the shallow rut the force of her impact had carved into the ground. I really wondered if she was moving them all rather than just getting up by herself. With their help, she raised herself up on her arms, brushing a smear of mud from her cheek as she did so. "There's a miko at the shrine downwind who's head is full of nothing but springtime, I bet it was her," she said sardonically.

"Hey Reimu, I think she means you." Marisa grinned, prodding Reimu in the ribs as she alighted.

"All joking aside," Alice continued, rising to her feet, "You're already well on your way to finding them. Every bit of spring you gather up brings you closer and closer."

Reimu picked at a stray sakura petal that had clung to her hair. "By collecting spring, do you mean these?"

"You were collecting them without knowing they contain the essence of spring?"

"They just stick to me when I'm flying of their own accord." It seemed to be true: all three of the girls' hair and clothes were dotted with pale cherry blossoms.

"So who we're looking for is upwind…" Sakuya cut in, already preparing to leave.

"So we should have just followed my intuition from the start," Reimu sighed, looking up at the trail of blossoms winding through the sky..

Marisa considered for a moment. "The wind is coming from the west. The only thing over that way is the Sanzu river, right? Welp, guess we gotta go have a look anyway."

With that, the three of them flew off without another word. As they left, we went over to tend to Alice, who stood and watched them depart.

"Miss Alice, are you alright?"

"Oh, were you two watching that? I'm fine, I wasn't really going all out." She gave her skirt a shake, throwing off particles of snow and frozen mud. "Sorry to interrupt our discussion."

"No, no, there's no need to apologize about that. There is something I'd like to ask you though, Miss Alice." Renko was fiddling with the brim of her hat, the look on her face telling me that she was tumbling some aspect of the mystery over and over in her brain. "Do you know who the mastermind behind this Incident really is?"

Alice's eyes widened. Her expression couldn't have been any more shocked if Renko had walked up and slapped her.

"Why would a normal human care about such a thing?"

"Because she's not a normal human," I volunteered.

"A strange human, then? I'd say so if you're poking your nose into a situation like this. My knowledge of the matter is purely coincidental, but I happened to discover where the spring is being gathered up in the course of my research."

"Research into dolls with hearts?"

Before anyone could even think to answer there was a strange sound, something like someone quickly operating a long zipper, but as loud and omnipresent as if the zipper were holding the universe itself together. In the empty space beside us, where there had been only air a moment before, a fissure had formed. Not a rift between barriers, but a rift in space itself. From that void, which had opened vertically, like a stab wound in the flesh of reality, I could see countless eyes staring back —eyes without faces, each of them an unblinking slit in reality dotted by a mote of pure darkness.

Before any of us could speak, the gap had opened, and before any of us could act or call out, it suddenly widened, surging forward and swallowing the three of us where we stood. Darkness fell as the gap sealed itself, dwindling to nothing as reality rushed back to fill the space it left behind.


—11—


To complete your understanding of events, dear reader, and to try to provide a semblance of chronological order, I should relate a few events that had happened at the same time, or just before the ones I have been talking about up until now. I didn't learn of these events until much later, of course, but I will provide them to you now, in the hopes that you will not stumble through the events of my life with the same benighted sense of confusion that I have.

First, earlier that day, Reimu had indeed fought with Chen at Mayohiga, early in the morning. Upon swiping an object from that storied place, and being dissuaded by the cold, she had given up on finding the mastermind behind the Incident and simply returned home with her new lucky charm. Not wanting to go back outside, she had then stayed under her kotatsu until late in the afternoon, when Marisa had arrived to tell her that a magician who lived in the forest had been flying around all over the place lately and looking suspicious. Although Reimu's intuition was pulling her further to the west, she had agreed to go with Marisa to check it out.

Sakuya, on the other hand, had left the mansion a little after noon, and made a day of murdering a winter-loving youkai she found frolicking in the area. Although that didn't seem to have much of an impact on the weather, she had spotted Reimu and Marisa on their way to Alice's place while hunting, and decided to tag along.

