The Gift of Rio (The Gift of the Elements)

by C. S. Elston

  The restaurant was small. It only had two tables. Each had four seats and all eight of them were full. Luckily, there was also a counter with six additional seats and the two closest to the grill were empty. Rio and Luke sat at the counter and were immediately greeted by the very sweet husband and wife owners, Kazuo and Cho, who made their suggestions to the new customers. Rio and Luke decided to try the yakisoba with pork in addition to two different kinds of okonomiyaki: tomato and modern, the latter of which was served with fried noodles.

  It only took a few bites for Rio to decide this was her favorite meal in Japan so far. The food, which was fantastic, was, of course, a major factor in that decision. But, so was the warmth and kindness of Kazuo and Cho. And, possibly most important, was the feeling that she and Luke were growing closer and closer with each moment they spent together.

  Rio had wondered, before this moment, if their relationship could possibly go beyond a friendship. Either way, she was already thankful for what they had. The bond between them continued to grow stronger. And, at the very least, she knew they would always remain friends. But, the wonder had begun to turn to hope as her own feelings grew more romantic. Somehow, it seemed that Luke was becoming even more physically attractive the more she had gotten to know him. It was almost as if the depth behind his dark brown eyes had increased as she had learned more about who he was. As she saw further inside, behind those ocular windows, the beauty of his soul had extended itself to reach the outer shell.

  She found herself wanting to ask him if he felt the same way about her. But, the fear of embarrassment is a strong barrier and she couldn’t bring herself to do it. So, they made small talk for a while. They both appreciated the food they were eating and Luke told her about other restaurants he wanted to take her to. Planning things in the future just brought her back to how much she had grown to like him. In that moment, she wanted to stay in Japan forever. But, they were on a specific mission and, ultimately, in between bites of deliciousness, the conversation shifted to focus on a plan for trying to find Sota in the mountains at the edge of Kyoto.

  “How about this?” Luke asked, “Why don’t we go back to CYOI and hunt down some camping gear, get totally outfitted, get some much-needed sleep, and hit the mountain first thing in the morning? Then, we stay there until we’ve either found Sota or feel satisfied that we’ve exhausted the possibility that he’s up there.”

  “I wish I was more confident about the whole sleep thing,” Rio quipped. “At this point, I’ve nearly given up hope.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know how you’re still standing.”

  “Well, currently I’m not. I’m seated, next to you, at the counter of what I think just might be the most delectable restaurant in Japan.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do. And, I don’t know how I’m still functioning either. In fact, I feel completely fine. But, back to the plan. Other than the sleep part, I’m all in.”

  “Good. I think that turned out to be easier than we set it up to be.”

  “Agreed.”

  As Rio and Luke shared a smile, another customer exited the restaurant and a strong, cold gust of wind blasted into the room through the doorway. It caused Rio to shiver, as her hair waived and the cool air caressed her skin. Unfortunately, the same breeze blew past the counter and caused the open flame between a stovetop in the kitchen and the pot resting on the grate above it, to fan out. When it did, the tie at the front of Cho’s apron instantly caught fire as she stirred the contents of the pot, completely unaware.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Heroes

  “Chilly,” Rio stated casually as she shrugged her shoulders, shook her head and exhaled before taking another bite of yakisoba with pork.

  “I know,” Luke agreed as he felt the effects of the breeze that had just swept through the restaurant. “Where did that come from? I don’t remember it being quite that cold out . . . ”

  The conversation was interrupted by Cho’s startled gasp as she finally realized her apron was on fire. Rio and Luke both turned and, with eyes widening, watched Cho try to untie her apron. Of course, that was impossible because the tie was the very part of the apron that was on fire. She grabbed a rag and tried to pat the fire down but, the rag had previously been used to wipe up grease and quickly went up in flames. Cho let out another yelp as she released the rag in fear and it dropped to the ground, completely engulfed by the fire. Meanwhile, the fire on her apron continued to spread. Cho looked down her torso, in absolute helpless terror, and waved her arms as if she could somehow create enough wind to blow it out, like the futile motion a person makes when they eat something too spicy.

  Kazuo rushed over from the back of the kitchen and started frantically stomping the rag with his feet while simultaneously trying desperately to pat the fire out on his wife’s apron with his bare hands.

  Cho was now in a complete panic as the fire on her apron had spread well beyond just the tie. It had started to crawl across both the strings around her waist and the body of the apron itself.

  Luke jumped up and reached over the counter. He stretched forward and used the tips of his fingers to scoot a full pitcher of water that was almost out of reach. Finally, he could turn the handle toward him. He grabbed the pitcher, pulled it in near his chest and then lunged it forward. The water shot out of the pitcher and tore through the air at Cho.

  Rio watched with hyper-focus. It almost felt, to her, like she was seeing the water fly in slow motion. Rio could tell it was going to miss so she redirected the water with her mind and caused it to spread enough to completely cover the fire. Thankfully, it was instantly snuffed out and everyone looked on in amazement. They were shocked at first and eyes darted back and forth between Cho and Luke as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Naturally, everyone assumed that Luke had accurately splashed Cho with the water from the pitcher and there was no reason to think that Rio had been involved at all or that anything miraculous had taken place. So, it was only a matter of seconds before everyone began to breathe sighs of relief.

