A breakthrough

"The most important thing when praying to Buddha isn't the gestures. It's sincerity."

"They say sincere prayers are answered. If you aren't sincere... well, we've burned several sticks of incense already, so it should work pretty well anyway."

"Mm-hmm... is that how it works?"

"That's right."

The fox girl solemnly pressed her palms together and bowed three times before the Buddha statue whose name she didn't know, whispering to the cat girl beside her.

Nan Jiayu had no idea whether that was really how praying to Buddha worked, but since Tianqing said so, she would take her word for it.

Silently reciting every wish she could think of, Nan Jiayu copied the motions and bowed three times to the statue. Just as she was about to leave the hall with the fox girl, they both looked up and spotted a sign introducing it—

They hadn't made out the rest yet, but they did see the hall's name: [Matchmaking Hall].

"...Huh?"

A puzzled fox, a puzzled cat.

Realization dawned on the fox girl, while the cat girl looked a little flustered.

Golden-Haired Fox Fox turned into an accessory dangling from the cat girl.

Nan Jiayu had no idea why this temple attraction had a Matchmaking Hall halfway up the mountain, nor whether praying here actually worked. Still, judging by Tianqing's delighted expression beside her, perhaps it really did have some effect? She didn't quite understand.

"Chirp chirp, was that all the time you spent in the Matchmaking Hall?"

Sparrow Dad was taking selfies on the steps outside the hall. Spotting the cat and fox in his shot, he quickly hopped around to face them.

"Yes. Isn't a quick prayer enough?" Nan Jiayu asked in confusion. "Are there other rules for praying in the Matchmaking Hall?"

"Loads! Hehe, I know quite a