That's how the three of them ended up at Alice's place at the same time, though really none of them were on the right track to find the mastermind behind the Incident. Or at least none of them were intentionally on the right track. They managed to stumble on the path by blundering into the storms of cherry blossoms along the way.

After the confrontation Renko and I had watched, I'm told that the three of them encountered the fairy herald of spring and had a battle against the same band of noisy poltergeists we had heard perform at Remilia's party, but I neither observed those matches nor heard anything that would indicate that they were relevant to the story of the Incident, so I won't go into further detail.
Instead, let's return to the point where we had all just been swallowed by a mysterious rift.

—

I have no way of knowing how long we were in the space-beyond-space on the other side of the gap. Time seemed malleable, but eventually I emerged in a place that was completely unknown to me.

I found myself in an enormous but immaculately groomed Zen garden. Along the borders trees grew in dense clusters, thick as a forest. Elsewhere, hedges were meticulously trimmed into an intricate maze. A shallow pond expanded to the breadth of my sight, shadowed beneath the graceful curve of a low, wooden bridge. Moss-covered lanterns stood here and there, breaking up sightlines along the gravel paths that might otherwise stretch to the limits of perspective and give the vast space a desolate feeling. Even in Kyoto, I had never seen a Zen garden so vast.

Not seeing anyone around, I began to wander. The last time I had been in a place with time, it had been night, but looking up at the sky I couldn't tell if it was earlier or later. A bright moon hung in the sky, and gave off so much light that it didn't quite feel like night. It was also warm here, pleasantly so, after the endless winter we had just left. It was as if spring had arrived here a step or two earlier and was now in full swing.

I walked aimlessly along the hedgerows, unconsciously beginning to fan myself with my hand—it really was quite warm. As I passed by a line of shrub-covered boulders, I turned a corner and saw a sight that made my breath catch in my throat.

Beyond the corner was a broad, stone-paved pathway perhaps a dozen paces across, lined on either side with countless beautiful cherry-blossom trees, their stately branches filling the dark skies with countless pink flowers. The trees extended in an undulating sea of blossoms, stretching to the limit of perspective. Each was an explosive celebration of springtime, awakened in riotous color. It was a spring that had been denied to Gensokyo. Even if it had arrived the moment we left, it would have taken some time for the snows to melt and the trees to bloom to this level of intensity. If I had been gone, it must have been for several days or weeks at least.

It was far more sensible to assume that Renko's theory had been right all along —the spring that the residents of Gensokyo had missed had been taken from them, and gathered here, by the feel of it. But where was 'here' and how had I arrived? It reminded me of the disorienting sensation we had experienced when we first fell into this world, tumbling from Sumireko's room in our own time to the library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion 80 years in the past.

"...Renko?"

I found myself calling out without even thinking about it. The eerie and otherworldly beauty of the cherry trees rustling in the dark air filled me with a sense of foreboding, and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to squeeze Renko's hand for security. There was no response to my call. I could not see my partner anywhere. I was alone. Alone amongst the cherry blossoms on this dark road where sounds seemed to disappear the moment they were uttered.

"𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥. 𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘵, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.""

I couldn't help but recall a passage from a novel by Ango Sakaguchi I had read years ago. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮. In the scene, a man strangles the woman he loves to death beneath a cherry tree then sits dazed amidst the fluttering petals. Unbidden, the words came to my lips from memory.

"𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮. 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧"

Under the boughs of these cherry trees was I so different from Sakaguchi's character? I was lonely too, with Renko nowhere to be found. Amidst this tranquil beauty I could feel no fear, only a pathetic and wrenching sense of loss and abandonment. I sat stunned, like a lost child separated from their parents with no idea where to go. All directions seemed equally futile.

"Renko….Renkooo!"

I called as loudly as I could, but my voice disappeared into the falling petals without a trace, vanishing as silently as Renko had from my side. I thought to rise, to run and search further for her, calling out wherever I could, but my legs wouldn't move. For a moment, I wished someone would appear to lift me up, anyone to help me find my footing and give me hope, but I soon realized that wasn't what I wanted at all. I wasn't looking for just anyone. Only one person would do. The realization hit me suddenly and unexpectedly, but I felt it intensely —without Renko I could go no further. I needed her confidence to propel me through this cruel, unfathomable world.

