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

—16—


"Who are you?" I asked.

The girl looked up at me with a curious expression but made no effort to answer. To me she appeared to be perhaps nine or ten years old and had an odd purple string floating around her body, hovering in front of her in utter defiance of reason. Her broad sunhat was tied with a ribbon, but everything about her beneath that black hat was noticeably pale. Her skin tone, her lightly pigmented blue-green hair, a wide-eyed face with an unreadable expression —they all gave off a distinct impression of just barely being there, to the point where if you weren't looking directly at her it was all too easy to forget you had seen her at all. Even phantoms I had seen had more of a sense of presence to them.

If Sanae had been here I don't doubt that she would have been excited to meet this girl, supposing her to be a Zetsu master or the like. If all of the many mysteries of Gensokyo could be explained away as Nen abilities though, what need would there be for detectives?

"You're a human, aren't you? I didn't know there were any humans in the Underworld who could see me. Interesting." She smiled innocently. In the depths of her eyes there was a deep emptiness though. It was not unlike my first meeting with Flandre, that same sense of carefree innocence tempered by a deep and distressing detachment, an utter lack of concern for the existence of other people.

Still ignoring my question, she posed another of her own. "Hey, I'm bored. Do you want to play a game with me?" Saying that, she stared at me with her strangely empty eyes. As if I was being drawn forward by a string I found myself taking a step towards her. She took a step to the right, as if to avoid me. I followed her with my eyes. She blinked in surprise and dodged around to my left. It seemed like she was trying to play tag with me, moving just out of arm’s reach at all times. She clapped her hands excitedly. "You really can see me!" she cheered. "Hey, who are you? How long have you been underground?"

I was about to answer when the sound of hurrying footsteps behind me caught my attention.

"Merry! There you are! Is everything all right? Why did you suddenly start running?" Renko rushed up to me, out of breath and laying a hand on my shoulder.

"I was chasing this girl..." I began.

When I turned back to look at where she had been, there was no trace of her.

"Ah! Where'd she go? She was here just a moment ago."

"Who?"

"There was a little girl here. I could barely sense her, she had a very weak presence, but she was definitely here. She talked to me."

"I didn't see anyone like that..."

I was about to protest, but my mind thought back to the whole routine I had just been through with Renko regarding the existence of a wall. Clearly our subjective realities, constructed from the input of our senses, weren't in alignment.. I wondered if the girl I had seen might actually be the youkai Yamame had mentioned who had been pranking people by altering the appearance of things.

Yamame came up behind Renko, carrying the bucket that held Kisume in front of her. "What's going on? Why did you both run off?" she asked.

"Miss Yamame, you didn't happen to see a girl run into this tunnel ahead of me, did you?" I asked.

"What girl?"

"She was wearing a hat sort of like Renko's and she had something like a purple cord floating all around her... I think..."

I tried hard to remember more of what the girl had looked like, but only those details remained with me, the rest fading from memory even as I tried to grasp them. It was like the woman from William Irish's 𝑃ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝐿𝑎𝑑𝑦, impossible to pin down, though in this case it would be more like a 'phantom girl.'

"Huh, that kind of sounds like someone from Palace of the Earth Spirits..." Yamame mused, tilting her head.

"Really? A satori?" Renko asked, turning to her.

"Umm, maybe? From what I've heard there's supposedly someone else who lives at the palace, aside from Komeiji Satori. I don’t know if there really is someone like that or not though."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Yamame looked down into the bucket at Kisume, who looked back up at her, both of them sharing a conflicted, uncertain expression. "Well, that's really the only way to explain it." Kisume nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Don Yuugi's certain she exists and people say they've seen a girl from the palace wandering around in the city from time to time, but she's really elusive. Here one moment, gone the next. She always disappears as soon as you look away.

"Could she be the unidentified youkai who's been responsible for pranking everyone too?"

"I suppose she might be, but I don't think so. That stuff usually happens down here, in the caves close to where that ship is stranded. The girl from the palace shows up all over the place. I think I might even have seen her before, but it's hard to be certain."

"Well that's certainly an odd story. Merry, do you think that's who you saw?"

"Probably, yes. She seemed surprised that I could see her. She was standing right here saying 'Can you see me?' and looking confused."

"Creepy. That sounds like something a ghost would say. Or an invisible man, maybe."

