/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. It was almost frightening, and I ended up throwing my limbs out in random directions on the futon I'd found myself in, thinking I was falling. This lasted for a moment until I managed to calm myself, my thoughts beginning to come back to me. I was not in my home. I wasn't in the Palace of the Earth Spirits. I wasn't in Eientei. I was in the Hakurei Shrine. I shifted up onto my elbows and saw the small amount of supplies I'd managed to bring from my old home. The rain had torn through a number of them, but I'd found enough clothing to keep me decent. Strangely, despite the number that were soaked through, there was a few items missing entirely from my wardrobe. Most distressing to me was two of the t-shirt things that Miss Hecatia had given me. The yellow and the red ones had disappeared, though the blue one had remained. I didn't want to know what the consequences of losing a gift from a goddess was, so I hoped that, somehow, I would find them. I couldn't think why anyone would want to steal my clothes, anyway.
I heard a noise from my side and snapped my head in that direction. Miss Hakurei was pulling the sliding door open, letting bright sunlight stream through into my eyes. I threw a hand over my face and squinted, hoping it would subside quickly. It had rained so much, both before Miss Hakurei had told me to uncover the missing hole in my memory, and after I had returned, pale and shivering, from the underground hand-in-hand with an Tsuchigumo. "Oh, good. You're not dying." She said dryly. "Get up, would you? We need to talk." She didn't wait for a response before she stepped inside, picked up something that I couldn't see, then left. I stared after her, incredulous. I'd done some strange things recently, I was aware, but I hadn't really expected to find myself waking up in the Hakurei Shrine's back room, hiding from all the malevolent forced of Eientei, or whoever else was after me.
It took me a few minutes, but I finally dragged myself out of the futon and stumbled to my feet. I'd pulled out whatever toiletries I could when I had left, and now I rummaged through them, looking for my typical morning rituals. A few minutes after that, I was clothed and freshened up, so I tentatively stepped out of the room I'd been in. The clouds had finally, truly broken, so it was endless blue skies that I could see from the veranda I was stood upon. I squinted in the sunlight, looking to me right, and I saw the great torii gate of the Hakurei Shrine, and beyond it, the massive valley that I called home. Out in the distance, I could see the mountain, which I had been underneath just yesterday. If I were to walk closer, I would probably be able to see my village, the Misty Lake and the Vampire's Mansion beyond it, perhaps even the bamboo forest where I had...
I grit my teeth and swallowed. Satori had been right, of course. Trauma was not merciful. I had experienced something horrible in Eientei, and I doubted that I had felt the last of its effects on my life. I closed my eyes, breathed in deeply for a few seconds, then opened them again. Now, I looked a little closer to the Shrine. I was on a veranda, and down from me, I could see another open sliding door. I could hear indistinct voices, now that I was paying attention, so I shuffled over to the door, trying not to be too loud. There was a sense, here in the shrine, of a perfect harmony between sound and silence. The voices didn't break the silence, but rather added to it in a strange way. I could hear birds singing. Behind me, somewhere behind the shrine, I could hear the faint, gentle sound of water, like a pond. A light breeze cause a slight clattering sound as something banged together. I almost didn't want to breathe for fear that it would disturb the atmosphere here.
I reached the open door. Inside, sat around a small table, were Miss Hakurei and Marisa. "Ah, there you are." Miss Hakurei said to me. "I was about to send Marisa after you. She's been a real mess ever since we brought you here." I asked Miss Hakurei how long I'd been asleep. "Eugh, don't call me that. Just call me Reimu. You've been asleep since late afternoon yesterday, and honestly, we were starting to get worried that you wouldn't wake up again. You weren't looking so good when I found you." I remembered my home and asked Miss Ha - asked Reimu what had happened.