東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 5:Ten Desires

—13—


We remained under something akin to house arrest in the Great Mausoleum of the Hall of Dreams for the meantime. While we were trapped there, Gensokyo's incident resolvers had all begun to move as well. If you have access to a copy of the 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 then no doubt you already know the story of this incident, which is related there in more detail than I could hope to provide. With that said, it will be easier to understand this mystery if I at least give you an overview of what happened here in this case file.

The following version of events is based on what Sanae told me after everything was over. Technically that means that the following account is entirely hearsay, but it's only here to provide context and set the scene, so please forgive me for including it.

—

Once numerous ghost-like spirits started appearing on the mountain the first thing Sanae did was head into the human village and look for Renko and myself at our office. Unfortunately she must have arrived shortly after we had left to follow Nazrin to the Myouren temple.

"Where did Miss Renko and Miss Merry go?"

"They're probably already investigating this incident just like you are."

"But if that's the case then why wouldn't they wait for me?"

Sanae spent some time looking for us but as day turned into evening she had landed by one of the small roadside shrines to Lady Kanako to converse with the goddess.

"Well they didn't. What are you going to do about it, Sanae?"

"I'm going to resolve the incident! It's just a matter of figuring out how. You said these spirits are just desires, right? Well isn't a desire sort of the same thing as a prayer? Maybe I can collect them up and then solve the incident at the same time! That would be like... double-faith, right?"

"Gather the spirits up if you wish, but the more important question is where they are coming from. There's no way to resolve the incident if you don't discover that."

"Do you know anything about them, Lady Kanako?"

"I can tell that the density of the spirits seems to be highest right near the human village, but that could just be because it's the most densely populated part of Gensokyo."

"Oh, you think these are leaking out of people? Something like that happened before, right? When the Hakurei Shrine got destroyed."

"That was the result of a celestial intentionally extracting people's temperaments. There aren’t any scarlet clouds this time around, so I don’t think it’s the same as last time."

"Hmm, well then who could it be?"

"Why not ask the resident expert on incident resolution?"

"You mean Miss Reimu? No way! This time I want to beat her to the punch!"

"Well I appreciate your eagerness, but it seems like she's already on the move."

Sanae looked up just as Kanako said that, just in time to see a pair of figures soaring through the evening sky toward the west. One figure was riding a broom and dressed in black and white, and the other seemed to be chasing her, dressed in red and white. Marisa and Reimu.

"Aaa! I'm gonna be late again!" Sanae said, moving to chase after them.

"Wait a minute, What's your plan?"

"No time for that! I can't let those two resolve this first, right? I've gotta follow them!"

"I suppose that's not the worst plan. Be careful Sanae."

"Bye Lady Kanako!" She called to the shrine as she hurled herself into the air on a gust of wind.

She caught up with the two incident resolvers near the far edge of the Forest of Magic. Marisa slowed and pointed her out to Reimu, then both girls stopped and turned to wait for her.

"You again. What are you doing here?"

"Oh Renko and Merry aren’t with you today?"

Reimu frowned at Sanae, while Marisa tilted her head quizzically.

"Of course I'm here, I'm going to resolve the incident! I don't know where Miss Renko and Miss Merry are, though. I went to look for them, but they'd already gone somewhere without me. They're probably investigating, just like we are."

"Then we need to do this quickly," Reimu growled. "Before they get in the way and make everything worse."

"Knowin' them, they're probably already at the mastermind by now. They always get there before we do. Like with Remilia, or Yuyuko, or at Eientei, or the Underworld. Heck, even with the Myouren temple." Marisa laughed as Reimu sighed and crossed her arms.

"Seriously, what's with those two? They're just humans, why are they like this?"

"You should be happy neither of 'em can fight, Reimu! If they could, they'd put the Hakurei Shrine outta business."

"Shut up. I'm not convinced they're not the reason we have so many incidents."

"Well at the very least, they were behind that whole mess with the treasure ship."

"That was an accident!" Sanae protested. "They'd never intentionally commit a crime. Renko's a detective and Merry says having a detective be the culprit would be against the rules in a mystery."

Reimu glared at her for a moment, then shook her head. "I never understand what you Outsiders are going on about. Anyway, if they're looking into this we need to get moving."

"Oh, do you know who's responsible then?"

"I'm not telling you." Reimu barked.

"It's gotta be someone in the Netherworld. We're gonna go ask an expert." Marisa explained with a grin.