"A ghost would be pretty normal by Gensokyo standards. And she wasn't invisible. I could see her, but it was more like... like she was hard to actually notice. The best way I can think of to describe her would be to say she was like a Zetsu master."

"She's a Nen user? Does that mean Marisa is an Emitter and Sanae is a Manipulator? And what would that make you, Merry? A Gyou master? Or maybe a Specialist!"

I sighed. Sanae's influence was clearly affecting Renko, to the point where she was now comparing the events of our life to old manga like 𝐻𝑈𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑥 𝐻𝑈𝑁𝑇𝐸𝑅 too. If that doesn't make any sense to you, just seek out Sanae at the Moriya Shrine. I'm sure she'll let you borrow her books, though they only go up to the middle of the Chimera Ant arc.

"Well, at any rate," Renko continued, "she sounds interesting. I'd like to meet her too if I could. Do you think she's still around somewhere?"

"Who cares?" Yamame asked, brushing past the two of us, still carrying Kisume in her bucket. "Let's head back to the city already."

Renko and I glanced behind us then reluctantly pressed ahead, following Yamame up the tunnel —where I immediately saw the figure of the girl in the black hat once more.

"Oh! There she is!" I called, pointing her out.

"Huh? Where?"

The moment I had raised my voice the girl had turned and sprinted away, running further into the dark tunnel. She had to be headed back toward the city.

"She went this way!"

"What? Hey Merry, wait up! Where are you going?"

"She was right here a moment ago... Oh there she is again!"

"Where? I didn't see her."

"She was just behind that rock." I had caught a glimpse of her just at the edge of my vision, but every time Renko said anything I lost sight of her again. It was maddening. Is this what Yamame had meant when she had said she didn’t really know if the other person said to be living in the Palace of the Earth Spirits existed or not?

"This isn't working. Let me see through your eyes, Merry." Renko leaned in close, putting her face beside mine. In case you haven't read my earlier books I should explain that I have the ability to share my boundary vision by touching Renko's eyes or more precisely, covering her eyes with my hands. Of course, in the view of Relativistic Noology, the mutual inviolability of our subjective experiences would mean that the two of us couldn’t possibly really be experiencing exactly the same things, but now wasn't the time to worry about that.

"Renko, we're in a dark cave with rough stone floors and winding passages, heading uphill. I'm not going to cover your eyes and try to walk here, you'll trip for sure."

"Alright then, Merry. I guess there's no helping it. If I give you a piggyback ride, you can blindfold me with your hands and I'll steer us both."

"I'm not doing that, it's embarrassing! Ah! There she is again!" I said, pointing over Renko's shoulder frantically as the girl appeared once more. As soon as Renko turned around to look she vanished from my sight again. I had caught a glimpse of her running though. There was doubt that she must be headed back toward the city.

"I wonder if she's trying to lead us somewhere..." I muttered.

"Guide us? To where?"

"Back to her home, maybe?"

"That would be the Palace of the Earth Spirits, right?"

Renko and I looked at each other for a moment, then she smiled and threw her arm forward.

"Alright Merry. Follow that Zetsu master!"

"Don't command me like I'm a dog, Renko!" I shouted as I took off in pursuit of the mysterious shadow of a girl who kept appearing then disappearing from my sight. As much as I might protest, I suppose we might have looked a bit like a dog following a scent with their master pulled along by the lead.

"Hey! Where are you going? If you're headed to the palace, I'll take you there myself!"

Yamame was yelling something to that effect behind us, but her words fell on deaf ears as we sprinted along, engrossed in the pursuit of a girl who only sometimes seemed to be there.


—17—


Amidst the chaotic hustle and bustle of Old Hell, the image of the pale girl flickered in and out of sight. Renko and I chased after it, sprinting to close the distance when I could see it, frantically searching to pick her out of the crowds when I lost her. As we chased after her we endured numerous confused, shocked or hungry stares from all manner of youkai who populated the city. Somewhere not too far behind us Yamame was following along, only occasionally visible through the press of bodies in the streets but frequently heard as she yelled behind us.

"Don't touch those humans! They're Yuugi's favorites! Out of my way!" was a frequent refrain. Usually, at the mention of Yuugi's name, the sea of bodies parted to allow her through. It seems Yuugi’s reputation must be even more impressive than I had thought.

"Where'd she go, Merry? Which way?"

"I'm looking, Renko... Oh, there she is!"

