DANSE MACABRE
Summary: A short story where Mai meets a hysterical mother that has lost her son. She enlists the help of Naru and Lin to find him, but will they manage to recover the child before it's too late?
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Mai stared at the English words on the page before eventually sighing in frustration. The words seemed so foreign to her. She couldn't understand how people like Naru could be so fluent, especially when there were so many grammatical rules that contradicted themselves and because of these, Mai had stayed awake much of the previous night to memorize as much as she could. The young part-time assistant gave a wide yawn before stretching her cramped arms. It was a lazy day in the SPR office. Lin had left the building for goodness knows what reason, probably to pick up some new equipment, Naru was locked in his office most probably studying a book or map of some kind and Mai, upon arriving to work early that day, had finished all of her duties early.
Tired of studying English, Mai decided to take a break outside. She scrawled a note to her boss, being careful only to use simple kanji and left it on her desk in case Naru might call for her while she was gone.
The weather was chilly as cold winds whipped around Mai. There weren't many people outdoors as they were all huddled inside. In spite of this, as Mai was deciding where to go, she noticed a woman on the other side of the street, hysterical and searching for something frantically. Unable to ignore it, Mai crossed the street in hope of comforting the woman. She looked rather young, in her late twenties or so, and her long hair trailed down her back to reach the top of a lengthy pleated skirt that matched her plain blouse, but what Mai noticed were her feverish bloodshot eyes and the dark circles beneath them, indicating her lack of sleep.
"Are you alright ma'am?" Mai asked tentatively.
"My…my son," the woman replied and Mai noticed her hoarse sounding voice. "He's gone missing and I haven't been able to find him."
Mai looked at her sympathetically. She was certain that Naru wouldn't miss her from the office for a little while.
"May I help you?" Mai offered, "Search for him, I mean."
The woman looked up at Mai with a trace of hope in her formerly dull eyes.
"Thank you so much."
The Shibuya district was a rather large place now that Mai thought about it. There were so many nooks and crannies that a child could hide in, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find the lost son. On top of the droopiness of her eyes from her late night studying, Mai also had to fight the pain that had begun to grow in her back from crouching down low and peering up high every few steps. Despite this, she continued searching in hope of being able to help the concerned mother. Mai had spent so much time searching that she had almost forgotten about returning to work. She blinked a couple of times, standing up straight as her spine protested. The mother wasn't too far away, searching on the other side of the street, when Mai's world spun. A bout of dizziness caught her off guard and she realized that she no longer had her legs supporting her. The concrete of the pavement approached her quickly and the last thing she noticed before losing consciousness was the woman dashing towards her from the other side of the street and a slight squeal of the brake pads of a passing car.
Mai had dreamt. She was having fun even though couldn't quite remember what she was dreaming of. It was a peaceful dream and she didn't want to forget it, but the harder she tried to remember, the fragments slipped further and further away until all that was left was the notion of having the dream in the first place. Her inner self sighed in resignation before giving up and concentrating on the current surroundings. Whatever she was lying on was soft, like her bed, but there was what felt like a cushioned wall on her left as well as voices.
Mai's eyes snapped open as she realized that she was lying on one of the couches in the SPR office. On the opposing couch sat the hysterical mother from earlier, slightly calmer but with an untouched cup of tea sitting in front of her. At the head of the coffee table was Naru. Mai sat up immediately, ignoring the spinning that it caused.
"Lin found you on his way back," Naru stated before Mai could say anything. Mai noticed the extra coat on the stand tapping sounds in the background that indicated that Lin had indeed returned.
"Sorry Naru, but her son has gone missing and to lose someone that close to you, Naru–"
He raised a hand to stop her. Directing his next words at the mother, Naru asked,
"Have you contacted the police about this? They would be much better capable of searching."
She nodded slowly. "They are far too busy to be of any help. I asked yesterday, when he first went missing."
She fiddled with the handkerchief in her lap and glanced downward. Her brow was furrowed with worry. The handsome, young boss gazed from the concerned mother, to Mai who had a pleading look in her eyes, before sighing.
"Lin and I will help."
At which Mai threw a slightly shocked, but inquisitive look.
"If the police are unavailable to search then we will," Naru said shortly, he then got up to retrieve his scarf from the coat stand, not wasting a moment.
Mai turned to smile at the immensely grateful mother.
"By the way, what's your name?" she asked.
"Ha…Hanada Akiko. My son is Satoshi."
"Hanada-san, it's nice to meet you."
