The first tremor was small, creating ripples in the surface of Akiko’s coffee. She picked it up in both hands, enjoying the warmth of the cup and savouring the rich aroma, another tremor shook the flat, the rattle of the windows an alarm. Akiko looked around as it died down, but there was no sign of damage.

The next tremor threw her to the floor, sending the table sliding across the room to smash into the windows in a cloud of broken glass. The tatami matting was rough under Akiko’s cheek, scraping her skin as she slid along the floor. She tasted fear in her mouth, and panic rose from her stomach to clutch at her throat. The floor shook again, and Akiko smelled gas, strongly.

Pushing herself to her feet, she tried to run for the door, the ground as unsteady as the deck of a ship at sea. The hallway was dark, and for a moment her searching hands could not find the lock or the handle. The door stuck as she pushed, and the terror that she might be trapped gave her the strength to push harder, forcing it open.

Sunlight poured in, filtered through thousands upon thousands of dancing motes of liquid gold, the dust of the city thrown into the air. The crunching and screeching noises of collapsing buildings drowned out any other sound, and Akiko searched for safe footing among the rubble as she tried to get away from the building.

The gas explosion was too loud to be heard, the wave of pressure throwing Akiko to the ground, hard against a fallen tree, its branches digging into her stomach. She tasted metal in her mouth, and spat the bright crimson of blood onto the tree as the heat from the fire reached her.

The pain in her stomach was intense as she tried to push herself to a standing position, her feet slipping out from under her. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up.

Supported on a pinnacle of rock thrust high out of the ground, its sides gleaming new where they had been ripped from the earth, was Tamao Shrine. The sun reflected off the warm orange of the copper roof, and the leaves of the trees still caught the light, dancing green as if there was no crisis, no urgency at all. At the very edge of the spire stood the torii, shining white. For a moment, the shrine hung still above her, and Akiko could hear the whispers of the leaves.

Then the rock shifted with a scream almost human in its agony, and the earthy smell of a forest floor washed over her, quickly followed by the stench of rot. The torii tilted towards her, and rocks poured out in front of it. Akiko could only stare as they seemed to form a staircase suspended in the air; she could see a path to the torii, stepping from one plummeting stone to another.

And then the lowest stone struck her.

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Akiko knew she was awake because the pain had stopped. Everything was quiet and dark, as she lay buried under her futon, but her heart was still racing, her mouth dry, and her body drenched with sweat that stank of fear. For several long moments, she thought she couldn’t move.

The paralysis broke as her whole body started to shake, and she sat up in bed, hugging her legs as involuntary sobs burst out from her. The fear remained in her stomach, getting stronger by the moment. She started at every sound, releasing her legs to press her hands against the floor for greater stability. Alone in the dark, her mind went blank, overwhelmed by terror.

A flash of light drew her eyes. Her cellphone. She could call someone. Still trembling, and not trusting her balance if she stood up, she crawled over to it, fumbling it out of its charging cradle and then dropping it twice as she tried to pick it up.

Her face bathed in the faint light of the screen, she thought about whom she could call. The phone’s clock said 2:17, which ruled out most people. Everyone but Naoyuki, in fact.

The phone rang for a long time, and then switched on to the message service. Akiko hung up and dialled again. This time, too, she reached the message service. Tears running down her face, she tried once more, and this time the phone was answered.

“Hello? Who is this?” Naoyuki’s voice was muzzy with sleep.

“Nao… Nao…” Akiko found that she couldn’t form the words.

“Who? What?” There was a pause. “Akiko, is that you?”

“Naoyuki, I had a horrible dream.” Finally, it burst out of her.

“A dream? Akiko, you’re ringing me at two am to tell me about a dream?”

“I…” Suddenly, it seemed very hard to tell Naoyuki just how scared she’d been. “It was a nightmare.” That sounded pathetic even to Akiko’s ears.

“A nightmare? Akiko, you’re twenty six, not six. Go back to sleep, for goodness’ sake. I’ve got a meeting in the morning.”

