Faith and the Fox Ears

After class, the sunlight-drenched classroom remained as noisy as ever. Miketsu sat in her usual window-side seat, nibbling on the end of a pencil while her brow furrowed in thought, her expression clouded with a touch of worry.

After learning the truth behind the urban legends circulating through the school from Hayakawa Rin, Miketsu felt a profound sense of speechlessness. She had intended to solve a haunting, only to realize the entity behind the legend was herself. 'I only picked up a bit of spare change; how did I turn into an urban legend? The total amount lost by everyone wouldn't even be that much... How did the rumors spread this far? People are actually wearing protective amulets now...'

Miketsu was bewildered. In her eyes, since she didn't actually spend much money, the number of people who had lost money because of her shouldn't be that high, and the total sum was negligible. Logically, it shouldn't have escalated into a legend of this magnitude. To have picked up money from maybe a few dozen people only to have the entire class—and even the entire school—becoming this paranoid was simply ridiculous.

Maybe she should listen to how they were discussing this so-called god of poverty.

With that thought, Miketsu pulled a large textbook from her desk and stood it upright, then slumped her head behind it to hide. It was the classic move for students sleeping in class to block the teacher's line of sight. After adjusting the angle of the book to block her from the view of her classmates, her expression tightened.

The black hair on her head twitched slightly, and with a soft 'poof,' two upright fox ears suddenly sprouted from her head.

This was a residue from the demonic power essence she had consumed previously. She had originally extracted it to transform into a fox clone to fetch Kikyo from the Sengoku era, but after returning, Miketsu had reabsorbed it without completely purifying it.

Indeed, Miketsu had kept a trace of the fox demon's demonic power in her body. When Kikyo asked why, she claimed the fox demon avatar was quite useful and that she kept the power so she could summon it again for errands. Of course, that was just a superficial excuse to fool Kikyo; the real reason was much simpler and purer.

'If I purify all the demonic power, I won't be able to grow these cute fox ears anymore! That would be a huge loss! It would be a hassle to appreciate myself in fox-ear mode later. If I keep just a tiny bit, I can sprout them whenever I want, and if I suppress it, they go right back. Being able to toggle them at will—isn't that wonderful?'

Driven by her deep-seated fox-ear obsession, Miketsu had changed her mind just as she was about to eliminate all demonic power. Thinking she might want to wear other pretty outfits and pair them with fox ears for photos later, she hadn't been in a hurry to wipe it out. Instead, she kept a tiny bit to use as a 'switch.' This minuscule amount of demonic power was also enough to grant her a few other minor abilities.

Crouched behind the large book, Miketsu's ears twitched. She began to utilize the innate sharp hearing of the ears to eavesdrop on the students' conversations. Although she had many other ways to accomplish this, she chose to use the fox ears out of curiosity to test her new ability.

"Yeah, it's really terrifying, that god of poverty... I lost my money this morning, it must be because of his mischief."

"Mm-hmm! Exactly. My bento went missing too; the god of poverty must have stolen it for food!"

"Honestly, that god of poverty must be haunting me. I did so poorly on the quiz; it has to be his fault!"

"Agh! I got splashed by dirty water from a car on my way to school today. That must be the god of poverty working his magic on me!"

Hidden behind her book, Miketsu listened to the students' discussions about the god of poverty. The more she heard, the more absurd and nonsensical it became. She couldn't help but twitch her lip and complain inwardly.

'I only picked up a few coins! How did everything end up blamed on me? A god of poverty... even a real one would at most affect your financial luck. Things like losing items or failing exams are being blamed on me now?'

While grumbling to herself, Miketsu began to understand why the rumors had spread so widely and turned into such a legend. Initially, a few actual victims had likely started the rumors. Once the stories spread, many people who hadn't even lost money to Miketsu assumed their own bad luck was caused by the god of poverty's malice. Even further, any minor misfortune or inconvenience was blamed on the so-called god of poverty, believing it brought all manner of ill luck.

'Humans are the same as ever... they love finding excuses. Deflecting responsibility is the real reason these rumors spread so fast.'

Time passed quickly, and soon the day's classes ended. When the dismissal bell rang, students flooded out of the classroom in a noisy crowd. As a member of the 'go-home club' vanguard, Miketsu was among the first to step out of the school gates.

She walked forward while pondering the morning's events, but before she had gone far, she spotted a familiar figure ahead.

Standing beneath the school wall was a girl with short black hair wearing a middle school uniform. She was peering through the fence into the campus with a mix of curiosity and vigilance. Seeing this figure, Miketsu was momentarily surprised before calling out directly.

"Ah, Inaba!" Hearing Miketsu's voice, the Onmyoji girl turned around with a look of pleasant surprise. She scanned her surroundings mysteriously before approaching Miketsu.

"It's so good to run into you here. I was just about to go looking for you."

"What's wrong, Yura? Why are you here?"

"It's about a subjugation, of course! It's that god of poverty legend that's been trending around here lately. As an Onmyoji, how can I let such a malicious spirit go free? That's why I came here first thing this morning to track the god of poverty's trail. Unfortunately, that fellow is far too cunning; I've been searching half the day and haven't found a single valuable lead."

"So, I came to see if you had any clues. Regarding that god of poverty—you're a student at this school, so you must know more than most."

