/jp/ - Otaku Culture

It was the same thought that I'd had at the Shrine, but now that I was in my house again, it was hitting harder. "It's kind of like that for me, too." Reimu said quietly. "With my mother. She's dead, but she might have resolved the Vampire Incident differently. It might never have led to the Spell Card Rules. And then, we'd all be leading very different lives." Reimu stepped forward and stopped beside me. "I don't think it's about whether or not their deaths led us to better or worse lives. It's just about living with what we've got, regardless of whether it would have been better or worse. We...Carry them in our memories. In our mannerisms and actions. And sometimes, maybe that's just what we've got to work with."

I wondered if Reimu still remembered specific detail. The colour of her mother's eyes, for example. Or the way she laughed. "I...Sometimes. I can recall her, if I really want to. That's the thing...I have to really want to, and the rest of the time, she sleeps in the back of my mind, and I can carry on." She looked at me forlornly. "It's probably harder for you. Your memories were freshly reawakened and you're remembering new things. But...The memory of them won't always be a sad one, I think." I hoped not, but I wasn't sure. It had been easier at the party, when I'd not actually been remembering new things about them. Now, it was starting to get overwhelming. I placed the pot that I'd picked up back down, took in a shaky breath, then asked Reimu when she'd gotten so wise. "Shut up." She replied with a slight smile. "I think about it from time to time since you've been around."

Yamame took hold of my hand again as we left the kitchen. There was probably more. More little things that I'd never noticed, but the door was the big one. What could only be my parent's room. As I moved to the door, I didn't know if I could do it. Would it even be clean. It could very well just look like it had when they had died. I wasn't sure I could open the door, but as my raised hand trembled, Yamame came to help me, just like she always did. She steadied my hand, and we reached out together to push the door open.

Inside, it was clean. Freshly cleaned, it seemed. "Ah." Reimu muttered. "Yuuma said she was cleaning." She'd been very good, I thought, especially for a mob boss from Hell. The room was slightly bigger than my one, and the bed was larger. There were items next to the bed, and an open wardrobe which still held a kimono or two inside. But...Funnily enough, I wasn't really feeling any intense flashes of memory like I had outside the house. There was...Something. Like, I'd perhaps had a nightmare and asked my parents if I could sleep with them. It was strange. I'd thought that this would be the hardest room, but...It just felt like another room. At least, until Reimu frowned. "What's that?" She asked, pointing in the direction of the wall next to the bed. I looked in the direction she was pointing and repeated her frown. I wasn't sure. There was something there, so I stepped into the room and rounded the bed.

Still, we eventually got inside. "You remember where Yura and Reiko are, don't you?" I nodded. The top floor. "Come find me when you're done with whatever that mean little sister of mine tells you to do. Then we can talk all about your ring for Yamame." Which little sister? "Reiko, the meanest of them all! Honestly, I've never been mean in my life..." And with that, Kisami kissed me on the cheek, proclaiming that if I married Yamame, she'd be giving me the same treatment that she gave her. That sounded a little scary, so I just smiled and nodded, and she waved before disappearing back out of the door, leaving me in the building alone, which was a strange experience. I could also feel a bead of sweat rolling down my head, since I'd forgotten that it was very hot in the Hot Springs Town, so I went and looked for the same storage room that I'd stashed my coat in on my last visit. Fortunately, unlike last time, I was actually wearing something underneath my sweater. Unfortunately, it was one of my newly reclaimed T-shirts, which I had a feeling would stand out even more in Former Hell. Even more unfortunately, I clearly didn't have much of a choice, so I pulled my sweater off and stashed it, along with my coat, in a hidden corner of the room and stepped back outside into the hallway.

Funnily enough, all the outside sound seemed to fade once I was in here, and it was suddenly quiet. I headed for the stairs, intent on heading straight up, and as usual, my luck failed me, because I walked straight into a smaller spider on my way and knocked them down. "Ouch! Is that you, Kisa- Oh!" I recognized that voice. It was that other sister of Yamame's, the shorter one with the black hair that I had first seen with Yura and Reiko coming to Yamame's house to ask her for more wooden planks. I hadn't seen her since then, and I didn't think she'd seen me, but there did seem to be some recognition in her light brown eyes. "What's a human doing - Oh, hang on, I recognize you."

