/jp/ - Otaku Culture

In truth, it wasn't for that reason that I sent her away. Rather, it was because the other door I'd been checking let me see down the corridor of the Shrine. And I was very concerned about the tear in reality I could see at the end of it, complete with two large bows tying it off. I saw the strange space in the middle begin to flicker and darken, and then something came barrelling through it, spinning down the corridor until it landed, revealing itself to be small, red and white, and with two long tails and the ears of a cat. Following behind it, far more normally, was someone I recognized. Imposingly tall, with nine expertly cared for tails and sharp, dangerous eyes, was Hearn's Shikigami. She wore her long tabard over a white dress with wide sleeves that had interesting stitching along the edges, and both of which were currently folded in front of her so that her hands were invisible, somewhere underneath.

"Look, Lady Ran, I landed it perfectly!" The small-red-and-white thing cheered, spinning around to look at what I could only assume to be her master. "I didn't even fall!"

"Very good, Chen." Her master, Ran, replied. "But I fear that we are not alone, and it would do no good to forget your manners, would it?" She stepped out of the corridor, turning her sharp, dark yellow eyes on me. "Greetings, associate of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden. My master sends her regards."

I looked back at the door that I had been about to pull down, then stood and turned to Ran instead. I bowed and told her that I offered Hearn my greetings too. "Hello!" Chen, the small cat, said to me, brightly. "My name is Chen! I'm a shikigami in service of Lady Ran!" She was barely up to my navel, but the seriousness that she tried to impart on the sentence despite her small statue and the way she delivered it made it slightly hard to take it seriously. I introduced myself. "I know! I saw you in the Borderlands two times." That, I thought, sounded like the red-and-white thing I'd seen rushing toward me while falling through what I'd come to describe as Hearn's nightmare realm.

"Chen, why don't you go and look for Reimu?" Ran told her shikigami, nodding to the door. "I've need of him before I speak to Reimu." She turned her gaze to me, and I felt that primal part of my mind whisper that she was incredibly powerful. Somehow, I'd never felt the same sensation that I got from Ran when speaking to Hearn.

"Yes, Lady Ran!" Chen replied, then turned and ran out of the door at speed. Yamame was going to be in her way, I realised. I hoped it wouldn't turn to a fight, but I couldn't exactly go and check with Ran staring at me.

What had seemed to be a nice few days fixing up the Shrine were now looking far more complex.