Chapter 66: Sunflowers

The Shinto competition was on July 31st. That night, Itomi Sayaka stayed at Minamoto Kiyomoto’s family’s inn.

“This is my mother, Ayako,” Minamoto Kiyomoto introduced. “Mother, this is the wallet I was talking about—Itomi Sayaka.”

“Hello, Auntie,” as expected of the young lady who would inherit a large hospital, Itomi Sayaka went straight up and held Ayako’s arm.

“Hello,” Ayako said with a smile.

“Auntie, you’re so young. You look like Kiyomoto-kun’s older sister.”

“Really? Thank you.”

When the two of them stood together, they really looked like sisters.

Itomi Sayaka was 26 years old. In reality, she looked like she was twenty, but also like she was twenty-seven or twenty-eight. She had a mature appearance, but it was difficult to tell her specific age.

Needless to say, Minamoto Kiyomoto’s mother, anyone who didn’t know the inside story would think she was a beautiful innkeeper in her early thirties with an outstanding temperament.

Himemiya Izayoi glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto and said with a grin:
“Aunt Ayako, Sayaka is Kiyomoto-kun’s official girlfriend. They’ve already agreed to get married and have children after graduation.”

“Is that so?” Ayako said in surprise.

“Don’t add fuel to the fire,” Minamoto Kiyomoto pulled out Himemiya Izayoi’s hairpin.

A head of gorgeous black hair bloomed like a black rose, and a faint fragrance could be smelled.

Himemiya Izayoi let out a soft “ah” in surprise. When she snatched back the hairpin, she also hit him on the body.

“Annoying, you’re already getting married, and you’re still so frivolous,” she complained as she re-tied her hair.

“Mom, don’t make her dinner today,” Minamoto Kiyomoto ignored her.

“In front of me, you’re so resistant to marrying me. Isn’t that too cruel, Kiyomoto-kun?” Itomi Sayaka’s face also joined in the fun.

“I’d rather marry your sister, because she’s more like Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

Kamibayashi Miko sat on the side without saying a word, sipping her olive tea.

Ayako glanced at the two of them and said:
“You haven’t even graduated from university, and you already value other women more than your mother. I’ve raised you for nothing. You’re not allowed to eat dinner tonight!”

“…”

Himemiya Izayoi raised her hands, and while tying her hair, she looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with a proud expression.

Minamoto Kiyomoto made a gesture as if he were going to pull out her hairpin again. She laughed and took a step back.

Because of his interruption, the hair that Himemiya Izayoi had tied up in the end was very loose. Because of her appearance and temperament, loose could be replaced with ‘lazy and casual’.

When she tilted her head to look at someone, there was also a sense of a beautiful woman’s broken heart, which was very charming.

In short, she was very high-class beautiful.

“Hmm?” Himemiya Izayoi seemed to know her own charm, so she deliberately tilted her head to look at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Minamoto Kiyomoto felt that he was amazing.

Under the circumstances of Kamibayashi Miko’s coldness and Himemiya Izayoi’s “enthusiasm,” he could still remain single-minded. It could be said that he was loyal to love!

Great!

Minamoto Kiyomoto naturally ate dinner. Although Ayako felt that her son was unfilial, as a mother, she could not be intolerant.

After eating and taking a bath, the four of them gathered in the meditation room to discuss the details of the Shinto competition.

“At that time, Miss Kamibayashi can just release a river—a golden thunder that wide—to block me, and then quietly wrap me in the ‘Divine Miko’s Silk’.”

“I’ll do it,” Himemiya Izayoi volunteered with a smile. “I’ll release a mountain—a flame that big.”

“Either is fine. Just hide me well. I don’t want to die in the aftershock,” Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t care if it was a river or a mountain.

Himemiya Izayoi was stunned for a moment, then her smile deepened.

“I’ll do it,” Kamibayashi Miko suddenly said. “The ‘Divine Miko’s Silk’ is extremely soft and tough, and it’s safer.”

Himemiya Izayoi glanced at her and smiled without saying a word.

Minamoto Kiyomoto hadn’t noticed at first, but now he did—Himemiya Izayoi’s proposal for her to do it was a joke, implying that she might secretly kill him.

