Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

Even at night, the lights in the commune office were still on.

Hoshimiya Ei knelt in front of the offering box, poured the loose change out of the box onto an old newspaper, and counted it one by one. She divided the coins into several small piles according to their face value, then smoothed each pile with her fingers and counted them again.

"Three thousand seven hundred and sixty yen."

She muttered to herself as she gathered the coins into an iron box.

She closed the lid of the tin box with a soft click. Moonlight streamed in through the window, falling on the floor like a thin layer of frost. Hoshimiya Ei looked up at the window; the moon hung above the concrete wall of the opposite roof, not perfectly round, its edges sharply defined, as if cut out with scissors.

Just as she was about to stand up to close the window, the moonlight shone on her, and suddenly the surrounding environment changed.

The wooden walls, tatami mats, windows, offering box, and coin box of the guild hall—all these things vanished in an instant. Like turning the pages of a book—one page turned, the next, and she was already standing in another place.

An endless expanse of golden rice fields.

The rice paddies stretched from her feet to the horizon. The heavy rice stalks drooped, their grains plump and golden in the moonlight. A breeze swept across the paddies, creating undulating waves of rice that rustled softly.

The sky was a deep, clean blue. The moon hung low, more than twice the size it usually appeared, with soft edges. The moonlight shone on the rice paddies, making each stalk of rice seem to be plated with silver.

The sound of bells came from deep within the rice paddies. The sound was crisp but not harsh, as if it were being swayed by the wind.

Hoshimiya Ei looked in the direction of the sound and saw a path in the middle of the rice paddy. The path was made of compacted soil, and the rice ears on both sides were slightly tilted to the sides, as if they were separated by some kind of aura.

A dark blue-green beast walked along the path.

It walked slowly, each step steady and deliberate. Pale white cloud-like patterns swirled above its hooves; with each step, the patterns would disperse slightly before gathering again. Its body resembled a fox, but it was much larger, its shoulder height reaching roughly to Hoshimiya Ei's chest. Its fur was bluish-black, gleaming with a faint blue sheen in the moonlight. Its ears were pointed and upturned, its eyes narrowed into slits, and golden markings outlined its cheeks. A golden bell hung around its neck, ringing with each step.

A person was sitting on the back of the strange beast.

She had white hair and was dressed like a shrine maiden. Her white robe was decorated with crane and pine branch patterns. Her scarlet hakama was similar to the one Hoshimiya Eiryu wore, but a darker shade, like a deep scarlet that hadn't faded even after many years.

She wore a golden headdress shaped like a rice stalk, with two sheaves of wheat hanging down from either side, almost to her shoulders.

She rode on the mythical beast, walking from the end of the path, and stopped three steps away from Hoshimiya Emi. The beast lowered its head, its nose touching Hoshimiya Emi's hand; its breath was warm.

"Ying".

The white-haired girl spoke. Her voice was neither young nor old, like the sound of wind blowing through rice paddies translated into human language.

"I am the Inari God."

Hoshimiya Ei opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Her first reaction was that her legs went weak. An instinctive, deep-seated urge surged up—to kneel down, to bow her head, to press her forehead to the ground. But before her knees could bend, the beast nudged her shoulder with its nose, a light touch that prevented her from bending down.

"No need to kneel," said the Inari God. "In your past life, you were my divine child. In terms of fate, you are closer to me than anyone else in this mortal world."

Hoshimiya Ei stared blankly at her. Moonlight shone on Inari Goddess's white hair, the edges of which shone with a faint golden hue. The crane and pine patterns on her body appeared and disappeared in the moonlight, as if they were alive.

"A thousand years ago, communication between gods and mortals was severed." Inari's voice slowed, as if recounting a long and heavy event. "A demon was suppressed. The cultivators of that time paid a great price to seal him, but his soul did not completely dissipate; it was scattered among his twenty fingers. A thousand years have passed, and the seal has loosened. Using Umibozu as a medium, he nurtured evil spirits with his fingers, and now he has broken free."

Her gaze fell on Hoshimiya Ei.

"The evil spirit has appeared in Adachi Ward. The incident you heard about the day before yesterday was the work of the evil spirit."

Hoshimiya Ei's pupils contracted slightly.

"That monster—"

"It's not just a monster, it's a person possessed by an evil spirit. Evil spirits don't stay with the same person forever; they change hosts. Each time they change hosts, more people die. If we don't stop it, the number of deaths will only increase."

The Inari god's hand reached out from the back of the strange beast, palm facing up.

"In your previous life, you were my divine child, and your cultivation was quite high. After reincarnation, you lost all your magical power, but your foundation remains. I will now return your cultivation techniques from your previous life to you. How far you can cultivate is up to you."

A pale golden light floated from her palm, like a husk of rice blown by the wind, drifting gently down towards Hoshimiya Ei's brow. The moment the light touched her skin, a flood of thoughts rushed into Hoshimiya Ei's mind—a deeper, awakened memory.

The Secret to the Abundance of Plants and Trees.

