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 4

Gensyoko: Still Unnamed Shop

August 9th, 2003: 1400

Third Person: Omni

“And that is everything stocked.” His remark on the afternoon of the next day was the result of his hard work last night and early this morning. A set of simple monochrome clothes adorned his figure, a tee-shirt, and jeans, both dyed black. The store is now fully functioning with products lining the shelves. It was mainly early 21st-century games and products that were in stock at the moment.

“Now to think of a name…” It was only in his mind that could bounce off ideas for the name of the store. He sat inside the reclining chair behind the counter, angled back to stare at one of the corners of the room. It’s not like Eve could help really, as human-like as she is, she is still an AI with a total difference in value and aesthetics, even with the huge discrepancy of regular human aesthetics. There is also the fact she relates words differently when compared to living beings.

“You know that you can just name it ‘Desmond’s Game Store’ right?” She remarks through the headphones on his ears at the moment. He just wryly smiles at her joke. She fully well knows that he wants the name to be sentimental. A ring from the door’s bell showcases a pair coming in to interrupt the shop keeper’s train of thought.

“Welcome.” A smile on his face as he stands from his chair with ease. The first to step into his shop was the blond witch that he met in passing yesterday. But the second that followed right behind her was another blond but with blue eyes this time. A red headband is what adorns the head of chin-length gold locks. Short puffed up white sleeves tied with pastel pink ribbons. Another one tied itself around her waist. In all, her figure and face brought up the look of a doll if it were only a glance they took of her. In her right hand, a leather-bound book, a grimoire, was tied in by ribbons shut.

“And that’s when I flew past this place. Oh hello.” It was the witch that was talking animatedly to the doll-like girl who just had an exasperated yet amused smile on her face as she listened to her neighbor of hers ramble on. She noticed him far before the other blond if the glance towards him when they first walked through the door was anything to go by.

“Why yes, hello there. I am the owner of this here establishment.” His remark was accompanied by the slight smile on his face as he looks at them from behind the counter. He works up his standard nonchalant attitude honed by undercover work to not reveal his other identity to the shorter of the two, though that is not saying much considering the which is rather short. Though with the way they are looking around the shop, it’s not like they had much attention to pay on him.

“My name is Desmond Howard, might I know yours?” His tone now polite as he asked their names, and with it, turning their attention back to the male owner and away from the colorful shelves of product. He lays his hands across the glass counter, bringing a little attention to the prized cards.

“Right, name ’s Hakurei Reimu, a shrine maiden-ze.” Her boisterous introduction was the first of them, and finally giving him a name to the person and some mannerisms to memorize. In all her mannerisms that she showed off to him were quite masculine in contrast to her well-manicured look. And within her hand, a regular broom was held. It was kinda funny just how little she resembled a shrine maiden like she claimed in her introduction. The other lass hit her partner over the head with a deft hand.

“Marisa introduce yourself properly. I am Alice Margatroid, this is Shanghai.” The other half of the pair introduced herself with a calm tone. With it getting warmer as she introduced the doll walking at her side. Blond tied with a pink ribbon and in a black dress with a white apron were the words that could describe the puppet by the side of Alice. It bows beside her, a respectful time passes before Shanghai stands straight again.

“Fine, Marisa Kirisame ’s the name, the Ordinary Black Magician.” Her pout was settled on the face and told just how much fun was taken out of her day due to the introduction failing. It was quite cute causing a hint of amusement in the eyes of the other two in the room.

“Any questions about the shop or what I am selling?” He asks with quite the interest, they are after all the first people to come in during business hours. And the first time that he worked behind the counter in a store when it was in active business hours.

“Why is your shop located in the middle of practically nowhere? You will get no human customers here ya know.” He just smiles in a self-reproaching smile at that question. It’s not like he asked to be put in this position.

“Well, I kinda just ended up here, not like I had much of a choice in the matter.” It was a shrug with his hands raised up that added nuance to his answer. Alice looks intently at his ungloved hands for a few seconds before returning her gaze to his face after a few seconds.

“So you came from the outside world.” Was the remark that came from the black-clothed blond. A term of which sounded a bit strange though it could just be a small area in the world, though it felt to be more than that for some reason. Especially with how the outfits around him are so strange, even the most rural blackwater places in the universe had at least clothing consisting of Twenty-First Century attire of Earth.

“Outside huh?” He looks at them a bit strangely, fishing for some more information for the situation that he finds himself in. And in turn, they also look at him a bit searchingly, though it was more Alice than Marisa.

