/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"What's happening here?" Yamame whispered in my ear. I found myself struggling to look away from the scene unfolding in front of me, but I whispered something back about Lady Kasen and Raki's ongoing struggle to come to terms with themselves. "There's really way too many complex plots going on around you, you know?" I forced myself not to laugh during this clearly pivotal moment, even though Yamame was very correct. I also tried to ignore the surreal nature of this conversation happening where everyone involved was naked and in a hot spring. Maybe that just made it a better story, though.

"So..." Raki breathed, staring at Lady Kasen. "Y-You're saying..." It was the furthest on the back foot I'd ever seen her.

"I'm sorry, partner." Lady Kasen whispered, taking Raki's hand. "I'm sorry for betraying you. I'm sorry for sealing you away again. I'm sorry for - for not believing in you." Raki stared at her, her mouth hanging open. "I'm a hermit. But I'm also half of Ibaraki-douji. You're not inherently evil, and you're my other half. It's time we saw each other as we really are."

For a moment, Raki couldn't say anything. Then, in little more than a whisper, she spoke. "Partner." She murmured, while caused a smile to begin growing on Lady Kasen's face. "I..." I heard a slight sniffle from beside me and saw that Yamame looked a little teary-eyed. "I forgive you." She finally said. "Guilt is...a powerful motivator." I really didn't know what was going to happen now. "We'll be fine." She whispered, and then she did something I hadn't expected to see and drew Lady Kasen into a hug. "Just fine."

Lady Kasen was silent for a moment, then spoke. "So, ah, is it time to talk about merg-"

Of course, no lovely moment could be without its own interruptions, so Suika chose that moment to come flying through the balcony at speed and crashed straight into the Ibaraki's, knocking all three of them clear from the water and into the wall behind them. By some miracle, they didn't actually break any of the environment, though I imagined if they had, it would have taken seconds for the staff to repair it. It was probably expected in a place like Former Hell. For a moment, Yamame and I just stared. Then, at the same time, we both turned our heads toward the balcony, and in the distance was Yuugi. Even from here, I could see that she was scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. She slowly flew closer, up toward the balcony. "Uh." She began, very intelligently. "Sorry about that. Should have checked where I was aiming first."

Suika, who had landed upside down with her head against the floor and her feet against the wall, groaned. "You're an idiot." She finally managed to fall to the side, her shoe colliding with Lady Kasen's face. The hermit managed to groan a drawn-out expression of pain. "Oh. Er, whoops."

"You're breaking so many etiquette rules right now..." Raki moaned, forcing herself up. "Oh, what the...?" She couldn't seem to get up fully, and it appeared to be because one of Suika's chains, the ones that hung from her arms, had gotten tangled around Raki's horns. Now, she was dragging Suika around as she stood, her hands ineffectually clawing at the chains, and she kept cursing under her breath as the spherical object on the end of the chain swung into her head. "Oh, get up, you stupid..." She lifted Suika up by the horns. The smaller oni gave her the least convincing apologetic smile I'd seen in my entire life. "Partner?"

Lady Kasen, rubbing at her face where Suika's shoe had hit it, staggered to her feet. Once more, I was struck with the surreal realisation that both of them were still naked. At some point, I'd just stopped paying attention to it. "Alright, idiot-douji, let's just..." She allowed the bandages making up her right arm to slacken, and then sent the resulting strands out toward Raki, where they slipped underneath the chains wrapped around her horns. I couldn't really understand what I was looking at, but after a moment, the chains began to slide free, and Suika tumbled to the ground, landing on her head. She fell onto her back with a groan and looked up, where Lady Kasen and Raki stood over her. "Wow. Just like old times." she muttered. "Only now, there's two of you. And you're naked." She chuckled quietly.