Once through the torii she still wound her way through another small alley, until she found a small courtyard that was filled with bamboo trees. The tall yellow-green shafts were so thick she couldn't see the other side of the lot, or the Shinto shrine in the middle, just the stone pathway that began. She stepped through, instantly feeling cooler in the shade of the green leaves that tipped the top of the bamboo shoots.

            The sounds of the city died away, the air seemed cleaner. She could hear the sounds of cicadas crying out, a never-ending electrical whine. Her getas clinked on the stone pathway and she thought it would be very easy to pretend in a place like this that she was in a different time, a different plac...

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