Miyauchi Hikage had left this spring trip for Kagayama Kaede to organize, so he basically didn't have to worry about anything this time. He just needed to follow the established itinerary and have fun.
Chichibu wasn't too large, but because it was surrounded by mountains, it had served as a post town for merchants and travelers in ancient times. As a result, it had many natural landscapes and several shrines with long histories in the city.
At the same time, as a tourist city, it was also one of the cities in the Kanto region with the most festivals, holding over 400 large and small festivals throughout the year.
And in May, after the cherry blossom viewing season ended across the country, late spring in Chichibu ushered in the Moss Phlox Festival after the Cherry Blossom Festival, as well as the Chichibu Shrine's ongoing Chichibu-miya Festival.
Kagayama Kaede's plan for this morning was to go to Chichibu's Hitsujiyama Park to attend the festival and admire the flowers. In the afternoon, they would go to a reserved farm to pick the last batch of spring strawberries. In the evening, they would go to the most famous mineral spring hotel in the city to soak in the hot springs, and then drive back to Asahigaoka together tomorrow morning.
After a day of fun, everyone seemed quite happy. Even Honma Meiko, who was in poor health, had picked a basket of strawberries herself at the orchard.
Kagayama Kaede also looked quite proud. After all, she had organized this entire spring trip, and even Miyauchi Hikage hadn't given any opinions.
The only problem was that this guy Miyauchi Hikage had been holding Renge all day long, trying to amuse her. When she wanted to hold Renge, she was mercilessly rejected by this guy.
And to think she had often gone to the school last month to bring Renge delicious food and show concern for her studies. This little girl Renge just didn't know how to take the initiative.
It wasn't until it was time to soak in the hot springs at night that Kagayama Kaede finally managed to snatch the right to take care of Renge from Miyauchi Hikage.
She gently pinched Renge's little face, saying, "You little thing, why are you so attached to Miyauchi Hikage?"
Miyauchi Renge, whose face was being pinched, still maintained her expressionless face, waving her hands and trying to break free from Kagayama Kaede's grasp.
However, the girls in the women's bath all knew about Kagayama Kaede's doting on Renge, so at this moment, they were all watching the two of them play.
Only Fujimiya Konomi looked towards the location of the men's bath.
Miyauchi Hikage should have taken action by now.
Later, it will be up to me to help cover his tracks.
And at the entrance of the hot spring hotel, Miyauchi Hikage, who did not go to soak in the hot springs, was currently chatting with Honma Meiko, who also did not go.
Honma Meiko didn't go because her health was poor, and soaking in the hot springs could easily make her faint.
Then she received a text message from Miyauchi Hikage, asking her to meet at the hotel entrance.
Because she had already had a showdown with Miyauchi Hikage about the Hamon breathing, she trusted him very much.
Since he had something to find her for, it must be something important.
Then Miyauchi Hikage brought up the events of the past two days.
Encountering a real vengeful spirit during the filming process, and successfully awakening supernatural powers under the pressure of that vengeful spirit, and even establishing some connections with the Shinto and Jujutsu worlds.
Miyauchi Hikage didn't go into too much detail, but it was enough to make Honma Meiko, who was listening on the side, feel a little worried.
She carefully looked him up and down, confirming that he had not been harmed by that vengeful spirit.
"I'm fine. When I sensed something was wrong earlier, I had already called for help. It was just that there was a little accident in the middle, but in the end, I managed to escape smoothly after awakening my ability."
He mentioned that he had asked the shrine maiden from Takamiya Shrine to come and help, and through this operation, he had also gotten to know many priests from inside and outside Saitama Prefecture.
"Speaking of which, Chichibu Shrine also has a real shrine maiden stationed there. I even exchanged contact information with her. If you feel that there is something wrong with your body, I can take you to meet that shrine maiden and have her check your body."
Takamiya Shrine was an ancient shrine passed down through the family, guarded by the Hiiragi family for generations. Although it was under the management of the Association of Shinto Shrines, the Association would not proactively interfere with the operation and inheritance of these shrines.
As the successor of Takamiya Shrine, Hiiragi Inori could even be invited by people from the Jujutsu world to help, which showed her freedom of action.
But Chichibu Shrine was different. This shrine, named directly after Chichibu City, was built by the government and belonged to the standard State Shinto. The priests and shrine maidens inside were basically directly managed by the Association of Shinto Shrines.
