The blackened patches looked like chemical burns, the grass scoured away and even the earth below discoloured and malformed, glittering in the morning sunlight as it shifted. The grass at the edge was turning brown, curling in on itself, crumbling into dust and an acrid smell on the breeze.

Akiko switched her vision back to normal as she hurried inside to find Shiraishi.

She didn’t have far to look, as the priest was waiting in the entrance hall.

“Well?â€

“There are some patches of pollution at the edge of the precincts, again.â€ Shiraishi frowned, even as she nodded.

“We’ll do the purification first, then the morning offerings.â€

The harae swept the kegare away, as always, and left the precincts feeling fresh, even as the heat and humidity intensified. They performed the morning offerings as normal, and a couple of the guards joined them for the ceremony at the iwakura. Akiko felt a little uncomfortable, but the two young men were very polite, and didn’t try to make small talk afterwards, just returning to their positions. Akiko had the strong sense that she wasn’t being fair to them; they were volunteering to guard the shrine, and the protesters did cause trouble when they weren’t there. She remembered Kazumi’s joke about the Imperial Guard, and shook her head. There was definitely <em>something</em> about them.

“What’s the problem?â€ Shiraishi seemed to have noticed Akiko’s gesture.

“Oh, I was just thinking about the guards.â€

“Mm.â€ Shiraishi also glanced towards the entrance, her expression hard for Akiko to read. “Well, they help.â€ The priest’s words were curt, flat, as if she didn’t have her heart in what she was saying.

“What about the kegare, though?â€ she continued, turning back to Akiko. “I don’t think it used to enter this quickly.â€

“It didn’t used to enter at all,â€ Akiko replied, “at least not unless something major happened to bring it. But today… Maybe it’s just a side effect of all the rubbish that was thrown in yesterday.â€

“Maybe. If so, the problem should get better in the next few days, right?â€

“Well, if it’s just a side effect.â€

“So we’ll give it a few days, and if it doesn’t get better, we’ll have to think of something else to do.â€

The conversation was interrupted as Kazumi bounced into the precincts, literally jumping up the last few steps, and nodding to Akiko and Shiraishi as she ran over to the water tank to purify herself. Akiko switched her vision over to check for kegare, and sucked her breath in. The girl’s uniform seemed to be covered with a fine fuzz of mould, grey and white and green, like a fruit left too long in the bowl. It even seemed to be spreading into her hair. <em>How did she pick up so much kegare so quickly?</em> she wondered.

And then Noriko came up the steps, much more sedate, and Akiko saw her covered in tiny beetles, gnawing at the fabric of her kimono and scratching at her skin.

Pulling her vision back to normal, Akiko turned to murmur quietly in Shiraishi’s ear.

“I think we need to do a harae for those two.â€