Mai stood horror struck. Kamura was coming closer and closer, his hands reaching up towards her. She dimly heard Bou-san and Ayako chanting by her side, but her eyes remained fixed on the figure advancing before her. A high pitched whistle pierced the air, and Mai was able to look away. Several bright white lights flew through the air, and Lin's shiki encircled Kamura. He disappeared, and Ayako was able to wrench open the door. They all piled out and started going back down the corridor. They reached the stone steps and ran back up to the kitchen.
"Mai, make tea. Matsuzaki-san stay with her. Yasuhara-san and Takigawa-san, go down to the library and try to find out as much as possible about Kamura." They nodded their heads, and the various members of SPR left the kitchen apart from Mai and Ayako. Mai watched the retreating figures' backs, her face darkening more and more by the second. As soon as the front door slammed shut, she wheeled around and stomped over to the kettle.
"That jerk! I told him not to go down that corridor, that something bad would happen, but oh no, mister high-and-mighty has to know best. And when we come back from almost being killed by a psychopathic ghost, he immediately demands tea! Ugh! Why do I have to work with such an ungrateful, narcissistic jerk!" Ayako's eyes swivelled back and forth as she watched the young girl storm her way around the kitchen. Soon, the tea was made and they made their way slowly back to base. Lin was, as usual, typing away and Naru was reading. John was nowhere in sight.
"Where's John?" Mai asked, setting down the tea and flopping on to a sofa.
"Getting ready for an exorcism." Came the terse reply, Naru not even bothering to look up from his book. Mai humphed and crossed her arms. A few minutes later her head slipped and Ayako glanced over at the peaceful, sleeping girl. She threw a blanket over her and snatched a book off the table, before realising that it was the English textbook that Mai had, once again, forgotten and left on the table. She stood up and the left the silent room, or near silent as Lin was clattering away on his keyboard. She wandered out in to the corridor, intent on having a shower, and started climbing the stairs. She heard a shuffle, and paused, looking around. Shrugging, she continued up the stairs and on to the landing. She stretched out her hand and placed it on the doorknob. She heard another shuffle, and looked over her shoulder, her heart racing. There was nothing. She wrenched the door open and froze. Once again, blood was dripping from the walls, a sickening red colour. Right in the middle of the wall, one word was written; Leave. Ayako, her eyes transfixed on the word, started to back out of the room. The light flickered on, and she was thrown backwards against the wall. There was a loud smack as her head came into contact with the wall, and she dimly saw the door swing shut. As the pain at the back of her head intensified, everything went dark and she fell unconscious.
Mai's eyes fluttered open as the door banged open and raucous laughter spilled through. She sat up, slightly dazed, and yawned as Bou-san and Yasuhara appeared, each carrying a stack of papers which they deposited by Naru before sitting either side of Mai.
" 'Sup, Mai-chan. You look all confused."
"Yeah, you can tell us all about it. Have you and Naru had another little tiff?" Mai looked from Bou-san and Yasuhara, each with an identical expression of innocence that Mai immediately mistrusted. She warily stood up, the blanket falling from her and she moved to sit in front of the monitors. She noticed something at the bottom of one of the screens, which on closer inspection turned out to be…
"AYAKO!" Mai jumped up and ran out of base. She dimly heard the others following behind her as she raced up the stairs and onto the landing where Ayako lay. Bou-san, John, Yasuhara and Naru crowded around her.
"Takigawa-san, carry her down to base. Lin is calling an ambulance; Yasuhara-san, you will wait outside for it. John, can I ask you to prepare to perform an exorcism in this room instead of the room downstairs?"
"That's fine."
"Good." They dispersed, Bou-san stooping as he scooped Ayako up bridal style and carried her downstairs. Mai followed gloomily behind, and sat down on the step beside Yasuhara. They didn't speak, and soon the sound of sirens filled the air. They watched as Bou-san got into the ambulance and the paramedics loaded Ayako in, then turned and went back in to base. She sat on a sofa, and Mai moodily picked at a thread on her skirt. Yasuhara came and sat beside her.
"Cheer up Mai! They'll be back soon."
"I wonder what happened."
"She probably just fainted over a broken nail or something."
"Hey! Don't be mean!" Yasuhara, happy that he had successfully cheered Mai up looked at her, his glasses glinting. He had a thoughtful expression on his face, and Mai gave an involuntary gulp. A mischievous smile started to spread out on his face, and Mai started to edge towards the other end of the sofa.
