Chapter 48: Grandpa Lied to Me

Atsuta Shrine.

Located in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, one of Japan's three major metropolitan areas, it is one of Japan's three great shrines.

Its history is long, tracing back to its establishment in the third century; its fame is no less than Japan's most famous shrine—Ise Grand Shrine—and Tokyo's largest shrine—Meiji Shrine.

The reason lies not only in its long history, but also because Atsuta Shrine enshrines one of Japan's Three Imperial Regalia, the "Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi".

As everyone knows, shrines have clergy known as Kannushi, and the Guji is the highest Kannushi, the chief responsible person of a shrine.

Omurdo Kenji is the current Guji of Atsuta Shrine, the twenty-ninth Guji in its history.

And Omurdo Xia Mei is the future thirtieth Guji of Atsuta Shrine.

As the Guji of Atsuta Shrine and the future Guji, the two of them should not be appearing in the deep mountains and old forests at all.

One should be staying at Atsuta Shrine.

The other should be studying at a Shinto school.

The main reason the two are here is that Omurdo Xia Mei is about to graduate from the Shinto school...

In Japan, shrine culture is prevalent, so the status of Japanese Kannushi is very high and they are respected; even before the Peace Constitution of Japan was established, the Kannushi of State Shinto were civil servants.

Because of this.

To prevent impostors and to promote Shinto, Japan has established special examinations and ranks for Kannushi, and even has a dedicated Shinto university.

Only by graduating from the Shinto university can one become a qualified Kannushi and have the chance to enter a shrine and become a Guji.

To put it plainly, nowadays even becoming a Monk or a charlatan requires a diploma; this is not boasting, it is the truth.

However, it is not said that becoming a Guji absolutely requires graduation from a Shinto university; in fact, some shrines' Guji positions are hereditary, passed down from generation to generation, requiring no diploma; for example, Ise Grand Shrine and Atsuta Shrine are both hereditary.

It's just that those hereditary shrines are mostly large shrines; for the sake of prestige, they usually let the next generation inheriting the Guji position go for further studies, or at the very least use connections to obtain a diploma.

Omurdo Xia Mei, the future Guji of Atsuta Shrine, naturally also has to go for further studies in Buddhism.

Unlike the next generation of other hereditary shrines, Omurdo Xia Mei does not go for further studies unwillingly; she goes willingly, she personally loves Shinto culture, and she will graduate soon to become a qualified Kannushi, one with a very high-level diploma.

Regarding Omurdo Xia Mei's love for Shinto and her impending graduation, Omurdo Kenji is not particularly happy.

Ask for the reason, and it is simply that Omurdo Xia Mei's love for Shinto has exceeded the scope of liking, reaching obsession, even madness.

To what extent is this madness?

Let's take an example.

Normally, others play games or chase girls, while Omurdo Xia Mei reads ancient shrine texts and meditates, even feeling that she has enlightenment every day of her meditation, increasing her spiritual power, experiencing enlightenment over a hundred times a week.

If going out, others go shopping or travel, while Omurdo Xia Mei goes out to find demons, wanting to test the Shinto spells she read about in ancient shrine texts.

The root of Omurdo Xia Mei's mad obsession with Shinto does not lie with her... the problem lies with her grandfather, Omurdo Kenji.

Since Omurdo Xia Mei is the only child of the Omurdo family, Omurdo Kenji naturally hopes that Omurdo Xia Mei will inherit the Guji identity.

Just that.

Now is different from before.

With the development of technology and society, electronic products and such things are loved by the younger generation, even the older generation, causing many young people in shrines to be unwilling to become Miko or take on the identity of a shrine.

To put an end to this situation, Omurdo Kenji instilled Shinto education in Omurdo Xia Mei from a young age.

What kind of Shinto education was it?

Every day, the bedtime stories Omurdo Kenji told Xia Mei were all Shinto stories, told as awesome as possible.

Such as ancient great Kannushi exorcising demons, or a Kannushi emulating Monk Konghai to travel to that ancient land across the ocean, learning supreme Shinto and returning to become the number one great Kannushi, suppressing crowds of demons and monsters with a flip of his hand...

He also showed Xia Mei the ancient texts of the successive Guji of Atsuta Shrine, which recorded the deeds and achievements of every Guji of Atsuta Shrine.

As everyone knows, the term "charlatan" originates from ancient times, referring to frauds who pretend to use ghosts and gods to perform tricks; people of shrines and temples are actually typical representatives of charlatans.

