Chapter 3
The Way Things are Done
All eight dolls were now awake, and Alice had had her first conversation with each of them. All eight had different personalities, but they were all somewhat similar. And all of them had shared Hourai's sentiments. Alice wanted to spend time with them, with the living dolls she'd worked so hard to make, but unfortunately, she didn't have that time. She had to get moving as soon as possible.
"Okay," Alice said to the dolls, "all eight of you have your memories intact, so you all know what I need you to do."
"And we'll do it, Mother," London said.
Alice smiled at her. "I never doubted it. But there is something I must do first, because we need a way to get in without anyone knowing. And I can only think of one way to do it. I'm going to go meet with Yukari; she can provide the way in we need. We'll need a way to remain undetected as well, but I have a plan for that, too.
"Now that you are alive, you should be able to develop your abilities beyond what they were when you weren't. I built those abilities into you, but now that you are alive, you can develop them and master them just like anyone else can. I would like to give you time to do that, but unfortunately, time is short. We must begin as soon as I return. Use the time until then to explore your abilities, to get accustomed to using them consciously. Since you had and used them from when you were made and still have those memories, this should be quick. Use the rest of the time to practice, and to prepare yourselves for your roles. Understand?"
"Yes, Mother," the eight of them replied in unison.
"Good. In that case, I must be off. As I said, there's no time to waste."
And then Alice did something she hated. She knew that she had to, and that her children-she'd already stopped thinking of them as dolls-understood why she had to, but she still hated it. But she had to do it, so she did.
Alice grabbed a few things she'd need, then exited her house and took off for Yukari's.
Nol told me much about the 'youkai' of Gensokyo. About fairies. "Fairies are born from nature. They're usually quite weak, and they die very easily. However, they resurrect upon death. You don't need to worry about them; most have no offensive ability, although there are some exceptions. They can fire danmaku, but even for someone new to that, they won't pose a problem."
He told me about the oni. "Except for her small size, Suika's fairly typical for an oni, although she's strong even by their standards. Oni are generally hard partiers and heavy drinkers, and they love contests, especially those involving combat. Suika's the only one I know of who lives above ground; all the other oni live in the Ancient City, although there are a couple who come above ground sometimes."
He told me about gods. "I know the outside world has many different ideas about gods, but they're pretty much all wrong to at least some extent. Gods are just another type of youkai, although there are a few ways in which they differ from other youkai. Other youkai, as well as humans with power, must learn the use of their abilities to at least some extent. Gods naturally have full mastery of their powers. Gods' natures lie in specific aspects of the world such as the earth or the sky, or specific events of the world, such as the harvest. There are also gods of things such as curses. But the most important difference between gods and other youkai is faith. Gods derive their power from people's faith in them; the more faith they have, the stronger they are. Gods do not die as humans do, but gods with no faith cannot manifest themselves or their powers, which I'm told they consider to be the equivalent."
He also told me about locations. About the underground. "The oni live underground, in the Ancient City. There are also numerous lesser youkai, like the hell ravens. Which brings me to the fact that the underground used to be where Hell was; Hell was moved to its current location a long, long time ago. Don't ask me how that works or why it was done or anything. A lot of people, especially the ones living down there, still use 'hell' to refer to the former hell. It can get confusing. Although people, both down there and up here, often call the current Hell by a different name, too. Specifically, it's known as 'Sanzu', after the Sanzu River, which the souls of the dead must cross in order to reach Hell."
He told me about the mansion Eientei. "The woman in charge there, Kaguya, is immortal. Although you could say she's not really in charge; the rabbit Tewi is the one who's really in charge. All the rabbits there only listen to Kaguya because Tewi tells them to. So Kaguya is effectively in charge, but only because Tewi lets her be. As for the place itself, they've got a really good 'hospital' set up there, but that's really all I know about it."
He told me about the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Well, as I said, the mistress of the mansion, Remilia Scarlet, is a vampire. The place is staffed by a bunch of fairies, apparently. Nobody really knows all that much about the place, except perhaps for Reimu and Marisa, but if they do, they're not telling. Anyways, the place generally keeps to itself, so if there was a disappearance there, it's quite likely that nobody outside the mansion would know about it."
And he told me about many other things, until eventually we got to what seemed like it was something important. "What," I asked, "is this 'danmaku' you keep mentioning?"
"Well," Nol said, "um, I'm not really sure how to best go about this part. I was hoping Suika'd be back by now so she could help, but she's not. I can't actually do danmaku myself-when I said I have no power, I meant absolutely none-and it'll be hard to give you a lesson in it without someone who can."
At that moment, the door swung open, and a? strange-looking young girl walked in. I understood that many youkai species, such as the oni, look at least a little bit different than humans, but this girl was different in a different way. Her form was human, but? well, she was clearly artificial.
The strange girl entered the shrine, what looked like a doll floating alongside her. "Hi," she said. "Is Marisa here? She wasn't at her house."
"She left," I said. "But before you come barging into places with questions, perhaps you should introduce yourself."
"Okay. I'm Medicine."
"Medicine Melancholy," Nol said. "Reimu told me about you."
"Oh? And who're you? No, wait, who cares? You said Marisa left?"
"She went to catch up with Reimu."
"Then I have to follow her! Where'd she go?"
"Just flew off in the same general direction as Reimu," I said. "We don't really know where she is. Why are you so eager to find her, anyways?"
"Because I need her to help me bring more dolls to life!"
Nol did not seem fazed at all by this statement, and I suppose it was far from the first strange thing I'd run into since arriving in Gensokyo. From Nol's lack of a reaction, I inferred that things such as that are common in Gensokyo; it seemed as though I had a few things to get used to. "Hold on," I said. "Bring dolls to life?"
"It happened to me," Medicine said.
So that's what she is. A doll. "And how did you come to life?"
"It happens," Nol said. "Objects cast away can, given time, become youkai. I think I mentioned the umbrella girl; she's an example of this. So is Medicine here."
"I see. And you say you want to bring others to life like you, Medicine?"
"Yeah! Alice told me that's the only way they can be free!"
"Um? what?" was all the reply I could manage.
"Medicine's trying for the 'emancipation of dolls'," Nol explained. "The fact that dolls usually aren't alive has never seemed to matter to her before now."
"I see. And who's this 'Alice'?"
"She's a magician who lives fairly close to Marisa. In particular, she makes and controls dolls. Medicine's never liked her, of course. So why the sudden change, Medicine?"
"Because she helped me," the doll replied. "I still don't like her, but she helped me. I just have to learn to copy my image, then I just need to go to Yukari, then I can bring them to life and free them!"
More names and terms I didn't know. Nol seemed to, though. "Wait, copy your image? Even I know that's pretty advanced magic. Can you even use magic?"
"Of course I can! Watch!"
Medicine started to do? something, but Nol interrupted her. "Nonono, that's not what I meant. Not your power. Magic like what Alice and Marisa use. Can you even learn to use magic at all?"
"Why couldn't I?"
Nol didn't seem to have an answer to that one. "Um? I don't know, actually. I guess I just wouldn't think a doll could. I suppose you may or may not be able to. I don't know. But even if you can, taking your image is supposed to be high-level. It'd take a lot of training before you could do that. Is that why you're looking for Marisa?"
"Yeah, but I can't find her. I'll have to try that book-lady. Bye!"
"Hold on," Nol said.
"Huh?"
"You have good timing. Orphan here is new to Gensokyo. I'd like to give her a crash course on danmaku, but I can't actually do any danmaku. Could I get you to help? I know enough to explain everything, but it's kind of hard to get the idea across with just words, so can I get you to demonstrate a few things?"
"Oh, sure. Just tell Marisa about me the next time you see her, all right?"
"I can do that. Now, at first, I'll want you to just fire off into the air. We can give Orphan some practice later on, but she should know the basics first."
"Okay."
"Well, then," Nol said, "let's get to work."
Hi. I'm Medicine. I'm a doll that came to life. I'm told that this happens sometimes, but I don't understand it, and I don't know how it happened.
I came to life on a hill covered in suzuran, a kind of flower. People said the hill was 'the Nameless Hill', which I thought meant nobody's named it, but it turns out that 'Nameless Hill' is actually its name. Kind of weird, if you ask me.
I talk to Su-the flowers-all the time. Some people think it's weird to talk to flowers, but there's somebody in them. They just don't stay long enough to hear her. I guess they can't, though, 'cause suzuran are poisonous to both humans and youkai. I can't get poisoned 'cause I'm a doll.
I think maybe Su brought me to life, but she doesn't know. But I think she did it, because I got her power. And you dumb people are wondering what power flowers have, but you're dumb, because I already told you. Su's poisonous. That's the power. Poison.
I don't have many friends. I always spend most of my time with Su, but most people get poisoned, and I can't take poison out of them. There's a few people I'm friends with, though. There's that weird Yuuka lady, who isn't poisoned because Su's flowers and flowers can't hurt her. Then there's that rabbit girl Reisen. Apparently she got some medicine from someone called Eirin that protects her from suzuran poison. And there's Sakuya, who says she got the same medicine. She's weird. She keeps coming to get Su's poison to put in tea. She says she works for someone who can't get poisoned.
They're not the only people I've met. I met all kinds of people one day, and most of them attacked me. I thought it was mean, but Yuuka tells me Gensokyo's always been like that, and this 'danmaku' stuff isn't supposed to be too dangerous anyways. I thought it was, but I guess they didn't mean to hurt me, so it's okay. Those people aren't my enemies. That weird Shiki lady was okay, too, although I didn't really understand what she said. Except that I'm trying to do something good now. I'm trying to free other dolls.
People act like dolls are just toys, but they're not. I'm proof of that, aren't I? Nobody thinks it's okay to use a person as a toy, but dolls are people, too. I'm proof of that, too. But I don't hate people for thinking dolls are toys. They're not being mean, are they? They grew up thinking that dolls are toys, that dolls aren't alive. They never knew any different. They may think something bad, but they don't know it's bad, so they're not bad. They just need me to show them that it's bad. Then they'll stop it, right?
But some aren't like that. That Alice girl isn't. She makes dolls and takes control of them. She's even worse than most. And she makes new ones just so she has more to control. And she'll even blow them up! I thought she had to be bad, but then she helped me. She told me how to free dolls. I still don't really like her, but now I just can't figure her out at all. I guess she wants to bring them to life, but why would she want to free dolls when she makes them? But she told me how to do it, and I know it works, because I saw it work. I just need to learn how to do it. But I don't want her to teach me. I still don't like her. I thought Marisa could, but she wasn't home, and she wasn't at Reimu's shrine place, either, so now I'll have to find that book-lady Sakuya talks about. But whatever. I have time, right? I'm a doll. I don't get old. Who cares if it takes a while? I don't even have to go right now. I can stay and help first, right? Besides, I'm better at danmaku now, and it's kind of fun.
I can stop for a little fun, right?
Eirin had insisted on being alone with Rumia. Cirno had insisted that Eirin let her be there, too, but Eirin said no. But Cirno wouldn't take no for an answer. So Eirin'd had Reisen make her vision go all strange, and she'd kept running into walls. Eirin and Rumia were gone by the time she could see straight again. So now she and the others were just sitting in a room Eirin had let them use, waiting. And Cirno wasn't happy about it.
"Really, Cirno," Daiyousei said, "calm down."
"Shut up, Dai," Cirno said. "Rumia's hurt, and I can't even be there with her."
"Eirin'll take care of her," Mystia said.
"Yeah? And how do you know?"
"Because I've been in her care before."
"Okay," Wriggle said, "what? When did that happen?"
"Just before we met Cirno. Some dumb drunk human jerk got pissed off and magiced me bad. This weird fire-lady scared him off, then took me here and had Eirin fix me. How else do you think Kaguya got to try my eel? I made Eirin some to say thanks, and she gave some to Kaguya, and Kaguya loved it."
"But you were okay?"
"Of course I was, Wriggle," Mystia said. "I wouldn't be fine now if I wasn't okay then. So don't worry, Cirno. Rumia's in good hands."
"I still want to be there for her," Cirno said.
"I know, Cirno, but-"
Someone walked into the room. "Ah, there you are! I've been looking all over for you! Stupid Reisen, not telling me where you were. There'll be payback. Oh, yes, there will."
"Um, excuse me," Dai said, "but who are you?"
"Oh, me?" the rabbit girl said. "I'm Tewi. I've heard you're quite the troublemakers. I've met Mystia already, of course, and she's told me about some of your shenanigans."
"Shenana-whatsits?" Cirno said
"You play tricks on people," Tewi said. "Pranks. You'd gotten up to some fun stuff, haven't you? I've been wanting to meet you for a while now."
"Why?" Wriggle asked.
"Well, see, I'm rather fond of playing tricks myself. You do some good stuff. Especially you, Cirno. Mystia says you come up with the ideas, and you've had some good ones. Better then a lot of mine, and I've pulled off some great ones myself." She was getting really excited. "Just think about what we could pull off if we worked together! Come on, whaddaya think?"
"So," Cirno said, her mood improving at meeting a fellow prankster, "you're saying you want to help us pull pranks on people?" Tewi nodded. "Cool. You can join the gang, then. Once Rumia's back and we're done with all this, we'll do something awesome to celebrate!"
"Actually," Tewi said, "since you four have some time on your hands at the moment, how about we go do something right now? I've got a great idea to get back at Reisen, but it's not something I can do alone."
Cirno was suddenly serious again. "Now? While Rumia's still hurt?"
"Yeah. This won't disrupt Eirin, don't worry. It'll only get Reisen."
"No."
Everyone just stared at her. "Um, Cirno," Dai said, "what did you say?"
"I'm not doing anything like that while Rumia's hurt. And I'm done just sitting here, too!"
"Woah," Wriggle said. "Um, this isn't like you, Cirno."
"What isn't? The fact that I care more about my friend than about some stupid prank? Because I do! So I'm going to her, and that's that!" She walked up to Tewi. "Do you know where she is?"
Tewi replied without hesitation. "To reach the medical wing, return to the entrance and go from there. The way is clearly marked."
"And once I'm there?"
"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that."
"You call yourself a prankster, but you're willing to let a little 'don't say this' order stop you? Maybe you're not so great after all."
Tewi sighed. "Of course I'm not going to let that stop me, you moron. I meant that I don't know the exact room Eirin's using. You
really shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions, you know. Besides, I can still help you get there." The rabbit placed her hands on Cirno's shoulders. There was briefly a faint glow, and then Tewi removed her hands. "There you go. A little luck should make finding the right room easy. When you get to the medical wing, trust your instincts. Don't think about which way to go; just go the first way that comes to mind. I can't guarantee that you'll get it right on the first guess, but it shouldn't take too long. Hurry, though; the luck I gave you won't last long."
"Thanks," Cirno said as she ran out the door.
"Energetic little thing, isn't she?" Tewi remarked as she turned her attention to the other three. "Is she always like that?"
"Energetic, certainly," Daiyousei said, "but I've never seen her act quite like that before."
"She's just worried. It's nothing unusual. This is hardly the first time I've seen a patient's friend or family member act like that."
"And you're not worried Eirin'll be mad at you?"
