東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Preface/Prologue: Scarlet Weather Rhapsod

Hello once again. I'm That-Which-Isn't, and this is my translation of the seventh book of Asagihara Shinobu's こちら秘封探偵事務所 or "Welcome to the Hifuu Detective Agency." Did you know that this website contains links to buy these books in physical format as well as various promotional materials such as this series’ theme song "Kuron outlaw ～Welcome to Ghostly Field Detective Office" by Akatsuki records (which you can also stream here)

This book contains the story of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. It's generally free of pretty much all objectionable content except for some very minor violence. As mentioned at the end of the last book however, the author will now be starting to put their pieces in play to reveal the truths behind the overarching plot of the whole series. To that end, you'll get more out of this book and the ones that follow it if you've read all of the previous books. That's a lot to read if you're just starting here, and the story will stand on its own, but the ending might not make a ton of sense if you haven't read at least the first two cases already.

With that warning in place, I will now step back and let the narrator guide you through the rest of the story. I thank you for reading, and hope that you enjoy the story to come.


—

It has been almost a year now since the Moriya Shrine appeared atop Youkai Mountain, having been transported here from the Outside World.

Since then, Gensokyo has been peaceful, with neither any incidents nor new arrivals to throw things into commotion. The only commotion we had seen had arisen from what appeared to have been a skirmish between the ice fairy that lived on the lake and some fairies of light. This scuffle had culminated with Cirno challenging Marisa for the title of Gensokyo's Strongest.

In the summer of Gensokyo's 123rd season, however, the long-lived peace was shattered by a series of events including a number of unusual changes in the weather and a strong but localized earthquake.

As a result of that quake, the Hakurei Shrine collapsed and Gensokyo was shaken to its roots. Or perhaps it was the other way around? An incident arose in the form of a towering scarlet cloud, which shook Gensokyo until the Hakurei Shrine was reduced to rubble.

This series of disturbing phenomena were all caused by the actions of a bored celestial who had descended from Heaven. This record will serve to document the origins and impacts of this incident, but if I were to try to sum the entire thing up in just a few words, it would be these: There is nothing more terrifying than a being with great power and no regard for the problems that power causes to others.

Throughout the course of this incident, a great many people undertook various actions, each pursuing their own goals. Some of these people crossed paths with the incident's mastermind as a result of their actions, while others did not. All of the actors involved were set into motion by two events which echoed across the land: the first and second collapses of the Hakurei Shrine. In some ways this incident was similar to the Night Parade of One Hundred Oni Every Three Days in that, in the end, it was not resolved with Reimu simply beating up the party responsible for the ruckus.

By this point Reimu was openly suspicious of the activities of our Hifuu Detective Agency. It goes without saying that as things heated up, we quickly ended up tangled up in the schemes and exploits of everyone involved. And by "we," I mean not only Renko and myself but also Kochiya Sanae, the part-timer who had joined our agency the previous autumn.

And so, once more, this is the story of how I, Maéreverie Hearn, the conscience of this Hifuu Detective Agency and the only believer in the merits of common sense among us, became swept up by the mad and maddening fantasies of both a daredevil detective who lives only for curiosity's sake and credulous Outsider who combined Renko's heedless embrace of danger with the power of a living goddess.

This time around though, it was not only the pull of Renko's hand or the bluster of Sanae's winds that hurled me about…

As always, this story also serves as a record of my partner's bizarre and fantastical reasoning. Both the culprit and the motive for this incident are, of course, already well known. Indeed, the actions which she undertook were so bluntly obvious that there is practically no room to doubt her intentions. The mastermind behind this incident is no schemer, and would not think to weave complex gambits within gambits as Saigyouji Yuyuko or Yagokoro Eirin might. Nor did she have an accomplice inclined to such cunning as was the case with the events concerning the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

So with the mastermind and motive of this incident so plainly clear, I will challenge you again, dear readers, as I did with the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident. Here in this prologue, I challenge you: can you discover the mysterious truth that our great detective unearthed, hidden in the midst of this simple and clear-cut incident?

I will give you this small measure of guidance: The greatest mystery we discovered here is one that even now as I write this record, we still have not solved. We, who benefit from our knowledge of events yet to occur in the Outside World, have no such knowledge regarding our own futures in this world.

So, with that, let the story begin. Let me recount the events of this last summer, when Gensokyo was shaken by the overwhelming and terrible will hidden within a looming scarlet cloud which manifested in a rash of abnormal weather and culminated in a violent, localized earthquake. This is the story of how a great detective, her assistant and a girl who works miracles wound up involved in this situation.