/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Since Komachi was indeed a sucker for romance, she had very attentively listened to my story, then responded very positively to my invitation. "Sure," She said cheerfully, almost dropping her scythe when she went to fold her arms. "I'll definitely come. Couldn't miss something as big as this, anyway." I smiled and said that I was happy to hear that. "You've had a pretty big effect on people, you know?" I frowned, then asked her what she meant. "Think about it. You started making waves, and now there's a shabby ex-celestial changing her ways, Reimu's being less grumpy - That one is a miracle - and..." Komachi paused. "Here's the biggest one. You've somehow, and I cannot for the life of me understand how, but you've somehow managed to make the arm of an oni which was supposed to consist of nothing but hatred and malice change her ways. I might be playing down Raki's own participation, I suppose. Even so, I never thought I'd see the day when the two halves of Ibaraki-douji would be able to coexist like this."

Did she know her? The original Ibaraki-douji, I meant. "Nah. Never met her until she was a nagging hermit living in a senkai." Sitting forward slightly, I quietly mentioned to Komachi that there was a chance of a certain arm and hermit duo reuniting as one. "Huh." Komachi said in a very thought-out contribution. "That's interesting...Like I said, I never knew her. I had theories, though - Enough to fill up and sink my poor Titanic. About how her personality would change, and things like that." Did she still have those theories? "They've changed." Komachi told me, pushing the boat onward. "Once the arm started to change. I never asked Reimu how the fight in Avici went - Maybe in case I found out something I didn't like. I saw her down there - Ibaraki-douji, so I turned tail right away and went straight to Lady Eiki. We needed to start damage control so that things didn't get out of control. Never even heard Ibaraki-douji speak, which I always kind of regretted."

I was surprised that she hadn't stuck around to fight. "That's what Lady Eiki said to me too!" Komachi sounded a little put out by the fact. "Honestly, I am a good worker! I knew that if we didn't get on top of the information flow right away, someone would find out the wrong thing, so I wanted to make it happen! She even lectured me for taking Tenshi down to Hell, even though if I hadn't, we'd all have been in trouble." Komachi let out a long sigh, then shook her head. "Anyway, that all worked out fine in the end...Hey, I was going to ask...Would you mind if I invited Lady Eiki too?" I was fine with that, and I couldn't see any reason why Yamame wouldn't be. In fact, we had all been thinking that a lot of people would show up, even without an invite. "Oh, definitely. It's just too alluring of an event for people not to come and mess around with. Still, if I bring Lady Eiki, she can't scold me for slacking off because she'll be there too." Komachi paused for a moment, thinking. "Er, although...She'll probably use it as an opportunity to spread her teachings and lecture people in Gensokyo, since she's usually so busy with her normal work. I'm sure she'll pull out one of her rare days off to attend, though." Komachi shrugged. "Hopefully she won't find a reason to lecture me for hours. Probably wishful thinking, though."

We'd gotten quite off-track from talking about Ibaraki-douji. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I was thinking about how her personality would change. Well, I don't know what she was like then, but if the arm was still all malice and hatred, I thought that perhaps the two Kasen's would be so divided that Ibaraki-douji wouldn't be able to act effectively. Or, perhaps, one would be so dominant over the other that it would essentially be like only one was involved at all." I only knew a little more about what Reimu's fight in Avici had been like, and even then, it had sounded like Ibaraki-douji had constantly flipped between trying to Kill Reimu and trying to help her. So...Maybe that was what happened when both sides were struggling for dominance. But now? With the Lady Kasen and the Raki of today, I think none of us knew how things would go. "Well...I'm definitely interested..." Komachi mused. "Still, you do have some sort of backup in place, right? In case you need to reverse it?" I nodded and gestured up to Reimu, who seemed to be demonstrating something to Yamame using her gohei as a measuring stick. She had fragments of the blade used to cut Lady Kasen's arm off, so we would be able to separate the two of them if it was necessary. "Oh, that's good..."

