/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"It's, uh, a spider thing, Reimu." Kisami said. She had yet to take her arms off of me, and in fact, she wrapped both of them around me as she spoke. "We instinctually want to stay inside when it's Winter. Kind of like hibernation, but not actually." She looked at the door to Reimu's room with a very apprehensive look. "I'm only out here because I got stuck being a dragon's chew-toy, and then Kasen and Raki wanted me to come to the Shrine with them." While I felt sorry for her, I also couldn't help but find it slightly funny that much like villagers and fairies, even a dragon had fallen under Ki's charms. "A-Anyway, that's probably why. She'll come if you bug her enough, though. Annoyance overrides instincts eventually."

"Right...That dragon's the one who kidnapped me to Kasen's place for the first time, actually. Started a whole thunderstorm and got me drenched, too. Kasen decided that my training might as well begin then so she made me stand under a waterfall for a few hours. It was...Great." She didn't look like she agreed. Actually, I thought I remembered seeing a massive thunderstorm over the Shrine once. It had looked weirdly localized, but I'd just shrugged it off as a weird thing. I was still mostly scared of Reimu back then, anyway, so I'd not put much thought into investigating. "Okay, well, we can discuss it now, then when you go back, you can tell Yamame, and then you can start actually doing all of that stuff after that."

"Um, I might just go now, actually..." Kisami said, awkwardly scratching her head. "I've not actually been home even once this year." I snorted. It was true, too. "There's stuff I need to catch up on, and I want to start coming up with...Wedding ring designs." She mumbled that last bit. "I'll, er, bring a bunch of sketches up to you and Yams soon, though." I smiled and nodded, because I'd been wondering how that part would go since I'd proposed. "Plus, if I put going back out there off any longer, I'll end up becoming a freeloader here at the Shrine instead."

"Wouldn't be the first." Reimu muttered under her breath. "I think all those coats of Yamame's are still here, so you could take some of those back while you're at it." Kisami nodded and finally released me from her hug, then hopped up and disappeared in the direction that Reimu indicated so that she could grab some of the coats. "Alright, so...When? Spring, I assume, but do you want it in early Spring? Mid Spring?" I mostly just wanted to make sure it was when the tree would be full of leaves, though apparently Tenshi had claimed that it wouldn't be until late Summer that it would produce fruit, if it did at all. For all I knew, weird celestial trees took years longer to produce fruit. So...Probably mid Spring. "Alright, so that'll be...April? May? Probably April. After that, it's just figuring out what day in particular is best, but you'll need Yamame here for that." I already felt a little bit in over my head. "Well, that's why we're all here. To help keep things straight for you." Weakly, I smiled, feeling better already.

"Ah, this one fits." I looked over to see Ki returning from wherever Reimu had stashed the coats, wearing a thick and long thing in a dark shade of green. "Ooh, quite well, actually." She crouched down to wrap her arms around me again. "Alright, I'm going back. I'll see you soon, okay?" I nodded and didn't even resist when she planted a kiss on my cheek and squeezed me tightly. "It was nice seeing you again, Reimu. And, um, Kasen and Raki, thank you for your hospitality. Ah, but, er..." As she got up, she draped my coat back over my shoulders, and I looked up to thank her.

"Yes, we'll try and keep Koutei from kidnapping you again." Raki replied lazily. "It was nice to have someone new around, anyway. Thanks for putting up with it."

"Yes, as my partner here said, I'm glad that you put up with it. I know it must have been a little bit scary, and he'll be getting a stern lecture when we get back." I felt just a little bit sorry for the dragon at that point. "You're welcome to come back at any time. If I've changed the route, I'll make sure that Reimu knows it. Otherwise, Komachi can probably get you in." Ki nodded gratefully, then stepped over and pulled the door to the Shrine open.

"Ooh..." She groaned as the cold began to come through. "O-Okay, just gotta do it...I'll see you all soon, I hope." She waved, and her face brightened considerably, until she looked just as cheery as she normally did. I supposed she was exhausted and hadn't been to her proper home for a while. I'd sort of gotten used to hopping between Yamame's home, the Shrine, and Lady Kasen's dojo over time, so I felt fine. "Bye!" She finally called, before stepping out onto the veranda and pulling the door shut behind her.

