Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, or any of the characters from the show/manga. If I did, "life would be a dream, sha-boom!" (I don't own Tattslotto either.)
WARNING Contains Spoilers.
Chapter 6: Life, or Something Like it
"You look terrible."
"Gee, Thanks." Came the sarcastic reply, "I was up half the night finishing an essay. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd been able to go back to sleep after that scream…"
"Scream?"
"You didn't hear it? I swear - you could sleep though a typhoon and barely bat an eyelid…"
Eyes were rolled in exasperation, but the girl continued, unaware of a second set of ears that had perked up at the mention of the word 'scream'. Barely a meter away from the chatting high-schoolers, a charcoal-haired male slid the bridge of his glasses up a fraction, an unnoticed flicker of sunlight reflecting onto one of the girl's backpacks at the motion.
"It was that woman staying with the guy living across the road from us. Mum saw her bashing on his front door like a lunatic – at first she thought they were having a domestic or something, but…"
"But…?" The other teen pressed, her interest captured.
"Well, he seemed really worried and bustled her inside. If they were arguing, you would have thought he'd want to keep her out."
"Maybe he didn't want to cause a scene?"
The eavesdropping male didn't need to hear the girl's dry reply to know her opinion on her friend's suggestion – the unladylike snort of disapproval which followed said it all.
"…Bit late for that, I think."
Yasuhara relaxed against the wall, losing interest in the gossipers. It wasn't as if it involved one of S.P.R.'s cases, but paying attention to odd rumours was beginning to become a habit after working with the abnormal group. Of course, not many held much in the way of truth, but the fact that something had caused enough of a ripple in everyday life to create hearsay could often point them towards the cause, and ultimately the solution to a client's problem.
Looking around the Library's entrance, Yasuhara's thoughts returned to his own concerns – such as whether or not Haruka would accept the invitation he'd whispered to her before leaving and giving the brunette a chance to talk to Mai alone. She hadn't said anything to imply prior commitments, but it wasn't like he gave her time to think about it, either.
A sneaking suspicion maintained that giving her his phone number would be to give her an easy way out. All she had to do was message him with an excuse, and her conscience wouldn't be bothered by the idea of standing him up. By not giving her a chance to respond, he had hopefully inspired Haruka's curiosity, leaving the girl debating what to do about him for many hours after the fact.
Letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, Yasuhara's gaze settled on a familiar figure making her way through the crowd; honeyed eyes searching him out as she teased at her bottom lip nervously.
Congratulating himself on playing his cards correctly, the youth caught his study partner's attention with a friendly wave as he moved towards her with a smile. For some reason, the look of distrust she shot him in return struck the spectacled boy as being indescribably cute, amusement coursing though him as he greeted the sceptical female.
"Still wondering whether or not to make a run for it?" He observed playfully, noting her faltering steps as they made their way into the building's foyer, the grin on his face in no danger of departing anytime soon. A mixture of astonishment and possibly irritation flashed across her features, hidden quickly as she countered, "Why? Should I be?"
"If Naru doesn't faze you, then I doubt I'm anything to worry about." Yasuhara quipped, voice lowered to match the Library's hushed atmosphere, his eyes full of mischief as Haruka appraised him critically.
"Maybe you're S.P.R.'s dark horse," She mused, a small smirk tugging at her lips, "Wearing a smile as a poker face might suggest your powers are more dangerous."
"My skills are a little more conventional that the others," He admitted, offering her a seat, "But knowledge can be a powerful weapon in the right hands."
Sliding her bag onto the table, Haruka pulled out a selection of books and began pointing out areas she'd 'fallen behind' in, fingers fumbling at the text book's pages under his gaze. Despite the way she'd relaxed during their brief banter, her posture was now rigid, shoulders tense with anxiety. Statements had a tendency to sound like questions; the smile on her face as forced as the girl's descriptions of what had been troubling her about the mathematical formula on page ninety-seven.
If Yasuhara had suspected she was hiding something before, now he knew she was.
"Did talking to Mai help?"
Haruka froze instantly, the pen in her hands slipping from grasp and rolling across the table. He caught it before it could fall to the floor, passing it back to the brunette as her eyes finally met his, laced with surprise.
