東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 8: Perfect Cherry Blossom

Eight

𝘔𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘺
𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵

—22—

"What the hell was that?"

Marisa had nearly slipped off of her broom in surprise when the tree had screamed. Now she, Sakuya and Reimu were staring dumbfounded up into the branches of the tree. There, countless buds were blooming. The tree was experiencing spring in a time lapse, with buds forming, opening, spreading and falling, all in a matter of seconds. At the same time thousands of butterflies were emerging from the gnarled wood of the tree, clinging to the branches for only a moment before scattering in all directions, their innumerable wingbeats drawing streams of deep red cherry blossoms with them. From across the yard we could only stare in amazement.

"Marisa, Sakuya, get over here, this is bad!" Seeming to sense the danger a moment before it appeared, the two of them rushed over and took up positions behind Reimu, who created a shining barrier big enough to cover the three of them. A moment later an avalanche of butterflies coalesced and poured into the barrier, crashing against it like a tsunami.

From the tree dense clouds of the butterflies continued to emerge, blotting out the night sky and scattering to the winds. One cloud raced toward us—

"Get back! It's dangerous!" Frozen by the mesmerizing vision of the tree, we were completely blindsided when Alice appeared beside us and weaved a magic circle of light into the air. We snapped out of it only when the cloud of butterflies pounded into the barrier, crumbling and splattering as they impacted in an endless stream.

"Merry! Look!" Renko was shouting as we huddled behind Alice. I peered beyond the flood of butterflies to where Renko was pointing, and the sight there took my breath away.

The flowers of the Saigyou Ayakashi, which had been in full bloom for mere moments, were falling en masse from the tree. A torrential drift of scarlet petals, intermixed with countless butterflies cascaded downwards, falling not like a scattered snowfall, but like a solid wall, all at once.

Where the petals had fallen from the tree, the light shining from within it dimmed and faded, slowly swirling and draining from the uppermost branches, down into the trunk and then into the ground. Amidst it all, a figure had appeared at the base of the tree.

Saigyouji Yuyuko stood at the base of the Saigyou Ayakashi, before the squared off stone boulder and amidst the stupas, crying. Her mouth was moving, but the words didn't carry over the distance between us.

How long had it all lasted? The frenzied storm of butterflies and blossoms had seemed to be without end, but for all its ferocity, it had ended as suddenly as it had begun. In an instant the deathly silence of the Netherworld had suddenly returned. All that remained was the withered, leafless Saigyou Ayakashi, still towering over the scene and Yuyuko, leaning up against the trunk of the tree with her eyes closed, covered in countless cherry blossoms.

"Is it over?" Sakuya asked.

Reimu sighed deeply and released her barrier as Marisa adjusted her hat. "Yeah, it's over. What a pain."

A strong breeze had come up, and streams of cherry blossoms, white and pink and red had begun to blow, flowing steadily down the stone path, towards the direction Reimu and the others had first arrived from.

"It looks like spring is returning to Gensokyo." Reimu said with relief. She and the other incident-resolvers turned to squint into empty Netherworld sky where the petals of the Saigyou Ayakashi had been just moments before.

"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu was rushing across the open space at the end of the road towards Yuyuko, who lay unmoving beneath the branches with her eyes closed. Without a moment's hesitation Renko and I both jumped off of the veranda to make our way over to the now-silent Saigyou Ayakashi.

I recalled the final scene from Ango Sakaguchi's 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘐𝘯 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮, where the protagonist had tried to remove a cherry blossom from a dead woman's face, only to find nothing but more petals there, and more petals beneath that, petals atop petals until his hands, searching through the drifts could find nothing else at all, only the fallen cherry blossoms and a cold, empty sky.

No such surreal vanishing took place here though. Youmu had sprinted to the base of the tree and taken Yuyuko up in her arms. Slowly Yuyuko opened her eyes and took in the scene before her.

"Youmu?" she had asked, weakly.

