Case 06, Part 05
Mai supposed Naru could slip in a moment of emergency too. Then again… paranormal investigator or not, she supposed Naru was never in 'real' dangerous emergency situation. There was that one time an evil spirit following him in Yuasa case, a genuine danger he dealt with stupidly because of his idle curiosity. One time Naru was completely thrown off of his game by mini earthquake in the old school building also counted.
It was all the matter of inexperience…
She had read about difference of paranormal entities on the west and east… demon existed but appeared rarely. Ghost in general was just there, popping up once in a while and cause poltergeist was the most harmful they could get. In short ghost in in this side of the world was more dangerous especially in country where faith in occult and old ways was strong.
So Naru in all his glory as Oliver Davis, up and coming researcher and Ghost Hunter of SPR could be excused for his slip up.
Such as letting her to sleep in Infirmary, one place she had warned him as dangerous place. Then again… she was mildly poisoned by formalin vapour and infirmary was nearest place with everything Ayako need to treat her. So… Mai would keep this slip up to herself and won't call Naru and Gene out on it.
Still…
"Hm…" Mai hummed.
Ayako crossed her arms, "Just go to sleep already!"
How to get Ayako out of the room… hm~
BADUMP
Then she saw it, a vision of John and Yasuhara heading towards off limit place she had insisted them to not even try to get close. She sighed, seriously… she had warned them and yet. "Ayako-san."
"Yes?"
Mai glanced at the older woman and said, "Could you go to first floor printing room? Yasuhara-san and John are on the way there…"
Ayako blanched, "What are those idiots trying to do?!"
She smiled at her, "Well… you can ask them yourself, you just need to stop them from going in."
The miko nodded, "Alright! I will be back as soon as I can!" And with that she walked out of the infirmary and completely forgetting the place she just left was also a danger zone.
Looking at closed door, Mai sighed to herself as she sat up. "I wonder if this was what Reborn felt when we naively danced to his tune?" She wondered as she reached out for the ornamented box, pushing small amount of sky flame on the keyhole-shaped like one but actually flame scanner- and opened the lid.
Inside were eight white balls the size of marble with electric green orb that signified it was to be activated with lightning flame, it was a good thing she was the sky so she had no problem using flame tools of any kind. She held the them within her hands tightly, pushing enough flame then for activation.
She let them fell off of her hands and the balls stirred, the censor came to live and scanned the infirmary. Mai watched the balls shot up and latched to the eight corners of the room, green line shot to three direction and connecting the barrier.
"Well… let's just wait." She flopped herself down and it didn't take long for the lights to flicker on and off. "Aah… as soon as I'm alone they try to jump me."
These guys were really intending to get rid of her as soon as they could.
She turned to the side, recalling the 'ghost story' of infirmary room. The second innermost bed right beside the one she occupied, someone was sleeping on the bed. It was a human figure cocooned in the blankets.
A hint of smirk painted on her lips, "Hello monster-chan~"
Mai's POV
By all right the spirit in infirmary was harmless, in a sense it was just appeared according to the students. It had not harmed anyone, but I doubted it would be as harmless to me. I sat up and it followed my example, mirroring my movement. I couldn't stop a smile from curving my lips.
"To be honest… I have no personal grudge against you." I began in cheery tone. "But you see…" I cupped my cheek, sighing exasperatedly. "Your friends is giving me hard time lately…"
The dog threw a desk at me.
The kids locked me up and suffocate me with formalin.
Then Sakauchi-kun's vision pulled me in and gave me a panic attack.
Not to mention…
My cheeks turned furious red as I recalled the kiss, or rather kisses… Taking advantage of a distraught girl to make fun of her! The nerve of them… Fine, I was sorry for scaring them out of their wits for disappearing, and I already said I was sorry! The worse thing was… I couldn't even get angry at them! They weren't as tough as our guardians so I couldn't get physical either! And like hell I would lecture them on making fun of me and kissing! It would be awkward, embarrassing and a losing battle…
Which was why I let Gene off of the hook… but Naru just had to deliver the finishing blow! No matter how nice they were about it…
SLAP!
I ignored the spirit who seemed to be torn whether it should slap its cheek too like I did. Snap out of it Mai! So what if the kisses were pleasant! If you let something like this get to you, Naru and Gene would gain upper hand in making fun of you! I need to focus! Get my mind off of those kisses… and how gentle they were even if they were just making fu-
"SO!" I pointed at the spirit who recoiled in shock. "I will vent my frustration on you!"
For a moment I swore it flailed as if trying to say, 'Why me?! I have nothing to do with your frustration!'
"Well! You're just conveniently appeared! You're asking for it!" I shouted as I throw a bullet like flame at it.
It yelped when my flame bullet grazed its shoulder and dispersed. It was not gone yet for sure I could feel its presence within this thin darkness had diffused the room. I could not even see the shadow of anything. I hopped off of the bed and placed myself on the center of the room.. In normal situation placing myself on the center made me vulnerable but against a spirit… I didn't put it past spirit to ambush me through the wall.
I inhaled slowly and let my flame washed over me, feeling the familiar hum of power that dyed my hair in flame. I welcomed myself back to the world of serenity where noises ceased and everything was static…
"Hm?"
WHAM!
Knocking? From below? I jumped as my intuition told me, letting flame of sky flowed through my leg so I could hover a little above the floor. Then the floor collapsed harmlessly below me, the floor of infirmary crashed against the room below.
Gah! There was no way we could hide this mess! A hole on the wall? Just put an illusion over rushed job of patching! Ceiling? The same… the floor? That required real illusion for people to step on them constantly.
