RRS.8
Hey guys! I'm back already.
Chapter Name: Our Same Worlds
Normal POV
The door to SPR's base creaked and squeaked noisily as Mai walked in. The room was silent for a moment, not really understanding how Mai woke up from her deep sleep so early. The shocked faces from everyone but Naru told her so.
The said narcissist merely nodded to her in greeting. "Good, you're here. I want tea."
Mai smiled weakly before heading to the electronic tea maker in the corner of the large room, but as she passed the team, she snickered. "You know, you can catch flies if you let your mouths hang open like that." She jabbed, finally arriving at the small table holding the portable stove.
Masako and John were the first to snap out of their trances. "It's nice to see you again too, Mai." She said, sarcasm dripping from her tone. Her indigo eyes were slightly lidded with the sentence.
"Same here, Masako!" Mai happily chirped, refusing to be derailed by the other's unenthusiastic response.
"Mai!" Monk and Yasu were second, immediately making their way to suffocate the girl in what they liked to call 'a bear hug.' "I was so worried!" Yasu wailed dramatically, burying his face into the crook of her neck.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Can't breathe!" She choked out, attempting to push against her elders' chests.
Thwack! Smack! "Let go of the poor girl you idiots! You're suffocating her!" Came Ayako's immediate response. When the two men were safely pouting in the background (which was the coffee brown couch Masako and John were sitting in), the fiery red haired priestess turned to Mai. "How are you?" She inquired.
Mai smiled. "My fever broke. Don't worry, it's an annual thing. I haven't had great health since I was real young." She waved a dismissive hand, turning back to the tea kettle as it whistled.
"You were a sickly child?" Came John's voice from the comfortable couch as he set something on the mahogany coffee table before him.
Mai nodded a bit wistfully. "When I was really young, in elementary school, I couldn't do a lot of the physical activities because of my health. The sports day, field trips that were outside, and even P.E." Mai explained as she set more tea for the others on the portable stove.
"Wow... I can't imagine that." Came Monk's opinion as he finally stopped grumbling about 'a violent doctor.'
"I can't imagine our poor little Mai being crippled!" Yasu cried out dramatically, always the drama king. He slammed a fist onto the clear glass of the coffee table before him, which was surrounded by a frame of polished wood.
Mai shrugged. "Well... people have strange pasts. It's not like we could just come right out and explain them right?" Mai smiled at everyone as she set Naru's tea down before him. "Would Monk suddenly say that he never really knew his mother? Or that Ayako's grandfather passed away recently? Would John tell us about the reason for him to become a priest at such a young age? What about Masako? Would she tell us about the relationship she has with her father and brother?" She inquired, handing each person their tea as she spoke their names. "Would Lin maybe tell us about all of the siblings he left behind in China? Would Naru ever tell us about his parents, who one of them happens to be a professor?"
The room was silent for a moment before John spoke up from the couch again, having not moved from his position next to Masako. "Where are you getting these ideas from, Mai?" He inquired, rubbing his chin confusedly.
The brunette in question blinked and furrowed her brows. "I'm just making examples. Why?" She cocked her head to the side before sitting down by a porthole window. She pulled the pink and blue curtains apart, admiring the orange sunset as it set over the sparkling ocean. The girl then turned her attention back to her team.
"My grandfather really did pass away." Ayako said quietly, looking down into her teacup with remembrance.
"I'm sorry." Mai murmured to her empathetically.
"My parents divorced when I was really young, and my father won custody over me." Monk announced to Mai as he watched her movements. "So I never really knew my mom."
"I began training for priesthood at a really young age." John piped up, almost cheerfully.
Masako chose not to speak, but her expression screamed volumes as she gazed intently into the porcelain teacup in her petite hands. The traditional girl would've looked like a tea doll, if not for the western tea cup she held onto tightly.
Lin swirled around in his computer chair, which was extremely rare. "I left twelve younger siblings with my mother..." He said quietly, in an almost cold tone. He had heard of some Shinigami being able to peek into a soul's past.
"How did you know one of my parent's was a professor?" Naru demanded, putting down his black notebook and looking at the girl.
"Lin said it once during the Blood Stained Labyrinth Case." Mai answered smoothly. "Like I said, I just guessed... I can't believe it was all true." Mai blinked hard at them. She absentmindedly noted how the orange light streaming in through the porthole lit up the walls with golden rays.
