Osaka Station was vast, far bigger than anything Inari had ever seen humans build, possibly even bigger than the Celestial Palace itself… and it was crowded! She gulped, and unconsciously shrank back against Kiko, utterly unnerved by the sheer tidal press of the seething ocean of humanity. She felt Kiko’s hands upon her arm as she caught hold of her. Kiko bent her head, and lent in to speak directly into Inari’s ear, so she’d be heard over the noise.

“It’s ok Inari-san, once we get outside it’ll be less of a crowd. I’m just glad we missed the morning rush hour, that’s always a terrible crush.”

The idea that this vast space could get even more crowded was terrifying.

The day had started fairly enough, although earlier than Inari would’ve liked. Kiko had them up, dressed and waiting for the bus into town before dawn had even properly broken. Inari, not wanting to chance magic created clothing where it might encounter a dead spot, was dressed in one of Paul’s t-shirts and a sweater of his, which Kiko assured her wasn’t excessively baggy enough to be unfashionable, and a pair of Kiko’s trousers made of the soft pale blue material she called denim. Those she’d needed to borrow a belt to hold them up.

Kiko was only a little taller than Inari was in her present form, but Inari’s waist was almost boyishly slim, as was her chest, which was annoying Inari somewhat. She looked like a slim, pretty-faced youthful boy with long hair, which to her mind was made worse by the shapeless androgynous modern clothing.

Kiko had a rather more womanly figure than Inari did at the moment. A fact that was made noticeable by the covert looks from the men on the platform, as they waited for the local train to arrive. Although, it amused Inari when she noticed that she herself was getting more than a few shy, sly glances from other women.

Inari smiled inwardly. She’d had a few liaisons with other women from time to time. After all what was gender to a shape-shifting fox spirit? She had enough experience to know that these women did not realise she was female. Idly she wondered how they’d react, would they be shocked? Kiko had said that society was more open about these things. Perhaps another time she might find out how open it had become, but not today.

It amused her and reassured her however, that her choice of clothing was disguising enough as to conceal even her gender. Although she did have one of Paul’s mana battery bracelets, and a spare in Kiko’s handbag, which was powering a disguise spell to hide her tail and ears. She was also wearing a knitted cap, and baggy trousers. Paul had called it a ‘belt and braces’ approach last night when he’d suggested it. Then, even if all else failed, she would still be disguised.

Although, as he’d said, she could always claim it was cosplay even if discovered.

The train had been a bit of surprise, but apparently the humans had replaced the hissing, smoke-belching steam driven trains with much quieter and cleaner ones that ran on this ‘electricity’ that was everywhere.

The seats were ingenious too, one could change them, moving the back so that you could sit facing forwards or backward to the direction of travel. Inari sat looking out the window, mesmerised as the countryside sped past. Apparently electric trains were quicker too, but then perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

To her, humans had always seemed to be in a rush to go somewhere, trying to get there faster, to do more in less time, always busier and busier. Inari had often wondered if that was because they realised, somewhere deep down inside them where they weren’t prepared to admit it, that they had such short lives.

For a time the changes in scenery had been fascinating, but after a short while it had grown oppressive. So much had changed. There had been so much more living green before, that was gone now. Although she could feel the staggering amount of fertility in the fields around her, the burgeoning ripeness of the farmland was bought at a worrisome cost to the land. There was a subtle wrongness to it all. It spoke to her senses of an imbalance in nature and of borrowing today’s yield against tomorrows fertility.

Although, not all the fields were like that. They’d flashed past several farms that felt right, and were evidently managed differently. Inari had wished they could have tarried a bit so she could’ve determined if that was a lingering remnant of the old ways, or had some humans learnt, or perhaps relearnt, good sense.

The first time the train had plunged into a dead patch, Inari had gasped aloud. All of a sudden her extra senses had gone, limited to the bubble around her like a second skin. Stripped away by the lack of magic around her, leaving her isolated and alone in her body. Although the mana battery protected her from the worst effects, it’s lack of range limited her to just what she could see, hear, smell and touch. Inari had felt crippled, numbly wrapped in a shell of flesh, unable to reach out beyond her own skin, with death all around her. Nauseated she curled forward, dizzy from the lack of any sense of where she was in the world. Kiko had rubbed her back, utterly misunderstanding the source of her distress she’d said something about motion sickness…

Then the magic had come back, weaker than before, but there nonetheless. Inari had nearly wept for the joy of it, even though it hurt like blood returning to a limb. Once she’d recovered physically, she’d spent the rest of the journey staring out the window thoughtfully. Now she understood what the Others experienced, what the loss of magic and the dead zones were actually like.

Also, she realised what life was like for most humans limited as they were to their purely physical senses. She’d never realised in all her long years, just how alone that felt. Until now.

