A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable objects and characters belong to their respective owners. Mainly Team Shanghai Alice for Touhou Project or, as per usual, my own characters belonging to me.

Note 2:

("Common Language [Japanese in this case]/Speech")

(‘Foreign Languages’)

(" Thoughts (In their own native tongue)" )

(Attacks/Weapon names)

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Written, Titles)

(Actions/POV)

(Titles / Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)

(Narration & Everything else)

(“Demonic Speech”)

(‘Demonic Thoughts’)

A Retired Officer’s Shop In The Eastern Wonderland Chapter 13

Gensokyo: Hakurei Shrine: Inner Courtyard

August 30th, 2003: 2150

Third Person Omni

Ran and a masked Desmond stood beside one another and looked out to the stars… one would never know that there was a barrier between here and the outside world. For a few seconds after her last words, they stood in the lamplight. If someone checked in on them, they would look like a strange couple to them.

“I may as well be truthful… no sense in keeping the pretext of you all not knowing when you have observed me for about half a month after all. Besides, I may as well reciprocate honesty with honesty.” Desmond said while taking off his helmet, giving himself a true breath of fresh air.

“Hello, my name is Desmond Howard. It is nice to have your acquaintance Ran-san.” He rakes his hair back to, letting the rapidly cooling air move around his head. The combination of the lighting and his unmuffled voice caught Ran by surprise.

“It’s nice to meet you.” While her voice was even, her lightly blushing face gave away her emotions to the world at large… or would have if not for many of them being asleep.

“Well then, I am betting your mistress was the one who tried to open a tear in reality in the premise of my shop?” Desmond asked as her face rapidly cooled down to her regularly pale face.

“More like a gap… But indeed. She tried to open a gap for myself to be transferred onto the premises.” She said, her voice was slightly different than before… though if anyone else heard it, they wouldn’t notice.

“I am guessing for my sudden arrival?” Desmond asked while taking out a pair of cups and a gourd of sake. He quickly filled the two cups and offered one to the fox youkai.

“Correct, you were not in my calculations, nor were you in the expectations of my mistress.” Desmond took a sip of his portion before responding to the statement.

“Well… in my world there was a huge war about spatial rifts… a war-mongering race tried to invade my universe with artificial rifts through my world since we were parallel to their planet.” Desmond took another pour of the sake and drank it before he spoke again.

“I was the main combatant and the revolutionary that overturned their rule… since a majority of the population did not know of their government’s atrocities… when I revealed it to them, they quickly started to revolt.” He already had her entrapped with the story… the mixture of the ambiance and his voice helped with the atmosphere of the story.

“In fact… since I was stuck there for several months… I recreated the government to be compatible with the universe across universes… though I don’t think they created a statue of me as they did in my homeworld.” Desmond scratches his cheek in embarrassment.

“But even after that whole war and all, I still had to deal with natural rifts between dimensions… it was just unusual that it was large enough to take a whole building,” Desmond spoke before finishing off a cup of the alcohol.

“I see. So you never had a choice in the matter?” Desmond just shook his head in response as she took a drink of the sake.

“Nope, just bad luck… or you could say good luck if you look at it from a certain perception,” Desmond remarked while filling another cup.

“Good luck?” She asked in return while Desmond finishes another shot of the rapidly cooling sake.

“Correct, I got to meet all of you colorful characters… and I will probably be meeting more of these incidents keep happening. And heck, I will probably end up getting to know you far better than talking under the moon with ya.” If one could get drunk off the atmosphere… Desmond would like to know-how. He would have rather attributed his words to being drunk… but he was immune to alcohol due to Eve.

“O-o-oh… I see.” And she was blushing again… Desmond refused to look at the woman to try and keep his sanity from being consumed by cuteness. Having those ears and tails did not help in the matter as he could hear them swishing in happiness. Just how starved were they for compliments like this?

They both settled into drinking sake under the moonlight for a little while… with Desmond listening to the sound of rustling leaves in the night.

“Well, that is it… I hope I answered all your questions. I better get back inside before they get suspicious… though I think that the Miko already knows about this meeting.”

“Thankfully this talk happened on neutral ground huh?” Desmond said while putting on his helmet once more as a gap opened behind Ran once more. This time Desmond could see clearly the eyes that resided within the boundary of the rift.

