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^.^ Chapter 2 ^.^
Plopping down into my seat in the van, I let out a breath. Beside me, Naru slid in as well, his case files in hand, and slammed the door shut. We're about to leave for the Tachibana's house as soon as Lin gets our luggage in the van. Naru quickly scanned through the files once more, his face blank. I wondered what was in there that interested him so much—it was normal for him to review the files, but he'd looked at this one all day long. With my fist against my cheek, to support my head, I stared at him through my eyelashes.
"Yes, Mai?" He asked quietly. I lifted my head up as I blinked in surprise.
"N-Nothing... Just thinking." I simply said, blushing a tad bit. He smirked.
"About me?"
I stuck out my tongue at him and crossed my arms with huff.
"You're such a narcissist." I grumbled, not wanting to admit that I was thinking about him. But it wasn't what he was thinking—I was only wondering why this case had his full and upmost attention. He kept his smirk, putting away the file when Lin entered the car. He didn't even give us a single glance while he started up the engine. Typical Lin. I mentally sighed. At least Naru talks to me...sometimes. Geez, and I'm suppose to be his girlfriend here!
Still, despite my inner complaints, Naru kept to himself, and I sighed. My mind wandered off to the case. It was sad, really. A little girl died, leaving her twin all alone. Just like another set of twins I know, but I decided not to think about that. Naru seemed to sense my train of thought was going into unpleasant places because he suddenly called my name.
"What, Naru?" I asked. He stared at me for a few moments before reaching his hand out to my face and touching the corner of my eye with the side of his finger. I moved back, startled. "What are you—?"
"Why were you starting to cry?" He asked. I blinked, not realizing I was.
"Huh? I-I..." I bit my lip, unsure of how to respond. How was I supposed to tell him I was thinking of his dead brother? Since I already know that that conversation wouldn't go well, I figured I could answer in a different way. "I...I just thinking about...about Mrs. Tachibana's daughter who died...and how they all must still be grieving for her."
"You're always too emotionally attached to the cases, Mai," He crossed his arms, looking out the window. "Be careful, I don't want you getting hurt." I smiled at his words. Though I wonder when he'll actually look at me in the eyes when he says those kind of things that made my heart melt.
"I'll try my best." I assured him. He said nothing more, once again going through the files. Sighing, I tried to get comfortable for the long drive ahead of us. Suddenly, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, seeing Monk's number displayed on the screen. Naru turned his head towards me with a frown and narrowed eyes as he heard my phone ring. I mouthed Monk's name to him, answering my phone.
"What's up, Monk?"
"John just called me—he'll be running late, probably won't be here until pretty late at night."
"Ah, alright." I gave a nod even though he couldn't see me. "I'll tell Naru then." I glanced at my boyfriend to see him staring at me. We said our goodbyes, and I turned to Naru. "John won't meet us at the Tachibana's until late tonight."
Naru let out a breath and nodded, but said nothing else on the subject. What's up with him? I thought, finally finding a comfy enough position. After several minutes of boredom, I kept lowering my head until it made contact with his shoulder. He stiffened slightly, but relaxed and didn't say a word. I smiled to myself and closed my eyes in contentment. These were the kinds of moments I treasured the most.
Apparently I must have dozed off while resting my head on Naru's shoulder because the next thing I knew was him calling my name—I also vaguely noticed in my half awake, half asleep mind that the van wasn't moving anymore. I yawned, sitting up groggily. I rubbed the blurriness out of my eyes.
"We're here already?" I mumbled to myself, but of course, Naru heard.
"Yes, Mai, otherwise I wouldn't have woken you up."
I glared at him the best I could from just waking up and was about to hit his arm, but unfortunately he stepped out of the van before I could do so.
"Stupid, narcissistic jerk." I mumbled, climbing out as well. He and Lin were already walking towards the house when I saw Monk's car pull up. I raised my hand excitedly. I waited for him to park it before going over to greet them. "Monk!" I called, skipping over to the driver's side.
"Hey, kiddo." Monk grinned at me as he got out of his car. He looked around a bit before looking back down at me. "Naru and Lin are already inside?"
"They're bringing in the equipment."
Monk raised a brow. "And you're not helping? Doing your job?"
"...I just woke up."
"And that gives you an excuse?" Ayako questioned, coming around the front of the car to stand beside me. Her voice had a hint of amusement in it.
"Well, um... Yes, in fact it does."
The priestess placed both of her hands on her hips. "How?"
"I-" I was saved from the trouble of having to come up with an excuse as Naru walked to my side. I smiled at him, hoping he'd say something to get Monk and Ayako off my back for me.
"Clearly Mai is unable to carry such heavy equipment due to her lack of physical ability."
My smile dropped while Ayako narrowed her eyes.
"She's done it before." She stated.
"And so have you, so I suggest getting to work, Miss Matsuzaki."
Ayako's eyes widened while her face turned the color of her hair. Rather it was from anger or embarrassment I didn't know, but I had to repress a smile. With a huff, Ayako stomped away from us, but nevertheless, she walked towards the van.
I bounced away from my boyfriend with a grin, walking inside the beautiful home. I ignored the thought that Naru would scold me later for doing it and leaving them with the equipment, but I didn't much care right now. Looking around, I noticed I was in a short hallway that, if I turned to the right, would lead me to a tatami room. Curiously, I took a few steps towards it to peek inside. It was full of pictures, some of the Tachibana's, and some of beautiful scenery. A small candle burned on a table surrounded by different kinds of seats, and a small lace cloth was laid on the edge of the table. It was a peaceful room. I smiled softly to myself.