“Naoyuki!” Akiko couldn’t bear the thought of him hanging up right now, leaving her alone in the dark once more.

“What? I want to go back to sleep.”

Akiko tried to think of something to say, something that would keep Naoyuki talking to her, even in the middle of the night. She could think of nothing.

“Good night.” Naoyuki just hung up, without saying anything. Akiko sat holding the phone to her ear for quite some time, tears running down her face again.

The image of the shrine from her dream, high and clear against a pure blue sky, came back to her, and she found it somehow calming. Her tears and shaking stopped, and she walked back to the futon, hoping that she would be able to get some more sleep. She burrowed into it, and as it warmed around her, she thought that she caught a hint of the smell of new leaves, just as she drifted back to sleep.

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The next day at work, Akiko found herself drinking coffee almost constantly in a bid to stay awake. She couldn’t understand why she was so sleepy; a couple of disturbed nights shouldn’t have such a strong effect. As lunchtime approached, she frowned at the screen yet again, as a decision that ought to have been easy took far too long because she just couldn’t get the request straight in her mind.

“Lunch?” It was Satomi. Akiko shook her head quickly, trying to break the reverie she had fallen into, and then smiled and nodded.

“Of course.”

“Chinese today.”

“That sounds great.” Akiko was genuinely pleased; the Chinese restaurant, although a bit noisy because it was directly under the railway, was both good and inexpensive, unlike most of the other places her colleagues tried to take her.

Megumi started interrogating her as soon as they were in the restaurant.

“You’re looking very sleepy, Akiko. Naoyuki keeping you awake at nights?” Akiko almost wished that she had never mentioned her boyfriend to them, but this was still better than Megumi needling her about not having a partner.

“He’s on a business trip. I just didn’t sleep well.” Megumi looked disappointed, but didn’t pursue the conversation. In the silence, Akiko chose to study the menu.

Once they had ordered, Satomi took the lead.

“Well, what do you think of Tanaka’s promotion?” She looked at the two of them, obviously expecting an answer. Akiko had been surprised, but she’d always thought that Tanaka was the best of the new recruits, even though his university was some place up in Tohoku. She glanced at the other two, looking for a hint.

“He was at Mountain Cottage University, wasn’t he?” Megumi was almost sneering.

“It wasn’t actually called that, you know.” Akiko felt safe defending him that far.

“Well, some place in the back of beyond. Nowhere anyone’s heard of.”

“Mm, well.” Akiko certainly didn’t want to try to defend his university.

“They didn’t promote his university,” Satomi said. “I think it was a good choice.”

“Hagiwara graduated from Waseda,” Megumi pointed out, sulkily.

“Yes, but Tanaka is much better at his job,” Akiko said, more confident now.

“How would you know?” Megumi seemed to realise that it was a silly question as she asked it, but Akiko still felt the need to defend herself.

“You can tell just from the documents he gives us to photocopy, even without thinking about the meetings. I mean…” She stopped herself. Was she being too effusive? She tried to gauge Satomi’s reaction.

“He’s certainly a good worker,” she said, “and Mr Kanayama seems to agree.”

“But his accent!” Megumi protested. Satomi grinned.

“The advent of email has done wonders for his promotion prospects. ‘Oi be repperzenting yore inneressets’…” Megumi laughed aloud, and Akiko joined in, even though Satomi’s Tohoku accent was not very convincing.

“‘Proices are hoi this yerr.’” Megumi’s attempt was, if anything, even worse, but Akiko laughed along with Satomi, and the conversation devolved into making fun of the mannerisms of their co-workers.

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As normal on a Friday, it was late before Akiko got away from the office. She  fell asleep on the train and almost missed her stop, and had to fight to stifle repeated yawns as she bought a bento from the shop by the station. She set off walking, and then realised that she was going to pass Tamao Shrine. Turning down a side road, she decided that she did not want to face the shrine that night.

