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Cage in Lunatic Runagate/Sixth Chapter

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Chapter 6: 愚者の封書 ~ The Fool's Sealed Letter

The sky of the Lunar Capital is dark even in the daytime. I think the night may never end. Since it’s possible to see without any lights, the expression “dark” may not be appropriate. It’s just the sky being pitch black.

Space is supposed to be dark in the first place. The skies of the planets that are suspended in such a space are obviously such a dark colour, normally.

It does not mean that all planets which get the sun’s light have blue skies. The sun’s light is not blue and neither are the atmospheres surrounding the planets.

Then why is the sky of Earth so blue?

That's because the atmosphere bends the rays of light most prone to refraction (the violet to the blue ray in the visible light spectrum) and spreads them, making the sky look blue. It was only coincidental that Earth had just the right thickness of atmosphere to make the sky look blue. If the atmosphere was a bit thicker, the blue light would’ve completely dispersed and a red sky would result. There is a point in time where the sky on Earth turns red- depending on the time this occurs, people call it "sunrise" or "sunset".

If the atmosphere was to become even thicker, then even the red light would completely disperse and Earth would become a night planet, since no light would reach its surface. Conversely, if the atmosphere was to be much thinner, the light would come in without bending and the sky would be dark except in the spot where the light shines.

The moon was the latter; the dark daytime sky was now covered in colourful stars.

“-'Stardust Reverie!'”

The human in black flew up and shouted something.

The star-shaped objects whose makeup I didn't know flew in various paths unaffected by Master Yorihime’s movements.

An attack that was launched without even looking at the opponent should have been nothing to fear. It was almost as if a child was waving its arms while running towards its opponent.

“Hey, those stars look like they won’t hurt to be hit by...”

"Even if it doesn't hurt, I think it still counts as a miss. That's why you need to beautifully evade it."

“Hmm, then wouldn’t the one who can shoot more bullets be better off?”

“They probably have a limit to the amount of bullets that they could shoot at once. I don’t know if it’s the law of conservation of energy, or levels in entropy though...”

The moon rabbits talked as if it had nothing to do with them. I think the reason was to minimize the effect on the ecosystem. Anyway, I thought they were shooting way too much when making even one hit was enough...

Master Yorihime dodged the colourful galaxy without any problem. She was agile like a celestial swimming through the rain and nimble as a rabbit that ran on earth.

The rabbits of the moon were excited, positive of their victory watching master Yorihime’s fight. Everyone seemed to want to stand in the front lines and show off when it was only a while before that they were all fleeing, scared of the vampire. They all seemed to be feeling that they were able to win too, watching master Yorhime’s fight and feeling her godly presence.

But would I be able to dodge that attack?

I had heard that the humans of Earth were frail and weak, but the human in front of me looked way too strong for me to handle. Master Yorihime looked confident but if something was to happen, would I be the one to stand in the kill-zone? If that was to happen, would the capital of the moon get invaded?

“Watch out for stray bullets!”

The moment that I thought I heard the human shout something, a huge star-shaped object grazed my ear and ruffled my hair.

When I watched from far away, I thought the stars I saw were made of clusters of light or heat. Unlike in my imagination, the star felt solid. A cold sweat ran down my spine.

What was I doing in the front lines of this raging battle in the first place?

I originally sang songs and lived every day pounding rice cakes. Every day was boring, yet peaceful. In the day we’d continuously pound rice cakes and in the night we’d play chess while drinking sake. Those days now feel very nostalgic.

Although they call it “rice cakes” what was actually in the grinding pot was not actual rice cakes but a medicine. We were trying to make a medicine called the “Hourai Elixir” that would provide eternal youth and never ending life.

We do not know the intentions behind this since we rabbits were taught only to pound the medicine.

We were taught that the pounding of the rice cakes was for the atonement of Master Jyouga[1]. You could say that all of the work that we moon rabbits do does not benefit us in any way, yet we were made to do it every single day. This work that we know nothing of - when it shall ever end, or if it will even be successful - has been going on for the past few thousand years. It has gone nowhere. To many of our kind, this rice cake pounding has become more of a routine work that has no meaning behind it.

