In the interest of encouraging people to participate, some resources:
>https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Whispered_Oracle_of_Hakurei_Shrine
There's not much on here yet, but a couple characters are translated.
>https://thwiki.cc/%E4%B8%9C%E6%96%B9%E5%B9%BB%E5%AD%98%E7%A5%9E%E7%AD%BE
While (obviously) all in Chinese, you can see every fortune slip's page on the Chinese wiki. Use Google Lens or something to get some translations. Mileage may vary.
>https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/1juxrmp/whispered_oracle_of_hakurei_shrine_intro_manga_tl/
There's a translation of the first half of the manga segment on reddit. No sign of the second half, sadly.

A lot of bits and pieces of translations did exist on /jp/, but since 4chan as a whole is currently in a coma dreaming of being a gay policeman in the 1970s, it's a little hard to access them. Therefore, I've taken the liberty of finding as many bits and pieces as I can.

IBARAKI KASEN:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49242402#p49245560

YAMASHIRO TAKANE (quote and comment only):
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49242402#p49245655

HINANAWI TENSHI (comment only):
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49242402#p49246188

HIEDA NO AKYUU:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49242402#p49247237

REISEN UDONGEIN INABA (fortunes only):
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49242402#p49246166

WRIGGLE NIGHTBUG:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49258324#p49259817

RUMIA:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49258324#p49259830

MYSTIA LORELEI:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49258324#p49259946

REMILIA SCARLET:
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49258324#p49260078

MEDICINE MELANCHOLY (fortunes only):
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/49258324#p49263352

There might be more bits and pieces scattered throughout threads, but it's hard to find them via the archives. This is most of what I've found, sorry to say. Still, hope it helps somewhat.

I'll toss in a link to a full scan of all the fortunes:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/08SNBfv

Don't know if attention will get this scanset brought down or anything, but this should at least allow you to get the cards you need in their JP form, so you can take them to another tool like Google Translate, DeepL, or Lens

>>17895
Couple extra bits and pieces:
KAMISHIRASAWA KEINE (comment only):
https://chireikiden.tumblr.com/post/779820390900957184/i-saw-a-machine-translation-of-hakutaku-keines

IZAYOI SAKUYA (comment only):
https://chireikiden.tumblr.com/post/780901775846916096/do-you-have-any-opinions-on-sakuyas-new-fortune

OKUNODA MIYOI (comment only):
https://chireikiden.tumblr.com/post/780919814640304128/i-havent-been-able-to-get-a-good-translation-of

Could anyone provide a translation of Suwako's WOoHS slip please? Kero Kero!

Chipping in with Richard Effendi's translations of everyone's love/marriage/engagement fortunes.

https://randomtouhougen.neocities.org/
Posting this link if anybody wants to spin the wheel to choose their 2hu wife.
pic rel is my result.

>>17898
Fortune slip number 43
Great luck!
The cursing and enshrining indigenous god, Moriya Suwako
The ability to create earthliness
"Do not make fun of legend and tradition. You'll be cursed then."

General fortune: If you take good care of nature, everything will go well. If not, you'll get cursed.
Business: Reasonable prosperity.
Work: You won't run into any problems. Agriculture and especially civil engineering will bring luck.
Travel: Rural places with history will bring luck.
Moving: Investigate the land's origin.
Health: Excellent.
Academics: You won't be good at newer disciplines. Folklore studies will bring luck.
Lost things: You'll find them on the ground.
Childbirth: You'll have many children, effortlessly.
Hobbies: Camping, gardening and hibernating are good.
Taboos: Making light of nature will end badly, all your fortune will be turned around.

Zun's comment:
Suwako controls the Moriya shrine, protecting it with foresight, or, rather, by acting conspicuously.
Really, her divinity is terrifying and difficult to approach. Truly, a god you won't touch cannot curse you. [It's an idiom that means "let sleeping dogs lie" but is also true in its literal sense here]
So even though she gets treated as a kind of frog god, that's kind of how it is.

Anyway, now that I'm done with >>17901, I just wanted to say that while I won't be able to translate the whole book quickly enough to be of use, I can translate individual fortunes and/or explain or clear up specific things about them. I invite anyone who is confident in their japanese to do the same. But don't just blindly trust machine translation!
Also, it should be pointed out that the fortunes are written (in-universe and in real life) to be character-themed and are not what the characters themselves have pulled, nor what awaits them in the future, nor how their life currently is. Of course, the text isn't your mother and ultimately can't tell you what to do, but if you want to be accurate to the book, consider that.

>>17901

Thank you! I'll try my best to put your work to good use!

>>17900 okay

>>17904 Anon, why did you check off the blocks for PC98, male, and non-humanoid characters. Do you have anything to say to me?

>>17905 who wouldn't?

But I'm not gay.

>>17907
Her fortune says up to 10 lovers at once, so taking Miko is effectively also taking Tojiko, and Futo. As well as any others you can snag.
Besides since she stopped being a man when she reincarnated she'll need somebody with a dick to her keep her wife around. Not to mention to educate her on the pleasures of being a woman.
If anything Miko is the straightest choice of them all.

Just don't turn this into a random Touhou generator funny results thread...

It has been suggested that a fallback theme be made available for those who absolutely, incontrovertibly cannot be bummed to RTFPW. Therefore, your alternative theme is somewhat plain:

- Fortune/Future Telling -

With what interpretative freedom that goes, as long as the theme is present and accounted for. However, do know that the non-accountability clause WILL be rescinded, and you WILL be judged. With a glare. Though, it might collapse into a grudging titter if you manage to star the Fortune Teller, somehow.

Chiya unrelated. Unless...?

>>17910
>Though, it might collapse into a grudging titter if you manage to star the Fortune Teller, somehow.
Right... So the story has to be set somtime before 2015, which is the year FS takes place.
I got the message loud and clear boss.

>>17901

Could I trouble you to do Son Biten's fortune slip?

I'm stuck in this loop of flip-flopping between 'i should get the full tls of characters i'm interested in before I go through with this' and 'i should pick a character to focus on before i ask to get their slip translated. so fuck it, Monke Time.

I translated Guya's slip for myself and thought "why not translate it into English too and drop it here for reference and future collection?" I also help >>17902 with translations, though he does the final proofreading as he knows the language much better.

Fortune slip number 28
Future great curse
Hourai person caught on Earth, Houraisan Kaguya
The ability to manipulate eternity and instantaneous
It's fine to do this tomorrow. I have infinite time after all!
General fortune: You will go lazy and put everything off. Your luck will diminish.
Business: You aren't fit for it.
Work: You will slack off. Remote work will bring luck.
Academics: Something will get in the way of studying. If you will hire a good private tutor - situation will improve dramatically.
Health: Excellent. However, you'll tend to not exercise enough.
Travel: Bothersome.
Lost things: Not in the mood to look for.
Money: With the help of others, there will be no inconveniences in your life.
Engagement: You'll give your partner a hard task. Or you'll be given a hard task. Whatever it will be, it'll be difficult.
ZUN's comment: It's no good to create any hardships for the princess. Therefore, the princess lives a self-indulgent life. Surely she'll spend all eternity like this.
Though, with a rule-breaking ability to bend space-time, it looks like neither there will be humans who oppose her, nor there will appear someone who will admonish her.

>>17912 On it! But I was privately asked to translate Chiyari's first, so here it is. I was kind of busy today, but here it is.
>>17914 That's true

Fortune slip number 117
Very very bad luck!
Mysterious cursed tenkajin, Tenkajin Chiyari
The ability to manipulate fire and blood
"A bad omen, huuh... Well, still, that ain't too good, is it?"

General fortune: You'll bring misfortune to everyone around you and become misfortunate yourself as a result.
Work: You won't be fit for any group task. Being an artist is sort of suitable.
Academics: Medicine and biology are good. Anything else will bring bad luck.
Health: Endlessly unhealthy.
Residence: Install fire safety measures right now.
Travel: No good, it's best not to go anywhere.
Hobbies: Going to donate blood will bring good luck.
Food: A lot of vegetables will bring good luck, eat meat in moderation.
People: No need to meet any.
Romance: What a bother.
Money: Ain't no use.

Zun's comment:
She's a very obscure and mysterious youkai called a tenkajin. Being nameless is fatal to youkai, their entire existence is compromised like that, it's best to make an impact with a brutal attack.
By the way, she's wearing and an oversized t-shirt and slouching, so [her silhouette] is quite loose, but really, her body is very thin because she does not get enough exercise.

>>17915
Much appreciated the help!!!

>>17914
Can I get a translation of Kyouko's page?

>>17912
Fortune slip number 115
Normal luck
A sarugami who fancies herself a Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Son Biten
The ability to manipulate wild monkeys
"The way of the Monkey Mountain's boss is the way of a demigod. Don't lump me in with tepid youkai."

General fortune: Much like the monkey's paw, you'll catch hold of luck. However, you'll also get an unwanted ominous air.
Business: You'll have good clients and bad clients. Choose your customers.
Work: With your skill and dexterity, you'll be doing splendid. Doing crafts, comedy, monkey training or gymnastics will bring great luck.
Academics: At a monkey's pace.
Travel: Going to a forest will drag you into a turf war. Going to the west is good.
Health: Firm like a stone.
Disputes: Constant.
Money: You'll have a lot, but get too greedy and you'll lose it.
Love: Being confident is good.
Hobbies: Tree-climbing will bring luck.

Zun's comment:
A monkey youkai famous for throwing fried potatoes. [<- A literal translation, could be a reference I'm not getting] Her staff is akin to Ruyi Bang, but it's made of glass for some reason, so handling it must be difficult.
That staff has the power to seal a part of the soul of anyone it strikes, and it's easy to seize and control the heart this way. That is how she maintains order on the Monkey Mountain.

>>17918
>That staff has the power to seal a part of the soul of anyone it strikes, and it's easy to seize and control the heart this way. That is how she maintains order on the Monkey Mountain.
Reminds me of the Pentecost apes from Sunless Sea. Knowing her power works on non-monkeys is a pretty important detail, it's a bit funny how ZUN thinks of stuff like this but ends up leaving it out and only revealing it in author comments. Just like a certain cow and her connection to the Moonies.

>>17917
Fortune slip number 65
Small luck
A yamabiko monk before the gates, Kasodani Kyouko
The ability to reflect sound
"Prajna-paramitta-ko... This part sounds like "I'm hungry", huh." [haramitta ~ harahetta]

General fortune: No outstanding changes will occur, but if you devote yourself to the pursuit of knowledge, it shall certainly be rewarded.
Religion: Buddhism will bring luck.
Academics: The usual accomplisments.
Business: Good or bad, results will show immediately. [An idiom literally translating to "It will echo if you strike it" is used]
Travel: Mountains are good. You won't run into any accidents.
People: Greet people properly and you'll make connections. Parroting words back without thought will lose you a friend.
Residence: Install soundproofing.
Money: You'll spend it all on donations. [connotation: to a buddhist priest]
Romance: Someone you can chant sutras with is good.
Shouting: Nowadays, it's popular to shout "Time to face the consequences!".

Zun's comment:
Her danmaku bounces back even when there aren't any walls. If you think about it in terms of her ability, would that mean that danmaku is made of sound?
If it is, all danmaku would get reflected back before her, and all attacks will become ineffective, and just from her danmaku, soundwaves could be produced. Or something like that, maybe...

