The Chestnut Tree (2)
In the Japanese government's administrative offices, there is a department called the Onmyoryo. It is a bureau that traces its origins back to the same-named organization from the old shogunate era.
Its official affiliation is Special Disaster Countermeasure Expert at the Disaster Prevention Division of the National Protection and Disaster Prevention Bureau of the Japan Fire and Disaster Management Agency. It was a government-led paranormal response agency present in any modern country.
Even though there had been the worst internal strife a few years ago... still, it remained a major organization that divided the handling of paranormal events related to the Roman Catholic Church and domestic ones.
Of course, even in the paranormal countermeasures team, not everyone was combat personnel. Naturally, there were office workers too.
Kure Rikka found her work satisfying.
First, as a civil servant, it was relatively stable. At the same time, since most of the work was confidential, the salary was high.
Sometimes, desk workers like her were looked down upon by field workers who had to throw themselves into dangerous places... but she had no big complaints about that.
After all, it was an undeniable fact, and from her perspective, stepping back one step from the front line was actually an advantage.
She didn't particularly want honor. As long as she could work in a well-heated and cooled room, eat her salary, and live, that was enough for her.
"......"
Surely, it would have been like that.
'Why... like this...?'
The beginning of everything was a call from her father.
Her father, who had been entrusted with the shrine of a small shrine for generations. However, the deity residing there could no longer sustain itself alone.
It was a common occurrence. A mental body built by faith dying as faith was lost was not rare in modern society.
Moreover, considering that the deity the Kure family served denied even its own essence, it could be said that it had survived quite long.
Therefore, the idea of absorbing the divinity into another deity to continue its life was not difficult to understand.
Absorbing the divinity of a minor deity was a way for the deity to gain power, and also a survival method for the weak deity to continue existing.
The fact that the counterpart was some strange concept internet broadcast person was a bit odd, but... well, there were also divine entities that spread faith slightly through video sites like YouTube, so it was not that strange.
Considering that her younger brother had been watching such VTubers, it seemed like there was some self-interest involved.
But no matter what, she was not trash enough to throw the deity her family served into a gutter just because of her fan attachment, so the minimum conditions for the target to merge with the divinity were probably satisfied.
And she had come to this place after receiving final tuning from her father—"What is it, Rikka. You know these procedures best, right? You said you handle national affairs regarding the deity."—
Yes, that was all there was to the story. She had just happened to take on some bothersome family matters.
...Surely it should have been like that.
But why. Kure Rikka rolled her eyes left and right.
On the table, several people were sitting around. All were humans from the opposing deity's side.
She understood the difference in numbers. When eating, you checked if it was rotten or not, but when swallowing divinity, how much more so.
It was only natural that a verification committee would be convened before transferring the divinity.
But, no matter what, this was a bit too much, wasn't it...? Rikka's pupils were shaking violently.
"Ah, this is the data from this side."
The man sitting at one end of the table. Contrasting with his unnaturally thin body, he had a tall stature. Especially, his protruding eyes made one doubt if he was truly a pure human.
But at least, as far as Kure Rikka knew, he was a human without any yokai mixed in. Despite the mocking appearance, since it was information reported by Koube, it might be true.
That is, this person was ordinary. As the president of a production company, he had to maintain etiquette, but it was still at a commonsense level.
"Mr. Akaba. What do you find strange about this?"
"Well... There doesn't seem to be anything that a miko would point out."
And the woman sitting relatively close, with a sharp look...
This one gave off a considerable amount of spiritual power. Probably a current miko who hosted one or two decent deities.
She looked scary too, but still within the realm of common sense. Even if it was the inner common sense, not the surface.
"The most important thing is this guy's opinion, right?"
"Haha... But honestly, I'm still a newbie in the inner world."
There was also a wise deity sitting at the table. But this too was within expectation. Deities often meddled.
If it involved oneself, watching was not strange.
From the point of stepping one foot into the deity's realm with a human body, it was not an ordinary existence... but still, it was a negotiating counterpart within the 'acceptable line'.
The real problem was elsewhere.
"Heh heh. Interesting deity~ I've never seen a deity of this type in a long time!"
A woman in maid outfit laughing heh heh. Her flushed face and slurred speech reminded of a drunk, and the bottle in her hand confirmed it.
But her eerie gaze never left Rikka's face, even while pretending to be drunk.
That gaze, as if evaluating, might have been one that would glare at anyone else with disgust.
Of course, the person in front of her was not an 'ordinary' opponent.
Momomomo Chisa. Exorcist of the Four Heavenly Kings. Always hungry ghost-eater.
Once belonging to the Onmyoryo, she was also a senior in Kure Rikka's eyes, a yokai called Shuten-doji in human form.
She was also the one who made the analysis that when discussing the Onmyoryo internal strife, it should be seen as a four-faction war rather than three-faction war.
So, why did such a human suddenly pop up as a consultant here.
"Be a bit more serious, Chisa."
"I can always be serious, you know?"
However, the thing that did not make sense was the woman sitting next to her.
Hyakurenno Yuri. If you were Japanese, you knew the name of the Hyakurenno Group's young lady, unless you were a spy, or even foreign spies would have heard of it.
No, if thinking of it as Shuten-doji's dummy, it was not that hard to understand.
If Momomomo somehow took on this job and Hyakurenno's young lady followed because she had to be the bodyguard, then...
Hiring her own employer, the Hyakurenno-no-miya, as a personal matter was hard to understand, but logically, it could be attempted.
