I teach kendo in Tokyo

After a while, Kazuma and Tamamo finally arrived at the foot of the shrine.

When he got closer, Kazuma discovered that next to the torii gate at the beginning of the shrine's stone steps, there was a standing sign with an introduction to the shrine.

"Meizumi Shrine...it seems to be dedicated to the god of spring water?" Kazuma muttered as he continued to look back.

Just now, Kazuma complained that the name of the festival here called Schonbrunn Festival was a bit put together by tourism officials. Unexpectedly, the name of this festival matched the name of the shrine.

According to the introduction on the standing sign, the god enshrined in this shrine is a stone. In the past, spring water gushed out from under the stone. Gradually, hunters who went hunting in the nearby mountains began to gather near the water source, and then cultivated some fields.

Later, a Shinto priest came and built a shrine near the stone.

Now there is no spring water flowing out from under the stone, but the water from the well dug by the residents is still sweet.

After Kazuma read the content on the standing sign, he turned to look at Tamamo.

Tamamo said: "It seems to be a folk belief that has nothing to do with monsters. This happens occasionally."

"Does it happen occasionally? Isn't it possible that monsters or gods related to the residents' beliefs are born?"

"No." Tamamo shook his head, "Let's go and see what happened to the plaster made from kappa scalp."

Kazuma looked up at the long stone steps and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Aren't these stone steps too long?"

"Don't complain. Before you were injured and hospitalized, I went to ask you for an amulet to speed up your recovery, but I climbed these stone steps a hundred times."

"Really? Is it as tall as this? Is there such a shrine in Tokyo?" Kazuma looked dubious.

Tamamo: "Yes. Okay, it's not as tall as this, but it's still pretty high."

"That's it."

Kazuma looked up at the long stone steps and decided that the long-term pain was better than the short-term pain. He suddenly used strength and sprinted all the way, directly to the top of the stone steps.

He was going so fast that he almost hit the miko who was sweeping the floor.

"Wow!" The miko was startled and took a step back, tripping her left foot and her right foot, causing her to fall hard.

Kazuma studied the miko while calming his breathing.

This must be Hiroko who works part-time at the shrine. Indeed, as Ms. Ubashima, the hostess at the hotel, said, she is a relatively ordinary girl with acne and freckles on her face. She is not as good as the other girls from Kiryu Dojo who have good figures and fair skin. Beautiful girls are incomparable.

However, if she used concealer and foundation to cover her acne and freckles, it would still be visible. If Kazuma was chased by a girl like this in his previous life, he would have immediately surrendered to the rhythm of getting married.

In my previous life.

Kiryu Kazuma deeply realized the beauty of time travel.

After the inspection was completed, Kazuma's breathing had completely calmed down. Apart from the beads of sweat on his forehead, it was basically impossible to tell that he had just quickly run down such a long set of stone steps.

He took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his hands, then stretched out his hand to the girl: "I'm sorry, I scared you. Did you fall?"

"No, no." The girl took Kazuma's hand and stood up. After standing up, she immediately let go of Kazuma's hand and blushed on her face.

"Who are you?" the girl lowered her gaze and asked.

Kazuma: "Kazuma Kiryu, I'm on vacation from Tokyo and live in Hinaganosha on the mountainside opposite. Are you Ms. Hiroko who works here?"

"Ah, I am." A trace of surprise flashed across Hiroko's face after listening to Kazuma's self-introduction. She raised her eyes and looked at Kazuma quickly, "From Tokyo? Are you also a member of the Fantasy Creature Research Society of Meiji University? "

Kazuma's eyebrows twitched: Meiji University Fantasy Creature Research Society? Could it be the group of students that the convenience store uncle mentioned that had an accident last year?

He did not ask in a hurry, but continued chatting along with the conversation: "No, I am from the Kendo Club of Tokyo University..."

"The kendo club is staying with us? We don't have a dojo here, only hot springs." Hiroko was even more surprised.

"It's not that the kendo club stayed together, we were invited by Sonny Music to come to the mountains to create." Kazuma said while sighing in his heart. It has been a long time since he encountered this situation where the other party did not recognize him immediately.

Hiroko looked at Kazuma again, and then asked: "Invitation from Sony Music? So you are working part-time at Sony Music?"

Kazuma thought that this would be his first reaction when he saw me at my age.

He smiled and said, "No, I'm a musician."

"Musician? Eh? This...then you are really good at your appearance."

"I'm eighteen."

After the words fell, Hiroko took a step back, looked at Kazuma from head to toe again, and then shook his head: "I don't believe it, what works do you have?"

Kazuma immediately hummed a few lines about his previous works.

