As Father John walked into the base, Masako followed behind him with Lin trailing after them.
Her face was as red as a cherry from the embarrassment harboring inside of her. She was suppose to be the all mighty Medium that had the self-control that children never could master when it came to sweets before dinner. In fact, Naru praised her at one time for being so patient for what she wanted. Now, that would probably never come from his mouth again. However, the incident did have her wondering whether or not Mai was possessed.
John, however, looked dismayed that everyone knew. He would probably have to turn in his clerical clothing. He may even have to become a preacher instead, considering he's been disloyal to his love for God now. The thought destroyed him so much that he almost cried.
The pair sat down on the couch with their heads hanging low as Naru glared at the both of them.
"Are you two stupid or just that horny?"
The H-word shocked the both of them and their faces turned a deeper red, sweat drops forming on both of them. Did he really have to use that word?
"U-Uhm, must you talk like that, Naru?"
Meanwhile, Mai stifled a laugh at it. "At least now you know that Bou-san and I were possessed."
"Excuse me," Naru raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, come on! Brown-san would never break his celibacy for anyone. He could lose his priest-hood. Masako can't even lose her self-control. Just admit we were all possessed. Though…" Mai glanced at the two on the couch.
Takigawa grinned, "Mai and I never did…that."
John jerked his head up, shaking it furiously. "W-We never - We never did t-that!"
"You were caught on tape," Ayako flicked her wrist. "It's not like you can really deny it, Brown-san. Besides, aren't priests suppose to always tell the truth?"
Masako spoke behind her sleeve, "We did not have sex." She earned a slight faint from John but continued. "We did kiss…a lot, yes," she flushed deeply to where she grew lightheaded, "but just when we were about to do…it's like as if we woke up from a sleep. We found ourselves outside."
"Possession," Takigawa sang. "Just like me and Mai. We told you it wasn't like that!"
Mai nodded.
Eyebrow twitching, Naru told them to stop talking while he tried to dig some more for the case. He had to get to the bottom of this before someone really does hit a home run. Seems as if the farthest anyone has gotten is probably third base. The last thing that he needed was it to be him that went too far. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything that he could find on the case. However, Yasuhara though…
Yasuhara returned to the house with a new manila folder in hand. He had prints of portraits of the owners that once owned the house, names, family trees, and even copies of newspaper articles about the deaths of the previous occupants. He set the manila folder across from Naru and recapped everything he would find in the papers.
"So you did all the work for us," Naru hummed to himself.
For once, Yasuhara proved himself useful in more ways than one. Naru was very impressed with the work he came up with. It was clear who the ghosts were and why they were haunting the place. However, it wasn't very clear to him why they were possessing everyone. Why the pairs together? What made them so significant.
He scratched his chin lightly as he shuffled through the papers once more.
Of course!
He decided to call a team meeting for later that night. He still had a few things to research and, to be honest, he wasn't up for hearing Mai and Takigawa sing "I told ya so" a zillion times again. It was too much.
It also secretly irked his nerves to know that he was wrong. And Mai was right.
How is that even possible? Naru sighed quietly.
As he read about the previous occupants of the home, he took notes on his memo pad. Nothing about this case has made sense. Why are the ghosts possessing these certain people? There's no personal link between them except for SPR. Is that the main objective? No, it couldn't be. Naru scratched the back of his head in thought. He opened up the manila folder again. Yasuhara's work was in there also. He looked through the papers once more. He could come up with a few ideas, but it was impossible for those things to work. No one would be that desperate.
Without looking up, he barked for Mai to fix him some tea. He rubbed his chin. Nothing really made sense in this case. He began to talk to Lin for a different perspective.
"Perhaps you should look more closely to the -"
A commotion began to go on downstairs. Naru's ears caught a few of the things from Hisako's lips. She was cursing Sai loudly for everything in the world. Mai hurried around the corner, from the hallway with Ayako behind her. The two siblings were having an all out battle with each other. It surprised Mai when Hisako chucked a vase; Sai ducked to miss it.
"Oi! What the hell is wrong with you?! That could have hit me!"
She threw a drinking glass at him. "That's the whole point!"
"What is going on in here," Ayako yelled at the pair.
Hisako paused at throwing a mug. "He's a bastard!" She threw the mug at him. It actually struck him, fell and broke against the kitchen floor. "I hate you, Sai!"
Sai just looked at her. Mai was pretty sure that she saw a tears welling up in his eyes as he left to go upstairs. It was Ayako that asked the sister what was going on for them to throw things at each other. Hisako simply responded that SPR should mind their own business. The fact that they were hired to understand what was going on in the house made everything their business. At least, that's what Naru thought. Anyone, anything could be the cause for the haunting.
Then, Mai collapsed.
"Why have you done this to me, Gene?" She stared at him through teary eyes. "Why?!"
He shook his head. "I love you, I swear it. I just cannot allow myself to keep hurting you like this. If we keep trying to be together, we'll always have people trying to force us apart. That's not fair to you."
"B-But I want you! Only you! Don't you want to be with me, too?"
They shared a kiss - deeply, passionately. What they didn't know was that someone else was watching them. They heard a noise from behind them and they turned to see Him. He threw Gene half across the meadow with just one slap. Mai quickly ran over to him, asking him if he was all right.
