When Akiko woke up in the morning, light streaming through the window, she wasn’t sure whether it was a dream. She sat up in the futon and looked around the room. Her vestments were hanging in front of the closet, but that was where they had been the previous day, and where she remembered hanging them up after coming back to bed. What had she done with her underwear? Stuffed it in with the other washing, she remembered. That was no help; she couldn’t recall how many pairs of knickers had been in there the previous night. Getting up, she pulled on a yukata and went to inspect the vestments. There were no obvious signs of the battle, but there were a few marks that could have been due to it.

She went to the office, where Shiraishi was sitting, and picked up the kagurasuzu, inspecting it carefully. Again, she couldn’t see anything, but then she didn’t remember it being damaged last night.

“Akiko?â€ Shiraishi sounded puzzled.

“Oh, sorry. Good morning. Er, were you here all of last night?â€ If it hadn’t been a dream, Shiraishi should have seen her.

“Ah. Actually, I went and had a bath. The protesters had all gone home. I think I may have fallen asleep there, for a little while. Why?â€

“I…â€ What? “I want to know whether something actually happened last night. I thought I was fighting kegare spirits at the entrance to the precincts, but now I think it might have been a dream.â€

“We could look outside,â€ Shiraishi suggested, and Akiko nodded. That was a good idea.

The ground near the entrance did look like people had been walking there, but then it always did. It was still wet, but it looked like it had rained in the latter part of the night, so that needn’t have been due to her. Akiko frowned, and switched her vision to look for kegare.

There were two patches, fungal tendrils reaching up, swaying in a breeze that Akiko could not feel, reaching out for the ground around them, trying to spread. Two patches, roughly where she remembered the rat and centipede getting past her.

“Well?â€ Shiraishi asked.

“We need to purify the shrine grounds; there’s kegare here.â€

“And the battle?â€

“Real in some sense, I think.â€ Akiko looked round at the priest. “To be honest, I’m not sure what difference it makes any more. The spirits I fight in my dreams can have a real effect, and the other shrine, and…â€ She stopped, drew breath, and forced herself to continue. “And the vision of the aramitama, they all have real consequences. I suppose knowing it wasn’t just a dream dream is enough.â€

Shiraishi was nodding.

“It sounds like you’re right. So, there’s pollution around here, yes?â€ Akiko nodded, pointing to the patches. “Well then,â€ Shiraishi continued, “we’d better get on with purifying it. This bit is definitely real, and we can’t let pollution build up within the shrine.â€

“No. But it worries me, Revd Shiraishi.â€

“What worries you?â€

“Kegare getting into the shrine. It means that Tamao isn’t strong enough to keep it out any more.â€