Chapter 97: To Live by It, to Live for It

“Morappu Tarumae-so?” Minamoto Kiyomoto read the name of the inn in front of him.

He knew the two words ‘Tarumae’ came from Mount Tarumae, but he couldn’t guess what ‘Morappu’ meant.

In English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, the pronunciation of ‘Morappu’ was nothing special.

As if she could guess what he was thinking, the Hokkaido miko said:

“It’s Ainu. For example, Shikotsu means ‘big pit’.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded in understanding.

When he came, looking down at Lake Shikotsu from the air, it was a circular depression surrounded by mountains. It did have that feeling.

Walking into the inn built on a small slope and facing Lake Shikotsu, Minamoto Kiyomoto didn’t wait for the Hokkaido miko to continue explaining what ‘Morappu’ meant.

“Morappu Tarumae-so” was not luxurious, and even a bit simple.

The only cultivator living here was the Hokkaido miko herself. The other hot spring hotels were used to arrange for the rest of the people.

Sitting in the restaurant, which was like his own home, the Hokkaido miko introduced the situation of Lake Shikotsu to the three of them.

“It’s not clear what kind of yokai it is. It could be the lake, it could be the volcano, it could be the air, or even time and space.

“No one who went in has come back. The only thing I can tell you is the legend about Lake Shikotsu that has been passed down through the generations—if you die in Lake Shikotsu, your body will not float up.”

“This is very consistent with the phenomenon of no one surviving,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “Have you sent people to the bottom of the lake to see?”

“I have,” the Hokkaido miko nodded. “I found some bodies, hooked by branches. Some were lying horizontally, some were standing upright, all at the bottom of the lake, more than 300 meters deep.”

“What was the cause of death?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked again.

Kamibayashi Miko rested her face on her hand and looked at the calm lake surface under the sun.

Himemiya Izayoi took a box of jackfruit from the refrigerator, tore it into small strips with her hands, and ate it with relish.

“Drowned,” the Hokkaido miko said.

“Drowned?” Minamoto Kiyomoto pondered. “No divine breath?”

“Why would there be divine breath? Those were just suicides or accidental drownings, not cultivators.”

“…”

Then why did you talk for so long—Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the other party with such eyes.

The Hokkaido miko tilted her head, showing a doll-like, formulaic confusion.

When she expressed her emotions, she really was like a doll—a spiritual body named ‘Rokka’ was putting the body of the ‘Hokkaido Miko’ into the corresponding emotion.

“Here,” Himemiya Izayoi tore off half of the jackfruit she had taken the core out of and gave it to Minamoto Kiyomoto. “Eat something sweet. Don’t be angry.”

“Besides these ordinary people, are there no cultivators’ bodies at the bottom of the lake?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked while eating.

“No,” the Hokkaido miko replied.

“Alright, please continue.”

“That’s all.”

“…Miss Rokka’s way of speaking… is really interesting,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sniffed his fingers, which had a lingering fragrance from holding the jackfruit.

“Thank you,” Rokka nodded.

Then she talked about the arrangements for this subjugation. Without knowing the specific form, there was nothing to arrange.

People with the capacity to become Kosen must have already prepared the arrangements they should make in their hearts, and their ability to adapt to circumstances was also outstanding.

The conversation ended. The only thing that was certain was that this yokai had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Since September, it had already doubled in size. Although Lake Shikotsu was in the mountains, it could not be allowed to continue to expand.

Minamoto Kiyomoto walked out of the inn and stood on the edge of the small slope. He felt that the air was fresh. It was really tiring to talk to the Hokkaido miko.

He looked at the film above Lake Shikotsu. Besides ‘this is a space-time passage,’ he couldn’t see anything else.

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his gaze to other places.

The distant mountains were misty and covered with white snow, very much like Mount Fuji.

Kamibayashi Miko walked leisurely from behind and stood beside Minamoto Kiyomoto, looking down at the vast and calm lake.

“Who would have thought that this clear and beautiful lake would have scattered bodies at the bottom, hooked by branches, and even standing upright,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the lake water.

“It’s as scary as the yokai in front of us,” Kamibayashi Miko said softly.

“It’s as scary as the Divine Miko beside me,” Minamoto Kiyomoto echoed.

“I didn’t hook you, and I didn’t entangle you. You swam to the bottom of the lake of your own accord.”

