/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45492950
Finally post-Reimu bashing
"Does it always hurt this bad?" Goro remarked, rubbing his head where Reimu had socked it with her Gohei.
"The Gohei, post-incident lectures, our empty wallets, hand cramps from writing, or all of the above?" I ask.
"I suppose we got off easy for causing such a ruckus." Goro sighed.
"Don't be so surprised, many incidents have been much worse with just as little punishment. That Reimu is a softy when all is said and done, or was I guess. More importantly, are we really gonna give that piece of paper to Hijiri?"
"Eh, we can hand to her and watch her shred it, I'm more worried about what comes after." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Speaking of, we haven't gotten a chance to talk about, you know, what we're gonna do about the inversion." I said, rubbing my arm.
"There's some people we can still get consul from before the solstice. Let's not be hasty until then." He said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to his side. I jabbed him in the gut, but didn't resist the gesture.
"Did you, where you able to see if our daughter in the HSE is okay?" I ask him, rubbing a bead in his bracelet between my fingers.
The question had lingered in the back of my mind even though the child wasn't in my belly. It troubled me that our kid was growing inside that place alongside another strange consciousness.
Goro grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "She's okay, same as the one in the gap as far as I can tell, which I pray is normal, but..."
I almost breathe a sigh of relief, but am halted.
"I attempted to 'talk' to the HSE. I asked it for help and to protect our child, tried to deal with it. I don't know if it heard me, but I can definitely perceive it. There's some functions to that place Yukari hasn't taught me, maybe that will help." He grimaced.
And then there was Yukari. What if she figured out about our children? About the HSE? She was a Sage after all and, like the Miko, those peopled tended to snuff out irregularities that threatened order. If that bitch touches my kids I'll...
Detecting my anger, Goro takes my head and leans it on his shoulder. "I'm thinking we aim for Sagedom." He said.
"Pardon?"
"We could replace Yukari. And use that power to protect our children from harm's way."
"Assuming Yukari is deposed, everyone else doesn't hang us alive, and we'd actually want such a position." I say.
"If she isn't deposed then we can bide our time, although defending the HSE comes first. As for others, they'll want a replacement and who else will they elect? All the candidates either have greater commitments, like Hijiri or Kanko or would be considered unacceptable by one group or another, like The Crown Prince, Satori, or any of the Tengu royalty. Even if we're not able to square up against Kasen or Okina, maybe that works in our favor? Yukari has too much power and we could be seen as either a sign of progressive leadership or as a potential puppet. Either way, we'll have the title and we can leverage that."
"So when the big bad Yukari's dealt with you'll offer to atone by taking on her burden and because all those other whores either visited Anon or are hated we'll be seen as the best of the bad options?"
"Exactly, and fighting in the solstice will put us at ground zero. The perfect place to stake our claim, it'll be quite the upset." He smiled, but then frowned. "I'm also worried about the other children. they'll be persecuted, or worse, used."
'Used'. I don't know if Goro intended it, but the word played like a sad chord in my head. All those little half-breeds were gonna enter a world as outcasts and certainly upend things one way or another. The idea of a hag like Yukari or Seiga taking advantage of them, feeding themselves on what could be a fresh start for this wretched place, it made my blood boil.
But that wasn't it, some other feeling was there, 'Used', what did it mean?
"Well, we can talk more about it later, first we should steel ourselves for Hijiri" Goro said as we arrived at the temple steps.
"Come off it, these guys were ready to put me into a dirt nap for merely tapping your..." ah, let's re-phrase "...After I dipped my fangs into your body they ONLY beat me to a pulp."
"Hijiri mainly disciplines Youkai so..."
"So what?"
"Youkai are more durable."