Disclaimer: All characters in Ghost Hunt are the creation of the Goddess Ono Fuyumi-sama.
Releasing the spirits dwelling within the Yamazaki house was a simple matter once SPR dealt with the demon that cursed the Yamazaki family for over a century. Even so, Mai couldn't help feeling a little numb after the entire affair.
Currently, she was seated on Lin's sofa in his apartment. She limply held her knees as she stared vacantly at the coffee table.
"Has it finally sunk in?" Lin asked as he carried two cups of coffee from the kitchen.
Mai blinked for a moment before looking up at him.
"Has what?" she asked as she accepted a cup.
"That we'll be getting married in less than a month," he clarified as he took a seat on the sofa.
He was a little worried that Mai was starting to regret agreeing to marry him. She seemed to be acting strange lately. On top of that, she wasn't as cheerful as he thought she'd be.
"Oh, that," Mai said, gently waving away the suggestion. "I'm not too worried about that."
"Then what's the matter?" he inquired.
Mai sighed and set her cup on the table. She pulled her legs close once again. What truly plagued her was too painful to think about.
"All those spirits that were trapped in that house," she began, "they were so young and the demon killed them all. I can't help feeling… that it was our fault."
Lin frowned as Mai looked towards him. He silently brooded. If anything, he didn't want Mai to blame herself, but it was true that everything had resulted from them deciding to leave. Of course, others had a hand in it, too. Her parents, her brother… but the one that was the most at fault was…
"If anyone should be blamed for those deaths, it is I," Lin said quietly.
"No!" Mai exclaimed, sitting up. "I don't want you to take the blame."
"Mai…" Lin sighed. "Jun was the one who sealed the demon in that house. Perhaps it wasn't the right thing to do, but it was the only possible choice."
"But that was because I…" Mai tried to interrupt.
"No, it wasn't just because Rei died," Lin asserted. "Jun had little power left after battling the demon. All he could do was seal it. It would have escaped and wreaked havoc on the world otherwise. With how bitter Kai was, he had summoned a powerful demon of betrayal. And it was only because of Jun that I was able to exorcise it so easily. The world might not exist as it does today if things were done differently."
"I understand," Mai conceded, "but it's difficult to just view them as collateral damage for the sake of the world. And in a way, they were my family."
Lin set his coffee on the table before wrapping his arm around Mai's shoulders and pulling her close. He gently kissed the top of her head.
"I don't want you to bear the guilt of someone else's mistakes," he told her quietly. "We're different people now. What happened long ago is all beyond our control now and we shouldn't let it affect us in the present."
"But wasn't it fate that brought us together to fix those past mistakes?" Mai questioned.
Lin gently sighed and hugged Mai closer.
"The universe is a mysterious place that hasn't been fully explained yet," he mused, "but I don't think it works on predestination. Whatever fate may be, I don't think it's that. I believe it's more of a general outline of what may come to be, but it's constantly changing."
"But our souls were pulled together," Mai protested.
"Because they had a strong, pre-established connection," he reasoned. "That is what's called being soulmates."
"But you were so adamant that soulmates don't matter," Mai reminded him.
"That wasn't what I was implying," Lin explained. "I think a person can have more than one soulmate. Friends, family, lovers, they're all eligible to be classified as such."
"Which is why you said souls can form new bonds," Mai recalled.
"Yes," Lin agreed. "I love you regardless of all that past lives business. For who you are now, not who you were before. I fell in love with that sweet, innocent girl full of curiosity, who wandered into a possibly haunted building and inadvertently injured me the first time we met."
Mai cringed slightly, but still smiled fondly. If it wasn't for that, they might not be here now all these years later.
"You were so adamant that you were fine," Mai pointed out. "When it was so obvious that you weren't."
"Was it?" he asked.
"You were sweating profusely from the pain," she explained.
"Well, I didn't want to appear weak in front of you," he confessed. "But I was a little embarrassed as well. And completely rude."
Mai wrapped her arms sideways around Lin's waist.
"It all worked out in the end," she commented. "But what about the red string of fate? If it connects two people, they're meant to be together, right? It's not like you can go against that."
"It's just a legend," Lin stated. "No one really knows why it's there or how it's formed. The one fact about it is that it ties two people together. Perhaps it's only there after they form an unbreakable bond."
"And we can only get married if it's there?" Mai asked.
Lin was quiet for a few moments.
"I'll speak plainly," he finally said. "My family doesn't approve of you being Japanese. As I suspected, they've refused to consent to a marriage unless they have proof of our bond. They understand it's detrimental to a bonded pair's well-being to keep them apart and won't protest after it's confirmed."
Mai sobered slightly. She didn't like being disliked for things she couldn't control. She had argued with Lin over it before and he said it was a psychological issue he had no control over, but admitted he thought it was foolish. She realized now that the racial hate was so deeply rooted in him because of his parents. He didn't seem like the type otherwise.
"I'm scared to meet them," she admitted, her voice wavering. "I don't want them to hate me."
"Once they meet you, there's no way they could hate you," Lin reassured. "If for nothing else, they'll at least love you for being my bonded."
"Again, for something I have no control over," Mai pouted.
Lin turned towards Mai on the sofa and gently took her chin into his hand, guiding her to look up at him. He looked at her intently.
"Mai, you and I have complete control over this," he asserted. "We made this bond, then cultivated it and made it stronger. That isn't an easy thing to do when it comes to me."
"You were definitely difficult to get close to," Mai agreed.
"But do you understand that we're not together because we had no choice, but because we chose it of our own volition?" he asked. "We have free-will and we chose to exert it in this regard."
"I understand," Mai answered. "I love you, Koujo. Not Jun."
Lin looked at Mai fondly before leaning down to gently kiss her.
"I love you, Mai," he murmured against her lips.