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

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠’ 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑠 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘩𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘫𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘪. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘫𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸'𝘴 𝘦𝘨𝘨.


—10—


The morning sun pierced through the windows and my eyelids alike, illuminating the confines of the room and rousing me from slumber. I stared at the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling for a moment before my memories came flooding back. This place called Eientei, the distorted moon hanging in the sky, Renko's collapse, the girl who had been called Princess Kaguya, her calculating servant and the rabbit girl who had fled from the moon. The weight of the secrets they had told me once again pressed down on me.

"...Renko?" I asked, tentatively.

Sitting up and looking about, I saw my partner still lying on her back on the futon, her face placid beneath the eye mask. On the other side of Renko, Mokou was sleeping on the bare floor, rolled onto her side facing away from us.

Slowly, Renko began to raise her right hand to her face, feeling around the edge of the eye mask. I grabbed her hand before she could lift it.

"Huh? Who's that? Merry?"

As croaking as her voice sounded, it was a relief to hear Renko speak again without the strain of agony. She turned her head vaguely toward me and began reaching for her face with her left hand.

"I'm here, Renko."

"Merry? Is it night? I can't see anything." Her left hand came up to grab at the eye mask and I had to reach out and grab her wrist.

"Don't touch that, Renko."

"What? What am I wearing? Why does my head hurt so bad?" Her hand went for the mask again. I had to forcibly push her arm down.

"Do you remember any of last night? You collapsed outside Miss Mokou's house."

"Ugh. Uhm... I remember the moon looked weird. When I looked at it my eyes and head started to hurt." Renko's speech was slow, as if it was hard for her to focus on one thought.

"You had a pretty rough night. You collapsed from the pain, then threw up all the dinner Miss Keine had cooked us, then passed out. We had to carry you to the office of a doctor that Miss Mokou knows and they let us stay there for the night. It's morning now."

"Ugh... Really?"

"Yes, it was quite the adventure."

"Sorry about all that. Why can't I see though?"

"The doctor said that's to be expected as the aftereffects of what you went through. She said you'd need to rest your eyes and not look at anything while you recovered, which should take about a week. So we put an eye mask on you for right now, but you can't take it off, okay?"

"A week!?" Renko's hand went limp and fell to her side as she let out a sigh. "I guess I should be happy that I didn't lose my sight altogether. But why would looking at the moon cause..."

"Hey Renko, the doctor also said you're supposed to avoid overworking your brain. Try not to spend too much time thinking about it. And no computation."

"What? Merry, how can you tell someone with a Planck-level brain like mine not to think? That's the same as telling me to stop breathing. Also, where did you get this eye mask?"

"I don't know, it's what they had lying around. It's the doctor's orders though, Renko, you need to rest your brain."

"Hmmm..." Renko pouted and puffed out her cheeks. "Fine then," she said. "I'll find another way to see." She began to wave her arms in front of her, two pale fish swimming senselessly about.

"What are you looking for Renko? I'll bring it to you."

Her hands continued to grope about until one of them found the side of my cheek.

"Oh, I see Merry!" She said, pinching tightly onto the flesh.

I grimaced as she pulled at my cheek. "Ack, Renko..."

"Hmmm, this softness is definitely Merry's cheeks, but this is hardly enough information to confirm her existence or that it's really the real Merry. Humans are very dependent on visual stimuli, aren't they? Let's see then."

Her hand drifted lower, tracing out the curve of my jaw with her fingertips, then tiptoed her nails down the side of my neck. As she laid her palm on my collarbone I placed my hand on top of hers. "That's enough Renko. I know your ears still work just fine."

"Hmm, you could be a youkai that sounds like Merry though. Or even one who stole her voice! She sat up in the futon and brought her face close to mine. Her nose twitched as she sniffed at the air.

"Don't act like a dog, Renko."

"It can't be helped, 'Merry'. If that is who you are. Without my sight I have to use my other senses. Mmmaaauuuhhh" Her tongue lolled out of her mouth, waggling as she lunged closer.

"No tongue!" I cried. Without even thinking about it I raised my arm and brought the side of my hand down on her forehead. She winced and drew back, but kept one hand on my shoulder.

"Ahhh! Ow! Don't hit me on the head, I'm supposed to be letting that rest and recover! Doctor's orders!"

She moved her hand again, tracing the neckline of my dress with one finger. The softness of her touch sent a shiver up my spine as she delicately followed the collar. "Hey," I said. "That tickles."

