The day that Yukari disappeared was awful. Instead of a festival, we had a clusterfuck. Yukari had made herself the lynchpin of… well, whatever her nefarious plans were. She’d asked various residents of Gensokyo to do various things without telling any of them what her vision was, expertly placing them exactly where they needed to be to further her inscrutable goals. She hated writing things down.

(Or she’d just winged it and it had gone fine. We really didn’t know.)

Yukari had helped with transportation, communication, policing, material logistics, national defense, and even feedback if you considered our monthly sessions. She’d made herself the center of everything.

We didn’t have the gap youkai to put people where they needed to be, but we did have Miko and Byakuren, and five hundred humans who were grateful to still be alive. Miko started shouting orders a moment after Marisa, Youmu, and Reimu settled on the ground to back her up. The first order of business: pitch a tent.

“Who died and made you Queen?” asked Marisa.

“I’m a self made Queen, thank you very much,” said Miko as she unrolled heavy fabric from a magical cylinder. Byakuren stood nearby as well. Her presence and aura added a legitimacy to the proceedings that calmed down anyone nearby.

Our landlord set up her command tent in the center of the open space in Human Town and started assigning people tasks. It was her special tent; it let no sound in or out, which was useful for a being with extraordinary hearing. Toyosatomimi no Miko shouted for the ‘locals’–and I was giddy to be counted as one–to line up for assignments. My group happened to be near the center, so we were assigned work faster than most as we were the first into the tent.

“Miss Conti! Go get ten chairs!” said Miko. Reimu and Marisa were standing behind her to either side, making her intimidating indeed.

“Chairs?” asked Sasha.

“Did I stutter?”

“Fuckin’ bitch,” said Sasha, but she did go to look for chairs, and perhaps Miko sensed her desire to succeed at her task. My roommate muttered ‘did I stutter’ under her breath as she walked out.

Marisa snorted. “The humans are alright.”

“We’re human,” said Reimu.

“We’re alright.”

“Mister Thatcher,” continued Miko. “Choose five people, and tell each of them to choose ten more. All of you go around telling our newest arrivals to go into the nearest dorm. Inform them that it will be their new home. Be sure that they go inside: we’ve got to get people off the streets as soon as possible.” He went to carry out her orders with a salute.

“Aren’t we going to sort the new arrivals?” asked Wiki. “You know, compatibility and all that.”

“No we aren’t gonna sort them!” said Miko. “There isn’t time! You stay right here, Mister Sloan. You’re a liability.”

“Why? It sounds like you’re planning for an attack.”

“Mister Deshponde, take your deputies and deputize…” Miko waved her hand. “Fifteen more? You’ll look for trouble among the new humans. There won’t be much, this early on, but a show of power will help make them fall in line later.”

“Of course,” said the Indian man. He bowed.

“The new hats are with the seamstress.”

Raghav strode out with several others in his wake, putting on a red and white hat. The hats indicated the police force he had established, one with five members, soon to be twenty. The reversal of colors for the police might seem odd, but they were Reimu’s colors and she was above the police in multiple senses, most of the time.

“Twenty police isn’t enough for four thousand people in times of conflict,” said Wiki.

“Even if it seems like I’m ignoring you, Mister Sloan, I promise I am still listening. Danmaku users! Patrol the perimeter. If you see a youkai you should start releasing danmaku into the air.” Someone questioned her, but I didn’t quite hear. “So that backup becomes aware of the attack!”

The witch Marisa frowned. “How are we gonna spot them from here?”

“Marisa! Fly around in circles above the town!”

“Suits me,” she replied with an easy smile. She flew out the door of the tent, backwards and with her tongue out at Reimu, and nearly collided with Koishi, who was sneaking in. Nobody except for me noticed. I went to follow Marisa.

“Mister Thorne, why don’t you stay here for now,” said Miko. “You can keep an eye on Wiki.” I nodded, and bit back any questions I had.

“As for myself?” asked Youmu. The half-ghost gardener was nervously twirling one of the tassels on one of her swords. “I would also patrol, if permitted.”

