The carefree expression on Tenshi's face as she walked down the path to the Hakurei Shrine would not immediately betray the fact that she had been kicked out of Heaven once again for her belligerence. It wasn't a routine at this point so much as it was a point of contention; there hadn't been anything to do up there for a few weeks, and ever since the Perfect Possession incident had been resolved, she hadn't stepped foot back into Gensokyo. Really, it wasn't her fault that Celestials tended to be particularly boring about that.

If anything, that was why she was on her way to the Hakurei Shrine now; Shion had gone off somewhere else (to the chagrin of more than a few people), so she was left without anyone to do much of anything with.

Of course, heading to the shrine by foot meant passing through the Human Village, which ordinarily wouldn't have been a problem. Most of the time, the humans there would give her a bit of space as she passed through (which was a suitable amount of respect that she felt she rightfully deserved), but today, it seemed the town was abuzz with activity—and not in a good way. The words 'unconscious' and 'weird space' seemed to be particularly commonplace as she strolled through the streets, but beyond that, there wasn't much to be gathered from words alone. When there was this much negative chatter, though, the blue-haired Celestial found it to be a given that there was something afoot.

In other words, going to the Hakurei Shrine wasn't necessary to have fun this time around—at least, not yet. If there was an incident afoot, then it was likely that neither Reimu nor Marisa would be there, anyways. No, instead, now was the time to poke around; if any of the other major players in Gensokyo were already moving about, then there was a chance that she could catch onto a lead here, right?

...Of course, if there was an incident, then maybe that meant that she could have some fun in a duel as she worked her way to the culprit...

Today's task was a mission of utmost importance. For Konpaku Youmu, Gardener and Guardian of Hakugyokurou, there could be no task of greater importance then that which had been assigned to her by Yuyuko-sama.

Well... admittedly this wasn't anything so dramatic... and really it was mostly happening because Yuyuko-sama kept asking for bigger portions so they'd run out of food faster then Youmu had anticipated... Aaaah, sometimes she ate so much Youmu couldn't even comprehend it! She had planned so carefully for the correct amount of food for the both of them even considering Yuyuko-sama's enormous appetite, and yet she'd still already run out of certain ingredients. On top of that, Yuyuko-sama had eaten the pudding from the outside world that she'd purchased, and she tried not to be upset, she tried! It was Yuyuko-sama after all, and Yuyuko-sama's desires and will were the most important, but how could she not be disappointed on missing out on something like that?!

At least Yuyuko-sama hadn't seemed to have known it was hers, but still...

Needless to say, errands had to be run. Not only was the diminutive half-phantom quite aware of this fact herself, but Yuyuko-sama had asked her to do it. Naturally, this made it crucial... hopefully there was more then a few of those puddings too... And they hadn't all been bought yet.

Youmu was on her way to pick up some groceries when she noticed there was a hustle and bustle of activity, and not in the usual way. No, she couldn't help but here them talking about someone being unconscious, some kind of weird location... the sheer amount of unease that surrounded her was palpable.

It was around that moment she caught sight of some familiar blue hair...

Hinanawi Tenshi. While she wasn't always the worst, when something like this was going on...

Hand drifting towards Roukanken's hilt, the small girl frowned deeply as she approached.

"Are you behind all this commotion, Hinanawi?"

@PKMNB0Y

Koishi chased after the ravens in the garden, trying to catch one of them before they picked up all twelve roses scattered across the enclosed flower sanctuary. It was a little game they liked to play together, one that almost always ended with Koishi losing. But every now and then, the youkai would catch one of the small birds off guard and win the game—other times, she decided to cheat and nab them when they couldn't notice her. Today was one of those times.

Sneak attack! The girl materialized in front of the pets and lunged forward at full speed—right into the cherry tree. Dazed, Koishi stumbled to her feet and brushed herself off before picking her signature hat up off the ground. That was probably enough playing for the day anyway. Still staving off a headache from the collision, Koishi made her way into the palace library to find something fun and interesting to read for the rest of the day. As she danced from one oak shelf to another, she eventually came across her seventy-fifth favorite book in the entire library: The Extended History of Gensokyo (Illustrated).

Koishi brushed her hair behind her ears and flipped through to the best chapter in the book, the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier. She could never get enough of the beautiful details and thoughts crammed into every single illustration; at this point, she had practically memorized each individual brush stroke of the image. Except this time... something was off. The picture wasn't correct! The colors didn't match their usual form and the people weren't the same! Even the names in the book were those of youkai she didn't recognize. Something had gone horribly, horribly wrong in her precious library. Panicked, she scrambled to flip through another dozen of her top two hundred favorite books and found similar discrepancies in each one—changed names, unusual faces, completely wrong accounts of events. This had to be some kind of mean prank Rin was pulling. Or maybe it was a curse! Whatever was going on, Satori would know.

