/jp/ - Otaku Culture

I had a thought while I was dangling from Yamame's arms somewhere above the sunflower fields of the Garden of the Sun. Something that Miss Yuuka had said, that few took the time to learn if she was anything more than her reputation. It was the sort of thing that I'd been coming across a lot lately. Yamame was attacked by humans who couldn't see her the way I saw her. Ibaraki-douji's arm was judged by Lady Kasen before she could even attempt to prove herself as more than malice and hatred. And even I had spent most of my first meeting with Miss Yuuka assuming that she was seconds away from murdering me instead of simply trying to understand her.

I was starting to think that perhaps...Miss Yuuka simply wanted some friends. I could sympathise. In the end, I'd spoken to Marisa that very first time supposedly looking for romance, but I hadn't exactly had a wealth of friends either. Taking that chance had changed my life, and I supposed that I was trying my best as time went on to pay it forward.

And with that in mind, I had an idea. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, and I definitely wasn't sure if it would be an idea that would be particularly liked, but...there was a certain gatekeeper who was quite a dedicated gardener in the Vampire's mansion, and she attended meetings with the Grassroots Youkai Network from time to time. I hoped that if I was to bring the idea up to Wakasagihime, it might be possible to get her to accept Miss Yuuka attending. It would be possibly my most insane idea yet, getting an obviously powerful youkai to come to a meeting of primarily weaker youkai. Yamame may not have been a pushover, but even she was clearly not as strong as Yuuka Kazami was, and I wasn't entirely sure if Wakasagihime or Kagerou would agree to the idea.

Perhaps my empathy was getting the best of me. I saw that Miss Yuuka seemed a little lonely, and Meiling had seemed like she wanted someone who appreciated her work, so trying to connect the two seemed to be a good idea. Who knew if I'd manage to pull that together, though. "-You listening?" I heard Yamame call down to me, and I snapped out of my thoughts to realise that I was still hanging in mid-air, so I jerked and kicked my legs. "Wh-Whoa, calm down!" Yamame cried, her flight shaking slightly. "I might drop you!" After a few seconds, I calmed down again and got my bearings. We were near the edge of the sunflower field and in the distance, I could see the village. Sorry, I called up to Yamame as an apology for not paying attention. I had been thinking about something. Predictably, she asked me what I had been thinking about, but I didn't much want to try and explain the whole thought process while hanging high in the air with Yamame's arms wrapped around me as my only means of support, so I instead asked her what she had been saying. "Oh, fine. I'll get it out of you later." She pouted a little.

"As I was saying, what do you think Miss Kazami was talking about at the end? About that peach tree and dates?" I wasn't really sure, but I suspected that it would make sense eventually. Things surrounding me tended to only make sense long after I heard them, anyway. It reminded me that Wakasagihime had made a similarly cryptic statement when she had told me to keep the stone that she had found in the lake. "It did look pretty, I guess..." Yamame mused. "Oh, er, where are we going? The Shrine? The village?" She looked over at me, though I couldn't really look back properly from my angle. "Home?" Much as going home sounded lovely, I eventually settled on saying that we should head to the Shrine. Reimu would probably be going spare by now, since I'd agreed to get to the Shrine today before winding up at Miss Yuuka's house for so long. Not to mention, there was probably still work ongoing at the Shrine. Yamame, catching sight of the path toward the Shrine, began to follow it, but didn't drop us in for a landing, which I supposed made sense since we'd have to climb all those steps up to the Shrine if we had. "There's another reason, isn't there?" Yamame asked me as we floated lazily onward. I tried once more to look up at her and failed again, but I felt it when she kissed me on the head. "You're still worried about her, aren't you?" I sighed a little. Yes, I supposed. I was still worried about her. It wasn't like hanging out with her for one night would fix her being lonely. Yamame was silent for a moment, then tightened her grip. "You're so good to her." She whispered to me. I was silent for a moment, then replied. She'd been good to me, too.