東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Preface/Prologue: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

Prologue

There are so many mystery stories told from the perspective of a detective's assistant that it's become a cliché. Or sometimes a story is told by a mystery writer who is acquainted with a great detective and is writing a novelization of a case solved by that great detective. Just as Holmes has Watson, Kiyoshi Mitarai has Kazumi Ishioka and Hideo Himura has Alice Arisugawa. A great detective who wields a nearly supernatural power of deduction needs a common sense character to stand by the side of the reader to tell their story. For can a great detective really be called such unless they are known to have solved a difficult case? For that to be known, someone has to have recorded the fact, and thus, Watson plays the role of a storyteller. So that the great detective can be a great detective.

I, myself, am no exception to this rule. I may be somewhat out of the ordinary though and as such a poor partner for the reader. Additionally, I find myself in a strange situation, in a world far removed from common sense. What's more, to the people who live in this world, I must surely seem to be someone who comes from a place far outside the bounds of conventional wisdom. Despite all of this, I would, nonetheless, like to record the activities of one such great detective with whom I am acquainted and present you with a record of their activities from the perspective of my own experience.

The name of my great detective is Usami Renko.

Renko is the one who dragged me into joining the occult circle known as the "Hifuu Club" at university and the person responsible for the both of us ending up in the situation we now find ourselves. I shouldn't spend this introduction just talking about her though, you'll see what she's like for yourself as you read on. Instead, let me tell you the basics about the situation that we find ourselves in.

Renko and I are so-called Outsiders. We wandered into this world from the Outside World, and now, somehow, we have come to live here. I don't know how long we will remain in this world. It may be that one day we will be abruptly rejected and forced out of it, or we may flee from it, no longer able to stand it here. Or it may be that my partner's recklessness will lead to us both becoming food for a stray youkai, although I hope not.

In any case, if you were to read this record and hope that we might be the ones to save you from some sort of trouble, I can't guarantee we can solve your case. But, with that in mind, if you would still like to engage our services, then come and knock on the door of our office, which is set up just next to Miss Keine's temple school in the human village. If we are still there, then I'm sure my partner's brain will be able to consider your problem, whatever it may be.

We are called the Hifuu Detective Agency, a great detective and her assistant who discover the sealed and secret mysteries of this world. You are free to never pay us another thought if you wish. You can consider this record as merely the strange ramblings of a suspicious foreigner, if you like. But I am writing this record in the hopes that you will come and knock on the door of our office some day.



Oops, I forgot to mention something important. My name is Maéreverie Hearn, and this is the record of the first incident that we, the Hifuu Club, encountered after wandering into this dream-like world of Gensokyo. This is a story that takes place before the establishment of our office, but is, in fact, the first case that we, then the Hifuu Club, now the Hifuu Detective Agency ever encountered.

In other words, this is the story of the incident that came to be known as the "Scarlet Mist Incident".

Why did Remilia Scarlet decide to cause an incident?

Why was Flandre Scarlet imprisoned in the basement of her own mansion?

Who are Izayoi Sakuya, Patchouli Knowledge and Hong Meiling really?

Let me tell you the secrets of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Our story begins here.




𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅:


Hi, hello. I go by That-Which-Isn't and what follows is my translation of an excellent Hifuu web novel that, as far as I have seen, has gotten little attention from the English-speaking Touhou community. This novel is an amazing work written by Asakihara Shinobu and each chapter of the story is accompanied by excellent quality original artworks by E O. Elsewhere on the internet, these stories are a big enough deal that there are a pair of very well done and highly customized commissioned MMD videos and even a PV featuring Akatsuki Records available to view on YouTube, featuring the characters and some of the events found later on in the story.

With that out of the way, a few pedantic notes on specific translation choices I have made:
I am not using honorifics such as -san, -dono or -sama in my writing, as I don't think they convey meaning well in English. Instead, characters that speak more or less respectfully are rendered with appropriate speech patterns as best I can.

Pronouns are somewhat slippery in Japanese, and I know the topic of gender in Touhou is often fraught, with many characters that blur the lines between traditional gender representation in ways that don't translate well in western culture. I have decided to go with the most typical consensus on how characters are presented and just use female pronouns for everyone. For the record, pretty much everyone in this work uses the gender-neutral 私 (watashi) when referring to themselves.

Finally, on the topic of cultural references, I have tried to stick with the references used in the original wherever possible, referring to the same authors, artists and texts that were originally used for the characters. Occasionally, someone will use a colloquialism or turn of phrase that only makes sense as a reference to a proverb or well-known story that exists in Japanese culture, but not in English. In these cases, I have substituted the expression for an English equivalent with the same meaning rather than directly translating a reference that wouldn't land.

With all of that said, 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.