I was lost in self-pity for a while, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes before the sound of footsteps roused me from my reverie. The weak shadow of someone standing nearby fell across my vision. Someone was approaching me from the side, around the trunk of the tree I was leaning against.
I scrambled to find my feet and stand. "Renko?"

The approaching figure suddenly stepped toward in a quick burst of movement. "A suspicious stranger! I'll cut you down!"

When I turned to see who was coming, I barely had time to register that it wasn't Renko. Moving quickly, the figure hurtled towards me like a bullet, wielding a pair of long, gleaming swords. The girl raced towards me as I stood there in shock, not even realizing that I was about to be cut to ribbons. I merely watched the gleaming steel descend in slow motion. And then it suddenly stopped, an instant before the longer of the two swords would have bitten into my neck. All at once, both of her blades vanished with a whirl and a flourish of silver light.

"Oh! I beg your pardon, Lady Yukari! I didn't know it was you!" The voice saying this was young, feminine and very nervous.

As my brain struggled to catch up, I took in the sight of my would-be attacker. A small girl with silver hair and a black ribbon wrapped around the waist of her green dress. A long sword, far too long for the small hand that would wield it was belted at her hip, and another sword rested in a scabbard across her back.


—12—


Once again, it seemed I had been mistaken for the Youkai Sage, Yakumo Yukari. I debated whether it would be less trouble to clear up the misunderstanding now or later, but being as this girl's initial instinct upon seeing me had been to attack me with a sword, discretion seemed wise.

Choosing to deceive her might get me out of this situation, but being exposed in the lie later might put me at even greater risk. In that case, revealing the truth now might at least give me the opportunity to talk to her, before she could act rashly later. Maybe. I weighed my options nervously.

"Uhh, excuse me for saying so but...."

"Yes ma'am!"

"I'm afraid I'm not who you think I am."

"What?" her wide-eyed gaze was both shocked and appraising. She stared at me a moment longer then blinked twice. "If you're not Lady Yukari, who are you?"

"I'm Maéreverie Hearn. I've been told I look a lot like this Yukari person, but I don't know who they are."

"Wha….S-So you are a suspicious stranger! How did you get into Hakugyokurou?"

She once again brandished her blade, pointing its extreme length directly at my nose. The image of this girl holding a katana amidst a storm of sakura blossoms was quite picturesque, but I could hardly appreciate it from this side of the sword. I raised both hands in a pose of surrender.

"I'm not a suspicious stranger, I just ended up here when..."

"Wait a moment," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Are you... alive?"

I nodded, not sure how else to react to such a question.

"How could a living person come to the Netherworld? That should be impossible. That's definitely suspicious. I should probably just cut you down to be sure."

"Don't cut me, I'll die!"

The girl tilted her head, confused.

"Well if you're not here to die, why come to the Netherworld?"

"That's what I'd like to know! I don't know why I'm here, or how I got here, or where here is or who you are!"

The girl continued to regard me quizzically for a moment, then sighed and returned her sword to the second sheath on her back. It was so large that even worn diagonally across her shoulders it both reached above her head over her right shoulder and nearly touched the ground beside her left ankle.

"I don't know any of that, but it's way too many questions for me. I'll take you to Lady Yuyuko, she'll know what to do with you. I'm Konpaku Youmu, servant to the Administrator of the Netherworld and groundskeeper for Hakugyokurou —this estate."

"The Netherworld? Hakugyokurou?" The words were foreign to hear spoken, but the Netherworld itself... I had seen it before.

In our first activity together as the Hifuu Club, Renko and I had gone to a graveyard in Rendaino. There we had seen a glimpse of another world through a gap between barriers and been surrounded by whirling cherry blossoms blown in from the other side. But now's not the time for that story.

"If this is the Netherworld," I asked, "does that mean I'm already dead?" I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, with little success.

