The Armpit Shrine Maiden (4)
The torii stood at the end of the stone steps.
It was the gate pillar erected in front of a shrine ⛩️. Yes, that one.
Akatora Taiga (21), the shrine maiden of Utsuromura village, gave me a playful wink.
“This is the new shrine of Utsuromura. It must look pretty shabby to a boy from Tokyo, right?”
“Shabby? N-no way. It’s incredible!”
I couldn’t close my mouth.
The humble shrines of the Japanese countryside carried far more emotion than the tourist-packed ones in Tokyo.
The quiet, mystical atmosphere created by the lush trees and moss-covered stone steps on the mountainside.
A peaceful place where the neighborhood kids could play whenever they wanted.
Two childhood friends who had drifted apart would visit the shrine to revisit old memories, only to freeze and say “Eh? A-kun?” and “Wait, B-chan didn’t actually hate me?” before confirming each other’s feelings and falling straight into an embrace… (omitted)
“Hey, what’s the holdup? Why aren’t you coming in, Natsunashi-shounen?”
When I hesitated in front of the torii, Taiga asked.
“Should I bow before entering?”
I was sure I had read somewhere that you were supposed to bow before stepping into a shrine.
“Bow? Nyahaha~☆”
She clutched her belly and doubled over laughing at my question.
Her laugh was ‘nyahaha’! So Japan really did have people who laughed in such unique ways.
‘Maybe I should invent one too.’
What would sound good? Grarara? Jehahaha? Urororo?
While I was seriously contemplating my options.
Taiga wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and spoke.
“This is a shrine without a god, so you don’t need to go that far. Even if one is still around, they probably wouldn’t accept it anyway.”
What? You’re telling me there’s no animal god that grants wind tigers while refusing to give birth to human children?!?!
‘But what exactly is a shrine without a god? Shouldn’t we call it something else then?’
Well, there’s no actual fish in taiyaki. Understood.
If there was no god, maybe that was even better?
Since no deity was watching, it meant I could do whatever I wanted inside the shrine, right?
The New Utsuromura Shrine was a typical rural shrine. It had its own romantic charm, but spots here and there clearly needed repair.
It looked like the shrine maiden was barely managing it all by herself….
“Boy. My room is this way.”
Taiga opened the door behind the main hall.
I was entering a girl’s room! A male like me was invading the pure, chaste sanctuary of a shrine maiden!
My heart pounded as I stepped inside—but what greeted me was absolute chaos.
‘The kotatsu is still out?’
Books, clothes tossed everywhere, monster figurines.
It was cluttered with random junk. Wait. This was a countryside shrine maiden’s room…? I had expected a little more feminine charm.
“Whoa. It’s a bit messy~. I clean it, but it always goes right back to this. Sit in front of the kotatsu, boy.”
Taiga gave a small nyahaha laugh as she made her excuses and opened the little refrigerator.
Triangular rice balls with steam rising only from the center—onigiri—and that~! That was it! That thing!
‘Oh my god! I’m so glad I followed Taiga!’
It wasn’t ordinary alcohol.
It was sweet alcohol. Real amazake!
Many Koreans called sikhye amazake, but that was truly ignorant! Bottoms up!
The genuine amazake made from sake lees was something else entirely.
It was an item that appeared in every shrine-visit episode of visual novels, and tasting it had been on my Japan bucket list.
“Were you expecting real booze? It’s still too early for Natsunashi-shounen, don’t you think?”
Taiga, sitting across from me, teased.
“No! I like amazake better. I’ll enjoy it.”
I gulped the amazake down in one go.
‘Ugh.’
It tasted like fermented morning rice at first, so I nearly spat it out, but once I got used to it, it wasn’t bad.
‘And there’s onigiri too?’
I took a bite of onigiri. Looked at the shrine maiden.
Took another bite. Looked at the shrine maiden again.
The rice balls went down smoothly even without special side dishes. Was this the Japanese version of frugal bliss?
My energy, which had been drained by the whole nuclear rice enthusiast incident, began to surge back.
“It’s delicious.”
“What~? I only received it too. The gods of Utsuromura will be happy if you eat well, boy.”
Taiga smiled contentedly, chin resting in her hand.
Her housekeeping skills might be a little lacking, but she really was a good older-sister type.
“Do you live alone at the shrine, Taiga?”
I asked, risking rudeness.
The shrine maiden stayed silent for a moment. Her golden eyes spun once before she smiled again.
“Hmm… yeah, that’s right. Since seventeen years ago, I’m the only one left in the Akatora family. The position of family head, which should have never come to me, has fallen into my lap.”
Ah. That was what Tsurugi had mentioned earlier.
This was the territory of the three great families, the Akatora.
Probably devastated by rural depopulation, they hadn’t been able to maintain the shrine properly. I apologized with a guilty face.
