Chapter 209: Wait Until We Get Back

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The cruise ship arrived at Tomakomai Port.

February in Hokkaido was the coldest season. The trees in the park and the streetlights were all wearing thick cotton hats, and the heavy snow had erased all colors.

“Lord Shinto, Lord Divine Medium, Lord Ise, Lord Itomi, I am Iwai Tadashi, the mayor of Tomakomai City. I have received the Taiko’s order to welcome you on behalf of Hokkaido.”

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

After that, Iwai Tadashi and the twenty or so people who had come with him knelt on the pier, which had been cleared of snow, and bowed to the Hokkaido Miko:
“Lady Senmo Miko.”

“Hmm,” the Hokkaido Miko nodded.

If the Ogosho was the president of Kanto, and the Lord of Kyoto was the emperor of Kansai, then the Taiko was the master of Hokkaido.

In Hokkaido, from the practitioners to every cow that ate grass and produced milk, they were all the Taiko’s property. The Hokkaido Shinto Lord was the butler.

The only exception was the Hokkaido Miko of this generation, who was also known as Rikka, with the title of “Senmo Miko.”

Because she was born in the snow since she was a child and could see shikigami without training, the Taiko called her the incarnation of snow and a confirmation of his achievements over the years.

Minamoto Kiyomoto did not stay in ‘Tomakomai City’. The Taiko had already arranged a place for them to stay, which was in Sapporo, where the Ice Lantern Festival was held.

Minamoto Kiyomoto went alone, following a person named Mizutani, to see the Taiko in Abashiri, where he was on vacation.

In February, the sky above the Sea of Okhotsk was covered by a low gray.

There was no wind. The gray sky, the lead-gray sea, and the pure white ice field, the world was as still as if it had been frozen.

Walking into the ice field, Minamoto Kiyomoto looked as far as he could.

The ice field was not as flat and smooth as it looked from the shore. It was undulating, and in some places, it bulged like a small mound, as if the waves had been frozen in the air before they could fall.

On this frozen sea, there were tents of fishermen everywhere.

“Drilling a hole in the ice and fishing leisurely is a winter scene that can only be found in the north,” Mizutani introduced in an icy tone, which should have been a matter of intoxication and pride.

“Are these all ordinary people?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the female tourist who had slipped on the ice and was being laughed at by a child.

“There are practitioners, but most of them are ordinary people, all here for tourism.”

“Aren’t you afraid of yokai?”

“With Akan here, no yokai dares to attack the coast in this season,” Mizutani’s tone finally fluctuated, whether it was admiration or fear.

In Minamoto Kiyomoto’s ears, the words that Kamibayashi Miko had said echoed again—a spell is both a power and a restraint.

Everything was a spell, and yokai were no exception.

“Lord Shinto, the orange tent in front,” Mizutani stopped.

“Thank you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Mizutani bowed and walked back to the shore along the path they had come from.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked back. His departing figure seemed to be walking back to the human world from the frozen wilderness.

He turned his head and walked towards the orange convertible tent, which looked quite professional but was still just an ordinary tent.

A few white-feathered seabirds flew past behind the hill-like huge ice block and flew towards the sea, silently, like a few snowflakes.

“Lord Taiko,” Minamoto Kiyomoto stood outside the tent.

“Is that Kiyomoto-kun? Come in.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto opened the tent door. It was very warm inside. The heating equipment was a very ordinary stove, and a blanket was spread on the ice.

Besides the stove, there was also a gas stove. On the gas stove was a frying pan. He probably wanted to fry fish, but he hadn’t started the fire yet.

The Taiko was wearing a jacket of a simple color. His cheeks were thin, and he looked much better than at the Noryo Festival.

At that time, although he looked sick, his appearance was solemn and majestic. His narrowed eyes occasionally flashed with a chilling glint.

At this moment, he was in good spirits, but he was just as enthusiastic as a fisherman.

