Hi, everybody! Feel free to skip over this little thing if it bores you – my bad, sorry, haha – but I just kinda wanted to apologize. I know that it's not a huge deal to anyone really, but I feel horrible for the lack of commitment I gave to this over the past year. I really didn't mean for that to happen, but I honestly faced the absolute worst thing that could have EVER happened to me at this point in my life last summer, and it kinda killed me for a while. I never expected that it could happen. I'm still recovering. To be honest, I don't know if I ever will recover.
Anyhoo, I was determined to somehow find the heart to get this chapter out. I am feeling good today because it's my graduation – ahhh! – and so I was in the proper mindset to write! Please, forgive my terrible updating... and just enjoy! I don't deserve any good ones, but R&R?
I DO NOT OWN GHOST HUNT!
The Mirror: Chapter 9
"What are you looking at?"
Masako's sudden question made Naru jump internally, but he was careful not to let it show. The last thing he needed was for the rest of the team to think he was becoming unhinged or as absentminded as a certain brunette.
A certain brunette whose life was more and more at risk the longer he failed to figure out how to save her.
"I was contemplating how to get the ghost to react," Naru explained, his eyes following the mirror's embellished frame. "As it is, we are well within reach of its abode, its center from which it acts and withholds victims, and yet there is no clear indication of its presence. Do you feel anything even slightly out of the ordinary?"
Masako took a couple steps forward from her spot in the bathroom doorway. She and Naru stood side by side, looking into the mirror, waiting for something even remotely characteristic of the supernatural to appear. After closing her eyes for a brief moment, Masako resignedly opened them, the corners of her mouth tugging downward.
"Nothing. I am unable to locate any form of a tie to any being at this point, living or not. The mirror appears to act as some sort of spiritual block - an impediment to the senses. It's," she paused, placing a sleeve over her apparent grimace, "alarming, to say the least."
That was definitely one of the last things Naru wanted to hear. Masako was never really one to get uncomfortable or be unable to get at least a feeling of the presences of living beings. Did that mean…?
"I'll simply take that as another reason for our next course of action to be done in proper haste," Naru reasoned hastily, attempting to halt the flow of unpleasant 'what-ifs' that were threatening to overtake his mind. "From what has happened up to this point, it is clear that the ghost does not attack without thought. The victims are specific and relatively alone - females who were, at some time, standing close to the mirror with no one directly next to them. We have to go and base our next move off of how to get the ghost to act and make itself vulnerable without using rash actions on our end."
His eyes flickered to Masako's face in the mirror, only to see that she was looking pointedly at him. She lowered her sleeve.
"It may come to the point where we have to use 'rash actions', as you call them. As it is said, sometimes the biggest rewards require the biggest risks." She turned and began walking back to the base, clearly not wanting to give Naru a chance to counter her words.
He was inclined to say something as he watched her reflected retreating figure, but found his attention quickly drawn to something else.
A silver chain, previously blocked by Masako, was peeking out from behind his foot. Carefully stepping backwards, he bent down and scooped it up, the chain pooling in his hand around a singular charm.
The conditions needed for a ghost to establish particular victims: a particular demographic, a particular location, a particular event, or –
"A particular item," Naru muttered, a small feeling of triumph bubbling up in his chest. Knowing the location and the strictly female demographic had been reassuring, an okay start, but this - this promised results.
Naru clenched the piece of jewelry in his fist. Determination filled him, obliterating all of the worries and doubts that were unwelcome strangers in his mind. Now was the time to act, and it was time to do what it was that he does best.
Hold on, Mai. I'll get to you soon.
"Li-san - I -" Mai's eyes stared at the woman in front of her, whose own eyes were dark, ablaze with anger. An unpleasant smile took hold of her face as she slide her gaze off of Mai to a point over her shoulder, a groan echoing through the room as she did so. The noise made Mai jerkily turn around.
"Ayako," she whispered, her voice slowly becoming more of a rasp. Her momentary flow of anger had empowered her, but Minako's appearance brought to mind all of the flashbacks, the horrible, scarring memories of the case, and instantly reinstated the freezing and life-draining feeling from before. The collapsed figure of one of her best friends was just another blow to her broken down state.
"A pity, isn't it?" Minako's venom-filled voice followed her as she stumbled over to her motionless friend. Mai half-heartedly glared over to the left, only to see Minako literally walking from mirror to mirror, only a couple steps behind her own reflected form. The woman tilted her head, faking a sad puppy-dog face.
