Welcome to the Hifuu Detective AgencyCase 7: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Chapter 5:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
所属カテゴリー: Welcome to the Hifuu Detective AgencyCase 7: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
公開日:2025年01月31日 / 最終更新日:2025年01月31日
[𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫]
—13—
"I don't know much about it either, but it's supposedly said to be a world above the clouds."
While we were eating dinner at Mokou's house, my partner had asked Keine about Heaven. That had been her response. It wasn't particularly helpful.
"Well, if I remember the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 correctly it's supposed to be situated above the skies of the Netherworld, right?" Renko asked around a mouthful of boiled bamboo shoots.
Keine regarded her with a critical look that seemed to peer deeper than her lousy table manners. "I suppose I ought to tell you the truth, since you'll just go poking your nose into it anyway if I don't. Akyuu told me that some of the information in the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 is intentionally inaccurate. The location of Heaven is one such detail."
"Oh? how so? And why?"
"Well, from what Akyuu told me, Heaven is an infinite expanse, bigger than Gensokyo, the Netherworld and Higan combined. So Heaven is above the skies of the Netherworld, but it stretches to be here too, and it's all the same place. Heaven is supposed to be a place where the dead who are judged worthy by the Yama and any hermits who have managed to completely abandon worldly desires reside. Supposedly, the peak of Youkai Mountain is the closest point to it, meaning that anyone who can fly could potentially try to go there."
"Ah I see. I never would have imagined that Akyuu would hide such a secret. I'm guessing she was worried that..."
"Villagers might try to climb the mountain in search of a way to enter Heaven? Yes. They say in Heaven there's no need for work, no hunger, no disease and freedom to sing and dance and live happily all day. Even knowing that the celestials would likely turn any human away before they could make it in, there would still be some who would think to try to get there if they knew. That's why the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 says it's somewhere that's impossible for a living villager to reach."
"Keine, you know about it though, have you ever tried to go?"
"My life is in the village. If I had no work to do and no one to look after, I'm sure I'd go crazy after three days."
"Ah. Yeah, that sounds like you."
"Do I need to bother telling you that you're not to make this information public?"
"You can count on me, Keine. As a professional detective, discretion is the core of my business," Renko answered with a smile. Keine still seemed unconvinced though.
"So what exactly is going on in Heaven? Is Kaguya planning some scheme with the celestials or something?" Mokou asked.
"It's too early to say," Renko said with a shrug.
◆ ◇
Back at Eientei, we had asked Eirin why a celestial might want to interfere with the weather in Gensokyo, but her answer had been nothing more than vague speculation.
"Boredom, perhaps?"
"Would they really mess with the weather and cause earthquakes just to kill time?"
"The people of Gensokyo cause incidents and have danmaku battles just to kill time. That's just how things are here, isn't it?"
"I suppose..."
"Perhaps some youkai on the surface did something to offend them. Ultimately though, it's none of my concern. I've only asked Reisen to investigate because it would be inconvenient if an earthquake were to damage Eientei."
"Does the moon count as part of Heaven then?"
Eirin tilted her head, considering the question for a moment. "I suppose the answer to that question is a matter of perspective. I doubt Earthlings would see much difference between the two realms, but saying that they're the same would be like if I said that Youkai Mountain, Eientei and the Netherworld were all the same since they're all places outside of the human village's walls, right?"
"I see. So broadly speaking, the moon is a part of the heavens, but it's not the same Heaven where Celestials live."
"That's correct."
"Thank you, Doctor Yagokoro. That makes it easy to understand."
"So, you understand that I wouldn't have any knowledge of what the celestials might be up to. I am an exile from the Lunar Capital after all."
◇ ◆
Renko relayed the above conversation to both Mokou and Keine over the dinner table. "So in the end, Eirin thinks she knows who, or at least what kind of person might be behind the unusual weather, but we're no closer to knowing their name or intentions."
"I see. Renko, you're not thinking of trying to find a way into Heaven, are you?" Keine said with a pointed look.
"Would you believe me if I said 'no?'" Renko asked with a grin.
"No!" Keine stood up from the table, glowering at Renko. "Why are you like this? First the Netherworld, then Youkai Mountain, now Heaven! These are places that any other villager would see as permanently unreachable! Why can't you understand that?"
"Keine, it's fine." Mokou said, trying to calm her down. "Even if she were to try to, it's not like Renko could break into Heaven and spend her life doing nothing but idling about and playing games, right?"
"Oh, I was just planning on investigating, but if I could manage that, it doesn't sound too bad."
"Renko!" Keine cried, her brow knotted with frustration. Mokou had been trying to make her position sound reasonable, but it was Renko's nature to be anything but. I sighed and shook my head at her.
"I'm telling you for the last time," Keine said threateningly. "Leave the investigation and resolution of incidents to the experts. That's what Reimu is here for. I'll go and talk to her tomorrow and tell her what you've found. The information you've uncovered could be useful, but you shouldn't have been pursuing it. You're a teacher at the temple school and a human from the village. Your only concerns should be being a role model to the children and keeping yourself sa—"
"Hey Keine, you mind leaving this lecture for later?" Mokou interrupted. "All of those criticisms could apply to me too."
Keine’s eyes flashed with anger as she whirled on Mokou for interrupting her. Seeing her expression, the immortal cringed back in her seat. Keine nodded and Mokou let out a sigh as the lecture began in earnest. It seemed the dam had broken, and the pent-up stress of the last week was now flowing unstoppably. The three of us settled in for a long talking-to.
Of course, at this point, we had no way of knowing that Keine wouldn't get a chance to talk to Reimu. We had no way of knowing that, by morning, the Hakurei shrine would have been reduced to rubble by an intense but highly localized earthquake.
Similarly, we had no way of knowing that, by this point, several people had already encountered the mastermind behind this incident. In the sense that multiple people all confronted the mastermind of their own accord at different times, this incident was similar to the Night Parade of 100 Oni Every Three Days. In that case though, we had been the first to locate the party responsible. In this case, we hadn't even heard of her yet. But the next day we would. We would meet her that very day —the day of the earthquake.
—14—
"Disaster! Disaster! Everyone, it's a disaster!"
A line like this, shouted at the top of her lungs, at the beginning of the day no less, could only have come from Sanae. As it was, it was heard a little after nine in the morning, when Sanae ran into the temple school hollering with all her might and throwing open every door in her way. Renko and I had both just begun teaching classes in two separate classrooms as both of us had students in the morning that day. Sanae had rushed through the front doors of the school and hurled the first classroom door she found open with enough force to rattle it in its frame. That door had happened to be the rear door of Renko's advanced mathematics class, but with all the commotion, I interrupted my lessons to go into the hall and see what was happening as well.
