/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Let it never be said that Hong Meiling was an inattentive gatekeeper.

As soon as Patchouli Knowledge left the mansion, which was a momentous occasion in itself, Meiling was thinking. What had happened recently that could convince the Great Unmoving Library to move itself at long last? Meiling had been into the village somewhat recently, on one of the occasions that the Young Mistress desired something on some new whim and Miss Sakuya had been unable to carry everything at once. On those occasions, Miss Sakuya claimed that Meiling's "Typically pointless strength" came in handy for carrying large amounts of groceries. It was only slightly hurtful. In the village, she had seen a building that she couldn't remember seeing before. Miss Sakuya had told her to put it out of her mind and never, under any circumstances, tell the Slightly-Less-Young Mistress about it.

Unconsciously, Meiling's body began to move into the complicated stances of Tai Chi. It was what she did when she needed to think even if it had little use in a place like Gensokyo. Meiling hadn't been able to see any of the other gatekeepers she knew for a long time. Elly had disappeared despite her master still roaming the Garden of the Sun, and Sara had vanished along with the gates of Makai. Tewi was still trying to convince her that she was a gatekeeper and not chief prankster, and the less said about those strange girls, one pink and one green with funny-looking hats, who had tried to convince her that they were technically gatekeepers and then offered her a job, the better.

All in all, Meiling was feeling a little lonely.

She stepped forward with one leg, stretching the other leg as far as she could. Then, she tilted her head just slightly to the side, raised two fingers, and brought them together. Opening her eyes, she looked back to see the wickedly sharp knife that she had caught between her fingers, then looked forward at the stony-faced Head Maid. "Miss Sakuya?" Meiling asked, tossing the knife in the air and catching it by the handle. She threw it back at the maid, who didn't move, but was suddenly spinning it across her fingers until it danced back into the sheath that she kept strapped around her thigh. "Is something the matter?"
The head maid crossed her arms. "Patchouli has been gone longer than her previous excursions." She tilted her head. "What did she tell you?"

Meiling frowned and thought back. "Er...She just said she had business." Not true, actually. "No, she said something about temperaments, too..." There was something else, Hong... "Oh, she said to tell you to, er, 'tell Remi...'" Come on, Hong, you were paying attention. "'To go...to the human village...?'" Was that it? Surely that was it. Hong Meiling was not, as already mentioned, an inattentive gatekeeper.

"Is that right...?" Miss Sakuya didn't look convinced. "Well, you certainly don't seem busy. I'm charging you to go and retrieve our resident Magician before she collapses." Meiling's eyes widened. A task that required her to leave the Mansion? That was rare.

"But what about the gate, Miss Sakuya?" Meiling asked.

Miss Sakuya, who had turned away, looked over her shoulder. "We both know that an intruder would get in regardless." And then, she vanished.

Meiling sniffed unhappily. It wasn't her fault that martial arts weren't a natural fit to the Spell Card Rules! Before they'd come to Gensokyo, Miss Sakuya had seen Meiling as indispensable! Being unappreciated was an awful fate. Alas, orders were orders. Meiling turned and whistled, and before long, her fairy maid detachment was running out to meet her. Meiling only got to train them because they had been sitting idle in the mansion itself, and Sakuya didn't care if Meiling got the scraps.

So she had taken them, and trained them to defend the Scarlet Devil Mansion. They were less carefree than those in the mansion full-time, and as Meiling explained why she would be absent, they all seriously nodded and took up their positions on the gate and walls of the mansion. Meiling thanked them profusely for their surface, then turned and took to the air.

Patchouli had given her a message for Remi about the human village, so that was Meiling's first port of call. She touched down at one end of the village, near the canals, where that nice flower shop owner who had given her free seeds worked. Only, he didn't seem particularly enthusiastic today. He slumped over the counter of his store, and only raised his head lethargically as Meiling entered the store. "Mhm?" He mumbled into the desk. "Oh, Miss Gatekeeper. Welcome..."

"Um, are you okay...?" Meiling ventured, stepping into the store. "Is business slow, Mr. Shigeru?" The store itself still looked cared for, which made a youkai attack unlikely.

"Just call me Takumi. Tak, if you're feeling lazy." Tak shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Plenty of people want flowers these days. No, it's..." He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair. "It's that...building."