Inari wasn’t at all sure that if being cut off like that, trapped in her own body, wouldn’t be enough by itself to kill her eventually, even if she survived having her magic torn way. She wondered if humans, never having known anything different, even noticed how alone they were, or was that another thing they ignored for the sake of their sanity and stuffed away in some dark forgotten corner of their minds?

She’d been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed as they pulled into Osaka station, although she had noticed it had gotten noisier and reflexively pulled her hat down more firmly over her ears.

The station, the platforms and concourse full of people, had hit her like a powerful wave to the face, all but bowling her over, filling her eyes and mind, knocking the air from her lungs and then almost dragging her back down… Inari had clutched onto Kiko, feeling like she was drowning.

From somewhere, deep in her memory, came the image of a dazzling sea, with water as clear as air almost. She’d danced over the waters, stepping lightly upon the rippling surface as if it was silk cloth on a dance-floor. She’d held a... staff… something long, in her hand, and where she pushed it down into the water and stirred the bottom, lands had risen up.

Inari shook her head, bewildered and wondering where that image had come from, whether it was a dream or a story long forgotten and only partly recalled now.

Once they stood outside Inari slowly turned around in a circle, looking at the towering mountains of buildings, seemingly carved out of mirrored glass and white stone.

“It’s… it’s all so big...”

Kiko nodded.

“Umeda is the third largest shopping district, and largest outside of Tokyo. Although the buildings in Tokyo are bigger, I think Umeda is more charming, and a lot easier to get to! There are four shopping malls within fifteen minutes walk of right here. Which is good, because we’re going to walk for miles around them!”

“Miles? Oh dear..”

Inari looked down at the borrowed shoes, which were held on with balled up socks in the toes.

“I think new shoes should be the first thing we buy!”

“Good idea! Ok, follow me. Comfy and stylish shoes, coming up!”

Kiko seemed to know exactly where to go, and led Inari to a shoe shop at the base of one of the man-made mountains. Inari couldn’t help thinking that calling it a shop was perhaps entirely the wrong word. It was a palace, with marbled pillars, soft carpeted floors and vast expanses of perfectly clear glass, like sheets of river ice from the far northern end of Hokkaido. There were also more mirrors of better quality than Inari had ever seen. She smiled slightly; a certain Imperial Princess of long ago would have spat in sheer envy at the sight. Even Amaterasu would have been jealous.

The shoes were unlike anything Inari had seen before. They were as different from Paul-san’s workman-like boots, as those were from Kiko’s shiny leather shoes. These were made of soft fabric, on a sole made of something that Inari couldn’t even fathom. The colours were… vibrant… screamingly so in some cases. And there was a vast number of them, in all different shapes, sizes and colours.

Inari wondered where the shoe-makers could possibly be hiding, and how fast they must work to fill such a shop. She stood just inside the doorway, and looked around in dismay at the vast array of choices.

“Kiko-san… what is this place?”

“Onitsuka Tiger, they’re a sneaker and sports shoe brand and this is their shop. They make some of the best shoes for walking in, and they’re all made in a factory right here in Osaka! So we’re supporting a local brand, rather than buying something made in another country. Which is important!”

Inari nodded absently… mostly trying to decide what to buy, but absently noting that times had changed somewhat, since in the past, buying something made in another country was a sign of wealth.

Inari walked around, trying to decide what to buy, when a young lady approached her.

“Good morning, Miss, can I help you?”

Inari blinked, surprised at being approached by a stranger. Kiko nodded.

“Yes, my friend is looking for some walking shoes, not professional ones, just something comfortable and stylish for daily wear. We’re not sure what size she is...”

“Ahh I see. Please, wait here a moment while I get what I need for a fitting.”

Inari waited until the girl had gone and asked Kiko.

“Is that normal?”

“The shopping assistant? Yes...why?”

“Oh… is that what she was, a servant?”

Kiko shook her head.

“It’s… not quite like that. She’s employed by the shop to help sell things, to serve the customer and make the experience of shopping more pleasant so one will come back again.”

“Ah, so more like a... hired servant, yes?”

“Yes Inari-sama, I suppose so. Umm… when did you last go shopping?”

“Ohh... let me think. It wasn’t the last time I left the mountain, but perhaps some time before that… ah… what date is it?”

“It’s September seventh.”

Inari sighed.

“No, what year of which Emperor?”

“Oh! Ahh... Heisei 30. Before that was Showa who reigned for 63 years and before that Taisho who ruled for 15. Do I need to go back further?”

“UmHm… last time I left my shrine was in Taisho 7, so a few years before that.”

Kiko’s eyes widened as she did some quick mental calculations.

“Before 1917! Over a hundred years ago?!”

“Yes, that seems about right.”

“No wonder everything seems strange to you!”

Inari nodded, noting the shop assistant returning.

