I'm a thankful fox in Tokyo

Chapter 394 If you pray, maybe I will answer you?

Ah Jing is still in Gion. If Gion is in trouble, then...
Upon thinking of this, Higashino Yu felt a pang of anxiety and immediately said seriously, "If you don't mind, please allow me to lend a helping hand to the Jinguji family."

"Okay! I'll thank you for your help later. Get in the car."

Shinji Jinguji spoke crisply, showing no more of the politeness he had shown to the exorcists before, and then took Higashino Yu into the Jinguji family's car.

The driver started the car, and the convoy headed down the mountain. Dongye Yu rolled down the car window, and the moist, fresh mountain breeze with a hint of humus dispelled the slightly stuffy air inside the car, but the atmosphere inside remained quiet.

Stroking the warm, smooth tassel made of crane feathers hanging from the end of the Xuanxiao sword hilt, he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Shinji Jinguji with a calm and composed expression, wiping his sword with a handkerchief.

Why don't you seem worried at all? Dongye Yu took a deep breath and asked directly, "What exactly happened? Can you tell me?"

Upon hearing this, Shinji Jinguji snapped out of his daze, glanced back at Higashino Yu, pondered for a moment, nodded, turned away, and began to explain the reason in a heavy tone.

"This story begins with my first ancestor, but I'll keep it brief due to the urgency of the matter."

"Old grudges with demons? And fallen gods?"

Higashino Yu clicked his tongue in surprise upon hearing this, then looked puzzled: "These demons and fallen gods dare to besiege the Jinguji family in broad daylight in Tokyo?"

As the de facto capital of the island nation, Tokyo boasts one of the best exorcists and shrines in the country, second only to Kyoto, the ancient capital.

Normally, demons who want to survive in Tokyo have to keep their tails between their legs, and those who dare to cause trouble will be quickly suppressed.

Before his cultivation level broke through, he didn't dare to approach the shrine's territory. It was hard to imagine that these fallen gods and demons hiding in the gutter had the courage to attack the Jinguji family.

"Normally we wouldn't dare, but right now most of our family's demon-slaying masters have come to Saw Mountain, leaving our home undefended."

It seems to have something to do with me. Dongye Yu felt a little uneasy thinking about how this demonic disturbance seemed to have been started by Shuten-dōji to lure him here.

However, the big problem lies with Ah Jing's father. Why doesn't he keep more people around the house?

"If they had known that demons would attack the Jinguji family, why didn't they leave more exorcists to guard Gion, or simply seek refuge at some shrines?"

That's exactly what I did back then. I had anticipated that the demons of Mount Oe would target me, so I packed my bags early and moved to the Inari Shrine.

Shinji Shinji gave a bitter smile: "Don't laugh at me, Higashino-kun, but this Oboroguruma-hime is really hard to deal with. She first killed several of my family's exorcists, and then used a trap to lure and kill several of A-Kyo's uncles, causing heavy losses. It looks like she's about to cause a major disaster. Instead of gathering the strength of the whole clan to suppress her, holding back is the way to death."

“Such vicious demons are not common in my family’s thousand-year history, but if we encounter one, we must exorcise it. Letting it escape is tantamount to courting death. Too many exorcist families have been cursed, destroyed, and had their lineages cut off because of letting such demons go for various reasons.”

Yokai are all vengeful; I agree with that. Higashino Yu nodded. "Then why not seek refuge at a shrine?"

"It's not that I'm unwilling, but that I can't."

Shinji Jinguji gazed intently at the receding mountain scenery outside the car window, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"Over the past thousand years, my family has had conflicts with some gods. Later, some of these gods fell from their divine positions for other reasons. Although it had nothing to do with my family, we were still angered by other gods. As a result, few gods were willing to help my family. It can be considered a curse."

"Furthermore, Gion has a protective array, which is the safest place for my family. Going elsewhere would be unsafe."

"Where are the gods? Do they just stand by and watch demons wreak havoc in Tokyo?" Higashino Yu was puzzled. There were shrines everywhere in Tokyo, and they were worshipped by people on ordinary days, but in times of crisis, they just stood by and watched demons run rampant?

When Shinji Jinguji heard him talk about gods, he knew that Higashino Yu, as an exorcist without a family tradition, must have fantasies about gods.

In addition, he had lived in Inari Shrine for a long time and had a good relationship with the shrine's messengers, so he probably thought that other gods and their messengers were also easy to get along with.

Shinji Jinguji considered his words carefully before explaining.

"Mr. Higashino, you may not know this, but the relationship between gods and humans is not as simple as you might imagine."

"Some gods are of noble character, deeply love humans, and are willing to unconditionally protect mortals. But many more gods are not like that. It is said that divine grace is unpredictable, and being capricious is the norm for gods. In addition, because they want the faith of mortals and do not want mortals to escape their control, the existence of us demon exorcists allows humans to not be completely dependent on gods. Naturally, our relationship with some gods is worse. Most of the grudges between my family and those fallen gods come from this."

Higashino Yu seemed to be thinking, "So, when we go back this time, we also need to be careful of some gods in Tokyo?"

"Not at all."

Shinji Jinguji waved his hand.

"These gods are arrogant and will not personally attack exorcists, but they are very likely to stand by and do nothing."

"Furthermore, many of the shrines in Tokyo were built later, and many of the gods only send messengers to oversee them. Often, the response is not timely, and even if we pray to them, we do not get a prompt reply."

Higashino Yu suddenly realized, recalling what he had seen and heard in Tokyo during this period. Apart from Haruhara, he had indeed rarely seen other gods' messengers help humans, and he had never actually seen Inaho-hime.

If it weren't for the divine aura permeating those shrines, one might even mistake them for clay sculptures.

"How strong is the Gion barrier? Can it withstand it?"

"Generally speaking, even if a normal great demon attacks at full strength, it can hold out for ten days to half a month. However, there are too many demons this time, so I'm not sure how long it can hold out."

"how many?"

“At the very least, there must be nearly a hundred demons,” Shinji Shinji rubbed his forehead. Although his expression remained calm, the hilt of the sword he held was already slightly damp and dark.

"Should we have so many?" Dongye Yu stared in disbelief.
If there are several thousand recorded, then there must be even more unrecorded ones.
Not to mention that the attackers of Gion might be fallen gods. Even if these gods are far less powerful than before after their fall, they are not ordinary demons who can easily mess with them. So, even if the Gion barrier doesn't shatter instantly, it probably won't last long.

Several hours have passed since I left the Jinguji house.
Higashino Yu immediately became anxious. She glanced out the car window and saw that the driver was going very fast, but they had only driven halfway up the mountain.

too slow!
But it's afternoon now, and the sun is blazing, so the spirit can't leave the body.

Higashino Yu frowned, feeling somewhat helpless and regretful. If he had known the news earlier, he might have been able to ask Haruhara for help, but by now, Haruhara was probably already back at the shrine.

"If you pray, perhaps I will answer you?"

Hearing the voice, Higashino Yu was startled and turned around abruptly. There, sitting in the seat next to him, was a girl wearing a white fox mask and dressed as a shrine maiden.

(End of this chapter)