The morning air was crisp and cold. Akane was bundled up in her coat and hat, her arm looped through Markus’. He was, as usual, dressed in just his kilt and t-shirt. The others were dressed similarly to Akane, making Markus stand out all the more.

As they reached the main road and turned left, the sounds of traffic surrounded them. The people of Kyoto were going about their morning commute, discussing plans for the day, and getting frustrated with traffic. The people on the streets were mostly silent and focused on their destinations, with the few conversations to be heard being quiet and subdued.

Markus took a breath of the crisp air. “Smells like any other big city I’ve ever been to. A little slice of the familiar, really. I am thankful that Kyoto’s streets are cleaner than what I deal with in the U.S.”

“Is it bad there?” Hanako ventured.

“It can be. Americans in general aren’t terribly clean when it comes to the outdoors. There’s litter nearly everywhere.” He laughed humorlessly. ”We’ll keep our house clean, our yard well-groomed, and our garden weeded, but we will care little when it comes to the majority of the rest of the country.” He sighed heavily.

Akane hugged his arm and looked up at his face. Reading his discontent was easy. Fixing it, however? That was a task she was determined to spend a lifetime on. They walked on in silence for the next few minutes before she recognized the narrow street that led to the shrine.

“This way, Markus,” she said, as she led the group down the narrow street.

They walked up to the torii and five of them bowed. Markus noticed a little late, then copied them. Once they had paid their respects to the kami, they walked in, Akane making sure that Markus stayed to one side of the narrow walkway.

After a short walk, the group stood in front of the small double doors of the shrine. Hanako reached up in front of Markus and pulled sharply on the cords that were hanging in front of him, ringing a rather large bell.

“We ring the bell to attract the attention of our kami. This is a Dosa kami. A guardian of the travelers and those in transition. As you will be in your own transition soon, I feel it is quite proper for you to start our shrine journey today here. Do you have a five-yen coin, Markus?” Hanako gazed at her large American friend.

Markus shoved his hands in his pockets, causing what little coinage he had to jingle. Pulling out the handfuls, he sorted them, pulling out eight five-yen coins. He nodded at Hanako and dropped them into his right pocket, keeping the other assorted change in his left.

Hanako smiled and laid a single coin on the stone plinth in front of the double doors, an act that was mimicked by the others, Markus included.

Yamato looked over at Markus. “We offer the five-yen coins because it sounds identical to our word for ‘good luck’.”

They stepped back slightly, and bowed deeply twice. Hanako reached up and rang the bell twice more, then the group clapped twice.

“And now we offer a prayer to the kami here. If you have no prayer, simply be respectful and silent,” Hanako said, folding her hands into a familiar prayer position, and rested them against her face.

Markus felt a little silly doing so, but he copied her movements, and waited silently, as he had nothing to pray for. As he stood there in silent contemplation, his mind drifted to his new beginnings here in Japan. His girlfriend, his new group of friends, his new jobs and his kind, if oddly blunt manager. He chuckled silently at his unconscious choice of beginnings.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, finding Hanako watching him with a soft smile. “Finally, we bow once more to the shrine.” The group followed her lead and bowed deeply before turning to leave.

Once they passed the torii, they all stopped, turned and bowed a final time, with Markus hurrying to copy them.

“And this, Markus, is the final show of appreciation to the kami for allowing us into its home. You’ll be better equipped for the next shrine we visit, don’t worry.” Yamato said with a wink.

As they walked down the street, Hanako filled Markus in on something they hadn’t done at the shrine. “Just so you are aware, in larger shrines, there is a place to ritually purify yourself with a dipper of water. If there is one at the next shrine, we will demonstrate the proper method. This is done before we ring the bell for the first time. You’ll see.”

“So where to next, bro?” Atsuki gently punched Markus’ arm.

“Uh…” He checked his phone. “Taimatsuden Inari shrine. It’s straight down the road here.”

Genkai looked excited. “I love Inari! They’re the kami of rice and food in general and foxes are just so cute! Did you know, Markus, that foxes are sacred to Inari?”

“I did not know that, Gen-kun. Tell me more!” Markus smiled broadly at the smaller man.

“Oh, where to begin? So. Inari is the child of Susanoo, the storm god. They sometimes appear as an older man with a long white beard who rides a white fox, or a beautiful maiden with long hair, carrying bundles of rice. I love how they’re neither male nor female, but they just are. And! You’ll sometimes find them with the goddess of food at the shrines, too. And I just love rice, anyway. It’s so good, just by itself, or with an egg, or some bonito flakes. And…um… sorry. I got a little carried away.” Genkai’s face reddened.

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Markus laughed softly. “Don’t you ever be ashamed of something you love, Gen-kun. I asked you to tell me more, and you did exactly that. I didn’t know any of that information beforehand, and now I do. I count myself richer for the knowledge. Thank you.”

