Tokyo Soft Rice King.

This goes beyond simply determining 'how much this person knows'.

He knows everything.

They are in control of the overall situation.

Hidden beneath its gentle exterior lies its dangerous nature.

"I know what you're worried about. In your eyes, I'm just a mastermind behind a conspiracy, right?"

After all, Uncle, your last boss has too much presence.

It gives me the feeling that if I just take you down, the grand finale will begin.

To be honest, Kuroba Akira doesn't even know if reviving Kobayashi was the right thing to do...

What if the resurrected old man turns out to be the real final villain... I really don't want that kind of development.

"But I was just doing an experiment that the teacher hadn't finished."

"experiment?"

"That's right, human experimentation... ah, but the people are already dead, so it should be called 'dead body experimentation'? Hahaha~"

"..."

That's not funny at all, uncle. You can't even laugh in this kind of situation.

"If Granny Meihua knew that I had desecrated her husband's corpse without permission, she would probably take out her gun again and blow my head off, hahaha."

"..."

"It's amazing you can still laugh, old man..." Just as Kuroba Akira was thinking this, Tomita Hogen said righteously.

"However, I still want to finish this task, after all, it can be considered as my teacher's 'unfinished work'!"

Kuroo narrowed her eyes and complained.

"Come on, that guy never entrusted you with anything like this. It was you, this dangerous little bespectacled brat, who peeked at his research records and then used him as a test subject."

"Oh dear, when he was alive, he said that as a pioneer, one should always stand at the forefront and pave the way for those who come after... So I used him as a test subject, and I'm sure he was very happy to do so. I'm just following his teachings."

Kuroba Akira narrowed his eyes and complained.

"What a cunning excuse..."

Honestly, this guy is too dangerous; he's like a mad scientist.

Akira Kuroba really didn't understand why Kuroo would help him.

To be honest, old man Kobayashi probably didn't help Kuroo at all in terms of collecting faith, right?

In order to revive the old man, he even sacrificed most of his faith... Is Black Tail just being arrogant?

She was actually very reluctant to part with Grandpa Lin.

"Oh dear, it's been a long time... but it doesn't seem that long, because the teacher has a lot of supporters, so the progress is super fast, hahaha."

"It's only been a year. Even if you stole some faith from me, it's amazing that you guys were able to cultivate your divine bodies to this level so quickly."

“What we have done is just a small part of the work. Even if we ‘people’ desperately want the teacher back by our side, it cannot be achieved without your support.”

"Black Tail said with a displeased look."

"Hmph...you insidious bastard with glasses, didn't you also act first and ask questions later? You only told me that the shrine wasn't mine after you'd moved it. How is that any different from forcing someone into a corner?"

"Haha, after all, if I discuss it with you first, there's a greater chance you'll disagree."

"You talk as if you know me very well..."

“I know you very well, Lord Cat God… Lord Life, because I have been able to hear your voice since I was a child, and you have often been by the teacher’s side, so I know you much better than the Myoen Garden main family that brought you to the capital.”

Myōenen? Another extremely obscure surname... Could they be referring to the student council president?

Come to think of it, the student council president's name is 'Yellow Springs', isn't it?

Kuroo's title is 'Yomizu-no-Okami'...

This can't be a coincidence!

"You are a very gentle god, so you certainly wouldn't want your teacher... your human friend to become an existence imprisoned by time like yourself, right?"

"……snort."

Kuroo simply snorted coldly, but did not refute. Kuroba Akira was initially a little surprised, but after thinking about it carefully, he understood.

So that's how it is. It's because Kuro-o has existed as a god for a very long time that she knows that 'becoming a god isn't necessarily a good thing'.

Although there is no lifespan limit, in order to survive, one must constantly strive to stay alive.

“Although everyone says you are a terrible god, I know you are a gentle god… so I took advantage of your gentleness.”

Now Kuroba Akira understood why Tomita Hogen dared to do such audacious things as relocating a shrine and stealing faith.

Because he knew that Kuroo wouldn't punish him for it.

This is the agent personally chosen by Kuroo during the resurrection.

He is also her friend.

"To be honest, I don't really understand how amazing what he did in the human world is... It's just that I've witnessed more and more people around him along the way. Even though he's never used the power I gave him, he's better at winning people's hearts than any other god..."

Black Tail looked up at the white cocoon with a complicated expression.

