/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Boss lady~!" Tewi called. "Eirin~! Got a patient for you~!" She looked entirely unconcerned, and I tried to relax, but I wasn't doing a very good job. Finally, we came to a door, and I could see down the corridor, where scorch marks covered the walls. This, I thought, was the part of Eientei where Eirin had given chase to Tenshi and I with massive outbursts of danmaku. "We've been working on scrubbing all of that stuff off." Tewi said, noticing where I was looking. "Well, I say working. More like ditching Reisen so she has to do it herself. It's like a game. I find some work, I trick Reisen into doing it. Then, Eirin scolds her for taking too long. It's a win-win situation."

"What does Reisen win?" Reimu asked, her confusion clear on her face. I probably looked perpetually confused considering the amount of youkai who spoke utter nonsense that I happened to run into. At least Yamame was nice and understanding.

"Oh, she doesn't. I win twice." Tewi cheerfully stated, giving us a big smile.

"...Right. So, uh, Eirin?" Reimu looked about ready to get the surreal conversation over with.

"Yeah, yeah..." Tewi stuck a thumb at the door next to us. "Get in there and wait. I'm...assuming you're not planning on leaving him alone." She directed that part to Reimu.

"Not a chance." Her reply was short and blunt, but made me feel far more relaxed. Tewi shrugged, not looking particularly bothered, then pointed us to the door once more.

"Eirin's with a patient, since the clinic's back open, so she might be a few minutes." Tewi told us, idly playing with her huge mallet by bouncing it between her shoulders and spinning it across her arms. I backed away slightly before she could hit me with it, which then reminded me of the last thing I’d seen it covered in, which hadn’t been a very pleasant sight and in fact, made me feel a little nauseous.

"What kind of patient? Youkai attack?" Reimu asked, slightly quickly and with some intensity.

"Eh, nah. Just some guy from the human village who fell in a rice paddy after it rained. Banged his head and nearly drowned before someone pulled him out. They made him come for a check-up regardless. Nothing special." To be honest, that sounded like my brand of bad luck, but I didn't say anything. Reimu nodded slowly, so Tewi shrugged and gestured for us to enter the room, which I did after taking a moment to force down my nervousness. “Hey.” Tewi called, just before we could enter. “Thanks. For helping to sort out Eirin.” I told her that while it wasn’t exactly an experience I was eager to repeat, I was happy to have helped. Then, I turned back to the door. I knew it wasn't anything special. It was just a talking session. Yet, I couldn't exactly shake off the feeling of nervousness since it had gone the way it had the last time.

But the room was empty. It was the same room as before, the one with the bench to lay on, the bookshelf stacked full of unreadable scripts, and the strange few personal effects that Eirin had kept for whatever reasons she had. I found myself crossing over to the bookshelf again, just as I had done last time. Some things had changed. Aside from the presence of two additional chairs, a small table, and some sort of artwork upon the walls, there was more...clutter, I supposed, across the bookshelf. The last time, there had been little besides that one card with the child's drawing inside, but now there were various random objects taking up the shelves. The card was still there, but it was displayed slightly more prominently now. Next to it sat what I could only assume was some sort of moon object, because I had absolutely no idea what it was or what it did.

Below, on the next shelf, were what I could only define as various items that Eirin had taken an interest in. Things like a small haniwa figure, a small rod that I recognized as a representation of an onbashira, the kind that I'd seen at the Moriya Shrine, and even a small shard of rock that looked like it had come from one of Tenshi's keystones. And next to that was a prominently displayed piece of paper. I couldn't read it, because it was still written in that unreadable Lunarian script, but it looked quite official and serious.