/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>44746792
“I’m busy” I told her. I didn’t care how transparent the lie was, I just wasn’t in the mood to talk to some strange woman that was likely some kind of youkai. I don’t think I ever would be.

She just stepped a bit closer “Most busy people don’t wander around aimlessly in the evening. I know you’re an important person, but can’t you make time to talk about your parents? Of course, if you don’t want to...”

Dammit. I had to take the bait. The last thing I needed was more people poking around in my personal life so I might as well see what she wanted so I could cut her out. If my gut feeling was correct, then this woman was a little more then some third party butting in. Maybe I could see what she knew about us. The less secrets kept from me, the better. “Fine, I have some time. What is it?”

“Good, let’s go somewhere more private” She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to her before I could protest and then- Reality broke. What was once a normal scene slide away and was replaced with nothing. No, something in my gut told it it was worse then nothing. It was like a shadow in a patch of sunlight with nothing to cast it. It was just there. I saw eyes gaze at me as I tumbled and tumbled, then the nothingness around me compressed and I was somewhere else. I looked around, still dazed. I was sitting at a table in some sort of guest room in a traditional style house. Far nicer then even the richest people in the village. I had the feeling that running to one end of this house to the other would be a very long journey. “Oh, I apologize if I scared you. It can be a lot to handle. But allow me to introduce myself. I am Yakumo Yukari”

With that name, the memories came running back. I knew her! That strange blonde woman that somethings appeared at the shrine when I was still training to watch me, or sometimes visited mother in private. That was her, one of the major shakers of this world, although my mother always talked about her in a way that made it seem like she didn’t think so. I tried to organize all my questions for her, but they ran through my fingers like water. I asked the first thing that came to mind “You. What do you want?”

She drummed her fingers on the table with a bored look on her face. “I just wanted to see how things were doing. Everyone’s been talking about you and what might happen in the future. I thought I might as well check in on you. Help you out a bit” She gave me a slight smile. If she was trying to be friendly, she wasn’t good at it. “I’m just surprised that you could convince your father to leave Reimu. He used to be very insistent on staying. He swore he would always be by her side no matter what. He made a big show of it to. He swore to Reimu, the gods, and even me. So what changed his heart, I wonder?”

I was already getting tired of this mysterious act she had going on. Almost nobody in this world had a straight answer to anything. “You know why. She abused him, treated him like shit. All those pledges mean nothing if he’s getting beaten and abused whenever she’s in a bad mood, and you know it” I said as I leaned over the table to glare at her.

She reached out a gloved hand and shoved my forehead, knocking me off balance and sending me on my rear. “So you think these words are so easily broken and thrown away? You are a shrine maiden. You swear as an intermediary between the gods and the other humans. You must keep your connection with them. What do you think would happen if you always broke your promises? What would that mean for you? She stared at me, waiting for an answer.

I thought about it. I had never heard about any promises my dad made to stay by her side, but the more I thought about it, the more upset I got. Over all those years, none of the beings he swore to stepped in. Mother always had her powers even after all she did to dad. Not once did any of the gods she could channel or even the god of her very own shrine step in to stop her. Even when she was beating him bloody or worse on holy grounds, they showed no signs of stopping her. Maybe the struggles of mortals were too small for them to care. But there was no excuse for Yukari to stay out of it. She must have known what was going on, everyone did. But in all my years, she never did a damned thing. What good was a swear of loyalty if all it meant was that she would turn a blind eye to what was going on. “I don’t give a shit. If the gods or whoever do nothing as he needs help, then what good are they? Aren’t the gods supposed to help humanity? Why should he stick by his word then?” I snapped at her. I didn’t care if she got angry. I had to say my piece.

“That’s a very interesting thing for a shrine maiden to say. I think someone needs to work on their connection to the divine” She said, a look of mock shock on her face.