/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Ah, how envious I am...That you can pass through this place with company so easily." Parsee continued, stalking toward us. Yamame edged in front of me, gently putting a hand on my chest and pushing me back slightly. "You came from the Old City. To see such sights...I'm even more jealous." Her eyes were glowing, the green almost sickly. I found it almost overpowering, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut again and back away. "I'm jealous of you, who can be affected by my powers."

"Er, yes. I'm glad you're feeling well." Yamame said slowly. "We just want to go home." She gestured in the direction of the other side of the bridge.

"Home!" Parsee hissed, spinning and bending down to stare directly at Yamame. "To go home! To have a real home - A home of more than just a faded old bridge. Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy!" Parsee growled at Yamame, before stepping back. "You'd best go back. Where the enviable cold air of the surface world can reach you."

"Really?" Yamame asked, looking a little taken back. "Just like that? Er, thanks?"

"Of course." Parsee said, smiling widely and innocently. "I've nothing against you." She stepped to the side, bowed and used her other hand to gesture for us to pass.

Yamame watched her for a moment, then stepped back over to me and hauled me along. "Walk quickly. She's never this nice." She harshly whispered to me. "Be prepared to run." I didn't much like the sound of that last bit, but for all the worry that there had been about crossing this bridge, it seemed to be going okay. And then, we passed Parsee, and suddenly Yamame shoved me to the side just in time for a bolt of danmaku to pass by where I had just been. I spun to look at Parsee, who was smiling just as innocently as she raised her hand, a growing ball of green light visible. "I knew it." Yamame muttered.

"I've nothing against you." Parsee repeated, her smile widening even further. "But I can make up plenty of reasons to attack you." She said, hurling the new ball at me. I yelped and dived out of the way. Yamame yelled at me to run, then began to fire back while I sprinted to the end of the bridge and hid behind one of its columns. The battle was short, but seemed fairly intense. The pair took to the air, and after a few minutes and a lot of light, I saw Parsee spinning away, falling off the side of the bridge. Yamame was ahead of her, and I heard the sound that I associated with her using her webs.

"Okay!" She called. "Come over to the side of the bridge!" Cautiously, I stepped out over to the red barrier that prevented me from falling off the edge. I looked down, then blinked. Yamame was standing on a small outcrop that jutted out just above the water. Above her was Parsee. She was suspended in the air, held in place by what seemed like hundreds of strands of web. They left her hopelessly entangled, and she couldn't even turn her head properly. "I, er, may have gotten overzealous." Yamame told me. "I'll need to get her out of this now. Yeah, I know." She continued, seeing my look of disappointment. It'd be even longer before we got back home now. Sighing, I came around to the side of the bridge and sat on the edge of the of cliff that led down to the rushing water below. Just below me, Yamame was already getting to work untangling threads.

"I'm so jealous." Parsee said, her smile still present. It was a little unnerving. "That you can tangle me in these webs. So thin and yet surprisingly strong. I'm so-"

"Jealous. Right, yeah." Yamame muttered, but it didn't seem she was paying much attention. "If you hadn't attacked, you wouldn't be stuck here. The webs seemed to have somehow ensnared Parsee to a point where she couldn't move at all. Parsee's eye caught me, instead.

"Shall I tell you a story?" She asked, but I got the sense that it wasn't a question. "Once, there was a young girl. She married a man who took a second wife, and out of love and longing, she devoured the man's second wife." I frowned and asked how devouring the man's second wife had been out of longing. "As her punishment, her hands were turned to snakes, and she became an oni." That didn't sound like a happy story. "True stories are never happy."

"Don't struggle." Yamame told her. "Else we'll never be out of here." She untangled another thread, letting Parsee's leg hang freely.