Chapter 121: Mai Shinomiyai’s Past
Mai Shinomiyai felt that today was probably the unluckiest day of her life. No, it should be the beginning of the unluckiest day for all of Japan.
Looking at the pile of things wrapped in a special cloth bag in her hand, Mai Shinomiyai took out a charm from her pocket and placed it on the original charm, which had already dissipated halfway due to spontaneous combustion.
With the addition of two ten-thousand-yen bills from the young girl, the taxi driver drove the taxi at an extremely fast speed, passing through streets and speeding towards Reiyama Shrine in the suburbs.
Looking at the street scenes flashing rapidly outside the window, Mai Shinomiyai’s expression was a bit dazed. This was probably her unluckiest holiday. After finally escaping from the shrine under the pressure of her uncle’s training, she thought she could take advantage of coming here to study to relax properly from the supernatural things in her home.
As a result, when she came out for a walk from Aunt Kazumi’s house and went to the convenience store to buy something, she felt a very faint, but unforgettable aura.
Mai Shinomiyai’s spiritual perception was very high. Perhaps it was because the Shinomiyai family had been a lineage of divine officers since ancient times. From the age of three, Mai Shinomiyai showed extremely high spiritual perception talent. At three, she could see the souls on the cycle of reincarnation in the shrine. By five, she could directly communicate with the Shikigami summoned by her father. Even the Onmyoji families that had been fighting with the Shinomiyai family openly and secretly could not say anything negative about Mai Shinomiyai’s talent.
In fact, Mai Shinomiyai herself did not want this so-called spiritual perception talent at all. Perhaps in her childhood, Mai would have been proud of her uniqueness and praised by her elders, and satisfied with the power she gained from training.
But now, she probably truly understood that the greater the ability, the same weight of responsibility you carry.
If she had a choice, Mai would rather be an ordinary person with no abilities. In that case, perhaps her family could still live a happy and stable life…
The young girl still could not forget the huge shadow that enveloped the entire Kyoto when she was eight years old, and the disgusting aura that permeated the air.
The shrine was exceptionally busy during those days, with various uncles and aunts, whom Mai knew or didn’t know, arriving every day. There was even the tall and handsome uncle she often saw on TV, along with a group of heroes.
Young Mai did not understand what had happened, but her astonishing sixth sense told her that something big was about to happen. She obediently did not make a fuss, but quietly waited for her parents to return.
The meeting lasted for a whole night. When the sleepy girl opened her eyes in the early morning, she saw her parents returning, looking exhausted.
At that time, Mai did not know what was about to happen. She instinctively hugged her mother tightly and looked at her parents with a crying voice. Her innate talent had been constantly reminding her of the disaster about to befall her.
“Can’t Dad and Mom not go? Mai feels very… dangerous…”
This was the last sentence the young girl uttered with a crying voice, clutching her parents’ clothes stubbornly, as they were packing their belongings and preparing to leave.
“Dad is the strongest. If even Dad runs away, who will protect everyone? Dad promised to protect little Mai for a lifetime, so he will definitely come back this time!!”
This was the last sentence that the strongest Psychic of the Heian Era, and the chief Divine Officer of Reiyama Shrine at that time, her father, Shoichi Shinomiyai, said while patting her head in her memory.
As for the end of the story, what the young girl saw with her extremely high spiritual perception was the giant python that could swallow the entire Kyoto, the wandering souls drifting all over Kyoto, and the tall figure in the sky drawing the lightning that could split the firmament with its body.
And then, along with the people who returned victorious, were her parents’ belongings delivered to her.
Mai would probably never forget the appearance of that person. That hero who always saved others on TV, known as the “Symbol of Peace,” could not even save his own parents this time.
The intelligent girl understood long ago what these few objects in front of her represented. Or rather, at the moment her parents turned to leave, Mai had already anticipated this outcome.
The young girl cursed the blond uncle in front of her with all the vicious words she could think of. Finally, after getting tired from scolding and hitting, she burrowed into his arms and bit his arm fiercely with her teeth.
In fact, Mai knew that no matter what she did, her parents who had already left would not come back. But at that time, she just didn’t want to cry so miserably and weakly in front of an outsider.
Looking up at the gradually receding city buildings and some familiar woods around her, Mai also knew that she was getting closer and closer to her family’s shrine.
After the accidental death of her parents, Reiyama Shrine was temporarily managed by her father’s younger brother as acting head, and it would be passed down to her when she came of age.
Uncle Shoji had no children, and Aunt Kazumi also doted on her as her only daughter. Mai had always respected her uncle, who took care of her in place of her father.
Only the Onmyodo and Divine Prayer arts that Uncle Shoji had high hopes for, Mai had no desire to learn them at all. No matter what method Uncle Shoji used, Mai would be perfunctory or outwardly obedient but inwardly defiant, completely unable to develop any interest in this field.
Even so, the girl’s terrifying talent allowed her to grope her way through the scriptures and incantations that her uncle forced her to memorize, and thus discovered the methods of Onmyodo and charms.
When the girl accidentally used a “Li Huo Charm,” this detestable and even disgusting talent made Mai feel as if she was seeing the scene of her childhood again, seeing the tall back that left with a smile.
She thought she might never use this ability that brought misfortune and disaster in her life.
But when she truly sensed that familiar aura this evening, the girl’s hands moved uncontrollably, directly sealing that sinful aura. She sat in the car and returned to the shrine where she was born and raised, from the city that night.
Feeling the sealed cloth bag filled with an ominous aura in her hand, Mai’s previously melancholic expression turned resolute at this moment. She gently closed the car door, her pale green energy surrounding her entire body, and her steps were brisk but swift as she dashed towards the huge shrine on the mountain.
“Father… you’re really a big liar…”
