"Ignorant humans, your sins shall be punished!!"
When the God appeared above the people, shrouded in anger, everyone on Ukiyoe Street was stunned at that moment.
"Up in the sky… it looks like there's something there?"
"They look like birds? Or a school of fish? There are so many of them, I thought there was no moon tonight."
"How could fish fly, and where did that voice come from?"
The people on Ukiyoe Street, who had been waiting for the fireworks, raised their heads toward the sky, but the night sky was covered with fish. Those with good eyesight may have noticed that something was wrong, but more people still believed that fish could not fly through the sky, much less say that strange theatrical line like some chuunibyou maniac.
"Could it be some kind of monster?"
Suddenly, a guess came from the crowd. Hearing that, Nura Rikuo, who was with the yokai demons of the Nura Clan, twitched the corner of his mouth.
Ever since they yokai had been pushed forward to cover things up instead of Yuu, everything unexplainable that happened every day was blamed on yokai demons. Because of that, Nura Rikuo was already somewhat exhausted.
Some things really were related to yokai demons, but tonight's anomaly and that voice from earlier definitely were not the work of yokai demons. In fact, among yokai demons there were quite a few who could control fish and birds, but making fish fly across the sky, and even cover the entire sky, was far too difficult! Not to mention the enormous amount of yokai energy that would be required, the main problem was that there simply were not that many fish near Tokyo!
Nura Rikuo had never seen it before, but he dared to claim that no yokai possessed such demonic power.
But… if it wasn't a yokai, then what could have caused this?
Thinking about it, Nura Rikuo suddenly remembered the moon from several months ago.
That day, the moon had wailed, sadly telling him its story. Nura Rikuo did not know what kind of being could influence the moon back then, but it definitely was not something he could comprehend.
And now, Nura Rikuo had a premonition that the cause of tonight's situation was the same existence that had affected the moon!
Still, Nura Rikuo was not panicking. Earlier he had just seen Yuu and knew that Yu was also here. For something like this, Nura Rikuo could do nothing and was completely powerless. So he simply decided to trust Yuuu!
Thinking of that, Nura Rikuo yawned and turned to leave.
"O! Young master!"
Seeing Nura Rikuo turn around and leave, Aotabo turned around in confusion and called out to his young master.
Today their young master had voluntarily wanted to come out to watch the fireworks festival. Originally it was supposed to be only a few of them yokai demons, but now that demons were allowed to appear before humans, the yokai had been shut in for years.
Yokai who loved excitement naturally did not want to miss a lively event like the fireworks festival. If before they could not participate, then so be it, but now that they were allowed to, of course they had to come, and together with their young master at that.
Thus most of the yokai from the Nura Clan had come out, unconsciously forming a Hyakki Yakō — the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
But now… why was their young master suddenly going back?
"We're going back, Aotabo."
Nura Rikuo raised his hand and said without turning around.
Nura Rikuo's movement attracted the large group of yokai demons, and they all turned toward him with confused expressions.
"Tonight… we can't watch the fireworks."
Nura Rikuo stopped, looked at the dark night sky, said something incomprehensible, and then immediately left.
Seeing this, the remaining Hyakki all looked at each other, and after exchanging glances, they ultimately decided to leave together with Nura Rikuo. Only a few scattered yokai remained unwilling to leave.
Nakano Ichika and the others in the distance also noticed the strange behavior of the yokai from the Nura Clan, realizing that they too had sensed the problem. Logically, they should also leave, but…
Looking at the many people gathered on the square, not only the Nakano quintuplets, but also Nakano Reina and Sawamura Sayuri felt that they could not simply leave.
When faced with something like this, Nakano Reina and Sawamura Sayuri had never had such experience before. Their thoughts and actions in the end were still too gentle and kind-hearted.
They felt that they could not simply leave and watch so many people here lose their lives, while Nakano Maruo and Spencer held completely opposite opinions.
The two of them, one a capitalist and one a politician, knew very well that in a moment like this, self-preservation was the best choice, and Yu probably thought the same.
After exchanging a glance with Spencer, Nakano Maruo stepped forward and patted Nakano Reina on the shoulder, trying to persuade her:
"Reina, Yu will handle everything. Let's leave quickly."
"...Sayuri, we should go home. It's dangerous here, and… Eriri is here too."
Spencer also stepped forward to persuade her. Sawamura Sayuri originally wanted to do something, but when she heard about Eriri, her body stiffened and she immediately calmed down.
Looking at the confused crowd, Sawamura Sayuri pursed her lips and looked at Nakano Reina as she spoke:
"Reina, trust that Yu will handle everything. Let's leave first."
