/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46692208
I looked at the girl, surprised by the request. I'd expected something along the lines of helping herself out of the HSE, saving Anon, or maybe even being asked to lay down my life for something, but remaining by Yukari's side? That was... an intriguing request.

"I'm bound to defend this building already you understand? So long as the HSE stands Seija and I will be here with Yukari-Sama, what more are you asking for?" I inquired.

"Mother she... she is alone and, even Father doesn't care for her in the slightest." She said in a miserable tone. "After this building falls, and it will fall, I don't know what she'll do, but I do know that if she stands alone, as she always thought she has, Mother might do something terrible and won't-." she pause, struggling to say the next words. "- she'll be gone."

I breathed in and exhaled letting the dreadful thoughts seep and dissipate in the cold winter wind. I ask the obvious: "Why us? Ran, Chen, the ghost who oversees the Netherworld, they're all closer to Yukari-Sama aren't they? And you've probably seen how your Mother thinks of us, as tools at best or maybe a pleasant division.." I shook my head.

"You're wrong!" Sekai yelled, insistent. "Mother is better at hiding her feelings then anyone else, even from herself, but she does love you and Mother Seija. I can tell by the way she looks at you two when teaching and spying on the both of you during her tea breaks. If she thought about why she does those things maybe Mother would understand, but she doesn't question herself, she's always so self-assured." She mopped. "When she realizes Mother Ran and Chen have been working against her she'll have nobody to turn to that she hasn't pushed away, not even Mother Yuyoko."

Doing the math, she was right. Every faction in Gensokyo was either pitted against her, neutral, or a tenuous ally of convince(to put in mildly), her fellow Sages probably both wished her dead, and even Anon, as forgiving as he might be, had been push over his limit. In all of Heaven, The Two Hells, and Earth, Seija and I might be the only two honest people who didn't scorn Yukari with all their being. But still, would that even matter to her? With my dealings with the Yakumo I hoped to come to understand the insanity of it all, what had lead her toward this ridiculous plan, the elaborate construction of the HSE, and, once the layers of Youkai trickery where pealed away all I saw was, well, something I wasn't sure was within anyone's power to help.

"Sekai, I may not hate Yukari-Sama, but..." She looked at me expectantly "What your asking, if Seija and I have to choose between her and our children, well, that isn't a choice." I told her.

At this, Sekai's face winced and contorted. It was obvious she holding back saying a lot, so I made sure to speak slowly and clearly that she could process all of it. "And that's not your responsibility to worry about you know?" I told her, gently grasping her small hand "She may be your Mother, but that doesn't make her mistakes your's to fix."

"I know that," she began, her lip quivering "I know everything that's she done, to Father, to Mother Hana, and so many more, and that she'll have to be punished for it, even then I-I don't want her to be alone. You and Mother Seija can understand that right? How terrible it is to be by yourselves?"

Seija may have disagreed, though I know that she'd rather perish then have nobody around to stare in awe of her tricks.