Previously:

"Taniyama-san!" Lin shouted, bursting into the room. His eyes widened he saw that both girls were now being dragged.

"Lin-san!" Hitomi yelled.

"Matsumoto-san!" He yelled, diving across the floor to grab them. He managed to reach Hitomi, who grabbed onto Mai.

"Ah!" Hitomi gasped. Her eyes widened in horror as Mai's hands were pulled from of hers.

"!" They all cried out in alarm when Mai disappeared over the edge of the well.

"Maaai!"

Case 2: Doll House (Part 6)

"Mai!" Hitomi and Ayako called out, trying to rouse her while Lin tied off some rope they had managed to find. Thankfully, with the well having been filled in, Mai didn't actually have that long to fall, but it was still a fair distance down. And Mai wasn't moving.

"It's my fault…" Hitomi said, biting her lip. "If I had held on tighter…"

"Don't blame yourself." Ayako said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You did the best you could. Now, come on. We need to see if we can get her to wake up. Mai!"

"Mai!"

"Hitomi…?" Mai mumbled as she finally stirred and pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Ayako?"

"She's awake!" Ayako exclaimed excitedly.

"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?" Hitomi shouted anxiously.

"No… I'm fine! I'm all right!" Mai shouted back.

"Thank goodness!" Hitomi exclaimed as she and Ayako heaved huge sighs of relief. "Lin-san's coming down to help you get out!"

'That's right… I fell into the well…' Mai thought as she looked around, still a little dazed from her dream. Lin lowered the rope and climbed down into the well with her.

"Any injuries?" He asked.

"Nope." Mai answered, as she stood up, brushing herself off.

"Hand me the chair." He told Ayako and Hitomi, who carefully lowered the chair down to him. Lin set the chair down and used that to give him a boost while lifting Mai up to help her climb out. It was much easier and faster than having them both climb out using the rope.

–∞–

"Huh? A kidnapper?" Ayako asked after Mai had finished recounting the dream she had while she was unconscious in the well to them about how this place had been a traditional Japanese house before, and a little girl had been taken away by a strange man, leaving her mother in so much despair that she committed suicide.

"I think so…" Mai said. "The girls was probably kidnapped by that man, and never came back. So then, she threw herself down the well. Hey, do you think my dream meant anything?"

"Hmph. You're not even a psychic, so why would your dream have any meaning?" Ayako asked as she applied a band-aid to Mai's scraped knee, giving it a little smack.

"Ow!" Mai said, wincing slightly.

"No, surprisingly enough, she may have hit the mark." Lin said thoughtfully.

"It certainly makes sense in this situation…" Hitomi agreed.

"Huh? You think so?" Mai asked, getting excited.

"We don't know if it's true or false, though." Lin reminded her, bursting her bubble. Mai let out a sigh and flopped back onto the couch.

'I wonder if he saw my underwear…' Mai thought, sweat-dropping. 'I should stop wearing skirts to work, or start wearing shorts or leggings underneath them…'

"Well, what should we do now?" Ayako asked as Mai drifted off to sleep. "It's impossible for me to exorcise her."

"I really don't think we should try again tonight after what just happened." Hitomi said, sweat-dropping. "Maybe we should just wait for Naru to get back? He probably has something in mind…"

"I think that would probably be best." Lin agreed. He'd rather not have to rescue anyone else for awhile…

–∞–

"Are we really going to be okay, Naru-chan!?" Bou-san demanded loudly, waking Mai, who looked extremely surprised upon noticing that Naru was in the room.

"Lin, play back everything that's been recorded so far." Naru said, taking off his jacket.

"Oh, you're awake! Guess what? Our fearless leader's back." Hitomi remarked with a smile, looking down at Mai as she leaned against the sofa she was on. "Is something wrong?" She asked, noticing Mai's face looked a little flushed.

"Naru, you're back!?" Mai asked as she shot up off the sofa, as if she hadn't heard a word Hitomi just said.

"I'm right here, aren't I?" He replied with a touch of sarcasm, obviously wondering if she had hit her head while he was gone. Mai grimaced and clenched her fist.

'No doubt about it, it's really him…' She thought, chagrined. "Ah. Huh!?" Mai said, taken aback when she realized everyone else had returned as well.

" 'Sup." Bou-san greeted her with a small wave.

"What do you mean 'Sup'? What are you doing here?" Mai asked. "What about Ayami-chan and Noriko-san!?" Weren't he and John supposed to be with them!?