With Naru and Lin helping, they covered ground twice as fast as Akiko and Mai could alone. Nevertheless, looking down yet another empty side street made Mai realize just how hungry searching had made her. Then a thought struck her. "Mushrooms."
Earlier, when she was asleep, she had dreamt about a grassy area where there were many mushrooms, but she had felt sick and wanted to see her mother…
Naru looked up at her sudden exclamation. "If you're that hungry then we should probably eat. There's a café nearby."
"Oh, okay."
And so he led Mai down the road to a small coffee shop, ordering sandwiches and tea upon entering. Mai looked at Naru for a while wondering what about the young mother made Naru so sympathetic. He had seemed unusually reserved since they had begun searching for the boy. Naru's voice broke her train of thought.
"Andrija Puharich studied the telepathic properties of mushrooms."
It took Mai a moment to grasp where the topic came from.
"Andrija Puharich?" she questioned.
"If you remember Uri Geller, Puharich was his mentor, as well as being a neurologist. He used scientific reasoning to attempt to justify paranormal events. One of his most popular books was about hallucinogenic mushrooms inducing a telepathic state."
Mai took the last bite of her sandwich and waited patiently for Naru to finish his tea.
"I see," was all she could think of to say.
An hour and a half later, Mai was exhausted. Naru seemed to be patiently frustrated, not being able to find a solution and Mai had to calm the despairing Akiko continuously, who now feared the worst for her lost son. Of course Lin, apart from shooting several wary glances at Naru, didn't complain once. Rounding the corner to another block in a part of Shibuya that was foreign to her, Mai stumbled upon a park abundant with mushrooms. Small clusters grew every few feet in the grassy block near a children's play set with slides and swings. Mai bent down to get a closer look at the exotic fungi when Lin approached her from behind.
"I strongly suggest you don't touch them, Taniyama-san."
Mai turned to look at the stoic man as he continued.
"They're highly toxic."
The girl straightened up immediately in horror, partly because of Lin's information, but mainly because of the ear-splitting scream in a voice Mai recognized as Akiko's. They immediately ran towards the origin of the scream, which wasn't too far away, to find Akiko crouched behind the brick wall of a building, sobbing violently. Her arms were cradling a small, limp body.
A moment later, Naru had shown up, and upon taking in the scene, he dialled the number for the emergency services. When the paramedics eventually arrived, Mai couldn't help but look away as they tried to separate Satoshi from his wailing mother. It was bad enough that Mai could only watch Akiko while waiting for the medics to arrive, but no one could say anything to comfort her. By the time her hysterics subsided, the medic pronounced her son dead. After her despair sank in, she remembered the three people that had stayed with her all day and helped her search. She especially wanted to thank the sweet young girl that comforted her throughout the day, but she had remembered too late and when Akiko turned to look for them, they had already left the scene.
The next day things had turned rather sullen in the SPR office. Earlier they had received a letter from Akiko thanking them profusely for all their help yesterday and stating that according to the bile tests, Satoshi had died from fungal poisoning, presumably from eating the toxic mushrooms. After Lin excused himself from the office to collect their lunch, Naru couldn't help but notice Mai's long face. Stopping work for a little while, the intelligent young boss sat on a couch for a while before speaking to Mai.
"When you dreamt, you connected with Satoshi in a telepathic state, didn't you?"
Mai looked up from her desk, frowning.
"I saw the park, and the toadstools."
"You saw the moments before his death," Naru stated, an edge of anxiety traced his voice.
Mai nodded, trying not to let the sadness entirely consume her. Naru rose and walked purposefully towards Mai, tugging her up by the wrist to lead her to a clearing on the floor. He gently placed a hand on her waist, holding her hand with the other as they began to sway from side to side. Once Mai relaxed, she found the rhythmic movement relaxing as Naru spoke.
"I've asked Hara-san to communicate with the boy, to help him move on."
Mai merely nodded as she allowed her eyes to slip shut.
Naru felt Mai's breathing slow down and he found himself comfortable. Mai had seen the moments before Hanada Akiko's son's death and shouldn't have to bear that idea. But she did anyway, and he couldn't change that, so Naru wondered if he would break down as Akiko had if he ever found the colourless corpse of a loved one. He didn't know, but until then Naru decided focus on his desire to protect Mai as they danced a slow two-step across the Shibuya Psychic Research office floor.
--END--
Thank you very much for reading to the end! I hope you enjoyed it because I'd like to start writing more Ghost Hunt fics if this one works out well. Constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated.