51 - Kyoto's power spots, seriously amazing. (Patreon)

RAW

I eat breakfast, get ready, and leave the hotel.
Today is the day we roam freely around Kyoto. We will be walking around Kyoto in the group that went around the museum yesterday. If we want to buy souvenirs, this day seems to be the best time to do so. Because it is unclear whether there will be time for shopping in the upcoming schedule.

“Now then, we have a considerable amount of time and the schedule is perfect.”
“I was the one who wrote the schedule though.”
“Morimoto-san, we give you our thanks!”

On top of roaming around Kyoto the whole day, each group is expected to choose their own lunch. Depending on the group, it seems some will walk around without eating lunch.
I won't care if you collapse, okay?

“Where first?”
“The closest one from here is Fushimi but... we'll go to Kinkaku-ji from the start.”
“What’s the reason?”
“Because, doesn’t everyone go to Fushimi Shrine?”

The final goal of this free roaming was set to be this hotel. That means we need to be back here on time.
Therefore, rather than go now when there are a lot of people, it’s better to go later on our way home in the afternoon when there are fewer people... probably. Most of the schedule was decided by Morimoto-san, so let’s trust her.

“No one wants to go to Arashiyama, so after we go to Kinkaku-ji we’ll come back while looking around a lot of things.”
“Tadashi, are you happy that we won’t go to Arashiyama?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Because Tadashi's atmosphere is... I'll stop here since he is glaring at me, so. It's okay, I know you're actually a kind person.

“If it’s Kinkaku-ji, it's just one bus ride from here.”
“Let’s move quickly.”

We boarded a bus heading for Kinkaku-ji.

(T/N: Fushimi probably refers to Fushimi-inari taisha, a shrine. Kinkaku-ji is a temple, the ‘ji’ part means temple. And Arashiyama is a tourist spot, I think. It’s too long to be posted here, so you should google it if you’re curious, I mostly choose wikipedia names for the translation.)

......

Kyoto is overflowing with tourists all year round.
Even if we manage to avoid students from the same school, it is still a tourist spot and there are a lot of people, so it is inevitable that we will get caught in the rough current.

“Hmm... if it’s like this, we'll have to change our schedule a bit.”
“As expected, there are a lot of people this time of year.”

In the first place, even students from another school come here for their school trip. It is inevitable that the number of people will increase.

“Don’t stray─”
“Sasa-kun, are you okay?”
“Yeah...”

There are a lot of people at Kinkaku-ji!
There is a specified route for touring Kinkaku-ji, but sometimes tourists with bad manners go in the opposite direction, making it even harder for us to move. There is a specified route written here, so walk following that!

“Kazuki, this way!”

I make my way through the crowd and finally come to a place with just a little bit of space. I can tentatively see Kinkaku-ji, but it's hard to see it, that’s probably why there aren't many people here.

“Kazuki, say cheese.”

Suddenly, someone took a photo of us there. Because it was a surprise attack, both myself and Sasa-kun, who is with me, must have been photographed while having indescribable expressions on our faces.

“Tomoka, here.”
“Thank you.”

It seems that Morimoto and the others are also taking pictures. Memories are important.
That said, because of the flow of people, we have to move quickly after taking a photo. Even though it takes time to move, we have to move quickly once we reach our destination, what a contradiction.

“Fuu...”
“Somehow, I feel tired right from the start.”

By the time we got out of the area, we were already exhausted. The amount of stamina consumed by the crowd is tremendous.

“I want to take a break right away.”
“Let's do it while we're moving. We're going back to the city.”

With Morimoto-san leading the way, we ride the bus and go back to the city.
It seems that most of the things we can buy near Kinkaku-ji can also be bought in the city. It's not that far from the center of Kyoto, so I guess there's a lot of circulation.

After a bus ride that was too crowded with people to take a break, we returned to the city.

“When should we buy souvenirs?”
“It will be difficult to move if we carry more luggage, so we'll buy it in the afternoon. we'll pass through the city as is and go to Ginkaku-ji.”

Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji are quite far apart. Just moving between them will waste a considerable amount of time.

“I want to take a break though...”
“We have a lot of free time in the afternoon, you can rest then.”

Morimoto-san is firm, if she has a schedule, she will follow it. She doesn't bend herself too much.

“The bus is... this one.”

......

After that, we visited Ginkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera and returned to the city. The time is 2 o'clock, and although it's late, we plan to have a light meal.
Originally, we were supposed to eat during lunch time, but because we lost so much time at each tourist attraction, we were unable to move according to schedule.

However, I feel like having three trips in the morning alone is a bad schedule to begin with, but maybe it's just my imagination.

“Now then, from here on, we'll pass the time doing whatever, so let's walk around freely.”
“Aah... that’s right...”

As expected, even Tadashi looks exhausted from being swallowed up by the crowd so many times. Sasa-kun and Nakatani-san are even less energetic.
And Morimoto-san, who organized the schedule, also looks exhausted. And I'm tired too.

Like this, when all members of the group are tired, we don't have the energy to go around the city...

“Let's go to a restaurant or family restaurant around here...”
“Right...”
“...Yeah.”
“...I want to sit down...”
“...Me too.”

