The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 143: Training trip (16)

“Hahahaha~ Is this actually a fox? I thought it was a dog. The carving is too ugly, isn’t it? Let me dress it up… Hey, that’s good. Come and take a photo with us.”

"Interesting~ Yang Cai, let's take a photo, talk about cheese."

"Cheese~"

Ono Haruna, wearing a fashionable belly-baring outfit, leaned proudly against a fox statue with lipstick on its face and made a V-sign in the direction of Inuyama Heita. Beside him, a blurry figure held a camera and took pictures for Ono Haruna.

"This is..." Inuyama Heita stood aside and looked at the scene in disbelief, saying, "Is this what happened last year? Was she marked by the fox in this way?"

Ah Jian touched his fat chin and asked in confusion: "Why do you want to show us this? Are the foxes trying to prove that she deserves it?"

Ono Haruna, who was wearing a white fox mask, did not answer. She walked through this frozen scene and came to the next scene.

A field appeared in front of Inuyama Heita. Under the moonlight, human figures were standing quietly in the field, motionless.

Ono Haruna walked into the field, with funny fox-like lines painted on her face with lipstick. She walked expressionlessly to the scarecrow wearing her clothes and reached out to tear off the clothes.

But at this moment, densely packed scarecrows appeared around her. Those scarecrows wore clothes of various styles, and their heads turned into old faces. Those faces were really very old, and wrinkles were deeply engraved on their faces like ravines.

The scarecrow stretched out his fingers made of dry straw, grabbed her hand, begging and crying.

"Stay here..."

"Don't leave, okay?"

“Isn’t this village nice?”

“Big cities eat people up, leaving nothing but bones behind.”

"Please stay. If you go any further, there will be no one in the village..."

"Stay, stay..."

Ono Haruna was submerged by the scarecrows and began to struggle like a wild beast. Then, a white fox was pulled out of her body and torn into pieces by the scarecrows. At this moment, Ono Haruna seemed to wake up and saw the faces of the scarecrows. She let out a terrified scream and then fainted.

"So this is what happened to Ono-senpai last year!" Inuyama Heita's eyes widened, and the context of what happened gradually became clear in his mind. He murmured, "Because of the tug of war between the fox and the scarecrows for control over Ono-senpai, Ono-senpai's spirit was shocked... But how did those scarecrows appear?"

"There are fewer and fewer people in the village..."

An old voice was heard, and Inuyama Heita and Ajian suddenly looked back and found that they were standing in front of the main hall of the shrine. White clouds were floating in the blue sky, and the main hall of the shrine had not collapsed yet. Although it was a bit old, it was very clean, as if someone cleaned it regularly.

An old man dressed as a priest stood beside the fox statue with his sleeves rolled up, looking up at the sky and talking to himself.

"Everyone has gone to the big city... If this continues, there will be no one left in the village soon, right?"

"No one comes to worship here anymore, Fox. After I die, this shrine will probably be abandoned, right? But why, why don't even the old friends in the village come here anymore?" Inuyama Heita looked at the scene in front of him and speculated, "This should be a scene from a long time ago, when the shrine had not yet been abandoned."

Ken thought thoughtfully, "I feel like the fox in the shrine is trying to tell us something."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure of the old priest disappeared. In the same scene, at a different time, the sky turned a dim color, and two blurry figures came to the shrine and talked.

"This is the White Fox Shrine in our village. The deity has been sent away. Is there any problem here?"

"Well, the problem is quite big. If you want to retain the luck of the village using the method I taught you, then this shrine is the biggest obstacle."

"But... this shrine has been here for a long time. Every summer festival is held here. Wouldn't it be a shame to just leave it abandoned? What if the deity enshrined there blames us..."

"Can God stop those young people from leaving? Can God stop this village from becoming like other villages? If you don't follow my method, your place will become like those villages. First the young people leave, and then there are no children left. In the end, only you white-haired old people will be left. When most of you die, the village will be abandoned, and the same goes for this shrine."

"I understand... This village is everyone's treasure. We have lived here for generations. No matter what, we can't let it become a wasteland."

"That's good. Now that you have made up your mind, you must do it according to my method. I will tell you the location of the scarecrow. You must strictly follow the instructions. After you die, you will be able to turn into a guardian spirit and continue to protect this village. Also, don't forget to drive away all the foxes here to prevent them from destroying the magic circle."

The light and shadow faded, and the shrine returned to its dilapidated and abandoned appearance. Ono Haruna, wearing a white fox mask, stood in front of Inuyama Heita, looking at him quietly.

"So, you don't want to take revenge on Ono-senpai, but..." Inuyama Heita was surprised: "You want to save her?"

"Who do you want to...save?"

Hearing the voice, Ono Haruna made a threatening sound like a beast in the direction of Inuyama Heita. Like a fox in stress response, Inuyama Heita turned around suddenly and found Kawasaki standing at the door of the shrine. In the moonlight, Kawasaki's glasses reflected white light, making it impossible to see his expression.

"Senior Kawasaki? Why are you here?" Inuyama Heita asked in surprise.

"Because I'm worried about you. I just heard that you wanted to save people, but..." Kawasaki raised his head, revealing his cloudy eyes, and said firmly: "There is no one here who needs to be saved."

"Be careful! Inuyama clan!" Ken said in horror, "That's not the wronged chief! It's something else!"

"Stay here." Kawasaki said, "Let's stay in this village together. Compared to the big city, this place is like a paradise, without anxiety and worries. You will be like that girl and forget what happened tonight. Before long, maybe one or two years, maybe a few years, you will not be able to stand the hustle and bustle of the big city and return here. So, come with us..."

"No way!" Ken said, "Who wants to stay in this damn place? There's not even any internet. Let's run away, Inuyama clan!"

"You can't get away." Kawasaki said.

Inuyama Heita suddenly felt as if the world was turning upside down. Before he passed out, he saw the figure of Miyamoto Yuzhi who knocked him down, and Komaeda Yui who was hugging Ono Haruna tightly from behind.

And in a field somewhere, two scarecrows wearing new clothes stood quietly, their clothes fluttering in the wind under the moonlight.

(End of this chapter)