I didn't want to eternally pound rice cakes for a sin that some other person must atone for. The job didn't allow for any doubts or thinking or using my head, ever. Rather, it required one to constantly work their body out. One would never be lost for living, but it wasn't productive and required no thought. I thought that kind of work existed for the lowest class.

I thought rabbits should have more freedom, that we can do better things with our abilities. Now that I think of it, ones who think they have what it takes but believe that their environment doesn't allow it are most likely ones that can’t do it. I must have been a stereotypical fool in such a manner.

I, as a fool, told myself that if it’s not constructive, running away from it was justifiable and it was society at fault for being unable to utilize me to the best of my ability. Of course, that was what I told myself to maintain my cool while I was running away.

The moon’s capital was too small and even if I ran, I would get caught right away.

Thus I ran, not only from my job but also from the Lunarian capital. I decided without hesitation on escaping to the filthy Earth. I heard that one of us moon rabbits had once escaped to Earth so I planned on following her path.

-There was a huge roar.

It seemed that the human used a grand technique but was easily overpowered by Master Yorihime and thus the winner was decided. Master Yorihime held out a large mirror said to be of the gods which reflected light in a – as the word implies - godly manner.

“Aww, it would’ve been better if Master Yorihime had gone a bit easier.”

The rabbit beside me said to me, while I was in a panic, not understanding the situation completely. The rabbit added “At this rate, there won’t be any left for us.”

I sighed as I thought of how just moments ago everybody was running, scared of the vampire. “I know, at this rate all the training I did will be for nothing,”I said back, although I knew I’d lose.

The other rabbits also sounded worked up, but they were probably the same inside. The ones that think they can if they get the chance wouldn’t be able to do anything even if they had it. Those ones won’t even have the power to call that chance upon them.

“Did any of you get hit by stray bullets?”

Master Yorihime came back with a cool expression.

“That was wonderful, but you still looked like you were going easy.”

“It’s dangerous to be overconfident, but one must also have their self at some ease. You fellows look to be overconfident when you don’t have any ease.”

“Oh, come on, if it's a human of that level we can beat her up in a flash.”

“That’s what’s called overconfidence,”

Master Yorihime said with a disgusted look.

“Well, it looks like that vampire is up next. Well, I think she’s probably the easiest to beat... by the way, you there.”

Master Yorihime looked this way. I tensed up with the thought that she might tell me to fight the vampire.

“N-no me? I don’t think that I can...”

“What are you talking about? I want you to run an errand for me,”

she whispered.

“Hunh? A task of such importance, to me?”

“I think it’s a perfect task for you since you look so reserved. I really meant to do this myself but the ones from the Earth were stronger than I expected. Now go, there might not be too much time left.”

I think it was about 3 or 4 months ago that I grew tired of pounding the mochi and I ran from the Lunar Capital and fled to the Earth.

There was supposed to be one of us down on Earth as well as some sinners that have been put down for bounty...

The raiment of the moon[2] - that was of little use when one was on the moon - was a peculiar feathered robe that allowed one to fly freely. At the same time it made one lose their soul when they wore it, thus the wearer would have no control over themselves.

I took the veil and flew towards the earth, so I have little memory of the few days of flight it took to get to earth.

This veil was used to make a Lunarian return from the Earth so that the Lunarian would have no regrets when leaving. In the past there was a certain princess by the name of Kaguya that got imprisoned on the Earth. This robe was used to call back Princess Kaguya from the Earth... or so it was supposed to go.

Although I do not know the datails of this, Princess Kaguya refused to return to the moon and thus a Sage of the Moon was left on the Earth with the princess. Although the whereabouts of the sage and the princess have been unknown for more than 1000 years, a bounty is still placed on them.

The reason for that is because the leaders of the search squad, Master Toyohime and Master Yorihime, have no intention of capturing them. The people of the Lunar Capital vaguely know about this but since it was nothing that could possibly harm them in the short term, everybody forgot.

It was just before the time I made my escape that a strange rumor spread. There was said to be someone who planned a coup in the Lunar Capital, the suspect being Master Yagokoro, who was a sinner on Earth.