Big sis, big sis! Koishi shuffled into Satori's study chamber, interrupting some kind of investigation that almost looked like it was sort of important. But whatever it was, it couldn't be nearly as important as this brand-new terrible crisis of history. There's a problem with all the books in the library! They're wrong.

Koishi... The lovingly-named Satori closed her nuclear fusion book and looked with tired eyes at her jubilant emerald-haired sister. How could they be wrong? Books don't change.

You don't understand—these did! I opened to page seven hundred ninety one like I did three weeks ago; I read the story about the sages again and the names of people, youkai, and places were all jumbled up. It's almost like the books forgot who they were supposed to be.

I know you can remember a lot of strange things very well... but you must be misremembering. Even the thieving witch wouldn't swap our books with duplicates.

I'm not lying—it's as true as a circle is round and a square is square and a triangle is not.

Here's an idea. Why don't you go to the surface and see if you can't find another copy of that book? If they match, then it must just be a mistake. If they don't match, then you caught something mysterious going on.

Koishi for one happened to think that her sister's suggestion was an excellent idea and was more than glad to skip through through the palace and toward the surface world. And not just anywhere on the surface—no, Koishi had to go to the best place to find dozens and dozens of copies of the same books. A place none other than the Human Village. The second the sun's hot beams cast her hat's shadow onto her face, Koishi took off flying toward the village.



Mr. Book Keeper, does this story look right to you? Koishi waved her copy of The Extended History of Gensokyo in the face of a local bookstore owner, only to be promptly ignored. Heyyyyyy! He continued, willingly or not, to pretend that the imaginary youkai didn't exist. Koishi decided to instead wander about the village and ask people about the book. Some could hear her, others could not, and all returned to their normal lives once she had left. That is, until one particular celestial caught her eye.

Hey you! You're from heaven, right? Koishi opened the book next to Tenshi and gestured toward it. Can the residents of heaven change the past as easily as they can change the future?

As 'useful' as listening to the gossip floating around the Human Village was to Tenshi, it didn't take particularly long for her to get tired of hearing the same few things over and over. She couldn't really fault the humans for only being able to speak of one story, but if anything, it at least made the starting pieces for the whole incident clear. There was probably someone with that schoolteacher that they were all talking about, and if there was anywhere to start—

"Huh?"

As the celestial was lost in her thoughts, the immediate declaration of guilt from a familiar voice caused her to turn her head towards its source. The half-ghost samurai lady that met her gaze soon thereafter was a familiar sight, but her words and the way that she was posturing herself... Well, those were far less of a welcoming sight to her.

"Oh, it's just you. I'm offended, quite honestly," Tenshi responded, placing one hand onto the hilt of her sword as she spoke. "I only just arrived here today, and here you are accusing me of causing whatever's going on. Are you looking for a fight, maybe? I'll gladly take you o—"

Before she could finish her sentence, though, the (apparently-)sudden appearance of another person next to her caused Tenshi to flinch and draw her sword, her eyes flitting about before they finally came to rest upon the green-haired youkai girl from the underground.

"...Oh, it's just you," Tenshi sighed, sheathing her weapon as she shot a glare at Youmu before looking at what that other youkai—Ko-something-or-another—was gesturing at. "A book? I don't know what you're babbling about, but I don't have any ability to change the past or whatever; not like I really need to after all... Wait, what's with this waste of paper?"

As soon as she began to read the section that Koishi was pointing to, Tenshi's eyes narrowed as she made sure to try and reread what was stated there. As much as she gave no care about any of the lessons that were thrown her way back in Heaven, something on that level was something that even the children of the village would probably know. But as far as she could tell, everything written in that section was nothing but wrong.

"There's not even a mention of that border youkai there... Honestly, you should go find your books from a more reputable source," she sighed, shaking her head before turning back towards Youmu. "Right, where was I... Being offended about your accusation, I believe."

As a small crowd began to form around the three, the sounds of someone excusing themselves as they pushed their way through caused Tenshi to pause; when the source of that voice finally stumbled her way through and put herself in the middle of the area that had been cleared for their fight, the celestial was only forced to relax herself. It didn't make any sense to involve non-combatants in a duel, after all.

