The old woman beckoned to her, meaning to go with her and not delay the people who came to pray for blessings behind.

Naoki Natsume glanced at Mio Izumi, and followed the old woman to the tree next to the approach.

"Old man, what do you mean by the rules of the shrine?" Naoki Natsume asked.

The old woman waved her hand and replied, "The tradition of Teine Shrine since ancient times is that yin and yang are separated, and there is no sale or business here, and even incense is not reluctant, not like the rule of man but more inclined to theocracy."

Mio Izumi was confused and couldn't understand it at all.

Naoki Natsume looked at the shrine maidens or priests on both sides of the approach who occasionally walked together, as if he understood something.

"Are they forbidden to talk to us?" Naoki Natsume asked, "These clergy seem to be turning a blind eye to us."

The old woman shook her head: "It's not forbidden, it's voluntary. It is said to be a way to escape from the mundane world, but if it weren't for the opportunity for Shinto believers to pay homage to Teinayama, the shrine probably wouldn't be open to the public."

She paused, then continued, "That's why these old guys who come here often respect the rules of the shrine and don't talk to them easily. But if there is an emergency, the adults at the shrine are still very open-minded...... I heard you say, 'You're looking for someone?'"

Naoki Natsume hurriedly replied, "I'm here to find the priest-sama."

"There are many priests, and all the men in the shrine are called priests, who are you looking for?" The old woman asked with a smile.

How many priests are there?

Naoki Natsume frowned, what should the retired priest old man in his diary call him?

After thinking for a moment, according to the diary, he should be the presiding officer of the entire shrine, similar to the abbot in the temple, right?

So he replied, "Old man, who has the final say in this shrine?"

The old woman suddenly realized, "Oh, it turns out that you are here to find Miyaji-sama! Then come with me, I just happened to go to the main hall to have a look, and ask for a lot by the way."

The so-called main hall is actually a slightly larger house, and Naoki Natsume stood at the door and looked up, feeling that it looked a bit like a windmill from the front.

The windows are all sliding double glazing, and there are air-conditioning enclosures and electric switches outside, giving the shrine a quaint and modern feel.

It seems that the priests at the shrine are keeping up with the times while retaining their traditional practices.

This made him relax a little, otherwise he would be too pedantic to communicate.

Inside the main entrance are statues and paintings, which are more like mini-museums than shrines.

After entering the door, there were some young faces, and among the old people, there were two young people.

The men and women wearing the uniforms of a nearby school appear to have skipped class.

Strange.,Will anyone skip class and come to the shrine?

Just curious, after getting closer and hearing their conversation, Naoki Natsume was surprised.

Oh, come and ask for marriage.

"The monks here don't speak, I want to ask when we will get married."

"Of course you call other monks to ignore you, monks are only in the monastery, and you have to call the priest here."

Following the old woman from the main hall to the side hall, a man in a snow-white Shinto robe kneeled on a tatami mat, wearing a pair of round-rimmed glasses and squinting, with a warm smile on his face. ….

He doesn't look very old, just in his thirties, but his temperament makes Natsume Naoki feel a little concerned.

There were many old women and old men sitting near him, talking about their troubles or worries while waiting for something.

The man shook a wooden tube in his hand, and every time a devout believer finished speaking his appeal, a bamboo stick would fall out of the wooden tube with fortune written on it.

Then the old people either patted their chests and thanked God or had sad faces on their faces, but they all said things like "Thank you, Lord Miyaji" and walked away.

The smiling, squinting-eyed man didn't say a word the whole time.

Just like bringing Naoki Natsume to them

As the old woman said, the tradition of this shrine seems to be not to talk to visitors.

"Miyaji-sama, I want to ask if my son can bring a daughter-in-law back for the New Year at the end of the year." The old woman who led the way sat down in front of the man and said, "If possible, can you help me calculate my son's feelings in the future?"

The man was still smiling, and then shook the barrel.

After a while, a bamboo stick fell out.

The old woman hurriedly picked it up and looked at it, and the bamboo skewer was impressively written on it.

"Oh, it's a good deal!" The old woman was overjoyed, "I have begged for so many years, and it is the first time I have seen Daji! Thank you, Miyaji-sama!"

The old woman got up and hurriedly bowed to the man.

The man waved his hand, and he turned to look at Naoki Natsume, who was standing on the side, with a smile on the corner of his mouth and tilted his head.

It's like when a math teacher in junior high school corrects homework, he sees a solution that is only taught in college.

It's weird, strange with some surprise.

So he stretched out his hand to Naoki Natsume, signaling that the old woman should thank him.

The old woman didn't understand what was going on, and had already left happily.

No one came to ask for a sign later, so Naoki Naoki simply sat down in front of the man.

"Did you mean that the old man should be thankful to me?" Naoki Natsume was smart enough to read what the man meant just now.

That's what the man means, but he won't answer.

The former Miyaji, his master, took the rule of not being able to talk to visitors very seriously, and at the same time restrained the shrine maidens and other clergy who worked part-time at the shrine.

It's like the iron law of the company, once you violate it, you will be fired, and you can only find other shrine jobs.

But in fact, after the people in the shrine learned about the concept of the old palace, they were all voluntary, and there was no coercion.

The man looked at this talented young man with curious eyes, and sighed in his heart that in a place like the shrine, all kinds of strange people can be seen.

In his eyes, the girl emitted a faint white light, which was a characteristic of luck, and she must have had good luck in daily life.

He looked at Naoki Natsume again.

The boy was even more peculiar, although his luck was not as obvious as that of the girl, but it was golden.

That means he can also bring good luck to those around him.

For example, the old woman who showed them the way and was eager to explain to them.

When he came back to his senses, he held the wooden tube and gently shook it, the meaning was very clear. ….

What do you ask?

Naoki Natsume looked left and right, and then lowered his voice: "There was a girl who came two days ago, she called herself Asai Mao or Nanami Mao, do you have any impression?"

The man was stunned for a moment, and Naoki Natsume could clearly see the surprise on his face.

It's like asking how you know.

Naoki Natsume didn't know how to explain it, so he said, "I'm her friend, she's been absent-minded since she came back here, and I'm worried about her, so I'm here to ask what happened."

Since the people in the shrine can't speak, who did that guy come to see?

What happened again?

The man shook his head.

Sorry, I can't tell you anything, it's a very important secret.

There are already people queuing in the back, and it seems that because everyone gets up early in the morning, plus there is time on the weekend, so there are more and more people visiting and asking for visas.

The main hall was obviously more crowded than when I first came.

Naoki Natsume knew that maybe it would be fruitless today.

Do we have to wait until the day of the sacrifice ceremony?

He was a little unwilling, so he took out a pen and paper from his backpack: "This is my contact information, if you want to find it or if the girl comes again, please be sure to inform me, this is really important to me!"

He hurriedly wrote down the number and name, placed it lightly in front of the man, and then stood up and bowed

He bowed and left.

But just as Naoki Natsume and her senior sister were about to leave the side hall, a voice sounded very abruptly.

"Is that you?"

Owls