Tewi laughed. "Girl, if people like us really worried about making people mad, we wouldn't do what we do. 'Sides, I'm the one in charge here. Everyone only listens to Eirin and Kaguya because I tell them to. So if I decide to have a little fun, there's really not much they can do about it, now, is there? 'Sides, pissing Eirin off is fun."
"And you're not upset that Cirno told you to wait on your prank?"
"Oh, no. Why would I be? I've got patience, and holding off will make things even better."
"What do you mean?" Wriggle asked.
"Cirno said she wants something special for when Rumia's better, right? Well, I've got a little plan I've been working on for when I got to meet all of you, and what I have in mind for Reisen should slot in quite nicely and make the whole thing even better. So I'll hold off on getting back at Reisen for now, because if we can pull this one off, the wait will be more than worth it."
Mokou, it seemed, had been correct. The results of Eirin's examination of this 'Rumia' had matched completely with what the immortal girl had said. And Eirin had managed to figure out a few additional things, too. But now she faced a dilemma: what should she tell Cirno?
She had to tell Cirno at least some portion of the truth. If she was right, then keeping the ice fairy completely in the dark could end up being a very bad idea. But revealing everything probably wasn't the best idea, either, and not just because Cirno probably wouldn't believe it. Cirno's affection for Rumia was obvious, although the fairy's friends, Rumia included, seemed to have missed it. If Cirno knew what was really happening?
Eirin carefully came up with a plan of what to tell Cirno, then left the room and went to go get her.
Nobody objected to Cirno walking through the mansion; she and her friends had been given a room to wait in, but they'd never been required to stay there. Nobody objected to her entering the medical wing, either, as she had never been required to stay out of the entire wing. But if she tried to go beyond the front area, someone probably would object. Not that she was about to let that stop her; she'd snuck past people before, and this wouldn't be any different. Except that she wasn't expecting Eirin to walk out of one of the halls.
Fortunately, Cirno'd just entered the wing, and was still in the waiting area, so she didn't look suspicious. But Eirin's gaze stopped on her anyways, and the white-haired woman walked over to her. "Ah, Cirno. Perfect timing. And you're by yourself, too, I see. Excellent. Come with me, please. I need to talk to you about Rumia."
That, of course, worried Cirno, and the fairy followed closely behind Eirin. The woman led her into what appeared to be a fairly large office. "Sit down, please."
Cirno didn't like normal chairs-her wings made sitting comfortably in a normal chair difficult-but there were also a couple stools, and Cirno sat down on one of them.
"Hold on for a second, please," Eirin said. She placed a hand atop Cirno's head and closed her eyes. Cirno felt weird for a few seconds, then Eirin opened her eyes and removed her hand. "There. Thank you."
Eirin took her seat behind the desk. "All right, then. First of all, as far as I've been able to tell, Rumia's just fine. She's certainly unharmed physically, and I didn't find any normal signs of magical effects-in fact, she's fully aware, and I've already gotten her own description of the? events, shall we say. However, there was an unusual sign of a magical effect."
"So that thing did do something to her!"
"Actually, I doubt it. Nothing newly placed could evade detection so well; even the best-concealed effects need at least some time to? settle in, let's say. Some effects take longer than others, of course, and the more skilled the caster, the less time it takes, as well, but there is an observed minimum time, and it's only been about half that time, I think, since you encountered the creature. I do, however, think that it was involved in Rumia's pain, but not by doing anything to her.
"Rumia's pain was caused by the creature's attack against you."
It took a few seconds for what Eirin said to register. "Wait, what? You think it hurt Rumia by hurting me? That's crazy!"
"Not as crazy as it may seem."
"Yeah? Well, it seems pretty damn crazy. How does me getting hurt make her hurt?"
"There is a connection between you two," Eirin explained. "What I found in Rumia, followed by her description of the battle, suggested only the one explanation, and what I did when you sat down confirmed it."
"Um? what?"
"The effect in Rumia has been damaged. Only very minorly damaged, yes, but still damaged. It was that damage that allowed me to detect it, and once I did, once I knew what to look for, I was able to sense the effect within her. When you sat down, I looked for effects within you, and what I found is exactly what I expected to find-which is why it only took a few seconds, rather than the almost-an-hour I spent looking within Rumia. I knew what I was looking for this time, not in effect, but in? well, feel, I guess. What's within you and what's within Rumia are two sides of the same effect. Any effect has? well, it's known as a 'signature'. Every magical effect has a unique one; even if it's the same magic used again by the same person, it'll have a new signature. If you know the signature, finding the magic in its target is extremely simple, although since the only way to know a signature is to sense the magic, this isn't useful very often. But in the case of two or more separate targets, such as you and Rumia, the effects are actually part of the same magic, and thus have the same signature. So after finding one part of the spell, detecting its other parts becomes easy. You still have to figure out the targets, of course, but you can tell quickly if the effect is indeed there once you do."
"Um? what?"
"Sorry," Eirin said. "Basically, you and Rumia have a connected magical effect within you. I haven't been able to identify its function, but I do know that it's acting differently within each one of you-identifying this difference is why I needed several seconds instead of just an instant. Specifically, the portion within you is maintaining the portion within Rumia. Without the part in you, the part in Rumia will fade."
Cirno gave the same reply again. "Um? what?"
"Your effect keeps Rumia's effect there. But yours has the same slight damage as Rumia's. What I believe happened is that when the creature injured you, it somehow damaged your effect. I don't know how it happened. Your effect seems to be the kind that should survive anything you do. Only if you truly die will it end-of course, since you're a fairy, you just come back when you die, so the effect remains unchanged and active within you. There are ways to damage or destroy such effects, of course, but the damage within you and Rumia isn't consistent with any of them. So I don't know how it happened, but the monster's attack somehow slightly damaged the effect within you, and that damage somehow carried over to Rumia. Again, I have absolutely no idea how it happened; damage to a maintaining effect should only affect its ability to maintain the effect it is maintaining. It doesn't cause symmetrical damage in the maintained effect, but that's what seems to have happened in your case."
"Um? okay," Cirno said, "you're being really confusing, but I think you're saying that there's a spell on us, my part keeps her part there, the monster damaged my part, and the damage carried over to her part. Oh, and that my part should stay there even when I die and resurrect."
Eirin nodded. "That's at least the very basics, yes."
"One problem with your little theory: I only had physical pain. But you said Rumia's body was fine. So her pain was in her mind. Why didn't I have pain in my mind?"
Eirin seemed surprised. "Ah, it seems you're a little smarter than I thought. You're correct; Rumia's pain was mental. The reason you didn't have that pain is because your effect isn't actually affecting you; it's affecting Rumia's effect. So she actually felt your effect's damage as well as that of her own."
"She hurt because my effect got hurt?"
"In part, yes."
"Then that stupid thing hurt her twice," Cirno said. "Oh, you better believe I'm coming for you, you piece of shit. I'll find a way to beat you, and then you're going DOWN."
"I'd recommend exercising caution," Eirin said.
"Screw caution! That thing hurt Rumia!"
"I didn't mean don't go after it. I would say that, but it's obvious you wouldn't listen to me. So I'm simply saying to be cautious when you do. It beat you once; if you fight it, be certain you have a way to make sure it doesn't beat you again."
"Fine," Cirno said. "I don't plan to fight that thing again until I know how to beat it, anyways. Can I see Rumia?"
"Certainly. One of the nurses was sent for her; she should be out in the waiting area."
"Then I'm going to her," Cirno said as she stood up.
Cirno headed for the door, but Eirin still had something to say. "Cirno?"
The fairy stopped and turned around. "What?"
"Stay close to Rumia," Eirin said, "and be careful. I don't know exactly what's happening to you two, and I don't know what the effect is actually doing, but now that it's been damaged once, it will be damaged more easily from now on, and may even deteriorate on its own-there are too many unknowns at this point for me to actually know. But I do know that regardless of what happens to the effect, it will involve both of you. So if you want to get through this, then you need to stick together. Understand?"
"You don't have to tell me that," Cirno said. "Oh, and, um? uh? well, I? um, thanks for helping her." And with that, she left the office, hurrying out to the waiting area. To Rumia.
"Okay, Medicine," Nol said, "give us just a brief basic spray, all right?"
"Okay," Medicine said. She, Nol, and myself were standing outside the shrine. Medicine aimed diagonally upwards and released multiple small magical projectiles forwards. The projectiles weren't all fired straight ahead; they were fired at forward angles, the angles varying seemingly at random.
"That," Nol told me as Medicine ceased firing, "is danmaku."
"It doesn't look that special to me," I said. "That was simply multiple projectile shots."
"There's more to it than that. Those shots-also commonly called 'bullets', which I'm told is a term from the outside world, so if you recognize it, that's why-are a special variety in that they're less destructive than normal 'attack' magic."
I was beginning to understand. "So danmaku is used to fight without the risk of injury or death."
"Not quite," Nol said. "Danmaku's less dangerous, sure but it can still injure you and even kill you, although I haven't heard of anyone but fairies actually being killed by it, and they resurrect anyways. And some of the nastier stuff can be quite, well, nasty. You remember that 'Master Spark' Marisa did? That's an example of danmaku that can do major damage."
"So," I said, "danmaku is essentially weakened magical projectiles."
Nol nodded. "Very basically, yes. Danmaku battles, also referred to as spellcard duels, are, as one would expect, battles fought with danmaku. Battles are very common in Gensokyo; the danmaku system was designed as a way to allow such battles to happen but make them less destructive. The system's been in place for quite some time, and it seems to work fairly well."
Nol pulled a card of some kind out of his pocket and handed it to me. I took it and examined it. Both sides of the card had an identical image, that of a generic person with several of these danmaku bullets surrounding it. "Use this to learn what danmaku feels like to use," Nol said. "It should be easy to fire your own danmaku once you know that. First, fire a regular magic blast at Medicine-sorry, Med, but this won't work if she doesn't have something to target, and you can tell us what the hit felt like. And you're more durable than I am."
I did as told, although I kept the blast weak to avoid harming Medicine. Still, it of course wasn't completely harmless. Medicine, however, shrugged it off without difficulty. "Yeah, definitely a regular blast. A weak one, but still a regular one."
"Okay, then" Nol said. "Now use the card."
"All right," I said. "How do I use it?"
"Ah, I, um?"
"Send your power into it," Medicine said. "When you do so, words will come to your mind. Say them."
I did as instructed, focusing my power on the card. And as Medicine had said, words did indeed come into my mind. As instructed, I spoke them. "Instruction: Danmaku's Sense!"
The results were? interesting. As I spoke, the card began glowing, and it disappeared as I finished. Then several shots spun out from my position and formed a circle around me, remaining for a few seconds before vanishing. Obviously, the card had somehow done this, and yet? well, it felt just as it would have had I formed them on my own. Using my power to activate the card-obviously one of these 'spellcards' Nol had mentioned-had the same effect, including power used, as producing the card's effect on my own would have.
"That was? interesting," I said.
"I'll go into what that was shortly," Nol said. "Right now, just recall what the shots you produced felt like, and fire one off at Medicine." I did so. "Medicine?"
"Danmaku," the doll said. "Definitely danmaku."
"I felt the difference," I said. "You're right; it was easy after that spellcard, as I'm assuming it was."
"Good," Nol said. "It worked as described, then. Reimu said that card was intended for teaching newcomers-a lot of them arrive somewhere around the shrine-but I've never actually had to do that myself before."
"I see." I fired a few more danmaku shots into the air, then tried a basic spray like Medicine had done. Then I tried a few basic patterns, starting with firing lines of bullets. I then formed bullets into circles and fired them in that shape. I then did it with star shapes, and square shapes, and a few others. Then I tried something else. I fired more lines, but this time, instead of simply letting them go, I kept my power on them and changed their directions mid-flight. I experimented with this in different ways, including mixing them with shots I didn't keep influence over.
"You're picking this up quickly," Nol said.
"It's familiar. Another remnant of my forgotten past, most likely; I would assume that I knew how to do it before."
"If you're from Gensokyo, then yes, you undoubtedly did. Anyways, now that you know how to do danmaku, let's move on to spellcards."
Flying towards Yukari's, Alice was alone.
It wasn't fair. She'd finally succeeded in bringing Shanghai to life, and the other seven, too! She wanted to stay with them, to spend time with them, to get to know them. To just be with them. But she couldn't, and that hurt her more than anything else ever had. And so she did something that she never did.
By herself, flying to Yukari's, Alice cried.
------ They could all feel it, but they weren't sure what was happening. "Okay," London said, "does anyone have any ideas?"
"I? think it's emotional," Hourai said. "Emotions."
"Sadness," Moscow said. "I think it's sadness."
"Are you sad?" Nogales asked. "Because I'm not, but I feel it anyways."
"It's like the feeling is real, but it's someone else's," Copenhagen said.
It was Shanghai who figured it out. "It's Mother."
"The connection," Hourai said softly. "Of course."
"The connection?" Guadalupe said. "Wait, you mean the enchantment Mother used to bring us to life?"
"We're feeling her emotions through it, and she can probably feel ours as well. Before we were alive, we of course couldn't feel it, and we had no emotions for Mother to feel. She probably never realized it."
"Or maybe it wasn't there until now," Holland put in. "Maybe what Mother did to give us life changed it somehow."
"Okay," London said, "so we're feeling Mother's emotions. So why is she sad?"
"Us," Shanghai said. "She's sad because she had to leave us."
------ Alice flew on, still in tears, completely oblivious to what her children had just discovered.
------ "Why is she still upset?" Holland asked. "Can't she feel our emotions, too?"
"Maybe she can't," Copenhagen said. "We have no way of knowing if the effect is two-way."
"She can," Hourai said. "Links like this are almost never one-way."
"Well," London said, "you're the magic expert. But then why is she still upset? Can't she feel our worry? Our concern? Our love?"
It was again Shanghai who realized the answer. "She doesn't know. She doesn't know about the link."
"Neither did we," Guadalupe said, "but we felt her anyways."
"We're newly living. Mother isn't. She may be so used to herself the way she knows that she simply hasn't noticed that she can feel our emotions."
"Then we need something she can't fail to notice," Hourai said.
"Pain," Copenhagen said.
"I doubt she'll feel our pain. This doesn't seem to be a physical link."
"Maybe she won't feel the physical pain, but if one or more of us is in pain, she should feel our feeling of pain, right?"
"Actually," Hourai said, "I think you're right. This might just work."
"I'll take the hit," Holland said. "I'm built for durability. Copenhagen, you're the physical model. You deliver the hit."
"I should take the hit," Guadalupe said. "You're built for durability, Holland; it won't hurt you as much."
"Assuming we can actually feel pain," Nogales said.
"Medicine can," London said. "Mother told us about her when she found out how to use her to bring us to life, remember? Mother said that she feels pain. So we should, too."
"Right, then," Guadalupe said. "Copenhagen, don't worry about damaging me. Mother won't need me on this for a while, so it's okay if I'm out of action for a bit. Besides, Nogales can fix me up, right, Nogales?"
Nogales nodded. "Mother included that knowledge in my memory banks on my creation, and she's updated it as she's refined her techniques. There are no doubt differences now that we're alive, but there shouldn't be a problem. And Mother won't know the differences yet, either. I can't stop it from taking time, though, although once Mother returns, she will no doubt be able to speed the work, especially since I can assist her."
