/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Yamame's sisters truly were lifesavers. Once, on one of the occasions that Reimu had come to visit Yamame and me, rather than us going to the Shrine, she'd filled us in on the details. "Yeah - It was, er...Yuru? Yura? Yeah, Yura. She's been up to see me a few times, trying to sort out all of the preparations for this whole thing." Reimu took a long sip of her tea. "She's a bit scattered, though. I snuck around the side to watch when I saw her come up the steps, then turn around and go back down. She did it three times in a row before finally getting to the top."

"Probably scared of you." Yamame said. Or rather, Yamame had to whisper more than anything, because she'd laughed so much at my recounting of Kisami and my visit to the Ruined Mansion that she'd actually lost her voice for a little while. "She talks a big game, but rarely ever comes to the surface because she finds a lot of humans scary." Yamame shrugged. Curiously, I asked her how something like that had happened, since she was so confident every time I saw her. "Honestly? I don't know. I think - Not sure, but I think she might have run afoul of an exterminator years back, and it's coloured a lot of her perceptions since."

"Oh, that'd make sense..." Reimu saw me looking at her curiously. "Wasn't me, honest." She said, raising her hands. "Plenty of would-be exterminators popped up after the Vampire Incident. Obviously, some were slightly more capable than others." Well, at least it wasn't some new revelation that Reimu had injured one of Yamame's sisters in the past. "Oh, er, I probably have, but - You know, that's just my job. It's not anywhere near as bad since the Spell Card Rules came into play."

I looked over at Yamame, who shrugged. "What? Yeah, that's about right. She's beaten me up more than once, too." I felt...A little conflicted about this. "Hey, if you're a youkai in Gensokyo, you just have to expect that sooner or later, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden will beat you up. It's just how it goes, right?"

"Right." Reimu agreed, making me look between the two in exasperation. I supposed it was both a Reimu thing and a Youkai thing, but I hoped that Reimu wouldn't be beating up anyone that I was now very close to any time soon. "Anyway, Yura came up - Seriously timidly - and when I finally managed to get her to say what she wanted, I invited her inside." Well, I thought to myself, spiders were typically pretty skittish, so maybe Yura's reaction made more sense than I thought. "I mean - I knew she was one of your sisters anyway, since she's got the same sort of clothing theme."
"Was she fidgeting?" Yamame asked, returning her own cup of tea to her lap. "Eyes shifting every which way and such?"

"Er...Yeah. Yep, definitely. Once I explained my side of things to her, though, it got a bit better. She's been up a few times since, and I think we're finally getting somewhere with the whole thing." That was good. I didn't know how anything was going to come together otherwise. "Yeah, well, that's why you've got us lot around." Reimu rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. "Had to go and see Yuuka, too. Well - I had to go and wait around in the village until she showed up, and then get her to bring me back to her house." How had that been? "She's still the same. Still, she was happy to help out once I'd explained things." That was very nice of her. "Yeah, well...I'd expect that she'll rig up something to do just a bit of light bullying. Might not be on you, but...That's her thing, after all." Teasing was the way she'd put it. "Same difference, where she's concerned." Reimu replied with a shrug.

"So - Yura's got things under control?" Yamame asked, taking a sip of her tea. "Has Reiko come to see you too? What about Ki?"

"Reiko...Is she the tall one? All down in front of her eyes? And, er...Kisami did come by, once, but - No, that was with you, when you had the interview session." Reimu said to me, frowning. "Is she supposed to be showing up?" She could probably help, somehow.

"Oh, actually, she's probably busy. She needs to resize your ring, doesn't she?" Yamame turned to me, poking me in the cheek. I pushed her finger away, then nodded. She'd picked the box containing the rings up, still a little out of it when I'd finally gotten her back to Yamame's home. She did recover once Yamame was busy choking on her own laughter, though, and - Still clutching those papers containing the Horismriver Ensemble's signatures like they were the most important thing in her life - Told us that it'd be a few weeks for her to resize the ring. Other work got in the way, she explained. They'd be done before the wedding, she assured us as she'd turned to leave.

"Oh, I meant to ask, actually." Reimu snapped her fingers. "Wedding outfits. What, uh, what are you planning to wear?" I hadn't really thought about that, I realised with some surprise. It was something I really should have done.

>>16346403
I mean us as living beings.
But I guess referring to the board as a whole is also fine.