"Sanae? What's wrong?" Renko asked from the front of the class, textbook still in hand.
"It's an incident!" she panted, desperately trying to catch her breath. "Or something bigger, like a super-incident! A hyper-mega-incident!"
It was a headline so overblown that even the 𝐵𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑢 probably wouldn't have run it. Nonetheless it was enough to get all of the students' attention, as they whirled around as one to stare at Sanae as she leaned against the doorframe.
"Calm down Sanae. Take a breath."
"What’s all this commotion about?" Keine had come out of the staff office and was peering down the hall, hands on her hips and an exasperated look on her face. "Oh, it's the mountain priestess. If this is something related to detective work you'll have to do it later."
"There's no time!" Sanae gasped in between panting breaths. "This is a major event! If this was a Super Sentai series it would be like episode 48 or something, right about the point in the series where they destroy the set for the heroes' base and spoil the next season's theme in a toy commercial during the break! This would be the lead up to the season finale!"
"What are you talking about?" Keine asked with a look of utter bafflement. "Take a breath and then explain it in terms we can understand."
By this point Renko had made her way through the rows of kneeling students to the back of the classroom where she laid a hand on Sanae's shoulder to soothe her.
"Tell us what's going on, Sanae. Did something happen to the Moriya Shrine?"
"No, no, we're all fine." Swallowing a gulp of air, she turned and flung out her arm, pointing to the east. "I went to check on the branch shrine just now and the Hakurei Shrine has been completely destroyed!"
—
Despite the over-the-top delivery, Sanae's characterization of events hadn't been an exaggeration. We ended up closing the temple school and sending all of the children home so that the four of us, Renko, Sanae, Keine and myself could all hurry over to the Hakurei Shrine. Keine had wanted to go alone and leave us to teach our classes, but after Sanae's appearance the children were much too distracted to listen to a lesson anyway. Eventually, Renko had convinced her to let us go by telling her that we were concerned for Reimu too and wanted to check on her. It goes without saying that this was true, of course. As suspicious as Reimu might be of us, she was still our friend and we were concerned about her safety.
Thus we set off, Keine flying with me and Sanae flying with Renko as we all departed, heading east. Typically, after following the long path through the hills surrounding the village you'd come to the stone steps cut into the hill before the Hakurei Shrine, then, after climbing them, see the shrine's main building directly through the torii gate. In this case all we saw was part of the shrine's roof. The building itself was completely collapsed, folded in on itself with only splintered beams and shattered chunks of roof tile to proclaim that there had ever been anything more than a jumbled pile of lumber there.
"What happened here?" Keine muttered as we looked over the scene.
"See? It's just like I said!" Sanae replied, seeming somehow proud.
It was a scene straight out of news footage of natural disasters. The hot, sunny weather painting the tangled mess of splintered wood with stark black shadows. Keine was staring slack-jawed at the scene as we landed, as was I. Renko was looking around with concern.
Keine suddenly ran forward toward the collapsed heap. Following her gaze, I saw Reimu, sitting atop one of the fallen beams, staring dumbly into the wreck that had once been her home and shrine. "Reimu!" she called out, waving to her.
Reimu turned around slowly, looking us over, but not really seeming to see us. "Oh Keine. Glad to see you're alright. Shouldn't you be helping out in the village though?"
"The village is fine, Reimu. What happened here though? Why is your shrine like this?"
"What do you mean, 'why?' Nothing could have stood in an earthquake like that."
"Earthquake?" Renko, Keine and I all looked at each other, then back to Reimu. "We didn't notice any quake. When did this happen?"
"How could you not have noticed? It was enormous! It started right after I went outside to sweep, about nine. I was lucky to be outside. What am I going to do about my shrine though? This sort of thing never—"
Reimu froze suddenly, then looked up, turning to face Sanae, as if she had only just noticed she was here. "Did you do this?"
"Eh? Me?" Sanae blinked in surprise as Reimu pointed her gohei at the priestess. "This is a false accusation. I didn't do anything!"
"Then how come despite everything your branch shrine is still just fine?"
Sanae's eyes darted over to the spot where the branch shrine stood. It seemed to be completely intact, in stark contrast to the main hall of the Hakurei Shrine.
"Oh… it must have been due to the divine protection of Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako! The branch shrine was spared from the wrath of the gods caused by your mismanagement and lack of care for your own shrine. If you had just handed the Hakurei Shrine over to me in the beginning, this all could have been prevented! The base has been destroyed and Fantasy Sentai Hakuranger has aired its last episode. Tomorrow will see the beginning of the new era of Moriya Sentai Mishagujar as the Moriya Shrine ascends to command the heavens and the airwaves!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about but if you're trying to take over my shrine by force, then you've got more guts than I thought. One shrine has always been enough for Gensokyo!" Eyes blazing with fury, Reimu hopped off of her seat and began to walk toward Sanae.
"Objection! That's a false accusation. The Moriya Shrine denies any involvement with this unfortunate event. If you can't understand that then I'll have to convince you with force!"
Sanae's wand had found its way into her hand and she began walking toward Reimu as well. I had hoped Keine would have intervened, but she was still staring dumbstruck at the whole situation. Before anyone could say anything else, the shrine maiden and the wind priestess both launched themselves at each other, ascending and chasing each other in a whirling spiral as they began a fearsome danmaku match in the sky above the rubble.
I turned to Renko. "What should we do?" I asked helplessly.
"Let them have their match, they both need to burn off some energy. When they're done though, there's still going to be the question of what we should do about... all of this" Renko said, gesturing vaguely at the huge heap of rubbish that had once been a shrine. "Miss Keine, what do you make of this?"
"I'm no expert but it certainly looks like it was hit by an earthquake. The roof is mostly intact but it flattened everything else. I've read that this only happens with very powerful tremors..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too, only..."
"We didn't have any kind of quake like that, did we?"
"Reimu said she felt it around nine. If it was strong enough to do this, there's no way we wouldn't have at least felt something in the village, right?"
At nine o'clock the children had all already been in their seats in the classrooms. An earthquake powerful enough to do this to the shrine should have caused significant damage in the village as well. There's no way we wouldn't have felt it at all. There had definitely not been an earthquake in the village. All the evidence made that undeniable. It also seemed impossible to deny that Reimu's shrine had been completely destroyed in a way that could only have been caused by a major quake. Would it be possible for something like an earthquake with a magnitude of around 7 on the Richter scale to be entirely localized to a small region?