"Such an attractive woman, reduced to such a disgraceful form. Has she no dignity? No understanding of what it means to be aesthetically pleasing? She is about as worthless and unappealing as that dull heap of glass on the floor," her hand absentmindedly waved in Miho's direction. The spirit's words made Mai grit her teeth in anger - and partially in an attempt to keep them from chattering. She did her best to ignore the woman, instead focusing her attention on warming Ayako up by rubbing her arms. The grey-haired woman was hunched over, her back barely moving as she fought to draw breath. What to do, what to do…
Minako sighed, annoyingly drawing the noise out as if the whole scene was boring her to no end. She crossed her arms and felt the need to start casually strolling along the perimeter of the room, determined to rile Mai up with her words and achieve the reaction she was looking for.
"Honestly, just leave her. No one needs a colorless piece of trash like that. Complexion is everything, you know? A brightly tinted cheek – just the right shade of pink – and be sure to match one's eyes and lips to it, as well. Well, I mean, I guess it doesn't matter to her. She'll be joining what's-her-face over there. The paperweight. Society has no place for girls who are not extraordinary or do not know how to always be pleasing to the eye. Just one mishap and you'll be replaced with someone much prettier. Perfection is –"
"Nothing," Mai began, her anger getting the best of her, "you're saying is right. Stop ranting on about appearances and make-up and whatever other stupid crap! You're killing people!" Mai's voice broke, her hands shaking, her body feeling far too weak to keep up her attempts to warm up Ayako. Her vision began to blur as she took in the colorless woman's form. "What reason could you possibly have to do such a thing to them?"
She finally lifted her head, only to see that she was a lot closer to the mirrors than she thought she had been. Had they moved…? The reflected image of Minako had stopped right in front of her with a menacing look in control of her features.
"Reason?" she whispered threateningly, making Mai shiver. "Funny. You know, no one ever interested me enough to make me actually talk to them. Usually, I just let them suffer away in silence, let them learn what it truly feels like to be alone – to suffer alone. But you," Minako inclined her head to the side ever so slightly, "you intrigue me. Why do I do this, you ask? I'm honestly surprised you even care enough to ask. Either way, there is no way you would ever understand what it is that I have gone through, what it is that has led to all of this. I - "
"I b-beg to differ," Mai interjected, and Minako eyes flashed at her words. "I personally experienced a-all that you w-went through. No one e-else may get it, but I – I understand w-what you went through."
Mai tried to sound caring, but her nerves were running thin; her and Ayako's body conditions were causing severe panic to course through her veins. Something in her voice, however, must have angered the spirit woman, for she began to twitch every couple of seconds, an angered and bewildered look filling her eyes. One of her hands pressed itself into her chest, trying to calm the rapid up and down motion it suddenly began following.
"If you think – for one second – that you –" Minako sucked in an abrupt breath and screamed, dropping to her knees, her hands gripping tightly at her chest. Mai unconsciously stretched a hand out, her naturally empathetic character overriding her anger toward the spiteful spirit.
"Hirata-san, what is - ?"
The woman's head snapped up, and her eyes burned bright red. A hissing sound escaped her lips as she narrowed her bloody eyes at Mai, her hands still clawing at her chest and the base of her neck. It was then that Mai noticed that a thin, red-ish black line was appearing on Minako's upper body; it went from her chest, around her neck, and then met back at the top of her sundress. At the part where the two ends connected was a little symbol – a sort of charm.
It looks like… a heart? Mai's eyes widened as she recognized the little trinket. It was the necklace!
Naru held the important piece of jewelry up for the remaining members of his team to see, holding it between his thumb and forefinger.
"This," he began, "will be our key to saving the three who are trapped in the mirror. This necklace, which – based upon the logical speculation I have made – belonged to the late Minako Hirata, is the final puzzle piece I needed to figure out another reason as to how the spirit's attention may have been drawn to Mai and Matsuzaki-san and how we, in turn, are going to, as well. Now, I was not there when Matsuzaki-san was attacked, but I do know that it was Mai who was first inclined to believe that she was taken into the mirror, and it would only make sense that finding the necklace in the hallway would lead her to believe so. Matsuzaki-san had been exploring other parts of the house and the backyard with you, Takigawa-san, so she could have happened upon it at some point and perhaps showed it to Mai, which then gave Mai reason to recognize its significance when she found it in the hallway."
"What about Hiraoka-san?" John asked. "She could not have had the necklace before Matsuzaki-san, right? I don't think it could have been found later had been on her when she was taken into the mirror."
