Submitted by Jealous-West-1421 t3_z053k2 in WritingPrompts
DragonfruitIcy5850 t1_ix51bcg wrote
Benjiro Asahi pondered his life as he walked through the series of red gates that wound up the hill towards the ancient shrine. It seemed his trajectory towards his goals was off by just enough. Reminiscing about the long years of education in physics, engineering, and finally astronautical engineering had been a waste. America had decided at just the wrong time to have a boom in commercial space flight. Combined with his utter failure in the psychological testing phase at JAXA, Asahi’s dreams of going to space and reaching for other worlds had been dashed against the rocks.
Turning his head to the side to gaze at the bare cherry trees he recognized the oldest of them with there ancient ceremonial ropes knotted around them. The small shrines at their bases coated in desiccated winter dried moss looked well cared for. Asahi had always loved this shrine with it’s winding forested path and bunny statues. As a child he had found the idols fascinating, and as he grew older learning of the association with the moon only increased this feeling. As he grew old enough to attend high school, his regular visits to the shrine were noticed by the old priest who kept the grounds. Idle chats over the years turned to a fast friendship and eventually to a paternal relationship when his own father had passed away. That relationship had been what motivated him to reach for space. In the barren times after his father’s death Asahi often shared his depression and fears to the spirits of this shrine. Eventually the old priest had noticed and taken Asahi into his home and shared some tea. He spoke about moving on from loss and finding new purpose. The old man had known of my fascination with the moon, and the tales of heavenly realms being traversed by the snow white bunnies the shrine honored. He told me that I had a purpose, that one day I would travel the heavens. Sitting with him that day, sipping the bitter green tea, I could almost see those heavenly realms and I was filled with motivation.
Coming to the end of the winding path Asahi looked up at the old shrine, snapping out of his reverie. After years of visiting this ancient holy place, the sights and smells triggered an almost automatic response in him. Without thinking his legs carried him to the well beside the alter and he washed his hands and sipped the icy cold water with one of the wooden ladles. Cleansed he paid his respects to the rabbit spirits clapping his hands reverently at the alter before ringing the old bell. Lost in his own thoughts Asahi was startled out of his trance when a querulous voice said, “Young Benjiro, you sure picked a cold day to visit.” whirling around I looked down the stairs of the shrine to find the old keeper glaring up at me. The mischievous twinkle in the old man’s eyes took away any weight that glare might have had.
“Old man,” I spoke with a chuckle, “It’s good to see you again.”
“Yes yes,” Kannushi Tabito Uzuki snapped with his patented weightless sarcasm, “Come boy lets get out of this chilly mess and warm up. I want to hear what you’ve been up to these past few years.”
Following old Tabito to his home in the rear of the grounds, I couldn’t help but smile. The old man still acted just as crabby as always, but I could see from his raised shoulders and spry pace that he was glad to see me. The familiarity warmed my heart and lifted some of the depression from my shoulders. Entering his home, the warmth and smell of burning charcoal further lifted my spirits as I removed my waterproof boots and stepped up to the warm wooden floor of his familiar home.
“So my boy, go get comfortable under the kotatsu and tell me what you have been doing these past few years. I’ll get some water boiling for tea.” He grouched to me as he ambled over to the open charcoal pit at the center of the room.
DragonfruitIcy5850 t1_ix51dmc wrote
Walking over to the kotatsu and sitting down as he spoke I sighed with pleasure as the warmth under the heated table seeped into me. Grimacing at his mention of tea, I had never liked his tea as it was much to bitter and left a strange aftertaste of something metallic in my mouth, I launched into a description of my last two years. Speaking fondly of my time applying to JAXA’s astronaut program. I shared my joy and excitement at succeeding in being selected for the program, but the pit of bitterness and depression in my stomach slowly seeped into my words as I spoke of flying through each test with ease. Old man Tabito wandered over to the kotatsu with a tray of tea making paraphernalia and his old cast iron teapot. Setting down the steaming pot and tray before settling into a comfortable position under the heated table. I could see the concern and attentiveness in his eyes, he had noticed the creeping bitterness in my tone as I finally came to the disastrous psych test. Describing the months long test, I shared how things had started so brilliantly. Locked into the small simulated space ship, me and three other astronaut candidates were expected to live and work together for those long months. Our familiarity and kinship had started the test wonderfully, we each motivated the others and achieved our tasks expertly. Sadly though, over time I had felt a growing panic. It began to effect my performance and by the second month I had become irritable, irrational and begun to lash out in small ways. The other candidates supported me at first, but eventually I saw myself falling behind. While my fellow candidates grew together and thrived, I withdrew and fell into a depression. Finally came the day when I snapped, I could feel in my heart that I was not going to pass this hurdle and the stress of falling behind built into a sudden tidal wave of fear and emotion as I was showering that morning. My fellow candidate found me later, curled into a fetal position naked in the shower. They attempted to calm me, but in my panicked state I had screamed and lashed out at them with flailing arms. I hadn’t realized until after I woke up the following morning that I had been sedated and taken out of the simulated ship. In my frenzy I had apparently caused a fellow candidate to slip and fall. Her broken elbow had caused her to be medically discharged from the Astronaut program. My panic and shame had caused me to be discharged as well.
