/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Besides, I said. I owed Nai plenty as it was. "You do?" I nodded. Nai had saved me in the throes of a panic attack and brought me to Yamame, and she'd saved me while I was shivering and passing out from a heavy cold just days earlier. "O-Oh. Um, you're welcome?" I told her that I owed her for guiding Reimu and I out of the tunnels when Reimu was sick, too. She could be really kind when she wanted. "Only because Big Sister made me..." She mumbled, but I could tell that she was at least a little pleased at the compliment. "I never really understood you humans. I don't get how you think." I suspected that the feeling was likely mutual, and I was certain that she'd probably hear the same response if she asked a hundred humans that question. "But why would you want to be with a youkai? Aren't you supposed to be afraid of us?" I was, and I'd been terrified of youkai in the past. But...I'd learnt. I'd seen that youkai didn't have to be monsters. That, like I'd watched Yamame do, they could change. I didn't say it out loud, but I also suspected that Lady Kasen had changed a lot, if she really was an oni. I'd made friends with some youkai. I'd been hurt by some others. I didn't trust every youkai, but I could try.

Nai stared at me for a moment. "I don't get it." She complained. I found myself laughing from the abruptness of it. Maybe it would just take time. I looked up and across Yamame's work yard at the house, from which I could hear quiet, indistinct conversation, but thankfully no explosions or danmaku being thrown about. I took that as a good sign, and pushed myself up to my feet. Turning, I offered Nai a hand and pulled her up too. After a second, I patted some sawdust from her shoulders. "Probably won't come off without a proper wash." She grumbled as we started across the yard toward the house.

At the door, I realised that the conversation was turning into laughter. That seemed like a better sign, and I stepped over to the doorframe. Inside, Reimu and Yamame were practically choking with laughter. I asked them if they were okay, and they looked over at me and broke into even more laughter. Now starting to feel like I was the butt of a joke that I didn't know, I frowned and told them to stop, but that only seemed to encourage the pair of them. After being laughed at for a little longer, I asked if they wanted to be alone, and that seemed to be enough to break them back out of it, because while still gasping with laughter, Reimu shook her head. "No, I - I should be going. Seems like you're...doing fine." She seemed to be threatening to break into laughter again. "Actually, let me talk to you for a moment." She pushed me back out of the door and over to the other side of the work yard.