Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 64, Part 30: "Hot Spring Trip - Continued"

Although it is called a hot spring town, Kochi Town is a small town with only more than 2000 residents, and there is really nothing worth seeing in the town.

In the entire town, only the central street is quite grand. Even in the city of Kobe, it still maintains its standard. I heard that it is a legacy of the bubble era.

During the bubble period thirty years ago, all kinds of resorts, golf courses, and ski resorts sprang up all over the country like mushrooms after a rain. Real estate developers even went so far as to build artificial beaches just a few kilometers away from the sea. It was a very extravagant and impetuous era.

Rinne Kamishiro had studied related topics in college, but she didn't mention any obscure professional terms like "quantitative easing" to the two of them. She only talked about some jaw-dropping and exaggerated consumption scenes during the bubble economy.

For example, "You can't even hail a taxi with 10,000 yen," and "Companies give gifts to university students who apply for jobs, advance their wages in order to sign them, and even provide free cars and houses."

For Masumi, who was born after the millennium, these things were like a "dream story". He only had a rough understanding of that chaotic era through some film and television works.

That period was also a heyday for bands. When Masumi was in high school, he was taken by a senior from the light music club to watch a band audition program at that time.

"Do companies offer money to retain interviewees? Hard to imagine..."

"Well, it's said that at the height of the hype, applicants at the University of Tokyo's level would be chartered by large companies to go to Hawaii for vacation before interviewing."

"Eh—that's exaggerated."

As Mami listened to Rin's story, she sighed in approval from time to time.

The time displayed on the phone was just past 12 o'clock.

The three of them wandered aimlessly in the hot spring street. Since it was neither a holiday nor a peak tourist season, there were not many tourists.

After all, those who patronize this not very famous hot spring town are generally long-time regular customers or elderly people, and there is no conflict between the two. Young people are rarely seen.

The three are in the minority.

Rinyin wore a stand-up collar top and jeans. Although it was quite simple, it was particularly eye-catching when paired with her figure.

The mountain breeze in early summer brings a refreshing coolness.

Before coming here, I heard that this place is also famous for its trailhead. When Masumi left the hotel, he specially changed into the prepared clothes: a khaki fisherman's hat, a black T-shirt and outdoor combat pants, and sneakers similar to hiking boots on his feet.

"Okay! Let's head into the mountains!"

Asami shouted with great enthusiasm.

"Of course I can, but is your outfit okay?"

Masumi looked at Asami who made this suggestion:
Today she wore a pure white dress with suspenders, revealing her smooth jade-like back and butterfly-wing-like shoulders. Her chest was dazzlingly white, shining through the chiffon.

In addition, he wore a sun hat with a large brim on his head.

"Hehe, what do you think? Pretty charming, right?" Asami smiled gently.

"Yeah, a bit like the photo idols from the Showa era."

Masumi commented like this.

"After all, I have a pretty face."

Asami poked her cheek with her right index finger and put on a cute idol-like smile.

"I'm surprised you can wear this on the street." Masumi sighed, "And aren't you cold?"

Although summer has arrived and the rainy season is almost over, the mountains are still a little cooler than Kobe.

"Don't worry about that. My body is actually quite hot all the time."

The answer sounded a bit awkward.

"Okay, let's go!"

Mami shouted and took the lead, her legs lifting up her skirt as she walked, making people guess that they were a pair of straight and long beautiful legs.

"Speaking of which, Masumi-kun, Rin'in-chan, do you know the reason for climbing the mountain?"

"What is it?"

"Hmph..." He felt inexplicably proud.

"Of course it's because—the mountain is there."

Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, shining on her delicate, snow-white fingers as she raised them, pointing toward the mountains of Tajima.

There is no clear boundary between Xiangchi Town and the countryside. When you walk out of the town, there are electric poles standing on the side of the slowly rising road. Occasionally, you can see houses that are either inhabited or uninhabited.

They were walking on a slope that continued to extend upwards. Although it was not steep, it would become unbearable bit by bit.

"No, I can't... Stop now... Let me rest for a while."

The charming moans from her cherry lips became more rapid and louder, and a layer of fine sweat gradually seeped out on her fair skin.

"Why are you so calm, Masumi-kun?" Asami complained while forcing herself to go up the hill.

"Of course it's because I've been running in the mornings, and that's why my physical strength has improved."

Having said that, Masumi is not as nonchalant as he seems.

