I became the emperor in the comic book series.

As Higashino Akira looked behind Miko, two unknown beings, their bodies translucent and radiating a faint golden light, resembling white foxes dressed like human girls, stood upright, yet sporting black, Hime-style haircuts typical of humans. A word inexplicably popped into his mind.

Fu Rui?

This was the first time he had ever seen all these strange and mysterious things.

Judging from their color schemes, these two don't really look like evil spirits.

The moment these two unknown beings saw Akira Higashino, they bowed respectfully to him, without overstepping any boundaries.

However, Miko, who was standing in front of them, did not notice this and was still earnestly pleading. She went over and hugged his arm, awkwardly acting coquettish.

"Please, I have a surprise I want to give to Onii-chan."

Akira looked down at Miko, who was blushing slightly even though she herself couldn't contain herself, and after a moment of silence, he quietly closed his eyes.

I already thought Nagasaki Motoyo's acting was bad enough, but I never imagined there could be someone even worse.

Who gave Miko the confidence to think that this is what it means to be coquettish?

Yurikawa Hana: Eh…

After seeing Higashino Akira close his eyes, Miko quickly released his grip, turned around, and looked at the two fox spirits behind him. He gestured to the cold, dark curse power surrounding his body and respectfully clasped his hands together in silent prayer.

Upon seeing this, the two fox spirits exchanged glances. After a while, they reluctantly raised their hands and aimed them at Dongye Ming. A pale golden power shot out, shattering the curse. Then, ignoring the curse that was slowly but steadily regenerating from the void, the bells on their bodies jingled softly. After giving the girl a deep look, their figures gradually disappeared.

Eh!

Why did you leave?

Should we not continue?

And this time it wasn't counted either!

Seeing that she was still a little confused, Higashino Akira had already opened his eyes again.

"So, the surprise?"

Miko Yotsuya puffed out her cheeks and, somewhat displeased, took out a cake from behind the sofa.

What an untrustworthy god!

She clearly made this decision after a long period of mental preparation and great determination.

Happy birthday, Onii-chan.

Akira Higashino was taken aback. "Is today my birthday?"

He came to Tokyo to study alone and lived alone. No one remembered his birthday. He hadn't celebrated his birthday for six or seven years. Every year, it was a long time before he realized that he had grown another year older.

Although he himself doesn't really care whether or not he celebrates his birthday.

But I didn't expect that Jianzi would remember his birthday.

“When I was registering the materials, I noticed Nijang’s birthday and wrote it down.”

"After all, we're family."

Jianzi heard her mother's gratified voice praising her, "That's right, you know how to take the initiative to care for your family. Jianzi is such a sensible and good child."

Akira Higashino raised his hand and gently touched Miko's head. After all, he was not a heartless person. With Miko's care for him time and time again, although he could not say that he immediately regarded her as an indispensable close relative, he could not help but feel closer to her.

"Thank you."

"When it's your birthday, I'll celebrate it with you too. Remember to tell me in advance if there's anything you want as a gift."

Yotsuya Miko nodded in agreement, still somewhat discouraged that she hadn't been able to free her 'brother' from that terrifying curse.

That deity was the most powerful being she could come into contact with. It seemed that the deity had agreed to help her three times. Although she didn't know what the consequences would be after the three times, Yotsuya Miko still resolutely left one chance to save Higashino Akira. However, she didn't expect that the deity's messenger would just casually make a move and then run away.

After all, they are the only relatives who aren't quite family, and they treat me very well. At least they haven't mistreated me. Although they seem a bit cold on the outside but are warm on the inside, I can always tell they are a good person.

Jianzi did not want her older brother to die young.

"By the way, when is Miko's birthday?"

Yotsuya Miko: "..."

With just one sentence, she dispelled the sorrow in the young girl's heart.

That's real strength.

Akira Higashino's gaze swept over the girl, who looked much more lifelike and real than before. Instead of acting coquettishly, she revealed a slightly resentful expression, which made Akira smile.

The two cut a small piece of cake and ate it together, then put the rest in the refrigerator to chill. They sat together watching TV, occasionally asking each other about their recent situation.

Until the final parting, when they each returned to their bedrooms to rest, Jianzi didn't notice anything amiss. Her expression remained gentle and relaxed, and the coldness and vigilance she usually feigned to avoid revealing any flaws in front of the evil spirits vanished completely.

Meanwhile, after returning to his master bedroom with a package sent to him by a stranger, Akira Higashino's smile gradually faded.

