Meals

The sun in the sky shone upon Heian-kyo, and Inari Mountain welcomed a new day.

Due to the disturbance at dusk yesterday, the miko of the Inari Shrine were so frightened they didn't leave their rooms all night. It wasn't until this morning that they discovered countless cracks on the blue stone slabs of the approach path, and the stone lanterns had also been mysteriously overturned.

Seeing this scene, the miko felt terrified and uneasy. They all began praying to the deity they usually didn't worship much, hoping for protection and peace.

However, at this moment, their deity was in no mood to listen to these prayers.

Within the hidden realm behind the shrine, inside a small, two-storied pagoda-like building, Miketsu was currently sitting at a table with a wooden expression. She held chopsticks in her hand, her eyes fixed on the items on the table, the corners of her mouth twitching uncontrollably.

Beside her, Tsuruha saw this and asked with some concern, wagging her large, fluffy tail.

"What's wrong, Lady Uka? Is there a problem with the food?"

"...It's not that there's a problem..." Looking at the meal before her, Miketsu felt it was hard to put into words.

A small strip of grilled saury, a small dish of pickled radish, a bowl of miso soup, and a small bowl of rice. This was all the food on Miketsu's table. Although the portions were small, the tableware was extremely luxurious; some pieces could be used as home decorations. But... Miketsu wanted to eat the food, not the tableware.

Although the portions were a bit small, it was certainly possible to eat one's fill. The biggest problem, however, was that it was extremely plain, with almost no trace of oil. For Miketsu, a foodie from 21st-century China, this was simply unbearable.

Actually, it wasn't that Miketsu couldn't eat plain food or seafood. As a self-proclaimed foodie, she was happy to try all kinds of delicacies. But while one or two such meals were fine, she couldn't accept it if every single meal was like this.

This was the situation Miketsu now faced. Ever since she had transmigrated, every one of her meals had been a similar combination. Sometimes the grilled fish was replaced with sashimi, the radish with lettuce, and the miso soup with mushroom soup, but rice was always the staple. This long-term diet made her, a foodie who grew up in the Land of Shenzhou, extremely uncomfortable. She had almost forgotten what meat tasted like.

"Lady Uka, please eat. I, Tsuruha, personally transformed and went into Heian-kyo to purchase this fine meal. The meals of ordinary mortal nobles are of a similar standard, you know." Tsuruha said, puffing out her chest, her tail wagging happily behind her as if seeking Miketsu's praise.

Nobles eat like this? That's quite frugal... After grumbling internally, Miketsu decided to ask Tsuruha about this issue properly.

"Well... Tsuruha, there's something I'd like to ask you."

"Please ask whatever you wish, Lady Uka. Tsuruha will answer anything she knows," Tsuruha said, tilting her head.

"I want to ask, is there no meat for sale in all of Heian-kyo?" Miketsu asked Tsuruha softly, the subtext being, why don't I get to eat meat at every meal?

"Meat? There's no place that specializes in selling such a defiled thing, let alone in Heian-kyo." Tsuruha was clearly quite puzzled as to why Miketsu would ask such a question.

Meat? A defiled thing? What kind of notion is that? Hearing Tsuruha's explanation, Miketsu was completely baffled. She had never thought those two words could be related.

"Lady Uka, why do you ask such a thing? Do you perhaps need raw meat for an exorcism ritual?"

"No, it's not that complicated. Meat... I mean the meat of livestock, like beef, pork, lamb, and so on. Can't you buy it in Heian-kyo? Aren't these things for eating?" This time, Miketsu specifically mentioned livestock meat to avoid any misunderstanding, as this was a world where yokai definitely ate humans.

Hearing Miketsu's words, Tsuruha's expression immediately turned serious. She then spoke to Miketsu sternly.

"Lady Uka, flesh and blood are defiled things, things that absolutely cannot be brought into polite society. Among mortals, from the nobles down to the commoners, no one eats flesh and blood, regardless of whether it's from livestock or not. As a deity, Lady Uka, you are a symbol of purity. You must never, ever touch things of flesh and blood."

After hearing Tsuruha's words, Miketsu couldn't help but feel her mouth twitch violently. At the same time, the thousand words in her heart converged into a single, simple radical.

