"Pfft."
Seeing this bizarre yet oddly hilarious scene, Hina Amano couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
Fortunately, there weren't many passengers in the carriage. Those who heard her laughter and saw Ye Xing beside her simply assumed they were a young couple travelling together, sharing sweet whispers, and paid them no further attention.
"You came out to greet me? So polite?"
At Ye Xing's amused words, the spiritual power red threads floating in mid-air first formed a smiling face pattern, then quickly rearranged into a sentence.
"Master, as a deity, I'm quite particular about etiquette. I've even found you a guide."
Just as Ye Xing and Hina Amano read this sentence, a girl with a bewildered expression suddenly materialised slowly opposite them.
"Where is this..."
It was that same Mitsuha Miyamizu, with her characteristic confusion.
She was utterly baffled.
The last time was one thing, but this time...
Before waking up this morning, she'd had a strange dream.
Not exactly a nightmare, since the handsome young man in the dream was quite pleasing to the eye.
Anyway, it was a very strange dream.
She dreamed she had arrived at a luxury hotel suite atop Tokyo's skyscrapers, facing a massive floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the bustling Tokyo business district.
And she was alone in a room with a handsome young man around her age.
After waking up, Mitsuha Miyamizu hadn't thought much about it, assuming it was just because she'd been stuck in remote Itomori Town for too long, her longing for the big city and desire for romance intertwining to create such a peculiar dream.
But now it was happening again.
Mitsuha Miyamizu clearly remembered being in her room, about to help her grandmother prepare dinner.
Somehow, after another moment of dizziness, she found herself on a train.
Sitting opposite was that familiar handsome young man, though this time there was a cute girl with short twin tails beside him.
What could this mean?
Mitsuha Miyamizu thought to herself that when she woke up, she must ask her grandmother to help interpret this dream.
Dreaming about a handsome young man, she could understand.
But why was there another girl around her age, too? What could that signify?
Could it be... that she actually wanted to share a boyfriend?
That's ridiculous.
"Hey, snap out of it."
Ye Xing snapped his fingers right in front of Mitsuha Miyamizu's face with a sharp crack, pulling her out of her wild thoughts.
Only then did Mitsuha Miyamizu clearly see the strands of red thread floating before her.
"This is..."
Mitsuha Miyamizu was all too familiar with this particular style of red thread.
Wasn't this the very spiritual object the Miyamizu family had used for generations in rituals to honour that deity?
Why was it here?
"This is the guide I've arranged for you."
The red thread paid no attention to the confused Mitsuha and instead communicated directly with Ye Xing.
After forming these words for a few seconds, it gradually dispersed and reformed into a new sentence.
"I originally planned for Hitoha to be most suitable, but I thought you'd prefer Mitsuha, so please! I'll be waiting at the shrine."
After saying this, the red thread quickly vanished, leaving behind only a bewildered Mitsuha Miyamizu sitting there and a surprised Hina Amano.
"Was that just now..."
"Yes, a deity."
Ye Xing nodded slightly, pointing towards Mitsuha Miyamizu's spiritual form across from them as he introduced, with a smile.
"The very deity that this Miyamizu Mitsuha's shrine maiden family has served and prayed to for protection across generations."
Hina Amano's lips parted slightly, at a complete loss for words.
Her first thought was...
They're both deities, but isn't the difference between them just too great!?
One was using all of Japan's weather as leverage, trying to make her become a living sacrifice.
The other was going out of their way to please Ye Xing, even going so far as to summon a divine messenger to serve as a guide.
Most importantly...
They could even act cute!?
Truly, there are differences even among deities.
"Hello, Miyamizu-san, I'm Hina Amano, and he's Ye Xing."
Hina Amano leaned forward with a polite smile, extending her hand towards Mitsuha Miyamizu.
Though still completely bewildered about what was happening, the latter reached out and shook her hand.
"Hello..."