Hiroko frowned and muttered while recalling: "This song is so familiar... It feels like I heard it in school. The tape that Qiu Jiang bought seems to be... Ah, kiryu! Are you the one! That one!"

Kazuma thought it was finally time for me to show off, so he put on an awesome and coaxing expression and nodded: "Yes, I am."

Hiroko gasped for air—heat.

now it's right.

"I want to call Qiu-chan!" Hiroko turned around and ran towards the building that was probably the shrine's office.

Kazuma, who was kicked down directly, had his mouth half open. He looked down at the broom that the girl had thrown on the ground when she sat on the ground. He thought to himself that this girl had this kind of personality. Her carefree attitude was a bit like Mikako's.

No, Mikako wasn't shy like she was at first when facing strangers.

Mikako is famous for being very smart, and she has the feeling that she would tap anyone on the shoulder when she sees him, saying, "Hey guys, do you want to go burn the Night City to ashes together?"

Kazuma picked up the broom, leaned on the torii pillar at the end of the stone steps, and then looked back down the mountain.

Tamamo was just like an old lady, climbing the stone steps step by step.

Kazuma suddenly wanted to rush down and shout to her: "No, it takes two steps to go up the stairs at the Naval Academy. Start over!"

At this time, Tamamo raised her head, met Kazuma's eyes, and then made a "you go first" gesture.

Kazuma was about to shout "I'm waiting for you" when he heard Hiroko's voice coming from the direction of the community office: "Um, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you, do you have any needs when you come to the shrine?"

So Kazuma turned around and walked towards the community office, while answering: "I'm here to sell the healing plaster that is said to be very effective, and by the way, I can learn about the history of this shrine."

This was originally the plan, but now He Ma wants to add one more thing: find out what happened last year.

Hiroko appeared behind the sales window next to the gate of the community office: "I want to buy plasters. The Lord God just finished a new batch yesterday."

"Is this plaster really made by the Lord God?"

"Yes, the God Lord goes to the mountains to collect herbs and grind them to make medicine. He always says that the mountains are full of treasures." Hiroko replied while taking out the things packaged in a simple carton and placing them on the table. The brush wrote "Meiquan Traumatizing Cream".

"Is this real calligraphy?" Kazuma asked.

"Originally, it was, but now the people from the Tourism Promotion Association used their printer to do it." Hiroko paused, "Do you want anything else?"

"I came here to find inspiration to create music." Kazuma smiled at Hiroko, "It would be great if you could take me to visit the shrine. It would be best if you could give me some introduction."

Hiroko tilted his head: "Isn't the introduction written on the sign at the foot of the mountain? I'm just a part-time worker, or was it the god who let me work here because he saw that my grandma and I were dependent on each other and felt pity for me. I really don't care about the shrine." don't know.

"Ah, if it's about the festival, you can learn more about it by going to the village office or the Tourism Promotion Association."

"Well, you can take me to visit the shrine, right? You are a miko."

Hiroko pursed her lips and thought for a while, then nodded: "Okay, but if I take you to visit the shrine, you have to sign autographs for my friends."

"Is it the girl named Qiu?"

"Aki-chan is a boy." Hiroko corrected with a smile.

Kazuma's first reaction was to warn the boy named Qiu not to have snowball fights, but no one could get this "Chainsaw Man" joke in 1981.

So he said, "Oh, what a youth."

"No, there is no youth unfolding, just friends."

"I understand, I understand everything." Kazuma smiled and said, "Sign it, right? No problem, as long as he doesn't mind my ugly handwriting. Can you take me to visit the shrine now?"

"Yes, you can, I'll come out right away! By the way, the plaster...ah, I bought it after visiting the shrine, right? Let's put it here."

Hiroko ran out again and started to introduce directly: "This building, as you can see, is the shrine's social office. I usually work on the first floor, and the second floor is a warehouse for storing various items. It is connected to the social office. The one-story house is the residence of the god’s family…”

While listening, Kazuma turned his head and looked in the direction of the stone steps.

Tamamo hasn't climbed up yet.

Thinking about it carefully, she ran out of the hotel slowly in Osaka. Could it be that this was not acting, but that she was really not good at sports?

So she really couldn't dodge my tooth protrusion move before?

Kazuma raised his eyebrows, looked away and continued to listen to Hiroko's introduction to the shrine.

"This is the main square of the shrine. The stalls for subsequent festivals will be mainly set up here. At the end of the square is the goden, but Meiquan Shrine is special. The goshin body is not in the shrine. This hall is only a place for ceremonies. The goshin body is in This way..."

Hiroko is really just introducing what a building is and what it is used for. There is no embellishment or additional content at all, and the explanation is boring.

