The underground was terrible. There were no decent youkai, and the weather was also terrible, hot and cold and humid at the same time. Not to mention everyone trying to kill humans. Come to think of it, have any of you ever been down there?

I've never been to the underground, but I have seen youkai who appeared to be inhabitants of it.

I've been there many times, double checking to see if we'd left anything behind in the place where the Floating Vault(*1) was sealed.

1: The fantastic vault that Myouren, brother of Byakuren, left behind. It flies in the sky and steals grains and property.

I go there regularly.

Oh, now that you mention it, it was all your fault that I had to go down there, wasn't it?

*giggle*

I hate you.

Excuse me for interrupting, but apparently the reason Ms. Marisa went underground had something to do with Ms. Kanako? Could you please explain that?

Whoa, that surprised me. To have the secretary suddenly start talking. Um... why was it again? Because Kanako was rampaging underground?

I don't rampage.

You certainly look like you do.

What? Whatever, I thought I'd use the the disagreeable people's underground to help create Gensokyo's future.

Use?

Before that, what do you consider the greatest problems that we need to deal with in Gensokyo?

Hmm... food supply problems? It's a rather small and confined space after all....

Political problems? If there's any unrest it would quickly collapse.

Millenium problems? They seem kind of hard.

Wrong, wrong. It's energy problems. Where do you think Gensokyo's energy comes from?

The digestion of food?

Religious dignity?

Um... uh...(*2)

2: She didn't know what the Millenium problems are and couldn't come up with something clever....

You don't need to come up with a joke you know. Our energy comes from the outside world. Do you understand? The wind and the rain and the sun, they're all part of the outside world. Electricity and fossil fuels too, they're all leftovers from the outside world.

Is that how it is? What about the power of magic, or spirits?

Those are different. Because they can only be achieved through the consciousness of an isolated human, spiritual stuff like magic can only be completed in Gensokyo.

Then there's no problem. So what's with this energy problem stuff?

You've never thought about it? About trying out one of those mysterious machines from the outside?

Eh? Those can be used even in Gensokyo?

Yup, they can be used. The tengu and the kappa already use them. But that's exactly why we need a source of energy that doesn't come from the outside world. While currently we just use their leftovers, I'm looking forward to the even more splendid world we'll create.

Doesn't that mean we'll just become exactly like the outside world? Wouldn't that lead to the ruin of Gensokyo?

I'm not saying this so that we'll take the same path as them. Rather, I'm afraid that if the attitudes in the outside world start to change Gensokyo may be destroyed.

Eh?

The attitudes I'm talking about are from "Scientific Progress Above All" to "The Environment Above All". In the outside world, they may start to look at the overuse of energy as almost evil.

You mean they'll start to conserve, right? How would that impact Gensokyo though?

Although until now they've been treating energy as infinite, more and more people are becoming concerned. Which means that we're in danger of losing our source of leftover energy.

I don't know much about the outside so I don't really understand this conversation. This danger, how far in the future is it?

You could see the change gradually occurring over the past 30-40 years, and it became obvious 10 years ago. It's not gonna happen overnight, but I think there will be dramatic changes over the next few decades. Before that happens, Gensokyo needs to increase its independent energy production, which is why I went underground.

After I came to Gensokyo, I learned from the tengu that Hell(*3) existed in Gensokyo's underground. So I figured there would be an ocean of fire down there-

3: To be accurate, the Former Hell. Its function as a prison was relocated to the New Hell that the Enmas are managing, and Former Hell became merely a nest for the brazen and the despised.

You mean the Hell of Blazing Fires? One of the Eight Greater Hells.

Well, taking into account that the Youkai Mountain is a volcano, it was pretty easy to imagine there being a lot of magma inside the earth. And since we're talking about Hell, it seemed possible that it might even reach the mantle. In any event, in that high temperature, high pressure Hell, I thought it might be possible to realize nuclear fusion, which is impractical in the environment of the surface, so...

This is a difficult conversation, so I don't really understand.

Simply put, Gensokyo's energy problems could be solved by using the energy from Blazing Hell.

And in the end, a bunch of hot springs popped up. Pretty sure.

The hot springs were the first step towards success.

I'm grateful for the hot springs, but didn't a bunch of youkai get mad? "Vengeful spirits are coming up from the hot springs!"

That was a miscalculation. To think that there were still so many vengeful spirits in an unused Hell...

Not only the vengeful spirits, but ruffians started to come out from the underground too. Even to my temple.

I get the feeling Gensokyo is going to destroy itself before the energy problem does...

No no, it's all under control (sweat). Rather, I'm more afraid of a Gensokyo that never changes.

That sounds about right. If some ruffian shows up and goes berserk, everything's fine if you just defeat 'em. Honestly, when I visited the underground, rather than the residents feeling like violent youkai, it felt more like they were bad at communication. They're just secluding themselves, or enjoying being lone wolves, so I don't think they really felt that scary.

