Chapter 2: A new life, part 1

Arriving

Mai looked around the room she was currently situated in, trying to take it all in. The furniture in the room was obviously very expensive, the owner clearly not having to worry about money. It was a big difference to her apartment, which she left just ten hours ago. *1

A long wooden table was placed in the middle of the room, with three cushions on each side. The cushions were a dark blue, with the backrest colored in the shade of the table. Tatami mats were placed on the floor, and the sliding door was open so that the pond outside was visible. The wallpaper was modeled to resemble the sliding door in style. What stood out to Mai was the fact that the furniture, sliding door and wallpaper were all kept in the same shade of dark brown and in the same style. Even the lamps were modeled like that! Several art objects were scattered across the room. A vase, pictures, a room divider. Yet, it was not clustered.

Mai gingerly sat down on one of the cushions situated on the floor. For a moment she worried about somehow dirtying it simply by sitting on it (she was after all very clumsy), but quickly shook off the worries in favor of, once again, looking around the room.

It is probably as big as my apartment, mused Mai, and yet, it is only used as a sitting room. Seriously, is everyone in the ghost hunting business this loaded? Ayako, Masako, Bou-san, Lin, Na– Nope, not going there. Snap out of it, Akahana Mai. You do not think about them. You are strong without them. You do not need them. And you sure as hell do not miss them. This is a new life. A new life in which SPR has no more control over you. They might have hurt you, they may have broken you, but that was before. That was Taniyama Mai. You are Akahana Mai.

Isn't this what you promised yourself when you accepted the offer? Wasn't that the whole point of coming here?

Yes, Mai thought. I will be strong, and I will leave my own life behind me, so that they can never hurt me again. So that nobody can hurt me ever again. I will be in control. I, not them. Never them.

After regaining her confidence and strengthening her resolve, Mai thought back to the events that lead to her being here in the first place.

Mai looked at the letter in her hand.

The author, Koizumi Genryuusai, said that he was working for Akahana Ken'ichi, the current patriarch of the Akahana family. Apparently, due to certain happenstances thirteen years ago, almost every member of the Akahana family was eradicated. The only surviving members of the once proud clan are the patriarch, one of the clan elders, and two children aged thirteen and fourteen, who survived by still being in the womb of their mothers. Their mothers apparently weren't targeted because they weren't part of the Akahana clan.

For a long time, it was believed that they were the only remaining members of the Akahana clan. However, due to the explosion of Mai's powers 36 hours ago, they were able to recognize her as a member of the Akahana clan and locate her. Therefore, they extended an offer for training at the Akahana compound. If she accepted the offer and follows the summon, she would receive the full backing of the Akahana clan in every aspect.

They would train her in every aspect of the paranormal, show her the way to control her powers, and back her career choice. Whether she would remain in the compound, choose a normal life, or return to being a ghost hunter on a team – they would support her. The only condition was that she picked up the surname 'Akahana' and dropped 'Taniyama'.

Mai grinned. This was her key to the future she wanted. If she didn't like them, she would simply leave. The changing of her surname was a no brainer – it was something she appreciated, actually. Changing her surname would be the very first step towards becoming a new person – towards a new future.

Taniyama Mai made a decision. As a result, Taniyama Mai died, and Akahana Mai was born.

Upon reaching that decision, Akahana Mai picked up her phone and dialed the number located at the bottom of the letter. After it was picked up, she only said two words.

"I accept."

The person on the other end of the line simply answered "The chauffeur will arrive at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. Everything will be provided for you, you will only need to pack objects with sentimental value. The drive will take six hours, you should eat accordingly. Sleep well, Mai-san."

And with that, the call disconnected.

Mai was pulled out of her musings when a man in his forties entered the room. He wore a black suit with a Bordeaux red tie and cloth. His hair was beginning to gray, yet by looking at his body you could easily tell that he was quite fit. He wore a strange brooch on his suit, stylized in form of a rose. Mai's eyes were drawn to it, and she examined it in great detail.*2

"Good afternoon, Akahana-san." The man's voice pulled Mai out of her musings. "My name is Koizumi Genryuusai. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, Koizumi-san. But please, call me Mai." She smiled at the man.

