A Voice Speaks Amidst the Scarlet Mist

Episode 1: Scarlet Mist

A friendly land where the days are bright, the nights are beautiful, and sounds of fear and joy resound around as we all live as if safety was not a lie.

Welcome to Gensokyo.

Hello Dreamers!

There is a strange scarlet mist today, blocking and choking out the sun. No need to worry though, as the sun is a deadly laser and this mist is helping shield us from it today. Today’s activities can all be done without sunscreen and I’m sure the local vampires appreciate it very much.

If you’re a filthy sun lover though, Hakurei Reimu, you know, the Miko? Is currently en route to investigate the disturbance which seems to be located around a mysterious mansion.

More as the story develops…

No one knew where the broadcast came from. No one could find its origin despite how hard they searched for it. The only thing that they knew was that a voice began speaking and there was no hiding from it nor silencing it.

A sectioned off piece of Japan isolated behind the Great Hakurei Barrier, Gensokyo was a land where common sense was nonsense, where gods and yokai mingled with humans, where myth and fantasy was alive and well and thriving. It was a place where strange things were commonplace and logic twisted just a bit. A mysterious voice speaking to all would not, should not seem out of place, but yet… it was. In a sense, it was out of place with how in place it was.

The voice broadcasted its thoughts throughout the day intermittently, offering snippets of scenes occurring across Gensokyo and opinions on other happenings. Despite that intermittency, it flowed from one idea to another, continuing a story while interrupting it with asides here and there, sometimes simply pausing. It didn’t grab your attention so much as nudged it, reminding you it was there, but not disturbing much otherwise.

It was unsettling. Yet… It was still familiar. Unsettling in its familiarity. As if a missing piece had slipped into place seamlessly to the point one could only marvel at how life was before the piece had been found. Despite this being the first broadcast, the listeners could not seem to bring themselves to worry too much during the sessions, going on with their daily lives and tasks as needed.

After each pause and break though was another story. A voyeur that broadcasted their observations? That could not be silenced? It was… frightening even to Yokai.  The Tengu of Yokai Mountain immediately began discussing it, planning how to defend themselves against the next broadcast and how to better shield themselves from those prying eyes. The humans of the village simply searched for a way to hide from the broadcast.

As for everybody else? The lonesome yokai hiding in forests, the hermits in searching vigil, shopkeepers all on their lonesome and Incident Resolves hard at work, all the other loners who lived by themselves simply… enjoyed? Endured? Existed throughout the broadcast.

To that last group, it was simply another bit of life. Perhaps in time, it would be another facet of life in Gensokyo for the rest of them.

Regardless of each individual listener’s opinions and fears though, all of Gensokyo listened to the broadcast.

Today’s Yokai Watch, watch out for Rumia!

A yokai of darkness that calls herself a “Human Eating Yokai”, she seems to have lost her appetite for human flesh along with most of her height and maturity. Long gone is the appearance of the adult blonde yankee and this child-like yokai now spends her days wandering along the edges of the Misty Lake in a bubble of darkness.

Every so often, when the moon is brightest  and the air is soft with regretful melancholy, she visits a grave with a broken kitsune mask and sits. Always quiet, she always seems confused as to why tears slip down her cheeks. As if mourning a friend forgotten and a life half remembered.

This is the worst time to speak with her. Do not do this, but if you do, know that we will laugh very hard at you.

We suggest carrying raw meat to throw should you need to run away from her. The smell should distract her and failing that, you could use it to negotiate. Just remember, while you may not be able to see in her darkness, neither can she.

If you want to meet her, we suggest during the day with an offering of raw meat. She prefers human meat, but pork should be fine, and failing that, beef. In exchange, Rumia may be willing to do dark and/or dark related things.

I assume.

Dreamers, I’ll admit, I’m reading between the lines for this one as the missive I received from her appears to be written in dark red ink on leather parchment. I do not know nor wish to know what type of leather the parchment is and the ink smells worryingly metallic. The missive reads, “Darkness knows even as I forget.”