Keine turned back towards the village, shielding her eyes from the sun. "I don't see any smoke, so I don't think there's been a fire at least, but if there was a quake, there could be damage on the edge of the village that we didn't feel in the center. There might even be aftershocks that are yet to come. I think I'd probably better go back and check." It was a reasonable concern for her to have given the scene in front of us, and yet totally at odds with the fact that none of us had felt any shaking at all.
"Alright. Be careful, Miss Keine."
"You two be careful too. If there are aftershocks, they might be worse around here."
"Right. This could even be a foreshock and the main quake is still yet to come."
"...Good point. Alright, you two take care of Reimu for me."
Renko nodded and without another word Keine turned and left, kicking off of the ground and racing back toward the village. I watched her leave then turned to join Renko in watching the danmaku match high overhead. It seemed I had missed the decisive blow as both girls were already descending towards us, having already settled their fight.
Sanae was whooping with joy as she dropped. "Kochiya Sanae, innocent of all charges! Justice has been served!" She declared, flaring to a stop then descending to stand on the ground beside us. From the dejected expression on Reimu's face opposed to Sanae's exuberance, it was easy to see who had won. Perhaps it was my imagination but even the intensity of the sun seemed to have lessened now.
"Whoa, Reimu, are you okay? Did you get injured during the quake or something?" Renko asked, looking concerned.
"What? No, I’m fine."
"I see. Can you tell me anything more about the earthquake?"
"What is there to tell? Like I said before, I was outside sweeping the grounds when suddenly it got so shaky I couldn't stand. The shrine made a bunch of awful noises and then it collapsed, just like it is now."
"How long did the tremors last, Reimu?"
"I don't know, a few minutes maybe? It's hard to tell during something like that. How bad is the damage in the village? Are you two alright?"
Renko looked over at me for a moment, then back to Reimu. "That's just the thing, Reimu. We didn't feel anything at all, right Merry?"
"Not a thing."
"What? The village is only a stone's throw away. You must have. Maybe you weren't paying attention or something."
I shook my head at her. "There was nothing to feel. When we left the village there was no sign of any damage. No one had noticed anything at all. Keine went back to make sure there wasn't an aftershock or something, but until Sanae told us about it, I never would have guessed there had been an earthquake."
"If it wasn’t an earthquake then what caused all of that shaking?" Reimu asked, a confused expression on her face.
"Maybe that’s just how divine punishment works?" Sanae suggested unhelpfully. She was wearing a nasty smile. Sanae was generally one of the nicest people I knew but I guess you didn't want to get on the wrong side of a religious debate with her.
"Shut up!" Reimu said, hurling a splintered chunk of wood sidearm at Sanae without even looking. The projectile missed, but not by much, sailing over Sanae's shoulder.
"So what are you going to do now, Reimu? This shrine was also your home, right?"
"That's right! Where am I going to sleep tonight! This is really starting to make me mad!"
"Ah, well maybe Keine can help you with that." Renko said, laying a consoling hand on Reimu's shoulder. Hey Sanae, come here for a moment," She stood and walked away from Reimu as she said this, towards one corner of the shrine grounds, motioning for me to join her as well. Once more the three of us put our heads together in an impromptu huddle.
"Alright, Boss, what's the plan?" Sanae asked.
"There's one important detail I haven't caught you up on yet, Sanae. You were with us when we heard that the abnormal weather conditions seen all over Gensokyo have been associated with the presence of scarlet clouds, and that those clouds are thought to be omens of a coming earthquake, right? I had hoped I would have had time to tell you about what we discovered at Eientei yesterday before the quake struck, but, well, here we are."
Sanae clapped a hand over her mouth as it opened into a perfect 'o' of shock. "Have you found the culprit, Boss?" she asked, eyes full of wonder.
"Well, not exactly, but in the eyes of the Lunar Sage, it's very likely that this incident is being caused by a Celestial up in Heaven who's been messing with things down here on Earth."
"Heaven? Like capital H Heaven?" It was an unexpected question from a priestess like her.
"Well, I can't comment on the metaphysics of it much, but from what we've heard, it's a world that exists above the skies of Gensokyo where ascended hermits and souls that have attained Nirvana live in a sort of paradise. I heard something else too: there's supposed to be a shortcut to get there."
"Oh no..." I groaned.
Sanae tilted her head curiously. "A shortcut?"
"So I've heard. Apparently you can physically enter that realm from the top of Youkai Mountain."
Immediately upon hearing those words, Sanae's eyes opened wide as a broad smile bloomed on her face. "I know exactly what you're thinking! Just leave it to Sanae, Boss, we've got this one in the bag."
"Renko, if you're sure that's where the culprit is likely to be found, shouldn't we tell Reimu?" I asked.
"Well, we don't have any proof yet. We can't go to the authorities and make an accusation until we confirm things for ourselves, right? It would be cruel of us to send her on a wild goose chase, especially if another earthquake happens while she's gone."
I eyed Renko suspiciously. Her logic sounded reasonable enough, but it was nearly impossible to think she didn't just want to meet the mastermind behind this incident before Reimu did. I lifted my head from the huddle and turned back toward Reimu. She was still sitting, staring at her broken shrine and groaning.
"Alright then. Next stop, Heaven, right?" Renko asked, turning back to Sanae and I with a big grin.
"Right!" Sanae said, mirroring her expression.
"You know this is why everyone's always so suspicious of you right?" I hissed in a whisper. It was hopeless. Try though I might, the two of them were already cheering each other onward at the thought of our next step. I could only look on and sigh.
—15—
Thus, it was decided that we would make for the peak of Youkai Mountain by air, flying with Sanae as usual. The summit was far higher than our usual destination of the Moriya Shrine, however.
"Do you think it's safe to fly that high? Aside from the lack of oxygen, there's also extreme temperatures and altitude sickness to worry about, right?"
"Aw, we don't have to bother with any of that, Miss Merry!" Sanae said cheerily. "We're flying with divine winds! All I have to do is say a little prayer for good air, and all of that will be taken care of."
"That sounds awfully convenient, are you sure it's safe?"
"That's why they call it a miracle!" Sanae smiled as we continued to rapidly ascend.
We were able to fly as far as her shrine without my ears so much as popping, but as we continued to climb, things seemed to get a bit more difficult. Once we cleared the tree line and had only the bare and rocky surface of the mountain beneath us, the force of the winds buffeting us from all directions began to increase. The bubble of air both supporting and surrounding us remained intact and tolerable, but Renko and I had to again clamp our hands to our heads to keep our hats in place. Ever since we had drawn close to the shrine we had had to contend with driving rain, but at this altitude the wind whipped so fiercely that the rain was almost horizontal. There wasn't the faintest hope of keeping anything at all dry at this point. As we continued to press onward, the winds grew even more intense, stinging our faces and chafing our skin even as the roar threatened to deafen us.
