東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 9:Undefined Fantastic Object

—25—

"Hijiri!"

Byakuren's disciples had no sooner seen her then they all leapt from the deck of the ship, rushing to embrace her. Byakuren's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized each of them and opened her arms in shocked, joyous greeting.

"Murasa! Ichirin! Shou!"

"Hijiri it's really you! Tell me I'm not dreaming!"

"I'm so glad you're safe!

"Hijiri! It's been so long! I'm sorry it took us so long to free you..." Anything further Shou might have been trying to say was lost in a flood of blubbering tears.

Ichirin and Murasa were not far behind her in being overcome by sobs, and Hijiri held the three of them, pressing their heads against her and letting their tears flow with a look of calm and caring benevolence on her face. Nazrin watched from a short distance away, sharing a smile and a nod with Hijiri, while Shinki wailed almost hysterically from the deck beside us.

"I'm so happy for them, Yumeko!" She sobbed. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"There, there, Mother. It's very beautiful." Yumeko had produced another handkerchief for Shinki to use.

Having floated high enough to see over the deck now, Byakuren looked over our assembly with an expression of stunned gratitude. "Did all of you... come this far, and bring all of this just for me? It's been a thousand years... In all that time I had never been able to do anything to help you..."

"You couldn't do anything to help us? What are you saying, Ma’am...."

"We all wanted to save you, Hijiri. That's what brought us together after a thousand years..."

"It took so long, but now we’ve finally made it. This is the moment we’ve dreamed of for so long!"

"Ichirin… Murasa… Shou… I’m so sorry. You’ve all endured so much for me. Thank you! A thousand times, thank you!"

"Hijiri..."

She once again embraced her three disciples, who all clung to her wordlessly. Renko and I looked at one another and smiled. I felt almost on the verge of tears myself.

Eventually, after a few minutes of holding her disciples in silence, Byakuren raised her head and looked over those of us still standing on the deck. After glancing at each of us, her gaze settled on Shinki.

"Lady Shinki, do I have you to thank for guiding my disciples to me?"

"Yes, congratulations Miss Byakuren. I'm so happy for you all," She said, smiling through tears.

"Mother, your nose is dripping. Here." Said Yumeko, producing yet another handkerchief.

Hijiri smiled down at Shinki—whose tears seemed to be flowing even more steadily than those of her disciples—then turned her attention to us.

"Murasa, who are all of these other people you've brought with you?"

"Oh shoot. Sorry about that Hijiri, I forgot the introductions." Murasa cried. "Unzan, would you please?"

Murasa let go of Byakuren, and she and Unzan both descended toward us, the nyuudo flattening out to support us, and Murasa helping us onto his broad back. He then turned and carried us up to meet Byakuren in person.

"Hijiri," Murasa began. "Please allow me to introduce you. This is Renko and this is Merry. These two humans were absolutely instrumental in allowing us to be reunited with you. It is only because of the kindness and hard work that they have given on our behalf that Ichirin, the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 and I are not still trapped in the depths of the Underworld."

"Um, nice to meet you" I said, trying to bow with an appropriate level of dignity. "I'm Maéreverie Hearn."

"I'm honored to meet you," my partner said as she matched my bow. "My name is Usami Renko."

"A pleasure to meet you both, Byakuren replied, bowing just as deeply. It seems I owe you both a great deal. Let me express my sincere gratitude now, along with a promise that I hope to one day repay your kindness." We both shook her hands, and as I did, I couldn't help but note how warm and human she felt.

"Alright, that's enough of that. Everyone done talking?" asked a voice from beside us. It belonged to Reimu, who had flown up off of the deck and was floating not far behind Murasa with her arms crossed.

"Hey wait, Reimu, don't start without us!" Marisa called, zooming up to hover beside her on her broom.

Sanae joined them as well, shouting "Wait for me!" as she floated up beside them. Murasa turned toward the three of them with a stern look on her face, but Byakuren laid a hand on her shoulder before she could say a word and eased her aside, striding past us in the air.

