/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45215585 (2/-)
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It wasn't a single occasion.

Days later, I'm again on Yukari’s orders, now stalking through a thick swamp on the deep outskirts of Gensokyo. I frown, frustrated: Rumors, whispers of cloak and dagger, have reached my ears—the HSE is a hot spot for gossiping, and when you pass most of your time there quietly brooding in the sides, you end hearing a lot—about a growing… uneasiness spreading throughout the land; that a powerful, betrayed—why 'betrayed'…?—oni that lived long ago would return and destroy Gensokyo whole.

These rumors and whispers are the cause of these dark circles under my eyes. First, all that ruckus about Kanako; then Flandre appearing on the HSE and 'threatening to explode the Human Village'—wild exaggeration, Yukari said, and it was the first time I felt no lie from her—; and now this mess personally involving me… I sulk, lips pursed, when my target becomes visible, dim lights shining under the thick grime and cloudy waters of the swamp.

I sigh. Going to such lengths to hide their cults dedicated to adoring… 'me'.

What is spawning these sects? Where did the word about the second coming of the 'betrayed oni of the mountain' originates from? In my mind pops Yukari, though I have no proofs—what use does she have for me here, hunting cultists in the middle of the night and trudging through a freezing swamp? I'd be much better with either the broker or the Amanojaku doing actual work, or maybe trying to babysit Flandre…

… I can't find an answer, but the thought doesn't leave me.

It's simply too weird. Is this an incident? Will we need to call Reimu? It's so widespread and young that there are no leads for her—or any other miko—to follow, just as there's no evil done towards Gensokyo or its inhabitants… Yet. Yukari wants me specifically—her 'first line of defense against Okina'—to defeat them, and I imagine it's because it's a cult to Ibaradouji. There's no link to the 3rd sage that I can see.

But that loops back to the first question; who is spawning them? Who's feeding them information about Ibaradouji?

Nibbling on my lower lip, I sigh with utter confusion. So many questions…

… Just one way to sate them.

Holding my breath, I dive into the swamp. Seconds later, a body explodes out of the water like a geyser, light chains locking them to the nearby trees.

A minute later, and I'm slogging out of the water with an ever worse crease on my face, carrying seven defeated bodies on my back. I throw them unceremoniously onto dry land, taking a centipede away from my hair before lowering the cultist locked into chains of light to eye level, the lower youkai's eyes burning with hatred. I feel the air… Yukari is not watching. I don't have much time. "Do not waste my time and answer: I want to know why this cult to Ibaradouji exists," I say, the chains dispersing from his mouth—

"You're not getting answers from me, puppet!"

… "'Puppet'?"

"I know who you are, Puppet! You stole her body! You'll never be the real oni, no matter if you try to kill her children! You're just a puppet, a vessel! She'll retu—" I grind the chains and restore the light bindings in his mouth. What is this bullshit he's spilling?! I don't know, but my identity might've been compromised… And, clutching my bandaged arm, I conclude that the thing I hide may also have been compromised—faintly, I hear a wicked laugh in the back of my mind.

But it seems distorted… Does he think I and Ibaradouji are different people and that I sealed her in my body? Whoever is feeding them information, it's faulty to a degree… Would Yukari purposely feed them wrong information? For what motive? I clench my teeth, the stale air drenching my brain in a thick fog, and I have to take deep breaths to recompose myself: piling up, questions simply piling up… A breadcrumb here, then another there, and another, another, and I'm back at the start, with more questions and close to no answers—

"Hm… Perhaps I should lay you off this work? You always seem so affected by the end." Her voice sends chills down my spine, the bound man in front of me replaced by a gap of a thousand and one red, curious eyes.

"… They know," I say, not turning to face Yukari. "They know who I was."

"Oh, my, my… That's bad. Very bad," I can almost hear her slight smile, "So, then I shouldn't take you off the job… Oh, anyway—hard-working sages deserve rewards~" I turn.

She's hiding a big smile behind that uchiwa of hers…

The questions are on the tip of my tongue. Just there, waiting to leave, to make things clear. I just need to ask.

"Yukari—"

—I watch as her soft hand slowly trails her collarbone, confused—then my mind is screaming and screaming: 'LOOK AWAY!'

I don't, and she pulls down slightly her purple dress, showing more of her cleavage and the lacy bra underneath. My mind slips as fast as a landslide, eyes bulging, pleading—no, no, no…—yet it falls on deaf ears as I bite my lower lip.

Rage.

Budding rage in the bowels of my mind.

Not oni rage… worse.