"S-stooooop!" she cried out, her arms outstretched as her twintails shaking as she closed her eyes tightly. "Miss Konpaku, that Celestial isn't at fault here! No, rather, it's great that you're here right now! I couldn't find Reimu or Marisa at the shrine, so please, come with me! You've solved a lot of incidents, so please, don't fight and come with me! Akyuu is already waiting, so..."

It took a few moments for Tenshi to even half-recognize the girl who had barged in to stop their fight, but the apron with 'KOSUZU' written on it made it clear that she was the owner of the bookstore that had recently been gaining a bit of traction with those who spent time around the shrine. Even so, getting interrupted right as something fun was about to happen was a bit irritating, if anything...

@VitaVitaAR@Fractured

"My, it does seem unusually hectic today~"

Watching the hustle and bustle of the human villagers from her perch, the young woman in plaid smiled cheerfully. Her parasol open and protecting her from the sun, Yuuka idly wondered just what had gotten everyone in a tizzy. It certainly wasn't her own presence, sadly - far too little terror and despair for that, plus hardly anyone was giving her so much as a glance. Maybe they'd gotten too used to her occasional visits? Regardless, something had gotten the villagers riled up, and while Yuuka would normally poke her nose in just to get a gist of the problem, she was busy performing an important duty.

Standing before the entranceway to Hieda-no-Akyuu's residence, the troublesome youkai had apparently decided to play gatekeeper today. Evidently today was not the best time for it, but she would dedicate a day to the jon all the same! After all, Elly managed to do it so easily, and if she could perform the literal most pointless job with such aplomb every day, then it shouldn't be too difficult to make sure no one strange bothered the most important human that wasn't also a shrine maiden!

Glancing over her shoulder, Yuuka flashed a kind smile to a rather terrified handmaiden, who quickly ducked back out of view. How cute. Yuuka faced forward again, now humming merrily to herself.

She had a feeling something fun was about to occur.

It had been about ninety minutes since she heard from Kasen said that Mamizou told her that Hieda no Akyuu mentioned that one of Kosuzu's books was doing some strange things that resulted in Keine falling into a coma, possibly becuase, in Hata no Kokoro's mind, the latter said something to the former which resulted in the former being used as aballistic projectile which would explain the supposed head trauma that Keine was most likely suffering. That wasn't important, really. As far as Reimu had heard from Marisa, the witch often gets smacked upside the head by either Alice or Patchouli, whoever that was. Hard cover books must be a rather valued commodity in home defense. But that didn't matter.

What mattered was that the compendium of Noh plays that she consulted every so often, a gift from Mamizou that she got from the Tengu village, was now missing a couple of works. In their place, there were other works that she had never heard of before. At first she though she had gotten the wrong book, which may explain why the title was "A Helpful Annex of Gensokyo's Noh" and not "A Complete Collection of Tengu Noh Plays" like she remembered. Kokoror shrugged. Kosuzu probably had another of those in her bookstore, so she headed down to the Human Village to speak with her.



The menreiki's journey was largely tranquil, the cheerful thoughts in her head as she skipped her way to the village visible on the mask atop of her head. She hummed a simple tune, a rythmless amalgamation of music she had heard before, as she wondered where Reimu was. She knew that the shrine maiden had duties with the people, but she saw her within the temple ground's more often than not. Maybe she got taken away by duties somewhere else. Shrine maidens had plenty of work, after all. Most of it seemed to revolve around monetary gain in some way or another.

All these thoughts screeched to a halt once she spotted a motley crew close to the center of the village and she spotted a familiar figure, one that had a Hannya mask briefly take its place on her head: Komeiji Koishi. Kokoro stopped on her tracks to shake her head and slap her cheeks a couple of times as the mask changed into a fox. The menreiki clenched her fists and walked towards the group and happened to notice Kosuzu attempting to defuse the situation. It was time to be the better (wo)man. Time to demonstrate that it was the good deeds that get rewarded and that mean things (like stealing) get punished. Kokoro marched straight into Kosuzu's face and, without even knowing what was happening, stood in attention as she stated: "I'll help".

It was fair to say that she had forgotten about the book for a moment there. Not like it mattered, really. The book had forgotten too.

There was now a chapter about kabuki theatre.