Behind the shrine's main hall is another stone-stepped path, which is much narrower than the one at the main entrance, but the density of torii gates is much higher. There are basically three stone steps for one torii gate.

There are shuriken ropes hung on the tops of all the torii gates, and the royal coins on the shuriken ropes are fluttering in the wind.

When climbing the stone steps, Hiroko had no intention of talking at all. He probably thought that this was just an ordinary stone step with nothing to say.

Kazuma took this opportunity to inquire: "Why did you think I was from Meiji University's Fantastic Creature Research Society just now?"

"Huh? Because the people who come here during the peak season are either tough-looking men in suits or ladies in gorgeous kimonos, and very few young people come here. Last year, the group of brothers and sisters were very conspicuous, and they talked a lot with me about Tokyo. matter."

After Hiroko said this, she fell silent again. It felt like she was simply answering the question, and had no intention of starting a small talk through the question.

Kazuma could only continue to ask: "I heard that there was an accident in the mountains last year. One person died and the other was injured. Was it also this group of young people?"

"Yes." Hiroko's voice became deeper. Although Kazuma could only see her back, he could guess her expression based on her voice.

Kazuma waited for a few seconds and judged that Hiroko was not willing to talk more about the matter, so he did not continue to ask.

When I got back to the hotel, I asked Akira Hanayama, who was also from Meiji University.

He glanced ahead over Hiroko and found that the stone steps were quite long. It was a bit boring to climb the stone steps in silence, so he decided to hum something.

It just so happened that these stone steps and torii reminded him of the folk song "Passage Song" sung by Tamamo.

"Stealing sandals, stealing sandals..." Kazuma hummed in a low voice, and the first two lines of this song were often heard as "stealing sandals".

Hiroko trembled visibly, then she turned around and shouted: "Stop singing! Shut up!"

Kazuma was startled by Hiroko's sudden change of mood and subconsciously said "Sorry".

Hiroko also reacted at this time. She lowered her eyes and said in embarrassment: "I, I am the one who shouldn't shout so loudly. My grandma and I depended on each other. When I was a child, my grandma always told me that I couldn't sing this song in the mountains. "

Kazuma: "Why?"

"Because in the past, people in this village would drink alcohol for children who could not afford to feed them, let them fall asleep and then take them to the mountains and throw them away. My grandma said that she did not do this when she was young, but the Great Kanto Earthquake in the 11th year of Taisho, after When life gets hard again, I just… start doing it again.”

Hiroko bowed to Kazuma: "Anyway, I'm very sorry! But please don't hum this song in the mountains, it will bring misfortune. Last year..."

Her words stopped abruptly.

Kazuma: "Are you telling me that last year, Meiji University students sang this song in the mountains and an accident occurred?"

"I didn't say that!" Hiroko quickly denied, "It's just that when they came last year, I took them to visit the shrine, and when they walked up the stone steps to see the Godly Body, Miss Akanishi also sang this song... "

Miss Akanishi, it seems that Akanishi is the surname of the "Doctor Monster" girl mentioned by the convenience store uncle.

Hiroko continued: "Ms. Akanishi is very familiar with things about monsters. After I told her what my grandma said, she assured me that nothing would happen. Although folklore is based on real things that happened in the past, in the final analysis It’s just a legend.”

Kazuma suddenly felt that what Miss Akanishi said sounded a bit familiar.

People can't help but think of a certain monster who has been using science to explain supernatural events and prove that monsters do not exist.

Hiroko looked at Kazuma: "Something happened to Miss Akanishi and her group in the end. Although it may be just a coincidence, I don't think Kiryu-san should stop singing. It's unlucky."

Kazuma: "Would you rather believe that it exists than believe that it doesn't exist?"

"Eh?"

"Chinese Proverb."

"Eh? Ah, that's it. You are worthy of being a student of Dongda University. You are so awesome."

Kazuma suddenly felt that the identity of a student of Tokyo University was very useful. Whether he said Chinese proverbs or made accurate judgments on the international situation, people around him would only sigh, "As expected of a student of Tokyo University."

The idea that Tokyo University students must be elites has been ingrained in Japanese DNA.

Just do anything with the horse and their DNA will move.

Hiroko turned around and continued to lead the way, but this time she took the initiative to speak: "Miss Akanishi and the others give me a feeling very similar to Kiryu-san. They are both very knowledgeable and can say very profound things casually, or share things I have never heard before. past knowledge.”

Meiji University, together with the University of Tokyo, was once known as the twin jewels of the empire. Now the empire is over, but the reputation of the university seems to still be there.