“Come, I’ve prepared it for you,” the Taiko pointed to the right side of the tent. There was another fishing spot, with a fishing rod, a stool, and an ice hole, all complete.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sat down and picked up the fishing rod.

“Do you know how to fish?” The Taiko took some bait from the bait basin between the two of them and helped him put it on the hook, just like a grandfather taking his grandson on a fishing trip.

“I fished when I was a child,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“I forgot,” the Taiko laughed. “You grew up by the sea.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto put the hook into the ice hole.

Between the two of them was a steel basin with red bait;

In front of the steel basin, between the two ice holes, was a rectangular plastic frame for putting fish.

“Have you ever ice-fished?” the Taiko asked again.

“No,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“Drill a hole in the ice and fish from the hole. Fish like light, so they will automatically gather. You can even fish easily without bait.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto glanced at the rectangular plastic frame. There was only seawater inside.

“No matter how high the skill is, fishing ultimately depends on luck,” the Taiko said slyly like a grandfather.

“Is the fish under the ice delicious?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the clean frying pan again.

“The meat is very light. It’s very delicious when fried. It’s also very good as a side dish for wine after being dried,” the Taiko said, as if he were greedy, and took a sip from his wine pot.

“There are no yokai, and there are fish to catch and eat. Hokkaido is really a good place,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed.

“What’s so good about it?”

The Taiko handed the wine pot to Minamoto Kiyomoto. Minamoto Kiyomoto shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need it.

The Taiko took another sip and then screwed the wine pot back on. During this time, the fishing rod did not move at all.

“In winter, the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, from Wakkanai to Shiretoko, is all surrounded by ice,” he said with a sigh. “Kiyomoto-kun, do you know that in just one night, the vast blue-green sea turns into a white ice field?”

“Because of Akan?”

The Taiko nodded. He lifted his fishing rod. The bait had already melted. He put some more on it.

He didn’t wash his hands after taking the bait and just rubbed them twice.

“What does Akan look like?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

Even Himegami Izayoi didn’t know the answer to this question.

“I don’t know,” the Taiko sighed again. “Maybe it’s a fish, a mountain, a drop of water, or this boundless white ice field.”

“This ice field looks like a terrifying giant monster.”

“I want to leave this place,” the Taiko sighed again, like a cold wind in winter.

The tent was very soundproof. The whole world was ruled by silence, which made one feel a chill down their spine and couldn’t help but wonder if the outside world no longer existed.

“How long has Lord Taiko ruled Hokkaido?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked curiously.

“Seventy years.”

“Seventy years? How old are you this year?”

“One hundred and one,” the Taiko laughed. “If you had entered the world of practitioners a year earlier, you could have attended my one-hundredth birthday celebration. Oh, in your young people’s words, it’s a birthday party.”

“It must have been spectacular,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face showed longing.

“All the ridges of the snow mountains in Hokkaido were lit with lanterns. Looking down from the clouds, the lights stretched on and on, like a dragon of lights, and also like the Great Wall of China. Have you seen the Great Wall?”

“I’ve seen it on TV. You like the liveliness and luxury of a birthday party. If you want, can’t you have one this year?”

“No,” the Taiko waved his left hand, his right hand still holding the fishing rod. “A birthday is a year. You’re still young. When you’re twenty-seven or twenty-eight and can see thirty, you’ll be able to feel a little of what I’m feeling now.”

“You’re so old. Why do you still want to leave Hokkaido, where you’ve lived your whole life?”

“It’s precisely because I’m old that I want to leave this place.”

“You don’t like Hokkaido?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“No one loves this land more than I do, but the older you get, the more things you’ve seen, the more you can feel the fragility and helplessness of being a human,” at this time, a chilling light appeared in the Taiko’s eyes again.

“The Taiko is also fragile and helpless?”

“The Taiko is also a human. Old age is an enemy that humans can never defeat,” the Taiko turned his face and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto. “…I heard that after you die, you not only have your reason, but you also maintain a young appearance?”