I landed softly on the floor, fuming silently. These spirits would get it!
"Hm?" There were soft noises sounded around me. It was like there were some small animals moving agitatedly around on the ground. I would know this, recalling one time when visiting Kyo-san's house he released his little critters all over the place, including his hedgedog!
Poor Hayato and Takeshi were limping for weeks because of that.
Still… in this infirmary it seemed the spirit was some sort of shape shifter. First it looked like human and then it took form of little critters with red eyes. I didn't see them actually I just imagining it, but I could hear the critters were coming closer to me, their numbers were increasing.
It was trying to surround me?
There was also strange coloured mist, miasma?
There was a soft slithering sound. It also took form of some sort of snake too perhaps? Well, surrounding me was not a bad idea if it was fight hand to hand combat with me, but on its state…
It was coming closer to me. It was already very near.
I swept my hands in wide sweeping motion, and wave of flame washed over the whole room, dyeing it in golden glow of sky flame. Inhuman howl of pain told me I had severely damage it and now even if I left it be, the flame would eat it up like fire met gasoline. It won't be able to escape…
I was mildly disappointed, it brought the whole floor down but it was only go as far as scaring me in the end. Should I climb up to that door above and let my flame finished it off? I hurriedly jumped up and climbed up the wall. After forcing the door open, I held on to the door frame and climbed up. At that moment, something grasped my foot.
I scowled and jumped down again, "Let go!" I swung my leg, throwing whatever grabbing me off of my leg. Then I threw my flame to where I sensed something was thrown off of my leg, I didn't know what I was burning but it was screaming in pain now.
Glaring at nothing in particular I stomped, sending small waves of sky flame from my foot and something shrieked again in pain. Whatever spirit inside this infirmary, it was dying now, it was rapidly losing energy and its presence was fading like flickering candle.
"Just die quietly already." I grumbled as I walked back to the door.
The sound of footsteps approached the door, "Mai?!" It was Naru's voice, he sounded he had run marathon from the other side of the building back to infirmary.
"Uh oh." Well at least this time the material damage was so not my fault!
His eyes widened as he took in at what state the infirmary and the room below ended up in span of twenty minutes he left me on my own device.
I lifted my head and looked up. I raised my hand sheepishly in greeting. "Yo, Naru!"
"What happened here?!" Naru looked stunned, and quickly extended a hand towards me. He glared at me, "You have to explain later!"
I rolled my eyes, "Yes, sir." I stretched my arm out towards Naru's, and then I sensed a presence behind Naru who was one feet inside the room. "Naru! Watch- Hmph!"
"Wha-"
It pushed him off towards me, and I stumbled to cushion his fall. Idly I couldn't help but think he was scrawny and lightly muscled unlike our guardians, this guy needed to eat more and exercise that heavier than lifting equipment. It didn't take long for him to regain his balance, Naru looked annoyed.
"Where is Matsuzaki-san?" He asked.
"Printing Room." I answered, tensing as I sensed presence of others approaching fast and-
BADUMP
I pushed Naru forward, "Get back up there! Quick!"
Sensing my distress he quickly climbed back up to the door and offered his hand to help me, I was about to take his hand but sensing a presence behind me I withdrew my hand and swept over entity I couldn't see. "Back off!" It was already on the verge of death –or second death- whichever and it wanted to take us down with it!
The room was shaking violently and sound of something cracking came from above. I looked up, and I saw the crack line on the edge. "Eh?" My eyes widened when I heard sound of feet landing and I saw Naru had foolishly jumped back down. "Baka!" Was all I could say when the ceiling slid down and Naru pulled me down.
This idiot never learned! I thought as I grabbed the back of his head and pulled, if he was planning to shield me with his body, he had another thing coming! My free hand shot up, there was not much time!
Then came an intense low pitched crashing sound, and I sensed the spirit flickered out of existence. Falling ceiling aside, at least I got rid of that damned evil spirit.
Naru's POV
I could feel something warm beneath my cheek, and scent of amaryllis flower, mild, sweet and delicate. There was also faint smell of tea mixed in. I opened my eyes, but all I could see was faint white outline. Then I noticed a good part of my body was pressed against something warm and soft.
"You never learn." Familiar voice said. "Why did you keep following down to a hole? What are you, Alice in wonderland?"
I knew who could deliver that kind of remark after getting a ceiling falling on top of her, "Mai…" I pushed myself off of her, my eyes widened when I realized there was only small debris on my back. It didn't make sense, because the ceiling fell on top of us. I looked around and surprised to see there was a perfect circular hole on what left of the ceiling. The said circular hole also just happened to fit us, so we're mostly unharmed.
"Mai!"
That was Matsuzaki-san's shout. "We are fine." I shouted at them.
"Naru?! What happened?!" That was Lin, poking his head in.
"The ceiling collapsed. The floor also caved in. That's all." I answered as though nothing had happened; I was not going to enlighten them.
Then I heard a long sigh, and a growl. "How long do you intend to stay in this position?! Get off of me, NARU!" Mai snapped testily.
What was her problem? I thought as I stood up and Mai dusted her not so pristine white shirt, before marching towards the door of infirmary that was one level above us. I was about to help her to climb up but she jumped, both hands on the edge of the floor and flipped herself up to the door.
"Hmph!" She harrumphed before throwing one last glance at me and stuck her tongue out childishly. "Baka."
"Mai!"
