Heaven's Door

"Hmm..." Kaguya thought for a moment, brushing off her clothes. "I have one question though. How did you all know about these... Standmaku?"

"Truth be told, that's why I'm here." Mokou reached into her messenger bag. "This all has to do with a certain woman..." They were sitting at a quiet yakitori restaurant at the heart of Ningen no Sato's grand central marketplace. It was a lazy morning and most people would rather stay at home. Even then, the market still remained a popular spot for a delicious lunch or a pint or two of the local beer or a taste of some of the local delicacies, like grilled lamprey.

"A woman?" Kaguya looked up from her smartphone.

"Look at this." The picture was nothing too impressive, just a large chest which had been opened with a blowtorch.

"Four years ago, this chest was fished up out of the Sea of Okhotsk. Through my contacts, I've been able to get a hold of it. It's not chest at all, turns out. It was a highly ornate coffin." For a moment, a flash of fear could be visible on Eirin's face. "There had been signs that someone had been laying down inside of it for 40, maybe 50 years."

"And? What's your point exactly? Get to it!"

"After the defeat of the woman Izayoi Sakuya at the hands of Reimu, her supposedly dead body was placed onto a liner bound for Japan... in this very chest..." Eirin said. "What was found in that chest was... well... a body without a head."

"Some weeks later, it was discovered that Reimu's grave had been disturbed. What we found was shocking... all that was left inside was her skull and no body..." Mokou said. "This happened in 1953. No one ever figured out what happened to Reimu's body or the coffin that Sakuya had been laid in... until recently."

"What... what are you trying to say?" A cold shiver ran up Kaguya's back.

"I know this sounds hard to believe..." Eirin's voice came down to almost a whisper. "But we're certain that she's back from the dead. Sakuya that is."

"That's... a lot to take in." Kaguya said, looking up at the sky.

"Apparently, she now goes by the name PADIO. The High Gothic word for God. Pffftch, she was always so full of herself."

"Here you go. We'll use this." Mokou said, handing Eirin an old Polaroid camera.

"I think now's the time I showed you my Standmaku, Heaven's Door!" With her hand over the camera, purple thorny vine began to appear from Eirin's hands before phasing into the camera. "The truth is, I've only started developing this power 3 years ago. Unlike Fujiyama Volcano, it can't attack, but it's incredibly useful." With her left hand, Eirin smashed the camera, making it eject a single photo slide.

"This power is called 'spirit photography' and I can use it to see distant places and things, even though I have to smash a perfectly good vintage camera to do it." Eirin sighed.

"Is something wrong?" The owner said, poking his head over the counter.

"It's fine, leave us be." Mokou said, waving him off.

"Look!" Eirin handed the photo to Kaguya. It was an image of a slim, naked, woman with her back to the camera. A scar ran around her neck and a little below that scar was a sealing talisman.

"That mark on her neck... it looks familiar somehow. It's a burial ward, isn't it?"

"You are correct." Eirin nodded. "Which brings me to the conclusion that Sakuya, no, PADIO, has somehow stolen Reimu's body in a twisted act of vengeance. See, in their final clash, Sakuya's body was mostly destroyed, while Reimu had suffered fatal injuries. I should know, I was there when it happened."

"You were there?"

"I was 16 year at the time. Reimu had sacrificed her life to save me from her."

The whole table went silent. Kaguya's mind went blank, analyzing the words that Eirin had uttered.

"Seemingly, she's been living off Reimu's body for a while now, hiding out somewhere around the world."

"I get the feeling that the Standmaku that have awakened recently had something to do with PADIO's twisted act. From my research, dozens of new users have been popping up all over Asia and beyond, even going as far as to affect the youkai population."

"Wait, there's more of these... Standmaku users other than just the three of us?" Kaguya looked quite shocked.

"They've been under our noses the whole time. You see, only Standmaku users can see other Standmaku." Eirin sipped at her beer.

"Whether its because of PADIO or mere coincidence, well, no one can really tell at this point." Mokou said. "Just know, activity in Gensokyo has been hot."

"Well, this should be interesting. I guess that means you'll be staying in Gensokyo for a while." Eirin asked. "Its been a while since you've stayed over at Eientei."

"Where would you all be without me, huh?" Mokou smiled said as the group began to leave the restaurant. Kaguya was uneasy about all this. She glanced out at the blue sky stretched overhead as she sighed. Turns out, things were about to get more bizarre than she could have ever thought.