/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I don't know how long I'd been sitting there before the door slammed open. I could hear Lady Kasen's voice before I'd even turned around. "Reimu! I don't know what you think you're doing, but it is far too late to still be hungover. Honestly, what goes through your-" She seemed to belatedly take in the scene. "O-Oh." She sounded taken aback, and when I looked, she had her typical lecturing pose, with one finger in the air. "I, ah, hope I'm not interrupting something." I suddenly remembered that I was shirtless and half of Reimu's clothes were in a pile next to the bed, and I scrambled to explain that Reimu had gotten in a scrape protecting me and had come down ill. "I see..." Lady Kasen had a strange glint in her eye that I didn't like the look of. "And since we can't have you going to Eientei..." I nodded grimly. "You'll have to take care of her." I looked up with the worry on my face plain as day. I'd more or less expected it, but I wasn't expecting Lady Kasen to throw it all on me like that. "Don't give me that look. I'm not leaving you completely in the dark." I asked her how exactly I was meant to take care of Reimu if Zanmu came back to throw another party. "Oh, you just let me worry about that. In fact, leave all the running of the Shrine to me. I've done it before, after all. But..." Lady Kasen leaned in close, making sure I was paying her full attention.

"Reimu is extremely important to Gensokyo. You're going to need to remain by her side until she's well again." I tried not to think about how weak Yamame had looked and failed completely. They were both hurt and weak. "Have you ever cared for an ill person before?" Lady Kasen asked me. I hadn't, not that I could remember. "Hmm. She'll be very weak when she wakes up, so you'll need to help her up. Make sure you're supporting her at all times. She'll probably complain, but it's for her own good." Lady Kasen chewed on her bottom lip; her brow furrowed in thought. "She looks like she has a fever. Is it the flu? Either way, her body temperature is going to be all over the place. At night, she'll likely be dangerously cold." Lady Kasen stared at me with a gleam in her eyes. "They say that the best way to keep someone warm at night is to sleep next to them. In fact, I think they say that you should both be nak-" I blurted out that I was sure Reimu would be fine, but I think I blushed. Lady Kasen simply smiled. "Well, if you want her to get better, anyway." Lady Kasen stepped inside and headed down a corridor away from the room. She raised her voice as I heard her rummage around in another room. "She'll be all sweaty one minute, then shivering the next! If she's too hot, you'll have to help her cool down. Get a cool cloth, soak it through, then sponge down the exposed skin! It'll speed things up." I tried calling back that I really wasn't the right person for that, but Lady Kasen ignored me.

Lady Kasen came back through into Reimu's room, carrying a basket. Inside, I spotted several towels, a comb, some extra clothes, and a comfortable-looking kimono. "I don't know how bad she's going to be, yet, but you might need to help her a lot, especially in the first day or two." She pulled out the kimono. "She wears this at night, so you'll want to help her put that on later." I started to get a strange feeling, like Lady Kasen had been dying for something like this to happen. "Well, I'll leave you to it. I'll be back in a while, so I can start sorting out the Shrine." She returned to the door, then turned back to me. "Oh! There's usually someone else here, but she's away right now. At least, half of her is. A komainu statue given life. Aunn, her name is. She might be a little suspicious of you at first, but she's a sweetheart, really. She's got two bodies, and one does stay at the Shrine, but isn't too talkative. The other's off at the Myouren Temple, gathering...information." That sounded slightly suspicious, but I didn't know enough to question it. "I'll make sure no one comes and disturbs you two. Good luck!" She finished cheerfully, pulling the door shut.