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

—22—


"So, Lady Yasaka's aim seems to be to set up a geothermal power station or something of that nature. If she can manage to supply electricity to Gensokyo it would be a huge technological breakthrough" Renko said, nodding at her own deductions.

"Do you think Lady Yasaka doesn't know about that treaty?"

"It's entirely possible that she knew about the treaty and decided to ignore it. Being a newcomer, maybe she heard about it and decided it didn't apply to her."

"You’re not wrong, but I’d say it takes one to know one, Renko."

I let out a sigh and tilted my head back as Renko groaned and tucked her chin to her chest, arms crossed in front of her. It seemed like our whole trip down here had been a waste. If we had just talked to Sanae about any of this first, maybe everything we had been through could have been avoided. Well hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

"Wait a minute!" Orin said, her shoulders and the hackles of her back rising, "Are you telling me you're a friend of this goddess, sis? I thought you were going to help me!"

"No need for alarm," Renko said hurriedly, showing her palms again. "We're well acquainted with Lady Yasaka, but we're not her supporters and we certainly didn't know she was doing something like this."

Orin glared and Renko with eyes narrowed to slits, lips pursed in suspicion. "Really?"

"I swear it. If you doubt my words then go ask Miss Satori to read my mind and confirm it."

"You know I can't do that, sis!" she said, glaring at Renko for a moment then scratching her head in frustration.

"This may well work out to our advantage, Orin. If the news is coming from us, we might be able to reason with Lady Yasaka. With any luck, we can simply contact her and explain that your friend is becoming unstable due to the influence of Yatagarasu and thinking of trying to set the surface world ablaze. If we do that, I'm sure she'd agree that the best course of action would be to remove Yatagarasu's power and rethink her plan. Just leave this situation to Usami Renko, ace negotiator. I'll find a solution that leaves all parties happy."

"Didn't you just say you were a detective?"

"I'm a great detective and an ace negotiator. Both require a logical mind and a gift for persuasive speech, two of my specialties."

It took every bit of self-restraint I could muster to avoid rolling my eyes at that statement. Luckily, if it showed on my face Orin didn’t notice as she seemed to just be regarding Renko with a puzzled expression.

"If you’re wondering why I’d help, it’s because what I would want most right now is to understand what Lady Yasaka is trying to achieve and how she managed to give the power of Yatagarasu to Okuu. It just so happens that assuaging my curiosity is likely to solve your problem in the process. Isn't a situation where everyone wins the best possible outcome?"

That’s Renko for you. Even when justifying her own actions she can’t pretend that she’s some selfless hero. All of this was just her own form of self-indulgence.

"It sounds to me like you're just doing this for fun," Orin said with a shrug. Nonetheless, she looked somewhat relieved. "Alright, let's give it a shot, sis. If you can get that goddess to leave Okuu alone then that would be great. I'm going to keep seeing if I can get someone from the surface to stop her while you work on that though."

Renko snapped her fingers and grinned. "Good enough for me. The Hifuu Detective Agency is on the case. Merry, let's head back to the surface and go talk to Lady Yasaka!"

I sighed and ran a hand down my face. "What a lovely idea, Renko, I just see one issue."

"What's that?"

"How are we going to get back to the surface?"

She stared at me in silence.

I stared right back.

"Merry... we don't have a way to get back, do we?"

"No, we don't." I sighed. Both Renko and I are just regular humans, after all. We can't fly and we might be thousands of meters below the surface. Without Sanae here to carry us and nothing as convenient as a long staircase to lead us back to the surface, we were trapped.

"We'll have to get someone from down here to carry us up then."

"I don't think anyone would, Renko. It would be a violation of the non-aggression pact for them to do that, right?"

Renko stared at me for a moment longer then turned to face Orin with an unctuous grin on her face. "Hey Orin..."

"No way, sis. I don't want to go anywhere near that hashihime on the bridge, she gives me the creeps. Besides, I don't want to leave Okuu alone right now. I could take you to the hole that the goddess dug, though."

"That hole is near the bottom of the sea of flames though, isn't it?"

"Yep. If I flew you straight down there without protection, you'd probably be about medium rare by the time we got there. Unless Okuu sees us coming, that is. In that case you'd be ash."

I wish people would stop saying things like that to me so cheerily. I'd be hard pressed to think of anywhere I'd want to be further away from than that roiling inferno.

"Can you really go back to the surface right now anyway? Didn't you say that you were looking for Lady Koishi for Lady Satori, sis?"

"That's right, it's a busy time for our detective agency. Given that I can't be seen by Satori until we've solved your case though we'll have to deal with this problem first."

