The immediate influence of Shiraishi’s enthusiasm had worn off by the following morning, leaving Akiko in a worried mood again. The presence of the woman protester, Mrs Watanabe, in the precincts when she went out to pay her respects to the kami did nothing to help. It wasn’t even difficult for Akiko to understand why she was worried. The kegare over Kawasaki hadn’t gone away, even if the kegare around Mr Ito had, and Tamao still didn’t have a shrine. A lot could go wrong in a few months. Once the kami were involved, lives could be turned upside down in a matter of weeks.

Akiko spent the morning restless, trying to get various jobs done around the shrine, but making much less progress than she felt she should. Were things actually getting better? They certainly hadn’t looked that way to her when she’d seen the kegare over the city, but at least the shrine seemed to be clean. She remembered the kegare around Mr Ito dissolving under the harae, and wondered if that had solved his problems.

Her idle speculation quickly hardened into a genuine question. <em>Had</em> it solved his problems? Akiko realised that she still didn’t really know what the connection between kegare and real, physical problems was. She was just assuming that it caused them. She had seen the spirits associated with it causing accidents, but the kegare itself just seemed to be there. Things that looked damaged when she could see the kegare often weren’t; she remembered how the shrine building had looked after Mr Takenaka’s suicide. So what was the connection? But how could she find out? She thought about calling Mr Ito, but couldn’t work out how to put the question.

The idea didn’t go away, however, and it kept bothering her for the rest of the day. Maybe she should call Mr Ito. She could just ask him how he was. That would just sound like ordinary concern, surely. It wasn’t like she had no connection to him.

She couldn’t even entirely convince herself, but by the evening she was sure that she had to call. She had to know. It was easy to find his number in the shrine records.

“Hello? This is Hidenori Ito.â€

“Mr Ito? This is Akiko Tanahata, the miko from Tamao Shrine.â€

“Ms Tanahata?â€ He sounded surprised, which was, Akiko supposed, natural. “How can I help you? Did I leave something there?â€

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I was…â€ She paused for a moment. The question would sound oddly personal, she knew. But she had to know; she pressed on regardless. “I was just wondering whether you felt any better after yesterday’s harae.â€

There was a brief pause before Mr Ito replied.

“Yes. Yes, I did. My sore throat went away, and I felt much less tired. I didn’t notice any strange problems on the way home, either.â€

“Oh, that’s very good to hear. Thank you.â€

“But…â€ He interrupted her, and Akiko fell silent. So did he, but this time Akiko was willing to wait, worrying about what he was going to say.

“I started feeling down again soon after I got home. My leg aches now, and dinner got burned.â€

“Ah, Mr Ito, this might sound strange, but… Could I have a look at your house?â€