Chapter 4 – a Cloistered Dream

The airport was really crowded that day. Maybe the pending flight the day before was the cause of the crowded. Naru, carrying a black laptop bag on his shoulder, held the tickets in his hand as he looked at the signboards. Lin followed Naru with 2 big briefcases, his and Naru's. From the size of the bags, Mai could assume that they were planning to stay in Japan for more than 2 days. Poor Lin… Mai thought.

" Mai, you better be hurry or else you will get lost in the crowded!" Naru stopped and turned his head to face Mai who was left behind.

" Wait!" Mai ran to them. Mai felt so weird since she woke up that morning. She felt really tired… and sleepy. Mai wondered, she has slept a lot yesterday, but she still felt so sleepy. And also, she lost the photograph she held the day before. She has asked Naru about it that morning, but Naru said that he didn't know what Mai was talking about. Was she dreaming yesterday?

Lin moved closer to Naru, " Is it just me, or… Why do I see Taniyama-san become more transparent than yesterday? And also she looked more pale…"

Naru nodded his head, " She almost reach the limit… We have to help her as soon as possible."

With a lot of effort, finally Mai reached them. She was panting, " I'm really sorry…"

" Take my hand…" Naru said as he offered his right hand.

" What?" Mai couldn't believe what Naru had done. She smiled and took Naru's hand. Naru's hand was warm. Mai blushed a little while she followed Naru.

The plane was really big and luxurious. It seemed that Naru bought the Executive class' tickets. Mai saw some sign systems on the plane, but she couldn't understand them. Well, it was her first time riding a plane. The explanations were written in English too. Mai couldn't read them.

Naru leaded Mai to the seats. Lucky for Mai, Naru bought a ticket for her; even she was just a soul now, so that she could have a seat. Three of them were sitting on the same row. Mai sat beside the window, Naru in the middle, and Lin was beside the passage.

Mai was exited by the view of the window. " Wow, it's my first time riding a plane! I can see the scenery of the town from above, right? I can't wait to see them!"

Naru didn't say anything. He put on the seat belt, laid his body on the seat, and closed his eyes. Maybe he thought that it was lucky that everyone around them couldn't be able to listen Mai's voice or else he would be very embarrassed. And also, he didn't have enough rest yesterday because of his assignment. Lin opened his book and began to read them with cool expression, as always. He also didn't say anything. Maybe he thought the same things as Naru did.

Mai decided to ignore them. She enjoyed seeing people in the plane. They have blonde hair, fair skin, and blue or green eyes. They were also very tall, much taller than the people in Japan. Even she didn't understand the language, she like the British accent.

The plane shook a little while avoiding the clouds. Mai awoke from her sleep. " I fell asleep again?" She looked at the window and realized that she lost the timing to see London form above. " Oh no!" Mai pleaded. And also, she found out that it has been night. She remembered well that it was afternoon when she entered the plane. Mai looked at Naru and Lin beside her. They were sleeping. Of course, it was midnight after all. Naru leaned his head on Lin's shoulder. Naru grumped a little in his sleep. Mai could see tears rolling from his eyes.

" Naru…?" Mai approached him, " Naru is crying?". Mai wanted to weep the tears. She touched Naru's face. BLINK! Mai felt as if she was pulled hard. She fell into turbulence.

As Mai regained her consciousness, she saw a big labyrinth in front of her. There were a lot of stairs in strange position, and many doors. Within the strange scenery, she saw Naru in black shirt walking in the labyrinth. Mai called for him, but he didn't reply. Mai ran to follow him.

As she entered the first door, the door with yellow frame, she was in a house. The living room was really big. There were a crystal lamp on the top, pastel colored wall, red velvet carpet, and a short round table on the middle of the room. Mai saw a pair of twin little boys was drawing some pictures on their drawing book in the middle of the room. They are about five years old, Mai thought.

" Noll! Let's search for the Peter Pan book again… I bet the book is there! The devil must take the book to there…"

The other twin looked at him, " There are no devil, you know. Devils only exist on storybooks. Why don't you just go there alone then? I want to finish this drawing…"

" But there was a devil there, Noll! It has scary face, I have seen them!" Gene pulled Noll's shirt, " Please… accompany me…"

Noll pushed Gene. " Move away, Gene! You are annoyed me!"

Naru's word is as harsh as his in the present; even he was a child back then…Mai thought.

The other twin began to cry. " Fine! I will look for the book alone!" Gene ran to the warehouse, leaving Noll alone.

5 minutes passed, Naru still drew on the living room peacefully, until they heard a scream from the warehouse. Little Noll was really surprised. He ran to the warehouse to see Gene's condition. Mai followed him. As he arrived on the warehouse, he saw frightening scenery. He saw little Gene, was bitten by a big creature. Mai didn't know how to describe the devil. It has the shape of lion on the body, elephant for the head, teeth of a lion, and tail of cow. Maybe it looks like a tapir, but the size and the shape was rather different. Gene was bleeding. The wounds around his body looked like was caused by a sharp thing.

" Noll… ran! Or else the devil will attack you…" Gene said with a very low voice.

