Akiko could feel the approaching footsteps through the ground, as well as hear them, but she didn’t want to move just yet

“Akiko? Are you all right? Akiko?” Shiraishi sounded really concerned, so Akiko gathered her will and pushed herself up to a sitting position, looking round at the priest and nodding.

She really did seem to be all right. In fact, physically she felt great; she wasn’t at all tired, and nothing hurt. She nodded again, and slowly got to her feet. The memory of the agony was still too fresh, however, and she glanced nervously at the iwakura. The stones were just stones, standing there as normal. She didn’t even feel a presence within them.

“Are you sure? You look… strange.” Shiraishi still sounded worried, but slightly less urgently than before.

“I’m OK.” Akiko finally found her voice. “Really.”

“What happened?”

“Tamao’s…” She stopped, glancing back at the iwakura. “Let’s talk in the house.” She didn’t want to risk drawing the aramitama’s attention again, and talking about it while standing so close to the iwakura seemed like a good way to do just that.

Shiraishi just nodded, and stayed near her as they walked back, as if afraid that she would collapse at any moment. Akiko smiled at her, trying to be reassuring, but from the priest’s expression, it wasn’t very convincing.

Sitting in the reception room, with tea and sweets in front of them, Akiko prepared to tell her story. Shiraishi was sitting quietly, apparently ready to listen to anything.

“I think it was the aramitama,” Akiko began. “I had been practising with Yoshiko, and when I was coming back, it was as if the aramitama was watching me. Something drove me to dance, well, I suppose it was more run, really, around the stones, and then…”

She drew her breath in sharply, the memory suddenly becoming more vivid. She closed her eyes, and picked up a manju; eating something sweet distracted her for a moment.

“I think I was in hell.” The priest looked surprised, and Akiko shook her head. “No, that’s not right. Not hell. Maybe I was in the aramitama? There were storms, earthquakes, volcanos… I could feel anger.” It was getting hard to speak again, now, and Akiko picked up the tea to have something to do.

Shiraishi just waited in silence, watching her.

“I saw a festival. It was as if I was in the shrine precincts, watching it. There were two mikoshi, one carried by men and the other by women, and they were racing to be first back into the shrine. It was night time; the grounds were lit by braziers. And the men and women were wearing nothing but loincloths. The mikoshi… The mikoshi were beautiful, gold-plated with red lacquered torii on them.” Akiko managed a smile. This part of the vision was rather easier. “I think Tamao’s aramitama might want that festival.”

Shiraishi nodded, but remained silent as if waiting for Akiko to continue. Akiko just sipped her tea; she was not going to deliberately remember the rest of the vision.

“Well,” Shiraishi said, “I’m not sure what we can do about that. We couldn’t hold such a festival; quite apart from the cost of mikoshi, topless women running around is hardly appropriate, and would get them, and probably us, arrested.”

Akiko nodded.

“I’m not even sure what the vision means. But Yoshiko also suggested that holding a festival might be a good way to strengthen the kami and encourage the ujiko to come back.”

“Yes,” Shiraishi said, nodding slowly, “it might. But not one involving naked women, I think. We don’t need that sort of attention.”

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 1 Comment »

The doorbell rang, cutting off any further discussion. Akiko was quite surprised to see Noriko Yamanaka standing there, again dressed in a formal kimono.

“Good morning. I hoped that I would be able to offer my respects to the kami this morning.”

“Ah, of course.” Shiraishi also sounded a bit surprised. “If you wish, you may join us for the morning offerings.”

“I should be delighted to do so.” Ms Yamanaka bowed again, and Akiko bowed back, as did Shiraishi. Ms Yamanaka was certainly very polite, but Akiko wasn’t at all sure of her motives. Mr Fujimura’s statements were still fresh in Akiko’s mind, and made her worry over whether Ms Yamanaka had similar opinions.

Still, that didn’t make it any harder to carry out the morning ceremonies. As they were gathering the necessary equipment, Shiraishi muttered to Akiko,

“Just the goshintai and the iwakura.” Akiko nodded. Drawing attention to Mr Takenaka’s shrine didn’t seem like a good idea, and the sacred tree was a bit too mysterious to expose to just any visitor.

