Akiko was pacing in her room, waiting for Shiraishi to be ready to go, when her cellphone rang. She picked it up, grimacing as she saw the calling number. Her mother. She thought about not answering, but decided it would be worse to have her mother calling her while she was helping with the purification.

“Hello, mother?”

“Akiko. Why do you never call?” Akiko felt brief stabs of guilt and irritation, although irritation was stronger.

“I’m very busy at the moment.”

“Busy? Doing what? You don’t have a proper job.”

“I’m working at the shrine, mother. I’m a miko, and I have duties.”

“Yes, but they’re hardly that important.”

If only you knew, mother, Akiko thought, but she knew she couldn’t tell her mother everything that was going on. She had enough trouble accepting that Akiko wasn’t just working in an office while looking for a husband; talk of kami and curses would lose her completely.

“Anyway, why did you call?”

“Isn’t it enough to want to talk to my only daughter?” Akiko could tell from the tone that her mother did have something particular in mind.

“Of course that’s enough. But I still think you have something on your mind.”

“Humph. Well, yes. I have some good news!” She was trying to sound enthusiastic, but Akiko instantly suspected that she wasn’t going to like this “good news”.

“Yes?” She tried not to sound too negative, but she was painfully aware that she hadn’t kept all the suspicion out of her voice.

“I’ve organised a miai for you here, this weekend. I’ll pay for the train tickets, and you can stay in your old room for a couple of nights.”

“Mother! I am not going to a marriage interview.”

“Akiko! How can you say that before you’ve even met him? He’s a very nice young man, excellent family, I’ve known them for years.”

“I don’t care. I have other things to do here. I’m not going to drop them to go all the way home to meet some random man you think I should marry.”

“Akiko, you have to think about your future.”

“I am!” Akiko realised that she was almost shouting, and took a deep breath to calm down. “I am thinking hard about my future, and I’m not going to marry someone I hardly know.”

“You aren’t getting any younger; you’ll lose your chance.”

“Lots of women get married in their thirties these days.”

“Your thirties?” Her mother almost screeched it. “How long would I have to wait for grandchildren?”

“Oh, for goodness sake. Maybe I’ll never get married.”

“You’d throw your life away?”

“There’s more to life than getting married.” As she said it, Akiko realised that she actually believed it. There were other things she could do with her life, things that didn’t involve getting married.

“But nothing so important! Nothing that means anything if you aren’t married!”

“Mother, do you really think that?” Akiko was annoyed at the blatant manipulation.

“Yes. Of course.” Her mother sounded genuinely puzzled, which brought Akiko up short. Did she really believe that?

“Well, I don’t. I think I could have a good life without getting married.”

“But…” At that point Shiraishi appeared in the doorway, and Akiko realised it was time to go.

“I’m sorry, mother. I have to go. And I can’t attend the miai. Good bye.” She hung up before her mother could say any more, and then turned off her phone. She saw that the priest was watching her from the doorway, but she turned away as soon as she noticed Akiko had noticed.

“Shall we go?” she asked.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 31 | Comments Off

This time both Akiko and Shiraishi remained sitting in the car after they had parked.

“This is silly,” Shiraishi complained. “How are we supposed to set up the himorogi and perform a proper ceremony?” Akiko nodded; she had been thinking much the same.

“Well, do we need the himorogi?”

“We need something for the kami to inhabit.”

“But we aren’t actually going to summon a kami, are we? We’re just trying to purify the area.”

“True, but…” The priest’s voice trailed off. “Actually, you’re right. We don’t need it. It was just that I always used it for external ceremonies, but they were never pure harae.” She took a deep breath. “OK. That makes things a bit more practical.” She turned to look directly at Akiko. “You are sure we need to do this?”

Akiko only hesitated a moment before nodding.

“Then let’s get on with it.” Shiraishi pushed her door open, and Akiko quickly followed suit. They collected the ohnusa from the boot, leaving the rest of the equipment there, and hurried over to the home, glancing around all the time to make sure that no-one was watching.

They thought that they got to the wall without being seen.

“Now what?” Shiraishi whispered.

“There’ll be someone on duty in the front, so we can’t go in that way,” Akiko whispered back. “We’ll have to go over the wall.” Shiraishi looked at it, her face sceptical. “Come on, Revd Shiraishi. It’s not that high.” It wasn’t; it didn’t even come up to Akiko’s chest. It wasn’t really designed to keep people out, just to let them know that they shouldn’t cross.

“Shinto vestments are not really designed for climbing over walls,” Shiraishi complained, and Akiko had to stifle a giggle. That was certainly true; there were too many layers of cloth, and the shoes were entirely the wrong sort of thing.

