Case 06, Prologue
At the time like this Gene wondered if it was normal to fear someone who was smiling at you and your twin. There was no killing intent, or any pressure… NAY~ then again… considering the smiling man in front of you is the older twin brother of the girl you and your twin were taken by...
Maybe there was a legitimate reason to be scared of him.
Oh, and did he mention Sawada Tsunayoshi happen to be the stronger twin of Mai who oozed power like it was out of fashion? Even worse than Noll? Yep, getting scared of him was a very normal reaction, and it didn't escape their notice that coffee he was drinking was still steaming since half an hour ago for some reason while Noll's tea was already lukewarm. The heating in the room also should have been set to standard room temperature and yet... even him who was a ghost felt it through Noll the room was very warm.
"What's wrong, Shibuya-san? Is the taste not to your liking?" Sawada Tsunayoshi asked as twirling pasta with clam on his plate absentmindedly, shooting warm and gentle smile at their direction.
"It tastes fine." Noll replied coolly.
How did this happen? Well… let's get back to half an hour ago.
Flashback
"And so…"
"Hi! Lin!" Gene smiled at Lin, waving at the onmyouji through the mirror.
Lin stared at Gene who supposed to be a reflection, and then back to Naru. "I think I need to sit down."
Gene smiled at him. "I think I should say sorry for dropping off of the face of earth so suddenly, and glad to inform you I am not so dead after all… but please keep this a secret from Madoka and our parents! We're not sure to tell you the truth but we realize your shiki will notice me somehow…" Mai had told him that he could choose to people he wanted to reveal himself to, not even other medium could sense him. Since technically while he could communicate with them he was not living in the same realm as them.
Lin sighed, sitting down on the chair. "It's good to know you're alive somehow Gene… Sawada-san hide too much surprise."
Naru shrugged, "And chaos…"
"What did she tell you about…" He craned his neck at Gene who was still enjoying himself. "Why?"
"Nothing I don't know already and it's Mai… I learn to take everything coming from her in stride, try to figure it one by one instead of giving myself a headache to unravel her mystery all at once…" Then he added. "And I trust her… our mutual trust is enough…"
Lin's lips quirked up, "You changes Noll… for the better." Because of her…
Naru wondered Lin had just compliment or teasing him, or both.
RING!
The dark haired psychic eyed the ringing phone on his desk and picked it up on the third ring. "Moshi-moshi… Shibuya Psychic Research, how can we help you?"
"Moshi-moshi… Shibuya-san ne? This is Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Silence… it took a while for Naru to recall it was the full name of Mai's ever smiling older twin brother. Part of his mind still think he was dead, missing… or something…
"Oh… Sawada-san." In the same time he also informed Lin and Gene who was calling. "If you're looking for your sister-"
"I believe she is still in school." Tsunayoshi sounded amused. "If I'm looking for her I would have called her cellphone, instead of the office phone…"
This man was a CEO of a company, he knew professional manner to not use office phone for private purpose at least.
"Which mean… you're looking for me?" Naru guessed.
"To be exact, I want to invite you to have lunch with me." He was in Japan now?! "Yes, I am in Japan…" Tsuna confirmed as if he heard what Naru was thinking.
These siblings… they unconsciously borderline reading mind again, and Mai said voice through phone was not good enough for reading. And yet… she and her brother seemed to have no problem wild-guessing phone calls. Speaking of lunch out… this was eerily alike with Hara-san's blackmail.
Naru sighed, "This lunch…"
"No blackmail involved of course." Tsunayoshi once again said something in reply of what was going through his mind. "I just want to talk with employer of my little sister…"
Naru doubted if there is anything to talk about with him, as he didn't even pay Mai so it couldn't be about salary. Beside… he was sure while strict he was not a bad employer and he treated Mai fairly.
"You know Shibuya-san… this is a concerned brother who wants to talk with the man who employ and teach his beloved little sister. All I ask is spending your lunch break for a short conversation… I make sure I am not bothering your working hour, don't you think so? I even didn't come in person to your office for your assistant's sake… after all I did chase his shiki off by my mere presence…"
'This person! He was guilt-tripping me!' As expected of Mai's brother, no… he was even worse! Naru only met him once and he had the gall to guilt-trip Naru to do his biding, not to mention…
'Noll.' Gene called him telepathically. 'If you don't go…'
'I will be labelled as someone with horrible manner who didn't even deign to have lunch with family member of my student and employee who go out of his way to make the invitation as convenient as possible for me…'
Since the very beginning Sawada Tsunayoshi was inviting him to lunch as if he had a choice. The choice was there but Sawada Tsunayoshi had stacked the favor to his desirable choice so high, that the possibility to refuse was illogical, impolite and self-defeating.
And this was why Naru went out to have lunch with Sawada Tsunayoshi, and Lin didn't utter a word of protest because the onmyouji had no wish to be dragged across the town by his shiki because they were scared of Sawada Tsunayoshi. The next thing he knew a Roll Royce phantom was parked in front of his office building, a man with scarred face who introduced himself as Lancia requested him to hop in because the boss was already waiting for him.
He was dropped off in Royal Imperial Hotel of Tokyo and led towards their restaurant, one with no one but him and Tsunayoshi along with some of their family members. The whole restaurant was reserved…
Back to the present…
"By the way… it's fine to call me Tsuna, after all… you call my sister in first name basis."
Naru had a feeling this man didn't like their first name basis with Mai and went out his way so Naru didn't score even one victory over him. In short… he was daring Naru to address him as familiarly as Naru did Mai.
'Noll… could it be he…'
'I don't think this lunch out is incited with genial intention.'
'I don't even know there is something called beating people civilly like this.'
He just talked a few lines Naru and Gene could pick up easily the meaning between the lines, and it sounded like he was scolding them.
Not to mention…
Shouichi who was sitting on right side of Tsunayoshi had this look that said, 'Just hang on there, Noll… Gene.'
"I am surprised Hibari-san is not escorting you… I am under impression he is responsible for security of both you and Mai in duration of your stay in Japan." Naru said, stirring the conversation to a more civil ground.
Tsunayoshi smiled at him, all the time actually… "Kyouya is on business trip to China, he is not going to go visiting his family for Chinese New Year so he has to make up for the lost time…"
Family… he was related to Fong Xiao Long after all.
"He is pretty upset about the annual visit that can't be avoided even if he has a job to do in Chinese New Year…" For a moment Naru wondered if Tsuna was going to keep talking about the cloud guardian. "But family always worries about those who live far away from them." And just like that he stirred the topic back.
'Noll… Tsunayoshi-san is not related to Madoka, ne?'
'Hopefully not.' That meant Mai was related to Madoka too. 'But he is worse than Madoka.' As Naru already felt defeated, and Tsuna had not brought up proper manner or anything that was his weak point like Madoka did.
"So back to my dear sister." In the same time he implied, don't bother changing the topic.
An order that didn't sound like one in spite of strongly implied as one.
"Apparently… you met some unpleasant companies yesterday?" Tsuna asked as he put his fork down.
Naru just nodded, "You can say that… bandaged men wearing black cloak and hat."
Shouichi tensed, shock written all over his face. It was impressive how he had great self control to not say anything. "I see…" Tsuna murmured softly. "Mai didn't tell you anything I suppose?"
"If she doesn't want to say a thing and deem it as something I should not know, I will trust her…"
"So you trust her."
"Mutually." He replied evenly.
Tsunayoshi quieted down, his eyes searching and his intuition flared.
