I'm so sooory. Took a bit longer than intended, but of course school work comes first. So yeah. I really should have done some more sooner, but things came up, and I will leave it at that... (Darn you good friends, dragging me out and having a good time watching anime... with snacks and good conversation!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!)

That and maps. Lots and lots of maps. I now hate the world, especially the 6 biggest countries. And don't get me started on 'The Alps'

Seriously

And then I got sick! Not my best week.

Oh! ANd I update my profile nearly every day with info on how far I am, and when I plan to update next. The last day it was updated is at teh top, and at the bottom is my comments.

Disclaimer: Its in the first chapter


3-

Mai looked around. Everyone seemed to be doing something, except herself. Well, it's not like I haven't done anything. I just already finished.

Then it came to mind that there was no running water, just as she had originally expected. And while there was a stove, it was the wood burning variety. Naturally they had the makings for tea with them from the office, so Mai figured there would be a point where she would have to make some. After all, nobody else was ever asked. Mai absentmindedly wondered what Naru would have her do all the time if she didn't know how to make tea.

But there was no concern, because she did know how. At least, if she didn't she wouldn't be asked to make it all the time right?

Ako wandered into the room to look at the set up. Lin and Takigawa had moved the generator that Naru had acquired, so it was making a humming sound to signify that it was indeed on. There were also some solar panels that helped run the equipment. They were a last minute add on.

And there was some electricity in the 4 room building. Ako had a special radio and a few lights. The radio was designed to pick up on very weak radio signals. The set up of the electricity in the lodge was a bit odd in the first place though, because it was from about 10 powerful batteries that were hooked up to a circuit. But there wasn't much power in them anymore, so only one light or the radio could be on at once.

Mai walked over to Ako in time to see Naru pass by the both of them to talk to Lin about something. "Is there any way I can avoid using a wood burning stove should I, for example, need to make tea?"

Mai spoke quietly, hoping not to attract attention from everyone else. Ako looked at her a bit weird. "Why would you have to make tea? You don't have to worry about that sort of thing! I'm the host here, am I wrong?"

"Well, I am going to be the one asked to get tea. After all, thats part of my job. I'm not really a medium, so I just do the odd jobs and monitoring and data entry and yeah... that sort of stuff." Mai shrugged. "But anyway! I don't want to bother you with stuff like getting the tea. You probably have enough on your mind with all the disappearances."

Ako frowned a bit. " I guess it makes sense, although I do feel bad about it..." Mai followed Ako into the kitchen. Because last time Mai had just walked through to the next room, she took her time to look around a bit this time.

There was an old fashioned lantern on a hook beside a light bulb on a wooden beam about 7 centimeters from the ceiling. The counters were gray and were littered with flats and small boxes of non-perishables lined up along the wall in no particular order. The cupboards were wood with peeling, white layers. It looked like someone hadn't bothered with primer when they painted them. The floor was a plain blue-ish white patterned linoleum that was probaby supposed to look like tiles. The walls were flat two-by-fours that were layered in a pleasing way. They weren't painted, but they were very dark in colour. In the room was a fridge. mai wondered how it worked, but apparently it did. There was also a wood burning heater for the lodge, and a large pile of wood.

Ako went to the first cupboard and pulled out a small little contraption. It had 2 parts, a tray raised off the ground and a small round thing with a knob sticking out parallel to the counter. "Its like a miniature stove. You just turn this knob, then light a match, and place what you want heated on this tray. It has an attachment for toasting bread, and a kettle that nicely fits for tea and coffee, and a little pan too. Neat eh? Much better to use when I'm the only one here."

Mai smiled. "Can you just leave this out on the counter then for when I am called to duty?"

Ako sighed dramatically. "I guess. But what will you do for me?"

"I'll make you tea?"


By about 12:00, Mai had managed to do nothing but decide where she was going to sleep, and find a nice place that was out of the way to put all of her stuff.

Considering there was nothing to do yet, what was she supposed to do? Generally isn't this the time that something comes to light, and makes everything more interesting?

Lunch was in the kitchen. It wasn't really anything that great to eat, but there was something about that place that was neat to just be there. After all, it isn't often that you get a chance to go somewhere so completely cut off from the world that communication is nearly impossible with the rest of the world.

It was a nice experience.

Naru didn't say much. Nobody did. There wasn't really anything to say, especially since nothing had happened. Not that anything would. After all, the only time anything had happened ever was at night. So why did Naru have them come so early in the morning?

Oh he probably had a reason. And Mai would probably never know.

So that was that.

After finishing eating Mai went back to the room they had everything set up in. There was a maze of extension cords all over the floor. They led to many places around the house. Mai began to wonder why Naru had wanted cameras facing everyone as they were sleeping. And the windows and doors?

Oh, right. People would get up on their own and disappear in the night. This was to see if they were doing it on their own, or if they were possessed or something. But shouldn't they have tried to get some outside to see where the person would go? After all, if one of the SPR members should end up missing, how would they search?