SPR Base (3rd POV)
Surprisingly for Mai and Naru their base was not only occupied by Tojo and Shima but also familiar red haired friend of theirs, who took one look at their dusty appearance and pulled first aid box out of nowhere. "Care to enlighten me, what the heck happened to you two? Hime? Naru?"
"It's not a big deal." Naru deadpanned.
Bou-san was about to retort when Shouichi beat him to it. "What do you call a 'no big deal'?! I heard something crashing just now and the only reason I was not running there is because I know you're going to return to the base!"
Naru sighed, "Shouichi… I don't think-"
"Of course you don't!" Shouichi pulled him down to sit on nearest chair. "Hime! You too…"
Mai groaned, "I am sorry… I will get this scratches fixed now."
Ayako pulled her to another chair, "And you're not fixing it yourself!" She grumbled, "How did you escape that with small scratches? You must be so lucky but it doesn't excuse your tendency of jumping to danger and Naru following you straight to it!"
"To be fair! I got him back up before the ceiling fall but he jumped down again!" Mai glared at Naru.
"And letting that ceiling fall on top of you? Even though that type of ceiling- ouch!" He cut himself off when Shouichi not so gently rubbed alcohol on the bruise on his hand. "Shouichi!"
The red haired scientist's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, "I don't give shit on who is the idiot in this incident! You guys are both trouble magnet! If you two don't shut up I will call Hayato and inform him what just happened."
That shut both of them up. They didn't need Hayato coming down on them via video call with righteous fury too.
Naru sighed, "Anyway… the ceilings of this type of buildings are only made up of soft wooden boards…"
Shouichi snorted, "Lucky you then…"
Yasuhara piped in, "Anoo… this is perhaps not the right time, but… are you Irie Shouichi?"
He nodded, "Yes…"
Yasuhara squealed like a fanboy and rushed to grab a paper and a paperclip, "I am your fan! The music you compose to stimulate brain is a masterpiece that help my study! Please give me your autograph!"
Shouichi absentmindedly accepted the paper and signed his name. "Okay."
"You did that kind of research too?" Naru raised an eyebrow.
"In my spare time…" He drawled, "You know our policy, if you holed yourself in your lab more than three days you would be kicked out regardless of the deadline of your project." So he needed something to do outside and it was music.
Mai rolled her eyes, "Don't make it sounds like it's an unreasonable rule, mister-I fell asleep in the middle of changing clothes- and record holder of drowning himself in bathtub."
"Hime!" Shouichi flushed a furious red.
Bou-san chimed in, "Uhm… who is this boy again? Naru-bou's friend?" He queried. "I think we saw you on video call before."
Yasuhara was appalled, "Didn't you say you're a bassist?! Where did you live all this time, Takigawa-san? Under a rock?!"
"Hey!"
Shouichi laughed sheepishly. "I don't think I am famous enough to be known by anyone in music field… I compose song with music software even though I can play guitar." He cleared his throat, "I am Irie Shouichi… I'm the head of IT and Robotic development division of V.G corps…"
Bou-san whistled, "You're so young… How did you know Naru-bou?"
Naru was almost worried how Shouichi was going to answer, "We met few years ago~ Thinking about it again, I couldn't help but wonder… maybe I wasn't thinking straight when I decide to befriend him." He laughed at nothing in particular. "Then again I had a bad gastric problem that time I see pass his charming personality." He said sarcastically.
Just like that Ayako and Bou-san was distracted by the part Shouichi wondering why he befriended Naru and not the detail of their first meeting.
Crisis avoided Naru remembered something very important, "Care to enlighten us why you stayed in infirmary? Knowing you Mai, I am sure you can escape infirmary before the floor collapsed."
Mai averted her eyes nervously, and by coincidence locking eyes with Masako who was still sulking and obviously her mood was not getting better after she got an eyeful of Naru and Mai's compromising position. Masako was staring at her in annoyance; she was openly upset about it and showed her further displeasure with huffing and turning her face away.
She had been said to have saint like patience only her brother could beat, but she was getting annoyed with Masako's attitude. It was an emergency situation and she didn't ask the idiot to jump after her!
"Mai!"
"I had it!" She answered bluntly and clamped her mouth shut.
Silence…
Judging from displeasure in Naru's and Shouichi's face, it was wiser to just spill instead of keeping her mouth shut. "I am really sorry… my temper get the better of me. I mean… that dog spirit threw a desk at me…"
Mai knew she was openly sulking like a petulant child but she was being honest!
"Then the children spirit from LL classroom locked me up and tried to suffocate me with formalin." She continued on.
That was strike two.
"And then the spirit in infirmary appeared to mess with me too…" A tick grew on her temple. "I have my limit too… so I…"
Shouichi paled, "Uhm… the collapsed floor and ceiling…"
"Not me!" Mai shouted indignantly. "That's totally not my fault."
"If you say so Hime…" Shouichi didn't look convinced. "Well… I believe I won't see anything worse than what happened in our last Christmas or last vacation in Southern Island..."
Mai glared at him. "Neither of those involved me, get your fact straight! Well… the last one kinda my fault for not keeping an eye on Onii-chan… Let's just talk about the present!"
Bou-san sighed, "Oh well… but this mean the one in Infirmary is the worse if it destroy the room it occupied. Does the spirit is still there or it escape somewhere else? If we disturb that one again… I think this school wouldn't need major renovation but complete rebuilding."
"You don't have to worry about it." Mai informed him in cheery voice.
Masako blinked at that then closed her eyes, "Oh… the one in infirmary disappeared."
Naru's eyes widened, 'Gene…'
'Mai is right… there is not even a trace of it left, what did she do?!' Gene sounded panic. 'It's just gone all of a sudden, I didn't even notice until she told us!'
