607/Return to Asakusa Shrine

Return to Asakusa Shrine
Date of Scene:	17 October 2023
Location:	Asakusa Shrine
Synopsis:	Naru takes Kazuo to go look at the scene of the ... uh ... non-crime. One question is answered, and as usual, hydra-like, yields several more. (Thanks to Jadeite's player for supplying info for the scene!)
Cast of Characters:	Kazuo Saitou, Naru Osaka
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

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Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The advantage of trying to sneakily investigate a place that is a designated Important Cultural Property is that it is free to enter and always open.

The disadvantage of trying to sneakily investigate a place that is a designated Important Cultural Property is that it is free to enter and always open, and therefore there may be people around at any hour.

So the first step Naru and Kazuo take is just walking in, like perfectly ordinary teenagers out at distressing o'clock in the morning. It's ... just a detour before their morning run? Surely that's it.

The paved pathway leads straight toward the worship hall, flanked by the shrine's two guardian komainu. They stare out at the mundane world, one lion-dog's jaws open and the other's closed. The beginning and end of the world. In the dimness of indirect citylight, the representation feels a little more ... literal.

"I don't feel anything unusual," Kazuo murmurs to Naru as they approach. "That doesn't mean there's nothing here. It just means there's nothing strong enough for me to pick it up like this. Nothing active, unless it's weak, or focused, or well disguised."

Naru Osaka has posed:
The fact that Naru, at least, is in her running gear really does imply that they are there pre-run.

Granted she did not choose the dayglo choices, and the amount of reflective patches is really very low. One might even say she chose darker colours, although that's hardly unusual, but she does blend rather nicely into the chilly quiet of the shrine.

"I'd expect things to be quiet." Naru comments softly. "Or at least not so loudly broadcasting dark energy that every mahou in the city with energy sensing doesn't perk up and go 'what's that over there' every time the breeze shifts."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Reasonable," Kazuo agrees. He glances over toward the memorial stone in its separate circle a little distance away, but doesn't deviate from accompanying Naru. "And they've got the skill for it."

Nothing seems to be out of order, from a glance. There's one person filming a night video of the shrine, complete with little swooping circles of wandering. There were a handful more over by Sensou-ji proper. There's the little side structure with wooden plaques with prayers inscribed on them clacking quietly when the wind gets strong enough. But it's quiet, on the whole.

Not even a monster to keep them company.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"C'mon. Lets go over this way." Naru tries to keep herself and Kazuo too, out of the way of the night film shoot, as she follows the path that she did the last time she was here. Not exactly on the beaten path.

Naru pauses in one of the quiet side rooms, listening to the sounds of the shrine in the quiet of the night and just letting them .. and her.. be for a moment.

Without a youma, without other monsters. Without someone threatening her, or anything else. To just be.

There's a reason these are sacred spaces, and those quiet moments show why.

It's just a short time before Naru takes a fresh breath and gestures. "This way."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Over this way. Into the quiet. Kazuo is, for all the white hair and casual jokes, good company for quiet. He doesn't interrupt; he doesn't prod her to move on; there's no sign that impatience is even a thing that exists in the world, not for that quiet moment. And when Naru says 'this way,' he listens, and moves. Follows her lead.

It is when they near the worship hall proper, with its paintings of mythical creatures active and in the day brightly-colored upon its higher panels, that he slows a little. Frowns. "I thought --" he starts, and then says more slowly, "No. No, nothing."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmm?" Naru turns back towards him at his comment. "We're not quite where I stopped to talk to Jadeite, just down here."

Naru continues further into the depths of the shrine, to where she thanked Jadeite for not killing her. Like one does in conversation.

"That was here." Naru pauses there a moment, looking around. "He was going further, before we paused to talk."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Like one does. Kazuo pauses with Naru, of course, and his eyes flicker from wall to wall, empty space to empty space. "If he knew you were following him," he says, "he might have been trying to lay a false trail. Or he might not have bothered, because the bad stuff makes them arrogant." He reaches as if to touch a support, then draws his hand back, slow, without ever making contact. "Do you want to go in further, and start from there?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Possibly." Naru considers that it might have been a ruse. "But without evidence either way, we might as well continue on this path as far as it takes us and see."

