東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 7:Phantasmagoria of Flower View

—19—


"Alright, c'mon, get off already, you're gonna break my broom."

Marisa brought us down on the dirt path that cut through the endless, blood-red sea of spider lilies, maneuvering somewhat clumsily with the extra weight of two passengers. Standing beside us, she let out a low whistle as she looked out over the terrain.

"It looks like it's just flowers, but every one of them is full of phantoms."

"Well Merry, shall we start walking? This way looks like it leads to the Sanzu River."

"Is it even safe for us to go there? While we're still alive, I mean?"

"You'll be fine as long as you don't try to cross it," Marisa opined. "Or at least the river won't hurt you. You should look out for wanderin' ghosts though, not all the ones around here are harmless. And of course there's hungry youkai to watch out for."

On that less-than-reassuring note, Marisa took her leave, flying off with a scattering of stardust. We waved at her for a moment, then set off down the road at a grim march. It wasn't like we had much choice about where to go. Staying put was just as risky, and going back through the forest would be impossible without Marisa's help.

Aside from the overwhelming red of the spider lilies, there were other flowering plants dotting the field as well, now that I got a better look. A ways down the road a substantial grove of trees with purple petals stood starkly, apart from everything else. I wracked my brain, trying to think of a tree that might match. They certainly didn't look like camellias, and seemed a bit too substantial for wisteria.

"Hey Renko, what kind of trees do you think those are, with the purple flowers?"

"Well there's wisteria, paulownia, and a couple different species of plum with flowers that color, I think. We'll have to get closer to be sure though."

Between here and there was an ocean of the spider lilies. Of all of the flowering plants I knew of, they were easily my least favorite. Their leafless visage made them look like no other plant, and that creepy, blood-red, alien look was intensified by the countless phantoms that floated and twined amidst them. To me the scenery around us seemed equally likely to be the sort of thing one might find on the other side of the Sanzu River.

"Walking on the shores of the Sanzu in our flesh and blood bodies. Anything goes in Gensokyo, eh, Merry? This would qualify as a real near-death experience, wouldn't it?"

"What do you mean a 'real' near-death experience? In the view of Relativistic Noology any near-death experience would count as 'real.' Regardless of what anyone might experience subjectively, it's still a phenomenon their brain interprets and records just the same as ours are doing right now."

"But even in the view of your specialty all of those experiences are unique and individual, right? The two of us are here together. That means we could make objective measurements of a river that flows to the afterlife for the first time in the history of humanity. Think of the stir something like that would cause back in the Scientific Century!"

"At least in Gensokyo other people have surely been there together before us. And even for us I'm not sure it's a first. We've been to the Netherworld, Renko. Wouldn't that be a near-death experience too?"

Our discussion was cut short by the boom and screech of a danmaku battle erupting in the skies not far ahead. The combatants were a good ways off, but even against the skies that were beginning to fade from gold to red I could make out that one of the combatants was Marisa.

Renko jogged a few steps forward excitedly. "Who's she fighting with, Merry? I can't tell."

"Renko, are you crazy? There's no cover here, we have to get clear." I said while tugging on her arm. She turned to me with a pitiful frown on her face, as if to plead for a chance to watch. Danmaku can make for a beautiful spectacle, but it's far too dangerous to take in without appropriate protection.

Renko seemed about to say something in response when there was a sharp whistling sound followed by a fine spray of flower petals as a projectile of some sort shot between the two of us. I yelped and flinched back, falling to a seated position as Renko got down on her hands and knees and began searching through the flowers at the spot where the projectile had whistled past us.

"What are you looking for, Renko? Those bullets are just magic, right? Or light or something?"

"No, not this time. That was some kind of physical object with mass—Oh, here it is!" Renko rose up from among the flowers holding something in her hand, pinching it between finger and thumb. There, it caught the ruddy hues of the sunset, shining with a metallic gleam. A small brass disc with a square hole punched through the center. "Look, Merry. It's a coin!"

"An old one," I nodded. "Is that a mon?"

"That's right. Six mon is the fare to cross the Sanzu River. Do you know what that means?"

We both turned and looked toward the ongoing battle. The figure Marisa was fighting appeared to be a red-haired woman wearing a stylish kimono. She had a completely unconcerned expression on her face as they fought, dodging and hurling out waves of danmaku as if idly scattering petals on a pond. In her right hand she held a large scythe, its blade reflecting the bloody glow of sunset in a fiery streak.

