“That was the last,” Shiraishi said, as a journalist made his way down the steps. “Now I guess we just wait to see whether it works.”

The television crew hadn’t been the only journalists to visit the shrine that day, but they were the most noticeable; the others were all from newspapers and websites, and needed no more than an interview and a few photographs. They had all seemed willing to ignore the protesters, which Akiko suspected was a good thing; no point in giving anyone ideas. For all that, it had taken a whole day, and she was glad that it was finally over.

“Do we let the guards out again now?” she asked, half smiling. Shiraishi smiled properly in response.

“They seem to prefer it inside. But yes, I suppose we should. I’ll go and tell them.” As the priest returned to the house, Akiko looked back at the iwakura. She could still see the flame in the stones, even though no-one else seemed to. What did that mean?

“I feel dreadful.” Kazumi, breathing hard at the top of the steps. “Absolutely crap. I can’t remember school ever being quite so soul-destroying. Zombies, all of them. Or hollow corpses with perverted tentacle monsters hiding inside.”

Akiko had turned, and was about to greet Kazumi when the last sentence brought her up short. But Kazumi had also stopped speaking, and Akiko managed to collect her wits.

“Good evening.” As she spoke, she switched her vision to look at the kegare, and her breath caught in her throat.

Kazumi was totally hidden, wrapped in what looked like an enormously long scarf, old wool stained with mould and mildew, heavy with the damp and musty smell of years of neglect and decay. Something moved within the weave, something writhing, probably maggots. Even as she watched, things began emerging from the wool, things with too many legs, the wrong number of legs. Things that had hidden from the barrier of light.

“I’ll get Revd Shiraishi,” she said. “We’ll do you a harae.”

The scarf fell away as the priest shook the ohnusa, crumbling into a cloud of dust that was swept away by the breeze. Kazumi breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“That’s so much better. I’ll go and get changed.”

Kazumi decided to go home a bit early, still feeling the lack of sleep, and the festival seemed to have caught up with Akiko and Shiraishi as well; at any rate, Akiko went to bed early, and it was well after dawn when she finally woke up, woken by the doorbell.

Shiraishi didn’t look much more awake when they met at the door, and they were both relieved to see that it was only Kazumi.

“I feel dreadful,” was her opening gambit. “Any chance of a harae?” Akiko quickly switched her vision over, and had to clench her jaw as she felt her stomach heave.

Kazumi was covered in open sores, sores that had eaten away half of her face, and much of the flesh of her arms and legs. Her school uniform was untouched, clean and well-pressed, but the body within it looked like it should be dead, and smelled like it already was.

Akiko looked away, in time to see Noriko enter the shrine grounds, two giant centipedes, one glistening green, the other blue, wrapped around her, their legs digging into her kimono, their mandibles waving in the air as they passed through the barrier of light.

“Harae. Now,” was all Akiko could say.

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 2 Comments »

The harae had barely finished when Shiraishi remembered that the news segment was being broadcast that morning, and they all rushed inside to watch the television. It had already started, but they caught the end of the ceremony, and the interview. Shiraishi smiled, looking pleased, and Akiko agreed.

“That is so cool. Why didn’t you call me?”

“You were in school, Kazumi.”

“Hmf,” she pouted, and then sprang up. “And I’ll be late! Thanks for the harae!” She ran out of the house, stopping the conversation for a moment.

“Well,” Noriko broke the silence, “it certainly won’t hurt. Do you think many people will come?”

“I have no idea,” Shiraishi replied.

The first people came within half an hour, while Shiraishi and Akiko were talking about how they could take the power of the kami out to the kegare, as Tamao had commanded. They wanted to talk about the pool, of course, which interrupted the discussion.

By eleven, it had become a steady stream, most of whom were making small gifts. The traditional five yen was a popular option, and Akiko worked out that if the entire population of Kawasaki came about fifty times each, they might raise enough to rebuild the shrine. She mentioned that to Shiraishi, but the priest wasn’t worried.