"Granted, he teleported away from here, after he got repossessed, but let's assume he was continuing from here. He still had a crystal in hand at this point." Naru nods at the suggestion and continues further, along the path that Jadeite took before he turned back to talk with her.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"So either he went elsewhere here, or the specific timing of the placement wasn't critical." Kazuo searches the empty air for a moment, as if he half expected Jadeite's departure to have left some trace ... but Naru's moving; he follows.

There are no other alerts, as they move further. No other twitches suggesting the presence or absence of some energy, other than, perhaps, the fierce absence of sufficient caffeine. (Yes, Kazuo had coffee earlier. No, it wasn't enough for this.) And no people. Not even the one filming video. Naru has a free hand.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Never enough coffee for this. Especially not in a quiet dark shrine at 'oh my goodness' stupid hours of the morning.

"As peaceful as it is, I hope we actually find anything and that Jadeite just didn't take the crystal elsewhere after we talked." Naru comments softly. They might be the only ones down in this section of the shrine, but it feels appropriate to whisper.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Not coming up with anything like this," Kazuo admits. Quiet, like he said. Or maybe Jadeite did take the crystal elsewhere. "Do you want me to switch?" And just hope nobody comes in almost-as-early as they did.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Whenever you're comfortable switching, but if he dropped it off here." Naru glances back to Kazuo as she pauses. "It would be anywhere after here, that was the last place I saw it." She glances back towards where more people were and then back to the silence ahead of them. "It should be alright, it's pretty quiet."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo frowns in silent concentration. A moment later, there's a swirl of shadows, and then ... still white hair, but a black mask and white clothing; the elaborate outfit that Kazuo refers to as 'refugee from his own funeral.' A moment after that, the white dims just a little, as something like shadow seems to breathe out from him.

He's quiet for a moment himself. Joining the silence, the way Naru did.

And then he says, slowly, "I don't think we're on the ley line. Not right here where we're standing. But I think it's closer than it's supposed to be."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmm." Naru comments after he settles into his other self. Overdressed for a run, most assuredly.

"Interesting that we're not quite on the lay line." Naru considers, glancing down as if she can see it herself. Alas, that power didn't manifest on command. "I wonder if we'll get back to where it is if we continue."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Overdressed for most ostentatious speechgiving dinners or award ceremonies, for that matter. "Only one way to find out," Kazuo says.

But moving deeper prompts him to shake his head, just a little. His voice is, if anything, even softer. "It's getting less intense, not more. If he was looking for it - maybe that's one reason why he was 'ported out. He was hoping for luck this way, maybe for someplace quiet, maybe something else, but it wasn't going to happen."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hmmm." Naru considers that things are getting fainter. "Should we keep going? Or go check the other shrine?" She sighs softly. "It was certainly quiet, we were the only ones here. The other shrine was where the combat was, so I can't imagine he went back there."

Naru digs out her phone to scroll through a few notes and checking the map that Kyouka acquired weeks ago. "The resolution isn't good enough on the map to give more details than probably somewhere here."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Not the other shrine." Kazuo sounds quietly certain about that. "We can keep going if you want, and see if there's anything off the leyline. Or we can work our way back, and see if we cross the line anywhere more public."

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's only a moment of consideration before Naru decides. "Let's keep going."

They've come this far after all, they might as well make it to where they can't get any further before they have ot turn back.

"Probably for naught, but it seems a shame to be up at this hour and prodding around a shrine and turn around half way, just because it isnt what we expect." Naru points out. "If if was what we were expecting, we wouldnt need to investigate."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
They keep going. Once they have to avoid notice, but being quiet and Kazuo drawing deeper shadow across them helps. The leyline doesn't make any sudden twists back into their path; there's no hint of dark magic that he reports. Just quiet, and what one would expect to find, right down to the storerooms.

