The trip up the small, but almost mountainous terrain felt exhausting, as he trekked through rivers and up small ledges. He hasn't yet grown accustomed do his still small but oddly muscular frame upon waking up in the hospital.
After a few steps up poorly sculpted staircase which was embedded into the terrain he saw the red gates, slowly being consumed by nature. The red paint still vivid but now fused with a mossy green in some areas. After making it up the stairs he saw the shrine, it was also a little eaten up by nature but remained standing, its architecture was beautiful and well and truly Japanese in appearance, it was wood with a few gold and black accents here and there. A couple of people roamed the site in white cloth, varying in style and they seemed to wear ordinary clothes underneath the white sheets of fabric.
Upon entering through the gates he felt a rush through his body and he could feel his heart beat through his chest. He gripped his shirt and fell to his knees, head throbbing as he saw a few people rush towards him. "Are you okay?" One person asked as he placed his hand upon his shoulder, suddenly, he retracted his hand almost in reflex, it was like he touched a hot iron. Katsumi shook off the pain and it subsided quickly.
"Yeah I'm okay, sorry I don't know what came over me" Katsumi smiled weakly and got back to his feet, brushing off the dust off his trousers, beads of sweat still running down his pale face. Suddenly he noticed a woman stood in the entrance of the shrine building with her mouth wide open in disbelief. She glanced at a tall boy with emerald green hair with shaved sides, to be honest he also looked a little confused. The old lady walked down the steps at a scarily swift pace for her age and walked towards Katsumi. Upon reaching him she looked puzzled.
"How... How are you still standing?" The woman stuttered in shock, looking the boy up and down.
"what do you mean? It was only a headache", Katsumi looked away nervously and rubbed his head. His eyes drifted away from her and to the boy who was sat on the stairs who smiled in curiosity, his eyes narrowing at Katsumi. He dusted off the dirt on his knees and lifted his head to see the woman's face a ghostly pale colour. "What's wrong?" Katsumi tilted his head in confusion.
The woman shook her head and smiled sweetly at him "Oh? It's nothing, how can we help?" With that she offered her hand to the boy it was thin and frail yet her grip was noticeably strong for someone her age.
Katsumi rose to his feet, "I'm here to relay a message, miss. A weird woman said to say the flame has been relit... Or something along those lines" with that he felt a small force on the back of his head almost as if someone had slapped him lightly on the back of the head. He shrugged it off assuming it was a stupid bug and attempted to tend to the spot of impact but mid gesture the woman grabbed his wrist with that deadly strength she possessed and dragged him into the shrine. Katsumi gasped at suddenly being thrusted forward. Katsumi was dragged into the shrine building, eyes followed the two as they departed and the guy who sat on the stairs moved aside for him to pass.
Katsumi and the woman sat at a low table on the shrine floor awkwardly until the woman spoke up, "Who told you that message?", she slid a tray of some ominous looking tea over to Katsumi. He stared at it suspiciously as he had never seen purple tea before… "Don't worry, it'll get rid of the headache. Satoshi tends to have that effect on ordinary people so it's a common brew among the shrines people". The woman laughed at her own remark.
Katsumi reached out for the cup of tea and took a sip, his expression changed in an instant. It was almost like he just took a bite of a lemon. He tried desperately to not spew out the disgusting remedy all over the table. The woman roared in laughter, "I apologize I forgot to mention it doesn't taste the best", Katsumi could only scowl at the woman but couldn't help but let out a small smile. He only just managed to gulp down the repulsive tea but the headache that tended to come and go quickly disappeared.
"Thank you and who's Satoshi?", he placed the cup on the table gently.
"He's the green haired boy, I doubt you noticed him, if you did I'm pretty sure you would have definitely passed out." She looked outside to see a group of people playing with a ball, they seemed to be his age, some a little older.
Katsumi simply tilted head, puzzled, "I saw him, he was wearing a white scarf, I don't know how it's really warm outside and he had shaved sides, right?" The woman looked even more confused, "I doubt I could pass out by just looking at him". Katsumi giggled and passed the pot cup from one hand to the other on the table. The woman sat there as if she had seen some form of strange creature.
She suddenly cleared her throat, sat placed her hands on her knees and changed her tone into a much more serious one "Of course", she laughed off his comment, "Anyway, you didn't answer my question, who told you that message?" Her voice had a sense of urgency to it. Katsumi was startled by this sudden change of character, feeling a tight knot curdle his stomach, his anxiety was rising once again. The pressure emitted by this woman was enough to crush steel.
"A woman, she didn't tell me her name but she was all floaty and fiery!" Katsumi cracked under the intensity of her glare and yelled at the woman, as if he was being interrogated by a psychopath. "She was really pretty and had a flamey thingy on her head!" After this statement he blushed and pointed to his forehead. "W-who are you anyway?" Katsumi asked, embarrassed once again and let out a deep breath trying to push aside his panic.
"I'm Hashira Maya, I apologize for not mentioning that sooner… And you are?" She further interrogated , clearly taken aback by Katsumi's outburst.
"I'm Katsumi." He gulped but regretted his choices as the taste of that rancid tea emerged once again.
Maya looked as if she would remember that and eased her shoulders a little, "When did you first see the woman?", she asked furrowing her brows.
"I got into a… Accident at school, she appeared then and we talked for little bit", he responded cluelessly.
"Okay", Maya simply rested her head in the palms of her wrinkly hands. "I'm guessing she offered you some kind of power?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
Katsumi nodded, surprised that she knew that, "she also claimed to of brought me back from the dead, but she spoke about it as if it was nothing, in return she asked for a favour". He looked to the floor nervously "She said she needed my help and sent-".
Maya cut him off, "and she sent you to us", she sighed and Katsumi nodded once more and could sense that Maya was evidently stressed about the situation. "If she's desperate enough to ask for the help of a mortal child then it's clear that she's getting weaker and they are getting stronger…" She muttered as if speaking to herself.
Maya spoke with pure hatred towards whatever 'they' were which obviously poked at Katsumi's curiosity. Maya scared him, she was just an old lady but the strength and power she gave off would make the world's strongest man shiver.