"Just say 'yes'," Moscow said.
"Right," Guadalupe said. "Copenhagen, whenever you're ready."
Copenhagen led Guadalupe outside. "Here, now we won't damage the house. Sorry about this." Then she grabbed Guadalupe and threw the other doll over her shoulder, slamming her into the ground with extreme force.
------
What the hell?
Alice came to a stop in midair. What is this? She was feeling? something. Pain? No, not pain. I'm not hurt. Not physically. But she felt? not like she was in pain, but? like she felt when she was in pain? She was feeling like that even though she wasn't actually in pain. As though this is someone else's pain. But how could I be-wait, what the hell?
There was more than just pain there. More feelings that aren't mine? There was? Concern? And more. Love? What is-
And then it hit her. My children. It's the magical link! The one I used to send Medicine's image into them! We're? connected, and not just magically like I expected. Somehow we're connected emotionally, too. But was this there from the start, or did something I did in giving them life change it? But no, that didn't matter. If one of her children was in pain, then she needed to go back. She needed to-
More feelings cut off her motion back to her house. Assurance? No, of course, one's hurt. They're worried about-now what? That's? exasperation? What is- Once again, it hit her. It's not about them. The connection's two-way. They sensed my feelings. But then why the pain? Why the? the sudden pain. Of course. They felt the connection before I did, and used sudden pain to draw my attention to it.
------ "I think she's figured it out," Shanghai said. They were in the workshop now; Copenhagen had brought Guadalupe straight there, and Nogales was already getting to work.
"Mostly superficial," Nogales said, her concentration fully on Guadalupe. "That was a smart choice, Copenhagen. The pain was major, but there hasn't been any major damage to any area, just a lot of lesser damage all over. Repairs may take time, if only because there's more parts in need of repair, but it shouldn't be too difficult."
"That's good," Guadalupe said, her pain not interfering with her speech, "but we should talk about Mother. I think she may still intend to return."
"Then we'll try something else," Hourai said. "The link may be more than just emotional. If I try to reach her with words, she may be able to hear me."
------ Alice was about to start back, but again, she was stopped by something new. What was that? Did I just hear something? She looked around. I don't see any-there it is again. And then again. So Alice, expecting it to come a fourth time, kept alert. But when it came, it didn't sound like it was coming from anywhere. It was more like it was coming from-from inside my head. So she focused on the link, on the emotions of her children. And when it came again, she heard it clearly.
[Mother, can you hear me?]
Thoughts. No, not thoughts. Not random thoughts. They're trying deliberately to contact me. Can we send thoughts along the link?
Alice decided to try it. [Hello?]
------ "Got her!" Hourai exclaimed. Unnecessarily, though, as the other seven also heard their mother's response. [Mother, it's Hourai. Can you hear me?]
------ [Mother, it's Hourai. Can you hear me?]
It worked! [I hear you,] Alice? well, 'said' wasn't the right word. 'Sent', perhaps. [I feel you, too. Can you?]
Hourai apparently didn't need her to finish the question. [Yes. We all can. The link is two-way. Mother, please don't worry about us. You don't need to worry.]
[We're with you, it seems,] a different-sounding 'voice'-if their physical and mental 'voices' sounded the same, then this was Moscow-replied. [We know you don't want to be separate from us, but please, don't abandon what you have to do. We understand.]
[Besides,] another-London, it 'sounded' like-sent, [it seems we're actually not really all that separate, anyways.]
Alice didn't know how to reply. [I?]
[Go,] another-Shanghai-sent. [You've only left physically. We're still together. You can do what you need to do and still remain with us. So go.]
And she did. And as she resumed her trip to Yukari's, she resumed something else as well. But for a different reason this time. This time, Alice's tears were not from sadness.
"Spellcards," Nol said, "were originally developed for use by magicians. Some spells take extensive preparation or things like that, and spellcards were developed as a way to get around this.
"A spellcard, as I understand it, is basically an empty vessel. Magicians would take their spells, conditions included, and impress them into spellcards. When a spell is impressed into a spellcard, that card can be used at any time to produce the impressed spell. Spellcards appear to vanish when they're used, but they're actually reusable. Picture the card in your mind." I did so, and all of a sudden, the card I'd used was floating in front of me. "See?" he said as he grabbed it.
"Okay, so then why did it vanish?"
"Because that's built into the card. Some spellcards-mainly danmaku spellcards-have that effect, but others don't. The effect is meant to simplify storage of danmaku cards, which you'd otherwise have to keep on your person at all times. I don't know how it works, but it lets you call up the card at any time by picturing it, and when you use the card, it automatically returns to? wherever it was before you called it up. That way, you can have them at your disposal at any time without having to carry them around."
"Makes sense," I said. "But what role do they play in danmaku?"
"Simple," Nol said. "Using spellcards lets you produce more intricate and complex bullet patters more easily in the middle of battle. Intracate, complex patterns are generally harder to avoid, and thus more effective. The problem is that forming such patterns takes time and concentration. By impressing them into spellcards, they can be used in battle without that time and concentration-although like any spellcard, it'll take just as much out of you.
"Now, the trick with spellcards is that they're not very flexible. Variation can be included in the impression so that the spellcard isn't absolutely identical every time it's used-you know, like slightly changing bullet angles or that sort of thing. But even so, it is the same spellcard every time it's used. Basic patterns, such as the spray Medicine showed us-incidentally, that's not a good way to go in battle; random sprays may look harder to avoid at first, but they're actually considered to be among the easiest to dodge. Anyways, basic patters are more flexible; since you're making it at the moment, you can change things up as much as you're able to. That's where the trick lies, in knowing when to go with simpler and less dense but more flexible basic patterns and when to use spellcards."
"I see."
"Right, then," Nol said. "In addition to the learning spellcard, I grabbed some empty cards, too. Here." He handed them to me; these ones, unlike the one he'd handed me earlier, were blank. "Let's see if we can't work out at least a couple spellcards for you, then you and Medicine can have a practice match."
"A good idea, I think," I said.
"In that case, let's get to it."
The others, Tewi included, met Cirno and Rumia outside. "I told you she'd be fine," Mystia said.
"Whatever," Cirno said. "Oh, wait, introductions. Rumia, the rabbit here is Tewi. Say hi; she's the newest member of the team."
"Um, hi," Rumia said.
"Hey," Tewi said. "Eirin get you all fixed up?"
"I'm fine," Rumia said. Cirno had filled Rumia in on everything Eirin had told her, but the two, not really understanding what it was, had decided not to tell the others.
"Good," Tewi said. "Glad to hear it. right, then. Where are you headed?"
"We've decided to stay together at my place," Mystia said.
"Right, then. I don't think I'll be staying there with you, but I'll go with you now. We've got something to talk about, anyways."
"We do?" Cirno said. "What?"
"She's got an idea for some big prank," Mystia explained as the group started off towards her home. "I'd assume that's what it is."
"Yep," Tewi said.
"Not yet," Cirno said. "We need to deal with that monster first. It hurt Rumia, and I'm not letting it get away with that."
"Um, Cirno," Daiyousei said, "we couldn't beat it."
"Then we'll have to find a way to."
"And how are we to go about doing that?"
"I think I know," Tewi said. "You live at Misty Lake, right, Cirno?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So you know of the Scarlet Devil Mansion located on an island in the middle of the lake. That place includes a massive library that's supposed to have books on everything there is."
"Yeah, I've heard that," Cirno said, "but that place isn't exactly friendly. I don't think they'll let us in."
"Girl," Tewi said, "do you really think we can't handle something like that? That door guard of theirs isn't supposed to be so tough, anyways, so we can just beat her up."
"I can beat her by myself," Cirno said. "It's the ones inside that are the problem. I'm the strongest, but they have all sorts of mean tricks, and they're not afraid to play dirty or team up on you or anything. Hell, that crazy maid lady alone can stop time! How are we supposed to deal with that?"
"Really, girl? You don't think we can give 'em a distraction?"
"We've tried," Wriggle said. "We've targeted them a couple times. It's never gone well."
"Yeah, but this time you've got me. Here's how we'll do it."
As she listened to Tewi's plan, a grin spread across Cirno's face. "That's perfect," she said when the rabbit was finished. "That's absolutely perfect. You know what, Tewi? I think we're gonna enjoy having you around. Let's do it."
"That," Nol said, "was impressive."
"Damn," Medicine said, "and here I thought I'd have an easy win."
Medicine and I had concluded our practice match, and I had emerged victorious. The spellcards I'd devised worked quite well. And as with the basic patterns, making spellcard patterns felt quite familiar. In fact, everything about danmaku was familiar, and as a result, my skill level was far above that of someone who was truly new to it. I found it quite unlikely that I was equal to my former level, but I was hardly starting from scratch.
"It looks like you've got the hang of it," Nol said. "Thanks for the help, Medicine. I'll get word to Marisa that you were looking for her."
"Thanks," Medicine said. "Okay, I should go. Su's probably wondering what happened to me. Bye!"
"Well," Nol said, "that concludes the lesson on danmaku. I think you'll do just fine."
"Yeah," Suika-she'd returned during the match-said, "you're pretty good. I've definitely got to have a fight with you sometime."
"Is fighting like that really that common here?" I asked.
"Suika's especially fond of fighting," Nol said, "even for an oni. She's not the norm. That being said, yes, combat is common in Gensokyo. Generally, the rule is to shoot on sight, at least among the numerous lesser youkai, fairies in particular. Others'll generally at least talk to you before shooting at you, but yes, you'll need to get used to danmaku battle, because it's everywhere."
"It's the way things are done here," Suika said. "You have a dispute with someone, you fight, and the winner, well, wins."
"It was like that even before danmaku," Nol said. "The danmaku system was introduced to make all those fights a bit less destructive. They still wear you out just as much as regular stuff, though-in fact, a lot of people have non-danmaku versions of their favorite danmaku moves-and taking hits is still taking hits. Just remember that less dangerous is still dangerous."
I doubted battle was quite as prevalent as Nol made it sound, but it was probably better to err on the side of caution. "I'll keep those things in mind. Anyways, now that we've gone over danmaku, is there anything else I should know?"
"You're eager to get moving, then."
"I am."
"Well," Nol said, "no, I don't think so. I think we've covered the basics. You might want to stay here for now, though. Reimu's met pretty much everyone in Gensokyo, so even if she knows little about you, she should at least know your name. Although given how many people she deals with, she may not remember you if it's been a minimum of five years since she last saw you. In fact, now that I think about it, that's more likely. Marisa didn't really remember you, after all, and she's the same way. And I don't know when Reimu'll be back, anyways."
"I think I'll just get moving, then," I said.
"Actually, you should probably stay here tonight. You probably don't realize how long all this has taken, but it'll be dark soon."
"I am fine with sleeping in the wild."
"Well, it's more dangerous at night. Although if you're powerful enough to do that? whatever you did with the barrier, you'll probably be fine."
"Actually," I said, "I think it may be a good idea to stay here for the night, if only because I have yet to decide on a destination. I would also like to practice danmaku some more, and maybe figure out another spellcard or two, as well. So yes, I believe I will take advantage of your offer."
"Ah, Mokou," Eirin said as Mokou entered her office. "Please, have a seat." Mokou did so. "Now, I assume you're here about Cirno and Rumia?"
"Correct."
Mokou had remained near Eientei as Cirno's group had arrived. After they left, accompanied by Tewi-something that did not surprise her-Mokou entered the mansion herself and made her way to Eirin's office in the medical wing. Unlike the general staff, none of the medical staff were wary of her; she was a common sight in the medical wing, bringing in people who needed treatment.
"Well, you were right. I confirmed as much of it as I could, at least, so I see no reason to doubt the rest."
"What action did you take?"
"As you expected, I couldn't find any way to repair the damage. This 'Nolana' of yours is clearly as far beyond me as you said. I told them that I had found an effect within them that had been damaged, but that I couldn't identify its function-which is all true; I only know what it does because you told me. I also told them that the effect in them is linked. I said that I didn't know what was going on, but that if they wanted to get through it, the two of them needed to stick together-although I think that was Cirno's plan anyways."
"Good," Mokou said. "I don't know how this is going to turn out any more than you do, but?"
"I know," Eirin said. "And you at least know more than I do. I just hope you're right."
***************************************
Well, there we go. Please comment on the story, or at least confirm that you're interested, because if there doesn't seem to be any interest in this story here, then there's really no point in posting it here.
Anyways, chapter 4 is almost done, and should be up within the next two days.
Chapter 6
A Desire for Information
When Wriggle awoke, she noticed one change almost immediately.
Wriggle had the ability to control insects. She was able to sense them and command them. But previously, she'd needed to focus in order to sense them. It had been easy, but it had still required a conscious effort. But that, it seemed, was no longer the case. Now, she could sense them constantly, effortlessly. And over a much, much wider range, too. But there was more. She was touching their minds in ways she previously could not. She could hear through them, see through them, know their thoughts. And because of this, she knew that someone was waiting for her outside the cave.
It was another one of the creatures. It had arrived not long after she had and followed her into the cave, emerging shortly thereafter. It couldn't get in. Only I can enter this chamber. But the thing knew she had to be in the cave somewhere, so it was waiting. It's targeting me. But why? Because of what I did to that other one?
Wriggle hadn't expected another fight so soon. Guess I'll be giving myself a test run sooner than I thought. Better get used to it a bit before going out there, though.
She started by forming a light. Doing that had never been hard for her, but now it was immensely easier, and the light was much brighter than what she usually made, so she dimmed it somewhat. Okay, the power's definitely in me. I wonder if it left any physical marks.
Wriggle examined herself. Her body didn't seem to have undergone any change, but her clothes were a different story. She was now wearing a simple yet elegant dress, colored in a green and purple pattern and lined with jewels. I'm not even going to ask how that happened. Besides, I think I like the new outfit. Guess it's supposed to go with the power. I wonder if this is what She wore? Well, anyways, time to try a few things.
Yuugi and I landed a bit outside the human village and approached on foot. "They can be kind of jittery," Yuugi told me. "Best to approach on foot. You're less likely to get shot at."
"I see."
"I doubt it'd give you much of a problem, though," Yuugi continued as we walked.. "You seem pretty tough."
"You only saw me against the fairies on the way here. Hardly anything challenging."
"Maybe so, but I can still tell. You move and fire quite skillfully. Besides, I was with you at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, too, so I saw you fight there. You could've gone a bit easier on Sakuya, though."
"She attacked me," I said. "I defended myself as was necessary. I will meet danmaku with danmaku, but she truly attacked."
"Actually, that was danmaku. She wasn't actually trying to kill you or anything."
That stunned me for a moment. "Um, she threw knives at me."
"Danmaku knives," Yuugi said. "Physical objects can be made danmaku, too."
Yuugi was right. In fact, I had put danmaku stones in one of the spellcards I'd made the previous day. "I suppose I just never connected that to knives. But even so, she did attack me."
Yuugi laughed. "You really are new here, aren't you? She didn't want to harm you. That's just how things work in Gensokyo. It's not hostility. In fact, that's probably how you were able to take Sakuya out so quickly; she wasn't expecting that sort of retaliation."
