"Well, that's all for today. Read the next two chapters this weekend if you want to do well on the pop quiz that we'll be having on Tuesday!" Professor Akiyama announced to the room, causing groans to echo up and down the rows of desks. Mai sighed softly. Her favorite professor's quizzes were almost as difficult as her tests, but at least she was kind enough to give fair warning.
The young brunette quickly packed up her things and exited with the crowd. Once in the hallway, she stood on her tiptoes to search for Yasu above the sea of students rushing off to their next class. The two *Todai students shared meals and studied together often, a tradition they'd had since Mai started attending college. It began as a way for Mai to express her gratitude for all that Yasu had done for her.
As the main person who'd really pushed Mai to attend college, Yasu had been one of her biggest supporters in the last couple of years. He had guided her through the process of applying to universities and helped her find numerous scholarships that she qualified for, since her biggest concern was that she wouldn't be able to afford it. Plus, his encouragement hadn't ended there. When she'd first started college, there were many times when Mai felt that she couldn't handle the workload and stress. Yasu cheered her up and cheered her on, making her feel like she could do it. He had become her best friend.
For a very short time, Mai thought she might fall in love with Yasu, that he would be the one to help her finally get over Naru. They'd certainly spent enough time together for feelings to develop, but nothing happened. Her heart had remained in England, and Yasu only saw her as a younger sister, someone who needed guidance, encouragement, and protection.
"Mai-chaaan!" Yasu suddenly yelled from behind her then wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her up and twirling her around.
"Yasu!" Mai squealed, kicked her legs back and forth, and waved her arms in the air. "Put me down, damn it!"
He laughed and set her on her feet, giving her hair a quick ruffle before dancing out of the reach of her first. Not expecting there to be a man standing right behind Yasu, Mai didn't pull her punch quickly enough, which caused her fist to slam into the solid muscle of the stranger's shoulder.
"Owwww," Mai moaned, holding her aching fist to her chest.
She looked up through misty eyes because she was worried that she'd hurt the guy. A tall, muscular man with chestnut-colored hair, hazel eyes, and a concerned smile greeted her. She recognized him as one of her classmates, one who usually sat in the same row as her but a couple of desks ahead of her in the class that had just ended.
"Are you okay?" the man asked hesitantly, eyeing her hand.
"Ah, I'm so sorry!" Mai started to bow and apologize frantically. "I'm the one who punched you that hard, and you're asking me if I'm okay! I'm really sorry! Are you okay? Did it hurt a lot? I didn't expect you to be standing there! Please forgive me!"
"Mai-chan," Yasu said amusedly. "He's perfectly fine. I think you hurt yourself more than Ikeda-kun felt it."
"Is that right?" Mai asked, looking up at Ikeda-san in disbelief. "You didn't even feel it?"
The man in question rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Not really."
Mai sweat dropped, caught in between feeling guilty for punching a poor stranger and disappointment in her physical strength. "Well… I guess it's good that I'm so weak then," she chuckled.
"No, it was a strong punch!" Ikeda-san reassured her, waving his hands in front of his chest. "It's just that I used to wrestle in high school, so I'm used to being roughed up by guys three times your size."
Mai immediately perked up. "Ah, I see!"
She smiled sunnily at Ikeda-san, and he blinked at her slowly. Mai laughed nervously at his gawking at her as Yasu looked between the two, his glasses glinting mischievously. Mai nearly sighed. That was never a good sign; it usually meant that he was planning something she wouldn't like.
"Do you two know each other?" Yasu asked interestedly.
"We just had class together," Mai answered. "But I'm afraid we haven't actually met yet. I'm Taniyama Mai."
She extended her hand out to him. He shook it and stated, "I'm Ikeda Hideo. It's nice to meet you, Taniyama-san."
"Please call me Mai," she insisted.
He countered, "Only if you call me Hideo."
"So Hideo-san," Mai inquired with a smile. "How do you know Yasu?"
"I was his senpai in high school," Yasu replied, slinging his arm around Hideo's broad shoulders.
Mai nodded, "I see, so you were at the school when SPR was investigating the case related to the *orikirisama?"
