Renko's Story [Touhou]

[Nyrath]

[X] Go visit Akyuu now.

 

[Serous]

[x] Go visit Akyuu now.

 

[Malcolmo]

[X] Go visit Akyuu now.

 

[Pensive Rumination]

[X] Go visit Akyuu now.

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Go visit Akyuu now.

"I'd like to visit the lorekeeper now," you say.

Keine nods in assent. "Very well, then."

She leads you through the village at a brisk pace. There's a market in the town square, the vendors sitting on blankets spread out across the stone-paved street, a few bundles of vegetables or cuts of meat sitting out beneath the sky. They're farmers, you realize, skin browned and weatherbeaten from long hours spent out under the sun. A few of the townsfolk greet Keine as she walks by, and she waves to each of them in turn. It seems she's quite well-liked in the town.

Akyuu no Hieda lives in a large walled compound on the northern edge of the village. It comes into vision long before you actually reach the place, its red tile roofs poking over the high white walls. The place is easily the largest residence in the entire village, by far, though it's not entirely surprising, considering that it doubles as a library for old records, according to Keine.

Almost as soon as Keine announces your present at the main gates, you're greeted by a servant, who quickly ushers you inside and into a sitting room. Almost as soon as you sit down, before you've even had the time to do so much as glance at your surroundings, Akyuu sweeps into the room. She's a young woman in her early twenties, slight and frail, with a large white flower pinned in her silky hair. The flower looks... familiar. You feel like you've seen it somewhere before, though you can't really remember when or what significance it had.

"Tan hua," Akyuu says. You jerk backwards and blush a bit in embarrassment - you must have been staring, if your interest was that obvious. "Also called Queen of the Night," she continues. "A desert flower, one that blooms deep in the hours of night and disappears before morning." It truly is a beautiful flower. But for someone to willingly wear such a thing - it is quite inauspicious. "I am called Akyuu, and on behalf of the House of Hieda, I welcome you to our home."

"Lady Hieda," Keine says. "I-"

"Please, sensei," Akyuu says. "There's no need to be so formal. It hasn't been that long since I sat behind a desk in your classroom."

"Akyuu, then." Keine smiles, perhaps a bit ruefully. "I'm here on business, I'm afraid," she says, apologetically. "I'd love to stay for a while, but I have work to do. In any case, Miss Usami here would like to access to the village archives."

Akyuu turns to look at you. "Do you know what you're looking for?" she asks plainly.

You nod. "Records of new arrivals over a certain timeframe. A good friend of mine went missing some time ago, and I'd like to see if I can find her here."

"I'd be glad to help," Akyuu says. "For as long as you need it, my home is yours. All that I ask is that you tell me your own tale in return." She stands and gestures for you to follow. Keine excuses herself and leaves, and very soon, you're walking through the long corridors of the Hieda mansion.

The archives are much larger than you'd expected. It's a massive room packed from wall to wall with shelves, most carrying rows and rows of books of varying ages, though there's a few that hold piles of scrolls of all materials. Paper, cloth, and even a few that are made of bamboo slats, painstakingly tied together one strip at a time. It's the sort of place where you could easily lose yourself for days or even weeks, exploring old records from hundreds of years ago.

"We don't keep any official immigration records," Akyuu says to you as she leads you around the edge of the room. "Not like the ones I've heard they have Outside, at any rate. Instead, my family keeps the a comprehensive historical record of the village archived here. Every significant event in this village's history is logged here - births and deaths, arrivals and departures, major incidents. All held within this room." It's quite clear from the way that she speaks that Akyuu takes pride in her work. Not that it isn't something to be proud of, of course.

Akyuu points you to a shelf on the far side of the room where you entered. "These are the records from the past decade," she tells you. "You're free to look at anything you want, though I'd appreciate it if you would replace everything here in the proper order." She smiles at you. "I'm afraid I won't be able to assist you personally, but if you'd like I can send along one of the servants to help you."

It's a tempting offer, but, in the end, you have to decline. This is a personal matter, and you'd much rather avoid exposing your past to everyone you meet. It's still difficult to speak of those events, even years after the fact, and it doesn't help that you've retold the story more times in the past few days than you have in all the years before. It feels almost physically painful to tell other people about what's happened to you, like picking at an old wound that won't quite feel, and you doubt you'll ever be able to truly come to terms with it.

Even though you are going to be telling Akyuu your story at some point, probably very soon, you want to avoid it as much as you can. It's irrational. You know it is, and yet... Well, best not to dwell on such things.

For her part, Akyuu simply nods graciously and pats you gently on the shoulder before leaving you to your research.

