東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 6: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Six

𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨,
𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪'𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯.


—16—

I was awakened by morning light as it poured through the shoji screens. For a moment, I felt as if we were at our home in the human village, and I was under the illusion that spring had come without us knowing it, but when I got up and looked around, the much larger size of even this one room at Hakugyokurou compared to the whole of our 8-mat shed back in the village became obvious.

On the futon next to me, Renko was sleeping comfortably. I slipped out and went out into the hallway, intending to wash my face, before realizing I hadn't the faintest idea where the washrooms were. I had no idea where anything in this spacious building was, and the plethora of sliding panels allowed rooms to be subdivided, re-arranged or closed off as needed, making it even harder to know. I looked around to see if I could see Youmu or anyone else I could ask, but there was no one around.

Normally, my instinct would have been to stay put and wait for Renko to awaken, but the spring sunshine illuminating everything was a welcome feeling, and I wanted to have a look at my surroundings in its warmth, which I had been missing for some time. I picked a direction at random and began walking, thinking 'no matter how big this place is, I don't think I'll get lost inside of a house.'

Of course, I got lost almost immediately. The corridors and sliding doors all looked the same, and rooms often opened up directly into other rooms with no hallway in between. I passed the occasional phantom in the hallway, but even if I called out to them, they had no means of communicating with me. Giving up on my goal of the washroom for the moment, I figured if I walked far enough in one direction I should eventually come to the veranda, at which point I could walk around back to the entrance and find my way from there. With a plan in mind, I set out.

I walked down a cold wooden corridor for a bit, until I began to hear a voice calling out. Was it Youmu's voice? Making my way towards it, I came to a room with a door that was opened onto the veranda. In the garden beyond the doorway, I saw Youmu practicing with a sword. It appeared she was in the middle of a private morning practice session, moving smoothly through steps and cuts. With a sound like tearing silk, her long blade cut a flashing crescent through the air. Despite the size of the blade, she handled it expertly, and her practice seemed to consist not of typical forms or drills, but a dance around an imagined opponent, cutting from every side and angle then quickly moving to attack again from a different stance. As she practiced, her half-phantom floated above her, as if watching over her.

With a sharp cry, Youmu delivered a huge overhead chop and expertly halted her blade an iota above the ground. In a single fluid movement she then reversed her grip and slid the blade into its sheath with a solid clink. I exhaled and clapped my hands in approval.

Youmu, who seemed not to have noticed my presence, turned around and yelped in surprise. "Oh! Um, uh good morning!"

"Good morning. You're very enthusiastic today, I see."

"No, this is just something I do every day, nothing particularly special. I still have a long way to go to master all of my grandfather's teachings."

"Your grandfather was your instructor then?"

"Yes. Our style is hereditary, and unique to our clan. He once told me 'it takes 30 years to learn to cut rain, 50 years to learn to cut air, and 200 years to learn to cut time. The truth of this way can only be learned in the cutting.'"

It sounded more like a Zen koan than swordsmanship to me.

"I can't learn directly from my grandfather any more, so I'll have to reach his level on my own. Maybe that's what he meant by learning the truth through cutting."

"Where did your grandfather go, Miss Youmu?"

"I don't know. But he must have had his reasons. All I have to do now is fulfill the role he left for me —protect the gardens of Hakugyokurou and Lady Yuyuko. But even with just that... I still have a long way to go."

She looked up as she said this, and wiped the sweat from her brow. Her eyes were clear, as if staring at a distant goal only she could see. In a way, I envied her. She had a clear idea of her purpose in life and the path to take to reach it. Although I was living as a teacher and detective's assistant at the moment, I still thought of myself as a university student on hiatus. If we ever found a way back to our lives in Kyoto, I would have no idea what my future might hold.

"It sounds like Youki was a good teacher."

"He used to be my master, but now he's my ideal, a goal I will always strive towards, even if I never reach it."

In my opinion Youmu should be proud of what she'd already accomplished so far. I'm sure her mastery would only improve over time. As I thought that though, another idea suddenly crossed my mind. What exactly was Youmu, or her grandfather for that matter, actually protecting?