“By the way, what time is it right now?” It is not like he had seen the sky and sun all that much since he got here. He willfully decided to shift the conversation to the other topic before they got more suspicious.

“‘Round 2.” Was the surprisingly deadpan retort from the witch. It would seem that he did not hide it all that well when concerning. It would be her that would put it out straight, from the impression that he is getting off her. By no means is he a psychologist though.

“Huh, so tea time already.” An atypical response that had the tea set arriving as he reset the standard clocks in the shop. Though if he actually took the chance to observe the unobstructed skies and actually calculate it with Japan time he would guess it.

“Would you two like some?” He asks while sitting behind the counter, a smile once again taking its place on his face as he pours into the western teacup in front of him. The two look at each other before watching him as he takes a sip from the tea, prompting them to take their own cups and sip… even as they stood in front of the counter.

“May as well introduce its function considering that you two probably don’t know the services and goods I sell.” They nod to him as he finishes the tea. They could get the gist of what would be sold here especially with the strange merchandise held within.It not often things from the outside world would get into Gensyoko and never in history an entire shop came through.

“It is but a games and hobby shop, a place to find respite and calm.” Sure, out of all the things that could be provided in old times, games were not played like this much, especially considering they had far less to worry about while all their time was consumed by growing enough food for their families.

“Games?” Was the question asked by both of their expressions, though it only Marisa who voiced out those words. A smile and a gesture to the counter in between them to have them look at the cards under it once again.

“One of the more prolific game types are trading card games, especially a recent one called Summoners Story. It is a complex and simple game style, typically two players in nature with a basic set of initial rules and changes occurring when cards are played.” One of the games created recently… at least in his time. Alice’s eyes land on a specific set of two cards.

“I find it a fun game myself… Oh, I see the Puppeteer Legend Pair has caught your attention.” A smile on his face as he noticed her interested gaze. One card had a border of brown, an old man crafting a doll in a rocking chair. Wizened but skilled hands painted on features to the creation as a smile is on his face. A simple script on the top held the title, The Kind Old Doll Maker . On the other card, this time with a white border, a young woman stood before a grave with a large home in the distance. An arm was removed from the shoulder and in her other hand, revealing that she is a puppet. Her own script had Daughter of the Master Puppeteer . A bunch of script under the portraits were covered and the images themselves had a prismatic shine.

“It should be release set 5, Makers Haven … And there it is.” A crouch down to open one of the drawers below the counter display. They were filled with binders with their spines up. A grasp on the one with the specific label and it was set upon the counter. The cover had an illustration of people talking in a workshop.

“Should be here… Got it.” A smile on his face as he flipped through the pages of cards to find the set of puppeteer cards he was looking for. While certainly not as fancy, the two cards still had the same effect. The artwork is the exact same as their super rare versions.

“As you would probably expect all cards have their lore.” He motions to the rest of the page, while of them had many different wordings and abilities, there was something that was on all of them, Maker’s Alliance. Marisa was also looking at the cards intently, though with far less focus when compared to Alice.

“These two in particular are known as the Puppeteer Pair, a father who is a doll maker, and a living doll that he crafted.” Alice’s eyes observed the two cards with a depth of passion within.

“Would you like to hear the story?” They both look up at him, acting more like their physical appearance would suggest… well one of their true ages at least. A nod of their heads gives him the consent and wants to listen to the story crafted by the cards.

“Alright. Let's get settled then.” He remarks before sitting in a chair that he pulled up and raised up so that they could still see his upper half. He takes out a deck box of cards while putting away the binder of cards, it would be a far better medium to tell the story.

“The first card would be The Young Puppet Maker .” The first card flipped from the deck was a young teenager in a workshop, within his hand was a carving knife and an incomplete human-sized hand. His own border still brown.

“A young man who spent his childhood creating puppets while giving shows at the local town center. He was comfortable with his life, never more ambition than the next day. But one day he was forced to fight and did so with human-sized puppets. And so we lead to the next card.” He flipped to the next card as he smiles at their undisturbed concentration to his every word. The next card had a magenta border, and the image within was a guildhall, the very same illustration as the pack art from the binder. The title of it was Guild Of Combative Crafts .

“Later, he would join an organization created by the craftspeople of the world, more specifically, however, one that centered around combat. There he would meet many characters with colorful personalities. And like any creative person meeting another, they got inspired by one another, bringing their craft to a higher state.” Another draw released the next character to the story, this time a young girl working in a pharmacy. Her border was also white. Alchemical Pharmacist was the title of it.