Even with how meticulously everything is filed, it still take you quite a while to find the document you're looking for. A lot of the documents are notepads filled with writing, and still others are simply manila folders filled with newspaper clippings. Even though each and every file in this archive is labeled, it still takes a while to look through everything, simply due to the sheer number of things that you have to look through.

The book you're looking for is a record of arrivals from Outside, recorded by "the Ninth Child of Miare". It's a thick volume, written in what is evidently Akyuu's handwriting, a thin, spidery script that betrays a practiced hand and long hours spent writing. It's laid out almost like an encyclopedia, with a small sketch of the person in question by a name and a short written description, as well as a terse description of the circumstances under which they arrived at the village.

You flip though it quickly. None of the profiles catch your eye, though, and less than a quarter of the way through, the profiles abruptly end, with the rest of the book left completely blank. You stare in shock and dismay at the first blank page for a few moments. When you first saw just how thick that book was, you'd truly hoped that-

A shuddering sigh escapes your lips. Your legs give away under you, and you slump down against the shelf, the book itself dropping into your lap and falling shut with a muted snap.

Disappointment. All you can feel is a crushing disappointment. It feels stifling, weighing heavily upon you, driving away your breath. For a moment, you'd thought you'd finally found it, that you'd finally managed to recover those lost years of your life, that you'd found the reason why you've been suffering for all these years. And in one fell swoop, all that hope had been forcefully taken away. It is exhausting, that feeling.

You're still sitting like that, struggling to bring your turbulent emotions back under control, when Akyuu comes back. When she sees you sitting there, she hurries over to your side. "Are you all right?" she asks.

You shrug half-heartedly. "Well enough, I suppose."

Akyuu glances down at the book in your lap. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Nothing," you say bitterly. "Nothing at all."

"Come on," Akyuu says, extending her hand towards you. "Let's get you up." You stare dumbly for a moment before taking her hand, letting her help you up. "I came to ask if you'd like to join me for lunch," she continues, taking the book from you and expertly slotting it back onto the shelf where it came from. "I'm sure you'll feel better after you've eaten."

And you are hungry, you realize belatedly, the all-too familiar sour feeling settling into the pit of your stomach. "All right, then."

Lunch is a quiet affair. You don't have the energy or the inclination to speak, and Akyuu, perhaps correctly reading your mood, remains silent as well. It isn't until the dishes are finally cleared away that she finally speaks up.

"Would you like to talk about whatever is troubling you?" Akyuu asks. "I know you said you didn't find anything, but there's a chance that you might have missed something, and if I don't know what you're looking for, I don't have any means of helping."

For a second, you almost consider simply staying silent on the matter. But no, Akyuu deserves to at least know why you're here at her home. It's the least you can do in return for the hospitality that she's shown you. She listens to you quietly and politely as you tell your story, only speaking up to ask a few questions about the exact circumstances surrounding your arrival - details that you suspect are going to end up in your own entry in that that same book that you were looking through. Well, you did promise her a story, after all.

But when you get to describing the few details that you remember of your lost friend, Akyuu just sits there with a strange look on her face, and even after you're done speaking, she says nothing, obviously deep in thought.

"That description," she says slowly, "does not match that of anyone arriving at this village since I began my work some fifteen years ago."

You nod. You'd expected as much, seeing as you'd at least glanced at all the relevant records you could find within the time frame. Finding out about someone whose arrival hadn't been recorded in the archives would be miraculous, to say the least.

"But," Akyuu continues, "it is almost a perfect match for someone who hasn't been seen around here for some time."

"Hasn't been seen?" you ask.

She shrugs, seemingly unconcerned. "Youkai can generally take care of themselves, and that one is known for disappearing for years at a time. It's not exactly as if she made it a habit to visit here, at any rate." She frowns. "I honestly know very little about her, and much of what is written about her in the Chronicles is based on hearsay and not any concrete evidence. I'd tell you to ask the Hakurei about her, but every single shrine maiden from that family has been remarkably tight-lipped about the matter."

"And her name?"

Akyuu glances around the room for a moment, as if looking for hidden eyes and ears, and leans in close to your face.

"Yakumo," she hisses, spitting out the word as if it were a curse, "Yukari."

She sighs, settling back down into her seat with a quiet thump. "In any case," Akyuu says wearily. "You're more than welcome to continue exploring the archives or ask me about anything about Gensokyo you're not familiar with, if you wish. Alternatively, if you want to travel somewhere, whether it is inside or outside the village, I'd be happy to arrange an escort for you. And, of course, if you need a place to stay for the night, you're free to stay here." She smiles wanly, her earlier excitement having suddenly disappeared. "I'm sure sensei has already offered to let you stay with her, but she really is quite busy - she's the type of person who will take on every task asked of her and never admit that she needs help."

