Chapter 144: The God Who Called From the Crater
"Ohayō."
Yukima Azuma stepped into the unfamiliar living room, offering a polite morning greeting to the elderly woman seated by the low table.
"Onee-chan, why are you so late!" a small voice rang out, light but teasing.
He turned his head to see a little girl—bright-eyed and full of spunk—pouting at him in mock reprimand. She seemed no older than ten, her tone already brimming with the familiarity of family.
He responded with a mild nod and sat at the empty cushion next to the table. Before him was a hearty breakfast: grilled fish, thin slices of smoked meat, steaming egg soup. The comforting scent of dashi and soy sauce lingered in the air.
This certainly isn't a normal morning.
Yukima Azuma reached for the rice cooker beside him, scooped a bowl for himself, and added another for the kind grandmother across from him.
As he took his first bite, his mind was already processing—calculating.
Earlier that morning, he had rifled through the belongings in the room upstairs, piecing together the current reality.
Miyamizu Mitsuha.
The name was familiar. The eldest daughter of the Miyamizu family. A shrine maiden. A soon-to-be high school student. Her world and his had crossed paths before—in name, in rumors, in something stranger still.