[Re-write]Touhou Dark War

[Forte Blackadder]

Oh hai, I'm back. (^w^)
Well I was trying to write this story as a fiction, not rely on my dreams anymore (since Kaguya stopped visiting). Therefore, the new story won't be in first-person-viewpoint. And I'll try to make less dialogue. (*A*)y-~
This one is very different from the previous Touhou Dark War (I deleted it), as the UFO cast and Hatate will be joining. Aside from the original plot

Spoiler:

(Gensokyo is dying, so they have to kill each others)

everything may change, every battle, encounter,....

Spoiler:

but the deaths are unavoidable.

|(`o')/
Since exam is coming I can't say it will be updated regularly... but I can guarantee it won't be dropped. ( =.=')
Ok here I go...

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// Chapter 1: The last day of peace
//-----------------------------------------------------------

The girl spreads her wings and glides beautifully through the sky. It is at mid-noon, but she doesn't show any sign of tiredness while flying directly below the sun. Maybe she's already used to this kind of work, or maybe it's herself who is famous for doing news delivery. Aya Syameimaru , the proud tengu reporter, is flying on the sky of Gensokyo again today. Her destination is none but the middle of the Bamboo Forest of Lost, the House of Eternity. Aya is delivering a letter for the hostess, princess Kaguya Houraisan, but since it's not so urgent, she spends some time hovering around, chatting with some friendly youkai.

Anyway, Aya sets foot on the front yard of Eientei, and greeted by the rabbits that are hopping aimlessly. One of them hops back to the house after hearing her purpose of coming here. In a short while, a beautiful girl comes out and formally greets Aya, guiding her in. The girl is the only moon-rabbit in Gensokyo, also the disciple of the master of the house, Reisen Udongein Inaba. Aya doesn't think that is her real name as "Inaba" is the last name of every other rabbit, however, since she looks happy with it Aya will not dig into that.

"Good day, miss Syameimaru, what good news do you bring us this time?"

A sweet voice from a middle-aged-looking lady. She is the master of Reisen, the sage of the Moon whose wisdom is far beyond anyone in Gensokyo, Eirin Yagokoro.

"Good day, miss Yagokoro. I'm indeed delivering some news, but I can't say it's good or bad."

Aya then hands over the letter. This letter was written by Yukari Yakumo, the sage of Gensokyo. The content is nothing special: It was an invitation to the top of the Youkai Mountain. Eientei is the last house received it. The other households, such as the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the Hakurei Shrine, the Moriya Shrine, the Mugenkan, the Myouren Temple and the Chireiden had accepted the invitation earlier.

"Hm, another prank from the lazy sage, I see. Well, since it's good for the princess to go out once in a while, I will accept this invitation as the master of Eientei. Let's see what game she will play this time, shall we? Speaking about the princess, she wanted to see you, Syameimaru."

"Oh really? Then I'll go to her room now, shouldn't let Kaguya-hime-sama wait, hahaha."

The hostess of Eientei, also the (former) princess of the Moon, Kaguya Houraisan was making a mess when she first arrived at Gensokyo. That incident was called "Imperishable Night" as Eientei hid the Moon away. The incident was solved by Reimu Hakurei herself, along with the Yakumo household, the Scarlet Devil master and the Saigyouji mistress. It was a huge scoop since many Elite-tier people was involved, and also told Gensokyo residents that these newcomers are not to be underestimated.

Surprisingly enough, after that night, Aya tried to talk with the Eientei people, especially the princess. Kaguya was not hard to approach at all, she even started the conversation first. They quickly befriended, Kaguya even called Aya by her first name, while Aya calling her "Kaguya-hime". The princess enjoyed talking about her treasure and things happened on the Moon, while the tengu loved talking about her newspaper and what was going on in Gensokyo. With that alone, they found each others very interesting and began to get closer. As present, Aya and Kaguya would be not only chatting, but also floating around on the sky, playing detective around the forest. Of course, without Eirin's permission.

Today is the same, Kaguya sits on the opened-corridor as if she was waiting for Aya. Her long, smooth black hair is lightly waved by the wind, and her deep, dark eyes mindlessly gaze at the pond in the yard. The tengu quietly draws near her, pats her on the shoulder. "It's a nice day, isn't it? Kaguya-hime." she smiles. The princess lazily looks at her friend, smiling back. "Yes, it is very warm."

They spend the day talking about random trivial things, like how the clouds look like masses of little drops of water or frozen crystals, suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body, or how an idiotic fairy tried to kidnap a vampire kid who turned out to be a destructive monster that destroyed half of the Misty Lake in five seconds. The topic slowly goes into the invitation from Yukari Yakumo, which is stated "just another stupid game" by Kaguya.