“Come on, let’s go a bit further round,” Akiko urged, and Shiraishi quickly followed her. Akiko looked around as they went, paying attention to the surrounding houses.

“Here,” she said, at last. “Nobody’s windows are overlooking us.” Shiraishi looked startled, then glanced around for herself, before nodding. “I’ll go over first,” Akiko continued, “then you can pass me the ohnusa and follow.”

“OK.”

Akiko put her hands on the wall and boosted herself up. On her first attempt to get her leg up onto the top of the wall, she got tangled up in her robes and had to drop back down. On the second attempt, she got up, but when she tried to swing her legs over to drop down onto the other side the vestments caught on something, sending her tumbling over.

She suppressed a cry as she fell onto a flower bed beyond. Her hands sank a little into the soft earth as she tried to push herself up, and she had to scrabble for footing. Shiraishi was peering at her over the wall, obviously trying to suppress giggles. Akiko gave her a stern look as she stood up and tried to brush some of the dirt from her vestments.

“Give me the ohnusa.” Shiraishi handed it over, and then put her own hands on the wall. It took the priest three attempts to even get a leg onto the top of the wall, and then Akiko had to catch her to stop her falling off. With a bit of support, however, Shiraishi made it down without falling over, and started brushing Akiko down.

“Revd Shiraishi! We don’t have time!” Akiko whispered.

“You have to be at least passably clean for a purification,” the priest shot back. “Hold still!” She brushed a bit more. “OK, that should do. Right, where should we stand?”

Akiko switched her sight over, looking for a good vantage point. The wrappings on the building were obviously soiled bandages now, and the cockroaches seemed to be wearing nurses’ uniforms. Akiko wondered what that meant, and then shuddered at the possibilities that occurred to her.

“Over there,” she said, pointing at an area that seemed close to the main concentrations of pollution. Shiraishi set off immediately, crouching down, as if she was a secret agent in a movie or something. Feeling very self-conscious, Akiko followed, also crouching.

“How am I supposed to do a norito quietly?” Shiraishi asked as they reached the spot. It was a good question.

“Can’t you whisper?” Akiko asked.

“There are fixed ways to pronounce them, so that the kami will hear and understand.”

“Oh.” Akiko thought about it, looking around. “You don’t have to shout, right?”

“No.”

“Well, I don’t think anyone will hear us. Those are obviously kitchen windows, not bedrooms, and there’s no-one there at the moment. Just say it as quietly as you can.”

“If you say so.” The priest still sounded a bit sceptical, but she stood, and bowed to start the proceedings.

The norito sounded louder to Akiko than she had expected, and she looked around, nervously, searching for any sign that they had been noticed. When Shiraishi finished the prayer, apparently without attracting attention, and asked for the ohnusa, Akiko handed it over and switched to looking at the kegare.

The ohnusa was shining brightly, enough to dazzle Akiko for a moment, and the priest had already swung it once by the time her eyes recovered. She could see the light burning into the bandages, splitting them open and consuming them, as the cockroaches scattered, scuttling for cover wherever they could find it. As the priest swung the ohnusa for the third time, the kegare was burned away from that side of the building.

“Well?”

“We’re clear here. I’m worried about the other side, though.”

“OK, let’s go and look. Round the back, right?” Akiko nodded, and they set off, as quietly as they could manage, picking their way between the flower beds. Akiko noticed now that most of the plants looked diseased or dead, and that the ground underfoot, intended to be a lawn, was mostly bare earth.

As they came round the corner of the building, the bandages came into view again, with all the cockroaches massed on this side, chittering to each other. Akiko sucked her breath in sharply, and Shiraishi turned to look at her.

“We have to…” she began, but was cut off by a man’s voice shouting from ahead of them.

“Hey! What are you doing there!”

“Time to go!” Shiraishi said, and ran for the wall. Akiko didn’t argue, coming up behind the priest and pushing her over before jumping herself, not caring that she fell down on the other side, helping the priest to her feet as they both ran for the car.

Half-done was better than nothing. She hoped.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 31 | 1 Comment »

Akiko sat in the shrine office, looking out at the precincts, trying to keep her eyes open. The harae had left her drained, even though Shiraishi’s giggles had infected her in the car. Thinking about it now, she found herself smiling a little; it was true that the whole situation had been more than a little ridiculous. Then she yawned again, and shook herself. This was no good; she couldn’t afford to actually fall asleep. She peered out again. The sky was overcast, but it didn’t seem to be raining. Going out was a sensible possibility, then.