“Do you believe in such a future? I became the lord of the world and ruled the Yellow Springs after I died?” Minamoto Kiyomoto also looked at him and asked back.

At this time, the fishing rod in his hand moved. He lifted it up, and a palm-sized fish was hanging on it.

“I believe,” the Taiko said. “I also believe that the future can be changed.”

The fish jumped twice, fell off the hook, and fell back into the ice hole.

“I don’t want to return what I’ve already gotten,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a laugh. A black divine power turned into a claw and reached into the dark ice hole. The fish was caught again.

The Taiko smiled indifferently.

“I’ve heard about what you’ve been doing recently.”

“Oh?” Minamoto Kiyomoto threw the fish into the rectangular plastic basket and put bait on the hook.

“Pragmatic and pioneering.”

“What about the shortcomings?”

“As for the shortcomings, you’re a bit of a show-off. In your bones, there’s a sense of superiority. In a high position, it’s stubbornness and arrogance.”

“Stubborn?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was puzzled. “I increased the number of people who can talk to me directly. You don’t know about this?”

“But how to make a decision is still up to you. You believe in yourself and think that only by holding absolute power in your own hands can you bring happiness to the people below, right?”

“You’ve seen through me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed. “But I really think so from the bottom of my heart. I’m not interested in power itself.”

“Let me tell you a secret.”

“Hmm?”

The Taiko leaned closer, and Minamoto Kiyomoto also leaned over.

“I’m not interested in power either,” the Taiko said quietly.

The two of them laughed at the same time.

“You’re not interested in power,” Minamoto Kiyomoto found it very funny and nodded, “but you must have the power to take over power at any time.”

“Aren’t you?” the Taiko also asked with a smile.

“When there are no more yokai in the world, I’m willing to be an ordinary person.”

“When there are no more yokai in the world…” the Taiko repeated this sentence. “Kiyomoto-kun, I believe you.”

“Really?”

“Hmm. But people are fragile. If they fall from a high place, they will be shattered.”

“But bears and the like, even if they fall from a higher rock mountain, will not be injured at all.”

“How can a person become a bear?”

“The body can’t, but the heart can. As long as you’re full and have a little fun, for example, you like to eat fish and drink honey, that’s enough. Don’t think about flying into the sky like an eagle.”

“I don’t have much time left,” the Taiko suddenly said.

“As long as you don’t cause me any more trouble, I will definitely not cause you any trouble before you die. How about that?” Minamoto Kiyomoto suggested.

The Taiko shook his head and lifted his fishing rod. A fish was hanging on it, very small, the size of a finger.

“I don’t have much time left, so I want to fight for it at the end,” he took off the small fish. “After the Ice Lantern Festival, it’s still here. You and I, we’ll bet on the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and the Yata no Kagami.”

“Aren’t you afraid that both sides will be injured and the Ogosho will take advantage of it?”

“Let the survivors worry about it,” the Taiko put the small fish into the cubic plastic basket and let it stay with the fish that Minamoto Kiyomoto had caught.

“You don’t want the foundation of Hokkaido anymore?”

“I’m dead. What do I need Hokkaido for?”

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Minamoto Kiyomoto returned to Mount Goshika. It was already dark, and the stars were dense. He came to Himegami Izayoi’s room.

“You agreed?” After hearing what had happened, Himegami Izayoi asked him.

“No,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gently hugged her and let her sit in his arms. “An old man who is over a hundred years old. What’s the point of me paying attention to him?”

“I was so scared,” Himegami Izayoi patted his chest. “You’re not allowed to be so reckless in the future, fighting for victory and being brave. What if something dangerous happens?”

“Of course. The future Jindai is still waiting for me to catch her under the pine tree.”

“So it’s for your daughter.”

“No, no, for you, for my Koyako, for my sister Izayoi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly changed his words.

Himegami Izayoi hummed and hooked his neck with her hands, warning him:
“Think about your father and mother. Do you want your daughter and I to grow up together and have a father who died because he was brave and fought for victory?”

“…It sounds like I’m a gambler.”

“I’m asking you a question!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto pressed his lips against her soft lips, a very light press, just a gentle squeeze between their lips.

“For you and Miko, I’m willing to do anything,” he promised softly and firmly, holding her forehead.

“And Jindai.”

“For you, I’m willing to do anything for Jindai.”

Himegami Izayoi smiled contentedly, gave him a stamp on his lips, and then gave him a flirtatious look of ‘this answer is acceptable’.

Minamoto Kiyomoto picked her up and walked towards the big bed.

On the big bed with red curtains, Himegami Izayoi tightened her legs, stretching like a beautiful snake.

When Minamoto Kiyomoto raised his head, she held his face and pressed him against her undulating softness, her hand stroking his hair.

“You really don’t want to come in?” she teased after a while.

“Wait four months,” Minamoto Kiyomoto got up and hugged her. “Actually, even then there’s a risk. You should bear with it too.”

“What do you mean I should bear with it? Didn’t you carry me to bed?” Himegami Izayoi was very dissatisfied with his backstabbing and held his hardness.

Minamoto Kiyomoto gently kissed her hair.

“Didn’t you ask Miko? Did you succeed?” Himegami Izayoi asked curiously.

“I did.”

“She didn’t agree?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto remembered the night he caught the ‘sea woman’s mask’.

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He finished his bath and went directly to Kamibayashi Miko’s room.

“Ahem,” he knocked on the door.

“Don’t ahem. Come in,” Kamibayashi Miko’s bad-tempered voice came from inside.

There’s a chance!

He opened the door, slipped in quickly, turned around, and slowly closed the door, while restraining his excitement.

After closing the door, he slowly walked towards Kamibayashi Miko, who was sitting on the boat reading a book.

“Reading a book?”

“Hmm.”

“What book?” he walked closer and closer.

“‘How to Prevent the Pervert Minamoto Kiyomoto from Sneaking into the Room at Night’.”

“I guess the author must be Kamibayashi Miko,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sat on the edge of the bed.

Kamibayashi Miko raised her head from the book, glanced at him with a smile, and asked him, “What’s the matter?”

“Well,” Minamoto Kiyomoto rubbed his hands together, “I caught a yokai and saved Shirako. The reward—”

“We’ll talk about it when we get back.”

“Ah—” Minamoto Kiyomoto was disappointed and dissatisfied.

“Why?” he asked again.

Kamibayashi Miko ignored him. She had already said five sentences.

Minamoto Kiyomoto would never give up easily, but he would never force her. He took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and sat side by side with Kamibayashi Miko.

He tilted his head to look at Kamibayashi Miko’s book. Kamibayashi Miko childishly took it away and wouldn’t let him see.

Minamoto Kiyomoto also childishly “humph”ed, “If you don’t let me see, then don’t.”

He took Kamibayashi Miko’s phone from the bedside, checked it, and found that there were only three contacts: him, Izayoi, and the school.

He found a song.

A song with provocative lyrics.

“Mmm!” After a while, he was poked in the waist by Kamibayashi Miko.

Ten minutes passed. Minamoto Kiyomoto turned off the music and stared at her.

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak and kept reading. Just when Minamoto Kiyomoto thought she had really rejected him, she sighed and closed the book.

Just as he thought she had agreed, Kamibayashi Miko said, “I already said, wait until we get back… at Hakusan Shrine.”

The last part was said very softly.

Looking at Kamibayashi Miko under the light, listening to her soft whisper, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s excitement and desire miraculously disappeared.

“Anytime is fine,” his gaze became gentle. “But I want to hug you now. Can I?”

The two of them hugged. Minamoto Kiyomoto’s face was pressed against hers.

That April, the girl who had walked up to him and told him that there were yokai in the world, with magnolia flowers embroidered on her sleeves, was now in his arms.

The spring wind blew through the window of the Todai Library and onto him now.