"Aranara, your boss has successfully found a job. No refusing, I'm treating you to bubble tea!"
Arataki Itto strode to the shop entrance with an air of triumph, flashed a proud smile at Kuki Shinobu, and then turned to his colleague, Tora.
"Tora, one Slime Jelly Bubble Tea, iced, full sugar!"
This was the first time he was paying for someone else's bubble tea. Arataki Itto felt that with his financial standing, there was no need for installments; he could just ask Boss Feng Yi for a month's salary advance later.
While ordering, Arataki Itto considered many details.
Because it was hot, he bought it cold.
As for full sugar, Arataki Itto stated that the bubble tea shop's discounts were too good to pass up.
Half sugar cost the same. So, for the same price, he got twice the sugar, wasn't that a bargain?
'Hahahaha... As expected of this great me, a genius!'
Arataki Itto silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
"Ah, this..."
Kuki Shinobu frowned. Bubble tea had so much sugar, and drinking it would definitely lead to weight gain.
As a young woman, she cared a lot about her figure. She was truly defeated by her boss's peculiar thought process.
"Mr. Feng Yi, you're back? Guuji Yae was just mentioning your name!"
Just then, a shrine maiden from Grand Narukami Shrine, Nanami, arrived at the Puffy Bubble Tea Shop. Seeing Feng Yi there, she showed a surprised expression.
"Oh, it's the shrine maiden. Is there something you need here?"
Feng Yi smiled. He was familiar with this shrine maiden.
Nanami was either supervising Sayu's work or on her way to supervise Sayu's work.
It could be said that she was one of the people Sayu wanted to avoid the most.
"Guuji Yae orders a cup of bubble tea from Puffy Bubble Tea Shop every morning. Usually, Sayu is responsible for the delivery, but today Sayu is on a mission, so this duty has fallen to me..."
Nanami spread her hands. Who knew she'd lose at rock-paper-scissors?
This errand had fallen upon her.
"It's been a few days since I visited Grand Narukami Shrine. Once I'm done with my current tasks, I'll go see the Guuji and help her sort out her worries."
Feng Yi thought of the little fox's fluffy tail and said with a hint of eagerness.
Nanami placed her order, and her gaze suddenly fell upon a figure behind Arataki Itto.
That green-haired girl, looking panicked and trying to hide behind Arataki Itto, looked so familiar.
"Is that Aranara?"
Nanami asked tentatively.
"Sister Nanamichi, what... what a coincidence. I didn't expect to see you here."
It was as if a lightning bolt had struck behind Kuki Shinobu's head. She deflated like a leaky balloon, all her strength gone.
Since she had been recognized, there was no point in hiding any longer.
As if resigned, Kuki Shinobu emerged from behind Arataki Itto, a slightly awkward but polite smile on her face.
If there was anyone she least wanted to encounter, it would be a shrine maiden from Grand Narukami Shrine.
The matter dated back several years. The Kuki family was a long-standing lineage of shrine maidens, proud to serve Narukami for generations.
When it came to her generation, there was no exception.
After her elder sister, Yuki, entered the shrine, the young Kuki was also sent to Grand Narukami Shrine early for an apprenticeship.
Along with the family honor came a lengthy list of rules: fasting for several days to show sincerity and resolve, bathing a certain number of times to avoid disrespecting the divine might...
No one had explained to her where these rules came from or how they were established, only that it had always been this way and she should follow them.
Upon her arrival at the shrine, Kuki Shinobu contracted a cold from sleeping on the mountaintop.
At that time, her family was far from the shrine, and her sister was also away on an external assignment.
Having been strong-willed since childhood, she didn't seek help from other shrine maidens. Instead, she climbed the mountain alone, picking thorny plants one by one and weaving them into a circlet to wear around herself.
According to a certain legend, such a feat would surely earn Narukami's protection and dispel illness.
So, she wore the thorny grass circlet, silently reciting prayers to Narukami for protection, and shivered through the night.
However, after a night passed, apart from a tingly red rash on her body, her cold showed no signs of improvement.
In the days that followed, Kuki Shinobu discovered time and again that many rules were not as immutable as the elders claimed, and the job of a shrine maiden was not as indispensable as her family described.
Therefore, did the rule that one must become a shrine maiden simply because they were born into the Kuki family also need reconsideration?
Years later, she had long left the shrine.
One day, with nothing better to do, she flipped through a pharmacology book.
It vividly described how the thorny grass on the mountain had paralytic effects, capable of immobilizing birds and beasts.
Based on its properties, ancient people had used it as medicine to alleviate external pain.
What could one say...
Kuki Shinobu thought that various rules might have their own logic, but treating the rules themselves as logic was indeed out of step with the times.
Thinking about it, she couldn't help but feel secretly fortunate: her current life was much happier.
Although she had left Grand Narukami Shrine a long time ago, the deeply ingrained prejudices accumulated over generations were not easily dispelled. Until she achieved something to prove herself, Kuki Shinobu had been cautiously avoiding the shrine maidens of Grand Narukami Shrine to prevent awkwardness.
She never expected that after years of caution, she would falter today.
"Hah, it really is Aranara. Long time no see. Your sister was just talking about you a few days ago. Come back to Grand Narukami Shrine more often; everyone misses you..."
Nanami's eyes twinkled with a smile as she looked at the grown Kuki Shinobu.
Her memory of Kuki Shinobu was of a child who loved to follow her sister, extremely diligent but not outwardly smiling, and unaffected by anyone trying to tease her.
But later, for some unknown reason, Kuki Shinobu resigned from her apprenticeship and left Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Haha, is that so? I'll try my best, um, try my best..."
Kuki Shinobu responded nervously. Unless the world was ending, she had no desire to return to Grand Narukami Shrine.
"Aranara? You were a shrine maiden at Grand Narukami Shrine before? Hahahaha... You're quite the hidden talent! Shrine maiden sister, could you tell us some stories about Aranara's childhood? It must be very interesting!"
Arataki Itto suddenly became interested. He never knew that the astute and capable Aranara had once been a shrine maiden! It was true that you couldn't judge a book by its cover!
Could it be that Aranara was just as stern and serious when she was a shrine maiden?
It seemed quite amusing...
"I'm sorry, Sister Nanami, I just remembered I left the bonfire at home unattended. I have to go back immediately. We'll talk next time. Boss, let's go!"
Kuki Shinobu's face beneath her mask flushed crimson. She quickly pulled Arataki Itto away.
"Wait, Aranara, you haven't picked up your bubble tea yet..."