Nothing on the back. Just those six words. That is all.

So as mentioned before, I am very much reading between the lines. Not that there’s much to read beyond the one line.

...Hm. Perhaps just don’t attempt to speak with her. Do bring meat though. Just in case.

My strongest fairy intern, Cirno, attempted to stop and interview Reimu, you know, the miko? On her investigation of the Scarlet Mist. Unfortunately, during the customary Danmaku, Cirno sadly got a literal brain freeze and is now an ice sculpture. Daiyousei has picked her up and is bringing her back to defrost.

Daiyousei, my most sensible fairy, informs me that there is a mansion on an island in the middle of the Misty Lake. It appears that this Scarlet Mist is the newcomer’s way of saying hello to us. Hello to you, Mysterious Mansion in Misty Lake, we welcome you and your Scarlet Mist, shielding us from the Sun’s deadly laser.

The broadcast was useful, Marisa Kirisame, Ordinary Witch, thought.

Dressed in a black dress and a white apron, her black witch’s hat made it quite obvious what her occupation was even to the most idiotic. Her mannerisms were anything, but witchy though. Slouched, lax, seemingly undisciplined, Marisa Kirisame sat sidesaddle on her flying broomstick, racing towards the mansion with a madcap grin.

She seemed more like a yankee delinquent about to get into a fight than a mysterious witch, but Marisa liked her aesthetic.

She was quite grateful to the broadcast though. Without it, she’d be searching for Rei-- where the incident was a lot longer. Before that, Marisa had been kind of just... hovering around Hakurei Shrine trying to figure out where Reimu was, but then the broadcast announced not only where Reimu was, but also where the center of the incident was.

It was kind of fun too. She giggled a bit at the thought of how the bores at the Human Village were reacting. She bet most of them were running around like chickens, trying to plug their ears with crap to escape the voice.

“Stop!”

Marisa pitied them. They were so strange to be content just… wallowing in that village. She got that Yokai were scary and all, but what kind of life was that!? Just farming and waiting and buying crap, she just didn’t get it. Every day was an adventure and even now, Marisa was flying on a broomstick on her way to fight something big! It was awesome being herself and Marisa wouldn’t have it any other way..

“Heeeey!”

Speaking of… She grinned and did a loop-de-loop before leaning into the broom for extra speed. Flying was one of her favorite parts about being a witch.

Just as she was about to hit max speed, she had to dive when several ice chunks appeared mid-air before her. Pinching her nose, she pulled her broom out of the dive to hover in the air.

Turning around, Marisa saw an icy-winged fairy with short blue hair hovering. Cirno, Fairy of Ice and self-proclaimed strongest, huffed and wheezed, “You… Finally… *whew* stopped.”

“Ugh,” Marisa groaned, “I don’t have time to fight with you! Ze~!” She had heard that annoying voice a while ago, but she had been fervently ignoring it. She didn’t want to have a Danmaku battle when she could be beating Reimu in resolving this incident.

“I don’t want to fight with you! I’m the Strongest!” Cirno shouted despite the fact that she was only a meter away from Marisa. Crossing her arms under her chest, she grinned cockily, “I just need to ask you where you’re going, so I can tell Dai what’s going on so she can tell Boss-man what’s going on!”

“I’m going to fix the Scarlet Mist! Ze~,” Marisa spat out. She aimed her mini-hakkero. Fairies were stupid and she probably wouldn’t like that answer, so Marisa prepped herself for a--

“Oh, the mansion,” Cirno sighed, frowning. Pointing a thumb behind her shoulder, Cirno began fluttering off, “Ugh, well, that’s boring. It’s right behind me.”

...That wasn’t usual. Fairies were hot-headed little things and were always up for a fight. Marisa then blinked twice. Was she seriously complaining about not having to fight a Danmaku battle she didn’t even want to get into? She decided to just accept things as it was.

