/jp/ - Otaku Culture

They both obliged, so I had a few moments of silence while I got my emotions back under control and just focused on the sensations of the hug. Something to keep me in the present. "Are you alright now?" Yamame whispered to me, brushing a hand down my cheek. I didn't know yet. If just a wall had been able to throw me so badly, I wasn't sure what the rest of the place would do. In the end, I was just about able to say that I was so grateful that Yamame had come with me. Reimu, too, but Yamame hadn't had an investment like Reimu and I had. Reimu had made the promise to my father, and she'd taken it seriously. "Don't be silly." Yamame murmured. I looked at her with a furrowed brow. "Of course, I'm invested. It's you. Your family. But even so, I don't need to be invested to want to be there for you." She whispered.

I couldn't help kissing her then, just lightly. Even so, I could feel Reimu rolling her eyes behind me. After a moment, I released Yamame and nodded, then stepped back to survey the room once more. I knew the rest of it, and I didn't see any other unfamiliar surprises. Once I was sure that I wasn't going to run into anything else that would send me into a spiral, I moved over to a certain spot where I found that, apparently, neither Chiyari nor Yuuma had found the rest of my money supply. It didn't really mean that much now that Yuuma had essentially dropped a small fortune into my hands, but still, it was nice to finally recover what was left.

Meanwhile, Yamame was sifting through the envelope. "There's- There's way too much in here. What did she think she needed to pay? This could supply you for...A year, probably." That was good, since I wanted to give some of it to both Reimu and Yamame. "Huh? Er, no, that's, uh, fine. Thank you, but I-" I knew she didn't need it, but she deserved it anyway. For everything that she'd done for me. "Y-You're not going to stop until I accept it, are you?" Probably not, I replied with a shrug. "Oh, fine. Thank you." Yamame pouted and took her share from the envelope, then handed another share to me, which I turned to offer to Reimu.

In Reimu's case, she wasn't quite so humble. "Are you sure?" She asked me once, and when I nodded, she gratefully accepted. "Thanks. Should help out." She slid the money I'd given her into her sleeve, then looked around again. "What's next?" She asked. I took in another breath and headed into the kitchen. I had left supplies here when I'd first left the village with Reimu, but I wasn't sure what to expect at this point. When I'd come back and found Chiyari here for the first time, I hadn't smelt anything out of the ordinary, which I'd assumed to mean that nothing was spoiling, and therefore, Chiyari was probably eating it. Now, I assumed that Yuuma and Chiyari had finished off anything that was left, and I found myself to be correct when I pulled open the pantry and found it bare, even of the stuff that I'd just left there forever because I didn't really want to eat it.

But still, there were a few things left. And these just so happened to be the ones that, again, brought me up short. As if I was somewhere else, I heard her voice. "...And you add the spice now, so it can marinate long enough for it all to infuse. Hey, pay attention! A girl might want you to cook for her someday..." The memory faded, leaving me in the kitchen once more. That was her. My mother. Giving me some random bits of cooking advice, though I was far too young to be doing all that much of it myself. Not when I could barely reach the counters. It was those random little pots, the ones that contained some errant spice, or a pot of cloves. The ones that I'd never been able to get rid of. Never been able to even look at. It was strange, I thought. I'd spent so long having no recollection of them at all, and it was making these memories I was starting to get flashes of feel almost as if I'd never experienced them at all. I crouched down and lifted a small pot. Flakes of something, I thought, though I wasn't sure. I supposed that whatever lessons that my mother had been trying to teach me had disappeared along with most of my other memories from back then.

Speaking out loud now, I recalled that there had been a dinner, once. Probably not long before the Vampire Incident, so I was just about old enough to remember it. My mother had gotten me to help with the preparations, and I'd cut my finger while chopping something. I'd cried and cried, but my mother had sorted it out. She'd helped me wrap the cut up until it had stopped bleeding, then showed me how to more safely chop ingredients. It was the sort of thing that I did now without even thinking. She'd taught it to me, and I'd forgotten that. Even though it hadn't been long, there was probably plenty more that I'd forgotten. Which only made it worse, I thought, because in the end, those lost memories and everything that had happened since had led me to today.

Please wait warmly in the other room.

...please wait warmly in the other room.

>>15104452

>>14099174
>>14099170
She doesn't like being watched.

>Our quiet watching has become a nuisance to Reimu-san
>Girls are now being shy...