Mr Ito had agreed to her coming round very quickly, and Akiko had only paused long enough to tell Shiraishi where she was going before setting off. It was only as she was walking over that she began to wonder why he had agreed so quickly. They had only met the previous day, after all. She remembered asking about the sore throat, and wondered whether Mr Ito thought that she had supernatural powers of some sort.

<em>I do have supernatural powers of some sort.</em>

The realisation brought her up short, and she stood in the street, trying to come to terms with it. There was really no other way to describe what she could do, what she had done. And at least the power of seeing seemed to be her, not Tamao.

<em>I wish I had more useful supernatural powers,</em> she thought, <em>ones that actually helped to solve the problems.</em> Shaking her head, she started walking again. If Mr Ito thought that she wanted to go to his house to use her supernatural powers on it, then, as it happened, he was absolutely right. If he thought she had the faintest idea what to do after that, he was likely to be disappointed.

She reached the house, a typical family home, fairly new, hemmed in by very similar buildings around it. She thought about trying to see kegare right away, but decided that she should introduce herself first. She rang the doorbell, and waited.

The door was opened by a woman, about the same age as Mr Ito. His wife, Akiko guessed.

“Yes? Oh, you must be the girl from the shrine. Please come in; my husband is waiting for you.â€ Akiko bowed slightly in acknowledgement.

“I’m Akiko Tanahata. Pleased to meet you.â€ She stepped up into the house, and realised that Mrs Ito was looking at her slightly oddly. Suspicious? Not exactly. Curious?

“Ms Tanahata, what can you see?â€ Mr Ito sounded quite worried, and his question was very abrupt.

“See?â€

“That’s why you wanted to come, wasn’t it? To see whether my house was polluted?â€

“Er, well, yes. But how did you know?â€

“You knew about the sore throat. And then you recommended harae, which did seem to help. What…?â€ He suddenly stopped, looking at his wife. Akiko glanced round, to see her shaking her head slightly.

“Forgive my husband. He likes to ask rather too many questions. I think we would be better off not knowing too much about this.â€ Akiko opened her mouth to protest, and then closed it again. She would rather not know most of it; she could hardly argue with Mrs Ito. Mrs Ito nodded, still watching her. “Anyway, please. Do… whatever you want to do.â€

“Thank you.â€ Akiko looked away from them, looking inside, pushing her perceptions around as she searched for the key that would give her the visions of kegare again. She still wasn’t quite used to it, but… there!

The stench was overpowering, and Akiko couldn’t stop herself covering her mouth and nose. Blackish-green slime ran down the walls of the room, while ropey tendrils in sickly red crossed the ceiling, and spider webs surrounded by clouds of unhealthy brown dust blocked the doorways. Spider spirits skittered across them, and, looking down, Akiko saw spirits like deformed rats, gnawing at the supports of the house, undermining it.

Taking a deep breath, she switched her vision back to normal.

“We need to purify your house.â€