/jp/ - Otaku Culture

You are a human from the human village. One day you come out for a walk in broad daylight. After a while, you start hearing another set of footsteps, just out of sync with yours. It's probably just a fairy, but to be safe you turn around and head back towards home, but the footsteps get closer and louder, and you start running through the list of youkai you know how to deal with in your head. Unfortunately, you run through that list pretty quickly, and you start thinking about the ones you can't handle.

Just as you're getting to some of the really mean ones, Kogasa drops down in front of you, hanging by her knees from a tree-branch. You were so absorbed in thought that you reflexively jump back, and before you can recover yourself, her huge umbrella-tongue gives your face a nice long lick. She giggles, says "Thanks for the meal, mister!", and floats away into the sky, leaving you weak and drained, barely able to get back to your warm house.

You're bedridden for a few days, but the worst part is when you recover and have to face your friends. "So, what's the story?" asks a man who lost his left arm to Rumia. "Yeah, tell us" says the young boy who courageously rescued his two brothers from Yukari. There's a hush in the bar, and everyone's listening.

You try to obscure the details, saying you didn't really get a good look at the creature, but nobody's buying it. "You say it was a young girl?" they say. "Well, what did she look like? What's this about a long tongue?" The schoolteacher gives you a knowing smirk, and you have to admit that Kogasa surprised you.

The crowd erupts in laughter. Young children who have to be warned about fairies jeer at you. The man who once tripped over Youmu's phantom half sighs in relief: there will be a new butt of jokes in the village.