She shook her head in response. "No, but you shouldn't be here. This is a world for ghosts, where those who have been judged unworthy of either heaven or hell by the Yama are sent to await reincarnation or ascension to Buddhahood."

"Does that mean you're a ghost too?"

"Half-ghost," she said, "part human, part ghost."

Could a human and a ghost have a child? The implications were boundless, but folklore was full of such half-supernatural children. In a world where youkai, fairies and gods walked among mortals, I suppose anything was possible. Indeed, now that I didn't have a sword pointed at my face, I could notice the white, puffy, elongated object that had been floating nearby Youmu for a while now. It was about the size of a housecat and seemed to have no distinct form, flowing bonelessly as it spun through the air. My curiosity urged me to reach out and touch it, but I had no idea how such an act would be perceived.

"Anyway, come with me. We'll let Lady Yuyuko decide what to do with you."

"Lady Yuyuko is your mistress, you said?"

"Yes, that's right. I advise you to be careful speaking to her though. Mortals who encounter her often die."
Exactly what I didn't want to hear. It seemed it was out of the frying pan and into the fire. Just as predicted, no matter how benign it may have started out, pursuing the secrets of this Incident had delivered me into mortal danger. I could only hope that Renko was faring better.

I hurriedly looked around. Was there anywhere to run? Any way to escape this false choice between two deadly alternatives? The forest of cherry trees stretched as far as I could see in either direction, with only the broad open gravel expanse of the garden behind me. Against someone as fast as I had seen Youmu move already, I wouldn't have a hope of escape, especially with her knowing the garden better than me. Among the trees there was no one but the two of us.

I fidgeted nervously for a moment, unsure if it was safe to ask about Renko and Alice. "Other than me, have you found any other living people wandering around here, by chance?"

"Other living people? More intruders?"

"There were um, probably two other people with me right before I came here, but I haven't been able to find them. A girl wearing a black hat and a brown coat and a blonde-haired magician who controls dolls."

"I don't know about any humans, but I know that puppeteer."

"O-oh, are you two accquainted?"

"She came to the Netherworld the other day, but I don't know what for. I didn't talk to her."

If the spring surrounding us here in the Netherworld was the cause of the extended winter in Gensokyo, then perhaps Alice had stumbled across this place before. That would explain how she seemed to know so much about this Incident.

"Have you seen her today, by chance?"

"The garden here is very large. If they're just wandering around, it's quite possible I wouldn't have run into them yet. I'll have to search the whole place once I've taken you to--" Rather than finish her sentence, Youmu suddenly whirled about and drew both of her swords in one fluid motion.

"Something suspicious!" she cried, and the steel flashed in an arc of silver. Something fell to the ground and rolled from where she had swung, laying motionless on the ground. It was a small cloth doll, staring blankly at the sky.

"A doll?" Youmu seemed confused, but I understood at once. Alice had to be nearby.

"Miss Alice! I'm here!" I called out. Two figures darted out from behind a nearby tree, moving fast. One rushed to the side, running out of my field of vision, but the other headed straight for us, making a beeline for me.
Youmu adjusted her stance, turning to face the figure rushing toward us. "Merry!" it called out. There was no time to consider my actions. I rushed forward and pushed Youmu out of the way, moving her out of position just as the rushing figure collided with me.

"Renko!"

"Merry, that's really you right? Not a look-alike or some kind of clone or something right?"

"Renko, you're an idiot. I'm so glad you're safe." I said as I clung to her. I squeezed her tight. Just now the thought of being separated from her again, even for an instant seemed unbearable. Her familiar voice was whispering in my ear.

"What's the matter, Merry? Did being lost make you miss me that much?" She laughed.

"You're the one who got lost, weren't you? I was looking for you."

"Enh, it's a matter of perspective, I suppose. I'm glad you're safe too." Renko patted me on the back and I rubbed my nose against her shirt to keep from bursting into tears. Bony and uncomfortable as she might be, I wanted to stay like this a while, snuggled against her.

"Well you two are rather friendly." Alice's voice came from behind Renko.

