Chapter 11 A Questionable Plan
Takigawa tackled Masako to the ground.
The momentum caused the two to fly through the air. They were still rolling when an explosion shook the roof. The timber had made contact, splitting into thousands of pieces that rained down onto the poor unfortunate bodies underneath.
Masako's mind was screaming, a high-pitch, girly scream of terror that she could not vocalize. Her fear was not for her own safety.
Ayako!
Masako's first thought was about her friend, lying unconscious with no protection.
Splinters pelted them, but Masako lay protected under Takigawa's body. He was so still that Masako thought a chunk of wood might have hit him. Monk-san was still breathing. She started struggling to push him off. If he survives this, he needs to lay off the burger and fries!
"Hey stop moving for a second," whispered Takigawa.
Masako immediately froze. "I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"
He breathed deeply for two seconds before saying, "I just got the wind knocked out of me. I'm too old for this crap."
Masako blushed as Takigawa-san got up. She had never been this close to a man before.
This is hardly the time for such thoughts.
Her face reddened, betraying her thoughts.
For a second, she thought to herself, Why can't I fall in love with a nice guy like you? Then she shook her head and got up.Ayako had not moved. She was covered with wood pellets, but the main pieces lay some distance away. She did not look like she had been hit with anything large. Masako went and checked her pulse. It was strong. She probably was more dazed than anything.
Thank goodness!
Takigawa yelled, "Hey Little Boy Ghost! I am not sure where you are at the moment, but I heard what you said. You like to play games? I have a game for you!"
The boy looked bored, "Oh what game would you like to play?" He flicked his wrist and Monk's clothes started to blow backwards. His jacked flapped wildly, his bleached hair all in his face.
Monk tried to shield his face using his arms. His beads encircled his wrist and hands. They glowed brightly with the force of Monk's spiritual energy.
"Uh John? Anytime…" Takigawa said as the boy pointed to him. The pieces of wood started to levitate again.
Masako heard John's voice. She looked around but could not see him.
He said, "Our father which art in heaven hallow be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day, our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."
The boy screamed.
Suddenly John's body leaped over the breezeway.
"For thy is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the was God."
The wind shifted.
Sakuya's body dissolved into smoke as if he essence became unglued.
The ground shuddered.
Sakuya disappeared.
A silent thunder pulsed outward from where the young ghost had been standing. It rolled over the roof, knocking everyone down.
Then everything was calm.
John yelled, "Hey are you guys alright?"
Standing up, Takigawa replied, "We are fine." He moved over to the girls. Glanced down at Masako, "Here let me help you up."
Masako held out her hand for support, but Takigawa reached down and picked her up as if she weighed nothing. He set her in her feet and brushed off the dirt in her shoulder.
"There you go, right as rain." Bending down, he rolled Ayako over. She moaned. Then her body started twitching.
Falling back away from her, he asked nervously, "Uh? Is she ok?"
Masako replied, "I think she is just stunned."
By that time, John had reached them. "It looks as if the spirit is gone? What do you think Hara-san?"
"The ghost is not here with us."
Takigawa slapped John's shoulder. "Nice job! I was wondering when you would start. Why were you on top of the breezeway?"
John shrugged. "It was a good position to see everything. Plus with you and Lin around, I had to make a cool entrance too."
They stared at each other in amusement before bursting out laughing.
Boys, I do not understand them, Masako thought grumpily.
John put a hand on Ayako's head. With a quick prayer, he took a bottle out and poured the water on a rag.
"John? Isn't that holy water? I don't think you have to exorcise Ayako. She is just sleeping. Or knocked out. Not possessed."
John smiled, "I was just going to put a cold compression to her forehead."
"Using holy water?"
"It is the only thing I have."
"But isn't that wasting it."
John had a weird expression on his face, "Well I can make more anytime I like. I am a priest." He laughed, "Plus it is not wasting when I am helping someone. That is my job."
Takigawa sighed, "Yea but it just seems like you could save it. We might get attacked again and you are the only one that can protect us right now."
Ayako peeked an eye at him, "What is that supposed to mean?"
Everyone jumped away with a yelp.
Recovering faster than Masako or John, Takigawa excitedly exclaimed, "You mean you were awake the whole time?" He pointed accusingly, "We were worried about you. How could you scare us like that?"
Ayako sat up, brushing off the debris on her arm. She glared at him, "It didn't sound like you were that worried about me?"
"Why were you like that?! I thought there was something fishy about how you moaned earlier. You sounded like a dying cat!"
John in a serious tone of voice said, "I am fairly impressed that you managed not to move or flinch when that huge collection of wood was hurled at you."
Ayako sighed, "If you must know, I thought if the spirit thought I was unconscious, he would leave us alone."
Her statement made Monk really angry. "What kind of dumb idea was that? You weren't the target? Masako was. You put her at risk. What kind of priestess are you? She ended up having to protect you."
"How was I supposed to know it would not work? He was slinging me all over the place. He hadn't forcefully attacked her yet. I thought if I stayed down he would see there was not a threat and leave. It's just a child."
"Yea a child that can do this." Takigawa gestured at the roof.
The pacifist John motioned his hands in a calming, downward way. Closing his eyes, he gave a halfway bashful look and said, "I think this is not the best time to argue."
They looked over the damage. It was the first time Masako had really looked at what was done. She saw that the impact of the wood on the roof had left more damage than she though. The scaffold debris lay to the side in a big pile. Pieces had hit random spots, causing dents like on the air conditioner unit and the breezeway. The garden which had been so peaceful before now lay in ruins with bent and broken plants.
Masako bowed to the boys. "Thank you Takigawa-san for saving me. And thank you John for sending the spirit away from this place. How did you know I was here?"
