/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"You mean...When you fell on him?" Yamame ventured, frowning slightly. "From how it was described to me, it wasn't your fault, though." And she'd apologized more than enough at the time. "Um, I don't know if you're looking for this or not, but...Well, I'm not mad at you. He spent more time in Eientei than he did outside it back then, and he's still here." She snaked her arm around mine. "So...Are you okay?"

"I'm...Fine now." Miss Narumi said, smiling slightly. "At the time, I was devastated. You'd been really nice to me, and I'd gone and done...That. And once everyone was saying that you'd died, knowing that the last time I saw you was that..." She shook her head. "Sorry, I don't mean to be a downer on your special day. I'm just happy that I got to...Well, get closure, I suppose. Now, if I never saw you again - And I hope that isn't the case! - Then, at least my last memory wouldn't be a bad one." She smiled, looking relieved that she'd gotten everything off of her chest. I didn't blame her. Speaking out loud, I apologized for how long I'd let her think that I was dead. "Ah, thank you..." She smiled much more happily. "And - I am really happy for you both. The way you both look at each other is wonderful."

"Ah...Thank you, Miss Narumi." Yamame bashfully replied.

"I won't keep you." Miss Narumi said with a slight smile. "I'm sure there are others that you'd like to speak to. You really do both look lovely in those clothes, though." She stepped back and bowed. "I'll stick you in my prayers. A happy life for you both." She turned, nodding once more as she headed across the grounds in front of Mugenkan, stopping by Marisa and engaging her in conversation.

"I got a little worried there. When she brought up your date." Yamame muttered to me, clenching and releasing her hand with a great exhale. "Not - Maliciously...But I thought she might have...I don't know, tried to make a pass at you." She was nicer than that, I replied. "Yeah, but you're an optimist to a fault. You made friends with Eirin after she tried to dissect you. Multiple times." I wasn't entirely sure that friends was how I would describe my relationship with Eirin Yagokoro. "Well - No, sorry, that's not my point. My point is that I was being suspicious, and I didn't need to be." My spider shrugged. "Let's - Uh, let's just move on."

Nodding, we headed in the direction of the mansion. Here, the Kurodani had put together another somewhat open structure, one where people were milling about. The first we saw was Kagerou Imaizumi. She bounded up to us, looking very excited. "That's - That's really you, Yamame? And you - Oh, look at those clothes!" She looked like she wanted to reach out and touch Yamame's clothes directly, but at the same time, was afraid to actually touch them. "Absolutely beautiful. Seriously, seriously pretty."

"Um, thank you, Miss Kagerou." Yamame replied, blushing slightly at all the compliments. She was weak to compliments, though... "You look very pretty, too."

And she did, by my estimate, spider-skewed though it was. Her regular dress was quite large, flowing out so that the hem of the dress covered a large radius. In comparison, the kimono that she wore today was very slim, hanging straight down and taking up little space at all. It was following the colours of her dress perfectly, though her tail had necessitated her wearing the cloak that she'd gotten from Yamame, though she'd removed a number of the extras to make it lighter, and hopefully warmer. "It's only people who know me here at the moment, or other youkai, so I haven't had to use the hood, but if - If someone from the village comes, I'll have to use it." I nodded, though I wondered if it was really that much cooler. Surely people wouldn't mind if she was in her natural form? "Well - Maybe, but...I don't think I should risk it, either..." No, I thought. That was probably smart. Maybe Yamame was right about me being an optimist.

"Thank you for the compliments." Yamame finally managed to say. "Are you here on your own?" She looked around, and then let out a noise. Ah, there she was. In...Was that a wheelchair? Wakasagihime spotted us and waved, using her arms to push the wheelchair closer. Kagerou, her eyes widening in slight guilt, quickly rushed over to her to push it for her. "Sorry, sorry, Hime...I just got over-excited." She continued to apologize while we headed over, and once we were close enough, Wakasagihime began to speak.

With Feb. 2018 starting the zodiac year of the dog, I expect this to be the best year until 2030.