I'm a thankful fox in Tokyo

After passing the shrine, I walked a short distance on the bluestone road and entered the courtyard of the Iori family. I took off my shoes and stepped on the waxed wooden corridor. The dull footsteps sounded rhythmically, and the relaxed conversation of an old man and a young man was faintly heard in the night. The night wind stirred the treetops like endless waves. All these sounds were harmoniously unified and became the breath of the forest.

"Speaking of which, there are still some troubles in the follow-up treatment of those bandits. The police should check it out. What are you going to do, Mr. Iori? If there is trouble, I may be able to help solve it."

Higashino Yu followed behind Iori Tadamichi, thinking that if there is trouble, he might have to ask Miss Moon Witch for help.

As for the matter of owing favors, he is now worried that he doesn't owe enough favors.

Iori Tadamichi pushed open the shoji door of the tea room and invited Higashino Yu in, smiling and waving his hand.

"Don't worry about this, Higashino-kun. The Iori family has been passed down for so many years. Although they have never become rich, they have accumulated some connections."

"Although many of them have gradually lost contact due to the decline of the Iori family, it is still no problem to solve these trivial matters."

"What's more, those bandits were killed by monsters. It has nothing to do with you and me, right?"

Iori Tadamichi said with a smile. The old man with a serious and old-fashioned appearance and a smile did such a thing, which made people feel a sense of cognitive confusion.

"And I have reported this matter to the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science. In two days, they will send a demon exorcist to investigate. At that time, I will ask acquaintances for help. This matter will probably be closed as a sudden demon disaster. As for the whereabouts of the monster-"

Iori Tadamichi clasped his hands in the direction of the shrine.

"Of course, he was captured by Inari-sama. Let them ask Inari-sama."

"Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science?"

Higashino Yu entered the tea room and thought about it after sitting down.

I remember that this seems to be a religious institution that is on par with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Defense. In the previous life, the power of religious management in the island country belonged to the Ministry of Science, Culture and Education.

This life is probably because these charlatans are really powerful, so they have become independent.

However, it is quite low-key. In the past, it seemed to be an institution responsible for managing religious culture and personnel. There is also a special religious corporation law to govern various shrines and temples.

When Higashino Yu was looking up island myths, he also looked at some information related to religion here.

Although there are family-inherited temples and shrines in the island country, they are not completely private.

The Religious Corporation Law stipulates that each shrine and temple must have someone serving as a religious corporation to connect with the government and accept the supervision of government special personnel to ensure that these privately inherited religious places will not cause any trouble.

"Do they also manage demon hunters, monsters, and the like?"

"They do have this power. Although it has been renamed the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science, its functions are actually no different from the Onmyoji of the past, and its power is even greater. So most demon hunters are used to calling it Onmyoji."

"Higashino-kun should have heard of it. It looks like an institution responsible for religious culture, but in fact, the internal chiefs and officials are basically respected Onmyoji and monks with great power. They are responsible for managing demon hunters in the country and dealing with incidents related to monsters and ghosts."

Iori Tadamichi said this and was silent for a second: "Miko's parents also worked in the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science."

Seeing that the old man mentioned Miko's parents twice tonight and was in a bad mood, Higashino Yu didn't know what to ask.

So he changed the subject and asked, "If you use Inari-sama as an excuse, won't it anger Him?"

You have to know that there are real gods in Inari Shrine, and if you do this, the gods may be dissatisfied.

Higashino Yu is still very respectful of Inari-sama.

I am only at the Yin God stage now. It normally takes a decade to cultivate to the Jindan stage, and Yangshen Zhenren is even more out of reach.

The water god's divine instrument that I saw in Lingze before, it seems that he is at least a Jindan stage god. If he attacks me, I should not be able to survive more than three moves without the demon thunder flag.

This is just a god with little reputation.

A great god like Inari God should be stronger, after all, Gozen Inari has four tails.

I have just reached the Yin God stage. I have to cultivate to the perfect stage to be considered a two-tailed spirit fox. The Jindan stage should be three tails. If it is four tails, it is either Jindan perfect or Yangshen.

I have a little confidence in the Hishizawa water god from a distance, and the Gozen Inari named Chunyuan gives me the feeling that he is just an ordinary mortal. Maybe he is really in the Yangshen Zhenren stage.

Based on this calculation, this Inari God is at least in the earthly immortal realm, and this is a serious immortal.

I probably can't afford to offend him even if I cultivate for another hundred years.

"That's fine. I thought about it when I came back before and asked Inari-sama. He didn't object."

Iori Tadamichi smiled and asked Higashino Yu to sit down first. Then he pushed open the shoji door on the other side of the tea room and stretched his neck to take a look.

"Strange, where is Miko's grandmother? Tomoko, I'm back!"

He said, looking and shouting along the corridor, and Higashino Yu followed him.

The two found the bedroom from the tea room, then the kitchen, and finally went to the study. The light was on in the study, and there was an open small medicine box on the table. Some disinfectant iodine and other things were placed on the table, but no one was seen.

After a circle, the old lady's voice was heard at the back of the courtyard: "Tadamichi, we are here."

The old lady stood up and shouted, then squatted down and held a lantern to illuminate Iori Miko who was digging a hole with a small shovel.

Twelve dead cats lay flat beside them. While she was lighting her granddaughter, she held a fan and kept fanning the air to drive away the mosquitoes and flies that wanted to land on the cat corpses to lay their eggs.