Naru sighed. "I am sure you can tell I am not lying… I have known Mai for quite some time. Lying to you or her is an exercise in futility… I am not someone who do useless thing."
The sky cupped his chin, "You… do you know what my intuition tells me about you?"
Naru shook his head, "No…"
"A confident person, dignified… critical… prideful… curious…" He listed on. "Very resolute…" He tapped his chin. "It all sounds like good traits to have but in the same time…"
He narrowed his eyes. "Pardon me but I don't think even Mai who knows me for quite some time assume she can just list down my traits as if I am an open book. From what I see so far of your Hyper Intuition it didn't make you all knowing super human."
Tsuna blinked at that, while Shouichi groaned tiredly. "Ha ha ha… I didn't say I know you better than my sister, in fact what I list on is merely a shell of your person. If you ask any of your coworkers they will agree you have all those traits… but the real personality of a human is not easily describable as that… I am sure Mai have told you, human is the most simple and complicated creatures in body, mind and soul…"
This man… he saw the world and human in the same way Mai did, they shared the same eyes. The Davis twins couldn't help but wonder, how Tsunayoshi and Mai perceived the world through their amber colored eyes.
Eyes were window to the soul, but in their case… they reflected the soul of people who gazed into their eyes.
"But at least… so far from what I heard from Hayato, Spanner and Shouichi. They trust you and your twin…" Tsuna continued, snapping the twins out of their thought. "It's alright for Mai to trust you, for us to have faith in you…"
What was that supposed to mean? Not just Mai but all of them…
"Maa… the world is not in a good shape."
These two were more twin like than he and Gene for sure, suddenly he said something that sounded like it ought to be related to previous topic but didn't make sense.
"He he…" He smiled again, sincere and gentle smile that lighted up his person.
And he smiled a lot, and what unnerved Naru was… while he didn't have their sharp intuition he and Gene knew how to distinguish fake and sincere smile. Tsunayoshi's smile was sincere and very real, it came naturally to him.
Click!
Tsuna turned on the TV of the restaurant, which made Naru puzzled because he was sure a restaurant like this usually wouldn't want to put TV that distract customers from their food. Then again this was a private booth, and Naru had a suspicion that V.G own this hotel.
"By the way about this paranormal case." Tsunayoshi pointed at the TV.
The headline on the news said 'Paranormal sighting in Rokuryo High School' and a reporter was interviewing a teacher who vehemently denied seeing anything and said kids hallucinate and making up things.
"You know children… they're naïve so trick of light fool them to think it's a ghost! We adults didn't see anything."
Ryokuryo High… the school that became the center of attention lately because of continuous paranormal activity happening there. The students were terrorized while their teachers and faculty members denied there was anything worth mentioning.
"He is lying." Tsuna stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "In fact… this man saw something but deny it." His eyes narrowed. "He said his students spout nonsense, but the truth is… he is the one who turn his eyes away from truth."
A genuine case of haunting then…
Then again even if Tsuna didn't say the teachers were lying, Naru could tell just from the frequency of activity and the fear of general student population… this was too much to be waived of as a case of mass hallucination. However…
Tsuna smiled again, but this time it was a calculating smile. Somehow it didn't look out of place in this genial man. "I would like to ask you to take the case… you have gain quite a reputation and I think sooner or later the request of investigation will come to SPR."
"I don't take case that already gain too much attention from media." Naru replied smoothly. "And I believe Mai wouldn't like it either… in fact I have rejected the request from the principal this morning."
He nodded at that, "Well… Mai had been busy lately, too busy so I suspect she has not seen this news." True… Mai had been very busy, and yesterday she had been sleeping off her exhaustion. "I myself just watched it once before this one…"
"Why do you want SPR to take a case that have nothing to do with you?" Naru asked curiously.
Tsuna didn't answer right away instead, he continue watching the footage of Rokuryo High School in which they were showing the building from outside. "Because you see… if you know there is a ticking time bomb and you know someone who can diffuse it, won't you ask the said expert to go there?"
This was Mai's twin alright, he spoke in allegory and parable too.
"This is not usual case of paranormal activity from what I see… hm, it's a coliseum." He said in trance like voice. "There is a lot of battle going inside and the students are the collateral victims… they should close the school, get their students out and cleanse the whole building."
And he didn't even hesitate to hand out a verdict. Let's see a prison, a barn, a dangerous beach… now a coliseum. They came out with the most fitting and strange parable for haunted place.
"If you let this be…" His eyes turned to Naru and the psychic tensed, "A lot of people will die." He laced his fingers and rested his chin on top of it. "So… Neo V.G corps will help SPR to deal with media. It will be very easy with our connections to get them to back off from Rokuryo so SPR can investigate the school in peace."
Naru narrowed his eyes, "And this is all just for altruistic reason in your part?"
"Even if I didn't… Mai will do the same anyway. So I am just making it easy for my beloved sister…"
Another thing he learned quickly about older Sawada twin, he had not even a sliver of embarrassment with how openly loving he was in regards to his twin sister. Then again… they were one affectionate family.
"And also…" Tsunayoshi closed his eyes briefly. "Just from a brief look I can feel it… if this escalate, this school… will be soaked in blood."
He was not guessing… it was a statement.
"I am asking you to stop a genocide here… Shibuya Kazuya." Tsunayoshi stated with conviction, "So will you accept this case?"
Gene was nagging him on the back of his mind, 'So many people will die Noll! Tsunayoshi-san will handle the media for us! Come on!'
Naru sighed, Ryokuryo high was no longer a case that could be refused but a disaster that should be prevented at all cost. "Alright… I will inform Ryokuryo High as soon as possible."
Somehow he felt like he had passed some sort of test but not quite yet…
Case 06, Part 01
SPR Office
Mai was laughing at him when she found out he –and Gene to an extent- were abducted by her brother for a lunch date and tasked to be a hero for Ryokuryo High School case. A case he had rejected and now he had no choice but accepted, simply because he had been informed so many people would die if this case was ignored.
"Ha ha ha… so you lose against my brother too…"
Naru sighed, "I don't think I even given a chance to win." That much was true. "If the media are kept at bay, it would be for the best for us both."
"Ah…"
Naru, who was also Oliver Davis, upcoming genius researcher of BSPR undercover to search his brother's body.
Mai, COO of who also keeping her head down.
"I was too busy to pay attention on news lately, so what did brother said?" Mai asked curiously.
CLICK
"Excuse me…" A firm and masculine voice said with a tint of hesitation as their door opened.
Mai stood up from her seat to receive their guest, it was a teenager around their age who was wearing gakuran uniform. His hair combed neatly, a square framed glasses perched on his nose, giving him intelligent and dependable impression.
"Good afternoon." Mai greeted the teen who blinked at them, a normal reaction to find how not-supernatural like their office was, and a cute girl with overlong hair was greeting him. Not to mention the beautiful teen sitting on the sofa who was giving off intimidating presence.
The guest however was one of few who quickly regained his composure, deeming his request was more urgent than gaping. "Good afternoon, I am Yasuhara Osamu… President of student council of Ryokuryo High School." He stated confidently, giving them a deep bow. "I have come to request your assistance."
Naru frowned, "Shibuya Kazuya, CEO of SPR." He returned the introduction, "Do you know we have refused the request from your principal?"
