東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Epilogue: Mountain of Faith

After Renko had concluded, Kanako remained silent, still floating above us in a seated position, still glowering down at us. Renko adjusted the brim of her hat and smiled, a bit awkwardly.

"Of course, all of this was only my theory, a fantasy built from my inferences and hearsay. If you have the means to debunk or pick apart my theory, I'm happy to hear it. If you find it distasteful to talk about such matters, then you don't have to confirm or deny it. I'm happy to let the matter drop and I have no intention of telling Sanae about it. I merely wanted to see if you could point out to me somewhere that I had gone wrong."

All this time, Kanako had remained steadfastly silent, brooding above us like a thundercloud, and glowering with her arms crossed. Now suddenly she began to tremble and she lowered her head, breaking eye contact with Renko.

"Lady Yasaka?"

All at once, Kanako raised her head and began to laugh explosively, loudly and heartily guffawing as she slapped her thigh. "Hah, I see, I see!" She said, once she had recovered enough to speak again. "That truly is a masterpiece. Oh, I had forgotten what it felt like to laugh until it hurts like this. You truly are a great detective, Renko."

Kanako proceeded to wipe the tears from her eyes and descend to stand on the path before us. "So that's the conclusion you came to. I must admit that's some impressive detective work, and I'm not saying that sarcastically. You're a bit off the mark, but I'm genuinely surprised by how close you came to the truth.

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"I admit it, this was never the Suwa Grand Shrine, and I was never Takeminakata. The tengu figured out as much the moment they set foot here, so there's no harm in me admitting it. But I never thought you'd arrive at the conclusion that I'm Sanae's birth mother from that. Let me correct your misunderstanding." As she said this she laid a hand on one of the enormous wooden pillars standing beside the pathway.

"You're mostly right about the shrine. It was built to honor Moriya—now Suwako and as you suspected the wind priestesses are indeed direct descendants of Moriya. That makes Suwako Sanae's distant ancestor. Some of the power Sanae and all of the wind priestesses before have wielded comes from their relation to Suwako."

"So that makes Lady Moriya a divine spirit then, and not a native god?"

"No, she’s a myriad god. She was born from faith in mount Moriya. Because that faith was strong she’s been able to take human form since antiquity and mingle with her followers. Eventually, that led to the creation of the Kochiya clan."

When a goddess says something like that to you there's no point to asking questions like 'why' or 'how'. I suppose that meant that when Kanako or any other goddess showed up in a form like this they really did have a flesh-and-blood human body, at least for the time being. The same seemed to be true of the fertility gods that come to the harvest festivals in the village.

"What about you then, Lady Yasaka? If you're not Sanae's mother, and you're not Takeminakata, who are you, really?"

"Well, you were mostly right. Just as the god Moriya was amalgamated with various Mishaguji, so too were the wind priestesses of the Kochiya family venerated. As you suspected, Sanae is not the first to wield the power of miracles. Her mother was venerated as a living god, as was her grandmother, and all of their mothers before them. All of the wind priestesses of the Kochiya line have been worshiped in this way."

"Ah. Then that makes you..."

"Do you understand now?. I am the goddess born of the faith directed at all of the wind priestesses of the Kochiya family. After their death, each wind priestess is not worshipped individually. Instead they are all worshiped collectively as the goddess Yasaka, creating me, Yasaka Kanako."

"So then you're not Sanae's mother. Or rather, you're not just her mother..."

I am her mother, her grandmother and every daughter of Yasaka back to the first wind priestess. All of those formerly living goddesses are worshipped as one of my incarnations and become a part of me upon death. So I suppose when you claim that I was once Sanae's mother, you are not wrong, but I am much more than that as well."

Renko was stunned into silence. It was a lot to take in.

"I'm guessing you misunderstood because the tengu called me a young god. I suppose I am, compared to Takeminakata or Suwako. But you were deceived in that you confused your own human sense of time with that of the tengu, who view centuries as you might view decades. If I were only Sanae’s mother, I would be far weaker than I am."

"So in that case, Lady Moriya is not just Sanae's ancestor..."

"But mine as well, in various ways, stretched across numerous generations." Kanako said, completing Renko's sentence. "Do you see now why I would go to such lengths to do everything for her that I can?"

"Well, I admit, I didn't know that a divine spirit could exist as an amalgamation of various different people." Renko sighed deeply. So her conclusions were mistaken, with the improbable truth driven by intricacies and circumstances we couldn’t possibly have known of. I suppose in the end I should have expected as much. We were operating on limited and incomplete information. No detective could be expected to reliably reach the correct conclusion based on that. It would be stranger if her predictions actually had been accurate.

