Chapter 147: The Cold of Hokkaido

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The harbor was already visible, and Mount Hakodate stood on the horizon.

“By the way, what are you going to Hokkaido for?” Itomi Sayaka asked Minamoto Kiyomoto, her back to the harbor.

“To find the Hokkaido Miko and see if she’s willing to help.”

“You seem to have a good relationship with all the shrine maidens. Do you like shrine maidens?”

“Besides Miss Kamibayashi and Izayoi, have you seen me have a good relationship with any other shrine maiden? Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Me, Miko, the Suiten Miko, the Izumo Miko, the Hokkaido Miko,” Himegami Izayoi counted on her fingers. “How old are you? No, how long have you been in the world of practitioners?”

“You and Miko aside, do I have a good relationship with the Suiten Miko and the others?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with amusement.

“What about me? Is our relationship good or not?” Itomi Sayaka asked.

“Ex-girlfriend. Do you think it should be good or not?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked back.

On the ferry’s broadcast, the staff’s voice reminded people to check their tickets. Some who were driving or riding motorcycles to Hokkaido went to the lower deck.

“It’s time to go,” Itomi Sayaka’s blue divine power began to burn. “See you next time.”

Hanyu Chika and Yagyu Michiko also summoned their divine power.

The three of them slowly floated up, hovering in mid-air, watching the ferry sail into the quiet harbor.

“Soon…” Hanyu Chika and Yagyu Michiko turned their heads and looked at Itomi Sayaka, who was whispering softly.

“Soon,” she said, “we can go there too.”

The two looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

On the deck, Minamoto Kiyomoto, Kamibayashi Miko, and Himegami Izayoi retracted their divine power. The next moment, like a winter morning when one wants to open the window for fresh air, the two shrine maidens’ faces were instantly whitened by the cold wind.

Himegami Izayoi blinked continuously.

“Hahaha!” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed and hugged the two slender bodies in his arms to shield them from the wind.

“It seems you want to taste the water of Hokkaido,” Kamibayashi Miko said in his arms.

“That’s too cheap for him. Just break… eek—, it’s so cold!” Himegami Izayoi hadn’t finished saying what to break when her own words were interrupted by herself. She couldn’t help but shrink into Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arms.

“If you don’t want me to hug you, then hurry up and go inside!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was in a great mood, his arms around the two of them as he walked towards the cabin.

Hokkaido, what a good place.

◇

In Kanto, the government gave face to the Divine Medium; in Kansai, the government looked at the Ise Miko’s face. In Hokkaido, they were unfamiliar with the place and people. A strong dragon does not suppress a local snake. In order not to cause trouble, the three of them did not use their divine power to travel.

The first thing after getting off the ferry—
“Ah—” Himegami Izayoi walked a few steps, then drilled back into Minamoto Kiyomoto’s arms.

On the electronic screen of a large thermometer by the roadside, the real-time temperature of Hakodate was displayed: -3°.

The cold wind brushed against their skin, and the chill of Hokkaido was a bit overwhelming.

The sky was clear, and there was cotton-like snow on the roadside. Kamibayashi Miko, who was more beautiful than the snow with her natural purity, looked at the two of them coldly.

With a third person, Himegami Izayoi was a rabbit that would drill into a hole as soon as it saw someone.

But she didn’t leave Minamoto Kiyomoto’s embrace. Instead, she buried her face. Minamoto Kiyomoto’s unique scent and warm embrace made her reluctant to leave.

“Miss Kamibayashi, let’s go quickly. Let’s go buy clothes first!” Minamoto Kiyomoto hugged the tall and slender Kamibayashi Miko, who had the beauty of a fairy.

Just as Kamibayashi Miko was about to say something, a gust of cold wind blew, and she closed her eyes cutely and innocently.

“Hahaha!” Minamoto Kiyomoto hugged the two of them and walked away, his laughter echoing far in the vast Hokkaido.

