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 14

Gensyoko: Universal Board

March 30th, 2004: 1300

Third Person: Omni

It has been a half year since Desmond had arrived in this world and as the seasons changed… it was still basically Winter when he was used to things warming up around this time.

“Yo Desmond. How is it goin -ze?” Marisa came into the store with snow still settled onto her shoulders. It would seem that the snowstorm was still raging outside the doors of the shop.

“You know the usual, nothing much… especially now that it is still snowing,” Desmond said with a sigh as he drank a cup of hot cocoa. Another cup was set onto the counter and another portion of the drink given to Marisa now that she had brushed off the snow on her shoulders.

“Yeah, for some reason it is still snowing consistently. It should be getting around the lower end of spring temps, not the mid-winter temps. -ze.” Marisa said as she finally got to the counter, now displaying the latest booster set that Desmond had put out. Since there were still too few members, there had been no tournaments just yet.

“I haven’t been here for even a year, so I only really know summer, fall, and winter weather around here,” Desmond said while rubbing the back of his neck. He was already getting the feeling that something was wrong with the weather, but since he had nothing to judge it off of, it would be a moot point.

“True, and you haven’t even felt early summer either… Though due to the low population of the Human Village, there aren’t many of the larger events you told me about.” Desmond just nodded, even during fall, the harvest festival was still filled with workers doing stuff, no real festival was held… especially not the ones that he attended when he went to Japan on vacation.

“Even then, do you think that there is going to be an incident due to the snow?” Desmond asked, he had only really got in on the tail end of the red mist incident, so it was not too much to say he did not know the process of incidents happening.

“If the winter weather does not let up, I will start investigating anyway. But Reimu will put it off to the last moment to do so… It’s just that whenever she starts investigating, the incident will reach its critical state in the troublemaker’s plans.” Marisa said with a sigh, it was still technically Winter by many standards, and she knew several youkai that this long-lasting winter could be connected to.

“Yeah, her intuition in these matters are often the determining factors huh…” Desmond said while leaning on the counter, thankfully it was warm inside the store… many of the buildings in the human villages were not well insulated if insulated at all. He did not envy the children who were forced to walk in this weather to get to school.

“Oh yeah, you were from the human village? You go back there sometimes, right?” Desmond asked while pouring her another mug of the warming beverage… they both knew that the things he made in the store somehow lacked mana for some odd reason.

“Yeah… dad was not exactly approving of my specialness,” Marisa said with a slightly strained grin, something that Desmond usually only saw when something happened to Reimu.

“Fair enough, dear old gramps disowned pops for opening a company whose product he did not agree… My pops got the last laugh though, he got the company high enough before he died for me to not worry bout money much.” Desmond said with a smile, even without the company, which he gave to his adopted younger daughter.

“You own a company?” Marisa looked at him with a bit of surprise. He could only give her a shrug… it is not like it matters anymore. Even before taking being transported into Gensokyo, he already has his dream. And the materializer inside of the shop basically made him everything that he would ever need.

“Not any more… but does it honestly matter?” Desmond responds to her question with one of his own.

“I guess it doesn’t… but still, you sure don’t act like you are rich.” Desmond just quirked a brow at her question.

“And how many rich persons have you met beside me?” It took her only a second to realize what exactly he was talking about.

“Besides Remila who we both know, only Hieda no Akyuu… though they are both strange in their own ways…” She could only scratch her head at the assessment she gave them.

“One can only judge a person by another’s yardstick… but does that mean that they are a failure? I surely hope not, because if it were… then everyone but the best would be a failure.” Desmond said with a smile. She could only smile at the piece of wisdom that he gave her.

“But I for one know that you need not that lesson in the first place… after all, you are being measured by the yardstick of another far before one should,” Desmond said with a smile on his face as she just nodded, understanding exactly who exactly he was referring to.

“On another note… I was wondering if Vampires could actually walk around in snow… considering that they can’t walk in the rain. I know Remila has Patchi do it whenever Flandere starts going on a rampage.” Desmond took a look at the flurry of white outside the glass. Technically it is water.

“I actually don’t know myself… but I haven’t ever seen the resident vampires traveling in the snow. So I wouldn’t know -ze.” Marisa said while rubbing her chin in thought.

“Well, if anything, they won’t want to travel in this kind of temperature.” Desmond took a look at the thermometer recording the temperature outside. If he didn’t have his Mobius circuit of a jacket, he would have to bundle up extremely well.

“On a note about the weather -ze… your friend that wanders around in the bamboo forest, will she be fine in these freezing temps?” Marisa asked with a hint of concern in her voice… only he would ever know about the caring thoughts under the surface of the boisterous magician that was Marisa Kirisame.

“Eh, she uses a lot of fire-based stuff… and if she knows what is good for her, she will remember to not stay outside for too long. It is not like human villagers travel into the forest by themselves.” He could already guess that the fire girl in question sneezed at her mention.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

Gensyoko: Bamboo Forest Of The Lost: Mokou’s Home

“Achoo.” Mokou’s head bobbed as she sneezed. The movement of her white hair caused the shadows around the living room to shift and dance. She quickly moved her hand to rub her nose as the fire in her girl burned.

“Who is talking about me this time? Desmond or Keine?” She mumbled as she rubbed her nose. It definitely wasn’t due to having a cold… definitely. She sniffed slightly to make sure it was clear before putting her hands infront of the fire once more.