I had spotted her running across the roof of a nearby building and pointed Renko toward the closest path I could find, a narrow, winding alleyway. Rushing forward, we plunged into the dimness of the tight passage.

"Whoa, where are we?"

We had emerged from the alley into a broad plaza dominated by an enormous, western-style building that looked something like a cross between a mansion and a cathedral. It loomed ominously over its surroundings, dark and foreboding, replete with vaulted, ornamental arches along its outer walls and colorful stained glass windows set high in the façade from which colored light was streaming into the endless subterranean night. It didn't appear to be quite as large or as garishly ostentatious as the Scarlet Devil Mansion but it still was quite clearly set apart, an outlier among the various Edo-era building plans of much of the rest of the city.

"Could that be..."

"...The Palace of the Earth Spirits?" Renko asked from just behind me.

"...Yes," Yamame panted as she drew up behind us. "That's Chireiden. The light is from the Hell of Blazing Fires underneath it." It seemed the mysterious vanishing girl really had led us here. I hadn't noticed at first but the air was slightly warmer here, with a faint whiff of smoke in the air.

"This is just like Iggy leading everyone to DIO's mansion!"

"I wonder if we'll have to challenge a butler to a game to get inside? Come to think of it, one of the D'arby brothers had a Stand that could read minds. Since the satori who lives here supposedly keeps pets, maybe she even has Petshop. Maybe we'll find him in there. I remember him being a tough fight in the manga. Hang in there, Sanae, you can do it!"

"Sanae isn't even here, Renko."

"What in the world are you two talking about?" Yamame asked, looking between the two of us with an exasperated expression. "Are you really going to go in there? Willingly?"

Renko turned to her and grinned maddeningly. "Well, if you're concerned, you could always come in with us to keep us safe."

"No way. I'll pass on that and wait out here. I don’t want my mind read, right Kisume?" The girl in the bucket nodded her head animatedly. I imagine that, given the choice, most people would want to avoid having their mind read.

"Alright then, Merry. Looks like it's just you and me again." Renko said, starting off across the plaza. I followed along beside her. "I've been thinking though, if mind reading is possible, doesn't it disrupt the core tenets of Relativistic Noology? An individual's perception isn't inviolable if a satori can just peer into it, right?"

"Well that depends on how it works, I suppose. D'Arby in 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 can only learn the answers to yes or no questions from reading someone and Murota in 𝑌𝑢 𝑌𝑢 𝐻𝑎𝑘𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑜 can only hear nearby thoughts spoken in that person's voice. Both of those wouldn't violate individual subjectivity. Even if I could know with perfect clarity what you were thinking right now, you're the only one who could say whether what I was reading was actually correct or not. In the end mutual inviolability of subjectivity remains unchanged. At most mind reading would just provide a definitive solution to the philosophical zombie experiment."

"Merry, how have you developed this unique talent of yours to make absolutely anything sound boring? I guess we'll just have to do a field test to see how it works and figure out the implications later."

"Aren’t you forgetting our original objective, Renko? Do you really think going in without Yamame to protect us is a good idea?"

"That invisible girl led us here, so they must want us to come. Besides, if they try anything, we can just tell her that we're under Yuugi's protection. And no, I haven’t forgotten why we came here originally, Merry. "

"All of those are just the fox borrowing the tiger's glory again."

"That's fine. You like foxes, Merry. If we get out of this alive I'll let you floof me up to your heart's content."

"There's absolutely nothing floofy about you."

"Not even a little? Oh well. We're here though, better get all those thoughts of snuggling Renko out of your head." She grinned at me then jogged off, running the last few meters to the door of the palace.

"Renko, don't..."

The thumping of the heavy iron knocker against the door resounded through the plaza. Other than its reverberating boom, there was no sound, either from within or without.

"No reply, it’s just a corpse…" Renko said mechanically, quoting the cliche line from 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡.

"If we go in there, 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 going to end up as corpses."

Renko cupped her hands to her mouth. "Excuse me, is anyone home?" she bellowed at the door.

Still there was no reply. It was a distant cry from the Scarlet Devil Mansion with its friendly gatekeeper and ever-ready maid who would appear at a moment's notice to greet you. For the first time I found myself wishing Sakuya would pop up without warning in front of us.

Renko wrapped her hand around the handle of the door and pulled. The door slowly swung outward without the faintest sigh. "Oh, it's not locked," she said with surprise. "Let's go through all the drawers and look for key items and healing potions."

