/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I didn't want to. That story was as much Yamame's as mine, and I didn't want to tell a stranger. Slowly, I said that Reimu had gotten injured when she fell down a hole that the tsuchigumo had built. She had caught an illness and by the time I'd reached the Shrine, she was too weak to do anything. "The tsuchigumo? Those spiders should know better than to build a hole that humans could fall down. Perhaps I'll have to have a word." I felt a bead of sweat on my temple, and hoped that Yamame had found the time to fix the hole before this woman could do something dangerous. "And this illness..." She shook her head. "I've never seen Reimu quite so weak, and I saw her inflicted with radiation poisoning." I didn't know what radiation poisoning was, but I agreed with her on the weakness. "But then, I found out from an old friend that you were taking care of her. Explain why." There was no question in that sentence. It was a demand, and one that had an unspoken threat at the end.

After a moment, I said that I owed her a lot. "Hmm..." Hearn leaned back in her own chair. "I suspect that you are leaving certain details occluded, but it's a start. Tell me, how do you feel about Reimu Hakurei?" Now, I felt like I was being closely examined. This was a test, more than anything else. I spoke slowly, each word very exacting in its usage. I told her that I looked up to her greatly, and that I wanted to repay her for everything that she had done for me. Privately, I was very thankful that we had shared that bath prior to this conversation, or I might have had a significantly more muddled answer. Hearn stared at me like I was a specimen, and I felt almost like I was looking into a strange reflection of Doctor Yagokoro. "I see." She finally said as if she'd just comprehended something. "And that is all you feel?" I nodded, now sure in my feelings toward Reimu. "How interesting..." She looked away and said something under her breath, but the only thing I managed to catch were the words 'greatly disappointed'. I hoped she wasn't talking about me.

Before she could say anything else, that silent waiter appeared and placed two plates on the table. Meat, cooked to a medium rare, with rice and pickled ginger served to the side. Hearn's dish was much the same, though the meat seemed slightly different. She noticed me looking. "A similar meal. Beef, in your case. You might find my choice of meat a little...close to home." I felt the cold rush through my body. She surely wasn't..."My shikigami truly can work miracles, it seems. Even in a place such as this, I can enjoy my favourite foods." She was. She was a youkai, and she was absolutely eating human meat across from me, in what could only be a high-class restaurant. A human had served the dish. Had a human cooked it, too? "I would recommend that you do not think on it too much. It is a preference that all youkai have. Some must eat it. Some simply enjoy eating it. Some eat it because they haven't discovered the joys of other sustenance." I tried to keep my voice steady as I asked what her reasoning was. "Myself? I try to appreciate all kinds of food. This is merely one facet of my tastes." She told me, slicing a strip of the meat and raising it to inspect. I tried to force down the queasy feeling in my stomach. "I could go without, yes." I hadn't asked, but it must have been clear on my face. "But unlike some...others, I do not try to deny myself." She looked at my untouched food. "Do try to eat. It'd be a sore shame if you missed out. That cow might have had a name too, for all you know." I didn't want to listen to her, but I knew that not eating would upset her. Slowly, I managed to take up the utensils on either side of the plate. I hadn't used them regularly, but I knew enough to work with them. Clumsily at first, I managed to slice off a portion of the beef and eat it with a chunk of rice.