東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

Six

𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘸;
𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘺
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳.


—17—


As we emerged from the hidden doorway with Patchouli, Sakuya was standing at the ready, waiting for us.

"Sakuya, I'll leave our guests to you. I'm going back to the library."

"As you wish."

She watched Patchouli glide off through the air silently, but as soon as the magician had left, she turned on us with a stern expression. Her eyes were utterly cold, but as she spoke her tone betrayed nothing, remaining coolly formal as she scolded us like tardy schoolchildren. "Miss Hearn, Miss Usami, you must not venture out without permission. Many things in this mansion could be dangerous."

Before Renko could say something to get us into even more trouble, I promptly apologized, bowing my head before Sakuya. I was relieved to see that Renko at least nodded her head too, though her face looked like she was pondering something.

"I didn't expect you to go looking for milady's younger sister," she continued, "though I am glad to see you both survived."

"Why is that girl locked up in the basement?" Renko asked, without a hint of shame or propriety.

"Renko!" I tugged at her sleeve. Even though we were already in trouble, leave it to Renko to stir up more.

"The young miss is easily agitated, I'm afraid. The isolation is for her own benefit, as too much excitement can make her... unstable. Now, if you would please follow me?" She turned and began to walk away.

I tilted my head and thought back to the time I had spent with Flandre. She hadn't seemed 'unstable' to me. A bit lonely, and certainly childish for a creature as old as she claimed to be, but other than her unnatural pallor, the bizarre prosthetic wings and her ability to destroy things without touching them, she might have passed for a normal child. Perhaps, to a vampire, it was the features that made her so like a regular young girl that would seem out of place, but would that really warrant locking her away in a cell?

"You two should count yourself lucky that you're safe. She may look innocent, but had you encountered the young miss while she was in a bad mood, I'd be scrubbing the both of you out of the carpet by now," she opined, sounding completely unbothered by the prospect.

I wondered if Sakuya enjoyed unnerving us with graphic statements like that. I felt sick at the idea of becoming a human carpet stain, but my partner was obviously unperturbed, conversing as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"We can't be the only lucky ones though, Miss Meiling regularly cares for Miss Flandre, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she does. I'll have to tell her to be more careful about being followed next time."

"But why Miss Meiling and not you, Miss Sakuya? You're in charge of the day-to-day needs of the mansion and its residents, aren't you? Why is Miss Meiling trusted with the mistress' younger sister?"

"Meiling is the young miss's favorite is all," Sakuya answered dismissively.

"Ah, is that it? I had thought it was because you were human."

Sakuya stopped her brisk march and turned to Renko, raising an eyebrow

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just what I say. Youkai are tough creatures compared to humans, aren't they? Vampires are immortal monsters. If Miss Meiling were to offend the young miss, she'd be roughed up a little, I'm sure. But if you were to do the same, well, you'd end up a stain on the carpet too, wouldn't you?"

"Perhaps I would. It would be a shame if I were to die in such a manner. There would be no one to scrub me out," she pondered that for a moment, looking a little bothered by the prospect, but then resumed walking, her movements betraying no hint of alarm.

I tugged at Renko's sleeve again. "Renko, come on, don't antagonize her!"

"What do you mean, Merry? I'm just asking questions. It would be unbecoming for the Hifuu Club to hold back scientific inquiry for reasons of mere propriety."

"Read the room, Renko! Now is not the time. What if she decides it would be easier to just make you into a pie?"

Renko considered for a moment, as if the thought had never occurred to her before. "I suppose in that case, I would run away as fast as I can."

"Do you really think you could outrun a vampire? Or a magician? Or someone who can stop time?"

"That's not the point, Merry." Renko leaned in and whispered almost inaudibly into my ear. "I suspect there's something more here. I think if Flandre could, she'd probably kill Sakuya the first chance she got. I'm betting Sakuya has something to do with the reason for Flandre being locked up."

As usual, I can't imagine where Renko would get such an idea. What sort of relationship could there possibly be between someone who, if she was human, wouldn't have been much older than Renko or I and a girl that had been locked in a basement for almost 500 years? Regardless of the facts, Renko was clearly dead set on her idea, as she had already dived back into her conversation with Sakuya to continue her questioning.

