The sense of calm stayed with Akiko as she made her way home, only to suddenly vanish as she turned a corner. Her stomach was churning, her heart pounding, and her breath coming in gasps, as if she had just run up a hill. She put one hand on a wall for support, and just stood there, looking around, while she calmed down a bit.

There was nothing obvious to cause such a reaction; just houses, some cars, and a building site. She looked around again, but it still seemed to be an absolutely typical Kawasaki scene. Despite the absence of anything frightening, her body refused to calm down completely. She tried taking a few deep breaths, and nearly retched. There was a scent of rot on the air, decaying meat and sour milk mixed with faeces. She searched for a source, and found her eyes drawn to the building site.

The sign said “Wakabayashi Construction”, which meant more to her now than it had that morning, and the workmen seemed to be clearing the land ready for building. Men with chain-saws and a digger were in the process of cutting down a bamboo grove, the tall stems falling to earth with a crash to be dragged away as the digger pulled up the roots.

The odour still nagged at her, and at the edge of hearing Akiko thought she could hear someone screaming. It seemed to be coming from the building site, but even as she drew closer she realised that that wasn’t possible; quite apart from the fact that the workmen would have heard it, the screaming was from too far away.

Still, something about the work held her attention, and she had been examining the scene carefully for some time before she realised what she was doing. With no idea of what she was looking for, she couldn’t say why she had to keep looking, but she couldn’t look away.

There was a flicker of motion at the edge of her vision, but when she turned to look it was just an area of bamboo stumps, waiting for the digger to root them up. Another bit of motion, this time at the base of a falling stem of bamboo, but, again, she couldn’t see anything definite when she looked again. The stench of rot was getting stronger, although she had become somewhat used to it, and the screaming continued, an almost-inaudible accompaniment to the scene.

The shape of the bamboo became intensely clear to her, each stem stretching up to the sky, deep green and ringed, proudly proclaiming its life and its place in the world, until the chain-saw bit into the base, bringing it tumbling down to earth. The fall of each stem started to affect her like a physical blow, a poke in the stomach that got stronger with every death. She found herself holding on to the chain-link fence for support, desperate to look away, but unable to.

And then she saw something else in the rapidly-disappearing grove, something moving between the dying stumps, jumping eagerly from one fallen stem to the next, as if feeding on them. The workmen were oblivious to its presence, but Akiko could see it getting bigger.

It was black, the black of mould on a wall that hadn’t been cleaned for years, the black of mildew on an old bath, of rotten clothes left in a gutter for months. Every time it jumped, there was a stronger wave of the rotting stench, and every time it crouched over a stump the sound of screaming got thinner, as if one voice among many had been silenced.

She couldn’t make out a shape for it at first; it seemed to have too many legs, and then too few, and she wasn’t sure whether it had a head at all. It never stopped moving, and although it was darker than the gathering gloom it was still half-lost in the shadows. She felt her heart and breathing speeding up again as her fear built up.

What was it?

It stopped, then, in the middle of the devastated grove, and somehow she knew that it had turned towards her. She saw light within it, the light of smoky fires, and there was a chemical reek as two points of light, eyes, she realised, fixed on her.

Her whole body shivered, as if a dozen cold, slimy hands caressed her skin at once, probing at her body, touching her everywhere. Nausea rose within her, as she felt dirtier than she ever had, and the eyes got bigger as the thing left the grove to approach her, the stench getting stronger with every step it took. Akiko couldn’t move. It was as if she was in mud up to her knees, mud through which worms were crawling, brushing against her skin, stinging her if she tried to take a single step.

“It’s a tragedy, isn’t it?”

The sensations all vanished at the sound of the voice, and Akiko turned to see an old woman standing next to her, looking at the grove, where the workmen continued to fell it.

“Yes.” Akiko couldn’t manage any more. She still felt filthy, contaminated, but there was nothing holding her legs any more.