Hideo-san affirmed, "Yeah, seeing you guys in action was pretty awesome. Do you still work there?"
"Yes," Mai responded then pointed between herself and Yasu. "Both of us still do, actually."
"That's cool," he grinned. "It sounds like exciting work."
"It definitely can be," Mai agreed.
Yasu glanced at his watch and then said theatrically, "Oh, Mai-chan, I completely forgot that I have to meet with my professor before class to discuss my paper!" Mai narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. Yasu loved research, but he absolutely despised writing essays. He definitely would have complained to her about having a paper due soon, but she had heard nothing about it. Very suspicious, indeed, she thought to herself.
"I'm afraid I can't have lunch with you," Yasu continued. "And it's starting to get a little close to your shift at work. Maybe you should just get something in *Dogenzaka, near the office?"
"Oh?" Hideo-san inquired. "SPR is located in Dogenzaka? I live near there. If you would like, maybe we could grab lunch together, since we're both headed that way anyway?"
Mai mentally sighed. She should have known that Yasu was trying to set her up with Hideo-san. She shot Yasu a quick, irritated glare to warn him that she would be talking to him about this later and that it wouldn't be pleasant. She really hated when he did this. It's not that Mai didn't think Hideo-san seemed like a good person, because he seemed very nice. It was more that Yasu had tried to set Mai up many times in the past, and none of them had worked out. Plus, Naru had just come back so she was even more preoccupied than usual.
Despite this, Hideo-san's enthusiasm was infectious, and Mai never minded making another friend. There was no rule in life that said having lunch with a man automatically equated to a date. After all, they had just met. She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds great, Hideo-san!"
Yasu smirked, clearly pleased with himself, then waved goodbye to the both of them, "See you guys later!" He quickly walked toward the end of the hallway and disappeared around a corner.
"Well, then, Mai-san," Hideo urged gently. "Shall we get going?"
"Yes, let's!" she smiled.
Naru smothered an irritated sigh as he leaned back in his chair, glancing at the clock and mentally calculating the amount of time before Mai was due to start her shift. He wanted her tea. No one else seemed to brew it quite strong enough without it being too bitter, and that was exactly what he needed to get through the rest of the day. The young narcissist had been in Japan for three days now. Jetlag combined with his typical insomnia had made him even more irritable than normal, causing him to lash out in his cold way about things that usually wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Today, the young man was frustrated with the new filing system. When he'd been in charge, the cases were filed according to the sequence that they had occurred, but Madoka had changed the organization without telling him. All he had wanted to do was catch up on the cases that SPR had conducted in his absence, but he disliked reading things out of order. He'd demanded that Madoka explain the new filing system, only for her to tell him to ask Mai to explain it to him before going back to pestering Lin.
Naru distantly heard the bell of the front door chime, signaling that someone had entered. He assumed that Madoka would go see if it was a potential client, so he ignored it and continued to rub the bridge of his nose.
You really need to lighten up, little brother, Gene thought to him.
Naru rolled his eyes and mentally replied, You really need to move on, Gene. You've stuck around far longer than is safe.
The younger twin could almost feel his brother smirk through their bond when he shot back, And you really need a new greeting. That's the first thing you say to me every time we speak.
Naru didn't dignify that with a retort, to which his older brother only responded with a light chuckle.
"Mai-chan?" the young man heard Madoka ask from outside his door. "Oh, who is this? A potential client?"
"Oh, no," Mai's answer floated to Naru. "This is Ikeda Hideo, a classmate from school. We're just going to have lunch in my office."
"Ah, well, it's nice to meet you, Ikeda-san," Madoka greeted. "I'm Mori Madoka."
"Pleased to meet you, Mori-san," an unfamiliar, deep male voice replied to Madoka.
Naru's irritation exploded. He had quickly grown tired of his employees treating his office as a café. It was ridiculous enough when Bou-san, Matsuzaki-san, and Mai sat around, talking to each other and wasting time, but bringing strangers to the office for a date was completely unacceptable. He stood from his chair and stalked to the door of his office.