"I’m not sure if the youkai down here consider breaking and entering to be a crime or not, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t overlook theft, Renko."

"You’re not going to try and stop me from going in for once? That’s a surprise. Are you finally getting used to our club activities?" she asked as she stepped over the threshold.

"I don't make an effort to stop you because past experience tells me it's useless. I've managed to survive this long by sticking to you though, so I guess I'm coming along for the ride now." I said, following her inside.

"Oh, is that your survival strategy? Well that's fine, just leave everything to captain Renko. It'll be just like sailing through the sky on the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛. I'll steer us straight and true."

"The 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 has been buried under the earth for a thousand years, Renko. My goal is for that not to be our fate." I wondered, idly, if my partner's negotiation skills would actually work against someone who could read her mind.

At any rate we proceeded deeper into the house, walking through an echoing interior lit by colored rays streaming through stained glass. We were only a few steps inside when we heard the front door thud shut behind us.

The air inside the palace was dim and a little warm. There was a surprisingly broad hallway that proceeded straight down the center of it, lined with doors that branched off to rooms on either side. If someone were to put out some pews the place could easily have passed for a church. The lighting, oddly enough, came mostly from the floor, which had enormous stained-glass panels sturdy enough to walk on set at regular intervals between red and black tiles.

"The floor is really warm here," Renko said, bending over to lay a hand on the tiles. "I think this entire corridor is heated." I could only imagine that that heat was coming from the Hell of Blazing Fires. Having heated floors like this was probably nice in the winter, but I wondered what they did for cooling in the summer.

As we walked down the hallway I looked around. "Is this actually a hallway or just a room? It's awfully big."

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion and Hakugyoukurou were both big too. Anything bigger than the house the Prismriver Ensemble lives in seems like it would just be a pain to a commoner like me. What do you think of a big place like this, Merry? You're a celebrity, right?"

"I think it'd be a hassle to clean something this big."

Somehow our banter fell flat against the vastness of the great stone hall and soon we were walking in silence, simply looking around at the sights as our footfalls echoed off of the stone floors. I hadn't seen the disappearing girl once since we had reached the plaza. If she really had intended to lead us here, it would be nice if she could have showed us around.

It was useless to try and speculate on what her intention in leading us here might have been. Perhaps the idea that she had led us here was just a misinterpretation on our part, and the girl was simply returning home or running away from us. As it was we definitely hadn't been invited in and as such were nothing more than trespassers. I doubted very much that if we were discovered we would be treated like the protagonist of any of the RPGs Sanae had shown us, in which the hero could walk into a stranger's house and smash all of their pots right in front of them with impunity.

"Excuse me, is anyone here?" Renko asked, raising her voice once again. Her shout echoed off of the walls. There was no reply as such, but we heard the sound of something rustling above us and then a black shadow flew over our heads. Renko looked up instinctively as it passed by "Is that a raven?"

A single black feather drifted down in front of us, as if to answer her question. I wondered if it might be a pet. The bird settled on the sill of one of the windows overlooking the hallway and regarded us for a moment. After tilting its head curiously back and forth, it opened its beak and let out a ragged caw.

Immediately countless black shadows began to stir in the depths of the hallway where they had lain unseen. Renko and I both hunched our shoulders in reflex at the sudden noise after so much silence, but the raven only called once. As I peered at the moving shadows that were moving in the corridor, I realized that they were actually the silhouettes of more than a dozen ink-black cats, all moving in complete silence as they stalked a circular path around us. Within the space of a few seconds, they had completely ringed us in.

"What do we do, Renko?" I asked, tugging on her sleeve.

"I'm not sure. I don't speak cat. If they're youkai cats maybe they can understand us though." She cleared her throat and spoke up. "Excuse me. My apologies for intruding, but I'd like to meet the owner of this mansion. Is she in?"

A low growl sounded from one of the cats' throats. Whether or not they understood us, their message to us was plain: we weren't welcome here. I remembered stories I had read of people who had died alone, leaving behind a household full of hungry cats. Eventually someone would happen upon the scene and find only bones licked clean. I found myself backing away from the cats and ending up pressed back to back with Renko.

"I wish I had some silvervine on me, or at least some toys."

"If you did, I don't think it would help." I said, backing up tighter against her. Another growl joined the first, and was echoed by another, a chorus of growls and yowls surrounding us as the circle closed tighter. The cats tensed themselves, preparing to pounce.