>>17918

Thanks for the translation!

That thing about fried potatoes is probably more specifically referring to Fries, because a lot of people joke that biten's danmaku looks like mcdonalds fries.

>>17921
I had that suspicion but was too lazy to install and play the game again to confirm. I should do it next time, it won't take that long either... <- translator

>>17920
Thanks for the post, I kept accidentally pivoting towards Choujuu Gigaku and a threesome with Mystia whenever I started working on ideas, but this'll help me stay on track.

How's everyone's work going?

>>17932
Still brainstorming ideas, though I have a clear goal now

>>17932
Trying to get a first draft out fast enough that I can get it proofread over on der 'cord. Want to make something worthwhile from all the ideas floating 'round in my head. Also relevant Captcha.

>>17932
Same as others. played around with some ideas, trying to hash out a rough draft for now.
Never really participated in one of these competitions before so I'm looking forward to what everyone makes.

>>17932
Started brainstorming, didn't like the ideas, brainstormed some more, settled on an idea, started a draft, hated it, deleted it, started a new one.
You know, the usual.

>>17932

I haven't started yet. Mainly because I'm wiffle-waffling on the guy I want to include - the one I've got feels like the right fit for the story, it's just that it feels like there's been a lot of the type.

>>17932
I just found this thread so I'm just beginning to brainstorm. I think doing Okuu would be fun. Her omikuji has a funny translation with MTL getting caught up on the 性 kanji being on a separate line, translating that line to: "there is just a little bit of sex." Akimaki Yuu also draws her with an ideal body type. So that with some other bits of her omikuji and it being MASSIVE MISFORTUNE gives me some good prompt ideas rolling around. With 4chan down it's been a nice time to re-evaluate how my time is spent, and I found my previous posting habits didn't leave much room for anything creative, so this is a good time to change that.

>>17938
That's an amusing line break, haha. Though that word isn't really used that way, the closest you'd get is 性交 or something. Well, you probably understand that, it's machine translation and all. <- translator

Hey guys, wanted to ask in the thread if anyone has any resources for Japanese garden/shrine photo albums. Just wanted some environmental inspiration.
If anyone else wants help with anything else please post in the thread (except for posting drafts, don't want to ruin the surprise!)

>>17943
I have a bunch, but they're pretty old and grainy, we were collecting them specifically for that quality

>>17944
Liiiike...

>>17945
Thank you! These are good, You can upload the collection via the website 'catbox . moe' so you don't have to spam the thread with images.

>>17895

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1915766899901972698

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1915763645780496678

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916120898068963778

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916122203625803981

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916119410760421809

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1915764446107951164

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1911064941857280280

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1910951538316759551

some other bits and pieces I've found. Sorry it's on twitter.

>>17895
https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916485833584202136

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916486778783207828

https://x.com/richard_effendi/status/1916483935091257692

A couple more comments translated. Not really sure why this guy's drip-feeding like this but I suspect it has something to do with ego.

>>17950

Could be, but it's more likely that he's doing a big translation for whatever purpose and just picking out bits that make him laugh to post when he's taking a break.

>>17951
It's definitely that. A translation takes time, after all, and it's not uncommon to post WIPs.

Beginning of May now. Curious, how's everyone's work coming along?

>>17995

Haven't gotten a first draft out yet, but have been banging away at the problem pretty consistently and I think I've managed to produce an efficient prose for the story. had to trim a lot of words - but the best part about writing is that you can just reuse those trimmings so long as you get 'em written down, they (almost) never go bad!

I translated the second half of the manga, if anyone is looking for more inspiration.

>>17997
Yuyuko is at her best when teasing Youmu I think, and Youmu when being teased.

>>17998

>>17999

>>18000

>>18001

>>17995
Finished my first draft, things will probably speed up for the next couple of drafts.
Although I'm wondering if I should have someone else look over my draft first, as it's my first time doing this sort of thing I'm not familiar with the usual protocol.

>>18004
If you're in the thp discord, you can ask someone there, they have proofreaders

>>17995
Got them ideas down but now I am stuck in this cycle of "this is so stupid" and "this is amazing" over and over again

>>18005
I was going to just go over it on my own, but I got a bit busy, so I suppose there's no harm in creating a discord account to access the server with.
Ah well...
Some things can't be helped.

Is there a preferred word or character count? I was just aiming for a single post short story around the ballpark of 6-7 thousand characters.

>>18015 People have done two and even three post-long stories before, so it's fine to go that far ig

>>18015
If you want to believe the captcha I just got, its 910,000 words.

But there's no character limit that I'm aware of. Just look at previous competition entries, they regularly spanned two posts and some had even more! So don't worry about your word-count or how many posts you need.

Could I trouble the translators in this thread to translate Aya's and Kanako' fortune slips?
They're just going to be minor characters but I want to see if I could work in their contents!

>>18018
Just noticed the request, alright, I'll do it now

Fortune slip number 33
Misfortune(crossed out) Great luck!
Gensokyo's fastest, a tengu reporter, Shameimaru Aya
The ability to manipulare wind
"The pen is mightier than the pistol. It's lighter, it can write, and it's pointy."

General fortune: With writing skill and great talent, you can fabricate your fortune.
Business: Excellent. However, the better it goes, the more competetors you'll have.
Academics: You'll be a nuisance to other people, but do alright.
Travel: Will make you luckier. Visit a lot of places.
Illness: Colds will get worse. Beware of injuries as well.
Money: No matter how busy you'll be, your salary won't increase.
Residence: Will get damaged by wind.
Romance: You'll fail with an unthinkable scandal.
Success: You won't best your curcumstances. Just give up.

Zun's comment:
Like with the internet nowadays, it's just before getting beyond human control - this is what happens to information in Gensokyo.
What gets written in tengu newspapers is pretty dubious. Readers understand that, and seem to enjoy it.
Tengu are a lying bunch. Feels like a connection to the long-nosed Pinocchio, doesn't it?

Fortune slip number 42
Great luck!
God of mountains who brings technical revolution to the backcountry, Yasaka Kanako
The ability to create heavenliness
"Faith gradually disappears, just like all old, conservative thought."

General fortune: With your domineering luck, you'll have others at your mercy. You'll be playing the leading part.
Work: You're best suited for big tasks. Leave small tasks to subordinates.
Business: You'll think quickly.
Academics: Engineering, mathematics, physics and herpetology will bring luck.
Health: Unusually energetic for your age. Beware of poison snakes.
Travel: Mountains, lakes and hot springs will bring luck. Great luck if there are any geysers.
People: Excessive interference might be percieved as power harassment.
Wishes: Will come true if you frequent a shrine.
Illness: Your lower back will hurt from carrying heavy things on your back.

Zun's comment:
In the games, she carries a shimenawa on her back for some reason. She must have been in the middle of a moving opetation (lol).
A shimenawa is meant to distinguish holy places, so she positions wherever she herself is to be a holy place.
Or maybe she thinks, on principle, that whoever has the largest silhouette will gather the most faith.

Thank you for the translations, I didn't expect to get them back so quickly!
Are you contributing as well?

>>18022
>I didn't expect to get them back so quickly!
Phew! I thought I was taking forever!
>Are you contributing as well?
You'll see I guess

One week to go...
How's everybody doing?

>>18024
Most of the more difficult actual story done, and will be moving on to the... welll lest jist say...... 'the fun times'

>>18024
Mostly done I think, I just have to swap drafts again, then edit my story in response to what I get back. After that I write out a proper ending and I should be done.
It's been real fun and I've really enjoyed the contest so far.

I still haven't started. Send Help.

Honestly thinking i should probably switch characters at this point, because biten's fortune simply isn't sparking creativity in me... but I've left it so late, and there's no guarantee another character I'd switch to would be any better.

>>18024
Hnnnnnghh i have no idea if i can make it.

Hopefully last second motivation can push me to completion...

>>18028

Finally got something! Sometimes, you have to admit you're struggling to break through it.

Sorry to pull this on you at the last minute, translators, but could I get someone to translate Raiko's page? I found a partial translation that I'm happy to start with, but I wanted to make sure if there were any details that could be incorporated.

>>18030
Alright! Sorry, I was occupied all day, I'll do it as soon as I can

So so terribly sorry to have kept you waiting.

Fortune slip number 80
Awaiting great luck
A tsukumogami who has the pristine sound source, Horikawa Raiko
The ability to make anything follow a rhythm
"Time is finite. All beat synchronizes into Planck units."

General fortune: Your life's rhythm will harmonize, and along with it, your luck will increase.
Work: White-collar work will bring luck. Being a drummer will bring great luck.
Academics: Your studies will progress smoothly. Music and sports will bring luck.
Residence: Make some soundproofing.
Romance: You'll be on the same wavelength.
Travel: Going to places where festivals are held will bring great luck.
Hobbies: Largely playing in a band.
Money: Unfortunate. [or "I'm sorry"]
People: You'll be surrounded by music lovers.
Health: Your bodily condition will improve. You won't stop getting injured from hitting yourself.

Zun's comment:
She may look like a drum set, but she's actually a tsukumogami of a taiko. She threw away her real taiko body and fitted herself out [written with the kanji for "possession"] with a drum set.
She's a youkai who puts on live shows in Gensokyo every now and then and has a lot of fans even among humans. She seems to be recognised as the band's establisher.

>>18032
Thank you!

>So so terribly sorry to have kept you waiting.

Mate, ten hours is blisteringly fast for a response on this sort of thing. I pretty much put out the request, did a little more writing and went to bed, so it was just about perfect for me. And I was very much ready for it to take at least 16 hours (that being roughly a night's sleep + a workday) before expecting anything to show up in the first place.

If anything, I feel like I should be apologising to you translators, cos I asked for the previous translation and didn't do anything with it.

Since it's a hallowed tradition with these to extend the deadline, I'll just drop a note here that now would be a good time to request such, if it's required.

Yay or nay?

>>18034

[X] Yay!

Submissions and voting window is during a super busy time for me... It'd also be nice to have some extra days to get my writing the best it can be.

>>18034
Since I've been living up to my omikuji — definitely
[X] Yay!
Turns out writing sex itself is harder than I thought, and I'll still need to translate it into English...

>>18034

[X] Yay!
I have an exam, so...

i'll vote [X] Yay! for >>18036 because if he's been living up to his omikuji he's mad screwed without an extension!

[X] Yay!

As someone who was just talking about switching gears one week out, I'd be a fool not to agree to this. I'm actually probably gonna have a very busy week, so this would be a nice little bit of extra time.

Come to think of it, it's kind of an impractical time for a contest, since it's near end of the academic year in most countries, and a lot of writers are probably students, with exams and course/thesis/etc papers due and all. So really, an extension is good for everyone. (I'm not blaming Reav for the contest timing btw, people wanted it that way anyway)

>>18040

That, and the earlier exhibition was in the intended early sweetspot. Spacing them out was probably for the best.

>>18040
For the record, I'm not greatly bothered by extensions or the un-contestlike-deadliness thereof. As long as it doesn't stretch indefinitely.

To play it safe, how do 2 more weeks sound?

>>18042

Personally this'd be a godsend, it'd leave me a week after my work finishes to get ready for submission and reading.

