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

—10—

The large road running through the middle of the city of Old Hell was apparently called the Old Hell Main Street. All along it shops catering to youkai clientele were lined up and we gazed in wonder at the bustle of activity surrounding them as lively voices called out all around us is a continuous, turbulent din of trade and commerce. Between the steady brightness of the countless lights shining from every window and the energy of the busy street there was a brightness to the scene that made it hard to believe we were deep beneath the surface of the Earth and not simply enjoying a stroll through a night market in the Outside World.

Miss Yamame walked ahead of us as we made our way through the streets. All around us the youkai stared with hungry eyes and muttered things like "Humans? What are humans doing here?" as we passed. I felt that we might be attacked at any moment and found myself clinging to Renko's trenchcoat for security."

"Hey Yamame! What have you caught there? Are those humans?"

Yamame turned to answer the question that had been asked by what appeared to be an enormous, animate human skeleton. "Hello, Mr. Kyokotsu. I caught them after they fell down the shaft leading to the surface. Pretty nice, right? I was going to show them to Don Yuugi. Do you know where she is?"

The skeleton rattled its dry bones and raised a clattering finger to point behind itself as its empty eye sockets stared. "The boss lady was just breaking up a fight over in the square, so she's probably still there having a post-fight drink with everyone," it said in a pleasant tone.

"Oh yeah, she'd definitely want a party after a good fight. I'll go find her."

With that we began walking once more. As we moved through the city, surrounded by all manner of horrible creatures, Kisume constantly shied away from each, shrinking down in her bucket and seeming to try to make herself as small as possible. "She's shy around strangers," Yamame explained, noticing me watching Kisume. There really are all sorts of youkai out there, even among those exiled to the Underworld, I supposed.

As I was looking about, noting the hunger on many of the faces leering at us, my partner was gazing around in wide-eyed wonder as usual. It was the same expression we had seen on Sanae's face when we showed her around the human village the previous year and probably the same expression Renko and I had worn when we were both shown around the human village for the first time.

"This city is pretty lively, it's just as busy here as the trade district of the Human Village or the Road of Liminality. It's not at all what I imagined," Renko said as we continued deeper in.

"Oh? What had you expected?"

"Well, all I had heard was that the city was full of dangerous youkai and mostly abandoned. I thought it would be a bleak, post-apocalyptic-looking nightmare. Burnt-out shells of buildings collapsing into rubble and improvised tools in the hands of desperate scavengers being watched over by guys with mohawks and flamethrower guitars. Something like that."

"What the hell kind of image is that? It's true that there's a lot of fighting here, but it's mostly just for fun. There's not much down here to be worth fighting for your life over and doing that all the time would be exhausting anyway. It's a small place and we're all stuck down here together so everyone just lives however they want."

"Hah, that sounds like a pretty comfortable way to organize things," Renko remarked, chuckling to herself. "I'm curious about the commerce I've seen going on though. Have the people here established a monetary system? Or does everyone just barter?"

"Nah, there's money here. It's this." Yamame produced a ceramic jug that sounded like it contained a liquid from under the folds of her skirt.

"What is that, liquor?"

"Yep. The oni make it. Everyone else trades goods and services for it. You can buy anything you want if you have enough sake. The taste matters too, of course. A trade's only good if the other party agrees to it."

A currency that can be swallowed struck me as an odd sort of thing to base an economic system on. Perhaps as someone with a low tolerance for alcohol I'm a bit biased, but it didn't sound like the sort of system I could survive in.

"Strength is really what decides things here. The reason things aren’t as bleak as you imagined is because the oni don’t want it to be, and they’re the strongest there is. Oh! Speaking of which, there she is!"

Yamame pointed to a sort of plaza or courtyard between several buildings. In the open space between the buildings rush mats were laid out and perhaps a dozen figures were sitting in a wide circle, red-faced and laughing. The atmosphere was unquestionably very party-like, and seemed to already be in full swing.

"Heeey Boss Lady!" Yamame called as we approached, waving her arm over her head.

A figure rose from the group and strode toward us. She cut a striking image with very long, glossy blonde hair which swayed behind her, reaching past her hips. She walked on a pair of thick wooden geta that clacked on the stone, providing a slow counterpoint to the almost musical jangling of the short chains hanging from metal shackles on either of her wrists. I could tell she was tall immediately, but as she drew nearer I realized just ℎ𝑜𝑤 tall she was. With the geta on, she was easily over two meters and we had to look up to see her face. She wore a simple skirt and a modern-looking shirt with short sleeves that reminded me of something you might see at a gym or fitness club.

