From Earthbound Spirit to Tokyo Evil

She was secretly delighted, but she heard Xiachuan ask Aoki Yui: "Yui, do you want to go see those girls? I also want to hear your opinion."

"Eh? Me?" Yui Aoki asked in surprise. "No, no, I really don't understand this..."

"Just let Reina assist you." Xia Chuan said immediately. "No one understands these things from the beginning. You will have to face them and manage them in the future. It's just right to start now. If you find it troublesome, let Reina and the others help you analyze it. You just need to see if what they say is right or not. It doesn't matter. It's very simple."

"But... I still have to go to Hezhuang..."

"I'll go to Tsuru Manor on your behalf." Xia Chuan immediately cut off her retreat. "Yui, you are my exclusive miko. If I have to leave for something, you will be the one who makes the decisions on my behalf. Don't you want to help me do these things?"

"Eh?"

Natsukawa had said this before when he was a spirit, but it was different then and now, especially with Kawaguchi Rena still beside him.

Aoki Yui's face suddenly turned red again. She looked at Kawaguchi Reina, who was holding the bowl and had completely lost her appetite, in a panic. Finally, she nodded vigorously: "Yes! I will definitely work hard!"

"Don't force yourself too much, just do it seriously." Xia Chuan finally couldn't help but patted her head.

Well, the feel is as good as I imagined.

"Remember to wear your mask, Reina, you have to help Yui well!"

"Yes!" Kawaguchi Rena put down the bowl and said as happily as she could.

Chapter 113 Unable to Control

Seeing that it was Natsukawa who came in, Matsujugoro's face was already a little ugly. When Natsukawa walked to the kitchen to get an apron and was about to put it on, Matsujugoro finally couldn't help but put the newspaper down heavily: "What are you doing?"

"Yui has something urgent to do, I'll take her place."

Such a title obviously changed Matsushige Goro's breathing. After a moment, he said coldly: "Go away, we don't need you here."

"I'm not here to help you. I was just asked by Yui to do her job for her." Xia Chuan replied coldly. "Don't worry, I can easily finish this job with one hand."

"I don't need any clueless people here."

"I think you are the one who doesn't know what you are talking about." Xia Chuan said sharply. "You are obviously engaged in the service industry, but you always look gloomy. People who don't know you would think you are a gangster. If it weren't for Yui's support, your store would have collapsed long ago."

"Get out!" Matsushige Goro said concisely.

"Hey, boss, let's ask him to help." A regular customer said. "I think he's in good shape, and he can definitely do a lot of things. Since there aren't many customers yet, it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask him to clean up the places that we don't have time to clean on weekdays."

Of course Xia Chuan saw the way he made faces, but, did he think that this level of difficulty would make me lose face?

You really underestimate the power of God!

Matsushigegoro obviously heard it, and the expression on his face clearly showed the meaning of "You are asking for death, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"In that case, go clean up the storage room!" he said immediately. "And the drainage ditch at the back has been blocked for a long time, go and clear it!"

For ordinary high school students, the former could probably be dealt with, but the latter was definitely enough to make them leave in anger. However... Xia Chuan just smiled and turned away.

There were already quite a few rats nearby, so it would only take a few seconds to catch one and clear the drain. Xia Chuan was even very responsible and cleared several nearby drains to avoid any blockages and trouble in the future.

The storage room was just as simple. Xia Chuan completely dismantled the broken chairs and quickly made two super simple dolls using old mops and waste wires, and then...

"Young man, you can't do this! You want to rest so soon?" The old customer who had been secretly giving advice to Matsu Shigegoro said loudly, while looking at the other old customers who had just come in. "We old guys won't allow you to help Yui like this!"

"Huh? What happened?" others asked immediately.

Xia Chuan stood there, smiling, waiting for him to finish telling her what happened. Then, before he was about to scold her again, he said, "You misunderstood. I've already done it."

"Young man... Eh? What did you say?" The regular customer's smile froze on his face, and then he immediately said, "You can't just fool around, young man, you have to do things in a down-to-earth manner."

"Boss Matsushige, aren't you going to check it out?" Natsukawa ignored him and turned to ask Matsushige Goro.

"Hmph!" Matsushige Goro dropped the ingredients he was preparing, opened the bar door and walked to the back.

