Date a Live:Date Under The Moon

On the weekend after sealing Yoshino, Itsuka Shido faced a massive crisis regarding his gender.

"Please, just be a miko for one day, Onee-chan." That's what the main culprit, Kotori, had said at the time.

"Why do I have to dress like this?" Wearing a white top and red hakama, Shido looked at a smiling Mikoto and wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Umm... because the shrine is short on people, I called Kotori. I originally hoped Tohka could come, but she said she had a physical checkup on the Fraxinus today," Mikoto explained with a wry smile. She wasn't trying to make things hard for Shido by making him crossdress; she really was just short handed.

[That Kotori...]

Shido knew perfectly well that Tohka didn't have any physical checkup today. Thinking about it carefully, his black-hearted little sister commander probably thought he and Mikoto hadn't interacted much these past few days, so to prevent her mood levels from dropping, she purposely pushed him over here.

"Even so, why does it have to be a miko? Can't I be the Kannushi (head priest)?" Shido still had to complain.

"If you're the Kannushi... does Shido want to be in charge of leading today's festival?"

"Festival?"

"Yeah. Remember how we had Ratatoskr spread that urban legend the other day? Even though we got Yoshinon back because of it, it also caused a huge pile of dolls to build up at the shrine. So I decided to hold a simple festival to burn them all in a fire."

Back then, they only thought it might make the AST bring Yoshinon over. They totally didn't expect this side effect.

"A festival... can I just learn it on the spot?" He had no idea how to do rituals, but if there was even the tiniest chance, Shido still wanted to escape these girls' clothes.

"Hmm... It mostly involves reciting Shinto prayers, memorizing the steps of the ritual, and following strict rules on how to act and move. Because the ujiko will be coming, we absolutely cannot make any mistakes."

"Ujiko?"

"It means the local believers. But in modern terms, it mostly refers to our sponsors and financial backers."

"In other words... if the festival fails..."

"The shrine's income will take a nosedive. These are connections left behind by Obaa-chan. They don't have much trust in me as the newly appointed miko. Their visit to watch the ritual today is more or less an interview for me."

Mikoto smiled in distress. Although it was a bit of a worldly topic, for her, who didn't want to rely too much on Ratatoskr, her financial situation was quite tight.

"Please let me handle the miko duties..."

Despair. Total despair. Unable to let his own selfish desires ruin the shrine's business, Shido could only give up.

"Yeah, I'm counting on you, Shido. For your job, just sweep around the shrine, and give out omamori, ema, or omikuji to the visitors who want them."

"That sounds pretty simple. Is there anything I need to be careful about?" If it was just this kind of work, Shido felt he could handle it without a problem.

"Hmm... there might be some otaku running over asking for pictures while chanting 'Miko are so moe, Shinto is so moe.'"

"Eh? Asking for pictures?"

"Also... someone might try to ask you out on a date."

"Ehh? Hitting on girls at a shrine?"

"In the worst-case scenario, some punks might tell you to hand over the money inside the donation box."

"Ehhhh? A robbery?"

"Well, those are just rare chances. Usually, you won't run into them." Mikoto smiled, brushing off things that were clearly criminal acts as if it was nothing.

"Anyway, I'll leave it to you, Shido."

"I... I understand."

[I take back what I said. Being a part-time miko is not easy at all.] Shido thought to himself.

"Come to think of it, do those dolls have to be burned?"

"If possible, I'd prefer to just enshrine them properly, but..."

Hearing Shido's question, Mikoto sighed and pulled him toward the small sub shrine.

"Ugh..."

There, Shido saw hundreds of dolls, big and small. There were so many that the sub shrine couldn't hold them all, and they were scattered all over the surrounding area.

"It's a real headache. That urban legend worked way too well. At this rate, we're going to turn into Awashima Shrine," Mikoto said in distress.(TL:the shrine with lots of doll)

There were all sorts of bizarre dolls. Some had lost all their hair, some had hair dragging on the ground, some were missing an eyeball, and some had their bellies split open, showing the red stuffing inside.

"If I keep them around like this, I won't be able to sleep at night."

"Now that you mention it, Yakumo-senpai doesn't seem good with ghost and monster stuff." Shido suddenly remembered that when he went on a date with Mikoto at the arcade, she had mentioned being somewhat bad with horror games.

"That's right. Even though I was a boy before crossing over, and I'm a miko now, I still have a hard time dealing with ghosts. Shido must be laughing at me." Mikoto smiled wryly.

To be honest, Mikoto was never good at scary stuff even before coming to this world. She was the type who would buy games like Biohazard or Silent Hill out of curiosity, only to drop them halfway through because they were too scary.

"No, I won't laugh at you, Senpai. Rather... I actually feel a bit relieved."

"Relieved?"

"Yeah, because Yakumo-senpai has always acted too perfectly."

She had a gentle personality, was great at cooking, not only helped Shido a lot with conquering Spirits, but also kept her schoolwork and shrine duties perfectly organized. Although he didn't hate a Mikoto like that, he always felt she was a bit hard to approach.

"Knowing that the seemingly perfect Yakumo-senpai is actually scared of ghosts makes you seem a little... cute." Shido scratched his cheek and said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"..."

Instantly, Mikoto completely froze.

"Umm... Yakumo-senpai?"

Shido looked at the silent girl. She had her head down, hiding her face in the shadow of her bangs, but he could see her cheeks were dyed red.

"Shido, really... you always throw a perfect strike when I'm completely off guard."

"Eh?"

"If you call me cute, my affection for Shido is going to go UP UP without even trying!" Mikoto showed a shy look and smiled sweetly.

"Ahaha..."

It seemed he caught Mikoto's shy but sweet smile; Shido's face also turned red. He awkwardly scratched his cheek, not knowing what to do.

"Ah, a blushing Shiori-chan is very cute too."

Being the only one called cute made her feel a tiny bit frustrated, so Mikoto smirked and stuck her tongue out.

"I... I am not..."

As a result, Shido—dressed as Shiori—blushed even harder.

"Picture time, picture time." Mikoto took out her phone and snapped a photo of the shy Shiori-chan.

"Again? In that case, prepare yourself, Senpai! This time I'm definitely going to delete that dinosaur pajamas picture too!"

"Ehh? No way!"

"Wait! No hiding behind the tree!"

In the early morning, inside the quiet shrine, the two shrine maidens playfully chased each other around the sacred tree.