The sun was warm on her back through the light dress, and her hat cast a welcome shadow over her eyes. The bright red and blue check of the ground cloth stood out against the verdant grass as she spread the picnic things over it. She sighed a little as she did so, because everything was from a convenience store, all wrapped in packaging, nothing handmade. But she didn’t have time to make things. Naoyuki smiled at her, the torii gleaming white behind him in contrast to his smart, navy working suit, and reached for a can of beer.

“Well, let’s get started.â€

“Oh yes, me too.â€ Megumi took another can, sitting there in her sailor suit school uniform, and Akiko had a vague feeling that there was something wrong with that. She thought about having a beer herself, but then she saw Tamao’s iridescent bulk gliding past behind Naoyuki, and decided to have a bottle of green tea instead.

Naoyuki pulled the tab from the can, and tossed it over his shoulder. It caught the sunlight, tumbling and sparkling as it fell.

It touched the ground, and Tamao was seized by a spasm, part of his body kicking into the air. Akiko could see a gash opened in the skin, and the red of blood mixed with the colours of his skin.

A cloud passed across the sun as Megumi opened her beer, laughing, and dropped the tab beside her. This time, Tamao only quivered, but Akiko could see another bleeding wound open. She twisted the cap off her bottle, and dropped it to the ground.

Tamao’s tail lashed, and the new wound was just behind his head. Akiko laughed at Naoyuki’s joke and raised the bottle to her lips as clouds gathered overhead, casting a chill on the scene.

Megumi grabbed a rice ball, throwing the wrapper to one side, and Tamao reared up, blood flowing from just behind his head as the clouds darkened. Naoyuki cast the lid of his beef on rice behind him, and Tamao flopped onto the ground like a wounded fish, the scarlet blood leaking underneath him as the grass around them started to turn a sere brown.

Still smiling, Akiko reached for some sandwiches, dropping the plastic package and pushing it off the ground sheet. Tamao turned to look at her, one eye hidden by the blood pouring from the wound above it, and behind him the leaves dropped from the trees, turning from green to brown in moments as the black clouds boiled above them.

Akiko put her beer down and stepped off the mat to pee, squatting beside it. As her urine hit the ground, the remaining grass was washed away, the surface turning to mud writhing with blind white maggots. As she pulled up her pants and sat back on the sheet it started to rain, the maggots swarming up onto Tamao’s body to attack the wounds.

Naoyuki offered her another bottle of sake.

And Akiko saw the devastation around them, the kami being devoured alive, the foul yellow rain pounding into the grey mud, and she laughed.