Ms Yamanaka was a model participant in the rituals, offering her tamagushi, sacred sakaki branch, in the correct way and, Akiko thought, possibly getting the bowing and clapping more right than Akiko herself did. She said nothing during the ceremonies, and afterwards simply thanked them, wished them well, and handed over her offering, in an envelope with very nice calligraphy on the front.

Akiko and Shiraishi watched her go, but as she started down the steps, someone else bounded into view.

Kazumi. Akiko noticed immediately that, while her skirt was still short, she was wearing tracksuit bottoms underneath it. The girl came running over to them, grinning.

“Hiya! Hey, Akiko, is this all right?” She grabbed the hem of her skirt, lifting it up so that Akiko could see the trousers. Akiko, fighting hard to suppress giggles, nodded, to give herself time to get enough composure to speak.

“Yes, Ms Miura, that’s fine. Thank you.” Kazumi smiled again, dropping her skirt.

“Great! I didn’t want to get it wrong. Oh! Should I have done the o-mairi first?”

“Well, yes, but…” Shiraishi began, but she was cut off.

“Oops! Be right back!” Kazumi ran across the shrine grounds to the water basin, purifying herself and then going to the usual spot to bow and clap.

“It’s a lot better with the trousers,” Shiraishi murmured to Akiko. “What is it with that girl?”

Akiko nodded in agreement, but she didn’t have an answer to the question. She had even less answer when Kazumi came back to them to hand over another five hundred yen.

“Ah,” Shiraishi said, “far be it from me to discourage you, but five yen is the traditional offering.”

“Really? But…” Kazumi glanced round the shrine. “That doesn’t seem… right.” Akiko was on the verge of asking whether Kazumi could see the kami, when the girl rushed on. “No, I think five hundred is OK. Anyway, gotta go to school.” She pulled a face, suggesting that she wasn’t happy at the idea, and waved to them as she ran for the stairs.

“I don’t understand either of them,” Shiraishi remarked as soon as Kazumi had gone.

“Me neither,” Akiko said, “but I understand Kazumi less.”

“Mm.” Shiraishi looked in the envelope Ms Yamanaka had left, and showed Akiko the ten thousand yen note. “Ms Yamanaka may be better for the shrine, though.”

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 5 Comments »

When Shiraishi and Akiko returned to the house after performing the morning ceremonies at the tree, they could hear a commotion from the foot of the steps. More of the protesters seemed to have arrived since Kazumi and Ms Yamanaka had been through, and they were now arguing with someone who wanted to come in.

“Put everything in the office,” Shiraishi said, putting her load down in the entrance hall. “I’ll go to see who it is.”

By the time Akiko reached the top of the steps everything was quiet. Looking down, she could see Shiraishi walking up accompanied by a middle-aged man, and the protesters gathered at the bottom, looking rather sullen.

“Mr Yamamoto, this is Akiko Tanahata, the shrine’s miko.” Shiraishi introduced Akiko to the man as soon as she reached the shrine grounds. “Ms Tanahata, this is Mr Yamamoto, one of the shrine’s ujiko.” Akiko bowed to him, and he bowed in return.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms Tanahata.”

“The pleasure is mine. I hope that we can be of service.”

“Please,” Shiraishi said, “this way.” She led the way into the house, and had Mr Yamamoto sit in the reception room. When Akiko got back with the tea, they were still talking about the weather. Shiraishi gestured for Akiko to stay, and offered Mr Yamamoto the sweets. He took one, placing it by his tea, and then fell silent.

“How can we help you, Mr Yamamoto?”

He looked up, glanced at Akiko, and then seemed to make a decision.

“First, I have to apologise for neglecting the shrine.”

Shiraishi bowed slightly, making non-committal noises.

“No, really. I… I made a mistake. You have to understand,” Mr Yamamoto went on, talking rather quickly, “that things were not easy. There were several people on the residents’ committee speaking out against the shrine, including Mr Akiyama, and he’s my daughter’s headmaster. I really didn’t think I could go against him, which was why I’ve been staying away from the shrine.”

Akiko glanced at Shiraishi; the priest looked shocked. It seemed that this was news to her, although Akiko had to admit that it made sense given what had been going on.