[ ] Stay with Akyuu and try to better your understanding of this place.
[ ] Go back through the archives. Maybe there's something you missed?
[ ] Wander around the village.
[ ] Visit somewhere.

 

[Redon]

[X] Wander around the village.

Time to digest what we've learned.

 

[UrsaTempest]

[X] Wander around the village.

Tempted to hit the book now that we have a name, but eh. Let's look around, shall we?

 

[Heaven Canceler]

[X] Stay with Akyuu and try to better your understanding of this place.

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Wander around the village.

You blink a few times after stepping outside. After spending the entire morning indoors, the noonday sun is nearly blinding in its brightness. Akyuu, quite generously, gave you a few strings of cash before you left for spending money. While you're unfamiliar with the currency used here, you doubt it's a substantial sum. Still, you appreciate the gesture, nonetheless.

Almost as soon as you step away from the Hieda manse, you find yourself lost. The village is not unlike most old towns you've visited, with streets and buildings having grown organically, without any centralized planning. Although you're confident in your ability to find your way around, it's still easy to lose yourself among the winding streets and tiny alleyways.

Wandering around without a destination in mind is strangely relaxing. You don't really get the chance to do that very often, nowadays. Not with the ever-present pressures of modern life nipping at your heels. While you studied, there was always a quiet voice in your head urging you to finish your education quickly and find a way to support yourself, but here, that voice has gone silent. Add to that a level of tranquility, a certain degree of peace and quiet that simply isn't possible in the middle of a major urban city, and you find yourself at ease for the first time in years.

Slowly, you wander through the narrow streets of the village at a leisurly pace, letting your feet carry you where they will.

It's the kind of feeling you've almost forgotten. There's always been something pushing you to do more, to hurry on with your life. You suspect that that friend of yours must have had something to do with it, in the past, just as her memory is what drives you here, on a frantic search in a strange land.

You hadn't expected to find anything, really. You'd hoped, yes. But hardly expected.

Your own years of fruitless search had left you resigned to never finding out the truth behind your past. And then you'd found yourself in a hidden place, untouched by the ravages of time, and you had committed an offence you had sworn to never make again.

You'd hoped. You'd hoped that somehow, you'd be able to resolve your conundrum, that you'd be able to find what you were looking for here, that everything would resolve itself in time. You'd hoped beyond all hope, and in the end, you've had that last lifeline dissolve in your hands.

It is the last time you will make such a mistake.

But despite your best efforts, Akyuu's last, parting words echo in your head, refusing to let themselves be silenced. And above it all, one question rises up to the forefront?

Just who is Yakumo Yukari?

For someone who'd invited you into her own home without a second thought, Akyuu had been remarkably reticent about telling you much of anything about that mysterious figure. And while you don't doubt that there is, in fact, very little of substance known about this Yukari, you suspect that there's things Akyuu isn't telling you. Not that you really blame her, of course. You probably wouldn't tell your life story to a stranger you'd just met, after all.

There's something vaguely ominous about that name, though. Maybe it was just the way Akyuu said it, but as soon as you mouth the sounds, it sends strange shivers down your spine, and you get the distinct and unpleasant feeling that you are being watched.

Though that could just be the villagers. This definitely an insular group of people, and while the few villagers you pass by don't exactly go out of their way to stare at you as you walk past, you can tell that you aren't exactly trusted. Here, you're a stranger. An outsider, or Outsider, as the case might be. While having been seen with both Keine and Akyuu seems to have mollified these people a bit, you've still a long way to go when it comes to gaining their trust.

But no, now is not the time to worry about these things. Now is the time for you to simply walk around and relax, to forget all of your troubles for the moment.

There's a lot of preparation going on in the village, preparations for some upcoming festival. Though you don't bother asking just what exactly is being celebrated, from what you gather, it's one of the rare times each year that youkai are openly allowed inside the village. For now, though, there's a lot of construction and far less festival.

Busy as it is with the preparations, though, the market is still as busy as you'd expect, with farmers from out of town hawking their produce, and no small number of food stalls sitting by the side of the road, savory smells wafting across the street.

For now, though, you're not exactly hungry, not when you've just finished eating with Akyuu not so long ago.

Instead, you keep walking, and soon enough, you find that your feet carry you...

[ ] ...to a strange-looking bookstore with a bespectacled proprietor.
[ ] ...towards Keine's schoolhouse, a swarm small children playing just outside.
[ ] ...past the great gates of the village...
--- [ ] ...and on to an import shop of some sort, located not far down the road.
--- [ ] ...and down the road, on to a small shrine of some sort in the distance.

 

[Redon]

[X] ...towards Keine's schoolhouse, a swarm small children playing just outside.

