/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Either way, she worked fast, and she worked for a long time. My other job became massaging her shoulders when she was done, which usually had her fall right to sleep. And in a mere few days, she was finished, like there had always been a window there. She'd promptly pulled a curtain over it and informed me that we would be testing it out.

Which was fun.

All in all, time had passed without us really realizing it. Suddenly, it was nearly March, and here we were, at the gates of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. "You know..." Yamame said, rubbing her chin in thought, "Wasn't me bringing you here sort of like our first date?" I thought about it, then asked if winding up writhing on the floor screaming from uncovering traumatic memories was romantic enough to be a first date. "Well...Okay, maybe not that bit, but the rest? I think the rest was pretty good." Apart from me having to keep my head down because I was terrified of an oni punching it clean off, I supposed. "Thinking about it like that definitely won't help!" My spider placed her hands on her hips, and I raised mine in surrender. Yes, I finally said. It was essentially our first date, but I thought that some of the later ones had turned out a little better. Yamame rolled her eyes, then turned back to the gate. "Well...Where are they?" She muttered, giving the gate an experimental rattle. "Surely someone can see us, right?" Maybe they were busy, I ventured.

"Doing what? Satori barely comes outside because so many people aren't fans of her, and her pets do work either inside there, or past there." Yamame peered through a gap in the gate. "Maybe it's the kasha watching us. Isn't she still mad at you?" For reasons that I thought were a little unreasonable, I replied. "Maybe so, but..." She trailed off. we were silent for a few moments. "Did you know that your chin is getting a little...Prickly?" She suddenly asked. I blinked and then ran a hand across the offending part of my face. Maybe a little, I replied. "Do you humans...Do something about that? It's like I'm trying to kiss sandpaper." I sighed and told her that I would make sure to shave. I didn't grow facial hair very fast, anyway. Probably why it hadn't been a problem up until now. "Er...Right. I mean, I'm not going to stop kissing you, though." That was a relief. I'd been terrified that I'd have to get through the day without my daily minimum of spider smooches. "You're just hilarious, aren't you?" Yamame drawled, stepping over to plant a chaste kiss on my lips. "There, that's one." I thought that had been at least the fourth today, actually.

"Wow, I didn't realise Big Sis was having her friends over today!" The gate swung open as I leaned against it, sending me stumbling into the grounds. Frowning, I turned back and asked Yamame if the gate had been unlocked the entire time. "That was me! I saw you from the window! That one, on the second floor!"

"Er...I didn't think it was. I rattled it, right? Huh. Maybe it just wasn't locked very well." Yamame frowned and stepped through after me. "Well...Um, I guess we should just go and knock. I mean, if they are busy, at least they can kick us out then."

It sounded like a good enough plan to me, so we began to head up the winding cobblestone path leading to the front doors. "Oh, no one's busy! Actually, Bis Sis is still eating breakfast, and Orin is cleaning up in the library! I tried telling her that you were here..." I wondered where everyone else was. "Orin ignored me! How rude!" Half-jokingly, I asked Yamame if she thought everyone was just ignoring us. "Huh? But I'm right here, though...Oh, you're ignoring me too? That's mean!"

"Hmm..." Yamame hummed. "No, I don't think so. I mean, Satori and Okuu wouldn't ignore either of us, and Orin would only ignore you, right? So, surely someone would answer the door for us." She spent a few more moments in thought as we got closer to the doors. "Maybe they're all having breakfast?" What time was it? "Uh..." Yamame thought for a moment, then started mumbling under her breath for the rest of the time it took to get to the door. "...A little after the Hour of the Dragon?" I nodded. That seemed about the right time for breakfast. "Let's just knock now. At least if they tell us to go away, we won't have been standing around." Agreeing, I raised a fist and rapped my knuckles against the massive, imposing door. And then, there was silence.

"Wow, I forgot how big the door was..." I looked over at Yamame and asked her how big she thought the door was. She told me that it was big enough to make a Yama feel important. "Ooh...Wait, I can hear footsteps! I wonder if it's Big Sis?"