Anime Crossover: Master is Not Here Today

Chapter 327 The Weather Witch, the Sun Maiden, and the Sunny Doll

Regardless of whether the legend is true or false, according to the old priest, only the weather maiden is the connection between heaven and man. Therefore, if you want to communicate with heaven, you either have to ask the weather maiden for help or become a weather maiden yourself.

After thinking for a moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka made a request to the old priest:

"If it's possible, could I temporarily serve as a shrine maiden at your shrine?"

"Eh?"

"Ritsuka-neechan?"

"senior?"

The group looked at her with some surprise, while the old priest sized up Fujimaru Ritsuka, as if he were considering something.

Although shrine maidens are religious figures, there are no special requirements to become one. All you need to do is be an unmarried woman under the age of 25, and having regular facial features and a good figure is a bonus.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's delicate and lovely face, the beautiful curves of her body that can be vaguely seen under her clothes, and the vibrant charm that emanates from within, make her an undeniably beautiful girl who perfectly fits the criteria.

If we could get her to become a shrine maiden, it might bring a lot of popularity to the shrine...

"wrong,"

As he pondered, the old priest suddenly realized something and looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka suspiciously, asking:

"You don't actually want to become a weather shrine maiden, do you?"

Seeing Fujimaru Ritsuka nod in affirmation, the old priest's gaze towards her suddenly turned strange.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? Weather shrine maidens often meet tragic ends, you know?"

"I know."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded again and smiled:

"But I also have things I want to do."

At this moment, Mash and Ai Haibara also realized what Fujimaru Ritsuka was planning to do, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"This……"

Sensing the sincerity in Fujimaru Ritsuka's words, the old priest felt that the young girls before him seemed somewhat strange, but ultimately shook his head and said:

"I don't know what you want to do, but you can't become a weather shrine maiden this way."

"Eh?"

Seeing Fujimaru Ritsuka's puzzled expression, the old priest explained:

"As I said before, the weather shrine maiden is a special person, not someone whose lineage is fixed and unchanging."

"Although our shrine did have a weather shrine maiden, we do not know what conditions are required to become a weather shrine maiden."

"That's it."

Fujimaru Ritsuka was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, but she could only nod and cancel her plan to become a shrine maiden at the Weather Shrine.

"Thank you for your hospitality, thank you for your trouble."

After bidding farewell to the old master and his grandson, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the other two left the Meteorological Shrine under their umbrellas.

Because of their fruitful experience, they returned directly to the agency to organize the intelligence they had on hand.

As they walked up the steps outside the shrine, Mashu smiled at Fujimaru Ritsuka:

"In any case, we obtained a lot of useful information from this visit to the Weather Shrine."

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded in agreement and smiled:

"Yes, we might be getting close to the truth."

Ai Haibara, walking on the other side of Fujimaru Ritsuka, asked hesitantly:

"Sister Ritsuka, do you think this continuous rain is the work of the god that Old Tsukasa mentioned?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka, upon hearing this, rested her chin on her hand and said:

"We can't be completely sure yet, but the legends and stories about weather shrine maidens and gods do sound somewhat similar to the current situation."

Mashu nodded in agreement; she felt the same way.

The Eight-fold God of the Eight Seasons, who controls eight types of weather; a god who disregards human emotions and common sense; a weather maiden who tragically connects the fate of heaven and man; and a scene in the painting that seems to be the "realm of the gods"...

Given the current situation, it feels like an ancient myth is being reenacted in modern times.

Meanwhile, upon hearing what Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu said, Haibara Ai's expression became somewhat serious.

If that's really the case, wouldn't it mean that their target this time is a genuine god?!

She had already encountered the alien Bodao, who was given the name of a god, the Shiki, which was like a combination of a vampire and a zombie, and various vengeful spirits during this period.

But this time, it's a true god who exists only in mythology!

So, she asked with some concern:

"If the culprit is truly a god, can we really solve this problem?"

"Don't worry, it'll be okay."

Seeing the worry on Ai Haibara's face, Ritsuka Fujimaru reached out and ruffled her hair, smiling:

"Besides, it's not certain that a conflict will occur. Judging from the story of the Weather Shrine Maiden, the other party should still be able to negotiate, and perhaps a peaceful resolution can be achieved?"