Xiachuan smiled, walked straight to the bar, washed his hands, dried them, and then picked up the knife that Songzhong had put down earlier.

Matsushigoro had the same idea as the regular customer. If Natsukawa had worked honestly for an hour and returned with a gloomy face and admitted his mistake, then he would have let it go. But Natsukawa had only been there for less than half an hour, with no dust or oil on his body, and not even a drop of sweat on his face. With this performance, how could he dare to say that he had finished the work?

I can't leave Yui to someone like this... Eh? What happened?

The storage room in front of him made him rub his eyes. Everything was neatly classified and stacked on the shelves. When he touched it, he found that every visible place was clean and dust-free. Even the broken chairs had been repaired. Although the workmanship was a bit rough, they were very sturdy.

This is impossible...Matsushigegoro rushed to the back alley, fetched a bucket of water and poured it down. The water flowed away quickly without any obstruction.

This guy... Matsushige Goro only realized at this time that the dirty dishes that were originally piled in the large basin in the back alley were also missing. He rushed back to the kitchen and saw that they were all clean and neatly stacked in the cupboard.

At this moment, cheers from regular customers suddenly came from the front. Matsujige Goro hurried back, only to see Natsukawa handling the fish he had placed in the sink very skillfully. The cabbage that he had cut halfway before had been cut into thin shreds and placed in the drain basket next to him.

"Boss Songzhong, is this guy your apprentice?" asked a regular customer who had just walked in.

No wonder he asked that, Xia Chuan's movements were almost exactly the same as his. In a sense, it was as if he had completely copied his knife skills.

"Boss Matsushige, please read the newspaper for a while. I'll be done soon." Xia Chuan said as he started working.

"Get out of the way!" Matsushige Goro suddenly felt a sense of crisis from nowhere and shouted loudly.

Seeing him processing the ingredients faster than usual and no longer having the heart to order him to work, Xia Chuan couldn't help but laugh inwardly.

Matsushige Goro, you really can't handle this part-time job, right?

#####

"Yui, what do you think of them?"

At this time, Yui Aoki and Rena Kawaguchi had also completed their first meeting with the candidate shrine maidens.

Naturally, Kentaro Sato was extremely devoted to Yui Aoki's arrival. Not only did he immediately find a gorgeous Chihaya costume for her to change into, he also accompanied her throughout the entire process as a subordinate, making the substitute shrine maidens both respect and fear this suddenly appearing "chief shrine maiden", and at the same time, they had countless speculations.

Yui Aoki had no idea what to say. She had never dealt with such a situation before. Her mind was full of thoughts like "I can't make any mistakes" and she was always carefully paying attention to whether there were any mistakes in her manners.

Fortunately, the mask concealed her immaturity and nervousness very well, and the contrast with Sato Kentaro and Kawaguchi Rena also made her every action naturally reasonable and authoritative. The candidate shrine maidens had no intention of going out to look at her carefully and find fault with her, and finally completed the whole process without any trouble.

However, under such circumstances, she had no spare energy to observe the candidate priestesses, let alone evaluate their performance.

"Hey, Yui, there's no need for you to be so nervous!" Kawaguchi Rena said with a bit of disappointment.

If she hadn't already known God's attitude towards Yui Aoki, she would definitely have strong thoughts of "Why?" and "If you can't do it, let me do it" at this moment.

But she always reminds herself that the preferences of the gods are the only reliance and pursuit of the shrine maiden, so from this perspective, Yui Aoki is actually a truly qualified shrine maiden.

No matter how badly she performs in other aspects, as long as the God loves her the same, she will always be the chief priestess.

Under this premise, the worse Yui Aoki performs, the more the value of Rena Kawaguchi, who has a close relationship with her, will have the opportunity to be highlighted.

To take a step back, even if she could never truly gain the favor of the God, she could rely on her relationship with Yui Aoki to ensure that her status would not change.

First hold the basic foundation, and then look for opportunities to seek further breakthroughs. Kawaguchi Rena feels that this is the perfect strategy to gain the favor of God under the current situation and conditions.

"Have you ever heard of a boss being more nervous than them when interviewing new employees? You can decide whether they stay or leave with just one sentence. In this case, do you have to be afraid of what they think of you? Yui, even if you accidentally step on the hem of your skirt and fall, they will definitely only wonder if there is any deeper meaning in it, and whether it is a deliberate test of their character, so there is no need for you to be so cautious."