"Why are you telling her?"

"Oh come on, there’s no reason to hold back. If the mastermind this time is someone as strong as Byakuren was, then we’ll need all the firepower we can get, right?"

"No one like that will show up, it's just going to be Yuyuko messing with the border of the Netherworld again."

"The Netherworld? I heard about that place," Sanae said, eyes wide in awe. "Can living humans like us really go there?"

"Huh? Haven't you ever been to Hakugyoukurou?"

"You met Yuyuko before though, right? She's been at a bunch of the parties at the Hakurei Shrine."

"She's the ghost with the big appetite? She has a girl with swords and a haircut like Yzak that follows her around, right?"

"What's a Yzak?"

"From 𝐺𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑚 𝑆𝐸𝐸𝐷, obviously!"

"I dunno about that, but if the world's covered in ghosts, then they've already been comin' here, so it should be fine for us to go there, right?"

"Oh wow, heading into the Netherworld as the sun sets. This will be like a test of courage!"

"Ooo, a test of courage. I haven't done one of those since the bamboo forest. You remember, Reimu? There weren't any ghosts there. Sorta just the opposite, a human who wouldn't die no matter what."

While continuing to talk amiably the three incident resolvers flew on, toward the setting sun and the entrance to the Netherworld.


—14—


Before too much longer Sanae and the others arrived at Hakugyokurou.
As might be expected in the Netherworld, spirits were in abundance, drifting lazily about in any direction you looked. To the three girls from Gensokyo, it was impossible to say if the number of spirits flowing about were at all unusual or just the equivalent of what passed for weather there. They ascended the long, lantern-flanked stone stairway and flew forward in formation along a road bordered by the cherry trees and watched over by countless spirits.

"Whaddaya think, about here or so?" Asked Marisa.

"Yeah, about here," agreed Reimu with a nod.

"What's about here?" Sanae asked curiously.

At that moment a silver flash of glimmering steel cut through the night in a wide arc in front of her, forcing her to stop short.

"Intruders! Oh. It's just Reimu and her friends," said the voice of a girl as the shining blade that had nearly bisected Sanae was lowered. "What are you all doing here at a time like this? Having a cherry blossom viewing at night? We don’t have a feast prepared or anything."

The girl who had appeared was Konpaku Youmu, groundskeeper of Hakugyoukurou and servant to the lady of that mansion.

"We're here to see your master," Reimu said disinterestedly.

"Lady Yuyuko? I can't let you through to see her unless I know what you're intending to ask her about," Youmu said, raising her blade once again and turning slightly to point it at Reimu.

"Oh, did you want to have a go?" Reimu asked, raising a fistful of charms.

"Hold on, hold on!" Sanae cried, floating between the two of them and spreading out her arms. "We didn't come here to pick a fight."

Youmu seemed to notice her for the first time. "You're that other shrine maiden from Youkai Mountain, aren't you?" Youmu and Sanae had seen each other at parties before, but as Youmu rarely left the Netherworld, the two had never had the occasion to really speak to one another.

"Hello. I'm Kochiya Sanae, a wind priestess from the Moriya Shrine. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Yzak!"

"Who’s Yzak? I'm Konpaku Youmu, gardener of Hakugyoukurou!"

"Right. Sorry," When Sanae related this story to me afterwards, she mentioned Youmu shaking her head and sighing at that. I can only imagine that Sanae must have sounded completely insincere.

"So what exactly are you here for?"

"Oh, a bunch of strange divine spirits have been appearing in the human village. We were going to ask if your boss knew anything about them."

"Hey Sanae, since when are you in charge?" Reimu asked.

"Divine spirits? Did they just appear suddenly? I see, so that's happening in Gensokyo too then..."

"You mean it's happening here too?"

"Yes. A number of spirits have been appearing and disappearing all over the Netherworld. I was about to go look into the cause myself."

"So it isn't misconduct on your master's part then, just incompetence?"

"No… At least I don’t think that’s what’s happening…"

"Well, Yuyuko's gotta know somethin', she's the boss of all ghosts or somethin', isn't she?" Marisa asked.

"Wouldn't that be King Boo?" Sanae asked, tilting her head.

"I don't get it, but if I'm going to go investigate I need to ask Lady Yuyuko about it first anyway," Youmu said with a sigh as she sheathed her blade. "I'll take you to see her."