"Very well. In that case, I must insist that you call me by my first name as well – and please drop the suffixes. It is quite a mouthful to say." Genryuusai's eyes shone in amusement, but his voice remained completely professional and business-like.

"Genryuusai-san. Hmm, it is indeed quite a mouthful… Then I shall call you Gen-san. And I would like it if you dropped suffixes as well." Mai was careful to keep her voice just as controlled as Genryuusai, but a hint of playfulness still passed through, and her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Gen-san?!" Genryuusai looked shocked and began to tremble. Just as Mai was beginning to worry that she insulted him, however, Genryuusai broke out into laughter.

"Gen-san," he wheezed between his short breaths of laughter, "I like that. Nobody has ever had the guts to give me a nickname."

"In that case, maybe I should have called you Ryuu-chan." Mai's voice was completely serious, as if this was the most important question at the moment.

"Maybe you should have," Gen-san winked at her, "but how about we focus on the reason you are here?" As if Gen-san had never been laughing, he was now completely serious as he joined Mai on the cushions. He sat down on the opposite side of where Mai was sitting.

Mai nodded. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. What do you need to know?"

"How about you tell me about your powers, how they grew and how they are currently growing, the amount of control you have over them, what they entail, when they are triggered and by what, and everything else you can think of."

Mai gulped. Her powers weren't something she wanted to speak about right now, especially since they are deeply rooted to… them. Talking about her powers entailed talking about them, which was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Plus, she was ashamed of her lack of control over them. After she had decided to be in control at all times, that lack of control seemed to be an even bigger flaw to her. Especially in front of this man.

She could tell that this man was the epitome of control, the very thing she aspired to be. He came in, completely composed, completely in control, completely calm. And that had never wavered during the small interaction she had with him. To some, the way he laughed at the nickname earlier might seem like a lack of control. But Mai knew that wasn't the case.

To be completely in control meant to be able to control one's emotions as well. While Naru completely distanced himself from feeling any emotions and refused to acknowledge them in an attempt to control them, all he actually did was suppress them. He bottled them up, refused to even consider them, and wondered why they blew up and ruined his control over PK.

No, Mai knew that Naru wasn't in control of his emotions. He was simply running away from them. And not just his own emotions, either. Naru ran away from any and all emotions and didn't want to have any interaction with them.

Genryuusai, however, was in complete control over his emotions. He found the nickname funny and laughed about it – a true laugh. Yet, when the situation called for it, he turned serious immediately – not even a trace of his previous emotions visible. He didn't lock away his emotions. He didn't become an emotionless rock. He didn't refuse himself happiness and a fulfilled life complete with joy, mischief, and humor.

He didn't have to lock them away, to refuse them – because Genryuusai was in complete control.

And Mai aspired to be like him, to have that same amount of control.

She didn't want to stop feeling – her emotions were one of her strong suits, were a part of her, were what made her a happy person, were what made her enjoy life. She swore to herself that he wouldn't let anything or anyone control her - not other people, not ghosts, and not her own powers.

Locking away her emotions would mean allowing other people to influence and control her.

The control she aimed for meant that she was able to control her emotions, yes, but she meant it in a way that they wouldn't inconvenience her.

Someone abandons her? Fine. It hurts like hell, she will never forget it, and may never forgive it, but she won't let that pain influence her life, her decisions, and her relationships with other people.

The control Mai aimed for didn't mean to lock herself away in order to never get hurt anymore – it meant standing in life on both feet, being strong, unbreakable, surrounded by friends, enjoying life, and – most importantly – being able to take anything they may throw at her and smile nonetheless, enjoy herself nonetheless, live nonetheless.

The control Akahana Mai aimed for meant that she would be able to stand tall and face everything.
She would never run away.

"Mai? I am sorry, but you need to tell me about them."

Genryuusai's voice pulled Mai out of her musings. She still was a bit hesitant to talk about them, but she understood the necessity. Mai released a breath.