“Anyway,” Mr Yamamoto continued, “I’m sure that Mr Akiyama won’t do anything to my daughter just because I’ve come back here, and… and I was hoping that you would be able to do something about the bad luck we’ve been having.” He sounded very embarrassed as he finished, and he wasn’t looking at them. Akiko could sympathise. Admitting that you actually believed in the kami wasn’t a terribly easy thing to do, as she could testify from experience.

Shiraishi just nodded, calmly.

“We can perform a harae,” she said, “and that should purify you of anything that is causing bad luck. We could also do a ceremony for the safety of your family.”

“Yes!” Mr Yamamoto sounded very eager. “And for safe journeys? I’ve really started worrying about Mirai’s journeys to and from school.”

“Of course. Would you like to bring your family here for the ceremony?”

“Actually,” Mr Yamamoto dropped his voice, as if he didn’t want to be overheard, “I’m worried that our house is cursed. Could you come and purify it?”

It quite likely is, Akiko thought, remembering the prevalence of kegare across the city, and Shiraishi also quickly agreed.

“We should do the ceremony while your whole family is there. Would this evening be suitable?”

“Yes, yes. Thank you. Well, then. I will expect you later. Thank you again.”

After they had seen Mr Yamamoto off, Shiraishi turned to Akiko, her face dark.

“Just how long have people been campaigning against the shrine?”

Akiko, of course, had no idea.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 6 Comments »

“There are a lot of them down there today,” Akira said as he came into the shrine. “Anything special going on?” Akiko looked at him for a moment, and then shook her head.

“Not really. Mr Yamamoto came this morning, but there’s not been anyone else since.”

“Hmm. Maybe a lot of them had free time today. Anyway, they did seem to be just hanging around there, so maybe it’s nothing to worry about. How are you, anyway?”

“Me? Oh, I’m fine.” She was, as well. Provided she kept busy, so that she didn’t remember the vision, she felt great. All her exhaustion seemed to have vanished, something that she suspected was due to the vision. Not worth it, she thought, and quickly tried to take her mind off it. “How are you?”

“Not too bad, thank you for asking. Work is holding up, which is good, and I’m steadily getting a better grip on how everything functions. Give it another six months and I might actually be running the company, rather than just following lots of advice.” He grinned, blushing slightly. Akiko smiled, and nodded. It did sound like things were going quite well for him. “Actually,” he continued, “I was just wondering…”

At that moment, Shiraishi appeared, with the equipment for the ceremony.

“Ah, Akira. Thanks for coming again. I’m sorry we have to keep asking you.”

“Oh, really, it’s a pleasure.” Akiko was sure he looked at her as he said that.

“Well, thank you anyway,” the priest replied. “Akiko, could you take this pile down to the car, please? See you later, Akira.”

“Yes, take care.”

Akiko picked up her pile and, with a quick smile for Akira, headed for the exit, followed by Shiraishi.

At the top of the steps, she paused, looking down. There were a lot more protesters than normal and, while they were quiet at the moment, they were lined up along the sides of the steps; there was barely room to walk down the middle. Akiko could see Mrs Watanabe, and some other familiar faces, including Naoyuki, but Mr Akiyama wasn’t there. She started to feel nervous, and glanced at Shiraishi. The priest also didn’t look pleased.

“Well, I guess we’re going to have to walk down the centre. I’ll go first.”

As soon as she set foot on the steps, the protesters started chanting.

“Shinto: NO! Fascism: NO!”

Doing her best to ignore them, Akiko followed after Shiraishi.

When they reached the highest protesters, Akiko realised that there really was only barely enough room to walk down. She tried to pull herself in, make herself smaller, but she couldn’t help brushing against them.

The first push came a couple of steps down. It wasn’t very strong, and Akiko easily kept her balance. She kept her eyes forward, refusing to acknowledge it, but then she was pushed again on the next step. This time she did glance to the side, and the protester there was glaring at her, her face angry. Akiko looked back to the front.

The next push was quite strong, knocking her into the protester on the other side, who pushed again. She lost her balance, and dropped her pile as she flung her arms, grabbing onto the protesters, who pushed her off, and finally stumbling against Shiraishi’s back. The priest, fortunately, did not fall.

