<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko stood quietly at the back of the room, feeling rather awkward. It wasn’t just that Akira was there, pointedly not looking in her direction, although that was, she had to admit to herself, certainly part of it. It wasn’t even that she had been stuck in the shrine all morning, unable to even look for somewhere to purify. No, she realised that, suddenly, she didn’t feel like she belonged at the shrine.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The ujiko had, as promised at the festival, come to the shrine for a lunchtime meeting. Most of them had clearly known Shiraishi for years, and even the exceptions, like Noriko and Mr Tanaka, knew other people. Akiko had only met any of these people as a miko. They weren’t her friends; she couldn’t chat to any of them. The big exception, of course, had been Akira, but… She looked over at him as the meeting started, and made herself think about the problem.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Why was it a problem? So he fancied her. It wasn’t like <em>that</em> was a new experience for her. And he wasn’t a creepy stalker type. Far from it; she liked Akira. Was that the problem? She just wanted to be friends, and his desires complicated it?</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Shiraishi called the meeting to order, and the ujiko started discussing what to do for the shrine. Shiraishi began by explaining the situation with the buildings, and the amounts of money involved made a lot of the ujiko gasp. It was all old news to Akiko, however, so she went back to her own problem.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Was it that she had no romantic interest in Akira? She pondered the issue, looking at him. He was kind of cute, she had to admit. Younger than her, true, but not by so much, and couples with older women were much more common now. And he was president of his own company. <em>That’d make mother happy,</em> she thought, wryly. OK, so there was nothing actually <em>wrong</em> with him. But could she imagine having sex with him?</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The discussion had moved on to the tsukinamisai, and the ujiko were promising to support it. Fortunately, this didn’t need much of Akiko’s attention, because it turned out that yes, she could in fact imagine sleeping with Akira, in quite surprising detail.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Am I worried about his father cursing me?</em> she wondered. <em>No, not really. So why, then?</em></p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The final topic for discussion was setting up a rota to keep an eye on the shrine, so that Shiraishi and Akiko could go out to purify homes, and the surrounding area, without leaving the shrine unsupervised. Akiko had to contribute to this bit, explaining a little about the need for purification and her role in the ceremonies, while trying not to say too much that sounded weird and off-putting. She wasn’t sure just how many of the ujiko were ready to hear about the spirits.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">As she explained, the answer to her own problem became clear.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>I can’t start a relationship while I’m fighting evil spirits. I have to concentrate on that first. And it’s not fair to ask Akira to wait.</em></p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She looked at Akira again, and he glanced in her direction, smiling as their eyes met, before he blushed and looked down.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Oh, but it is a shame…</em></p>