/jp/ - Otaku Culture

My old room was empty, as were the others, and when Tenshi snapped her fingers, I jumped because of the silence. "Ah, the doors to the actual dojo are shut. That's where they'll be, I'm sure of it." How...Could she know that? "Air current." She replied with a shrug. Ah, I thought. That explained everything. "Well, let's go. I'm pretty sure she soundproofed that room, which is why we can't hear anything." We headed around to the dojo doors, which were indeed shut. Tentatively, I knocked, not sure what would be inside, and Tenshi rolled her eyes before grabbing hold of the handle and pulling the door open.

This resulted in an oni much bigger and heavier than her slamming into her at speed.

I had to give a lot of respect to Tenshi. Despite her general demeanour, she could pull out incredible feats when it came down to it, and when I realised that she hadn't even been moved by Raki's form crashing into her, all I could do was stare in amazement. She'd thrown her arm up to cover her face and turned her body to the side slightly, then pushed hard enough with her hips and feet that she'd only dug into the floor slightly before Raki finally dropped to the floor. Tenshi really was a monster of a person, I thought.

"Partner, that was too hard!" Raki shouted, rolling over and pushing herself up from the floor. "You're lucky it was the celestial back here and not our favourite human!"

"Hey!" I spotted Reimu, watching over in the back of the room with her arms crossed. She looked over at Raki. "He's your favourite? What am I?" Just behind her, watching curiously, was Yamame. She looked like she was enjoying herself.

"Er, third favourite - No, sorry - Second favourite." Raki looked back at Tenshi, who was shaking her hand in the air like it had hurt slightly. Then, her gaze fell on me. "It's good to see you." She said, smiling slightly. I smiled and nodded. Likewise.

"Hey, is it my turn yet?" That was a different voice, and I looked over to the opposite side of the room to see Suika Ibuki, sitting with her back against a wall and a bored look stuck on her face. "It's all well and good watching the two of you knock each other around, but I'd prefer to knock you around myself."

Also sat next to her, her sake dish in hand, was Yuugi Hoshiguma. "I'm not complaining about watching a good scrap, you know, but actually getting to fight in a good scrap is better." She grumbled, taking a long drink. "Oh, hey. You're here." She'd spotted me, and gave me a slight wave. Suika nodded at me. and I waved back before heading around to Reimu. "Does that mean we can finally get on with it?"

"I told you that they'd show up." Reimu muttered once I'd gotten over to her. That was her instinct, I imagined. "They've been...Well, just watch. You'll get it."

"I don't really get it..." Yamame said to me quietly, gesturing toward Lady Kasen, who'd acquired a towel to wipe her sweaty face. "They're having a fight, or a sparring match, or...Something."

"Alright!" Lady Kasen called. "Last one." She beckoned Raki into the centre of the dojo once more, and the two took matching poses.

"Oh, I get it." Tenshi said, rubbing her chin. "It's like Lao Tzu said: Knowing others is wisdom, but knowing yourself is enlightenment." Funnily enough, given the amount of things that went over my head on a typical day, I actually got that one. When Raki had been unsealed, the first thing they'd done was have a perfectly matched fight. And now...It was looking like the last thing they'd do before merging together, too.

"Go~" Suika called lazily, raising a hand in the air.

It was like I'd gone back in time to the moment that Raki had been unsealed. The two punched at the same time, their fists meeting in the centre of the room. They followed this with several more punches, each one perfectly countered by the other, and mere seconds after the match had started, they were using kicks, elbows, and knees. If one of them landed a shot, as Lady Kasen brought her knee up into Raki's stomach, then the other would match it, as Raki managed to bash Lady Kasen's jaw with her elbow. At one point, they each managed to lock their hands around each other's shoulders, and then slam their heads together.

The hits were strong enough that I could feel my coat being blown back by the pressure. I looked over at Reimu, who'd slung her gohei over her shoulder, and Tenshi, who had sat down, rolling the small hilt that must have been her flaming sword between her hands. "Um, even for oni, this is really..." Yamame mumbled in a small voice. "How can they possibly be that strong?" She asked blankly. Personally, I replied, I had a feeling that Lady Kasen's strength, and nearly every instance where she had shown it outside of when she was with Raki, had been held back. Maybe because of her beliefs as a hermit. Maybe because she didn't want it to be obvious that she had the strength of an oni. Either way, what I saw when she was with Raki was her true strength. Untethered and unbound.

