/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Where is Miss Hecatia, anyway? She said that she'd try and show up, but I still haven't seen her..." I wondered that myself. You'd think that having three bodies would mean that at least one of them could make it, but I'd been keeping an eye out for tall blue-haired ladies and caught nothing thus far. "I hope she's okay. I still want to thank her again for helping me with my dress." So did I. In fact, I wanted to give her a hug. "You have an unhealthy obsession with hugs, and I think I should take you back to Eirin about it." I clicked my tongue, then told Yamame that if she did that, she wouldn't be getting any hugs anymore either. "I - Oh, that's a good point...Maybe you should bribe me with more hugs instead." That, I could do. "And...More than hugs." Plenty of kisses, and beyond. "Ooh...That's a dangerous deal." I smirked and said that I'd just have to take the risk.

We were wandering down the courtyard, pushing our way through fairies, villagers, and youkai alike. I had to stop at one point to apologize to Miss Narumi when I stumbled into her and knocked her hat from her head. "Oh, please don't worry! I'm fine." She said, crouching down to grab her hat before someone could step on it. Dusting it off, she replaced it on her head. "I'm just rather happy to be here, after all. Miss Reimu's done a wonderful job." Yamame and I agreed, especially since I'd been spending half of the day before and today running around helping to set things up, and Reimu had probably spent even longer than that given the whole fireworks display. I wondered what people still in the village had thought when they'd seen that. It seemed like the sort of thing that could give birth to a new youkai if it wasn't explained properly.

"So...What did you think of the performance?" I blinked. It was still ongoing, wasn't it? "Oh, yes, but that first song was new. The one they're playing right now is one I've heard before." Ah, I replied. But still, it wasn't all old songs, was it? "Oh, definitely not. They've played two new things so far!" Miss Narumi was a big fan, then? "Ah - Well, I guess you could say that I'm a fan. Do you remember...Er, our, uh, date?" She cringed slightly as she said it, but Yamame waved her hand and told her that it was fine. "I said that I'd heard them practicing right after I'd been awakened in the Four Seasons Incident. So, um, I've always had a soft spot for them, I suppose."

"Unlike Ki, who's just a rabid fangirl." Yamame muttered, pressing a hand against her head and sighing. I did wonder how that had come about, but it didn't seem the right time to ask, so I didn't bother. Ki's side of the family seemed quite odd, anyway, considering one of her sisters had apparently been supplying the kappa and the yamawaro for their war at the same time, and Ki herself seemed to just appear and disappear at will. Plus, she'd been very cagey when it came to discussing the Kurodani matriarch. I still didn't know what was going on there, but I had a feeling that I would find out sooner or later. "They're, uh, pretty good. I think." Yamame continue, speaking to Miss Narumi now. "I mean, I've never really had much of an ear for music, but it sounds nice."

"That's okay." Miss Narumi said kindly. "I think it just takes some getting used to before you can really start to appreciate music. Goodness knows what music is like outside of Gensokyo, after all. I think we'd all be a bit shocked." She...Had a point. I hadn't really heard anything in my - All unwilling - Trips out of the valley and into the Outside World. I thought I'd heard something playing in that dark restaurant being battered by the rain in Tokyo, and maybe again in Australia, but Finland had been quiet. The music in Tokyo had sounded like piano, and I could understand that much, at least, even if there didn't seem to be a piano that it was actually playing from. Either way, I wouldn't have been surprised if there was a huge amount of music that I'd never even be able to dream of out there.

"Well, I'll, er, leave you two alone." Miss Narumi said with a smile. "I've not been over there yet." Her hand indicated the area that we'd just traversed. I pointed out Seiran's dango stand and said that we'd just been over there, which prompted Miss Narumi to ask how it was. That, in turn, made me stop short, because I didn't really want to answer with 'it was okay' or something else weak, so I just said that she'd probably appreciate the patronage. Especially since she'd been so rushed moving the stand around. "Ah, is that right? Well, happy new year!" Miss Narumi finished, gave us a bow, then stepped past us and disappeared into the crowd.