"Yeah, if Lady Satori sees you we're done for."

"Then our first order of business is to find a way out of this palace without her seeing us."

"Oh, no problem there, she never uses my usual route," Orin volunteered.

"Alright, that's handy. Okay then. We'll have to look for Koishi later, after we've dealt with the matter of our current case." Renko walked to the door and grabbed her hat and coat. Putting them on, she turned to me. "Once we're out though, you and I will need to find a way to get through the city and back up to the surface in one piece, Merry. Though I suppose we could always just stay here and wait. Reimu or Marisa will probably show up soon, I’d think."

"That could take days though. Plus since we’ve been talking to everyone about the Earth Spirits if Reimu comes down here, she’ll hear that we were here too. She’s not going to be happy if that happens…"

"Nah, if Reimu or Marisa come down here, I bet they’ll charge straight for the mastermind without talking to anyone first. It’s not their style to work with youkai."

"Even if they don’t talk to anyone we’d still be relying on them to get us out of here after the incident is over, wouldn’t we? I’d rather not have to deal with that."

"Hmm. You have a point."

I wondered if we could risk asking Yamame to help us? She at least seemed to be comfortable playing in the shaft that led to the surface. Or maybe Captain Murasa and her friends could assist us, since they were interested in returning to the surface anyway...

"Well, the first step is to get out of this palace without being seen by Satori."

"Come over here, I'll show you the passage I use," Saying that, Orin walked to the door, pushing her wheelbarrow ahead of her as she poked her head out into the hallway.

Renko nodded toward the wheelbarrow. "What is that, by the way?" she asked.

Orin grinned menacingly. "It’s for carrying fuel to the Hell of Blazing fires," she said simply. I didn't want to ask what kind of fuel they might use here. "Oh, don’t touch these guys, by the way," Orin added, touching one of the floating spirits floating near her. "You'll get possessed."

"Those are vengeful spirits then, I take it?"

"Yep! I've been dealing with spirits like these for a long time, so I know how to tame them."

"I see. So that's why you're in charge of managing the vengeful spirits and how you were able to send them up through the geysers. A vengeful spirit is just the ghost of someone who died and was sent to Hell, right?" Renko asked as we began to walk along the passage, following Orin's lead.

"That's right. They’re ghosts that have been steeped in the malice, suffering and hatred of Hell. When they shut things down here, all of these got left behind for me to play with."

"Why did so many spirits get left behind? Aren’t they a bit dangerous to just leave floating about?"

"Dangerous and too much of a pain to manage. The whole point of moving Hell somewhere else was to streamline operations."

"So even Hell has to deal with staffing problems and cutbacks, eh?"

"Being a Yama or a prison guard is just a job. I do what I can to keep this place running, but I can see why they abandoned it. I’m sure it was a pain to manage."

"Maybe, but leaving all of these dangerous vengeful spirits behind seems reckless."

"They probably didn't think anyone would ever come down here. It was just us animals and the spirits back then. No one expected oni and youkai from the surface to end up moving in."

"I see. In that case, why didn't the Ministry take you along when they moved Hell?"

"Oh, I don't work for the Ministry. I just live here."

"Is that so? What exactly is the relationship that you have with Miss Satori?"

"Miss Satori? Hmmm..." Orin tilted her head in response to Renko's question.

Their conversation continued, but I was startled into losing track of it. I had been following along behind them in the gloom, listening to their words when I again noticed the sound of footsteps that didn’t seem to belong to any of us. Looking around, I happened to spot Komeiji Koishi running across the intersection of two hallways ahead of us. Neither Renko nor Orin seemed to have noticed her at all.

I groaned inwardly. What should I do now? There was next to no chance either of them would ever spot a girl who could erase herself from other people’s minds. I supposed that meant it was up to me.

"...Renko, Miss Orin, hold up for a moment."

Renko turned to face me. "What's wrong, Merry? You need the toilet again?"

"Why do you always assume that? No, I just saw Koishi."

"Really? Where?"

I indicated the intersection where I had just seen Koishi run past.

"You can see Lady Koishi, sis?" Orin asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

I nodded as Renko peered down the passage where Koishi had disappeared.

"I think she may be trying to guide us again."

"I wonder where we'll end up next?" Renko asked, a troublesome grin lighting up her face as she began to walk toward the intersection.

I reached a hand out in front of her to stop her. "Hold on, Renko. Wait here for a moment."

"Eh? Why?"

"Every time you've gotten close to her she runs away. I think maybe if I go to her alone she'll talk to me."

"Huh? Why do all the most mysterious youkai hate me?"

