This story is part of the Wanderer series.
Up the gradually winding steps she went, marching with a steady pace, arms swinging confidently, her feet planting down firmly on the worn flat stone. Nozomi lagged behind as she struggled to keep up with Rin on the uneven makeshift steps, sometimes leaning forward to crawl forth on all fours.
As they rounded the last turn, a modestly-sized pale stone structure appeared over the top ledge. A worn tablet, overgrown with moss, with a single character engraved on its full face. Tucked underneath the high foliage, it would look unassuming, like a landmark, were it not for the engraving.
Arriving at the top, Rin took a few steps closer, stopping directly in front of the stone tablet, before clapping her hands together, raising them up to her chin.
Catching up to her side, Nozomi briefly glimpsed at the stone structure before turning to stare at Rin, blinking curiously at what she was doing. She then rapidly switched her gaze back and forth between Rin and the tablet.
After a bit, Rin dropped her arms back to her side and looked at Nozomi.
“This is it.”
Nozomi gazed back at her. “What is it?”
“This is the shrine.”
“Huh?” she blurted. “It is?”
She looked at the tablet again, eyes searching across its surface.
“It looks like a rock.”
Rin grew defensive. “It is not just a rock!”
“Why does it say ‘Earth’?”
“It—!”
She stopped short, stumbling over her premature retort.
“For the Earth spirits. It stands for… It’s a shrine for the Earth spirits.”
Nozomi’s eyes wandered off to look around the small flattened area preserved for the shrine.
“I thought it would be bigger,” she added.
“We’re out in the wilderness,” Rin pointed out. “Not all shrines need to be large and grand.”
Not wanting to linger on the subject, Rin reached out with one hand and gave Nozomi a light push in the back.
“Go ahead,” she prodded. “Pay your respects.”
Nozomi looked at the shrine with uncertainty as she took a stumbling step forward. “Huh? What am I supposed to do?”
“Bring your hands together,” Rin explained, stepping up beside her.
Nozomi observed Rin’s motion, lifting her hands and touching just her finger tips together at first. Then, as she extended her neck to take a closer look, she brought her palms in.
“Like this?”
Rin nodded. “Like you normally do when you resonate your energy.”
Straightening back, her eyes lit up as she then pressed her palms firmly together, her pose becoming more natural as she suddenly understood.
“Then what?”
“Then look forward… and make an offering.”
Gazing blankly at the shrine again, she was silent for a moment. Rin patiently watched her as she became still. A look of satisfaction slowly surfacing on Rin’s face as she saw Nozomi obey her instructions for once.
Eventually, Nozomi turned back to Rin. Her clueless visage was more obvious now.
“What should I offer?”
A flash of disappointment quickly took over as Rin realized Nozomi was not following along after all.
“Just… your respects…”
“How?”
“… Your thanks… Anything positive for the spirits.”
Still puzzled, but gaining a better idea of what to do, Nozomi faced the shrine and silently thought to herself once more. Rin, this time, gazed with anticipation, wondering if she was able to make any sense to Nozomi.
Finally, after some time, Nozomi puffed up, eyes growing wide and her hands drawing closer to her chest.
“Thanks for the ground I’m standing on!” she loudly declared.
Rin almost fell forward. “You— You don’t need to say anything out loud…” she explained, mildly embarrassed second-hand by her unaccustomed behavior.
Nozomi relaxed her bold expression and looked at Rin again.
“Oh.”
Her brief look of naive curiosity turned into genuine curiosity.
“Then, how will they know?”
“They know… deep inside…” Rin clumsily explained. “They’re spirits. They can tell.”
Returning her eyes to the tablet, Nozomi blinked as she pondered Rin’s words.
“Do you think they are real?”
“… Huh?”
Maintaining her wide and pondering gaze, Nozomi turned back to Rin. “Sen told me they are stories.”
This time, it was Rin’s turn to puff up and grow her eyes wide. “Stories can be real!”
“I know stories can be real!” Nozomi hastily clarified, taken aback. “But, has anyone seen an Earth spirit?”
“Of course!” Rin flailed, raising the pitch of her voice in an arch. “Have you never seen something you can’t explain?!”
Nozomi shrank a little at Rin’s vigor. “W-what do you mean?”
“That’s because of a spirit!”
