Special effects: Starting with Ultraman Tiga

December 31st is the day of great darkness.

After eating New Year's soba noodles, the shrine gradually becomes lively again.

Because of the need to guard against Orgu's mischief in previous years, Tidom and the Gaborists rarely had the opportunity to participate in the festival celebrations.

So, Shen Yun took advantage of the New Year's Day shrine visit to make things easy for all kinds of small vendors in the nearby towns, allowing the New Year's celebration to be held directly in the shrine.

At 9 p.m., many vendors who had finished eating soba noodles at home had already set up their stalls inside the shrine.

In addition, the presence of tourists who arrived early to visit the shrine made the entire shrine extremely lively.

"Seriously, is it really okay for us to be so lazy?" Tidom was wearing a thick white kimono with a white fur trim around the collar and pale purple peony patterns painted on it, making it look incredibly beautiful.

She wore a wide purple belt around her waist, and her shoulder-length blonde hair was styled into a bun and secured with a peacock-shaped hairpin, giving her an intellectual and elegant look.

"What does it matter? Just think of it as an inspection tour of the shrine," Shen Yun said with a smile.

While it's true that you can respect local customs during festivals, there's no need to wear a kimono.

"Furthermore, I have also arranged for people to replace them at any time."

It must be said that Humagears are truly excellent beasts, capable of performing almost any job a human could do.

"Okay~" Tidom looked at the lively New Year celebration, decisively put everything else out of his mind, and happily lingered in front of the stalls.

"Wow~ It's sweet wine!" Tidom exclaimed with delight when he saw the sweet wine stall, and he pulled Shen Yun to the stall.

Amazake is a traditional Japanese drink that is suitable for both summer and winter, making it a beverage enjoyed by people of all ages.

There are two types of amazake: one is traditional rice koji amazake, which contains no alcohol at all.

Another type is sake made from fermented rice wine, which contains only a very small amount of alcohol, even less than 1%.

Especially in autumn and winter, you can often see stalls selling amazake at festivals and shrine ceremonies.

"Isn't this Lord Kuji? Please don't be shy about offering us drinks." The stall owner, a middle-aged man, greeted him warmly as he saw Tidom leading Shen Yun to his stall.

The chief priest is the highest-ranking official of a shrine, responsible for the shrine's operation, management, and overall coordination of rituals.

"No, I still have to pay." Shen Yun shook his head and placed a thousand-yuan bill on the stall.

"Please wait a moment, I'll heat it up for you." The shopkeeper accepted the banknotes and quickly poured two cups of milky white amazake from the sake barrel. After heating it slightly, he handed the two cups of amazake to the two men.

"It smells so good~" Tidom took the paper cup, sniffed it gently, and said.

Heating the sake makes its aroma even more intense.

Drinking a sip of hot sweet wine on a cold winter day will warm you up from head to toe.

Seeing Tidom's eager expression, Shen Yun found it somewhat amusing, but did not stop him.

It's just an alcoholic beverage, so it doesn't matter how much you drink.

"Mmm, so sweet!" Tidom took a small sip of the perfectly warm mulled wine, looking completely satisfied.

The two lingered for a moment at the sake stall, letting Tidom drink a few cups of hot sake to warm himself up, before continuing to stroll around the shrine.

Before long, the two of them arrived at the fortune-telling area of ​​the shrine.

Fortune slips are a common item offered at both shrines and temples.

There were already quite a few tourists drawing lots at the fortune-telling area.

The price of drawing a fortune slip is not expensive, only 100-200 yen, but if many people visit, it can be a considerable source of income for the shrine or temple.

"Shen-kun, what are the chances of drawing a bad fortune slip at our shrine?" Tidom asked curiously, taking a bite of his candied apple.

"I've prepared ten different fortune slips: Great Fortune, Fortune, Medium Fortune, Minor Fortune, Half Fortune, Least Fortune, Least Fortune, Inauspicious, Minor Inauspicious, and Great Inauspicious. The probability of drawing an inauspicious slip is three in ten. If you do draw an inauspicious slip, you can only blame your bad luck," Shen Yun said.