“Miss Konpaku, you should patrol on the ground,” said Miko. “Nearby, in case they try to hit us here. They’ll probably use danmaku at first so defeat them quickly!”

Youmu’s smile was small, but bright. She exited.

“And me?” asked Reimu.

“Stay right here.”

“Pah.”

Miko kept barking orders. She sent runners to distribute fundamental goods like pots, pans, and shoes; she sent people to the granary and food storage; she had a contingent check that the water worked at each of the new dorms, with special instructions to make sure the toilets actually flushed. Five people were sent to assist the doctor Eirin Yagokoro in any fashion, five were to set up a medical tent, and five others were sent to verify that each dorm didn’t have an immigrant with immediate medical concerns.

“Accidents happen,” Miko explained, apparently for Wiki’s benefit. “Especially when people are in unfamiliar situations. Some are bound to happen today.”

Miko began sending the rest of the locals home, to remain on standby and later relieve those who had been working. The tent was beginning to clear.

“You expect an attack,” said Wiki. “Yukari’s gone, isn’t she?” I hadn’t even had a chance to explain anything to him, or to try to puzzle things out myself.

“No,” said Miko with biting sarcasm. “No,” she added with complete certainty. “Save your observations regarding that.”

“Where do you want these chairs?” asked Sasha. She dropped the tenth wooden chair she’d retrieved.

“A semicircle, here, and I’ll sit in the center.” She turned to Wiki. “You can make yourself useful. When the numerous runners arrive, tell them what to do and about my powers before they speak with me. And if anyone looks like they want to murder you, close the tent and hide behind Reimu.”

He opened his mouth a few times, then settled on: “You can tell my desires.”

“Of course. So here’s how it’s going to go…”

The runners were to sit down and give Miko a report, even though she wasn’t looking at or responding to any of them in particular. Miko’s powers involved the ability to listen to ten conversations at once; she could receive that many reports. Wiki was to stop any runner or other entrant to the tent and tell them the rules.

Wiki stood in the tent entrance. Reimu went to stand near him, but Miko held her back.

“Wait in the shadows. This is also a trap.”

Reimu sat on the floor and leaned back. “As long as we are sitting around, can you send a runner for some sake?”

“Later,” said Miko.

She took off her earmuffs and sat in the middle of the semicircle with her hands on her knees. Then she pushed the chair away.

“I prefer to stand,” she explained. Sasha shook her head, and Miko peered at her. “Miss Conti?”

“Yes?”

“It’s later. Fetch some sake.”

“I’m not so easily bought,” said my roommate as she went to carry out her new orders.

Three other people had already returned, so Miko received them. One hadn’t been able to find supplies, one had a report of people wandering away from the village, and one had a report of a sprained ankle.

Miko directed the lost one to a longtime local who could guide them, and the other two to help carry the injured man to the healthcare clinic.

“The wanderers are outside our concern for now,” she added.

Before long the tent became a cacophony of voices as people arrived from their taskings. Miko took their reports and barked new orders to them in a rapid, chaotic staccato. She reassigned people often. Most of it went past me, except for one young man who said that not all of the immigrants were speaking English or Japanese–or whatever language the interlocutor used.

The tent was getting stuffy and claustrophobic.

“Can I wait outside?” I asked.

“Yep,” she said. “It will be a good misdirection about our strength.”

“Thanks…” Miko gave me a thumbs up without looking at me as she started a conversation with a different runner.

“You!” said Miko to a youkai who had waited in the corner. “Go find Miss Komeiji, so she can help sort out the arrivals we can’t understand.” Koishi nodded quickly and ran past me and out of the tent.

“What a clusterfuck,” I told Wiki as I stepped outside.

“You’re telling me,” he said. “She isn’t called the True Administrator for nothing, though.”

“Yeah.” A runner tried to squeeze by.

“Pardon me–do you know the protocol?” asked Wiki. “Allow me to explain.”

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I left him to it and stood nearby, watching people quickly walk in from all directions through the village. The streets were clearing, but there was still a lot of activity. I glanced up at the pitch-black hole in the sky, shuddered, and looked back at the ground.

