/jp/ - Otaku Culture

With no forthcoming answers from Wakasagihime, who kept looking at Yamame and I and mischievously smiling, and a drunken, passed out gatekeeper in Meiling, and Kagerou staring up at the sky and casually chatting to Banki, who's head I'd finally spotted floating around her, though it was still too far from the only real source of light in the lamp that had sat on the picnic blanket - which had burnt out at some point, I decided that it was probably about time to get going. Yamame felt quite cold, and I was a little worried by how quiet she'd gotten, but I was also very thankful that she'd taken a moment to explain to me what exactly might happen if she got too cold. I tried my best to warm her up, but I came to the conclusion that the best choice I could make would be to simply go home, so I took off my coat and wrapped it around her, which she only offered some weak protests to, and even those fizzled out almost immediately.

"Are you going?" Kagerou asked me, sitting up from where she had been lying on her back on staring up at the stars. She caught the sight of Yamame, all bundled up in my coat. "Ah...Is she too cold? Sorry, I didn't think...I guess we're all just used to it." The wolf got to her feet and stepped over Meiling, who muttered something in her sleep and rolled onto her side. "Yamame, can you hear me?"

"Yes..." Yamame mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm fine, I just need to warm up a little..." She curled up in my coat, drawing it in closer around her.

"Okay, well..." Kagerou looked around. "We're really happy that you came tonight. We try to do these meetings every week at least, so we'd love it if you came again." She looked over at me. "Yamame and I were talking about possibly making me a new cloak, since my one is..." I looked at it, and I could tell that it was definitely well-worn. "Well, anyway, we were arranging to meet up to discuss it a bit further. In that café that I was, er, working at." I nodded and made an endorsement of Yamame's skills, pointing out that she'd made all of the clothes I was currently wearing. "Even that coat?" Kagerou asked, sounding impressed. "Wow, she really is good." The coat really did seem like her crowning achievement, I agreed. "So...Yeah. I think we were going to try and meet up in two days or so? Yamame?"

"Uh-huh..." Yamame mumbled. "Two days. Um, midday. Café..." Here, I decided that it was probably time to go, so I scooped Yamame up and she curled up into my chest. I'd spent so much time carrying girls around at this point that I found it fairly easy to lift her up without losing my balance or even feeling much exertion. "Nice meeting you all..." She managed to say, but she was getting more and more still.

That began the round of goodbyes properly, so Kagerou started by clapping me on the shoulder. "I'm glad you both came. And I hope you come again." I hoped so too. I hoped that Yamame was planning to as well, since that had been my intention for the whole thing.

Banki finally broke her streak of leaning against the rock and keeping out of sight, coming over toward us. Or rather, her body did. She wore a red cloak with a deep blue interior, and a black, tightly fitting shirt that hugged her hips and hung down in two spikes. Her skirt was red, but looked lighter in colour and seemed to be made out of a different, slightly softer material, and I took notice of, but forced myself not to stare, at the dizzying amount of her thighs that I could see, because her skirt was really rather short.

Of course, this all paled in comparison to the fact that she had no head. Hearing about a flying head youkai was one thing, but seeing her headless body stride toward us as if her head actually was there was definitely an unnerving image, and I tried my hardest not to stare in a rude manner. "Banki, what are you-?" Kagerou began, but Banki cut her off.

"Shut it." Her voice growled, though it still sounded like it was coming from a distance somewhere. "Nice meeting you. I'll probably see you again." I blinked for a moment, and even though I couldn't see her head, I got the idea that she felt like she'd said something wrong. "I do go to the village, sometimes." Her voice was a little quicker that time.

"Yeah." Kagerou said. "Sometimes." I'd heard Kagerou talking to Banki outside the café, so I guessed that she'd probably been coming to the village for a while. "But she'll be in disguise, right? You might never know when you're talking to a scary youkai! She could be anyone...A random villager, the girl at the flower shop...She could even be the waitress at a café" Kagerou told me with raised eyebrows and a spooky some of voice.

Sleep tight Sekibanki