She had said it was Lady Yuyuko, of course, but Yuyuko was already dead, and had been since Youki's time. I didn't expect that there would be many things that would pose the sort of threat to a ghost that required an armed bodyguard. Having a guard to prevent anyone from interfering in her plans was a possibility, but Yuyuko had said it had been quite some time since she had had a live visitor, so I wondered if she could have any nemesis who would present such opposition. Could Youmu just be serving as a gatekeeper, as Meiling had at the Scarlet Devil Mansion?

Much like Meiling, Youmu was in the position of guarding someone who didn't seem to have much need for a guard, but in the case of Hakugyokurou, which was unreachable by any mortals save the great Youkai Sage apparently, having a gate guard seemed extra pointless. Wouldn't the existence of an enemy be necessary for a protector to do their job? Youmu's position seemed to consist of protecting a place that couldn't be assailed from people who never appeared to prevent them from harming someone who had no reason to fear death. Just who exactly could be a threat? Perhaps being the sort of person who had never needed a bodyguard myself, I couldn't understand why Yuyuko might need one. From there, I soon began to wonder if Reimu and the others had found out about this place yet.

"Is there something bothering you?" Youmu asked, noticing my distraction.

"Oh, nothing. Don't mind me"

I shook my head. Neither we nor Alice had mentioned to Yuyuko or Youmu that Reimu and the others were looking for the culprit behind the missing spring. Renko and I had actually discussed whether or not to tell them last night, but Renko had said 'These ladies seem to be well prepared for the idea that someone might come to try and stop them, don't you think? And besides, given the choice I'd rather Reimu and the others succeed in bringing back spring myself. There's no need for us to sabotage their plans,' and I had agreed.

It was at this point in my introspection that I remembered my original purpose in coming out here.

"Miss Youmu, where is the washroom?"

"Oh, let me show you."

"Sorry. It's a big place and easy to get lost in."

"Yes, even the ghosts get lost sometimes."

"Isn't that rather inconvenient?"

"It's not so bad, the garden is much bigger."

That didn't strike me as an answer to the question, but following Youmu we had arrived at the washroom. Before leaving me be, Youmu gave me a brief overview of the structure of Hakugyokurou: the main building was a U shape, with a white sand garden in the central courtyard. One of the sides of the bottom bar of the U connected via a covered walkway to a separate building with guest rooms and related facilities. I had apparently been wandering mostly in and around the area of the walkway connecting the main building to the annex.

Saying "Breakfast should be ready soon, so please return to your guest rooms when you're done", Youmu then left, back down the hallway toward the main building. As I watched her small back retreat down the corridor, I thought to raise my hand and ask another question, but restrained myself. It would be the sort of thing that would be a bit rude to ask when we had only so recently met. When she had disappeared around a far off corner, I sighed out the question that I had swallowed in her presence.

Youmu's grandfather had disappeared, that much we knew. But where were her parents?


—17—


Not long after, I was summoned to the dining hall in the main building, along with Renko and Alice.

There were four of us at the table, with Yuyuko joining us as phantoms brought out beautifully plated dishes one after another. I had thought, perhaps, that Youmu would be joining us for our meal, but she seemed to be too busy serving the dishes brought by the phantoms and attending to other chores to do so. The life of a servant must be tiring.

The meal was ideal for breakfast, neither too lavish nor too simple, with familiar dishes executed to perfection and prepared with quality ingredients. From the rice to the pickles, every bite was a delight. Yuyuko seemed to be quite the gourmand, not only eating with great relish, but accurately noticing subtle touches and passing her compliments on to the phantoms that ferried back and forth from the kitchen. I'm sure any chef would have loved to have such an appreciative connoisseur to cook for.

"So, how is it?" She asked, sparkling with joy.

"It's great!" Renko and I replied at the same time.

Yuyuko giggled and clapped her hands. "Wonderful! As a ghost, just about the only thing I can do for fun every day is eat. What about you, Miss Puppeteer? Does our cooking suit your palette?"

"It was quite delicious." She smiled and nodded. Even Alice couldn't deny the quality of the meal. Good food brings peace to the world, I thought to myself. Just like the wonder of those nine fluffy tails.

