"Fifteen burpees," Inu barked. "Then we rest."

Akari frowned at Inu's choice of exercise, but she didn't complain aloud. That would have only made things worse. Inu was already pushing Akari and herself harder than normal and her curt tone strongly suggested she was in a bad mood.

Things aren't looking good for my plan to find a good moment and ask Inu about her original name, Akari thought.

She buckled down and followed Inu's lead through the burpees, which were a sinister combination of a squat and a pushup. They always left Akari exhausted, but she supposed that was the point.

At least those awful burpees came with a nice bonus: she and Inu were facing each other and Akari got to watch Inu's amazing body in action, like a masterwork sculpture come to life. It wasn't even a sexual thing, or so Akari told herself. Akari just respected Inu's physique and wished she could be that fit, too.

When the set finally ended, Akari was panting and Inu was smiling. Inu splashed some water on her face and chest, then said, "I feel so much better now." And she looked better too, as if the exercise had flushed all the negativity from her system. In a way, physical exertion was Inu's therapy.

"That's good to hear," Akari said, sitting on her butt on the grassy ground and breathing hard. Then she looked up and saw Inu staring down at her with those piercing orange eyes. Feeling highly self-conscious, wondering if she'd had a wardrobe malfunction she hadn't noticed, Akari asked, "Uh, what's up?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Inu answered. "The whole time we've been working out, there was a look on your face like you had something to say."

She's more observant than I thought, Akari thought. "Um, actually there is something I want to ask you about, if that's alright."

Inu shrugged. "As long as it isn't about Inara or Neko." Her tone was light, but there was a seriousness in it. She wasn't joking about those topics being off limits.

Akari shook her head. "It's not. It's about your name, and your past life."

Inu's left ear quirked up and she said, "Huh, alright. Ask away."

"I want to try to find out your original name, since I thought you'd like to know it. I might be able to find it in the municipal records, if you give me some information about your life as a dog."

Inu waved a hand and started away at a light jog. "Walk with me."

Akari scrambled to her feet and followed. She was hopeful now, but she could never really tell what Inu was thinking. Inu was just so stoic and reserved.

Once Akari had caught up and was jogging along with her, Inu said, "Before we get into it, you should know I'm not interested in all that superior spirit stuff. But knowing my real name would be… nice." Then she added, "So what do you need to know?"

"Um, your dog breed, your owner's name or address, and uh... when you died," Akari answered. The words felt strange on her tongue; they confirmed just how weird her life had become. She was literally talking to the ghost of a dog, and a sweaty, sexy ghost at that.

Without breaking pace, Inu answered, "I'm a mutt. I looked just like my animal form does now. I'm pretty sure I'm part Akita and part Golden Retriever, but I don't know the rest."

"Alright, that's what I'd guessed," Akari said. Then she waited to hear Inu's other answers. THe joggers reached the edge of the clearing and turned to follow it around the shrine. It was a path they'd run so many times that they'd worn a slight dip into the terrain. Inara didn't mind the change to the landscape, especially since the path helped keep weeds and saplings from creeping in from the forest.

After a moment, Inu continued, "I didn't understand names or dates when I was a dog. I don't even know the exact year I died, so I can't help you with those. Sorry."

Akari didn't lose hope. "But what about places? Could you point out where you lived on a map?"

"Hmm, I don't think I could recognize it from a map, but my feet should remember. I can take you there."

Akari darted ahead of Inu, then stopped and turned around with a grin on her face. "That would be wonderful. I'm sure I'll be able to find your record once I have your address. When can we visit your old home?"

Inu stopped too, but she continued jogging in place. "How about right now?"

Akari's grin faded. "Now? I'm kinda tired…" Then she slapped her own cheek and said, "No, I can handle it. Let's go!"

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"This is the place?" Akari asked, trying to ignore her aching muscles. The walk down the trail had been good to cool off, but the long trek across town had taken a lot out of her.

The fluffy dog at her side nodded, but also shot her a look that said, 'You look crazy when you talk to animals'.

Akari stepped closer and peered through the locked gate to the small yard and cottage-style house beyond. "It's… nice," Akari said. "Or at least it used to be."