The warmth of the night surprised Akiko, reminding her that summer was approaching, and she still didn’t need a coat. The air was still and rather heavy, close, with a promise of rain, and the only sounds were those of distant cars and Akiko’s own footsteps. Akiko bowed to the iwakura, but it was just a group of stones tonight.

Then she caught sight of a light among the trees, not very bright, but moving, as if carried. Sighing, she checked that she was carrying her cellphone, and headed into the woods to see who it was.

It was only when she was surrounded by the shadows of the trees that she started to get worried. If it was one of the protesters, that was no problem. They would go away when she asked. But if it wasn’t? If it was someone else? She took her cellphone out, opening it ready to call the police, as she made her way towards the flickering light. She stepped round a trunk, and found herself in the clearing around the sacred tree.

Another miko stood beside it, reaching up to fix a new shide to the shimenawa. Her lamp stood on the ground behind her, her shadow huge and dancing against the tree in its flickering light. Akiko froze, and the other miko turned to look at her.

“Good evening.”

There was something strange about her pronunciation, an accent that Akiko couldn’t place. Akiko took a cautious step forwards, and switched her vision to see the spirits.

The tree dominated the scene, seizing her attention immediately, every detail of the bark clear. Smaller spirits, birds and insects, gathered on its branches, healthy and clean. Akiko forced herself to look down and at the miko. She looked human; completely free of kegare, but just human. Akiko’s eyes were drawn back towards the tree, and she switched her vision back to normal so that she could concentrate.

“Good evening,” she replied, still a little hesitant.

“Have you come to tend to the tree?” There was something very strange about the other miko’s accent, and about the way she talked, and something about her face wasn’t quite right. Akiko took another couple of steps forward.

“No. I was watching the shrine, and I saw your light.” Akiko was thinking as fast as she could. The miko was obviously changing the shide on the shimenawa, and someone had been doing that all the time, someone who wasn’t Akiko or Shiraishi. Thus, it seemed likely that it had always been her. But who was she? And where had she come from?

“Oh, I see.” Akiko thought she detected a questioning tone in the miko’s response, and took another step forward, as the miko took a step towards her.

And then her frustration with all the mysteries she had faced suddenly boiled over, and she couldn’t suppress the question.

“Who are you?”

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 5 Comments »

The other miko looked startled, and then bowed.

“My name is Yoshiko. I serve at this shrine. With whom do I have the honour of speaking?”

Akiko blushed a little at that; Yoshiko was being very polite.

“My name is Akiko. I serve at this shrine,” she said, as she bowed in turn. Straightening up, she looked Yoshiko in the eye, and suddenly realised what was odd about her face. She had plucked her eyebrows, and drawn new ones on.

There was a moment of silence, as Akiko weighed Yoshiko up and, she imagined, Yoshiko did the same in return. Yoshiko broke it.

“Forgive me, this will sound like a very strange question. Which shrine do you serve at?”

Akiko had been about to ask the same question, so it didn’t sound that strange to her at all.

“Tamao Shrine,” she replied. There was something else strange about Yoshiko’s face, she realised. Not just the eyebrows. Yoshiko was obviously surprised by her answer, and she opened her mouth to say something, before closing it again.

Once she had realised what it was, Akiko wondered how she could have missed it. Yoshiko’s teeth were all black. Even in the flickering light of the lamp, she could see that they were dark, at least. A half-memory tickled at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t draw it out properly.

“That’s not…” Yoshiko began.

Akiko’s attention was suddenly drawn to the tree, clearly visible despite the darkness, stretching up into the night, connecting the earth and the clouds like a bridge. She was flooded with a longing to touch it, to embrace it, to press her body against it and feel the bark against her skin, and the desire flowed through her and left, like a river in flood leaving a scattering of pebbles on the shore.

Learn from her. That was the thought that remained. Akiko looked back at Yoshiko, who was also looking back from the tree.

“Er…” Yoshiko said. “We should talk.” Akiko nodded.

“You too?” she asked.

“The tree?” Yoshiko was asking for confirmation, and Akiko just nodded. They both looked back at it, and this time Akiko broke the silence.

“It told me to learn.”

“It told me to teach,” Yoshiko said, “but I don’t understand. What can I teach you?”

“Do you know how to drive away kegare and purify the whole of the city?” Akiko asked, hope suddenly surging.

Her mood crashed down again as Yoshiko shook her head.

“I’m only a miko,” she said, “and you obviously already hear the kami.”

“How long have you been a miko?” Akiko asked, Yoshiko’s statement suddenly making her aware of a possibility.

“All my life, of course.” Yoshiko sounded confused.