Mountain roads are completely different from smooth city roads. Mountain climbing is not a sport that can be accomplished by people with good physical strength alone.

He then fixed his gaze on Rin, who was walking in front. Her back was straight, and her walking was full of strength, with small and firm steps.

He was carrying a black backpack on his back, and even so, his breathing was quite steady. He seemed to be good at climbing.

"The walking posture when climbing a mountain is very important. Climbing a mountain with the same walking feeling as usual will waste a lot of energy."

Rin looked back at the two people walking slowly, slowed down her pace with an expressionless face, walked side by side with them, and said softly:
"Keep your back straight, keep your body in a straight line, bend your knees when you walk, place the whole sole of your foot on the ground, and take small steps at the same pace."

The explanation sounded very professional. Masumi tried it and it seemed to make walking easier.

"Do you often go hiking? Or join any clubs or something like that?"

"No." Lin Yin shook her head slightly: "It's just what the teacher taught us at the forest school."

It turns out that the content of the forest school is really useful.

"Not at all!"

I heard Mami's dying voice: "My stats are not enough. No matter how good my operation is, I can't pass the level..."

"Hold on a little longer, Seno." Masumi encouraged her, "There's a huge plum forest ahead."

"Do you think you are Cao Cao, Masumi-kun?" Asami complained.

"You still know Cao Cao?"

"Don't treat me as illiterate. Even if I haven't read the original version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I have played many Koei games."

I forgot that she is also a hardcore game enthusiast.

"Ah... my feet hurt."

Asami called out weakly.

Masumi's gaze followed her back wrapped in a white dress. Although it was a reserved and conservative long dress, when worn on such a plump body, the dress was able to highlight the smooth and curvy lines.

The straps of the sandals dug into my feet, leaving red marks on my fair skin.

Climbing a slope in low-heeled sandals, how is that different from being tortured? Masumi thought.

Asami focused her attention on her feet, wearily crawling up the painful slope. At this moment, Rin's voice reached her ears like a heavenly sound.

"We're almost there, Sister Mami. The rest area is just ahead."

Upon hearing this, Mami raised her head with difficulty. The gurgling sound of flowing water brought a cool breeze. The top of the hill was bright, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves was very comfortable.

"Ah! Great! I can finally rest."

With the destination that seemed within reach in her sight, her tiredness was temporarily suppressed, and Mami suddenly let out a silly cheer.

She gathered all her strength and rushed up the hillside, finally arriving at the rest stop located at 1/4 of the mountainside.

Masumi and Rinone followed slowly.

Near the rest stop, there is a small river originating from the top of the mountain. The river is about six or seven meters wide, the water is very shallow, and the flow is quite fast, so the water is clear and you can see the bottom.

Two people sat on a bench. There was a vending machine next to them, but the items in it were almost sold out, and it would probably take a long time for it to be restocked.

"Here, drink some water."

Rinone took off her backpack, took out a bottle of mineral water from it and handed it to Masumi.

"Thank you." It turned out that he had brought water in his bag.

Masumi unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip, letting the water soak his dry throat. Then he saw Rin take out a thermos, unscrew the lid, pour half a cup of water, and shouted to Mami not far away: "Sister Mami——"

"--Wait me a moment."

Mami's lazy voice floated through the air.

She threw her sandals aside, and because the straps had been tied tightly for a long time, there were obvious red marks on her snow-white ankles.

Mami lifted her skirt and walked barefoot into the stream, her delicate toes like pearls dancing lightly on the smooth pebbles.

"Ah~ It's cool and comfortable."

The sound suddenly rippled.

"Hey! Masumi-kun, Rin-chan." Asami called out to them, "Would you like to try it too? It's very relaxing."

"No need, just have fun." Masumi declined.

"Hey, it's really comfortable... Ah! What's that?! There looks like a crab!"

Mami's eyes flashed, and she squatted down without worrying about getting her skirt wet. Her slender hands flew across the water, and then she stood up in the stream.

"Look what I caught!"

On the hand raised high, the green shell like mud and sand shone in the sun, and the claws and eight crab legs twisted restlessly.

It was a crab that Mami caught and traded before it even reached adulthood.

"The crabs in the river will give you vision, so you have to strike first!"

She spoke in a high-pitched voice, saying something strange that Masumi and Rinone couldn't understand.

"The movements are quite agile."

"Hehe, after all, I grew up in the countryside."

