The rain continued into the night, its roar making sleep impossible. Akiko sat on her futon, watching it fall, while she thought about what had happened. She found it impossible to escape the conclusion that Tamao, or at least Tamao’s aramitama, was causing the flood, and was doing it because it was angry. But what was it angry about? The problem wasn’t so much that she couldn’t think of anything as that there were too many options. Certainly, the burning of the shrine was a possibility, but the kegare Akiko had seen across the city was another, as was the presence of protesters just outside the shrine precincts. What sort of things bothered kami? She had to admit that she didn’t know. Nor, she suspected, did Shiraishi.

The storm finally eased off around midnight, and Akiko managed to get some sleep. She dreamed of rivers in flood, and waterfalls, and maelstroms in the ocean.

The next day dawned bright and clear, the sky sparkling as if washed, the leaves on the trees sparkling with droplets of rain that had yet to evaporate. Akiko pushed her window open, expecting the air to be clean and refreshing, and coughed as the smell hit her. Obviously, the flood had not carried everything all the way to sea. Quickly, she closed the window again, and got dressed in old clothes.

Shiraishi was dressed similarly, and no discussion was needed before they got ready to clean the precincts. The shrine house was, fortunately, fine, as the water had all flowed out of the shrine and not got high enough to come in, but there was mud everywhere on the path, mud mixed with ashes, and the ashes from the burned shrine had been spread around by the water. Shiraishi stood at the door to the house and surveyed the damage, frowning.

“We’re going to have to pick up a lot of this piece by piece.”

Akiko had to agree with her; the ashes were too spread out across the grass to sweep up now.

“Well, we’d better get started, then.” She reached for a pair of gloves, but Shiraishi reached out to stop her.

“You do the path first. That can be swept. We need to keep the shrine accessible.” Without thinking, Akiko glanced towards the space where the shrine used to stand, and realised that Shiraishi had done the same. “We do need to keep it accessible. The building was never the main point.” The priest was clearly trying to convince herself as much as Akiko, so Akiko said nothing, just nodding and fetching a broom.

As she swept, Akiko kept catching glimpses of things off to one side, almost behind her, right on the edge of her vision, but when she turned to look, there was nothing there. The ash and mud were stuck to the stones of the path, so the sweeping took longer than Akiko had expected, and the things kept dodging out of her sight while she did it. By the time she was finished, she was very nervous and tense.

Not being able to see anything definite was bad enough, but the glimpses she did catch reminded her of the kegare spirits she had seen throughout the city, but not within the shrine grounds since the purification after Takenaka’s death. If they were back inside the shrine, that was bad, surely, and another reason for Tamao to be angry.

When Shiraishi called a lunch break, Akiko knew what she wanted to do.

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“I just need to go and look at the city.”

“What? Why?” Shiraishi didn’t sound critical, just curious.

“I need to see what sort of damage there is.” Shiraishi still looked puzzled. “Whether it’s all, ah, physical.” Understanding appeared on the priest’s face, and she nodded.

“Yes, I suppose we do need to know about that. Don’t be too long, though. There’s still a lot of cleaning to be done.”

“I can see.” Something flickered at the edge of her vision, and Akiko whipped her head round to look. Nothing but ashes, scattered at the base of the purification basin.

“Is there…?” The priest’s voice was uncertain, nervousness, scepticism, and simple concern all possible interpretations. Akiko shrugged.

“Maybe I’m just jumpy and imagining things.” Akiko knew that she didn’t sound convincing, and Shiraishi didn’t look convinced. As she turned away, however, Akiko reflected that the priest seemed to believe her now.

Coming unharmed out of a burning building could have that effect, she reminded herself. The mask was sitting on the kamidana now, along with the go-shintai. Akiko had no intention of testing it with fire again, and it had shown no signs of any other remarkable properties. And as for wearing it; neither she nor Shiraishi had thought that was a good idea.

The steps up to the torii were slippery with mud and ash, and Akiko made a mental note to clean them when she got back. She made her way carefully to the bottom, and looked around.

The signs of the flood were everywhere, most notably in the water line that came up buildings, but also in the debris that had built up against walls, electricity poles, and other obstacles. There was nothing but physical damage to see, however, at least at the moment, so Akiko set off to walk down the hill.

