東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Epilogue: Double Dealing Character

—Epilogue—


With that it is nearly time to end the record of this incident.

To put it simply, it turned out that my partner’s rare show of caution was meaningless. From that point on we met Raiko several more times over the next few months and whenever we did, Renko always asked Raiko if she could tell us anything more about her look-alike in the Outside World. Unfortunately, Raiko's mysterious Outside World user and this person who might be Usami Sumireko were apparently not all that close.

"I haven't seen the person who looks like you since then" was all that Raiko could ever tell her.

It seemed that we had missed whatever chance we might have had to gather information about the Outside World.

—

Of course waiting for Raiko to tell us about Renko's lookalike wasn't the only method by which we could have tried to learn more. Renko knew her grandparents' address in the Outside World after all, and if it really was Sumireko who Raiko had seen, then she should be living with them in Tokyo. We had discussed the possibility of asking Miss Mamizou to send a message to the Outside World for us.

But if we did that, what would we even say to Sumireko?

We didn't have any evidence that Usami Sumireko had ever actually come to Gensokyo, and while it was undeniably true that we had come to this world by being transported here from her room, we couldn't guarantee that she had had anything to do with that. We also had nothing but Renko's guesses to suggest that the coma that had eventually claimed her life had had anything to do with this world. In fact we had more evidence suggesting that Sumireko 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 actually involved with us in any way: when we had met Matara Okina, she had told us that it was the Youkai Sage, Yakumo Yukari who had transported us to Gensokyo.

"If we were to send a letter to Sumireko, isn't it possible that doing so might be what ultimately results in her falling into a coma and dying, Renko?"

"That's definitely a risk…"

It was possible that Sumireko might already have been aware of the existence of Gensokyo via her association with Raiko's user in the Outside world. If that was the case then it seemed likely that whatever would eventually cause her to fall into a coma had something to do with this world. Eventually, Renko decided that her grandfather would never forgive her if his own granddaughter turned out to be the reason for his sister's premature death and so we resolved not to reach out to Sumireko after all.

But with that said, it seemed likely that at some point in the future—likely in the near future—Usami Sumireko might be showing up in this world.

If she did, what would happen?

Would meeting her own grandniece from the future cause some sort of paradox? If they were to meet, which one of them would actually be older?

Bizarre and confusing questions like that are exactly the reason why I don't tend to like sci-fi much.

◇

While there were no particularly noteworthy events to report, I should spend a moment to say what became of everyone else involved in this incident over the next few months.

As of this writing, the Miracle Mallet still hasn't fully recovered its missing power. As a result, Shinmyoumaru has continued to stay at the Hakurei shrine and is still being watched by Reimu for the time being. Reimu didn't seem to actually be keeping her prisoner or anything though as at one point last month we happened to visit the shrine and were surprised to find she wasn't there.

"Isn't letting her have this much freedom a little dangerous?" Renko had asked. "What if she runs into Seija and the two of them team up again?"

"I don't think that will be a problem. Shinmyoumaru says she wants to catch Seija and convince her to surrender, so I let her go out looking. She understands that she was misled now, so I don't think she'd do the same thing again."

"Huh. You go pretty easy on youkai once you've exterminated them once, don't you Reimu?"

"If they're not getting in my way then I don't have anything to gain from beating someone who I've already exterminated."

Reimu said that while looking at the empty bamboo cage that had become Shinmyoumaru's room. Honestly, it was a little cute. I suspected Reimu saw Shinmyoumaru as one might see a little pet.

In the skies to the west, Shining Needle Castle still floated, inverted and abandoned. I suspect that Shinmyoumaru will eventually end up returning to that place and making it her new residence if it hasn't been completely taken over by fairies or roaming youkai by then.

—

We heard about Raiko making an appearance from time to time. Apparently she was considering trying to join the Prismriver Ensemble, but I haven't heard any announcements of them officially adding a fourth member to their group at this time. Recently she’s been spotted travelling around Gensokyo and setting up spontaneous guerilla concerts without warning, trying to make a name for herself as a youkai drummer.

Whether or not she might actually be the oni god of thunder in disguise or the tsukumogami of the Miracle Mallet was something we had no way of actually discerning. As usual, my partner's deductions were not the sort of thing anyone but the people they were about could ever know for certain.

—

The two Tsukumo sisters had eventually shown back up at our office, looking much healthier then they had when we saw them last. We ended up introducing them to Mystia and her band, 𝐶ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑗𝑢𝑢 𝐺𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑘𝑢. The two of them had joined for a bit and although their musical expertise was welcomed, it turned out that their instruments didn't mesh well with the punk band's sound. They both left the band before long and have currently taken providing musical accompaniment to Kokoro's occasional Noh performances. I hope that sometime soon they'll be able to find a permanent niche for themselves and decide on somewhere to settle down.

—

Speaking of that pair of instruments, I should mention the case that started this whole business for us, the commission from Keine to locate the missing instruments.

"Well, I'm glad that you were able to find the biwa and the koto at least."

"I'm sorry that we never found the missing taiko. It's likely that it became a tsukumogami and is off living somewhere in Gensokyo by now."

"That sort of thing can't be helped, I suppose. Two recovered instruments is better than none."

The biwa and koto that we had given her had been the ones that had served as Benben and Yatsuhashi's original bodies. After Raiko had shown them how to move their spirits into their new bodies, the instruments had been left behind. The girls didn't seem to feel any sentimental attachment to the tools anymore, so we thought it best to give them back to Keine rather than abandon them to eventually become tsukumogami on their own.

As such, when we handed the instruments over to Keine, Renko told her that they had become tsukumogami during the incident but eventually returned to their normal form once the incident was resolved, with the implication that the same thing had probably happened to the taiko, leaving the drum’s location unknown.

"I'll make sure these get repaired and taken good care of so they don't become tsukumogami again."

"Please do that. Tools are meant to be used, so if you just leave them locked up in that warehouse all year round, they might get sad."

"Indeed. For tools, being locked away and never used is almost the same as not existing."

In this way our little detective agency not only managed to accept and resolve a case, but to get properly paid for it too. If only we could do that more often then maybe our detective business could go from being little more than a hobby to being our primary source of income. Waiting for that to happen might well take longer than a human lifetime though.

—

Renko's trenchcoat, which she was continuing to call 'Trenchy,' was still hanging on its peg on the wall of our office, having apparently returned to being entirely ordinary.

"If I take good care of her, then maybe she’ll keep protecting me, even if she turns into a youkai someday."

Renko said that completely casually, brushing dust off of the back of her coat and looking at it admiringly. I can't help but wonder just how long she thinks she might end up wearing it. For that matter, I wonder how long she thinks our Hifuu Detective Agency might be around. I know she saw this as more than a side gig but... What exactly did my partner think our future might look like?

—

That's enough about all of the tsukumogami involved in this incident. What happened to the weaker youkai who were affected, you might be asking?

"Oh! Miss Renko, Miss Merry. Hello there!"

"Hello there, what's going on here?"

"Are you two just coming back from the Scarlet Devil Mansion? We were all just invited to visit there."

We were walking along the shore of Misty Lake on our way back from the Scarlet Devil Mansion one day when we happened to spot Wakasagihime in the water. She had waved at us and beckoned us over to a spot where Imaizumi Kagerou was sitting calmly on the shore, also looking in our direction. I already knew that those two were friends with each other, but there was a third person standing beside Kagerou who I wouldn't have expected to see.

"Banki?" Renko asked as we drew closer. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"...Shut up. I could ask you the same thing." Sekibanki had mumbled, hunching her tall collar up until it hid her ears.

"Sekibanki's going to join our Grassroots Youkai Network!" Wakasagihime declared excitedly.

"I haven't said I'd join yet!" Sekibanki shouted.

"It's fine, Banki. You ought to. We can all be friends." Kagerou added, smiling up at her.

"Stop trying to talk me into it. And stop being so clingy! I told you I hate working in groups."

"Oh come on, it would be beneficial for all of us if we were to exchange information. I live in the bamboo forest, Wakasagihime covers the lake and you live in the village. If the three of us meet up like this regularly then we'll have almost half of Gensokyo covered. Forming mutual aid networks is an important survival tactic for us roaming youkai when an incident happens."

"I can survive just fine on my own. I don't need your help."

"Yeah, but that would be lonely. What's the harm in spending some time with us?"

"You two are only meeting up to hang out together! It’s a waste of time!"

"Well yeah, but wasting time is more fun with three people. The more the merrier, right?"

"Three’s a crowd."

"They say there’s wisdom in crowds."

"They say too many cooks spoil the broth too."

"Then we won’t cook! We can just swap stories and explore around. No one is an island, right?"

"If I let you two set our course we’ll run aground for sure."

"Oh, that reminds me, Banki," Renko interjected.

Sekibanki turned and glared at her. "What?"

"You saved us in the village recently, didn't you? When we were with Keine and being attacked by Kogasa?"

Sekibanki glared at Renko for a moment longer then turned away, hiding her face behind her cloak's collar. "I don't remember doing that," she muttered.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I saw a severed head scare Kogasa into the river before she could try to attack Keine again. There aren't usually too many of those in the village."

"Shut up. All of us weak youkai had been affected by that magical power, remember? Why would I help a human in a state like that?"

"Ah, so it was you! I didn't mention that it was during the incident when all the weak youkai were being affected, but thank you for jogging my memory. Now that you mention it though it is impressive that you were able to help us even despite being affected by the incident."

"Shut up! I told you I don't remember doing that!"

"Yup, Banki really likes humans for some reason."

"You're actually a big softie under that spooky cloak, aren't you?"

"Shut up!" Sekibanki shouted at Wakasagihime and Kagerou, her face rapidly turning a boiling red. Rather than quieting down, the two of them both burst into laughter.

To the three of them, the incident caused by Seija and Shinmyoumaru wasn't so much a political uprising as it was a tremendous annoyance. From that shared moment of undesired revolutionary fervor, however, maybe a new friendship had emerged. Looking at the three of them doing their intricate little dance of prodding and teasing, I thought perhaps that even an incident caused by an unrepentant and self-proclaimed troublemaker like this one couldn't really be thought of as all bad.

—

Speaking of unrepentant troublemakers, the main culprit of this incident, Kijin Seija, continues to this day to evade capture. She's been sighted from time to time, but she remains on the run and her current whereabouts are completely unknown as of this writing. That situation would change early in the spring of the next year.

◇

Please understand that the following story should be treated as hearsay. I wasn't present for it and there are no other sources to corroborate this retelling. I am simply telling it as it was told to me by a third party.

"I found Seija!" The person happily shouting this was Shinmyoumaru. Sanae and Marisa were sitting at the Hakurei Shrine, drinking tea with Reimu when she showed up in her flying bowl one afternoon. It was Sanae who later related this story to us.

"She's been going around trying to locate any tools whose power hasn't been completely drained by the Miracle Mallet. I think she's going to use them to try to cause another incident! She must have done something to keep their power from being reabsorbed. That's why the mallet hasn't finished recharging yet!"

Reimu had responded with nothing but a disinterested "Oh?" In Reimu's mind, if Seija hadn't yet caused a problem for the village or for Reimu herself, it didn't matter what she was planning. Sanae and Marisa were also at the shrine though, and they were more interested in Shinmyoumaru's story.

"Oh! That's the amanojaku who caused the incident before, right?" Sanae asked. "Is she still on the run?"

"Come to think of it, I don't remember anyone sayin' they'd caught her yet." Marisa replied with a nod.

"Well if Reimu won't go, either of you will do. Use any means you like to find her and stop her! I want the mallet to gain the rest of its power back so I can make myself big again!"

"You askin' me to go hunt her for you? That won't be cheap."

"Yeah, everyone's forgotten about her, I don't think I'd be able to get much faith for the Moriya Shrine by going after her."

"Well how about this? If you defeat her then the power should return to my mallet. I'll use that power to grant a reward for whoever can beat her and bring her to me!" Shinmyoumaru asked while raising her mallet and holding it aloft. Its gleam was matched only by the sparkle in both Sanae's and Marisa's eyes at the sight of it.

"Hey, that's a nice reward. What kinda stuff could I wish for?" Marisa asked.

"Anything at all! There's nothing the Miracle Mallet can't do. Bring her to me and I will make any wish come true!"

"It's just like finding all of the dragon balls! Who would have thought you could be a tiny little Shenron?"

"Alright, consider it done. I'll bring you that little troublemaker." Marisa said, rising to her feet and gesturing toward the open doorway. Her broom clattered off of the veranda and swooped into her hand.

"I'm not going to lose to you! That amanojaku is my ticket to the Moriya Shrine's ascendancy!"

"Hold it!" Reimu declared, raising a hand but not bothering to stand up from the table. "What do you all think you're doing?"

"Reimu, why don't you help us too? I don't want this mallet's power to be used for anything evil ever again."

"Then don't grant these two weirdos any wishes, that's just asking for trouble. I guess I’ll go looking for her just to make sure neither of them gets to make a wish."

Marisa and Sanae immediately sprang into action, and with both of them searching, Reimu began to hunt for the amanojaku as well. Gensokyo is a small place, though. Rumors spread quickly here and within days '𝑅𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑙 𝐾𝑖𝑗𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑒𝑖𝑗𝑎 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠' were the words that had spread across Gensokyo.

I'm afraid there isn't enough space in this epilogue to detail everything that happened with all of the various people who ended up pursuing Seija at one point or another, but let me assure you, it was an extremely wide-ranging phenomenon. Even Keine and Mokou dueled with her at various points, though in both of their cases it was not out of a desire for any reward. Keine intervened to protect the village and Mokou participated to protect Keine.

Honestly the scope and drama of the events that comprised the widespread attempts to capture Seija would likely make for a good novel all on their own. I won't be telling that tale, however. Aside from it not being the sort of story I'm well-equipped to write, there is a more pressing reason why I can only mention it in passing here: At the time all of that was occurring, my partner and I were occupied with another case. A mystery which turned out to be the beginning of another incident.

An incident involving both us and Usami Sumireko.

