Chapter Nine: Real Pieces (Part One)

Tuesday, February 17th

1:01 PM

Naru's eyes shot wide open, he sat upright from the reclining chair with cold sweat trickling down his neck and across his back. 'What was that?' he closed his eyes shut with his hands pressed on his forehead. Did Mai want him to see this? But it was terribly different from what he had heard from Mr. Takeuchi – could it be…? He went out the door and made his way to Lin's laptop. He typed away and scrolled down the page. At last, he had found an address.

"We've been tricked" he muttered. Masako, John and Lin stayed silent as they watched him, their faces full of confusion and anxiety. The dark under their eyes showed the little sleep that they had. Naru felt a tinge of guilt at how irresponsible he had become. It is time to take care of his team instead of worrying about his own affairs. Nothing is impossible – He was Shibuya Kazuya after all.

"What do you mean?" Lin asked finally.

"He lied" Naru replied, gathering a few pages from the collection of articles Lin had prepared.

"How did you know?" John questioned and Naru fell to a pause. He faced the priest and said:

"Mai"

Tuesday, February 17th

2:45 PM

The Honda Residence turned out to be a deserted mansion. In his dream, Naru saw that this building was cream and gold, full of elegance and sophistication. Today, the only thing it is filled with is dirt, vines and a forest of a garden. 'They should be somewhere here' Naru had his hopes up. They should be here.

"What are we doing here?" Masako grew impatient not knowing what is going on. The team marched down the thick path as if it were a labyrinth. The huge aged trees hovered above them, blocking the sunlight as if it were a giant. Snails and frogs were everywhere as well as an assortment of insects. It was hard to believe that sometime in history, this place was a glorious and beautiful garden. Madam Honda would have shrieked at the sight of her garden today.

"Quiet" Naru replied. He was searching for a brick wall, similar to his dream. It was deep red in color, similar to rust, with a hole somewhere on its heart. As they walked through some more, Naru spotted something familiar.

"It's the fountain" Lin said, as if he knew what Naru had been thinking. "Mr. Takeuchi mentioned about a place where he and Kumiko would meet"

"Then it should be close" Naru paced around the area until he saw a massive wall covered in thick vines. He tore off a few and there it was - a wall of rust in color. He searched for the hole; he was so sure it was there as Mai had shown him. Upon seeing the wall, his team mates followed suit. Naru felt across the wall, his palms getting dirty and after a while, he felt a small narrow opening.

"It's here" he said to himself.

He looked through the hole and at the sight of the other end, his heart pounded loudly and painfully. Naru suddenly stepped back with his face stricken with fear and disgust.

"What is it?" Lin asked, alarmed by Naru's unusual reaction.

Masako let out a sharp gasp and she started shivering. "This isn't good" she muttered. She could have sensed a strong negative energy around the area.

John took a peek at the hole and there he saw what seemed like a skeleton hanging upside down; slabs of rotten flesh still covering parts of its rib cage and a few other places. There were worms wriggling around the skeleton. John withdrew, feeling sick with an urge to vomit.

"This wall isn't originally a part of the garden" Lin observed. The team looked around trying to understand what the former meant. "It looks like it was meant to conceal whatever was inside" he continued. From a distance, it looked camouflaged by all the trees and plants; no one would notice the protruded area. It was a small and narrow and fit for a corpse.

"I need to see something" Naru muttered to his team as he shuffled around his bag of tools.

The team made an effort to tear the wall down and simply prepared for the worst sight of their lives. Each of them hesitated except for Naru. 'For Mai' he thought. He felt another wave of guilt deep down inside knowing that he was doing this mostly for Mai and so little for Kumiko. If there was a chance to meet Mai on that bridge instead of Kumiko, he'd take it.

As the skeleton revealed itself fully, so did its stench. The team covered their noses at the revolting odour as Naru reached out towards its neck. Masako had to cover her eyes as she didn't want to know what Naru would do next.

Around its neck was a golden chain. Naru grabbed it away from the army of worms and held it for a while. There was a locket in a shape of a heart; it had carvings in art nouveau style with diamonds encrusted on its face. Naru opened the locket and there, his questions were all answered. He showed the insides of the locket to his teammates and they all widened their eyes.

It had "Kumiko Honda" carved on one side and an old picture of a young girl on the other.

Real Pieces (Part Two)

Tuesday, February 17th

4:10 PM

As John and Masako were purifying the corpse of Kumiko by chanting and holy water, Naru stood still with furrowed eyebrows and an expression so deep in thought. Lin looked at him and understood why. They found a skeleton with only a skull and its upper torso; the other parts were not there. Naru's mind was running around in circles but he still could not figure out why.

"Kumiko's one of the very few human entities who needs to possess a vessel" Lin said.

Naru glanced at him. "Yes but most ghosts do that when they don't know where their corpses are"

"That's right. But after exorcism, they can show themselves in human form" Lin explained as if dropping a hint. He knows that Naru disliked being told what to do; it's best to make him understand on his own.

"Not unless her body was scattered or destroyed! She cannot identify her true form!" Naru exclaimed.

Lin nodded in agreement. This was probably the reason why her corpse withered so slowly. Her flesh rot so slowly because her spirit was still somewhat alive. An evil and negative entity must have kept her skeleton from disintegrating.

The two fell silent; so much eerie discoveries revealed today. Now that they know the truth behind all this how do they save Mai?