"Naru, I really don't think this is a good idea," Mai insisted with her hands on her hips.
"Why?" Noll asked in reply, though he was not really paying attention to her words.
"Lin isn't here," Mai said. "We shouldn't take the case without him."
"I have had a driving licence for several years now, I am perfectly capable of driving the van."
"That isn't what I'm worried about!" Mai huffed.
"Then what is?" Noll asked. He was still reading the document in front of him.
"Lin is always there on a case! What if you-"
"What if I what, Mai? Yasuhara will be there," Noll interrupted. "Besides, just because Madoka has finally dragged Lin away from his keyboard does not mean we'll sit around for a week twiddling our thumbs."
Mai scowled and stalked out of his office, slamming the door behind her. Noll looked up and frowned slightly before looking back at the document. It was the insurance to put both him and Yasuhara on the van for the week that Lin was away. It seemed to be in order.
Mai was talking very loudly to Yasuhara on the other side of the office door. Noll couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but her tone of voice was unmissable. She was annoyed with him.
For a moment, Noll pondered if it was her intuition speaking. But that thought was squashed immediately, Mai would have said if it was because she knew he would have listened to her then.
Perhaps he ought to have told Mai the truth, but it was better this way. She could claim ignorance to Lin and the rest of SPR.
"Is this it Boss?" Yasuhara asked. He'd been driving for the last two hours, having taken over from Noll.
"Yes," Noll replied from the middle seat. Mai was sat resolutely staring out of the window and ignoring them both.
Yasuhara parked the van on the drive and climbed out. The sun was still high in the sky; they'd made good time.
"Mai, you need to get out now," Noll intoned. Without climbing over the gearstick he would be unable to get out the same side as Yasuhara.
Mai, without so much as looking around at him, huffed and opened her door before sliding out. She walked up to the front doors of the victorian style house and knocked.
No one answered.
"There's no one home," she called to the others. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
"If you'd paid any attention during the briefing, you'd know that the clients refused to stay here any longer," Noll said. "I have the key."
He strode up to the door, waited for Mai to step aside and then unlocked it. Noll walked inside, appraising the decor and layout. Mai had followed him in, leaving Yasuhara with the van.
"This room has a few plug points, shall we have a base here?" Mai asked. She indicated the room to her right.
Noll looked around and studied the room Mai had suggested before nodding. Mai headed outside to help Yasuhara unload. Noll watched her go before looking back around at the house. The hallway had rooms coming off either side with the grand staircase at one end. He knew the upstairs would mirror this floor from plans he'd acquired.
"Are you going to help?" Mai muttered as she pushed past him with an armful of shelving units.
Noll did not answer but turned to collect things from the van. Yasuhara sent him a look as they passed each other but Noll ignored it. He had no desire to discuss Mai's attitude.
Bringing everything in took longer than usual due to the lack of extra hands, but between them, they managed well enough.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Mai asked. She was clutching her sleeping bag under one arm and her overnight bag in the other.
"In here," Noll replied. "There are only three of us, I do not feel that splitting up is wise until we understand the situation."
"We wouldn't have had a problem if we'd invited the others," Mai muttered in a low voice. Noll ignored her yet again. Yasuhara glanced from one to the other nervously as if expecting a fight.
"Shall I make tea?" he asked in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
Both Mai and Noll gave him a look of disgust.
"If we are going to suffer here I am not having it due to your tea making skills," Mai said, smiling at her friend. "Come on, I'll make some."
Mai and Yasuhara fumbled their way to the kitchen, where they boiled a dusty kettle and made tea.
"I don't understand it," Yasuhara said finally. "Usually, you complain at the Boss for not helping people, now you're complaining that he is!" He leant against the kitchen table with his arms folded, waiting for Mai to respond.
Mai scowled.
"What people? There are no clients here! And none have come in recently that fit this description. And Lin isn't here. He hasn't invited Bou-san, Ayako, Masako or John either." She frowned. "I just don't like it."
"We've taken cases without them before," Yasuhara pointed out. "Well, not without Lin."
Mai looked like she wanted to say more, but shook her head instead.
"Let's get this tea back to that narcissistic idiot."
They took the tea through and drank in silence for a while. Noll broke it first.
"Mai, I want you to check his plan of the house is accurate. Yasuhara, take the cameras and set them up. I'll coordinate the feeds from here."