I wondered how Ran was doing now. If her master was a frequent guest at Hakugyokurou then waiting here might not be such a bad idea. There would always be a chance, after all, that she might show up, and then I'd be able to fluff those tails again. As I was thinking about this, Yuyuko clapped her fist into an open palm, looking upward as if she had just remembered something.

"Oh! Before I forget, I should tell you that we're planning on hosting a big flower viewing party starting today at noon. Spirits from all over the Netherworld will be in attendance, and we've even invited the Prismriver Ensemble, so it should be a lively event. You three are all invited to attend, of course."

The Prismriver Ensemble were the same performers we had heard at a party held at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and we had seen articles about them in the tengu newspapers. I had read that they sometimes held concerts in the Garden of the Sun outside of the village, but I had never been. Still, if they were coming, it was sure to be a lively party.

I asked "Are you sure? You don't mind us staying that long?"

"It's fiiiine♪. Besides, anytime there's a big party Yukari tends to show up sooner or later, so once the party is over, she can take you home."

"Well, thank you very much then." I didn't bother pointing out that if the Youkai Sage didn't show up we'd have no way of getting home even if Yuyuko asked us to leave.

"It's my pleasure. Now, let's get going, Youmu, we've got a busy day ahead of us." Yuyuko floated up from the table, smiling beatifically as she turned and headed for the door.

"It's not you who has a busy day ahead Lady Yuyuko, it's me and the kitchen staff."

Youmu let out a small sigh. With all the preparations ahead, I considered helping her out. It would be a good way to pass the time until then, and seemed only fair considering the excellent meal we'd enjoyed. On the other hand, if Reimu and the others did make it here today, perhaps it would be best if we weren't out in the open at the party when they arrived. Moreover if the Saigyou Ayakashi were to reach full bloom today, it would definitely be something we'd want to avoid. I glanced at my partner to read her reaction.

Renko merely shook her head and shrugged. We'd have to play it by ear.


—


Last night, Renko and I had stayed up late discussing the ancient text we had taken from the archives and its possible implications.

"If the 'Fujimi's daughter' in the record really refers to Yuyuko, then she's trying to revive herself?"

"Maybe, but she may not know that," Renko had reasoned. "She said she doesn't remember anything from when she was alive, so if we believe her then she may not be aware. Although it could just as easily be a lie. Whether or not she was lying, I think there's a bigger issue here though. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the text is ambiguous, so it's hard to be sure, but I think she may have been misinterpreting the message here." Renko indicated a passage with her finger. "Saigyouji seems to think that the reason the Saigyou Ayakashi hasn't bloomed is because someone's corpse is sealed inside it, and forcing it to bloom will break the seal and resurrect them, but if you look at what the text actually says, it's different."

I leaned past her shoulder to once again pore over the characters.

𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘶, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯...


"If the tree were the seal on the corpse, then it should be 'She has been sealed by the flowers of The Saigyou Ayakashi' or '...let her be sealed by the flowers' or something like that. But the way it's written I think it's actually the other way around."

"You mean the tree isn't sealing the corpse in, the corpse is sealing the tree?"

"That's how I read it. It's completely the opposite of Saigyouji's interpretation though. I wonder if there's a corpse buried inside of that tree at all. The passage mentions that the soul of Fujimi's daughter is sealed, but it doesn't say anything about her body. If you read it literally, it suggests that all of Hakugyoukurou was sealed away along with the tree in order to appease the soul of Fujimi's daughter and prevent her from ever being reincarnated."

"I see…" I looked at the ancient writing over Renko's shoulder. If you read the passage at face value, her conclusion seemed inevitable. "But Yuyuko seems pretty certain there's a corpse in there or she wouldn't be going to all of this trouble. Maybe she can sense it or something, especially if it's her corpse.

"So then it's probably safe to assume there's a corpse there, and it's most likely one that once belonged to Saigyouji."

"She must not know that though. So then is she going to resurrect herself without realizing it?"

"I wonder about that. According to this, if she breaks the seal on the Saigyou Ayakashi, then that corpse would be released along with the seal on Hakugyokurou itself. The corpse wouldn't come back to life though, as it was never what was sealed. Instead there would no longer be anything preventing the daughter of Fujimi from being reincarnated."

I couldn't help but gasp in alarm. "That means..."

