The time had come for Lua, the shrine’s electric car, to undergo its regular inspection. Even if her exterior was perfect, it was a legally mandated procedure, and preventing any unforeseen malfunctions was also part of a maiden’s responsibility. Lua, with her avatar seated within her, headed to the repair shop, driven by Akari, who was wearing clothes that were a transformed Shizuku. The repair shop was an ordinary place. It was a world entirely different from the shrine’s tranquility, filled with the smell of oil, the noise of machinery, and unfamiliar parts scattered everywhere.
“Welcome! Here for your regular inspection, right?”
The mechanic greeted them kindly and meticulously examined Lua’s body. Akari got out of the car, and Lua had to fully entrust her body to the mechanic’s hands.
First, the engine compartment was opened. As the hood lifted, Lua was overcome with a strange sensation, as if her very heart was being exposed. The mechanic’s flashlight beam illuminated every corner of her internal circuits and battery modules. Lua felt the light probing her insides throughout her entire body. It was the sensation of her wire bundles, coolant pipes, and complexly intertwined sensors—all once hidden under covers—being laid bare. Every small vibration from the mechanic touching wires and tightening bolts felt as vivid to Lua as a touch on her skin.
“Battery cell voltage is good, and the coolant is fine.”
The mechanic’s murmurs were transmitted directly through every part of Lua’s body—the car itself. It felt as if someone was reporting on the state of her own blood circulation.
Next was the undercarriage inspection. Lua was lifted onto a hoist, her body floating in the air. The mechanic crawled underneath and began to inspect her underside. The dull thud of tapping the suspension, the feeling of fingers rubbing to check brake pad wear, and the subtle tremor of shaking the driveshaft to check for play—everything was felt directly through Lua’s senses. It was the first time her underside had been examined in such detail.
The most sensitive moment was when the diagnostic device was connected. The mechanic plugged a cable into Lua’s charging port and checked numerous data points on a laptop. Lua felt the sensation of being directly connected to the mechanic’s device through her communication circuits—her nervous system, so to speak. It was a subtly ticklish and vulnerable sensation, as if all her electronic signals and sensor information were flowing outward, completely unfiltered.
“No issues! It’s very clean. Looks like you’ve been taking good care of it!”
As the mechanic finished speaking, Lua descended from the hoist and touched the ground again. A sense of relief finally washed over her as the external touch that had meticulously examined her body disappeared. Though brief, the experience of having her deepest self revealed to another was a fresh shock for Lua. At the same time, it was a chance to realize once again just how intricate and perfect the body created by her transformation ability truly was.
Akari climbed into Lua’s inspected body, and Lua left the repair shop to return to the quiet embrace of the shrine. The experience of being scrutinized to her very core was unfamiliar, but Lua prepared for her next transformation, considering this, too, a part of understanding the ways of the world.[4:1]
Izumi now perfectly understood the special quality of her small body. While the fact that she would live forever as a little girl sometimes brought a faint sense of regret, she realized it also allowed her to perform more delicate and precise transformations. After ten years of shrine life, Izumi began to contribute in ways no one else could, all thanks to her small body.
The wooden floor of the shrine’s main hall was wide, and fine dust often accumulated in the cracks of the old timber. It was a time-consuming task for the maidens to clean themselves. One day, seeing this, Izumi had an idea.
“I’ll clean it for you!”
With those words, Izumi glowed and transformed. Her small body became a round, flat robotic vacuum cleaner. Small brushes were attached to its main body, and a faint whirring sound emanated from its suction port. Izumi expertly zipped across the shrine floor, sucking up dust. Using the sensors in her body, she accurately navigated into corners and under furniture, not missing even the finest dust in the floor’s cracks.
“Wow, the floor is sparkling thanks to Izumi!”
Lua exclaimed, admiring the spot where the robotic-vacuum-Izumi had passed. After finishing, Izumi returned to her original form and smiled brightly. “How was that? Because I’m small, I can get into every nook and cranny!” Thanks to her efforts, the shrine floor was always kept spotlessly clean.
Meanwhile, because the shrine was old, the small, cherished items used by the maidens would often go missing. Small accessories and needles, in particular, were easily lost and often couldn’t be found no matter how hard they searched.
One day, a small gem from Akari’s cherished hair ornament fell off and disappeared. Everyone searched for it desperately, but it was nowhere to be found. That’s when Izumi stepped forward.
