Chapter 11
Sorry this took so long! A huge thank you to everyone who favorited/followed and/or reviewed my story!
Ebullience: the quality of being cheerful and full of energy; exuberance
Slowly, the light invades Mai's senses, along with the rough, scratchy, lumpy surface below her. Then, the sound of voices. Everything seems slow, blurry. A sharp pain radiates from her skull.
"Water," Mai croaks.
"Here," Ayako says, placing her arm behind Mai's shoulders and assisting her in sitting up. For a moment, the room seems to spin. She places a glass to her lips, tipping it up. Mai takes a few sips, muttering a quick, "thank you." Quickly, Ayako points a flashlight at her eyes, which is not helping the headache, and asks her to point where the worst of the pain is. Mai obliges, flinching when Ayako inspects the injury.
"How are you feeling, Mai?" Bou-san asks, surprisingly gentle. Said girl smiles weakly, already feeling the pull on her eyelids.
"Tired," Mai murmurs softly.
"Sleep, Mai. I'll wake you when we leave," Ayako assures her.
"WHAT?!" Bou-san demands. "YOU CAN'T LET HER SLEEP; SHE HAS A CONCUSSION!"
"Having fatigue after a brain injury is completely normal!" Ayako hisses.
That's the last thing she remembers.
"How are you feeling, Mai? You gave us quite the scare," John says, smiling gently. Ayako checks her pupils again before nodding in knowing satisfaction. The injury is perfectly healed, her dizziness and pain gone.
"Better," she assures him, pulling herself up into a sitting position, this time without Ayako's help. "How's the case coming along?"
"Naru seems to think that he has it solved. Again."
"What's the theory this time?" Mai asks curiously.
"Won't say," Ayako growls. "But at least he finally realized it isn't land subsidence." Mai nods, frowning. She hopes this case will get over soon; she wants to know what's at the bottom of all the mysteries and is aware that she's not experienced enough to figure it out on her own. Something Naru loves pointing out.
"How long was I unconscious?" she asks no one in particular. Unsurprisingly, her mentor is the one who answers. "A couple minutes; not long. Your pupils were responsive to my penlight, you seemed to understand the situation at hand, though I'm guessing there was dizziness, and a headache?" Mai nods. "Obvious fatigue-"
"So, as expected, then." Mai nods. She knew as much; her PK-LT assures such self-awareness.
"Yes," Ayako agrees, studying her protege. "You fell asleep for a couple hours, though I'm surprised this idiot," she gestures to Bou-san, "didn't wake you." As the two start bickering, as usual, Mai finds her thoughts returning to the basement.
"Hey, Naru?" she asks, looking over at the researcher, who stands next to Lin-san at the monitors. "Is there a heat source downstairs? A boiler room or something?"
"The basement is about sixteen degrees Celsius. What do you think, Mai?" She bristles, glaring.
"Sorry, Narcissist. I was just wondering since the bookshelf was warm." She frowns thoughtfully.
"Do you remember what the cause of the knocking sound was, Mai?"
"Uh-you mentioned a...poltergeist! Yes, that was it."
"'Poltergeist' is German for 'noisy ghost'," John explains. "They occur when objects are manipulated by supernatural beings."
"As you noticed with the bookshelf," Naru says, turning to face the group. "It also produces heat when an object is manipulated by such an entity."
"Huh," Mai murmurs. "Well, now we know that there is something paranormal going on-and have evidence to prove it," she says brightly. Bou-san shakes his head, muttering to himself.
"On that note," Ayako says, "I'm going to take Mai home."
"But-" Mai protests.
"No," Ayako says staunchly. "You're going home; a head injury is enough for one day." Mai opens her mouth to argue, but, seeing Ayako's smirk, snaps her mouth shut and glares fiercely instead.
"Fine," she grumbles.