"And that guard, Hong?"
"She's trained herself in hand-to-hand combat," Yuugi said. "She would've gone with danmaku if you hadn't expressed a willingness to fight that way, but I think the prospect of having a hand-to-hand match for once excited her."
"That much I could tell. It allowed me to spring my trap."
"Which was a pretty good one," Yuugi said. "I am curious about the way you fought Nokat, though. That actually was a serious battle; the greater demons have in fact been killing people. I didn't see the whole fight, but I saw enough to know that you stuck with your weapon until it used power against you."
"Appropriate response," I said. "Nokat came in with an unknown objective. Caution was appropriate, so I used my abilities only such to allow me to match him. In contrast, Hong and Sakuya had clearly identifiable objectives. Hong was simply trying to keep us out, whereas Sakuya was attempting to repel an intruder. Hong was best dealt with by simply preventing her from barring entry, and Sakuya I incapacitated."
"Yeah, I guess the pit move doesn't work indoors, huh?"
"Correct, but even if I could have done it, it's unlikely that I would have been able to contain her. She performed instantaneous relocation; trapping somebody who can do that carries obvious difficulties."
"Ah. I guess you don't know what her power is, huh? She wasn't teleporting or anything like that; she was stopping time."
"Oh."
"Yeah," Yuugi said, "she can do that. It's got limits, of course; in particular, she's severely limited in her ability to interact with anything caught in the time stop. She can pull people and objects alongside herself outside of the stop, but then they're not stopped. She can't hurt you in any way while you're stopped, although she can, say, set up a barrage of knives to fly simultaneously when time resumes-that's what she did against you."
"I would still call her a dangerous opponent."
"And I'd agree. Stopping time certainly makes it easier for her to dodge, for one thing, although you figured out how to compensate for that pretty quickly. And that's something to make sure you have down. There are quite a few people with powers that can make them seem impossible to defeat, but there's always a way. Make sure you remember that."
"I'm sorry to ask this of you," Eirin said, "but it really is important.
"Whatever," Cirno replied. "Let's just get it over with."
Eirin had Cirno and Rumia in one of the examination rooms in Eientei's medical wing. She had some kind of? something active, something that made Cirno feel weird, like she had when Eirin'd done her sensing thing last time. Eirin had done whatever it was to
Rumia, too.
"Okay," Eirin said, "you may begin."
"Go ahead, Cirno," Rumia said. "It's okay."
"No, it's not," Cirno said. "It'll hurt you, too."
"I need you to do it," Eirin said. "If you want me to help you with whatever is happening, I need to observe it occurring."
"Yeah, whatever. You already told me that. Just don't expect me to keep it up long, so whatever you're looking for, you'd better find it fast."
"That won't be a problem," Eirin said. "The effect I set up on you two is? recording, I suppose, any and all magical activity within you. I can find what I'm looking for by going through that recording. Give me maybe half a second's worth."
"Okay, fine. Rumia?"
"I'm ready."
"Okay," Cirno said. "Three? two? one... now!"
The pain hit Cirno almost immediately, and quickly overcame her ability to concentrate. "Gah! Owowowow!"
Rumia, of course, was also feeling it. "Uuuuuuggggggaaaahhhhhoooow."
"I'm sorry to make you do that," Eirin said, "but I had to. I should have what I need. You can go now; I'll send for you when I have something. Tewi said to find her and Daiyousei in the same room you were in yesterday."
"Right," Cirno said. "Ow. Still hurts. Um, Mystia?"
"She should be out shortly," Eirin said. "I'll send her there once Rin's done with her."
"Okay. Thanks."
As we reached the village, Yuugi and I were approached by two men. "Stop right there!" one of them said. "What do you want?"
Immediately hostile. But why? "We have business within the village."
The other man was staring Yuugi in the face. "Yeah? Well, too bad. We ain't lettin' no oni in."
Yuugi sighed. "You know you can't stop me."
"Ooh, tough talk. What'd'you want here, anyways?"
"I'm taking my companion here to see Heida no Akyu," Yuugi said. "We have need of her records."
"Tell me what you need to see," the first man said. "I'll go get it."
I decided to cut straight to the heart of the matter. "You don't want us in the village. Why?"
"Beca-wait, 'why'? You actually need to ask that?"
"They're fearful of youkai attacks," Yuugi explained.
"I see." I faced the man. "We are not here to cause harm. In fact, I may not even be a youkai. I have no memory, and am here in hope that Akyu's records contain information that might tell me something about myself. Yuugi's just taking me to see her."
"Don't care," the man said. "We're not letting-"
"Hey, what the hell are you two doing?"
As they turned to face the newcomer, the two men had looks on their faces that I can best describe as conveying the message, 'oh, shit'. "Good timing, Keine," Yuugi said. "These two were trying to keep us out."
"Yuugi's safe," Keine told the two men. "She may enter."
"But-but-but-"
"Actually," Yuugi said, "I don't really need to enter. I'm just taking Orphan here to see Akyu."
"I see," Keine said. "You're right, then. You don't need to enter. I'll take her to Akyu. And you two," she glared at the two men, "I'll deal with later."
Keined turned back to me as the men left. "Sorry about that. Tension's been running high lately, what with all the demon attacks. A lot of people are a bit high-strung."
"Understandable," I said.
"Glad to hear it. Now, allow me to introduce myself. Keine Kamishirasawa."
"I am Orphan. It's nice to meet you."
"So you've got her taken care of," Yuugi said. "Thanks. Well, Orphan, I'm out of here. You still thinking about trying Eientei if Akyu doesn't work?"
I nodded. "There or the Underground, I think. Although perhaps not the latter, given that you obviously don't recognize me."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Most of us down there don't look completely human, anyways. Might still be worth a try, though. It's a big place, and I hardly know everyone. There's also the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Almost nobody ever goes in there, so there's no telling what might be in that place."
"I see."
"Just one thing," Yuugi said. "If you do decide to head underground, be careful. The path down is guarded by a youkai by the name of Parsee. I'll tell her you might be coming down, but she'll probably attack you anyways."
"Is she dangerous?"
Yuugi hesitated. "Um, yes. For a long time, I'd have said no, but?"
Clearly there was something going on between Yuugi and Parsee. I didn't rush Yuugi, instead simply waiting until she continued. "Well, she's a youkai of jealousy. That's why she'll attack; she'll find things about you to be jealous of and attack out of her jealousy. It used to be that she wasn't a threat, but? well, her jealousy has grown greatly over the past year, and her power with it. And? well, she may decide to forget about danmaku, so be ready for a truly dangerous fight."
"Understood. Thanks for the warning."
Yuugi went back to her usual demeanor. "Hey, no problem. If you do come down, I'll see you then." And with that, she turned and walked off, presumably getting some distance from the village before taking to the air.
"Sorry again about the reception," Keine said. "Akyu's place is this way. Follow me."
I hate it when I hear people say that their life is terrible. I hate it because they are wrong. My name is Keine Kamishirasawa, and I know they are wrong because there was a time that my life truly was terrible.
I still don't know what I changed that first time. I was only nine years old when it happened, and until that day, I'd had no idea that I had any power. I was being attacked by the class bully at school during lunch; I stopped to use the bathroom on the way to the lunchroom, and he was waiting in the empty hallway when I emerged. I was certain that he was going to hurt me, and I was scared. That's when it happened. I felt it happen, and although I didn't know what it was, I knew that, somehow, I had done it. And then the bully ran into the bathroom in tears. At first, all I knew is that I'd done something to make him run off. The fact that he was a mess from that day forward I didn't think was related; how could I have caused a complete breakdown just by driving him off? And I didn't notice that everyone else thought he'd always been like that. I thought that I had probably attacked him with some kind of power, so I tried to reproduce it, but I failed. I failed because I was wrong about what I had done.
It was two weeks later that my power showed itself again. My teacher, Mrs. Kagama, was talking about the founder of the Human Village. She told us that the man, Holso Kayase, had died of illness at the age of 64. He'd been bedridden for about a year before then, and I remember thinking that since the guy didn't do much in his last year of life, then why did we have to hear about it? I wondered if there would have even been any change if he'd died that one year earlier, wondered if anything in the present would even be different at all. And then I felt the same thing I had before, and then? and then, Mrs. Kagama was talking about how Holso'd died at the age of 63. Then I began thinking that no, she'd just said Holso died a year after that, and then she was back to talking about a Holso who'd lived to 64. I dismissed it as me hearing things. I then wondered about if he had survived another year, and then Mrs. Kagama started saying that he'd died at 65. Then it was back to 64 as my mind insisted that that's what she'd said.
That afternoon, I did some experiments. I thought of past events and imagined them having happened differently. And when I did, there would be a change, and then the world would change to match the event having happened differently. Then I'd change it back. I kept it to minor things, and also to changes I could easily reverse, but it was enough to confirm what was happening. I was changing what had happened. I was altering history simply by thinking about it.
The next two years were the worst of my life. I kept myself apart, isolated, alone. I had to. If I knew them, I might imagine something about them happening differently, and then? I didn't know what I'd done to that bully, but it had to've been bad, because from then on, he was a wreck. I'd clearly introduced something into his past, something that made him into a mess. What if I did that to someone else? What if I destroyed someone's life just because of a thought?
You can't imagine what it was like. To be afraid to see, to hear, to speak, to even think, because one wrong thought might destroy everything you know. Whatever you think it was like, I guarantee that you aren't even close.
I came within an inch of killing myself more times than I could count. I knew I was too dangerous to be allowed to survive, but I couldn't bring myself to take the final step. Some part of me still wanted to live. And two years after that first discovery of my power, I found a way.
The ritual could only be performed on the night of a full moon, so I waited, using the time to make sure I had everything right. When the night came, I snuck out of the house and out of the village, going a short way into the forest, and set everything up, placing the book I'd brought with me to the side, out of the way-it was meant for later. I knew the magic runes by heart, and quickly drew them. I affixed the ribbon that was to be the focal point to my hair. I recited the incantation. And then I was attacked. A beast had found me. It attacked me as the seal was forming, coming into contact just as the formation finished.
It was still dark when I regained consciousness. I had no idea how long I'd been out for. I was surprised to even be alive, and looked around for the beast that had attacked me. Which is when I noticed that my head felt? odd. I felt along it and gasped as I found the reason. I ran over to a nearby stream and looked at my reflection in the water, which confirmed it. I had changed. The reason my head felt odd was because of the horns, one of which the ribbon was wrapped around. Aside from those, my form was still basically human, but not in a way that truly looked human. Even my clothing had somehow been changed. There was no escaping it; I had been changed into something else. And then I remembered the beast. That had to be what happened. The beast got absorbed into the ritual and became part of me. But did the ritual succeed?
I made my way back to the site of the ritual and retrieved the book. It was my history text, and I had brought it to test the results. I opened it to a random page, found an insignificant fact-a name-and imagined a change. And to my horror, it did change. That was the purpose of the history text; it described history, so if I changed something, the text changed to match having been written about the new history-which, thanks to the change, it had been. And the name I'd chosen did change, a change I immediately reversed. Then I collapsed to the ground, crying.
I've already explained that you cannot imagine what those two years were like. And that moment? That moment where I saw that not only had the ritual made me into a monster, but had also failed to seal my power? That was worse. It was, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic, a level of despair that even I had not thought possible. I had failed to seal my power, and I had become a monster. If I tried to return home, I'd be killed as a monster. Nobody would believe that it was me-and might still kill me even if they did. And even if they didn't kill me, I would never be allowed to remain in the village. I'd be exiled, probably immediately. I couldn't return to my home, to my family, to my life. I had lost everything.
I don't know how long it was that I laid there. I didn't move, didn't think, didn't do anything but despair. And then the sun began to rise.
As the sun rose, I felt my body change. It was a? disturbing sensation, in part because although it didn't hurt, it felt like it should have. But it was over quickly, and when it was, I saw that the new outfit had changed back to what I'd been wearing before. Then I saw that my skin was human-looking again. I ran as fast as I could to the stream and looked at my reflection. It was all gone. All the changes to my body were gone. I was human again.
A thought hit me, and I rushed back to the ritual site. I flipped open the history text again, found a fact, and tried to change it. And failed. I couldn't do it, couldn't change it. I tried again. I tried to change other things. And I failed again and again. I couldn't do it. I couldn't change history.
Those two years were the worst of my life, but the month that followed was easily the best. My parents weren't even mad about my disappearance. In addition, they immediately noticed a change in my demeanor, especially when I started talking. I think I said more that morning than I had during that entire two-year period. I spoke to people. I listened. I did things again. I was a little worried that first night after the ritual, thinking I might change at night, but I did not. Nobody questioned the change in my behavior; people were just pleased that I had 'come out of my shell'. Life went on as it had before.
I did notice that although I could no longer change history, I still had power. This wasn't unusual, of course, but mine was at a much higher level than most. But that wasn't a problem; power levels varied between individuals, and there was nothing truly remarkable about mine. It was helpful, actually, as people attributed my behavior over the last two years to it-which was true, although not in the sense they thought.
I think I sort of expected what happened on the night of the next full moon. What happened, of course, is that I changed. I took on the beast form again. Nobody saw me in that form, though. And that, I knew, was important. Even if it was only during the full moon, I would be cast out if people knew about it. And there was something else, too. I remembered how I had been able to change history in my beast form before, so I made another attempt. And it worked. I did, of course, immediately reverse the change.
I attempted to change what had occurred during the ritual, change it so that I was not interrupted, but it didn't work. I still don't know why, but I cannot stop the beast from being taken into me. I can change things about it-the precise timing, for example-but I cannot do anything that would prevent it from happening. I think it has something to do with my power being tied to my beast form, but I'm not sure.
I wasn't too upset to find that the beast emerged on the night of a full moon, or even that when it did, I could again change history-and I also noted that my general level of power rose substantially when the beast came to the surface. I had gone from being a danger constantly to being a danger approximately once a month, and I considered the beast side a small price to pay for that. Still, there was danger, so I began working on ways to negate said danger.
I became a dedicated student of history. The reason, of course, was so that if I did end up changing something, I would know how it had originally happened and know what to change it back to. And on nights of the full moon, when I changed, I trained my power, learned to control it so that I would not change anything by accident.
There isn't much practical application for a knowledge of history, so as an adult, I ended up as a teacher at the school. I didn't mind this, though; in fact, I quite enjoyed it. It was, I knew, the right place for me, and I've held that position ever since.
As I grew older, I realized that I had a problem. The beast having been absorbed into me had more effects than those shown on nights of a full moon. Even at other times, I was no longer truly human, although this showed only at night when the moon was full. Except that since I was now half-beast, I would live longer.
My physical maturation wasn't extended any-for some reason, the slowing of physical aging in those with longer lives often doesn't take effect until the body is mature, although there are exceptions (and that's not counting fairies, who are almost universally childish in body and mind)-but now that I was a physically mature adult, my body was aging much more slowly. For the time being, nobody would know, but eventually, it would become clear that I wasn't growing old as I should be, and then my secret would be out. So I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I changed history.
