22 Inari Ōkami

"What are you doing here, buddy?" Squatting down, Kento smiled at the fox. "Did you get lost?"

The fox walked forward Kento and bit his pants –pulling them towards it.

Kento found it extremely cute. He loved animals and while foxes were quite the notorious creatures, they were also rather pretty.

Kento wanted to pet the fox but it jumped back and tried walking away.

Kento realized that it must have his friends or family around somewhere, so he decided to let it go.

However– 

As the fox saw Kento standing there, it came back and tucked on his pants again –confusing him.

And it continued the motion a few more times.

This made Kento realize that the fox wanted him to follow it.

Standing up and curious about the fox, he used his inspection skill.

{Inspect}

{Name: Fox of Inari 

Age: 1800 

Class: Spirit Fox

Skills: Guidance (A), Manifestation (A), Blessing of Luck (A)

Special Traits: Fox of Inari possess the ability to guide lost individuals towards their goal and bless them with good luck.}

"So you are a spirit fox…" Kento mumbled, surprised by the appearance of a supernatural fox. 'It does not have a proper class grade and is just called spirit fox.'

Kento knew that he was not lost, or at least he thought so. Thus, the next closest possibility for it appearing out of the blue was to bring him somewhere that it wanted.

'It's a fox of Inari.' Kento was a bit stressed. 'Fox of a god…'

Kento had a guess as to where it wanted to take him. And he knew that if he did not follow it, it might be bad for him.

"Alright, little one." Kento took a deep breath. "I'll go with you."

Once Kento said this, the fox immediately walked towards the path of the shrine and Kento followed after it.

The fox was very fast and no normal human would have been able to keep up with it. But thanks to Kento's agility, it was rather easy for him.

Even when he first reached the gates, he could have bolted towards the shrine but he wanted to walk and enjoy the scene.

But now, rushing through the path, he finally saw an opening –the path to the shrine.

The fox rushed towards the ancient wonder of the shrine. 

Following suit, Kento was quite impressed by the serene atmosphere of the place. 

But the fox did not bring him to a place but rather to a person.

"It took you a while." The figure said. 

It took Kento just a second.

A single second to freeze at the sight of the being.

A being whose beauty was unmatched, silky black hair that reached almost down to their feet, a face that was flawless, eyes that were sharp and deep, with a small nose and mouth.

It was the perfect beauty.

Yes… It.

"Who are you?" Kento asked.

The being in front of him changed from a male to a female and back with each blink. 

The being smiled. "I am known by many names, but the most famous is without a doubt Inari Ōkami the kami of foxes, fertility and prosperity."

Kento was shaken by the presence of the being alone. 

He did not feel the same when he first met Rias or the fallens.  

This being was powerful.

Far more so than he could fathom.

'I-Inspect…'

{Name: Inari Ōkami 

Age: 30000+ years 

Class: High Kami

Skills: Godly Physique (S), Divine Aura (S+), Clairvoyance (S), Flight (A+), Blessing(S), Enchantment (A), Shapeshifting (S+), Telepathy (A+), Elemental Manipulation (S), Beast Taming (SS)

Special Trait: Inari Ōkami has the reign over animals and birds of the entirety of Japan}

<<Note: High Kami are on par with Ultimate Class Devils and touches the realm of Satan Class>> 

…

…

Inari had been dormant for the longest of time, not actively taking part in any of the events of the supernatural world and simply looking after the humans and creatures under their rule.

However, Grim Reapers started to attack Inari's followers and shrines in the hopes of finding clues to a certain item.

Inari was furious when the reapers decided to attack their favorite shrine.

Inari wanted to smite them but did not have to as the boy that stood in front of them already dealt with the reapers.

Seeing him having difficulty in breathing, Inari lowered their aura.

"Thank you for helping me with those pests." 

At Inari's statement, Kento was brought back from his trance.

"O-Oh." He barely calmed his heart as the aura he experienced was too strong. 

Inari chuckled. "I see you are having difficulty in concentrating."

Saying this, Inari adjusted her aura and appearance.

Kento noticed that the kami that flickered between genders stopped doing so and finally settled in their female form.

"Is this easier for you to focus on?" She giggled.

Gulping thickly, Kento nodded –finally calming down.

As he regained his senses, he immediately gave the goddess a bow.

"I greet the kami that had looked after our family for so long."

This made Inari give the boy a pleased smile. 

"I know your family visits my shrine every year." She said. "Even when your father passed away, you and your mother did not stop coming here."

Kento nodded. His mother told him the story of how her belief in kami kept her moving even when times were tough.

And Kento respected that. Not everyone had the strength to push through their hardships.

"I am sorry for what happened to your father." Inari seemed sad. "I would have not let such an incident occur if it had happened in Japan."

Kento's father passed away in Norway in a landslide. It was a devastating blow to the family, but Kento had no idea about it as he came to the world after that incident.

However, he had something he wanted to ask.

"What do you mean by…  if it had happened in Japan, Kami?"

Inari showed him a little smile at the question. 

"I sense the supernatural in you." She said. "So, I believe you have met with at least a few other beings who possess special abilities."

