Sorry for not updating, I could give you all sorts of reasons but in short I get distracted way too easily. I've had part of this done for months but figured you'd want more than just 1000 words. I also made this chapter more Lin centric if you didn't already notice that yourself. Each chapter will lean more towards one character to see their own growth within the group.
Thank you for all the follows and reviews!
I don't own Ghost Hunt or its characters! (I've become very fond of exclamation points recently!)
SPR Case File Status: Open
Chapter 11: Great Things Come in Small Packages
"Hello, I am the principal of this school Hotaka Kita." The man was tall and thin with large coke bottle glasses. He bowed to the room and when he stood up the tired look in his eyes revealed more about the situation than his words ever could.
Mai pulled out a chair for him to sit down in while the others found comfortable spots in the base. Mai grabbed the hot water canister she had packed on her way out of her house and part of the reason she was late. She poured tea for everyone leaving enough tea for Naru to have seconds and thirds.
"We are all here Mr. Kita you may begin." Naru didn't comment on Mai's brilliant idea to bring hot water and Mai couldn't stop herself from stomping over to her seat and siting down hard glaring at the ungrateful jerk.
"Well you see the boy we suspect to be the perpetrator for all of this is unfortunately deceased as strange as that might sound…" Mr. Kita appeared more nervous after mentioning their dilemma. "At first the challenges were few and far between but slowly they grew in number until we could not go a week without someone being challenged. The last challenge as you know sent a student to the hospital. We are lucky our students are of age and the boy chose not to sue, most likely if our students were minors the school would be sued heavily by the parents and we would shut down." Mr. Kita took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brows.
"Sir, not to be rude but shouldn't you be more worried about the students safety rather than the school finances?" Ayako couldn't help but feel skeptical that this man was meant for the educational field, his last statement felt more like something you here from a cutthroat business man.
"My apologies until now everything was treated as accidents so the students safety wasn't at risk but it isn't until recently we decided there was… something behind this." The principle looked up and a bit of doubt filled his gaze as he looked upon the motley crew that made up the ghost busting team.
"Is there a problem with us being here Mr. Kita?" Leave it to Naru to be rudely blunt about things. Mai felt like banging her head against the wall, her boss may be very smart and perceptive but he had the social skills of a two year old.
"What he means to say sir is, do you have any doubts that this is supernatural and why?" Mai knew that wasn't what Naru meant because he was asking the principle if he doubted their abilities but Mai figured it would be best to avoid a subject closely related to her boss's pride. Many of times before she had seen him put grown men in their place over are credibility in a way that made more enemies than friends.
"I honestly don't believe in ghosts myself but I bought into this to get the staff and board of education of my back. I feel that this could be one of our teachers testing his mettle against the students and blaming it on a long dead genius." The principal shifted in his chair obviously uncomfortable about the implications of what he said. Not believing in ghosts basically stated not believing in their way of earning a living. Mai could tell he wasn't the aggressive sort on non-believer and more like the passive sort but that wouldn't stop Naru.
Mai saw a glint in Naru's eye that the others caught too, Lin and her were the only ones not leaning forward in anticipation of his most likely scathing remark on their employer's obvious doubt towards their credibility. Mai and Lin were dreading another pissed off client to deal with remembering Yasuhara's school's case. Mai thought to herself, why does this always happen to us? Can't he put aside his pride for just one second?
"Mr. Kita – " Lin, surprisingly not Mai, was too late to stop Naru and both assistants watched on with dread, poorly concealed on Mai's part.
"Mr. Kita you are not the first client we've had that doesn't believe in the supernatural. We may hunt ghosts so to speak but that does not mean we will ignore the truth in favor of entertaining supernatural fantasies that have no bases. We are SPR "Shibuya Psychic Research" founded to study and resolve activity of the supernatural sort where there is such activity. If this phenomenon comes from a source that is not under our field of study we will inform you immediately and hand it over the professionals. I have yet to have claimed to solve a case of the supernatural sort when it was not, though the opposite has happened before." Naru paused to give Mr. Kita his best superior look before giving the finishing blow. "Whether you believe in ghosts or not, you hired us so, we will do our job even if you don't expect us to."
