/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Uh." Komachi raised her hands, one holding her scythe, in self-defence. "I may...have jumped to conclusions. Let's just..."

"Shinigami!" Lady Kasen yelled from outside the room. "You're an idiot and you deserve whatever's coming to you!"

"Partner, don't call her an idiot." Oh, that had been Raki shouting that, not Lady Kasen. "Komachi, you're intellectually challenged!" That, I was fairly certain had been Lady Kasen.

"Kotohime, or whatever your fucking name is, I'm coming back in there, and you're not coming out of there except in enough pieces to fill a hundred boxes!" That had been Suika. "Which Yuugi can then hurl off a cliff!"

Suddenly, this room was seeming like it wasn't the place to be. I turned to Reimu and Yamame, and suggested that it was time for bed. Yamame, who was drunk enough to barely be able to stand, clung onto my neck as I helped Reimu to her feet, then I wrapped a hand around her back to keep her from toppling back over. Slowly, we made our way to the door, where Yuugi looked down at us. "Well, I can't exactly say you had anything to do with it. Get out of here and leave that one to us." She shifted enough to let us pass.

"Yeah, I think I'm pretty tired too, I'll just-" Komachi had apparently tried to walk out right behind us.

"I," Yuugi pushed Komachi back. "Think not." I looked back at Komachi, who seemed to be silently begging me not to leave her. We emerged into the hallway, where there was already a line to beat up Komachi forming. Suika was next, then Raki and then Lady Kasen at the end. Happily, my room was down the end of the corridor.

Lady Kasen caught my arm on the way past them. "Don't worry. She'll be fine. I wouldn't let them go that far even if they wanted to, which they don't." I nodded in relief, because I hadn't wanted to leave Komachi to her fate if she was in actual, real danger. "Take Reimu to bed. And...Well, I'm sure you'll all be fine." I didn't know what she was trying to say by that, but I nodded anyway and bade them good night.

Once we were back to my room, Reimu immediately went and collapsed on my bed, humming appreciatively. Yamame, meanwhile, seemed barely functioning, which I supposed was the effect of oni sake on someone who wasn't used to it. I couldn't very well send her off to a different room, nor did I want to leave Reimu alone, so I simply supported Yamame over to the bed, rolled Reimu over despite her complaints so I could fit in the middle, then let Yamame wrap herself around my arm. It was a tight squeeze, but Yamame fell asleep instantly, and Reimu didn't seem far off. "Hey." She murmured. After a moment's silence, I asked her why she had been pushing herself so hard lately. She didn't reply for some time, and I wondered if she'd already fallen asleep. "Just...didn't have much else." She breathed. I looked over and saw that her eyes were shut already. "Guess I was just lonely..." I tried to say that she didn't have to be lonely, but she'd already fallen asleep.

I followed shortly thereafter, just barely able to hear Komachi's yelps through the walls of the dojo.

The weather did not improve. If anything, the rain only got worse. As I prepared to set off to the cave that Yamame had led me out of, I wondered if my house would still be standing by the time I got back. Clearly, at some point, either the rain would get in or whoever was searching the house would get angry and start breaking things. I'd have to find a new place to live. If the worst came to pass, I could always try and stay with Marisa. Or perhaps Miss Hakurei would let me hide out at the shrine if Doctor Yagokoro was still trying to get me. I wonder where Miss Tenshi lives.
I left early in the morning as lightning began to split the sky apart. I didn't really know what I would be getting myself into, but I hoped that I'd be home soon. The village was mostly silent, but I did get to wave to my favourite redheaded waitress as I passed her setting out signs for the shop she worked at. She inclined her head without speaking, but I think I spotted the slightest ghost of a smile. Once I was out of the village, I once more began to relax. I suppose it's because, like Miss Yuuka said, there might be more youkai near me in the village. Outside, I felt like things were relatively normal.
I found the cave easily enough. Yamame had been slightly wrong when she had tried to point me to the village from here, but I soon found my own path and before long I was standing at the mouth of the cave once more. I swallowed and rubbed my eyes. The darkness ahead of me felt like I was being swallowed into the maw of some great beast, from which I'd never be seen again. But then I thought about the hole in my memory and knew that I had to continue. Steeling myself, I began to cautiously work my way into the tunnel system. I only hoped that I'd be able to find Yamame before I fell down another hidden hole into the nest of something much less pretty.
In fact, once my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, it wasn't all that hard to navigate. I suppose it was a blessing in some respect that it was as rainy outside, because my eyes didn't need all that long to adjust. Unfortunately, I'd also underestimated how hard it would be to navigate a system of tunnels in the dark without any help, and I found myself repeatedly stumbling into dead ends and tripping on the uneven ground. Nothing looked familiar and the deafening silence didn't help.
In the end, Yamame found me. I'd have to call it a testament to her skill, because I didn't hear a single sound for the entire time I was stumbling around like a drunkard, and then, with only the slightest scuffle of clothing, I was suddenly face to face with a pair of upside-down bright yellow eyes. Before I could speak, I felt two arms roughly wrap around me and I was lifted off the ground, up into the ceiling of the cave network. A hand covered my mouth, and I felt that same pressure that Yamame had attempted two times already. As usual, my skin didn't break, but this time, Yamame pulled back before any of her teeth could break once more. "Hush." She whispered into my ear. "You don't want to be on that floor in a few seconds." After a few moments with nothing but my own heartbeat echoing in my ears, I began to hear a faint noise coming from down the tunnels. As my heart beat harder, it grew in volume until I could make out...singing.
Eventually, the source came closer and closer, until I could see a girl passing underneath us. She was small, but had massive horns that stuck out from either side of her head. Her hair was a vibrant orange loosely marshalled into a massive ponytail. I could hear a strange sort of jingling sound as she approached which I made it out to be chains. As she got close enough to see properly, I spotted a large, purple gourd in her hand, and on either wrist were shackles, from which long chains draped down ending in a spherical object and a pyramid object respectively. From the ponytail on her back hung a third chain, with a cube hanging from it. She walked in a stumbling fashion, though with the gourd I assumed that she was actually drunk whereas I had simply had poor balance. Her arms swung out in every direction with each step, as did her hair, which sent the chains swinging wildly, and their small attachments swinging with them. When one of them swung into a wall, I was shocked to hear a crash and see a small portion of the rock face crumble away. I probably would have jumped and made some noise to alert her to our presence, but Yamame's hand wrapped around my mouth and her other arm wrapped around my chest prevented me from moving. Thankfully, that meant that the girl below - and even I know an oni when I see one - paid us no attention as she passed.

This spider is tanked!