The Power within Innocence

Chapter 12 - Request

Yuki pov:

I didn't take my eyes off my brothers even for a moment as they ran ahead of me. They were jumping, laughing, chasing each other and looking curiously at plants and bugs around us as we climbed the huge steps.

We were climbing the steps of the shrine that both the person in the forest as well as Hiru had mentioned. Just as Hiru had said, the shrine wasn't visited by the people of this town anymore.

The Torii at the base of the steps looked unattended with creepers growing all over it and the red paint scraped off in some places too. The stone steps had grass and small plants growing in the niches and the plants on either side of the stairway were dense.

I had taken the day off from work today. I had told Namiko san what had happened yesterday resulting in her fussing over me to make sure my brothers and I were okay now. When I had told her about the shrine, she too had told me that it had been several years since anyone went there on a regular basis. Festivals were no longer celebrated grandly and the only time they did go to the shrine was during New Years Day. As for its maintenance for the rest of the year, no one took responsibility.

Apparently, even though it was unattended to, the vegetation there didn't grow very quickly. So no one even bothered to take care of cleaning the place until the onset of New Years.

Just as we climbed, I remembered something that my brothers had said yesterday. I decided it was best to ask them about it to make sure of where exactly they had gone. They said that they were just beyond the trees but I wasn't able to find them despite all the effort. They had returned on their own, absolutely happy. They weren't afraid of the dark forest or the sounds like how they would have been in any other time.

"Akio, Arata, what did you want to show me yesterday?" I called out to them.

They were looking at a dragonfly that was sitting on the leaves of one of the plants. They looked up at me, grinned and scurried to my side. They took a hold of my hands and jumped to climb the steps along with me.

"Nee chan! We met another nii chan yesterday!" Akio chimed.

I furrowed my brows. Another nii chan? That means they hadn't met Juo in the forest. Were they possibly talking about that silhouette that I had seen in the trees?

"Another nii chan?" I asked curiously. I was even a little worried now.

I mean, Juo turning up was worrisome enough especially with his abusive background. Now there was another person in the forest?? Don't tell me we were being stalked or something! Meeting Juo every so often was probably risky enough at the moment.

"Yeah!" Arata giggled. "Nii chan had really long hair and he made the flowers bloom!"

Made flowers bloom? That was even more confusing than before!

I just shook my head with a soft sigh. Looks like their imagination was something I wouldn't be able to keep up with.

I smiled and looked ahead as we got closer to the shrine. It was a pleasant day today and I was glad that I had taken the day off work. I was still kind of tired from the panic yesterday so taking a walk in the warm sun, the cool gentle breeze and to a shrine to give me peace of mind was definitely what I needed now.

Well, I had even made my brothers skip school because I wanted to be with them. They whined about not going to school and being able to be with their friends, but I had told them that we would be going to the local shrine. The thought of going to a place we've never been to before was enough to get them excited and agree to stay with me for the day.