Overall her figure was muscular and well-defined, but the most striking aspect of her appearance was the single, enormous, unicorn-like spike of a horn jutting out of the middle of her forehead, which made it absolutely clear just what kind of youkai she was. Singular, straight and wickedly sharp, her horn looked utterly different from Suika's twisted woody brown ones, but perhaps their nature reflected the personality of their owners.

"It's Yamame and Kisume," the towering oni said warmly. "Are you here to drink? I see you've brought something strange." She peered at us with clear, bright red eyes. "Are those humans? That's unusual, and you've got two of 'em! What'd you bring 'em here for?"

Yuugi bent over so Yamame could whisper in her ear. The oni’s eyes widened in surprise as she listened, then she turned to look at the both of us. "Suika, eh?" She grumbled contemplatively then took a long drag from the dish of sake she was holding before exhaling a stinging cloud of vapor. "What're your names?"

I stuttered, making a few nonsense sounds before Renko stepped ahead of me. "I'm Usami Renko, a resident of the human village from the surface. Pleased to meet you. This is my partner, Merry. I take it you must be Hoshiguma Douji, one of the Four Devas of Youkai Mountain, along with Ibuki Suika."

I stuttered a moment longer, then bowed, managing to say "...p-pleased to meet you." Faced with Yuugi's reputation, impressive stature and overpowering aura, my instinct was to hide behind Renko, but timidity didn't seem to be a concept that my partner even understood.

Yuugi scratched her cheek and tilted her head inquisitively. "Hoshiguma Douji. No one's called me that in a very long time. You're not wrong though. I used to be called one of the Four Devas of the oni. That was a long time ago though. Call me Yuugi, I haven't been up on a mountain in ages. How do you two know Suika?"

"You mean Little Miss Melon? We were the first people she talked to on the surface, other than the Youkai Sage, of course. I ended up helping her out quite a bit, actually."

"Little... Miss... Melon?"

Yuugi leaned forward, lowering her face almost to Renko's while a strange, quivering expression played over her lips. Nitori and Yamame had both reacted with surprise to Renko's nickname, but I had become used to it by now, to the point where it didn't even sound odd to hear.

"Little...? Miss...? Melon...? pffft" Yuugi doubled over, nearly collapsing in uproarious laughter. "That's what they're calling you on the surface now? Hahahaha! Even the humans? Bwahahahah!"

All at once Yuugi reached out with her free hand, clamping her fingers around Renko's shoulder, and bending over further so that she was at eye level. She stared at Renko's face, smiling fearsomely into her eyes.
"Hahahahaha. I don't know what kind of weird, crazy human you've found there, Yamame, but I like it. Little Miss Melon. Hah!"

Upon this declaration, a surprised murmur began to pass among the various oni who had gathered around. I heard various exclamations from amongst them, along the lines of "a human?", "Boss Lady approved of a human?" and "Without even fighting her?" and similar. It seemed that somehow my partner’s audacity had managed to earn Yuugi’s approval.

I can make no claims as to understanding the intricacies of oni society, but it seemed to me that if the story of a human giving Suika a nickname like 'Little Miss Melon' was true, then anyone who was capable of performing such a feat and living to tell the tale must be interesting. If the story was false then for someone who was aware of Suika’s name and appearance to be foolish enough to make such a bluff was also interesting.

Yuugi stood back up to her full height. "You said your name was Usami Renko, right? Come drink with us. You too, Yamame. I want to hear this story."

"If you're going to invite them to drink, at least give them this instead of the oni sake, Don Yuugi" Yamame said, throwing a sake bottle at Yuugi. The oni caught it without bothering to even look. A cup followed a moment later and Yuugi poured then pressed the cup into Renko's hands.

"That louse of an oni hasn't even sent a single word my way since she went up. Tell me all about what Suika’s been up to. You can stay right here until you can't handle it any more."

"I'd be happy to," Renko said, smiling. She took the offered cup and tossed back its contents in one gulp. Lowering herself onto one of the mats, she slammed the cup down.

Yuugi and the other oni cheered appreciatively. "You can drink too! You just get better and better!" She poured another cup for Renko.

"Come join us, Merry. This sake is actually really good!"

