Chapter Text
"The gardens that cannot be tended by my rake, forged by the blacksmith, are next to none!"
Youmu Konpaku brandishes her rake and swathes a path through Hakugyokurou's rock garden, deftly tracing complex lines in the sand. In only a few moments Youmu is back on the deck and does a sheathing motion with her tool before admiring her handiwork: the lines form meticulously crafted waves around the carefully maintained trees and stones.
Excellent. Tending the garden this way is good practice and that was my best time yet. I just hope Lady Yuyuko never hears me, there’d be no end of teasing…
Going to the storeroom to put up her tools, Youmu grabs the notebook and ink brush she keeps there and jots down her time for the day.
5.14 seconds, that blows my previous 7.11 record out of the water. Seems my new grip method and route were effective. Anyway, I should let Lady Yuyuko know I'm finished and see if she has anything else for me. It’s only midday, there’s still plenty of time to work.
The half-phantom dutifully walks inside to find her mistress. Opening the sliding door to the living room, she says, “I'm done with the rock garden.” Inside, Yuyuko Saigyouji feasts on a large plate of onigiri.
I told her those were for later. Her appetite knows no bounds.
"Ah, Youmu, done already? Then join me!" Yuyuko says between bites.
Youmu sits down at the table. "We were supposed to have these for dinner," she says, reaching out her arm to grab an onigiri despite her words.
"But how could I resist such an excellent snack you made? It isn’t fair to tease me, y’know.”
You’re one to talk, milady.
“Hmmm,” Yuyuko muses, suddenly staring intently at Youmu while the latter is still reaching. “Could you explain why you've written that on your arm? I’m terribly curious."
"Huh? What do you-" Youmu looks at her left arm and gasps. On it is written in black ink:
I MUST GO TO THE UNDERWORLD
"What?! But I never wrote this! My arm didn't have anything on it while I was tending the garden!"
"Maybe so, but I can tell it's still your handwriting. Somewhat sloppily written, though. Were you in a hurry?"
"I just said I don't remember writing this! Admittedly I was writing something a moment ago, but this has to be some kind of trick by a spirit or youkai!"
"Perhaps, but did you detect a presence while in the garden?"
"N-no, I did not."
Yuyuko takes a contemplative bite of onigiri. "Then this hypothetical trickster is either good enough to go under both our noses or you somehow did this on purpose."
“Do you not believe me?”
“If there’s one thing I can count on, Youmu, it’s your loyalty. I’ll believe whatever you say.”
“O-oh! Thank you, that means a lot-”
“Besides, you couldn’t lie if your life depended on it!” says the older ghost while she laughs heartily.
“I fail to see the humor…”
“Where I’m standing it’s plain as day,” Yuyuko says with a playful smile. “But regardless, we shouldn’t leave this unaddressed. I permit you to go to the Underworld and investigate.”
"Thank you for your blessing, but aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? Besides, I've never even been to the Underworld or Former Hell. I know Reimu and Marisa dealt with an incident there some time ago, though I never heard all the details."
“Then this will be a good experience for you. A resident of the Netherworld, and someone who works for me at that, should be familiar with all the places spirits go. You had to visit New Hell on your way to the Animal Realm only a year ago, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. Beyond that, I’m curious what this message means.”
“But what if it’s a trap?” says Youmu, concerned.
“I have faith you can handle it.”
Not exactly reassuring.
“Getting there might not be hard, but this message isn’t clear about what I need to do.”
“If you did write it, then I believe your mission will become clear if you follow its instructions.”
Despite my misgivings, it will bother me if I don’t get to the bottom of this.
“Alright,” Youmu says as she stands up. “I’ll go.”
Yuyuko gets up to grab a box from inside a dresser at the corner of the room. Opening it, she hands her gardener a small grey device with buttons on it and says, “Take one of these, we can keep in touch this way."
“What is this?”
“It’s a piece of technology called a ‘phone’. Having one lets you call anyone else with one provided you both have ‘service’ as Yukari describes it. She gave me two a while ago. Apparently she lent Reimu and Marisa some when they went underground before.”
“I recall Sumireko having something similar at the fireworks festival. How do I use it?”
“Yukari set it up where if you want to call me, just dial 076. I can call you by typing 075.”
“This will be very helpful. But why didn’t you give me one when I went to the Animal Realm if you already had it? Your advice might have saved me some time.”
“It slipped my mind,” says Yuyuko nonchalantly. “This topic reminded me I had them tucked away. Besides, everything worked out fine, didn’t it? So no harm done.”