The one-story house looked cozy and cute, but it was in dire need of maintenance. Large flakes of cream-colored paint had chipped off of the siding and now lay in the dirt amongst scattered weeds, and the gutters were filled with leaves so old they had broken down into soil where maple saplings now grew.

The house wasn't abandoned—Akari was pretty sure someone still lived there—but it was severely neglected. The car in the driveway looked functional, if a bit of a junker. It was a sickly brown sedan, family-sized and utilitarian, and it was rusting on the edges from years of exposure to salty and humid air. It was the kind of car a lower-middle-class parent might pass down to their teenager, and the kind of car the teenager would find too embarrassing to drive.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The address on the gatepost had faded to a mere outline, as if it no longer wanted to be associated with the pitiful plot of land behind it. Akari noted it down in her phone, then turned to face Inu who was sitting on her haunches across the street.

Inu didn't seem to want to come any closer. Seeing her old home in such a state of disrepair must have been unpleasant for her.

"Let's head home," Akari said, wondering how many hands the poor house had gone through since Inu's era. 30 years was a long time, and time hadn't been kind to the place.

Inu omitted the judging look from before and simply nodded. She wanted to leave too.

They walked in silence back through Inu's old neighborhood, then along the bike trail that followed the Mogami River through town. Akari saw a few other houses like Inu's: old and neglected or abandoned entirely. Like most rural towns in Japan, Shinjō's population was in decline. Since Inu's time 30 years ago, it had lost 7,000 of its 44,000 residents. Land value was low and there wasn't any real draw for people to stay in Shinjō when they finished high school. The people that remained were like Akari, too poor or too attached to the past to leave for a thriving city like Tokyo.

Just when Akari started really feeling bad for herself, something smacked hard against her leg. It was Inu's wagging tail, and it came with another trademark Inu glare. She wondered if all dogs were secretly capable of such judgemental looks, or if that was a major spirit thing.

"Yeah, yeah. I shouldn't get all mopey. Especially now that I have enough information to find your name." Akari pointed at a fork in the path up ahead that would take her toward the town hall. "How about I go ask about that right now? Can you head home on your own?"

Inu rolled her eyes at the questions she couldn't answer, at least not without risking someone overhearing. A woman talking to a dog was weird, sure, but nothing worth making a big deal over; a dog talking back was something else entirely. Instead, Inu answered by padding away down the other path, toward the shrine.

"Seeya at home," Akari mumbled after her, feeling too self-conscious to shout after her, but not so much as to stay silent. She felt like she had really started bonding with Inu, and it felt good.

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"Usagi?" Inu asked, peeking her head into Usagi's bedroom. "Can you join me and Hebi in her room?"

Inu's voice had a serious edge to it, so Usagi didn't question the sudden intrusion. She hopped to her feet, leaving her charm project for later. When she wasn't cooking, Usagi spent most of her free time making simple charms that the shrine could sell to visitors. They didn't sell as well as Hebi's figurines, but they were an important fixture of any Shinto shrine.

Usagi did have one question. "Why just us three?"

Inu waved her into Hebi's room and closed the door before answering, "I would have invited Akari too, but she's busy in town and I don't think we can afford to wait any longer."

Usagi nodded. She'd had a feeling that something like this was coming. And Neko's absence from the meeting was not lost on her.

"Something's wrong with Miss Inara," Inu said as she sat on edge of the bed and propped her elbows on her spread knees.

Hebi, who was sitting on the floor with her legs tucked under herself, merely nodded. There was a pained and determined look on her face.

Inu continued, "She's been unstable, and unfeeling. It's like she's bottling something up and lashing out when it overflows. I've never seen anything like it since I joined the shrine."

"Me either," Hebi said quietly, her voice a low hiss. "And I feel like I've failed somehow for it to get this bad."

Usagi sat down on the tatami-mat floor, then glanced between the other women. "Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't Neko the most likely cause?"

"It's possible," Inu said with a shrug.

