/jp/ - Otaku Culture

It took us a few more minutes to leave the house, with both spiders bundling up - And then realising that since Ki had made Yamame wear all of those coats to the Shrine, she now didn't have many left in her workshop to offer to Kisami. "Do you think that, if I apologise a few more times, the collective goodwill will manifest your coats here?" Ki asked miserably, already shivering in the cold of the tunnel.

"You've got a lot longer to go before you have any goodwill, Ki." Yamame replied, safely ensconced in the winter coat she'd selected and worn home from the Hakurei Shrine last night. "All that teasing you used to do while I was growing up, and all the oni you would rile up during the work on the Old City? We met the Yama last night, actually, and if I had to guess, your ledger would be pitch black!"

"Yams!" Ki replied in a mock-outraged tone. "How could you treat your favourite sister like this?" She clutched her chest. "If you keep this up, I'll have to skip your wedding!" She stopped for a moment. "No, wait, I'm not missing that for the world. Alright, I'll have to forgive your casual cruelty for now. No matter how much it wounds me." Yamame rolled her eyes and poked me, then mouthed to me that Kisami was insane. "You've been real mean since you got engaged, Yams." Kisami commented. This it seemed, was her plan, because it made Yamame quiet down and go back to staring at the ring I'd given her. "I might just have to save your poor fiancé from your cruelty." I blinked and said that everything seemed to be fine so far.

"Fine, fine, point taken, Ki." Yamame said loudly, raising her hands. "I'm sorry for making you sit through that. And I'm sorry for any other mean things I've done to you lately. I do love you, you know. And - Actually, come here." And before Ki could stop her, she'd jumped at her elder sister and wrapped her in a big hug, much like Ki loved to do to us. "Thank you! Thank you for helping to make the ring! I love it so much and you're the best big sister I could ever ask for! I love you so, so much!"

Ki stumbled backward and awkwardly wrapped her arms around Yamame, laughing nervously. "U-Um, I love you too, Yams." Funnily enough, she seemed to be struggling now that Yamame was doing this. I almost decided to join in, but when Kisami shot me a pleading look, I took pity on her - For once - and gently pulled Yamame off of her after a moment. We were still in the freezing cold tunnel to the surface, after all. It wasn't the most convenient for a heart-to-heart. Plus, we had places to be. Fortunately, it was still early in the day, so we had time. "Honestly, I couldn't do anything worse than my best work for you, Yams. I'd feel awful otherwise." Yamame, who I was still holding off of the ground and in my arms, finally struggled enough for me to realise I hadn't put her down yet.

Once she was done, she smiled widely. "Thanks, Ki." She said simply but with a face that promised more hugs and kisses later. Ki actually looked a little scared, but I found it hard to feel too sympathetic given the number of times she'd done it to both Yamame and I. Still, she was in Raki's outfit, and it wouldn't be good if we damaged it, so I decided that keeping Yamame from jumping on her again would be for the best. I still wondered how she'd managed to convince Raki to give up her chains, but I was sure that I wouldn't get an answer.

The sky was grey and looked heavy, like we were due another bout of snow. Fortunately, it hadn't started snowing yet, so neither Kurodani seemed like they intended to complain my ear off about it for the whole journey. Still, the snow on the ground meant that we'd barely even gotten halfway to the village when Ki finally snapped and asked if we could fly to the mountain. One glance at Yamame was enough to confirm that this was a popular opinion, so I sighed and acquiesced, then felt the two lift me from the ground. It was not less embarrassing when two of them did it.

"So...Where are we going, exactly? I didn't exactly get told where they lived." Kisami asked once we were in the air and somewhere over the foot of the mountain. I replied back and told her - Well, both of them - to set us down roughly halfway up the mountain by foot, and I'd hopefully be able to find my way through from there. It wasn't exactly a foolproof plan, because I had no idea what the route to the dojo currently was, but I was hoping that my luck would pull through and I'd spot Kanda or Kume coming back. They could then lead me in and let me double check that Lady Kasen was okay with Kisami and Yamame coming in. Otherwise...Well, unless Tenshi just happened to show up - Which was unlikely, because I was fairly certain that she, Reimu, and Marisa were all passed out at the Shrine - And take me directly in, I wasn't entirely sure what our plan was other than hope that one of the Ibaraki halves showed up.

