You say this is a love game?

……

"Eyes..."

Mizutani Makoto handed the pair of eyeballs that were glowing with warmth to Furuya Ruriko.

The witch nodded slightly, as if staring at the eyes in her palm in a daze.

She was silent for a long time before she whispered, "I'm so grateful."

Her voice was soft, but filled with deep respect.

Makoto Mizutani stood aside, hesitating for a moment, wondering whether he should step aside for a moment.

But before he could say anything, Furuya Ruriko had already gently clenched her palms.

When the witch opened her hands again, the eyes in her palms had disappeared.

"Lord Mizutani, I am now nothing but a ghost, but these eyes are real."

she explained.

Mizutani Makoto was keenly aware of the change.

He used his "mind's eye" to perceive that the original Furuya Ruriko always had an illusory and ethereal feeling, but at this moment, the aura of her existence seemed to become more solid, like a ball of mist that finally condensed into real substance.

Furuya Ruriko remained silent, as if she was feeling something she had not felt for a long time.

Then she raised her hands and began to unravel the bandages wrapped around her face.

Layers of white cloth slid off, revealing a pretty and delicate face.

Speaking of which, this was also the first time that Makoto Mizutani saw Ruriko Furuya's face in its entirety.

She was in her early twenties, with delicate features that exuded holiness and tranquility. She had a rather pretty oval face and long, smooth, black, shiny hair, which was held up behind her head by a ceremonial sandalwood hairpin, the bells on which tinkled when shaken.

The pair of amber eyes were the most impressive, clear and transparent like glass, making people feel that they did not belong to this world, yet extremely real.

She is indeed a great beauty.

Makoto Mizutani thought the shrine maiden was very beautiful from the beginning, but after the bandages were completely removed, her beauty still amazed him.

Ruriko Furuya's temperament always carries a sense of sorrow and compassion, and there is a sense of melancholy in her resolute expression.

Very charming.

To be honest, he wanted to be Miss Miko's dog.

But putting these jokes aside, Makoto Mizutani is still very concerned about Ruriko Furuya's current condition.

"Ms. Furuya, have you remembered all your lost memories now?"

He didn't forget.

The "punishment" that Furuya Ruriko received was to have her eyes deprived, her memory taken away, and be imprisoned here... She was convicted of "offending the gods", and now that her eyes have been found, the memories that resided in them should also return.

This is a side quest related to "God".

Ever since learning that a god had arrived at the Rift three years prior, Mizutani Makoto has been particularly concerned with this past event. Now, having received information from Miyamizu Inaba that a "solar eclipse" was supposed to occur three years ago but was interrupted, he has connected the two events and now suspects that this god was responsible.

Speaking of which, his "Descending God" and [Gorgeous Golden Box] are also the "hope" left by the gods.

Furuya Ruriko prayed to the god for hope, which offended the god, but while the god brought down punishment, he also gave Furuya Ruriko hope.

It was the word "disrespectful" in the description of these eyes that made Mizutani Makoto uneasy. Furuya Ruriko had previously said that she had "unintentionally offended the gods," but what kind of offense would be described as "disrespectful"?

Why does he feel that this compassionate miko seems to be a bitch?

Probably not...

While Mizutani Makoto was thinking, Furuya Ruriko was also looking at him.

This shrine maiden had lost her sight for three years. Now that she had regained her sight, she felt like she was reborn. When she looked at Mizutani Makoto in front of her... Even though she had touched his face before and had a general impression of him in her mind, seeing him with her own eyes still felt very different.

Sixteen years old, and the best.

She is a shrine maiden favored by the gods, and is praised by her mother-in-law as a genius that appears once in a century. Her cultivation speed is not at the same level as that of ordinary people. But even so, at the age of Mizutani Makoto, she is only at the same level as the best, and her spiritual power is not much different from Mizutani Makoto.

But there's a problem.

She started practicing and laying the foundation at the age of four.

And Mizutani Makoto... She saw with her own eyes that Mizutani Makoto jumped from the bottom of the paper to the top like a rocket, and it took less than two months.

This is no longer something that can be described by a genius, this is completely abnormal, and if it is made public, it will definitely shock the entire exorcism circle.