"...Please try to practice a little moderation, Renko." I said, then sighed and looked around for the smallest cup I could find. Yuugi and the other youkai all had their attention focused on Renko, surrounding her in a ring of boisterous cheers and laughter as she pounded back shot after shot. While it would have been nice to be able to sit with her, I didn’t mind being excluded from the heavy drinking and instead found a spot on a mat a little ways away where I could sit and sip my drink in peace.

I took a sip, savouring the smooth, sweet flavor of the sake then noticed a shadow moving by my shoulder. It was Kisume, floating in her bucket and watching the spectacle while hiding so that only her eyes and the top of her head were visible above the rim.

"I get the feeling you're not much of a fan of loud parties either," I said to her.

She rotated in the air, turning to face me and nodded silently. Behind her, I could see Yuugi and Yamame carousing together, doing some sort of weird, hopping dance. Perhaps Yamame’s claim of being popular in the Underworld wasn’t as exaggerated as I had initially thought.

It seemed we were both a pair of hikikomori at heart and used to getting dragged around by our more sociable partners. For the first time I felt a sense of closeness to this strange girl. "Do you want a little sake? It's quite good."

She took it hesitantly, grabbing the cup with both hands and laughing shyly, her bucket rocking slightly. She smiled wryly up at me and a sense of shared understanding seemed to pass between us. And so it was that I passed the evening pleasantly in the company of a man-eating tsurube-otoshi, far away from any humans other than my partner in the sunless depths of the earth.


—11—


"So what brings two humans from the surface all the way down here?"

It was almost two hours after Renko had started drinking with Yuugi that the question was finally posed. Renko had made good progress in ingratiating herself with Yuugi in that time, while I had been very slowly sipping at my sake from my seat over to the side. Yamame had come by and picked up Kisume and her bucket some time ago, but the other oni and youkai hanging around seemed to be giving both Renko and I a wide berth, probably out of respect for Yuugi.

"I don't think there's any rules that say humans can't come down here exactly, but you're the first to ever end up here on purpose."

"Well you see..." Renko proceeded to explain about the geyser and the surge of earth spirits around the Hakurei Shrine. Drunk as she was, she still told the story well, full of wit, charm, and with even more panache than usual. I could only imagine she was going to be cripplingly hung over tomorrow.

"Earth Spirits escaping to the surface?" That's definitely strange. The people in the palace should be preventing that.

"The palace?"

"Chireiden, the Palace of the Earth Spirits," Yuugi said, raising an arm to point deeper into the city. "It's a big mansion built on top of the remains of the Hell of Blazing Fires. The people who live there were put in charge of watching over any vengeful spirits trapped below by the Yama. They're also supposed to control the flames that we use for heat and light. If there's new geysers appearing on the surface, that kind of sounds like things are out of control."

"So even though it's not officially part of the afterlife anymore, people down here have been keeping the Hell of Blazing Fires running all this time?"

"We use it as a power source for heat and light. If Earth Spirits are leaking up to the surface though, that's gonna be a pain," Yuugi grumbled, scratching at the side of her head.

"Because of the mutual non-aggression pact you have with the surface youkai, right?" Renko asked.

"The what now? Is that what they call it up there?"

"Is that not what it is?"

"Well I guess it works out to be something like that, but it's nothing so formal. We just made a deal that we'd seal all the vengeful spirits down here and keep them from escaping and in exchange none of the surface youkai would bother us with any rules or try to tell us what to do. No one who lives down here would want to go back topside. This is the paradise of the despised!" Yuugi said, leaning back and spreading her arms to encompass the whole scene.

"What about Little Miss Melon? She chose to come back up, didn't she?"

"Yeah. Suika's always been a weird one, though. I still say it's a bit of an exaggeration to call it a 'non-aggression pact' though. It's more like just an understanding that each side will do what they please in their own territory and not bother the other."

"So then you don't have any resentment toward the surface youkai for chasing you into the Underworld?"

"Resentment? There might be a few people who feel that way, but most everyone down here willingly cut themselves from the surface. I don’t think there’s many people here who care enough about the surface to carry a grudge."

"I see, I see." Renko said, raising her cup in salute. "In that case, I'd like to ask about something else. Could you tell me more about the Palace of the Earth Spirits? What's it like there?"

"Even us oni don't like going there. You're a very curious person, aren't you? That's not so bad. People who are curious before they're afraid are fun."

"Well, it's an honor to receive such a compliment from someone like you. Why don't the oni like going there though? Isn't the containment of Earth Spirits more or less the purpose of this whole place now that it's no longer a proper part of Hell?"