'But why is she against it.'
Because she knew Momomomo Chisa, seeing Hyakurenno young lady come along was not the case. Rather, the opposite.
'How did the Hyakurenno family young lady become a company employee.'
"Called an Onmyoji because of acquaintance with the Hyakurenno family young lady" — what insane thing was this.
At this point, even ordinary people would have to re-evaluate. Rikka looked at the production president Nakabashi Gyokichi again.
'Not an employer, but an employee.'
It was definitely crazy. Otherwise, they could not do such a thing.
If they directly scouted, there was a problem in the brain, or if the young lady from the other side came to hire, they should at least kneel and beg to go back quietly.
"Mr. Sion, what does this mean?"
"Ah. It's a record about the nature of the deity."
But even all of that combined could not match the shock brought by this one person.
'What is this. Really what is this.'
Why did an Apostle come to visit a VTuber company.
Onmyoji Kure Rikka had no choice but to press her forehead due to the surging dizziness.
×
"Hey. That woman over there seems completely crazy now?"
"Eh? Why?"
"Maybe it's mostly your influence, Chisa."
"Heh, I am quite amazing... hehehe."
The living legend of the Onmyoji world. Meeting such an opponent in a casual business meeting without thinking would make one dazed, no wonder.
The Apostle next to her... well, she was completely off-topic, so ignore.
"So, what should I do, Mr. Sion?"
"The best is for Ninomae-san to decide after thinking herself. How do you feel about Ninomae-san?"
"Umm......"
Ninomae thought for a moment and said.
"Quite... interesting person, or rather, deity."
The things recalled were the explanations Kure Rikka had been rambling about earlier.
A horrific serial murder case from tens of years ago that ended with a permanent unsolved case. The mental body born from the fear of the perpetrator called Angpungtang or Japan's Dracula.
That was the 'Tatari no Moyoko-sama' enshrined at Kure Shrine.
"It seems to have strong nature of calamity deity or evil deity... won't there be problems because of this?"
"The other side... heh, because they lost too much faith, it's barely sustaining the divinity. Even if absorbing, it's said that the main is vampire or something? The influence from absorbing divinity won't be there."
After explaining that, Chisa laughed hee hee.
"If I say it a bit exaggeratedly, it's like beef. Whether it was a fierce cow or a working cow in life... in the end, it doesn't matter on the table, right? Taste, nutrition... heh, personality doesn't matter."
It was a bit vague story, but Ninomae nodded as she understood.
"Frankly, when I first heard it was an evil deity, I was very worried. If it's a bad deity, do I need to help?"
"No. Momoko-san is not like that..."
"Yes. I know. You explained it so diligently."
The opponent, Kure Rikka, who had been trembling so far, spoke up in rebuttal this time.
Thinking about it, even at first, she did that. The lineup of people gathered here was too stellar, so she could not focus, but she somehow managed PR for her deity.
"Originally, Moyoko-san's essence is an extreme evil deity. Since her origin is origin, she should be offered as a human sacrifice."
A deity born from serial murder. Naturally, the rituals for him would include human sacrifice.
"But, all... all of them refused. Since she was born, she has not been offered a drop of human blood."
Nevertheless, she refused human sacrifice at all costs, abandoning even the faith she could get, and fell into survival crisis. It was like spiritual suicide by rejecting her own essence.
"Is that... possible...?"
"It's not impossible. Among the people I know, there are similar cases, and... but this side also has the guarantee that it's really such a case......"
"...I believe. There's someone who is so sincere in trying to save their own deity."
The pressure that one wrong word would make her neck snap immediately. Of course, no one here would actually commit such atrocity, but this was a story that Ninomae, who knew them well, could tell.
Even so, the opponent who was trying to defend with almost crying face could not be a bad person... or a bad deity.
When Ninomae said that, Rikka's face brightened.
"Then, shall we proceed with the contract as is?"
The deep one, or rather, Anaphro president Gyokichi, who had been watching the conversation silently until now, joined in at this point.
"Eh, is there nothing you want to say from the company side?"
Ninomae tilted her head and asked.
"Frankly, from our side, it's just opening a official Mary Tepes goods shop. It won't be a big profit or loss."
We were not pouring massive capital from our side, and to put it bluntly, it was closer to lending the trademark to another business owner.
Of course, even in this case, there was no risk-free. There was a possibility that the partner damaged the business badly or caused an accident, eating away at Mary's image.
"But on the shrine side, we'll do our best. It's a matter of survival literally."
No need to consider turnover? Image loss?
If we failed to secure faith even with this opportunity, death was waiting. We could not do it sloppily.
The worst case was failing despite trying hard.
"Well, the company will not completely leave it to the other side... you do not have to worry about that. The Hyakurenno Group also lent a hand. The content discussed in-house is pretty much settled, so do not worry about that part and decide as you like, Ninomae-san."
"Then...... Yes. Let's do it, Mary Shrine."
Ninomae, after thinking for a moment, said with determination.
"Of course, before that, I would like to meet that deity if possible......"
"Ah, of course. After all, to properly inherit the shrine, you have to go in person......"
"Then, can we go right now?"
Since everyone was gathered, wouldn't it be better to finish it immediately? Ninomae thought so and smiled brightly.
"Yes. You can come right now... wait, with this combination...?! "
"Eh. Can't we?"
"No, it can, can... ."
Of course, that decision would be a burden that could bore a hole through someone.