"The deceased Watanabe-kun was very good at English. He always had an original English book and taught me a lot of English slang..."

Kazuma immediately recited a poem by Byron in English, and then asked: "Is your English better than mine?"

Hiroko turned around and looked at Kazuma in surprise: "Uh... I'm sorry, because my English is terrible. I can't tell which of you has better English."

"Then let's just assume that Watanabe-kun's English is better." Kazuma said. After all, they were all dead. "I heard that one of them became a vegetable?"

"That's Shigeru-kun, Oda Shigeru."

Kazuma captured a detail from Hiroko's brief answer: "When talking about the dead one, it's Watanabe-kun, and the vegetative one, Shige-kun. Hiroko, are you more familiar with Oda-san?"

Hiroko nodded: "Well, Watanabe-kun has an aura that repulses others, while Shigeru-kun is easy-going and loves to laugh. He is Miss Akanishi's boyfriend."

Kazuma: "So Akanishi-san cried miserably when she came down from the mountain, mainly because of Shigeru-kun?"

Hiroko was silent.

Kazuma felt that his old detective's intuition - well, it was the future old detective's intuition that was sounding the alarm.

He had an unreasonable association: Falling off a cliff, could it be...

"Did any of the college students who were traveling with me see the moment when Watanabe-kun and Shigeru-kun fell off the cliff?" Kazuma asked.

"No, they dispersed on the mountain to look for that one, that one..."

"Hammer Snake."

"Yes, Hammer Snake. They dispersed and were looking for Hammer Snake. When they gathered together when it was getting dark, they found that two people were missing. Their director, Takei, immediately decided to go down the mountain to report to the Tourism Promotion Association and the village office, requesting search and rescue."

"A very correct decision." Kazuma praised.

It is very dangerous for laymen to climb mountains at night, so it is better to leave it to the mountaineers and professional search and rescue teams.

"Everyone went into the mountain to find the two men at dawn the next morning. They were found under a slope. It was already too late."

Hiroko's voice became very low as he told it, and Kazuma almost didn't hear it clearly. Her breathing as she climbed the stone steps almost drowned out her voice.

It seemed that recalling what happened at that time made Hiroko very painful, but Kazuma continued to ask: "How was Miss Akanishi's condition during the search and rescue?"

"Eh? Of course... anxious and sad."

"you saw it?"

"At that time, I was the only young girl in the entire hot spring street, so the adults at the village office asked me to accompany Miss Akanishi. Although Miss Akanishi was too anxious to sleep and had nausea and vomiting, she remained strong until the next day. After being carried from the mountain to the hot spring street, she collapsed and cried."

Kazuma silently remembered Hiroko's words in his mind.

In fact, he wanted to take out a notebook and write down the key points, but then the criminal police would be investigating the case, which might make Hiroko nervous and unwilling to elaborate further.

He wanted to continue asking questions, but the stone steps had reached the end. Hiroko stepped onto the last stone step and leaned over, pressing his hands on his knees and gasping for air.

"These stone steps are obviously no longer than the ones in front of the mountain, but why is it so hard to climb up?" Hiroko whispered, "Kiryu-san, please let me slow down."

Nothing happened to Kazuma, he looked around.

There is a clearing in front of the forest. The ground has been artificially smoothed, but there are no floor tiles.

At the northernmost edge of the clearing, there is a large stone with a rope tied to it, and royal coins hanging from each knot.

That should be the imperial body of Meiquan Shrine.

Hiroko calmed down his breathing, straightened up and introduced: "This is our Godly Body. I say it's inappropriate, but it's really nothing interesting."

Kazuma nodded.

The shape of this stone is not strange, its color is ordinary, and it has no inscriptions or other features. Apart from the rope, it is just an ordinary big stone.

I feel that if I want to build a shrine, I might as well use the largest stone near the spring outlet as a shrine.

But it’s already here, and it would be a loss if you don’t get closer and take a look.

So Kazuma stepped forward and was about to touch the stone when he suddenly found something like a ditch under the stone.

"What is this ditch?"

"Ah, the water channel. It is said that before the Meiji Restoration, spring water would flow out from under this stone. The water would be stored in this ditch first. When it is almost full, it will naturally flow down the mountain through the water channel behind it."

Kazuma stretched his head and looked behind the stone. Sure enough, the ditch surrounding the stone connected to a not too wide water channel at the back.

Judging from these facilities, the water output of this spring was not good when the shrine was built. The village's drinking water should be supplied by well water.

So what's going on with those hot springs on Hinaganoyama?

It couldn't have been caused by a US bomb, right?

The US military is full and ready to bomb the mountains?

