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The winds of the morning and evening mix in coolness. The Obon sightseeing tours of the ancestors from the netherworld have come to the land of the living, enjoyed themselves, and returned home contentedly. From here on, the heat of the afternoon will lessen gradually as time passes.

"Haven't the cicadas been really loud lately? I've never heard of a cicada with such a weird call."

Marisa, who was reading a book, closed it violently when she heard this, and fastened the brim of her hat around her ears. Indeed, the cicadas were abnormally loud, and indeed it was not a call she had heard much before. However, I was not flustered, and repeated it again, this time in a slightly louder voice.

"Yeah, this year is the year of the miraculous cicada, you know."

"Oh? What is the meaning of that phrase?"

I know the cry of these cicadas: I heard their shrieking 11 yearas ago. Back then, that summer, as I was adjusting my warehouse stock, I heard a sound like a low cry from the direction of the forest. 11 years ago, Kourindou had been facing the entrance to the Forest of Magic for only a few years, so at the time, I was not as knowledgable about the magical forest, and did not know that the weird sound was the call of the cicadas.

I had only learned the real truth behind the sounds from 11 years ago a mere two days ago. It was two days ago that I had been awakened by the cicadas' piercing calls. Cicadas are mysterious creatures, suddenly starting their calls and just as suddenly going away. They also dive into the earth, and as if suddenly remembering that, they come from the earth. Because of that personality, I treated the cicadas magnanimously.

However, this year's cicadas were not normal. These cicadas' calls were much lower than the calls of the normal cicadas I was used to, and there were much more of them.

Because of the cacophany, I shut my window, even with the heat. However, with the window shut, it was very hot inside, and this had an adverse effect on my storage. I also could not sleep well at night, and it was uncomfortable for my customers as well.

I contemplated how to get rid of the cicadas, but, unable to take the heat, I left my store for the first time in a while, and left for the village. Of course, during that time, I did nothing but consider how to exterminate the cicadas.

As I got further away from my store, I found that the cicadas' calls decreased in volume. It appears that these cicadas only resided in the Forest of Magic. I was slightly relieved. For, if worse came to worse, if it was so loud I couldn't be in my store, I could go to the place of a human whom I had received hospitality from a long time ago, and live there. Cicadas' lives are short, so after a few days I was sure it would quiet down.

As I was thinking this, I arrived at the Kirisame residence. It had been about 10 years since I'd last seen the father of the Kirisame residence, and I was not good with meeting with people from the village other than as customers, so I was very nervous. I wondered if the father of the household would recognize me, or if age had possibly made him senile. The humans of the village mature, then age as the years pass. These normal processes don't happen to me, so I can never stay long at the village. I only bring unease and fear to the humans there.

However, such nervousness quickly vanished after some small talk. I spoke to the father of the Kirisame house of mercantile dealings, and the current merchandise of Kourindou, as well as the tools of the outside world, etcetera. And with that, my nervousness melted away, and I was able to get to the matter at hand: the obnoxious cicadas.

"...And then I realized that the sounds that I heard at the Kirisame residence that came from the forest were exactly the same as the low cries I had heard 11 years ago."

"Took you awhile to realize that, eh?"

"I had this memory in the back of my mind when I arrived at the village, but I didn't think at the time that it was the same cicadas' calls as I had heard 11 years ago. If I were to give an excuse, the further you go from a loud sound, the more it goes away, and all you can hear is a muffled, low sound. This year it appears that the cicadas are very close to my store, but 11 years ago they were far away, and all I could hear were the normal calls. It's a very different feeling now than it was then. That's why I only realized this after I left my store."

It had become hot, so I decided to open the window to ventilate the place. After I had opened it, the cicadas' calls came like a flood, so after opening it up just a finger's breadth, I stopped.

"After I'd figured out that the mysterious sounds of 11 years ago turned out to be the cicadas' calls, I asked your father if he knew anything about the cicadas. By the way, he seems to be doing well."

"The cicadas are too loud; I can't hear you well."

"In the end, he knew nothing about the sound of the cicadas' calls. Of course, he also said he knew nothing of the true meaning of the cicadas. I began to become interested in what the cicadas' true meaning was, so I left the Kirisame household and went to a certain human's place."