The next moment someone clapped. Instantly the growling stopped, and the cats as one turned their head to look to one side.

"Everyone calm down. They appear to be completely harmless guests." The voice that had spoken was low and calm, slightly childish. We turned toward the sound where a figure was looming in a doorway, shuffling toward us with light, quiet steps.

A fair-skinned, worryingly pale and pointed face loomed out of the darkness. It belonged to a young but weary-looking girl in a light blue smock-like dress. Her outfit, all in pastel colors, seemed designed to highlight her youth, but was rumpled and wrinkled. She wore a headband over short, messy, purple hair, but what struck me the most were her eyes.

For one thing, she had three of them. The two in her face were more or less as you might expect, but the third was much larger than either of the others and sat within in a red orb suspended over her heart and connected to her body by floating, cord-like attachments. I might have thought that it was just an extremely odd accessory if not for the way the pupil gleamed as it tracked our every movement, hidden only by the occasional blinking of the red-lidded orb. The cords floating around her were reminiscent of those I had seen surrounding the vanishing girl earlier, but I was fairly certain that that girl, when I had been able to glimpse her, hadn't had three eyes. Might I have just failed to notice?

The strange eye tracked my movement, following me as I instinctively shrunk behind Renko while the two eyes in the girl's head squinted blearily.

"It's rare that I have the occasion to welcome guests to the Palace of the Earth Spirits. And a pair of live humans at that. What brings you to..." she trailed off, then suddenly opened her eyes wide as if hearing an abrupt and alarming sound. "...You were chasing Koishi here? Koishi's come back?"



—18—


"Um…"

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Komeiji Satori, master of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. I see that you've already heard about me from the oni and the tsuchigumo. Yes, that’s correct, I’m a mind-reating satori. Yes, I can hear whatever you’re thinking. 'Murota's Wiretap? What is that? You're going to throw a punch at me but stop just before it connects? The seven of you are going to dig a hole? Am I going to ora-ora you? If you’re trying to prevent me from reading your mind by thinking of nonsense associations it won’t work, Miss Usami. No wait, you’re not thinking of meaningless things, you’re trying to change topics in rapid succession? Ah, you were trying to determine if I can actually read minds or not."

Much as Yamame had warned us, the girl continued to ramble on, responding to unspoken thoughts before they had even finished forming and talking steadily without leaving time for anyone else to speak. It was surprisingly frustrating, as having an answer before you even spoke a question made it hard to follow the thread of my own internal monologue.

"Um..."

"Who’s that girl hiding behind you? Miss Merry, is it? You seem to have met my little sister."

"...Your sister?"

"Yes, the girl you're thinking of. Her name is Komeiji Koishi. You’re wondering if I can see mental images in addition to hearing thoughts? Yes, I can. My third eye can see anything you’re thinking of. Please don’t worry about trying to keep from imagining anything embarrassing, I’m used to seeing all sorts of things."

Satori then clapped her hands. The cats surrounding us dispersed as one, mostly returning to their shadowed heaps to sleep. Turning around, she shuffled back toward the archway she had come out of, down a corridor that led off to the side of the main hallway, her fuzzy slippers scuffing softly on the stone floors. Seemingly as an afterthought she turned and spoke over her shoulder. "Come this way please."

I looked over at Renko, who flashed a mischievous grin at me then proceeded ahead. I followed quickly behind. "It seems like she really can read minds, Merry. I guess it’s not surprising that she wouldn’t know what 𝑌𝑢 𝑌𝑢 𝐻𝑎𝑘𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑜 or 𝐽𝑜𝑗𝑜'𝑠 𝐵𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 are since she lives all the way down here, but then again they did have 𝐽𝑜𝑗𝑜 in the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

As usual, if you don't know what I'm talking about, just ask at the Moriya Shrine or the library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"More importantly, are you worried? You won't be able to smooth-talk her like you usually do. You may not even get a chance to say anything."

"Well, I guess I'll have to rely on you to save the day then, Merry. She seems to be more interested in you than me right now anyway."

"It's not me she's interested in, it's the girl who brought us here."

She had claimed the girl in the sunhat was her younger sister. An older sister ruling over a creepy mansion and a younger sister whose very nature was deeply mysterious. It felt like we were back in the Scarlet Devil Mansion all over again. Compared to Miss Remilia though Satori seemed to be a much calmer person.