The young narcissist wrenched the door open, his mouth already opening to spew a scathing comment, but stopped short when he saw Mai standing just in front of him with a fresh cup of tea in her hands. He eyed the tea for a moment before his eyes flashed back to Mai's face. She was looking at him with a wry smile on her face and one eyebrow raised.
"You were going to say something?" she questioned coyly, tilting her head to study him.
His features hardened further as he snapped, "I don't pay you to hide out in your office and mess around with your friends."
Irritation flashed through Mai's expression. "Well, then it's a good thing you're not paying me at the moment, seeing as my shift isn't due to start until 25 minutes from now," she retorted.
"I will not allow you to turn my business into a new hangout for you and your friends from school," came Naru's cool reply.
"If it's too much of a problem, I can just take my food home, Mai-san," Ikeda-san blurted from across the room. The poor boy's eyes kept bouncing from Mai to Naru, his eyes wide at their heated exchange. Mai and Naru were too preoccupied with glaring at each other to hear Ikeda.
Madoka chuckled and patted the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, Ikeda-san! This is a pretty common occurrence. They'll work it out in a moment."
Mai's hold on the teacup and plate underneath it tightened, but she refrained from raising her voice. "It's just a twenty-minute lunch, Naru. My office door will be closed, and Hideo-san and I won't be loud, so we won't disturb your work. Hideo-san will leave a little bit before my shift starts, so I won't be wasting anyone's time." She shoved the teacup into his hands. "Now drink your tea before it gets cold. Honestly, I can't believe you're giving me all this trouble after I voluntarily brewed you a cup out of the kindness of my heart."
Interestingly enough, Naru was even more angered by the fact that Mai and this Ikeda Hideo would be alone in her office with the door closed, talking softly to each other. He reasoned that it was because he wouldn't be able to know for sure when the boy left the office and if Mai started her shift on time. Without replying to Mai to avoid yelling at the frustrating woman, not quite because Naru was overly concerned for her feelings but because he didn't want to deal with her anger and/or tears, he took the teacup, turned back into his office, and closed the door behind him with a resounding click, the narcissist's equivalent of slamming it.
"Well, then," he heard Mai chirp happily, her voice muffled through the closed door. "Let's eat, Hideo-san!"
Mai rested her cheek on her desk, fighting a yawn. Hideo had left five minutes before the start of her shift, many hours ago. They'd had a nice lunch and had gotten to know each other a little better. Mai still only wanted to be friends, and she made that very clear when Hideo asked if she'd wanted to go on a date sometime. Her new friend had been very gracious about her rejection and said that he was more than happy with that.
The young woman sighed, now thinking of Naru. He had been even quieter than usual after their disagreement earlier, not even bothering to ask for tea and instead settling for glaring at her every time she brought tea, as if it were her fault for not telepathically understanding that he wanted tea earlier than she'd brought it. Mai rolled her eyes then yawned again.
She was so, so tired. The sleep deprivation caught up to her often nowadays. She was usually able to stay awake by focusing on her work, but she'd finished everything that she had to do. Mai knew that she should ask Madoka or Naru if there was any other work that needed to be completed or even start studying for her quiz, since she'd decided to work until whenever they left. But it was getting late, seeing as it was already almost 9:30 at night. Surely, it wouldn't hurt to rest her eyes for just a couple of minutes.
Mai opened her eyes and found herself in the astral plane, surrounded by darkness and will-o-wisps floating upward around her. She was confused for a moment because it had been a long time since she'd been here. Usually, she jumped into her first-person dreams right away. In fact, the last time she'd been in the astral plane was when…
"Gene!" Mai called suddenly.
"Hello again, Mai," Gene greeted warmly from beside her.
Mai wrapped her arms around him, feeling him return the hug tightly. She had never been able to get over how solid, how real Gene felt despite the fact that he was dead.
"It's been a long time," she commented disapprovingly as she pulled away.
"The longer you and Noll were apart, the more energy it took for me to locate you," Gene explained. "I thought it would be better to save my energy for when you really needed me on cases, but you've been doing pretty well on your own."
Mai gasped, pretending to be offended, "So it has to take a dangerous case for you to want to see me?"