So about them history teachers... Be a good place to look for clues no?

 

[UrsaTempest]

[X] ...to a strange-looking bookstore with a bespectacled proprietor.

Well, we do want to hit the book, yes?

 

[Gideon020]

[ ] ...towards Keine's schoolhouse, a swarm small children playing just outside.

 

[Olive]

[X] ...to a strange-looking bookstore with a bespectacled proprietor.

That's right, this quest is a thing. I had forgotten.

 

[ReinZero]

[X] ...to a strange-looking bookstore with a bespectacled proprietor.

 

[enthalpy]

[X] ...to a strange-looking bookstore with a bespectacled proprietor.

There is, you notice belatedly, a bookstore in the village. It's housed in a battered-looking building tucked away in a far-off corner. No surprise you'd missed it before, then. "Suzunaan," the weathered sign reads, the red coloration of the colors slowly chipping away from the action of wind and rain. In small, almost indecipherable lettering, "Purveyor of Fine Books" is etched under the name of the shop, almost as an afterthought.

Well, it's as good a place to go as any other, you suppose. It's not like you don't have time to spare, after all, not with an entire lifetime ahead of you.

A bell chimes softly as you push aside the flap of cloth that covers the entrance to the store, stepping inside and into the darkness. Almost immediately, you're assaulted by the distinct smell of old paper, that unique scent of ink and dust and decay that can only come from a collection of dozens upon dozens of mouldering tomes.

The shopkeep is a young girl with a pair of almost comically oversized glasses perched on top of her nose, her short reddish hair done up in a pair of pigtails, one on either side of her head. She looks up as you enter, setting aside the book she'd been reading before you'd arrived.

"Welcome to Suzunaan," she says. "Is there something I can help you with?"

You shake your head. "Just browsing," you tell her.

The girl hums quietly, giving you an appraising look. "You the newcomer?" she asks.

"Is it that obvious?"

"News travels fast in a town of this size," she says simply. "Keine's quite well-regarded by most of the townsfolk, and when someone's seen in her company, people take notice." The girl smiles at you. "Well, let me know if you find something you like."

You nod in assent and go back to looking through the shelves. She's right, of course. This village, this Human Village is nothing at all like the metropolis you'd lived in before. It's the kind of small, insular town you've only ever heard about in the news, where everyone knows everyone else. In metropolitan Japan, you could always find somewhere to go, some place to hide where no one knew who you were, where you could be content with your anonymity.

But here, there's nowhere to hide, no teeming masses of humanity to disguise your existence among, nowhere to escape your identity, if only for a blessedly short period of time.

No. You came here to relax, not to ruminate on what you've lost in deciding to stay in this strange new world. You shake your head, clearing away the dark thoughts from your mind and forcing yourself to focus on looking through the books that line the shelves.

There's tomes of all descriptions on the shelves in this shop - everything from freshly printed textbooks to old, handwritten manuals, complete with twine bindings and flimsy, almost translucent paper - covering every conceivable subject. You think you spot a copy of your graduate textbook on astrophysics, of all things, its glossy spine standing out amongst the dull paper covers of the slim volumes surrounding it.

There's quite a few volumes that catch your eye. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be caught dead reading some of these books - you pride yourself on being a rational person, and the study of mysticism in all its forms is something that is, in some sense, the antithesis of what you are and what you pride yourself on being. But now that you're here, in a hidden place so obviously inundated with magic, now that you've been presented with very real proof of the supernatural, the old tales about spirits and strange creatures of all varieties have suddenly acquired a new appeal.

Despite yourself, however, you can't seem to muster up the focus to sit down somewhere in the shop and while away the hours with a book in your hand. There's too much going through your head, too many things for you to think about for you to even think about calming yourself enough to truly concentrate on reading anything.

You hear the soft rustling of cloth as the shopkeep shifts from her seat behind the counter. "Are you all right?" she asks, looking at you with a vague look of concern. "You've been staring at the wall for... For a while, now."

You shake your head. "I'll be fine," you say, more to convince yourself than anything else.

She shrugs. "I'm going to be closing up soon. If you have any purchases in mind, would you mind making them now?"

"Not today," you say after a moment. "There were a few interesting things I saw, but I'll have to think about it some more."

The girl nods. If she's disappointed at all, she certainly doesn't look it. "Well, feel free to stop by whenever you'd like. Even if you're not buying, it's nice to have someone else around."

The sun has already begun to set by the time you step outside, bathing the entire village in its deep red-orange light. It seems that you've tarried longer in the bookstore than you'd initially intended. Nightfall approaches swiftly, but as the thin shadows slowly grow longer and longer, you find yourself strangely energetic. Maybe it's because you've spent the entire day doing nothing of consequence.