"We left them at the hotel." He replied. "That's what Naru told us to do."

"Will they be safe there!?" Mai asked, rounding on Naru.

"They should be fine." Naru answered calmly. "We're going to close this case tonight."

"Are you serious!?" Mai asked excitedly.

"I take it you've found something?" Hitomi asked.

"Of course." He said coolly. "What did you think I was doing while I was gone? All of you were here, but you've only made matters worse."

"Well, maybe if a certain someone had left behind more specific instructions…" Hitomi retorted sarcastically with a blindingly radiant shit-eating grin as a vein throbbed on her forehead.

'Whoa… H-Hitomi-sempai's actually angry…" Mai thought, sweat-dropping. How scary…

"That's right! Give us a break!" Ayako huffed indignantly. "You don't know what we've been through. This spirit is unbelievably difficult to deal with!"

"That's pretty obvious judging by how intense this poltergeist has been." Naru retorted. "The root of the problem is very clear. The mother is looking for her child. She just wants her daughter back."

"Even I knew that!" Ayako snapped with a vein throbbing on her forehead. Did he think they were idiots!?

"So, we need to unite them." Naru continued, ignoring her. "But of course, it would be impossible to bring Tomiko back to life, and meaningless to do so anyway. Tomiko would be an adult now, and her mother wouldn't understand."

"Then, what…?" Hitomi asked.

"Hara-san, What are the spirits doing?" Naru asked. Masako closed her eyes and focused on sensing their presence.

"They're all in the living room." She said. "They still haven't tried to leave for the hotel yet."

"Hey… Shouldn't we be worrying about our own safety too?" Ayako asked, still feeling uneasy after seeing Mai get dragged into that well.

"Huh?" Hitomi said.

"You can't mean you're going to abandon Ayami-chan!" Mai said, shocked.

"…But if we botch this, we could end up being turned into sitebound spirits ourselves." Bou-san said tentatively, scratching his head.

"You guys…!" Hitomi said, frowning in disappointment.

"It's okay, Mai, Hitomi." Naru said. "You guys can feel free to leave any time." He told the others. "I don't need you if that's the caliber or spiritualists you are."

"Do you really think it's possible to win?" Takigawa asked.

"You either believe in yourself, or you don't." Naru replied coolly. Ayako and Bou-san exchanged a glance.

"… Okay, maybe I'll trust Naru and stick around." Bou-san relented, sweat-dropping, a little ashamed for having almost given up so easily. "But I hope I don't die from being overworked."

"If you do, I'll be sure to pick up your bones at your funeral." Ayako commented, also sweat-dropping. There was no way she could leave now…

"Being Buddhist, I wouldn't be able to rest in peace if you had a Shinto style funeral for me." Bou-san retorted, a little chagrined.

Hitomi smiled, glad they had changed their minds.

'We're going to save the family… Ayami-chan, wait for us!' Mai thought, relieved that everyone had decided to cooperate.

"… At any rate, she has too many children spirits working for her for us to block. And she's the heart of the problem." Naru said, now that that was settled. Hitomi managed to get lucky that one time, but that was because he had caught the woman's spirit by surprise. "Unless we can lure her out of the well, it's futile."

"Yeah? Then what are we going to do?" Bou-san asked.

"We have to disperse the child spirits." Naru replied. "Matsuzaki-san? Please make some charms against evil spirits and hang them on all the walls in the house."

"The same charms we put in their hotel room?" She asked. "The spirits will break through them sooner or later."

"No problem." Naru said. "We'll set up a kekkai inside the house. Our main goal isn't preventing the spirits from going near Ayami-chan. It's to lock them up inside the house. Then we'll open up a kimon."

"What's a kimon?" Mai asked.

"I think he's referring to the northeastern quarter… the direction where they say it's easiest for evil spirits to pass through." Hitomi explained.

"Correct. If it's difficult for them to pass through everywhere else, then they'll pass through the kimon." Naru continued. "Bou-san and Matsuzaki-san, I want you to wait for the spirits to come out of the kimon."

"Then we disperse them, huh?" Bou-san asked.

"Yes. That's all you'll have to do." Naru confirmed.

"But won't they just go right back into the kimon?" Ayako asked.

"They only need to be dispersed for a short while. If we can reduce the number of spirits around the woman spirit, it should work." Naru said. "John, you stay in the living room and disperse the spirits there."

"Sure." John said.

"Well, then…"

"Hey, wait. They're all busy dispersing the children's spirits, then who's going to exorcise the woman's spirit?" Hitomi asked.