“I remember when there were groves like that all round here, you know. That was one of the few that were left, and now it’s gone, too.”

“It’s a real shame. I’m sorry, please excuse me.” The woman nodded, as Akiko turned and walked away from the building site, picking up the pace as she remembered the thing within the grove, getting faster as her fear returned, until she was running home as fast as she could.

As soon as she got back to her flat, grabbing the note the landlord had left on the door and dropping it in the hallway, she started the bath, pulling her clothes off as quickly as she could and dropping them straight into the washing machine before washing herself in the shower.

She had been soaking in the bath for half an hour before she began to feel clean again.

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Akiko made sure that she got into work early the following day, and started looking at the problems with the spreadsheet again. She still had no idea what she had seen at the building site, but she had equally little idea as to what she should do about it. Go back? That didn’t seem like a good idea. Ignore it? That also seemed like a bad plan; whatever it was, it had seemed threatening. But at that point, she ran out of ideas.

Sighing, she shook her head and tried to focus on the spreadsheet again. The error had to be in here somewhere.

“Ms Tanahata?” She looked up, and Mr Kanayama was standing by her desk. “Could I have a word in my office, please?”

“Yes, of course.” Akiko stood up, following her boss back to his office. He closed the door behind them, and went to stand behind his desk. For a moment, he said nothing, looking down at the papers in front of him. When he did speak, it was without looking up.

“You left work early yesterday.” Half statement, half accusation.

“Yes…” Akiko began, uncertain. “I wasn’t well.”

“Hm.” Mr Kanayama cut her off. “That wasn’t the first time recently, was it?” Akiko remembered going home a bit early after seeing the snake in the windows, and had to agree.

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Hm. And there was that problem with the photocopying, and the spreadsheets Mr Tanaka asked you to do yesterday still aren’t finished.” Akiko really didn’t like the way this conversation was going, and could feel her legs beginning to shake, but she couldn’t think of anything to say at that point. She could hardly deny what Mr Kanayama was saying.

He cleared his throat and looked at her briefly, before dropping his eyes back to the desk.

“You really need to pick up your work level, you know. We can’t afford to carry passengers at this company.”

Akiko felt the colour drain from her face, and fought back the tears that were pricking at her eyes. He hasn’t fired me, not yet, she reminded herself.

“Yes, sir.” Mr Kanayama cleared his throat again, and looked up at her.

“I had high hopes for you, Tanahata. Don’t disappoint me.”

“No, sir.”

“Very well, that’s all for now.”

“Yes, sir.” Akiko bowed to him, and left the office.

Back at her desk, she found herself staring at the computer, not really seeing the numbers on the screen. Could she really be at risk of losing her job? She thought about the problems she’d had over the last couple of weeks, and mentally compared them to the sorts of mistakes Megumi made all the time. She couldn’t feel that she was the one who should have this threat hanging over her. Satomi was, she could tell, stealing glances at her, but Megumi hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Sss, Akiko!” Satomi whispered, trying to get her attention. “You’d better look busy. Mr Kanayama is watching you.”

With a start, Akiko realised that she had been doing nothing. She quickly turned her attention back to the spreadsheets, looking for that elusive error.

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Akiko tried to stop herself pacing for the dozenth time outside the cafe, but it was no good. She’d arrived half an hour earlier than Naoyuki had said, but she had definitely not wanted to be late. He’d actually said something about making up during the phone call, and Akiko was quite hopeful.

Naoyuki appeared exactly on time, as ever, carrying a bunch of flowers. That was not usual; Akiko couldn’t remember him ever giving her flowers.

“These are for you, Akiko. I’m sorry, I think I over-reacted a bit.” Akiko almost forgot to take the flowers in shock; Naoyuki hardly ever apologised. “Let me buy you dinner,” he continued, and took her arm. Akiko could only nod, following where he led.