It turned out that quite a lot of things could happen on the way up the mountain, even if I hoped that the mountain itself would be quieter. It began before we'd even cleared the village properly. The streets were quiet, but I could hear plenty of kids, probably somewhere near the canals. They were probably having fun playing with the snow, and I wondered if the canal had even frozen over. Things seemed to be going fine, and I made small talk with Kisami about what she’d been up to since the party in the Hot Springs Town. From the long, rambling story I received, I came to the conclusion that the answer was probably ‘not much’. It sounded like a lot of the other spiders had taken even longer to clear their hangovers, and then they’d been too ill to work, and nothing much had been done in the end. Finally, we got out of the village and onto the trail that led out past the farmland and off into the wilder parts of the valley.

Then, I nearly walked into a fairy. Kisami pulled me out of the way before I trampled on her. She'd been sitting and playing with the snow and wearing white, so I'd missed her entirely. The snow itself was making progress difficult, and Kisami complained to me multiple times that I should really get my inability to fly under control. I shrugged and said that I was working on it, then remarked that it was probably good that I was getting some more exercise battling through the difficult terrain, since I'd been slacking somewhat on that front since I'd stopped living with Lady Kasen.

"You wouldn't know it." Kisami commented, poking me in the side. "You look...Good? Or, well, not out of shape. I know that you humans get all big and round and tired all the time if you don't do enough moving about, but you seem to move around a lot." I shrugged, saying that I tried my best, even if I didn't get quite as much exercise as I did when I was living with Lady Kasen. As we finally made it to the path that connected the village to the Shrine, the lake and the mountain, Kisami shoved her hands in her pocket and nudged me with her shoulder. "That Kasen of yours - She lives somewhere on the mountain, doesn't she?" I nodded. I didn't say anything about where, just because it wasn't my information to reveal, even if the need for the specific route to enter her senkai changed so often. "I think I've seen her once or twice."

Curious, I asked Kisami what exactly it was that she did with her spare time. Obviously, I knew that Yamame was a seamstress and worked on the construction jobs with her sisters when she could, since I'd encountered her doing both of those things, but Kisami seemed to be the eldest of the sisters who were around for the Hot Springs Town's project. What did she do outside of that? "...Huh." She remarked. I frowned. "No, it's nothing, just...I'm surprised that you asked. I thought you'd be too obsessed with Yams to think about something like that." I stammered some sort of response about not being that obsessed, which made Kisami giggle and steal my left arm to wrap her own arms around. "Oh, I think it's sweet, you silly human. Don't get all tongue-tied now; That's Yams' job." I laughed a little, then resolved to never tell Yamame that I had.

"Well...I'm the oldest who's still actively involved with the whole construction business, even if it's just as management. My sisters - The ones my age - mostly do their own things. We see each other sometimes, but they're even more private than Yamame is. And our mother, well...Best not go there. She's...intense." Kisami shook her head. I decided that I probably shouldn't ask about that, no matter how much I wanted to. "Anyway, I live in the underground too, down in a different network of caves. We all do, and we all know it like the back of our hands." I still felt a little turned around in the tunnels, so I imagined that this had to be a familiarity thing. I knew the village about that well, after all. "But, I come up here more often than most." For the jewellery stuff? "Exactly! See, you're getting it. There's this mine that I'm taking you to. That's where I get a lot of my materials. Plenty of gold and silver there. I'm just worried that...No, it should be fine." I thought that sounded a little ominous, but I trusted Kisami enough to think that she wouldn't put me in danger. At least, not too much danger. "Not that it's going to be a problem, but...Just out of interest, how long can you hold your breath for?" I just stared at her wordlessly, and she gave me a very slightly nervous smile.

About halfway up the mountain, our first sign of trouble came. "Um, don't overreact or anything, but we're being watched." I tried, but still couldn't resist the temptation to look around slightly. "Don't look!" Kisami hissed. "It's probably nothing. White wolf tengu are always watching the mountain." I nodded, but still tried to spot whoever it was. "Oh, that's not going to work." Kisami whispered. "Have you never seen a white wolf tengu before?"