Mai opened her eyes. She was in a place of darkness. Again. "Mai." She heard as she noticed two figures approaching her. "Mom, dad. It's you again!" The girl then ran up to them and hugged them both. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk last time. My friend needed me."

"About that, Mai." Her mother started as the smile on her face dropped. "We don't like your friends. The both of us think that you should stay with us."

"What do you mean, stay with you. But that means I would have to…" Mai questioned.

Her father nodded. "But then at least the three of us could be together. You'll be safe here. It will be painless."

Mai was already one foot in the trap. She didn't even think about the fact that her parents would never take her at the cost of her life. "I can't go yet. I have people here who…"

"Need you? Miss you? Love you? Be honest Mai, none of them thinks that way about you." The comment her mother made made Mai take a step back. "That's not true." She denied as a tear form in the corner of her eye. Or was it? "Yes, it is. I know it hurts." The woman came closer giving Mai a hug. "That's why, come with us." The tears started to roll down Mai's cheek. She hugged her back.

Suddenly, another voice popped into her head. She then matched the voice with a person, then a situation. She suddenly remembered the dream she had in the car on the way to the Fujiwara's. That's when she dreamed about her parents. Her parents who told her that they are happy that she found a new loving family. Her parents who wished her a happy long life.

"Who are you?" Mai yelled as she pushed away with all her might. "You're lying. Who are you? My parents would never say that."

The woman played dumb. "What do you mean, Mai?"

The girl got even angrier. "Stop it. My parents would never want me dead. And for your information, SPR is my family. They do love me and I love them."

"Mai-" she tried again but after being shut up by Mai again realized that it was not going to work. Suddenly the image of her parents disappeared and became this massive shapeless shadow. "Girl, you have a strong will. But I'll take you life energy by force if needed." It said in a deep voice.

"Mai, you need to wake up!" A familiar voice called. Mai looked to the side to see Yoru. "Mai quickly, I'm too weak. I can't protect you yet."

The girl panicked. "How do I wake up?"

"Wait here." The cat said as he disappeared. Mai was face to face with the demonic being. Wondering when it would make its move. She then suddenly felt a pain in her chest. Her vision became blurry. "I don't need to attack right now. I had enough food. Now, I'm powerful. Go and fear knowing that you are not safe no matter what." That was the last thing Mai heard it say before she realized she was back in her body. She also discovered that the cause of the pain in her chest was no other than Yoru jumping up and down to wake her up. "Your…" Mai sighed. "Still, thank you."

"Mai are you awake?" She heard the medium ask. "Yeah, you too?"

"I can feel it again." Masako admitted.

Mai grabbed her phone and the girl by the hand. "Let's follow it. We are going to find it." She said as she forced her friend out of the room.

'I have to teach her how to control it.' Yoru thought as he watched them leave.

Depending on Masako's feeling and Mais flashlight the two girls arrived at the door of Akane's room. "Do we go in?" Mai asked. She really wanted to get this over with but could tell it was inappropriate. "Do you want to get scolded by Naru?" Masako asked back making Mai sigh. "Of course not." The girl then got an idea. "Let's wake him up. I want to see his pissed face. We have a believable excuse." She chuckled already thinking about her boss's reaction. Mai grabbed Masako by the hand, again, and thwarted heading into the direction of their rooms. "Could it be that you actually want to be scolded?" Masako asked trying to keep up with the girl.

The girls arrived at the door to the boy's room. Mai paused. "Do I knock or?" She wondered. The same problem as Naru. She too, was not acquainted with this type of buildings. "Just go in. You're about to wake him up anyway." Masako laughed. Well, Mai followed her friend's advice. She opened the door to reveal a small light still on.

"And here I thought who is making so much noise outside of the room." Her boss asked looking up from his laptop. "You're are still awake?" Mai asked. "No, I'm fully asleep. I'm pretty sure you're hallucinating." He answered looking her straight into the eyes. He just wanted to see a reaction. "Funny." Mai said not amused. "Naru, listen. We figured out that the demon is in Akane's room." She added.

"Ok and where exactly?"

"Well, we didn't go in. That's why we came. What did we do?"

"Go to sleep. It probably already hid again." He really wanted to comment on how she would not enter Akane's room to literally save the girl but barged into his room just like that. "Anything else to report?" He asked ignoring the urge. It was the middle of the night after all. Mai shook her head. "Then you should really go to sleep now. You looked half-dead the whole day."

In the morning Mai explained to Naru what happened in her dream. It was quite a surprise when the team realized that Mai was being targeted. Good thing that she didn't give in but she was still not safe, as the demon said itself. The girl still looked worn out and sleepy but was giving her best when the team headed to Akane's room for search.

Naru realized that the demon had to be quite powerful if it could hide its presence this well, change its form to look like humans and dry out the life of a person in such a short time. Well, he already fed himself with three lives since he got released. They might have to seal it. It might be already too strong to be exorcised.

"I'm sorry for disturbing Akane, Ryoko-san." Mai bowed to the woman and standing next to her Momoe. "It's fine. As long as it helps her get better." Mai smiled at the woman then turned around to have a look at the room. It was now an absolute mess. The whole team was looking. "Ah, the shrine." Mai noticed the object. Ryouko noticed her interest in it. "There is no hid in there but supposedly a spirit lives there. Our ancestors asked it to protect our family."

Mai watched in disbelief. Could it…? But that's so stupid… and obvious. "Umm, Naruu." She called. "I might have something you want to check out."

Her boss came over. "What is it?" Mai pointed at the wooden shrine. "Could it hide in there?" She asked watching as her boss picks it up. "Where did it came from?" He asked making Mai confused. "What? It was here the whole time. Since yesterday I believe." At that point, Masako joined them. "Right, Masako." She addressed the girl who was with and John in the room at that time. "Was it? I don't remember seeing it. It might have." The medium said.

"Well, this thing is definitely suspicious." Naru stated.

Thank you all for the reviews!

So I wrote that Luella will appear soon but before the case in England I want to have one more case so with my tempo of writing and the length of the chapters it might take a while after all. But worry not, she will appear eventually.

And about Yoru. He is not visible to everyone. He can choose who sees him except young children because children are more open. So 'patting the air' a great idea. I'll definitely put it on the next case.