Chapter 2: Becoming a god

After saving Mikage from the dog, he gave me a kiss and handed me a map to his home where I could stay. I followed the map, which led me to a mysterious shrine. The moment I arrived, I realized I'd been played.

"That's it! I am never trusting an adult again!" I shouted, frustration bubbling up like boiling water.

Suddenly, voices echoed around me. "Welcome back, Lord Mikage!"

My heart nearly stopped. "Ghosts!" I shrieked, channeling my inner Usagi. "Where is my best friend Rei Hino when you need her?"

As if on cue, I managed to trip over a stair - because of course I did - and tumbled backwards. Spinning around, I found myself face-to-face with something straight out of an anime: a devastatingly handsome man with actual fox ears and two ethereal spirits hovering nearby.

"GHOOOOOOSSSSTTTSSS!"

I hit the hardwood floor with all the grace of a falling piano, my pink glasses going askew.

"ANTI-EVIL ICE CRYSTAL!" The words burst from my mouth instinctively. Frost crackled around my fingertips, creating delicate, dangerous patterns across the shrine floor.

The fox-eared man - who I would later learn was named Tomoe - studied me with a mix of irritation and curiosity. His silver-white hair caught the moonlight, making him look both beautiful and slightly supernatural.

"You're not Mikage," he stated flatly, those fox ears twitching in a way that was both adorable and slightly terrifying.

"And you're definitely not human!" I blurted back, pressing myself against a wooden pillar. My Sailor Scout training had not prepared me for... whatever this was.

Tomoe's eyes narrowed. "I am the familiar of this shrine," he said, taking a step closer. A deep sniff - yes, an actual sniff - and his expression changed. "You carry Mikage's mark."

I reached up, touching my forehead. "What mark?"

Another burst of ice crystals escaped my hands, dancing across the floor like tiny, lethal snowflakes.

"Ice powers," Tomoe muttered, "a human with spiritual energy, and now Mikage's mark." He sighed - somehow managing to make a sigh sound elegant. "It seems that fool has chosen a new Land God. And quite an unusual one."

"Land God?" I squeaked. "No no no. I'm a Sailor Scout. Sort of. Well, Sailor Scout adjacent? I help Rei sometimes. I definitely can't be a Land God!"

Tomoe's smirk could have frozen hell itself. "Unfortunately, you don't have much choice. Mikage has marked you as this shrine's deity."

He bowed - a gesture that somehow managed to be both respectful and slightly sarcastic.

I stared. This was not how I expected my day to go when I stopped to help a random guy being chased by a dog. Between my ice powers, Sailor Scout training, and now apparently being a Land God with a snarky fox familiar, Rei was going to absolutely lose her mind when she heard about this.

Welcome to my new life, I thought. This is going to be complicated.