He didn’t care and agreed without thinking, which made Himemiya Izayoi a little surprised and Kamibayashi Miko uneasy.

“Then I’ll leave it to Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, then turned his gaze to Itomi Sayaka. “Sayaka, before she comes, my life is in your hands.”

“I’ll use you to threaten them and get my sister back,” Itomi Sayaka said.

“Have some ambition,” Minamoto Kiyomoto scolded. “Don’t stare at temporary safety. What we are pursuing is permanent peace.”

“I’m not interested in unattainable dreams. I just want my family to be safe,” after saying this, Itomi Sayaka asked with curiosity, “I heard you broke through again at Yashima-ji Temple?”

She was wearing modern pajamas, a short-sleeved shirt, and a pair of shorts, revealing her long, snow-white legs.

“It can’t be considered a breakthrough, just some enlightenment,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“You’re so enlightened in Buddhism. Why don’t you just become a monk? You’re just wasting your time in this world.”

Himemiya Izayoi had said something similar before, but she was teasing, while Itomi Sayaka was a little serious.

“Without mud, where would the white lotus come from?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Itomi Sayaka nodded after hearing this.

After she obtained the “Mahavairocana Sutra,” she also read many Buddhist scriptures.

Minamoto Kiyomoto shared his cultivation insights with her during this time and also raised his own doubts. The three women, who were at least at the Kosen level, answered his questions for him, and they would think and ponder together if they didn’t know.

The discussion did not end until one o’clock in the morning.

“I have a question,” Itomi Sayaka said. “Drawing inferences from one instance, I of course know the explanation in the dictionary, but for you, especially in cultivation, what exactly is it?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto organized his thoughts.

The sound of the waves came from his ear.

“All things are interconnected and echo each other. For example, the waves of the sea are caused by ‘wind, the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, submarine earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, changes in atmospheric pressure, and uneven distribution of seawater density.’ Through it, one can in turn understand these things.”

“Can you make it simpler? I don’t know anything about atmospheric pressure changes.”

“I don’t know anything about atmospheric pressure either,” Himemiya Izayoi said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto really wanted to say, if you don’t understand atmospheric pressure, how do you cultivate the Wind Control Curse, but he decided against it.

Everyone has their own way. Atmospheric pressure is just his way of understanding things.

“Then let’s use a ‘metaphor’ to explain,” he said. “To understand the hidden connections between all things, you can connect them with a metaphor. There is a haiku with a missing word. What do you compare it to?”

“A family with one person missing?” Itomi Sayaka asked.

“A palace of gold and green,” Himemiya Izayoi said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Kamibayashi Miko.

“A puzzle with a missing piece,” Kamibayashi Miko had to say.

Only then did Minamoto Kiyomoto continue:

“The process of mending a haiku can give you wisdom about ‘family, palace, puzzle.’ I see this process as climbing a steep mountain range, repairing a precision machine, then I also get the wisdom of ‘mountain range, machine’—this is drawing inferences from one instance.”

“Mountain range… instrument,” Itomi Sayaka muttered to herself.

“Of course, this is a literary matter, but cultivation is the same principle. Find the connections between things. Once you understand this principle, you will know the names of all plants and trees, and be familiar with the positions of all the stars.”

Himemiya Izayoi understood and said:

“It’s like when the Buddha answers his disciples’ questions. He couldn’t have encountered the difficulties of this disciple, but as long as the Buddha does one thing well, he can know the solution to a hundred things from this one thing.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

“This can also be considered a way of thinking,” he said with a smile. “Learning is also divided into rote memorization, mastering the knowledge structure, and so on. Actually, it’s all good. What suits you is the most important.”

“I roughly understand,” Itomi Sayaka nodded.

The conversation ended there. They turned off the lights, walked out of the meditation room, and went back to their rooms to sleep.

For the next few days, Minamoto Kiyomoto took the three of them out to play during the day and cultivated at night.

Sitting on the breakwater, drinking ramune, watching the seagulls, cats, fishing boats rising and falling with the waves, and the clean streets.

Minamoto Kiyomoto introduced the history of Shodoshima to them.

