Editing The Unexplored Summon Blood Sign:Volume7 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 2===

“Sweep, sweep.”

Meinokawa Renge, a shrine maiden with long black hair, moved a bamboo broom in front of a vermilion torii. Houbi Village was #53 on the Top 100 Sights on the Archipelago – New Edition. It was also known for its water, both hot and cold. That might make it sound like a busy place, but it was actually a village in decline. It made a decent amount of money from the leisure-seeking tourists visiting the ocean during the summer and the mountains during the winter, but that did not actually increase the population. The village was not protected by the government like an Italian world heritage site, but they could not build a large shopping mall when they were required to maintain the beautiful scenery. That meant the only lifeline for shopping was to use the internet to order things from outside the village. This had actually freed the declining shopping district from having to provide the infrastructure for people’s daily lives, so the shop managers had gone with their own personal interests instead of worrying about profit, creating an odd bit of activity there.

Ever since it was announced the village would die in another three years, they had done their best to hang on and that had lasted for more than twenty years by this point. That was how Renge saw the village.

The Meinokawa Shrine was more on the mountain side than the ocean side. Simply put, it was at the base of the mountains that approached the village. The area was filled with straight cedar trees that had been brought in as some kind of fad long ago, so every spring it became a dangerous area that earned the ire of all the nearby residents caught in the fierce storm of pollen.

“Whoops.”

When she heard the distant melody of the radio exercise music, she could tell it really was summer break.

“The stamp. Don’t forget the stamp, miss.”

“After we eat breakfast, let’s all meet up at Yuuta’s house!!”

“How can you focus on having fun when you haven’t finished your homework yet?”

The Meinokawa Shrine where Renge lived was only a small shrine that had been completely forgotten by the region (even by the damned offering thieves). A much larger shrine located right on the road had grown much more popular, so the people of the village would probably think of that one first. That was the one they gave offerings to at New Year’s and it was where the small children gathered for the radio exercise.

Renge felt a little sad at being overshadowed by it, but it did not damage her pride.

(Well, it would be selfish to feel too sad when we ''intentionally used it to hide our presence''.)

The concept of ''goushi'' existed in Shinto.

That referred to a shrine that constructed more than one building to enshrine multiple gods. This would sometimes happen when the enshrined gods were quite similar or another shrine had declined to the point that it had to join with a larger shrine in the area.

The Meinokawa Shrine was one of those.

In other words, it was all one large shrine. Theirs was the true shrine and the giant shrine placed conspicuously out front was no more than a decoy.

The Meinokawa Shrine, which followed the Summoning Ceremony and enshrined their ''secret god'', called itself a shrine out of custom, but it was technically not a religious facility that enshrined any of this nation’s myriad gods that were said to live in Takama-ga-Hara. They were registered as a religious organization, but the odds were high the normal people at the government office had completely forgotten about the registration document.

Even before the discovery of the Third Summoning Ceremony in 1999, this secret organization had used ancient traditions and folklore to predict the existence of beings beyond the gods and had trusted their instincts as they enshrined those beings despite there being no religious system or culture behind it.

Even when Shimabara was oppressed and the roadside Jizou were decapitated in the wave of anti-Buddhism, history was built up by those who maintained their purity in the face of that religious persecution on the surface. Since they had taken this form in the end, there was unlikely to be any greater form for them to take. Or so Meinokawa Renge believed.

(Not that I can celebrate the result when the secret god our ancestors worked so hard to protect ''is that white thing''. Well, I’m not about to mock the belief in their hearts.)

No matter how it had begun, the Meinokawa Shrine remained to this day and Renge now held a bamboo broom there. That was a declining but solemn territory cut off from all worldly thoughts. It might look like a silly miniature garden from the outside, but Renge was thankful she could fill her lungs with that air. It was not simply passing all this down for generations that qualified as a miracle. The number of coincidences she had to thank ''for her very unique birth into this world'' was astronomical.

And as that black-haired shrine maiden enjoyed the refreshing morning, a sudden “change” appeared before her.

The scent of the exact same soap wafted from the flushed faces and wet hair of the extremely inappropriate and worldly pair of a pessimistic boy and a waitress demon.

It was Shiroyama Kyousuke and Biondetta.

They approached while looking like they had gotten into some kind of trouble while no one was looking…or rather, they were covered in the side effects of having shared a room and bathroom.

[[Image:BloodSign_v07_062.jpg|thumb]]

The sacred ground was destroyed!

“Finally, a familiar face. If Renge is here, this must be the Meinokawa Shrine.”

“Pant, pant. Sir, even if it’s early morning, it’s still midsummer. Heading out immediately after taking a hot shower was a mistake. The heat is trapped inside my clothes.”

Biondetta casually grabbed the chest of her waitress outfit and fanned herself with it.

Renge had not taken a bath, but her cheeks were the reddest ones there.

Her eyes spun in their sockets.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what!!!???”

“?”

“Why!? This is a shrine! You’ll be cursed if you show up here after clearly taking a shower together and looking like you’ve cleared some major milestone!!!!!”

“Biondetta, what is she trying to say?”

“Pant, pant. I’m so overheated that my mind is refusing to work, so don’t expect much from me…”

When she saw Biondetta collapse down with her legs limply turned inwards (and while producing lots of heated breaths and sweet sweat), Renge’s confusion reached a critical point.

“Don’t think I can’t understand this! Girls can pick up on these subtle changes! My conclusion is the only way to explain why a young boy and girl smell like the same soap!! Awawawawawawah!!”

“Soap? Oh, the hotel’s.”

“Hotelllll!!!???”

The supplied soap and shampoo would be the same whether they rented a single double room or double single rooms, so Kyousuke simply tilted his head to ask, “What’s your point?”

Meanwhile, the pure black-haired shrine maiden could not stop her imagination from running wild with her completely mistaken conclusion, but she lacked the experience needed to imagine the crucial details.

“I-I can’t let Higan see this! I can’t let Higan see what has become of this defiled strongest idiot!!”

“Rengeeee, did you just call for me?”

“Higiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!! S-stay away, Higaaaaan!!!!!”