Relevant captcha is relevant.

>>18042

Sounds good, I can finish all my exams before finishing my piece

All right, then. The submission window is officially shifted to starting on June 6th.

>>18045
Nice, a week and a half to procrastinate!

Sure hope we get an Akyuu entry. This is clearly the face of an unrepentant semen demon.

>>18047
Akyuu seems like she'd be vulnerable to brainwashing.

>>18045
Although this is a bit late to mention, due to the date being moved up I might not be able to participate in voting but by submission just needs a bit of polish so I still will be able submit.

>>18054
Since you're submitting, I think it's okay if your vote comes a bit late? We kind of have a custom to wait for someone else's response before commenting on our own piece

Well, a bit over a week left now. How is everyone doing? Are your studies going well? Is your writing going well?

>>18058

Writing's almost done. Gotta run through it a few more times to get it right though.
That'll come later though, right now I'm just keeping my head above the water with work. hope everyone else is doing good. I wish you all the best fortune in your lives and your writing!

>>18057
I finished just in time for the original post by date on the 25th, just as I planned. Funnily enough I ended up losing Internet connection the same day and it won't be back until later on the 28th!

>>18057

I finished writing around the 10th of May, then spent a while sort of puttering around not really committing to editing, and then the submission date got pushed back two weeks, so I've been puttering around some more.

It's looking like three posts for me, which is more than I wanted, more than I submitted last year (and I was already the longest post then), and probably more than anyone will submit this year. I've just got it under 70,000 characters, but getting it to 60,000 seems a herculean task. fortunately, I've still got another week to think about it.

It's summertime! Just a few days until the deadline, too. Anyone who's not done yet should really get serious now! Good luck.

Should we coordinate posting in this thread to avoid accidentally posting in the middle of eachother's multiposts? Like one anon says 'I'm posting *story title* now!' and they make their posts, so the others don't post at the same time?

>>18071
Good idea, why not

NEARLY SUBMISSION DATE AND I'VE BARELY STARTED

AIN'T EVEN AT THE FUN STUFF YET

NO-ONE'S EVEN GOT THEIR TITS OUT

GOT ONE WEEKEND TO BANG IT OUT

AND WHEN IT ENDS IT'S BACK TO HARDER WORK AND I GOT OTHER SHIT TO DO SO NO POINT IN ASKING FOR MORE DEADLINE

WE POWERING THROUGH ON THE LONG WEEKEND

GIVE ME YOUR STRENGTH ANONS

GIIVE
ME
YOUR
STREEEEEEEEEEENGTH!!!!!!!!!

>>18097
Well if you're an experienced writer you can probably do it in an evening or two. But don't get too relaxed about it

Your entries thread is now up: >>/at/41417

The submission window lasts till June 9th, Monday, around night-ish GMT.

Also. Keeping in the spirit of a lottery (and to give myself more squirm room, what with the rigid theme), I'm changing the rules and going to ask the eventual winner to name 3 candidates for the prize short. Of which I'll secretly pick one. If this sounds unfair and you'd like to yell at me about it, now's the time.

>>18099
Can the winner pick, like, non-participants? That would be pretty funny. Dear eventual winner, pick three funniest people in your life to give that prize to.

>>18099
Candidates here means characters, not other participants, right?

>>18101
Yup. As Tsukasa was named last year. Just 3 this time, and I'll pick one of the lot. Won't lie, this is to prevent a potential bind, as more slips got translated and some of them turned out entirely uninspiring.

Oh, so the prize is also going to be on theme? Huh. Was it always that way? I never really noticed, but...

>>18103
Well, don't sweat it. The entries are the main event.

If'n I'm counting right, we've got 5 entries now.

If that's the case, we've got enough for the runner-up prizes... so I think I'm gonna have to drop out. I just got stuck hard, and the last few weeks have been miserable for writing time. And to make matters worse, now that I do have a smidge of time I'm plagued with nothing but distractions and other, unrelated ideas.

Apologies to the kind translators who did Bitens and then Raiko's slips for me. I will try to circle back to writing the latter in time (because it wasn't a complete deadlock like the Monkey was), but I have neither the time nor the brainpower to do that in the scope of the remaining time for the contest.

Hopefully, the next lewd writing contest will come at a better time for me. Rea's backup idea was lightning in a bottle when I first heard it, so I'm hoping that one gets it's chance... uh, a little later.

And of course, I'll still be voting and reviewin'. Best of luck to everyone!

>>18105
Understandable, isn't it! A lot of the fortunes are just not very evocative and really hard to get anything out of, because they're themed around pretty surface-level character traits. Like, Biten's is mostly monkey stuff, Raiko's is just drummer stuff, it's really not much to go off of. Some of the fortunes are pretty easy to sexualize, but a lot of them are... Not!
Also,
>Apologies to the kind translators who did Bitens and then Raiko's slips for me.
Don't worry about it, it was a good bit of useful exercise for us. Or maybe just me, or maybe just him...

Is everyone done with submissions or is someone still going to submit?

>>18107
I'll be posting in just a second. Actually, I think I just posted the first part, but it's not showing up for me...

Anyway, working on it. Give me a minute.

>>18108
Well it once again acted like I posted something, and once again it's not showing up. I'm gonna give it a few more minutes and see if I'm just being stupid and impatient, then try a different browser... and then just get some sleep and try again when I wake up, if the contest is still open.

>>18108
>>18109
I physically cannot stay awake much longer. See you again tomorrow, sometime before "night-ish GMT" if all goes well.

>>18110
>>18109
>>18108
You're probably asleep now, but if you're not, maybe join the discord and ask Teruyo what's up. The entries thread IS getting bumped, but it seems like your post isn't appearing.

>>18110
>>18109
>>18108

Have you checked if your upload contains any particularly charged words?

Even if they're embedded in other ones, sometimes. For example, snicker is one thing, but there's a very similar word that'll get your post denied.

>>18110
No harm in waiting. Sort it out, and then we can go to the next stage.

>>18112
I'll take a closer look through and see if anything like that slipped through.
I bet it is related to the text, at least. If not that, then maybe one of the more unusual diacritical marks in the sanskrit words, or something.

>>18111
Thanks, I'll try that if I can't make any progress on my own. Been constantly forgetting to join the discord for ages anyway, it'd be a good way to force my own hand.

>>18113
Sorry about the bother, and thank you for your patience!

So the site doesn't like it when you, say, leave the Heart Sutra in kanji. Lessons learned, technical difficulties resolved!

Aaand it's closed! Without ado, these are this year's contestants:

🐑 A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing 🐺
🗣 Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly) 🐶️
⏱️ Afternoon Moment 🗡️
💤 Rough Night 🧹
🐸 No Second Chances 🌊
👹 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake] ✴️

Feel free and obliged to leave your votes and reviews below. The voting period will last a week, ending next Monday, about same time. Away!

Ok I'll go first
Hi, I was the omikuji translator! Well, it was only seven slips, not much, really. I expected to be totally snowed under with requests, but THP is a small board after all, and a fair bit has already been translated, so that was a relief.
I was originally going to be contributing as another writer's editor and translator, but he couldn't make the deadline. That was a real shame, because what he did manage to write was pretty good, but life happens, and it's not a big deal anyway. He'll finish it sooner or later, hopefully.
I'll state my bias upfront - even though they've been popular lately and are especially prominent in this year's contest, as only one story has no mention of it, I don't care for breeding fetishes and womb this and impregnate that. Erotic apeal matters to me a fair bit when it comes to lewd stories, so that will play a part in my vote. It's not fair at all, but it was never meant to be, was it? Can't be objective if sex is involved. Anyway, my thoughts were something like...

A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing
Good story! It's well-written and vivid, the environmental feel in particular is good. The ending is funny and even kind of hot, with Yuuma's smug attitude and all. It feels like a proper story too, and not just a bit of setup for a sex scene - which would have been fine, for the record, but not as engaging as literature. Nicely crafted overall. But the sex annoyed me like hell! It's not even really a matter of preferences, it's more about character interpretation. I guess Yuuma's greed being emphasized near the end is thematically sound, but she's not nearly dominant enough for how nonchalantly authoritative she appears outside of the sex scene. She's a mafia boss hitting on her subordinate, doesn't that invite thoughts of all sorts of exertions of power? I fully expected that young and proud eagle, that pretty slender thing, to get properly used and abused, and I was there for it! But no, it's just standard, kind of sweaty, largely vanilla sex. Almost makes me want to have a go at him myself... Okay, maybe it is a matter of preferences, whatever.

Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly)
This one's quite plain. Which doesn't make it a bad story, not at all, it's alright. The use of Kyouko's ability is neat, and Kenta's interactions with other shrine officiants are pretty cute. It's nice to see Kyouko as a full-figured adult, too. Beyond being a better fit for a sexy story, it just feels fresh. The whole thing just didn't stand out to me all that much. It also felt like her fortune slip wasn't given enough attention - it's really just ZUN's comment that was integrated, unless the references are really subtle, straight up esoteric. Her boyfriend doesn't even seem like someone she can chant sutras with. She greets him properly, though, and doesn't parrot anything he says back, so that will bring her some luck.

[x] Afternoon Moment
Voting for it, I guess. It's actually not the best entry. It's decently well-written, but puts too much emphasis on the protagonist, which makes him a bit annoying, and the time-stopping mechanics raise a few questions - though, really, time manipulation magic is going to have that by default. It's just that it caters to my tastes in many ways. I like craftsmen and tinkerers, I like maids, I like the more casual kind of intimate relationship the two have, I like ability shenanigans, hell, I like karakuri automatons and how they're made, I like the attached image, even. The sex was fun and creative, too. I like seeing two lovers experiment. I kind of wish there were more descriptions of her body, though, you could have gotten a bit more lecherous with it, writer... Well, it felt nice nonetheless.

Rough Night
The premise is pretty good, it's probably the best use of both the assigned theme and the chosen characters here. The haziness of the lewd dream world is captured pretty well too, with the images shifting and all. Ending's kind of funny, not gonna deny it either. The story could use some editing, though. It states the obvious too much! For one, describing characters' outfits every time was excessive, especially because both the reader and Marisa are already going to know what each character is wearing. Or, to provide smaller examples,
>This time she would imagine Reimu was showing gratitude for her hard work in helping prepare for the festival.
There's really no need to give a rundown of what's going to be described in the next bit of dialogue anyway.
Or,
>"Mnahhh," Marisa moaned
The moaning part is already covered by "moaned", it's best not to write out nonverbal utterances like that.
Or her whole post-experiment assessment, actually - the first paragraph was kind of funny with her asserting she's not a sex slave for youkai, so I'd leave it, but the rest of it is basically just re-stating what's already clear to the audience. That put a damper on everything. Well, I don't like neither Marisa nor forceful dick-girls, actually, so that was going to be there anyway.
That bit about Cirno's wordplay fortune (最強/最凶) was pretty funny, by the way.

