What you see is not all there is. Similarly, there may be more to certain incidents than the records suggest.

The record maker may have misperceived or misunderstood something, but that doesn’t change what happened.

What follows is a small, yet-unknown tale. It’s a mysterious tale from an incident that had all the cherry blossoms blooming. It’s a tale of black and white and of two springs colliding…

The Lily White dressed in white is the Fairy Herald of Spring. Spring is her season, and on that day, she was flying around Gensokyo announcing its arrival while petals danced in the wind.

The Lily White dressed in black is also the Fairy Herald of Spring. She has been known to wear black sometimes, like during the incident where a great many phantoms possessed flower petals. On that day, it seems she had styled herself after a judge and was flying around Gensokyo while possessed petals danced in the wind.

“It was a nice warm day.”
“The colors of spring looked strange that day.”

The same spring, but with different sights.
The same fairies, but from different worlds.

The Fairy Herald of Spring was flying between cherry blossom trees when suddenly, there was a gust of wind behind her. Without thinking, she turned back… and saw cherry blossom trees of a different color and a version of herself wearing all black.

It was like staring into a mirror, only the colors were off. And yet, the sky was still blue.

Cooking in Xanadu With Veggies & Prayers
Whether it’s an incident or not, anytime a change occurs, there are those who take notice and seek to put things right again. Even the Yama, who was calm throughout the flower incident, surely takes action against trivial changes sometimes.

Assuming that, during the flower incident, the Lily White dressed in black encountered another version of herself, did she stay calm, or did she panic? It will have all come down to her and her counterpart.

Pale pink petals and phantom-possessed dark pink petals danced and swirled around each other as the two Lily Whites exchanged looks. But this only lasted for a moment, if it happened at all. If two versions of the same person had come face to face, perhaps something would have changed. Wait, maybe it did. Which of the two Lily Whites will be the one to announce the coming of Gensokyo’s next spring?

The lesson here is anytime you feel a gust of wind, you should turn to face it, for you never know what you might see…