Summary
Nanami Momozono is a 16 year old girl living in poverty with her father who spends all their money on gambling. Her classmates often laugh at her poorly-packed lunch and love pointing out her financial state. One afternoon, after coming back home from school, Nanami finds a letter from her father stating he has run away. Afterward, some men came and confiscated her apartment. With nowhere to go, Nanami is forced into the streets. Sitting on a bench trying to figure out how she would deal with this, Nanami hears a dog barking and sees a man trying to escape it by climbing up a tree. Nanami then tells the dog to shoo and the man thanks her for "saving" him. She tells him of her current dilemma and before he leaves, he tells her that she can have his house as thanks. He gives her directions, then leaves. With nothing to lose, Nanami decides to go to his house, only to discover that it's a run-down shrine and thinks she's been tricked. Then all of a sudden, a voice welcomes "Mikage-sama" back, then a young man with silver hair and fox ears appears surrounded by fire. He seems angry at who he thinks Nanami is (Mikage) before realizing that it isn't Mikage after all, but a human girl. Two spirits however tell the fox guy, whom they call Tomoe, that this was the land god for she had the mark on her forehead. Tomoe however, still refuses to have her, deeming her useless. Nanami complains that she too wants to leave this old shrine but the spirits beg her to stay. Tomoe merely says that he will leave if she will stay and vanishes. The next morning, Nanami wakes up hoping it was a dream but thoroughly disappointed. The two spirits await her and tell her it was time to do her duties as land god, such as cleaning the yard, the floor, windows, and more. She cuts her finger while plucking the grass and Tomoe appears, laughing at her uselessness and telling her to go home. Nanami only tells him she had nowhere to go. Tomoe kicks her and disappears. While resting, Nanami hears a voice and sees an old lady outside the shrine praying. The spirits explain that sometimes, people come to pray for help and they show her a pile of books of prayer the last 20 years all written down by Tomoe for when Mikage came back. They tell her that less people had been coming since Mikage left and it was only thanks to Tomoe people will still coming and explain to her that all the work she did to day was done by Tomoe all these years. Nanami appreciates Tomoe and realizes that she should not stay, after all she was just a regular high-school girl. If it made Tomoe go away, it would not be good. She asked the spirits to allow her to stay one more night, after, she will be leaving. Meanwhile, Tomoe was in another world when a yokai comes up to him. Tomoe warns him that he was not in a good mood. They yokai talks on and asks permission to eat the land god, since she was human. Tomoe tells him that he can do whatever he wants and he doesn't need permission, however, as he had warned, he was in a bad mood and slays the yokai without hesitation. Nanami, almost asleep at the shrine, tells herself that though Tomoe was nasty, she should apologize for intruding into the shrine.