“I’ve only been a miko for a few weeks. Maybe you could teach me how to be one?”

“A few weeks?” Now she sounded really confused. “Did you… No, you aren’t married.” Akiko wondered how Yoshiko knew, and what she had been going to ask. “How did you become a miko?”

“Tamao insisted.”

Yoshiko suddenly smiled, which looked very strange with black teeth.

“That sounds like Tamao. And…” She suddenly fell silent, apparently biting back words. She looked down, then at the tree, and then back at Akiko.

“I will teach you, as the kami have commanded. We can meet here at night, so we will study here.” She paused, taking a deep breath.

“But I do not want to know where you come from. I…” She paused again, and looked Akiko straight in the eye.

“I am too frightened of the answer.”

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 4 Comments »

Akiko was still lost in thought over the encounter hours later, when she was suddenly disturbed by the sounds of a commotion at the entrance to the shrine. She hurried out of the office and down the steps, hoping that it would be easy to resolve the problem.

The first person she recognised, with a sinking feeling, was Mrs Watanabe. Her voice was raised and shrill.

“You should not be going in there! Do you know what they believe? What they do?”

The people she was confronting, however, were the Tanakas, and their grandmother was there, looking much, much healthier than she had when they went to perform the harae. The sight raised Akiko’s spirits significantly, and she hurried down the steps as quickly as she could.

“They helped us! I felt much better after the harae.” While Mr Tanaka looked slightly embarrassed, his mother-in-law seemed to have no qualms about arguing back.

“They’re just trying to exploit your weakness. Can’t you see what they’re up to?”

“How dare you say such things about them? Now let us past. See! You’ve forced the miko to come out of the shrine.” The old woman pointed straight at Akiko, and Mrs Watanabe turned round to look at her.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, peddling lies to the elderly and vulnerable.”

“I am not vulnerable! My mind is still perfectly functional, thank you very much. Now I’ll thank you to get out of my way.” Mrs Watanabe swung back round to face the old woman, but didn’t back down.

“I’d say your vulnerability was well proven by your attitude here. You can’t even spot an obvious con trick like the shrine.”

“They didn’t ask for money.”

“But you’re going to give them some now.”

“A con trick where you wait for your victim to decide to give you money isn’t much of a con trick,” Mr Tanaka said, finally stung into replying. “Now, we have heard your opinion. Get out of the way.”

“Mrs Watanabe,” Akiko interjected, trying to keep her voice calm, “please let them come into the shrine. You are interfering with their business.” The woman turned back to face her.

“Call the police, then. If you care so much, call the police. Let’s see what they have to say about your con tricks.”

“Slander is a criminal offence as well.” Mr Tanaka sounded more annoyed now. “And what do you have to offer? Are you doing anything useful, or just standing here and obstructing us?”

“We’re trying to protect you!” Akiko noticed that Shiraishi had just arrived beside her, and she turned to glance at the priest, who shot her an exasperated look in return.

“Mrs Watanabe,” Shiraishi began, but she wasn’t allowed to finish. The grandmother lifted her cane and swung it at Mrs Watanabe, as her daughter, with a scream, grabbed at her arm, and Mrs Watanabe stumbled back out of the way, lost for words.

“Now, we’re going into the shrine,” the old woman announced, shaking her daughter off and calmly starting to climb the steps. Mrs Watanabe and the other protesters just looked at her in shock.

When they reached the top, the old woman turned to Shiraishi and bowed.

“I do apologise for my actions just now. Some people just don’t understand any other language.

“Anyway, as you can see, I am much better than I was before you performed the harae, and everyone in the family is feeling a lot better as well. We are all agreed that the harae was the cause.” She glanced around at her family, who all nodded.

“So we have come to give thanks.”

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 5 Comments »

Akiko picked her way through the trees, lighting her way with a torch. The rain had stopped, but she could still hear water dripping from the leaves around her, and her feet were wet from the undergrowth. She reached the sacred tree, the beam of the torch picking out the shimenawa tied around it, but there was no-one else there. She walked round once, checking the whole clearing, but she was definitely alone.

She started to worry that Yoshiko wouldn’t come, and worry about what that would mean, but as she reached out a hand and laid it on the trunk of the tree all her concerns drained away. All she needed to do was wait.

As she thought that, Yoshiko stepped into the clearing, carrying a lamp and a bundle wrapped up in a cloth. Akiko noticed that Yoshiko’s clothes were completely dry, but she did not comment, simply bowing in greeting, a bow that Yoshiko returned.

