/jp/ - Otaku Culture

The exit from the attic was exactly where she remembered, and Marisa took no time at all to make her way over there without tripping. Cautiously, she poked her head down low enough to see into the corridors of Eientei, which were empty and just as silent as last time. It was still disconcerting. "Let me go first." Tenshi whispered into her ear, crouching down next to her. "You might trip." She didn't give Marisa a chance to respond before she began to descend the steps into Eientei proper, leaving Marisa little choice but to follow behind her.
"It's this way." Marisa said once they were situated, pointing down the hallway they had followed on their last incursion.

"No, it's this way." Tenshi pointed in the opposite direction, deeper into Eientei. "What, you think they're going to have a counselling session at the front door? No, they'll be further in." She saw Marisa hesitating.


"Can you tell?" Marisa finally asked with a frown. "Sense the air currents or something?"
"...Not this time." Marisa found that she didn't much like the way uncertainty looked on Tenshi's face. "It's weird...Like they're all jumbled up. We got lucky last time, since Eirin had her office door open, but wherever they are, it's not got a clear enough flow of air for me to tell." That probably meant that they'd gone in a room and shut the door. Not good, but it could be worse. "...Alright, let's just start moving." Tenshi finally said, an intense frown creasing her brow. "Stay behind me."

The weird protective stuff she was doing could really go away, though. Marisa scoffed, then pointedly followed next to the taller girl instead of behind her. "Look, I know I got injured last time, but I'm not gonna let it happen again. At least, not without getting some good shots in myself." She poked Tenshi in the side, then suppressed a giggle when she jolted.

"Stop that!" Tenshi whined at her. "I'll definitely get you back, you know."

Marisa smiled smugly. "Hm. Looking forward to it." Any reasonably justification to escalate to actually getting to punch Tenshi in the face was a justification to take.

Eventually, after following through some twists and turns in the corridors, but encountering no one, Tenshi held her hand up. "Wait, there's..." She frowned intensely. "No, what's...?" She began mumbling to herself, and when Marisa strained to hear, it sounded like some sort of equation. "Shit." Tenshi finally finished, cursing. "We've screwed up. We're going on in circles."

"What?" Marisa frowned. "I think I've got enough experience breaking into houses to know when I'm somewhere I've already been." And she hadn't felt anything. It felt like things were normal.

"It's the air. It's...Oh." Tenshi suddenly froze, standing up straight and looking from side to side. "Oh, no..." She mumbled under her breath. For a second, Marisa considered asking, but then Tenshi burst into movement, throwing open the nearest door and dragging Marisa inside. "Hide!" She hissed.

The room was some sort of living room, with bookshelves, cabinets, small tables and a pile of folded up sheets in the corner. Tatami mats covered the floor. Tenshi wasted no time in throwing herself into a crouch behind a cabinet in such a way that hid her from view to Marisa at the door. Marisa whipped her head back and forth, then crept to the pile of folded sheets and dragged it just slightly to the side and over by the cabinet, then she flattened herself against the wall and hoped that whoever was coming didn't know what this room had looked like.

The door opened, and Marisa grit her teeth to stop herself from breathing too loudly, because there was Kaguya Houraisan, peering into the room. "Inaba~" She called softly. "Was that you?" Just dismiss it as a noise. As nothing at all. "Eirin~!" She called. "I think there's a noise youkai in Eientei again~!" After a moment's silence, she tutted. "Oh, she's busy..." It looked like she wasn't interested in coming into the room to check thoroughly. With just a little bit of luck, they'd be making it through.

And then, of all the possibly moments, Marisa's nose began to itch. It was the most maddening thing possible. It was luck that was actually so bad that Marisa felt like going to the Yama and asking her to strike a sin from her record as recompense. Seriously? A sneeze? Now, of all times? She caught Tenshi's eye from across the room. The ex-celestial had noticed, and Marisa could see her eyes widening. She frantically tried to shake her head without letting the motion break her cover, but it was too little, and too late. There was no way she could avoid it.