As soon as she was moving again she started to catch glimpses of motion out of the corners of her eyes. As before, when she turned to look there was nothing there, or just a cat, or someone hanging out water-damaged goods to dry.

By the time Akiko reached the bottom of the hill, the damage around her was more serious. Cars had been washed into walls, damaging both, and balconies and tiny gardens alike were filled with sodden property as people tried to rescue their possessions. The water line was half way up the ground floor now, and obviously dead televisions sat outside a number of houses. The flickers at the edge of her vision were almost constant now, and Akiko had given up trying to see what they were. At the bottom of the hill she looked up and down the valley, seeing even more evidence of damage. The city was not as devastated as it had been in her vision, but it had certainly suffered.

Akiko turned to go back to the shrine, and caught her breath.

She could see them now, crawling over the buildings, leaping from the roofs of damaged cars to the street, slithering out of the backs of waterlogged televisions, or writhing within dripping futons. Spirits of kegare were everywhere, spidery lines of decay spread across all the areas of water damage, and up towards parts of buildings that hadn’t been touched directly. One spirit, like a malformed frog, turned to look at Akiko, and she suddenly felt wet and clammy, coughing and gasping for breath.

She ran back up the hill to the shrine.

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Akiko was halfway up the steps when she heard a voice call her from behind.

“Akiko!” She stopped, and looked down, waiting until Satomi came into sight to reply.

“Satomi! What is it?”

“I was just going to ask you. Why were you running?”

“I, er…” I was scared of the spirits of decay. “I needed to get back to get on with the cleaning.” Also true. “What about you?”

“Oh, I heard about the fire on the news, and the company sent me over this way, so I thought I’d drop by and see how you were.” Satomi had come up the steps, and had reached Akiko. Together, they continued to the top.

“Well, as you can see I’m fine. The fire was quite destructive, though.” Akiko heard Satomi gasp as they reached the top.

“It’s completely gone.” Akiko nodded.

“Utterly destroyed.”

“That’s dreadful. What are you going to do?”

“Rebuild it. Well, Revd Shiraishi is going to hire people to rebuild it. I’m just going to help keep the shrine running, I think.”

“Good luck!” That reminded Akiko of what Satomi had said the last time she was here.

“Do you still think I’m lucky?” She smiled wryly.

“Oh, yes. You don’t? You weren’t injured in the fire, were you? Think about how much worse it could have been!”

“Well, yes. I suppose there is that.”

“Although the fire was bad luck over all, obviously. The shrine wasn’t lucky, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t be.”

“Hmm.” Akiko had to admit that Satomi had a point. She wasn’t at all sure that the shrine fire would have any direct bad effects on her.

“Anyway, I’d better get back to work. They’ll notice if I stand around here chatting. See you soon!”

“See you.” Akiko waved Satomi off, thinking about luck, and something moved at the edge of her vision. She spun round, but there was nothing to see. Her mood turning grim, she hurried into the house.

“Welcome back. I started eating without you; sorry.” Shiraishi was seated at the kitchen table, and already eating lunch. Akiko’s was set out, ready.

“That’s fine. Thanks for preparing it.”

“No problem.” She paused for a moment. “So, what did you see?” Akiko grimaced, and toyed with her food for a moment, not hungry.

“Kegare. Everywhere the flood touched, kegare, with spirits of kegare crawling over the walls and buildings. And it was a big flood, even up near the top of the hill.”

“Well, I suppose kegare goes with damage, so that makes sense.”

“Does it cause damage? Or does damage cause kegare?”

“Both, I think. Certainly, damage is a form of impurity.” Akiko frowned.

“But I thought the kami didn’t like impurity? That you had to purify the kegare before any ceremony?”

“Yes, of course. Why?”

“Ah.” For a moment, Akiko didn’t want to say, but she berated herself silently for being an idiot. Shiraishi wasn’t going to accuse her of anything now.

“I… I think the kami caused the flood.”

“What? Why?”

“I think he’s angry about something. But why would he cause a flood that just created more kegare?”

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Neither Akiko nor Shiraishi could come up with an answer to that question, and none presented itself over the next few days, either. The protesters gathered again at the bottom of the steps, and Naoyuki was with them occasionally, pointedly ignoring Akiko as far as he could. By the time the flood damage was cleaned up, Shiraishi had managed to find a shrine carpenter who was willing to work on the new building, and had made an appointment for him to come and see the site and discuss plans.

