Fanfic / In The Brilliant Light Of Day

"A naive inchling princess meets an amanojaku, and vows to change the world. The consequences threaten to rip Gensokyo to pieces."

— The summary on Archive of Our Own

In The Brilliant Light of Day is a novel-length retelling of the events of Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character written by hungrybookworm, with artwork by Amemenojaku.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna is an inchling princess living underground in the World of Oni, a terrible place where the inchlings struggle to survive amidst the oni's revelry. After her adoptive aunt dies in an accident, she is left alone with nobody to turn to. Suddenly, one day, she receives a note informing her of an individual who has important information on the history of the inchlings. This person turns out to be Seija Kijin, an amanojaku who wishes to start a revolution in the surface world of Gensokyo, where the weak youkai will overthrow the strong. She needs Shinmyoumaru's help, as nobody but a descendant of Issun-Boshi can harness the power of the Miracle Mallet. Shinmyoumaru is convinced to help Seija after the ruins of the upside-down Shining Needle Castle are thrust into the air by the Miracle Mallet, and she sees how beautiful Gensokyo is. She even begins to develop intense romantic feelings for Seija. However, Seija is constantly hiding things from Shinmyoumaru, and in truth only sees the inchling as a means to an end. She decides to pretend to be Shinmyoumaru's lover for the time being, in order to keep Shinmyoumaru from changing her mind about the revolution, even though love is physically painful to an amanojaku.

Meanwhile, Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, Gensokyo's resident youkai exterminators, have just resolved the most recent incident. Marisa has begun to feel distanced from Reimu, especially after an embarassing Almost Kiss that happened early that year. In addition, she is beginning to feel inadequate when compared to Reimu, forever bearing the title of Gensokyo's "number two".

It doesn't take long before a new incident starts to arise. Their signature weapons, a gohei and the Mini-Hakkero, have begun to act strangely, in some cases working on their own. Sakuya Izayoi, chief maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, has just obtained a new knife that has been acting similarly. In addition, a number of objects throughout the Human Village have gone missing. Marisa, after realizing her Mini-Hakkero is turning into a tsukumogami, finds the Shining Needle Castle and attempts to resolve the incident before it grows. She is defeated by Shinmyoumaru, and Seija preys on her insecurity, convincing her to join their revolution.

Six weeks pass since Marisa has gone missing. Reimu has been unable to solve the missing objects issue, nor does she have any clue where Marisa could have gone, when Yukari Yakumo informs her a of a large number of weaker youkai causing a ruckus around Misty Lake. Reimu joins up with Sakuya, and soon finds these riots are happening all around Gensokyo. Soon, she will get involved in a long conflict with Seija and Shinmyoumaru, with Marisa Kirisame stuck in the middle of it all.

WARNING: This fanfic is NSFW and contains scenes of violence and sex.

See the Touhou Project page for tropes in the series in general, and Characters.Touhou Double Dealing Character for tropes specifically pertaining to the characters appearing in this fanfiction.

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In The Brilliant Light of Day provides examples of:

• Mystical 108: Yukari Yakumo beats Marisa exactly one hundred and eight times with her parasol in Marisa's recurring nightmares after the incident.
• Accidental Hero: Sakuya Izayoi ends up being the one to free Reimu and Raiko from their shackles. However, she has already been taken over completely by her knife, and only the timely arrival of Seija Kijin keeps her from killing Reimu.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The relationship between Reimu and Marisa is much more dysfunctional than the source material. In canon, Marisa is entirely content with her position as the second-best youkai exterminator in Gensokyo. Here, she begins to suffer feelings of inferiority, and joins up with Seija when she takes advantage of this.
  • Shinmyoumaru and Seija's relationship is also much more unhealthy. While in canon they end up becoming a Villainous Friendship by Grimoire of Usami, here, the incident leaves Shinmyoumaru shouting that she never wants to see Seija's face again. In addition, Shinmyoumaru has fallen in love with Seija, while Seija considers love to be disgusting and against how amanojaku act.
• Adaptation Expansion: The fanfiction takes what had previously been a fairly standard Touhou game and greatly fleshes out the plot. Shinmyoumaru and Seija's origin story is explored in full, and a number of characters who didn't appear in Double Dealing Character play major roles, including Kogasa Tatara, Eirin Yagokoro, and Yukari Yakumo.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Raiko Horikawa appears sporadically throughout the story, instead of only showing up after the main incident has been dealt with.
• Adaptational Heroism: Reimu Hakurei's primary reason for stopping Shinmyoumaru and Seija's rebellion in canon was simply because she considers herself one of the strong and thus would be negatively impacted. Here, her main reason for investigating the incident in the first place was in search of Marisa, and she calls out the revolutionary army on their violation of spellcard rules by using actual firearms.
• Adaptational Intelligence: In canon, Seija successfully manipulating Shinmyoumaru was only due to the latter's gullibility, and since has shown no signs of being very clever. Here, she's The Chessmaster, manipulating Marisa into joining her and keeping Shinmyoumaru and the tsukumogami in the dark about the Miracle Mallet's weakness for over six months before a string of bad luck causes it all to fall apart.
• Adapted Out: The Extra Stage of Double Dealing Character does not happen here, with Raiko Horikawa instead being worked into the main story.
  • In this timeline, the events of Impossible Spell Card don't appear to occur, and Grimoire of Usami could not happen as it did without Seija being even more Easily Forgiven than she already was.
• Adaptational Wimp: Sekibanki, while not the most powerful character in her source material, was still a typical boss fight. Here, she goes down after one hit of Reimu's gohei and spending a decent amount of time running away from her.
  • In the original game, Raiko Horikawa was the Superboss, and a fairly challenging one. Here, she's easily captured by her fellow tsukumogami, and spends much of the story in the Shining Needle Castle's prison.
• Almost Kiss: Marisa and Reimu almost kiss early on in the story, until Reimu pushes Marisa away.
• Always Someone Better: Reimu is this to Marisa, which, combined with her romantic feelings for Reimu, leads to a great deal of insecurity.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Seija Kijin tells Reimu a (possibly) fake story of how she managed to betray and kill her 14 siblings by luring the Hakurei Shrine Maiden of the time to them, ending the story on this note.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Reimu finally declares that she loves Marisa at the end of the story, right as Marisa is about to fire a Dark Master Spark at her.
• Apocalyptic Log: The inchling scroll that shows the location of the Miracle Mallet also contains a warning from one of the few inchlings who survived when they overused the Mallet and caused the Shining Needle Castle to turn upside-down, sending them into the World of Oni.
• Ax-Crazy: As in the source game, Marisa and Sakuya become increasingly violent with repeated use of their corrupted weapons. Reimu appears to be immune, but she's more influenced by her weapon than she thinks.
  • Marisa and Sakuya's growing insanity culuminates in the climax of the story when Sakuya embarks on a Mook Horror Show, slashing her way through the tsukumogami, and Marisa burns down the Shining Needle Castle.
• Badass in Distress: Reimu spends a good chunk of the second half of the fanfic imprisoned in the Shining Needle Castle's prison after being defeated by Seija.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: The Grassroots Youkai Network are snapped out of their frenzied states after they are defeated in spellcard duels.
• Bedmate Reveal: Marisa suffers a nightmare when going home to sleep after failing to defeat Shinmyoumaru... and wakes up to Seija lying in bed with her.
• Better as Friends: Marisa initally thinks this between her and Reimu. Their relationship ends up as an outright romance by the end of the story, however.
• Big Bad: Seija Kijin, as in the original game, though here it's made more explicit.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just as Reimu, Marisa, and Shinmyoumaru are falling to their deaths, unable to fly out of exhaustion, the Grassroots Youkai Network swoop in to catch them.
• Bittersweet Ending: Leaning more on the sweet side. Reimu and Marisa are officially a couple, and have seemingly made up for the trouble Marisa caused. Shinmyoumaru agrees to stay at the Hakurei Shrine until things have sorted out, and it seems like more inchlings could come to Gensokyo to live happier lives. All the tsukumogami have their essences transferred to new objects to avoid dying when the Mallet's power runs out, and Raiko and Benben plan on marrying. However, the gohei and Mini-Hakkero have been completely destroyed, with Marisa having to be restrained to keep her from looking for it again. Seija has managed to escape justice, and neither Shinmyoumaru or Marisa seem to be anywhere close to recovering from their experiences with her. Seija also managed to run off with the Miracle Mallet, keeping Shinmyoumaru from ever growing to human size ever again.
• Blatant Lies: Marisa's explanation as to what she's doing in the Shining Needle Castle needs some work.

