Chapter 129: Innocence! Purity! Chastity!

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Hyogo Prefecture, the largest prefecture in the Kansai region.

After arriving in Hyogo Prefecture, the original plan was to go to Kobe, eat steak, visit the zoo, watch a performance by the Takarazuka Revue, and admire the night view, which was said to be “worth a billion yen”—the dazzling night of Kobe.

However, although Kobe is in Hyogo Prefecture, it is not in the north, but in the south. The Seto Inland Sea is just outside the harbor.

Even with Minamoto Kiyomoto’s willfulness, he couldn’t abandon his duties as a great general and run off to the south to see the night view.

“Let’s keep going,” Kamibayashi Miko said. “The sooner we solve this, the sooner we can go back.”

“I thought we could have a proper tour,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Isn’t this a tour?” Himegami Izayoi, sitting in the passenger seat, said with a laugh.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked out at the vast sea, the blue sky, the quiet seaside town, and the straight highway.

“I guess so,” Minamoto Kiyomoto also laughed.

The three of them were in a convertible sports car, driving along the coast, all the way to Shimane Prefecture.

“Sing us a song!” Himegami Izayoi said.

“Alone, wandering in the big city, like a discarded empty beer can,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sang loudly.

Himegami Izayoi nodded to the beat, looking like a fan.

When he sang “Until the World Ends,” she also sang along.

The two looked at each other and continued to sing together with a smile:

“…I don’t want to be separated from you! For thousands of nights, I’ve made a wish~”

After finishing the song, Minamoto Kiyomoto, while steering the wheel, asked, “You watch ‘Slam Dunk’ too?”

“I started watching it after I came to Tokyo!” Himegami Izayoi, wearing sunglasses, took off her hairpin and let her long black hair be blown back by the wind.

She turned her face and sang to Minamoto Kiyomoto, “From the day we met~, my heart was completely stolen by you~”

Kamibayashi Miko, sitting behind her, had her snow-white cheeks constantly whipped by the ends of her hair.

“Ah, ah, I remember, I remember!” Minamoto Kiyomoto raised his right index finger—unlike a typical Japanese car, the sports car he was driving at the time had the driver’s seat on the left.

“We listened to this song together, right?” he said.

“Say it, when was it? Let’s see if you still remember,” Himegami Izayoi pointed at him.

“Uh—, at night.”

“Which night?”

“A certain night.”

“Nonsense!” Himegami Izayoi scolded with a laugh, swatting away Minamoto Kiyomoto’s raised finger.

“Don’t you think the words ‘a certain night’ are beautiful? ‘A certain night, I went to find Izayoi and said from outside, “Koyako, the moon has fallen, come out and see.” “What?” Izayoi laughed from behind the door.’ How about that?”

“It is beautiful,” Himegami Izayoi laughed happily, “but please don’t change the subject.”

“Let me think, let me think… we were having a barbecue at the time, and a shop on the street was playing this song.”

“It was the night you bought me a ring, you idiot.”

“Ah, I remember now. Yes, you also dropped edamame on your skirt.”

Finally unable to bear it any longer, Kamibayashi Miko gathered Himegami Izayoi’s long hair and casually tied it up behind her head.

Himegami Izayoi looked in the rearview mirror and asked Minamoto Kiyomoto, “Don’t you think this messy hairstyle has a strange charm?”

“I’m driving,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said without looking away.

“Look at you, so spineless,” Himegami Izayoi rolled her eyes at him. “If the car explodes, will it kill you or something?”

“The higher the position, the more one must abide by the law,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said earnestly.

“When I get back, I’ll have someone change the traffic laws—”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“…to, ‘When Minamoto Kiyomoto is driving, he must agree to all of Izayoi’s requests and satisfy her’.”

“Only for me?”

“Do I care about other people? How bored do you think I am?”

“I think you’re very bored right now,” Kamibayashi Miko’s voice could provide cold air for a refrigerator.

“Jealous, jealous,” Himegami Izayoi clapped her hands with a laugh.

Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at Kamibayashi Miko in the rearview mirror and asked with a smile, “Really?”

“Mhm,” Kamibayashi Miko nodded with a straight face.

“…You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Pretending to be jealous, toying with the heartstrings of an innocent young boy, making me itch?”

“Mhm,” Kamibayashi Miko nodded again.

“Even so,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed helplessly, “even if I know you’re doing it on purpose and everything is fake, I still feel my heart flutter. Why is there such a thing in the world? Is it because I love you too much?”

Kamibayashi Miko laughed, rested her chin on her hand, and turned to look at the sea.

“Master Kiyo,” Himegami Izayoi reached out her left hand and placed it on his shoulder, “from now until Izumo-taisha, you must continuously speak sweet nothings to me.”

“Big sister, don’t make it difficult for me. Do I look like someone who can say sweet nothings? And for two hundred and fifty kilometers? I’m twenty years old and still a virgin.”

“You can’t say them? Then I’ll throw you into the sea. Don’t you want to know if you’re a dragon?”