“Uhh... Okay?” Marisa shrugged and flew past her before stopping. “Wait, I thought you got frozen.” She specifically remembered hearing that in the broadcast.

“I did!” Cirno smiled,“Dai got me out and I’m all better now!”

“...Okay,” Marisa had many questions and decided not to pursue any of them.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Cirno smiled as she flew off, “Boss is probably going to get annoyed since he wanted to make sure I was okay. He’s silly like that.”

This was… weirder than usual. Fairies weren’t supposed to be reasonable. For lack of anything better to respond with, Marisa said, “Have fun?”

“I am!” Cirno grinned, placing her hands on her hips, “I’m a reporter of the Gensokyo Transmission Association, after all.”

Marisa couldn’t help but laugh, “What are you now? A Crow Tengu!?”

“No? I’m a fairy,” Cirno frowned, “You’re not very smart, are you? You should study the differences between tengu and fairies if you’re confused about that.”

Marisa gaped as Cirno dashed off, trailing a long, “Byyyyyyyyyyye!”

Blinking twice, Marisa struggled to process that last exchange. Did a Fairy just insult her? And successfully? ...What in the Master Spark just happened?

Shaking her head, Marisa pushed past her confusion and began flying to the Mansion. She had an incident to solve and Reimu to beat.

Still… Organized fairies? That seemed… problematic. Marisa decided not to think about the implications of a shadowy voice controlling a bunch of fairies. She wanted to write it off as a funny joke, but…

The broadcast was useful, but it seemed just a tad bit scary now.

Ah, please wait a moment, an independent Fairy from the Garden of the Sun has a message for me.

...Hmmm… Yes… Indeed… How? ...Tell her thank you for contacting me and not immediately killing me.

That was a message from Yuuka Kazami, Flower Master of the Four Seasons, with a message informing me that flowers need sunlight and that if her flowers die, I and whoever killed her flowers will too. She did not expand on how. I would like to formally request the owner of the Mysterious Mansion in Misty Lake to stop exuding the Scarlet Mist as I like being alive.

Failing that, I pray that Reimu, you know, the miko? Quickly resolves this incident. She has already slipped past the sleeping sentry, a red-haired Chinese Girl and is currently in a library, fighting a librarian and her succubus.

I know booklovers hate the stereotype of being lust filled, but they should really stop summoning demons of lust as their secretaries if they wish to break away from it. Granted, Gensokyo really only has one librarian, but that’s enough to set precedent.

By the way, I would like to take this moment to say that the flowers in the Garden of the Sun are NOT TOUCHABLE. I repeat, do not TOUCH the flowers. You may smell and look, but you may not TOUCH the flowers. Do not SPEAK of TOUCHING the flowers.Do not THINK of TOUCHING the flowers. Do not DREAM of TOUCHING the flowers.

Thank you.

Speaking of flowers, it is almost time for the Harvest Festival. A time for family and friends, one should always remember to pack extra sake and food in case of unexpected guests. Inhospitality kills, you know you know!

Marisa Kirisame, who owes Rinnosuke several antique books, fifty thousand yen, and a box of dango, has arrived at the mansion and is now bullying the poor Chinese Girl. She isn’t much of a guard though, having slept through the first one. Perhaps she’s had a long day?

Marisa is now stealing books from the poor librarian who is wheezing on the floor, her lusty demoness torn between aiding her master and stopping the thief. Marisa has stopped though. She is walking to the duo. Perhaps she’ll aid them?

No! She simply reaches around to grab several other books.

Marisa Kirisame truly has no shame.

Poetry time: Haiku Edition!

Tick tock stops the clock

The maid’s knives fly through the air

Schlick schlack, did you dodge?

That has been poetry time. A Haiku is a syllabic style that goes five, seven, five, though there are variations where you can go freeform with the syllables but stay within the restraint of three lines.