Come on, Mai, you just thought about it. You want to be able to face anything. You swore you will never run away. How can you ever hope to face them, to stand tall, to truly achieve what you aim for if you can't even talk about them? Strictly speaking, you don't even truly need to talk about them – only the relevant parts, when they played an active role. You can do this.

"My powers began to manifest during my second case with SPR, in the form of ESP. It began with catching a glimpse of a ghost in a window. It was a case about a woman whose daughter was abducted and killed. Unable to take the pain, she committed suicide and began to kill the children in the same age range as her daughter who lived in the house. She trapped the ghosts of those children with her, hoping to someday find her daughter.

"During the case, I was pulled down a well by the mother. While being unconscious, I had a dream – about exactly that. I saw the kidnapping and her suicide. At that point, nobody in my team – I mean in SPR was taking me seriously. Over the course of the next few cases, the number of dreams increased.

"When I fell asleep, I would usually see a dream, often a memory from the ghosts, although – more often than not – those were only snippets that pointed us in the right direction or gave us a new angle to investigate.

"Then we had a case about a curse at a high school. Previously, the so called 'Kasai Panic' occurred. The girl, Chiaki Kasai, was capable of using PK to bend spoons. It, unfortunately, blew out of control – the school was split between believers and disbelievers. Eventually, the girl had to perform a public showing of her abilities, which ended with her shouting 'I curse you all to death!' After strange happenstances and accidents started occurring, it was widely believed that Kasai was the cause of it. Even the majority of my team believed it!

"However, a voice in my heart, which I can only label as 'instinct', told me that she was innocent, which I loudly proclaimed. In the end, it turned out that I was right – her teacher was the culprit. She cursed disbelievers with her own spiritual energy and cursed even me, Ma-Masako and… and Naru."

While retelling this event, Mai actually had to pause before saying Naru's name – and she stuttered on Masako's! Taking a deep breath, Mai continued.

"Anyway, after the case Naru had me participate in a test to determine if I am a latent psychic. The test was positive. In the following cases, SPR began to depend more and more on my abilities, and they were considered a legitimate source of information for our team. With the increase in amount, detail, length and occurrence, the intensity increased as well. It all culminated in the 'Urado' case, as I call it.

"You may have heard about it – we had to burn down the house, the mansion of the previous prime minister, in order to purify the ghost."

Seeing Genryuusai nod, Mai continued on.

"During that case, I had a first person dream, and I couldn't get out. It ended with me experiencing my… death. The ghost whose memories I was seeing was killed by having her neck cut. It was a gruesome experience."

During the recounting, Mai's eyes had strayed to the table and her cup of tea.

Strange… since when was there tea here? A maid or someone must have brought it during my story. Huh, I was so focused that I didn't even notice.

Mai took a sip from the tea – Chamomile, her mind supplied – to stop the emotions that were churning through her. Even after all that time – one year, it was almost one year now, her brain piped in – she still couldn't fully shake her memories of that time.

When she looked up at Genryuusai again, she was almost shocked by the amount of compassion and empathy she saw in his eyes. It was more compassion than she ever saw in the eyes of even the most emotional members of her makeshift family – though not anymore, the annoying voice said – and more empathy than the eyes of Naru of Masako, who both had experienced something akin to, but not quite like, her visions. Something told her that Genryuusai knew. Not in the way those who knew someone that experienced it too, but in the way someone who experienced it themselves did.

Mai was sure of it. Koizumi Genryuusai had experienced the same thing she did.

That knowledge gave her the power to continue.

"After that case, my visions returned to how they used to be – third person dreams – while occurring every time I caught a wink of sleep during the cases. All that time I had a spirit guide by my side. At first, I thought it was my boss, Naru, himself, but as it turned out, it was his twin brother Eugene Davis.

"When Naru… left… Gene disappeared too. For a while, there were no more dreams. I thought that they had ended with the disappearance of my spirit guide, but that was false. A month after Naru had returned to England, my dreams picked up again.

However, due to the fact that I didn't have a context for them, they were just random snippets of someone else's life. A marriage, birthdays, death of loved ones, dates, having children… I didn't recognize them as visions. I just thought that they were random dreams, that I was, you know, projecting what could have been if Naru – if Naru had accepted my proposal instead of rejecting me cruelly."