Whatever the reason, you find yourself oddly tempted to continue your wanderings around the village. Admittedly, it may not be the wisest course of action. You've been cautioned quite a few times about being outside the village walls at night. Then again, as long as you remain near enough to the village, you should be fine, right?

Regardless, you'll need to figure out where to stay. Maybe, in the future, you can look into acquiring more permanent lodgings, but for now, you do need a place to sleep. If you do plan on taking up either Keine or Akyuu on their offer to let you stay with them while you sort out your business, though, it'd probably be for the best if you left the exploration for tomorrow. You would be quite the poor guest if you showed up in the dead of night, after all.

[ ] What do you do?

 

[UrsaTempest]

Hmm...
Nah, I don't know where to go. I think about the only offer we receive is, well, by Keine and Akyuu. Any suggestion, everyone?

 

[Redon]

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

 

[Lement]

Love for Akyu? Not this fic, not this time.

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

 

[nightblade]

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

 

[Nyrath]

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Head to Keine's for the night, you'll think about the tough stuff tomorrow when you have had more time to digest what you've seen today.

The sun has slowly begun creeping over the horizon by the time you make it to back to Keine's place, the red light of the setting sun gradually darkening to blue and black as the color slowly drains from the world. You return to Keine's house soon enough - now that you have a destination in mind, the dense maze of alleyways doesn't prove difficult to navigate.

Not that it'd be difficult to find in the first place, of course. Even from a distance, her house is brightly illuminated by the bright lights shining from inside, a sole blazing beacon in the middle of a sea of darkness.

Keine ushers you inside quickly when you arrive at her door. There's a half-eaten meal on the table next to a pen and a thick stack of what looks to be half-graded homework sitting on the ground nearby, illuminated by a bright kerosene lantern.

"Akyuu came by earlier and told me you'd likely be staying with her for the time being," Keine tells you apologetically. "I had not anticipated your arrival. I'm afraid I do not have anything prepared for you at the moment, but give me a few minutes, and I can get something simple for you for dinner."

"Food can wait until later," you tell her, looking at the papers by the table. "You seem to be busy at the moment, and I'd hate to interrupt you in the middle of something important." If you'd known that Keine had this much work to take care of, you might've taken up Akyuu on her offer instead.

"No, not at all," Keine tells you. "You're my guest right now, and it is my duty as a host to make sure that everything you need is taken care of."

"Are you sure?" you ask. "I'd hate to impose-"

"Nonsense," she says firmly. "It will not be any trouble at all."

It's not long before you find yourself sitting in front of bowl of rice and some pickled vegetables of unknown description. Keine really wasn't kidding when she'd said it would be 'simple,' was she? Not that you're complaining, of course.

"I will not ask you whether you found what you were looking for or not," Keine says, once you're done eating. "That's your own business, and I have no intention of prying." She glances down at the homework she's grading, making a few final marks before tossing it on top of the pile with the rest. You glance at it and the student in you gives a pained wince. That's quite a bit of red there.

"However," she continues, "I'd like to know if you're planning on staying here or heading back Outside. If you do not intend to stay, then it would be for the best if you left promptly. Either way, there are arrangements I will need to make, and the sooner I have an answer, the better." She takes in a deep breath. "I understand that this may seem sudden, but p-"

"It's all right," you say softly, cutting her off. "I understand."

You've made up your mind on this already, haven't you? You've known what your answer to this question would be ever since that day those years ago, that day when everything changed. And really, when there's nothing at all for you to return to, isn't the answer obvious?

"I..." The words you're trying to say seem to swell up in your throat, gathering there in a thick lump that refuses to go away. You grimace and swallow thickly.

Why? You made this decision before, didn't you? You'd told yourself once that there was nothing worth living for, almost - but not quite - managed to convince yourself of that. So why is it so difficult to renounce your past? This is what you want. You're sure. You're sure of it.

"I... I want to stay," you manage to choke out. "There- There's nothing left for me out there..." You trail off.

Keine gives you a faint nod and a weak smile. "If that is what you wish," she says gently. When you first met her, you thought Keine was only a few years older than you at most. But right now, she looks as if she bears the weight of the ages upon her shoulders. In this very moment, when you look at her, you see not the young schoolteacher you saw when you first met her, but someone impossibly, unfathomably old. And when her gaze falls upon you, it feels almost as if she can see you. It feels like she can see the very core of your being. It scares you.

"Why?" you ask quietly.

She lets out a sigh, and that moment is over, gone as quickly as it had come. "Why am I helping you?" You nod, and she takes that as a cue to continue. "It is my job," she tells you simply. "Suffice it to say that no one else wanted the responsibility, and so it fell to me."