" Gene!" little Noll screamed as he approached Gene. The devil was smiling at him, showing his big teeth to Eugene as if it wanted to eat Eugene. Noll tried to fight the monster. He took a replica knife from the wall and attacked the monster. The monster jumped to the window and vanished.

Their mother and father came to the warehouse. They were really surprised seeing Eugene's condition. They approached Gene and helped him. Their father called an ambulance as soon as possible. " Noll, what have you done to Eugene?" their mother asked as she pulled Noll.

" The devil did it, Mom…" Noll took some steps backward.

" There is no devil in this world, you know!" their mother said as she took the replica knife from Noll. " Never play with sharp weapon again, okay?"

" He said the truth, mom…" Eugene said.

Their mother approached Gene and held him, " Even your brother has done something bad to you, and you're still protecting him. …"

" No, mom, Noll just…" before Eugene finished his word, he has lost his consciousness.

" Noll, I don't know what happened to you, that make you hurt your brother like this. We have to talk about your punishment someday. Now, please help me curing Eugene's wound." The woman said as she lifted Gene's body and left the room.

Noll was crying, " Gene… I'm sorry… I should have believed in you… I should have protect you…"

" Naru…" Mai said as she walked to the crying little boy. She put her arm on the little boy's head. She knew that the little boy couldn't see her, but at least she wanted to help him. As she approached the little boy, Naru passed him. " NARU!" Mai called for him again, and again, Naru couldn't hear her. He opened another door, and entered the labyrinth again. Mai ran and followed Naru again. Even she has run, still she couldn't approach Naru, who was just walking. Naru entered a door with white frame.

As Mai entered the door, the scenery changed again. She was in a meadow. She saw little Naru with a taller boy with emo-hair beside him. Little Naru has been able to make the swing and slider in the playground fly, with his psychokinetic skill.

" Well done!" Lin said.

Little Naru smiled proudly, " Of course! Thanks to you, I can master this technique because of you!"

Lin looked to the other side, " I just did what my father asked me. Since you have master the technique, I want to go home. Good bye!" Lin said with flat face.

" Wait, Lin!" Little Naru said.

Little Lin turned around, " What's wrong?"

" Em…. Ano… " Little Naru looked a little blushed, " Thank you for today!"

Little Lin just nodded and turned again. Little Naru looked a little disappointed.

" WAIT LIN!" a boy's voice called him again. It was little Eugene, ran to him bringing a young girl spirit with him. " Lin, this little girl needs a help… She wanted to search for her family member…"

Lin just passed the boy, " I don't have a obligation to help you… My job is only to train both of you… And since both of you have mastered the techniques, my job is over."

Gene ran to blocked Lin, " Please… help her… You are also a Ghost hunter, right?"

Lin stared him so hard. They stared each other for minutes. Lin decided to ignore Gene. He turned his body and walked away from Gene.

Gene ran and blocked Lin again, " Why? You also ignore my request yesterday, my request to help the other spirit. As the result, the spirit turned into an evil, so that Noll have to crush the spirit… "

" Why do you want to help the spirit that much?"

" Because they were just like us! They used to be human too before. They have the same feeling and the same emotion, just like us!" Gene said as he hold Lin's hand, " Please tell me…"

" It's because… I hate you! I hate all the Japanese, because long time ago, on the word war 2, your country has betrayed us, the Chinese…"

" Is that so…?" Gene released Lin's hand, " Yes, it's true… The Japanese has abandoned your country that acted as our brother. But… it's only a history. Time has passed, and people changed! Japanese has held much collaboration with Chinese right now. And also… we are a team, right? We are the 'Ghost Hunt'!" Gene stared at Lin, " I don't want to be hated just because of my nationality! I really need your help…"

Lin just stared at Gene. " So what do you want?"

" I want to be your friend!" Eugene said, " Ever since you joined our club, you never smiled. I want to be your friend, so that you can smile again. I know… you have a big grudge to the Japanese, but we are different. I will prove that not all Japanese people were bad! So stay for a while with us, so that we can prove that we are different!"

Lin laughed, " It's my first time, being scolded by a boy younger than me. You talked just like my mother. Then prove me what you just said. What's your name?"

" It's Eugene!" Little Gene said as he smiled.

" Er… sorry to disturb both of you…" Little Noll cut their conversation, " The spirit has ran away… And I can't hold her. Let's chase after her…"

Gene pulled Lin's hand, " Let's begin our first mission… the Ghost Hunter!"

3 of them ran together to chase the spirit. Mai smiled at them as she saw the events. " So it was the event that Lin has talked about before. Gene…" Mai thought as she held her hand on her chest.

Mai heard a door cracked. Mai looked around the meadow. A door appeared in the middle of it. Mai was curious about the door. It looked different from the other door before. It looked so damaged. The color also has been faded. Has Naru entered the door before? She tried to push the door. As she pushed the door, she heard a voice.

" Don't enter that door!"

That voice...Gene...? Mai looked around but found no one. Maybe she just imagine things, Mai thought. She pushed the door and feel something blocked it. " Naru...?" She called.

"I found you..." Mai heard a voice behind the door. Mai saw a hand pulled the door from the other side. However, it wasn't the hand of human. It was... a lion hand with very long and sharp claws...