"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
