Yukkuri shiteitte ne! - 5 Woden !A6S8gKlXfU 2008/09/06 (Sat) 12:31 No. 7066 ▼ File 12207294902.png - (22.69KB, 600x450 , 1219259692989.png)
"Head upriver, see if you're right."
Akyu looks up at you, face clearing a little, but frowning. "You ... you really think we should?"
You start to nod, then the idea turns over in your mind. This is a pretty complex undertaking. You have one bag of supplies, no doubt packed in haste and panic, by a girl who is not in the best psychological shape. You have a tiny boat, your knife and the sword still lying on the deck where Akyu must have dropped it.
And that's it.
The journey upriver is a long one, hard at the best of times, seeing as nobody goes there. Doing it in the dark is pretty much asking to be eaten alive or starve to death. You take your hand off Akyu's shoulder, staring at your fingers in a kind of trance. Why ... why did you want to get upriver so badly? You glance down at the ruined, dying Yukkureimu on the deck of the boat. It twitches a little as you prod it with the toe of your boot. Why is there such a driving desire to go upriver now Akyu has explained her theory to you? Unarmed, unprepared. People would notice if Hieda no Akyu went missing along with you. There would be a huge scandal, even if you ever made it back to the human village, you'd probably be arrested for kidnapping. Your mind flicks back to earlier today, to the feeling of ripping the Alice-type apart, making the raped one eat the dying one, to the feeling of resistance under your hands when you finally crushed the koremirya's head between its own mother's jaws.
You flex your fingers and discover you've dug your nails into the palm of your hand, drawing blood. You let out a slow breath.
You want to go upriver because you want ... you want to make sure they're not dangerous! That's it ... that's got to be it, you're just worried, you just want to confirm what Akyu was saying. You aren't jumping at an excuse to hurt them. There's no spark of sadism growing inside you. You didn't murder any thinking, feeling creatures today. You performed some pest control, that's all, that's all. You didn't enjoy it ... you didn't enjoy it.
"Right ... right ... " You mutter, trying as hard as you can to explain to yourself why you keep thinking about killing the koremirya. Why you keep thinking of what you'd have to do to a potentially dangerous herd of them, alone in the forest.
"Mmm ... I know." Akyu says. You snap your gaze back up to her face. She looks disappointed, why does she look disappointed? You just nod, hoping that somehow you can catch up on the last few moments of conversation you missed. Oh god ... were you talking out loud without meaning to? Did you just say all of that to Akyu? You hastily wipe the palm of your hand on the inside of your shirt, getting rid of the blood.
"I didn't exactly plan this well." Akyu laughs nervously. "I ..." She reaches out, suddenly nervous to touch you as she grabs your sleeve. "I'm kind of glad you came to stop me, even if I don't know you very well."
You manage a smile, trying to reassure her.
"Listen, Akyu." You start to say, as much for your benefit as hers. "We should go upriver, you were right about that."
She nods slowly.
"But you're right that this was rushed." You say. Good, talking is distracting you from what's going on inside. But there's nothing going on inside. Everything is fine.
Just fine.
"I promise you we'll find a way to confirm that you're right." You say. "But not right now, we should come back, better prepared."
"Yeah." Akyu breaths. "I'm ... I'm sorry." She says, sniffing.
You shake your head, smiling. "You haven't got anything to apologise for. I think you're right, just that you don't need to do this on your own."
Akyu smiles back at you, and for a moment you see a genuine happiness, nothing but plain, human warmth and vitality.
"Yu~ Yu~"
"Mwommie?"
"Yu~"
Akyu's smile vanishes in a second as there is a rustling in the bushes. You both turn to look at the bank as three infant Yukkureimu emerge from the undergrowth, huddled close together. They peer around for a second, blinking wildly in the light from the oil lamp. They're not koyukkuris, but not adults either, each about the size of your fist. They see the smashed Yukkuri in the bottom of the boat, ignoring you and Akyu at first.
"Mwommie!"
"That's not mwommie easy!"
"Yu~ yu~!"
One of them finally looks up at you.
"Hey Mister! Our Mwommie went to get lots of food easy!"
"Miss! Miss!" One of the says, talking at Akyu. "Give us food easy! We're hungry easy! Reimu is hungry!"
"Yu~!"
"Hungry easy~!"
"Mwommie?"
"Hungry! Reimu is hungry!"
"Give us food! Yu~!"
"That's mwommie ..."
"Stupid Mister! Give Reimu and her sisters lots of food right now!"
"Yu~"
Amazing that they seem more concerned with asking for food than their own dying mother. Maybe that's because it's not making noises any more.
You glance at Akyu. Her eye twitches and she grits her teeth, as if in physical pain. She reaches down towards her pack.
"You want food?" She asks the noisy Yukkuris, her breathing heavy with anticipation.
"Yu~!"
"If you can understand that, then give us lots of food easy! Stupid human!"
"Food easy!"
Akyu reaches into her pack.
[ ] Don't intervene, she needs this.
[ ] Stop her, this is only making things worse.
[ ] Join in (how?)