Renko's Story [Touhou]

[enthalpy]

Renko's Story​

It's been a few years since it everything changed. You were a college student then, wide-eyed and fresh-faced, ready to take on the worst the world could throw at you. Few of your classes were of any interest to you, and the tedium and drudgery of academia often grated on you, but the sealing club that you were part of made up for it by far. Some days, it was the only thing you really looked forward to: after endless hours of dull lectures, you'd retreat to the room set aside for your club's use to meet with her.

There, amidst the dusty tomes that lined the walls and the tattered maps laid out on the table and the warmth of companionship, you truly felt alive. You would plan out an escape for the weekend, somewhere remote, somewhere far removed from the noise and sense of urgency that pervaded city life. You vaguely remember visiting dozens of secluded shrines and deserted cemeteries. They all had a sort of stark beauty, those places that you visited, so far removed from heavy hand imposed by modern life.

It's difficult to remember now just what you were looking for there, or whether you found that which you sought, but you can still the feel of that person's hand in yours, her golden hair and bright smile that was, at least to you, so very memorable. In the end, even if you never found what you were looking for, the outings were still worth it, if only for the chance to be with your dearest friend.

Strange then, that, despite how you can so clearly recall what it felt to be with her, you can't remember her name.

It was during the spring of your third year that it happened. You'd visited an art gallery the afternoon before - some exhibition of contemporary art done in a classical style that had been heavily advertised in the papers. It had been thoroughly unremarkable despite all of the hype. The quality of the art had certainly been high enough, but the works lacked something... essential. Each and every one you'd seen had been entirely uninspiring, flat, static, without any of the creativity or passion that brought paintings to life. She'd lingered over the paintings, though, hovering over them and tracing the sharp strokes of the brush with her fingers. You'd suspected that she was seeing something you did not.

That night, she slept fitfully, waking you at times with strangled shouts and moans that no doubt originated from dreams of a less than pleasant nature.

And then, when you'd checked on her the next morning, the room that she'd lived in had been completely empty, with nothing inside save for a thin layer of dust, left from what appeared to be months of disuse, without a single item left from her former inhabitance. Even large chunks of the photo albums you'd painstakingly pieced together with her had simply vanished, her image gone from the few glossy prints that you had left. It was almost as if she had disappeared from the world without a single trace to mark her existence.

For a few days afterwards, you'd wandered around in a daze. A few inquiries had quickly shown that the university had never had any 'sealing club' on record, and the only name that remained on the lease for your apartment was your own. It was about then that you realized just how fuzzy your memories of her were. And when you could not even remember your own best friend's name, who else could help you in searching for her?

In the end, you'd managed to convince yourself that what you remembered had simply been a dream. A beautiful, wonderful dream, but still a dream nonetheless, and one which you had just awoken from to find yourself alone in a harsh, hostile world. You hadn't made many friends during school besides her, and you were afraid. Afraid of being mocked for what apparently had been your own delusions, afraid of being labeled as unstable and insane, afraid of being burned again by yet another close friend who truly did not exist, afraid of the strange new world that you found yourself in. There was nothing you could do about it - nothing that could possibly change the the fact that the world you knew had suddenly and irrevocably changed.

The time since then has been lonely. With nothing better to do, you spend what little spare time you have travelling to the various places you remember having visited together, before it all happened, hoping for some indication that you hadn't simply hallucinated away three years of your life. It doesn't help. There's nothing in the overgrown cemeteries and deserted shrines and lush forests besides the quiet tranquility of places slowly being reclaimed by the world. To be honest, at this point, after being met with disappointment after disappointment, you go mostly so you can have something to do, something to distract you from the days and weeks of your life you've been slowly wasting in the lab, toiling away in your half-hearted attempts to finish your doctorate degree.

It gives you some sort of peace, to just lie back and relax and listen to the soft rustle of leaves in the wind, or to walk in the still silence of the newly fallen snow, or to look down upon the world from craggy mountain peaks.

Which is why you find yourself hiking here. Aokigahara, the sea of trees. It's a place that quite the bad reputation - it is, after all, known for being a place where people go to die. You'd be lying if you say that you'd never considered it, back in those first few days after, well... In any case, that's not why you're here. No, you're simply here to find a remote place far away from human habitation, somewhere quiet where you can relax and not have to worry about the stresses imposed by your life.

You head into the forest in the early afternoon, armed with nothing more than a digital camera and a small backpack with a day's worth of food and water. You get a few strange looks as you wander off of the marked trails, but you ignore everyone else and wander deeper into the forest. You like these places. It's peaceful here, so far removed from the harsh mechanical sounds characteristic to human presence. The dense foliage absorbs sound, and even the cries of the various birds and beasts native to the forest sound strangely muted.

The calm quiet atmosphere almost makes you want to find a place where you can simply sit back against a tree and relax. Maybe even sleep a few hours. Yes, some sleep might be nice. All this hiking has been quite tiring. Maybe you should stop and rest for a while. You could go to sleep and not have to wake up, not have to worry about your own troubles, not have to... You shake your head violently to wake yourself back up. You're over this already. You know you are. It's just this forest that you're in, that's all.

It starts getting quieter as you walk deeper and deeper into the forest, almost eerily so. The air is still, and the only sounds around are the swish and occasional crunch of your boots against the underbrush and the forest floor and the labored sound of your own breathing. Judging from where the sun is in the sky, you've only been walking for a few hours, but it already feels as if you're in an alien world. Of the many places you've visited before now, this is the first time that you've found a place just like this. That there can be such a pristine, untouched placed even after so many years of urbanization is remarkable. It feels almost magical.

