Scared?

-Phobia 12-

Does Surith think that I might run away from him?

...
I stop dragging him a bit and turn to look at him.

, "Surith, how about we talk about ourselves a bit, it's been a while since we talked, let's go."
Surith, "Mn."

As we walk towards the entrance there stands the Romon Gate. Behind that stands the shrine's main hall, where if I remember we should pay respect to the deity by making a small offering.

Surith, "Stay here."
, "But...But shouldn't I also pay respect, I'm entering this place where... a deity resides."
Surith, "You don't have too."
, "But-"
Surith, "Don't."

Surith's voice sounded a lot deeper and commanding. I even got chills from it. I decided to comply with his request.

, "Okay...I'll wait for you at the back where the torii gates start."
Surith, "Mn."

As I go to the back where the two paths filled with thousands of torii gates start, Of what I can see, it's really like the pictures! Not much has changed, it looks well maintained. As I look into the gates I see a few people walking, sone taking pictures. I agree with them, It's really beautiful here.

???, "It's nice."
!
It's the voice from last time!
As I backing up and look around, I bumped into someone and it turns put to be Surith.

, "Surith! I didn't know you where behind. Sorry for bumping into you I wasn't looking where I was going."
Surith, "Mn."

He's isn't looking at me, he is looking at the gates...Why does he seem mad? What happened all of a sudden?!

, "Surith...do you know a bit about this place, can you tell me a bit about it?"
Surith, "..."
, "...That is if you want to."
......The air around us feels so dense.

Surith, "...The two parallel rows of gates are referred to as Senbon Torii which means 'thousands of torii gates.' This is a hiking trail that leads to a Mount Inari."

Surith starts walking and I follow quietly behind, we go into the left one.

As I look around I realize that there are names and dates at the back of each of these torii gates.

, "Do all of them have names and a date at the back?"
Surith, "Each torii gate was a donation by an individual or a company, you find their names and the date when it was donated at the back of each of them."
, "So then every torii gate here is a donation?"
Surith, "Correct."
, "How much do they cost?"
Surith, "They start at 400,000 yen for smaller torii gates, they can go up to 1,000,000 yen for the larger ones like these."
, "That's a lot, does your company or coworkers donated to a gate?"

Surith stops walking and turns to me, he doesn't seem very happy with...what I just said. Was this place a bad idea, I feel like it was.

Surith, "...I did, 2 years ago. I donated to this place because it was my mother's favorite shrine."

Talking about a deceased family member, who he loved so much...
I've done messed up.

, "Listen, I didn't mean to bring you here if you didn't want to, we can always leave if you feel like its enough-"
Surith, "My mother didn't past away."
, "...What?"
Surith, "She never did, she met my father here, and she grew fond of it. She used to bring me and my younger brother here a lot. I decided to donate and have a torii gate with our family name here as a gift to my mother and father."

I just keep misunderstanding everything.

, "I...I thought that your mother passed away, you seemed dejected at the beginning as we arrived and then you suddenly looked mad. I've never dealt with people who are hard to read or don't show emotion at all, my best friend back home, he isn't like that but he has his moments where he is a bit hard to deal with but he is still my best friend and I cherish him. Sadly I can't speak to him much, we live in different time zones and he, of course, has a life, I can't be bothering him all the time..."

Surith, "Write to him."
...Maybe I should.

Surith, "I'll show you the torii gate of our family."

Surith shows me the torii gate with his family name.
Hanekawa
Donated October 15

As Surith said, it was donated 2 years ago.

, "The 1,027 shrine..."
Surith, "I'm not so sure it the 1,027th shrine in this place."

, "Surith...why did you look dejected at the start? Was it because of last time?"
Surith, "...I feared that you would run away again."

So it was because of that.
I grab onto Surith's arm.
, "I won't run away, I'll have you to help me...if you are willing to."
Surith, "Mn......ok."
I feel happy, I feel like I'm smiling like a dork right now. I'm happy. And Surith has a small smile on.

You know maybe this date wasn't so bad after all.