Chapter 11 – Lifetime Buffer to Your Power


Rurik together with the SPR team are on their way to Mai's house. While on the car, there's an awkward silence, as if that they're afraid to talk, and he didn't failed to notice the situation, he sighed they're still not comfortable to be with us, he thought.

"Oliver" he called, he want to ease the awkwardness, the young scientist looked at him "What is it?" he asked.

"Whatever Alex will do to you later, just obey her, and most importantly, trust her. It's for your own sake." He said

"Is it about on using his PK to the full extent without the risk of dying?" Lin asked

"Yeah." He plainly said

"How will she do it?" Naru asked curiously

He sighed "You will eventually know, so I don't need to explain it. Just remember, trust whatever she will do" he heard him agreed.

"Ne, what are the other abilities of your team?" Madoka asked.

"Hmm? Specifically who's abilities you want to know?" he asked back

"The twins!" she exclaimed

"Sasha as you already know, he's a true medium, PK-MT user, astral plane walker, and a researcher."

"And the other twin?" Ayako curiously asked

"On the other hand, Sashura is our head-researcher, he's can also do psychometry, just like you Oliver – and he also became Alex's experimental subject – and a PK-ST user"

"Amazing!" The girls exclaimed

"What about you?" Gene asked too

"Me? I'm the same as Lin, an onmyouji. Also a researcher, telepathic, and PK user"

"Heh, also a researcher huh?" Yasuhara commented teasingly

He chuckled "Yeah. If we have a common ability, that would be researching, and data gathering – that our forte – that's the basic thing in hunting, and Alex also told us that we should learn the basic way of researching, like asking the people and going to libraries"

"Eh? She's good in gathering data too?" John surprisingly asked

He frowned "You didn't know? Even without using ESP, she's good at researching and tracing history. She will try gathering as much as possible information before the case, rather than during the case." he notice that they went silent, he looked at the rear mirror and saw that they're looking at each other "Hey, when you're on a cases before, what are the things she usually did?"

"SLEEPING, AND MAKING TEA!" they all said, he just chuckled.

"So, what about the others? What are their psychic abilities?" Bou-san asked

"You already know Vlad, right?" they nodded "He's an exorcist, researcher, and a demon hunter. He's also a tri caster"

"Demon hunter… He can open a portal to the demon world?" Lin asked to confirm, and he just nodded

"What's a tri caster?" Gene curiously asked

"It means he can cast three different spells at the same time, it's obvious at the name, idiot" It was Naru who answered, his brother just rolled his eyes.

He continued "Kir, is also a researcher, spiritual healer, PK user, and a true medium; as for Boris, he's an astral plane walker, medium, exorcist, also a researcher"

"And lastly, Alexander is our computer and data analyst, researcher, and a summoner. Instead of shikis, he has an ekikis, demons who are working for him."

"Amazing!" they were totally amazed from the information.

"What about Jou-chan?" Bou-san asked

Ayako thwack him three times, "Didn't she already told us earlier?"

"But I didn't quite get it." He whined

"It's because you're stupid" Ayako barked

He chuckled "Alright, as what Alex said earlier about her abilities, you already know about her having an ESP, and being an astral plane walker, right?" when they saw them nodded, he continue, "she's also a researcher, telepathic, true medium, and as you all know a white witch. Her abilities as a perfect onmyouji are still sealed in her."

"Why?" Masako asked

Didn't she listen earlier? He irritably thought, he sighed "Because she's not yet awaken. She haven't perform the awakening ceremony… yet"

"If she will be awaken, what will happen to her?" Naru can't help, but asked, if it will put her into more danger, it's much better if she will not awaken that ability, she's already fine the way she is now, even before he thought worriedly.

"Hmm? Nothing much, she will be able to perform complicated spells, and seals, something like that" he said, their already five blocks away.

"What about her brother?" John asked too

"Yulian can already perform complicated spells, actually he's a quad caster. Boys don't need to be awaken, unlike girls"

"What about Mai, is she a quad caster or something like that too?" Even Madoka was curious

"Nope. She's a bi caster, two spells at the same time. She wanted to learn it slowly, because it took a great amount of magic."

Lin looked at him at the rearview mirror and asked "What type of magic and spells is her forte?"

"Witchcrafts and also, ancient spells. But, she know some ancient Chinese magic and spells" he directly said.

"Jou-chan's scary" Bou-san jokingly cried

"I'm sorry from how the team treated you earlier when you came, Masako, and Oliver. They just easily got carried away when it comes to Alex" he suddenly said softly

"It's fine. I know, I deserved it." Masako said softly, covering her mouth with her kimono

He sighed "You know what? I really want you get comfortable with them, we're working together, right? It will be bad if we will build walls on each team, they're fun to be with, especially the twins." He said hopefully

A moment later, a translucent image of Mai was seen in the windshield, "Where the hell are you?" she asked impatiently, they all gasped.

