It continued to prey on her mind the following day, as the rain also continued, a constant grey drizzle that dampened her mood as well as the ground. She found herself unable to sit still in the office, and went out into the shrine grounds, wandering under an umbrella.

The wet rocks of the iwakura glistened in the dim light, the stone seeming even darker than normal. Akiko had been staring at them for some time before she realised, but even then she couldn’t tear her eyes away, following the contours of the rocky surface. She thought about touching the stones, and involuntarily took a step backwards. No, she thought, I don’t want to talk to the aramitama.

There were sounds of commotion from the bottom of the steps, and, with a sigh, Akiko went to see what was happening this time. Looking down, she could see a small group of umbrellas, and hear an argument.

“Please get out of the way.”

“Why are you supporting this fascist organisation?”

“Excuse me, I just want to enter the shrine.”

“Think about what you are doing! Think about its consequences!”

Akiko sighed again. She didn’t recognise either voice, but it was clearly her job to intervene. As she started down the steps, the sandals clicking on the stone, a couple of people looked up from under their umbrellas. Naoyuki was there, but he looked down again, quickly, and Akiko pretended that she hadn’t seen him.

“Let him through.” Akiko wondered whether she should have phrased it more politely, but she was getting tired of dealing with the protesters when there were more important problems.

“We just want him to think about it.” The protester who had been confronting the visitor looked up at her, and Akiko recognised him; he was often there.

“I’m sure he will. Now please let him through.” The protesters showed no sign of moving. “You are blocking access. Should I call the police?” Akiko didn’t even try to hide her irritation, and two of the protesters moved aside at once. The last, the one who had been doing the talking, looked at her for a few moments, as if trying to decide how serious she was, and then stepped aside.

The man came up the steps, nodding to Akiko in acknowledgement. Akiko led him to the porch of the shrine house, where they could talk out of the rain.

“How can I help you?”

“Ah, my name is Yamaguchi. I’m a friend of Mr Tanaka. You know, you, er, performed a harae at his house.”

“Yes. Pleased to meet you, Mr Yamaguchi. I am Akiko Tanahata, miko at this shrine.”

“Likewise.” Mr Yamaguchi fell silent again, but Akiko was sure that there was still something he wanted to say, so she waited. Sure enough, he soon spoke again.

“How much does one of those ceremonies cost?”

“You should give what you feel is appropriate,” Akiko began, reciting the conventional phrase, “but we suggest 10,000 yen or more for a ceremony outside the shrine.” Mr Yamaguchi nodded.

“I see. I would like you to come and perform a harae at my house. Maybe it will…” He broke off, obviously embarrassed. Akiko bowed again, disregarding his final comment.

“Of course. Let me get the priest.”

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“20,000 yen!” Akiko said as she checked the envelope in the car on the way back.

“I hope he feels the harae was worth it, then.”

“I think he will.” Akiko remembered the heavy kegare around the house, which had been swept away by the purification. If past experience were any guide, the Yamaguchis would definitely notice a difference. “And you said he hadn’t had anything to do with the shrine before?”

“No.” Shiraishi shook her head, but kept her eyes on the road. “Nothing serious, in any case. He might have attended a festival or two, of course, but I don’t remember him.”

“That’s a good sign then,” Akiko said, feeling rather more cheerful. “People are starting to…” She stopped, overcome by a strong urge to vomit, and a stabbing pain, as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. She grabbed the dashboard, and looked around, her vision switching so that she could see the kegare around them.

The factory just ahead of them was covered in giant grubs, all a sickly greenish-white, which were spinning black threads across it. As she watched, one of the grubs exploded in a shower of gore, and a raven-like creature burst from it, flying around the factory and then diving back in. The whole structure seemed to shudder, as if getting ready to move.

“Stop the car!” she gasped out, and Shiraishi quickly pulled over.

“Akiko, are you all right?” The priest leaned over, looking concerned, and Akiko nodded as she gulped air down and tried to force her stomach to settle.

“I… Yes.” She pointed out of the window. “That factory. It’s…” She was lost for words for a moment, as something huge moved again inside the network of threads. “It’s very, very polluted. I think we should purify it.”