Submit your entries to the box at the foot of the Dragon God’s Statue. Excellent entries get knives. Horrible entries get knives. Where the knives go depends on which category you’re in. Do excellently or knives will go in horrible places.

The broadcast was dangerous, Hakurei Reimu, Miko of Hakurei Shrine thought. She shouldn’t be distracted, not while she was resolving an incident, but… she couldn’t help but think on the broadcast.

Flying through the hallways of the mansion, Reimu mused on the newly revealed information on the Yokai Watch. Ignoring the near-fetishistic glee the speaker had for youkai, those little factoids about Rumia, Youkai of Darkness, bothered her.

Why would it mention Rumia? Why would it mention her mother’s…. Why would it mention her mother? Was it true that Rumia visited her mother’s grave? If so, why? It felt like there was something in her memory that could explain it, but… there was a Gap there. She simply couldn’t remember anything.

And that worried her.

Her musings were broken when a series of knives forced her to duck. In a way, she was grateful for the distraction. It kept her from getting lost in her thoughts. In another way, it was really annoying to have knives thrown at you.

Quickly recovering from her descent, Reimu hovered into a neutral position, her two Yin-Yang Orbs floating around her protectively. “Who’s there!?”

“How rude,” a white haired maid primly declared, standing on two floating knives, blocking her from advancing upwards. “You are a trespasser here. You should introduce yourself first at least.”

“Hakurei Reimu, Miko of Hakurei Shrine,” Reimu announced herself, Yin-Yang orbs floating around her. “I’m here to resolve this incident. Now who are you?”

“Izayoi Sakuya, Head Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion,” the maid replied, drawing two sets of knives from who knows where and holding them by the tips between her knuckles, ““I’ve heard of you, but I will admit, you don’t look much like a miko.”

A large red bow tying the back of her hair together, Reimu Hakurei’s shrine maiden outfit could conservatively be called a miko uniform only if one was loose enough with the criteria to base it on only color. A red dress and a sleeveless red top that exposed the sides of saashi, she wore detached white sleeves, ones that were baggy enough to conceal all of her Yokai-extermination tools.

One of her favored yokai-extermination tools was her Ofuda, paper talismans that worked as her main source of attacks during a Danmaku battle. Summoning a couple dozen them to surround her, Reimu indignantly proclaimed, “I am a miko!”

“I know, I merely noted that you did not look like one,” Sakuya stated in a cool matter-of-fact tone. The statement’s detached inflection actually hurt more than if she were simply trying to directly insult Reimu,  “The broadcast warned us you were coming.”

“That broadcast is annoying,” Reimu scowled.

“The voice is certainly incessant,” the silver maid agreed, flinging a set of knives towards Reimu, “Though he is remarkably well informed.”

“Mmhmm,” Reimu hummed, dodging the blades and returning it with a volley of her own, “I don’t suppose you’ll let me through to speak with your ‘mistress’. I already know she’s the one behind this thanks to the broadcast.”

Sakuya’s only response was to throw yet more knives.

Firing back with her Ofuda, Reimu asked as she strafed, “She is the one behind this, right?”

“No, she is, but…” the maid trailed off, clearly thinking on something even as she threw even more knives. While Reimu had to dodge with effort, this maid seemed to only need to lean side to side to avoid her Ofua. It was annoying, insulting, and insultingly annoying how little effort the maid put into this fight, “I did not expect this broadcaster to know so much. Still, I will not let you pass.”

“Argh!” Reimu growled, returning a volley of knives with a volley of Ofuda, “I don’t have time for this, just let me through!”- she then flew upward to dodge yet another set of knives- “And stop throwing knives! How many of them do you have!”

“Enough,” Sakuya answered with even more knives, still remaining standing on the same damn pair of floating knives, “You are a persistent foe, I’ll give you that, and under better circumstances, I’m sure the mistress would love to fight with you,” she then suddenly dashe d backwards, using falling pairs of knives as her platforms, and throwing even more knives to cover her retreat, “But a maid does as a maid should and cleans up even interesting trash from the premises.”