When the owner of the yokai book library appeared and pleaded with them to stop before they actually came to blows, Youmu's hand drifted away from Roukanken's hilt. It was what the suddenly-appearing sister of the underground Satori had babbled about, too... it didn't sound like it was something that Hinanawi would have been involved with. But it definitely sounded like an incident... while her duty to Yuyuko-sama was paramount, she also couldn't let this go unaddressed. It wasn't right to leave people potentially in danger or otherwise let an incident continue unchecked.

It seemed as if quite a few people had appeared too, including the menreiki...

"... Very well, if there's an incident it can't be overlooked," she said, finally, with one last wary glance towards Hinanawi.

@PKMNB0Y

"A-ah... S-sure..."

Kosuzu was undoubtedly caught a bit off-guard by the arrival of the pink-haired menreiki who had immediately moved to offer her own help in the matter.

Well, it was less of an offer and more of an assertion, but the way that she had presented herself had made it hard for the young girl to respond with anything more confident than that. There was an awkward pause as everyone within the circle of villagers, human or otherwise, seemed to simply stand by for a moment before the half-ghost had finally agreed to help.

"Th-that's good, then. Let's not crowd up the middle of the street any longer," she said, nervously laughing as she glanced back and forth between the two before nodding. "I'll lead the way."

Tenshi, on the other hand, was not so easily placated by things ending like this. While she could understand deciding to prioritize the incident, the Celestial had come down here in pursuit of entertainment at the shrine; if what that bookkeeper had said was the truth, then there was no real reason to go there anymore. In other words...

"Hey, this sounds like fun, so I'm coming too!" she called out, walking after the bookkeeper and the others who had chosen to follow her. "And I'm not taking no for an answer!"

---

The Hieda household would have had enough worries today, what with having to care for the unconscious schoolteacher on top of sorting through the records at their heir's behest, only to find a great deal of oddities within what they had dug through so far. The presence of the caretaker of the Garden of the Sun did nothing to put their minds of ease, of course; rather, it seemed to do the opposite. Akyuu herself was not necessarily happy with her presence, either, but so long as Kosuzu returned with the shrine maiden and the witch...

"Akyuu, I'm back!"

The familiar voice of the bookkeeper caused the young girl to breathe a sigh of relief, but that expression on her face soon turned into one that was a mix of relief and worry. Though it was not the usual pair that she had returned with, the presence of someone who was well-versed in the resolution of incidents was a great enough boon on its own. No, rather, it was the rest of her entourage that was cause for concern—particularly the Celestial and the parasol-wielding youkai that had been spending an inordinate amount of time outside.

"...Kosuzu...?"

"Ah... Right, I couldn't find Reimu and Marisa, and everyone here said they wanted to help, so..."

An audible sigh left Akyuu's lips as she shook her head before gesturing for everyone to enter. At this point, turning everyone away would only cause more chaos, and that was something that she couldn't afford for the moment.

Once everyone had found their own places in the room that had been set aside for their gathering (which, admittedly, was only barely able to fit everyone comfortably), Akyuu cleared her throat and raised her hand so as to call attention to herself. Given who was here, being nervous was to be expected; even so, with an incident at hand...

"I thank you all for coming here today to help resolve this incident," she began, pulling out the strange book that had caused the schoolteacher to fall unconscious in the first place from out of her sleeve. "For those who may not have been made aware yet, Miss Kamishirasawa has fallen unconscious; given what Ms. Motoori has said, that only occurred after reading this document. I have done the same, and yet I have not fallen victim to that same issue."

With that, the young girl placed the book in front of herself, gesturing for anyone who so desired to take a peek at it for themselves.

"That book, as far as both Ms. Motoori and I have seen, is a warped facsimile of the history of Gensokyo, and should likely be read at your own discretion. Given Ms. Kamishirasawa's ability, there are a few conclusions to be drawn, but otherwise, I believe that the book, while not so immediately dangerous as a few tomes I have seen, still hides secrets from the both of us. In any case, it was soon after that when the books in Ms. Motoori's library seemed to start changing as well. This issue only seems to be affecting books originating from Gensokyo itself, as those works from the Outside World seem identical to what I have read in the past. Luckily, it does not seem to be affecting anyone's memories, but this is still rather... Problematic."

With that explanation, Akyuu looked around at everyone present to make sure that they had understood at least most of what mattered thus far before cutting right to the chase.

"There have also been reports of odd spaces around Gensokyo that have begun to appear as of late; though they do seem to be sparse, given the way that things have panned out as of late, I do believe that this book and those spaces must be related. Could I ask if you could investigate them in our stead? It might bring us a bit closer to the truth behind this incident."

