‘It’s terrible! And even with my powers, there’s nothing I can do about it!’

‘Clearly, it’s an affront to my sister’s entire existence. To both of our existences, even!’

‘I… I see,’ Sanae said, scratching the back of her head. ‘I can understand why that’s a problem for you, yeah.’

‘Couldn’t you help us?’ Minoriko asked, her eyes wide and pleading. ‘Maybe with you and the Moriya Shrine vouching for us, we could convince her to change her mind.’

Sanae looked away, her lips curling into a grimace. ‘Changing Yuuka’s mind? I… I think that’s impossible. You know how she is, don’t you?’

‘Impossible?’ Shizuha folded her arms, the anguish on her face shifting to annoyance. ‘Aren’t you the shrine maiden who performs miracles? How is anything impossible for you?’

‘Yes, but, well, you see, for a miracle to happen, there has to be at least some chance of the thing occurring naturally…’

Shizuha’s frown deepened. ‘Of course there’s some chance! Reimu has made her change her ways and behave several times! Are you sure you’re not just scared to–’

‘Be-besides!’ Sanae interrupted, ‘Lady Kanako said that I shouldn’t do work for other deities than those of the Moriya Shrine. And, I have errands to run for her, actually!’

‘I don’t think this…’ Minoriko started to say, but the shrine maiden had already hurried off down the path. Sighing, the harvest goddess turned to look at her sister. ‘Urgh, that could’ve gone better. I’d have thought the Moriya representative would show more determination.’

Shizuha nodded. ‘Right! This does not promise much good for the Moriya Shrine, if their shrine maiden cannot…’ She trailed off into silence. After a few seconds, her resolve broke, and she fell to her knees. ‘Oh, Minoriko, what are we going to do? Even the Moriya Shrine is too afraid to challenge Yuuka. How can we possibly win against her?’ She slumped into a sitting position and began to sob.

‘I’m sure it’ll be alright,’ Minoriko said softly, kneeling down beside her sister and wrapping her in a hug. ‘There are many powerful beings in Gensokyo, I’m sure there will be someone else…’ Her voice gradually grew quieter, as she had to hold back her own tears at seeing her sister in such a state. Despite her words, she could not muster much hope for their situation, either.

‘What are you girls crying about?’

The two goddesses jolted in surprise, and turned to see a woman approaching them along the path. After a moment, Minoriko recognised her as that immortal who guided humans out of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and her eyes brightened. ‘Oh, Miss Mokou! It’s great to see you!’ she exclaimed as she quickly stood back up. Minoriko didn’t know her very well, but she did know Mokou was powerful, and someone powerful was exactly what they needed right now.

‘Thanks?’ Mokou replied, an eyebrow raised in confusion. ‘I was just walking here to go see my old friend Keine, but I couldn’t help but overhear your distress. Anything I could help ya with?’

‘Maybe there is! You see, the problem is these trees!’ She swept her arm towards the small grove beside the path.

‘Something wrong with them?’ Mokou asked, tilting her head. ‘They look pretty normal to me.’

‘They’re evergreens!’ Shizuha cried, cupping her face in her hands. ‘Their leaves never change colour, not even in the autumn, and I can’t do anything about it!’

Mokou shrugged. ‘Huh, guess I’m used to that, because the bamboo trees where I live don’t change colour, either.’

‘Yeah, well, I don’t want to go into that creepy forest to paint the leaves, anyway… But in the rest of Gensokyo, the leaves should be changing colour! If they don’t, then what is my purpose?’ Tears began to well up in the corners of Shizuha’s eyes again as she slowly got to her feet. ‘I know I don’t have a useful power like my sister does, but if Yuuka keeps doing this, I won’t have any power at all…’

‘Yuuka’s been the one planting these evergreens,’ Minoriko added. ‘She must have been doing it for decades already, but we only noticed how bad it’s gotten this year.’ As she spoke, Mokou nodded and thoughtfully raised her hand to her chin.

‘I think it’s kind of nice,’ said a new voice.

‘Huh, who was that?’

‘Me.’ The three of them looked down and saw a blue-haired goddess sitting slouched against a nearby tree. Gaunt, pallid and unkempt, she had barely more presence than the average pebble, and none of them had noticed her until now. ‘I think they’re kind of nice, these trees. They give more shelter in winter than the other ones. Easier to sleep under them.’

Minoriko glared at her. ‘That does not weigh up against the destruction of my sister’s power! Her artistry is a vital part of the autumn, and in the long term, what Yuuka’s doing could erase the autumn completely! We asked Yuuka if she could get rid of the evergreens, but she just laughed at us. It’s an attack upon our whole existence!’

Shion replied only with a shrug, and rolled over onto her side, away from the others. Mokou, meanwhile, scratched her cheek, grimacing. ‘That sucks. Yuuka can definitely be pretty mean sometimes.’

‘Can’t you help us? You’re powerful, aren’t you?’

‘I don’t really know what I could do for you. I suppose I could go fight Yuuka, but she’s not very fun to fight, and that might not even accomplish anything.’