"Mai?" Gene called, as if confirming if it is really her

"Yes?"

"Jou-chan, what happen to you?" Bou-san was worried

"Eh? This? I astral project myself. Because I can't contact someone and I'm worried about you" glaring at her assistant.

Rurik chuckled and checked his phone – it was off – he wiggled his phone letting her to see it "Sorry, my phone's dead. We're near, are the others already came?"

"Yeah. They're said they're starving to death especially En. You said you're near right? Okay, see you!" with that her image disappeared. Rurik can already see the roof top, of the house.

On Mai's house, the others can't behave their selves, they are all hungry.

"Gah! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna… die" Sasha acted as if he's gonna die.

"Then that's good, I will be eating your share." His twin said heartlessly, he just glare at him.

"Honestly, what took them so long?" En whined.

"If Rurik don't have a valid reason, I'll make him my appetizer." Vlad said

"I seconded!" Kir and Xander said together as they raised their hand.

When they heard an engine being turned-off, they suddenly open the door, and it was Bou-san that they first seen, Vlad clenched the collar of her shirt, and glared at him,

"W-what?" he nervously asked

"I'm so hungry waiting on guys, so come on already!" he said sharply, he grabbed him in the house

Rurik chuckled "My, my. Sorry, for that. They really lose their patience when it comes to Alex's cooking. Come on, before the others will make us their appetizer" they entered the house, it's has two floors, and on the living room there's a grand piano.

"Wow! Who's playing the piano?" Gene asked

"Idiot, obviously it's Mai" Naru answered

Rurik nodded "That's where she usually composed some of her songs"

"C'mon guys! We're starving to death, waiting for you." En called them.

"We will put our luggage first –"

"LATER!" The IPR members squawked together. A smell from new baked lasagna filled the air, it made their stomach growl – including Naru and Lin.

"Wah! I'm hungry. Jou-chan, we're coming!" Bou-san ran towards the dining room, followed by the others. Gene telepathically talked to his brother.

Noll

What?

It's the first time I heard your stomach growl

Shut up.

You want to eat it all by yourself, right?

I'm not a glutton like you. He glared at his brother, and saw him grinning at him, and decided to cut the connection.

It's the first I will be able to eat Mai's homemade food, I can't believe my stomach will be affected by just the smell, how much more the taste, he thought.

When they're at the dining they were awed from what they see, Mai was setting the table, and lots of foods are prepared, both English and Japanese foods.

"Mai-chan, did you cooked all of this?" John asked without leaving his eyes from the table

"Yeah."

"Rurik, why are you late? Depending on your answer, we will allow you to eat with us" Kir threateningly asked

"Reporters" was all he said and sit beside him, the others also follow.

"Alex/Mai let's share a plate!" En and Gene said together, and they looked, no scratched that, they're glaring each other.

She sighed, "No thanks." She started to get some food on her plate. The girls widened their eyes from the amount of food she's putting.

"Mai, you're a model right? Aren't you supposedly be worrying about your figure?" Masako asked from concern

She chuckled "Huh? When it comes to food, worrying is not in my mind"

"The word 'diet' was not on Alex's vocabulary" Kir said, "on Sasha and Rurik's vocabulary too" he looked at the two, who also have an abnormal amount of food on their plate, the others stared at three with an amazement. Are they really a model? They all thought

"Jou-chan! It's delicious!" Bou-san exclaimed

"Yeah, It is" John seconded

She blushed "Thanks."

"I thought you are only good at making tea" that was all Naru's comment, she rolled her eyes on him

"Mai, don't you have maids?" Madoka curiously asked

"I do have three"

"Only three?" Yasu asked doubtingly, she nodded

"Where are they? Why they didn't help you preparing the foods?" Ayako seconded

"They're preparing the guest rooms, and besides, when it comes to foods, I really want to do it personally"

They went silent when they noticed that the temperature slightly dropped and Lin's shikis were anxious.

What's wrong? Lin mentally asked

We can sense some shikis they answered

"Did anybody feel what I feel?" Bou-san asked

"Yeah, it's getting colder." Ayako shivered a bit

Mai sighed, and look at her left side, she saw her brother's shikis "They're the guests that I'm talking about, okay? They're not harmful, and one of them also owned a shikis" she explained. And the temperature went back to normal.

Bou-san looked at her "What was that all about jou-chan?"