"Is that a shinigami?" I gulped.

"Looks like. The boatman of the Sanzu River. A real live grim reaper."

"Will Marisa be alright? Can you fight a grim reaper and live?"

"She seems to be doing alright. I wonder if shinigami in Gensokyo always carry scythes? I would have expected them to have a notebook instead. There was an old manga about that, wasn't there?" Renko mused, excitedly. She was getting entranced by the spectacle of the danmaku match.

"I read it a long time ago, but I don't remember the details. It's probably just being serialized now in this world. Another scattering of coins flew past us, sending up a spray of petals. Renko happily rushed over to collect the coins, oblivious to the danger.

"I wonder if we could use these to go shopping in the village?" She asked as she plucked them up, one after the other.

"I don't think stealing money from a shinigami is a great idea, Renko. Anything you find we should plan on giving back."

"Oh come on, Merry, she's literally throwing money at us. This can't be considered stealing."

I was about to reply when right before our eyes the sky was filled with a blinding glare as a laser fired from Marisa’s handheld furnace smashed into the shinigami as she flew through the air. We watched her tumble from the sky trailing wisps of smoke and crash into the ground, sending another flurry of red petals skyward. A handful of phantoms scattered into the air, then hung there, slowly floating about.

"Ooo, looks like Marisa won. Let's go have a look," Renko said, forgetting about the coins and rising to stand. She took off at a sprint, snagging my hand as she passed by and dragging me along.

Marisa had sat back down astride her broom and was coasting in a slow circle above where the woman had crashed to earth. As we approached, the shinigami burst from among the spider lilies, rising into the air once again, holding her scythe.

She took notice of us as we approached. "More humans?" She asked. "It's a shame to see so many mortals rushing to their deaths." She delivered the comment without any sense of gravity whatsoever, brushing off her skirt with her free hand as she did so.

"I'm afraid you have me mistaken for someone else," Renko said as she approached. "I'm Usami Renko. This is my partner Merry, and as far as I'm aware none of us are suicidal. I take it you must be the boatman of the Sanzu River?"

"Oh, have we met before?"

"No, as far as I know I've never had a near-death experience. I just assumed as much from seeing that scythe you're holding and all these coins you were throwing around." Renko said, holding up her prize.

"Oh I see. I should take those back though," she said. Then, in an instant, the shinigami was standing immediately in front of us. There had been no visible movement between her position several meters away and where she stood now, plucking the coin from Renko's hand. Renko blinked in surprise. Evidently she hadn't expected teleportation either.

Seeing the shock on our faces, the woman smiled happily. "I'm Onozuka Komachi. As you guessed, I am indeed the shinigami for this area, but if you're not suicidal, then a human has no reason to be here. The same goes for you, Miss Witch!" This last bit she had turned to shout toward Marisa, who was now descending toward us.

"Hey, you don't give the orders here, I won the match! So how 'bout you get all these phantoms bundled up and ferried across the river already?" Marisa had one hand on her broomstick to steer and was busily trying to swat several swarming phantoms away with the other.

Komachi sighed and planted the butt of her scythe on the ground, looking about. "I'm working on it. There's a lot here though, and then you came along. I just thought I'd take a break for a moment to shoo you off. Nothing wrong with doing a good deed here and there to break up the work, right?"

"When I found you, you looked like you were sleepin' off a few drinks."

"Hey, I'm a shinigami. If I'm taking a nap that's a few souls who get to live a little longer, right? That's a good deed, isn't it?" she asked, completely unapologetic.

A new voice cut into the conversation then, speaking with a tone and surety that suggested they were used to issuing commands.

"Komachi! Have you been slacking off 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛!?

It was a surprising sight to see a shinigami go rigid with fear, pausing for a moment to shudder before woodenly turning to address the newcomer who was striding toward us along the road, coming from the direction of the river ahead. The girl approaching us had a face that looked neither young nor old, wearing an official-looking uniform. She was carrying a short stick embossed with writing that looked something like the stick that Zen monks would be slapped with during meditation and glaring directly up at Komachi as she approached, ignoring the rest of us.

"Ugh, uhh.... Lady Shiki! " Komachi stuttered as she turned to face the approaching figure.

"It's not 'ugh,' it's 'yamaxanadu.' That doesn't matter now though, what matters is that the moment I take my eyes off of you for a second I find you lazing around, socializing with humans."

