Revised Version 8
◇The Encounter
“Ah… um…”
“Were you shouting something just now? Or maybe… were you crying?”
Mana felt embarrassed, but since the man was a stranger—someone she might never meet again—she nodded honestly.
“I am a monk. Well, in church terms, you could say I’m like a priest.
You know how churches have confessionals, where the priest listens from behind a screen?
Think of me the same way. If you like, you can tell me your troubles.
And if you feel like crying again, you can always use that pipe.”
“Why is there even a pipe in a place like this?”
She couldn’t help but ask, though she herself had just used it to cry.
“Who knows? It was already here when I came. I’ll ask the head priest next time.
But even without confession, feel free to stop by whenever you like.
To be honest, I’m usually alone here and often bored.
If you could listen to my clumsy sutra chanting or sermons—or even help me with the cleaning—I’d be grateful.”
He said it so casually, as if inviting her to drop by just for fun.
☑
He introduced himself as Kanzaki Ren, a monk of this temple, and offered to listen to her worries.
He was a little younger than Mana had expected.
She had assumed he must be around fifty, but in fact he was only forty-three, just eight years older than she was.
“Perhaps because he’s a monk, he gave off such a calm and composed air…
But the more he spoke, the more I thought he seemed surprisingly young.”
Mana left, telling herself she would never come again.
Yet despite that strong resolve, before long I found myself drawn back—
visiting the temple again and again.
