In the blink of an eye, the shrine entrance was surrounded by beautiful young miko.
At this very moment, those with a miko outfit fetish would surely be screaming "I'm dying" and such.
But as a mature and reliable man, Dōjima Gin never looked at just the surface of things. What he saw first were bows drawn taut like full moons, with white light shimmering on the arrowheads, and only then did he see the beautiful young miko.
Being pointed at by dozens of demon-breaking bows, even someone as resolute as him couldn't help but have sweaty palms, his heart screaming, "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die."
He had the fortune of witnessing the power of these things during miko practice—a delicate young girl would loosen her arm, and the archery target would instantly shatter into pieces.
Knowing that his physique and appearance looked somewhat dangerous in the eyes of these young girls, Dōjima Gin dared not make the slightest movement, fearing that if he opened his mouth, the other side would loose a volley of arrows, and he would become the object shattered into pieces.
"Mo Bai, I'm counting on you." Pinning his hopes on the outside of the cage, Dōjima Gin frantically signaled Mo Bai with his eyes.
Mo Bai, looking harmless to humans and animals alike, looked at Dōjima Gin who was encircled by a wall of paper talismans and signaling him, then looked at his own position sandwiched between the two parties. He nodded in sudden realization and silently walked to the side to leave space for both Dōjima Gin and the miko.
Dōjima Gin: (ʘд ʘ╬)
He was completely shocked by this "wise" maneuver of Mo Bai's.
"Do you know who the other party is and what their purpose is?" Just as both sides fell into an eerie silence, a voice that Mo Bai found somewhat familiar came from behind the miko arrow formation.
The arrow formation parted to the sides, and a "flower on a high peak" holding a naginata and wearing a stern expression arrived at the front with a sharp aura, sweeping her gaze across them.
"Sen... Senpai! ?"
The gallant and dashing "flower on a high peak" instantly transformed into a ditsy girl next door, her bright eyes widening in utter disbelief.
"Long time no see, Miss Yukikawa Yukie." Mo Bai finally remembered why the combination of snow mountains and cherry blossoms seemed so familiar. Wasn't it one of the two badges Yukikawa Yukie had given him that day, which was currently pinned low-key on his cuff?
Connecting this to the fact that he was fine entering the Torii, while the moment Dōjima Gin stepped in, silver bells rang across the mountain and the former ended up trapped inside a wall of paper talismans in such a predicament...
"Did I pit my teammate again?" Mo Bai realized with hindsight that his magical teammate-jinxing buff had activated once more.
"Why are you here, Senpai?" Yukikawa Yukie—the second-generation military enthusiast girl who was cool and elegant on the outside but ditsy on the inside—reached a consensus with the enemy who had intruded into the shrine right there at the front lines.
The moment Yukikawa Yukie addressed Mo Bai as Senpai, Dōjima Gin began staring at Mo Bai with a murderous gaze. Dōjima Gin's current thoughts were roughly nothing more than: [You're so familiar with the people from Yukikawa Shrine, yet you still let me step on the barrier?]
"Because of various things." Mo Bai could only look up at the sky speechlessly. He really didn't intend to pit Dōjima Gin, but it was precisely this kind of unconscious teammate-pitting that appeared even more terrifying.
"Miko Yukie, watch your words and actions." Yukikawa Shiratori, who arrived supporting the elderly and frail Great Miko, naturally heard Yukikawa Yukie's loud exclamation. "Have you asked clearly about the intruder's intent?"
"Uh." Facing Shiratori's stern gaze, Yukikawa Yukie shrank her neck in trepidation, then asked Mo Bai, "Senpai, what are you here for?"
"Miko Shiratori..." Dōjima Gin finally found a chance to catch his breath. Just as he wanted to greet his acquaintance from Yukikawa Shrine, he didn't expect that Yukikawa Shiratori and the Great Miko's eyes would suddenly light up when their gaze fell upon Mo Bai!
"May I ask this Highness's surname?" The Great Miko asked urgently.
"My humble... cough, I am Mo Bai." Speaking in a way that didn't roll off the tongue, Mo Bai switched back to his familiar way of speaking, only... there seemed to be something wrong with the eyes of these two shrine big shots who had appeared later.
Stared at tightly by the two, Mo Bai felt goosebumps rise all over.
"Highness Mo Bai, please come inside."
"Miko Shiratori, quickly take the travel-worn Highness Mo Bai to the bathhouse."
"Everyone return to your posts and prepare the Imperial Feast. Yukie, you coordinate."
The Great Miko commanded the miko with a voice full of vitality, showing not a trace of the elderly image that needed support just moments ago.
"Highness Mo Bai, please go to the bathhouse to bathe and change." Shiratori's forty-five-degree bow made Mo Bai immediately feel as if his eyes were blinded by something, and he dazedly followed behind Shiratori into the distance.
"Everyone, chop chop!"
Dōjima Gin stared blankly as the miko disappeared before his eyes. From the moment Mo Bai was addressed as "Highness" by the Great Miko, his brain had already crashed.
A cold wind blew past. Dōjima Gin shivered and came back to his senses. Before him was still the unreleased cage barrier.
"..."
Why was Mo Bai led away to bathe, change, and eat an Imperial Feast, while I'm locked up here with no one caring?
Dōjima Gin's mentality exploded.
Without comparison, there is no harm.
"Hey! Is anyone there!" Helpless, the heartbroken Dōjima Gin could only call out with a bitter face.
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