東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Preface/Prologue: Imperishable Night

𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅:
Hello again all. I go by That-Which-Isn't and what follows is my attempt at translating the fourth book of Asagihara Shinobu's こちら秘封探偵事務所 or Welcome to the Hifuu Detective Agency."


This book comprises the Imperishable Night arc, which is quite a bit longer than any of the previous arcs, both in terms of the number of chapters and the length of each. This story also caries a few more warnings than most, with discussions of self-harm, suicide, murder, extreme violence, death, various bodily functions, and injury and illness. Most of this is handled in a very PG, surface level way, but chapter 4 in particular contains a graphic depiction of self-injury. Reader discretion is advised if this is a sensitive topic for you.

This story also has a few more difficult to translate passages than any of the previous books, including a few with complex technical jargon and a few plot points or jokes that depend on the specific way the original Japanese was written, which I've done my best to try to render in English. The intro story at the beginning of each chapter, a version of the 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘰 𝘊𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 was also written in flowery, old-fashioned language that completely stumped me, so I ended up replacing those sections with what I believe are the corresponding passages from a older professional translation of that fairy tale. I’ll post a link to the translation in the comments

With those warnings in place, I will now step back and let the narrator guide you through the rest of the story. I thank you for reading, and hope that you enjoy the story to come.


𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆
Why is it that the great detectives of literature always get involved in new cases everywhere they go? Perhaps it's a bit gauche to think of such a question, as mystery novels, while often formulaic, have a certain degree of stylistic beauty. While it would make for a good story to reveal at the end of the series that the detective had been the true mastermind behind everything, such discussion of the adherence to or subversion of generic tropes is not pertinent to the matter at hand.

For you see, dear reader, the question I find myself asking as I write these lines has nothing to do with the structure of mystery novels and instead has a much more mundane and down-to-earth problem concerning the material conditions of my and my partners' very survival. It is simply this: How is it that our little Hifuu Club ends up entangled in inexplicable, dangerous and mysterious Incidents every few months?

It was now Gensokyo’s 119th season, well into our second year in Gensokyo, and a time filled with many strange occurrences. The spring had been filled with unending snowstorms and cherry blossoms. The summer was animated by drunken parties and brawls that turned the entire season into a continuous countdown to disaster that reset every three days. I have told both of those stories already and so too had their seasons passed us by.

Now the summer has ended and autumn has arrived. Just as the harvest moon signaling the coming of the mid-autumn festival was approaching, another, unprecedented incident began. The moon that would shine over Gensokyo this year would not be the one people expected. Instead a distorted, disfigured imitation of the truth floated in Gensokyo's skies.

That is how the Eternal Night Incident began.

When we first arrived in Gensokyo, my partner had triggered the Scarlet Mist Incident through her actions at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

In the Spring Snow Incident, we had been unceremoniously dumped into Hakugyokurou by the Youkai Sage.

In the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons Every Three Days Incident, we stumbled into the event by being the first among the partygoers to discover Suika.

So how did the two of us come to be involved in the conflict surrounding the Eternal Night Incident? Let me tell you that story:

Why did the great Lunar Sage abandon the moon and come to live a life in hiding in Gensokyo?

Why did the Lunar Capital's illustrious princess violate her people's greatest taboo and pursue the secret of immortality?

Why would a moon rabbit tumble from the heavens and take up residence among the sin and decay of the Earth?

And how did the eerily distorted moon come to float in the night sky of Gensokyo?

As always, I remind you that this story too is nothing more than an illusionary tale. The facts constructed in the fevered mind of my partner, whose tendency toward overthinking everything leads her to construct such elaborate delusions may be seen as nothing more than a distorted reflection of the moon upon the water.

But sometimes, when the water is still, and the air is just right, the reflection upon the water can be more beautiful than the moon in the sky.

And sometimes, when the strange powers of Gensokyo are present and the boundaries between worlds are stretched thin, the hazy moon seen shining from the reflections in the water is the moon’s true form.

I hope you will bear with me as I tell you another tale from the case files of our detective agency. This is the story of our Imperishable Night, a tale of eternity, sin and karma.