/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"My diploma - Proof of my abilities in the field of medicine, you could say." I spun, and I saw Reimu raise her gohei into a fighting stance, but after a moment, we both relaxed. Eirin looked better. Not a hair out of place, her outfit pristine and perfect, without a wrinkle in sight. Her face was as stoic as always, but that slight tightness and stress that had covered it on my last visit had disappeared. "In truth," She continued, stepping into the room with her hands behind her back, "I quite literally wrote the majority of the medical textbooks that would be used to earn that diploma, so one could argue that I didn't, perhaps, earn it the way a normal person would. I felt, however, that it would serve as some visual evidence that I am not, in fact, a quack living in the woods." Her cold, grey eyes bore down into me. "You came back." She said, plainly. I slowly said that I'd agreed to think about it, and I'd come to a decision.

Reimu stomped over to stand beside me. "Not alone. I'm not leaving you alone in a room with him." She seemed to be feeling very protective, now. It was nice, I supposed.

"No, I can see that." If Eirin was surprised, she didn't show it. She looked back at me. "If I am to continue discussing the matters we began to discuss in our last session, I must ask that you confirm Miss Hakurei's presence here to be in accordance with your wishes." I nodded, then said that I could trust her with anything. "Understood." Eirin strode over to the bookshelf, slightly shifting some of the objects upon it. "You haven't taken your coat off." She commented. "Feel free to do so." I told her that it was cold, so I was happy to leave it on for the moment. "Is that so?" She asked, pulling a clipboard from between two books, with a piece of paper already attached to it. She looked down, then wrote something on it. "Will you lay down?" She asked me.

I looked at Reimu. "It's your session." She said quietly. "I'll still be right here." That made me feel a little more relaxed, so I traipsed over to the bench, then lay down, wrapping my coat around me. It felt like a layer of comfort in the still slightly uncomfortable environment. After a moment, Eirin took the chair next to me. "So, um, what happens now?" Reimu asked.

"This is his session, Reimu." Eirin said, though her tone had become just slightly less cold. "I do not force talk upon patients unless they engage me first. It is up to him to start us off. If he wants to sit in silence, well, that's what we shall do." Reimu looked a little subdued at that, and she settled down and took a seat in the other chair, her gohei laid out across her lap.

Leaving me to begin my second session at Eientei.

Here, I had a decision to make. I'd wrestled with myself through the days since the idea had been put forth, but I was finally forced to admit to myself that if I ever wanted to be able to trust Doctor Yagokoro again, I would need to be willing to try, and assuming this whole plan worked out, I would need to start now. In the end, I told her. My family, I said. I kept things vague to conceal Yamame and Satori's involvement, and instead said that I'd been having nightmares about seeing my family die until it had broken through the barriers and I'd remembered the truth. "You witnessed your family die in a youkai attack several years ago." Doctor Yagokoro confirmed, and I immediately began to wonder about her suitability for this sort of thing. "Are you still having nightmares?" I hadn't been since meeting Yamame again, but I didn't want to say that, so I told Doctor Yagokoro that I still was. "Do not feel the need to refer to me by my full title in this session. Eirin is fine." That was very surprising, and I actually turned my head to look at her. She still looked emotionless, but there was something about the concession to use her first name that I found interesting. "Why did you not take your coat off?" She asked me after a moment of silence. Unsure of what exactly that had to do with anything, I said that I just didn't feel like it. "Is that so?" I heard the sound of writing and wondered what she had just put down.

Doc- Eirin didn't speak for a moment, and eventually the silence got to me, so I asked her if she was going to speak. "Only if you desire it. This session is led by you. You are the one in control. If you wish to sit in silence, that is what we shall do." So, it appeared that I would need to contribute more to keep this going until the others could arrive. I began to talk. I explained what had happened to my family in full detail. And slowly, I began to wonder just what Eirin's game was. She seemed genuinely interested in the conversation, though it was hard to tell by her general lack of emotion. Was she planning to attack me on the way out? Have Reisen slip in and wipe my memories? What was the goal?

And more than that, I was starting to actually get into the session. I hadn't realised that what had happened still had a strong grip on me. Eventually, I said that I was just hoping to get over it, since it had already happened and I couldn't do anything about it. Wasn't that the point of the session? "Is that what you think?" Eirin asked me, and I frowned, gripping my arms harder. That was the point, wasn't it? For the doctor to tell you how to fix the problem? "I can help you talk about it. I cannot hope to solve your problems for you just as much as I cannot hope for you to solve mine."

I froze, then slowly turned my head toward Eirin. "Those were not the only memories you uncovered recently." After a moment where my mind whirled as I tried to think of a way to deny it, Eirin spoke. "I mean this not in a rude way, but you are far too young to hope that you can trick me. Shall we talk about my treatment of you, instead?"

And despite my hopes, Reimu and the others had not come to kick the door down yet.