by C. S. Elston
Why would you worship something below you on the food chain? she wondered. And, why worship creation instead of the Creator? It seemed cut and dried to her but, she accepted the fact that it was obviously something that had managed to confuse people since the beginning of time.
As they approached the fifteen-hundred-year-old shrine, on the banks of the Kibune River and just upstream from the Yodo and Kamo Rivers, they faced another long and steep stone staircase. It was divided by a red metal railing in the middle and flanked on both sides by red lanterns with black roof tops positioned every two steps. The site seemed to be covered in a green canopy from the tall maple trees that surrounded the grounds. But, the red color theme that started with the lanterns and railing on the stairs continued throughout the property with the fencing. This was also true with the large and imposing gates, which matched the lanterns with their black roofs, through which Luke and Rio entered each new area. Nearly everything else seemed to be wood in its natural coloring which was primarily a light brown.
The property was separated into three shrines: the main shrine; the site of the original main shrine; and an associated shrine dedicated to the god of marriage. Both Luke and Rio were particularly interested to learn that the main shrine was dedicated to the god of water and rain and believed to be the protector of those at sea. Legend had it that a goddess named Tamayori-hime had traveled in a yellow boat from Osaka all the way up the river into the mountains north of Kyoto. Kifune Shrine had been built at the site where her boat journey had come to an end. They were told that there was a huge rock about a kilometer up the valley that is said to be where the goddess’ boat is buried.
Unfortunately, that was the full scope of interesting information obtained at the Kifune Shrine. Just like at the Kurama-dera Temple, they were unable to find anyone who knew Sota Tanaka’s whereabouts. They were, however, able to find one man who remembered him and knew that he had moved on but couldn’t remember where to. He thought it was a temple rather than a shrine but, that was the extent of what he could pull out of the recesses of his memory.
Also, just like at the Kurama-dera Temple, the place was crowded with tourists and practitioners. A lot of the people were participating in something called “mizu-uranai.” They received fortune slips at the conferment building, then dipped them into the spring water, which they considered holy, flowing from Mt. Kibune, and the water revealed characters on the slips that told them their fortunes.
Others were purchasing paper at the main shrine and writing wishes on them and then tying them to trees outside of the shrines. It was said that the gods would then determine their destinies regarding things like romance, job hunting, higher education, friendships and health. Luke and Rio decided not to participate in either of the main activities.
Rio’s favorite spot was crowded, too. It was a little red bridge, just beyond one of the big red gates, that crossed over the middle of a small river’s four-stage waterfall and it was astonishingly beautiful. Had it not been so crowded, Rio imagined it may have been almost as serene as the warm onsen in which she had started her morning that day. The sound of the water trickling by and the stunning visual of all the amazing, green vegetation gave the two places a similar, albeit intangible, feeling of peace.
If I was going to worship nature, Rio thought to herself, this is where I would do it.
Rio glanced next to her, at a little boy standing beside a man who was taking a picture of a woman on the opposite side of the bridge. She assumed that the two adults were the little boy’s parents. The boy stepped behind his father, backs to one another, to peek at the water through the bridge as the man waited for other tourists to clear the way so he could snap his photo.
Rio looked the other direction to share a smile with Luke, then turned just in time to see the boy climb up to the top of the railing as his father took a step backward. Their backsides collided and inadvertently knocked the boy off the bridge. The mother screamed and the father spun around as Rio watched the boy begin the more than twenty-foot plunge toward the shallow water. Her eyes widened as the horror of what was taking place set in and she immediately knew that she had to stop it. Unfortunately, there was virtually no time to decide if, or how, that was going to be possible.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Quick Exit
Without thinking, Rio swung her right arm backward and then, in a scooping motion, raised her right hand, palm open to the sky, straight up in the air. Summoning the water below, it looked as if an arm made of water burst out of the river and shot upward, with an open hand, to catch the boy just before he reached the end of his fall.
It was no longer just Luke, Rio and the boy’s parents who were watching, pointing, screaming, crying . . . The crowded bridge instantly turned into an audience. And, several people were looking back and forth between the river and Rio, making the connection.
The arm made of water gently rose all the way to the bridge and handed the boy off to his parents, who stood in total shock.
“Tamayori-hime?” Rio heard a man gasp, wondering if he was seeing the manifestation of the goddess who had supposedly traveled to the region in her yellow boat and now protected people at sea.
As quickly as it had appeared, the arm and hand made of water disintegrated into millions of droplets, rained down into the river and disappeared.
“We have to get out of here,” Luke whispered to Rio.
Rio looked around and saw that most people were staring at the boy and his parents, who were fawning over him. But, a few people were looking at her inquisitively.
“Yep,” she agreed.
Luke grabbed Rio’s hand and they started backing their way out of the crowd. They moved slowly at first but, people continued to stare, point and talk. The more they did, the larger the group looking at them instead of the boy and his parents became. Luke panicked that too many people were seeing Rio’s face.
