Mitsuyu’s face was blanched of all its color, and his ordinarily playful tone was gone in favor of shock, “You saw a woman, not a fox?”
“Yes,” Jamie answered, still processing what he’d seen. Mitsuyu’s reaction wasn’t making him feel better about it, though.
“You must have seen Inari herself instead of one of her messengers,” Mitsuyu muttered in disbelief. “I can’t believe I had a goddess in my home, and I wasn’t even there to see her.”
“You’re sure it was her?” Jamie asked, not understanding why a goddess would come talk to him directly or why she’d asked him to protect Akiko.
“There’s no other explanation. There are legends of Inari answering requests for blessings herself, but I’ve never seen it happen. It’s extraordinary that she did it at all but even more so with you being who
