/jp/ - Otaku Culture

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Aya’s entire body was sore as she sat down and held her head in a bar on the lower section of the mountain. It was staffed by kappa, easy for crows to dive to and close to the white wolf patrol routes. It was a prime spot for trading rumors and making bad decisions. If someone got drunk, their pictures were gone, leads copied and clothes stolen. If they were sober, they wouldn’t be for long. Sometimes, humans snuck in to prove their bravery by drinking a tengu under the table or to seek a favor from one of the rare minor gods that bought advertisements from the less-scrupulous reporters. Aya recalled the one time she saw a human enter the bar herself: He was a cocky young man wearing wolf ears on a headband and a tail tied to his belt. When his hair shifted just enough to reveal his round ears, he found himself drowning in offers for free drinks. After he stumbled into a bathroom on the shoulder of a particularly helpful reporter, he didn’t come back out. Two more girls entered, and two girls left. After everyone else in the bar queued up for the bathroom in pairs, Aya knew that man wasn’t leaving for the rest of the week. It was strange to think that if she wasn’t focused on her paper at the time, she may have been part of that train. Definitely not because she was inexperienced with men! She could’ve joined at any time if she wanted to!

Sitting on a stool, she could feel eyes trained on her. Anyone who wasn’t drinking was obviously listening out for juicy tidbits. So, she gave them something else to focus on. Pulling out the last of Yukari’s bribe, Aya set the hefty sack down in front of an unamused bar-tending kappa.

“What’s this supposed to be, your tab payment?” Damn “tab” system, Geidontei didn’t track her debts! Of course, Megumu wasn’t invested in empowering Geidontei’s market viability.

“Nope. Drinks are on me!” A pang of silence came, followed by raucous cheers. It was a shame Aya couldn’t enjoy the rest of her dirty money, but she’d get something much better: A room full of loose lips. Flitting around from patron to patron, Aya’s subtle suggestions and clear head weeded out each and every tengu’s source of the Kanako rumor. Just like her, many of them were told by Megumu or picked it up from other tengu. However, some of them heard it by listening to the wind in the Human Village. Nobody had any claims of their own to seeing the virgin goddess nightcrawling Anon, so her leads weren’t much deeper than that. Partially recovered from her bout with Sanae, Aya made a quick detour to photograph some highly suggestible and gullible girls in the bathroom and headed out for Momiji’s patrol route.

The white wolf was expecting Aya when she arrived. While she led Aya to a secluded area, the crow took out her photos are rubbed them against her back. Feeling the sheets disappear, Aya could tell Okina accepted her bribe. She broke the silence first. “So, have you heard the latest rumor?”

“Of course I have. The other guards wouldn’t stop talking about it. Some of the less virtuous ones told me to keep an eye out for the goddess during my shift at Yukari’s establishment tomorrow. The nerve!”

“Great, you should know it’s fake. Someone’s trying get people to lose faith in the Moriyans and they’re using the tengu to do it.”

Momiji sighed and looked dour, the pain on her face evident as if the statement physically struck her. “Then it seems you’re not crazy. There really is an underhanded plot unfolding in our fair mountain. Do you have any idea who’s spreading these salacious lies? They must be stopped at once!”

“Settle down, we need to do this subtly. Whoever’s doing this is leaving late at night to support the myth. They know they’re dealing with tengu, so they’ve got their tracks covered well.” Aya paused for a moment, considering how best to word her plan. “Tomorrow, you’ll watch them from a distance and I’ll shoot past them, stripping their disguise. Then we’ll find out who’s behind this mess!”

“I suppose I’m in no position to argue… why not inform Ran-sama? Surely, she’d allow us to view the ledger and give us any information they know about the rumormonger?”

“Too risky. If this person is connected in any way to Yukari, they might have some dastardly method of circumventing Ran. We have to do this ourselves.” With their roles confirmed, the tengu went their separate ways. Aya retrieved a pill from home and set off for the HSE, feeling Okina’s gaze return shortly afterwards. That didn’t matter: Aya would have a good time, regardless of Okina watching, Ran watching, Yukari possibly watching, multiple tengu guards and kappa staff monitoring the rooms…

Aya crammed those dangerous thoughts deep down in her mind where they would never resurface.

(Part 40)

what the hell would separate the new-gu that would make it unique from the trio we already have?

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