/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Meanwhile, I saw Tenshi running, her hair trailing behind her like a blue kite. A moment later, I spotted something green in her hand, and a moment after that, I saw a red and white blur that I soon identified as Chen, chasing after her, missing her hat. Well, I hoped that it was for fun and not Tenshi being mean, because I would have to talk to her about it if it was. A bit further back, her arms in her sleeves and a bemused, but not particularly angry expression, was Ran. Just as I spotted that strange mob boss from Hell, Yuuma, who was still eating and didn't seem to be slowing down, I heard Kisami exclaim that she'd spotted Komachi.

Komachi was as far from everyone else as she could be, on the absolute other side of the grounds and practically in the trees themselves. I saw her raise a leg, and she placed it down on the veranda right in front of us. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then reopened them to see that she was indeed here, now. Her power was very strange, and I struggled to understand it. "Whoa, you went flying!" She exclaimed to Kisami, who nodded cheerfully. "No, I get it! It's like...If you hold a band taut at two ends with your fingers, right..." Kisami nodded like she understood. I did not. "And then, you let one finger go, that side snaps forward toward the other one, right?" Oh, I supposed I did get it slightly. Like the bands that Yamame used for her ponytails when she didn't want to use her ribbon. "So, if you do it over a long distance with your feet, and then you lift one foot up, everything sort of...Corrects itself by snapping you toward the other foot, but then you lift your other foot, and all that momentum just sends you flying in that direction!" Nope, she'd lost me again. "How was it?" She asked excitedly.

"Really fun!" Kisami replied. "Well - Until you hit something, and then it's not that fun. Especially if it's a person." She slapped me on the back again and I scowled. It hadn't exactly been pleasant at any point for me. "Well, um, it could be more fun if we could do it at...Like, the Misty Lake or something." I frowned, then said that doing so might endanger Wakasagihime, so they probably shouldn't. "Oh...Hmm." Kisami scratched her head. "Guess we'll have to think about it some more." I supposed that if they warned the mermaid ahead of time, it might turn out okay. I couldn't imagine it being all that fun to smack into water at that speed either, though. Frowning, I asked how they'd even come up with this. "Oh, it's simple, see..." Kisami began cheerfully, then trailed off. "Uh...Komachi?"

"Huh?" Komachi hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, er, it's just - Experimenting. Yeah, that's it. People love experimenting, right?" She nodded a lot to go with what she was saying, and I stared at her some more. Her face twitched, and having an idea of what was coming, I stepped back just in time for her to sneeze. "O-Ooh..." She groaned and sniffed. "Hang on." She turned, stepped forward and appeared by the stack of napkins over at the blanket that had been laid out, then returned in one more step. She blew her nose and groaned. "Ugh...I was excited for this since it meant I'd get time off, but..." I eyed her cautiously, wondering just what Yamame had done to the poor Shinigami. "The sneezing's the worst part. And the blocked nose. I can hardly taste my sake, either..."

"U-Um, M-Miss Kisami...?" I blinked at the unexpected voice and looked down from the veranda. There was a small fairy, who barely came up to the height of the veranda itself, standing there. She had blonde hair and a blue dress, as well as a small blue tie in her hair, and in her clasped hands was a cup of sake. It was shaking terribly, and I wondered if she was okay before I spotted the blush across the fairy's face. "I-I, um, got you some sake." Ah. I think I got it. It was a crush, the kind where you didn't really know why you liked the person, but you wanted to do things for them. I turned to look at Kisami, who was staring blankly. After a moment, I elbowed her in the side and gave her a pointed look.

"O-Oh, um, thanks!" She said, crouching down to take the sake cup. "What's your name?" She asked the fairy, who looked like she was about to pass out from what I presumed to be the sheer shock of Kisami speaking to her. "I like your dress." She whispered quietly.

Inspired by thoughts of fish and rods, and knowing that she was on the Sanzu River, I asked Komachi if she knew anything, or anyone who could teach me to fish. "Fishing? You want to take up fishing?" I nodded, since it seemed like the sort of thing I could do comfortably. At least, unless I got over my various trauma and could take up something a little more involved. Maybe I could be a courier. "Well, er, there's plenty of fish in the Sanzu. Not the kind a regular human should be fishing up, but they're there. I know someone over there. She's an ushi-oni, and she makes a living running a fishery near the river, if that's what you're looking for." That did sound like a good starting point, though I suspected that the Sanzu might be a little beyond my skill level of zero, let alone the fact that I had no idea how to get there and surely couldn't rely on Komachi to bring me there. I wondered if I would need to go back to the village soon, to try and buy some fishing tools, though it was possible that Lady Kasen already had some, or failing that, there could be something in the Hakurei Shrine's storage room. Instead of the Sanzu River, I supposed, I could start by trying to learn from Wakasagihime at the lake, as long as I released the fish after I caught them. I had my doubts that the princess would appreciate me killing the other fish in the lake for however long it took for me to learn how to do it well. I thanked Komachi and told her that I would keep it in mind. "Sure, that's fine. I'm typically supposed to send humans back if they end up at the Sanzu, but as long as my boss doesn't catch you, it's probably fine. I don't think I'm in danger of having you kill yourself on my watch, anyway."

It was a bit morbid, so I took another drink instead of responding. Lady Kasen had worked her way through even more of the sake box she carried, and I wondered just how strong her tolerance was, because she didn't look like she was drunk at all. That, I privately thought, might be another point in the 'oni' camp. Insanely strong alcohol tolerance was something of a calling card for oni. Komachi had drunk quite a lot, too, and I could tell that her tolerance was lower, because she was getting louder, and perhaps a little clingy. Twice, she had thrown her arms around Lady Kasen's shoulders while she was complaining about her boss, and three times had she thrown her arms around my shoulders as she complained about the state of her boat. I thought that perhaps my tolerance had changed, possibly because of the peach I had eaten, since I didn't feel particularly drunk despite having consumed about the same amount as Komachi. "Komachi, you're spilling - Ugh, you stupid ferryman. Watch what you're doing! Honestly, it's no wonder you get yelled at so much. Do you put as much care into your job as you do with your drink?" Lady Kasen had slipped into lecturing mode, but at least it wasn't aimed at me.

I was starting to feel a little sleepy. A lot had happened in one day. Reimu and I had met Marisa and Tenshi at Marisa's house, learnt about what had happened during their investigation, then I had gone to the lake and met Wakasagihime, as well as clarified my relationship with Tenshi. Then, after what had already been a long day, I had come back to the dojo and nearly been eaten by a malicious oni's arm, before being made to do five hundred sit-ups and stand under a freezing waterfall. I opened my mouth to ask Komachi if she really did spend so much time sleeping, but a long and drawn-out yawn emerged instead. That sent Komachi into a fit of giggles which only faded when she fell sideways against my shoulder, and Lady Kasen offered me a sympathetic smile. "Feel free to go to sleep, you know. I'm sure it's been a tiring day." That was an understatement. Even if the day had just been me nearly being eaten by an arm, it would have been enough for me to go straight back to bed. I wondered if I'd be able to sleep as well now, knowing that the arm was in the same house.

Kasen's new manga just got a new chapter!

https://comic-walker.com/viewer/?tw=2&dlcl=ja&cid=KDCW_AM21201275010002_68

Komachi will get her biggest lecture yet if Eiki's thread outlives hers!