Blushing, I recovered my balance and pushed Renko away.

"Awww, you coulda clung on a little more," she teased.

"Don't embarrass me, Renko."

Alice was standing a few meters back, with her arms crossed and several of her combat dolls hovering around her. Her stance was relaxed though, and she wore her usual, disapproving expression rather than a look of aggression. Youmu was looking between her and us with a pouting, somewhat disappointed face. She had lowered her swords though, and given up her stance.

"What are all of you doing here?" Youmu asked in a stern voice. "If you came here to try to interfere with Lady Yuyuko's plans, I'll cut you down right now."

"Interfere with her plans?" Renko asked, turning to her. "Is your master up to something?"

Youmu moved to clap her hand to her mouth, awkwardly banging the grip of the shorter of her two blades against her chin. She winced then stared angrily up at Renko. I suppose we could regard that as a confession. The obvious conclusion was that the one stealing Gensokyo's spring must be her master, the owner of this magnificent garden.

"Too many questions! I'm taking all of you to Lady Yuyuko!" She said, flustered. Her anger might have been comical or even cute if not for the fact that she punctuated her statement by waving the longer of her two swords at the three of us, one after another. The tip of each of her swords was gleamingly bright and looked sharp enough to split a hair. I wish she'd stop waving them around.

—

And so we proceeded through the rows of cherry trees, herded by Youmu Konpaku and her two swords.
Renko, apparently, had found Alice as soon as she emerged here, and the two of them had been looking for me together. Both she and Alice, however, were completely at a loss to explain how or why the three of us might have come to be here.

"It can't have been a coincidence," Renko said, as we discussed the topic. "Somebody went to the trouble of bringing us here."

"Like the mastermind behind this incident? The owner of this place? But how?"

Renko and Alice continued to mutter amongst themselves as we walked. Eventually, the orderly rows of trees lining the road came to an end. As we approached their terminus, Youmu moved from her position behind us to the lead, the spectral blob following a few paces behind her, whirling through the air.

"Lady Yuyuko." She called.

We proceeded through the last of the cherry trees and came to an open space at the end of the road. The sight we saw there took our breath away.

At the end of the stone tiles that made up the broad road was a wide open patch of bare earth. There, standing alone in the center of the clearing was a single, solitary cherry tree of simply inconceivable size, towering over the others. Its pink blossoms seemed to just be starting to open, with many of the expansive network of branches still bare, poking out like withered fingers. The blooms that had opened, however, were darker than typical, the pink mixed with trails of scarlet, and each petal decorating the enormous branches glowed with a soft phosphorescence. At the base of the tree, its roots climbed over and surrounded a large squarish boulder, which was flanked on either side by several grave markers. The upright poles looked tiny next to the towering bulk of the tree's gnarled trunk, which was wrapped with a similarly enormous shimenawa, the largest I had ever seen. The paper zigzags hanging from the shimenawa moved in time with the branches, swaying in the warm breeze.

The sheer size and beauty of the tree was awe inspiring, but something about the coloration of the petals and the feeling of the scene sent a chill through me. Was it Kajii Motojirou who declared 'There are corpses buried beneath every cherry tree!' I remembered the cherry trees in Sakaguchi Ango's story as well, ominous and silent, with every petal almost like a gravestone. Could something as mundane and beautiful as a cherry-blossom tree really be this terrifying?

"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu called again, louder this time. At that moment the image of a girl appeared at the base of the cherry tree. In one sense it seemed as if she appeared from nowhere, but in another it seemed like she had been there all along, but somehow indistinguishable from the swirling, luminous cherry blossoms that danced in the updrafts like butterflies.

Turning her back on the oddly-colored petals that swirled in the air, the girl smiled at us. Saigyouji Yuyuko, Administrator of the Netherworld and the supposed mastermind behind the Spring Snow Incident, as it would later be called. Her movements were slow and dream-like, almost as if she were dancing or performing kabuki, but she didn't say a word. Instead she spread her arms wide before us.

—And the great cherry tree behind her screamed.