"Lady Yuyuko, I'm sorry, if only I was—"

A whiny gurgle rose from Yuyuko's reclining form.

"Youmu, I'm hungry...."

After a moment of silence, laughter broke out among the assembled humans.

—And that was how the 'Spring Snow Incident' ended.


—23—


"So what are you two doing here again?" Reimu was glaring at us with half-lidded eyes, standing with her arms crossed and the gohei in her fist rising up over one shoulder. I could imagine the fear that unimpressed expression must inspire in youkai who saw it.

Yuyuko had stood for a few moments to stare wistfully up at the withered Saigyou Ayakashi before retreating into the mansion with Youmu. As soon as she had gone, Renko, Alice and I had all been dragged before the foot of the tree with Reimu and the others.

"First the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and now here, you two just love showing up in places where humans don't belong, don't you?"

"You're a human too, aren't you?" Renko asked, teasingly.

I tugged on her sleeve. "Renko! Don't get us in any more trouble!"

Reimu scratched her head, looking us both over. "This is pretty suspicious..."

"Don't worry about it, Reimu. It's like they say, 'once is luck, twice is coincidence', right?"

Marisa stepped in front of Reimu before she could respond. "Well you must've brought 'em here, right? What's your role in all this?" Marisa asked, leveling a finger at Alice.

"Think that if you like, I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain how wrong you are," Alice sighed.

Sakuya interjected: "If we're done here, I'm going to go home. I'm worried about milady. I'll leave the rest to you." Without waiting for a response, Sakuya turned on a heel and rose into the sky, heading quickly back down the long stone pathway.

Reimu and Marisa both watched Sakuya fade into the distance. At length, Reimu sighed. "Well whatever. I'm tired. Alice, you make sure to fly these two back to the village."

Alice sighed. "Fine."

Marisa kicked off of the ground and began to rise into the sky. "I'm headin' home too. I feel like I could sleep until spring."

Reimu took the time to look us both over, saying "We'll talk more about this later," before she flew away as well.

I turned to look at my partner's profile. Renko was fiddling with the brim of her hat, lips pursed and brow furrowed in consideration.

Alice took a calming breath, then turned towards us. "Well, if you're ready to leave, I suppose I'll fly you back."

I bowed my head. "Thank you. I don't know if the Youkai Sage is still coming or not, but I think I'd rather travel with you."

"If you don't mind, Miss Alice, I'd just like to go and say my farewells to our hostess first," Renko said. It would certainly have been impolite to leave without a word of thanks after they had been so gracious to us. Alice nodded and headed with us toward the mansion.

Predictably, we found Youmu and Yuyuko in the kitchen. Yuyuko was whining to Youmu about food, trying to hurry her along, while Youmu was struggling to make do in the now-abandoned and nearly empty kitchen. Their conversation carried no echo of the fantastic battle that had taken place just minutes before.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality, Lady Saigyouji. We'll be taking our leave now." Renko said as she slid the door aside.

Yuyuko looked up from her position in the corner in mild surprise. "Oh, leaving so soon? You can stay longer if you like."

"My apologies, but I feel that the living should return to their own world as soon as possible. With that said though, I would like to ask a favor of you, if I may."

"What is it?"

"May I borrow that book you were so kind as to have Youmu show us?"

"The old record? I don't mind. I have no more use for it now. After all, the seal wasn't even broken despite all we did." Yuyuko pouted briefly. I wondered if she really did have no idea what she had almost accomplished. There was simply no way to judge. Are you going now? Is that puppeteer leaving with you as well?"

"Yes," said Alice, from the hallway. "Sorry to have disturbed you."

Youmu's head popped into view from the pantry just then, saying "I won't ask you not to come back, but if you do come by again, can you please refrain from interfering with my duties next time?"

"Oh no!" cried Yuyuko, suddenly engaged. "Was the puppeteer bullying you, Youmu?"

"No, she was just following me around all day."

"I was just interested in that half-phantom of yours!"

