Chapter 41: Lilies and Cherry Blossoms
A fan made chapter by Raiden7284677
Lightly edited by MojaveMarshal
It was a year after the public appearance of Mamono reached all over the globe.
Yuri Akasen, age 28. A beautiful girl with long black hair was in her hakama and kosode as she finished her daily sweeping. Since it was in the small community of Shiromaru within the Tokyo Prefecture, the shrine wasn't that large. On the one hand, her duties were shorter than most places. There weren't too many places to clean or decorate, and not much business came in other than for religious purposes or wishes good luck in success in various types. On the other hand, besides barely earning enough to live, it interfered with other parts of life.
Yuri owned this shrine ever since her parents died nine years ago, altogether leaving her alone and in charge of this religious establishment. Both were successful people within the small town of Shiromaru, so she was allowed to go to school like most girls. Furthermore, her mother worked at their own shrine, where her mother and grandmother trained her in the regular duties of modern mikos, including omikuji fortune-telling and ceremonial dances like the Kagura. She was infatuated by the role of mikos, which is why she joined her mother, even if it conflicted with the school life that she pursued.
Unfortunately, that kind of life didn't last long. Both her mother and father died to protect her from a collapsing tree during the 2011 tsunami. From there on, being a miko was the only income she had left, and she was forced to stand up for herself.
Even then, she desired to go to school every now and then, trying to participate whenever she could. She was in high school now, so her performance and participation were more crucial than ever before. She even got called out by her teachers for staying at the shrine when she should be attending class, even if she couldn't help it. And that puts a severe burden on her, which questions her ability to carry on.
But even with such hardships, there was one particular person who mattered a lot to her.
Before she knew it, there was a knock on the shrine door and caught attention.
"Yuri-san, are you there?" Another girl called out, which the shrine priestess heard from the courtyard.
"C-Coming!" The shrine priestess ran to the main bamboo door. She knew well who it was, which meant she shouldn't keep her waiting for too long. After all, she was the only childhood friend she knew most of her life.
As Yuri slid the door open, she welcomed another schoolgirl who had the same sailor fuku uniform she had on the wall. She had long blonde hair that went to her waist like hers was and green eyes.
"S-Sorry about that, Shinagawa-san," Yuri apologized to her closest friend.
If anything, Miho Shinagawa was the one Yuri knew the longest. They were together ever since they first met when her mother was still around. Most students thought she was a hikikomori or prioritized her miko duties over education. However, Miho knew the truth about Yuri's predicament and did everything she could to support her.
"These are for next week's assignment," Yuri's childhood friend gave her a set of papers. "I also wrote notes from yesterday's class, so you can prepare for the upcoming exam."
"T-Thank you," Yuri's face went a little red. Even when she participated in school, she came across as cold, thanks to the rumors. Partly it's thanks to Miho's friendliness and caring personality that she became the only person when the miko acted soft.
"Is something wrong, Akasen-san?" Miho noticed the blush on Yuri's face.
"N-Nothing," the miko turned away. "I'll get these done before early morning."
Miho chuckled before replying.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just worried over when I'll see you at school next time."
"Before the next weekend," Yuri answered.
"Eh!? Don't tell me you're really that busy."
"Sorry…"
"That's okay, I'll be waiting for you when you're ready."
From there, Yuri gave a warm smile to her childhood friend, one of the rarest occasions when she ever did such a thing.
"Thank you…"
"Either way, I'll see you next time!" Miho waved goodbye as she went through the Torii gate at the front of the entrance. From there, the miko watched her friend run into the distance before closing the door.
The homework didn't last very long. It covered pretty much the same subjects Yuri was used to, particularly mathematics and history. She also finished in less than an hour, more than enough time to get enough sleep for tomorrow. But before then, there would be something she always did every week.