When she was finished speaking, Tenshi immediately moved to go and grab the book and, without much care for the warning Akyuu had given, began to flip through it. It was just as she had said; there was way too much that was wrong about how everything had been recorded, from start to finish. What bothered her the most, though...

"...Huh? What's with these sections on the incidents over the last few years?" she asked out loud, placing the book with its pages open to see in front of herself. "I remember those two had to deal with that vampire and the ghosts before, but this is... Well, it's not only barely written, but they don't even have the starts correct! And anything after that is just... Blank?"

It had been as Tenshi had said; the record of the Scarlet Mist incident began at the Human Village, while the other noted that the start date had begun a few years later than had been expected...

There was a brief pause before Kosuzu, having moved over to peer at the page, clapped her hands together as she seemed to recall something.

"I think that one of those weird 'spaces' that Akyuu was talking about was near the storefront. It shouldn't be too far a walk from here, at least..."

@VitaVitaAR@Fractured@RolePlayerRoxas@Sylph de Graaf

Koishi's eyes bounced between all the different members of this small-but-growing party and named each one in her head. They were joined by the phanto-human Youmu, the spooky gardener Yuuka—who has the greatest and most fun-to-secretly-visit flower field in all of Gensokyo—and the mean celestial Banshee! She especially liked the storyteller Akyuu because her name was easy to remember and was just like the Komeiji sisters' pet raven Okuu. And beyond herself and the book collector, there was absolutely nobody else there to listen to the story. Nobody else at all.

Koishi beamed, proud that she managed to remember everyone's names correctly before snapping back to the topic at hand and realizing that she missed most of the background details Akyuu was giving them. Buuuuut, that was also okay! Koishi knew that deep down, she had a good grasp on the problem: obviously the books were all broken and that fact ended up hurting someone, and that's no good at all. So she tuned back into the conversation and tried her hardest to pay attention to the details about the incident and... wait. Incident!

I've always wanted to solve an incident!! Koishi excitedly leaned over the book Tenshi was holding and read the now-broken record of incidents. Well that's super not right. Koishi frowned. That one was in the mansion and that one was because of the killer cherry tree making a forever-winter— she interrupted her observation with a glance at Yomou, who almost certainly was a big part of that one and would definitely back up her assertion—and it doesn't even begin to talk about the moon youkai or the looping feasts or anything like that.

After scanning through her recollection of history, Koishi made up her mind. There was only one thing that the five four of them could do: they had to visit the weirdspace and solve the incident. Then what are we all standing around here for? Let's go! Koishi skipped past the unlikely group and vanished before she completed her second step.

It was certainly an interesting collection of notable names that had come to visit Akyuu. Yuuka had smiles at the approaching group, with every intention of turning them away if they lacked a formal appointment. What else was a good gatekeeper to do? Sadly, the lady of the household herself had come out to put a quick stop to her fun, and thus followed everyone inside to find out just what was going on today.

It was certainly an intriguing Incident, with Yuuka pondering silently by herself, her folded parasol hanging from the crook of her folded arms. Documents chronicling past events, Gensokyo's history, were being altered. Memories were unaffected, but the woman with abilities tied strongly to history was also out of commission. The flower youkai was... not particularly concerned, in all honesty. Whether these logs had been filled correctly or not hardly mattered to Yuuka, she could remember her own past well enough. That said... this was an Incident to resolve, and it had been a while since she had gotten involved in something she had no immediate resolution for. And given this unlikely gathering, it could make for a surprisingly fun afternoon.

"...Her enthusiasm is infectious~" Yuuka chuckled once Koishi skipped out of the room - or view. Smiling politely towards Akyuu, she said, "I'd very much like to assist our guests in this matter, Hieda-sama~ Worry not, once this business has concluded, I'll return so we can have a lovely chat~"

And with that, she exited the room, following after the cheerful satori.

Youmu listened carefully to what Akyuu had to say. There was something messing with the records of Gensokyo's history? To the point where the teacher fell unconscious attempting to read it? Not only that, but strange spaces had developed in Gensokyo... The moment that Hinanawi mentioned one of the altered records, the pale half-phantom froze for a moment.

Yuyuko-sama... was Yuyuko-sama in one of these spaces? Were the events of that incident being altered? If that was the case...

"... You... you're right, the Saigyou Ayakashi..." she trailed off. She didn't know just what was happening, but a terrible feeling had suddenly clutched at her heart. "I have to go. I have to see what's happening. If Yuyuko-sama is in danger, I can't wait any longer!"

