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

—16—

"The roads are so wide! And everybody is wearing kimonos! I thought everyone here was going to wear clothes like yours, but you two really stand out here, don't you?"

"I think your outfit stands out a little more, Sanae."

"These are the official vestments for a wind priestess!"

"Well there's a lot of people in kimonos and samue, but not everyone. Look at Miss Keine, for instance."

Sanae continued to look around in wonder, taking in the sights and staring wide-eyed at the eclectic mishmash of different styles, materials, and technologies present in the village. Back when we had first arrived here and Keine was showing us around, we must have looked much the same. There was a certain nostalgia to it, even if we were on the opposite side of the table now.

"Oh wow, a rickshaw. There are no cars or trains here so how do most humans get around? Just on foot? Are there bicycles at least?"

"I don't think I've seen a working one since we've come here. Some of the upper class families have horses though."

"This is so cool, it feels more and more like I've gone back in time."

"Oh there's boats and barges too. There’s no sea in Gensokyo, but a river runs through the middle of the village and that's used for most of the bigger logistics."

"It's like Venice, the city of water! Or Neo-Venice! Do you have singing Undines with a cat for a president like on terraformed mars?"

We both looked at her with the same expression I had seen on the faces of numerous villagers directed at me. So this was how it felt to be on the receiving end of an Outsider's incomprehensible exclamations. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Really, you guys haven't even read 𝐴𝑅𝐼𝐴? They made it into an anime four years ago!"

Since yesterday Sanae had been frequently interrupting our conversations with interjections like this. I had gathered enough to presume that she was making references to otaku culture of the early 21st century, but even though I enjoyed reading mysteries from that period, I couldn't hope to follow the details of such a foreign topic.

"Still, despite how much the three of us stand out, people are surprisingly accepting here."

"Do you think so?" I asked. "I always feel like everyone's staring at me every time I go out."

"Well there's the odd gawk here or there, but I'm used to that. I expected the villagers to be all 'Out with the strangers! No foreigners allowed! Raaarrr'" she said, waving an imaginary torch over her head. "You hear stories about how rural mountain villages are all insular and bigoted, but I guess Gensokyo's not like that."

I watched the people walking by. Sanae was getting her fair share of attention from passers-by, but no more than one might expect to follow a strangely-dressed girl in high spirits.

"Well, the population of the village is larger than you might expect and while most people here are natives, pretty much everyone knows someone who either used to be an Outsider or is the descendant of one. Newcomers pop up every now and then, and a few of them stay. Additionally, there's a bit of a gap between various communities in the village. The farmers live in the south and don't talk to the craftsmen living in the north or west much. The merchants live here in the center of town and run the shopping district, where everyone comes. If anyone sees someone weird here, they usually just assume they're from one of the village's other communities."

"I see, it's almost like there are several villages in one."

"More or less, yeah. There's also fishermen, hunters, woodsmen and miners who all work outside of town too, so they are always coming and going. Some of them even live outside of town for at least part of the year. Moreover, because there's always people going in and out, there's a few youkai who have been known to sneak into town from time to time, if they can disguise themselves well enough to pass as human; but they're smart enough not to try to eat anyone right in the middle of the village."

Sanae crossed her arms and groaned. "That really seems like a risky way to live."

I couldn’t help but agree with her assessment. The balance of power between humans and youkai had always seemed a very precarious one to me. Youkai depended on the humans for fear just as gods depended on the belief of their worshippers. Neither could afford to risk disrupting a community like the village where ideas and concepts could easily be spread in a world where recognition held so much power. But that need for faith and fear was the only thing keeping the human village from being destroyed. Not only were the villagers vastly outnumbered by the youkai, but there were individual youkai who were strong enough that they might easily destroy the village all on their own. Whenever I thought about it, I couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that it was only by coincidence that the village hadn’t already been destroyed.

