/jp/ - Otaku Culture

"The hood?" Yamame clarified, looking up from the bowl of noodles that she was currently devouring. "Yeah, I went with the fur-lined design. It's winter, after all. I had that finished really fast because I wanted to get down here." I asked her what her plan with the hood was now. "Well...I'll have to get it to Kagerou somehow. I was thinking either giving it to her at one of her meetings, or...You know she lives in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, right?" I nodded, having parted ways with her just after the big fight at Eientei. "Well, I thought that if you want to see Eirin Yagokoro again, we could go and find her home afterward. What do you think?"

We'd almost made it to the hall before Yamame had confessed that she hadn't eaten all day, which reminded me that...I didn't remember when I'd last eating. It might have been the cinnamon roll at Miss Yuuka's mansion? I didn't think I'd eaten with Reimu. Either way, I didn't know how long it would be until Yuugi was able to get food together for Yura's party, so Yamame and I had doubled back and found a shop to buy some fried noodles and strips of meat from, which Yamame had seemed very happy about, despite the fact that she had to pay for it. I really needed to get back on top of that. Surely Lady Hecatia was expecting an answer by now? I probably needed to ask her some questions about both the job and what would happen to me should I choose to accept it? Would I become a youkai? Would I need to live in Hell?

Yamame snapped her fingers in front of my face once or twice. "Are you okay?" She asked me, and I nodded. I'd just been thinking, I said. "Ah. So, er, I was asking what you thought of going to Kagerou's house?" I nodded and said that I thought that I'd been to somewhere near that area, so I was happy to come with her. I mean, I wasn't sure exactly where Mokou's house was, nor Kagerou's house, but I imagined that we'd be able to find our way. I watched Yamame take another big bite of her food and smile slight, so I asked her if it was good. "Oh, it's delicious!" She told me cheerfully. "How's yours?" Since I never really ate very much, and whatever I did eat seemed to keep me going for days, I'd gone for simple vegetable tempura, and I nodded and agreed that it was rather delicious.

The shop we'd found was between two streets somewhere on the second level up from the largest hot spring, next to a musical instrument store and a store for souvenirs. Every now and then, between the general murmur of the crowds and the sound of the water in the springs below whenever some particular oni got rowdy - Or possibly Raki, I supposed, since she'd been hurled right into the centre - I could hear the strumming of strings on the instruments inside the store. We were sat at a table just outside the shop, and I could watch the crowds passing by idly. A bunch of oni in various shapes and sizes, some of Yamame's sisters, a couple people that Yamame identified as snakes, and all other sorts, idly passing by without a care. I'd been half worried that I'd be attacked because I was a human, but so far, I'd been mostly ignored. In fact, Yamame had been accosted more than me by various oni who seemed to want to say hi to her. I didn't recognize any of them apart from one, who I realised after he lumbered off was the one that I'd hit in the face with a wooden board. One person did stop when they saw me, a fairy who was dressed up like a sort of corpse, who identified themselves as being from the Palace of the Earth Spirits, and said that they liked my shirt. I was a little flattered, but they lost interest in me before long, so I guessed that perhaps Lady Hecatia hadn't quite spread her fashion line all the way across Former Hell yet. Still, here I was, doing some free marketing for her.

And here I was, more importantly, watching Yamame eat happily and thinking hard. I wanted to ask her a question, but I didn't want to make it obvious. I wanted to know if she wanted to marry me. I didn't know when I would ask her that particular question, but I wanted to be sure that she actually wanted that beforehand. I thought that she probably did, but it was best to be sure.

I watched as a group of Yamame's sisters wandered past, then blinked when I realised that it was Ruka who was shepherding them forward. She spotted Yamame as she passed. "Oh!" She exclaimed, causing the other, much younger-looking spiders to come to a halt. "There you are, dear sister." She said, striding over and holding her arms out for a hug which Yamame dutifully returned once she’d put her utensils down. "Eating well, I see."