Shouichi sighed, "Hime… please don't look so pleased with yourself, you do know when you or your brother go off to vent your frustration the result is never pretty…" Shouichi finished nervously. "Well… all things considered, two half-demolished rooms are pretty mild."
Silence…
"I have all right to feel pleased with myself." Mai insisted almost petulantly. "It's asking for it."
They were curious but no one dared to ask, except one brave soul called Oliver Davis. "What did you do?"
Mai smirked, the unsettling smirk that would send chill down the spine even the most hardened Mafioso she learned from her tutor. "Exorcising it in the most painful way I know…" She was almost purring when emphasizing the word pain.
Shouichi just shrugged, the 'You're an idiot for asking that' shrug Naru knew so well after years of friendship with Irie Shouichi. She answered his question for the heck of it without giving detail and in the process scaring them out of their wits to not even dare to ask further.
'Uhm… Noll, is it just me or perhaps she is venting on that spirit because we kissed her without warning?'
'Maybe.' Naru rolled his eyes, 'Like she ever ask for permission to start the greeting kiss tradition with me.'
Gene pouted, 'To be fair you never complain!'
Naru slammed a mental barrier over his memory, damn Gene…
"At any rate~" Mai was humming now, and Naru was secretly glad the spirit took the brunt of her frustration. "What are we going to say to our client?"
Silence…
"Uhm, can you fix the room then? Jou-chan? Or hide it?!" Bou-san squeaked.
Mai rolled her eyes, "The problem is… the infirmary is –or was- on second floor, a wall missing can be easily hidden but how do you suppose we fix a missing floor or hiding a surface people walked on constantly?" Mai pointed out. "We ask the principal to close the Infirmary… but at day students are still using the room. Especially if tomorrow other large spirits acted up again, we can't stop them from using that broken room."
Naru sighed at that, "Beside… if the spirit is already capable of destruction at that scale, hiding it from the faculty members is just going to make them more ignorant."
Bou-san sighed exasperatedly, "But still… this is even worse than giant dog and falling lights." If the building collapsed, the students couldn't run. "For a spirit to make an entire ceiling collapse like that, weak beams and soft wood or not," Monk said.
"So this spirit is more powerful than what you usually encounter," Yasuhara said thoughtfully, to which Bou-san nodded in confirmation.
Inwardly both Mai and Shouichi thought, 'It's just two or three room missing floor and ceiling...' Considering misfire in their family resulted in rebuilding of several room usually, the damage to Ryokuryo was like a slap to the wrist. Not to mention if the one who misfired was Tsuna…
The missing half of Mafia Land's mountain came to mind, followed by several perfect circle holes and craters.
Shouichi glanced at Naru, 'Come to think of it, Noll is also a walking disaster.' In smaller scale than Tsuna but still one nonetheless.
"But what's more alarming is its brutality," Bou-san added. "I mean… they feel threatened by Mai and took turns to go after her relentlessly, and even on the verge of dead… it tried to drag Mai and Naru-bou with it."
Rather than brutal Mai thought they were just persistent.
Ayako nodded, "Does anyone else think this is weird? It would take an incredible amount of power for a spirit to-"
Badump!
Mai, Naru and Gene then saw it…
'It hatched.'
"It has hatched." Mai said softly.
"Hatched?"
Everyone turned to her and Mai ignored them, focusing on the vision that dominated their thought through their psychic link. "It just hatched," She said to no one in particular.
Naru stayed quiet, Gene was relaying what they sensed from the supernatural entities in Ryokuryo. No wonder Mai and Gene called it disgusting, it was sickening sight… like deformed fetus tainted with evil beating like a pulsing heart.
They waited for Mai to elaborate.
"It's been asleep up to this point..." Mai said, her voice overlapped with Gene's on Naru's mind.
Both of them were on trance. "After it finished absorbing enough power it hatched..."
Mai could feel the pulse was getting worse, in fact because one of them who were the largest was gone… it spurred the remaining to grow stronger, to eat and devour… more! More! Their pulse seemed to say that.
"And now… no one will be able to stop it…"
Naru sighed as he walked on, while Mai ignored their rain of questions on what the heck she was talking about. "It's exactly like what Mai said… it seems our presence alone spurred them on to live… like restless beast eating greedily to prepare facing the incoming disaster."
Mai nodded, "This is already out of hand…"
Shouichi frowned at them, "Why such a dangerous haunted site is not sealed yet? Does the school want casualties?"
Yasuhara gritted his teeth. "Maybe that's exactly what our teachers are waiting for…" Injured students had escalated in number and they were still stubbornly holding on to their pride!
"The school will have a lot to say about that." Bou-san pointed out. "About closing the school I mean…"
Naru sighed, "This place is already on their last leg…"
Mai narrowed her eyes, "Still… going to report this without anything to back us up is like asking them to kick us out of here."
Yasuhara paled at that, "But if they do that… it's like sentencing us students to death! You guys stopped us from doing Orikiri-sama! Convincing principal to make dangerous spot off limits! If you guys stop here… we…!"
"This is why… We have to figure out something by tonight." Mai pointed out. "At least to make them hesitate to kick us out."
Naru closed his eyes briefly, 'Gene… you went away before the infirmary collapse, do you find anything new?'
'Yes… but I am not sure of the relevance.' Gene admitted.
'Whatever it is, just tell me!' Naru insisted.
Gene hesitated before he sent Naru and Mai too, a vision of a foggy shrine with old torii gate and fox statues on both side. 'I found it when tracing a thin line of summoning magic from Orikiri-sama, it seems not all students heed our advice… but thanks to that I can track it down to that shrine.'
