/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Yamame took the envelope, opened it, and looked inside. I peered over her shoulder to see plenty of notes, which seemed like a good sign. At least, until Yamame tossed it over her shoulder. "Sorry, Miss Mamizou. That's just leaves, isn't it?"

"Oh-ho, yer a smart one, eh?" Mamizou's eyebrows raised slightly, and she reached behind her to draw out a second envelope. "Figured as much." She said, handing this one over. "Never would've seen everyone praisin' yer work so much if it was easy to rip you off."

Yamame looked into the second envelope, thought for a moment, and finally nodded. She slipped it into her pocket, then nodded. "Yeah." She said by way of reply. "Once you've been around a while, you start seeing all the tricks." She rubbed her forehead. "Then you remind people what you could do to them if they don't pay, and they usually pay up after that." I supposed that getting a disease that left you bedridden for weeks was a good deterrent for refusals. "Thank you for asking me, though." Yamame continued, bowing deeply. "It was fun to make. I hope you like it."

"Sure I will, lassie." Mamizou replied, smiling slightly. "Matter 'o' fact, I'll go and give it a try now. But, ah..." Mamizou trailed off, fidgeting slightly. "Yer might need to go and wrangle Reimu. Before she starts breakin' things." She probably would do that if she wasn't stopped, I realised. "Oh, hang about. You two are the ones gettin' married, ain'tcha?" Blinking, I nodded. "Right, right. Heard about it from some o' my tanuki subordinates. Congratulations and all that. Enjoy the weddin'. Saw a bunch 'o' those back in Sado. Might even see yer there..." This, I presumed, was one of those ones that would show up regardless, especially since she could disguise herself. Still, she didn't seem like she'd cause too many problems. "Alright. I had better make myself scarce afore Reimu figures out who's pullin' the wool over her eyes. Thanks again, lassie." She waved to us, then headed back in the direction of the temple.

"That..." Yamame said slowly. "Was a weird one. She really didn't need to go to all that effort, did she?" It seemed like a lot of work. "Yeah..." To be fair, I said, we did just cross the Sanzu River to heal a sore throat. Yamame snorted, then forced down a laugh. "Er, we should probably go and reign in Reimu before she brings the place down around us, shouldn't we?" I looked back toward the temple, then realised that even from here, I could hear shouting. It looked like Reimu had gotten to Murasa and was trying to figure out why she'd sent her off to Byakuren. Yeah, I replied. Though, if she waited, it was possible that Reimu would rip Murasa's nice coat, and then Yamame might end up with a new job out of it.

No, I thought to myself. That was the sort of thing a mob boss would do.