"Ah, that was my brother's shikis didn't know you yet, that's why they thought you're 'foreign creatures'" he just nodded in understanding.

During lunch the IPR become more open with the SPR team, they talk about their other work, aside from ghost hunting. Mai smiled at the sight, at least there's no more awkwardness between them, she thought, she looked at Naru and saw that he's looking at her too, she looked away and blushed. Now, that was awkward, she mentally slapped herself.

After they have their lunch, they are all in the living room, some are playing, but most of them are watching news. They called Mai, who is reading the files, to watched the news, it's Rurik being interviewed earlier.

"Rurik, are Xandra and Marcus really dating?" The reporter asked

He sighed and answered "As far as I know, they're not. We already told you that, she's still broken hearted."

"Maybe she keep it from you? About her and Marcus" The reporter asked suspiciously

"We know Xandra very well. We know the Xandra who's in love, we know the Xandra who's dating someone, we know the Xandra who's heart broken. Even if she won't tell us, we will still know it from her gestures towards us, thank you." He sharply stated and he went into the hotel.

She was speechless from Rurik's answer, she went towards him and hugged him, "Thank you for being my spokesperson" she said lively

He chuckled "you're always welcome."

"Alex, aren't you gonna do something on him?" Kir said as he pointed on Naru.

"Ah! Yeah. I almost forgot, thanks for reminding me" she looked at him, he just raised his eyebrow, "Oliver, come to my room and remove your shirt." She said, the SPR team blushed from her statement.

"O-oi jou-chan, aren't you getting bolder?" Bou-san said shyly

She groaned, "I'm not. It's needed because I'll write something on his chest"

"Do it here, Alex" Kir stated

"Are you sure?" they nodded "Then remove the carpet" they obeyed her. An incomplete magic circle was revealed beneath the carpet.

Lin raised his eyebrow "That's a sealing magic… right?" he wasn't sure, that was the first time he saw the symbols.

"Yeah. Sealing magic that was often used by the witches to seal their powers." She's preparing some candles, and looking for the write chalk to use, and write some letters and figures on the circle

"You're gonna seal Naru's power?" Masako asked

"Nope. I'll do some variation" she's still writing

"But –" her protest cut off

"I can't explain it now." She irritatingly said, and the house starting to shake.

She heard Xander hushed her "Keep quiet, if she's preparing for a spell, she really hates to be questioned" he whispered.

"Didn't I told you? Don't disturbed her when she's concentrating?" Sasha reminded her, she just looked down and went the other SPR team

"Gene" she called

"Yes, Mai?"

"I need your assistance in here" he wanted to ask why, but he keep it from his self.

"Want do you want to me to do?" he asked, she handed him the red chalk "Hold it, and draw three of that" she pointed a figure, he frown, it's a complicated figure, and I don't even know how to draw! he mentally yelled.

"Don't worry, I will guide your hand. Just hold that chalk okay?" she smile, assuring him. He just nodded. Mai put her hand above his' and start to draw the figures, she murmured a spell and made him dizzy, they continue to write some letters.

"I haven't seen a spell that have been done by two person" Lin stated

"Now, you've seen one" the twins said, and they continue watching the two.

"Thanks Gene" she said, and remove her hand, he's didn't feel the dizziness anymore since Mai remove her hand.

"You're welcome, Mai" he stood up, and went to where he was before.

She double check the letters and figures that she wrote and drawn, when it's okay, she lit up the four candles, "Come on Oliver" he went towards her "Lay your back down on the circle" he obeyed him without any arguments, Whatever Alex will do to you later, just obey her, and most importantly, trust her. It's for your own sake, he remembered what Rurik said to him earlier.

"It will hurt you, but no matter how much pain you will feel, I want you to endure it until the end. Understand?" she said worriedly

He looked at her eyes "Yeah. It will not affect my handsome face, right?" he teased

She rolled her eyes "Don't worry, it will not make your ugly face uglier." She heard him chuckled, and also from the people who's watching them.

She breathed deeply, and start chanting prayers and spells, Naru felt his body's burning, and he gasped from the pain in his chest. He failed to maintain his stoic feature as he winced and groaned, the circle started to glow, and the pain his chest getting sharper and sharper.

"I see, so that's why he will feel some pain, that's what's she's trying to do." Kir said as he crossed his hand on his chest.

"What do you mean?" Lin asked curiously

He didn't answered him, instead, he looked at Gene and asked "are you his buffer?" he nodded, "When you are not together, he can't recklessly use his PK?" he nodded again.