Gene rolled his eyes, making him look a lot like Naru. "Oh, hush! Don't even start with that."
She grinned, "I missed you, Gene."
"I missed you too," he replied, smiling softly.
His eyes suddenly widened and he yelled a warning, "Mai!" His hand shot out to catch her wrist, but narrowly missed, as she was suddenly wrenched backwards through the air.
"Gene!" she shouted before losing sight of him.
Mai was enveloped in a bright white light, forcing her to close her eyes. The sensation of flying through the air faded as the light did. Mai opened her eyes and blinked rapidly to clear her vision from the spots left behind by the light.
When she could see again, she observed that she was in one of the bedrooms of a Western-styled home. The room was illuminated by a small nightlight in the far corner of the room. A twin bed was pressed against the right wall and decorated with teddy bears and a pink, princess comforter. Dolls and other toys littered the floor, while crayon drawings of a family of four adorned the walls.
Dread and terror slammed into her chest, a sharp contrast to the innocence and joy of childhood that the room conveyed. Mai was unsure if the feelings were hers or whoever's memory this was. Her fear grew and she started to breathe heavily, her pants visible in the icy air. The nightlight flickered a few times and then went out, leaving the moonlight spilling through the window as the only source of light in the room. Movement caught Mai's eye, and she shifted her attention to the twin bed. There was a big lump under the comforter that she hadn't noticed earlier. The lump whimpered and a small head peeked out from under the covers, a child.
Not a first-person dream, a third-person dream instead, Mai thought to herself. Her heart ached for the little girl, wishing she could protect her. The girl let out a small cry as her eyes focused on something in the darkest corner of the ceiling. Mai followed the girl's eyes and discovered a deep black, roiling mass. It pulsed, and Mai felt its anger and hatred slide against her skin like a caress.
The entity's aura left her feeling dirty and disgusting, not just her body but her very soul. Mai gagged at the feeling and recoiled, taking a step back and landing right on a stray Lego block. Pain shot through her foot, and she cried out. Mai froze. She had never felt physical pain in a third-person dream before. Mai looked up in confusion and found that the little girl was now looking right at her with hope in her eyes. The attention of the dark mass also moved from the trembling child to her frozen form, causing chills to run up her spine.
What the hell is going on? she thought frantically. In the dreams that she had of spirits, she didn't exist; she was simply an observer of the past. In both her first-person and third-person dreams, nothing she did was supposed to impact the dream or manipulate the environment. Simply put, she was never meant to be an active participant in these kinds of dreams, so how could it be that stepping on the Lego hurt her foot and that both the spirit and the child were acting as if they could see her?
Unless it's not a dream, her instincts whispered to her, and then she understood. "Astral projection," she muttered to herself. After the Urado case, she'd been able to astral project at will a handful of times, but only with extensive and careful meditation before falling asleep. She had no idea how she'd been able to do it without intending to.
"Such pretty, pretty girls," a disembodied voice rasped through her mind. The same anger and hatred pulsed against her skin again, but this time, there was an undercurrent of something even more terrifying and more menacing, something akin to hunger.
"Please help," the little girl begged, tears falling from her eyes.
Mai suddenly snapped out of her stupor. She moved to stand between the entity and the child and held her hands out in front of her, forming one of the Nine Seals. She began to chant repeatedly, starting softly but with intensity and then growing in volume. "Nau maku san manda bazara dankan. Nau maku san manda bazara dankan. Nau maku san manda bazara dankan…"
She could feel her *qi grow and swell within her. Years ago, Lin had taught her how to monitor her seven main chakras and visualize the energy flowing through them. After she'd honed the skill, she realized that her energy mounted within her when performing the warding magic Bou-san and Ayako taught her.
A whip of cold, dark energy snapped from the entity and socked her in the ribs, causing the wind to be knocked out of her. Mai winced but continued her chant. When she felt that she'd amassed enough energy, more than she'd ever used before, she began the Nine Cuts and instinctively infused each decisive slash of her fingers with her qi, "Rin Pyo To Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen!" After the last cut, the spirit roared in anger and then disappeared, taking its oppressive aura of darkness with it.