Did she? "Yeah, you're him, aren't you? The human keeping poor Yams so busy that she can't come and see her dear, loving sisters." Frowning, I tried to open my mouth, but she cut me off. "Oh, relax. I know she loves you, and if she loves you, you can’t be all that bad." I stuck a hand out and after a moment, the other spider took it, allowing me to help her to her feet. "Thanks. Name's Ruka, by the way. What's yours?" I gave her my name, then asked her how she had recognized me. "Oh, I saw you. When Yura, Reiko, and I were talking to Yams. You were up in her workshop, weren't you?" I'd thought that I'd done a better job of hiding. "Ha." Ruka dryly laughed. "Good luck hiding from an underground youkai. You humans are awful at stealth. I was watching you for half the conversation." Ruka shook her head with a small laugh. "Yams definitely knew I was watching, anyway. She was just nice enough to not let you know."

"So, uh, what are you doing here?" Ruka asked me, crossing her arms. I asked her I could get off of the staircase at the very least. "I dunno. I quite like you being the same height as me here." I stared at her blankly. "Oh, fine." There was something very Yamame-like about the way she said that, but she did shift back enough for me to get off of the staircase and onto the landing. Now that I was standing on a proper bit of floor, I explained that Kisami had needed someone to talk to the oni, as well as handle some menial tasks that needed doing. "Huh. Yams didn't go for that?" She'd wanted to, but I had insisted. "You're a very strange human, you know that?" Ruka told me, raising an eyebrow. I laughed a little, then said that I'd heard that plenty of times. "Well, I'll not keep you. Pass my love to Yamame, won't you?" I promised that I would, and Ruka slipped past me and headed down the stairs. I wondered just how many of Yamame's sisters knew about me as I headed up the rest of the stairs and up to the top floor of the building, which was less quiet.

"-Through their teeth! I'm telling you, Reiko, there's no way Hoshiguma can pay for this! I mean, we had to draw up at least two extra contracts just for all the wood, and the oni kept messing with the big fucking rock, and then we had to throw in another contract for dealing with said big fucking rock after they broke it, and-" I could hear Yura's muffled voice through the walls, and she didn't sound at all pleased.

"We've had this sort of thing before, Yu. It always works out." I heard Reiko reply, sounding tired. "Remember the coffee incident?" I certainly did, but it was for different, simultaneously happier, and more harrowing reasons. I'd barely made it out of there alive, no matter how much Yamame asserted that she was perfectly calm and in control. Coffee was to be kept well away from her without constant supervision.

"U-Uh, Miss Kurodani..." The shorter oni stepped forward. "We didn't mean nothin' by it, honest." It was almost amazing how quickly the two had changed. "S'just that we've been stuck out here since that rock came down and we were hoping to get back to business soon."

"I know, and we're doing our best to get you all back in business." Yamame sounded rather sympathetic. "But you're far from the only ones with this problem, you know? Half the district's got rotten wood coming up to their ears, and the last thing my sisters need is you lot stealing their supplies and causing a scene!" She pointed a finger at the two. "Now, I want an apology from the two of you. For even daring to shout at a sister of mine."

"U-Um, sorry, Miss Kuro-" The shorter oni began.

"Not to me!" Yamame snapped, shaking her head. "You've not insulted me! And don't 'Um, sorry' her! "

Sufficiently cowed, the oni instead looked at the tiny waif of a girl that was Yamame's sister. "I truly apologize, Miss Kurodani. We shouldn't have shouted at you." His taller brother followed suit, both of them bowing deeply. Then, they looked back at Yamame, who put her hands on her hips.

"Much better, boys. Now, why don't you two go and get drunk somewhere in the city? Let my sisters get on with their work?" Yamame fished around in her pocket and pulled out a small amount of money, which she slapped down into the shorter oni's hand. "Here, on me. Have that on me."

"O-Oh, thank you, Miss Kurodani." The taller oni rumbled, a jagged smile issuing from his toothy mouth. "We'll go now!" He nudged his brother, and they both lumbered off up the winding staircases.

The tiny Kurodani rushed up to Yamame and wrapped her arms around her waist, which was just about as high as she could get. "Thank you, Big Sis!" She cheered, and I saw some of the other girls cheer too. "They've been harassing us for days!" She released Yamame and stepped back. "Wouldn't take my word for it that we knew what we were doing, either! And Hoshiguma was gone, so we couldn't have her vouch for us, and Big Sis Reiko was too busy, so..."

"Relax." Yamame told her, placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. "Oni are always difficult to deal with. It just so happens that I've got some experience with it. They should leave you alone for a while, but if they don't, just threaten to get me back down here. Should keep them in line long enough to get the replacements done." The younger spiders nodded gratefully. "Speaking of which...How is the work going?"