"I guess from the point of view of the surface that's true. Agh, how do I explain this... Oi! Yamame!" Yuugi turned and shouted. Yamame, who was drinking a few mats down with Kisume, turned and looked back at her.

"Hoi hoi?"

"I’m bad with long stories. Explain the situation with the palace to her."

"You want me to explain the whole thing? Well alright." Saying that, Yamame stood up and patted Kisume on the head a few times before coming over to the mat where Renko was sitting and plopping herself down cross-legged. "Allow me to unfold the vast web of my knowledge before you, human." Then she cleared her throat and began the following explanation.

—

In the beginning, this place was originally part of Hell. Capital H Hell, the big one, with all the little ones as parts of it, where souls condemned by the Yama are punished to cleanse them of evil. Most souls only stay in whichever of the little hells they are sentenced to until their sin is worked off or burned out and then they get reincarnated. Sometimes though, a soul is so full of hatred and resentment that they get totally polluted. When that happens, they can never reincarnate again and they're supposed to stay in Hell forever. That's what a vengeful spirit is.

At some point, someone decided that this place was too troublesome to operate, or too small or something and the gods of Hell made a new world. This Hell got abandoned and this city along with it. Those souls that were condemned for eternity were all bound to this place though.. So they just sorta left 'em all here and sealed the place up.

Things stayed that way for a long time, until about a hundred years ago or so, when the Youkai Sage decided to put up her Great Barrier. Don Yuugi and a bunch of other oni who didn’t like living on the surface decided to move down here. They also decided to let any youkai who were hated on the surface come down with them. That was when Kisume and I came here. The youkai who came down back then made the abandoned city into what it is now.

A whole bunch of strong youkai came down at that time. Not just the oni or us tsuchigumo, but lots of different types. Getting all of us together in one place got the surface youkai all scared, so they had their sage work out the current arrangement with the oni, right boss lady?

As long as we keep the spirits from escaping, they don't meddle in our affairs.

Only problem was, who can you ask to keep control over something that will possess any guard you set to watch it? Vengeful spirits are basically just clumps of malice. They can possess anyone and if they do, there’s a chance whoever they take hold of won’t be able to go back to being themselves afterward.

That's not the sort of problem you can solve by punching it, so the oni weren't going to be much help. It turns out there was a youkai who could do it though. The Yama appointed Komeiji Satori. She's a satori, and they gave her the palace and put her in charge of keeping the Earth Spirits at bay.

Do humans know what a satori is? They're youkai that can read minds. Even here in Old Hell, everyone hates 'em. They can see your innermost thoughts just by looking at you and blather on all day about things you didn't even tell them. They're perfect for dealing with vengeful spirits though. Even those wouldn't want to come near 'em. So as long as she's watching the seal to the lower chambers where the hells used to be, the Earth Spirits can't get out.

That's why all the vengeful spirits got herded into the Hell of Blazing Fires. The Palace of the Earth Spirits is sitting right on top of 'em. There shouldn't be any way that they could get up to the surface.

Huh? Who else lives in the Palace of the Earth Spirits? Well, they've got all kinds of pets in there. Flame cats and hell ravens and stuff like that. Oh one of those flame cats is a kasha named Orin. You'd better not get so drunk that she mistakes you for a corpse or you'll be carted off to be used as fuel in the Hell of Blazing Fires.

—

"Aaand that's the end of my lecture. Did you like it? Any questions?" Yamame asked, bouncing happily.

"I have one," Renko said, raising her hand. "Doesn't that mean that the palace isn't doing its job if we're seeing Earth Spirits up on the surface?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Yuugi said.

"It’s not like you to be so hesitant, Don Yuugi. You don’t have anything in your heart your wouldn’t want a satori to see, do you?"

"I don't mind. There's no need to hurry though." She smiled and cheerfully poured herself another dish of sake. "Here in the Underworld nothing's more important than an oni's party. There will be plenty of time to worry about that after we've drunk our fill."

"Ah... I'm sorry to hear that," Renko said as Yuugi topped up her cup as well. Renko accepted the drink respectfully, but the message Yuugi was sending as she filled Renko’s cup to the brim was clear: no one would be leaving until the party was over.

"You didn't come all the way down here just to let us know about a few vengeful spirits, did you?"

"Well, falling into the hole was a complete accident, but since I did, I figured I may as well tell you about it now that I’m here. Originally, I had just wanted to see what life was like down here. Now that I have, I'd like to see the Palace of the Earth Spirits and maybe the Hell of Blazing Fires too."

