/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Salvation showed itself in the sliding door to Reimu's living quarters slamming open, and the Shrine Maiden herself poking her head out. "Urgh. You. No more banquets." She growled at Zanmu, before slamming the sliding door shut again. I looked at Zanmu, who tilted her head as if she didn't understand the request. The sliding door slammed back open, and Reimu now squinted at me. "You. Get in here before one of these idiots tries to take a bite out of you." I looked back at Zanmu, who raised her hand as if allowing me permission. I decided not to question it and instead headed straight for the building.
Inside, Reimu was sat at the same table I had first met her and Marisa at. She was missing her sleeves, and her ribbon was askew. She looked like she wanted to die. "Youkai. Get along with one, and another fifty show up for free booze." She muttered. "Sit down, and close the door. The sunlight's just making my head worse." I obliged her and offered to fetch her some water. "Would you? That'd be good." After I'd done so, she gulped it down and sighed deeply. "It's going to take forever to get these lot out of here." I asked her what exactly had happened. "Big incident. It's been sorted out, but it looks like I've gained another few freeloaders. Look, can we not talk about that? It was a headache at the time, and it's more of a headache now. That Zanmu's already spent half the night making plans for the next banquet, which is just code for party."
I instead remembered why I had even come here, and asked Reimu if she'd ever heard of the Hourai Elixir. "The...Hourai Elixir? Where did you hear about that?" I told her that a tengu had told me to ask her, and she buried her head in her hands. "Ugh...The tengu know about you? Is it Aya Shameimaru? Don't answer if it is." Roughly five seconds of silence ensued, and it ended with the 'thunk' of Reimu's head hitting the table. "Ow." She mumbled. I eyed her without speaking. "Shut up." Came the second mumble.
It took about a minute before she raised her head again. "I hate it when she gets involved. She's so obstinate." I asked Reimu if I should be worried about her. "Eugh...Not really, I guess. She's in it for the story. If she's helping, it's because she thinks she'll get a bigger scoop." I supposed I could handle that. "So, Hourai Elixir?" She asked, rubbing her red face. "She's been investigating, then. That's the thing Eirin made. Makes you immortal." I suddenly froze. I was in Eientei, in those beds. Doctor Yagokoro was there. She said...The Hourai Elixir cannot be countered. "Yeah, that's what I heard. No way around it. Why's Aya got you asking about that...?"
But I had just put together the other part of the conversation. The countering agent. "She wants to find a way to reverse it? Hmm. You know, you might be onto something. I didn't want to tell you this at the time, but that guide we saw in the Bamboo Forest? Mokou? She's an immortal." Several things clicked into place in my mind. Doctor Yagokoro, the immortal Fujiwara no Mokou, the supposedly irreversible Elixir. "You look like you've had a thought. Suits you. You should try having them more often." I frowned at Reimu. "Shut up." She muttered. "I'm hungover and you're making me think too much." I decided to ignore it. I'd also remembered something else, that Udonge, Doctor Yagokoro's assistant had said. That she was trying to bottle luck. "That sounds...also not possible. But if she could pull it off, it might just give her the boost she needs to solve the Elixir problem." I then pointed out that Udonge had said it was probably fatal. "Oh. Yeah, we can't have that." I had kind of doubted that we could. "So, that might be the answer to what she was doing. Doesn't explain why, or why you, or why Mokou's involved, or much else. So...I guess we're still not getting anywhere." Now it was my turn to put my head in my hands. "Well, er, don't worry too much. We're going to figure this out." I felt her lightly pat my shoulder and withdraw her hand quickly.

What would you do in a date with the miko?