“They’ve remembered about the shrine, so some will come for ceremonies, or make other donations,” she said. “And five yen is still five yen.” There was a splashing sound in the background, and they glanced over, sighing. “Well, if they would just refrain from throwing it into the water. You tell them, Akiko. I’m going to make a sign.”

Akiko went over to explain to the latest visitors that they weren’t supposed to throw the money into the pool, and they were very apologetic, asking several questions about where the water was coming from. As she pointed out the spring within the iwakura, Akiko was very conscious of the flame she could see above it. Why can I see that all the time? And why can’t anyone else?

The first person to try to get into the pool was an older man, around mid-morning. Akiko spotted him before he could take off too many clothes, and she hurried over to explain why he couldn’t. She risked a quick glance at his kegare, and the worms crawling over his skin were just one more reason why he had to stay out of the water.

The visitors were all, Akiko realised, bringing their pollution with them, but none of it was affecting the shrine; the grounds stayed utterly clear, even when a drunken group of young men who were positively laden down with it came in. They also looked like they were about to get in the pool, and Akiko had to call the guards up before they could be persuaded not to. For the first time, Akiko found herself simply grateful that the guards were there.

The man from the council came around midday, explaining that he’d come over in his lunch break to see the spring. He peered into the iwakura, tasted the water, and then looked up at them, clearly surprised.

“I really think this is a natural spring. We’ll need to run some tests and get the paperwork sorted out, but…” He looked back at the water, and smiled. “I didn’t think I’d get the chance to deal with a new one.”

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 1 Comment »

“Hello, Tamao Shrine. How can I help you?” Akiko was leaning through the window of the shrine office to answer the phone, twisting round to keep an eye on the harae Shiraishi was performing in front of the iwakura.

“I was wondering whether you could come and perform a purification at our home,” the caller asked. “We are all feeling very run-down, and have had bad luck recently.”

Akiko looked at the schedule, written on a large pad next to the phone, and frowned. That evening was already fully booked.

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to do it today,” she began.

“Why not?” The caller sounded both annoyed and worried.

“We’ve already had as many requests as we can do in one evening.” Quickly flipping the page over, she went on before he could say anything. “We could come tomorrow evening, however. Would that be convenient?”

“I could call another shrine,” he said, a little sullenly.

“You could, certainly.” Years of experience in an office helped Akiko keep her voice calm and polite, even as she worried about whether other shrines could clear the pollution. Presumably, she thought, but she didn’t know. There was a pause.

“Well, I suppose tomorrow evening will be OK.”

“Thank you. Could you tell me your name and address?”

As the conversation ended, Shiraishi was just finishing the harae, and another small group had entered the shrine. They looked like a family, and for a moment they seemed to be clear of kegare. Then Akiko heard a dreadful baying from beyond the curtain of light, a noise to which no-one else reacted, and a pack of mangy dogs, their jaws foaming and eyes wild, sprang through to mill around the family, nipping at them, leaping onto their backs, and winding round their legs.

Suppressing her nervousness, Akiko walked over to them. The dogs formed a ring with their eyes fixed on Akiko, growling in a tone that set her teeth on edge. Akiko had to fight to keep from gagging at the stench that came off them, from the sores and pus matting their fur, and the gangrenous wounds that marked their bodies.

“How can I help you?” she asked as she drew close, the dogs backing off, but never taking their eyes off her.

“We would like a purification, if possible. Things just haven’t been going right lately.”

No, I don’t imagine they have, Akiko thought, forcing herself not to glance down at the dogs.

“Of course. If you’d like to come inside and wait, we will perform the ceremony as soon as possible. I’m afraid that there are already people waiting, so it might be about half an hour.”