“More has changed in the past hundred years than ever before… Ah! Thank you for your help, umm, what should I do for this, fitting?!”

The shop assistant… Fumiyo her name badge read, had returned carrying a device to measure Inari’s foot size. At her direction, Inari took off her shoes, and stood on the flat glass and metal plate which flashed a line of red light across her feet. Fumiyo nodded, and presented a flat slate-like metal and glass thing to her, that showed Inari pictures of the shoes Kiko had called sneakers. Inari stared down at the slate… thing... trying to make sense of what she was seeing..

“Ah… Fumiyo-san? Some advice please, which would be best?”

“You shoe size, height and weight have been input already, miss. The tablet will show you which shoes would fit you best.”

Inari looked down at the tablet in her hands, then looked at Kiko, who much to her relief leaned over and started moving her finger across the tablet, making the images move.

“These look cute, as do these and... Oo! Inari! They have some with your name!”

“They do?!”

“Yes, see! ‘Inari’ style of the Kabuki inspired sneakers!”

The shoes in the image were more or less the same shape as the others as far as Inari could see, but they were mostly white with red decorative stripes curling around the sides. The toe of the shoe had a couple of swipes of black either side of the red toe. Inari didn’t understand the pattern until the tablet showed her an image of the shoe seen from the front, as if one was looking down at it, then everything lined up and she was looking at a stylised kitsune mask from kabuki theatre. She giggled at the cleverness of the ‘hidden’ design.

“I think I’ll try a pair of these Fumiyo-san.”

“A good choice miss, one minute.”

Inari waited until Fumiyo was out of hearing range, then quietly asked Kiko.

“How did they do that? Make a pair for me so quickly?”

Kiko giggled.

“They didn’t… they make shoes in all sizes and different styles. Mass production it’s called. I suppose a designer took inspiration and named the style after you indirectly. But they weren’t made specifically for you.”

“Oh! I did wonder, I mean, I know it’s not magic, so Paul-san says, but it looks like it...”

Kiko smiled.

“I can see how you might think that. As someone once said, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Inari nodded thoughtfully.

Inari’s new sneakers proved very comfortable as they walked out of the shop and she looked around.

“So… now where to Kiko-san?”

“We need to get you an entire new outfit. One that looks less... grungy, than that.”

“Grungy?”

“It’s a style, it means deliberately ugly or distressed. Usually worn by rebellious youths.”

“Oh! Yes, let’s! Lead on!”

“Ok, we need to go to the Hep Five mall and up.”

inari looked up the vast mirrored side of the building a short distance away, and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a lot of stairs to climb...”

“Stairs? Oh! No, we’ll take the elevator or the escalator.”

“The... what?”

“You’ll see...”

Kiko led them inside the ‘shopping mall’ called Hep Five, although why it was called that Inari had no idea. She pointed out the moving staircases called escalators, and the small glass box like rooms that moved up and down called elevators. They took one of the elevators up to the fifth floor, Inari looking out through the glass wall in fascination as they ascended though the huge open space. For some reason, the shopping mall had a life size model of a huge whale hanging in mid-air… and it was coloured bright red.

Actually, now that she looked, most of building was either red, or white… she wondered if that had something to do with her. Closing her eyes briefly, she could feel a faint tug; somewhere above them was an Inari shrine. Inari had a brief impression of a wide space, open to the sky, and the vast turning circle of iron that she recognised as the huge Ferris wheel she’d seen from the ground.

It seemed fitting that such a vast building dedicated to shopping would have a shrine of her as the patron Goddess of commerce and business on it’s roof.

The shop Kiko-san led Inari to had women’s clothing in a truly staggering amount of styles, and everything she needed to find seemed to be there. There were even mirrors one could stand in front of, and the reflection would change to show what you would look like wearing the clothes one selected from what Kiko had called a ‘menu’…

Inari gave those a long, hard look, but there was no magic that she could sense. Sufficiently advanced indeed she thought.

With Kiko’s help Inari soon found herself wearing a completely new outfit, one that seemed to be more ‘stylish’, certainly it seemed more like what other women were wearing. It was a light-weight, brightly coloured dress, one that just reached Inari’s knees. Although, as she’d done a twirl to show it off to Kiko, she had blushed... then promptly dragged Inari off to a section of the shop dedicated to undergarments.

Inari had been as baffled by the shapes as she was enchanted by the materials. The pantsu were easy enough to figure out, well, most of them. There were some that were just straps... But the tops left her confused. Fortuitously, Kiko managed to explain, even as she went rather red faced.

Inari stared at the thing Kiko had called a bra…

“But… why? It’s not as if I have enough ’there’ to make it necessary?”

“Umm… that might be true. Ok, here, try this. It’s ah... padded, and supposed to accentuate the figure.”

