Akari stood before the imposing double doors, her legs shaking. She tugged on the sleeve of her white and red outfit, the uniform of a Shinto shrine maiden, and thought, This is stupid. Why did I think it was a good idea to wear my miko outfit to this meeting? I should go change. She turned and started back down the hallway, but she hadn't taken two steps before there was a sound behind her. The sound of an opening door.

"Akari? Where are you going? Did you forget something?" It was Inara's voice, cheerful.

Crap. I guess it's too late now that she's seen me. Akari turned back and bowed her head. "No, I guess not. We can meet now." She raised her eyes and the goddess was standing in the doorway, wearing a deep purple kimono and watching Akari closely, examining her clothes.

"I see you're already getting into the spirit of the job. Good. I respect your enthusiasm, and you're going to need it. We've got a lot of work to do." With that, Inara grabbed Akari's wrist and pulled her into her bedroom. Her grip was strong, yet gentle.

Akari was instantly overwhelmed by Inara's bedroom. Not only was it massive, easily three times the size of Akari's new bedroom, it was also heavily decorated. Every wall was covered from floor to ceiling with trinkets and paintings, charms and keepsakes from every era of Japan's history. Akari saw beautiful calligraphy scrolls, woodblock prints, elaborate wooden carvings, and a gleamingly sharp katana resting on a black stand. There was even a suit of samurai armor in one corner. The room also smelled of incense and flowers and something faint that she couldn't quite place, a rich and earthy scent like fertile soil.

Akari's senses reeled as she tried to take in the dense room all at once. She looked down at the uncluttered floor to escape the overstimulation. Like the shrine's other bedrooms, the floor was covered in standard three-foot by six-foot tatami mats, but something was off about them. After a second, she noticed black nylon loops peeking out between many of the mats, like anchor points to attach something.

"Welcome to my room," Inara said, pulling Akari's attention from the floor. The fox goddess spun on one foot and gestured with both hands, her kimono sleeves flying. "Don't mind the clutter. I've collected a lot of art over the years and I can't bring myself to get rid any of it."

She clearly considered the weapons and armor to be art as well, which Akari could sort of agree with. Even if that sword had been designed to kill, its creation had required skill, artistry, and months of labor.

As Inara spun, Akari got a clear look at the fox goddess's fluffy orange tails, all six of them. I'm sure she had only five in the bath. I guess her number of tails varies… but why? She put that line of thought aside for the moment and said, "It's all beautiful, Inara-sama. It's a wonderful collection that would take me days to fully examine and appreciate."

With a prancing gait, Inara retrieved two silk pillows from an elaborately woven basket next to the samurai armor. She tossed them on the floor and unceremoniously flopped down onto one. "Sit with me. We've got a lot to cover tonight."

"Oh… of course," Akari said as she crossed her legs and sat down. She thought, She's so different again. When I first met her, she was aloof and mysterious, then she became all motherly. And now she's acting really casual, almost to the point of being childish.

"I want to reopen this shrine to the public," Inara said simply. "It's been long enough, maybe too long, since I left the public eye, and things got boring with just me and the girls here all alone."

Akari nodded. She had assumed that was the plan as soon as Inara had hired her, since it wouldn't make much sense for a closed shrine to employ a shrine maiden.

Inara smiled and there was a glimmer in her eyes, a spark of innocent mischief that was exclusive to children and the elderly. "But I have to admit I don't know what I'm doing. It's been centuries since I was involved directly with a shrine, and even then the priests and priestesses handled everything. So I need you."

Akari blinked, her mouth agape. It felt amazing to be needed by Inara, but it was also a terrifying amount of responsibility to bear. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just about everything," Inara said matter-of-factly. "Interact with the public, advertise the shrine's existence around Shinjō, coordinate with other shrines for seasonal celebrations, and plan how the shrine will function, or at least pass your knowledge of shrine operations on to Hebi for her to handle. Oh, and we'll need to hire a crew to clean up the pathway from town. Hebi and her little computer can do a lot, but getting a contractor to travel out here and give an estimate on that job was beyond her reach."

Akari lifted a hand. "Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but can't you take human form and talk to people?"