With that, Youmu turned and led the little party forward along the path, then over carefully maintained gardens toward the mansion. As the gates of the mansion's outer wall came into view, Yuyuko Saigyouji, Administrator of the Netherworld appeared in a swirl of cherry petals.

"Oh, do we have visitors?" she said as they approached. "How unexpected! And there's more of you this time. Are you all here for a flower viewing party? Youmu, go prepare us a feast, please."

"You don’t have to bother. I'm just here to find out what you're scheming this time." Reimu said as she moved ahead of the others.

Yuyuko looked at her with an expression of concern on her face then turned to address Youmu. "Youmu are we scheming anything today?"

"I'm talking about all of these spirits!" Reimu growled. "You've got so many here now that they're overflowing into our world. You need to keep them in check! I mean, they're just ghastly!"

"I don't know what exactly is going on, but have you all come for the same purpose?" Yuyuko asked, looking from one girl to the next in turn.

The girls nodded, one after another.

"Well, ...but if you want to know about the spirits, you'll have to start by beating me!" she said, withdrawing a fan from her sleeve and raising it as if to begin a dance.

—

Suffice to say, Yuyuko had been bored.

With no further provocation, she immediately launched into a spectacular one-vs-three danmaku battle. From how Sanae described the match, I can't help but think that she must have been holding back quite a bit compared to what we saw her do during the Spring Snow Incident.

At any rate, after a few minutes of watching everyone dodge her danmaku, Yuyuko had closed up her fan, dropping her stance and smiling placidly, saying "Well done. So? What exactly were you talking about? "

"All these spirits swarming around lately, what are they?"

"These are divine spirit children. Fleeting thoughts, born from the prayers of humans. Ghostly as they may be, they're not related to the ghosts here."

"So coming to the Netherworld was a mistake then?" Reimu crossed her arms, looking dissatisfied. "Why didn't you say something sooner then?"

"Did we really need to fight for that...?" Sanae asked, tilting her head. Going by what Sanae told us, I would have asked the same thing.

"Desires? Thought it might be somethin’ like that. Sorry for the bother."

"I’ll give you a hint," Yuyuko said, unfolding the fan in front of her face once again. Above it, her eyes were smiling. "The graveyard behind the temple isn't suspicious."

"A-ha," said Marisa.

"The temple? You mean Myouren Temple?" Sanae asked, still looking confused.

"Hmm," Reimu grunted. "I should have guessed that youkai nun was planning something." Without another word Reimu turned on her heel and headed back toward the entrance to the Netherworld.

"Oh, she's going," Youmu said, looking after her. She snapped back to face Yuyuko. "I'm going too, Lady Yuyuko. I want to find out what's going on."

"Oh? Bring me back a souvenir! Don't bother keeping an eye out for anything dangerous though, I doubt that some troublesome individual is about to make a return."

Youmu paused, not sure what to make of such a comment. "Um, sure. Anyway, I'll be off."

And so, after bidding goodbye to Yuyuko and her cryptic advice, the four of them set off, Youmu joining with the others as they made their way out of the Netherworld. Their next destination was Myouren Temple.

"Hey, what was that Yuyuko was sayin' as we left?" Marisa asked.

"She said not to worry about anything troublesome awakening," Youmu replied. "I don't know what that means but since it was Lady Yuyuko saying it, I'm sure we can trust it."

"Something troublesome awakening?" Sanae asked. "And she pointed us toward a graveyard. Do you think something dead could come back to life?"

"What's there in a graveyard to come back to life?" Reimu asked with a frown from ahead of them.

"Oh, maybe it's the corpses she was talking about!" Sanae said excitedly. "It could be zombies! Maybe the zombie craze is finally over in the Outside World and has come to Gensokyo! This could be a 𝐵𝑖𝑜ℎ𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑 incident! There's a karakasa obake that lives in the graveyard, right? Maybe she's part of Umbrella corporation! This could be the dawn of the Gensokyo of the dead!"

"Zombies?" Marisa asked, "they're those things from third-rate movies, right?"

"Some of those movies are really good!" Sanae retorted. "Have you ever seen any of them? Is there a movie theatre in Gensokyo?"

"There's a bunch of pictures of them in some of the Outside World magazines that Kourin gets in sometimes," Marisa said with a shrug. "They’re monsters that come crawling out of places where lots of people gather, right?"

"They have dangerous monsters like that in the Outside World?" Reimu asked.

