東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 7:Undefined Fantastic Object

—19—


If I were writing these casefiles simply as records of the heroic exploits of the Hakurei shrine maiden and the incidents she resolved, then the spectacular three against four battle we witnessed on the ship would be the climax of this story. Unfortunately, this is a case file of the Hifuu Detective Agency, so I'm afraid there's not much space for descriptions of danmaku.

In truth the fact that there were bullets flying about in every direction inside of the aftcastle and throughout the hold meant that I couldn’t have watched the battle closely enough to give you a full description even if I had wanted to. The inside of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 is quite spacious, however, so the fights were probably something like the battles we had seen inside of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, with enough space for everyone to manage to maneuver and dodge.

"Ooo, they're really pulling out all of the stops this time, this is getting pretty flashy!" Renko said approvingly.

"Stop peeking out like that, Renko, you're going to get hit if you keep showing your face."

According to Renko, Reimu had taken to fighting Murasa, Marisa was engaged with Ichirin and Unzan, and Sanae was taking on both Shou and Nazrin at the same time.

I admit that I tried to peek a look at the action myself, but as soon as I did a spray of stray needles thrown by Reimu flew past my face. After flinching back from them, I looked pleadingly at Renko.

"Let's get a little further away. No one can see us here but that just means they might shoot through us and this wall without noticing."

"You're such a worrywart, Merry."

Renko said that, but she didn't resist when I grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the ship. We hadn't taken more than three steps before the wall flanking the stairs we had just been sheltering under exploded as Unzan's fist punched through it.

"Whoa!" Renko cried, freezing in place to watch.

"This is no time to stop and admire the show!" I shouted, hauling her after me. "Run, Renko!"

Amidst the storm of various projectiles flying around in every direction Murasa could be heard screaming "Don't put more holes in the hull, Ichirin!" but I didn't stop to look behind us as we rushed down corridors and between compartments. As we moved deeper into the narrow corridors twisting through the lower decks, I noticed a suspicious light reflecting off of wall a little ways ahead of us.

"Hey Renko, what's that light?"

"Huh? Oh! What is that thing?" Renko asked, rushing around the corner to get a look as the light source began to move, rushing away from her and deeper into the ship. "It’s gone now, but it looked like a big ball of light. Do you think it was some sort of phantom? Foxfire? Ball lightning? A UFO?"

I hadn’t seen the source of the light myself, but I wondered if it could have been a fragment of the mast carried by a fairy. With how much light it had been giving off, it would have had to be a fairy capable of carrying a double armload of the luminous shards.

"Whatever it is, it’s getting away. Let’s get after it, Merry!" Renko said, dashing down the corridor in pursuit.

"Hey Renko, wait!"

I chased after her as she made her way down the narrow, cluttered corridors. The mysterious light always seemed to be darting around a corner and out of sight just before we could catch a glimpse of it.

"This almost feels like when we were chasing after Koishi," Renko said excitedly. "Do you think this light is leading us somewhere?"

"Like where? A hidden compartment on the ship?"

"I'm excited to find out. What do you think it'll be, Merry? Snakes or oni?"

"I'm guessing a nue."

We continued to chase the light for a while, until...

"Did you see where it went, Merry? I lost it!"

"Isn't this right where we first started chasing it?"

"Did it just run us in a circle? Seems like it was just a prank." Renko stood beside me, adjusting her hat as I bent over hands on my knees as I caught my breath.

"I don't see that light any more, I guess it got away."

"I wonder if that light could have been the Nue the captain had told us about?"

"The one who broke the ship's mast and disguised the pieces as UFOs?"

"The same. If they're hiding somewhere on this ship, maybe your eyes could find them."

"I can only see boundaries, Renko. My eyes aren't some sort of universal radar."

The way my eyes work somehow allows me to see boundaries, a fact that Renko had been employing to use me as a high-precision boundary detector. The clearer the division between one thing or state of being and another is, the more readily my eyes could see that boundary. That was why I was able to see Reisen hiding behind a blind of space twisted slightly out of phase with the rest of reality.

"The nue's tricks don't seem to work on you either though."

"I’m not sure if that would work to actually find the nue itself. More importantly, listen. I don't hear the sounds of a battle any more."

Our chase had brought us right back to the stairs that lead to the aftcastle, but there was no sign of any of the lights and clamor of the last few minutes. It seemed like the battle had reached its conclusion. Cautiously, we made our way up the stairs and peeked into the aftcastle.

