Chapter 2

Day 1: Sunday, 2nd of July, 2000.

19:00 (7:00 PM)

The group exited the main building and walked until they reached a crossroad. One of the gravelled roads went into the direction of the lake and the other went to the forest. The young boss stared carefully at the map that was in his hands for about fifteen seconds, but was snatched up by Takigawa after Naru folded it together. The map was rather useless and didn't give him the details he wanted. However, the monk looked at it closely and tapped on the map with the back of his finger.

"So here we have them... Which of the two do you want? There's no differences between the bungalows, so it all depends on which scenery you prefer."

Naru shrugged and Yasuhara used it as a cue to say something.

"Isn't it better if the ladies decide for us? They're in the minority after all."

The miko smiled flirtatiously.

"You've been so generous lately, so why don't you stay over at our place?"

"You're very welcome, Matsuzaki-san," he said with a prim smile, "But... I'm afraid I have to pass on your offer in order to remain chaste and pure."

"Why you..."

Takigawa and Mai burst into laughter and Ayako was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

"Well, if Ayako's fine with it, I think I'd like the one by the lake," Mai said.

The miko nodded.

"Then it's settled... the four of us will go over there?" Takigawa pointed at a couple of buildings near the forest.

After Ayako and Mai received the keys from Lin, the young women dragged their suitcases in the direction of the lake. Takigawa talked to Lin as they walked ahead of the younger men.

"As expected we got the bungalow near the media facility building, which is just as planned... It will be helpful for information gathering, I hope," Yasuhara said, and added with a serious face, "Also, I tried reaching the number they gave me, but I'm afraid the man we've been in contact with is unreachable."

Naru heaved a sigh.

"This isn't going anywhere..."

Yasuhara remained silent.

"Tomorrow after lunch, we're going to have a look at that cave. Make sure you've done your preparations," he said to his employee.

Three hours later Yasuhara went to visit the ladies together with the monk. They chatted for a full hour about the resort, how there was a swimming pool, how beautiful the lake was, etcetera. The four continued to do so until Naru walked in and demanded his usual tea. Lin never came, because he went to bed early. It appeared that Yasuhara managed to make an arrangement for the following day regarding a visit to some kind of forbidden cave. Mai thought it sounded eerie, but from what she could make out of the folder she was given by him, it seemed to be an ordinary cave with a made-up story behind it. Yasuhara thought it might inspire some casual ghost hunting, but Naru seemed to be very uninterested.

A short hour later the trio left the bungalow, leaving the duo alone. The girl went to the window and stared out of the window. She could see the lake and a forest enveloping the body of water.

"Mai, aren't you going to sleep?" Ayako asked with a loud yawn.

Mai grinned.

"I'm not sleepy yet."

"I thought you would be. I'm surprised you slept all the way from Tokyo until here. Silly girl."

Mai laughed as she scratched the back of her head.

"Well, I warned you. Good night."

"Sleep well," she said and stuck out a tongue.

After Ayako closed the door of her bedroom, the girl proceeded to stare out of the window. There was nothing unsettling about where they were now. She wondered if this could be a real vacation, but somehow she doubt it was such a thing. Naru would never have agreed to this.

Mai felt sweaty, so she went to have a shower and changed into a yellow dress. After that she spent some time watching the television.

(o)~(o)

Day 2: Monday, 3rd of July, 2000.

00:00

It was midnight, and Mai was bored out of her mind. Maybe she could take a closer look at the lake and the stars. It was rare for her to be out of an urban area, so she never saw the stars so clearly like she could now. Mai grabbed the key from the counter and softly exited the house. The cool of the night greeted her and felt refreshing from the hot humidity earlier that day. She walked towards the shelter and upon arrival her jaw dropped. She could even see the moon and stars reflected clearly in the lake's reflection. She stared dreamily ahead of her, until she felt a warm hand on her right shoulder.

Mai shrieked and turned around to see her grumpy looking boss standing behind her. She had never heard him coming.

"Na-Naru! You scared me!"