Yuri walked up to the honden established within the main himogori. She then placed three rice balls that collected and put them by the sanctuary of the established deity. Her shrine's deity was Inari Okami, one of the most popular gods in Japan and the one that had the most shrines. As per tradition, offering rice to the fox god was one of the staples. But that wasn't the main reason Yuri brought these offerings, the sanctuary also has pictures of her deceased parents.
Her prayers were usually for protection and, as also granted by Okami Inari, prosperity in the long run. But she wished for more than just that, something that the shrine's god could not provide.
Ever since she was alone, she had more reliance on her childhood friend Miho for her success. If it wasn't for her, she didn't know what would happen to her. From that point on, her relationship was more than just childhood friends. No, it was something much closer, something she could not ignore for so long.
I hope that one day, Miho-san accepts those same feelings that I have for her, she prayed by the shrine. Inari Okami was one of fertility, but that did not necessarily mean all love. She even doubted that her childhood friend would ever return those same feelings for her. Regardless, her heart ached from seeing her face and she couldn't let go.
Yuri left the sanctuary, ready to turn in for the night. But before she left the room, she heard something behind her. It was like something was intruding the sanctuary, eating from the bowl where she left the rice balls.
Yuri jerked to one of the walls. Her older grandparents kept a nodachi around when they practiced swordsmanship in their younger years, which was now held for more ceremonial purposes. But if needed, it was still usable as a weapon. It was a long time since she was trained in the use of the sword; the last time was when her father was still around. Therefore, she questioned how good she would be at defending her shrine.
On the verge of unsheathing her sword, she stopped over the sight of the culprit.
Before Yuri was a woman in the same hakama and kosode as her, eating one of the rice balls that she left behind for one of her parents. But the surprising part was not only her blonde hair like Miho but also fox ears and tails as if she was Inari Okami herself.
The intruder's ears twitched before noticing the shrine maiden's presence. She quickly stood up in a more disciplined matter before she greeted the host.
"M-My apologies," the woman politely spoke fluent Japanese to her surprise. "I never knew that this miko would be up at this hour."
"Who are you?" Yuri demanded from the woman. "Why are you here?"
"Relax, young miko, for I mean no harm," the fox woman approached her. "Perhaps I should introduce myself first. I am Sakura, an inari from the land of Zipangu, who was sent by Lady Luxure to his new world."
Zipangu? That was not a word she was familiar with other than being an older name of Japan used by European explorers. However, it wasn't long before she realized what she encountered.
"You're one of those Mamono!" Yuri called out, drawing her sword.
"Ah, so you've heard about us. I'm pleased to hear that much, at least."
Obviously, this wasn't the first time she learned about these monsters. She heard from Miho and the news about their appearances and even attacks throughout the world. They were known to abduct men for their spiritual energy, and women were transformed into monsters who behaved just like them. It was true that they were becoming more accepted into human society, and the Mamono weren't already docile from the start and were starting to become more behaved. But they still weren't beings they couldn't act all friendly with, especially with their morals that disregarded age and especially consent.
That was especially so when they learned about the more dangerous types of Mamono out there. Many of these types were creatures that humans were familiar with within their world, and those found in Japan were no exception. But according to the sources, inari is supposed to increase in power whenever they had sex with many men. While Sakura appeared to only have two golden tails, such a powerful Mamono was alarming for her.
"Why are you here?" the owner of the shrine demanded.
"Relax, priestess, I don't intend to harm you. It's just that the shrine here has a familiar feel just back at…oh?"
"What is it?" Yuri glared at the fox woman while pointing her ceremonial sword at her.
"Something is interesting regarding the mana flowing within you."
"That's because I'm a B-type," Yuri answered. When the info that only O-types were affected by Mamomo mana, the Japanese government issued an early free medical checkup for the blood types of all citizens. For their nation was one of the more fortunate as only 30% of their population was vulnerable to the demonic energy. However, that was still a sizable chunk of the Japanese people, and it was necessary to prevent any massive monsterization outbreak. She didn't know what her classmates were, especially Miho, but she already tested for Type-B blood, so she was safe.
