Fuyun Shrine has different reception areas for different worshipers.
The three main halls on the front, the Tengu Palace, the Moon Palace and the Divine Palace, as well as the shops on both sides that ask for fortune-telling and sell items such as wares and paintings, are the areas that receive ordinary worshipers;
The Inari Shrine and a wooden house located behind the main hall, which are not open to the public, are places specially used to receive spiritual awakeners.
The priests responsible for exorcising spirits in the shrine usually sort out information here or liaise with other spiritually aware organizations.
"Phone?" Zonggu looked at the crow on the tree.
"Telephone." Sugawara Kyoko looked at the table, "There is also a fax machine."
Zonggu nodded and said nothing.
It seems that using crows to convey information is already quite an outdated method...
Before coming to the shrine in person, most of his understanding of the institutions of spiritual awakeners in the human world came from the spiritual entities he encountered in the underworld.
It was only after walking around with serious mikos who were working that he discovered that a lot of the information still existed centuries ago.
The world is constantly moving forward, and the spiritually enlightened organizations hidden in the secular world are not resting on their laurels, which is always a good thing... Souya comforted himself in this way.
Asagiri Suzu was resting in the room of the social office, and the part-time miko Harada Yuko who came to work went back early. For a while, only Soya and Sugawara Kyoko were left in the huge Fuun Shrine;
In order to kill time or avoid embarrassment, and to prepare for what happened next, Sugawara Kyoko took him to walk around the shrine.
"...Gongji and several other priests went to Nara for business today. Tamako went to school."
"The palace minister here is Sugawara-senpai's father, right?"
"Yes. But he is an ordinary person."
Soya was not too surprised. It was quite rare for the Sugawara family to have two spiritual awakeners, Kyoko and Tamako sisters. Most of the people in charge of the shrines were ordinary people.
She continued: "Except when facing spiritual bodies directly, ordinary people do no worse than spiritually aware people in matters such as organization and management."
Zong Gu nodded, "It would be better to say that ordinary people who are willing to work hard for things that they can never see are even more valuable."
Kyoko Sugawara agreed with his words so much that Soya noticed that the way she looked at him was not quite right.
"Sotani-san is very interested in this kind of thing, isn't he?"
He suddenly understood her plan.
"I'm not an ordinary person..."
She was a little puzzled, and just when she was about to ask, a shout suddenly came from outside.
"Someone has come to pay homage. Please excuse me for a moment."
Sugawara Kyoko temporarily suppressed her doubts and left the ancestral hall and walked outside.
Zonggu stood next to the stone fox statue in the ancestral hall for a while, and then came outside.
The cold-faced shrine maiden stood at the place where the lot was drawn, and the only worshiper was a middle-aged woman who was chanting in front of the money box in the worship hall.
Probably because there were no other worshipers in the shrine, her wish was complicated, trivial, and extremely long.
"...Also, my husband has been coming back later and later recently. I hope he can go home early while maintaining a good relationship with his colleagues in the company. Ah, but that doesn't matter for young female subordinates, not for female bosses.
After you come back, don’t just lie on the sofa waiting for dinner. Occasionally, you should also care about your children’s studies. But if you have a headache if you quarrel with a rebellious child, you should say less..."
Zong Gu is not a god, and has no interest in eavesdropping on other people's wishes. It's just quiet everywhere, and sounds are actively reaching his ears.
He looked at Kyoko Sugawara standing next to the self-service lottery box, and saw that her expression was solemn, her body was motionless, and she looked like she was passing her head again.
It's really hard work.
Zonggu walked over.
"Sugawara..."
"——We'll talk about it later." She whispered.
Neither of them spoke loudly, but the place was already extremely quiet, so the middle-aged woman in front of the worship hall still noticed Soya appearing in the middle of the ceremony.
"...That's it."
She clapped her hands and hurriedly ended her prayer, but she did not leave directly, but walked towards the two of them.
The hundred-yuan coins were not put into the self-service sign box, but placed on the table.
"Please sign."
"Please use."
Kyoko Sugawara handed her the lottery tube.
Shaking the lottery tube, she pinched the first lottery that came up.
"Twenty-eight."
After receiving the signature, she opened it and took a look, her expression suddenly relaxed.
"It's lucky...thank you..."
Kyoko Sugawara bowed slightly.
After seeing off the only worshiper, she looked at Soya who had been waiting beside her.
"I'm sorry."
He shook his head to show understanding.
"Sotani-san just said that he is not an ordinary person. What does this mean?"
"We'll talk about that later."
Soya got straight to the point, "Sugawara-senpai seems to want me to come to the shrine to help."