“One of which he met was a young alchemist who focused on healing others. Barely 11 years old yet one of the greatest doctors in the land. She saw his craft one day and decided to help him with her knowledge of human anatomy. She taught him how and why muscles move so well. Showing him how exactly the human body moved, creating more convincing movements of his own.” A flip of another card revealed another version of the young puppet maker, this time he was at a theater showing his skills with puppets with a slightly older appearance. His border was also brown.

“He would later be known as The Master Puppeteer when he showed the skills both in shows and battle. But as he walked both in festivals and blooded fields, his mind never swayed, he improved his craft before meeting another.” A pause for dramatic tension was used before flipping another card, another woman her skin almost as pale as a corpse without blood. Within her hands was a black grimoire with red lines like veins weaving a pattern. Her name on the card was The Lawful Necromancer with a border of black.

“A master of the soul arts, though with how she dealt with bodies and souls was far from other necromancers. Signed consent in life to use their souls and body, she was fully legal... if a bit unpopular. A mere coincidence that he met her, and the puppet-like things she controlled with the soul as string… Or was it the other way around, strings imitating souls?” He took a breath, flipping another Alchemical Pharmacist and placing it right beside the death contractor’s card.

“From both the alchemist and the necromancer he learned two different methods to create intelligence in an otherwise inanimate object, one without a heartbeat and built up without a soul, a machine through and through that could only develop a soul. The other side of the coin was an intelligent soul filled with a previous bias being implanted into a container. Both had merit.” He stacked the cards together again, getting close to the end of the deck. He pulls out another two cards, the kind old puppet maker of course, and another new card, this one was an image of an unfinished doll in the process of being made. The Final Craft Of A Legendary Doll Maker was its title on the card, and a grey border surrounded it.

“When he grew old and withered and stopped going to festivals and battles, he had a final regret in his otherwise fulfilling life. He had not a child in his life. And so he remembered his time with a certain pair. He recalled it faultily and remembered stories of blacksmiths creating fully sentient swords right from the forge along with it. And decided to do it himself.” A wistful smile on Desmond’s face showed how he told the story before, it was one of the main ones he told to children. He drew the final card, The Legendary Puppeteers Daughter was the final card of this story.

“And it brings us to the epilogue of this story, it took him a long while but he had made a daughter of his own and taught her for three years, about the many things of the world and his craft. But in his old age he did not live long, dying in her embrace before he was buried by her. An end of the tale for the doll maker. A legendary Puppeteer and A Legendary Puppet who wandered the world… though that is a story for another time.” He smiles lightly as he fully turns the cards over once again, and puts it back into the labeled deck box and that into the drawer. As he went through they were pondering.

“I did not create the story, though I have practiced it so much that it is honestly hard to tell.” He was talking to himself again, a byproduct of single missions without a partner in the other world. Helps keep his mind in order though it can be quite revealing.

“So what is the game like?” It was Alice who asked him about the game. From the puppet besides her, it would seem that the story held enough substance for her to ponder… whether metaphorical or literal in her eyes.

“I enjoy it quite a bit, complex and a high skill ceiling but with a low skill beginning.” He never noticed that the witch was observing the store’s shelves with an analyzing gaze and clenching her thieving hands every few seconds.

“I have no idea what to price it at though, not like I know the currency that you use here.” Marisa discreetly took one of the starter decks off of a shelf and hid it in her dress with an experienced ease. One with a theme around magicians and magic.

“Well we best be going Alice, I think you left something unfinished at your house.” Marisa remarks as she comes back to the counter, not a sign that she stole some merchandise. Alice looks over at the other magic user with a raised brow. Desmond goes under the counter and brings out a starter deck with the name Work Of The Makers .

“Going already huh… Mmm then take this then, I want to commemorate things like sentimentality. I think Marisa already got hers though.” A blink comes to her face as an innocent grin comes across her face in a flash.

“I want to borrow it to give inspiration.” Her mischievous grin told him that if here to leave it in her hands he would never get them back at all. Though it was a store made for not his profits, but his amusement so it's not like he cared if they stole it… it's just that he wanted them to have fun with it.

“If you want to play any games just come back… I don’t know when I’ll be opening turnys. I have a few other games if you ever want to come around again.” He smiles lightly as they both leave the store… it's not like it is that much of a problem... He did replace his stock with japanese translations.

Number Of Words ~3200

Date Completed: 9/22/20

Note: Thank you all for reading this chapter… though it is not heavy in interactions. Infact, I don’t really care for action scenes (Writing them at least) with both of my stories being heavily slice of life. Quite rough with how I write huh… Welp I hope you guys enjoyed it.