Then, summoning a slip of paper to her hand, the maid infused it with power and activated her Spellcard.

[Illusionary Image: Luna Clock]

One blink and the empty air was filled with knives. Reimu stopped her charge and began weaving through the storm of knives, barely avoiding getting nicked. Tossing and turning in the air, Reimu rapidly lost track of her positioning. A lethal mistake to be made in such a sharp storm.

“This is not throwing less knives, damn it,” Reimu complained quietly to herself. She didn’t care if the maid heard her, this was her just venting her frustrations.

Just as she was considering burning one of her strongest spell cards to escape, a series of green explosions blasted the knives off course.

“Yo, Reimu!” an annoyingly familiar voice called out, “Looks like you need help, ze!?”

“Why are you here?” Reimu grimaced, definitely not happy to see Marisa if one ignored the upturned corners of her mouth.

“Broadcast, duh,” the blond witch dove low on her broom, swerving it to hover next to Reimu and facing the knife maniac maid, holding her mini-Hakkero in the ready position, “Good thing too, since you were about to get stabbed.”

“I would’ve been fine,” Reimu scowled.. She actually would’ve been just fine, but it would’ve been tricky and she would’ve had to burn a spellcard..

“Sure, you would’ve been,” Marisa grinned, “It’s just easier with me around, ze~”

“All intruders will be evicted,” Sakuya primly announced, twirling her hands to reveal yet more knives. It was rude of her to interrupt, but kind of helpful too, reminding them that they did have an Incident to resolve.

Though, she would admit,Reimu was getting sick of knives. Spinning her gohei into a ready position, Reimu entrusted her back to Marisa and charged in, “Keep her off me.”

Clicking her tongue, the silver maid sighed, [Void Sign: Inflation Square]

One blink and the empty air was suddenly filled with knives again, far more of them this time. But this time, Reimu didn’t stop charging. As green explosions cleared her way, Reimu heard Marisa sigh, “Ugh, you’re always so bossy. Not even a please or thank you, ze~!”

As she began fighting the maid with the help of her best friend rival, Reimu couldn’t help but think about the broadcast.

It was dangerous, but also… no, definitely annoying. Especially since it got Marisa here.

Ignore her smile.

Lost and Found: Somebody has lost track of things. They knew where they began and had a vague idea of the end, but they have lost where they were in between. Take a moment, someone. Retrace your steps. Find it if you can. If you cannot, this is your end then. I hope you find where you were, someone. I hope you find it.

It appears that things are coming to a climax at the mansion. Marisa Kirisame, who owes Alice Margatroid a tin of biscuits, several gems of varying sizes, and a doujin, has joined Reimu Hakurei, you know, the miko? And the two of them are now confronting the master of the mansion.

She appears to be a Western Vampire and has invited them to discuss things over a spot of tea. Her motivation appears to be that the sun is a deadly laser and she would like to walk about without worrying about dying from it.

What a wise young… old? ...What a wise vampiress. I too would like to  walk about the sun without having to worry about dying from the sun’s deadly lasers, though it probably would take a considerably longer time for me to die from the sun than a western vampire. Probably.

Alas, flowers need the sun to die and as our survival depends on a flower’s ability to photosynthesize, I shall pray for our two heroines to win.

And now… the fortune.

Letting the music play, Renku let the mask slip and buried his face in his hands. Now that he was off the air, he could finally cringe at his mannerisms, despair at his idiocy, basically wallow in self-inflicted embarrassment and anxiety.

A green haired fairy fluttered over, face concerned, but Renku raised his head and smiled weakly, waving her off. Wringing her ponytail ,Daiyousei, the unofficial leader of the Fairies, sighed but backed off, fluttering off to check the correspondences from the fairies.