"No, no, they're not real. They're made up, like ghosts. They're really popular though, so I don't think they'd show up in Gensokyo."

"Did you say 'ghosts?'" Youmu asked from behind, clutching her phantom half to her chest as she flew. Despite being half-phantom herself, Youmu's never been good with scary stories.

"Actually, now that I think about it, kappa and tengu are also popular in the Outside World, so maybe there are zombies here! I wonder what they'll be like?"

"What kind of youkai is a zombie?" Reimu asked from the front of the group.

"They're rotting, walking corpses. They're usually really gross, with an endless appetite for the living. They're slow moving, but if they bite you, you turn into one of them."

Youmu let out a little shriek.

Ignoring her, Marisa asked "If they bite you, you turn into one of 'em? I thought that was vampires."

"No, they're not really like that either. Vampires have minds of their own, but zombies are mindless. They roam around in big groups and slowly chase anyone they see without ever stopping."

Reimu and Marisa glanced at each other, then at Sanae. "They sound really weak," they both replied in unison.

"Well they're tireless and if you get bitten even once, that’s it, so they're a threat to regular humans."

"It's a good thing none of us are regular humans then," Reimu said with a shrug. "How do they fight them in the Outside World?"

"Umm, guns, mainly?"

"Can you cut them down with a sword?" Youmu asked timidly.

"Well, as long as you can hit them without getting bitten."

"Alright. That's not so scary then." To Youmu, the criteria for determining if something is scary or not seems to be whether you could cut it with a sword.

The four of them continued talking about zombies as they made their way to Myouren Temple. Being as they had all taken a pointless detour to the Netherworld first, I wonder if maybe Reimu's intuition was perhaps not as infallible as I had initially thought.

Night had fully fallen at this point, and the pale illumination emanating from the drifting spirits was the only light as the party descended towards the temple.

"Do you think we should go talk to the head nun?" Sanae asked.

"She's probably the mastermind behind all of this."

"Whaddaya think this youkai temple wants with a bunch of gathered-up spirits?"

"Lady Kanako said they're spirits of desire, so gathering them up is the same as gathering faith. I think."

"I don't like the sound of that. If that's what she's trying then she's definitely the mastermind behind this incident."

"The truth is found in the cutting." Youmu said, drawing the larger of her two blades from its sheath.

The four of them landed and stalked through the temple's yard, three of Gensokyo's resident incident-resolvers and the swordswoman of Hakugyokuro, weapons in hand and grim looks on all of their faces. When Sanae was recounting this story to us afterwards, Renko piped up at this point saying ‘it’s just like a party out of an RPG!’

All at once, a loud yell cut through the silence of the night.

"GOOD MORNING," a voice shouted loudly enough to make all of them flinch. As they looked around in surprise, the shout came again "I SAID GOOD MORNING!"

As the girls cringed away from the noise, a shadowy form began to emerge from the gloom ahead of them. Kasodani Kyouko stepped out from the darkness and into the dim glow provided by a passing spirit. The youkai wasn't really a new face at the temple at this point, but I'm not sure if anyone there had ever met her before. "You always gotta give a proper greeting," she said, smiling brightly.

"Um, er... good morning," Reimu replied, lowering her hands from her ears.

"Louder!" Kyouko replied, sounding like a cheerleader.

"You're way too loud!" Marisa protested.

"Besides, it's night right now." Sanae objected, which sounds like a perfectly reasonable observation to me.

"One of Myouren Temple's precepts is ‘greetings are a mental oasis!’ You have to really belt it out!"

"Okay, you're way too noisy," Reimu said with a sigh, drawing forth a handful of ofuda from within her sleeve. "I'm shutting you up."

Kyouko paused, freezing in place. "You're not here as worshippers? This is a Buddhist temple. The temple has a strict ban on killing!"

"Really? I was only going to slash you a little though, not until you were killed..."

"If you're not going to shout a greeting then I'll find another way to make you scream!" Kyouko declared, brandishing her broom like a weapon.

"Now you've done it. Whaddaya think, Reimu?" Marisa asked. "She looks like she's ready to go."

"She's a youkai." Reimu said decisively. "I’ll exterminate her." The ofuda in her hand snapped to rigidity, glowing faintly.

"I'll handle this," Youmu said, stepping forward and drawing her other sword. "It will give me a chance to make up for my earlier misunderstanding."