"You're strong..." Murasa groaned from the floor. She and the rest of the crew of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 had clearly come out on losing side of the battle.

"You've lost," Reimu said, resting her hands on her hips. "Give up quietly and just go back to the Underworld."

Sanae noticed us peeking in at that point and ran over to us, smiling broadly and flashing a V sign with each hand. "We won!" she said happily.

Ichirin, who was kneeling on the ground, bit her lip and tried to climb to her feet. "I can't let it end like this..."

Murasa spoke out and stopped her, chuckling bitterly. "It doesn't matter, Ichirin. We may have been beaten, but we'll win in the end. This ship is naturally drawn to Hijiri. Even I can't stop it. Soon we'll be travelling to Makai automatically. It looks like you'll all be coming with us to witness the resurrection of the living saint in person!"

Reimu and Marisa exchanged a worried look at Murasa’s boast, but Sanae clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Oh wow! I never thought I'd get to hear such a villainous line in real life!"

"Oi Reimu, what should we do?"

"The ship can't get there if we just destroy the whole thing. Marisa, do your thing."

"Sheesh. You can be pretty violent sometimes, you know?" Marisa said with a shrug as she pulled out her hakkero.

"Alright, hold up!" Renko suddenly declared, stepping forward and interposing herself between Marisa and her shot. "Great work everyone, but that's enough."

"Hey mastermind, get out of the way, unless you want to get exterminated along with everyone else."

"Come on, Reimu. You wouldn't do something like that to a powerless human. More importantly though, destroying the ship now would be squandering a golden opportunity. Think about it," Renko continued, beginning to pace back and forth as she lectured, "First off, for you Marisa, what if I told you that the person these youkai are trying to release is a powerful ex-human magician who's been sealed in Makai for a thousand years?"

"Say what?" Marisa asked, lowering the hakkero, "I thought she was supposed to be some stuffy old nun."

"A nun who mastered magic and forsook her humanity in favor of perpetual youth. I imagine that you and she might have much to discuss. She might also have a punch of priceless magical artifacts sealed away with her. How's that for a treasure?"

"Hoh, that's not bad," she said, her eyes lighting up as she tucked the hakkero back into her apron.

"Wait a minute, don't let her bamboozle you, Marisa!" Reimu protested.

"Well it's been a while since we've been to Makai, hasn't it? There's no treasure on this ship so why not go talk to this nun and do some treasure huntin' on the way back?"

"You can't just—"

It was a selfish motivation to be sure, but there was no benefit to Marisa in blowing up the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛. It's not surprising that she took Renko's bait, really. Having reeled one fish in already, Renko turned to Reimu, who glowered murderously right back at her.

"Renko, are you seriously looking to get exterminated?" She growled.

"Now now, Reimu, calm down. Sure, you could try to destroy this whole ship, but there’s an easier way for you to resolve this incident then trying to tear the whole thing apart by hand."

"Like what?"

"Why not let the ship go where it's headed and meet this saint for yourself? Then you can decide if she's dangerous or not, and, if need be, exterminate her on the spot. That way you could seal the ship and everyone on it in Makai together so this won't happen again."

"She's the youkai leader of a bunch of other youkai who got sealed away by a previous Hakurei shrine maiden! I don't need to check someone like that out, it's obvious that she's dangerous!"

"Ah." Renko said, raising a finger to her chin contemplatively. "I see how it is. You're afraid that a dangerous youkai like her might be too much for you. I see."

Reimu glowered at the provocation. "I'm not afraid of any youkai. Exterminating them is what I do."

"Oh, well it's no problem then, right? Surely if she's a threat to Gensokyo, you'll have no trouble putting her in her place."

"That's not the point! I can't let a dangerous youkai be reintroduced to this world! My job is to put a stop to things like that!"

"Which is why we'd be releasing her in Makai. If you're present at her release and she seems dangerous then you can fight her there and prevent her from ever setting foot in Gensokyo again. It's perfect!"

Reimu glared at Renko and opened her mouth to protest further, but then shut it without saying anything, knowing she'd been outfoxed. Beside her Marisa guffawed loudly. "Oh man, Reimu. You're just about unbeatable at danmaku, but you're outclassed against Renko in a battle of words."

