[Shion Utsui]

おみくじが欲しいな。 Dusk had set into the sky of Shinjuku. The orange light of the setting afternoon sun which had shown so brightly against the red beams of Sensoji, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the district. First there were about 50 visitors, then 30, then 5 as the sky changed from a comforting orange to a gray-blue with undertones of the prior sky- For who would come visit a temple after dark when it wasn't an important day or festival? Eventually, there was only one person left. That being Shion. Well, "left" may have been the incorrect term. He had just flown in on Toto, changing the number of visitors from 0 to 1. The alien creature changed back into an ordinary broom as their controller passed through the front gate, seeming to prefer being by themselves for this specific instance. The sound of night traffic fading out behind him, Shion went straight to the bell-tower, intent on sounding so that the Buddha would know that he'd be visiting. But he would be sorely disappointed. ["Visitors, please refrain from touching the bell."] He stared at the sign nailed to the beam, rather sadly as his eyes went to the great bronze bell next to it. Such a large and heavy bell was simply begging to be bonged- Shion was often allowed to sound the bell at the temple back in his hometown, but only because he was well-known locally. Small temples that weren't tourist attractions didn't seem to have this restriction. "That's right. . . this is the city." Shion said to himself absentmindedly as he instead headed towards the temple proper, where the saisen box was located. Here, visitors would deposit a small amount of money for the boddhisatva's as an offering. Kami and Buddhist deities were often treated interchangeably, something unique to the Japanese traditions. Dropping a 50-yen coin inside once he got there, Shion tried to "leave his desires with it" like he was supposed to- though his needs and wants didn't seem to leave his head at all. A person's thoughts definitely felt loudest when they were all alone. Ending the offering by putting his hands together and bowing towards the closed doors. Finally, was another box near the saisen. Instead of coins, this one was filled with strips of paper.  Shion stuck their hand inside before pulling one out, eagerly opening it up to see what the omikuji, a form of fortune telling, would say about his future. Completely unaware that there was someone nearby who could be seeing all this. Zenkai Hatake

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