——Young and promising.

The evaluation that others once made of her can now be applied to Mizutani Makoto.

In response to Mizutani Makoto's doubts, Furuya Ruriko also nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I remember everything."

Compared to her silence when she knew nothing, Ruriko Furuya, who has regained her memory, is gentle but also has a strong determination.

"That's great."

Mizutani Makoto breathed a sigh of relief and then asked, "I'm very curious about what happened three years ago, but if it involves divine punishment... I'd rather leave it to you, Miss Furuya. Of course, if it's inconvenient to talk about it, that's fine too. Just point me in the right direction."

"There's nothing that can't be said."

Furuya Ruriko shook her head, and a hint of helplessness appeared on her beautiful face.

Then, she said with a resolute look:

"Let me tell you what happened."

"Of course, Mizutani-sama... please save this city as well."

……

……

Furuya Ruriko.

The shrine maidens of Kyoto Inari Taisha Shrine, whose families have served Inari Daimyojin for generations, are a standard family of priests.

Since childhood, Furuya Ruriko has shown amazing talent in cultivation and has been trained by the "grandmother" in the shrine.

He began to lay the foundation for spiritual practice at the age of four.

When she officially entered the world of Onmyoji at the age of twelve, thanks to the favor of the gods and the accumulation of the past eight years, Furuya Ruriko's path of practice was smooth sailing. In just four years, she completed the path that most exorcists have to take in their lifetime.

At the age of sixteen, he became the best exorcist.

At the age of nineteen, he became one of the few powerful people on the human side and was famous in Kyoto.

At the age of 22, she had already reached the rank of Qiangzhong, and officially took over the sacred tools bestowed by Inari Daimyojin from her mother-in-law. In the same year, she found a Tang lion to follow her.

Not only her peers, but even most of the senior members of the Exorcist Association were far behind her.

From her debut as an exorcist at the age of twelve to her reaching the brink of becoming a powerful figure at the age of twenty-six, Furuya Ruriko remained undefeated throughout her fourteen-year exorcist career.

When she was 26 years old, she had a total of three Shikigami, Tang Shizi as the strong lower position, Teng Snake and Tengu as the strong middle positions, and considering the witch herself holding a magic bow and covered with magic weapons, she was almost fully equipped in the human camp.

But it was also in that same year that the shrine maiden felt the bottleneck of forcing her way to the top, so she left the shrine with the divine bow in hand, determined to walk on this land, seeking an opportunity for a breakthrough by the ancient method of "traveling".

It was this decision that led her to discover a...gap in Night Light City.

"When I discovered that there was a crack in Night Light City, I notified the local Yajima family."

There is no need to talk about the glory of the past. Furuya Ruriko only briefly described her origin and then quickly turned to the matter of the cracks.

...The Yajima family.

When Makoto Mizutani heard Ruriko Furuya's decision, he suddenly felt a toothache.

Hiss, there’s nothing to complain about.

Furuya Ruriko's logic is to inform the local lord and both sides help to resolve the conflict. This approach can be said to be textbook correct.

But who would have thought...the Yajima family was the boss behind the scenes.

At that time, Furuya Ruriko did not realize the seriousness of the problem. She was a person who followed the rules, and informed the local lord of her intentions before taking action to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Then, relying on her extraordinary strength and the assistance of Kagura Hokorin, she entered the crevice alone, intending to investigate what was going on in this place.

Then, she fell.

Now, when she talks about the past again, Furuya Ruriko also realized it later - she informed the Yajima family in advance, so the entire gap had already been prepared for an ambush.

The moment she entered the crevice, she ran head-on into a "Nue".

Yes, head-on collision.

There was no time to react, the moment she entered the crevice, Nue was right in her face.

"That nue is the most dangerous one..."

I originally thought that the obsession behind a small gap might be a strong or vicious enemy. With some coordination or by revealing the trump card and calling the name of Inari Daimyojin, it is not impossible to defeat it.

However, who could have imagined that this small private Hiiragiyama Academy was full of hidden talents? As soon as she entered the door, a nue blocked her face. The huge eyeballs were less than three meters away from her, and the whole monster was almost stuck to her face.

