Case 2, Chapter 2:
"Hello?" Naru answered the phone as he always did.
"Noll my boy!"
"Hello Dad." Naru paused and glanced at the clock. It was far too late in Oxford; his parents should have been asleep long ago, "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, yes, its fine," his dad replied jovially enough, "Something's come up in your neck of the woods son."
"Yes, I am already handling the case to do with the bodies found in parks," Naru replied confidently.
"No, no that," his father paused for a second, "It seems Madoko had found someone with...shall we say interesting skills."
"And?" Naru considered Madoko a very competent human being who he had to admit was an excellent teacher and mentor. Even if she was somewhat odd. Any wayward student with talent would flourish under her careful care, so Naru could hardly understand why his father was telling him about it.
"Well, I think your business could benefit is all," Mr. Davis replied carefully, "The boy's around your age, Madoko should be in contact soon. I just wanted to give you a heads up, son."
"But I-"
"One can never have too many allies, Noll," his father replied boisterously, "Anywho, take care son. Hopefully we'll see you soon!"
"Dad, wait-"
...
"Dad?"
His father was a ridiculous man.
Still though, Naru missed him. He missed home.
After nearly an hour of discussion, Mai was still waiting for someone, anyone, to mention that one detail that they all seemed to be avoiding. Seriously, she could not be the only one thinking what she was currently thinking.
"So we have bodies without blood?" Mai once again tried to nudge the conversation towards her current thoughts.
"Yes Mai, you've mentioned that a few times," Naru looked annoyed, because he too knew exactly what she was thinking and had been trying to avoid having the conversation that would surely follow. Or at least he thought he knew what Mai was thinking.
"You know what, fine, I'll say it." Mai cleared her throat emphatically while everyone waited for her input, "Vampires."
...
"And here I gave you an iota of respect and thought that maybe you were concerned that this would turn out like the Urado case instead of something as silly as blood sucking immortals," Naru pinched the bridge of his noise. Admittedly he was impressed that even after all these months, he still could not read all of Mai's reactions perfectly. Even if those reactions were of a particularly odious nature.
In truth the thought that this might be turn out to be like that monster had not even occurred to Mai, "Well of course, that too!"
"Well have you ever seen a vampire in any of your investigations?" Masako asked looking as curious as Mai. It seemed this particular topic was on her mind as well. What it was about this particular brand of supernatural lunacy, Naru would never understand, but both teenage girls of the team had vampires on their mind.
"I can safely say that we have not been faced with anything of the sort," Lin replied derisively.
"Oy vey," Ayako rubbed her forehead, "Teenagers."
"Moving right along," Yasu shook his head. This fascination that young women had with blood sucking pretty boys was odd. Personally he blamed it for his lack of a girlfriend, "Where do you want to start, Naru?"
The case seemed like a massive undertaking. Firstly there was the immediate problem of the site bound spirits, like that young actress, haunting various vicinities around the city. Secondly there was the problem of some sort of killer (supernatural or otherwise) lurking in the streets for the last decade or so. Finally, there was the no blood problem. Surely there were a whole host of supernatural entities that could be responsible, including the would be killer and excluding vampires.
And of course, Yasu remembered the Urado case. Naru had stated before that they were not monster hunters. It seemed far too likely that this case wound end with just that as the culprit.
"I want us split up," Naru explained delicately folding his hands, "I want John to go and exorcise the spirit at the theatre tomorrow. The rest of us will each take a file and investigate the victims."
"Investigate what about the victim?" Ayako asked, flipping through on intriguing file about a young and talented writer who had been killed some five years earlier. His body had been found in a nearby park just like the others. The way she clutched that file, staring at the victim's picture while Naru talked was nothing if not telling, but no one knew how to ask Ayako about it.
"Investigate the death itself, suspects, order of events, anything related to the murder itself," Naru explained, "And if in your investigations you find his ghost is still present upon this planet, you exorcise him."
It sounded so simple, but the file that Ayako was holding was one of a very, very large stack.
"Alright, we'd better get started," Takigawa grabbed a file himself, along with John, Masako, Lin and Naru himself.
"What about me and Yasu?" Mai asked. Yasu had no supernatural powers and Mai's had a mind of their own. And neither of them had enough experience to go off on their own, hunting for killers and ghosts.
"You, along with myself and Lin when we have the time, will be discerning the case a whole," Naru explained, "We need to identify any patterns the killer might have, such as a timeline, or victimology."
"Alright, sounds good," Yasu nodded good naturedly. It seemed like his summer vacation would not be a complete bore this time around.
