What would've been a quiet summer turns into a globe-trotting adventure when an incident in Olympian High's campus garden gets the attention of resident Chosens Amelia Kingston and Zeus Olympian. To their surprise, the culprit is none other than the...
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Time passed by as fast as the Shinkansen, or Japanese bullet train, moved. Images of outside blurred into nothingness. Just like what Raymond said, the trip only took a short amount of time—a couple of hours at most. Amelia used most of that time to take a nap, which helped her recover a bit from jet lag.
Kozan-ji Temple was built somewhere north of Kyoto's bustling city center, an area with a thick forest line that was more or less away from any hint of civilization. As Amelia saw it, the perfect place to hide a certain powerful object.
They eventually arrived there by taxi, the only paved road that they used cutting through the forest. Other than a small parking lot and a nondescript restaurant nearby, there was nothing else to see but trees shedding their leaves in autumn. The sound of rushing water could be heard in the other side of the street, where a river snaked beside the highway.
Amelia and Raymond made their way through the empty lot and into some trees before reaching a clearing, where a couple of elevated buildings with thatched roofs and wooden supports came to view.
The two of them trudged toward the largest of the temples. As they did, Amelia couldn't help but notice how peaceful the place felt. A gale blew gently around them, the trees' branches swaying along a nonexistent tune.
But it was too peaceful. Something was amiss.
Amelia took one step onto the temple's porch. "You said this was a tourist spot, right?"
Raymond glanced at Amelia. "Yeah, the driver who took us said it was. Why?"
"Where did everyone go?"
The question hung in the noiseless air. Not a single person, not even some sort of caretaker or guard, was in sight. It was as if the temple became haunted, abandoned.
"Maybe they all went to that restaurant across the road," Raymond offered.
Amelia doubted it was the case. She knew there were supposed to be people around since it was a heritage site.
"Let's take a look around," Amelia said. "Maybe someone left something—anything that might tell us what happened."
While Raymond welcomed himself into the temple, Amelia hopped down from the porch and walked into the forest. All she could see above her head were many bits of greens and oranges stuck on the thin branches. Her feet made crunching noises with every step she took. It was all the signs of autumn, or the passing of it.
Soon, Amelia reached a stone staircase carpeted in moss. She hadn't gone a few steps when she spotted a small, shining object on the side of the steps. Upon closer inspection, her breath hitched when she realized what it was.
A bullet.
She picked up the empty metal hull lying on a thick bed of moss. What was a bullet doing in a place like this? Judging from the lack of dirt or rust in it, it looked like it was relatively new.