"No,"

Ai Haibara subconsciously analyzed:

"Judging from the tragic fates of every weather shrine maiden, even if the other party can communicate, they probably aren't an easy god to get along with, right?"

Even so, Fujimaru Ritsuka chuckled and said:

"Well, we'll see how things go then."

"..."

This personality, which is hard to describe as either optimistic or carefree, is as annoying as ever, but feeling the warmth of Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand above her head, Ai Haibara gradually calmed down.

After calming down, she thought about it carefully and suddenly realized that after the aura brought by the word "god" was stripped away, the other party's so-called ability to control eight types of weather seemed...

That's all there is to it?

After all, whether it's Fujimaru Ritsuka who can travel between worlds at will, Chaldea, or Ono who can arbitrarily change the past, future, and parallel world lines, they all seem to be much stronger than the so-called Weather God.

With this in mind, Ai Haibara completely relaxed.

"correct,"

Then, she recalled something related to it and said to Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu:

"The weather maidens that the old priest mentioned can reach the heavens and change the weather. In a sense, aren't sunny men and sunny women, and rainy men and rainy women, like such beings?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka paused for a moment upon hearing this, then quickly realized what she meant and nodded.

"They do indeed look somewhat similar."

Although "sunny man/woman" and "rainy man/woman" have other meanings, Ai Haibara was probably referring to the type of person who is either "sunny wherever they go" or "rainy wherever they go."

From the perspective of influencing the weather alone, she does indeed have some similarities to the so-called weather witch.

"what,"

At that moment, Mashu seemed to remember something and suddenly exclaimed:

"Speaking of weather maidens, the story of the weather shrine maiden seems quite similar to that of the weather-sweeping maiden!"

"The Sunshine Maiden? The Sunny Doll?"

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka conjured up an image of a teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll-shaped ornament) wearing a white cloak and hanging up.

She just didn't know why Mashu said the two were very similar.

Ai Haibara also looked at Mashu curiously. Although she had been reading books on the field of occultism recently, she knew very little about the contents of this kind of folk legend.

Mashu seemed to know all this very well, which was consistent with her impression of members of Chaldea, an organization associated with mystery.

On the other hand, looking at Fujimaru Ritsuka next to her, who seemed to know nothing about this as well as she did, Ai Haibara was really curious about how Fujimaru Ritsuka was initially recruited into Chaldea.

Is it just the ability to travel between worlds?

...Well, that seems enough.

Okay, I'm fine now.

At the same time, Mashu explained with a smile:

"The teru teru bozu, also known as the 'sunny doll,' is a Japanese custom of hanging teru teru bozu to pray for sunny weather. This custom also originated from the 'sunny doll' in China."

Come spicy!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 328 Detective Fujimaru Ritsuka

The "Sweeping Rain Goddess" is a folk custom in some parts of China. The image is usually a paper-cut woman wearing flowers in her hair and carrying a broom. It is often made of red or green paper and hung under the eaves to pray for the rain to stop and the sky to clear.

"It is said that after the custom of the 'sunshine maiden' spread to Japan, since the rituals for praying for rain and clear skies in Japan were all presided over by monks, the sunshine maiden was transformed into the 'teru teru bozu' that is commonly seen in life today."

Seeing that Fujimaru Ritsuka and Haibara Ai nodded, Mash continued her explanation:

"As for the origin of the Sunshine Maiden, the earliest versions of the story are varied and difficult to verify, but most of them have a sad ending where she sacrifices herself to bring sunshine. Therefore, people make paper-cuts to commemorate her and also regard her as a symbol of praying for sunshine."

"This is very similar to the story of the weather shrine maiden that the old priestess told me."

"I see."

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Haibara Ai nodded in understanding.

Of course, what Mashu brought up had nothing to do with what Ai Haibara wanted to say.

After Mashu finished speaking, Ai Haibara took out her phone and looked up something. Then she handed the phone to the two of them and said:

"Look at this!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka read the above content aloud:

"100% Sunshine Girl?"