Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Chapter 56: Visiting the Shrine (Happy New Year)
"According to Hayami Kaho's notes, she had secretly agreed to marry a samurai named 'Tokugawa Kagekatsu' after she retired."

"Later, the samurai participated in the famous Battle of Sekigahara. On the day of the decisive battle, Hayami Kaho personally presided over the 'Kanda Festival' to pray for the battle. Although the battle was won as she wished, what she waited for back was only her lover's blood-stained armor and broken sword."

"The shrine maiden built a tomb for him in the shrine. From then on, he served the gods and never married."

Having said that, Aoi Jinguji let out a long sigh.

The Battle of Sekigahara was a series of battles that broke out between the Tokugawa clan and the Toyotomi clan after the death of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It is known as the battle that "determined the fate of the world" and "dominated the direction of history in the eleven districts."

"That Tokugawa Kagekatsu, he must have tried very hard, very hard, very hard to come back alive."

Recalling the incomplete memories he sensed during "spiritual communication", Xia Fan secretly clenched his fists.

"We believe that the remaining soul of Tokugawa Kagekatsu attached to his armor and sword, and was tainted by the power of faith for hundreds of years in the shrine, and eventually became the wild god. This also explains why the faith shelter in the shrine does not obviously reject him."

"However, we followed the location recorded in the notebook, but we couldn't find Tokugawa Kagekatsu's 'Cenotaph'."

"Someone moved the armor and the sword before us, which caused the seal to loosen. Tokugawa Kagekatsu awakened as a wild god and caused trouble in the shrine."

Recalling the scene where she led Lesson 9 to dig up the cenotaph, but found only an empty grave, Jinguji Aoi frowned.

"If he was taken away on purpose, how can we find him in District 11 which is so big? Hiss..."

Xia Fan picked up the dumpling that the witch didn't eat, opened his mouth quickly and bit it without warning, but only hit the empty wooden stick.

The ninth lesson is about surveillance in casual clothes, probably because we don't want to arouse the suspicion of the person, so we wait in secret.

"From the situation that day when Tokugawa Kagekatsu fled after being seriously injured by you, even if that person moved the cenotaph, he did not leave the area of ​​Kanda Shrine."

"You have communicated with Tokugawa Kagekatsu before, and you have some kind of 'connection' with him. Perhaps you can sense him if you are close to him."

Jinguji Aoi stood up and walked forward gracefully. Suddenly, she turned her head to Xia Fan and smiled sweetly: "I wonder if I would be lucky enough to invite you to visit Kanda Shrine with me?"

"With great pleasure."

Xia Fan drank the matcha in the cup and followed the witch.

……

Three hours later.

"How about it?"

"No, there is no 'psychic' feeling at all."

Xia Fan sat on the stairs of the side hall of Kanda Shrine with a tired look on his face, with Jinguji Aoi standing beside him.

It took the two of them three full hours to measure the entire land of Kanda Shrine with their feet.

No matter how hard Xia Fan concentrated, he could not feel the resonance he had when he had "spiritual communication" with Tokugawa Kagekatsu that day.

"Perhaps, it is because Tokugawa Kagekatsu was injured too badly by you and fell into a 'deep sleep'."

Jinguji Aoi sighed.

Tokugawa Kagekatsu's cenotaph was moved away, and there must be an unknown conspiracy behind it.

If we don't find it in one day, it's like there's a time bomb hidden in Kanda Shrine.

"What was it like to communicate with Tokugawa Kagekatsu for the first time?"

Xia Fan held his chin with his left hand, looked up at the slowly flowing clouds in the sky, and began to think hard.

"In this place that's like a blood-reaper, if you're not careful, you'll become a corpse on the ground, and you won't be able to go back and see your lover again..."

Before the first "spiritual communication", Director Nakano's lines from the play quietly rang in my ears.

"I understand. Tokugawa Kagekatsu's obsession is to 'go back'..."

"That's why I, dressed as a samurai, was communicating with Director Nakano when he was talking about the play!" "If I can recreate the scene that he has been obsessed with for hundreds of years, maybe I can strengthen the resonance of his obsession and wake him up from his slumber!"

Xia Fan suddenly caught the inspiration and looked at Jinguji Aoi excitedly.

"Evil spirits are born out of obsession and are also trapped by obsession. Most of the time, they are reincarnating their experiences before death. This method may be feasible."

"But how should we arrange the scene that Tokugawa Kagekatsu is obsessed with?"

Jinguji Aoi tilted her head in confusion.

"Professional matters should of course be left to professionals. Besides, aren't there all the ready-made ones..."

Xia Fan looked towards a corner of the shrine with certainty.

There, the side hall that was once used as the location for advertising shooting is still sealed off by cordon tape.

……

At 11 o'clock that night, Kanda Shrine rarely announced that it would close its doors to visitors.

The staff, dressed in black uniforms and with serious faces, politely but firmly asked the lingering guests to leave the shrine on the pretext of "gas inspection" and "site cleaning."

"Mr. Xia, the scenes have all been set up, and dozens of fixed camera positions have also been arranged."

In front of the shrine's green torii gate, Director Nakano, sweating profusely, was carefully reviewing the script in his hand.

"Well, thank you for your hard work, Director Nakano."

In front of him was Xia Fan, wearing a samurai robe covered in blood and cuts, with his topknot shining in the moonlight.

"What's the point of working so hard? If you hadn't rescued me in time and called 120, I would have died from the gas."

Director Nakano shook his head and glanced cautiously at the man in black who was on high alert in the shrine.

"Damn it. It's not our fault that the filming was postponed due to force majeure. Not only did they force people to come for the filming, but they also generously contracted the entire shrine. Does the brand have a background in the underworld?"

"Moreover, they also forced us to use 'reality show shooting techniques' to shoot the rest of the film, which is not scientific at all. The workload for post-production editing is huge."

He complained to Xia Fan in a constant stream.

"It doesn't matter. There are only three scenes left. From now on, let us actors perform..."

Xia Fan patted his shoulder soothingly.

In order to create a scene similar to the one in Tokugawa Kagekatsu's obsession, he asked Lesson 9 to invite the advertising shooting crew who had just been discharged from the hospital in the name of "brand".

The entire Kanda Shrine was generously contracted as a filming location, and the actors' makeup and hair were all completed with the most realistic standards.

However, in order to ensure the safety of the personnel, the filming crew will evacuate after preparation is completed, and the agents of Section 9 can only wait outside the shrine.

Inside the shrine, only the "actors" were left, and dozens of cameras monitored the situation in real time.

"But Ms. Tanaka, who is in charge of playing the shrine maiden, has not been discharged from the hospital due to 'sequelae of gas poisoning'. What should the actress who plays the shrine maiden do?"

Although the brand has forcibly taken over, Nakano still asked with some concern out of his sense of responsibility as a director.

"Don't worry, we have the most suitable actress for the role of the witch..."

Xia Fan waved to him and watched him leave the shrine under the "escort" of two black-clad agents.

"No, it's not so much an 'actor' as it is, playing myself."

He turned his head and looked along the gravel path, past the torii gate, across the red walls and green tiles, and landed above the main hall of the shrine...

There, under the eaves with red lanterns hanging, a red and white figure was standing gracefully.

(End of this chapter)