Th16/omake.txt/en

-- ○東方天空璋 (Touhou Tenkuushou: Eastern Jade Scepter of the Skies) ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons.

Afterword and Characters

Team Shanghai Alice Leader ZUN 2017/08/11 --

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========================================================================================= ■ 1. Afterword

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Hello everyone, ZUN here. This time it was a really close call. Just before July 26th, the day when I finished the master copy, my grandmother had passed away. She did well until her end, and had a peaceful death at age 95. Because I had to visit my parents in Nagano for the vigil and the funeral, I really thought that the game wouldn't make it in time for the Summer Comiket release.

However, when I spoke to the dear folks from Popls printing shop to give me just one more day after the deadline, we somehow or the other managed to pull through before I dropped this thing here.

But since I only had one day left and had too much work to be done, I only had little time to even write this text.

All I can do expressing my gratitude in a very simple manner.

When I was born, my grandfather had already passed away. Because both my parents were working, my grandmother raised me since I was little. She was much more strict than my parents, that's why trying to play Famicom under her watchful eye was always a pain (lol) My playtime was precious, always nervously worrying about if she would catch me playing. Even now, I think that I'm still living with that experience. This environment taught me how to earnestly face video games. As for another war-story, the one time when I went to visit Manchuria was one reason why the history of the mainland is still very important to me. I give my gratitude that you have raised me for so long. Thank you very much.

I tried making the characters stronger than never before. Well at least I'm satisfied with the Touhou-esque development. All four main characters can interact with the four seasons. <?The last one is an unusual, needlessly hot expansion I like every single character?> The stroy might have some hard to understand parts, but at least the gameplay is simple to get into.

ZUN (I wanna go to Hakone, because my son said he wants to ride the Hakone mountain railway.)


 * Careful: Contains post-ending spoilers after this point**

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========================================================================================= ■ 2. Extra Story

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The battle with Okina was over before our heroine even knew it. After her season weapons were stolen, her recollection of events became somewhat vague.

She thought that Okina had been the one to flee, but she just couldn't seem to remember what had actually happened. Perhaps she had been the one to flee, in the end?

Wasn't she was the one who had been rendered helpless once her weapons were stolen? Wasn't she the one who had been caught in a trap, and ejected from that mysterious door?

It didn't seem like she'd get an answer to that question until she once again ventured through a door on someone's back.

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========================================================================================= ■ 3. Characters

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-- ◇ Player Characters --

○Carefree Shrine Maiden in the Spring Sun Reimu Hakurei

Species: Human Ability: Mainly capable of flying in the sky

The all-too-familiar shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.

Frankly, the cherry blossoms blooming at the shrine don't bother her, and there's been plenty of strange weather before, so she doesn't think that this is an issue. That conceit leads her to severely misjudge the true nature of the incident.

○Magician Shivering in the Arctic Cold Marisa Kirisame

Species: Human Ability: Capable of using magic

An ordinary magician living in Gensokyo. She has a mania for collecting things.

The incident isn't directly harmful, so she's at a loss as to where to begin. Before she even considered doing a standard investigation, she was pulled into a fierce battle with the excited fairies.

○Unmelting Ice Fairy Under the Blazing Skies Cirno

Species: Fairy Ability: Capable of manipulating ice

An ice fairy who hangs out around the lakeside.

For some reason, she's obtained the strength to remain undefeated by the midsummer sun, and has fallen into a terrible state of mental invincibility. She doesn't think there's any incident going on in particular, but wanted to travel the world while she's feeling courageous. That's all.

○The Tengu who Scatters Autumn Leaves Aya Shameimaru

Species: Tengu Ability: Capable of manipulating wind

A tengu newspaper reporter.

She's been doing news reporting in various places, so she clued in to the strange weather right away. These clearly aren't your average cool summers or heat waves, but in every case, the cause is concealed. She perceived something artificial about this abnormality, but will that intuition prove true in the end?

-- ◇ Enemy Characters --

○Stage 1 Boss — The Butterfly Fairy who Approaches God Eternity Larva

Species: Fairy Ability: Capable of scattering scales

A swallowtail butterfly fairy. But with that said, she doesn't just embody grown butterflies, but also caterpillars and chrysalids; She can be said to be a fairy embodying insect growth, rebirth, and metamorphosis.

Like Cirno, she's stronger than usual due to some strange force. She's in berserk mode, basically. Fairies typically go berserk during most incidents anyway. Her regular personality is extremely gentle: No matter where a fight breaks out, she'll head over to play with a few power items in hand.

Apparently when she senses danger, she spews danmaku and a foul stench from her antennae.

○Stage 2 Boss — The Yamanba who Surpasses This Floating World's Barriers

Nemuno Sakata

Species: Yamanba Ability: Capable of creating sanctuaries

A youkai who lives on the Youkai Mountain. Yamanba are a species that enjoy acting independently, without forming groups or societies. They barely ever interact with fellow members of their species; On the other hand, they're known to interact with other species. However, it's always a business-like kind of interaction.

They're completely the opposite of the society-loving tengu. It seems that they form nonaggression treaties with each other and live on their own. In the Human Village, it's generally assumed that people who go missing in the mountains were dealt with somehow by a yamanba. But in reality, it seems that they often send lost adults back with a warning, and take custody of lost children, who they raise into upstanding human beings. The reason for this is unknown.