Mai sighed and looked around. By her bag was her microphone. All of the new ones that Naru had bought were the same. What if she put it down and someone else grabbed it?

Mai turned to her bag, and pulled a little blue ribbon off one of the handles. Its what she used to make sure that it was hers. Now it would serve the same purpose for her microphone. She wound it around the bendable part, and tied it off.

Happy with the result, she put it back on. Her short hair mostly covered it, so nobody would notice while she was wearing it.

Naru called for everyone to return to the kitchen, meaning only Mai because she was the only one who had left yet.


Even though the rest of the day particularly uneventful, Naru managed to keep everyone doing something. Mai was continually sent on random tasks while everyone else more or less patrolled an area, looking for something. Mai wasn't quite sure why Naru sent them all milling around outside. And once 21:00 came around, Lin set off one yellow flare. Everything is good. Mai really hoped that Yasuhara could see it. So he would know where to look when something bad happened.

Quite a bit after dinner, at about 22:00, Ako grabbed the lantern that had been hanging from the hook in the kitchen. "All right. Now that you have finished all that stuff, it might be a good idea to walk the trails. I hoped you would have had a chance to do so before its night, but its so much nicer at night in the first place."

Hiking! That would be fun! Mai grabbed a small flashlight. "I'm in!"

"Me too!" Takigawa said, grabbing a large flashlight, nearly 5 times the size and 10 times the strength of Mai's.

Naru looked over. "This isn't a field trip. We have here to work. We don't have time to go through the trails. Especially with the dangers of night."

Ako looked over, trying to keep the pout she would have given any normal guest to herself and trying not to shout 'chicken'. "With all due respect Shibuya-san, wouldn't it be better to not only recreate the conditions in which others have disappeared? After all, everyone who comes here goes on a walk in the forest. Wouldn't that give you an idea of what it takes to maneuver in the dark? Especially without any sort of light?"

Maybe it was a good enough idea. Mai hoped he would let them go. "Mai, Brown-san and myself will go. Lin, Hara-san, and Takigawa-san you stay here and make a fire or something."

Masako looked over a bit, and sighed. How on earth did Mai manage to make him say her name? "We will await your return." She said with a bit of a bow. John took Takigawa's flashlight.

"Wait! Why can't I go! I want to go! John you stay here." He said grabbing John's shoulder.

Because Mai was in front of Naru, she didn't get to see the look he threw to Takigawa, but whatever it was, Takigawa was quiet. "Bye!" Mai called back cheerfully missing out completely.

When Ako opened the door, a cool breeze blew in, and Mai shivered a bit. Maybe she should have grabbed a jacket, or a pair of pants or something...

Too late now. Ako turned on the lantern. The fire was small, but it was beautiful how it flickered, and cast a soft glow on the trees. Mai had never seen a real fire lantern before.

When they set out on the path that Mai had noticed earlier, Mai followed behind Ako. Naru was behind her, and John had the large flashlight bringing up the rear. Mai could see because of the lantern, but there was not enough light remaining for Naru.

Mai wanted to look up and appreciate the glow of the lantern on the trees, but her footing was not perfect and she stumbled enough staring at the ground underneath her feet. And she was glad that she had the flashlight, because there were a few points where shadows from uneven ground made it so she couldn't see enough to step with just the lantern.

It was quite enjoyable to be walking. Mai even forgot that she was cold, partially because she lost feeling everywhere.

After they had been going for at least twenty minutes in near silence, They came to a place where there was lots of rusted, burnt metal debris.

"There was a fire here. Used to be a fisher living here. Unfortunately, he and his grandson died in a fire. I get a sad feeling whenever I come by here. In a tribute to those people, I have some wind chimes..." Ako pointed a little bit further down the path. John shone the flashlight down there, since the lantern's light was not focused enough to show anything.

There was a branch that leaned over really far. Attached to it was a bunch of metal debris hanging off the ground. It was a large mass at least 1 and a half times Mai's height.

"Wind chimes?" Asked John.

Ako shrugged. "When theres enough wind they will occasionally make noise..." they started walking. "But generally, I do this sort of thing" She walked up to it, and kicked it really hard.

There was a large bang as the metal reacted with her kick, then lots of scraping as it swung a bit. Mai was more than slightly surprised at Ako's strength. Mai and John covered their ears. Even Naru flinched at the sound.

"That was fun. Lets continue now. Theres a really pretty place to sit and look at the moon on the lake, but I think we should go this way!" She pointed at a path that was just slightly different direction going back the same way as the one they had been on before.

After going for a while longer, they started climbing a bit up a hill. "These are the rocks we found the child on the other time. Poor thing. Would have died if I had gotten her to the hospital even 10 minutes later." Mai looked up at the pile of rocks. It was huge. And someone would have to have major skills to be able to scale it completely unequipped. Some young kids may be really good at climbing, but the only foot or hand holds Mai could see were too far apart for her let alone a child.