You stop for a moment to drink some water and to admire the scenery. When you step forwards again, though, your vision blurs for a moment as a splitting headache hits you for a moment. You sit down against a tree and lower your head into your lap, pressing a hand against your forehead. The pain goes away as quickly as it came, and soon enough you stand once again, ready to move forward once again. And then it hits you.

A few steps in front of you, where dense forest had once grown, there's now a winding dirt road, one that weaves its way around a few hillocks and off into the horizon, where a few peaks tower over the surrounding landscape. You blink and rub your eyes. No, it's still there. Just a moment ago, you were deep in this dense forest, but now you're facing a grassy meadow and that dirt road, lined on both sides by giant patches of red spider lilies. Slowly, carefully, you step out from the forest and onto the dirt road. You step forward again, and again, and suddenly something shifts behind you, and suddenly, the forest fringe behind you has suddenly disappeared, leaving only a featureless dirt road leading off into the hazy distance, flanked on both sides by the red flowers.

And so with nowhere else to go, you walk forwards. As you go further and further, a quiet voice pops up in your mind. It's too quiet. You should turn back. Leave while you still can. But that can't be right. The forest that you came from is no longer there for you to return to. Still, something about this whole place sets your whole body on edge with the prickly sensation that you get late at night when you think someone - or something - is watching.

The road slowly winds its way up hill, and even as you walk further and further, the spider lilies thin out, giving way at first to tall grasses and then to a type of tiny, bell-shaped white flower that you don't recognize, growing in small chains, gently bobbing up and down as you pass by.

You're wheezing and out of breath by the time that you crest the final hill, giving you a breathtaking look into a beautiful mountain valley. It seems that you're more out of shape than you'd expected, if so little walking has managed to tire you out this much. You plop down for a moment in the field to rest, looking across at the beautiful expanse. Another mountain sits across the valley from you, its slopes covered in deep green forest. A small gap between the trees marks the path of a winding road that makes its way up the mountain, terminating at the very top, where a small shrine sits next to a placid pond studded with pillars sticking out of the surface of the water. The road you've been following cuts across a river that runs through the middle of the valley using a small footbridge, leading into the dense forest beyond. And even further in the distance, on the other side of the forest, a few tiny houses stand in the middle of a ring of cultivated fields.

You're not really sure where to head from here, to be honest. As you are now, you're feeling quite tired and drowsy, and it may just be best to rest a while on this hill. It wouldn't do to collapse halfway to your next destination, after all. Or maybe you could walk somewhere through your fatigue. Maybe it'll work. Who knows?

[ ] Stay here and rest a while. You'll need the energy to keep moving later on.
[ ] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.
[ ] Head towards the village on the other side of the forest.
[ ] Something else.

 

[Zasnul]

I'll just dance around the computer in happiness, all calm and reserved.


[X] Stay here and rest a while. You'll need the energy to keep moving later on.

 

[Megaolix]

So you went ahead and did started this, huh?

[X] Stay here and rest a while. You'll need the energy to keep moving later on.

Better rest in case we find ourselves in a bad case of needing to run the hell away.

 

[Redon]

Hey, it's the quest we discussed... squee...


[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

So you went ahead and did started this, huh?

[X] Stay here and rest a while. You'll need the energy to keep moving later on.

Better rest in case we find ourselves in a bad case of needing to run the hell away.

Click to shrink...

Megaolix, we are already in a case of get the hell off this hill... Just saying.

 

[Eopia]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

Well, I haven't posted here before but I suppose this is a good enough time to start. Anyway, from the description I would guess that we're on the Nameless Hill and surrounded by poisonous flowers, so I'd prefer moving on.

 

[Midnight_Splendor]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

Hmm I wonder if this story has any connections to maribel quest

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

 

[Jiven]

*squeeee*

Let's party!


[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

 

[Olive]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

 

[Balatro Philologus]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.
Will we need an offering though?

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Try to make your way up to the shrine on the mountain.

As tired as you might be, this is not the place to rest. While you're sorely tempted to lie down in this field of flowers and rest for a few hours, it's already the late afternoon, and if you want to make it to some sort of shelter before nightfall, you need to get going now. You sigh, heaving yourself to your feet, and head along the road towards and away from the peaceful, flower-covered hill. Maybe if you walk some more to get your blood flowing, you'll wake up some more.

There's two obvious destinations - the shrine on the mountain and the village on the other side of the forest. Of the two, the shrine seems to be a fair bit closer. Accordingly, when the road you're taking forks a few kilometers down the hill, you turn left, pointing yourself towards the winding road leading up the mountain to the shrine at its peak.

You make good speed, and soon enough, the hill of white flowers fades into the distance, as the mountain before you grows in size ever-so-slowly until, at long last, it dominates the landscape. The river is getting closer as well - soon enough, you can hear the gentle murmur of water running over what no doubt are a multitude of rocks and other things lining the riverbed.

By the time you reach the river in the valley, it's become pretty clear that walking more hasn't helped at all with your tiredness. Rather than waking you up, all it's really done is make you feel even more exhausted. You stop for a moment by the side of the river to splash some of the water on your face. The river runs swiftly through the valley, the water coursing between its banks cold and clear. You dip your hands into the water and scoop up a handful into your palms, patting your face with your wet hands.

It helps a bit, enough so that you can start walking again, but it's only a temporary reprieve. The exhaustion returns quickly, and, soon enough, it brings some unpleasant visitors along with it. You're barely a quarter of the way up the winding road up to the mountain when the first dizzy spell hits, leaving the world spinning around your eyes. After a few seconds of trying to make progress despite your condition, you give up and sit down instead, lest you fall and injure yourself.

