[Why is that?]
Mikoto walked along the busy street.
It was clearly a lively place, but she felt lonely inside.
[As I thought, I can no longer return to this world, can I?]
The people passing by seed, in her eyes, like a black and white movie, lacking color.
It was not that she had beco dull toward color.
Rather, even though she longed to return to human society, standing here had no aning for her.
No ho.
No family.
No friends.
If she still had anything left, then it was probably enemies.
And the whole world was her enemy.
Because she was a Spirit. Just existing made her a symbol of disaster.
[Where... should I go?]
An unfamiliar city.
Unfamiliar streets.
Unfamiliar scenery.
Walking on a street like this made her feel out of place.
"A bookstore?"
Mikoto stopped.
After looking around, she found what she wanted in the corner of a row of shelves—
A Tengu City travel guide.
She did not know where she was, and she did not know where she should go. Mikoto was sure this book could tell her what she wanted to know.
"Ah."
But after touching her pocket, she sadly realized she did not have a single coin.
[Forget it.]
After thinking about it, she could not buy the book, but she also did not want to give up the information she had found. So she decided to stand in the bookstore and finish reading it there.
In other words—
Free reading.
[This is Japan.]
First, she had to confirm the country. Though, after walking on the street earlier, she had more or less understood that already.
[Tengu City.]
This shelf was not a special area for travel magazines, so this should be a local guidebook. It was probably ant for tourists visiting this city.
[Map.]
She did not plan to travel, but the map that books like this always had was a great help.
In a place where she knew neither the people nor the roads, she had to at least morize the way.
"Cough, cough!"
Maybe because she had been reading for a bit too long, the shop owner walked over and started dusting in front of her with a feather duster.
[Oh my.]
Mikoto gave a bitter smile.
It was not because the shop owner was telling her to leave.
It was because she felt moved by this unfriendly exchange.
Ever since Tsukuyomi disappeared, the only things that had communicated with her were machine guns, beam swords, and missiles.
Compared to those, a feather duster actually made her feel a little happy.
"I'm sorry."
She put the book back on the shelf and bowed slightly.
"Uh..."
The shop owner seed not to have expected that a custor reading for free would be such a polite girl. Instead, he beca embarrassed.
"Wait!"
He looked at the travel guide Mikoto had been reading, then called out to her.
"Is there sothing you need?"
Since she had liked traveling to Japan even before this, she was fairly familiar with Japanese. Not to ntion, when she was with Tsukuyomi, the two of them could only speak in Japanese. So speaking right now was not a problem for her.
"This book... take it."
"Um, I don't have any money."
"It's a gift. It wouldn't sell anyway."
Tengu City was not a city known for tourism. Buying these guidebooks in the first place could only be called a mistake. Seeing that the girl before him liked it, the shop owner generously gave it to her.
"Thank you!"
Mikoto smiled and nodded. She held the book to her chest and bowed.
It was as if it were not an unsold guidebook, but sothing very important.
"Oh, co by again next ti!"
A girl's smile was always hard to resist. The shop owner's mood also seed to improve.
"Mm!"
Mikoto nodded and walked out of the bookstore.
[Coming by again... probably won't be possible.]
The chance of manifesting in the real world without being found by that army of cha girls was tiny. On top of that, she would also have to consider the chance of appearing in the sa place.
Even so, Mikoto was very happy.
Because for the first ti in a long ti, she had received sothing from human society other than hostility.
Next, there was sowhere she wanted to go.
Mikoto followed the location from the map and walked there.
It was a small shrine.
Quiet and still.
She did not see a kannushi1, nor did she see any miko.
She ca before the shrine hall, pressed her hands together, and prayed quietly.
[Thank you, Tsukuyomi. Though it is painful sotis, and though I feel helpless, I will live properly.]
There were thousands of words in her heart.
But in the end, she only said this short and calm sentence, hoping that the god of this shrine could carry her feelings to the person she could no longer et.
