“Cough… cough, cough… cough, cough, cough…”
Startled by Yura’s prayer, Miketsu, who was drinking tea, spat out the tea in her mouth in one go. She then coughed violently, which left Yura utterly bewildered.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Cough, cough… No, nothing, I just choked accidentally.” Slowly recovering, Miketsu said to Yura, while inwardly complaining, “When you pray to a deity, can’t you at least specify which one? If you do it like this, any deity can hear you!”
Having successfully fooled Yura, Miketsu’s heart was still in turmoil. She never expected Yura to have fallen for Seimei.
When did this happen? Was it last time at the Vermilion Bird Seal in Ogura Pond? Love at first sight there? Well, with Seimei’s devilishly handsome face, any innocent girl would lose her composure.
But could Yura’s straightforward and bold personality truly get along with Seimei’s mysterious and unfathomable nature? Suppressing her desire to gossip directly with Yura, Miketsu tried hard not to show her lost of composure.
“You said to ask a deity, but I always feel it’s too vague and ethereal. Will they answer me?” Yura asked again at this moment.
“It’s impossible to get a reply by directly asking a deity questions. She can’t possibly descend with a divine oracle just to answer your trivial matters. When praying to a deity, you must have a wish you want the deity to help fulfill, and you must also be clear about which deity you are praying to, otherwise, none of them might hear you.” Miketsu subtly corrected Yura’s mistakes in praying.
Listening to Miketsu, Yura nodded thoughtfully, realizing that her recent silent prayer had some issues and that a deity would never hear such a prayer.
“You said I need to specify a deity to pray to… but which one should I specify? You know, I just arrived in Heian-kyo and don’t know much about the shrines here.” Yura continued, seemingly genuinely wanting to seek a fated connection from a deity, as she had no clue or experience in this matter and could only seek divine help and comfort.
“That’s simple. If you can’t make up your mind, I’ll just recommend one to you. I think Inari Okami on Inari Mountain, next to Fushimi in the south, is quite good,” Miketsu said directly.
“Inari Okami? But I’m not praying for a harvest…”
“Oh, why bother with so many details? As long as your sincerity is enough, deities will accept any wish.” Miketsu continued, her unspoken meaning being that if you bring enough offering money to my shrine on Inari Mountain to worship me, I wouldn’t mind directly playing matchmaker for you and Seimei in reality, after all, I can enter and exit the Onmyoryo and have some acquaintance with Seimei.
Just as Miketsu was calculating whether she could get some offering money from Yura, she suddenly saw Yura silently close her eyes again and begin to pray inwardly.
‘Oh, Inari Okami-sama… please let me see Seimei again.’
Seeing Yura like this, Miketsu felt a pang of frustration. She thought, “My intention was for you to bring offering money to Inari Mountain and worship at the shrine, not to do this remote praying. Honestly, you want a deity’s help but aren’t willing to give anything in return, a freeloader? There’s no such good thing.”
Just as Miketsu was about to speak and interrupt Yura, she suddenly noticed something unusual: two or three illusory red threads had appeared around Yura, who was currently praying. Miketsu knew clearly that these were Threads of Causality.
How can I suddenly see Threads of Causality? I didn’t perform a Yu-step or any divination!
Out of curiosity, Miketsu gently touched one of the Threads of Causality. Subsequently, the Thread of Causality that Miketsu touched spontaneously wrapped itself around Yura, and its other end, crossing all physical barriers, connected to an unseen distant place. The other Threads of Causality disappeared, and at the same time, Miketsu felt a sense of divine power being consumed.
What is happening?
Miketsu was perplexed by the sudden situation before her.
…
And so, Miketsu and Yura finished the tea and sake they had ordered earlier, and after consuming all the melon seeds used as snacks, Yura gave Miketsu a shikigami contract for Personal Service. Afterward, the two of them left the izakaya, planning to stroll through the streets of Heian-kyo before parting ways.
During this time, the Thread of Causality on Yura remained visible in Miketsu’s eyes, never disappearing. This left Miketsu constantly puzzled; she felt as if she had done something to Yura, but couldn’t quite articulate what it was.
Time had entered mid-to-late June, and the sun in the sky grew increasingly hot, with temperatures rising day by day. This clearly made Yura, who was wrapped in a tight headscarf even in broad daylight, very uncomfortable.
“Phew… it’s so stuffy… so hot… I can’t take it anymore…”
“It’s so hot, and you’re still wearing that headscarf.”
“I can’t help it. I have to maintain Ashiya Doman’s male identity in front of outsiders, after all. This is what I promised my master. I came directly from the Onmyoryo today and haven’t had time to change.” Yura said helplessly. She had already told Miketsu why she called herself Ashiya Doman and concealed her face: it was a requirement from her master, the previous Ashiya Doman, because the Harima tradition was passed down only to men, and all her master’s other male disciples had died in the war against Oyakata, leaving her as the sole remaining successor.
Aside from sighing inwardly about how feudal thinking had ruined lives, Miketsu had no other thoughts on the matter.
“Ah, it’s too hot, I can’t stand it anymore. Let’s go somewhere private to get some air.”
At this point, Yura could no longer bear it. She led Miketsu to a secluded, empty alley, took off her headscarf, and gasped for air.
Just then, Miketsu suddenly realized that the Thread of Causality on Yura, while Yura herself remained still, had its other end also moving. It was as if something else was tied to the other end of the thread, and this phenomenon gave Miketsu some other ideas.
Could this Thread of Causality be…
Just then, a gust of wind swept through the alley. Yura quickly began to enjoy the refreshing summer breeze, but at that moment, the headscarf she was holding in her hand was inadvertently blown away by the wind. Yura was startled and immediately chased after it.
“Hey! Wait for me!”
Yura chased her headscarf, and as it flew past a corner of a wall, it was caught by a hand reaching out from behind it.
“Phew… thank you so much… thank… you…”
Just as Yura rushed forward to thank the person who helped her catch her headscarf, she froze in place.
“Heh heh, I was bored staying in the Onmyoryo and came out for a walk. I didn’t expect to run into an acquaintance.” Holding the headscarf, the handsome young Onmyoji, Abe no Seimei, stood before Yura, smiling.
“What a coincidence, we meet again.”
“Eh… yes… yes, it’s quite a coincidence…” Yura stammered, her face flushed crimson.
The Threads of Causality entangled around them disappeared from space the moment they met.
Watching all of this from a distance, Miketsu touched her chin and nodded knowingly.
‘So that’s what the Thread of Causality does.’
‘I just played matchmaker for the two of them!’
Rate on N.U.
