They did indeed manage to find their way around more easily, as it took Eva and Gon only a handful of minutes to reach the upper decks. The people gathered there made for a very curious assortment. A slight majority were wearing normal everyday clothes, simple business suits, hoodies and jeans and so on. Nearly as many were wearing gorgeous traditional Kimono. The few that stood out were the old man Eva had talked to earlier, as he seemed to be one of the very few wearing old fashioned, simple clothes, and a group of three, two men and a woman, sitting on the back of horse sized foxes.

As Eva took in all the people around her, as well as the various foxes playing at their heels, or draped over their shoulders, Gon had already started maneuvering them closer to his master.

“Ah young Eva, I hope your talk with Gon, short as it may have been so far, has proven to be enlightening.” The old Inari greeted them once he noticed their presence.

“Yes. But I still have some things I am curious about.” Eva replied, her head bowed respectfully towards the older Kami.

Before he could reply though, a young woman stepped onto what was probably a stage on the far end of the crowd. Two locks of her black hair framed her statuesque face on either side, while the rest of it was tied back into a simple bun sitting just above the hem of her red Kimono. As she walked forward, the white Hakama she was wearing swayed a bit before shedstopped and brought a microphone up to address the gathered gods.

“Hello Everyone. I am glad to see so many of you managed to find the time to attend. I am Ō-miya-hime, your hostess and organiser of this year’s get together.”

As she took a deep breath, her face took on a more sorrowful look. “But before we start this year's festivities, it is my sad honor to inform you of the passing of Mumei. While I doubt many of you knew her well, she was one of us, so I would like to ask for a minute of silence in her memory.”

As she finished those words, it suddenly became apparent how much noise the crowd had been making, as there suddenly was utter silence. Only the sound of the waves far below reached Eva’s ears as she too fell silent to honor the poor fox goddess she couldn’t save.

When Ō-miya-hime looked up again, a smile slowly returned to her face. “Now I do hope you welcome her chosen successor into the fold. I am not going to point the poor girl out just now, but I am sure I will be able to introduce herself to you all during dinner tonight.”

When she looked over the crowd, her smile suddenly turned a bit more mischievous as she finished her little speech.

“That said, I am sure you will welcome her warmly, after all we are all Inari.”

“Yes we are all Inari.” came the groaning echo of a crowd fed up with a joke repeated a dozen times too often.

“No I am not.” shouted one of the men riding a fox before chuckling to himself.[1]

Turning to the old man next to her, Eva pinched her nose while inquiring. “Why did she just rip off the Life of Brian?”

“You mean this little routine?” When the younger Kami nodded, he let out a deep sigh as he explained. “Apparently one of her Priests was a big fan of the movie when it came out. When he passed away, she started doing this every year.”

“How close were they?” Eva asked, pondering why a goddess would pull such a, in her opinion at least, poor joke.

“Very much so. Some of their children are gathered here as well.” He began to explain while leading the small group towards some of the benches at the edge of the deck so he could sit down. “Like many of us that wish to blend into mortal society, she has taken to pretending to be one of her shrine’s servants. Apparently when they first met during their duties, they fell in love at first sight. And while they were very happy together, his time was limited. And with him refusing her pleas to at least try to prolong it even after she revealed her true nature to him, so was their time together.”

Eva, trying not to cry, and even harder to not think about the implications of this, lower her head. A moment later a new question came to her, that would hopefully divert the topic. “So why do all the supernatural beings hide their existence to such an extent? Some of those I met claim it’s because humans would wipe them out, but that can’t be all there is to it if even just a fraction of the myths about some of us are true.”

“Well the fear of the human’s unknown reactions certainly is a part of it.” He said while taking a freshly prepared pipe from Gon. “But for most of us Kami it also comes down to being fed up with the days of old. Back then once people found out where we lived, there were unending lines of petitioners seeking our aid in selfish matters they had deluded themselves to think were just and right.”

“But what about those that did have selfless requests?” Eva wonders aloud, as her hands brushed through ehr still unfamiliar, short third tail.

“I have yet to meet someone with truly selfless motivations plead for my aid over trying to do something themselves.” The elderly Kami replied after exhaling a puff of smoke. “Finding and helping those does not need us being tangible presences in the world. But dealing with those thinking their request is selfless, like saving a loved one from illness, was especially tiresome after a few centuries. Not only did I start to realize their ultimately selfish motivations, not wanting to deal with having to raise children alone, needing the ill person to work to make profits and many more. They never seemed to realize the true root of their desire no matter how many generations went by.”

Despite him taking a break to continue smoking from his pipe, the Kitsune before him found no words to reply with before he decided to continue.

“Now go, take Gon and mingle with someone closer to your age. I think one of the Daikinitens[2] brought some of their offspring this year.”