<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko raised the kagurasuzu and stepped forward.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“They’re…â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She was cut off by Shiraishi’s scream, and she looked round to see the priest stepping back, her face white. It only took a moment for her to work out that, for some reason, the priest could see these spirits.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Revd Shiraishi, continue the harae. This is fairly normal.â€ She didn’t even try to keep the urgency out of her voice; the spirits were nearly on them, and she raised the kagurasuzu, trying to judge which would be there first.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“N… normal?â€ Shiraishi stammered out, but Akiko had no time to look back, as she swept the kagurasuzu to her left, the tinkling of the bells momentarily drowning out the sound of the spirits as one of the giant spiders fell back, shrieking.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“The harae!â€ Akiko shouted, as she spun round to the right, thrusting the kagurasuzu out to block the path of the rat-thing. It was the size of a bus, and she could see what was on its spikes now: girls’ knickers. It veered off to one side, away from them, but she had no time to watch it, because she felt the ground shake. A cockroach was right in front of her, its mandibles over her head, the arms it had for legs splayed out on the ground, fingers grasping at the tarmac. With a shout, she thrust the kagurasuzu straight up, and with a loud hissing the spirit fell back.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Behind her, she could hear Shiraishi intoning the norito again, and she could see the purifying light flowing from the ohnusa. The spirits retreated slightly, and Akiko took a step back to stand beside the priest. Shiraishi was breathing hard, her face white and her eyes wild.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Told you you didn’t want to see,</em> Akiko thought, but this wasn’t the time to say it. She held the kagurasuzu ready as Shiraishi lifted the ohnusa, sweeping it through the air.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The light flowed out, and as it washed over the spirits they flinched back, hissing and shrieking, black smoke pouring from them as if blown by a strong wind.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">And then, as Shiraishi paused before swinging the ohnusa again, they all moved in.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko’s stomach lurched. That wasn’t supposed to happen. They weren’t supposed to fight back against the harae. Shiraishi swung the ohnusa again, and although they screamed in pain, this time the spirits didn’t fall back at all. Akiko glanced around them. They were already surrounded. But if the spirits didn’t fall back this time, they’d have to try to get away. She peered at the spirits blocking the way to the car, one of the lizard-centipedes and a spider-thing, and hefted the kagurasuzu.  Shiraishi swept the ohnusa across again, and the spirits screamed as the light washed over them. Screamed, but did not move.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko grabbed Shiraishi’s arm.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Run!â€ she shouted, as she dragged the priest towards the spirits. They were still distracted by the light, and Akiko swung the kagurasuzu around her, leaving them too confused to do anything as the two of them ran beneath the creatures. “To the car! Quickly!â€ Shiraishi said nothing, but she was running herself now, keeping up with Akiko, and the screams behind them sounded more like screams of rage.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">They rounded the corner and saw the car. And the spider-spirit poised over it. It had the face of a girl, heavily made up with bleached hair, but when it grinned at them its teeth were needles, needles in syringes. It raised one leg, and brought it crashing down through the bonnet of the car.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">With a roar, the car burst into flames, the kegare spirit still grinning in the middle of the inferno, unaffected by the heat that Akiko could feel even at that distance.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Back to the shrine!â€ Akiko said. “Come on, we can make it.â€ Shiraishi seemed to be frozen, so Akiko grabbed her arm again, and pulled.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The light from the ohnusa was fading, and the fog drew back in around them. Akiko could see the grit within it, the ash, and now also see the insects flying in the midst of it, outsize jaws reaching for them, repelled by the faint glow that still clung to their bodies.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko couldn’t see where she was going. Couldn’t see where the spirits were. She listened for them, swinging the bells in the direction of anything that might be a threat, but then something grabbed at her shoulder.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Screaming, she slammed the kagurasuzu against it, and the giant hand drew back as she heard a hissing from overhead. Shiraishi took the lead, pulling her along, and Akiko realised that her sight was worse than useless. She switched back, and the fog vanished in a moment.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The spirits didn’t.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Scrambling over houses and scuttling down alleys, they seemed to be trying to surround Akiko and Shiraishi, to hem them in.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;"><em>Why can I still see them? </em>Akiko wondered. <em>Why can Shiraishi see them? Who else can see them?</em></p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The spirits were slower than Akiko had expected, covering remarkably little ground as they hunted, for all that they seemed to be moving quickly. In a straight race, Akiko and Shiraishi could keep ahead, but the spirits kept moving in from the side.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">They turned a corner, and the spiny rat was blocking the street in front of them. Its eyes burned a deep blue, while sickly green slime leaked from its mouth. Within its jaws, dozens of cog wheels turned, grinding and squealing as it moved towards them, spines rising and falling in ripples across its back.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko and Shiraishi backed up, glancing behind them. The cockroaches were approaching that way, and there was no sign of the spiders or the lizards.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Something made Akiko glance up, and she pushed Shiraishi aside with a scream as a lizard crashed to the ground where they had been standing, its spiked insectile legs creating a network of tiny cracks on the surface of the road. Akiko swung the kagurasuzu against it, and its skin burst, oily smoke in a rainbow of colours pouring out, making her eyes water, driving her into a fit of coughing. Screaming and thrashing, the lizard creature collapsed into the road, and Shiraishi came running round to Akiko.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Are you all right?â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“For now…â€ she replied, looking at the spirits that were still approaching.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“We’re nearly there.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko nodded. If they could get past the rat, they were practically at the shrine. Shiraishi raised the ohnusa.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Frontal attack?â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko’s stomach flipped over again, but the cockroaches were gaining from behind. She nodded. They didn’t have a choice.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko took the right, Shiraishi the left, and both struck at the rat as the passed. Surprised, it reared up on its hind legs for a moment, opening a way through, and they darted round it. They heard its scream of rage, but they weren’t looking back now; they could see the steps to the shrine. They were on the steps, up the steps, standing on the lawn.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The barrier around the shrine appeared, a wall of golden flame leaping into life before them. Beyond it they could see the spirits as they gathered at the foot of the stairs, shrieking their disappointment before turning and disappearing back into the city.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Akiko and Shiraishi collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.</p>