Facing Miketsu, Yura spoke rapidly. After hearing her, Miketsu felt like burying her face in her hands. She never expected the urban legend to spread so far that it would attract an Onmyoji.

"I'm sorry, Yura. I don't know much about that god of poverty either, and I don't have any clues. So, for now, I can't help you."

"What? You haven't grasped any leads either? But you're a miko of Inari! Does that mean even with Inari's influence in this region, you can't do anything about that god of poverty? This is truly unexpected..."

Yura seemed to be overthinking things.

"Hmm, if that's the case, it looks like I'll have to request reinforcements from the Onmyo Agency. Hey, Inaba, why don't we do a joint operation between the Onmyo Agency and Inari? We can find and subjugate that god of poverty together! Wait, Inaba, what's wrong?"

Yura looked at Miketsu, only to find her closing her eyes and rubbing her temples in resignation.

"...It's nothing. I'm just saying... let's leave the matters here to Inari. A god of poverty isn't some dangerous or ferocious yokai; there's no need for such a massive mobilization. As long as I'm here, you can rest easy. There's no need for you to get involved in this."

After a great deal of effort, Miketsu finally managed to persuade the overly enthusiastic Onmyoji girl to turn back. However, after this encounter, she began to seriously examine the problem of the god of poverty legend.

'Phew... I didn't think my reputation would be dragged through the mud all the way to Yura's ears. It seems I can't just ignore this; I have to find a way to flip this reputation around.'

Miketsu pondered. Suddenly, she had a stroke of genius and clapped her hands. She had a plan.

In Miketsu's view, the legend of the god of poverty was born from the resentment of those who lost money. Since that was the case, she wouldn't just take the money for free. From now on, every time she 'picked up' money, she would grant the owner a little bit of good luck in return. Once the owner experienced a streak of luck, their mood would improve, and their resentment would vanish. Naturally, they wouldn't complain about a god of poverty anymore.

'In that case, from now on, I'll just trade good luck for the money!'

Miketsu nodded to herself and immediately set the plan into motion.

Some time later, at dawn as the sun was rising, Miketsu was walking to school with her bag when she suddenly froze in place, staring ahead with a look of utter bewilderment.

'What... what is going on?'

Before Miketsu was the school's green belt, but a bizarre scene was unfolding upon it. Across the empty lawn, various amounts of money had been placed in numerous spots. Some were paper bills neatly folded on the ground, weighed down by a stone tied with a red string to prevent them from blowing away. Others were coins stacked neatly by the roadside.

The amounts weren't large—just a tiny bit in each pile—but they were everywhere. It was obvious these weren't lost by accident; they were intentionally placed there. Miketsu could see several students not far ahead under the streetlights, carefully folding money and placing it down. After weighing it with a red-stringed stone, they even clasped their hands in a pious prayer.

"This... what is this?" Miketsu asked, stunned. Beside her, Hayakawa Rin spoke up to explain.

"Ah, you don't know, Inaba? This is blessing money! It's used to pray to the God of Fortune."

"Huh? God of Fortune?"

"It's another faith that has recently become popular among the students. He's a deity who can grant people good luck! Apparently, he's the mortal enemy of the god of poverty and has been fighting him constantly!" Hayakawa Rin continued, leaving Miketsu dazed.

"God of Fortune? God of poverty? Mortal enemies? Fighting?"

"That's right! Inaba, you might not know, but lately, many people who lost money have mysteriously experienced great luck. Successful confessions, high exam scores, winning streaks with lucky drink caps—cases like these are everywhere! Everyone says the God of Fortune couldn't bear to see the god of poverty tormenting the students, so he intervened. As word spread, the image of the God of Fortune took root."

Hayakawa Rin continued her explanation while pointing at the piles of money weighted by stones.

"Because losing money might lead to good luck, many students have started 'losing' money on purpose just to get that luck. The practice spread further and further until it seemingly evolved into a custom. Everyone hopes the god of poverty will pick up the money; once he is satisfied, the bad luck leaves, and the God of Fortune arrives to compensate you with good luck. Especially with final exams coming up, the number of people spreading blessing money has skyrocketed. Inaba, do you want to sprinkle some too?"

"...I think I'll pass for now."

After hearing Rin's introduction, Miketsu began to rub her temples helplessly. She never imagined that her casual luck-compensation mechanism would have such an impact. A god of poverty? A God of Fortune? Even mortal enemies fighting each other? The imagination of these students was a bit too vivid. And they even managed to turn it into a custom of spreading blessing money...

Miketsu felt as though she had unintentionally established a strange campus religion among the students, and a dualistic one at that.

However, the most critical part was...

Miketsu focused, extending her hand. Within her palm, two tiny glows that only she could see—one black and one white—emerged. Miketsu was all too familiar with this: faith. Crucially, these two distinct colors of faith did not originate from Dakini-ten or any of her other established Inari names.

This was faith belonging to the 'god of poverty' and the 'God of Fortune.' Although it was infinitesimal—so small it was almost negligible—the fact that these two divine names invented by students actually generated faith for her was absolutely ridiculous!

'I should probably just start bringing money from the shrine like a normal person and stop picking it up...' Looking at the result, Miketsu sighed inwardly. From then on, the 'miracles' of both the god of poverty and the God of Fortune vanished completely, but the legends and faith that had already been generated would not disappear quite so easily.