Chapter 2: New hire

At the shrine, there was a flood of students, all making their prayers for their upcoming exam, and Ayame was attending to some students who paid a little extra for a personal blessing.

"By the goddess of Akene, I wish you good luck on your exams." Ayame held a Tamagushi and performed a small ceremony for a bundle of students.

'Kind of funny that there is an actual blessing, but we perform a fake one for regular people.' Ayame was capable of performing an actual ceremony, but because she had to conceal her power and kitsune form, she wasn't allowed to do a real one.

"Thank you."

"I'll make sure to come back."

After the ceremony was finished, the students all thanked Ayame and walked off to head to school.

'That should be the last of them.' Seeing the only students left were at the offering box, Ayame was free from her duties. However, a person was still lingering around who wasn't a student. The woman looked like she was just in casual clothes, wearing a white shirt and jeans.

'I hope they don't need anything.' Wanting to go back inside and not deal with people, the young woman made eye contact with Ayame.

'Shit.'

The young woman quickly walked up since she now had the shrine maiden's attention.

"U-um excuse, but I'm looking for Tomoe, the owner." The young woman had long brown hair and a pair of light blue eyes, and she was also a little shorter than Ayame, who was at 170cm, while the woman was 160cm.

"Hmm? And what's your name?" Ayame was somewhat surprised to hear that someone knew of Tomoe as she never showed her face.

"Anna." She was rather intimidated by Ayame, causing her to fidget and hoping she wouldn't be turned down.

"Alright, come with me." Glad she wouldn't have to deal with the visitor, she led Anna to the back of the shrine, where there was a small house where they would live.

"Hey, Tomoe! You have a guest, and her name is Anna!" Yelling to get her attention, the door to the small house opened, and Tomoe came out.

"Ahem, yes, Anna come on in." Tomoe fixed her black samue as it was rather messy since she wasn't expecting Anna to arrive so early.

"Guess I'll be off." Ayame wanted to head back to her room, so she went to walk past Tomoe, but the back of Ayame's collar was grabbed.

"You are joining in as well since it involves you."

"Ehhh? Are you sure? There are still people at the shrine?" Ayame pouted as her plans were now ruined.

"You know they won't do anything, now come, we will sit over tea. Ayame, make some tea." She walked back inside, letting go of Ayame's collar, and Anna followed Tomoe to the living room.

'tsssk, of course I have to make tea.' Making her way to the kitchen, she prepared some tea for the three of them.

Walking to the living room with a tray, she sat next to Tomoe, who was currently talking to Anna.

"So, from what your father said, you have already been trained to be a shrine maiden?" Tomoe took a sip from her tea while she waited for an answer. However, Ayame looked at her with shock as she usually refused to hire anybody else.

"Mhm." Nodding her head, she grabbed the tea, and it was still evident she was somewhat nervous as the drink shook in her hand.

"Sweet, now Ayame, I want you to attend university."

"Wait what? Since when did I ever need to go to such a horrid place." Ayame liked her life at the shrine and didn't want to get rid of that.

"You're almost 20 now, so you need to get some education in case we go under." Tomoe wanted to prepare Ayame for the future and didn't want to seal her fate to look after the shrine all her life.

"B-but what about the shrine and you." Ayame tried to find any reason for her not to go, but it was useless.

"That's why Anna is here, now go choose a course you want to do. Also, you have no say, so make sure to choose something you are interested in." Tomoe planned to ignore any reason Ayame said even if it was reasonable since it was for her own good.

"B-but."

"No buts, I'm paying for everything, so make sure you don't waste it." Tomoe put her hand up to Ayame's mouth, getting her to stop talking.

"Where did you even get the money from?" Ayame gave up on protesting as the more she thought about going, the more it sounded nice to have an everyday life.

"It is from some connections I have, it actually wasn't my choice, but after hearing they wanted you to get some experience, I was all for it." Tomoe's amber eyes shone a little as she was excited for Ayame to go to school.

"I-I see." Fidgeting, Ayame wasn't sure what to say as it felt like things were going fast.

"Don't stress. You have a few weeks before signing up, so take your time. Plus, I need you to teach Anna a few things about this place and what we do." Tomoe patted Ayame on the head while turning back to Anna, silently drinking her tea.

"Wait, why can't you do it since you taught me?" Ayame squinted at Tomoe as she smelt the scent of laziness.

"Because I said so." Gripping Ayame's slightly tight, she instantly shut her mouth and did not question further why Tomoe wouldn't teach Anna.

"Anyway, Anna, are there any questions?" Letting go of Ayame, Tomoe leaned on the small table, curious.

"U-umm, no, I have no questions."

