Revenge

It was morning, and on the sun-drenched athletic field, the students in PE class had just finished their session and dispersed for free activity. The boys and girls in their gym uniforms originally wanted to stay away from the wide field under the direct sunlight, but then they suddenly noticed a tent set up at the edge of the field, along with an enticing slogan on it.

Iced... and free?! At the temporary stall by the field, a large crowd of students huddled together, vying to grab iced cola from the cooler. The jostling crowd pushed and shoved against one another, making the small stall wobble unsteadily. Beside it, the Snow Girl, dressed in civilian clothes, was hurriedly attending to the students crowding forward, organizing them into a line to hand out the drinks one by one.

"There really are a lot of people. It seems cola is quite popular with people nowadays," Kejoro couldn't help but remark as she watched the scene. Beside her, another voice quickly responded.

"Yes. For us young people, this kind of sweet, refreshing drink with a bit of a kick is truly the best." The speaker was Miketsu, who was standing nearby. At this moment, she was holding a bottle of cola with both hands, shaking it up and down and side to side with a serious expression. Seeing Miketsu like this, Kejoro felt a wave of exasperation and confusion.

"Um, excuse me, what are you doing? You can just drink the cola directly." As Kejoro silently waited for her to take a sip, she didn't expect the girl to be shaking it around for no apparent reason.

"This? This is an important ceremony. A ceremony that is indispensable whenever you drink cola," Miketsu said with a mysterious smile. Hearing this, Kejoro was stunned. As a yokai several hundred years old, this was the first time she had heard that a modern drink like cola had its own unique drinking ceremony. She had never heard of it before. Was this being treated like the divine water in a ritual array?

"Does... does such a ceremony have any use?" Kejoro continued to ask curiously. Miketsu replied with a tiny, mysterious smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Of course it’s useful. It makes the taste of this cola even sweeter."

"Even sweeter? Just from you shaking it like that?" Kejoro said skeptically. In her eyes, Miketsu was simply shaking the bottle hard without adding any other substances or using any spiritual power or spells. How could that change the properties of an ordinary human drink? Although modern yokai were trying to keep up with the times, it didn't mean they understood everything. In the Nura Clan, the only ones who had much contact with modern society besides Rikuo were Aotabo and the Snow Girl, who acted as his bodyguards at school. The others were only half-informed.

"That’s for sure. If you don't believe me, watch me take a few sips, and then you can try it yourself," Miketsu said with a smile. She then gripped the cap of the cola bottle tightly and began to twist with force. Kejoro watched intently.

"...So tight. This cap is too tight. How was it put on? I can't open it at all." Letting go, Miketsu looked at the immobile cap with a troubled expression. Hearing this, Kejoro’s heart skipped a beat.

'Oh no. Did I use too much force when I opened it to put the medicine in and then tightened it again?' Kejoro thought anxiously. Because the baseline strength of a human and a yokai were on completely different levels, a grip that felt perfectly relaxed to Kejoro could end up being tightened to the point of being stuck for a human.

"Um, if you don't mind, should I help you twist it?" Seeing a potential hiccup in the plan, Kejoro hurriedly made the suggestion. Hearing this, Miketsu’s brow smoothed over, and she immediately agreed.

"Okay, thank you, big sister."

As she spoke, Miketsu handed the cola to Kejoro, who took it directly into her hands.

Kejoro gripped the bottle with one hand and the cap with the other, assuming a posture of exertion. Seeing this, Miketsu silently backed up a few steps, distancing herself from Kejoro.

"Hmph!" Kejoro gave a forceful twist, and the cap was easily opened. However, just as she was about to celebrate, the cola in her hand was suddenly filled with overflowing bubbles. The massive amount of carbon dioxide released from the shaking had created intense pressure inside the bottle, which was completely released the moment it was opened. With a violent hiss of water vapor, the cola was propelled directly out of the bottle's mouth under high pressure, forming a water column that shot straight upward. Kejoro, who hadn't anticipated this result at all, was struck directly in the face by the jet, getting drenched instantly. Of course, since her mouth had been open earlier, she inevitably swallowed a large portion of it.

"Ke-Kejoro!" The Snow Girl, who had been busy nearby, turned around. She saw Kejoro with a drenched face, dripping hair, and a terrified expression as she covered her mouth. Not far away, Miketsu was looking on with a "worried" expression.