Jadeite didn't leave the crystal deeper in, unless the crystal's dead to the world and well hidden.

On the way back out, moving a little quicker perhaps now, Kazuo murmurs reports on the relationship to the line's ambient energy. Naru can probably guess where they're going to cross it.

Back out in the worship hall. In the very public space, which fortunately even the filmer has abandoned now; and the early morning visitors are at the larger temple nearby, not looking this way. Brightly painted dragons, phoenixes, kirin. Red pillars. "It's here," Kazuo says. And then hesitates. "And there's something else. It's hard to pick up. Like looking at a window with the sun past it, and trying to make out a glass ornament hanging there."

Naru Osaka has posed:
If nothing else, curiosity has been sated. Right down to the storerooms.

The pair of them come back up from deep within the shrine, into the main public space. Naru moves right out into the centre, to be the easy focus of the eye of people who might come in, not the overdressed shadowy figure at the edges.

"Up here? Right out in the open?" Naru murmurs as she comes closer to him. "Well that's one way to make it hard to find, I suppose, hiding in plain sight, so to speak." She looks to where he's looking, even if she can't see anything unsuual there. "Something else?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Not just the ley line. Something else - and yes, hiding in plain sight." Kazuo's overdressed self drifts, just a little, concentrating ... then focusing in. On one specific pillar, at the front, but obscured behind a tourist-historical-information sign approximately the size of Naru. He reaches up to touch it, then lets his hand slide down slowly, to a point --

-- that Naru would recognize as loosely Jadeite's eye level.

"Here," he murmurs. "Inside here. Where you can't see it. I'm not sure what it is. It's not doing anything, right now. But it ... resonates with the leyline energy, or refracts it, somehow, enough to be seen. And it's not good."

Well, that last is no surprise.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"So connected." Naru looks up to where he's touching, pointing out the spot. Above her eye level, but most of the world is.

"But not currently doing anything. Hunh." Naru blinks a moment. "That's not what I was expecting, but that's good to know." She continues watching that spot, as if somehow by looking there she'd suddenly start sensing the energy herself.

No such luck.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"So something." Kazuo exhales, and his shoulders slump a little, and the next time Naru really registers him he's back to being dressed for normal running, instead of running lightly across rooftops with stylishly ill-gotten gains. And not sensing much more than Naru can. "So the questions are. What is it? What is it supposed to do? How do we find out when it's inside part of a sacred historical monument? Did his -- guest -- teleport to here and leave it there? Or did he leave it there himself on the way in? And in either case, what was he doing inside anyhow?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"So many questions." Naru agrees with a sigh. "More questions than answers, which is the story of our lives, really." She doesn't startle at the change in him, just glancing over her shoulder as the fancy pants reverts back to workout gear.

"I assume that Jadeite put it here, but that's with not a scrap of evidence and my guesses have been wrong before." Naru considers and then shakes her head a little. "Perhaps finding more of them might make it all make sense?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Maybe. Or at least let us make a pattern. But we've got one thing, one place, anyhow. And we know he was looking at, or for, something in the shrine. That's more than we had." Kazuo gives her a tight, fierce little grin. "And we've got a couple left to go. Let's see if we can get you enough to start working with."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Next shrine.. we're looking in the public bit first." Naru points out with a soft laugh. "Save us some walking."

"Shall we get a run in before we have to get to class?" Naru offers, because dark crystals in shrines isn't actually much of a workout.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"If we hadn't gone looking," Kazuo counters, "we wouldn't've figured out there was something potentially off about the leyline. Which makes sense, come to think of it. The world's alive. Why wouldn't energy change paths, like rivers do?" Gray eyes gleam. "I'll see if I can scrape out some free time to start checking your map a little more closely. Maybe it won't get us anywhere. But maybe we'll learn something."

A pause. "And maybe we'll learn how well you run after whatever tried to eat you this time, and I run without actually having slept. Want me to tell Inai about this if I pass out in class and get sent in for a talk, or want to keep it to yourself for a bit?"