"But..." Aoki Yui was only thinking about not bringing shame to Natsukawa and not letting everyone think that there was anything wrong with his chief shrine maiden.

"Ah... just treat them all as puppets. Do you think I care about my manners in front of them? The manners of the shrine maidens are just tools that they use to deceive ignorant believers, add mystery to themselves, and elevate their status. If you just let Kobori turn into a tengu in front of them, who would dare to doubt your identity as the chief shrine maiden? Do you think that Natsukawa-kun's authority is like those deceiving false gods, and needs to be maintained by the shrine maidens pretending to be?"

If those candidate shrine maidens who had been severely beaten by her with a stick, scolded for their bad manners and required to strictly comply with the rules for every action heard these words, they would definitely rush over and scratch her face. However, these words did change Yui Aoki's mentality.

"You're right." She nodded vigorously. "Thank you, Reina! I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't say that. Aren't we best friends? Yui, don't worry. Whether as your best friend or assistant, I will always do my best to help you!"

"Yes! Reina, I will also try my best to help you!" Aoki Yui hugged her tightly, and she also hugged Yui tightly.

"Well then..." After a long while, the two separated, and Kawaguchi Reina immediately took the list of candidate shrine maidens back. "Let's decide which ones to eliminate in the first round!"

Chapter 114: The Responsibility of a Miko

"I think we should eliminate this, this, this, and this." Kawaguchi Reina immediately found the candidate miko she had been paying attention to for a long time. "Of course, the decision is still yours, I'm just making a suggestion."

"Well, do they have any problems?"

Of course there are problems. In fact, if you look at it with a critical eye, no candidate shrine maiden can escape the clutches of Kawaguchi Rena.

But after all, she couldn't use such means to eliminate all potential competitors. If she did, once she was discovered by Natsukawa, she would really become a vassal of Yui Aoki.

Moreover, as the former "chief priestess" and current "second-chief priestess", she does need some subordinates to complete the clerical and ritualistic daily work for her, which does not require her to be present, so that she can spend more time on the more important task of getting along with the gods.

Therefore, selecting the right candidate is particularly important.

"Their attitude is not right." Kawaguchi Reina answered without hesitation.

This reason is absolutely impeccable, and because there are no criteria for judgment, the judge has the final say.

"They spend too much energy on dressing up and paying too much attention to their appearance." Kawaguchi Reina continued. "Of course, the appearance of a shrine maiden is very important, but they are just candidate shrine maidens. They have not yet reached the stage where they need to face believers and gods. At this stage, shouldn't they spend more energy on learning how to become qualified shrine maidens?"

Yui Aoki nodded slightly but didn't say anything.

"Then, I think these few need to be observed, and these few have very positive attitudes and can directly enter the next round of screening."

Kawaguchi Rena would not deliberately choose a bunch of ugly people to blind Natsukawa's eyes. Of course, after the preliminary selection by Sato Kentaro, the appearance of all the candidate shrine maidens was at least above average, and it was impossible for there to be candidates with poor appearance.

However, those who were specially selected by Kawaguchi Rena at the beginning were either too charming, or obviously had too positive ambitions to climb up, or wanted to dedicate themselves too much to the gods. Kawaguchi Rena certainly could not ignore the existence of such black sheep.

The ones she specially selected as those who could pass the first round directly were naturally low-key, peaceful, gentle and obedient. As for those who she thought needed to be observed, she thought they might be pretending to be true. In her opinion, such girls with bad intentions were even more dangerous than the previous ones. Once confirmed, they must be resolutely cleared out from the shrine maiden team and must not be allowed to corrupt the shrine maiden team serving Xiachuan Daimyojin.

But to her surprise, Aoki Yui did not agree with her words. Instead, she lowered her head and thought for a moment before saying, "Well, I'll take note of it. I'll listen to Mr. Sato's opinion later."

"Yui, don't you believe my judgment?" Kawaguchi Rena was a little anxious.

Of course, Kentaro Sato could not give the same opinion as her. In fact, among the girls she eliminated in the first round, there were two who Sato was particularly optimistic about and who she tried her best to cultivate.

If Yui Aoki stood on her side, then based on Sato's usual behavior pattern, she would most likely not overturn the decision they made together.