"I don't know. I'd like to try pursuing her alone for a bit though. Can you two wait for me here?"

"Wait a minute, how come she can see Lady Koishi?"

"Merry's eyes can find all sorts of things." Renko said, tilting her hat back on her head and smiling. "Go ahead, Merry. This one's all yours. Have fun."

"Alright. I'll be back soon."

Orin frowned and looked skeptically at the both of us, then sighed. "Alright, we'll wait, but Lady Koishi can be really unpredictable. Don't blame me if you get killed chasing her."

I tried not to think about the possibility of being murdered by the unpredictable whims of a nearly invisible youkai and instead concentrated on willing my knees to stop trembling as I turned and made my way down the passage, toward the point where I had last seen the figure of the vanishing girl.


—23—


"...Komeiji Koishi? Is that you?" I called in a low voice as I turned the corner of the hallway. Being someone with the ability to erase herself from other people's perceptions, it was impossible to know if I was talking to anyone other than myself. Even if she was here, if she didn't want to be found then there was nothing that I could do about it.

She had appeared before me multiple times now though. Our first meeting might have been an accident, but clearly the subsequent encounters hadn't been. I had to assume she wanted me to find her. Perhaps the thought of someone noticing her after she had gone unseen for so long would be amusing to her.

"Miss Koishi, if you're here, would you mind letting me know? I'm the only one here right now."

"Hi!"

It was an odd-sounding voice. One I might describe as being bright and upbeat but somehow emotionless. It sounded as if the words being spoken were as much of a startling surprise to the speaker as they were to me. I turned to my right, where the voice had come from and saw her there. A girl in a frilly, mustard-colored blouse, pale-skinned and pale-eyed, wearing a floppy black sun hat. The structure of her face was much like Satori's, leaving little doubt that the two were sisters. Moreover, I could now see that, like her sister, the odd bits of cord floating in front of her terminated in an orb floating in front of her chest. Koishi's looked noticeably different though - not only was it a deep purple color but the eye was resolutely closed, its lid still and unmoving.

"Hello there. Did I get your name right? You're Komeiji Koishi, aren't you?"

"That's right, Miss Person Who Can See Me."

"...You can call me Merry, it's nice to meet you." I said, squatting down to bring my eyes in line with hers.

"Merry?"

"Like in the ghost story the children tell. Mary who's right behind you."

The girl spun around on the spot to look behind her.

"I'm just kidding. Earlier you were the one just behind me. Have you been following us?"

"That's right, I was chasing you this whole time."

"And here I thought that we were the ones chasing you."

She nodded, happily. "Nope! I was the one chasing you, but then you decided to come right to me."

So then she hadn't actually been trying to lead us anywhere. It had just looked that way because she had been following us and trying to observe us from a distance.

"How did you wander all the way down here? You came from the surface, right? Why are you playing with my pet?"

"Oh, if you were following us, didn't you hear what we were saying to Orin?"

"She always has a lot of vengeful spirits floating around her, so I stay away. And she goes down to the Hell of Blazing Fires a lot. It's too hot there."

"Oh? I thought vengeful spirits were supposed to be afraid of satori youkai like you."

"They're afraid of my sister. I don't read minds any more though." As she said that, her hands drifted to rest on the closed eye hovering above her heart. It hadn't so much as twitched in the whole time I had been talking to her, remaining still and inert. If a satori was a youkai that read minds, then did one that couldn't even count as a satori any more? "That means I don't know what you're thinking either. Tell me why you came down here to the Underworld!"

"Earth spirits have been leaking out of the ground and into our world, so my partner and I came here to investigate."

"Earth Spirits? Why?"

"Well, it seems like there's a whole bunch of different things going on here. I'm afraid I don't have all the answers yet."

"Hmm. Maybe I'll ask my sister about it later."

"Oh, that would be great if you could. Your sister is looking for you. She asked us to find you and bring you back."

For the first time, Koishi seemed to have an emotional reaction to that. Her expression soured as she pouted. "No. I'm not going back."

"Oh? Are you sure? Your sister seems worried about you."

"Completely sure. My sister always orders me around and tells me where to go."

"We can't go back to see your sister right now either."

"Ohhh, you have a secret! That's why you're following Orin through these passages, so my sister doesn't see you!" Koishi's motivations were unreadable, but she was still quite sharp, it seemed.

"If you can't let her see your secrets though, then you can't capture me either, right?" she asked, looking like she might bolt at any moment.

"We were never going to capture you, we were just going to ask you to go visit your sister. She'd like to see you, but it's ultimately your choice to make. We're not here to tell you what to do."

"Really?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yes, it’s up to you."

