Library of the Scarlets

Scene 7

            Searching every bookshelf, the number of books that belonged to the Suzunaan became more and more as I walked through a certain direction. The illusion became much worse; gravity is starting to distort, allowing you to walk on walls and bookshelves, but sometimes make you fall down the ceiling after the gravity shifts.

            And to people flying, like me, this gravity distortion is making our head ache.

            But the increase of number of her books and increase amount of magic in the illusion means that I am nearer to the source of the Suzunaan.

            The problem is if Kosuzu explores towards Patch’s library and…

            I shook my head and removed my negative thoughts.

            I looked around once again, and found myself in a room without any entrances. The illusion reformed the room while I was thinking.

            Illusions also start to reform rooms more and more frequently, I noticed.

            Without any entrances from below, I ascended upwards and saw that the room was very tall indeed. The number of youkai and books increased attacks on me, but I easily managed to graze them all while flying upwards in an increasing speed.

            I turned my head upwards and saw that…

            …that the ceiling was nearly right above me. I slowed my ascent, and sighed in relaxation to see that my head didn’t bump on the ceiling.

            “……Ow!”

The gravity suddenly shifted the other way around, and I can’t help but fall down on my head.

             Standing up once again and trying to straighten my flattened hat, I saw that the room around me was very unstable. The walls changed shape faster than they can even solidify, forming a bubbly liquid surface, and the bookshelves kept coming in all directions and stacked in an unknown pattern.

            The dark sensation in my guts is very heavy, and my exhaustion multiplied a hundred times. I dropped my hold to my broom and fell down to my knees.

            “…Argh… I can’t stop here… I am already so close… to see who the real culprit is…”

            My vision began to darken once again, and this time, I fell down.

            I saw my blurred hand trying to grab the broom ahead of me, but even just moving a pinky seems very tiring.

            Then, I saw a faint girl with a red-and-white checkered kimono and a yellow apron above her kimono. There were some writings on the apron, and I managed to focus on it even if my eyes were very heavy.

            “Ko-su-zu,” I read the name on the apron with my very faint voice.

            The girl’s light red hair and worried face were above my face, and then grasped my hand that was trying to get my broom.

            “Marisa! Please tell me where you are hurt!”, I faintly heard her voice.

            “My… who…le body…. It’s weak….”, I tried to use as much energy I had left just to speak.

            My vision soon darkened completely, but my consciousness weren’t out yet. I felt a hand enter my pockets, and took out my items.

            “No… there are no… potions… there….”

            “Then I’ll create one!”

            “Are… you sure…?”

            “I didn’t translate youkai books without learning anything about magic!”

            I managed to smile a little.

            “…so… it was really you…”

            Heard some mixing and stirring of liquids, and then I felt something cold touch my lips. I smelled the scent of fresh powdered fungi and the familiar scent of flower juices on my nose.

            “Open your mouth, Marisa.”

            I already opened my mouth before she could say that, and drank a bitter potion that I never tasted before. Sweetness soon spread through my mouth like a fresh sake served in the Hakurei Shrine. However, in potions and witchcrafting, sweet liquids are mostly poisons…

            But no kidding, energy quickly returned to my body the instant I swallowed it down my throat.

            “Is this the power of youkai magic?”, I asked clearly as I opened my eyes slowly. The hand that grasped my hand pulled me up and I stood up with a little dizziness still remaining in my head.

            “The dizziness should be gone after a while, Marisa,” Kosuzu supported my balance.

            “I thought sweet potions are supposed to be poisons, Kosuzu?”, I asked her.

            “Oh, it is poison,” she smiled.

            “…eh?!”

            “It was a powerful youkai that must have seeped in your body this morning, for it remains inactive for about three hours and forty-five minutes, and then attacks your body fully, like a virus.”

            “Ah… I see now…”, I answered even without knowing what a virus is.

            I remembered that Kosuzu used to live in Outside World, but soon moved here in Gensokyo.

            In the outside world, an hour is split to 60 equal parts called minutes, the same way a calendar day is cut into two parts, day and night, and how each of these two is split into twelve equal hours.

            So the dark mist in the doors earlier was this youkai, I concluded.

            “Three hours and forty-five minutes, you say……!”

            In my calculations, this must mean that there are…

… fifteen minutes before the Flower Viewing starts.