Yasuhara nodded, "Yes… I already know of your rejection. Despite that, I still would like to ask for your help." said Yasuhara seriously, then he began to explain"Just as you know, the situation in school is really serious. Not just Medias disturbing us… hounding us for scoop… but recently the situation has escalated such that people are getting hurt. If this continues, who knows what might happen. Please, help us!"
He was bowing low now, desperation oozed from his person. Then he placed a stack of paper on the table. "This is petitions from us students… I represent the entire student body to ask a favor to you."
Naru sighed and wondered if Tsunayoshi already foresaw this. Then again the seer was Yuni, he and Mai had unfortunate tendency to jinx people though. "Actually I have reconsider your case due to a number of circumstances…"
Yasuhara straightened himself, "Really?"
"Mai." His assistant perked up. "Contact the principal of Ryokuryo High School… and request our usual requirements for investigation." Namely a good sized room for their base and two place for sleeping. "If he has yet to decide on a substitute investigator that is…"
Mai nodded with a smile on her face, "Hai… right away."
"Thank you very much!" Yasuhara beamed, relieved he was not going to disappoint his fellow students who had put their hope in him.
That night… (Naru's POV)
Gene who had discovered he could taste food from our link was overjoyed that he could eat again. I wished he could keep his comment about what a good mother and wife Mai would be to himself. Then he pointed out I had said something like that too, about how if the ghost children in Morishita house wanted a companion they would go after Mai who would be a good mother figure.
I couldn't stop my cheeks from discoloring when I realized Gene was right, and he laughed at me.
If I found the culprit who took Gene's body, I would make sure they regret the day they were born. I didn't appreciate the lack of privacy because of Gene now, as if I was not lacking privacy already with our psychic link before my idiot twin lost his body.
"Yo!" When I came to Mai's place there was a Japanese boy I recognize was accompanying Tsunayoshi this afternoon. "I haven't introduce myself this afternoon, but I am Yamamoto Takeshi! I am an as-"
A large radish flew across the room from the kitchen, whacking the Japanese boy on the head and effectively cutting off whatever he was going to say. Mai walked from the kitchen, holding a half grated radish, a grater and a bowl. "This is Yamamoto Takeshi… a family member of mine, he is in charge of managing our foreign affair but also…"
Gene suddenly shouted very loudly, I almost forgot where I was standing was parallel to the window, it was dark outside so the surface was reflective like a mirror. "Ah! Yamamoto-kun who threw sword through my stomach!"
Yamamoto-kun blinked and looked at my reflection –Gene- and said. "Yo! Gene! Long time no see!"
"Ah yes! Long time no see Yamamoto-kun." He said, returning the cheerful greeting.
"You did what?!" Mai shouted in shock at her surrogate brother.
"He threw sword through your what, Gene?!" I shouted too, I was shocked. I saw and felt Gene was hit by a car and thrown to a lake, and now he even had sword thrown through his stomach?!
And that was how Yamamoto Takeshi was introduced to me as the person who throw his katana through my twin's incorporeal stomach. Gene didn't seem to hold grudge about it, in fact he and Yamamoto hit it off right away and acted like they were each other's best friend.
"So?" Gene who was on reflection on full length mirror, Mai thoughtfully bought one with wheels so Gene could join us dining and talking. "I was not hurt… after all I am a ghost, so it's fine."
Even so… if you had been alive, technically Gene was alive but he would have been killed by accident.
"I already apologized." Yamamoto pouted at Mai.
We sighed in unison, these two were too carefree. I glanced to the side at the katana hanging next to my coat on the hanger of Mai's living room.
'What a bizarre view.'
I couldn't feel surprised –much- considering Chrome and Mukuro carried collapsible shakujo around even though they weren't monks, I was sure Sasagawa-san wore fingerless glove and Hibari-san carried tonfa...
Katana was almost normal in comparison if I ignored this was Japan and gun needed permit, maybe not katana. Still… it should be illegal to carry five feet long blade in public.
Weapon of choice aside… could it be Yamamoto Takeshi was one of family members who came to check on me and Mai? Most likely… how big Mai's family again?
"So! Tsuna left me to be your bodyguard in duration of your investigation in Rokuryo High." He cheerfully announced, snapping me out of my musing.
"What?!" Mai looked unhappy. "Why?"
Yamamoto's smile vanished, "You know why…"
Mai sighed louder. "Gah… Because Kyo-san is out of Japan."
"Yep~"
"Speaking of Kyo-san, how did you guys convince him to visit his relative in China?" Mai queried, she gave up on refusing extra eyes on her so easily.
He grinned, "Fon-san called."
Mai's chopsticks stopped at that, "He guilt-tripped his nephew again?"
"Yep~ Again… Kyoya went back because if not Fon-san himself would come to Japan." He said before shoving one bowl of rice to his mouth in almost inhuman speed. "Second!"
"So… the threat this time was… if you don't come, I am coming for you?" Mai deadpanned. "Typical… and here is your second." Mai said as she handed Yamamoto his second bowl.
Apparently Lin's idol was not above using underhanded method to get his nephew to obey him.
"As interesting as it is to hear Hibari-san's whereabouts… I can't allow inexperienced people to wander around the site in the middle investigation." I said pointedly.
Yamamoto beamed, "Oh don't worry! I will not be in perimeter of your investigation. I will be right outside to deal with medias and other things… unless Hime call me when she needs me."
Surprisingly he was not going to shadow Mai then…
Mai sighed, "Then I will leave the rest to you… do you have any illusionist in hand?"
He paused at that, "I can get them on standby if you need them, Hime."
I frowned, "So you guys have other illusionist aside from Mukuro-san and Chrome-san?" So it was a pretty common ability?
Mai nodded, "Yes… not as good as them, they're the best of the best… aside from them there is…"
"Fran-kun?" Gene chimed in. "Mukuro-sensei introduced him to me… he is interesting even though his English is…"
Mai nodded somberly. "It's not because he is stupid though… Fran is Mukuro's disciple. So unofficially he is Gene's senpai."
"That's interesting but… why you want illusionist on standby?" I couldn't help but ask. "For a cover up?"
Mai smiled at me, "Yes… I have a feeling this case will involve some property damage."
"There is already a property damage according to the news." I corrected.
"Right… which is the more reason for us to get someone to cover things up." Mai closed her eyes, "I watch the interview with the teachers, and this is going to be worse than Yuasa most likely."
I knew it…
I couldn't help but feel resigned to deal with difficult client that would stall our investigation, "So… in case something go wrong you want to cover it up."
Mai clapped her hands, muttering thanks for the meal. "Yep… and from what you said about how the principal acted when he called you. I wouldn't be surprise if something go wrong we would be blamed and kicked out of the school."
We had not even step a foot on that school and Mai already had such premonition of how the faculty members would treat us. After what happened in Yuasa, I thought no school environment would be worse.
Gene chimed in, "Uncooperative client is nothing new but… client getting on the way of investigation is always troublesome. Noll, make sure we don't get kicked out, ne~"
"I know Gene…" You didn't have to tell me. "By the way Mai… what kind of impression you got from the school, you did watch the news already…"
Mai blinked at me, "Hm… it's from TV so I am not sure, but the school building gave off such a strong reading though… it's like a jungle full of wild beast!"
Silence…
"Your brother said it's a coliseum, how come you told us different allegory?" I couldn't help but wonder.
"A jungle and a coliseum…" Gene pondered. "How these two are related?"
Mai rolled her eyes, "Even though we have the same intuition didn't mean our brain translated it to the same allegory… in fact we never use the same parable."