"We were headed to the children's ward." Monk pointed a thumb at John. "We had been in the staircase when the whole area began to get cold. We thought it was another attack, but Lin showed up! With Mai. He took her to the emergency room. On the way he filled us in. That spirit. The boy who attacked you is a Rokurokubi."
Ayako nodded.
Masako said, "That makes perfect sense. That is also why you said only John could protect us."
John said, "I am glad that you are aware of what that is. I have never encountered that before. When Lin told us, he didn't explain and Monk-san hasn't have time to tell me. As we got closer to the children's wing, we felt a presence and followed it. We saw you girls hurry out the doors to here. At first we could not get the doors opened. We watched from the window of the breezeway door. I said a prayer opened the door when Ayako hit the pole. Monk ran ahead. He told me to hang back and prepare because I had to be the one to exorcise the spirit."
Monk nodded, "I told him to stay back thinking we would play it defensively. I can't see spirits anymore, but I saw you had become terrified, so I started running. Then I saw the wood start to float. I knew my mandra would not work, but it was worth a try. I am just glad I was able to help."
He held out a helping hand to pull Ayako up.
Takigawa said, "I am not surprised you haven't heard of it, John. The Rokurokubi is exclusive in Asian countries. Even here in Japan, the name and descriptions do not remain the same. Names given to it outside of Japan are the 'Penanggalan' in Malaysia and 'Krasue' in Cambodia. Typically, the neck extends or comes off. Usually these are people who can astral project in their sleep so the creature or monster is typically nocturnal or associated with the night. Some modern researchers explain that ectoplasm leaving the body causes the illusion of the neck stretching. Other famous stories say they are energy stealers, like emotional vampires. That would explain the hospital workers and the general atmosphere around this area. These spirits are usually bad because of some misfortune that they can't deal with. They have the powers of a strong poltergeist ghost. The spirit disappears when the person wakes up. Most stories talk about the monster vanishing in the morning because the sleeper would wake. The next night the monster would return."
Takigawa suddenly laughed, "There is actually a famous story from Shibuya where parents witnessed their daughter's neck stretch every night and there was no effect even when relying on Shinto and Buddhism spiritualists. I wonder if Naru knows that."
John looked sheepish, "I am glad you explained. Honestly I didn't originally focus too much on the story of the child. I was more worried about the other thing."
Ayako asked, "What other thing?"
Takigawa expression became deadly serious. "Yea. The boy's spirit was not the only thing at work here. Lin and Mai were physically dragged to a demonic type world. It is a powerful being, a jinn. It currently has Mai's soul but because she hasn't died we might be able to get her back."
Ayako and Masako gave him a blank looks.
Annoyed Takigawa said, "Honestly you have to become more familiar with paranormal stuff outside of Japan."
John explains, "A jinn is a creature in Arabian tales and Islamic Quran. They are supernatural beings similar to demons and angels, but who are from another world beyond our world called Djinnestan. They are made of fire or smoke depending on what text you read. Typcially they exhibit free will and are not good or evil. The shaytan jinn are more like demons. I think that is what we are dealing with here. They whisper into your heart to find your secret deeds."
Takigawa nodded, "When we found out about that, we took off to find you guys. I think I was panicking a bit. Hope my tackle didn't hurt you?" He looked pointedly at Masako.
"No I am fine." Thinking of it made Masako blush.
I wonder if Mai felt the same way when Naru protected her with his body?
Instant jealous caused the fluttery feelings to die down.
Narrowing her eyes, "I didn't really give you permission to touch me. " She gave him a weird expression. Everyone eyed her with huge eyes. Sweating, Masako bowed for the second time, saying, "Thank you again."
Swinging around, Takigawa said, "Right! Ok! John, Lin, and I thought of a plan while we waited to see if Mai was ok."
Everyone leaned in to hear more.
"Lin told us there is a way to forcibly bring both Mai's and Sakuya's spirit. By involving a mediator. A mediator needs to be someone with the powers of a medium in order to call to the spirits. In our case, Lin and Masako can both call spirits. I think we need to call the Mai's spirit first." Takigawa looked at John before continuing, "I think we should have both of you call the spirit. It would probably increase the force of the call. In Mai's situation, her spirit is being held somewhere in the spirit world, but it wants to get back to her body. Most likely it is struggling to come back. The jinn normally would not let her spirit leave, but we will have John to throw some prayer his way. So between the mediator's séance calling for Mai's spirit and the body, you create a triangle. Two points of the triangle are here in the physical world, pulling on the spirit point in the spiritual realm. John will be canceling out the Jinn's pull on Mai. Hopefully the pull is strong enough to pull the spirit across the realms. The only problem is if the jinn latches on. He might show up in the room. We will have John and Lin there to handle him. The only thing is we need Lin's shiki ready to battle for Sakuya's spirit. Similar to Mai, a mediator needs to call his spirit. The difference being he probably will fight the pull unlike Mai. That is ok because he is in this world; therefore, when Sakuya gets close, Lin's shikigami will capture him. Lin can use his shikigami's binding spell to control Sakuya. Then it doesn't matter what Sakuya would want, Lin would throw the spirit back into the body. It is just very dangerous because I am not sure this has ever been done on a real person before. It might not be as good of a plan as one Naru would come up with, but I think it is a start."
Everyone looked at Masako.
John asked, "Do you think you can do it?"
She thought on it silently for a bit.
"I can try. What do I need to do specifically?"
"Set up a séance, but we need Lin too. I think he went to check on Naru."
Masako had done many séances, but never had she tried to do anything on this level.
Instead of calling up a ghost…
She would call up an angry living child.
Instead of a stranger's spirit…
She would call up a friend's.
And there was a possibility of instead of calling up a human…
She could call up a being from another world…
Masako wondered if she was strong enough.
If only there was another medium to help me….