Youmu brought her phantom half in close and wrapped her arms around it. "It's mine, you can't take it home with you," she pouted.

Alice sighed and lowered her shoulders, looking almost ashamed.

After that, we left Hakugyokurou, delaying only long enough for Renko to secure the old book we had been looking through. Alice flew us back to the village, in much the same way Reimu had before, holding our hands and extending her spell to cover all three of us. The sun was up when we arrived in the village, meaning we had been gone for three days and one night by this point. In the early light of morning, we could already tell that the temperature had risen and snow was rapidly melting. It seemed spring had finally returned in earnest to Gensokyo, much to everyone's relief.




"Everyone was so worried about you!"

As expected, Keine had expected the worst when we didn't return on the first evening after leaving town with Ran. With no word from us and no means of contacting the elusive kitsune, few had expected to ever see us again. We were made to sit on our knees in the neighborhood watch office while she lectured us.

"We're glad you're safe, but you're just ordinary humans! Willingly staying out after dark is tantamount to suicide for you!"

"....Yes, ma'am."

"Did you know we were planning on sending a team to search for your bodies? That's a lot of work to ask of people and it could be dangerous for them too. Did you think about that?"

"...No, ma'am"

"Well poor decision making aside, you seem to be none the worse for it." She patted us on the head gently. I could tell from her tone that the lecture was founded in genuine concern for our wellbeing. "So you should be perfectly able to accept your punishment."

The headbutt was painful. Almost lethally so.


—24—


"Ancient records?"

"Yes, we were hoping that you might be able to read them."

After returning home and having a long overdue nap, we met Keine in the reference room at the school to show her the crumbling tome Renko had borrowed. She had taken it gingerly and carefully set it on a workbench, touching the pages as delicately as possible. After spending a few minutes staring intensely at the pages, she turned to us, wide-eyed, asking "Where did you get this?"

"We ended up spending some time at a mansion in the Netherworld. They had this in their archives."

"The Netherworld? You went there in the flesh? That's no place for the living." She groaned. "I was worried you had gone somewhere dangerous, but even I hadn't expected you to travel to the land of the dead."

"People kept telling us that. We didn't really have much choice in the matter though." Renko grinned. "So can you tell us what this is?"

"It's the 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘰, a collection of stories supposedly written by Saigyou, though it's unclear if they really were written by him. This is the 5th volume. Its primary theme is a discourse on the traditions and practices of mountain hermits along with a number of stories and anecdotes about his travels across the country."

Keine was continuing to flip through the brittle pages with great care, but stopped as her eyes caught sight of the same passage Renko and I had read.

"What's this? ...Fujimi's daughter? There shouldn't be a passage like this in the 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘰."

"I knew it! Do you think that bit is a later addition?"

"Definitely. The brushwork is neater than the rest on this page and the ink is newer." Her eyes followed the characters down the page. "𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘈𝘺𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘶𝘫𝘪𝘮𝘪 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. —Fujimi's daughter, does that mean Saigyou's daughter? And what is the Saigyou Ayakashi?"

We explained all we knew to Keine. About everyone we had met in Hakugyokurou, the Saigyou Ayakashi, and the conversations we had had with Yuyuko. Renko filled in a few details, but we kept Renko's hypothesis on the 'why' of the events we had witnessed to ourselves.

"So that's what you were doing. This is just like at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. How do you two keep getting wrapped up in Reimu's Incidents?"

"It uh, just sort of happens," Renko said with a sheepish smile. "But don't worry about that for now. What do you think of all of this Hakugyokurou business?"

"I'm not sure. It's difficult to know if this Yuyuko could really have been Saigyou's daughter or not. It's not even clear if he had a daughter, as how much of the 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪 is fact and how much is fiction is a matter of some debate as well."

"Could Saigyou have had an illegitimate child after joining the priesthood?"