Now that I was carrying my long-lost T-shirts from Lady Hecatia, I needed to do something with them. I was still standing outside the stall that Koishi had been running, and she'd disappeared off down the street, so I didn't want to look like I was up to no good. Especially since half the village thought I was dead anyway, so I'd look like some shady poltergeist stealing things if I hung around here. Surreptitiously looking around, I stuffed my two recovered T-shirts into pockets of my coat, thankful that Yamame had sewed a large pocket on the inside of the coat too. Now, I just looked like I might be a little fat rather than a thief.

And I couldn't spend all day walking around with the two T-shirts in my coat, so I decided to double back and head back to the café where Yamame was hopefully still discussing work with Kagerou, and see if she couldn't hide the clothes somewhere until it was time for us to leave. The fact that I was not considering my own house as a place to store my own clothes was not lost on me, and I almost stopped when I passed by, but I then had a feeling like my brain had just been submerged in a freezing river and so I decided to move on for now. Instead, I pushed through the entrance to the café. "Welcome to- Oh, it's you." My favourite greeting by my favourite waitress. I looked over at Oseki, who frowned at me. "Did you gain some weight?" She asked, and I looked at her strangely for a moment, then shook my head. "So...Are you here for something to eat or drink?" Not exactly, I replied, looking across the café. And happily, there they were. Kagerou was wearing that same cloak that she wanted replaced, and Yamame was talking animatedly to her about something that I couldn't quite hear. I pointed vaguely in their direction and said that I was with them. "With - Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense." I frowned and looked down at her. It did? "Huh? O-Oh, er, yeah. I mean, you were talking to Kagerou when she was working here last week, right? And that's your s- I, er, mean...Who's that she's talking to?" Oseki sounded very scattered and I asked her if she was feeling alright. "Fine!" She replied sharply. "Just go and sit down or, uh, whatever!" She awkwardly shuffled off back toward the kitchens, leaving me standing there and only feeling slightly confused. Oseki was nice, but it seemed like her general reticence when it came to talking was there for a reason. She seemed to get flustered fairly easily.

Either way, I shrugged and proceeded over to Yamame and Kagerou, who paused their discussion at my approach. "Hi, hi!" Kagerou greeted me cheerily, waving me over. "I need to thank you for bringing Yamame along again! She's so good at this clothing stuff!" I sat down wearily next to Yamame, who looked at me with a slightly weak smile.

"It's, um, nothing. I just try my best." Yamame said, sounding like the compliment was defeating her slightly. She looked over to me. "Are you okay?" She asked, and I nodded with a little confusion. Then, I reached into my coat and pulled out the T-shirts that I'd gotten back from Koishi and passed them over to her. I asked her quietly if she could keep them safe for me before I somehow lost them again, and despite the apparent desire to know just what I was talking about, she nodded. "Um, okay...?" She took them and placed them on her lap.

"What's, uh, going on over there...?" Kagerou asked, staring between us. We both whipped around and stammered something about how everything was fine. "Right..." Kagerou slowly nodded. "Should I, er, give you a minute?" No, no, I said. I was just checking in. I stumbled back to my feet and gave Yamame a kiss on the forehead. I was still happy to go for another walk around the village. But, I continued, it was good to see Kagerou again and I'd be happy to attend another Grassroots Youkai Network meeting in the future. Yamame, surprisingly, agreed and said that she would be happy to come too. I lightly rubbed the small of her back which sent a shiver through her and smiled encouragingly at her.

Business accomplished, I bade farewell for now and saw myself out, only pausing to give Oseki a curious look when I heard her mutter something about freeloaders who don't even buy anything. She simply stared at me in what I hoped to be mock contempt as I waved goodbye at her and stepped back outside.

Being that Winter was well on its way, the days were getting shorter, but I reckoned that I still had some time left in the sunlight, which I needed since living with Yamame had brought the amount of sunlight I was getting down by a fairly significant amount. I decided that I would go and sit by the canal and just watch life in the village go buy, so I turned down the first alley I saw.