Chapter Text
A good fight to visit the mountain gods, but as I write it was just under the might of the crows.
[x] Basically any tengu. They own a large swath of the place, even if it’s a ways up someone might know something pertinent.
It’s easy enough to understand the best people to ask for information. The tengu are entirely about information, after all. But in the same right, telling them anything always has a chance of making things worse.
Well, let me think about this. What is the worst case scenario here? They make a news article about Kagiyama being a misfortune bomb, even affecting herself now, and someone shows up to destroy her.
… Yeah that’s pretty f*cking bad. Let me run through who else to ask for help. Literally anyone would be better.
I start writing a list of names in my notebook that I remember from the Gensokyo chronicle sections. Both the Symposium and Perfect Momento have some candidates that could help. However, a couple of individuals only listed on a news article I remember strikes me as the most fitting. Jo’on and Shion Yorigami, a couple of what are known as ‘pestilence gods.’ Their descriptions were markedly similar to Kagiyama. Well, their godly natures, I mean. Shion especially was effectively a source of misfortune to Kagiyama’s sink, so she might know what could cause this amount of energy like we are currently seeing.
“Any decision?” Ran asks over her shoulder as she starts to send paper dolls off into the distance.
“How hard would it be to find the Yorigami sisters?” I ask in response.
“Difficult, not to mention suicidal,” Ran replies without delay. “Perhaps you are not in a stable frame of mind after seeing the kappa injured.”
“No, Ran, I’m completely fine. I’m thinking about who would be best to ask about the current topic.”
She stops what she’s doing for a moment to scold me. “Think on your wellbeing, then. The Yorigamis are more likely to be hostile than helpful to anyone that should seek them out. That isn’t to mention their personal variants of spreadable misfortune,” she says.
“And what would your idea be?” I ask. “Give me an alternative.”
“The goddess Suwako Moriya of the same named shrine is partially a misfortune god. There’s nearly no likelihood for her to hold hostilities should any inquiry on the matter be given,” Ran answers back.
I think on it for a moment, and say, “While that’s definitely better, why the hell would she help us? I don’t think we’d have anything that she could want, right?”
“Sorry to butt in, but shouldn’t you just go up the mountain and ask around?” says an unknown voice. A white haired woman walked up without our notice and offers a curt wave.
I’m surprised to see anyone else out here, since we’re still in the ‘cursed’ forest. Ran doesn’t really seem phased by the arrival and continues to focus on her myriad paper scrawls. I guess she did know this woman was coming, maybe they know each other.
“Uh, hi? Who are you?” I ask in short order of the woman with her hands in her red overall pockets. A woman wearing pants in Gensokyo is probably unusual. Wait, I feel like I loosely know that description.
“Mokou,” she answers. “What about you? Your manners die alongside the forest here?”
“Ah,” I intone. “Right, sorry. My name is Tanner. I’m a researcher. What brings you out here?”
She waves off the question with nonchalance, saying, “You, actually. It seems you’re busy right now, so I’ll find you again.”
She turns around, but I quickly stop her, calling, “Wait, what is that supposed to mean?! I don’t even know you!”
She stops her motion to leave with a light groan and faces back towards me. “You know Keine. That’s how I know you. That clarify things?” she questions.
The connection links in my head now, and I reply, “Yeah, somewhat. She said something about asking someone for a favor. So that was you?”
“Depends,” she shrugs, bouncing her trousers a bit, “did you want me to help? I’m not really sure what to do, honestly.”
“Wait, hold up, I’m not caught up. What did she want you to do?” I ask for explanation.
Mokou scratches the back of her head under a large red ribbon, and pieces back together, “Investigate what’s happening around you. Because for some reason people want you to do things without really caring that you’re doing it… something or other like that.”
“The village elders are backing his research without the apparent need for said research to be done,” Ran corrects. “It does reek of third party intervention as a motive force.”
“Right, so, should I look into that?” Mokou asks once more. “I don’t know what Keine was expecting here. She’s kinda everybody’s mom when she’s worried, so I don’t know how serious this is.”
“I’m gonna stop you there,” I interrupt her. “We’re currently dealing with Kagiyama having turned into a bad mojo bomb sitting in house arrest. Do you mind if I answer sometime later?”
She shrugs again and says, “Sure, it’s your time. Go back to that part where Hina is a bomb, though… Huh?” she announces, exaggerating her confusion.
“We’re working on figuring that out,” I admit.
“While you’re sitting here?” Mokou asks.
“We had to run from Kagiyama’s house. Nitori was also injured, if you know her.”
