Chapter 139: The Sewers
New Fushimi District, Kyoto.
The streets of the Inari Festival were lined with all sorts of food stalls and activity booths, providing entertainment and snacks for residents and tourists alike. Due to the nature of the festival, most of the activities and food were themed around Inari. For instance, the most popular snack was fried tofu, while the most sought-after activity was the Demon-Slaying Arrow game.
Divine grace protects the world. Thus, in popular tradition, the bow and arrow became the weapon of Inari Okami. During festivals, Inari shrines across the country would create wooden boards in the shapes of various demons and monsters. Miko would then line them up and shoot them with bows. Eventually, commoners were allowed to participate, and just like throwing beans to ward off demons, it became a folk tradition. It was said that the arrows used to shoot "yokai" during the Inari Festival were kept by many families on their rafters as charms to ward off evil.
In Kyoto during the festival, these street games based on the tradition were everywhere. Deep inside one booth, a wooden plaque carved in the image of a Great Snake was struck down, immediately drawing a burst of cheers from the surrounding crowd.
"Oh! Another hit!" Beside Miketsu, watching the wooden yokai plaques fall in a heap, Hayakawa Rin spoke with a hint of excitement.
"Inaba, you're amazing! You hit all ten shots, even the Great Snake hidden in the very back! You're like an incarnation of Inari Okami herself! You can get so many prizes for this. It's a real shame you didn't join the Kyudo club; you might have won the national championship!" At the archery stall, Rin, holding a skewer of takoyaki, praised Miketsu without hesitation.
"It’s about what I expected. I just felt like many of these wooden plaques have been hit before, so my aim felt more accurate," Miketsu said as she lowered the bow. This time, she paid close attention to her grip strength, finally managing not to crush the stall's bow.
"You've shot them before? Oh, right, you mentioned that back when you were a miko, you used bows to hunt, shoot fish, and snakes and such." Rin spoke as she and Miketsu picked out prizes, and Miketsu nodded at her words.
"At an Inari shrine! Which means you’re technically an Inari miko, right?"
"Mm... you could say that," Miketsu replied after a moment’s thought. After all, serving herself was still service, wasn't it? Buying a bottle of cola on the street was basically giving herself an offering.
"Really? Then I’m curious, are all Inari miko great at archery? If I go serve as a miko for a few days, can I improve my skills?" Rin asked excitedly. As a member of the Kyudo club, she was very interested in the craft.
"That’s hard to say. I’m just an exception," Miketsu said with a smile. Hearing this, Rin couldn't help but sound disappointed.
"Is that so? That really is a bit of a pity."
"It can't be helped; times are changing. Now that things more useful than bows and arrows have appeared, people are slowly losing interest in them," Miketsu continued to speak with a slight smile. Her description left Rin momentarily confused.
Something more useful than a bow? Some new ritual tool? But the miko on TV still use bows for important ceremonies, don't they? Rin pondered in confusion. Meanwhile, Miketsu looked up with a smile toward the roof of a nearby building, where a monkey yokai was slowly peeking out from behind a railing, glaring hungrily at the bustling crowd below. Just as it prepared to vault over and lunge at the people, its head suddenly exploded in a burst of blood, and its body slumped back behind the railing in agony.
Witnessing this, Miketsu smiled slightly and looked toward a skyscraper hundreds of meters high, over a kilometer away.
On that empty rooftop, an Inari miko with short black hair and a red-and-white miko outfit was half-crouched. The whistling high-altitude wind blew her wide sleeves, but she held a long, heavy sniper rifle steady.
"Threat point 120 eliminated." Speaking briefly into the mic near her mouth, the miko checked the time and coordinates on her eyepiece and immediately adjusted her rifle. After aiming briefly, she pulled the trigger again. The spinning bullet flew across a kilometer, into an alleyway by the street, blowing the head off a Kappa that had just crawled out of a trash can. Amidst the wails, the plate on the Kappa's head was shattered instantly.
"Threat point 121 eliminated." After the cold report, the Inari miko adjusted her sniper rifle again according to the eyepiece prompts, searching for the next target in her scope.
Following the "divine revelations" descending from Uka-no-Kami through the central computer, the giant machine of Inari operated silently in the shadows, efficiently eliminating numerous potential threats across the entire city.
