"You really should be more careful, Mai. Especially now."

Mai allowed Dream Naru to help her up. She nodded sleepily at his words. "Yeah, I know."

The agonizing sound of a sob ticked her ears, and Mai finally saw.

There were hundreds of woman, wearing dirty clothes or nothing at all, weeping in each other's arms.

There was a terrible smell in the air; urine and feces, sweat and hopelessness.

Mai began to cry as she looked around at all this desperation. She felt sick, especially when she saw how many of them were pregnant.

"I want Lin-san," she whimpered, not entirely sure why she needed him so desperately.

Dream Naru reached forward and closed her eyelids, whispering how sorry he was for what she had seen...

A tear slithered down Mai's cheek when she opened her eyes, and she batted her eyelashes to keep the rest away.

Her hands travelled to her stomach, trying to find her child. The tiniest of kicks fluttered against her fingers, and she breathed out a shaky sigh.

"That man claimed possession was at fault." Now it was Lin who sighed. "He also told everyone about...you."

She looked over at Lin, who was lying on the threadbare rug beside her futon. He had a towel over his eyes, and his jaw was clenched.

"This just keeps getting better, huh?" Mai's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Thanks for helping me, by the way."

He opened his mouth to say something, then sucked in a breath.

She frowned. "Are you okay, Lin-san?"

He was squeezing his hands together, digging his nails into his skin. "Just a headache."

"Just a headache...?"

"Fine," he said sharply, startling her. "It's a migraine. I get them on occasion when I overwork myself."

Mai instantly felt bad. She wasn't the only one having a hard time. For a moment she saw all those poor woman again, and she reached out for him.

Her arms wrapped around Lin's torso, and he lifted the towel off his eyes to glare at her...until he saw the look on her face.

"Bad dream?" he asked softly, letting the towel fall back onto his face.

"Y...yes."

"Tell me about it."

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Mai." Naru was running a finger over his lips. "But it's good that we know. Hara-san, do you sense something similar?"

The girl and John had both arrived while Mai was sleeping. No one had mentioned the baby situation yet, which was almost too good to be true. Maybe everyone's just focusing on their job?

"There are many spirits suffering here," Masako murmured, covering her nose and mouth with the sleeve of her kimono. "...there is one that the other's seem to be frightened of."

Naru nodded, thanked her and then told everyone what they were to do.

Much to her surprise, Mai was to take a walk outside to see if she could feel anything. She would of course be accompanied by Lin.

"No-"

"Your shiki can watch after me," Naru said, frowning at his Chinese assistant. "I won't do anything dangerous. Besides, Mai is in need of far more protection than I am." Everyone looked vaguely uncomfortable.

There it was. At least he wasn't yelling at her about condoms or something. Mai fought back a giggle at the thought of that conversation.

"Fine." Lin seemed highly displeased. "Come, Taniyama-san."

He left the room, and Mai moved to follow.

"Don't forget to say something if you need me to raise your pay."

Naru's words were so simple, but for some reason Mai couldn't help but grow misty-eyed. Maybe it was the hormones?

She nodded and left with a smile that would not last for long.

It was Mai who spotted the cellar. "Hey, don't those flowers look kind of weird? Why are they all clumped together like that?"

Lin took one look before walking over and kneeling on the ground. He began to yank the flowers from the dirt, seeming not to care at all.

"Did you have to kill them?" Mai murmured, gathering the wildflowers into a bouquet and sniffing deeply. She gagged. They didn't smell like flowers at all! They smelled a lot like...

Lin finally reached the doors only to find a padlock. He snorted. "Of course. Taniyama-san, please go get a me a..."

Mai was backing away, shaking her head, blood-scented flowers fluttering from her hands. "I don't want to see what's down there," she whispered, and began to cry.

She turned sharply around and walked down towards the pond, taking deep, panicked breaths. She could hear footsteps behind her as she fell to her knees by the water.

She looked at out the still surface, broken only by bubbles and...a hand reaching up out of the water...?

"Someone's drowning!" Mai cried. Lin blurred past her, tossing his shoes off as he dived under the surface.

Moments passed.

Lin was holding onto Simon's obviously rattled camera woman when they came up for air. They swam over to Mai, and the girl helped the older woman out of the water.

But when she turned back around to hand Lin his shoes, she found him gone.