"If you don't mind me asking then, what was your purpose in coming to Gensokyo?"

"The Moriya shrine is dedicated to Moreya, but over time the Kochiya family line has come to be venerated to a higher degree. I became the goddess worshiped here and while I did my best to direct the faith I received to Moriya, but we are different beings. There’s a limit to how much I could support her. When Sanae's parents died, her grandmother and I tried to change the shrine back to being dedicated purely to Suwako, favoring her worship over my own. The rest of Sanae's family wouldn't allow it though, and eventually Sanae became a wind priestess on her own. With things as they were, it was inevitable that the same thing would happen again, and people would eventually favor her over Suwako. That's why we came here. To restore faith in Suwako and free Sanae from being manipulated by family members who wanted to use her for their own ends."

"So then, being as there is no relation to Takeminakata or any of the other gods from the Kojiki here, I guess you could say that Moriya shrine is not actually a Shinto shrine, but more akin to a surviving indigenous religious organization?"

"Yes, one that dates back to the age of gods and myths."

"So why does the Moriya shrine so closely resemble the Akimiya of Suwa Grand Shrine?"

Kanako laughed again, her face crinkling into a smile as her shoulders shook. "It doesn't. You said it yourself, Renko. The Akimiya resembles us. When Moreya was defeated by Takeminakata they established a partnership and created a shrine modeled after hers. The Suwa Grand Shrine resembled the Moriya Shrine as proof that Takeminakata was the victor while also showing that the true god being worshipped was Moriya. The idea was that the Suwa Grand Shrine would act as a branch shrine to Moriya, gathering faith that Suwako could make use of. The whole plan didn't exactly work out, though. Eventually the name Moreya was forgotten and amalgamated into the Mishaguji, and Takeminakata and Mishaguji were the only gods venerated at the Suwa Grand Shrine, leaving faith in Suwako to dwindle to almost nothing."

"But the people of Suwa still worship Mishaguji. Does Suwako not gain any faith from that?"

"The god venerated there is an amalgamation of all of the Mishaguji. It is not Moreya. If we had allowed things to continue as they were, then her personality would have been swallowed up and she would have become one with all of the other Mishaguji, just one among many."

"Well. Wow. That's quite a story. It makes sense though. Why bother introducing yourself as Takeminakata when you came over here though?"

"Actually, I never did that for anyone but you two."

Renko laughed, sounding tired, then held up a finger, saying. "Just one last question then. How much does Sanae know about any of this?"

"Sanae is pure, for better or worse. She's never had friends of her own age, and as a result she's perhaps more credulous than is healthy for her. She takes everything people say as the truth, and doesn't ask questions that she probably should. As such, she thinks that I'm the god of Youkai Mountain and Takeminakata, just as we told her. She knows that the Suwa Grand Shrine exists, and is a branch shrine to this one and she knows of the relationship between Mishaguji and Takeminakata, which she ascribes to myself and Suwako. She probably accepts that story without question. We've tried to shield her from contact with people who have heard of the power of the wind priestesses to work miracles and worshiped the Kochiya family so she doesn’t know about my true identity. I’d like to keep it that way."

"Do you think that will work out alright?"

"Yes. Telling her that her dead grandmother and mother are a part of me would only serve to trouble her at this point. So, Renko, Merry, I want to be perfectly clear. You are not to speak of anything that has been mentioned here today under any circumstances. Not to anyone, but especially not to Sanae. If you mention any of this, then I assure you that Suwako's curses will befall you."

"I Understand. It will be just as you command, Lady Yasaka." Renko took off her hat and bowed deeply. After a moment's uncertainty, I bowed as well.

Thus, we ended up agreeing to keep a secret from Sanae. I wondered if there was even a point to trying to unravel the secrets of the Moriya Shrine as we had. Certainly no one here was any better off for it, but thinking about that brought another question to mind...

"Umm Lady Yasaka?"

"Yes, Merry, what is it?"

"Does that mean that the Suwa Grand Shrine—"

"The Suwa Grand Shrine remained just as it was and as it continued to be in your time. Only The Moriya Shrine disappeared from the Outside World. Is that consistent with the future you know of?"

"...Yes."