As the name appeared in my consciousness, the circulation route of the cultivation technique also became clear. After a complete cycle, it was like a plant absorbing water from its roots, the water rising along the stem, dispersing to the branches and leaves, and then returning the nutrients to the roots through photosynthesis in the branches and leaves.

Something is moving in the lower abdomen, in the dantian area.

"Calm your mind." The voice of the Inari God came from very close by. "I will help you restore your magic power."

The white-haired girl's fingers pressed against Hoshimiya Ei's dantian, and through her white clothes and scarlet hakama, a gentle warmth emanated from her fingertips.

The moonlight gathered above the rice paddies, gradually tinging the silvery-white surface with a very faint bluish hue. That was the color of grass and trees, the tender green of the tips of newly sprouted rice leaves in spring. The moonlight transformed into true qi, flowing into Xing Gongying's Baihui acupoint on the top of her head, slowly advancing along the circulation path of the "Grass and Trees Prosperity Technique".

The real world.

Akira Nagayama stood in the shadows of the Inari Shrine's main hall, his concealment spell blending him into the darkness. He brought his right index and middle fingers together and pointed them at Emi Hoshimiya's dantian from a distance, channeling his magical power with an extremely subtle amplitude to guide the circulation of [Kusama Kiyoki] within her body.

Normally, drawing Qi into the body is a painful process, but the Qi in [Jingmu] is peaceful, and the hypnotic technique used by Nagayama Akira, who was forged in his previous life and has a similar destiny to [Biyue], is extremely effective, so Hoshimiya Ei will not be awakened by the pain.

Hoshimiya Ei knelt before the offering box, her eyes closed, her breathing steady, her expression serene as if she were asleep. Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating her, its color shifting in a barely perceptible manner—gradually changing from silvery-white to a faint bluish hue.

Akira Nagayama's senses closely followed the circulation of true qi within her body.

The "Prosperous Plants and Trees Technique" was a spoils of war he obtained from a Wood Virtue cultivator in his previous life. While its rank wasn't high, its foundation was solid. Wood Virtue cultivation emphasizes "growth"—it's about gradual, patient progress, like planting a tree, which cannot be rushed. This technique is most suitable for those with the "Well Wood" destiny. Well water nourishes wood; wood grows from the well's edge, its roots deep, resulting in lush branches and leaves.

The first revolution is complete.

The second person in this world to reach the initial stage of Qi Refining has succeeded.

Nagayama Akira withdrew his finger and stepped out of the shadows of the main hall. His footsteps were silent as he walked across the pebbles to the torii gate, then he glanced back in the direction of the guild hall. Dim light shone from the windows of the guild hall, casting the motionless kneeling figure of Hoshimiya Akira on the window paper.

He turned and walked out of the torii gate, his figure disappearing into the darkness of the narrow alley.

Dream.

The Inari deity withdrew his finger.

She said, "From now on, if you follow the 'Prosperity of Plants and Trees Formula' daily, your magical powers from your previous life will gradually return."

Her form began to fade; her white hair, white robes, crimson trousers, and the rice-ear decorations on her head all thinned out like mist blown away by the wind. The dark blue-green beast beneath her also faded, the sound of its bells growing fainter and fainter until only a barely audible echo remained.

"The demon's evil spirit will harm people everywhere. If it finds you, do not hesitate to kill it completely, and then seal the demon's possession." The voice of the Inari God came from afar, growing softer and softer.

As the last ray of moonlight faded, the golden rice paddies shattered like reflections on a wind-rippled water surface.

Hoshimiya Ei suddenly opened her eyes.

The offering box was still in front of me. The tin box containing the coins was still beside me. The window was open, and moonlight shone in, falling on the floor in a normal silvery-white color, without any bluish tinge.

She looked down at her hands. There was a bluish magical energy in her dantian; she could feel its presence, like a tiny, warm, slowly beating second heart inside her body.

Not a dream.

She ran to the kitchen, grabbed a fruit knife, and used it to make a cut on her left index finger. Blood seeped from the cut, bright red, and pooled into a single drop.

She took a deep breath and circulated her magic power according to the method recorded in the "Prosperity of Plants and Trees" in her mind.

A wisp of extremely thin and pale blue light rose from the dantian and flowed along the meridians to the right hand. Wherever the light passed, the meridians felt a warm and moist sensation, like the first stream of water flowing into a dry riverbed.

Divine light emanates from the plants and trees.

This is a complementary spell to the "Abundant Plants Technique," capable of both healing and harming. A pale blue light emanated from the tip of her right index finger, gently landing on the wound on her left index finger. A subtle itch spread from the wound, the kind of itch one feels when new flesh grows from a wound as it heals.

A few seconds later, the light faded.

Hoshimiya Ei looked down at her left index finger. The wound was gone, and the skin was slightly pink.

She stared at the wound for a long time, then slowly clenched her fingers into her palm.

Outside the window, moonlight shines on the stone fox statues on both sides of the approach.