When the sun spreads its deep red lights over Gensokyo, Aya parts with her princess and flies back to her home. She didn't tell Kaguya that Fujiwara no Mokou, the immortal human lurking in the Bamboo Forest was also invited. Why, because Kaguya and Mokou are enemies, they kill each others every time they meet, however, as being immortal, that kind of activity is the only way for them to feel alive, and Kaguya herself enjoyed talking about Mokou all the time, despite how they curse each others when they meet. Aya doesn't really like that, so she kept it hidden from Kaguya, maybe because she's jealous? Who knows, but Kaguya was indeed the first friend she has, who actually listened to her and shared her good times. Aya very appreciated that, and she doesn't want her friend to be taken away.

The tengu soon returns to her village and gets greeted by none but Yukari herself. Of course, the invitation stated they will meet on the top of Youkai Mountain, where the Tengu Village is. Unlike Kaguya, Yukari doesn't seem to be friendly with Aya, and the tengu doesn't very fond of her either. No, to be exact, there is something of Yukari that Aya is quite afraid. She is just a lazy gap youkai, whom people don't see frequently and very untalkative. However, whenever she speaks, everyone listens, no matter if you like it or not. Yukari Yakumo is, in Aya's viewpoint, even more than that of a noble, she is powerful, she is beautiful, and she is scary. Even though Yukari is that masterful, she still doesn't act like any queen or some sort, she simply rests in her house and sometimes hold a big game for Gensokyo residents. They were all quite... unique, like cooking without kitchen tools, or playing rock-scissor-paper with hammers, swords and panties. Anyhow, Aya still has respect for the sage, and she invites Yukari to her house, having dinner and a short talk about what the next game will be.

Regards that, Yukari just smiles mysteriously.

[Netwarrior]

A good writing style indeed.

I'm eager for the next chapters.

[Forte Blackadder]

Thank you ^^

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// Chapter 2: The worst incident
//-----------------------------------------------------------

The Moon already showed its face on the sky, shining brightly down the surface of Gensokyo. Aya and Yukari then go to the rendezvous, the planned time has yet to come, but as the host she should be there early. When was at Aya's house, Yukari told the tengu to follow her and "spread the news" afterward. The tengu reporter of course agreed, since she'd do that even if Yukari didn't tell her to. Soon after they reach the top, the shadows start to appear, with noises.

"I can't believe even you got invited, Mokou."

The commotion is by Kaguya Houraisan and her rival, Fujiwara no Mokou. It seems they met and walked together from the Bamboo Forest, as there are bruises all over the silver hair girl, on the other hand, the princess is sparklingly clean.

"Damn coward, why don't you fight me yourself, do you hate losing to me that much?" Mokou bitterly curses, she glares at Kaguya with fierce eyes, but doesn't try to hit her. Maybe it's because of the princess' companion, Eirin Yagokoro, whose eyes follow every action of Mokou.

Actually, those three started off at roughly the same time, then met each others outside the forest. Of course, Mokou instantly tried to give Kaguya a punch, which was like a friendly greeting between them. However, since this is the first time Kaguya goes out of Eientei to meet others (for months), Eirin would not want her princess to look ragged. Mokou was a strong one alright, but she was still no match for the sage of the Moon. When the punch lunged close, Eirin thrust her side-palm to Mokou's wrist, pushing her punch away, and quickly bashed Mokou's face. It was lightning fast, Mokou was pushed back a considerable distance.

"What was that for?" she yells. For years since the Lunarians came to Gensokyo, Mokou has been fought with Kaguya and Kaguya alone, she never sparred with Eirin thus the sage's combat level is a mystery to Mokou. Not to mention, aside fights with Kaguya, every other battles in Gensokyo must be danmaku plays, which have been supervised by Yukari Yakumo and Reimu Hakurei to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. So again, Eirin Yagokoro was never considered a fighter. However, she just landed a perfect hit on Mokou's face right after pushing away her punch, with only one arm.

"My apologies, tonight Kaguya-sama will not be fighting you. Let us peacefully go meet everyone together, okay?" Eirin smiled.

Certainly, Mokou only wanted to 'greet' Kaguya, she'd peacefully go with them afterward anyway. But who would, after getting hit by her enemy's servant? Mokou stood up and grin, then rushed to Kaguya again. But, before she could even blink, Eirin was right in front of her. "How childish." she sighed, putting her hand on Mokou's left shoulder, and her other and on Mokou's right elbow, then suddenly pulled both place to the other sides. Mokou's shoulders instantly got dislocated.

"Eirin, that was uncalled for." Kaguya drew near the kneeling Mokou "I'll play with you tomorrow, alright? We have a meeting to attend..." Before she could finish, Mokou jumped and threw a heavy kick at Eirin. But again, without any hassle the sage held her leg and flung Mokou to the ground, face down, then tightly grabbed her ankle's tendon. In this position, just a twist can disable Mokou from walking forever. With her shoulders' already useless, the girl of Phoenix could not do a thing. For the first time, she felt scared of Eirin Yagokoro.