"So this is what she's talking about" Vlad said

"Hey, tell us what you are talking about. We don't understand any of it." Yasuhara whined

"Alex, set a buffer inside his body, thru a spell" En explained briefly to them

"WHAT?!" they almost yell

"Is that even possible? If there's a spell about that, I should've perform it to him before" Lin said with incredulity

"How would you know? It's from ancient Wiccan spell" Sashura raised his eyebrow at him

"How did she do it? Gene is his only buffer" Madoka asked worriedly

Rurik sighed and answered "That's why she asked Gene to assist her earlier."

"And, what about it?" Lin asked again

Boris looked at Gene "Earlier when Alex touched your hand, and made you draw the figures, did you feel something strange in your body?" he asked

Gene thought for a while "Now that you mention, I felt dizzy, when I heard her murmuring something" he stated

Rurik put his index finger on his chin "I see, so she took some part of your power and put it on the spell. She will make a lifetime buffer to his astounding PK power. After this day, he can now use Qigong without any worries about him dying." He explained

Lin widened his eyes "She can do that?"

"You just saw that she did" the twins sarcastically said together. It's like there are two Naru, Lin thought.

They looked at the two when they heard Naru whimpered from pain, the letters and figures float on the air, and starting to attach on his left chest, and the pain he feel become more and more intense.

"Arrgh!" Naru shouted from pain, he felt his tear flow from his eyes

"Bear with it! It's almost done!" Rurik shouted back at him.

"Noll…" Gene called worriedly.

The glowing stopped and Mai faced them, "Half way done" she said breathlessly

Gene and Lin went to help Naru, and gasped when they saw a red half-circle drawn on his left chest, "It's not yet complete, rest for an hour. I will need your maximum energy to complete that circle" she explained, and stood up. "Gah! I'm so hungry, it took the energy on my stomach!" she went impatiently on the kitchen and eat some food.

"Noll, how do you feel?" Gene asked worriedly

"I feel like burning, and my chest really hurts, it's like being stabbed with one-hundred knives" he described, he tried to sit down but Rurik stopped him, "You should lay down and rest" he commanded, he have no choice but to obey without complain.

After an hour…

She saw Naru already up, she went towards him "Come, we will going to the forest." She said.

"What are you going to do at the forest?" Lin asked

"Can we come and watch?" Ayako also asked

"Sure. You can all come with us" she agreed

Both teams are on the van, they're on their way to a secluded huge forest. But when they started to walk, they notice some cracks on the land, on the huge rocks, and on the trees.

"What happen here?" Ayako asked softly

"This is where Alex usually perform her experiment on PK" the twins said

"Mai can also use Qigong?" Lin asked abruptly

"You didn't know?" Kir asked back, and they shook their heads

They stopped when Mai and Naru stopped on a front of a huge solid rock.

"Oliver, I want you to smash that thing into pieces, the same way you used when you smashed down that small altar when we are at the cursed house case before, okay?" she smiled at him.

"EH?!" they all whined

"Remember, use your maximum power. Don't worry about anything, just do what I told you to do" she added

He sighed "Fine." He position his self but Mai called him again.

"Before I forget, remove your shirt and wait for my signal to say go" she explained.

"Got it!" he tossed his coat and shirt to his brother, he's on his position again, he put his hand on the air, and he gathered all of his energy and PK on his hand, strange, it didn't hurt, he thought, he imagine his PK as a sword. The people who are watching, notice that when he gathered his energy the mark on chest starting to move slowly, completing the circle, on the other hand, the IPR saw Mai winced a little, they went to her and supporting her.

"Go!" she shouted.

Upon hearing her voice he slashed his full-powered PK onto the rock, and breaks into pieces, and he feel the pain on his chest again, but it stopped after a few minutes, and he feels fine, in fact totally fine!

"Naru!" the SPR team called with concern

"Are you okay? How do you feel?" Gene asked immediately

"Yeah. I totally feel fine. I don't know how Mai did it."

The mark on his chest glowed for a while, and then stopped, the buffer seal is now complete.

"They said, using Gene's ability to buffer your power, Mai set a lifetime buffer to your power, inside your body, thru spell. Something like that" Yasu explained hastily.

"Where's jou-chan?" Bou-san asked and his question was answered with a screamed from a distance.

"ALEX!" they heard Vlad's screamed, they all gasped when they saw an unconscious Mai, carried by her assistant followed by a very worried Vlad.

"What happen to her?!" Gene asked worriedly

"She's unconscious." Kir said plainly, he walked out from the other team following Rurik and Vlad, the SPR noticed how he clenched his fist.

"Why did she chose this method?" Sasha whispered to his brother

"Because he will be in great pain if she finished it with a spell" Sashura whispered back

"Tsk! She's being reckless" Boris stated angrily, and Naru heard what he just said.