"You're a curious human. Not that I mind really." All at once Yuugi’s eyes went wide and she clapped a fist into her cupped palm. "Oh! I bet being curious like that you've picked a lot of information about the surface, haven't you?"

"Well, I do live there."

"There's someone else I should introduce you to then. A youkai that's been down here even longer than we have and is always looking for information on the surface. I should take you to meet them."

Renko shared a quick glance with me. I couldn't imagine what kind of youkai she might be thinking of, but as long as we were with Yuugi, we wouldn't have to worry about being eaten by Yamame at least.


—12—


The party continued for another two hours or so, only concluding once several of the youkai in attendance found themselves unable to keep pace with oni and lapsed into a drunken stupor. My partner had reached their limit not long after Yamame’s lecture and was laying with her head in my lap, limp and moaning.

"You drank pretty good for a human. We should drink together again some time, you and I." It was a perfectly friendly invitation from Yuugi, but I don't think there are many people who would be excited by the prospect of another drinking party once they've already hit the groggy stage of drunkenness.

Renko looked up at her and managed a wobbly smile. She seemed like she might be about to say something, but thought better of it, settling for a low groan instead. I didn't mind taking care of her but if Renko was that far gone, I wished she'd get off of my lap before she got sick.

With Renko unresponsive, Yuugi turned her gaze to me. The whole evening she had more or less ignored me, which had suited me just fine. Now, still holding her enormous sake dish in hand, she squatted down to bring herself close to eye level with me.

"I recognize your face. Are you related to the Youkai Sage somehow?"

"A lot of people ask me that, but I'm just a human..."

"Oh? You've barely had anything all night. Don’t you like oni-made sake?"

"Go easy on her, Don Yuugi. Looking at her, she probably just can't handle her liquor."

"That's right. I've had some, I'm just not very good with booze, I'm afraid..."

Her eyes drilled into me, holding my own with the same intensity she had looked at Renko with, seemingly searching for some hint of a lie.

"Enh, you can't even drink? How boring," she said, rising up and walking away.

I hadn't won any points of approval from her, but it seemed someone who couldn't drink was completely uninteresting to her. Honestly, being ignored by an oni was probably better for my mental health, so I could hardly complain.

I let out a sigh as she walked away. "Thanks for that, Miss Yamame," I said, turning to where she was sitting a little ways away.

"Don't worry about it. Think of it as a thank-you for keeping Kisume company all night."

"Oh, it was my pleasure. Is she a tsurube-otoshi?"

"That's right. She's shy and likes to stay hidden in a well most of the time. It's pretty rare that she can stand to be around anyone." I suppose I really did have that in common with her. "Just be careful not to get too close to her. She was one of the youkai who came down here because she was feared and hated on the surface, after all. It's been a long time since she's had a live human to eat. If you reach out a hand in friendship she might just bite it off."

I tried my hardest to assume that she wasn't being literal. "What about you, Miss Yamame?"

"Me? Well..." she took a step closer, then suddenly leaned in, snapping her hand forward to cup my chin and turn my face to hers. Her eyes were glowing again, with that same hungry light. "You probably shouldn't trust me much either. I can't deny that you still look pretty tasty." She grinned fiercely then released me, drawing back. "Yuugi likes you now, though. I'm not going to eat you as long as that's true. So cheer up!"

I smiled meekly at her and made a sad attempt at a friendly chuckle. I looked down at Renko, hoping she might revive soon, but she was still curled up on my lap, groaning, reaching one arm out to rest her hand on the cold stone of the ground. At this rate, even if we were to be taken to see the Palace of the Earth Spirits now, Renko would be in no state to find out what might be going on there. Come to think of it, I didn't even know if that was where we were headed next. Yuugi had said something about going to see someone else who would want to know more about life above ground just before Renko had become insensible.

"Umm... by the way, Miss Yamame, who is that youkai that Yuugi mentioned? The one who wanted information about the surface?"

"Oh, jeez. That lady... that's.... oof where to begin? That's a story and a half, lots of complicated circumstances there. If we go see her I'll explain what you need to know then."

I was about to press further when our conversation was interrupted by the bellowing of another youkai. "Heeey! Boss Lady! Someone's wrecking everything back here!"

I saw Yuugi stand up on the other side of the square with a sigh. "Again?" She glanced back toward me and Yamame beside me. "Hey Yamame, I gotta go deal with this. You mind keeping an eye on Renko and the extra for a bit?"