The dinner was excellent, at a restaurant Akiko had not been to before. Naoyuki refused to let her look at the menu, which made her suspect that it was rather more expensive than the places they normally went. If he was trying to make up for his behaviour, she reflected, he was doing a good job. He talked about his work, and about hers, but didn’t mention the shrine at all. By the time they were heading back to his apartment, Akiko almost felt that everything was sorted out between them.

Naoyuki went to kiss her almost as soon as they were inside, and Akiko wasn’t surprised, or reluctant. They sat on the bed, undressing each other, and Naoyuki started kissing her neck, working down towards her breasts. Akiko put her hands on the back of his head, then started caressing his back as he reached her nipples.

He came back up to kiss her as he worked her skirt and knickers off, running his hand up between her legs as she pushed his trousers and boxer shorts off. As he entered her, she closed her eyes and gripped his hips.

The warmth of his skin shifted under her hands, turning harder and patterned in warm and cold. The sensation was somehow familiar, and moments later her dreams of the shrine came flooding back. Her breath caught in her throat as her stomach lurched, and she opened her eyes.

A snake loomed over her, its golden eyes looking straight into hers, its body resting between her naked legs. Lightning played around its mouth as it lowered its head towards her, its jaws opening slightly.

Akiko screamed and thrust her hands up to push it away.

“What? What is it?” Naoyuki asked as he pushed himself up again beside her. “What did I do?”

Akiko sat bolt upright, clutching the futon to her chest and looking around, her heart pounding, her mouth dry. There was no sign of the snake, and Naoyuki looked genuinely worried.

“I… I’m not sure.” Again, Akiko was lost for words. “It just starting hurting all of a sudden.” She realised that that was true; there was still a dull ache between her legs. She shuddered again, and reached for her knickers to pull them on.

“I’m really sorry, Naoyuki. I have to go home. Let’s meet again tomorrow.”

“I can’t. Meeting. Friday?” Naoyuki sounded a little sullen, but at least he was arranging another date.

“Friday sounds good. See you then.” Akiko was already dressed and on her way out of the flat.

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Akiko got home the following night to another note from her landlord, reporting claims of excessive noise. She had no idea what that was talking about, and put it on one side; she had more immediate things to worry about. Naoyuki had emailed her to check that she was all right, but she was still disturbed by the vision. She could easily come up with things it might mean, but she did not like any of the ideas it suggested. For almost an hour, she seriously considered not going to the shrine, but her steadily building tension convinced her that she would have to go if she was going to sleep at all.

Her lack of sleep was catching up with her again, so she decided to take a risk and go to the shrine a bit earlier than normal. She paused at the bottom of the steps, straining her ears for any sound. She could hear the drip of the water into the basin, and the leaves rustling in the occasional breeze, but other than that, the shrine seemed to be quiet. Stepping as quietly as she could, she hurried up the steps and into the shrine, quickly rinsing her hands and mouth and then going to pay her respects. As she turned away from the shrine, she noticed that there was still a light on in the shrine house. She almost ran down the steps and into the cover of the woods.

In the darkness under the trees she felt a lot safer from discovery, but she quickly realised that there was no way she could do any cleaning without using her torch. The light from the shrine grounds was enough to see where the main tree trunks were, but everything around them was merely degrees of shadow. She glanced back at the open area, but she couldn’t see anyone moving about. Making sure to direct it away from the house, she turned her torch on and cast the beam around, looking for rubbish.

There was a flash of orange from a bush, and Akiko turned the torch off as she made her way over, turning it on again to confirm that the orange was an empty senbei wrapper. She picked it up and put it in her rubbish bag, then shone the torch around once more.

As she walked through the darkened woods in between each use of the torch, she was very aware of the trees around her. She could feel the shapes of their roots under her feet, her footing slightly unsteady as she tried to move around them, and their lower branches caught at her hair and clothes, as if trying to caress her. The smell of wood and leaves filled the air, cleaner and clearer the further into the wood she went, and the gentle creak of the trunks and branches as they settled in the night air was almost a lullaby. Every time she turned the torch back on, the trees seemed to draw back from her even as they sprang into full visibility.

