Chapter Text
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[Epilogue]
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“Where are we again?”
Kyungsoo is struggling to read the pamphlet. Speaking the language had been easier than he initially thought, but he’s almost surprised when the Japanese characters don’t leap at him instantly as he expected they would. He never had this much trouble with Zitao and his Mandarin.
“We’re heading to Kotoku-in temple,” Jongin explains. When they stop at a junction, he tells Kyungsoo to look at his left while crossing the road, instead of on his right, since the traffic flow is different in the streets of Japan. It seems that the written language is not the only thing that’s complicated about this country, Kyungsoo thinks.
He finally zeroes in on their location at the map, and also finds more about the tourist area. “Why are you taking me to see another Buddha statue?” he says in confusion. “It’ll probably look the same as the one we have back home.”
Jongin grins at him sloppily. “It’s bigger,” he says like size is all the difference that matters, and Kyungsoo only manages a shrug. He gave up hope on trying to understand Jongin’s fixation on religious relics that are as tall as three giraffes stacked together like Jenga blocks.
They go all the way uphill. Kyungsoo gets a bit winded as they trek, his cheeks turning apple red, and they manage to squeeze in between the thickening crowd almost blocking the main gates. There’s a group of middle-schoolers in front of them in the line, and Jongin’s grin is just as wide as theirs. Kyungsoo hides an amused snicker with the back of his gloved hand.
The line moves until they finally arrive at the small ticketing booth. Jongin takes out four hundred and forty yen from his coat pocket and a man with a pockmark clears them for entrance.
They pass the visitor center, and the huge display makes Kyungsoo stop in his tracks. “Are those…?”
“Yep.” Jongin laughs easily. “Those are his slippers.”
Kyungsoo licks his lips, convincing himself that he’s seen weirder things than gigantic slippers made out of intricately woven twine being hung on a shrine.
“Forget sightseeing. Let’s conquer the whole world, hyung,” he remembers Jongin saying yesterday over pancakes and eggs, like it was the most normal thing to say at breakfast. He’d also said that he’s one semester away from finishing grad school, and that he and his friend Chanyeol would be conducting their first wildlife research at home. In Korea. In Daljong-myeon.
At important times like that, Kyungsoo couldn’t think of anything to say, so he only nodded and responded with, “Umm, which part of the world would you want to conquer first?”
Jongin had grinned and taken him to the nearest public bathroom. Kyungsoo finally saw with his own eyes the infamous bidet toilets, which sprays a jet of water to people’s anuses with a push of a button. They probably would have flooded the whole restroom if a janitor hadn’t caught them making out on a foreign toilet seat.
They walk under the cherry blossoms in bloom, and Kyungsoo finally gets a full glimpse of the Amita statue. It’s really bigger than the one they have back home, but Jongin informs him that it’s only the second largest in Japan.
“The largest is in Nihon-ji,” Jongin says, and Kyungsoo can tell how many subways they’ll have to take to go there from Kamakura city.
“Well, it’s definitely big,” Kyungsoo remarks wryly, craning his neck upwards. From his peripheral vision, he sees Jongin looking at him openly, but Kyungsoo pretends not to notice. “And green. It’s very green.”
“It’s made out of bronze. Bronze turns green when it rusts.”
Kyungsoo smirks at him. “That at least I know about,” he says, and Jongin laughs.
The younger tugs at his wrist a half-beat later, and Kyungsoo throws him a look. Jongin pouts at him when he doesn’t budge. “I paid an extra forty yen just so we could see inside the statue. There’s nothing but graffiti inside, but there’s a great view when you look through the windows at the back of the Amita’s head. How about if we mark out territory there?”
The excitement in his voice proves too much for Kyungsoo, and he openly laughs this time, his cheeks heating up as he catches his breath. He remembers how utterly surprised Jongin had been when Kyungsoo suddenly rang the doorbell to his apartment. “I guess I’ll have to look for another tour guide to show me around Japan,” Kyungsoo had said, looking smug at the slack-jawed Jongin, before the younger had yanked him inside and kissed him senseless.
A strong gust comes and makes the soft, pink petals cascade through the air like ships sailing home through a tranquil sea. There’s that look again in Jongin’s eyes that makes Kyungsoo’s legs turn into jelly and makes him fall a bit deeper.
“Okay, okay,” Kyungsoo says, and there’s only one voice he hears in his head when Jongin breaks into a grin. He’ll say the words to Jongin later, when they’re up there looking at the rest of the world. “Let’s go.”
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