“The little business brat that’s all about money? Well, damn,” she mutters scratching at her chin. “If that’s the case, you’re still in the forest?”
“Right.”
“Where all the plant life is dead because the misfortune spreads here…”
“Uh huh…”
She circles her hand for me to continue the thought. Not really needed, though.
“Ran?!” I shout in panic.
“If it is affecting the three of us then it is my own oversight. In other words, a self fulfilling prophecy that I would neglect a clear and apparent threat by being effected by it,” she muses.
“Not the time!” I taut. “How close are those spells you were doing?”
“Done. It’s time to move,” Ran commands of the two of us. “To Moriya shrine.”
“Wait,” Mokou comments and looks between us. She points a finger to herself and asks, “Me too? Why?”
Ran hastily explains, “This event is a larger scope incident if it has effected the three of us, and so the Yakumo are conscripting you for incident resolution. Congratulations.”
Ran rushes over to grab Mokou and I off the ground and take the fastest path out of the dead zone. Mokou makes a little fuss over it but understands why she’s antsy.
We drop back down to the ground a ways up the mountain. Mokou looks back off into the distance, but knows she’s not gonna get out of this now. We start trudging up the hill.
The three of us aren’t very talkative right now. A brief conversation over why we’re walking passes by. Avoiding the tengu is the part I understand, trappings of sudden tiredness in magical flight is not. If we want to get to the peak of the mountain and find the goddess Moriya we’ll have to hope that we’re not afflicted with whatever curse Kagiyama has. Of course, avoiding the tengu won’t matter if that is the case, but better not to test the waters here.
I try a few times to talk with Mokou after that, but she seems a little miffed that she was dragged into trouble. Or she might just not be talkative outside of getting things done.
A voice I think I recognize calls out at us, “Halt!”
So much for avoiding trouble.
The white haired tengu watchman descends on us. The wolf makes herself fierce, bearing her sword and shield, to try and halt our movement. We do, but more so because Ran thinks it would be easier to pass by her with conversation rather than just ignoring her.
Actually, wait… “Hey, you, what’s your name?!” I call back.
She seems to have been once more baffled by my complete disregard for topic and spitefully answers, “Momiji Inubashiri, white wolf squadron captain! State your business.”
Ran goes to answer directly but I cut her off, “Before that, what can you tell us about Kagiyama within the past week?”
“What?”
Mokou quietly asks me, “Hey, is it really a good idea to–?”
I hold up a hand to stop her and continue, “We are here because the curse goddess Hina Kagiyama is in peril. Please tell us what you know of her activity in the past week to support us.”
The tengu, Inubashiri, scratches her head, having trouble keeping up with my explanation. She then asks, “So then you’re here to help the goddess?”
“Yes,” I claim. Which is correct, just that she didn’t really ask for help.
“Right, well…” Inubashiri pauses. “Thing is, I don’t really look over there. Wouldn’t want to catch whatever misfortune comes from looking at her.”
“Momiji, you can’t be serious right now,” Mokou grunts.
“What?! Bad luck can get me like anyone else! Just looking at her is said to bring misfortune to you.”
“That is merely superstition spread to lower interactions between humans and the goddess directly,” Ran informs the wolf.
Inubashiri goes wide eyed, taking in the revelation, and utters, “Really?”
“Indeed,” Ran affirms.
The tengu watchman’s noble demeanor is shattered from realizing her misunderstanding. She sheathes her sword and brings her hands together as an awkward show of apology, nervously chuckling and saying, “Sorry? I can’t help, so, uh, as you were.” She quickly floats off before the three of us object for any reason.
She might have been tasked with watching that area based on where we’re at, but there’s no way to really tell now that she left. Wait, so they might have tasked someone that thought it was taboo to look at a curse goddess in charge of watching said curse goddess?
Is that negligence a statement about Inubashiri or tengu society as a whole?
We continue up the mountain, disappointed by the pseudo literal watchdog of it. Was that the work of the misfortune as well? Am I being paranoid?
“Hey!” another familiar voice calls out from above. What now?
Oh, I can recognize that purple plaid skirt anywhere. Mainly because nobody in their right mind should wear such a thing.
“Oh, hey, Hatate!” I wave to her as she floats down. “Great timing.”
“How so?” she asks in turn, openly surprised I’d say so.
Wait, sh*t, that isn’t what I meant to say. I was just making arguments for why I shouldn’t be talking to any journalists. It was a pretty good reason, too.
