A conversation between Ayumu and Sanae, that leads into the nature of Suwako the resident Genius Loci, and Ayumu's Hurricane of Excuses:
Sanae: This shrine is rather… boring.
Ayumu: It’s quaint and not exploding, so it works for me. It also doesn’t have any holes in its roof, it isn’t on fire, it hasn’t disappeared, it hasn’t beaten me up, and it doesn’t watch me bathe. So it may just be an improvement.
Sanae: Now most of that is just a run of bad luck an-
Growing the Beard: This story is the author's first writing project. It can be hard to decide what's the moment where the story started to hit its stride.
Sanae and Ayumu's trip to dream Akihabara. Sanae had to give up a lot of her desires to support her mothers, and took the chance to fulfill one of her childhood dreams. It's made even better by Ayumu being a Grumpy Old Man while he helps her.
Perhaps this is a good time to mention you've never been able to stand Akihabara.
Sanae for her part however, looks like the child who got the pony they've always wanted for Christmas. At Disney World.
“This! This is-”
Noisy, annoying, a little smelly.
“Wonderful!”
Yes that too you suppose.
Sanae's birthday is one long CMoH but the high points include:
The Tokyo Trip reveal reaction. Paid for with Ayumu's boon from Yukari.
Sanae and Ayumu's bond after the trip to the actual Akihabara.
In the main continuity, Ayumu successfully gets Yukari's attention, and Yukari procedes to utterly destroy Seija, before tossing her into Yukari's gap dimension.
Revealed in an Alternate Continuity, Ayumu's Last Word - The Final Fox of Miyagi.
Suwako, Goddess of Curses, has lots of it. She says that not all curses are harmful, but one of the helpful curses she uses on Ayumu is one of invisibility. The catch?
Suwako: Keep in mind this stops ya from interactin’ with people as well, objects aint so much a problem but people’d just phase through ya for the most part. It’s still a curse.
Ayumu: This was for slow deaths wasn’t it?
Suwako: Let’s just say I’ve fought in many, many wars and leave it at that.
Danjuro and the Fusakazu clan. They specialize in Charm to the point where they turn people into thralls that serve only their will. Danjuro in particular had enslaved a fox that had reached nine tails and had begun the ascent to divinity.
When Kanako couldn't wake up Sanae from a nightmare, because the nightmare made Sanae believe Kanako wasn't real.
Sidestory 2.0: The Art of Illusions. Ayumu is huddled in cave, freezing cold, low on magic and forced to spend more to keep himself warm. Then a vision of his deceased lil' sister tells him he needs to take care of himself. He is well aware this is either his own magic fooling him, or a property of the cave. He promises not to waste more magic. Satisfied, the illusion of his sister snuggles in next to his side, and he allows her to remain because she's warm... and he misses her.
.