"That's freaky." Yasu muttered into his hand as he rubbed his chin. "Is it her physic abilities? Like... dangersense or something in the ESP Latent Physic sect.?"
Mai rolled her eyes. "Funny, Yasu."
"I'm not laughing." The elder rubbed his chin and stared at Mai. "How could you be right on the spot for everyone?"
The brunette shrugged. "I... just felt it?" Her tone came out as a question as she desperately tried not to look at anyone. Lin also seemed to relax at this, and turned back to his computer screen.
"Intuition again?" Monk spoke up from the other couch facing the coffee table too.
"Maybe." Ayako agreed from beside him.
"Now that we're on the subject of Mai's abilities, what was going on just a while back?" Yasu piped up.
The petite brunette turned to her elder. "My abilities are getting stronger every day... I think. So my body was, I think... adjusting to the new amount of energy?" She cocked her head to the side.
"It's probable." Came Naru's input.
"Oh!" Mai suddenly gasped. "I just remembered what happened when I woke up!" The teen seemed extremely excited. The petite girl turned in her window seat and looked at Naru expectantly. She smirked triumphantly again, which was a rare sight for SPR.
"Ohhh~!" Yasu sang. "She's smirking! She only does that when she'd topped Naru or has important information! My guess is the second one." He bet.
"Agreed." Monk cut in.
Naru picked up his notebook and leafed through the yellow tinted pages to find a fresh one. He nodded towards Mai to begin, his inky blue bangs swaying with the action.
"So I met the ghost of a Marie Sanders. She's the girl taking care of the children's ghosts. And guess what? She gave me some important information!" Mai smirked wider, wringing her hands with excitement.
"Which is?" Naru prompted, almost impatiently. Perhaps he was just as excited at getting a new break in the case?
Mai's smirk grew almost sadistic, but she pushed the emotion back. "The Lady's location! It's the suite she and her lover shared before they passed away."
Naru locked gazes with Mai, searching her face intently. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, Naru," She said seriously this time. "I feel... a pull, I guess, towards that place- like I need to go there."
They sat staring at each other for a moment longer and Mai was able to study his form. Naru was sitting in a velvet red arm chair at one of the short sides of the coffee table, his legs crossed gently. Both of his smooth, porcelain-like hands were rested atop his charcoal black notebook, a pen balanced between his fingers. The teen seemed abruptly much wiser, as though he had seen many years as he sat back in the cushions comfortably. His head was tilted to the side slightly, as he stared at Mai with a look that almost seemed... gentle and curious. He stared at her through his thick black lashes and inky blue bangs, looking into her chocolate colored eyes for the truth.
Noll himself was studying Mai. She seemed to balance herself almost elegantly upon the window seat. Her slender legs crossed, giving him a view of her thighs. Going up, he studied her plain black skirt and lace black blouse. It was a plain tank, with a lace cover that bunched together at the waist in order for the shirt to fluff out a bit. It seemed that the lace top was the center of attention, due to the fact that it was almost completely split in half, stopping only at the bunching material at the bottom. The lace was the only thing covering her slender shoulders, which were hunched forward due to how her hands were gathered towards her knees. Going further up, Naru noted how the brunette's hair was pinned up, showing off her slender neck. The orange sunlight was shining off of her hair, giving her form an almost hazy look. He finally trailed up to her intense amber eyes that seemed to be willing him into believing her.
The moment was broken when Naru nodded."I believe you."
Mai smiled warmly, her cupid bow lips twisting up with the motion. "Good. 'Cause she also told me that all of the ghosts on this ship are being trapped by her."
"Aha!" Ayako grinned triumphantly, shaking a manicured fist and her bracelets. "I was right!" She rested her hands back onto her thighs, which were covered by the same yellow clothing she wore the first time all of SPR met- the one with the vine going up one side of the long skirt, and a business suit-like jacket. Mai didn't know what they were called.
"Tell you later." Came Monk's voice when he noticed her confused face, his dirty blonde hair down on his shoulders today. He wore a regular red tee with a small v-neck along with regular and dark colored jeans.
"But..." Mai became slightly uncomfortable, suddenly finding the floor pattern more interesting than sliced bread.
"Go on, Mai." Naru urged, this time taking on the intense gaze Mai held moments ago.
The chocolate brown-eyed girl locked gazes with Naru's indigo colored ones once more, almost uncertainly. "Miss Marie said that we have three days to cleanse the entire ship... because after day three, the Lady will be unstoppable." Mai said quietly. "She said, and I quote, she will become an 'insane demon.'"