Kaguya stopped Eirin and had her fix Mokou's body up, then stood between the two while they were walking. Mokou was cursing them all the way, but Kaguya was already used to it. To be honest, if she didn't hear Mokou's curses for a day she'd feel like something is missing. About Eirin, as long as there was no fight, she's cool.

Mokou's kept flaming Kaguya in front of Yukari and Aya for a while, even after the goddesses of Moriya shrine, Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, showed up. They were newcomers to Gensokyo, newer than the Lunarians, but with their power they conquered a vast area around Youkai Mountain, gathering faith from even youkai and successfully had a certain influence to Gensokyo. Unlike Suwako who just loves to wandering around, playing with everyone she meets, Kanako is more of a mastermind who usually be seen together with the other Elite, like Yukari for example.

"Tonight's moon is beautiful, is it not?" Yukari's voice sonorously spreads, as if it tries to reach the Hakurei miko and the Shinso of the Scarlet Devil Mansion as they coming up from downhill. Just a single sentence but everyone can see how vast her internal force is, what a show off.

"It is amazing, Yakumo-san. You truly are powerful!" A sweet, childish voice. Everyone's eyes immediately gaze at the owner, who is sitting joyfully on a rock. She looks so obvious, but none realize since when she has been there.

"Oh, you are the younger sister of the Chireiden's master... Forgive my cloudy head, Koishi Komeiji, isn't it?"

The girl laughs lively, she has an eye-shaped blue decoration on her chest, which confirms her origin quite well. Koishi isn't a strong individual, but her ability to "hide" is somewhat fearful, like earlier, she was sitting right there yet none could realize it. What if she was an assassin? Or a spy? Just thinking about it gives Yukari a chill down the spine. "My sister doesn't like crowded places, so she told me to come instead." She says. The gap youkai then takes a look around, everyone she needed has already gathered here, even the stubborn princesses like Kaguya and Remilia, though, she guesses it all thanks to Eirin and Reimu's effort.

"Thank you for coming here tonight, I know it's hard to get out of your warm beds, part your soft pillows and leave behind your cute pets to go to the top of the highest mountain, in such a cold, boring night. And I can assure you, we are not here for Moon-seeing." she carries on. "Straight to the point, as everyone is here..."

"Wait!"

The one stopped her was Aya. "Uhm, sorry, but I think we're missing some people." She scratches her head, this morning, Yukari gave her the invitations to spread, and from all the places, the hostess of Myouren Temple, Byakuren Hijiri, and the master of Mugenkan, Yuuka Kazami, aren't here.

"Don't worry, it was an unexpected situation, and I already knew about it." Yukari pats Aya's shoulder. "And it is also a part of what I want to tell you today, everyone. As you already acknowledged, our Gensokyo had reached its peak of peace and boredom started to spread." the people unconsciously gaze their eyes down the mountain, below there is their loved Gensokyo, at night, it looks bleak, like the most natural place of the world where human never set foot in. "We are not normal human, we are powerful beings that live for thousands years and forth. But! Should we keep living like this forever? The life of nothing but sleeping, eating and floating around?" Yukari exclaims. Her words tear the air apart, piercing into the hearts of people being here. The life in Gensokyo, it is truly some kind of heaven, nothing to worry about, except some danmaku plays which were getting boring lately. For human, this is their paradise, but for such being like youkai, goddess and immortality, this is the worst torture.

"I was trying to make some kind of event, however, something hideous occurred so I had to reverse the plan. Everyone, please keep your cool now, the hostess of Myouren Temple, Byakuren Hijiri, was murdered."

A shock. The Myouren Temple was the newest group in Gensokyo, they originally resided in Makai, however, after an incident long time ago, they came back on the surface and got accepted. Their leader, Byakuren Hijiri, was a great person who vowed to bring peace to both humankind and youkai. She helped everyone when they were in need and didn't ask anything back. The Myouren Temple since then had gotten a very good reputation in Gensokyo, it's almost impossible for anyone to harm them, let alone killing their leader.

"Byakuren's subordinates were put into a coma. It seemed they were hit hard, and fast enough for them to not fight back. If my investigation was right, the murderer went straight into Byakuren after took out her followers."

A commotion starts raising, people whisper to each others about the story. Byakuren's subordinates weren't just anyone, they are strong on both danmaku and real combat, the one who could do this isn't any common person. Not to mention Byakuren herself was also in Elite-tier, even right here, people who could fight against her are counted on the fingers of one hand. Kanako Yasaka, the goddess of Moriya shrine, stands up and walks towards Yukari. "And you want us to find the culprit? Are you planning to use Byakuren's death for your game?" she asks.

"I indeed am, but don't misunderstand, I really respect miss Hijiri. This is only killing two birds with one stone, don't you agree?"

Kanako glares at Yukari, even as a goddess, she can't figure what this youkai has on her mind. With Yukari's ability, isn't it easy for her to discover the murderer right away? Yet, she keeps it hidden and made the whole case her toy. And things don't stop at that, to kill someone like Byakuren, it had to be someone in Yukari's level. Although she must be very powerful, but if everyone here is to hunt her down, she will definitely end up punished, so Yukari will lose another rival. This is not killing two birds with one stone, but three, or even more.

