/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46212135
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“My, so an encounter of old and new and the unstoppable passage of time?” Kaguya mutters, pristine face twisted with a hint of curiosity… Before it became ashes, her remaining body still with unsurprising yet sudden rigor mortis. I landed, flames rising in the image of the Greek Phoenix as I wiped my brow and recovered my breath, eyes moving to Kaguya—I grinned with the golden light restructuring her beauty, an always resplendent sight, her hime hair ethereally bursting out from within the skin, eyes opening to stare at me. “That's a complex dilemma, Mokou, but one every society goes through as it grows and changes from its initial premise and values—even Lunar Society is bound to change, despite its ‘purity’.”

A wide barrage of glowing bullets follows, and I close the distance amidst them, entering close quarters with burning fists. Kaguya elegantly danced around the blows. “But what should I do? I've lived for so long, yet was never interested in this complex stuff… Ugh, things were easier in the past—remember Oda Nobunaga?”

Kags giggles a little. “Not really, no. He got too boring too fast—at least it was fun watching someone make sure his army would never enter the Bamboo Forest again~” I smile with the memories, hand pulling Kags' jaw out with a scorching sun, a gaping hole suddenly appearing in my chest.

“… I killed a thousand of his men in one night, made him think the forest was cursed. He never dared approach us again—action, reaction, conclusion…” Killing and murdering are two different things, after all. Just one of those haunted my dreams for so long… Holding softness close, thin platinum hairs in my mouth and two precious souls close by was all it took to stop the nightmares. Still, as bitterness spread like a virus, my smile vanished into a frown. “Now I have to worry people will harm Keine because they don't like her ideals—all it'd take is a surprise attack, she's not like me…—; that someone will torch my house, my allies' houses, when I'm not close to help; harm my kids before I can do anything… But that's Keine's way, right? It's supposed to make Gensokyo better for our kids, for others and… All it does to me is make every day a terror…” The words leave with an ode of tiredness but also of relief, body halting with the abrupt stifling weight. “This anxiety is breaking me, Kags. I don't know what to do…” I sigh.

Kaguya is in front of me, unmoving, so I look at her face. She seems thoughtful. “Such a difficult situation you've got yourself into—meddling with mortals always ends like that, I’d know.” My frown creases and I'm about to question what the fuck she means, but she resumes. “Though, shouldn't you be happy?”

… Better do it anyway. “What the fuck do you mean? Happy? How can I be happy if I'm always fearing some—”

“Because, to mortals, that's what makes life precious: the fact that it can and will end at any time… Do you remember our conversation? That one before you wooed the teacher beneath the moonlight~” Kags plays and though I fight it, I blush anyway—wait a second!

“You saw all that?” She nods, chuckling. “… You saw Keine in that night gown?” I ask, hands plunging inside my pants pockets, narrowed eyes filled with jealousy. Kaguya's now laughing, a hearty soul to it, and I sighed, scratching my hair and pouting. “Don't get any silly ideas…”

“I won't, don't worry~”

I can't hold any longer and giggle too. “Yeah, I remember our fucking conversation.”

Seeing the battle had reached its end, Kaguya produced two balls of light, one for each of us, the gentle light cleansing our robes from blood and viscera. They collapsed a moment later—like tiny black holes—, leaving us both squeaky clean. “What I told you about mortals remains unchanged: they die, one way or another, and time is their most precious currency. It isn't the same for us.” With this indescribable gaze, she turns to the half-moon. It gleams as if full. “… But you chose to change that.” I perk, eyes narrowing. What? “You chose to live like a mortal and cast aside the ultimate truths of what being an immortal means, all so you can live her life—now theirs; congrats again~—, to the fullest, which means bearing all the risks of their fragile lives. Kill everyone you think might pose a threat to those you love; it won't change the fact a natural heart attack; a stroke or just a bullet through the heart may end it all.” My body chills; the imagery a haunting waking nightmare. “… All that, however, is meaningless. Mortals don't consider the prospect that any moment might be their last moment; how'd they live their lives like that?”

Her words clicked immediately, a bitterness taking over my tongue as the answer became clear: an immortal living the life of a mortal, crushed under the weight of death…

Kags didn’t notice, looking at the Moon with a suddenly crushing longing, her words resuming. “All mortals think they're immortal until they die. That's how they enjoy their brief lives to the fullest, Mokou.”

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