“Of course, normally we’d do the ceremony in the shrine.â€ Shiraishi pulled a face as she said it.

“We could do it in front of the kamidana,â€ Akiko suggested. “That’s where the go-shintai is at the moment.â€ Shiraishi shook her head.

“It’s reasonable temporary location, but we can’t do this ceremony inside the house. We need to be careful about purity, and about inviting angry kami into the place where we live.â€

“But there’s nowhere else.â€

“We can do it on the shrine grounds, I think. Maybe on the location of the shrine. Let’s go and look.â€ Shiraishi sprang to her feet, and Akiko stood up to follow her, thinking that the priest seemed much more positive than she had even a few minutes ago. Mind you, she had to admit that she felt a lot better now that they had something to try, something that might make a difference.

The shrine grounds were quiet. The ruins of the old shrine building had been cleared away, leaving a bare path of disturbed earth. The roofing copper had, in the end, been sold for scrap; none of it was reusable as it was, to the shrine carpenter’s surprise. Shiraishi had ordered the first materials for the new building, as the designs got close to being finalised, but nothing had been delivered yet. As a result, there was nothing going on in the shrine precincts, and so the protesters were spending their time at the bottom of the steps, trying to discourage people from coming in.

Successfully, Akiko had to admit.

Shiraishi walked over to the bare earth, and nodded, looking around. She gestured at the iwakura and turned to Akiko.

“We can do the ceremony here, with the iwakura beyond the himorogi.â€

“Himorogi?â€ Akiko asked, as she walked over.

“Um, temporary shrine, I guess. It’s a sakaki branch with shide on, on a platform, surrounded by shimenawa.â€ Those were words Akiko knew now. Sakaki was the broad-leaf evergreen used a lot in Shinto ceremonies, shide were the pieces of white paper folded into lightning-shaped strips, like on the ohnusa, and the shimenawa were the rice-straw ropes with shide on, marking the edge of sacred areas.

“Oh, right. Yes, that was in one of the books.â€ Akiko remembered the picture.

“Yes, they’re normally used for jichinsai, so I have all the necessary bits. We can put the go-shintai on the platform with the sakaki branch. I think about here would be good; what do you think?â€ The priest was indicating a spot that would have been near the centre of the shrine building.

“Maybe a bit closer to the iwakura? Where the inner shrine used to be?â€ Shiraishi thought for a moment, and then nodded.

“Himorogi here, and ceremony in this area, then?â€ Before she could reply, Akiko heard arguing voices coming up the stairs and turned to look. She quickly recognised one of the voices as Akira Takenaka.

“Look, I just want to ay my respects. Please leave me alone.â€

“There isn’t even a shrine building.â€

“I know.â€

Akira came into view, pursued by a middle-aged woman who looked vaguely familiar. She spotted Akiko and Shiraishi, and glared at them, but she fell silent. As soon as Akira had entered the precincts, she stepped round him, ostentatiously wandering around.

Akira looked at them both, and bowed.

“I’m here to help.â€