/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46273129
Akyuu leans in closer. The flower in her hair still looks fresh. I wonder if they have gardens in the afterlife? “Well, if you say so. But that brings us to the bigger problem”

“You’re really in deep with that brothel, aren’t you?” A few years ago I would have never expected these words coming out of her mouth. They’re so ridiculous coming from someone I saw as so refined. But now they stab me deeply.

“I only wanted to help” I admit, taking a swig from my sake to dull the guilt I felt. “When I saw Reimu was acting more like her old self. I just had to poke my nose into things. I got involved and thought that I could just let others deal with the danger. But Yukari knows about all of us. She knows I have a family, and she has so many allies on her side. If she wanted it would be easy for her to-” Horrible visions flash through my mind, and I find myself unable to describe them to her.

I feel a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Even a hand as dainty as hers seemed full of comforting strength at the moment. “I don’t blame you for getting involved. A friend of yours became a wh-” Akyuu cuts herself off in time “-Had an interesting change in profession, the youkai presence in the village increases dramatically and it seems like a blind eye is being turned towards it. Nobody seemed to do anything about it so you just had to investigate yourself, didn’t you?”

“Yeah” I said “I thought it was just going to be some mystery, like in the stories you used to write. I just wanted some answers to what was going on. But the deeper I got into it, the more I realized I was making a mistake. I didn’t even do anything to help. All I did was paint a target on my family's back. I should have known my place and strayed out of it”


Akyuu remains silent for a good while, staring contemplatively into her sake cup. I almost think she’s done talking until she speaks up again.

“Tell me, if Yukari gets her way what do you think is going to happen?”

“I don’t know, I don’t even know what her goal is, it doesn’t make any sense! Why go after Anon, why take advantage of Hana,”


“This isn’t a detective story, you’re not going to get all the answers tied up in a neat little bow” Akyuu huffs as she points a finger towards me “But you already know plenty. Don’t worry about her motive, just think about what she’s done and what she might do if she gets away with it”

I really didn’t know anything, all the pieces of information I scrapped together floated hazily in my mind, a puzzle with missing pieces. Yukari captured Anon and forced him into prostitution. He was the only worker there. She had exploited his daughter in awful ways. Was this an attempt to force the Hakurei family under her control? Maybe but-I forced the whys out of my head. Trying to find out the whys for someone like her would just lead to headaches. That place she trapped Anon in had some very powerful magic as far as I could tell. It was like she was expecting the whole world to batter down the doors. She’d allied herself with some powerful figures. It was strange for someone as reclusive as her-I could count the amount of times I’ve seen her over the years on both hands- and getting all of them to work together would have required careful maneuvering to get them in line.

It was overkill to just imprison one man, I had seen seals on Youma books that had less effort put in, and those could kill you if mishandled. Something was off, but was much as I racked my brain for an answer, it never came.

“Focus, don’t try to struggle with what her goal is. Think. If she’s victorious, what do you think she’s going to do?” Akyuu’s hand was still firmly on my shoulder.

I ran a hand through my hair, the jingling of the bells echoing through the void. Yukari had put too much effort into this to be a lark or a money making scheme. She had sexually abused Anon and Hana, and was willing to confront us directly to keep her control even if it meant possibly fighting multiple opponents at once. She’d crush anyone that got in her way. But if Anon really did have all those children then that meant-

“We would all be loose ends”

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