As you sit back against a tree, the ground sways beneath your body, as if the very mountain itself is in the midst of undergoing some sort of cataclysmous upheaval. For what seems like an eternity, it continues without abating. You grab the tree trunk, a few strands of grass on the ground, your own clothes, something, anything to rid yourself of the feeling of being tossed and flipped around, not by physical forces, but by your own senses.

And then it suddenly disappears in a blink of an eye, gone just as suddenly it had come. You stand up slowly, on unsteady legs, using the tree as support, and take a few steps forward, only to collapse face down in the dirt as your exhaustion overtakes you. And at that very moment, you hear the soft crunch of feet on the earth. Someone is coming down the mountain. You try to wave an arm or even shout for help, but it almost seems as if the energy has drained out of your entire body - you can barely even manage to open twitch a finger or two, much less manage something like that.

It's hard to think and focus on much of anything, but you think the footsteps are headed towards you. And soon enough, you hear a shout and the sudden fast patter of feet running towards you. A pair of platform sandals crunches into the dirt besides your face, and someone rolls you over. Your vision swims in and out of focus, but your rescuer's features are very distinctive. A woman with brilliant silvery hair and ruby red eyes - those aren't exactly things that you see every day. Her mouth is open, you realize, dimly, and it looks like she's saying something to you, but the dull roar of blood in your ears and the faint, uneven thumping of your heartbeat drown out whatever she's saying.

You look at her and muster up one last desperate effort to try to say something, anything - and then your eyes flicker shut and you know no more.

During the indeterminate time between unconsciousness and the waking world, you dream. They're feverish, delusional dreams, about a young woman with blonde hair, and her adventures in a strange and terrifying land, populated by demons and monsters and one little girl, where the ground is stained a brilliant, fiery red, and the sky is a patchwork of brownish clouds on a rich, purple sky.

When you awaken once again, it is with a gasp. You're lying under some blankets on what might charitably be called a bed - nothing more than a flat slab covered in a few layers of cloth padding and a bamboo mat. Muted sunlight streams into a small, wooden room through translucent white paper windows. There's a scratching, rustling sound that fills the room. It's the sound of a pen on paper, a sound that you're intimately familiar with.

Strange, though. This doesn't look like a hospital. You roll over to try to figure out just where you might be, and come face-to-face with a black-haired young woman. Like your rescuer, she too has red eyes. How strange. She looks up from her notebook as you stir, and smiles.

"You're awake!" she says. You nod at her, dumbly, and she continues speaking. "You're lucky that you made it all the way out here before collapsing, you know." She flips through the papers she's holding, and, after a moment, you realize that she's holding a pile of your cards.

"Those are mine," you say, before wincing. Your throat hurts, enough so that speaking is painful.

"So they are," the other woman says, still flipping through the cards, one by one. "You must be Usami Renko, then," she continues. "Graduated from Kyoto University, currently second year research student at Tokyo..." She whistles a bit at that last part. "Quite the accomplishment."

While it's gratifying to see that someone appreciates just how hard you've worked for your education, the fact that she's flippantly looking through your belongings dampens that quite a bit. Your hand twitches a bit. From this angle, if you lunge quickly enough, you might be able to snatch the stuff she's holding before she can react. You tense up, and...

"That's probably not a good idea," she says to you. "You shouldn't be moving around so quickly just after you've woken up. Lily of the valley is some nasty stuff, after all." She grins. "Shameimaru Aya," she says, "reporter extraordinaire, at your service."

You glare at her, and she grins. "Anyway, it's not really my job to do this right now, but I suppose I can give you a rundown of the basics." She slides your cards back into your opened wallet, one by one, somehow managing to preserve the order that you had been keeping them in. "Welcome to Gensokyo," Aya says, once she's done. "The land you find yourself in now is one of fantasy and wonder, where the mundane and the supernatural walk hand in hand."

You look at her, completely and utterly confused. "Don't believe me?" she asks. You shake your head, and she produces a small folding fan from her shirt pocket. It snaps open, and she flicks it gently towards you, generating a massive gust of wind that rattles the walls and tousles your hair around, leaving you wide-eyed in surprise. "Anyway," she says, "now that introductions and whatnot are over with, that leaves me with the problem of how to deal with you." She sighs. "Really, why did Momiji have to drop you off with me?" Aya puts a hand on her chin, and chews slightly on her lower lip. "Where..." she mutters.

"Home?" you ask quietly, wincing again at the dull throbbing pain that emanates from your throat.

Aya shakes her head. "Getting you home won't be quite as easy as you might think. This place is... well, hidden, for lack of a better world, and travel across its borders is quite difficult. Consider yourself incredibly lucky - or perhaps incredibly unlucky, depending on how you want to look at it - that you managed to even get in here in the first place. No, you can't stay here, either, in case you were going to ask. My boss doesn't really like outsiders, so I can't really let you stay here for longer than a day or two. Of course, given the poison, there are certain extenuating circumstances, but even then I can only really go so far." She sighs. "No, your best bet is going to be either the village or one of the two shrines."

She looks at you. "So you really have three options," Aya says. "First is the human village. Keine's quite the nice person, and I'm sure she can get you set up here, and no doubt she knows a lot more about how to deal with Outsiders like you than I do. Of course, there's Sanae as well, up on the mountain. That'd be closest to here, and seeing as how she isn't exactly a native herself, you'd probably be able to relate to her better than anyone else here. And finally, there's the Hakurei Shrine. It's quite the hike, although I can fly you out there if you need me to. The important thing, though, is that Reimu's the one person you should talk to if you want to figure out how you got here. Or how to get back, for that matter."