"By the way..." she began.

Even Sakuya, whose mannerisms and polish were beyond professional to a nearly superhuman level of refinement had let a tinge of annoyance into her voice as she replied. "Yes?"

"I heard from Miss Patchouli that a shrine maiden was coming to attack us. Is she a vampire hunter?"

"...No, not a vampire hunter exactly, but if we're about to have more guests, I should get ready to clean up right away."

"You mean cleaning up any threats that get close to your mistress?"

"Hopefully not. If we're lucky, perhaps the gatekeeper will stop her before she gets here. Though I suspect not."

"You and Miss Patchouli both.Miss Meiling has a pretty poor reputation among the residents of this mansion, doesn't she?"

Sakuya suddenly stopped again and clapped her hands together in delight. She smiled that same cold smile we had seen before and turned to face us. "I have a wonderful idea. How would the two of you like to have tea with the mistress?"

"What?" We both replied at once.

"Milady had said that she wanted to see the red sun rising in her mist come morning, so she'll be out on her terrace. I'll take you both there. Depending on the situation, perhaps you'll be able to see something beautiful."

"Something beautiful?"

"Ah, I wouldn't want to spoil it. You'll see soon enough. Come along, won't you?"


—17—


We were led once again to the hall where Remilia's throne stood, but this time we were taken past it, to the back of the vestibule, where the chamber opened up onto a covered terrace that extended beyond the walls of the house to overlook the garden. Tables and chairs had been arranged here, set between the fluted pillars of the mansion's façade. Remilia sat in one of the chairs, looking out over the garden, and poking her cheek in boredom. Observed candidly, before our arrival was announced, her bearing was nothing like that of the haughty, imperious noble we had seen before. Instead, she was slouched lazily, with her back to us and her wings twitching with anticipation.

"My lady, I've brought guests for tea."

"Ah, you two again. Are you finding my mansion to your liking?"

"We're very grateful for the hospitality you've shown us, thank you very much. We've felt very much at home."

"Hmm, I'd say so. At home enough to sneak into my younger sister's bedroom, even."

It seems Sakuya had already had time to report our exploration to her mistress. I cowered under her gaze, but Renko laughed unconcernedly.

"We were simply enjoying our time here so much we wanted to share the comfort you've extended to us with your sister. And where better to get comfortable with her than her bedroom?"

"Renko! Phrasing!" I prodded her ribs with my elbow, and Remilia shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head, perhaps in amazement at Renko's audacity.

"I would advise you not to get too comfortable with her, human. She can be... unpredictable."

Patchouli, Sakuya and Remilia had all alluded to the same thing—that Flandre was locked in the basement because she was dangerously unstable. Could that really be the case for such a small girl, vampire or not? Surely, however rambunctious she might be, it wouldn't be beyond what the other residents of the mansion could deal with. Having only read to her for a few hours, I couldn't claim to know Flandre as well as anyone here, but to hear the same from all three of them made it seem like they were making excuses to enforce a status quo. I wondered which had really come first, Flandre's imprisonment, or her supposed instability? It seemed to me it could have gone either way.

Unlike Renko, however, I had the good sense to keep my tongue in check. So when Sakuya invited us to take a seat at the table, I did so without a word, simply watching as Sakuya carefully poured us each a steaming cup of fragrant tea.

"By the way, Lady Remilia," Renko began as she took up her cup, " Sakuya mentioned that we might see some beautiful things here today."

"Beautiful things? Oh, she meant Meiling's."

With a derisive sniff, the vampire turned her gaze to the front yard. The mist was more spread out than it had been earlier in the evening, meaning we could see to the iron gates at the far end of the garden from here and standing before them, the figure of Meiling. "Sakuya? The new guests will be arriving soon. I'm trusting the cleanup to you."

"As you wish, milady."

"If they seem interesting though, no need to stand on ceremony, just bring them straight to me."

