The Mediator
First Book – Fighting the Living
I have decided to edit most of The Mediator, due to a lot of mishaps that have happened to my original draft book. Hence, I replanned most of it, causing in a need to rewrite most of the chapters (in bits), and decided to cut away the Japanese totally, and stick to English.
Disclaimer: Daidairo owns all the credit for replanning all these. She does not, however, own the Golden Sun.
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Prologue
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The little girl stood at the side of the ice cream shop. She had straight locks of aqua coloured hair, and they fell over one shoulder as she cocked her head to the side.
The shop was gaily painted in red, blue and yellow. The owner was an old woman with greying hair and kind silver eyes. She smiled at the little girl when she noticed her staring. Privately, she was surprised that such a young girl was allowed out alone. She could not have been more than five.
"Are you lost?"
The girl shook her head.
"Do you want an ice cream, dear?"
The girl shook her head again. She continued staring, her eyes wide. She was looking at the spot behind the woman. Sensing it, the woman turned. She saw nothing behind her but empty air.
"You don't have to pay if you don't have any money," she said encouragingly, turning back. Her smile faded slightly. "My grandson... he used to love ice cream too."
The little girl turned to look at her. Seeing that she had her attention, the woman continued. "He was such a lovely boy. He was kind to everyone, especially me, and he always loved my ice cream. He refused to take any without paying." A sigh. "On his way to buy my ice cream, he was... knocked down by a car. I remember seeing his cap bob towards me, and the next moment..."
The little girl stared at the tears rolling down.
"I'm sorry; I didn't have to tell you that. It doesn't matter if you don't understand what happened to him, just forget what I said, okay?" the woman sniffed.
The little girl looked down. "Red. Red cap."
The woman nodded. "Yes. He was wearing his favourite red cap when it happened. I made it for him..." She broke off in disbelief. "How did you know he was wearing his red cap?"
The little girl turned to her. "Because he's there. Behind you."
Startled, the old woman turned. There was nothing behind her. "What do you mean?"
"He say goodbye. Say he steal ice cream last time. So he pay now," the little girl replied. Just then, there was a plonk! on the metal cart. The old woman turned her eyes. Her empty bowl suddenly had a wallet in it.
Something gathered around her. It felt like wind, but it was not air. The old woman stiffened. She glanced quickly at the strange little girl.
"He say goodbye," the girl repeated. Then she turned and ran away.
The feeling disappeared. The woman found herself breathing heavily. She shivered, and stared at the wallet again.
It was the wallet she had sewn for her grandson.
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Chapter I
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Mia looked around her in wonder. Japan was nothing like England. There were more trees, and the sky was brighter than the grey ones in England. It was much more crowded, and much noisier.
Japan and England were very different.
"Mia!" Brett Quicksilver called, holding up a large bag of luggage. "Be a dear and carry this. It's the lightest one of the lot."
Mia ran to help. The wing tugged at the long blue sweater she was wearing, revealing a pale white blouse over a matching skirt. Her flat blue shoes stepped easily over the ground as she walked; the reason why she rarely wore shoes with heels.
"Is it too heavy?" Annabel Quicksilver asked anxiously. "Maybe we should have given these to the removal vans too."
"We can't," Brett grunted, trying to wave down a cab on the car filled road. "No space in the five vans we ordered, and getting another would crack our pockets."
A cab stopped, and the driver, a kindly man with black hair helped the family of three dump their luggage in the boot.
"Oo-air too?" he asked in English, seeing their foreign faces. His eyes lingered for a while on Mia's blue hair, but dismissed it as dye.
"Heaven no Tobira (1), the mansion on Mizutani Street (2)," Brett said in near perfect Japanese. His words were slightly ruined by an English accent. The cab driver grinned and the sound and started driving.
As the buildings flashed past, Mia looked outside the window in wonder. A year ago, she would never have imagined leaving England. Yet here she was, in Japan. Not just for a holiday either, but to stay.
Brett worked in an international bank, and when he was posted to Japan he had blurted "Move!" miserably as soon as he got home. Thankfully, Mia had taken lessons in Japanese language previously, so the only one clueless about the language was her mother.
Mia wondered what life would be like. She had not had many friends in England, because most people thought she was insane. So there was not much for her to miss.
The one thing she was sorry to leave behind was the Westernwood Girls' Choir. The teacher in charge, Mrs Nickerson, understood her well. It could be because she was a fortune teller, but Mia did not trust her skills. She still treated Mrs Nickerson as a friend, and the teacher did the same. The girls in the choir were the only ones who didn't mind her "talking to herself". They included her in the songs and worked with her. Though Mia was used to being alone, she still enjoyed simple, quiet companionship occasionally. And she loved music. Music could represent anything, and Mia grew up listening to the pictures that music portrayed.
Omoriki High (3). She wondered what studying with members of the opposite gender would be like. According to Jeraldine Roswell, who had a younger brother, boys were rough, hot tempered, lazy and unreliable.
"But if that is so, then men would be the same. Why isn't Father rough, hot tempered, lazy or unreliable? Well, maybe he is a little lazy sometimes, but still..."
Her thoughts were interrupted as the cab screeched to a stop. As Brett paid the driver an outrageous sum of money, Mia stepped out and looked around her, blinking.
Mizutani Street was a rather old place. The traditional wooden houses around were all built on platforms, raised on stilts. The biggest one was surrounded by a wooden fence made of extremely smooth wood, and a wooden plate nailed to it said "Heaven no Tobira" in katakana.
"You said a mansion," Annabel said, gulping.
"The company said a mansion," Brett agreed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Well, it is a mansion. A Japanese mansion," Mia said doubtfully. She liked the design, and it looked pleasing, but she wondered if it had a bathroom, kitchen and electricity.
Apparently, her mother was worried about the same thing. She looked around the place, as if trying to spot an outhouse. Mia had no idea whether the Japanese used outhouses, but she was relieved when she saw water pipes and telephone lines.
As the driver heaved the last piece of luggage out, Brett unlocked the gate. A silver lock looked extremely out of place on the wood.
Inside the fence, the house looked rather vulnerable and prone to attacks. A lot of green grass covered the ground, with rocks and tiny plants everywhere.
"I don't see a lock on the front house," Annabel muttered nervously. Brett dragged the pieces of luggage into the grounds and dumped them on the ground.
"It's not supposed to have one," Brett replied, pushing at the front door. Mia rolled her eyes and shoved her father firmly aside with a smile.
"Father, sliding doors," she reminded, lightly moving the door to one side. Brett blinked.
They stepped in. The door let to a small hall with tatami mats (4) on the ground. The walls were painted a clean white, with a border of dark brown. Removing her shoes, Mia slid open the other door to the hall. It led to a long corridor, with double sliding doors in the middle.
The next room was rather large. Again, the ground was covered with tatami mats. A square, polished wooden table with its top near the ground stood in the middle. In one corner of the room, a small niche was built, with a single porcelain vase in it. In another corner, on a wooden cabinet, was a small black television set. Like the lock, it looked out of place.
"Living room, I think," Brett said.
Mia noticed yet another set of sliding doors across the room and she tugged it open. Then she gasped.
The doors led to the garden behind the house. A thin corridor around the walls of the house had wooden steps leading down to a stone path. The path was partially hidden by tall grass and weeds. Seashells paved the sides.
Other than the grass, some small trees and several flowers, there was a small, leaf-filled pond with a marble bridge across one side of it, connected to the stone path. Dragons were exquisitely carved on it, and similar designs covered stone totems lying randomly about. Other 'lawn ornaments' include rocks and guardian statues sitting stiffly nearby.
"Well! A garden!" Annabel cried out in delight. It was the first time she had smiled since they arrived at the house. Their own garden back in England had been derelict, and they could only grow weeds and some trees. Annabel loved gardening, and the new garden was definitely more promising than the old one.
"This place isn't so bad," Brett commented, peering over their shoulders. "There's a very modern kitchen with sinks and all. And a stove, a simple one. And there's a bathroom too!"
Mia breathed a sigh of relief. Though she did not hate traditional methods, she still preferred clean ways of doing things. Annabel was too busy admiring her new garden. Brett grinned at his daughter and winked.
"Why don't you choose a room? They're on the second floor," he suggested. Mia looked blank. She had not noticed any staircases anywhere. Brett chuckled and led her through the living room back to the corridor. Turning right, he went to the end and showed her two staircases neatly tucked away at the sides. One led underground to a small basement, while the other led to the second floor.
Mia hopped up the stairs, pleased to see that its banisters were made of polished marble, excellent for sliding. On the second floor, there were four rooms, each one accessable from the corridor. The first one she peered into was the master bedroom, with an attached bathroom. The one next to it was a small side room. Opposite them were two ordinary rooms, exactly alike.
Mia entered the first one. Like all other rooms in the house, the ground was covered with tatami. She opened the window facing north, then looked out.
The view she received was beautiful. That spot of Odaiba was not as traffic heavy as the rest. Happily, she breathed in the fresh air and looked fondly at a small forest nearby.
Something among the trees glimmered in the sunlight. Mia blinked, wondering if she had made a mistake. She moved to the other window.
It showed a clear, sparkling lake in the middle of the forest. Instantly, Mia decided to select the room she was in. She always loved water...
"Mia! Bring your luggage up!"
Mia snapped out of her daydream and ran down, skipping alternate steps. She picked up her bag and was about to head upstairs when she froze. Her eyes stared unblinkingly out into the grounds. Dropping the bag, she glanced nervously at her parents. They did not seem to have noticed anything. Shivering slightly, Mia turned.
"Hey, you there. Who are you?" she asked in a low voice.
The source of her uneasiness started and stared at her at bright, sky blue eyes. He had messy golden blond hair and wore a blue T-shirt with grey jeans. The first weird thing was that he was sitting on top of the gate. The second was that he was glowing with a pale white light.
The third, of course, was that no one could see him except Mia.
"You… how…" he said, looking slightly stricken.
"Yes, I can see you. What are you doing here?" she asked in the same low voice. "You should be heading to the Underworld for your next journey. This is no longer the place you belong in, so give up all ideas of haunting anyone and move on."
"You don't understand, it's..." the boy looked past Mia, then he frowned slightly. Standing up on the gate, he jumped off the other side.
"Mia! What are you doing?" Annabel called out. Mia shook her head and smiled.
"Nothing," she said, picking up her dropped bag. Had it been wrong of her to be impolite? The boy was not doing any harm... except maybe eavesdropping. He had been nice enough, and he was not floating around being creepy.
Mia knew she hadn't exactly been kind and tactful, but she had had awful experiences before, where every single one of them seemed to be after her. She definitely did not like being haunted by them.
Ghosts.
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(1) Heaven no Tobira: Heaven's Door. Just the name of a house.
(2) Mizutani Street: 'Water Valley' Street. Just the name of a street.
(3) Omoriki High: A name developed from the kanji of 'omoriki', which means 'power of the mind'. Sort of like psynergy? Name of a school in this case.
(4) Tatami mats: Mats made from thin pieces of wood. Nearly all traditional Japanese houses line the ground with it.
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Edited very slightly… for this one isn't so content heavy. More to be edited!