"Hmm, we need to fix this nervousness otherwise, you won't be able to perform." Tomoe was worried about how shy Anna was, as getting stage fright was the last thing she wanted.

"Oh no, I'm fine, just when getting to know someone, I-I'm kind of hopeless." Anna was aware of her shyness, but this did not affect her doing her job as she would be fully focused on doing it.

"I see, Ayame go watch over her for the afternoon and have her deal with some people as well as do some chores." Tomoe trusted Anna's word, and as long as Ayame was there, then there should be no problems.

"Fine." Not having much choice, she got up and fixed her shrine maiden clothes.

"Do you need a pair, or do you have your own clothes?" Ayame hoped Anna came prepared as she did not have a smaller size that would fit her.

"I have my own." Tapping the bag she brought with her, Ayame was relieved.

"Wait, is she living here?" Ayame became a little worried as this was also her base of operations for her assassination job.

"No, but she lives right next to us, so it isn't far." Tomoe answered, and Anna nodded, confirming what she said.

"Alright, once you get changed, meet me out the front of the shrine." Ayame made her way out back to the shrine, leaving Anna and Tomoe.

*Sigh* 'What the hell am I going to do?' A lot was weighing on Ayame's mind as she now had to go looking into a course she was interested in.

'Not to mention Master hired someone else just so I can do this, so it must be serious.' To Ayame, this was a first as Tomoe was always closed off and refused anyone that would come here for a job.

'Maybe I can do something related to my assassin job.' Ayame made it to the front of the shrine where she would cast "blessings" and thought about what course to do while she waited for Anna.

'I guess uni is more of an academic thing, so it will have to be something a bit more sophisticated.' Ayame realised what she said was ridiculous as a university wouldn't offer weapons-related classes.

'Maybe I could take a chemistry class or something or even psychology so I can freak my targets out.' A few ideas ran through her head as she wanted to find some practical use for her second job.

'I'll talk to Tomoe later as she would have a better idea of what would be useful.' Deciding to think about it later, Ayame spotted Anna coming towards her.

However, there was something off about the clothes Anna had.

"I-I think they are a little too small." Anna was blushing as her shrine maiden clothes were rather tight, showing off Anna's curves.

*Sigh* "Damn it Tomoe." Face palming as she knew exactly what the problem was, and she quickly went behind Anna.

"W-what are you doing?" Anna was confused about what Ayame was trying to do and was too shy to do anything to stop her.

"AHH!" Screaming out a little as she felt hands touch her back, she suddenly felt the tight grip on her clothes loosen.

"There, Tomoe did it too tight, so no need to worry about getting a new set of clothes." Ayame had loosened some of the knots that held the clothes together, making them not so tight and look closer to what it was meant to be.

"Why would she do that?" Anna was blushing as she felt like she was being toyed with.

"Because she is trying to be more serviceable to the younger generation as they would rather see a sexy shrine maiden." Giving a clear answer to Anna, Ayame was met with a bit of silence.

"Oh…"

"That doesn't matter, she didn't mean anything bad, but make sure you do it yourself otherwise, it will keep happening." Ayame shook her head, feeling bad for Anna as she had only been here for 30 minutes.

"Thank you." Anna didn't know what to say, but nonetheless, she was grateful for Ayame's advice.

"So, first things first, chores. Now, this isn't hard, it is mainly sweeping the path of leaves, and we clean the floors every weekend. Generally, it's just keeping the place clean, and if the master asks anything, she will guide you on what to do." Ayame began to explain the main things she did at the shrine and was enjoying herself as she hadn't really talked to many people.

Anna nodded, paying close attention to every word since she did not want to mess anything up.

"Now, I assume you can do most of the blessing performances we do?" Ayame still wasn't sure how much Anna knew other than she did get some training.

"I know pretty much everything, I just haven't done it to actual people before and before you ask. I know we say slightly differently not to perform the real thing." Anna explained how much she knew, but the last comment shocked Ayame a little.

"Wait, how much do you know of Tomoe and me?" Anna had been trying to make sure she didn't reveal anything, but it seemed like Anna already knew.

"O-oh, I know you are a kitsune, I come from a different bloodline, and I'm also a Kitsune, but I haven't awakened my traits yet." Anna whispered into Ayame's ear making sure no one would overhear. She also was becoming more comfortable and was stuttering less with her words.

"D-damn okay, now it makes sense why she hired you. Well, that makes things a bit easier." Ayame now felt quite relaxed as it had been hard to make friends outside the shrine as she was always forced to hide her fox traits.

"Hehe, it's nice to meet you Ayame. I hope we can be friends." Anna chuckled as the ice between them melted, becoming much less shy.

"Glad that you are here, and yes, I hope we can get along." Ayame smiled as this was the proper first person she would be able to let loose around.

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