"Up to me? Huh. Really?" She seemed surprised but genuinely interested by that. If she hadn’t been trying to lead us to the Hell of Blazing Fires earlier, then I wondered what it was she might be hoping to gain by following us…

"Hey, it’s pretty rare that adults can see me," she said, suddenly extending a hand out toward me. "Do you wanna play?"

"It’s rare for adults to see you. Does that mean that children can? Have You been playing with human kids? Are there any down here?"

"No. I've been playing with the children on the surface."

"What? You've been going up to the surface?"

"Sometimes. There's a lot of kids in the human village. Sometimes I play with the ones who can see me."

A youkai was slipping into the village and playing with children. Not just that, but a youkai from the depths of the Underworld. As a teacher at the temple school, I couldn't ignore this information. But was she dangerous? It sounded to me like she was only looking for someone to play with. In Gensokyo’s terms she almost sounded like a zashiki-warashi, an invisible child spirit that could join in children’s games but disappear without warning. In the Scientific Century we might have called something like that an imaginary friend. The sort of friend that was visible only to children. Perhaps, having closed her mind-reading third eye, this satori had changed her nature and become something else.

"Hey, let's play a game, Merry!"

"Alright, what should we play? Hide and seek?"

"Anything’s fine. You decide."

"Well then, may I call my partner over? It would be more fun with three people, don't you think?"

"Ummm who? That other human?" Her wide, innocent eyes narrowed into a distasteful expression. "I don't like her," she said curtly.

I pulled back in surprise. "Really? Why not?"

"Because I don’t care about other humans! If you ask why…"she said, speaking in her completely emotionless way, "then I’ll kill you."

A beat passed and then she laughed with childlike innocence.


—24—


"You okay, Merry? How'd it go?"

"...I'm not sure. She ran away."

After making that ominous statement, Koishi had disappeared from right in front of me and vanished without a trace. I had looked around for her for only a moment, then returned down the corridor, back toward Renko and Orin. Whatever it was about me that allowed me to detect Koishi when others couldn't, it seemed like it couldn’t completely block her ability.

"I asked her if she wanted to play with us, but as soon as I included you in the discussion she refused. I think she might hate you, Renko. Be careful not to let your subconscious be manipulated."

"Why would she hate me? What did you tell her, Merry? And how can I guard my subconscious?"

I then proceeded to relate my conversation with Koishi to them both. Renko's eyes widened in surprise at my mention of Koishi visiting the surface and interacting with children in the village but she didn't say anything until I had finished.

"Well, that's quite the story, Merry. I'm not sure about your conclusion that Koishi might be becoming a zashiki-warashi or some other kind of youkai but I suppose if a human could become a youkai, it might be possible for a youkai to become a different youkai. What do you think about that, Orin?"

"I don't know anything about that, but I'm impressed that you were able to talk to her, sis! Maybe Lady Satori will hire you permanently to act as an interpreter for Lady Koishi."

It was a rather sudden invitation. If given the choice I wouldn't choose to spend the rest of my life working in the Underworld. Before I could respond, however, Renko threw an arm around my shoulder and squeezed me into her side.

"No can do," she said, "Merry is already my partner full time. She's not available."

"Get off of me Renko," I said, shoving her off of me.

Both Renko and Orin looked away and clicked their tongues in disappointment, seemingly for different reasons. I could only look at them both in a state of utter bafflement.

"That aside," Renko said, fiddling with the brim of her hat, "it seems like Koishi is just looking for someone to play with." She seemed deep in thought.

"Aren't you supposed to be more worried about helping Okuu right now, sis?"

"Oh, that's right. Sorry Orin, let's work on figuring out a way for Merry and I to get back to the surface."

"Alright, let's go this way. This passage leads to an entrance just outside the city, past the bridge. I know someone there who often goes to explore the shaft that leads to the surface. They might be able to help you."

I looked over at Renko, then to Orin. "Orin, this person you know wouldn't happen to be a Tsuchigumo named Yamame, would it?"

"You already know her, sis?" The Underworld's a big place, but a small world in some ways, I guess, or maybe Yamame really is as big a name as she claimed to be.

"We know her alright. She's the one who brought us into the city. She's probably still waiting for us just outside the palace."

—

Orin led us out of the back of the palace, after which we circled around back to the front to where Yamame and Kisume were standing beside the entrance, watching us all with surprise.

"Hey Orin, what are you doing hanging around with those humans?"

"A whole bunch of stuff has happened lately. I didn't know these two knew you but I need to borrow them. Do you think you could escort them back to the surface?"