“This is a supermarket that the locals often go to.”

“The post office and ATM are at the corner over there. There are vending machines everywhere.”

“This park is a gathering place for stray cats. The fishing spot at the pier is their restaurant.”

“Passing through this torii gate, there is a historical shrine ahead.”

They also traveled through the four prefectures of Shikoku.

They ate pizza at a newly opened Italian restaurant in Kochi Prefecture, appreciated the Awa dance in Tokushima Prefecture, visited the aquarium in Kagawa Prefecture, and went to Ehime Prefecture to eat oranges.

On July 30th, the day before the competition, they also went to Manno Town. The sky was blue and the clouds were white. 1.2 million sunflowers were in full bloom.

“Have you noticed that Miko has been talking less recently?” Himemiya Izayoi said to Minamoto Kiyomoto in front of Kamibayashi Miko.

“Have you ever heard a god speak? A god doesn’t speak. Miss Kamibayashi doesn’t speak because Miss Kamibayashi is as beautiful as a god.”

“…This is no longer a compliment, it’s flattery,” Himemiya Izayoi seemed a little disgusted.

“I’m kidding,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile, turning his head to ask Kamibayashi Miko herself, “What’s wrong recently? Are you not used to the climate?”

Kamibayashi Miko held a sunflower in her hand and stood on the ridge of the field, like a magnolia flower.

“I’m thinking about how to reply to your love letter,” she said.

Itomi Sayaka, who was taking a deep breath in the sunflower field, opened her eyes and looked over.

“Take your time, I’m not in a hurry,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s tone was relaxed.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at the sunflower in her hand and said softly, “No need to wait. I’ve already thought about it.”

“And the result?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with anticipation.

Minamoto Kiyomoto quietly looked at Kamibayashi Miko.

“A shooting star has its own direction,” Kamibayashi Miko raised her head, looked at the distant sky, and said to Minamoto Kiyomoto, “I also have my own destination.”

“A shooting star can also be collected at home,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Is that still a shooting star? Just like a sunflower, after it’s picked, it can no longer face the sun, so it’s no longer a sunflower.”

“I understand what you mean,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said slowly. “…You won’t even give me a chance to take it slow?”

“Do you remember what I said? I’m not your teacher, nor will I be your friend, and certainly not your lover. We will always be strangers who are together for a period of time.”

“I said I’m not in a hurry,” Minamoto Kiyomoto interrupted her. “When we’ve broken the barriers between people, brought peace to the world, and the subjugation of yokai no longer requires a Divine Miko, we’ll talk about this slowly.”

It was the first time Kamibayashi Miko knew that Minamoto Kiyomoto had established “Takamagahara” for such a purpose.

Shirako and the little butterfly were running in the flower field, chasing a grasshopper. The clear and fine sound of the bell spread far and wide in the flower field.

The sound of the bell was hidden by the divine power, and only special people could hear it.

Himemiya Izayoi did not speak, and Itomi Sayaka was also silent.

A long ten minutes.

“It has nothing to do with that. I don’t like you at all,” Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Why?”

“Everyone has their own persistence. I will not fall in love with a frivolous person.”

“Frivolous? Me?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was stunned for a moment. He was in excellent condition. Girls had liked him since kindergarten, but he had even refused to dance with Itomi Sayaka.

Only at the beginning, before he had completely fallen in love with Kamibayashi Miko, he was confused by Himemiya Izayoi and wrapped her hair around his hand.

“Buying a ring for a woman, pretending to be in a relationship with another woman, eating what other women have eaten, not killing Yanagi Michiko, not wanting Izayoi to go back—aren’t you frivolous?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

There were various reasons for these things, but they were also facts. If he had insisted, they would not have happened.

“You were right before. I am indeed a very possessive person,” Kamibayashi Miko continued. “If I can’t have all of my lover, then it’s meaningless.”

After a long time, Minamoto Kiyomoto finally spoke:
“I’ve read a book where the female protagonist said something: if your heart is not free and you can’t see yourself clearly, how can you know if the path you’re on is right or wrong—you’re like that now, saying things you don’t mean.”

A warm emotion surged in Kamibayashi Miko’s heart, and her throat felt a little itchy.