"Sanae, isn't this a little too much wind?" Renko shouted over the gale.
"It's not me!" She shouted in reply.
"Then there's got to be interference. Maybe this is the effect of someone else's temperament?"
Renko craned her head around, trying to scan the skies while simultaneously squinting against the wind. Just then an intense wall of air pressure washed over us, braking our progress and nearly knocking us off our feet in the air as a tremendous boom thrummed through the sky and a single black shadow dived past us from above. As we struggled to maintain our balance, the figure rose back up, spiraling through the air before unfurling her night-black wings to hover, flapping, before us.
"Ayayaya. It's the Moriya shrine maiden and the two detectives again, isn't it? You're well outside of your territory now, aren't you, humans?" Once more it was the familiar form of Shameimaru Aya that was floating before us, shaking her head with a look of open suspicion on her face and her short skirt flapping in the strong wind.
"Oh, it's the tengu newspaper lady!" Sanae chirped. "The three of us are going up to the summit today!"
"You're trying to reach the peak in winds like these? You could easily get lost. And since everything around us is tengu territory that wouldn't go well for you. We may have signed a friendship treaty but that doesn't mean you can just barge in here whenever you want."
Sanae blinked in surprise as she tried to steady herself, subtly adjusting the flow of air around us. "What? We're just headed to the summit. You come to parties at our shrine all the time."
"We respond to summons for treaty discussions and land-usage negotiations at your shrine, they're not social visits."
"Well then, Miss Newspaper, why don't you invite us into tengu territory? You have permission to speak on behalf of the Great Tengu, don't you?" Sanae asked with an innocent smile.
"Ayaya. That was a temporary delegation of power. I can't do something like that now. What were you even planning to do at the summit of the mountain?"
"Oh! We were..."
"That's a trade secret, I'm afraid." Renko shouted, cutting Sanae off. "Client confidentiality and all that, you know. As a reporter, I'm sure you understand the need to protect sensitive information and its sources."
"Really? That's very suspicious. Is mountain-climbing suddenly becoming the latest trend or something? It's a very annoying trend for us tengu if so."
"Oh? Why do you ask that? Have there been others trying to reach the summit recently?"
"Yes, it's been busy. That's why I'm here, to try to figure out why so many people have been coming up and how to stop them. Yesterday a maid from the Scarlet Devil Mansion came by here, and before that there were reports that their magician was spotted at the peak. Before that, Lady Ibuki came through. The Administrator of the Netherworld was spotted too."
Renko and I shared a significant look. If Sakuya, Patchouli, Suika and Yuyuko had already come through here, then we must be on the right track. Did that mean that the mastermind behind this incident really was someone from Heaven?
Renko turned and spoke to Sanae and I, just barely audible over the rushing winds. "Miss Shameimaru doesn't seem to know about the Hakurei Shrine yet. If she did, there's no way she'd be here instead of there, covering the news." I nodded.
"Well, if you've already let all those people through to the top, what's the harm in letting us through?" Sanae asked, turning back to Aya and shouting to be heard.
Aya merely folded her arms and shook her head. "You know I can't do that. It would mean my head if my superiors found out. I'd rather not fight you while you've got two detectives clinging to you like that, but I'm not letting you through either. Why not just turn around before you get hurt?"
"What if we were to pay you for our passage?" Sanae shouted. "How'd you like a real scoop?"
"If it were a story big enough to demand my attention, I suppose I wouldn't have time to watch this area. It would have to be a very interesting story though."
"How about a major incident at the Hakurei Shrine? An unprecedented disturbance!" Sanae asked with a broad smile.
"What kind of 'major incident?' If you're just trying to draw me away with a fake story you realize there'll be hell to pay later, right?"
"I swear on the names of Lady Moriya and Lady Yasaka, the Hakurei Shrine has been destroyed."
Aya pondered for a moment, looking from Sanae to Renko to me then back again. "Is that a fact? Well,I think there's somewhere I need to be. Do as you wish, but don't blame me for anything that might happen."
"Awesome! Thank you Miss Tengu!" Sanae cheered, smiling as Aya turned to dive down the mountain.
Aya froze in the midst of her contortion, turning to Sanae in annoyance. "It's Sha-mei-maru. Please try to remember my name, Miss Shrine Maiden."
"And I'm Kochiya Sanae, a wind priestess, not a shrine maiden. Please try to remember that, Miss Shamei."
"It's Shameimaru, the reporter!" She shouted before disappearing in a streak of motion. As she hurtled into the distance, the rain and wind that had been slashing at us gradually lessened, and our flight once again became stable. Sanae sighed then gave both of our hands a squeeze before beginning once more to ascend.
"Sanae, you and Aya seem to have a bit of a history, eh?"
"I wish we didn't. She's got a terrible drinking habit. I try to avoid her at parties now."
"I dunno, you both use wind powers. You might be a good match."
"Ugh, don't ship me with a tengu! I'm a living god, we’re way cooler than that!"
"This is Gensokyo, Sanae, I wouldn’t assume that there’s necessarily all that much difference between a youkai and a living god here."
"Of course there is! That's like asking if there's any difference between a pin and a drill. They both make holes, but one's way cooler! Mazinger would never use a pin!"
With that statement, delivered as an unassailable and self-evident truth, Sanae pressed on, accelerating even as we climbed. As we neared the summit, a layer of clouds drew closer and closer, covering us in cold mist as the visibility dropped. For the second time in a week, I found myself envying my partner's trenchcoat, despite how ridiculous it had seemed for her to be wearing it just earlier today..
"Renko! Merry! Look! That's the scarlet cloud!" Sanae suddenly called out, trying to point despite both of her hands being busy supporting the two of us. Sure enough, as we ascended beyond the bounds of the layer of more typical clouds, a single, enormous scarlet cloud towered above them, seeming to reach up into the glaring sunlit expanse of the heavens. The sound of a thunderclap washed over us. I wondered if Heaven might be on the other side of it.
"This is getting exciting," Sanae said, tugging at our arms, "it's like we're about to visit Laputa for real! I had egg on toast for breakfast this morning, so we've got everything we need! We'll be ready in 40 seconds!" Then, with a twist of her head, Sanae changed the course of the winds propelling us and we banked to the left, bringing our path in line with the cloud. Without a moment's consultation or hesitation she sped us forward, humming the theme song from the classic Ghibli anime as we plunged into the scarlet cloud.