Small arms wrapped around Mai's thigh like a vise. "Thanks for saving me from the scary man, Onee-san!"
Mai smiled at the girl. She had straight, dark auburn hair, big brown eyes, a button nose, and two missing front teeth, which did nothing to stop her from beaming up at the young woman. "You're very welcome!" Mai responded, patting her head. The little girl released her hold on her leg and then looked down, nervously fiddling with her fingers.
"Onee-san," she asked, tears filling her eyes again. "What if he comes back?"
There was a strong tugging sensation in Mai's head. She'd learned that the tugging meant that someone was trying to, probably somewhat violently, encourage her back to her body. She fought the sensation to stay with the child for just a few more moments.
Ignoring the pain in her ribs, Mai squatted down to be more level with the girl. She raised her arms and flexed to illustrate her answer, "He won't come back for a little bit because of how badly I beat him up!" However, Mai knew that the entity would be back. She could feel how intently he wanted to harm this child. Mai reached into her back pocket and took out one of the business cards that she always kept on her, just in case. Giving the card to the girl, the young investigator grew serious while she instructed, "But he will come back eventually. In the morning, give this to your parents and tell them it's very important that they come to see us right away. We can help you get rid of the bad man for good, okay?"
"Okay, I will!" the child chirped, nodding her head determinedly.
Mai grinned and then stood up, swaying as exhaustion suddenly crashed into her. She knew she was going to lose consciousness, but she didn't know what would happen if she wasn't in her body when she did. As she was falling to the floor, she willed herself back to her body, following the tugging in her head.
She heard a brief, concerned, "Onee-san!" before the sensation of flying overcame Mai. Then she felt nothing.
Naru had been researching a potential case in his office when Gene frantically thought to him, Noll! Something happened to Mai. Get Lin and Madoka and hurry to her office. Now!
The young man immediately followed Gene's instructions, rushing out of his office and urgently calling over his shoulder, "Lin! Madoka! Something's wrong with Mai."
What happened? the young man asked his older brother.
I'm not certain, Gene answered. We were talking in the astral plane when she was suddenly yanked away from me. I couldn't get to her, as if something were blocking me, but I felt her fear.
Naru burst into Mai's office with Lin and Madoka right behind him, finding her slumped over her desk. Lin pushed past Naru to get to Mai's side then pressed his fingers to the pulse point in her neck.
"Her heart rate is accelerated," he murmured to the others.
Lin put his thumb and his forefinger to his mouth and whistled, a short piercing sound.
"My shiki say that she's astral projecting," Lin informed them after a moment.
"She did this on purpose?" Naru questioned, glancing at Madoka.
"She can astral project at will, but the preparation is extensive," his mentor answered. "It takes at least an hour of meditation for her to be in the right mental state to astral project on her own."
It wasn't on purpose, Gene communicated to Naru. Mai looked much too surprised when she was yanked out of the plane.
"Is there anything that has the power to force someone to astral project?" the young narcissist inquired of Lin.
His guardian was quiet for a moment as he thought. "Not that I'm aware of," Lin finally replied. "Astral projection is the willful separation of the astral body, which is said to be the soul, from the physical body. Theoretically, it can't be forced by an outside entity."
All attention returned to Mai's body as her hands started to glow a soft, warm yellow.
"Is… is this-?" Lin asked, sounding as shocked as Naru had ever heard him.
The air began to tingle with the charge of static electricity, causing the hair at the back of Naru's neck to stand up. The young narcissist's PK started to react to the power in the air. Energy curled and grew in his core, so Naru tightened his control to squash the urge to poltergeist.
Mai's body suddenly bowed inward and breath rushed out of her, as if absorbing a blow to the stomach. A tiny whimper followed before her body relaxed again.
"She was hurt just now, wasn't she?" Madoka questioned worriedly.
"We need to get her spirit to return to her body," Naru ordered. "How have you done that in the past?"
"Just like you can't force her spirit away from her body, you can't really force it back in," Madoka explained quickly. "Mai has to will herself back to her body, so we found that we can encourage her back by talking to her or…" She hesitated.
"Or what?" Naru demanded.
