Later that day- well it was closer to evening actually- sometime around eight or nine when Naru and the others all filed out of base to go to the dining room where they would be meeting with the client and having him/her tell them everything he knew about the activity in the house. The only real problem that Naru foresaw at the moment was that...Mai hadn't returned to base after telling them all to 'fuck off'.
He nearly chuckled at the vulgarity of her words before catching himself and wondering, Where had she learned such language? It certainly hadn't been from himself or Lin, they watched themselves whenever they were with the young and impressionable. And it bothered him a bit why she had used such foul language on them if she knew something. It was her job after all, as a latent clairvoyant to tell them when she saw and dreamt of things. Yet she was holding her tongue on this one.
Puzzling...
"I wonder if Mai is okay." Said John, the Australian catholic priest as he looked around the hall they were walking down as if he expected the girl to suddenly just magically appear.
"I'm sure she's fine." Naru said, dismissing the idea that his employee (*cough* she who shall remain nameless *cough*) was quite possibly in trouble of some kind.
"I dunno," Monk said in a doubt filled tone. "She was sick earlier. Maybe that's why she was acting so funny. I'd get pretty bent out of shape myself if I were still sickly for one reason or another, and everyone around me was giving me the third degree." The man said as Naru made a humming sound. Not really caring one way or the other for anyone's opinions at the moment.
Especially about Mai.
But he supposed that technically they did have a point. If Mai had run off and gotten sick again then she very well might return to them possessed, if she wasn't already that is. They reached the dining room, and Naru paused along with the rest of the group just long enough to look around. It was a very nice, spacious and lavish room with a table that could seat ten or more made of solid red oak polished to a glossy shine and a bunch of stuffed velvet, high back chairs with matching wooden trim.
There were several paintings, each a lovely pastel watercolor with flowers and ponds and lakes hanging on the walls. And three large heavy shelves with expensive glass dishes and figurines on display.
All in all it was a lovely room.
Yet Naru had an unexplainable feeling of sorrow that felt so heavy the covered the room like a storm cloud.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Shibuya." An white haired elderly gentleman wearing and black and white butler's suit said as he walked into the room pushing a cart with plates, glasses, soup bowls ect...
Naru looked over at the man and put on his most professional smile and stepped over the threshold, ignoring the sudden sinking feeling that centered in the pit of his stomach as Lin and the others slowly- perhaps a little too slowly for his peace of mind- came into the room behind him. Making him wonder if perhaps they also were feeling the effects that the room seemed to have on him.
He would have asked, but pushed the question to the farthest back of his mind and made his way over to the elder and shook his hand as he finally worked up the nerve to answer the man's earlier question. "Yes. I'm Kazuki Shibuya, and these people are my associates. The buddist monk, Takigawa. The priestess Ayako. The medium, Miss Masako. My partner Lin-" The Chinese man bowed respectfully towards the elder who smiled at him. "This is father John," Naru said motioning to the priest who was across the room with monk checking out one of the paintings. As he added in an irked tone, "And I'm afraid that you will have to wait to meet my idiot tea pourer since she threw a fit earlier and ran off."
"Oh my. I-It isn't because she's inside the house is it? I mean- Did she get possessed?" The man asked in a distraught tone as he started to wring his hands and mutter, "Perhaps I should ask the rest of the house staff to help find her?"
"That won't be necessary. My friends and I will deal with her once she returns. May we?" Naru asked indicating to the chairs. The elder flushed a little bit in embarrassment and nodded.
The scraping of chairs being pulled back away from the table could be heard echoing in the room as each person sat down in their place and let the man serve them their food as Naru began firing questions at the old man. "To begin, how long has strange activity been going on here?" He asked as the elder placed a plate and soup bowl in front of him before replying.
"Why it's been nigh on ten years now."
"Why did you wait so long to seek out help?"
"Well ten years ago it was impossible since paranormal research and activity was thought to be a sham. However with the recent developments in science and such- it just seemed like the right time. Besides- the spirits of the house never seemed all that violent up until a few months ago. Merely a little restless."
"What sort of activity do you or your staff usually experience?"
"Small things mostly. Little orbs of light flitting about. The haunting sound of laughter. And then it began to escalate... About mid June I think. The kitchen staff reported a ghaustly apparition appearing in the middle of the room and grabbing one of the maids-"
"Yes, go on." Naru said as the elder stopped what he was doing and went perfectly still for a moment before starting to wring his hands again.
"I-I'd rather not. It's really very horrible and there are ladies present."
"We can't help you if we don't have all of the information pertaining to this case. Now please, continue." Naru said as he reached out with his mind and gave a ruthless push.
"Well, the maid that was grabbed- she- she- died. Right there in the middle of the room with everyone watching."
"Did her heart give out from fear?"
"Good god no! The lady had been as healthy as a horse. There were no problems with her heart nor anything else. It was the manner in which she died that was so horrible. The poor thing didn't even have time to scream before-" The elder winched a bit as he plowed on, "Herbodywasrippedinhalffromtheinside!"
Naru looked up at the elder, his violet blue eyes narrowing slightly as he asked, "Did I hear you right? Did you just say that the maid was ripped in half from the inside?" The elder hung his head for a moment and then nodded.
"I see." Was all that Naru said for several heartbeats before asking, "Has the apparition killed anyone else?"
"Yes. Four more maids and three gardeners."
"I see, and were they all ripped in half as well?" The man nodded again and Naru sighed. This was going to be a bothersome case. He could just tell. In fact he was already getting a splitting headache. He was about to ask the elder something else when he and the others heard the faint sound of footsteps outside of the room and turned just in time to see Mai step into the room.
"Well at least that's one problem that we don't have to worry about." Lin said before catching the look on their client's face out of the corner of his eye. The man looked shell shocked. His skin had gone almost as white as his hair and he was crying as he struggled to speak. Opening and closing his mouth like a fish before letting the glass in his hand slip from numb fingers and shatter to the floor as he took off running around the table with a happy cry,
"Mistress!"