He said nothing to her and just responded with a smirk, which angered Mai somewhat. He wore a buttoned white shirt under the black blazer he loosely had on his shoulders. Although he had recently been wearing other colours, Naru still wore mostly black. For example, Mai had never seen him in blue jeans.

She sighed when he didn't say anything, and turned around again to look at the lake again. Naru followed her gaze. They noticed the assembly of clouds from far away had started to gather above the lake, and conveniently hid the half-lit moon, so the stars could shine at their best. She wondered why he had come to the lake as well. Mai felt the silence was too awkward and decided to break it.

"I saw the shelter from our bungalow, and I wanted to take a close look at the lake," she said, and then saw that the stars were fading slowly from their reflections in the war.

"You could have done that at daytime," Naru said, and was currently leaning his back against one of the stone pillars, surrounded by a bush of burgundy-coloured roses.

"Well, I couldn't sleep. How about you?"

"Not sure."

Naru's expressionless gaze went from the clouds to the re-appearing reflections of the stars and the moon in the lake. Another party of clouds covered the sky, and they ultimately started to disappear from the deep in the lake, until it reached their side. It was much darker than before and the forest seemed to have gotten as silent as the death.

Truthfully, Mai still felt awkward around him in such a situation. It was similar to that of a year ago, when she had confessed to him. She had made up her mind, and the timing was perfect. Mai could say it right now.

After taking a deep breath, she looked at Naru with a steady gaze, but she didn't find him leaning against the stone pillar. Naru had stepped away a while ago, and had gone down to the misty path that lead to the forest.

"...where are you going?"

He replied with a layer of sarcasm, "To the forest, Taniyama-san."

Mai frowned and wondered why he would go to the forest in the middle of the night.

Naru walked on without looking back, but halted once he realized that Mai wasn't following him.

"You're not scared, are you?"

Easily challenged, she smirked back at him. He wanted her to follow him?

"Scared? After everything I've been through?" she said with a laugh. "So what are you going to do?"

Naru smirked back at her.

"I'm going to amuse myself with the forest spirits."

Mai raised an eyebrow. He must be quite desperate to have gotten this far.

"Forest spirits?"

Naru held out a hand and she sort of half-freaked out, because she didn't know what he meant by doing that.

Oh god, he had gotten crazily bored.

Still, the hand was still there and if it was real she would be able to assert its reality. There was a short moment before she accepted his invitation and grabbed onto his warm hand. At least he wasn't possessed or something like that.

They were holding hands. Naru was taking her along for a nightly walk in the forest. Just the two of them. They followed a path which winded next tot he lake.

"Na-Naru, are you all right?" she stammered.

He slightly frowned back at her, before he turned his head again.

"Yes."

She began to freak out and was glad that Naru wasn't looking at her fiery red face. What were they doing at all?

"Can I say it now?" She asked after a while.

"What is it?"

"You're bored out of your mind."

"You know me too well."

She somewhat admired Yasuhara for being able to twist the boss around his finger just like that, and almost felt pity for Naru. Almost.

Then a raindrop fell on her shoulder. Another one, then more.

"Oh no..."

"There's another shelter not far from here," he said.

Mai wondered whether he had memorized that from the map he had taken a quick look at earlier. Their pace quickened and in the meanwhile they had let go of each other's hands. The rain didn't cease pouring.

"Ugh!"

"Why didn't you take your jacket? Naru said.

"It it would rain, I'd go home," Mai said, "Unlike me, you went prepared."

"Naturally.

"In other words, you knew it was going to rain."

"Unlike you, I did listen to the weather forecast on the radio."

"You listen to the radio?!"

"Yes, ...and who slept through it?"

She yelled back at him, "You could have warned me though!"

He didn't say anything back.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm soaking wet now. -hey!"

He had thrown his blazer at his head.

"Walk, don't talk!"

"Yes sir," Mai said, as she held onto the warm blazer smelling faintly of roses.

A half hour later they had reached their destination. It didn't look pretty and noteworthy at all. The wooden cabin looked like it hadn't been taken care of for a long time and the air inside felt rather humid. Mai stroked down her wet dress, before she sat down on the bench by the wired window opening.

