Akiko wasn’t sure how long she stayed sitting on the floor. Her sodden clothes hung heavily on her, and further wetness seeped through from the tatami mat. She found herself shivering, and forced herself to get up.

Looking into the closet, she found that it had not, apparently, rained in there, although water had seeped in under the doors, and she was able to find clothes that were more-or-less dry. She quickly dried herself and changed, discovering that the entrance hall, bathroom, and kitchen were also unaffected, and then turned her attention back to the main room.

It was still wet, and as she ran her hand over the soaked tatami, Akiko’s mind was utterly confused. One part was insisting that it was simply not possible for it to rain inside, while another part was insisting that it had. It occurred to her that she might still be dreaming, but the sounds and light from the street were too normal, the situation too coherent. It really didn’t seem like a dream. Shaking her head, she forced herself to concentrate on dealing with the consequences of whatever it was.

Fortunately, the rain outside had stopped, and Akiko was able to hang her futon out on the balcony railing. Her mad dash to cover things up seemed to have had some success, and in the light from the streetlights outside she was able to sort out what still needing drying. Her work clothes had been in the closet, and so were only a little damp, and she hung them out to dry properly. The tatami were a problem, however, and she settled for soaking up as much water as she could with towels, and leaving the doors and windows open.

As soon as she stopped, however, she remembered the tunnel of mist, and the shining shrine at the end of it. Now that the chance had passed, she found herself wondering what would have happened if she had walked through it. Would she have ended up in the shrine? The image of Tamao was disturbingly clear in her mind. What was he? Why was he bothering her?

A pale sky in the east announced the coming of dawn before Akiko had slept, or even come close to finding any answers. Looking out of the window, she found herself coming, very reluctantly, to a conclusion.

She had to go back to the shrine. Everything had started when she went there in the storm, everything seemed connected to it, and something was trying to get her to go there. If she was going to have any chance of working out what was happening to her, and stopping it, she was going to have to go back voluntarily. And, if she got ready now, she would have time to do it before she went to work.

In the shower, the falling water reminded her of the rainstorm, provoking a moment of panic. She forced it down, telling herself sternly that it was just the shower, and it stayed just the shower until she finished. No rain fell as she dressed, leaving her tights off until she she had closed her windows and dried her feet again. She left the door to the main room open, and the extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom on. Looking back from the entrance hall, she decided it was the best she could do.

Akiko realised that she was delaying. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the front door open, and set off for the shrine.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | Comments Off

Akiko was most of the way up the hill when she realised that she had been slowing down. Frowning to herself, she deliberately picked up the pace, hoping to have a bit of time at the shrine before she had to go to work.

Even so, she came to a stop at the base of the steps, looking up the stairs. The blue sky was bright through the torii, its dark stone a stark contrast. The steps themselves were in dark shadow from the surrounding trees, which whispered in the gentle breeze, an approving sign. The sun was warm on Akiko’s back, and the whole setting felt calm. So why was she waiting at the bottom of the steps?

Convincing herself that there was no reason, Akiko started up the steps, climbing steadily, refusing to let herself slow down. As her angle changed, the rich green roof of the shrine building came into view, followed by the walls, followed by the figure of the shrine priest.

Akiko came to a sudden stop, the memory of her last confrontation with Shiraishi flooding back in perfect clarity. She hesitated for only a moment before turning and hurrying back down the steps before she was seen; she could not face being accused of plotting a swindle again.

Akiko didn’t stop hurrying until she arrived at work, which meant that she was very early. She sat at her desk, in the quiet office, and nodded in acknowledgement to Mr Tanaka, there before her. As soon as she sat down, exhaustion struck her, as she realised that she hadn’t slept all night. Pressing her hands to her forehead, she got up to get a coffee, hoping that she would be able to get through the day.

As she worked, she considered her strategy. She still felt that she couldn’t make any progress without visiting the shrine, but she couldn’t face meeting Shiraishi. Was there any time when the priest wasn’t around? The shrine had been very quiet in the middle of the night, when she sleepwalked there, so maybe that was the answer. The more she considered it, the more it seemed to be, and by lunch time she had decided to visit the shrine that night.