"That guy is my agent, but I don't like him at all... because as a god, I might be jealous of him... compared to me, the real god, he's more like a god than I am..."

"Black Tail..."

"So even if we don't go through this ritual, that guy will probably become my brethren sometime in the future, meow... but then I won't be able to catch up, meow."

"what……"

Kuroba Akira instantly understood the reason.

"After that guy died... Mika looks so lonely, meow."

Why did we insist on inviting Grandma Kobayashi to come along for the New Year's prayers...?

This is the 'New Year's gift' that Kuroo prepared for her.

"Anyway, even if I lose all my faith in Tokyo, the worst that can happen is that I have to go back to my hometown. It's hard to disappear completely, meow."

"Well, after all, you are a great mother goddess. As long as the Japanese islands have not sunk and there is still one person of the Yamato race, you will continue to exist."

Tomita Hogen first flattered him, then offered a wry smile and words of advice.

"So you're already the supreme Mother Goddess, so please stop arguing with Lady Kurane no Tamaki. She's already doing us a favor by giving us the name of the Inari Shrine..."

"That stinky fox always mocks me in front of me because of this! She even deliberately disgusts me by calling me 'Grandma'! Damn her grandma!"

Wow, she's even swearing... It seems she really hates Inari.

"So what if she has a tiny bit more faith than me! You humans too! Why do you all worship that stinky fox cat! Aren't you afraid of getting yourselves smelling like foxes?"

Then Uncle Faquan ruthlessly exposed his shortcomings.

"That's not just a little bit... After all, she's not only the 'god of agriculture' but also the 'god of commerce,' so in this day and age, most companies worship Inari, and Inari is the deity with the most existing shrines..."

So that's how it is—it's the power of capital!

It's similar to the God of Wealth, so the incense offerings will definitely be very plentiful.

Then the wealthy will build even more shrines, and with more shrines, the number of believers will increase...

Holy crap, money makes money, and faith makes faith!

The fox is the biggest winner of this era!

"Although your mythological status is higher than that of Lord Kurama, your faith is probably not even a fraction of his."

"You damn glasses bastard! Whose fault is this, meow!"

"Sigh~ You should face reality. Even if I didn't transfer your faith, your original faith is less than one ten-thousandth of theirs... Actually, if it weren't for the restriction that we need your faith to borrow your abilities, if we went to Lord Kurama Soul Fate for faith, they would probably have casually given us enough faith to make our teacher a god, and we wouldn't have had to wait another year..."

In other words, Blacktail's original faith, plus the faith it had accumulated over the past year, combined didn't even amount to 0.01% of that fox's...

It's truly a hopeless gap.

If Inari is the world's richest man, then Kuroo is just a stray cat from the slums.

She's supposed to be the Earth Mother Goddess, how did she end up like this?

Even his own underlings thought he was poor, which drove Kurowei completely mad. He lay on the ground, rolling around and acting crazy.

"Meow! I'm so angry! Bai Zi! Keep it up! Pick up more girls, cultivate more famous girls, meow! I must beat that stinky fox, meow!"

They are vain, competitive, and obsessed with saving face.

It seems even gods cannot escape the original sin of jealousy.

"..."

Kuroba Akira was speechless... You gigolo, stop thinking about relying on humans!

Even if you wear Xiaoming out of his hand, you still can't beat them. Those are the gods that capital worships.

Tomita Hogen took out a pocket watch, glanced at it, and said.

"Oh dear, we've been talking for a bit too long. The ritual must be completed indoors at midnight during the Twilight Shrine hour. If we miss it, we'll have to wait another year."

Midnight, which is between 23 PM and 1 AM.

I arrived at the shrine at exactly midnight, and now it's almost half past midnight.

We really can't waste any more time.

"Lord Cat God, stop your tantrums and rolling on the ground. Please bring the teacher's soul back as soon as possible."

"...Remember the agreed-upon reward, meow. If you go back on your word, I'll really curse you, meow."

"Of course, I haven't forgotten, it's already prepared for you."

Oh? It seems there's some other compensation involved in the deal between Kuro-o and Uncle Fa-quan.

That makes sense. Since Kuroo loves to freeload everywhere, she definitely won't do her work for free; she'll want to get something in return.

"And also, Lady Kushinada Himeko, I'll leave the Nascent Soul transformation array to you."

After listening, Ameyu Hikaru turned to look at Kuroba Akira, her eyes conveying the message: I only listen to what he says.