Chapter 44: The Cute Miko

“That guy, he actually dared to threaten us!” After Minamoto Kiyomoto’s group left, Minamoto Kiyone’s face was full of anger, and she said sharply.

“Sister Oto,” Minamoto Kiyomi said, puzzled, “why do you hate Brother Kiyomoto so much? He’s your brother too.”

“I don’t have such a brother,” Minamoto Kiyone said, then looked down at the petite Minamoto Kiyomi with a condescending gaze. “He looks down on the Minamoto clan and even said he would create a Shikoku Minamoto clan. You should hate him too!”

“…Oh,” Minamoto Kiyomi replied for the time being.

Minamoto Kiyone was about to say something else, but Minamoto Nagatoku interrupted her, “Alright, Kiyone, it’s a good thing that you’re proud of the family, but you can’t be too extreme.”

Minamoto Kiyone didn’t speak.

“In this world, strength is what matters in the end,” Minamoto Nagatoku continued. “If that Himemiya Izayoi really has the favor of His Majesty, then a Shikoku Minamoto clan might really be possible.”

“Impossible!” Minamoto Kiyone immediately retorted. “The Minamoto clan is the imperial family—”

“Brother Kiyomoto is also from the imperial family,” Minamoto Kiyomi said in a low voice.

Minamoto Kiyone raised her hand and was about to hit Minamoto Kiyomi on the head. Minamoto Kiyomi subconsciously closed her eyes, her sweet face tightly shut.

Minamoto Kiyone gently tapped her on the head, and finally pinched her soft face.

“Ah, Sister Oto, my face is going to be pinched big,” Minamoto Kiyomi said with a lisp.

“See if you dare to talk back again!”

The two sisters were fooling around. Minamoto Nagatoku looked at the graceful Fujiwara Shino.

“Miss Shino, what do you think of Minamoto Kiyomoto?” he asked.

“A glib-tongued, fox-assuming-the-tiger’s-might villain,” Fujiwara Shino replied.

“This person is not that simple, Miss Shino,” Minamoto Nagatoku said with a smile.

Fujiwara Shino, as well as the two sisters Kiyone and Kiyomi, all looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

Minamoto Nagatoku was an elder of the Minamoto clan. Although he was not a Kosen, he had already participated in thirty “battles.”

This time, Kakinomaro was killed at Lake Ashi, and the thirty-six Kosen were vacant. Minamoto Nagatoku was on the alternate list.

“I asked the monks of Mount Koya about what happened in Hakone. Guess what they said?” Minamoto Nagatoku’s attitude towards his beloved juniors also became gentle.

“Uncle Nagatoku~~” Minamoto Kiyomi was dissatisfied with him and urged him to continue.

“They said that Minamoto Kiyomoto’s words and deeds are like those of a sage king, but his fighting style is flamboyant and domineering, with a sharp edge and the momentum to swallow the world.”

“Wow! Brother Kiyomoto is so amazing!”

“Hmph, that group of monks must have been bought by the ‘Mahavairocana Sutra’.”

Fujiwara Shino didn’t speak. Her calm eyes showed a look of contemplation.

Minamoto Nagatoku continued:
“It is said that he learned ‘Shinto-ryu.’ When I saw him just now, his walking style was peculiar, his breathing was long and continuous, and his whole body’s strength was sometimes twisted into an iron bucket, and sometimes like a gurgling spring. I’m afraid he has already cultivated ‘Shinto-ryu’ to the realm of ‘sacred and free’.”

The three of them couldn’t believe what they heard.

“But… the last time I saw him—” Minamoto Kiyone opened her mouth.

“That’s right,” Minamoto Nagatoku’s face became serious. “The last time I saw him, he had not yet reached ‘sacred and free.’ All of this happened within ten days.”

“Brother Kiyomoto is so amazing!” Minamoto Kiyomi cheered.

The other three were stunned. They didn’t expect her to be happy for someone else’s cultivation progress. This person could even be classified as an enemy.

“He wants to cut off your fingers, and you’re still happy for him!” Minamoto Kiyone tapped her on the head.

Minamoto Kiyomi didn’t care at all and said with a pout, “He won’t. Brother Kiyomoto hates being threatened, and I’m not threatening him.”

Hearing this, Minamoto Nagatoku’s heart moved.

Since the hard approach didn’t work now, letting Minamoto Kiyomi use a soft approach might have a miraculous effect.

“Anyway, I won’t spare anyone who insults the Minamoto clan!” Minamoto Kiyone’s tone was firm.

