/jp/ - Otaku Culture

The session was mostly a recounting of the events that had occurred in the previous session before everything had spiralled out of control. I'd found myself very glad of Reimu's presence once I got around to describing the events that had killed my parents, because she was able to take over the explanation for a moment or two. I hadn't taken much time to think about it truly, so I hadn't realised that it still caused me pain deep down. To have my family stolen from me like that. "And How did that make you feel? Deep down, inside?" Eirin asked me, her tone still a strange mix of her usual coldness and something slightly warmer I was silent for a few moments. Powerless, I eventually settled on. It made me feel powerless, like I had no control over whether I lived or died. "These sorts of situations can have that effect, yes. It's partly why there was an uptick in youkai exterminators in the time immediately following the incident we are speaking of. After a few years, it died back down. You were not the only one to lose a loved one in that night, of course. Plenty tried to take matters into their own hands. Gain back some of the control they felt they had lost." Eirin seemed to know a lot, considering how private Eientei seemed to be. "We may have kept to ourselves in those days, but remaining uninformed would not be productive for anyone."

"I remember that." Reimu said, looking up from where she'd been sat cross-legged on her chair with her eyes closed. "I'd be rescuing a would-be youkai exterminator every few days." She frowned, rubbing absent-mindedly at her head. "Yeah, it wasn't a good time. For anyone, really. Even the youkai weren't enjoying themselves after that." For a moment, I saw through the veil and realised that Reimu had some similarly haunting memories of that time, and then she blinked and squeezed her eyes shut, and it all disappeared again. "Well, that's why the Spell Card Rules came into existence." She said, shrugging.

I looked up at the ceiling. I supposed, after some thought, that perhaps that had been part of why I'd gone to Marisa in the first place. Oh, I'd forgotten by then, but perhaps there was some element of wanting control back to it. "And do you think you found that? That sense of control?" Eirin asked me, putting another set of marks on her clipboard. I supposed that I had, in a way. After a while, at least, because the first few dates that I'd gone on had ended up...Well, I supposed Eirin remembered those well enough. "Yes, I suppose so." Eirin sounded a little stiff, but I supposed that I couldn't blame her. Or rather, I absolutely could blame her, since it had resulted in the start of the whole Eientei Investigation and general horrors I'd experienced.

Eirin placed the clipboard down with a sigh. "I fear that we aren't going to make meaningful progress without...Clearing the air somewhat." I looked over at her with narrowed eyes, and I heard Reimu's clothing shift as she picked up her gohei. "This is supposed to be your session, but..." She rubbed at her forehead tiredly. "You still mistrust me, and I cannot blame you for doing so. Therefore..." She crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. "Please ask me any questions you feel would help to assuage this mistrust."

I stared for a moment, then tentatively asked her what exactly had made her pick me to begin experimenting on. "I was not lying when I spoke to you on our last encounter. I knew that you were something strange, and I wanted to understand you. My methods were, perhaps, questionable." But was that all? She'd seen me before then, too, and she'd not thought anything of me back then. "You didn't become a person of interest until after that first encounter. As I told you, I began to notice that you were attracting youkai." And then, why had she taken it as far as she had? Was it just me? "It was just you." She confirmed, then paused for a moment. "There's a question you want to ask. I'd like you to ask it now."

I did have a question like that, but I had been struggling to get it out. Why...All of it? Why had she gone so far? Why had she gone so far that even the other rabbits had gotten worried about sticking around her? Even disregarding myself, I couldn't understand why she had pushed herself so far. "This subject is... a source of some embarrassment." Eirin began, looking away from me. I rarely saw her display much emotion, so even a small display like this was worth taking note of. "I have already explained to you what drove me." She glanced over at Reimu for a split second. "I won't be repeating it. But, as part of that, I devised a medicine of my own making. It eliminated the need for sleep." My eyes widened because I couldn't imagine doing something like that. Sleep was nice. I liked sleep too much for that. Plus, Doremy Sweet would probably be mad at me, and while I wasn’t sure what the Ruler of Dreams would do to me if she was upset with me, I wasn’t all that keen to find out either.