She shrugs. "You can make your decision whenever, but I'd prefer it if I could get you out of here before sunset. If you pick right away, that'd be best, since I can make whatever preparations I need to make before we leave, and then we can head out after lunch, but really, if you need more time, that's fine too."

Aya shrugs and looks at you expectantly. It seems like she expects you to pick something, right on the spot. How inconsiderate. Really, how she expects you to make a decision like this at the drop of a hat is completely beyond you. Something about the way she said the word "outsider" sounded ominous though, and, from what she said, it seemed like your staying here would cause her trouble beyond mere inconvenience. And given that Aya obviously had some major part in your care and recovery, you'd prefer to avoid causing her more trouble than necessary.

You...

[ ] ...need more information. But what sorts of questions do you want to ask?
[ ] ...decide on the village. This "Keine" sounds like she has experience at helping people like you.
[ ] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.
[ ] ...decide on the further shrine. You really do want to figure out what happened to you, and going there seems like it'll be your best bet.
[ ] ...don't like any of these options. Surely there's something else you can do.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] ... decide on the further shrine. You really do want to figure out what happened to you, and going there seems like it'll be your best bet.

 

[Olive]

Will it be necessary to read Maribel Quest for this, or are the two going to be seperate?

[X] ... decide on the further shrine. You really do want to figure out what happened to you, and going there seems like it'll be your best bet.

 

[enthalpy]

Will it be necessary to read Maribel Quest for this, or are the two going to be seperate?

Click to shrink...

No knowledge of Maribel Quest will be required to participate.

 

[Megaolix]

[X] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.

As likely as it is that Reimu may have answers for us, let's consider the girl herself. Chances are that she'll give us a small explanation, leave it at that then boot us out.

That and I wonder if Renko had any knowledge of the Moriya Shrine before it moved. Or if she heard it vanished (when it moved).

 

[Redon]

[X] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.

 

[enthalpy]

So. There's a tie. If there's still a tie by this time tomorrow, I'll just pick one of the options that's been voted for and go with that.

 

[Jiven]

[X] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.

 

[Eopia]

[X] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.

 

[enthalpy]

[X] ...decide on the closer shrine. From what Aya has said, "Sanae" seems to have been through a similar situation to yours. It might be wise to seek her advice.

While you're sure that you could eventually find your way there, given some directions or a trail to follow, the fact that you've managed to get poisoned within minutes of arriving in this place does not bode well for your safety. What other hidden perils does this mountain hold? Treacherous paths, perhaps, that crumble underfoot, plunging the unwary down steep rocky slopes? Or maybe wild beasts secreted in the depths of the forests, waiting to pounce upon wayfarers? No, it would be for the best if you had a guide of some sort, at least until you figure out enough to make your own way around.

"I'd appreciate it if you could escort me up the mountain," you tell Aya.

She nods. "To the Moriya Shrine it is," Aya says, excitedly. "I'll go get some food for you, and we can leave as soon as you're done eating."

Soon enough, Aya returns with a bowl of rice porridge and pickled vegetables. It's quite the simple meal, plain and uncomplicated, presenting a sharp contrast that she seems to naturally exude. As you eat, she begins to ask you questions, some about your life in Tokyo, and others about the current state of the world. Despite the fact that your senses tell you quite clearly that only a day has passed since your excursion into the forest, it feels almost as if you'd been transported to some time in the distant past.

The complete and utter lack of any technological devices is strange - you can't find any of the tablets and smartphones or any other computing devices that are nearly ubiquitous in your life. For that matter, there's no light fixtures that you can see, either, no outlets or any other visible signs of wiring. In fact, the only thing that you can see in the room that you're in is a battered old SLR camera, one that looks like it's been through quite a bit.

It's obvious that you've found a place that's been secluded for quite some time from the greater whole of society. The fact that such a location can even exist in such a day and age is quite the miracle.

Despite your initial misgivings, Aya seems to be pleasant enough, apart for a tendency to ask about personal matters that she clearly has no business inquiring about. That particular quirk clearly has something to do with her self-proclaimed occupation. Still, she's fairly polite about the few intrusions that she makes, not pressing further if the questions she's asking are not ones that you're willing to answer, which is more than can be said about quite a few of your classmates. From what little you can glean about her own life through the way she words her questions, you gather that she runs a sort of local newspaper, one of the ones that concerns itself solely with news involving a small group of people, all of whom know each other. Judging from her apparent excitement at meeting you, your arrival is apparently the most newsworthy thing to happen in quite some time.

It doesn't take you too long to finish eating, but once you're done, you stand up, perhaps a bit unsteadily, and make your way outside. The view is breathtaking. Aya, it seems, lives on top of a rocky escarpment that overlooks the river valley and the forest below. Off in the distance, you can make out a faint white blur that marks the path from which you arrived here. From here, you can also see the village that you had considered as a potential destination, as well. It's still far enough away that you can't really make out any details, although, if you squint, you think you can make out what appears to be... fireworks? How strange.

Aya waits for you to finish gawking at the scenery before gesturing for you to follow, following a small trail up the mountain at a brisk pace, continuing to ask you about yourself as you walk, occasionally taking the time to scribble some notes in a small pad of paper that she keeps in her shirt pocket. It's a difficult hike - the pace is far faster than the leisurely strolls that you're used to - and, from time to time, you have to stop to catch your breath. The continuous conversation does serve to distract you from the physical rigors of climbing the mountain, though, and soon enough, you find yourself approaching the summit, even as Aya starts talking faster and faster, trying to squeeze in as many questions as she can before the two of you reach the summit.