"Mai, tea." At that moment, Mai had never felt more grateful for Naru's tea addiction. She sprang up and left for the kitchen. As she was waiting for the kettle to boil her mind wandered back to when she had found Ayako, lying at the bottom of the screen in front of the camera… that was it! The camera! It would have filmed everything! Mentally congratulating herself, she carried the tea back through to base, and set it down next to Naru.
"Ne, Naru? You know when we found Ayako? Is there any footage of what happened?"
"No. I had Lin already check. The film went static."
"Oh. So a ghost probably caused it then?"
"Mai, I would have thought that that was obvious even to someone like you."
"You don't need to be a jerk about it!"
"Are you going to stand around all day making stupid suggestions or are you actually going to do some work, like recording any temperature changes?" Mai poked her tongue out at him and picked up a clipboard lying on the table.
"John, Yasuhara-san, go with her." After they had left, Naru sighed and raised the cup of tea to his lips. Finally, peace from their never ending chatter. He continued to scan through the information that Bou-san and Yasuhara had collected, occasionally making notes in his notebook. There was a sudden shriek that shattered the silence and Naru scanned the monitors. One of them was fuzzy, and Naru leapt up, Lin right behind him. They reached the spot where the camera was, and find John nursing a bleeding nose.
"What happened?" He demanded out of Yasuhara and Mai.
"Well, I was writing down the thermometer, and it dropped really suddenly. The John fell down the stairs and hit his nose."
"Well, I wouldn't say that I fell. It felt more like a push," said John thickly, and Lin went off to find him a tissue. Naru looked at the staircase, and went into his thoughtful pose. Mai helped John on to a step, and Lin soon returned, holding out the tissue to John who took it gratefully. After another few moments, Naru came out of his reverie.
"Right. Instead of doing the exorcism tonight, we will wait until Takigawa-san and Matsuzaki-san return from the hospital. We will then do the exorcism. Until then, no-one is to leave base alone. Lin, you will be paired with Yasuhara-san, John with Mai. When Matsuzaki-san and Takigawa-san do return from hospital, we will only leave base in these twos."
"What about you?" Asked Mai, looking at Naru with concern.
"I will place some of my shiki on him." Replied Lin, and with that they left for base again. Yasuhara switched on the television that was still sitting inconspicuously in the corner, and Mai, Yasuhara and John watched it until it got dark, to the increasing annoyance of Naru. Finally, with much yawning, it was switched off. They were heading for the door when Yasuhara remembered something.
"Um, Naru, where is Mai going to sleep?"
Naru drummed his fingers and thought. There was an odd number, implying that someone was going to have to sleep on their own or there would be a three. No way was Yasuhara sharing a room with Mai. John could… but then he'd have to share a room with Yasuhara and that was just as bad. And thus Naru's brain came to the conclusion that he and Mai would have to share a room.
"Yasuhara-san, John and Lin will share a room. Mai will share with me." This was met with various reactions. John's face went bright red with embarrassment, Yasuhara grinned an evil grin, Lin just shrugged and Mai… well Mai started to protest.
"B…b… but, Naru, I'll be fine on my own!"
"Mai, if that were the case, then we wouldn't have had to come to this conclusion." Glaring at him, Mai stormed out of base. The others followed, Yasuhara still chuckling darkly. They reached the rooms, and Mai went in to hers and sat on the bed, her arms folded.
"Good night Mai-san, Naru-chan!" Came Yasuhara's singsong voice as he entered the other bedroom with Lin and John. Naru ignored him and followed the other boys to retrieve his things. He opened the door to the other bedroom slightly, only to have a hairbrush thrown at him. He exited quickly, and waited until the door opened slightly. He went in to the room (the blood having vanished shortly after Ayako had hit her head) and looked around. Mai was nowhere in sight, but a glow from the door and the sound of a tap indicated that she was in the bathroom. Sighing, he dumped his bag on the spare bed, and waited for her to finish. Soon enough, Mai was appeared. She peeked round the door, and saw Naru lying fully clothed on the bed. Sighing, she skipped lightly over to hers, and shot under the duvet. Naru smirked and went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, Mai was still hiding under the covers.
"Night," he said, climbing in to his own bed. A muffled sound came from the lump that was Mai, and Naru smirked again. He closed his eyes, and welcomed the sleep that awaited him.
I don't think that it should really matter where Lin slept, as I have come to the conclusion that he is a robot, and therefore does not need sleep. He just needs to recharge, where he gets plugged in to a socket, and then he can carry on typing. ^^ Anyway, thanks to my friend for writing the bit where they were sorting out sleep arrangements. I am extraordinarily bad at writing fluff!
Please review!