—13—
"I don't know much about it either, but it's supposedly said to be a world above the clouds."
While we were eating dinner at Mokou's house, my partner had asked Keine about Heaven. That had been her response. It wasn't particularly helpful.
"Well, if I remember the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 correctly it's supposed to be situated above the skies of the Netherworld, right?" Renko asked around a mouthful of boiled bamboo shoots.
Keine regarded her with a critical look that seemed to peer deeper than her lousy table manners. "I suppose I ought to tell you the truth, since you'll just go poking your nose into it anyway if I don't. Akyuu told me that some of the information in the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 is intentionally inaccurate. The location of Heaven is one such detail."
"Oh? how so? And why?"
"Well, from what Akyuu told me, Heaven is an infinite expanse, bigger than Gensokyo, the Netherworld and Higan combined. So Heaven is above the skies of the Netherworld, but it stretches to be here too, and it's all the same place. Heaven is supposed to be a place where the dead who are judged worthy by the Yama and any hermits who have managed to completely abandon worldly desires reside. Supposedly, the peak of Youkai Mountain is the closest point to it, meaning that anyone who can fly could potentially try to go there."
"Ah I see. I never would have imagined that Akyuu would hide such a secret. I'm guessing she was worried that..."
"Villagers might try to climb the mountain in search of a way to enter Heaven? Yes. They say in Heaven there's no need for work, no hunger, no disease and freedom to sing and dance and live happily all day. Even knowing that the celestials would likely turn any human away before they could make it in, there would still be some who would think to try to get there if they knew. That's why the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 says it's somewhere that's impossible for a living villager to reach."
"Keine, you know about it though, have you ever tried to go?"
"My life is in the village. If I had no work to do and no one to look after, I'm sure I'd go crazy after three days."
"Ah. Yeah, that sounds like you."
"Do I need to bother telling you that you're not to make this information public?"
"You can count on me, Keine. As a professional detective, discretion is the core of my business," Renko answered with a smile. Keine still seemed unconvinced though.
"So what exactly is going on in Heaven? Is Kaguya planning some scheme with the celestials or something?" Mokou asked.
"It's too early to say," Renko said with a shrug.
◆ ◇
Back at Eientei, we had asked Eirin why a celestial might want to interfere with the weather in Gensokyo, but her answer had been nothing more than vague speculation.
"Boredom, perhaps?"
"Would they really mess with the weather and cause earthquakes just to kill time?"
"The people of Gensokyo cause incidents and have danmaku battles just to kill time. That's just how things are here, isn't it?"
"I suppose..."
"Perhaps some youkai on the surface did something to offend them. Ultimately though, it's none of my concern. I've only asked Reisen to investigate because it would be inconvenient if an earthquake were to damage Eientei."
"Does the moon count as part of Heaven then?"
Eirin tilted her head, considering the question for a moment. "I suppose the answer to that question is a matter of perspective. I doubt Earthlings would see much difference between the two realms, but saying that they're the same would be like if I said that Youkai Mountain, Eientei and the Netherworld were all the same since they're all places outside of the human village's walls, right?"
"I see. So broadly speaking, the moon is a part of the heavens, but it's not the same Heaven where Celestials live."
"That's correct."
"Thank you, Doctor Yagokoro. That makes it easy to understand."
"So, you understand that I wouldn't have any knowledge of what the celestials might be up to. I am an exile from the Lunar Capital after all."
◇ ◆
Renko relayed the above conversation to both Mokou and Keine over the dinner table. "So in the end, Eirin thinks she knows who, or at least what kind of person might be behind the unusual weather, but we're no closer to knowing their name or intentions."
"I see. Renko, you're not thinking of trying to find a way into Heaven, are you?" Keine said with a pointed look.
"Would you believe me if I said 'no?'" Renko asked with a grin.
"No!" Keine stood up from the table, glowering at Renko. "Why are you like this? First the Netherworld, then Youkai Mountain, now Heaven! These are places that any other villager would see as permanently unreachable! Why can't you understand that?"
"Keine, it's fine." Mokou said, trying to calm her down. "Even if she were to try to, it's not like Renko could break into Heaven and spend her life doing nothing but idling about and playing games, right?"
"Oh, I was just planning on investigating, but if I could manage that, it doesn't sound too bad."
"Renko!" Keine cried, her brow knotted with frustration. Mokou had been trying to make her position sound reasonable, but it was Renko's nature to be anything but. I sighed and shook my head at her.
"I'm telling you for the last time," Keine said threateningly. "Leave the investigation and resolution of incidents to the experts. That's what Reimu is here for. I'll go and talk to her tomorrow and tell her what you've found. The information you've uncovered could be useful, but you shouldn't have been pursuing it. You're a teacher at the temple school and a human from the village. Your only concerns should be being a role model to the children and keeping yourself sa—"
"Hey Keine, you mind leaving this lecture for later?" Mokou interrupted. "All of those criticisms could apply to me too."
Keine’s eyes flashed with anger as she whirled on Mokou for interrupting her. Seeing her expression, the immortal cringed back in her seat. Keine nodded and Mokou let out a sigh as the lecture began in earnest. It seemed the dam had broken, and the pent-up stress of the last week was now flowing unstoppably. The three of us settled in for a long talking-to.
Of course, at this point, we had no way of knowing that Keine wouldn't get a chance to talk to Reimu. We had no way of knowing that, by morning, the Hakurei shrine would have been reduced to rubble by an intense but highly localized earthquake.
Similarly, we had no way of knowing that, by this point, several people had already encountered the mastermind behind this incident. In the sense that multiple people all confronted the mastermind of their own accord at different times, this incident was similar to the Night Parade of 100 Oni Every Three Days. In that case though, we had been the first to locate the party responsible. In this case, we hadn't even heard of her yet. But the next day we would. We would meet her that very day —the day of the earthquake.
—14—
"Disaster! Disaster! Everyone, it's a disaster!"
A line like this, shouted at the top of her lungs, at the beginning of the day no less, could only have come from Sanae. As it was, it was heard a little after nine in the morning, when Sanae ran into the temple school hollering with all her might and throwing open every door in her way. Renko and I had both just begun teaching classes in two separate classrooms as both of us had students in the morning that day. Sanae had rushed through the front doors of the school and hurled the first classroom door she found open with enough force to rattle it in its frame. That door had happened to be the rear door of Renko's advanced mathematics class, but with all the commotion, I interrupted my lessons to go into the hall and see what was happening as well.
"Sanae? What's wrong?" Renko asked from the front of the class, textbook still in hand.
"It's an incident!" she panted, desperately trying to catch her breath. "Or something bigger, like a super-incident! A hyper-mega-incident!"
It was a headline so overblown that even the 𝐵𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑢 probably wouldn't have run it. Nonetheless it was enough to get all of the students' attention, as they whirled around as one to stare at Sanae as she leaned against the doorframe.
"Calm down Sanae. Take a breath."
"What’s all this commotion about?" Keine had come out of the staff office and was peering down the hall, hands on her hips and an exasperated look on her face. "Oh, it's the mountain priestess. If this is something related to detective work you'll have to do it later."
"There's no time!" Sanae gasped in between panting breaths. "This is a major event! If this was a Super Sentai series it would be like episode 48 or something, right about the point in the series where they destroy the set for the heroes' base and spoil the next season's theme in a toy commercial during the break! This would be the lead up to the season finale!"
"What are you talking about?" Keine asked with a look of utter bafflement. "Take a breath and then explain it in terms we can understand."
By this point Renko had made her way through the rows of kneeling students to the back of the classroom where she laid a hand on Sanae's shoulder to soothe her.
"Tell us what's going on, Sanae. Did something happen to the Moriya Shrine?"
"No, no, we're all fine." Swallowing a gulp of air, she turned and flung out her arm, pointing to the east. "I went to check on the branch shrine just now and the Hakurei Shrine has been completely destroyed!"
—
Despite the over-the-top delivery, Sanae's characterization of events hadn't been an exaggeration. We ended up closing the temple school and sending all of the children home so that the four of us, Renko, Sanae, Keine and myself could all hurry over to the Hakurei Shrine. Keine had wanted to go alone and leave us to teach our classes, but after Sanae's appearance the children were much too distracted to listen to a lesson anyway. Eventually, Renko had convinced her to let us go by telling her that we were concerned for Reimu too and wanted to check on her. It goes without saying that this was true, of course. As suspicious as Reimu might be of us, she was still our friend and we were concerned about her safety.
Thus we set off, Keine flying with me and Sanae flying with Renko as we all departed, heading east. Typically, after following the long path through the hills surrounding the village you'd come to the stone steps cut into the hill before the Hakurei Shrine, then, after climbing them, see the shrine's main building directly through the torii gate. In this case all we saw was part of the shrine's roof. The building itself was completely collapsed, folded in on itself with only splintered beams and shattered chunks of roof tile to proclaim that there had ever been anything more than a jumbled pile of lumber there.
"What happened here?" Keine muttered as we looked over the scene.
"See? It's just like I said!" Sanae replied, seeming somehow proud.
It was a scene straight out of news footage of natural disasters. The hot, sunny weather painting the tangled mess of splintered wood with stark black shadows. Keine was staring slack-jawed at the scene as we landed, as was I. Renko was looking around with concern.
Keine suddenly ran forward toward the collapsed heap. Following her gaze, I saw Reimu, sitting atop one of the fallen beams, staring dumbly into the wreck that had once been her home and shrine. "Reimu!" she called out, waving to her.
Reimu turned around slowly, looking us over, but not really seeming to see us. "Oh Keine. Glad to see you're alright. Shouldn't you be helping out in the village though?"
"The village is fine, Reimu. What happened here though? Why is your shrine like this?"
"What do you mean, 'why?' Nothing could have stood in an earthquake like that."
"Earthquake?" Renko, Keine and I all looked at each other, then back to Reimu. "We didn't notice any quake. When did this happen?"
"How could you not have noticed? It was enormous! It started right after I went outside to sweep, about nine. I was lucky to be outside. What am I going to do about my shrine though? This sort of thing never—"
Reimu froze suddenly, then looked up, turning to face Sanae, as if she had only just noticed she was here. "Did you do this?"
"Eh? Me?" Sanae blinked in surprise as Reimu pointed her gohei at the priestess. "This is a false accusation. I didn't do anything!"
"Then how come despite everything your branch shrine is still just fine?"
Sanae's eyes darted over to the spot where the branch shrine stood. It seemed to be completely intact, in stark contrast to the main hall of the Hakurei Shrine.
"Oh… it must have been due to the divine protection of Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako! The branch shrine was spared from the wrath of the gods caused by your mismanagement and lack of care for your own shrine. If you had just handed the Hakurei Shrine over to me in the beginning, this all could have been prevented! The base has been destroyed and Fantasy Sentai Hakuranger has aired its last episode. Tomorrow will see the beginning of the new era of Moriya Sentai Mishagujar as the Moriya Shrine ascends to command the heavens and the airwaves!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about but if you're trying to take over my shrine by force, then you've got more guts than I thought. One shrine has always been enough for Gensokyo!" Eyes blazing with fury, Reimu hopped off of her seat and began to walk toward Sanae.
"Objection! That's a false accusation. The Moriya Shrine denies any involvement with this unfortunate event. If you can't understand that then I'll have to convince you with force!"
Sanae's wand had found its way into her hand and she began walking toward Reimu as well. I had hoped Keine would have intervened, but she was still staring dumbstruck at the whole situation. Before anyone could say anything else, the shrine maiden and the wind priestess both launched themselves at each other, ascending and chasing each other in a whirling spiral as they began a fearsome danmaku match in the sky above the rubble.
I turned to Renko. "What should we do?" I asked helplessly.
"Let them have their match, they both need to burn off some energy. When they're done though, there's still going to be the question of what we should do about... all of this" Renko said, gesturing vaguely at the huge heap of rubbish that had once been a shrine. "Miss Keine, what do you make of this?"
"I'm no expert but it certainly looks like it was hit by an earthquake. The roof is mostly intact but it flattened everything else. I've read that this only happens with very powerful tremors..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too, only..."
"We didn't have any kind of quake like that, did we?"
"Reimu said she felt it around nine. If it was strong enough to do this, there's no way we wouldn't have at least felt something in the village, right?"
At nine o'clock the children had all already been in their seats in the classrooms. An earthquake powerful enough to do this to the shrine should have caused significant damage in the village as well. There's no way we wouldn't have felt it at all. There had definitely not been an earthquake in the village. All the evidence made that undeniable. It also seemed impossible to deny that Reimu's shrine had been completely destroyed in a way that could only have been caused by a major quake. Would it be possible for something like an earthquake with a magnitude of around 7 on the Richter scale to be entirely localized to a small region?
Keine turned back towards the village, shielding her eyes from the sun. "I don't see any smoke, so I don't think there's been a fire at least, but if there was a quake, there could be damage on the edge of the village that we didn't feel in the center. There might even be aftershocks that are yet to come. I think I'd probably better go back and check." It was a reasonable concern for her to have given the scene in front of us, and yet totally at odds with the fact that none of us had felt any shaking at all.