"I could… but it would cause trouble if people noticed me. From what I can tell, the gods have all taken a step back in this era, staying out of sight. I don't want to be the center of attention, at least to start. This will just be a normal shrine run by a loyal miko and her mysterious employer. And of course the other girls will help you out with day to day work whenever there aren't any other humans around."

An image of Usagi, Inu, and Hebi dressed as shrine maidens popped into Akari's head, vivid and hilarious. In Akari's imagination, Usagi pulled the look off almost too well, looking more like an anime stereotype of a miko than a real one, while Inu was grumpy yet attractive, keeping her distance from the guests, and Hebi… well, Hebi wasn't doing anything. Akari hadn't interacted with Hebi enough to form an impression of how she would behave in that situation. She clearly had an office lady vibe, but how would that translate to being a shrine maiden?

"—think that might work." Inara said, finishing a sentence that Akari hadn't heard her start.

"Sorry, Goddess, I missed that. I was lost in thought."

Inara frowned. "First, no need to call me Goddess. It feels so stuffy. 'Inara-sama' like you've been using is fine, but even just Inara would be acceptable."

"Oh, I could never be so casu—" Akari started.

The frown became a smile. "Second, please do let me know what you were thinking about. Were you perhaps picturing the girls as shrine maidens?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Akari's heart jumped into her throat. Can she read my mind? She swallowed, then stammered, "How did you know that?!"

Inara chuckled. "Lucky guess, since It's what I was thinking too. I can't wait to see them in their little red and white outfits. Do you think I could convince them to wear the kind of hakama that has a cut out on the hips? I can't resist the allure of a bare hip…"

Before Akari could begin to respond to that uncharacteristic behavior, Inara said, "What you missed earlier was just me saying I wanted the shrine to be dedicated to something other than Inari Okami, if you think it could work. Would people come to an unaffiliated shrine, maybe dedicated to nature?"

Akari wondered why Inara wouldn't want the shrine dedicated to her, but she focused on answering Inara's question. "Hmm, I don't think we'd get many visitors as a generic nature shrine, at least not after the initial novelty of our grand reopening wears off, especially due to the inconvenient pathway visitors would have to take to visit us. We need a gimmick to set us apart from the other shrines, which aren't doing that great these days."

"A gimmick, huh?" Inara had her tails swept around onto her lap and she was brushing them with both hands, her fingers plunging deep into the fluffy orange fur. That fur looked so wondrously soft and Akari longed to touch it. Inara continued, "I'll have to put some thought into that. Regular people won't be able to see any of our supernatural appeal, and I highly doubt Inu would be willing to stay in dog form and be our mascot."

Inara pouted, looking more like a pitiful child than an ancient goddess. "I wish the visitors could see the girls in their miko outfits…" The corners of her lips lifted. "But I guess they'll have to be happy with you. After all, you're quite adorable, Akari."

"R-really?"

"Really. Stand up and give me a twirl. I want to see how the style of miko clothing has changed in the last couple centuries."

Akari stood up, saying, "Well, this outfit isn't representative of every shrine maiden. I actually made this one myself, styled after historical versions with a bit of a modern flair. I have a traditional outfit that I wear to work on days that we expect high profile visitors. Well, wore, I guess. It's weird not working at the Nakahara shrine anymore."

She turned slowly, lifting her arms to show off the long white sleeves of her kosode robe. The red hakama had cut outs on the hips like Inara liked, but the tucked-in robe still covered her hips fully.

Inara leaned forward for a closer look. "Oh? That's not a normal hakama with distinct pant legs. It's a skirt!" she proclaimed.

Akari nodded. Her hakama was actually a long skirt, making it a little more flowing and swishy than the normal pant-like version. "That's one of the changes I made. It's definitely not a standard thing, at least outside of anime. Short-skirted miko are all the rage in the fanservice side of the industry."

Inara stared dumbly. "You lost me at anime, then you said a couple more words I didn't recognize. Can you explain them to me?"

Akari had a hard time believing that someone in Japan had never heard of anime, but she soldiered on. "Oh, my apologies, Inara-sama. Um, before I explain anime, I guess I should ask whether you know about manga."

"Oh yes," Inara said with a nod. "Those little picture books Inu reads. She brought some with her when she first arrived in our home. I gave them a look, but I just couldn't get into their tales about young women playing competitive sports."

