/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46030127
Today was the day! She gathered patrol path schedules, studied them for nights, and finally put together a route through the Land of the Backdoor AND Youkai Mountain. In just an hour, she’d begin to plant her bombs. Opening her closet, Aya kneeled down to open the case of duds. It was on the left, right? No, before she came home she took the bomb case first… with her right hand? She stopped once when she got tired, so maybe they got switched hands once, so the duds were… uh…

Crap.

She had ONE thing to memorize. ONE! It wasn’t like she could just ‘test’ one of the bombs. If she tested a dud, great! If she tested a live bomb, she’d have a face full of sharpnel and send a signal to every tengu on the mountain that there was a terrorist on the premises. Just a 50/50 shot to ruin her entire plan.

Aya thought about a solution while preparing for her run. She threw off her dirty clothes in favor of a slightly cleaner outfit. Dyed midnight blue and left outside for a bit, it smelled just like nature. It would be obvious she was a tengu, so she donned a full-face tengu mask. Picking up a bag she set aside for carrying the pipes, she looked it over and noticed a loose thread inside. Something minor. Something the maker could never be faulted for, because it was just normal wear-and-tear. Something they would never, ever think about happening in their products.

The tengu took one pipe out of a box and took a look at one of the ends. With a little effort, she cut a slit into her bag. Moving the pipe back and forth, she ripped it open until the hole was just big enough to let it through. With a little bit of flexing, the bag would eventually let the pipe slip through entirely. Something perfectly normal for a bag to do while making quick turns or shifting around in flight. Something she didn’t have to consciously think about and could easily be blamed on faulty gear!

Her ruse fully formulated, all Aya had left to do was figure out what to do about the bombs. The duds were specifically meant for the Land of the Backdoor, but they wouldn’t hurt to spread on the mountain. The live bombs had to be planted on the mountain, but thinking about it a little more, Okina would probably get suspicious if all the bombs she found were duds. It’s not like a live one would hurt her anyways. Plus, she’d have to consciously make a choice between dropping a live or dud bomb, which could clue Okina in on her intentions. Damn it, how could she even choose her bombs when she didn’t know which pipes were bombs?!

…She didn’t HAVE to know which ones were bombs!

In a mad fit, Aya took pipes out of both cases and stuffed them into her bag. To make sure the ruse was complete, she looked away and jumbled the identical shells up inside. It was done! How’s that, Okina?! Aya wished the goddess luck. After all, how could Okina read her mind when even Aya was fooled by her own ruse?! Not even a goddess of secrets could hope to uncover an answer that doesn’t exist!

Jetting off, Aya flew through a backdoor and started at the base of the mountain. Security was a little heavier, but her route should be foolproof. Even if those damn wolves found one, it was better they found it where anyone could plant it. The summit might be more lax, but a bomb up there would immediately alert the tengu that it was an inside job. This was just the first run, no need to get caught for being greedy.

Thankfully, the base was an easy job. Those wolves might’ve gotten a whiff of her if they weren’t busy getting drunk off their asses. The HSE really ruined their discipline. Her real issues came from the crows higher up. It wasn’t uncommon for karasu tengu to spy on each other at night while looking for something juicy. Planting explosives far from common area was enough for tonight. It was an effort to resist planting bundles on homes of tengu she personally knew checked out her house.

Whenever she flew through the Land of the Backdoor, Aya focused on memorizing the dimension’s topography as best as she could. Too many things shifted too frequently, but some general patterns repeated themselves enough to vaugely recognize different areas. At the further reaches of her exploration, she could just faintly feel her attention being called to something far away. Unfortunately, she had no good reason to explore it. All of her bombs were gone, either hidden from tengu sight or strewn about Okina’s dimension for one of her douji or Nazrin to—

Nazrin might get hurt by these…

Eh, it was a risk she willing to take. With her job done, Aya went back to catch another hour or two of sleep before she had to be at Megumu’s office.

(Part 77)