<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The dark fog of kegare was close around Akiko, and she nodded, trusting that Shiraishi would be able to see the signal. She heard the priest begin the harae norito, and looked around, hoping to see some change.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">They were back in front of the school, Akiko carrying the mask from the shrine, but there was no way that they could try calling the kami into such a polluted area. So, the plan was for Shiraishi to purify the area around them first, and hope that this did not draw the attention of the spirits in the school.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The fog began to visibly shift, and Akiko caught a glimpse of light. She looked in all directions, but there was still no sign of any spirit larger than a mosquito, and the smaller ones were all driven off by the faint aura surrounding her body.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The light brightened suddenly, as Shiraishi swung the ohnusa and drove the kegare back. She swung again, and the fog was driven away, leaving Akiko and Shiraishi in a clear area. With the final swing, Shiraishi completed the purification, and a glow seemed to settle on the ground and in the air, holding back the corruption. Akiko looked around once more; still no sign of the spirits.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“It looks OK,â€ she said, as she walked a bit closer to the edge of the purified area. She could see the fog rubbing up against the light, now, like sandpaper, slowly eroding it. It wouldn’t last for ever, but they should have enough time. She looked back at the priest, who nodded, holding the ohnusa ready.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko stepped back to the centre of the purified area, and took a deep breath as she raised the mask towards her face. She remembered the pain of the previous times the aramitama had taken her, and for a moment her hands froze, the mask still only halfway up.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“I see the spirits,â€ Shiraishi warned. “I think they’ve noticed us.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Swallowing her fear, Akiko quickly lifted the mask the rest of the way, settling it over her face, reaching back to tie the strings.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The rage filled her like the wind in sails, driving all other thoughts from her mind. The wall of kegare in front of her still blocked her vision, but now it was painful to look at, as if the sandpaper was rubbing on her eyeballs.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Taking a deep breath, she blew at the fog, and the wind that sprang up around her caught the kegare, twisting it, scattering it, and leaving the school clear to view.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She could see no spirits, but the kegare was obvious, veins of black running through the structure of the building, weaknesses in the pillars supporting it. Currents in the air spoke of fatigue and malice, while the ground was barren, parched and ready to soak up any water, any life that might be poured out on it. The rage flared within her again, and she took a step forward, shifting her weight, ready to run.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Akiko!â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Shiraishi’s shout was barely audible, but it was enough.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>No, </em> Akiko thought, throwing all her willpower into not moving. <em>Not like that. Not. Like. That.</em></p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She took two steps forward, and stopped, breathing hard. The rage was still boiling inside her, and sweat was streaming off her. She could still see the light from Shiraishi’s purification, sparks being sucked off and into the school, where the currents of darkness absorbed them. Those currents were shifting now, starting to flow out of the building and towards Akiko. But she still couldn’t move. The aramitama wanted to run straight into the school, and fighting that urge was taking all her effort.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Harae,</em> she thought, directing it at the rage within her. <em>Purify the place.</em></p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The currents of decay had reached the edge of the light now, but although they scythed off a bit of the illumination every time they touched it, it was still slow. They still had time.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Harae,</em> Akiko thought again, and turned towards Shiraishi.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The priest was pale, staring at Akiko, and the ohnusa was shaking slightly in her hands, but she still stood there, holding it ready.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko stopped in front of the priest, and bowed. The second time was much easier, the aramitama no longer resisting. She began to recite the norito, aware as she did so that the darkness surrounding them was crowding in, pressing on the barrier of light, as the rage began to build within her again. Forcing herself to focus on the ohnusa, she continued the norito. Light appeared within the shide, and the words flowed out easily, two days of practice showing their worth.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She caught a glimpse of the movement out of the corner of her eye, and felt something cold and empty brush against her skin. She remembered failing a test at elementary school, one she had bragged to all her friends was really easy. She remembered a really bad choice of boyfriend, dumped after an excruciating week. Failure after embarrassing failure came back to her.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">And were swept away by the rage, and by the flow of words, as the norito continued to fall from her lips, and the light in the ohnusa strengthened, blossoming into fire.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She took the ohnusa from Shiraishi, holding as she had been taught, and turning to face the school.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">In front of her loomed a gigantic figure, like a centipede formed by a rent in the air, a rent into a dark void, an emptiness, a lack in the world. Its jaws clashed together above her head, with a sound like the death of music. As Akiko raised the ohnusa, the thing fell back a pace, its head lowering towards her.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She swung, and the centipede flinched back, dozens of legs scrabbling for purchase as a wave of fire swept over it, illuminating the void, a hundred sparks in the blackness.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She swung again, and the sparks within the centipede grew brighter, flaring in moments into a hundred suns, light that filled the void and vanished, along with the creature itself.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The school was visible now, hunched over, the decay running through it all too obvious. It was in the walls, in the floors, in the water and the books, in the very air of the classrooms. Fear, exhaustion, despair; no sign that the building was normally filled with people on the verge of adulthood.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko swung the ohnusa one last time, and the fire rushed from it in a towering wave, burning red and purple, green and gold, silver limning the edges of the flames. The school grounds vanished in a burning lake, and the buildings were surrounded, covered, hidden in the light.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The flames burned brighter, blindingly so, and Akiko felt the rage within her change to exultation. She could see nothing but the light, hear nothing but the roar of the fire, feel nothing but fierce joy in purity.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">And then it was over, the mask falling from her face, bouncing off the ohnusa to land on the ground, spinning a few times before rocking to a stop in the darkness.</p>