Bewildered by the sudden appearance of Kiyomi, the farmer stopped crying in confusion.
To him, Kiyomi was like a goddess that suddenly descended from the sky. Even if he couldn't see her face, her figure and hair were nothing a normal person could have.
The mask, not only did it not create a sense of fear, but it instead created a sense of holiness.
Seeing that the farmer had no response, Kiyomi asked the man again, waving her hands to test if the man was blind:
"Hello??"
Reacting rather dully, the farmer replied: "Uh..? But... the locusts???"
Kiyomi frowned, annoyed at how slow the farmer was replying since she still wanted to go and meet with Kanae as soon as possible.
The farmer, who was very keen to notice every little detail of his crops saw the slight depression of Kiyomi's mask and immediately became frightened.
Kneeling down and banging his head on the ground, the farmer decided to ask Kiyomi for help and discarded the question of the locusts in his mind:
"Benevolent goddess! Please! I beg of you! Help me to rid the land of the drought that has been plaguing all of the farmers! If this keeps going on..."
The farmer looked at where Kiyomi's eyes were to be under the mask, tearfully:
"Then all of our families will die of hunger!!"
Confused, Kiyomi crossed her arms just below her chest and tilted her head, highlighting her figure even further.
'What does your crops dying have to do with me? I'm not a goddess or anything. I can't summon the rain, so it doesn't really help for you to be begging me.'
Deciding that trying to comfort the farmer was the best choice to do, Kiyomi made up a scenario in her mind that seemed plausible and rational to her, but it involved faking another identity.
"... Hmmm.. I see~"
Holding up her hands to signify her helplessness in this matter, Kiyomi said:
"Well ~ Sadly, I'm not the one in the jurisdiction of the rain and water."
Walking up to the kneeling farmer and putting her face a foot away from the farmer's face with her hands on her knees and her back slightly bent, Kiyomi said:
"But I do have some control over the larger bodies of water... If you can guess what I'm the goddess of, maybe~ I'll consider helping. You have three minutes to think about it."
The farmer, who was already very convinced that Kiyomi was a goddess, started thinking hard about Kiyomi's question.
But being not very sure which Goddess she was, the farmer could only speculate by taking small glances at the patterns of Kiyomi's haori.
After all, clothing sometimes represented one's personality and identity, perhaps he could've gotten some clues from the patterns and images that would be on Kiyomi's clothing.
But what shocked him was that a weird light purple mist cloaked the patterns and images of Kiyomi's haori.
Rubbing his eyes in horror, the farmer checked again to see if she was hallucinating.
'That mist! It wasn't there before! When the goddess appeared from the mist, I could still see vaguely the purple and bright white and golden colors!'
While the farmer was regretting not taking a few more glances at Kiyomi's haori when he had the chance, Kiyomi was sighing inwardly at how evil she was.
'Dear gods and goddesses, please don't take any offense, okay? I'm just trying to comfort the poor dude. Well~ It would also definitely be helpful if you guys could send down some rain soon.'
Taking a small glimpse at the panicking farmer, Kiyomi was slightly confused.
'Hey? Right now, I'm currently trying to fake the moon goddess because of the haori I'm wearing. This guy isn't so ignorant as to not notice the patterns of my haori, right??'
Feeling a little tired, Kiyomi was just about to sit down, thinking that she was still up in the mountains of her home.
Crossing her legs and leaning back, Kiyomi looked at the farmer in leisure as she folded her hands and put them slightly below her abdomen.
'Hey~! Why is it so comfortable??'
...
The farmer stared at Kiyomi in shock, his mouth hung wide and his eyes slightly bulged.
'She's floating?? ...SHE'S FLOATING?!?!'
After a few seconds, Kiyomi realized her gaffe and was about to stand back up before realizing that she was not stained with mud.
Looking down, she saw that she was floating.
Quickly looking back up and at the farmer, Kiyomi said in a harsh and threatening tone: "What are you looking at?"
The farmer immediately looked away from Kiyomi and back at the ground in fear.
On the verge of tears, and having confirmed that Kiyomi was a goddess, the farmer regretted not being able to save his crops due to his negligence to pay more attention to Kiyomi.
Meanwhile, Kiyomi was not as calm as she looked.
'........'
...
Yeah, her mind was just blank and chaotic.
Taking a few extra minutes to calm down, Kiyomi started her perfect acting once again.
"Alright~ that's three minutes! Can you guess which goddess I am? I'll give you one last hint~ My name is Tsugikuni Kiyomi~" Kiyomi said with a teasing voice.
Deciding to use her "brother's" family name, Kiyomi thought it was the most appropriate as she didn't want her real name to spread, so she inputs half of her true name in the fake name.
At the same time, Tsugikuni means moon, so it fits the identity she's trying to fake, and plus, her breathing is also more inclined towards the moon.
The farmer, hearing the name Tsugikuni Kiyomi, couldn't help but instantly think of a similar name.
'Tsugikuni Kiyomi? Tsugikuni... Kiyomi... Tsugi... Kuni... Kiyomi... ... ...Tsukiyomi??? The moon goddess?!?!'
As one of the more famous goddesses if not the most famous of the Japanese religion, everyone growing up in japan would know the story of the moon goddess and her siblings.
Bowing his head down in horror, the farmer didn't dare to look at Kiyomi anymore.
"Tsukiyomi-sama... are you perhaps the goddess of the moon?"
"...Correct~!"
The moment Kiyomi said the word, dark and greyish clouds could be seen in the distance behind Kiyomi.
Not caring about the change in her name, Kiyomi just wanted to be done with the game she had set.
Horrified at the mystifying clouds, the farmer stared blankly at the clouds behind Kiyomi.
Meanwhile, Kiyomi, who still haven't seen the rain clouds behind her, rushing quickly to her location, asked:
"Well, little farmer~ What's your name?"
Replying in shock and awe, the farmer said:
"My name is Kibou Seiji, Tsukiyomi-sama!"
Kiyomi: "Oh~ Kibou... Hm. Oh well, anyways Kibou Seiji, you'll get your rain soon, so I'll be leaving first. Bye Bye~"
'Yep... definitely within a few days... hopefully...'
Standing back on the ground and leaving her comfy "Floaty", within a flash, Kiyomi instantly disappeared from Kibou's vision.
Not that she knew the moment she said "Bye Bye~" in Kibou's eyes, she had already started rippling and faded away, like she was just an illusion.
Kibou Seiji, who was still kneeling on the ground, dumbfounded, soon felt droplets of water on his cheeks.
Reaching out to touch it, he felt the refreshingly cool air and saw the dark clouds above his head.
His eyes burning with passion, Kibou determined in his heart that he was going to become a faithful believer of the moon goddess, Tsukiyomi.
...
"Ah~! My cute little goddess finally achieve her dream of gaining a follower!"
"Hey! Kiyomi isn't yours! She's our collective goddess okay?!!?"
"Che! I was the one who paid for the invisible floaty~!"
"Huh?!!? Bastard! I was the one who paid for the rain! What are you so proud of?!"
"Wow~!! Sugoi! Ask the boss for some spare change?"
"+1"
"+1"
"+1"
And the argument of the systems continued.
... 5 hours (°◇°) I'm tired... Oh right! Go back and read chapter 28's author's thoughts. I added a clarification.