"Let’s make it fair and just play rock-paper-scissors to see who fights her," Sanae suggested casually, not quite following the tense atmosphere between the others.

"Alright, fine. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

Had Renko and I been there to witness it I’m sure it would have looked like a scene right out of the pages of one of the Moriya Shrine’s manga.


—15—


"I'M DONE FOR!"

Since Marisa won the game of rock paper scissors, Kyoko had attacked her with a fierce yell and a barrage of danmaku that seemed to reflect and bounce off of empty air and scatter at odd angles. Unfortunately for her, she was instantly blown away by one of Marisa’s lasers, knocking her to the ground. She fell with a dramatic, bellowing scream.

"Oh how this humble yamabiko lacks training," she moaned, much more quietly.

"You're a yamabiko? So all you do is parrot things back?"

"That is all I do, so don't tease me about it." Kyouko sat up and looked pleadingly at Marisa, her large puppy-like eyes watering. According to Sanae, the way her floppy dog ears flapped back and forth was adorable.

"A yamabiko?" Sanae asked. "That's the sort of youkai that yells back at you when you yell 'yahoo!' in the mountains, right? Yamabiko are real in Gensokyo?"

"Of course we're real. Someone on the mountain was spreading a false rumor that yamabiko are really just sound reflections though, so I had to stop being one before I faded away and come here to be a nun instead."

Sanae blinked in surprise. In other words, the culprit behind the rumor endangering the existence of yamabiko in Gensokyo was, just as we had thought, none other than the scientifically-minded mountain dweller who had brought the common sense of the Outside World with her to Gensokyo.

"Um... gee. I wonder who would spread a rumor like that?" Sanae asked, glancing around nervously.

"It pretty much had to be you, right?" Marisa asked, eyeing Sanae suspiciously.

"I-I didn't know yamabiko were real here!"

Kyouko climbed to her feet, surging up off of the ground. "You did this!" she declared, glaring angrily at Sanae. She growled briefly then leapt to her feet, brandishing her broom once more. Sanae waved her wand with a somewhat guilty expression on her face, producing a wave of intense wind that doubled Kyouko over and carried her away, sending her sailing through the air to crash back onto the hard stone floor.

"Sorry," Sanae said, wincing in sympathy as Kyouko slumped down onto the cobblestones.

"Ugh, I need more training," Kyouko moaned. She began chanting the heart sutra quietly as the four girls passed her by and proceeded into the temple, a lone youkai sitting before the temple gates, reciting a sutra she didn't understand to herself.

Reimu looked about as they entered. "There are barely any of those spirits by the main building," she noted. "Let's go check the graveyard like Yuyuko suggested." Just like that she seemed to have lost interest in the Myouren Temple or its occupants.

Youmu nodded in agreement. "The few spirits that are here seem to be headed that way," she said, watching one of the formless spirits drift through the doorway over their heads. And so, almost immediately after fighting their way through the gates of the Myouren Temple, the four girls turned around to leave. As they did, however, they heard the sound of running footsteps approaching and Kumoi Ichirin emerged from the doors of the main hall with Unzan towering behind her.

"Kyouko, what's all the yelling about?" Ichirin asked before noticing the intruders and freezing in place. After a brief moment of shock she ran over to where Kyouko was laying as Unzan floated over her shoulder, glaring suspiciously at the four girls the whole time. "Kyouko! Are you alright?" Ichirin knelt down and looked over the yamabiko for a moment then turned her eyes toward Reimu. "What are all of you doing here in the middle of the night, and what did you do to Kyouko? Especially you, Hakurei. Have you come to try to seal Saint Byakuren away again?"

Reimu answered, meeting Unzan's glare with one of her own. "That depends on if she's the mastermind behind this incident or not."

"What incident?" Ichirin asked, standing up and turning to face Reimu. "Do you mean all these spirits? We have nothing to do with them."

"Is that so? All the spirits seem to be gathering near here. That seems like proof enough to me that your temple or Byakuren is involved. If you try to get in my way at any point, I'll exterminate you."

Reimu said all of that in a disinterested, matter of fact tone. To Ichirin, her words were like pouring kerosene on a bonfire. Ichirin took up a defensive position, looking ready to attack at any moment.

If Renko had been present at the time, I have no doubt she would have tried to interfere and lower the tensions of everybody present, as she had during our rescue of Byakuren from Makai. Being as she wasn't around though, Ichirin and Reimu squared off, and another round of fearsome fighting seemed to be about to begin in the yard before the temple.