"Can you elaborate?" I pressed on, getting curious. Unlike Gene and I, Mai and her twin shared the same abilities, so it was a wonder in the end they shared difference.
Mai hummed, "It's easy really… it's like you're looking at the same picture, you know there is some drawing that if you look at it upside down you will find different drawing? Or when you look at the same painting, you can have different way to describe your impression… but it basically the same painting in the end."
So even if they saw the same thing they won't describe their reading in the same way that was interesting.
"However… in some case we also see half of the picture." Mai continued. "So my reading and brother's reading is one half of the complete picture…"
Yamamoto hummed at that, "But Hime… this is the first time your reading and Tsuna's reading are so… difficult to relate, how is a battle arena relate to a jungle?"
I sighed, then looked at Gene. "How about you… Gene?"
"I need to visit the place directly." Gene informed me. "Though after the transfer my senses are a bit off, so I can't give you instant information… it will be a bit slow."
What a great pre-start of investigation…
"By the way Naru." Mai began. "Like it or not… we still have to contact Masako-san to participate."
I frowned at her.
"The others will question you if you don't." She pointed out. "Beside… she is getting attached to this makeshift team, let her in… her infatuation to you is unrelated."
I frowned deeper and Mai sighed. "Alright… I will help you when she is getting too overbearing to you."
Gene sweat-dropped, "This must be karma because you were so cold to girls back home." Gene was always kind to girls but like me, while he was sociable he was focused in his job and dating had not crossed our mind.
"Shut up Gene." I wished I could pawn Hara-san off to Gene.
Gene glared at me from across the mirror, "Hell no, you deal with your fangirls and I deal with mine." That was the deal, he reminded me.
I could only sigh at that, ignoring Yamamoto guffawing at me.
Ryokuryo High School (Mai's POV)
We set off to Ryokuryou High School, which was located in Yokosuka. It was 3 hours away from the office by car. After passing through Funabashi and Chiba, we arrived in Yokosuka and reached the school's compound. That was the plan when I who was on our second van Tojo drove told him to stop when we were right in front of the school gate.
"Stop! Tojo! Stop right here!" I who was sitting on the backseat shouted, startling my two bodyguards and Naru.
He frowned at me, "Mai?"
I didn't answer him; instead I was observing the building of Ryokuryo High School with critical eyes. It was an old but well cared building, befitting of Ryokuryo status as prestigious and historical school. However, what I was looking was not the physical of the building but the dangerous premonition oozing from the building to my senses. "I can't go in there... not as I please."
"What?"
I turned around and explained, "From here I can already tell there are a lot of dangerous entities in Ryokuryo High School, but the problem is... going inside for me is going to cause a disaster. I am not sure how... but there is some sort of equilibrium inside the school between the spirits and if I go inside my presence will break it."
Naru frowned deeper at that, "Equilibrium you say... so if you come, you will inadvertently trigger a panic in midst of the entities haunting Ryokuryo." It seemed because he had heard our allegory it was safe to conclude it was multiple spirits instead of one. "So you coming inside the school would be like throwing a cat among pigeons."
My left eye twitched , I knew it was just an idiom but still… I began rummaging my overnight bag and pulled out an ornate black box with Vongola crown on top of it. "Brother had warned me though... so I have Spanner and Shouichi prepared this for me." It was a bracelet with chains that connected to another band that had to be clasped to my upper arm. I put it on and pulled my sleeve down again. "There..." Then I pulled out a clear cylinder case and put it on my pocket watch. "Yep, now I am ready to go."
Naru eyed me with critical eyes, "Is that some sort of charm like one Matsuzaki-san made to hide people from spirit's sight?"
"Hm... a little different, but basically it prevents spirits from sensing me." I explained to Naru.
This shackle at first developed from Mammon's and Verde's research to break Arcobaleno's curse and then upgraded to fit Vongola and Mare too. Though there was a downside that would prevent me from using my flame freely, not without breaking the clear case on my pocket watch. Which meant no calling for help from my ancestors either... then again in enclosed place like school, calling them out would be a bad idea.
The engine started again and we just passed the gate when I tensed, "Ah."
"Mai?" Naru called me, "Now what?"
"We've just passed a boundary... a barrier, an old one like in Kokuyo Land." I informed him, closing my eyes and stretched my senses. "It surrounded the whole school compound, and it seems... this barrier is what keeping these spirits inside the school."
Naru crossed his arms, meanwhile Tojo was parking our van. "I see... spirits in large number, a barrier... a school with unpleasant faculty members..." He palmed his face and I could tell he was thinking how this was getting sound like a quasi-combination of Kokuyo Land and Yuasa High.
I patted his shoulder, "Just brace ourselves... remember the life of over six hundreds of students in at stake."
Five minutes after Tojo parked our van, Bou-san's car arrived in Ryokuryo so we walked together to the main building. We saw Yasuhara-san greeting us by the door. "Thank you for coming SPR, it must be a tiring three hours trip from Shibuya."
Such a responsible Kaichou, I liked him right away personally, he reminded me of Shouichi a little although I also sensed wit and cunningness of Hana in him too. Which was perhaps why he took the matter to his own hands when students couldn't rely on their teachers and headmaster, collecting petitions and going through three hours trip to Shibuya to get professional help. Definitely a dependable president of student council, just like how Onii-chan used to be. Maybe Ryokuryo was not such a bad school with someone like him in charge of student council.
I revised my opinion quickly the moment we got to principal's office. This was worse than Yuasa, and I was sure Naru thought so too.
"Excuse me, sir," Yasuhara said as we followed him inside, "the people from Shibuya Psychic Research have arrived." Yasuhara indicated first to Naru. "This is their manager-"
"Look," the principal cut in sharply, "I don't need to know their names. Just fix the problem, and do it quickly. Ghosts? I don't believe it. It's nonsense. What will the board of directors say when they find out I hired ghost chasers to handle this!"
At least back in Yuasa, from what I heard the principal was still respectful to us professionals he hired to help them with the case. This plump principal didn't even disrespect us at the first sight, but also didn't bother to hide his distaste of us because of our supernatural background. A perfect example of ignorant closed minded monkeys…
Then the man who stood off the side of the desk, he was lankily built and oozed the same emotion I sensed from the principal. "Yasuhara, why are you not in class?"
That was his tone when talking to a student?! A student who went through trouble to help his schoolmates, and he talked to Yasuhara-san as if he was a misbehaved child?
"I have a shortened schedule today, sensei," Yasuhara answered calmly.
"Is that so?" The man said."Are you sure your grades are okay?" There was a sneer on his voice.
Even worse, you're a teacher and you don't know the senior schedules? No... You were just interested in scolding him for your self-importance. How the hell these peoples run a school full of impressionable teenagers?!
"I wouldn't worry," Yasuhara-san replied evenly. "But, if it's alright, I'd like to keep this brief. I need to help them get settled, and I'd hate for it to cut into my studying time." How expertly he dealt with this man said a lot on how many times this happened.
"Well," the principal said, "Yasu, you are one of our best students. I trust you're on top of things." The principal at least acknowledge a reliable student Yasuhara-san was. "Matsuyama-sensei, would you please show them to the conference room."
"Hai," He said stiffly.
Actually... could we just have Yasuhawa-san to show us the way? He knew where the conference room for sure. I was very tempted to say this out loud. Giving a discreet glance to Naru I whispered. "This man is a trouble."
He sighed, a silent way of telling me he could tell that too.
