Please to Kitsune-sama!

Chapter 188 : Kitsune-sama Reached 90th Place

The world was at peace now. Even with the lingering uncertainty of dungeons and humanity’s loss of dominance over the seas, it could still be called peaceful. That was because humanity had lost the reasons to wage war against itself; the militaries of nations, carried over from the old era, had been utterly defeated by monsters, and beings called awakener—who could triumph over those monsters—had appeared. Every attempt to weaponize awakener for military use had failed and… well, for various reasons, the world had become peaceful.

Amidst that, the one place things remained prickly was the Awakener Associations of each nation. From a global perspective, national headquarters wanted even slightly more capable awakener for their own security, so they sent scouts after outstanding awakener from other countries. The countries being poached from lodged fierce protests—and sometimes sent scouts in retaliation—making things even pricklier.

The targets were usually top rankers; Japan’s number one top ranker, the Hero, for instance, would fly off wherever trouble was heard, making him—though affiliated with Japan—an awakener considered “very easy to handle” by all countries. The fact he was hardly ever in Japan anymore was something one could only laugh about at this point. Still… if he were handled poorly and switched affiliation, that would be a problem, so Japan Headquarters could not press him too hard—a constant headache for them.

Another source of friction was the tug-of-war over awakener between headquarters and local branches. Saying, “Why squabble within the same Japan?” only showed a small understanding of the issue. As a rule, awakener tended to live near the branch they belonged to, and in times of need both headquarters and branches would first call upon their own affiliated awakener.

Whether a strong awakener was available to deploy immediately or not made a major difference in how quickly problems were resolved.

…That was the official reason, and it wasn’t a lie, but—whether one solved an issue “in-house” or had to request outside help made a big difference as well.

For example, Tokyo had both “Japan Headquarters” and the “Tokyo Branch,” yet most of the strong awakener belonged to Japan Headquarters. When something happened, the Tokyo Branch generally requested aid from Headquarters, and this tendency was even more pronounced in regional branches.

—This concentration of Awakened in one place is nothing new, and there has long been discussion of creating regional headquarters and distributing top awakener among them.

 —Why hasn’t that been realized?

 —It’s simple. Awakener decide for themselves where they live.

“Such things hath not changed since olden days. All did yearn for Tokyo, or so they say.”

Inari and Atsuage nodded along as they watched TV. Whether Atsuage truly understood was unknown—Inari perhaps, but Atsuage? Setting that aside—

Some time had passed since the urban-legend incident, and Inari’s rank had risen to 90th. Inari herself cared little for such things, but what she was nibbling on while watching TV were magic stones. Whenever she had spare time, she earned more and crunched them like snacks; even so, her magic rank showed no sign of budging from A. Atsuage was eating a fair amount too, with no visible changes. Still, constant dripping wears away the stone—and for now, there was no plan to change this policy.

—Incidentally, the Gunma Branch has a top ranker who stubbornly refuses to change affiliation.

 —Ah, I know! You mean that person in Kusatsu, right!?

 —Correct. “Fortress,” Doma Takeru. He’s one of the immovable three, affectionately nicknamed the “Kusatsu Fortress.”

 —Mr. Doma hardly ever leaves Kusatsu, and perhaps thanks to that sense of security, land prices there are said to be on par with Tokyo…

“Kusatsu…”

Kusatsu—an onsen resort long beloved for its touted efficacy so great it “cured everything but lovesickness,” or so the pitch went. Inari had visited several hot-spring towns—Fuchuu, Atami, Itou—but not yet Kusatsu. She very much wanted to go to Kusatsu, famed for its potent waters, but the truth was that her circle of friends had grown, and her schedule had been fairly full of late. She cast her gaze at the small desk calendar on the counter and checked the plan for tomorrow.

“On the morrow… was I to go to Asakusa with Shion?”

Suzuno Shion, Japan’s 4th-ranked top ranker, the Submarine. They had grown close due to the earlier urban-legend case, and upon hearing Inari had never been to Asakusa, they had decided to go out and play. With the urban-legend incident wrapped up, the rumor of “the hand that came out of the sea” had also faded, and Shion’s busyness had finally returned to normal. Their outing doubled as a little “good work” party for Shion—and besides that, Inari herself was looking forward to Asakusa.

Of course, it was said Asakusa differed greatly from days long past…

“Those dumplings were most delectable… Might Asakusa be full of such treats?”

If so, she could buy some and distribute them to her other friends. Good food was best when shared—that was Inari’s creed. While she smiled to herself thinking of tomorrow, her Awakener Phone chimed; the incoming screen displayed Shion’s name.

“Oho, Shion. What matter bringeth thee? About the morrow? Aye, aye. I understand thee well…”

Not wanting to disturb Atsuage watching TV, Inari bustled off to the kitchen.

—The recently much-talked-about awakener, Kogami Inari. Rumor has it branches across Japan have begun moving to recruit her to their rosters—

Only Atsuage was watching as the television said such things.