The noise of people shouting at each other got louder as she went forward, and continued. Rounding a corner, she saw a group of young people, men and women, scattered across the street, hurling insults and occasional punches at each other. They were obviously drunk, with quite a few of them bright red and all of them unsteady on their feet, and Akiko did not fancy walking through the argument. Still, the only sensible alternative route, particularly at this time of night, was past the shrine, so she waited for a moment, to see if they would move on, or make up.

With a yell, one of the men launched himself at another man, and the others soon piled in. As the brawl developed, Akiko decided that the shrine was a safer option, and beat a hasty retreat.

The top of the hill was quiet, and the dark mass of the shrine forest kept watch over the houses. The leaves murmured secrets to one another in the wind, which brought them to Akiko along with a scent that promised flowers to come. For a moment, she thought that she could almost make out words in the rustling of the leaves, and strained her ears to hear better.

Shaking her head at her foolishness, she walked on, as the torii emerged from the undifferentiated darkness, a more solid mass of shadow at the top of a channel of darkness running up between high banks and higher trees. The rough surface of the stone stood out, a pattern of characters that Akiko could almost make out, almost read…

She tripped and fell, sprawling on the road right at the base of the steps to the shrine. Sucking in her breath and brushing grit from her hands, she picked up the bag with her bento in, relieved to see that it had not suffered too much damage. Standing, she glanced up the steps into the precincts.

The torii was hidden in the darkness. Akiko stared in disbelief. She had been looking at the patterns on it moments before; how could it be invisible now? Everything around her was quiet, as she took an involuntary step towards the stone stairs. Maybe she would be able to see the markings if she went closer, she thought.

She began to take a second step, but then turned away from the shrine, looking out at the twinkling lights of Tokyo, the skyscrapers sprinkled with late workers. There was no reason to go into the shrine. It was the middle of the night, it would all be dark, and if the priest saw her she would probably call the police. It was much more sensible to go directly home.

Fortified by a sense of her own rationality, Akiko walked away, ignoring the leaves as they called out to her.

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The kimono meant that she could only take small steps, but Akiko walked along the path with the ease of long practice. Her sandals clicked on the stone, and when she glanced down she saw the brilliant white of her sock standing out against the deep black of the paving. She looked up again, her eyes sweeping round the shrine. The copper roof of the building shone a deep gold in the sunlight, but the shade of the trees kept her comfortably cool. She breathed deeply, the scent of young leaves and tiny flowers filling her nostrils with a sense of the life of the place, and her eyes traced the lines of the tree trunks, stretching up to the heavens before expanding in exuberant green.

She looked back at the shrine, the gold-capped crossbeams at the ends sharply defined by the blue sky, and at the shining white torii she could see behind it.

Beyond the torii, a storm raged. Black clouds filled the sky, boiling visibly as she watched, harsh lightning flickering between them constantly. Rain fell like a waterfall, turning the air grey as it was whipped around by strong winds. Akiko walked slowly round to the front of the shrine building to get a better look, the silk of the kimono’s undergarments stroking her skin with every step. She stepped out of the shadow of the trees and on to the path, to better look out through the torii.

With every flash of lightning the drops of rain stood out, fragments of molten glass dancing furiously in the entrance, backed by the folded blackness of writhing clouds and accompanied by strangely distant thunder. A figure reared out of the darkness, a scarlet lion with a single black horn emerging from its forehead, and leapt at the gate. Akiko took an involuntary step back, but the creature struck the torii and fell to the ground, roaring its frustration in a voice that scraped along Akiko’s bones, provoking a deep shudder. The beast stepped forward again, but could not pass the threshold. Once more it roared its frustration, but this time the noise was covered by a gentle susurration from behind her, and Akiko was filled with calm.

She turned round, to face the shrine building. The doors were open, and Tamao was coiled in the entrance. His head shone red and green in the sunlight, his golden eyes fixed on Akiko. The whisper of his scales sliding over each other was the only sound as he began to descend the steps. As he approached, Akiko could smell her childhood New Year, wrapped up against the cold of a midnight she was allowed to see. She shifted her weight, ready to take a step forward to meet him.