It made sense. When we went sightseeing in Shinshu we never heard a word about the Moriya Shrine or the god Moreya. Even at the Suwa Grand Shrine, the legends we had heard only spoke of Takeminakata having defeated Mishaguji. The name Moreya is one we had never heard before coming here. It seemed within 80 years any memory of Moreya or her shrine had vanished from the Outside World.

Which in turn meant that the history of the Outside World might still be just as we knew it, meaning that a link to the future we had come from was still intact. Possibly at least. That’s what we wanted to believe, at any rate. I looked over at Renko who looked back at me and shrugged before pressing her hat back down on her head.

—

Before Kanako could say anything else, Suwako came rocketing toward her, having flown across the lake at top speed. "Kanako, I lost!" she wailed. Reimu and Marisa came flying across the lake a moment later, both of them looking somewhat battered and singed. Given the state Suwako was in though, it was clear to see who had been the victor in the human vs. god contest of barrages.

"What happened to you, Suwako, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's been a long time since I've been able to cut loose with the curses like that. I think I want to stay here, Kanako."

"Well, that's good to hear," Kanako said, stroking Suwako's hair a few times before retrieving her hat from the ground and placing it back on her head, staring eyes and all. With the two of them cuddled together like that, Kanako almost looked like Suwako's mother. I wouldn't say that out loud though.

"I’m fine with you staying here, but if you start doing something evil, I'm going to come back and exterminate you again," Reimu said, with a face like a storm cloud.

"Who, me? I haven't even done anything wrong. I could though. I bet we could drum up a lot more faith for your shrine if we worked together."

"No thanks. My shrine is doing just fine.."

"Hmmm, I wonder if that's true. From the sound of it, you could use some sort of help. Oh! What about a festival? We could have a danmaku festival over your shrine. I'm sure that would bring people in."

"Would people come to see that?"

"Holding a festival makes a day into a special sort of tomorrow, unlike every other yesterday. Pick a day and we can make it part of Gensokyo’s native faith. Danmaku to honor the gods!"

"In Gensokyo, danmaku's an everyday occurrence. We could have a banquet, though." Marisa interjected

"Oh, a banquet!" Suwako agreed, clapping her hands. "Kanako, let's have a big feast right away. Prepare 44 portions of blessed porridge!"

"We’re not doing that," Kanako said flatly.

Just then a voice shouted "Oh! There you all are!" from behind us. We turned to see Sanae flying down the path. "There was no one at the Hakurei Shrine, so I came back, but then there was no one at the Moriya Shrine either!" She looked over the assembled group and the burn marks and tatters on Suwako's dress. "What's going on here?"

"We came to investigate the secret shrine and hidden god you neglected to mention." Reimu replied.

"Eh? You fought Lady Suwako?—Lady Suwako, you’re all messed up! Did they hurt you?"

"Don’t worry about me, I’m fine."

"How dare you attack Lady Suwako!" Sanae said, looking up toward Reimu with a fierce expression.

Reimu and Marisa both glanced over at Sanae, each raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, didja wanna go a few rounds? I’ll take you on."

"Me too."

Kanako defused the situation. "Sanae, that won't be necessary. This was a fair battle and it’s already over. There’s no need for you to get involved. "

Sanae looked up at Kanako with pleading eyes "B-but what about..?"

"Rather than worrying about that, let’s hold a banquet? To introduce Suwako to the world. How does that sound?" Kanako asked.

"What? Will that be okay?" Sanae asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yes, I think so. Suwako herself was just saying she’s decided to settle down here."

"That's great! Lady Suwako, we can gather faith for the shrine together now!" Although just a moment ago Sanae had been angry and ready to fight, she was now happily jumping up and down, holding both of Suwako's hands.

Marisa shrugged her shoulders. "She recovers quickly."

"Well then, Merry and Renko, welcome once more to the newly rededicated Moriya Shrine, you're our first human worshippers again!"

"Hey wait! You can’t just make them into your worshipers."

"But they're not worshippers at the Hakurei Shrine, are they?"

"That's too many suspicious people all together. You're bound to get up to no good."

"We're not suspicious! Miss Renko, tell her you're not suspicious."

"Actually, Reimu has been suspicious of Merry and I for a while now."

"If you know you're suspicious, why do you keep poking your noses into things like this!?"

"Hmmm, I don't think it would be possible for me not to. As both an intellectually curious villager and the chief investigator of the Hifuu Detective Agency, it's my duty to investigate unusual occurrences. As far as the question of becoming a worshipper at the shrine, well I have no plans to, but I'll make a point of paying a visit to the Moriya branch shrine the next time we're on the Hakurei Shrine grounds."