  The other customers in the restaurant started to clap and cheer enthusiastically. And, after hugging his wife, Kazuo joined in the clapping as he and Cho immediately began thanking Luke. For a few minutes, Luke got to feel like a true hero. In appreciation, Kazuo and Cho wouldn’t let him or Rio pay for their meals. As the door closed behind them, and they started their trek back to the van, Luke spoke quietly to Rio.

  “You made sure that water put the fire out, didn’t you?”

  “I might have helped a little,” Rio admitted with a smile as they walked side-by-side. “But, you’re the one that really saved the day.”

  “Teamwork,” Luke said as he put his right arm around Rio’s back without even thinking about it. When he realized what he had done, he almost retracted it. But, before he could even react, Luke felt Rio tilt her head to the left and rest it gently on the front of his shoulder.

  “Teamwork,” she agreed.

  It was a glimpse of what being a romantic couple could feel like. And, they both thought it felt amazing. Luke and Rio held that position all the way back to the van and, although they didn’t admit it out loud, both were sad to end it when they arrived. It was a physically small and completely innocent step forward in their relationship. But, in their hearts, it was a giant leap. They both knew it too. Not a single word had to be spoken about it. And, not a single word was.

  Luke opened Rio’s door and closed it behind her once she was seated inside the van. He walked around the back and climbed in on his side, wearing a grin that couldn’t have been slapped off his face by a four-hundred-pound gorilla. He started the van and pulled out of the parking space. It was quiet for a few minutes as the journey back to CYOI began.

  While Luke’s mind remained on Rio, Rio’s mind began to drift to all the crazy events that had taken place since she landed in Japan. Luke glanced over and noticed that her own grin had faded. She looked more pensive than she had just a mome
nt earlier.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked.

  “Oh, several things.”

  “Like?”

  “Like, well . . . I’m starting to think I’m bad luck.”

  “What?” Luke asked, sincerely taken aback. “What do you mean, bad luck?”

  “I mean, everywhere I go, people seem to be . . . they seem to be almost dying. Daichi, Zee, Cho . . . Could I somehow be putting these people in danger?”

  “I guess you could choose to look at it that way.”

  “How would you look at it?”

  “Pretty much the opposite,” Luke insisted. “I think it’s far more likely that those things were all going to happen whether you were there or not and that God guided you to those places, at those times, so that you could help those people. And, you did. You saved their lives.”

  Rio looked over at Luke and her grin returned. “Actually, you saved Cho.”

  “Not without your help, I didn’t.”

  “Teamwork.”

  Luke nodded his head in agreement and shared a smile with the woman who he couldn’t help but admit to himself he was falling for.

  “Teamwork.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Supplies

  Rio was standing in the doorway of the massive storage closet as Luke found the items he was looking for and, one-by-one, handed them to her. She was setting the items on the ground in the hallway and had just placed the second sleeping bag down when Isaac approached.

  “There she is,” Isaac said as he walked up and hugged Rio.

  “Hey,” Rio responded. “How’s Zee?”

  “Great. She keeps talking about you. I think you have a new fan. Correction. I think you have several. Jacoba hasn’t stopped thanking the Lord for you and, to be honest, neither have I. As far as I’m concerned, the best things to ever happen to me are the Holy Trinity, my wife and daughter, now you, and the Dallas Cowboys are a distant fourth.”

  Rio nearly blushed as she smiled and gave a small chuckle at the inclusion of an NFL football team on Isaac’s list.

  Luke, on the other hand, furrowed his brow as he feigned insult.

  “No offense taken,” he insisted. “Also, go Chargers.”

  After a shared chuckle, Isaac glanced around the storage closet and asked, “What are you guys up to?”

  Luke stepped out of the closet with a long, rectangular box and set it down next to a couple of backpacks. “We’re going hiking and camping tomorrow,” he told Isaac.

  “Where?”

  “We found someone who remembered Rio’s father and said he last saw him right before Sota headed into the mountains just outside of Kyoto.”

  “Wow. That’s progress.”

  “Yeah,” Luke agreed.

  “Which mountain? Atago, Hiei, Kurama?”

  “Whichever one is to the northeast of the city.”

  “Sounds like Mount Kurama. Pretty area. In fact, there’s a beautiful monastery up near the top.”

  “A monastery?” Rio asked.

  “Yeah,” Luke started to explain, “a monastery is a building where . . . ”

  “I know what a monastery is,” Rio interrupted. “Smarty-pants . . . But, that could explain why Sota never came back down off the mountain. If Yoshito is right and Sota wanted to stay away until he could return a better man, then maybe he’s been at that monastery all these years.”

  “It is possible,” Luke said while he pondered the thought out loud. “Huh. Interesting. Like he’s serving out a self-imposed penance for his sins.”

  “Exactly,” Rio agreed. “Which could be indefinite. Maybe he’s waiting until he feels like he’s redeemed himself.”