Just before you reach the crest of the final ridge on the mountain, Aya stops you for a moment. She lets out a deep sigh and snaps her notebook shut. "I can't accompany you any further," she says to you. "I have some business of my own to take care of, so if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave now. You shouldn't have any issues finding or getting to the shrine - just keep following this path, and you'll get there pretty quickly." She smiles a bit and shakes her head. "Just keep in mind that you're visiting a shrine. It's worth spending the effort to pay your respects to the spirits in residence there."

"All right," you say.

Aya grins and claps you on the back. "Well, I'll be going, then. I'll see you around!" And with that, she charges back down the mountain, quickly disappearing off into the distance, her figure hidden by the dense foliage of the forest.

You stare after her for a few moments. Something about her demeanor there seemed a bit... off. To be perfectly honest, there's probably something about the shrine up ahead that Aya wants to avoid. While you're inclined to trust her judgement in bringing you to this place, the fact that she ran off so quickly makes you more than a little worried. Still, without her guidance, you doubt you'd be able to navigate your way back down the mountain, and you really do need someone to help you get back home, or, barring that, point you to something that will let you find your way back.

Maybe someone else would have stood there, hesitating, but you've never been one to waffle back and forth when it comes to choosing a path to take. Careful deliberation is useful, but the ability to feel each second ticking away, one after another, does not exactly lend itself to indecision. And just like that, you take the last few steps forward, and step up to the summit. Just as you step up to the very peak, you stop for a brief moment, looking up from the ground to take in your surroundings.

Aya really wasn't joking when she said that you wouldn't have any issues finding the shrine. Immediately in front of you, the ground slopes downward into a bowl-shaped depression in the mountain peak. A brilliant red torii marks the entrance to a moderately-sized shrine. Behind the wooden buildings, a giant lake sits, surrounded by a series of massive wooden pillars, filling the rest of the mountain peak.

The world here feels real. As you walk forwards, with each step, it feels almost as if the ground beneath your feet becomes richer, that the air here becomes clearer, that the colors of the leaves and the foliage become more vibrant than they were before. There's a scent that pervades the entire area - the smell of the earth after the first rains of the spring. With every step you take, your heart feels lighter. Just by being here, you feel at peace.

You walk slowly, taking the time to savor the peaceful atmosphere here. Even so, it's not long before you find yourself standing in front of the great gates to the shrine. Up close, the torii is even larger than you'd expected. It's height dwarfs even the slight rise that the shrine itself is built on, the top of the red crossbeams higher than even the roofs of the buildings of the shrine. There's a young woman there, about the same age as you, dressed in a simple t-shirt and pants, and sporting, of all things, verdant green hair. A shrine maiden, most likely, attending to her shrine.

As you approach, she pauses in her sweeping of the stairs up to the shrine buildings and looks up towards you. "Welcome to the Moriya Shrine," she says to you, giving you a slight bow. Judging from her lack of traditional attire and the clear tone of surprise in her voice, she probably wasn't expecting visitors.

You return the bow. "Aya sent me," you tell her. "She said that you could help me somehow?"

The woman's eyes brighten at that. "You've come to the right place," she says firmly. "I'm Kotiya Sanae. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm Usami Renko."

She nods, gesturing up the stairs. "Please, follow me."

The shrine building itself is a fairly typical example of Shinto architecture. There's a offertory box in the front, sitting in the shade of the roof. A thick braid of rope - a shimenawa - hangs low off of the eaves, stretching across the front of the shrine.

As you peer into the box, Sanae asks that you wait for a moment while she makes some preparations, and scurries off once you give your assent. She's probably gone to clean out some space inside and change clothing or something. From the completely empty box, it isn't hard to figure out that this particular shrine isn't very well-trafficked.

Without anything better to do, you reach into your bag and pull out a few hundred yen coins, tossing them into the box. You close your eyes and clap your hands together in front of you, making a sort of general prayer involving good health. The coins clatter around inside the box, and, as if on cue, Sanae reappears, this time dressed in a blue-and-white set of shrine maiden garb.

She leads you around the side of the shrine and then inside, down a short hallway, before stopping in front of a closed door that she slides open only to reveal an inky darkness. She fumbles for a moment against the wall, and with a click, a bright electric light on the ceiling turns on, revealing a moderately-sized room, empty save for a teaset sitting on a low table in the center and a small electric stove in one corner of the room.

You sit down at the table, and she settles down across from you, placing two mugs down on the table and pouring a cup of steaming tea for you. You both take a moment to take a sip. It's black tea, and very strong, almost to the point of being oversteeped.

"So," Sanae says brightly, once you put your mug down. "What can we do for you?"

"We?" you ask.

She laughs a bit and rubs the back of her head. "'We' refers to the shrine as a whole," Sanae explains. "Since you've come to me to request assistance, I am acting on behalf of the Moriya Shrine and all parties that that name encompasses."

You nod. It's a bit strange, but you suppose it makes sense. "I was hiking in a forest near Tokyo," you say, "and I somehow managed to find myself here. Aya mentioned that you could help me find my way back home?"

Sanae frowns. "You're from the Outside?" she asks.

"Outside?"

She sighs. "Just how much did Aya tell you about this place?"

"Not much. She said something about how this place is a land of fantasy and wonder, but she didn't tell me very much of actual substance."

"No wonder." Sanae shakes her head. "I'm not sure how you ended up with her, of all people, but she must've wanted you out of her hair as quickly as possible. Not that I can really blame her, though, considering how busy she is... Anyway, I suppose I can give you a rundown of what this world is."

You nod, and look at her intently as she begins to speak.

