Chapter Six: Whispering Spirit And Pool Hazards
Mai
After the teacher gave a short explanation about the new students which were there as a part of an 'exchange program' for a few days and another short introduction of them to the group, they were asked to take seat in the available chairs, right at the back of the room. Mostly by instinct, Mai avoided sit next to the girl with long black hair who looked at her with something close to hatred at the end of the middle row of seats, and choose the seat next to the window. Naru however, choose to sit between her and the girl with the icy glare, while Masako and John sat in the last two seats closer to the door.
There was a bit of whispering among the students and most of the girls were giving Naru and John glances that ended with giggles. Poor things, Mai thought, as none of them have a change with either of them. Naru was simply Naru, too focus on work and research to find girls interesting and John was a priest bonded with religion. Once the teacher resumed classes again all whispers die and everyone was back to focus in the English lesson being though. Because it was an advance class, almost everything said was alien to her. She understood some English, but basic at best, not a fluent fast one she could barely catch.
At her side, Naru gave her glances with some amusement (she was sure he was enjoying seen her internally freaking out), as he knew she was barely catching on and the teacher wanted to prove they were there for academic reasons and not to hunt the rumored ghost behind the attacks. Obviously, Naru and John have no problems in answering the questions with their fluent English and Masako was doing quite well on her own, not as fluent as the other two, but good enough to satisfy the teacher. Nonetheless, when the first question was directed at her, she simply panic. Her hands begin to sweat and she hoped that the earth was kind enough to swallow her at that moment and spare her the coming humiliation and that's when she heard it.
"Mai, just repeat exactly the same as me." A voice that she had heard before while in her dreams, whisper to her. For a second, she thought it was none other than Naru, but glancing at him for the fraction of a second, she was sure that Naru have nothing to do with it, because she could see he was expecting her to fail, miserably.
"Who are you?" Mai thought, while the teacher waited for her response.
"A good friend, just repeat after me and don't worry, no one, not even the idiot scientist next to you can hear me." The whispering voice said and doing as she was told, she repeated every single word the best way she could. The questioning keep up for a bit and every time, she simply repeated word for word until the teacher looked satisfy with her answers. After the lesson resumed with the rest of the group, she found Naru looking at her a bit surprised of perhaps intrigued. He probably wasn't expecting her to answer the questions the way she did or he was suspecting that there was something… out of place.
Ryan, however was slightly smiling two seats in front of Mai. He had felt Gene's presence near her and although he could not see him, he could faintly hear him whispering the answers to the girl. It was a bit strange that in that moment, the twins were next to each other and yet, Oliver was not aware of his presence, nor able to hear him. He wonder just what was the link bonding the three together and the story behind Mai Taniyama and how she end up meeting both brothers. His father had been intrigued before, so he had asked Martin, but he never heard the story himself.
"It's not that hard to guess, Ryan. I was looking for the bond I share with Noll and find Mai instead. Somehow, we connected and I end up being her spiritual guide. About those two, as you can guess, he likes her, she likes him, but he is too blind to see it and too proud to admit he can be emotionally sweep by a girl." Gene's voice said inside his head, taking him by surprise. Noll looked his way, still, Ryan pretend to focus in the class.
"What's this Gene? How can I hear you inside my mind now?" Ryan asked.
"You are a medium Ryan and just now, your thoughts were focus in both me and Noll and as we had a previous connection it's not so hard for me to be in tune with you, temporarily. Remember, don't said anything to Noll just yet, I need to explain a few things to Mai first. Just keep her safe, if I'm unable, okay?" He faintly hear him said, like he was going further away.
"Sure, if Oliver doesn't kill me first, it's more than clear that he doesn't like me too close to her." Ryan said inwardly.
"A bit of jealously will make him realize what is already obvious. I will leave those two to you." And so Gene was gone.
"Easier said than done." He thought while sighing.
Takigawa/Lin
To say that the school grounds were big was an understatement, because the whole thing was huge and both Lin and he had to go 'patrolling' for hours, checking that all students were in classes or the library, while trying to sense or see if something was out of place. If the others didn't get some clues about the strange happenings in the school, they were going to get in troubles. Even Lin's shiki's couldn't sense anything out of ordinary while walking all over the place, until they reach the pools.
The moment they enter, even he got a bad feeling. It was almost two-thirty and there was some students having swimming classes or practicing others specialties. To their big surprise, at the diving pool, there was a group of students watching some girl's dives and among them were four youngsters they knew too well. Takigawa approached the group, closely followed by Lin and as they got closer, they could hear some students gossiping about the newcomers group.
It didn't surprise him to hear the girls talking about the handsome devil called Kazuya Shibuya and how mysterious he looked and it didn't surprise him either that some others were eyeing an embarrassed John, while calling him cute, because he too agree, the priest was indeed a cute thing, but what really took him by surprise was seen Naru sat almost at the edge of the pool very close next to Mai, while putting his right arm just behind her straight back in an intimate way. He didn't have to see Mai's face to know she was melting, because even from where he was, still a few yards away behind them, he could feel the heat.
"Looks like Mai is having her deepest wishes granted…" Takigawa said to Lin and the usual stoic man smiled.