During the lunch hour, she got a phone call from Naoyuki.

“Akiko, it’s me. Tonight’s nomikai has been cancelled; the boss isn’t feeling well. Come round, and remember the deal.”

Akiko panicked for a moment, suddenly sure that she couldn’t wait even another day before trying to do something about the problems.

“I… I can’t…” she stuttered out.

“It’s OK if you do breakfast.” For a moment, Naoyuki’s comment made absolutely no sense to her, and then she remembered his promise to make breakfast if she wore no underwear. She felt herself blushing, and hurried to explain.

“No, sorry, I meant I’m afraid I can’t go round tonight. I… I have a terrible headache. I think I need to get an early night.” She realised that it was not entirely a lie; her head was throbbing.

“Oh.” Naoyuki sounded really disappointed. “Are you sure that I can’t make you feel better?”

“I just need a rest.”

“I suppose you’d better stay home then. OK. Well, see you next time there’s a chance.”

Akiko was about to reply when she realised that Naoyuki had hung up on her. She put her phone back in her bag, and went to get yet another coffee.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | 2 Comments »

Akiko stood at the bottom of the steps to the shrine, the night air slightly chill, and she hugged herself, partly to reassure herself that she really was wearing the thick coat. The area was quiet, with no lights showing in the surrounding houses, and the few streetlights only relieved the gloom to the extent that she could see that the steps were there. Peering up, she thought that she could just make out the torii. Sounds were even clearer than normal; the rustle of twigs in the trees, the sounds of small animals moving around, and, from a direction she couldn’t quite place, the drip of water into a pool.

She realised that she was still standing at the bottom of the steps, and forced herself to start climbing. Even in trainers, her footfalls sounded loud in the stillness, at least until a car went past a few streets over, drowning them out completely. At the top of the steps, she paused just outside the torii, looking for something.

The precincts were lit, with two lights under the eaves of the shrine, one over the water basin, and a handful of others scattered across the grass. The illumination was dim, but bright enough for Akiko to be able to see the area within the trees clearly. She looked over at the shrine house, but there were no lights there, and no signs of life.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, she bowed her head as she stepped through the torii, half expecting the sun to come out. Nothing changed. Halfway between relief and disappointment, she went over to the water basin to purify herself. The source of the dripping sound was the dragon-shaped water pipe standing over the basin, dispensing a slow drip rather than the normal gentle stream. The ripples in the surface caught the light, and Akiko watched them for a moment before taking the ladle to rinse her hands and mouth.

As she moved around the shrine after praying, she could see nothing in the shadows under the trees, but the only sounds were of small animals. The smell of earth and plants, with a faint hint of fried noodles and sake (someone’s dinner?) was calming, but gave her no help with understanding her situation. Within the trees, she could see clearly, discarded wrappers and a couple of empty bottles standing out against the grass, but there was nothing strange.

Nevertheless, she felt a growing tension, a nervousness, as she walked around. She was supposed to be doing something. She kept glancing at the shrine building, but it remained dark and quiet. She walked round behind it, where there were fewer lights and, she thought, more pieces of litter. Her nerves increased as she spotted a strange dark shape, but as she cautiously approached she realised that it was just a collection of large stones, almost lost in the gloom.

She walked back to the front of the building, her stomach now churning with tension. She tried to sit down, but she found she couldn’t stay still for more than a moment. The sense of urgency was almost overwhelming, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do.

Suddenly, she remembered the dream of the picnic, and the wounds that had been inflicted on the kami with every piece of litter. Hurrying over to the nearest wrapper she could see, she picked it up. The tension subsided for a moment, but then started to build until she hurried to pick up another one.

She gathered litter until her hands were full, and then left to find somewhere to dispose of it.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | 1 Comment »

When Akiko got back home the following night, there was a stern note on her door from the landlord, warning her about the water “leak”, but the tatami was finally dry. She waited for it to get late, and then left for the shrine again, this time with a bag to put the litter in, and she gathered quite a lot. When she got home, she felt at peace with herself, and fell asleep quickly.

