Maybe she knew something.
Actually, these abnormalities could be a kind of side effect of turning her into a god half by force─an accidental solution owing to an impulsive act on my part, it had seemed like a sharp idea. Thinking about it with a calmer head though, deifying a young girl who’d been sent to hell sounded like a stretch even for an empty shrine.
Hachikuji becoming a god and Karen getting shorter, or Ononoki starting to have expressions, had no clear causal link. The reason might be entirely different, but since I had no clues at the moment, talking to her was worth the trouble.
Abnormalities aside, I wanted to tease the young girl at Kita-Shirahebi for her divine antics. And scold her if she was getting carried away.
As a friend, of course!
Oddly enough, I now had a destination for my bike ride─and no sooner than I’d decided, I straddled the BMX I still had on loan from Ogi and began pedaling toward the mountain that the shrine presides over. While I wouldn’t be able to go up it on a bike (well, maybe on a BMX, since they say it can climb stairs, but not with my skills…), I’d still get to the entrance faster despite the slopes.
Or so I thought, but either I got flustered or wasn’t used to a BMX, not to mention the several-month gap in my riding career─because it took me longer than I expected. Was it a lie that you never forget how to ride a bike?
I nearly tipped over again and again and got lost too. I hadn’t heard about any barrier being placed on the mountain, but maybe, as someone with an aberrational nature, I was being prevented from approaching the shrine, holy ground where a god had alighted.
If that was the case, I couldn’t just drop by casually. Since a vampire dwelled in my shadow, maybe it was to be expected, but being kept out of holy ground is pretty depressing…
I thought this as I chained up the now-parked bike (who knew how gleefully Ogi would browbeat me if I let it get stolen) and began up the familiar mountain path, which I could honestly say was much easier than half a year ago thanks to my trips up and down it. Not a game trail, but a me trail. By the time I finished my hike and passed through the torii gate, the sun was directly overhead.
In other words, it was noon─the time of day when aberrations seemed least likely to appear, but then not every aberration is nocturnal.
No one was on the well-kept grounds of Kita-Shirahebi, rebuilt last year. Not many people would visit a location as secluded as this, god or no. We needed to come up with something for the shrine to be worshiped again… There was probably nothing I could do, but given the events that led to Hachikuji becoming a god, I wanted to help in some way.
Maybe they could try selling omikuji fortunes.
Hachikuji omikuji─I liked how that sounded.
So what if it sounds good, you may ask, but it’d matter to Hachikuji.
I ought to broach the subject with her after discussing my issue─but then the all-important factor, Mayoi Hachikuji, wasn’t even around… Maybe she was inside the hall? I’d met her in town only yesterday, so maybe she was out there observing, or just talking a walk? Something about a god who liked going out on the town seemed to lack gravitas, or to be too footloose…
“Hachikujiii? Hello-o-o?” I called out from in front of the offering box. Even if she was inside, I couldn’t just barge in. Maybe I shouldn’t be scared when I had an aberration living in my shadow, but I still hesitated, fearing the divine punishment that would surely come. If Hachikuji was delivering it, not only would she not go easy on me, she’d be merciless.
Ah, right─how about putting some money in the offering box? Thinking back to when we first met, her reaction to hard cash was anything but cold… Heheh, it’s not every day you come up with a novel idea like summoning a god with an offering.
How I’ve grown. Apparently, an unpleasant conman had visited this shrine on a regular basis since New Year’s, but what set us apart was that only I had these dazzlingly original ideas…
With that pleasing thought, I took out my wallet. Having grabbed it as I left home and stuffed it in my pocket, I didn’t know how much money I had…but yeah, this was a shrine.
The standard good-luck offering of a five-yen coin ought to do.
Alas, I happened to be out of five-yen coins─but did find four one-yen coins, which might serve as a suitable substitute. Four or shi is considered unlucky, given that it’s homophonous with the word for death in Japanese, but maybe it was fine because it also alliterated with shojo, girl? The greater number of coins made you feel like you’re getting more, yes?
I felt for a moment like I might be messing up, but pluckily refusing to be distracted by any figment of the imagination, I tossed the four coins into the offering box─then gave two bows, two claps, and one bow, or whatever. I’d been taught what to do but couldn’t remember, so I bowed my own way to get across at least the sentiment and rang the bell extra hard.
Nothing in particular happened.
Nothing like the shrine’s door opening and a god storming out─I almost wanted a refund but didn’t even have anyone to complain to.
Was she really taking a walk? She wasn’t the type to sit still, whether she’d ascended to godhood or descended to hell─my only option now would be to climb down the mountain and wander aimlessly around town.
Mildly despondent, I thought maybe I ought to see it as a good thing that she was being her active self even after becoming a god, and began to turn back when─
“”
Someone grabbed me from behind, tackling me. Not remotely ready for this full-body attack, I fell to the ground and panicked, only to be locked in a submission hold.
“Eeeek!” I shrieked, but the maneuver was in place before I knew it─what were these moves, military combatives? Every joint in my body had been locked into place.
I could neither resist nor run.
My opponent seemed to be about my size but was on a different level in terms of proficiency. I couldn’t find any opening I could use to move─the submission hold affected my entire body as though I’d been vacuum-packed.
“ ”
“Eeeek!”
No, forget about the joint lock. It was just creepy how my assailant didn’t hold back and glued fast until our cheeks rubbed, which is why I screamed. I felt like a slug was crawling along my body.
Wh-Who was it? What was it? What exactly was going on?
Paying no mind to my utter confusion, the criminal─I see nothing wrong with using that word here─pressed our bodies together even more tightly.
“ ”
“Eeeek! Eeeek!”
“ ”
“Eeeek!”
Wait… Lady?
My ears picked up this scrap of a word, and I tried to look behind me─only my eyes moved since my neck was locked too─but indeed, the perp who’d shoved me onto these holy grounds, and who was wound around my body, was a woman.
She had to be pretty muscular to have the strength, but actually, I did sense a kind of smoothness and softness as well─even if I was in pain more than anything else.
…Hold on, I knew this person.
“Graaah!”
“”
Biting the earlobe in front of my face finally made her get away with a (feminine) cry─and stand slim and tall.
Her hair gathered together in the back, her balanced features betraying none of the perversion she’d been guilty of─yes.
I’d met this person before.
I’d met her before─in a different timeline.
“M-Miss…Mayoi Hachikuji?”
“Yes,” she replied with a smile, her arms crossed as if to emphasize her developed bust. “Miss Mayoi Hachikuji, twenty-one years old.”