/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45825646
One for the hermit and another for her arm.

"Thank you, partner." Lady Kasen muttered stiffly, pulling her arm with the sake box back just before she could hand it over. "I simply thought that you and Reimu would have been good together." I supposed it might have been true, but I didn't think that way about Reimu and while I did love her, it was as family. "So I heard. Which is why I'm not here to talk to you about Reimu. I want to hear about Miss Kurodani. How did you two meet?"

I reminded Lady Kasen of my trip to the underground to meet Satori Komeiji, and then told her the story of just a few days prior, when I'd fallen into Yamame's webs. Much like Reimu, Lady Kasen registered some displeasure at Kogasa's actions, though I said that the fact that she thought I was dead and possibly haunting her seemed to be repayment enough.

"Wait, she tried to eat you?" Raki asked, leaning back in and poking me with a sharp claw. "I tried to do the same thing to the Shrine Maiden!" I'd heard parts of that story, and decided that at least I hadn't been sent to Hell. "See, everyone does it!" She said to Lady Kasen

"No, they don't." Lady Kasen admonished the arm. "But I'm surprised to see how things have turned out from there." Yamame had been desperate at the time, and she'd made great strides since. And she'd been incredibly accommodating to me as well as supportive, so I'd come to trust her more and more.

"She's not just interested in your..." Raki seemed to be evaluating me. "...Body, is she?" I shot Lady Kasen a look, and she leaned across me to slam her fist down on the arm's head.

"Down, girl." She muttered to the arm, who snorted and looked away. I admitted that I suspected that it might have just been that early on, but as time had gone by, it seemed like we'd started to understand each other better. And then, Reimu had gotten ill, and I'd taken care of Yamame during that time, too. "You snake!" Lady Kasen said, slightly scandalized. "All while I was here thinking that you were getting closer and closer to Reimu!" But then, I'd met Satori Komeiji again, and she'd unlocked my memories. Suddenly, I was nervous of being near Yamame, and it had taken a long while for me to get over it. But in the end, I think it had brought us closer rather than pushed us apart. "It takes a great deal of courage to stay close to someone who's very being scares you." Lady Kasen told me quietly. "And you seem to have gotten over it well enough." It had taken a while, and a week of trying to walk into the darkness of the caves before I'd gotten too ill to even walk back, but eventually, I'd managed to meet Yamame again, and at that point, I'd reached a point where I wanted to spend more and more time with her. "Is that so...?"

"Why don't you go and bug her instead, huh?" Raki asked Lady Kasen, plucking the sake box from her hands while she was staring at the sunrise. "Save us all the trouble. You want a drink?" She asked me, but I shook my head. I wasn't injured, and I didn't much fancy turning into an oni. "Shame. You'd be a good oni." So I'd heard, but I rather liked being human.

Lady Kasen thought for a few seconds. "Maybe I will. Well...Later. When they're not hungover enough to just try and bash the brains in of whoever's talking." Well, that made sense. Reimu would probably do it even if Yamame didn't. "For now, I'll take you up on that drink, partner. Here, I'll get a spare cup for you." Her bandaged arm disappeared into a hole in reality, just like Hearn's gaps but without the strange ribbons and weird eyes, and it emerged with a cup and a bottle. She poured a cup for me, and I took a sip, deciding to stave off the eventual hangover for a little longer. "Suika and Yuugi are still asleep, too. About an hour or so before dawn. Which is pretty lightweight for them, but I'll not hold it against them."

So, the three of us sat there and watched the sun rise. I drank a little more sake and listened to Lady Kasen and Raki exchange fairly light insults, with little meaning, if any. The sky was beautiful. The mountains were beautiful. the dark water below, not yet lit by the sun's rays, was still beautiful.

Life was beautiful.