Nevertheless, she still had to get up within a few hours, and she was very tired when she got into the office. Satomi commented on it, but Akiko brushed the implied question away, relying on coffee to get her through the day. It seemed to work, and she got to five o’clock without any major problems. That night, she went to the shrine as early as she dared, taking a torch to help her find more litter, particularly around the back, but it was still very late before her mood settled and she felt able to start home with her sack of rubbish.

The next morning, Mr Kanayama brought her a pile of papers, with complex instructions about preparing them for a meeting. She listened as carefully as she could, given her sleepy state, and, as soon as her boss left, she sat down to make notes on what was needed, so that she wouldn’t forget. She realised that Megumi was staring at her.

“What?”

“Did you really remember all those instructions?”

“I think so…” Akiko looked back down at her notes. Everything she could remember was there, and there didn’t seem to be any obvious gaps.

“Wow. Good luck.” With that, Megumi went back to her own work. Akiko realised that Satomi had looked over, but the other woman just smiled and shrugged, indicating her own pile of documents. Akiko smiled back, to thank her for the implied apology, and then headed for the photocopier.

The first forty sheets she copied were useless, because she’d put the original on the glass the wrong way round. Annoyed with herself, she checked very carefully before starting again, and then found that she’d made twenty copies more than were necessary. She decided that she needed more coffee before continuing.

The next set to do was a stack of fifty charts, all in colour, of which she had to make thirty sets. She checked that the originals were all properly mounted in the feeder, confirmed the paper levels, and then watched the first few sheets come out, making sure that they were all orientated correctly, the right size, and in colour. Everything was fine, so she went to sort out the next bit while the copier was working; she didn’t have time to babysit the machine.

When she went back, it had finished, but as she picked the papers up she felt as though her heart stopped beating. All the later sheets were in black and white. She went down the pile; the first few, the ones she had checked, were in colour. Quickly, she ran a test copy of a single sheet; colour. How could the setting have changed? She hadn’t seen anyone go near the copier, and anyway, why would anyone do that?

She looked at the clock; already late. Resigning herself to working into the night, Akiko set the papers up again, determined to watch them this time.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | Comments Off

By the time Akiko got home, having left the sets of papers for Mr Kanayama, it was already late enough to go to the shrine, but as she pulled off her shoes she decided to skip it and just go to bed. Although the weird thing with the colour copying was hard to blame on tiredness — those first few sheets had been colour— the numerous other mistakes that had doubled the length of time needed were not. She felt exhausted, and it was having an impact on her work. Surely the shrine could wait one night. Akiko pulled off her clothes and wrapped herself in the futon.

The ground in the shrine was heaving, rippling like the surface of the sea, throwing up bits of litter and threatening to suck Akiko under. She struggled to remain upright, but lost her footing, and then dirt fell on her face.

Akiko jerked awake, sitting up in the futon, which had fallen over her face. She was shaking, and she got out of bed, putting her pyjamas on while she calmed down.

The waters around the shrine stank, and Akiko could not identify some of the things floating in them. Given what she could identify, she didn’t look too hard. The waves undermined the torii, and it collapsed into the filth with a great splash. Akiko jumped backwards, but some drops of the foulness landed on her, burning against her skin as she tried to brush them off, leaving red marks behind.

She turned, to see that the waters had started to undermine the rear of the shrine building. The timbers groaned in protest, and then started to shriek. A blast of wind brought a wall of stench that made her gag, and a cloud of droplets that scorched her skin. She realised that Tamao was still in the shrine, and ran forward, as the fetid water lapped at her heels.

Breathing hard, Akiko forced her eyes open. She was drenched in sweat, but she stayed lying in bed, refusing to move, sure that she would be asleep again soon.