Poor Mr. Kita's jaw dropped staring at the very young boss who seemed twice his age after that little speech. Mr. Kita had to admit the boy had a presence that intimidated him slightly. He gave a short nod taking that better than Mai and Lin expected him to. Mai let a small sigh of relief escape making Naru send her a glare and Lin a small smirk of understanding that luckily Naru didn't see or both assistants would be doing overtime tonight (not that Lin doesn't always do overtime anyways). Surprisingly, Naru spoke more than ever before in this sort of situation and Mai thought for sure this would result in a more angry response.
"Is that all you have for us?" Mr. Kita jumped. Mai gently pushed his cup of tea into his hand that he had left on the table and he sent her a grateful look. Mr. Kita nodded to Naru then quickly drank his tea and bowed on his way out of the door.
"I think you scared him Naru." Monk smiled teasingly only to shiver as a cold glare chilled his general area. Ayako gave him a rough elbow to the ribs that jostled poor John next to him, who dropped half of his piping hot tea into the unsuspecting Masako's lap, which had her leaping up and spilling all of her tea on Lin and his notebook. Mai stared on with horror at Lin drenched in scalding hot tea and the little splotches left on Naru's shirt and pants from the splash. Luckily Mai sat at the end of the row so she was unharmed. It was one of those moments where innocent bystanders got dragged into a long standing war and the mess landed on the person you least wanted involved, Lin.
Mai snapped out of her daze before everyone else and quickly grabbed two dish towels running one under cold water in the bathroom down the hall for Lin's hands and forearms that got hit directly by the hot tea. She found them right where she left them in a daze though Naru wasn't in a daze but intently focused on his drenched assistant who appeared to be lightly shaking in what she assumed to be rage. So, Mai went to him first. "Lin, you should take that shirt off and put this towel on your arms to prevent burns…" Mai tugged the notebook out of his vice grip and had to pry the pen/dangerous weapon out of his hands. He refocused when she dabbed at his red hands and arms.
"Let me take off the shirt Mai." Lin was under his control again and no longer entertaining murderous thoughts spurred by watching his entire notebook get drenched in black tea along with a very nice white dress shirt. Those children just can't behave. Damn, the notebooks trash. A few more days of data lost. He pulled the shirt over his head and Mai frowned when she saw red blotches all over his torso and probably his back too. Mai disappeared again and came back with several disposable towels whetted down.
"Sit forward Lin I can't reach your back." Lin sat forward unquestioningly but jumped at the coolness covering the burns that until now he didn't realize were so hot. "I'll cool these down and then check the nurse's office for some aloe cream to rub on it." Lin gave a short nod and tugged the wet dish towel onto his arms.
"That's not really you color." Naru couldn't help but jab at Lin in his half naked state, covered in wet paper towels, and a neon pink towel across his fore arms with a small flower stitched on the corner. Naru wouldn't admit it but he felt strangely annoyed when Mai asked Lin to strip for her or when she looked over his torso with such intense scrutiny.
"Naru can you check on Masako she might have gotten burned." Mai usually wouldn't help the enemy by giving Masako an opportune chance to flirt with Naru but she didn't want to leave Masako's burns, if she had any, not treated because she knew Masako, unlike Lin, would not cooperate with Mai under any circumstances. Sending Naru at least would snap the four frozen people out of their daze. "Lin does your back feel better?" Mai focused on Lin's faces catching the almost imperceptible wince (a tightening of the skin near his eyes).
"Yes"
"Don't lie to me Lin it will only make this worse. Does your back still hurt?"
"No" Lin moved forward again pulling the skin on his back and made a slightly more visible wince meaning a twitch near his left eye.
"Lin, are you lying to me? If you are I swear you will regret it later." Mai remained focused on his eyes that would not meet hers.