Mami puffed out her chest proudly, the hem of her white dress falling slightly because it was wet, unaffected by the wind. "When I was in kindergarten back home, I loved catching crabs from the river. The most outrageous thing was that I caught a bucket full and put it in the bathtub at home, which scared my mother."

She spoke of her heroic deeds with a look of complacency.

Masumi sighed. This guy used to be a kid with very unconventional thinking.

"Be careful next time, Mr. Crab, don't get caught by other heroes."

Mami chuckled and put the crab back into the river. The crab waved its eight legs wildly, then quickly slipped into the crevice of the rock and disappeared.

After having enough fun, she lifted her feet out of the stream, her white and slender bare feet still glistening with seductive water. She slipped on her sandals and slowly walked towards the two people.

"Ah~ The scenery here is very nice."

The sandals fell to the ground with a "click". Mami sat down between the two of them without any hesitation, stretching her legs. Her delicate feet were slender and well-proportioned, and the white was dazzling.

Masumi felt a bit crowded and moved to the side. Perhaps because of the sweat, the scent of Asami's perfume was more noticeable.

"But it's still far behind Lake Biwa."

At this moment, the pride of Shiga Prefecture citizens suddenly returned.

The other two people didn't respond to this obviously nonsense, but Mami didn't care. After all, they had lived together for so long and were used to it.

All three of them remained silent, with only the sounds of wind blowing through leaves, water crashing against rocks, and the chirping of birds. This silence was comfortable and reassuring.

Before Masumi could begin to imagine that this silence would last forever, Asami's voice suddenly passed by.

"There seems to be a shrine nearby, which is also a tourist attraction. Do you want to go and see it?"

"Can you still climb mountains?" Masumi asked.

"Of course, don't underestimate me."

Mami stood up suddenly, as if to show that her strength had fully recovered, but the "perception of physical recovery" was just a fleeting illusion.

Before she made a move to step up the slope, her Achilles tendon keenly sensed the angle of inclination and immediately obediently transmitted the burden it received, causing Mami to utter a whine.

"Oh, no! My feet hurt whenever I go up a hill."

"Mamami, why don't you carry me on your back?" Asami said pitifully.

Masumi shrugged helplessly, and the reason for his refusal was concise and clear: "I can't carry it."

"What does that mean? I'm not heavy at all, okay?"

"It's my poor physical strength, not your weight."

"Hmph, that's pretty much it."

She snorted through her beautiful nose, then sighed, "Then let's go back to the hotel."

"If we go to the shrine, we shouldn't have to climb any higher."

Rinone looked at the map app on her phone and said, "We just need to go through a forest."

"Eh? Rinne-chan, you want to go?"

"I don't care."

Linyin uttered these words lightly, and her cold expression made it impossible to read her emotions.

"Hmm..." Mami squinted her eyes and looked at her for a moment, then smiled and said, "Since we're here, let's go take a look."

The three of them then followed the route provided by the map and walked into a path in the forest. The humidity stung their skin. Although it was early summer, it felt as if the temperature in the forest had suddenly dropped by several degrees Celsius.

Just when Masumi thought he was going to be buried in the woods forever, after a few steps, his vision cleared and a vermilion torii gate stood before him, with a shimeji rope hanging on the top and the royal coins dancing gently in the wind.

"Oh, it feels like that." Asami looked at the shrine in the forest and let out a slight exclamation.

"What does it feel like?"

"There's something mysterious about a shrine hidden in the mountains and deserted by the elements."

"If I go in, will I stumble into a hidden world where monsters and gods live?"

"It's just a lonely shrine that no one cares about."

Masumi complained without giving any face, "If it's a hidden, uninhabited shrine, there are probably plenty of them in Shikoku and Tohoku."

There are 8 shrines across the island nation, 1 more than the number of coffee shops and 3 more than the number of convenience stores, many of which are small shrines like this.

Since shrines in island countries belong to religious corporations, they are generally run by families and the chief priests are inherited from generation to generation.

Some shrines that have no intention of inheriting their family heritage will be handed over to the "Shrine Headquarters" for operation. This is a non-governmental organization responsible for assessing the clergy of each shrine and issuing certificates.

However, the number of priests in the Ministry of Justice is very limited, with only 2 people nationwide. In sparsely populated areas, one chief priest often oversees multiple shrines at the same time.

"Mamami, are you allergic to mystery and romance?" Asami nudged him with her elbow in dissatisfaction.