"If you're planning on turning me into one of you, then you may as well give up now," Yuri threatened.
Sakura, however, was left unphased. In fact, she chuckled at her threat, which made the miko unnerved. Before she could make a move, however, she felt something paralyzing her.
I…can not move? Yuri struggled to no avail as the inari approached her. Sakura inspected the woman as she breathed what felt like incredible amounts of energy flowing into her.
"You really think I planned to do that?" Sakura did not understand what Yuri meant about turning her into a Mamono. As an inari, she could additionally summon kitsune-bi to possess girls like her and turn them into kitsune-tsuki. But even if it was true that it was a useless effort, which she was based on how the miko remained unaffected by the concentration of demonic energy around the shrine, that was never her intention at all. "No, I'm saying that your mana is much different from those emitted."
"I already told you, my blood type prevents you from turning me into a monster."
"I mean what it decays into afterward," Sakura replied. "I already noticed how most of the humans in this region have some immunity to our power. But nevertheless, whatever mana they generate, it still eventually decays into regular spirit mana that we consume. I'm surprised that for someone who's not a hero, let alone a man, would have such divine power flowing within them."
"D-Divine?" That word made the miko jump for the moment.
As the inari stated, women generated far less spirit energy than men. Not only did it require them to absorb such power from the outside to sustain themselves, but it was one reason why they were vulnerable to demonic mana and monsterization. The humans in this world were no exception; even when most of the people had unique mana that rejected demonic energy long enough to completely prevent its aphrodisiac effects and monsterization, it still eventually decayed into the mana that they could use.
But all of the humans Sakura came across so far all produced normal spirit mana after decay. This one, and a woman of all people, had an energy that was much more potent.
For that reason, Sakura took a different direction with the miko, which is why she had to act even friendlier than before. For that reason, she turned off the paralysis spell she cast and went down on her knees.
"Please forgive my rude behavior," Sakura bowed down to Yuri. "I wish to do anything to make up for it."
"This is a shrine," Yuri asked as she recovered her strength, aware of the possible consequences of an inari to stay here. "My parents would never accept turning this into a brothel!"
"I am aware, however…"
Small specks of flame then manifested under Sakura's will, which made the place warmer than usual. Shortly after that, waves of demonic mana affected the decaying torii and nearby buildings of the shrine. Thanks to the nearby flames, she could tell that Sakura was restoring the shrine to its original glory. At the same time, a tree in the courtyard already grew and bloomed cherry blossoms at will. The old family shrine became more prestigious in an instant the moment the inari cast her magic.
"The people of this land are said to worship our kind, saying we bring prosperity and success in life," Sakura began. "If I were to remain here, I promise to bring whatever prosperity you desire, no matter what it is."
Yuri didn't know what to say. Naturally, she would tell some stranger to leave no matter what the conditions, especially if it was some perverted creature like a Mamono. But she witnessed her power, and even though she was immune to demonic energy, it felt like a bad idea to antagonize such a powerful Mamono. Furthermore, inaris were supposed to be friendly creatures like Japan's version of the goddess. Well, as long as they aren't hooked onto men.
"If you're willing to stay here," Yuri put her sword away. "There will be some rules you must follow, even if you are an Inari."
"I promise," Sakura rose up from her bow. "I will listen to anything you have to say."
The lustful smile did not give her a promising look. But with the world's awareness of Mamono, there should be more than enough means to keep Sakura in check. The next day, she'll have to report her presence and, ironically, bring her as an apprentice to the shrine. But if she could keep her tame, it could be beneficial. She wanted to more than just to be a regular shrine maiden, she wanted to have her own life and achieve her goals. And that goal? To obtain the heart of Miho, the girl she ultimately loved…
Of course, the inari herself had her own purposes, and she knew it. With a girl having such high potency, she felt that she hit the jackpot despite being a woman who can't use demonic energy. Her inability to receive the Demon Lord's gift was irrelevant to her if she produced such high-quality mana. All she had to do was win her heart and make the miko hers for herself.