Naru crossed his arms, the necklace squeezed tightly in his hand. "Hiraoka-san lives here and was experiencing the whole situation with her sister and Tsukino-san, which was strikingly similar to Hirata-san's past occurrence. In an instance such as that, there was really no need for Hiraoka-san to have the necklace as well; she already had enough present in her situation to draw the spirit's attention and invoke her wrath."
"Okay. It's all clear as day – great," Bou-san said, waving a hand. He stopped pacing the room – a bad nervous habit he had picked up on lately – and faced Naru. "What I want to know is what we do now. You said that that necklace is the key. How are we going to use it to get the girls out?"
"We're going to do what we always do," Naru stated as he unfolded his arms to look at the silver heart once again. "An exorcism. On the mirror this time, of course. As you and Brown-san perform it, I will have Lin and Hara-san position themselves in such a way that he can be prepared to use his shiki if necessary and she can monitor the spirit's presence as the exorcism goes on. I will place myself directly in front of the mirror with the necklace. If all goes well, the necklace and the exorcism will either destroy the spirit or draw it out. If all goes badly and she decides to choose another victim, I myself will most likely be the easiest to grab. In that scenario, I shall simply have to fight my way back out."
He raised his eyes to see if anyone wanted to challenge his plan, a dangerous expression flooding his gaze. No one seemed willing enough to go against his wishes at that point, considering how they were all becoming aware of exactly how much effect Mai's disappearance had on him now in contrast to how it did in the past.
The strange markings seemed as if they were burning themselves onto the spirit's skin, causing her excruciating pain. She grimaced as she forced herself to her feet, no longer paying any attention to Mai.
"What exactly do they think they're doing? Who do they think they are?"
Mai practically fell over as she turned to follow the woman's glaring eyes, her body ultimately starting to give up on her. She propped herself up on one hand, and her exhaustion turned to surprise as she saw that one of the mirror panels was flickering, like a dying lightbulb, alternating between a reflection of the black room and –
"Naru!" Mai called, emotion coating her voice. She could just barely make out the black-clad figure through the blinking panel, standing in front of the rest of the team. No sound could be heard from their side, but, as the image became clearer, she could see the figures of John and Bou-san close behind him – their mouths moving incessantly and their eyes closed, no doubt both reciting incantations to fight the spirit's power. Lin stood next to them with his hands positioned and prepared to most likely summon his shiki. Masako was there as well, her eyes also closed, and, every now and then, she would open her mouth to say something to Naru, who would narrow his eyes when she did so. His hands were held out in front of him, and lying inside them was the very necklace that Mai had just seen burning itself in a shadow-like form on Minako's figure. Everyone was there fighting, doing their bests to save her and the other two victims.
A small wave of strength rocked through Mai at that moment, and she managed to push herself onto her hands and knees. The hopefulness in her face and newly found perseverance struck a chord in the vengeful spirit, who Mai nearly had forgotten was there. The pain-stricken Minako began stumbling around the mirrors toward the flickering one, a single hand on her chest, the other supporting her as she struggled forward. The woman only made it about half-way there before the mirror panel gave one last flicker and then lit up in clarity. The chanting voices of Bou-san and John abruptly filled the air, and Naru's expression – which had been showing an alarming amount of frustration in regards to his normally placid personality – instantly changed as he was able to finally see through the mirror. His eyes locked with those of his weary, color-lacking assistant, and a determined light sprang forth from deep within them.
"Lin – now!"
Lin's shiki flew through the open doorway, drawing a horrendous screech from Minako, who began to vanish before Mai's eyes. Her heart couldn't help but ache at the sight; the poor woman had just wanted to be happy, be happily married, have a happy family – why did she deserve to suffer more than she already had in the past? Not that what she had been doing to innocent people was right, but Mai had trouble ignoring the part of her that felt almost connected to Minako's story, the part of her that understood the woman's pain. It was just like –
"Mai!" Naru's voice filled her ears as he roughly grabbed her shoulders. "What are you doing – zoning out like an idiot at a time like this? Come on!"
He began yanking her to her feet, but Mai was certainly not going to let him waste his efforts on getting her out of the mirror. She tried pulling his hand off, determined to appear stronger than she actually was feeling.
"H-Hold on! If y-you're helping anyone g-get out, you better focus on those t-two first! They've been in here way longer than I have!" Mai finally managed to shake his grip off, which nearly pushed an already unusually-emotional Naru to lose his temper completely, but the strangely crystalized and color-drained forms of the other two women forced his mind to acknowledge the logic behind Mai's words. Glancing between them and Mai, Naru felt unpleasantly conflicted as he fought to choose the logical action over the action his unwelcome emotions were screaming at him to take. Somehow managing to stand up on two wobbly feet, Mai halfheartedly motioned in their direction with her hands, oblivious to the internal struggle occurring in the man before her.
