Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

Before officially entering the shrine, Nishio Reki did not forget to call out in the direction of Yuuki En's Lin Si San Si.

"Seriously, who doesn't know how to visit a shrine?" Helica said, seemingly finding Nishio Reki a bit nagging. "If you don't know how, just learn from me. Hmm... you can ask me too, I can barely answer."

This was Yuuki En's first time actually stepping into a shrine. Although the divine liberation of Enmusubi was in the Shinto shrine maiden attire, Yuuki En was completely unaware of this thing that others took for granted.

These kinds of customs are like the Chinese New Year tradition of pasting the character "福" (fortune) upside down on the wall, or the custom of not sticking chopsticks into the rice bowl while eating—they are all learned gradually and imperceptibly.

If Nishio Reki hadn't said it, I might have easily made a mistake.

Wait, Nishio Koki was speaking to me, as if he knew I would make a mistake and that's why he told me in advance.

The shrine was very spacious, much like the ones I'd seen in other works. There were shimenawa ropes, offering boxes, and palaces whose names I didn't know... I suppose that's how you'd describe those angular buildings, and the main hall behind me.

After walking along the path, we arrived at the offering box and put in the prepared coins as incense money, while the sound of bells rang out one after another.

Without prior consultation, the girls maintained an astonishing level of coordination, bowing and rising together in unison, even their high-fives were perfectly synchronized.

The girls, with their eyes closed, each made their own wish.

I hope I can resolve all my troubles smoothly.

It's very vague; that's Yuuki Yukino's wish.

They bowed again, then stood up, and everyone opened their eyes together.

"So, what wishes did you all make?" Baqi was the first to ask, eager to find out.

"I hope I can resolve the issues that are bothering me," Yuuki Yui replied, then realized, "Is this something I can say?"

“There’s nothing I can’t say, right? What about you guys?” Baqi then asked.

"secret."

"Who wants to tell you?"

"Um... um..."

Unbeknownst to everyone, three of them made the same wish.

Although there are subtle differences in the wishes made, they can all be summed up in one sentence: I want to be with Yuuki Yuuki.

This is something I can't say.

"Hmm, is that all?" After visiting the shrine, Yuuki Yuuki was a little confused.

Is that all? After climbing so many stairs, all we got was a quick worship?

"Of course not! The fortune sticks at the Nebula Shrine are very famous! Next, of course, you should ask for a fortune stick! And amulets! You can also ask for amulets!" Baqi's eyes lit up at the mention of this.

“I think it’s good, Tian Lei, what do you think?” Nishio Reki considerately handed the topic to Helica.

If those unexpected events hadn't occurred, Helica would have already been preparing to confess her feelings to Yuuki Yukino as planned.

After sending everyone else away, only Helica and Yuuki Yuuki went to get an amulet to express their feelings, and then personally gave it to Yuuki Yuuki to express their feelings to her.

Whether it will be romantic or not, Helica can't say for sure, it might even be a bit too old-fashioned, but that's Helica's plan.

Helica did her homework thoroughly, figuring out how to get rid of the others, how to take Yuuki Yuki with her, and where to confess her feelings.

But now, all those carefully planned schemes have fallen through.

But Nishio Reki still delivered the planned line, leading everyone to the next stage by following Tomoe's words.

“I think that’s a good idea too. Let’s all go together and pay our respects at the main hall.” Helica swallowed hard, her canines digging into her lower lip, and gave what she thought was an incredibly cheerful smile as she suggested.

It wasn't just her and Yuuki Yuuki together, it was everyone together.

This was the answer Helica came to after careful consideration.

She and Yuuki Yuuki could not pretend that she did not have the feelings she had already expressed, but now was not the most suitable time for them to take root and sprout.

There will always be opportunities in the future.

The premise is that... Yuuki Yuuki and those magical girls really have nothing to do with each other.

But those troubles have nothing to do with visiting the shrine.

"To obtain a divination slip, you need to first go to the main hall to worship, then pay a certain amount of incense money, and then you can go out through the side door to draw a slip."

Nishio Reki walked beside Yuuki Yuuki, carefully explaining things to her.

"In the main hall, you can see the divine body of the Star God enshrined at Seiun Taisha Shrine. Because shooting stars and wishes are always closely related, the Star God can also grant other people's wishes."

Yuuki Yui listened very carefully. Regardless of the deity, although they may have different focuses, the ability to grant wishes is an essential skill for them.

This easily reminds Yuuki Yuuki of the original magical girl that Shion and the others believe in. The difference is that the original magical girl should be a real person who can give girls the power to fulfill their wishes.

"There's usually a small mirror on the deity's body. You can worship facing that mirror, just like you would worship in front of the offering box. But you don't need to throw incense money or ring a bell."

"After you worship, the small mirror will reflect the image of the deity, which means that the deity has accepted your request."

As if afraid that Yuuki Yukino wouldn't know the rules, Nishio Reki reminded her repeatedly.

The worship at the main hall was not like the worship at the offering box, where everyone could do it together, but the progress was not slow. There were not many people in the evening, and following the people in front of her, Yuuki Yuki quickly entered the main hall alone.