“Oh.” The man looked nonplussed for a moment, and glanced at the woman who was, presumably, his wife. She nodded, and he looked back to Akiko. “Yes, that’s fine. Er, I’ll need to quickly call the office. You go ahead.” He had turned back to his wife now, and as he walked back towards the entrance to the shrine, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, two of the dogs trailed him. Akiko led the family to the waiting room, and then went back to the entrance, to wait for the man.

They weren’t going to get out to purify the area if this kept up.

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 4 Comments »

As the afternoon drew on, the number of visitors dropped off a little, giving Akiko and Shiraishi time to talk.

“We need someone else to watch the shrine,” Akiko said, and Shiraishi nodded.

“We could call…” she began, and then fell silent. Akiko blushed slightly; she knew what Shiraishi had been about to say. The priest seemed to have noticed what was going on.

“I’m sure Akira is busy with his job at the moment,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “It’s not fair to impose on him.”

“No,” Shiraishi agreed. “In any case, I think what we really need is another priest. I can’t keep up with demand.”

“And we still haven’t been out to purify the area,” Akiko noted. Shiraishi pulled a face.

“No. And Tamao…”

“Harae! Harae now, please!” Kazumi’s voice sounded truly pained, as if she was dying of thirst, and Akiko and Shiraishi both suppressed smiles as they turned to look at her, leaning theatrically on the wall of the shrine house. “I’m dying here!” Still fighting the smile, Akiko switched her vision.

The rats swarming over the girl’s body were gnawing at her stomach, and blood was already running down her legs, soaking the sweat pants and dripping onto the ground, where it boiled and vanished. One rat turned towards Akiko and screeched, before disappearing under Kazumi’s blouse, another red stain spreading across the white.

“Yes, of course. Right away.” Akiko knew she had gone white, and Shiraishi obviously heard the strain in her voice, because she looked at her in shock, and then just nodded.

“This way, Kazumi.”

The harae worked, the rats disappearing as the wounds to Kazumi’s stomach healed, and the girl breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s so much better.”

“Where have you been?” Akiko asked.

“Huh? School. Like, where else would I go?” Kazumi looked genuinely surprised. “Why?”

“Which school is yours?”

“Goshozuka High. Don’t you recognise the uniform?”

“I don’t have a sailor suit fetish,” Akiko said, forcing a grin.

“Ah, of course, sorry. You’re into miko! I’d better go change!” Kazumi was grinning broadly, and Akiko felt herself blush. “Ha!” Kazumi’s laugh was triumphant, and Akiko realised that she’d been teased again.

“We need to go out…” Shiraishi called.

“What?” Kazumi called back from inside the house. “Can’t hear you.” Akiko rolled her eyes, and hurried into the house. She glanced into the room they used for changing, but Kazumi wasn’t there.

“Where are you?”

“Bathroom.” Kazumi popped out of the door, naked apart from her knickers, and Akiko quickly shooed her back into the changing area.

“We have to go and perform some purifications, so you’ll be watching the shrine by yourself. Is that OK?”

“So, just me, the giant snake, and the aramitama?” She paused in the entrance to the bathroom and grinned again. “We’ll be fine.”

She pulled the door shut behind her, and Akiko heard a shower start. For a moment she couldn’t work out what was odd about Kazumi’s response, and then it hit her. The girl was thinking of the kami as an ally, not part of the problem. It must be nice to be so trusting, she thought.

The door opened again, revealing a wet Kazumi.

“You can come in and watch if you like.” Akiko felt herself blushing furiously, and shook her head. Kazumi just convulsed in laughter again, and started to close the door, before pulling it open again.

“Oh, could I stay here tonight? I really feel a lot better in the shrine. Just ask Revd Shiraishi for me, OK?” She closed the door before Akiko could say anything, and moments later the shower started running again.

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 3 Comments »

Shiraishi had said yes, so they put Kazumi up in one of the spare rooms, putting a futon down for her. Akiko waited, still in her vestments, until she couldn’t hear anything from Kazumi’s room, and then left her room quietly, through the windows.

