It has been a year since I've fled America and at the very least I can say Japan has been treating me well. The Japanese people are kind and full of character, I couldn't have wished for a better place to start over. But like all Ronin, I long for something more. It's become a daily habit of mine, to visit this forest. I feel almost drawn to it but it's probably just my loneliness getting to me. I pull my Classic Mustang into the same parking spot just next to the path leading into the forest like always. Turn my car off and let a few seconds pass, sighing before I get out of the car. I grab my hunting gear and head up the path.
I spend a few minutes walking on the path before I detour off into the forest. I have been tracking a group of fox around this area of the forest. I am going deeper then I have before but it doesn't take me long to find a place to set up my rifle and then the waiting begins. I found fox dropping about 100 meters in front of me with tracks heading west. I assume they are out hunting and will pass by this same area to return home. A couple hours pass by and the sun starts to slowly droop out of the sky. I am about to give up and pack away my things when I finally see him. A male fox with a rabbit hanging from his mouth.
I look down the scope and slow my breathing. I think about taking the shot but my kindness and mercy get the better off me and I let him pass. I couldn't imagine how his family would feel if he never came back. As the fox disappears from view I notice a structure of some kind, hidden behind a set of trees. I pack up my things and rise to head back out of the forest but my curiosity compels me to investigate. The structure appears to be a shrine of some kind with a sign. "Leave an offering to gain help from the fox spirit." I read it out loud. I decide to clean up the area the small shrine resides in and pay my respects.
I pull a coin out of my pocket and flick it into the money box, kneel putting my hands together and pray. "I do not particularly regret anything in my life and while I have shed the blood of my fellow man for country and honour, I have lived my life as best I could. I am missing something, war has stolen a piece of me and I just want to know to what end. Why? Am I so terrible?" I prey quietly as the sunset paints the sky with vibrant pinks and oranges. But I have never had any real faith in God.