"Well, well, well, might I presume that you would be the true, secret god worshipped here at the Moriya shrine?" Renko asked, looking up at the silhouette atop the pillar and easing her hat back on her head.

"Hmmm? There's no way Kanako would have told two humans about something like that. Who are you two?" the silhouette asked.

"Just garden-variety human visitors from the Outside world. My name is Renko Usami. This is my partner, Merry."

"It's Maeribel Hearn, actually."

"Outsiders? That must be why Sanae was so excited then. I suppose that makes sense. If we came all the way here, then others must have too. I suppose that's a stroke of luck for Sanae, I was worried she'd be all alone here." The tone that the shadow atop the pole responded with almost sounded like she had come to a decision.

"Well, since we've found you now, would you mind coming down so we can have a look at you?" Renko asked. I wonder if in all of human history there's ever been any human to make such a bold request of a god with such nonchalance.

"Oh, pardon me, it's been so long since any human petitioner has come to see me I've forgotten my manners." All at once the shadow sprung from the top of the Onbashira, twisting once in the air before landing lightly directly in front of us. "Welcome to Moriya's innermost shrine. In honor of Sanae having met two new friends, I'll overlook your trespass and forgo the cursing. For now."

Lady Yasaka had worn an unusual outfit that marked her as someone special the moment you laid eyes on her. I suppose the same could be said of this god, but the effect was entirely different. She appeared to be a girl of about the same size as an elementary schooler, but with an air about her that was closer to that of a kind, if slightly mischievous old granny. Though her face was unlined, her eyes held an unspeakably deep wisdom to them. She wore a simple dress that looked like it must have come from the Outside world, as it had a pair of cartoonish frogs screen printed onto the material. By far the most noticeable and alarming aspect of her outfit was her hat, however. It was a tall, sloped thing of woven bamboo surmounted by a pair of glassy white ornaments with black cores that looked almost exactly like fist-sized eyeballs. I'm almost certain I even saw them blink.

The tiny goddess looked us over, with the sort of appraising look that would have been at home on the face of an old woman examining produce at a market. "So what is it that two mortal humans were hoping to find behind those seals and wards in the dead of night? I can't imagine Kanako let you back here."

"Ah, my apologies for entering without permission. I noticed how much this shrine resembled the Suwa Grand Shrine of the Outside world, so I thought that there must be a hidden god here too. I simply wanted to confirm that suspicion, I mean you no disrespect."

"Oh, you know the Suwa Grand Shrine from the Outside world then?"

"Well, I know that the god they outwardly venerate there, Takeminakata, is a deity who was thought to have come to Suwa from elsewhere back in antiquity. It's said that the people indigenous to the area still worshiped an older, native god of the land, one who wasn't spoken of to outsiders."

I had heard the story before. The worship of the native god of the Suwa region wasn't some was a religion that had fallen mostly out of practice, except for in the familial lines of a small number of priests who claimed to be able to trace their family trees back to the gods in the distant past. Still, if Renko's theory was accurate, then as the true form of Takeminakata, Kanako would be the outside, publicly visible god of this shrine and this girl would have been the original native god, sealed behind these wards. She didn't seem to bear Kanako any ill-will over the matter though.

"Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but that makes you the native god of this shrine and its original owner, does it not?" Renko asked.

"Well, maybe once, a long time ago. I gave this place to Kanako willingly. I'm ok being hidden here in this innermost shrine."

"Ha, well in that case I should greet you properly." With almost comical exaggeration, Renko bowed twice, clapped twice and bowed again, like a worshipper on the first day of the year. I followed suit in a bit of a panic. There was no offertory box here and I hadn't thought to bring my coin purse when we snuck out of Sanae's room. Would the goddess expect me to just hand her money, I wondered?

To my surprise, she just laughed happily. "Oh, you even have proper manners! Even in the Outside world that's rare nowadays. That's not necessary though. If you are one of Sanae's friends then you are welcome here, even if visitors aren't typically allowed this far. I'm sure Kanako will agree. I am Suwako Moriya."

"Suwako? As in lake Suwa?"

"As in the whole Suwa region. I've been the native god of these lands since long before Kanako came here, even if almost no one remembers me," she said, crossing her arms and pouting. Suwako didn't seem upset by the idea of not being the primary god of this shrine, but the idea of losing control of the region seemed to be a bit of a sore spot. I wondered exactly what kind of a relationship she and Kanako had.

"Well, that's all in the past anyway," she continued, waving her hand dismissively. "Right now the most important thing to worry about is how Sanae is getting along. Your names were Renko and Merry, right? I hope you'll be good friends to her, she needs to make connections with the people of this world, and find peers who will understand her. Sanae is... a special girl. It can be hard for her to make friends."

"Well, if Sanae doesn't mind, I'd be happy to call her a friend. I'd like to know all about her, and about her gods too for that matter," Renko continued. "Speaking of which, let's talk about you. You're actually a curse god, aren't you?"

The smile that lit up Suwako's face at that statement seemed inhumanly cruel. It was the first real reminder I had had that the being in front of us was not a human. "Oh sure. The highest of all the Mishaguji, in fact. They all do my bidding. Earthquakes, plagues, blights, floods, droughts. It's been a while since I stretched my legs with a good pestilence or famine. Did you want to see?"

Despite it all, Renko never flinched. "Quite impressive. You must have been a real terror to the people of this land in ages past. Sanae is quite lucky to have such powerful and scary guardians as you and Lady Yasaka protecting her." Renko tugged the brim of her hat back down, despite the darkness. "That's what the two of you do, isn't it? For all intents and purposes, you're basically her parents."

At those words Suwako turned away from us, taking a step to look out over the surface of the lake instead. "I wonder if that's really true..." she muttered. "I wonder if, had Sanae met someone like you two in the Outside world, things might have turned out differently?"

Suwako's question faded into the inky night, unanswered. At the time we had no way of knowing its meaning.