Madoka reluctantly finished, "Her instincts kick in when she's in physical danger, which then urge her to come back."
"By physical danger, do you mean a hard slap?" Lin questioned.
"That could do it, but Mai has said that she can resist the desire to return, if she wants to," Madoka replied. "And if it was an outside force that made her project, I have no idea if either method would work."
Lin looked to Naru then asked, "Should we encourage her to return gently? Or do you condone hurting her to get her back more quickly?"
Naru's jaw clenched. "If something is harming her, we need to pull her back to safety," the young boss answered.
Lin nodded and pulled Mai into a sitting position in her chair, hesitating. Naru knew that there was no way to tell if she was still being attacked and that there was no research detailing how much damage a soul could take or what kind of lasting physical or mental effects it left on a person. For all they knew, she could be dying.
Dragging her stubborn ass back is the right call, Gene reassured Naru.
Naru knew this. Even still, he couldn't watch. He instead focused on the *picture of him and Gene that he'd given her all those years ago. It was displayed on one of the shelves on the left wall, at eye level for those sitting in the chairs at Mai's desk. A loud smack rang through the air, and he saw Madoka flinch from the corner of his eye. A small part of him reluctantly admitted that he would have done the same, if he'd been in any less control of himself.
Before Lin could slap her a second time, Naru commanded, "Stop."
Lin let his hand fall as he looked at his charge. Before Lin could ask what he was doing, Naru allowed a trickle of his PK to flow from his core to his hand, causing it to glow white. Electricity filled the air again as he prepared to shock her, not enough to hurt too badly but enough to sting. He figured that, at the very least, this wouldn't leave a mark.
Lin warned lowly, "Noll."
"I know what I'm doing," he shot back, sounding far more confident than he actually felt.
He walked to Mai's side and slowly moved his hand toward her pale, slender neck. Before their skin could make contact, Mai jolted in her seat and looked around wildly. Panicked brown eyes met his and she relaxed.
"Naru," she sighed before fainting.
Naru pulled his PK back into his core, his hand and the air returning to normal. Without saying anything to Lin and Madoka, he picked Mai up from the chair and carried her out of the office and up the stairs. Madoka rushed after them and used her spare key to open Mai's apartment. Naru found Mai's bedroom and gently placed her in bed, pulling away quickly as Lin and Madoka entered the room.
Lin whistled then waited a moment. "My shiki have confirmed that her spirit is in her body and will stay there for the time being. They say she's unconscious but unharmed. I'll leave one of them here with her, just in case."
Madoka nodded. "Good. Come on, let's leave her to rest."
Naru waited for Lin and Madoka to leave the room before he pulled a blanket over Mai's prone form. His hand shot out and gently brushed her hair away from her face. It was an unconscious gesture, something he had no idea he was going to do until it had already happened. He took a moment to monitor the rise and fall of her chest.
I'll wait in the astral plane, just in case she ends up there again, Gene thought to Naru.
Naru nodded then joined Lin and Madoka in the living room.
"What the hell was that downstairs, with Mai's glowing hands and the charged air?" Madoka asked the two men. "It looked and felt a lot like PK."
"PK doesn't just show up this late in life," Naru argued. "She'd have caused a poltergeist when she was younger, especially during the emotional turmoil of losing her dad and then her mom."
"Then what was it?" Madoka questioned again, looking from Lin to Naru.
"I have no idea," Lin answered quietly, rubbing his temples.
Naru's silence was his only admission that he, too, wasn't quite sure what they were dealing with.
*Vocab/background info:
Todai: the abbreviation for the University of Tokyo
Orikirisama: the summoning game played at Rokuryo High School in File 6, the case where we first meet Yasuhara
Dogenzaka: an area in Shibuya, Tokyo; where SPR is located
Qi: also spelled chi; the energy flow or life force within a person
The picture of Naru and Gene: This didn't happen in the anime, just the manga and the novels. Naru gives Mai a picture of him and Gene before Naru and Lin leave Japan to bring Gene's body back to England.
I'm so grateful to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! I really hope you guys are liking it so far. Thank you so much for reading :)
-J