I'm a thankful fox in Tokyo

Chapter 105 Yuzi buries the cat (please vote for me!!!)
We passed the shrine and walked a short distance on the bluestone road, then entered the courtyard of the Iori family. We took off our shoes and stepped on the waxed wooden corridor. The dull footsteps sounded rhythmically, and the relaxed conversation of an old and a young one was faintly heard in the night. The night wind stirred the treetops like endless waves. All these sounds were harmoniously unified, becoming the breath of the forest.

"Speaking of which, the follow-up treatment of those criminals is actually a bit troublesome. The police should be investigating. What are you going to do, Mr. Iori? If there are any problems, I might be able to help solve them."

Higashino Yu followed behind Iori Tadamichi, thinking that if it was troublesome, he might have to ask Miss Moon Witch for help.

As for the matter of owing favors to others, I am now worried that I don’t owe enough favors.

Iori Tadamichi pushed open the shoji door of the tea room and invited Higashino Yu in, waving his hand with a smile.

"You don't have to worry about that, Higashino-kun. The Iori family has been passed down for so many years. Although they have never become very rich, they have accumulated some connections."

"Although many of them have gradually lost contact due to the decline of the Iori family, it is still no problem to resolve these trivial matters."

"Besides, those bandits were killed by monsters. It has nothing to do with you and me, right?"

Iori Tadamichi said with a smile that an old man with a serious and old-fashioned appearance but a smile doing such a thing gave people a feeling of cognitive confusion.

"And I have already reported this to the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science. In a couple of days they will send a demon exorcist to investigate. I will then ask my acquaintances for help. This case will probably be closed as a sudden demon disaster. As for the whereabouts of the demon—"

Iori Tadamichi clasped his hands together in the direction of the shrine.

"Of course he was captured by Inari-sama. Let them ask Inari-sama."

"Religious Liberal Arts Province?"

Dong Ye Yu entered the tea room, sat down and thought for a while.

I remember that this seemed to be a religious institution that was known as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Defense. In the past, the power to manage religion in the island nation belonged to the Ministry of Science, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

This life was probably because these charlatans were really powerful, so they became independent.

However, it is quite low-key. In the past, the impression it gave to ordinary people seemed to be an institution responsible for managing religious culture and personnel. It also specially established a religious corporation law to govern various shrines and temples.

When Higashino Yu was researching the island nation's mythology, he also took a look at some information related to religion here.

Although there are family-inherited temples and shrines on this island, they are not completely privately owned.

The Religious Corporations Act stipulates that every shrine or temple must have someone serve as a religious corporation to be responsible for liaison with the government and to be supervised by government special agents to ensure that these privately-held religious sites do not cause any trouble.

"They also manage demon exorcists, monsters, and the like?"

"Yes, it has this power. Although it has been renamed the Ministry of Religion, Culture, Science and Technology, its functions are actually the same as the Onmyoji Ryo in the past. In fact, its power is much greater. Therefore, most demon hunters are used to calling it the Onmyoji Ryo."

"Higashino-kun should have heard of it. It appears to be an institution responsible for religious culture, but in fact, the internal leaders and officials are basically highly respected and powerful Yin-Yang masters and monks. They are responsible for managing the domestic demon hunters and dealing with incidents related to demons, ghosts, and monsters."

Iori Tadamichi was silent for a second when he said this: "Miko's parents also worked in the Ministry of Religion, Culture, and Science."

Seeing that the old man mentioned Yuko's parents twice tonight and was in a bad mood, Dongye Yu didn't know what to ask.

So he changed the subject and asked, "If I use Inari-sama as an excuse, won't it anger Him?"

You have to know that there are real gods in Inari Shrine, and the gods might be unhappy if you do this.

Higashino Yu is still very respectful of Inari God.

I am only at the Yin God stage now. It would normally take me sixty years to cultivate to the Golden Elixir stage, and the Yang God stage is even more out of reach.

The divine instrument of the water god that I had seen in Lingze before was at least a god at the Jindan level. If he attacked me, I would not be able to withstand more than three moves without the Demonic Thunder Flag.

This is just a little-known god.

A great god like Inari is probably going to be even stronger, after all, Gozen Inari has the Four Tails.

I have just reached the Yin God level, and I need to cultivate to the perfect realm to be considered a two-tailed fox. The Jindan realm should be three tails, and if it is four tails, it is either Jindan perfection or Yang God.

The water god Hishizawa himself had some confidence at least when watching from afar, but the Gozen Inari named Haruhara gave him the feeling that he was just an ordinary mortal, maybe he was really in the realm of Yangshen Zhenren.

Based on this calculation, this Inari god is at least at the level of a terrestrial immortal, and is a true immortal.

Even if I practice for another hundred years, I still won’t be able to afford to offend him.

"That's fine. I thought about this before I came back and asked Inari-sama. He didn't object."

Iori Tadamichi smiled and asked Higashino Yu to sit down first. Then he pushed open the shoji door on the other side of the tea room and stretched his neck to take a look.

"Strange, where is Miko's grandmother? Tomoko, I'm back!"

As he spoke, he walked along the corridor, searching and shouting. Seeing this, Dong Ye Yu followed him.

The two went from the tea room to the bedroom, then to the kitchen, and finally to the study. The light was on in the study, and there was an open small medicine box on the table, with some disinfectant, iodine and other things on the table, but still no one was seen.

After walking around, I heard the old lady’s voice at the back of the courtyard: “Zhongdao, we are here.”

The old lady stood up and shouted, then squatted down again, holding a lantern to illuminate Iori Miko who was digging a hole with a small shovel.

