TWENTY THREE(The Tour pt II)

"I'm in the mood to break some rules. Ethan."

Ethan simply scoffed as they walked along, Mia didn't fail to notice the satisfying grin that spread across Noel's face.

The shopping street comprised of different outlets, from food, clothes to souvenirs. As they walked around, Mia seemed overly excited; she pulled out a Polaroid camera from her bag and began taking photographs.

"Smile!" She called out to Ethan and Noel, who was trying out a hat,

"What are you doing?!" Ethan suddenly snapped,

"What does it look like, I'm taking a photo." She grinned as she took another shot,

" Hey! Stop!" Ethan yelled as he quickly stretched his hands to block the camera, but it eventually came out as another the beautiful shot.

"Oh wow, that came out really well. You didn't even have to try, you're just photogenic." She grinned,

"This trip is supposed to be confidential remember?"

"Yeah, but I've got to keep some memories." She smiled. "Hey, you should quit whining and enjoy the day." She added as she walked past him, grabbed a hat and put it on his head.

"There…Say cheese!"

As they walked around the market, Mia and Noel wanted to try every street food that came their way, Ethan didn't seem really excited about anything; he was quite reluctant too, so they snuck off to try a new snack.

First, they got the opportunity to watch the making and taste the famous Ningyo Yaki; a sweet cake filled with red bean paste, usually in the shapes of dolls, birds and the symbolic lantern.

"…Looks like wood, but so delicious." Mia mumbled with her mouth full. She eventually bought more to take home with her.

Then they tried the fish shaped candies that looked like they were blown from glass.

Next, they tried the Dango dumplings,

"Mm…I want to try another flavor!" Noel grinned after he took his first bite, but before he got the chance to take the second one, Ethan came out of nowhere and simply knocked it off Noel's hand.

"Hey! Show some respect for the food!" Mia snapped—"

"Street food, seriously?"

"…It's still food, besides, it's really cheap." Mia murmured.

"Do you realize—"

He was cut short by Mia who had just stuffed an entire dumpling into his mouth. His forehead creased as he furrowed his brows as he was eventually forced to chew.

"…That's right, chew." Mia and Noel laughed,

When he finally swallowed, he cleared his throat and scratched his neck then finally asked,

"Can I get another one?"

Mia wanted to buy everything that she came across; she couldn't stop staring at the kimonos or the fans and the Zori (Sandals). The chopsticks and lanterns caught her eyes too.

"Oh, I can't afford those sandals if I buy these." She sighed,

"You're going to go broke after today." Ethan sneered, "You want to get chopsticks, but you don't even know how to use them." He murmured.

After about thirty minutes of walking through the shops and the vast array of goods, taking photos, buying delicious street food, buying toy katana swords and stuffed animals, chopsticks and lanterns and every other souvenir that caught their eyes, they finally made their way to the second gate.

The second gate called Hozomon wasn't too different from the first one, it had the same giant red lamp, but this time, on either sides were two guardian statues .The base of the lamp seemed to attract people's attention, so Mia didn't fail to stop as she got there, the base of the lamp had this beautiful dragon carving.

"Dragons are revered as water controlling deities. It was incorporated to help prevent locals from disaster," Ito said as he popped out of nowhere with the Lim's.

"Where did you all come from?" Mia chuckled,

"I told you I'd meet you here in thirty minutes." Ito replied, "I always keep to time." He grinned.

"Seems you bought the entire market." Suzie teased,

"Oh I wasn't done yet, Ethan literally dragged me up here." Mia laughed.

"Tch!" He tutted then whispered to Mia, "I was saving you from bankruptcy."

"C'mon now, I'd love for us to see the main hall before we leave."

So they went through the gate to the "Mikuji" counters where they dropped 100 yen into the coin slot to pick a fortune and read it out, the rule was that they could go home with it if it was good. But if it wasn't they were supposed to roll it up and tie it to a thin rack with metal bars to dispel the bad luck.

Mia read hers which was filled with good stuff, but when it got to Ethan's turn, he quietly rolled it up and burned it.