"You learn to live with it. The people here aren't unhappy, but they aren't unaware of the danger either. Back in the Outside World did you worry about being mugged or assaulted every time you went out? I'm sure you took reasonable precautions like not walking around alone at night and not getting into a car with a stranger, and it's much the same here. In all the time we've been here, I've never heard of anyone being snatched away by a youkai inside the walls of the village."

"I see...." Sanae said, pondering the concept carefully. "I wonder if the humans wouldn't like to change the balance of power between themselves and youkai if they could."

"Are you thinking about how to drum up faith for your shrine again?"

"Yes, but let's put ideas like that aside for now. Right now, for the short term, let's go see some of the farms, that's where it'll be easiest to generate some faith quickly!"

—

And so we headed to the southern edge of the village, where the rice paddies spread out in their broad expanses and the tall stems on either side of the footpath shone golden. All around us, the air was thick with the song of croaking frogs.

"The wheat harvest should be just about over and the rice harvest is only about a week away. Once that's ended, the harvest festival will be held."

"A harvest festival, eh? I guess something like that would be a pretty big deal here."

"It's definitely a pretty big event on the local social calendar. The farmers and brewers and restaurants all put together a big feast and the fertility gods are invited to partake and receive thanks."

"Really! Which gods were they? Does Gensokyo have its own native gods?"

"Oh, there were a bunch. Or should I say 'myriad'? There's no organized religion among the farmers and every household has their preferences. The bigger farms put up little altars at the edges of their fields and people leave offerings there, even if the offerings are intended for a different god than the one the altar is devoted to. The humans don't seem to care about it much, but the gods can be a little competitive I guess, boasting over who got the most worship or who's worshippers grew the best crops."

"So it’s an open competition for faith, with harvests already being a saturated market, I see."

Sanae seemed to be pondering for a moment, but ran ahead excitedly as she spotted one of the small altars at the side of the road. It was a simple slab of weathered stone with a crudely carved series of small wooden figures and a small box placed atop it. Several offerings of fruit had been left on it and a line of ants was marching steadily up to scavenge from these. Sanae approached the altar with a mischievous smile and rubbed her hands excitedly at the sight of it.

"...The field is packed with competitors, but they're all small-scale operations and already spending most of their time competing with each other. That's good. I'm sure we can make use of an environment like that."

"What exactly is it you have planned, Sanae? You make it sound like the Moriya shrine is a mafia operation, trying to muscle out its competitors in a new city."

"No, no, it's nothing like that. I just think I see an opportunity for greater efficiency here. Our shrine could become something like an Agricultural Faith Management Association, or something. We'd plan the plantings and harvests according to modern scientific farming practices, improve the yield and evenly distribute the faith and gratitude of the farmers to stakeholder gods of the region in an equitable and reliable fashion. In exchange, we take a margin off the top as a management fee."

It was a surprising plan to hear her articulate. It sounded markedly capitalist to me, if not downright exploitative. I wondered if it was something she had come up with on the spot or something she and her gods had been planning together.

"Of course," she continued, "the foundation of all religion is the concept of salvation, so if the farmers are doing well now, they won't be likely to give up their belief system in favor of seeing Lady Kanako as a divine manager. In that case, maybe it would be best to appeal to the local fertility gods directly and get them to understand the power that working with Kanako would bring. I'll have to arrange for her to come down and give a demonstration..."

"Well, whatever you're planning just make sure to exercise a little moderation, Sanae. You and Lady Yasaka are already on Reimu’s naughty list for trying to take over her shrine. If you make trouble here in the village, she’ll really get mad."

"Oh, that's right! Since I'm already here, I should go see if she's made up her mind yet. You two should come with me, you can help me persuade her!" She smiled broadly at us.

I glanced over at Renko. Sanae's upbeat personality and earnestness was hard to say no to, but what either of the two of us could do to convince Reimu to adopt a new religion I couldn't imagine. Renko returned my uneasy look and shrugged.