Her bag becoming full, Akiko turned back towards the open area, and she could see the shrine building clearly through the trees before she realised that she had been turning the torch on while it was pointed in that direction. Putting it away, she walked as quickly as she dared towards the exit, hoping she had not been spotted.

As she emerged from the woods, Shiraishi was waiting for her.

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Akiko hesitated at the edge of the wood, but it was clear that the priest knew she was there. There was nothing to be gained by delaying, but it was still long moments before she could bring herself to step out. Shiraishi came forward, bowing her head slightly in acknowledgement, her hands tightly clasped in front of her.

“Ms Tanahata.” She stopped, apparently unsure what to say next. Akiko had no idea what to say, either, so the silence stretched out. Finally, Shiraishi broke it.

“I’m sorry I accused you of planning to con me. That was unreasonable.”

Akiko just nodded, not at all sure how to respond. Shiraishi seemed to wait for her to say something, but then decided to continue herself.

“What are you doing here?”

Akiko held up the bag of rubbish.

“Cleaning.” Even as she said it, she felt that it was too curt, too aggressive to be a proper answer, but she could think of no way to improve it. Shiraishi, however, just nodded.

“Thank you. It’s quite difficult for me to keep the shrine clean by myself. But why are you cleaning in the middle of the night?” For a moment, Akiko thought that she was going to have to try to answer that question without being offensive, but then Shiraishi sighed. “I’m sorry, I suppose I know the answer to that. I can imagine that you wouldn’t want to run into me again after our last conversation.”

“No, it was just…” Akiko instinctively tried to soften the assessment, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She reflected, wryly, that she wasn’t doing a very good job of communicating this evening.

“It’s all right. I’m really sorry about what I said. I’m afraid that our relationship got off to a bad start there, and yet you still cleaned the shrine.” Akiko knew what she wanted to say at this point, but she held her tongue. Mentioning the fact that Tamao kept appearing to her did not seem wise, given what had happened the last time. And if she could patch things up with Shiraishi, she would be able to come to clean earlier, which would mean more sleep. Still, she realised that she had to say something.

“It… It needed doing.” Shiraishi grimaced, but nodded.

“The shrine precincts really are too large for me to look after by myself. As I say, I really appreciate the help. Won’t you come into the house for a cup of tea? It’s quite cool out here.”

“I… Thank you, but not tonight. I really need to get home; I have to go to work tomorrow.” Shiraishi looked disappointed, but nodded.

“I see. Well, at least let me take the bag of rubbish and throw it away for you.” She held her hand out, and Akiko quickly handed over the carrier bag of litter. “Thank you. If you still want to clean, I would very much appreciate it. And you should feel free to come earlier in the evening.” She smiled slightly as she finished, and Akiko found herself smiling back.

“Thank you. I think I will.”

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The additional sleep did not seem to have made much difference to Akiko’s energy the next morning, as she struggled to maintain the facade of alertness necessary to keep Mr Kanayama from criticising her further. The strain of keeping it up was starting to tell on her by mid-morning, and she was deeply grateful that it was Friday; fantasies of sleeping through the whole weekend were one of the things sustaining her.

During one such fantasy, she noticed Mr Kanayama emerging from his office, and immediately turned her attention to the database she was supposed to be checking. Fortunately, the data in it was mostly correct, limiting the number of necessary changes. Mr Kanayama came over and stood by her desk, and she looked up before bowing her head to acknowledge him. He nodded back, and handed her a file.

“I need graphs and charts of this data before I leave for Osaka tomorrow morning. Make sure that they are clear. They have to make us look good, without being misleading; the companies in Osaka will press me on details.”

“Yes, sir.” He just nodded again, his face grim, and Akiko flicked through the file, her heart sinking. Reams of data, all in hard copy, that she would need to type in. She opened up the spreadsheet, and was about to begin when Satomi leaned across and whispered,

“How are you going to present them?”

