/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Why...Did you never tell me about this?" Reimu asked me with some disbelief. "I mean, I knew about the peach, but you never told me that there was a tree." I shrugged helplessly. It wasn't really something I was keeping hidden...It just hadn't come up. I'd not even known that the peach tree had grown like it had until the start of Winter when we'd all gone to the village. Miss Yuuka had found Yamame and I and brought us to the Garden of the Sun, or more specifically, to her mansion. "Oh, I remember her stupid mansion. Is it still weirdly big inside? All red carpets and plaid patterns?" That did sound about right. Miss Yuuka had been very clear that Yamame and I should stay close to her, or we would likely get lost, and she'd been very insistent that we not run into any of the other denizens of the mansion, though she'd not explained what exactly she was referring to. "What she was - Oh. Uh, she was probably right." I frowned and asked Reimu what she meant. At that, Reimu's face gained a slightly haunted look reminiscent of the look that Shameimaru had gained when talking about Lady Hecatia. "Let's just say that some danmaku patterns shouldn't exist. Don't ask me anything more than that. And make sure you keep an eye on how long you spend- No, sorry, don't mind me."

I decided to take her advice because I could see the spiral of speculation that I'd be heading into if I tried to figure out what she was talking about. Even Lady Kasen didn't seem entirely sure, if the way she was watching Reimu was a slight frown was any indication. Raki was watching with some interest and looked like she wanted to ask Reimu what she was talking about, and Kisami seemed mostly pre-occupied with warming herself up, if the way she'd wrapped my coat around herself was any indication. "Reimu, are you-?"

"Fine!" Reimu replied quickly. "Just fine. Er, sorry, I just got caught up in a memory. Don't worry about it." The Shrine Maiden shook her head as if to clear it, then cleared her throat and got back on track. "A-Anyway, You planted a peach pit from Heaven in the Garden of the Sun, and it's a massive tree now. And...You want to use that as the venue for the wedding?" Technically, it was Miss Yuuka who had suggested using it for the wedding, but I thought that it would make a pretty spectacular view too. "You really shouldn't trust her like that, you know. She's always teasing people and she's way too strong for her own good." I shrugged and said that I'd spent time in her home with her at this point and I felt like I was starting to understand her a bit better. Plus, it wasn't like the inside of her home was going to be used. That was the part that she'd been insistent on Yamame and I being careful inside, anyway. "Hmm..." Reimu didn't look entirely convinced. I supposed that I couldn't blame her.

"How strong is she?" Raki suddenly asked, leaning forward. "All this training to control my instincts is great and all, but I need some stress relief, and she definitely knows who I am." That got all of us, even Lady Kasen, to turn to look at her incredulously. "What?" She asked blankly, looking around at us. She...Knew who Raki was? After all the work we'd put into trying to make her look different enough for people to not know exactly that? "Huh? Oh, I'm pretty sure she knew from the start."

"What the hell, Kasen?" Reimu asked almost in a whining voice. "Your genius "We'll just get really annoyed when anyone asks!" plan didn't work out? What, no one believed you when you said that clearly she couldn't be you, because she has horns and you don't? Any other genius ideas you've had since then? I'm going to have to stop letting you lecture me if this is the quality of your plans now."

Lady Kasen looked like she wanted to defend herself, but was having trouble coming up with any sort of credible defence to give. "Er, no, I think she knew before we'd even said anything." Raki finally said, scratching her cheek with one sharp nail. "I wasn't anywhere near Kasen when she saw me, and she immediately walked over to me, looked me up and down, then said "You'd lose." before turning and walking away." I blinked. That was all?

"Yeah, that sounds like her..." Reimu mumbled. "But I'd have thought that you'd have gotten much more angry. I definitely didn't have to break up any scraps like that during the party. Only - Well, the goddess of Hell and Yuuka having a standoff, but that was it." That had been pretty intense, I mumbled, and I was very thankful for Reimu managing to calm things down before they got truly out of hand. "Actually, now that I think about it, that was really dangerous. There were loads of villagers there and two idiot powerhouses were about to kick off. I should really have told them off more."