His eyes occasionally fell on his granddaughter's bruised elbows and calves. He didn't know what he was thinking about. His eyes were red, and he occasionally wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Monium, monium.

The small shovel was shoveling in the soft soil, but after digging for a long time, only a small hole was dug out.

Iori Miko, who had changed into a white nightgown, pursed her lips, feeling that she had underestimated the difficulty of digging a hole, but her eyes fell on the corpses of stray cats placed aside that had died to save her, and she speeded up The speed of shoveling.

Although Haruhuan took away the spirits of Nyahime and the others before, it is said that if the body has a good destiny, the spirit will also find peace.

If those mosquitoes and flies were allowed to land on Nyahime and the others, insects would bite them after the burial. Iori Miko didn't like being bitten by insects, and presumably Nyahime and the others didn't like it either.

There was the sound of the bamboo fence being pushed open behind me.

"Tomoko, I would like to trouble you to make some snacks to go with the wine today."

Grandpa spoke to grandma in a low voice, as if he wanted to drink, but this time grandma strangely didn't object. The two left, and there was only one person left. He gradually came closer, and the footsteps were very familiar.

Iori Miko has not made many friends except monsters in recent years, so she occasionally does strange things.

For example, you can use the sound of footsteps to identify a person. Unexpectedly, you will discover many interesting places through this.

Sometimes footsteps can reflect a person's emotions. Dongye Nissan's footsteps now sound a bit hesitant. They are not as crisp and clean as before. They are slow and gentle, as if they are afraid of stepping on something.

Iori Miko paused while shoveling the soil, then took a small shovel at her feet and handed it over, saying softly: "Nissan Higashino, do you want to dig together?"

"Um."

Dong Yeyu picked up a small shovel, inserted it into the soil, and dug out a large piece with one shovel like a bulldozer. Later, he felt that the shovel was too small, no different from a garden shovel, or simply a garden shovel.

So I went back to the vegetable patch in the courtyard, found a big shovel, and soon dug a grave one meter deep enough to place a cat.

Seeing this, Iori Miko simply used the small shovel in her hand to help Higashino Yu dig away the excess soil, and then put each cat into a lacquer wooden box with gold-painted patterns of flowers, birds, insects, and fish.

Neither of them spoke, they just dug the grave, packed it in the box, and buried it in silence and in tacit agreement.

Until there were twelve small earth bags in the small open space behind the courtyard, Iori Miko inserted twelve wooden signs with names in front of the earth bags.

Dong Yeyu glanced around and saw that she seemed to have named all the cats.

"Nissan Higashino, I actually don't know these cats."

"Um."

"I only know that Nyaji likes to meow and will nuzzle me gently. Kuroko doesn't like to talk, but he is very brave. Tachibana-kun is a bit clumsy and timid. He always bumps into other companions when running."

Iori Miko squatted in front of these little earthbags, clasped her knees with her hands and murmured softly. This was the only impression these cats gave her.

Not knowing where they came from or their past, they just appeared before his eyes like moths chasing a flame, rushing one by one to a death that did not belong to them.

If I stayed in school and watched the plum blossoms with that old man, would I be able to avoid these things?

Iori Miko thought this and felt more and more sad. She felt that the deaths of these cats were all her fault. She buried her face in her knees and said, "We are not friends yet."

"We are already friends, the moment they fight for you." Dong Yeyu said softly.

"However, I don't know much about them. I don't even remember many of them. Some of them died just after I took a look at them."

"That's what makes this relationship so precious."

"Higashino Nissan."

"I am here."

"I'm so sad."

She raised her head and said with sobs, her clear and shining eyes were filled with water mist, and the area around her eyes was red and a little swollen.

The fair little face was stained by sweat, tears and mud, and looked gray. There were bruises on the forehead, which made people feel distressed.

Dong Yeyu touched her head and said softly: "I know, cry it out, it will make you feel better."

If she was just alone, it would be okay, but when there was such a pillar of support beside her, Iori Miko felt that she had become much more fragile, and the suppressed emotions in her heart surged.

For a long time, she could only share her joys and sorrows with the monsters. Although her grandfather and grandmother loved her very much, she couldn't tell them many things and couldn't make them worry.

So she could only keep these emotions in her heart and tell them to the monsters passing by.

But it seems to be different now, although I have always said that I and Higashino Nissan are friends.

But until now, Iori Miko really felt that he was right in front of her, instead of being separated from him or unable to touch him.

Iori Miko's eyes fell on the young man's face. The light was dim, making it difficult to see his appearance. The shadows fell, making it impossible to estimate the distance.

She hesitated for a second, then pounced on her with her mouth flat, and Dong Yeyu quickly took a step forward to catch the girl.

She hugged Dong Yeyu firmly, pressing her body against his broad chest, sniffing the reassuring breath with her nose. Tears flowed down uncontrollably, but a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

My friends the monsters are kind and interesting, but they are ultimately out of reach.

Iori Miko will no longer belong to the monster world only.

This chapter was supposed to be posted yesterday morning, but I got stuck halfway through, and then I thought it was not good to get stuck halfway through, so I wrote more than 3,000 words and dragged it out until now. I haven't slept all the time, and I feel like I'm dying. Brother Meng, please give me a monthly ticket.

I will update as usual in the evening.

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