Mentioned Characters: Reisen, Eirin, Kaguya, Mokou, Tewi, Keine

Fujiwara no Mokou is immortal. Anyone who drinks the Hourai Elixir becomes a person of Hourai, trapped in a body that can never die. If Mokou were a Lunarian like Kaguya Houraisan or Eirin Yagokoro, perhaps immortality wouldn't have been so bad. But she's human. She feels pain, suffering, and loneliness, just as any human does. Unable to die, she could not truly live. Fujiwara no Mokou simply continued to exist for an unbearably long time. Lately, however, she has started to rediscover the joys of life. In the 80th provisional Gensokyo, she plays her part as a person of Hourai. The one trait that makes a person of Hourai unique is true immortality. It sounds harmless, but over the long run, that immortality could undermine the order of all things. It's a quiet destroyer, in every sense. Its effects aren't immediate or dramatic, but given enough time, it becomes a bullet that's sure to pierce through everything. Most of the time, Mokou is in charge of ship security and cooking (mainly yakitori), but word has it she was also taking on secret missions that only a person of Hourai could carry out.

[Part 1 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "Kaguya might know something." Fujiwara no Mokou couldn't care less about what happened at the academy. School festivals, ball games, sports day, music festivals, student council elections―none of the official stuff interested her, and neither did whatever went on behind the scenes. She'd grown sick of childish games. Everything felt trivial to her now. Mokou had seen it all, and then some. Actually, she might still be interested in the music festivals, but nothing else. Truth was, Mokou had started to like the academy. Even as she told herself it was pointless, trivial, and exhausting, she'd begun to feel something she couldn't quite put into words. She wanted to understand what that feeling was. Maybe that alone was enough to give her time at the academy some purpose. She was starting to believe it. So, half to herself, she said: "Somebody's gotta protect these ordinary days..." It wasn't about good and evil, heroes and villains, any of that. Those concepts were no different from any other game of make-believe. What Mokou sensed was something else entirely―a parasite that quietly ate away at everyday life. Whatever it was, she could feel it. Call it conspiracy theory, call it occult nonsense, she didn't care. She could still sense someone out there, hiding behind common sense like it was a shield. She didn't answer to anyone, didn't run with anyone. Which is exactly why she picked up on it when no one else did. "Good thing I never signed up for any clubs."

[Part 2 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "The princess isn't in right now. What's up?" Reisen Udongein Inaba's tone was far too relaxed for the situation. Then again, out of all the student councils vying for power, the Eien Student Council was easily the strangest, and it wasn't hard to see why. Each member brought their own flavor of chaos. Kaguya Houraisan was a chatterbox princess who did whatever she wanted, snuck off on walks whenever she felt like it, and insisted everyone call her Princess. Eirin Yagokoro's intellect was so far beyond human comprehension that nobody had the faintest idea what went on in her head. Tewi Inaba, meanwhile, was a tiny menace, who was always rigging some kind of trap and grinning with satisfaction every time someone stumbled into one. All three of them insisted the Eien Student Council belonged to them, and only them. It was a trio chaotic enough to send even the golden dragon that destroyed Venus running with its tails between its legs. Reisen was probably the sanest one. Probably. "You didn't just wander in for no reason. Who do you need?" "Oh, um, Kagu―" Mokou clapped a hand over her own mouth before she could finish. That was close. Her relationship with Kaguya was supposed to be a secret, and she wasn't about to blow that by talking about her like an old friend. "Kagu who?" "Cargo! I meant cargo! I've got a cargo delivery coming and no idea where to put it all, so I figured I'd ask Keine!" "You mean Miss Keine, the head student? But why come here looking for her? It's not like we'd know where to find her." "It's just, um... nobody I asked had a clue, so I thought maybe the Eein Student Council would. Haha." "It's not like we keep tabs on everyone, you know? But lucky for you, I actually do know where she is. Though, you and Miss Keine, huh? Interesting. Can't really blame you, she's adorable." This was going to turn into a rumor.

[Part 3 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "You're looking for Kaguya? Ooooh, I see. Guess I'm the only one you can really ask, huh, Mokou?" Keine Kamishirasawa was right where she always was: in the classroom, the evening sun spilling in through the windows. Mokou knew she'd find her here at this hour. The two of them talked often, always at this same time, in this same place. "Of course, I know where she is. People tell me all sorts of things. Information like that just finds its way to me." A head student was basically the closest thing the academy had to a teacher. Technically, the academy had no teachers at all. It ran on something called the Platonic Academy approach, where students taught one another. Some students simply had a knack for teaching, and Keine was the textbook example. Students who ended up teaching more often than not earned the title of head student, and were addressed with honorifics like "Miss." Keine fit the role so well that people rarely remembered she was, at the end of the day, still just a student. "So you really do have feelings for Kaguya, huh?" "That's not what this is." "Really? You talk about her so much, I just assumed. And Kaguya really is stunning, you know? There's something genuinely elegant about her." The word "elegant" didn't land with Mokou at all. Sure, she thought Kaguya was cute. Pretty, even. And the whole princess thing made sense, in a way. But elegant? She couldn't see what made her different from anyone else, or why she was so special. "You were just thinking Kaguya's nothing special, weren't you?" "Huh? ...Yeah, actually. I was." "...Wow. You're unbelievable." "What do you mean?" "Honestly, all I can do is sigh." Mokou couldn't understand why Keine was reacting this way. Kaguya was just a normal person. So was Keine, as far as she was concerned.

[Part 4 of an unresolved investigation into a lost world] "Let's go home, Mokou." Kaguya Houraisan stood there, right at the school gate, the sun sinking behind her. Not another soul in sight. There was nothing unusual about that. "Did I forget to tell you I had to do student council work today? I heard you were desperately looking for me." "Wh-Who told you that?" "I went back to the student council office, and Reisen told me. Something about you showing up to ask where Keine was. I just put two and two together." "Tch." Keine had sent her to the school gate. She knew―she'd always known that Mokou came here at this hour, and that Kaguya would be there too. Both Kaguya and Keine seemed to have her all figured out. There was no way to know whether that was actually true, but that's how it felt to Mokou. Maybe she understood herself less than anyone else did. "Days pass by the same as they always do..." "What's that supposed to mean? Of course they do!" Mokou had lost track of what she'd been so worried about in the first place. But maybe this right here was the thing she truly wanted to protect. That's what she thought, anyway.