/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I looked up at Kagerou and asked her if she knew what Meiling was talking about. Her sister? “Ah, yeah…She’s mentioned it before, usually only when she gets good and drunk. Seems that she had a sister, once. They grew apart, apparently. I think it’s a sore subject. Her name was…” Kagerou trailed off and frowned. “I know this. Hold on, it was something…A fruit. Orange? Maybe…?” I muttered some sort of acknowledgement, curious but unable to get any more answers. I thought of Kisami, Yamame’s elder sister with wild, red hair. She looked a little like Meiling, but she was a tsuchigumo, and Yamame had clearly known her since she was young besides, so I couldn’t imagine that they were related beyond it being a funny coincidence.

Kagerou sat down and reached over, pouring me some more sake from the bottle she'd brought over. Behind her, I saw Yamame looking slightly lost, and I was just about to call her over when Wakasagihime, the princess that she was, engaged her in a conversation about the places she had been, since she was more or less confined to the Misty Lake and the surrounding rivers that fed it. "So, you convinced her to come?" She asked me quietly. I looked over at Yamame, who was laughing at something that Wakasagihime had said, then I nodded to Kagerou. "And I convinced Banki - Banki!" She called, and the girl who was still leaning against the rock as if she was a statue herself started. "How long are you going to stand there by yourself? Come over here!"

"...I'm fine." Banki said, her voice sounding a little gravelly, like she didn't speak all that often. It also sounded slightly muffled, and I still couldn't actually see any evidence of a head on top of her shoulders, so I wondered if her actual head was somewhere else. Behind a rock, maybe? "I can hear just fine."
"Well, yeah, but-" Kagerou tried to entice her and failed immediately.

"It's fine." Banki stressed. "I'm happy enough here. Glad I came. Cheers." She raised the sake cup that she'd acquired from somewhere or other, and without really thinking, I did the same, then took a drink. Then, I realised that if her head wasn't there, how was she supposed to drink it? We stared at each other for a moment, then she finally just upended the cup where her head should have been. I had no clue if that would work, and it seemed to stretch incredulity just a little, but I'd stopped thinking about that sort of thing a long time ago. "Tastes good." She said, dryly, and I got the impression that she was smirking a little. "How did you get dragged into this?" Banki asked me, and I paused. I'd been interested in what a youkai gathering would be like, I finally said. Also, I wanted to try and introduce Yamame to some friendly youkai, which was looking like it had been a success. Finally - and I'd almost forgotten yet again - I wanted to return the stone that Wakasagihime had left behind to her.

Not wanting to miss the chance, I turned to Wakasagihime again. She and Yamame were talking about the largest body of water that Yamame had ever seen, in some place called Ostorail. I snorted, then with a sort of wave to Banki, stepped over to Yamame and put my hands on her shoulders, squeezing. She immediately sagged, and I let go before she could collapse entirely, then told Wakasagihime that it was Australia, not Ostorail. A massive, expansive ocean the likes of which I'd never even imagined could exist outside of the realm of books. So huge that you couldn't see an end to it, just endless blue where you struggled to tell what was ocean and what was the horizon. By the time I'd finished speaking, Yamame had recovered enough to punch me in the side, and I took it with as much grace as one can muster when punched in an area that causes your entire body to involuntarily move out of the way.

"Wow..." Wakasagihime mumbled. "That sounds incredible." It definitely had been, I could say that much for sure. "I'm, er, a freshwater mermaid, so I don't think I could go in big, salty oceans very well...But just hearing about them is nice enough!" She finished quickly, seemingly in an attempt to reassure us. I smiled and nodded, happy to have told her something interesting. "I bet there's some amazing gemstones out there..." She murmured to herself, and I nod, thinking that there surely were an uncountable number out there under the waves.