Oreki Is Back! It's All Because You're Here! (continued)

"..." Mitsuha.

Was that really something someone who'd been standing in a lake should say?

"Are you a tourist?"

Mitsuha asked.

"...Probably," Oreki nodded. "I came here four years ago..."

"But looking at it now, the surroundings don't seem to have changed much," Oreki said. "This lake is still so beautiful."

"Most people who come here say that."

Mitsuha said, "But it'd be a lie to say nothing's changed."

"A lot has been developed over the past four years, and Itomori Lake has already become a tourist spot."

"And today, I'm cleaning up trash."

Mitsuha said.

Oreki noticed a bag and a pair of tongs set off to one side, with some empty cans inside.

They had probably been thrown away by tourists.

Oh.

This was the tragedy of the environment.

Opening it up might bring garbage with it.

"But winter's about to set in now, so visitors don't really like coming. Why did you come here?" Mitsuha asked again.

"Actually." Oreki had originally wanted to say he had come to look for Takari, but asking about her in front of Mitsuha felt a little awkward, so he changed his wording and said, "I'm searching for a god."

"A god?"

Mitsuha was the shrine maiden of the Miyamizu family.

And the Miyamizu family enshrined a shrine and worshipped a sacred object.

So she was very sensitive to this topic.

"I want to know whether there are any gods here," Oreki said.

"..." Mitsuha.

As a shrine maiden, even Mitsuha herself was not sure. "If you want to know, you can ask my grandma."

She said, "Grandma might know."

Oreki had already asked her that long ago.

But as Mitsuha spoke, she looked as if she was going to lead Oreki toward her home, so Oreki still followed behind her.

On