"Don't laugh! Nothing’s going my way today!" Reimu growled, scratching her head in frustration. She looked around the room, glaring into every face present. Finally she relented with a heavy sigh. "Fine. We'll go see this nun of yours. If she seems dangerous, I'm going to exterminate her, then all of you, and then I'm sealing all of you in Makai."

The faces of the crew lit up as Reimu said that. "Let's not waste any more time then. Full speed ahead! Set sail for Makai!" Murasa shouted, jumping up and grabbing a hold of the helm once more. Around her Nazrin, Ichirin and Shou all let out a collective sigh and smiled weakly at each other.

"What about you, Sanae, are you alright with all of this?" Renko asked her.

"As a member of the Hifuu Detective Agency, I'll follow the director's lead." She said with a salute. "Oh,but if this nun turns out to be a scary youkai, I'll exterminate her!"

"No one asked you to do my job for me. I'm the shrine maiden here." Reimu grumbled.

"The first one to the prize wins! Becoming known as the shrine that resolved this incident will be great for our reputation!"

"If resolving incidents was all it took to gather faith my life would be a lot easier," Reimu grumbled, regarding Sanae's excitement with a look of confusion.

And so, with two groups of people aboard with very different ambitions our journey continued on, inexorably destined for Makai.


—20—


With the ship no longer having any need for a pilot, there was no need for us all to stay in the aftcastle. Thus, we spread out along the deck, leaning over the railings to watch where we were going.

The nose of the ship had fallen and we were steadily descending toward the yawning mouth of a natural cave in the side of a large hill just northeast of the Hakurei Shrine.

"Oh, I know where we are," Sanae exclaimed, peering over the rails. "This is the hill behind the Hakurei Shrine, isn't it?"

"Kinda nostalgic to be goin' back to Makai, ain't it, Reimu?" Marisa asked, smiling broadly.

"I forgot about all of that a long time ago," Reimu replied, crossing her arms and looking irritated.

"You've both been to Makai before?" Renko asked with surprise.

"A long time ago. Before you ever came to Gensokyo." Marisa said, scratching at her head.

In other words it was before the Scarlet Mist Incident. That would indeed have been quite a while ago.

"Hey, last time you were here you came with your instructor, didn't you? What's she up to?"

"So you do remember! I haven't seen Master Mima in years. I've never heard a word from her."

"You had a magic instructor, Marisa? What was she like?"

"Oh that's right, you guys never saw Marisa back then. She was totally different. You wouldn't even have recognized her."

"Oi, oi! No more old stories."

"You were the one who brought it up. I thought you were feeling nostalgic."

"Not about that. Shut up though, we're nearly there."

It seemed Marisa must have had some embarrassing memories she didn’t want brought us as she had rather pointedly changed the topic. Sure enough though, the ship had already reached the opening in the side of the hill. Rocky cliffs rose on either side of us, close to the ship's hull as we descended.

Murasa patted the shattered stump of the mast as the subterranean darkness engulfed the ship. "If the mast had been in one piece it would have caught on the roof of the cave," she murmured, looking up as we slid into the cleft. As it was, the ship just barely fit within the confines of the cavern, with stone pressing tight around us on all sides.

"Do you think we should actually be grateful to Nue for this, Ichirin?"

"Who can say? Oh... what's that up ahead?" Ichirin narrowed her eyes as she peered into the depths of the cave. Shou spent a moment staring too, then took out the jeweled pagoda. When she lifted it above her head, it flared into brilliance, shining a perfect cone of bright light directly ahead of the ship like an enormous headlight.

Ahead of our current position, the cave came to an abrupt end. Where it did, there stood an enormous and elaborately ornamented pair of metal doors. Looking at them as they threw back the harsh light from the pagoda, they instantly called to mind Rodin's famous statue of the gates of Hell, which I had seen once in the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park back in the Tokyo of the Scientific Century.

"Oh, neat!" Sanae cooed appreciatively. "They even look like the doors to a demon world! [[Abandon the pope, all ye who enter,]] she intoned.

"It's [[Abandon hope all ye who enter]]" I corrected, quoting Dante's 𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜.

Before the door were two figures, dwarfed by its enormous size. They were both squinting in the beam of light emitted from the pagoda, looking quite surprised to suddenly find a sailing ship bearing down on them. As we drew closer they both lifted off of the ground and flew up above the reach of the pagoda’s beam to get a better look at all of us.