But if Yui Aoki's attitude was impartial, the result would definitely be completely different.

The worst thing is that he is likely to see the problem, and he is also qualified to communicate directly with the Lord God.

If he were to gossip and spread rumors, even if it only slightly damaged her impression in the heart of the God, Kawaguchi Rena would be in big trouble!

"No, Reina, I just think that such an important decision should not be made so easily." Aoki Yui said hurriedly. "Mr. Sato has been in contact with them for a longer time and should know their personalities and temperaments better, so..."

"Who do you think I'm doing this for?" Kawaguchi Reina couldn't help but ask. "Yui, don't you understand? I'm doing this for you!"

"Eh?" Such words stunned Yui Aoki.

“Yui, um… you don’t know the responsibilities of a miko, do you? I mean, responsibilities other than the normal shrine work?”

Such words stunned Yui Aoki for a moment. After a moment, she understood what Rena Kawaguchi meant and her face turned red.

Of course, she knew the responsibilities of the legendary witch. Serving the gods, no matter in what sense, was not just a simple job like serving tea and water, cleaning the courtyard, and receiving believers.

It was precisely because of this that she was so shy when Xia Chuan asked her to become his exclusive shrine maiden. After that day, she made up her mind and has been quietly fulfilling her duties.

However, there were some things that she really wasn't ready for...However, how could she bring up such thoughts and discuss them in such an occasion?

"You understand, right?" Her performance made Kawaguchi Reina feel relieved. "A shrine maiden is the wife of a god. For gods that don't exist, there's no need to think too much when choosing a shrine maiden, but... ah, of course, I, that, I don't mean that, I won't... It's just, Yui, have you ever thought about it? What kind of thoughts do these girls who want to become shrine maidens have? Many of them don't even think about anything else, they only think about how to please the gods and climb up the ladder. Aren't you afraid that they will take away the favor of the gods and take away everything you have?"

Yui Aoki had never thought about these things before, and was stunned for a moment.

"I picked these people for a reason." Kawaguchi Reina continued. "Yui, you are my good friend. I can't watch someone with bad intentions become a miko. I can't allow anyone to threaten your position. You don't have to do this, so let me be the bad guy..."

Yui Aoki suddenly held her hand. Rena Kawaguchi was stunned for a moment, then immediately held her hand tightly.

"So, let's..."

"Reina." Aoki Yui interrupted her. "I understand what you mean. I know you are doing this for my own good, but... this is not okay."

"Huh?" This time it was Kawaguchi Rena's turn to be dazed.

"You are right. We are indeed the wives of God. That is why we cannot rashly make such decisions for God. Using these means to exclude competitors and monopolize God's favor is what the women of the Great Ori do, because their husbands are mortals and can be deceived, blinded, or even used by them.

But our husband is God.

Reina, I'm glad you're willing to do these things for me, but we have to believe... believe in Natsukawa-kun, believe in his judgment, believe in everything about him. If we lose his favor, it only means that we haven't done enough and haven't done well enough.

Since he asked us to select the priestesses, all we can do is select the most talented, capable and willing ones, and then let him make the decision. The priestesses' duty is to please their gods. If they have such thoughts, it just means that they have the will to serve the gods and are qualified candidates. We cannot exclude them for such reasons. To do so is unfair and a deception to the gods."

Kawaguchi Reina was completely stunned. Is this the reason why she is favored by the gods despite her plain looks, ordinary abilities, and lack of any talent?

When she couldn't help asking, "Yui, are you really a modern person? Can you really accept all this calmly, without being jealous, sad, envious, or angry?"

"Of course I will..." Aoki Yui sighed slightly. "But we are just mortals chosen by the gods, how can we be so greedy as to want to monopolize him? Do you think we have the qualifications? Reina, when we became shrine maidens, we have already made our choice, so no matter whether it is happiness or pain, as long as it is given by him, we must bear it willingly."

Kawaguchi Reina was completely silent. After a long time, she shook her head and said, "I don't know, maybe you are right, but... I'm sorry, please let me be alone for a while.

She walked out quickly. Aoki Yui looked at her back and felt uncomfortable.

After a moment, she gathered the information of the candidate shrine maidens again and put those that Kawaguchi Rena had picked out back.