>>45720865
She's already there.

>>45208585
>>45208594
Let's be real, given the personalities of both Kasen and the Celestials, this would probably be the most realistic means for her to reach her goal. And you absolutely gotta have that supernatural endurance to keep up with full-power Kasen, so clearly they make for the ideal partners.

Yamame Kurodani was panting, her breath hot and heavy. I could feel it against me, and at that moment I wanted nothing more than to pull her against me again and do some very unsavoury things. Things that would no doubt see me banned permanently from this hot spring. And despite the audience, maybe I would have fallen to temptation, but for the loud explosion I suddenly heard and certainly felt. It jarred me enough to make me try and stand up, only to slip and fall back into the water, where I took in a big lungful of water. That jogged my memory enough to remember what was happening as I forced myself up and began coughing heavily in an attempt to dislodge the water clogging my airways. Yamame helped by thumping me on the back. "Hey, should I take a crack at it?" I heard Raki ask, and suddenly I found that I could, in fact, breathe perfectly fine. Still gasping a little, I managed to tell her that no, I was fine, thank you very much. "Your loss..." Raki muttered, turning her head to the side. “What’s a human’s tolerance level?” I hear her whisper to Lady Kasen, who coughed loudly.

Personally, I imagined the only real loss would be that of my intact spine if I started letting Raki hit me on the back, so I didn't feel too broken up about it. Once I was breathing normally again, Yamame looked about ready to relax back into the water, except now I'd spotted what the explosion had been. Out through the balcony, up in the air well above the Hot Spring Town, was a giant oni. Suika, grown to gargantuan sizes, was attempting to kick Yuugi, who seemed to be running - or rather, flying - circles around her. "She can't move as fast when she's that big." I heard Lady Kasen say, though she didn't sound entirely interested in the occurrence. I decided that it was probably because she'd had more than enough experience in her life of watching the two fight, so it probably didn't mean much to her anymore. "Is she just showing off? Who for?"

"Probably letting Yuugi blow off some steam." Raki muttered, crossing her arms at the exact same moment that Lady Kasen did. "She loves teasing her, but she knows that if she pushes it too far, it'll just become full-on bullying." There was a moment of silence disrupted only by the sound of very dangerous looking danmaku being thrown around in the open air above the Hot Springs Town. "It'd probably be far less fun if it was outright bullying, though. One of these days, we'll get her somewhere she can't run away from."

"And what do you plan to do then?" Lady Kasen asked, raising an eyebrow. "Beat her up? That seems more your speed."

"Nah..." Raki shot me a smirk and I felt Yamame cling to my arm a little tighter. "Teach her all about where babies come from, I think. I really want to know if it's possible to kill an oni by embarrassing them until their head explodes." She looked at Yamame and I a little closer. "Maybe I could use you as a live demonstration." I shot upright, then told her somewhat sternly that I'd much rather be with Yamame. At that, Raki's smile grew even wider, and her eyes narrowed in a way that I could only imagine to be slightly lustful. "Hm, Bring her too. We'll give Yuugi a real show." Yamame squeaked, then tried to stammer something, though what came out made little sense at all. I stared at Raki with my mouth open as her smile widened.

There was another bout of silence after that comment, and it was only disturbed when Lady Kasen slapped Raki in the back of the head. "Get a grip, partner." She told her sternly, and Raki stuck her tongue out at Lady Kasen, who scoffed. "Be nice. No trying to tempt the cutest couple Gensokyo's ever seen into your particular brand of sin." She told her. "Or I'll have to take you outside too."

"Our brand of sin, dear. And you'd love that, wouldn't you? Chance to beat up the personification of all your sins? How could you resist?" Raki's voice was dry and I could detect the slightest hint of pain in it. She still hated that she was the villain in Lady Kasen's eyes rather than another part of herself. It seemed to be the same story between the two of them.

But then, the story took a twist. "My sins, and yours too." Lady Kasen said quietly, not looking away from Raki, who now looked a little like a deer in the path of a hunter. "You're not the personification of all of my sins. You're me and I'm you. You - You're not just my pain and malice and hatred anymore. You're my partner."

And for once, I saw Raki stunned into silence.

>>45006063
Kasen is going to rejoin with her arm just so that she has enough stamina to keep up with the others, and thus Anon brings an end to to the thousand-year old conflict within Kasen through his love.

>>44890192
Unlike all female youkai, she can bear twice as many. Maybe more.