/jp/ - Otaku Culture

But could I tell Keine that? Truly? She'd spent so much time looking after me, even though she'd not been particularly old when I'd lost my own parents. She'd cared for me, and I wondered if telling her that I didn't seem to fit in the village anymore would be a painful blow to her hard work. How could I possibly justify that? What could I- "You're thinking too hard, you know." Keine commented quietly. She yawned. "Oh...I think I need some more sleep. I don't know how you do it!" I blinked, remembering that I was sitting in Keine's home. "You always make a frowning face when you're doing that." I laughed a little awkwardly. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." She told me gently. Reaching over the table, she took my hands and held them tightly. "I think I know you well enough to know when you're worried about something. I'm not going to reject you if you say something that you think I'm not going to like." She gave me a small smile and I felt a bit of the worry fade. "C'mon...Trust me?" She asked.

I said it. I told her that I didn't feel like I had a place in the village anymore. I lived with a youkai, a fair number of the people I saw every day were youkai, and the only humans I interacted with fairly regularly were Reimu and Marisa. It seemed like I wasn't one of the villagers anymore. I was one of 'them', the people who lived outside of the village that everyone thought was a bit strange. And I wasn't sure what my place was anymore. I wanted to stay with Yamame, but at the end of the day, I was still a human, even if I had a bit of a peach-fuelled advantage. I wanted to accept Lady Hecatia's offer, but I didn't know if it would end up with me not being human anymore, and I didn't know what Reimu would have to do then and-

"Hey!" Keine's call brought me out of my spiral. "Calm down. Breathe deeply. It's okay, I've got you." I did as she said and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "And again..." I did as she said. "There you go. Feel better?" She asked, smiling. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, let's just...Go through that slowly, hmm?" Right. "You feel like you don't have a place in the village anymore?" It felt that way. "Nonsense." I looked up at her with a frown. "I suspect that I've only heard and understood a fraction of what you've been dealing with for all of this time, but let me start by saying that you will always have a place with me. Always. I may not be your mother, but I'd, um, like to think that I managed to bring you up in a way that she would be proud of." I swallowed thickly. "A-And I'd be proud. If, um, you were my son." I watched Keine, who smiled again. "So, you'll always be accepted here. Akyuu made friends with plenty of youkai over the years, too. Just because you live outside of the village doesn't mean that you're not still one of us. Plenty of villagers get along with Marisa, after all. I've seen her talking to the blacksmith plenty of times."

I supposed that was true. But still, I felt like I'd been left in a fundamentally different place to other villagers. "And that's okay. Hey, you know that you're not the only one like that, right?" I frowned and asked her what she meant. "Well...There's people living here who aren't from Gensokyo at all. People who came from the Outside World. There's...Two families, I think, where an outsider stuck around and they're not at all ostracized. You think that you're in too different a place from others to relate to them anymore? They've come from a world entirely unlike ours. You should know! You've seen it yourself." That...was true too. I couldn't imagine having to adapt to life in the village after living in the world I had seen on Hearn's little escapades. If that house she had been in, in Finland, was any indication of the sort of amenities the average person in the Outside World had... "And...You're worried that people think that you're one of those strange people that live outside the village? So what? You've gotten to see and do thing that they wouldn't believe. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Perhaps...You shouldn't listen to them. Do what's best for you." But, I was worried about my humanity. What if I worked for Lady Hecatia and- "Stop. Don't think about it like that. It's not as simple as you think, and I'm sure that Reimu would tell you that too. I think you should just...Ask. Ask her exactly what might happen to you. You might be surprised." Reimu had offered the same advice, I mumbled with a small smile. "See! You know, at first I was a little confused about this whole brother and sister thing that you and Reimu had going on, but it's seeming more and more like a good thing the more I hear about it." I thought so too. I'd probably be in a much worse position without her. Like...Dead and buried, probably. Keine slapped my arm. "Don't say things like that. I don't want you dead and buried for a very long time."

>>39685485
Keine's the winner for sure. Wise and respected, experienced with kids, her wife power is enormous.

>>22818211
Probably, but its still gotta be frustrating. Hell, that might make it worse.

>>20051515
?