A thick silence engulfed the room in its embrace. The tension in the air seemed electrified and buzzing under the surface; waiting to zap something or someone. Naru was the first to break it. "That's more than enough time." He smirked slyly, sitting back into his chair again. "Especially since Yasuhara should now have the information I requested."
"More like commanded." Monk muttered to Ayako, who nudged him in the side with her elbow.
"In the mean time Takigawa, take Matsuzaki-san with you and change the camera's batteries." Naru shot back coolly.
"But I'm injured!" Monk protested in a loud, whiny voice.
"Which is why I'm sending Matsuzaki-san with you, unless you would like to be pulled from the rest of the case to 'heal up.'" Naru replied in an icy tone that left no room for argument.
"Fine..." Monk muttered dejectedly.
Naru's attention turned to the team's researcher, his indigo gaze resting on the teen's form. "Yasuhara." He said smoothly, the command already evident.
"Right." The elder nodded, cracking open his laptop. "Anyway, Daniel Arlington and Alice Charles were engaged before they got onto this ship. They were supposed to have their wedding on the ship." He set the miniature computer onto the coffee table.
At this, Mai's eyes widened as the Lady's story clicked into place. She came closer to the team and sat next to Ayako, which was the only seat open. Now the seating arrangements were Ayako, Monk, and she on one couch (respectively), while John, Masako, and Yasu sat in the other (also respectively). To Bou-san's left and John's right was Naru's arm chair, which he was currently occupying. Lin sat not too far, surrounded by boxes of equipment and shelves of even more equipment.
When she sat down, she nodded to Yasu to continue the story. "Their parents didn't allow the marriage, so they wanted to do it in secret. And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for the attack that happened. The Lady's wedding was during the World War II era, so the boat was being used as a military hideout."
"So what seemed like a harmless cruise ship was actually a navy safe haven." Mai nodded along.
"Exactly." Yasu nodded, his glasses gleaming as pages and pages of research scrolled down his computer screen. "Unfortunately, the enemy found out, and attacked the night of their wedding."
Naru scratched the notes into his notebook. "Mai said something about Mr. Arlington being pinned for a crime in her dream..." He prompted, looking towards his researcher.
"Ah, yes. Apparently, a 'friend' of Mr. Arlington's 'accidentally' put down on his files that he had betrayed the army. In actuality, Mr. Arlington had served the number of years he had been drafted for, and was to go home. When the person above them, Colonel James Fennell, found out, he ordered his troops to kill Daniel Arlington on sight." Yasu said, taking in a breath.
Mai covered her face with her hands and let out a tired sigh that no one in SPR had ever heard from the girl. When her hands came down, it suddenly seemed like the petite brunette had aged many years right before their eyes. "The human emotion of betrayal strikes again, huh?" She muttered quietly, her now coffee colored orbs staring into space. "Well, I can't say I missed it."
Monk was the first to react, reaching over and hitting the girl over the head with a fist gently. "Geez Mai! You're creeping me out with all the grandma talk! You're only sixteen!" He scolded playfully.
"Seventeen." Mai couldn't help but correct, suddenly looking down into her lap.
Ayako blinked. "Since when?!" She screeched. "You should've told us! We could've all had a big birthday party-" The fiery priestess suddenly stopped speaking at the dead look in the usually cheerful girl's orbs. Her eye color was now darker than coffee brown. It was almost a black.
"I don't want a birthday party." The said seventeen-year-old cut in with a monotone voice.
The room went silent at the girl's attitude, as the team stared at Mai. Even Lin had turned in his chair with his curiosity. Who would've thought that the bright and cheerful Mai wouldn't want a birthday party?
"Why not?" John questioned soothingly and gently.
"I hate my birthday." Was Mai's monotone reply.
The silence was suffocating as the room processed these words. The only people who recognized the look in the girl's eyes were Lin and Naru. Naru because he held that look himself many times, and Lin because he had seen it on Naru.
"Why?" Ayako whispered, seemingly afraid of breaking the silence and tension completely. "That's like hating the fact that you were ever born."
Mai made a wistful smile. "Maybe that would've been easier." She replied vaguely, chuckling bitterly.