◇

It was also in early spring that something else happened. It was late one night when all of the contact that Renko and I had had with Seija had become little more than a memory.

I awoke, suddenly and unexpectedly. By the faint light of the moon I could tell that I wasn't in the bed where I had gone to sleep. I had assumed at first that I was dreaming, because although my location was unexpected, it wasn't unfamiliar. I was sitting on the floor of our office in the storeroom behind the temple school. I rubbed my eyes and shook myself into full wakefulness as I looked about. Renko was nowhere to be seen.

All at once a light bloomed in the darkness. A dim, familiar light, similar to the flickering glow of a paper lantern. In that dim light the outline of a figure sitting across from me at the table was visible.

"Good evening, Maéreverie Hearn. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The lantern's flame sputtered, then brightened to reveal a face. An unreadable smile spread slowly across features that were a mirror of my own.

The face of the Youkai Sage, Yakumo Yukari.

"Such terror in your eyes," she said, producing a small fan behind which she hid her smile. "There's no need for that. I only brought you here so we could have a little chat."

"...You brought me here. To get me away from Renko? Is she forbidden from seeing you?"

"Indeed. Unfortunately there are a few things I’d like her to know though, so we have a problem. Thus, I will speak with you, and you will carry my request to her and speak my words from your mouth. Will you do that for me?"

"I suppose it depends on what you'd like me to say."

Yukari tittered faintly behind the fan while above it, her eyes narrowed. "Oh my, I had heard from Okina that you had become quite fearless but it's surprising to see you speak so boldly. You used to be so adorably shy and timid..."

The fan closed with a snap. "Very well then, you will tell her this for me: I wish to hire the Hifuu Detective Agency."

"Hire us?"

"Yes. To solve a mystery for me." Without the fan I could see she was grinning like a cat. It was still the same troublesome grin I had seen countless times before, the sort of smile that nearly always preceded trouble, but written this time across a face identical to my own, rather the one I had seen it on nearly every day for more than a decade now.

"I'm just the detective's assistant. Any requests for commissions have to be approved by the agency's Director."

"I can't do that, so you'll have to do it for me."

"...Why? Why can't you let Renko see you?"

Asking that directly sent a trill of terror up my spine. I asked it anyway, though I can't imagine what I might have done with any answer she gave me. Of course she simply dodged the question instead of answering.

"That's just the way things are. There's no point in trying to fight it. Now, would you like to record the details of my request?"

"...Since Renko's not here, I can't make any guarantee that she'll take the case."

"Oh, that's terrible. If you don't accept this case, I could be in quite a bit of trouble. And of course, anything that spells trouble for me would certainly spell trouble for you both as well."

"...Why is that? What is there that could be trouble for us three specifically?"

Her smile grew wider. I felt like a fish that had just bit down on a hook. "Usami Sumireko," she said. "I'm going to give you a clue to help you find the person you're looking for."

Of course she knew about Sumireko. Sumireko, whose room we had been brought to Gensokyo from. Whose jewel she had given me to deliver. The last mystery our little Hifuu Club had ever investigated. The one that had led us here.

"You had the right idea investigating that drum tsukumogami. But sadly that girl is a dead end. She's just the tip of the iceberg poking out for you to see. Everything you really want to know is still hidden beneath the surface. Something very important is about to happen. You two, who are always more focused on events outside of the human village, will need to be paying attention, or you might miss it."

She smiled as she said the words that acted as the starting signal for the next incident. The words that would bring the story of the Hifuu Club into its final act. "There's someone who I need you to save."

[𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟏𝟑 - 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫]
𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝...

—

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝:

Hello, this is Asagihara. Thank you for reading this far.

I've been seeing more and more people leaving comments on these stories and trying their hands at deduction. I'm happy that so many people have taken up the challenge of attempting to solve these mysteries.

I hope that you were suitably surprised by the conclusion this time.

As this series is approaching its conclusion, there were more elements than ever before for me to try to manage this time, including the overarching plot, the mystery of Shining Needle Castle and how much of the material from Impossible Spell Card I should include in this volume. Overall, it was pretty difficult.

In the end, I was finally able to get it done and can now breathe a sigh of relief.

The next volume will be the series' conclusion, "Deep Secrets."

My intention is for this next volume to be the end of the story involving the Hifuu Club, Yakumo Yukari and Gensokyo. I have been working with this story for years now, not just here, but also some of my other series, including《少女秘封録》(Record of the Hifuu Club Girls) and others.

I hope that will be the case. I think it will be. I'll certainly be trying to wrap everything up in one go.

The ending of this series is something I've already decided on, but how we get there... It's because of questions like that the final chapter may start a little later than usual. I want to make sure I have everything in place before I begin.

Hopefully, I'll have it all done before the finished version of this story is available for purchase, but we'll see. I hope that you'll stick with me regardless of any delays until the very end.