She really was a great helper, keeping track and organizing the flow of information from all of the Fairies of Gensokyo, but this was something Renku needed to deal with by himself. Just for a bit.

Namely, having a mental breakdown.

He let out a low, drawn out moan. This was such a doomed idea. There were not enough words in any language to describe how stupid this endeavor was. Not even if you combined all of them. By all rights, he should have been escaping, cutting all ties, not… trying to portray themselves as a part of Gensokyo, let alone try and change the status quo out of some misguided fear of losing it all.

Gensokyo wouldn’t disappear. Neither would the Yokai. Even if he himself were to disappear, he would leave behind nothing but a footnote, if even that. Why was he so scared of fantasy dying?

...Oh right, because he lived two lives where fantasy was dead. Renku really needed to stop asking himself questions that he already knew the very depressing answers to.

He had only been here for a year. And what a year it had been! It was a bit rough at the start, but Renku thought he felt happier than he had ever been in all of his lives here. He felt… well, not safe, he didn’t think he’d ever feel safe again, but he felt content. Content in a way that didn’t feel like a trap.

In the end though, they were an just an Outsider who had the strange luck of remembering an old lives. They knew snippets and pieces of the mythology of Gensokyo, scrounged together from stories, games, and music remembered two lives ago and tales told to them by a mysterious seer in a Dateless Bar a life ago.

Also a war, but Renku didn’t like to remember that.

...And he was doing this crap. This was such a--

A flash of light distracted him, pulling him out of his miserable tailspin. Blinking blearily, Renku smiled fondly at the mirror floating around him, flashing in a worried manner. It was a beautiful mirror with an alabaster back and a clear surface, so clear that it reflected pure white. It was also hovering without anything supporting it.

“Thank you, Shin. I was getting lost in my thoughts,” the Fool sighed, untying the tenugui wrapped around his head. Reaching into the pocket of his hakama, he pulled out a bottle of oil to begin polishing the floating mirror.

As he did so, he felt a chill at his neck. Renku rolled his eyes, “Yes. Yes, I’ll get you too, Yami.”

The chill died off as a much darker mirror floated around to wait for its turn. Equally as beautiful as its lighter counterpart, its front did not reflect light so much as absorbed it into an inky blackness and had an onyx backing instead.

Renku enjoyed the simple symmetry of his two “familiars”. If he could call them that, he wasn’t a magician, witch, or even wizard after all. Any power he had was what he had built through friendships with these two Spirit Mirrors and the Fairies.

As he switched to polishing Yamikagami, Renku felt nothing but gratefulness for being able to live here in Gensokyo. To be able to treat the fanciful as the mundane. To be amongst friends that trusted him enough to help him on this madcap venture.

Honestly, it was a miracle that they had already befriended the fairies and the spirit mirrors, a miracle twice more that they were all so willing to indulge and help this trainwreck of a shitshow get going, and a miracle thrice more that Yukari Yakumo had not immediately appeared to Gap this entire thing into non-existence.

He didn’t remember much about her beyond that she loved Gensokyo first and foremost and would probably, most definitely, absolutely not approve of this little podcast of his. Or his theory on how to alleviate Yokai’s dependency on human belief. Or himself in general.

He may be projecting on that last bit, but fuck it. Go for broke on the depression, eh?

Everything this was founded on was based on rumors. Extensive and informative rumors, but rumors nevertheless. Gods above and devils below knew how the Fool did it, but Renku had built an extensive network of informants and, dare they hope, fairy friends in and throughout Gensokyo this past year, but it couldn’t last. Not in any meaningful fashion.

All in-ning on a half-assed plan with a barely understood hope based on the murkiest recollections of confused attempts to learn the lengthy history of a story that they barely knew to stop a very real fear from happening again. There were so many things wrong with this process of events and thinking that Renku really and truly wished that he could remember what mushrooms it had eaten when deciding that creating a podcast would be a good idea based on this explanation.