"Stop glaring at me like that, Kanako-sama, I'm not planning anything bad. Byakuren was my friend, too, of course I want to avenge her." those words spoken out, there are many nods from the crowd. Koishi Komeiji is still sitting on the rock, smiling innocently, she probably doesn't know Byakuren anyway. The vampire princess Remilia, who controls fate, somehow looks deep in thought. "Gensokyo will face a big change." she suddenly talks. "Even I can't predict it, however, I would love to stay away from this."

"That is your decision, Remi-chan." Yukari giggles, clearly seeing Remilia as a coward. "Are you afraid of the murderer this much? I don't blame you, though." Everyone looks at Remilia, she only gives back a bitter smile. "Say what you want, Yukari. I know I'm not her match, Reimu, let's go home." she tries to drag the Hakurei shrine maiden away, but gets rejected.

"What is the meaning of this? My job here is solving incident. Now, someone got killed, and you're telling me to go home?" Reimu looks angry.

"Don't be silly, this is not danmaku, you will get killed too!" Remilia yells at her friend. "Just leave it to Yukari and Kanako, we can't do anything."

"Even so!" Reimu shouts. "We can still catch her!"

"You want to catch Yuuka Kazami? What a joke." Remilia sneers. Another shock spreads within the group. Yuuka Kazami was called the strongest creature in Gensokyo, who can only be stopped by Yukari herself. However, she spends most of her time taking care of the flowers, how could she do things such as killing Byakuren? No matter how they look at it, it's just nonsensical.

"I already said,  we youkai can't stand this boredom anymore." Yukari sadly speaks, pulling people out of confusion. "Yuuka has snapped, or Byakuren did something bad to her, I don't know. But from my investigation, it is most likely Yuuka that defeated everyone in Myouren Temple, and killed Byakuren with her own hands. Thanks to Remilia here, now I can confirm it." she lets out a deep sigh. "I don't want to force you guys, help me or not is your choice. As a guardian of Gensokyo, I won't tolerate such a sin, even if it's committed by the strongest monster." Her last words somehow contain sadness. Everyone know Yukari always boast about her power, after single-handedly defeated the Celestial Elder Daughter, Tenshi Hinanai, she was recognized as the strongest of all Gensokyo. However, there was a rumor about her battle with Yuuka Kazami in the Garden of the Sun, which resulted in her humiliating defeat. Of course, the majority didn't believe in such gossip, but now they hear it directly from Yukari, the so-called Elite can't help but shiver

"I will help." in surprise of everyone, the Moon princess, Kaguya Houraisan, offer her hand. "Strongest or not, I don't care. Let's see if she can kill me before I tie her up." The unstoppable force against the immortality, why none thought about this? Or except Yukari, she called the Lunarians here, after all.

"As expected from a princess, your words are noble." Yukari slightly bows. "However, right now I don't know Yuuka's whereabouts, so it's very hard to find her, and if you all want to help, please don't do things recklessly, especially do not spread the news, it will only be bad for the weak youkai. Yuuka Kazami is a dangerous being, so contact anyone in Elite-tier you know." she glances at Remilia and Reimu, those two have a certain relationship with other people that you would call "monster". Remilia's younger sister, Flandre Scarlet and Reimu's freeloader, Suika Ibuki. If it's those two, the chance to defeat Yuuka is considerable.

"It can't be helped, Remilia, will you join us?" the goddess Suwako gives out her hand. The vampire hesitates a bit, takes a look at Reimu and then takes Suwako's hand. "This won't be good..." she sighs "I don't want to say this, but my power is being disturbed somehow, I can't control fate like before, that's the reason I don't want to mess around at the moment."

"Then it's even more of a reason for you to join." says Eirin, who kept silent the whole time. "I have been sensing a great disturbance in the force lately, and when I took a look at the history of Gensokyo, guess what laid there?" none says a word, but Reimu startles, as if she just recalls something very important. "It happened before, a great magic power from a monster leaked out and drove the youkai insane. And I believe miss Hakurei here can tell us who it was."

"Yuuka...Kazami... from Mugenkan." Reimu murmurs, but everyone attend on top of Youkai Mountain at the moment can hear it very clearly.
 

[Forte Blackadder]

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// Chapter 3: Gensokyo's strongest
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Myouren Temple, a Buddhistic shrine near the Human Village. It was a popular place for both human and youkai to visit, praying to calm their hearts. The incident happened just yesterday, but made a big fuss around. Anyhow, Byakuren Hijiri was recognized as one of the people with good intention in Gensokyo. Now, without any issue, she got killed by the most powerful creature. Why everyone knows that? Inside the temple, the main room which is used for praying, the Buddha statues are shattering every where, the blood remain to tell how terrible the murder was. And on the wall, where the body of Byakuren Hijiri laid on, there are words that was written by blood.

