Densetsu: A Beautiful Day

Chapter Two: The Shrine Maiden

"The conditions are..." Riku paused. Kotaro waited for the conditions. He felt like biting his nails from thumb to pinky. His hands twitched. But, the outcome was unexpected. Suddenly, he found the shrine maiden bursting into laughter--she clutched both arms to her stomach as she laughed.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Kotaro asked, puzzled. The teen didn't understand the humor. Riku stopped. Though, she still let out a few giggles.

"You really thought there was a condition that wouldn't let you leave?" jested Riku.

Shocked, Kotaro was caught off guard. Her tone of voice sounded serious with no room for jokes. "Follow me, I'll take you back to the Outside World now!" Riku ordered. Kotaro sighed, wiping the sudden sweat off his forehead. The shrine maiden led the boy to the shrine, coming across a box with horizontal openings.

"What's this?" Kotaro asked. He pointed at the box. Riku picked it up and shook the box. Noises of coins rattled within the box, colliding into the walls from inside.

"It's a donation box," Riku answered, opening the box; Kotaro looked inside, only to see minimal. The coins looked much different than the currencies in his world, golden with a square-shaped symbol cut through the middle. "There haven't been many donations," Riku explained. She closed the box, and they proceeded onward. "It's over here to the Outside World."

"Walk beyond this door, and a story is forged..." a deep-pitched voice whispered within Kotaro's ear. Searching around the shrine, no entity except Riku was around.

"Did you hear that, Riku?" The shrine maiden shook her head. Concerned, she asked. "Never mind, must be hearing things."

Riku opened their next destination. Beyond the doors, there was a distorted gate. A doorway that led elsewhere. It must've been Kotaro's ticket to home. The voice returned again, causing him to almost freeze in time.

"Hmm? What's wrong? Are you going to return home?" If his legs listened, Kotaro would've bolted straight into that gate.

"Oh, it's nothing!" He smiled, but the shrine maiden failed to understand why he was smiling.

"Walking through this gate will only lead you to the Outside World. Are you sure you want to proceed?" The whispering voice asked, now sounding more feminine. It's been bothering him lately. All in one day, encountering this other world, having a weird dream of being pierced to the heart, and childhood illusions blinding him. "You want to stay here. You know you do."

He continued onward, and the whole room turned white as he did so. Turning around, his view of Riku faded into tiny particles. Tiny flakes fell upon his scarlet cheeks. Their ice-cold touch awakened him.

"Am I home yet?" He found himself in the same alley, lying on a pile of snow. Whether it was an illusion or reality, that dream felt real. His heart raced briskly during those last few minutes encountering that yokai and hearing that odd voice. The voice seemed to disappear, so that was a relief for him. The cold was slowly piercing its way to Kotaro's clothes, so he arose from the ground. "I'm back home?!" Kotaro celebrated briefly, but he was running out of time. He hurried on his way to school. Hopefully, I'm not late.

Cars beeped as Kotaro scurried to school. "Hey, are you dumb?! Do you even see it's a red light?"

"Sorry, I'm in a rush!" Kotaro apologized. Whatever that world was, he wished to never return. A bit of snow entered his shoes, but Kotaro endured the cold invitation. Ahead, he saw the silhouette of a tall building. Two rusty gates awaited Kotaro. Running at a pace he never reached before, the young man managed to make it in time.

"Phew, I guess I'm not late after all," Kotaro sighed, entering the building. He met many of his peers, hanging out with each other. Amongst them, a particular friend patted his shoulders.

"Man, Koty, you're never here this late," his friend remarked. He was a student of dark skin. Rocky, a jolly and young teen as Kotaro who constantly teased him when he found the chances. Although, he knew his limits when not to pick on his timid friend.

"Oh, Rocky, I just happen to have a lot of problems around my house, you know?" Kotaro lied. The boys had been friends for two years, but knowing him for that long, the young man couldn't tell his friend what happened to him. Even if he told Rocky, he feared his friend would take the opportunity to tease him.

Rocky continuously patted on the shoulders. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Rocky responded. Kotaro denied it. He grinned mischievously, seeing his cowardly friend panicking about this problem.

Kotaro needed to end this before it became worse. "I really do have a lot of problems at home!"

"Sure, Koty, sure," Rocky said, "You really have problems at home. I see how it is. Didn't think I would've noticed you and Mimi, did you?"

"Shut up Rocky!" Kotaro replied in a panicking state. "Don't you dare tell Mimi that I like her!" This game of cat and mouse troubled Kotaro. His quick reaction caused other students to beam their eyes towards them, disturbed by the loud and surprising stimuli from the two boys.

He lacked any sense of courage. Rocky knew that, and he enjoyed the incredible reaction his friend made which always turned the whole situation upon himself and creating such a commotion over nonsense. "Alright, it's just a joke," Rocky assured, "you're too easy to read, you know." He patted Kotaro's head, and his lip slowly became a grin.

That was an indication things weren't going so well. He couldn't tell Rocky about that other world. Densetsu, the world of the Legend, created by the Legends, the words of Riku echoed in Kotaro's ears. An image of a worried woman appeared in his mind. Her teary look saddened Kotaro, and his failing process to remembering his past worsened as the days come by--the name "Kotaro Nishiki" was the only piece of memory he could retrieve. He surrendered himself to the unknown fate, but he was grateful at the same time. The Wilsons gave him a new life.

Those boys climbing to the top of the shrine, there must've been some relation linked between them. Although he'd already given up trying to remember his past, it seemed one day he was meant to return to seek the answers.

However, he feared to remember his past. He feared to lose everything that was given to him. The people in his life that cherished their love upon him, would that love withered away like nothing ever happened? Kotaro drew a deep breath, filling himself with confidence--school was his main priority. One more breath, to think about the possibilities of his new course of action.