Chapter 45: The Ubiquity of Curses

“Good thing I wasn’t wearing white pants.” Walking out of the alley, Minamoto Kiyomoto was still fussing over the spot where Himemiya Izayoi had kicked him.

“Ah, unpleasant, very unpleasant!” Himemiya Izayoi spun her umbrella like a child and suddenly turned her head to Kamibayashi Miko, “Miko, let’s go buy clothes!”

Kamibayashi Miko withdrew her gaze from Minamoto Kiyomoto’s pant leg and nodded, “I was just planning to buy some summer clothes recently.”

“Who’s going to take me home?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“Home?” Himemiya Izayoi asked back, “If you don’t go, who’s going to carry the bags?”

“…I probably know my use, but there’s one thing I want to declare first.”

“Mm,” Himemiya Izayoi nodded in permission. As expected of the miko of the world’s number one shrine, she had the air of a superior.

“If I go, I’ll also buy two summer outfits, but my wallet only allows me to go to Uniqlo. Ginza or whatever is out of the question,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Let’s go to Ginza!”

“I have no objection.”

“You have no objection?!” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Kamibayashi Miko, “Miss Kamibayashi, wake up. I’m the one helping you pay back the bank loan. Please have some self-awareness.”

“That’s right. Because you’re helping me pay it back, that’s why I’m going to Ginza.” Kamibayashi Miko’s face was as white as snow, contrasted by the blue hydrangea in her hand. “Besides, I don’t have to buy someone a 760,000 yen ring.”

“…”

“‘The trees are silent, but the hydrangea’s color changes helplessly’.” Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto and said with a smile, “The fickle hydrangea.”

Himemiya Izayoi, holding her umbrella, poked Minamoto Kiyomoto with her arm, “She’s talking about you.”

“This is clearly a liberal arts student’s rainy season sentimentality. What does it have to do with me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“You’re quite good at deceiving yourself. By the way,” Himemiya Izayoi said as if she had suddenly remembered, “Kyoto often holds poetry parties. It’s raining now, so let’s have an internal poetry party too. The theme will be ‘hydrangea’.”

“I’ll go first!” Minamoto Kiyomoto said without hesitation, reciting, “‘The hydrangeas bloom, each flower unfading and everlasting’.”

“Do you think we haven’t read the ‘Man’yoshu’?” Kamibayashi Miko walked towards the station.

“Do we have to compose our own?”

“A poetry party, who recites waka poems?” Himemiya Izayoi said mockingly.

“Then I’ll report that the line Miss Kamibayashi just said is also from the ‘Man’yoshu’.”

“That one doesn’t count. You go first,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“Are you sure you want me to go first? The waka I compose is earth-shattering. If I go first, you guys—”

“Stop bragging, hurry up!” Himemiya Izayoi urged.

“Wait, let me think, hydrangea, hydrangea… ‘The hydrangea is beautiful, but not as beautiful as a miko, because the one looking is Minamoto Kiyomoto.’ How’s that? Not bad, right!”

“Truly earth-shattering, as expected of Young Master Kiyoshi.” Himemiya Izayoi used her left hand to pat her right hand, which was holding the umbrella, and clapped twice.

“It’s average, average. By the way, is waka considered a type of curse? Humans want to express a certain emotion, so they compose waka. This emotion is bound by the waka, becomes concrete, and can be recognized by people, but at the same time, it loses more subtle things.”

“Your talent for curses is as great as your ability to compose waka is terrible.”

“So when you said ‘as expected of Young Master Kiyoshi’ just now, you were mocking me? Forget it, it’s your turn. Let me, Young Master Kiyoshi, see some not-so-earth-shattering waka.”

The three of them walked and talked, heading towards Ginza.

The hydrangeas in the flower beds were rich, deep, and vibrant under the abundant rain.

The Ginza buildings and boutiques were all lit up. The neat road was wet with rain, reflecting the various neon lights that symbolized prosperity.

Everything before them looked hazy yet clear, like a scene from a dream.

After a round of charging and fighting, Minamoto Kiyomoto not only had shopping bags hanging from his arms and neck, but he had also changed his clothes.

In front, the two miko were walking lightly, holding only a wallet in their hands.

“That should be enough, right? If this continues, I can only fly while walking and free up my feet to carry things for you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

The people coming and going around were all exquisitely dressed and looked at him, who was covered in shopping bags, with strange eyes.

He didn’t care about the outside world’s opinion; he really couldn’t carry any more.

“I’ll let you off this time. If you dare to praise another woman as cute in front of me again, I’ll crush you with Mount Fuji.”

“Is it the real Mount Fuji, or buying things worth as much as Mount Fuji?”

“Is there a difference between the two?”

“I like the former. I want to learn the curse to move Mount Fuji.”

The three of them walked into a dessert shop.

“Fugetsudo? A good name,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the sign and said to himself.

“What a coincidence.”

Hearing Himemiya Izayoi’s smiling voice, Minamoto Kiyomoto looked inside the shop. Fujiwara Shino and the others were sitting in the shop drinking black tea.

