/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I had to bid Lady Patchouli farewell before long, since I would have ended up talking to her for far longer. She might not have had the charismatic nature that Toyosatomimi no Miko or Raiko Horikawa exuded, but she instead gave off the strongest impression of quiet intelligence, like any conversation she was involved in would dance to her tune. "I believe I extended an invitation for you to visit the library when you last visited me there. Please, consider this a standing invitation. Remi would not complain if someone such as you visits me. Of course, this invitation is for your wife too." I thanked Lady Patchouli and told her that I would make sure Yamame knew, and that I would do my best to visit when I could.

On a different note, I was curious about something. I had never actually told Remilia about the wedding. How had she found out? "Remi considers you interesting, and her role in your past has, I believe, put her in the unique position of feeling as if she has something to atone for. She might have sent Sakuya to silently gather information, but..." Lady Patchouli trailed off. "She might have taken a more direct approach. Either way, I believe that fate had a hand in her appearance here." I wasn't sure about fate. Fate seemed to have a hand in putting me through a lot of physical and mental trauma. Lady Patchouli smiled indeterminably. "Or perhaps fate is nothing more than an illusion. Either way, I don't think it's something for you to worry about."

As I got to my feet, I replied. I said that maybe it wasn't something to worry about, but it was still a little...Unsettling. "Contemplation of forces beyond us usually is." Lady Patchouli smiled again, but it was different this time. There was some genuine warmth behind her eyes that I didn't regularly see. She looked up at me and inclined her head, the crescent moon on her hat glinting in the sun as I turned to leave. "Fortunately, we in Gensokyo are the kind of people who can do something about it, are we not?"

She was an incredibly interesting person. Really, it seemed no wonder that Remilia Scarlet favoured her in the way that she did. I found myself a little in awe of her after all of our conversations. She may have been something of a recluse who preferred her library to the outdoors, but it hadn't stopped her from being an excellent conversationalist and someone who could understand far more than I ever could. If my life had gone differently, if I'd never met Yamame, I wonder if I might have tried to see her more often.

Speaking of my wife, I could see her over by the peach tree. The sun was beginning to sink now, and there were long shadows being cast by everyone and everything moving around on the grounds, so Yamame cast a long, lengthy shadow on the tree itself. She was standing with plenty of her sisters, the ones I knew and a number that I didn't know. Well...I said standing, but it was more like surrounding. It didn't look like she'd be escaping any time soon, and while I did feel some sympathy for her position, I also didn't much feel like wading through the girls who were no doubt excited to talk to their sister. Plus, they kept poking and prodding at pieces of her outfit, and it wasn't like I was qualified to answer questions about that regardless.

So, silently wishing Yamame good luck, I looked over at the others. It seemed that everyone was sticking around, which was good, because I'd just spotted Shameimaru squatting on the stone railing of Mugenkan. She was fiddling with her camera again, but I decided that I wanted to go over and speak to her. It wasn't exactly something I thought often, but it had occurred to me that while we had taken a host of photos in the morning, we hadn't done any sort of photo shoot for the afternoon's ceremony.

And, looking at Yamame, who was giggling at something that Yura was saying to her, I didn't want to walk away from today without some physical reminders of the day. Well, aside from the ring on my finger. I looked at it. I examined it, just as Lady Patchouli had done. I raised it to catch the setting sun. It felt strange to wear. I wasn't used to wearing something like a ring, while Yamame had gotten a chance to get used to it thanks to the engagement ring. I could feel it encircling my finger, but it wasn't annoying. No, it was amazing. Each time I was reminded of its presence, I was reminded of what it represented. That, then, only made me feel even happier.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you a crow, obsessed with shiny things." Snapped from my reverie, I looked up to see Hieda no Akyuu approaching me, her arms crossed and a playful smile on her face. She'd done well to make it so far, I thought. Given her recent weakness, I'd been worried that she wouldn't make it through the whole day. "Good Afternoon, Reiki." She got to about an arm's length from me and stopped.

Librarian's a good job mate. Easy work, all indoors. I guarantee you'll not go hungry. Cos at the end of the day, as long as there's two blokes left on the planet, someone is gonna want something read.