"Alright. Be careful, Miss Keine."
"You two be careful too. If there are aftershocks, they might be worse around here."
"Right. This could even be a foreshock and the main quake is still yet to come."
"...Good point. Alright, you two take care of Reimu for me."
Renko nodded and without another word Keine turned and left, kicking off of the ground and racing back toward the village. I watched her leave then turned to join Renko in watching the danmaku match high overhead. It seemed I had missed the decisive blow as both girls were already descending towards us, having already settled their fight.
Sanae was whooping with joy as she dropped. "Kochiya Sanae, innocent of all charges! Justice has been served!" She declared, flaring to a stop then descending to stand on the ground beside us. From the dejected expression on Reimu's face opposed to Sanae's exuberance, it was easy to see who had won. Perhaps it was my imagination but even the intensity of the sun seemed to have lessened now.
"Whoa, Reimu, are you okay? Did you get injured during the quake or something?" Renko asked, looking concerned.
"What? No, I’m fine."
"I see. Can you tell me anything more about the earthquake?"
"What is there to tell? Like I said before, I was outside sweeping the grounds when suddenly it got so shaky I couldn't stand. The shrine made a bunch of awful noises and then it collapsed, just like it is now."
"How long did the tremors last, Reimu?"
"I don't know, a few minutes maybe? It's hard to tell during something like that. How bad is the damage in the village? Are you two alright?"
Renko looked over at me for a moment, then back to Reimu. "That's just the thing, Reimu. We didn't feel anything at all, right Merry?"
"Not a thing."
"What? The village is only a stone's throw away. You must have. Maybe you weren't paying attention or something."
I shook my head at her. "There was nothing to feel. When we left the village there was no sign of any damage. No one had noticed anything at all. Keine went back to make sure there wasn't an aftershock or something, but until Sanae told us about it, I never would have guessed there had been an earthquake."
"If it wasn’t an earthquake then what caused all of that shaking?" Reimu asked, a confused expression on her face.
"Maybe that’s just how divine punishment works?" Sanae suggested unhelpfully. She was wearing a nasty smile. Sanae was generally one of the nicest people I knew but I guess you didn't want to get on the wrong side of a religious debate with her.
"Shut up!" Reimu said, hurling a splintered chunk of wood sidearm at Sanae without even looking. The projectile missed, but not by much, sailing over Sanae's shoulder.
"So what are you going to do now, Reimu? This shrine was also your home, right?"
"That's right! Where am I going to sleep tonight! This is really starting to make me mad!"
"Ah, well maybe Keine can help you with that." Renko said, laying a consoling hand on Reimu's shoulder. Hey Sanae, come here for a moment," She stood and walked away from Reimu as she said this, towards one corner of the shrine grounds, motioning for me to join her as well. Once more the three of us put our heads together in an impromptu huddle.
"Alright, Boss, what's the plan?" Sanae asked.
"There's one important detail I haven't caught you up on yet, Sanae. You were with us when we heard that the abnormal weather conditions seen all over Gensokyo have been associated with the presence of scarlet clouds, and that those clouds are thought to be omens of a coming earthquake, right? I had hoped I would have had time to tell you about what we discovered at Eientei yesterday before the quake struck, but, well, here we are."
Sanae clapped a hand over her mouth as it opened into a perfect 'o' of shock. "Have you found the culprit, Boss?" she asked, eyes full of wonder.
"Well, not exactly, but in the eyes of the Lunar Sage, it's very likely that this incident is being caused by a Celestial up in Heaven who's been messing with things down here on Earth."
"Heaven? Like capital H Heaven?" It was an unexpected question from a priestess like her.
"Well, I can't comment on the metaphysics of it much, but from what we've heard, it's a world that exists above the skies of Gensokyo where ascended hermits and souls that have attained Nirvana live in a sort of paradise. I heard something else too: there's supposed to be a shortcut to get there."
"Oh no..." I groaned.
Sanae tilted her head curiously. "A shortcut?"
"So I've heard. Apparently you can physically enter that realm from the top of Youkai Mountain."
Immediately upon hearing those words, Sanae's eyes opened wide as a broad smile bloomed on her face. "I know exactly what you're thinking! Just leave it to Sanae, Boss, we've got this one in the bag."
"Renko, if you're sure that's where the culprit is likely to be found, shouldn't we tell Reimu?" I asked.
"Well, we don't have any proof yet. We can't go to the authorities and make an accusation until we confirm things for ourselves, right? It would be cruel of us to send her on a wild goose chase, especially if another earthquake happens while she's gone."
I eyed Renko suspiciously. Her logic sounded reasonable enough, but it was nearly impossible to think she didn't just want to meet the mastermind behind this incident before Reimu did. I lifted my head from the huddle and turned back toward Reimu. She was still sitting, staring at her broken shrine and groaning.
"Alright then. Next stop, Heaven, right?" Renko asked, turning back to Sanae and I with a big grin.
"Right!" Sanae said, mirroring her expression.
"You know this is why everyone's always so suspicious of you right?" I hissed in a whisper. It was hopeless. Try though I might, the two of them were already cheering each other onward at the thought of our next step. I could only look on and sigh.
—15—
Thus, it was decided that we would make for the peak of Youkai Mountain by air, flying with Sanae as usual. The summit was far higher than our usual destination of the Moriya Shrine, however.
"Do you think it's safe to fly that high? Aside from the lack of oxygen, there's also extreme temperatures and altitude sickness to worry about, right?"
"Aw, we don't have to bother with any of that, Miss Merry!" Sanae said cheerily. "We're flying with divine winds! All I have to do is say a little prayer for good air, and all of that will be taken care of."
"That sounds awfully convenient, are you sure it's safe?"
"That's why they call it a miracle!" Sanae smiled as we continued to rapidly ascend.
We were able to fly as far as her shrine without my ears so much as popping, but as we continued to climb, things seemed to get a bit more difficult. Once we cleared the tree line and had only the bare and rocky surface of the mountain beneath us, the force of the winds buffeting us from all directions began to increase. The bubble of air both supporting and surrounding us remained intact and tolerable, but Renko and I had to again clamp our hands to our heads to keep our hats in place. Ever since we had drawn close to the shrine we had had to contend with driving rain, but at this altitude the wind whipped so fiercely that the rain was almost horizontal. There wasn't the faintest hope of keeping anything at all dry at this point. As we continued to press onward, the winds grew even more intense, stinging our faces and chafing our skin even as the roar threatened to deafen us.
"Sanae, isn't this a little too much wind?" Renko shouted over the gale.