“Let’s go,” he said and they both turned around to face the gate.
Running as fast as they could with their bags in tow, Luke and Rio hustled out of the Kifune Shrine and raced back up the path that they had previously come down. When they finally realized that no one had followed them, they stopped to catch their breath. The break didn’t last long and they walked as quickly as they could back to the train station so they could return to Kyoto and get the van.
They were very quiet on the train and Rio kept her head down just in case there was anyone on board who had been at the shrine and witnessed the event with the boy. Luke and Rio barely said a word to one another until they had finished their trek back to the van, loaded their bags in the back, sat in the front seat, and closed the doors. The first sound was a unified sigh of relief.
“Okay,” Rio finally said, still showing signs of exasperation. “Now what?”
“Back to CYOI to collect ourselves?” Luke asked, unsure what Rio’s response would be.
“Perfect,” Rio agreed, just happy to have a plan.
Luke started the engine, relieved that he and Rio were on the same page. He felt the need to get back to home base. CYOI felt safe because it was familiar and he knew Isaac would be their biggest ally if they found themselves in a position where they needed one.
Feeling like they could finally talk freely, the conversation on the way back to the ministry was full of what ifs. None of them came as a surprise to Luke. He had discussed most of them with Isaac and Jacoba when agreeing to help Rio keep her anonymity as long as possible.
What ifs almost always come from a place of fear and worry. This was no exception. Rio was worried about people finding out about her abilities. She feared what that would mean for the remainder of her life. She also wondered if it was wrong for them to run. She heard someone yell the name of that goddess they had learned about and worried that God would have wanted them to stay and face the crowd so that they could correct the misunderstanding and let them know that this was not an action taken by some false god.
Luke was worried, too. He j
oined in the what ifs at first. But, by the time they arrived at CYOI, He had started to calm things down by reassuring Rio that God would continue to take care of them. He had proven Himself in the woods with the rain and there was no reason to doubt Him now. The reminder helped Rio a lot. The entire life of faith was new to her but, she was beginning to get it.
They stopped to pick up another round of Luke’s favorite spicy beef and took it back to CYOI where they unloaded all their gear and discussed the next steps while they ate in the cafeteria. They decided to keep the camping equipment out and available but not to take it with them the following day. They would drive to the last place they hadn’t been where they knew Sota had visited, the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū Shrine on the Suruga Bay in Shizuoka. Luke was guessing it was a solid three-hour drive in each direction. Still, they decided that after their visit, regardless of the outcome, they would plan on returning to CYOI so Luke could get a good night of rest and Rio would have access to running water in one form or another.
After dinner, Luke and Rio said goodnight at the door to the girls’ dormitory. There was no awkwardness this time. Neither of them were anticipating a kiss. However, each of them still wanted one.
Instead, Rio gave one last wave as Luke entered the boys’ dorm and turned around to face the payphone. She had decided a couple of hours earlier, while riding in the van, that this would be the night she would finally call her mother and give her progress report number two. Although, the way Rio was feeling, it would be more of a “lack of progress” report.
On top of feeling like she hadn’t accomplished what she set out to do, Rio had to have a tough conversation with her mom about her family history and hadn’t decided whether to include the fact that she had developed the ability to control water. This could be a pretty long conversation. She sat in front of the phone for several minutes, just staring at the keypad. Finally, without any decisions made, she took a deep breath, exhaled, pulled out her calling card and reached for the receiver.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
The Last Shrine
The phone call went better than Rio had anticipated. Of course, Toki was excited to hear from her daughter. But, she was also very interested to learn about the journey so far. And, to Rio’s surprise, her mother thought that she had made a tremendous amount of progress. Rio decided to leave out all the parts of the water-related miracles she had been involved in. She knew that conversation was coming. She just wasn’t quite ready yet.
But, even without those details, Toki was amazed by the adventures that Rio had already had. She was blown away by Rio’s time in Shingu. She cried when she learned her father was dead. Sorrow and regret would overwhelm her in the days to come. But, for now, it was suppressed by a watershed moment for her tear ducts as she learned that Rio had been given the opportunity to finally meet, sit, and talk with her grandmother. Decades of pent-up emotion spilled out. What had previously caused her fear and anxiety began to transform into thanksgiving and gladness. Toki couldn’t help but wonder if she too would have the chance to see her mother again.
It further stunned Toki to learn that Rio had met Yoshito. But, the thing that blew her mind more than anything else was when she learned that Sota had been so upset by her departure that he had disappeared on a soul-searching mission to become a better man and had possibly been bouncing around from shrine to temple to monastery and who knew where else ever since. That news rendered Toki very nearly speechless.
