Miko

The stone steps climbing up the mountain had been built so long ago that no one knew exactly when.

The mottled moss on the stone steps looked like a special kind of pattern, but Boss Luo and Maid Miss both knew that these steps were not gemstones.

After passing through the vermilion Torii Gate and climbing roughly a hundred more steps, they finally reached the end of the extremely long staircase.

The sun had yet to rise from among the mountains, but the sky was already faintly bright. After finally reaching the mountainside where the shrine stood, Luo Qiu looked back... The village below had already become tiny.

The shrine looked much as Luo Qiu had imagined, without much deviation. A box had been placed in front, probably for collecting the offerings from worshippers. To the left was a wooden railing covered with many wooden plaques.

New Year's wishes.

Every New Year, the villagers of Waseda Village came to worship, then wrote down their wishes for the coming year and hung them here. Luo Qiu seemed quite interested, so he walked straight to the railing and examined them carefully.

Dawn gradually arrived.

Early morning was usually the quietest time. Yet some birds that lived in groups in the mountain forests suddenly rose into the sky in flocks from the distant woods.

"That's a lot of crows." You Ye watched them fly away, seeming somewhat displeased.

After all, the crows' cries were nowhere near as pleasant as orioles, and in people's ingrained perceptions, they seemed to represent ominous things. But to the club's Boss and Maid, there was no such thing as an omen. So... the only way to describe them was as not particularly beautiful.

Luo Qiu merely smiled. After reading the wishes written on the plaques hanging from the