This was going to be a very painful investigation. Well... I wondered if I should arrange for this man to go missing in duration of our investigation and blamed to spirits. Yep, definitely an idea worth considering~
3rd POV
Bou-san could tell just from how principal and this Matsuyama behaved, this was going to be a painful investigation. This was gonna be one of those investigation in which their client was not cooperative but also hindering their investigation. He would bet his bass guitar that at the first thing went south, these guys would be all over them. He almost missed Kokuyo, it was a hard case but at least their client... namely Mai and her family was cooperative, accommodating and helpful.
And they didn't...
"Are you the leader?" Matsuyama asked Naru as he brought the SPR team to the conference room that was to be their base.
Omae at the first meeting... whatever Matsuyama teach, ethics was definitely not his subject.
Matsuyama-sensei looked them with contempt Bou-san honestly didn't get where it came from. "All this commotion about spirits it's nonsensical and stupid." He spat to SPR team, Bou-san wondered how Mai and Naru just continue walking while he was too shocked to reply.
Matsuyama was glared at them with barely veiled if not naked contempt. 'What the hell we have done to you?!' Bou-san couldn't help but thought.
His eyes wept over them and finally settled on Naru. "Just how old are you anyway?", he asked.
"Seventeen." Naru answered in monotone.
"And you're not in school?" Matsuyama snuffed.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination," Naru replied in clipped tone.
Matsuyama scowled before a disturbing smirk painted his lips, "Is that what you told your parents when you decided to become a dropout?"
This was the dropout who owned a private company, a genius researcher, and the man who led them to solve multiple paranormal cases. Bou-san supplied mentally. Buddha, why did neither Naru-bou nor Mai-chan say anything yet? They could make this man to stuttering mess with few well-placed words.
"I don't know where this occult garbage comes from," Matsuyama continued, "but I do know that young minds are impressionable and people like you take full advantage of that. I'm not afraid to admit that the thought of you profiting off this scam makes me sick to my stomach."
Mai at last spoke, "You don't have to worry about that Matsuyama-san, SPR stands for Shibuya Psychic Research... which means we're a research organization. In which the foundation purpose of SPR is more or less the study of psychic phenomena, so we don't do investigation for the purpose of money. In the case of when we receive something out of gratitude, donations are received to aid research activities..." Jou-chan explained in even and solemn tone of a professional tone that made Bou-san felt very proud of her.
Matsuyama's frown deepened; obviously he didn't believe what Mai said. "Smart mouth, little girl... that sounds legitimate, trying to deceive an adult like this." Bou-san resisted his urge to punch this man on the face. Mai just stayed silent, her expression was stoic. "So how old are you?"
"Sixteen. First year of Senior High." Mai answered.
"Don't you have school today? Playing truant, aren't you? Where's your school? Let's hear it."
Bou-san felt his ire was reaching a whole new different level, first he insulted Naru-bou and now Jou-chan?! He should know this young girl was the COO of Neo V.G corps, a multimillionaire international company! What she wore on her person worth more than everything you had in your wardrobe!
"I have already been granted permission by my school." She still answered in firm and even voice, unaffected by the interrogation.
The man looked even more irritated at how cool the two young ghost hunters reacted to his baiting. "It's must be a really lenient school, to be so lax."
Mai's expression didn't change. "It's Shuutoku High School." She informed him curtly. "And my work in SPR is deemed as part of learning and has been acknowledged by my headmaster."
Silence...
Shuutoku was one of highest academically achieved schools in Tokyo with long history, and some of its club both cultural and sports were well known nationally. In short... it was a prestigious school.
Matsuyama sputtered before he cleared his throat, "Then Shuutoku must be declining now, to allow their student to learn supernatural nonsense."
Mai continued to walk beside Naru as if nothing happened, "I don't know about this occult nonsense."
Then don't talk, Bou-san thought.
It's just an easy escape for young folks these days... Furthermore, taking advantage of the situation, swindlers like you prowling around."
Bou-san at this point understood. It was not worth it to care of what Matsuyama said. Jou-chan just now only talking to inform this man on the fact that SPR didn't take profit from investigation, it was just to clear up the misunderstanding on them conning the school. Although it fell on deaf ears considering... he still accused them as conmen.
Which was absurd, considering as Jou-chan explained... there was no profit on SPR's part and he was collaborator was paid by SPR not their client.
Matsuyama sneered at them mockingly, but Bou-san realized that he was mainly eyeing Jou-chan. "Recently amongst these fraudulent neo-religions, it looks like even girls have been implicated in these malicious situations, right?"
Malicious situation?! Matsuyama made it sound like they were sacrificing virgin blood and the likes! Time to show this guy some enlightenment! "If we are talking about the recently popular small scale religious groups, I think it is more accurate to call them New Rising Religions." Bou-san began to explain.
"What?" Obviously Matsuyama was not expecting him to speak out.
Bou-san continued in solemn voice worthy of a monk, "that is to say, recent - in what they call the Third Age of Religion that we are currently in the midst of; about the rapidly spawning witchcraft based small scale religious groups... they should be called New Rising Religions to be accurate."
Matsuyama looked like he was about to say something, but Bou-san did not give him a chance to interrupt. "And if we are discussing these New Rising Religions, these are the ones that came chronologically after the Second Age of Religion. This is common knowledge."
"Such small details don't matter!" Matsuyama hollered at the Monk.
He managed a smile instead of a smirk he felt like doing, "So it is. But, don't you feel that arguments based on mistaken knowledge are meaningless?" He coughed once, "As an educator... it's unthinkable to let your misunderstanding persist, it won't do for someone like you to be unaware."
You were a teacher and yet you let yourself ignorant?
Matsuyama was red in the face with anger, "As long as people don't mess up the essential parts in life, which is enough! What the heck, you people! I don't know if it is the attraction of boring religion, or if there is something strange going on in the depths of your minds; a student like you who is clearly skiving." He looked at Mai then to Naru, and last at Bou-san. "And a man like you who keeps his hair long and messy will sooner or later wind up on the wrong path!"
Hopeless, this man was totally hopeless... . Bou-san eerily reminded of her mother calling this kind of man, chikuwa eared. A fish cake shaped like a tube; in short... whatever they said went through one ear to another.
"Is it here?" Naru pointed to a door; above the door hung a sign, Conference Room.
"Yes." Matsuyama grumbled as he slid the door open with more force than necessary.
Conference Room
They surveyed the room, and size wise it was acceptable. They wouldn't have any trouble fitting in all of their heavy and large equipment inside. Mai could already see they would make a room for Lin, Tojo and Shima to overseeing surveillance equipment, and right across the entrance they would make room for interview to take place. Naru had put her in charge of arranging their base, and she wanted to make stressed students of Ryokuryo comfortable. There was also an issue about their lodging... well, she had an idea of what to do about that...
"Should I measure the room... even though it seems we have enough room?" Mai asked Naru, "Depending on situation we might want to fit in more equipment than what we estimated."
Naru nodded at her, "Right... we can conduct interview today and start bringing in equipment by tomorrow."
Mai checked her pocket watch, "Hm... it won't be long until class ended so we should start with preparing interview."
Bou-san could tell Mai and Naru were pointedly ignoring Matsuyama, and she was about to take her laser measuring tool from her waist bag when Matsuyama cleared his throat loudly. "Now… what? What are you going to do first?"
Did this guy even hear what they said about preparing for interview session?
"Start a fire, and then chant scriptures?" The corners of Matsuyama's lips curved to a nasty smirk.
