/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Her silhouette remains etched in my mind from that afternoon.

I was in the Bamboo Forest collecting mushrooms and herbs as I do every once in a while. Some people might tell you it's a dangerous area, but they're really exaggerating. If anything, they're trying to scare people so they can keep prices high on these sorts of magical ingredients. Sure, the forest is covered in fairies and has its fair share of Youkai, but I've never once had a problem with any of them. The fairies are, of course, harmless. The Youkai mostly seem to ignore humans, or in rare cases, give a passing greeting. Maybe they're too afraid of the shrine maiden to go around eating people--or maybe those stories were exaggerations themselves.

At any rate, it was nearing the end of the afternoon when I saw a figure in the distance. I initially assumed it a Youkai--it was far too large to be a fairy, and what were the odds I'd meet another human here? Yet the creature moved through the forest effortlessly. It was more than the walk of a native; it suggested that whoever this was, it had been here a long, long time.

It felt like only a few seconds--it must have been longer though--before she was standing by my side. She looked as if she couldn't have been older than her twenties, but something about the way she stood gave the impression that she was far, far older. She wore an outfit that looked as if it hadn't been washed for weeks yet her long hair appeared smooth as silk. She had to be a Youkai. But then why had she approached me?