/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"Ugh, you total birdbrain. How come you can perfectly describe the process of nuclear fusion, but you can't even remember what you ate for breakfast?" Orin sounded mock-frustrated. We rounded the corner and spotted the two of them, leaning against a railing at a part of the path where no buildings blocked the view, so it was instead an unobstructed view over the whole of the Hot Springs Town. They hadn't spotted us yet, and I noted that we had no choice but to go past them to get through. Yamame whispered to me that it would be fine, so on we continued.

"I do remember!" Okuu replied, sounding slightly outraged. "It was berries!" She sounded triumphant, but then the cracks began to show. "No, that was last night...Um, rice and fish...?"

"That was yesterday morning, birdbrain." Orin sounded dead pan. "I'll give you a hint. It starts with an 'O'."

"O..." Okuu trailed off for a few second, then slammed the massive cannon of hers against the railing. "Okonomiyaki!" Orin began clapping sarcastically, and Okuu cheered. "I told you I knew it!"

"Yes, yes, you did. Well done. Now, come on. Let's go and find-" She pushed off of the railing and turned, putting Yamame and I right in her line of sight. "...Ah." She muttered, a look of annoyance flitting across her face.

Okuu, meanwhile, looked perfectly happy. "Miss Spider!" She cheered, hopping from where she'd been leaning on the railing. "And you're...Um, I know you from somewhere..." She stared at me with an intense frown. "Were you at the reactor?" I was not. "Er...The Palace of the Earth Spirits?" I was, but not while she was there. "Oh, I remember! You were that one that Miss Spider had me carry to the Shrine!" I nodded, and Okuu raised her arms in celebration. "I knew it!"

"Yes, very good, Okuu." Orin muttered under her breath. "Our dear Lady Yamame, it has been too long!" She said to Yamame, spreading her hands out. In a strangely familiar moment, she looked over at me for a moment. "Hm." She wrinkled her nose. "Our Lady Satori extends her greetings to you and the rest of your family."

"Orin, Lady Satori said-" Okuu tried to say.

"I know what she said!" Orin snapped, her twin tails swishing in a motion that seemed like frustration. "And..." She very stiffly turned her head to me, as if it was causing her no shortage of physical pain. "To - You - Too." She ground the words out as if each one was followed by a strong punch to the stomach. I politely smiled and told her to extend our greetings back. "Who'd want your-" She snapped, then slammed her mouth shut with a grown coming deep from her throat. "Yes." She forced herself to say. "Very good." And she immediately went back to pretending I didn't exist.

"Er, so..." Yamame finally ventured, while Orin resolutely stared off to the side and Okuu tilted her head curiously. "What are two of Satori's pets doing in the Hot Springs Town by themselves?"

"Oh, um, Lady Satori asked us to..." Okuu began, and I could immediately see where this was going. "To - To, er...Oh, hang on..." She lifted her massive arm cannon and began rotating her arm in an attempt to get a look at the side opposite. "She wrote it down!" The Hell Raven told us, pointing her free hand to some very clean handwriting on the side of the cannon. "We're here to 'Assist Yuugi Hoshiguma in removing the large keystone embedded in the centre of the Hot Springs!'" Okuu looked very happy about remembering, so I thanked her profusely for telling us, and I could have sworn I heard Orin mutter something under her breath about 'two-faced fools'.

Assist her, though? I thought that the Kurodani family was in charge of that. "Oh, er, not quite. We're in charge of the houses, and we'll be in charge of any work we have to do after removing the keystone, but not removing the keystone itself." She looked over at Okuu and Orin, who'd finally managed to look back in our direction, though it was very clear that she was looking at Yamame and not at me. "But what exactly are you planning to do?"

"Huh?" Okuu tried to scratch her head but ended up just hitting herself in the head with the side of her cannon. "Ouch...Um, I was just gonna try and blast it, I guess..."

"No, no, our Lady Yamame, that wasn't the plan." Orin jumped in, waving her hands about. "No, we had a better plan in mind. If someone," And she shot a glare at Okuu, "Could just reign in her base impulses, we'd all be fine." Okuu stared blankly, and Orin stamped on her foot.