Part 1

The old man gazed up at the shrine as he took slow steps up the stairs. The shrine looked nothing like it did three years ago. The most notable change was how the entire shrine was lit up by tall standing torches. In addition to the torches, there paper lanterns hanging from ropes which were strung on form building to building. The entrance wore a huge banner reading, in large words,- “Congratulations and Happy Birthday!”.

With all the joyous commotion, laughing and shouting, one could easily mistake this as some sort of festival. However, the shrine was located in a small village like town, where everyone knew everyone else. Tonight, the town was were celebrating the Rina’s birthday in advance as well as celebrating her joining school.

It wasn’t only Rina who was joining school; there were other children as well. Thus the families decided to hold a joint celebratory event together. It started off as a small event for the family of three with a few close friends and their children. However word rapidly got out and there were sons and daughters of other’s as well who would now be attending a higher grade. So more families got involved before anyone realized it, practically the entire village was attending the celebrations. Being a tight knit community, it would be impossible to hold such a large scale celebration without ‘not’ inviting someone. Hence, everyone had been invited.

This wasn’t some large scale grand party. It was an ordinary town with ordinary hardworking people trying to make a living. Hence, everyone contributed in their own ways to the celebrations. The elderly watched over the babies; which let the adults get some serious work done. The men were in charge of all the decorations and fireworks. The women handled the meals. The younger boys and girls assisted anyone and everyone they could. Somehow it turned into something grand and there were already discussions of holding one next year as well. It didn’t happen too often that the village came together to celebrate festivals. So everyone was happy to pitch in and be a part of the event.

Though no one noticed, Rina’s dad was especially happy. No one normally visited the shrine; hence with the excuse of celebrations, several people visited the shrine and offered prayers. Furthermore, to prepare for the celebrations they needed to clean up the entire shrine – something which was overdue for a long time. Once volunteers began cleaning up the shrine, they also noticed the poor run down condition it was in. Hence, the shrine went through a round of repairs as well. No one minded the hard work as everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves – it was after all summer break.

The highlight of the night was the fireworks display and currently everyone was standing in the middle of the shrine grounds to watching the ongoing fireworks. There many ‘oo’s’ and ‘aaahs’ ringing throughout the crowd as one firework after another burst into colourful sparks.

The old man was warmed up to the scene. This is what home should look like.

As he reached the entrance, two boys were exiting the shrine. They gave the old man a quick glance and began wondering who he was. The old man wore a very refined tailored suit and polished black shoes. Although the old man walked with a slight stoop, there was still grace in his strides. Clearly, this man was not from around here.

“Oye, Oji-san, are you lost?” One of the boys called out. However they knew that couldn’t possibly be the case since he was carrying a gift wrapped box in his hand – a white box with a red ribbon. Hence, it meant he was here for the celebrations. But then who in this village had such a rich relative? Everyone knew everyone in this small country town. If someone’s family had money, word would have surely gone around. So just to be sure, the young boys checked with the old man whether he turned up for the right party.

“Oji-san, who are you here to meet?” The young boy patiently called out again noticing the old-man didn’t hear him. However, the old man continued to ignore the boys.

Before the boy could speak again, his friend grabbed his shoulder and cried out, “DUDE LOOK AT THAT CAR!!!” The second boy pointed to the ultra-luxurious and expensive looking car. “IS THAT A ROLLS ROYCE!!” The boy continued excitedly.

Ignoring his car enthusiast friend, the first boy turned back to speak to the old man however to his surprise the old man simply disappeared like a ghost.

Part 2

“Haaaanh? Why is he here?” Rina asked in a loud whining voice as she stepped into her bedroom on her mother’s request. Her question was directed at her grandfather who sat on her bed.

“Rina!” Her mother spoke in a stern voice. “That is not how we speak with our elders…”

Rina puffed her cheeks as she looked to counter. She had been dragged out of the special festivities and fireworks for him? She hated the old man. Because of him, she was teased every day in school. She had even been nicknamed ‘Hero-sama’. One time she went to borrow some scissors (plastic ones) from another classroom, and a boy asked her if it was to kill the demon lord. There were all sorts of stories circulating around her. No matter how much she fussed, she could never stop going to school. Her father would never permit it. Also because they lived in the country side, she could not transfer school (not that this idea occurred to her). She had to learn how to cope with the teasing and bullying as a punishment for believing her grandfather. Every day the hatred in her heart for her grandfather grew more and more. Her father was most pleased with this result; it was after all what he had been hoping for. Although the bullying and teasing stopped, the grief and hatred in her heart never died out. Thus, Rina came to hate her grandfather to the extent she now openly disrespected him.

Hearing Rina’s cruel comment, the old man only gave a wry smile. Rina’s remark was like a stab in the heart for him; after all grandparents are weak to their grandchildren. However, he did not hold it against the little girl – she was only six years old. She could not possibly understand how her father is using her to hurt him.

“Hohohoho…to be scolded by oujo-sama, to this degree.” The old man finally spoke.

The girl frowned, how could this man possibly laugh when she insulted him? Shouldn’t he lose his cool? Shout back at her? That is how her father would react. Instead, her grandfather took it as a joke and even called her oujo-sama!

“I am not Oujosama!” Rina declared pompously while pouting in anger.

“Hai Hai…” Her grandfather concurred with a smile. Although, Rina did not notice it, the old man’s words were able to get through to her iced heart – she had finally shown some reaction to the old man. Maybe not everything is lost….

“Then how about chiisai hime?” The old man asked with a serious face.

“Geeezzzz!!! I am Rina!! Minamoto Rina!!” Rina scolded her grandfather whilst her face turned red.