I am thirty-one years old, and I have been thirty-one years old for over a century. Every year, I change my date of birth, moving it forward a year. This, of course, has the side-effect of preventing me from aging at all, so I could potentially live forever, but I do it only to hide the fact that I am a half-beast. Now, yes, there should be problems with doing that-for one, what about when I changed my date of birth to after my parents could bear children?-but in Gensokyo, you learn not to worry about things like that. There's a lot here that doesn't make sense.
I've accepted the fact that I'm no longer truly human. I'm okay with it, I think, as long as nobody in the village finds out. Only two people know about my beast side and my power: the immortal Fujiwara no Mokou, and the Child of Miare. Mokou is an outcast herself, driven away because of her immortality. And the Child of Miare has promised not to disclose my secret. I told Mokou because I knew she could understand how it felt, and I told the Child to explain why I wanted access to her records-there is no record of history more complete than hers.
I've lived this way for a long time now, and even now, nobody knows. And aside from altering my date of birth, I do not change history. Even knowing how to control the power, I am still afraid of it. The insignificant details I chose for my experiments were one thing, but more noticeable changes could have all kinds of effects, effects even I cannot predict. So I do not do so. Aside from my year of birth, I make no changes. It's the only way to be sure.
I find myself in the role of a protector for the village, thanks to my high level of power. It's fortunate that the demons that have been attacking people recently have tended to stay away from the village, instead going for isolated targets. They especially like small groups, killing most while letting some escape to tell what happened. I don't know what they're up to, but I do know this: any demon who wants to hit the village will have to go through me first.
"?so she brought me here," I finished.
"I see," Keine said, the two of us talking as Keine took me to my destination. "Memory loss, hmm?"
"Yes. I'm hoping that Akyu will know who I am, but if she does not, I'll just move on to the next location, probably Eientei."
"I see. Well, be careful if you do. You may run into a fight."
"A fight?"
"Yes. There's an ongoing feud between the lady of the mansion and a friend of mine."
"What kind of feud?"
Keine paused, presumably considering whether or not to tell me. "Well, the lady of the mansion, the moon princess Kaguya, is immortal-and yes, 'moon princess' means she's a Lunarian princess, a princess from the moon. When she first came to Earth, her beauty attracted men from all over the world, interested suitors. A lot of them. So she issued a challenge. She named five items of legend: the Dragon's Necklace, the Buddha's Stone Bowl, the Fire Rat's Robe, the Swallow's Cowrie Shell, and the Jeweled Branch of Hourai. Anyone who wanted her hand had to bring her one of these five items. Many people doubted that the items even existed, while others said that even if they did, obtaining any of them was impossible. Kaguya herself even acknowledged this belief, as she called obtaining the items the 'Five Impossible Requests'.
"Many men took her challenge. Most of them died. None of them succeeded. Among those who died was the head of the noble household of Fujiwara. Mokou is his daughter."
"So Mokou blames Kaguya for her father's death, then."
"Not quite," Keine said. "At first, she didn't blame Kaguya. She blamed her father for being reckless enough to attempt a challenge that even the issuer called impossible. But then she? discovered something. Specifically, she discovered that the five items Kaguya had named had already been in the lunar princess's possession when she issued the challenge-either she'd already had somebody get them or she'd obtained them herself. Which, since she doesn't have to worry about dying, wouldn't have really been all that much of a risk."
"I see," I said. "So Mokou came to blame Kaguya for tricking her father into his death, is that correct?"
Keine nodded. "She wasn't exactly pleased when he died, but she accepted it as the result of his failure, and she blamed not Kaguya for issuing the challenge but him for being stupid enough to attempt it. But that changed when she learned that Kaguya'd had the five items all along. Her father failing a challenge she was okay with; the challenge itself being a trick she was not."
"How long ago did this happen?" I asked.
"About 1,300 years. Mokou's immortal, too; in fact, stealing and consuming the elixir of immortality was her first act in her feud with Kaguya. Since then, she and Kaguya have been killing each other constantly."
I knew I was getting used to Gensokyo, because when I heard that Kaguya and Mokou were immortal, I immediately accepted it. But there was something about Keine's statement that took me by surprise. "Mokou's been attacking Kaguya for 1,300 years? She still does that even after so long? I would have thought that if nothing else, her hatred would have long since burned itself out."
"Me, too," Keine said. "And? well, I think that maybe it has. Mokou can't bring herself to forgive Kaguya, but her feelings for the princess have? changed. And I believe that Kaguya's feelings for Mokou have changed, as well. Mokou hasn't forgiven Kaguya, but? she has come to love her. And I think that Kaguya's the same. But Mokou can't bring herself to forgive Kaguya, so their fight continues. It? it's tearing Mokou apart. She can't stop killing the woman she's come to love, and it's killing her. I'm worried she's on the way to losing her mind entirely, but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do, and why am I telling you this, anyways?"
"Most likely because I'm willing to listen," I said. "I think that sometimes people just need someone who will listen. I think-" I came to a stop.
Keine turned back towards me. "Orphan?"
"Familiarity," I said.
"What?"
"Familiarity. Ever since I came to Gensokyo, I've had a sense of familiarity. I'm certain that I'm from here. But that's not all. There's? well, I feel like I can feel myself. My forgotten self. The familiarity of Gensokyo seems to be doing? something. My forgotten self is here, I can feel it. I just can't reach it. But?"
"Please, continue," Keine said after a pause.
"Certain things here have also felt familiar to me," I said. "Some of it is things I'd never seen before-danmaku, for instance-while some is related to thinks I have seen before-I think the familiarity of Gensokyo may have something to do with that. And right now, being the person who is willing to listen to you, I got that sense of familiarity."
"So you think you already knew about Mokou and Kaguya?"
"No," I said, "that's not it. It's not the story that feels familiar, it's listening to you tell it. I don't know what it is. I? I did things like that, maybe. Or? but no, there's more. Something? there's some? reason, maybe? A reason I did things like that? There's supposed to be? something."
"Um. Well, I don't really think I can help you out there."
"I know," I said. "I know. I'm just? I don't know."
"Hmm? well, maybe Akyu can help you find some answers. We're almost there; let's continue, shall we?"
Daiyousei looked up as Cirno and Rumia entered the room. "Hey. How'd it go?"
"She had Cirno trigger it," Rumia said, "and somehow recorded what happened. She's examining that record, and will let us know as soon as she finds anything. How are things going for you two?"
That was Tewi's cue to get up from her seat. "Pretty good," she said. "Here, come take a look."
Cirno moved over next to Daiyousei but did not examine the book Tewi had open. Rumia, the only one present aside from Tewi who could actually read, sat down next to the rabbit and examined the open page. "This is about demons."
"Yep," Tewi said. "I'm pretty sure that's what we're dealing with."
'We', huh? Cirno thought. Guess she already considers herself part of the group. "Okay, so how do we beat it?"
"Fire worked on both of the ones you've fought, right? I think I've figured out why. With the first one, the one you couldn't seem to hurt, well, it doesn't feel pain on its protective hide or whatever, but the hide does take damage. I'm thinking that the fire simply burned it deeply, beyond the hide."
"Makes sense," Rumia said. "What about the other one?"
Tewi flipped to another page. "Here, look at this. It's talking about regeneration abilities. Regeneration isn't like immortality; there are limits, and a regenerator can still die. I'd say that with the one you fought, the fire was damaging it faster than it could regenerate. Either that, or the pain simply overwhelmed it."
"That's important," Cirno said. "That's the one we're after. So, what, we just have to keep hitting it?"
"It doesn't look like it's that simple," Rumia said. "We'd need to damage it faster than it can regenerate, and I don't know that we can do that. There's another way, though."
"Yeah? Well, what is it?"
"Doing something that kills it outright. Basically, destroying the brain. Simply removing the head probably works, too; it looks like that's one of those limits Tewi mentioned."
"Great," Cirno said. "We know how to beat it. Now we just need a plan to do it."
"Let's check the other books, Rumia," Tewi said. "There may be something useful in one of them."
"You do that," Cirno said. "Just try to make it quick. I want to be ready to go once Mystia's out and Wriggle's back."
"Got it."
"Akyu, it's me," Keine said, knocking on the door. "Can I come in?"
"Yes," was the reply. Keine opened the door and entered, with me right behind her.
The person sitting at the table was writing, and didn't even look up as we entered. I'd seen enough different hair colors already that seeing someone with purple hair wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was how young the girl looked. She didn't look more than fifteen-and she was human, so she really was still a kid. Physically, at least, I thought, reminding myself that she remembered all of her past lives. "Hello," I said. "Are you Heida no Akyu?"
The girl looked up. "Keine not alone. Unusual. Never seen you before. Yes, I am Akyu. Who are you?"
Damn. "I am Orphan."
Akyu spoke quickly and in clipped tones. "Orphan. Odd name. Not given name, surely. Chosen. Has meaning. What meaning?"
"I lost my memory five years ago," I explained. "I know nothing about myself before then."
"Memory loss. Complete?"
I nodded. "I get feelings of familiarity, but aside from that, yes, it seems complete."
"Five years ago. Entire life. Likely not natural. Magic involved. Any clues?"
"When I awoke without my memory, it was in the outside world, but I believe I am from Gensokyo."
"You think same event caused relocation and memory loss?"
"Yes, and I also think it changed my power."
"Not heard anything like it," Akyu said. "So. Searching for identity. Coming here understandable. Hoped I would recognize you, may also find information in records."
"Yes, that's-"
"Shut up. No response desired. Still talking. Now, records not needed. Wrote them. Know everything in them. Can provide any needed information. Any other clues?"
"Just the hat," I said. "I think it was a gift from someone."
"Hat. Never seen it before. Never seen you before. Unless? you were in outside world five years. Did your body age?"
"Yes."
"Then failure of recognition may mean little."
"Do I look similar to anyone you remember?"
"Many people. Appearance generally unremarkable. Plus, you came from outside. Similarities to known appearances may mean little. Appearance often changes during crossing. Hair, eye color most common changes. Any change?"
"No," I said.
"May mean little. No change crossing from outside to here, but do not remember self before crossing from here to outside. Change could have happened then. Current appearance unremarkable, with possible exception of hat. Have never seen hat before. Clue. Means I have not seen you while wearing it. Would not be in public with bare head. Therefore, likely have not seen you. Narrows possibilities."
"So you're saying-"
Akyu cut me off again. "Silence. Still talking. Now, narrowed possibilities. Have not been to Sanzu this life-must leave for last. Cannot return except for reincarnation. Finish recording of Sanzu, kill self, resume task nest life."
I was shocked to hear Akyu speak so casually about committing suicide, but I did not say anything, and she just kept on. "Could be from there, but no shinigami or yama reported missing in last five years. Rules out Sanzu. Underground a possibility. Access sealed for centuries. Only reopened recently. Much catching up to do. Far behind. Most down there have clearly non-human features. Some look human, though. Youkai Mountain another possibility; have not been there this life. Have only very general information recorded at moment. Will commence true recording once finished with Underground. Heaven same way. Those three most likely locations."
The Underground, the Youkai Mountain, and Heaven. "What about Eientei?" I asked.
"Unlikely. Almost all rabbits. Non-rabbits very noticeable. Would be known if one vanished. May still be worth trip, though. Eirin genius of medicine. May have something to aid recollection."
"I see. Well, thank you for the information."
"Welcome. Other business?"
"No," Keine said, "that's all. See you."
"Same."
"Again, thank you," I said, following Keine out of the house.
"Well," Keine said as the door closed behind us, "sounds like you got some useful information."
I nodded. "Yes. Um?"
Keine chuckled. "Speechless, huh? Yeah, Akyu can do that."
"Is it normal for her to speak so casually of suicide?"
"Yeah. She kills herself once she's finished updating her records. It doesn't mean anything special to her, given that she's born again every hundred years. The Yama would probably allow her to cross back over-she supports the Child of Miare's task, and it is her shinigami who brings the records of Sanzu's history back to Gensokyo. The thing is, Akyu doesn't want to live out her natural lifespan. Once she's done for one life, she wants to move to the next immediately."
I wasn't really sure what to think about that. "Um?"
"It's best not to worry about it, so let's change the subject. Where are you going next?"
"Eientei sounds like a good choice," I said.
"I see. Well, I'll walk you out of the village. Come on."
"You know," I said as I followed Keine, "I'm wondering something about this Mokou-Kaguya thing."
"Oh? You know, you don't need to worry about it. It's not your problem."
I wasn't so sure about that; if I was potentially heading into a fight between those two, then it was very much my problem. But there was more than that. "I know, but? well, remember what I said earlier about something feeling familiar when I gave you someone to talk to about Mokou? I'm wondering if perhaps I did indeed do that sort of thing before, and if so, then why. Because it's not solely out of kindness, I can tell that much. I'm supposed to get something out of it. I just don't know what."
"Sounds kind of like a job," Keine said. "Do the work, get paid."
"I don't know about that. What if I listen to people's problems in order to lull them into a false sense of security to make it easier to catch and eat them? Assuming youkai actually eat people like they do in outside-world legends, of course."
"They do, although these days it's extremely uncommon. But, well, um, yes, if you are in fact a youkai, then what you say is certainly possible. I'm? not really sure that's the best possibility to use as a working assumption, though."
"Not to worry," I said. "I mentioned it simply to point out that it's possible my intentions were malicious. I might also have been trying to rob or trick them. Or, as you suggested, doing it in return for something."
"Maybe Reimu should do that more often," Keine remarked with a chuckle. "Might get her more donations."
"I don't think that money is the only thing one might get from such actions," I said. "There are other things one might desire in return."
"Oh, certainly. Material gifts are not the only possibility. There are also immaterial possibilities. Trust. Gratitude. Recognition. For leaders, loyalty and devotion. For gods, faith. Are you hoping that taking such an action in regards to me and Mokou will help you recall something?"
"It's worth attempting."
"Well, all right, then. What exactly is it that you're wondering about?"
"Kaguya's motive," I said. "Why does Mokou think she issued her 'Impossible Requests'?"
"So she wouldn't have to deal with all the potential suitors," Keine said. "I'm not so sure about that, though. Sending people to their deaths just so you don't have to turn them down doesn't really seem all that reasonable a thing to do."
"I agree. I'm wondering if perhaps the key to her reasoning is the fact that she already had the items. What if, instead of just being a means for her to reject potential suitors, the challenge truly was meant to find a suitable on, and the real test was to see through the deception?"
"Yeah, I've thought of that. So has Mokou, although she finds that just as bad. I do, too, realy, which is why I again think there's something else to it."
"It may," I said, "be easier for me to see things from an outsider's perspective-my only memories before coming here are of the outside world, so even if I'm from here, I am still, in a way, an outsider. Maybe that helps me to see things from an outsider's perspective, but have you perhaps thought that Kaguya didn't intend for people to get themselves killed?"
"Of course she didn't want that. There's no way she actually wanted people to die, despite some of the things Mokou's said."
"That's not quite what I meant. Obviously she didn't intend for people to die, but what if she never even intended for them to attempt the challenge in the first place?"
"She had to've known people would try. People are like that."
"Humans are like that. But she is not human, correct? She is a 'lunarian', as you called them. So I ask you: is it possible that lunarians are not like that?"
