/jp/ - Otaku Culture

It happened at the worst possible moment. Patchouli Knowledge stood silently deep within the West Wing of the library, observing as Koakuma wrote down the latest measurements from one of her experiments. The books that Marisa Kirisame had returned to her had been worth their weight in gold, and while Patchouli would never, under any circumstances, reveal it to Marisa, the notes that she had been scribbling all over the margins had turned out to be equally insightful. It only made Patchouli more annoyed that Marisa had chosen to steal from her and conceal the books instead of working with her.

Still, water under the bridge. She'd forgiven the witch and would think no more of it. Of course...It would have been nice if she'd managed to crack a few more of the sealed grimoires that even Patchouli hadn't been able to break. Marisa had given the books to Reimu, once upon a time, and the girl's esoteric skills - Ones that still eluded Patchouli's knowledge - had proven superior to the seals on the books.

"So, what does this tell you?" Patchouli looked across the room. On the other side, at the observation balcony that she'd insisted had been put in, Remi leaned against the railing, her hands clasped together. "I claim not to have your genius, but I do claim to have spent a lot of years making you much less reticent."

"So you say, Remi." Patchouli murmured back. The Scarlet Devil could hear her perfectly from this distance, and she knew exactly how far she'd have to go to make herself inaudible. "This is an experiment that I deemed undoable prior to Marisa Kirisame's visit. The books that she returned to me have opened up several new avenues of research." Remi's slight smile widened. She loved it when she got to watch Patchouli do experiments. Patchouli would remain quiet, but she did rather enjoy when she impressed Remi with her work. Even though she didn't understand what had actually happened, she knew exactly how intelligent Patchouli was, and revelled in the fact. "Koakuma, confirm that the reaction was within the expected range." Patchouli looked at her familiar. The little devil was dressed in a waistcoat over a shirt paired with a long skirt. Unimportant details, but Patchouli had found her to be more reliable on those days compared to the days where she wore trousers. It was a strange peculiarity that she had yet to figure out. More importantly, she had been keeping to Patchouli's rules. She hadn't tried to sneak away to visit the damned HSE recently, though the slight tremor that Patchouli spotted in her hand indicated that she might need some sort of talking to soon.

"Yes, Lady Patchouli." Koakuma replied. She hadn't been given a chance to rearrange the furniture or misalign the books recently, and it was starting to get to her. "The reaction measured well within the expected scale. I - I have..." Her chronic need to cause mischief seemed to be boiling over.

"Yes...?" Patchouli tilted her head, watching her familiar with tired eyes.

"I have...Written all the 'O's upside down..." Koakuma seemed to find the words painful to say. Most likely, she was absolutely dying to rearrange Patchouli’s wardrobe or something equally mischievous. Patchouli heard a rather unladylike snort from Remi, but the vampire remained silent otherwise.

"Very well." Patchouli muttered, clasping her hands behind her back. "The process seems to be correct, then." The experiment stretched out before her. A mess of magical energy, crisscrossing randomly and seemingly without purpose. Certainly, Remi didn't seem to know what she was looking at. The only person who might have picked up on it was Meiling. Before her, stretched out across the magically expanded experimentation room, was her recreation of the magic she had attempted to discern the source of in the HSE. She had crafted nowhere near the marvel of engineering that the HSE itself was, but as far as a shoddy recreation went, it wasn't the worst she'd ever done. "Moving onto next phase..."

"Am I to assume, Patchy, that this is your version of taking care of yourself? I told you to get more sleep, not to...Try and recreate the place that is causing your sleep problems in the first place." Remi leaned forward, watching her curiously. “Must I keep an eye on you for every moment of the day?”

"You are to assume that I know what I am doing." Patchouli replied, pausing for a moment. She pressed a hand against her forehead. Those damn dreams...They were getting worse. Even in the daytime, she experienced flashes. For a fraction of a fraction of a second, she wouldn't be in the library anymore, but standing next to Meiling as golden chains split apart the sky like some sort of biblical apocalypse. Sometimes, she would feel sudden exhaustion the likes of which she'd never felt in her life, but it would vanish in a flash and she'd be back to normal. "I am a magician, Remi. My limits are well known to me." She turned to Koakuma and directed her into the mess of magical wires.

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