I later asked Master Yorihime why such a rumor spread and apparently there was someone who had been summoning the gods of the moon without taking proper measures to do so.

Apparently Master Yorihime, who had the power to call upon the gods freely, was top on the list of suspects and Master Yagokoro, who had been on bounty for sucha long time but not captured, was also found suspicious.

Thankfully that doubt looked like it was going to be wiped clean. This was because a shrine maiden that the vampire brought with her was found to be the one who had been summoning the gods.

Calling the Sumiyoshisanshin[3] god to an arc that connects the Earth with the Moon. Apparently that was the cause of the rumor that spread in the Lunar Capital.

This was not the first time the shrine maiden and I had met. We had met once on Earth around the same time the rumor had started to go around.

The Earth that I had come to for the first time was not the arid land that I had heard of. It was a peaceful place with many beautiful trees.

I don’t know if I was tired from the long travel or if I had hit some debris in space; I fainted as soon as I got to Earth. That shrine maiden was the one who took care of me after that. I had no idea that she was one of the ones who planned on invading the moon.

When I was asleep in the shrine, I heard a voice calling me. A voice that was not used on Earth that called me. I was positive that this was the comrade that I'd heard of and left the shrine.

A fellow rabbit that had fled from the moon, or so I thought. The caller was the sage that was placed on bounty, Master Yagokoro.

From that very moment, my journey had started moving in a direction that I had never imagined.

I was to return to the Lunar Capital once again but I was to never return to the task of pounding ricecakes again. It was something that I did out of my own greed so it couldn’t be helped. The task that was placed on me was to be a member of the defense squad of the moon.

The defense squad, called the Moon’s Messengers, was to guard the moon and keep watch over the Earth. The Watatsuki sisters were the leaders of the defense squad and I learned from Master Yorihime the ways of battles, manners, common knowledge, and many other things.

Master Yorihime, who was the younger sister of the two, also took care of the training of the rabbits other than me. The squad was quite small and the number of rabbits in it was less than ten. All of them were inexperienced and probably not that different from me in terms of strength.

Although there were hardly any instances when we actually went into battle, Master Yorihime’s training was harsh. If one was to slack off they would receive a heavy punishment. This was probably because Master Yorihime thought to take after Master Yagokoro and to devote herself to the Lunar Capital.

Contrasting that was the older sister, Master Toyohime. She usually read books and took off on walks, living her days in freedom. She only comes around us on days that we get off from our training and says, “Let’s train together.” When we tell her that it's our day off she walks off looking disappointed. She probably has no intention to actually train.

Master Toyohime was quite popular amongst us rabbits since she couldn’t say anything strict, and since she was a quick thinker who was very knowledgeable, all of her conversations were interesting to hear. What made her even more popular was the fact that she’d sneak some treats to us during our training.

As one would guess, the ones who came to fend off the vampire’s group was Master Yorihime and us rabbits. I wonder what Master Toyohime is doing now? Knowing her, she’d probably be reading books and singing songs at a time of such importance. I guess she thought it all right to leave the fighting to Master Yorihime.

“I’m back!”

Given the important task from Master Yorihime, I immediately left the battle ground and returned to the residence of the Watatsuki Sisters in the Lunar Capital.

As expected, the mansion was empty and not even the rabbits that were often training were there. Obviously, everyone had departed for battle with Master Yorihime.

I went through a brief search through the mansion, but Master Toyohime was nowhere to be seen. Where could she be? At first, I thought that she would’ve gone with Master Yorihime, but Master Yorihime departed for battle without giving Master Toyohime a single word about it.

Training in battle, studies, and manners were all done by Master Yorihime, but I wonder what Master Yorhime is thinking not giving Master Toyohime any word at a time of such crisis? Judging from the fact that nobody was saying anything to Master Yorihime about that, I guess it must be how it always is.

Upon arriving in front of Master Yorihime’s room, I stuttered “P-pardon me,” and opened the door when I knew that there would be nobody there. I was tense probably because it was Master Yorihime’s room which nobody would enter alone unless it was for a bad cause.

After entering the room I quickly pulled out a pen and paper and began to write.

“Um… 'Long time no see. How have you been?' ...or is this too easygoing?”

