Chapter 39 Arrival in Kyoto
After comforting Ena for a bit, Hikigaya went back.
Since it's Voban, there's no need to rush. Take it slow. To hold a summoning ritual for a Heretic God, it's obviously not something that can be done with just one or two people. There should still be time. In the anime, Voban only decided to do that after Kusanagi Godou drove off Athena. Based on that, we can deduce that although the timing has changed, this guy has definitely only just started now.
Just go back and look for him later. People like him aren't that easy to find.
Even without this, rushing to find Voban wouldn't be of any use.
After chatting with that old man once, Hikigaya had a rough grasp of Voban's personality.
Acting like Kusanagi Godou, barging in and shouting with righteous indignation might seem reasonable on the surface, but in reality, he was the one being unreasonable.
To put it plainly, Kusanagi Godou thought Voban was inhumane, but from Voban's perspective, he probably thought Godou had a screw loose.
A worldview gap of three hundred years — if you can't accept that difference, then no matter how sound your reasoning is, it's still just another form of arrogance.
Would Voban buy into that sort of thing? Just thinking about it, it's clearly impossible. He's the type to act entirely on his own terms.
So, asking this old guy for someone's help — you can't be hasty. Hikigaya had no intention of falling out with Voban over someone he barely knew.
When he got back to his seat, a few people saw Hikigaya return and started asking questions, half-heartedly.
The topic was nothing new — whether Hikigaya and Ena were actually in a relationship.
These people had all witnessed that scene in the Service Club before.
"Couple? That's not it. We're just good friends," Hikigaya deflected with a laugh.
But clearly, the group wasn't going to be satisfied with that.
Gossip is like that — as long as it doesn't catch fire, it's fine, but once it does, there's no putting it out.
Unfortunately, since Hikigaya wasn't playing along, no matter how dry their mouths got, they couldn't get anything out of him.
Except for Miura, the group was quite disappointed.
But Miura was an odd exception. She had been the most aggressively curious at first, but now that she hadn't gotten any juicy info, she actually looked relieved.
Hikigaya couldn't make sense of what went on in the mind of a popular girl like her, but that wasn't his problem anyway.
Maybe he should shout something like "There's a plane outside the window!" just to change the subject and divert this gossipy crowd.
With that thought, he glanced out the window—and was momentarily stunned.
"Ah! Look! It's Mt. Fuji!"
Class clown Tobe quickly acted on the very thing Hikigaya had wanted to do but hadn't gotten around to.
That familiar conical mountain, seen countless times in posters, magazines, and on TV, was right outside the window.
In Japan, there's no other mountain as revered as Mt. Fuji. Not only is it the country's highest peak, but in the hearts of the Japanese, it's a "sacred mountain." Since ancient times, countless writers, poets, and artists have praised and depicted its beauty, and many myths have been centered around it.
This 3,776-meter-high conical mountain is crowned with snow all year round—called "eternal snow." For more than half the year, it's shrouded in mist and clouds, only in autumn and winter can one see it clearly and in its entirety.
"So pretty…" Yuigahama praised, and the others had similar expressions.
Even though Hikigaya wasn't particularly interested in the mountain, he had to admit — Mt. Fuji did look good.
Everyone seemed to be enchanted by the scenery, falling into a brief silence, with only the sound of breathing.
After a while, they'd had their fill of looking and became lively again.
But thanks to the distraction, they finally dropped the issue of whether Hikigaya and Ena were dating.
Time flew by just like that.
About two hours later, they finally arrived at Kyoto Station.
At last, they had arrived in Kyoto.
This city, originally named Heian-kyō, was built by ancient Japanese people modeling it after Tang Dynasty's Chang'an. It has over a thousand years of history and used to be Japan's capital.
Today, it's a cultural city and tourist hotspot.
In many anime, it's also known as the capital of monsters. And from what Tamamo no Mae said, Hikigaya knew that this Kyoto was, indeed, a genuine "Youkai Capital."
Even in the world of youkai, it remained the center of the country.
However, Japan's youkai weren't doing so great nowadays. The lucky ones, like Tamamo no Mae, could earn a divine status and feed off worship. The rest had to scare people just to scrape by.
The age of rampaging youkai was long gone.
As soon as Hikigaya stepped off at Kyoto Station, he immediately felt the chill in the air.
Kyoto in late autumn is cold. The city is nestled in a basin — hot in summer and cold in winter — with stark temperature contrasts.
In autumn, Kyoto is painted in vivid red leaves. But now was the tail end of that season. Winter would come soon — the season of dancing snowflakes and snowy beauty.
Hikigaya and the others first headed to the parking lot, where they boarded a bus to Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
The seating arrangement was similar to the Shinkansen ride, except this time Hayama, Tobe, and two boys he usually hung out with sat together. Hikigaya sat with Miura, Yuigahama, and the big-time fujoshi.
Hikigaya again took the window seat, and Miura sat beside him.
A few minutes after the bus departed, Hikigaya started feeling sleepy again.
Luckily, the ride from the parking lot to Kiyomizu-dera wasn't long. Before he could really fall asleep, they'd arrived.
The bus stopped in a large parking lot filled with other sightseeing buses. From here, they could climb up Sannenzaka to reach Kiyomizu-dera.
There were a lot of tourists. Kiyomizu-dera is one of Kyoto's top attractions, and the crowds were massive.
Among so many people, Hikigaya walking a fox didn't stand out at all.
After getting off the bus, they all took a group photo with the Niōmon Gate as the backdrop, then split into class units for free time.
Unlike the students who immediately lined up at the entrance to the main temple, Hikigaya wasn't interested. I mean, a God Slayer going to a shrine to pray? What a joke.
While he was thinking about where to wander off to, Yuigahama's voice came from behind.
"Hikki!"
She squeezed through the crowd and ran to Hikigaya's side.
"Don't forget your job, okay?"
Job?
My job is to PK gods. Are there any gods here?
If there are, call them out right now and let's throw down.
That thought flashed through his mind for just a second, and Yuigahama had already grabbed his arm.
"I've already called Hina and Tobe. Hurry up!"
She urged him, pulling him in another direction.
Surprisingly soft. Though still not on the level of that monster Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Soon, she pulled him to a small temple not far from the main hall. The entrance had a series of stairs leading downward into darkness. It seemed to be called Zuigu-dō. Tobe and the big-time fujoshi were there, along with Hayama and Miura.
Compared to the main entrance, this place was low-key, but a stern-looking uncle was explaining what made this place special.
The gist was that if you could complete the whole path inside — a sort of "womb walk" — something like a divine manifestation might occur.
The uncle had a serious face, but Hikigaya found it hilarious.
A divine manifestation? What, a Heretic God gonna appear?
If it's just some youkai, they probably wouldn't even show up if they saw him.
"Hurry, hurry, let's go already!" the class clown hyped it up, staying in character.
But his goal was achieved — he and the big-time fujoshi went in.
Now only Hikigaya and Yuigahama were left outside.
"Hikki, let's go too."
Seeing those two go in, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Mm," Hikigaya replied and then walked in together with Yuigahama.