"Tell me what happen to Mai, why is she unconscious?" he demanded for an answer, but they just looked at him, no plan of telling him anything.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" En said irritably, but his brother grabbed his arm and stopped him

"We want to know what happen to Mai, and I know you know it, En. Tell us." Lin was seething

"It's none of your business." He brush off his brother's grip. He started to walk out from the forest, and the others followed him.

"Of course it is our business!" Naru and Gene both yelled at him

"Fine! The damage, she took the damage from you, into her! Now, are you satisfied?!" he yelled back

Their eyes widened for a moment, Boris and the twins sighed. "What do you mean she took the damage from Naru?" Bou-san asked worriedly

When no one tried to answer, Boris answered it for them "In order to complete the spell, he must first feel the same pain when using Qigong – for the last time feeling it – but only the pain, not the dying part"

"But instead, Alex took it away from you. She don't want you to feel that kind of pain again, that's what she told us earlier" Sashura continued, the others are still dumbfounded from what they come to know – especially Naru!

"Did you noticed why you have to wait for Alex's signal to strike?" En asked angrily, they didn't answer "It's because she's preparing the spell to remove the damage from you, and she braced herself from the pain" he continued

"Why did she do that?" Masako asked, she's worried about her, to think that she would go this far just for Naru, if it was me, will I do the same thing too? she asked herself, she thought for awhile, Probably not. I love myself too much, to get hurt to that extent for someone else's sake, she thought.

"Isn't there any another method?" John asked too, Masako – who's beside him – nodded in agreement.

"There is. But, Oliver will be in a great, great, great, great, pain, and she didn't want him to feel that." Sasha said

"So, she chose this method instead." Sashura added.

Idiot! Why are you so reckless! Why are you so altruistic! Naru thought angrily and sadly. "She will be okay, right?" he asked for an assurance.

The twins looked at each other, "Maybe? But I know she will be okay, it was Alex that we're talking about." Sahura smiled at them.

"You work with her before right? You should know how stubborn that girl is" Boris softly chuckled

They smiled as they remember the time when she's with them "Yeah, you're right." They agreed softly

When they reached the van, they all hopped in. Mai's still unconscious, and she's in Kir's arm now, she should be in my arms, not his', Naru thought.

"Is Mai-chan gonna be okay?" John asked worriedly

"Yeah. Don't worry. Her shikis are doing their job." Vlad assure him with a smile

"We should hurry to go to the hospital" Ayako suggested immediately

"That's not necessary, we already have a reliable doctor onboard" he looked at Boris, who just smirked. They all looked at the young brunette when they heard a groan coming from her.

"Arrgh! Dammit! I can't believe it would still hurt like this, even if it was sealed half-way." She whined.

"MAI!" she looked at them, and smile, "Sorry for making you worry, guys"

"Idiot, we're beyond worried" Bou-san stated angrily

"Oliver, are you okay?" she asked, and he just glared at her.

"Yeah. Why did you do such reckless thing Mai?" he's worried, totally worried

"Because, as you said, I'm reckless." She teasingly smile at him, and he heard him groaned from defeat, "is the mark on your chest now, a full a circle?" she sobered

"Yeah." He said "and thank you" he added softly, Mai faced him immediately, and the SPR team staring at him, he raised his eyebrow "what?" he asked

"Did you just say 'thank you'?" Mai asked him surprisingly

He raised his eyebrow "Didn't you hear it?" she also raised his eyebrow

"That's Naru for you, answering your question with a question" Yasu stated

Gene grinned at her, "Mai, I won. You owe me 2000 euro" he happily stated.

She groaned "Fine. Later when we got home." Naru questioningly looked at his brother

"You're betting?" Vlad asked

"Yeah." She answered plainly

"On what?" Madoka asked too

"If Oliver will say 'thank you' or not. I bet on he won't" she chuckled, "to think that I will lose. I'm so confident that he won't say 'thank you'" she uttered. Naru, on the other hand, don't know what to feel – to be amused or insulted – he just smirked at her.

"I want you take a rest when we got home, okay? I know you're tired, you had a concert two nights ago, and earlier at the office, you went out of control, and today, you used quite amount of magic." Kir said softly at her, as he brushed the hair on her forehead, and kissed it, he still cradle her in his arm. She nodded as she close her eyes.

The rest of ride was silent, the air in the car becomes suffocating, as they sensed someone's jealousy, murderous glares at the guy sitting on the passenger's seat, and constant gnashing and clenching his fist.

Take that Naru, that's the price from hurting her before, the SPR team thought, while they're delighting seeing their young boss' jealousy!