On the street, passersby all turned their eyes to the three of them, who were like stray dogs huddling together for warmth.

An old grandmother wearing black warm gloves pointed at them with a smile and said something to her friend beside her.

When they entered the store, Himegami Izayoi was the first to go in, and Kamibayashi Miko was the second. When Minamoto Kiyomoto was about to go in, Himegami Izayoi blocked the door and wouldn’t let him in.

“Hey, I’m still outside!” Minamoto Kiyomoto tapped on the door lightly.

“It’s all your fault! This shrine maiden has been so embarrassed today!” Himegami Izayoi’s face was flushed, and her eyes were watery.

After saying this, she was about to move aside when Minamoto Kiyomoto pressed his face against the glass door, breathed on it, and casually drew a few strokes with his finger, drawing a shy face, the Ise Miko’s.

Himegami Izayoi blocked the door again.

Kamibayashi Miko stood behind her, gently blowing on her hands as she watched the two of them.

The store clerks inside the store looked at the three of them.

Kamibayashi Miko quickly bought her clothes: a white high-necked sweater, a long, light blue down jacket, and a beige scarf.

Bright colors, a cool feeling.

“It can be said,” Minamoto Kiyomoto praised Kamibayashi Miko, “Miss Kamibayashi, you are simply my aesthetic.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t look at him, but at Himegami Izayoi, who was still picking out clothes.

“Did you ask me about letting Sayaka’s sister follow you?” she said.

“Didn’t you agree?”

“Do you think that as your strength grows, and with Izayoi helping you, you can stop listening to me? Or are you getting impatient with me and want to show off your personality?” Kamibayashi Miko turned her head and looked at him coldly.

“No, how could I? Um, I promised Sayaka—”

“Before you promised her, the day I brought you back from Chiba, what did you promise me? ‘I won’t dare to do it next time. I will definitely, definitely get Miss Kamibayashi’s permission first.’ Have you forgotten, or are you planning to break your promise?”

“…I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“If you don’t want to listen to me and want to make all the decisions yourself, I can not care. You can tell me,” Kamibayashi Miko put away her coldness, her expression returning to one of indifference, as if she were distancing herself from the person she had just been.

Minamoto Kiyomoto knew that she had forgiven him.

She was always like this. As long as he did things without her permission, especially dangerous things, she would scold him. But after scolding him, she would always be partial to him and agree to anything he wanted.

“No, no, that’s not okay,” with the matter resolved, he became more talkative. “Without Miss Kamibayashi’s discipline, I would definitely have problems. I might become a ruthless person who abandons compassion to achieve his goals. Miss Kamibayashi, you don’t want to see that happen, do you?”

“I don’t care what happens to you.”

“…”

The situation Minamoto Kiyomoto was talking about actually referred to many people being killed by him, but Kamibayashi Miko seemed to only care about whether he himself became ruthless, not about which people would be killed.

He moved his body slightly, and his shoulder gently touched Kamibayashi Miko’s.

Kamibayashi Miko stretched out her right index finger, pressed it against his right shoulder, and pushed him away. She didn’t even look at him during the process.

Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, “Miko, I like you.”

Kamibayashi Miko raised her left hand and chopped at his waist.

“Ugh!” Minamoto Kiyomoto pretended to be in great pain.

Himegami Izayoi finally finished choosing, a large pile.

The first time she came out of the fitting room, she was wearing a light purple short down jacket with gray casual pants, a vibrant young girl;

A little while later, she changed into a milky yellow mid-length down jacket, a white long skirt, and a small white bag, becoming a sweet and beautiful girl;
A little while later, a blue long coat, a scarf, and a cold face, becoming a cool older sister;
When she came out again, she had become a gentle junior wearing a white sweater, a coffee-colored half-skirt, and a beret;

“Which one looks good?” she asked Minamoto Kiyomoto, adjusting the position of her beret.

“You look the best,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Disgusting,” Himegami Izayoi curled her lips in disgust, turned around, and said to the store clerk, “Wrap up everything I just wore.”