She didn’t understand what this emotion was. She had never had it before.

“Whether you really like me or not, this is my answer,” her tone was distant.

“No matter what you say, I won’t listen,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s tone was equally firm. “But I won’t force you either. In the future, we may die at the hands of some yokai, but if we are lucky enough to succeed and the world no longer needs a Divine Miko, and you still insist on today’s answer, I will let go.”

Kamibayashi Miko turned her face away.

The silence lasted for a while. Shirako and the little butterfly finally caught the green grasshopper.

“Such a devoted Young Master Kiyoshi, even I am moved,” Himemiya Izayoi suddenly laughed happily. “I’ve decided, I’m going to snatch you.”

Shirako and the little butterfly carefully opened their clasped hands and looked at the grasshopper through the crack. The grasshopper took the opportunity to jump out and escape into the sunflower green leaves.

“Then I’ll join too?” Itomi Sayaka found it amusing. “Little brother, if you’re with me, you’ll have endless money.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto was in a gloomy mood. Hearing what the two of them said, he said with a helpless smile, “You two, stop messing around.”

Itomi Sayaka smiled and said nothing.

Himemiya Izayoi, on the other hand, came over, hooked her arms around Minamoto Kiyomoto’s neck, and without a word, just tilted her head and looked at him with a grin.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s heart thumped. He understood her meaning—what she had just said was not a joke.

But just as Kamibayashi Miko could not fully believe his love, he also could not be 100% sure of Himemiya Izayoi’s feelings.

“You’ve made it difficult for me to pursue Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto took her hand away.

No matter what Himemiya Izayoi thought, the one he liked was Kamibayashi Miko.

“You’re only allowed to play with my hair,” Himemiya Izayoi said with a cadence, and even glanced at Kamibayashi Miko. “You’re not allowed to hug me?”

Kamibayashi Miko’s warm feelings from just now were all gone, and her expression became even colder as she looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“Wait,” Minamoto Kiyomoto once again took away Himemiya Izayoi’s persistently clinging arm and said to Kamibayashi Miko, “I didn’t like you at that time.”

Kamibayashi Miko sneered and turned to leave.

“Wait, Miss Kamibayashi!” Minamoto Kiyomoto wanted to chase after her, but Himemiya Izayoi’s two arms wrapped around him like a snake.

The two of them wrestled for a while, and in the end, they slipped and fell into the sunflower field together.

“Get up quickly, it hurts, it hurts, my butt is sitting on a rock,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was pressed underneath.

Himemiya Izayoi fell on top of him.

“I won’t,” she said childishly, then let out a series of pleasant laughter.

On the way back, Kamibayashi Miko said to Minamoto Kiyomoto:
“No matter what, because I brought you onto this path, I will protect you until I die, but please don’t misunderstand this as me liking you.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Also, until I die, you must listen to me and not hide anything from me.”

“…I understand.”

“Whether you’re with Himemiya or with Itomi, or with her sister, I have no opinion. I’m even very happy to see it.”

“I only want to be with you,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“I only think your body is dirty. It’s impossible between us,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“I don’t mind,” Himemiya Izayoi said. “Anyway, you’re drinking my saliva. But if you dare to drink another woman’s saliva, I’ll be angry too.”

“…”

Himemiya Izayoi was not done yet. She said again:

“Be with me, big brother. A woman doesn’t care about the person who is devoted to her. She only feels sad for the person who is fickle. You be with me, make her cry, make her regret, torture her. How about it, hmm?”

“…Not good. I would never do such a twisted thing. If the ice can’t be melted, I’d rather freeze to death than ask for help from magma.”

Himemiya Izayoi heard this and turned to Kamibayashi Miko, saying:

“Miko, don’t listen to him. He’s just saying nice things to deceive you again. He even had a physiological reaction to me. He didn’t tell you, did he?”

“…”

Minamoto Kiyomoto felt from the bottom of his heart that miko were really a troublesome group of creatures.

[Thank you to ‘Takasu Kurohitomi’ for the third patron.]

Happy National Day to everyone.

Thank you all for your rewards, monthly tickets, subscriptions, and recommendation tickets.

(End of Chapter)