Mai and Naru continued ignoring Matsuyama pointedly, "Naru, I already have a list of broadcasted incidents so far, and should we start with students involved in them?" Mai suggested. "Case of small fire, demon dog, strange noises in LL room and... falling light in biography room."
Naru nodded, "Ignore the case of the small fires. Go and look for the students involved in the other three incidents..."
Suddenly Yasuhara joined in, volunteering his service. "Let me do it for you please..." He fished out his own file, "I have listed all incidents in school with survey conducted by student council." He handed the file to Naru who checked the neatly organized file. "I can bring students in group accordingly to each incident."
"That would be much faster. Thanks." Naru thanked the Kaichou sincerely.
"Sure." Yasuhara looked very eager to help and Mai couldn't help but impressed at how efficient and helpful Yasuhara was. He was really a role model student who did his best for his friends.
Matsuyama sat on the chair loudly, fed up at being ignored. "Just make sure you do it quickly," Matsuyama said from where he sat. "I have things to do myself."
"Actually you're free to leave," Naru said sternly, stressing the last part subtly. "Thank you for your help." Once again both Naru and Mai were being courteous without being sincere; they just wanted this man to get off of their back.
"I'm staying here," Matsuyama sneered. "It's my job to manage and keep an eye on the students."
Mai's eyes shifted to the side, sensing Yasuhara's anger. 'Hm... Considering the leader of student body doesn't like him, it's almost safe to assume Yasuhara is public enemy number one for students of Ryokuryo.' Mai had a feeling this was something crucial to note. Especially after what happened in Yuasa…
"Once they're involved in a haunting, the victim becomes our client, so as professionals it's imperative for us to ensure their privacy." Naru answered in even voice.
"Since when are children allowed privacy?" Matsuyama sneered again.
Mai wondered if Matsuyama was serious, so she added. "Privacy is a fundamental human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights... Matsuyama-sensei... unless you think children is less human than you are because of age."
Matsuyama gaped at her, not expecting such a sharp retort from the seemingly mild mannered girl. "I didn't say that!"
"And a client is a client regardless of age," Naru added in clipped tone. "Now, please leave."
"I can see what's going on here. You're trying to get rid of me because I make you uncomfortable."
'You made it sounds exactly like that!' Bou-san glared at him angrily, "The principal said we would have freedom to do our work."
"A limited freedom!" Matsuyama corrected, "I'd like to hear what you self-proclaimed psychics are up to under the guise of mingling with our students."
Naru resisted his urge to roll his eyes; obviously this person was totally clueless of parapsychology. People who hunted ghost for research like them were ghost hunters, spiritualist... not psychic. Not to mention none of them had said anything about being a psychic, Matsuyama was drawing his own conclusion out of ignorance.
"In that case, please go to the principal's office." In short, Naru was telling him to go bothering the headmaster instead of them.
Mai stepped forward as she noticed Matsuyama's face was crimson with anger. He straightened his back and looked like he was about to retort when Mai smiled at him and he took one step back. "Matsuyama-san, please direct your dissatisfaction to principal who hired us." Mai's eyes narrowed briefly. "Or would you like us to inform principal ourselves?"
He sputtered indignantly. "Do as you please. Whatever happens at the end of the day is the principal's responsibility!" He hollered at them as slammed the door close violently.
Mai sighed, and Naru called her. "Mai… Considering mental state of students here…"
She nodded, "The atmosphere is tense, and I think this is even worse than Yuasa." Back then only small number of students was attacked at a time, in Ryokuryo's case it was a mass attack in each classroom.
Naru inwardly grimaced; he knew they would be swamped by report again in this case. "Well…"
"By the way… Naru-bou, Jou-chan."
Naru looked annoyed Bou-san interrupted their conversation. "What is it?"
"I was waiting for you guys to chew Matsuyama out for being a jerk, you guys can reduce him to tears I think." Bou-san couldn't help but say what had been on his mind since they were unfortunately introduced to a man named Matsuyama Hideharu.
Yasuhara didn't even bother to hide how interested he was at the thought of crying Matsuyama.
Naru passed Mai the copy of files Yasuhara prepared for SPR for interview, and while she was checking it out they answered almost in unison. "There is no use preaching a-"
"Pig." Naru finished coldly.
"Monkey." Mai said with a beaming smile.
Bou-san sweat-dropped. 'Jou-chan and Naru-bou have already categorized the bastard as non-human.' No wonder they kept ignoring him.
Naru and Mai looked at each other, "On second thought… a pig sounds like a better fit, you know… the thick head and noisiness."
"Monkey… looks closest to human but lesser in intelligence." Naru snorted; in short Matsuyama was an idiot who barely pass as human.
Bou-san thought, 'I almost pity Matsuyama if he managed to get Naru-bou and Jou-chan to have a go at him.' Forget reducing the man to tears, they would break him to pieces.
Yasuhara beamed, rubbing his chin. "Hm… not bad."
The monk grimaced inwardly, 'I get a bad vibe from this one too… why I suddenly have a feeling this is what called as meeting of peoples who shouldn't meet ever..."
Naru glanced at the window, oblivious of Monk's musing on them. 'Not reflective enough for Gene…' His twin also had warned him that to Gene it was still hard to control his sleeping schedule.
Mai whispered to him, "Maybe it's uncool, but try to bring a handheld mirror next time." At least to check whether Gene was awake or not.
It wasn't like his narcissistic reputation would suffer if he did. Naru resisted his urge to roll his eyes, "Yasuhara-san…"
The boy beamed, "I can get the seniors first if you wa-"
Mai tensed; just now… it felt like something flared to her intuition. "Naru…"
"Already?" Naru narrowed his eyes.
Mai had run towards the door when a scream pierced through the air.
KYAAA!
As usual Mai had ran towards the source of danger without looking left and right, straight to them. They ran to an intersection and Mai without hesitation turned to the left, and not long after they found a girl slumped against the corridor wall. Most likely she was the one screaming, and as they got near panicked yell and screams were coming from inside.
"What's wrong?" Bou-san ran ahead of Mai to check on the girl.
Mai stopped in front of the class, while behind her the girl was pointing a shaking finger at her classroom. Then they saw it, a dog… around the size of a Doberman but from the aura and viciousness obviously it was no ordinary dog.
"A dog…" Bou-san gasped.
Naru narrowed his eyes as he and Bou-san stepped forward, "Is it the same spirit dog?" Naru wondered calmly, his eyes lowered at the dog and briefly surveyed the surroundings. The whole class was wrecked and the frightened students that didn't manage to get out were huddling together on the corner.
"Grrr…" The dog noticed their presence and turned towards them, then it leapt forward.
Faster than Naru and Bou-san could react Mai had stepped forward in front of them and the dog halted. It whimpered and as Mai stared at it with narrowed eyes. Mai held her hand up, "Back down slowly…"
Naru and Bou-san obeyed, stepping away from the classroom and then the dog vanished without a trace.
"It disappeared?" Yasuhara gasped.
Mai glanced to the side where a group of students were panicking, and she could hear the girls wailing about how they couldn't take this anymore. They wanted to run away but Matsuyama was barking orders at them to go back to class and quiet down. Most students he was shouting at was students from class next to the one that just get attacked by the dog.
'He seriously make them go back to class after that?!' Mai glared at Matsuyama who was still barking orders, before turning her attention on the crying girl on the floor. Mai was about to ask whether she was alright but looking at perfect print of teethmark on her leg, obviously not. "You will be okay…" Mai said as her palm covered the wound, and slowly she let small amount of sky flame seeped in.