"What about Saya?" Mai pointed a finger at the darling little child who was currently sitting half asleep and propped up against a footstool. Her yellow car was hanging from the edge of her fingers. The child had persevered greatly today, having thrown not a single tantrum or bid for attention. It seemed that she had been subdued greatly all day.
"What's going on with her today?" Monk asked, glancing at the child carefully.
"She saw some of the crime scene photos," Lin explained with a sigh in his voice. It seemed he still wasn't a hundred percent used to a child snooping through his things yet. Though his desk was strictly off limits, Saya still had a habit of seeing things she should not. This morning it had been a stack of files which had course opened when she dropped them and all those gruesome crime scene snapshots lay before her eyes.
"That's awful," Masako shook her head. The crime scene photos were barely something even she could stomach.
"You've got to kidding." Ayako did not look impressed, "She's not even four yet!"
"I am well aware thank you," the man replied curtly and managed to look dignified despite the scolding he was getting, "I am still looking for an appropriate nanny."
The hunt was proving to be a long and tedious process. Not a single human seemed capable of handling Saya along with all the various things that happened to SPR on a normal basis.
"One more thing, tomorrow evening Madoko will be stopping by with a...project of hers," Naru exchanged a glance with Lin. It seemed neither man was happy with this, but it was Madoko and they did not get a choice when it came to her, "In any case if we could regroup around six tomorrow evening that would be good."
"Alright, meeting adjourned!" Mai stood up, stretching, "Who wants tea?"
There were several groans of appreciation.
Mai was a saint.
The next morning, brighter and earlier than Ayako would have liked, she was standing in front of an old orphanage. The reason she was standing here was twofold: firstly, the woman the young dead writer listed as next of kin lived here and secondly, lets just say Ayako was a friend of the family.
"Ayako Matsuzaki, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" a brittle looking woman, who seemed to be nearing an age that must range in the hundreds, stood on the front step and the biggest, warmest smile Ayako had ever seen, "I haven't seen you in years. What can I do for you?"
"Ms. Miya," Ayako smiled back a genuine and beautiful smile that not many got to see, "I'm here about Miszawa."
The way Miya's smile dropped told Ayako that the woman knew exactly what she was talking about, "Why don't you come in?"
"Of course," Ayako nodded and followed the woman down a hall filled with pictures taped up by the children. It looked like the fridge in SPR's office where all of Saya's lovely art usually hung only grander.
"Miszawa died nearly five years ago, didn't he?" Miya opened a door and Ayako found herself standing in a pretty little sunroom. She didn't remember it from her last visit, but it was pleasant none the less. While she took a seat, the old woman located some cookies that her wards had spared and shuffled over with the plate and a glass of juice.
"Yes he did," Ayako nodded gritting her jaw. She didn't think she could stomach the juice or the cookies at the moment.
"I was so...shocked when he died," Miya looked old then, older than Ayako could have imagined, "Like someone had pulled a rug from under my feet."
It had been a shock. To Ayako it had felt like someone had crushed her into two pieces and taken one away with them.
"Yes, I'm just doing a little digging," Ayako decided she was not going to discuss Miszawa's death in anything but a superficial level. For the last five years that had been the rule and she would be damned it she broke it now, "What was he like before he died?"
If the question surprised Miya, she didn't say, "very much like always: troubled."
"Did he seem anymore troubled than usual?" Ayako did not want to make this woman suffer for longer than she had to, but she was torn between Miya's peace and finally getting some answers about the day this man went missing and perhaps what happened to him after.
"Dear, his behaviour was erratic and unstable," Miya explained gently, "True enough, getting his book published helped things, and as much as it pains me to say, Miszawa's death wasn't a shock."
But it had been to her, to Ayako.
"If you really want some information, there's a place he used to go."
"Where?" Ayako was willing to take any lead, however small and insignificant.
"The University's library," Miya explained with a nostalgic smile, "You know better than me how much he loved books."
Despite Ayako's sudden urge to peruse the various volumes in The University of Tokyo's library, she resisted. There was far too much work to be done and the University was straight across town. That would be a trip saved for tomorrow. Instead, she made peace by visiting Miszawa's grave in the hope that she get lucky and find his spirit floating about.
No such luck.
"Look like the innocent flower; but be the serpent underneath!" the incorporeal woman stood in the finest costume of a medieval crazy wife that the theatre had to offer. Admittedly she was pretty and John could see why this woman had been a favorite on the stage. Here she was, completely see through and he was still slightly frightened of her impression of Lady Macbeth.