At this point, incident resolution was a distant secondary to ensuring Yuyuko-sama's safety. Given how little was known about what was happening, and how historical records were being altered, there was no telling what was going on. But the chance of danger was far too great for her.

Immediately, Youmu turned and began to hurry off.

Having arrived earlier--after all, she hadn't been meandering about waiting for an activity to fall into her lap this time, she had been looking for Keine--Mokou had already had chance to look at the books a little. Whatever was going on was no good... it didn't even seem like it was going to be that fun, but changing history was annoying enough even when it didn't knock out one of the few people that she associated with. What if it changed things so Kaguya went back to the moon? That would really be no fun... and would people who manipulated time be more or less affected by it all?

Rather than pursuing the fleeing gardener--she still remember how much that ghost had been talking about maybe eating her, which really seemed excessive as a result of danmaku--Mokou followed along behind the weird underground youkai and the flower one. At least if this became a fight it would be something exciting.

---

It was fair to say that the situation had developed from a mere curious happening to a full-blown incident, but that'd barely be scratching the surface of what was about to transpire. Fueled by the presence of Komeiji Koishi, Hata no Kokoro was very determined to solve this incident before she did it. She'd beat her, and have her eat her humble pie, and have her apologize, and she'd be super magnanimous and forgive her because that's what nice people are supposed to do and hen Koishi would cry because of just how gosh darn NICE Kokoro was unlike her who was mean and evil and stole people's masks.

It was also fair to say that the poker-faced menreiki was positively brimming with competitive energy, judging by the fox mask atop her head, that tacit pressure akin to a coiled spring about to fire off and the glances she sneaked at Koishi's direction. That's why a veritable burst propelled the girl outside of the room once the satori did so as well. Kokoro heard where they were going, so it was now a matter of getting there first and getting the scoop first, even if it meant weaving through and inbetween the other incident solvers.

---

Somewhere, a tengu sneezed.

---

Incident Solver Extraordinarie Hata no Kokoro To The Rescue

Tenshi had simply watched as Youmu had scrambled out of the room to go in an entirely different direction from the others, who seemed to already be walking off towards the bookkeeper's store. The Celestial briefly considered the situation and, deciding that it would be more fun to go for the group with less people, decided to follow after the half-ghost gardener instead. Throwing the book nonchalantly towards Akyuu (who barely managed to snatch it out of the air as it was about to fly over her head), the young woman gave a slight shrug towards the historian before running off in pursuit.

Upon seeing over half of those present leave the room, Kosuzu quickly stood up and half-ran out of the room after them, making sure to try and keep pace with those who were already moving towards her bookstore. Luckily, their nonchalant pace made taking the lead easy, and with a nod, the young girl wasted no time in guiding the group over to the place she had mentioned earlier. Indeed, it was as just as she had remembered; there was an odd space that seemed to waver in existence next to a nearby tree that seemed to stand out all the more if you focused on it. If it hadn't been for the remnants of blood-red mist that seemed to slip out from it, the anomaly would likely have gone wholly unnoticed by anyone without a sharp eye.

"That's... New..." Kosuzu trailed off, taking a wary step behind the four who she had guided here. "I, uh... I know that Akyuu wanted you to look into them, but..."

There was a bit of excitement in the young girl's heart, but the uncertainty behind the situation and the knowledge of the Scarlet Mist incident that she had made her all the more wary of even trying to go near it.

Entering the space would provide an immediate shift in scenery, though; just as passing through one of Yukari's gaps in reality, walking through this one would seemingly transport whoever did so into what appeared to be a parallel version of Gensokyo to the one they had just been in. The scarlet mist that blanketed the Human Village here seemed to be as dense as a thick fog, and though it was still possible to see more than a few feet in front of one's face, that was about all that could be done. The entrance to the locale seemed to exist all the same, of course, so returning was still an option, but even so...

The sound of laughter in the distance made the mood all the more uneasy, though...

@Fractured@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze@Sylph de Graaf

---

The distance between entrance to the Netherworld and the Human Village was surprisingly short when considering how fast the residents of Gensokyo were able to fly, and before long Youmu (and soon after, Tenshi) had arrived at the gates without much issue. The space high above the skies was tranquil, save for the occasional fairy (Tenshi had a bit of fun cutting down the ones in her way en route), but in front of the gates themselves...

"...Snow and flower petals...?"

A distance away from the pillars in front of the gates proper, there seemed to be an odd distortion that seemed to be releasing a few in equal quantity into the clouds. If the Celestial had to guess, this was probably something similar to what had been mentioned earlier at Akyuu's house, but upon looking at it proper, it was definitely odd enough to warrant poking at.