That human is, among the humans in the village, the one with the most resources and knowledge, and resides in the Hieda household. The Hieda residence is a proper, traditional house that has stood for over a thousand years. In the enormous library that the Hieda household has, everything about Gensokyo is stored. There is no small amount of knowledge about the outside world, either.

To the house of Hieda there is one born every hundred or so years known as the Child of Miare. The Child of Miare is said to have the ability to memorize everything in the Hieda libraries, and currently, the 9th generation child appears to have that power.

The tomes of the Hieda family are, with some exception, kept hidden from outsiders, but recently, those restrictions have been relaxed; if you have good reason, they will be released for general public use. Thankfully, this applies to non-humans as well.

"Hmm. Reimu told me once that such a person existed, but...I am surprised to hear they have such interesting resources."

The slightly-cracked window of the store was not doing its job in bringing in the wind, and the room was still hot. Leaving a hat on made it even more hot. After saying that she'd like to go there one of these days, she took her hat off, and began fanning herself with it.

When Marisa says "go there," I'm sure she means "to steal things." When I restrained her by telling her that relations between the head of the Kirisame and Hieda households were good, Marisa looked frustrated and said "just get back to the story about the cicadas!"

"The house of Hieda's resources were indeed vast. It was so huge, I didn't even know where to start, but the 9th generation Child of Miare, Akyu, told me that she had memorized the entire library in order to tell people its contents. Disbelievingly, I asked, 'Are there any records about these loud cicadas?' and she told me immediately. It appears the rumors about her memory are true."

"Hm. Well, if you understand the deal with these loud cicadas, you should also know how to get rid of 'em, yeah? So do somethin' about it then! No matter where I go in the Forest of Magic, those annoying cicadas are there. I'll become deaf soon!"

"So plug your ears, then. At that time, my interest had already begun to change. More than how to get rid of them, I wanted to know why they appeared in such numbers 11 years ago."

The cicadas continued their calls as if they were mad. Eventually, my ears got a bit used to the sound and it wasn't as annoying, but speaking in a voice louder than normal makes one's throat dry. I began to pour two cups of tea.

At any rate, these cicadas were shrouded in riddles. Cicadas mature after about 7 years, then all of a sudden go up to the surface, call out for about 7 days, and then leave their bodies to reincarnate. It is said that cicadas are the vehicle by which sinners who have cleansed their sins in hell reincarnate into the cycle, their souls being temporarily housed in this form.

In addition, there are even more special types of cicadas in the outside world, according to the sources. There are 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas; as the names suggest, it appears that they come up once in 13 years or once in 17 years.

The cicadas that appeared in Gensokyo were mysterious cicadas that appear once in 11 years, and are referred to by some people as "The Miraculous Cicada." When one asks why they are called by that name, one reason is the mystery behind them living 11 long years under the earth, but in addition, whenever these cicadas came out, it's also always happened to be a bountiful year. The book stopped there.

"Hmm...why 11 years? The outside world has 13-year and 17-year ones, so it is odd to me that 7-year cicadas are considered normal in the first place."

The resources of the house of Hieda had no answer to Marisa's obvious question, but only gave a spectator's view on events. This is proper for a reference material, but is lacking in something for those who read it.

Of course, I had the same question as Marisa. However, the main difference between her and I was that all I could do was think about it on my own, but Marisa has people around her who might know the answer. Of course, that person is often me.

"Why don't you ever even think about figuring it out yourself?"

Marisa didn't even seem to notice that I was scolding her. She continued fanning herself with her hat, waiting for the continuation of the story. Perhaps the calls of the cicadas increased my annoyance, or perhaps I've just become easier to annoy lately.

"Oh well, this particular story is complex anyway. First, it has been said the first confirmed appearance of the 11-year cycle cicada came around 100 years ago. In other words, there is a chance that 100 years ago, they were made extinct in the outside world, and thus came to Gensokyo."

"So you're saying that the 11-year cicadas existed in the outside world?"

"If you think about it, it is only natural to presume this, since there are 7-, 13- and 17-year cicadas in the outside world as well."