"Uh oh, looks like the boss is angry," Marisa cackled from above.

"I was just getting to it now, Lady Shiki. Off I go, lots of souls to collect," Komachi said, quickly stepping away.

The new girl, who had been called 'Lady Shiki' was surprisingly fast. She caught Komachi by the hem of her kimono before she could escape. "Komachi!" She said sternly. The shinigami's shoulders instantly drooped in defeat.

"I know full well that this should be a busy period, but when none of my scheduled cases show up for their appointments, what am I to do? If I have to leave the office to come chase you down, think how much that increases the backlog! While adequate rest is certainly something you should make time for, prioritizing that over efficiency in a time of overwhelming demand is not only wasteful but counterproductive! Surely you can see that if you just buckled down and got the job done quickly you'd have more free time in the end. Putting selfish sloth like this ahead of your assigned duties is grave malfeasance and a sin, Komachi. Should I send you to Hell right now?"

"Uh, yes Lady Shiki, I mean no! I mean please excuse my thoughtless behavior. I'll try to do better,"

"If you regret it, then let that show in your work ethic! I'm not requesting that you never take breaks. What you do on your off time is your own business. But to slack off when there are clearly souls in need of your aid directly in front of you is unthinkable! When your work doesn't get done, my work can't get done, meaning that every minute you spend napping is a minute of overtime I'll have to make up with! Mistakes are perfectly understandable, but if you’re merely indulging your own laziness then that constitutes petty corruption! Komachi, are you listening?"

"Yes, of course I'm listening, Lady Sh —Ow!"

The newcomer had interrupted Komachi's apology by giving her a whack on the head with her stick.

Judging by Lunasa's description, this must be the lecture-loving Yama that she had met in Muenzuka. She was nothing like I had pictured a Yama in my head - fastidious and domineering, yes, but much less intimidating. For a being entrusted with the authority to condemn the souls of the dead, she was surprisingly cute.

"If you understand, then get back to work. I'll be back to check on you later and I expect this situation to be dealt with by the time I arrive."

"Yes, yes, right away," Komachi said, already flying away. The expression on her face suggested she was relieved to have gotten off with only that scolding.

The Yama watched her go, hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. Then, with a sigh, she turned to face us.

—and our gazes met. For a moment I felt a shock run through me, chilling me to my very core as the Yama looked into my eyes. At that moment her eyes went wide and her eyebrows first rose in surprise, then hunched down distastefully. Under her withering glare I found myself instinctively clinging to my partner's sleeve.

What was it that compelled the Yama to put on such a stern expression? I can't pretend to have lived my life as a saint but...

"You two..." she said, but then shook her head from side to side, saying nothing more.

That was our first meeting with Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu, as she would later introduce herself. The Yama of Gensokyo and divine judge of paradise. Even now, as I write this record, the meaning of her gaze and cause for her stern expression remain a mystery to me.


—20—


"Hey, you down there, don't ignore people!" Marisa was hollering down from above, still turning in slow, lazy circles on her broomstick. As she called out, the Yama looked up, seeming to note her for the first time.

"You're that shinigami's boss, right? So the ghosts were caused by that shinigami slacking off, but what are all these flowers, really?"

"Who are you to ask this? Kirisame Marisa, I believe? A human magician who ran away from home and settled in the Forest of Magic, abandoning your familial duty despite being the only child of the Kirisame household and rightful inheritor of the village tool shop, yes?"

"Hey! What kinda shady weirdo goes around revealin' all of a maiden's secrets? I'm honored that my name has grown enough to reach the far shore of the Sanzu though. Or did'ja hear about me from some ghost with a grudge?"

"Do you suspect there are ghosts with cause to hate you?"

"I'm the very image of saintly righteousness. If you already know my name though, I should hear yours."

"I am Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu, the Yama for all of Gensokyo, as appointed by the Divine Ministry of Right and Wrong. As for the flowers, when lost souls lose their way, they rely upon the flowers. Unable to travel to Higan, and without any connections whatsoever, and without realizing their own state of death, the lost souls possess these flowers and cause them to bloom.

"Ewww, are you saying that all of these flowers are dead people? I picked and scattered a whole bunch on the way here."

"That would be mass murder, then."

"Nah, I'm just helpin' wayward souls to achieve Nirvana, right?" Marisa grinned unapologetically.

