/jp/ - Otaku Culture

It was another two days before Reimu managed to find the confidence - or force down the embarrassment - to show her face again.

Early that morning, after a night with – thankfully – more sleep, some of Yamame's siblings had shown up. These ones, I hadn't recognized, since the only one of them I knew was Nai. Two with darker hair, the third with hair a dirty sort of blonde, a far cry from the bright, sunny blonde of Yamame's own hair. They looked like they had been working, if the dust covering their clothes and the tiredness in their eyes was any indication. Their outfits looked like more simplistic versions of Yamame's own, but it looked like they had also taken off some of the layers. Once I heard them talking to Yamame, things made more sense. They were part of the group of Yamame's sisters working on the restoration of the Old City's Hot Springs after the keystone accident that I absolutely, definitely, didn't know anything about.

"New order, Yams." The tall one with the dark hair was saying. "I know you're busy, but we're never going to finish without your help."

I was in Yamame's workshop, where Yamame had been performing some more alterations on some of my selected outfits. I wasn't necessarily a secret, but even so, I opted to stay away from the door to prevent the conversation from getting interrupted. "Bloody oni, sister. You tell them to leave the wood alone, then you turn around and they're smacking each other across the face with it." Yamame snorted. "Gone through twelve planks in the last two days, like it's a little game. I've got half a mind to slap them around the face, but they'd probably think I'm challenging them too!"

"What I'm hearing, then, is that you need more wood." Yamame finally said, cutting off her sister's ranting. She was leaning against the door, wearing her usual black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and the top two buttons undone. She'd pulled on her dress, but she hadn't pulled the straps across her shoulders to hold the whole thing up, so it simply hung about her waist. "That's fine, but really, I told you to keep your supplies hidden. It's hard enough working in that humid nightmare zone without having to deal with rowdy drunkards." Yamame hadn't even been working down there, but I held no doubts that she had more than enough history with the place to be speaking from experience. "You have to misdirect them away from where you're working." Yamame had pushed away from the door and was rummaging about in a draw, from which she pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil. "If you just tell them they can't come in, they'll just get more curious. How much wood do you need?" She was scribbling things down. "I've only got so much left."

"About..." Yamame's sister, the one with the dirty blonde hair, scratched at her chin. "How much you got?"

"More than enough for whatever your oni interlopers are destroying. Rest's untreated, so you can't have that right now. Tell you what - I've got a lovely freeloader here and he desperately needs something to do. I'll have him chop up some more from what I've got left and then you can treat it all at once." I crossed my arms and scowled. I wouldn't have called myself a freeloader since I was the one cooking most of Yamame's food, and I was definitely paying for it - in some sense.

"Oh? Do tell. We rarely see you these days, sister." Said the shorter one with the black hair. "Someone keeping you busy?" She had a knowing smile on her face.

"Yes, Yams, don't leave us in suspense. Is this that handsome man with the scars we've been seeing at the cave entrance?" Added the dirty blonde. That make me a little unnerved, because apart from Nai, I'd been certain that I was alone.

"So, er, I'll just go and gather up what you've got, or...?" The tallest, the other dark haired one, didn't look comfortable with the conversation. "Not that I'm not happy for you, dear sister."

Yamame shook her head. "You'll get no answers from me, you gossip hounds. And yes - the pile stacked up on the far side. Take those. I'll work out an invoice for you to give to Hoshiguma." She began shooing the three away from her door. "Come back some other time and maybe I'll treat you to a few details. If I'm feeling nice." She fixed the three with a severe look when they made no efforts to move. "Come on, shift. You've work to do and I've better things to do."

I was certain that the dirty blonde had muttered something about positions, but I think I might have misheard. Either way, they finally did back off and allow Yamame to shut the door.

It's time to weave in a new year!