Please, he's already tried his best to let the tourists draw lucky fortune sticks. He can't just not give out any unlucky ones, can he? That would be too fake.

"That's about a one-in-three chance, which is quite a high probability," Tidom said.

"What should I do if I draw an unlucky lot?"

There was no such custom during the Heian period a thousand years ago; at most, nobles would consult Lady Murasaki for divination.

"Look. That's it." Shen Yun pointed to a straw rope not far away, tied with many fortune slips, and said, "Whether the fortune slip you draw is good or bad, you can choose to take it home or tie it in a designated place. But people usually take the good fortune slips home and leave the bad fortune slips in temples or shrines."

"I see~"

The two lingered briefly at the fortune-telling spot before strolling over to the community office.

Inside the office, Taiga Sae was dressed in a classic red and white shrine maiden outfit, her smooth black hair tied up with a red ribbon, exuding both the elegance of a shrine maiden and the vitality of a young girl.

"Thank you for your patronage!" Taiga Sae smiled and bowed to the tourist who bought the amulet.

Omamori are unique Japanese amulets. Almost every shrine and temple sells its own unique omamori, and tourists who come to worship are not stingy and buy one for themselves, their families, and their friends.

There are many types of omamori (amulet), with eleven common types.

Among these, those related to academics, career, love, peace, and good fortune are the most popular.

Most importantly, the amulet is only valid for one year, after which it becomes ineffective.

If the amulet is for academics, career, safe childbirth, love, or luck, it is considered invalid once a result is obtained.

Expired amulets must be returned to shrines or temples as a way of fulfilling a vow.

The protective charms that Shen Yun created were basically made according to the color, appearance, and abilities of the powerful beasts.

For example, the deer is grass green, and the amulet will have a deer pattern sewn on it, representing amulets for wishing health and recovery.

The White Tiger amulet, on the other hand, is predominantly white with some pink tiger stripes, and features a White Tiger pattern sewn on it. It represents amulets for wishing for love and marriage.

As for the others, Shen Yun won't list them all, but they cover all the types available on the market.

"White, let's leave the work to Humagear and call the rest of us to go check out the New Year's celebration," Shen Yun invited.

"Okay~" After the initial excitement wore off, Taiga Sae felt a bit bored, and Shen Yun's invitation was exactly what she wanted.

"I'm going to change my clothes."

"There's no need for that. This shrine maiden outfit suits White perfectly," Shen Yun praised.

"Okay." Sae Taiga smiled brightly.

The three left the shrine office, called on the others, and then strolled around the shrine, laughing and joking.

As the clock approached midnight, the shrine became increasingly lively.

"10, 9, 8..."

At 23:59 PM, the tourists at the shrine suddenly started counting down in unison.

"3, 2, 1!"

"call out--"

As the countdown ended, a colorful beam of light shot up into the air with a whooshing sound.

"Bang!"

The colorful fluorescent light emitted a loud boom in mid-air, and a colorful 'flower' bloomed in mid-air.

This firework is like a signal.

Next, one dazzling firework after another burst into bloom in the night sky above the Three Kingdoms Mountain.

Colorful fireworks burst across the night sky like a shower of flowers, intertwining and overlapping.

The vibrant colors illuminated the shrine as if it were daytime.

"Happy New Year!" Shen Yun said, looking at everyone around him.

"How about we get together like this again next year to celebrate the New Year?" Taiga Sae turned to look at everyone and smiled.

"Of course."

"Happy New Year, Shen Jun!" Tidom said with a grin, extending his hand to Shen Yun.

"Red envelopes, right? Yes, everyone gets one." Shen Yun was prepared and took out a stack of red envelopes, giving one to everyone present.

"Me too?" The great god Yuemo scratched his head. He was already a thousand years old, and he never expected to receive a red envelope.

"We can't expect you, Silver, to give us red envelopes, can we?" Shen Yun joked.

"Just like every year, there's a five million yen check inside, spend it however you like."

"Doctor Banzai!" (End of Chapter)