In the Rain (Prequel to Rain Again)

Chapter One: Rain, Shrine, and Hijackers

Like a sore thumb but with great pride, a Japanese Shinto shrine stood at the heart of downtown South-hills. It has seen better days since being erected here in 1986, after world war two, and had now become a top-level tourist spot, a proud cultural part of history.

At the front gates of the shrine, which they called Torii, Kate halted to cast a glance back at the modern businesses across the busy road behind her.

How odd they looked—those modern buildings facing the magnificent medieval architecture.

As she approached the long flight of stairs, she breathed in deeply, her soul filling with satisfaction from the serenity and quiet of the place.

However, her satisfaction was disturbed by a sudden shove on her shoulder.

"Ah—hey!" She shrieked in protest, which, however, fell on deaf ears.

The careless shove was from a rally of smartly suited men marching past her.

No apology in reply. Not even a single look back.

They unceremoniously took the wrong side up the staircase which was, by the way, forbidden for humankind. That side of the stairs of a Shinto was said to be holy and kept vacant all time for the Gods to pass. It was even written in bold and giant letters next to the banister.

She hadn't seen anyone coming here until now and so with ease breaking the rule.

She noticed they walked behind a similarly intelligent, suit-wearing man, but while the other two were clad in black, the one at the front had a dark chocolate suit on. He seemed to be their superior of some sort. The importance of that man could be told simply by his posture although it was only his back she could see.

So there was a leader of those devils.

Only after they went out of her sight did she start moving forward again—taking the correct side of the staircase, of course.

Kate respected the rules. Besides, the priests were always watching. Now—that made her imagine the pissed looks the priests must have on their faces seeing those audacious suit-wearing fools.

She wondered for what reason they were here for. It was for sure not to appreciate this century-old place.

Apart from her, there were only a few people—some local visitors like her, others—tourists—she could tell. They were all busy with their cameras, and why wouldn't they be? It was a culturally rich place with every single curve on every stone dating back hundreds of years ago.

Most times, except for days of festivals, it was pretty quiet and peaceful here.

But unfortunately, today, there was a bit of a ruckus near the priests' residential building.

The sight of people setting up video camera equipment, lights, microphones, and other mumbo-jumbos indicated some shooting. Even if it was not a regular occurrence here, it was also not something entirely new. Using proper connections with authority and money, sometimes movie scenes, advertisements, or documentaries were shot here.

She caught a glimpse of black coats among the commotion too.

Those suit-wearing flock of devils was connected to the shooting group, it seemed. Anyway, giving them no more attention, like any other day, Kate took a while to wander about and pay a visit to the Kami at the main temple area.

The exit was as much magnificent, with hundreds of Torii gates hiding the sun above as she walked down the stairs.

And then, finally, she strolled towards her favorite spot—the cherry blossom tree at the back of the shrine. It stood a bit away from everything, the beauty of its shadowy shelter, not a part of the history, not even of the modern architecture. Sadly though, for some reason, flowers had stopped blooming on it years ago. Its infertility had turned this part of the shrine into an isolated corner, which Kate didn't mind at all, for this isolation was where time and trouble did not exist for her. But today was quite an odd day, for both of those bellowed their existence no sooner had she seated herself down on the brick tree ring.