“Under the circumstances,” Yoshiko began, “I think we should start with the dances.” Akiko just nodded; she had little choice but to trust her teacher. Yoshiko put the cloth bundle down under the tree and unwrapped it, taking out something that tinkled as she lifted it, and gleamed in the light.

“This is a kagurasuzu,” she said, showing it to Akiko. “Have you used one yet?” Akiko looked at it, and it did look a little familiar. A conical metal frame was mounted on a short handle, with several small bells hung from the frame. Five long strips of material, purple, green, red, white, and yellow, were attached to the bottom of the handle. As she looked, Akiko remembered where she had seen it before; in the dream when she had first worn miko’s vestments.

“Er, not really,” she replied. Using it in a dream probably didn’t count. Yoshiko nodded, but didn’t look surprised.

“Watch me first.” She took a few steps backwards, and then bowed to the tree, sweeping the kagurasuzu up over her head as she straightened, the sound of bells filling the clearing.

Yoshiko started to dance, slowly at first, sweeping the bells gracefully through the air while supporting the cloth with her other hand. Her movements got steadily faster, as she spun, running round the tree, swinging the kagurasuzu high and low, quickly enough that the motion was enough to keep the streamers in the air. She passed once around the tree, and slowed down, coming to a graceful stop as she sank to her knees, the kagurasuzu held in front of her chest in both hands, the cloth piled in her lap.

She bowed her head once, and stood up, turning to look at Akiko.

“That’s what you’re aiming for.”

“I can’t do that!” Akiko protested. At least not while I’m in control of my own body, she amended silently.

“Not yet. That’s why you need to practice. And that’s why I want to start with the dances; you need the most practice for these. Here, take the kagurasuzu.” Yoshiko held it out, and Akiko took it carefully. It was a little heavier than she expected, and the cloth streamers were long.

“Now, hold it up,” Yoshiko continued, “and support the streamers… No. Like this.” She reached out and adjusted Akiko’s hand, and the lesson began.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 1 Comment »

The sky was cloudless blue, and the sun shone down without pity, white glare from the concrete banks of the river making the clouds of mosquitos almost invisible. Akiko wiped sweat from her forehead once more, and fanned herself with her hand in a desperate search for some relief.

It didn’t help, and the whine of the mosquitos got louder in her ears, overlaying the sound of the river, a constant growl of pain. She looked around for the steps up from the small park where she was sitting, but they had all collapsed, a few sorry fragments still clinging to the wall beyond shattered benches.

She turned back to the river, its surface churning, glistening in all colours, sweeping along plastics, sewage, and now and then the corpse of a dead animal. The stench was overwhelming, suddenly, and Akiko gagged, almost vomiting on her miko’s robes. The waves in the river became higher, its surface starting to buck, water and less pleasant things spraying out on to the bank as Akiko scrambled back, trying to get out of the way, but failing as something malodorous spattered on the white of her kimono.

The river was rising out of its channel now, a great blind snake, jaws gaping wide as its head waved through the sky as if seeking something. The river’s water formed its translucent body, with scales of ripples and oil sheen, and the hiss of the water was the creature’s voice, a cry of agony that filled Akiko with a mixture of pity and fear.

The giant head swung over her, and then paused, flickering back and forth as if it had almost found something. It shifted, and although it had no eyes Akiko was sure it knew she was there. It drew back, preparing for a lunge, and Akiko threw her hands up in front of her, one holding the kagurasuzu, as the snake lanced towards her.

And stopped, just short of the kagurasuzu. Akiko could see the water flowing within it, heavy with the corpses of fish, a sheen of oil spread over the top of its head, covering the places its eyes should have been. The roar of the water got louder yet, filling Akiko’s ears, deafening her, evoking more pity now, so much pity that Akiko felt tears well from her eyes and start to run down her cheeks.

She sat up in bed, the pouring rain roaring on the balcony outside, and willed her breathing to calm down. A dream, then. She got out of bed and pulled a yukata on, walking to the main room to look at the kamidana. Tamao’s goshintai was inside the small shrine now, the mask she had rescued from the old shrine was propped up behind it, and Akiko found herself looking at its impassive face as she thought over the dream.

The obvious interpretation was that she should go to the river and purify it, which seemed plausible enough. Given the amount of kegare she had seen in the area, it would be surprising if the river had escaped. But what was the kagurasuzu doing there, and why had she felt sorry for the kegare spirit? She waited a few moments, but no further enlightenment was forthcoming.

“Come on Tamao, you can talk to me now. Why not just tell me what to do?” she muttered, and then, worried that he might have heard, quickly bowed, clapped, and bowed.

It wouldn’t do to irritate him.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 6 Comments »