Fuck!

...

In the Japan of this era, there was a deeply ingrained concept of purity and defilement. Warding off defilement and aspiring to purity was a guiding principle for both humans and gods. And as it happened, matters related to slaughter and flesh and blood were considered symbols of defilement, so people avoided them at all costs.

This directly led to a societal food culture that absolutely rejected any meat consumption, in any form. From the Emperor and his court nobles down to the common folk, the daily diet consisted mainly of rice, seafood, and vegetables. Only a few uncivilized mountain dwellers and outcasts of the lower castes would eat wild game from hunting.

The Emperor himself did not eat meat, so naturally, Miketsu, as a deity, was even more forbidden from eating it.

After learning all this from Tsuruha, Miketsu felt like she wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Sigh..."

In the afternoon, atop the torii gate of the Inari Shrine, Miketsu sat in her usual spot. Thinking about what had happened this morning, she couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of her heart.

"To think that even as a god, I can't eat meat. This is so frustrating..."

Miketsu muttered to herself, but in her heart, she had not given up her craving for delicious meat. As a foodie from the Celestial Dynasty, how could she not eat meat?

Defiled or not, Miketsu couldn't be bothered with all that. In any case, she never had the self-awareness of being a deity from the very beginning.

And so, Miketsu quietly set a small goal for herself: to get some meat to eat. She certainly couldn't count on Tsuruha, who constantly held her to the standards of the previous Inari god and would absolutely never help her procure meat. Therefore, Miketsu had to find another way herself.

After setting this small goal in her mind, Miketsu nodded and began to think about other things. She wasn't one to rush into things, and there were more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

Ever since her encounter with the One-Bite Yokai yesterday, a strong sense of crisis had taken root in Miketsu's heart. It was the first time she had seen a yokai, a being with power far surpassing that of mortals. The strength it displayed had left a deep impression on her.

Although she had won in the end, it was by a stroke of luck and pushed her to the limit. If she encountered a similar situation next time, she didn't know if she would be so fortunate again.

So now, Miketsu had to start preparing for the future. She had to find a way to increase her own strength in order to survive in this bizarre and fantastical world.

"Haa... It seems I really need to think of a way... a way to 'recover my power'..."

While she was deep in thought, Miketsu suddenly noticed a familiar figure at the far end of the approach path. It was the human boy she had saved yesterday, Saburo.

Why did this kid suddenly come to the shrine? Wasn't he scared to death just yesterday? Isn't he afraid that the yokai might still be on the path, not yet dead?

With this doubt in her mind, Miketsu watched as Saburo walked up the stone steps one by one, passed through the torii gate, washed his hands and rinsed his mouth at the chozuya, then went to the front of the worship hall, rang the bell, tossed a coin into the offering box, and clasped his hands in prayer.

Is he praying? But why be so formal about it? What is this kid thinking?

Just as she was wondering, Miketsu heard the sound of Saburo's prayer.

'Respected Lady Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami, my deepest apologies. Because I, your humble servant, was afraid the monster was still lurking on the mountain, I only dared to come up to offer my thanks after seeing a miko come down from the mountain. I presume that monster has already been vanquished by you.'

'I am truly grateful that you heard my voice and allowed this humble one to escape from the yokai's clutches in a moment of crisis. I believe that mysterious miko must be your divine messenger. I have never seen such a sacred and beautiful miko at the shrine before.'

'I will never be able to repay Lady Uka's divine grace in my lifetime. From now on, I will always work hard for the shrine.'

After finishing his earnest prayer, Saburo knelt and bowed his head to the worship hall one last time. He then stood up, thought for a moment, tossed a few more coins into the offering box, and turned to leave.

From beginning to end, Miketsu witnessed the entire scene from her perch on the torii gate behind him. Aside from praying in a slightly wrong direction, Saburo could be said to be extremely devout.

After seeing and hearing everything, Miketsu's heart was filled with mixed emotions. She had never been thanked so sincerely in her previous life.

"Is this what it feels like to be a god?" Miketsu mused, but then she shook her head and continued to mutter to herself.

"No, this is just the feeling of doing a good deed..."

"I... am not a god..."