“Lake Shikotsu is 363 meters deep. I wonder how deep Miss Kamibayashi’s water is?” Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head to look at her, his voice filled with a smile.

Under her long eyelashes, her eyes, which were looking at the lake water, were like the most beautiful black gems in the world, crystal clear.

“What did you and Izayoi do?” she asked.

“Me and her… that’s right!” Minamoto Kiyomoto slapped his forehead. “How could I not have thought of that!”

Kamibayashi Miko turned her face and stared at him.

“I won’t tell you for now,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said mysteriously, with a sense of pleasure.

Himemiya Izayoi ran to him late at night and made his heart flutter. Why didn’t he learn from her and run to Kamibayashi Miko late at night?

He was going to die anyway, so he didn’t care if it was a crime or not.

Besides, with the difference in strength between the two of them, if he really succeeded, it could only prove that Kamibayashi Miko had tacitly agreed.

The sun was high in the sky, the lake was shining with a blue light, and the distant Mount Tarumae looked more and more like Mount Fuji.

“I wonder if I’ll have another chance to see Mount Fuji,” Kamibayashi Miko suddenly said.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Mount Tarumae and also recalled the appearance of Mount Fuji. But no matter how he thought about it, all he could think of was Kamibayashi Miko’s white miko outfit, which was propped up by her chest.

Today was September 9th, the White Dew. On the small slope at his feet, there were bush clovers and large-flowered abelias.

The scarlet sage, which would only bloom in October in Tokyo, was very bright by the lake in September in Hokkaido.

Tomorrow, he would jump into this terrifying lake, but he was looking forward to tonight’s arrival.

“I’m sorry,” just as Minamoto Kiyomoto was in a state of excitement, he suddenly heard Kamibayashi Miko’s soft and gentle voice, like a dandelion.

He wanted to ask why she was apologizing, but even if he asked, she couldn’t answer.

Kamibayashi Miko had put a curse on herself. She could only say five sentences to the same person within ten minutes, unless she was not a Divine Miko, and that was forever impossible.

What Kamibayashi Miko lived by and lived for was the duty of a Divine Miko.

Minamoto Kiyomoto thought about this ‘I’m sorry’.

Was it because she had led him onto this path, and was apologizing for tomorrow’s matter? Or was it because as a Divine Miko, she couldn’t respond to his feelings?
“Of course it’s an apology for tomorrow’s matter.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head and looked up. Himemiya Izayoi was on the second floor of the inn, her elbow resting on the windowsill, her palm supporting her delicate and beautiful face.

She looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with a grin.

Being able to guess his thoughts was something Minamoto Kiyomoto was already used to.

The three of them had not studied psychology, but they were all guys with deep capacity. If they couldn’t see through other people’s simple thoughts, it would be unreasonable.

“When were you there?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“I’ve been watching you,” Himemiya Izayoi winked her right eye playfully.

“You are my thing. You have to be aware of being my thing,” when she said this, her eyes became cold, with a powerful sense of oppression, not allowing people to object.

Having dozens of people under her, over time, she would also order others around, let alone the “Lord of Kyoto” who held the lives of hundreds of millions of people in her hands.

She was qualified to have such a sense of authority.

“We’re all going to die tomorrow anyway. What’s the point of saying this,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said casually.

“Because we’re going to die tomorrow, can you tell me your true feelings?” Himemiya Izayoi turned back into a bright and beautiful young girl looking out the window at the sea.

“True feelings,” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked back.

“Who do you like? What’s your dream?”

“Before I met Miss Kamibayashi,” he said, “my dream was to marry ten wives.”

“What? Ten wives?” Himemiya Izayoi was stunned for a moment and confirmed.

“Isn’t it possible to marry many wives in Kansai? And setting the goal of marrying one wife is actively limiting one’s own development,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said matter-of-factly and without shame.

“Okay, okay,” Himemiya Izayoi said with a laugh. “You continue. What about after you met Miko?”

“After I met her, I wanted to marry two wives—of course!”

Here, Minamoto Kiyomoto did not dare to be matter-of-fact and quickly added:
“Whether it’s ten or two, this is a daydream like ‘an ordinary person fantasizing about being as rich as a country.’ The actual dream is ‘to save 100,000 yen this month’.”

“The two you mentioned, which two are they?” the Hokkaido miko asked.

“That goes without saying…” halfway through his words, Minamoto Kiyomoto was startled.

