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Chapter 4: We're Sorry, Really
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Author's Note: Sorry about getting off schedule, I had a paper to write last weekend.
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"How do you want to do this?" asked Marisa.
"I don't." replied Reimu.
"With her here, we don't have a choice."
"I can hear you," reminded Keine.
"Straightforward, I guess."
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"Something's in the sky, coming this way."
"How many, Kanako?"
"Just three. Over that way."
"Ah, the girls must be back already. That was pretty fast. I hope that nothing went wrong."
"Like?" Kanako's tone betrayed mild panic.
"It's nothing like that," reassured her friend. "Something small, like an argument or something. It's a shame, I was hoping Sanae would make some friends. In any case, I'll go greet them."
The earth goddess headed towards the direction Kanako had indicated. Naturally cheerful, Suwako flagged down the girls. "Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, odd to see you back so soon. Wh-"
She stopped, realizing that the third girl was not Sanae at all.
"What happened?" finished Kanako, voice hard, eyes stern.
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For the time being, Sakuya decided to stay hidden. There was, of course, nothing for her to fear, but at the same time, it did not seem too terribly necessary for her to reveal herself immediately. Furthermore, even if Remilia did send her, it was not always a good thing to stick the Scarlet Devil Mansion's nose in whenever they could.
Those concerns aside, the idea of jumping in front of a pair of angry gods was not exactly Sakuya's idea of a good time.
"You what?" raged the sky goddess, storm clouds gathering.
"Goddess, we may have temporarily lost Sanae," said Reimu, formally.
"Lost how, exactly?" demanded Suwako. "Sanae is a smart girl, a grown woman, even. These are not the sorts of people you just lose." The earth rumbled, revealing the anger not quite evident in the earth goddess's words.
"Ah, that." Marisa said, laughing nervously. "Well, that is a little bit complicated. You see..."
"She was kidnapped." Keine cut Marisa off. Noting Reimu and Marisa's angry glares, she continued. "They have a right to know, as Sanae's guardians."
"Kidnapped?" shrieked Kanako. The clouds boomed, and the sky managed to somehow darken further. "Kidnapped?" she repeated, voice filled with disbelief.
"Well, let's not just put it in the worst possible interpretation," Marisa continued. "While it's true that she isn't with us, and it's true that she wasn't exactly taken willingly..."
"Oh, Sanae, Sanae!" cried Suwako. "What can we do, Kanako?"
"The best way to solve any problem..." came a new voice from above, "is to gather up as much information as possible." A large bubble floated amidst the gathered people, alighting gently on the ground next to Marisa.
The witch frowned. "You're not one of the usual meddlers," she said, and popped the bubble with the bristles of her broom. "But in any case, all help is probably welcome."
"Who are you, and what do you have to do with Sanae?" demanded Kanako.
"Who is Sanae?" asked Patchouli.
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"I am Yukari Yakumo, the youkai that lurks within the boundary."
That was what the woman had said to her. The woman didn't move, or say anything more. She merely looked down on Sanae from where she was, toothy smile glittering underneath the shade of her parasol.
What is the World Within the Border?
Sanae mulled this question over. She had received a sort of answer from the mysterious woman, but still didn't quite understand everything. Were there better questions to ask?
"Where am I?"
"The World Within the Border," replied the woman, looking disappointed in Sanae.
"What is this place?"
"The World Within the Border is exactly what it sounds like," repeated the woman, still disappointed.
Sanae frowned. She wasn't getting anywhere. The immaterial voices kept laughing at her. Every once in a while, one voiced a comprehensible taunt.
"Kyahaha," cackled one. "Stupid girl, why would asking the same thing change anything?"
"Stuck here with us forever, then," said another, laughing maniacally.
"Keep asking questions..." said a third, quietly.
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Sakuya grimaced. It wasn't her place to judge Patchouli's actions, but she felt that just jumping into situations like this wasn't proper. She fingered her knives, ready to act if necessary.
"In any case, what I said earlier still stands. The first step towards solving a problem is to gather up all the relevant information. If that is not possible, then gather up as much information as possible, taking into account the missing information."
"Before that, we should make introductions," Reimu said. Patchouli Knowledge, this is Kanako Yasaka, the sky goddess of the Moriya shrine. The one over there next to her is Suwako Moriya, the former earth goddess of the Moriya shrine."
"Oh, a shrine with gods. How interesting."
Ignoring the jab, Reimu continued. "And the charming lady over there is Keine Kamishirasawa, the schoolteacher and protector of the Human village."
"I had guessed as much."
