Toshima Ward, Sugamo Town.
This ward is located in the northwest corner of Tokyo.
Its name comes from the ancient name of Toshima County, Musashi Province, before the abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures in the island nation.
When Tokyo expanded its administrative area, four towns that originally belonged to North Toshima County were merged into Tokyo's scope and given the name Toshima Ward.
Hundreds of years ago, this was the location of many temples and shrines. Today, it has gathered a large number of traditional small shops and various specialty stores. All kinds of handicrafts can be found here.
The shops on both sides sell all kinds of goods for the elderly.
Best-selling items include thermal underwear, hearing aids, and health socks. Along the way, there were various quaint pharmacies, even two funeral companies, and a 1970s karaoke bar...
"This place has a real sense of history."
The class president Nao pushed up her glasses and took the initiative to start a conversation.
"Yes, it feels like I've traveled through time—who knows how long these shops have been here."
From the 'Bunkyo Ward' with its numerous schools and young people, to suddenly arriving on this street that maintained its 'traditional' style, surrounded by slowly walking old men and women in traditional clothing, even Akiyoshi Yuu couldn't help but touch his chin.
"Tennyo-san, is this where you work?"
"Hee hee hee~~"
"It's even older than this."
The petite and lively Tennyo Ei, while greeting the approaching elderly people, raised her hand and pointed forward.
"We still have to walk about a thousand meters..."
"In that case, I'll wait for you here."
Hearing that there was still over a thousand meters to go, Akiyoshi Kaoru immediately stopped.
She was already weak and sickly, plus her hikikomori personality, and the annoying Iai Nao beside her, she had no motivation at all.
"How about I carry you?"
Akiyoshi Yuu was not at ease leaving Akiyoshi Kaoru here alone.
"Eh?"
"I'm not a child..."
"Then, give me your school bag. I'll carry it for you."
Facing her brother's outstretched hand, Akiyoshi Kaoru finally handed over her school bag.
"Do you want to—"
"No need, Yuu-kun."
"Hee hee hee~~ I need it even less."
The class president Nao and the petite Tennyo Ei both refused AkiyAkiyoshi Yuu's offer to carry their school bags. One was the main force of the school swimming team, and the other walked this road every day. Stamina was not a problem for them at all.
Twenty minutes later,
"This... Kaoru, are you okay?"
The four of them arrived at the foot of a small mountain. Looking up at the long flight of stairs, Akiyoshi Yuu turned around.
"I..."
"I'll push Kaoru-chan."
Before Akiyoshi Kaoru could say anything, the energetic Tennyo Ei pushed her from behind and began to climb up.
Sis, isn't your stamina a little too bad?
Thinking about whether to give Akiyoshi Kaoru some chakra, the four of them walked up the stairs in the forest. More than ten minutes later, they arrived at the top of the mountain.
A vermilion 'kai' character torii gate stood at the end of the stairs. Passing through the torii gate, a small shrine appeared before everyone.
"Kaoru-chan, we've arrived~~"
Tennyo Ei walked to the front of the group, turned around, and gestured:
"Welcome to Inari Shrine."
Before them was a small shrine. The approach was only a few meters long, and there were only two stone lanterns.
A small main hall, a worship hall, a chozuya, ema... the entire shrine was smaller than a basketball court.
Although this was also called 'Inari Shrine', it had no relation to Fushimi Inari-taisha. Their dense vermilion 'Senbon Torii' was one of the most representative landscapes of Kyoto.
Because Inari was the god of agriculture and commerce and was widely worshipped, there were more than nine thousand 'Inari Shrines' throughout the island nation!
"Is Tennyo-san the only one here?"
The class president Nao looked around and asked with some surprise.
This place was on top of a small mountain, with nothing else besides the shrine.
It was naturally a good place for fun, but as a place to live... late at night, living here all alone?
Just thinking about it made the class president Nao feel cold.
"Of course."
"Grandpa used to live with me."
"Since Grandpa passed away, I've been taking care of this place by myself."
After speaking, Tennyo Ei first gestured for everyone to wash their hands at the 'chozuya', then sat down at the 'shamusho' next to it, while she pulled open the wooden door and entered the room inside.
"Ta-da, Miko Ei appears~~"
A few minutes later, the girl, who had changed into a white and red miko outfit, walked out full of energy.