The girl's cry calmed to small sob before she completely relaxed. "Thank you…" She exhaled a shuddering breath.
Yasuhara knelt beside the injured girl and said. "I will take her to nurse office."
Mai smiled at him. "Thank you…" She wanted to go with them but the girl would be okay, so she watched Yasuhara carried the girl to the nurse office.
In the other hand…
Naru's POV
"That's a record even for us… less than half an hour and an activity occurred." I couldn't help but say. "Entities here definitely didn't waste their time to start."
Bou-san nodded in agreement, "That was a shock, but at least this time…" He poked his head in. "The teacher can't say they didn't see anything, ne~"
They followed his example, poking their heads in to see a teacher that was blue on the face sitting on his desk. He was gaping and strange stutter escaped his mouth like a dying frog.
Mai snorted. "They can… in fact in every single interviews on TV, the teachers has been lying through their teeth about not seeing anything."
Bou-san's left eyebrow twitched, "Is that so?"
Tsunayoshi-san said as much, the teachers were determined to deny existence of supernatural entities in their school. "Mai…"
"Hm?"
"How bad it is?" I asked as we walked back to the base.
Mai shivered slightly, rubbing her arm as if she was cold. "Hm… what happen just now make me feel like something just went off… this is bad, we should have come sooner."
Bou-san cringed, "Uhm… you mean?"
"If only our clients are agreeable peoples I would recommend them to close the school in duration of our investigation." Mai stated firmly, palming the side of her face. "This is really a jungle… and the beast… the spirits has set their eyes on the students as their prey."
I cupped my chin at that, "No one died yet though… aside from that one boy who committed suicide few months ago."
"Naru-bou!" The monk hissed at me.
Mai nodded, "I don't think the spirits really want to kill humans in this school though… I mean the dog just now is dangerous, it's just not showing itself but ransacking the whole class and bit a student."
I narrowed my eyes at that, "I think so too… if it's serious it could have killed someone already."
Bou-san grimaced, "Oi~ this is only the first day of investigation but you guys already…"
"It's a dog." I informed the Monk. "If it wants to kill it would have gone after vital area, but it only bit one student on the leg."
Mai glanced at me, "However what disturb me the most is… there is too many of them here."
The Monk swallowed heavily as he asked, "I almost afraid to ask but Mai-chan… how many you sensed?"
Mai didn't answer, closing her eyes briefly and said. "I lost count."
He was thinking he shouldn't have asked, it was written all over his face.
"If it's any comfort… I think not all of them are dangerous, it's strange but I feel there is a lot of presence floating around harmlessly here." She chirped, as if she could lift up the mood.
Bou-san foolishly didn't learn his lesson. "So! How many of dangerous ones you sensed?"
Mai looked mildly irritated, "Try to count passengers inside the train in rush-hour of Shibuya Station."
Silence…
Image of office workers and students pushed by station staff to get inside the train, bell blaring in the background, and sound of operator announcing, 'The doors are closing, please be careful!' Then he imagined replacing the passengers with ghostly blob figures.
"Forget I ever asked." Just imagining it made him feel sick.
SPR Base
It was not unexpected at all these desperate students whose plea were ignored by their teachers broke down one by one in front of us, and some explode in flurry of speech as at last someone was here to hear their complain. At the time like this I couldn't help but felt relieved Mai was the one handling the interviews. I would cut in once in a while with sharp question but let Mai effortlessly extracted information from our clients.
"Hic hic…" The girl sobbed, "And the teacher won't believe me."
Mai smiled sympathetically at the girl, and then with soft look she turned to other girls. "Did all of you hear the same voice from your headset too?"
They nodded in unison. "Most of us in class heard it… and all of us here saw him."
Mai looked thoughtful, "So you decide to not come to that dangerous class?"
Then another girl added, "Yes!" She sounded irritated, "We tried to tell sensei about the strange sound and the child spirit but they won't listen so we stayed away from school…"
We jotted that down too and then I asked, "Do you know any other strange occurrence in this school?"
Mai kicked my leg lightly. 'Wrong question!'
There was a sharp intake of breath and the girls, seven of them launched their stories at rapid fire. Their voices overlapping each other and Bou-san flailed to write all of them down. I had to agree with Mai I was asking for that one.
"Calm down." Mai told them gently but sternly, "We will investigate everything thoroughly." Then she gestured towards two other tables on the left side of the room. "Just write down everything you know on the form we prepared… there are enough for everyone and we will investigate activity you reported as soon as possible. You can also bring some forms with you for your other friends…" She handed them the form. "Make sure to submit it accordingly to incident and places…"
One of the girls took the stack of papers, it only had 'place, time, where they heard the activity from, and whether they experienced it themselves.'
"Just think of it like writing your diary…" Mai told them. "Write down everything you want…"
There must be something hypnotizing in her voice because as soon as Mai finished talking, the girls rushed to the assigned table and began to write like they were possessed. It was not an exaggeration to say they were pouring their hearts out to the paper.
"Thank you…" Mai smiled at them. "You may submit another form if you know anything new…"
In the same time she also got them to cooperate with us to gather information…. Mai, you were really sly when you put your mind to something.
Mai frowned when she skim over the first few pages of form, and the girls were about to leave when she halted them. "Wait a moment please… about Sakauchi-kun, the boy who committed suicide last September." Mai's eyes didn't leave the form. "A lot of people had seen him walking in corridors?"
The girl who was the main witness of LL classroom incident nodded, "Hai… actually we saw him almost everywhere, classroom, corridors and rooftop…"
I narrowed my eyes at that, glancing at Mai. "There is no fixed place like other activity."
Mai nodded, "Hm… September, so that means… he committed suicide not long after supernatural activities start to happen." Mai looked up, "Did Sakauchi-kun suffer under one of the activities before he passed away?"
The girl shook her head, "We don't know of him personally… he is a first year from aesthetic department, from what I heard he is a very quiet boy… and a little strange."
"And his suicide note?" Mai turned the form over, one of the girls had written one line in bold and underlined it. "What is this 'I am not a dog.' means?"
It was almost disturbing how they didn't even take time to answer Mai, as if… "I feel I can understand what he meant. Sometimes I feel like a dog or some cattle…" She touched her short and neat hair, "I'm micromanaged from the color of my hair to the color of my personal belongings."
"I'd get lectured for things from my language use to my attitude…" The other added.
"It's just like disciplining a dog. That suicide note probably referred to something like this…"
Mai looked disturbed, and so was I since Sakauchi left a message and the girls who didn't even know him personally understood his train of thought. It was safe to assume the whole student body agreed with Sakauchi-kun, a boy who had committed suicide. It was disturbing to think Ryokuryo students didn't seem anything wrong with agreeing and thinking a suicide note made sense.
One thing both Mai and I concurred without verbal agreement.
'This school is sick.'
ONCE AGAIN I AM HURT! No one read my author notes from previous chapter about voting on what omake to post! PLEASe don't ignore author notes! WHich is why you guys get this analysis OMAKE instead of ones I promised in previous chapter. DO read them, because I don't want to answer things I already mention there! It's annoying...
OMAKE : In which Mukuro of all people have more common sense than the rest of combined fellow guardians of his –Chrome excluded- in regards to their princess.
It was an unspoken statement that all of them had soft spot for their Boss and princess, Hibari included even though he'd rather die than admit it to anyone. Everyone knew, or rather it was a matter of fact for guardians to be very much in love –in familial sense- with their sky.