"And this," Reimu said, gesturing to Patchouli and addressing the other three, "is Patchouli Knowledge, the know-it-all shut-in librarian of the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," said Patchouli, allowing herself a slight smile at Reimu's expense. Marisa returned the smile, although none of the others did. "Now, as I was saying before, if you want to solve a problem, you should know as much about the problem as possible. What, then, is the problem?"
Fuming, Suwako yelled at her. "Sanae has been kidnapped! Our shrine maiden is missing!"
"Well, that is a fairly interesting problem. Please calm down, it is easiest to misjudge things when stressed."
"It's only natural that we're stressed!" boomed the thunderclouds.
"Impressive trick," said Patchouli. "But I am not someone you need to intimidate. For now, all I need is details. Rather, all we need is details. Sayuri has been kidnapped."
"Sanae!" shrieked the sky god.
"Sanae has been kidnapped. What is the story?"
Marisa coughed, and stepped forward. "Well, Reimu and I wanted to take Sanae out and show her the sights of Gensokyo, you know? She and the goddesses here just arrived a few months ago, and Reimu and I were hoping to let her get to know the place better."
"Pretty honorable notions. Suspicious."
Brushing the comment aside, Marisa continued. "It was all going well, at least until we got to the Human Village. We dropped her off and went to fetch Miss Kamishirasawa."
"Hold it right there," interrupted Patchouli. "Miss Kamishirasawa, can you continue the story from here? Of the three, you are the most reliable witness, at least if stories about you are to be believed."
Keine nodded. "It's good to be trusted like that. Essentially, what happened is very simple. Sanae visited the Human Village. Yukari Yakumo's familiars, masquerading as a pair of lost children, snuck up on us. They opened a gap into Yakumo's domain, and Ran Yakumo, disguised as an old man, escaped into the gap with Sanae. None of us were fast enough to catch her before the gap closed."
"Yakumo!" Kanako roared. "That woman has been nothing but trouble for us since we got here!"
Patchouli shrugged. "Well then. Sanae is probably still in Yukari Yakumo's domain. At the very least, we can make that assumption."
"Where is she?" demanded Suwako.
"I do not know. However, were I to guess, she would probably be at House Yakumo."
"Where is that?"
"Over in that direction." Patchouli pointed.
The sky crackled with lightning, and Kanako was gone. The earth rumbled violently, and Suwako was gone.
"How do you know where it is?" asked Marisa.
"Sakuya told me," responded Patchouli. Sighing, she continued. "I disagree with these brash actions. I think that they are more likely to lock us away from the girl than they are to get us to her, and if we come off as too angry, we will be forced to try to break into the World Within the Border instead of finding a more diplomatic way in."
"I agree," said Reimu. "but they're leaving us behind. That's not good either, so let's hurry up and catch them."
"You can ride with me, Patchy," said Marisa, waving her broom.
"Reimu," continued Patchy, carefully seating herself on Marisa's broom, "You worked with Yukari during the Imperishable Night incident, correct? Please tell me everything you've learned about her border abilities."
As the four women flew off after the pair of goddesses, Sakuya sighed. Making sure to maintain her distance, she followed them.
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"What... is the purpose of this place?" asked Sanae.
Yukari Yakumo smiled at her and turned away.
"Gensokyo is a land that is cut off from the modern world, your world, by the Great Hakurei Border."
She turned and looked over her shoulder at Sanae. The ground squirmed beneath her. Sanae let out a yelp and got to her feet. She decided to follow the woman with the parasol.
"Gensokyo is the fantasy village. It is, like many other mythic lands, filled with things that no longer exist in the outside world, things that have passed into fantasy."
"That means to pass into Gensokyo, they have to pass through the Great Hakurei Border..."
Yukari turned and smiled once more. "Yes."
"They have to pass through the World Within the Border."
"Do you remember what it was like when you and your gods passed into Gensokyo?"
Sanae mulled over the question. "Not... not especially. It was loud, and confusing, but I can't recall any details."
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Ran breathed a sigh of relief. Sanae had managed to stumble forward a little bit thanks to her suggestion. As the strongest of Yukari Yakumo's shikigami, as the one who had earned the name Yakumo, Ran was entitled to a fair number of liberties in the World Within the Border. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not her mistress would have appreciated her gesture, but she felt that it was necessary.
With that task finished, Ran turned to another that demanded her attention.
Lady Yukari has forbidden me from leaving the World Within the Border, but I can still observe from here...
The chaos in front of Ran shimmered brightly, and after a few seconds, coalesced into a clear view of the Yakumo household. Chen was outside, sweeping the balcony and taking care of the household in general. Everything looked fine to Ran, but she'd had an ominous feeling just a little bit ago, and years of experience had told her to trust her gut.