Then Hina Amano turned to look at Ye Xing beside her, her expression complicated as she said.
"Let me guess - you've made some kind of deal with that deity protecting Itomori Town?"
"Correct."
"What do they want you to do?"
"Nothing too major."
Ye Xing waved his hand dismissively with a light laugh.
"Just saving Itomori Town from the impact of a meteorite from space."
"Oh... huh?"
Hina Amano responded automatically at first, then processed what he'd said, her pupils contracting in shock as she said incredulously.
"Meteorite impact? The meteorite you're talking about... wouldn't happen to be the kind that falls from space, would it?"
Ye Xing rolled his eyes, saying irritably.
"Thank you, Amano-san, for explaining the definition of a meteorite to me again. Though it wasn't particularly helpful, I appreciate the effort."
Hina Amano didn't show any trace of amusement at Ye Xing's words; instead, she wore a deeply complicated expression, her lips trembling slightly as she struggled to find words.
A meteorite from space?
Are you serious?
Hina Amano knew that Ye Xing was the strongest among all the ability users in the Supernatural Society, possibly even stronger than all the other members combined.
But... to confront a meteorite impact capable of destroying an entire town?
This was completely insane!
This wasn't evil spirits or spectres.
That was a natural disaster!!!
How did the dinosaurs go extinct? Do you have no clue, Ye Xing?
Hina Amano desperately wanted to voice all these thoughts in her heart.
But when she saw Ye Xing's utterly calm expression, she couldn't utter a single word.
"Mitsuha."
Ye Xing looked towards Mitsuha Miyamizu, who was still dazed and sitting opposite, and asked with a smile.
"By the way, how do we get into your Itomori Town?"
"Ah? Oh, that..."
Mitsuha Miyamizu snapped back to reality, watching the scenery flying past outside the window, and murmured in reply.
"The Shinkansen doesn't go directly into the town - it's a mountain town after all. After you get off at the station, walk a few hundred meters forward, there's a bus stop with buses going to and from the town."
"Riiight."
Ye Xing nodded seriously, then immediately added.
"I didn't listen to a single word of that. Just lead the way."
"Eh? Me lead the way? But..."
Looking at Mitsuha Miyamizu's flustered expression, Ye Xing remarked.
"I see you completely don't understand the current situation. Right now, you're just a spirit."
"Hah!?"
Mitsuha Miyamizu's expression changed dramatically. She stood up abruptly, looking down at her own hands in disbelief.
"I... died?"
"Not exactly died. You're just helping guide the way. When we return to Itomori Town, you can return to your own body."
At this point, Ye Xing pointed towards the other passengers in the carriage.
"See how you were shouting just now? Did anyone notice you? That's because ordinary people can't observe spirits."
Mitsuha Miyamizu froze, looking at Ye Xing and Hina Amano before her.
"Then you two... why can you see me?"
Hearing this question, Hina Amano also froze.
She suddenly realised something.
That's right, why could she see Mitsuha Miyamizu as a spirit, and those red threads floating in the air?
Although she had the ability to control the weather to clear up or bring heavy rain, she wasn't like Rio Futaba, Miko Yotsuya and the others who had awakened Soul Materialisation abilities - not a true psychic in that sense.
So why could she perform... using Rio Futaba's terminology, observation?
"Because we're psychics, Stand users, exorcists, Onmyoji, vanguards fighting against the strange, Persona ability holders, lifelong enemies of Japan's famous swords, Phantom Thieves of Hearts, genin of Konoha, Devil Fruit ability users, Zanpakuto wielders..."
"Interpret it however you want. Just know that we don't fall into the category of ordinary people."
Mitsuha Miyamizu was completely bewildered.
But as someone from a shrine maiden family, her ability to accept such things was clearly much higher than that of ordinary people.
Given the current situation, it was possible she had received a summons from the gods.
The purpose was...
Leading the two people before her, she welcomed them into Itomori Town.