“A fudge cluster Indeed,” said Byakuren, who came to stand beside me. “I suspect the language spell has been damaged. Perhaps Miss Knowledge can repair it.”

“I hope so,” I said.

I wondered where Patchouli and Remilia were. I wanted to ask the magician some questions; she might be able to help me make sense of what happened. Heck, Sekibanki had been there, so I would ask her too. I might as well confer with all the youkai I knew, which were surprisingly many.

I even had a chance to question Byakuren as well. It probably couldn’t hurt, as long as I didn’t ask her to bed. People kept doing it, and kept getting sent to clean outhouses. I wondered what she’d tell them to do now that we all had our own bathrooms.

“Where is Yukari?” I asked Byakuren.

“Miss Yakumo is undoubtedly sleeping,” said Hijiri. “She is known to do that after exertion. Many do.”

“For how long?” I asked.

Byakuren didn’t answer. I thought about it. Yukari was normally inactive once a night during the ‘witching hour,’ the interval that divided one day from the next. It wasn’t much per night; she slept less than humans, it would seem. As I wondered about it I caught sight of Konpaku Youmu marching through a side street. She was circling the town center and tent.

“If she’ll be back in an hour…”

“We can’t assume that,” said Byakuren. “For example, last time I tried to vacation for three days, it turned into several hundred years.”

“Sounds like another mythological figure I know,” I said.

“It is unfortunate that Miss Yakumo didn’t leave us prepared to succeed,” continued Byakuren. “For now, we must guess and wait for her swift return.”

“If Yukari is gone then Gensokyo is, pardon my language, completely fucked.” The Hakurei barrier that kept us distinct from the Outside World depended on her power. To play to our outs we should assume her return, I thought.

“You say Miss Yakumo’s name so casually, and speak so crassly to a nun,” said Hijiri with a frown. “Has your meager power made you arrogant?”

“No. I’m sorry,” I said, running my hand through my hair. I missed my hat. “I’m just a bit anxious.”

“I understand,” said the Buddhist. “For now we will stabilize the chaos. Then we may decide how to proceed, when the emergency has given way to tranquility.”

“The emergency is an attack from the unfriendly youkai, right? How do we know they’re going to attack us?”

“A likely attack,” said Byakuren. “I’ll admit it is not certain. Our enemies will be able to sense that their magic is weakening, and will want to strike while the iron is hot. What’s more, is that they will be planning as though Yukari is set to return within the hour.” She sighed. “I can only hope that even as they feel weak from the lapse, they infer nothing.”

“A lapse in magic. I felt something like that… but are things getting worse?” The fear scent in the village had diminished, but I thought that was from people being told what to do.

I saw Reika walking toward the tent with a purpose, so I gave her a little wave. She nodded back but didn’t break stride. She gave Wiki a hug and he objected, saying he was working. They had a hushed conversation.

Byakuren was looking at the hole in the sky. “It’s subtle, but the slow drain of existence is worsening. A wise enemy will know the implications.”

“The hole is leaking,” I said. “So much for it being one way.”

“It is one way,” said the nun. “And seeing that empty world is enough to make emptiness in our own souls.”

“The Outside World is not empty,” I said, and when I heard myself I was taken aback. It had sounded like Byakuren had written off the Outside World, and I’d objected, but that was hypocritical of me… because I’d done the same.

I’d spoken a tragedy without thinking. There were many people trapped out there, in fact, it was all but four thousand people. I’d avoided thinking of them… perhaps because there wasn’t much we could do for them.

“It’s empty in the ways that matter for magical power,” said Hijiri. “Seeing a thing is sometimes enough to put it in your soul.”

I contemplated that, and decided that it was just inscrutable bullshit. Then I noticed that Wiki and Reika had gone inside the tent together and the entrance was closed. I went to follow them. I was supposed to be watching Wiki directly, as the fake guard to the real Reimu, although having Byakuren outside definitely undermined the deception.

“Wait, Mister Thorne,” said Hijiri Byakuren. “I wanted to give you a warning.”

“What’s that?”

