Carried forward by her momentum, Akiko stumbled on the path as the shock distracted her from running, and fell to her hands and knees. She winced as her injured knee sent new waves of pain running up her leg, and quickly gave up her attempt to stand, sitting on the dry stone of the path.
The shrine building rose ahead of her, the peaked roof of burnished copper shining as it reflected the sunlight. The pale wood of the walls was unpainted, and Akiko realised that she could smell it on the air. A gentle breeze ruffled her hair as she looked around. The shrine stood in a clearing in a forest, with trees towering over it. She couldn’t see far into the wood, as the leaves blocked the sunlight, leaving it deep in shadow, but she could see that there were other trees beyond.
Slowly, taking care not to put weight on her injured leg, Akiko turned to look back the way she had come. A stone torii stood behind her, shining white but apparently dry. She couldn’t immediately see the road, but then she had come up quite a steep slope. Carefully, she got to her feet, and walked to the torii.
As she looked out and down, she found herself grabbing one of the uprights for support. A flight of stone steps, far steeper than the ones she remembered climbing, plunged down between ancient trees until they disappeared into a bank of mist, as if there were clouds below her.
Akiko took a step back from the torii, and found her knee was hurting considerably less now. She looked around the shrine precincts again, but could see no sign of other people. The grass around the building seemed to be interrupted only by the stone path up to the shrine, its polished surface glittering in the sunlight.
The grass was short, as if regularly cut, and Akiko started to walk around the edge of the wood, looking for anything that might explain where she was. It was only as she did so that it occurred to her to wonder why she was so calm. Even though this shrine didn’t look dangerous, it also looked like it couldn’t possibly be at the top of the steps she had climbed, and then there was the little matter of the missing storm.
Or, come to that, the missing Kawasaki when she had looked out of the torii. Directly behind the shrine building, Akiko paused, trying to work up at least a touch of nerves, but she remained stubbornly calm. Maybe this is a dream, she thought. Maybe I fell asleep in the rain, and now I’m dreaming this.
The absurdity of the idea made her laugh, the sound surprisingly loud in the shrine precincts. She quickly got herself under control, and looked over to the shrine building. It really was the obvious place to look for answers, but now she thought about it she was, not scared, but somehow reluctant to approach it.
Taking a deep breath, Akiko walked round to the front of the shrine.
