Akiko breathing steadily returned to normal, and her blood stopped pounding in her ears. There was still a dull roar in the background, and Akiko realised that it was the sound of falling rain. She picked up her yukata and pulled it on, belting it shut as she went over to the door.

“I’m sorry,â€ she said as she pulled the door open. “Nightmare.â€ Shiraishi was also wearing a yukata, and looking rather dishevelled.

“Just a nightmare?â€ the priest asked, and Akiko shook her head.

“I think it was a message from Tamao. We should check the shrine grounds.â€ As she left her bedroom, Akiko realised that she could still smell the stench that had come with the creatures in the dream, and she shuddered. The smell got stronger as they approached the front door, and Akiko found herself hanging back. Shiraishi reached for the door, and Akiko couldn’t contain it any longer.

“Be careful!â€ she yelped. Shiraishi looked back, her face quizzical, and let her hand drop.

“Do you think it might be dangerous?â€

Akiko took a deep breath, coughing slightly on the stench.

“Do you smell that?â€

The priest nodded.

“I’m not sure I want to find out what it is, but it doesn’t smell <em>dangerous.</em>â€

“In the dream…â€ Akiko didn’t want to go into details. “Just a moment.â€ She ducked into the office, where the rain was pounding on the windows, largely obscuring the shrine beyond, and picked up the kagurasuzu. Holding it up, she went back to join Shiraishi. “OK. Open the door.â€

Akiko braced herself as the priest slid the door open, but nothing attacked.

“Oh, <em>shit,</em>â€ Shiraishi said, with feeling. It took another couple of moments for Akiko to focus on the mundane features of the scene, and understand the reason for the smell.

It <em>was</em> shit, quite literally, along with rotten food and other kitchen waste, and even, she saw, a few corpses of dead rats and birds. The rubbish was scattered across the precincts, even on the iwakura itself, but not right up to the house. There was a low rumble of thunder, and Akiko had no doubt that the rain was the result of the kami’s anger.

The priest turned to look at Akiko.

“How bad is the kegare?â€

Akiko didn’t want to look, but she knew the priest was right; they needed to know. Steeling herself, she switched her vision.

The black vines from the dream were spreading across the precincts, their tendrils reaching out, probing, falling back. They were wrapped around the stones of the iwakura, reaching into the sky as if there was something just out of their reach. Akiko involuntarily took a step backwards, and, as she noticed some things moving in between the vines, let her vision switch back to normal.

“It’s bad. Really bad. Like in the nightmare.â€ She felt herself shudder again, and tried to get a grip on herself. The vines weren’t physically real; they couldn’t actually grab her.

“No surprise, really.â€ Shiraishi turned back to look at the mess. “We have to clean this up. No point trying to perform a harae with that much obvious pollution. No point doing any other ceremonies until we have.â€ She paused to look at the scale of the task, and Akiko also forced herself to look.

There was a lot of rubbish.

“It’s going to take all day,â€ Akiko said, with resignation. Shiraishi nodded.

“I don’t suppose you could convince Tamao to stop raining while we do it?â€ she asked. Akiko shook her head.

“He’ll probably stop once the shrine is clean again.â€

“Of course. Just as we finish.â€ The priest sighed. “Oh well, we’d best get changed and get started. The shrine won’t clean itself.â€