/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Okay, okay, I can't actually hear you. I'm writing the book in frozen time in the HSE, after all. But I do know everything that you're going to say. It's like I have a finished copy of our conversations in advance! And since I can see your fate, at least for now, I know what’s happening to you. That’s why I can comment on things like I’m really there.


Patchouli groaned and rubbed her forehead. "How can you have grown up alone and locked in a building, and still have ended up this impertinent?" She was still talking to the book, of course. And, stubbornly, it didn't have an answer for her. The rest of the page was blank. She flipped over to the next page, tutting under her breath.


Sorry, I thought you wouldn't appreciate an answer to that...


Patchouli snapped the book shut and did her best not to roll her eyes. Just in time, too, because she suddenly had the keenest feeling that she was no longer alone. The tunnel was dark, the ball of danmaku she had glowing next to her didn't illuminate everything and she couldn't see everything regardless. Even so, there was just...Something. Acting on a suspicion, Patchouli stored the book back in its sigil, then extinguished the ball of danmaku. Now in total darkness, she waited for a moment.

Lo and behold, she was suddenly looking into a pair of deep brown eyes. She didn't startle, of course, and merely stared back with the same intensity. "Greetings." Patchouli murmured.

"Hey." The eyes - Presumably via a mouth hidden in the darkness - Said back. "Y'sure you should be wandering around in these caves? All sorts of creepy-crawlies around, you know."

"So I understand." Patchouli tilted her head. "I'm looking for one in particular."

"Izzat so?" The eyes asked, looking like they were tilting. "Someone I'd know? We're all very close down here in the dark."

"That depends." Patchouli replied. "Does the name 'Yamame Kurodani' strike a chord with you?" Instantly, Patchouli got the sense that several more pairs of eyes were watching her. She also wouldn't have been surprised if there was a blade or two at her neck. Or an arthropod's leg. "I am getting the impression that it does."

"'Course it does. What's someone like you want with our most treasured sister?" The eyes narrowed now. Patchouli stared back. The wrong move, down here in the dark, could spell disaster. "Our Yamame isn't here right now. She's on a job." The voice was suspicious.

"Would that have something to do with the festival going on in the village?" Patchouli asked. The eyes widened in surprise. "It looked rather lively from the air." There it was. For a split second, she'd seen relief in the eyes. She had been worried about Yamame Kurodani's wellbeing. That, then, gave her an in. "I mean you no harm. In fact, I have a request and a job offer." Remi had wanted her to wait until everything was done before getting in touch with the Kurodani family, but if she had no choice, it was better to use every bargaining chip she had access to. "May I see your face?" She asked, clasping her hands behind her back. "I wish only to speak peacefully with Yamame Kurodani."

Silence. And then, light. Several lights, revealing that Patchouli was absolutely not alone. In fact, four different people surrounded her. The one in front of her clung upside-down to a thread of web and the others waited on the walls and the ceiling, eyes narrowed and balls of light growing in their hands. "If our Yamame wasn't with her daughters and our sisters, we'd be more suspicious." The eyes that Patchouli had been speaking to revealed themselves to be a girl who was relatively short in height, with extremely curly black hair. "Give us your name, first and foremost."

"Patchouli Knowledge." Replied Patchouli Knowledge. "Magician from the Scarlet Devil Mansion." She watched the girl opposite her as she flipped herself the right way up.

"With that vampire. I see." The spider looked up to the ceiling. After a moment, the girl up there dropped to the floor. As she did, Patchouli spotted the limbs. Four of them, manifesting from her back. The two stepped slightly further away from Patchouli. Unfortunately, it didn't stop Patchouli from hearing them. "Sister, you might need to go and fetch Yams. If it's someone from the Scarlet Devil Mansion..."

"Yeah, yeah..." The second girl - Dark blonde hair, much duller red eyes - nodded tiredly. "Honestly, She's been so happy about getting to teach that little cat that I could have forgotten that she's, you know, a builder. At least K-" Whatever she'd been about to say, she didn't get to say as the first girl threw her hand over the second girl's mouth.

"Yams said she’d sic her big sister on you if you don’t watch what you say. You don't want that." The dark and curly haired girl said sharply. "Alright, alright, go and fetch her. She'll complain up a storm, but she'll come eventually." Ah, progress. "Miss Patchouli Knowledge?" Patchouli nodded. "Y'mind coming with us? Yams will meet us there."