"Who're you?" A young voice questioned. I spun around to see a boy about thirteen standing there with a frown.
"Oh, hello there! I'm Mai Taniyama, I'm here to work at this house. And you are?" I questioned, slightly off-put by his seriousness.
"Ichiro." He replied shortly, cocking his head to the side a bit as he spoke. He still stared at me as if I was a threat or something.
"U-um, well, it's nice to meet you Ichiro! Now if you'll excuse me..." I ran out of the room, continuing down the hallway and to the staircase. So long as that Ichiro was around, I didn't want to hang around downstairs—he was intimidating. Even more so than Naru when he acts around people. How can a kid like that have such an expression? Although with everything that's been happening here and losing his sister, it's understandable. I sighed sadly and looked around me. There seemed to be quite a few rooms. I went forward slowly, deciding to try to find Mrs. Tachibana and let her know we're here. Wherever she may be.
"Don't you know it's rude to snoop around someone's home? Especially when you didn't let anyone know you're here?"
Letting out a shriek of surprise, I spun around again to find Ichiro there behind me once more. H-He followed me?
"W-well, I thought I'd get to know the layout. And besides, you know I'm here. And isn't it rude to follow people?" This kid was scaring me a bit.
"It's my home." He shot back, his arms crossed. I stayed silent, unsure how to respond without making a fool of myself. Thankfully, after several awkward moments of having a stare-down with the kid, someone decided to save me.
"Oh! Hello there." I heard Mrs. Tachibana's voice.
"Mrs. Tachibana!" I sighed thankfully as I turned towards her.
"Umm...Miss Taniyama, was it?" She asked as if she was afraid she had gotten it wrong.
"Yup, that's me! But just call me Mai."
She smiled at me. "Alright... Where's your boss?" She looked around, expecting him to be somewhere with me.
"Oh! Um, he's with the rest bringing in equipment," I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.
"As you should be as well." I suddenly heard Naru's voice. My eyes widened as I turned to look at him carrying one of those big monitors.
"I-I was looking for Mrs. Tachibana so she knew we were here, and to get to know the layout," I defended, blushing. Naru only gave me a blank stare, and I quickly adverted my gaze downward. "I'm going to go do things now," I walked away quickly. Once I was out of ear-shot and had turned a corner, I let out a breath and brought my hand to my chest. That kid was so intimidating, and now Naru's probably going to chew me out for wandering off. Again.
I walked back down the stairs, carefully evading Monk and Lin carrying in one of our larger monitors. After they passed by, I easily made it outside to get back to the van. Grabbing one of the smaller monitors, I jogged back inside, where a little girl was sitting in the doorway. She looked so adorable, but when she looked up at me as I came near, intense sadness had showed in her eyes. Her hair was in blonde pigtails that blew gently in the wind, and she asked, "Are you gonna get rid of Kao-chan?"
I swallowed thickly, suddenly at a loss for words. This "Kao-chan" was her sister, right? How am I suppose to answer something like that?
She looked away, standing up, "I go sleepy'bye."
"Uhh, b-bye..." I only managed to mutter before she scurried up the stairs. I shook my head to try and get rid of the strangeness that had happened within the last fifteen minutes and went back to my original mission to put the monitor in base. As I entered the room, Monk and Lin were coming back out. I placed the monitor on a desk close to Naru. Stretching with a yawn—I was still tired from my nap in the car earlier—I left to go grab more equipment. It took about fifteen more minutes to get everything inside base, but with everyone's help we all managed to do it.
"Phew, that took a lot of work!" I smiled, relieved the moving stuff was over. It was my least favorite part. Thankfully the guys lift the heavy equipment though so I don't have too. At least I'm lucky in that department.
"So, Naru, how is this investigation playing out?" Monk asked. I looked over at him to see the file he was reading snap shut before he stood up. His steady, dark gaze glancing over everyone in the room.
"First of all, most of the activity seems to happen near the lake and in the girl's room," He began, "We need a full view of each space and mics inside. Putting them outside would be useless because of the every day nighttime activity." Everyone nodded in agreement, following what he was saying. "I want a camera in every bedroom, someone has to be at base at all times."
"The bedrooms...?" I frowned, looking up at Naru. "Are you sure that's okay? I mean..."
"Most of the activity seems to come from outside and the bedrooms—specifically the girl's," He looked at me with sharp eyes, "We can't risk any more injuries, and if that means invading privacy, then so be it."
Nodding slightly, I looked away as I bit my lip. I could only hope the family here understood the reasons for invading their privacy. At least there won't be any cameras in the bathrooms though.
"Anywhere else in the house aside of the bedrooms where the cameras should be?" Monk asked Naru, his arms crossed over his chest.
"The living room and dining room."
Monk and I both nodded, already knowing the two of us would be the ones to set up the cameras. Naru was silent, seeming to think for a moment. I waited a few more moments, seeing if he would say anything else, before walking towards the cameras and microphones, dragging Monk over with me.
"You sure are eager today," He laughed, picking up some of the heavier equipment to place. I gave Monk a small smile.
"Well, better safe than sorry!"
"Should we start with the twin bedroom?"
"Sure." I said as I also grabbed the radio to converse with Lin about the camera angles, and together, Monk and I head out of the door and into the hallway.
Naruisawesome: Hey! So, yeah, here was the long belated chapter! XD Yay!
Spamano Love Child: Yay! Sorry for this, I was having trouble getting free time, so~
Naruisawesome: We hoped you liked this chapter and will continue reading! ^_^
Spamano Love Child: Please look forward to more~