The only saving grace was that he had run his own podcast before. In some ways, this was even easier. He didn’t even have to make up any stories, simply tell them as they happen here and now. Bury the past, forget the future, something something, live in the now.

Screw him for not being eloquent, it took hard work being pretentiously murky with meanings and crap.

As the music began winding down to a close, the Fool sucked in a breath before letting it go and motioned to the mirrors. Following his unspoken command, they floated into place, the light mirror and black mirror hovering parallel to one another. Both mirrors flashed at one another, shining beams of black and white energy that merged together to form a holographic layout of gray hardlight, working together to create a magical replica of his old soundboard setup.

An exact replica of the tool he used the most in his second life, Renku marveled at how the two mirrors had perfectly recreated it, scratches and decals and all, but they did and it was amazing, albeit painfully nostalgic. The only thing different was the display, but this display was much better than his old one, so who was he to complain? It even had extra screens so he coil view different scenes occurring across Gensokyo.

Renku really had gotten lucky befriending such amazing spirit mirrors and he prayed that he never forgot how grateful he was, vowing never to take this for granted.

Grabbing the hardlight headset and placing it over his ears, Renku turned knobs and tweaked mixers to test things out. He didn’t really need to do it as everything had been preset, but it helped get the last of the anxiety out.

For better or worse, this was the path he had chosen. The dice were rolled. Hands were tied. The best moment to stop would have been at the start. The second best moment would probably be now, but...

It sure as hell was started now and Renku never did learn how to cut losses quite right. Might as well see it through.

The worst that could happen would be that they would die again. And the Fool already knew what that was like. The Fool also knew what it was like to live a life without meaning, without dreams, without fantasy. He knew that life two times over, and between dying yet again and living a life without those things, the Fool would quite rather literally die again, a thousand and more times again, no matter how painful those deaths were.

It was far more painful to live a listless life of apathy.

And he vehemently, absolutely, heaven as his witness and hell as his signatory, refused to live such a life a third time here in Gensokyo. He refused to let things stay as they are when they could be better. Refused to live a life without impact.

He refused to.

Turning one last switch and tapping the button that flashed to the fairies surrounding him that they were on-air, the Fool spoke once more, feeling a calm descend upon him like madness rumbling forth from regrets long buried

And Gensokyo listened again.

Welcome back, dreamers.

The Scarlet Mist has dissipated and the summer sun is shining once again, killing us slowly with its deadly lasers once again. On the bright side, Yuuka’s Flowers will not die because of sunlight deprivation. They will still die as it is the nature of existence to eventually cease, but they will not die for the lack of sun.At least for this day. And I will not die because of Yuuka Kazuma. At least for this day.

Speaking of, friendly reminder, do not TOUCH the flowers.

If you enjoy having the sun shining a deadly laser down daily, please consider donating to the Hakurei Shrine. Hakurei Shrine, keeping the Sun’s death laser upon us.

It turns out the culprit behind the Scarlet Mist was in fact a western vampire named Remilia Scarlet.. I’ll admit that I was speaking of vampires in jest, but evidently, Gensokyo has a strange sense of humor and has, for lack of a better term, kidnapped a vampire and her coterie.

Gensokyo is a land where fantasy and reality meet, the boundaries blur, and something strange happens every day and every night. Logic has its place here, but it is a twisty one that bends and loops. It never breaks though. It cannot break.

A young realm we are, but we all live together and have a history together.

For all the laws are broken and rules undone, there is a logic to this place, forged by ethos and hardened by pathos. The rules were laid down to prevent ancient tragedies from refolding and we are all players in this realm, no matter how small or large we are.

If one is brave enough and one is clever enough and one is kind enough, one can do anything anywhere anytime. Heed the unspoken treaty between mortal and immortal, human and inhuman, permanent and impermanent, and all will be well.

Hopefully.

What do I know? I’m a Fool with a Voice and I plan on using that quite a bit. Thank you for listening.