"As you wish. I'm going to go help Lady Patchouli tidy up now, so please excuse me." Having said that, Sakuya promptly vanished. I suppose she must have just stopped time then walked away, but it was still startling to see. Remilia daintily took her teacup from the table and brought it to her lips. Following her lead, I did the same.

"By the way, blondie..." The teacup had been a mistake. Startled by the sudden attention, I nearly dropped it. Remilia had turned her red eyes on me, and was staring appraisingly. Her hair color and the shape of her wings were completely different from her sister's, but those hungry, ruby-colored eyes were almost identical. I swallowed as delicately as I could and tried to form a response.

"What? who, me?"

"You're the only blonde here. I hear you can break seals?"

"Oh no, not break them. I just can see them.... and where the gaps in them are."

"Interesting. The ability to see boundaries." She looked me over with a piercing gaze that struck me as more mercenary than appreciative. I flinched away from her in my seat, willing myself to appear smaller.

"Oh relax." she said. "If you keep cringing away from my every movement I'll be tempted to eat you."

I couldn't help but let out something between a groan and a whimper at the thought.

Remilia smirked and raised herself up in her chair, standing as tall as her little legs would allow and raised her hands in a threatening pose, as if to pantomime gobbling me up in a single bite. With her mouth open, the sharp points of her fangs were all-too-visible, but her pose and movements were so juvenile that suddenly she looked more like a child than a vampire that had lived for hundreds of years. I let out a cautious chuckle and Remilia settled back in her seat and gave a small snort of satisfaction.

"I'd never finish though. I'm a light eater, and sucking blood from live humans always leaves so much left over that I ruin my clothes. That's how I got the title of 'Scarlet Devil', you know." The look she gave us as she said this seemed to indicate she wasn't the least bit displeased with the moniker.

"Do the people whose blood you drink still die though? Or do they become vampires?"

"Hmmm, it's been a while since I tried. Would you like to test it and find out?"

"Ugh, no thank you." I shuddered and winced back as the young lady laughed, the twin points of her fangs gleaming.

"How many people's blood have you sucked, Miss Remilia?" Renko interjected.

Remilia turned and replied with another derisive snort. "What a boring question. Do you remember how many pieces of bread you've eaten?"

"Hmmm, I've been eating two slices of toast a day for more than a decade, so roughly 10,000 pieces. I prefer artificial strawberry jam over artificial butter or margarine though, personally."

"I didn't ask you that much, human. Although I do like strawberry jam. Sakuya!"

"Yes, milady?"

Sakuya appeared instantly on the spot. Her ability to appear the instant she was called couldn't be explained simply through time manipulation. I wondered if she had amazing hearing or had somehow bugged the entire mansion.

"Bring me some toast and strawberry jam."

"At once, milady." The next moment, a silver tray appeared in her hand stacked with six slices of golden-brown toast and a jar of sparkling red jam. Two pieces of toast and a delicate china plate were presented to each of us. Come to think of it, it had been several hours since we had eaten our dinner in the arbor. it must be long past midnight by now. The reminder of the time made me suddenly hungry. I wondered if the reason I didn't feel sleepy was just because of the constant tension.

"We likely have some time before my next guests arrive. I'm in a good mood at the moment, so I might even be willing to answer some rude questions," Remilia said, while biting into a piece of toast.

I turned to Renko and had to suppress a groan when I saw just how eagerly she was grinning after hearing that. Without missing a beat, she seized on the invitation.

"I understand that your younger sister has been living in the basement for roughly 495 years, but with all due respect, how old is the young lady?"

"I'll just say that this place has been under my control for almost five hundred years. Anything before that is off limits."

The answer was not particularly illuminating, but Renko was unbothered, moving without pause onto another line of questioning. To find out that this house had stood for five hundred years was not terribly surprising, but it must have been remarkably well kept, as everything we had seen in the mansion looked old-fashioned but in perfect repair.

"I understand you and Miss Patchouli have been friends for a long time, is that right?"

"I wonder just how long ago it was? I gave her a place in my basement to use as a library more than a century ago. She's one of the few people I've accepted, and that makes her almost like family."

