Akiko sat in her room, enjoying being warm and dry. She heard the doorbell ring, but ignored it; Shiraishi was dealing with visitors at the moment.

“Akiko? It’s Akira Takenaka. He said you have a date…â€

Akiko sprang to her feet.

“Oh, no. I mean yes. I forgot! Er, tell him to wait a few minutes… Wait, a date? No, never mind…â€ She was already looking through her clothes, and when she looked up she realised that Shiraishi had already gone.

One advantage of being just out of the bath was that it only took her a few minutes to get ready to leave.

<em>Date?</em> she thought, as she checked her hair in the mirror. <em>Well, I suppose it’s something like that.</em>

Akira had, it was clear, taken some trouble over his clothes, and he cut Akiko off when she started to apologise, smiling.

“That’s OK. Women are allowed to be late. And Revd Shiraishi told me about what happened; you should have called me.â€

“Oh… yes. Actually, you’re right, we should.â€

“What happened to the guards?â€

Akiko shrugged, as she put her shoes on.

“We don’t know. Even Ms Yamanaka didn’t know, although she stayed to help us clean up.â€

“Oh.â€ Akira paused for a moment, and his voice was much brighter when he continued. “Well, shall we go?â€

The restaurant was, Akiko had to admit, very nice. Akira insisted he was paying, and, looking at the prices, Akiko was glad he had said that, and willing to let him do so.

By unspoken agreement, they avoided the topic of the strange events at the shrine, instead talking about current events, television, and Akira’s company. Business was going well, he said, with more work coming in as jobs finished. They were, it seemed, basically back to where they had been before Wakabayashi started putting pressure on them.

“What happened to him?â€ Akiko asked.

“Nothing, I think,â€ Akira didn’t sound happy about that, and Akiko, realising that they had drifted on to unpleasant topics, was about to change the subject when he continued. “He’s keeping a much lower profile than before though; his company has stopped throwing its weight around. They’ve not approached us, though. And, of course, we wouldn’t work for them if they did.â€ Akira was very serious, his face dark, and as he finished he took a deep breath, and then a mouthful of wine, before continuing in a lighter tone. “How’s your food?â€

“It’s very good…â€ Akiko started, as she glanced down at her plate.

Worms writhed in among the strands of pasta, and there were toadstools growing up from the plate, around which smaller creatures were crawling. The smell of rot hit her suddenly, and she looked up to see large cockroaches crawling over the walls and ceiling of the restaurant, dropping off onto the diners, scurrying over Akira, down inside his clothes.

“Akiko, are you all…â€ Akira sounded concerned, but he didn’t seem to have noticed anything.

<em>It’s just the kegare,</em> Akiko told herself. <em>There aren’t really any worms.</em> She looked down again, but the plate still looked the same, and she could feel her gorge rising as her stomach started to heave. Shaking her head, she bolted for the toilets.