/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Iizunamaru was far less gentle than the white wolf tengu had been, which was saying something since they hadn't been very gentle at all. I felt the rough impact as she hit the ground, then felt it even more when she tossed me off of her shoulder and I slammed into said ground painfully. Fortunately, I'd had practice for this whenever Yamame had gotten frightened and dragged me halfway across a room before she'd calmed down, so I just rolled onto my side, breathed out harshly, then staggered to my feet and pulled the blindfold off.

Again, the harsh light almost blinded me all over again, but after a few moments, I managed to crack my eyes open just enough to see that I was surrounded by snow. A few more moments and I managed to open them fully and get my bearings. I was on a platform, and the snow I'd been seeing wasn't actually on the platform, but surrounding it from below, at the same height in the trees around us, and above in the branches. I looked around, confused, and finally put together that I was in the trees. The platform was built around the trees, and was well off the ground. I edged over to the side of the platform and looked down, then swallowed. It was all snow down there, and it was not a very short fall. Shaking my head, I turned and looked at Iizunamaru, who had her arms behind her back and a bored look on her face. "This," She began, sweeping an arm around her, "Is not the centre of the city of the tengu. This is off to the side, in the outskirts." I looked past her and could see a cliff face. There seemed to be a lot of walkways cut into it, and these were what then had pathways leading up into the trees. Somewhere, I could hear flowing water, and I wondered if that was where the real city was. I knew that the great waterfall, the Waterfall of Nine Heavens, run down the mountain from somewhere, and I'd thought that the tengu would have set up their home there, but they didn't seem to have done so. Presumably, then, I was somewhere even higher up.

I asked her what we were doing here, and a flicker of annoyance crossed her face. "Aya Shameimaru does not live in the centre of the city. She lives, as you might have guessed, on the outskirts. However, it is a breach of decorum to fly directly to another tengu's front door. We will walk from here." Iizunamaru stiffly indicated a walkway that connected to various trees and disappeared between the snow-laden branches. "Follow me closely." She began walking with long strides that left me rushing behind her. I saw now that she'd equipped very long-toothed purple geta for the occasion to go with the black socks that she'd presumably been wearing inside her office.

After a few minutes, I grew too curious to resist, so I asked Iizunamaru what exactly she did. She looked back at me for a moment, her red eyes narrowed and piercing, which was enough to keep me from speaking up for a moment. Suddenly, I recalled Shameimaru's words, once upon a time. Once, with a storm brewing on the horizon, she'd threatened to hand me over to her boss, only to decide that my peach-induced vulnerabilities would bore her stiff. The Iizunamaru I'd seen in her office hadn't quite sold that impression, but just the way she'd looked back at me then had done it easily. I decided hastily that I should do my best not to cross her, so I belatedly added an 'if you don't mind' to my question.

She watched me for a moment more, then turned back to the path we were walking across. I wished that I could appreciate the place more because it really did look good with the snow all around, but I was very aware that I was still technically a prisoner of some sort here, and I didn't really have the luxury of stopping to enjoy the sights. "I am the daitengu of the crow tengu. They're my subordinates and I'm in charge of them. The wolves brought you to me because..." She raised a hand, indicating that I was supposed to fill in the reason. I had heard those wolves saying that apparently Shameimaru was looking for me, so they were bringing me to Iizunamaru because she would know what to do with me. "Hm." Iizunamaru was silent for a few moments. The path we were following had gone between a lot of trees at this point and was in fact starting to descend and thin out.

I could see buildings below, near the mountainside. More importantly, I could see other people, presumably tengu, milling about. None were on the path we were using, but I could see pairs leaning against railings down on the streets below and talking, standing on watch in groups, and simply enjoying the snow. Truthfully, it wasn't all that far from what I saw people in the village do. Perhaps some tengu had more in common with humans than they would like to believe they did. There were other paths cutting through the trees above as well, and I could see a pair of white wolf tengu walking along one.

This bitch is just blue Aya and has no depth.

Would you accept Megumu?

Would you accept Megumu?