Her train of thought is beyond me.
The half-phantom pockets her newly acquired phone. “Anything else you need before I head out?”
“Could you prepare more onigiri? That batch was delicious!”
Sighing, Youmu answers, “Yes, milady. But promise that you won’t eat it all at once!”
The descent from the Netherworld to the Underworld’s entrance is long. While in transit, Youmu decides to test her new phone.
Let’s see… 076 right?
The phone vibrates for a few seconds after the numbers are inputted until a muffled voice on the other end says, “Hello? Is that you, Youmu?”
“Yes, Lady Yuyuko. While flying I thought it’d be wise to test out the phone before going too far. Is there anyone I should look out for once I arrive in the Underworld?”
“After making your way through the entrance, you’ll be in the Former Capital. Mostly oni live there, along with various vengeful spirits they keep an eye on. The oni there are jovial folk, much like Suika, so you shouldn’t have any trouble with them. Beyond that is the Palace of the Earth Spirits, where Satori Komeiji and her pets live. It’s been a year since they visited us when that spirit possessed me, so as a refresher: they’re the overseers of Former Hell as well as the Nuclear Furnace. If an incident really is occuring down there, Satori will know about it.”
The Underworld’s entrance begins to come into Youmu’s view. “So my first objective is to find Satori and speak with her,” she says.
“I knew you’d figure it out!” says Yuyuko with her usual cheer. “Remember that Satori can read minds, so don’t try lying to her for whatever reason. She’ll find out if you do. On the other hand, she might be able to pick your brain about why you left that message on your arm.”
Reading minds, I recall her using that on us before. It was a bit invasive but I have nothing to hide.
Youmu closes in on the entrance. “Thank you for the information. I’ll be hanging up no- AGH!” Just as she crosses the boundary to the Underworld, the world spins. Even in flight, Youmu loses all sense of balance and drops her phone. Any attempt to look around makes her dizzier as she feels a sudden headache.
What’s going on?! Is this an attack? Okay, calm down, focus!
The half-phantom closes her eyes, no longer trusting them, and draws her swords, Roukanken and Hakurouken. With gravity as her only indication of direction, Youmu rights herself and listens for anyone or anything nearby. Slowly she hears a small hissing sound coming from behind her.
“YAH!” One swing of Roukanken splits the danmaku in two. “Coward!” yells Youmu, eyes still closed. “Fight me face to face, none of these tricks!” Another wave of danmaku shoots from her left, another wave is cut to shreds.
I’m at a disadvantage here. Whoever this is isn’t exactly playing fair. If I open my eyes they’ll only disorient me again.
Yet another flurry, this time from above. The new bullets meet the same fate as the previous ones.
Each of these have only been coming from one direction at a time. If I can close the distance the moment they shoot…!
Youmu concentrates as hard as she can on the sounds and sensations around her. Droplets of water falling from stalactites, the faint breeze from the outside, scurrying animals, until finally from her right the distinctive hissing comes.
“Human Sign - Slash of the Present World!” With blistering speed, Youmu cleaves through the danmaku and tackles her attacker, slamming them into the wall. At the same time as the wall slam, she lodges her swords into the cavern wall in a scissor position to cut off any escape. Youmu maintains her grip on her weapons and, still wary about opening her eyes, hears a pinned body struggling to get free. “Speak! Who are you? Why are you attacking me? Did you leave that message on my arm?”
“Gotta admit that was impressive, honestly didn’t see it coming,” says an exceedingly distorted yet smug voice.
That voice doesn’t sound natural at all, I can’t recognize it. They’re hiding their identity. Do I risk looking?
Youmu opens one eye against her better judgement. Pinned between her swords is a figure whose upper body and head is concealed by a purple and blue checkered-patterned cloak.
“Ooo, and here I thought you knew better than that,” says the figure. “Bad move ghosty.”
The cloaked figure makes an arm motion behind her back and vanishes from sight. Immediately after, the world spins around Youmu once more, but this time she is ready for it. She minimizes the disorientation using her still embedded swords as an anchor. Once the sensation subsides, the gardener pulls her swords free and listens for any movement or danmaku, but all is silent.
They escaped and I didn’t get any information. But this does confirm something is happening down here and that I’m being targeted. I must get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. Speaking of going to the bottom, I need to retrieve my phone.
Youmu floats to the ground to locate her dropped item and finds it in one piece nestled between two stones. She tries out the buttons and everything still responds.
Sturdier than I expected. Yukari was never one for doing things halfway.
The half-phantom takes off once more, heading further down the deep road to Former Hell.