"I don't think we'll be seeing any ghosts at all," Mai said as she shivered.

Naru stood by the entrance and kept staring at the trees outside.

"Why not?"

"I just have that feeling."

"Right."

After that he didn't make a movement or any sound for approximately five minutes. Mai had no watch on her and had no idea what to say to her boss. There were obviously no forest spirits, so why did he take her to this place, alone and of his own accord?

"Naru?"

He didn't even look back at her and it made her feel uneasy. Her boss was simply standing there like a statue, and save for the occasional breeze that ruffled his hair and shirt, there was absolutely no movement. Mai wondered if he was getting even more wet from the splattering rain outside.

She attempted to restart the conversation once again.

"...do you know when it is going to stop raining?"

He finally opened his mouth.

"It will rain the entire night."

"...seriously?"

Again Mai received no reply, and she was beginning to get irritated at his lack of responses.

"...and you wanted to hunt on forest spirits so badly in this kind of weather? Give me a break."

Naru turned to face her. A cold glare decorated his face. His wet lips mouthed her name in a soft rebuke. Mai laughed quietly at how his bangs stuck to his forehead and how soggy his clothes looked at the front. He looked silly like that, even though it made him look attractive at the same time.

"What would you like to do then?" He asked slightly annoyed at being laughed at.

"Haa? You're asking me?

"Considering that I was the one who dragged you to this place."

"I have no idea."

"Then go sleep."

She protested.

"I already said I didn't feel like sleeping."

Naru walked over, pulled her off the wooden bench and stretched himself onto it.

"Naru!" She yelled, as he snatched the blazer away from her.

"Go play in the rain, Mai."

"No. Do you want me to get sick or something?"

He looked at her for a while, perhaps too long, because she was growing uncomfortable. The consideration resulted into Naru sitting upright and motioning his hand to his left side.

"Here."

Mai went to sit there.

"Why did I come along? This is boring," she said as the two of them stared at the entrance. She was lying, actually she did enjoy being alone with him.

"...idiot."

"Who's the idiot? I didn't want to ghost hunt in the forest while it's raining."

"Stop mentioning that."

His expression hardened.

Then he added, "You're not the only one who doesn't like being here."

"Then what Naru? What keeps you here? We could have gone without you."

The last part wasn't the case at all. It would have defeated the point of the trip. Without Naru, they wouldn't even have done this.

"What do you think?"

"Are we here for business or holidays?"

Naru sighed and looked at her with dark eyes.

"Does it matter to you?"

"...no."

Mai hung her head. If anything, the only thing that mattered to her were her friends, and most of all Naru. Being alone with Naru like this could be considered a dream. She always imagined confessing to him in this situation, but now it didn't matter at all.

He didn't respond to her at all in words, but she felt his blazer descending on her shoulder. Mai gasped when his arms pushed her to the other wall. He kept one hand on her right shoulder and stared straight into her eyes through his wet bangs. Warm, moist fingers lingered on her.

Any words that would have been spoken had become stuck in her throat.

His lips moved.

"Are you trying to let go of me?"

His voice was steady. Too steady.

He added, "If it doesn't matter any more."

Mai looked down at her lap. She saw his other hand clasping the bench right next to her hip. The grasp on her shoulder was slowly released and he pulled back. Disappointment washed over her.

"Yeah, I tried letting go of you, you know."

"Why?"

"I-It hurt when I tried to."

Her voice was better and she refused to look at him. If she did she would cry again.

"Why did try to let go?"

"Does that even matter now?" she said, "The point is that I don't want to let go just yet."

"Not yet?"

"Uh... yeah."

"You're a stubborn idiot," he said slightly amused.

"Ugh, that's why. I hate to be willing to spend time with you despite that."

He quietly chuckled.

"Does that mean we're both masochistic?"

"Maybe. ...eh? What did you say?"

Mai looked up again and saw his expressionless face, that had begun to lean forward again. His hands settled down next to her hips and his torso leaned over her. She could barely catch her breath when he did that.