Sanae glowered at Reimu, almost growling before suddenly shouting "You can't have her! She's going to join the Moriya Shrine!" Sanae declared, leaping forward and latching onto Renko's left arm.

"Wait, what? No way! she’s coming to the Hakurei Shrine!" Reimu replied, grabbing Renko's right arm.

Renko looked back at me with a worried expression. "It's hard being popular with the ladies, Merry. What should I do? Agh! Hey! don't pull!"

"I don't know, Renko. This seems like a problem your genius intellect will have to devise a way out of on its own," I said, turning away and beginning the walk up the path and out of the inner shrine. Behind me I could barely hear Renko's cries over the increasingly heated arguments of the two priestesses.

◇

A few days later, the annual harvest festival was held in the village. While it was, in theory, a celebration for all of the village, since it was mainly a farmers’ celebration the majority of the events were held to the south of the village on the roads between the farms, in fallow fields, or near the south side of town, amongst the farmers' houses. Not being farmers ourselves, we, like most of the people in attendance, were merely there to enjoy the sights and sounds and sample the numerous foods and delicacies set out on the broad tables that had been placed in the middle of the streets.

"Do you think we'll run into Sanae here?" Renko asked me at one point.

"She might just sit back and watch for the moment. I think she’d probably want to see how the local fertility gods do things, don’t you?"

"I bet she wanted to come but Kanako stopped her. She was probably all ‘Lady Kanako! The farmers are all gathered for a festival, this is our chance to convert them all at once!’ Then Kanako would have been all ‘Hold it, Sanae, we can’t just insert ourselves into another religion’s festival’ ‘B-but what about your divine virtues? Surely people will flock to us if you show them what you can do.’ ‘There’s no sense in making enemies unnecessarily.’"

I smiled as I watched her act out the conversation."Yeah, I can see that happening." Renko and I continued chatting happily, walking through the lively streets and munching on freshly baked sweet potatoes, surrounded by the smells of autumn leaves, roasting food and hot sake.

The festival soon drew to a close, with groups of farmers and gods slowly trickling out from the crowded stage that had been erected to hold all of the various altars and tables in a field just on the edge of town. Both villagers and fertility gods alike were slowly wandering away from the platform, rosy cheeked and stumbling as they made their way back to their farms or homes. A few farmers and gods stayed behind at the tables, where they would likely drink together until sunrise, toasting and praying for a bountiful harvest in the year to come. Normally, Renko and I, who have no connection to the farmers of the village, would head home at this point. This time, however...

"Oh, hey! You two! The detectives! Over here!" We scanned the crowd to make out the face of someone who was waving to us. I was surprised to recognize Aki Minoriko, one of the local harvest goddesses, who was standing on her tiptoes and waving her arm over her head to get our attention. We had spoken with her briefly during the harvest festival the previous year. I remembered her as a cheerful and friendly goddess but I couldn't imagine why she would be flagging us down in the street. Renko and I glanced at each other before making our way through the crowd toward her.

The warm smell of her fragrance washed over us as we approached. "Well hello, Miss Harvest Goddess. What can I do for you? Shouldn't you be at the drinking party with all the farmers?" Renko asked as we ambled up.

Leaning toward us, she spoke in what might have been a normal conversational tone, but amidst the bustle of the crowd it would have been impossible for anyone else to hear. "I heard a rumor from a kappa recently that I wanted to confirm with you. It's about the new god who appeared on Youkai Mountain. Nitori said you know them, is that right?"

"Oh, Lady Minoriko, are you friends with Nitori?"

"Acquaintances, at least. Tell me about these new gods though. What are they like? What kinds of blessings are they offering? Do you know if they’re planning to do business here in the village?"

"Ah, well they're mountain gods, and also gods of wind and rain. They’re offering a pretty wide range of blessings, but I think they’re planning to start by offering up good harvests to gather faith from the farmers."

"Really?" She gritted her teeth. "That's worrisome. It's one thing if they're only courting the faith of the tengu and the kappa, but if they come down into the village as well, they'll be eating our lunch in no time. What should we do?"

"How about talking with them? They said that they don’t intend to fight with the existing harvest gods. They're not evil. I'm sure you'd be able to negotiate something everyone could agree on."

"Really?"

"Sure. I could even function as a negotiator, if you like."

"I see. Where can I find you if we need you?"

"We have an office just behind the temple school. Just look for the sign by the door, we'll be waiting for you, as long as it's not during the hours that we're teaching."