No Second Chances
Well, first and foremost, seeing my phrasings of certain bits of the fortune in the text was a bit embarrassing, but also very flattering. Thaaaaanksssss.
Another pretty good entry! It's really more of a romance story than a pornographic one. It's the longest as well, so it has enough time to flesh out the central relationship, and does that well enough. The writing is quite good, I actually enjoyed the onbashira festival, it felt nice to read. Quite lively, very Moriya-like.
But... I absolutely do not enjoy that kind of romance, so it was not to my taste whatsoever. I don't like it when gods are made to be so human as well - human enough to find human ideas of romance desirable anyway. It's just hard to suspend my disbelief for. The protagonist concerns me a little, too. It works out for him in the end, but neglecting studies like that to meet up with a girl is beyond irresponsible! Oh well, it's a question of preference and not of quality at this point. The writer did very well regardless. I think this one's going to get a lot of votes, actually.

Eightfold Right Paths, Eight-Times-Brewed Sake
I did say I don't particularly like breeding, but this entry stands out in that sense, because it feels like a proper pregnancy fetish story, and not just one that merely mentions ejaculating inside the womb as a kind of feature of a romantic relationship and/or a penis going inside a vagina. That's respectable! Despite my general taste, parts of it were even enjoyable - Byakuren's dream, for one, it's really erotic. It's pretty cool that both of them impregnate and get impregnated, a neat way to play with roles, for sure. Not for me, but it's got to be good to have it both ways in a pregnancy fetish story, probably.
As literature, it's quite a pleasant read, much like the first entry. The buddhist theming was done quite well too, and their little debates had a lot of charm to them. Well, I mean, I'm not sure how authentic and accurate it all is (I guess the sutras are), but it seems quite thorough. Suika being a lecherous old man of a girl is fun too. And... Happy to see Ikkyuu mentioned, haha. Good overall.

Basically, all entries were at least alright, no obvious duds, I'd say. The contest must have been fun for the writers, because they had a pretty good theme this year, one with a fair bit of opportunity. Makes you come up with all sorts of metaphors. Well, if you pick a good fortune, that is. As it's been pointed out above, not all of them give you enough to work with.
I guess that's what I have to say... I've been quite exhausted lately, so I could've missed something big here... Fwaaaahh

I'm one of the entrants so I'll just leave my vote for now.

[X] ?8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

Another writer here. I'll chime in with my full thoughts after voting has concluded.
[Rough Night]

Writer voting, will give thoughts later.

[X] [A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

Also an entrant over here. It's hard to decide between my top 2, but...

[X] Rough Night

[X] 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

Writer, withholding my thoughts for now.

[X] 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

[X] 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]
Enjoyed Suika trying to make Byakuren lewd and how it completely backfired.

Tough! Tough one this time around. None of the featured characters are particularly close to my heart, and half the readily apparent contents failed to stir the neighbour downstairs. None of which is the writers' fault, of course. What - and, importantly, who - titillates is, after all, a deeply individual matter. Also to blame is my own overexposure, which causes the occurrence of the phrase "her cock" on its own to make my eyes glaze over. The theme, too, is what it is. So, after admittedly skimming the thread I was prepared to give my vote to 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake] simply for being the most technically impressive of the lot and call it a night.

That same night, however, this boy had a spot of trouble falling asleep, so he made the executive decision to make it even worse by plodding through a bunch of smut. And boy, am I glad he did, because one of the entries ended up grabbing me right by the figuraliteral nads.

That preamble out of the way, my nadfelt vote therefore goes to:
[X] A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing

Not going to whine overmuch about the fluffy (and, in the end, somewhat inconsequential), Hell's Kitcheney intro that'd initially turned me off of proceeding. It's not bad, or grossly OOC or anything of the sort. Just not my bowl of rice, neither in the setting nor the food-porny daydreaming. Maybe I would've appreciated it more in retrospect if the meat, so to say, of the story had leaned harder on Yuuma's yearning for simpler times, perhaps calling back to past misadventures, but that's neither here nor there.

Said meat, on the other hand, once I'd super ungratefully made my way to it, turned out a total chef's kiss. Like, I'm not a Yuuma man. Not whatsoever. Yet, at several points I found myself nodding along, above and below, thinking, "Ahhh, I get it now!" to myself. Sub/dom switching? Yes, please. Cross-professional, subordinate/superior shenanigans? Thank you, daddy. Semi-public copulation? Well, aren't you just spoiling me now! The other poster appears to rue Yuuma's docility, but, speaking as someone with no overweening personal interpretation of the character, I perceived no issue with yours. It played into the presented situation well, not to mention the pure, fetishistic aspect of dom loss and giving in to base urges. Subjective? Yes. Was I ever-so-glad I was wearing loose pyjamas? Also yes. Very yes.

The prose was competent and, as already mentioned, pleasantly picturesque. I do have a few little niggles with it, mostly on the compositional side, but nothing that couldn't be chalked up to nitpicking. Theme adherence was also token at best, but that's a whatever from me on that front. Thank you for penning this piece. It may not be, as the kids say, the goat, but a goat it certainly was, this old goat's bleating notwithstanding.

As a complete aside, I'm wondering how you pictured the "beast" characters while writing this one. It's something I'm always hung up on whenever these sorts crop up in fiction. Are they wholly humanoid with vaguely animal-reminiscent features? Humanoids with animal heads, a'la the Egyptian pantheon? Were-creatures with inexplicably opposable thumbs? Humour me, here.

My second pick would've been Afternoon Moment, except the same caveat of character choice - I'm just not a Sakuya simp, sorry! - and the presence of more than one stumble prose-wise. Timely-wimely hijinks aren't my thing either, albeit I could glimpse the author's genuine and better-informed interest shining through the smut just fine. Oblivion (or was it Skyrim?) references worse than crooked my brow, but perhaps that, too, is my own oversensitivity. This entry, however, was my overall favourite implementation of the theme. Entertainingly literal - yet short of making it a joke, while also relating it to the characters' circumstances. Kudos for that, as well as Sakuya's portrayal. You did well - only, you forgot to pander directly to this voter's undercarriage. Common mistake.

Also, reading this short brought back buried memories of a similarly-themed one from more than a while ago, although featuring Kaguya instead. Anyone know what I'm blabbering about?

And, finally, I can't not whine about this, so... HELLO??? NO CHIYARI SHORT? Seriously? What the hell were those pictures earlier in the thread for? Just to tease me? HUH??? Shame on you!!!

[X] A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing
Last writer vote

4 votes for 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]
3 votes for A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing
2 votes for Rough Night
And 1 for Afternoon Moment

A split this orderly? Truly it must be fate. In any event, our destined hero this year is 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]! Cumgrats and felicumflations to you, Boddhist devil!

Winner, please name your 3 characters. I'll put in an extra-extra request here and suggest that we avoid repeats. It's unfortunately looking like a busy rest of June over here, but I'll do my THP best to make time of the decent variety. Same goes for the consolation prizes. Though, these oughtn't to take more than a week or two.

Now! I imagine the lot of you have a load of ado to do, so I cede the floor to you. Adieu!

Hi, I wrote 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]!

… Yeah, I'm sorry about the name. I knew pretty early on that I wanted to play on the Eightfold Right Paths of Buddhism and the Yashiori-no-Sake that Susano'o used in slaying Orochi, but I left actually working out what that would be until I was posting. Arguably I never worked anything out at all!

I'm writing this the night before, so I don't know where I placed right this second. Wherever I landed, I'm really amazed by, and thankful for, the positive response I received! Really made my day each time a vote came in. This is the first time I've seriously tried to write smut, so I fully expected it to be an embarrassing thing that got a lot of people wondering what the fuck I was doing.

(If you’re Buddhist and/or a woman, I suspect that may still be true)

... Wait, I won!? Oh my gods. Thank you so much. I'm so glad you enjoyed my work so much! I straight up do not know what to say.

May I save my character choice for a minute? I think I know who I want, but I'd like to flip through the fortunes again just in case. I'll let you know tomorrow or the day after, probably.

I'll save writing more about my own writing for the end, and leave some comments on the other entries. I'm not a literary critic, so I won't try too hard to be one - please don't take me too seriously!

I'll say this here rather than reiterating it every time it comes up - in the specific context of fanfiction, and as a matter of my own personal taste, I'm predisposed against the guy-you-just-made-up approach. Though if you want to do M/F with Touhou, it is nearly an inevitability, isn't it? Anyway, I can't put my finger on what it is that doesn't do it for me. I'd be absolutely down to read a story about the torrid love affair between Fairy Maid #87 and Wolf Tengu Patrolman B, so maybe it's just the gulf between a character I already know and probably like versus a made-to-order nobody? Couldn't tell you.

A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing

So naturally now that I've said that I have to turn around and say that I actually liked Kaneki. Once again, I'm searching my feelings and can't find the reason for them. Maybe it’s Yuuma being the viewpoint character? Maybe it's that I’d be pretty okay with folding him in half myself? Dunno, but he works.
I absolutely think that this one has the best prose of all the entries, a solid narrative… it moves at exactly the right pace… just really good writing in general. Fun turns of phrase, wonderful environmental narration. And it has fun ideas for how to play on Yuuma's fortune.

The actual smut? Really compelling. It’s well-written, and Yuuma fucking one of her subordinates in a bathroom stall while trying to hide from Saki is just too good a scenario.

… I do have to agree with the previous complaint that it feels like Yuuma totally should've treated that dude worse, but that's at best a minor quibble, probably a personal thing, and ultimately doesn't matter to me per se.

The only thing standing between this one and being my nomination was the mood I happened to be in when I cast my vote. It's tied for first for me, nothing less.

Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly)

The attempts to relate the story to Kyouko's fortune feel a little cheap, and on the technical level the writing could be awkward at points, but I like seeing the influence from ZUN's ramblings about what Kyouko's spell cards imply she can do! You may have noticed from my piece, but I enjoy superpowers being used for fantastic erotica. I feel like there must be ways to push the sound manipulation play even further, but I can't come up with any that feel right on the spot. This also clearly a pretty vanilla story from premise to execution, so going further might be completely contrary to the goal and appeal of the story anyway.

And I do want to say that while heart pupils are a fun visual trope, they are a visual trope; they really do not work in text. Unless maybe if you have a reason for there to be fucked-up eyes? Which I don't think there is here.

I enjoyed the loving attention to this interpretation of Kyouko's body (by both the author and Kento!).

Afternoon Moment

Once again: superpower sex. Hell yeah. Even more hell yeah with the more intense use of it in this one. Very cute and with nice atmospheric flourishes here and there, too. I also find I do enjoy the idea of Sakuya having casual sex with a craftsman she frequently patronises, even if the fellow in question immediately hits one of my personal pet peeves by saying things like “my high school diploma puts me in the village’s educated elite,” which, even accounting for the ways that the Human Village is not actually like the late 19th century, strains my credulity. Even more so when his high school diploma lets him build fiddly automata that apparently no one else can. If he'd just been some actual kind of mechanical engineer, I wouldn't have been bothered.

Maybe he could have been an engineer used to advanced enough material that he can't even make the tools to make the tools to make the kind of thing he used to. Then he could be The Man Who Came Early even without Sakuya's ministrations!

But timestop sex though! Hell yeah!

Rough Night

So this is the one I voted for in the end. It caught me in just the right mood that, even though I liked Sheep's writing a little more, having an idea that compelled me more pushed it ahead. Not that the writing on this one is bad, either! Most certainly not. The prose is nice, and the pace is good.
It has what I think is the most clever and fun approach to the theme, more or less eschewing the fortunes themselves to focus on the process of making them. It has weird superpower sex. It has Marisa getting gangbanged by domineering youkai women. It has Byakuren’s leather biking suit. It has a really funny ending. It has it all, really.