"You. You're the leader of all of these youkai, right?" Reimu asked, pointing her gohei at Byakuren.

The saint looked at Reimu closely then blinked in surprise. Her eyebrows raised as she asked "That outfit... are you by any chance the current Hakurei shrine maiden?"

"So it really was a previous Hakurei who sealed you away. I'm Hakurei Reimu, the Hakurei shrine maiden of this era."

Byakuren stiffened slightly but spoke with the same sense of calm she had throughout. "Are you here to seal me away once again then?"

"I came here to determine if I should, and whether or not you’re a dangerous youkai."

"What are you asking her for, Reimu?" Sanae asked, tilting her head in surprise. "She's the leader of a whole group of dangerous youkai. She has to be the bad guy."

Byakuren's expression became grim as she turned to look at Sanae. "You seem to be a shrine maiden too."

"I'm Kochiya Sanae. A shrine maiden who hunts youkai!"

"A youkai hunter?"

"Yes, I hunt youkai who do bad things to people."

Byakuren's expression settled into a grim mask as she turned toward Marisa.

"What about you over there?"

"Me? I'm Kirisame Marisa, an ordinary magician. I hear you're in the same business."

"Oh, a human magician? Has the world become a place where it's safe for humans to use magic?"

"Huh?"

"In my time, because I could use strange powers, people hated me and eventually sealed me away here."

"Hold on, that's not why you were imprisoned. It's because you were sheltering youkai in your temple." Reimu interjected.

"I used my power to try to make a peaceful world where humans and youkai could live as equals. Whether I was persecuted for the means I used or the ends I aimed for makes no difference. Both were rejected by humanity and I was sealed away as a result."

"What? Whichever way you look at it, humans are the ones being oppressed!" Sanae shouted.

"Yeah, what she said," Marisa agreed. "Youkai oppress humans. Except for people like Reimu, I guess."

"...I see, Humans haven't changed." Byakuren said after a moment's pause, lowering her head solemnly. "I've realized that gods and buddhas are not unlike youkai. And yet, youkai are reviled and hunted while gods are worshipped. This distinction exists only because humans want it to be so."

"Did you say gods and youkai aren't any different?" Sanae cried out in alarm. "That's not true at all!"

Reimu shrugged indifferently. "I've exterminated gods too."

"As expected of the Hakurei shrine maiden. You aim to eliminate all youkai just as your predecessor did. There is nothing I can say to change your beliefs. However, if you intend to seal me away again... Then I will resist you with all of my strength."

"Your way of thinking is too dangerous to allow it to spread across Gensokyo. I'll seal you away here just as my predecessor did."

"And I'll help her!" Sanae cried. "Don’t think you can get away with saying Lady Kanako and the other gods are the same as youkai!"

Byakuren looked toward Marisa with a forlorn expression as the two shrine maidens brandished their weapons. "And what of you, fellow magician? Will you support me?"

"I think it's alright to use magic," Marisa replied, not even taking a moment to ponder the question or its philosophical underpinnings. "But youkai and humans ain’t equal. Humans are weaker, so they need more protection! Saying you want humans and youkai to be equals doesn't make it true. That's why I'm on Reimu's side." Saying that, Marisa tugged her hat into position and grinned belligerently.

Byakuren let out a deep sigh before raising her head and floating backward while unfurling the scroll of rainbow light between her hands. "Humans haven't changed since my days in the temple. They are still, superficial, greedy and unjust!" Her voice resounded, magically amplified, and the pulse and glow of the light in the center of Houkai seemed to grow in time with it as a low, thunderous rumble resounded across the skies.

"We're with you, Ma’am!" Ichirin cried, diving into position before her.

"We'll never leave your side again!" Murasa cried, joining her.

"We'll fight to the last to protect you." Shou declared, placing herself at the point of the wedge facing off against Reimu and the others.

