Decoys and Infiltrations

Kyoto. On a certain street.

As a cultural capital, Kyoto saw many people dressed in traditional kimono wandering the streets during festivals. Combined with the surrounding historic architecture, it occasionally felt as if one had stepped back into a different era.

"Inaba, these buildings look so ancient. Doesn't it feel like we've traveled back in time? As expected of a thousand-year-old capital. Is this what things looked like a millennium ago?" Walking along a quaint, ancient-looking alley, Hayakawa Rin spun around, looking at the structures with a sigh of admiration.

Hearing Rin's words, Miketsu, who was currently eating a skewer of dango, glanced around and spoke calmly.

"Traveled back in time? I don't really feel that way." After biting off another dango and chewing, Miketsu scanned the surrounding buildings. After swallowing, she continued, "Most of these are only two or three hundred years old. It’s nothing special, and it’s a far cry from how things looked a thousand years ago."

"Is that so? But even two or three hundred years feels quite ancient to me..."

"Is two or three hundred years considered ancient?" Miketsu glanced at Rin as she spoke. Met with that gaze, Rin froze for a moment, suddenly unsure of what to say.

Seeing Rin's reaction, Miketsu didn't press the matter. She turned her eyes to the street, which had been built to look as historic as possible, trying to use it to recall the city's appearance from a millennium ago. However, aside from the layout of the roads, she could find few commonalities. Even for Kyoto, a city famed for its well-preserved heritage, a thousand years was simply too long. Aside from the old shrines on Mount Inari that were no longer open to the public, few things remained from that era. Even Rajomon, which was once the mandatory gate for entering the city, was now nothing more than a stone monument marking the site where it once stood.

In Inari's eyes, excessive interference in human affairs was unnecessary. In this age where the Age of Gods was a distant memory, Inari would not intervene in the mutual conflicts of mankind. Generally, she provided protection to the civilians of Kyoto during times of war and helped them rebuild their homes once the strife had passed. Unless those chaotic-era warlords or court schemers tried to use the power of yokai, or were foolish enough to bring the fight to her doorstep, Inari would not act personally.

Looking at the city before her, Miketsu couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Just then, the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled slightly, though it quickly returned to normal.

"What was that just now? Was it an earthquake?" Feeling that faint tremor, Hayakawa Rin spoke with a hint of concern.

"I don't think it was an earthquake. It was more likely underground construction or something similar," Miketsu answered flatly. Hearing this, Rin asked with even more curiosity.

"Underground construction? Are they building a subway?"

"Maybe... but I suspect it's the diligent sewer workers performing maintenance." As she spoke, Miketsu walked toward a small, secluded alley by herself and waved back at Rin. "I'm going to find a restroom!"

"Oh, okay! I'll wait for you here."

Holding her dango, Miketsu walked slowly into the empty alley. After a few paces, she stopped before a manhole cover. After waiting for a moment, the cover before her began to vibrate slightly, then was pried open from below. A pixelated little girl's head, like a red-haired character from a game, popped out of the sewer opening. She looked at Miketsu with a confident smile.

"Is this the world of the strong?"

"Oho..." A strange laugh escaped the pixelated head. Miketsu looked at the cute, blocky head wearing a manhole cover and smiled.

"It seems the sewer cleaning is going well."

As she spoke, Miketsu crouched down and handed over the dango skewer. The giant, pixelated head swallowed the remaining dango in one bite, then sank back down. The heavy manhole cover clattered back into place with a loud thud.

Earlier, when Miketsu heard about the sewer cleanup, she had become interested. She told Tsuruha she could provide manpower to deal with the yokai lurking in the tunnels. She then used Meme Lore power to manifest an army of demon worlders. Since the game known as 'Poisonous Milk Powder' existed in this world's Huaxia, the spreading power of the demon worlders was sufficient to create yokai. As for why she chose them, it was because in one of Miketsu's long-past lives, she had played that game for a while and had been a 'lighting technician' for the demon worlders before quitting. The moment Tsuruha mentioned sewers, she immediately thought of them. Thus, she used her ability to summon them and sent them directly to clear the tunnels.

"It seems the sewers have been cleaned. With that, there shouldn't be any threats left in the city..." Miketsu spoke softly, looking at the closed cover. She then looked toward the distant sky and murmured, "Now... it’s time for you all to pull your next stunt."

In a Secret Realm in the distant outskirts of Heian-kyo.

Inside a forest of withered and decaying trees, a thick miasma drifted. Deep within the haze, in a small Western-style house, a woman in black stood in shock before an old television set, watching the images on the screen.

"As you can see, this year's Inari Festival is even more lively than usual. Behind me is Joyful Animal Street. This year, the street has introduced even more novel amusement rides. Just a moment ago, a rare daytime firework display was launched, which was a huge hit with the children."

On the television screen, a young reporter was walking through a crowded amusement park. Behind him, various 'animal mascots' were surrounded by countless children. In the distance, the rides were packed with people, and the atmosphere was one of joy and peace.

"What’s going on... what happened to Goshinki and Senromaru? The planned time has long since passed!" Watching the peaceful scenes on TV, Hagoromo Gitsune murmured in a daze. She picked up the remote and began to switch channels.

"This is Ichijo Avenue. Look behind me; as you can see, the float parade has reached this point!" The screen switched to a female reporter recording the grand float parade on the busy street. The images showed colorful floats driving along the road, with tourists stopping on both sides to watch. Everything was peaceful and normal, with no signs of bloodshed.

"What on earth is Sensenbo doing?"