Yamame and Kisume looked at each other in silence. Renko stepped forward, saying "I'm afraid this really is a task of the utmost importance, Miss Yamame. I need to get above ground as soon as possible."

"Well if it’s that important, I guess I don’t mind." I was relieved to hear that we’d be able to count on her help.

Yamame paused for a moment, then looked over to Orin shrewdly. "They must have told you about what’s going on with the Earth Spirits, right? Isn’t dealing with them supposed to be your job, Orin?"

Orin looked away, scratching at her chin absentmindedly. "Mmmaybe. A little. It's a whole big situation and we don't have time to explain."

"Oh, you really are involved then?. What are you planning?"

"Like I said, it's a whole situation! Do you really want me to have to explain all the details? If I did, you'd have to keep the whole thing secret, especially from the oni, by the way."

"The oni? You mean like Don Yuugi? She already heard that Earth Spirits are leaking. She was planning to come talk to Satori about it, I just got here first."

"What!? We have to keep her busy! Don't let her come here and ask. Just for a day or two, okay?" Orin demanded, clapping her hands together in supplication.

Yamame’s eyes went wide in surprise. "Whoa, wait a minute, is this actually something serious?"

Kisume tugged on Yamame's sleeve then whispered something in her ear as she bent down.

"Well if all we need to do is hold Don Yuugi up, that wouldn't be too hard. We'll just invite her to a party. We'll need a reason for it though. If you're going to be leaving, how about a farewell party for you two?"

Renko shook her head. "That's no good, that would end up delaying us too."

"No it wouldn't. An oni party won't stop just because a few of the people in attendance disappear. You just need to stay around for the first toast, then we'll find a way to slip you out."

"Well in that case, sure."

"Alright if that's the case then let's go find Don Yuugi and get this started."

"I'm going to head back to the Hell of Blazing Fires then. See you ladies." Orin turned to leave, then stopped and turned her head to glare at Renko over her shoulder. "...I'm counting on you to take care of that thing I told you about."

"Just leave it to us. The Hifuu Detective Agency is on the case, Orin." Renko flashed her biggest grin and gave Orin a thumbs-up. Orin in turn looked slightly nauseous with worry as she jogged off toward the palace, looking back over her shoulder twice as she went. We watched her go for a bit, then Yamame picked Kisume's bucket back up and led the way back toward the populated streets of Former Hell.

"So you two went into the Palace of the Earth Spirits and came back out alive. That's got to be pretty rare for a human."

"Hell's flames hold no heat for the virtuous, I suppose," Renko said with a grin.

"Are you what a virtuous human looks like? I wouldn't have guessed. Satori's tough to deal with though, isn't she?"

"Well, at least she talks quickly and doesn't waste time. I feel bad that we're having to put her case on hold for the time being in order to solve this one for Orin. Once everything's said and done I'll have to go back and apologize to her. At least that part will be easy, all we’ll have to do is show our faces and she’ll know the rest."

"Wait, you're planning to go back there? You two really are strange people. Humans are supposed to fear youkai, you know? You've already forgotten that I was going to eat you, haven't you?"

"Oh, right. Could I ask you not to?"

"Well I'm not about to now!"

Renko continued to banter with the earth spider as we walked through the streets, in search of the oni. I have no idea how she could manage to converse so easily with even the dangerous youkai of the Underworld. Perhaps she’s just some sort of natural youkai whisperer.

We continued to walk and talk in this way until we found ourselves back in the market square close to where we had first entered the city. As we strode through the bustling streets, Yamame called out to one of the youkai passing by.

"Hey, do you know where I can find Don Yuugi right now?" She asked, casually.

The youkai she had asked extended an arm to point toward a tunnel set in one of the cavern walls. "She went out of the city, towards the blowhole a while ago."

Yamame turned in the indicated direction. "She must be visiting Parsee, then. Thanks!."

"That's the hashihime who was watching the bridge we passed over when we first got here, right?"

"Yep. She doesn't live here in the city, but Yuugi often goes out to check on her. It's like feeding a stray cat."

"Do youkai feed stray cats too?"

"Some do. The owner of the Palace of the Earth Spirits has a lot of pets, right?"

"I suppose so. Now that we're headed back toward this surface shaft though, it's got me thinking. It's a long way up, are you alright with carrying us that far, Yamame?"

"Well, I can't go all the way to the surface with you, but I can get you close."

"How close? Merry and I can't fly, you know."

"Hmm. I suppose so," she replied, scratching her head. "I'm sure I'll figure something out. It might just be a little bumpy for you." She turned and grinned mischievously at us, but said no more, leaving my imagination to race to all sorts of unpleasant guesses about what that could mean.