"It's not me!" She shouted in reply.
"Then there's got to be interference. Maybe this is the effect of someone else's temperament?"
Renko craned her head around, trying to scan the skies while simultaneously squinting against the wind. Just then an intense wall of air pressure washed over us, braking our progress and nearly knocking us off our feet in the air as a tremendous boom thrummed through the sky and a single black shadow dived past us from above. As we struggled to maintain our balance, the figure rose back up, spiraling through the air before unfurling her night-black wings to hover, flapping, before us.
"Ayayaya. It's the Moriya shrine maiden and the two detectives again, isn't it? You're well outside of your territory now, aren't you, humans?" Once more it was the familiar form of Shameimaru Aya that was floating before us, shaking her head with a look of open suspicion on her face and her short skirt flapping in the strong wind.
"Oh, it's the tengu newspaper lady!" Sanae chirped. "The three of us are going up to the summit today!"
"You're trying to reach the peak in winds like these? You could easily get lost. And since everything around us is tengu territory that wouldn't go well for you. We may have signed a friendship treaty but that doesn't mean you can just barge in here whenever you want."
Sanae blinked in surprise as she tried to steady herself, subtly adjusting the flow of air around us. "What? We're just headed to the summit. You come to parties at our shrine all the time."
"We respond to summons for treaty discussions and land-usage negotiations at your shrine, they're not social visits."
"Well then, Miss Newspaper, why don't you invite us into tengu territory? You have permission to speak on behalf of the Great Tengu, don't you?" Sanae asked with an innocent smile.
"Ayaya. That was a temporary delegation of power. I can't do something like that now. What were you even planning to do at the summit of the mountain?"
"Oh! We were..."
"That's a trade secret, I'm afraid." Renko shouted, cutting Sanae off. "Client confidentiality and all that, you know. As a reporter, I'm sure you understand the need to protect sensitive information and its sources."
"Really? That's very suspicious. Is mountain-climbing suddenly becoming the latest trend or something? It's a very annoying trend for us tengu if so."
"Oh? Why do you ask that? Have there been others trying to reach the summit recently?"
"Yes, it's been busy. That's why I'm here, to try to figure out why so many people have been coming up and how to stop them. Yesterday a maid from the Scarlet Devil Mansion came by here, and before that there were reports that their magician was spotted at the peak. Before that, Lady Ibuki came through. The Administrator of the Netherworld was spotted too."
Renko and I shared a significant look. If Sakuya, Patchouli, Suika and Yuyuko had already come through here, then we must be on the right track. Did that mean that the mastermind behind this incident really was someone from Heaven?
Renko turned and spoke to Sanae and I, just barely audible over the rushing winds. "Miss Shameimaru doesn't seem to know about the Hakurei Shrine yet. If she did, there's no way she'd be here instead of there, covering the news." I nodded.
"Well, if you've already let all those people through to the top, what's the harm in letting us through?" Sanae asked, turning back to Aya and shouting to be heard.
Aya merely folded her arms and shook her head. "You know I can't do that. It would mean my head if my superiors found out. I'd rather not fight you while you've got two detectives clinging to you like that, but I'm not letting you through either. Why not just turn around before you get hurt?"
"What if we were to pay you for our passage?" Sanae shouted. "How'd you like a real scoop?"
"If it were a story big enough to demand my attention, I suppose I wouldn't have time to watch this area. It would have to be a very interesting story though."
"How about a major incident at the Hakurei Shrine? An unprecedented disturbance!" Sanae asked with a broad smile.
"What kind of 'major incident?' If you're just trying to draw me away with a fake story you realize there'll be hell to pay later, right?"
"I swear on the names of Lady Moriya and Lady Yasaka, the Hakurei Shrine has been destroyed."
Aya pondered for a moment, looking from Sanae to Renko to me then back again. "Is that a fact? Well,I think there's somewhere I need to be. Do as you wish, but don't blame me for anything that might happen."
"Awesome! Thank you Miss Tengu!" Sanae cheered, smiling as Aya turned to dive down the mountain.
Aya froze in the midst of her contortion, turning to Sanae in annoyance. "It's Sha-mei-maru. Please try to remember my name, Miss Shrine Maiden."
"And I'm Kochiya Sanae, a wind priestess, not a shrine maiden. Please try to remember that, Miss Shamei."
"It's Shameimaru, the reporter!" She shouted before disappearing in a streak of motion. As she hurtled into the distance, the rain and wind that had been slashing at us gradually lessened, and our flight once again became stable. Sanae sighed then gave both of our hands a squeeze before beginning once more to ascend.
"Sanae, you and Aya seem to have a bit of a history, eh?"
"I wish we didn't. She's got a terrible drinking habit. I try to avoid her at parties now."
"I dunno, you both use wind powers. You might be a good match."
"Ugh, don't ship me with a tengu! I'm a living god, we’re way cooler than that!"
"This is Gensokyo, Sanae, I wouldn’t assume that there’s necessarily all that much difference between a youkai and a living god here."
"Of course there is! That's like asking if there's any difference between a pin and a drill. They both make holes, but one's way cooler! Mazinger would never use a pin!"
With that statement, delivered as an unassailable and self-evident truth, Sanae pressed on, accelerating even as we climbed. As we neared the summit, a layer of clouds drew closer and closer, covering us in cold mist as the visibility dropped. For the second time in a week, I found myself envying my partner's trenchcoat, despite how ridiculous it had seemed for her to be wearing it just earlier today..
"Renko! Merry! Look! That's the scarlet cloud!" Sanae suddenly called out, trying to point despite both of her hands being busy supporting the two of us. Sure enough, as we ascended beyond the bounds of the layer of more typical clouds, a single, enormous scarlet cloud towered above them, seeming to reach up into the glaring sunlit expanse of the heavens. The sound of a thunderclap washed over us. I wondered if Heaven might be on the other side of it.
"This is getting exciting," Sanae said, tugging at our arms, "it's like we're about to visit Laputa for real! I had egg on toast for breakfast this morning, so we've got everything we need! We'll be ready in 40 seconds!" Then, with a twist of her head, Sanae changed the course of the winds propelling us and we banked to the left, bringing our path in line with the cloud. Without a moment's consultation or hesitation she sped us forward, humming the theme song from the classic Ghibli anime as we plunged into the scarlet cloud.
Case 7: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody 一覧
- Preface/Prologue: Scarlet Weather Rhapsod
- Chapter 1:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 2:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 3:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 4:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 5:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 6:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 7:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 8:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 9:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 10:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Chapter 11:Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
- Epilogue: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
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