Akiko pulled her trainers on in the entrance hall and went out into the shrine. She walked slowly across the grass, looking around her, paying attention to the shapes of the trees, the motion of the leaves, the birds darting among the branches. The quiet was broken only by the occasional snatch of bird song, and the gentle sound of her own footsteps. She looked up, at a blue sky brushed with white filaments of cloud, and down, at the blades of grass still sparkling with dew.

She was waiting for something, but she didn’t know what. She walked a bit further into the precincts, stepping on to the path from the torii to the shrine. She glanced both ways; the bell rope swung a little in the breeze, in front of the open shrine doors, and she could see little through the torii, the trees lining the steps blocking blocking most of the view. Bowing her head as she crossed the middle of the path, she went to the water basin to purify herself.

The water was cool on her hands and sweet in her mouth, and her heart was calm as she walked to the shrine and climbed the steps. She rattled the rope, the bell clattering above her, and bowed twice.

As she clapped for the first time, a deafening crack of thunder split the air. The second clap was the same, and when Akiko rose from the final bow Tamao was emerging from the rear of the shrine, golden eyes shining and the jewels of his skin sparkling in the light. His eyes met Akiko’s as he slid forwards, and she instinctively stepped back out of his way before dropping to her knees and bowing her face to the floor as he passed.

The snake glided easily down the steps, and as Akiko followed him with her eyes, she saw things moving on the steps beyond the torii. Her breath caught in her throat, which was suddenly dry and tight, and then came faster. Whatever they were, they were not healthy, not pure. They seemed to leak, or smoke, and in one case she could see the stench coming off it, although no odour reached her. They were climbing the steps slowly, shaped like feral cats, emaciated and disfigured with sores, and one of them hissed, a sound that made Akiko shudder, and filled her with an urge to wash.

Tamao crawled along the path, and then paused just inside the torii, looking out. The kegare creatures looked back. For several moments, all was still, as Akiko held her breath, not daring to move a muscle.

One of the cat-things leapt up at the torii, and Tamao’s head moved swiftly to meet it, catching it in mid-air and hurling it back and away, into the trees. Another sprang, and another, but always Tamao was there to meet the challenge.

But now there were other shapes among the trees, scuttling, far too large. One came to the edge of the clearing, a cockroach the size of a small car, apparently made of mould pressed together, oozing the juices of decay. Lightning flashing from his mouth, Tamao sprang sideways, and drove it black. Its place was soon taken by another, this one made of fragments of broken glass, most coated with dried fluids, blood, milk, vomit. It put one leg within the ring of trees, and Tamao, rearing up, spat lightning at it.

Shrieking, the creature drew back into the woods, but there were many more where it had come from, and Tamao was moving without ceasing, blocking entry, spitting lightning at those that dared to cross the border. Akiko looked to the other side, where the shrine house should have been, and saw Tamao again, driving back creatures like large worms made of chain fences, trailing barbed wire like drool from their faceless mouths.

She looked back to the torii, where the cat-creatures were gathering again, pacing in front of the gate and hissing, occasionally darting towards the gap before running back into the pack. They did not have enough courage to enter yet, but it would not be long before they did.

Akiko sprang to her feet and ran down the steps to the path, shouting at the things to go, waving her arms in an attempt to scare them. As she approached, she could feel her tee-shirt against her skin, the fibres rough, abrasive, while the stiff fabric of her jeans fought against her motion. She winced as the shirt grazed her armpit, and then stumbled, tripping and falling to the floor as the jeans refused to bend.

As she fell, the cats sprang, leaping through the torii towards her. Fear gave her greater strength, and she scrambled to her feet. The leading cat hissed again, its drool smoking green, black, and orange in the air, and terror took control, driving Akiko back as she ran back into the shrine.

Behind the shrine building, a red light pulsed within the iwakura, reflected in the pool at its base. Clothes, red and white, were draped over the stones, and something metallic sparkled beside them. The cats were getting closer, and Akiko ran forward.

The light within the stone pulsed, and a wave of intense heat passed over Akiko, leaving her clothes charred, smoking, on the verge of bursting into flames.

For once, Akiko understood what she was supposed to do and, pulling her clothes off, she plunged into the pool, ducking her head under the water.

It was icy cold, but pure and clean, penetrating her and washing all pollution away. When she stood up, pushing back hair that was suddenly dry, she could see a ring of red light surrounding her and the stones, while the cats prowled on the other side and, beyond, Tamao fought back the creatures in the woods.

She stepped over to the clothes on the stones, and quickly dressed, the white kimono and the red hakama, the miko’s uniform. The metal was a small implement, bells covering a cone on a short handle, with long ribbons, yellow, white, red, green, and purple, flowing from the bottom. She picked it up, and as she swung it through the air, the bells tinkling, the red light vanished.

The kegare beasts sprang forward, but Akiko was ready for them, sweeping the bells across their path, watching as they all dissolved into nothing when touched by the sound. Tamao was still fighting at the borders of the grass, and Akiko ran round to the front, to take her place at the torii.