That's... Not a very good explanation, is it?

Keine smiles again. "It grows late," she says. "If you have any more questions, perhaps they can wait until the morning, yes?"

"All right, then." While you're not exactly tired at the moment, you'd be a poor guest if you forced her to stay up with you.

It takes you a long time to fall asleep, and when you finally do, you sleep fitfully, your slumber interrupted by strange nightmares that flee your mind as soon as you awaken, sheets drenched with cold sweat.

Keine's already up and about by the time you finally awaken, breakfast already laid out at the table.

"So," she says, once you're done eating. "Do you feel a bit better today?" You nod weakly. You're tired, and you really didn't sleep well last night, but you do feel a lot better about yourself. Maybe it's the finality, but now that you've made the decision, it sits a lot better with you.

"That's good," she says brightly. "I have some free time today, so if there's anything you need help with, don't hesistate to let me know." Keine sits back for a moment and frowns. "Of course, since you're planning to stay, we need to meet with the Hakurei shrine maiden."

She sighs, all of her earlier enthusiasm vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Yes, it's probably best to get that done and over with as soon as possible." Keine cracks open the door and glances outside. "Overcast today," she mutters to herself. "Likely to rain later, I think."

"Where are we going?" you ask after a moment, as Keine rummages around in a closet, eventually producing two battered-looking umbrellas.

"The Hakurei Shrine," she says, handing you an umbrella. "It's far enough away from the Village proper that I'm not comfortable sending you there without an escort of some kind."

"This is for that ritual that breaks off any contact with the Outside?" You remember that shrine maiden on the mountain telling you about it. What was her name again? Sanae?

Keine turns to you and nods. "Yes, it is." She looks at you curiously before shaking her head. "The less we have to deal with that woman the better."

The road to the Hakurei Shrine is an crumbling stone path. The pitted surface of the cobblestone seem almost to fracture beneath your feet, the old pavement weathering away step by lonely step.

Keine walks quickly, as if driven by some unseen pressure, pushed on by some urgent task that requires the utmost haste. It's a fast, unrelenting pace that leaves no energy for talking, no time for sightseeing, only the muffled crunch of gravel underneath your feet.

Even with the speed at which you're walking, it takes almost an hour to reach the shrine. Even from a distance, you can tell that the red gates that mark the entrance are dilapidated, patches of paint chipped and fading, leaving the torii with a sickly, patchy appereance. Just from that, you would've expected a poorly maintained shrine, the courtyard choked with weeds, perhaps, and the shrine building itself badly in need of repair.

But the steps that lead up the hill that the shrine is built on are clean and smooth, with none of the signs of decay of that the road that leads up to them so clearly exhibits. Keine takes the steps two or three at a time, and very quickly, you find yourself at the top, only to find a shrine like any other. A bit old, perhaps, but clean, and very evidently in good repair.

It's also deserted. Hesitantly, you follow Keine forward to the donation box. You watch as she almost casually tosses a few copper coins inside, and then proceeds to glare at the doors to the shrine proper.

A few minutes pass, and the silence begins to grow uncomfortable. Maybe she's not in at the moment? You're about suggest that you return another day when the entrance to the shrine building slams open, revealing... a little girl with horns? You blink. Is this the shrine maiden that Keine was telling you about?

"Oh," she mutters. "It's you."

"Yes, it's me," Keine says frostily. "Is Hakurei Reimu here?"

The girl looks at you for a moment, then back at Keine. "Yeah, I'll go wake her up, I guess," she says, disappearing back into the building. After a moment, you can hear shouting and a few crashes from inside, and at long last, a woman about your age dressed in red and white stumbles out, yawning as she walks.

"Keine," she says flatly, "what a pleasure to see you here."

Keine gives her a withering look. "This is," she says, a look of disapproval etched into her features, "Usami Renko. Renko, this is Hakurei Reimu, resident shrine maiden here at the Hakurei Shrine, and the one who will be conducting the ceremony for you today."

Reimu looks blankly at Keine for a moment. "Oh," she says, turning to you. "Pleased to meet you," she says, sounding much more sincere.

You nod. "Likewise."

"Before we begin," Reimu continues, "if there's anything you want to get from your home, any personal effects or things like that, now's the time."

Well, now that you think about it, there's a few items that you'd like to get. It would be nice to be able to have your textbooks with you, or maybe a computer, if that's possible. There was electric lighting in that other shrine, wasn't there? But beyond that, having a some extra sets of clothes would be nice, on top of a few other things that would make your life a lot easier.

"There's a few things," you say.

Reimu nods. "Just think of where you want to go, and walk through that door over there," she says, pointing to what looks like a small shed on the edge of the shrine grounds, "and it'll take you there."

