There’s Something Off About Your Omamori, Isn’t There?

In Shibuya Park in the early morning, sunlight filtered through the leaves on the treetops and sprinkled onto the path made of small crushed stones, appearing dappled with colors.

It seemed to have rained last night; a faint scent of soil still lingered in the air.

Following the small path forward, passing through the torii gate, she arrived outside that old shrine again.

Kazakami Ritsu took out her phone and sent a message to the senior who had asked her out.

[ArashiRinEnGaku: I’ve arrived. Senior, where are you?] (Read)

As soon as the message showed delivered, the word “Read” appeared after the chat bubble.

[World’s Number One Female Lead: Wait a moment in the courtyard, I’ll be out right away.] (Read)

Receiving the reply from that senior, Kazakami Ritsu stepped into the courtyard.

In the center of the courtyard was a huge sacred tree. Kazakami Ritsu walked all the way under that sacred tree but didn’t see the figure of the previous shrine maiden.

Looking up at the sacred tree, this tree looked older than the shrine itself.

However, why did that senior specifically ask to meet here?

Thinking this, Kazakami Ritsu turned her head and looked around.

Just as Kazakami Ritsu was glancing around randomly, the originally tightly closed main door of the shrine hall slowly opened outward.

Umemiya Hiro, draped in a chihaya embroidered with bird patterns, wearing a white kosode and scarlet hakama, appeared inside the door.

“Sorry, the preparation took a little longer.”

Umemiya Hiro, dressed as a shrine maiden, smiled and apologized to Kazakami Ritsu, who was already stunned on the spot, after walking out of the main hall.

‘Why… is Senior dressed like this!’

Kazakami Ritsu, who hadn’t figured out the situation yet, faced Umemiya Hiro walking slowly toward her and didn’t know what kind of reaction she should make.

“What’s wrong? Is it… very strange?”

Seeing Kazakami Ritsu not saying a word, Umemiya Hiro looked down at her cumbersome attire with some confusion.

This was the outfit she specifically borrowed from that shrine maiden lady, though she wasn’t sure if it suited her.

“Not very strange, just that I didn’t expect Senior to appear in this way.”

Kazakami Ritsu explained to Umemiya Hiro, then looked away elsewhere.

‘What kind of strange play is this… This guy isn’t plotting something again, is she?’

Hearing these words, Umemiya Hiro breathed a sigh of relief, and a joyful smile appeared on her face again.

“That’s good. Let’s go, I’ll take you to purify your hands.”

Watching Umemiya Hiro, who had completely entered the shrine maiden role, Kazakami Ritsu had no choice but to play along with her performance.

On the way to the temizuya (water purification pavilion), the two started bickering as usual.

“So, Junior-san, do you have any worries in your heart?”

“Can a shrine maiden perform the functions of a nun? Shouldn’t you be selling me omamori (amulets) or shuin (stamps)?”

“How mean… Kazakami, you really seem to have no reverence for gods at all.”

“Uh, how should I put it… you can’t say that either.”

Kazakami Ritsu was somewhat helpless; she didn’t know what exactly her thoughts were either.

Arriving at the temizuya on one side of the courtyard, she completed the purification with Umemiya Hiro’s help.

The two returned to the main hall. The older shrine maiden had appeared in the main hall at some point.

“The ema (wooden plaques) are ready. What wishes would you two like to write on them?”

Hearing the shrine maiden’s words, Umemiya Hiro glanced at Kazakami Ritsu, seeming to think of something.

She coughed twice and spoke, pretending to be natural.

“Kazakami, how about we write for each other?”

Umemiya Hiro’s proposal made Kazakami Ritsu raise an eyebrow, but she had no objection to it.

Thus, the two began to ponder the messages for each other on the triangular ema brought out by the shrine maiden.

Kazakami Ritsu held the brush, and after a slight thought, she wrote a paragraph seriously.

[May Senior Umemiya have everything go smoothly, and have peace and joy every day from now on.]

After writing these characters in a font that could be called chicken scratch, Kazakami Ritsu put down the brush and looked at Umemiya Hiro opposite her.

On the ema in front of Umemiya Hiro, a line of elegant handwriting had already appeared.

[Wishing Junior Kazakami Ritsu can perform even more diligently in the future, adhere to her original heart, and be indomitable.]

Seeing the four big characters “Indomitable” at the end of the message, Kazakami Ritsu couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.

‘Indomitable…? What does this mean?’

Before she could think much, Umemiya Hiro’s voice rang in her ear.

“Done writing. Let’s go hang them up.”

Kazakami Ritsu nodded and followed the shrine maiden with Umemiya Hiro to the ema collection rack on the side of the main hall.

A few scattered ema hung on the rack, probably worries encountered by nearby residents.

The content on those ema were some trivial emotional matters and daily life trifles.

Kazakami Ritsu stood on tiptoe, wanting to hang the ema as high as she could reach.

Umemiya Hiro looked at the scene before her, a special luster flickering in her eyes.

It wasn’t until Kazakami Ritsu finished hanging the ema that she revealed a mischievous smile and handed her own ema over.

“Sorry, these clothes make it a bit hard to move… Can you hang ours together?”

‘Hey! If you know it’s hard to move, why did you dress up as a shrine maiden specifically!’

After slandering in her heart, Kazakami Ritsu still took the ema handed by Umemiya Hiro and stood on tiptoe again.

‘Children nowadays have such good relationships. I hope this friendship can last forever.’

The shrine maiden watched the interaction between the two and lamented in her heart with a face full of gratification.

After hanging the ema, Kazakami Ritsu walked into the main hall with Umemiya Hiro under the guidance of the shrine maiden.

After making an offering, Umemiya Hiro greeted them and went to the staff lounge to change clothes.

The shrine maiden took out two exquisitely made omamori and handed them to Kazakami Ritsu.

“These two omamori are gifts for you two. I hope you can come here often in the future.”

Kazakami Ritsu took the two omamori handed by the shrine maiden, feeling somewhat flattered.

“This… thank you.”

The shrine maiden smiled slightly, looking at the courtyard outside the door.

“No need to thank me. Apart from nearby residents, only you two young people come here.”

” seeing your relationship is so good, I also feel very happy. After all, our shrine worships Totoro.”

Listening to the shrine maiden’s words, Kazakami Ritsu turned her head to look at the statue worshiped in the main hall.

The charmingly naive Totoro statue looked somewhat similar to the one in Miyazaki-san’s movie. In Japanese mythology, Totoro did seem to have authority related to friendship.

Kazakami Ritsu looked at that Totoro statue for a long time, then lowered her head to look at the omamori in her hand.

Looking at the exquisite patterns on the omamori, just as emotions of being moved rose in her heart, she turned her eyes and saw the words on the back.

Behind the pink omamori was written “Love,” and behind the white omamori was written “Career.”

‘Wait, th-this isn’t right, is it?’

‘Didn’t you say it’s a god related to friendship? Why do the omamori have nothing to do with that authority!’