"This place you've found yourself in is called Gensokyo," Sanae says, pulling a piece of paper and a pen out of her sleeves, writing out the three characters for you to see. "As you might expect from the name, it's a home for the fantastic and the mystical. If there's some amazing deed or accomplishment that you can remember from myths or fairytales that you might have read about, it's likely that there's someone here who can perform that feat."

To be honest, it's all pretty straightforward, if a bit hard to believe at times. Apparently this 'Gensokyo' that you've found yourself in is a refuge, a sort of last bastion for all things magical, a place where youkai can live and where magicians can practice their art without having to worry about such inconveniences as 'physics'. And as for you, well...

"Having Outsiders arrive here is not a very common occurrence," Sanae says. "In the few years I've lived here, I can count on one hand the number of newcomers who've shown up at one of the shrines or at the village." She shrugs. "It's rare for someone to be associated strongly enough with the spiritual world to find their way here, if even by accident."

Associated strongly with the spiritual world? "I... I had a friend," you say. It's difficult to talk about it, especially now, after years of denying that such a thing had ever happened, but here, in such a place, maybe, must maybe it's possible... "We lived together, went to school together, did everything together. And one day, she just... disappeared, without a trace. One morning I woke up, and discovered that there was no trace of her existence, nothing to indicate that she'd ever lived in this world, save my own recollection. Maybe, do you think that..." It's not like you, to tell someone you've just met something that you've spent so much effort on keeping secret, but this is perhaps the only opportunity to try and resolve this conundrum that has plagued your life.

Sanae nods slowly. "I won't say that this person definitely existed," she says hesitantly, "but it's possible that the person you knew is someone who crossed over into this world and decided to stay. I don't know the specifics, but most of the Outsiders who decide to live out the rest of their life here choose to cast aside all attachments to their past. The Hakurei shrine maiden performs some sort of ritual that makes everyone Outside simply forget that they had ever existed." She shakes her head, letting out a deep sigh.

"Now, if you want to find your way home, I can take you to the Hakurei Shrine. It'll take some negotiation, but I can probably persuade her to send you back Outside. On the other hand, if you're looking to find this friend of yours instead, the Human Village is probably your best best. The Akyuu family and Miss Kamishirasawa keep a record of Gensokyo's history, and if you truly want to find out more about this friend of yours, they would be your most reliable sources of information on the matter." She shrugs. "If you want to head out there today, you should make your decision quickly - even I don't want to travel around after nightfall with all the youkai about, and as it is, there's a chance we won't make it in time. Of course, I can always just put you up here for the night, if you need more time to think."

You nod, but just as you begin to speak, Sanae cuts you off. "Oh," she says. "One more thing - if you want to go back Outside, you shouldn't stay here past tomorrow. The longer you stay, the more difficult it is to avoid being drawn back here, and the last thing you want to do is find yourself in the middle of the forest in the dead of night."

[ ] What do you do?

 

[Redon]

[X] You are here looking for your friend, so that's what you are going to do, head to the village.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] to the village for ze friend

 

[Olive]

[X] Head to the village at the soonest possible convenience.

 

[Megaolix]

[X] If she's unsure you'll make it in time, then politely ask to stay of tonight. As it is, you would have to ask someone else at the village for the night if you went now. And it's not like you'll find your friend that fast either.

No need to be hasty if it compromise safety.

By the way Redon, Renko forgot Maribel's name.

 

[Redon]

I did not, it's what Renko calls her.

「メリー、蓮台野にある入り口を見に行かない？」
蓮子がその話を持ちかけてきたのは二日前の事だった。
私達秘封倶楽部は、メンバーは二人だけど、良くあるただの霊能者サークル。
霊能者サークルだけど、普通みたいに除霊や降霊とかは好きじゃないの。
周りからはまともな霊能活動した事ない不良サークル、と思われてるけど……実はね。

"Mary, shall we go and see the entrance at the ghostly field?"
It was two days ago that she proposed so.
The Sealing Club, whose members are only the two of us, is an ordinary club for necromancers.
Yes, it's a club for necromancers, but we are not into ghost summoning or exorcising as the others do.
They just believe we are an incompetent group that doesn't do any proper activities of necromancy, but the truth is...

 

[Megaolix]

I did not, it's what Renko calls her.

「メリー、蓮台野にある入り口を見に行かない？」
蓮子がその話を持ちかけてきたのは二日前の事だった。
私達秘封倶楽部は、メンバーは二人だけど、良くあるただの霊能者サークル。
霊能者サークルだけど、普通みたいに除霊や降霊とかは好きじゃないの。
周りからはまともな霊能活動した事ない不良サークル、と思われてるけど……実はね。

"Mary, shall we go and see the entrance at the ghostly field?"
It was two days ago that she proposed so.
The Sealing Club, whose members are only the two of us, is an ordinary club for necromancers.
Yes, it's a club for necromancers, but we are not into ghost summoning or exorcising as the others do.
They just believe we are an incompetent group that doesn't do any proper activities of necromancy, but the truth is...

Click to shrink...

No, I mean she literally forgot.

Strange then, that, despite how you can so clearly recall what it felt to be with her, you can't remember her name.

Click to shrink...

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Head to the village.

No, there's no need to deliberate. You've made your decision already. This is the one and only chance you have to find out about the portion of your life that you've somehow unwittingly lost, and there's no way that you'd ever forgive yourself if you somehow pass up this opportunity.

And even if nothing comes of it, life here can't be that bad, can it? It isn't as if you have much of anything to return to - you have no intention of being a post-doc for the rest of your life, but the job prospects for someone in your field are not particularly bright, to say the least.

"Please," you tell Sanae, "lead me to the Village."