"I don't think I need to repeat that."

Mai shivered from the sudden touch when he moved in. She could taste the rain again. Sweet water. When he was about to pull away she grabbed his collar to pull him back again. She wanted to taste it again. Her hands slid down his wet shirt, undoing any buttons present. She slid one hand onto his bare chest and was pleased with the soft sounds he made. Suddenly he lifted her body up with his arms and had her lie down on the bench. Her right foot was positioned on the bench and the other on the ground. They heard the clattering of the heavy rain outside, the touch of a few droplets escaping into the cabin, but their attention was solely on each other. It all seemed to happen automatically, without a second thought or hesitation.

(o)~(o)

05:40

Morning light shone in her eyes. Several minutes later she heard soft voices in her mind. From the outside. Her sleepy head was barely able to make any sense of that, because she realized the current... rather intimate situation. Her skin felt hot and her face reddened when she noticed how close Naru's face was to hers, and it didn't help that she was more or less straddling him. She noticed the arm around her middle, and slowly took it off without waking Naru. He remained still and peacefully slept.

In a daze she nearly tripped over the black blazer that was discarded to the ground earlier that night, and accidentally stepped on one of her sandals. The other sandal had found its way to another corner of the cabin and she couldn't recall how that had happened.

Mai looked down. Her yellow dress was terribly dishevelled. One strap was loosely hanging off one shoulder. The other looked limp and required some readjustment.

Wait.

She wasn't wearing her bra.

Her panicked eyes looked around the cabin, but luckily she realized in time that she had left it at the bungalow. Due to having a small chest size, Mai did not always wear a bra at home. Especially in the evening she tended to take it off when nobody was around. She sighed. Apart from that, everything was in its place. She was happy, but at the same time she felt ashamed that things were progressing at such a fast pace.

Voices.

She remembered hearing voices, so she went outside the cabin after retrieving her sandals. Mai could barely see through the thick fog, so her hearing would have to show her the way to the source of voices. She didn't hear much of the conversation, thanks to the crickets loudly chirping on the background. Mai could barely strain her ears and caught only a few snippets of the conversation.

...it's enough...

... I don't want...

A girl in her late teens.

...what they... to me was...

A man who was not much older than her.

...please.. for me...

...well.. you ... what have ... ever done... me?

Mai walked off a hill next to the cabin.

...love you.

...that's someth-.. ….never seen.. Mai stepped on a branch. ... run! There's someone here!

Water had enveloped her legs. Her eyes flew open all of sudden.

"Mai!"

She heard Naru's voice and stared in front of her.

The lake.

Mai looked down.

She was standing in the lake water up to her knees and had gotten her dress soggy.

"But there was nothing here!" she exclaimed, and looked back at Naru who was standing on mostly dry ground.

"Taniyama-san, if you want to take a bath, you should do so in your bungalow," he said with a heavy layer of sarcasm. "If you want to commit suicide, please don't do it without my permission."

"But I didn't want to!" She yelled back. Due to the heavy fog, she couldn't see his face at all, but could very well imagine the anger on his face. Then she froze. "Where have those people gone to!?"

"What people?" he asked.

"Two people. A girl and a guy!" she said, as she slowly waded back to the side.

"The only people who fit the description are the two of us. I haven't seen anyone else."

He patiently helped her onto the steep hillside. Her summer dress was soaked at the bottom. Luckily she wasn't wearing any pants or socks. Her sandals plopped with every footstep she made.

"Mai, what did you see?" Naru asked.

"Nothing, but I heard voices. That's why I woke up."

He stared at her.

"You were sleepwalking."

She frowned back.

"I do not sleepwalk."

"You think I didn't mean that? I was awake the whole time."

Now that got her attention.

"Liar. You were sleeping and I saw it with my own eyes."

"You were the one who had your eyes closed," he replied with a sigh.

...whaaaat?!

"We-well, why didn't you wake me up?!"

He smirked.

"It amused me to see you stumble around like that. You even managed to retrieve both sandals without using your eyes. Good job."

