Chapter 6: There's Nothing Special About Shrine Maiden Outfits
After leaving Uehara's house and a night had passed.
On Saturday morning, Leo first checked on Rinko and, close to noon, prepared to meet Mizukawa and the professional she mentioned.
The meeting place was a coffee shop named nineball, designated by Mizukawa.
Despite it being a day off, the café wasn't crowded, exuding a relaxed and warm atmosphere.
Upon entering, he saw Mizukawa, who was seated by the window, stand up and wave at him.
She was wearing a white cardigan with a black ribbon tied in a bow at the collar and a red skirt on the outside.
Approaching, Leo noticed another person sitting next to Mizukawa, cutting into a fruit cake with a fork and knife.
"Shrine maiden?"
He couldn't help but say it out loud.
"Thank you for your visit, may the deities bless you—wait, how did you know I'm a shrine maiden?"
The woman instinctively looked up and blurted out a routine greeting before realizing.
She appeared to be in her twenties, indistinguishable from an average female college student, except next to her was not a common handbag but a long object wrapped in coarse cloth.
"I heard about it from Mizukawa before, something about the Eighty Thousand Shrines Joint Committee, so I guessed the person coming might be a shrine maiden."
In reality, he saw the text [Shrine Maiden] above her head and accidentally read it aloud.
Leo sat down across from them.
"So, it's like that. I indeed serve as a shrine maiden at a nearby Matsuzan Shrine. Ah, but I don't wear shrine maiden attire daily, Leo-kun. If you want to see, you should come to visit?"
"Yūki-chan, now's not the time for promotion, let's get to the matter at hand."
Mizukawa Aoi tugged at the shrine maiden's sleeve.
"Am I not working on increasing the shrine's visitor count? Cough, but Aoi is right. I've heard about your situation from her, Leo. You've awakened to spiritual powers, got involved in a magical girl's scene of love and peace, and encountered a monster, right? Truly a legendary experience."
"Hold on a moment," Leo raised his hand to interrupt the shrine maiden, apparently named Yūki, "First off, what are spiritual powers?"
"Starting from there, huh..." she sighed, "Simply put, in Sakura Island, whether it's yokai, ghosts, or supernatural phenomena, they're basically categorized under spirits. After all, everything has a spirit. And those who have the power to see or even exorcise them are called spirit users."
"So, the Eighty Thousand Shrines Joint Committee is the organization that manages spirit users?"
Leo probed.
At this question, it was Mizukawa who laughed first: "Leo, do you think the Shrine Committee is some kind of official organization?"
"With the serious tone you used when introducing it, of course, I'd think that."
"Did you forget the concept of worldviews I mentioned? For ordinary people, they live in the 'Daily' worldview."
"When they encounter paranormal events, they'll treat them as their own illusions, quickly forget after encountering demons, and even if unbelievable things happen before them, they'll automatically interpret them in a way that fits common sense."
That's quite an idealistic explanation.
Yūki continued: "So, it's impossible for us to have close ties with secular authorities. Even if we report any anomalies, they are soon treated as hoaxes or simply forgotten. Only those superpower users and the officials have closer cooperation."
Are you talking about Public Security Section 9? Indeed, it sounds very official from the name.
"Actually, we're closer to being like a folk society organization. This meeting was just to ask if Leo-kun would be interested in becoming a Shinto priest?"
Hearing the word 'society', Leo almost subconsciously associated it with villainous organizations, all thanks to Rinko.
As he hesitated for a moment, Yūki enthusiastically continued: "If you join us at Matsuzan Shrine now, the position of chief priest will be yours in the future, and you can enjoy shrine maiden outfits to your heart's content!"
"I think Miss Yūki, you've misunderstood; I'm not particularly interested in shrine maiden outfits. Plus, I don't want to become a clergyman at such a young age."
"See, I told you Leo-kun wouldn't be interested."
Mizukawa Aoi said somewhat smugly.
"That's really too bad. Being a priest doesn't affect getting married... At least let's exchange Line contacts. Aoi, you too."
"We already exchanged ours yesterday at noon."
Leo took the coffee brought by the waiter: "Speaking of which, shouldn't we discuss the real matter at hand now?"
He looked at Mizukawa Aoi and said, "You mentioned introducing a professional so seriously before, but the main reason was to lure me here today, wasn't it?"
The latter clasped her hands together and bowed her head: "I'm very sorry!"
"And you even scammed me into buying takoyaki."
"The coffee today is on me!"
After the commotion, the magical girl seriously said, "Actually, Yūki and I are working together on an incident that could endanger the entire Chiyoda City, and we'd like to ask for Leo-kun's help."
"Do you remember what I said? Different worldviews generally don't interfere with each other, but occasionally there are overlaps."
"Now is one of those 'occasionally' moments. I've discovered someone using negative realm monsters as a basis, stitching together the 'everything has a spirit' worldview, creating an unprecedented malevolent phenomenon."
Why do I feel like I'm facing a big boss just after leaving the newbie village?
"Is it really useful to tell me this?" Leo rubbed his forehead, "The shrine maiden must have more experience than me, right?"
"I actually don't have much combat power."
Yūki raised her hand, proudly stating.
"You don't have to be so proud of that. But she's right, Yūki is good at creating talismans and tools but really isn't suited for combat. Without further evidence, it's also hard to convince others to come to Chiyoda for help."
"And Leo-kun!" Mizukawa suddenly stood up, striking a pose commonly seen in Uncle Sam's recruitment ads, "You killed a monster on your first awakening; you are a person of potential! If we take you to deal with a few paranormal sites in the city, accumulate some combat experience, we can definitely strike an unexpected blow to the mastermind behind the scenes!"
"Taking me to deal with paranormal sites, so it's like grinding demons and ghosts..."
Leo stroked his chin.
"Eh, why use such a gaming leveling term? Anyway, Leo-kun, are you willing to help?"
She sat down nervously.
"Um..."
"I will divert funds from the Countermeasure Bureau as your compensation."
"So that's bribery, you despicable magical girl!"
Can't you maintain a bit of innocence?
As if even Leo's phone couldn't stand it anymore, it buzzed.
"Forget it, if the city really is in crisis, I'd be affected too, so might as well try to solve the problem first. I'll join you."
"Yay!"
Mizukawa happily clenched her fist.
Yūki then picked up the cloth-wrapped long object and handed it to Leo: "I'm glad my effort in preparing this in advance wasn't in vain."
Leo unwrapped the cloth to reveal a black solid metal rod, slightly curved upwards at the handle, painted red at the end and bent into a forked opening.
"A crowbar?"
"Correct, it's a crowbar I personally consecrated and made. It's the most suitable weapon for beginners in combat, and the ghosts hit by it will attain enlightenment."
Yūki explained with her chest puffed out.
Leo's expression twisted because, for the first time, he saw text floating above an inanimate object in his vision, and the name was somewhat indescribable.
[Kind Crowbar]
Because it sends spirits to enlightenment, it's a kind crowbar?!
Mizukawa clapped her hands to draw attention, concluding, "Yūki has also made many talismans, which will also be given to Leo-kun. Let's not delay and decide which paranormal site to go to first."
"Before that, I do have a place to recommend, where there might be demons and ghosts causing trouble right now."
Leo glanced at his phone.
The screen displayed a newly received Line message with a location:
Uehara Yasutree: Leo bro, save me!