"Sure thing!" Yamame said with a smile.

It seemed being the leader of Old Hell's oni involved a lot of dispute resolution. Yamame waved as Yuugi and the other oni stomped off, leaving the wreckage of the party and several passed out youkai behind, along with Yamame, Kisume, Renko and myself.

Yamame turned to me with a wry smile. "If I know Yuugi, between the fighting and the afterparty she's going to be a while. Once your partner wakes up, why don't I take you along to see that other person Yuugi mentioned. I bet she'll have lots of questions for you."

—

Having had a few hours to rest and a few glasses of water, Renko revived slightly. Enough to be a pain and complain about the state of her head, at any rate.

"Ugh, my head is killing me, Merry. Console me." She said, slouching toward me and spreading her arms wide for a hug.

I pressed her face out of the way with my elbow. "If you have enough energy to try to cling to me like that then you must have recovered."

She slumped backwards, staring up at the ceiling and groaning. "I thought I could handle it after partying with Little Miss Melon a few times, but I was being naïve."

"It’s because you were drinking too fast, Renko. What did you expect?"

Yamame climbed to her feet and smiled down at Renko. "What you need is to walk it off. Why don't I take you to go meet that person Yuugi mentioned. Hey Kisume, you want to come along?"

The bucket floated up off of the ground, with Kisume nodding eagerly inside it. Without waiting for us, Yamame grabbed the bucket and the two of them began marching off, out of the square. I helped Renko get up,wedged myself under her arm and hauled her to her feet so we could try to catch up to Yamame.

"Ugh, no, Merry, I'm not up to walking, I don't think. I need something gentle. Like a princess carry."

"If you don't get moving I'll shake you until your brain rolls out of your ear."

"Ugh, no anything but that… Miss Yamame! Where are we going, by the way?"

Yamame stopped long enough to turn and shout an answer to Renko. "The Hell of Blood Pools. That's where she usually hangs out."

Renko and I looked at each other with a somewhat alarmed expression, but we had no choice but to follow behind or else be abandoned. We made the best progress we could, trailing behind as Yamame led us out of the city, down a road where the buildings slowly became less and less dense before eventually giving way to a narrow, echoing tunnel again.

The exploration of dark and winding caves was a staple feature of certain mystery stories like 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠, but those tended to revolve around the idea of finding some great and hidden treasure buried deep within the earth. I could only hope that I wouldn’t share the same fate as the waxy corpse found underground in that book.

The tunnel Yamame had led us to was dark enough that despite the fact that we were following close enough behind that I could have reached out and touched Kisume, I could barely see her. As we continued to descend, a pungent odor began to assault my nose. Rather than the unpleasant scent of alcohol on my partner's breath, it was the unmistakable smell of blood. Weaving woozily, my partner clamped a hand over her mouth, and I pressed the hand I wasn't using to support her over my own nose.

Before long, we were able to see a faint light ahead. The tunnel opened up rather abruptly into an immensely broad cavern with knobby stalactites descending from the ceiling. We found Yamame and Kisume waiting for us here, amidst the overwhelming charnel stench.

In the near distance, the edge of a vast underground lake lay still, with no wind or tides to disturb its deep red waters. The splash of color against the monochrome background of black and grey shapes that made up a plane of smooth stone descending towards a shoreline made the scenery seem impossible, like a digitally altered image.

I chided myself for my instinct to deny reality and instead tried to focus on what I was observing as Yamame started walking again, leading us down the shore. The shores of the Hell of Blood Pools. For a human like me even the sight of such a thing seemed impossible, terrifying and baffling, but to the denizens of the Underworld, it might just be a part of the local geography.

As we drew closer to the reeking shoreline, Yamame raised a hand to her mouth and called out. "Heeey! Anyone here?" There was no response but after a moment Yamame pointed and drew our attention to a particular spot. There, a figure was sitting by the edge of the pool, impossibly white against the garish red. She was perched on a rock that protruded from the lake with her feet dangling against the surface of the pool. "Oh!" Yamame pointed excitedly. "That's her."

My eyes struggled to make out details in the darkness but eventually made sense of the colors I was seeing. It was a dark haired girl wearing a white sailor suit with green trim. Her bare feet were immersed in the waters of the lake and dripped scarlet as she slowly turned toward us, reacting to the sound of our footsteps. Her face seemed utterly devoid of emotion. With her feet ankle-deep in blood, she regarded us, her eyes two pale voids that reflected no glimmer of light or hope.