The Day the Dream Ended (幻想终结之日~E.O.F~)[Touhou, Translation]

幻想终结之日~E.O.F~ is a Chinese language Touhou doujin novel. It is in no way, shape, or form mine. So far, I've read through four or so chapters (out of over eighty!), and I've found it to be quite excellent, although it likely isn't for everyone.

In hopes that it might be able to reach a wider audience, I've made an poor attempt at translating the text of this novel from its original Chinese into English. Please don't judge me too harshly.

The original text (for reference) may be found here. Additionally, there's published copies of this book floating around out there - if you like this story and want to support the author(s), by all means purchase a copy.

If anyone spots any errors that I've made during translation, or ways that the translation itself might be improved, please let me know, and I'll try to fix it as well as I can. I may provide translation notes as well, if I find the motivation to do so.

I hope you enjoy!

The Day the Dream Ended​

Table of Contents​

Prologue: Two years ago
Chapter 1: Something fell from the sky

 

Re: The Day the Dream Ended (幻想终结之日~E.O.F~)[Touhou]

Prologue: Two years ago

Christmas had passed by two weeks ago, but Nagae Iku, sitting in the restaurant, nonetheless, could still feel the warmth and peacefulness of the holiday spirit permeating the city.

The painted Christmas tree on the window had yet to be wiped off, and the heavy snows outside had piled up in a thick layer both on the ground outside, where the light yellow light cast by the street lamps silhouetted the shape of the words “Merry Christmas” on the window. Despite the already-concluded sales in the stores, it almost felt like Christmas had yet to pass.

Iku languidly leaned back against the sofa. Her gaze drifted first towards the inky blackness of the night sky before finally settling on the shop's old, battered sign. Despite the colorful, flickering glow emanating from the neon light, the traces of rust on the metal parts of the sign itself were impossible to hide.

“Bourbon Cowb ys”, it read.

As for the missing 'O', the owner of the restaurant probably hadn't bothered to fix it since it was only one letter. Once before, the four letters at the end had suddenly failed at the same time, changing the sign to read “Bourbon Cow”. The owner had spent some time fixing it, but not long after, the 'O' had broken again, and he'd given up after that. The remaining three letters still worked fine, after all, and it was enough to prevent any misunderstandings.

Iku suddenly smiled. She lifted a steaming cup of coffee up to her mouth, and, just as she took a sip, the muted thuds of someone gently rapping at the windows sounded through the room. She made a face at herself through the thick glass of the window, as if she didn't like the coffee, before letting out a breath, and drawing a small smiley face in the mist on the glass.

“Hey, hey! I'm starving! Iku, you're treating everyone today, right?”

It was Hinanawi Tenshi, who'd nearly smashed the restaurant on Christmas Day. She was Iku's best friend, who, for once, had chosen to divest herself of the treasured set of heavy armor that she typically wore. Although she looked a bit bloated in the thick clothes that human women dressed in during the winter, it nonetheless looked adorable in its own way.

Just like she'd looked so long ago.

Tenshi quickly sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to her before waving to the bag-laden, purple-haired girl behind her. The other girl nodded and smiled, quickly and neatly putting the paper bags full of food and clothing on the seat next to Iku before sitting down next to Tenshi.

“Did you enjoy your shopping trip, eldest daughter?” Iku gently put down the cup of coffee and slid the menu across the table towards where Tenshi sat. Tenshi instantly snatched up and talking animatedly, while the girl next to her pulled a waiter over to the table and whispered a few words into his ear.

“It's fine if you call me Tenshi. There's not that many rules here, you know.” The girl who seemed almost to no longer consider herself a celestial waved her hand a bit, and then excitedly changed the subject. “It was pretty fun,” she said. “Iku, why didn't you... Oh, right! There's a new dessert place that just opened up on Aidi Street. Why don't we go there next time?”

“Of course, eldest daughter.”

Iku smiled and called a waiter over with a snap of her fingers. At the same time, the waiter that the purple-haired had called over before returned with a tray. He placed two cups of coffee on the table, one for Tenshi, with two creams and two sugars, and plain black coffee for the other.

“Tenshi, if you would pick something out for us?”

The serving staff looked a bit nervous, Iku noted, before helplessly giggling. On Christmas, Tenshi had had a bit too much to drink, and had almost smashed everything in the restaurant while waving around the Sword of Hisou. No doubt that particular experience would not be easily forgotten. Iku shook her head, and turned to the purple-haired girl.