He moved a little closer to Kamibayashi Miko and asked the white-haired girl standing on his right, “When did you come?!”

“Just now.”

“When is just now?”

The Hokkaido miko was wearing a snow-white kimono. She tilted her head and looked at him, seeming not to understand his meaning.

“…Forget it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto determined that talking to her was a waste of time. “The two I mentioned are of course the two miko sisters.”

“This is our second meeting. You fell in love with me at first sight?”

Looking at the Hokkaido miko, who was once again confused, Minamoto Kiyomoto, in a helpless posture, pointed his right finger at Kamibayashi Miko and his left finger at Himemiya Izayoi on the second-floor window.

“My miko are only the Divine Miko and the Ise Miko.”

“Do you look down on the city people of Hokkaido?” the Hokkaido miko finally seemed to understand and nodded. “I’ve heard that both Kanto and Kansai look down on Hokkaido.”

“End!” Minamoto Kiyomoto clapped his hands and turned to walk back to the inn.

Himemiya Izayoi’s crisp laughter floated out from the second-floor window and spread far away.

For dinner, they had yakitori and the plum wine that the innkeeper had brewed himself.

The plum wine was delicious. After drinking one cup after another, even the Hokkaido miko, who was thought to only eat snow, held a saucer and drank it in small sips.

“I haven’t had the plum wine that Shirako brewed this year yet. I even helped,” Minamoto Kiyomoto ate his yakitori.

Kamibayashi Miko also had regrets.

“I’ve paid off half of the loan. I must survive,” she looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“I’m alive to help you pay off the loan?!”

“It’s to marry two wives,” Himemiya Izayoi said with a smile while drinking.

“I said that’s like every ordinary person’s ‘rich as a country’ dream. What I think about every day is how to seduce Miss Kamibayashi.”

“Anyway, we’re all going to die tomorrow. Why don’t you just die today?” the Divine Miko said to someone in a voice as pleasant as a stream.

Minamoto Kiyomoto stopped talking, poured wine for the two miko, thought for a moment, and then poured some for the Hokkaido miko.

“Thank you,” the Hokkaido miko nodded in thanks.

On the contrary, Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi, the two of them had a matter-of-fact look, completely ignoring Minamoto Kiyomoto’s attentiveness.

A person like him, any woman who ate at the same table with him would be enough to show off to her friends.

But on this point, everyone present was the same, and in terms of being untouchable and noble, they were all higher than him, who was born a commoner.

Minamoto Kiyomoto sipped his plum wine and thought about today’s actions.

If he succeeded, it would really be a major event that would be enough to show off on news channels all over the world.

After dinner, Kamibayashi Miko went to the hot spring. Minamoto Kiyomoto, who had washed up in advance, secretly sneaked into her room.

It was just a simple tatami room. The only advantage was that through the window, one could see Lake Shikotsu under the moonlight, and the clean and clear starry sky of Hokkaido.

He made the bed and went to sleep in advance.

The new quilt had no one’s scent. This was temporary.

Minamoto Kiyomoto rested his hands behind his head and looked at the beautiful Milky Way outside the window, as if his body were floating in the Milky Way.

After an unknown amount of time, he vaguely heard the sound of geta and wooden planks.

The crisp sound approached, then stopped. With a “whoosh,” the sliding door was opened.

“Click,” the light was turned on.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze moved down and looked at Kamibayashi Miko standing at the door.

She had just finished her bath and was wearing a white yukata. Her black hair, which was usually down, was now tied up behind her head.

Her snow-white skin, due to the hot spring, had turned rosy. Under the fluorescent light, it was so tender that it seemed as if water would drip out.

Because she had turned on the light, her right hand was half-raised, and the sleeve of her yukata had slipped down a bit, revealing her white and reflective forearm.

“I don’t remember asking you to warm the bed,” Kamibayashi Miko said coldly.

“This is a free service,” Minamoto Kiyomoto lifted a corner of the quilt, patted the quilt, and gestured for her to come in without being polite.

“Not getting close to free things is my sixth rule of life. Get out.”

“Miss Kamibayashi, today is my birthday.”

“Get out.”

“I’m going to die tomorrow.”

“What did you write on the guarantee last time in Uji?” Kamibayashi Miko moved the door open.

“I won’t do anything. I’ll just sleep beside you, just for this one night! I promise!” Minamoto Kiyomoto obediently moved his body and slept at the very edge of the bed.

