He Ma pondered the vocabulary for a while before asking Jinguji: "Isn't your family very familiar with sacrifices and tributes?" What kind of tribute should I prepare to worship the shrine in this hot spring town? ”

Tamamo smiled: "I don't know all shrines, after all, there is a limit to human memory, there are so many shrines in Japan, there are always ones I don't know." To be on the safe side, it's certainly not wrong to be prepared to pay money. ”

Hema: "How vulgar it is to talk about money......"

"Although the shrine is dedicated to the gods, in the final analysis, it is run by people, and paying money will help the operation of the shrine, and the existence of the enshrined will also give some face."

As soon as Tamamo's voice fell, Mikako complained: "I suddenly feel that the gods have a market atmosphere!" If the shrine is not operated by anyone, will the gods come out to work and subsidize the shrine? ”

Ms. Kamashima seems to be amused by Mikako's whimsical ideas, and she can't hold back a smile.

Tamamo said seriously, "No." If there is no one to worship the shrine, the gods will also die, leaving only the dilapidated ruins of the blessed ones. ”

He Ma frowned slightly: "People's beliefs are actually the cornerstone of maintaining the existence of gods?" In the modern world, as humans believe in something else, will new gods be born? For example, will money worship give birth to new gods? ”

Tamamo tilted his head and thought for a while: "This...... I don't know, I've never seen it before...... I mean, I've never heard that from you. ”

What she wanted to say was that she had never seen a new god born before, but considering that Mikako and Ms. Kabashima were present, she temporarily changed her words.

If people's faith could really give birth to new gods, I am afraid that a new god named Mr. Sai would have been born long ago.

Kazuma glanced at Ms. Kabashima, who had already begun to feel that the content of the chat was a little strange, so he changed the subject: "What time does the shrine open?" ”

"The shrine is theoretically open to worship 24 hours a day." Ms. Kabashima smiled, "But if you want to sign or buy amulets and write ema, you have to wait for the social office to open, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day." ”

Kazuma glanced at the watch in the lobby, it was not yet three o'clock in the afternoon, and there was still time to cross the hot spring town to see the shrine.

"I'll leave it to you, Ms. Kabashima. I'll go to the shrine with the eggs, and I'll go to the shrine with Jinguji and get some of their plasters. You have to sell it when you go to the social office, right? ”

Ms. Kamashima nodded: "That's right, the social office sells it." ”

Kazuma: "Okay, let's go, let's leave the medicine kit or something, and Ms. Kamashima should have someone take it back to your room." ”

"I will." Ms. Kabashima readily agreed.

Tamamo put the medicine box and bathing things in front of Ms. Kabashima and asked, "Social office...... Is it the Divine Family that is running? ”

"The god's wife passed away a few years ago, and since then the god has rarely appeared in the social office to entertain guests, and now the people in charge of selling things are usually girls who work part-time."

Hema: "Does the Lord have no sons or daughters?" ”

"I have a son who won't come back after he went to university in Tokyo." Ms. Kabashima smiled wryly, "This kind of place, even if it is quickly modernized with the light of high-ranking officials from the local area, young people don't want to come back. ”

He Ma keenly captured the key information: "This hot spring street, there are also high-ranking officials?" Members of Congress? ”

"It's not a member of the National Assembly, it's the vice-minister of transport, that's why this is the place where tourism is developed."

In Japan, tourism is under the control of the Ministry of Transport, and every once in a while the Ministry of Transport publishes a White Paper on Land Tourism.

With a high-ranking official who was the deputy governor of the Ministry of Transport, it is no wonder that this poor rural area has been built into such a modern hot spring street.

Due to the geography of Japan, there are many hot springs, and not every hot spring town can be developed by national tourism, and there are many hot springs in the mountains of Japan that no one cares about.

Ms. Kamashima's words made Kazuma wonder: "You said that the tourism development here started after a person became a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Transport, so what happened to Ryunosuke Akutagawa?" ”

"If we were a tourist attraction back then, and people came and went, do you think Akutagawa-san would still come here to write books?" Ms. Kabashima asked rhetorically.

He Ma thought about it and felt that there was some reason. However, he still felt that Akutagawa Ryunosuke had never been here at all, and it was more likely that it was an anecdote deliberately created here to put gold on his face.

After all, I've seen a lot of so-called time-honored bragging.

However, there was no basis for this, so Kazuma pressed the conjecture in his mind for a while, and then he noticed one more thing: "The girl who works at the shrine is a local, right?" It doesn't seem like every young person is leaving Tokyo. ”

Ms. Kabashima smiled slightly: "Hiroko is still young, and she is still studying at a high school in a nearby town, so she went to the shrine to help during the summer vacation." When she graduates from high school, she will probably go to Tokyo as well.