At this, the Miko took in a large breath. Anger was suddenly bubbling through her veins as she pulled her hand back and sent it flying forward across Mai's cheek, tears rolling down her face. Lin recognized the look the Miko was wearing. It was the same look Mai wore the day he told her of the fact that he hated the Japanese.
Ayako's heart was pumping fast and hard, the same way it did when she lost her temper. But this is different. The shrine maiden thought as she clenched the fabric over her heart. I feel so sad...
Mai's head had snapped towards the miko, who had been sitting in the middle of the couch and used her outside hand to slap the girl. Mai didn't react; her face completely blank, even when she turned her head back around to face everyone.
"Why would you say such a thing Mai?!" Ayako demanded. "You can't say such a thing! You should be grateful you're alive, or you wouldn't have met any of us! But if you're so bent on hating the fact that you were born-" The Miko sniffed hard. "You can forget about me protecting you ever again!" At this, the shrine maiden stood quickly, and stormed out of the room.
Monk rose from his seat, deciding to follow. The other Irregulars did the same, but not without sending a confused look towards Mai. When they were gone, Mai put a hand to her swollen cheek, hiccupping as tears filled her eyes.
Lin turned the camera sitting next to his laptop on, happy that it was already facing the couches. He would show this to the Irregulars later.
"I have a right to." Mai whispered to herself. "It's only right that I should."
"Why?" Naru questioned from his armchair, having heard her whispers.
Mai locked gazes with him, hers so full of pain, loneliness, and desperation. "I lost something very important to me on my birthday... and if I hadn't been born, I never would've lost it."
"That's stupid." Naru snorted.
Speak for yourself. Lin thought.
"If you had never been born, you never would've gained it." He finished.
Mai let out a shuddering sigh as she closed her eyelids and sat back. "It was my mother, Naru." She whispered. "She died because of an infection that bothered her when I was born. It's the reason why I was so sickly as a child."
"Your mother died when you were in middle school." Naru pointed out.
"The infection came back four years ago, almost like a cancer." Mai said through clenched teeth as she frantically tried to keep herself together.
"I see." Was Naru's short reply. He listened to Mai's deep breaths as she attempted to clam herself. "Then we share the same reasons, Mai." He tried, in an attempt to make up for the pain he caused her.
Mai opened her eyes with surprise, looking at the boy who was actually only older than her than a couple of months, now that they were both the same age. "You hate your birthday?" She questioned innocently.
"No one knows when it happened, but I lost a... relative." Naru answered slowly, carefully choosing his words. "We shared the same birthday, which is why we mourn for him on that day."
Mai leaned forward. "Was he really important to you, Naru?" She asked innocently.
Naru locked gazes with her, suddenly smiling sadly. "More than you could ever know." He replied cryptically and wistfully.
Mai let silence envelop them before deciding to take a chance. "Hey Naru?" She began quietly.
"Yes?"
"When's your birthday?" She asked shyly and tentatively.
Naru frowned a bit at the pink covering the girl's cheeks. What is she so embarrassed about? "September nineteenth, Mai."
Mai suddenly put a finger to her chin. "Aya? Where have I heard that date before...?" For a moment, she turned several ideas in her head. "Oh! It's my spirit guide's birthday! He mentioned that it was an important date to him once before!" Mai bopped a fist into her open palm. "Haha, what a coincidence right?"
In truth, Mai was extremely suspicious. How come the other 'Naru' had the same birthday as the real one? The petite girl suddenly felt dread pile into her stomach as she continued to think about the possibilities.
The keychain...
A dead relative...
The astral plane and its orbs of lights (spirits)...
Mai's complexion abruptly drained of all color and her heart clenched tightly as she stared into space. Her lungs felt constricted; as though some force was pushing on them from all sides. Mai clenched her hands into fists until her knuckles went white. The petite girl's widened and fear filled eyes shifted until they landed on Naru, who was studying his previous notes.
Oh. My. God.
Mai suddenly groaned loudly and flopped back into her cushion. "Why does it all have to be so complicated?! It's not fair!"
I've been calling him 'Naru' the entire time!
"What's not fair?" Naru questioned confusedly.
Mai ignored him. "I figured it all out Lin." She said vaguely. "Guess who just happens to be my spirit guide?" The girl bit out sarcastically.
Lin turned around so quickly in his computer chair, that Naru thought the man would surely fall off. "S-Seriously?" The Chinese man chocked out.
