/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45634588
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Yukari wasn't expected, but she's here now. We adapt or we lose Hana. I shamefully sulk at the fact I froze in confusion, almost missing Yuuka and Mima charging their attacks… If not for Tewi, we’d have lost this battle before it even started.

Yukari, somehow, has poor Hana running on her palm—'somehow' tastes bitter. I'm a religious figure, I know despair when I see it in people's faces. Those wide eyes, that trembling grin, as if trying to convince herself of a lie so deep and so intrinsic it physically hurts, and hurts, hurts so badly the body adapts, bowing to the lie as to stop the pain…

Hana was suffering; I tried to help at the beginning but was always so busy. Last months, I barely stopped, secretly preparing my maidens for the upcoming battle, worrying about terrible rumors on Kanako-sama, doing my very best to spread the word against the HSE and solving minor incidents… But her suffering was so extensive it developed into parasitism, clinging to one of the people who have made her life a hell.

It's very hard to hide the fury I'm feeling watching Yukari hug Hana and talk so boisterously about her angelic deeds in helping the girl thrive. Manipulation is blatant and vomit-inducing.

… Still, a better spot to be than what may have entailed if the others attacked. I can't say for certain just by eyeballing, but by how quickly Hana eased into her presence and how she scowled at those who truly cared about her—it's bad. Very bad—if a battle had commenced without knowledge of this saddening reality, we'd have broken our bonds with Hana.

We have to thread carefully.

Yuuka looks hurt but nods, posture firm; Hana sighs with relief. Everyone with a brain seems to reach the same conclusion—I hope. "I see, Yukari-san. Hana is important to me, too—just thinking about something bad happening to her…" Hurt shapes into not crazy bloodlust or apathetic death like her legends whisper, but indeed a strong volition to kill—bare, direct, qualmless. It’s much more terrifying.

Yukari is unfazed. "Nothing bad will happen to Hana under powerful people like us~Reimu, mainly, but anyone, truly." She snorts, Hana leaving the hug. "She's in good hands."

"Same with Anon?" Yuuka lets slip, Yukari grinning, Hana paling—

—though, before anyone can say anything, Mima interjects. "Anon this, Anon that; I hear of the man so often, yet I know naught of him." The floating ghost sighs, Hana's eyes shining with opportunity— "Are you comfortable with so many women down bad for your dad, Hana? It can be oppressive." The shine gives way to a deep blush, similar to Yuuka, Alice, and Marisa, who ‘stealthily’ listened. I sigh inward; weird, but functional save…

"C'mon, it's not like that! Dad is, uh…"

"Ah, Anon will have so many options when his rehabilitation is finally done~" Yukari says with a grin, caressing Hana's chin in an absurdly wrong way. Yuuka stares knives at the Gap Sage. Aunn approaches upon hearing Anon's name, throwing one of those rabbits towards the other, a bunch of dolls climbing Yukari’s gift as if a mountain "Are you proud of Papa, Hana? The hearts he stole would be criminal in the wrong context~"

"Y-Yukari!! Don't say things like that!"

"R-ewab-bilituition?" Aunn tastes the word, foxed.

"Rehabilitation, Aunn-chan," Alice explains, though hardly believes the meaning of the trash Yukari spewed.

"I fail to see how's that rehabilitation," Yuuka poises through Hana's disappointed stare, keeping hers on Yukari's, having to drink to keep the facade—this is the moment.

"Probably to keep him away from Reimu so he can safely be reintroduced to people." I give my two cents, all pairs of eyes flying to me in disbelief, and hurts how hopeful Hana's are. I try my hardest to fake neutrality, begging my allies to understand: We have to play this field for now.

Mima understands first, fixing her purple hat. "Seems like it could work. It's home, yet without that monster nearby." Yukari seems thrown off by our words, but just momentarily. It's all facade; we know what's going down during the Solstice, no matter how much Hana's eyes are of hope. "But why not let him leave? Even with an entourage? If I'm correct, your shikigami and yourself have the powers of the Gap, so you could run anytime if Reimu would to approach—talking from experience: living in the same place for too long, no matter how beautiful and safe, will begin to feel—" Her sharp eyes stare directly into Yukari's. "—like a prison."

Hana freezes, frowning. She can't silently judge Mima, not with applied, calm logic on a topic, until a second ago, favorable.

It finally seems to click for Yuuka, who sighs. "I'd love to show Anon my Garden of the Sun and would happily do it with all of us and Ran-san present—that could be easily organized, right, Yukari-san? Anon do need a break from the HSE, don't you think?"

I calmly smile, hiding triumph. The way Hana stares at Yukari feels like a deep crack.

One in an iron-like cage, yes, but a crack anyway.