Her expression was so natural, her tone so practiced, that the store clerks were stunned for a moment, like birds on a wire, stupefied by the cold wind.

“All… all of it?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, no, there isn’t. We’ll wrap them up for you right away.”

“Carry your own things,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said in advance.

Six minutes later, the store clerk saw them out. The two shrine maidens were empty-handed, leisurely as if they were on a trip. Following behind them was Minamoto Kiyomoto, his arms full of shopping bags.

Not a single item was Minamoto Kiyomoto’s. He was still wearing the clothes he had worn when he left Tokyo.

“Shall we spend the night in Hakodate tonight and go to Sapporo tomorrow?” Himegami Izayoi turned back and asked in the snow.

At this time, she was wearing a sky-blue hooded sweatshirt, her coiled hair hidden in a knitted hat, and a strand of beautiful hair fell on each side of her cheeks.

It was she, walking on the tracks of the streetcar, her arms spread to maintain her balance, who suddenly turned back and spoke to Minamoto Kiyomoto and Kamibayashi Miko.

“Don’t waste time,” Kamibayashi Miko’s neck was wrapped in a scarf. That fair and beautiful face was like a gem on display.

“Mmm~~” Himegami Izayoi made a pondering sound, her tone rising and falling, the end of her voice soft and drawn out, as if she were acting coquettishly.

“What do you say?” she asked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“If you want to play, Sapporo is the same. We’ll come to Hakodate after the Coral Demon Moth incident is over. How about that?”

“Alright~” Himegami Izayoi was able to make a sound even cuter than before.

The three of them set off for Sapporo, where the Hokkaido Shrine was located.

On the JR train, they enjoyed the northern scenery of Hokkaido.

Sometimes there were mountains, and they could see the sea. Sometimes a fairy-tale-like small house would suddenly pop up. There was snow everywhere, and they could see cows and sheep strolling in the snow.

“Mmm! Look quickly!” Himegami Izayoi pointed at the sea outside the window, eating the station bento she had bought—the Hokkaido Shiosai bento.

Minamoto Kiyomoto and Kamibayashi Miko looked in the direction she was pointing. It was the winter sea.

The seawater was deep blue, and the white waves came one after another. The seaside was full of stones that had been washed very smooth.

The scenery was clear and beautiful. Just looking at it made one feel cold.

Sapporo was even colder than Hakodate. Even so, there were still women wearing skirts with bare legs. Minamoto Kiyomoto, who was not afraid of the cold, began to worry about them.

But in the eyes of others, he, who was thinly dressed, was probably also a guy who sacrificed body temperature for the sake of looking good.

On the wide approach to the Hokkaido Shrine, it was covered in thick snow. The trees on both sides were also bare. Looking up from under the trees, the branches were like cracks in the sky.

The Senmo Miko was not there—in Hokkaido, the Rikka was called the “Senmo Miko.”

“Lady Senmo spends every winter training in a deep valley and only comes back when the cherry blossoms in Hokkaido bloom,” a shrine official told the three of them.

“Where is the deep valley? Can we go there?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“Of course you can. It’s not really a special place,” the shrine official said, shrinking his neck, as if he were very cold. “It’s just particularly cold, -41°! Ordinary people would never go there, and practitioners wouldn’t either. After Lady Senmo started training there, even fewer people went.”

The shrine official gave Minamoto Kiyomoto the address of the deep valley and also gave them a permit to fly in the sky.

They didn’t find the Rikka, but at the exit of the shrine, they came across a Rokkatei, a very famous dessert shop.

The three of them ate some in the shop, then bought the white chocolate-covered dried strawberries that the clerk recommended the most, found a deserted place, and went straight to the deep valley.

The sky of Hokkaido was vast and boundless, and the straight road stretched to the horizon. People who liked to ride motorcycles would definitely like it here.

The red-gold dragon would occasionally swoop down and fly along the road, creating waves of snow.

