/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Right." Yamame said, pacing back and forth with her hands behind her back. "Right..."

We'd walked up the streets of the Old City's Hot Springs Town, me grumbling the whole way as my entire torso registered displeasure at the beating it had received. Jo'on Yorigami was no joke, and she'd been holding back. Once I'd decided that I couldn't keep walking, Yamame had cajoled me into continuing until we'd finally ducked into a small set of rooms just off from the path down to the major springs with the massive keystone still embedded into it. "They set up some rooms over here for my sisters to use. Saves time, otherwise they'd be ferrying themselves all the way through the caves with their tools every day and we'd never get anything done." I'd nodded weakly, happy to finally sit down, which I did so against a wall. Nai had meekly followed us, and now stood at the edge of the room. Yamame looked over at her, then dragged a thin pillow across and dropped it in front of her. "Sit, Nai."

"H-Huh?"

"Sit!" Yamame barked, and Nai squeaked a little before falling onto her knees and sitting back on the pillow. Thus, the pacing.

"U-Um, Big Sister...?" Nai ventured, which seemed to be Yamame's cue, since she suddenly stopped her pacing and turned to Nai, her hands on her hips.

"You silly girl!" Yamame said, her voice loud, but not loud enough to be shouting. "I've told you, time and time again, don't come down here on your own! You're too young!"

"I'm not that young!" Nai cried, showing perhaps the first real backbone I'd ever seen her display against her Big Sister. "And I didn't come alone!"

"Yeah? Who'd you come with? If you say Yura, it doesn't count because she's too immature for her age anyway!"

"B-But it was her and Big Sister Reiko! You're always saying how reliable she is!"

"Then I'll just have to knock both of their heads together for letting you sneak off!" Yamame huffed and looked at me. I looked back from my wall where I was sitting and trying to let my body recover from its punishment, then raised my hands as if to say 'Don't ask me'. "Honestly, Nai, I'm only so harsh on you because I don't want you to get into trouble."

Nai looked down dejectedly. "I know, Big sister..." Frankly, she looked so upset that I felt like giving her a hug, but I managed to hold myself back. "I just...Thought I would go for a walk, that's all..." I looked up at Yamame, who seemed to be involved in a serious fight to maintain her annoyance but was rapidly losing because it seemed so difficult to let Nai be sad.

Eventually, Yamame sighed. "I'm sorry, Nai. I'm just trying to look out for you. You should always bring one of your sisters along with you when you're in the Old City."

"...Yes, Big Sister..." Nai mumbled. "I really didn't mean to upset you! I just - I couldn't get away from the crowd, and then..."

"It's okay, Nai. Try and stay away from those two as much as you can. They'd have taken your money first, then sent you off somewhere dangerous and refused to give it back if you got hurt. Which...you probably would have. I don't know if that strange girl's still in the blood pools, but if you fell in..." Yamame shook her head. "It doesn't bear thinking about. Please, just promise me you'll take some more care?" Yamame knelt down in front of Nai and put her hands on the smaller spider's shoulders.

"Y-Yes, Big Sister. I promise!" Nai nodded, and Yamame happily pulled her into a hug. It was quite a sweet moment, actually. Once they'd separated, Nai asked Yamame what she was doing here.

"Well, I hear that my dear sisters have run into a spot of trouble with the oni, so I'm here to sort it out before someone gets it in their head to try and challenge someone to a drinking competition. Probably Yura - That girl's got no sense. Reiko should be taking care of this, but she's always struggled with the oni." I looked over and asked Yamame why no one but her seemed capable of dealing with them. "They're just hard to handle. Reiko's lovely and dependable, but she gets tongue-tied around them and can't get her points out." I'd seen Yamame get very tongue-tied around some specific oni just yesterday, though, so I was curious how Yamame was able to handle the oni so much better, though I didn't say anything out loud.