Byakuren brought all of their motion to a halt with a gesture, laying a hand on Ichirin's shoulder, then stepping forward, brushing Shou and Murasa out of the way. "No. This is my battle. Let my power speak in defense of the light of the Dharma. All of you have a more important task to pursue. You must protect the lives of these two humans. This fight may well be a bit intense."

"But, Hijiri, we..."

"I will be fine, Murasa. I will not repeat the mistakes of a thousand years ago." She said this forcefully, with a tone that, while still calm, carried with it the weight of authority. Murasa seemed about to protest further, but Shou admonished her.

"Hijiri has spoken. Let us not shirk our duties."

Ichirin laid a hand on the captain’s shoulder. Murasa bit her lip then shook her head angrily before turning back to the ship. Riding on Unzan's back, we returned to the deck as well, to stand beside Yumeko and Lady Shinki as Shou and Ichirin took up positions on either side of us.

In the sky above us, a short distance away, Byakuren and the three humans who had announced their intentions to exterminate her squared off. Reimu held her gohei at her side, with a number of ofuda between the fingers of her right hand. Marisa was tossing her hakkero in her hand, flipping it and catching it as she switched her riding position on her broom to side-saddle. Sanae held her wand in hand and struck the most intimidating pose she could think of.

The tense silence that filled the air was shattered in one bellowing cry as Byakuren nodded her head and said simply, but with great force:

"Now then, let's begin. Namusan!"


—26—


On the deck of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 I watched the battle unfold as Murasa and the others watched with rapt attention, their hands clasped in front of them prayerfully. In contrast, just beside me Shinki and Renko were calmly drinking tea, appreciating spectacle and commenting occasionally on the highlights.

"Renko, how can you just be standing there and casually drinking tea at a time like this?"

"You should have some, Merry. This herbal tea is soothing."

"Here you go," Yumeko said, handing me a delicate china cup full of steaming, floral tea.

I had no choice but to accept something that had been prepared so prettily for me, and the tea was certainly delicious, but really this didn't seem like the time to be enjoying it.

The crew of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 took no notice of us, watching intently as the fight progressed. All of them except for Nazrin seemed ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

"Big Shou, if Hijiri should somehow lose this fight, don't try to stop me."

"Don't worry. If that should happen, I don't think I'd be able to hold myself back either."

Murasa's fingers were tightly gripping the wood of the railing, while Shou fidgeted, clenching and unclenching her hand around the shaft of her spear. Ichirin stood at Unzan’s side with one hand resting on him, ready to enter the fray at a moment's notice. Beside her, Nazrin stood silently, watching the proceedings with an emotionless expression, her eyes darting about to follow every movement. I followed her gaze to watch as Byakuren landed a flying kick against Sanae's crossed arms that sent her tumbling through the air.

Just as Alice had mentioned, Byakuren's magic seemed to be focused on enhancing her physical abilities, and seeing her fight using that magic was unlike anything we had ever seen. The barrages of danmaku she threw out were minor for the most part, just a scattering here or there to cover her movement or dissuade approach. The real threat was the way she could close distance at a frightening pace, slipping through gaps between her own barrages to engage in fearsome close quarters combat. I wouldn't have thought her to be a magician at all —her style looked closer to a practiced and masterful form of martial arts.

This style of fighting seemed to be especially troublesome for Marisa, who kept trying to make enough distance between herself and Byakuren to line up a [Master Spark] only to find her opponent suddenly directly in front of her. Sanae likewise struggled to find an opening, while Reimu seemed to be faring slightly better, relying on wards to stymie Byakuren's assaults. Even she was struggling more than usual though. In Gensokyo, battles involving long-range bombardment at a distance had been the norm for danmaku matches, and although Reimu often mixed some physical strikes into her fighting style, I don't think any of the incident-resolvers had ever faced such a formidable opponent hand-to-hand.

At the time of the battle of course, we couldn't hear much of anything that was going on. Speaking to Sanae afterward though, I was able to assemble the following description of how the fight went.

