/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Given my sudden switch from conscious to slightly cooked and unconscious, I'd missed the aftermath of the fighting in Eientei. Since I'd awoke, I'd only seen Marisa, Reimu, Tenshi and Kagerou, which left a few faces unaccounted for. Tenshi strolled into the room and threw back the sheets on my bed. I yelped, but calmed upon realising that I was, in fact, not undressed. I'd had the covers pulled up to my neck before, so I hadn't seen the extent of the damage to my body, but thankfully, my skin mostly just looked a little more red than usual, though I did feel very sore all over. I was dressed in a somewhat loose, but comfortable jinbei, which I tightened slightly. "You've got a heavenly peach coursing through your veins, so you'll be fine before long." With some confusion, I nodded. I'd hoped that the peach would protect me from the damage in the first place, but I supposed that I'd asked a little too much. Tenshi patted me on the arm, which sent some waves of pain through me. “Oh, er, sorry.” She said, seeing me show some discomfort.

Tenshi nodded sagely, then stepped around my bed. "Marisa, Marisa, Marisa. Whatever am I to do with you?" She cheerfully spoke to the witch who was more bandage than person at the moment.

"Fuck off, for a start." Marisa muttered, and Tenshi let out one of her girlish laughs. I really wondered about those two. They could be rather caustic to each other, but theirs seemed to be a rather unconventional friendship. “How come you never get injured? Be a nice change from you annoying me to no end.”

"Um, Mr. Human?" I looked back to the other side, where Kagerou was stood with her hands behind her back and an even more sheepish look on her face. "I just, er, wanted to apologize." I blankly stared at her, then asked her what exactly she was apologizing for. Her face, I noticed, was started to become more and more red. "It's just - um, around the full moon, I get...Oh, well, um..." She trailed off, looking tongue-tied. "I'm sorry for acting inappropriately!" She finally cried with a deep bow.

"Don't shout at him, werewolf..." Reimu mumbled from her chair, looking about a moment from passing out. "Don't shout near me, either. I'm too tired to beat you up right now." I awkwardly laughed and told Kagerou not to worry about it. It had been a little strange, but I'd taken it as just a strange quirk more than anything serious. It wasn't like it was much worse than Yamame's biting habits had been.

"O-Oh, that's, um, good. Thank you." Kagerou looked relieved, which made me feel relieved too. "I hope I didn't injure you. That rabbit has a strong kick..." I had seen as much when she had kicked out at Reimu, too, so I could believe it. Speaking of, where was Reisen? Or the others who had been present the night before?

"Aya's gone to write her stupid article for her stupid newspaper." Reimu mumbled, her eyes closed. The sunlight from outside was just started to shine through onto her face, and she groaned in annoyance. "Sounded stupid, but she's stupid, so it all works out stupid. Er, I mean, it all works out smoothly." Reimu really needed a nap. "She said she'd be back to collect her reward from you, whatever that means..." That, presumably, meant the exclusive interview that I had promised her. "Um...Mokou went off to fight Kaguya for a while. They kept it away from Eientei, though. Basically, the usual." I hadn't really known much about them, but if Reimu said so, I assumed it was probably true. It took Reimu a lot longer to get to the next part, and I started to think she'd fallen asleep. "Reisen...I dunno. She's somewhere. Tewi said she was going to start bringing the rabbits back, so this place will be a lot more lively soon." Reimu muttered something about annoying goddesses and owing favours, so I assumed it to be related to whoever she had spoken to in order to get Tewi to appear when she did.

I'd asked Marisa myself, and she'd told me to try later when Reimu wasn't so annoyed, but she'd fallen asleep before getting a chance. "But if I know her, she probably tried to push something or someone just a little too far, and got her just desserts for it. That's why she ended up in Eientei back then, remember?" As I hopped over another stream and waited for Reimu to join me, I did remember. She'd used me as bait to trick Lady Patchouli into letting her steal from her library, then been burnt to a crisp when she'd been caught. Personally, I thought that she had at the very least deserved that one. Reimu jumped across the stream, but at the last moment, her foot slipped, and without thinking, my hand swung out and caught hers just as she began to tip back. I wrenched her back toward me, then wrapped my arm around her and spun us around so that I was placing her on solid ground. Reimu breathed a sigh of relief, thanked me, and we continued on our way.

Eventually, I could tell that we were nearing Marisa's house. It wasn't just that I could see where she had harvested all the mushrooms that grew nearby, leaving broken branches and conspicuously pushed down spots of grass, or the way that I started to see random items strewn about the floor, ranging from things I couldn't begin to understand to simple cleavers, empty bottles and old brooms. No, I knew that I was near Marisa's house because I began to hear shouting. "Here comes trouble." I hear Reimu mutter. Finally, we cleared the last few trees and Marisa's house stood out in full view.

It was, as usual, a contradictory mess. The walls were washed and looked clean, but were surrounded by more random junk strewn about what could possibly have qualified as the front garden. There was a doll lying underneath an abandoned chest that I could only surmise had also come from the Vampire's mansion, given the very ornate look of it. There were crops of mushrooms growing all over, and I seriously wondered how healthy Marisa's diet actually was. I picked my way past the worst of the piles, nearly knocking over a pile of crystals that could have come from anywhere, but I hoped weren't the explosive kind. Reimu opted to take to the air and touch down by the front door, which I noticed was open. Then, I began to make out the noises I was hearing from inside. "-Not a fucking waste! Don't you dare-" Already, I could tell that this was going to be a good one.

"You haven't touched the damn thing in seven years, what could you possibly be trying to d-" I heard the sound of something clattering to the floor.

"Don't you fucking dare! I'm warning you, one more move and-"

"And what? You think you're going to win in a fight like that?" Inside, the mess was even worse than outside. Piles of junk ranging from books to magical ingredients piled up across the floor and the walls.

"Personally, I think that a number of these symptoms could be explained as a hoarding disorder." I heard a third voice say.

"You shut the fuck up! We don't even know why you're here, so-" Now, I was incredibly curious, but the tightness of the hallways made it impossible to squeeze past Reimu, who had gotten in ahead of me but seemed to be having just as much trouble getting through the hallway. The voices overlapped for a moment, but one which I could now identify as Marisa took control again. "I'll untie you if you tell the truth, but - Hey! Don't think I didn't see you move that! Put it back right now, or I'll shove that fiery sword of yours somewhere you won't like it!"

Finally, Reimu rounded the corner and froze, her jaw dropping open as she stared in amazement. After a moment, I poked her in the back until she moved forward enough for me to push my head over her shoulder, and I found myself stopping too.

What could only be described as an explosion had occurred in Marisa's bedroom. The piles of junk had been forced to the sides, and I noticed that the broom that Marisa was usually riding on was now in Miss Tenshi's hand. The ex-celestial had acquired an even longer apron which had gone around her neck, and seemed to be arguing with Marisa, who was lying in the bed with plenty of bandages over herself. In Miss Tenshi's hand was a grimoire that I assumed had been stolen from Lady Patchouli, and her other hand was currently being used to hold a third person up by her shirt. She had long, pale lavender hair, which ran all the way down to the floor where it pooled around her. I could see her arms, because she had thick rope tying her wrists and ankles together, and it was only Miss Tenshi who was keeping her upright. On the floor surrounding them, I could see signs of some attempted cleaning, though it didn't seem to have gotten very far. I had cleaned Miss Iku's room, which had been somewhat enjoyable, but I doubted even I could handle cleaning something like Marisa's home.