EXTRA PHASE - KOZUKATA SHRINE TRAINING

“So it’s here…” I muttered.

I shifted my eyes from the GPS app on my phone to the tall mountain with hundreds of footsteps in front of me. There is a wooden gate that has Japanese characters in it, and it translates to “THE HOLY KOZUKATA SHRINE”.

I battled my exhaustion as I went through the stairs that I didn’t bother to count. I have a heavy baggage on me, that’s worth one week of clothes for my stay here. The hike is quite repetitive because it’s only a one-way route, which is upwards. I am surrounded by pine trees but then when I was halfway through, it became cherry blossom trees. It’s fall, so there are no gay pink leaves yet.

When I reached the top of the mountain, I saw a wooden gate that is quite similar to the foot of the mountain. Then I finally caught a glimpse of the shrine.

“Oh, Rikkun!” It was Tiara, sweeping the grounds with her broom. “Y-You’re quite late. D-Did you get lost?”

“Nope. I’m just tardy. Always.”

Tiara grabbed my hand and smiled. “Come, I’ll introduce you to our Head Shrine Priestess.”

I had a short tour of the shrine. It looks more like a small village to me, since there are several traditional Japanese buildings that are separate from the main complex. There are a lot of teenagers, kids, and grannies in this place but all of them are women.

I was led to a four-story temple that has a golden bell on top. I was afraid that I’m going to climb again, but thankfully, the office of the Head Shrine Priestess is on the very first floor.

It was a petite girl with long brown hair, like Rapunzel, but she tied it with loops to keep it from the ground. Her face looks like two years below us.

“Welcome to the Kozukata Shrine, young lad. I am Asumi Kozukata, the Head Shrine Priestess and the one who leads the shrine maidens in this place. But I don’t bother about the honorifics since all shrine maidens are equal. You can just call me Asumi.” She said with her quite childish voice. “I believe you are Alaric Eisenhower, the newest Gate Guardian. May you state your Guardian Ability to us?”

“Um…” I cleared my voice and scratched my head. “My Guardian Ability is , which means that I can predict the future twelve seconds in advance.”

“P-Predict the future?” The head shrine maiden Asumi dropped her formal tone when she stuttered. Then she immediately grabbed Tiara and had a private talk. But I can hear some words on the rather noisy head shrine maiden.

“I-Is that man the one Jeannette talks about? He’s handsome, and have a Guardian Ability to help our fortune telling business! Letting him go after the 2-week training camp means we’ll leave money on the table! We should have him converted and become our priest! I’ll fix a marriage for him with a shrine maiden! Hey you, Tiara! Why won’t you marry him!?”

“Wha-What a-are y-you t-t-t-talking about, Asumi-nee! W-W-We’re not lovers!” Tiara replied with her blushing cheeks.

Slightly annoyed, I cleared my throat with a high voice. That halted the two from having their not-so-private conversation.

“I-I’m so sorry for making you wait, Mister Alaric~” Now this Asumi lady totally forgot her formalities and talked to me like a seductive mother. “Your training will start now. I’ll test how your does things.”

The head shrine maiden revealed a coin. “Heads or tails?”

I used my future sight and concluded one thing. “Both.”

Asumi already released the coin and spun 27 times on the air, until finally landing on the ground, bounced two times until it got stuck standing on the gap of the wooden floor. It’s neither heads or tails.

“You should indeed marry him, Tiara-chan!” Asumi cried.

<>

I did have it easy on the first day since it’s all about orientation. I got a free board and lodging here, as well as breakfast and dinner. There are bad things in living here for free, too. They implemented early curfew hours, and they are strict about some rules like proper eating and such. The internet reception is bad here in the mountains, but not until Day 2 of my stay here where I found a good spot for streaming videos (That spot is on the bathroom, so at least I can do my thing hehehe)

The next day, which is Sunday, which is the only time the shrine is open for tourists. I had myself watch over their souvenir shop that is selling lucky charms, customized chopsticks, yukatas, various flavored green tea and such.

There are some giggly girls taking selfies with me while they are buying. So the head shrine maiden found a way to earn money by placing a big sign that says “50 Bucks for 3 Selfies with the Handsome Vendor!”. I didn’t complain about it because I’m getting paid for my share too.

<>

I also took part in the fortune-telling business. They gave me lots of Quintessence so that I can use my for a much longer time. But I’m just there for an opening act.

The fortune teller shrine maidens had me for their starting event, which goes like this; A heads-or-tails game, or sometimes rolling a dice. I would predict each and every outcome perfectly with my Guardian Ability and whisper the answer to fortune tellers.

Audiences will be astounded after witnessing that the shrine maidens are able to predict the rolls ten times a row, so they will believe that they really have powers to see the future. And then the tourist will fall into the trap; They will pay us money in exchange for reading their fortunes using miko spell cards.

That’s a brilliant idea, and I didn’t go against it because I’m getting paid for my share. Again.

<>

Night came, and finally, I can rest. There is an event during Sundays where shrine maidens do a traditional dance in the stage. Asumi said that Tiara will be dancing together with five other maidens, so I got curious and took part in the audience.

I’ve never seen Tiara so beautiful before…

She’s on her full traditional red-and-white shrine maiden dress, and her face is white as snow, and her lips are red as blood. She has a thick red eyeliner that makes her a lot adorable. Tiara is already good-looking without makeup, but now that I saw her with colorful concoctions, I would title her the epitome of beauty. She is the ultimate yamato nadeshiko.

She was dancing graciously like an ocean wave. Her composed figure gave elegance to every move she makes, like a bamboo swayed by a gentle wind. I’m not a fan of traditional miko dance, but I wouldn’t mind if I watch her all day.

After they danced and waved sticks and such, they kneeled and opened a small box for each one of them, scooped some rice and chewed it on their mouth. Then they transferred the ground rice juice to a small box and sealed it with ribbon. I kinda remember this scene from a certain anime movie.

<>

Sunday is over, so there come weekdays. From here, my training gets serious. I will have to meditate under a waterfall, push a boulder until I reached the summit, and transfer the fallen logs to the shrine, aside from doing a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and curl-ups and a ten-kilometer running. I also had some spellcasting training, classroom-oriented schooling and other things that made my life much stressful than before.

Tiara invited me to the shrine maiden nursery to teach four-year-olds. She said that the cute faces of the kids will relieve stress, but never did I know that it will give me much more of a hassle.

There was one time I was tutoring one cute girl who’s afraid of math.

“If I have ten apples, and I gave three to you, how many apples do I have?”

“U...Um… Se-...Thre-...E-Eleven?”

I made a facepalm. I know I’m not good at dealing with girls, but I’m twice as bad when dealing with kids. I’m facing both; a girl and a kid. I was so annoyed and pissed that I wanted to cry. I uttered a deep breath.

“IF I HAVE TEN APPLES, AND I GAVE THREE-Pwahack!”

I was cut by a swift hook behind my head! Tiara did it!

“S-Stop raising voice at her, she’s just four!” Tiara scolded me.

“Shit,” I whispered under my breath. But it was loud enough that the four-year-old girl heard me.

“Shit!” The clueless cute girl said with a bright smile. It was the most adorable profane language I ever heard.

“H-Hey, d-don’t say that! It’s a bad word!” Tiara cried to the girl.

Then Tiara choked me with both of her hands and shook me like a bag of flavored fries.