Thanks to Ariana Taniyama for pointing out our mistake about Lin :) We'll go back and change it sometime. I always assumed that Lin was his first name. Anyways, this is going to be a reasonably short story. We're reserving the scary stuff for the next case *grins evily* enjoy :)
Seperation, Part 2
Mai got woken up to a pillow.
"Come on sleepy head, rise and shine!" said Ayako loudly, causing instant discomfort. Mai moved the pillow, sat up and yawned.
"What time is it Ayako….?"
"It's 11am!"
"What? 11? Oh no Naru is going to be so mad at me…" Mai hurriedly got dressed, and dashed to the base. Naru glanced at her as she entered.
"We have some activity already. Yesterday the builders took down the paintings in a room so they could work on the walls. They put the paintings in a locked room. Today all the paintings are back on the walls."
"Couldn't someone have put them back in the night as a joke?"
"The room was locked, and only Otohiko had the key. They were valuable paintings. The door was still locked and it hadn't been forced."
Mai's stomach grumbled suddenly. Naru glanced at her again. "Go get some breakfast, and this time take someone with you."
Mai nodded sheepishly, and left for food with Yasuhara, who was still hungry apparently.
"Er, Mai? The kitchen's this way." Yasuhara pointed in the opposite direction.
"Uh, right." Mai smiled, and walked in the right direction, leading a baffled Yasuhara. After finding the kitchen without too much difficulty, Mai fixed breakfast. Then she made tea and brought it back to the base.
The cameras and mics had already been set up, and Masako and Mai were sent to wander through the house again, clearly Naru wanted to get this case solved as quickly as possible. Monk and Ayako were sent to take temperatures. They had arrived too late last night to do much, other then set up the base and equipment.
"I don't see why we have to do this again. You already did it while the rest of us were being used as slaves." Mai said angrily. After remembering the events of yesterday and now being put in a pair with Masako she was NOT in a good mood.
"I agree. But, if he says we have to…" Masako sighed. She wasn't any happier about this pairing then Mai. They continued to walk in silence.
"Do you sense anything?" Mai asked.
"There is a spirit. It seems sad, but not angry. And it's harmless."
"Well that makes a change. This is so dumb."
"I agree, you are."
"I'm not dumb! You're just jealous!"
"Why would I be jealous of you? You're not particularly clever, or talented, or pretty!"
"You're just jealous because I'm Naru's assistant and he calls me by my first name!"
They had stopped in the middle of the corridor and were shouting at each other. Monk and Ayako had rounded the corner after hearing raised voices and were staring at the two girls trying to bite each others heads off.
"Okay, break up the cat fight." He called moving forward to separate them. "I'm sure Naru can hear you." He said with a sly grin. They both blushed and looked at their feet.
They got back to the base, Masako and Mai refusing to acknowledge each other.
"Mai, tea." Naru didn't look up from the files he was reading. Mai stuck her tongue out at Masako as she left. She returned and put the tea in front of him, for once not wanting a "thank you" and sat on the other side of the room to Masako.
Yasuhara chose this moment to walk in. He paused in the doorway.
"What happened here?" He asked. Monk walked to his side and proceeded to explain. An evil grin spread across Yasuhara's face, as he cracked up.
"Mai, Masako, there's no point denying your love any longer." He said innocently. Everyone in the room looked up, even Lin stopped typing. Mai and Masako were both glaring at him, while blushing furiously.
"Yes, it is clear you are extremely attracted to each other. I wouldn't let the fact that you're both girls hold you back. Look at me and Bou-san! Despite our initial differences, we got over them and are in fact about to be married!" He grinned like he was the happiest man in the world. "We're going to adopt a child!" He clutched Monk's hand.
There was a shocked silence. Mai and Masako had stopped blushing and were looking disgusted at the thought of getting married to each other, Monk was silently laughing, Ayako had nearly collapsed, John was looking very uncomfortable, Lin was looking at Yasuhara and Monk suspiciously and even Naru looked slightly shocked, before putting on his mask again. Then Lin smiled, completely shocking Mai. She hadn't known that Lin joked. Monk and Ayako were nearly dying from lack of air, and the only one who completely serious about this was Yasuhara, who looked innocently surprised at everyone's reaction.