"Mom…"
Ichika also stepped forward at that moment and tugged on Nakano Reina's sleeve.
She too wanted to do something for those people, but what could she do? Would those people even believe her?
Yes, Yu was currently very popular in Japan, but that did not mean her words were the same as Yu's words. No matter how seriously she spoke, those people would probably only agree superficially, and very few of them would actually leave.
Rather than doing something useless, Ichika felt that her family and the people around her were more important.
That would make her selfish, but… in a situation like this, choosing to have her family risk themselves together with her would be foolish!
And she, Ichika, obviously was not that kind of person, and she believed that her mother, Nakano Reina, was not either.
Hearing everyone's words, Nakano Reina clenched her fists. Her heart hesitated only for a moment, then she turned around and left together with Ichika and the others.
She was no longer the noble teacher she once was. Now she was only an ordinary mother and an ordinary wife.
She owed far too much to the Nakano quintuplets and Maruo. She could not, because of a moment of weakness, stay here with them and cause trouble for Yuuu.
"Let's… go."
After saying those heavy words, the group silently and quickly left. The crowd did not even notice their departure.
At that moment, the people were still excitedly waiting for the fireworks to be launched, waiting for the magnificent fireworks to display their fleeting beauty.
"That was just the organizers adjusting the sound system, everyone please don't worry. Next is the time for the fireworks to be launched! Let's count down together!"
Grandma's voice sounded from the speakers hanging on the wires. After grandma finished speaking, the attention of all the people directed toward the sky was immediately drawn back, and they began counting down together with the voice from the speakers.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!!"
"Two!!"
"One!!!"
When the final "one" echoed out, the large fireworks prepared in advance were ignited at that moment…
The fuse hissed and quickly burned to the end.
"Boom!!!"
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Accompanied by a series of explosions, blazing fireballs shot one after another toward the sky.
"Bang!"
A dull sound echoed high in the sky, and the fireworks exploded with a loud blast, while brilliant light-blue fireworks bloomed in the air.
However, after the fireworks, the expressions of the people who had excitedly waited to enjoy them moments earlier completely froze, and some continuously rubbed their eyes as if they had seen something unimaginable.
"Hey! Usoda! That thing just now… that thing in the sky… was that a whale?"
"I- I saw it too…"
"Th- that must have been a mistake, right?"
Scattered whispers appeared among the crowd, but the people were not frightened by what they had just seen. In fact, their gazes toward the sky became even more excited, and some even took out their phones, wanting to record the anomaly in the sky.
"Bang bang!"
With several more consecutive explosions, several beautiful fireworks bloomed in the sky again, and at that moment everyone clearly saw the condition of the sky.
Tonight… there was no moon at all!
The sky was densely covered with fish!!!
"Holy shit! What the hell was that just now?!"
"Kami-sama! Kami-sama must have appeared!"
"Could it be Ebisu-sama?!"
"It must be Ebisu-sama who appeared! Ebisu-sama! Please grant me wealth!"
For a moment, the crowd exploded with excitement. Besides those whose worldview had been completely shattered, there were also those obsessively devoted to money who had already started kneeling and praying, and some even ran toward the Ebisu shrine, wanting to donate money in order to gain wealth for life.
However… those people were never destined to understand that the deity they worshipped was now filled with hatred toward them and truly wanted to unleash divine punishment and slaughter all humans!
But that deity did not do so now. It was not that it did not want to, but because it had encountered a young man, and that young man had stopped it.
At that moment, above the clouds of fish, the young man riding the Wind stood there, an unpleasant expression in his eyes as he looked at the deformed old man riding a dolphin opposite him, whose legs were thinner than his arms.
Yu could feel the malice erupting from the old man, but it was not directed at him, rather at all humans.
Still… because of that, Yu could not understand what kind of deity that old man actually was.
He felt the aura of the Sea and the Wind from the old man, but Japan was after all an island nation, and there were quite a few deities associated with the Sea and the Wind.
Earlier, Yu had guessed that this time the Heretic God Ebisu would appear, but now he felt that his guess had been wrong.
The deity Ebisu could be said to hold an extremely high position in the hearts of the Japanese people. Even after being abandoned by his parents and exiled from Takama-ga-hara, he should have wandered the seas and become an unknown deity, but it was precisely the worship of the Japanese people that allowed that god to gain an unimaginably high status in the mortal world.
His status was even higher than that of his younger brother, Tsukuyomi.
Oh, by the way, Ebisu's parents are precisely the famous brother and sister from Japanese mythology — Izanagi and Izanami!
And Ebisu's true identity is the leech child born from the first mistaken union of Izanagi and Izanami!