Akiko stood beside the exit from the area being cleared, watching the rubbish pile up. Around her she knew that the protesters were milling around the shrine grounds, making sure that they were spread out so that it would take time for them all to get down the steps. Today they’d managed to bring along someone’s grandmother; it took her a very long time to get up and down the steps, but they could hardly hurry her along. The new pattern had sped things up, but the work was still going slowly.

http://www.netsaga.is/media/files/NyttEnGamaltLag.mp3

Akiko had to admit to a sneaking admiration for the protesters. They were making a complete nuisance of themselves without doing anything that Shiraishi could easily complain to the police about. Akiko suspected that there probably were laws against this sort of activity, but when she suggested it, Shiraishi had expressed scepticism over the prospect of getting anything done in a reasonable length of time, and Akiko had to agree.

Sighing, she risked a quick glance around. Naoyuki didn’t seem to be around at the moment, but Mr Akiyama had just arrived. The rubbish was building up, and it was almost time to clear them all again.

Suddenly, Akiko felt a surge of rage. For a moment, it shocked her by its intensity, but then she realised that it wasn’t her anger. Tamao. She could see the kami coiled in the earth, his head resting under the site of the shrine building, weighed down by the rubble, his body twisting out and around, lying within the ground of shrine precincts, under the lawn. His eyes burned with golden light, while lightning danced around his mouth.

Tamao moved, flexing his whole body, swinging his head around to face Akiko as the rest of him surged through the earth, rippling. His head broke the surface.

The tremor scattered the rubble, and Akiko fell to her knees. Around her, she could hear the concerned shouts of the protesters, and the workmen.

Tamao shook his head and tail, and the earth shook again, more strongly. There was a crash from somewhere inside the house, and then a louder clatter, stone on stone.

Akiko swung her head to look behind her, where the torii had fallen outwards, shattering on the steps and scattering rubble down them. She looked back, but Tamao had already vanished.

That didn’t help! she thought, the anger she felt this time definitely her own, and directed at Tamao. She got to her feet, and saw that a few other people had also lost their balance and fallen. Looking around, however, she couldn’t see anyone trapped, or seriously injured. She hurried over to the entrance, and looked at the shattered stone on the steps. It was still just about possible to get up and down, but not while carrying a load of rubbish from the burned shrine. The only good thing, however, was that there was no-one lying on the steps; no-one was injured.

Shiraishi came out of the house, and Akiko hurried over to her.

“Is everything all right inside?”

“A plate fell off a shelf; that seems to be all.”

“It was…” Akiko cut herself off as she noticed someone approaching. She turned to face Mr Akiyama, who was followed by a number of the protesters.