Oh, Mashiro was small. Now I remember...

Honestly when the scene was unfolding, I was expecting the grown up Mashiro to appear because apparently I completely forgot that she start small and only become big after recovering energy. I wasn't ready for the hilarious chase with Mashiro in small form using her comically big hammer to put the spirits to behave that you can see in the attached small video.

Now we know the basic premise. Three great evils escaped from the seal and we need to seal them back in order to prevent a disaster in the world. But not a particular hurry because they're weak right now and it'll take time to recover giving us plenty of time for some standard romantic comedy in between.

The question is about how does this connect with our protagonist, is he just coincidentally connected because of his family handling the shrine for generations or is he really somehow the reincarnation of the famous ancient person that both the goddess and Mashiro mentioned?

Plus how is Mashiro going to take it when I inevitably choose the other heroines routes? So far I like all the other heroines (Ameri, Mifuyu and Yumina) more than her so it's sort of an harsh situation...