“If an outsider says it, of course we can’t let it go,” Minamoto Nagatoku, who had already changed his strategy, said. “But Kiyomoto-kun is the son of the previous clan head. We are all family. It’s nothing for him to scold us a few times.”

“Father?!”

Minamoto Nagatoku ignored his daughter and said to Minamoto Kiyomi, “Kiyomi, when you have time, go and play with Kiyomoto-kun. Apologize to him on our behalf. We didn’t want to be his enemy in the first place.”

“Okay!” Minamoto Kiyomi replied happily.

Fujiwara Shino, on the side, was still in deep thought.

She was a princess of the Fujiwara family. From the moment she was born, she was destined to be used for marriage alliances.

After being engaged at the age of six, she had always thought that her future husband would be Minamoto Kiyohito. But not long ago, her father suddenly asked her to go to Kanto and get close to a person named Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Before she came, her father had a conversation with her.

“Father, I am already engaged to Kiyohito-kun. We are preparing to get married after he tames the ‘Suzaku Flute’,” she had said with confusion and some anger at the time.

“Shino, your husband is the head of the Minamoto clan, not Minamoto Kiyohito. But I’m not asking you to fall in love with someone else. This man named Minamoto Kiyomoto has the ‘Mahavairocana Sutra.’ Find a way to get it.”

“But I—”

“The Minamoto clan has already found a reason for us to go to Kanto. Just say you’re going to see Kiyomi and Kiyone.”

“…”

“There’s one thing, although it’s unlikely, I still have to tell you: if Minamoto Kiyomoto’s capacity is large enough to make up for the late start of his cultivation, you can try to get really close to him.”

“…”

“Understood?”

“…Yes.”

Being treated like a doll, sent to one person for a while, then moved to another family, Fujiwara Shino’s heart was full of anger and dissatisfaction.

But she understood her duty, or rather, her use. She would not resist.

This was the curse of being born into the Fujiwara family: a comfortable life, and the mission to sustain the family.

With such an awkward and submissive mood, she left Kyoto, where she had grown up, and came to Tokyo.

She didn’t expect to see Minamoto Kiyomoto the next day, a lecher who was devoted to two women and wanted to wash women’s socks.

She was vaguely relieved in her heart.

But now…
“Perhaps he was already close to the realm of ‘sacred and free,’ and just happened to break through recently,” she said to Minamoto Nagatoku.

“That’s also very amazing,” Minamoto Kiyomi said subconsciously. “Brother Kiyomoto has only been cultivating for two months.”

Fujiwara Shino fell silent.

This person had only been cultivating for two months—this sentence echoed in her mind over and over again.

She was irritable, annoyed at why Minamoto Kiyomoto’s talent was so good, annoyed at why he didn’t stay in the Minamoto clan in the first place, and also annoyed at why she was a princess of the Fujiwara family, annoyed at her father’s snobbery, and annoyed at everything.

“Why is such a person so frivolous?” she began to feel annoyed at this again.

“He might be very similar to that person,” Minamoto Nagatoku suddenly said.

The three of them looked at him.

“He’s usually casual, but once he’s provoked, he’ll turn the world upside down in a fit of anger. Who do you think of?” Minamoto Nagatoku looked at them and asked.

“Who do you think of?” Minamoto Kiyomi immediately said.

Minamoto Nagatoku couldn’t help but lower his voice, “How did the Yanagi family fall?”

Hearing about the Yanagi family, no, it should be the Lord of Kyoto who destroyed the Yanagi family, the hearts of the three of them couldn’t help but stop for a beat, and they shivered.

The Yanagi family had lasted for five hundred years, and the clan heads of each generation were Kosen. The only difference between them and the Minamoto clan was their bloodline. Such a famous and prestigious family, after offending the Lord of Kyoto, was wiped out just like that.

Of the entire clan, up and down, only the defected Yanagi Michiko was left.

“Uncle Nagatoku means that Minamoto Kiyomoto has the same capacity as the Lord of Kyoto?” Fujiwara Shino was very concerned about this question.

“No, I mean his personality—” as he spoke, Minamoto Nagatoku suddenly fell silent.

Minamoto Kiyone quickly asked, “Father, what’s wrong?”

“I was thinking, what will Himemiya Izayoi have us do?”

“Didn’t she say to arrest Yanagi Michiko?” Minamoto Kiyomi asked with confusion.

Minamoto Nagatoku didn’t want to show his worry in front of the children, so he smiled and said, “If everyone were as simple as you, Kiyomi, then the world would be at peace.”

“Uncle Nagatoku!” Minamoto Kiyomi said with dissatisfaction.