After meeting the two foxes, they were quite fond of her, both around forty. However, after they disappeared, the new bond that appeared afterward was very unfriendly, with blatant malice on display, linking her not only to herself but also to Miko.

Judging from the color of the two foxes, the entity behind them is probably not an ordinary evil spirit, but more likely a deity that has been worshipped.

But so what?

This guy has already met his demise by actively creating a bad karma for himself.

We'll find your doorstep right away by following the clues, and we'll even find out what color your underwear is!

You'd better be able to fight at the very end!

Akira Higashino took out his phone and dialed the number of the Pokémon Masters' guardian.

"Moshi moshi, did the senior have any instructions?"

"I've spotted someone special. I'm going out to do some field research tomorrow. Want to join me for some late-night snacks?"

"Kami-sama, I like it." On the other end of the phone, a quiet, aloof elementary school student gave a frightening answer in a calm voice.

After a long silence, Higashino Akira decided to scare him back.

"Alright, I'll wait ten years. When you grow up, I'll let you be the wife of a god."

"Huh!" Baoyue Yongzi was startled by the two's somewhat unconventional way of communicating.

"Kamisa is a lewd person."

"Nonsense, I just happen to like a loli, and I want to like all the beautiful parts of her life."

"Terrible, so terrifying..."

You scared me first!

"It's uncertain how powerful the other party is. If you want to subdue Him, remember to bring plenty of powerful helpers when you come."

Leaving behind his last words, Akira Higashino hung up the phone.

Some kids probably won't be able to sleep tonight.

[As emperor, please acquire your own subjects as soon as possible. For every 1000 subjects, the number of times you can be granted a divine mandate will increase by 1 (in progress: 568/1000)]

We are already more than halfway to the standard of one thousand subjects being granted titles. Although the growth rate has gradually slowed down, it is still growing steadily. We should be able to fully reach the standard in a couple of days.

Unfortunately, only employees who are formally employed, have a formal position and work permit, and who have a sense of identity and belonging to the company culture and the company itself can be considered as successfully naturalized subjects. Otherwise, a large number of temporary workers would be pulled together and the company would take off immediately.

With the Pokémon Trainer Treasure Moon Night Snack in the game, it shouldn't be too difficult to obtain future Pokémon titles. Putting aside other things, those two foxes from before seemed pretty good; they were polite, unlike those brainless wild Pokémon.

...........................

...........................

P.S.: 31 chapters still owed.

Chapter 49 Miyamizu Futaba

There's also that unknown entity that's always been around Miko, with a favorability rating of over 70.

Akira Higashino could only see the favorability rating and didn't know who the other person was or what they looked like. However, judging from the fact that the other person also had such a high level of favorability towards him, a complete stranger, he could tell that it was most likely either Old Deng or the spirit left behind by Miko's mother after her death.

If it's Old Deng, that would be terrible.

I don't dislike it, but I don't like it at all.

Not to mention, the old man had a difficult life and finally raised his two children to adulthood. When he passed away, he had let go of everything and had few attachments. His spirit only existed for a few days before returning to the world. Old Deng abandoned his wife and children to run off to Tokyo to become a winner in life and even planned to remarry. If he died with a bunch of unresolved attachments and insisted on staying in this world, it would be too disappointing.

As for the spirit in the house, whether it's Miko's mother or Old Deng, Higashino Akira doesn't plan to confer a title upon it, at least not in the early stages. Opportunities for conferring titles are scarce in the early stages, so he has to be smart, not extreme, and have considerable ability. It's best not to confer titles upon spirits that have been beaten half to death and then subdued, lest they become lazy and unhelpful in their work after the deed is done.

Picking up the package of unknown origin, after glancing at the sender's name and confirming that the connection brought about by this package had not changed and was still a benevolent connection, Higashino Akira finally opened it.

Inside was a thick photo album and a letter.

Higashino Akira opened the letter, took out the letter paper, and there was only one line of writing on it: "Long time no see, God."

The handwriting is quite delicate, so the writer is probably a girl, and not too old.

The letter paper is very new; it must have been written recently.

When he saw this letter, the bond that had been with Akira Higashino the longest, probably existing before he was born and closely related to him, which had been constantly trembling and seemed like it might break at any moment, became more stable than ever before. The price for this was that its existence was now in its final countdown.

Akira Higashino, with a sudden inspiration, chose to use the folding technique on this line.

[Qi You-10000]

At night, Akira Higashino seemed to be having a lucid dream.