Grateful that she hadn’t been carrying anything fragile, Akiko began gathering the scattered objects. The protesters were not helpful, but at least they had stopped pushing.

At the bottom of the steps, they passed Ms Yamanaka, still in her kimono, an expression of shock on her face.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 6 Comments »

“What do they think they are doing?”

Once they were in the car, Akiko felt safe letting her anger out.

“Trying to close the shrine down.” Shiraishi sounded less angry, more resolved. “I’m not going to let them.”

“No, of course not. But we can’t let them block the entrance like that.”

“No. And pushing you was assault, surely.”

“Do we call the police?”

“Can you remember who pushed you?” The priest glanced briefly across at her, and Akiko shook her head.

“I wasn’t paying attention to that.”

“I didn’t think so… So we probably can’t go to the police.” She paused for a moment. “Maybe I should ask Tamao to curse them.” It didn’t entirely sound like a joke, and for a moment Akiko thought it was a good idea. Then she remembered some of the things that had happened when Mr Takenaka was cursing the area.

“Ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t actually want to kill any of them. Right?”

“I wasn’t entirely serious, Akiko. Admittedly, largely because I agree with you that Tamao would probably take it too far rather than because I wouldn’t like to do it. No, we’ll have to think of something else. Well, this is the house,” Shiraishi said, as she brought the car to a stop. “How does it look?”

Akiko looked out of the window, shifting her vision to look at kegare, and shuddered.

“Bad,” she said. There was a worm-thing wrapped around the house, one end splitting into a dozen blind heads, all of which were probing at the windows and doors, trying to get in. It didn’t seem to have noticed them, though. “I think a purification would be a very good idea.”

Inside the house, Mr Yamamoto introduced his wife and daughter. All of them were heavy with kegare, but the daughter, who looked about ten, was covered with what looked like cockroaches, and she kept flinching as if she could feel it when they bit at her. When she turned to walk into the living room, the spirits surged around and under her feet, biting at her legs and ankles and making her stumble. Akiko tried to keep her face under control, but she looked at Shiraishi, and shook her head slightly. The priest nodded, and led the way into the living room.

To Akiko’s eyes, the walls were full of narrow gashes, surrounded by fungi, and from which dozens of cockroaches appeared to scuttle all over the walls, before vanishing into another gap. A thumping sound drew her attention to the window, and she could see the worm thing outside, trying to get in.

The roaches scattered as they set up the himorogi, and then rushed for the gaps in the walls as Shiraishi began the norito. The fungi seemed to catch fire in the light that washed from the ohnusa, and Akiko saw the worm thing outside flinch back, its skin smoking. She glanced back at the family, and the roaches were pouring off the daughter, running for cover, even as limbs dropped from them, as their bodies fell apart, becoming dry husks that eroded to dust.

As Shiraishi intoned the prayer for safety, Akiko saw auras of light settle around the family, and for a moment she thought she saw a glittering, many-coloured snake within them, but it was gone before she could be sure. The wounds in the walls were healed, and the worm had apparently vanished.

The girl looked a lot happier when they had finished, and even asked Akiko what it was like being a miko. Then she blushed, and beckoned her closer.

“Is it true you don’t wear knickers?” she whispered.

“No,” Akiko replied. Oh, for crying out loud! Has everyone heard that story?

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 4 Comments »

Akiko checked the house again from the outside, confirming that it looked to be clear of kegare. Shiraishi checked the envelope when they got in the car, and whistled quietly.

“Fifty thousand,” she said. “Mr Yamamoto is obviously serious about making up for neglecting us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, that’s about as much as he would normally have given to the shrine over the last few months, while he has been avoiding us. I wonder whether the ceremony was just an excuse?”

“I don’t think so,” Akiko said. “The kegare was really bad.”

“Hm. Well, in any case, a good thing.” Akiko had to agree, but she had another question.

“Revd Shiraishi, the girl, Mirai, asked me whether it was true that miko didn’t wear knickers.” The priest started laughing as she turned the ignition. “It’s not funny! I don’t want people thinking I’m going commando under here.”

