Ambush

Inside the house behind the Kagami-oboro Inari Shrine, Miketsu looked at the letter before her, which was radiating demonic energy. She read the neatly written kanji characters and, after a moment, murmured softly.

"This... is a formal request for a visit..."

Indeed, this second letter sent to the shrine was a calling card from a yokai—Mori-bozu.

Mori-bozu was a yokai who had settled in this area over three hundred years ago. Although he had no desire to rule, his decent strength had led the local yokai to push him into the role of managing order in the Kagami-oboro region. He was effectively the public leader of the yokai here, and he also bore the responsibility of restraining the entities of the demon realm in this district.

Mori-bozu was an old friend of Tadae, the former Inari god of this region, for over a hundred years. Together with a few other minor yokai leaders, they were the cornerstone of peace for the demon realm around Kagami-oboro. Before Tadae left to take up a post elsewhere, he had specifically visited him.

In the modern era, the function of a grassroots Inari god had evolved far beyond merely collecting faith. To a greater extent, they were required to bear the responsibility of governing both the divine and demon realms. When evil spirits caused trouble or yokai rioted within their jurisdiction, the Inari god was expected to assist local yokai leaders or the Onmyo Agency in handling the situation. Simultaneously, they acted as administrative recorders, documenting local yokai activity and boundary-crossing incidents.

Furthermore, an Inari god could communicate directly with the Shinigami of the Underworld responsible for their jurisdiction. In this era where the Underworld was severely understaffed, divine messengers would take on part of the soul-guiding work, sending souls through the Inari shrines to the hither shore of the Sanzu River to alleviate the workload of the Shinigami. Because of this long-term cooperative relationship, the bases for Shinigami activities in the mortal world were often the local Inari shrines.

In a sense, modern grassroots Inari gods had long since moved beyond the traditional category of wild gods. They had begun to assume functions similar to those of land gods, rather than being just a group focused on gathering faith.

The yokai organizations representing the local power of the demon realm, the Onmyo Agency representing the official power of the human realm, and the Shinigami representing the order of the Underworld, along with the Inari gods who acted as coordinators representing the power of the divine realm, together constructed the order of the hidden world—with the Inari gods holding the leading position.

Therefore, this Mori-bozu was the most significant yokai leader in the vicinity of Kagami-oboro. In a way, he and Tadae had a relationship of cooperative colleagues.

Just a few days ago, Tadae had successfully been promoted to a larger Inari jurisdiction. Thus, the content of the letter Mori-bozu sent was actually to inquire whether the new Inari god of Kagami-oboro had arrived. If so, he wished to pay a visit... After all, they might be interacting in the same place for the next century or two, so it was better to get acquainted early and exchange information on local conditions.

Looking at the demonic letter, Miketsu rubbed her chin in thought, then spoke directly.

"The new Inari god has arrived. Go back and tell Mori-bozu that if he wishes to visit, he may come tomorrow."

As soon as Miketsu finished speaking, the letter in her hand, saturated with demonic energy, trembled and fluttered away on its own.

After seeing the letter depart to deliver the reply, Miketsu let out a soft breath and went to a room behind the shrine. Several talismans were pasted on the door of this room.

Opening the door, Miketsu saw a small space filled with bookshelves, upon which many old books were arranged.

These were the work records of the Inari gods of Kagami-oboro and the files on major yokai and ghostly entities. They included archives of all boundary-crossing incidents handled through official channels in the region. Most of these were the work of Tadae, and such an archive was highly beneficial for a successor taking over the role.

"There's quite a lot... if anyone else came to look for information, they'd probably die trying to find it..." Miketsu muttered, looking at the pile of ancient books. Although the information was categorized, it was still troublesome for a normal person to find specific details. More importantly, the earliest records dated back five or six hundred years; those books were essentially cultural relics, so old they would crumble at a touch.

To solve these problems, the Inari Honsha had begun establishing a nationwide administrative network for Inari gods years ago, attempting to digitize all existing records and use the internet to streamline their work. However, the Inari system had existed for too long. It was filled with ultimate fossils who were five hundred, eight hundred, or even over a thousand years old. They were stubborn, struggled with shifting their mindset, and found it hard to accept new things... Many still maintained lifestyle habits from centuries ago. Getting them to learn how to use a computer was an extremely difficult task. Consequently, the implementation of the Inari administrative network was fraught with difficulties, which greatly annoyed Tsuruha.

Miketsu remembered Tsuruha coming over during her last vacation to complain. When she gathered those old-timers for a meeting, they all made excuses like "I'm too old to learn..." or "These are just clever but useless tricks..." Tsuruha had been so angry she nearly revealed her true nine-tailed form in the meeting hall.

In the end, Miketsu had granted Tsuruha greater authority to use the Inari name. Tsuruha had used the threat of withholding faith to force those old ducks to learn how to use computers.

Shaking her head, Miketsu picked a book at random and flipped through it, quickly finding the section she wanted to see.

Recorded in this book were the handling records of boundary-crossing incidents around Kagami-oboro over the last few decades. She wanted to find the frequency of incidents involving entities from the demon realm in this area.

"Nine cases... twelve cases... nineteen... twenty-five... fifty-seven... It really is increasing." Miketsu frowned slightly as she looked at the information.

After the supernatural events of the past few days, she had already sensed the proliferation of entities from the demon realm. Checking the records confirmed that it was a gradual increase that had begun several years ago.

Is something wrong with the demon realm in Tokyo? I'll have to ask Mori-bozu properly when he visits tomorrow...

Miketsu thought to herself as she put the book back and left the room. It was almost time for Miko to come to the shrine for her priestess training. Generally, she would bring offerings...

At that thought, Miketsu couldn't help but lick her lips.

...

