After a few moments leaning on a tree, Akiko realised that she couldn’t see any spirits. She looked around, and the woods seemed normal, mundane. Even the bit of Kawasaki she could see between the trees showed no overt signs of kegare. Still, she was sure that it hadn’t been a hallucination. Quite the opposite, in fact; for the first time, she had been in control, and known what she was seeing.

So much pollution! That thought stayed in her mind, dominating it. It was no wonder Tamao wanted the area to be purified, and Akiko agreed that it would be a good idea, even if Tamao weren’t demanding it. But that didn’t help with the question of “howâ€. She wondered whether the other spirits she had seen could help, and how she could ask them to, but she didn’t know enough about them.

That, she decided, was the most frustrating thing. She didn’t know enough about the situation to decide what to do. She didn’t know what might be causing the kegare, or what might be an effective way to purify it.

Standing around in the woodland was definitely not going to help, however, so Akiko started making her way back through the trees to the main shrine precincts. As she got closer, she started to hear voices, and it sounded like people were shouting. Suddenly worried, she picked up her pace a bit, although hurrying through trees in her vestments was far from easy, and twigs and branches kept catching at her.

The sky was as dark and ominous as before when she finally came out into the open area, and for a moment the iwakura looked like some sort of looming creature. When she looked again, though, it was just the stones, from a new angle. The arguing voices were clear now, and shaking her head and telling herself not to start seeing monsters that weren’t there, she walked as quickly as she could across the precincts to the steps.

From the top, she could see what was happening. A knot of protesters were standing across the bottom of the steps, facing a middle-aged man who seemed to want to come in. Akiko hadn’t seen him before, but Shiraishi, who was standing behind the protesters, did seem to know him. Akiko started down the steps, listening to the argument, trying to work out what was going on.

“Look, will you please get out of his way.â€

“We aren’t inside the shrine. You can’t tell us what to do on a public road.â€

“You’re blocking access!â€

“We aren’t blocking a public route.â€

Akiko suddenly recognised the voice. It was the woman who had told her that she was watching Akiko. With that realisation, it only took a moment to pick her out of the group of protesters.

“Look, I just want to go in and talk to the priest. Could you please get out of my way?â€ That was the man they seemed to be blocking.

“We can stand here if we want. It’s for your own good, you know. The kami are dangerous.â€

Akiko had reached the bottom of the steps.

<em>You know, she has a point,</em> she thought, and then turned her attention to resolving the situation