“I’ll look for it!”
Izumi transformed her body into a high-powered magnifying glass. Her body became a transparent glass lens with a handle, her vision magnified dozens of times. In her magnifying glass form, Izumi meticulously scoured the floor’s tiny cracks and the dust within them, aiming to find fragments too small for the naked eye.
While magnifying a minuscule crack in the floorboards, Izumi soon spotted something faintly glittering.
“It’s here! Akari’s hair ornament gem!”
At Izumi’s cry, the other maidens gathered around in surprise. There, in the spot Izumi indicated, was the tiny gem, buried in the dust. Thanks to Izumi’s help, the precious lost item was found again.
Most of the shrine’s belongings were old and frequently needed small repairs. Tasks requiring the tightening of tiny screws, like those in delicate clocks or complex locks, were difficult even for the maidens.
Aki was trying to repair a broken grandfather clock. A small screw was set too deep to be reached with a regular screwdriver. That’s when Izumi approached.
“Aki-san, may I help?”
Without hesitation, Izumi transformed her body into a precision screwdriver. Her small body became a thin, sharp screwdriver bit, while the handle part reshaped to allow for precise rotation. Held in Aki’s hand, Izumi moved like a perfect tool. Her body found the tiny screw head, fit into it perfectly, and rotated with delicate precision, tightening the wobbly screw completely.
“Amazing, Izumi! The repair was so much easier thanks to you.”
Aki marveled at Izumi’s precise transformation ability. Even with her small body, Izumi was growing into an indispensable presence at the shrine. As an eternal little girl, she had become a precious maiden, vital to every corner of the shrine wherever a delicate task was needed.[4:2]
In the deepest part of the shrine, the Great Maiden’s abode was always filled with a mysterious aura. Lua, Shizuku, Akari, and Izumi sat before the Great Maiden, listening to her story. Today, she was telling them of the time she first became a maiden. Her avatar closed her eyes, seemingly reminiscing about the distant past.
“My story is quite different from the world you know. It is a tale from a distant time, an era that was called the Age of Myths.”
The Great Maiden’s voice was soft, yet it held a grandeur that seemed to contain millennia.
“Back then, the world was not as orderly as it is now. The boundary between the heavens and the earth was blurred; it was an age of chaos where humans, gods, and all other beings lived intermingled. I was an ordinary human child then. But I was a little different from the others. I could feel the sounds of the world, the whispers of the wind, and the vibrations of the earth far more clearly than anyone else.”
She paused, her gaze lost in the distance.
“One day, a great catastrophe struck the world. Ceaseless rains poured from the sky, threatening to swallow the land, and tremors that seemed to tear everything apart shook the earth without end. People trembled in fear, and the gods, vying for power against one another, only fueled the chaos. Amidst all that pandemonium, watching the world spiral toward ruin, I fell into a deep sorrow.”
“I prayed desperately. For an end to the chaos, for the salvation of all life. My prayers continued day and night, and my earnest pleas must have reached the heavens, for at one moment, a great pillar of light descended upon me.”
A flicker of the awe she felt then crossed the Great Maiden’s face.
“Within that light, I came to understand all the knowledge of the world and the principles of creation. My physical body was reborn by the light, and I felt myself connect to the fundamental power of the world. I became a being who no longer felt cold, hunger, or the fear of death. And then, a powerful voice echoed within me.”
The Great Maiden cleared her throat.
“‘You are the one who shall keep the balance of the world. Your body will be the bridge that connects this world and the gods, and your existence shall forever protect this land.’ That voice gave me the power to create a boundary, and within it, the ability to transcend the limits of matter. I accepted the will of the Divine and built the first shrine here in these mountains.”
She quietly opened her eyes.
“And so, I became the first maiden of the shrine, and a part of my body became this very building. I hide the fact that I am the building and use an avatar to meet you all because, in the Age of Myths, a being like me becoming the shrine itself was a way to connect with the world and prevent chaos. In a way, my very existence became a testament to the harmony between the Divine, humans, and the world.”