Mai blinked rapidly to stop the tears that were watering her eyes from falling. After she was in control of her body and emotions once more, she continued.

"I didn't understand that I was still dreaming until it was too late. My dreams once again showed me events from the past, usually injustices endured by spirits – beatings, abuse, betrayal, and… deaths.

"The dangerous part is that the injuries the ghosts had suffered were transferred onto my body upon waking up. However, everything heals within a day – bruises often disappear within minutes, broken arms mended in an hour and bleeding wounds (depending on severity) usually within two hours. Fatal wounds are the odd ones out. They heal within seconds after waking up, but the pain doesn't fade until an hour has passed.

"I have learned how to forcefully wake up from visions that can bodily harm me, though."

"Then, was the explosion of power we felt the result from you forcefully waking up?"

Mai cringed. She didn't want to talk about this. It sounded unbelievable even to her own ears. She was probably wrong, anyway. There was no way that she had both ESP and PK. That was completely unheard of.

No, it's not, her mind piped up. After all, Naru – the great Oliver Davis – has both an extraordinary strong PK ability never seen before and is able to perform Psychometry – an ability that falls in the ESP category.

Ah, how Mai hated that voice. Sure, it had helped her out quite a lot during cases and –frankly– her whole life, but right now it was terribly annoying. Mai sighed. Alright Mai, you are strong and in control. Worst case, he tells you that isn't possible and sends you away. Then you'll just manage on your own. Best case, he'll help you control and suppress it.

Resolve strengthened, Mai answered Genryuusai.

"No. That wasn't me waking up, that was the aftermath of me being frustrated and angry. I… I think it mighthavebeenaPKblastbutI'mnotsure."

There, she said it.

Anxiously, she looked up at Gen-san. To her surprise, it almost seemed like he anticipated that.

"Yes, I thought that might be the case. You see, in the Akahana family, something like that is not uncommon. Instead, it is the norm."

AN:

Aand cut. This seemed like a good place to stop. In the next chapter, Genryuusai will give us all a bit background information on the Akahana family and will start to discuss Mai's training with her. Maybe it will even feature Mai training, but I'm not sure yet. Still trying to get a feeling on how long I should make a chapter.

*1: link to a picture in profile under 'sitting room'
*2: link to a picture in profile under 'Genryuusai's brooch'

Due to Blue sky mentioning the time when SPR and Mai meet again, I thought a bit about what I want to happen - and reached a very important question. Do you guys want to see pairings in this fic or not? The time when this will become relevant is still far off, but it is something I will have to build up nonetheless.

Therefore: Do you want to see pairings in this story or should this remain a gen story? If you want to see pairings, which are you interested in?

Luca Moretti (Guest): Thank you for your kind comment! You reviewed only 1 and a half hours after I published it, and I couldn't believe it! It doesn't matter that you didn't write in english, I simply ran it through the Google Translator. I'm sure your writing will come along soon enough, and rest assured, I don't plan to stop writing anytime soon!

Glass Dragon's Rose: I'd like to thank you for your comment. Honestly, I was quite shocked when I had posted the chapter only two hours or so ago and was preparing to go to bed when I received a notification that somebody had reviewed. Thank you for the corrections on the previous chapter (seriously - I by myself would have never even noticed them), and I'm happy that my english overall is good ;-) I hope you like the way I continued the story ^^

Blue Sky Of Love: Glad that you enjoy it. I'm looking forward to that too, but it won't happen for quite some time. I want Mai to spend 4 years with the Akahana family and everyone associated with, going on cases alone and strengthening her new identity, so that she won't just return to the way she was when Naru comes back breezing in, thinking everything will be like it was before. I don't know how long that will be in chapters, because while I know that there is going to be a timeskip at some point I still don't know how long and when that will be, as well as I still need to figure out how much of the story one chapter covers.

wingfright: I assume you had a typo and meant 'is' instead of 'isn't'. If that is correct, I hope you like the update and hope that this was soon enough ^^

Thank you all for commenting, favoriting and following this story!

Until next time,
One Autumn Leaf

Edited: 19.09.2018