Chapter 124: Forever and Ever, Unchanging

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When Minamoto Kiyomoto woke up, it was already noon.

Himegami Izayoi was playing on her phone in his arms.

He glanced at it, then closed his eyes again, his nose brushing against her hair.

His hand slid from her shoulder to her waist, then climbed up to her rounded buttocks, tracing her exquisite curves.

Himegami Izayoi reached out a hand and removed his hand from her bottom.

Minamoto Kiyomoto opened his eyes with a smile and said, “So soft, sis—” He stopped and looked down at her again.

“Is this my phone?” he asked.

“What else?” Himegami Izayoi closed LINE. She had already checked everything. “Change the startup wallpaper.”

“Miss Kamibayashi is the lock screen, you’re the home screen. One for each of you. What’s the problem?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“Everything is a problem.”

“Then when are you two going to take a photo together?”

“Is that the problem?” Himegami Izayoi scolded with a laugh, tossed the phone onto Minamoto Kiyomoto’s chest, sat up, and fixed her hair.

She pulled out the hairpin, letting her black hair fall loose.

Minamoto Kiyomoto gazed at her graceful figure, her slender body. The magnificent kimono was wrinkled, exuding a charming allure.

“When are we going to deal with the Shinto sect?” he asked.

“The day after tomorrow,” Himegami Izayoi replied as she re-pinned her hair.

Minamoto Kiyomoto watched for a while longer. Only when Himegami Izayoi, who had stood up, kicked him, did he sit up.

He stretched with a refreshed feeling and, under the incredulous gaze of the court lady, strolled out of the Seiryo-den.

He walked straight from the Imperial Palace to the Kamo River, followed the flow of the water downstream, and arrived at the riverbank adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton.

“Miss Kamibayashi,” he said, looking at the hotel’s glass window and scratching the back of his head.

In room 209, the blackout curtains were drawn open.

Kamibayashi Miko, dressed in a European court-style white shirt and a high-waisted long skirt, stood in front of the bright floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at Minamoto Kiyomoto from afar.

Minamoto Kiyomoto put his hand to his mouth and blew a kiss.

Swish! The curtains were mercilessly drawn shut.

When Kamibayashi Miko reached the riverbank, she saw from a distance several women surrounding Minamoto Kiyomoto, their watery eyes gazing at him as if at fireworks.

She walked over, and the group dispersed.

“Why did you call me out?” she asked, glancing at the retreating figures of the women.

“Kyoto University students,” Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at them. “From the photography club. They were originally planning to photograph high school students on a trip to Kyoto, but when they saw me, they asked if I was willing to be a model.”

“I’m asking you, why did you call me out?” Kamibayashi Miko repeated.

“I said, sorry, I have a date with a girl I like later. We’re going for a walk by the Kamo River, so I don’t have time.”

“Can’t you hear me?”

“I answered you. I’m on a date with you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

He looked around and continued, “Look how red the maple leaves are, how clear the Kamo River is… wait, wait, wait!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly walked a few steps and blocked Kamibayashi Miko, who was about to go back.

“Miss Kamibayashi, actually, I got into trouble while you were sleeping.”

Kamibayashi Miko’s clear, perfunctory gaze flickered, signaling him to continue. Her posture was utterly captivating.

“Shall we talk as we walk?” Minamoto Kiyomoto made a gesture of invitation.

The two strolled along the Kamo River.

“A long, long time ago, actually just over a thousand years ago, a group of people believed in nature, regarding various plants and animals as gods. As time passed, it gradually became systematized, and the ‘Shinto sect’ was established. They…”

Minamoto Kiyomoto began with the history of the Shinto sect.

This was all what Kamibayashi Miko had told him back then.

“From a thousand meters away, I could sense that the atmosphere in the Shishin-den was not right. You know, after mastering the Demon Body Spell, not only has my body become stronger, but my intuition has also become more powerful. At that time, I thought…”

By the time he got to this point, the two had already walked a full circle—from the hotel upstream to the Kamo Ohashi Bridge, then across the bridge, and from the opposite bank all the way to the bank opposite the hotel.

And in the story, Minamoto Kiyomoto hadn’t even entered the Shishin-den yet.

The two sat by the river for a while longer, and the story was finally finished.

After listening, Kamibayashi Miko asked:

“Is your trouble ‘striking the Shishin-den with lightning’, or ‘being sent to exterminate the Shinto sect’?”

“Did you not hear clearly, or did I say it wrong?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked puzzled. “There was no such thing as striking the Shishin-den with lightning. It was that I was so angry I wanted to strike the Shishin-den with lightning.”

“Then your trouble is exterminating the Shinto sect?”

“It’s not extermination either. I just need to destroy that spell,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Isn’t that what we already agreed on last night?” Kamibayashi Miko looked at him.

This was indeed something that had already been decided.