Instead of roaming around, we ended up going to a restaurant near the bus terminal.
It's past lunch time anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference no matter where we go. We can probably find Kyoto-like cuisine even in ordinary places.

The one we entered was a shop that had a bit of a long-established feel to it. We can probably eat some unusual things here.

“Somehow, this is way past noon and I’m tired, so I don't have much of an appetite.”
“I'm sorry that we missed our lunch. Kiyomizu-dera was close to Ginkaku-ji after all...”

When it comes to tourist spots in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji, and Kiyomizu-dera are probably the three that come to mind, but in reality, only Kinkaku-ji is far away. You’d find out if you see them on the map, but Ginkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera are within a reasonably easy distance from each other.

“I'm not blaming you. I'll just have a random sandwich.”
“Me too...”
“I’m...”

Hmm, there's only ordinary food... or rather, I guess Kyoto-like cuisine might only be found in restaurants. In that case, there's no reason to fuss over...

“I think I'll have mackerel sushi.”

This is more or less a Kyoto-like cuisine, so I decided to go with mackerel sushi. There is no doubt that this is a Kyoto cuisine, so I decided to try it here.

“They might serve some food at the hotel, you know?”
“Well, if it happens, it happens.”

It's probably because the restaurant is a bit old that they have mackerel sushi. At the very least, it wouldn't be on the menu at a chain restaurant or something.

“Then I guess I'll try mackerel sushi too...”
“Sounds good. I'll have that too.”

It seems Sasa-kun and Nakatani-san also decided to have mackerel sushi.
It's better to eat something than eat nothing, but if you eat too much you won't be able to eat dinner, so this is probably just the right amount.

......

The mackerel sushi was bigger than I expected...

“Are you okay, Kazuki?”
“Yeah... let me buy some tea...”

This is probably not something you eat by itself. I think it should be eaten with something. Incidentally, I feel like it wasn't made with the calculation that each person should have one.

“Umm... then, shall we head to Fushimi Inari Shrine while looking at Kyoto Tower after this?”

Note that Kyoto Tower can be seen even from here.
It is a landmark of Kyoto and is very visible in the part of the city without many tall buildings.

“Ah, that’s right, let’s buy some souvenirs while we’re there.”
“Roger─”

Looking at the three tourist attractions we've visited so far, it would have been difficult if we brought souvenirs with us. If you think about it that way, you could say that Morimoto-san had a keen eye.
There will probably be a lot of people at Fushimi Inari as well, but this is the only good time to go there.

“Then, let's go through the city.”
“Okay.”

At Tadashi's suggestion, we walk through the center of the city. We can see Kyoto Station on the other side of the street.
Most of the souvenirs I buy are sweets. My parents aren't the type who would be happy with a key chain, and I have to buy sweets for Hiuri’s sake anyway.

“What is this, a youkai?”

Sometimes they have strange products. Perhaps due to the influence of the Heian period, there are many products about things like youkai. They normally sell Chinese umbrellas here.
Also, I don't think deformed ghosts have anything to do with youkai. But, it seems their number is less compared to youkai products, so I guess they are selling well...

“Ghost... looks good.”
“Morimoto-san, do you like things like youkai?”
“Eh? Hmm, I guess so. I like ghosts.”

I wonder if people like her would buy deformed ghosts. I don't think there's any reason to buy those in Kyoto... no, it might be for memories or something, so it would be boorish to comment too much on what people take as souvenirs.
No one bought anything too big, so we just bought what we could fit into our backpacks and headed to Fushimi Inari Shrine.

“Ooh! This is torii!”
“Torii gates are everywhere.”
“Oi, we don't need that kind of tsukkomi at Fushimi Inari.”

Fushimi Inari Shrine's famous long row of torii gates are very photogenic. Yeah, let's reproduce this in the dream.

“There aren't many people, so let's take a group photo now.”
“Did you bring a stand?”
“No, I'll have someone take the picture.”

After saying that, Tadashi starts communicating with the tourists who are walking around this area, and after a friendly conversation with them, he hands them his camera.
What a great communication ability...

“Come on, everyone gather around.”

Click!

Tadashi then takes a photo of the tourist as a thank you and comes back.

“I want to learn from Tadashi’s communication ability.”
“Sure. Make sure you learn from me.”

We continue advancing through the shrine and finally arrive at the main shrine. There are a lot of people, but we are advancing little by little, so let's go pray.
They say that in times like this, bet on fate using five yen, so I should use a five-yen coin, but...

“I heard that if you only exchange five yen coins, the fee would be high, so shrines are happier with 100 yen coins.”
“Morimoto-san, did you even investigate that?”
“The priest in the neighborhood told me that.”

Come to think of it, there was a small shrine near the school... I think it was a fairly run-down shrine but, so it still had a priest or something.
My fate is already enough with Hiuri, so let's throw a 100 yen coin to show my thanks.

“I see they have a rattling bell too.”
“You can ring it.”

I throw 100 yen into the offering box.
Two bows, two claps, one bow... I hope I can continue to get along well with Hiuri...

I pray strongly, and when I raise my face to see how everyone else is doing...

“Eh, where is this?”

I’m standing in a mysterious white space, like inside my dream.

――――

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