'What a shrine… a supposedly sacred place has anything to do with Orikiri-sama? It's obviously not a séance with a god.' Naru pointed out.
"Shouldn't the danger imposed by these spirits enough to make them to keep us here?" Ayako drawled on with a huff. "I mean… we're obviously doing something for this school! If anything it's Matsuyama that should be kicked out! He has done nothing but bothering us!"
"Didn't he shut up when you told him you're a doctor too?" Masako recalled.
She nodded, "Yeah… what a pathetic man, to be so weak in face of power and pedigree… with that attitude I am surprised no one tried to kill him yet or at least sock him on the face."
Mai perked up at that, "Oh… speaking of trying to kill Matsuyama…"
She started with a morbid idea to begin her sentence, Mai really hated Matsuyama. They couldn't help but thought.
"I had a dream of Sakauchi-kun's room." Mai looked up thoughfully. "And there is this old book on Onmyoudou… Chinese one in his room, it looks really worn and there is new torn page on chapter about Suzhou."
At that Lin stood up abruptly. "Suzhou?! You mean… this boy was dabbling in dark arts?!"
Mai nodded, "It's my intuition talking but… Sakauchi-kun, he is a person that strongly driven by his interest. He is pretty smart, not academic smart, but he is obviously good in kanji… English and I think he most likely learn Chinese too by himself."
Yasuhara jumped in, "I heard this from his fellow club members! Sakauchi-kun is average academically but he is very good in calligraphy because of his interest in onmyoudoy and Taoism! He learns an extra length for fields related to paraphsychology!" Then Yasuhara quieted down. "Uhm… what else? His artwork in art club, his senior also said… he is meticulous in his art style. Sakauchi-kun's greatest strength and weakness is… he likes to do complicated work, something new and revolutionary. Sometimes it turns out good but most of the time he mess his work up…"
Lin looked pale, "He didn't sound like someone I would want to get anywhere near Suzhou art…" He turned to face Mai, he looked almost panic. "Erm… do you know what the page he tore from the book is about? Sawada-san?"
Mai shook her head, and then she blanched. "Uhm… I am sure it's not anything related to hitogata, but… when I skim through the book I think he tore two to three pages from separated chapter… both are about Suzhou but…"
It didn't take a genius to put two and two together…
Lin voiced it out. "So most likely Sakauchi-kun is mixing two or more type of Suzhou curse… what recklessness of an amateur! And he committed suicide most likely-"
Naru went on, "He lit the sparks, and saw the sparks light a fire, then sought his own death… that explained his guilt and delirious state of his spirit."
The amber eyed girl narrowed her eyes at that, "Would you like me to…"
"Absolutely not." Naru hissed. "You're not using post-cognition on Sakauchi-kun's spirit…"
"Hime!" Shouichi scowled, "You have done enough recklessness for one night! In fact you have reached your quota!"
Since when did she has a quota for recklessness? "Fine… but we still have to know what kind of Suzhou! Gee… at this rate the spirits here would continue to consume each other, and if it gets to the last survivor… it will be too stro-"
"What did you say?!"
Mai cringed when she heard three voices –Naru, Lin, and Gene (mentally) shouted at her in unison. "Uhm… they'll continue consuming each other until the last one remain?" Mai rephrased, but that was the gist of what she said.
Shouichi's left eye twitched, 'Hime… you did it again.'
Naru and Lin looked shaken and Mai guessed, Gene too. "How can that be?" Naru seemed to ask himself. "I should have noticed! Your brother told me already…"
Mai and her brother had offered the clue in silver platter since day one!
She blinked in confusion. "About the coliseum impression he got about Ryokuryo?"
In the background Yasuhara asked Bou-sana and Shouichi about 'impression' Mai and Naru were talking about. Then they explained Hyper Intuition tend to give impression in parable to describe a haunted site. Ryokuryo was a jungle full of beast and a coliseum for some reason to Mai and Tsuna.
"You and your brother are looking at half of the picture Ryokuryo is." Naru explained to Mai who was still very confused. "We're up against a kodoku using spirits!"
"Kodoku?" Mai echoed, "Is it a Suzhou hex?"
"A zuhzou hex," Naru confirmed, "A curse that dates back to ancient China… It's been thought to be extinct for years now. Zuhzou normally use hitogata, talismans, and other charms to curse, but some can use living creatures. That is a kodoku." Naru went on.
"Usually an insect is used. One known as a 'Golden Silkworm', but exactly what type of bug that is still remains a mystery. Worms and centipedes are also commonly used. They take the bugs and place them inside a pot, and then bury the pot in the earth. Several months later, they dig it up. What remains is a single bug that has devoured the others. The curse is performed with this lone survivor…"
Bou-san piped in, "You mean… the eating each other part is what Mai's impression is hinting at… in a jungle, or any wilderness… there is an established food chain."
"Coliseum…" John murmured, "An ancient battle arena to decide the strongest… Tsunayoshi-san's clue is about the 'last survivor' part… the bug who won the survival battle."
Mai swallowed, survivor… that explained the allegories they had. "What would they do with the last bug?" She asked.
Naru inhaled slowly. "The bug takes possession of the house owned by the person being cursed… or rather the one who perform the curse and brings in an enormous amount of wealth. However, in return, a human must be sacrificed for the curse to continue. If not, the bug will devour the homeowner."
That was eerily alike with something else she knew, the sacrificed for the curse part.