"No way…" They all said, staring at their favorite narcissist. Naru smirked.

–∞–

So, like Naru said, everyone put charms up throughout the house and moved into position. Ayako and Bou-san were in the kimon, with John in the living room with Naru. Masako, Mai, and Hitomi were also in the living room in case the woman appeared and was only visible on camera again. (And for moral support). Lin remained at base to monitor the entire process and to make sure everything was recorded properly.

"Let's get started." Naru said, signaling for John to begin.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name." He prayed, gently splashing some holy water.

"Masako?" Mai asked, surprised when the medium squeezed her arm.

"Are you okay? Should we take you back to base?" Hitomi asked. Being in this house must be really hard on her. Hitomi was glad she didn't have to deal with those kind of side-effects.

"No… I'm fine." Masako insisted, even though she looked really pale.

'She must want to be close to Naru pretty badly…' Mai thought, chagrined.

"There are two ways to exorcise a spirits." Masako said. "Jorei and jourei. Jourei means to talk to the spirit and help them through issues they have from a past life. It's a kind of purification to break their hold on this world. But that's something only a psychic medium can do. Naru is not a medium. He intends to exorcise the spirit by using jorei."

"And that's a bad thing?" Hitomi asked curiously. Masako glanced at her.

"Is this your first time seeing an exorcise performed with that eye?" She asked, referring to her blue one. Hitomi nodded. "Let's say you know someone who is a troublemaker. Jourei would be to try and talk to them to them so that they could reform themselves. Jorei would be to just kill them mercilessly."

"!" Hitomi said, perturbed by this revelation. She had never thought of it that way. No wonder Masako looked so disturbed…

"I would prefer it if Naru didn't do jorei, at least not in front of me." Masako finished.

'… That's right. To Masako and Hitomi-sempai, spirits and people would look the same…' Mai realized upon seeing how somber both of their expressions had become. "Kya!" Cried out in alarm when she was suddenly yanked forwarded by the arm.

"Mai!" Masako and Hitomi said urgently, helping her back up.

"I-I'm all right…" Mai said, rubbing her arm. 'Somebody pulled my arm…' She thought nervously.

"Here, take this." Hitomi said, handing over her omamori. "I think you need it more than I do. These kids seem to like picking on you."

"In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was God." John continued to pray. Form Mai's point of view, as strange vapor seemed to be rising from the well.

"Hara-san, Hitomi, how is it going?" Naru asked.

"They're trying to escape." Masako said, following the fleeing child spirits with her eyes. "There seems to be fewer of them now."

"They look confused." Hitomi added, frowning. "I don't think they know what to do. They're crying."

"Ne, can't you exorcise them using jourei?" Mai asked Masako.

"As long as the woman's spirit is around, that would be impossible." Masako replied, wishing she could do more for them. "!" She suddenly gasped while Hitomi tensed.

"What is it?" Mai asked.

"She's coming out…!" Hitomi said, furrowing her brow slightly. They all watched as a single drop of water flew up from the well and hit an invisible barrier.

PLUNK.

"… Tomiko…" The woman spirit moaned as she slowly rose up from the depths of the well.

"Tomiko-san is not here!" Masako said urgently, making a desperate attempt at a jourei before Naru exorcised her. "No matter hoe hard you look, she isn't here. Those other children are not Tomiko-san, so please set them free! They all want to return to their own mothers, so please…!" Masako gasped, covering her mouth, as a small hand creeped over the edge of the well, followed by more. It was the children… They were coming…!

"N-Nooo!" Mai screamed, holding onto Masako, while Hitomi covered them both. John threw himself in front of the girls to defend them, but before he could do anything, he was forcefully thrown aside.

WHAM!

"John!" Mai and Hitomi cried in alarm when he slammed into a wall.

"Mai!" Hitomi shouted when the younger girl shot off to check on him. "Be careful! Use the holy water if they come near!" Hitomi shuddered when the woman's cold, half-lidded eyes landed on her. The look in the spirit's eyes sent a chill up her spine. It was at this point that Naru stepped forward. The woman's eyes left her as the spirit turned its attention on him.

"Naru, please don't!" Masako pleaded earnestly as he advanced towards the spirit in the well. "Wait a minute!"

"Naru!" Mai called out.

"Don't get too close!" Hitomi cautioned him.

Naru stopped several feet from the well.