As if on cue, the skies around House Yakumo darkened suddenly. A crack of lightning arced across the sky, and booming thunder reverberated through Ran's body.
"HOUSE YAKUMO!" boomed the heavens. The clouds began to twist, and lightning sparked violently. The angry visage of Kanako Yasaka could be seen in the sky. "I DEMAND AN ANSWER!"
A bolt of lightning raced to the ground, landing a few meters away from Chen. The ground where the bolt struck began to warp, thrusting upwards with a horrifying sound. The unnatural rock formation grew more so as a face appeared on it. "WE DEMAND AN ANSWER!" roared the earth.
Chen looked up at the divine visages, dropping her broom.
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Patchouli, Reimu, Marisa, and Keine caught up. "This... this actually might be good," said Marisa.
"Explain," said Reimu, frowning. She'd been somewhat exhausted by the effort of explaining things to Patchouli, and didn't understand where Marisa was coming from.
"Okay, so the initial drawback is that the two angry goddesses over there, righteous as they may be, come off as too threatening, right? So Yukari straight up just seals everything and we're out in the cold with no easy way in, yeah?"
"We've already been over that. That is exactly the problem," said Keine, frowning. "What are you getting at?"
"This is our easy way in, then. The goddesses go in and scare up something big, which they're doing pretty well. Chen gets scared and tries to escape to Yukari's domain. We'll just hop on in when that happens. Easy as getting into Patchy's library."
"I don't think it will be that easy, for either situation." Patchouli frowned. "The last time that Yukari had a border open in front of you, none of you were able to get in."
"In Marisa's defense," said Reimu, "I think it's actually fairly plausible. Last time I wasn't too far behind, and we were taken by surprise. This time, we'll be waiting."
"If worse comes to worse," said a new, but familiar voice, "I can get in. There isn't anything in Gensokyo that's too fast for me."
Appearing in a flutter of playing cards, Sakuya smiled. Everyone here knew how she did it, but appearances had to be kept. "I don't know exactly why you're trying to get into Yukari Yakumo's world, but if you need me, Lady Patchouli, I am here to serve."
"So, Remi sent you too, then... I don't like the idea of sending you in there alone, as strong as you are, Sakuya. Still, if Remi's fate ability demanded that you be here, then it may very well be a necessity."
The maid didn't say anything to betray her feelings on the matter.
Keine frowned. "A mere human? Facing the youkai sage alone? Are you really sure about this, Miss Sakuya?"
"I'm no mere human, I assure you of that much," replied Sakuya, curtsying politely.
"I can vouch for that," said Marisa.
"Me too, although I don't think she should go in there alone," said Reimu.
"Hmm." Patchy thought about the situation for a little while. "The situation presents us a respectable opportunity, and one that we should not let pass. While hasty decisions are rarely optimal, we should prepare ourselves for rare ones such as this. When Chen panics and escapes to the World Within the Border, everyone be ready to leap into the gap. There will likely be very little time to get in there, and to be perfectly honest, the likeliest possibility is that not all of us get in."
She paused, and looked around at the other four would-be heroes. "You have all done, at some point in time, some form of combat with Yukari Yakumo. You know how strong she is. If you do not think you can defeat her by yourself, then try to bide your time in the World Within the Border. Those of us who do not make it will try our hardest to get in some other way, and we can rendezvous if the opportunity presents itself."
Keine cleared her throat. "I'd like to point out one thing. We do not necessarily have to fight Yukari Yakumo. It's possible that we could simply convince her to release Sanae."
"That is indeed a possibility. Do not take any unnecessary risks." Turning to Sakuya, Patchouli continued. "Sakuya, you will probably be alone in there. You are strong, and confident, but you do not know the situation fully yet. Let us go over exactly what it is we need to do."
"Actually, I've been eavesdropping on you for a while. I understand the situation," corrected Sakuya.
"Nothing left to do then," said Reimu, edging closer to House Yakumo. A roar of thunder and a rumbling earthquake pierced the uneasy silence. "Now to wait Chen out."
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Remilia put down her cup, sighing contentedly. Her sister was busy relaxing somewhere in the mansion, probably playing with the door guard.
"I suppose I should be leaving soon," she said, looking at the setting sun.
The Scarlet Devil stepped out and spread her wings.
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Author's Note: I feel we may have a little bit of a "too many chefs" thing going on, or at least a "too many heroines" thing, if only for this part, which makes some bits feel awkward and unnatural. Regardless, I'm more interested in what you think about it. More information, more reviews, can only improve things.
Hmm. Guess who my favorite character is.
Aside: I wonder how Mokou's doing...