“Oh, Akiko. It’s a very memorable rumour, that’s all. Although,” she suddenly became serious, “I wonder whether someone has been spreading it deliberately? It would put a lot of girls off asking for a job as a miko, which wouldn’t help the shrine.”

“It would, yes.” Akiko thought for a moment. “Well, possibly not Kazumi.” The priest laughed again.

“No, possibly not her. Oh, no.” Akiko looked forward again, at the crowd gathered at the foot of the steps to the shrine. There were a lot of them, and there seemed to be an argument going on. Shiraishi pulled the car over to the side of the road. “We’d better see what’s going on.”

There was an argument going on, but it died down as people noticed Shiraishi and Akiko approaching, and turned to stare at them, the protesters with hostility, but a significant group with what looked like relief. Akiko didn’t think she recognised any of them, but looking up, she saw Akira standing on the steps, above the protesters, and he was looking at her with what was definitely relief. She smiled and nodded her thanks, while Shiraishi greeted the non-protesters by name. Ujiko, perhaps? Akiko wondered.

Shiraishi turned back to the protesters.

“What is going on here?”

“We are just putting forward our point of view.” It was one of the men who answered, and, looking around, Akiko realised that Mrs Watanabe wasn’t there.

“And what would that be?”

“That people should not be worshipping at the shrine.”

“Fine. You’ve put your point to them. Now get out of their way.”

“It’s not that simple. For the sake of the nation, for the sake of the world, we have to fight for our position.”

Shiraishi started laughing, and the man looked rather shocked. It clearly wasn’t the reaction her was expecting.

“For the sake of… the world?” Shiraishi drew a deep breath, and shook her head, still grinning. “Come on. This is a small local shrine in Kawasaki. Nothing that happens here is going to have any influence on the world. Do you really think it’s worth fighting over? Breaking the law over?”

The protesters looked a bit sheepish, as if they had also realised that the claim was ridiculously over-inflated. Shiraishi looked at all of them, and then pressed her point.

“The steps are shrine property. You’re all trespassing. Are you going to move before I call the police?”

“You can’t beat us this easily!” the man said, but he was getting off the steps, along with the others, and the ujiko were starting to make their way up. Shiraishi passed the car keys to Akiko.

“Can you park it and bring the things up while I deal with the ujiko?” She didn’t stop for an answer, but fortunately Akira had come down the steps, and took the car keys from her.

“I remember that you can’t drive.”

As the protesters stared sullenly at them, Akiko was also glad not to have been left alone.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 1 Comment »

The protesters did nothing but watch Akiko and Akira as they unloaded the car and carried things back to the shrine, for which Akiko was very grateful. Back in the house, Akira put his load down, and then stood, slightly awkwardly.

“Thanks,” Akiko said, but Akira still didn’t say anything, or leave, and he wasn’t looking at her. Akiko realised that he wanted to say something, but she couldn’t think of a good question to ask, so she just waited.

“Akiko! Could you bring some tea?” Shiraishi called to her from inside the house, and, with a smile and bow of apology to Akira, she turned and called back.

“Of course.”

“Well, see you soon,” Akira said, as he turned to go.

“Yes, take care.” He just nodded, and Akiko stood for a moment, looking after him, wondering what he had wanted to say. Something about his father? But Shiraishi and the ujiko were waiting, and she had to hurry to the kitchen to make the tea.

The ujiko were there to have a ceremony performed, so as soon as they had drunk their tea they were back out in the shrine precincts, setting the himorogi up in the rapidly fading light and performing a harae and prayer for family safety and business success. Akiko saw that the ujiko had a lot of kegare before the purification, but there was nothing remarkable about it, not given how much of it there was around. After the ceremony, Akiko still felt alert, hardly tired at all, even though she wasn’t sure that she had slept at all. She didn’t anticipate any problems with the watch duty in the first part of the night.

She wasn’t tired, that was certainly true. But with nothing to demand her attention, her gaze kept drifting back to the iwakura, and her mind back to what had happened the previous night. She forced herself to look away, desperate not to draw the kami’s attention again, but she couldn’t shut the memory out of her mind. She couldn’t sit still in the office, but when she went outside her stomach lurched in fear, and she couldn’t make herself take another step, go any closer to the iwakura.

