So, meanwhile Masako is facing some struggles of her own. I wanted to bring the story back to her earlier, but I couldn't find the right time. This begins when the three pass out and ends in the night that Monk spends in a treehouse hammock. Assuming time moves the same in the book as it does in reality. (Ho, ho. Don't tempt me.)
The door to the hotel room opened slowly, and groaning under the weight of her shopping bags the physic Masako Hara inched into the room. After Naru, Lin and Takigawa had left her – more like passed out drooling on the floorboards in Monk-san's case – she had dragged them into a neat row. Which was hard work for her small frame. Then she'd plopped down onto a cushion and sat alone, watching the comatose bodies of her friends snoring on the floor. But after a while even the novelty of watching her darling Naru sleep had worn off a little. So after fantasizing about romantic scenarios for an hour, she decided to go snack shopping just to get out for a little.
Sure enough, she noted tartly, as she piled the fridge full of couch-potato-snacks, yogurt, and cheezels, none of them had gone missing while she was away. Still sore about being left behind, Masako, she chided herself. Suck it up, at least you have a job. At least don't mess it up. Although it would be impossible to mess up babysitting a heap of unconscious humans, she thought piqued.
Darkness was falling quickly. She amused herself by eating ice-cream out of the container and poking Mai and Lin in the face. She considered drawing a mustache on Mai's face, but decided against it. They were kinda sorta friends now, both supposedly getting over Naru. Although, despite the pretense she would never give up on him. Mai could do as she liked; she was already dumb enough to believe it was Gene she was in love with. Masako wouldn't stop chasing Naru until the day she died. Maybe even past that. No wait, she thought frowning. That didn't sound romantic, only creepy. Like some ghostly stalker. She sighed, Speaking of creepy, how would Habushi react to them not turning up for work today? Would he think they had given up the investigation? Or would the demon controlling him become suspicious? That thought sent a shiver down her spine. Did he have their address? She could imagine him opening the door in the middle of the night with red glowing eyes and inky black aura, the trademark of a demon's possession. The beam of his demonic eyes lighting up the floor where her companions lay defenseless. Just then Lin's phone rang.
She squeaked and dropped the ice cream spoon, hunting through the room until she found it on the coffee table. "Yes? Hello." "Hello miss Hara." Her breath hitched in her throat. It was Habushi. "Er," Her heart was hammering in her throat, "Hello Habushi san, how are you."
"Fine, fine. I'm glad you are OK. When you didn't turn up to work, I thought, 'Oh my god, it's happened again!'" Apparently, the demon wasn't fully controlling Habushi just now. "I'm – We're sorry Habushi san, we didn't mean to scare you." Masako answered relieved. "You are alright, aren't you?" Habushi continued, worry and slight suspicion lacing his tone. "I'm calling from the big guy's phone, Lin, right?" Shit!
"Oh. No – yeah. This is Lin's phone, but he's busy right now. We're all a little busy, you know. Working on the information we've gathered. We'll come back to investigate when we need more, thank you. See you later." Masako hung up, cutting Habushi off as he began to speak. She leant against the wall, letting her pent-up breath hiss out between her teeth. Hopefully, her friends would wake up soon.
She found the ice cream again and took a huge spoon to calm her nerves. She popped it into her mouth all at once. A moment later it certainly took her mind off her worry as she had to focus on immediate problems: The piece was much to big and cold for her mouth, her teeth began to ache, and her tongue went numb. The easiest thing would be to spit it out but that was most unladylike, so Masako forced it all down in one huge gulp. It froze against her throat all the way down and then… Ice head. Or brain freeze as some like to call it. She bent over, teeth clenched, palms drilling into her temples until the pain had abated. She frowned at her foolishness.
Ice head could be very serious for physics. Even the smallest accident could make them loose the vibration of the spiritual realm, and then goodbye to their talent. Although it would be a blessing to her if she could no longer see ghosts it would also be a disaster. She had a TV show that depended on her. Thinking better of the ice cream she placed it into the freezer. The icy cold finger of cooled air reaching for her as she closed the door of the freezer. It felt not unlike being touched by a ghost, she thought shuddering.
The truth was Masako was scared of ghosts. It had started since her early childhood. As a small kid no one had believed her when she said she'd seen a dead woman hovering over her bed. Or a dead boy with a phantom ball wandering in the woods. Being a strong physic she had attracted a lot of paranormal attention. It had terrified her until experts had taken her in and helped her control her gift. Knowing they were spirits, not monsters, had helped, but her fear was lurking just under the surface, easy for any ghost to sense.
That was one reason she never felt torn between the twins as Mai had. The choice was obvious to her. The one with breath in his lungs. The one with a warm pulse, if not smile. No matter how kind and yasashii the other one was, he was dead, and his real body was nothing but a bunch of rotting, bones. Imagine being in love with that!
Since I can apparently never say this too often. Reviews!