The maidens held their breath at the Great Maiden’s story. They realized that the shrine where they lived had its origins in such a grand and mysterious beginning, born from the Age of Myths. The Great Maiden was not merely a maiden; she was living history, an eternal being carrying out the will of the Divine.[4:3]
Clutching the Great Maiden’s letter, Lua quickened her pace. Unlike their own shrine, which transcended the limits of matter, this destination was mysterious in a different way: it was a place that transcended the limits of time, where beings who perceived the past and future simultaneously resided. The Great Maiden had once explained that the maidens there saw “all of time spread out like a single landscape painting.”
Akari sat in the driver’s seat of the electric car that was Lua, wearing clothes that were a transformed Shizuku. Izumi sat in the passenger seat, watching the passing scenery with eyes full of curiosity. This visit was more than a simple exchange; it was an important ritual between the shrines.
The Shrine of Time was nestled deep in the mountains beside a mist-shrouded lake. As they neared the entrance, Lua’s body—the car—felt a subtle tremor. A strange sensation, as if time itself were expanding and contracting, enveloped her. Lua’s avatar took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.
The shrine gates opened, and a group of maidens welcomed them. Their eyes were deep and distant, their gaze profound, as if memories of the past and visions of the future were mingled within. Like the maidens of their own shrine, they never aged, but their very existence seemed to stand outside the flow of time.
Lua handed over the Great Maiden’s letter. The maiden who received it nodded as if she already knew its contents without opening the envelope.
“Welcome, guardians of the material boundary. We have already received the Great Maiden’s message.”
Lua could not hide her surprise at the maiden’s words. They truly seemed to perceive all of time at once.
Lua, Akari, and Izumi were guided inside the shrine. While their own shrine’s building was the Great Maiden’s body, the buildings here possessed a stillness, as if the flow of time itself had stopped within them. In the corridors, one could almost imagine seeing faint shadows of the past overlapping with afterimages of the future.
They came face to face with the head of this shrine, the ‘Temporal Guardian.’ The Temporal Guardian, with an androgynous face that was neither old nor young, welcomed them.
“What you seek to know is the future, I presume. However, the flow of time cannot be altered carelessly, and to reveal everything would only invite chaos.”
The Temporal Guardian spoke softly.
“We can see all that the future holds, but we can only convey what is necessary, when it is necessary. For just as your shrine’s secrets must be protected, our foresight is also the will of the Divine and must be guarded.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Lua asked carefully.
“Is there… any great danger approaching our shrine in the future?”
The Temporal Guardian fell silent. Her gaze seemed to fix upon the far reaches of time. Then she answered briefly.
“A period of great turmoil is approaching. A time will come when your shrine’s abilities will be tested. But… I cannot tell you when. I can only say that you have sufficient time to prepare.”
The answer was clear, yet limited. Lua was disappointed but understood. Just as her own shrine forbade entry to outsiders to protect its secrets, this place, too, must have its own strict rules to protect the flow of time.
Nevertheless, Lua found hope. Even if she could not prevent the coming danger, the fact that they had time to prepare for it was a great comfort. After receiving a reply to the Great Maiden’s letter, Lua left the Shrine of Time and returned home. Their bodies transcended the limits of matter, but now they carried a new burden: to perceive and prepare for the approaching future within the flow of time.[4:4]
The Shrine of Time, as its name suggested, was a place that transcended the constraints of time. Its maidens lived perceiving the past, present, and future simultaneously. Their daily lives appeared serene on the surface, but they followed a unique rhythm where all moments of space and time were interwoven.
Mirai, one of the young-looking maidens, but her gaze seemed to see into the distant future. One day, as Mirai was tending to herbs in the shrine garden, a hazy vision of the future flashed before her eyes: she saw herself over-drying the herbs, diminishing their potency.
“Ah, I must remember to keep the herbs in a cool place tomorrow,” Mirai murmured.
Kako, a veteran maiden watching nearby, smiled. “Avoiding tomorrow’s mistakes already, are we? As someone who has repeated that same mistake in the past, I must say I’m envious.”
Kako could not see Mirai’s future, but from her reaction, she knew Mirai had perceived it. In this way, the temporal maidens didn’t share their visions directly but would read and react to the flow of the future through small, everyday actions. Learning from yesterday’s mistakes and applying tomorrow’s wisdom was simply a part of their daily life.
In the shrine’s kitchen, peculiar conversations were common. Shiori, the maiden in charge of the kitchen, always cooked with fresh ingredients, but her meal plans were driven by more than just present needs.
