Chapter 54: Kochiya Sanae's Daily Routine, Shrine X Restaurant Collaboration Plan?!
Kochiya Sanae was the shrine maiden of Gensokyo's 'Moriya Shrine', and her mornings were always filled with established rituals and meticulous tranquility.
Today was also like this—
When the first ray of sunlight shone through the ancient cedar trees onto the shrine's torii gate, Sanae was already awake.
She put on her familiar attire—the sleeveless miko outfit.
The design style was somewhat similar to that Red-White maiden of Hakurei Shrine, but the upper body was white, the lower body a blue skirt hem, the skirt had white patterns, paired with a black necktie.
To appear before the worshippers with the best possible countenance, Sanae had specially commissioned the tailor shop in the 'Human Village' to make several identical miko outfits for her.
After finishing preparations, Sanae would first sweep the shrine courtyard.
Serious in attitude, she used a long bamboo broom to carefully clean every fallen leaf, not letting even the smallest one escape.
In Sanae's view, this was not only cleaning the sacred domain but also purifying her own soul.
After sweeping the floor, she would walk to the shrine's well, draw cool well water, first wash her hands and rinse her mouth, then fill a wooden bucket with water and gently sprinkle it at the shrine entrance to remove impurities.
Having done all this, Sanae would kneel before the main hall of the shrine, close her eyes, and meditate for a moment.
During this time, she could seemingly hear the sound of wind passing through the forest, the first chirp of birds in the morning, and the gurgling sound of the distant stream.
Moriya Shrine, this clean land, this god-favored land, was just that special.
Logically speaking, it should be more popular than Hakurei Shrine!
Result is still the Red-White maiden's side gets more visitors...
At least somewhat more than 'Moriya Shrine'.
Sanae, still somewhat puzzled after the previous battle, began preparing breakfast.
Usually simple meals, but she always cooked with heart, enjoying the process of ingredients turning into delicacies in her hands.
When finished, Sanae would start enjoying the steaming hot rice, paired with some pickled side dishes and miso soup, enough to last the whole morning.
After the meal, she would tidy up the kitchen, putting everything back in its place.
Having gone through the familiar routine, Sanae prepared to welcome the worshippers coming to pray.
The faith of devout believers was one of the sources of the great gods' power.
However, due to Moriya Shrine's poor geographical location, the journey for worship was quite inconvenient, many people were unwilling to spend time climbing up.
Therefore, after discussing with the two great gods, Sanae commissioned the kappas to design a 'Moriya Shrine Worship Cable Car Route'.
Just that completing it required sufficient funds.
Relying on the pitifully small amount of offertory money in the donation box was simply not enough.
Besides, the offertory money was mainly used for the shrine's maintenance, repairs, holding festivals, and other daily operational expenses.
If wanting to use them to hire kappas for work, it was still far, far from enough.
For this reason, Sanae thought of something the tengu reporter, Shameimaru Aya, told her.
In the forest near the 'Human Village', there was a restaurant.
The teacher teaching in the human village;
The vampire master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion;
The Hakurei Shrine maiden;
The blonde magician;
And various other 'Gensokyo' residents would go there to enjoy delicacies, and each person possessed considerable influence.
To put it bluntly, the owner of that restaurant, Luke, had very good connections.
Once she could get closer to him, it would surely bring considerable exposure to 'Moriya Shrine'.
However, there was one point Sanae was worried about.
The Hakurei Shrine maiden was also on good terms with the restaurant owner.
If she went to talk, causing unnecessary conflicts would be troublesome.
Right now, Sanae didn't want to fight the other party again.
At least wait until 'Moriya Shrine' gained popularity, then she could wipe away the previous shame.
Getting back to the point, Sanae, thinking this, chatted with the two great gods.
Neither Kanako-sama nor Suwako-sama explicitly agreed or opposed.
Sanae thus wasn't quite sure what thoughts they held.
A day passed, until now...
Sanae prepared to discuss with them again, but after calling several times, received no response.
Where on earth did they go?
Usually, Suwako-sama wouldn't go out.
If Kanako-sama went out, she would inform her.
Sanae felt very puzzled by this.
"Completely disappeared..."
Looking at the deserted, quiet shrine, Sanae took the broom and circled around again, still finding nothing.
However, when she reached the main gate of the shrine, near the torii gate connected by the stairs, two figures appeared in her vision.
One was a little girl with short blue hair, the other a little girl with short green hair.
The two little ones hid in the bushes to the left of the shrine's torii gate, observing sneakily.
Clearly they're not here to worship...
"You two..."
"Whoa! Discovered!!"
The blue fairy jumped up immediately, completely disregarding the green little girl's scream beside her, flying towards the distance all at once.
...
Quite decisively abandoning her friend.
And the fairy left behind looked timidly at Sanae.
"Th-that..."
"It's you guys again. Why did you come again? Weren't you taught a lesson by Suwako-sama before, haven't you suffered enough?"
"No, that... Cirno said she wanted to 'observe the enemy situation'. I persuaded her many times, but it was useless... Clearly impossible to beat Suwako-sama, wuuuu!"
"Is that so... Don't cry, don't cry, here's this for you."
Sanae handed out a cookie.
After the other party stopped crying, Sanae sighed lightly, looking at the sky which was also very clear today.
"How long must I wait until the shrine is overflowing with popularity...?"
...