"No" Lin made the mistake of straightening out to prove his point thus stretching the burnt skin to the max, amplifying the pain and making the only relief, the cool cloths, fall off giving him the full brunt of burning hot pain. Lin actually winced fully, his face briefly showing the full extent of his pain.
Naru knew he had seen this scene before just not from this perspective but when was it? It couldn't be tha –
"Lin you are acting like Naru: childish." Right, that is why the scene was so familiar to Naru, the pills incident. Mai's insult was not lost on either of the stoic men and left Lin in mild shame and Naru in pure outrage. Naru turned from his direction towards the four frozen coworkers and stalked towards Mai.
"Take that back, I am not childish, I merely know that my body doesn't require medicine to recuperate because I'm strong enough to recuperate on my own." Naru looked down at Mai with his usual condescending look but found it only returned by an exasperated one.
"My point proven, that's a reluctant child's desperate logic in order not to take medicine that is scientifically proven, your favorite type of proven might I add, to ease and speed up your recuperation so you can get back to work sooner, which might I again add is what you apparently live for." Mai's surprisingly winning argument woke up the four guilty persons in the corner who watched, now mildly shocked into speechlessness, Naru's speechlessness. Mai had just used a few of Naru's favorite things against him.
"Your right Mai, I apologize for acting like Naru. No, my back is not feeling better; in fact it hurts quite a bit along with my chests and arms. What would you suggest I do?" Lin couldn't help but get back at Naru for his jab a few moments before and decided while he's at it to pay him back double. Naru remained speechless as did the guilty four after watching the stoic ever-polite and the sweet head-over-heels in love assistants face the dragon and win, so to speak.
"Why thank you Lin. Let's move the wet cloths over to the front but keep the one on your arms there since those burns will be the worst. Naru, I thought I told you to check on Masako what are you still doing standing there?" Naru blinked and moved over to Masako still obviously stunned into momentary obedience. Monk, Ayako, and John just continued to stare at Mai leaning over the half-naked Lin helping him re-situate and practically sitting on his lap to reach behind him to get the dropped cloths that he couldn't reach because turning made the burns hurt too much. She had to work in that position because if she stood behind him her arm would reach at a weird angle and touch the burns on his back but from the front she could watch where her arm went and also better asses Lin's burns to make sure he wasn't playing them off to be less than they are. What happened while we were frozen in fear and shock? All three turned to see Naru talking softly to Masako as if he was scared to stir the burning coals behind him. He still was acting the same with Masako, very formal and to the point but at a much lower volume.
"What happened?" Monk whispered to the other two and saw them shake their heads in their own confusion literally seeing the tension in the air.
"You couldn't behave, that's what happened, so why don't you three make yourselves useful and go get some aloe from the nurse's office." Surprisingly this came from Mai and not Naru, who was still keeping to himself helping Masako who burned her hands that were over her lap but luckily her kimono is thick and kept her legs from getting burned.
"Right! We'll do that!" All three rushed out in a hurry and breathed a sigh of relief once they made it out the door.
"Mai's being rather unusual. She's being really… concerned over Lin recently. Do you think she switched over to him?" Monk looked back over his shoulder where Mai was inside still fussing over Lin to emphasize his point.
"Nah, I think she just is worried because he seems vulnerable without his laptop always on and at the ready, I mean you hardly saw him without it. Probably just her being her usual kind self and helping him get by without it." Ayako put her finger to her chin in her classic thinking mode. When the door slid open behind her.
"We can still here you from inside the room. Stop slacking off and do what you were told." For the first time and probably the last they were grateful it was Naru and not Mai. He was still scary but it was more of a warning to them that they were skating on thin ice and should leave before either assistant loses their temper more than they already have.