Twelve dead cats were lying nearby. While she was lighting the room for her granddaughter, she was fanning the room with a fan to drive away the mosquitoes and flies that were trying to lay eggs on the cats' bodies.

His eyes occasionally fell on his granddaughter's bruised elbows and calves. It was unknown what he was thinking. His eyes were red, and he occasionally wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeves.

鑔, 鑔.

The small shovel was used to dig in the soft soil, but after digging for a long time, only a small pit was dug. Iori Miko, who had changed into a white nightgown, pursed her lips, feeling that she had underestimated the difficulty of digging a pit. She only looked at the bodies of stray cats that had died to save her and quickened the speed of shoveling the soil.

Although Chunyuan had taken away the souls of Miaoji and the others before, it is said that if the body finds a good destination, the soul will also find peace.

If those mosquitoes and flies were allowed to land on Meowhime and the others, they would be bitten by bugs after they were buried. Iori Miko didn't like being bitten by bugs, and I think Meowhime and the others wouldn't like it either.

I heard the sound of the bamboo fence being pushed open from behind me.
"Tomoko, I'd like you to make some snacks for today."

Grandpa was talking to grandma in a low voice, and it seemed that he wanted to drink, but this time grandma strangely did not object. The two of them left, and there was only one person left. He gradually approached and his footsteps sounded familiar.

Iori Miko hasn't made any friends other than monsters over the years, so she occasionally does some strange things.

For example, I used the sound of footsteps to identify a person, and unexpectedly I discovered many interesting things through this.

Sometimes the sound of footsteps can reflect a person's emotions. Dongye Nissan's footsteps now sound a little hesitant, not as crisp and decisive as before, but slow and gentle, as if afraid of stepping on something.

Iori Miko paused in her shoveling, picked up a small shovel at her feet and handed it over, saying softly, "Tono Ni-san, do you want to dig with us?"

"Ah."

Dong Yeyu picked up a small shovel, stuck it into the soil, and dug out a large piece of soil with one shovel like a bulldozer. Later, he felt that the shovel was too small and was no different from a gardening shovel, or maybe it was just a gardening shovel.

So he went back to the vegetable garden in the courtyard, found a large shovel, and soon dug a one-meter-deep grave large enough for a cat.

Seeing this, Iori Miko simply used the small shovel in her hand to help Higashino Yu dig up the excess soil, and then put the cats into lacquered wooden boxes with gold-painted patterns of flowers, birds, insects and fish.

Neither of them spoke, but they dug the grave, packed it in the box, and buried it in silence and tacit understanding.

Until twelve small mounds appeared in the small open space behind the courtyard, Iori Miko inserted twelve wooden signs with names on them in front of the mounds.

Dong Ye Yu took a quick look and found that she seemed to have given names to all the cats.

"Tono Nissan, I don't actually know these cats."

"Ah."

"I only know that Meow-hime likes to meow and will rub against me gently. Kuroko doesn't like to talk, but he's very brave. Orange-kun is a little clumsy and timid, and always bumps into other companions when he runs."

Iori Miko squatted in front of these small mounds of earth, hugged her knees with her hands and whispered softly. This was the only impression these cats left on her.

No one knew where they came from, nor their past. They appeared before my eyes like moths chasing a flame, rushing one by one to a death that did not belong to them.

If I had stayed in school and accompanied the old man to see the plum blossoms, could these things have been avoided?

Iori Miko felt even sadder as she thought about this. She felt that the deaths of these cats were all her fault. She buried her face in her knees and said, "We are not even friends yet."

"We are already friends the moment they fight for you." Dong Ye Yu said softly.

"But I don't know them. I don't even have any impression of many of them. Some of them died just after I saw them once."

“That’s what makes this relationship so precious.”

"Tono Nissan."

"I'm here."

"I am so sad."

She raised her head and sobbed. Her clear and sparkling eyes were filled with mist, and the area around her eyes was red and a little swollen.

The fair little face was stained with sweat, tears and dirt, and looked dirty. There were bruises on the forehead from being hit, which was heartbreaking.

Dong Yeyu touched her head and said softly, "I know, cry it out, it will make you feel better."

If she was alone, it wouldn't be a big deal, but when she had such a pillar of support by her side, Iori Miko felt that she became much more fragile, and the suppressed emotions in her heart surged out.

For a long time, she could only share her joys, sorrows, anger and happiness with the monsters. Although her grandpa and grandma loved her very much, there were many things she could not tell them and she could not make them worry.

So she could only keep these emotions in her heart and tell them to the monsters passing by.

But now it seems different, although he has always said that he and Higashino Nissan are friends.

But it was not until now that Iori Miko truly felt that he was right in front of her, rather than being at a distance or out of reach.

Iori Miko's gaze fell on the young man's face. The light was dim and she could not see his appearance clearly. The shadows fell and it was impossible to estimate the distance.

She hesitated for a second, pounced over with a pout, and Dong Ye Yu quickly took a step forward and caught the girl.

She hugged Dong Ye Yu tightly, her body pressed against his broad chest, her nose sniffing the reassuring scent, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably, but a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

The monster friends are kind and interesting, but ultimately untouchable.

From now on, Iori Miko no longer belongs only to the world of monsters.

This chapter was supposed to be posted yesterday morning, but I got stuck halfway through. Later I thought it was not a good idea to get stuck halfway through, so I wrote more than 3,000 words. I have been dragging it to now and have not slept. I feel like I am going to die. Brothers, please give me a monthly ticket.

Update as usual in the evening.

Thanks to my brother Meng for his monthly subscription and recommendation tickets (ω)
Please give me a monthly ticket, please subscribe, please give me a recommendation ticket (╰╯)
Brother Meng, if you have free time, you can give your favorite characters a little heart!


(End of this chapter)