Yeah, I just really liked it. I don't even care that much about Marisa usually, but I think she might have been the perfect choice for taking that sweet Sweet loving.

No Second Chances

I'm not sure that I have much to say about this one. It just didn't really compel me, but I don't think I can say for sure why. There’s no particular technical faults or anything. In fact on a technical level I would say it’s pretty well-written! Certain choices (“kami,” “-sama,” and so forth) are not what I prefer, but even for me they aren't dealbreaking. It’s not bad! I think if I were not me there’s a good chance that I would find it quite good!

… Tax accountant seems like a weird thing to be studying for in Gensokyo. Well, maybe that's why he's so down on it?

Kanako attempting to be “hip” and “with it” got a laugh out of me. Awful and, and I mean this in the most complementary of ways, truly terrible woman. And I did love the portrayal of the onbashira festival! I suppose when you've got mostly youkai manning the pillars, it's a lot less lethal than in real life, eh? And the actual smut is excellent!

8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

... will be in a separate post because oops, character limit.

First of all I'd like to note that I fucked up. First, I wasn't sure what school of Buddhism Byakuren ought to belong to, found that Myouren was ordained at a Kegon/Huayan monastery, and immediately rolled with that. If B aligns completely to any existing school, it seems like she's actually more likely to be Shingon (Aya seems to think Byakuren is Zen, but Aya also thinks she sends ghost assassins to harass pubs). Secondly, while AFAIK the nenbutsu isn't exclusively a Pure Land thing, I still shouldn't have leaned on it so hard - I somehow tricked myself into thinking Byakuren had said it in canon, you see, and didn't think to check until afterwards. Thirdly there should not be dry gardens at Myouren Temple, that's a Zen thing, I know that's a Zen thing, I'm not sure why I included them. I think it might have just been that I like dry gardens. Fourthly, most of the description of the ‘pilgrimage’ traditions is derived from the Shikoku Henro specifically and I have no idea how much is widely applicable; that was me figuring I didn't have time to do proper research and using what I already knew to fill gaps. And on a note unrelated to Buddhism, I forgot that Miyoi's power only works through alcohol and thought it was just any drink.
There's some choices I already regret, some really stupid lines that got cobbled together over the course of multiple drafts and missed in the final pass…
And I'm sure there's more issues I haven't noticed.
Mea culpa.

Still, I'm pretty proud of this piece! I was possessed by an uncommon passion while I was working for this, and damn straight. I was really fond of the idea, and I think I did it justice! I am really, really happy with what I achieved here and even happier that other people loved it too!

Hm, development trivia? Development trivia.

I started (... at about when the deadline extension hit because I missed that the contest even existed until then, oops) knowing I was going to do something with ZUN's explanation of how the physical depiction of oni was shaped by the ushitora association. That was a bit of trivia I hadn't known, and felt this was the perfect context to play with it.

But I started out thinking I was going to do it with Kasen, actually! The idea was that Seiga would draw the fortune based on Kasen and get offended by the notion that a more wild partner would be good for her, because she much prefers people she can control. With some maybe strained logic, she concludes that since the fortune is based on Kasen, it should also be true for Kasen… and by taking the inverse, if a wild partner would be good for Kasen, a tame partner would be bad for her. So she frees the Arm (who got all the tiger bits) and forces her into submission with a combination of carrot (“Do it and I'll let you have Yoshika”), stick (“Don’t do it and I'll [do some horrible thing to Yoshika the author never decided on]”), and magical domination. Then she has the Arm and Yoshika double-team Kasen (who got all the cow bits). This is a solid 50% or more of the reason Ibaraki-Douji and “that poet” got a cameo in the final thing.

Then I was reading through the fortunes for more inspiration, and thinking that maybe I should do something with Suika, and somehow when I read Enoko's fortune, it just clicked. The idea of Suika as still a Buddhist (as per one of Shuten-Douji's backstories as having grown up as a monk) but taking an Ikkyuu-esque approach, and engaging in mutual [corruption/redemption] with Byakuren struck like lightning.

From there everything pretty much fell into place. The outline I came up with wasn’t too different from what I ended up with. Really, the only major thing that ended up on the cutting room floor was that I wanted to explore two other parts of the evolution of oni - the proposed etymology of “hidden,” and corresponding origins as far more inconsistent and incorporeal beings; and the influence of yaksha on their physical depictions. You can still see the latter in Suika being uncommonly concerned about avoiding Vaisravana, lord of the yaksha, I suppose (up until her relationship with Byakuren renders her pretty much invulnerable to Shou's ire, anyway)! And, of course, there are some things not originally planned that got added into the mix along the way.

I did want to play a little more into Byakuren and Suika's fortunes, but that didn't so much emerge. Well, I guess Suika's does warn that drinking will destroy her marriage–so if she gives up drinking and doesn't, that arguably fulfills the prediction? And there is Byakuren's “Love: Forbidden,” but she's a monk. It's not exactly a novel insight.

Once again, thank you all so much for the positive response! I’m so glad people enjoyed it as much as I did! It means a lot to me, and if other people enjoyed my work, that makes it all worth it!

A huge thank you to everyone involved! Everyone who read, everyone who voted, and especially my fellow entrants, and especially especially our gracious host! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

>>18130
>And I do want to say that while heart pupils are a fun visual trope, they are a visual trope; they really do not work in text. Unless maybe if you have a reason for there to be fucked-up eyes? Which I don't think there is here.

I actually completely forgot that I left that in, meant to edit it out.
Oh well.

>>18132
Haha... yeah, I know the feeling. Editing is the devil sometimes. These things happen; great work anyway!

>>18133
I don't have much excuse, me andlowcreatureofthenight(the guy who wrote no second chances) edited each others works and I remember him pointing it out to me.
Other than that I'm happy with how it came out, I achieved what I meant to and wrote a fairly vanilla story.
Although I didn't attempt to relate the story to Kyouko's fortune at all since I didn't know how. Any things which did end up connecting to the fortune were entirely accidental.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Excellent storytelling and scrumptious worldbuilding, really filling up the animal realm... also setting the bar awfully high off the bat. It's great seeing the 17 and 19 girls more. The sex was simultaneously funny and tense thanks to the setup, and I found it fairly hot. The only criticism I can attempt to muster is that the main character seems a little generic, and that I was expecting more wittiness/suaveness as the surprise wore off considering his impressive background as a higher-up in Gouyoku. Still, the greediness was there and it's more a personal quibble.

Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly)

I apologize, but this story was not really to my taste. I did very much like the protectiveness of the Temple for Kyouko.

Rough Night

Marisa and mushrooms. Will she ever learn?

There's strong incorporation of the theme with a super neat setup to kick off the story. I liked seeing Doremy and the dream world, and I like the implications of her "management" of her realm. She's quite appropriate considering the messier kinds of dreams that can happen and the way dream-selves work. I personally felt the pacing was a little fast, mostly with Marisa's potion taking effect and the transitions between dreams, but I also understand how constricting squeezing everything to a single post can be.

No Second Chances

It's a story with sweetness and tiny bit of bitterness. Great fist bump, Kanako, very cool!

There's a lot of events detailed about the festival, but I wish there had been more non-visual sensory description. That criticism mostly holds for the non-Suwako parts, the imagery of her inhuman eyes was excellent and particularly stood out to me. The flashbacks during the festival confused me, making it hard to follow between them, Izumi's thoughts, and the live action. That's probably intended since it does seem Izumi is out of it for a good chunk of the story and is even aware of it. I still think they could've been better interleaved into the festival with all its possible stimuli. The sex parts weren't really to my taste. However, that might just be my preference for the other Moriya god...

I enjoyed the extra touch with the image choices and naming.

[X] 8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

This is a great one, very smooth and engaging to read. It's a really fun pairing for characters I've personally never seen interact very much. Suika is pretty great when playing the long game, and it seems she will be staying with the temple for a while after all. I do pity poor, poor Shou for having to go through this. I enjoyed reading the sex in this, even if pregnancy isn't a big thing for me. The usage of Suika's ability as mist was inspired. The motorcycle was glorious.

As I could only vote once, this story got it.

Autumn Moment

My entry. The original idea for this story was Koakuma getting intimate with and masturbating to/on a sapient book, obviously using the librarian's newly revealed ability. It seemed more like a sad/funny off-hand moment than a full concept so the story pivoted to the mansion's other servant. The omikuji were described as highly publicized in-universe reveals of abilities and I thought it would be an interesting driver for a pre-existing relationship.

My main motivation was to get more feedback on my writing in general. There's a bunch of things I wish I could've done better, with the male perspective character and the actual sex scenes at the top of that list. I appreciate what others have written so far, but I admit I am not an experienced writer so my own feedback should be taken with a grain of salt.

>>18117
Not trying to challenge anything, especially since I'm appreciative this got your vote. I just wanted to ask purely from curiosity, what separates "well-written" from "decently well-written" for you? Was it just the over-focus on the guy, or were there other particular problems?

>>18127
I'm very interested in the parts that were "stumbles in prose".

Translator again.
>>18117
>No Second Chances
>I think this one's going to get a lot of votes, actually.
Extraordinary display of clairvoyance on my part.

Eightfoldtimes totally deserves the win, though. It's very thorough, as I've said, very inventive, lots of fun. Feels intelligently done. Well done, Heartkor! I do actually agree with your takes here >>18130 as well.
>Maybe it's that I’d be pretty okay with folding him in half myself?
So I'm not crazy, he does have appeal after all, doesn't he!
>Kanako attempting to be “hip” and “with it” got a laugh out of me. Awful and, and I mean this in the most complementary of ways, truly terrible woman.
Totally. She's not the main focus at all, but she was my favourite part.
Also, thank you for the look behind the scenes in >>18131. Your initial idea with Seiga and Kasen is actually quite interesting too, and your approach to smut is great. A lot of care, a lot of thought. Very respectable.
>I started (... at about when the deadline extension hit because I missed that the contest even existed until then, oops)
And you're strong! That's so strong!

>>18135
>Not trying to challenge anything, especially since I'm appreciative this got your vote. I just wanted to ask purely from curiosity, what separates "well-written" from "decently well-written" for you? Was it just the over-focus on the guy, or were there other particular problems?
It's a little hard to say off the bat... I suppose the prose just didn't feel very vivid because of the perspective. Not exactly a matter of over-focusing on the guy, but a bit similar to that. It also dwelled on certain things too much instead of getting into action - though, because of the first-person perspective, it felt more like the character being kind of needlessly contemplative rather than there being something off with the writing, which is why I put it the way I did. It's not bad, though, I did actually like it most of the time! I like your Sakuya too, by the way, I must affirm. She's very much like herself, and like an elegant maid. Please don't get the impression that I only voted for superficial reasons! And I wish you the best of luck with your writing.
That Koakuma idea is interesting too, by the way. I would have loved to see the technically nameless midboss get some attention. But... Is that sapient book doing alright? It's not going mad with boredom from being stuck on a shelf all day, is it?