Naru was momentarily distracted by what monk had said, do you think she switched over to him… switched over from what? Is Mai planning to do something to Lin and who is she switching from? Naru walked back to Masako without really looking around but some shuffling caught his eye. He turned and saw Mai trying to get one of the cloths that got stuck in a crevice of the chair and ended up straddling Lin's lap with her knees on both sides of his thighs. Naru didn't know where to begin with his two assistant's indecent looking situation.
Mai was getting frustrated and as much as she'd like to just go behind Lin or ask him to move so she could get the cloth, she knew it would aggravate his already very hurt back. Mai huffed in annoyance and scooted closer till her chest almost met Lin's bare one still trying to get a better grip on the cloth stuck in the crevice between the seat and armrest. Mai then realized reaching over his back might be part of the problem so she sat down and reached around the side of him.
What Mai didn't realize was she just sat down on Lin's lap in a very intimate way. Lin didn't particularly think much of it because over the time Mai had been working together with him he couldn't count the number of times he's hugged her. Usually he's is saving her from a ghost or a really nasty fall on her face but on the occasion she would give him a hug out of the blue. Lin decided she was just an affectionate person and didn't care much if she hugged him especially since he was comfortable around her for the most part. It didn't mean he liked hugs but he wouldn't stop her if the situation made it necessary.
Naru, however, was not pleased at all to see Mai straddling and hugging Lin and didn't see anything necessary about it. "What do you think you are doing Mai?" Naru must have forgotten he was in the proverbial dog house and returned to his less than polite manners; unfortunately for him Mai had not forgotten.
"Helping Lin because he was mature enough to know when he needs it. Are you done helping Masako? If you are then maybe you could get a towel to clean up that mess." Mai finally grabbed the cloth and scooted off Lin's lap to go soak it in cool water again. She didn't even stop to glance Naru's way as she left.
"I'm so sorry Lin for spilling my tea on you." Masako looked warily at Lin who may not have blown up like Mai but seemed tense none the less.
"Miss Hara it was not your fault but it is Miss Matsuzaki and Takigawa who should be apologizing." Lin tried to soften his gaze to reassure her and it must have worked because she relaxed. Masako realized she was staring at a very attractive half naked man and couldn't hide the blush that overtook her face.
Naru was beginning to believe he had walked into a different dimension. Miss Hara was blushing over Lin, Mai was scolding him (though that wasn't so unusual), and Lin was treating him like a child (though that wasn't so unusual either); however, more than anything though Naru was bothered by the stronger relationship between his two assistants. He never imagined seeing them being friends because of Lin's aversion towards Japanese people but right before his eyes Mai had been sitting on Lin's lap.
"Miss Hara, do you sense anything in the school?" When things got emotional Naru always knew he could turn to his favorite subject, work.
"Ah, y-yes I can faintly sense a presence. He was there when we came in and was observing us but he left when the principal showed up…" Masako couldn't look anyone in the eye at the moment so she stared fixedly at the floor willing the blush in her cheeks to go down. She had felt the presence of the boy before but he didn't approach close enough for her to get a good reading.
"So there is a ghost?" John's quiet voice startled Masako who had her back turned away from the door. Ayako and Monk peeked in searching for the familiar short brown hair.
"Well if Masako is correct we can assume there is something." Naru sat down at his chair and reached for his tea that thankfully was not harmed in the tea accident. "I want John and Masako to do a run through of the school after her burns are treated. Lin, Mai and I will stay here and interview anyone who was attacked. Takigawa and Miss Matsuzaki will lay out the equipment and while doing so work out their personal problems so they won't further interfere with the work place." Naru gave them a hard stare that made them both shudder a bit.
"Are you sure Naru they might break your precious equipment in one of their quarrels." Mai stepped into the room with a wet cloth for Lin and handed a dry cloth to both Matsuzaki and Takigawa so they could clean up the mess. She spilt some aloe on Naru's hand and pointed him towards Masako before turning back to Lin.
After all the wounds were treated and Monk and Ayako apologized to Lin everyone set out to work. Mai sat down at her desk with at least twenty names and sighed. This was going to be a very long case.