‘Of course she can’t do anything for you,’ Shion interjected, raising her head slightly to look at them. ‘All she does is sit around in her little cabin, year after year, and the only thing she’s good at it not getting lost!’

Mokou balled her hands into fists. ‘Really now? I’d say I do a damn lot more for Gensokyo than you! Guiding humans out of the forest might not be as flashy as what Reimu does, but at least it has some benefit, whereas all you do is make things actively worse!’

‘Tch, how dare you! No matter how poor a goddess I may be, I’m still a goddess, and you’re nothing but a human who has stuck around past her expiry date!’ She sat up and pointed a finger at Mokou. ‘I curse you, you insolent–’

She did not get to finish her sentence, as at that moment there was a gust of wind, and a branch snapped off the tree, landing directly upon her head.

‘Heh, I guess these trees are useful for something after all.’ Mokou chuckled, but her face fell as she faced the Aki sisters again. ‘Anyway, I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s anything I could do that would really help you. I wish you good luck, though.’

Just as the immortal began to walk away, Shizuha’s eyes widened and she leaned forward. ‘Wait, Mokou! You can control fire, right?’

‘Sure can.’ She stopped in her tracks and demonstrated by conjuring a small flame at the tips of her fingers.

Gradually, a smile began to spread across Shizuha’s face. ‘I think I’ve got an idea! Fire makes heat, right? And heat can dry things. Leaves become brown when they get dry. So maybe you could use your fire powers to help me change the colour of these evergreen leaves!’

‘Hm, interesting. Never thought of using fire for something like that. Worth a try, I suppose.’

‘You’re a genius, Shizuha!’ Minoriko cheered, patting her sister on the back with enough force to almost knock her over. Once she had regained her footing, the elder Aki sister plucked a leaf from a low-hanging branch and held it out to Mokou. The immortal brought the flame closer until it came into contact with the leaf, which instantly crumbled into ashes.

‘Not like that!’ Shizuha chided. ‘Don’t burn it. Just hold your flame under the leaf, so it can dry, without touching it.’

‘Oh, right, sorry,’ Mokou replied with a remorseful smile. ‘Let’s try that again.’

Shizuha brought her another leaf, which she carefully held over the flame. Slowly, they saw the leaf’s colour begin to change as it dried.

‘It’s working!’ Minoriko said, peering closely at the leaf.

‘That’s great.’ Mokou sighed in relief and extinguished the flame with a flick of her fingers.

Shizuha walked to the nearest tree and pulled one of its branches down to eye level. ‘Shall we try it with an actual tree?’ Mokou nodded, brought back her flame and lifted her hand until it was just beneath the branch.

The three of them were silent for about half a minute, until Minoriko said, ‘It’s not going very fast, is it?’

‘Nope,’ Shizuha agreed. ‘At this rate, it will be spring before we get done with all of these trees.’

‘Maybe it’ll be faster if I use a bigger flame.’ Looking intently at the leaves, Mokou steadily increased the power of her flame until–

‘Oh!’

‘…Oops.’

‘That’s not…’

Struggling for words, they watched as the branch caught alight.

‘Ouch!’ As the fire licked her fingers, Shizuha jerked her hand away. Freed from her grip, the branch catapulted back up, allowing the flames to spread to adjacent branches.

‘Crap,’ Mokou muttered. Her abilities were not nearly as effective at extinguishing a fire, especially once it had spread beyond her control, as they were at starting one.

Minoriko launched into a sprint. ‘I know a stream nearby! I’ll get some water!’

When she returned a few minutes later, a full bucket of water in her hands, she found that, since the trees in the grove had been planted quite close together, the fire had now grown to encompass half a dozen trees. As Shizuha and Mokou looked on in consternation, she threw the contents of the bucket at the nearest tree, and managed to successfully douse one branch.

‘It’s no use…’ Defeated, Minoriko tossed the empty bucket on the ground and looked down, until a gleeful cackle drew her attention.

‘That’s what you get!’ Shion called from underneath one of the fiery trees. ‘I’m a goddess of misfortune! All those who disrespect me will be cursed with bad luck!’ She planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin, grinning smugly.

Five seconds later, a loud crack rang out above the noise of the flames, and a burning branch fell down upon her. Screaming, Shion ran across the path into another thicket, which promptly also caught fire.

‘Uh-oh,’ Shizuha whispered. Minoriko craned her neck to see what her sister was looking at, and through the trees she glimpsed an approaching figure. The sun was beginning to set, and so it was hard to make out any details, but she could see green hair and glowing red eyes.

Mokou had noticed it too, and had started to walk away from the two autumn goddesses. ‘Ah, girls, it was very nice to meet ya, but now I’ve got to go, I’ve got to meet my friend Keine, you see…’

That was as far as she got before a wide laser beam burst through the trees and enveloped her.

As various danmaku spread across the sky and the forest continued to burn, Minoriko turned to her sister, a small smile on her lips. ‘Well, at least the trees are golden now, aren’t they?’

Shizuha chuckled softly. ‘They sure are.’ Then, seeing that Yuuka was still busy with Mokou but there was no telling how long that might last, they silently nodded at each other and ran away.