"It's conceivable, but it would be impossible to prove. The bigger question is the Saigyou Ayakashi. How could it have bloomed 1000 years ago, if it only became a youkai after Saigyou's death, which was 800 years ago? Maybe Yuyuko was just misremembering the dates in Youki's story. I imagine if you've been around for 1000 years, being off by 200 or so wouldn't seem like a big deal." Keine folded her arms together and thought for a moment, then stood up from the table. "How much do you both know about Saigyou?"

"He was originally a samurai from the northern part of Japan who later became a monk for some reason or another, then wandered around the country, writing numerous poems that would end up having a profound influence for many generations. Most famously, he wrote a poem about wanting to die beneath a cherry tree and managed to achieve that."

Keine nodded at Renko's answer and cleared her throat. "That's pretty much right. Many of the details of his early life are still a mystery to historians. Especially the reason why he forsook his duties and joined the priesthood in the first place. Saigyou went from being a retainer with a life of power and wealth before him as a samurai to taking up a monk's vows at age 23. Rather an unusual thing for a man to do at such a young age. There are various theories as to what could have influenced his decision, but the most commonly accepted answer is that the death of his close friend, as described in 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪 left him dissatisfied with feudal society. Most interestingly, scholars have never reached an agreement on who this close friend of his might have been. Some say it might have been his lover who died."

"A lost love?"

"Well, it's just a theory. There's no historical record to corroborate the facts one way or the other. But Saigyou did write many poems about lost love in his time as a monk. Some say it may have been a noblewoman, and others suggest it was a commoner. Some suggest it was a man or another man's wife. In any case no one knows for sure, and such popular theories abound. For example, one of the contemporary scholars, writing just after Saigyou's death, suggested that..."

"While I'm sure that's all very fascinating, can we just stick to discussion of this document for now, Miss Keine?"

I understood Renko's desire to focus on the mystery before us but I couldn't blame Keine for getting wrapped up in retelling Saigyou's story. A samurai who put down his sword to take up the life of a wandering monk after having his heart broken, found solace in poetry and then became the foremost master of the art. He was a fascinating character.

Keine reacted to Renko's interruption with deflated expression, but nodded. "All right. I'll give it a read over and see if anything else is unusual about this copy. It will take a while to go through though."

"Oh! I have a question!" I raised my hand, remembering suddenly. Something about Keine inspired such student-like behavior. She smiled sweetly and nodded. "What about the bit that talks about Saigyou's homunculus?"

Keine blinked in surprise. "Ah, that story, yes it's in this volume too. Do you know it?"

Renko and I glanced at each other, then back at Keine. We shook our heads.

"It's one of the most impressive homunculus stories of the era. I'll read it to you."

Keine's story was a direct translation of the ancient text —long-winded, flowery, and more than a little archaic in its language. Rather than attempt to reproduce it, I've included my own summary of the tale:

—

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘵. 𝘒𝘰𝘺𝘢, 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘪 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳? 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘜𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳.

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦 '‘𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦.' 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

—

"...That's the story," Keine said hesitantly as she finished her retelling. "It's a bit of an odd one, I couldn't really tell you what the point of it is."

I let out a sigh. It was a very strange story, and seemed rather unlike Saigyou as he was depicted in numerous other tales. It was hard to know whether to believe it was authentic or not.

Whether the story was historically accurate or not, or even written by Saigyou, I expected it went a long way toward explaining why Alice had stayed at Hakugyokurou as long as she had. If she had heard this story at some point and made the connection between Saigyou and the Saigyou Ayakashi, it's quite likely she would have wanted to stay to see if she could learn anything about the technique Saigyou might have used to create his homunculus.

"Is this story becoming popular now? You're the second group to ask me about it recently."

"What?" Renko perked up. "Who else was asking about it?"

"Recently, a magician who said she lives in the forest came by to ask about it. She puts on puppet shows in the village sometimes, have you seen her?"

"Alice Margatroid, right?"

"Yes, I think that was her name."