"You're a terrible liar." Yasuhara explained; a teasing lilt to his voice, "I'll admit that I'm curious, but you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Sighing in a mixture of relief and defeat at being caught out, Haruka avoided his gaze, dreading the answer to the question already falling from her lips.
"How long have you known?"
"You didn't exactly look like you were heading to the Library when we first met, but it was your hesitation that gave you away." He supplied, adding on after thought, "If it's any consolation, I'm fairly certain John bought the excuse."
Letting out a brief chuckle at the stupidity of her situation, Haruka began to organise her belongings, shoving them haphazardly into her backpack.
"Sorry for wasting your time, I'll-"
His hand rested lightly on her forearm, effectively halting her speech and movement as their eyes met. The moment between them was so silent, so impeccably still; had she not known better, Haruka might have suspected that time itself had frozen.
Even when his mobile began to ring, drawing the attention of many people around them, Yasuhara's tenacious gaze refused to break with hers.
"…Aren't you going to get that? It might be important." She prompted, wondering not for the first time what he wanted from her. If he had known she was lying in the first place, was it really necessary for him to go to such lengths to prove it?
"I can call them back." He replied, breaking eye contact to silence the ever-growing volume of the phone's ring tone, "Isn't talking to you equally important?"
Unsure of how to respond, Haruka merely relaxed her grip on the bag she had begun hurriedly repacking, confusion and curiosity taking over as she stared at the charcoal-haired teen.
"Though I doubt you need a tutor, that doesn't mean we can't study together." Yasuhara reasoned, leaving his offer open for scrutiny, "Want to try something that's a little bit more challenging?"
-x-
Leaning back in her seat as she returned the phone it's cradle, Mai read though the notes she had quickly jotted down during her conversation with Suzuki-san. It hadn't taken long for the doctors to diagnose her daughter with diabetes, but no one had thought to contact S.P.R. with the news until the chaos had died down and the teenage girl had emerged from her coma. Mai had thanked the woman for updating them on the situation, and reassured her that any forgetfulness was understandable considering the circumstances.
Confident that her notes made sense, the part-timer sent a brief e-mail to Lin on the subject before searching through S.P.R.'s collection of cabinets to add the note to the case's corresponding file, silently hoping that the group of girls who had panicked after playing 'Bloody Mary' hadn't dabbled in anything else potentially dangerous. She'd seen the effects of popular spirit-calling rituals during the investigation at Yasuhara's school, and it was far from pretty. Calling forth a spirit was easy enough, but putting it back where it came from was another matter entirely.
Mostly out of habit, Mai moved into the kitchen to brew herself a cup of tea before closing the office for the day, sighing softly as she stared into the wisps of steam beginning to rise from the kettle's spout.
If only Naru were here…
Would they continue on from what they were doing before Masako's impromptu visit?
A wave of heat surged through Mai's body at the memory of him; his long arms securing her between himself and the bench, leaving the auburn-haired girl startlingly aware of the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.
It should be a crime to be that hot.
Despite her fears of being discovered in such a compromising position, something told Mai that it wouldn't have been long before Naru's skilled fingers all but disposed of her inhibitions. Hell, he could probably do it without even touching her.
The way his darkened blue eyes unashamedly drank in every detail of her body lit a fire that coursed through her veins without mercy, regardless of where they were or how inappropriate the timing may be. Though Lin had surely caught Naru mentally stripping her more times than she cared to recall, the stoic man had yet to comment on the subject, and for that she would be eternally grateful.
Thank goodness Masako didn't see…
It was bad enough that the medium had evidently heard the squeak she had made when Naru traced his fingers along the inside of her thigh, but how much would it hurt, seeing the person you liked in such an intimate position with someone else? As it was, Mai wasn't sure Masako would continue to work with them, and despite everything, the doll-like girl was a part of her unofficial family.
I don't want her to leave because of me.
Glancing at her watch, Mai decisively reached into her bag, claiming a pink mobile phone from it's contents and began searching though her contacts for a certain girl's number. Usually she only called her from S.P.R.'s line when it was necessary, but over time Mai entered all of the team member's details into her mobile just in case. (In other words, Bou-san had been worried about her numerous misadventures, and threatened to tease her relentlessly about her crush on their boss if she didn't take the extra precaution.)