—

"Damn it, I can’t get enough distance!"

"Then let’s pin her down. With enough bullets she’s bound to get stuck, right?"

"I hate to have to rely on a three-on-one attack to get her, but whatever works, I guess!"

Marisa turned and jetted away, scattering indiscriminate waves of tumbling stars behind her to dissuade pursuit. Reimu darted forward, tossing out a large number of ofuda to chase Byakuren as she zigzagged wildly between the waves of stars. Sanae rapidly constructed numerous stacked rings and pentacles of densely-packed danmaku, arraying them so closely together with Reimu’s ofuda and Marisa’s stars as to leave almost no gap between the streams of projectiles. With a nearly impenetrable wall of bullets in front of her, Byakuren was forced to stop, giving Marisa and the others time to widen the distance between themselves and the nun a bit.

Byakuren unfurled her scroll and held it before her, incanting a spell.

"Great Magic — [Devil's Recitation]"

In the space of an instant, a luminous aura surrounded Byakuren and bloomed, unfolding into two enormous butterfly wings made of fluctuating, rainbow-colored light. As they unfolded and stretched out, a dense cloud of scattering danmaku and sweeping lasers shot forth from them. The barrage slammed against the dense thicket of bullets the trio had been constructing and scattering them in an instant.

"Mother, isn't that one of your spells?" Yumeko asked as she poured more tea.

"She remembered it! I'm so honored!"

As I watched Shinki drink her tea I wondered if she had been teaching Byakuren some of her own magic in the time the saint had been sealed in this world.

While Shinki was saying that, Byakuren had chased down Reimu and sent her flying with a terrific punch that had ripped through the shrine maiden's barrier and knocked her away with a single blow. Following through on the swing’s momentum, she whirled and delivered a roundhouse kick that sent Sanae rocketing backward, straight into Marisa, knocking the witch back before she could release her spell.

Having all been sent spiraling away the three girls turned their momentum into a full-fledged retreat, grouping together as they sped away with Byakuren following close behind them.

"What's this lady's deal? She's way too strong!" Sanae panted as the three of them retreated in formation.

"We'll have to come up with something better than whinin' about it. We gotta go all out, Reimu. Together!"

"What do we do though? It’ll have to be something she can’t just blow away."

"Then we keep her in one place. If you can hold her, I can hit her hard enough to keep her down. Reimu, you're good at tyin' people up."

"I can't get her in a sealing circle though, she's too fast. Sanae, you act as a decoy. When she comes in to pummel you, I'll center a circle around you then Marisa can blast it."

"Wouldn't that hit me too?"

"Your noble sacrifice will be remembered."

"Yep, them's the breaks."

"Hold on, I don't want to be a sacrifice! I’m not going to be Goku just to take out this Raditz! Especially not for the sake of the Hakurei Shrine!"

"Well we gotta do somethin’ to limit her movement. We’re gettin’ wrecked here!"

"I'm trying, but she's too fast..."

"Fine! 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 do it! You two figure out the rest!" Reimu suddenly declared and turned on the spot, kicking off of the air to rush toward Byakuren while scattering a salvo of ofuda with one arm and a spray of whirling yin-yang orbs with the other before stacking several hovering barriers right before her.

The brief window of opportunity brought by Reimu's barrier seemed to have been enough, as Sanae had used the opportunity to loose a Spell Card, pinning the entire space that Reimu's wards occupied between two slowly narrowing walls of towering and wavering aquamarine light, greatly limiting the space Byakuren had available to dodge. According to Sanae, it was a Spell Card that she preferred not to use since it took a lot of stamina to maintain.

As Byakuren smashed her way through Reimu's barriers, she found herself already bounded by walls on both sides. The only ways out were forward or back, and without hesitation she chose forward, rocketing past Reimu and toward Sanae and the point at which the waves she was hurling split to become the two walls.

At the mouth of that split though, right at the point where the waves broke was Marisa, motes of light surging toward a single point along the opening of her hakkero. As Byakuren flew up the path created by the parted sea, one final Spell Card ignited. Marisa's voice rang out across the darkened skies.

"𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊!"

The path that Sanae had created between the cascading columns of light was filled in an instant by Marisa's laser. Reimu managed to escape just a hair's breadth before the all-consuming rainbow of the blast washed across the night sky, completely engulfing Byakuren's form.

Everyone watching the battle from the deck of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 gasped. As the roar of the hakkero's laser dissipated, it gave way to an eerie, tense silence. As the last of the intense flood of rainbow light faded away, Byakuren's form emerged from within its stream, seemingly unchanged..

Then, all at once, her body swayed. Whatever magic had been holding her aloft was lost and she tumbled, head over heels toward the ground below.

Murasa screamed and moved to leap over the side of the rails. She was beaten to it by Nazrin though, who was already in the air by that point, diving downward at speed and racing toward Byakuren's plummeting body.

"Nazrin?" Shou cried, extending an arm toward her.

Nazrin never looked back, simply speeding ahead as she dropped precipitously. Murasa, Shou, and Ichirin were frozen in shock for a moment but then all leapt overboard and raced to catch up with Nazrin.

"Come on Merry, let's go!" Renko cried, climbing up onto Unzan.

"Renko, wait! Go where?" I asked, grabbing onto the hem of her trenchcoat as she grabbed onto Unzan. Wordlessly, Unzan took notice of us and transformed himself, spreading out into a shape that could carry us safely. The nyuudo surged toward Byakuren, but we were still a long way behind Nazrin.

"Hijiri, grab hold!" Nazrin shouted, extending one of her dousing rods out toward Byakuren’s plummeting body.

Still falling, Byakuren’s eyes fluttered weakly. Blearily, she looked up. "Nazrin?" she asked, and extended her hand to take the offered rod. As soon as her hand closed around it, Nazrin lifted with all of her might to try to slow their fall.

Shou caught up with them a moment later, wrapping her arms around Nazrin’s small body from behind and pulling upward. It wasn't enough. The three of them slowed down but were still falling.

"Heads up!" Murasa hollered from behind me. She swung a length of heavy chain attached to her anchor over her head before whipping it through the air to wrap around the three falling bodies. With a ringing clank the chain went stiff as Murasa hauled against it and all three falling forms were yanked to a halt.

"Unzan!" Ichirin shouted. The nyuudo sent both his hands flying away from his body, stretching them out to gently cradle Byakuren, Nazrin and Shou in his outstretched palms.

"Hijiri! Are you alright?" Murasa asked in alarm as everyone settled into stillness only a few dozen meters above the ground.

"Before you ask that, how about you get this chain off of us," Nazrin grumbled.

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Murasa apologized as the chain faded and disappeared along with the anchor. Byakuren was still stretched out on Unzan’s palm, looking up at the skies of Houkai. "I lost, didn't I?" She mumbled.

Reimu, Marisa and Sanae had reached us by that point. Descending with Reimu in the lead they nodded and spoke as one.

"We win."


—27—


Murasa and the other disciples all closed ranks around Byakuren, taking up defensive stances.

"Fight’s over, we won fair an' square. Or did you all wanna go again?" Marisa asked.

Murasa met her irreverent grin with a hostile glare. "We will never allow Hijiri to be sealed away again. She protected us a thousand years ago, now we'll protect her!"

Shou, Nazrin and Ichirin all nodded at this and weapons were once more produced.

"You guys are such a pain," Reimu sighed, shaking her head wearily. With a bored expression, she raised her gohei.

"I came here to beat up evil youkai but now I feel like we've become the bad guys, somehow. Sanae pouted, brandishing her own wand.

"I don't care if a bunch of youkai think we're the bad guys," Reimu replied, her steely glare fixed on Murasa.

"Alright Reimu, that's enough," Renko said, clapping her hands together and inserting herself into the conversation between Reimu and Byakuren's disciples.