In his dream, Akira Higashino was powerless to control or change anything. When others bumped into him, they would simply pass right through his body. He seemed to have become a ghost, drifting between history and reality, silently observing everything from the perspective of an outsider.

The scene in the dream was somewhat abstract, but it was still vaguely discernible as a backward and ancient place. A group of villagers dressed in tattered clothes, like ancient people, surrounded a priest and a shaman as they walked up the mountain. In the darkness and firelight, the villagers knelt on the ground, and the shaman stood in front of the fire, dancing a Kagura dance. In the deeper darkness, a pair of crimson eyes watched everything that was happening with malice.

As the priestess swayed in her dance, the demon devoured her flesh, gradually tearing her apart. Blood slowly stained her entire priestess robes. Finally, she collapsed on the altar, her body crushed by the demon, her soul floating out and attaching itself to the priestess robes, enveloping the demon.

The young priest seized the opportunity to seal the clothes that imprisoned the demon. He then stayed there for the rest of his life to reinforce the seal and nurture his descendants until they grew up and sacrificed their lives to become part of the seal. From then on, the priest's descendants became generations of priests and priestesses, each generation sealing and controlling the demon by sacrificing their lives.

Countless years later, the villagers' wishes finally washed away the evil spirit's thoughts. The collective consciousness formed by the sacrifices of generations of priestesses took over, and the evil spirit was no longer ferocious; its appearance became gentle and compassionate.

In the end, a new shrine was built, and the blood-stained shrine maiden's robe was enshrined in the deepest part of the shrine as the deity's sacred body.

Thus, the priests and shrine maidens of the shrine were finally able to live to their natural death, but instead of gaining stability, they began to use the power of the "gods" to travel around, protecting the region and driving away evil spirits from all directions. Each time they encountered a powerful enemy, it represented a sacrifice. The young shrine maidens with spirituality sacrificed themselves to become part of the gods, in exchange for the gods regaining their power more quickly and eliminating the enemies.

As time went by, the shrine experienced ups and downs, and eventually, it gradually became the kind of place that Akira Higashino was familiar with.

Chayiki Shrine.

Higashino Akira opened his eyes, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling above him, still immersed in the lingering aftertaste of that story filled with bloodshed and struggle, unable to forget it for a long time.

No wonder the god of that shrine was willing to die to protect him. There were never any benevolent gods there; it was just that the kind ancestors of the shrine wanted to protect their descendants.

dong dong——

A knock sounded on the door. "Futaba, it's time for you to get up."

After a brief, unfamiliar voice, the footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Higashino Akira sat up in bed and looked around. It was a traditional Japanese wooden building, and his line of sight seemed to have dropped. He touched his face, realized something was wrong, and his heart skipped a beat. He then pulled his legs together, not feeling the presence of his old man. He pursed his lips, silently lay back down on the bedding on the wooden floor, and closed his eyes.

I feel a little melancholy.

Seeing that there was no movement inside, the footsteps approached again, and the door was opened directly.

"Hmm, still not awake?"

"This child, why has his sleeping posture become so bad?"

Higashino Akira was lifted off the bed and stood up. Looking at this unfamiliar woman, he couldn't help but sigh.

Even if you make this face, you still have to finish today's tasks on time.

Mission?

Without making a sound, he followed the woman to wash up and have breakfast. Then they came to a room full of colorful woven ropes. Watching the woman's skillful weaving movements, and looking at his own immature hands, Higashino Akira could only bite the bullet and try to learn to weave.

However, the woman noticed something was wrong as soon as he made a move.

The woman stared at her daughter for a while, and then a look of realization dawned on her face.

"Oh dear, we have distinguished guests. I apologize for the poor hospitality."

Unable to continue pretending, Higashino Akira simply stopped pretending, put down the tangled rope in his hand, and started talking to her.

I learned from her that her name was Miyamizu Ichiyo, the heir to this shrine. Her family has always had a special talent that allows them to exchange souls with others briefly, but it doesn't last long. Often, they just fall asleep and their souls return to each other.

Higashino Akira held reservations about this. He had a vital energy body, and before his vital energy was exhausted, it was impossible for anyone to put a soul into his body. Moreover, he did not feel any strangeness of soul exchange; it was more like he was in a state of consciousness projection.

At the same time, he realized where he was.

Even after many years, Akira Higashino still remembers some of the most memorable anime works.

The Miyamizu Shrine, with its soul-swapping theme, is truly unforgettable once you've seen it.