/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"I was saying, Reimu, that your family would be jealous of how much more peaceful your life is than they could have ever enjoyed. None of them could have enjoyed comfort like this." Lady Tamatsukuri smiled calmly after explaining her point, and it served to defuse Reimu's tension quickly. "They'd be happy for you. And proud." She finished her tea and got to her feet. "I'll leave you be. Hopefully I'll see you again, if you are willing to have me."

"Wait, just-" Reimu finally said as Lady Tamatsukuri neared the door. Her voice was a bit strangled. "Just - You can visit. When you want to." She finally conceded. "In exchange, will you..." Her hands were grasping at the air. "Tell me more about my ancestors?" She finally spit out.
Lady Tamatsukuri paused for a moment, then smiled just slightly. It was...Slightly wistful, I thought. Like she was thinking about something. "Perhaps I shall." She finally said with a slight nod. "Goodbye for now, Reimu." She paused to nod at the rest of us and slipped out of the door as if she'd never been there at all. I looked back over at Reimu, who was looking away with an intense frown. Had Lady Tamatsukuri really made her dinner and a bath? I surprised myself by finding that the first question I wanted to ask was so trivial.

Reimu blushed slightly and looked away. "Er...Yeah. And - No, I didn't ask her to. She just showed up at the Shrine while I was out, and when I got back, she was already well into cooking and told me to go and use the bath she'd gotten ready. It was - I thought it was a little bit of a privacy invasion, but..." She trailed off for a moment. "It was really nice." She finally mumbled in a tiny voice that I barely heard. I felt a growing smile on my face. "Um, I mean - It was - She's overbearing and annoyingly smug, so-" I raised my hands and told her that she didn't need to justify it to me. If she thought it was nice, that was good enough for me. "...Right." She finally said. "I didn't think - Is that what having a mother is like?" She asked me with a frown. I shrugged. It wasn't like I knew for sure myself. I'd had Keine, who I did love, but I wasn't sure if that was the same as having a mother. "Ugh. That's the problem with us orphans. We can't even double check with each other." I snorted and replied that I probably wouldn't want to be quite as overbearing as Reimu thought that Lady Tamatsukuri was with any children I had.

"Children?" I jumped and turned my head to the door. There, dressed in brown shorts and a crisp, white shirt, with a brown coat tossed over her shoulder and a cap on her head, was Aya Shameimaru. She still wore her geta, I noticed, but they looked slightly less tengu-like, with the top being laced up and in a more normal sort of pattern. "Who's talking about children?" She pointed the fountain pen who's top she'd been chewing on the tip of at me. "Are you having children?" I blinked, then shook my head. "Much the shame. Now, that would've made a good story. A bit...Unpleasant, but it's the kind of unpleasantry that sells newspapers. 'First Confirmed Male Pregnancy!' Ah, I can see it now..."

I could not tell if she was joking or not.

"Aya, you're pissing me off." Reimu declared. "Do you need me to hit you?" She got up, which made the crow tengu hop back from the sliding door she'd been leaning against, her hands clasped behind her back as her canvas bag - Also brown - swung from her shoulder. "Weren't you supposed to be too ill to come out? I could go and fetch Yamame, you know. She could give you a throat infection so I don't have to listen to you talk for a while." The threat to fetch Yamame did have a bit of an effect on Shameimaru, who stood up slightly straighter and swallowed.

"No, I think we can skip all of that, thank you very much. I'm not here to spy on you, Reimu. I'll do that in my own time. No, I'm here for him." She pointed the fountain pen at me again. I'd known this was coming, so I just crossed my arms and asked her how her health was. That got her to struggle for words again. "F-Fine. Just fine." She nodded rapidly, her red tokin nearly falling from her head. Had she been staying away from the alcohol? "Wh- Yes!" She frowned and crossed her arms. "I already apologised for that, didn't I?" She had, but I was just making sure. It was better than leaving any uncertainties hanging in the air. Why, Yamame might just get the wrong idea. "No, no, I'm still very sorry." Shameimaru replied quickly, though she seemed to have paled just slightly. "So, er, with that out of the way, I'd like to finally talk to you about the long-awaited interview. Is there a quiet room we can use?" She looked around Reimu's room, and at Aunn and Aunn. One of them waved back. The other did not.

>>19049210
Reimu's pet guard dog.