“I’ll say them, I’ll say them, I’ll say them. Let me think.”

Himegami Izayoi watched Minamoto Kiyomoto. She didn’t get any sweet nothings, but the car suddenly sped up, in order to reach Izumo-taisha as soon as possible.

The strong wind blew, and Himegami Izayoi couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re so spineless!” she hit Minamoto Kiyomoto playfully.

The next moment, her loosely tied hair came undone, and with a smack, it all hit Kamibayashi Miko in the face.

“Ugh—” Kamibayashi Miko covered her face and bent over.

“Miko? Are you okay?” Himegami Izayoi quickly turned back to ask.

Golden particles slowly seeped out of Kamibayashi Miko’s body.

“What’s wrong?” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned back to ask.

Kamibayashi Miko straightened up, removed her hand from her face, and said calmly, “So this is how much it hurts when hair hits your face.”

She swiped her right hand through the air, and Minamoto Kiyomoto was pulled up like a radish, falling from the driver’s seat into the sea.

The next moment, the azure sea, as if boiling, swelled up in a bubble, and black neon lights swirled and exploded within it.

Boom! The sea surface exploded.

A hundred-meter-long, red-black giant dragon emerged from the sea.

Its giant claws swept through the air, grabbing the sports car, and it soared into the sky.

“This is the mount I should be riding. What was that just now,” Himegami Izayoi was finally satisfied.

“Wait!” she showed an expression of sudden realization. “Miko, are you helping him?”

“Helping him?” Kamibayashi Miko asked, puzzled.

“Letting him reach Izumo-taisha faster, so he doesn’t have to say sweet nothings? Or are you doing it for yourself, so you don’t have to listen to him say sweet nothings to me?”

“I’m not as scheming as you. I’m an innocent girl who grew up in the mountains,” Kamibayashi Miko said faintly.

“You’re an innocent girl from the mountains, Minamoto Kiyomoto is a pure young boy from the seaside. Then what am I? A chaste young lady from a deep boudoir who knows nothing of the world?”

“Hahaha!” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed heartily.

The two shrine maidens also laughed.

The seawater that had been blasted open by Minamoto Kiyomoto created a rainbow.

From the bottom of the sea, the sky, and the forest, countless rays of light from practitioners followed the giant dragon towards Shimane Prefecture.

◇

Shimane Prefecture, Izumo-taisha.

The shrine is backed by Mount Yakumo, and a majestic atmosphere permeates the sacred grounds.

The majestic shrine, having been washed by thousands of years of time, still stands here.

The main hall of Izumo-taisha is 48 meters high, sacred and solemn.

Tazu, dressed in a red and white shrine maiden’s attire, walked out of the hall and strolled slowly through the shrine.

The Shinto priests and shrine maidens she met all bowed to her. The Izumo Miko was gentle and kind, and was highly respected and loved.

The twelve shrine maidens each had their own personalities.

The Suiten-gu Miko was philanthropic, the Ashinoko Miko was old-fashioned, the Hokkaido Miko was aloof, the Ise Miko was arrogant…
Among these shrine maidens, the Izumo Miko best fit people’s image of a shrine maiden.

Today, the sky above Izumo-taisha was cloudless.

Without realizing it, Tazu had arrived at the Kagura-den.

The Kagura-den, with only a roof and pillars, was where the shrine maidens performed the Kagura dance during festivals.

At this moment, a group of apprentice shrine maidens were practicing in the hall.

“Sister Tazu,” the shrine maidens stopped what they were doing and all bowed.

“Please continue. I’m just here to watch,” Tazu said with a gentle smile.

“Yes.”

Tazu watched them, her gaze on an inconspicuous bell-ringing shrine maiden.

When she was the bell-ringing shrine maiden, Little Tazu, she was already a member of the Shinto sect.

The apprentice shrine maidens who had once bent over to wipe the floor, played, shopped, practiced spells and archery, and helped each other tie their sashes—only six of them were left now.

Every once in a while, someone around her would die.

During these days shrouded in death, she had transformed from the carefree bell-ringing shrine maiden, Little Tazu, to the Izumo Miko, Tazu, and the leader of the Shinto sect’s Group Four, Nodoka.

It was when she was twelve years old, when she went to Nara with her master to train.

While her master was talking with the Nara sage, she secretly slipped out and ran on Mount Ikoma in Nara.

She saw a herd of wild deer.

She played with them in the mountains for a day, until her master came to find her.

She reluctantly waved goodbye to the wild deer. As she was about to leave Mount Ikoma, she looked back and saw that the deer’s antlers were overlapping, looking like a patch of tree branches.

She happily reported this discovery to her master, the crisp sound of the Kagura bell in her hand echoing throughout the mountains.

From then on, she fell in love with wild deer.

Whenever she had the chance, she would go to Nara to see those deer.

There were no more chances.

Tazu looked at the ‘shimenawa’ hanging in the Kagura-den.

It was 3 meters long and weighed 5.3 tons. She had woven it herself three years ago.

There were no more chances.