“I-I see. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, boy♡. It’s not like I was attached to them. But being all alone does make this year difficult.”
(〃´o｀)=3
Taiga sighed.
Difficult? Aha. This had to be the moment for the visual novel protagonist to display his ‘kindness,’ right?
“What’s the matter?”
“After seventeen years, Utsuromura’s grand festival, Gekkaryouran, is being held again this year. And somehow I’ve been made the person in charge.”
Taiga crossed her arms and groaned.
The shrine was the heart of any local festival. It made sense that the shrine maiden would naturally become the organizer.
“I didn’t want to take it on at first, but the villagers kept saying things like [It has to be the Akatora who prepares it, of course] so I got pushed into it. As one of the three great families, the Akatora role has always been preparing the festival.
Sigh. Even so, I really don’t know the first thing about it. When I was little it wasn’t exactly a situation where I could enjoy festivals, and I’ve never even attended one outside the village.
I kept putting it off and slacking, and now there’s barely a month left?”
Taiga was the age of a third- or fourth-year university student in Korean terms. She was still young.
Planning a festival that two thousand villagers would attend all by herself would definitely be tough.
“Don’t worry, Taiga.”
(⸝⸝◜o◝⸝⸝)
I grabbed Taiga’s hand firmly.
If there was such a pitiful situation, it was the protagonist’s job to step up.
“Ah. Natsunashi-shounen? Your face is all red!? You’re not drunk, are you?”
Drunk? No way.
Unless it was the summer air of the Japanese countryside that had gotten me drunk.
“I’m not drunk at all.”
“Hmm~ It really is amazake. Just how weak to alcohol are you, boy?”
After examining the bottle from every angle, Taiga spoke in disbelief.
No matter what the red-haired shrine maiden said, I stood up from the kotatsu and declared.
“I’ll teach you all about the festival.”
I would teach her about the festival.
The wall youkai, Nurikabe, was still blocking the stairs. Being a defensive entity, it refused to budge no matter how hard I kicked it!
At this point, the chance that Natsunashi Yuuki had already encountered a youkai was very high.
With the Nurikabe blocking the path, escaping downward was impossible for him too.
‘Ah, seriously. No choice then. It’s not night, but I’ll have to use a big technique.’
Tsurugi made up his mind. It was truly because there was no other way, right? Definitely not because he wanted to test the famous sword he had received from the head of the Kiryuuen family as soon as possible?
Tsurugi’s thumb pushed the hilt upward. The pure white blade revealed itself about half an inch. Then, gripping the handle, he drew the sword in one smooth motion.
‘This is the famous sword Nuretaru!’
True to its name, it was a terrifying blade.
A silver wave pattern reminiscent of reptile scales flowed across it, and the sword aura was faint yet chilling.
Tsurugi stared at the youkai Nurikabe. With this famous sword, that thing he had never been able to handle before would surely—!
The katana in Tsurugi’s hand sliced through the air, tracing a gliding arc.
Sssss— A resonant hum rang out, and a red, writhing slash reached the Nurikabe!
The Nurikabe, massive as a tree, was sliced cleanly into six pieces and let out a painful cry.
Thick chunks of flesh fell away.
[Satori?]
There was one unfortunate soul caught up in the attack.
It was the monkey youkai Satori, who had lost at the Glico game and was stumbling down the stairs in tatters.
Satori’s ability to read thoughts and counterattack was undoubtedly supreme in one-on-one combat. However, it had a weakness.
It could not read attacks the opponent had not intended at all. On top of that, its mind was already dazed from trying to read such a bizarre spirit.
KUUUUUUNG!!! The Nurikabe, now six cube-like chunks, crashed down onto the monkey youkai. Satori was crushed flat.
‘D-did I just achieve such a great feat? Amazing.’
Youkai Nurikabe & Satori, simultaneous subjugation complete.
Both were extremely troublesome prey for night watchmen.
He had always been called an idiot for letting youkai escape! The family head must have recognized his hidden elite potential.
He was overjoyed, but there was no time to celebrate.
The fact that Satori had been coming down the stairs meant Yuuki might have already been attacked.
“Can you hear me? Natsunashi Yuuki!”
Tsurugi raced up the stone steps.
He called out breathlessly, but there was no answer.
No sign that Satori had attacked him either.
Only when he reached nearly the top of the stairs did he realize.
‘Ugh. Don’t tell me he took refuge in the Akatora shrine?’
As the saying went, he had avoided the ghost only to meet the tiger.
Even if they were a paper tiger exterminated seventeen years ago, an outsider stepping into the domain of lunatics like the three great families’ Akatora—!
“Natsunashi Yuuki! Are you here?”
Tsurugi entered the shrine grounds and stepped into the main hall.
And what he saw made him doubt his own eyes.