She paused for a moment. "Well, I can't see you, I can't taste you, you don't want me sniffing and you say my hands tickle. I'm not even allowed to try and reason your identity out. Pretty suspicious, 'Merry.'" Her other hand came up to find my right shoulder. "Guess I've got no choice then."

All at once she flung herself from her futon, half-collapsing, half tackling me and coming to rest with her face snuggled against my chest. Her arms snaked around my shoulders, pulling me closer to her. There was nowhere for me to put my arms but to wrap them loosely around her waist.

Once I recovered from the surprise I let out a sigh. Despite the bravado she always carried herself with, Renko must be anxious too. Far from home, family or even modern medicine she had been suddenly struck blind and cast into an all-encompassing darkness. Who wouldn't be scared by that? As silly as she might act, it was natural to want to be comforted at a time like this. I tightened my arms around her back, pulling her more tightly against me.

"It's fine Renko, I'm right here."

"Merry..."

"I'll stay with you until you're able to see again. I can be your eyes. You can focus on recovering as soon as possible so that you can go back to seeing and I can go back to being me, ok?" I ran my fingers through her hair, trying to comb it. Between being jostled and carried from place to place last night and the sweat of a fever, her cowlicks were standing out stiffly at all angles. She pressed the side of her face against my chest.

"It really is you, Merry, right? You didn't up and disappear while I wasn't watching?"

"Of course it's me, Renko. Why would you doubt that?"

"Well, I can't see you. I can't be sure it isn't someone trying to trick me, or take the real Merry away. You'll have to give me a full dose of Merry to be sure."

"A full dose?"

She pulled back a little bit, lifting her head from my chest and turning up her chin to face me before puckering her lips.

"What exactly are you expecting me to do with that, Renko? You look like you're waiting for a kiss."

"Well, how about it, are you Merry or not?"

This time my chop landed on the bridge of her nose.

"Ah! Ow! Only Merry would be so cruel! Who else would smite the face of young love in the midst of such a romantic atmosphere!"

"What atmosphere? What young love? I only see the face of an idiot in front of me."

"Oh come on, Merry! One partner taking care of and falling in love with the other when they're unexpectedly weakened and forced to show another side of themselves is a core trope of romance stories! How can you call yourself a young lady and not know that? Have you no respect for the budding of true romance?"

"This isn't a shoujo manga! And why would you get to decide who falls in love with whom? Get out of my futon!" I rained chop after chop down on her as she covered her head and crawled away, feeling for her own pillow and futon.

"Ah! Ow! That's my painful Merry alright! Ah! What an awful, heartless Merry! Ow! Okay, stop!"

I fumed angrily as she crawled away. "I'm certainly glad you're feeling recovered enough to be a pain, Renko. That medicine must have helped a lot for you to be this annoying first thing in the morning."

"Ah Merry, you're too uptight. Not being able to see will definitely make things harder though. Where are we right now?" She craned her head around as if trying to look at the room even though her eyes were still covered by the padded mask.

—At this point Mokou rolled into a seated position, stretching and scratching at her ribs. "Are you two done?" She asked, "Or should I let you have the room for a bit?"

"M-miss Mokou! You were awake?" I stammered.

"Yeah, but I can go if you two need a bit. I'd rather not stick around if you're gonna do that again anyway."

I blushed and shrank away. This was all Renko's fault. I turned to Mokou in an attempt to explain, but she just nodded at me, knowingly, a look of silent agreement passing between us.


—11—


The night before, Mokou had greeted me as I returned to Renko's sickroom after my examination by Eirin. The moment Mokou saw me, she read the truth from my expression and smiled thinly, with a resigned sigh.

"I'm guessing you heard my story from that quack."

I struggled to find something appropriate to say.

"No need to try to conceal it. It would have come up sooner or later anyway." She smiled wryly. "So how much did she tell you?"

"...That you drank the elixir of immortality left behind by Princess Kaguya."

Mokou sat down cross-legged on the tatami mats just inside the door, and motioned for me to take a seat across from her, far enough from where Renko was sleeping so as not to disturb her. As I eased myself down, she said "Yep. Did she mention who my father was?"

"One of the nobles who proposed to Princess Kaguya, right?"

"That's right. In the 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘰 𝘊𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 he's referred to as Prince Kuramochi. He had the bright idea of trying to fulfill his impossible request with a well-made forgery, but he was embarrassed in front of half the imperial court when he neglected to pay the craftsman and they came calling in the middle of his presentation of the jeweled branch."