"...Urgh! This is bad!"

Kejoro had just recovered from her shock when she immediately felt a sense of discomfort in her body. After glancing at the numerous students looking their way, she felt that she couldn't stay any longer.

"Sorry... I'm feeling a bit unwell, I'll be going first..."

"Hey! Wait for me!"

As she spoke, Kejoro sprinted toward the distant grove at high speed. Seeing this, the Snow Girl abandoned the stall and quickly followed, leaving behind a group of confused students.

"What strange people. They gave out free drinks and then just ran away without even making an advertisement?" Coming to Miketsu’s side, Hayakawa Rin murmured as she watched the figures disappear into the woods. Miketsu simply shrugged.

"Who knows? But getting free stuff isn't bad." As she spoke, Miketsu walked over to the cooler, pulled out a new bottle of cola, opened it easily, and took a sip. Then, looking in the direction where Kejoro and the others had vanished, she shook her head.

Miketsu thought to herself that from the moment she met the first Nura yokai today, she had a general idea of the plot against her. Just as she had expected, Nura Rihyon had indeed taken matters into his own hands.

Miketsu knew his eccentric personality. In fact, more than a thousand years ago, he did things like this quite often. But since Miketsu assumed he would eventually strike out on his own and the identity of Owl would eventually disappear, she hadn't bothered to intervene much. Over time, those habits had persisted.

'Still, I should give them a bit of a lesson this time, so they don't come knocking again. Although, playing a prank like this is quite fun,' she thought after taking a sip of cola. Then, she casually wove a strand of misfortune and sent it across the miles to Nura Rihyon through the causality lines she had marked earlier.

'Phew. That should be the end of this matter... but honestly, this iced cola really does taste good,' Miketsu thought as she lifted the bottle, feeling its cool temperature. As she looked over the abandoned stall, she finally saw a jar filled with small ice cubes behind the cooler. There was a note on it that clearly read "Spare."

'The size of these ice cubes seems like they could fit into this bottle. If it's chilled and then has ice added... I bet it would feel amazing.' Thinking of this, Miketsu couldn't help but lick her lips.

In the small grove during the morning.

"Woof woof woof woof!"

"Meow meow meow meow!"

The originally silent grove had become incredibly noisy due to a series of strange sounds. Kurotabo, with dog ears and a tail, and Headless Yokai, with cat ears and a tail, were barking and meowing at each other while being held back tightly by Rikuo and Aotabo. Kejoro, with white feathers sprouting from her body, wanted to fly into the sky to regain her freedom, but she was also being held fast by the Snow Girl.

Looking at the chaotic mess before him, Rikuo, who was pulling on Kurotabo, couldn't help but rub his forehead. He wondered how things had turned into this. Was that Fushimi Inaba really so difficult to deal with? Every officer of the Nura Clan had ended up in this pathetic state! And it seemed this result was achieved without the opponent even showing any of her power.

'Has she already realized our plan, and are all these situations her intentional doing? If so, isn't that too terrifying?' Rikuo pondered. He was currently hesitating whether to continue with the order Rihyon had given them. In the current situation, just controlling these three out-of-control officers was exhausting; did they really have the energy for the next phase of the operation?

Just as Rikuo was in a state of doubt, the sound of wings echoed from the sky. Miketsu looked up to see the Tengu of the Haguro Group. The leader called down to Rikuo.

"Is that Tosakamaru? What is it?" Rikuo said with a heavy expression, looking at the Tengu in the sky. Tosakamaru replied breathlessly.

"Young Lord! Just now, the Grand Commander was caught eating and drinking without paying on the street by a passing Inari Miko and an Onmyoji! His ability was broken, and he was chased by merchants for two blocks. Finally, he was accidentally hit by a car and fell, injuring his hip! He's being sent to the hospital by humans right now! You should go back and see him!"

"I'll go to the hospital to see Grandpa first. Ao, Tsurara, Tosakamaru—I'm leaving Kurotabo and the others to you! Plan terminated, bring them all back to the clan!" As he spoke, Rikuo was lifted into the air by a Tengu and flew away first. The remaining people looked at each other and couldn't help but sigh.

Later, with the help of the Tengu, the Snow Girl and the others successfully led the delirious Kurotabo and his group back to the Nura residence. After settling in for a bit, the Snow Girl returned to her room. Sitting at her desk, she let out a long sigh.