The task that I had been requested for by Master Yorihime was to write a letter to Master Yagokoro.

“In the first place, me writing in place of master Yorihime is impossible when I’m not even good at hand writing... Guess I should explain first that Master Yorihime was too busy so I’m writing for her.”

I decided to inform Master Yagokoro of how things had gone and thank her in my own words.

What I thought when I first met her on Earth, how I was able to deliver the letter safely to my masters, my return to the Lunar Capital without being questioned about why I had run, and how I ended up living in the house of the Watatsukis...

“'Also, there was a group of invaders from Earth. It’s a silly team consisting of one vampire, three humans and three fairies. Master Yagokoro, you seemed to have expected this to happen, but did you know something about this little team?'... hmm, what else should I write?”

I remembered about the shrine maiden that had nursed me back to health on Earth, although she didn’t notice me at the battlefield. Well, I guess it couldn’t be helped because when I was down on Earth, I was camouflaged to look like an ordinary Earth rabbit.

The shrine maiden was the central person who had caused the mix-up on the moon by calling the gods improperly. Although I had mixed feelings about it, I wrote in the letter, “Please give my thanks to the shrine maiden on Earth.”

I read over it many times until the ink dried. I thought it looked very mature for something I'd written. Maybe I could have passed this off as something that Master Yorihime wrote.

After making sure that the ink was dry, I rolled the paper up and tied it with a cord. I quickly ran out of the mansion again with the letter.

Now I was off in the exact opposite direction Master Yorihime was in.

I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to reach my destination, as I remembered how it had been when I ran to the moon.

I had been told that the Earth, unlike the moon, was a world full of filth and deceit. So I had thought that it would be would be difficult to even survive unless I constantly kept my guard up, doubted everyone and only trusted myself. That was until Master Yorihime told me the true meaning of “filth”.

The "filth" that the Lunar Capital detested was life and death. They believed the Earth was a world that rewarded being alive with death. Thus there were even ones who called the Earth a land of filth, where every being had to compete to live, and the Moon a "pure land"[4] where that filth had been purified.

Apparently, a world without life or death is the most beautiful thing, but it's still different from a world which had nothing in it. A world where one did not need to take from others to live and could live by what they had made themselves- that was said to be an ideal world.

On Earth, life was greater, the greatest thing possible and thus the fragrance of death became stronger. It was said to be that fragrance of death that brought such a thing as a lifespan. Thus all that live on the Earth will have a lifespan.

The shrine maiden that had nursed me called me a youkai rabbit. I'd heard that a youkai was a supernatural being which was a predator to humans. I was impressed that a human on Earth would even nurse a youkai. I would’ve thought that if it was on the filthy earh, one would kill something that might harm them, especially if it was already injured... although my veil was about to get taken after that...

As much as I found that surprising, that shrine maiden went with the youkai to invade the moon.

Maybe the stories told about the Earth and how Earth actually is are quite different. The impression that I got was that maybe on Earth the humans and youkai coexist.

Moreover, the vampire group that attacked the moon looked as if the leader was the vampire, but the one who had control over the group seemed to be the shrine maiden. Thus a human had called forth the gods and had control over the youkai. Maybe the Lunar Capital had better redraw its power balance chart of the Earth.

That was the reason that I thought I should rely on the shrine maiden the next time I go back to Earth. I thought that rather than the ones from the Lunar Capital clumping together to ward off all humans and youkai, it may be better to be an ally of the shrine maiden. Then I would be able to easily play on Earth.

“-Oh, is that you, Reisen? Did you make an escape again?”

It was a familiar voice. Master Toyohime’s voice.

“Hunh? Master Toyohime? Where are you? And no, I didn’t come here to escape; I’ve been given an errand by Master Yorihime. Wait, what?”

Where was I? I was staring at a long straight tree. I couldn’t see anything since it was so dark. Eerie voices of animals sounded. I knew of no such scenery as this.

“Um- Where are we?”

“Shh! Something really interesting is going to happen.”

Someone grabbed my collar and I was pulled in the tree’s shadow. It was Master Toyohime. Nobody was there with her nor did it look like she was waiting for anyone. There was only stillness in the forests that surrounded us.

