The Forest of the Lost.
It was apparently named so just because a few people carelessly got lost after going into it and was never found again.
But it is a fact that magnets really don’t work inside and that there is something that disorients humans, so caution is advised.
It is in this forest where a teenage girl suddenly finds herself.
“…… Who is this place? Where am I?”
Seeing how she is still able to pull off this cliché joke, it seems that she is actually still quite composed.
The girl’s name is Akashi Asuka. She is in the prime of her high school life.
She was in the middle of returning home from school as usual when she suddenly found herself thrust into the depths of a forest, completely lost.
“U—n, the vegetation doesn’t appear that different from the ones in Japan, but…… ah, royal fern. Are there any ostrich ferns nearby then?”
In spite of that, Akashi-san is nonchalantly taking in her surroundings while searching for edibles.
The plastic bag from the convenience store that she had stopped by right before ending up here is now already packed to bursting with parsley and bracken and various other edible plants.
This is a level of toughness far beyond that of normal modern-day high schoolers.
“Here appears Sarutahiko to the aid of the young girl wandering around in another world!”
“Kyah!”
“Hey there. Under Amaterasu-sama’s orders, I have come to be your guide.”
It is a man in a white costume who has abruptly appeared in front of Akashi-san.
Akashi-san’s embarrassing scream has been completely ignored.
Sarutahiko-sama is a gentleman.
(T/N: Sarutahiko is, among other things (such as the husband of Ame-no-Uzume), the god of guidance.)
“Sa-, Sarutahiko-…sama? Eh, the fact that a god has appeared to me means that I really am in another world?”
“Indeed. Normally we cannot interfere so easily in other worlds, but Amaterasu-sama has negotiated with this world’s gods and gotten official consent to dispatch me here. Until your safety has been confirmed, I will be protecting you.”
Incidentally, the main gods of this world are those known on Earth as the Greek gods. After Zeus-sama spouted sexual harassment remarks at Amaterasu-sama and took a full-power punch to the face from his wife, for some reason things turned to strip rock-paper-and-scissors.
The representative of the Japanese side is the one who’s already the acknowledged authority on stripping, Ame-no-Uzume-sama. But due to her consecutive wins, it was her opponent, Ares-sama who ended up completely naked.
Upon seeing so many goddesses (and a minority of gods) screaming in delight at seeing the handsome Ares being naked, Ame-no-Uzume-sama felt a strange sense of having lost despite actually having won.
“Well all things aside, just relax as if you’re riding Ame-no-Torifune. I’m good with guiding people.”
(T/N: Ame-no-Torifune is one of the gods birthed by Izanami and Izanagi which is basically a god who is a boat.)
“Erm, if I remember correctly, you’re the one who guided Amaterasu-sama’s grandson when he descended from Takamagahara? At which time you met Ame-no-Uzume-sama, who you later married?”
“Ohh. Despite being young, you sure know your stuff.”
Incidentally, the two’s first meeting involved Ame-no-Uzume-sama stripping while demanding “Who are you?!”, to which Sarutahiko-sama replies “Nobody suspicious!!” while also stripping.
What a touching start of a romance.
“For starters, there is a village after exiting the forest in that direction. Let’s head that way.”
“Understo—Ah, there’s shiitake! It’s shiitake!!”
“What?! Ohhh, how splendid……!”
Akashi-san who is searching for mountain vegetables while being guided, and Sarutahiko-sama who also gets engrossed with it even while guiding.
Japanese are gluttons after all, so there’s no helping it.
As to what degree that is, one merely has to remember how the normally yes-man Japanese completely flipped out upon hearing the suggestion of a ban on bluefin tuna and threatened to ‘take a reservation.’
Eventually Akashi-san and Sarutahiko-sama reached the village after a whole ton of detours, but apparently Akashi-san got addicted to farming after that.
Then she went through the cliché farming revolution progression, causing the village’s grandpas and grandmas to worship her as an emissary of Demeter, the goddess of harvest.
Today, too, the otherworld is at peace.
・
・
・
“I have just returned.”
“Ah, welcome back, Sarutahiko. Thanks for your work.”
“No problem. But still, was that fine? Not guiding that child to the people who summoned her?”
“Eh? Why would we have to go to that much trouble?”
As long as the aftercare for the Japanese person is sufficient, the concerns of the otherworlders are worth less than a penny.
Amaterasu-sama is refreshingly blunt as ever.
“In the first place, they’re the ones in the wrong, summoning her in the middle of a forest like that. Oh well, won’t they find her immediately anyways, what with all the blessings that Demeter has heaped upon her?”
“Ane-ue. The one who blessed that young girl was Athena.”
“……”
Same as Demeter, Athena is also a god from Olympus. Besides being a symbol of wisdom and the arts, she is also a goddess of war.
Arguably, her greatest achievement was killing a giant by throwing the entire island of Sicily (1.4 times the size of Shikoku) on top of him.
As expected of a divinity. Her stone-throwing level is dimensions apart from Onee’s.
“…… I brought back some shiitake, would you like to eat some?”
“Wa~, I’ll eat, I’ll eat.”
So Amaterasu-sama becomes engrossed with the shiitake that Sarutahiko-sama has brought back.
Apparently the two of them are going to pretend that the previous conversation did not happen.
…… Today, too, Takamagahara is at peace.