A wet feeling falling on my clenched fists snapped me back to reality. I could feel the hot tears streaking down my cheeks as the burning shame kept my eyes tightly shut. The old man didn’t speak for a while, and the world felt timeless and unforgiving until I felt a hot cup brush between my knuckles on the table. The steam wafting from the cup made the tracks of my tears feel cold as the familiar bitter smell of old man Tabito’s tea washed over my down turned face caused me to gasp in a shaking breath. Opening my eyes, I grasped the cup in both my hands and looked up to see my surrogate father looking at me. His normally stern face had softened into a concerned look.
“Drink boy.” he said softly, but firmly.
My shaking shoulders caused the tea to slosh as I turned my face back down. Sniffing hard to clear my nostrils of the snot my sobbing had caused I was shocked at how strong the tea smelled, but I obediently sipped and swallowed. Dramatically more bitter and metallic than I remembered, I felt it fit my mood perfectly. The warmth and astringent feeling in my mouth flowed down my throat and helped to calm the shaking in my shoulders, the sharp feeling of sorrow eased slightly. Lifting the cup for another sip, my mind cleared a bit and my breathing eased into a calmer rhythm.
“Don’t speak for a while. Just listen,” the old man softly spoke to my down turned face, “This must feel to you like a great failure. You probably believe that you have lost your dream. I know you have long desired to leave this world and reach for places further, and you feel like this dream has slipped from your grasp.”
The old man stopped to sip his own tea as I nodded my head, a strange sense of gravity seeming to pull me down in a way that matched my guilt and shame. The weight of not only my failure, but also the weight of knowing I ended my fellow candidate’s dream as well. Fresh tears traced down my face as I clenched my eyes closed harder and the strange gravity felt like it pulled me through the wooden floor. As the feeling of the floor passing through my body slipped through my head, my emotions stilled and I felt weightless. Adrift in these imagined sensations, Tabito again began to speak.
“Son, your dreams are not over. From the first time you visited my shrine I could see that you were destined to travel beyond your world.” He softly spoke before sipping his tea again, “drink my boy, it will help you move on.”
I obeyed, sipping the overly strong bitter tea and wondering at the shift in his tone and words. The way he had said “your world” had resonated strangely.
“You will move on from your world and travel the heavens. You need to let go of your shame. I have come to love you as a son my boy. You have a strong soul, one that desires to be grand and endeavor towards a brighter future.”
“Father, here is a fresh pot of tea. It seems your guest has finished his cup and I think this tea will help calm him.” a velvety feminine voice softly spoke as the feeling of gravity returned. A hand almost a soft as the velvety voice caressed mine as it took my cup and replaced it with a new one. Fresh steam wafted up from it, the smell fragrant and sweet. Sipping the tea, my mind cleared, the haze of depression lifting. It was mild and delicious, and as I enjoyed it I opened my eyes… and sputtered in shock dropping the cup of tea which luckily wobbled and settled on the blue stone table instead of shattering or spilling.
“Wha-what is this?” I half shouted, my head snapping back and forth as each thing I saw confused me more. Before me was no longer a warm wooden kotatsu, but a blue stone table, and old man Tabito was now a strange old looking rabbit in an ornate flowing robe. No this wasn’t a rabbit, his snow white fur and long upright ears were rabbit like, but this was a man? Frantically I peered around, the old man’s cabin was gone replaced by an open air pagoda. Soft blue’s carpeted the mossy ground and the sky was a strange red. Looking to the side I saw another rabbit… woman? Her fur was an even brighter white, almost glowing, but what caught my attention was her poise. She was beautiful, captivating even, and she radiated an unearthly calm and grace just kneeling as she was beside me.
“I see you can’t take your eyes off my daughter.” old man Tabito’s voice spoke sternly, causing me to snap my face in his direction.
The old bunny man was still sitting there instead of Tabito… but something in the way his eyes gleamed mischievously seemed familiar.
“O-old Man?” I hesitantly stuttered.
“Yes, it is me, and we have much to talk about my son.”
DragonfruitIcy5850 t1_ix51tog wrote
Forgive my Typo's and grammar, I just slammed this out because the prompt resonated with me. The JAXA stuff I borrowed a bit from the anime Space Brothers, so I'm sure my knowledge of the real process is not great. Please let me know what you think, and critique is appreciated.
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