I did it.

The blood turned out to be Byakuren's. However, Yuuka's blood can not be found. The crime scene looks so obvious, yet pours suspiciousness into the investigators. They are Reimu Hakurei, Aya Syameimaru, and Eirin Yagokoro. The tengu and the miko didn't encounter any murder in Gensokyo, so they're just standing blankly in the middle of the room. On the other hand, the Lunar's sage is walking back and forth, checking every corner of the room, taking sample of every bloodstain. Soon, she confirm that there is no trace of the murder, Yuuka Kazami, as if she cleaned up everything before she left the scene. However, why would she do that? Leaving a message on the wall and wipe out all identical traces of hers, or she wanted people to see how strong she is, killing Byakuren Hijiri without dropping even a sweat?

"That is impossible." Eirin concludes. She was the one examined Byakuren's corpse, and found out her power. "Byakuren Hijiri is a great magician, with high combat skill. There is no way Yuuka can murder her so easily." She looks at the wall. "And this message can't confirm anything, unless we have Yuuka's handwriting to compare."

"I see, then we will try to find something." Reimu says, turns around and quickly step outside. Aya also goes with her, since she doesn't like being here any longer. "What's your plan?" Aya asks. Reimu then points at the north. "We'll go to Yuuka's house."

"What?" Aya startles.

"It's simple, if she is not home, so we can suspect that she killed Byakuren and find her handwriting somewhere. If she is home, we can directly talk to her. We both are good at dodging, so either way we can finish this early." Aya spots that Reimu used 'dodging' instead of 'running', the miko is the champion of danmaku, so it's natural to say it's hardest to hit her. Aya herself is very confident in her speed, of course if anything happens she can always make an exit. Knowing those, the tengu slightly nods and takes off alongside Reimu.

This is their first time taking part in a murder investigation, on top of that, it involved two greatest persons in Gensokyo. Even though they don't say anything, but still feel so nervous that they wish they will just fly forever. However, after going through the Bloody Lake, they finally set foot on the mansion of Yuuka Kazami, Mugenkan. This mansion was half-destroyed by Yuuka herself long time ago, but it's still bigger than most of the place in Gensokyo mainland. The magical power is so great that makes Aya feel nauseous.

"Who are you?" A tall, blond woman comes to greet them, it is Elly, the mansion's gatekeeper.

"Long time no see there, we want to meet Yuuka Kazami." Reimu steps up. She and Marisa had come to Mugenkan once, long time ago. At that time, thanks to the danmaku rules they both defeated Yuuka to stop her leaking power, though it was still a hard fight. Elly didn't recognize Reimu at first, since it has been a long time. But now she realized her voice, Elly immidiately goes to fighting stance. "Oy oy, we are here to talk, no violence." Reimu waves both of her hands, showing sign of detente.

"Yuuka-san is not here, and even if she is, she won't be talking to you, go home." Elly exclaims.

"Why? Because she killed the monk and doesn't want to -" Before Reimu can finish, the scythe in Elly's hands disappears and slashes down right in front of her. If Aya didn't react so fast and pull she back, the miko wouldn't be standing there playing detective anymore.

"Yuuka-san didn't kill anyone, and she isn't here. Go home." Elly repeats, steadily.

"How can we believe that when you are so hostile? Listen, we are not sure about anything yet. Therefore we came here to talk. If you know Yuuka's innocent, cooperate with us." Reimu speaks as quick as she could. "The whole Gensokyo is chasing you master now, so resisting won't do you any good." She concludes. The slash just now was really fast, Reimu couldn't see it. She maybe confident about her reflex, but she can't dodge something she doesn't even sense. Aya can stand back against Elly, but who can assure one won't die? It's best to sit down and settle everything with speech and a goddamn tea.

Elly thinks about Reimu's talk and slowly lowers her scythe. "Very well, I'll tell you." she turns around and opens the door, while Reimu and Aya let out a deep breath. "Yuuka-san had left this morning. She was always wandering around so I didn't find anything strange." Elly leads Reimu and Aya to a room upstairs, judging by the door, one can say this must be the most fancy room in the whole mansion. "This is Yuuka-san's bedroom." she says.

The room is decorated with thousands of flowers, or to be exact, the curtain and the bed's sheet are. The walls are painted artisticly like a vast flower field, peacefully sleeping in a nightfall. The ceiling is painted with a small moon, partly hides behind a cloud. The windows are put beautifully where they painted a giant oak, so it looks like some kind of tree house on there. Apart from the bed which is carved marvelously into a huge violet, there seems to be nothing else in the the field... or the room. "W..wow... This is the most... awesome bedroom I've ever seen." Aya is impressed greatly.

"Yuuka-san doesn't use real flowers inside the house, as it's not healthy for them, and she only used the room for sleeps. I'd love to help more but unfortunately, the only thing belongs to Yuuka-san, her diary, is missing."