Satori led us down to the end of the corridor, where it terminated at a door that turned out to lead into a large office or private study. Renko followed Satori into the room and I nervously followed along behind her.

The floor of the study was decorated with the same stained glass panels that we had seen in the corridor. Directly opposite the door we had come in was a large wooden desk. One wall of the room was taken up by bookshelves stocked with thick volumes. Opposite this wall and to the side of the desk was an armchair and a comfy-looking sofa of similar make. Satori made her way to the chair and gestured us toward the sofa, turning her chair to face us. I took a seat and tried to read the titles of some of the books on the shelves. I was curious what sort of books would be circulating in the Underworld, but it was too dim for me to make out the writing on the spines.

"If you're interested in those books, I can let you read some later. Some of them are ones I’ve written in my spare time. Sorry, but who is this 'Kishibe Rohan' that you're comparing me to?"

Once again, she was reading my thoughts and answering questions I had only begun to form in my head. It was impossible to try to have a conversation with her. I can see why Yamame found it so difficult to be in her presence.

"Oh, that tsuchigumo hates me? Well, that's not unusual, most people down here do. Now, what purpose brings two humans down to a place like this? I don't imagine you came here just to chase after my siste... What? Earth Spirits are escaping from a geyser? That’s odd. Orin should be managing that. She's one of my pets, a flame cat, who I've given the duty of corralling the vengeful spirits in the Hell of Blazing Fires. Yes, I do have a lot of pets. Animal spirits don't hate me for reading their minds. I wonder if Orin is up to something."

The conversation proceeded rapidly, without me having to so much as open my mouth. I suppose I should be grateful that there was no need for small talk or unnecessary beating around the bush, but the pace was such that I felt completely left behind, even though Satori was ostensibly conversing with me.

She turned then to Renko, seemingly answering an unspoken question. "...You want to go see some of the vengeful spirits? The Hell of Blazing Fires is not a place for humans to go. You'd die instantly. I suppose I can show you the entrance later… You are not the sort of human who works as a youkai exterminator, are you? No, you're not, I see. In that case you'd simply fall in and be reduced to a pile of bone ash before you hit the ground. No, I’m afraid there isn’t a walkway for sightseeing. Yes, it would be rather pointless for you to visit. If I show you the entrance later, you’ll see what I mean for yourself."

There was no room to take part in the conversation.

"Ah, I know. I will take you to the entrance of the Hell of Blazing Fires if you do me a favor first."

"What sort of favor?" I blurted. It was something of a relief to hear my own voice and have had time to vocalize a question. Satori turned her attention back to me, shooting me a smug look..

"It concerns my sister Koishi, whom you were both chasing not long ago. She's always wandering aimlessly about, and most of the time I have no idea where she is. Miss Merry, you seem to be better at detecting her presence than most. I'd like to ask you to find her and bring her here, if only so that I can see her face again. It's been some time now since she last appeared before me, and I worry about her."

I let out a breath. Being able to see Koishi was one thing, but I had no idea how to locate her.

"How is it that you're able to see her so well though, you're just a human, aren't you? Oh I see. Your ability must allow you to see more than just boundaries though, if you can see her. Koishi has the ability to manipulate the unconscious mind, causing people to be unable to perceive her. The difficult part is that she uses this ability unconsciously. She's not intentionally hiding herself from others, it's more that she erases her presence from everyone else's mind without even thinking about it. She's not invisible, at least not in the way that you're thinking. It's more like she's drifted into the realm of the subconscious, becoming no more noticeable than an individual pebble on the side of the road."

Satori said all of that matter-of-factly, and with the same rapid fluency as always, answering my questions even as I conceived them. With how quickly she was proceeding it was hard to keep track of all of the information, but I did wonder what it meant for someone to ‘drift into the realm of the subconscious.’

"In her current state, even I can't read her mind, which makes it difficult for me to track her down as well. If you should happen to see her again, I’d ask that you please try to catch her. I expect that she may take an interest in someone who’s able to see her. You might have to be careful though. Despite her looks she is still a powerful youkai and compared to humans like you, quite dangerous. Yes, that’s the condition for taking you to see the entrance to the Hell of Blazing Fires." Having said all of that, Satori smiled softly. "It seems you’ve already decided to accept my assignment. Thank you, you have my gratitude."