"Well, not all manga are about sports. They can be about history, or fantasy, or even romantic drama. Anything you could write a book about can be manga instead," Akari explained. When her student seemed to be following along alright, she continued, "And the 'anime' I mentioned is the same concept but the images are animated on a screen and the characters are voiced by actors." Akari was hoping that Inara's exposure to Hebi's laptop was enough to bridge the gap in her understanding.

Inara furrowed her brow for a moment, then said, "I guess I understand. So what were those other things you said about rage and fans?"

"Um, 'all the rage' is just a saying that means something is popular, and 'fanservice' means pandering to the audience's desires, usually regarding sexy depictions of the characters."

"Hmm, hmm," Inara hummed, nodding. "So you said that sexy miko are very popular in these anime stories?"

"Yes, at least in some ani—"

"Then it's settled. Our shrine shall have the sexiest miko in the land. Short skirts, bare hips, and deep cleavage! Or maybe side-boob would be better…" She smiled and stared at the wall, clearly imagining her ideal miko uniform.

Akari's face and ears burned hot. "Um, Inara-sama, I'm not sure that's the best idea…"

"Why so shy, little Akari? You are beautiful, and you've got those wide child-bearing hips that are so desirable to men and women both, at least last time I listened to prayers. As a fertility goddess, I got a lot of prayers in that vein," she mused.

The awkward compliment was not helping Akari's blushing problem. She took a deep breath, then blurted, "If our priestesses are skimpily dressed, they won't be taken seriously!"

Inara leaned back, her eyes wide. "You feel very strongly about that. So in this era too, female sexuality is kept behind closed doors and tolerated only in the shadiest districts of town?"

Akari opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. She didn't know how to answer that. Women are far more sexually liberated now than some other periods in Japan's history, but we still have so far to go. Women should be treated equally and that can't happen while they are being objectified for the male gaze. If the shrine uses sex appeal to draw in crowds, wouldn't that set us back a generation or more?

Inara could see Akari's internal dilemma playing out on her face. She smirked and said, "The female body is natural, as is its sexual appeal. If you hide it in shame, aren't you just giving the reins of your life over to a prudish society?"

"Um, I guess so…" Akari said slowly. "But that doesn't change the fact that people will think of the shrine differently if we wear revealing clothes. Male visitors will flock to the shrine but women, even those that like our outfits, will flee the sexualized atmosphere and creepy men." Akari had seen that happen in real life as cosplay and doujin events originally targeted at women became dominated by men over time.

Inara rolled her shoulders and looked at the ceiling as she pondered Akari's explanation. "I suppose that's true. Maybe there's a balance to be struck, a level of 'fanservice' that is liberating to women without inviting unpleasantness from men." She looked back down and a savage grin appeared on her face. "And we don't have to worry about any troublemakers at our shrine. I'll scare them straight with a simple illusion, and if that doesn't work, I can just make them disappear. No one would even miss them."

That sounds an awful lot like murder! Akari thought, recoiling. She had forgotten that Inara and her spirits were not human and did not necessary share humanity's sense of morality. Thinking back, Inu and Hebi hadn't hesitated to knock Akari out and tie her up, and Inara had threatened her with memory loss or death if she didn't take the job. These spirits were not good people, but they weren't really evil either. Their morality was just on a different dimension entirely.

"Hmm? Something bothering you?" Inara asked. She was very observant, but Akari also wore her worry in plain sight.

"No, I think I'm alright," Akari answered, not quite lying. She was still a little scared of Inara, but she felt like she understood her more now. There was no use in judging a goddess by the standards of a lowly human. The best Akari could do was keep an eye on Inara, to keep her from doing anything truly terrible to the shrine's visitors.

Inara clapped her hands together once. "Great! Then let's start planning the specifics. I want this shrine open to the public by Rei-sai."

"Um…" Akari hesitated. She knew that the term Rei-sai referred to a shrine's biggest annual event, but the date varied from shrine to shrine. It was always a date of importance to the shrine's deity, but Akari didn't know what that would be for Inara. August 24th through 26th was when the entire city celebrated Shinjō Matsuri, which had some ties to Inara, but that had just passed. She decided to just ask, "When is your Rei-sai, Inara-sama?"

Inara smiled. "September 10th, two weeks from today."