“10,000 yen! For an ordinary harae. And he was talking about coming back to the meetings.â€

“The meetings?â€ Akiko was a little puzzled, but pleased to see how happy Shiraishi looked.

“Oh, Mr Ito was one of the ujiko. One of the last to abandon us. Not quite the last, before Mr Takenaka…â€ The priest’s face suddenly fell, and she leaned on the desk in the office. “Anyway,â€ she continued, brightening up again, “he was talking about taking up his role as an ujiko again. I think he’s been feeling guilty about ignoring us.â€

“That is good.â€

“Yes!â€ Shiraishi was enthusiastic again. “I think we’ve hit the low point, and are now recovering. And the plans for the shrine building are coming on well. Look!â€ She spread the diagrams over the desk, and started explaining them to Akiko, pointing bits out.

“We’re going to have serpents carved over here. I’ve already commissioned the work, and approved the sketches; I imagine he’s started by now. And carvings round here, as well, but I’m still discussing whether it would be better to have those done in place.â€

Akiko nodded as she looked at the plans.

“We can afford all of this?â€

“Oh, yes. The loan covers it. And with the ujiko coming back, the loan won’t be a problem.â€

Shiraishi certainly sounded confident, but Akiko remained a bit worried. The protesters hadn’t gone away, and they could still drive the costs up. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if they ran out of money before the shrine was finished. What would Tamao do?

“That’s good,â€ she said, trying to sound as positive as the priest. “What about the torii?â€

“Already ordered. It should be ready next week, although they’ve agreed to hold on to it until the shrine itself is built.â€

“That’s fast.â€

“They had a free slot in their schedule; apparently they’re going to get very busy soon, so they offered to do the job quickly, to get it finished.â€

“That is good.â€ <em>Maybe Tamao is helping out,</em> Akiko thought. “What about the main building?â€

“Hmm, yes. Well, we’ve found workmen who can do it, and are willing to, but they’re busy at the moment. They won’t be able to start for another three months at least.â€

<em>Maybe Tamao isn’t helping.</em> “Three months?â€

“I know. But there aren’t that many people who can build shrines, and most shrines book rebuilding months or years in advance; it takes time to raise the funds, you know. They’ll fit us in early because this is an emergency, but that’s still a few months away.â€

“So why the rush to get everything else done? Where are we going to keep everything?â€

“Well…â€ For a moment, Shiraishi actually looked nonplussed. “Er, a lot of it will stay at the workshops. And I was thinking of setting the furniture for the honden up in one of the rooms here, so that we could put the go-shintai somewhere a little more suitable. We want to keep Tamao happy, after all.â€

“Yes,â€ Akiko agreed, “we do. And I suppose it can’t hurt to have everything ready, can it? The workmen might become available sooner than they think.â€

“Right. I wonder how many of the ujiko will come to the enshrining ceremony?â€