Akiko realised that she didn’t know, and that until she did know she didn’t know how to set up the spreadsheet.

“Thanks,” she whispered back, and Satomi smiled, returning to her own work.

The project was actually a lot less daunting than she had thought, when she came to look at it. At least half the information in the files was irrelevant, and there was normally only one choice for the way to display it if you wanted it to look good. She briefly reflected that that was not a good sign, in more general terms, but that wasn’t her problem. She was entering data before lunch time, and worked through the lunch hour to get them finished.

Before handing anything over to Mr Kanayama, she checked once more, comparing the data to the sheets of paper and printing out the graphs, checking their impact. Everything looked accurate to her, and she showed the graphs to Satomi, who agreed that they looked good. Taking a blank thumb drive (no point risking mistakes over the files) she copied the spreadsheets across, and took them to Mr Kanayama.

He looked pleased when he received the drive. He did not look pleased ten minutes later, when he stormed out of his office, dropped the drive on her desk, and told her to stop messing about and do it properly.

Akiko was stunned. She was about to ask what the problem was, but he had already returned to his office. Opening the files, she was stunned again. They were completely different from the ones she had handed over. Data she had checked was now wrong, the graphs were badly designed and chosen to show the company in the worst possible light, and half of the points were not illustrated at all. She opened the files on her own computer, and they were the same.

In her state of complete bafflement, one thing became distressingly clear: she was going to have to call Naoyuki and cancel their date.

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Akiko stared at the screen, her face twisted into a frown. This was definitely not how she had planned to spend her Saturday, but she didn’t see that she had any choice. It had been midnight before she got the graphs and charts ready for Mr Kanayama, and that left a pile of the other work she had been supposed to do on Friday sitting on her desk. Given her boss’s current attitude, she was sure she had to do something to convince him she was serious. So here she was. She grimaced at the screen again, and started typing.

Her cell phone rang. She ignored it at first, but the person, a number she didn’t know, didn’t give up.

“Hello? This is Akiko Tanahata.”

“This is Ota.” Her landlord.

“Oh, Mr Ota. What can I do for you?”

“I’ve had several complaints from your neighbours about the loud noises from your room at night.”

“At night?” Akiko was confused. She hadn’t heard any loud noises.

“Yes. Your contract requires you to keep the noise down after dark. So please see to it.”

“But…” He had already hung up on her. Akiko closed the phone and turned back to the screen, just as it went blank. She tapped at the keyboard, and at the power key, but they had no effect. She got down on her hands and knees under the desk, and found that the cord had got wound around her chair leg and the plug had been pulled out of the socket.

Plugged in again, the computer started up, but when she tried to open any of her files she got error messages; the crash seemed to have corrupted part of the disk. She looked for earlier versions, but they wouldn’t open either, and then the machine crashed again.

Akiko stared at the screen, incredulous. How many problems could she face on a single weekend? Something moved in the reflection, behind her, and she quickly looked over her shoulder. She saw Mr Tanaka, on his way to his desk. He nodded at her, but paid little attention, caught up in his work as normal.

When she looked back, the screen was a window onto the shrine, looking down from above the torii. Without thinking, she moved the mouse, but it had no effect on the image. The deep green of the trees contrasted with the bright green of the copper roof, but there was no sign of anyone in the grounds. Just an empty drink bottle on the path. And a plastic lunch tray. And an empty crisp packet.

As she watched, more and more litter appeared on the ground, filling it up, hiding the grass from view and starting to build up to the level of the shrine veranda. She waved the mouse and stabbed at keys, but nothing changed the image on the screen.

“All right,” she muttered. “I get the message.” Turning the computer off made the image fade, and she gathered her coat and bag. She looked at the pile of work still sitting on her desk and sighed. It looked like it wasn’t going to get done this weekend, after all.

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