Kento nodded. "Fallens and Devils." He answered honestly. "The former mostly after my life."

This shocked Inari. "You had to start your journey meeting two of the most dastardly creatures." She sighed. "But as long as you were not influenced by them, it is alright."

She looked at him in search for any devil or fallen energy, but she could find nothing.

"I heard you used light abilities while fighting the reapers." She smiled. "That is a power specific to a very small group of beings."

"I don't know." Kento said. "One day I woke up with a few abilities, and the ability to control light was one of them."

Inari squinted her eyes, trying to find lies in his statement. "I don't sense any of the church markings or equipment on you either. It is a great mystery as to how you obtain that power."

Surprisingly, she was not angry. "But to answer your former question. As you know there exists a plethora of supernatural beings in this worlds. Us gods being a few of them." 

Kento nodded, already aware of that.

"But the Christian Faction or the Shinto Faction are not the only ones with their gods." She explained. "Every major and minor religion that you have heard of –Christian, Shinto, Hindu, Norse, Greek, Celtic, Egyption, Aztec and countless others exists."

Kento widened his eyes at the fact that so many powerful beings roamed the world and humans did not even know.

"But since there were so many gods, it was not possible to have one pantheon look after all the humans. Or this would have caused a war amongst all pantheons." She looked at Kento. "So, to prevent this, each pantheon decided to look after a specific place of the world. This led to the current situation."

"Like Shinto gods for Japan, Hindu gods for India, Greek for Greece and so on?" Kento asked.

Inari nodded with a smile. "Correct. And since the incident with your father occured in Norway, it was not a country I could interfere with. It is under the jurisdiction of the Norse Gods"

Kento shook his head and gave the goddess a smile. "It is alright. Maybe that was our fate."

This made Inari a little sad. She was aware that it was an incident that was preventable.

But when she saw Kento not dragging the matter further or blaming her – she felt a little relieved.

"Thank you for understanding." She smiled. 

"But why did you appear in front of me, Kami?" Kento asked. "After all this time."

"Because of the incident that just occured." She answered. "The Grim Reapers that came here were after me and not you. But since they sensed supernatural energy from you, they decided to attack you."

It made sense to Kento.

"And since you killed the reapers, it was a direct attack on the Greek Pantheon, especially Hades."

Kento froze.

He did not know that protecting himself would be taken as an act of aggression.

'But I did called them out… Before that they were just monitoring me.'

"But worry not." Inari assured. "Since they attacked you first and it was in my domain, Hades cannot target you for it."

Kento took a breath of relief hearing this.

"And as you are in Japanese soil, Greek Pantheon has no authority here." She assured. "You are safe in here."

"What if I go out of Japan for work?" He asked.

"Not even in other countries can Hades target you as they are ruled by other pantheons." She explained. "However, if you go to Greece, you might be in danger."

This made him frown.

"But do not worry." She assured. "If you ever have to go to Greece, inform me and I will make sure that Hades cannot hurt you in any way. You just have to pray at any temple or shrine that is dedicated to me and I will hear your call."

This gave him a bit of relief because after seeing her stats which had a SS grade skill, he felt shivers. He had never seen anyone with S grade skills, much less SS grade.

And he could only imagine what Hades would be like.

"They said something about a spear." Kento said, which made the goddess a little tense. 

"They were talking about a relic of the past that was lost ages ago." Inari said. "It is nothing for you to worry about."

"But the reason I called you here was to thank you for helping me get rid of those reapers." She said.

Kento was quite shocked. Never in his life did he expect to be thanked by a goddess.

"And to express my gratitude, I swear on my name that as long as you are in any place under my jurisdiction –I will protect you. Unless you do something that harms the treaty between the factions or brings harm to us Shinto Gods, you and your will be under my protection."

She smiled as she saw his shocked face. "And I know that you are going to the Yasaka shrine after you visit the Kiyomizu temple."

Kento nodded at her statement.

"Yasaka is a nine-tailed kitsune that is also the leader of the Kyoto Youkai Faction." She continued. "And as a Youkai, she is someone that prays to me."

This made him quite impressed that the guarding spirit of the Yasaka Shrine prayed to Inari.

"And when you go there you will be treated with respect by her and the Youkais serving under her." 

This statement made Kento unsure of what to say.

"I–"

She merely gave him a smile. "For your bravado and your family's constant belief, this is the least I can do as a Kami." 

She said as the guilt she felt for not being able to protect one of her most devoted devotees still lurked in her heart.

"It is not everyday that a mortal man gets to have such good relations with Youkais, Kento." She explained. "So, please don't say no to my gift. This relation will help you in the future, I can promise that."

Kento wasn't sure what the future held. But he knew that this was the greatest blessing he could receive.

Bowing his head deeply, he expressed his gratitude. 

"I will be in your debt, Kami."

Inari chuckled. "No, you naive child. All the debts have been paid with this."

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[[A/N: 25 Chapters ahead on: Pat reon.com/Greedyfrog

I used they/them for Inari as she had not chosen a gender till then. Inari in mythology does not have a fixed gender either.

Marvel chapter tomorrow. Didn't post today cuz I was fixing a few of the chapters.]]