For a brief instant, the shrine maiden looks at you with an unreadable expression, some strange mixture of wistfulness and melancholy that you cannot quite identify. Then the moment passes, and she smiles at you, every inch the gracious host, and begins packing up the tea service with a quiet, simple ease that speaks of many hours of practice.

"Very well, then. We'll have to leave quickly to make it there before the sun sets." She smiles softly. "Since there's no one else available at the moment to lead you there, I'll serve as your escort for the day's journey."

The sunlight is almost blinding after your brief stint indoors, the harsh blue of the electric lighting no match for the blazing white radiance of the sun. You blink, trying to clear the spots out of your eyes, as Sanae stares up for a moment towards where the sun sits high in the sky, and nods, looking back down at you. "All right then. If you're ready?"

You make your way through the winding forest trails yet again, this time with yet another individual by your side. Unlike Aya, Sanae seems to prefer to keep to herself, filling the awkward silence with a toneless humming in lieu of hurried conversation. The melody seems strangely familiar to you, though it takes you a while to figure out just why that is. It is some children's song that has long since been forgotten by the modern world. You heard it once in a temple, one that you visited with... You stumble suddenly, the cadence of your footsteps interrupted by a sudden, throbbing headache.

Sanae reacts immediately, grabbing your arm to prevent you from tumbling off the path and down the mountain slope. "Are you all right?" she asks. "If you're feeling unwell, you're more than welcome to stay the night at the shrine."

You sit for a second, back to one of the mighty oaks that line the path and shake your head, massaging your temples and willing the pain to go away. "I'm fine," you say, acutely aware of how unconvincing you must appear. "I'll be fine," you say again. "I just need a moment to collect myself."

The shrine maiden only lets out a quiet sigh at that. "If you say so," she says dubiously. "Just tell me when you're ready to continue onward, then."

Your headache recedes almost as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind a few faint impressions in your memory. A few locks of long, golden hair. The smell of lilacs. A soft summer breeze blowing through a deserted temple. Disembodied memories, strange, fitful fragments of a life that you both did and did not live. You ponder those isolated recollections as you once again continue walking, you lost to your own musings, and Sanae with her quiet humming.

It is after an hour or so of silent introspection that you are interrupted by Sanae suddenly throwing her arm out in front of you, bringing your walking to a sudden halt. "Who's there?" she demands to the open air, her voice ringing in the silence. "Show yourself, youkai!"

For a second, you idly wonder if the she'd begun seeing things in the silence, to become so paranoid as to demand things of the deserted forest around you, but then, to your surprise someone does, in fact, materialize in front of you. It's a very tall, blonde woman dressed in a simple gown and blue-and-white tabard, complete with a strange white hat that resembles nothing so much as a pair of bloomers, though the first feature of hers that catches your eye is perhaps the most obvious - the number of furry, golden tails that wave in the air behind her back. Though you don't bother counting them closely, you don't doubt that there's nine of them.

You have to admit to yourself, that, even now, you hadn't truly believed Sanae when she'd told you about what this place truly was, that there was some small part of yourself that had whispered to you that this was all merely an elaborate prank at your expense. But this, perhaps better than anything else could possibly have done, has proven the truth of her words.

"Yakumo Ran," Sanae snaps. "What are you doing here?"

The fox-woman raises an eyebrow at the sudden bout of aggression. "I asked nicely, and the Tengu let me up the mountain," she says calmly.

"That's not what I meant," Sanae says heatedly, "and you know it. Answer the question."

"A little bird told me of our newest visitor, and I decided to give her a proper greeting," Ran says flatly. She turns to you and takes a glance at your features. For a second, as you stare back, unimpressed, you see something inscrutable pass through her eyes. "As the Lady Sanae said," she tells you, "I am Yakumo Ran. Warden and maintainer of these realms - or the closest equivalent, perhaps." Sanae looks surprised and somewhat confused at that declaration, opening her mouth to say something before evidently thinking better of it. "I am the one who maintains the barriers that maintain the boundary between this world and the one in which you resided," Ran says, seemingly unperturbed at Sanae's almost-interruption. "As such, your unexpected arrival here is, in some sense, my responsibility, and for that, I sincerely apologize."

That said, she closes her eyes, giving you a slight bow. Caught completely off guard, you return the gesture. "If you would like," she continues, "I can return you to your previous whereabouts with your person and your possessions intact."

"Now look here-" Sanae says angrily.

"It's all right," you interrupt, "but I'd rather stay here. Sanae has agreed to accompany me to the Human Village, and there are some inquiries that I would like to complete before making my leave."

A flash of something twitches across Ran's face as you make your refusal. "Very well, then," she says stiffly. "I hope you will find your stay within Gensokyo's borders enjoyable." And just like that, she is gone, just as suddenly as she had appeared.

Sanae waits for a few moments after Ran disappears, then groans, burying her face into her hands. "Why here," she mutters to herself. "Why now?"

It doesn't take long for her to collect herself, however, and soon enough, you're walking down the mountain once again. This time, though, you're not content to let to journey pass by in silence.

"Who was she?" you ask, a few minutes after Ran's disappearance into thin air.

"Yakumo Ran," Sanae says crossly. "The Ya-" she continues, before catching herself, looking at you appraisingly. "Well, suffice it to say that I am not particularly fond of her."

"I take it this is an unusual occurrence?"

Sanae nods. "It is certainly not her habit to greet every Outsider who finds themselves within these borders, else the Human Village would no doubt be over twice the size it is today." She sighs. "Please, let us not talk about the fox. It is not a subject I wish to dwell upon."

Though your mind brims with unanswered questions, you let Sanae keep her peace. She's obviously uncomfortable talking about whatever it is that's bothering her, and you have no desire - nor the means, for that matter - to force your guide to divulge what she is so clearly unwilling to offer.

