/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Reimu didn't seem convinced of Lady Tamatsukuri's intentions. "She's gonna try and steal it!" She insisted, poking my arm with the handle of her broom to punctuate each word. "My Hakurei Orb! That thing's been in my family for who knows how long, and just because she says "Well, I made it so really, it's mine!" She gets to take it away with her?" I frowned and blocked her broom attacks with my own broom. She'd agreed to leave it with Reimu, hadn't she? "She's lying!" This time, I turned and caught Reimu's broom before she could hit me with it again. She'd decreed that Yamame and I - And Kisami, though she'd taken some encouragement - Were to stay with her at the Shrine overnight. We’d even spent several hours playing hanafuda, though it turned out that Reimu’s luck was just too supernaturally good for Kisami or I to stand a chance. Yamame did slightly better, but even she couldn’t prevail over Reimu in the end. At first, I'd thought the whole thing rather sweet, until she'd thrown a pillow at my head before the sky had even begun to get light and dragged me from my warm and comfy, spider-filled blanket to come and help her clear the courtyard of snow. Sighing heavily, I'd agreed, because she was family and she'd asked.

So, shivering, off we went, my coat from Yamame and her coat from Hearn wrapped around the both of us. Hers looked very stylish, which made me ask if it was actually warm, but she'd assured me that it was definitely very warm and toasty. Hearn really had gone to great expense, I said. All of the clothing items that she'd gifted to Reimu couldn't have been cheap. "Yeah, well...I think she's probably got more money than she knows what to do with. She's like, a thousand years old or something." Perhaps I'd have to ask her if I saw her anytime soon. Reimu's eye suddenly took on a bit of a haunted look. "I wouldn't ask her any questions like that. Really." She sounded so serious about it that I found any desire to ask the question that I might have had rapidly dwindling. Besides, I had no idea when I might see Hearn again. Reimu had mentioned when she'd appeared at the Shrine that she was probably going into hibernation, which meant that she might not show up until next spring, some three months or more away.

As far as Lady Tamatsukuri went, I doubted that she had anything nefarious on her mind. I didn't have any particular reason for thinking it, but there was just something that stuck in my mind about the way she looked at Reimu that I couldn't quite get rid of. It wasn't the look of someone with something bad planned, but more like...I almost wanted to say nostalgia? I wasn't sure. "Your determination to see something good in just about everyone is going to be the death of either you or me at this rate." Reimu pouted, then slapped the broom against the ground to shake the last bits of snow that had built up on it off, which I then swept off to the side. We'd opened up the path leading both toward the Hall of Worship for any potential visitors from the village, as well as the path to Reimu's rooms, though I doubted that anyone would need to use them considering Reimu could just fly over it. The snow had stopped at some point in the night, and the cloud cover had finally broken, showing the stars above. It also meant that it was even colder than it had been, but my coat was fairly good at counteracting that.

I looked out across the valley, then over to the mountain, where I'd been yesterday. I shivered then, and it wasn't from the cold. I knew that she'd been drunk and not in her right state of mind, but the experience at Shameimaru's home had been unpleasant. But at the same time, I knew that letting things lie wasn't going to be a much better solution. I probably needed to get through that exclusive with Shameimaru soon, especially since I'd already left it so long. "Well, you're not going to be getting much out of her any time soon. Didn't you say that she already had an empty bottle when you got in there?" I nodded. She'd made me finish it off. "And then she got a second one out?" Another nod. "Then, those two, plus the third one she almost definitely got afterward...And it was stronger than you'd expected?" Three nods.

"Yeah...The alcohol those tengu have got is even stronger than the village stuff. Somewhere near the oni level. She's not going to be doing much for a few days." I thought that tengu were really strong drinkers, though. "They are. That's why it's so strong, so they can get drunk off of it without needing to go through enough of it to drown a kappa in. I guess she's a horny drunk." I whipped my head around and stared at Reimu, who looked at me and shrugged. "What? It's true. Actually, it's really true. I think she tried it on with another villager here, once. Some guy who got attacked by a hunger god, but offered to distribute fliers for me since there was a festival I was running after we got rid of it. She was around for the afterparty once the festival was done."