"That once the seal is broken, Fujimi's daughter would be free to reincarnate, meaning that she would no longer be suitable to be the Netherworld's Administrator. In the view of the Netherworld, what Saigyouji is doing amounts to a slow suicide."

It was odd to think of the concept of a ghost dying by suicide. If Renko was right, however, and Yuyuko really was blindly heading down the path of self-destruction without realizing it, we had a moral obligation to stop her.

"Well, let's tell her then. Tell her everything you just said, before it's too late."

Renko was resting her chin on her fist, with a concerned expression on her face.

"...Renko?"

"It doesn't add up though. If I'm right, then Saigyouji is doing something that has to be stopped. In addition to all the harm she's doing to Gensokyo, the result of her actions would be self-annihilation. Since she seems to be proceeding from ignorance rather than a suicidal desire or an intention to attain Buddhahood, I can't imagine that anyone would want to let her go through with it."

"Right," I agreed, wondering what Renko was getting at. "Which is why we need to go warn her..."

"So then why is the Youkai Sage letting her do this?"

My eyes widened at the unexpectedness of the question.

Renko continued: "The Youkai Sage told Saigyouji about us before she sent us here though. In other words, despite what Ran told us, she's awake and active. That means she should also be aware of what's about to happen. Furthermore, If the sage knew Saigyouji all the way back from when she was still alive, then it's possible that she may have been the one to seal Hakugyokurou away in the first place. But if that's true, then it's even more reason for her to try to stop this, but she's instead letting Saigyouji proceed unchecked! Why!?"

Renko groaned and scratched at her head.

"Well maybe some part of your premise is wrong?" I ventured.

"How so? Do you think that even if the seal is broken, Saigyouji wouldn't disappear? Or...."

"Maybe gathering up spring alone will never be enough to break the seal. If the sage is the one who created the boundary sealing the tree, then she'd know better than anyone how it would work. If she's letting this plan proceed, she must be certain that it has no chance of succeeding."

"Maybe.... Or she could be hoping that Reimu and her team manage to get here before it's too late and ruin things. Either way, we should assume that she's watching this situation with something in mind."

"So what should we do then?"

"Just keep quiet for now, I think. We could find a way to poke Saigyouji and see how the sage reacts maybe... Gah, I'll have to think about it." She lay her head down on the futon and closed her eyes. By now it was already quite late but other questions were still percolating in my mind.

"That famous poet who wished to die beneath the cherry tree, that was Saigyou Houshi, right?"

"Gotta be, right? The tree is called the Saigyou Ayakashi, after all, and Yuyuko's surname is Saigyouji. There's even a bunch of famous paintings with the title '𝘍𝘶𝘫𝘪𝘮𝘪 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶'. If he was known by that moniker, 'Fujimi's daughter' would pretty much have to be referring to his daughter."

"Did Saigyou even have a daughter though? He was a monk, I thought, though I heard he got kicked out of the monastery before he was ordained..."

"That story is from a passage from '𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪,' a historical fiction written after his death. It probably never happened, but it became so popular that people are more familiar with its retelling of Saigyou's life than the actual facts. Either way though, before he became known as Saigyou, he was a samurai named Satou Norikiyo and was known to have had a wife and children. He might have had a daughter then, or in this world, where foxes are believed to like fried tofu and so they do, the Monogatari version might even be the correct one."

"So Yuyuko really is the daughter of Saigyou Houshi?"

"Well, I wonder about it, but I have other questions too."

"Like what?"

"Like whether we can even trust that ancient record. We don't know who wrote it, or when they wrote it, or why. We can't assume it's accurate just because it's old. There's even lots of ways to fake that, and we don't have the means to detect a forgery here. It'd be great if Miss Keine were here."

"That's a good point." Now that I thought about it, we really didn't have any particular reason to assume this record was genuine. If we could read some of the surrounding passages then we could try to find something we could corroborate, but it took us all night just to get through half a page. We don't have time to try to translate more.

"I'm not a historian like Miss Keine, so I'm sure I would miss details, but even with my limited knowledge, there are things that don't make sense. The fact that it refers to 'Fujimi's daughter' is curious. If this was written that long ago, would he have been called 'Fujimi' by then? I don't know when 'Fujimi' became a synonym for Saigyou exactly, but it seems doubtful, don't you think?"