"Wait a sec, you say she has a diary?" Reimu turns at Elly. "If we read it, everything can be clearer!" Not to mention they can have her handwriting too, Reimu thinks. But Elly just shakes her head in pity. Yuuka has suddenly started to write diary three months ago, however, this morning she said it's lost. It can be guessed that Yuuka went out to find her diary, since she spent most of the time outdoors, keeping it with her. "She went out to find the diary? She must wrote something she doesn't want people to see then." Aya suspects.

"None would want people to look at their diary, tengu." Elly sneers. "Anyhow, Yuuka-san didn't have any reason to kill the monk, did she? I don't care about what you people think,,just go home and find the diary if you want."

"Why does she try to kick us out so badly?" Reimu whispers to Aya while they're going to the front door. "Maybe this chick's hiding something, can you sneak around and monitor her?" Aya slightly nods, she is also feeling something strange about Elly, first, she really tried to kill Reimu right off the bat. Second, she randomly mentioned the diary, which is 'missing somewhere'. Third, she suggested them to find the diary. Why her talks contradicted with each others so much? It almost sounds like she only wanted to lure them as far from Mugenkan as possible.

After escorting the investigators out, Elly quickly goes back in and closes the door. Mugenkan, like every other places, is protected by a magical barrier, it's very difficult to sneak in, so they can only spy Elly from outside. High speed, good eyesight, whoever but Aya Syameimaru can do this task? She pretends to fly away with Reimu, but then turns back and hides on a tree, keeps track of every movement inside Mugenkan.

It's quite long, after Reimu's shadow disappears on the horizon for hours, Elly steps out and calls someone. A girl slowly floats to her from the sidewall. Look at it closer, it is a vampire. However, she isn't one of the Scarlet sisters, her hair is blond, and long. Her wings are that of a bat and she a little taller than both Remilia or Flandre. Aya can't hear anything they say from this far, but she can't risk drawing near. The vampire then takes out a book and gives it to Elly. Aya suddenly realizes, this is the 'missing' diary of Yuuka Kazami. Elly told them all those shit so they will go around Gensokyo to find the book that actually still in Mugenkan. "Damn sly gatekeeper, if Reimu didn't suspect you we would already waste our time searching that book."

Elly read the diary then says something to the vampire, and she makes a fire. Aya understand right away, they want to get rid of it, the book surely contains information that's bad for Yuuka. "It's now or never!" Aya spreads her wings and launches at those two. Her title of "the fastest" isn't just for show, in one glide, Aya already draws near Elly and snatch the diary. It happened in a flash, but Elly instantly notice it and throws her scythe.

This scythe has a strange shape, the handle is very curvy that make it almost looks like a circle, but thanks to that design, the scythe is deadly when it's thrown, or swung. Aya knows this scythe will fly in a curve line, so she dodges it quite easily, but at that moment, the vampire girl appears beside her.

"Catch her, Kurumi!" Elly yells. The vampire named Kurumi spreads her wings and swings them at Aya. That attack is nothing special but the wind opposes Aya stops her from escaping. While Aya tries to fly up, Elly already gets her scythe and rushes to her.

"Give it back or die!" She slashes, uncaring about the reply. Elly's use of her weapon is very professional, the scythe swings lightning fast around her body, this style is created by Yuuka, who wanted Elly to use it to protect herself and the mansion. Therefore, with the shape of the scythe, she can't attack very effectively, but with the help of Kurumi, who is using her wings and claws to attack, they can put the enemy in the middle and gradually tear it apart. Aya is very fast, she also can combat well but mostly using bare hands, there is no way Aya can come near Elly, not to mention she has to protect this notebook, so she can't go all out against Kurumi either. Thanks to her speed, Aya dodged almost every attack from the two but if this keeps up, she will die for sure. While thinking of an escape, Aya left her side open. "Die!" Kurumi's claw grabs her waist, pulling Aya to Elly's range.

*KANG* the scythe collides with a big sabre. "Bastards, get away!" the new comer roars, she swings her sabre and makes a gust, pushing Elly and Kurumi back. Aya recognizes her, it is Momiji Inubashiri, the white wolf tengu that guards the Youkai Mountain. Talking about position, she is in a higher seat than Aya in the village, and for her job, it's certain she's stronger too.

The story was, when Reimu went back to Gensokyo, she worried that Aya can be in danger, so she ran to the Tengu village and asked for her aid. Knowing this, the elders sent Momiji right away to help the reporter. With her nose, even when Momiji can't fly fast, she found the shortest way to Aya. She arrived when the reporter was struggling between Elly and Kurumi, and she jumped in the moment Kurumi grabbed Aya.

Elly knows right away this white tengu is much stronger than she is, Kurumi is just a little vampire that helps Elly now and then, she can't go solo and their combination won't be enough to take down Momiji anyway. "You little... I don't care about that girl, give the notebook back." She demands. Unfortunately for her, Momiji already knew about this from Reimu, so she raises up the sabre. "Sorry, I am ordered to escort Aya Syameimaru and her belongings back safely. If you want some book, then let's go to the Tengu village together and ask the Elders yourself."