“Ah,” I catch my idiocy in what is certainly not a dumb sound. “I was, uhm… just thinking about how you never did come find me for an interview…”
Hatate stares at me with a wry but pitying smile, and I can hear Mokou groan behind me. Surprisingly, Hatate doesn’t make any comment on the obvious lie, and instead goes into her own topic, gossiping like a schoolgirl.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve been busy recently. Covering a bit of stirring happening with the fairies led by some nutcase claiming she wants to know why she’s the strongest. Following the yamawaro opening their borders for free access to the tengu. Some fun things happening. Would you happen to know about those?” Hatate leads on.
The first one was definitely my doing, somehow Cirno still has her head on backwards. The second, though, surprises me. Takane decided to open the camp up? That’s big news.
“No, doesn’t sound like anything I’m involved in,” I partially lie. Much more convincing this time, good job, Tanner!
Hatate screws up her face checking through her phone. She might be checking notes for a strong counter argument or something. I need to either end this conversation or draw it back to Kagiyama before anything goes wrong.
“Hey, so what about this?” she asks slipping a photo from her pocket and holds it out to me. I lean in and feel like I leap back so far that my heart breaks out of me.
“Regis?” Ran asks with a hint of concern.
“Why are you showing me that, Hatate?!” I bite at the girl.
“Oh, so you do know this photo?” she taunts, holding up the picture of Nitori’s caved in face for the other two to see. At best that closeup would be taken as gratuitous gore.
“Ugh,” Mokou snides, “yeah that doesn’t look too good.”
Hatate decides to go on the assault now, and interrogates, “Why was she there with you?! Did you know she would end up like this?”
I try to retaliate to her accusations by impulse, but Ran puts a hand to my shoulder and speaks up instead, “What are these charges you believe to be ours?”
“That’s yet to be determined,” Hatate states with a scowl.
“And what reason have you to believe our involvement?”
Hatate stays silent. After a bit longer she clicks her tongue and floats back off, seemingly giving up this bout.
“Nice stuff,” I say, “How could you tell she was bluffing?”
“Her power is only practical in remote scenarios, thus information is tantamount to completing goals. If she does not receive information then there is no reason to share her own in attempt to pursue a speculation,” Ran explains.
We continue our trek, but not for long at all. In fact, it’s not even a minute until the next–
“Stop there!”
Oh for gods– Yet another voice calls out. This one I definitely don’t know. A tengu barrels down from above the trees. I’m surprised she didn’t make a crater based on the amount of wind she generated. Ran got a hold of me before that, so thankfully I’m not part of the leaves blasted skyward. Mokou also seems to have held her ground, surprisingly. There’s more to her than I thought.
The black haired tengu woman wastes no time pointing her… camera stand at us? Blue clothes slightly a mix between what Hatate and Inubashiri wear, a ridiculously lavish golden pauldron stolen straight from the medieval era, and the regular tengu cap with extra fuzz balls trailing from both sides.
It’s a tengu, that’s the best I’ve got.
“You are all trespassing on tengu territory! Show no ill intent and concede to questioning, then you may be let go,” the woman bellows.
Ran squints, looking more slighted than usual, “Iizunamaru? What nonsense is this? You know you have given the Yakumo and allied parties full privilege to enter your domain.”
“And therefore it is fine to bring two humans into the area with you?!” Iizunamaru retorts.
Wait, she thinks Mokou is a… wait, what is Mokou, actually? I never thought to ask.
‘I never thought to ask’… Oh my brain might be fried right now. It might be–
“Stand down before you decide to escalate the situation. We are here on official Yakumo business,” Ran boldly claims.
“Stand down?! You are on our land! We will determine if your business is so official,” the woman threatens.
“We?” Ran notes.
A crowd of tengu surround us from all angles of the forest, clearly not appreciative that we’re here. I couldn’t tell they were here in the slightest, and from Ran’s reaction she couldn’t tell either. We’re entirely out of ourselves right now. Whatever the luck charm stopped was not quite this, and it’s biting me in the ass. The same seems to apply to Ran for whatever reason.
I gotta think of something fast to deflect the situation, maybe even throw them off of us.
[x] Bluff that you already have Inubashiri’s permission on the mountain after running into her.
[x] Come clean about what you’re out here for. No time to BS.
[x] Whole hog BS! You’re here on Yakumo business so official that Yukari herself would break them for the interruption!
Consider the following: no prison cell, but Mokou doesn’t get the free steel mug sitting in her cell.
Anyway, another week, another update. I will say blasting through the quick interactions was a bit of fun as an exercise of ‘how quickly can I get across this scene?’