In a hospital morgue, Fox Hunt special forces burst in, spraying submachine gun fire at the evil spirits hiding within. At various high-vantage sniper points, pre-prepared demon-slaying miko sniped designated targets. Aberrations hidden in the ventilation systems of high-rises were poisoned by specialized anti-yokai gas. In the city's outskirts, countless plant yokai invading the city were purified by demon-slaying miko in heavy armor wielding talisman-powered flamethrowers. For a time, battle reports from across the city converged like snowflakes toward Inari Tower.
Inside the massive operation command room of Inari Tower, countless miko, divine messengers, wild gods, humans, and yokai were busy working. Some were buried in work at their stations, while others hurried back and forth. The entire vast room was filled with a tense atmosphere as everyone scurried about.
A massive electronic display hung on the command room wall, showing a map of Kyoto with traffic and foot traffic information labeled. Numerous numbered red dots appeared on the map, disappearing one by one at high speed.
Near the back center of the room, facing the large screen, sat a wide desk. Behind it sat a young girl wearing a gray-blue trench coat, black silk stockings, and a short skirt. She had chestnut-brown hair and long ears. As she monitored the display, numerous staff members delivered various statistics and real-time battle reports to her desk.
"Report, threat points 120, 121, 122, and 123 have been eliminated. All threats on Nijo Avenue are gone."
"Report, threat points 41, 44, and 43 have been eliminated. All threat points at Kiyomizu-dera have been cleared."
"Report, threat points 21 and 26 eliminated. The Greater Imperial Palace is safe."
Looking at the battle reports accumulating before her and the cleared areas on the map, the girl nodded.
"Good. Keep it up. Don't slack off. Personnel who have finished their regional clearing tasks should immediately be reassigned to areas with higher threat density. Pick up the pace."
While speaking, the girl began to redeploy and issue commands based on the current situation, coordinating personnel across the city to increase efficiency. After finally finishing this round of orders, she let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back into her comfortable chair. At that moment, a round-faced, obedient-looking girl in a secretary's outfit with small rabbit ears approached, carrying a tray.
"You've worked hard, Lady Ami. Please, have some coffee."
The rabbit-eared girl walked forward and placed the coffee on the desk. The girl known as Ami looked up at the sight.
"Ah, thank you, Wakabana." After a brief thanks, Ami took the coffee and began to drink. After tasting it for a moment, she nodded.
"Mmm, this is brewed very well. The flavor is great."
"Really? That's wonderful! To receive Lady Ami’s praise is the honor of a lifetime for Wakabana." Hearing the evaluation, stars flashed in Wakabana's eyes.
"Haha, you're overpraising me. It’s just a compliment; no need to escalate it to a lifetime honor." After saying that, the girl went back to sipping her coffee, but Wakabana spoke up again.
"How can you say that, Lady Ami? You, as a rabbit yokai, have risen to such a high position in Inari; you are a role model for a fellow rabbit like me! Getting a compliment from my role model is exciting no matter what!"
"Pfft! Cough, cough, cough!" Hearing Wakabana's words, the girl choked on her coffee for some reason, nearly spitting it all over the documents. Wakabana panicked instantly.
"Eeeek! Lady Ami, what happened?!" Seeing the girl in such a state, Wakabana hurried forward to pat her back, but the coughing girl held out a hand to stop her.
"Cough... it’s fine, I can manage."
After her coughing fit, the girl placed the half-spilled coffee cup on the desk, turned her chair, and looked seriously at Wakabana. Seeing the girl's intense gaze, Wakabana, not knowing what she had done wrong, froze.
"Wakabana, there is one thing I need to remind you of very solemnly." Looking at the little rabbit yokai before her, the girl spoke in a low, heavy voice. Hearing this, Wakabana was startled.
"What is it! Just say the word, and Wa-Wakabana will remember it forever!" Wakabana said flusteredly. Hearing her words, the girl reached up and pointed at the long, chestnut-colored ears atop her head, then spoke with absolute gravity.
"These are not rabbit ears. They are donkey ears. I am not a rabbit yokai."
...Hearing Ami's words, Wakabana stood there in a daze, while Ami continued seriously.
"I am the transformed spirit beast of a donkey! A donkey representing diligence, earnestness, and hard work! A donkey that Lady Uka personally rode! I am not some rabbit!"
Hearing Ami’s solemn declaration, Wakabana stood rooted to the spot like a gray stone statue. In her heart, something seemed to shatter with a heavy thud.
Back behind the large desk in the Inari Tower command room. After sending away the rabbit yokai secretary, who seemed devastated by her shattered dreams, Ami hunched over her desk, propping her head up with her hand and muttering under her breath.
