The rooftop during lunch break was, as always, loud with the sound of outdoor air conditioning units. Six units roared with a deafening rumble, tearing through the dry autumn air. Next to them—in front of a small shrine whose vermillion paint had peeled away, leaving it completely gray—Honoka stood with her arms crossed, feet planted firmly apart. Her long silver hair swayed in the midday breeze, her golden eyes gazing forward with determination. The hem of her thin purple kimono-style dress fluttered in the wind, and a thin silver sash cinched her slender waist. Except for her small body—barely 130 centimeters tall—being semi-transparent, she looked exactly like what she was supposed to be: a deity full of dignity. "Thanks to yesterday's prayers, my divine energy increased by one unit," Honoka recalled Kazuma's prayers from last night. The way he'd clasped his hands before the shrine—such a simple, unadorned gesture. That young man who'd bowed respectfully while holding a fried chicken stick in one hand. Even after a night had passed, something lingered deep in her chest. A quiet ripple that she couldn't quite put into words. "Therefore," Honoka raised her voice slightly while maintaining her firm stance, "this SNS plan shall commence in earnest today!!" Kazuma, who'd come up to the rooftop during his lunch break at the Daily Port Mikagehoka Store—a convenience store at the east end of the first floor of the mall—stood in front of the iron door with a relaxed smile, smartphone in hand. His name tag was still clipped to his polo shirt pocket, and in his other hand was a fried chicken stick. His standard equipment remained unchanged. "You're quite motivated," "Of course! I am a fertility deity with 850 years of history! I shall conquer one or two SNS platforms with ease!" Kazuma said "I see" while activating his smartphone's camera. "Let's start with a profile picture. Honoka, keep that pose," "Very well! Leave it to me!" Honoka steeled herself. She recalled that solemn moment from 850 years ago—the golden age of the early Kamakura period, when 1,200 parishioners had clasped their hands together at the annual grand festival. She extended both arms diagonally upward, opened her golden eyes wide with determination, and let the sleeves of her white garment flutter in the midday breeze. Click. Kazuma turned the smartphone screen toward Honoka. What appeared on it was the shrine, the air conditioning units, the blue sky, and—almost nothing of Honoka's existence remained. There wasn't even a human silhouette in front of the shrine. It was a perfectly clean, refreshingly empty shot. "..." "Ah, yeah, since you're semi-transparent, you don't show up," "...I know that. One more shot," Another shot. And another. Changing angles, changing distances, Kazuma moved around the rooftop, snapping photos. The fifth shot. The eighth. The thirteenth. Throughout it all, Honoka maintained her dignified pose, mobilizing all 850 years of her authority. "Ah, this one," "How is it?!" Kazuma held out the screen. A white haze was visible. Only her upper body was recorded as a translucent, misty blur. "...This is," "It's kind of divine, I guess," "Are you trying to say it's divine or are you trying to say it's a ghost photo?!" "To be honest, the latter," "I absolutely deny it!! I am a fertility deity! A legitimate divine being who governs the harvest! What do you mean ghost photo?!" "But it looks like a ghost photo," "What kind of vertical reading turns a fertility deity into a ghost photo?!" Honoka didn't miss the way Kazuma's shoulders trembled slightly even as he apologized. "You're laughing! You're laughing, Kazuma!!" "I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing," "Your shoulders are shaking!!" "This is... the vibration from the air conditioning units," "Don't lie to me!!" Kazuma burst out laughing. He crouched down on the stone steps in front of the shrine, his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter. His laugh escaped despite the roar of the air conditioning units, and Honoka stood with her hands on her hips, her expression a mixture of anger and melancholy. "Stop laughing! Don't laugh before a deity! This is a sacred space! Yes, six air conditioning units are roaring, but it's still sacred!!" After a while, Kazuma laughed himself out and finally stood up. He wiped the corners of his eyes with his fingers and said, "Let me try with the flash," repositioning his smartphone. "The flash?" Click. A white light briefly illuminated the rooftop. Kazuma's movements stopped as he looked at the screen. Honoka leaned in to look—and froze. The photo showed the air conditioning unit behind Honoka in perfect clarity, completely visible through her semi-transparent body. Only Honoka's outline glowed white, and right in the center of it sat the exhaust port of the air conditioning unit. It was an unprecedented record of a deity seemingly merged with an air conditioning unit. "...I... merged with an air conditioning unit...?" "You're completely fused with it," "I'm fused with it!!" Honoka's eyes rolled back. In 850 years of history, there was no precedent for a fertility deity merging with an air conditioning unit. Absolutely no precedent. If she showed this to the parishioners from the early Kamakura period, they would all faint. A mysterious record had been born. Kazuma's shoulders were trembling again. This time he didn't even try to hide his laughter. "Ugh! Stop laughing! Stop laughing!!" The roar of the air conditioning units, Kazuma's laughter, and Honoka's screams mixed together and echoed loudly across the rooftop during lunch break. --- Five minutes later, after regaining her composure, Honoka declared, "Fine. Then we shall try video." "Video?" "You said yesterday that videos get more recognition than photos. If I show a miracle, they'll believe. If I concentrate my divine energy into a dandelion and make it glow, I