July 14, 2023

We were walking alongside the railroad tracks which went through the mountains in Japan. According to the map, this was going to be a roundabout trek to our destination. The upside at least was that our chances of getting lost in the woods were greatly diminished. It was getting dark and it felt like a storm was on its way as well. There was a greenish-purple distorted haze coming through the trees in the distance. I got my phone out even though I was almost certain that the photo wasn’t going to look how I expected it to. I snapped a few pictures without really checking them before catching up with the rest of the group.

Night had fallen. The air was cooler now that we were higher up the mountain. Ocean waves crashed against the cliff side to our left. I recounted to the others how there used to be constructed hotspring outposts by the sea. “Enas”, they were called. However the traditional water structures were mostly torn down during rapid industrialization and all that was left were either wooden debris or more modern replicas.

We got to a rest stop which also had spa and hotspring facilities. My friend and I start trading jokes but I didn’t get the ones that he was making. Something about Saddam and training birds with the DK Rap.

There were several volumes of manga on the white bookshelves. I flipped to a page which seemed to be a rather major reveal. It turns out that the girl with the strange helmet on the cover ended up that way after she was forced to have her entire head replaced for an angel initiation ritual.