The Yama sighed. "I think it would be better if we talked about you for a bit. I see that you are a bit too comfortable with lying."

"That isn't true. I've never told a single lie in my entire life."

"If you continue to insist upon this path in life, at this rate your tongue will be ripped out."

"Huh? That's the sort of junk old fogies yell at kids."

"You should heed their words and take some time to re-examine your life. Were I to judge your soul now, you would be punished by the removal of your tongue."

"I see. In that case, you're sayin' I should keep a spare tongue in my pocket in case of my sudden death?"

"I would just have that one ripped out too. A better course for you would be to correct that impudent mouth of yours."

"So if I want to keep a hold of this tongue of mine, I guess I'd best just take you down then, shouldn't I?" Marisa pulled her hakkero out of the pocket of her apron, flipping it in the air before snatching it and boldly pointing it at the Yama.

The Yama replied by sighing again. "Such a senseless waste of a life. If you wish to avoid condemnation to Hell, I advise you to repent."

"I'm not afraid of Hell. The only thing I fear is not bein' able to use magic."

"Hell exists not to punish sinners but to ensure that nobody sins in the first place. I am here to help people realize and correct their ways. If I must hurt you a little to teach you the error of your ways, then so be it."

And thus, once again my brush is put to shame. Mere words can not describe the beauty and the fury of the danmaku battle that erupted as the Yama rose up off of the ground to confront Marisa. In one sense the battle was decided instantly, but in another it was long and drawn out. While the Yama retaliated with bursts of glowing bullets of her own, her attacks were half-hearted. Far more impressive was her skill at dodging. All of the danmaku battles we had seen to date had lasted only a matter of minutes at most. The Yama, however, continued to coolly avoid Marisa's attacks for more than ten minutes, glaring dispassionately with an expression of disappointment rather than fury as she moved seemingly without effort to narrowly avoid each blast.

Eventually Marisa's impatience gave way to frustration. After watching volley after volley of stars go wide, Marisa surged ahead just as she had when fighting Patchouli. The hakkero glowed in her hand, motes of light streaking as they coalesced to a point...

"MAAASTER..."

Marisa's cry was interrupted as the Yama surged forward, moving animatedly for the first time in the fight. In an instant she circled around behind Marisa and before the spell could be completed, she struck, simply whacking the witch with the small stick she carried in her hand.

"Ow!"

"Are you satisfied now?"

"What?"

"I had hoped I had given you ample opportunity to vent your frustrations. I do have a schedule to keep, I'm afraid. If you require further correction though, I can stay until you've run yourself out of magical power."

"Sorry about your schedule then, 'cuz I've got plenty of power left to spare,"

"Being arrogant and refusing to respect the needs of others will only serve to shorten your lifespan. It's not my intention to condemn you to Hell, Miss Kirisame. Rather, it's precisely because I would like to keep you from being condemned that I'm doing this. You should reconsider your actions and strive to do good deeds. Especially if you intend to live as dangerously as you have been. You and I might be meeting again sooner than you think."

"If you think you can just —Ow!"

"I will continue to correct you for as long as is necessary for you to understand," the Yama said, tapping the stick against her palm.

"I'm not gonna —Ow! Quit hittin' my head, you're gonna make me stupid!"

"Stupidity is not a sin. Perhaps if you were a little less witty you might feel the need to think before speaking and give some consideration to your words. With a stubborn and egotistical outlook like yours, the person most affected by your lies is yourself."

This time Marisa was smart enough not to try and respond. Instead she merely glared at the Yama hovering beside her, both hands covering her head as she fumed.

"I am well aware that there is no one in this life who does not lie. Lying itself is a forgivable transgression. When used to demean and entrap others or aggrandize oneself however, lies become harmful, and a burden upon one's soul. Worse still, a consummate liar becomes desensitized to their own untruthfulness. If you continue down this path, you will lose the ability to know what's true any more. About yourself, about others, about anything. A person with no conception of truth can never find salvation."

"I'm tired of listenin' to somethin' that sounds like it came out of the mouth of some old fogey. I can decide how to live my own life just fine."

"Indeed you can, which is why you must take responsibility for your own actions. Deciding to lie is your own choice, for which you alone are responsible. The effects of your lies impact more than just yourself, however. You are not alone in this world."

"Well, my family disowned me, so I kinda am."