After doing what she had to do, she lay quietly beneath a tree at the shrine, waiting for the ti when she would return to the Neighboring World.
Before she knew it, while looking at the dappled light between the leaves, she fell asleep.
————————
"Miss..."
"Miss..."
In a daze, she seed to hear a voice.
"Uu..."
Opening her eyes, Mikoto found that it was already dark.
She had not expected to sleep that long. Or maybe she had actually been sent back to the Neighboring World, then returned again?
"Hey! Miss!"
"Ah, I'm sorry."
Coming back to her senses, she found an old woman standing beside her.
The old woman wore red and white miko clothes, and her pale hair was casually tied behind her head. She held a broom in her hand. It seed she had been cleaning the shrine.
"It's already dark. Hurry ho."
"Ho... I don't have one..."
"Oh my... Fighting with your parents is no good. Rebellion may be a privilege at your age, but you still shouldn't make your family worry."
The old woman's voice was very gentle.
But to Mikoto, "ho" was only a word that made her heart ache.
"It isn't a fight. And I didn't run away from ho. I really don't have a ho."
"Young lady..."
"Mm?"
"Even if you did that kind of thing with your boyfriend, ended up pregnant, and then got abandoned, you still must not despair."
"That's not it!!!"
Mikoto looked at the old woman, who was thinking about who knew what, and gave a bitter smile.
"If it were only sothing like that, I would actually have to thank the god , Obaa-san."
"Is that so? Looks like it's more troubleso than I thought. Anyway, if you have nowhere to go, stay here for now."
The old woman waved her hand, telling Mikoto to follow her.
"I can't."
Mikoto shook her head.
She was grateful for the old woman's kindness, but anyone who stayed with her might be attacked by those cha girl.
Bang!
"Awu!"
"Stop talking. If I tell you to co in, then hurry up and co in!"
In the end, the old woman hit her on the head with the broom.
"Here, drink so tea."
"Thank you."
The shrine house was very simple.
The two of them sat on the tatami. A low long table held steaming green tea.
"Are you willing to tell ? The reason you don't want to stay."
"There are... so very scary people chasing , so I can't stay. I'll drag obaa-san into it."
Mikoto thought for a bit, then explained the general situation while trying not to reveal too much.
"Stop calling Obaa-san over and over. Just call Tamako obaa-chan."
"T-Tamako Obaa-chan, what are you doing?"
"Calling the police. At a ti like this, how can I not call the police?"
"Eh? Wait! You can't call the police!"
"Why? If bad people are chasing you, calling the police is the right thing to do."
"I can't. Because..."
Mikoto shook her head with a bitter smile and said:
"I'm the bad person here. Those people are only trying to protect this city, so they keep chasing ... Awu!"
Before she could finish, she was hit on the head again.
"What is your na, little girl?"
The old woman took back the weapon in her hand—a newspaper rolled into a stick.
"Mikoto. Yakumo Mikoto."
"Yakumo Mikoto, is it? That's a lovely na. But Mikoto, I've lived for a long ti. I don't dare say I understand everything, but I can still tell what kind of person is good and what kind is bad."
"Besides, what kind of bad person wears that expression?"
"Huh?"
Mikoto lowered her head.
Reflected in the green tea was her own face, looking as if she were about to cry.
"Look at this."
A large stack of docunts was thrown in front of Mikoto.
"This is... dical records?"
Mikoto opened them and found that they were a stack of dical records. Tamako Obaa-chan's na was written on them.
"!!!"
When she noticed the illness written there, her eyes narrowed.
It said—
Stomach cancer.
"How is it? Even if soone really is chasing you, for an old woman who only has one week left , it can't really be called much of a problem, right?"
"Tamako Obaa-chan..."
"Stay, Mikoto. Just treat it as keeping this lonely old woman company. Living alone in a house doesn't feel good."
Facing the old woman's lonely face, Mikoto seed to see herself up until now.
"Mm!"
And so, she nodded while crying and accepted the old woman's invitation.
Priest
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