One thing is certain, though. This place is brimming with secrets. You can only hope that you'll be able to find enough of the truth to satisfy your own curiosity and mend your broken memories.

The rest of walk is made in a taciturn silence. The previously amicable atmosphere as been irrevocably soured by Ran's brief visit, and nothing you say or do can recover it.

The sun is setting by the time that the Human Village looms on the horizon. Sanae stops at the edge of the forest, and gestures towards where the great gates of the village are clearly visible, silhouetted against the darkening horizon. "I'm afraid I can't accompany you any further than this," she says. "It's about half an hour's walk to the gates from here. Tell the guards you're looking for Kamishirasawa Keine, and they'll let you in."

"What about you?" you ask.

"I..." Sanae shakes her head. "I am not welcome there," she says softly, voice tinged with a hint of sadness. "It is a long story, and one that is best saved for another day. If you'd like to visit the Moriya Shrine another day, I could relate it to you then - the tengu will let you up so long as you're visiting the shrine."

"And you'll be fine making your way back in the dark?"

Sanae smiles at your concern. "I'll be fine. The youkai are not foolhardy enough to attack me, and even if I lost myself on the mountain, Aya and her kin would no doubt render me the assistance I needed." She sighs wistfully, and waves you off.

As you walk off, you look back over your shoulder from time to time, and each time, you see her watching you from the edge of the forest. She almost seems to want to follow you, but cannot, though for what reason, you do not know. Yet more mysteries about this place that you have yet to unravel, though the truth behind this one likely won't be that difficult to ascertain.

You're halted in your tracks by a shout and two nondescript guards even as the massive wooden gates loom above you. They're boys, really, young enough that had you met them before, it likely would have been as a tutor and not as a classmate. As promised, the mention of Keine's name is enough to let you in, though you decline to mention the identity of the one who brought you here.

Kamishirasawa Keine, as it turns out, is the village schoolteacher, with the stern look and demeanor to match her occupation. She greets you warmly enough, though, for someone who has shown up alone on her doorstep seeking help, and soon enough you find yourself freshly bathed and drifting off to sleep in a warm bed for the first time in a period which is actually two days, but which feels significantly longer. The events of the past forty-eight hours have been overwhelming, and even as slumber claims you, your thoughts are of dimly-remembered myths and folktales from your early childhood.

You awake with the dawn the next morning. Keine shares her food with you, simple fare that would not be uncommon in the more rural parts of modern Japan, but not a meal that you yourself are not unaccustomed to. She sits down with you over tea once everything has been cleaned.

"So," she asks. "Renko, was it?" You nod. "Renko, then. I understand that you've come to me looking for help. While there are some things that I cannot do, I will assist you in any way I can. But first, I would hear what you ask of me."

"I'm looking for a lost friend," you say. "Some years ago, I had a close companion during my college years who... vanished one day, without a trace. All I have left of her are scattered and fragmented memories, and I was told that you could help me find her again." Strange, that you would suddenly find this story that you've held tightly to yourself for so long so easy to tell, all of the desperate hopes you've clung to for these past years bubbling back up to the surface. Having someone to relate this tale to, someone who won't simply dismiss your words as idle fantasy, makes you feel almost giddy with relief.

"There is a chance," Keine warns you, "that we will find no traces of this lost friend of yours here, or that she will want to see you. Time changes people, some more than others." You nod your assent, and she continues. "Do you have any time frame for when she disappeared? Anything you can remember about her appearance, or her habits? Every little bit is helpful."

"It was... four or five years ago that she vanished. As to what I remember..." You frown, dredging up the half-remembered dreams that you'd almost taught yourself to forget. "Yellow hair," you say, slowly, "bright as the sun. She wore the color purple, said it matched who she was, I think. And I remember we would visit old and abandoned places..."

Keine frowns deeply as you recount your memories, and for a long moment after you finish speaking, she is silent. Then, she mutters quietly underneath her breath for a second before shaking her head violently. "I do not recall anyone by your description settling within this village in recent memory," she tells you. You let out a breath you hadn't realized you were holding, suddenly and acutely aware of a feeling of disappointment. "However," she continues, "I do not know everyone who lives here, and it is certainly possible that my memory has failed me on this." She lets out a deep breath.

"Akyuu of Hieda is our lorekeeper and historian, and she keeps comprehensive records regarding everything about this village. If there was information to be found on your missing friend, those archives would be your best bet for locating them. I can take you there and introduce you to her - most likely, all that she'll ask from you in return is a story of some sort. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't help you with the search for now - the villagers depend on me to keep their children in line. Of course, if you'd like to wait until the afternoon, when my classes are concluded, that would be fine as well. You'd be free to wander the village in the meantime. While I'm afraid the paper money in use Outside won't be of much use to you here, I can provide some small sum of cash for your use, if you'd like."

Either way, you're not going to be seeing Keine again once you part ways until the afternoon. In the end, the choice you make really just depends on how much you're willing to take advantage of Keine's generosity, and on whether or not you feel it necessary to at least get the general lay of the land, and see for yourself what the place where you may well spend the live in is like.

And if you have your own suspicions about Keine's behavior, you'll keep them to yourself. Secrets, mysteries, everywhere you look...

[ ] Go visit Akyuu now.
[ ] Take some time and wander the village.

 

[Jiven]

It's... alive ?



Time to read again from the beginning.

 

[Redon]

fuck, wrong post.... tries again

[X] Take some time and wander the village.

 

[Emral282]

[X] Go visit Akyuu now.

We were told not to dally earlier.