"It's work." Sugawara Kyoko corrected, "We will pay you."
"What can I do?"
"Sotani-kun seems to know a lot about spiritual beings. He just said that he has seen millions of spirit beings... I'm sorry, but before that, I was more concerned about the meaning of Sotani-san's previous words."
"All right."
Soya pointed at the sky, "Sugawara-senpai, can you see anything? The Girl of the Underworld or something like that."
"No."
"Are there none nearby?"
"The one closest to here is on the platform where we get off."
"..."
He stared and his expression froze for a few seconds.
"Any questions?"
"No, it's no problem." Zong Gu took a deep breath, "As long as there are no others around now."
"What's the meaning?"
Sugawara Kyoko was a little confused, but the next moment she was completely surprised.
"...Are you a spiritual awakener?"
Soya put the amulet on the table, first looked back at the surrounding area, and then looked at the miko lady who was in close contact with each other's "aura".
"As you can see, I am the 'visible' part."
"……Why?"
"This amulet suppresses my spiritual senses and makes me look like a normal person."
"Why?" she asked again.
"I can't tell Sugawara-senpai about this yet."
Soya put away the amulet, and Sugawara Kyoko's expression changed again.
"Disappeared..."
"I don't know what Sugawara-senpai's position is, but even if there is only one chance in ten thousand, I don't want to be targeted by Sugawara-senpai. After all, your personality is quite troublesome."
This was not the first time Sugawara Kyoko heard such comments, and her expression did not change at all.
"Why can't you tell me, is Soya-san a criminal?"
"It's a victim."
"This is a shrine. On the premise that safety is guaranteed, does the victim need to hide himself?"
"I'll just say you're in trouble."
"..."
She didn't answer, and after a few seconds she said, "Can you let me take a look at that amulet just now?"
Zonggu regretted a little.
He told Sugawara Kyoko about this with the mentality that the daughter of the underworld would eventually recede and he would take off the amulet sooner or later, but she was more troublesome than he expected.
"Don't you, Sugawara-san, want to discuss with me about working at the shrine?"
"It's 'Senior Sister'."
"I just entered school a year late, so I might be a little older than you."
"What do you mean... No, let's not talk about this for now. I think it's more serious for Soya-kun to conceal his identity as a spiritual awakener."
I don’t know if Ling is awake yet...
Zong Gu glanced towards the Social Affairs Office and already had the intention of quitting.
"Sotani-kun, please let me see your amulet again."
"..."
It's too late to regret now.
"If only to look at it."
"I can guarantee that."
Her serious yet troublesome personality provided Souya with a sense of trust at this time. He took out the amulet tucked into his collar and hung it on his chest.
"If you take it off, it will lose its effect. Just look at it like this, Sugawara-san."
"It's 'Senior Sister'."
She glanced at him and raised her hand to hold the amulet.
"Eh..."
Her spiritual sense was cut off instantly, causing her breathing to stop for a moment, and she immediately let go of her hand.
"..."
Sugawara Kyoko was silent for a long time.
"What the hell is this?"
"The amulet." Soya lowered his eyes and looked at his chest, "It seems to be made of peach wood from Hirazaka, Homizu."
"Yoizumi Hirazaka...is that a place in mythology?"
"That's right."
He picked up the amulet and said, "If I've seen enough, I'll put it away."
"No, it's not enough."
"..."
"Let me take a closer look."
"That's what I said..."
Zong Gu looked at her slowly stretched out hand, "Aren't you afraid?"
"The moment I lost my sense of consciousness, I felt like the sky was falling."
"It's too exaggerated."
"This is true." Sugawara Kyoko said seriously.
"Yeah."
Taking a deep breath, she pinched the amulet again, her expression tense instantly.
"Sotani-san's... is so small..."
"...just wait a moment."
"What?"
"..."
"The amulet is too small and I can't see the lines on it clearly. Can I take it off and look at it?"
"What did you just promise?"
"Feel sorry."
Unable to take off the amulet, Sugawara Kyoko moved forward by herself.
"Are the Chinese characters engraved on it... No, there seems to be some difference..."
She was very close, with her head slightly lowered, staring closely at the amulet in her hand.
The sunlight passed through the gap between the branches and leaves, illuminating half of her face. Her hair fell down on her temples, and her fair skin was faintly red.
Very long eyelashes...
She lowered her head and studied intently;
Zonggu couldn't avoid it, and he was also fascinated by the sight without realizing it, until he met those bright eyes that suddenly raised again.
"Can you change the texture...what's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing."
There is no doubt that Sugawara Kyoko is serious, stubborn, and has a troubled personality, but she is also an outstanding beauty.