Naru put his file down on the desk. "If one is unable to feed the bug, they must exchange all of the wealth the bug has produced, plus interest for gold and silver, and leave it in the road. It's called the Golden Silkworm Transfer."
"But if it's laying in the road then what's stopping someone from just taking it for themselves?" Mai asked, not liking the idea of passing over the curse they started. "Isn't that mean… whoever takes it…"
"Whoever takes it will see the money but never really know what they have," Ayako continued. "And obviously…"
Bou-san shuddered, "Their demise is not pretty, get eaten by a bug."
"This same idea can also be used as a death curse," Naru said. "You preform the kodoku curse and send the bug along with some gold and silver to someone you despise. They don't understand its meaning, neglect to feed the bug, and are devoured in the process."
Mai glanced around warily, "The barrier... cannibalizing… this is too much of coincidence to be waived off as something accidental."
Naru nodded, "Sakauchi-kun most likely knows about the history of Ryokuryo but… considering his current, I don't think he did this to terrorize the school."
Lin sighed, "Perhaps he thought the spirits would eat each other peacefully like in original Kodoku, forgetting the part his fellow schoolmates are staying in the same pot… this pot of kodoku spirit is not buried on earth."
Bou-san chimed in, "Regardless of what he had in mind… by the time just one spirit is remaining, the school that it has taken possession of it will have to feed it just like the homeowner does, right?!" He reminded them the worse part of this curse.
"Now hold on," Ayako protested.
"But that's how it works!" The monk said. "If it's not fed then the homeowner is eaten."
"But it's different in this case," John interupted. "Who would the homeowner be? I mean… Sakauchi-kun technically prepared the props but-"
"Probably the students that summoned the spirits," Naru said.
Mai turned to face Yasuhara, "Then they would get killed for something they didn't even aware of!" She turned towards Lin, "Is there anything we can do?"
He looked hesitant but calm. "Kodoku is a form of cursing that is considered to be lost among parapsychologists. In my entire career I've never even heard anyone coming across one," Lin admitted, recalling his years as Omyouji. "Breaking the curse would not be too difficult. But… without clear purpose of this curse known to me, like… to kill particular person for example… Then there would be only two distinct ways to deal with problem."
"Transferring it to someone, or giving in and feeding it," Naru finished out.
"Right."
Mai scowled, "That's not a solution…"
Bou-san eyed her sceptically, "Uhm… Mai-chan, and Naru-bou too… don't kill me but hear me out first." The mentioned teens eyed him back, eyebrows raised. "There is the straightforward way… just exorcise the remaining spirits, ne?"
Mai laughed but there was no mirth, "Bou-san… are you suggesting me to take them on?"
Naru glared at him murderously, and Bou-san flailed. "I mean… her familiar spirit! Or whatever they are!"
Mai raised an eyebrow at that, "You want me to pit my familiar spirits as you put it against the three remaining summoned spirits?"
A hand grabbed his shoulder and when he turned, Takigawa Houshou was scared out of his wits when he saw murderous aura Irie Shouichi emitted. "My! My! What a foolish idea you're trying to put in our princess's mind…" He cackled evilly.
"Gyaa! I am just suggesting! I am not pushing her to anything!" He cried.
Shouichi chuckled darkly, "Maybe a few hours in my glass house and accompanying my giant venus flytrap will clear your mind off of foolish ideas…"
And they thought at least they had met someone harmless from Mai's family, this one was dangerous too!
"Go for it Shouichi." Naru encouraged him.
No wonder they were best friends!
"Shouichi!" Mai sweat-dropped. "I am not going to even consider that idea… don't scare Bou-san, please. You're going to give him nightmares!"
Shouichi beamed, "I am just joking!"
That was definitely a lie! He was not joking at all!
Mai laughed again, "That's one fine idea… seriously Bou-san." Shouichi glared again. "A fine idea if you don't mind we demolish the school in the process."
Silence…
All of them minus Naru and Shouichi gave her 'are you serious' look.
"Totally…" She answered their silent question. "If I unleash them I think between them and the remaining violent spirits in Ryokuryo, there wouldn't be anything left standing once we're through… and no matter how good Takeshi and Fran at cover up and clean up. Keeping a school that is demolished overnight is impossible…"
They gaped at her revelation, and Mai continued on as if she had not said anything surprising.
"Material damage aside… having a spirit showdown in a school full of students is a bad idea." Mai finished. "Don't you think?"
Ayako raised her hand, "Uhm… Bou-san's stupid idea aside, didn't that mean exorcism is also out of question if it drives the spirit to rampage?"
"It's already out of option since day one." Naru pointed out. "In a sense the curse of Kodoku compels the spirits to do anything to survive and cannibalize each other… I think Mai's success in exorcising the spirit in Infirmary is because they saw her as a threat to Kodoku ritual. They prioritize getting rid of her and now… they failed they switch to plan B…"
Mai sighed, "They had been eating in faster rate since then… they're adapting very fast. The spirits are doing everything they could to complete the kodoku." She glanced at Lin, "As our expert said… this not the matter or whether we can beat the spirit anymore, brute force is no longer an option…"
Naru narrowed his eyes, "Do we keep any paper of Orikiri-sama with us?" He wondered.
Ayako and John glanced at their resident Monk, "He confiscated and personally rip every Orikiri-sama charm he came across."
"I understand your feeling but… you should saved one intact for investigation."
Bou-san rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry…"
"Come to think of it again…" Mai trailed off. "Have Lin-san informed on procedure of Orikiri-sama?"
