Akiko checked her clothes in the mirror at the manga cafe; she looked smart, presentable, ready for work. She nodded, satisfied with the effect, and let herself out of the shower. The guy who was waiting to use it whistled and clapped as she emerged, but he also stepped back well out of her way, so she just smiled at him, and headed for the exit.

She took the advert out of her bag, confirming the address and the nearest bus stop, and went down to the bus stop. It was one of the ones in the area behind the railway station, the area that hadn’t been redeveloped yet, and the buildings were getting old. As she looked at them, the walls sagging and some of the windows cracked, she remembered what Shiraishi had said about kegare, and looked more carefully, wondering if any of the kegare spirits would be in there. Crossing the road, she kept her distance as she made her way to the bus stop.

Even while she was waiting for the bus, she kept glancing at the buildings, worried that something would appear. She tried to tell herself that the fear was unreasonable, but she didn’t believe it. There really might be something in there.

There was.

The first time it moved she thought it might just be paranoia, but then she saw it again. It wasn’t very big, and she couldn’t make out any details, but the way it moved across the walls of the building was wrong; it certainly wasn’t a bird or anything. She looked down the road, and saw the bus in the distance. Checking her watch, she realised that she couldn’t afford to miss this one if she wanted to make the interview on time. Biting her lip, she looked back at the kegare spirit.

It had crawled down from the building, and was weaving along the edge of the road, as if looking for something. It hadn’t reached the main road yet, and didn’t seem to have noticed her. She looked back the other way; the bus was getting closer, but it had stopped at the previous stop.

The spirit hadn’t moved far, but it had stopped, as if listening for something. Akiko couldn’t hear anything over the traffic, including a motorbike that needed its silencer fixed. The spirit seemed to be looking up, alert, and Akiko felt sure that it was looking in her direction. She glanced the other way; the bus was on the move again, getting ever closer.

The spirit definitely seemed to be waiting for something. A car went past, blocking her line of sight for a moment, and when she could see it again the spirit had started running along the side of the road. The bus was very close now. She looked back, the noisy motorbike coming up past the spirit and blocking her view for a moment.

She saw the spirit leap on to the front of the bike, grabbing the wheel. It swerved and skidded as the rider lost control, falling and sliding along the road to slam into the side of a building with a deafening crash.

As the bus came to a stop, people were already running over, and someone had a cell phone out. Akiko got on the bus, which was abuzz. Everyone was staring, so she didn’t seem out of place, but she wasn’t looking at the same thing as them.

The spirit had vanished.