"More than one person saw Hiroko chatting speculatively with travelers from Tokyo. When the town meeting in the hot spring town was held, it was not surprising that we aunts said that Hiroko eloped with someone from Tokyo. ”

Kazuma nodded, then noticed Mikako's gaze: "What do you think I'm doing?" ”

Mikako shrugged her shoulders, turned her head and asked Ms. Kabashima, "This Hiroko, is she good-looking?" ”

"Normally, it's not comparable to Miss Fujii." Ms. Kabashima replied with an inexplicable smile on her face.

Mikako glanced at Kazuma: "Kazuma, are you disappointed." ”

"Not really." Hema told the truth, "Actually, because the average appearance of female apprentices is too high, I don't feel for beautiful women anymore." Mikako, you can take care of your injuries, and I'll go back with the eggs. ”

"Walk slowly~" Mikako waved to the two and watched the two leave the lobby.

As soon as the two of them walked on the front foot, Ms. Kabashima asked on the back foot, "You guys, didn't you throw garbage on the mountain, did you?" For example, certain rubber products. ”

Mikako didn't understand why Ms. Kabashima suddenly said this, but she replied, "No." We didn't even have that stuff with us. ”

"Huh...... In this way, Miss Fujii is still careful, young girls have an unstable cycle, and it is quite common to win bids on days when there is no problem. ”

Mikako knew that Ms. Kamashima was driving, and her face turned red when she brushed it: "No, no, no!" We didn't do that kind of thing! ”

"Didn't you? It's a bit of a surprise, usually the guests who come to us go up the mountain with a man and a woman, and they always have to do something. For this reason, I also set up a basket for throwing garbage on the mountain trail and tied it to a tree next to the trail. ”

Mikako: "It turns out that those baskets are for this, I thought they were nests for birds, and I wondered how to put them in such a low place......

Ms. Kabashima smiled, "It's nice that Miss Fujii is more innocent than I thought." Could it be that you can still get close to the unicorn without being kicked? ”

Mikako: "Huh? Unicorn? What the heck? ”

Ms. Kabashima smiled but said nothing.

**

The moment he left the hotel, he actually wanted to retreat.

Before three o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was the hottest, the central air conditioning of the hotel was turned on violently, and the heat wave that came when I went out was really enough.

This heat wave has caused Kazuma to revisit the need to visit the shrine now.

Perhaps, tomorrow morning when it's cooler, it's fine?

The croaking of cicadas seems to answer the horse's questions.

At this time, Yuzao spoke: "Theoretically, I should know all the famous masters in this vicinity." ”

"You're not pretending? I've just left the hotel. ”

"If you're heard, it's considered to be telling some kind of fantasy story." Tamamo waved his hand, "I'm experienced in this kind of thing. ”

And the horse shrugged.

"I don't know that it has been passed down for hundreds of years, but it is possible that the original owner has left, or hung up, leaving a shrine, and human beings are still worshipping according to the rules that have been handed down."

"According to you, we don't need to rush to the past today." He Ma subconsciously led the topic in the direction of "going home".

Yuzao shook her head: "This is the best situation, and it is possible that after the main lord dies, there will be something else to occupy the magpie's nest." Anyway, it doesn't hurt to go and see it, and maybe you can chat with old acquaintances. ”

"Two old women chatting?"

"It might be an old man on the other side."

"Don't you deny that you're an old woman?"

Kazuma teased, and Tamamo just looked at him with a smile.

"Well, you're eighteen." And the horse shrugged.

The two of them were walking down the hill along the road at this time - they didn't think it was long when they first took the car on this road, but now they realized that Hinata was quite far from the hot spring town.

This kind of "mansion" hanging alone outside the town always gives people the feeling that there will be a series of murders.

If something really happens, I'm afraid that the notoriety of the horse will further move closer to the Grim Reaper schoolboy in his upper life.

After walking for a while, Kazuma couldn't stand the heat, so he said to Yuzao: "You can't get a spell or something, come to some wind to cool down?" ”

"Usually when you say to a girl, 'Come and bring me fire', you mean something else, right?" Tamamo teased.

"You know so much."

"After all, it used to be Mama-san."

"That setting is still there, huh? I thought the joke of going to Mito Yellow Gate would be over. And the horse shot back.

