For the rest of the afternoon they set up the cameras, all inside facing out of the windows. There had been a lengthy discussion about what to do with the temperature sensors. In the end they set them up around the perimeter of the house, though they were doubtful of how much help this would be.
"Tomorrow we should get a map of the surrounding area and look for likely spots of spirit activity." Madoka said over dinner. "I want everyone to get an early night tonight, tomorrow may be a long day."
"It's weird to know that we don't have to worry about activity overnight." Mai noted. "You know, because we're protected."
"Yeah why don't we protect the bedrooms more often?" Ayako asked.
"Naru never saw it as a necessity obviously."
They finished eating, cleared up after themselves and played a few games of cards before bed.
"I'm so glad Yasu isn't here!" Mai said. "He would have suggested stripping games by now."
"We can play strip poker if you prefer Mai-san!" Ayako teased. "Although if Naru isn't here I don't suppose you'd want to."
"As if we'd ever beat Naru at poker!" Monk said. "That guy's face is so permanently blank I doubt he remembers how to do facial expressions."
"Actually Naru is awful at poker." Lin blurted out. They all looked round. "His face may not change, but that's not the only way you can tell if a person has a good hand. Gene was always better at poker, because he was never consistent with his tells, so you couldn't tell if it was a genuine tell."
"Too many tell's in one sentence!" John laughed. "And rummy!" He put his hand down on the table to show everyone. Monk cursed.
"You sneaky blighter! I wanted the eight of hearts!"
They played a few more rounds before Madoka forced everyone to go to bed.
The next morning, Mai woke early and dressed. She went to the base, so she would not wake the other women and started playing solitaire with the pack of cards they'd played with the previous night.
"Can you tell Madoka that Lin and I are popping to the nearest town?" Monk had stuck his head through the door.
"What are you getting?" She asked.
"Batteries for the torches and some snacks. Lin doesn't want anyone without a well charged torch while in these woods and quite frankly I agree."
"Fair enough. Safe journey!" Mai returned to her card game as Monk left.
Ten minutes later, Madoka came in, smiling cheerfully as always.
"Morning!"
"Monk and Lin have gone to get batteries." Mai said immediately, before she forgot.
"Oh good! I asked Lin last night but I wasn't sure if he was paying any notice…" Madoka trailed off in thought.
"Why wouldn't he pay attention?" Mai asked, confused. Madoka blushed slightly.
"We were otherwise engaged when I thought of it." She said finally, facing away from Mai, making herself a cup of tea. Mai sniggered.
"Really? On a case?" She remembered what Naru had said 'Are you really so stupid to think I would stay in the same apartment as Lin, when he and Madoka will be fucking every other night?' She hadn't realised quite how serious Naru had been. "Where on earth did you manage to do that without waking people up?"
"On that sofa." Madoka said and Mai jumped up and scampered away from the sofa as if it was diseased.
"Eww!" Mai squealed and Madoka laughed.
"What eww?" Ayako asked as she breezed in.
"Lin and Madoka were fucking on the sofa last night."
"Really? Can't Lin keep it in his pants while on a case?" Ayako did not seem bothered.
"It takes two to tango Ayako." Madoka said, as she started making breakfast.
"I know, I was just trying to ascertain who the initiator was." Ayako
"Hmm." Madoka thought for a moment. "I think it was his fault last night."
"Okay seriously, can you stop talking about doing it while you're making my breakfast?" Mai squirmed from her seat on the floor.
The two women laughed.
Masako joined them at that moment and sat down on the sofa Mai had just vacated. Mai contemplated whether or not to tell her. Ayako, seeing Mai's thinking face, laughed harder.
"What's going on?" Masako asked, nonplussed.
"Seriously, don't ask." Mai shook her head. "Why are you still wearing a kimono? Aren't we going out walking today?"
"I was hoping I might remain behind and watch the monitors, being out there feels horrible."
"Masako as much as I would love to grant you that, we need your skills on this one." Madoka pointed out. "If anyone is going to sense malicious spirits, it'll be you."
"Eugh. I wish Naru was here. He'd solve this easily." Masako pointed out. Mai knew she was right. Naru could have just held something of Noriko's or Yumi's and sensed their location. "I will change after breakfast."
John came in just as breakfast was ready and they all started eating in earnest. Monk and Lin arrived back not long after this with bags of batteries and snacks for the day ahead. Mai couldn't look at Lin, so stared at the food on her plate.
Masako changed after she'd eaten and Mai noticed how weird it was to see her in normal clothing. She had only seen Masako in ordinary clothes once before.
Satou had provided them with maps before he headed off for work. Madoka handed out walkie-talkies, torches and spare batteries for everyone. Although they hoped to be in long before dark, they were in unknown territory and it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Right, now I am going to be staying in the base." Madoka said. "Monk-san and Mai-san you will be going north, Ayako-san and John-san, you will be going east and finally, Lin and Masako will be going west. I don't mind how you search your sector, but keep an eye out for odd behaviour and caves. Satou doesn't think there is anything but he has little experience with this kind of thing."
And so they set off. Monk and Mai trudged out into the bright sun and headed northwards, away from the incoming road.
"Do you want some crisps?" Monk asked after only five minutes of walking.