"I c-can walk to the portal, d-door thing! Just go get them out," she pleaded. "If anything m-more were to happen t-to them…"
Naru was torn. As much as he wanted to help Mai first, he knew he had to give more attention to the other two. Plus, it would have been much harder for him to ignore the desperate tone in Mai's voice and the anger she would undoubtedly have afterward if he didn't listen to her. He nodded jerkily and rushed over to the life-lacking forms.
As soon as he stalked away, Mai collapsed against the nearest mirror panel, breathing heavily and doing her best to stay conscious. He'll come get me when they're done. Until then… I'm just gonna take a little nap right here. No big deal. She fought to keep her eyes open as she blearily watched the two men dragging the victims out, first Miho and then Ayako. All the while, Bou-san and John tirelessly chanted and kept the mirror passageway open.
"Come on, Mai," Naru yelled, trying to keep the slight panic he was feeling out of his voice as he helped lay Ayako gently on the ground. "I know you're usually this slow, but –"
He broke off, realizing that Mai had not made nearly as much progress as she had promised. She was nowhere near the doorway! He barked at Lin to start checking on the women's conditions and at Masako to keep checking for the spirit's presence, then stormed back towards the mirror.
"Mai!" He fought to breathe normally as he spotted her practically dying on the side of the strange room. She hadn't moved an inch from the place where she insisted she could walk just fine to get out. At his voice, she twitched and yanked her eyes open.
"I'm g-good! Let's go!" Mai exclaimed with an attempt to hide her exhaustion. She began sliding along the wall, her hand weakly faking the motion of pulling a train whistle. "Ch-Choo, choo!"
"Seriously," Naru muttered, determined to keep his composure. "Mai, your brain cells are reaching a dangerous level. Hurry up or the damage might become too serious."
He grabbed the train whistle arm and threw it around his shoulders as he practically began dragging her to the entryway. Mai huffed loudly at his side and clenched her hand onto his shirt, trying to keep herself somewhat steady on her feet.
"I c-can walk! Don't d-drag me like a d-doll!"
"It's not my fault that you have the motion capabilities of a rock right now." Naru glanced over to see the passageway flickering as it did earlier. No doubt the other two are tiring out from holding the mirror open for such a long time. We have to hurry.
"Hey!" Mai yelled, attempting to sound angrier than she actually was. A smile fought its way onto her face. "It's hard to be energetic in this place, you jerk!" She pushed him – or made a good effort to, anyway – and he shook his head, the corner of his mouth pulling upwards ever so slightly. At that moment, Mai tripped over her dragging feet, which made Naru almost fall over.
"Okay, r-really! Just h-help me get over t-the bottom of th-the mirror. Or e-else we are b-both gonna fall! We're r-right in f-front of it."
Sighing, Naru released her arm and carefully stepped backwards over the lip of the mirror, oblivious to what lay in the hallway behind him. He ignored the goofy face Mai was making at him as she stumbled forward.
"Noll," Lin yelled from down the hall. Something in his tone of voice made Naru's heart stop. Hastily stretching out a hand towards Mai, Naru turned his head towards the man, his foot instinctively stepping back. It landed on a bumpy surface, and Naru nearly tripped back, throwing his arms out to catch his balance. His eyes finally landed on the huddled form of Lin that lay down the hall. Between the two of them were the collapsed women and the unconscious bodies of the previously exorcising team members. His foot had landed on Bou-san's leg, which was sticking out precariously close to the mirror. No! Naru's mind screamed at him, and he whipped back around, returning his hand to its outstretched position.
All of this only took a second – the head turn, his eyes observing the unfortunate situation, his head turning back around – such a small amount of time had passed.
But it was long enough.
When Naru turned around, he didn't see the tired, but genuine, smile of his girlfriend as she stepped out of the mirror.
All he saw was his outstretched hand and heartbroken face.
I had to give you guys one final cliffhanger! :) Next chapter will be the final one, and I will do my very best to get it out to you all soon. Although I don't really blame you for not believing me when I say that now… Once again, I'm so sorry for the horrible updating. I really hope you all enjoyed/are enjoying this story. And I will do my best to finish it for you wonderful people soon! Thank you.
-Allikitty13+Tuna=^.^=