"Alright then. Nice to see you again," she said with a nod. Then, with a wave of her hand, she disappeared back into the crowd.

After I watched her go, I turned to Renko. "I thought we were running a detective agency. Why are you offering your services as a mediator between the Moriya Shrine and the residents of Gensokyo now?"

"Think of it as a thank-you gift to the Moriya Shrine."

"As a thank-you, or as an apology for all the trouble you caused?"

"It can be both," Renko said with a laugh. She fiddled with the brim of her hat as she spoke. "Kanako revealed the truth to me and it was even stranger than my imaginings. I need to work on expanding my imagination if I want to be up to the challenges of the sorts of mysteries found in this world."

"As usual, claiming to be a detective is just an excuse for you to be nosy and overbearing, isn’t it?."

Even my partner, whose insightful mind strived to understand the structure of the entire universe, could not fully unravel the secrets of Gensokyo. I think that's what made this world so enticing to her. The many unknowns, the blank areas on the map of her knowledge were an open canvas to her, a surface she could paint with colors beyond our wildest imaginings. To her, having the flaws in her reasoning pointed out to her was never more than a temporary setback which served to open up more possibilities for the future. To Renko, the calling of the Hifuu Club would always be beckoning and there would always be a more interesting truth to uncover beneath the story of any incident. I’m sure that I too will continue to be dragged along on her quest to reveal the hidden truths of our existence and make the world more interesting.

◇

The day after the harvest festival, the temple school was closed. Our detective agency was still open of course, but that didn't mean that any clients were likely to show up. Renko was sitting at her desk, reading a book she had borrowed from Suzunaan and I was compiling my notes from the whole affair, trying to decide what I could put into a novelization and what I couldn't.

Our peaceful afternoon was interrupted by a voice outside the door. "Hello! Is anyone in?"

Before I could get up to open the door it slid aside to reveal Sanae standing there, smiling as usual.

"Hello Sanae," Renko called, climbing to her feet. "Have you brought us a case to solve?"

"Sorry, no. Just visiting. I brought you this though," she said, handing me a jar full of pickled vegetables as she stepped inside.

"Well that's fine. Were you at the harvest festival yesterday? I didn't see you there."

"I wanted to come and proselytize during the festival, but Lady Kanako told me not to, so I ended up just watching from a distance," she said, pouting a little. It had likely gone just as we had imagined. I chuckled softly. "Once things calm down a bit on the mountain I'll come into town and do some missionary work in earnest."

"How're things going up there?"

"It's rough. The tengu have been coming to 'negotiate' every night. That newspaper reporter really drinks hard."

"You didn’t drink with her, did you? You’re still underage, plus she's a tengu."

"Yeah, I learned that lesson the painful way."

"I'm not much of a drinker either. Life in Gensokyo can be hard," I said, and we patted each other's shoulders in commiseration.

"What a waste," Renko remarked. "Sake here is much better than it was back in Kyoto. Speaking of which, did Lady Yasaka like that sake I gave in offering? I asked for the best they had."

"Yes, thank you very much. But why the sudden offering?"

"Well, I caused you all a lot of trouble. I'm sorry about that."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all. Ah, actually, there was something I wanted to ask you though."

"Oh?"

Sanae clapped her hands together and crept closer, a mischievous smile playing across her face. "Would you mind if I put up a little branch shrine in your office?"

Renko and I looked at each other in surprise. "Why here?" Renko asked. "I hate to admit it, but this office doesn't see a lot of visitors. I don't think you'd gather much in the way of faith."

"I’m surprised to hear you admit that our office hardly ever gets visitors. More importantly though, this place is only being rented to us by Miss Keine. We'd need to get her permission."

"She probably wouldn’t like us building a branch shrine on school grounds either. People might think we're indoctrinating children. Let me go talk her into it first."

"Ah, never mind, you don’t need to go that far. It's no big deal!"

"What exactly is the reason behind this, Sanae, are you just trying to make us official worshippers of the Moriya Shrine?"

"Oh, that would be great if you would!" She replied brightly.

"But that's not the only reason?"

"Well, uh. It's just that..." Sanae looked down, nervously wringing her hands. "Well, if we put a branch shrine here, then, um, I'd have an excuse to come see you more often."

"Is that what this is all about Sanae? You don't need to make up reasons to come see us! You can come by anytime! You're our friend, and you're always welcome." Saying that, Renko threw her arm around Sanae's shoulders and ruffled her hair.