  “That’s a life sentence. We’re all sinners. Even when the church is called the righteous, what that really means is we’re repentant sinners. We’re only redeemed because a truly righteous God made it so. If he went up there trying to redeem himself, he’s either given up by now or, he’s still up there.”

  Rio found hope in this new possibility and could hardly contain her excitement. The trio stood outside of the storage room and talked for about ten more minutes before finally deciding to load the equipment up in the van. Isaac helped them and the conversation continued. He was a wealth of information and happy to share because he was so fascinated by Rio and her family. He even took them to the cafeteria and found some sandwich materials as well as a few canned goods and a skillet they could take with them so they would have food to eat on their journey.

  Afterwards, Luke and Rio said goodnight to Isaac and then Luke took Rio back to his room so she could borrow a Bible. Rio was surprised at how many different versions of the Bible he had. She noticed a King James version, a New King James, a 21st Century King James, an American Standard, a New American Standard, a New International, a New Revised Standard and something called The Message but that one, apparently, only included the New Testament.

  “Why are there so many different versions?” Rio finally asked.

  “They’re really just different translations of essentially the same thing,” Luke offered. He could see that she wanted more so, he continued.

  ”The Old Testament is the Jewish Tanakh which was written primarily in Hebrew and a little Aramaic before eventually being translated into Greek. The New Testament was all written in Greek. Then, everything was translated into Latin. The writings we have in the New Testament were officially accepted by the church about sixteen hundred years ago. Since then, the Old Testament has been translated into about five hundred languages and the New Testament is more than double that.”

  “I sure hope one of them is English because if you hand me a Bible written in Latin I’ll be handing it right back to you.”

  “You’re safe. I have a Greek Bible and a Japanese Bible but the rest are all in English.”

  “Why do you have more than one English Bible?”

  “Because of language issues, we’re still arguing over what the best translation of every detail is. And, in some cases, just trying to make it as easy to understand as possible by putting it into current terms including some translations that even use modern slang.”

  “I did not realize it was so complicated.”

  “Well, think about how different we talk today versus a couple of hundred years ago. For example, that King James Bible right there, that translation is almost four hundred years old.”

  Rio’s eyes grew wide as Luke continued.

  “That book isn’t. The printing is closer to four years old.”

  “Which one is your favorite?”

  Luke drew a deep breath and let out an extended exhale as he thought about it. It wasn’t an easy choice. But, finally he spoke.

  “I have a profound reverence for that King James version. But, the one I probably read the most is the New Revised Standard.”

  “Is that the one you think I should read?”

  “Not necessarily. You can pick whichever one you want.”

  “I don’t know the difference.”

  “Let me ask you this. Do you want to read it in the traditional order, or in chronological order?”

  “By chronological, you mean the order that events happened in, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Then why isn’t the traditional order chronological?”

  “When the Bible was originally assembled, they grouped the writings mostly by type of literature. In the Old Testament, you’ve got the historical books, then the poetry, then the prophecy. In the New Testament, it’s kind of the same thing. You’ve got the historical, then the letters written to churches, and last, you’ve got prophecy again. The chronological Bible I have, which is N.I.V., just puts it all in the order events actually happened in.”

  “I think I’d rather have that. It sounds less confusing.”

  “Probably right,” Luke said as he removed the chronological Bible from his shelf and handed it to her. “Don’t let all of that overwhelm you. You’re right, it is complicated. Of course, it is. It�
��s sixty-six different texts, written in a variety of literary styles by more than thirty authors from extremely diverse backgrounds, over the course of more than fifteen hundred years. Plus, it’s the inspired Word of God and a record of His relationship with us. How could it possibly be simple? But, the most important thing is, despite all that, it’s completely unified with one clear and consistent message.”

  “Which is what?”

  “God is gracious, merciful and patient. But, he’s also just. He hates sin but He loves us. All of us. And, because He loves us, He gave us Jesus Christ as His redemption for humanity.”

  As Rio pondered the weight of Luke’s statement, she reminded herself that he told her not to let it all overwhelm her. It certainly had that potential. But, instead, Rio found herself growing even more excited to start reading.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Waterfalls

  After saying goodnight to Luke, which seemed to take a little longer each night, Rio watched Luke walk back toward the boys’ dorm before exchanging a final wave and turning to head toward her room. She noticed the payphone in the lobby and felt a small wave of guilt rush over her. Rio knew she should call her mom and update her but, she also knew that it was going to be a long conversation. There was a lot of new information to divulge. But, more importantly, she knew that it was going to be difficult to explain everything without causing her mother to feel some guilt of her own. She figured that wave would be closer to a giant sea swell and it just felt easier to avoid the call for another day or two. She reasoned that her mom wasn’t expecting her call yet and that meant she would get to take her shower and curl up in bed, that much sooner, with the Bible that she had just borrowed from Luke.

  That’s exactly what she did. About the time that she was wrapping up the book of Exodus, Rio realized that almost six hours of reading had passed. She slid the bookmark in place and closed the Bible, taking note of the fact that she was about ten percent of the way through the book. She chuckled to herself at the thought of Luke joking that she would probably read the whole thing in one night.