Mitsuha Miyamizu's heart was filled with mixed emotions, but judging from Ye Xing's meaning, it seemed he had reached some kind of deal with the deity her family's shrine had worshipped for generations - a matter that concerned the safety of the entire Itomori Town. She couldn't afford to dwell on other things now.
"Alright, I'll lead the way for you."
Just as Mitsuha Miyamizu's words fell, she suddenly noticed the sky outside the window growing dark.
Rain poured down from the sky onto the ground, and even though she couldn't hear the sound through the window, she could imagine the intensity of the downpour.
Moreover, the rain was visibly growing heavier at an alarming rate.
"This is..."
Hina Amano frowned slightly, speaking softly to Ye Xing.
"This isn't my doing."
"I know."
Ye Xing rested his right arm on the surface, supporting his cheek with one hand as if sitting in a Sobu High School classroom, watching outside the window with a light laugh.
"It seems someone is getting desperate."
Hina Amano knew Ye Xing was referring to the deity controlling the weather, and couldn't help showing concern on her face.
"And you can still laugh about it?"
"This is something worth being happy about."
"Worth being happy? Are you being abstract again?"
"Not this time."
Ye Xing shook his head with a smile, speaking slowly.
"Their desperation means that our target for this trip truly exists within Itomori Town. This is just a cornered rat's last struggle, nothing to worry about."
Hina Amano sighed softly, thinking to herself that if it were just an ordinary person's desperate struggle, that would be one thing.
But now the one being cornered was a truly powerful being capable of influencing the weather across the entire Japan, whether you called it a deity or evil spirits.
Would such a being's hostility manifest only as heavy rain?
Hina Amano's heart grew increasingly heavy.
...
When the train arrived at the platform, Hina Amano surveyed the remote surroundings and the vast, endless wilderness beyond, completely stunned.
"This... Is Itomori Town even more remote than this place?"
Mitsuha Miyamizu patted Hina Amano's shoulder with a look of understanding.
"It's normal for someone from the big city to feel unaccustomed at first."
Mitsuha Miyamizu sighed, a complex expression appearing in her eyes as she murmured to herself.
"Even I haven't gotten used to it yet..."
Looking at the continuous heavy rain outside the platform, Mitsuha Miyamizu frowned deeply, turning to Ye Xing and Hina Amano.
"With rain this heavy, driving on mountain roads would be very dangerous. The bus to town must have stopped. What should we do now?"
"What a bother..."
Ye Xing's face showed a hint of laziness as he murmured to himself.
"If only Futaba were here. It's been so long since I've had to think properly, it's too troublesome."
Then, looking at the intensifying storm outside the platform, he said in a calm tone.
"Based on that fellow's capabilities, maintaining this scale of rainfall for one day, or even four or five consecutive days, would be completely effortless."
Having said this, Ye Xing asked Mitsuha Miyamizu.
"Under such heavy rain, can the roads connecting your Itomori Town to the outside world hold up for that long?"
"Well..."
Mitsuha Miyamizu thought for a moment, but ultimately shook her head.
"I'm not entirely certain, but to my knowledge, Itomori Town has never experienced rainfall of this magnitude. If it continues for long, the roads connecting to the outside world will certainly be cut off, and there's an even more serious possibility..."
Mitsuha Miyamizu gazed into the distance, her eyes fixed on the faintly visible mountain peaks at the horizon, her expression filled with concern as she spoke.
"Rain of this scale, if it truly continues for four or five days - no, even just one or two days - would very likely trigger mountain floods. At that point, it wouldn't just be about roads being cut off anymore."
"I was thinking the same thing."
Ye Xing nodded, then immediately turned to address the empty space beside him.
"You should come out and think of something, shouldn't you? If Itomori Town gets destroyed by floods before the meteor even falls, then everything you've done would be meaningless, right?"
As if responding to him, those crimson threads reappeared, quickly forming a sentence.
