Mount Inari, Kyoto. On the densely wooded slopes, the long mountain path wound its way upward. Torii of all shapes and sizes covered the path, layered one after another. The higher they climbed, the more ancient the torii became; the stone steps beneath their feet grew more weathered, and the fox statues flanking the old path were gradually reclaimed by moss.
"This mountain path is really long, and there are torii everywhere along the way. All of these were donated?" Rin muttered, pressing a finger to her chin as she voiced her doubt.
"Now that I think about it... how did the custom of donating a torii to thank Inari Okami start? Does Inari Okami really like torii that much? Is there some particularly deep, profound meaning behind them for her?" Rin mused as she walked. Beside her, Miketsu finished her popsicle and glanced at the wooden stick in her hand, which was stamped with the words 'Win Another'. She replied slowly, "Who knows... maybe it's just for a very simple reason. For example, maybe she just wanted to find a place to lie down comfortably."
"Huh? What kind of reason is that?! What does wanting to lie down have to do with torii? Inaba, your explanation is way too unreliable. It doesn't have any depth at all." Rin frowned slightly at Miketsu's words. Miketsu didn't bother to argue and simply spoke up.
"Fine, fine. Whatever you think is right. After all, you're the expert on Inari Okami, Rin. I can't compare to you," Miketsu said dismissively, her expression essentially saying 'Yes, yes, whatever you say.' However, hearing this 'praise', Rin nodded with satisfaction.
"Hehe, I'm not really an expert. I just did a bit more research on the internet, that's all."
'This girl actually took it seriously...' Miketsu thought, sighing inwardly. She shook her head and continued leading Rin up the mountain path.
In truth, the custom of donating torii really did originate from Miketsu's habit of sleeping on them to sunbathe. Because there was a period when she felt the torii she usually slept on was getting a bit old, she had mentioned it to Kikyo. Coincidentally, a merchant was preparing to make a donation to the shrine at the time, so Kikyo, acting as the kannushi, suggested the merchant donate a torii to provide Miketsu with a new spot for her afternoon naps. But who could have guessed that the rumor of this donation would spread and even turn into a tradition that lasted for centuries? During the thousand years Miketsu spent as the manifestation of the divine, whenever people wanted to make a donation to the Inari Honsha, the first thing they thought of was a torii. Over time, more and more were donated until even the paths on Mount Inari were covered in them. Even now, the Inari Grand Shrine has several large warehouses specifically for storing donated torii, and they are almost completely full.
Thus, Miketsu led the curious Rin further up the mountain. The number of tourists around them dwindled until, before long, a barrier appeared before them.
"Inaba, it looks like we've reached the end of the line. Is it not further up?"
"The end? Not yet. Let's keep going up." As she spoke, Miketsu gave a slight smile. To Rin's astonishment, Miketsu stepped forward quickly, crossed the shimenawa that blocked the path beyond the torii, and continued to climb.
"Eh! Inaba! You're not allowed to go over there! That's not good!" Rin cried out. But Miketsu didn't seem to hear her and walked straight up. Seeing Miketsu's silhouette about to vanish from her sight, Rin panicked, crossed the shimenawa herself, and jogged after her. "Wait for me, Inaba!"
Along the quiet sando beneath the torii, Rin jogged upward. After rounding a small bend, she finally saw Miketsu's back again—and with it, a completely different scene.
Beneath the lush shade of the trees, Miketsu stood at the very end of the sando, under a simple, ancient torii that had almost completely faded and cracked. Behind the torii was a quiet, deserted, and modest haiden. The open ground before the hall was paved with simple stone slabs, scattered with fallen leaves.
"Th-This place is..." Walking slowly up the sando, Rin whispered as she looked at the deep, tranquil shrine before her. The shrine on this mountain was dozens of times smaller than the one at the foot. There were no surging crowds, no bright red lacquer, and no luxurious gold decorations. Though the shrine was ancient, it was very clean, as if someone maintained it regularly. Compared to the palace-like Great Shrine below, this humble shrine seemed overly ordinary, embodying nothing but the weathered age and antiquity of time.
"This is the Inari Shrine on the mountain. Usually, it's not open to the public. It just so happens there's no one here, so we don't have to wait in such long lines. If you want to pray, let's do it here," Miketsu said with a smile, looking at the scene she knew all too well. Hearing this, Rin shouted with some urgency.
"Th-That's not good! It's clearly forbidden to come up here! Look at how old everything is—there might even be cultural relics! It'll be terrible if we're caught!"
"Then let's just finish praying before we get caught~ Hurry, go wash your hands over there first." Miketsu began the ritual process as she spoke. Seeing Miketsu like this, Rin couldn't help but be swept along. After glancing around nervously, she followed Miketsu to wash her hands and finally stood before the saisen-bako of the haiden to pray.