Writer of Rough Night and >>18123 here to post the thoughts I withheld earlier.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Gotta admit, I didn't care for this one. The premise of "what if Yuuma worked in a restaurant and had sex in the bathroom" isn't really that interesting on its own, so the story would have benefited from having an additional twist to it. There wasn't much to catch my interest in the plot development, the characterization, or the sex; plainly, I was bored. It really felt like a story that had nothing to do with Touhou and would work in any sort of mobster setting, not making use of any of the fantastic elements of the world and with only a flimsy connection to Yuuma's character. When Saki showed up halfway through, I got hopeful something interesting might happen, but it went back to generic toilet sex pretty quick. Obviously a lot of people liked this one, so take my opinions for what they're worth, but this is the one story that I had to force myself to finish out of a sense of obligation to read all the entrants.

Kyouko Kasodani is Not a Dog (Supposedly)
A nice sweet and cute episode to put a smile on your face. I thought you did a good job of giving Kyouko chemistry with the youkai exterminator, their romance felt genuine and like they really liked each other, instead of just existing by author fiat. The way she used her power to give back the color on a dreary rainy day was really heartwarming, and the happy teasing sex was an enjoyable fantasy (I especially liked you slipping in references to the sounds of their sex echoing). Unfortunately, a light fluff story is at a bit of a disadvantage in a competition like this. Even if it's an enjoyable story, it's hard for it to be a number one favorite and earn a reader's single vote without something to give heavier impact. I liked this one a lot, and I'm glad you wrote it, but it ended up as only my second-favorite of the stories.

Afternoon Moment
This story did a good job of fitting into the world of Gensokyo and integrating it with the sex. Maybe this is me reading too much into it, but were you intending to imply the protagonist had a power awaken, similar to Kosuzu, empowering him as a tinkerer? Either way, I liked how thoughtfully the story used the setting and theme, but the characters felt a little sterile. I'm sympathetic to how hard Sakuya is to write as a character with how mysterious she is, but the immigrant tinkerer was the viewpoint character and we could have gotten in his head a little better. And the Sakuya/OC relationship was taken as given but there wasn't much warmth or chemistry to help a reader understand why it existed. Like the protagonist himself, I'm left wondering what Sakuya sees in him. He seems too much like the usual spineless harem protagonist type.

No Second Chances
This is a nice romantic story of two flawed people who need each other, and it feels true to Touhou and plays off WOoHS well. A fanboy's excited writings preserving Suwako's existence in a similar way to the omikuji was a great premise. The viewpoint character was likable and sympathetic, foolish and stupid in a romantic young-love sort of way. And the sex scenes were as titillatingly creepy as sex with a curse god should be. The main criticism I have is that feels like it doesn't want to be a short story. It's the longest entry in the competition and even at that it felt like it was making compromises to rush through things, with important story beats like the conflict with his family merely gestured at in flashback. I think you should have either distilled it down to a more focused story with higher per-word impact, or embraced the story's nature and gone full novella-length. (Which wouldn't fit the competition, but might still be a story worth writing.) Overall I did still like this one quite a bit, it was my third-favorite of the stories.

[X]8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]
This is a well-written, gripping story that basically used the WOoHS fortunes the two characters drew as foreshadowing, which was clever. Byakuren and Suika are two characters I don't particularly like, but you characterized them well enough to pull me in for a story that consisted mostly of dialogue between the two of them. Similarly, the fetish content of the story is not really what I'm into, but it was written well enough I could get into it. It helped that the plot was still moving during the sex, rather than the sex simply standing on its own. I like when fan creators engage with the religious and mythological basis of Touhou, and you sure did that. Maybe a little too much. I felt like I needed to keep a dictionary handy when reading this story, dropping shit like "dhyana mudra" without even italics like it was just regular-ass English words. Probably the Buddhism references could have been toned down 30% or so, or more in-story explanation added. But that's nitpicking, this was a great story front to back, no question in my mind it deserved my vote. Congratulations on a well-deserved win.

And about my story...

Rough Night
Reimu's line from the WOoHS comic felt like it was put there intentionally as a hook for fanworks, so I took the bait. I wrote the story starting with the punchline, and I'd wanted to write something Doremy/Marisa ever since the music video for Akatsuki Records' "Good Nightmare", so the general story structure fell into place fast. I had a lot of trouble writing the sex though. I kind of have the same quandary as Doremy in the story; Marisa is one of my favorites and I don't want to see her suffer, but as a character she demands to be abused, dominated, and fucked stupid. In the end I probably held back more than was artistically optimal because of my personal tastes. Overall though, I'm pretty happy with the story, and I'm happy to see others like it too, enough to take 3rd place. I am especially gratified to hear praise for the humor, I was really sure while writing that I wanted to make the story not just sexy but funny.

Thanks to the organizer, all the other participants, and all the voters. This was my first thp writing competition and it was a lot of fun.

Hi, I wrote A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. Second place, same as last year! It's certainly more than I expected, so thank you to everyone who voted for my story!
I'll start with the others and ramble about my story later.

---

Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly):
I'll confess right off the bat that I'm not exceptionally interested in Kyouko in general, aside from maybe the funny punk rocker stuff with Mystia. I like the ways Kyouko's ability is used here, especially the part where she uses her echo abilities to create an umbrella. It's the sort of casual use of a character's ability that tickles some part of my brain. The fierce protectiveness of the rest of the temple toward Kyouko is something I've never been massively on board with, but I mostly buy it from Byakuren because she expresses somewhat similar sentiments in SoPM.
I can see that there's a strong effort to characterise Kento here from the start, though I think it gets just a little close to coming off as desperation for the reader to see this guy as a character on par with the other established characters in the story.
Adherence to the theme...It seems like you've put effort into incorporating various bits of the fortune slip into the story, so I can't really fault it on that front. I don't have much to say about it, though.
The sex spends a long time on mostly foreplay and the actual sex part is right at the end. That's fine for some people and not as fine for others. I don't mind as long as there's a strong sort of eroticism and sensuality to it. This delivers pretty well. The action is described well, if a little...presumptive (What I mean is that there's lines that tell you exactly what's going on in Kyouko's mind, except this story has so far been from Kento's perspective, and while he might assume at what's going on in her mind, he's not a mind-reader.) That's a dumb nitpick on my part, though.
Overall, a good entry. Could've done with a final proof-read because there's a couple mistypes left lying around.

Afternoon Moment:
Not much of a Sakuya guy, sorry to say. Not a huge fan of our male OC either. He just comes off a little weak and I can't really see the path the relationship between him and Sakuya would've taken to reach where it is in the story. Sakuya seems uncharacteristically kind to him when she's more airheadedly blunt to people in canon. The premise of Sakuya having afternoon trysts with a villager she's come to like is good, and I like how Sakuya's powers are incorporated, both in the regular story beats and the sexual parts.
The theme of the contest is well-intergrated, both in terms of it being talked about and the actual elements being relevent to what happens. Using Sakuya's powers for sex is something that happens often, but it's done well and described well, so I have no qualms.
Overall, a competently written, well-done entry. Just not a character I have much interest in.

Rough Night:
I voted for this one. After two entries about characters that I was lukewarm on, here comes Doremy Sweet, who I like a lot.
I like that this entry focused on the process of writing the fortune slips rather than the aftermath or the looser interpretations that come up in most of the other stories, and Marisa is a good POV character in general. I'm not sure there's any character I could picture in this scenario who'd fit better. I also like Marisa having a thing for Reimu, so that part worked well for me too. The whole Dream Spelunker thing to get Marisa into a lucid dream was interesting, but it would've satisfied my canontisms if there'd been a mention of the time Marisa tried and failed to get into a lucid dream using a mask that Rinnosuke had in CoLA Chapter 33. Maybe just as a mention that she tried the Dream Spelunker thing after the other thing failed.
This is one of the smuttier fics in the contest. It's a lot less restrained than I think some of the other entries are, and it really is ready to go all out on having Marisa get FUCKED. The multiple versions of Doremy to do said FUCKING is fine, although considering it's the Dream World and there's dream versions of the people that Doremy is dressing up as, I feel like it could have just been those characters rather than [Character]-Doremy.
It felt like it occupied that Sweet™ Spot between being too overly smutty and too restrained.
So yeah, great story, great smut, great writing.

No Second Chances:
This broke my prediction that I'd be the longest entry in the contest. It's very long. It's so long that my eyes glazed over a little. It's long enough that I sort of didn't want to read it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as one of the other writers said, it's long but seems to also be shortening itself to try and stay within contest-acceptable length. I think the writer should post it again outside of the contest setting with the shortened down bits filled back out so that it can be the story it seems like it was meant to be.
Unfortunately, I'm not that interested in Suwako. I don't think I can give a solid review of it because I don't think I can get through the whole thing in a reasonable amount of time given my vague disinterest in the character choice. Sorry.
I did get to the funny Kanako bit though. I liked that. What a dork she is.

8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]:
The second futa fic here and the quite the smutty one too. The moral corruption angle is strong here and it works very well with Suika. There's an old fic on /at/ featuring Yumemi where Suika works a very similar angle to what she does here, and I liked it equally there.
I'm a big fan of the way this is written. I love the way musings on Mt. Ooe and things slip in between all the sex. I like the way Byakuren's mental state slips slightly more and more as it goes on, until you get to the final section where she turns the tables. The pregnancy fetish is clear as day and written very well. You don't often see someone use 'gravid' for human (or oni) pregnancy. It's all very enjoyable.
I do think the story seems to assume the reader knows all these Buddhist terms and sutras and what-have-you from the start though. I had no idea what was what, especially since some of them were italicised and some weren't. I don't think the story necessarily needs to explain every term, but I think there could have been some attempt to help the reader out.
Still a great story which seemed to know exactly what it wanted to be from the start, though. It certainly deserved the votes it got and I can hardly feel upset at losing out on the win to it.

---

And now we come to A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. It wasn't even my first choice. I made a bullet point list for ideas and Yuuma was actually at the very bottom, underneath ideas like Lunasa, Tenshi, and Shou. But the Animal Realm has been on my mind for a while, so Yuuma won out because I wanted to test out an idea or two while writing.
Yuuma's fortune slip doesn't even have a Love or Romance section, so I looked at the other bits for inspiration. Her Travel fortune says 'Go on an eating tour,' and her Work fortune says 'A restuarant is auspicious.' With that in mind, I decided that Yuuma travelling to a restuarant to work seemed fun, especially since the Animal Realm is split up into factions and therefore she shouldn't actually be doing that. It sort of tied into her Hobbies fortune (The first time you try anything you'll get hooked. You're obsessive.) which is why I wrote her as having done it at multiple places across the Beast Metropolis.
I'm not planning to yammer on about my writing for too long. Thanks for all the feedback here! I see two different people who have expressed the desire to do things to Kaneki, which I find rather funny. I did actually think about whether or not Yuuma should be more domineering while writing the thing, but I kept coming back to her profile from SFW, where her underlings are stated to adore her and she's stated to prefer doing things on her own. I dunno, maybe this is just preference, but I just don't get a domineering kind of vibe from her, especially after she gets killed by Flan in SFW. She just seems too...nice.
Maybe there's an alternate version of this story set pre-SFW where she would absolutely abuse and defile Kaneki, but post-UDoALG Yuuma doesn't seem like that kind of person.
I do agree that I could probably have done a bit more to show Kaneki off as capable, though. I think I just got a bit carried away.