The two shrine maidens experienced skiing on the dragon’s back, and the feeling of snowflakes hitting their faces.

Leaving the road, they climbed straight up. After flying for a while, they saw the magnificent Daisetsuzan, and the deep valley was between the snow mountains.

Flying over Daisetsuzan, the temperature dropped sharply, but the air and sky became clearer. Everything seemed to be frozen in ice.

The deep valley was a valley, but it was more like a vast snowfield.

It was all snow, as far as the eye could see, a breathtaking beauty.

In the very center of this plain, there was a towering giant tree. There were even white clouds floating at the top of the tree, making one wonder if it had existed since the birth of the world.

What was magical was that in this place where a deep breath could completely freeze the moisture in one’s nose, the leaves of the tree were still green and lush.

The Rikka lived in a wooden house under this towering giant tree.

The red-gold dragon slowly landed in front of the house. The occasional flapping of its wings created a sky full of snowflakes.

Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi jumped off the dragon’s back, wrapped in golden light and flames, and stood on the snow.

The red-gold dragon suddenly shrank, revealing Minamoto Kiyomoto’s tall and handsome figure.

At the same time, the wooden house was opened, and the Rikka walked out, her white hair flying. In a daze, it was as if she had brought a sky full of snowflakes with her.

“Long time no see,” Kamibayashi Miko greeted softly.

The doll-like beautiful Rikka nodded lightly.

The sun was bright, shining on the vast snowfield. The three of them, who looked like immortals, were visiting a reclusive snow fairy.

Looking from afar, the snowfield, the giant tree, and the wooden house were like a scene from a myth.

The Rikka sized them up. Before she could speak, Himegami Izayoi spoke first.

“Let me see your hand,” she said, about to step forward and take her hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto pulled her back and said in a low voice, “Seven or eight out of ten women on the street will have children in the future. Are they all mine?”

“Then you go and see. See if they’re yours.”

“I told you it’s superstition. I don’t even believe it myself.”

“Then Miko’s child is yours. Why are you so happy?”

“Although I don’t believe it, who doesn’t like auspicious words or good omens?”

“The two of you look very well recently,” the Rikka nodded, then looked at Kamibayashi Miko. “You are well, and not well. Did something happen that made you both sad and happy?”

“Senmo Miko, we’re here this time to ask you for a favor,” Kamibayashi Miko stood in the light and shadow of the giant tree.

“What is it?”

“The Coral Demon Moth is about to awaken. We want to ask for your help.”

“Last time at Lake Shikotsu, we helped you. This time, it’s your turn to help us,” Himegami Izayoi said with a matter-of-fact expression.

“I need time to consider,” the Rikka did not refuse, nor did she agree. Her white hair, under the sunlight, glowed like a filament.

“Of course. Such an important matter, besides Miss Kamibayashi, no one can agree immediately,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, handing over the dessert he had bought at Rokkatei. “This is a dessert I bought in front of the Hokkaido Shrine.”

“Thank you,” the Rikka reached out to take it. At the same time, she sniffed lightly. “Why do you have the scent of three women on you?”

“…”

‘What does it have to do with you?’ Minamoto Kiyomoto wanted to curse in his heart.

“Three?” Himegami Izayoi asked, as expected.

“You forgot? You were there. Sayaka was scared by Hanyu Chika and hugged me.”

After explaining, Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly said to the Rikka, “Then we’ll be leaving first. After you’ve considered, you can come directly to Tokyo.”

“It’s very quiet here,” Kamibayashi Miko suddenly said. “Senmo Miko, can we train here for a while? We’ll leave after you’ve made your decision.”

“Come in,” the Rikka turned and walked into the wooden house.

“It’s as quiet as Hakusan!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was very reluctant. He was afraid of this Hokkaido Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko ignored him and was the first to walk into the wooden house.

“Let’s go, Master Kiyo. Don’t be sad. Maybe she’s the mother of the child,” Himegami Izayoi took his hand and dragged him into the wooden house.