“This is an Earth spirit then?”
“No! It’s a shrine to them!”
“Why don’t we go find one and thank it instead of this rock?”
“I-it’s n-not a—!”
As she sputtered in frustration, Rin suddenly froze, as if realizing something. Eyes turning to look towards the shrine, she then quickly dropped her combative demeanor and faced the shrine directly once more. She closed her eyes and brought her hands up to her face, bowing forward a little.
“Forgive her for her ignorance…!” Rin spoke with a low tone, ending the last word with a slight edge of uneasiness. Then, turning around, she grabbed Nozomi by the arm and started marching away.
“Uwah!”
Exclaiming with surprise, Nozomi stumbled a few steps back, managing to catch herself before she turned to her side to gain a more stable footing, her legs crossing each other. The arm Rin was dragging her by made it awkward for her to turn and face forward.
“W-wait! Where are we going?!”
Rin did not speak, marching silently down the steps.
Nozomi continued to flail, unable to find good footing to resist Rin’s grasp. “Uah! Let go! I’m going to fall like this!”
Stopping abruptly midway between two steps, Rin finally let go with a final tug and swing of her arm, following through to hover in front of her. Flailing forward one last step, Nozomi caught herself right before crashing into Rin, able to face forward again. Glancing up, she found herself acutely face to face with Rin, who was gazing intensely. Her brows were fiercely furrowed. Her expression, clearly perturbed.
Blinking, Nozomi straightened and took an instinctive step back. Having never seen Rin this cross with her, she exchanged an anxious look.
“It’s not…” Rin began with a low, almost growling tone. “It’s bad luck for us to talk like that in front of the shrine.”
Nozomi did not respond, silently listening as Rin took a deep breath in.
“The Earth spirits control earthquakes… and volcanoes. You don’t want to anger them.”
Gasping, Nozomi reeled back even more, hands raising by her sides as sudden fright washed over her face.
“Th-they do?!” she quietly squeaked. “Is a volcano going to erupt from the ground then?!”
With some hesitation, Nozomi glanced over her shoulder, though the shrine was already out of sight, around the bend of brush.
“I-I’ll go say sorry before something bad happens!”
Rin shook her head, beginning to reach out, but quickly stayed her hand once she realized Nozomi was not moving, her legs frozen stiff. “I already apologized.”
Nozomi still looked worried. “But I didn’t.”
She shook her head again. “Don’t go back. For today.”
“But…” Sagging her shoulders, Nozomi did not look convinced.
“Come on. We can come back another time if you’re worried.”
Still, she did not move.
Finally, Rin sighed. “Oh come on. A volcano won’t just erupt from nowhere. Let’s just go back.”
She took another glance back, as if paranoid something would come down the steps.
“Look… I’m sorry…” Stepping down to place her feet side by side, Rin awkwardly stood there with her arms limp by her sides, her eyes dipping down. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that. Maybe there wasn’t a spirit watching us today. But you still don’t want to anger one.”
Returning to Rin, Nozomi looked cautiously hopeful. “It might not be here?”
However, Rin said nothing else, leading Nozomi to simply stare at her in silence, waiting for a response. She fidgeted her fingers under Nozomi’s unrelenting gaze, eventually clenching them into fists. Dipping her chin lower, she abruptly turned and started walking down the steps, leaving Nozomi. Murmuring in surprise, Nozomi frantically followed after her, afraid of being left alone.
“How can you tell if one is watching?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you seen one before?”
“I’ve never seen one. But… I believe they exist out there, on this side of the ocean.”
Rin lightened her expression as she instinctively navigated down the steps. Nozomi once again struggled to keep up.
“Where I’m from, people didn’t believe there were spirits that controlled the earth,” Rin explained.
Nozomi rounded her eyes, though she had to keep her gaze on where she was stepping.
“But… being here, seeing this forest… I believe they are around us. I believe they exist.”
“Sen said her home believed in spirits too,” Nozomi added. “But she hasn’t seen them before. She thinks they saw something else.”
Rin looked up, glancing back at her, becoming intrigued. “Something else? What else?”
“I don’t… remember,” she murmured between steps. “I didn’t understand.”
Staring for a little longer, Rin eventually turned her eyes forward again, the curious expression on her face enduring.