I've heard that Gensokyo accepts any kind of youkai, is that not the case?

We accept everyone, but among the youkai that have been accepted there are those who start to be hated. That's all.

How paradoxical. In that sense they're not too different from humans...

The surface youkai are moving away from being creatures that threaten humans and towards a relationship of mutual trust. On the other hand, the underground youkai have been unilaterally loathed or exiled by humans, so I think they're falling into a trap where neither side can trust the other.

Hmm? Isn't it the duty of Buddhism to rescue people from that?

Well, yeah.

Distrust of humans, huh? I met these two, Yamame(*4) and Parsee(*5), right? Yamame infects people who get close to her with a disease, so it's easy to hate her. And Parsee spends every night pounding nails into straw dolls, so creepy, right?

4: Yamame Kurodani. Aforementioned.

5: Parsee Mizuhashi. A youkai full of envy.

Because you hate the youkai, the youkai will come to hate you as well. This is the same for humans.

Well, how could you come to like a youkai like that...

If, for example, you carefully approached Ms. Yamame while avoiding her disease, and then asked to listen to her heroic tales or whatever, I don't think she'd attack you. Of course, once you got home you'd have to wash your hands and rinse your mouth.

Well said, for someone who denied her admittance.

Gefun Gefun.

Realistically speaking, it's just as Marisa says. When it comes to getting along with the youkai or humans of the surface, every one of them may be a bit difficult. In the Palace of the Earth Spirits which manages the Hell of Blazing Fires, there lives a satori(*6), but she's truly hard to deal with.

6: Satori Komeiji. I believe Kanako saying "satori" refers not to the name but to the youkai species. Confusing.

By satori, you mean that mind-reading youkai?

There isn't anyone who would want to get close to a mind-reading youkai.

But aren't you trying to get something done in the Hell of Blazing Fires? How do you negotiate?

What are you talking about? It's impossible to negotiate with a satori. I just used the Hell of Blazing Fires while trying to avoid her.

Eh?

Are you perhaps... a burglar?

The satori has a pet(*7) who manages the place, so I bestowed wisdom to the pet.

7: Utsuho Reiuji. Nicknamed Okuu. Birdbrain.

Wisdom... to the pet?

I took the god of nuclear fusion that you call the Yatagarasu(*8), and indoctrinated it into a particularly dull Hell Crow. The simpler the holder's brain is, the better able they are to control the great power. Well, that's just trivia.

8: A divine bird that appears in Japanese mythology. Although it has the same guiding nature as Sarudahiko, its nature as a sun god is stronger. Don't you think it's strange that that a black bird is the sun? Actually, if you look at the sun for a while (danger!) you can see black spots. That's the Yatagarasu.

Flatter a pig and he'll climb a tree, right? Wiser people are full of doubts, and become too cautious.

That's right. I was saved by the fact that the satori had a pet. I really don't think I'd be able to talk to a satori.

Because your mind could be read.

I'm not on Satori's side or anything, but I'll say that you all really don't go easy on her. Satori takes cares of a lot of pets, so doesn't that mean she can only be loved by animals?

You're certainly not on her side.

She probably doesn't really want to read anyone's mind. That's why she never leaves the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Even though I got close to her pet, she never even noticed, a real shut-in.

I can understand those feelings. I've got sharp ears, so I can listen to and understand ten people at the same time. However, if I'm in a crowd when everyone's talking at once, I end up hearing words I don't need to. Sometimes I even hear harsh words that I'd rather not. This is a particularly tough problem to deal with.

I can also understand. In my case, I am unable to forget anything I hear.

Incidentally, I wear earmuffs so I don't have to hear too much(*9). To a certain extent, they protect both my ears and my mind.

9: So that's a way to deal with it, huh. In my case I should get eye masks because I also can't forget anything I see.

I get it. So to the satori the Palace of the Earth Spirits serves the same purpose as your earmuffs.

Without anything like "mindmuffs" to stop her mindreading, that's probably the easiest way to avoid encountering humans or youkai.

Ah, by the way Satori has a younger sister named Koishi(*10), but it seems like she can't read minds.

10: Koishi Komeiji. A satori who can't read minds. A kitchen knife that can't cut. A tasteless and scentless spice.

Even though she's a satori? How?

Somehow it seems that by closing her own mind she managed to stop reading minds. So she just wonders around everywhere, I even saw her on the surface.

Does that mean...

It means she doesn't think. There's no way she could read another's mind when she isn't thinking anything. A unthinking youkai is just like an animal you can find anywhere, moving as if by a chemical reaction.

So she stopped thinking, did she? By choosing to run away, she entered a lower category of being.

No, wait a moment. Isn't the one who closed her mind the older sister, Ms. Satori?

Eh? What are you talking about?

Isn't she distancing herself because she doesn't want to read people's minds? That itself is closing your mind. But for Ms. Koishi, she overcame it and is expressing herself.

You say she's expressing herself, but isn't she just not thinking anything?