“It’s taking so long I’m beginning to get bored. I should’ve brought some sake with me. That sake that’s been maturing for a thousand years now...”

“Er... Master Toyohime, what in the world are you waiting for?"

“Nothing special. Yorihime’s having her fun now, right?”

“Right now, she’s in a duel with the vampire’s group.”

“A duel?”

“Yes, a one on one match with a special rule. It was something that was suggested by the humans and Master Yorihime agreed that it was a way to avoid useless bloodshed.”

“Hmm, that sounds fun, and what’s that rule?”

“Apparently, the one who defeats the opponent beautifully is the winner.”

“Huh? Beautifully?”

I don’t know what Master Toyohime could’ve imagined but she burst out in laughter.

“What’s wrong?”

“Who decides this beauty thing? In the first place what’s the beauty that humans have? Are they doing a beauty contest or something? It sounds so fun.”

“Er, I think my explanation was faulty. Beautifully, as in not using dirty tricks and such...”

“Hehehe... no, I understand what you want to say. Hmm, those humans are talking like Lunarians now... Or perhaps this too is a teaching of a certain someone.”

“This... too?”

Master Toyohime had said that she had her doubts about what had been happening.

The reason why there was a stir in the Lunar Capital was that someone other than Master Yorihime had been calling forth the gods without following the proper orders. But calling forth the gods while skipping the proper steps is not something that anybody can do.

“Oh, it looks like a shrine maiden of Earth was the one calling the gods. It seems that she was calling Sumiyoshisanjin to fly the rocket.”

“Oh, so a shrine maiden was...”

“Is there something on your mind, Master Toyohime?”

“Even if it was a shrine maiden that would bring the gods into her body for a living, skipping the proper rituals and calling a god is not something that they can do... Perhaps somebody taught her the wrong way, or maybe that was on purpose... Hmm, it looks like Yorihime got the better part. Oh, and why are you here? Escape?”

“I think I told you a while ago, but I am here on an errand given by Master Yorihime.”

“An errand?”

I quickly pulled out the letter.

“I, who had been given the letter by Master Yagokoro, am to write a letter back to Master Yagokoro. After that I was told to go to the Sea of the Sages... but to think that I would see you in the Sea of the Sages..."

“Oh? A letter to Master Yagokoro?”

Toyohime snatched the letter from my hand and skimmed through it. While she was reading through her expressions ranged all the way from laughter to a stern look. I felt like someone was proofreading my journal and I felt embarrassed.

“Hmm, what an artless piece of text this is. Well, I won’t blame you since rabbits have no knowledge.”

My face flushed red.

“An embarrassing letter such as this is nothing I can give to the master. Well, because I’d be the one to be embarrassed. Reisen, you are to give the letter to her directly.”

“Oh, sure, but how would I? ... I mean, I don’t even know where this is.”

There is very little that can easily travel between the moon and the Earth. Anybody would be able to go to and fro using the Lunar Veil, but there would be a considerable amount of time and danger coming along with it. But Master Toyohime was special.

Master Toyohime had the ability to see the sea and the mountain as the same. That ability would tie the sea of the Moon and the mountain of the Earth together and make them one and the same place. In other words, that ability made her able to take a great army with her to Earth in a single second, and she was one of the very few Lunarians who had that sort of ability. That sort of ability made her a perfect leader of the Messengers of the Moon... Although her personality had flaws.

“All you need to do now is be really worked up for what’s about to happen!”

“For some reason, I’m more worried than worked up.”

The landscape around was astonishingly dark and the visibility was low. Some eerie howling could be heard too. I also noticed that it was very chilly.

It was the exact opposite of the beauty and flashy battles fought by the vampire’s team and Master Yorihime, and for that reason I felt very tense.

Where Master Yorihime was fighting may have been very noisy and flashy at first glance, but now that I compare it to the place I was in, it may have been very quiet. It was a strange feeling since the whisper of the trees felt very loud, although the physical volume may have been quiet.

What was going to happen? I couldn’t ask master Toyohime since she would cleverly escape the question, and in the first place it wasn’t the mood to ask such a question.