In Chichibu Shrine, there was even a special-grade spirit medium stationed all year round. However, because of the Shinto power system centered on ley lines, let alone special-grade combat power, even those Grade 1 shrine maidens would rarely leave the area they were in charge of.
The Chichibu Shrine maiden Miyauchi Hikage had met was a Grade 1 spirit medium, and her strength should be even stronger than Hiiragi Inori's.
And to be honest, her side was also closer to Seikyou Academy.
But because she was directly under the management of the Association of Shinto Shrines, and Nanami Kento had no personal relationship with her, he naturally couldn't call her over to help.
It was only after Hiiragi Inori's side reported the matter of Kanoe Yuuko that she was temporarily transferred by the Association of Shinto Shrines to help.
Listening to Miyauchi Hikage's explanation, Honma Meiko couldn't help but look at him with a sigh of emotion.
This group of girls with diaries had had them for over a month now.
But until now, only Shinomiya Kaguya had come into contact with the Jujutsu world through the power of the Shinomiya family, and then brought Yotsuya Miko, who had already awakened her spiritual vision, to join Jujutsu High.
The other girls were basically still working hard with Hamon and the spiritual power cultivation methods they had gotten from Shinomiya Kaguya, and had not come into contact with many other supernatural beings.
But Miyauchi Hikage, after meeting Shiina Mashiro, had only learned Hamon breathing from her for about half a month, right? Not only had he helped Shiina Mashiro perfect her breathing rhythm, but he had also been noticed by people from the Jujutsu world because he was filming ghost house exploration videos.
And now, because he had encountered an attack by a vengeful spirit, he had completed his awakening at a critical moment, becoming a supernatural being, and had even established some relations with the Shinto side through his strong social skills.
To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Miyauchi Hikage's Hamon intensity was still very low, and there was also the proof from Shiina Mashiro, a diary holder, Honma Meiko would have really suspected if he might be the mysterious person.
But because of Shiina Mashiro, who was rated by Kasumigaoka Utaha in the group as a natural airhead who would definitely not lie, Miyauchi Hikage's identity was now the most innocent one in the group.
No matter what changes had occurred to him now, it seemed to be quite in line with his "genius" persona, which had been certified by the mysterious person.
Therefore, upon hearing that Miyauchi Hikage was preparing to take her to Chichibu Shrine to find someone to help check her body, Honma Meiko couldn't help but feel a little touched.
"The Hamon intensity in your body should be enough to let you live a normal life, but your body is still so weak now. Maybe there's still something unclean attached to you. I may not be able to solve these problems, but the shrine maidens at Chichibu Shrine are knowledgeable. They will definitely have a way."
As Miyauchi Hikage spoke, he also took out his phone to contact the shrine maiden from Chichibu Shrine.
He had saved her phone number and knew that her surname was Kano.
In fact, the shrine maidens at Chichibu Shrine would not normally take the initiative to act.
After all, most of the time, they stayed in the shrine to cultivate and communicate with the ley line, and would not go out to entertain the visitors who came to worship.
And then there was the fact that the entrance of Chichibu Shrine itself was posted with evil-suppressing talismans.
Ordinary evil spirits couldn't even enter the shrine's main gate. As long as it wasn't a particularly persistent strange being, those who were entangled by ordinary vengeful spirits could naturally get rid of those dirty things just by coming to the shrine to worship once.
However, since Miyauchi Hikage was already considered one of their own in the inner world, and he seemed to have a good relationship with that Gojo Satoru from the Jujutsu world, it was no big deal to help him take a look.
In fact, Honma Meiko had also visited a shrine after she drowned, but later, after her health deteriorated, her body no longer supported her to go out casually. Even when her family went to the shrine to worship during the New Year, they just had her parents pray for her.
Honma Meiko's side had really not been to a shrine to worship since her health deteriorated.
After hearing Miyauchi Hikage's invitation, Honma Meiko also felt a sense of excitement she hadn't felt in a long time.
Perhaps, with the help of Miyauchi Hikage and those shrine maidens, she could find out what was wrong with her body without having to wait for the commission's deadline to end.
Under the gentle night breeze, Miyauchi Hikage quickly took Honma Meiko to the entrance of Chichibu Shrine by taxi.
