Marriage and Fate

In the northern part of Ise Province, nestled among the mountains, stood a branch of the Inari Shrine.

Inside the branch shrine, Miketsu gathered with the Miko Yorihime and her two subordinate deities, Oitsuki and Azusa. Together, they discussed the anomalies that had occurred in the vicinity over the past few months. As the most senior subordinate deity of Inari, Oitsuki had been invited by Azusa to conduct an investigation, and she seemed to have uncovered several useful clues.

On a patch of grass behind the shrine, a wide variety of items were laid out. Oitsuki had pulled them one by one from a small pouch.

"Alright... these are all things I found in the houses of those who went missing. Lady Uka, you should be able to understand the situation just by looking at them~" Having finished arranging the collected items, Oitsuki spoke with her hands on her hips. Miketsu nodded and began to seriously examine the small objects.

Among the items were stationary covered in writing, intertwined flower strings, prayer Ema with two names written together, and red pouches containing locks of hair... Although these objects were varied, they all shared a common characteristic: they were the kind of tokens young men and women liked to use to express their feelings during a romance.

Miketsu picked up a few pages of stationary and found that they were indeed filled with words of love. Different letters bore the signatures of the correspondents, confirming them as love letters. The names written on the prayer Ema also belonged to pairs of men and women who had gone missing. Combined with the other items, it was almost certain that these missing persons were couples who shared mutual affection, making the possibility of elopement very high.

"It seems a large number of people have eloped together... Is the local culture here really that open? Is everyone pursuing free love?" Putting the items down, Miketsu spoke thoughtfully. She felt that while eloping was normal, such a concentrated wave of elopements was far too strange. Although the perceived severity of the situation had lessened, it still could not be left ignored.

"Um... speaking of which, it's not just that many people have gone missing in the city lately; the number of marriages between newcomers has also increased significantly..." Azusa, standing to the side, added after a moment of thought. Hearing this, Miketsu's expression tightened.

"Even the number of marriages has increased?"

"Yes... because the number of parents coming to the shrine to pray for newlyweds has risen. But the strange thing is... the newlyweds themselves haven't come. It wasn't like this before..." Azusa continued. Typically, a newlywed couple would come to the Inari Shrine to pray, but recently, only the older generation—the parents—had been appearing.

"Newcomers marrying... but only the parents come to pray? Heh... how interesting..." After hearing Azusa's words, Miketsu let out a soft laugh. She seemed to realize something as she looked at the sky, then flew straight up. In moments, she reached a height where she could overlook the entire town.

causality vision...

Activating her causality vision to link all things, the intersecting and weaving Threads of Causality appeared before Miketsu's eyes—dense, overlapping, and sprawling.

Holding her breath and concentrating, Miketsu looked down at the town's web of causality, searching for something. After a short while, a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"I see... As expected, it's a woven causality... In that case..."

Miketsu descended rapidly from the sky, soon landing back on the shrine's grass. Oitsuki immediately asked.

"How was it, Lady Uka? Did you find anything?"

"Yes... I've made a rather important discovery. This series of events isn't a coincidence; it was facilitated by the arrangement of a certain will... And now, I can find that mastermind..." Miketsu spoke with a smile. Beside her, Yorihime's brow furrowed slightly.

"Then shall we go see her now? Lady Uka..."

"Not just yet..." Miketsu whispered as she picked up a pile of the small items from the grass. Under her causality vision, she could see threads extending from these objects, linking to a distant location.

"Before we meet her, let's take a look at those 'missing' couples..."

...

As the sun set and the moon rose, night descended.

The mountain town fell into silence under the moonlight. In this agricultural society, sunset meant rest. Not long after the sun went down, only a few flickers of lamplight remained in the small town.

Quiet moonlight spilled onto the streets. Outside the courtyard wall of a wealthy household, a man dressed in simple clothes stood waiting. He looked at the wall, which wasn't particularly tall, and paced anxiously... by his appearance, he seemed to be waiting for someone.

After a moment, there was movement at the wall. The trees behind it began to shake abnormally, making a rustling sound. Seeing this, the man immediately focused his gaze. At the top of the branches, a woman in light clothing poked her head out.

"Suzuko..."

"Shiro..."

The moment the man and woman made eye contact, they both whispered each other's names in unison. Seeing that the man was indeed waiting for her as promised, the woman's face broke into a smile. But then, as she looked at the height from the branches to the ground outside the wall, her smile froze.

"It's okay, Suzuko! Jump down, I'll catch you!" The man below whispered immediately, opening his arms. Hearing this, the woman gritted her teeth, gathered her courage, and jumped. She was caught steadily by the man.

Having successfully escaped the courtyard, the couple didn't stop to talk. They ran all the way through the nighttime streets. Without encountering a single soul, they finally escaped the town and stopped on a bridge outside the city.

"Huff... huff... We escaped, Suzuko. I didn't expect it to go so smoothly. We didn't run into anyone the whole way."

"Huff... yeah. The guards watching me at home just happened to be dead drunk, and the maid just happened to be injured and went home... That's how I could get out. Such luck... This must be Enmusubi-sama protecting us." The woman spoke with a smile, her voice filled with immense relief.

"Yes. From the moment we met and got to know each other... to finally deciding to escape this place together and start a new life elsewhere, there were so many coincidences. Enmusubi-sama must be watching over us. When we prayed to her before, she must have heard us... Suzuko, let's bow to Enmusubi-sama one more time before we go."

"Mhm!"

The couple stood side-by-side, clasping their hands in sincere prayer toward a certain direction. Then, they turned around, held hands, and walked away, disappearing into the night.

After they left, a round-faced girl with black hair, wearing red and white clothing and carrying a large back-basket, manifested on the bridge. Watching the departing couple, the smile on her face was radiant.

"Ah~ I've helped another pair of devoted lambs join their fates for a lifetime~ To be able to break free from shackles and pursue happiness, what a wonderful result~" With a joyful expression, Enmusubi spun around in place and continued, "I can already feel the faith starting to surge. At this rate, opening my divine territory is just around the corner! Hmph~ Little Moku even tried to advise me not to go head-to-head with Uka-no-Mitama-no-Mikoto, but it looks like she's not all that after all."

"Is that so? It seems making the Inari God suffer makes you quite happy."

"Of course. Who told her to be that fellow Susanoo's daughter? A junior is just a junior after all. Stealing faith from under her nose is a piece of cake... eh?"

Suddenly, Enmusubi realized the voice just now sounded a bit off. She froze for a second, then immediately turned around.

Behind her, a girl with white hair, crimson eyes, a Heavenly Crown, and a crimson hakama was standing on the bridge's railing. Miketsu looked at the young goddess before her, who was also an orthodox god, and spoke with a smile.

"It seems you're having quite a bit of fun, Lady Enmusubi."