/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Masks are cool

Kokoro 1

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Kokoro sighed as she walked up the mountain, her ‘mother’s’ unreasonable requests aside. Kokoro’s mood had been terrible lately with the increasing tension in the (You)- Human village. It was hard to remember that with all the other Youkai around, how were her shows supposed to attract viewers when the novelty of her being a Youkai ran out. Not to mention all of the arousal and conflicting emotions in the air. The only good thing about that was that it warded her ‘father,’ Miko, away.

Unfortunately she had visited her earlier; Miko hadn’t had anything interesting to say, and the less time she spent in the spirit mausoleum, the better. Just who did miko think she was? Kokoro, there were only so many times she could tolerate being told to cease existence by wearing one of Miko’s shitty masks not good enough for her Noh.

The trip to the underground was never pleasant; the path was poorly maintained, up a steep portion of youkai mountain, and she didn’t want to fly and get into unnecessary fight like everybody else seemed to want to. And the underworld youkai universally possessed troublesome personalities. That’s why she preferred to have Koishi visit her rather than attempting and failing to find her amongst the troublesome youkai of former hell. Although she didn’t totally dislike it, the hot springs were lovely, even if the Oni were always so rowdy.

Luckily, she’d at the very least get to see Koishi, and her brooding had made the time go by faster, sighing sh-

Kokoro dodged to the side as a spear of ice embedded itself into the earth where she was previously, flinching as another icy spear came from another angle. Kokoro rolled as she summoned a set of blue flame familiars and prepared a wave of danmaku.

“Hi Kokoro!” Cirno said from behind her as an icy spear tip pressed against Kokoro’s cheek. “Watcha’ doin’,” Cirno asked with a smile and a childlike amusement as she threatened the mask youkai with her own set of geometric ice familiars orbiting her alongside several rice-shaped danmaku.

Kokoro stiffened. Her familiars straightened to a candle shape, and her surprised mask shifted to a worried one. Usually, she wouldn’t have paid the fairy any mind. Kokoro could go head to toe with Byakuren and Miko, making her a powerful but unaffiliated party in Gensokyo. But this was odd. Cirno shouldn’t be able to get the drop on her like this. ‘Is this another incident?’ Kokoro questioned if this was she didn’t want to mention Okina, the mastermind behind Cirno might be Yukari or someone worse.

“I’m just going to see Koishi,” Kokoro said, her mask displaying a half-guilty, half-honest expression.

“Oh, okay,” Cirno said with a smile. “I’m looking for suspicious people. Mind if I join you.” Cirno said carelessly, removing her spear from Kokoro’s cheek and spinning it in her hand alongside her danamku, like some form of coordinated dance.

Kokoro’s mask changed to a suspicious-looking one, ‘why does that seem so familiar? But besides that, I can’t refuse her without seeming suspicious. Even if I kill her, she can just come back and report to any mastermind she’s working for.’ Kokoro thought.

Kokoro’s mask was replaced with a thinking expression. ‘But, what if... I can complete both objectives. I’ll let Cirno come with me and figure out what’s wrong with her, and I can find Koishi for Okina.’

Kokoro nodded, dismissing her blue flame familiars. “Then let’s go.” she said, heading towards the cave entrance. She could hear Cirno giggling from behind her as she also dismissed her familiars. Fairies’ childish attitudes could make them unsettling sometimes.

‘Koishi and her sister aren’t the only ones capable of playing detective,’ she thought as her mask shifted to a determined one.

Cirno could only give her a suspicious side-eye as they descended into the cavern below. Kokoro was obviously wary, standing still for a minute as her mask flashed into different expressions, but when wasn’t she doing that? Besides, while she knew Koishi, there wasn’t any other proof of her working for Orin. Wasn’t the mouse, or was it the rat who was curious about her Koishi anyway? ‘Two birds, one stone.’ Cirno thought wryly as she spun her spear.

---

Luckily for them, a powerful youkai like Kokoro and a strangely strong fairy like Cirno warded off more predators than they attracted, with them only catching a passing glance of the spiders as they scuttled away into the darkness of the caverns.

The silence was only broken by Cirno as she twirled her icicle spear and would occasionally tap it against a nearby surface in a rhythm Kokoro could swear she remembered.

But their trip didn’t stay uneventful for long. As they reached the bridge to former hell, a certain less than unfamiliar blonde-haired and green-eyed Youkai laid eyes on the ice fairy Kokoro had accompanying her.