Time passed, the sun set and the moon rose, and a day quickly went by. When the dawn of a new day arrived, Miketsu got out of bed, ate a breakfast prepared by her shikigami, and headed to school with her bag.

School life ended quickly. At dismissal, Miketsu, who had no club activities or cram school, took the train back home. Just as she stepped out of the station and prepared to walk back to Kagami-oboro, her expression tightened, and she turned her eyes in a certain direction.

'This... is the aura of yokai... and more than one...'

Sensing the faint aura coming from afar, Miketsu continued with interest.

'Are yokai fighting each other?'

...

In the afternoon, at a quiet and deserted crossroads, a pervasive cold aura caused the surrounding temperature to drop. In the demon realm, invisible to ordinary people, a stalemate was taking place.

In the very center of the crossroads stood a massive and robust figure. He wore grey-black monk robes, stood three meters tall, and wore a bamboo basket on his head—he was a towering monk.

Currently, this monk was leaning on a large iron club. The ground around him was covered in countless cracks from his immense strength. Lying in those cracks were several heaps of mangled flesh that could barely be identified as human. Blades were stuck all over his body, and blood soaked his robes, dripping onto the ground. The sound of rapid breathing came from inside the bamboo basket; it was clear his injuries were extremely severe.

Surrounding the monk was a circle of deformed ghostly creatures. Most were evil spirits, while a few were physical monsters. They had gaunt, semi-decayed bodies, looking like walking corpses. All of these living corpses held various weapons and wore the same red uniform, with a laughing skull printed on the back.

Among this group of corpse-like creatures was a tall figure—a red-purple corpse about two and a half meters tall. He had a yellow mohawk, nose rings, and earrings. A red jacket with the skull emblem was draped over his shoulders, revealing firm muscles with no signs of decay, marked only by several large scars. Beneath his tight jeans was a pair of boots studded with iron nails.

Behind this burly red living corpse was an exaggeratedly modified motorcycle, covered in flags with large kanji characters and skull decorations. In the hands of the burly corpse was a large chainsaw.

Clearly, he was the leader of these surrounding ghosts and living corpses. He was leading his subordinates in an attack on the yokai monk in the center of the crossroads. They had obviously already been through a battle; while the living corpses and evil spirits had suffered heavy losses, the demon monk was also visibly and seriously wounded.

"Hahaha! Mori-bozu, you monk! You won't escape today!! Well? How do you like this ambush prepared specifically for you?"

Looking at the surrounded yokai monk, the burly living corpse laughed loudly. From the gaps in the bamboo basket on Mori-bozu's head, an angry gaze shot out. He steadied his pain and spoke in a solemn tone.

"Akashiki... do you know what you are doing?!"

"What am I doing? Heh, of course I know. You old fossil have lived long enough. It's time for you to die. It's time the monsters and ghosts of this territory had a more aggressive leader. You relic of the Edo period!"

Akashiki, the tall living corpse dressed like a bosozoku, pointed his chainsaw at the monk and spoke arrogantly.

"Hmph... you think you can replace me? Dream on, you wet-behind-the-ears brat..." Hearing Akashiki's words, Mori-bozu tried to drive his massive body forward to strike him down with his club. However, a sudden surge of pain from his wounds made him nearly stumble after just one step, forcing him to stop.

"Ugh... this..."

"Heh... don't waste your energy. I spent a lot of effort on this ambush. The blades used to sneak attack you were all coated with poison from the Zen-ichi Faction. Don't think you can break free so easily!" Seeing Mori-bozu's movements restricted, Akashiki laughed triumphantly. Hearing his words, Mori-bozu felt a sudden sense of disbelief.

"Poison from the Zen-ichi Faction? Don't be ridiculous. How could Lord Zen-ichi give poison to a nobody like you?"

"Hehe... Lord Zen-ichi might not, but that doesn't mean there aren't yokai within the Zen-ichi Faction willing to 'exchange' things with a nobody like me... As long as the price is high enough, anything can be obtained..." Akashiki laughed, looking at the shocked Mori-bozu.

"The Zen-bird clan is naturally frail and sickly due to their own toxins. Zen-ichi doesn't have much energy to manage his faction. There are many people in the group with their own ideas..."

"You... cough cough..." Hearing Akashiki's words, Mori-bozu tried to say more in his agitation, but the sudden onset of the toxin caused him to cough violently. He used his weapon to prop up his massive frame, maintaining this posture as he looked up at Akashiki.

"You... ambush me here... aren't you afraid the main house will come knocking later?"

"The main house? Hahahaha!! Mori-bozu, you're still counting on the main house? Can't you see what state the main house is in? You still expect them to help? That's hilarious!" Hearing Mori-bozu's words, Akashiki acted as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, nearly doubling over with laughter.

"The Nura Clan's main house can't even protect itself right now. They've long since lost the energy to manage subordinate gangs like yours. Their influence has shrunk drastically. Aside from Ukiyoe-cho, where else in Tokyo can they still control? In the last few years alone, at least a dozen gangs have publicly left the Nura Clan. The Nura Clan's rule over Tokyo has long since fallen to pieces. You're still counting on them? Are you still living in the Edo period?"

Listening to Akashiki's mockery, Mori-bozu did not speak to refute him, because he knew that the facts were undeniable.

"Hmph, if it weren't for that old fox Tadae still being on Mount Kagami-oboro, I would have moved against you long ago. Now that Tadae has been transferred and the new Inari god hasn't arrived yet, no one can protect you. Just die here and hand over your territory... I'll make sure things are cleaned up nicely..."

As he spoke, Akashiki revved his chainsaw. Mori-bozu, leaning on his iron club, felt a wave of confusion after hearing Akashiki's words.

'The new Inari god hasn't arrived? Then who on earth was it that replied to my letter yesterday?'