Keine came to a stop. "Why didn't I ever think of that?" she wondered aloud. "I really should have thought of that. Mokou I can see failing to think of it-hatred can do things like that-but I should have thought of it."
"Sometimes it takes a fresh viewpoint to see the obvious answer."
"Heh, sounds like something Mokou would say. Actually, I think that is something Mokou says. Right, then. I'll have to bring that up with her. Thank you."
"You're welcome." I paused. "No clues, though. Nothing new feeling familiar. Damn."
"One can only hope you'll have better luck at Eientei," Keine said. "And on that note, let's stop standing around here. I'll take you out of the village, and then Eientei's close. It won't take you long to get there."
"It's getting late, though," I noted. "Shouldn't I wait until tomorrow?"
"Eientei's always open," Keine said, "and is in fact more active at night. So you're actually looking at the best time to go there."
"I see. Well, in that case, lead on."
London and Holland reached their destination first, and immediately noticed that something was up. "Damn," Holland said, "what the hell is all this?"
London walked up to one, examining it closely. "Propaganda posters. War propaganda." [Mother? It looks like there's a war going on. Pro-war propaganda is all over the place.]
[Wait, what?] Alice replied. [A war? With who?]
[I don't know. The ones I'm looking at are just generic 'join the fight'-type things.]
Holland was looking over other posters. "Um, London? I think I found something important."
London went over and looked at the indicated poster. And immediately jerked back in surprise. [Um, mother?]
[Yes? What is it?]
[A wanted poster,] London sent. [Dead or alive. An enormous reward, too. They want this person bad.]
[Who is it?]
[Mother,] Holland sent, [it's you.]
Yeah, I had fun writing Akyu.
Anyways, you may have noticed, but I find some of the character backstories more interesting than others, and Keine's is my favorite so far. It kind of went on longer than I intended, but you know what? I like it. And on the topic of the backstories, if you have any characters you'd like to see backstories of, please tell me. I won't promise to actually do them all, but I'm always willing to at least listen to requests. Requests of any kind, really; I'm always open to suggestions.
Also, I'm dissapointed in the lack of theorizing about Orphan's identity. Don't worry; I'm not going to change it if someone guesses it or anything like that (I've had her identity planned from the beginning; how else could I be planting hints about it?). I would like to see your theories, though.
And as always, any comments are appreciated.
Chapter 10
Coil
The sun was beginning to rise as Eirin and I reached our destination. One of the rabbit guards stepped forward as we approached Eientei's main entrance. "Lady Eirin, Tewi asked me to relay that 'Cirno's group' left a couple hours ago."
"Oh?" Eirin said. "I wasn't expecting Rin to let Mystia out quite that soon."
"I think Tewi pulled rank."
"I see. Okay, I need you to head into the forest the way I came from, and quickly. Find Kaguya and Mokou-and no, you don't have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire. Tell Mokou that Cirno and Rumia left a couple hours ago, and that I did as we discussed. She'll know what you mean. Go."
"Yes, ma'am!" The rabbit took off into the forest at high speed.
"That looks dangerous," I said, "flying through the forest that quickly."
"It's a lot easier than it looks," Eirin said. "Kaguya and I just happen to prefer walking through it to flying through it. Anyways, if we're going to make any progress, then I'll need to take a look at you. Come."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
It hurt. It hurt, but Cirno had to keep going. She knew that. It was too late to change her mind now. It hurt even when she did nothing. When she used her power, the pain was extreme. She always kept going as long as she could, but the pain always overwhelmed her before long. So she would take a break, then do it again.
Rumia, of course, was also in pain. "Aaaaaaaaaaaooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggg." Her pain was probably worse, since she was the one the coil was placed on.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The pain overwhelmed Cirno, and she fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "I don't think it'll be much longer," Rumia said. "Come on, Cirno. You can do it. Just a little more, and it'll all be over."
Daiyousei exited the small room Wriggle was using and walked over to Mystia. "Okay, Wriggle's really starting to weird me out."
"What do you mean?" Mystia asked.
"Um? well, how about you just go see for yourself?"
"Okay, whatever." Mystia got up and entered the room. Then she saw Wriggle and stopped dead in her tracks. "Um?"
Wriggle was floating about a foot off the floor, and looked like she was in some sort of trance. She was faintly glowing, too. And then there were the insects. There were many of them all over her body, and they were all glowing brightly. Some were of the larger-than-normal variety unique to Gensokyo. Especially noticeable were the? centipedes, or millipedes, or whatever. The wormy-things.
Mystia just stood and stared. Before long, the glow faded, Wriggle returned to the ground and opened her eyes, and the insects crawled and flew out the window, which Mystia saw was open. "Um, Wriggle? What was that?"
"I have empowered them," Wriggle said. "They will serve as my attendants-and don't you dare make the pun; I made sure there were no ants for precisely that reason."
"Um?"
"What? Did it look strange, or something?"
"Um, yeah," Mystia said. "That, plus I've never seen you do anything like it before."
"That's because I haven't," Wriggle said, taking a seat. She motioned for Mystia to sit. "It's something else that's new."
Mystia sat next to Wriggle. Her wings didn't get in the way of sitting to nearly the same extent as Cirno's; she didn't need a stool like the ice fairy did. "You're just full of surprises, then."
"Hey, I'm just learning about these things, too."
"So how do you discover that you can do something like that?"
Wriggle thought for a moment. "It? well, it just happens. I'm not really sure how to describe it. Claiming Her power had far greater effects than I'd expected."
"What's it like, anyways?"
"You know," Wriggle said, "I've never liked it when people say they can't describe something, but? well, I really do have absolutely no idea how to describe it."
"You can describe parts of it, surely."
"Yeah. I guess the easiest bit to describe is simply having more power. You've improved your own abilities; you know what it feels like to expand what you can do. This is the same thing, just to a much greater extent."
"'Turned up to eleven', as Kaguya's fond of saying."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"No idea."
"Anyways," Wriggle continued, "you should at least be able to get close to an idea of what that's like, but you'll probably still be far short of the reality. It's not just having the power. It's? well, when I faced that demon yesterday, just after claiming the power, I knew I would win. I knew that it was perfectly capable of killing me, but I knew that if I didn't get careless, I would win. The same was true against Marisa, although she wouldn't have killed me. It's the same idea, though. Before, I would've been going 'oh, shit' at the thought of fighting her, but now, when I faced her, I knew I could do it. I knew I could take her."
"Are you sure that's part of the power? Sounds to me like overconfidence."
"It's only overconfidence if it's beyond your abilities," Wriggle said. "I know my limits. I'm not completely sure what they are yet, but I know them."
"Um?"
"Yeah, that doesn't even make sense to me, but it's the best way I can think of to describe it. I'm not yet aware of everything that's now within my abilities, but I do know whether or not I am capable of doing something. When faced with an opponent, I know if I can win. And when I know that I can win, I also know just how badly I could potentially lose. It's not overconfidence, just confidence. And? well, the power doesn't actually affect who I am. It's not causing the feeling of confidence; the confidence is mine. The power lets me know what I can do. And I really don't think I'm explaining this very well."
"Well enough," Mystia said. "I think I've got the general idea."
"Then yes, it's good enough. But even that isn't the hardest thing about this to explain. That would be the? well, I'm not really sure what to call it. It's kind of an? expanded awareness, I guess."
"Oh, like how you said you don't have to focus to sense or command insects now?"
"Yeah, that's part of it, but not all of it. It's like? well, actually, I doubt there's anything else like it. It's? okay, I really don't want to do some clich?d 'it's incredible' thing, but I really can't think of anything better. There really is-" she fired a burst of danmaku through the window without even pausing, "-nothing like it."
A voice could be heard from outside. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Hi, Tewi," Wriggle said, not even turning around. "Forgot that I can see through the eyes of insects, didn't you?"
Tewi jumped in through the window. "Um, yeah. Anyways, disposal successful. The books are at Marisa's house now. If Patchouli looks into it that hard, she'll conclude that Marisa faked the decoy bit so she'd be ignored."
"Right," Wriggle said. "Let's head back out to the main room. I think Cirno and Rumia are almost done, and Dai'll want to hear what's happening."
"There's not much we can do to even slow it down at this point," Byakuren said. "Unless Netese is an idiot, she'll have things set up to, at the very least, slow you down enough that it won't matter."
"So I'd need to get to Netese."
"And we both know she's not dumb enough to come herself. She'll send someone she can afford to lose."
"But not someone from the bottom," Alice said. "Whoever she sends in her place will be someone she can trust in that role. The lower ones will make up the force this person leads, and they'll be ready for a trap. Which, of course, is where you come in."
"Yes. But although what we gain from that may help, it will not be enough. We have to get Gensokyo to stand united against them."
"Which will be a problem, given that three different parties are currently attempting to unite Gensokyo under them."
"We don't need a unified Gensokyo," Byakuren said. "We only need Gensokyo to stand united against a common threat. We need to speak to those three parties and get them to cooperate."
"Yeah, good luck with that."
"The only problem I foresee is Remilia; the other two will likely be more cooperative."
"Yeah," Alice said, "but one problem's enough. We don't have time to deal with her."
"I will speak to the other two first," Byakuren said. "If we go to Remilia as a group, even she will see reason."
"Just make sure you're back here in time," Alice said.
"That will not be a problem." Byakuren got to her feet. "I should get going immediately. I think I'll speak to Kaguya first, then head to the mountain from Eientei."
"You realize we're basically screwed no matter how well this goes, right?"
"I know," Byakuren said. "Even if everything goes perfectly, it'll take a miracle to pull this off."
Eirin had me lying on a table in one of her 'examination rooms'. She had another with her, a rabbit she called 'Udonge' but had introduced as Reisen. Eirin was now explaining just what she was going to be doing. "?but none of that will mean anything without stimulus. I can't find something that isn't there, no matter how well I look."
"And that's Reisen's job, I assume," I said.
"Correct. Udonge is able to stimulate the minds of others. She will be stimulating yours in accordance with the procedure, and I will collect and examine the results. The objective is to? well, you wouldn't understand the accurate explanation. The simplified and not-really-accurate-but-close-enough version is that the objective is to locate your lost memories. This is merely the first step, and will not actually lead to you recalling anything."
"How long does the entire procedure take?"
"It varies," Eirin said, "but the usual range is one week to a month, depending on how much has been forgotten. I will know within the day if the procedure can help you, though. I will need a few hours to go over the results of the examination, and then I will know."
"The exam itself will take about half an hour," Reisen added.
"That much I have no objection to," I said. "I'm not sure if I want to remain here long enough for the entire procedure, though."
"Again, there's a good chance it wouldn't work, anyways. You can make that decision if I find that it can help you."
"Good point," I said.
"You'll be conscious throughout the exam," Reisen said, "but ironically enough, you should not expect to have a clear memory of it. Your thoughts will be? unclear. Don't worry, though; there won't be any actual damage. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Then let's get started," Eirin said.
Given name: Reisen. Family name: Udongein. Profession name: Inaba.
I have kept my full name despite having left the moon behind. I have developed beyond it, and were I still on the moon, would likely have received a second profession name, but I am still Inaba. I may no longer be with the Lunarian military, but I am still Inaba. I am merely in someone else's service now.
I knew the name Eirin Yagokoro, of course; every Lunarian and lunar rabbit knows who she is. Even many of her older procedures are still in use, and many of her vaccines and cures are still famous, particularly her cure for the Plague. It's also common knowledge that long ago, she had gone into hiding on Earth alongside the missing princess, Kaguya. I never expected to go to Earth, but I did, and it happened because Earth came to us.
The humans called it 'Apollo', among other things. Apparently, the missions were presented to the public as exploratory in nature. But they were not. Most humans believe the moon to be lifeless, but a few knew the truth. They also knew of magic, something that has been largely absent from their world for centuries. And their Apollo missions were made with this fully in mind. Apollo was not a scientific program. It was a military program. The humans attacked us.
The first Apollo mission was the most successful, and my unit was one of those that were wiped out. I had some medical training, but I was not a field medic. I was expected to be on the front lines, fighting, but I was also expected to give immediate emergency treatment to the wounded when possible, and was often among those who moved the wounded back behind the front lines for the field medics. Others carried the bodies; my job was to provide immediate care to keep them alive until they got to a true field medic. I was performing that duty when the line fell.
The survivors-mostly field medics or those such as myself-scattered, and we were not the only ones. Some just ran, some tried to hook up with other units, whatever. I was too frightened to pay much attention to what others were doing. Until I came upon a small group with a strange device.
The device was an experimental teleportation unit, linked to another such unit within the city's military base. We decided to use it to escape and get to the Lunarian commanders with the news that our line had fallen. It worked for the first three, but when I passed through, the device malfunctioned, and I ended up somewhere else.
Lunar rabbits share a telepathic connection with each other-although I found this connection to be much more difficult than usual and require much greater conscious effort on my part-so I knew the progress of the battle on the moon. I knew that word had indeed gotten to where it needed to be, and the invaders had eventually been repulsed. With the battle won, my attention turned to myself. I was in a forest of bamboo, and I began to explore it.
Before long, I encountered a group of rabbits. Not lunar rabbits, of course; Earth rabbits. When I told them I was a lunar rabbit, they decided to bring me to someone. This did not surprise me. What did was hearing this person's name: Eirin. The rabbits brought me to a place they called 'Eientei', and took me to Eirin. And it was indeed Eirin Yagokoro.
Eirin told me about Gensokyo, where I was. I communicated information about my current location to my superiors-with great effort; the difficulty in using the telepathic connection was no doubt due to my being in Gensokyo-although I left out the fact that it was Eirin who had told me. Through a relay, the Lunarian who'd been in charge of my division authorized my departure from service on the grounds that I was unable to return.
I wouldn't have mentioned Eirin at all, but she came right out and told me to. She had multiple breakthroughs she wanted to communicate to the Lunarian people, and thanks to my presence, she was able to do so despite being in Gensokyo. And she has me continue to do so whenever she makes a new breakthrough.
I became Eirin's student in the art of medicine. I recognize that I will never be close to her level of genius, but I can learn how to do the job, and I have. I have graduated, as it were, from being her student to being her assistant.
We did have a scare at one point. I was informed via the telepathic connection that a party was coming to Earth to return me to the moon. I was never informed as to why, and I decided that I did not want to leave. Eirin took means to prevent the lunar party from reaching Earth, only to have it rather forcibly pointed out by various residents of Gensokyo that Gensokyo was already separate from Earth. I was rather thoroughly beaten myself, despite my best efforts, as were Eirin and Princess Kaguya. But, fortunately, there were no hard feelings.
As a result of that incident, Eientei's existence, previously known only by a few outside of the forest, became common knowledge. We started up a medical clinic, and have provided necessary care for many.
Current events are? disturbing. Kaguya believes the demon attacks are the first strike in an invasion, and I have to agree with her. Kaguya's been trying to unite Gensokyo under her to face it, but this? hasn't been going well. I can only hope that a solution presents itself in time.
"Look, Kaguya," Mokou said, "we've been enemies for a good 1,300 years. I don't care how I feel about you; that's not going to go away in a single night, no matter what I do."
"Of course not," Kaguya said. "That's why we'll still be seeing each other a lot. That 'purge' helped, I'm sure, but yes, there's a lot to work through. Even if we have resolved the key issue."