Whether it was to protect the safety of the common people of Kansai or to maintain the authority of the “Lord of Kyoto,” Minamoto Kiyomoto would not allow the Shinto sect to continue to act recklessly.

Last night in Pontocho, Itomi Sayaka had also promised to inform him of the Shinto sect’s news in a timely manner.

What he knew, Kamibayashi Miko and Himegami Izayoi naturally also knew.

So, Minamoto Kiyomoto had been talking nonsense for a full hour and a half.

“Look how red the maple leaves are, how clear the Kamo River is,” Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t answer, pointing at the scenery before them.

The weather was very good today, with a clear, blue sky, much like summer.

A group of kindergarten children with little yellow hats were drawing under the guidance of their teacher.

Their large water bottles, gathered together, looked very much like a bird’s nest full of eggs.

Several groups of high school students on a school trip were constantly taking pictures by the Kamo River, the white socks of the female students reflecting the light.

Three wild ducks swam past their feet. The two on the sides kept pecking at the beak of the one in the middle.

After watching this scene for ten minutes, Kamibayashi Miko spoke:

“Dealing with the Shinto sect is not a simple matter. As you said just now, they have existed for over a thousand years. As long as practitioners exist, the Shinto sect will not be eliminated. They share the same roots as us—”

Minamoto Kiyomoto picked up a stone at his feet, flattened it, and skipped it across the Kamo River.

“…To eliminate them, we must start from…”

“Look, Miss Kamibayashi, I made it to the other side of the river!”

Kamibayashi Miko turned her face and stared at Minamoto Kiyomoto. “You’re not listening to me?”

“Hmm? Ah, I’m listening, of course I’m listening. It’s you who’s not listening to me. What did I just say!” Minamoto Kiyomoto questioned.

“…’Look, Miss Kamibayashi, I made it to the other side of the river’.”

“Was I that gentle when I called you?”

Staring at Minamoto Kiyomoto, Kamibayashi Miko wasted a sentence. This was certainly not the answer she wanted.

“I was listening. You said, ‘Dealing with the Shinto sect is not a simple matter…'” Minamoto Kiyomoto began to repeat what she had just said.

After all, this was the Kamo River, a river. The geographical advantage was on her side.

After repeating two sentences, he said:

“I also know that there’s no point in eliminating the current Shinto sect. To make the Shinto sect disappear completely, we must change the government, allow the Shinto sect to confess their crimes instead of executing them all, which forces them to resist to the end.”

“In addition, practitioners can also be divided into civilian and military posts, just like the army.”

He picked up another stone and smoothed it with his thumb.

“Civilian posts, to protect the citizens, can stay in their own cities. People like those in Group Nine can be in it.”

“Military posts, responsible for dealing with yokai, with higher pay and better spells.”

“Forget it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto tossed the flattened stone into the river. “Now is not the time to talk about these things.”

He turned to Kamibayashi Miko and said, “These are not things I can figure out alone just by throwing a few stones here. We’ll talk about the future in the future. For now, let’s destroy that spell.”

He clapped his hands, dusting them off.

“There’s one thing I’ve never been able to understand: the government’s attitude towards the Shinto sect,” Kamibayashi Miko mused. “They say it’s because the Shinto sect is cruel, but they shouldn’t even forbid them from surrendering.”

“I have a theory,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Kamibayashi Miko looked up at him.

“The ‘Lord of Kyoto’, the ‘Ogosho’, and the ‘Taiko’—these three rulers of Japan—perhaps they want to see a situation where practitioners and the Shinto sect are irreconcilable,” he said.

For the people sitting in those three positions, the most important thing was their own status, followed by eliminating the other two, and finally, the safety of the common people.

To maintain their rule, of course, there had to be a balance. Therefore, the practitioners under them must have a common enemy—the Shinto sect.

This would explain why some of the government’s measures seemed to be forcing practitioners to join the Shinto sect.

And once they joined the Shinto sect, it was either resist to the end or die. There was no other way.

The “Ogosho” made his daughter a Divine Medium.

The “Taiko” was willing to sacrifice practitioners to make the Demon Body Spell public.

“These are all attempts to unify Japan. The Shinto sect is just their tool.”

And the “Lord of Kyoto,” in the identity of Himegami Izayoi, had approached him and Kamibayashi Miko, saying she wanted to overthrow the current world—this involved Himegami Izayoi’s secret, so Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t say it.

After hearing what Minamoto Kiyomoto said, Kamibayashi Miko gazed at the Kamo River and fell silent.

Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t know what she was thinking.

Was she feeling sad for the common people?

Or was she thinking that although she was the “Ogosho’s” daughter, a Divine Medium, she was, like the Shinto sect, a tool for these people, and feeling sad for herself?
After a long silence, he looked at Kamibayashi Miko’s gentle side profile and said:

“To say something that doesn’t fit my good-person image, I don’t dislike their methods.”