"Oh, it's, um...Mostly fine. We should be done in a day or so...But we've only had those two oni breaking some of the wood. I heard Nai say that on the higher levels, they've been dealing with actual fights."

"Nai said that?" Yamame asked curiously. "I didn't think she was doing any work down here."

"Um, she wasn't, but Big Sis Yura came to the caves and brought her down." The tiny spider scratched her head. "She's quite a fast learner, actually..."

"Is that right...?" Yamame murmured, tilting her head. "Hmm..." I cleared my throat. "Oh! Um, yes. Anyway, I'm off to try and sort out the rest of these oni, but you seem to be doing fairly well. Hoshiguma's back, too, so I'm hoping that the rest will calm down before long. Keep up the good work!"

The Kurodani workers thanked Yamame and got back to work, leaving us to press on. As we walked, following the path around the springs, I asked Yamame just what I'd witnessed. "Well..." She scratched her head. "Um, basically, when we helped to put together a lot of the Old City's buildings, I was..." She looked very hesitant to say it, and I stared at her for a while, then asked her to continue. "I...Oh, fine. I was in a bit of a, um, rebellious phase. Slightly more violent, I guess, and I think the oni liked that. Or something. Honestly, I don't actually know for sure. But if I act like I did then, they're usually pretty receptive." To be honest, I'd found it quite attractive. Yamame let out a little gasp and slapped me on the arm. "Hush, you scoundrel! Don't say that sort of thing aloud!" But after a moment, she looked away. "Wait until we're home, at least."

At the next place on Reiko's diagram of places that the oni had been stopping up work at, I was pleased to see that we were not needed. We had climbed a set of stairs and turned onto another twisting street, where I could see a house already looking like it was sagging slightly, and I could see the signs of web and piles of wood. But unlike the last time, here were Yamame's sisters, all stood back and watching from the side of the street.

A day later, my clothing alterations were done, even if I felt too exhausted to wear them very much. It took me even longer to escape Yamame's clutches in the bedroom than usual, and by the time I did, I was unable to do much more than stagger to the kitchen for as much water as I could possibly take in. Then, I collapsed on her couch and stared at the ceiling, wondering how I had survived my time in Yamame's home at all. "You sleepy?" Yamame asked me, leaning over the back of the couch and staring at me. Her hair fell into my eyes, and I grumbled lightly as I tried to ineffectually bat it away. "Alright, you big lug, move up and let me get in there." Using what I could only assume to be some sort of youkai or spider athleticism, she hopped over the back of the couch, her feet managing to perfectly land in-between where my legs were sprawled out. She was, again, only wearing her shorts.

She eventually rolled me over just enough to slip in behind me, then wrapped one arm and one leg around me. "You'd make an excellent living as a body pillow, you know." I rubbed my eyes and said that I was already Yamame's body pillow, and I didn't seem to be getting much sleep out of the deal. "Aw, but you're doing such a good job! I've never slept so well in my life." I'd wager that it wasn't just helping her sleep that I was doing. "Actually, I'd rather you stay as my body pillow. I don't want to share." I didn't think I'd want to share, either, and even if I did, Yamame ran me ragged as it was. Plus, I didn't really want something that I felt no real connection to. Yamame was different to others.

Something was concerning me. I'd not really thought about it through the whirlwind of the last few days and nights, but I really should have and I was fairly certain that every adult I'd spoken to while I was growing up would have kicked me for it. I'd done...things. Yamame had been very, very vocal about where she wanted me to...finish. Near enough every time.

Having grown up without any parents but not quite as an orphan, I'd been more or less raised by the grandparents in my neighbourhood, and when it wasn't them, I was essentially brought up by the Hieda family's temple school. Miss Kamishirasawa had been my teacher, but she'd also been willing to teach me some of those sorts of skills that parents usually did. This had, on an occasion so embarrassing that I'd almost repressed it like plenty of my other trauma, included The Talk. Everyone got The Talk from their parents at some point. Keine Kamishirasawa was not good at giving The Talk. I don't think she had ever planned on giving The Talk to anyone. In what could charitably be called her attempt at giving me The Talk, she had mumbled some words while blushing redder than a tengu, and it had taken three times longer than I imagined it took for other teenagers. I had come away from The Talk wondering if Miss Kamishirasawa would ever have to do that again, and if she was going to be halfway decent at it on the next attempt.