—17—


It wasn't much later that the three of us were once more flying through the sky, headed this time to the Hakurei Shrine on the eastern edge of Gensokyo. This would be the third day in a row that Renko at least had been to the shrine. That might make her Reimu's most regular pilgrim, though 'devout' wasn't a word that applied.

Sanae propelled us up to the torii gates in a rush, shouting "Knock, knock! Anyone home?" as she did so. I suspect it was enthusiasm I was hearing in her voice but given the energy with which she burst onto the scene I can’t help but imagine that anyone on the shrine grounds would have found our entrance to have been the equivalent of kicking down the door.

There was no response from the empty shrine grounds, however, and the scene looked just as desolate and deserted as always. We looked around for a moment, seeking any signs of habitation when suddenly Suika's face drooped into view, her horns reaching downward and her loose bundle of hair falling like a rope across our path as she leaned over from her position on top of the torii to look at us. What was she doing up there?

"Oh, it's the green girl from yesterday. Reimu's gone." She said, sleepily. "She and Marisa flew off in a big huff. If I had known you were gonna come back with Renko and Merry I woulda stopped 'em for you. We coulda all had a little drink together instead." Rolling off of the wooden crossbeam, Suika landed on the paving stones of the shrine's path as Sanae brought us all to the ground. Suika squinted at us for a moment, then took a pull from her gourd, staggering drunkenly as she did so.

"Oh, so we missed her?"

"Yeah, and she missed you too since she left to look for you," She said, extending the hand holding the gourd toward Sanae. "Up to your place on the mountain."

"What? To my place?" Sanae's eyes had gone wide as dinner plates.

"Well, they got to talkin' and figured that the new god on the mountain sounded pretty suspicious, so they took off to straighten her out some. A while ago now."

"The shrine maiden went after Lady Kanako? What should I do? We have to find her!" Sanae said, looking around nervously. As her eyes passed over the towering form of Youkai Mountain in the distance I heard her breath catch in her throat.

Renko patted her shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry. Reimu doesn't know where the Moriya Shrine is, so she and Marisa will need to gather information from the kappa and the tengu to find it first. If we head straight back, I'm sure we can beat them there. It's only proper you should be there to greet new guests, right?"

"Right! Of course. Excuse me then, I have to get back!"

Sanae turned to leave, but Renko reached out, grabbing her hand again before she could call up the winds. "Hey wait, Sanae. Why don't you take me with you? If Reimu's on the warpath, maybe I can talk her down. I know her, after all."

"Renko! What are you thinking?" I grabbed at her sleeve. Reimu already had it out for us just for showing up in the middle of every incident. If she had already set out intending to fight a god then us showing up in the middle of her path was sure to end with Renko and I being caught in the middle of a danmaku match. "You can't just go shoving yourself into someone else's affairs!"

"Don't say that, Merry. Sanae's not a stranger any more, she's a part of our group, right?"

"Oh, um, am I?" Sanae said, looking back and forth between Renko and myself and blushing nervously.

"If two of someone's friends are fighting, it's natural to want to intervene."

"Seriously, Renko? What's Reimu going to say if she runs into us again?"

"She can't get mad about this, Merry, it's not even an incident. More like... a religious war. She hasn't told us to stay out of those yet."

"I don't think she'll see it that way."

"Well, that's exactly why this situation calls for the intervention of an impartial third party mediator. Sanae, you don't really want a war against another Shinto shrine, right? I'm sure Reimu's just misunderstanding things."

"Well, a peaceful takeover would be preferable..."

"Peaceful is what I do! Come on then, let's get me up there so I can help sort this mess out. Peacefully." I sighed in resignation. I'm sure if Sanae had flown off then and there, Renko would have just started hiking toward the mountain. For better or for worse, there was no stopping her.

Sanae turned her head toward me. "A-alright, I guess that makes sense. Are you coming too, Merry?"

"I have to now, I suppose. Renko will need me there to keep her from doing something stupid."