"I still haven't forgiven you for that," Mokou said. "Eventually, maybe, but not yet."
"But we've settled that issue."
"Yes," Mokou said. "It's like I said: I still can't forgive you, but since I have completed your challenge, it no longer needs to come between us. And? we'll work out the rest in time. After all, we do have as much time as we need."
"Is it going to come between us in the meantime?"
"I don't think so," Mokou said. "I don't think-"
The rabbit came into the clearing at high speed, barely avoiding colliding with Kaguya. "Oh, there you are. Mokou, Eirin says that- wait, um? you're not?"
"Later," Kaguya said. "Deliver your message."
The rabbit composed herself. "Uh, yes, ma'am!" She turned to Mokou. "Mokou, Eirin told me to deliver the message that Cirno and Rumia left a couple hours ago. She said she did as you discussed."
"Oh," Mokou said. "I thought she expected that to take longer. Right, well, thank you."
"You're welcome," the rabbit said as she took off back towards Eientei.
Mokou turned to Kaguya. "Okay, I know we're kind of in the middle of something here, but this is important."
"How so? I've heard about Cirno's bunch-I'm a fan of her friend Mystia's cooking. What are they doing that could be important?"
"If you want to know now, then you'll have to come with me. Odds are Cirno and Rumia are heading back to Misty Lake, and if they're reacting as expected, then I need to get there as quickly as I can."
"It's? barely holding together," Rumia managed to get out through the pain. "Just? a little? more."
"O-okay," Cirno said. "I'll? try. Three? Two? One? Zero. Aaaaaaahhhhh!" The pain intensified again as Cirno began to fire a continuous blast of ice. Rumia was right; she could feel it. The coil was about to break. Just a little more. "Just? a little? more. Just? a lit-ah!" Cirno and Rumia were blown apart as it happened.
The coil was broken.
********
Images.
Words.
Names.
?Memories?
Cirno tried to clear her head, but it didn't really work. She tried looking around, only to find that she couldn't see anything. Not in the way of it being pitch black, but in the way of there being nothing to see. Doesn't even feel like I'm seeing. What's going on here? Wait, and where'd the pain go? And where's- "Rumia? Rumia! Are you here? Can you hear me?"
There was no reply. Dammit, what the hell is this? What's going on he- wait, what's that?
The object hadn't been there a moment ago; Cirno was certain of that. She walked over and examined it. Wait, that's- that's Rumia's ribbon! "Rumia? Rumia! Rumia, are you-what the heck?"
The ribbon started to glow. What the- what's going on? Is this really supposed to be Rumia's-wait, the glow's fading. And as the glow faded, the ribbon? came apart. Then it vanished, leaving behind what looked like a small, glowing ball of light. Wait, what? What is this?
Cirno reached out and touched the light, and then?
********
Rumia couldn't see anything. Not because of darkness-she was familiar with that-but because there was nothing to see. Wait, what's that?
The object stood out by virtue of being the only thing in sight. Rumia went over to get a better look at it. Wait, that's my ribbon! Her hand went up to her head. Wait, no, the ribbon's still there. But then what's this one? She picked it up. It looks just like mine. Wait, is it? no, it's not glowing. Not all of it, at least. Is there something in here?
Rumia began untying the ribbon, and as she did so, the glow intensified. She untied the ribbon completely, and? What the-?
There was nothing within the ribbon. Nothing that was glowing. Just the glow. A glow that didn't seem to have any source.
Rumia reached out and touched the glow, and then?
********
Cirno had an image of? is that supposed to be me? No, that's definitely not me. She kinda looks like me, though. Who is she? Why does she feel so? familiar? It's not just that she looks like me. There's more here than that.
More images flashed through her mind, and- wait, that's Rumia! And indeed it was. She looked a bit different, but she was clearly Rumia. She was in many of the images; she and the unknown woman were fighting. And fighting a lot, it looks like.
Voices came.
'I oppose; that is in my nature.'
That's Rumia's voice! Cirno realized. Sounds a bit different, but that's clearly her.
'She is far too dangerous?'
A different voice. That woman, maybe?
There was more from that voice.
'Rumia is a youkai.'
'?extremely powerful?'
'?violent and destructive seemingly at random?'
Next was Rumia's voice again. 'You know you can't kill me.'
A third voice was next, one Cirno found familiar but couldn't quite place. "?that's?sealing her away within herself?'
The woman's voice again. 'Once the coil is complete, a new personality will arise?'
She placed the coil! Cirno realized.
Still the woman's voice. '?it will remain intact indefinitely.'
'That Rumia will be an innocent, and I will not kill her.'
More images. Another battle between the woman and Rumia, with someone else occasionally visible in the distance, watching. The woman's voice continued over the images. 'I will have to place eight different seals?anchor them to a ninth.'
The images continued. The battle ended with the woman getting a sword through her chest. Except that there was a fairy. A fairy that looked like- holy shit, I think that's me!
The woman did something to the fairy. Then the fairy did something to Rumia's ribbon. And there was the woman's voice again. 'Ninth Seal!' What was that? Cirno wondered. Did she, like, take control of the might-be-me fairy?
Rumia attacked the woman one more time as the fairy did that? 'ninth seal' thing. All three fell to the ground. And then?
More images, but different. Wait, are these? wait, they are my memories! That fairy is me! But who's the woman?
More images came. More words came. And then an understanding came. She died while controlling me-no, it wasn't me yet, was it? That fairy died along with the woman. And all that somehow changed her into me. And-
Power. A lot of power, seemingly from nowhere. This is what she had in that fairy! The power that made me, that's in me! But why didn't I feel it until break?ing the coil. Did she die while making it? She did, didn't she? That made things weird, didn't it? The power she connected to the coil went into me, but somehow got locked away in the process!
Cirno wasn't really sure where all of this was coming from, or even if she had truly figured things out or if the answers had come into her head like the rest, or maybe a combination of the two. But she knew, somehow, that her conclusions were correct.
The rush of images continued, until?
********
That's me, Rumia thought. I look different, but that's definitely me.
Rumia's experience was similar to Cirno's. Images flashed through her head, and she heard voices. But what she saw and heard were different.
'Opposite.'
'Negate.'
An image of a building, then the building in ruins. 'Creation and destruction, opposite.'
An image of people, followed by an image of them dead. 'Life and death, opposite.'
Images of someone saving people's lives, then images of? herself? killing them. 'Protector and destroyer, opposite.'
They kept coming. Then they changed. They weren't about opposites now. It was? My life? But that can't be me. That can't be me! I don't even remember any of this! And who's that woman? She kind of looks a little like Cirno.
Sealed away.
That thought wasn't Rumia's. She couldn't tell where the thought had come from, but it wasn't hers. Wait, is it that? crazy-me's?
More came, and along with it an understanding. That woman and? other-Rumia had been enemies. Other-Rumia was a youkai of opposition, and she and that woman were opposites. In response to other-Rumia's seemingly-unpredictable violence, she had fought other-Rumia many times over their long, long lives. Until one day, the woman didn't fight to kill other-Rumia. The woman instead placed seals on her, a coil. Locking other-me away. And without her, a new Rumia-me-developed. But this isn't another person. This is just? remnants of her.
More came. Other-Rumia had killed the woman as the coil was being completed. Something must have gone wrong and damaged other-me instead of just locking her away. This is what's left. And then there was the fairy, which looked a lot like Cirno. The woman used the fairy to complete the coil, and was still within the fairy when she died. That's why it's in Cirno! Some of the woman stayed in that fairy when she died! Killed the fairy and made a new one! But where has that part of the woman been-wait, the coil. It went screwy. The part of that woman must've gotten sealed, too!
The rush of images continued, until?
********
"They're both unconscious," Wriggle said, "but they're still alive."
"Oh, man," Daiyousei said, "are they gonna be all right?"
"I told you, Dai," Mystia said. "Eirin knows what she's doing. If she thinks they can break the coil and come out all right, then they can."
"I hope you're right."
"Um, guys?" Wriggle said. "Something weird just happened."
********
Cirno picked herself up off the ground and looked around. The lake. That must have all been in my head. It was real, though. I can still feel it. Okay, now where's Ru-oh, no.
Rumia was there, and she was also getting up. But she was different. She looked different. That's the old Rumia!
********
Rumia got to her feet and looked around. The lake. That was all in my head, then. As I thought. Still real, though.
Rumia spotted Cirno, who was likewise picking herself up. Except? What the- that's Cirno? She looks? different, shit. Closer to what that woman looked like. Shit, more of her mind must have survived than other-me's did. That's not Cirno anymore. But?
There isn't anywhere for Cirno to have gone. She must still be in there somewhere. She has to be.
********
"They're up," Wriggle said, "and they've seen each oth-shit!"
Rumia focused, and the sword wielded by other-Rumia formed in her hand. That's part of the power that survived. Good. Hopefully enough remains for me to take her.
Cirno formed a sword of ice in her hand. Okay, old-Rumia, how much power do you still have? I'll have to hope I kept more than she did.
********
"They're going to fight," Wriggle said.
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, Dai," Wriggle said. "It may have something to do with the appearance changes, but I really don't know."
"Well, stop it! Get some bugs in there and knock them out!"
"I already tried," Wriggle said. "It didn't work. I don't know what's going on, but they're going to fight, and I can't st-what the hell?"
"What? What?"
"You know I've got views from insects all over the place going right now for practice purposes. Well, Kaguya and Mokou-not fighting, by the way-just flew past one. I'm taking views from other insects in the area, and? well, they're heading for Misty Lake."
********
"Tell me something, bitch," Rumia said. "Do you really think this is a fight you can win?" Yes, have to show confidence.
"I'm not losing to you," Cirno replied.
"Funny, that. I seem to remember you losing a previous fight."
"You can't kill me."
"Or can I?" Rumia said. "Negation. I remember negation. So what if you're a fairy now? I'll just negate your resurrection." Not that I even know if I can. I'm not sure how much of that ability remains. "So bring it on."
********
"They've started," Wriggle said. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFKVHTy9Vkc&fmt=18)
********
They'd closed to weapon range, but this wasn't just a swordfight. While their swords clashed, Cirno and Rumia used their power in the attack. Their energies swirled around them as they fought; blasts and barriers, attacks and counters.
********
"Okay," Wriggle said, "how the hell are they doing that?"
Daiyousei, of course, was frantic. "What? What? What is it? What's happening?"
"Their power seems to have increased substantially. Potentially on the same order as my own; I'll need to see more to be sure."
"Wait," Tewi said, "so does that mean there was power or something inside the coil?"
"Yes. This may explain the failure to knock them out; their new power may be somehow protecting them from my poisons."
"Man," Mystia said, "just what's going on here?"
********
Cirno rocketed backwards, unleashing a storm of energy at Rumia. Rumia went straight through it, forming an energy barrier in front of her to protect herself.
Cirno formed an illusory copy of herself. She wasn't sure how, but somehow, she knew she could to it. And indeed she could. She and the illusion split up and came at Rumia from different directions.
Rumia blocked herself from sight. She knew she could, somehow. She wasn't really sure how it worked, but she was doing it.
Cirno, as well as her illusory duplicate, came to a halt. She looked around frantically. Where'd she go? Where is she? Where-
Rumia revealed her location when she attacked. Not knowing which Cirno was real, she fired at both of them.
Cirno barely managed to dodge in time, and let loose a barrage of ice as she once again closed in. Rumia met Cirno's charge head-on, but at the last second, she dropped to the ground and slid under Cirno, firing a blast that blew the fairy into the air.
********
"Yes," Wriggle said, "I think they are about at my level. Both of them; they're evenly matched."
"Damn it," Daiyousei said, "what the hell is wrong with them? Why are they fighting?"
"Where are Kaguya and Mokou?" Tewi asked.
"About halfway there."
"And Cirno and Rumia are still going at it." Daiyousei sighed. "Damn it, how long is this going to last for?"
********
Cirno fired a blast at Rumia. Rumia formed a barrier against it, only to see it pass through both the barrier and she herself harmlessly. An illu-shit! Cirno had used the illusory blast as a distraction, forming huge numbers of ice projectiles around Rumia. Rumia extended her barrier to form a protective sphere around herself. Cirno sent the projectiles at Rumia while simultaneously firing a continuous and not at all illusory blast.
Rumia struggled to maintain the barrier. Damn it! Cirno, we promised we'd stay together! Come on, Cirno! You have to be in there somewhere! You have to-ugh! The barrier wavered briefly, but Rumia forced it back together. Damn, I can't hold this much longer. I? I have to? do something. I can't give up. You're in there somewhere, Cirno. I know you're in there somewhere. I?
I'll get you back, Cirno. I won't let her win! Rumia dropped her barrier, and at the same time, she fired an extremely strong blast into the ground behind her at an angle, propelling herself rocketing through Cirno's blast and directly into the fairy. She took hold of Cirno and piledrove the fairy into the ground.
********
"It's over," Wriggle said. "Cirno's down. Rumia won."
"Um, but that's the better outcome, right?" Tewi said. "Cirno's a fairy. She can't truly die."
Wriggle said nothing. She hadn't shared the brief pre-battle conversation with the others. They didn't know about the 'negation' ability Rumia claimed to possess. They didn't know. Only Wriggle knew, and she watched through her insects, unable to affect the events she was seeing.
********
Cirno struggled to pick herself up, but failed. I'm sorry, she thought as Rumia stood over her, holding her blade to Cirno's throat. I tried, Rumia. I was here for you. I tried to get you back, but? I'm sorry, Rumia.
"Sorry, bitch," Rumia said, "but you lose."
"Fine," Cirno said. "Just? do it, then."
"Oh? And why would I do that?"
"Huh?"
"Have you not realized it yet? Huh. And here I thought it would be obvious. Well, whatever. I'm not going to kill you, bitch, but I can do a lot to hurt you. And I will, unless you give her back."
"What?"
"Don't play dumb. Or maybe you don't really remember. Well, that body belongs to someone else. It belongs to my friend, and we made a promise that I intend to keep. So give her back!"
"Wha- tha- y- Rumia?"
Wait. "Is? Cirno?"
"Rumia?"
Rumia unformed her sword and fell to her knees. "Cirno, are you all right?"
"Is that? really? you?, Rumia?"
"Yes. I'm still here, Cirno."
"I? I thought you were? I thought the old you had?"
Wait, is she saying that- "Cirno, that was you the whole time?"
"Wait? you? are you? were? was?," Cirno managed to take a sitting position. "Rumia, was that? you? all along?"
"Oh, god. And I was ready to- Cirno, I- I- I- I- I- I- I-"
"Thought the? same thing? I did. It's? okay, Rumia. I'll? forgive you."
"Me, too," Rumia said, and the pair embraced.
********
"Well, then," Wriggle said. "I think those two have, um, settled their differences."
"Okay, hold on," Dai said. "What the heck happened, anyways?"
"More than could be seen or heard, I think." Wriggle said. "It looks like each of them thought the other was actually someone else, likely because of whatever all happened when they broke the coil. I'd guess something went on inside their heads, but we'll have to ask them about it."
"What about Kaguya?" Tewi asked.