“I don’t think we need to worry too much,” Minamoto Kiyone said. “Didn’t Minamoto Kiyomoto warn us? If they really wanted to deal with us, with their strength and the Lord of Kyoto’s document, there’s no need to say it specifically.”

“Eh?” Minamoto Kiyomi looked at her with confusion. “Sister Oto, don’t you hate Brother Kiyomoto?”

“Hating someone means losing your cool and thinking of that person in only one way. Kiyomi is really simple,” Minamoto Kiyone said with a smile.

“Hmm—, I hate it!”

Looking at her cute appearance, Fujino Shino couldn’t help but smile, and a sense of envy welled up in her heart.

“As long as it doesn’t involve the family, Kiyone is still very calm. I’m relieved,” Minamoto Nagatoku nodded with satisfaction.

“Father! Don’t talk about me as if I were Kiyomi!”

“What’s wrong with me?!”

Everyone laughed together.

Minamoto Kiyomi pulled Fujiwara Shino, “Sister Shino, let’s go out and play. Tokyo and Kyoto are so different.”

“Okay, I’ll go and change.”

“Yes, Sister Oto and I will wait for you in the lobby downstairs.”

“And book afternoon tea by the way,” Minamoto Kiyone said as if remembering something. “The English afternoon tea at this hotel is very good. Sister Shino can try it.”

“Okay,” Fujiwara Shino said with a smile, temporarily putting aside the matters in her heart.

The courtyard outside the window was lush and green, and the June rain fell like a mist.

◇

“How about we walk back? It’s only forty minutes,” after leaving the hotel, Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Aren’t you going to cultivate?” Himemiya Izayoi asked.

“My divine power is cultivating too fast. I think it’s better to slow down. As for curses, I don’t need to practice them deliberately anymore. I can do it anytime, anywhere.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Let’s use the vegetable garden as an example.”

The three of them walked on the sidewalk of “Mejiro Shinzaka,” holding transparent umbrellas that cost 200 yen from a convenience store.

“For example, loosening the soil is the first step in growing vegetables. The soil is like an opponent, with ever-changing moves.”

“Hmm?” Himemiya Izayoi spun her umbrella round and round, splashing rainwater on the faces and arms of others.

Minamoto Kiyomoto and Kamibayashi Miko moved a little further away from her.

“When you dig with a hoe, it could be mud, a tree root, or a hard stone. So you can’t use all your strength. After confirming that it’s not a stone in the middle, then you can use all your strength. This is very similar to the true meaning of the ‘Flowing Water Slash’.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto said so much, but Kamibayashi Miko didn’t react at all. Himemiya Izayoi perfunctorily said, “How smart,” and continued to play with the rainwater.

The vending machine sitting in the corner of the street, hoping for someone to buy a drink in the rain, was very pitiful.

The three of them turned into an alley. The rain and mist were gentle, and the surroundings were very quiet.

“Is this the first time you’ve seen rain?” Minamoto Kiyomoto finally couldn’t help but say to Himemiya Izayoi, who was still spinning her umbrella.

“Holding my own umbrella, first experience!” Himemiya Izayoi continued to spin the umbrella.

This was a class enemy. The poor Minamoto Kiyomoto would have to fight her sooner or later.

“Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned to the indebted Kamibayashi Miko. “I have some thoughts on the cultivation of curses. Can you help me see where I’m wrong?”

“Go ahead,” Kamibayashi Miko replied faintly.

“Assuming that curses are formulas, I feel that right now, I’m just learning a formula and then practicing problems related to this formula.”

Looking at Kamibayashi Miko’s otherworldly and beautiful face, and confirming that she was listening, Minamoto Kiyomoto continued:

“The next step, I think, should be to do problems that ‘require the use of multiple formulas’; and then, when I encounter brand new problems, I can create new formulas based on the formulas I have learned. Is this direction correct?”

“Your comprehension ability is extraordinary.”

“So, my idea is correct?”

“Let me ask you a question.”

“Please speak.”

“If you really become the number one in the world in the future, what will you do when you face an enemy?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze fell on Himemiya Izayoi, who was staring at the umbrella. After thinking for a while, he replied:

“I don’t know what to do, but one thing is for sure. I will no longer say things like cutting off fingers to Minamoto Nagatoku and the others.”

“Kill them directly?” Kamibayashi Miko turned her head and asked.

“The complete opposite,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “I will treat them with the greatest tolerance. After all, I am the number one in the world. If I am not tolerant to others, then all of Japan will be finished. Some strange laws will appear, for example—Kamibayashi Miko must like Minamoto Kiyomoto.”