Naru turned his slightly wide-eyed gaze towards Mai, who was now studying him intently. Naru almost flinched, having not noticed her gaze. Just what had this girl discovered to elicit such a response from his usually reticent assistant?
"Yeah..." Mai responded quietly. "It seems so." The sharp look in her eye faded softly, until her eyes were clouded in deep thought. "I have to speak with him soon." She murmured to herself, putting a hand on her chin and rubbing it thoughtfully.
A few hours later, Mai felt something prickling at the back of her mind. She had been thinking about the two twins deeply, trying to figure them out, understand, before she broke down in tears. At the same time, she was fighting off her human soul, not allowing her to leave their shared body.
This is strange... Mai thought. She had never felt something like this, even when she had gotten a few concussions on cases. Not even a regular headache was this bad.
It wasn't really that painful, but it was certainly annoying. It continuously buzzed furiously in the back of her mind, taunting her to pay attention, even though she was supposed to be doing her paperwork. Mai looked down at the stack of papers on her desk mournfully.
...
...
...
Ah hell! She could skip one day, right?! Besides! What if this prickling sensation was important information to the case? Maybe the ghosts were trying to show her something?
Mai nodded to herself triumphantly. With that reasoning, even Naru couldn't argue if/when he found her asleep on her desk. With these thoughts, Mai promptly allowed herself to be taken into the calling and beckoning sensation carefully. Taking in a large, deep breath, the petite girl began to block the outside world from her, allowing herself to be sucked within the depths of her subconsciousness.
It was almost as though the light from the real world had suddenly disappeared in a blur of colors. Darkness began to envelope her form, and oddly, she wasn't cold. It was that same, thick, darkness from earlier.
Mai frowned deeply. She had never pulled herself into this place before. Never before had she been able to even locate it. A thought suddenly struck her. Was her human side calling her for help?
Mai eagerly searched the darkness for the glowing form of her younger self, her brown eyes darting around the darkness. A glowing person shouldn't be that hard to spot right?
Suddenly, there was a light. No... it was more like a faint glow. Whispering voices abruptly began speaking into her ears, echoing in the darkness. It was almost as though someone had changed the frequency to a radio, but it wasn't quite there. Mai imagined a person struggling to find the right radio station on an old boom box, and cocked a brow at her own thoughts.
Mai listened closely to the whispers, ignoring her thoughts of the radio for now. Was, perhaps, this another lead on the case?
"You don't belong here."
"I have something I must do here."
"Like all the others."
"I refuse your request."
"Then I shall use force."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Very well, then."
The whispers suddenly died, as though the radio had been cut off. Mai took this as her cue to begin walking towards the glowing light. Her steps echoed harshly in the silent and surreal plane, and the noise hurt her ears. Again, the darkness shifted with her as she moved, protesting against it with vibrations and ripples throughout the vast plane.
The petite Shinigami continued to walk.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Aya? Why did it seem like the light was never coming any closer?
Step, step, step.
Step, step, step, step.
Mai felt a suddenly wave of panic crash into her heart.
Step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step.
No... It wasn't working!
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!
Mai's feet were now slapping the invisible ground beneath her feet. Still, the light/glow was not edging closer to her at all. In fact, now it seemed to be running away from her.
Mai stopped and fought to swallow and process sweet air in her lungs.
This was ridiculous. She needed to calm down and think. Why was the light evading her? Why was she in this place? Why could she hear those whispers? Who was speaking? What was the conversation about?
Mai shook her head. There were too many questions and not enough answers. And, if she begun to formulate her own theories with such little information, the facts would be twisted to suit them. This was completely unnecessary.
The petite brunette suddenly felt something slap into the back of her head roughly, and she crashed to her knees. Immediately, she lifted her head to find who or what had hit her, but when she noticed that the force of the impact was still lingering, she knew it was a headache.
As though the migraine knew her thoughts, it began to pound against her skull relentlessly. In approval. Mai gripped the sides of her head and clenched her teeth. Her small head soon fell to meet her knees as she positioned herself into the fetal position. Except... upright and not on her side.
Suddenly, those whispers were back, but much, much, louder.
"I'm not leaving!"
"You must!"
"You can't make me!"
It went silent for a moment, before the other voice replied darkly, "Watch me."
A voice that promised what it declared...
It was so much clearer now.
It was her voice, but... Who was she talking to?
That's a wrap! Thanks for reading! Next chapter we'll be taking the final steps in the case so we can move on! :D
~Crescent T.
