/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45622217 (3/3—p1)
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It's the next day; snow is everywhere, and the sky is cloudy. Despite those, everything feels more alive than ever to me~

… Though… I can't shake this sluggish, odd feeling, like I'm forgetting something important. I ponder, tails holding him dear and watching the snow fall above us, disappearing inside invisible Gaps.

I look around, at the innocuous shrine and the barrier, a shiver rises inside. The disorienting feeling rapidly subsides as a warm hand falls on my belly and my eyes meet his, a sparkle setting my heart aflame. "Is something the matter?"

"No… Just woke up with a perplexing feeling." He frowns, thinks, then develops a smug, and I playfully hit his arm. "Not 'that' perplexing feeling! Just… It's like something was stolen from me—yet, I can't tell if whatever is gone was good or bad to start with."

He hums, playing with one of my twitching ears. "Something stolen…? We could go to Kotohime-san for that—at the very least we can get her to say, 'there is nothing I can do'~"

"Oh? Speaking that behind the back of an officer? A dogged fellow, one I know would say." He snickers, eyes on me. "Any motive for such felicity?"

"I was thinking about mine and Chen’s plan to ease Flan into holding a spider, nothing more." He shrugs, fixing his position while a more thoughtful line comes to his expression—I hardly pay attention, the heat between my thighs rising with the movements of his marbled muscles, gentle markings of nails alongside scars and their stories of unparalleled endure. Cursed be nature and its impracticable ways of prompting coitus! "You feeling unwell?"

"No, I'm fine; doth't worry."

"Matters of the mind, you come to me and Chen, okay? 'Sad', as she likes to say—to Aya's chafe—, is a most terrible illness." I chuckled with genuineness, hugging him, ignoring nudity; he laughed too, holding me tightly.

We had woken together with the sun, so outside was still nighttime—a day-night cycle of 96 hours would be too much for Anon, Yukari theorized, so four days inside equal one outside—, which meant Yukari was still out…

… Yet, I still have work to do.

We shared words of affection and reassurance in the arms of each other and hurriedly had breakfast before he went to do his morning exercises, coinciding with the clean-up team’s routine. I left next, ascertained, going through the motions with a much lighter mood and a skip in my steps, yet inside the fire burned with a new-found vigor, those eyes of iron imprinted on my mind.

Preparations for the Solstice were, as expected, proceeding with no hitch thanks to an applied and rather tiny manager—shame bubbled inside, remembering the measures I took to get information about the Kappa Switch that'd trigger a full time-stop inside the barrier, freezing everything inside but Yukari, me, and Chen; it was short-lived—, so I should take care of special matters, starting by—

"Ran-sama, a moment." A White Wolf guard approached me, the insignia on the right side of her breast signaling the rank of captain: Momiji. She looked tense yet ready, a soldier made for war. Narrowing my eyes, I kept my march as she strode to my side, invisible gaps around us concealing sound. "All our defense preparations are in place. We're ahead of schedule." Her words were indicative of her readiness, presenting to me a scroll containing a map of the HSE that detailed 'our' enemies' likely front of attack as well as the positioning of our heavy-hitters and soldiers.

I can feel Yukari's magic coursing in the paper: tracking magic. My heart clenches a tad. Cunning with numbers doesn't translate to eidetic memory, so I can't reliably pass this invaluable information onto my allies…

… If only…

"Seems all in order—very good." I pass the scroll back to Momiji. "How are the guests?"

"Nothing bad to report, Ran-sama." I nodded, remembering the special rooms nestled inside stationary Gaps close to Yukari's office; in her words, 'just a little something to keep them entertained', but it's clear the real purpose is to have them close at all times. Be it to prevent backstabbing or a safety measure—maybe both—is beyond me.

The Gaps around us fade and, seeing it as her cue, Momiji bowed and left after I reciprocated, a Gap taking me to one of the special rooms: a recreation of a rich loft with vision to the Blood Pools—obviously fake—the room furnished to suit the two unsavory people inside.

On one of the king-sized beds and reading a book on 'Enamoration Arts'—enjoying it a lot—was Ms. Yachie Kichou, elongated tail firmly holding a glass of red as if a third hand; and in the personalized gym a bit away and doing upside-down pull-ups with her tail, Son Biten. Both pairs of eyes are on me immediately, and reactions vary:

Yachie closes the book so fast that it rips in two. "S-Shikigami?!"

"Sup, Ran~!" Biten yells, jumping off of the rebar with a pirouette and landing by a water bottle and her neatly folded colored apparel, since her bandaged chest was exposed.