July

Day 3

9:30 am

Yesterday's panic attack wore me out. When I got home, I went straight to bed. Monk treated me to something to eat for dinner before he brought me home, which I was grateful for since I hadn't eaten anything really all day yesterday. Talking to Mai helped calm me down some more yesterday and she said she hadn't had any dreams about the case so far. We informed her of what was going on and at that point, Masako had come and joined us. So we filled her in on what she missed and she looked worried. "I hope Detective Fujiwara gets things settled with Ichirou-san." She had said frowning. "It scares me to think that he's wandering around that TV studio while you guys are working in there."

"I'm not sure we'll be able to work this case any longer." I told her sighing.

"Why not?" She had asked confused.

"Well, I'm sure once Detective Fujiwara finds a connection between Ichirou-san and his friend, then he'll want us to stop working on the case for safety reasons, probably." I had explained to her. She didn't argue with me there. But for now, I'm going to take the bus to the TV studio. I don't trust cars enough to get there and I definitely don't want to walk there in case I do run into Ichirou-san or his friend. Yes, I know self defense, but I don't think I can win against two fully grown men. The first person I came across was Monk. He had just arrived himself. "Good morning, Monk." I greeted him.

"Good morning. How are you doing after yesterday?" He asked me as we walked into the TV studio.

"It wore me out, so I slept really good last night." I said shrugging.

"That's good." He said ruffling my hair. "I think Naru and Lin are already here." I stuck close to Monk as we walked to our base. Lin and Naru were inside going over video footage. It looks like they put a camera in the utility closet. I spotted the summoning circle and frowned. Why can't these guys just give it a rest? They're just causing problems for everyone.

"Did you find anything?" I asked as I went to go make some tea.

"We found a few candidates for what kind of demon we're dealing with." Naru answered as Lin brought up the information on one of the monitors. "We think it's this one." Lin brought up a picture of a demon that looked similar to the one I saw.

"That's the one." I said frowning.

"Are you sure?" Monk asked me.

"Yeah, it's similar to the one I saw the other day." I said shuddering. I finished the tea and poured Naru a cup. "To truly exorcise it, we need its name."

"I think I know it." John said walking in with Ayako not far behind him.

"Really?" Monk asked shocked.

"Yeah. I was doing a little research of my own and found this demon called *Abel." John said handing Naru some papers. "It's *Abel the Possessor."

"That makes sense." Ayako said picking at her nails. She made herself a cup of tea.

"Do we have any news from Detective Fujiwara?" Monk asked curiously.

"Nothing so far, but we need to be careful about this." Naru said putting the papers down.

"Let's do this." I said frowning. "I don't want to have to wait any longer than needed."

"Agreed." John said frowning too. "If we wait too long, worse things could happen."

"Aki, stay here with Lin. The rest of us are going to deal with this demon." Naru ordered.

"Okay. Please be careful." I said as I watched them leave the room.

"I'll keep an eye on them from the cameras." Lin said, and I could tell he was trying to make me feel better. I smiled.

"Thanks, Lin." I said before taking a seat next to him. I watched the group as they headed for the utility closet. I don't have a good feeling about this. About ten minutes later, we watched them go into the utility closet. The demon was waiting in the corner of the room. Please be safe. John got out his holy water and started the exorcism. I covered my ears as the demon roared loudly. I gasped as it charged at John, but Monk kept it at bay. "I don't think I can watch." I whispered.

"Then you don't have to." Lin said tussling my hair. I nodded and went over to one of the sofas. I decided to close my eyes and focus on the Star Café; on Hajime-san, on Suzuki-san, on Ryuu, and on Yuma. I went over in my head what I have to do every day when I work. It was helping me calm down. The sound of the demon roaring finally stopped and I opened my eyes. I looked at the screen with the utility room showing and sighed in relief. The demon was successfully exorcised. "It's over now."

"Good." I said walking over to Lin. "I hope that ends all the problems here at the studio for now."

"Until Ichirou-san's friend shows up again." Monk said entering the room with the others. He and John both looked very exhausted.

"There's nothing we can do about him." Naru said taking a seat in the chair I was in earlier.

"So, are we going to call Detective Fujiwara then?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'll let him know what's happened." Lin said before picking up the phone.