Silence…
Lin was ticked, he was the expert in magic in SPR and yet they kept him out of the loop again. His presence was thin but keeping him informed was the least they should do! "So… what is the procedure? It's unique in comparison of the usual Kokkuri-san, and…?"
Yasuhara became thoughtful, recalling the game he had done only once and two months ago. "Hm… the paper is different, the incantation too… and there is the rule we can only use it once and we have to bury the used paper."
Lin had a very bad feeling, as if an amateur playing around with complicated curse was not bad enough. "The paper is different… what you can recall of the different part?"
Mai was the one who answered, she had confiscate one paper yesterday from a group of girls and after taking a good look on them passing it back for them to tear it themselves. So her memory of the charm was still fresh. "It has the alphabet, numbers, and the yes and no like usual Kokkuri-san. However instead of Torii gate in the middle… Orikiri has a stick human figure and two line beside it… left is number in kanji but I don't remember the number and on the right is worm like script… then the most distinguishing pattern a circle made up of the word '鬼' Oni…"
Lin groaned, if Sakauchi had not died yet Lin would kill the brat himself. "Either this boy is extremely creative or foolish." He would be a fine hexer with proper training. "Yasuhara-san… Orikiri-sama, the name comes from the incantation I guess?" The Kaichou nodded. "'on, orikiritei, meiritei, meiwayashimaire, sowaka'…"
His eyes widened in recognition. "Yes! That's the incantation!"
"And the place to bury the used paper is under a shrine?" Lin continued.
"Yes… there is a nearby shrine where everyone buries the paper…"
Mai piped in, "Is it a small shrine with fox statues and a tori gate?"
"You know?" Yasuhara looked surprised.
Mai groaned, 'Aaah… why I have to be the one who take credit for this kind of thing?!'
Naru's left eye twitched, 'That answer why when you traced the link, it led you to a shrine.'
'Yes… Lin doesn't look so good.' He didn't look different but Gene could tell Lin was furious.
The leader of SPR sighed, "One way or another… we have to do something, Lin."
"Hai?"
"Since this is a Suzhou, I believe you can do something about it?" That was not a question.
Lin nodded, "Since this is a Suzhou… breaking it would be simple however, in this case." He turned to Yasuhara. "Do you know what we have here, Yasuhara-san?"
The Kaichou shook his head but he had a feeling he won't like what Lin was going to say. "No."
"If you wish for madness, bury it the crossing of paths…" He recited, "If you wish to kill, bury it beneath the shrine."
Yasuhara's eyes widened, "You mean… all this time we're… assisting a murder attempt?!"
Lin nodded, he was not going to sugarcoat something on this scale. "Hai… and on top of that once the victim dies, the next victim would be…"
He swallowed; it was easy to put two and two together. "Us… the homeowners, who call the spirits forth to this school…"
The SPR unofficial members minus Masako began to argue in the background, as they realized the students were no longer collateral victim but soon they would be inevitable victim to the curse.
"Ne, Lin-san…" Yasuhara began, "I am an amateur in curse and magic… but from what I see… even if you break the curse it won't be without consequence for us who start the curse, right?"
Lin and Naru exchanged glance, Yasuhara was sharp so there was no point hididng the inevitable from him. "By tomorrow… if you manage to secure a paper of Orikiri-sama, we will know who the intended victim of this curse is. I said breaking it, but a curse is not something you can stop…"
Naru continued, "It's either not starting it at all or finish it."
"So what we have as a solution to save the victim is… turning the curse back to its hexer." Lin finished.
In short… turning this horrible curse back to over six hundred students of Ryokuryo.
Mai gritted her teeth, "Is there no other way at all, Lin-san? Naru?"
"There is transferring it to someone else like ordinary Kodoku, or give in and feed it." Lin informed her. "However… this spirit Kodoku, I don't think the first choice is optional…"
Because those options required the Kodoku to be completed, and it would kill its intended victim first and by that point… the school would be a battlefield for three way battle between remaining spirits.
Yasuhara stepped forward. "I have one more question, if you turn the curse back to us what will happen to us?" He asked with firm determination.
Naru was the one who answered him, "Since you didn't cast it alone, the curse in theory would split among six hundreds of you and considerably weakened…"
In theory, but there was no telling whether it would really weakened by one per six hundred or how bad it would be even if they suffered miniscule amount of the original curse.
"Is it alright for me to assume, if we let the curse be… the intended victim will die horribly?" Yasuhara continued.
Naru didn't sugarcoat his answer, "The victim will die in the most brutal manner."
Yasuhara nodded then he bowed deeply, "In that case… we student of Ryokuryo will take responsibility of our action. Our ignorance is not an excuse… please turn the curse back."
Mai stood up abruptly from her seat. "Alright… that's enough, don't be hasty. We don't even have the curse paper to confirm the victim…"
The dark haired scientist snorted, "Mai… you of all people already know who is the victim."
Yasuhara rose from his bow, "I also have figured it out… in fact I think everyone in this school could tell easily." He inhaled slowly, "I am not a dog… one line that echoed deeply to us."
Bou-san swallowed, "Could it be… Matsuyama?!"
"Obviously…" Naru grunted.
Yasuhara smiled, a strained smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I think why this curse is so successful even though Sakauchi-kun is an amateur is because… deep down we're thinking the same thing as him. We harbored the same negative feelings towards our school… especially Matsuyama. Maybe that's also why Orikiri-sama is popular…"
"Yasuhara-san?" Mai's eyes widened. "Don't tell me… the curse… it's addictive?"
Lin looked shocked at that, "What?"