And woke up.

No fear, no fuss, just complete, rested wakefulness. Akiko lay still for a few moments, unable to remember when she had last felt so rested and enjoying the sensation. Sitting up, she peered at her clock in the light filtering in from the street. Six am. Sure that she wouldn’t sleep any more, she got up to prepare for her visit to the shrine.

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It was not yet nine when Akiko came in sight of the shrine precincts. It was a beautiful morning, the sky clear blue and the breeze just strong enough to be pleasant. The leaves of the trees were a myriad shades of green, from the dark shadings of the cedar needles to the fresh near-yellow of the new growth. As the wind caressed the trees, the pattern of the shades shifted and changed, always on the verge of becoming a coherent image but never quite making it.

Akiko turned her gaze to the entrance. She could just pick the torii out through the trees, and the stone steps leading up to it were clear. But, for a moment, she couldn’t bring herself to walk forward.

Everything had seemed so obvious when she woke up. She had immediately started the bath, and put rice on for breakfast, something she almost never did. After washing herself more thoroughly than she could ever remember, she had soaked in the bath for a good twenty minutes. Breakfast, which she ate dressed in her bathrobe, was plain rice, without so much as something to sprinkle on it.

The mood had broken when she went to get dressed, and realised that she was looking through the cupboard for a kimono. She didn’t own a kimono. She had never owned a kimono, and had never worn one; she’d even graduated in western-style clothes. What was she thinking?

Even then, the impulse to visit the shrine was undeniable, and she had selected her best suit, carefully brushing it down. When she realised that she was inspecting her underwear to find the cleanest, however, she put her foot down, and simple took the newest. Her clothes were all clean, for goodness’ sake.

But now that she could see the shrine entrance, the last trace of certainty seemed to have evaporated in the sunlight. What on earth was she doing there? For a moment, she wanted to turn round and go straight back home, but she brought the impulse under control. She realised, now, that she had been avoiding the shrine for the last few days, and she wasn’t going to let her life be controlled by stupid fears.

There is no giant snake, she told herself. The childish banality of the sentence helped strengthen her resolve. Of course there’s no giant snake. How could there be? It’s just a shrine.

She walked briskly forward to the entrance, and stopped at the base of the steps to look up. The road was cut into the hill, even this near the top, so there was a near-vertical wall reaching above her head, crowned by the trees of the shrine forest. The steps were cut back into it, their black stone splashed with green lichen but carefully swept clean.

As she waited, a middle-aged man appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in a suit, and came down them towards her. As he reached the bottom he nodded to her.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Akiko responded, as the man walked on. Turning back to the shrine, she took a deep breath, suddenly realising how nervous she was, and began to climb the steps.

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The steps were easier to climb in good weather, and in the quiet of the morning the click of Akiko’s heels was the loudest sound. Akiko was only half way up when Shiraishi appeared at the top of the steps, wearing white and deep purple. Akiko looked again, and realised that the white was something like a kimono, while the skirts were actually hakama, like the red ones miko, the shrine attendants, wore. She wondered whether this was some sort of Shinto priest uniform.

Shiraishi bowed to her from the top of the steps.

“Welcome to Tamao Shrine. I hope you got home safely the other day?”

“Yes, thank you. And thank you for taking so much trouble over me.”

“It was no problem at all.” Akiko reached the top of the stairs, but Shiraishi seemed to be waiting for her to do something. She supposed that was reasonable; she was the customer, so to speak, and Shiraishi worked in the shop. But since she had no real idea why she was there, it was a little embarrassing.

“Have you come to pray at the shrine?” Shiraishi asked, breaking the silence.

“Yes, I have.” Akiko gratefully seized on the suggestion, and then realised that she did not know what to do next. Shiraishi quickly noticed, and apparently guessed what the problem was.