“Once, not so long ago, we spoke about our desires.” I remembered hitting Byakuren with my very first danmaku, and conveying to her the importance of protecting humans over youkai. “You were single-minded in your desire to protect the village. However, now you are risking your life for a fairy’s. Has your perspective grown since then, or shrunk?”

I grit my teeth. “I do care about youkai as well, even if humans are first. It doesn’t matter. It’s a quest with implications for all of Gensokyo.” I didn’t expect the Buddhist to seek me out just to call me wishy-washy.

“It matters a great deal,” she said. “I meant no offense. I just want to say that your quest to revive Maroon and remove the irritating artifact, however noble, is a dangerous undertaking. When you journey to hell, you must retreat if you think you are in an unwinnable position, instead of press on. Take your time, so that…” she waved her hand. “Things don’t become a cluster fudge.”

“Of course,” I said, not really paying attention to her. Youmu was rounding the corner again. When I thought about it, Miko’s plan was pretty solid. We had air and ground support, a trump card, and a misdirection. Was anything missing? A runner exited the tent.

“Don’t forget that living humbly is a greater service than dying nobly,” added Hijiri.

“Uh huh,” I said. While we had firepower, we didn’t have bullshit abilities like ‘hide your identity’ or ‘sicken people with a touch.'" I supposed that Miko’s listening was pretty good… but she’d put herself in a sound-proof tent, so she wouldn’t hear anyone coming.

I worried our ad-hoc, strength-based defense might be cleverly subverted.

“Men cannot use the sutra scroll, because it affects their anatomy in unholy ways,” said Hijiri nonchalantly. “Most aren’t willing to go to battle in that state, and their ideas for using it otherwise are base and unworthy.”

“You don’t say,” I said.

The nun sighed, lifted a foot, and spun. Her kick went past my cheek. I nearly crapped my pants.

“What the–” fuck? Heck? Could I say ‘hell,’ since it was a real place?

“Mister Thorne! I’m telling you not to die pointlessly. Can you try to listen to me?”

“Of course I can!” I objected. “I am trying! I just–I got things on my mind!”

“Understandable,” said Hijiri. She put her foot down. “Which things?”

“Well, I’m thinking about Miko’s defense strategy, and whether we’ve got every contingency covered.”

“Leave that to Miko,” said Hijiri. “Your concern should be centered on the mission you will undertake tomorrow.”

“Forgive me for second-guessing plans,” I said. “And I’m also concerned about Wiki.”

Hijiri nodded. “I forgive you.” I tried not to facepalm, but when she went on some of my respect regrew. “We have failed to prepare adequately in many ways. I’m trying to rectify that by giving you a genuine warning. Please don’t go too fast?”

“I’m not just going to go down there and die. I promise.”

“If you don’t consciously choose to give up when necessary, that is exactly what you are going to do down there. Before your will falters, you must call for escape. You must step back. Do you understand?”

“Fine–I’ll give up one strike early, okay?” I could take a few danmaku bullets without faltering completely. I’d err on the side of giving up before I was close to my limit.

“I’m glad,” she said, and her smile seemed genuine.

“And hey, you offered your life to fuel a spell like an hour or two ago! Don’t be a hypocrite!”

“The experience of being rejected for that is what made me consider your own thought process. I, too, sometimes seek the easy way out.”

“Eh?” I asked, finally listening.

“My excuse for offering my life is that I’m old and tired.” Byakuren’s admittedly-matronly figure didn’t even look thirty. “I’ve worked at this a lot longer than you. I’ve earned the right to do one last bit of good before retiring, haven’t I? And yet, correct behavior shouldn’t mean that I am content to leave things to others.”

“Death is a lot different than retirement.”

“It isn’t,” she said, softly. “But I sympathize if you think differently.”

I didn’t know where this nun’s admission was coming from. What if Hijiri had been disappointed, when Remilia had refused to consume her? And then the disaster occurred after she’d gotten off easy.

Was she blaming herself?

It’s something I might do, if I were in her shoes and if my life had been worth so much. I wondered if the Buddhist was talking to me, not because she even wanted to warn me, but because she felt bad for letting the disaster befall Yukari and was trying to regain some sense of control.