"..."

Suffocated.

Makoto Mizutani could imagine the scene at that time.

A strong middle-level shrine maiden, with three strong-level shikigami, was stuck in the face by a boss that was suspected to be a fierce middle-level boss.

"The only good news is that the nue seems to be a phantom... not its true form, so it's much weaker."

The Heavenly Dog draws his sword, the Lion calls for thunder, and the Teng Snake rides on the mist.

That is to say, the three shikigami under Furuya Ruriko all possessed unique skills, which is why they survived the sudden attack from Nue.

Tengu was almost torn apart, Tengshe flew into the sky with blood dripping, and Tang Shizi summoned fire thunder to restrain the evil spirit, but even so, the passage opened by Hokorin was still forcibly shattered by Nue, so Tengshe could only roll up everyone and escape to the depths of the crevice. It was at this time that Furuya Ruriko discovered the existence of the "school building".

In this gap, two forces are competing with each other.

One force comes from the lush blood-red cherry trees, and the other force comes from the school building... something buried deep beneath the school building.

She intended to rely on the school building to fight against the Lord of the Rift in this area, and take the opportunity to call on Inari Daimyojin for help, but it was when the descent of the god was ineffective and Tengu was eaten alive that she realized something.

This place is not just a gap for the evil level.

"Someone is giving birth to a god."

"The Nue I was fighting wasn't even its true form; it was just a shadow. But even as a shadow, it exuded a kind of trance-inducing aura... I've only felt that kind of aura from the Lord God."

"It is the embryo of the God, the egg of the God."

"This rift is a man-made hatchery, which is why it's so small, yet the shadow lurking within is so terrifying... And the purpose of this hatchery is to hatch that god."

"Use the Nue as an embryo to hatch the Great Disaster Sun God."

Oozu Hikami, also known as Oyazu Hikami, is the god in charge of disasters.

According to the records of Kojiki, Izanagi, who escaped from the underworld, performed purification rituals.

The clothes that Izanagi took off gave birth to twelve gods, including Okitate Funado-god, Hezukape Benra-god, and others.

Then, Izanagi cleansed his body in the middle of the river and gave rise to two gods, namely, Onokuzuhikami and Daikuzuhikami, which were gods formed from the filth of the deceased.

In order to eliminate the disasters caused by the first two gods, three more gods were born, namely Naobi-no-bi-no-mai ...

In this story, there are two gods of Huojinri, namely the Eighty Huojinri God and the Great Huojinri God, who jointly control disasters.

Although these two gods both belong to the category of "Huojin Hijin" and were both transformed from the filth that Izanagi purified himself with after escaping from the Land of the Dead, a closer look reveals that there are very clear differences between the two in terms of their divine attributes, the scope of disasters, and their symbolic meanings.

"Eighty" means "a large number."

The disasters symbolized by the Eighty-Nine Disaster God are the daily, trivial disasters that are everywhere in life, such as verbal disputes, unexpected setbacks, illness and other "human disasters", which are basically related to the troubles and mistakes encountered by individuals in daily life.

"Big" emphasizes the scale and destructiveness of the disaster, and generally symbolizes large-scale disasters such as war, plague, and natural disasters.

Therefore, the "Nihonshoki" calls Ookutsu Hikami "Oyazu Hikami", where "Oya" and "Ooku" are synonymous, and this is the "Ookutsu Hikami" referred to in the popular sense.

Judging from their positions as gods, both are "absolute evil gods". Daihozu-nichikami embodies the ultimate cruelty of "large-scale natural disasters", while Bashihozu-nichikami represents the helplessness of "trivial evils in life". The former represents destructive disasters, while the latter represents widespread minor disasters.

"Regardless of his status, the god of misfortune and misfortune is the god who brings many unreasonable things, disasters, and misfortunes to life."

"These two gods symbolize the tragic outcome that even if sentient beings practice kindness, they may not necessarily achieve happiness."

“The only difference is that the former is a major disaster, while the latter is a minor one.”

According to Ruriko Furuya's story, Nue is connected to the Ootsu Hikami.

"The Nue is a beast of disaster, a beast formed from the filth of the dead."