"So you're suggesting this record is forgery?"

"I don't know if it is or not, but the whole situation it presents seems a little unlikely."

"How so?"

"Well, let's say the Saigyou Ayakashi was originally a cherry tree at the temple where Saigyou died. The famous poet dies beneath the flowers, and more and more people come to follow in his footsteps. The stain of their deaths seeps into the tree and it becomes a youkai. Then, when it reaches full bloom, Saigyou's daughter dies in the same way and her corpse is used to seal the youkai away. Maybe you can even say it's a tragic, melodramatic tale and Saigyou's daughter gives her own life to seal the youkai created through her father's death. This daughter then becomes Saigyouji Yuyuko, and loses all memories of her life. And now the same person who's sealing the tree is trying to unseal it. Isn't that a little too convenient? Plus, who exactly named the tree 'Saigyou Ayakashi'? Who gave Yuyuko the surname Saigyouji? It's as if someone wanted to create a connection between Saigyou, the tree and Saigyouji Yuyuko. I suppose there's nothing that's happened that couldn't just be explained by coincidence, but that would be a lot of very tidy coincidences, don't you think?. It's exactly the right situation to create someone who's free to take up the position that Saigyouji has without ever having to worry about being reincarnated out of a job."

Renko grumbled, running her fingers through her hair as she pondered.

"It's all too neat! Unnaturally so. Cause and effect follow too obviously. Saigyou leads to the youkai cherry tree, which leads to Saigyouji Yuyuko, which leads to the attempted unsealing. Everything is neatly explained except for the question of why Saigyouji would have lost her memories. She's bound to never be able to leave this place behind and reincarnate, but she's also lost any memories that would make that situation sad or painful for her… But that would make sense if… No, it couldn't be, they'd have to know… But wait…

It all sounded like a very believable story to me, but Renko remained frustrated and unconvinced, groaning and ruffling her hair as she rolled about in the futon.

"Gah! It all works out perfectly, but it's just too perfect! I know there's something here!"

"Well maybe get some rest, Renko. It's awfully late and not the best time to be coming up with new theories. You'll be able to straighten out all the questions once you're refreshed."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she grumbled as she sat up to snuff the lantern. With its dim light extinguished, the broad expanse of the room seemed smaller and her silhouette seemed closer. She flopped back down onto her futon and pulled the covers over her head. A muffled "Good night, Merry," rose from the lump.

"Good night, Renko."

—And that was our night.


—


As we were finishing breakfast, Youmu departed to begin preparations for the party. Alice got up as well, to wander off somewhere on her own. As she left I whispered to Renko the questions I had come up with after seeing Youmu practicing this morning.

"...Youmu's parents?" Renko whispered to me, as I finished explaining my thoughts.

"Exactly. If Youki was her grandfather, then there must have been another generation between the two, right?"

Renko groaned and scratched her head again, mumbling. "More to add to the pile." Then she turned to face Yuyuko.

"Lady Saigyouji, do you happen to have any free time today?"

"Of course, I'm free all year round."

"Then would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

Yuyuko's eyes narrowed but her smile remained perfectly fixed. "Oh, what about, I wonder?"

"About Miss Youmu's grandfather, the previous groundskeeper here. Konpaku Youki."



—18—



"Youki?" Yuyuko's eyes widened in surprise at the mention of the name. "What about him?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you could tell us more about him. What kind of person was he?"

"Hmm, how should I describe him?" Yuyuko tapped her chin as she tilted her head to the side.

"Yesterday you mentioned that he was a very strict person, for example..."

"Yes, that about sums it up. There's not much more to say about Youki." She nodded to herself, as if realizing it for the first time. "He was always taciturn, wary and unapproachable. All he ever did was patrol the garden, meditate quietly on the porch or train, usually by himself but sometimes with Youmu. He rarely spoke and any time I tried to do anything fun or get him to laugh or react at all, he'd see right through me at once, so I could never tease him."

"I heard he worked as a groundskeeper here for 300 years. When did he leave, exactly?"

"Hmm, when was it I wonder? I don't really know. For me a year doesn't feel much different than a century, you know?"