can prove this is the power of a true deity," Kazuma started recording on his smartphone. He gave a signal: "Go ahead." Honoka took a deep breath. She concentrated her divine energy on the dandelion in front of the shrine—that one faithful flower—carefully, carefully. Drawing the thread delicately from her 80 units of divine energy. Borrowing the minute power flowing from the Mikagehoka vein. "...Appear, light of fertility!" The dandelion glowed brilliantly. Each petal turned golden, and even in the bright midday light, it radiated a warm glow that was clearly visible. "Wow!!" It really glowed. It truly glowed. It was a brief miracle—lasting only 0.8 seconds—but by the time Kazuma turned around in amazement, the dandelion had already returned to normal, swaying in the breeze. "That was amazing... wait," At the same moment, Honoka's body slowly tilted forward. The backlash from rapidly depleting her divine energy hit all at once. Her legs became unsteady, and her small body began to fall forward—until she gently bumped against Kazuma's forearm. Kazuma instinctively extended his arm to catch her. The moment he supported her weight, he was surprised by how light she was. Much lighter than a human child. Yet there was definitely a sense of body heat. A temperature lower than human, but unmistakably the warmth of something living transmitted to Kazuma's forearm. Honoka continued to collapse. Before he could stop her, she slumped down onto the stone steps where Kazuma was sitting, her silver head resting gently on his knee. "...Huh? Um, Honoka?" There was no response. Honoka's golden eyes slowly closed, and her silver eyelashes lowered. A soft, peaceful breathing sound emerged. Kazuma froze. A deity was sleeping on his lap. Her silver hair spread across his knee, glowing faintly as if absorbing the midday light. Her semi-transparent skin was like moonlight, and up close, each individual eyelash shone with a silver gleam. Honoka's sleeping face was neither angry nor sulking—just peaceful. It didn't look like the face of a deity who'd lived for 850 years. It was defenseless, quiet, and somehow childlike. Kazuma's neck grew warm. (Should I wake her?) He thought that and reached out his hand—then stopped. (But...) The rest of the thought wouldn't come together. A rational judgment formed in his mind: if she'd exhausted her divine energy, she should rest. Yes, that was it. That was the reason. His inability to move was the result of rational judgment. It had nothing to do with not wanting to let go of the warmth on his lap. Absolutely nothing. The smartphone, still recording, quietly captured everything. Kazuma looked down at Honoka on his lap while gazing vaguely up at the midday sky of Mikagehoka City. The autumn sky was high and blue, and the roar of the air conditioning units remained as loud as ever. --- About twenty minutes passed before Honoka's golden eyes slowly opened. The first things she saw were Kazuma's face and the autumn sky. "..." It took three seconds to understand the situation. "I-I was practicing divine energy!" She jumped up while shouting. She quickly moved away from Kazuma's lap, stood on the stone steps, and straightened her dress while speaking with great intensity. "I was practicing divine energy in deep consciousness! I was absolutely not sleeping!!" Kazuma said nothing and held out his smartphone screen to her. On the screen, Honoka was peacefully sleeping on Kazuma's lap. Her soft breathing was even captured. There was zero evidence of "practicing divine energy"—a perfect twenty-minute video of her sleeping on his lap was recorded in full. Honoka's face turned red from her ears. Her ears reddened, then her cheeks, then her forehead. In five careful stages, her entire face became crimson. "D-Delete it! Delete it right now!!" "But... if we post this..." "Don't you dare post it!! Never!! That's an order!!" Kazuma scrolled the screen slightly and showed it to her again. "I already uploaded it while you were napping. And then," The comment section was filled. 〈Who is this cosplayer?〉 〈The semi-transparent effect is insane〉 〈The sleeping face is divine〉 〈Is this CG? The quality is amazing〉 〈What event is this from?〉 〈Watched it twice〉 〈Three times〉 〈It's on loop〉 4,200 views. 300 new followers. Something shifted in Honoka's expression. Something passed through her crimson cheeks. "...4,200 people... saw me..." Kazuma pulled out a calculator. He did the math and showed it to her. "About the divine energy calculation. Recognition through SNS followers is the thinnest form of faith, so... with 10,000 followers, you'd gain 1 unit per day," "Mm-hmm," "With 300 new followers and 4,200 people who saw the video..." "How much will I gain?!" "Simple calculation: 0.03 units," "..." "...0.03," "...That's so little!!" Honoka's scream echoed across the rooftop. It was loud enough to overcome the air conditioning units. 4,200 viewers, 300 new followers, passionate comments—all of it combined generated only 0.03 units of divine energy. Compared to her peak of 100,000 units, it was practically zero. Honoka slumped onto the stone steps, hugging her knees. "I'm... not a cosplayer... I'm a deity... and yet... 0.03..." Kazuma looked at the comment section again and tilted his head. One comment stood out: 〈Do you know the spiritual salon "Lunar Eclipse"? I feel a similar aura〉 "Lunar Eclipse...?" He'd heard that name before. A salon in an alley off the shopping street—Mikagehoka Ginza Street, southeast of the mall. He had a vague memory of hearing about it somewhere. But that could wait. "Honoka," Honoka, still hugging her knees, glanced up at him with sullen golden eyes. Her eyelashes were delicate, and her cheeks still held a faint blush. Curled up on the stone steps, Honoka looked less like an 850-year-old deity and more like a scolded child—or rather, something else entirely that Kazuma couldn't quite put into words. The