Miketsu and Rin stood before the ancient hall. After tossing symbolic coins into the saisen-bako, they prayed directly to the shrine. During this, Miketsu specifically activated her prayer-listening ability, intending to hear what was being whispered in her ear.
'Inari Okami, please protect me. I hope my growth period isn't over yet and I can grow another five centimeters—just a bit taller than Inaba! And if possible, I hope my chest gets a bit bigger, at least enough to show through my clothes... At least as big as Inaba's!'
Miketsu couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter during the prayer. Rin, who was still holding her hands in prayer, turned her face and said with a hint of anger, "Inaba, what are you laughing at! We're praying before Inari Okami right now! Be serious!"
"S-Sorry, I just suddenly thought of something funny..."
"Inaba, you're always so carefree. At least have a little bit of faith in a place like this," Rin said, pouting. Miketsu waved her hand in response.
"Haha, didn't I just apologize? It's fine. By the way, what did you just pray to Inari for?"
"It's not something I can just say... If you want me to tell you, why don't you tell me what you prayed for first!" Rin was momentarily stunned by Miketsu's question and then thought for a moment. Hearing Rin's counter-question, Miketsu looked up at the sky and spoke slowly.
"What did I pray for? I... I just prayed to Inari Okami for peace."
"Peace?"
"Yes. I prayed that this Inari Festival goes smoothly and safely, that everyone can have fun and be at peace," Miketsu said with a smile, her eyes on the floating clouds as Rin looked at her with confusion.
Below Mount Inari, at the Inari Grand Shrine.
It was now afternoon, and the sun in the sky was gradually sliding down from its zenith. At this moment, on the plaza before the massive haiden, the surging crowds showed no sign of thinning; if anything, it had grown more crowded. The bustling crowd overflowed with a longing for a beautiful future, eager to pray during the Inari Festival. According to tradition and legend, prayers to Inari Okami during this time were exceptionally effective. However, not everyone in this dense crowd shared these beautiful thoughts; for some entities, what they craved was only blood and death.
"It's almost time..."
A man in a tightly fastened trench coat stood in the crowd, whispering as he looked at the watch in his hand, which was approaching the designated moment. He slowly put his hand into his pocket, preparing to press the detonator the moment the hand reached its mark. His eyes, hidden beneath the brim of his hat, widened further and further, his bulging eyeballs bloodshot.
"Prepare to welcome desp—"
"Hey, excuse me, sir. Your remote control seems to have fallen out."
At that moment, the man felt a light tap on his shoulder, followed by a voice behind him. Hearing the voice, the man jumped in shock.
'Remote control? Did my detonator fall out?!'
In a panic, the man immediately turned around. He saw a man in a short-sleeved casual shirt, wearing sunglasses and with a buzz cut, standing behind him holding a remote control. The man in the trench coat scrutinized the remote in the other's hand for a moment before his heart suddenly relaxed. He said coldly, "That's not mine."
"Oh, is that so? My apologies for bothering you then. I'll go ask somewhere else." The short-sleeved man apologized with a smile. Hearing his reply, the trench coat man ignored him and turned back around. He stared forward silently and reached back into his pocket to grab his detonator.
Just as he was about to press it, his eyes suddenly bulged. His entire body went rigid, and he lost all strength from his feet to his hands—he didn't even have the power to lift the detonator. The device fell back into his pocket. An irresistible sense of weakness rapidly spread through his body. His demonic power disintegrated instantly, his vision blurred, and his consciousness began to fade.
'This is... how...' the man whispered in disbelief. Suddenly, he used the last of his strength to stiffly turn his head and glance at the shoulder that had been tapped. Through his yokai vision, he saw a tiny needle—too small to see normally—pierced through his clothes and into his skin.
"Poison..."
"Oh dear! This gentleman suddenly fainted. It looks like heatstroke."
"Yeah, wearing such a thick coat in a place with so many people on a hot day like this, it's definitely easy to get heatstroke."
Behind the man, two middle-aged men in casual clothes caught him as he fell backward and spoke with anxious expressions after checking his condition.
"Ah, I remember there's an emergency ambulance prepared on the outskirts of the shrine. Let's carry him there!" As they spoke, the two plainclothes men carried the trench coat man out of the area under the curious and worried gazes of the crowd. They took him to an ambulance parked outside the shrine with its doors already open. The 'medical staff' on standby immediately followed them inside. The heavy steel doors of the ambulance slammed shut, sealing the space. Faint lights from incantations etched on the inner steel walls flickered, and a barrier was instantly constructed. Following that, the 'medical staff' quickly used scissors to cut open the man's coat, revealing a ring of explosives hidden underneath.