Could it be that the warm water is heated in a boiler room like those domestic hot spring hotels that I and Ma visited in my previous life?

Of course, it is also possible that violent geological movements caused new hot springs to appear, such as the Great Kanto Earthquake that Hiroko just mentioned.

If it is true that Akutagawa Ryunosuke likes to come here, it may be true in terms of time.

While Hema was thinking about it, Hiroko's voice interrupted him: "Um, have you finished reading? It's getting late, and I'm still in a hurry to go home and cook for grandma..."

"Okay, I'm done reading." Kazuma decisively ended his thinking and walked towards the stone steps.

Climbing such a long way just to see a broken rock, no wonder Hiroko is reluctant to show people around.

When going down the stone steps, the two of them walked much faster, and they just chatted for a few words about music and "Qiu Jun" before they were done.

After the two of them walked around from behind the palace, Kazuma immediately saw Tamamo standing under the torii gate at the entrance of the shrine.

She was clearly out of breath while climbing the stone steps, but she felt like she was one with the torii, as if she was part of the shrine.

Hiroko looked at Tamamo with his mouth wide open: "Huh? This... it's all because of the random singing with Masang, the monster is here!"

"No, no, that's my home...my apprentice Jinguji Tamamo is a human being."

Not really, but that's the setting.

"Eh? Is she a human? I saw how beautiful she was, and I thought she was a demon fox in the mountains..."

It's the demon fox in the city.

"Do demon foxes really exist?" Kazuma asked.

Hiroko: "Old people say it exists, and..."

"You like to eat the heart of beautiful girls?" Kazuma said what Grandma Noda heard.

"That's right! My grandma often says that."

It seems that the old lady in this hot spring street will talk about the demon fox who loves to eat the hearts of beautiful girls.

Jinguji Tamamo also noticed Kazuma at this time, but she didn't seem to be wearing glasses and couldn't see who it was.

Then I saw her bending down and touching the base of the shrine's torii, then she opened her glasses, put them on, and looked over here.

Kazuma had the evil intention to hide her glasses next time, just to see if she couldn't find her glasses and could only do divination.

After putting on his glasses, Tamamo waved to Kazuma and shouted at a volume that was just audible: "How's it going?"

"The imperial body is really just a stone, nothing special." Kazuma responded.

As for the Meiji University Fantasy Creature Research Society, I’ll talk to Tamamoban when I get back to the hotel.

Tamamo walked towards Kazuma, and the three met in the square in front of the shrine palace.

"This is Miss Hiroko." Kazuma introduced, "And this is my apprentice Jinguji Tamamo, whom I just introduced."

"Hello." Tamamo bowed to Hiroko, "My master asked you to worry about it."

"No, no, no," Hiroko might not be used to being used honorifics, and seemed a little flustered, "I am a miko. Although I am a working miko, it is my duty to lead people to visit the shrine."

"What a lovely miko-san." Tamamo smiled.

"No, no, I'm still far behind you."

Kazuma: "She just thought you were a demon fox that came out of the mountains to give you teeth as a sacrifice."

Hiroko's face turned red: "Well... that's because you are so beautiful!"

"Thank you. People often say that I look like the great demon fox Tamamo Mae."

Kazuma laughed a few times with "Ahaha".

"You...don't you also want to see the Godly Body?" Hiroko asked cautiously.

"No, I feel that I have exercised enough today. I don't want to climb any more mountains." Tamamo refused decisively without moving forward.

Hiroko also breathed a sigh of relief. She turned and walked to the social office: "Then I will pack some medicine for you. Is there anything else you want to buy? We have amulets here to bless study, work and love, and you can also write ema."

Kazuma: "Did you miss a sign asking for a signature?"

There are generally three ways to generate income for a shrine: amulets, fortune-telling, and writing on ema. As for ringing the bell at the entrance of the palace and throwing money, it is usually one hundred yuan coins per time. Unless it is a large shrine with prosperous incense, there is no income.

Hiroko stopped at the door of the social office, turned around and smiled awkwardly: "I can't undo it, even if you ask me, I have to wait for the god to come back."

Tamamo: "Tokyo's shrines have directly written down the meaning of the signature in vernacular, so there is no need to interpret the signature."

"Ah, Tokyo is so advanced, we don't have it here yet." Hiroko smiled awkwardly.

At this time, she suddenly looked towards the entrance of the shrine.

Kazuma and Tamamo also turned to follow his gaze.

A man in mountaineering clothing had just climbed the stone steps.

"Sang Lord, you are back." Hiroko bowed to this man.

"Um."

The man nodded, then turned his eyes to Kazuma.

His eyes suddenly widened: "You are! You are that Kiryu Kazuma!"