She was flying over Kawasaki, a landscape of slums and urban decay. A group of homeless huddled round a fire in a car, and a group of youths were beating another as he cried for help, ignored by passers-by. She passed over the shrine, the house a burnt-out shell and the shrine itself missing part of its roof, the precincts covered with litter. Her angle of view changed, and as she saw the man using the inside of the shrine as a toilet she was suddenly falling from the air towards the rubble and broken glass of a collapsed factory.

Akiko’s scream woke her up. She looked at her watch in the light from outside; three am. She didn’t feel as though she had slept at all, and was sure that she wouldn’t. She put the light on, and started gathering the things she needed to go and clean the shrine.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | 4 Comments »

The cool air woke her up a bit, and she found that just being at the shrine calmed her down a lot. She had half filled her rubbish bag, poking around with her torch at the edges of the wood, when she heard the sound of someone clapping at the shrine.

She spun round, heart in her mouth, afraid that it would be the priest. She soon saw that it wasn’t; it was a man, and she realised that she had met him here before. After a moment, she remembered his name; Mr Takenaka. He straightened up from his final bow, and looked straight at her, then kept an eye on her as he descended the steps. She decided it would be best to go to talk to him, since he might have recognised her.

As they drew closer, he broke the silence.

“Ms Tanahata, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Mr Takenaka, right?”

“Yes, nice to see you again. What exactly are you doing here at this time?”

Akiko realised that she could ask exactly the same question, except that she was pretty sure that Mr Takenaka had a much better relationship with Shiraishi than she did.

“I was, er, cleaning.” As she said it, she realised how strange it would sound, and she lifted her bag of rubbish, holding it out as proof. Mr Takenaka glanced at it, and nodded.

“Very good of you. But why at this time of night?”

“I, um, I couldn’t sleep, and so…” Akiko trailed off, acutely aware that she must sound ridiculous and look suspicious, but Mr Takenaka only nodded again.

“I know what you mean.” He sighed, and looked around. “This shrine used to be a really calming place, you know? Just coming here made me feel better, and I could always sleep again when I got home. These days, though…” His voice trailed off, and Akiko saw that he was lost in thought. She waited, not liking to interrupt, and after a short pause he turned to address her again.

“Does Revd Shiraishi know that you’re doing the cleaning?” Akiko shook her head vigorously, and then blushed.

“No, I haven’t told her.” She hoped that the blush would be invisible in the dark.

“Oh, well I could. She’d appreciate it, I know. She’s very short-handed at the shrine.”

“Ah, no, I’d rather you didn’t.” Akiko spoke quickly as soon as he paused. “I’d rather she didn’t know.” Mr Takenaka looked puzzled.

“Why ever not?”

Now Akiko was really embarrassed. She had no idea how to answer the question without looking stupid, mad, or both.

“We… We had an argument…” She was still trying to think of something sensible to say when she saw that Mr Takenaka was stifling a smile and nodding.

“I see.” Akiko was baffled. What on earth did he think he understood? Did he know about the kami? For a moment, she was tempted to ask him, but the thought of what he would say if she were wrong quickly dissuaded her. “Well,” he continued, “I won’t tell her, but I’m sure she’s very grateful anyway. Good night.” With a slight bow, he took his leave, and Akiko was alone in the shrine once more.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | 1 Comment »

Akiko still wasn’t entirely settled when Mr Takenaka left, so she decided to gather a bit more litter before trying to leave. She strongly suspected that she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she tried to go too early, anyway. She went back to the edge of the wood, the ground uneven, the soil shifting slightly underfoot. She shone her torch into the shadows at the bases of the trees and in the undergrowth, looking for the flashes of colour that indicated rubbish. A chill breeze made her shiver, and the trees rustled in apparent sympathy.

A low sound broke the stillness, a grating sound, like two large rocks sliding over each other. The ground did not move, but Akiko still looked around nervously, casting the beam of her torch around. She could see nothing different, even when she trained the beam on the group of rocks behind the shrine, and after a few seconds the sound stopped.

