/jp/ - Otaku Culture

On it were the words 'Hi! Kagerou and Hime here. Hime says that she misses both you and Yamame and wants you to come to the next GYN meeting, and I happen to agree, so I'm inviting you both. We're holding it on the eleventh of the month, which is the new moon. It'll still be at the lake, obviously, because travelling is difficult during Winter for Hime, but we'll clear away as much snow as possible and maybe make a fire so that Yamame doesn't get too cold. So, hoping to see you there!' At that point, there was a crossed out section, followed by 'From Kagerou and Hime', but I could tell that the crossed out section had said 'Love', which I thought was sweet.

My estimations about Kagerou being kind were going up the more I interacted with her, and I already knew that Wakasagihime was kind. "Wow." Yamame said, having just finished reading the letter. "That's really nice of them." I looked over at asker her dryly if she was going to require some more convincing before agreeing to go to that. She slapped me on the shoulder. "I'm not going to back out of something like that...Though if you want to-"

"Hey!" Reimu suddenly called. "Stop flirting while I'm standing here." She turned to us with a frown. "Come on, we're getting this over with before you find excuses to talk yourself out of it. Or before you both decide that you need to go home and-" At this point, I decided that letting Reimu finish wasn't to anyone's benefit, so I hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth and told her that I got the point. After a moment, she glared at me enough to make me move my hand away. "Look, I'm only in a bad mood because I know that this will probably leave you in a poor spot." I nodded soberly. I understood, and I was thankful that she was with me...Though I did remind her that if she went in throwing ofuda everywhere, it would probably cause more harm than good. "What kind of image do you have of me?" She asked me with a frown. "I'm not going to do that." I stared at her for a few moments, because she was exactly the kind of person to do that. Finally, I shook my head and decided to just walk over to my house.

A moment later, it was Yamame who had her arm locked around mine and was guiding me forward, because my legs felt like they were locking up. "It's fine." She was whispering to me. "I'm here." And there we were. In front of my eyes was my house. My home. The house I'd left abandoned for so long. The roof was clear of snow, so I knew that someone was doing something about it. I knew it was just a house. One I'd lived in just fine. And I had to deal with it. So, I swallowed, got Yamame to let go of my arm, and forced myself forward and up to the door. Then, with almost mechanical movements, I raised my hand and pushed it open. It creaked. I'd forgotten that it did that, and it almost made me jump, even though the place looked completely normal inside. In fact, it looked like it was being taken care of, and that Chiyari Tenkajin hadn't seemed the type to do that.

"Hello?" Reimu called, moving in front of me and getting into the entrance hall. "Anyone here?" I thought that she was looking around, but I was struggling to focus. My entire thought process was getting tied up, because there was a door. There. Right there, right in front of me. A door next to the doors that I remembered. This one was always there, but I'd never opened it. Never even knew it was there. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then felt a shiver run through me. There was something in the back of my mind. A memory, or a thought. Like a waking dream of me opening that door. Of seeing - Seeing my mother inside. Running to her in tears because I'd fallen and bruised my knee outside. And she'd...Calmed me down and helped me treat it. My father had come in to talk to me. I just...Couldn't remember what he'd said.

And then I felt a touch on my shoulder and jumped, but it was just Yamame, and once I'd looked over at her, she threaded our hands together and squeezed tightly. Ahead of me, Reimu had stepped through the entrance hall and into the living room. "What's going on here?" She muttered. Shaking my head, I gestured to Yamame and we stepped inside, closing the door behind us. In the living room, Reimu was standing at the seat, where there was a big lumpy thing underneath a blanket. Cautiously, she motioned us all back, then poked it with her gohei. It didn't move. Now frowning, she tried it again.