>>5644599The unfriendly looks of judgement and hostility are too much for you. The flashlight Setsu offered earlier is sitting on the stone bench, you grab it.
"Setsu, I'm going to get going. Thanks for all the help," you babble quickly and take off sprinting towards the path to the cave.
"WHAT!? WAIT!" Setsu shouts after your retreating form but you turn a deaf ear.
The flashlight is a necessity; the road is a broken mess through a heavily forested area which moonlight cannot illuminate. The roots of trees, earthquakes and long years had done their destructive work on what were once smooth concrete slabs. You hate to drag a cart up the mountain using this road, but it's evident that this is what the Shrine does when tending to the sacred locations here.
The road inclines upwards and it is getting colder, so you know you're going higher up, but then a problem immediately reveals itself. There's a fork in the concrete road by a small wooden shrine. You swing the flashlight to search for some sort of sign or evidence of foot traffic but nothing shows up.
Which way? A cold panic grips you; you realize you don't know which way to go. The cave is on the mountain if you follow the road, but Setsu's instructions didn't tell you where to turn left or right at what landmarks. You also recall as you were running up the road there were numerous dirt paths, evidently created by the foot traffic of people.
The path to the right seems to have a steeper incline than the left. So you choose to go to the right and follow the broken concrete road upwards. The concrete soon disappears and you are left scrambling up a dirt path with deep furrows made by wheels.
Soon there's another fork, this time each path is under a small wooden torii gate.
You suddenly understand why Setsu recommended waiting for someone to help guide you up to the cave. The mountain looms large, an overwhelming presence crushing downwards like your despair. You try taking the left path this time. As you progress down it, you start hearing the sound of water. There's a fall of some sort up ahead given the noise of crashing water. You suddenly come upon a concrete slope upwards to a beautiful shrine, the moonlight falls through the tree foliage and shines over it. The air of holiness and mystery makes it obvious why Kasuga Shrine would build an altar here.
It's a dead end. This is not where you need to be, you need to find that damn cave. The hours you spend fruitlessly looking for the right path waste so much time that your abundant stamina dwindles to exhaustion. You are hopelessly lost and the cruel moon above gives no comfort. From your stony seat high up on the mountain, you can see the village of Kasuga with all the houses lit up and there are cars driving back and forth on various roads. The entire village is awake searching for Asuka and Kasumi. The Shrine below is ablaze with light too. You can even see search parties making their way up the mountain along various paths.