"Okay! It's decided then. Sanae, get us back to the Moriya Shrine before Reimu gets there!"

Sanae nodded with a determined expression on her face then reached out to take both of our hands. As the winds began to swirl around us once more, Suika looked up at us and exhaled a cloud of alcoholic breath.

"I dunno what's going on here, but when did you two join forces with this green girl?"

"It’s a long story, Suika. We've had a busy day. Don't worry, though we're not going to try to fight Reimu, I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding."

"Well it's not just Reimu. Marisa headed up there too, and she's faster, so you might have to fight at least one of 'em."

"Marisa? What's she got to do with any of this? She's got no stake in a religious war."

"Going up the mountain was her idea. She's probably just doin' it for fun. She came here saying she saw some suspicious person come off the mountain this morning and deliver two people to the village. She thought it was a tengu at first, doing some kinda reverse-kidnapping, so she followed and saw it was someone who was dressed like Reimu, but not Reimu and carrying Merry and Renko. When Reimu heard that, she pretty much decided it had to be an incident and set right off, yelling 'if those two are involved it's even more suspicious!'"

"Wait a minute, Suika! You mean the Reimu's about to start a religious war between the Hakurei Shrine and Moriya Shrine just because of us?" I blurted.

"I don't think she went there to start a war, exactly, but knowing Reimu, she might get one anyway."

"Wow!"

"'Wow!' is not the right response, Renko! What are we going to do now?" It was only after I said it that I realized I had given Renko the perfect excuse to involve herself further.

"You're right Merry. I have to take responsibility for this. Let's go, Sanae!" she said with a grin.

"Ah yes, let's hurry!"

All at once the wind roared around us, louder than ever before and the ground shot away, with Suika vanishing into a tiny dot surrounded by a cyclone of tumbling leaves. A moment later a fierce gale whipped us from behind and we hurtled through the sky, once again making our way toward Youkai Mountain and into the teeth of the coming conflict.


—18—


"I'm sorry about all of this Sanae," Renko shouted as we hurtled toward the mountain.

"Don't blame yourself," she replied. "I'm the one who invited you two back to the shrine and asked you to stay and I'm the one who talked to the Hakurei shrine maiden in the first place. This probably would have happened either way by the sound of it." She turned her head just long enough to flash Renko a weak smile. "By the way, that other person who Suika mentioned, Marisa. She's the magician you told me about yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, she wears black and white and rides a broom. She's Reimu's best friend, and whenever Reimu goes out incident-resolving, she's never far behind even though resolving incidents isn’t really her job. Sometimes she's there sticking her neck out first, even."

"Just like you and Merry then?"

"Well, not quite. Merry and I are one Hifuu Club together, but the two of them act separately. If anything, I'd say they compete to see who can resolve an incident first, even if their goals are ultimately the same."

"Oh, they're rivals then! It's the old natural genius versus the hardworking professional trope, that's been a classic since the days of Touch"

"Yeah, I guess so. Reimu's something of a genius in her own way and Marisa pushes herself to new heights in order to compete."

"The fiery passions of youth, colliding in a fierce challenge for dominance. It's almost nostalgic to see a pair like that."

I didn't bother to correct Sanae, but personally I would never describe Reimu as a 'youth.' She was young, certainly, but her personality was nothing like one might expect of someone her age. At times she seemed more like a bitter 40-year old than a teenager, but that might have more to do with the circumstances I tended to encounter her in than the nature of her character.

If I had to guess, I would surmise that that facet of Reimu's character arose from her lack of attachment. Reimu was the sort of person to keep everyone and everything at arm's length. It didn’t matter if it was villagers, youkai, or even with Marisa, who had known Reimu since childhood, Reimu treated everyone with the same detached sort of disinterest. it seemed to me that Reimu simply accepted things, be they people, events or relationships as they were without judgement or preference. Up to a point, anyway.