"But it's true! We didn't plan to tell you this way, but…..we hope you can all come to the wedding!" Everyone (except Lin, Naru and Yasuhara) was laughing, and it was only broken by Naru.
"I don't you pay to laugh, I pay you to work." Jeez, can't he take a joke? Kill joy. Thought Mai angrily. "Hara-san, can you pinpoint where the spirit is?" Masako paused.
"It's somewhere upstairs, I can't tell which room."
"Hara-san, John, I want you to go upstairs and wander around. See if you can pinpoint which room the spirit is in. If you can, exorcise it. Yasuhara, what have you found about this house?"
Yasuhara glanced at a small stack of paper.
"It was built by the Kurosawa family in 1758. It switched when the heir died by falling off the roof. After that the Nagase family owned it, until there was a large fire that ruined most of the house and killed several people, family members and servants. They left it empty till 1872, when the Ogiwara family bought it, and rebuilt it. They owned the house until 1949, when the Nakono family bought it. They were the previous owners, but didn't live in it after one of the sons, and his father, died shortly before his wedding in a car crash." Yasuhara finished.
"So, it the spirit could be the heir who fell off the roof, someone who died in the fire, or either the son or the father who died before the wedding?" Ayako said, not sounding too happy at so many possibilities. Mai was quickly bored, she wasn't really interested in the history of the house, and she was sitting on a comfy sofa…
Mai looked around. It was dark. Suddenly she felt a hand brush hers and she jumped, but relaxed when she heard Naru.
"Hello Mai, how are things going?" he was glowing slightly in the dark, and Mai realised that she was too. She smiled brightly.
"It's good. We're on this case, but you already knew that didn't you?" Naru nodded and smiled.
"John's exorcising the spirit right now."
"Oh. That seems… pointless. I have something to show you, Mai." He took her arm softly, and turned her so she was looking at the scene.
It was an old fashioned room. There was a woman standing in the middle of it, sobbing. Mai felt sad, but curious, why was she crying? Mai looked at her hand and realised that she was holding a small leather pouch, and that while she sobbing, she was looking at it.
"What's in the bag, Naru?" she asked, but he shook his head. The woman looked over to a corner to the room near Mai and Naru, and Mai could see her eyes, they were filled with sadness and red from crying. She quickly walked to the corner, and pausing for a moment she gripped a floor board. Mai's eyes widened. The woman struggled to move the board, but after a few minutes she had managed to lever it up. Still crying, she looked down, and at the bag, then placed the bag carefully in the floor. She then replaced the floor board, and the dream faded, taking Naru with it (much to Mai's dismay.)
Mai woke up with a small jolt.
"Mai! Sleeping Beauty awakes!" Monk cried.
"Oh? So who's the prince then?" Yasuhara asked, winking at Monk. Mai blushed. But he would never be my prince, she thought. Then she smiled slightly thinking how he would paint his armour black.
"Wait, there is a prince?" Yasuhara sat up straight. Clearly the smile had not gone unnoticed. "Tell us the details!" he glanced at Naru. He didn't look like he was listening, but….
"Yasuhara, do some work and stop messing around." Naru ordered. So, he was listening Yasuhara thought with a smirk.
"Naru I had a dream." Mai blurted, trying to quickly change the subject onto something less dangerous. Naru looked up and signalled to Lin. He then sat next to her and waited.
"Nothing much happened. There was a woman, and she hid a leather bag under the floorboards in one of the rooms. She was crying a lot." Mai's face fell as she remembered how sad the woman looked.
"Anything else?"
"No, but it's pointless exorcising the ghost."
"How do you know that?"
"Er" Mai thought frantically. "It's just a hunch." Naru nodded. There was something more, but he could see she wasn't going to tell him.
