Touhou - Impure Dreams about a Strange Land

Giving Nobuyuki a break (Author's words)

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by and taking your time to read my little fanfic. I hope you're enjoying it so far, and I'm sorry if I'm taking too long to move the plot forward. I'm just trying to give each character a moment to shine.

As you can tell, I'm trying to either avoid or twist the tropes that are generally present in some fanfics. That's why I jump between the MC's POV and the characters' POV. I don't want the characters to live in a vacuum, and I'm sure as hell I don't want them to revolve around the MC either hahaha. That's why I took my time to try and develop them outside their faction (in this case, the SDM crew), giving them friendships, love interests, maybe goals. They were alive way before Nobuyuki's arrival, so it makes sense to me to try and expand on them, giving reasons as to why they either care, loathe or are indifferent about the MC.

That doesn't mean I'm not willing to give Nobuyuki the chance to befriend or romance someone in Gensokyo. In fact, I would like to let the readers decide who Nobuyuki should chase at some point. But that also means, I'm more than willing to give the MC bad endings or neutral endings if he gets too reckless. That warning Patchouli gave him about Koakuma was just a heads up, and sometimes this warning might not even appear at all. Just like life itself. (No worries though, it is just an excuse to torture the MC a bit more before going back.)

Anyways, here's a list of the characters Nobuyuki met so far and the status they have:

Yukari Yakumo: Acquantainces.

While Nobuyuki almost hates her, Yukari is interested on him as a lab rat. She watches over him from time to time.

Hong Meiling: Coworkers, friendly terms.

Meiling as a whole is the most friendly character in Touhou Project, to the point people mistake her as a human. Nobuyuki finds her company enjoyable, and she finds him equally as enjoyable in that aspect.

Sakuya Izayoi: Coworkers, senior treatment.

She's suspicious of him, but is unwilling to disobey Remilia's wishes to hire more people. Still, she keeps things professional, and consider him as her junior.

Nobuyuki is intimidated by her, and still doesn't believe she's human. At least thinks her cooking is delicious.

Patchouli Knowledge: Acquaintances, selfish interests.

Patchouli was always a gloomy and difficult to approach individual. Even more so now that she's giving all her emotional baggage to Koakuma through the link they share as master and familiar, making her a lot more detached and selfish. (Still she can feel frustrated and angry.)

As for her relationship with Nobuyuki, this is the first time she met a powerless human, so she's interested enough to keep him safe while studying a way to restore his potential to wield magic. But doesn't care enough to prevent him from doing dangerous, most likely lethal things. This research is both to satisfy her curiosity and to develop countermeasures in case she finds herself in a situation where she can't use magic.

Nobuyuki dislikes her blunt attitude, but puts up with it thanks to the possibility of finding a way out of Gensokyo through her.

She knows he's an outsider.

Koakuma: Coworkers, predatory.

There's so little about Koakuma I had to open my brain a little more, so she feels more like an OC than anything. She's a demon from Makai, and demons are naturally attracted to humans. What made Koakuma go overdrive in this case, is thanks to two things: All the emotional burden she's carrying, both hers and Patchouli's, and the fact that Nobuyuki is a spiritually weak human, making him the perfect prey for a demon.

And that's about it, if you're curious about something, go ahead and ask!

That's is from me for now. I'll see ya in the next episode!