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Nanami once read that dogs and foxes often struggled to communicate due to differences in body language. The new living god of the Mikage shrine wasn’t sure how this would translate to communication between foxes and snakes, but the day was already starting off poorly as soon as Mizuki showed up to the shrine. Nanami expected more complaints about the other familiar’s presence from Tomoe but instead the kitsune simply grinned, an effect far more frightening than his usual grousing.
After all, whenever Tomoe smiled like this he seemed to be suppressing anger at the situation in front of him. “Nanami, it’s important. Onikiri found an old letter from Mikage and I think you should see it, which means the serpent needs to stop using you as a pillow and leave.” His ears were pinned back against his head, which was even more unusual.
Mizuki blinked up from where his head was laying on Nanami’s lap, giving a wide smile in return that would convince no one of his innocence. Nanami just looked up at her familiar, aghast, “But it’s winter and he lives in a dilapidated shrine that we burnt down. Also, he was going to teach me how to make crepes. Surely you don’t mean to-”
Tomoe fixed her with one one of those aggravated stares that indicated he was likely centuries old and therefore knew better than any mortal, but she pushed on regardless, not one to be deterred. “So I said that he could stay with us until the weather gets better.”
“No,” the familiar said with a flat tone, bristling at the thought. “I don’t want the snake that tried to force you into marriage staying here. Have you lost your mind?!”
Mizuki yawned, the picture of contentment from his position on the ground, “If we went with what Tomoe thinks, Nanami-chan would never leave the shrine. He’d hide her away from the world.” The snake familiar could look like a dashing prince from a fairytale if he tried, but once more Tomoe wasn’t buying any of it.
“You’ve met her, haven’t you? It’s for her own good with her naive nature. She might try to help another Onibaba if I don’t keep an eye on her. Or worse.” Tomoe snapped.
Mizuki hummed in agreement, to Nanami’s dismay. After all, he had easily kidnapped the Tochigami right from her school when they first met. Before the two could plot to keep Nanami safe in the shrine ‘for her own good’, she quickly stood up and left Mizuki bereft of his comfortable pillow. “Let’s see what they have to show us, shall we?” After all, she would never agree to stay confined to the shrine, the high school girl had made that perfectly clear when she first inherited the shrine.
With that, she quickly left the room without waiting to see if the squabbling familiars would follow. It wasn’t hard to locate the pair of onibi-warashi as their cries of Nanami-sama echoed through the halls of the shrine. When she found the small pair, Kotetsu held up a letter for her made of fragile paper. She took it, suddenly aware that Tomoe and Mizuki had followed without having a shouting match in the process.
Holding the letter gave the girl a sense of unease. While she had been working to increase her powers as a Living God with little progress, she had a better sense of the supernatural than when initially arriving at Mikage shrine and something about the letter felt off. The letter was addressed to her, with familiar handwriting she recognized from when Mikage had scribbled a map onto scrap paper to guide her here. That had been less than a year ago, but felt very recent. The envelope in her hand felt much older than that, starting to yellow in the corners with the sharp ink fading somewhat.
Why is this addressed to me? It even says Momozono Nanami on the front.
Her mouth was instantly dry, the hair on the back of her neck suddenly standing straight up like a spirit had dragged claws down her spine. Sensing the strange atmosphere, her shinshi peered over her shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the strange letter in her hands. “Let’s go make those crepes. You wanted to learn, right? I can teach you much better than that white serpent. You can open the letter when you feel ready.” His words were soothing, meant to put the young goddess at ease but his tail lashed with an unusual aggression behind him for just a moment before it stilled.
Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, the kitsune started to guide Nanami towards the kitchen. Nanami’s mind was jumbled, as this reaction was almost as strange as the letter in her hands. Usually Tomoe wanted her nowhere near the kitchen when he was preparing meals, snapping that it was his duty to cook and that she could only get in his way. He urged her to sit at a small table in the kitchen area before starting to pull out what he needed to make the crepes, while Mizuki took up the position he once held by her shoulder and leaned over her to peer down. Strangely, Nanami was never perturbed when the other familiar invaded her personal space. Mizuki made it feel almost natural that he was practically attached at the hip since the first time he visited to cook turtle soup.
“Well, are you gonna open it?” the snake urged, eyes bright as he eyed the letter. Tomoe scowled at him across the room, putting a mixing bowl down with a loud thump to indicate his displeasure. If he had his way, he would have eradicated Mizuki as a threat when he rescued Nanami from the underwater shrine and didn’t mind reminding the snake of such.
Taking a deep breath, Nanami felt her fingers turning the envelope over to open it. It almost felt like she was a passenger in her own body. The ink on the letter inside was better preserved, and immediately she wished she had not read the words contained within. Written with an unsteady hand, it read more like a prophecy though the title indicated it was a matchmaking charm. While it started in Mikage’s familiar hand, it seemed to slowly morph into something more erratic and otherworldly. She could sense the kitsune across the room freeze as he sniffed the air, light-colored violet eyes widening as he watched her reading the letter.