"Your child is right here." Naru told the woman's spirit as he raised his hand, holding up a thin piece of wood in the shape of a stylized human figure. "Take the children you've gathered… and go home." He said, tossing the wooden figure into the air. Hitomi's eyes widened as she watched it sail through the air, surrounded by a soft, glowing light that grew bigger and brighter as it took the shape of a smiling child. It was a warm and gentle light, shining with the love of daughter for her mother.

'Ah… It's Tomiko-chan…' She thought, filled with wonder.

The woman spirit's eyes widened with hope as she reached out to hold the tiny hand of her happy daughter. A blindingly bright light filled the room as she held her long lost child. Hitomi smiled softly at the scene. It was so tender and kind…

'Good for you.' She thought.

"Mai, Hitomi, look." Masako said, also smiling, as the light began to spread to the children's spirits, and their tormented faces became happy smiling ones as they flew about the room, gathering around the reunited mother and child. The rising sun began to shine through the windows as the spirits peacefully departed.

"Naru…" Hitomi said as she stood up and approached him. "I'm not sure what did just now, but… That was amazing! It was really beautiful!" She praised him with shining eyes, smiling fondly as she gave him a pat on the shoulder. Naru sweat-dropped at her overly enthusiastic reaction, looking a little uncomfortable, as the others arrived. Lin hid a wry smile behind his hand when he saw the look on Naru's face. It was so subtle that someone who didn't know the boy extremely well would have missed it, but Lin had caught it. Somehow, Hitomi had managed to make Naru feel bashful… He really couldn't underestimate her, Matsumoto Hitomi.

"They're all gone." Masako reported a little stiffly, clearly not appreciating how close Hitomi was to Naru. "There are no more evil spirits in this house."

"What made them all leave?" Ayako asked. She and Bou-san had missed the main attraction being stuck back in another part of the house.

"She got what she wanted." Naru replied as if it should have been obvious. "She got her daughter back."

"Huh?" Ayako asked, sweat-dropping.

"You mean that piece of wood?" Mai asked. "What was that all about?" How did he get it to look like Tomiko-chan?

"Exactly what you saw." He replied. "A hitogata."

'And that is…?' Mai thought, sweat-dropping.

"Oh, you mean like the type of doll, whose name can also be written as katashiro, or 'replacement shape'?" Hitomi asked.

"Huh?" Mai asked aloud, looking extremely confused.

"My grandpa said before Japanese dolls became known as ningyō, they were more widely know by two different names: 'hina' and 'hitogata'. These names referred to the different categories certain types of dolls fit into. The dolls known as hitogata, written with the characters 'human' and 'shape', were used as a replacement for the human body in ceremonial rites to avert disaster, which included practices like floating the doll down the river." Hitomi explained.

"They're also the archetype for the straw effigy dolls used for cursing." Ayako added. "You take a piece of paulownia wood and carve it into the shape the of the person upon whom you want to cast a spell. But I thought that would be to put someone under a curse, since a hitogata is similar to wara ningyō."

"Spell casting always has both a light and a dark side." Naru explained patiently. "A white spell is used for a good cause, and a black spell is used to harm people. The same type of spell often has both light and dark combined and can be used to achieve both results."

"Right." Bou-san said. "In esoteric Buddhism, the methods of confounding one's enemies can be used either way as well."

"I see. But why would a hitogata be useful in jourei?" Mai asked.

"Hitogatas are a yorishiro for the spirits." Naru replied.

"And what's a yorishiro?" Mai asked.

"A container for the spirit to go into. If I were to pattern a hitogata after you, that hitogata would be come your double." He told her. "If I were to do harm to your hitogata, you would actually be harmed as well." Mai flinched just imagining it. "That's how close a hitogata becomes to the real person. That Hitogata represented Tomiko. The woman spirit thought of it as her own daughter, as if she were reuniting with her own child. That's why she left to rest in peace."

"I'm impressed you made that hitogata." Bou-san told Naru. "Is that why you had to leave for awhile?"

"Yes. And I needed to learn more about her past life."

"Huh… And?"

"The woman's name is Hiro Oshima. This house was built where her house used to stand. Tomiko was her only child. But one day Tomiko disappeared… and six months later Tomiko's dead body was found in their pond."

"Had Tomiko been kidnapped?" Lin asked.

"Possibly." Naru replied. "The woman then…"

"… Committed suicide by throwing herself down the well." Ayako finished. Naru's eyes widened very slightly in surprise.

'Ah. Looks like we've got a 'bingo'…' Hitomi thought. Maybe Mai's dream was more than just a dream after all…

"I'm not positive about that part." Naru told her. "But anyway, I just needed Tomiko's date of birth to properly make the hitogata."

