/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Er...No? It was in the Garden of the Sun." Yamame supplied, which caught Reimu's attention again.

"The Garden of the Sun?" Reimu repeated incredulously. "How'd she...No, I guess that's very her." She seemed to be calming down slightly. "What did she do with you?" She asked me. Shrugging a little, I recounted what had happened, both on my first meeting with Miss Yuuka, and on this, the most recent visit. The longer I talked, the more bemused Reimu became. Eventually, she sat down opposite me, her legs and arms crossed and a frown on her face. "Botanical gardens?" She asked me suspiciously. "Not...Full of dangerous plants?" I shook my head. Some apparently were dangerous, but Miss Yuuka had warned me before I could touch anything. "She warned you?" I was starting to get a better idea of what was happening here, so I sighed. Reimu, I said, Miss Yuuka was very kind to both of us. She served us freshly baked bread. She offered an invitation to Yamame to return and learn the recipe for herself. She hadn't tried to attack us. "...Yeah, I get it." Reimu said, still frowning. "She attacked the Shrine once. Long time ago, but it did happen. Maybe she's changed since then, but...I don't know. I've never really found it too easy to trust her." I supposed that she probably did act like that too, since teasing people seemed to be something she greatly enjoyed, but I wondered if perhaps, simply being respectful and polite was enough for her to extend the same courtesy. I didn't say it to Reimu, but I was fairly certain that what Miss Yuuka really wanted was a friend, and I came back to my idea about Meiling. But at the same time, I couldn't fix every problem in the world. "Okay, so - So, you're fine. You got kidnapped, but she was nice, so it's okay. She gave you food, so she's nice too. She offered an invitation for you to come back, so she must be kind. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Um, I thought she was pretty nice." Yamame piped up, raising a hand. "Apart from when she said that she was a youkai who subsisted on spiders." That had been a little mean, I agreed. "She and Miss Elly made really tasty food."

"Wait, Elly? Weird girl with a scythe?" Reimu asked curiously. She...Hadn't had a scythe. "Er..." Reimu looked like she was struggling. "Red dress...?" Yes, I said. She did have a red dress. "Wow. I definitely didn't think she was still around." I shrugged and said that she'd been helping Miss Yuuka bake. "...Okay, I'll let it lie. Please, please, please stop letting strange women kidnap you." I didn't exact have a choice in the matter, I said while crossing my arms. "Am I going to have to start accompanying you wherever you go?" Reimu asked sharply. Begrudgingly, I shook my head and said that I would be careful. Privately, I thought that these things just tended to happen to me and I wasn't sure how much I could really do about that. "And you, Yamame! Take care of him!" Reimu stressed toward Yamame, who jumped slightly.

"Wh- Huh? Er, I do my best, I suppose?" Yamame stammered, shifting slightly closer to me, until our legs were touching. "I'm trying, Reimu." She said, her expression growing more honest. "I don't want to see him get hurt again."

Here, Reimu's expression grew slightly shrewd. "Maybe you'll just have to stay with him all the time." She said, suddenly appearing to be the picture of innocence. I didn't trust her. "That's not a problem, is it?"

"U-Um, no..." Yamame looked at me with some panic, so I jumped back into the conversation and loudly asked Reimu about Marisa, since we'd spotted what looked to be a Master Spark across the valley and near the mountain.

"Urgh, I don't know what's going on with her anymore." Reimu got up, wandered off to the kitchens, then returned with a bowl of rice crackers. "She dragged her table over and placed the bowl on top, then beckoned Yamame and I to sit closer. Yamame, apparently having taken Reimu's comment as some sort of challenge, sat on my lap with a sort of defiant look on her face. "So, you know how Tenshi said that she'd been captured as a prisoner of war or whatever?" We nodded. "Well, while you were busy being kidnapped by Kotohime, she managed to talk her way up to someone in charge with the yamawaro. Next thing you know - Or rather, Tenshi knows, because she's the one who told me all of this - She's in a convict unit of the yamawaro. I don't really get it, but she's apparently doing missions for them for their war game or whatever it is. It's not affecting humans yet, so I don't really want to get involved." Was it not affecting Marisa? "Yeah, but if she gets hurt, she has it coming." I supposed that I couldn't argue with that. "Anyway, Tenshi said that Marisa seemed to be having fun, so she hadn't bothered rescuing her. I guess what you saw was one of her missions...Or whatever it they're doing."