"I see. And what about you, Miss Sakuya?"

Sakuya smiled demurely and said nothing, but Remilia answered in her place with a boastful grin. "Sakuya came here to try and kill me with a silver knife."

"You mean to tell me you turned a vampire hunter into your maid?"

"Well something like that. The vampire hunter is no more, I gave her a new name that night, one of my own choosing."

Time manipulation seemed like an unbeatable trump card to me. Although we had only seen Sakuya put it to use for domestic tasks, I recalled the way she had sliced and peeled the apple out of the air in the blink of an eye. If Remilia had conquered Sakuya so completely as to have made a servant of her, what frightful power might she have, I wondered?

"It's very poetic. It conjures up visions of flowers blooming silently beneath a full moon to me. Quite fitting for a vampire's servant."

"I could give you a new name too, if you became my servant." Remilia smiled. It seems she had taken a liking to Renko.

"Oooh I bet living under your command would be lots of fun wouldn't it?"

"You have no intention of taking me up on the offer, human."

"Well no, of course not. Could you tell?"

"I'll forgive your inhuman levels of arrogance because I find them amusing."

It was the sort of disturbing exchange that I suppose only I could be party to. Who else would be in a position to hear a human so reckless as to brazenly insult an immortal vampire?

"Oh, what's up with Miss Meiling?" Renko asked, suddenly alert.

"The gatekeeper? She's only a gatekeeper because she has nothing to offer but physical brawn." Said Remilia casually. I really couldn't help but feel sorry for Meiling, even the little devil in the library seemed to be treated better.

"No, I mean what's she doing?"

Remilia turned her gaze toward the gate and narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I see they've arrived! Earlier than expected, even. How long do you think the gatekeeper will last?"

I rose from my seat and went to the railing of the balcony. Peering out into the moonlit crimson haze, I could just make out Meiling standing in a fighting stance, braced up against the gate, surrounded by a dense wall of fog. And then, out from the mist shot one— No, two indistinct shadows, moving quickly toward the mansion.

Both of them were young girls.

One was a black-haired girl dressed in the stark red and white of a shrine maiden's robes, but her costume was cut more strangely than any I had ever seen, with decorative frills and ribbons tied here and there and two voluminous sleeves cinched around her arms and worn as their own garments separate from her robes. She was carrying charms and a ritual implement that I had seen priests wave around before in her hands—a 'gohei,' I think it was called. With only those tools in hand she was hurtling through the air like a bullet, propelled by some unseen force and seemingly under her own control.

The other shape was a witch, straight out of some children's story book. Dressed all in black except for a white apron over her dress, she wore a pointy black hat over a shock of golden-blond hair braided to one side. She too was flying, astride a broom that soared and streaked through the sky like a rocket. It seems these two were the visitors Sakuya and Patchouli had mentioned.

"Whoa, what are they doing?"

When Renko asked that, Remilia rose and came to the railing as well, with a cruel smile on her face. "They're playing danmaku."



Hakurei Reimu and Kirisame Marisa. I couldn't have known how important the names of those two who had just appeared before me would become, but although it would be a while before I first heard those names, I was certain never to forget them.


—19—


The two girls danced in the mist, seemingly ignoring the bonds of gravity entirely. They surged out of the rolling fog and headed straight for the mansion. Seeing them coming, Meiling kicked hard off of the ground and sailed into the air, taking up her stance again in the air, standing just as solidly as if she had been on the ground.
At the same moment several of the mansion's fairy maids rose up in formation from the garden and moved to support her. Moving as one, the gatekeeper and the maids charged toward the red and white shrine maiden, who stopped abruptly in midair and kicked off of nothing, reversing her direction in an instant. Meiling stopped in midair as well, but swung her arm forward, signaling the fairies to advance. They surged forward like perfect little infantrymen, following the priestess' movements.