I thought about her name for a moment. She had introduced herself as Fujiwara no Mokou, the 'no' denoting that she was a member of an important, noteworthy family. Fujiwara was an ancient name, once belonging to one of the most prominent clans of medieval Japanese history. Finding someone bearing that name wasn't so unusual nowadays, but Mokou dated back to the time when it would have truly commanded respect and marked her as a member of a prestigious and noble bloodline.

"I didn't know he had done that though," she continued. "I had only heard what filtered back to me. That my father had become a laughing stock. That alone was enough to set me on a path to try to take revenge on this 'Princess Kaguya.' But then I heard that she had returned to the moon. She was beyond my reach. Any sane person would have given up then. But there was..."

Mokou paused, seeming to choke on her words. After a moment she shook her head, unwilling or unable to continue.

"Well, I'll just say a lot happened. I ended up drinking the elixir of immortality in the hopes of somehow encountering her again, and I ended up like this. With a body that can't die." There was clearly more to the story, but it was too painful for Mokou to relate. I had no right to pry into her personal affairs, and unlike my partner, I possess the good sense to keep my mouth shut.

I must not have concealed my curiosity as well as I had hoped though. Reading my face, Mokou sighed. "You don't look like you believe me. I can't blame you, it's a crazy story. But well," she rose to her feet and walked past me toward the cupboards lining one wall of the room. "Actions speak louder than words." she said, rummaging around inside.

She came back out holding a gleaming kitchen knife. A terrible feeling washed over me.

"Miss Mokou, you don't need to..."

"This is what it means to be immortal," she said, and plunged the blade through the back of her left hand.

She had moved without any hint of hesitation. I hadn't had the presence of mind to look away in time, but I still flinched and averted my eyes with a brief, gasping shriek as the sound of her parting flesh hit me. I cringed away, my eyes screwed tightly shut, and stayed there until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I opened my eyes to find her squatting directly in front of me, her left hand, still transfixed by the blade directly in front of my face. "Hey," She said. "I know this hurts just to look at, but it hurts me more and I don't want to have to show you again, so watch."

Fearfully, I turned my gaze to her hand. She had inverted her palm, opening her fingers so I could see the bright metal of the knife's point protruding from her hand. The flesh was cleanly and evenly pierced and I could see blood welling around the edges of the wound, but not a drop fell or spilled across her palm. As I watched, sickened, she withdrew the blade from the back of her hand. As it pulled away the wound closed instantly, leaving no trace of a scar, or even a line to indicate it had once been there.

"My body will regenerate no matter what kind of wound I receive. Whether my throat is torn out or my heart is pierced, or I'm ripped to pieces or burned to ash...."

I stared at her, horrified.

"Of course disease and old age are out of the question. I've tried everything, for more than a thousand years now. If any of it had worked, well, I wouldn't be here now to complain about it."

What can you possibly say to someone who says something like that with a smile on their face? Having barely two decades to my name myself, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to live for so long that you could laugh at such a story. Is this what existing for more than a thousand years would do to someone?

"Pretty terrifying, right?"

I continued to stare at her in mute shock.

"It's ok. To be honest, I'm used to being rejected by humans." Mokou was still wearing a smile, but the eyes above that smile held an endlessly deep sense of resignation. A thousand-year understanding of human bias and suspicion that I could never know.

As a mortal, and a young one at that, I don't know if there's anything I could have said that would have held any meaning to someone with the wealth of experience Mokou had gathered, but I said what I could anyway. "When we stumbled into Gensokyo last year, we ended up in a vampire's mansion."

"Yeah?"

"There, our first introduction to this world was to meet a youkai magician, a devil, a pair of vampire sisters and a human who could manipulate time. I spent hours reading to the little vampire there. Last spring I met a ghost in the Netherworld, and just this last summer I met a real, live oni."

Mokou looked impressed. "You really get around."

"Well my partner is dangerously curious." I smiled and looked over at Renko's sleeping face. "The guardian of the village we're staying in and who we're working for is a half-human, half-hakutaku who I teach alongside everyday. You may be the first immortal I've ever met, Miss Mokou, but for a place like Gensokyo, I'd say you're pretty normal."

Mokou blinked, drawing back a little in surprise. "Normal, huh? I can't remember anyone ever calling me 'normal.'"

