As the summer cleansing ceremony approaches, Tatsuo tells Satoru to invite some friends, which leaves him flustered. He continues to practice hard as a member of the kendo club, but he hasn't managed to break the ice with the other members. One day, he gets in a fight with Kosugi, another member, and ends up in a kendo match against Kinugawa, the captain.
After hearing that her father will soon return from a trip overseas, Hiwako needs to pick a fitting birthday present. She asks Yumi and Makoto for advice, and they end up going to a new shopping mall in the area to buy a present.
Makoto, Gintaro, and Satoru are accompanying Haru on a walk through town when they happen to pass by a large temple. Makoto overhears a familiar voice and it turns that the temple is the home of Yumi's boyfriend Shohei. Inside, they're introduced to Shohei's unique family.
Satoru has left girls swooning after his first kendo practice. Everyone is talking about him, and there's a clamor when they discover that he's living with Makoto. But at home, his stiff demeanor makes it very awkward.
Haru, the herald from Satoru's family shrine, wants to be with Satoru and refuses to go home. After an argument, Haru runs away from the Saeki shrine. Makoto asks Gintaro to divine Haru's location, but Gintaro tells her not to interfere.
One day, Makoto discovers a turtle herald near Saeki Shrine and learns that he has lost his home. The next day, Makoto and Gintaro take the turtle to the nearby Shoubai Grand Shrine, where they meet the lion-dog heralds Utamaru and Saimaru.
Makoto's classmate Funabashi Hiwako is a member of the student council who comes from an elite family. One day, she gives fellow classmate Yumi a dressing down about her behavior, but she turns other girls in the class against her in the process. The next day after school, Makoto walks into a restroom to find a bunch of girls surrounding Hiwako.
Saeki Makoto is a high school student who happens to be the 15th successor of a small Inari Shrine that has been around since the Edo period. As a true successor, Makoto has the ability to see the fox spirit Gintaro who serves as a herald, a messenger of god. One day, Makoto asks Gintaro to help tell the fortune of Ikegami Yumi, a classmate. However, she fails to properly communicate that fortune to Yumi.
Gintarou is a fox spirit that has been protecting the small Inari temple since the Edo era. Saeki Makoto's family possesses the power to see the gods' agent, but the ability is limited to one living relative at a time. When Makoto's mother passed away while she was still young, Makoto inherited the ability as the sole remaining family member. With the help of fox spirit's power, Makoto and Gintarou help the people of their community, in spite of their many differences.