Akiko was still worried about kegare; there were still things moving in the shrine, just at the edge of her vision, and she hadn’t seen Tamao in some time. She remembered the visions of him decaying, and worried about them coming true just as the ones of the burning shrine had.

Occasionally, it occurred to her to wonder why she was worried. It was still difficult to think of anything that Tamao had actually done for her. On the other hand, the kegare spirits certainly seemed to be worse. Akiko had the nagging feeling that she was missing a connection somewhere.

The carpenter came on the agreed day, and sucked in his breath when he saw the damage.

“That was quite a fire, reverend. You were lucky to save the go-shintai.” Shiraishi nodded.

“We were. It was fortunate that Ms Tanahata woke up just as the fire was starting; we managed to get the go-shintai out before it really took hold.” Shiraishi didn’t mention the mask, and Akiko thought that wise.

“Well, the first thing you’ll have to do is get that whole area properly cleared. We’ll have to start from scratch, so you need to get the foundations up as well.” Shiraishi frowned.

“That sounds expensive.” The carpenter spread his hands, and shook his head.

“Not too much. And there’s no getting around it, I’m afraid.”

“Ah, well,” Shiraishi sighed. “If it’s necessary, it’s necessary. Now, shall we discuss the design?”

“Of course. Let’s go into the office, so that we can see the site.” Shiraishi nodded, and led the way, glancing back over her shoulder.

“Come along, Akiko.”

In the office, Akiko felt completely surplus to requirements. Shiraishi and the carpenter talked about shinmeizukuri, taishazukuri, nagarezukuri, and other names of styles that were vaguely familiar from Akiko’s reading. She thought the old one had been nagarezukuri, and Shiraishi confirmed that, asking for the same style again. The carpenter quickly sketched some designs, and as Akiko watched the discussion it became clear that Shiraishi was planning to build a slightly larger shrine building.

“We need space for kagura, and for the offerings. We’ve got a miko now, so there will be dance, and someone to help with bringing the offerings to the kami.” She glanced up at Akiko, smiling, and Akiko smiled back. She was lost already. Kagura was sacred dance, and miko did that, but she’d not been taught any dances. And anyway, the thought of her dancing was absurd.

The sketches took shape, and Shiraishi and the carpenter started talking about money. Hearing the numbers he was mentioning, Akiko started to wonder whether a hundred million yen would be enough.

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“Revd Shiraishi, you have to close the shrine grounds.” Akiko was getting very frustrated, but Shiraishi just frowned and shook her head.

“They want us to close. It would be an admission of defeat.”

“Temporarily. Just until the clearance is finished.” She looked out at the precincts, where protesters were milling about, getting in the way as the workmen tried to cart the rubble away from the ruins of the shrine. She couldn’t see Naoyuki at the moment, but she could see Mr Akiyama, the local headmaster, who appeared to be the ring-leader.

“We can just ask them to move.”

“I’ve been doing that for the last few days. Any one of them moves out of the way when asked, but someone you haven’t asked then gets in the way, and you have to ask them, as well. The workmen keep threatening to give up until the protesters go away.

“You know this. You’ve been doing it as well.” Akiko realised that she was almost shouting, and took a deep breath to get herself under control. The protesters’ strategy was proving remarkably effective; they were always polite, and never resisted requests to get out of the way, but there were enough of them to make it difficult to clear the area. They’d had to set barriers up round the ruins after the first day, because protesters kept wandering in. Of course, they left as soon as they were told it was dangerous, but nothing got done that day. Nor the following day, because it took a long time to get the barriers set up with the protesters on the outside. Now they just got in the way of workmen leaving with rubbish, slowing things down even more. The cost of clearing the site was already well over twice the estimate, and the job was barely begun. Thinking about it made Akiko even more frustrated.

“Revd Shiraishi, there is no choice. They are trying to make it take so long that we can’t afford to finish rebuilding the shrine. We have to close the precincts while we get the area cleared, at least.” Akiko was almost shouting again, and caught herself. It was only then that she noticed the tears standing in Shiraishi’s eyes. “What?”

“The shrine never closes. People should always be able to come to pay their respects to the kami.”

“But we have to rebuild the shrine buildings! We…” Akiko fell silent as Shiraishi just shook her head again. Akiko found herself biting her lip in frustration. There must be some way to get around the problem?