“Lecturing me like that… Making sure that I stay in good health… Honestly the both of them. It is not like I need it.” Mokou muttered under her breath. When Keine found out that Desmond was giving her pre-made meals, the very next visit she had one for her as well…

Right next to the fire, a package from Desmond slowly heated up for her to eat. She forgot to have lunch earlier, so she had to eat it now or Desmond would somehow know of it.

“It should be warmed through right?” She mumbled as she took out the package that he had made for her. Inside the box, the rather pretty contents showed themselves to her… especially now that she was feeling hungry. It was a simple curry over some fried rice with egg and some cubed-up meats. Such as pork or beef.

“Damn it Desmond… why do you make better food than the both of us.” She mumbled as she started to cry while eating… it was true, despite learning how to cook Yakatory extremely well, and how good Keine’s cooking was, his own food prowess was leagues above their cooking, almost as good as a professional chef.

___(TOUHOU PROJECT)___

Universal Board

“Eh, Desmond why are you crying?” Marisa noticed a tear come to Desmond’s eye.

“Eh, don’t worry bout it… I just feel prideful for some reason. It is just like when I taught some orphans how to shoot a bow and arrow.” Desmond wiped the tear away from his eye. Though this version of pride was far more similar to the one he felt when he knew his adopted daughter started trading stocks for the first time.

“Orphans… Oh yeah, you are an orphan right?” Marisa asked him now that she remembered the talk about his father dying. It was a little insensitive of her when she realized exactly what she just asked, she was about to apologize when he just laughed it off.

“Don’t worry bout offending me about that, it has been a long time since then. Yeah, my mom died first when I was like 8, still learned a lot of lessons from her though. And my father died when I was 10. Both of them died to overwork… you damn workaholics.” He waved his fist to the ceiling as if they were still watching him… though he knew that they probably were watching him do all of this stuff.

“Honestly, how did you organize a company at that age?” Marisa just laughed at his antics before asking something that came to mind when he mentioned the age he would have gotten the company at.

“Yeah, it was privately owned, but the workers were a bit skeptical when a 10 yearold showed up one day on the CEO chair and started restructuring the place for better workflow. It was quite a laugh for me back then, still is for me now. I did the exact same thing when I let my daughter own the company, best owner it ever had.” Desmond just laughed even harder at the thought of his daughter one-upping him when he was in the seat.

“You have a daughter?” Marisa asked, she knew that he was older than he seemed, but he never mentioned having a wife before, and definitely never showed anything about having a wife.

“Yep, adopted her, she was a war orphan from when they invaded. She makes me so proud… though I haven’t been able to call her for a few months now.” Sure he could use the dimensional tether to speak to her, but he was already having quite a bit of fun with the girls over here. They made him feel vastly younger since some of them acted like children and were far older than he was.

“Yeah, she owned the company since she was 10, used it as basically a throw her into the water and let her swim situation. Took to it far better than I did, and I had training from my Pops. Though she was the one who begged me to let her when she found out what I did at 10. Something about proving that she is her father’s daughter.” Desmon laughed rambunctiously at that, forgetting that it was a young girl that he was talking to and not another father.

“Sounds like you two are close,” Marisa mumbled now that he was talking about this kind of stuff. She knew he was fairly old, but she thought he was far older when he was talking about her. He would have had to know her at least several years before he let her be head of the company.

“Don’t worry about your relationship with your father. He will love you unconditionally, but we fathers are stubborn in wanting what we think is best for our daughters.” He just pats her head as he said so, bringing her out of her thoughts.

“I know you are doing well to support yourself, and he knows it as well, otherwise he would have tried to marry you off by now. Sides, he was probably already expecting that this would happen when you were young right?” Desmond asked with a smile.

“If he knew… then why did he insist on me inheriting the store that I wanted nothing to do with?” Marisa asked the man who looked only a bit older than her. Even knowing his age, he was still undeniably looking like an atractive 20 yearold… or even younger due to being an Asian and all of that.

“As I said, we are stubborn to all hell. But he learned or will learn the lesson I got when my daughter demanded the CEO seat…” Desmond said with a smile as he patted her head, her signature hat placed onto the counter now, with him being the culprit of moving it.

“And what is that lesson?” She asked with a few tears in her eyes. She promised herself that she wouldn’t cry about this… but she usually broke promises anyway, so what was another one?

“That they will grow up to be strong… even without us and in many times outstripping us. It is just up to us on just how strong they will be. I can’t say much about your mother since I am not a woman, and nor do I have a wife. But from what a few friends of mine told me, she is harsh because she loves you.” Desmond said with a smile as she looked into the glass and saw her reflection.

“While personally, it is not my style of parenting, it is still a style of parenting that will have your child grow strong,” Desmond said, he already understood that she was getting an idea of what her own style would be like when she eventually had a kid… if she didn’t ruin her fertility in a ritual for a magic of some kind.

“I came here to chat with you… why is it that it ended up with me talking about my problems and you teaching me a valuable piece of wisdom more often than not?” Marisa asked while wiping away her tears, her eyes weren’t red, mainly due to the short duration that she was crying

“What can I say except that it is a gift?” Desmond said with a smile on his face. It was nice helping these girls out with their traumas like this. Especially when leaving it would only cause issues later down the line.

Number of Words: ~2500 Words

Date Completed 5/9/2021