/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Now, did you enjoy your tea?" I lost my train of thought, then nodded. "And you, my dear?" She asked Yamame, who also nodded. "Very good. Are you hungry?" This question was to both of us, and was mostly unexpected. The last time I had met Miss Yuuka, she had been very direct, but hadn't seemed particularly interested in small talk, let alone offering food and drinks. Slowly, I nodded, and Yamame did the same. Miss Yuuka clapped her hands together. "Perhaps this is your good luck, then. Do you know why I was in the Human Village earlier?" She'd been in the same street as the flower shop, so I'd assumed that it was just that. "That was part of it, yes." Miss Yuuka got to her feet and beckoned us to stand. "In truth, I was actually there because I'd been baking beforehand." She stepped over to one of the plants in the botanical garden and gently pulled on a leaf. It didn't seem to do anything, but Miss Yuuka nodded satisfactorily and stepped back. "And now, the bread should be finished."

Baking? I was, in truth, a little surprised. Not that I necessarily thought that Miss Yuuka wouldn't do things of that nature, but I'd just never actually imagined it. I'd always expected that she'd probably leave it to someone else, or she'd be too busy with other things to think about it. "Miss Kazami...?" Yamame ventured, and the tall woman spun on her heel to face the much shorter spider. "I just, er, wanted to ask...What kind of youkai are you?"

Miss Yuuka watched Yamame squirm for a moment, then turned and led us back through the botanical gardens in the direction of the door. "My, that's a rather personal question to be asking so soon, isn't it?" She looked over her shoulder as she pushed the door out of the botanical gardens open. "I'm a deadly, horrible youkai who mostly subsists on spiders. You've walked right into my trap." Yamame squeaked, but I grabbed her hand before she could progress to full-blown panic and squeezed it tight. That was unfortunate, I said. "Hm." Miss Yuuka hummed, leading us out of the small hallway between the botanical gardens and the mansion proper. As we passed her, holding the door open, she laid a hand delicately on Yamame's shoulder. "What's unfortunate is that I was lying." She spoke.

Yamame's head whipped around to look at her, and while Miss Yuuka's blood-red eyes were still sharp and she still looked at us as if she was looking right through us, there was a smug little smile on her lips at successfully teasing us, or rather, Yamame, though she didn't look all too happy about it. As Miss Yuuka began to walk ahead of us, I tried to encouragingly rub Yamame's back and she did offer me a weak smile, so I hoped that it had helped slightly. It was a bit of a mean joke to make, but at least it didn't seem to be true. Personally, I thought that she was some sort of flower youkai. She certainly cared enough about flowers for it. "Um, sorry." Yamame mumbled. "I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't, dear." Miss Yuuka said, not turning around. "An inquisitive mind, but perhaps in need of someone more appropriate to focus on." This time, she did turn her head slightly. "But then, it seems that you have that part under control already." She swept her eyes across Yamame and I with a slight smile, then turned back to the corridor. Yamame's mouth made several movements, but no sound managed to escape.

The sun was sinking slightly in the sky, and as a result, the many windows of Miss Yuuka's home were beginning to show long blocks of sunlight across the floors and walls. It made the colours almost glow in a dazzling and playful manner, and once again I was struck with the sheer difference between the Vampire's mansion and Miss Yuuka's mansion. Despite her words of warning about straying and potentially upsetting whatever the other inhabitants were, I found that Miss Yuuka's mansion felt...inviting. Inviting in a way that I had never really felt in my brief time inside the Vampire's mansion. I could see the botanical gardens from the hallway we were in, and the sheer number of plants looked possibly even more impressive from the outside. The hallway felt warm and welcoming, and as we reached an intersection between the corridors, I spotted a path leading to a room further inside the mansion that was flanked on either side by plenty of potted plants. The variety of colours were incredible, let alone the shapes and sizes of the plants.

Eventually, we came to another door, this one a wide double door, and Miss Yuuka came up to it, threw both doors open and stepped inside with enough space for Yamame and I to follow behind her. I could hear a clattering sound as if something had dropped to the floor. "Elly!" Miss Yuuka barked; her voice sharp. "How many times must I tell you not to drop the trays!?"