"I see, so you were planning a jourei from the start." Hitomi said with a smile before adopting a more serious expression. "I just have one more question… What happens if a doll is made in someone's likeness, but there's no birth date or name on it?"

"Most likely nothing." Naru said. "It's very difficult to cast a spell using an incomplete hitogata like that."

"Oh, good." She said with a sigh of relief. "For a moment there, I was starting to get a little nervous."

"Eh? Why?" Mai asked.

"My grandpa's made a few dolls modeled after me over the years that could technically fall under the category of hitogata…" She explained with a wry smile. "Some parents measure height, my grandpa marks milestones with dolls."

"That… That sounds kind of amazing, Sempai…" Mai said, sweat-dropping. Did that mean there were little versions of Hitomi scattered about the house…?

"It's too early to relax." Naru said strictly. "Our job isn't quite finished yet. The spirits may be gone, but we still have to submit our report to the client and break base." He reminded them as he left the room, followed by Lin.

"Wow." Bou-san remarked as he stood up and brushed himself off. "But still, who would have thought that Naru was an onmyouji?"

"Onmyouji? Like that Abe no what's-his-name that Hitomi-sempai's class dressed her up as on our first case?" Mai asked.

"Yep. An onmyouji is a master of the way of Onmyou." Hitomi stated.

"On… what?" Mai asked, sweat-dropping.

"Heh. I didn't think you'd know." Bou-san commented with a wry smile. "How can I explain… Well, the way of Onmyou is a type of spell that originated in China many centuries ago. The tradition was then brought to Japan. The spell of the hitogata is part of the tradition of the way of Onmyou. Hitogata is also practiced in the Shinto religion. Exorcising that woman's spirit by using a human charm to conjure up the likeness of Tomiko's spirit was a very complicated task. One would assume that only a master of the way of Onmyou could use such a technique."

"Amazing, isn't it?" Ayako remarked. "An onmyouji, I mean."

"Yeah, amazing." Hitomi agreed, clapping. "Bou-san's explanation, too."

"Is really that amazing, onmyouji?" Mai asked.

"I think it's kind of cool." Ayako replied. Hitomi nodded in agreement. Very cool.

–∞–

"Truly, thank you very much." Noriko said once again as she was seeing them off. "My brother says he'll return as soon as he can."

"Really? I'm glad." Mai said, smiling.

"But, um… are you sure everything is all right now?" Noriko-san asked a bit hesitantly.

"You shouldn't have to worry." Naru replied calmly. "But if it bothers you, I would suggest moving. That would probably give you more peace of mind."

"Mai-chan, Hitomi-chan, will you come visit me again?" Ayami asked a little shyly.

"Sure. If you invite me over I'd be happy too." Mai said readily.

"Same here." Hitomi agreed. Ayami-chan's face lit up with a smile.

"Promise?" Ayami asked excitedly, holding out her pinky to them.

"Promise." They both answered with a smile, hooking their pinkies together with hers. They waved goodbye to Ayami-chan and Noriko-san and quickly caught up with the others.

"Hooray! Case closed!" Mai exclaimed suddenly, jumping up into the air.

—∞—

[Later that day…]

Hitomi let out a tired sigh as she entered the Matsumoto residence and slipped off her shoes. It was only just now hitting her how tired she was after getting so little sleep over the past few days… Oh well, at least Ayami-chan was safe now.

'Speaking of which…' Hitomi thought, making her way to the back of the house, heading for the room where they kept all the finished dolls that hadn't been designated as special orders for specific customers yet. 'We should at least replace the doll we burned.' She wanted Ayami-chan to be able to make some good memories with a doll too. It would be a shame if she was left with a lasting fear of them because of Minnie… Hitomi hummed as she carefully looked over the dolls she had made herself, trying to find the one that would be most suitable for Ayami-chan, when she spotted a box. That was odd. They didn't usually box and wrap their dolls unless they were ready to be picked up as part of an order. What was that doing in there? Out of curiosity, she decided to take a peek and lifted the lid. Her eyes widened in surprise at what she saw. There were two miniature versions of Naru inside. One had his usual expression, and the other was smiling.

"What the…?" She said aloud, furrowing her brow in confusion. Why did they have dolls of her boss? What was going on here…?

Author's note: I added a poll to my profile. I'm thinking of adding a bit more romance but am having trouble deciding who to pair Hitomi with. Please take a look if you have time.