Despite that, scarcely ninety minutes later, she was warning me not to be tempted into a noble sacrifice. Telling me to be a coward and retreat. That protecting my own life was first if I wanted to do good. I didn’t know what to say.

“You didn’t fail the village,” I settled on. “You know that, right?”

She laughed. “I know. I volunteered, and when I was informed it wouldn’t work, I accepted that. Can you do the same?”

I considered her words. I didn’t think for a moment that Byakuren was suicidal, but part of me did understand where she was coming from. Give your life, save one hundred people–that was so simple. It was easy, and obvious. Of course it’s worth it to die if you can save one hundred.

Was I leaping to rescue Maroon not because it was the right thing to do, but just because it was an easy thing to understand? Risk my life, fight, save a child? I had felt a calmness and certainty the moment the quest was put forward, but perhaps that was just me grasping at any stable idea of ‘the right thing to do’ that I could find. Quests had completion criteria… real life did not.

I’d done something similar with alignment research. Which was fine, because I’d been right.

Or maybe the idea that I was incorrectly enamored with was that I was the main character. Except, I had good evidence for that. One of a pair of unidentifiable youkai gave me a wave as they entered the tent, and I waved back absent-mindedly. So did Hijiri.

“I’ll think about it,” I finally told her.

“Very good,” said Hijiri. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, especially if Yukari will be gone for a long time.”

“That’s certainly true,” I said. I scanned the sky for threats, and saw the horrible hole again. “I believe her and Okina when they say my mission is important, but I’ll do the right thing even if it isn’t glamorous.”

“You are listening,” she said. “We can’t afford to lose danmaku users. What’s more–oh dear.”

Lime green danmaku was rising to the east of Human Town. There was an attack underway. Almost as soon as it started, the danmaku was cut off.

“Should–” I said, but Byakuren was already running.

“Stay here! You too, Miss Konpaku–this could be a distraction!” Byakuren Hijiri’s sutra scroll was active, and she disappeared in seconds as she ran superhumanly fast, cracking cobblestones as she sprinted. I thought about how much the impacts would hurt her joints and, indeed, her matronly figure, before I recalled that the sutra scroll made her body as hard as steel.

Youmu stayed behind and looked around suspiciously, her blade drawn. I went to enter the tent, and almost ran into Wiki as he came out.

“Hey!” I said.

“Hey,” he replied. He dragged a chair behind him, and he sat on it gently next to the tent entrance. A runner came up. “Miko said for us all to go home,” he told the runner. The human nodded and walked off.

“Does she know about the attack?” I asked.

“Miko? Of course,” he said with a nod. He didn’t explain how.

“Sending people home puts them in a bit of danger… maybe,” I said. “It might have been better to keep them here in the center of the village.”

“Maybe.”

“I guess she wants to keep you nearby and safe, in any case.”

“Heh. Yeah.”

“Maybe we should go in the tent, then?” For a moment there was a bad taste in my mouth. Something felt off.

“No,” he said. “She was very clear about that.”

“Are you alright?” I asked. “What did Reika want, by the way?”

“I didn’t hear,” he said.

I tilted my head in confusion, and the taste worsened. It was like wet fur… instead of well-done steak. I noticed that Wiki’s glasses were resting on fuzzy ears, like a dog’s.

“You aren’t Wiki,” I said as I realized it. The imposter frowned and the wet hair smell worsened. Perhaps I should have been more cagey about it, but I hadn’t been thinking fast enough, so I just blurted out that I’d figured out the deception.

The youkai in front of me changed back into her normal form. The chair turned into an immense racoon tail; Wiki’s reddish hair darkened to brown; my friend’s clothes yellowed as the body beneath became feminine. Now she had brown eyes and ears, a green leaf for a hat, glasses, and a long pipe that she pulled from her pocket.

“I was just like him for a minute, don’cha think?” Then the youkai swung a hand with nails like claws to strike me. Her hand met a blade, clanging in a very un-hand-like way.

“Find your friend,” Youmu told me as she began to fight Futatsuiwa Mamizou, the tanuki trickster. I ran into the tent.