"I'm fine." Gene winced at the pain. "Father, I -"
"SHUT UP!" The man stood over him with disgust on his face. "You are no son of mine. You bastard!"
Mai awakened to see Naru sitting next to her. She quickly bolted upright. Looking around, she made sure she was finally awake. She used her sweater's sleeve to dab her forehead. Her heart was pounding. On the only brighter note of the situation, she knew what was going on. She told Naru about her dream again, that she was in place of the daughter from the previous home.
"She was in love with her adoptive brother. Because they knew if their relationship was fond out, they met in secret." Mai's voice quivered. "They killed their selves to be together in peace. The father killed his wife then himself in grief."
"Are you sure," Naru asked.
She nodded, wiping away her silent tears. "I am."
"Then I believe I have solved the case with your help."
Five minutes later, he called the entire house and everyone in it to the living room. He waited until Kaede came in from her little garden outside. She pulled her gloves off as she sat down no the sofa. Junko brought her a glass of water to cool her off. She thanked him happily. Then, everyone gave their attention to the director of Shibuya Psychic Research.
"Have you figured everything out?"
Naru nodded. "The past owners of this home consisted of a mother and father, as well as one son, one daughter. The son was brought home one day after the parents adopted him from an orphanage. Eventually, the two children grew up to fall in love with each other. Because they couldn't be together because of their kin, they killed their selves. The father killed his wife then himself out of grief. I believe that the thing haunting you is the son and daughter - Usagi and Tony."
Junko tilted his head. "Why are they so bent on hurting us though?"
He turned to look at Sai and Hisako. "Would you like to tell them or should I?" Hisako blinked in shock while Sai looked away. "Very well then." He gave his attention back to Kaede and Junko. "Hisako and Tony…they're together. Because he's a foster child, they think you will not accept them being together. It's why Usagi and Tony must be trying to hurt only you both. It's why their spirits aren't assaulting Hisako or Sai."
Parents in complete shock, they stared at their children. Their children couldn't face them though. In fact, they weren't sure if they were even angry that Naru told everything. They were too embarrassed that everyone knew. Though they weren't blood related, some people still thought it was wrong. After all, they were being raised together as siblings.
Kaede let out a breath. "I know."
"You do?" Sai looked up.
"I've known for a while now," she admitted. "I've never spoken to your father about it. I wasn't sure how he would respond. Do not be angry with them, Junko. Please."
Junko looked over to his wife. He chuckled all of a sudden, which worried Hisako. "I know too." He sat a hand on his wife's hand. "I never said anything because I wasn't sure how you'd react. I just never saw anything wrong with it because she's not really our son. Of course, in my heart, he's like a son." He patted his chest, over his heart. "I don't understand why they've been hiding it."
Hisako looked to Sai. "Oh, I thought they wouldn't understand? Yeah, right." She hurried out of the room and stomped up the stairs.
Sai flinched when he heard a bedroom door slam shut.
"You'd think she'd be happy," Ayako rolled her eyes.
"How are we going to get rid of the spirits," Kaede asked Naru attentively. "I do not want to keep worrying about whether or not I'm able to be safe while on the staircase. Can you do an exorcism, or something?"
Mai stepped forward, "But Naru…that would hurt them. They're just trying to be together. Can't we do something else?"
Masako spoke from behind her sleeve. "If it is alright with you, Naru, I'd like to perform a séance first. To try and ask them to leave peacefully. I'm sure it will work once they learn that Junko-san and Kaede-san are okay with Hisako-san being together with Sai-san."
Everything went as peacefully as Mai wanted it to go. Masako's séance went perfectly well. Both Usagi and Tony were happy to hear that Hisako and Sai were allowed to be together. Also, they apologized to Mai and Takigawa for inhabiting their bodies, as well as Maskao and John. However, Mai and Takigawa made a vow to never, ever speak of the make-out session again. Mai never thought that having a brother-figure would be such a bad thing.
Meanwhile, Masako still hadn't spoken to John nor he to her. They didn't want to ever remember anything about that day. Also, as unfortunate as it was for him, John quit the priesthood. He cried when he told everyone. He just couldn't continue his path knowing that he had broken his celibacy. Even more so when he lied about it to keep Masako's mind at ease. Masako didn't show up for the next two cases because of what had happened. John, however, saw no reason to risk someone else getting hurt because of his own problems.
Not much had changed between Mai and Takigawa. Naru, however, wasn't pleased at all when he found them alone. Often, he told Mai not to bother the monk should they be alone in a room. She was not to look in his direction. He wasn't paying people to have sex with each other. He continued to act cold towards her, no matter how many times she apologized for being inappropriate while on a case. Even if it wasn't her fault. That's what she couldn't understand.
Takigawa, though, seemed to get it. He wasn't ever in a room with her for too long on his own. He never touched her for too long or stared her in the eyes. He never even bothered to help her with her homework much anymore either. Once, he tried to discuss the situation with Naru, but the young man wouldn't let him. He didn't want to hear it about anything the monk had to say. Unless it involved a possible case. He just hated hearing about Mai's lips on a man's neck. It was even worse when the three were in the same room. Everyone felt the hostility in Naru's veins.
Perhaps that's what gave him away, in Ayako's opinion. No one likes to see the one you care for most be in the arms of someone else. Of course, Naru denied it. It was annoying to say otherwise.