When he said the last sentence, Minamoto Kiyomoto picked a bright hydrangea from the flower bed beside him and handed it to Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko held the green branch and nodded at the vibrant flower, but it was unknown what she was affirming.

“If it were me, I would kill anyone who dared to provoke me,” Himemiya Izayoi finally stopped playing with her umbrella and turned her head to say.

“I can guess.”

“So, what law were you talking about just now?”

“When I was learning Spanish, I would listen to some Spanish songs. Miss Kamibayashi can testify to this.”

“I’m asking you, what law were you talking about just now?” A slight curve appeared on Himemiya Izayoi’s lips.

“So when I was learning Chinese, I would also listen to some Chinese songs. There’s a song called ‘June Rain.’ It’s June now, and it’s raining. I’ll sing it for you.”

“A rain, trapped me here”

“Your cold expression, will make me sad”

“The rain in June, is the heartless you”

“Accompanied by drips and drops, hitting my heart”

“Sing, I’ll let you sing!” Himemiya Izayoi tilted her umbrella towards Minamoto Kiyomoto, then spun it.

Rainwater fell on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto ducked under Kamibayashi Miko’s umbrella. Before he could use her as a shield, this guy actually used divine power and forcibly blocked him in the direction where the rain was falling.

“Stop spinning, stop spinning! I’ll enact another law. Himemiya Izayoi must fall in love with me. Is that okay? Really, stop spinning!”

“I’ve already fallen in love with you. The law you should enact is that Minamoto Kiyomoto must fall in love with Izayoi!”

“Wait!” Minamoto Kiyomoto grabbed Himemiya Izayoi’s umbrella handle and looked at her seriously. “Izayoi, I have a question for you. You must answer me seriously.”

“Speak!”

“What is a person who speaks flowery words without changing their expression called, omnipotent Lady Miko Izayoi?”

“A considerate, caring, kind-hearted, and warm-hearted good girl.”

“The world is changing so fast. Today is different from the past.”

Himemiya Izayoi couldn’t help but laugh. She said, “Am I right?”

“Yes, whatever you say is right,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sang again, this time “Free and Unfettered Sigh.”

“Fate admits to being humorous, with too many thoughts, it’s not up to me”

“Still singing?!”

“…” When Minamoto Kiyomoto stopped, he suddenly felt a pain behind him. Kamibayashi Miko, who was using him as a shield, pinched him.

He turned his head and looked at her.

“You’re blocking my way,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“Oh,” although he was pinched, Minamoto Kiyomoto showed a smile.

Kamibayashi Miko glanced at him coldly, walked around him, and continued to walk forward.

Himemiya Izayoi asked playfully, “Is she jealous?”

“It’s useless even if she’s jealous.”

“Hmm?”

“A Divine Miko, she won’t be with someone like me.”

“By August, your status will be enough. By the way, you little brat, you actually used me? You deliberately acted intimate with me to make her jealous, didn’t you?” Under the transparent umbrella, Himemiya Izayoi looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“How could I do such a thing?”

“You obviously did.”

“I’m really intimate with you.”

“A person who speaks flowery words without changing their expression is called—”

“A considerate, caring, kind-hearted, and warm-hearted good boy.”

“Wrong, it’s a disabled person.”

“Times have progressed. Yesterday it was a dead person,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile.

“Times will not progress. It’s just that this miko’s heart has softened,” Himemiya Izayoi also showed a smile.

“A person who speaks flowery words without changing their expression… forget it, let’s end this game. You’re really scary.”

“Likewise.”

In front, Kamibayashi Miko walked out of the alley and was saying something to a female police officer on duty in a raincoat, occasionally gesturing to the hydrangea in her hand.

The female police officer walked towards Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Did you pick the flowers from the flower bed?” the female police officer stood in front of Minamoto Kiyomoto as if to block him and asked.

“…Yes.”

“Why did you pick them?” the female police officer questioned.

“The flowers are too beautiful. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said obediently.

The female police officer looked at the street and warned, “It’s only a light rain today. There aren’t many branches and petals. Otherwise, I would have fined you to pick them all up. Do you remember?”

“I remember.”

After the female police officer left, Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Kamibayashi Miko in the distance, who was ‘holding an umbrella, holding a hydrangea, with a smile on her face, as beautiful as a hydrangea fairy,’ and said to Himemiya Izayoi:

“Don’t you think that Kamibayashi is so bad she’s cute?”

Himemiya Izayoi kicked Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Hey! Splashing water is one thing, but don’t you know that shoes are dirty!”

“I don’t know, hmph!” Himemiya Izayoi turned her face away in a huff.

Miko seem to be very cute.

(End of Chapter)