/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"I think I might throw up." Yamame suddenly announced to me in just about the calmest voice I'd ever heard. "Probably soon." She looked very pale, yes, but I asked her how exactly she'd reached that conclusion. "Funny feeling in my stomach. And I'm incredibly hungover. I guess that peach in you lets you cheat your way out of throwing up from drinking too much." I wasn't too sure about that, because I definitely didn't feel well, but I didn't have that sort of queasy feeling in my stomach that usually preceded me throwing up from a hangover. Patting Yamame on the back, I said that maybe the peach was just delaying the reaction and I'd be feeling just as bad as she did soon enough. It wasn't like my head had stopped hurting, anyway. "Can we...Uh, find a back alley or something?"

We'd barely made any progress down the street after the impromptu comedy show courtesy of the Moriya Shrine. The trio had only just about disappeared from sight when Yamame had made her announcement, and since I wasn't much desiring Yamame throwing up in the middle of the street, I nodded and led her down the first proper alley I could find. It turned out to be the back of a restaurant that hadn't opened yet and as such, was empty, quiet, and hidden enough from the main street that no one would see us. Unfortunately, it seemed that the town was beginning to wake up, because there was significantly more background noise in general then there had been when we'd left the hall. Still, there was a large box to sit on, and I could see steam wafting through the space between the two buildings above us. The whole thing felt just a little seedy, but sometimes you just had to do what you had to do.

So, I sat on the box, slightly hunched over, with my arms resting on my legs. Yamame leaned against the wall, her arms wrapped around her stomach and a queasy look on her face. I'd have liked to go and hug her, but I also wasn't particularly looking to get covered in vomit, so I was willing to respect that perhaps I would just have to wait until afterwards. "Those...Moriya lot." Yamame said suddenly. I looked over at her with a frown. "Oh, don't leave me sitting here silently. Anyway - Those Moriya lot. I don't know if you saw it, but they've got that reactor down here, right?" I'd heard it mentioned, I was fairly certain. "It's not too far off from the biggest spring." Yamame said, then clenched her jaw and her eyes for a moment. "No, I'm fine..." She mumbled when I looked at her with concern. "Er, anyway, they've got that reactor, and you can see it from the biggest spring." So?

"Well, you remember the, uh, coffee incident?" She looked at me a little sheepishly, and I could feel my cheeks heat up. Yes, I definitely remembered the coffee incident. I also remembered the follow-up coffee incident when she'd found out where I'd hidden her supply, and both had been equally taxing on my hydration levels. "They're the ones who gave us the supply." I raised an eyebrow. "That Kanako, she...I don't know, I think she was trying to ingratiate herself with us? I mean, I wasn't there. Reiko and Yura came up with them." I'd heard some of this story, told to me in panting, gasping breaths between Yamame wringing me for all I was worth. "Y-Yes, well, um, she apparently went around telling the girls in charge - So, Yura, Reiko, Kisami...You get the idea - how great a job they were doing and offered those as gifts. I guess she didn't want to look like she was doing nothing since she's got that reactor so close. I don't know, but that's probably why she's here again." Yamame shrugged. "She's a bit awkward." I could definitely agree with that. "But I think she means well." I expected so. She was a lot like Hearn in that way. Meaning well, but seemingly not quite getting the best way to go about things.

"And...What did that Sanae mean when she said-" And then Yamame stopped. Her eyes bulged a little and she began to snap her fingers repeatedly. And I'd seen enough hangovers in my life to know what that meant, so when she suddenly rushed over to the wall by the box that I was sitting on and bent her upper half forward, I was already trying to get out of the way.

And then she threw up, which is never a pleasant experience to see happen, let alone to happen to you, but I decided to do my best and pulled her hair back out of her face, then tried rubbing gentle circles into her back while she lost last night's dinner. It wasn't exactly big on dignity, or glamour, or anything particularly good in the world. But, well, I supposed that it was very relatable. Any human could sympathize with something like this. Yamame retched, her stomach empty, then gasped for breath. She looked up at me, her eyes streaming, a line of drool hanging from her mouth, looking like she would rather die than be alive for a second longer.