As for >>18127 and the question of the beast characters, it's something I've gone back and forth on a few times. I think there's a spectrum of forms that the youkai can take, from entirely humanoid (like Momiji according to some of the canon depictions) to mostly humanoid (think Kagerou with the ears and tail) or something more beastly (ranging from more kemono-ish to just full-on animals). In this story, I imagine that most of the beasts working in the kitchen have to use forms that are at least slim enough to make working in a kitchen possible. The patrons might have ranged in appearance, though. Some of my early Animal Realm brainstorming involved eagles who acted like Griffin in DMC 5, for example.

Wrapping up now, great contest! Good entries all around, a wide variety of characters, and an enjoyable range of fetishes on display. Well done to all the writers for all your hard work and thank you to all the voters.
Thank you to everyone who voted for my story and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I wonder if we could do the lewdfic contest more often. We had two or three Exhibitions last year along with the Halloween contest, but only the one lewdfic contest. Maybe the prizes would have to change slightly to avoid burnout, but I feel like we could do this twice a year at least.

Ok I doodled my impression for Kaneki while slacking off from work. Probably not really what the author intended but bishies are pretty popular with girls so maybe Yuuma would like him

Hey guys, I'm the writer of No Second Chances. Glad to see that people enjoyed the story, even if I didn't get voted for. My dumb ass was agonizing all week over what other people were gonna say... I thought I was gonna get ripped to shreds!

Huge thanks to my editor BombaBomba, for helping me realise the story. Sorry that you didn't get any votes either. I was his editor too, and as mentioned by others, there were a few errors... as the editor, I'm really sorry about that. A lot of them, I fixed directly but didn't label them - I wasn't clear enough with that, you were probably working from a new document already, and I thought you'd work from the document I sent. I should have left a comment instead of just editing in the correction. Again, I can't thank you enough for your help.

Good turnout, though! Every story posted was good, all very titillating and it was difficult to pick a favourite, but pick one I did: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing.

I'm very tired right now and just want to get a post out. I'll try to get my feedback for each story soon. All of them were very good, though!

I will ask one thing though:

>> I don't like it when gods are made to be so human as well

I don't really have any knowledge of what a god, or specifically a kami, might act like, and Suwako doesn't appear too often in canon materials.

Would you have any materials in mind for this subject? Some other anons have said the story would be better being expanded, and I'm pretty well-inclined to take that idea up. Having more knowledge of how kami 'tick' in the original materials would be good.

and finally,

>No Second Chances
>I think this one's going to get a lot of votes, actually.

mfw

>>18141
It’s okay lowcreatureofthenight. I succeeded in what I set out to do, write a fluffy vanilla story involving a male lead who isn’t just a thinly veiled self insert who has a relationship with a 2hu due as LikeMindedPerson says, to author fiat.
I don’t think the problems with my entry were something that could have been fixed in editing as they were very structural and had to do more with me giving up integrating her fortune and the theme into the story one third of the way through the writing process. And I really enjoy all the responses as well desu!
Anyways I reuploaded it to ao3 after the first upload went wrong. So that’s my shameless self plug out of the way.
I'm a bit busy this month so I'll have my full thoughts out in a couple of days.

>>18141
>I don't really have any knowledge of what a god, or specifically a kami, might act like, and Suwako doesn't appear too often in canon materials.
>Would you have any materials in mind for this subject? Some other anons have said the story would be better being expanded, and I'm pretty well-inclined to take that idea up. Having more knowledge of how kami 'tick' in the original materials would be good.
It's not really a matter of adhering to a kind of canon (whether it's the way she is in Touhou or the way gods are presented in some fundamental work), it's honestly just my own taste. But if you want to pick it up for yourself... Well, just ask yourself questions like "How would her state of being affect her view of mortal things?", or "How would she view human courtship and romance, and what reason does she have to find it appealing at all?", or the like. Question human customs, try to deconstruct them - she's not just your normal girl, after all. Though Suwako specifically shouldn't have too alien of an outlook, just a more detatched one, I think.
Something like that... It's just fun to study a character whose life experience is out of the ordinary.

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone! I'm glad to see someone enjoyed the mist and motorbike bits as much as I enjoyed writing them, and just to find out what people's highlights were in general. I'll try to be more considerate about the use of non-English terms in future.

(Any sanskrit that wasn't italicised, was that way by mistake, at least)

For my three characters, I think I've decided on:

[X] Shou Toramaru
[X] Keine Kamishirasawa (specifically the hakutaku form's fortune, if I need to make the distinction)
[X] Utsuho Reiuji

>>18140
Oooh, that's very handsome!

>>18144
Aw, man, you had the chance to possibly redeem Chiyari there!

>>18145
Don't say that! It was hard enough cutting it down to three characters. I'm already fussing about maybe asking for a last-second swap for Shizuha or Okina! I don't need to add Chiyari to that!

... But seriously she was in the running, at least.

>>18146
There's still time! If it helps to sway you, Okuu already has plenty enough lewd fics. In the tens on AO3 and there have been at least a few on THP. Keine has got a lot as well, even had one last contest (or the one before that, I forget). Shizuha and Chiyari haven't even a handful!

>>18147
I picked Keine specifically for the Whispered Oracle theme, particularly ZUN's suggestion of her perhaps having some kind of Lunarian connection, but for Okuu, you know what, you're right!

>>18144
I'd like to swap Utsuho for Shizuha!

I eagerly anticipate finding out which one actually gets chosen.

>>18148
>>18144
Hello. Hi. Your ungracious host here. Going to be frank: I've a personal rule not to add to the avalanche of popularhu content if I can help it, plus Lunarians are far outside my area of expertise-slash-interest, so one of these is, ahem, not very likely to be picked. If you'd like to revise your choices with that in mind, do feel free, as I've another avalanche on my hands that won't cease for another two-three weeks, so any and all final decisions are postponed anyway.

... Fair admission, though. An Aki sandwich and a sprinkle of Eau de Chupa sounds like a dream morning routine. Make of that whate~ver you will.

>>18149
Can't say fairer than that. Sorry to hear you're in a rough spot, too. I hope all goes well for you!

I would like to keep Shou on the docket, but aw hell, why not let's shoot up some blood?

[X] Shou
[X] Chiyari
[X] Shizuha

Lowcreatureofthenight / no second chances writer here. Here’s my comments on the stories:

[X] A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

I voted for this one. Extremely lurid and beastly, so after writing my own little dance-about-romance it was a breath of fresh air. Or like the ‘breath of the wok’, in this case.

I love the setting of the animal realm, and I like Yuuma, and both were done justice here, even if they weren’t the focus (I love a good urban hellhole, be it themed noir, cyberpunk, anything). They certainly added much to the atmosphere, though!

A lot of people are saying they expected birdman to be abused, but I liked that the author put Yuuma in a more submissive role. Love it when powerful women sooooobmit to le coque, especially when they deny liking it too.

I love cooking as well, almost as much as I love food – especially fried rice. I have my own recipe/method for it, which I’ll share so you can enjoy/laugh at it:

Use old rice. Never use freshly boiled rice, I learned the hard way that it needs to lose water so it doesn’t flare up crazily in the pan – and old rice also goes through a process called retrogradation where it’ll turn crispy and hard the longer you leave it, which’ll make your rice crispier. But always be careful not to use rice that’s too old and to store it properly, because you can get botulism from it if you aren’t careful, and you don’t want botulism.

Before any frying goes on, I separate the yolk from the white by passing it though my (washed) hands. I make sure to put a container like a jug to catch the white, because it’ll be used later. I go with my gut and don’t have any specific measures, but you can put as many eggs in as you can sensibly fit into the rice. If you want to be conservative, I’d use an egg per serving.

Take the separated yolk and put it in the rice. Once you’ve done this with all of your eggs, give the rice and the whites a thorough mixing with whatever seasonings you like until both are homogenous, but keep the rice and the whites separate! (Rice should be all golden, whites should run like water. Be careful to mix the whites thoroughly to break the egg membranes.)

Heat up some fat of your choice in a wok. Lard is what I normally use cause its cheap and it tastes alright, but chicken fat is the best with it. I seriously don’t know why you can’t buy chicken fat in stores, Its amazing. Most any oil/fat will work. Once its hot, put your rice in. be careful you don’t splash yourself with hot oil.

Cook the rice in the wok until its nice and crisp, and now you have to decide how you put your whites in – you can throw the over the rice to have it be homogenous or clear out a space in the middle to put them in then break them up so you have strands. If you decide to go with the latter, make sure to be slow about introducing it in if you want the eggs to be crispy, only do a little at a time – maybe introduce the whites a bit earlier than the former method because they could overcook if you have a lot of egg.

Once the egg white is in, cook stirring for a bit longer, and then what I like to do is near the end I like to gather up all the fried rice in the center of the wok in a pile, so the sides of the wok are bare. I leave it like that for a while, so the sides heat up a lot, and when they’re hot enough (like three minutes on my stove) I pour soy sauce on the bare metal and it caramelises and stuff and gives it a really nice smoky/‘wok hei’ taste.

You can serve it like it is, but I like to add veg in. I use broccoli because it basically steams in the mixture but any vegetable that’ll cook in a reasonable amount of time is good, cut the veg up real fine beforehand if you’re unsure.

The veg kinda un-crisps the rice a little though, so if you want crispy rice just consider that, but I take every opportunity to get more vegetable in my diet.

Well, fried rice out of the way, back to the story. My one caveat is that you tempted me with sweaty, stuffy Yuuma in the beginning. Wish there was more with that, but that’s purely my preference.

Kyouko Kasodani is not a Dog (Supposedly)

I love a little love and romance, and the scenes building up to the sex were good. Kyouko is very cute, and her brightening up Kento's day was nice to read.

The sex was very foreplay heavy, but its good. Gentle, but still a little sadistic. I'd have liked there to be more sex, though, but what can be done.

As I said before, I was the editor for the work, so it being to my preferences is likely a result of my influence. You also might note that the story I wrote and the story I edited for got no votes. I think I might be cursed.

But besides that, It was very fun working on the project with you BombaBomba, and I’ll look forward to your future works. I’d be happy to act as editor again!

Also the end there: First of three Byakuren appearances. Boy, she sure gets around, doesn't she?

Afternoon Moment

Good integration of the theme, very grounded setting too. A lot of writers forget that not everyone in Gensokyo knows everything.

Since you wanted more feedback on the fic, I’m working on a little editor’s runthrough of it. I say this to explain why this comment is so scant, and also just to confirm with you if you’re okay with that.

But my general thoughts are that it has a comfy tone, charming prose, Sakuya has good characterisation and she’s used well here. There’s a lot of character to the prose. The imagery and scenery is quite nice too.

The dude being able to build little maid automatons with only a high-school diploma really beggars belief though! And there are a lot of places where italics could have been used to make the text clearer.

Rough Night

This was the funniest entry by far. If this were a comedy competition this would've won by a mile. But praise only makes one feel good, so I’ll try to explain why I thought it was so good:

I'd say it owes it to the doujin-esque style. It is very much like a hentai doujin put to text, but in place of images we have a very entertaining stream of thought from Marisa.

The story takes a very “Simpson’s” approach to comedy, where its joke after joke with no stopping in between. A ton of the jokes hit me dead center. I had to stop myself laughing at god-knows-what hour of the night at ‘I’m a slut for youkai cock’.