If the book goes to the hand of other people, it is bad for Elly's master, of course she can't allow it. With a jump, Elly flies at Momiji with her scythe ready. The wolf tengu doesn't blink, she turns a bit and swings her sabre before Elly can draw near. The impact bashes Elly aside and taking that oppoturnity, Momiji grabs Aya and run. The reporter is already reading the diary, every action of Yuuka Kazami is really written in here. For three months, there were only random records about flowers around Gensokyo, however, the articles of the last two days give Aya a surprise. Yuuka Kazami was challenged by Byakuren Hijiri, the fight at the Temple was recorded:

That monk, she was strong. I'd never had such a good fight since that time.
We were both sweating bullets (lol) I thought we would end in a draw. But I did it.

'I did it.' It is exactly the same as the bloody words on the wall. This is definitely Yuuka Kazami's handwriting.

[LordVant]

Ahhh~ So wonderful, I can't wait for the continuation<3

[Netwarrior]

Hey, I like the way the story is going. I kinda love a plot containing some mistery!

[Forte Blackadder]

//-----------------------------------------------------------
// Chapter 4: Cooperations
//-----------------------------------------------------------

"What do you mean by that?"

The table gets slammed hard by Marisa Kirisame. This is inside Hakurei shrine, where a group of 'friends' gather to discuss about the incident. They are the miko, Reimu, the witch Marisa, the puppeteer Alice, the other miko from Moriya shrine, Sanae and the tengu reporter, Aya. They're all sitting around the tea table, having an uneasy look.

"Like I said, this is obviously the crime of Yuuka, we have no choice but cooperate with every one." Reimu says. She leans on the table, eying aimlessly at the tea cup. On the other hand, Alice's folding her arms in deep thoughts and Marisa is all heated up. "That's what I want to clarify, how'd you know it was Yuuka's doing?" she asks, responded to that, is Aya silently points at the notebook before them, the diary of Yuuka Kazami.

After Momiji rescued Aya and ran back to Gensokyo, they met Yukari near the Garden of the Sun and told her everything. The gap youkai immediately had her cat contacting the other elite, and for a short time they all gathered in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Aya then chose to go to the Hakurei shrine and had a talk with Reimu, thus this conference was held. After hearing what happened, Marisa doesn't seem like she acknowledged Yuuka Kazami as a murderer, despite the evidence (the diary).

"Let I get this straight again, she wrote that they were sweating bullets, not blood, and what kind of killer recorded her crime in her diary?" Marisa claims. Sanae only met Yuuka once when they threw a sakura-viewing party, at that time, she looked like a mature lady who wasn't talkative, even quite... kind. However, Sanae heard about her tales of being a all-scarily-powerful youkai from everyone, so in this discussion she can only keep silent and try to know more. Alice's strangely calmly drinking her tea, while Reimu isn't caring about Marisa's rant any more.

"I don't know, Marisa, I'm not you, I don't know much about Yuuka. But I do know something, the victim was Byakuren Hijiri, the number of people who can kill her isn't big, and aside Yuuka, everyone in that league were in the meeting." the Hakurei miko sighs, but Marisa replies right away. "The murder committed long before the meeting!"

"Then you're saying someone else did it? Who?"

"I... I don't know, but there is something fishy about this. I'm telling you, if Yuuka really did this, she wouldn't be missing."

"At any rate..." The master of dolls, Alice Margatroid, finally speaks. "Yuuka is being chased down by all Gensokyo, especially those who followed Byakuren Hijiri." She looks at everyone, then slowly continues. "I see you're believing in that old hag Yukari Yakumo, Hakurei. I will search for Yuuka too." she lifts a finger, stopping Marisa from interrupting. "But only for the sake of knowing the truth. I don't care about your old lady fetish but I'm on Yuuka's side this time, and it's not because you're poor either."

She stands up and walks out, not forget to glance at Sanae and Aya before leaving the room. Marisa still sitting there, as if waiting for someone to say something, but none. She then also stands up and goes after Alice. Standing by the door, Marisa says these words without looking back.

"Let's not cross path, Reimu."

Long after those two left, no one says anything. Reimu keeps drinking her tea, ignoring Sanae and Aya there. Knowing it's pointless to stay, the tengu takes her leave. Sanae soon catches her as she can't stand the atmosphere either.

"So, are they helping Yuuka Kazami?"

"It appears so, those two have a closer relationship with her, I'd want to know more, but right now, everything got even more chaotic than before." Aya explains when she saw Sanae's confused face. "With Marisa and Alice protecting Yuuka, it will piss the Elite off. And Marisa was right, the diary didn't help at all, except confirming the words on the wall belonged to Yuuka. But as a reporter, I doubt it wasn't faked. Additionally why did Byakuren challenge Yuuka in the first place?" Too many questions unanswered, and the pure, honest, righteous Aya Syameimaru doesn't like it. She asks Sanae if they should visit the SDM to inform Yukari about this, the miko just shakes her head. "I understand what's troubling you, let's not stir the pot.  Margatroid said she wanted to know the truth from Yuuka Kazami, and the Elite said they wanted to catch the culprit, as long as they would talk, things won't go downhill."