"Well, that's coming from an Outsider like me, with eyes like these, so make of it what you will. Not too many people think I'm 'normal' either." My eyes drifted over to Renko again, the one exception to that rule.

"It's true, you guys didn't even get scared when you saw Keine transform under the full moon. I thought you were just brave humans. But you might be weird ones."

"Well from one weird human to another, thanks. I think."

Mokou smiled. A real smile this time, with no hint of sadness. "Same to you." Her smile faded as she looked over at Renko. "That said, she's going to have enough surprises to deal with when she wakes up. If you don't mind, I'll ask you not to mention this to her until it comes up naturally."

"Miss Mokou, I don't think Renko's going to reject you either. She might be an even weirder human than either of us."

"I'm sure you're right. But there's no sense troubling her with unnecessary details with everything else that's going on. Besides, I'd like to play her at shogi a few more times before she realizes I have more than a thousand years worth of a head start on her. She's really good!"

"I'm not sure that's playing fair exactly, but you're right that she'll have enough going on to deal with. I won't bring it up."

—

Let me now return to the present though.

Upon learning that Mokou was in the room with us, Renko made no apologies for her clownish behavior and struck up a conversation as if nothing had happened.

"So Miss Mokou, if I was unconscious last night, did you end up carrying me all the way here? Sorry to put you through all that trouble if so."

"I led the way, but it was Keine who physically carried you. She's gone back to the village already though."

"Ah, understood. So where are we now?"

Before Mokou could answer, the door to the room was opened with a clatter. Eirin walked through it, sparing not so much as a glance to Mokou or myself. "Oh, good morning. I was hoping you'd be awake."

Renko turned her head toward the voice, saying "Oh! Is that the doctor?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking. I'm Eirin Yagokoro, a servant and pharmacist in the employ of princess Kaguya Houraisan. I'm not a doctor, but I'm the one who's been caring for you, Usami Renko. As for your question, you're in an annex off of the servants quarters of our estate, Eientei."

"Well thank you very much for that care, and my apologies for all of the trouble I've caused you. Your help is very much appreciated." Renko bowed her head in Eirin's general direction.

Eirin walked to the edge of Renko's futon and knelt down. "I'd like to examine your eyes, just to make sure there are no side effects from the medicine I gave you last night." So saying, she removed the eye mask and peeled Renko's eyelids wide while peering into her eyes. Renko's pupils remained unfocussed and staring throughout. Her vision really did seem to be gone.

"The medication seems to be properly suppressing the function of your optic nerves. Good. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but you'll have to make do without seeing until you've recovered."

"Forgive me if I'm asking a question that's already been answered, but my memory of last night is foggy. What exactly happened to me that required this treatment?"

Eirin quirked an eyebrow and replied. "You were affected by the madness of the moon."

"The madness of the moon?"

"Yes. Moon rays have long been known to agitate the nervous system, and last night they were particularly strong. You appear to have more sensitive eyes than most, and so the effects were especially incapacitating to you. The symptoms you're feeling now are a result of nervous exhaustion." Renko regarded her doctor with an unsatisfied expression.

Eirin patted her on the shoulder. "I know it will be tedious for you to wait out the week until you can see again, but please be patient and get some rest. The best thing for you to do is avoid looking at the moon, and let your body recover."

Eirin turned to me with a questioning expression, and I nodded in approval. I had asked her last night not to share any of the secrets she had told me with Renko until she had recovered. If Renko's mind needed to rest, the last thing she needed was a compelling mystery she was bound to dive into.

"Maéreverie Hearn, I've compounded these pills for you to administer. She should have one pill with every meal."

She handed me a small lacquered bamboo box filled with waxy round capsules. I could only imagine what the reaction might be if I could take them to a lab in the Outside World to be examined. Medicine to treat nervous exhaustion from over-calculation of stellar navigation is not something I had ever seen advertised in our time.

"Understood."

"I'll have Udonge bring you both a meal later." She turned to leave, but paused briefly as she passed by Mokou. "Udonge will not be bringing any food for you."

Mokou chuckled softly. "I wouldn't trust any food you gave me anyway."

Eirin scoffed and turned away, walking back out the door while pointedly ignoring Mokou. Before closing the door she paused again, saying "Oh, yes. The Inaba will likely be about later today. Feel free to play with them, if you feel up to it," before shutting the door and walking away.