"You didn't even let us read it." Mia murmured as they walked on to Omizuya where they had to cleanse their hands and mouths before paying their respect. As usual, Ethan wasn't up for it, but somehow Mia made him do it. Next, they walked to the incense burner on the other side.

"…Bathing in the continuous rising smoke of the Joukoro is said to cleanse the body. It's said to also cure physical ills through contact." Ito told them.

"Thankfully, I don't have any physical ills." He mumbled before quietly walking off.

"Maybe you don't, but I bet you do have emotional ones." Mia sneered,

"Um guys…do we need to return to the Omizuya?" Suzie questioned with a puzzled look. Mia quickly turned to Ethan and apologized.

"I'm so sorry about that Hon." She told Ethan like a robot, turning to Suzie, she added, "And no, we do not need to return to the cleaner."

"So Tourists, can we go now?"

They finally reached the Main Hall and after offering a coin and saying some prayers, they walked in to explore the temple. Later, they got the chance to see the gardens too. After all that, Ito took them back to the bus. From there, Ito drove them to the Tokyo Station to try out the Shinkansen or bullet train. Mr. Kenato had already paid for reserved seats on the train, so all they had to do was get into their car in the train.

Since their car was reserved, there were a lot of empty seats. Mia was very excited, but somehow managed to control it at the same time enjoy the ride. The ride to Shin-Osaka Station took about 2 hours and 30 minutes. And after about 30 minutes of traveling from one line to the other, they finally reached Minoo station, a five minutes' walk from there led them through several food and souvenir shops where they tried the Maple leaf snack to an old building by a bridge which marked the start of the Minoo Park trail.

The first half of the trail consisted of ships and temple buildings. There was an insectarium but they didn't feel like seeing it.

At different intervals, there were warnings signs here and there warning them about landslides and monkeys and other dangers.

Mia who was enjoying the nature walk decided to film a little and Ethan complained a lot. But she wouldn't listen. Finally, they got to the first few steps; The Lim's were up ahead while Ethan plodded behind. Mia was in front of him with her camera when she decided to film him a little. So she turned to face him while climbing up the stairs backwards.

"....And here's Ethan, the slowest of the entire trail—"

"Face forward, you're going to miss a step." Ethan said as he tried to block the camera,

"Oh don't worry the steps aren't that steep, there's no way—" She paused as she missed a step and started falling backwards, but then, Ethan quickly caught her by her scarf, saving her butt a few inches from landing on the stone stairs.

Those few seconds seemed like an eternity as Mia stared at Ethan like an angel whose nimbus blocked out everything else. Ethan suddenly let go, making her land on her butt. He murmured something before walking away, while Mia complained,

"Who drops a lady like that, rude!"

Half way down the trail, they stopped by a small cafe and sat for a while, but then Suzie began complaining again that she felt sick and couldn't go on any further. Ito then suggested they all go back, but Suzie wanted them to go on. So Ito quickly called Mr. Kenato and informed him. He immediately sent a car to pick her and the rest of the Lim's at Tokyo station.

Ito and the "Regals" then decided to complete the trail, the second half was steeper and surrounded by trees. Soon, they got to red bridge and up ahead they could hear the waterfall.

When they finally got there, they saw the 33 meter waterfall in all its glory. They were rows of benches where people relaxed and enjoyed the surroundings.

While they were there, Mia took a lot of photos and when they had rested enough, they went back down the trail.

It was already 5:00 pm when they got to Shin-Osaka Station. They reached Tokyo Station at past 7 and it was already getting dark. There, Mr. Kenato had already sent a Lincoln Limo to wait and pick them up.

They thanked Ito and Mia even gave him some souvenirs she had gotten and bade him farewell. Finally, when they got settled into the car, Mia heaved a sigh of satisfaction and rested her head and slowly, she and Noel fell asleep as they had done on the jet.

Ethan stared at them from the opposite direction and a small smile escaped his lips.

When they reached the Shibuya crossing again, he tried to wake her up, since she had badly wanted to see it in the night time; funny enough, he had been listening to her on the bus. But instead Mia mumbled,

"....I think I've seen enough for a day."