I cast a glance over at Yamame. She looked at me, then looked at the shirt, then blinked. "Oh, it's - Er, one of the first thing I tried making for Miss Hecatia. We weren't really sure about the design, so I just gave it to Ki...But I didn't think she'd start using it as work clothes."

Kisami laughed slightly and scratched her head. "W-Well, what can I say? I needed something that would cover my stomach too, and it was really comfortable. Hides any polish stains, too!"

"No, it's fine, Ki..." Yamame shook her head. "I mean, don't let Miss Hecatia see it, I guess." For a moment, silence reigned until Ki suddenly took in a sharp breath.

"Oh, right! That's why I'm here!" She reached into a pocket and then frowned and reached into the other one, before finally pulling out a small box. "Finished them just this morning!" She said cheerfully, delicately opening the box.

And there they were. Two rings, secured in the box. It was exactly as I'd thought it would be. They were white gold in colour, with two strips of pure gold running at an angle down the side of the ring, where they crossed with each other. In that tiny, crisscrossing section, there was an even tinier engraved circle. A yin-yang orb. "Oh, Ki..." Yamame breathed, reaching her fingers out before halting, just shy of establishing contact, like she was afraid they would fall apart if she touched them. They shone, like the world itself was radiating out of them. "They're beautiful..." They were absolutely gorgeous, I agreed. The only way I could see it looking better was when it was actually on Yamame's finger.

"W-Well, uh, don't praise me too much yet. I still need to resize them for your fingers. I mean, Yams, yours should fit, since I sized it to be the same as your other ring, but..." She turned toward me, "I wasn't too sure about you." I supposed it was a good thing she'd shown up, then. "Right, so, er - Hang on, I've got it somewhere..." She rummaged around in her pockets once more, withdrawing some string, a strip of gold, a strip of something even shinier than gold, a scrunched-up piece of paper, and finally, a case. "Let me just..." She moved over to the nearest flat surface, then opened up the case to reveal something like twenty rings. "Alright, try these on your ring finger and stop when it's tight enough to keep on." She beckoned me over. "Come on, come on, while I'm in the work zone."

She pushed me to run through a bunch of rings until she found one that seemed to fit. "There, perfect! Alright, I'll take these back, and then I'll get it resized so it's actually going to fit, and that'll be my finest work completed!" Ki smiled, looking very smug about it, though I couldn't help but think that she had the right to, considering how good of a job she'd done.

"Oh!" Yamame said, suddenly remembering that we did actually have some commitments. "Ki, um, sorry, but can you leave the rings here for now? I think there's somewhere you need to be." She poked me in the side, and I blinked. Right. Back on track. Ki, I said. Would you like to come to the Hakurei Shrine? "Ah - Er...the Shrine? Why?" Well, it was less about the Shrine and more about where we would be going after the Shrine. "Oh, I see!" She exclaimed, her face brightening. Silence for three seconds. She shook her head slightly dejectedly. "No, I don't..."

Well, it did involve the Horismriver Ensemble. "Okay." She spoke. Okay? What did she mean? "Yep. I'm in. Whatever it is." That was...Easy. "Don't care. Anything to do with them, and I'm in." That sort of thing seemed very easy to exploit. "I'll deal with that when it comes to it. Alright, Yams, I'll leave the rings with you." She passed the box over to Yamame, who received it so gingerly that it was like she thought it would shatter if she looked at it wrong. After that, Ki turned to me. "Let's go, let's go!" She seemed to be rushing me now, so I hurried and pulled my coat and boots on. "Oh, wait, it's freezing outside." Ki snapped her fingers. "Yams, can I borrow a coat? Pretty please?"

"Er...Yeah." Yamame replied blankly. "Wait, no, your face is all grubby." And off she dragged Ki to the bathroom to clean her up.

So, several minutes later, but still fairly early in the day, they returned. "Have fun in the frozen nightmare land out there." Yamame murmured to me, pulling me down by my coat lapels. One searing hot kiss later, she released me. "Try not to keep me waiting too long." She whispered, a smile on her face. I did something that might have been called nodding, and then we were off to the Shrine, Kisami asking me unceasing questions about what exactly we were doing. My explanation of Shameimaru interviewing me didn't get her very excited, and I knew already that I was going to have an impatient spider on my hands until we finally got going to see the Horismriver Ensemble.