“I guess your mistress wants to speak with you once more,” Desmond said as she took a look behind her. She did not notice the aura due to being distracted by Desmond.

“You can take the rest of the sake… it is one that I brought anyway. Think of it as a peace offering.” Desmond waved his hand as he walked through the door once more, making sure that she wouldn’t be seen by the partygoers.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

“So you are back,” Reimu said, Remila was dragged away by her sister a bit ago, and so Sakuya went with her mistress. Desmond noticed just how much fun the pint-sized blond was having and the amused smile the older sister had on her face.

“No damages to the shrine,” Desmond said with a smile on his face, forgetting that no one could see it again. He first got used to no one seeing his face… then out comes the time when he got back to having everyone know what his expression was. And he didn’t want to be used to having a helmet over his head ever again.

“I see… but even if there was. I wouldn’t make you pay for it. You are my top donator after all.” Her grin and the blushing combo were quite cute to Desmond. She was far more open with her expressions now that the drink has firmly taken its hold in her mind.

“I severely doubt that,” Desmond said with sweat dripping down his neck. He sits next to Reimu and grabs another drink… while the rice-based drink was great and all… he wanted something a bit more western in nature again.

“Well, it is not like it matters anyway. I know you can fix it easily if worse comes to pass.” She just laughed off his statement. Yeah… he could see what Marisa described to him now. Even if he met her multiple times before… they were very brief and/or when she was in a state of irritation due to an incident.

“It is not like I can keep doing that… I have a shop to run after all.” Desmond happened to be there to proctor a spar between Reimu and Marisa during one of their debates… mainly about Marisa stealing something from the library again. Ended up having some of the cobbles torn out and a door being shredded open. While they were fighting, he fixed everything… much to the notice of the shrine maiden

“Riiiiight…” Desmond just took another swig of the ceramic vessel. He observed Patchioli reading in the corner while the still-unnamed red head dodged the attacks of the more childish ones. Marisa laughing as Meling chased after them to get them to stop.

“You know… this is a nice sight to behold.” He could tell that the shrine maiden had a smile behind her cup. Not one of her regular ones, but a soft one that was only able to be seen when they were at peace.

“All I see are trouble makers,” Reimu remarked in spite of her smile… anyone who had seen her at that moment knew she did not mean it in a depressing manner.

“Yet… those trouble makers came in and made everything interesting right?” Desmond knew that she did not like disturbances in her daily life… but one can’t complain too much when it comes to their job.

“And I hate them all the more for it.” She said affectionately as she watched the ice fairy freeze up the redhead… to the dismay of Patchouli. He just gave off a slight chuckle at her words.

“So what was Reimila speaking to you about?” After another few seconds of comfortable silence, Desmond decided to speak his mind once more. He got the feeling that if here were to leave it in silence that one of them would suddenly interrupt their calm talk.

“She was mostly talking about the incident in the smuggest way possible,” Reimu said with a sigh… despite only knowing him for a few weeks, they bonded together quite well.

“ You are one to talk. ” Desmond thought when he glanced over at her again. She was always smug whenever she beat out someone… and was extremely humble whenever he came with donations to the shrine.

“Well, I get the feeling this won’t be the last incident by any means,” Desmond said while leaning back a bit, though he kept enough mind to stop from falling backward. Reimu just sighed at the thought.

“That is what my intuition is telling me… much to my sadness.” Desmond could already tell that this kind of party would keep on recurring… with the addition of even more colorful individuals.

“Well, I am already used to dealing with such matters anyway… as much as I would like to never do so,” Reimu said before taking another drink of the sake. Her face was the shade of an apple now.

“Come on officer-san, come play!” Desmond was quickly dragged away from Reimu as Marisa quickly switched out with him. Much to the amusement to the two conversing individuals. Though Reimu could not see it in his eyes, she could see it as clear as day from his body movements.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

?:?

August 30th, 2003: 2200

“Yukari-sama, I have returned,” Ran spoke while standing infront of her mistriss, who was laying lazily in her bed. Her tails were slowly swishing side to side.

“Had fun huh…” Her voice was a drawl as the way she spoke outfoxed the fox. She shifted inside of her bed to get a better view of her servant.