The location of Chichibu Shrine was not on a mountain, but in the city center. This place was also the main ley line of the entire Chichibu City. As long as this ley line was controlled, it could also play an integrating role for some small ley lines in the surrounding area of Chichibu Shrine.
Naturally, there was no one to receive them at the entrance of the shrine. After all, Miyauchi Hikage was indeed just a small fry now. The fact that the other party was willing to help him take a look on the phone was already giving him face. Naturally, he couldn't expect the other party to take the initiative to welcome him.
When passing through the shrine's torii gate, Miyauchi Hikage's gaze couldn't help but fall on a talisman posted on the pillar of the torii gate that was not easily noticeable.
His eyes could clearly see that this talisman was equivalent to a switch. When this talisman was posted, it would separate the world outside the torii gate from the world inside. It was a kind of barrier that did not target humans and ordinary creatures, but was specifically effective against vengeful spirits.
He entered the shrine lightly, without feeling any abnormality.
Then he turned his head to look at Meiko behind him.
After Honma Meiko walked past the torii gate, her expression also did not change.
A faint light that was hard to detect flashed in Miyauchi Hikage's eyes, confirming that the thread had still not disappeared and was still connected to her.
It seems that the barrier of this shrine can't block this "curse"?
Or is it that this is not a curse at all?
After all, neither before nor now, Miyauchi Hikage had indeed not seen any ominous aura from this thread.
Miyauchi Hikage's slight frown was also noticed by Honma Meiko. She asked him nervously, "Hikage-kun, did you discover something?"
Miyauchi Hikage nodded. "If you had any curse on you, you should have had some reaction when you walked through the torii gate. But if you didn't feel anything just now, then either there's nothing wrong with you, and it's indeed just the sequelae of drowning, or the problem on you is even more serious than I thought."
"Neither result seems to be good... but I'm just guessing. Don't worry too much. I heard that there's a special-grade spirit medium stationed in the shrine. Anyway, let's hurry inside."
The shrine's grounds were quite large. By the time the two of them walked into the inner part of the shrine, one of the shrine maidens who was in charge of cleaning saw that someone had come at this hour and couldn't help but remind them that it was already past 6 p.m., and if they wanted to worship, they should come back tomorrow morning.
However, before Miyauchi Hikage could explain, the Kano-miko whom he had met once before walked out from the shrine hall on the side, signaled that this was her guest, and told the other shrine maiden that she could go back and rest.
After that shrine maiden looked at Miyauchi Hikage and the others curiously for a few moments, she put down her broom and left. Only then did the Kano-miko at the entrance of the shrine hall nod at Miyauchi Hikage, her gaze sweeping over Honma Meiko, and then signaled for them to talk inside the hall.
Miyauchi Hikage knew that that was the shrine office where the priests and shrine maidens specifically handled shrine affairs, so he led Honma Meiko and followed behind the Kano-miko.
After entering an empty room, the Kano-miko signaled for the two of them to sit down, served a few cups of clear tea from the side, and then sat down opposite Miyauchi Hikage.
After sitting down, she began to carefully size up Honma Meiko.
After looking for a long while, she said to Honma Meiko, "Have you ever thought about becoming a professional shrine maiden at a shrine?"
There were generally two types of shrine maidens at a shrine. One was a part-time assistant shrine maiden who came to work for a salary. Even State Shinto shrines would recruit some young girls to come and work as part-time shrine maidens.
After all, these supernatural beings, with a few exceptions, were indeed not very willing to do the work of receiving guests, cleaning, and selling shrine goods. These tasks naturally had to be done by part-time workers.
The other type was the professional shrine maiden, who was either the daughter or relative of the head priest of the shrine and naturally became the shrine's maiden, or who had taken a special examination to obtain the qualification of a Shinto priest, becoming a specialized shrine maiden and receiving a higher salary than the assistant shrine maidens.
And this qualification was the series of talent screening mechanisms that Shinto had developed over the years.
A person who obtained the qualification of a priest did not necessarily have the aptitude for spiritual power.
But ninety-nine percent of the people who went to take the priest qualification examination and were screened out definitely did not have the aptitude for spiritual power.
For the Kano-miko to say this now, perhaps she had seen the spiritual power aptitude that Honma Meiko possessed.
Although there was no harm in Honma Meiko becoming a professional shrine maiden, Miyauchi Hikage still coughed lightly and shifted the topic to her physical condition, wanting to let the Kano-miko help check her body first.