“Reisen,” she asked, “did Hina not come with you two?”

The girl with the rabbit ears on her head seemed distracted, Iku noted, and, judging from how her gaze seemed to be drifting aimlessly, there was something important that she was preoccupied with.

“Ah... Oh, yes. Hina's probably spending the weekend working at that paranormal research laboratory with those humans.”

“Their relationship has always been pretty good.”

Reisen repeated herself once again, although it was hard to tell whether it was supplement or emphasize what she'd already said.

“Yeah. That's probably it.”

Paranormal research laboratory? Iku frowned, but didn't ask any further. She looked at Reisen. Initially, Iku had intended to ask Reisen about whether or not something was bothering her – no, it was clear that there definitely was something bothering her – but she was reluctant to break the calm atmosphere, so she decided to wait for now, turning to Tenshi, who had quickly finished ordering.

The utensils here were different from what they'd used before. Iku had since become accustomed to using a knife and fork. Tenshi, on the other hand, had decided to stick to using chopsticks ever since she'd cut a plate in half in a moment of carelessness, and Reisen followed suit as well. Not that there was anything wrong with using chopsticks to eat the pieces of barbequed meat and grilled onion rings, of course.

Reisen frowned a bit, as if she'd thought of something, although she remained silent. She picked up her chopsticks and held them for a moment before laying them back down. During that time, Iku saw something bulge out from under Reisen's arm that made her cough in surprise. While she'd been reluctant to break the atmosphere before, Iku decided to speak up now.

“You left the safety switched off?” she asked, worriedly. “Why...”

“Apologies,” Reisen said, nodding her head a bit. “I... I've been having nightmares again.”

“And is it still about... ?” Iku trailed off, but the question hung there in the air, unspoken.

With that one question, everyone fell into a taciturn silence. It wasn't hard to figure out what Iku had omitted. One could say that they instinctually knew, indeed, that it was something that everyone who had arrived in this world from Gensokyo would instinctually know.
Reisen lifted her hand up to her forehead and ran her fingers through her hair, and Iku, who'd been watching her the entire time, relaxed, letting some of the tension dissipate from her body.

Slowly but surely, the time had passed by, and it had already been twenty four months since they'd arrived in this strange and unfamiliar city. And that place they called Gensokyo... Had it all just been a dream? A myth?

=====

Elsewhere, under that same pitch-black sky, on the roof of a dilapidated building, the melancholy strains of a violin echoed out into the night air. The instrument rested in the hands of a short young woman, who stood there, her slender white fingers dancing across the strings as she worked her way through Porumbescu's Balada. She danced livelily under the night sky, at times playing with a great deal of force, as if she sought to divest herself of some great burden.

Even as she stood there, immersed in her own world, a young girl with her hair done up into two ponytails half stood, half kneeled by her side, calmly hefted a pair of binoculars and gazed off into the distance.

It wasn't until the last notes were swallowed by the stifling night air that she turned around to face the girl with the violin, who was standing there, as if she were participating in some sort of concert.

“I've found them, sir.”

“They're from one of the recovery teams that the Seekers use. Our superiors were correct, after all. Operation Sandbox has already commenced, so... These must be the people we're familiar with.”

She gently put down her bow, and then the violin itself, carefully stowing the instrument in a violin case by her side.

“Yes, sir. It's those two celestials and the moon rabbit.”

The girl with the ponytails broke into a nasty grin. She gently tugged on the collar of her jacket before putting away her binoculars. “It's an interesting group,” she said, “but hardly unexpected. It seems we have the results that that person wanted from us.”

“... Hmm?”

The shorter girl gently lifted the violin case off of the ground and stuck a hand into a pocket of her tuxedo. She turned around, letting the slight breeze blow through her short green hair, and walked towards the door to the stairwell that led down off the roof of the old building.

Before her subordinate could finish packing and follow after her, though, she suddenly stopped.

“Say, do you know what day it is today?”

“Of course I know, sir. Even the most forgetful person would remember this day.”

“Ah. Yes, that's right.”

The green-haired girl suddenly burst into laughter. Even though it wasn't particularly loud, the helplessness frustration and bewilderment nevertheless shone through in that single sound.

“January 12th. Since we arrived in this world, two whole years have passed us by.”