That all came to a close as another voice spoke out, however. "I understand your suspicion, but I’m afraid that we’re not the masterminds that you’re looking for this time," it said, in a peaceful, unworried tone.

"Saint Byakuren!" Ichirin exclaimed, turning to face her.

"I heard Miss Kyouko's scream. Is she alright?"

"Oh um, yes, Saint Byakuren, I'm fine," Kyouko said, hopping to her feet and bowing respectfully.

"Ichirin, Unzan, please take Miss Kyouko inside and see to her wounds. I will properly greet our guests."

"Really? Um, alright..." Ichirin seemed hesitant, but took Kyouko by the arm and started heading inside.

"Oh, and Ichirin? Murasa told me that Nue has gone missing again. Can I ask you to go look for her once you’ve finished with Kyouko?"

Ichirin nodded. "Of course, Saint Byakuren," she said, before leading Kyouko inside with Unzan trailing behind her.

Byakuren watched them go for a moment, then turned toward Sanae and the others, absentmindedly brushing a floating spirit away from her face as she did so.

"I'm partly responsible for causing this misunderstanding, so let's leave the matter of Miss Kyouko aside for the time being." Byakuren began. "This mass outbreak of small spirits is not my doing or the doing of any of my disciples, however. In fact, we were working to try and prevent it."

"Prevent it?" Marisa asked, looking suspicious.

"I chose this location for the Myouren Temple not only because of its proximity to that cemetery, but also because I sensed that there is something very powerful sealed just below us."

"Something buried underground? What is it, an Underworld youkai?" Reimu asked, tilting her head to one side.

"It's buried underneath the graveyard?" Youmu asked, hunching up her shoulders. "Like a corpse?"

"It's probably something like that, Miss swordsman," Byakuren said, nodding.

Marisa tilted her head in confusion as well, mirroring Reimu. "A strong corpse? So a ghost then? Like Yuyuko?"

"I told you, it's a zombie!" Sanae declared triumphantly. I think the sort of strength she was thinking of was probably different than what everyone else was picturing though.

"Hearing about a powerful corpse in a place like this, makes me think of a sokushinbutsu," Reimu grumbled.

"That's probably the closest to the truth," Byakuren said with a nod.

"Sokushinwhatsit?" Marisa frowned.

"Suffice to say, it's someone very powerful who may be dead at the moment, but expects to someday be resurrected. I sense a strong holy power in them, and so I built this temple here to keep them sealed away."

"If it's someone full of holy power, wouldn't letting them be resurrected be a good thing?" Youmu asked, joining the others in cocking her head to the side.

"Not for her," Reimu scoffed derisively. "Even though she used to be a human, she's firmly on the side of the youkai now."

"Ah, I get it," Marisa agreed. "This holy person is bound to be an enemy to youkai, right? In that case is there any harm in just lettin’ em wake up?"

"Who knows," Reimu said as she folded her arms. "Can we even trust anything you're telling us?"

"If whoever is sealed down there is a youkai exterminator, they'd be a threat to our business, Miss Reimu!" Sanae exclaimed.

"At any rate, we should find out who they are," Youmu said grimly.

"Can I take that as permission to do some grave-robbin’ then? Maybe they got buried along with a horde of riches! Could be worthwhile to dig 'em out."

"At any rate," Byakuren said, clapping her hands together to command everyone's attention, "we had been intending to keep the seals intact while dispatching Nazrin to investigate the specific nature of this buried power. The sudden appearance of all of these spirits is a sign that whatever is down there is about to awaken, however. In light of that, we felt we needed to move quickly, so earlier today, I actually asked her to hire Miss Usami and Miss Hearn to assist her in her investigations."

"Miss Renko and Miss Merry?" Sanae exclaimed. "That's why they weren't in their office!"

"Why those two?" Marisa asked, scratching her head.

"Because Merry can see borders," Reimu sighed. "Which means they probably dived right into the middle of whatever they found."

"That may be the case," Byakuren said, awkwardly. "They went to explore the graveyard, with Nazrin acting as a bodyguard early this afternoon. We haven't heard from any of them since then though. I'm afraid it's entirely possible that they've been captured by whatever is down there."

An awkward silence passed through the air then as the incident-resolvers looked at each other with worried expressions. It was broken only when Byakuren bowed deeply to them and said "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you be willing to go rescue Miss Usami and the others?"