Before long, I saw the Shrine in the distance, and the massive staircase that led up to it. I'd never really thought properly about it while walking up, but it was really, insanely high. How had I done that while carrying people? "Oh, look!" Yamame said, coming to a halt in mid-air. I yelped slightly, since I was already a little uncomfortable being so high with nothing but Yamame's arms supporting me, and then Yamame swung me around to look away from the shrine and off into the distance. Out there, across the forests and the lakes, up near the mountains, I could see a massive beam of light. Subconsciously, I felt a sort of twitch in my hands and an urge to scratch my skin, like it was raw. That was Marisa's Master Spark. After a few seconds, the beam faded, only for an massive explosion to replace it, and after a few seconds, I heard the echoing boom. "Must be a yamabiko out there..." Yamame mused. "That's Marisa Kirisame, isn't it?"

It looked like it, I replied. Tenshi had mentioned that she had somehow become wrapped up in some sort of conflict between the kappa and the yamawaro, but by the looks of it, she'd either broken free or been conscripted into fighting, both of which were outcomes that would probably have very interesting results. "I wonder if she's okay." I shrugged as much as I could while hanging in the air, then said that she'd probably be fine. She was more than capable of looking after herself, after all. Finally, I asked Yamame if she would mind getting me onto solid ground any time soon. "Soli- Oh, er, sorry." That distraction done, Yamame floated over to the top of the stairs and dropped me next to the torii gate. I stumbled slightly, then got my balance back and just appreciated being on the ground again. Yamame landed next to me, so I turned and pulled her in for a kiss, then thanked her for carrying me all the way here. "Huh?" She asked, sounding slightly dazed. "Um, you're welcome."

"Hey!" I heard a shout coming from across the courtyard. I turned to look and gulped. Reimu was storming toward me, gohei in hand and anger on her face. "Where the hell have you been!?" She shouted, reaching me just to whack me in the head with the gohei, even as I tried to defend myself ineffectually. "You never showed up this morning! I checked with Kotohime, I checked at Eientei, I even wandered through the caves to check your house!" The 'your house' portion was directed at Yamame, who raised her hands in surrender. "Come on." She growled, dragging me by my shirt. "You too, Yamame!" She yelled, glancing over her shoulder. "Now!"

We passed by both Aunns on our way, and the happier one spoke up. "You're safe! Miss Reimu said that you'd probably been kidnapped again!" That...was essentially true, I supposed. The angrier Aunn gave me a harsh stare and what appeared to be the start of a rude gesture before the happier Aunn slapped her hands down. "That sure seems to happen to you a lot, huh?" The happier Aunn asked me. I didn't get a chance to respond before Reimu had dragged me into her room and tossed me on the floor using that hidden strength of hers that had once almost punched my jaw off. I sighed heavily as Yamame sidled into the room behind Reimu, who turned and flashed a glare at her before telling her sharply to sit down. I felt like the floor was slightly different, and I looked to my sides, before back at Reimu. Had the floor in here been replaced? "Yes, as a matter of fact. While you were busy dropping off the face of the Earth, Ran decided to use my search as an excuse to replace the tatami mats in here." She'd calmed slightly as she spoke, but got right back into her anger mode afterward. Yamame took a seat next to me as I sat up and crossed my legs. Reimu responded by crossing her arms and pacing in front of us, only stopping to shut the door. "Well? Who kidnapped you this time?" She asked, sharply and with more than a little exasperation.

"Um," Yamame began, then cut herself off when Reimu's gaze switched to her instead of me. She was very scary in these moments, so I definitely understood. "It was, er, Yuuka Kazami, in the-"

"You what!?" Reimu all but roared, dropping the gohei on the floor. "You got kidnapped by Yuuka!? Both of you!?" Not trusting words right now, I nodded. Reimu crouched down and grasped my chin, turning me head from side to side. "And you're - You're fine? She didn't...Do anything?" Oh, I thought to myself with a little frustration. Reimu seemed to have the same notions that everyone else had regarding Yuuka. Sighing, I pushed her hand away and reiterated that I was fine. Miss Yuuka had been perfectly pleasant to both Yamame and I, and she'd even offered us food, drink, and shown us around her mansion. Personally, I much preferred her mansion to the Vampire's mansion. "Wasn't her mansion just a lot of weird teleporting magic that shot danmaku all over the place? Is it still near that massive lake of blood?"