In the next instant, they had all been shot down, spiraling to earth in a smoldering cloud and disappearing into the fog. The shrine maiden had thrown charms from her hand, each whirling and dancing like a boomerang. Each of the charms had raced through the air on a trail of light and unerringly found a target on one of the maids. Before the streaking afterimages of the charms' trail could even fade from my eyes, the priestess had changed direction again, zigzagging through the sky and arcing straight for Meiling, raising her gohei as if to strike with it. Meiling reacted as if expecting this, wheeling her arms through a fluid and practiced tai chi-like form and forming between her two cupped palms a brilliant orb of scintillating rainbow light. Sakuya had told us we might see something beautiful, was this no-holds-barred airborne streetfight what she had had in mind?

The shrine maiden reacted with blinding speed, adjusting her trajectory and arc so that she sailed above and behind Meiling just as she released the ball of light from her hands, hurling it out like a spear just an instant too late so that it grazed harmlessly past the priestess' feet. By the time Meiling could hop and turn to follow the streaking corkscrew the shrine maiden was cutting through the fog, she had already hurled several more ofuda, each one cutting a different laser-bright arcing path through the roiling mist to converge on the gate guard at the same instant. I couldn't imagine keeping track of the path of even one of the numerous projectiles while also moving and watching the movements of an opponent, but Meiling evidently was able to track them all, as the moment all of the projectiles closed in on her at once, she delivered an arcing sweep kick that smacked each one out of the sky.

While all of this was happening, the witch who had emerged from the cloudbank with the shrine maiden had taken up a position above and to the side of the fray, passively lounging side-saddle on her broom to watch the battle. Every now and then she would shout something at the priestess, or respond to a comment shouted at her, but with the intervening barrier of the fog, no hint of their voice reached us here.

After perhaps a minute of this violent hi-speed back and forth, it seemed there might be a cessation of hostilities. Both the shrine maiden and the guard had stopped shooting and were yelling at one another, and both were holding something up in their hands, pointed toward the other. The objects they were holding didn't seem to be ofuda, but were something similarly thin and unsubstantial—playing cards or scraps of paper, perhaps.

Meiling barked something, and the slip of paper in her hand went up in flames in an instant. Where it had been a ball of light formed and Meiling grasped it with both hands, then began waving her arms about as if she were spinning silk scarves about herself in a complex dance. Rather than scarves, an uncountable number of rainbow globes filled our vision, each one lit from within with a different color, and all of them expanding outward in interlocking waves and intricate patterns, forming spiral tornadoes and rainstorms of glowing projectiles that turned and whirled as they spread towards the shrine maiden.

As the whirling, glowing raindrops fell all around, the shrine maiden was forced to move in concert with the sweeping arms of the colorful storm, turning her lightning-quick and direct advances into cautious and lengthy spirals. Into the narrow channel of these predictable movements Meiling then hurled yet another stream of glowing projectiles that stretched out into a long ray as they traveled. Trapped in the bullet-filled banks of the storm, there was nowhere for the priestess to dodge. She didn't bother attempting to. Instead she threw forward her hands. Directly in front of them a huge square ward materialized which deflected Meiling's shots off at an oblique angle. The light bullets sprayed in every direction, some of them coming close to hitting the witch who was watching from above. She had to rush out of the way, shouting a few animated but inaudible sentences down at the dueling pair while she did.

As soon as the shrine maiden's barrier dropped she surged into motion again, capitalizing on a momentary break in the storm to rush forward in a single, sudden rush, closing the distance between herself and gatekeeper and rolling all of her momentum into a tumbling overhead kick. Meiling caught the shrine maiden's descending foot with both hands and swung it out of the way, then leapt backwards, lancing one fist out like a spear as she did so and hurling another stream of bullets at her opponent in one seamless motion. The priestess easily dodged the bullets but she evidently hadn't been expecting Meiling to follow up her attack with a brazen shoulder charge. Once more the two clashed at point-blank range and once more the shrine maiden was pressed into deploying her ward, this time to block Meiling from colliding with her directly rather than to ward off her shots. The priestess placed one foot against the ward and kicked off of it, shooting straight up. Meiling did the same, rushing just behind her.