"Well I heard that he once saw the full bloom of the Saigyou Ayakashi 1,000 years ago. I guess half-phantom people live a long time."

"That's right. I'm a full ghost and even I wasn't around that long. I wonder how they made it bloom back then?"

Yuyuko rose from the table and turned to open the sliding screen leading to the courtyard. Outside fluttering cherry blossoms tumbled down, decorating the white sands, one after another. She stood with her back to us, silently watching.

"Lady Saigyouji." Renko asked, her tone suddenly serious.

"Hmm?"

"Why exactly did Youki work for you?"

Without turning to face us, she tilted her head as if confused by the question. "He was my servant, wasn't he?"

"Sure," said Renko. She dropped the question without pressing further, though I don't know how she could have been satisfied with that non-answer. "Well, I think that's enough questions. Is there anything we can do to help out with the banquet preparations?"

Yuyuko took a folding fan from her sleeve and opened it, holding it in front of her mouth.

"Oh I couldn't let a guest do that!" She giggled.

Renko laughed back, hollowly. "Ha, of course not. Well in that case, I'd like to do a little writing. Could I trouble you for a brush and paper?"

—

"So what've you got?"

"All of it, I think. But I'm not sure."

After receiving paper, a brush, inkstones and a stick of ink we had hurried back to our room. Renko stood, her chin resting on her hand while I knelt at a writing desk, ready to take notes.

"Everything we discussed last night has been sticking with me," she began. "The relationships between the poet Saigyou, Saigyouji Yuyuko and the youkai cherry tree are all clear, and the details are easy to infer based on what we found in that ancient record. But everything else -- Everything! From the function of this place to the people in it and their histories is vague and uncertain. The easy-to-understand story of the mistress of Hakugyokurou and the Saigyou Ayakashi is like a prepared storyline hung on top of this place to distract from how nothing in the background makes sense."

"But why? What does any of it mean?"

"It's like you said last night Merry, I had to get my questions straight."

These are the questions she had me write down.

𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐣𝐢 𝐘𝐮𝐲𝐮𝐤𝐨:
• Is she really Saigyou's daughter? If so, is she the daughter Saigyou was said to have fathered before becoming a monk in the 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪?
• How did she die, and did it occur the last time the Saigyou Ayakashi was in full bloom?
• Why has she been passed over for reincarnation and lived for centuries as a ghost in Hakugyokurou?
• Has she really lost all her memories of being alive? If so, why?
• Why did she not recognize 'Fujimi's daughter' in the ancient record as being herself?
• Who gave her the name Saigyouji Yuyuko? Was it the same name she had while alive?

𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢:
• Was it really once a cherry tree from Hirokawa temple? Specifically, the one the poet Saigyou died beneath?
• How did it come to be known as 'Saigyou Ayakashi?'
• How did it come to be sealed, and why did it require Yuyuko's corpse to be interred within it?
𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐚𝐤𝐮 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐤𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐦𝐮:
• What was Youki's relationship with Yuyuko before her death, and why did he become her servant?
• Why did Youki disappear, and where did he go?
• We know he was here to see the Saigyou Ayakashi bloom about 1,000 years ago, and that he had been a groundskeeper for about 300 years, but what was he doing for the hundreds of years between?
• What happened to Youmu's parents?
• Is 'Konpaku Youki,' a name using the kanji for 'soul', 'spirit', 'mourning' and 'supernatural' his real name, or was it created with some intention?

𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬:
•Saigyou died near the end of the 12th century, which would be about 800 years ago. But we heard the Saigyou Ayakashi was last in full bloom 1000 years ago. What accounts for that discrepancy?
• Who created that ancient record, and for what purpose?
• Is the 'Fujimi' referred to in that text really the poet Saigyou?

𝐌𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞:
• How was the Youkai Sage involved with Yuyuko, both before and after her death?
• Why has the Youkai Sage not tried to stop Yuyuko's plan?
• Why did the Youkai Sage send the three of us to Hakugyokurou?


"I think that's everything."

Just like in the Scarlet Devil Mansion it was a baffling list, with too many complex moving parts to guess at the whole of.