Hagoromo Gitsune murmured lowly again, switching channels once more. The screen showed the bustling crowd at the Inari Grand Shrine. Seeing the lines of people competing to offer prayers at the massive Haiden as usual, Hagoromo Gitsune's eyes widened. She took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. Then, she began to rapidly press the buttons on the remote. Images of various locations flashed by, but none showed explosions, fire, screams, blood, panic, or death. Today’s Inari Festival in Kyoto was just like any other year, with the entire city expressing gratitude to Inari Okami.

For Hagoromo Gitsune, this was the greatest anomaly of all.

"How is this possible... how can there be no incidents at all? It shouldn't be like this..." Muttering to herself, she walked toward the balcony. Standing there, she used sorcery to contact her subordinates who were supposed to be lurking within Kyoto.

However, her contact received no response whatsoever. She sent message after message, but the result was always silence. Realizing that no one would answer her, she ended the call and slowly walked back inside.

Her eyes were vacant, and her footsteps were unsteady. After a few steps, she collapsed onto a soft sofa.

"I failed. As expected, it was all for nothing in the end. And this time, the defeat was so total..." A self-deprecating smile appeared on her face. "Hehehe... I thought that even if it was another total failure, I would at least be able to drain your vitality and tear a chunk of flesh from you. Who would have thought such a massive operation would be dissolved so silently? After several hundred years, you've grown into such terrifying beings..."

As she talked to herself, she reached up and covered her forehead. "All the effort of this life, gone in less than half a day... Hehe... so tired. I'm so tired. I don't want to do this anymore..."

Hagoromo Gitsune murmured, a trace of purple-black light flickering in her pupils. Suddenly, she felt a sharp, piercing pain. Under the torment of this pain, she sat up abruptly from the sofa, clutching her head with an agonized expression. Before her, a five-pointed star seal glowing with a dark purple light emerged. Seeing this mark, she cried out.

"Seimei!"

"You've worked hard, Mother. You did very well."

A gloomy male voice drifted from the seal. Hearing this voice, Hagoromo Gitsune lowered her hand and spoke directly to the mark. "I'm sorry, Seimei. This time... we lost. I was played by Inari. Against them, we have no chance of winning, no matter how many times we try. Give up, Seimei. I'm exhausted."

She spoke in a weak tone, but Dark Seimei's voice continued to drift calmly from the seal. "Lost? Heh... how could we fail? Everything is proceeding smoothly according to plan. Your part of the mission has been successfully completed."

"What...?" Hagoromo Gitsune froze, then continued in disbelief. "Everything is going according to plan? Impossible! My subordinates have been wiped out. Not a single one of their tasks was completed. Both Kyoto and Inari are unscathed! How can this not be considered a failure?"

Dark Seimei chuckled. Hearing his laugh, Hagoromo Gitsune froze as if she had realized something. "Your plan... my plan? Could it be... was I merely your decoy?"

"Exactly. You are quite brilliant, Mother. From start to finish, you were merely a lure. Whether your plan succeeded or not, no matter how much damage you caused, it was never going to be enough to completely destroy Inari. At most, it would have only made them busy and drained some of their strength. Therefore, your movements were a decoy from the very beginning," Dark Seimei said slowly. To him, this 'mother' had been a tool from the start; he would never have revealed his true plan to her.

"The existence of you and your subordinates served as bait to lure Inari into dispersing their forces. Regardless of whether their actions succeeded, they tied up and scattered a massive portion of Inari's strength. Furthermore, to ensure not a single additional casualty occurred, Inari spent all their effort this afternoon, deploying the vast majority of their power to deal with you. This caused their vigilance and defenses in many other areas to drop, creating fatal oversights due to lack of personnel. And I... have already used those oversights to accomplish many things. My power has already..."

"Seimei... your power has already infiltrated the Inari headquarters?"

"Yes. And they haven't noticed a thing. I apologize; because I feared you might be captured by Inari and have your memories extracted, I never informed you of my true intent. But now, it no longer matters. Everything is settled." Facing the shocked Hagoromo Gitsune, Seimei spoke with finality and malice. "Inari will be destroyed. This time, even if Uka-no-Kami descends personally, she won't be able to save it."

Kyoto. Inside a park.

The park was full of foxes that were not afraid of humans. Many tourists bought special feed to feed them and took photos to commemorate the occasion. On one side of the grass, Miketsu sat on a park bench. She watched Hayakawa Rin attempting to coax a fox in the distance while answering a call from Tsuruha.

"Oh? The cleanup is already complete?"

"Yes. According to the results of your calculations, Lord Uka, all one hundred and seventy-four threat points have been cleared. Nothing was missed." Tsuruha's solemn voice came from the other end. Hearing this, Miketsu stroked the head of a small fox beside her seat.

"Mm. You've worked hard. So, what do you plan to do next?"

"It is our duty. I intend to use the captured yokai to conduct another covert search of the entire city to ensure all threats are eliminated. Simultaneously, I will redeploy our main forces back to key locations for high-alert guard duty to prevent a counterattack. Also... to prevent the enemy from infiltrating while our personnel were spread thin this afternoon..."

"Mm... I see. You've thought it through very carefully. You deserve praise. However..." Miketsu looked up at the sky, her expression unreadable as if she were contemplating something. She then spoke with a smile. "However, from my perspective, today’s trouble has already forced many people to work overtime during the festival. Everyone wants to enjoy the holiday. Since the threats have been completely eliminated, don't be so tense. Let's balance work and rest. Everyone should relax a little. Aside from those on essential duty, let those who should have the night off go home. Don't make them work overtime anymore. How about letting everyone have a good festival?"