“Are you sure? They aren’t going to pay us.”

Akiko forced a quick smile.

“No, but, really, we should.” Her stomach was still churning, and now her head was beginning to ache, a throb in both her temples.

“I thought you were sceptical about these purifications?”

“We can’t just leave it!” The priest sat back, her face surprised. The urgency in Akiko’s voice surprised even her. Shiraishi nodded.

“If you feel that strongly, we had better do something.”

They gathered the equipment, and walked over to the factory.

“I don’t think it’s just a spiritual cleanup that this place needs,” Shiraishi said as they got closer. “It looks like they’ve spilled just about everything they could.” Akiko nodded, but the feelings of nausea were getting stronger, and she couldn’t switch her vision away from the kegare.

At the entrance, they were met by a security guard. Akiko could see that he was bound back to the factory by dozens of the black threads, and the surface of his uniform writhed and boiled, as if thousands of maggots writhed underneath. She had to fight back the urge to vomit as she started to gag.

“What do you want?”

“We want to purify the factory.” Shiraishi went for the direct approach; given that they were in their vestments, Akiko couldn’t fault her.

“You can’t go in. Now go away.”

“But…”

“Go away. This is private property.”

Akiko was pretty sure that the guard wasn’t going to change his mind, and turned away, Shiraishi following her.

“Well, what now?” the priest asked as they reached the car.

“We sneak in round the back.”

The priest looked at her for a long time, and Akiko forced herself to hold her gaze. Finally, Shiraishi nodded.

“Very well.”

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 1 Comment »

Getting in was not difficult; the fencing was so old and run-down that they had several choices of gaps to go through. As soon as she stepped across the border, however, Akiko felt the kegare surround her, like worms brushing against her skin, leaving their trails of slime. She shuddered, and looked at Shiraishi.  The priest’s face twisted as she crossed the boundary, and she looked down at her hands.

“Do you feel it?” Akiko whispered. Shiraishi nodded.

“Should we do it here?” Akiko looked around, the acrid chemical smell of the factory catching at her throat. The kegare was everywhere, but it was thicker towards the centre of the area. Fighting down the urge to cough, she shook her head and pointed.

“Over there, I think.”

“Those buildings don’t look entirely safe.” Shiraishi sounded nervous, and as something moved behind the threads Akiko felt the same way. She switched her vision back, and had to agree.

“No, they don’t. But I think we need to be a bit closer to the centre of the kegare.” She switched her vision back to looking at the kegare as she spoke, and caught her breath, falling back a step.

It was almost upon them already, dragging its giant worm-like body along with two insectile limbs, while another pair, sharp as swords, flashed in the air above it. Guts and slime spilled from its crushed tail, things moving within the trail, flopping like beached fish.

Akiko recovered herself and stepped forward, swinging the bells up. The spirit screamed, an ear-splitting sound that filled her head, turning the headache into a band of white agony across her forehead and filling her vision with black explosions. Gritting her teeth, she thrust the bells forward again, and the thing fell back, limbs sawing at the air as it writhed on the ground.

“Quickly!” she said, beckoning to the priest, and running round the fallen spirit towards a suitable-looking spot.

She stopped when she felt they were close enough to the main concentrations of kegare, and nodded to Shiraishi. The priest raised the ohnusa and began to chant the norito.

At once, dozens of small forms darted out of the shadows, appearing from between the threads and scuttling over the ground towards them. Akiko swung the kagurasuzu at them, driving them back, but there were too many of them. She turned to see one spring at the priest, and then fall back, shrieking, its dozens of limbs on fire as it landed on the ground, writhing and burning.

The other creatures scattered back into the gloom, and for a moment Akiko thought that they would be left in peace.

The deep groaning noise dispelled that pleasant illusion, a grating sound that shook Akiko to the core of her being, churning her stomach even further. She searched for its source, and saw the kegare spirits swarming over a stack of barrels, chewing at the lower ones. The stack began to rock, as the grating turned into a squeal of metal.

Akiko spun round and ran full speed into Shiraishi, pushing the priest back and out of the path of the falling barrels. A few shattered, spilling a dark, glistening liquid that could have been oil, or could have been something worse. They both scrambled to their feet, just managing to keep ahead of the flowing pollution.