It was dark in the shrine precincts, but Akiko waited until she was away from the house before turning her torch on. The air was very still, heavy with the warmth and humidity of the day, and Akiko was soon sweating. There were a few noises of animals and insects around her, and then something that sounded a bit like footsteps behind her.

She swung round, playing the torch’s beam over the area behind her, but she couldn’t see anything. She thought she saw some movement at the edge of the woodland, but when she trained the torch on that spot, there was nothing. She stood for a moment, considering, and then quickly switched her vision over to look for kegare. If it was someone from outside the shrine, she reasoned, she should be able to see their pollution.

The light from the barrier washed over the precincts, rendering Akiko’s torch unnecessary. Feeling slightly foolish, she switched it off, and searched for any sign of pollution. There was none, just small spirits playing in the air, a cloud of moth-spirits, in particular, dancing by the woods, the white and silver of their wings drawing sparkling patterns. Akiko smiled, and turned back. There didn’t seem to be anyone, and if there was, it was Shiraishi or Kazumi, she decided, and it wouldn’t be a disaster if they did follow her.

Once she entered the woodland, the light from the barrier got fainter, so she turned the torch back on, keeping it on the ground so that she could be sure of her footing. There was a hum at the edge of hearing, and as she concentrated on it she thought she caught the sound of laughter. Looking around, she realised that it must be the voices of the small spirits she could see playing in the trees, some watching her, others apparently uninterested in the miko walking through their territory. Akiko bowed slightly to a spirit, shaped like a raven, watching her from one branch, and was a bit surprised when it gravely bowed back.

The area around the tree was quiet, the tree itself an overwhelming presence, so strong that Akiko had to change her vision back to normal. She walked over to put the torch down, and rest her hands on the ancient trunk. As ever, calm flowed into her, along with an urge to embrace it.

“Tree hugging?” Kazumi’s voice was amused, and Akiko spun round to see the girl standing at the edge of the clearing, dressed in a yukata.

“You followed me!”

“I wondered where you were off to in full vestments in the middle of the night. Is this a sacred tree?”

Akiko sighed. Not a disaster, but possibly a bit inconvenient.

“Yes, it is.”

“Ooh.” Kazumi stepped up to it, and laid her hands gently on the trunk. “Oh!” she said, sounding surprised. “It… talks to you?”

“Yes,” Akiko said. Maybe it’s as well to introduce her to the tree, she thought. “We think the tree is some sort of kami.” Kazumi was embracing the tree now, pressing her body and her cheek against it. She nodded vaguely, then took a step back, away from Akiko.

She undid her belt and shrugged off her yukata in one fluid moment, and Akiko barely had time to register that she was naked underneath before she stepped forward, out of her sandals, and embraced the tree again.

And vanished.

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 5 Comments »

Akiko stared at the tree in shock, her mind racing.

“Kazumi!” she shouted, but there was no reply, and she hadn’t really been expecting one.

“Good evening. Who is Kazumi?”

Akiko turned round to face Yoshiko, and bowed her own greeting.

“Kazumi is another miko at the shrine.” Yoshiko looked around.

“Has she run off?”

“Not exactly.” Akiko paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, and then pointed at the discarded yukata. “She touched the tree, and it seems that it made the same suggestion to her that it always does. But she actually did it, and then she disappeared.”

Yoshiko looked a bit confused for a moment, glancing between the yukata and the tree, and then her eyes widened.

“You mean she embraced the tree naked? And disappeared?”

“Right.”

Hesitantly, Yoshiko took a couple of steps forward, and placed one hand lightly on the bark.

“It feels the same as ever,” she said, as she lifted her hand off. Akiko tried it, and all her worries drained away into the rough warmth of the bark. She lifted her hand off again, and nodded.

“But what do we do?” Yoshiko frowned at the question, and looked back at the tree.