"Come on, I'll show you around the shrine."
"This is the worship hall."
The small and exquisite 'worship hall' was located in front of the main hall, a place for people to worship and make wishes.
Putting in a 5-yen coin, which symbolized 'good fortune', and clapping their hands twice before putting them together, the class president Nao and his sister Akiyoshi Kaoru bowed their heads and thought of what they wanted to pray for in their hearts.
I hope Kaoru-chan will accept me...
I hope the bad woman will leave my brother...
After making opposite wishes in their hearts, the two turned their heads away as if nothing had happened.
"Ahem, next, do you want to write 'ema'?"
"It's free."
The miko Tennyo Ei suggested.
Ema, ema, as the name suggests, were wooden plaques with horses drawn on them.
However, this was the original form of ema. Later, the patterns on ema became more and more abundant. For example, the ema of Inari Shrine all had fox patterns. On these wooden plaques, about 15 cm long and 10 cm high, people wrote their wishes and offered them to the gods, praying for their protection.
"Eh, this is too expensive..."
"No need to be polite, I made them myself."
The class president Nao subconsciously declined, and Tennyo Ei replied without thinking.
"Did Tennyo-san make these herself?"
Facing the 'ema' handed over by the lively girl, the class president sighed after careful examination:
"How exquisite."
"Hee hee hee~~ Grandpa taught me all this."
She gave one ema each to the class president Nao and his sister Akiyoshi Kaoru, but Akiyoshi Yuu did not take one. Amidst Tennyo Ei's confused expression, Akiyoshi Yuu smiled faintly.
"My wish?"
"Inari-kami probably can't grant it."
?
"Brother."
"Yuu-kun, you can't say that in a shrine."
It was unlikely that the class president and his sister believed in gods in the world.
But in a shrine, to say such a thing... and this was the place where their classmate, Tennyo Ei, worked. It was somewhat inappropriate.
"Sorry, Tennyo-san."
"I have no intention of looking down on you, but—"
As someone who would plant the Divine Tree in the future and roam the universe physically, Akiyoshi Yuu didn't think there was anything in this world worthy of his worship.
"It's okay. A shrine is originally just a place for spiritual sustenance."
"Praying for a good harvest, a prosperous business, a safe family... in the end, they are all people's good wishes."
And to realize those wishes, it was more important to act on them.
This point, as an abandoned child, Tennyo Ei had known since she was young.
"Well said!"
Giving the girl a thumbs up, Akiyoshi Yuu nodded.
"Heaven is in motion, and the gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement. Tennyo-san is living a truly free and easy life!"
"Am I as amazing as you say?"
After leading everyone on a tour of the small shrine, everyone began to clean the shrine—originally, this was Tennyo Ei and Nagisa Kazuha's daily routine. Yes, that young lady came here every day to take care of the shrine with Tennyo Ei, if there were no special circumstances.
"Tennyo-san."
While sweeping the fallen leaves, Akiyoshi Yuu chatted with the girl.
"If there really is a 'god', what kind of wish would you want to have granted?"
"Yuu-kun, don't you not believe in gods?"
Regarding this question, the miko in the white and red dress thought for a moment with her finger on her chin.
"I'm very satisfied with my current life. If I had to say one wish... it would be to finish high school and university with Kazu-chan, and then watch her walk into a church~~"
"What kind of motherly statement is that?"
While unable to help but complain, Akiyoshi Yuu flicked his finger.
A piece of white paper quietly flew out, passed through the gap in the closed 'main hall' door, and entered.
The main hall was empty, and there was no 'god statue'.
This was a characteristic of Shintoism:
Non-idol worship.
In the concept of Shintoism in the island nation, although all things have spirits, the gods are formless, and the gods and humans live in different worlds. A shrine is just a place where a god might rest. Crossing the torii gate of a shrine means entering the domain of the gods, but the gods may not be there.
It's just that although the statues of the gods are not enshrined in the hall, some shrines enshrine 'goshintai', such as mirrors, magatama, long swords, using these things to represent the gods.
And in the main hall of this 'Inari Shrine', what was enshrined was a fox mask.
The paper flew over and covered the mask.
The next second,
the mask suddenly became animated.