"Hmm...that doesn't seem right. If there're 7-, 13-, and 17-year cicadas, wouldn't you think it would be 10- and 15-year cicadas left? 11 years seems so half-assed."

I see. It appears that Marisa thinks that by putting in the intervals between the years, it would be more natural. 10 is between 7 and 13, and 15 is between 13 and 17. It is probably more her instincts than anything theoretical. It probably feels good when holes between intervals are filled in their natural place. Marisa's personality seems to be the type that if everything but the books in this room were scattered all over the place, the books themselves would be gathered by type and put in chronological order. I thought this too, and it was kind of funny.

However, I wonder how the instinctually sharp Reimu would have answered?

"No, 11 years is correct. On the contrary, the cicadas of the outside world must realize that the 11 years are gone."

"7, 11, 13, 17...that set of numbers of years just doesn't feel right."

"Do you understand? Those numbers can't be divided by anything but themselves and 1: they're prime numbers."

Whether it be 7, 11, 13, or 17, they are all prime numbers. They prime numbers greater than 7 proceed as 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, etcetera.

I realized that the outside world had 7-, 13- and 17-year cicadas, but was missing the 11-year cicadas - and that Gensokyo had cicadas that came once every 11 years.

"Therefore, I prognosed that the 11-year cicadas were of the outside world, and that for some reason they had become extinct there."

"Hmm...I might be chastised again, but I'll ask anyway: why're cicadas limited to appearing in cycles of prime number years?"

"That's a normal question to have, but unfortunately, I can't answer it."

"Eh? But Kourin wouldn't go without his questions being answered!"

"Right you are! You understand me well."

"Then ya can keep explainin'."

It feels like I'm being used, but whatever.

"It's very unlikely that cicadas which all come out in different prime numbers of years would all happen to come out at once; the cycle for 13-year and 17-year cicadas both coming out at once is...only once every 221 years. Thus, it's probably to minimize the undesirable years when multiple kinds of cicadas are all out at once. If it was 10 and 15 years as you suggested, they'd run into each other every 30 years."

"Huh, I think I get it. Cicadas are smart, huh."

"This doesn't mean that cicadas are smart. As I said before, it's said that cicadas are vessels for souls as they depart from hell. In other words, it's a system invented by the Enma, so it's only natural that it would be clever."

"But why is it only the 11-year cicadas that are going extinct and showing up in Gensokyo?"

"I can only venture a guess, but I'd imagine that between the 11-year, 13-year, and 17-year cicadas, the younger 11-year group became the victims. Those three would only ever all come out at the same time once every 2,431 years. After centuries and centuries, that year finally came, and the 11-year cicadas were driven off to Gensokyo."

"Hrm, maybe...when I hear you talk about this stuff, it makes these noisy cicadas actually seem valuable. The miraculous once-in-11-years cicadas."

"Exactly, that's why I don't want to exterminate them."

I bravely opened the window. The 11-year cicadas cried piercingly with the joy of being released from their long-standing sins. As expected, Marisa clutched her ears, making a sour face. Nevertheless, it was still probably louder at her own home than at my shop.

Because a shop full of people who weren't customers was a pain, I drove Marisa out. She reluctantly left, but no doubt didn't return home, instead taking advantage of the hospitality of the shrine or somewhere similar. Although, since her parents live in the human village, she should just go back there instead...

How long had these cicadas been chirping? When I thought about it, I noticed a strange coincidence linking the Enma to the cicadas. The Enma is famous for the seven trials following the memorial service held seven days after a person's death. This seven is a prime number, the number of days matching the number of years between times when the cicadas come to the surface. Furthermore, after judgement is passed, if you think about remaining underground to await reincarnation, the number of days a 7-year cicada would have to wait is roughly the same as the number of years that would pass before 11-, 13- and 17-year cicades all came out at once.

Cicadas are mysterious creatures. While they were created in accordance with the Enma's system, they seem to have a more subtle nature, and the possibility exists that their nature gradually gains more magical significance.

Why do they stay underground for the same amount of time as the souls damned to hell? Why do they disappear after only a short time on the surface? Do humans have the shortest period in the cycle of reincarnation?

If you say so, I wonder what happens to youkai when they die? What will happen to me as a half-youkai?

I closed the window once more, lost in thought.

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