Mai all but snatched the blueprints from Noll's hands and stalked off with a tape measure.
Yasuhara sighed and picked up some of the camera equipment.
"Where do you want me to focus them?" he asked Noll.
"Everywhere, aiming to cover as much of the house as possible," Noll replied.
Yasuhara sighed again and trooped off. He set up cameras on the ground floor and ran the cables back to the base before taping them down. Mai really didn't need any more trip hazards - she fell over enough as it was...
Mai was upstairs measuring the bedrooms when Yasuhara began lugging cameras up.
"How's it going?"
"Fine," she mumbled in reply. "These look right."
"Great," Yasuhara replied. "I don't fancy any more secret cavities in old buildings with creepy spirits living in them to be honest."
Mai smiled.
"Yeah, that would be bad," she said.
Yasuhara continued with the cameras. He noted the house looked like it had been empty for a while. It was almost like a show home that had never been cleaned after it'd been set up. The beds were made and looked beautiful. He half expected to find chocolates on the pillow.
Finally, they were all set up and sat in the base waiting for something to happen. Mai had taken to making cups of tea out of boredom, not that Noll had complained.
"I'm going for a walk around," Mai announced after they'd eaten their dinner.
"Yasuhara, go with her," Noll instructed without looking away from the screens.
Mai rolled her eyes, but did not protest. She wanted to get out of the base. The reckless part of her brain had suggested that the sooner she gets in trouble, the sooner they can work out what was going on so they could end it.
"Has your intuition told you anything?" Yasuhara asked hopefully as Mai wandered into one of the bedrooms.
"Nope."
Mai walked to the window and looked out. Yasuhara joined her a moment later. They could see down to the road and a little way up the street.
"Is that Boss by the van?"
Mai squinted through the darkness.
"Looks like it, maybe he forgot his manners and common sense in the van and went back for them." She scowled, then relaxed. "Sorry. I shouldn't let it get to me."
"You don't like it here?"
"I don't like that we're here," Mai corrected. "Without the others. It feels wrong."
"It'll be alright, Big Boss wouldn't have brought us here without good reason," Yasuhara pointed out. "Let's just do our best, yeah?"
"Yeah," Mai agreed. She smiled and together they bounded out of the room, down the stairs and back to the base, where Noll was sat staring at the screens.
"Did you find what you'd forgotten Boss?"
"Hmm?"
"From the van?"
"What?" Noll frowned.
"We saw you by the van," Mai cut in. "Was that not you?"
"I have not left this room."
"Well someone was at the van," Mai protested.
"Should I go and check it out?" Yasuhara offered.
"No, I'll go," Noll insisted. "Stay here and watch the cameras."
Mai ignored this instruction and instead rushed to the window. She watched Noll leave the house and walk down the van. He inspected it from every side and looked up and down the road before shaking his head.
"It did look just like him," Mai muttered.
"It did," Yasuhara agreed. "But it's getting dark. It could have been anyone."
"Yeah," Mai mumbled. She flopped onto a dusty sofa and coughed at the plume of dust. "I wonder if here is a vacuum cleaner anywhere."
"I haven't seen one."
"And we are not here to clean," Noll added, having returned from the van. "There was nothing there, nor anything wrong with the van. I imagine you saw a curious neighbour."
Mai chose to ignore him.
"I guess so," Yasuhara said. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"Any signs of paranormal activity," Noll replied with a sigh. He scooped up his book and dropped into the sofa at the opposite end to Mai.
"What did the client experience?" Mai asked.
But Noll already had his head in his book. Mai snatched it from his hands.
"What did the client experience?" she repeated.
"Door slamming, things moving and odd sounds," Noll listed. He snatched his book back and flicked back through it to his page.
Mai rolled her eyes and jumped up to join Yasuhara at the cameras.
"This would make the worst drinking game," Yasuhara mumbled. "Drink for any supernatural activity."
They both stared at the unchanging screens for a minute.
"How about for anything happening at all ever?" Mai suggested.
Yasuhara laughed.
They were in for a long night.
Author's note: If anyone guesses what the title means I will be so impressed. I know I said I would finish Blind Hope first but this just sort of happened. I realise this chapter is just the very set up, but the next bit would be too long to put here so I think breaking them up works best!
Please review :)