Yuzao raised her eyebrows: "I really used to be a mother-san." ”

"What about Mito Yellow Gate? Don't try to prevaricate with a smile, tell me the truth, have you ever seen the real Mito Yellow Gate? ”

Tamamo was unmoved, just laughing.

Kazuma had no choice but to give up.

At this time, Tamamo suddenly spoke: "The real Mito Yellow Gate is completely different from the legend, he is actually introverted and a little neurotic, folklore beautifies his image, and the repertoire such as Joruri is further beautified on this basis, so there is now a well-known Mito Yellow Gate." ”

Kazuma: "You've seen it." ”

"Sort of. But when I met him, he hadn't made up his mind to travel around the Japanese archipelago, and the prototype of those famous stories hadn't even happened. In addition, at that time, the news was blocked, and even with my strength at that time, I could only grasp the information inside Edo Castle, and it often took a long time for the news to reach me when I left Edo. ”

"So, you're saying that when you see Mito Yellow Gate again, he's already a famous legend?" ”

Tamamo spreads his hands.

While chatting, the two finally went down to the bottom of the mountain.

There are three middle-aged people wearing armbands that say "Hot Spring Street Tourism Promotion Association" and are planting flags on the side of the road.

The flag reads Misen-matsuri, and it seems that this is the name of the festival that will be held at this place.

To be honest, the name Schönbrunn Festival sounds like a bureaucrat in charge of tourism who came up with it on the head.

Because it is a hot spring town, the festival is naturally called a "beautiful hot spring", which is too simple and rude.

When Kazuma complained about the name of the festival in his heart, the three middle-aged uncles saw Kazuma and Yuzao.

One of the uncles greeted him warmly: "You are a guest staying in Hinata Gagoso halfway up the mountain, right?" Is it the staff of Sauni Music, or is it a famous artist they invited? ”

Kazuma: "I don't know if I'm a famous artist or not, but I'm really a musician invited by Sauni Music. ”

In fact, it is a copyist, but He Ma cheekily boasted that he was a musician.

No one can expose him anyway.

The uncle immediately stretched out his hand enthusiastically: "Oh, I'm glad I will." You can write more songs that reflect the customs and customs of our place. The cover of the album should be a landscape photo from our side, there are a lot of them in the village office. ”

Kazuma glanced at the uncle's armband: "Aren't you from the Tourism Promotion Association?" ”

"Yes, but I usually work in the village office, which is very small, and many people wear many hats. When the tourist season arrives, I'm so busy that I want to borrow all the cat's hands in town. ”

I want to borrow all the cat's hands to use a Japanese colloquial saying to describe the state of being busy.

And the uncle is obviously a little busier, and has to borrow the hands of all the cats in the town.

Hema: "It seems that the business is good, there is no need to ask me to advertise it." ”

"The peak season is really good, but the peak season is only a few days a year, and we hope that there will be more tourists in the non-peak season. In this case, if you get sick during the peak season and can't open your business, the whole year's income will be ruined. ”

The uncle scratched his head as he spoke, and added: "After all, more than half of the people in this hot spring street are over fifty years old, and it is a place full of old men and old ladies." ”

Kazuma: "Aren't there any young children?" ”

"Nope. If you look at this hot spring town, it looks like there is an elementary school and a middle school, and the children in the village have to walk a long way to get to the town to go to school, so many couples of childbearing age simply move out. ”

At this time, Kazuma thought of Hiroko, who was working at the shrine, and asked, "Aren't there still girls like Hiroko?" ”

"Hiroko's family is just her and her grandfather, and her father goes out to Tokyo, and then there is no news, only occasionally anonymous remittances come back. So Hiroko can't go. ”

As soon as the uncle's words fell, another uncle behind him made a dissatisfied voice: "When those women bite the root of their ears, they still say that it's not strange that Hiroko ran away with the little white face from Tokyo at any time, hum!" Hiroko won't leave her grandmother behind. ”

The third uncle joined the conversation at this time: "But, Hiroko's grandmother has been bedridden for more than a month, right?" I'm afraid it's going to be ...... this winter."

The uncle who talked to the horse at the beginning made a loud voice: "Hey! Feed! What to say! When the old man is still alive, wouldn't it be good to wish her a long life? ”

The uncle who had just lost his words said "I'm sorry" and lowered his head and continued to work.

"You go ahead and busy with you," Kazuma said to the three, "let's go to the shrine." ”

"Oh, go slowly! By the way, the bone-setting ointment at the shrine is very spiritual, and visitors who come to us every year are full of praise. ”

————

Kazuma nodded in thanks, said goodbye to the three uncles with Tamamo, and walked along the main road of the hot spring street in the direction of the shrine.