"There are more people around you than just the family you have already distanced yourself from. Will you continue to treat those around you so callously that you would thoughtlessly risk losing them too? The people you surround yourself with are all connected to you, and were you to fall into Hell as a result of your transgressions it is likely that at least some of them might be dragged down with you."

"What the hell? I came here to do a good deed and solve an incident. Why do I have to get lectured by the Yama for that? If that shinigami's gonna do her job now then I'm done here."

"No, we are not done speaking, you and I," the Yama said.

Marisa, however, turned to address us. "Sorry you two. You wanted to find out what's going on? Well here's your chance. Good luck with the Yama!"

With that she was gone, escaping at a speed that nearly boggled the mind, already only a speck in the distance, connected to our current location only by a river of glittering stardust. The two of us could only watch in amazement as our only way back to the village disappeared.

Overhead, the Yama watched her flee and sighed heavily. Then, floating down toward the ground again, she turned toward us. Her piercing gaze seemed to see through everything in an instant. Looking down at us from above, with the sun setting behind her, she cast an ominous shadow, eclipsing us in her shade as she stared down in judgment. I can only imagine the fear a soul standing before her might experience.

"You are Usami Renko, and Maéreverie Hearn, correct?" she asked, as her feet lightly touched onto the road. Although she had landed just in front of us, she was looking at a small hand mirror she had produced from one of her pockets rather than our faces.

"You are a pair of Outsiders who arrived in this world a little over two years ago. You teach arithmetic and Japanese at the Kamishirasawa Keine's temple school in the village and operate a detective agency on the side. In short, you are a pair of overly curious people with a tendency to poke your nose not only into the affairs of others, but into any dangerous or unusual event you happen to notice."

"Well well, that's a very handy little tool you have there if it can show you all of that," Renko said, removing her hat. I glanced over at her, then nervously bowed. It's difficult to know how to react when an introduction is so hopelessly one-sided.

The Yama exhaled and tucked the mirror back into a pocket, turning to look at Renko. "Usami Renko," she began with an air of official gravity. "I think you are a bit overconfident."


—21—


Renko shrugged her shoulders at the judgment, shooting me an almost comedic look. For my part I committed a heroic effort in swallowing my instinct to laugh or tease. As one might have expected of the Yama, her analysis was remarkably precise.

"Knowledgeable, insightful, and thoughtful, not only on the basis of logic but also in the areas of improvisation and imagination. On top of this, you possess the eloquence to transmit the fruits of your thinking to others. You conduct yourself well, Miss Usami, with capabilities well beyond the needs of most humans. Despite this, you have the drive and courage to challenge your superior abilities and constantly improve yourself. This is commendable."

After the dressing down Marisa had received, it was surprising to hear the Yama praise Renko so readily. The grin she flashed my way was beyond insufferable. "My, my, it's a little embarrassing to be praised so highly by the Divine Judge of Paradise."

Upon seeing that smile, however, the Yama thrust out her stick at Renko, its blunt tip leveled at my partner’s sternum. Renko raised her hands to shoulder level, holding them palms up in a gesture of surrender as she grinned.

"Your pride in your abilities often crosses the line into arrogance, however, just as your courage is allowed to become recklessness and your intellectual curiosity is debased by a callous disregard for the will of others. You have taken to regularly walking an incredibly narrow tightrope, using your wisdom and eloquence to keep you from tumbling off of the side. In the two years you have been here you have nearly ruined your partner Maéreverie Hearn numerous times merely in order to sate your own curiosity. On occasions you have been aware of this and proceeded anyway, and on others you have recklessly stumbled forward with little understanding of the risks you were taking and exposing your friend to. Both are actions that would have reflected poorly on you had things gone just a little bit differently and you had been delivered across the Sanzu to meet my judgment."

Renko kept her mouth shut, but her grin faded. I let out a small breath and thought back to our first audience with Remilia in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, or the time we had read to Flandre in her room, or when we were brought to the Netherworld. Even the moment when Renko had confronted Suika about her identity or the time I had spent in Eientei before Renko had awoken. Every one of those encounters had been a moment of life-threatening danger, and all of them had been a direct or indirect result of Renko's curiosity. Even our very presence in this world was only a result of Renko's desire to plumb the depths of the unknown, and to do so with me dragged along behind her.

"Are you saying that powerless humans have no place outside the village?"