I wondered if she acted that way because of her role as the Hakurei shrine maiden or as a result of her upbringing, though I didn’t really know much about her childhood. Maybe there wasn't that much of a difference between the two things. Moreover, how would someone like that react to Sanae once she got to know her, I wondered? Would she see the girl as an Outsider? As a rival? A threat? Would the two girls who had devoted their lives to the service of the gods become friends? Would they end up like Marisa and Alice, who had plenty in common, but whose similarities only served to highlight their differences, leaving them constantly bickering and sniping at each other's idiosyncrasies to the point where I could never tell if they were actually friends or not?

For that matter, what would a bright, open-minded girl like Sanae think of someone as set in their ways as Reimu? To the eyes of a girl who had come from the Outside World of the 21st century, maybe someone like Reimu, who upheld tradition and exterminated youkai, would seem judgmental and needlessly violent. Maybe she would see Reimu's attitude of indifference as a sign of callousness or even laziness. Ultimately, it would be impossible for me to know.

I was still pondering such questions as the grounds of the Moriya Shrine came into view, emerging from the wisps of clouds surrounding the mountain. Beyond the huddled collection of buildings behind the torii, the huge lake sparkled enticingly.

"It looks like we made it in time. I'll go find Lady Kanako," Sanae said as she descended. My own feet touched down a moment later, and the feeling of gravity returned to my body. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong Sanae? You seem to be in an unusual hurry." Once more the form of Lady Yasaka materialized out of nowhere directly before us. "And you've brought your friends again. I'm happy to see that you are both so eager to come to our shrine."

"Hello again, Lady Yasaka." Renko said, removing her hat momentarily. "I know it's only been half a day, but I asked Sanae to bring us back in the hopes that I might be of some help to you."

"Help? How do you mean?"

"Uh, well, actually..." Sanae quickly explained the situation to her goddess, with Kanako's eyes growing steadily wider as she heard the story.

"Sanae, what did you say to her? It's not like you to just pick a fight for no reason."

"I wasn't trying to! I was trying to be helpful! I made her a perfectly reasonable offer, I thought."

We had only ever heard Reimu's version of the story, but from what she had told us, I had to admit, it had sounded at least a little threatening.

"Well I suppose having her come to me is just saving me the trouble of seeking her out. I had intended to talk with the owner of the shrine at the foot of the mountain sooner or later anyway. What is it that Renko and Merry have come here to help us with, then?"

"My aim is to act as an intermediary between the two shrines and facilitate negotiation. I'm well-acquainted with Reimu, and I was hoping I could act as a neutral third party in the event of any disputes." She removed her hat and bowed deeply. "To that end, however, there is something else I have to do first. I need to tell you about Gensokyo's preferred method of conflict resolution."

"A preferred method?"

"It's a sort of ritualized dueling involving stylized barrages of magical projectiles, though as an ordinary human, I can't demonstrate myself."

At this statement Kanako and Sanae both turned to look at her in wide-eyed confusion.

And so it was that Usami Renko, a regular human without the slightest bit of power, became the Moriya Shrine's instructor on the art of danmaku. At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the people there had already known the rules, as had the people at Hakugyokurou. I'm not sure if anyone ever told Suika about danmaku and Spell Cards or not, but she seemed to have figured it out, more or less. The group at Eientei had been warned about such things by Tewi, but I'm not sure if they bothered following the rules or not at the time. Here though, we were in the rare position of being the resident experts on the matter.

"Ha! So this is how the men and monsters of Gensokyo fight?" Kanako had asked, as Renko concluded her training.

"That's right. It was devised as a way for powerful humans and youkai to compete on equal footing without risking their lives or wanton destruction. Though to be honest I don’t think most humans would be much of a match for a youkai even with these rules. Reimu is though, she’s something special."