The word choice is a comedy in and of itself too. The scenario is funny as well. I’m sorry, I’m not saying anything really insightful anymore – I’m going through the story again and I had to stop myself from cracking up. I’d love to pick your brain on that regard and go through the story again in more detail.

The only problem was that the sex could've been longer. If the sex had been longer this would’ve gotten my vote, no question. I read that you struggled with it, which is sad to hear. I fully understand your reasoning behind it too. Regardless, the work is absolutely top-notch.

Second of three Byakuren appearances. It’s Doremy in a costume?... Whatever, it still counts.

8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]

A very well-written story, and very deserving of the win. very funny in its own right too.

I would've never thought of this pairing but you made it work wonders, and added some lovely little lore bits to tie it all together too. The buddhism stuff is super interesting too, really fleshes out the story.

And you did all of the research for the story in the two weeks extension, as well as writing it? holy shit.

I’ve read your other work ‘For Half a Bowl of Rice’, and I noticed something. You’re very fond of alliteration, aren’t you? I don’t mean anything bad by it, but its like an artists signature for you – I was reading the story and I was thinking ‘this is like that Heartkor guy…’ As well as that, you’re the only person I’ve seen use Suika’s mist ability, ever. You also use it in your ‘For Half a Bowl of Rice’ work too. So big, big props for that.

Speaking of that, I must commend you on excellent use and characterization of both Suika and Byakuren, its a pairing I never would have thought of but they really act as excellent foils to one another. I’m neutral on the corruption stuff, but it is funny in a dark way to see Byakuren continually fail to properly Buddhify the yokai of Gensokyo, and even funnier to see her give in to the little Tempter.

The whole story is excellently paced, and the scenes are vivid but don’t drag on at all. A lot of information condensed into a few words, is what I’m tryna say.

I will say that I found the pregnancy scenes unreasonably hilarious for some reason. especially the description of Suika being like a watermelon. Like, is she just gonna roll away squirting milk all over the place and mooing? The pregnant Mt. Ooe scenes were funny too.

This one could’ve very easily taken my vote.

Byakuren’s third and final appearance. Save me, merciful Kannon, this succubus styles herself after the Buddha…

Continuing on from the last post.

No Second Chances

And now we get to my own. Thanks to everyone who read it, as it is quite long. A few other anons have said it would be good expanded as its own story, and I think that's a good idea. I’m thinking the ‘No Second Chances’ bit should be the intro, and then after that I’d like to write something about Izumi actually working as a priest, with sexy froggy wife bits in between.

I spent the time from when the contest was announced to the submission window working on it, and it went through quite a few changes in that time.

Originally Izumi was going to be nameless, and be a Buddhist monk in training. If I’d have gone through with that, you-know-who would’ve made a fourth appearance in the contest. Maybe she’d have brought me better luck *soighs……...*

The Onbashira festival was originally going to be another memory. It was my editor’s suggestion that it be the ‘present’ festival, as originally the ‘present’ was going to just be a random full moon festival.

The friends would have been unnamed as well, and invoked like they were a single entity. I made the joke to my editor that it should be like some kind of yokai, like the show ‘Friends’ brought to life. That was shot down very quickly.

There’s a lot taken from other stories in mine. The sex in a lake thing is taken from Cormac MacArthy’s ‘All The Pretty Horses’, I named Izumi after Izumi Kyoka, who I was reading as I was writing this. Him tripping over a series of snakes is a direct reference to one of his short stories, and the general structure of ‘man falls in love with spooky woman’ is taken from him too. He is a gothic writer, but I’m not sure if you’d count my story as gothic…

People seemed to really like Kanako’s part, especially her fistbump. I’m glad – I’ll be honest and say that I thought I was grossly mischaracterising her, but no complaints on that front so I’ll take that as a job well done. I need to read more of the canon material on her to get my confidence up and my characterisation better.

Thats all folks! Happi fridey!

>>18151
Dang thanks for the rice recipe

>>18151
Writer of Afternoon Moment: an editor's run through would be wonderful, and thank you for taking the time for something like that.

>>18151
>A lot of people are saying they expected birdman to be abused,
I mean, by some metrics, two may be a lot, but...

>>18155
I expected birdman to be abused myself, and I wouldn't have minded seeing it... So you can include me for three!

Hey, got the feedback for afternoon moment done! its in this catbox link. I had to remove the file extension to upload it, but if you just add docx as a file extension to it, it should work.

https://files.catbox.moe/ecm0ym

If you have any questions or issues, feel free to post them. I hope this helps!

[X] A sheep in Wolf’s clothing
Yuuma going undercover to cook in a kitchen like this is a bit odd, it doesn’t really fit the image of the character I have of her in my mind. I’m a fan of newhu’s getting some love anyways. The best part is definitely seeing Yuuma take a submissive role. It's always a treat seeing powerful and dominant women like her being submissive.
Not a fan of some of the prose, they could be more concise, but overall it’s my favorite entry and I think it gets to the meat of the story rather quickly and what a lot of meat there is!

Kyouko Kasodani is not a dog
My own entry and last place. I'm really happy with the way it came out and working with lowcreatureofthenight was really fun.
Definitely deserving of its spot but I've really said everything that there is to be said about it up to now so I don't have much to add here.

Afternoon Moment
The perspective is off, there were a couple annoying contraction starts to sentences, and the fic could really do with a male lead that has a more defined personality. He does have an interesting skill set.
It’s okay, I felt like there should have been more of a lead up to the sex, it's kind of sudden but the time stop sex itself is fine.
I’m fairly neutral on Sakuya, the SDM crew just don’t click with me, but I think this was an okay submission.

Rough Night
The prose were nice, I didn’t notice a lot of contraction or -ing starts, I did have a problem with some word choice.
A decent entry, but I don't like Yuri or futa so it wasn't really to my taste. I did really like the ending with Reimu, it was pretty funny.

No Second Chances
The longest entry by far, and the one I helped edit. I have to agree with what others have said, it's very nice, the sex is good. In the same vein, despite being the longest entry its simultaneously one of the fastest paced. I think I mentioned this in editing, but this one really feels like it should be part of a larger fic, like it needs two more chapters, one for Suwako’s first meeting, the main meeting here, and then their honeymoon.
This last point may sound arbitrary, but as this is something I helped edit, it didn't feel ethical for me to vote for it.

8[fold Right Paths/-Times-Brewed Sake]
Honestly, I just really dislike the characterization of Byakuren in this. Especially her eating pork, Shou or Byakuren eating meat is just something I hate seeing in fanworks. I also don’t like Byakruen being so easily tempted, giving into peer pressure, there was also a section where it felt like there was a missing paragraph. Same as Rough Night, I don't like futa.
Honestly I think its well put together, it's just not to my taste. Although I liked the pregnancy stuff.

Put the nose to the grindstone over the weekend and finished the consolation illustrations!
Here's the one for A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing:
>>/at/41435
And for Rough Night:
>>/at/41436
Just one comment and an apology here to >>18139; I know the story makes no overt mention of eyewear, but, once I'd trialled the idea, bespectacled Yuuma was too darn cute a sight to let go. Chalk it up to the disguise, maybe? Nobody'd expect the queen goat of Gouyoku Alliance to be a near-sighted dork, right...? Whatever the case, it's cute, so it's fine, right...?!
>I wonder if we could do the lewdfic contest more often.
A suggestion on an applicable time frame, if so, would be appreciated.

>>18162
>Here's the one for A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing:
Kaneki yellow eyes???

>>18140
Pretty boy! I think I had a more silvery hair colour in mind while I was writing it, but black hair would work too. I think Kaneki definitely has that sort of bishounen look about him and it probably helped him ascend the ranks more than anyone would like to admit.
>>18155
>>18156
Stop trying to abuse him! Abusing him is Yuuma's privilage, not yours!
>>18151
I did not expect a fried rice recipe here, but I suppose I was asking for it. As for the feedback, I think the idea of Kaneki burying his nose in the crook of Yuuma's neck and huffing her like paint thinner crossed my mind, but never made it in. Something to consider for an AO3 version, maybe...
>>18158
>it doesn't really fit the image of the character I have in my mind.
I think Yuuma has quite a lot of interpretations across the fanbase. I interpret a lot of her loner tendencies to come about from Ran leaving the Animal Realm, much like a particularly bad breakup, and it leads her to desire what she thinks of as the old days, such as being a nobody in a kitchen where no one knows her. I imagine this isn't the most popular interpretation, but I like it.

On a seperate note, I'd like to ask if both you and >>18127 could expand on your issues regarding the prose? It's something I'm always trying to get better at, so any further details would be appreciated.
>>18162
I didn't think of eyewear either, but actually, I agree that it looks pretty cute! It makes her look more like a waif that no one would look twice at (Actually, I think Yachie would revel in having someone like that to boss around). I had the vague line about some sort of magic disguising her eyes, but perhaps it could've been technology in the eyewear doing it. As for the rest of the picture, it's great! Except you missed the four seperate times I described Kaneki's eyes as icy blue in colour...
>A suggestion on an applicable time frame, if so, would be appreciated.
I know this contest was shifted forward a bit to not run at the same time as the site anniversary exhibition, so assuming it was originally meant to run in March/April, maybe a second contest could run in August/September? That'd leave a good few months for recovery. Obviously there's probably more thought that could be put into this. It'd be bad if we all started burning out, after all.

>>18139
I'm glad you liked it and that the sex writing worked for you, I wasn't entirely confident on that score. I'm especially glad that a fan of Doremy was able to approve of my characterization of her. Regarding the idea of other dream-world characters joining in the fun, I did play around with that idea, but in the end I preferred it with just Doremy's clones. It felt more tender and more like a DoreMari ship fic that way.

>>18151
That's an embarrassing level of praise, wow. Thank you. I will say you're spot on in identifying it as doujin-style writing. While writing I was consciously trying to emulate the plotting style and story structure of a Zounose doujin, just with sex in place of eating human flesh. I really respect the way Zounose handles storytelling in the Touhou world, even if the extreme content isn't usually to my taste.

>>18162
That's great! I love it. That rendition of Reimu-Doremy is exactly how I pictured her. And an interpretation of the peanut trees, which were, uh, not really written with a visual depiction in mind.

>>18163
>>18164
Ah, shoot. That's what happens when you, ah, over-focus on, er, certain areas of the picture over others. An easy fix at any rate, if you at all care:
https://files.catbox.moe/el7p3u.jpg
>I had a more silvery hair colour in mind while I was writing it
My thought process went: eagle -> bald eagle's the popular depiction, innit -> so, a smoothed-down, white-ish dome with some kind of yellow/orange accent to evoke the beak. Come to think of it, perhaps looking at bald eagle pictures stuck him with yellow eyes in my head.
>August/September
I'll drop a note and pop the question somewhen closer to that time, then.
>AO3 version
Planning on that soon? I'd like to include a link once I chuck these up in the usual places, some time, finally, eventually.

>>18167
>an interpretation of the peanut trees
Admittedly a bit of an afterthought on my part, and I realise those nuts are the size of award-winning apples, but I wanted something visible there. Yanno?

>>18170
Human I remember your
>interpretation

That Doremy cosplay pic is almost criminally cute.