"Apparently, although I can't said the same of Naru, because I can tell his body is quite tense at the moment." He is holding back, keeping his uneasy feelings toward pools in check. Lin added to himself while watching his charge whisper something to Mai, who almost jumped at the unexpected action. If Noll decided to push just a little bit, their 'fake' relationship, the poor girl will end up with a heart attack sooner than later.
"Well, you know him better than all of us, still, he looks quite pleased to me. Masako however, looks close to push Mai right into the pool." And Lin agreed, but looking further, he notice that Masako wasn't the only one who was looking at the pair with devious desires, as right at the top of one of the dive platforms, was a slender girl looking down on them with visible displeasure.
"Monk, she is not the only one, look up." Lin advised and so Takigawa did, noticing the same thing.
"Why do I have a really bad feeling that something wrong is going to happen to Mai soon?" The Monk asked, hopping he was just saying things.
"Because she is a danger magnet and I think that Naru is up to something. He is not found of pools or any other large bodies of water. There must be something really important going on, for him to be that close to the pool border." And both of them saw the narcissist smile very handsomely. A few girls squealed a kawaii, yet the place felt charged with malice in a huge wave.
"Yeah, definitely nothing good…" And as on cue, Mai suddenly disappeared from view, right into the deepest part of the pool.
"MAI!" It was Noll's yell, followed by another splash and he too was gone down along with her.
Naru
Water… ever since he experience Gene's death as if it was his own, he had been wary of big amounts of water and although he did not fear it, he was perfectly comfortable avoiding them as much as possible. The only reason he had agree to sit by the pool's edge in the swimming class, was because he needed to confirm his suspicions and the observations he had done during the course of the day about Akane Harumi. He looked at the water, seen nothing out of place and then, touching it with his finger while pretending to be flirting with Mai, yet his psychometry did not react to the touch. Simply, there wasn't anything unnatural in the water that he could catch with his senses, but Mai insisted that there was something strange about it.
He then, decided to push his theory a bit further and gave Mai, what others would call a devastating smile and the effect was instantly. He felt it all over the pool, the change in temperature and the disturbance of the water itself, just before an invisible force, pulled Mai to the depths of the pool and soon after, pulling him in as well. He could hear screams from the surface at the same time that some kind of dark mist seems to cover it in record time and he knew that he needed to reach Mai before he could lose sight of her in the unnatural darkening of the water. It was just a matter of half a minute or less before all the water turned crimson red and her lost to him.
However, as he tried to swim toward Mai, something, a kind of pressure or barrier kept him from moving to hold her hand a feet of two away from him. He could see real panic building up in her eyes, as she tried to force her way up or toward him, yet she was only spending her air faster and he himself was a step closer to lose it. Fearing for her life more than for his, he released a relative small blast of his PK, enough to free both, Mai and himself from whatever was keeping them down, causing a huge splash of water shoot over the pool in a big wave that drenched with dark red, most of the closer students and the three ghost hunters that were about to dive after them. Still, by the time that Lin, the Monk, as well as John's bodies, touched the water, Naru was already surfacing with Mai clinging to him for dear life.
"Naru! Mai!" The Monk yelled coming closer to them, despite the still persistent mist covering the pool.
"John, Monk, a prayer…" Naru whisper, holding Mai closer, just to make sure she would not be taken from him a second time, because despite their release after his wave of PK, he was sure that they were still in grave danger and unable to go out of the water.
"Noll, look out…" A familiar voice he recognize, yelled in perfect English and Naru looked right at Ryan, who was pointing at something a few yards from him and he saw it.
"Naru…" Mai whisper, while holding him with the worse fear she had ever experience in her short life.
"Just hold on to me and don't you dare to let go, no matter what…" He said while looking straight at a mass of darkness. It didn't have a defined form, just an oval cloud of darkness floating over the water.
"Why? Just why you stupid hot couples keep showing what I was denied?!" A voice said, coming from somewhere inside the darkness. "Why? Why? Why? WHY? I HATE YOU ALL!" It was more a screech than a yell and a wave that threatened with submerge them all again moved forward, straight at Naru and Mai, but before it could reach them, one of Lin's shiki's stroke the cloud of darkness, shattering it instantly.
"Naru…" Mai's heart was beyond scared, still, she looked right behind Naru's shoulder and just before the mist and the water clear up, she saw the girl that was up in the platform, go down, with a trail of darkness following her.
"She has a broken heart…" She whisper to Naru, who was gently pulling her along with him to the border of the pool.
"Clearly Mai…" He said a bit sarcastically. "Yet, she is too out of control. She is beginning to become something else."
"She is not a spirit…"
"I know, however she either commands one or have a great amount of spiritual energy. Either way, she must be stopped as soon as possible."
"How? I'm sure she is going to run away from us or attack us again."
"Let's get you out of the water and warm you up before making plans. I'm afraid someone else will have to make you tea this time. You are shivering way too strongly."
"Tonight… she is probably going to act tonight…"
"And we will be ready. Lin, take her out…" Naru commanded his assistant, who was already out of the water and in the process of pulling Mai out. We will be ready… Naru repeated, allowing the Monk to pull him out as well.
AN: Short chapter, still a bit intense. Hope you like it, nevertheless. Take care people, loves you all. Thanks for reading.
