The Encounter

For a thousand years, with Kyoto as the center, the faith of Inari has spread across all of Japan. Today, Inari shrines are found in every corner of the country, with tens of thousands of shrines, large and small, dotting cities and countryside alike. Present in every community, the influence of the Inari faith has long been incredibly vast.

In this world, the influence of the Inari faith grew so great that during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, 'Inari Shinto' emerged as a distinct branch from orthodox Shinto. A large group of people began to worship Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami separately from the Yamato myths, elevating her status above the Mihashira-no-uzunomiko and even Amaterasu Omikami. This belief has persisted to this day and continues to flourish.

In an era where the Inari faith is so prosperous, the management of Inari gods—the Inari wild gods who oversee each branch shrine—faces great challenges alongside their immense benefits. Every ten years, an internal qualification exam is held within the Inari hierarchy. Based on their scores, their jurisdictions and additional duties are assigned. The more exceptional the Inari god, the more incense offerings they enjoy and the more divine messengers they can command. Those who are mediocre are relegated to small shrines in sparsely populated areas with few believers.

Take the Inari god currently before Miketsu, a fox named Tadae. He has been taking this exam for two hundred years and has finally managed to take a step upward.

"Whew~ let me tell you, Little Inaba, if human society didn't change so fast, I would have passed long ago... The Head Shrine keeps adding new content to the questions, making them change drastically and get harder every time..." Sitting on the ground, the three-tailed fox Tadae spoke excitedly to Miketsu. The three tails behind him wagged incessantly, making him look very much like a dog.

"Ah... is that so? The fact that Lord Tadae passed this time means you're quite in touch with the times," Miketsu replied with a smile, still holding a broom as she stood before him in her miko outfit. Tadae continued to wag his tails, answering confidently.

"Of course! The changes in the exam this time were even bigger than the last, but I still won through with thorough preparation. Oh, speaking of which, I really have to thank you, Little Inaba. You predicted that they would definitely include human computer operations and foreign languages this time, and sure enough, they did! My crash course didn't go to waste at all!"

As he spoke, Tadae jumped up happily. It was clear his excitement was far from settling. Miketsu responded rather calmly.

"Ah... then congratulations are indeed in order..."

"Indeed! Hard work pays off. I can finally move to a larger jurisdiction. It's a pity, Little Inaba, we'll have to say goodbye soon. But don't worry, I'll come back to visit when I have time! Also, you and the new Inari god must get along well, okay?"

"Yes, yes..." Looking at the fox who was as cheerful as a dog, Miketsu simply nodded twice.

"Alright, I won't chat with you any longer. According to the schedule, I need to take up my post in a day or two. Now I have to go say goodbye to the other old fellows. I might spend the whole night out drinking."

Tadae stood up as he spoke and turned toward the torii gate.

"Chie, Honda, let's go. Little Inaba, take good care of the place!"

"Yes, Lord Tadae."

At Tadae's words, two spirits appeared beside him: a female ghost wearing a kimono with a hair pin, and a ghost in tattered samurai armor. As Tadae leaped through the torii and ran down the sando, the two spirits followed closely. They were Tadae's divine messengers.

Because there are currently so many Inari gods, the number of sentient foxes on Mount Inari has long been insufficient. From early on, the Head Shrine's recruitment for Inari wild gods had expanded to include yokai and ghosts as divine messengers. Those who pass the selection are assigned to Inari gods across the country. Thus, divine messengers are no longer limited to foxes; Inari foxes generally only serve as messengers for high-ranking Inari gods or directly serve as the Inari god of a branch shrine.

Under the current Inari faith system, Inari gods who commit major errors and are caught are removed by messengers from the Head Shrine. Some spirits serving as Inari gods will enter the Underworld to begin reincarnation once they have no more lingering attachments. Some yokai who become Inari gods will die at the end of their natural lifespans. Combined with other accidental factors, vacancies open up among the tens of thousands of Inari gods from time to time. At such times, the Head Shrine promotes sufficiently outstanding candidates from the even larger pool of divine messengers to fill the vacant positions.

In short, after a thousand years of development, Miketsu's Inari faith has evolved into a massive, complex, and even somewhat bloated system. Over a hundred thousand transcendent beings are involved, and even now, many unseen entities strive to squeeze their way in. The so-called Inari gods are no longer merely collectors of faith; in this new era, they have other responsibilities as well.

Standing before the haiden of the shrine, Miketsu, in her miko outfit with broom in hand, watched Tadae disappear at the end of the sando. Her expression was indifferent as she whispered softly.

"Tsuruha..."

Following Miketsu's whisper, a burst of ethereal blue flames flared up out of thin air. The flames grew larger, eventually forming a burning blue-flamed fox in the air. Behind the fox, nine tails, appearing both real and illusory, fanned out elegantly.

"Lady Uka..."

Seeing the young girl in the miko attire, the divine fox existing as blue flames bowed its head slightly. Miketsu nodded back.

This was Miketsu contacting Tsuruha in Kyoto through their divine messenger contract. The flame clone before her was a remote manifestation Tsuruha had condensed to facilitate their conversation.

"Regarding Tadae of Mount Kagami-oboro in Kanto, how were his exam results this time?" Miketsu asked. Tsuruha already knew exactly what her deity wanted to know.

"His comprehensive score just touched the passing line, with almost not a point to spare. Among Inari gods over two hundred years old, his accuracy on the new era questions was quite high..."