“It doesn’t look any different,” she said. Akiko quickly changed her vision so that she could see the spirits, and it was true; the tree was unchanged. It still seemed to tower into the sky, looming over the trees around them, the power of life flowing through it like a great river. Akiko started to feel dizzy, and shifted her vision back. Yoshiko flashed her a quick smile.

“You can’t look at it truly for long, can you? Too much power.” Akiko nodded, suddenly realising that Yoshiko could look for the spirits as well. Of course, she told herself. That shouldn’t be surprising.

“We could ask Tamao,” Akiko suggested. Yoshiko thought for a moment, and then nodded.

“We can try, anyway.” She looked around. “I suppose we had best head for the sanctuary. Ah, that way?” She pointed through the trees, and Akiko nodded.

It got lighter as they made their way through the trees, until it was full daylight when they emerged into the open. The copper roof of the shrine sanctuary shone in the sunlight, the white wood glowing with a more welcoming warmth. Akiko and Yoshiko glanced at each other, and then slowly made their way round to the front, kneeling before the shrine.

“Good Child, Bright Child.” Even as she bowed to the ground, Akiko thought Tamao sounds surprised. Why does he sound surprised? Akiko and Yoshiko clapped together, twice, then bowed once more.

“How are you here together?” Akiko had to fight to keep her face calm. “Good Child, how can you be here now?”

“Lord Tamao,” Yoshiko said, “we came from the kami tree.” The snake reared up, light flashing from its scales and lightning dancing around its lips.

“Ah. Yes.”

“Lord Tamao,” Akiko said, “Beautiful Harmony has disappeared. She embraced the kami tree, and vanished.”

“She embraced it naked?” Tamao seemed amused, but Akiko couldn’t work out how she knew. “Well.”

“What should we do?”

The snake looked at them quizzically for a moment, its golden eyes unblinking.

“Follow her, of course. Bring her back.”

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 9 Comments »

As they bowed once more, Tamao retreated back into the sanctuary, leaving them alone. They stood, and starting walking back to the tree, in silence at first.

“That was…” Akiko wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to say. “How can you be here now?” she remembered, and now that she thought about it, that fitted with other things she knew about Yoshiko. But she couldn’t ask about that. “Unusually direct,” she finished.

Yoshiko nodded, and suddenly smiled.

“Yes. A straightforward instruction from Tamao. Not quite a first, but still.”

“Why is he so indirect?” It had been bothering Akiko for a while, but there weren’t many people she could ask.

“I don’t think he means to be,” Yoshiko said. “I think he just doesn’t understand the way we think.”

“Oh, yes,” Akiko replied, remembering when she, Shiraishi, and Kazumi had all seen the kami. “He said something like that to us.”

“Really?” Yoshiko looked at her, and then suddenly pulled a face. “Actually, I was rather hoping it was deliberate.”

“Why?”

“Because then there’d be a chance of getting him to stop.” Akiko tried to fight down the giggles that provoked, but when she realised that Yoshiko was also trying to stay serious, she gave up.

Both miko were still laughing when they returned to the tree, Kazumi’s yukata lying at its base. They stopped abruptly.

“It was a very straightforward instruction,” Yoshiko said, looking at Akiko.

“Yes,” Akiko replied, glancing at Yoshiko, and then back at the tree. “I suppose there’s only one way to do this.” She looked back at Yoshiko, who took a deep breath and nodded.

Neither of them moved.

“Kazumi just got undressed?” Yoshiko sounded a bit sceptical.

“Kazumi really doesn’t seem to care about that sort of thing.”

“Oh.”

They stood there for a bit longer, and Akiko suddenly shook herself.

“This is ridiculous. Tamao is obviously right.” She reached for the belt of her hakama, and started to undo it. As she did, Yoshiko also seemed released from the trance, and began to undress.

When they were both naked, they stepped up to the tree, Akiko keeping her eyes fixed on the trunk.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready,” Yoshiko replied. Together, they stepped forward, reaching out, touching the bark, pressing their bodies against it.