“All right, how about this. We get the workmen to gather as much rubbish as they can move in one trip, then clear the shrine temporarily, just while they move it out. Then people can come back in.” Shiraishi seemed about to object, so Akiko hurried on. “It’s not closing the shrine. It’s just asking people to go out for a while. They can come back in almost immediately afterwards. That’s all right, surely?”

The priest sucked in a deep breath, looking at Akiko and then turning to look out of the window. Finally, she nodded.

“Yes, that’s all right. Let’s do it that way.”

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Akiko stood beside the exit from the area being cleared, watching the rubbish pile up. Around her she knew that the protesters were milling around the shrine grounds, making sure that they were spread out so that it would take time for them all to get down the steps. Today they’d managed to bring along someone’s grandmother; it took her a very long time to get up and down the steps, but they could hardly hurry her along. The new pattern had sped things up, but the work was still going slowly.

Akiko had to admit to a sneaking admiration for the protesters. They were making a complete nuisance of themselves without doing anything that Shiraishi could easily complain to the police about. Akiko suspected that there probably were laws against this sort of activity, but when she suggested it, Shiraishi had expressed scepticism over the prospect of getting anything done in a reasonable length of time, and Akiko had to agree.

Sighing, she risked a quick glance around. Naoyuki didn’t seem to be around at the moment, but Mr Akiyama had just arrived. The rubbish was building up, and it was almost time to clear them all again.

Suddenly, Akiko felt a surge of rage. For a moment, it shocked her by its intensity, but then she realised that it wasn’t her anger. Tamao. She could see the kami coiled in the earth, his head resting under the site of the shrine building, weighed down by the rubble, his body twisting out and around, lying within the ground of the shrine precincts, under the lawn. His eyes burned with golden light, while lightning danced around his mouth.

Tamao moved, flexing his whole body, swinging his head around to face Akiko as the rest of him surged through the earth, rippling. His head broke the surface.

The tremor scattered the rubble, and Akiko fell to her knees. Around her, she could hear the concerned shouts of the protesters, and the workmen.

Tamao shook his head and tail, and the earth shook again, more strongly. There was a crash from somewhere inside the house, and then a louder clatter, stone on stone.

Akiko swung her head to look behind her, where the torii had fallen outwards, shattering on the steps and scattering rubble down them. She looked back, but Tamao had already vanished.

That didn’t help! she thought, the anger she felt this time definitely her own, and directed at Tamao. She got to her feet, and saw that a few other people had also lost their balance and fallen. Looking around, however, she couldn’t see anyone trapped, or seriously injured. She hurried over to the entrance, and looked at the shattered stone on the steps. It was still just about possible to get up and down, but not while carrying a load of rubbish from the burned shrine. The only good thing, however, was that there was no-one lying on the steps; no-one was injured.

Shiraishi came out of the house, and Akiko hurried over to her.

“Is everything all right inside?”

“A plate fell off a shelf; that seems to be all.”

“It was…” Akiko cut herself off as she noticed someone approaching. She turned to face Mr Akiyama, who was followed by a number of the protesters.

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“Revd Shiraishi, I hope you weren’t injured in the earthquake.” To Akiko, Mr Akiyama even sounded genuinely concerned.

“No.” Shiraishi, on the other hand, definitely sounded hostile, although that was hardly surprising.

“I’m very glad to hear that. Surely this further damage will convince you that you should just give up propagating these outmoded superstitions. Even the torii has collapsed now.” Akiko sucked her breath in sharply. She really didn’t understand Mr Akiyama. He seemed polite and intelligent, but his approach to Shiraishi was hardly calculated to be persuasive. Akiko glanced at the priest, who was clearly making an effort to keep herself under control.

“I am not going to abandon the shrine, the kami.” Shiraishi paused, and sucked in a deep breath. “You will not convince me to leave, and Wakabayashi will not drive me out. This is my duty.”

“It is foolish to be bound by the past when it has no meaning. Just because your ancestors supported the militaristic fascism of Imperial Japan doesn’t mean that you have to play a role in such a structure.”

“There is nothing…” Shiraishi was shouting, and she caught herself, taking several breaths to calm down. “There is nothing fascist about Shinto now, nor was there before State Shinto.”