"What is this!? Why is there a huge ship in a cave?"

The figure who had just spoken was a girl in a red dress whose purple hair was pulled into a side ponytail. The other one was floating towards us, wearing all white with a wide-brimmed hat decorated with a purple bow over short golden hair. "Ohoh! It’s rare that we get a guest, but now we have a whole bunch of them!" she drawled.

Both of the girls glanced over all of us who were assembled on the deck —then froze when they landed on Reimu and Marisa, standing together near the side rail. "Ah!" the purple-haired one exclaimed, pointing animatedly, "It's you two again! The shrine maiden and the witch, just like before!"

"Oh my!" her friend exclaimed. "I remember them. That was a loooong time ago."

"Reimu, Marisa, you know these two?" Renko asked, turning toward them.

Both Reimu and Marisa were looking up at the newcomers in confusion. "...No idea" they both said in unison.

"You don't even remember!?" the girl in the red dress cried. "I'm not letting any of you through the gate this time!"

"Saraaaa, calm down. You can’t fight this many people all at once." The blond girl admonished.

"I'm the official gatekeeper! It's my duty to pick fights with invaders. Stand back, Louise!"

"All riiight~. Don't get yourself killed," she said, before turning and floating back down towards the doors.

"Alright then!" Sara declared looking down at Reimu and Marisa. "Come and face me!"

Reimu and Marisa both turned to Sanae. "Well, you heard her," they both said in unison.

"Me?" Sanae asked, pointing at her nose. "Well, she looks like a youkai, so I guess I can exterminate her. Get ready!"

"Wait, not you," Sara protested.

Rather than stopping, Sanae pulled out her wand and drew a glowing pentacle in the air. Before anyone could say anything else a barrage of danmaku rushed toward Sara and immediately knocked her backwards through the air and into the ringing metal of the huge doors.

"Ooooh. Are you okay Sara?" Louise asked, floating over to get a look at where she had fallen.

"Oh, was that it? Did I win?" Sanae muttered, turning toward Reimu and Marisa. They merely shrugged in response.

A moment later the girl called Louise alighted on the deck of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛, glaring at Sanae with her hands on her hips. "Heeey. Why are you bullying Sara like that?"

"Oh, did you want to go too?" Marisa asked, flipping her hakkero in the air before snatching it.

"Hold on!" Murasa called, walking over towards them and waving her arms. "Before you get to that, we should talk. I take it that you're a resident of Makai? My name is Murasa Minamitsu. I'm the captain of this ship, and we've come to release Hijiri Byakuren, a Buddhist nun who's been sealed in your world. May we pass through the gate?" Murasa spoke with an unusual formal certainty, then bowed politely.

"Ooooh, Sara, did you hear any of that~?" the blonde girl shouted over the edge of the deck.

"Ow. I heard most of it. Who did you say you've come to release?" she asked as she landed next to Louise.

"Hijiri Byakuren. She's a former human who became a magician." Shou said, stepping forward.

"Hijiri... hmmmm. It doesn't ring a bell..." the girl called Louise drawled out slowly. "Hey Sara, do you have any idea?"

"Umm, not really, but isn't that the name of one of Mother's friends? That person who lives in Houkai?"

"Oooh, that lady? Maaaaybe. We should ask Mother."

All of the Myouren Temple crew got excited on hearing that.

"She’s here!" Murasa said, smiling brightly.

"Just a little further and we’ll see her!" Ichirin returned her smile.

"You’ve done it, Captain!" Shou added.

Ichirin and Murasa hugged each other and quietly rejoiced as Shou’s shoulders shook with emotion.

"Hang in there, Big Shou, we haven't reached Hijiri yet," Murasa said.

Nazrin wordlessly walked toward the group and handed Shou a handkerchief. Shou thankfully accepted it, blotting at her eyes and apologizing.

"S-Sorry, Nazrin..."

After blowing her nose loudly into the handkerchief, Shou turned back to the newcomers and bowed. "Please, can you guide us to her?"

"The ship can guide itself, Shou. We just need to go through that door."

"That may be true, but we don't know anything about Makai. Wouldn't it be better to have someone native show us the way and warn us of any dangers?"

To my mind, Shou’s plan made more sense.

"What should we do, sis?"