Mai stepped on his foot as hard as she could, but it just made some of the moist ground give away. Suddenly she slipped and landed on her face

"Yuck!" She spit out some of the mud and saw her boss looking down at her with amused eyes.

"Stupid idiot."

She looked as mean as she could with her dirtied face, and proceeded to pull his ankle down, before he could get away from her.

"Mai..!"

He fell and slithered down.

"Is this your idea of a first date?"

His voice sounded edgy and invited her to fight back. She mercilessly laughed after throwing a handful of mud in Naru's face.

A good fifteen minutes later they finally went back to the world of the living. According to Naru's watch it was six o'clock in the morning, so with some luck they could go out of the way of people, when the vast majority was sleeping, without being stared after. Finally the house she lived in came into sigh as they were about to exit the forest area. Just a few minutes before they reached home.

Mai recalled what had happened and found it absolutely absurd. She shook her head.

"You think the others are already awake?" she asked after a while.

"Lin is always up at six."

"It's vacation, so why would he-"

He cut her off.

"I said, always."

At that point, Mai thought it was rather pitiful.

They passed the shelter where they stood earlier this night. Both were too tired to acknowledge that somebody was indeed sitting there and enjoying the sight of two muddy teenagers.

"Good morning."

Naru and Mai turned to see who greeted them. It was the blue kimono-wearing man they had seen yesterday when they had passed the entranceway. A dark purple kerchief was tied around his head, his pointy ears stood out and at one side of his face he had tied his grey hair with several rings. Around his neck he wore a round pendant. His face was young, but he seemed wise from the way he looked.

The medicine seller.

"G-Good morning," Mai said with an awkward grin, and bowed her head politely. Naru ignored him and was looking at somewhere in the distance, then he quickly departed.

"Na-naru, wait!"

(o)~(o)

06:00

Rekiyo was rendered speechless when she saw the two teenagers walking out of the forest. She was about to approach them, but changed her mind as soon as she received a deadly glare from the muddy young man. She was temporarily frozen in her shoes.

"What was that for?!" she said after recovering, and went into the direction of the pergola shelter to empty the garbage bin she forgot the night before.

There they met again.

The medicine seller was eye in eye with the girl whom he had seen earlier, and yet never had met before. The same voice and the same face. How should he type this kind of phenomena? Déjà-vu. Yes, that was it. That certain phenomena had happened quite often ever since he came to this time and place.

He was quickly taken out of his train of thoughts by the noisy girl.

Currently she was admiring the object that was resting in his hands with big dark eyes. He made magically made it appear earlier that night. Heavy rainfall required an umbrella after all.

"And? Where did you get that umbrella? It's so pretty!"

"My apologies," he said, "I only sell medicine."

"It's totally fine, just tell me where you bought it. The butterfly patterns are so cute~!" she squealed.

Butterflies? The medicine seller chuckled to himself.

"Ahh... Wait just a moment."

His hand motioned her to come a bit closer, and he whispered something in her ear.

"You're lying!" She said ecstatically. "I thought you were just some strange guy, but you're actually quite the romantic!"

"...I meant that, miss...?"

He wondered what she was called now.

"Motohashi Rekiyo, but you may call me Kiyo!" She bowed politely.

The name was not much different, as he thought.

"Kiyo-san then," he said, after nodding, "perhaps, you may be interested in sampling... these?"

"Really? There isn't anything wrong with me though," Rekiyo couldn't recall any troubles with her health or anything of relevance.

He gestured her once again to come closer and whispered.

Rekiyo's face went red.

"Oh my god! I had no idea you sell... those kind of things too~!" she said, but disappointedly continued, "but I don't have a significant other..."

"I would have thought otherwise."

He seemed to be earnestly surprised, but his smooth voice made her think it was something else. She couldn't decipher what it precisely was.

"Oh, you flatter me! That's why I wanted to go to Tokyo. There are no handsome and interesting men like you around here~"

Rekiyo giggled.

The medicine seller smirked a little.

"Well," he interrupted, "Any idea to whom I may... recommend this to?"