If the Shinto sect’s plan succeeded, she would leave Honshu, leave the home where she had grown up, and become a real wild deer, wandering in the mountains of Kyushu.

Am I really ready to become a deer? the Izumo Miko asked herself.

Isn’t that what I’ve always dreamed of? Why am I hesitating at this time?
Since I’ve joined the Shinto sect, what’s the use of hesitating?

Amidst the sound of the Kagura bells, Tazu remembered what her master had said to her before she died.

“Little Tazu, after I’m gone, I’ll leave Izumo to you. Take good care of her for me.”

‘Master, I’m sorry. It’s Little Tazu’s fault,’ Tazu closed her eyes, and tears streamed down from the corners.

“Roar—” a powerful and domineering dragon’s roar crashed down from the sky, and the earth trembled.

Tazu’s eyes snapped open, and she became alert.

“A yokai?!”

“No, that’s Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi’s demon form! I saw it at the Bon Festival!”

“He can really turn into a yokai!”

“Of course! And, let me tell you, Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi is very, very handsome.”

“Really?!”

“You’ll know in a minute. I guarantee you’ll blush and your heart will pound!”

Looking at these innocent faces, which showed no tension and were full of anticipation, Tazu clearly felt that she was already very far away from them.

Now, it was they who were holding the Kagura bells and walking down the mountain.

And she was already standing with the wild deer.

The hundred-meter-long, red-black giant dragon swooped down and circled above Izumo-taisha.

Two incomparably beautiful figures floated down. The dragon’s claws gently waved, carefully placing a sports car in a corner of the main hall’s plaza.

“Izumo Miko, we’ve come to stay for two days,” the Ise Miko, wearing sunglasses and looking charming and alluring, said to her with a smile.

Beside her was the Divine Medium, with a calm expression, as pure and beautiful as a fairy.

“Welcome,” Tazu said, her expression unchanged, and she nodded gently.

“We are looking for traces of the Shinto sect. Do you have any news, Izumo Miko?”

Looking at the Ise Miko’s half-smiling, beautiful expression, Tazu couldn’t help but feel a sense of surprise and doubt.

“If the Izumo Miko had any news, wouldn’t she have told us already?” a hearty laugh came.

Tazu followed the sound and looked. The giant dragon that had been obscuring the sky suddenly collapsed, turning into an endless black light, which converged in the middle to form a human figure.

Handsome and tall, with a spirited air, he held a golden crown on the tip of his right index finger. His clothes rustled as he slowly descended from the sky. It was Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Ah!” she heard the low screams of the apprentice shrine maidens.

“I was just asking casually. Why are you blaming me?” The Ise Miko, who had just been like a fairy or a demon, making one’s back cold, had turned into a coquettish young girl in the blink of an eye.

“I’m blaming you? Do I dare to blame you? What kind of cold joke is this?” Minamoto Kiyomoto landed beside the three of them and said with a laugh.

“You’re annoying,” the Ise Miko punched his shoulder. “Don’t make it sound like I’m so bossy. It will give people the wrong impression.”

“My fault,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed, then asked the Izumo Miko, “Then, just asking casually, may I ask, Your Excellency Izumo Miko, do you have any news about the Shinto sect?”

Tazu looked at the man before her.

That handsome face, with a faint smile, was watching her, making her feel a strong sense of pressure, as if in the next second, red light would shoot out from those black, jewel-like eyes and pierce through her.

She couldn’t help but look away, and her gaze happened to meet the Divine Medium’s clear, water-like eyes.

Tazu was so scared she broke out in a cold sweat.

The minds of these three people were even more unfathomable than hers, a Shinto sect group leader. It was too terrifying.

“If I have any news, I will definitely tell Your Excellency Tsukushi-no-Kimi,” Tazu replied calmly.

“Thank you for your trouble,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

Tazu shook her head gently. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the sky was filled with streaming light. Rays of divine power, like meteors, fell into Izumo-taisha.

The Kyushu Shinto Lord, whose divine power was as deep as the ocean.

The Takekuma Kasen, Kuratake Kasen, Gyoto Kasen, Ukiha Kasen, Dokko Kasen, and Asagiri Kasen, shining like a cluster of stars.

And the dense, cloud-like mass of practitioners below the Kasen level.

“Lord Mifune,” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head and said to the Kyushu Shinto Lord, “I will be staying at Izumo-taisha for the next few days. You take your men and search the vicinity. Inform me if you have any news.”

The Kyushu Shinto Lord nodded.

“By the way,” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned back, “Your Excellency Izumo Miko, please don’t take it to heart. We, this group of people, search wherever we go. We have no intention of implying that Izumo-taisha’s defenses are lax.”

“It’s alright,” Tazu replied softly. “As long as you don’t disturb the ordinary people, Lord Tsukushi-no-Kimi can do as he pleases.”

“As expected of the shrine maiden of the most ancient shrine. Your magnanimity is truly extraordinary,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh.

Hearing his words, Tazu once again remembered her master’s dying wish. Her mood darkened, and she didn’t say much more, leading the three of them to their accommodations.