/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"I-I need to w-watch where I'm going, Shizuha?" Minoriko said, her teeth chattering. "Y-You were the one who was b-bragging about how well you'd painted the leaves this year! Th-That's why I was d-distracted! I was t-telling you how w-well the harvest was!" I wondered if this was going to turn into an argument, so I asked if we could free Minoriko from the potentially fatal tree well before they started fighting. "I-It's not a f-fight..." Minoriko told me. I continued to scoop snow away, uncovering her other arm and some of her clothing. I had a feeling I knew what was happening, anyway. Both of them seemed to have a superiority complex over the other, which I couldn't say I'd ever seen before. I wondered if Eirin had even seen that sort of thing happen before. I thought that Jo'on Yorigami probably had something going on toward Shion Yorigami, but I'd only really encountered them once, so I wasn't all too sure.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was likely no more than half an hour longer, I'd pulled away enough of the snow that Shizuha and I could drag Minoriko free. She was shivering terribly, and Shizuha offered my coat over to her for a few moments. "Oh, thank you!" Shizuha told me, and I was surprised when she hugged me, albeit briefly. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up..." I wondered if she could have used danmaku, like Yamame did to smash through the snow, but in a situation like this, I wondered if it would only pile more snow on top. "Well, uh...We're not all that strong..." I nodded and said that I was just happy to help.

"I-I'd offer you something, b-but it's so close to Winter now that we've not got much to give..." Minoriko told me. Since my coat was so big, she'd practically wrapped it around herself, but I could see that her clothes were soaked. She needed to get home and out of the wet clothes, I thought. Outwardly, I said that I was fine and asked them if you would be safe getting home. "Y-Yes, I think so...Home's not far from here..." I imagined that she'd probably be fine once she'd warmed up and got some rest, though it wasn't like I was an expert. "Um, I'd better give you this back." She got to her feet - And I couldn't imagine that walking on the snow barefoot was particularly fun either. I'd never been crazy enough to do something like that. She handed me back my coat, which I pulled on gratefully. Her outfit was indeed soaked.

"Okay, um..." Shizuha said, looking between Minoriko and I. "Thank you, seriously. I don't know if she'd have died, but I definitely couldn't have pulled all that snow out by myself." I said that it was no bother, though I privately worried that I would have a cold tomorrow. "I, um, I'll remember you. Next Autumn, I'll pay you back somehow." That was very kind of her, I replied.

"A-And I'll, um, give you a blessing! F-For next year's harvest." I wasn't a farmer, so I told her that it was okay with me if she just remembered to bless the village's crops instead. "Ah, um, okay..." She nodded weakly, and I said that they should probably get inside before they froze. "Y-Yes, I think so. Okay, Big sister, let's get going." I got a hug from Minoriko for my troubles before they left, hand in hand and floating above the snow this time. I had no idea why they hadn't done that the first time, but I supposed that some people just appreciated the scenic route. Either way, I hoped that helping two gods down on their luck would have a knock-on effect of some sort. It was always good when there were more nice things in the world.

I exhaled, turning and making my way carefully down the snow-covered mountain path. Back on the path to the Shrine, then. I went slowly, since if I tripped now, I’d be rolling all the way to the bottom, and while I hoped the peach would keep me from being too injured, I’d be so dizzy at that point that I’d probably stumble into a tree well myself. Luckily, I was able to hold out long enough to reach the bottom, where the path levelled out, though I did skid a little bit. Thankfully, the path to the Shrine was mostly flat ground, though this was because the cruel people who’d picked the place to put the Hakurei Shrine had decided that it should go on top of a steep hill rather than a sloping one, so it had the extremely long staircase upward.

And, even better, the staircase was slippery. In the end, I had to go extremely slowly and at some points, use my hands to keep myself steady by placing them on the steps above me. As a result, I was just as out of breath by the time I reached the top as I had been digging Minoriko out of the snow. Once I did make it to the top, I was doubled over and gasping for breath, leaning on the torii gate. After a few moments, I’d recovered enough to stumble onwards. I was dying to find out how Marisa and Tenshi were doing. Hopefully, before Reimu got on the war path because I'd been side-tracked for so long.

One war at a time seemed like enough for Gensokyo, anyway.