Analysis

On a small hill near Inari Mountain, the miko Kochiya Kaki looked up in astonishment at the white-haired girl descending from the sky atop a divine fox. She couldn't help but murmur to herself.

"You... could you be?" Kaki clearly remembered the appearance of the girl who had debated Kanako in Heian-kyo during the day. Aside from the color of her hair and eyes, she was identical to the girl now riding the fox.

"She is Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto, also known as Inari Okami. She is an orthodox god just like me. Heh, we've already met today." The one who answered Kaki was Kanako, who was standing beside her. Although Kaki had already suspected as much, she was still startled to hear Kanako confirm it.

"This... this is Inari Okami, Lady Uka? She looks a bit small... much smaller than Lady Kanako, and only slightly bigger than Lady Suwako. Didn't they say Inari Okami was Lady Kanako's senior?" With an incredulous expression, Kaki covered her mouth with her sleeve and muttered under her breath. Kanako couldn't help but shoot her miko a sidelong glance.

"Mind your manners in front of other deities, Kaki."

"Ah! My apologies, Lady Uka! I was just a little surprised..." Kaki bowed deeply to Miketsu. Seeing this, Miketsu offered a gentle smile and spoke softly.

"It is quite alright. There is no need to be overly formal with me. I am quite casual, wouldn't you say, little Kikyo?" Miketsu glanced toward her own miko standing beside her.

"Lady Uka is sometimes far too casual..." Kikyo said flatly. Despite her usually indifferent demeanor, she let out a small sigh. Having been raised in a family of Shinto priests, she was very strict regarding etiquette and upbringing. Her attitude toward Miketsu was similar to Tsuruha's—deeply respectful, yet constantly wishing Miketsu would be more dignified and serious.

"The Inari Okami of Heian-kyo is the true Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami... It seems you knew this all along, Kanako. You even put on that performance to lure out the scoundrels hiding in the shadows. Was this all part of your plan?" Kaki asked, looking at Kanako with a puzzled expression. There were still too many things she didn't understand.

"I didn't know that early. I only realized the Inari Okami of Heian-kyo was indeed Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto after she took the initiative to contact me. She was also the one who told me that petty scoundrels were lurking in the dark, plotting to monitor and ambush us. She was the one who suggested that performance. We hoped to hook a big fish, but it turned out to be nothing but small fry." Kanako crossed her arms and spoke slowly as she looked at Miketsu. Her words only left Kaki more confused.

"It was Lady Uka...? But Lady Uka, how did you know of our existence, let alone that we were being targeted by scoundrels?" Kaki asked. Miketsu raised a finger and wagged it playfully.

"Your companion told me, of course."

"Our companion? Could it be..." A glimmer of joy appeared in Kaki's eyes at Miketsu's words. Right then, a familiar female voice rang out at the perfect moment.

"It was me, of course... Kanako, Kaki..."

From behind a tree, Suwako slowly stepped out, wearing her frog-style bamboo hat. Seeing her, the joy on Kaki's face intensified.

"Lady Suwako! It's so good to see you're safe!"

"Heh, I knew you wouldn't go down that easily. As expected of my old rival," Kanako said with a slight smile as she watched Suwako approach.

"You make it sound so simple, but it was incredibly dangerous. If I hadn't been lucky, I might not have seen you again," Suwako said, pressing down on the brim of her hat.

"After your companion escaped danger, she didn't go to you directly because her memories had been read. Instead, she went to Inari Mountain. There, she met my Divine Messenger and informed her of your situation. My messenger immediately relayed the information to me," Miketsu explained, smiling at Suwako.

"By the way, during that time, Lady Suwako set a new record for the fastest completion of the wild god Exam on Inari Mountain. It left many of the foxes dumbfounded. She's quite the celebrity among the wild gods currently staying on the mountain."

"Can we please not mention that exam...?" Suwako massaged her temples in embarrassment. To an ancient being like Suwako, who had existed for an untold amount of time, the elementary problems Miketsu had set were trivial. She had finished them in an instant, which naturally led to her meeting Tsuruha, who was guarding the shrine.

"So Lady Suwako told you about us. But... how did you find us and contact Lady Kanako in secret?" Kaki continued to ask. In her memory, she had been with Kanako all day, and no one unusual should have approached her. Furthermore, Heian-kyo was vast; tracking them down should have been difficult. She and Kanako had only waited for Suwako at the agreed location at the very beginning; after that, even Suwako shouldn't have known their whereabouts.

"That... I found you by relying on causality..." Miketsu answered. Hearing this, Kanako frowned slightly and asked with a hint of confusion, "Causality? Do you mean divination? Divination shouldn't work on orthodox gods."

"It wasn't divination, but rather another application of causality..." Miketsu smiled and did not elaborate. In reality, the way she found Kanako was simple: she utilized the very fact that orthodox gods cannot be divined.

Because an orthodox god's fate cannot be divined, the causal threads they create appear as contradictions in Miketsu's eyes. For example, if a person leaves a footprint, Miketsu can see the causality through her causality vision and divine who left it. However, if that footprint was left by Kanako, the divination fails. To Miketsu, the causality involving an orthodox god manifests as a void or a contradiction.

During today's festival, Kanako had been wandering all over Heian-kyo, leaving behind many such contradictory causal traces. Miketsu only had to pay a little attention to find these traces and track Kanako's position. After more than a decade of training, the range of Miketsu's causality vision had expanded significantly, and she could process a massive number of causal threads at once.

"After I found Takeminakata-no-Kami, I used this to contact her..." Miketsu raised her hand slightly. A flying insect emerged from her sleeve and landed on her palm.

"This is..." Kaki observed it closely and was startled to find it was a bizarre yokai insect with a human face pattern on its back.

"This is a Seimogura. It is a yokai that can serve as the eyes and ears of a deity, as well as a messenger. No mortal can perceive its existence—only gods can. It is a very rare yokai."

Miketsu explained with a smile. She had used this little creature to bypass Orochi's mortal subordinates and make secret contact with Kanako. It was a precious tribute she had received from the head of the Minamoto clan.