"I see. How amusing. Alright then, it's as they say. 'When in Rome, do as the Romans.' This might be a good opportunity to demonstrate our power, not just to the shrine maiden, but to all the peoples of this mountain at once. What do you say, Sanae? If they're coming here expecting to find a fight, should we give them one? It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to test my strength." Kanako extended her arms in front of her as she said this, cracking her knuckles and grinning. The utter confidence radiating out from her would have been intimidating even if I hadn't known she was a goddess.

Sanae looked worried for a moment before raising herself up on her tiptoes and whispering something in Lady Yasaka's ear. Kanako responded to whatever she had asked instantly and with supreme confidence. "No, I think that will be just fine. If a shrine maiden comes here to oppose us in the name of her god, then it's only suitable that you should demonstrate your divine powers as well."

"Is that really okay?"

"I'm okaying it. Feel free to call upon whatever power you need."

"Alright," she said, nodding with a determined expression on her face.

I wondered what they might be talking about, but it was clear they seemed intent on keeping it confidential. Renko certainly seemed interested in the conversation, but made no attempt to interject.

"First of all, there's the question of if they'll even be able to make it here. I'm sure the tengu have been letting you move freely because their relationship with us is uncertain, Sanae. But I doubt they'd let anyone else ascend the mountain so easily. I'll head over to the lake to see if I can spot them from there. You take our guests to the house and keep them safe."

"Alright, what about Lady Suwako?"

"Let her sleep for now. Her presence would be a little harder to explain. Renko, Merry, thank you for coming back to let us know what to expect. Please feel free to relax in the main shrine until this is over."
Having said that, Kanako instantly disappeared, bringing the strategy meeting to a sudden close.

"Well, this way then, I suppose."

Sanae led the way up the path to the shrine grounds and over to the main building. Though it was only our second time visiting the site, we would have known the way without her after all of the exploring Renko and I had done last night.

I wondered if any of this was a good idea. In the case of the Scarlet Mist Incident, the Spring Snow Incident and the Eternal Night Incident, we had been involved by circumstance, and largely against our own wills. In the case of the Night Parade of One Hundred Oni Every Three Days and the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident, we had been active participants, but our activities had been entirely incidental to the focus of the incidents. This time, however, was a different story. Renko was actively intervening in this conflict, hoping to act as a mediator in the dispute between the two shrines.

I'm not sure if everything going on on the mountain could be considered an incident or not, but either way, I didn't imagine Reimu would be thrilled to see a third party involving themselves in her affairs.

"What do you look so worried for, Merry? You're going to give yourself wrinkles."

"And whose fault would that be, Renko? Do you really think this is a good idea? What will happen if Reimu finds out you're here?"

"Oh she'll definitely find out. I'm going to be the mediator of their negotiations, after all." She shot me a mischievous smile.

I was beyond sighing at this point and could only shake my head in disbelief. "What do you think you're playing at, Renko?"

Renko poked the brim of her hat with one finger, easing it back on her head as we reached the door of the shrine building. As we made our way inside, she leaned over and whispered in my ear. "This is going to be an incident all right, Merry, but just for the two of us."

I turned to look at her, wide-eyed.

She leaned over to whisper to me again. "A religious war is about to break out between the Moriya and Hakurei shrines. Without any intervention it would probably end in a war of extermination —either the Moriya Shrine and its goddesses would be destroyed, or the Hakurei Shrine would be hijacked. It may seem like we're the cause of this problem, but if we play our cards right, we could actually be the solution. Without us here, this would be sure to become a major incident, but if we can talk Reimu down, then that will be an incident that was resolved directly by us, using our own power. An incident that didn't have to happen."

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Don't you see, Merry? There's no one else who could solve this incident! Reimu and Marisa are too quick to resort to violence and anyone else wouldn't have befriended Sanae. This requires an Outsider's perspective, and could only be pulled off by someone with the drive to discover the secrets of the Moriya Shrine!"

Reaching out, Renko grabbed both of my hands. She was so giddy with excitement she seemed likely to vibrate off of the ground at any moment.

"Now more than ever, Merry, this is a job for the Hifuu Detective Agency!"