Seeing his granddaughter react like this, the smile in the old man’s heart only grew larger and larger. Without even realizing it, Rina already reverted back to a casual manner of speaking. Rina’s mother would have scolded her for being so informal, however, the old man motioned her not to say anything with his eyes. So Rina’s mother let the conversation flow.

“Gomenasai, Minamoto-sama.” The old man hurriedly apologized.

“Geez!! Ojii-san!!! Sama is used for the royal family or even respected elders not for children!” Rina hurried explained as she took out one of her playschool books which explained the usages of honorifics.

“I see.” The old man replied apologetically. Rina sat next to her grandfather and opened the colour book and began reading out the various suffixes which were usually added to the names. The old man openly smiled as he watched his granddaughter’s little fingers move from word to word.

Rina’s mother’s eyebrows were arched in surprise. Oye! Little missy! Where did the hatred of three years vanish? – Her mother thought as she rolled her eyes at her daughter’s flippant attitude. Nonetheless, she was grateful in her heart that she was able to resolve this matter and put an end to her husband’s schemes.

To the old man this was the greatest gift; to be able to finally meet his granddaughter again and spend time with her. As Rina was explaining the various things she was taught in school, small drops of water began to fall on her notebook. When she looked up she noticed Ojiisan was crying.

“Ojii-san?” Rina called out timidly and nervously. She had never seen a grown man cry. She *didn’t like* Ojiisan but she certainly didn’t wish to hurt him. She was after all a young girl with a frail heart, seeing anyone sad would sadden her. “Ojii-san, I am sorry.” The little girl cried out as she assumed she did something wrong which upset the old man.

“Hohohoho…for oujosama to be saying sorry to me!” The old man faked a smile as he wiped away his tears. “But do not worry, Oujosama. Only dirt entered my eyes. So if you hug me, I will be alright.”

“Geeezzz! Ojiisan!! You scared me!” The girl complained as she responded back with a hug – because hugs cleaned up dirt in the eyes. Ofcourse, the hug didn’t last as long as the old man wanted it to last with Rina complaining –‘I am being crushed!! Help Okasan!!’

However, her mother only responded with a heart-warming smile before leaving the room to wash away her own tears which were welling up.

Within a few minutes, various colouring books lay scattered all over the floor of Rina’s room and the old man was now ‘learning’ how to colour ‘correctly’.

“Geezzz!!! Ojiisan!! I told you not to colour outside the lines!!” Rina scolded her grandfather, as she took away the crayons from his hands and began explaining the ‘technique of colouring’ all over again. The little girl had completely forgotten that she was angry with her grandfather, that she hated him the most, and that there was an amazing festive celebration going on outside. Rina was more than content with having someone to listen to her and her colouring books.

“Rinaaa!!! Rinaa!!!!” A man’s voice resounded in the house – it was filled with panic.

Hearing the voice, Rina stiffened up and the old man began to frown. How could they not recognize the voice.

It was Rina’s father and he wasn’t happy with what he saw when he entered Rina’s room.

Part 3

“Masaki, have you seen Rina?” Rina’s father enquired.

“No.”

“Ai?”

“No, Ojisan.”

“Where did that girl go?”

“Maybe she went to the bathroom?” Someone in the crowd suggested.

However, the unease in the man’s heart did not disappear. Even his own wife was missing. He knew something was wrong but he could not point a finger at it….

After the fireworks display, it was time to cut Rina’s cake. However, the concerned person itself was missing from the event! The worry in the father’s heart grew steadily. His wife had been gone for a long time as well.

“Rina!!”

“Rina!!”

“Rina!!”

Several people called out as the cake was being brought out. The cake couldn’t be cut if the birthday girl wasn’t present. Furthermore, with so many children around, it would be difficult to protect the cake for long. So it was for the best to find the girl immediately.

“EVERYONE!!! THERE IS A ROLLS ROYCE PARKED OUTSIDE!!!” Two boys shouted out loudly as they ran back into the shrine.

The curiosity of everyone had been piqued and some children began to peer through the shrine gates to catch a glance of the expensive car. Please note, that no one left the shrine as they preferred the cake over the car. The townsmen subconsciously knew that they would regret not eating the cake if they glossed over the car too long. So no one really took a step outside the shrine gate.

By now, Rina’s father began hyperventilating like a mad man and kept shouting out for Rina as though she were in mortal danger. Everyone was very bewildered by the scene and didn’t know what to do.

“Shueshei, calm down!” Some people called out but their words could not reach the young man.

Before anyone could do anything else, everything came to a dramatic end when a person appeared from nowhere and slapped Rina’s father back to his senses.

The person who slapped him was Radcliff.

“You? You are Radcliff?” Shueshei asked as his eyes became focused again. “Where is my daughter?” He questioned as he grabbed Radcliff’s arms tightly to make sure Radcliff doesn’t go anywhere.

Radcliff frowned – of all the people, Ji-san had to have this person as his child. Extremely foolish.

Radcliff grabbed the Shueshei’s arms and slowly dislodged the grip using sheer strength. Shueshei was strong but nowhere as strong as Radcliff. Hence, Shueshei could only watch in shock as Radcliff unpeeled the youth’s arm of him.

“Please follow me.” Radcliff muttered as he could out his cell phone and turned on a tracking app.

“This is?” Shueshie asked in curiosity as he noticed a flashing icon.

“A tracker placed on your father.” Radcliff replied without further explanation.

Shueshie’s face darkened. “He is here as well? No of course he would be here…it is not surprising….his favourite lap dog only follows him around…”

Radcliff only frowned but didn’t say anything as he kept his eye on the tracker and led the way.