"Sorry to spoil your imagination."

When Masumi said this, he subconsciously glanced at Rinne and found that she was staring at the torii gate in a daze, with a dazed expression on her face.

"What's wrong, Kamishiro?" he asked. "Are you thinking about the shrine?"

Masumi is referring to the family shrine in Rinone's hometown in Gunma Prefecture.

"nothing."

Linyin shook her head slightly, unwilling to say more.

"Let's go in first."

The entire shrine is not very large, but because it is built next to a mountain and is surrounded by a vast forest, it looks quite majestic.

Behind the torii gate is a flat and straight approach, surrounded by green trees, and cute Komainu stone sculptures guard the two sides of the road obediently.

This place is probably cleaned occasionally by the residents of Xiangchi Town, so it is not as dilapidated as Masumi imagined.

The approach was not very long. The three of them stopped in front of the incense box in the worship hall, where a bell was hung high with a white cotton rope.

"Let me see... The deity enshrined here is called Tenkyō Bimei. The deity's body is the lake in the mountains. It is beneficial for health and good relationships."

Asami read the words on the display board next to her.

Masumi nodded. "That's similar to the Chihiro Onnazun at Ikuta Shrine."

The Ikuta Shrine he mentioned is located in Sannomiya, Kobe. It is a well-known shrine with a long history that has existed since the Nara period. The area around Chuo Ward in Kobe City today was once the shrine's territory.

"I know Ikuta Shrine." Asami smiled, "It's also the filming location for a famous bishoujo game."

Masumi didn't know whether to praise her for having read countless anime, or to sigh that the island country is indeed a major ACG country.

"Alas - I thought I could see the beautiful miko here." Asami sighed in disappointment.

"But there's no one at this shrine. Even if a ghost or a shrine maiden comes, it's fine."

"Let's forget about ghosts and monsters."

Hearing her mention the shrine maiden, Masumi looked at Rinone again. The girl with long black hair was staring at the worship hall in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking.

"Forget it, since we are already here, let's worship the gods!"

Asami unzipped her wallet and generously counted out a number of five-yen coins: "One, two, three... seventeen, eighteen."

Because the pronunciation of 5 yen is similar to fate, incense money is usually given in multiples of 5.

For example, 15 yen is called "Jumi-goen", which means very close, and 25 yen is called "Nijū-goen", which means double close.

Traditionally, nine is considered the ultimate number. If you throw in 9 five-yen coins, that's 18 yen, which is "Ninefolds of Destiny," meaning infinite destiny.

"You actually have so many 5 yen coins."

Masumi opened her wallet and then remembered that she usually put her 5 yen coins into the donation box at the convenience store, and she didn't have such small denomination coins to use.

"That's lame, Masumi-kun. You're so poor you can't even come up with 5 yen."

Asami teased him, "Come on, open your hands."

"Hmm?" Masumi made a puzzled sound but still opened his palm. "Swish" - nine coins fell into his palm.

"I'll give you half of my fate." Asami smiled.

"Ninefolds of the God" was divided into two pieces, each worth 45 yen, which sounds the same as "始終御縁", meaning that there is always a connection.

Masumi was about to thank her when he felt the weight of coins on his palm. Rinyin casually placed nine coins on his hand and said calmly:
"I'll give you half of my fate."

"...Oh, thank you."

Now Masumi herself has become "infinitely destined", and the two girls are "always destined".

Put the incense money into the incense box, the three people straighten their posture, ring the bell, bow deeply twice, clap their hands lightly, and then start the wish-making process.

May my father recover and be discharged from the hospital soon, and may I be in good health.

This is Masumi's wish.

After one final bow, the three of them turned and left the shrine.

Masumi didn't think he necessarily had the power of faith, but his mood did become clearer after visiting the shrine.

"Masumi-kun, what did you wish for?"

"I and my family are in good health."

"That's it..."

Faced with such an impeccable wish, Mami said nothing and turned to look at another person: "Where's Rinne-chan?"

"If you say your wish, it won't work."

The girl said expressionlessly.

"Huh? So Rin-chan also believes that..."

Chatting about irrelevant topics, the three of them headed back.

Since it was a downhill road, even Mami had completely recovered her breath and walked down the long slope she had just climbed with ease.

The sky above their heads had turned crimson at some point, and the shadows of the three people left in the forest were melted by the darkness, like sugar cubes, gently snuggling together.

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(End of this chapter)