Yamato took Genkai’s hand and held it tenderly. “My sweet Petal. I love hearing your excitement when you speak. Please do it more often? For me?” He kissed the younger man’s hand lovingly.

An older gentleman passing by witnessed the exchange and decided to speak. “Hmmph. In my day, disgraces like you would be run out of town. In fact, I think you both should leave Japan and go somewhere where that kind of degeneracy is tolerated. Go join your gaijin here in America! Go!”

Yamato and Genkai looked crestfallen, and the rest of the group were too shocked to speak. Markus recovered first, fixing the man with a flat glare.

“When the situation calls for your intrusion, I am sure we would gladly call upon you. However, this particular situation neither needs nor desires your words. I would thank you to kindly fuck off. And when you get there, fuck off a little farther. Leave. Now.”

The man planted his fists on his hips and returned Markus’ glare. “And just who do you think you are, gaijin? You can’t come here to my country and change things to suit your degenerate ways! You’re the one who should leave! Japan is for the Japanese! Not you gaijin!”

Markus stood his ground. “First, I am their companion. They are my friends and I care for them. Second, I will be leaving tomorrow. This is our farewell journey to various shrines and restaurants in Kyoto. Third, I am not changing a thing. Society is. Soon enough, your bigoted ways ways will die, and people like my friends here will be free to be open about their love. Finally, Japan is for whomever she welcomes. You are not the arbiter of that. Leave us be.”

The man grumbled a little, opening his mouth to say something, but thought better of it when he saw the other five rallying around Markus. “Bah! Punks.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and continued on his way.

“Thank you, Markus. I’ve never had anyone stand up for me before. Not like that, at least. Are all Americans like that?” Yamato bowed his head.

Markus heaved a sigh. “No. Most would have said nothing. I’m not one of them. I grew up being the fat nerd in school, getting bullied and picked on for liking the things I did. For being different. Something happened to me in my third year of high school, and everything changed for me. I don’t want to see the people I care about having to deal with it, too.”

Akane wrapped her arms around his waist. If she had to pick just one thing that she loved most about him, it would have to be his huge heart. Markus looked down and smiled, causing her heart to skip a beat.

“Shall we continue?” Markus looked at his friends with a smile.

Akane answered him by grabbing his hand and tugging him down the road, pulling the rest of their group out of their reverie. They walked for another ten minutes, chatting quietly, as it was simply too cold for most of them to do anything more active.

A few minutes later, they arrived at Taimatsuden shrine. As before, this was a small shrine, but instead of lion-dogs flanking the pathway, there was a secondary torii gate, painted red. After bowing to the gate, they proceeded up the sides of the path, and here, there was a small basin of water and a dipper.

Akane led Markus up to the basin. “And now, we will show you how to properly cleanse yourself at a Shinto shrine.”

She pulled up the sleeves of her coat to her elbows, then took the dipper with her right hand, filling it in the basin. She poured a measure of the water onto her left hand, transferred the dipper, then poured some onto her right hand.

With her cleansed left hand, she scooped a handful of water from the basin, and brought it to her lips, taking care to only kiss it. Once more, she ladled water onto her left hand, then tipped the dipper up, allowing the water to run down the handle. Reverently, she placed the dipper back onto the pieces of bamboo sitting on either side of the basin.

“Your turn, Markus. Don’t worry, I will help you if you need it.”

Doing his best to calm the anxiety churning in his belly, Markus reached for the dipper, and proceeded to copy Akane’s movements from before.

“Remember, do not drink the water. You’ll probably be okay, but best to not.”

Markus nodded, and after scooping the water up with his left hand, brought it up to his lips, feeling the cold chill of the water stinging his flesh. He concluded the ritual, then placed the dipper back where he found it, and moved out of the way. Akane smiled and nodded once.

Once everyone had cleansed themselves, they performed the same rituals as before, with one minor exception.

“Here, at an Inari shrine, our prayers are for success in business, the harvest and fertility. All things of abundance,” Genkai said softly to Markus.

Markus joined the others with a silent plea to be blessed in his new role. A little help from local kami could scarcely hurt.

Their rituals finished, they left the shrine, bowed to it once more, and proceeded on their way.

After consulting his map on his phone, as well as checking the time, Markus looked over at Hanako. “How about Matsunoo shrine?”

“Matsunoo? Our father used to visit that shrine pretty often. He took Gen and I there a few times. You’ll like it. It’s pretty big.” Atsuki smiled at Markus.

“Then off we go! Will we walk, or would you prefer to get a bus?”

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that a bus would be best, Barton-san.” Yamato smiled sheepishly.

“Then a bus we shall have. Looks like one will arrive in the next few minutes. Should take a half-hour or so.”

The six friends walked to the bus stop and waited patiently. A few minutes later, they boarded their bus and found seats near the back.

So far, Markus couldn’t really ask for a better beginning to the end of his sojourn in Japan.