However, things were even more coincidental than Himemiya Izayoi had thought—in a corner of the shop, Itomi Sayaka was sipping a drink through a straw, one sip at a time.

Could this be… a “textbook-level” shuraba?
Minamoto Kiyomoto felt that he could continue shopping. It wouldn’t be a problem to hang two more shopping bags on his stretched neck.

His fingers were also flexible enough to hook four or five.

But what had happened had happened. It was useless to regret it. At this time, what was needed was decisiveness.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was the first to find a table, put down the shopping bags, and then pull out a chair.

“Miss Kamibayashi,” he called out.

Kamibayashi Miko’s eyes swept across the shop. She ignored Minamoto Kiyomoto and pulled out another chair to sit down.

Himemiya Izayoi stood where she was, sizing up Minamoto Kiyomoto with a grin. The waitress beside her waited awkwardly.

“…Izayoi, please,” Minamoto Kiyomoto called out again.

Himemiya Izayoi walked over and also pulled out a chair to sit down.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was not embarrassed at all and sat down on the chair he had pulled out—this was also proof of his profound capacity and broad-mindedness.

“Brother Kiyomoto?” Minamoto Kiyomi greeted them happily.

Minamoto Kiyone and Fujiwara Shino, who were at the same table, just watched.

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded as a return greeting.

Itomi Sayaka rested her elbow on the table, her palm supporting her chin, and looked over with a smile.

After ordering, Himemiya Izayoi closed the menu, glanced at Itomi Sayaka, and asked Minamoto Kiyomoto, “You know her?”

“Not long ago, a professor introduced me to a blind date. She’s the blind date,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

Himemiya Izayoi let out an interested “oh,” “And the result?”

From her expression, one could not see any emotions like jealousy or anger. What was with the jealousy she had shown before?
Minamoto Kiyomoto pondered this witch in his heart.

Before he could tell her about the blind date, he smelled the fragrance of Guerlain’s Eau de Cologne Impériale and at the same time heard Itomi Sayaka’s voice.

“Long time no see,” she greeted lightly.

Before the three of them could react, she sat down next to Minamoto Kiyomoto on her own.

“And you are?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with a smile.

“He’s my boyfriend,” Itomi Sayaka’s tone remained light.

“Cough, cough, cough! Sorry, I’m sorry!” At the next table, Minamoto Kiyomi choked on her tea.

Kamibayashi Miko sized up Minamoto Kiyomoto, “Why didn’t you report it to me?”

“You can’t even last fifteen minutes, and you dare to find another woman behind my back?” Himemiya Izayoi said coldly.

Minamoto Kiyomoto watched the waitress bring a towel to Minamoto Kiyomi, a worried look on his face. Was he worried about his cousin? Considering the possibility of marrying into the family, she might be his cousin.

When a foreign object enters the trachea, it will cause the patient to cough violently. In severe cases, it can even lead to suffocation and death.

This was something a medical student would instinctively think of when seeing such a situation.

“Knock, knock,” Himemiya Izayoi’s knuckles tapped the table, making a pleasant sound.

Minamoto Kiyomoto collected his thoughts from reviewing his knowledge and, starting with “it’s like this,” he told them about the blind date and the part-time job.

“You’d do anything for money?” Himemiya Izayoi asked.

“It’s not for the money. It’s to help Miss Kamibayashi pay back her loan, and also to buy you a ring.”

Himemiya Izayoi let out a cute “oh,” “I see. Thank you for your hard work.”

She showed an embarrassed look for misunderstanding him, and also the happiness of knowing he had made a sacrifice for her.

Minamoto Kiyomoto no longer believed her.

This fickle witch who played with people’s hearts.

“Mr. Minamoto?” Kamibayashi Miko tilted her head and called out softly, like a gust of wind.

Minamoto Kiyomoto thought of the anime he used to watch. Before a yandere made a move, she usually acted like this.

“It’s so hot,” the muscle at the base of his thumb, the thenar eminence, wiped his forehead.

“Kiyomoto-kun,” Itomi Sayaka said, “it seems you’re having a hard time.”

“God’s will is in all things, even German-made cars are no exception. Then pain is naturally everywhere. Everyone has their pain,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“Like smoke?” Itomi Sayaka asked him.

Himemiya Izayoi smiled mischievously and also asked, “Like air?”

“Like light or darkness?” Kamibayashi Miko asked.

If it were before, Minamoto Kiyomoto would have said like darkness, but Kamibayashi Miko not sitting in the chair he had pulled out for her had hurt his heart.

“Like chaos,” he said. “Everything in the world is chaos. The clear distinction between heaven and earth is also a state of chaos. It’s just that this state happens to be suitable for human survival, so humans separated it from chaos—pain is like chaos, it’s everywhere.”

“I see!” After saying this, Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t help but slap the table.

As if light had illuminated a dark room, or as if the red sun had risen from the sea, Fugetsudo suddenly became much brighter.

“Did they turn on the lights?” a customer asked subconsciously.

“Haven’t the lights been on all this time?” their companion replied.

“Then what happened just now?”