“Hey! Who’s back there?” They heard the voice of the security guard and, without needing to say anything, ran back to the fence, ducking out through a convenient hole.

Behind them, Akiko was sure she heard a thousand voices laughing.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 2 Comments »

Back at the car, out of breath, Akiko stopped, listening for sounds of pursuit. Shiraishi was already getting in the car, but she paused when she noticed that Akiko wasn’t.

“Akiko, what is it?”

“I still want to try to purify the factory.” Her headache had receded to a dull ache once they left the premises, but her stomach was still unsettled, and her skin was still crawling at the remembered touch of corruption. She couldn’t drive the image of the corruption hanging over the factory from her mind; leaving it in that state was not an option.

“We can’t go back in!” Shiraishi sounded seriously worried, even scared, and Akiko had to agree. The kegare spirits had attacked them.

“No. Maybe we can purify it from outside, though. If we stand close to the entrance.”

“Hm. Maybe. The security guard won’t like it.”

“Can he do anything if we don’t go in?” Shiraishi suddenly grinned.

“Well, we can’t do anything about the protesters, so probably not.” Her face turned serious again. “You think this needs to be done?”

Akiko took a deep breath, and nodded, gently, her head throbbing in protest.

“Right. Let’s get it done, then.”

Shiraishi led the way back to the front of the factory. The guard had returned, and looked at them suspiciously, but when they stayed on the road, he didn’t say anything. Akiko raised the kagurasuzu and switched her vision back to looking at the kegare, so that she could see any hostile spirits. She nodded at Shiraishi, who began the norito.

“Hey, what are you doing?” The guard advanced towards them, the threads tying him back to the factory stretching, maggots crawling down them towards him. But no spirits came close, and Akiko ignored him.

“Stop that! You can’t do that here!” The guard was getting quite agitated, as were the spirits behind him. The scuttling things appeared from within the webbing once more, scurrying to the edge of the factory’s land, then stopping, rearing up and waving dozens of spindly legs in the air. Akiko risked a glance back, at the light building up within the ohnusa. Maybe that was keeping them back? She turned her attention back to the creatures and swept the kagurasuzu across, but they still hadn’t crossed the boundary.

“Go away, or I’ll call the police!” The guard was also staying within the factory grounds, and Shiraishi continued reciting the norito, ignoring him. Akiko could see her shadow now, cast by the light from the ohnusa, and the creatures were hiding in it. There was a hissing sound, accompanied by a sweet smell of rot, and suddenly the things scattered, vanishing back behind the webbing.

The webbing itself was heaving now, as if something enormous within was trying to break free. Akiko couldn’t see any details, but she raised the kagurasuzu, and glanced back nervously at Shiraishi. Nearly finished, she thought.

A few strands of the webbing over the factory snapped from the motion, and the grubs started tumbling from them to the ground, where they tried to shuffle out of the way. The whole mass heaved again.

“Right, I’m calling the police.”

Shiraishi finished the norito, and swung the ohnusa. Waves of light flowed around Akiko and into the factory, the grubs vanishing like smoke as it touched them, the threads snapping and springing back. Akiko caught sight of a shape within the threads, enormous, trying to raise a heavy head, and then the light caught it, as well.

The sound, a roaring scream that shook her bones and stabbed into her ears, drove Akiko to her knees. She dropped the kagurasuzu and clamped her hands over her ears, but it made no difference. She forced herself to look up, as the light whittled away at the kegare spirit, slowly destroying it. The noise weakened and then stopped as the shape collapsed back into the factory and vanished.

Akiko got to her feet, a little unsteadily, and looked at the factory. There were still a few fragments of kegare, but nothing more serious than any of the surrounding buildings. She turned to Shiraishi and nodded.

“Wait! Where are you going?” the guard called after them. Akiko guessed that he really had called the police.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 2 Comments »

Back in the car, Akiko started to shake. The headache and nausea had gone, but the release of tension left her too weak to do anything but sit there and gaze blankly at the passing houses. Shiraishi was also quiet as she drove, for which Akiko was grateful.