"I am telling you that it is only because of your outstanding abilities that you have managed to win over the people of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the princess of the Netherworld, a nine-tailed fox and the immortals of Eientei. You are free to indulge in that risk as you see fit. Knowing that an injury that could be healed with a night's rest for a youkai could easily be fatal to you, you are risking not only your own life, but that of the girl next to you. Doing so with full knowledge that she does not possess the means at your disposal to narrowly escape from these self-invited disasters is beyond arrogant. Are you prepared to face my judgment bearing the weight of her death on your shoulders as well as your own?"

To this, Renko could respond only with silence, hunching her chin to her chest and retreating into consideration.

"You must come to recognize and understand the privilege you enjoy in being allowed to indulge your curiosity in this world to the extent that you have. You are neither strong, nor do you properly understand the gift that you have been given in being sheltered by the strong. You make trouble for those around you, confident that their abilities will shield you from the consequences of your actions. If you have a fear of death, then you must realize and accept that you are weak in this world, and that that weakness puts you and those around you, especially Maéreverie Hearn, in danger whenever you choose to pit yourself against those with power."

Renko kept her face downcast, with her eyes shaded beneath the brim of her hat. In the shadows beneath it though, I could see she wasn't looking at the ground, but instead over at me. She crossed her arms in frustration and seemed about to speak, but thought better of it.

The Yama then turned to me. "And as for you, Maéreverie Hearn..."

It would have been foolish not to anticipate this. I had steeled myself in preparation, but it was still hard to know what exactly to expect.

"I think that you have become a bit too dependent on Usami Renko." She paused then, seemingly expecting a rebuttal, but finding none from me, she proceeded.

"Dependency on others is not in and of itself a sin. All humans are dependent upon their societies and relationships with others. To make another responsible for all of one's material, emotional and spiritual needs, however, is the attitude of a child. To be independent means to build a network of support for oneself such that even if one were to lose something they depended upon, they would have the means to find a replacement and carry on. Independence also means having the capability to support another should circumstances compel them to depend upon you for a time. Children cannot do this. You, Maéreverie Hearn, could not do this. If the need arose, could you live in this world without the aid of Usami Renko? If someone were to come to you in need, could you shelter and protect them under your own power?"

There was truth to the accusation. But even so, even if the critique rang true, how could one respond after being so bluntly and suddenly condemned?

"I... I think that..." I began.

The Yama had little interest in my stuttering objections. She continued apace. "Like Usami Renko, you have taken for granted the protection that you benefit from, though in this case your protector is Renko herself, making use of the strength she has inconsiderately borrowed from others. How do you imagine you are perceived by those around you? As a subordinate of Renko? As her dependent? To be recognized only as being connected to another is a dangerous business, Maéreverie Hearn. You know well enough that in this world a being's nature descends from the way in which it is perceived by others and despite that—rather, because of that, you’ve decided to make Usami Renko your— "

Somehow the Yama's voice seemed to be warping, taking on a metallic ring to it as if I were hearing it echo down a long hallway. At the same moment the scene in front of me was distorting similarly, stretching as if I were watching it from a great distance. My head grew suddenly cold.

"Stop, please... I know..." I managed to squeeze out.

I watched, with an eerie sense of calmness as my vision shook and then tilted wildly. "Oh, I must be falling," I thought with cool detachment. Somewhere, someone was calling my name.

My next memory was awakening, as if from a brief nap, in Renko's arms, my weight supported by her body as she struggled to hold me up. Coming to my senses, I tried to get my feet under me to stand again, but found that my legs were cold and limp, utterly without strength. The Yama, who had been pointing her stick at my chest as she spoke, had lowered her arm.

"Forgive me," she said. "Perhaps I have said too much. Your reaction only goes to show what I had feared, however. Usami Renko, Maéreverie Hearn: you are both much more unusual than you think you are, both in terms of your nature in this world and in terms of your affairs."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Renko asked. Her voice was close to my ear, but my vision kept blurring in and out, making the Yama’s face appear indistinct.

"I can't say any more. Such questions are beyond the jurisdiction of the Ministry. It is enough for me to say that if both of you were to continue on the paths you are currently walking, then it is unquestionable that in time you will pay for those sins with your very bodies. Such is the inevitable nature of karma."

The Yama's words seemed to come from terribly far away. They were the last things I can remember hearing before everything went dark.