"How did it end up like this? Did we really suffer a divine punishment for targeting a Miko of the god?" After her sigh, she suddenly realized something else.

"Oh right! The pill that was given to me was frozen in a block of ice with that white hard thing. I have to get it out quickly!"

As she spoke, the Snow Girl began searching her sleeves, but after searching for a long time, she didn't find anything. At this point, her face changed. She began to recall carefully, and finally, a trace of an impression formed in her memory.

"It seems when I was preparing the ice cubes for Kejoro... it might have accidentally gotten mixed in. Oh no, that ice is still at the school! I didn't bring it back!"

The Snow Girl dashed out of the door and ran toward the campus where they had been operating. However, once she arrived, she found that the ice in the cooler and the backup bottle had all melted, leaving only a puddle of water.

"Where on earth did it go?!"

The sun set and the moon rose; the moon sank and the sun emerged.

Day and night alternated, and soon, a new day began. In the early morning, Hayakawa Rin walked into the classroom. Just as she was about to greet the student in the seat in front of her as usual, she saw an empty desk.

'Inaba actually didn't come today? Did she take a leave of absence? That's quite rare,' Rin thought as she looked at the desk.

At the same time, at the Inari Shrine on Mount Kagami-oboro.

In the back room of the shrine, Miketsu, with short white hair and dressed in a red and white miko outfit, sat cross-legged on the tatami. She propped up her chin with one hand, looking gloomily at the open computer screen. On the screen, the shocked expression of the Tenko, Tsuruha, was visible.

"U-Uka-sama, you are..." Tsuruha's voice came through the computer in a stuttering, stunned tone, her face a picture of pure disbelief.

"This? Sigh... how should I put it? For some reasons, I accidentally ingested a bit of demonic energy essence. And since most of my current body is still human, forcing it down with divine power resulted in this." Miketsu spoke with a sigh, holding her forehead. At the same time, she twitched the white fox ears on her head and flicked the fluffy white tail behind her.

Seeing this, Tsuruha on the screen couldn't help but tremble all over. She suddenly covered her mouth and nose, bracing herself against the table to keep from falling. In Miketsu’s view, this looked like the camera was shaking.

"Hey, hey, are you alright over there?"

"I'm... I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Uka-sama." Outside the camera's view, she wiped the blood from her nose and rapidly fixed her appearance. A few seconds later, Tsuruha was once again sitting before the screen with a dignified and grand air.

"That... Uka-sama, with your divine might, can there actually be a time when you are 'accidental'?"

Tsuruha spoke calmly to Miketsu while her hand, hidden off-screen, was frantically clicking the mouse to take screenshots.

As she spoke, Miketsu glanced toward the side of her computer desk at a small, white object. Originally, this thing had been frozen in ice along with the Yokai Transformation Pill, and then Miketsu had used that ice for her cola. It was precisely because of this object that Miketsu’s power of causality had momentarily failed. This item was none other than a remnant fragment left by the Great Snake in this world.

As long as Miketsu was not in her ancient god form as the Heavenly Mandate Mysterious Bird, she could not interfere with causality at the ancient god level. Therefore, that Yokai Transformation Pill used the fragment of the Great Snake as a cover and successfully broke through Miketsu’s causality defense.

At first, realizing this situation, Miketsu was startled. She began to wonder if the yokai of the Nura Clan had been influenced by the residual will of the Great Snake. So, last night, she had performed a causality screening of all the yokai in the Nura Clan and found that it was indeed a pure accident—a true accident.

That fragment had originally been on the Devil King's Mallet. Later, it was picked up and brought home by a yokai of the Nura Clan, and finally, by a strange twist of fate, it worked in tandem with the Yokai Transformation Pill to break through her defense.

'It feels like it was arranged. Could that guy, Fate, have caused this because life was too boring? But that's unlikely... what happened to "Heaven and Earth are ruthless"? What happened to the divine aspect?'

'In any case, regardless of the process or intent, in a sense, this can be considered a revenge by the Great Snake. But the result of this revenge...'

Miketsu thought as she looked at the individual self-view window opened in the top-left corner of her screen. Looking at the familiar yet strange and cute white-haired fox girl inside, she couldn't help but twitch her ears twice more.

'It doesn't seem like too much of a loss.'

Miketsu, who had been captivated by her own appearance, thought as she clicked the mouse to take a screenshot.