"We've literally just eaten breakfast!" Mai said incredulously, but Monk was already opening a packet from his backpack.
"What? I'm hungry!"
"Let me guess, you were up all night too, screwing Ayako?" Mai said.
"What?" Monk looked shocked. "Not on case that's disgusting! There's two people missing!"
"Tell that to Madoka and Lin!" Mai mumbled.
"What? Really?"
Mai wasn't sure if Monk was impressed or disgusted, perhaps both.
"Well, all I can say is I'm not sitting on the red sofa anymore."
"No wonder Lin looked so smug this morning."
They continued to walk in silence for a few more minutes.
"Do you want to marry Ayako?" Mai asked, curious.
Monk didn't reply immediately, his cheeks had turned red.
"Yes I do." He said finally.
"Why don't you sound happier about it?" Mai asked. "She obviously likes you."
"But her parents aren't so sure. She comes from a high class family full of doctors and lawyers and other proper professions. I am in a band. And while we're successful now, that could change at any time. The music business isn't a safe job and it's not like I have a lot to fall back on."
"You could teach music." Mai suggested.
"I could. But would you entrust your daughter to a mere music teacher?"
"I would if she loved him."
Monk smiled at her.
"Maybe," He screwed up the empty crisp packet and shoved it in his pocket. "Lets focus on the case."
"I'm sorry Monk, I didn't mean to upset you."
"You didn't upset me! I just need to talk to Ayako about it, and then talk to her father." He gave her a one armed hug and then looked back at the map. "This all looks the same to me. Can you sense anything?"
"The whole place feels off. Sad and angry. But I daren't fall asleep out here!"
"Don't even think about it!" Monk said. "You are enough of a danger magnet." They both laughed and walked on.
Naru was lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He had told his parents he was going to bed early, as he was tired from the day's efforts. But it wasn't the case. He was thinking about his brother.
His brother had always been better with girls. Ever since the twins had been of an age to be interested in the fairer sex, Gene had always been able to talk easily to them.
It wasn't that Naru wasn't interested in girls, he had been curious. But he couldn't seem to invite them into his confidence like Gene could. He couldn't pretend their limited minds interested him enough.
So why had Mai reached a place in his heart than no other girl had? Mai wasn't stupid, regardless of how much he teased her, but she wasn't the brightest. Nor was she the most beautiful woman he'd laid eyes on. True, her manner reminded him of Gene sometimes; the only other person he'd been close to. And it was also true that he felt some sympathy towards her as a fellow orphan. But a reminder of his brother or a situation was not enough to explain the burning feeling he felt for the girl.
Mai had wormed her way into his life. She made him worry about her, want to impress her, make her happy and even open up to her. Sure, he wanted to tease her and watch her pout in indignation at him too, but those were just a bit of fun. And now he felt the guilt again, the guilt over how he had left their relationship. Why hadn't he just told her what he was doing?
He could practically hear his brother's voice calling him an 'idiot scientist'. And Gene was right. Naru had thought leaving her angry would enable her to move on easier. Just in case. Just in case he died too. Learning this new method of controlling his PK ability was dangerous. If it went wrong, and he slipped into his old ways, the power could overwhelm him. His heart could stop again and it was all too possible that this time, he wouldn't wake up.
He wanted to talk to Mai. Maybe he would ring her. But what would he say? 'Sorry Mai I tried to break your heart in case I die.' It sounded stupid, despite being the truth. No, he wouldn't do anything. He would leave it until he got back, then he would force her to listen to him. She would forgive him, he hoped.
After a whole day of searching, no one had found or sensed anything. As they sat around their dinner, they discussed the case so far.
"There has been nothing on the monitors, or anything from the temperature sensors." Madoka confirmed.
"And none of us found anything." Lin said.
"The forest is full of spirits." Masako said. "But none of them felt malicious and nothing powerful enough to kidnap a person." Mai noticed Masako looked sad, and remember how deeply the medium felt for the spirits.
"You don't think there is a spirit trapped in the house somehow? Trapped by the charms and hiding the missing people in a hidden room, like in the Urado case?" Mai asked, she didn't really think this would be the case, but it was the only suggestion she had.
"I don't think so." Monk said. "Masako would have felt it. I think it's more likely the woman took her child and left."
"Or another person kidnapped them both." John suggested. "This really should be a police case."
"The police gave up from lack of evidence, they have left the missing posters up but they don't have the resources to continue looking." Madoka said.
"So what is our plan of action?" Ayako asked, she looked tired and slightly sad. The feeling of so many spiritless trees must have taken the fight out of her.
"We'll observe for another day, if nothing appears, we will have to leave." Madoka said. "I feel sorry for Satou, I wish there was more we could do for him."
Later that evening, Mai was readying herself for bed when Masako got up.
"Are you okay?" Mai asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm just going to the toilet, don't wait up for me."
Ayako and Madoka were already in bed, so Mai turned the light off and climbed into bed. It took her a while to fall asleep, the bed was uncomfortable and it made her back hurt. No matter how much she wriggled, she just couldn't ease the pain.
The next morning, Mai knew something was wrong as she woke up. She could just feel it in her bones. It took her a minute of looking around the dimly lit room to realise what the problem was.
Masako was missing.