Immediately after, the 'medical staff' quickly cuffed the man's hands and feet and injected him with another unknown drug. Then, one of the 'medical staff' pulled a toolbox from beneath the gurney, opened it, took out various professional tools, and began to dismantle the bomb with focus. The rest of the personnel immediately backed out of the vehicle and resealed the doors, strengthening the barrier. A moment later, after cutting the last wire, the bomb disposal expert let out a long sigh of relief. He took off his mask, revealing a large, furry cat face, and gave a thumbs-up to the camera inside the vehicle.
Outside the vehicle, the other members of the squad breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the scene on their phones. One of them picked up a specialized walkie-talkie and said directly, "This is A15 Group at the Inari Grand Shrine. Threat Point 12 has been successfully neutralized. Over."
Rolling back time a bit, to the night Miketsu first arrived in Kyoto.
New Fushimi District, Kyoto Prefecture.
The New Fushimi District was a new urban area of Kyoto primarily invested in and built by Inari. Located mostly to the southeast of the original Fushimi district, it possessed a night scene even more brilliant than the old Kyoto urban area. Countless dazzling neon lights were a feast for the eyes, and numerous radiant roads converged here like a radial spiderweb. Across these vast, wide roads, giant steel torii dozens of meters high spanned the asphalt, standing in succession every few hundred meters like a modern, gargantuan version of the paths on Mount Inari. Neon lights flickered around the steel torii as a dense flow of cars passed beneath. At the end of these roads, leading to the center of the New Fushimi District, at the terminus of the thousand steel torii, stood a modern, sky-piercing tower.
The tower was over eight hundred meters tall and primarily conical in shape, its modern design infused with the architectural flair of ancient pagodas. This was the Inari Tower—the center of Inari's human realm affairs and its public headquarters.
On the top floor of the Inari Tower, in a large, luxurious semi-outdoor room with a sky garden, Miketsu—who had just arrived in Kyoto—sat by the garden, sipping cola while enjoying the night view of the new city. Beside her, Tsuruha, dressed in a sharp office-lady style, stood solemnly as she reported to Miketsu.
"As I've just stated, after analyzing intelligence gathered from various channels, we believe between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and eighty unmanaged yokai have infiltrated Kyoto's demon realm through various means over the last three years. Although we have dealt with one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one similar illegal immigrant yokai over the same period, we still cannot guarantee that none have slipped through the net."
"Yes. After all, in the world of yokai and rituals, the means are myriad, and yokai with all sorts of abilities are constantly emerging. Although we have been continuously updating our technical methods, we still cannot prevent everything. We are very sorry."
"It doesn't matter. That's just how the demon realm is. You can never control everything. If they are determined to come, there are many ways; there will always be abilities and methods we haven't thought of," Miketsu murmured as she gazed at the city's night view through the cola in her glass. Beside her, Tsuruha continued.
"Our security department has always been very strict, leaving them very few opportunities. However, after this hijacking incident, we suddenly realized that they might not just be targeting us—they might also reach out toward innocent civilians," Tsuruha said with a grave expression. Miketsu asked her directly.
"So, what are your thoughts now?"
"To answer Lady Uka, we suspect this hijacking incident was just the prelude. Their large-scale operation will likely unfold during this Inari Festival. Therefore, we intend to immediately terminate this year's Inari trial, find the unregistered illegal yokai in bulk, and eliminate them," Tsuruha said seriously to Miketsu. After hearing this, Miketsu nodded.
"I see. Then why didn't you use this kind of technique to find them before?"
"These techniques belong to a new technology that isn't mature yet. Using them not only makes it very difficult to hide the commotion, but they also have noticeable side effects on ordinary humans. That's why we hadn't planned on using them until now."
"I see. But wouldn't doing that alert the enemy? Aren't you afraid those guys will grow desperate and attack the evacuation teams?" Miketsu said, her eyes shifting. Tsuruha spoke slowly.
"We will do our utmost to ensure the safety of the evacuation teams, making meticulous arrangements to keep casualties to a minimum."
"Keep casualties to a minimum? Does that mean there will still be casualties?"
"But Lady Uka, isn't the requirement of zero casualties a bit..."
"It's not excessive at all. Actually, I came here this time to attend the Inari Festival with my classmates, and I don't want the festival to be canceled either."
"You don't want the festival canceled? But—wait, Lady Uka, you're not planning to take action personally this time, are you!" Tsuruha looked at Miketsu in astonishment. Miketsu simply shook her head and smiled as she spoke.
"Take action personally? No, no, no. I'm just here to have fun. Besides, aren't you all here? If the goddess has to solve everything herself, what do I need you guys for?" After taking a sip of cola, Miketsu used a silver fork to pick up a piece of fried tofu from an exquisite small plate on the table and put it in her mouth.
Rate on N.U.