Kiko handed Inari another ‘bra’ through the curtain of the changing room, and Inari tried it on. Turning sideways she studied herself, then called out through the door...

“Kiko, can you find another... oh, four or five of these? Maybe in something that isn’t so plain?”

Kiko giggled.

They’d ended up buying two, because Kiko said every woman needed at least two sensible items in her wardrobe. Then she lead Inari to another shop full of glorious things.

Inari stared at the shop, with it’s brazen display of undergarments in the window. The only Victoria she could think of, had been by all accounts rather staid… Still, if this had been her secret, it would certainly explain why she and her Albert had produced quite so many children! Inari smiled slightly, remembering a certain young sailor who’d turned out to be the Queen’s grandson, Prince George. She’d heard he became king in the end, and wondered if he’d thought of her at all afterwards...

Inari shook her head, highly amused at the notion of the fussy, somewhat dumpy English queen wearing such scandalous undergarments. No wonder she’d kept them a secret!

By the time Kiko and Inari found a small cafe to have a late lunch, they were each carrying several bags of clothing, although one of those contained everything that Inari had been wearing when she’d left this morning, except for the hat. Inari had refused to part with that. For reasons even she wasn’t sure of, although only partly because it was a cheerful red colour and comfortable…. And maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with the way Paul had tugged it down over her head that morning, planting a chaste kiss on her forehead, telling her to be safe and have fun.

“Inari-sama, you’ve been awfully quiet. Is it all too much of a shock for you?”

Inari looked up from her plate of sushi on a bed of shaved ice, and shook her head.

“I have had a lot to think about… just.. so much has changed! I feel like this is an entirely new land.”

“We could go on the Ferris wheel; you can see Osaka castle from it.”

“That would be nice. Hm, Kiko-san, I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you know so much about here? You live in Kyoto...”

“Oh! Yes, well most of my family does. But my grandparents are from here, Sakai ward, that’s just along the coast.”

“Oh? Sakai… Oh yes! I remember that. A little fishing village with a nice inn that sometimes travellers stop at on the way to the castle. What was it called now? … Oh, Hanami inn, that was it. There was a cherry tree in the court yard. When I was travelling in mortal disguise, I always got rooms at the back, overlooking the tree. In the spring the tree would fill them with such a sweet scent and pale pink Hana-akari, as the sunlight shone off the sakura petals. It was as if the whole world was softly laughing in joy.”

Kiko coughed, almost choking on her pastry and took a drink of her iced lemon tea.

“It’s ah... changed… Osaka city grew and sort of swallowed the village. B... but the inn is still there, although sadly the tree is not. My grandfather’s other grandson runs it now. It’s been passed down through the family for many generations.”

“Oh-ho! I wonder what would happen if I arrived there and requested my usual room?! I think I still have a reservation...”

“I think my cousin would probably get rather drunk, assuming he believed you. After he’d shown you to your room. He’s a very good businessman first and foremost. Just not very religious, at all.”

Inari smiled.

“You know, when I first saw you I thought you looked a bit familiar… like I had met someone of your family before.”

“Oh? Now I’m curious… this ancestor of mine, what were they like?”

“Oh, she was the daughter of the house. A quiet and serious child, quite intelligent. She wanted to be a miko, and learn… oh, everything! Of course, she had no idea who I was at first, but she somehow puzzled it out. I was impressed. I seem to recall I arranged for her to get her wish, now that I think about it.”

Kiko blinked.

“I...I know who that is! She’s the first in our family that went into the priesthood! Goodness! I have you to thank for that?! Her acceptance to be a miko elevated our entire family at the time!”

“Ah, good… did she marry the young man she was enamoured of?”

“She married, yes. I don’t know if it was the same one. He was a guard at the castle.”

“That sounds like the same one… I’m glad. I hope he gave her many fine children, he was certainly lusty enough!”

Inari chuckled, remembering exactly how they’d met, and what they’d been doing when she walked in on the young maid. Inari noticed that Kiko was blushing rather, evidently some of what she’d been thinking had shown on her face..

“Ah, sorry… did not mean to embarrass you with questions about your ancestors.”

“Long dead and revered ancestors! Who I do NOT want to think about doing that!”

Inari grinned slightly..

“Well, how else do you think ancestors have descendants?!”

“Inari-sama! Please!”

“Oh hush! Let Grandma have her memories to keep her warm.”

Kiko stared at Inari, and then shook her head.

“I have difficulty seeing you as anyone’s grandmother, looking like that!”

“I hope so! I’m planning on staying out late enough to find a bar this evening, one with some pretty boys. And maybe afterwards we’ll find a... what are they called? A love hotel?”

Kiko squeaked in alarm, turning bright red… much to Inari’s amusement.

Inari style sneaker from the Kabuki line by Onitsuka Tiger of Osaka.