"My power doesn't lie in this area. I do have the ability to protect the immediate vicinity of Itomori Town, but doing so would likely consume too much energy, leaving me unable to provide the answers you seek."
"Is that so?"
Ye Xing nodded noncommittally, not believing that this deity who had always been friendly and protective of Itomori Town was deliberately pretending to be weak.
What the other said was probably true.
Was Itomori Town's deity powerful?
In a certain sense, yes.
After all, this was the being who could make two humans from different timelines swap bodies, thereby changing Itomori Town's doomed fate and saving thousands of human lives - an achievement of immeasurable merit.
But when it came to interfering with reality, this deity was completely outmatched by that evil god who could manipulate the weather across all of Japan.
Looking at it from another perspective...
Was it that Itomori Town's deity couldn't affect reality as severely as the weather-manipulating evil god?
Or was it that beings who could influence reality and endanger human lives would inevitably become what we call evil gods?
Ye Xing decided to leave this question for the Supernatural Society's chief strategist, Rio Futaba, to ponder.
'Better to be lazy when you can,' he thought, 'it's not that important anyway.'
"BUT!!!"
Though the crimson threads couldn't produce sound, the suddenly accelerated pace of word formation and the three exclamation marks following this phrase clearly conveyed an excited shift in tone.
"If at this moment, there were a hero - a truly powerful, handsome, flawless, supreme chosen hero..."
As the red threads formed these words, they simultaneously arranged themselves into the silhouette of a figure wearing a coat and mask nearby, as if hinting at someone present.
"If such a hero were willing to exert just a little effort while heading to Itomori Town, to drain some of the enemy's power, then I could dispel all anomalies around Itomori Town while still retaining enough strength to assist this hero!"
Seeing this lengthy message and the accompanying silhouette, Hina Amano looked utterly speechless. She glanced at Ye Xing beside her, pursed her lips and said:
"Well, they're clearly talking about you, blowing your trumpet to high heaven. Care to respond, oh supreme chosen hero?"
Under the expectant and curious gazes of Hina Amano and Mitsuha Miyamizu, Ye Xing didn't hesitate for even a moment, merely looking up at the red thread floating in mid-air as he spoke with laughter in his voice.
"So you're saying, as long as I eliminate all obstacles encountered on the way to Itomori Town, it's equivalent to weakening that guy's power, and you can regain control over this area, right?"
"As expected of you, instantly understanding my meaning. I deeply admire your extraordinary wisdom from the bottom of my heart, it's simply like..."
Ye Xing raised his hand, stopping the rapidly dancing red thread that was trying to flatter him.
"That's enough. If you lick too much, I might just eat you, too."
"I'm sorry, I was wrong."
Watching the words formed by the red thread, which displayed such humble abstraction, Mitsuha Miyamizu's mouth twitched involuntarily, her expression extremely complex as she didn't know how to evaluate it.
Her grandmother, and her grandmother's grandmother - the deity worshipped by so many generations of Miyamizu shrine maidens - turned out to be like this?
Thinking of the Miyamizu Shrine's historical rituals and the traditional, solemn shrine maiden worship ceremonies...
At the same time, Mitsuha Miyamizu couldn't help but feel somewhat curious about Ye Xing, whom she was only meeting for the second time today.
What kind of abilities did he possess that would make a genuine deity plead with him in such a tone?
Just then, the red thread in mid-air suddenly vibrated, quickly forming two characters.
"Be careful"
This time, the red thread didn't even have time to form punctuation marks before abruptly dissipating into the air.
Before Mitsuha Miyamizu and Hina Amano could react, they heard heavy footsteps from all around them.
"They're here..."
Ye Xing looked towards the hundreds of evil spirits hidden within the rain curtain, their true forms unclear but their twisted pupils visible, his eyes revealing long-unseen excitement.
"Coming to my doorstep saves me quite a bit of trouble."