She was sure that purifying the factory had been the right thing to do, but now that it was over her doubts about their strategy returned in full force. How many places like that were there that she hadn’t seen? How long would it take for the pollution to build up again?

Were they really trying to hold back the tide with a bucket?

They parked the car, and walked round to the entrance to the shrine. There was a large group of protesters gathered, with a “Shinto = Fascism” banner. Akiko could see Mrs Watanabe, Naoyuki, and the man who had been blocking Mr Yamaguchi, but there was no sign of Mr Akiyama. She sighed; he was normally a moderating force. She heard Shiraishi sighing as well, and they glanced at each other. The priest let her irritation show for a moment, then shrugged and looked back at the protesters.

Akiko followed her to the base of the steps.

The protesters did not move. Akiko frowned; in the past they had always got out of the way, presumably because Akiko and Shiraishi actually lived in the shrine. This time, however, they did not.

“Excuse us.” Shiraishi sounded irritated, but she wasn’t shouting.

The protesters still didn’t move. A couple of them shifted and looked away, looking slightly uncomfortable, but they didn’t break ranks.

“Excuse us. We would like to go home.” Shiraishi sounded more annoyed this time, and a couple more protesters seemed to be having second thoughts. Mrs Watanabe, however, was still planted in the middle of the steps, staring straight at them, face set.

“You cannot keep us out of our home!” Shiraishi had raised her voice by the end of the sentence.

“Let us through!” Akiko couldn’t let the priest fight alone any more.

One of the other protesters plucked at Mrs Watanabe’s sleeve, but she shook him off without looking away from Shiraishi.

“It is illegal to keep us out of our home. We’ll call the police.”

Mrs Watanabe finally broke her silence.

“Yes, that’s typical of Shinto. Bring the power of the state down on those who disagree with you. Violence and bullying, that’s the only way you and your kami know to deal with the world.”

“What?” Akiko blurted out, shocked into responding. “Us? You’re the ones blocking our way home! We’re not the bullies; you are!”

“Oh, very mature.” Mrs Watanabe was shaking her head, as if disappointed with a small child. “‘I’m not, you are!’ Is that the highest standard of argument you can manage?”

Akiko was getting really annoyed now, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. The protesters were the bullies, though, and it was very unfair.

“Mrs Watanabe,” Shiraishi said, her voice quiet and calm, but obviously strained, “if you do not get out of our way right now I will call on Tamao to curse you.”

Mrs Watanabe almost jumped, and quickly stepped back, clearing a path. For a moment, Akiko could only stare, but Shiraishi was already on her way up the steps, so Akiko quickly followed.

“Curse her?” Akiko asked, as they reached the house.

Shiraishi went bright red and looked down.

“I thought, ‘if they want to be bullied…’ It wasn’t a very good idea, really.”

“It worked, though,” Akiko noted.

“Yes.” Shiraishi looked up. “Yes, it did. I wonder why?”

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 5 Comments »

“Um, excuse me?”

Akiko and Shiraishi both looked round, to see a young girl in high school uniform approaching from within the shrine. After a moment, Akiko recognised her as the girl who had come a few days before, and needed instructions about everything. Her skirt was still absurdly short.

“Yes?” Shiraishi addressed her, stepping forward.

“Er… I think you have, well, some sort of ceremony.”

“Yes, we have many sorts of ceremony.” Shiraishi’s tone was cautious, and uncertain. Akiko was puzzled again. She could have sworn that this girl, and what was her name?, had known nothing about Shinto, but now she was back and asking about ceremonies.

“Ah, yes, of course you do.” She was blushing. “I mean, like, a cleansing ceremony? Something to get rid of bad things?”

Akiko quickly switched her vision over, and looked at the girl again. She did have a lot of kegare, which looked like worms crawling over her body, disappearing under her clothes. But how on earth did she know to ask about a ceremony? Shiraishi glanced across, and Akiko nodded slightly.

“Yes,” the priest replied, looking back at the girl. “We have a ceremony called o-harae, which purifies people and places.”

“That sounds like it!” She looked really happy. “I’d like one, please. How much is it?”