"You said this was all the gatekeeper had to offer?" Renko asked in admiration.

"She's doing better than I expected, I'll admit, but it's her only good quality."

I was speechless. The rush of light and movement, the coordination, speed and agility of the participants and the complexity of the streams of projectiles whirling back and forth was as if a ballet performance, a world-class target shooting match and an artillery bombardment had all been scheduled for the same time and place. The spectacle was truly out of this world.

At that point, the battle became too chaotic to follow. Wave after wave of glowing projectiles danced and glittered through intricate patterns as the two combatants wove around each other. Each time either tried to make distance or take a moment to prepare, the other was sure to rush in, with physical blows flying as freely as the light bullets and both girls tumbling over each other in the air. It was impossible to keep track of.

It seemed like the fight might go on forever, with both sides showing no sign of exhaustion when all at once it was over in an instant. The shrine maiden had been struck by a flying kick and sent cartwheeling through the air, but as she tumbled she twisted and seemed to use the motion to create numerous orbs of light around herself and send them spinning away at crazy angles. Meiling dodged each of the projectiles in turn, but each one circled back of its own accord after missing to approach again from behind. The gatekeeper reacted an instant too late, and a series of rapid impacts and explosions sent her hurtling toward the girl in red, who seemed to be expecting as much. She had erected another barrier of light interwoven with charms and Meiling smashed into it with devastating force. When the barrier exploded a moment later, the gatekeeper was hurled backwards. She tumbled over in the air but quickly fell back into her ready stance. The shrine maiden rushed towards her, ready to press the advantage... but halted suddenly.

The aura of youkai presence I had been feeling from Meiling had suddenly changed dramatically. Something strange and ephemeral was boiling off of the gatekeeper, distorting the billowing clouds of fog surrounding her... for a moment, I thought I saw the image of a coiled dragon in the negative space where the fog was displaced.

"Meiling!" I was startled to hear Remilia calling out from beside me. I wouldn't have imagined Meiling would have been able to hear us from here, but instantly, her stance loosened, becoming a little sloppier and the odd sense of a looming presence vanished.

The shrine maiden didn't hesitate a second longer. She tossed a single talisman and charged in. Meiling dodged the shot, leaping upward, but the priestess was already in position. She once again erected the large square barrier, this time right above Meiling, precisely in the position she was leaping towards. As the gatekeeper ascended, the shrine maiden swung her gohei like a club. The wide barrier was propelled by the blow, racing straight downward to collide with Meiling before she could dodge. The impact spun the gatekeeper end over end and hurled her toward the ground. When she crashed against the pathway before the iron gate in the yard of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, she did so with enough force that she bounced.

I could see the witch girl applauding and cheering from astride her broom as Remilia sighed, dejectedly. "Oh dear," she murmured, as much to herself as either of us. "Such a useless gatekeeper." Remilia turned away from the railing and walked back to our little table to set down her empty teacup. "It's over," she declared, as if she were refereeing the fight. I couldn't help but think to myself that if she hadn't called out to Meiling when she had the outcome might have been less predictable. I don't know what she had been planning at the time that the strange aura had appeared around Meiling, but whatever it was, it had been enough to give the shrine maiden pause.

"You two can go hide in the clock tower from the stairway over there." She pointed, her tone showing no more concern than if she had seen a fly enter the room.

The fight we had witnessed had been brutal, and I wondered if Meiling would have been wounded by that impact. I hadn't seen any sign of the fairy maids that had disappeared into the fog either, but the mistress was evidently unconcerned.

"What are you going to do now, miss?" Renko asked after glancing toward the door Remilia had indicated.

Remilia paced slowly back to the railing and hopped up, seating herself on the balustrade and letting a knowing smile play across her features. Behind her the full, blood-red moon shone, seeming angry and unnaturally large. Remilia's wings shuddered briefly before stretching themselves out, flexing in almost the same manner that one might stretch out their fingers to crack their knuckles.

"That depends on Patchy and Sakuya, but if you're very lucky, you may get to witness the battle of Remilia Scarlet from the best seat in the house. You should be honored."