“Hmm… the guests arriving in three days prefer meat. I should start marinating it now,” Shiori would say to herself, trimming a cut of meat with a translucent blade. She planned meals for guests who had not yet been invited, or whose invitations were not even confirmed. Days before Lua’s party visited, Shiori had already foreseen their arrival and their preferred type of tea, and had made preparations.
“Shiori-san, will we be having fish for dinner tonight? I can see my future self enjoying delicious steamed fish!” a curious young maiden named Chie asked as she ran into the kitchen.
Shiori smiled faintly. “Well, if your future memory says so, then of course I must prepare for it.”
Occasionally, there was communication with the outside world—delivering a letter from the distant future to the present, or sending one into the past. These were extremely rare events, however, and were only undertaken when absolutely necessary.
One day, in the deepest part of the Shrine of Time, Ritsu, a maiden who recorded knowledge of time, was unrolling an ancient scroll. Faint letters appeared before her eyes: an urgent message recorded by a scholar hundreds of years in the future, when a great catastrophe had struck the world.
“This letter must have been delivered to humanity 300 years in the past. It speaks of the need for specific plant seeds. And the senders… were the shrine maidens of the future.”
Ritsu rose quietly. She grasped the letter’s contents and identified the most appropriate moment to send it. This wasn’t changing the past. It was simply perceiving and acting on a duty in the past, based on a need from a future that had already happened.
Thus, the maidens of the Shrine of Time lived their intertwined days of past, present, and future, serving to maintain the harmonious flow of time. They were the unseen guardians, preserving the temporal balance of the world.[4:5]
Returning from the Shrine of Time, Lua, Akari, and Izumi headed for the Great Maiden’s abode. Shizuku had transformed back into Lua’s clothes, and Izumi followed quietly, holding Akari’s hand. The Great Maiden, as if she had been expecting them, was waiting with warm tea prepared.
“Welcome back. How was the Shrine of Time?”
To the Great Maiden’s question, Lua replied calmly,
“It was astonishing, Great Maiden. The maidens there truly seem to perceive all of time at once. They knew everything before we even arrived. But they would only speak of the future in a limited way.”
The Great Maiden nodded at Lua’s words.
“That is the most important secret and principle the Shrine of Time must uphold. Just as your shrine possesses the ability to cross material boundaries, they have the duty of guarding the flow of time. Revealing too much of the future can damage the order of time and bring about chaos.”
The Great Maiden took a sip of tea and continued her explanation.
“The temporal maidens do not transform into specific forms as you do. They are beings who are themselves assimilated with the very pulse of time. They exist in every ‘moment.’ Past memories, present sensations, and future premonitions continuously intersect and flow within their consciousness.”
Akari asked cautiously, “Then… they can’t create physical objects like we can?”
“That is correct. They do not possess the ability to manipulate matter. Instead, their bodies carry the very traces of time. For instance, they might speak ancient knowledge while in the body of a newborn, or accurately foresee the events of the next moment while in the body of an elder. Their physical forms are like vessels that reflect the flow of time.”
Izumi’s eyes sparkled with wonder. “Then do they know what we’re thinking right now?”
The Great Maiden smiled gently at Izumi. “It’s easier to think of it this way: they don’t read your ‘thoughts,’ but rather see the ‘future results’ your thoughts will create. For them, every chain of cause and effect is already laid out like a single, predetermined painting.”
“You, the corporeal maidens, and the temporal maidens uphold the will of the Divine in different ways. You are beings who maintain the material balance of the world and fulfill the needs of the physical realm, while they are beings who protect the order of time and the flow of history. Though you have different abilities, your ultimate goal is the same: to maintain the harmony of this world and to uphold the will of the Divine.”
The Great Maiden looked at Lua, Akari, and Izumi with a warm gaze.
“Just as you have deepened your understanding of the Shrine of Time through this visit, they too will one day come to understand your shrine’s abilities more deeply. In the coming period of great turmoil, the powers of your two shrines may need to join together. That is why it is so important to understand and respect one another.”
Lua nodded. The visit to the Shrine of Time had given her a new perspective. It was a chance to be reminded that her ability was not merely for convenience but played a vital role in maintaining the world’s balance. And with a vague premonition of the ‘period of great turmoil’ on the horizon, she came to cherish her own shrine, and the other maidens, more deeply than ever.[4:6]