Just as Nishio Reki had said, a table was placed in the center of the magnificent and solemn hall, and on the table was the divine body of the Star God.

I've seen a similar scene with Yuuki Enishi in a similar game, but the difference is that in the center of the room, instead of a table, there's a small sword called Murasame stuck in a stone.

Having cleared her mind of distractions, Yuuki Yukino approached the divine body of the Star God.

It was actually just a small box, and no one knew what was inside, but just as Nishio Reki said, there was a small mirror on it facing him.

Bow, and bow again.

Clap your hands, clap your hands again.

Should I make a wish? I think I should.

God of Stars, please let me resolve all the troublesome matters at hand.

After doing all this, Yuuki Yukari bowed deeply again, then reopened her eyes, facing the small mirror on her divine body.

It can reflect the God of Stars, right?

Yuuki Yui rubbed her eyes and stared at the small mirror for a long time.

But a small mirror is just a small mirror; no matter how you look at it, it will only reflect your own face.

Forget it, I'm just a proud abeliever anyway, it's really the supernatural phenomenon that I'm seeing something other than my own face.

Yuuki En thought to herself, then turned and left through the side door.

Chapter Ninety-One Divine Sign

After exiting the main hall for worship, you will find the place where you draw lots.

Yuki En has always believed that the design of the entire shrine is very sophisticated.

However, what Yuuki Enishi really wants to praise here is the layout of the business.

Although thinking this might spoil the atmosphere, the shrine's layout really makes it clear what tourists need.

On the envisioned route, visitors first pass through the torii gate and approach to the shrine before entering to begin their worship.

Even when it's not crowded like during the New Year's shrine visit, most people will still choose to enter the main hall to worship afterwards.

Since one must visit the main hall before drawing a fortune slip, the shrine cleverly placed the slips at the exit of the main hall, using a reverse approach.

After drawing their fortune sticks, most tourists will choose to leave. They can walk along the path to the exit, where they will see stalls selling amulets.

Whether you're planning to get an amulet or you've drawn a bad fortune, you can buy one—no, get one.

Drawing lots was already decided, so Yuuki Yui waited for the others nearby and took the opportunity to look around at the surrounding facilities.

The method of drawing a fortune stick is a little different from what Yuuki Enishi had in mind.

Yuki En originally thought that drawing a fortune stick would be as ritualistic as visiting a shrine, with at least a fortune stick container or something.

But actually, the fortune-telling machine is a coin-operated machine. Although it is decorated in an antique style and the machine is inlaid with a small wooden torii gate, as long as you put in 200 yen, the machine will spit out a fortune slip for you.

Incidentally, before spitting out the fortune slip, there is a wooden creature of unknown race inside the machine. It looks somewhat like the lion dance familiar to Yuuki Yuuki. It will hold the fortune slip in its mouth, twist it twice, and then spit it out to the visitor.

This can be considered a kind of ritual.

While there's nothing wrong with modernization, Yuuki Enishi always feels like something's missing when it comes to machines.

Even though it's the same content, some people still feel that cyber fortune telling is inferior to purely manual operation.

Yuuki Yukino stepped aside, waiting for the other members to finish their worship.

"Hey, Xiaoyuan! Sorry to keep you waiting! Why did you come first? Have you already drawn your lot? Not yet, right? Xiaoyuan, you didn't secretly draw your lot by yourself, did you?"

The first to arrive was Inuyama Tomoe. After a few words, she stood next to Yuuki Yuuki, took out her phone, swiped a few times, and said in a calm tone:

"That guy has completely disappeared. After we finish enjoying the sunset here, just in case, let's have dinner outside and then head back right before curfew."

“No problem.” Yuuki Yui replied calmly, glancing towards the main hall: “Someone’s coming.”

Next up was Lin Jiezi, who stood silently beside the two of them, much like when they went shopping for souvenirs yesterday afternoon.

Then, Helica and Nishio Reki also arrived in turn.

Next came the time for the lottery.

The machine started turning, and a fortune slip slid out from the exit, which was caught by Yuuki Yukino.

This doesn't feel like drawing lots; it feels more like playing a gashapon machine in an arcade.

Compared to the items in the gashapon (capsule toy), the commemorative value of the fortune slip isn't that high, I guess.

"Everyone, open it together in a bit, are you ready?" Yuuki Yui wasn't good at this kind of thing, but this was something only she, as the leader, could do.

The five fortune sticks were held in a circle by the girls, who then displayed the contents of the sticks together.

Yuuki Yukino holds Suekokichi.

Lin Jiezi drew a lucky fortune slip.

The Nishio Reki, on the other hand, has a very auspicious card.

As for the only two people who drew the unlucky number, they stared at each other in astonishment.

The fortune slips were the same as those Yuuki Enishi had seen before; they were just folded pieces of paper with auspicious and inauspicious omens, poems, and various other fortune predictions written on them.

"Ah, I'm so envious. How come everyone else got lucky?" Baqi leaned on Yuuki Yuen's shoulder, resting her chin on it and staring at the fortune slip in Yuuki Yuen's hand.

"The difference between Sue-sakatsu and Ominous is almost negligible, isn't it?" Yuuki Yuen rubbed the top of Baqi's head as if soothing a small animal.