“Was there really anything we can call Shinto before State Shinto?”

“Yes. I have made my decision, Mr Akiyama.”

“You surely can’t actually believe in the kami? When they can’t even protect their own shrines from earthquakes?”

“The earthquake was because the kami was angry!” The words escaped Akiko’s lips before she could think about them deeply; if these people kept provoking Tamao, who knew what might happen? In the end, there had been no deaths in the flood, but it was a close thing. Next time, it could be worse.

Mr Akiyama had turned to her, his face amused and condescending. She could tell he didn’t believe her.

“Tamao is angry, angry at the destruction of his shrine, and at your interference. That’s why he caused the earthquake.”

“Ms Tanahata, please be serious. Earthquakes are caused by the shifting of the plates of the earth’s crust, not by kami getting annoyed. No-one believes that sort of mumbo-jumbo anymore.”

“The kami can cause earthquakes. And storms. And floods. And diseases. When they are angry, people suffer. Why are you provoking them?”

Mr Akiyama laughed.

“I know the legends, Ms Tanahata. But that’s all they are, you know, legends. The Japanese archipelago is the result of geological processes and vulcanism, not something that Izanami gave birth to. The legends are just wrong.”

“You can’t deny that the flood and the earthquake happened after the shrine was burned down.”

“Coincidence. And, in any case, why would the kami cause an earthquake that destroyed his own torii? That doesn’t make any sense. The kami would have to be both vicious and stupid, and in that case worshipping them is hardly reasonable, now is it?” He was smiling as he finished, and talking as if Akiko were a rather slow ten-year-old. She was about to retort, when she realised that the people standing behind Mr Akiyama had started laughing. The conversation replayed in her mind, and she suddenly imagined herself hearing it a few weeks ago. They were right; she sounded ridiculous.

She felt herself blushing furiously as tears pricked at her eyes, and she looked down, fighting an urge to turn and run into the house. No, that will only make you look even more foolish, she lectured herself.

“Well, Reverend, I really do hope that you will reconsider. I am thinking mainly of the children of the area, you know. They deserve to be free of this sort of superstition.”

“Get out. Just get out of the shrine. Now.” Shiraishi was spitting the words out, her voice shaking slightly. Akiko risked a glance up, to see Mr Akiyama bow and take his leave. Of course. They always complied with direct requests to leave the property. The other protesters returned to wandering around the precincts, and Akiko did go into the house, mortified at the spectacle she had made of herself.

Shiraishi found her a few minutes later, sitting in her room, leaning on the table, and gazing blankly out at the garden.

“Akiko? Are you all right?”

Akiko made a non-commital gesture, but didn’t look at the priest. Shiraishi was quiet for a few moments, apparently waiting for a response, but Akiko wasn’t about to say any more and make herself look even more foolish.

“What you said about the earthquake — do you really think it was Tamao?”

This time, Akiko did turn to look at her.

“I saw him, Revd Shiraishi. I saw him in the ground. He was angry, he shook himself, and there was an earthquake. I’m as sure that he caused the earthquake as I am that Mr Akiyama is leading the protesters.”

The priest sat down heavily, her expression unreadable, too many emotions fighting for control of her face.

“So he did collapse the torii. That will cost us a lot more money, you know.” She paused. “Why?”

“He’s angry.”

“About the protesters?”

“Yes.” Akiko stopped. Was she sure about that? Tamao hadn’t been very clear about the details of his feelings. “Well, I suppose he must be. But I think he was already angry before.”

“Could he… Could he have been responsible for burning down the shrine?” Akiko looked at Shiraishi, shocked. How could she think such a thing? But then, it didn’t seem to be impossible. Could that actually have been the kami’s doing?

“I don’t think so,” Akiko concluded. “I think he sent me dreams to stop the burning of the shrine, or at least to rescue things from it. So, no, I think that was someone else, and I think it’s one of the things he’s angry about.”

Shiraishi nodded, and looked somewhat relieved.

“But the flood? You think that was him?” Akiko nodded.

“Just like the fever was Hideo Takenaka.”

“Is Mr Akiyama right? Are the kami stupid and vicious?” Akiko caught her breath. How could Shiraishi risk saying that here? Tamao might hear!

“No, not stupid and vicious. Although Tamao might not be thinking straight at the moment.

“Revd Shiraishi, the kami are angry.”

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