Upon approaching the gates, Tenshi noticed that a pink-haired ghost was already there, floating around the odd space and catching a few of the cherry blossom petals that had already slipped out. Upon hearing of the approach of a few others, though, she turned around and, seemingly without a worry in the world, waved towards Youmu.

"Ah, you're back! I got a bit bored while waiting for the groceries and found this outside. Cherry blossoms at this time of year... Oh? Youmu, where are the groceries...?"

@VitaVitaAR

"Yuyuko-sama!"

It was with great relief that Youmu called her Mistress's name, slowing to a halt(which came with a considerable gust of wind due to the high speed she had been moving at) beside her.

"I'm so glad to see you're alright!" For the moment, formality and reluctance to speak of such feelings were completely overridden by relief, at least until Youmu had realized what she had said. Her cheeks colored for a moment, and she cleared her throat.

"I must apologize about the groceries, but as you can see an urgent matter has arisen. Hakurei-san and Kirisame-san are preoccupied, and yet there is a serious incident affecting Gensokyo."

There was no doubting the strange space in front of the gates was one of the ones that Akyuu had spoken of. But there was something else that caught her eye about it...

Cherry blossoms drifting from within the hole in the air... Yuyuko-sama had already caught a few in her hands.

An altered past and cherry blossoms...

While Yuyuko-sama was safe, the fact that there were cherry blossoms...

"... I... I believe that there may be an attempt to awaken the Saigyou Ayakashi inside of this space," she said, finally, one hand drifting near to Roukanken's hilt. Did that mean there was another Yuyuko beyond the hole...?

@PKMNB0Y

"My, how curious~" Yuuka commented brightly as the group surveyed the strange anomaly. Indeed, it was hard to spot without the hints of a strange mist hanging in the air. Even then, most humans probably weren't attentive enough to spot such a small thing like this. Stepping forward, the flower youkai shoved her hand into the space experimentally, then simply stepped through it, finding herself... back in the village. With a slight difference.

The red mist hung heavily, making it virtually impossible to see very far. Yuuka hadn't been present for the original incident, but she didn't recall it getting this bad. Then again, the recorded history of the Incident had been heavily altered, and given this appeared to be a strange, alternate space...

"An alternate history, then? A realisation of a false past?" Yuuka mused out loud, and turned towards the strange opening, where the rest of the group would be appearing, "at any rate, how shall we go about this? A race to resolve the incident~?"

Just as the green-haired youkai finished speaking, the giggling laughter seemed to grow closer before stopping altogether. It was jarring, of course—the dead silence seemed to hang in the air for an uncomfortable amount of time before being broken by the sound of a large explosion nearby.

Then a second. Then another.

The sound of trees crashing to the ground was followed by a small bit of fortuitous luck, at least; with their fall came the clearing of the fog nearby, however temporary, and the sound of chimes in the wind. Of course, the dead grass on the ground was more than enough of an indicator for as to how long this mist had been present.

Equally of note, though, was the lack of apparent reaction from the nearby village; ordinarily, such an thing would have resulted in a cursory amount of panic, after all...

@Fractured@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze@Sylph de Graaf


Upon hearing Youmu's apology about the lack of food, Yuyuko's shoulders seemed to sag, if only momentarily, before she shook her head and returned her gardener's concern with a smile.

"No, well, if you came back with such concern, then there must be a reason, right?" she responded before the topic of the Saigyou Ayakashi came up. Immediately, the pink-haired ghost's eyes narrowed, her usual lackadaisical countenance replaced by one of serious concern. The presence of snow and cherry blossoms together had been a simple coincidence in her mind before, but now...

"I see... Well, ignoring something like that would most certainly take precedence over groceries, I suppose..." she trailed off, glancing towards the Celestial who had until now simply been waiting by impatiently. "I suppose that's why you're here too, then? Well, I suppose that if it is something as major as that, I shall do my part in contacting Yukari. Do your best, all right?"

Of course, the faith that Yuyuko had in Youmu was fairly strong, and given her strength, there was no doubt that she could resolve the incident in her mind. With a nod, Yuyuko turned and flew back into Hakugyokurou, leaving the two who had just arrived floating beside the odd space that continued to leak snow and cherry blossom petals into the wind.

"That youkai's getting involved, huh? Well, I suppose if the shrine maiden and witch haven't already..." Tenshi said, finally breaking the silence as she flew right next to the odd space in the air. "Ah, whatever. I'll lead the way; you just follow behind, all right?"

