“The Mission”

…Oh? Hello. …Welcome. Did you come all this way into the forest to visit the shrine…? …huh? An attraction? You mean the theme park out there? Yes I am aware of it. There’s a haunted house, right? I sometimes go there to perform exorcisms. Huh? Is this an attraction? Heh, are you serious? You’re funny, this is a shrine. Did you come to greet the god? Or for exorcism? …You look so confused. Are you lost? In this forest? Heh, looks like that’s the case. You entered the forest from the theme park and got lost. Don’t worry, it happens from time to time. This forest invites people. Maybe it’s because of me. I always feel lonely, so the trees of the forest get worried and call people in. If you got lost like that, it would be my fault. I’m sorry. I heard that the more kind you are, the more likely you are to be invited. You must be a very kind person. Oh, sorry. I am Kannazuki Otoha, the shrine maiden of this place. Nice to meet you. Ah! You must be so tired after getting lost. I’ll get you some tea and snacks. Please sit here and wait a little bit. Thank you for waiting. Here are the tea and snacks. Do you like Manju and rice chips? I’m glad then. Let’s have some together. *exhales* I love hot tea. It’s still summer but isn’t drinking hot tea in the hot weather amazing? Heh Delicious. Why don’t you have some? Here you go. Heh, these rice chips are awesome and the manjus are soft and tasty. Please enjoy my favorites! I’m happy… Yeah, I feel happy. Usually I’m all alone here. So having some tea and snacks with someone else is very occasional. It happens only when a beautiful lady from the theme park visits me once in a while. But mostly I don’t understand what she is saying and she leaves immediately when she’s done talking. So I haven’t really talked with her much anyway. I’m so lonely. Hey you, if you please, well, um… Could you be, um, my friend…? I, I’m so sorry for saying some weird thing all of a sudden. I must sound very strange. I’m ashamed… please forget what I said. Sorry, well, I don’t have any friends, so…. So I just wished if I could have someone to talk to or have tea and snacks with sometimes, you know? Well, um, I’m speaking like a child. I’m sorry. Ehm, looks like the sky is turning orange. The days are getting shorter recently. By the way! You came from the theme park, didn’t you? Is that place fun? The lady, who sometimes visits me, talks about it. That you can get out of a room if you fulfill a “mission”. That sounds fun. I’d like to go there someday. Maybe with you. Well, never mind. You wouldn’t go with me. Such a lonely… Huh? You wouldn’t hate it? Heh. You are very kind. So kind to care about me. Missions… are they difficult? I can’t even imagine… But if this shrine were an attraction in the theme park and I could give you a mission, it would be, well… “Stay being my friend.” Would you be able to fulfill this mission? You can? Haha, that makes me happy. Very happy. Then you can beat it! Oh. But if you beat it, you would leave here, right? That’s… not good. Huh? Would you visit a friend even after? You make me happy. So happy! I didn’t think I would feel like this with a person I just met. Heh, a sparkling and sweet feeling. Having a friend is such a happy thing. Oh no, the tea has become cold. Well, it’s getting cold outside too, so please come in to the main building. Usually it is used for prayer but it can accommodate a guest too. You shouldn’t leave here once it’s evening. The forest is very dangerous after dark. You will have breakfast in the morning before I escort you out of the forest. Please relax tonight. And, well, if you please, would you like to come in and talk more? I would like to. We are friends! Heh “Please fulfill the mission” by being a friend! Translation by SeductiveSugarShop@gmail.com Commissioned by Jazzmino@HVDB/Discord