Well that cinched it. We now understood Alice's interest in Hakugyokurou. We still had no idea how this story might have anything to do with the secret of Hakugyokurou that Renko was interested in though. When I turned to my partner she had her head down and her brow knit as the wheels in her head churned through information. Looking up she said: "Miss Keine, I just thought of something."

"What is it?"

"You mentioned that it was a common theory that the reason that Saigyou abandoned his life and took up the priesthood was due to the loss of a friend, but that's just a theory, right? No one knows? In that case, isn't it possible that this story could have been the real reason for his renunciation of worldly pursuits?"

Keine's eyes widened at the suggestion. "Well that's certainly an unorthodox theory. What do you mean, exactly?"

"Well, just imagine this: Saigyou, or rather the samurai who would become Saigyou, is living in the shadow of Mt. Koya with his friend —that is after all around the area where he was said to have served, in that capacity, right? He says his friend went to the capital, but he doesn't say why. Could his friend have been sent off to war? Or to be executed? Or have died on the way to the capital? If he was lonely after his friend's death, going to the length of attempting to create a homunculus sounds a bit more reasonable."

Keine remained silent as Renko continued, speaking faster and more fluently as the ideas solidified in her head.

"Learning mystic arts of necromancy to create a homunculus would be difficult for a samurai to pursue, but not so out of the ordinary for a wandering monk. You said yourself that you didn't know what the point of that story was, but if I'm right, it might just provide the explanation for why Saigyou became a monk."

Keine looked stunned for a moment, then shook her head. "It's an interesting theory," she said "but it's only a theory. There's nothing to support it."

"Yeah, just an idea I had—" Renko sighed. Then suddenly her eyes went wide as though she had just made a shocking discovery. "Miss Keine, are you certain that the section about 'Fujimi's daughter' was a recent addition to the text?"

"Absolutely, it can't be more than a few decades old at most. I don't know who would do such a thing, or why."

"Perfect. Then let me ask you just one more question. A bit of an existential one. What do people in this world believe happens to a person's spirit after their death?"

"Well that's a morbid question. You girls are way too young to worry about such things. Did you get possessed by a ghost in the Netherworld?" Keine crossed her arms and sighed. Tilting her head in consideration for a moment she began to speak.

"In Gensokyo, it's generally held that after death, souls are collected and ferried across the Sanzu River to be judged by the Yama. There, it is determined whether they will be sent to a heavenly realm to ascend to Buddhahood in a world free from strife and need, be reborn into this world in one form or another, or be cast down into Hell. Those that will be reborn are sent to the Netherworld to await the time of their reincarnation. Apparently, very few souls get into any of the heavens, so most end up bound for the Netherworld. Did you see a lot of spirits when you were there?"

"Miss Keine, have you ever heard of a soul that doesn't go to Hell, doesn't get sent to Heaven, and doesn't reincarnate?"

"That's what a ghost is. Souls that are not laid to rest with proper rites, or are bound to the world by strong feelings of attachment will resist the call to the Sanzu river and linger on, avoiding judgement by the Yama. If they linger in this realm for too long without moving on, they may even become a kind of youkai. This is most common for ghosts with an unfulfilled desire or grudge."

"So someone who dies with too strong a grudge or unfulfilled desire stops being human?"

"They can. However, it's not guaranteed."

"If they do turn into youkai, do they still end up looking like humans?"

It depends on the nature of what binds them to the world. If they have a terrifying nature, they'll almost certainly lose their human form. Miss Akyuu would know more about this than me though."

"I see. Well thank you very much for that information, it gives me a lot to think about. If you'll excuse me." And with that, Renko got up and left the room. Keine and I looked at each other as we watched her go, stunned.

—

"Renko, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, Merry. You want some?"

After apologizing to Keine, I had followed Renko out the door, but she had already left the school grounds by then. It took me several minutes of searching to find her as I now had, sitting under the awning of the dango shop. I sighed as she handed me a skewer.