"Good. In the meantime, we'll start packing everything up." Naru said looking at everyone else.

"I still don't want to go into the utility closet." I said frowning.

"Don't worry, Aki. I'll take care of it." John said smiling at me.

"Thanks." I said smiling. I helped Ayako and Monk with the last of the stuff. We got everything packed up by the time Lin was finished talking on the phone with Detective Fujiwara.

"Detective Fujiwara is glad that we're done here." Lin said as soon as he hung up. "He also has asked to pass on a message to Nijimura-san. I have it written down here." Naru took the piece of paper Lin was holding out to him. I'm assuming it was something about Ichirou-san and his friend. "He also said if we ever see Ichirou-san again, then to call him and let him know."

"Good job, Lin. I'll go talk to Nijimura-san. After that, we can all go home." Naru said before leaving the room.

"Aki, we've got to let Mai and Masako know the good news." Monk said grinning.

"Oh yeah. We should go visit Mai again. I think her doctor said she could leave tomorrow." I said excitedly.

"Then we should go and celebrate." John suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea." Ayako said smiling. "I'm sure Mai would appreciate that." We talked a bit and Naru finally returned to the room.

"Nijimura-san is grateful for what we've done. Everyone's free to go home now." Naru announced. I rode in Monk's car to the hospital were Mai is at. Luckily Masako was there visiting as well.

"How did it go?" Mai asked curiously.

"It went well." I said smiling. "The demon was taken care of."

"What about Ichirou-san and his friend?" Masako asked worriedly.

"Well, we can't do anything about him. So, we've told Detective Fujiwara everything so far and he's going to keep an eye out for them." I said shrugging.

"I see." Masako said frowning.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it." Monk said smiling. "Anyway, Mai we've decided to celebrate tomorrow after you're released from the hospital. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like fun!" Mai said smiling.

"We should have it at the Star Café." Ayako suggested.

"I'm sure Suzuki-san wouldn't mind." I said shrugging. "Only, I don't think I'll be able to do much celebrating with you."

"Why not?" John asked curiously.

"I have to work tomorrow." I said feeling a little bad about it. "I mean, I'll still be there."

"That's okay, Aki." Masako said smiling. "You have to pay bills, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry for being such a party pooper." I said sighing.

"Don't be." Monk said tussling my hair. How many times are people going to do that today? I thought pouting.

"What?" Monk asked curiously.

"You messed up my hair again." I said trying to fix it.

"Again? I've only done that just now." Monk said confused.

"Lin did it too." I said sighing and giving up on my hair. It's been a long three days. I can't wait to go home and get some sleep.

"Really?" Ayako asked shocked.

"Yeah, he does that from time to time." I said shrugging.

"I've never seen him do that." John said sounding amused.

"Really?" I asked a bit surprised. He does that to me all the time now that I think about it.

"Oh? Our Lin has a soft spot for Aki." Monk said grinning.

"Lin might not like it if you say that around him." Masako said smiling. I'm still having a hard time with the fact that Lin only does that kind of stuff to me. We spent a few hours talking before the nurse came in and kicked us out. It was dark out and it was starting to get late. Monk dropped me off at my apartment and after wishing him a good night, I went in and sat my stuff near the front door. I'm so freaking exhausted. I'm just glad everything turned out okay for the most part. I was hungry, but I was too tired to make anything and decided to just go to bed. The next day, when Hajime-san and Suzuki-san learned about the celebratory party we planned for Mai, they told me I didn't have to work. Well, it was more like they refused to let me work. Monk and everyone were very happy to hear that when I told them. Lin and Naru were invited, but of course they politely declined our invitation. I even begged Lin to come even if it meant dragging Naru to the party AND volunteered to help him. He just chuckled at me and told me that the reason why they said no was because they still had some work to do. I didn't question it, but I want to know what they're always working on if it isn't related to any cases taken in by clients. Is it somehow related to Naru's family? Eh, it's none of my business. But... it seems fair to know since they pretty much know everything there is to know about me. No, it's not good to pry into your friends' lives if they don't want to talk about it. I scolded myself. Anyway, the party was great. Keiko, Michiru, and Yasu ended up joining us. I guess Mai called Michiru and Keiko and Monk called Yasu. I had a lot of fun being with everyone.