"Let me see... there are some couples in here, but..." the young lady mumbled as she pensively held a finger in front of her mouth.

"What do you think... of the pair... we saw just a moment... ago?"

"Oh those two!"

Her voice switched into a different tone, a little more indignant, and not answering his question.

"The boyfriend is very handsome looking, but you know, he glared at me as if I looked like trash," she complained, "As if he couldn't stand the fact that I saw them like that. Did they go take a mud bath or something?!"

"Taking a mud bath... is a wellness to the skin," the medicine seller said in between her rant, but he was completely ignored.

"His girlfriend seems really nice, so I totally don't get why she got stuck with such a prick! A good looking prick at that, even I have to admit," she went on and on, "but he wasn't friendly at all when I gave him the map of the resort and such. Hello, I didn't do anything wrong at all!"

"Aah."

His voice sounded slightly confused after hearing all of that.

"That couple came with this group, and I've heard from my aunt that they'd insisted on going to the forbidden cave."

"Forbidden cave?" The medicine seller prompted with curiosity.

"There's nothing it it. It's just a tourist attraction. I'm so bummed that I have to be their guide of the day," she said, drew a little closer to him, and whispered in his ear "and did you know that..."

"Psychic Research team?"

"I heard that! I wonder why they'd come here at all. Except for taking a vacation of course."

"Most interesting."

"That's for sure."

"Kiyo!"

An old woman's voice screeched at her from far away.

"Stop loitering and get that garbage away from there. Now!"

"Aah, it's my aunt. I got caught," she said nervously, and grabbed the bag she had dragged to the shelter. "Gotta go! See you later."

(o)~(o)

06:10

They stood in front of the door of the cottage Ayako and Mai resided in. Mai peered at Naru after she took the key out of the pocket of her dress. Thinking about it briefly, it was a miracle that the key had not become lost during their little adventure in the woods.

"Don't you want to shower before you go back?" she suggested.

Naru stared as if her as if she had regained utter stupidity.

"Then I will have to shower there if I put on these clothes again, Taniyama-san."

"Right."

Mai stuck the key into the lock, and froze when she felt his body right in close proximity behind her. She felt her knees almost giving in.

"Listen," he whispered into her ear, "If you're going outside again, don't go alone, understood?"

She gulped, nodded in understanding and turned the key. 'It's not safe here', a voice in her head said. It almost sounded like a warning. Why would he say that? However, when she turned to look at him again, he was already gone. Mai went inside, took off her sandals, then looked into Ayako's bedroom to see that she hadn't woken up yet. Relieved, she slipped inside her own bedroom to grab her pyjama's, then quietly as possible went to wash herself in the shower.

Finally, Mai dived into her bed, only able to think of what happened that night, before she sunk into a deep sleep.

(o)~(o)

06:15

The sun began to shine brighter and a flock of birds were singing overhead to his dismay.

Naru stood in front of the small house and could only think of the amount of options to stealthily get inside without somebody or something (in the case of Lin's shiki, should they be on alert) would notice him. He walked around and found Yasuhara and Takigawa sleeping soundly in their beds. Luckily he could avoid those big mouths, but the worst part had yet to come. He peeked in Lin's bedroom with his nose touching the glass briefly. No one was there. Naru could readily imagine someone laughing at him in the reflection of the window.

He noticed a tall person standing behind him and sighed.

"Lin."

There was a very long pause, before he received any response. The poor man looked as if he was having the shock of his life.

"...you... you didn't play in the mud for the whole night, did you?" he finally managed to say.

Naru shrugged.

"What if I did?"

"All on your own?"

"No, with the forest spirits," he smirked and walked past him.

Lin didn't believe one word of it.

Author's notes

Thanks for reading the second chapter of the revised edition! I eagerly await your reviews!

Rating: I had Twofold T-rated way back when I started. Back then it really felt like a borderline case, but as I progressed I did feel it should have been rated M. Mainly due to the amount of violence.

Spoilers: If you're new to this story I advise you to not look at the reviews. They contain... spoilers.