Late that afternoon, the now bigger group of Youkai living at Mumeikitsune ate a short, cold dinner. As it had been known they’d have little time that evening Toya had prepared it in advance.

During it, Komaki gave Karasuza a quick rundown of what she could expect that evening and stressing that she should not come into contact with anything deceased for the rest of the week.[1] Immediately afterwards, while Toya was cleaning up, Eva and Yukiko headed to their small storage shed to retrieve the clothes everyone would be wearing that night, as well as a number of extra towels. The Kitsune had been handed a dozen or so strips of fabric, which the Yuki-Onna claimed were loincloths, while Yukiko was carrying half a dozen folded up white yukata and the towels.

Once back inside, they had barely enough time to put everything where it was needed. The loincloths and an equal number of towels were put in the main room, while the yukata and remaining towels were put into the small tatami room just as the first of the volunteers arrived.

“Ah good evening Ms. Mayer.” The young woman that had just stepped inside greeted the Kitsune waiting just beyond the genkan.

“Evening Miss Unagi. Nice to see you. Though I thought most people helping with the festival wouldn’t actually come today?” Eva replied as she waited for the other woman to take off her shoes before guiding her to the tatami room.

With a polite chuckle, Hanako responded. “Well I can’t be the only member of the local volunteer firefighters not here today.”[2] With a short sigh she continued her explanation as she closed the sliding door behind them. “Not to mention old Mrs. Matsumoto for some reason couldn’t volunteer this year, so I’ll be filling in for her.”

“I hope she is alright?” Eva inquired as the business woman began to take off her suit.

“Oh yes, she just said she wouldn’t have the time this year for some reason.” Hanako explained as she looked away for a moment, before the young German handed her one of the yukata before she began to undress as well.

As the two were changing, an elderly lady stepped in, followed by Yukiko and Karasuza. She greeted Ms. Unagi relatively friendly, but as her eyes fell on Eva confidently putting on the pure white garment, she fell silent, her mouth drawing a thin line.

Moments later, Toya, in the same guise as when he pretends to be a miko, stepped inside and began to change as well.

Once they were all changed, they sat down and waited for Komaki, or one of the male volunteers, to let them know everyone was changed. Which did take a couple more minutes.

When they finally stepped into the main room again, the men waiting for them were all only wearing a loincloth to cover the bare essentials.

Walking out last, Eva noticed the blush on Hanako’s cheek when the other woman spotted Mr. Mori. But before she could comment on that, the older woman took a hold of Eva’s shoulder and gently, but firmly, guided her to the front of the group of females as everyone lined up to step outside.

As the Kitsune was about to inquire why the older woman had pushed her to this position, one of the men already lined up before her turned around, and after a quick look at Eva, took a firm grip of her shoulder. And as he guided her to the very front of the line, he rambled quickly in Japanese, and Eva couldn’t quite make up her mind if he was sounding apologetic or proud.

When the whole procession finally started to move, their destination the small path down to the stream next to the bridge, Komaki began to loudly chant a Norito prayer.[3] As he was reciting a line before each step he took, progress was surprisingly slow. This was especially hard the closer their walk came to its end. As Komaki did not speed up once he had reached the stream, and Eva knew from the explanations that they were expected to walk downstream a step after each line until all were in the stream.

At least everyone standing upstream of her[4] meant she had no problems at all with the stream's mild current. Once everyone was in position, Komaki quickly finished the last repetition of the first Norito, before beginning to chant a different one. As instructed, this time after each line they all cupped some of the streams icy cold water in their hands and poured it over their head. After the first verse, they sat down in the stream, repeating the water pouring for the second verse’s lines. With each handful of water, it felt as if a pressure Eva hadn’t known she was under vanished.

This repeated until the end of the prayer, when Komaki stepped out of the water, quick but orderly followed by the single file line of volunteers, Eva now at the very end. While all of them were freezing by now, a few of them were even shivering, no one seemed to be in a rush to get back to the towels and their clothes.

As everyone began to dry themselves off, Toya brought out a pair of large thermos with tea he passed around so everyone could warm themselves up a bit as they slowly filled inside to change back into their own clothes.

Once everyone was changed, Komaki reminded them all that they would need to avoid direct contact with anything deceased, from picking up a dead animal to eating meat or fish for the rest of the week. And to contact him immediately in case of accidental contact.

“So you two are old enough to drink aren’t you?” Yujiro Mori said loudly as he clamped a hand on Eva and Karasuza’s[5] shoulders. “Why don’t you come with us? We always celebrate the start of these preparations at Mr. Murata’s bar.”

Noticing the unsure look on the young woman’s faces he quickly continued. “I just thought, since you two are old enough, it would be nice for Hanako to ot be the only woman.”

While Karasuza was clearly ready to join in, it must have been easy enough to read Eva’s unspoken concerns, as he expanded his offer once again. “And He has an All-you-can-drink offer with a sizable student discount.”Relenting in the face of cheap alcohol and a chance to meet new people, Eva relented with a sigh. “Alright, we’ll come.”