When Uesugi Tetsu Comes, I'll Leave! Fushimi Inari's Gatekeepers Are All Six-tailed Foxes

Ririko silently stared at the woman standing at the entrance with both hands in her pockets.

"You're looking for Uesugi-kun? You have something important to tell him?"

"And it can only be told to him?"

Ririko prided herself on understanding Uesugi Tetsu very well.

From his ordinary days until now, aside from a few minor secrets they both tacitly agreed not to ask about, she knew almost everything that had happened to him. She could even recount it all, piece by piece, from beginning to end.

Conversely, Uesugi Tetsu was the same toward her.

But she had no impression of the narrow-eyed woman currently looking down at her.

Not only did she have no impression of her, she could say with certainty that she had never seen this woman before—not in any situation.

Yet [Kenshin] told her that every word this woman spoke was completely true, without the slightest falsehood.

Everything about this matter gave off a strange feeling...

"I know you, Tokugawa Ririko."

Okabe Motonobu suddenly spoke, breaking the icy silence at the entrance.

But even though she did her best to keep her voice calm, Ririko could still hear a trace of hostility toward her.

This hostility was not because Ririko had offended the woman somewhere. It stemmed from some more fundamental reason.

Ririko grew even more puzzled.

She was certain that there was no such person in her memories.

Okabe Motonobu continued,

"During the Seed Battle, when you said onstage that Uesugi Tetsu was yours, I was sitting in the audience below watching."

"A spectator?"

"A fanatical fan of Uesugi Tetsu's immense strength? Did she even follow him home?"

Ririko frowned.

It didn't seem that way.

When the woman mentioned "Uesugi Tetsu," there wasn't the slightest trace of admiration or anticipation in her eyes. Instead, they were