And as the Guji of Atsuta Shrine, in order to leave proof of his own power for future generations, writing about his own deeds naturally involves deifying himself, with recorded achievements all being embellished and overly deified.

Reading these ancient texts of the deeds of successive Guji of Atsuta Shrine is actually no different from reading novels, specifically the kind of invincible novels.

Plus, when people from temples and shrines gather, they inevitably engage in mutual flattery, saying some mystical things, like "Guji Omurdo, you look spirited, has your spiritual power increased again? It seems you will soon become the most powerful Guji in the history of Atsuta Shrine," or "XX, have you comprehended some Yin-Yang art again? You are almost comparable to that Abe no Seimei."

After more than ten years of such influence.

The result is obvious: Omurdo Xia Mei has fallen into a demonic obsession, firmly believing in the existence of Shinto and the existence of demons.

Seeing that Omurdo Xia Mei's demonic obsession is severe, and she told him that after graduation she would enter Atsuta Shrine, and in the future, inheriting Atsuta Shrine, she must perform various demon-subduing tasks, and educate her future children to believe in Shinto in the same way, continuing to subdue demons.

Omurdo Kenji could no longer sit still.

No, he must explain everything clearly to Xia Mei, otherwise the future descendants of the Omurdo family will all be insane.

After thinking it over, Omurdo Kenji decided to take her to the deep mountains and old forests before Xia Mei's graduation.

Because he had often told Xia Mei before that demons mostly lurk in the deep mountains and old forests and so on.

Omurdo Kenji's plan was simple: to lay his cards on the table, take Omurdo Xia Mei on a tour of the deep mountains and old forests, and after she found no demons at all, then tell her the truth and reveal everything.

Laying his cards on the table amidst the tranquil scenery of nature should make it a bit easier to bear.

Unfortunately.

After laying his cards on the table, it was not as expected; Omurdo Xia Mei did not believe him, thinking her grandfather was doing it to protect her, because fighting demons and monsters is very dangerous.

Even though they couldn't find any demons for several consecutive days, and Omurdo Kenji kept telling the truth beside her, it was no use.

After five days, Omurdo Kenji's lips were worn out from talking, but it was useless.

At most, it only shook Omurdo Xia Mei's resolve a little; in the end, Omurdo Xia Mei comforted herself again and solidified her thoughts.

At the same time.

Facing Omurdo Kenji's words, Omurdo Xia Mei shook her head and said firmly.

"Grandpa, stop pretending. I know you are doing it to protect me, but I am the future Guji of Atsuta Shrine. Promoting Shinto, communicating with the gods, and slaying demons are our duty."

As Omurdo Xia Mei spoke, she picked up her phone to check, and found that the phone still had no signal.

Deep mountains and old forests, absolutely no signal.

"At worst, I promise you, I won't meditate every day or read shrine books anymore; I'll play on my phone, play games, go shopping, buy clothes, and do more of these unprofessional things, is that okay?" Omurdo Xia Mei recalled her grandfather's words from these past few days.

Tomimura Kenji's eyes lit up.

"Hmm? Really? You're not fooling Grandpa? You're sure you want to do more unorthodox things?"

These past days, he hadn't just laid his cards on the table; he'd also explained why he did so—namely, that Xia Mei had been too deranged, and so on. Now, hearing that Xia Mei wanted to go shopping and play games, he was overjoyed.

With the allure of modern phones and shopping for clothes, if Xia Mei indulged in these, she might gradually shake off her obsession with Shinto, becoming a normal young girl. It was even possible she'd realize all her past boasts were just empty talk.

"Really," Tomimura Xia Mei replied.

"Good, good, good. This is your promise to Grandpa, remember? Every day, 24 hours, excluding sleep and meals, you must spend at least six hours shopping, using your phone, or playing games. Is that okay?"

"Okay, okay, I promise you. I'll spend six hours daily shopping, using my phone, and playing games, provided we leave the mountain forest, because there's no signal here. For five days, not a single signal."

"Then let's go, haha."

Tomimura Kenji laughed heartily, pulling Tomimura Xia Mei out of the mountain forest.

As soon as they exited the mountain forest, Tomimura Xia Mei, true to her word, took out her phone, which finally had signal, and started surfing the internet.

Just as Tomimura Kenji was making a call to arrange transport for the grandfather and granddaughter back to Atsuta Shrine,

Tomimura Xia Mei, who was surfing the internet on her phone, suddenly screamed.

The next moment.

She suddenly looked up at the startled Tomimura Kenji.

"Grandpa! What you said these past five days was indeed a lie to me!!"

……