Normally, if you're not thinking anything you wouldn't be able to do anything either. But she's strolling about everywhere, can have conversations, and is behaving completely true to herself. This proves that she didn't close her mind.

Ah, then so basically...

"Zekokuuchuumushiki, Mushusougyoushiki". Within the truth of "Emptiness", there is no "Form". Nor are there "Sensation", "Perception", "Formation" or "Consciousness". In other words, the five skandhas(*11) do not exist.

11: The five are form, feeling, conception, impulses and discernment. In Buddhism, they are everything of what both matter and the soul are, hence they represent the world itself.

I see, so rather than being a satori who cannot read minds because she closed her mind, she abandoned her mind and approached "Emptiness".

This isn't rigorous, but that's what it looks like. This is hard for me, even as a priest who constantly trains. I'd definitely want Ms. Koishi who became like that to come to our temple(*12). It's possible that without training she's approached a state close to enlightenment.

12: Afterwards, she was solicited to the temple. Not entering the priesthood, but as a laywoman.

Well, she is a satori.

I don't really get all this Buddhist talk, but the bit about abandoning your mind to approach "Emptiness" is pretty interesting.

Certainly, and since she gave her pet a name like that maybe the older sister is close to that point as well.

Listening to this conversation, it sounds like the underground has only hated people, but I had thought that Former Hell would have more things like oni.

No no, there's an oni, a one-horned one(*13).

13: Yuugi Hoshiguma. Loves sake.

While most of the oni went looking for re-employment together after the relocation of Hell, it seems the hated outlaws among them stayed behind.

To be accurate, the oni who originally worked in Former Hell have moved out. But because of all the space that opened up in Former Hell, the surface oni started moving in like they owned the place.

How detailed. Who did you hear this from?

I heard it from Yuugi, so there's no doubt it's true.

Eh? You mingle with the underground oni?

Ah, the underground may be unsociable, but the oni themselves are open. She often invites me over to drink. The red lilies of Former Hell sure are pretty, really. Well, whenever I head down there I stay away from the other youkai.

Hmm... the oni sure sound lively. They don't bother with the small details, and don't even know the meaning of seclusion.

If you're going underground, there's something you should be wary of.

What's that?

Vengeful spirits.

Vengeful spirits, huh. I've never been quite sure what the difference between yuurei and vengeful spirits was, and actually, aren't they even weaker they yuurei? But why are there so many youkai that seem strangely scared of them?

Vengeful spirits are a kind of yuurei and therefore fundamentally the same, but when a yuurei comes from a human that gave in to malice or carries a strong grudge, and strays from the cycle of reincarnation by remaining a yuurei eternally, we call that a vengeful spirit. Humans that are doomed to Hell after death often become vengeful spirits, so there are quite a few of them there. I never would have expected so many to remain in Former Hell though.

So you're saying it's dangerous to have so many vengeful spirits resenting humans? But aren't they weak?

The scary part is when they possess humans. They can induce the possessed human into having the same kind of resentment that they do.

Ugh, I'd hate that.

Although Gensokyo is said to have been created to preserve youkai, it couldn't exist without humans. Without humans, youkai couldn't exist either. Humans fear youkai, youkai attack humans. This is the main principle.

I have an objection to that...

I won't recognize other opinions. However, what do you think would happen if the vengeful spirits got out? Vengeful spirits are non-youkai spirits born from human malice. If these spirits start possessing humans and the humans start fighting each other, what would you do?

I'd start betting on who would win.

It wouldn't just be duels: they wouldn't be able to tell friend from enemy, and fall into paranoia. With humans antagonizing only each other, it'll become just like the outside world. Doesn't that put the purpose of youkai in jeopardy? That's why youkai are so afraid of vengeful spirits.

I see.

There's also another reason they fear them. While youkai tend to be physically strong, their hearts are especially fragile.

Oh, really?

It's because the core of a youkai isn't its body, but its heart.

I've never heard of this happening, but if by any chance a vengeful spirit managed to possess a youkai, what do you think would happen?

It would be as if the youkai had died.

What do you mean as if they died? Even though they haven't really died?

It means that particular youkai has died. What's left is a completely different youkai.

What, isn't that just being reborn?

The new youkai's core would be the heart of the spirit that possessed them.... In other words, rather than being reborn, the spirit has taken over their entire existence.

That's right. Which is why youkai are so scared of vengeful spirits.

That's why they're so scared... wait, isn't it your fault that the spirits are popping up? Because you tried to take advantage of Former Hell?

That'll be our little secret.

Everyone already knows though(laugh). For now, I'll just make a note of it. That the quickest way to kill a youkai is with a vengeful spirit.

With a heart like that, you'll go to Hell and become a vengeful spirit yourself.

Gyah, spare me from Hell. I'd prefer Heaven, if possible.

Huh? Didn't you just tell us that you like to go drinking with oni in Hell? (laugh)

Ah, I guess I did. Then Hell doesn't seem too scary.