When a High School Sophomore Linked with a Night Heron, the World Moved by 1mm [Episode 15] The Great Night Heron Deity

Goro Kusano.

He is one of the landowners who has protected the estate at the foot of the mountain behind the Kora Taisha Shrine for generations.

It used to be lively when his son and daughter lived with him, but they grew up and left home.

He lost his wife to illness several years ago and now lives alone in peace.

He always goes to bed after 10 p.m. He has trouble falling asleep unless he turns off all the lights and makes it pitch black.

That day, he was unusually wide awake and couldn't fall asleep. Then, suddenly, his limbs felt heavy and he couldn't move them.

He had experienced what is known as sleep paralysis before, but this felt a bit different. It felt less like being bound and more like being gently wrapped up.

Goro Kusano, listen well. Because I will enshrine the Great Night Heron Deity on your mountain, do not neglect its maintenance and welcome those who come to worship. If you do so, you shall receive merit.

A god appeared in his dream and gave him that revelation.

When Goro woke up in the morning and went to check the grounds, he found that a shrine had been built overnight.

Goro hurriedly offered white rice and tea, put a thousand-yen bill in the offering box, and prayed reverently.

I should consult with the district administrator first.

He muttered this, finished locking up, and got into his light truck. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the house of the district administrator, who represents the town, so he always uses his light truck.

Goitchi Appears on TV

This is the home of Mr. Goro Kusano.

Goro's home was visited one after another by local television, radio, and newspaper reporters. This was because the district administrator had understood the situation and contacted the media.

Mr. Kusano, is it true that the Great Night Heron Deity appeared overnight after a god appeared in your dream?

Goro, with a microphone pointed at him by a female reporter from a TV station, answered with a blank expression due to extreme nervousness.

When I woke up in the morning, it didn't feel like just a dream. I was surprised when I checked outside and found the shrine had been built.

Then, could you show us this Great Night Heron Deity?

Here you go. We have to climb the mountain a bit, so please watch your step.

Equipped with a practical pantsuit and sneakers, the reporter followed Goro for about three minutes before arriving at the small shrine.

There is a stone monument engraved with the words 'Great Deity of the Black-crowned Night Heron,' and a paper lantern is hanging from the shrine. It still smells of wood, so it feels like it was just built.

She began her report fluently.

Oh, this is the history document. Did you write this, Mr. Kusano?

Goro felt annoyed inside, thinking the reporter was doubting his story about the dream and the shrine appearing overnight, and replied.

No, I am just as confused as you are that the shrine suddenly appeared. The history document was there from the beginning, and since it has so many kanji, I actually haven't read it yet.

I see. What kind of things are written on it? I would like to take a look.

The history document was shown on camera, and the reporter began to explain it as she read through it.

It says that during the Heian period, Emperor Daigo ordered his men to capture a heron in the pond, but because it did not flee and remained composed, he was impressed and bestowed upon it the rank of 'Goi' (Fifth Rank) as a reward. That is the anecdote behind why it came to be called the 'Goi-sagi' (Fifth Rank Heron).

And, wait, what?

The reporter hesitated as she was about to continue.

The history document shown on screen read as follows:

The sacred Mt. Kora is home to many animals and plants, including the Black-crowned Night Heron. Even as we enter the Reiwa era, we enshrine the Great Deity of the Black-crowned Night Heron as a guardian deity to ensure that no one disturbs this land.

However, the reporter made a split-second decision not to explain that part and shifted the topic to the appearance of the Great Deity of the Black-crowned Night Heron shrine.

Looking at it from the front, the shrine seems to be about 8 meters wide and 4 meters high...

Just as the camera captured the full view of the shrine in line with her explanation,

It's a bird! A bird has flown in! Is that a Black-crowned Night Heron?

That is a Black-crowned Night Heron.

Goro replied in a tone that suggested he couldn't believe she was reporting on the Great Deity of the Black-crowned Night Heron without even knowing what one looked like.

"Gwa, gwa."

The black-crowned night heron perched on the roof of the small shrine, let out a cry, observed the humans for a moment, and then flew off somewhere.

..................................................