"Is that so... Then the fellow's luck is quite good. It's rare that he was willing to listen to the hints I gave him... Listening to advice with an open mind is a good trait, I suppose." Looking at the distant sando, Miketsu thought for a moment before turning back to Tsuruha's clone.

"Arrange a slightly better place for him. He did take care of me, after all."

"Understood..." Tsuruha nodded again, then continued to ask for instructions.

"By the way, Lady Uka, regarding the candidate for the new Inari god to be stationed at the Kagami-oboro branch shrine, do you have any specific requirements?"

"Requirements... hmm..." Stroking her chin, Miketsu pondered for a while. After a moment, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she spoke to Tsuruha.

"I know! Why don't we appoint 'Fushimi Inaba' as the Inari god of the Kagami-oboro branch shrine?" Miketsu smiled at Tsuruha. Tsuruha was stunned for a moment, then reacted with some shock.

"Lady Uka... you... you want to serve as the Inari god of a branch shrine? But your current identity is still that of a human..."

"What does it matter? Aren't there examples of humans being called gods to collect faith? Those referred to as manifested gods." Miketsu continued to smile at Tsuruha. After another pause, Tsuruha nodded.

"If that is your will, Lady Uka, then I will execute it immediately. I shall arrange the relevant appointment work. You only need to wait a couple of days."

"Oh... then thank you for your hard work. I have nothing else here; you can go back to your business. Things must be very busy in Kyoto right now."

Miketsu continued to smile, and Tsuruha responded respectfully.

"It is nothing. Your will is my mission, Lady Uka. I shall take my leave now. I hope you can soon fully transform your mortal body into a divine one and return to the Head Shrine..."

As Tsuruha spoke, her form dissipated, leaving Miketsu alone once more.

Miketsu looked toward the western sky, watching the sun gradually sink behind the mountains, and couldn't help but murmur.

"Is it time for Oma-ga-toki again?"

...

The sun was sinking. In a suburb relatively far from the city center, at a bus stop, a high school girl with long black hair and a round face, Yotsuya Miko, was staring at the distant sunset while waiting for the bus.

'Ah... I can't believe I accidentally took the wrong bus... Now I have to spend time taking one back... Seriously, was my head just in a fog because I kept thinking about what happened earlier?'

Looking at the sunset, Miko thought to herself. While waiting at the previous stop, her mind had been filled with the scene in that alleyway—the ghost being burned by golden flames and the face of that black-haired girl. In her daze, she had boarded the wrong bus, only realizing it when she reached this exceptionally remote area. She could already see the forest all around her.

With no other choice, Miko had to wait at the stop for a bus back.

'Looks like I'll be getting home very late...'

She sighed inwardly. Then, a clicking sound reached her ears. Using her peripheral vision, she looked behind her and saw a ghost squatting there, constantly grinding its teeth.

'It's a bit noisy...'

Thinking this, Miko took a pair of earphones from her bag, plugged them into her phone, and started playing music. Once the earbuds were in, the melody echoed in her mind, blocking out the external sounds.

And so, Miko listened to music while waiting for the bus.

Not long after Miko put on her earphones, three figures approached from the road nearby: a man, a woman, and a young girl.

The man was a youth in his early twenties with messy black hair and an ordinary face, wearing a common jacket and jeans, with a glove on one hand. The woman was about the same age, with long, slightly curly yellow hair, wearing a hat and a fashionable trench coat.

Finally, there was the young girl, only about eight or nine years old. She had short purple hair, wore children's clothes, carried a backpack, and held a plush doll. Her entire being radiated an incredibly gloomy aura, and her wide-open eyes had strange pupils that, upon closer inspection, seemed to be in the shape of faint skulls.

"This is it... the new spiritual spot." Looking at the bus stop, the gloomy girl spoke slowly. As soon as she finished, the man behind her couldn't help but shudder.

"Are—are you sure it's here? Yayoi..."

"That's right, Keitaro. The coordinates can't be wrong. This is the place mentioned online—the bus stop where you can wait for a bus that doesn't belong to this world!" Behind the girl, the woman spoke while quickly scrolling through her phone. Finally, she showed the page she found to the youth named Keitaro.

"It's said that during the twilight of Oma-ga-toki, you can wait at this remote bus stop for a bus from another world! Once you board that bus, you can never come back."

"Never... come back..." Hearing the woman's words, Keitaro swallowed hard and continued.

"Hey, hey... Eiko... no matter how you hear it, this sounds super dangerous... Are we really going to face such a dangerous spiritual phenomenon right away?"

"The more dangerous it is, the more powerful the malicious spirit haunting it, and the more value there is in capturing it..." the girl named Yayoi continued. Looking at the bus stop, she hugged her plush doll a little tighter.

"I can feel it... the gloomy aura that malicious spirits love is gathering... This place is indeed unusual. With Keitaro's ghost-attracting constitution, the malicious spirit will surely arrive as scheduled." Yayoi murmured while scanning the bus stop, eventually locking her gaze on the other side of the stop—on the high school girl who was listening to music and playing with her phone.

"Eh... besides us, there's someone else here? Are they also here for a spiritual exploration..." Looking at the girl in the distance, the woman named Eiko spoke softly.

"It feels dangerous. Should we go over and give her a warning..." Keitaro suggested, but the young Yayoi spoke up to stop him.

"No... there's no need to warn her."

"Eh..."

Just as Keitaro and Eiko were feeling confused, the sound of a horn came from the road in the distance.

The three turned their gaze simultaneously and saw a bus slowly approaching through the dispersing yin energy.