“You should give…” The priest stopped. “Five thousand yen or more. You can give as much as you want.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that’s OK.” She squatted down to rummage through her bag again. Shiraishi glanced down, and then at Akiko, her eyebrows raised. Akiko shrugged, and wondered how to tell Shiraishi about the girl’s previous visit.

“I take it you enjoyed your previous visit to the shrine?” Akiko asked, glancing at Shiraishi. The girl looked up, her wallet in her hand, and smiled.

“Oh, you remembered! Yes, well, it was good. So I came back.” She opened the wallet and pulled out a five thousand yen note. “Here you are.” She thrust it at Shiraishi, who smiled slightly as she took it.

“Thank you. Please come inside to wait for a minute, while we get things ready.”

When Akiko went to collect her from the waiting room, she was standing up and peering at the hanging scroll.

“You have a lot of neat old stuff, don’t you?” Akiko couldn’t help smiling.

“This is a very old shrine.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway, please come with me.”

They had set up the tables and mats near where the shrine building had been, looking towards the iwakura. Akiko gestured to one of the mats.

“Please kneel there.”

The girl knelt down, shifting quite a bit, obviously not used to it, finally getting settled, and adjusting her skirt so that it covered her underwear. She looked at Akiko and the priest, and nodded.

Akiko watched the kegare as Shiraishi performed the harae. The light burned the worms away quickly, and Akiko could see the girl’s back straighten, as she breathed more deeply. The ceremony finished, and the girl sprang to her feet.

“That was great! Wow! Thanks!”

Shiraishi was nodding, smiling in a slightly bemused fashion.

“You’re welcome, Ms, er… sorry. I forgot your name,” Akiko said.

“Oh. Kazumi. Kazumi Miura.”

“Kazumi?” Shiraishi asked. “Harmonious Beauty?”

The girl nodded, grinning.

“Or Japanese Beauty,” she said. “I like it. Anyway, er, how do I address you?”

“Revd Shiraishi,” Akiko put in, and Shiraishi just nodded, still smiling.

“Well, thanks a bunch, Revd Shiraishi. Must dash!”

And she did, running down the steps.

“Coming through!”, they heard from the bottom, and, looking at each other, both Akiko and Shiraishi burst out laughing.

“What was that about?” the priest asked. Akiko, shaking her head, couldn’t answer.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 3 Comments »

Akiko had been staring at the darkness beyond the bathroom window for some time before she realised it, and, shaking her head, she stood up, going over to the taps to splash cold water over her body. Gasping, and slightly more awake, she went out to the changing area, looking at herself in the mirror as she dried off.

Her reflection was suddenly fully clothed in the vestments of a miko, a slender golden tiara with fresh flowers thrust through it on her head, a mirror on the centre, over her forehead. She wore a thin over-mantle over the kimono, its translucent material embroidered with dancing dragons. Behind her, she could see nothing but the clouds of a stormy sky, roiling and changing, with occasional flashes of lightning. The clouds and lightning drew together, taking the shape of dragons, dancing like the embroidered ones.

There was a change in the distance, a darkness in the sky, deeper than the clouds, and it came pouring forwards, consuming the dragons, tearing them apart in straggling lines of vapour, until the background was nothing but the deepest darkness.

Which fell like a curtain, leaving the mirror black.

Akiko staggered back, and her reflection reappeared, with the changing area behind her. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she finished drying herself and dressing, keeping an eye on the mirror the whole time. It remained just a mirror.

The image of falling darkness preyed on her mind as she sat in the shrine office, looking out of the window but seeing nothing but her reflection. Were they really doing anything to deal with the pollution? Why was Mrs Watanabe so scared of the suggestion of a curse? What was going on with Kazumi? Had they really helped the situation with the pollution?

Akiko stood up to snap herself out of her brooding. Maybe she could actually do something about one of the questions. She checked the time; just after eight. Still early, really. She took her cell phone out, and called Akira.

“Hello? Ms Tanahata?”

“Yes, good evening. Is this a good time?”

“Yes, sure, no problem. What is it?”

“I was wondering if you could drive me round the area a bit. I want to look at the kegare. I want to see whether we’ve made any progress.”

