After breakfast we left the hotel and took a bus to Hakone Shrine. We entered through the main third torii gate and started up the path.
“Yeah, packed with tourists.”
“Hakone Shrine is one of the strongest power spots in the Kanto region. Of course it’s crowded.”
“If we’d come during summer or Golden Week, the density would be unreal.”
We reached the temizuya (purification fountain) and I picked up a ladle. As I was about to wash my hands, Kano spoke.
“By the way, Yuito — do you know the correct way to do temizu?”
“Honestly, no.”
“Then your big sister will specially teach you. I’ll demonstrate while I explain — watch.”
I’d usually just wing it, but if she was offering, I’d take the lesson.
“First, take the ladle in your right hand, scoop water, and purify your left hand.”
“Oh — even hand-washing has an order?”
“Then switch the ladle to your left hand and purify your right hand the same way. Then take the ladle in your right hand again, pour water into your left palm, and put it in your mouth.”
She did exactly that — took water, rinsed her mouth — and quietly spit into the drainage trough below, covering her mouth with her left hand.
“Then purify your left hand again, and use the remaining water to rinse the handle of the ladle and put it back.”
“Useful. Let me try.”
I followed her exact procedure. I’d always done it sloppily before — first time doing it properly.
“All right — purified, both of us. Let’s continue.”
“This way, right?”
“Yeah, through the gate and up the stairs.”
We passed under the fourth torii and started up the steps. Stone stairs lined by giant cedars — genuinely spectacular.
We stopped briefly at Soga Shrine partway up, finished the climb, passed under the fifth torii, and arrived in front of the main hall.
“The blue of the sky, the green of the forest, and the vermilion of the main hall all together — it’s so beautiful.”
“Yeah. Just seeing this view alone makes the trip worth it.”
“Let’s pay our respects.”
We each dropped a five-yen coin into the offertory box and did the two bows, two claps, one bow ritual. Kano of course corrected my form here too.
“Now to the real target — the Kuzuryu Shrine’s New Shrine.”
“Wait — wasn’t the Hakone Shrine main hall the point of coming here?”
“That was the warm-up.”
So that had been the preliminary round. I followed her lead.
“New Shrine means there’s a main one elsewhere?”
“Right — the main Kuzuryu Shrine is on the shore of Lake Ashi. The New Shrine was built next to Hakone Shrine for people who can’t easily get to the main one.”
“Convenient to be able to visit both at once.”
“And the divine benefits are supposedly the same at either.”
“Like what?”
“Wealth, good fortune, business prosperity — plus relationship-binding.”
She answered with a bright smile. Ah — so Kano’s target was the relationship-binding benefit.
I’d pray for getting together with Suzuno in the future, then. After a few minutes’ walk we arrived at the New Shrine and prayed.
I finished pretty quickly. Kano, by contrast, prayed for quite a long time — long enough that the couple in line behind us was getting a not done yet? expression.
”…Did you really need to pray for that long?”
“Because I wanted to tie a bond that could never break, no matter what.”
“That sounds like the kind of bond that would mean never being able to escape him.”
“I have no intention of escaping or letting go, ever. So it’s fine.”
The look on her face was more serious than anything I’d ever seen on her. After that, we descended a stairway beside the New Shrine to the Ryujin Mizusha (the dragon-god water shrine).
The Ryujin Mizusha has nine dragons in a row with water flowing from their mouths. The water is a divine spring welling up within the shrine grounds, called ryujin-sui (dragon-god water). They say drinking it purifies impurities and draws in good things.
“Ryujin-sui sounds intensely chuunibyou.”
“Yeah, I thought that too.”
“Sounds like it’d power you up massively if you drank it.”
I wasn’t the only one connecting ryujin-sui with a power-up item from a certain shonen manga character, surely.
For the record, you’re allowed to take ryujin-sui home in PET bottles. There are even branded take-home bottles for sale at the office — basically encouraged.