/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I looked back at Raki, who was staring off into the distance with a furrowed brow. I knew she was conflicted. She wanted to change, but she was fighting herself. Lady Kasen shook her head and told me to leave her be for now, and she went back over by herself, taking Raki's hand. I swallowed, then turned and re-entered the dojo. I walked back to my room, stopping to pet Kanda's head when I bumped into him near the kitchens.

Inside, I was forced to stifle a laugh. Reimu and Yamame were tangled up in each other, and they were both still fast asleep. I curiously walked around the arrangement, noting the way that Reimu had still attempted to sprawl herself out across the bed and take up all the space for herself. It was why sleeping with your arms wrapped around her was the best way to combat such behaviour. I smiled, then cast my sweater to the floor, making sure the blood stain was hidden. I wiped my shoulder, and grimaced at the sight of a new row of marks on my shoulder. It'd scar over, most likely, joining the list of scars already on my body. Finally, I shifted Yamame upwards enough for me to take up a tiny amount of bed space, then swallowed when she let out a slight moan and shifted her head. She awkwardly managed to untangle herself from Reimu. "Hi..." She mumbled in my direction. I said hi back. "'M still drunk, I think..." On the plus side, at least that meant that she wouldn't be mad about the state of her head. I told her, slightly hesitantly, that she might need to repair my sweater. "Why...?" She breathed, wrapping an arm around me. Figuring that it couldn't sound any stranger than whatever she was dreaming about, I told her that I'd been bitten by an oni, and I supposed that she must have been so sleepy that she'd completely ignored what I said. "I think black would be good." She mumbled again, her breathing settling into a deeper rhythm. Maybe it would be good, I supposed. It'd hide blood easier, just in case Raki got a taste for...me.

If anything, I was even more curious now as to what the fully merged Ibaraki-douji would be like, because up until then, I'd been imagining her as a perfect meld of the two halves, which had been relatively similar until just then. Now, I wasn't quite sure. I thought that she might have some more severe shifts between moods, or perhaps she would have an even more heightened emotional state. I hoped that she’d be more like Kasen than Raki, since I felt like I wouldn’t even know what to do with her if she did awaken.

Either way, once I'd pulled some covers over Reimu, who had slept through the whole thing, Yamame, who had fallen asleep on my chest, and myself, I felt a little more secure. My breathing felt easier, and I warmed up enough to start feeling some of the tension from the morning leave me.

Not secure enough to fall asleep, mind you, but I could feel Yamame's heartbeat through her chest, and focusing on it felt incredibly calming. And, I could feel Reimu's presence next to me, which was just as calming. Life was beautiful, but it was just as confusing too. At the very least, a good hug improved things tremendously.

In the end, knowing which hand she would favour, I shook her shoulder and promptly dodged to the left, which should have put me out of range of her fist. Instead, she hit me in the head with her gohei, which hurt rather a lot more than usual since, well, everything hurt. "Whazzat?" She slurred her words. "I'm 'wake." Perhaps it was related, but she still looked awful. "Where am I?" She frowned, and I explained that she'd fallen asleep in the caves. "...Huh. Oh. Oh, I remember." She stumbled out of her little crevice, then nearly fell over since the blood circulation must have been awful inside. I ended up having to wrap my arms around her just to keep her upright. "Um, don't freak out, but there's three tsuchigumo surrounding you."

I shrugged, then said that they were friendly. "I guess you could say that." Yura muttered. "Maybe to someone dear sister likes. No so much to a cranky Shrine Maiden." I heard Reiko tell her to be quiet, and Nai ask if they should fetch Yamame.

"No, no, don't bother. We're going there..." Reimu slapped my hands away, then took a shaky step forward. "Shut up." She told me before I could say that I'd told her to have a rest earlier. "I'm fine..."

I sighed in exasperation, then reached out and wrapped and arm around her to keep her from falling again. I turned to Yamame's sisters and said that I'd like to talk to them more, but it would have to wait. "Don't worry, we pop in to see Yams fairly often." Reiko told me. "She can't hide you from us now that we've actually met you." That sounded a little ominous, but as I was so used to doing, I simply smiled and nodded. Yamame's sisters big us farewell, then made their way toward the tunnels that headed into the Old City, presumably so they could continue work down there.

"Don't say anything." Reimu growled at me. "I'm not that tired." I didn't say anything, but this didn't stop Reimu from hitting me in the chest anyway. "I just didn't want to go to sleep without being certain that you were okay." She finally mumbled. I felt a warmth in my chest and pulled her closer for a one-armed hug. She definitely needed to sleep, though.

Finally, we approached Yamame's house. The lights were on inside, and as I got closer, I began to hear noises. Hammering sounds, some other sorts of carpentry, and every now and then, an annoyed swear. Somewhat worried, I knocked on the door. "What, what!?" Yamame opened the door with a yell after a few moments. "You know I'm bloody bu-" She froze as she stared at the two of us. Then, her jaw clenched and her lips fell into a very thin, straight line. "Inside." She said, her voice somewhat cold. We stepped inside and she shut the door behind us. "Just where have you been?" She asked me. Eientei, I explained. "Eientei? You mean, that place that experimented on you? That Eientei? And what about her?" She nodded at the Shrine Maiden. "Has she been experimented on too?" Just tired, I explained.

"I'm fine." Reimu told us, her head falling back as she said it. "Just wanted to explain what happened." She frowned. "Guess I don't need to now..." She was silent for a moment. "He's not meant to do anything strenuous for the next few days." She forced the words out, and Yamame opened her mouth. "Anything, Yam..." Seeing that she wasn't finishing words now, I decided that she had to sleep.

I looked up at Yamame and asked her if I could let Reimu sleep somewhere. "Oh! Er..." She trailed off for a moment. "...Oh, fine. Put her on the couch." I felt some relief and happily led Reimu over to the couch, where she fell asleep almost the instant she was on the furniture. Then, I felt Yamame tap me on the shoulder. "I'm rather upset with you. You didn't even tell me that you'd be going to Eientei!" I hadn't wanted her to worry. "I worried anyway. I didn't know where you'd gone!" I was really sorry, but I hadn't expected to take all night. Yamame crossed her arms and stared at me for a few moments. "Urgh. You're just too endearing, that's your problem. Do you need to lie down?" I said that I'd love to, but I really was very sore everywhere. "Fine, fine. I'll be very gentle." I kicked my boots off, put my coat down, then shuffled into the bedroom, flopped onto the sheets and groaned in pain, then felt Yamame settle next to me. "I'll get a full explanation from you later. For now..." She threw the covers over me. "Sleep tight." After a moment, I asked her if she was tired. "...No." She muttered, but it took her seconds to break and pull her shirt off before slipping into the bed with me. "There we are. Nice and cosy, hmm?" Then, after a moment. "Don't think this means I'm not going to have a go at you later, though."

I'd already fallen asleep by then since I was far more tired than I'd thought, so I missed the part where she wrapped the covers around us more tightly and held me closer.

Spider is getting sleepy...