Aya slightly nods, and they change direction to the Youkai Mountain. Soon, they arrive at the forest. Momiji greets them from a big rock on the side of the waterfall, where she's playing shogi with the kappa, Nitori Kawashiro. Aya gives her a brief about what happened at the Hakurei shrine, Momiji just sigh. "I see, they're really doing it now. Miss Kochiya was right, don't tell this to the Elite, they will go on the rampage, especially Yukari Yakumo. I don't know why, but she seemed very enthusiastic to catch Yuuka Kazami. Nitori." she turns at the kappa. "Do you have anything that can help us? Like a detector or something?"

Nitori isn't a very good fighter, but her talent at mechanic is second to none in Gensokyo. More than half of the technology everyone have now is the works of this little cucumber-lover. She also has a good reputation with people, so her network is pretty big, with her help, it's much easier to find Yuuka Kazami than with the tengu scouts.

"I don't have one." she replies with a big smile. "Even if I do, the radar won't be able to render such power. I can only keep up to someone at my danmaku level, which is quite low, hehe..."

------

Aya and Sanae are back at the Moriya shrine. Momiji told Aya not to do anything recklessly before going back to play shogi, she also advised that Aya should find one side to believe in and stick with it. But as a pure, honest and righteous reporter, how can Aya trust either Alice or Yukari at this point? The important thing now is to find out why Byakuren challenged Yuuka, which led to this tragic event. For some reason, she's curious about what happened three months ago, right before Yuuka started to write a diary. Let's see... three months ago... she can't seem to explore it. What happened three months ago?

"You're going to investigate?"

Sanae guessed what's going on in the tengu's head. After all, as the priestess of the shrine which is very close to Aya's village, they gradually became closer. Though it's not as friends, but seeing each others' face (or figure, since Aya just went "ayayaya" through the sky all the time) everyday also has its own affection.

"Yes, it's somewhat dangerous, so you should stay here and..." right when she takes off, a gust surrounds Aya and pulls her back. She then feels a palm from behind, and her left arm is now locked.

"What... Sanae?" she startles. At that moment Aya took off, Sanae summoned a gust and grabbed her arm from behind, and place the other hand on Aya's spine. It was a surprise attack, but to successfully pull that on the fastest Tengu with such high accuracy like this, is kind of scary.

"You guys all think I'm weak, huh?" Sanae breaths on Aya's neck. "Yes, sure, I admit I was weaker than most of you... But I'm a living goddess, you know? I don't want to lose." She grips Aya's arm tighter, keeps talking. "I was training myself, day and night. I'm living with the goddesses that had the great Suwa war, what do you expect?" Aya tries to turn around and free herself, or at least to have less of a disadvantage in stance. But Sanae sees through that, the miko bashes Aya's back and swipes her legs, putting the tengu face-down on the cold, stoned yard. "I'm not weak anymore." she states.

Still sitting on Aya, Sanae keeps her rant about the training for a while. Aya suddenly realizes how lonely this girl was, separated from her world, her friends, got thrown in a land of illusions, where myths are everyday's life routine. She loves her goddesses, so she always kept up a smile in front of everyone, but deep down inside she felt so empty. Reimu Hakurei is a superior miko who can do just about everything, Marisa Kirisame is a proactive witch that never stand still, Sakuya Izayoi is an elegant maid that lives for her master, Yukari Yakumo is scary, Alice Margatroid doesn't care about anything. Sanae spent her days around the shrine, she went to the Human village time to time but the gap in culture is quite big, so apart from Aya and Momiji, she didn't really talk to anyone.

The grip gets loose, but Aya still laying face down. She feels sympathetic with the miko, but what could she do? How could she know? Being a reporter, Aya's situation is not far from Sanae's. Not many people wanted to be close to her because they fear someday their faces will be on the front page. No matter the race, youkai, human or oni, everyone has a part that they don't want others to know, and Aya's job is pretty much expose them. If Sanae is neglected, then Aya is hated, both of them are isolated from the community in Gensokyo.

Isn't it sad? Aya thinks. At the very least, she has got Kaguya as a friend, but Sanae has none. She uses her right arm to support her body, trying to lift up. Sanae slowly release Aya's arm and steps back a little. They don't say anything for a while, then Aya turns to Sanae. "Will you help me, then?"

Sanae looks at Aya's eyes, questionably, and she smiles. "Thank you, I'll do my best."

The two jump and fly down the mountain. Waving at Momiji and Nitori on the way, they make their next destination the home of Marisa Kirisame and Alice Margatroid, Forest of Magic.