Ayako narrowed her eyes, "Ah… I am no expert in curse but I did hear some curse, especially one that expresses one's negative feeling makes the hexer feels good."
That was why curse was a forbidden art; it was no different than drugs. In fact once… she was called in by a friend because her coworkers fell to curse in short period of time. Ayako didn't even have to be a detective to find the hexer, aided by her tree spirit -in which one life tree happened to be around- she found the culprit quickly. At first the culprit just cursed the coworkers she really hated for bullying, but then feeling of superiority over human life and satisfaction from revenge intoxicate her mind to the point even smallest reason like ignoring her earned people around her hostility enough to be targeted as the next victim.
"There is a case like that…" Ayako sighed. "I almost wonder if they're stupid or what considering I still catch some girls doing Orikiri-sama today after so much warning…"
"Me too." Bou-san cringed, followed by John who raised his hand timidly.
Yasuhara smiled sadly, "Isn't that the more reason for us to take responsibility?"
Mai narrowed her eyes, "Still… while taking responsibility is admirable and noble of you. Yasuhara-san… Do you have right to decide that for over six hundreds of students even though you're their leader? All of you could end up dead, what Naru said about the curse weakening because the brunt would be shared between six hundreds of you is merely a theory…"
"…"
"Do you have enough resolution to go through with this? Taking responsibility of your action that was born out of ignorance, deciding that fate for your friends?" Mai pressed on.
Yasuhara tensed for a moment, he was hesitating before he clenched his fist. "I am the president of student council of Ryokuryo, I maybe the top student of this school but I was given this position because my friends… junior and senior voted for me. They believe in me… and I believe we have to take responsibility of our action. All of us hates Matsuyama, enough to the point some of us thinks it's better if he just disappear… but that's wrong! He is not someone we will mourn even if he died a horrible death, but I am not going to let myself and the rest of student body to be responsible for his death! We're a better person than he is! I believe my friends would refuse to stoop as low as that!"
He was panting now, and Yasuhara was tempted to cry now. Even if it was Matsuyama, he and his friends had unknowingly helping to kill that bastard. He couldn't even hate Sakauchi who started everything, obviously the fact the boy had taken his own life was enough telling Sakauchi only wanted to hurt Matsuyama and no one else. Hell! Once in a while he was tempted to throttle Matsuyama himself, Sakauchi just happened to choose the wrong method and lacking his self-control.
Foolishness of youth indeed.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
He looked up and shocked to see Sawada Mai was clapping with a soft smile on her lips. "As expected of you Yasuhara-san, you're a devoted and resolute leader." She complimented him. "Still… it would be a shame to let this case to end like this so-" She turned towards Naru. "This case… it's not like my family have no say in this at all, after all we have involved this far so… will you let us to have say too?"
As if on cue her phone started to ring, she looked once at the name flashing on the screen before handing her phone to Naru. He took one look at the ringing phone and sighed exasperatedly before he picked it up. "Moshi-moshi… what a time to call, Tsunayoshi-san."
Tsuna was not even surprised Naru was the one picking his call. "It seems the case in Ryokuryo is escalating from bad to worst..."
Naru narrowed his eyes, supposedly Tsuna had returned to Italy but he knew… through his psychic link with Mai most likely. "Hai."
"And I am sure… at this point you already know why I want you to take this case, it's not for mere altruistic purpose in my part."
If you already guessed that much, just get on with it. If he was an ordinary person, Naru would be tempted to say something along that line.
"And… surely you have find a way, perhaps not something you're sure 100% would work but will end this case with casualties as minimum as possible if not at all."
This guy!
"I am flattered of your expectation of me." Which was borderline freaky rather than assuring in Naru's book. "For someone who just met me twice…"
Tsuna just laughed, "If you're not capable of that much my sister wouldn't trust you so much… and if you choose the easy way to end this case, you'll lose that trust."
Naru's eyes widened in shock, but since his back was facing the rest of his team no one saw his expression.
"That's why I trust you, simply because I have faith in Mai's judgment…" That was what Tsuna would say, Giotto thought. "So Shibuya Kazuya, no… Oliver Davis and Eugene Davis."
Naru and Gene were startled he was addressing both of them.
"How do you want to solve this case? The way my sister would approve for you to do?" he asked, or rather challenged them.
This was the real test.
"Naru?" Mai noticed his body language was odd, tense and… expectant.
He turned around and stared at her long and hard. Swallowing he answered, "We will do the best for everyone involved in this case… " He whispered to the phone. "So no one will suffer anymore…"That was what Mai would have wanted, what he would try his best to achieve as a Ghost Hunter.
He could almost hear the smile from the other end.
"Very well… then my family,
our family will lend you a hand to solve this case.
Oliver Davis-hakase."
Since I have reviewers said Yasuhara's spotlight is taken by Mai... I need to write his awesomeness here! Yasuhara you rocks!
I am SO worried to put a scene of Yasu and Irie in the same room!
Because... in my head their image overlap a lot SO it's a challenge for me! (‐^▽^‐)
Anyway... next chapter is more on awesomeness of trolling and analysis...
NEXT chapter: In which faculty members of Ryokuryo have a taste of their own medicine, NO ONE cares about Matsuyama and Yamamoto pop in to give life advice to a very DEAD Sakauchi-kun.
Anyway... I writing this side by side with POAST and still stuck on POAST with 8K so I feel like running away ε=ε=ε=┌(;*´Д`)ノ and,
yell (*゚ノO゚)GAAAAH! This is why I stop promising when to update!
On update of my situation... not the best but getting better, at least we strike a good deal with our landlady.