"Still following Mokou, who's still heading towards the lake."
"I'm going," Dai said.
Tewi leapt to her feet. "Me, too."
"We'll all go," Wriggle said. She opened the door and stepped outside. Insects suddenly began landing on her, those that did not fly crawling up her legs.
"Okay," Mystia said, "um, Wriggle? What are you doing?"
"I told you," Wriggle said, "they are to serve as my attendants. They can hardly do so if they do not remain with me. Now come on, let's go."
Kaguya and Mokou peered out from behind the brush to see Cirno and Rumia lying on the ground next to each other. And?
"Um, Mokou?" Kaguya said at a whisper. "Is it my imagination, or does it look like they just? um?"
"It's not just you," Mokou whispered back. "I think they did. But? well, there are signs of combat here. I think they had a fight first."
"Well, they say the best part is making up afterwards. I'd like to see for myself, though."
"Yeah, not ready for that yet. Let's just worry about them right now."
"Fine. So what're we looking at here, anyways? Some sort of sealed-evil-in-a-can? A superpowered evil side? Was this an I-know-you're-in-there-somewhere fight?"
"Um, I have no idea what you just said."
"Oh. Yeah, of course. Um, I-"
"Later," Mokou said. "You stay here; I'm going to go talk to them."
Cirno and Rumia got to their feet as someone approached. "Who are you?" Cirno asked. Rumia, on the other hand, recognized her. "Hey, you're that lady who told me my name!"
"Ah," the woman said, "so you remember that. I am Fujiwara no Mokou."
"You're here for a reason," Rumia said. "This isn't a coincidence, is it?"
"That's correct. I'm here because I know what's been happening to the two of you. I was hoping to be watching when you two broke the coil, but that, unfortunately, didn't happen."
"Why would that be important?"
"Because there was a range of possible outcomes," Mokou explained. "Have you both figured out that you used to be different people?"
"Yeah," Cirno said. "Why, did you know us back then?"
"Not Rumia, no, but I was friends with her opponent, Nolana. Rumia, what memories do you have of your past?"
"You mean from before the coil?" Mokou nodded. "Nothing definite, but? well, it's hard to figure out specifics, but I think I was? violent. But at the same time, I think I remember instances of saving people, helping people."
"That's accurate. You were, to my understanding, a youkai of opposition. You acted as the opposite of whoever you happened to meet. If you met a violent person, you were peaceful. If you met a peaceful person, you were violent."
"Opposition? That's? kinda odd-sounding."
"What about me?" Cirno asked.
"Your situation is? different."
"Yeah, I already got that much. Who was that woman?"
"Her name was Nolana. She was Rumia's opponent. The two of them were precisely evenly matched, and any battle between them would always end in a draw. Until I became part of the equation. I couldn't help in battle-their level of power was extremely far above even mine-but I was able to do something else. Nolana had me hold together the seals she used to form the coil while she fought Rumia and placed them. But for the final one, the ninth, she had to get close enough to touch Rumia, and she could not."
"That's when other-me gave her a sword through the chest, isn't it?" Rumia said.
"Yes, although that didn't kill her. Nolana did? well, something. It looked like she took control of a fairy, but I don't know how that's possible. But she used the fairy to get close and place the last seal. Rumia took Nolana out at the last minute, just as the coil was formed."
"Which really messed things up," Rumia said. "Other-me's mind and power were damaged as the coil formed around them, and some of Nolana's mind and power got trapped within the fairy. Oh, and the fairy essentially died, becoming a different fairy entirely."
"Yeah," Cirno said. "Me."
"I've been keeping something of an eye on the two of you," Mokou said. "I'm the one who drove off that first demon that attacked you, Cirno. And when the second demon attacked and Rumia was suddenly in pain, I was able to figure out what was happening. I didn't know what would happen when the coil broke, but I found it most likely that the remnants of Nolana's and the old Rumia's minds were not significant enough for personality retention and thus your current selves would remain dominant. And it would seem that I was correct. As for what you'll gain from their power, well, I'm not as certain there, but my best guess is that you can expect a significant strengthening of your existing abilities. I don't think you'll get the same powers they had, even at a lower level, although you may be able to do certain specific things."
"Like illusions," Cirno said. "Or Rumia's disappearing trick."
"Ah, so you've already had that happen. Well, aside from things like that, I'd assume you're simply at a much higher level of power than you were before breaking the coil, although I'm not sure how much higher, or even if that'll be the actual effect."
"Um, question," Rumia said. "Why didn't you tell us any of this?"
"Would you have believed me? And if you had, would you have been willing to break the coil?"
"Um? well, certainly more reluctant."
"I wanted it broken as soon as possible, so that I could more easily be present when it was-in case things went differently than I expected, I wanted to be there to do everything I could to? contain the situation. So I let you go to Eirin."
"You didn't want us to know what it was," Rumia realized, "just that it was there. You wanted us wondering what was within the coil so that we'd have an encouragement to break it."
Mokou nodded. "Right. Although I wasn't able to be here when you broke the coil anyways, so, well, I guess it's just a good thing my expectations were correct-although I wasn't expecting the physical change in you, Cirno. Rumia's doesn't surprise me-she looks like she did before the coil was placed-but I wasn't expecting yours. I guess unsealing Nolana's power within you altered your appearance such that it's closer to what she looked like."
"Whatever," Cirno said. "Thanks for the info. Um, our friends will probably be here soon. Is there anything else you have to say?"
"Um... no. I'll leave, then. If you have any questions, come find me, and I'll do my best to answer them. And if you can't find me, tell Eirin you're looking for me; she'll make sure I'm told."
"Got it," Rumia said. "Thanks."
Kaguya, of course, had heard everything. "You wanted Nolana's mind to have survived, didn't you?" she asked as the two of them headed back to the forest.
"I? well, yes. I didn't think it would happen, but? well, Nolana was a friend, and I haven't had many of those."
"And you saw a chance that she'd survived."
"Yes," Mokou said. "Intellectually, I think I knew it wasn't true, but? well, I wanted to be wrong."
"But you weren't."
"I wasn't," Mokou said. "It's as I expected. Fragments of Nolana's mind remain, it seems, but she's still Cirno. I explained things to her and Rumia, but she's not my friend."
"She didn't seem too grateful, either."
"Those two just went through a lot. I'll cut them some slack."
"Good point." A pause. "Um, I'm heading back home. Um, what are you going to do?"
"Eh, might as well go with you. I need to talk to Eirin, anyways."
There was commotion in the village square.
As Keine drew closer to the square, she was able to make out the tengu 'reporter' Aya. Oh, that's just great. What's she going on about this time?
"What are you doing here?" Keine asked as she approached Aya.
"Keine! What did the oni do?"
"Um? excuse me?"
"The oni! What did they do?"
"Okay," Keine said, "I have no idea what you're talking about. The only oni I've seen recently is Yuugi, who was here yester-"
"Yuugi? She's the one who did it? Did she have her with her? Had she hurt her?"
"Um? what?"
"Did she do anything to her?"
"Okay," Keine said, "I think you're asking if Yuugi had someone with her, and the answer is yes."
"She does have Orphan! Not good!"
"Hold on" Keine said, "how do you know about Orphan?"
"Nol at the Hakurei Shrine told me. Clever job by the oni, I have to say. I don't know what's happened to Reimu, but they're using her as a distraction. They even had me tricked into thinking the Reimu thing was the real story. They underestimated me, though. They didn't think I'd figure out their trick."
"Right," Keine said. "And you think the oni are up to something because??"
"So glad you asked!" Aya reached into her bag and pulled out?
What the-? How did she fit a chalkboard in th- okay, dumb question in Gensokyo. There're about a million different ways that could be done. But... "Um, you keep a chalkboard in your bag?"
"Two," Aya said as she set the first one down and pulled out another, which she set down beside the first one.
"And you do this? why?"
"The truth must be revealed to all!"
Okay, that doesn't answer the question at all. Moving on. "And that truth is?"
"That the oni are going to attack."
Oooooo-kay. "And you've determined this? how?"
"Geez, you're gullible. You people really need to look harder, to ask more questions, to think."
"Yeah, there's really nobody who can, um, emulate your thought process."
"I'll spell it out for you, then."
Aya was a flurry of motion, drawing and writing things on the boards, as well placing pictures taken from her bag. When she was done, the boards were a nigh-indecipherable mess of words, drawings, and pictures. At the center of the first board was? That kind of looks like Orphan, Keine thought. "Aya, is that supposed to be Orphan?"
"Yes. That picture was taken the day she vanished. But where is she?"
"Eientei was her destination after leaving here," Keine said.
"A trick from the oni."
"Actually, Yuugi dropped Orphan off with me and left."
"Oh? Where'd she go?"
"Eientei, actually. She had a delivery to make."
"And you think it's just a coincidence that they went to the same place?"
"Um, yes."
"Well, you'd be wrong. If Orphan went there on her own, then she was tricked. Eientei's behind it. Think about it, Keine; what's Eientei been doing ever since people learned the place was there?"
"Treating the sick and injured? I really have no idea what you're getting at."
"Close, but you forgot a part of it."
"Um?"
"They're treating the sick and the injured for free."
"Right," Keine said.
"Well, think about it. How do they do that? They can't just be working for nothing. So where's the money coming from? Who's financing them?"
"Actually, I'm pretty sure they make a lot of what they need themselves."
"So? Maybe they don't have to buy much, but they have to pay the workers."
"You don't get how they run that place, do you? They don't do it like a business. The only thing they use money for is when they do need to get things from elsewhere."
"Wait, they don't use money? They don't pay for things like healthcare and food? It's just? provided? Damn, it's worse than I thought. They're going to turn Gensokyo socialist!"
"Um? what?"
"They're going to take over and take away choice! They'll make you get their healthcare, their food, their stuff. They'll take away the right to have spellcards. They'll-"
"What the hell are you going on about?"
Aya turned back to the chalkboards. "Look, look. See, Eientei's run by this woman, Kaguya. And what's she?" She drew an arrow from Kaguya to Eientei, and one to a drawing of the moon. "She's royalty. A princess from the moon. A princess who was exiled."
"She was forgiven for her crime and given a chance to return to the moon," Keine said. "She declined."
"A ruse, so that nobody would suspect her true purpose, suspect that she's still on their side. The entire exile is nothing but a ruse masking her true intent: the takeover of Gensokyo."
"What."
"You really think the Lunarians are satisfied with the moon? I've seen pictures." She pointed to an image of the lunar surface. "I know what that place looks like. Do you really think they'll just stay on the moon when there's a place like Gensokyo?"
What the hell is wrong with this woman? "Yes, Aya. Yes, I do."
"Because that's what they want you to think. They don't want anybody suspecting anything until they're ready to strike. Why do you think they were doing a military build-up? They just didn't think Earth would misinterpret their intent and attack. So without their built-up forces, they had to go to a back-up plan.
"Kaguya's original role was to provide intel on Gensokyo, but without their army, the Lunarians need her to build one up and strike from within."
This was making Keine's head hurt. "And this army is the oni?"
"Of course!" Aya drew an arrow between Kaguya and a picture of an oni. "They're stuck living in hell!" An arrow from the oni to a picture of the former hell. "They'll do anything to move back to the surface!" An arrow from the oni to a picture of the surface; specifically, the Youkai Mountain. "All Kaguya has to do is promise them a place to live up here. She probably plans to just let them go back to the mountain."
"And she somehow planned this with the oni while the underground was sealed."
"Of course not! That's why the attack hasn't happened yet! Kaguya couldn't build up the force she needs until access to the underground was reopened and the oni became available. Since then, the oni have been training an army in secret, and when they're ready, they'll attack! And now they have Orphan as a hostage!" An arrow from Kaguya to Orphan, and one from the oni to Orphan. "They can use her to force cooperation!"
There is so much wrong with that. "Aya, I don't think Kaguya's shown signs of plotting anything. She doesn't intend any harm."
"Yeah, well, the Nazis came into power because people thought the same thing about them."
"Wha-hu-what?" Keine knew about the Nazis thanks to outside-world history texts that had fallen through the border, but how did Aya- No, wait, the Moriya shrine came from the outside world just a few years ago. Either they had something about the Nazis or Aya learned it directly or indirectly from one of them. That must be it. "Um, I really don't think it's likely that Kaguya is Hitler."
"Of course she's not Hitler! She's just fooling people in the same way!"
"Right," Keine said. "You just go write your story, then. I'm going to go do something that doesn't make my head hurt."
Wriggle and the others landed in front of Rumia and Cirno. "There you are," Cirno said. "I thought you'd be here sooner. Or did you find a way to keep Dai from running off after us?"
"She tried," Wriggle said. "She didn't get very far. I kind of, well, anticipated her attempt."
"Right," Rumia said. "Wriggle, I assume you were watching. How much did you see? Do you have any questions?"
Wriggle shook her head. "No. Mokou answered all the questions I had. And I've filled the others in."
"Hold on," Cirno said, "you were watching? Um-"
"I didn't look during that part. I kept watch nearby, but I didn't look at you two until that was finished. I'm not a pervert."
"Hold on," Tewi said, "are you telling me they had-" She was cut-off mid-sentence as Cirno froze her, shattering the ice a couple seconds later. "Shutting up."
"Okay," Mystia said, "now what?"
"Let's head to Cirno's place," Dai said. "It's close."
"Well, okay," Cirno said, "but, um Wriggle?" She looked over all the insects still crawling all over Wriggle. "I don't really want so many bugs to come in."
"I can guarantee that they will not bother you," Wriggle said.
"Yeah, but, well..."
"Very well. I shall ensure that they remain outside."
"Thanks," Cirno said. "Okay, let's go."
"Ah, there you are," Eirin said as I entered her office. "Take a seat."
"I assume you have the results," I said as I sat down.
"That's correct. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much I can do for you. I'm certain that something of your memories remains, but the examination failed to produce any meaningful stimulus. This is not the first time I've seen that result, but it is quite unusual. I do, though, know what will likely stimulate what remains."
"And that is?"
"The same thing that's been stimulating them so far. Familiarity. The more familiar people, places, and situations you encounter, the more you will remember. I would recommend, then, that you continue searching for someone who knows who you are."
Disappointing, but not really unexpected. "Well, thank you for the effort."
"There is one more thing," Eirin said. "A clue not as to who you are, but as to what happened to you."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"Traces," Eirin said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "Traces of? well, okay, what I found indicates something that shouldn't be possible-although I suppose I saw some impossibilities yesterday, too. Anyways, you are, of course, familiar with Gensokyo's barrier. I can say for certain now that whatever happened involved the barrier, and not just in the sense of you passing through it, because? well?
"Orphan, there are traces of the barrier within your mind."
Yes, I did just turn Aya into Glenn Beck. It sort of... came out that way when I was writing her scene with Keine, so I decided to take it and run with it. And I'm quite please with the result; that scene was a lot of fun. Also, if I don't see Aya start making Nazi comparisons in other stories, I will be very dissapointed.
As for the main focus of the chapter, the Cirno/Rumia thing, well, I always feel like my combat scenes are... bland. I put extra effort into this one, though, and I hope it came out all right.
And yes, Kaguya is now officially a troper.
And as always, any comments are appreciated.