/jp/ - Otaku Culture

what was ZUN thinking when he decided to pair up these two? Not that I'm complaining

It was just past noon on a rainy tuesday, which meant it was time for Yakumo Ran to slam her head against the reception desk she operated at the Hakurei Shrine Experience and wonder where her life had gone wrong. It had been going on for what felt like an eternity now. Each day, youkai and human alike, they arrived. Some were bashful about their intentions, like the lesser youkai who comprised the Grassroots Youkai Network. Some weren't ashamed in the slightest, and Kazami Yuuka's wide smile followed by the screams of pain that had emerged from the 'Shrine' bedrooms still stuck in Ran's memory. Some were adamant that they wanted to save the Shrine Husband, like Ibaraki Kasen and Kirisame Marisa. Somehow, it was this type that disgusted Ran the most. They claimed to want to save him, but each time they arrived, their convictions seemed to waver.

The fact that Ran knew that the number of pills in the medicine cabinet had changed by just one after Marisa's visit only made the feeling stronger.

"So, this is what the great Yakumo Ran is up to nowadays, huh?" Ran's head shot up and she whipped her head around. There, balanced on the edge of the counter in a precarious-looking squat, was Toutetsu Yuuma. "If you ask me, running a rapist's brothel is beneath someone like you." She shifted her gigantic utensil over her shoulder and looked Ran over with a critical eye. "When Okina told me that this is what you were doing, I assumed it was a joke. Care to explain?"

"Not really." Ran muttered listlessly, letting her head fall back down. "I cannot claim to understand Yukari-sama's schemes." She wanted to be anywhere else. She wanted everyone involved in this whole sordid affair to be somewhere else. "I can only enforce them." Toutetsu loomed over her. Ran had expected a widening grin, but what she got instead was much worse.

Pity.

"Tepid waters." Toutetsu intoned. "You could do something about this, but you choose to pretend you can't. What a waste, what a waste..." She shook her head.

"I cannot disobey my Master." Ran growled. "Don't call this a rapist's brothel, either, or I'll show you just how tepid these waters really are.."
"Why not? That's exactly what it is. Okina's already told me all the horrible details. Your dear master? She raped him. In front of his own daughter, no less!" Toutetsu shook her head sadly. "Even we of the animal realm wouldn't stoop to that kind of impropriety."

Ran wanted to swipe at her, but what was the point? She was right. Ran knew it just as well as Toutetsu did. Yukari had raped Anon, and she'd set up this whole nightmarish place so all the others could have their fun, too. "What do you expect me to do about it? I can't fight her, and even if I won...nobody wins for long." There was exactly one ray of light in the dark pit that had become Ran's life since the whole nightmare had started. Her Chen had made friends with Anon. "I can't-" She forced herself to stop. If she tried, and failed? Anon would never see Chen again. Ran would never see him again. And then what would he have? Nothing but the honeyed and insincere words of his supposed friends, who seemed to become less and less interested in saving him with each visit. "It could be so much worse." She finally whispered.

She felt something touch her head, and though she jolted, she managed to relax after a second. It was Toutetsu, patting her head. "Why do you think I'm here, Ran? Okina's got Yakumo distracted long enough for me to see just what's been happening here." Ran raised her head, squinting at her comrade from centuries long since passed. "She hasn't given up on him, and she's dying to knock Yukari down a peg or two."
"Why do you care?" Ran asked, her voice hesitant. Could it be possible? Maybe, but...

"Why do you think?" Toutetsu poked her in the forehead. "Your little cat considers him a friend. You want him safe. What possible reason could I have to help you?" There was something like a laugh in her voice, but Ran's time running this hellhole had made it difficult for her to tell. "You, idiot. I'm doing it for you." She hopped from the desk, landing silently in front of it. "I'm here to scout the place out. Okina can't get in without giving the game away, and I'm the only one who can overpower that disgusting incense Yakumo's got permeating the place." Ran felt something deep down. Some sort of...dare she say it? Hope. "But just to be sure..." Toutetsu slammed the entry fee down on the desk. "Don't go thinking that I'm going to fall for the same trap the others did. You know me better than that." That was true, and Ran nodded. "Have a little faith, Ran."

Suddenly, Ran felt very thankful that she had elected to omit Toutetsu Yuuma's involvement from her report of the summer's incident. And as the taotie entered the Hakurei Shrine Experience, dragging her massive kitchen utensil behind her and emitting a rusty sounding "Keh-heh-heh...", Ran allowed herself to believe, even for a moment, that it was possible.