"This time it's hard to know what's true and what's not. I don't think everyone's in on one big lie like before. Some people might even be lying to us without knowing it. If we could just talk to Youki or the Youkai Sage we could probably get the answers without having to puzzle everything out."

"So this time it's more of a hard-boiled detective story than a classic manor-style whodunnit. Does that mean we're going to go looking for Youki? Finding missing persons is classic hard-boiled stuff."

"Well that'd be great if we had any leads to run down. I'd like to ask Youmu more about him, see if she knows when he left, for example, but she seems pretty busy today." Renko crossed her arms and let out a sigh. "Maybe the mystery of Hakugyokurou is the same as the one at the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

"How do you mean?"

"Well it seems like there's a secret here that everyone wants to hide. Someone's memories got changed, or lost in this case, and then a convenient explanation as to why everything is the way it is pops up and ties everything together ever-so-neatly. But whether we are asking about Saigyouji's memory loss or Youki's disappearance, whoever set up the cover story was only concerned with surface appearances, so when you start to look at the details, none of it makes sense. There's some kind of big secret connecting the Saigyou Ayakashi and Saigyouji, and I suspect that Youki's disappearance is wrapped up in it too."

Silence fell while Renko descended into contemplation.

I, however, had a different concern. I looked up at Renko where she was pacing and asked "...Hey Renko, do we have any right to be trying to solve this mystery?"

"Hm? What do you mean?."

"What if the truth has been concealed here because it was too painful for those involved to bear? Do we have any right to expose something like that? The story in that ancient record may not be true, but if it was created for Yuyuko's benefit, who are we to pry into it?"

Renko scratched her head and let out a sigh. "You may be right. You're thinking that it's not really our business and people might be happier if we weren't poking around, right?. If that was the whole story though, why would the Youkai Sage have brought us here? If things continue on the course that has been set, Reimu will probably find a way to solve the Incident, Akyuu will record another tale of her heroism, and the story will become an official part of the 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘬𝘺𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦. But the Youkai Sage went to the trouble of sending us here. Why?"

I had no answer.

"There's got to be something she expects us to do here. I don't know if she intended for us to discover Saigyouji's past, or the story behind the Saigyou Ayakashi, or find Youki or what, but if I were to let any of those mysteries go, I wouldn't be the sort of person who runs a detective agency or an occult circle would I?"

"Well I guess your mind's made up then."

"That's right. And in order to make it up all the way and get some proper answers, we'll need more information." She extended an arm down to help me up off the floor.

As I stood up, she grinned her usual troublesome smile and gave my hand a squeeze.

"Come on, Merry. Let's go help Youmu set up."

—

As we wandered down the long halls, we began to notice more and more silent phantoms fluttering past. Reasoning that wherever they were gathering was likely to be the same place that preparations were underway, we followed the long line of chilly, amorphous blobs.

The line led us to a room that appeared to be an enormous, but old fashioned kitchen. The room was filled with busy phantoms, but there was no sign of Youmu. I wondered how the indistinct, armless, legless phantoms would go about preparing meals.

"Is Miss Youmu here?" Renko called out.

One of the phantoms appeared to understand her request as it bent its body (if you can even call it that), contorting the thin end of its… I suppose you would call it a tail? to point toward a door on the opposite side of the kitchen like a finger. Following its lead, Renko stepped through the door calling out for Youmu as she did so.

It was Yuyuko who emerged from the doorway a moment later, however.

"Oh dear, did you two need something of Youmu? I'm afraid she's gone to let the Prismriver Ensemble in, but if you need a snack I can have the kitchen staff whip something up for you."

"Oh no, it's nothing," Renko said, but as soon as we were out of Yuyuko's sight her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Saigyouji's got her guard up now. I bet she won't let us look around and talk to Youmu whenever we please anymore."

"What should we do then?"

"We still have a few options. We could have a look around the garden or try to decipher more of that ancient document, I suppose…"

Killing time can be hard. My partner decided the best option was simply to take a walk in order to get her thoughts together, and so she did. As she stepped out, I wondered if Reimu and the others would arrive soon. I didn't know it at the time, but at that very moment, Youmu was confronting Reimu and her allies on the seemingly endless stairway leading up to Hakugyokurou from the gates of the Netherworld. The end of the Spring Snow Incident was right around the corner.