"Welllllll…. I don't mind showing them the way," Louise said, "but since they’re going to meet one of Mother’s friends, I should take them to see her first, don’t you think?"

"That's true. Okay, hold on just a sec, I'll open the door."

With a sound more akin to the deep tolling of a heavy bell than the creaking of a door, the entryway split and began to open.

"Is that all it takes to enter the world of demons?" Sanae asked as she stared into the light. "Sakyou and Sensui had to go through way more for this. We didn't even have to use a Dimension Sword," she muttered, but no one was listening.

"I'll allow you through, but I'll ask you to go see my mother before you go looking for this Byakuren person." Sara stated officiously.

"I'll show you to her and she'll decide whether or not your friend can be released, okay~? I'm Louise by the way, nice to meet you" the blonde girl declared bowing quickly. "My mother is the Administrator of Makai."

"The Administrator?" Marisa asked, suddenly shoving her way in front of the others. "You don't mean..." she stopped, turning toward Reimu rather than completing her question.

Reimu sighed. "Yeah, it would pretty much have to be her."

The two of them seemed more than a little worried.

There was something that had caught my attention, and Renko seemed to have noticed it too. Both Lousie and Sara had referred to the Administrator of Makai as their mother, which meant…

"Excuse me, Miss Louise. Sorry to interrupt. My name is Usami Renko, and that's my partner, Merry over there. We're just ordinary humans. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Oh, of course not, what is it?"

"You mentioned that your mother is the Administrator of Makai. I assume that would make her Lady Shinki, correct?"

"Ooohoh, do you know her~?" Louise lilted, tilting her head curiously.

"Only by reputation. But unless I miss my guess, that would mean that you have a sister named Alice, correct?"

Louise's eyes widened in surprise and she looked over all of us who were gathered in front of her with an expression of absolute shock. "Are you guys all friends of Alice's?"


—21—


"Alice?" Reimu asked. "Alice who? Not our Alice."

"Yeah, that one." Marisa replied. "We met her for the first time here in Makai. Don't you remember, Reimu?"

"I told you I already forgot all about this place."

While the two of them were discussing it, Sanae turned to Renko and I. "They're talking about that puppeteer who lives in the forest, right?"

Meanwhile Murasa and the others all looked confused.

"Oh don't worry about it Captain, you don't know her," Renko assured her.

"You must know her," Sara protested, pointing to Reimu. "She ran away from home just after you guys invaded Makai last time.

"I don't know anythin' about that," Marisa said with a shrug.

Reimu shrugged. "I still don't remember any of this."

"Is Alice at least alright over there?" Louise asked, sounding increasingly desperate.

"She's fine. In fact she gave us a message to deliver," Renko replied, stepping forward.

"Well, I'm sure Mother will be happy to hear that. She always worries so much." Louise smiled endearingly as she clapped her hands together.

"I can’t imagine what Alice could have been up to all this time that would keep her so busy she can’t even send a letter back home to her family" Sara muttered from behind her and sighed.

"So then, can you go ahead and guide us to meet the Administrator of Makai?" Murasa suggested pointedly. Being this close to the finish line, I couldn’t blame her for wanting to keep us on track.

"Oh yes, of course~," Louise said with a smile, lightly hopping off of the deck and floating in front of the ship.

"Follow me. See you later, Sara."

All at once the ship lurched to life once more, slowly accelerating towards the gate.

"Yep, be careful, sis. And you two, don't cause any trouble like last time."

"Well that all depends on what your mother has to say to us," Marisa called to her as we passed over.

"...You didn’t talk like that the last time you were here, did you?"

"Nah, what're you talkin' about? Next stop Makai!" Marisa shouted just as we all passed through the doorway.

We had finally reached Makai. As we emerged, the view below us was much more urban than I might have expected. As we slowly floated along I looked all around, taking in the sight of a city filled with modern, western-style architecture extending out as far as I could see in every direction.

Marisa inhaled deeply, looking over the side in wonder. "Oh, everything's so full of magic here!"

"That's Makai for you. Especially this are. A whooole lot of devils and fallen angels live here."

"No wonder it's got such a creepy atmosphere," Sanae said as she stared around as well. "I wonder if living in a place like this makes magicians turn evil."

Renko shrugged. "Beats me."

"Master! Look! The pagoda!" Nazrin suddenly cried out. She was pointing to the jeweled pagoda in Shou's hands. It had, seemingly of its own accord, focused its light into a tiny beam which was pointing straight as an arrow into the far distance.