You nod and walk towards it, thinking intently of that small apartment you lived in.

"One person only!" Reimu snaps, from behind you.

"I refuse to let anyone get stranded Outside on my watch," Keine says flatly. "I've heard stories about some of the things you've done."

It seems like this argument isn't going to resolve anytime soon. Maybe it should be up to you to make a decision?

[ ] What do you do?

 

[Redon]

[X] Thank Keine for the show of support but some things you just have to do alone.
-[X] After all you've been through to get here it's not like she can stop you from trying again for the rest of your life. That is unless she's willing to destroy everything that makes you well... you.
--[X] But hey, if she wants to doom a soul to either wander back into Gensokyo's wilderness again or become a lifeless shell then go ahead and pull something, you dare her.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] Thank Keine for the show of support but some things you just have to do alone.

 

[khang36]

[X] Thank Keine for the show of support but some things you just have to do alone.
i wander if Renko has any of the stuff Maribel picked up from her 'dreams' of gensokyo or are those gone too?

 

[enthalpy]

[X] Thank Keine for the show of support, but some things you just have to do alone.

"There are rules, Kamishirasawa," Reimu says angrily. "Not that you would care to fol-"

You lay a gentle hand on Keine's shoulder, just as she's about to retort with some undoubtedly scathing words of her own. "It's all right," you say tiredly. "I'm grateful for your concern, but there are some things that I need to do on my own."

Keine turns to look at you and opens her mouth to say something, wincing and visibly biting back her words. She takes in a deep breath and lets it out, a single explosive exhalation. "Very well then," she says, perhaps a bit grudgingly. "If that is what you want."

"And as for you," you say, turning back to Reimu. "I've gotten here once already. You can try as much as you want to lock me out, but there's nothing you can do to stop me from trying to find my way back here."

Reimu, for her part, looks distinctly unimpressed. "Any time you're ready," she says, sounding bored. "The sooner you can get this done with, the better."

Thinking intently of your apartment, you walk to the shed and step through the door. In that moment, something changes. You blink, and when you open your eyes once more, you find yourself back in the interior of your apartment in Tokyo, untouched during your absence.

Well, mostly untouched, at least.

You don't recall your front door opening onto a expanse of pure darkness the last time you were home.

Now's not the time to think about these things, though. Best not to keep Reimu waiting.

You don't have much to collect. A battered old piece of luggage, stored in one of your closets. Clothing and blankets, some toiletries, a few notebooks, some of your college textbooks, your laptop. All the scattered pieces of your life, gathered in one neat bundle. It's kind of depressing, to be honest, how you can collect almost everything you own into that one small suitcase. Wholly twenty-five years of life, and yet so very little to call your own.

It doesn't take long to gather those scant few items you'll be taking with you, and once you're done, you slowly slump down, all of your nervous energy from before evaporating in an instant. There's something about seeing everything all gathered in one place that makes you stop and think about just what you're doing.

But you've made the decision already, haven't you?

Why then, is it so difficult to just pack up and leave? Haven't you already mustered up the resolve to leave this life behind?

Strange. You've never been one to dither over the important decisions before. There's never anything to be gained from indecision. You're all too painfully aware that your problems won't go away if you ignore them. When something demands prompt resolution, you won't gain anything from putting it off until later. For better or for worse, making no decision is often far worse than making the wrong decision.

But still you hesitate.

You slump down just sit there for a while, and staring dumbly at the remnants of your past life. Where do you go from here? Do you just pack up and leave? Turn your back on this world and everything it represents?

Or is there still something tying you to this, the world of your birth? You've told yourself before that there's nothing you're not willing to do to recover those lost years of your life. But is that really true?

No. The more you ruminate on this, the less likely it is that you'll come to a decision. Now's a time for decisiveness, not for hesitation.

You heave yourself to your feet and grab your luggage, marching through your doorway and into the darkness without a single glance backwards, head held high. Almost as soon as you've stepped outside, the door to your apartment slams shut behind you, leaving you stranded in the darkness.

For a moment, you wonder what to do. Reimu hadn't exactly given you detailed instructions on how to get back, and Keine's biting recriminations... Well, you wouldn't exactly say that you're worried about getting stranded here, but it's not exactly an impossibility, either.

Blindly wandering around isn't going to do you much good, not when you don't even know which direction you're expected to go in, and some feeling around reveals that the apartment door that had just been behind you has seemingly vanished.

And so, with nothing better to do, you decide to sit down and wait, with nothing but the muted sounds of your own breathing to keep yourself company.

Seeing nothing, you decide quickly, is not something you want to experience any longer than necessary.

