/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45568235
I get sick all the time anyway, business as usual

"Your abilities are truly enviable, Kurodani." Parsee whispered. "The story goes like this." I wondered if this one would make any more sense. "There was a woman. She loved a man so much that she'd die for him, or kill for him, or so anything that he told her to. He told her to wait for him on a bridge in Uji. She waited, and she kept waiting." Parsee fell silent for a moment, and I asked incredulously if that was really the end of the story. "She performed the Uwanari-uchi. She waits still." Parsee replied. "For he will one day return, no matter how much the woman resents him for taking his time. No matter how much she resents that everything she has done has turned to ashes." It seemed like a pretty poor story, though I didn't say that out loud.

"Don't you have any stories with happy endings?" Yamame muttered, freeing enough thread to let Parsee's head fall back. "Like, one where they live happily ever after?"

"There was a spider. A small thing, but hated by all it met." Yamame paused there, watching Parsee silently. "It tried to live peacefully, but was attacked for daring to exist. It pretended that it enjoyed its hated reputation, but deep in its heart, it begged for kindness."

"And then?"

"Each season took its toll. The spider tried to help where it could. Every time it offered, it gave up its entire heart, and as it was rejected, it took the pain of betrayal harder and harder. The spider withered more and more. Eventually, it was so withered and decayed that a passing man who could save it didn't notice and crushed it underfoot."

Yamame snorted. "Of course he did. We don't really wither like that, though." She got back to work, and this time, I saw an indication that Parsee would be free soon. "Was that supposed to be an attack at me? It wasn't a very good one."

"You think about it." Parsee murmured, her eyes sliding shut. "You think that the fate of the spider was sad." She smiled again. "I think it was a relief. To know that the suffering was over. That the hope, the want for companionship was over. Each time the spider suffered, its jealousy and hatred bloomed. To die is to be free."

"I'd like to free you, if you don't mind." Yamame muttered, coiling another strand of web around her finger. Both of Parsee's legs swung freely now. "Unless you want me to cover your mouth, too."

"There was a man." Parsee spoke. "He desired acceptance, and freedom from a life of confusion."

"Let me guess," Yamame said, "He exploded and died."

"He met a woman. He fell in love, and then he died. And the woman lived on without him. Perhaps she found another man. Perhaps she held him in her memory for all of her life." Parsee's smile disappeared. "He did not know. But by not knowing, he never felt the pain of knowing she had stopped loving him. To die is to be free." I frowned, crossing my arms. I really didn't get it.

"Just a little...There!" Yamame said with more excitement, and suddenly, the last few webs snapped, and Parsee fell, only for Yamame to grab her by the wrist and swung her onto the small platform that she had been standing on. "I really think you could do with some new stories." She muttered to Parsee before floating up and alighting next to me. "Come on." Yamame reached down and pulled me up, then began dragging me away before I could even say goodbye. Within seconds, we were deep enough in the caves for it to be like the bridge had never existed. "Even when she's not in a bad mood, she's awful to deal with. Nothing but bad memories and worse stories."

I frowned and asked her if Parsee had meant everything she had said. "No, probably not. She doesn't...mean it, but she can't stop herself from saying it either. It's her lot in life." Sounded like a particularly awful lot to me. "I suppose you could see it that way. She’s happy as long as she has someone to upset,
though." I shivered a little. I felt sorry for her, but I couldn't do anything. Nor was I sure she would even appreciate anything. "Let's just get out of here." Yamame muttered, and I noticed that she was a little pale. Perhaps the stories had gotten to her a little.

Any negative emotions I was feeling soon melted away when I caught sight of Yamame's home. It felt like a week had passed as Yamame unlocked and pulled the door open. "No one's been here. Phew." She sighed in relief. "Hang on, let me just..." She stepped over to the door after I'd pulled it shut and locked it. "I'm going to clean my mouth out until I can't taste the sick." I winced in sympathy. "Please..." She pulled me closer and wrapped her arms around my waist. "Can you warm up the bed?"

That, I decided, was something I could do.