"No," Hebi said, forcefully. "This is different. Neko's abrupt invitation was only a symptom of a deeper problem. Even Akari's invitation could be related. The Boss has been reaching out, grasping at straws and pulling them close, forcing them into her home. Two new residents in as many months, after 30 years of seclusion. Sudden change like that is a sure sign of a problem. There's something Inara isn't telling us."

"Alright. So what do we do?" Inu asked. She and Usagi both looked to Hebi expectantly. There was a leadership hierarchy in the shrine, and Hebi was indisputably the second in command.

Hebi simply said, "We need to hold an intervention."

"I… don't know what that means," Inu admitted.

Hebi explained, "It's when a person's loved ones come together and corner them, then force them to see the error of their ways. Of course, it's more nuanced than that."

Inu glared. "I'd hope so. Cornering a predator seems like a bad way to start a discussion."

Usagi nodded. "We need to lure her out and get her feeling comfortable, not cornered. How about a group bath? It's relaxing and comfortable, and you can really bare your soul when you're already naked."

"I like that plan," Hebi said. "But we should get Akari in too. She tends to bring out Inara's Caring side, and that's the best-case Inara for this."

"That's the problem here, isn't it?" Usagi said, her voice quiet and sad. "Inara's moods aren't under her control anymore?"

"It certainly seems that way," Hebi answered.

Inu tilted her head. "Was she ever able to control them?"

Hebi nodded. "To a certain extent. She seemed to be able to steer herself where she wanted, and at the very least she was able to predict when something might put her into the wrong mood, so she'd just avoid it."

"Like when we Akari was asking about Mistress Inara's tails and she withdrew from the conversation?" Usagi asked.

"Exactly." Hebi pulled her tail into her lap and clutched it with both hands. "If she's lost the ability to influence her moods, she may be fearful, panicked. We'll need to be very careful with her."

"Should we invite Neko to the intervention?" Inu asked, earning surprised looks from the other two. She quickly added, "If she's just a symptom, like Hebi said." It said a lot that Inu wasn't blaming Neko for Inara's situation. It said even more that she was willing to bring her into the solution.

Usagi looked to Hebi to make the call, but Hebi was deep in concentration. After a long moment, Hebi let out a long sigh and said, "I think we should. That way, we can bring up the issue of Inara's invitations without it looking like an attack on Neko. And I'm sure Neko is confused by this situation too."

Usagi jumped to her feet. "I'll make a nice dinner, one of Miss Inara's favorites, to get her in a good mood."

"So it's tonight? The intervention?" Inu asked.

Hebi gave a resigned nod. "Better sooner than later. I'll go talk to Neko. Whoever sees Akari next should let her know what's going on."

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"Hello, Usagi," Akari called out as she stomped into the kitchen. Her legs felt like pillars of lead, barely responsive after so much exercise.

"Hi, Akari," Usagi responded automatically. Then she set her measuring cup down, turned and said, "Actually, I need to talk to you for a minute. Is now a good time?"

Akari fished some juice out of the fridge and started pouring herself a glass. "Sure. What's up?"

Usagi let out a slow breath, then said, "First, I wanted to apologize for being mean to you in the past. I was jealous, and I'm sorry for how I acted. I'm trying to be better now."

Akari paused with her glass to her lips. She blinked and lowered the glass, then said, "Oh, no worries. It wasn't that bad. But thank you for the apology." Akari really meant it when she said it hadn't been that bad. Usagi's jealousy was on par with standard high school gossip and it was nowhere near as bad as the teasing and whispers Akari had endured after her dad died.

Usagi continued, "Second, and unrelated to that, Inu, Hebi and I all talked earlier. About Inara. We think something's wrong and she needs our help."

"You mean the argument with Inu?" Akari hated hearing Inara raise her voice like that. Even though Akari had been unable to make out many words, the tone had made her sick to her stomach.

Usagi nodded. "That and more. We're going to hold an intervention tonight after dinner, in the bath. All you need to do is help guide her into the bath, and then just be open and honest. I've seen how you handle emotional matters and I'm sure you'll do well."

Akari was a little shocked at that. She wasn't used to genuine compliments from Usagi. "Uh, thanks. I'll do my best."