At the same time, the matchmaking charm started fairly standard but similarly dissolved into ominous portents. The last thing she saw before Tomoe snatched it out of her hands with a curse was her name linked not just to Tomoe, but also to Mizuki. Why did she have two matches listed?
More importantly, why did it seem more like a decree of engagement instead of your typical match?
“This was supposed to be burned.” The fox familiar snapped, eyes narrowing as he read over the letter himself. “We were left with explicit instructions to destroy it. I remember personally disintegrating it with my kitsunebi decades ago.”
Mizuki gave a thoughtful hum, “For some reason, I don’t think burning it now will help now that it’s been read.” An uneasy silence settled over the shrine, crepes forgotten for the moment. This was the sort of atmosphere Nanami read about in books, where thunder would suddenly crash in the background to indicate that danger was coming. This time, the thunder never came as a warning as twilight descended on the shrine.
“Well it looks like we’re getting married anyway,” Mizuki practically chirped to break the tension which earned him a baleful look from Tomoe at the too-fresh memory of Nanami’s kidnapping.. The sacred snake gave a sly look to the other familiar “Now come on, weren’t you making food for our Nanami? What sort of husband-to-be are you if you don’t follow through on your promises?”
The bait worked and Tomoe stalked back to the kitchen with a huff, before pausing as he looked down at the assembled ingredients before glancing over at his mistress. “Come over here,” he said as if begrudgingly inviting the girl into his personal territory. With a final glance at the paper in her hands, Nanami set down the divine ordinance, the acceptance of the potential (perhaps mandated?) match already settling into her bones. While the surprise of everything was initially unnerving, the more the living god considered the dynamic the more it felt right. She already felt fond of both familiars, so the concept that those feelings could grow…
Perhaps Nanami was getting ahead of herself. There was still a lot to learn about running the shrine and the new world she found herself in, but at the very least she had the support to learn at her own pace: plus or minus a couple kidnappings.
Tomoe held out a whisk towards her, “You’re on whisking duty. This will make or break the recipe.” He had already added the dry ingredients to the bowl and was cracking eggs to add as well.
Nanami gave him a bright smile with a determined edge, “I can whip the batter into shapes. We don’t need a mixer, I’ll get rid of any lumps.” She started to whisk the ingredients with her usual energy as Tomoe moved on to chopping strawberries.
Mizuki leaned over the counter, resting his arms on the tile as he watched eagerly. “What can I do to help?”
“You can stay over there,” came the quick response and the snake gave a theatrical pout in return, busying himself with setting the table with the help of Onikiri and Kotetsu.
Once the batter was ready, Tomoe and Nanami gathered over the small circular cast iron pan that almost seemed like a griddle. Nanami had attempted crepes in the past at school, and hers were passable at the time but a bit thicker like a pancake so she was curious how to improve. It turned out a few tweaks to the batter in the recipe made all the difference, allowing the pair to expertly turn out thin crepes while Mizuki snuck some chopped strawberries behind Tomoe’s back.
The laughter and light banter between those in the shrine drove back the oppressive atmosphere from earlier. Even if the message amounted to nothing, Nanami was perfectly content with her life compared to the uncertainties she faced the year before living with her father. In that moment, she realized that regardless of the matchmaking fortune waiting on the table she wanted Tomoe and Mizuki to stick around, even in a platonic sense. The antics of both familiars enriched her life, and when she sat down to eat the sweet treat made with the kitsune she found herself smiling widely as Tomoe discovered exactly how many strawberries had walked off during the cooking process.
As cheesy as it might seem, the shrine felt more like home than anywhere she had been before. If she missed the uncertain look Tomoe gave into the darkness outside the window or the narrowing of the serpent’s eyes as he looked at her like he wanted to devour her whole, she was certain that those assembled could handle what was coming their way. Even if she was a mortal, she was plucky and that usually counted for something in the old stories people told around the fire and if her gumption ever failed her she had reliable people to give aid.
In the meantime, Tomoe was demanding everyone take a strawberry tax from Mizuki for his earlier transgressions. Though the kitsune wasn’t outright hostile, he still had a long way to go before he would accept the snake. Nanami pushed the nerves aside to grab extra fruit for her crepe before trying her luck. “So I was thinking tomorrow I could go to school alone…”
“Absolutely not.” Tomoe looked affronted. Of course he had concerns about her safety.
At least he didn’t make her wear the silly hood anymore. Nanami would take small wins where she could. She took a bite of her crepe, giving him a bold grin in return. Instead of irritation, she could swear that his lips quirked in return though Nanami knew she would never admit it. “These crepes are perfect,” she said, pleased. In the way the others agreed it felt like they were all talking about more than crepes. The night passed quickly after that, and when the living god went to bed she was excited for the adventures the next day would bring.