“I decided to take over the world. I’m gonna be the big boss of Gensokyo, and you’ll be my personal assistant. You’ll be filing paperwork and dealing with assassins while I lounge around drinking sake and yelling at everyone. Sounds good, huh? You’ll need to give me a shoulder massage once a day, so get practising (sic).”

• Bolivian Army Ending: The epilogue concludes with Seija about to engage one of Shinmyoumaru's descendants in a fight to the death, with the implication she will not survive.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Marisa is brainwashed by Seija towards the end of the story. Through sex.
• Call-Forward: Reimu's extermination of the teenager-turned-youkai is quite similar to her extermination of the Fortune Teller in Forbidden Scrollery, which takes place after Double Dealing Character.
• Collapsing Lair: Marisa accidentally burns down the Shining Needle Castle under the influence of her Mini-Hakkero, forcing everyone inside to escape.
• Companion Cube: The three protagonists treat their bewitched weapons as this while under their influence, to the extent that the object being taken away from them is as painful as losing a limb. In Marisa's case, she even feels sexual stimulation if the Mini-Hakkero is rubbed the right way.
  • Seija Kijin grows to treat the Miracle Mallet as one, and winds up kissing it a little too intimately.
• Contrived Coincidence: Seija just so happens to hear about Kosuzu Motoori; a human who could read any language, shortly after acquiring an inchling scroll she can't read. She even notes it seems too convenient and could be the result of another youkai manipulating her.
• Cargo Envy: Upon seeing Seija kissing the Miracle Mallet way too intimately, Shinmyoumaru demands that Seija "treat her like she was the Mallet".
• The Corrupter: Seija acts as this to Marisa, encouraging her to rely on her Mini-Hakkero (so it can take control of her more) and driving a wedge between her and Reimu.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Shinmyoumaru's aunt Kikyou died when an oni stepped on and crushed her rickshaw. It's stated this is a regular occurrence in the World of Oni.
• Darker and Edgier: The fanfiction contains much heavier subject matter than the source material, including a number of sex scenes, physical injuries, and Family-Unfriendly Death. The author even says the content would "probably make ZUN cry if he ever read it."
• Destructive Romance: Seija and Shinmyoumaru's partnership is portrayed as this.
• Distant Finale: The story ends with a depiction of Gensokyo many years into the future, long after Reimu or Marisa have died of old age. Seija Kijin is confronted by one of Shinmyoumaru's distant descendants, and it's implied this is where she will finally meet her end.
• The Dog Bites Back: Seija says in her story that her 14 brothers and sisters all tormented her since she was the smallest and weakest of them, eventually leaving her to die in a ditch. She gets back at them by helping the Hakurei Shrine Maiden of the time to hunt down and kill each of them one by one.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Reimu is severely wounded by Kagerou before getting to the Shining Needle Castle. This allows Seija to be able to defeat and imprison her. Her victory against Marisa despite this also further cements Marisa's insecurities.
• Evil Weapon: Reimu's gohei, Marisa's Mini-Hakkero, and Sakuya's knife become this after being enchanted by the Miracle Mallet. Downplayed as it's stated that the weapons aren't necessarily malicious as they are dedicated to their task, as with any tools that came to life under similar circumstances.
• Face–Heel Turn: The main point of divergence from the original game's story is when Seija convinces Marisa to join their revolution.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Averted, unlike the source material. Shinmyoumaru and Seija's tsukumogami militia all have rifles, one of which eventually shoots Reimu during the chaos of Seija's escape.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Shinmyoumaru and Marisa are subject to this by the end of the story. While Reimu is willing to spare Shinmyoumaru as she usually does at the end of incidents, she makes it very clear she will never forgive her for siding with Seija and attempting to turn Marisa into a youkai with the Mallet.
• Forgot About His Powers: Sakuya loses herself completely in her knife, to the extent she completely forgets about her time-stopping abilities. Meanwhile, Seija has not forgotten about her own flipping abilities, and she comes out on top of their battle.
• Generation Xerox: The descendant of Shinmyoumaru that finds Seija in the epilogue is said to look exactly like her ancestor.
• Good Is Bad And Bad Is Good: A defining trait of all amanojaku; love and compassion towards them is physically wounding, while hatred heals them and causes them to develop feelings towards the hater.
  • Seija especially is described as exclusively eating raw or burnt food, wearing only clothes that are too tight or too loose, and enjoying physical injury. She ends up falling in love with Shinmyoumaru when she declares her undying hatred toward her.
• Hate Plague: The Grassroots Youkai Network (Wakasagihime, Sekibanki, and Kagerou), Cirno, and a number of other weaker youkai are granted a boost in power from the Miracle Mallet and go berserk as a result.
• Heroic Bastard: Shinmyoumaru turns out to be one, having been sent to live with her aunt to avoid being executed. The cheating was on her mother's side. While she does play the role of a misguided Anti-Villain for the majority of the story, she's never antagonistic enough to count as a Bastard Bastard.
• Insecure Love Interest: A major point of conflict in the story is Marisa believing she's not good enough to be Reimu's girlfriend, or even friend.
• Insult Backfire:

Reimu: "You're disgusting."

Seija: "Thank you."

• Interrupted Intimacy: Kogasa accidentally walks in on Seija and Marisa having sex to warn them about Sakuya's rampage.
• Mook Horror Show: Once Sakuya is completely taken over by her knife, she runs rampant through the Shining Needle Castle, slashing any tsukumogami that gets in her way, including Benben.
• Mundane Object Amazement: As Shinmyoumaru has lived her whole life underground in the World of Oni, she is completely stunned by such things as sunlight, snow, and rain. Seija can't help but chuckle at how much childlike wonder she exhibits.
• Mundane Wish: Seija encourages Shinmyoumaru to use the Miracle Mallet mostly for this, as bigger wishes could be catastrophic. The reason for this is that the Miracle Mallet's power is limited, so too many big wishes would drain the Mallet's power and undo every wish.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Kagerou is absolutely horrified when she realizes she's infected the Hakurei Shrine Maiden with lycanthropy, and profusely apologizes.
• Mysterious Past: A good deal of Seija's backstory is unknown by the end of the story. She spins a story about how she was the runt of her litter and how she was able to betray and kill all of her siblings as payback for their abuse, but she could have made it up.
• Mythology Gag: Marisa's outfit after joining Seija's rebellion is largely a black-colored version of her mentor Mima's outfit.
• Nobody Poops: Averted. The need for a chamber pot (and for emptying it) in the Shining Needle Castle is brought up more than once.
• Original Character: A number of new characters have been added to the story, almost all of which have very minor roles. These include Kikyou Hikona: Shinmyoumaru's late aunt, the rest of Shinmyoumaru's royal family, the inchling who leads Shinmyoumaru to Seija, the oni man who Seija obtained information about the Miracle Mallet from, and Shinmyoumaru's descendant.
• The Power of Love: Reimu snaps Marisa out of Seija's brainwashing by finally admitting she loves her.
• The Power of Hate: Amanojaku as a whole are stated to survive off this, gaining sustenance from people's hatred of them. Shinmyoumaru's newfound hatred of Seija leads to all of Seija's injuries fully healing at the end of the story.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: All three playable character's storylines are all worked into the same sequence of events, rather than, say, only picking one or making three different stories for each of them. It even works in Marisa A's ending where she teams up with Seija and wreaks havoc upon Gensokyo.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Benben Tsukumo and Raiko Horikawa are explicitly girlfriends by the time of the story, despite not showing much attraction in canon. They even marry at the end.
• Questionable Consent: It's listed as a warning in the tags. This happens twice: first, Seija is forced into sex with Shinmyoumaru to prove she still loves her; second, Seija has sex with Marisa while she is under the influence of her Mini-Hakkero, and cements its control over her over the course of the intercourse.
• Recruited from the Gutter: Kogasa explains that she lived a life of constant hardship as a tsukumogami before Seija recruited her, and she wants to make sure nobody else has to suffer like she did.
• Relationship Upgrade: Reimu and Marisa are officially a couple by the end of the story.
• She's Not My Girlfriend: Reimu says this about Marisa to Yukari, even though Yukari never implied that was the case.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Shinmyoumaru Sukuna attempts to convince Reimu to join them, even after everything she and Seija have put her through. Reimu makes it very clear she isn't having any of it.
• Spanner in the Works: Seija's whole plan falls apart at the end after Sakuya invades the Shining Needle Castle on the same day that Shinmyoumaru decides to leave to see Gensokyo. This separates her from Marisa, allowing the latter to burn down the Shining Needle Castle on instinct.
• Squat's in a Name: Wakasagihime points out at the end of the story that the "hime" part of her name doesn't actually make her a princess.
• The Starscream: Marisa briefly entertains the idea of betraying Seija and Shinmyoumaru and taking over Gensokyo for herself. This is short lived, however, as she is soon brainwashed into a mindless tool by Seija.
• Title Drop:

"She couldn’t keep this paradise from her people any longer. Shinmyoumaru needed to bring the inchling race outside, and let them live under the sun’s warm light, eternally bathed in the brilliant light of day."

• Transhuman Treachery: Early on in the story, Reimu is busy exterminating a teenager from the village who became a youkai in a ritual that killed his brother. He explains he was sick and tired of being human, and expresses no regret for his brother's death.
  • Seija constantly attempts to convince Marisa to accept this, though she rejects the offer every time. Eventually Seija convinces Shinmyoumaru to force the change onto her. Good think the Miracle Mallet's power runs out just in time.
  • It's stated that Marisa is still counted as a resident of the Human Village despite living alone in the woods, and thus Reimu would have to kill her if she became a youkai.
• Treacherous Advisor: Seija outright gives herself the position of Shinmyoumaru's advisor and retainer, all the while using her for her own ends.
• The Unfought: Raiko Horikawa never fights anyone over the course of the story, unlike in the original game.
  • Shinmyoumaru Sukuna only fights Marisa early on in the story, and engages in a lengthy debate with Reimu instead of fighting her.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kosuzu Motoori innocently agrees to translate the inchling scrolls for Seija, allowing her to find the location of the Miracle Mallet, setting in place the events of the story.
• Unwitting Pawn: Seija lies to Shinmyoumaru about the history of the inchlings in order to get her to support the revolution, as in the source material.
• Vague Age: Averted with Shinmyoumaru. She's explicitly stated to be 19 years old, as inchlings age the same rate as humans.
  • In-Universe, Seija doesn't even remember how old she is.
• The Vamp: Seija acts as this towards a male oni and Marisa.
• Vampire Refugee: Reimu temporarily becomes this when Kagerou bites her, though it's solved fairly quickly due to Eirin Yagokoro having a cure.
• Villainous Breakdown: Seija ends up unable to hold in all the lies she's been telling Shinmyoumaru, and spills out everything she knows and how she really feels about Shinmyoumaru.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Seija tries to run away with Marisa and the bewitched Mini-Hakkero once the Miracle Mallet's power runs out. Shinmyoumaru and Reimu catch up to them, however.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Unlike in canon, Seija legitimately cares about the success of the revolution, having spent a good portion of her life being bullied by stronger youkai.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Seija Kijin calls out Reimu for being more worried about where her gohei is than if Marisa is alright.

“I feel sorry for my dear Marisa. Coming second to a piece of wood? Pitiful.”

• Worf Had the Flu: Marisa realizes that, had Reimu not been seriously injured by Kagerou earlier, there's no way she would have lost against Seija the way she did.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Seija throws the inchling who leads Shinmyoumaru to her down a well once he's accomplished his purpose. He's rescued later on by Raiko, however.
• You Have to Believe Me!: Raiko attempts to warn the other tsukumogami about the Miracle Mallet's finite power, and that they will all go back to being inanimate objects once the power runs out. They don't believe her, not even her girlfriend Benben.

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