Renko turned vaguely toward Mokou's direction. "That was kinda harsh," she said. "Did something happen while I was out?"

Mokou suppressed a sigh. "I just don't get along with the people at Eientei. Nothing to worry about."


—12—


A little later, Reisen brought in two trays of food, placing them down on the tatami floors and saying simply "breakfast." The covered bowls contained rice, miso soup, steamed bamboo shoots, a carrot stew and some assorted boiled and seasoned greens. It was typical hospital food, bland and low in protein.

"Oh? Who's that, a nurse?" Renko asked, reacting to Reisen's voice. "I'm Usami Renko, pleased to meet you." She nodded politely.

When Reisen didn't reply, Renko extended her arm in Reisen's direction, palm out for a handshake. As soon as she did, Reisen tumbled backwards, half-stumbling, half ducking as if she had been knocked to the floor. "J-Just leave the trays out front when you're done!" she stammered, then dashed out the door, slamming it hard enough behind her that it bounced in the frame.

Renko was left with her extended hand dangling limply in front of her. She tilted her head quizzically. "Merry, did I do something offensive?"

Not knowing Reisen's disposition, I could only guess. I shrugged, before realizing how pointless that gesture was with Renko blindfolded again. "No idea."

Leaving the matter be, we ate our bland breakfast. Without being able to see her food, Renko had to rely on me to feed her.

"I feel like an old granny in a nursing home. Merry, promise me you won't stick the chopsticks up my nose."

"Why would I do that? And why is that the first thing you think of? Do you want more soup?"

"Sure."

"Here you go. Be careful."

She took the bowl with trepidation, cautiously sipping from the edge.

Mokou had left just before Reisen arrived, saying "No point sitting around and watching other people eat." I wondered if she was out finding food for herself now. Surely even immortals need to eat. With Renko attended to, there didn't seem to be much need for Mokou to stick around, but I got the feeling she didn't trust Kaguya or her servant to take good care of us if she wasn't around to check up on them. I appreciated the thought, but got the feeling she didn't intend to stay for an entire week.

Overall, the food was unobjectionable, well made, with fresh ingredients, but lacking in seasoning and altogether insubstantial, as one might expect of hospital food.

"It's alright for breakfast, but I hope they remember to include some flavor for lunch," Renko groused as she chewed on a bamboo shoot.

"It's not that bad, Renko. The blandness must just be standing out to you because you can't see."

"Poor old granny Renko's eyes just aren't what they used to be. Thank goodness I have Merry to take care of me in my old age. I wonder if saying that now is going to give me deja vu in fifty years?"

"You're supposed to recover in a week, Renko, do you plan on still having me take care of you half a century from now?"

"Does that mean you wouldn't? How cruel! When you get all withered and can't walk any more, I'll push your wheelchair around."

"Somehow having you as my caretaker doesn't sound safe, Renko."

I was glad Mokou wasn't around for this conversation. As an immortal, she'd never have to worry about being cared for in her old age.

With Renko blindfolded, she couldn't make fun of me now for staring at the details of her face. How many years had I known her since we first met in Kyoto? What would our relationship have been like if we had remained there? Renko and I would be in our senior year now, less than a year away from graduating. Even if we had gone for graduate school, it could only have been a matter of a small number of years before the two of us had to leave this life of dropping all responsibilities to satisfy Renko's supernatural curiosity behind. In time, the two of us would have had to go out into the world, find jobs, have careers. Maybe even start families. Surely our lives at that point wouldn't have still had time for late night investigations or long hours spent in coffee shops discussing the finer points of occultism. In time, the two of us would have had to become normal, upstanding members of society.

But that was not the world we found ourselves in. Instead we were here and now, 80 years in our past and surrounded by more mythical creatures and supernatural phenomenon than we had ever dared to conceive of back home. With our jobs teaching at the temple school and the detective agency set up as our hobby, the Hifuu Club and its activities seemed fated to continue for as long as we remained in this dreamlike fantasyland. Which meant that the nonsensical but indivisible relationship between Renko and I would continue for the foreseeable future.

"Hey Merry, there's still food left, right?"

"Oh yes, some. What would you like?"

"Is there any more of the stew?"

"Yes, here's a carrot. Say 'ahhh.'"