“The sun came out for a while. It’s a common thing in the rainy season. I even saw a sun shower on the way here.”

In the eyes of cultivators like Kamibayashi Miko, Himemiya Izayoi, and Fujiwara Shino, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s whole body was glowing. Finally, the light disappeared without a trace, no, it converged into his eyes.

Those eyes, which had become dark due to the awakening of his capacity, were now as bright as if they had absorbed the sunlight.

“What ‘I see’?” Itomi Sayaka looked at him with confusion.

“Nothing,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said nonchalantly. “I’m a devout Christian. I just understood a passage from the Bible and am one step closer to God.”

“Doesn’t God treat all living beings fairly? Is there a saying about being one step closer?”

“It’s a lie.”

“You’re not a Christian?”

“It’s not me who’s lying, it’s God who’s lying. Where is there any fairness in this world?”

“…You’re not a Christian,” Itomi Sayaka said with great certainty for some reason.

While the two were talking, Minamoto Kiyomi, Minamoto Kiyone, and Fujiwara Shino looked at each other, and they all saw the incredulity in each other’s eyes.

The phenomenon Minamoto Kiyomoto had just experienced was called ‘seeing God’ in the cultivation world.

When Kamibayashi Miko had guided Minamoto Kiyomoto to awaken his capacity, she had written in her notebook: “Know God, see God, command God.” This was just a simple way of using divine power.

‘Seeing God’ was a higher realm than ‘beholding God.’ What one saw was no longer the divine breath between heaven and earth, but one’s own true self.

Among the various schools and sects of cultivators, there were many who believed that humans themselves were gods, which was why they could absorb divine breath like yokai.

The realm of ‘seeing God’ was mysterious. It couldn’t be explained. If you hadn’t reached it, you hadn’t reached it.

It had nothing to do with the level of cultivation. It depended entirely on one’s personal comprehension and luck.

It was said that the current miko of the Hokkaido Shrine was born in the vast snow, with a head of white hair. When she was dug out of the snow by the previous generation’s Hokkaido Shrine miko, she could already ‘see God’.

Once one ‘saw God’ and saw one’s true self, one’s cultivation would advance by a thousand miles a day, and there would be no need to worry about a backlash from one’s capacity—for example, Minamoto Kiyomoto becoming arrogant.

And to become a Kosen—not just being ranked among the thirty-six Kosen—one had to ‘see God’ and see one’s true self.

There were countless Kosen in the middle ages, but the thirty-six people known as the ‘thirty-six Kosen of the middle ages’ were the true Kosen. They had all seen God.

Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at Kamibayashi Miko and said to Itomi Sayaka, “Miss Sayaka, I’m sorry, actually I…”

“It’s okay,” Itomi Sayaka said with a faint smile. “I know you don’t like me. I’m actually relieved. You can continue to be my boyfriend.”

“I mean…”

“On June 3rd, it’s my mother’s birthday. Our family is planning to celebrate it for her, and she asked me to invite you. You haven’t been replying to my messages for the past few days. I happened to run into you today, so I’m just letting you know. If you perform well, it’s still one million yen.”

Before Minamoto Kiyomoto could reply, she had already picked up her newly changed bag.

“I won’t disturb your date anymore, little brother. Goodbye!” Itomi Sayaka extended two fingers, blew a big sister’s flying kiss, swayed her graceful waist, and walked out of Fugetsudo.

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto was actually planning to quit his part-time job.

If it weren’t for being by Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi’s side, he would never have met the three members of the Minamoto clan and would have been abducted by other cultivators long ago.

“I’ll send her a message later. I’m not doing this part-time job anymore,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to the two miko.

“I want to kill her,” Himemiya Izayoi took a sip of black tea and said with a smile.

“Calm down,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gave her a piece of dessert.

“You don’t have to quit,” Kamibayashi Miko suddenly said.

“Hmm? Why?”

“You’ve already reached a certain realm. You don’t need to stay in the nest like a fledgling all day, waiting for others to feed you. You can go out and practice flying.”

This was one reason. Another reason was that Kamibayashi Miko wanted to push Minamoto Kiyomoto away from her.

She reflected on her recent behavior and mood.

She was unhappy when she saw Minamoto Kiyomoto joking with Himemiya Izayoi;
She was happy when she heard him respond to her with a waka poem and pull out a chair for her.

She would still protect him, and even dote on him, until she died, but the distance between the two of them didn’t need to be shortened anymore.

“Yes, I’ll think about it again,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice was calm. He had guessed her thoughts.

The joy of his cultivation progress was like a tide hitting the shore, shattering into pieces.

Himemiya Izayoi looked at the two of them as if she were watching a good show. Her eyes were full of amusement, but for some reason, the strawberry in her mouth suddenly tasted a little sour.

When a pretense becomes real, it is also false. When one teases someone, one will also fall into it.

A curse is both a power and a restraint. Even someone as talented as the three of them could not avoid it and had played themselves.

If there were only two people, it would be fine, but the result was three equally outstanding people. Compared to a peaceful relationship, jealousy can sometimes spark love even more.

(End of Chapter)