“Yukari-sama…” Ran had the decency to blush, she knew that her mistress was watching the entire conversation using a gap. The foxy smile on Yukari’s face was quite the sight to behold… yet it was hidden by the sheets.

“What an unexpected appearance… on both sides.” She lazed about and stretched for a brief second. She took a glance at the door into her room and spotted a shorter girl hiding in the door frame.

“I do believe that you need to take care of Chen…” Ran perks up at the mention of her shikigami and turns to the doorway, instantly spotting the nekomata.

“Chen…” The shortest of the group immediately fleed the doorway and into the home. Ran was quickly upon her and in fast pursuit. Yukari had a slight smile at the antics of her servants.

“Honestly… even without him, it would have been fun. Especially with so many things that are going to happen soon. Their little war is starting and the tree is going to be in bloom soon…” Yukari said with a sigh… so many things to keep track of when all she wanted to do is laze around. It was almost more work keeping the incidents that would destroy the barrier than it was erecting it in the first place.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

?:?

August 30th, 2003: 0000

“Yuyuko-sama.” A girl with short white hair holds a platter of food for her mistress. She had a green vest and matching skirt. Her short hair was held by a black headband. Equipped to her were two swords, a long one over her back and a shorter one perpendicular. They stood infront of a tree that would look more in place in winter than the summer it is as of current.

“I feel like I am missing something…” The woman in question had short pink hair. She was absentmindedly looking at a spot under the tree, a specific spot that she could not understand the importance of… just that it was important to her mind. Enough so that her eyes constantly drifted to it…

“Yonmu, please thank Yukari once more after this.” Not even sparring a glance at the servant, she asked for her gratitude to be shown. With this, she will know why this tree was perpetually dead and alive at the same time.

“Of course Yuyuko-sama. Your food is here.” Instantly, the Yuyuko turned to her servant at the mention of food. Instantly having her eyes sparkle at the food that was prepared for her. The spirits that surrounded her moved slightly away from her now that the food had gotten her attention.

“You are distracted,” Younmu said while standing beside her mistriss who was nodding in agreement at her statement even as she ate. Her mistriss would have noticed the food without even her announcement of having such a thing.

“Indeed.” The single word would not be expounded upon as she started to eat incredibly quickly. The servant could only sigh at it… maybe she shouldn’t have said that the food was there in the first place. Knowing her mistriss, she would forget this conversation had ever happened.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

Gensokyo: Bamboo Forest Of The Lost

August 30th,2003: 0000

“You should really go back to the Human Village Keine,” Mokou said as part of a pair of women that were wandering the outskirts of the bamboo forest.

“I know that the one human child was brought back… but…” The woman spoken to had white hair of similar length to Mokou. A hat that resembled a pagoda rests atop it. Her dress was a navy blue color with red and white accents.

“If there are anymore her… I get the feeling that Twei would lead them out if they went any deeper than this.” Mokou just waved her off in a stand-offish manner. She was not lying when she said that, whoever saw the earth rabbit would easily find themselves out of the forest due to her penchant for giving those who observe her good luck.

“True…” Keine trailed off as they both came to a stop at the border of bamboo and free ground. Mokou had easily been able to navigate the area while Mokou was still at a loss in the matter.

“Sides, if they still arn’t home by tomorrow, I will have Desmond help search for them when he arrives tomorrow.” Mokou just shrugged as she said those words.

“Mad a new friend?” Keine asked, extremely interested in the name that the immortal just spoke. It was extremely unusual for her to make friends afterall.

“A guy who decided not to leave me alone… keeps giving me food. Not that I can complain, he makes great food.” Mokou just grumbles now that she remembers she had a box of food still at her home… her stomach was already demanding it now that she remembered it.

“But that is enough about him. You should get back soon. You have a class to teach tomorrow, right?” Mokou said with a slight smile, her normally frowning face made the expression quite strange on her. She has smiled more times in the last month than the century before this.

“Right. But you will tell me about him later.” Keine said before quickly walking away from the forest and into the night. She would be fine… even with the youkai that were wandering around.

Number Of Words ~2700

Date Completed: 5/8/2021

Notes: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. A bit of short sections, but still. On another note, the only reason why Suika wasn’t shown is due to IMP only taking place due to PCB