Just as you're starting to wonder if Keine really had been right about everything, a single beam of dark red light pierces through the inky blackness, shining down upon you like some sort of heavenly spotlight. Despite its dimness, it's almost blindingly bright.

Slowly, the darkness recedes as the light grows brighter and brighter, leaving you blinking away spots in your eyes.

When your vision clears, you jerk back in shock and surprise. There's eyes here, hundreds and hundreds of them, each and every one of them staring at you, bathed by a dark red glow. You're standing on something, though whatever it is, it's certainly not something you can see. As far as you can tell, it's just you here, alone and standing in the midst of a sea of eyes.

You screw your eyelids shut, willing everything to be a dream. Surely, when you open them again, everything will have gone away. This is a dream, all just a bad dream, and...

The quiet swish of cloth heralds the arrival of someone else to this plane.

It's that fox-woman from before, the one that that shrine maiden - what was her name again - had confronted, the one who'd offered to return you back home.

"Usami Renko," she says, her voice somehow echoing in this red-illuminated void. It's more of an announcement than anything else, a simple statement. "How on earth did you manage to find your way here?"

A half-formed giggle slips past your lips as you try to - and fail at - trying to prevent yourself from breaking out into hysterical laughter. "How, you ask? How? That damned shrine maiden-!"

The lady sighs. "It seems," she says stoically, "that there has been a bit of an error." With a wave of her hand, the eyes disappear, leaving behind a sitting parlor that look more like it belongs in the your old textbooks on Victorian Europe than in a Japanese home, complete with a low table and plush-looking upholstered chairs. "Sit," she says firmly, "and I'll send you on your way presently." She gestures towards one of the chairs, and you all but collapse into it, your legs folding under you. "I think it would be in your best interests to some time to calm down before I sent you on your way," she observes. "Tea?"

You nod weakly. "It'd be appreciated, Miss..." She'd told you her name again, hadn't she? What was it again? It had something to do with a color, you think. Aoko, maybe? No, that doesn't seem right. Perhaps it was...? Yes, that sounds right. "Miss Yukari?"

The kitsune seems to choke on nothing. "Ran," she says, after her coughing fit subsides. "Yakumo Ran."

You laugh, perhaps a little nervously. You'd just remembered her name wrong, right? There's no need for such a strong reaction to something trivial like that. "My apologies."

She nods and produces a tea set from somewhere, pouring out a cup for you before disappearing as mysteriously as she'd arrived. Gyokuro, and of a very high quality. It's the kind of tea that you probably wouldn't have been able to hope to afford on a students' budget, the kind you've learned to associate with overly high prices and pretty packaging.

This kind of drink is a rare treat, and deserves to be savored. Slowly but surely, you sip your way through that one cup of tea, letting yourself bask in the light aroma and the faintly sweet taste.

And just as you finish the last bit of your tea, and place your mug back on the low wooden table, the your seat disappears from under you, dropping you on the dirt ground.

You blink. This looks like the inside of a shed. And judging from the sounds of shouting from outside, you're back at the Hakurei shrine.

Hmph. What a rude sendoff. And not even a word of farewell, either. Though, from the abruptness with which Ran just dropped you here, you suspect you've offended her somehow, though you're not quite sure just how you've managed to do so. At least you still have all of your luggage with you.

You're about to shove the door open and announce your return when a thought occurs to you. This whole event seems to have dredged up some sort of old animosities. Maybe you should listen in on this argument?
It's only after you step outside that you think to wonder - just how did Yakumo Ran know your name?
[ ] Keine and Reimu seem to have some sort of history. Maybe you'll learn something about it if you listen in?
[ ] No, this is a bad idea. If Keine has secrets, she'll share them with you on her own time.

 

[Redon]

[X] No, this is a bad idea. If Keine has secrets, she'll share them with you on her own time.

No poisoning the well... After all Reimu's the best way to find Yukari and getting an even worse impression of her is the last thing we need.

 

[Biigoh]

[X] No, this is a bad idea. If Keine has secrets, she'll share them with you on her own time.

 

[Lement]

[X] Keine and Reimu seem to have some sort of history. Maybe you'll learn something about it if you listen in?
-[X] Interrupt them if they are arguing about your disappearance.

This seems like interesting, but on the other hand if we can solve a misunderstanding Keine and Reimu will perhaps apologize to each other? /Completely Unwarranted Shipping

 

[MobiusOneDT]

[X] No, this is a bad idea. If Keine has secrets, she'll share them with you on her own time.

Secrets must be revealed on their own time.

So real talk, back in the summer of 2012 what originally attracted me to SpaceBattles were the posts in the War Room and Maribel Quest of all things. So seeing this makes me really happy.