"Is it pointing us towards Hijiri?" Murasa asked, tilting her head.

"That is the direction of Houkai, so that would make sense," Louise confirmed.

"Then let’s get going!" Shou shouted, turning to the captain.

"Master, we said we'd meet with the Administrator of this world first, remember?"

"Oh, yes, sorry."

While Louise was talking with the crew, and Marisa continued to peer over the edge of the ship, Reimu was standing right where she had been the whole time, in the middle of the deck, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Renko approached her in an attempt to break the ice.

"Sooo. Reimu. You're looking a little grumpier than usual."

"Who's fault do you think that is, exactly? You've really done it this time. Why would you want to help out a bunch of youkai like this? You're a human."

"They were people in need of assistance. Besides, it sounded interesting."

"When people like you find something interesting and start messing with youkai I end up with more work to do."

"That's not so bad, is it? Resolving incidents like this improves your shrine's reputation, right? You might be able to get more worshippers out of this like Sanae said, right?"

"You're the only one who would think that way! Any normal human would want nothing to do with incidents or the youkai that cause them. Renko, if you keep associating freely with youkai, you're going to end up becoming one."

"You're worried about me! Even though I'm the mastermind behind this incident. That's sweet, Reimu."

"Shut your mouth. You're a human from the village. That means that you should be keeping a proper distance from any youkai. Gensokyo is not a place for humans and youkai to intermingle as they please—"

Reimu was in the middle of saying that, growing more enraged by Renko's nonchalance by the minute when she was interrupted by Louise calling out "Oh, there it is! I'll be right back." The building she was indicating was a western-style mansion, slightly reminiscent of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Louise floated away from the deck of the ship, but she hadn't gone more than a dozen meters away before she was met by two figures flying up from the mansion and zooming towards us. The two girls were rather dissimilar in appearance — one was dressed all in white, with light blue hair and a pair of white, feathery wings adorning her back. The other was a blonde girl wearing a black and white dress with a small, flat-topped hat, both of which looked like they might have come out of Renko's closet. The girls noticed Louise flying in front of the ship and both looked at each other with surprise.

"Louise? What’s going on?" The blonde girl asked. "What's with this big, broken boat?"

"Did you bring visitors from another world?"

"Yuki! Mai!" Louise said, addressing first the girl in black then the one dressed in white. "Can one of you go and get Mother?"

"I want to check out this huge boat. Mai, you go get her."

"Why should I go? You go get her, Yuki."

"You go, Mai."

"You go! I got here first!"

For some reason the two of them started squabbling.

"Don't fight you two, I'll go~," Louise said with a sigh as she flew down toward the mansion.

"Hey Marisa, is that your sister?" Renko whispered, leaning over to Marisa and pointing at the one called Yuki.

"No way!" Marisa said, looking shocked. I have to admit, they did look pretty similar though.

Yuki apparently heard that, as she turned and locked eyes with Reimu and Marisa then gasped in surprise. "It's you! You're the ones who came here and smashed everything up before! " she shouted as she flew up, raising herself high enough to see us all and pointing over first at Reimu, then at Marisa.

The other girl flew up beside her, looking over us and mirroring her expression of surprise. "I remember that! You got beaten so easily, Yuki!"

"Hey, you got shot down too, Mai!" Yuki protested. They both began to squabble again. I wondered just what exactly Reimu and Marisa had done the last time they had come here.

Renko watched the two girls floating in the air above us argue then turned to me. "Hey Merry, didn't Alice say she had a bunch of older sisters? That would make her the youngest, right?"

That had been what Alice had said, but Yuki and Mai didn't look any older than Alice. I wondered where that left Remilia, who claimed to be more than 500 years old or Suika, who claimed to be more than 1,000.

While Renko and I were talking about this, two more figures came flying up from the mansion, both of them racing at high speeds. Both were wearing simple, bright red robes, but one was wearing a maid's apron and headdress over top of hers, in the same frilly style as the ones worn by Sakuya. The other figure was dressed plainly but had her white hair pulled into a sloppy half-ponytail on one side of her head and an almost frantic expression on her face, giving the impression that she had rushed over in the middle of something, or perhaps had just woken up.

"My little Alice!" the white-haired woman called as she raced up towards us. "Where is she?"