In case of their princess, they had a nagging concern since the day they found out that at some point they were considered as suitor candidate for her and breathed a sigh of relief that Hime and Boss managed to stop Nonno and Iemitsu. Never mind how their Boss did it.
They loved their princess but she was more like their sister and –as much as they were embarrassed to admit it- a mother to them. They couldn't even imagine being in that kind of relationship with her, it would be like incest.
However…
It was undeniable their princess was the most desirable girl for many reasons in mafia world, namely her blood, prestige and power. She was attractive and sweet but majority of Mafia society such thing was easily overlooked.
As Mai stated before, she could look like a gonk and behave like a banshee but her name would overshadow all of that. No one cared about everything else aside from the three things; bad things came in three they always said…
"You guys are being stupid." Mukuro said in one fine afternoon, sunny with a little bit of cloud. An ironic thing considering when their cloud met their sun in a clash it was anything but peaceful.
It was an unspoken rule their Boss and Hime established, when one of their fellow guardians called them out on stupidity if possible hear them out first. You could blow them up later…
Mukuro sipped his tea before elaborating, "About Hime… I mean." They waited and Mukuro was very aware if he said something unjustified he would get it from his fellow guardians, aside from sweet Chrome. "On the subject of her love life to be exact…"
Takeshi and Kyouya were fingering their weapon already, gee… and people thought he was the most blood-thirsty. He was the most sadistic, yes, violent? He would pass that one to Kyouya and Takeshi any day.
"I mean she was raised in a family with female to male ratio was 1:9… most of us pampered her like… a princess she is, especially our Boss." Mukuro wondered why oh why~ he had to enlighten them in this.
Oh right, he was the only male in relationship here aside from oblivious Ryohei who was whipped silly by his girlfriend. "So… obviously unlike most teenage girl on puberty, attention from opposite gender is already something familiar to her."
Yeah, they got that part so? Their face said.
"I mean… it's good she is not going to be a silly lovesick girl." Mukuro recalled Miura Haru on her worse days, following their boss like a puppy. "However… don't you guys think her disinterest in relationship is going to bite us in the future?"
"…"
"Do you guys want to be responsible if she end up becoming a Christmas cake or married for famiglia's sake?"' Mukuro went on, ignoring their horrified faces. "Beside filthy mafia…"
None of them bother reminding Mukuro that they had not finished reforming mafia and Vongola yet, so technically they were still in mafia.
"Especially filthy mafia, but human in general… to them something unattainable is something they can't resist and desire more than the attainable." Mukuro went on with a roll of his eyes, "In short it's also because our princess is unattainable she is very desirable to them."
Silence…
"You guys really never think in that perspective, do you? Reverse psychological effect… Hime is hard to get… if anything it's just going to spur the hardheaded ones on." Mukuro told them bluntly.
Hayato sputtered.
"You know… it's the highest mountain that spur climber to climb on… so you guys are discouraging the weaklings and inviting the troublesome ones." Mukuro finished, "So if you guys think you're helping… well, you guys are delusional, stupid and optimistic."
No one tried to blow Mukuro up for that.
That talk haunted their mind –except Kyouya- on maybe it was not a good thing their princess was such an unattainable girl. However it was one and half year later… Ganauche came bearing the news that perhaps they didn't have to worry.
Hayato already had a feeling something was strange when Noll out of nowhere was glaring at him, right after Hime kissed his cheek in farewell.
Kyouya didn't really care… omnivore who could eat meat should be able to choose her own mate. Well, maybe he would bite the guy if he hurt their princess.
Chrome and Mukuro figured it out in span of five minutes meeting Shibuya Kazuya and confirmed the rest in less than an hour.
Ryohei as usual missed the obvious, but he had a feeling he should watch out for Shibuya Kazuya for some reason.
Lambo was kept out of the loop.
Takeshi was kept out of the loop too, just so he won't go to Japan cut anyone.
"So… you're telling me, both of them are…?" Hayato asked with dread in his voice.
Mukuro nodded, "Both… funny how they are twins, same face, opposite kind of ability, fell in love with the same girl… opposite personality…" He listed on. "Not to mention one alive and dying, and another is kind of dead." And alive too…
Chrome sighed, "Mukuro-sama… that's not a very nice way to elaborate this matter to Hayato."
"So~ our dear storm, do you approve of your friends?" Mukuro wondered.
Hayato groaned, "Damn it…" As far as he recalled both Noll and Gene were workaholics with zero interest in romance. Noll was cold with his fangirls while Gene was just too nice and a little awkward with them. "I thought like the rest of us they like Hime in familial light."
"They have different way to show it, but I am sure as hell they are not looking at her like we do. The longing for the sky yes, familial love… NO." Mukuro shot down the theory. "It's something serious if they rejected natural inclination to see a sky as their family and attracted in romantic sense instead…"
It was not brain-washing though, no matter how Mukuro thought of it as such at first. It was just instinct ingrained to them, but in the end it was their free will to accept or reject it. Which was why Daemon Spade could betray Primo.
"In fact… I think all of their coworkers aside from that medium girl –who is in denial rather than not noticing- already know about Oliver Davis' crush on our princess… at any rate if they're not civilian I would say they have better chance with our princess than anyone in our society."
"…Why?"
Chrome answered him, "Obviously they're not attracted to Hime's blood, prestige and power. Their feeling for her is at least genuine. That's more than we could say for majority of her admirers…"
Noll was narcissistic and Gene was a pure hearted soul… funnily it must be serious for them to fall in love for opposite reason.
As in for Noll… that Oliver Davis was falling in love with someone else, and not himself. Gene was… Gene, the reason he had not dated anyone in spite of being such a nice guy? Simple… because he was nice, he didn't date for fun. He was one of rare sentimental teenagers who ignore hormone because of romantic heart.
"Haa… but they're not in mafia and I don't think Hime want them to be involved." Hayato had an urge to blow both Noll and Gene up, even though technically the two idiots weren't at fault for falling for their princess.
Still… not yet.
"That's what we think about her girls~" Namely Hana, Kyoko and Haru. "They're here with us in the end."
"…" Hayato was not sure he wanted the Davis Twins in their family, NO, not like that… Wait, no one approved them yet! Hime didn't date either of them yet…
Yet…
Then he recalled his poor Boss sputtering when Kyoko and Haru asked whether he could marry both of them once they reached legal age. Result of their impatience after knowing Tsuna liked them but had not decided who he loved more… Actually it was more because watching female Mafiosi left and right throwing themselves at him.
There was one time… twice; perhaps three… married-to other mafia boss- women tried that too. Until their princess put her foot down firmly and warned those women, one more time they tried to touch her brother she would burn them to ash before they could scream like a banshee and throw their ash to Adriatic Sea.
-In which Yamamoto offered to cut them up instead and feed it to Squalo's pet shark, less pollution to water-
Yet...
That harebrained idea never came up again but the girls never said anything about forfeiting it. Technically… in mafia society it polygamy was never a taboo, those girls had checked the law.
Noll and Gene were never competitive in their brotherly relationship…
Why the hell the 'yet' part kept repeating on his mind like ominous trumpet of Armageddon?
Poor Hayato... so yeah, as you can see... this is how it goes! Please review!
Next chapter: In which... Gene sleep too long to Naru's exasperation, once again Naru suggest blowing a school up -no wonder he is friends with Hayato- Mai thought. Astral walking is not a walk on the park...