“Are you also a person who can bet everything for your own goals?” Kamibayashi Miko met his gaze.

“Of course,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gave an extremely affirmative answer.

Kamibayashi Miko’s eyes were as clear, sharp, and cold as ice.

“I will use everything I have to change everything,” Minamoto Kiyomoto spread his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. “To make the world no longer need a Divine Medium, and give the Divine Medium to me.”

Kamibayashi Miko subconsciously shifted her gaze to the Kamo River.

The large stones in the river had already become very smooth from the washing of the water.

If the river continued to flow, these seemingly solid stones, which had existed since ancient times, would sooner or later be washed into pieces and become sand.

“I’m not afraid of anything,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said softly. “Not the Ogosho, not the Shinto sect, not yokai, or the Divine Medium’s mission. I’m not afraid of any of it. What I’m most afraid of is that you have no feelings for me.”

“I have no feelings for you,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto smiled, reached out, and took her smooth, delicate hand from her lap.

Soft and warm, he wanted to hold it like this forever.

Kamibayashi Miko frowned prettily, preparing to pull away.

“There are so many people here. If you use your divine power, I’ll report you to the Judiciary Bureau,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, holding her hand.

“…”

“Still say you have no feelings for me?”

“You’re threatening me.”

“So the Divine Medium can be threatened,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed meaningfully and let go of her hand.

He stood up and reached out to her as she sat, “Let’s go.”

“Where to?” Kamibayashi Miko asked.

“The road ahead of us is still long, and there are many problems to solve. But before that, let’s go get a cup of coffee.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t take his hand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto maintained his posture of reaching out to pull her up.

“Big sister, look how red the maple leaves are, how clear the Kamo River is, and how beautiful Miss Kamibayashi is. Don’t let such a good autumn day go to waste.”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t take his hand and stood up on her own.

“Stingy,” Minamoto Kiyomoto muttered, then brought the right hand that had just forcefully held hers to his nose. “Smells so good.”

Kamibayashi Miko twisted her slender waist, and Minamoto Kiyomoto dodged backward, avoiding her kicking leg.

“Miss Kamibayashi,” he stood in the distance, under the autumn sun, and said with a smile, “I’m not the me from by Sanshiro Pond anymore. Now, I’m standing by the Kamo River.”

Kamibayashi Miko sneered, meaning—I don’t care where you are now, I’ll deal with you when we get back.

Minamoto Kiyomoto immediately understood her meaning.

“Speaking of which, it’s almost November. Are the chinquapin trees by Sanshiro Pond about to bear fruit?” he walked over slowly, his tone cautious.

The two of them left the riverbank via the stone steps.

There happened to be a flower shop by the riverbank.

“How much is this?” After choosing for a while, Minamoto Kiyomoto pointed at the yellow roses.

“30 yen a stem.”

“Twenty-one stems, please.”

“Okay.”

The shopkeeper wrapped the twenty-one yellow roses in a newspaper covered in English, the combination creating a retro or nostalgic style.

“Miss Kamibayashi, for you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto handed them to Kamibayashi Miko. “I hope you can forgive my mischief just now.”

What roses? An apology is useless!
But hearing the word ‘mischief’, Kamibayashi Miko smiled.

She looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with a loving gaze and accepted the roses with satisfaction.

“Sir, your girlfriend is so beautiful,” even the female shopkeeper was captivated by the Divine Medium’s smile.

“There are people in this world who smile more beautifully than her,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Really?” The female shopkeeper looked at Kamibayashi Miko, who was holding the flowers, unconvinced.

This wasn’t ancient times. The most beautiful women could be seen on TV. As someone who watched TV whenever she had free time, she didn’t believe anyone could smile more beautifully than Kamibayashi Miko.

“She’s just one of my girlfriends. When she smiles with my other girlfriend, that’s when it’s most beautiful.”

“Wh-what?” The shopkeeper, who thought she had seen it all from watching so many dramas, was stunned.

“Who’s your girlfriend?” Kamibayashi Miko, holding the flowers in her left hand, examined the right sleeve of her shirt.

“You and Izayoi.”

“Who?” the beautiful, jewel-like, black-haired girl asked again.

“I’m sorry,” the youthful, handsome boy apologized.

The two found a very small shop, so small that it only served coffee and donuts.

They sat at the counter by the window, leisurely drinking coffee and each eating a donut.

The yellow roses were placed by Kamibayashi Miko’s hand. Minamoto Kiyomoto sniffed the soft aroma of the coffee, and the two chatted in low voices.

Minamoto Kiyomoto said that from now on, every year, he would give her a number of roses corresponding to her age.

Kamibayashi Miko said she didn’t need him to remind her of her age every year.

Minamoto Kiyomoto then said that no matter how old she was, he would still like her, forever and ever, unchanging.

An autumn afternoon where the sun and maple leaves played.