Reimu looked about ready to bite her. "No. We're not doing this again, Renko. You're practically the mastermind behind the incident this time, even if you're a powerless human. I won the battle, and now I'm going to seal all of these youkai at once. If you interfere any further, then I'm sealing you in with them."

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you if that's what you want to do, but that would be breaking your own rules, Reimu. That's not how Spell Card duels are supposed to work. After all, you didn't win."

"What?" Reimu raised her eyebrows incredulously at Renko.

"You said before the match started that if you won you'd be sealing Byakuren and her disciples away. Sanae more or less agreed to that. The thing is, neither of you ever landed a hit on Byakuren. It was Marisa who did that. She's the winner of this match."

Reimu stared at Renko for a moment. Slowly, all eyes turned to the witch.

"So Marisa, what do you think? Are you in favor of sealing us all away?" Renko asked.

"Well heck, I don't care. I didn't even come here to fight."

"Then I'll do this quickly and we can go home," Reimu said, raising her gohei again.

"...If you let us go, I'll give you all the treasure we've hidden away!" Nazrin suddenly declared.

A gleam suddenly shone in Marisa's eyes. "Treasure?"

"You thought the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 was a treasure ship, right? That's why you were following us in the first place. When Master and I escaped the temple we were able to carry some of its hidden treasures with us. If you let us go, I'll give them to you."

"I like the sound of that!" Marisa declared, snapping her fingers. "You got yourself a deal!"

"Hey Marisa, you can't just decide that! These people are dangerous!" Reimu roared, turning on her.

"Sure I can, I won."

"That's just something Renko made up!"

"Danmaku's supposed to be beautiful, right? It's not a just a duel, it's a spectacle, so we oughtta respect the will of the spectators."

"Wait, is that how it works?" Sanae asked, tilting her head curiously.

"That’s right. How about this then, Reimu? You and I can have a go right here and now, and the winner gets to decide their fate. They'll probably all run away while we do though."

"Shut up! I can do it the old-fashioned way too and just blow everyone up!"

"Hold on, Miss Reimu, calm down." Sanae pleaded, laying a hand on Reimu's shoulder. "Let's give this some consideration."

"You too, Sanae? I thought you were on my side!"

"We all beat Byakuren together with a team effort. If Marisa's going to get some kind of treasure as a result of that, shouldn't we negotiate a share of the prize?"

Reimu glared at Sanae in silence for a moment.

"Your shrine finances are still feeling the effects of that earthquake, right? That's why you were chasing the treasure ship. You could seal everyone right now, or you could let them go back to Gensokyo, get their treasure and keep an eye on them to make sure they can’t do anything bad. Wouldn’t that work out better for you?"

The silence lengthened as Reimu's glare became even more hostile.

"So, Miss Marisa. What kind of split do you think would be fair? We all worked together to to win, right?"

"Yeah, you got a point, Sanae. How about an 80-10-10 split. That seems fair, right?"

"At least go 40-30-30." Sanae grumbled.

"I'll do 60-20-20."

"How about half for you Miss Marisa, and a quarter each for me and Miss Reimu. Or Miss Reimu and I could just team up to beat you and split the treasure 50-50."

"Sanae what are you even doing?"

"...Alright, deal!” Marisa declared.

"Accepted! Majority rules and they're free to go!" Sanae declared loudly.

Reimu grumbled unhappily but everyone else sighed in relief.

Yumeko floated forward, offering another cup of her steaming herbal brew to Reimu. The shrine maiden looked around at all of the faces staring hopefully at her before grumbling and accepting the cup, taking a long sip before exhaling.

"...Alright, fine! But if I find out you're doing anything dangerous then I'm going to come back and seal the lot of you for good."

There were no cheers for such a statement, but smiles broke across the faces of all of Byakuren's disciples nonetheless.

Thus was Hijiri Byakuren, the exiled saint and sinner, released from her imprisonment in Makai.