Make Myself

The true administrator. I wonder if it's just me but I don't seem to see a lot of (if any) discussions on Miko, who should be of considerable importance given her role. I've finished the first part of Miko's profile as the remaining pages are still missing, but I think this should give some insight into her character and abilities.

The first thing that caught my attention was that Miko doesn't have a main place of activity, but rather she is elusive, appearing (and disappearing) in unexpected places at unexpected times. I'm guessing you could take that as Miko only shows herself when she feels the need to.

A saint who has woken from a long slumber, Miko was born with extraordinary talents, she is more transcendent than those who are already transcendent. She can listen to and understand ten people simultaneously, as well as giving them the correct responses. When she was a kid, she built statues of the Four Heavenly Kings using Chinese nutgall trees, and said that she would build the Shitennou-ji. Incidentally the story about her being born in a stable is apparently just a silly joke (Miko herself says "there is no way someone as noble as me could be born in such a smelly place"). In the footnotes, Akyuu relates this to how Jesus was also said to be born in a stable.

Right now Miko is a "sennin" (I was going to use hermit but I think sage might be more suitable in this case) who has transcended humanity. However she has not completely cut off her attachment to this mortal world, and indeed occasionally she would still meddle in affairs of the society. It's probably a habit that got stuck with her from the time when she was still a politician.

Akyuu says that Miko is surprisingly frivolous and humourous (in a silly way). However, when you meet her face-to-face, not only that you can't find any openings in her, it feels as if she could see right through you, which leaves people awestruck.

As for Miko's ability, Akyuu says that it is simple and plain, but it's also something Miko was born with, so she should actually have other more extraordinary abilities. Miko is pretty much born to be very special. Akyuu then notes that (even if the ability is simple) to be able to comprehend multiple conversations at the same time is no easy task. Even for someone like Akyuu who can remember everything she experiences, she can only remember things in a chronological order. If there were two people talking to her simultaneously, chances are she will only be able to remember one of them. And the page ends here.

The difference between Byakuren and Miko is becoming clearer as we get to know them better. While both are saints in some ways, Byakuren is sketchy but perhaps much earthlier than Miko, who is definitely noble and saintly but probably a little too transcendent for average humans to handle. Byakuren is described as a human who surpassed humanity through years of training. Miko on the other hand, is said to be someone who was born special and slated for great things. I don't know why but I'm getting a chill down my spine as I type this. Maybe because it's pouring outside. I think Byakuren might need to call in for more help if she is going head-to-head against Miko.

As for the rest of the character profiles and newspaper articles we have at the moment, here are some bits and pieces of information I find to be fairly interesting,

• Shou is Byakuren's disciple, but their relationship is a little more complicated than it seems. This is because Shou is the avatar of Bishamonten ("彼女は毘沙門天の化身であり"), and Byakuren is a great devotee of Bishamonten. The Myouren temple worships/enshrines Bishamonten. In other words, Byakuren worships her own disciple
• Shou cannot go back to her original form as a youkai (a tiger that feeds on humans). Her current appearance is modelled after Bishamonten statues, not the real deal (who should look quite different)
• Shou is generally calm and dignified but she can get quite emotional when she is with her companions
• Apparently Ichirin had been a human originally ("彼女は元々は人間だったらしい"), likely a type similar to magicians ("魔法使いのようなタイプである")
• Unzan was a typical human-eating mikoshi-nyuudou before he met Ichirin. He decided to stay by her side and protect her for his entire life after she convincingly defeated him
• According to Suika, Yuugi is physically stronger than her but she is better at magic and drinking
• Any sake that is poured into Yuugi's sakazuki cup gets an instant upgrade (rank up!), but because the sake also goes bad (presumably fast), it must be drank quickly. Her cup is very compatible with Suika's gourd
• While Nazrin's specialty is dowsing, it's not good to ask her to find large things (too big for mice to see); food that can be used as bait (she will eat it); and living animals (cats). The things in the brackets are Akyuu's footnotes by the way
• Narzin appears confident and all despite her tiny size is because she has Bishamonten backing her up, but she is actually very timid. She will run away as soon as she is frightened
• Kanako is quite businesswoman-like with how she is gathering faith from both humans and youkai (Akyuu says it's the blue ocean strategy). Unlike the Hakurei shrine, there is always some business activities going on at the Moriya shrine
• Kanako's appearance is described as quite dashing. Apparently it's meant for pressuring her opponents. Akyuu also goes on about how many gods, being divine spirits, do not have corporeal forms. Many famous gods choose certain/fixed appearances because it is necessary for acquiring faith, since many humans don't like things that they can't see
• In this Bunbunmaru article (which was leaked along with the other images, but somehow people missed it). Miko is advertising her "Shisaru-chan" (based on the three wise monkeys) which is used to capture Sanshi (three worms that supposedly reside in everyone's body. Read the article for more details). Miko says that it is actually the shinigami who planted the worms inside humans, and that the worms report to the Yama instead of the Heavenly Emperor as it is traditionally believed. Aya comments that since the ultimate goal of hermits is to achieve immortality, the shinigami are the hermits' worst enemy
• The other article is about how recently there has been sightings of red fog and light on the youkai mountain (specifically near the geysers). Aya thinks it's the sign of another volcanic eruption (the last one was apparently a thousand years ago), but Suwako says it's not going to erupt and the red light is not magma but rather the light emitted from the Nuclear Furnace. Suwako says that even if something related to an eruption were to happen, she can adjust the date (I'm not 100% sure about this line) since she is an earth goddess
• Iku's article is about how there is a recent trend of hagoromo-konkatsu ("羽衣婚活") among some celestial messengers ("天女", lit. heavenly daughter), where they intentionally leave their celestial cloth near the human village to be picked up by someone. They will then find the person(s) who picked up the cloth and ask them to return it. If the celestial took a liking to the human, then they will get married and the celestial won't return to heaven (kind of like this). If the celestial didn't like the person however, she will try to forcibly get her cloth back. Iku says that the cloth is given to them by the Heavenly Emperor, and losing or staining it is not something that should be taken lightly. Therefore those who do this kind of thing without thinking about the consequences are really stupid. Hatate notes that even if they do get married, it usually doesn't end well, since the celestial may simply become bored with the life on the Earth and return to heaven, leaving her husband and child behind. This is probably why there is a strong sense of distrust among the humans towards these seemingly abandoned (though the original word used here is "fallen") celestial cloth

I think that's about it for me. Let this post post itself.