I suddenly felt nostalgia for myself who, a few months ago, merely pounded rice cakes and sang every day.

Back then, I never had to deal with this tension that made me feel nauseous. Nor did I feel the fear of needing to protecting myself. I probably would have finished my pounding for the day and gone to drink sake with my friends, complaining about things and then going to sleep on a warm mattress.

Complaining was probably something to get rid of my stress and I was probably happy with that life.

Running away from such a life may have been the turning point of my life. I don't enjoy such stimulus. I didn't think this change was a good thing.

But I think of what I would have done, and what I could have done, had I not met Master Yagokoro on the Earth and been sent back to the Moon.

Reisen is my current name, but I hear that this was originally the name of the rabbit that had served the Watatsuki family.

I was told that Reisen had fled to the earth and her whereabouts were unknown after that. But we rabbits have a little ability that lets us communicate no matter how far we are. Our large ears are to catch what other rabbits are thinking. Of course, this form of communication is not as convenient as other ways of communicating and we can only exchange information of what we may be thinking on day to day bases as a sort of gut feeling.

From that certain gut feeling, I got the idea that Reisen was captured by Master Yagokoro and had lost freedom.

But I can say for sure that Master Yagokoro has not captured a rabbit that escaped from the moon. She is taking care of it very warmly.

Even I who am so thoughtless was able to return to the Lunar Capital and get a job thanks to Master Yagokoro.

Thinking of that I felt like rewriting the letter that I had written, and adding a line. "Please take care of Reisen, thank you."

The wind stopped and the atmosphere froze.

“Here it comes,”

Master Toyohime said in a small but excited voice.

As I looked to the direction Master Toyohime was looking in, I saw a beast who I haven’t seen on the moon before...

Chapter 6. The Fool's Sealed Letter.

Translation and references by Sabino, proofreading/formatting by Furienify.


  1. Jyouga (嫦娥) also read as Couga, known as Chang’e / Ch’ang-O is the Chinese goddess of the moon. Some similarities that can be seen in the original Chinese legend of Chang’e are: the existence of a medicine to provide immortality without aging, and the rabbits at the moon that create an elixir of sorts. Interestingly enough, rabbits on the moon is something that also appears very frequently in Japanese mythologies, but in their case, they make rice cakes.
  2. Raiment of the moon -月の羽衣(Tsuki no hagoromo, often translated as 'Lunar Veil' in English): In the original Taketori Monogatari, Princess Kaguya sent a robe of the heavens and the medicine of eternal life without aging (elixir of immortality) to the emperor. (Although he refused an life without her and ordered for the gifts to be burnt on top of Mt. Fuji) Also, upon the scene of return for princess Kaguya, there are two versions. One that more people are accustomed to is the version where the messengers of the moon come to get the princess (This is the version that Touhou is based off of). Another is the version where Kaguya wears the raiment/robe and flies off to the moon. Also, in the original story, there is a scene where it hints that the one that wears this raiment “shall lose the soul of a human”. For that reason, it is also thought to be an item that changes one to a higher being than humanity. The archetype of this is said to be the various stories where a celestial maiden descends to Earth and is stolen of her raiment/robe. Later on in the story, the celestial is given back their robe or finds their robe and, even after bearing a child on Earth, says that she shall go back to the heavens. The better known equivalent of this is probably the Swan Maiden (Although the ending is much different.). Also, in the Touhou world, it is told that Eirin was the maker of this raiment and she weaved it out of moonlight (thus it has no mass). The property of losing one’s soul while wearing it is said to be something that she added on for the sake of Kaguya. Also, it is told in Curiosities of Lotus Asia that “one that does not think” can get past the Hakurei Border that surrounds Gensokyo.
  3. Sumiyoshisanjin (住吉三神) is the name that refers to the trio of Shinto gods; Sokotsutsuno O Nomikoto, Nakatsutsu O Nomikoto, and Uwatsutsuno O Nomikoto. These three gods were originally three stars in the Orion constellation and were made in to gods for the significance that they had for travelers sailing the night sea.
  4. The word used is "浄土", as in the word "極楽浄土", and can be interpreted as either “pure land”/”land of purity” or “paradise”.

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