Kamibayashi Miko looked down at him. The two of them looked at each other without saying a word. The sound of the fluorescent light’s current could be heard.

Just as Minamoto Kiyomoto was about to get up and give up, Kamibayashi Miko suddenly reached out and took off the small golden hairpin that was holding her hair.

It wasn’t a hairpin, it was the “Divine Miko’s Aya.”

The “Divine Miko’s Aya” slowly grew larger, from hard metal to smooth, soft, and light silk, and tied Minamoto Kiyomoto from head to toe.

“I—”

“Click,” the fluorescent light went out, and the room fell into darkness.

“Whoosh,” the sliding door was closed.

Minamoto Kiyomoto closed his mouth, his heart pounding. A strong and hot breath rose from the bottom of his heart.

His whole body was as hot as if it were being burned by a fierce fire. His eyes were wide open, staring at Kamibayashi Miko in the darkness.

In the darkness, a snow-white face vaguely appeared, just like a white magnolia blooming at night.

Kamibayashi Miko walked to the bed, gently lifted the quilt, and lay down with her back to him.

The room was silent. The silence flowed like magma buried deep underground.

“Miss… Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto swallowed, his throat extremely dry.

Kamibayashi Miko still had her back to him and said nothing, as if she had fallen asleep.

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head. Her back in front of him had an indescribable charm, and the lines of her shoulders were extremely soft and beautiful.

He enjoyed the strange, pure fragrance on her body, wanting to hold her waist and touch her soft body.

“Miss Kamibayashi, it’s hard to sleep when I’m tied up. Can you untie me? I promise I won’t move,” he said.

“Either get out, or sleep honestly,” it was unknown if it was because they were sleeping on the same bed, but Kamibayashi Miko’s voice, although very cold, was also very kind.

So kind that it was like a warm spring, enveloping Minamoto Kiyomoto.

He even had the illusion that the two of them were already together. This was just one of the many nights where the two of them were having a little tiff.

“Alright,” in this intimacy, his almost uncontrollable lust and desire miraculously disappeared.

He looked at the Milky Way outside the window and felt that they were even more beautiful, like a bright river.

After a while, he said softly:
“Miss Kamibayashi, why don’t you just stop being a Divine Miko? There are so many people in the world. Why should you be the one to sacrifice yourself?”

“How about letting someone else do it? For example… hmm—Itomi Yuki?”

“I wonder if she’s willing? But if she becomes a Divine Miko, her cultivation speed will increase, and she can go and help her sister sooner.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I brought her onto this path of cultivation without any bad intentions. Before just now, I never thought of using her to help you get out of this.”

“But… if you’re not a Divine Miko, we can be together.”

“We’ll continue to go to school during the day, and subjugate yokai once every six months, just treat it as a trip.”

“When we’re free, we’ll read, draw, play chess, and tend to the vegetable garden at the shrine. On holidays, we’ll go to the movies and go shopping.”

“The Faculty of Letters is four years. You’ll graduate two years earlier than me. You can consider studying for a master’s degree and graduate with me.”

“When we’ve both graduated, whether it’s managing the shrine or opening a small clinic with only one doctor, we can do whatever we want. If we don’t want to, we can just close the shop and run back to Shodoshima for a trip.”

“By the way, Shirako really likes it there. We must bring her along.”

“…It’s useless to say these things. You won’t give up being a Divine Miko, will you?”

Minamoto Kiyomoto turned his head to look at Kamibayashi Miko. She still had her back to him.

“Miss Kamibayashi, I like you,” he whispered to her back, as if talking to a sleeping person, wanting to convey his feelings into her dream.

“…I’ve said it before,” Kamibayashi Miko said in a cold voice, “I won’t like you. Your expectations for me are completely in the wrong direction.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto tilted his only movable head and rested it against the back of Kamibayashi Miko’s head.

Their hair was indistinguishable, and a warm feeling was being transmitted.

“Miss Kamibayashi, I won’t make any mistake twice, unless I want to.”

His nose was filled with Kamibayashi Miko’s scent. Minamoto Kiyomoto was like an oyster surrounded by seawater. The softest part of his heart was exposed from its shell.

At this moment, he had no regrets about dying. He slowly closed his eyes.

Kamibayashi Miko opened her eyes. In the night, her eyes were gentle and sad.

The Milky Way flowed into the window, and the water-like light that filled the room gently lifted the two of them, who were resting their heads together.

(End of Chapter)