"And me! Me, I'm Paimon."
Paimon hurriedly introduced herself as well, worried they might mistake her for some pet or food again.
"Raiden... Mei..."
The shrine maiden seemed quite calm around the others, but when she heard Raiden Mei's name, she paused slightly. It was unclear what she had thought of, but she quickly regained her composure.
"Hello. My name is Hanachirusato."
"Hanachirusato..."
Mei studied her curiously, though unfortunately, she could not see what she looked like. Wearing a mask like that, she was probably beautiful, right?
Still, Mei had no intention of asking her to remove it outright. If she wanted to, she would take it off herself. There was no need to be forceful.
"Regarding the barrier..."
The shrine maiden named Hanachirusato looked at Mei and Lumine before her, seemingly concerned about whether they wished to continue. She could not force them.
"Fine, leave it to me!"
Lumine could hardly refuse at this point. It was on the way anyway, and the village ahead should be the place, right? She had done this sort of thing plenty of times. It had practically become a habit.
She would feel somewhat guilty if she did not help.
"Thank you very much. I will prepare a reward afterward."
Seeing Lumine accept, Hanachirusato relaxed. As expected... her instincts had not been wrong. She had not misjudged them. This traveler was an outstanding person. In her hands, the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual could be resolved perfectly.
"We can talk about the reward later!"
This time, Lumine was not particularly concerned about any reward. She turned to look at Raiden Mei and Kujou Sara beside her, then spoke after thinking it over.
"Mei, if you don't want to come along, you can go wait for me in Inazuma City first."
This was a task