It was now unquestionably spring in the village, and piles of snow were quickly melting into rivulets and streams, leaving the streets a muddy morass more treacherous to walk on than the snow had been. The children, of course, were unbothered by such things and were cheering and splashing mud all over the place as they played in the streets.

I sat down next to Renko and took the dango, watching as, overhead, a childlike girl dressed in white with insect-like wings sailed past, scattering flower petals.

"So, have you got it all figured out?"

"I think so. I've got a pretty good idea, at least."

She sipped her tea and let out a heavy sigh, now no longer visible amidst the spring sunshine. I flagged down a waitress to order my own snack.

"I know what was going on in Hakugyokurou, and what the real reason behind Saigyouji instigating the Incident was, but there's more I won't be able to figure out unless I could ask the people involved. But given their situation, that would be outside the domain of a great detective at this point."

The waitress brought me my order. As she departed, I noticed Renko watching her. "What is it?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, I just remember as a kid I used to feel sorry for cooks and waitstaff, handling all that delicious food, but not being able to eat any of it."

"A glutton's line of reasoning if ever I heard one."

"Kids who eat well and sleep well grow up big and strong, right Merry?"

"Hmm, you don't seem to have done a lot of growing though. Must be because you stay up too much."

Renko clapped her arms across her chest and glowered at me. "Hey! That isn't what I was talking about!" She angrily stuffed another dango into her mouth.

"There are still some unexplained mysteries though. We might need to ask about them from the people involved" she said, still giving me the stink-eye.

"...You're planning on asking?"

"Well, we'll have to put an end to it sooner or later, I guess, so we may as well. We've failed, Merry. We'll have to chalk this one up as our loss."

"What? Failed at what?"

"Don't worry about it too much. I'll explain the details to you later. We'll probably get an invitation to go view the cherry blossoms at Hakugyokurou at some point. There won't be much point to cleaning up all the loose ends by then, but I've got my pride."

Renko was prattling on as if I had the faintest idea what she was talking about. But that's how it always is. It's part of the role of a great detective for her to be pretentious, I think, just as it's part of my role as her Watson to be baffled by the twists her mind takes.

Looking back now, given the theory that Renko would later express and the actual truths we learned afterwards, I can understand why she would want to keep her hypothesis to herself, at least in this case. Maybe I'm giving her too much credit though.

It was only a few days later that we received an invitation to attend a cherry blossom viewing at the Hakurei Shrine.


—


[A Challenge to the reader]

It would be odd if I inserted a challenge into my story about the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but not here. Therefore, I would like once again to invite you, dear reader, to ponder the facts of this case as they have been presented to you and see if you can come to the same conclusions as our great detective.

Just as in the case of the previous Incident, however, doing so will require not just a leap of logic, but a leap of imagination.

Additionally, Renko could not solve all of the mysteries set before us this time with the information available to her at this point. Specifically, she had no means of explaining the 200-year discrepancy between Youki's account of the last blooming of the Saigyou Ayakashi and the date of Saigyou's death, so I wouldn't expect you to know the answer to that either.

To start you on your journey of consideration, I suggest you consider the following two questions:

●　What was the hypothesis that Renko had conceived during our time at Hakugyokurou that had shocked her so?
●　For what purpose did Saigyouji Yuyuko and Konpaku Youmu enact the Spring Snow Incident?

As before, logic alone will not lead you to the intuitive leaps my partner was able to construct. You must instead take nothing at face value and consider any possibility that conforms to the facts you know, which includes everything I have written on this incident up to this point. Using just this information and her own imagination, Renko was able to conceive of the revelations found in the next chapter. Will you challenge her accomplishments?

To tell the truth, I'm not sure if this story is something I should be writing down, or if it even qualifies as a detective story. But in order to make sure that the ugly truth behind the Spring Snow Incident is not lost under a prettier veneer I've decided to record my version of events for posterity.

And so dear reader, I ask you. What is the truth that lay buried under a stolen season's worth of cherry blossoms?