Pressing the phone to her ear, Mai listened to the dial tone with baited breath. Would Masako even answer? She was certainly the last person on the planet that the medium would want to hear from at the moment, but hope dictated that she at least try to fix the broken bridge between them.
"...Leave your name and number, and I will contact you at my earliest convenience. Thank you."
The short 'beep' that followed sent the butterflies in Mai's stomach into overdrive, unsure of whether it would be better to leave a message, or simply try again later. Nervousness made the decision for her however, and she found her voice hastily responding to the waiting recording device.
"Masako…? It's Mai." She choked out, suddenly made aware that she'd been holding her breath since pressing the 'call' button, "I understand if you don't want to talk to me right now, but I just wanted you to know that…"
Pausing mid-sentence, the part-timer wondered at her reasons for contacting the girl she had once seen as competition for Naru's hard-earned affection, and attempted to organise her thoughts.
What should I say?
There were so many things, but it seemed to the brunette that only one of them really mattered.
"…Even though we're rivals, I've always considered you a friend."
-x-
Kazuo breathed a sigh of relief, leaning down to pick up a novel that had fallen from his sister's hands as she slept. Had she intended to read all night in order to prevent herself from dreaming?
After what happened this morning, I can't say I blame her.
He hadn't liked leaving her behind. True, it wasn't like he really had much of a choice, particularly when his sister had so stubbornly insisted that she would be fine on her own, and well, work was work. Due to Cho's circumstances, her boss had been very understanding; relieved even, to hear that she was finally taking some time off.
Kazuo highly doubted that his employer would feel the same way.
He supposed he might have been over-reacting when he'd phoned up to check on her during his lunch break, but it wasn't every day that your sister locked themselves out of the house while sleepwalking. At first he'd been worried about her turning into an insomniac, but now he was concerned about what she might do if she did fall asleep.
Just how traumatic had her dreams been of late? Maruyama had warned him about the destroyed mirror she'd seen in Cho's bathroom, but he hadn't given it much thought until today. The stress she was under must be far worse than he had imagined.
Tenderly brushing back a stray strand of hair from his sister's face, he whispered, "It's okay to need help once in a while, Cho. Life isn't easy."
He stood up silently, trying not to wake her as he moved towards the door, taking a moment to glance back over his shoulder at her prone form.
"…Crazy or not, just know I'll always be here for you."
She shifted under the bed sheets, and for a moment Kazuo was worried he'd woken her.
"I-it would be better…if I was crazy."
…What?!
Frozen in place by her mumbled words, confusion etched itself upon his features. Was she talking in her sleep, or had he stupidly disturbed her once she'd finally managed to get some rest?
"…Is being sane really so bad?" He found himself asking, since this was the first time Cho had voluntarily brought up her feelings of late, despite calling on him for help.
"It is if you're…"
Kazuo strained to hear what followed, but to no avail. She had either ceased speaking entirely, or her pillow had muffled the sentence's conclusion. Unnerved by the silence, he tried again.
"Cho…? It is if you're 'what'?"
The corner of her mouth twitched upwards in a rueful smile.
"Haunted…"
-x-
Omake:
Leaning back on her bed, Mai returned the phone it's cradle, glaring at the infernal object for good measure. As she suspected, no sooner than she had put it down, the incessant ringing started up again.
Mai ignored it.
Well, she tried to ignore it. Just how long was it supposed to take for a phone call to ring out, anyway? Giving in to irritation, the auburn-haired girl picked up the receiver and promptly hung up on the caller's behalf. Maybe that would be the end of it?
It wasn't.
This time Mai hung up immediately, slamming the phone down with increasing annoyance. As if protesting the harsh treatment, the generally harmless household appliance screamed revenge, and resumed ringing once more.
Enough was enough! It was time to end this exercise in futility! Without giving the caller a chance to speak, she yelled into phone, "Bou-san, if you prank-call me one more time, I swear I'll…I'll…"
What would unnerve the monk more than anything else? If she had any serious dirt on him, the logical threat would be to tell either Ayako or…
An evil look spread like wildfire across the young woman's face as inspiration struck. "I'll tell Yasuhara you're gay!"
Silence met her ears with startling clarity, only broken by a scarily familiar, irritated sigh.
Crap…
Of all the people to hang up on, why did it have to be her boss?
"…I would highly suggest getting caller I.D."