"Huh?" Komachi asked, looking closer at the rose. "Oh, yeah, I just sort of accept it. Lady Eiki's lectures are all 'Don't artificially extend the length of the Sanzu River to hear the end of stories that the spirits you ferry are telling!' and 'If you didn't want to wind up halfway to the Styx instead of the Sanzu, you shouldn't have fallen asleep in your boat without mooring it first!' You know, stuff like that. Actually, that last one tends to spend the first half about how to properly moor my Titanic, then the second half is about how I shouldn't have been sleeping in there to begin with. It's a nice change of pace. She's got an impressive set of lungs, so it doesn't really matter in the end because she could probably yell for hours before getting out of breath. Couldn't be the Yama if she didn't." I tried once more to get into the conversation and ask why Yamame had been upset, but once again, I didn't get a chance. This time, Komachi reached out and poked the rose on Raki's outfit. "You know, I never get to look at Kasen's outfit close up because she always pushes me away. The quality is...Really good." she lifted the tabard slightly and rubbed it between her fingers. "Does it really fit that well?"

"Yep, it totally does!" Kisami spun, the tabard and the skirt blooming outward. "Well, maybe it's a little bit looser...Miss Raki's taller than me, after all. I was more surprised that my clothes fit her!"

I looked over to see where Raki had ended up. She was thankfully not too hard to pick out, since Ki's outfit was dark in colour against the white snow thanks to the lanterns lighting up the place. There she was, over right next to Lady Kasen, who was having a spirited conversation with a girl who was in the middle of seemingly setting up a stall of some sort. She had blue hair that fell down some way at her back, tied on either side by two red bands, and sprouting on the top of her head were two large rabbit ears, just like Reisen had. She stood up straight to wipe her brow, and I caught a glint of something golden on one of her ears. Her outfit was a faded blue with a pattern of the moon and stars, and as she turned in Lady Kasen's direction, I caught her strikingly red eyes. They weren't like Reisen's, though. There was far less of an unsettling feeling coming from this girl. She was lifting a box and placing it on the counter as I watched, and she began to pull what looked like cooking equipment out.

I wondered if Raki was nervous. Now that I thought about it, she probably didn't have all that much recent experience in interacting with lots of people at once. Even when she'd been in the Hot Springs Town, she'd mostly stuck with Lady Kasen. Still, I hoped she'd be alright in the end.

Komachi and Kisami were still talking, and I was beginning to see what had upset my spider. The two seemed to have the conversation entirely figured out, and I didn't seem to fit into it. I...Wondered if Kisami and Komachi might not be a little too quick to make friends. They were talking like they'd known each other for years. When I heard Kisami double check what Komachi's name was, I decided that I definitely wasn't going to get anywhere with those two. They'd been talking for all that time without even being sure what their names were? So, I announced that I was going to look for Yamame. That, at the very least, caught Ki's attention slightly. "Huh? Oh, she's not - Where'd she go?" I dryly asked her if she shouldn't ask Komachi. "What're you talking about?" She asked blankly. "Well, um, tell her that she's getting another massive hug from me the next time I see her." I nodded, aware that Ki really did love her to bits, and she'd not meant anything by her actions, then moved off to check the Shrine.

"Oh - Actually, wait." Ki suddenly said, coming over to stand by me on her own. "Um, I upset her, didn't I?" I thought, then nodded. Kisami's face fell slightly, and she started to look a bit upset. "Oh, I hate upsetting any of my sisters, but especially Yams..." Awkwardly, I reached out to hug her before she burst into tears. I'd not expected an emotional response like this. "Um, can you tell her that I'm really sorry, too? I just got excited about meeting Komachi, but I think I ignored her..." I nodded and told her that I would make sure she knew, and I was sure that she'd forgive Ki before long. "Also, um..." She looked away slightly and mumbled something, so I asked her to repeat it. That made her sigh and start fidgeting with the tabard again. "I, um, really like that you and Yams both use that nickname for me." She said in a very quiet voice. "It - It makes me feel like we're already family." That made me feel all warm inside, and I couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling Kisami's hair. "Ah - No, don't..." She complained, reaching up to try and stop me. "Oh, just get going, will you?" She finally said once she'd gotten my hands away. She sounded exactly like Yamame when she said that. It was almost uncanny.