Sanae's eyes went wide as a big smile lit up her face. "Really? Do you mean that?"

"Of course," I added, smiling back at her. "Come by anytime you like. We're friends after all."

Sanae's eyes went wide when she heard that and she was silent for a moment before squeezing her eyes shut and nodding vigorously.

"Okay! I'll do it!"

And so, you see now why I say that this was not the story of an incident, but instead a record of Gensokyo's first religious war. How it came to be, and how it was resolved. It was also the story of my partner's delusional fantasies and how they were defeated by an even stranger reality.

But, above all else, it was also the story of how our little Hifuu Club became friends with a girl who works miracles. That's all this record really is.

—

"Hey Sanae, why don't you come and work at our detective agency?"

"Me? Would that be okay?"

"We don't really have anything to do most days, so your job would just be to idle around with us and kill time. Occasionally we get to wander around Gensokyo and look into strange and interesting events. It'd be fun!"

"Oh, would we get to go exploring and investigate incidents? Count me in then! You can show me all around Gensokyo!"

"Alright then!" Renko declared. "In that case, our first mission is to go out and investigate the local restaurants! We need to celebrate the arrival of the newest member of the Hifuu Detective Agency!"

"That sounds great. Where to though? I don't know any of the restaurants around here."

"We'll just have to ask the wind and see where our feet take us. It's all new to you, so anywhere is fine, right?"

"Sure, listening to the wind is my specialty. Let's see where it blows us!" She leapt to her feet and swung her arm towards the door. "Kochiya / Hifuu Detective Agency: Move out!"

"Kochiya / Hifuu? Renko, someone's hijacked our office now," I quipped, standing up to join them.

"Hmmm, 'hifuu' doesn't really work if there's more than two of us, but I don't think just adding Kochiya to the front of the name works either. We'll need to come up with a good name over dinner. Like 'The Uncommon Sense Detective Agency' or something."

"I love it! Three Outsiders unbound by common sense, here to reveal the truths of the world."

"To make the world more interesting!" Renko shouted as she walked out the door behind me.

"To make the world more interesting!" Sanae echoed behind her, one fist raised in the air.

"Does this world really need two troublemakers with no common sense?" I asked, shaking my head.

"Of course it does, Merry. What's the point of common sense in a world of fantasy?"

"Yeah, in Gensokyo you can't be held back by common sense!"

"Exactly! If the world has no more interesting secrets of its own to reveal to us, then we'll make it more interesting with our uncommon sense!"

"Come on, Merry, let's go! We've got a whole world to make more interesting!" Sanae said, clinging onto my arm.

"Yeah, let's go see the world with new eyes, unbound by the biases of the Outside World. Throw your common sense aside, Merry, you won't need it where we're going!" Renko grabbed me from the other side, clinging onto my other arm and giving me a squeeze.

And so, a new member joined our Hifuu Detective Agency. We never did come up with a new name though. If you should happen to come and visit our office one day, there's a reasonable chance you might just see her, the third, part-time member of our staff, who's sure to greet you with a big smile.

Kochiya Sanae. Wind priestess, living goddess, miracle worker and another strange Outsider, just like the rest of us. Maybe you'll come by one day and see if we can miraculously solve the issues plaguing you.

Until then, this has been another record of the Hifuu Detective Agency, consisting of:
Usami Renko, Director and Chief Investigator.
Maéreverie Hearn, Director's Assistant.
And Kochiya Sanae, Part-timer.

We look forward to welcoming you in the annex behind the temple school.

[End of Book 6: Mountain of Faith]

—

Author's Afterword:

Hello, this is the author, Asagihara. I hope you enjoyed the Mountain of Faith arc.

There's not much to write in this postscript. I've been writing Touhou stories for almost 10 years now, but surprisingly this is the first time I've properly written about Sanae in Gensokyo.

When I started writing this episode, I hadn't planned it to end this way, but before I knew it, Sanae came along and shoved her way into the middle of the renmerry. I'm not sure how that happened, or what will be next for her.

Chronologically, the next events I should cover would be those in Silent Sinner in Blue, but I'm not planning on adding the events of that manga into the mix. Perhaps with Renko and Merry present in Gensokyo, the second genso-lunar war would never have happened. You can think of it that way if you want. Why am I diverging from the events of that story? Well, if you've read my other stories about the Lunarians, you'll know.

So then, next is the Scarlet Weather Rhapsody arc. Please look forward to the next volume of the Hifuu Detective Agency, coming soon.