Nemuno herself, likewise, has no interest in the world at large. She's primitive even by Gensokyo's standards, and there's hardly any information on her.

○Stage 3 Boss — The Guardian Beast Devoted to Shintoism and Buddhism Aunn Komano

Species: Komainu Ability: Capable of locating Shintoism and Buddhism

A komainu. She's a single individual with the properties of both a shisa and a komainu.

She finds places where human faith gathers, like the Hakurei Shrine, Moriya Shrine, Myouren Temple, and so on, then mooches around and guards the place without being asked. She normally doesn't show herself, and is said to only show off her full power when something with hostile intent appears, but she's not very strong and usually loses anyway.

Since the Hakurei Shrine's cherry blossoms were so beautiful, she was having a flower-viewing at the shrine when the commotion began. She had intended to leisurely sit around drinking saké, but somehow or another she wound up bearing the brunt of the ensuing battle.

She was somewhat disappointed to find herself fighting a shrine maiden, but it was somehow fun.

She found a strange, bottomless spiritual power welling up in her heart, and felt something cold running down her back. Though she didn't know where or what it was, she sensed that something deeply important was being deliberately concealed in Gensokyo.

○Stage 4 Boss — The Magical Jizo who Manifested in the Forest Narumi Yatadera

Species: Magician (Jizō) Ability: Capable of using magic (control of living things)

A living creature who used to be a Jizō statue in the Forest of Magic, but gained life from the forest's magic power. She was troubled by the forest's unseasonable snowfall, but she was a stay-at-home kind of person to begin with, so she didn't bother to leave　the forest and investigate.

The Forest of Magic has the power to change the very nature of the beings within it. She may be a "Jizō," but she's not the Jizō Bodhisattva or anything; She started off as just a stone Jizō statue. Since she's a stone statue that gained a life of its own, she's somewhat like a golem.

Because she's sensitive to magic, she noticed that an abnormal magic power was flowing forth from her own back. However, she thought that it was due to the influence of the Four Seasons Incident; She had no idea that her own power was causing part of said incident in the first place.

She's also the one who, after hearing about Okina from Marisa, came up with a secret counterstrategy to entrust Marisa with.

○Stage 5 Boss — The All-Too-Dangerous Backup Dancers Satono Nishida

Mai Teireida

Species: Human (?) Ability: Capable of drawing out people's mental energy by dancing behind them (Satono) Ability: Capable of drawing out people's vitality by dancing behind them (Mai)

A pair whose purpose is to draw out the latent abilities of all things. Okina's subordinates. They used to be regular human children, but due to Okina's magic power,　they're becoming less　and less human. They hardly have any memory of their time as humans, and they dance in joyful madness.

However, their personalities are the same as when they were human. Mai is a scatterbrain, but she's quick to take action. Satono is discreet, but slightly overconfident at times.

Their dances aren't meant for people to enjoy, and are in fact quite eccentric. They dance all for Okina's sake, and take action all for Okina's sake.

The two of them don't know that the doors on people's backs are meant to search for their own successors. Okina only told them that the doors are meant to search for more allies for the two of them.

If they did happen to find out the truth, what action would they take? In all likelihood, they'd just keep doing the same thing. They can hardly even imagine going against Okina's orders, after all.

They serve Okina as her loyal servants, but their abilities, too, are nothing more than an extension of Okina's.

○Stage 6 Boss — The Ultimate, Absolute Secret God Okina Matara

Species: Secret God Ability: Capable of creating doors on the back of anything

A hidden god who lurks behind all things in creation. She has a wide range of public faces: An Earth mother goddess, a god of noh, a god of stars, a god of silkworm breeding, a god of hindrances, a god of discriminated peoples, et cetera.

Nobody knows what her true nature really is. She's the ultimate secret god, whose true form must never be seen, heard, or spoken of.

Her status as a "secret god" doesn't mean she's hiding or anything, though. At times, she makes ostentatious public appearances to show off her grand presence.

She claims that her objective was to find successors for Satono and Mai, but if she ended up unable to find any suitable successors, she'd be fine making the two servants continue to work for her.

Her true goal was to stand out. To make a big show of herself, and engrave herself into the memories of every human, youkai, and sage in Gensokyo. It seems she didn't find any successor servants in the end, but it appears that her latter　goal was well and truly achieved.

She is also one of the sages who created the Gensokyo of today. She protects Gensokyo from the outside world, can move anywhere she likes, and at some point without realizing it at first, she gained a mysterious power to control both vitality and mental energy, which she uses for her duty of keeping Gensokyo's balance intact. Her menial tasks are usually entrusted to her two douji servants that wait upon her (i.e. Satono and Mai).

She shows no mercy to those who act rudely to her, and grants blessings to those who treat her with reverence. Fearsome as an enemy and reliable as an ally, she's the classic example of a god.

○Extra Boss — The Ultimate, Absolute Secret God Okina Matara

The seasons on our heroines' backs were a trap that Okina had arranged. Our protagonist used Okina's season trap to her own advantage, and challenged her for a rematch.

At this, the ultimate secret god agreed to refrain from chasing the protagonist off with the seasons' magic power, and revealed her true form. It was a chaotic fusion of many gods' forms, every bit the same as the face she shows publicly.

Speaking of which, she may be a "secret god," but she's not hiding. From the very beginning, she was a secret god who put everything she has out in plain sight.