In the end, she found herself making endless cups of green tea, and thus spending an inordinate amount of time in the toilet. Still, it kept her mind off the iwakura, and when Shiraishi came in the early hours to relieve her, she went to bed hoping that she would sleep.

She woke with no memory of falling asleep, from a dream in which she had forgotten to put any knickers on under her miko’s vestments.

Well, at least that one wasn’t a message from the kami, she thought, wryly, as she tried to get comfortable and fall asleep again. She felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to get up, and put on her miko’s vestments. For a while she lay still, fighting it, but it only got stronger, and, with a sigh, she got out of bed. Carefully putting on knickers first, she dressed in the vestments, and picked up the kagurasuzu from the office as she made her way out of the house and into the shrine grounds.

The grounds were lit by the pulsing red light coming from the iwakura, and Akiko flinched back as she felt the warmth coming off it. Tamao was also there, coiled around the iwakura, looking at her.

“Do not fear, Bright Child.”

Akiko realised that Tamao was between her and the iwakura, protecting her from it, preventing her from being sucked in. She quickly knelt, bowing, clapping, and bowing.

“Lord Tamao, what do you want me to do?” She hardly dared hope for a straight answer, but she figured that it was worth a try.

“Watch the gate.”

Akiko turned to face the entrance to the shrine. There was no gate, of course, as they still hadn’t been able to replace the torii, but it was clear what Tamao had meant. The red light from behind her got stronger, as did the heat, and Akiko could feel sweat start to run down her back. Her stomach fluttered, but she remembered Tamao, between her and the stones, and forced herself to calm down.

Then something appeared outside the gate, above the steps, flying, like a bat with tattered wings, a tongue far longer than its body lolling from its mouth. It approached the edge of the precincts, and then shied away, flying back with a piercing screech. Another came up to join it, and another, and still more, along with rat-like creatures scuttling on the ground, probing at the boundaries of the shrine.

The red light flared again, very bright now, clearly picking out the creatures’ deformities, the weeping sores, the scars from burns and broken and barely mended limbs. The heat was even more intense, and Akiko could feel the sweat beading on her forehead as a hot wind started to blow from behind her, driving the flying creatures back and catching the ribbons attached to the kagurasuzu, making them dance wildly.

And then one of the rat-things darted across the boundary, in the face of the wind, the grass of the precincts curling and dying under its feet, greasy black smoke rising to be whipped away by a gale which blew even more strongly, but which could not force it back. Akiko was moving on the instant, swinging the kagurasuzu down, the sound of the bells also caught by the wind, sending the rat tumbling backwards with a squeal, out of the precincts and down the steps.

Even as she drew breath and straightened up, one of the flying creatures swooped in at an angle, coming at the boundary too quickly, wings folded small against the wind. Akiko thrust the bells up, and felt something actually strike them, felt it as a dazzling flash of golden light blinded her for an instant full of ringing bells.

Her vision cleared almost instantly, and even in the heat she felt energy flowing through her, driving her as she leapt sideways to intercept another rat, then up against a bat, and down again as she landed to block another spirit from scuttling in. There were things like centipedes there now, winding in and out of the feet of the rats, all scared of the kagurasuzu.

All scared of her.

The sweat was no longer beading on her; instead it was running down her face and body like a hundred tiny rivers, drops of salt water flying from her hair and fingers as she moved, burning the spirits with golden light wherever they touched. Her vestments should have been soaked, but they were not, flying light around her body as she danced.

As she blocked three rats, a centipede scuttled across at the other side, the grass dying beneath it as it started trying to burrow into the earth, and Akiko stumbled, before catching herself and launching herself at it. The kagurasuzu came down hard, crushing it in a gout of fire. She stood, sweeping her arms across the entrance, scattering salt water as the bells rang and the spirits shrank back once more.

She sprang forward, spinning, water spraying from her hair and hands as the bells rang and a great light burst from the kagurasuzu. She landed at the entrance and brought the bells down in both hands, striking three of the creatures, consuming them in fire.

The spirits broke, then, pouring back down the steps, away from the shrine.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 36 | 2 Comments »