Mentioned Characters: Reimu, Suika

"Hey, Reimu, isn't it about time you finally exterminated me? An oni's holed up at your shrine throwing drinking parties night after night. Back in the Heian era, even a rookie constable would've instantly drawn his sword over that kind of misconduct." There's no telling whether that's ancient history straight from an oni who lived it, or simply the liquor talking. Every now and then, oni do seem to get a little nostalgic for the days they still lived close to humans. What reads as reckless brutality to a human is, from an oni's perspective, just a friendly little pat―a sign of good will, nothing more. It hardly seems fair that a friendly pat earns the oni a severed head in return. And that's the story of how Suika lost parts of her body.

Prolonged Incidents Incidents come in many forms. One type mainly targets the minds of those living in Gensokyo―manipulating emotions, stirring up feelings that shouldn't be there, or driving people to madness. If an incident like this drags on, the mental toll would likely be devastating, and it could easily spiral into a threat to Gensokyo's very existence. That's because Gensokyo's very foundation is a delicate balance between humans and youkai.

The Prolonged Night Parade of One Hundred Oni Every Four Days Oni are, without question, the ultimate spiritual beings. Their bodies can scatter like mist one moment and reform wherever they please the next. This ability, best described as a form of spiritual gravity, can just as easily be used on someone else. An oni can summon someone to any spot they like, whether that person wants to go or not. That, perhaps, is exactly how the Night Parade was once led. Even in this day and age, nothing's stopping an oni from rallying a horde of youkai and evil spirits into the night if they wanted to. The only reason they don't is that it simply doesn't interest them. They don't want to be hunted down by humans. They simply crave that intense, soul-baring exchange, even if that wish is hopelessly out of step with the times.

EX Beings The "EX" stands for "Extended." These beings are thought to be the ones responsible for dragging out incidents. But that raises questions of its own. Does prolonging an incident actually serve any purpose? And what does a prolonged incident ultimately become?

Before Suika Ibuki returned to Gensokyo, she'd been staying in the Former Capital of Former Hell, deep in the Underworld. There was a time she called herself one of the Youkai Mountain's Big Four, and a time she lived in the Land of the Oni. There was also a chapter of her life spent on Mount Oe. Every place Suika has wandered through tells the story of what she's been searching for. What has she kept locked away in her heart ever since humans let her down? Tonight, as always, she sips from her cup while the moonlight shows her a world that keeps on changing.