Of course, that response was in no part lacking in confidence, and with the usual aura of borderline arrogance that she seemed to exude, Tenshi passed through without waiting for a response.

In a way, it was almost as if she hadn't passed through anything at all; what had hit her first and foremost was the immediate chill in the air, which caused her to shudder and rub her hands together. It had been close to summer in Gensokyo, after all, so the abrupt change in temperature, while nice at first, was ever so slightly annoying as her body adjusted.

What was more noticeable, though, were the three musicians floating in front of the gates to Hakugyokurou, chatting idly as if they hadn't noticed the Celestial's appearance in the first place.

"Ah, but really... Those three were quite persistent, weren't they?" the one in white remarked, twirling a trumpet in the air. "I'm surprised they kept coming back even after we knocked them down like that."

"Well, they haven't been back for a while, so maybe that was enough...?" the one in red responded, leaning on a keyboard in the air as she did so. "But really, I wonder when they're going to finish up so we can start our performance. Playing guard duty like this is a bit..."

@VitaVitaAR

Koishi danced her way to the Human Village and found herself in... some kind of reality. Usually when she slid back into the real world, everything looked pretty normal, save for the really, really scary faces the humans and youkais made here and there. Or, at least, the faces their hearts made—it was hard to tell which was which sometimes. Then again, sometimes the trees looked really scary too, and sometimes they would look like tall green rods threatening to keep her trapped in their maze forever. Okay, so maybe being lost in the ruby fog that now hugged the ground wasn't entirely out of left field for the young satori, but that fact didn't make the situation any less disturbing. But as if by fate, a voice cut through the fog like one of her crows pried open a fig. And not just any voice, but someone... laughing? Laughing!

Heyyyy! Koishi flailed her arms in the direction of the sound. I'm lost; can you help me find my way to the incident? We can even be friends! Try as she might, Koishi couldn't get her bearings through fog this thick, especially since she had never been all that great with directions in the first place. If only Mokou had been there—she was always an expert at finding her way out of mazes and had rescued Koishi from a bind in the weird-tree forest more than once. But still, this was an incident, and the nice people of the village were relying on her. What would Reimu and Marisa do if they were here? They would... ask for help? Take the danmaku-first-ask-questions-later approach? Give up? No, Koishi realized that there was some kind of finesse to incident-solving, a finesse that she'd have to learn fast.

Unfazed by the soupy, tomato sauce air, the girl glided through the village and skidded to a stop before a bleak-looking fruit stand toward its center. Hello? Is there anybody in there, Mr. Fruit Stand Owner? No answer. Maybe the mist had put the owner of the little shop to sleep. Or maybe the villagers were ignoring her... again. But that didn't matter—Koishi had a mission to focus on and a goal to reach. Closing her eyes, she conjured up the memory of the laughing voice. Its direction. Its volume. Koishi took a handful of steps toward her best guess at where the laugh came from and inhaled. Hellooooo? Who's there?

"Maybe we should save the race for the second one? We don't know if we could get stuck inside," Mokou said, looking at all the red mist. It definitely hadn't gotten this bad inside the bamboo forest and it hadn't sounded like the human village got it that bad. Blotting out the sun hadn't filled that with impenetrable fog.

Being stuck in a deserted Gensokyo forever sounded even worse than being in a populated Gensokyo forever.

Of course, if they were going to stick together, then... they would have to find the crazy Satori at some point. Well, with the noise she was making, whoever was behind that laughter would probably do it too.

Yuuka was not perturbed by the approaching laughter, nor the unnerving silence. She couldn't be much of a youkai if such basic scare tactics affected her. Even the sudden explosions weren't too surprising, though she found them immensely distasteful, given what was destroyed. This may be a false timeline or whatever, but that didn't mean the senseless destruction of those poor trees didn't annoy her a bit. Some disciplinary action was certainly in order.

"...I suppose so," Yuuka replied to Mokou with a sigh. The satori had already wandered off, as well, but at least she wasn't far. Probably. Keeping tabs on her exact location seemed futile, especially with this oppressive mist, but the likelihood of her leaving the village seemed almost nil. Of course, even if Yuuka were alone, she was confident that she could locate and punish the misbehaving little girls that were behind this.

"At any rate, our opponent should be here with us," Yuuka continued, "I'll be more than happy to atomise them. And you, Miss Immortal? Feel free to seek survivors before I level these buildings~"