Slightly puzzled, Akiko went back to collecting rubbish. She stepped over a tree root, and stumbled as the ground shook slightly. The grating sound of sliding rocks was larger this time, and Akiko ran out of the woods, into the open ground, in case the earthquake got worse. By the time she was standing by the shrine, the ground was still again. The noise of grinding rocks had still not stopped, however, and it seemed to be coming from the stones behind the shrine.

Cautiously, Akiko moved a bit closer to get a better view of them. She couldn’t see any obvious movement, and she shone her torch on them, its light casting sharp shadows of one rock on another. The individual stones were large, one taller than she was, and a very deep green, with swirling white veins running through them. She could see four, one set vertically, with two others leaning against it over a horizontal one at the base, and they seemed completely still, even as the grinding sound continued, and even got louder.

Keeping her distance, Akiko began to move round the rocks, wondering if there was another one round the back. As she lifted her foot to take a step, the ground kicked up, sharply, and she lost her balance, shrieking in surprise as she dropped the torch and little bag, throwing her hands out to catch herself as she fell.

The ground was cold, and both her hands landed on several sharp pebbles, leaving them grazed and bleeding. Her torch went out as it hit the ground, and she heard it rolling across the grass, a thin, tinny sound. Sucking her breath in at the pressure on her smarting palms, she pushed herself up to a kneeling position, looking up at the rocks as she started to stand up.

There was a light within the rocks, a deep, angry red, like a banked fire or lava in the heart of a volcano. It brightened, its source apparently hidden in the crevice where the four rocks met, and as it did so, a blast of warm air struck Akiko in the face. The light faded again, almost disappearing, and then brightened again, warm, dry air heavy with the smell of hot metal blowing over Akiko. She found that she couldn’t summon up the will to move, instead sitting fascinated by the light. It strengthened again, and this time the wind, very warm this time, was accompanied by a slight tremor in the earth, which passed as the light faded once more.

The pulsing continued, each interval shorter than the last, the light brighter, the wind stronger and hotter and the tremor worse every time. Akiko’s paralysis was replaced by terror, panic pouring through her as a hot wind blew over her, and she sprang to her feet. As she did so, the earth shook again, violently, and she lost her balance, falling back to the earth, tasting soil in her mouth as she sprawled in the dirt. She looked up, and a strong wind as hot as an oven blew grit into her eyes, making them sting and water.

She tried to push herself upright, but the tremors were too strong, every time she fell back onto her stomach. Looking up, she could see the rocks, apparently unaffected by the quakes, and the red light burning within them, now bright and hot enough to make her eyes water if she looked directly at it, a rising sun held within a rocky embrace.

The wind was constant now, and hot, although it still pulsed stronger and weaker, faster and faster, and the clouds of grit blown from the rocks forced Akiko to keep her eyes closed. She pressed her face against the soil, gripping the shaking ground with her hands, whispering desperate apologies to she knew not what.

There was a deafening crash of thunder, felt as much as heard, shaking her bones and making her shiver to her core, with a flash of lightning so bright that she could see it, red through her eyelids, even though she had her face down. And then the rain came, falling straight down, heavier than she could ever remember, soaking her in moments and turning the earth she was lying on to mud, which seeped into her clothes.

She tried once more to lift her head, looking at the rocks, at the red light from within them, which still shone brightly, the rain steaming as it struck the rocks around it. The wind had dropped, and the earth was no longer shaking, so Akiko tried once more to stand up, caked in mud. As she did so, the wind started again, blowing the rain straight at her. The rain was heavy, but warm, and even as it soaked her to the skin, she was not chilled. The wind was so strong that she had to lean against it to avoid being blown backwards, but she did manage to stand up.

Not sure why she did it, she managed to bow twice, clap twice, and then bow one final time.

The light vanished, the rain and wind stopping as if someone had thrown a switch. The ground was still wet, covered with puddles, and Akiko was drenched, but clean, the rain having washed all the mud from her. Nervous, she grabbed her torch and bag of litter, and hurried from the shrine.

The path from the shrine building to the torii was dry.

02: Double Life, Episode 08 | Comments Off