"Seriously... why does everyone get it wrong? These are clearly donkey ears... calling them rabbit ears... I'm not a rabbit. I’m a diligent donkey, a glorious donkey of Lady Uka..."
While Ami was grumbling at her desk, a young human clerk wearing glasses ran over from afar. He held a report and spoke to Ami.
"Report, Lady Ami. News just came in from Choyo-machi. All threat points there have been eliminated!"
"Oh? Choyo-machi is clean too? That’s fantastic."
"With that, almost everything on the surface is nearly clear. Next is the underground... hm. What’s the situation in the sewers right now?" Ami asked. The young male staffer gave a loud report.
"Report, milady. According to the news just received, the cleanup operation in the city's sewers has entered its final stages. They are currently mopping up the last remnants. It is estimated that they will be completely clear within ten minutes."
Hearing the report, Ami was stunned, then spoke in shock.
"So fast!? No way! The sewers are being cleared faster than the surface? Weren't there over fifty threat points there? We barely sent any personnel down; it was almost entirely those strange yokai Sister Tsuruha found?" Ami spoke incredulously. The sewers held nearly a third of the threat points and over a hundred yokai. To ensure a perfect resolution, multiple people were usually assigned to each threat point. When assigning personnel, the sewers had been severely understaffed. She had been forced to ask Tsuruha for help, and Tsuruha had made a call and said she’d found people. The next day, a bunch of strange yokai arrived at Inari.
"Yes, it—it was those strange yokai! Those white, chubby, red-haired strange yokai Lady Tsuruha brought, the ones also mentioned in the divine revelations! Lady Ami, their combat power is simply too terrifying! They almost flattened the underground threat points! They're much faster than us on the surface," the clerk continued. Hearing his words, Ami was momentarily dazed, then spoke again.
"Those weirdos Sister Tsuruha found are that strong? By the way... is there any surveillance footage from the sewers? Pull it up for me."
"Yes, milady!"
The clerk went down to comply. Shortly after, a separate window popped up on the massive screen, displaying scenes from the dim sewers.
"Hehehehehe..."
Inside the long sewer tunnels, the roar of an engine accompanied an eerie laugh. On the screen, a large drilling machine with a conical drill at the front was speeding forward. The blood-stained drill was spinning rapidly, and in front of it was a group of yokai wailing and fleeing. In the driver's seat of the drill was a bizarre creature. Its white, chubby body looked like a snowman, and it wore a thick scarf around a non-existent neck. Above the scarf sat a blurry head, looking like a low-resolution, pixelated head from some game. One could clearly see the composite pixel blocks, but despite the pixels, the head was very distinct—it was a red-haired girl with twin tails and a smile.
"Hehehehe..."
With fits of laughter, the pixel-headed girl drove her drill machine forward ruthlessly, driving a large group of yokai to flee in terror. Any yokai that slowed down even slightly would be mercilessly swallowed by the high-speed drill, turning into a spray of blood.
"Help!" Wails echoed from the screen.
"Hehehehe..."
In front of the fleeing yokai, another drill machine slowly emerged from the darkness amidst the laughter. Another pixel-headed red-haired girl was driving this machine, her sharp, rotating drill blocking the only exit for the yokai.
In the end, amidst that desperate environment, the group of yokai was completely wiped out. The overly bloody scenes were censored and not shown on the large screen.
"This... this is their way of fighting? Truly strange..." Ami muttered, looking at the blacked-out screen. The clerk beside her immediately spoke up.
"No, no, milady. Their fighting styles are extremely varied and numerous. What you just saw was only one type. Please look at these..."
As he spoke, the large screen began to show other scenes. More identical white, chubby, pixel-headed girls appeared, wiping out yokai in the sewers in various ways. Some summoned pumpkin bombs to blow yokai away; some directly slapped all the yokai in a line into mush; some used spears to slaughter everything; and some even summoned a long whip, going into a frenzy...
All sorts of sounds filled the speakers.
"Heya~!" "Noye~!" "Stupid! Stupid!" "Idiot! Idiot!" "Work! Work! Work!"
Watching the chaotic scene of madness on screen, Ami felt a cold sweat. She muttered to herself.
"Where on earth did these yokai come from... where did Sister Tsuruha find these weirdos..."
"According to the Heavenly Fox deity, the name of these yokai is..."
"Demon worlders?"
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