At the building in the Ocean of Trees that the locals sometimes called a "church," which was something like a temple, but different in ways she didn't quite understand, Anko cleaned the Jizo. With her kimono sleeves tucked in and her skirt tucked up so she wouldn't get wet or soiled, Anko set to work on the last of the stone statues. It was one of the new ones, the man one. The chore had been imposed by her mother, as a form of service to their new community.
Anko found she enjoyed being alone in the clearing. She didn't believe in the ghosts, and ghosts find it much harder to act without belief, so she wasn't concerned with them. Cleaning was satisfying because she could see the actual results of her work. She brushed leaves off the statue and its base with her hands, and listened to bir