They had to climb under one rock to be able to continue along the path. It was more of a boulder really. On the other side, there was a fallen tree. It wasn't that high, but it wasn't that low. "Well, under or over. Which ever one you feel like."

Ako climbed over, after setting the lantern on the other side.

Mai didn't want to go under either (Her back was sore from going under the boulder), so she attempted to jump over. After about one moment in the air she knew she hadn't quite gotten far enough with the jump, and fell to the ground underneath with a loud (THUMP).

Mai groaned. She reached one hand up, looking for a hand to help her up, with her eyes closed. Someone's hand found hers. It was weird how warm it was. She stood up and opened her eyes, and immediately hoped it was dark enough for her blush not to be seen.

"Mai. Why didn't you say that you were so cold?" Naru's voice wasn't helping her blush. Thats when she began to feel the cold again. With a bit of a shiver she shook her head.

"N-No! I'm n-not cold-d!" But her shivering jaw gave her away. Mai realized she hadn't said anything since being outside.

She hurried to the other side of the log (underneath this time), where Ako grabbed her hand. "You should have said something before we left! Well, it wont be much longer. Are you going to be okay?"

Mai nodded. "A-Although I should-d ask-k y-you. You're th-the one who w-works at-t a hosp-pital."

"As a receptionist. Come on, lets hurry."

If Mai hadn't known better, she would have sworn Naru was now following her a little bit closer than before. She could feel a bit more of a shadow on her back.


When they made it out of the forest, there was a fire at the fire pit, and 3 figures crowded around it. Even Lin appeared to be at the fire.

When Mai got near it only then did she realize just how cold she was. Even sitting slightly near it felt way too hot for her, way too fast. So Mai sat a bit away from it, and edged in when she felt like she could.

Ako looked at all of them. "I'm going to start a fire inside, in the wood burning heater. If I don't it'll be this cold inside. Then I'll go to bed. So you guys can talk about stuff now then.

From her position a bit away from the fire, Mai's gaze was concealed in the shadows. Naturally, she looked over to Naru, who sat on the ground. The fire had by now made the grass that should have been a bit dewy dry. They were talking. Mai wasn't listening. She looked at him, and how the flaring fire shadows made him look almost sad.

What would he be sad about? Come to think of it, everyone seemed a little bit sad. What did they know that she didn't? Or maybe it was just the shadows of the fire. Maybe even she looked sad, the light barely dancing in her eyes.

Or maybe it was the night.

"Nobody will stay up to monitor cameras. Everyone has been up late enough. Tomorrow starts at 7 in the morning. So everyone rest up until then. I want to walk the trails again tomorrow during the day. Anyone can go to sleep when they want now. Oh, but keep your headset with you at all times. Even while you sleep."

Masako nodded. "Then I will go now. I'm going to be on the couch. Good night." She walked up to the building. Mai inched a bit closer to the fire, and grumbled for not taking the couch earlier. She would be the only one on the floor.

I wasn't much longer until everyone had left, except her and Naru. By then, Mai was right at the fire, and had warmed up considerably even if all that was left was the dying embers. She smiled a bit at them, and yawned. "Hey, Naru, why did you buy an entirely new set of microphones? Couldn't we have used the old ones as well, and just gotten 3 extra that we would have needed to have one for everyone?"

Naru looked at her. She couldn't really see his face, because the light from the remains of the fire were not bright enough. "These ones have a tracking system. If someone goes missing, we can use it to find out where they are." Naru was really on top of things. She had thought earlier that maybe he hadn't considered that an SPR member would go missing.

Mai nodded a bit. "I'm tired. I'm also going to sleep next to the wood burning heater, because I don't want to get too cold. Please don't trip on me." Mai added the last sentence in. She wasn't even sure why. Naru didn't say anything.

Mai stood up and walked back to the lodge.

Once inside, she noted that everyone had gone to sleep. Quietly going into the base room she pulled her stuff into the kitchen. The wood burning heater that Ako had started was in the kitchen, so she set up camp right in front of it. It wasn't too warm, but it was heated a bit by the fire.

Naru came in as she was about to start taking her shirt off. Luckily she had heard the door start to crack open a bit and immediately stopped her action. Naru looked to her for a second. Mai figured he could see right through her. The slight bit of light given off by the cracks in the heater were surely enough for her to be completely visible. Naru walked over to the camera that was monitoring the door near where Mai was now going to sleep. After a few moments, he moved the stand just a little to the left.

He went into the other room, and disappeared. Mai held her breath for a moment. The way Naru had moved the camera, there was no way he could change off camera if she were to stay in the room.

After waiting at least 10 minutes to make sure no one else was going to get up, Mai tiptoed to the camera and changed it's angle, taking careful note of where it had been before. She quickly changed into her Pjs. But once she was done, she couldn't remember quite where it had been.

She turned it back to where she thought it was. Once satisfied, she went back to her 'bed', and closed her eyes.