A vicious glint appeared in the yokai's strange eyes, its mouth suddenly filled with fangs. In that instant, the yokai's neck abruptly elongated, and its entire head shot rapidly towards Miketsu and Saburo.
Miketsu, already on high alert and extremely tense, felt the sudden movement behind her. Without a second thought, she quickly pulled Saburo aside. A gust of sinister wind brushed past her ear. When she looked closely, the yokai's head that had just missed them had already rushed in front of them. The ferocious head, supported by a long, snake-like neck, turned back, its wide-open mouth drooling and baring a full set of sharp teeth. Its viciously glowing eyes stared intently at Miketsu and Saburo.
"A... a yokai!"
Seeing the sight before him, Saburo couldn't help but cry out in fear. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
With a shriek, the yokai's head lunged at them again. Terrified, Saburo was momentarily unable to react, frozen in place.
Seeing this, Miketsu let go of Saburo's hand and decisively kicked him away. Using the momentum, she also dodged the yokai head's attack. The head missed, crashing into a stone lantern by the path. The lantern toppled over, and the head was momentarily stunned.
Miketsu, whose mind was already taut and whose composure had been tempered by a full day of observing the demon realm, was not frightened by the yokai head's terrifying form. She reacted decisively as she should.
"Run! Run downhill!"
Looking at Saburo, who was struggling to get up after being kicked aside, Miketsu shouted loudly. Then, she herself turned and ran up the path. She no longer had the strength to look after Saburo.
In order to save him, Miketsu had put herself in danger. All she could do now was have Saburo run in the opposite direction from her. As for which one the yokai's head would choose to chase and whether it could catch up, that was left to fate.
Scrambling to his feet, Saburo heard Miketsu's voice and was immediately jolted from his shock. He desperately ran down the path. The yokai's head, having recovered, glanced at the two people running in different directions and then continued its pursuit upwards, after Miketsu. Clearly, compared to an ordinary person, a pure miko who served a deity was a much better target for consumption.
"You meddling miko... don't think you can escape!"
Feeling the yokai chasing her from behind, Miketsu's brow furrowed. She immediately quickened her pace up the stone steps, sprinting towards the shrine on the mountain. As long as she got close to the shrine, she could shout for Tsuruha and have the foxes of Inari deal with the yokai.
Miketsu climbed the stairs with all her might. The yokai's head behind her gradually closed the distance, but its speed wasn't overwhelming. Miketsu thought that perhaps she could hold out until its neck reached its maximum length; she didn't believe its neck could extend infinitely.
Just as she thought this, Miketsu suddenly felt her ankle twist, and she stumbled forward. At that moment, she realized a major problem.
Oh no... the geta...
Ever since she had crossed over to this world, Miketsu had completely bid farewell to the comfortable casual shoes of modern life. In their place were geta, which were extremely inconvenient to walk in, even more uncomfortable than slippers.
Having no other choice, Miketsu had spent several days finally getting used to walking normally in geta, but she hadn't reached the point where she could run in them. And now, at the worst possible moment, the geta had caused her to twist her ankle and fall forward, her whole body slamming sideways onto the stone steps.
Damn it!
Pain shot through Miketsu's entire body, but she had no time to dwell on it, because in the corner of her eye, she could already see the terrifying yokai head was just inches away.
There wasn't enough time for Miketsu to get up and continue running. She decided to simply turn over on the ground and face the lunging yokai head directly.
"Die!"
The corners of the yokai head's mouth suddenly split open, its normal-sized mouth instantly tearing into a massive, bloody maw. It lunged to bite Miketsu as she lay on the ground. At this distance, Miketsu could even see its mouthful of sharp teeth with perfect clarity.
As a final struggle, Miketsu held her breath, reached out her hands, and accurately grabbed the yokai head's slender neck, holding on with all her strength.
Then, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the mountains of Inari.
"Gyaaaaaaaah!"
Where Miketsu's hands touched the yokai's neck, thick green smoke billowed out. The yokai's skin sizzled as if it had met a red-hot branding iron, and Miketsu felt an intense burning sensation in her palms.
As if unable to bear the excruciating pain, the yokai head momentarily forgot about attacking Miketsu and began to struggle with all its might. The immense force broke free from Miketsu's grasp and flung her aside.
Miketsu endured the pain and struggled to her feet. The sight that met her eyes was the yokai head, thrashing wildly in mid-air like a snake.
That just now... did I do that?
Miketsu looked at her own hands in disbelief. At the same time, she recalled what Tsuruha had told her that morning.
'With your divine status, an ordinary yokai will be harmed just by touching you.'
Just touching causes harm... so that's how it works.
Without thinking further, Miketsu, who had just gotten to her feet, took advantage of the yokai head's pain to decisively kick off her geta and pull off her white socks, which hindered her grip on the ground. She prepared to continue her desperate escape.
As for whether she would step on a sharp stone while barefoot and meet with tragedy again, that was also left to fate.
But at that moment, the yokai head underwent a strange transformation. The head, shrieking in mid-air, rapidly retracted back into a large tree. Then, the massive body of the yokai emerged from behind the tree.
It was a bizarre yokai with a severely disproportionate body. Nearly three meters tall, its head took up almost half its height. Red skin covered its entire body. Its limbs were short in proportion but appeared extremely thick and powerful. On its massive head was a single eye and a single horn. And the long, tongue-like head was now curled up inside its giant, fanged mouth. Only then did Miketsu realize that it was actually its tongue!
The moment she saw the yokai's true form, Miketsu, who had just taken off her socks, didn't hesitate for a second and bolted. Although she now understood she could harm the yokai by touching it, she was absolutely unwilling to take the huge risk of engaging in close-quarters combat with that thing.
"I'll tear you to pieces!"
Its tongue, a vital organ for luring humans, had been severely injured. The yokai was furious. It dropped to all fours and charged up the steps, racing towards Miketsu, who was not far away.
Rate on N.U.