"Goi-cchi, that was great! What a performance."

"That makes our initial appeal a success."

Kimie and I high-fived while watching a variety news show at home.

If we get the media to cover the Great Black-crowned Night Heron Deity, and the heron flies in right at that moment, it will generate even more buzz.

It went exactly as we planned in our real-life mental meeting the other day.

It's a strategy only possible thanks to Lord Michizane's divine power and Goi-cchi, who can communicate with humans.

An unexpected miscalculation

Although it was just a local program, having the Great Black-crowned Night Heron Deity featured on a live broadcast should have made it go viral.

However, when Kimie and I checked social media on our phones, there wasn't as much of a reaction as we had hoped.

"What is the Great Black-crowned Night Heron Deity?"
"A real black-crowned night heron showing up at the Great Black-crowned Night Heron Deity is hilarious lol"
"I heard a black-crowned night heron's cry for the first time. It's kind of cute."

Those were about the only tweets that gained any traction.

Although I had anticipated it, there were also some critical voices to be found.

"The Great Black-crowned Night Heron Deity is impossible! Isn't this just a setup by the TV station?"
"That old man just made it up to collect offerings, right?"

If voices like these spread, it will have the opposite effect, and it could even cause trouble for Mr. Kusano, the landowner.

Nothing ever goes as smoothly as you think it will.

"What should we do?"

"I'm not really that familiar with social media."

Not only me, but even Kimie started saying weak things.

Just as we were enveloped in an unusually heavy atmosphere, a savior appeared.

"I'm home!"

My younger sister, Sherbet's, cheerful voice rang out. It seemed she had returned from school.

She came lightly up the stairs with a rhythmic thud-thud-thud, and it was a surprise that she made a beeline to peek into my room.

"Kimie-san is here too, right? I knew because I saw your shoes."

"Pan-chan, you've completely recovered, haven't you? I'm so glad."

"What's wrong? It's rare for you to peek into my room like this."

As the three of us were having that exchange, my sister entered the main topic as if she had just remembered it.

"Hey, hey, my friend was talking about it, do you know about the Great Myojin of the Night Heron?"

"It's here, it's here, it's here!"

I shouted that in my heart. I probably couldn't hide my excitement and it showed on my face. Kimie also met my eyes and nodded.

"I wonder how that friend of yours found out about the Great Myojin of the Night Heron?"

When I asked my sister, she said it was buzzing on TikTok.

"I see! We were only looking at X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram."

"But how are we supposed to use TikTok?"

As Kimie and I were having that low-level conversation, my sister taught us with an exasperated look.

"You can see it by entering the word into the search bar on the TikTok site, whether on a smartphone or a PC."

Oh, my sister, why do you know so much even though you don't have a smartphone or a PC? I'd like to see the structure of your brain, knowing more than your high school sister even though you're in elementary school.

I immediately went to the TikTok site on my smartphone and entered "Great Myojin of the Night Heron" into the search bar.

“Amazing…”

“This is it…”

Kimie and I stared wide-eyed at the long list of video thumbnails. Clips from wide-show programs and photos of the night heron had been posted along with comments.

“Goi-chan actually appearing on the Great Deity of the Night Heron, lol”
“I love the night heron! Maybe I’ll go pay a visit sometime.”
“The Great Deity of the Night Heron is so soothing~ A real one appearing is nothing but healing.”

Most of the comments were positive, and there were no critical voices to be seen. It seems the user base differs depending on the social media platform.

“The Great Deity of the Night Heron is so funny. It’s like a real-life version of the Animal Great Deity. I wonder who thought of it.”

My sister’s innocent, excited words made my heart skip a beat.

The campaign to promote the Great Deity of the Night Heron seemed to have gotten off to a great start, but at the time, we had no way of knowing about the accident that would soon occur.

To be continued in [Episode 16]

All episodes of “When a High School Sophomore Linked with a Black-crowned Night Heron, the World Moved by 1mm” are collected in this magazine.

#NightHeron #Goicchi #Novel #GreatDeityOfTheNightHeron

Image: “photoAG ‘Photo Material: Night Heron with Clear Eyes, Author: Choco Mama’”