Come now, dreamer.
It is time to go.

Till next we dream.

As the broadcast ended, two women mused its contents under the waxing half moon. They sat on an open veranda, overlooking a small koi pond.

Dressed in a mishmash or Oriental and Occidental, the pair of them wore western-style dressed with Chinese-style tabards over them. The nine-tailed fox wore white two-tailed cap while her master wore a pink mob cap. Their dresses matched their hats colors, but their tabards were similar shades of purple.

While it wasn’t quite the right time for it, the both of them were enjoying a moon-viewing session between them, their last one for a while before the kitsune’s master. The broadcast had been a disruption, but interestingly enough, it had been an interesting disruption, so neither of them were too displeased about it.

“It seems that this little Outsider is getting into the spirit of things, wouldn’t you say Ran?” Yukari Yakumo, Youkai of Boundaries, remarked, holding out a sake cup, “I rather enjoyed the… ‘fortune’ as he called it.”

“I couldn’t say,” Ran Yakumo, Kitsune Shikigami of the Youkai of Boundaries, sighed as she poured her master a drink, “He seems… to be getting too into the spirit of things if you would.”

“...Indeed, you’re not wrong,” Yukari sipped her tea, staring at the rising moon in thought, “He alludes to things he should not know, let alone play with.”

Chief amongst which was the… old miko’s final Incident. The seal had been growing weaker as of late, but… This ‘Fool with a Voice’ truly wished to live up to his name, if he dared poke that sleeping tiger. Rumia’s terror and power had grown much weaker as the Youkai of Darkness had been childified, but that could change quite easily. Even the Youkai of Boundaries dared not tempt that particular boundless darkness.

By all rights, this Fool should simply… disappear. Keep things safe for Gensokyo. Never elegant or orderly, but safe.

And yet...

“And yet…” Yukari mused aloud, “I cannot help but feel as if he genuinely loves Gensokyo. The way he speaks, he speaks as if he’s a lost and broken soul, the sort Gensokyo loves to take in,” she sighed theatrically, lazily swishing her sake cup in though, “What a strange contradiction I find myself in. Gensokyo loves the lost, but the lost are often so dangerous. This seems to be quite the problem. ”

Pouring herself a drink, her beloved shikigami Ran answered, “If he loves Gensokyo, but is a danger to it, then the solution is still simple.”

“True. True,” Yukari smiled softly. If a human were there, they would immediately know why Yukari Yakumo had the title of the Uncanny Smile. “I wonder, should I simply do away with him then? People do so often hurt the things they love.”

“I am at your command, Master.”

“...Hmm,” Yukari hummed for a bit before shaking her head, No. I think I’ll let this play out just a bit longer. We do have other things to work on.”

Standing up, Yukari stretched and stifled a yawn, “Go help Yuyuko with her little project while I’m sleeping, will you?”

“As you command,” Ran nodded, sliding open the door and entering her master’s bedroom to prepare the bedding.

As she walked back into the house and into her room to prepare for her long winter hibernation, Yukari spoke again, “Do keep an eye out for him though.” Snapping her fingers, space and time Gapped agape around her and when it closed, Yukari had changed into a rather comfortable set of Byzantine colored silken European pajamas.

Adjusting her nightcap, Yukari murmured, “Especially if he alludes to any… dangerous ideas.”

Setting out a futon, Ran nodded, “Hai.”

Slipping into the bed and pulling her covers up, Yukari giggled as her vulpine servant kissed her forehead and bid her a well rest. The sliding door slid closed and the room plunged into darkness. Letting herself slip away, Yukari slipped on her Open-Eyed eye mask.

Before she fully slipped under, she wondered aloud, “I wonder what changes you will bring, storyteller?”

Today’s Idiom:
A frog in a well is safe. Safe from knowledge, safe from power, and safe from duty. A frog in a well is very safe. Do not seek safety.