They stood, side by side, breathing hard, at the foot of a great tree. Sunlight filtered through the leaves above them, while the roots were rough and warm under their bare feet. Akiko felt as though she had just dived through icy water, or perhaps fallen from a great height, or, no, maybe it was more like running through fire. She looked at Yoshiko.

“Are you OK?”

The other miko nodded, looking around.

“Where are we?”

It was a good question. They were surrounded by trees, all as ancient and tall as the kami tree, their branches meeting overhead in a canopy of leaves, their roots stretching out to cover the ground. A gentle breeze blew, caressing Akiko’s skin, pleasantly warm.

Akiko switched her vision over, and gasped.

The trees were all huge, throbbing with life, each leaf pulsing with energy, even a leaf was overwhelming.

Akiko switched her vision back, breathing hard, and realised that Yoshiko was doing the same.

“Did you look?” she asked, and the other miko nodded.

“So much… power. Energy. Life.” Akiko nodded.

“Do you think this is where the kami tree came from?”

“Maybe. Or maybe this is the kami.”

“This forest?”

“Why not?”

Akiko couldn’t answer that, so she just nodded, as she looked round again. She felt, not calm, exactly, but not worried. Exalted, maybe.

“We should look for…”

“I thought I heard voices.” It was Kazumi, above them. Akiko looked up into the tree, to see the girl among the branches. She swung nimbly down, landing in front of them, on the uneven roots, without even stumbling.

“Isn’t this place great?” Kazumi’s eyes were shining. “I mean, did you see that? I just swung out of the tree!” Akiko wasn’t sure what she meant, and Kazumi seemed to pick up on her puzzlement. “I’m not a gymnast,” she explained. “I can’t normally do that. Go on, you try.” Akiko looked up at the tree. It seemed a long way up, certainly further than she thought she could jump. “Look, just jump for the lower branches. Like this.”

Kazumi crouched, and sprang. Her hands closed around a branch, and she swung herself round it and up, releasing her grip at just the right time to land sitting on it. Akiko just stared at her.

“I can’t do that!” Yoshiko was nodding beside her.

“Me neither. Where did you learn it?”

“Here,” Kazumi replied. “Look, just try it. Come on, Akiko.”

Akiko squinted up into the tree, choosing a branch she thought she would be able to sit on. Well, maybe I can do it here, she thought, before crouching.

Her legs seemed stronger than normal, and her hands closed around the branch easily, instinctively. She swung her legs forward without thinking, pivoting up and around, releasing the branch as she tumbled over in the air, and then grabbing it again as she came to rest on top of it, the texture of the bark against her skin sending shivers through her.

Moments later, Yoshiko was sitting on a third branch, a look of wonder on her face.

“Ah. I’m Kazumi Miura, a miko at Tamao Shrine. Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Yoshiko. I’m also a miko at Tamao Shrine.”

“But…” Akiko cut Kazumi off.

“We aren’t asking those questions.”

“But…”

“No,” Akiko cut her off again. “We have enough to worry about. Yoshiko has been teaching me miko dances for quite a while now; she taught me the secret ceremony for the wild festival.”

“Oh. Can you teach me, too?”

Yoshiko grinned.

“I suppose…”

“Ooh, what happened to your teeth?”

“I blackened them,” Yoshiko replied.

“But only women hundreds of…” Kazumi trailed off. “Right, we aren’t asking those questions.” She looked around for a moment. “I suppose we’d better get out of the tree if we’re going to have a dance lesson.”

Yoshiko got to her feet, balancing on the branch, swinging her arms.

“Hmm, yes. The other branches would get in the way.” She pushed up, jumping off the branch and plummeting to the ground. Akiko looked down, to see her standing calmly under the tree. “On the ground, please.” Kazumi swung down round her branch, spinning in the air to land on her feet, and Akiko grinned, shaking her head.

That girl is a real show-off.

07: Spreading the Light, Episode 44 | 3 Comments »