I swallowed a sigh as I picked up the chopsticks. Despite everything —the danger, the late nights, the baffling mysteries and Renko's bullheaded foolishness, despite all of it, I found I didn't want it to end. There was no part of me that could imagine what a future for me without Renko in it would look like. In the end, I guess we still are the same old Hifuu Club as usual. I couldn’t see either of us living any other way. Maybe in fifty years I really would be feeding her like this again.

As we were finishing up our leisurely breakfast, there was commotion outside the door. We heard the sound of countless fast-moving footsteps, followed by the sound of the door being thrown open. Both Renko and I turned around to face the door immediately though for Renko, it served little purpose.

Standing in the doorway was an unfamiliar face. It belonged to a petite, black-haired girl wearing a simple, pink, short-sleeved frock. Her head was adorned with two rabbit ears, larger, but floppier than Reisen's and from the moment we first saw her, her red eyes were sparkling with a look of joyous mischief.

"Oh, I knew I smelled something strange here. Master let two humans in? Is one of you sick?" She asked, taking note of Renko's condition.

"I've been admitted for observation until I recover. I'm a little blind right now."

Upon hearing Renko's response, the rabbit girl smiled wickedly, not bothering to conceal her mirth.

"Well, if you have to end up in such a state, you're very lucky to have done it here, in my presence. I'm the earthly rabbit of good luck, The great Inaba Tewi."

So just like Reisen, her surname was Inaba too. Did all the rabbits in Gensokyo share that name, I wondered?

"Inaba?" Renko asked with surprise. "As in the legendary 'Hare of Inaba?'"

"Ohh, even blind you can see the truth, you're a rare one." The girl nodded with a grin.

I thought back to the old mythology. It had been a long time since I had made any attempt to actually read the 𝘒𝘰𝘫𝘪𝘬𝘪, but the tale of the Hare of Inaba was one of those ageless stories that came up time and time again. In it, a hare had tricked a number of sharks into providing a bridge for her to cross the sea, then been skinned by one of them when her lie was discovered. If I recall, the story ended with the rabbit being saved by Okuninushi, the god of agriculture and protective magic. After meeting Princess Kaguya, a representative of the legendary lunar society, and a moon rabbit, meeting a mythical personification of an animal spirit from the 𝘒𝘰𝘫𝘪𝘬𝘪 seemed almost sensible. As always, Gensokyo proved itself to be an all-star exposition of history and legend where common sense played no role whatsoever.

"I'm surprised you could even find your way to this mansion, blind or not, with the barriers the master put up and how she was fooling with the moonlight last night. Never mind that though," the girl said, shifting topics in one unending torrent of tumbling words. "If you're suffering from weak eyes, we've got more pressing matters. What you need to do is eat some lamprey eels."

"What? Lampreys? Those snake-like fish with the creepy faces?" Renko pulled a grimace, contorting her mouth into a perfect O and mimicking pointy teeth with her fingers. Somehow I doubted a change in diet would address Renko's injury.

Tewi seemed to read the doubt on my face. "The secret to long life is to take care of your health on a daily basis. If you care about your friend, you should listen to what I'm telling you and get her some lamprey to eat. Beyond that, of course, the rest depends on luck. Good thing you've got me here!" Saying this, she reached into a pocket of her dress and fished out a small bamboo box with a slit in the top. "Money offerings are a good way to attract good fortune, by the way."

Renko returned the rabbit's smile. "Well, I appreciate the advice, but I'm afraid I was brought here unconscious without the time to grab my wallet. I don't have any coins on me."

Tewi clicked her tongue in disappointment and put the box away, but her smile never faded. It was a bemused, cunning smile that couldn't help but make me feel like somehow, someway, I was about to be scammed.

While the two of them had been talking, several rabbits —normal rabbits this time, had gathered up behind her. They hopped up and down, scurried around her feet and sniffed at the air. Whenever Tewi spoke, they all turned their heads at once, to stare at her in unison. Individually, the rabbits were cute, but seeing them all act together and behave as if they were communicating was disconcerting. Tewi too seemed to be able to communicate with the rabbits as she turned and regarded them at various times during the conversation and seemed to react to information they conveyed.

After putting the box away, Tewi seemed to be conversing wordlessly with the rabbits for a moment as they sniffed and hopped around her feet. All at once she turned to me. "All right, it's decided!" She declared. "Today we play with humans, since it's such a rare opportunity."

I turned to look at Renko with concern. She was facing the wrong direction, just to the left of Tewi. "But I'm supposed to be recovering..." she muttered. If Tewi heard her, she gave no sign of acknowledgement.