The one thing Rio expected about the call that turned out to be accurate was the fact that it was a long one. When Rio realized that more than an hour had passed, she promised to call again soon and to stay safe but told her mom she had to hang up or her calling card would run out. She couldn’t help but cry, as she took her long shower, thinking about what her mom must have been going through emotionally almost four thousand miles away. And, she was sure that more pain was coming. But, she hoped that this trip would also bring a great amount of healing.
Rio tried to distract herself by testing her abilities in the shower. She raised the pooling water on the shower floor, like she had done from the bridge at the Kifune Shrine, and created two small fists that she caused to punch each other and shatter in the air. The distraction worked for a moment but her mind soon started racing again.
After the shower, Rio laid prostrate on her bed and read another large part of the Bible. She was surprised when she recognized the first eight verses of the third chapter of Ecclesiastes from a song called “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by The Byrds. She also found herself reading the few chapters of the book of Daniel that she had come across and the book of Jonah like thrilling novels. But, the verses that stuck out most to her, encouraged her, and felt personally applicable that night were from another Psalm. They comprised the first four verses of Psalm 46 and read:
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the
earth give way
and the mountains fall into the
heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make
glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High
dwells.”
After an uneventful but rewarding swim in the morning hours that followed, Rio joined Luke for the three-and-a-half-hour drive to the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū Shrine in Shizuoka. The drive was made a little longer than originally estimated by a stop for gas and breakfast. Rio asked Luke if he would mind her passing the time by reading the Bible instead of listening to music. He told her it was fine if she was willing to read aloud. Luke enjoyed hearing Rio read the Word of God so much that he was almost disappointed when they arrived at their destination on the steep peak of Mount Kunō above Suruga Bay.
But, the most disappointing thing about that day was the fact that their last lead turned out to be another dead end. While they talked to two different men who both remembered Sota, neither of them had any idea where he might have gone when he left Shizuoka. He was described as a quiet man but, not because of any vow and, that’s where the new information ended.
By the time they had exhausted all possibilities at the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū Shrine, Luke and Rio were quiet, too. They were in a beautiful place and had been dealing with wonderful people. But, the amazing momentum that started in Shingu, where answers seemed to be handed out in abundance, continued in Kyoto and then slowed down at the Buddhist monastery on Mount Kurama, had now come to a screeching halt.
Standing at the top of the longest, most twisted staircase they had been to yet, overlooking the gorgeous bay, Rio finally said the only thing she could think of to say.
“Maybe it’s time for me to accept the possibility that God didn’t bring me to Japan to find Sota.”
Luke was silent and neither of them looked at the other.
“I’m disappointed,” Rio admitted as she continued, still pondering the contradictory feelings of desire to accomplish the goal that brought her to Japan but not wanting to let go of the things that had her wanting to stay there. “I’m discouraged. I haven’t found what I’d hoped for. But, what I have found is better. So, I can count this trip as a victory no matter what happens or doesn’t happen next. That has to be enough.”
Luke knew that she meant what she said but he could also tell that she was trying to convince herself that things would be okay. He appreciated it and knew this was a step in the right direction when it came to learning to trust God with the path for her life. He put an arm around Rio and pulled her in to his side. She placed her head on his chest and they both smiled peacefully even though Rio still felt a bit on edge. However, her anxiety was only present because Rio was completely unaware of the fact that, not only was Sota very much alive but, they would learn of his exact whereabouts the very next day.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Sanctuary
/> The long car ride back to CYOI allowed Rio time to do some more reading aloud. That day, Luke heard a lot of Rio’s voice and by the time they pulled into the parking lot, Rio had completed her reading of the Old Testament. Her favorite book was Esther. Rio imagined Esther to be a precocious and charming young girl and there was something about the story of a beautiful and intelligent Jewish teenager becoming queen of Persia, who conquered Babylon while the Jews were in captivity there, and saving her people that Rio found absolutely thrilling. She felt a connection to Esther that was somehow deeper than the other people she had read about that day. Perhaps it was the fact that the young girl was in a position that she hadn’t sought out. A position that was unique to only her. And, she used that position to do something great. It inspired Rio and she hoped to do something great with the position she found herself in, too.
The main thing that Rio took away from the story, however, was not unlike what she took away from a lot of the stories she had read in the Bible. God is sovereign and loving in all circumstances. That was a point that was being driven home repeatedly as she read the scriptures. It was a good thing, too. This point was something that Rio would need to remember during the events that were coming her way. Discouragement, after all, had already set in. And, things would soon get even more devastating.
But, before they did, she would enjoy a nice dinner with Luke. They stopped at the same place that they had picked up the spicy beef the night before. But, this time, Rio insisted on getting chicken while Luke stuck with his old favorite. She teased him about being a creature of habit and told him that she couldn’t do the same dinner two nights in a row. Luke, however, hit her with the timeworn expression ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Rio laughed and found the logic hard to argue with, especially since she realized that it also applied to her own desire to drink nothing but water.