"Um, excuse me for asking Ma'am, but are you going to recount the whole play to me?" it was getting late and this was the fifth great work of Shakespeare he was watching. Apparently this woman's greatest desire had been to be the heroine in the playwright's most famous works. Of course John was much too polite to simply exorcise her soul without first upholding her last earthly request.
This led him to his currently predicament.
"Why of course!"
Fantastic.
It was well into the afternoon when Mai insisted on a break. Since nearly nine in the morning, she and Yasu had been working. Low and behold just as they were about to take a lunch break Naru and Lin stomped in with several more files and fresh ideas. Of course the next four hours were spent brain storming, researching and coming up with next to nothing.
"Alright, so as far as we can tell there is no discernible pattern in the victims themselves," Yasu was looking at files and thoughtfully, "no timeline to the killings-"
"But the bodies were all discovered exactly six months after they died," Mai added before Yasu could continue being a downer.
"Yes, that means very little," Naru replied curtly.
"But it can hardly be a coincidence," Lin studied their hand drawn timeline of events thoughtfully. This was about the point that Mai had insisted upon a break. Firstly for her sanity and secondly for Saya's. All this talk of victims and dates of deaths and dates of body discoveries was not appropriate, so the two girls decided to head down the street for some frozen yogurt before dinner. The snack was only acceptable to Lin because he felt a trite guilty and because yogurt was mostly healthy.
"Alright Saya, you can have two scoops," Mai acquiesced and as she handed over some yen to the store clerk. In minutes they were sitting in the pleasant breeze on a bench outside with their respective yogurts. Once out of the office, Saya seemed far less surly than she had been all day, "Saya are you alright?"
The tiny girl stopped midway in her bite and swallowed slowly so she could properly think of answer, "Papa said that someone bad hurt all those people."
And here it was.
"Yes, someone did," Mai nodded, deciding that truth would probably be the best policy. Probably, "But that is not something you need to worry about Saya."
"B-But, you're gonna catch him?" Saya's eyes were getting glassy now.
"Yes Saya, we're going to try," Mai measured her words carefully. If this really did turn out to be a monster, like Urado, then it was doubtful SPR would be able to do anything at all. It had been pointed out before that monsters were a realm of menace that Naru had no idea about. And that would mean the killings would continue and more people would get hurt.
"Mai, is that you?" a familiar voice ended the conversation and when Mai turned around she spotted Madoko. Standing to next to rather interesting looking person.
"Hi!" Mai quickly waved, "How are you?"
"Stunningly good, thank you," Madoko replied being as boisterous as ever. The woman then caught sight of that child who sat with all to striking features, features that were oddly familiar, "And who might this be?"
Of course Madoko knew about Lin's child, and was also aware that Lin had been telling as few people about her as possible, but still, Madoko planned to pile the Lin family with so much warmth that they would suffocate.
"This is Saya," Mai introduced with a knowing smile, "Saya this Madoko, she's a friend of your papa's and Naru."
"It's nice to meet you," Madoko smiled at the girl and Saya smiled back weakly.
"Hey lady, aren't we goin' to some office?" ah yes, the hoodlum that was standing next to Madako. With hair dyed red and a rumpled demeanor, the boy looked to be in his teenage years, probably a senior in high school on vacation just like her. The difference here was that Mai looked like just another average student. This boy looked like a delinquent, the typical kind that enjoyed getting into fights and generally causing havoc.
"Yes, yes," Madoko brushed him off and the boy flared his nostrils in annoyance at her dismissal, "This is Mai and Saya. Ladies, might I introduce Kenichi Wataru, your new monster hunter."
Mai just stared at Mr. Kenichi Wataru with what was surely the most stupid expression on her face; "You have got to be joking."
"I wish, sweetheart, I really do."
TO BE CONTINUED...
SHOUT OUTS:
Wensel4542- you are very welcome! I hope you like it!
SapphireXRosesXFan- I will always root for MaiXNaru. Don't worry.
Nonny- here's more!
lovenarumai- thanks for you compliments!
JingleBelleRock- I'm super stoked about the new case. Hopefully I'll be able to get it done despite all the other crap in the way!
My apologies friends.
Alright folks, here's the update: I am halfway through midterm cycle. I still have two papers and two assignments to finish in the next to weeks and one remaining midterm in a week. I also have also have several application deadlines coming up. Updates will unfortunately be slow. I am really sorry about this, but I felt I should get it out there. Updates will be incredible show and I feel awful about it.
Anywho, here is another installment.
Veil out.
(PS- I just watched Tumbling (a Jdrama) and I have no qualms in telling you that the protagonist in that show is entirely what inspired Kenichi Wataru.)