“Let me show you how.” Akiko nodded, and followed the older woman over to a large stone basin under a simple wooden roof. The characters for “offering” were deeply carved into the side of the basin, and the four short legs were carved in the shape of smiling sumo wrestlers, or at least fat men in loincloths. A bronze dragon rose up from behind the basin, a gentle stream of the water pouring constantly from its mouth. Two plastic ladles rested on a wooden frame, and, after bowing slightly, Shiraishi took one, indicating that Akiko should take the other.

“Now, hold it in your right hand, and fill it with water. Pour a little on your left hand, not too much, and then change hands so that you can pour a little on your right hand.” Akiko did so, and Shiraishi nodded.

“Good. Now pass it back to your right hand, and pour a little into your left hand, like this.” Shiraishi cupped her left hand, and poured some water into the palm. “Use this to rinse your mouth, but don’t swallow. Hide your mouth with your left hand while you spit it out onto the ground.” Shiraishi demonstrated, and then Akiko copied her. The water was cold, with a slight mineral flavour, nothing like tap water.

“Pour a little more water on your left hand to rinse it, then raise the ladle vertically, so that the remaining water runs down the handle, cleaning it.” Akiko tried, but she had hardly any water left for the last bit. Shiraishi didn’t seem to mind, though, so she just put the ladle back.

“Now bow again, just a little. Right, now we go to the shrine hall. Don’t walk on the centre of the path.” The path from the torii was paved with grey stones, pitted by the elements, and the ground beside it was bare brown earth, still a little muddy from recent rain. It was narrow, and to avoid the centre Akiko had to walk behind Shiraishi.

The priest led the way up the steps, to where a bell rope hung above a large box with a grille over the top, just outside the entrance to the building proper.

“Bow slightly, throw some money into the box, then shake the rope to ring the bell.”

“How much money?”

“As much as you want.” Akiko found a fifty yen coin in her purse, and threw it in, then shook the rope. The bell clattered rather than ringing, but as Shiraishi didn’t seem surprised Akiko assumed that was the right noise.

“Now bow deeply, twice, then clap twice, and finally bow deeply once more.”

Shiraishi demonstrated, and Akiko tried to match her movements. As they straightened up, Shiraishi turned to her and smiled.

“That’s it; you’re done. Of course, you can also have a formal prayer said. I’ve just done one, which is why I’m still in uniform. You are expected to offer a bit more money for that, though.” Akiko just nodded. She realised that she had expected something to happen when she came to the shrine, although she couldn’t have said what. But this… This was just ordinary. She looked around; the precincts had the same basic shape as in her dreams, but there was less grass in the real one, and everything was smaller, less vigorous, and not as clean.

Shiraishi noticed her looking around.

“What do you think of our shrine in decent weather?”

“It’s… very nice.” Akiko was a bit stuck for something to say.

“It’s very old, you know. It wasn’t important enough to be in the Engishiki, but it’s mentioned in the Musashi no Kuni Fudoki.”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Akiko had no idea what she was talking about.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. Documents from over a thousand years ago, listing shrines among other things.”

“A thousand years?” Akiko looked at the building again; it certainly didn’t seem that old. Shiraishi seemed to understand what she was thinking.

“None of the buildings go back that far; the shrine building was rebuilt after the war, because it burned down in the air-raids.” That seemed more reasonable. There were a number of folding stools lined up inside, and beyond them a raised dais, with a hanging blind at the back. Beyond the blind, Akiko could just see something. It seemed to be moving…

The head of the snake rose up behind the blind, colours vivid despite the shadows, eyes like candle flames in the darkness. As ever, it was looking straight at Akiko, while the coils of its immense body filled the space beyond the hanging.

“…the iwakura is probably…” Shiraishi was continuing her description as if there was nothing strange. Could she not see the snake, or was she just used to it?

“I’m sorry, I really have to go.” Akiko ran from the shrine, almost slipping on the steps, hearing Shiraishi’s cry of “Be careful!” behind her, but not looking back. Whatever she had expected to happen, this wasn’t it.

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