“Oh, of course. When?”

“Er, could you do it now? Revd Shiraishi will want to go to bed early, because she has the morning watch, so I want to get back before she does.”

“Now?” He sounded a little surprised, but not upset. “Yes, yes. No problem. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thank you. See you soon, then.”

“See you soon.”

He hung up, and Akiko went in search of the priest. Shiraishi was just finishing eating, and sighed when Akiko explained what she wanted to do. The priest looked tired, and Akiko suddenly realised that she had been hoping to get to bed very soon.

“I’m sorry,” Akiko apologised, “I’ll get back as quickly as I can. But…”

“But you want to check.” The priest shook her head. “It’s fine. A good idea. I’ll cope. I don’t suppose Tamao has said anything useful?” Akiko also shook her head, and then quickly described the vision in the mirror. The priest looked irritated.

“That’s hardly a useful vision, is it. If the kami are going to talk to you, they could at least tell us something useful in the process.” She sighed, obviously frustrated. “Well, tell me what you find.” The doorbell rang, and the priest stood, carrying her dishes over to the sink. “That’s probably Akira now. Stay safe.”

“Of course.” It was only after Akiko and Akira had set off in the car that she realised that the priest’s final warning may not have been entirely conventional.

“Where to, then?” Akira asked.

“Let’s start with the Tanakas’ house. Then there was a park, and an old folks’ home, the bridge, and the river. I want to see how much kegare there is now.”

“You’re the boss.”

They drove in silence for a couple of minutes, before Akira cleared his throat, glancing quickly at Akiko.

“What… What does kegare look like?” Akiko glanced over at him, not sure that that had been the question he originally wanted to ask.

“Look like? To me? It… varies. Never good, though.”

“Yes, but, like what? You said something about a wall at the bridge.”

“Right. Well…” Akiko started describing some of the ways kegare had appeared.

“Here we are.” Akira interrupted her as he pulled up near the Tanakas’ house. “Do you want to go in?” Akiko shook her head.

“No, I want to check places as quickly as possible. One moment…” She switched her vision over, and sucked her breath in sharply.

The house was heavy with kegare again, looking like flaps of inflamed skin wrapped around it. This time, however, the pollution was no heavier than that of the houses around it, and Akiko glanced around, realising that they were near the centre of a concentration of the pollution. She switched her vision back, and shook her head.

“What is it?” Akira asked.

“Not good. Let’s look at the next place.”

The park was as heavy with kegare as it had been, and still full of prostitutes and drug dealers. On the bright side, there was no sign of the greater spirit Akiko had seen before. The old folks’ home looked as if they had never done anything. The road was a little more encouraging. There was a great deal of scaffolding, and notice boards explaining the repair works, and, although the kegare had increased, it was nowhere near as bad as it had been.

The river, however, was the best case. There was almost no kegare to be seen, and looking into the water, Akiko could make out the shape of the river spirit within the current, the fire of its scales burning away any bits of pollution that tried to settle there.

“This one was good?” Akira asked, as Akiko smiled.

“Yes. The spirit of the river seems to be keeping it pure.” She frowned again. “The other places were polluted again, though. The harae isn’t cleansing them permanently.” She pursed her lips, thinking for a moment, but nothing occurred to her. “Oh well, back to the shrine, I suppose.”

“Do you want to get a drink first? Or dinner?” Akira asked, but Akiko shook her head.

“No, I promised Revd Shiraishi I’d get back as quickly as possible.” She looked back at the river, wondering how they could find spirits elsewhere.

“Oh.” Akira sounded odd, and as Akiko glanced over it suddenly struck her that he’d asked her out for dinner.

“Oh, thank you for the invitation. But I really did promise Revd Shiraishi. I’m sorry, but I can’t do it tonight.”

“Oh, that’s OK. I’d better get you back before your curfew, then.” He looked at her and grinned, and she smiled back.

“I don’t have a curfew, Mr Takenaka.” Her mood suddenly turned serious again. “Just responsibilities…” she said, looking back out of the window at the city, smothered under the blanket of night.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 34 | 3 Comments »