Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. I still say that Naru is my spirit animal though.
Prolonged Dialogue – Part One
The third time, he stuck around for a week.
In the weeks between their sudden departure at an unexpected phone call and the returned signs of life at the cabin, Mai had felt unusually listless. When she had first woken up from her curse centuries before, she had spent hours trying to figure out how to break the curse before worry for her own sanity caused her to pull away from it. Then, after she had learned to interact more fully with the world around her, she had once again tried to look into it. Maybe there was some new information she could find, something that would give her some hope after she had honestly begun to forget what it felt like.
But, by then, the world had moved on from ideas of magic and gods. They paid ritual respect, but science was creeping more steadily in every year and with it only the truly faithful paid any attention to ideas like curses and land gods. Religious ceremonies became ritual and stories like her own had become myths. Even Bou-san and Ayako had been more concerned with giving her friendship rather than a way out. It had been a lifeline in her growing loneliness and hopelessness.
Then Naru showed up and introduced her to the idea that science and myth could exist side-by-side and that there were still some around in the world that believed in what she was going through. While his manners left something to be desired, Mai had found herself missing his company in the days after they left and she was once again alone with too much time on her hands.
And it wasn't just company in general, but Naru's specifically. While Gene and Masako had been generally more pleasant, there had been something almost addictive to the sarcastic comments and back and forth arguments that the scientist inspired in her. She had felt more alive during those few days than she had in…a long time.
It was useless, she knew, to develop a crush on a handsome stranger. Even if he did genuinely want to help her, he, too, would one day leave and she would be left alone again. Yet, it seemed already that it might be too late. More often than not, she found her mind wandering aimlessly towards wondering what he was doing and if he would return. Even as she marveled at her own warped personality for choosing such a difficult man to become enamored with, she relished the rush and tingle that a crush could bring. There had been more than a few of them for her through the years, even with people who had no idea she existed – literally. Yet, this one felt different, special in a way that she couldn't entirely identify. So, she wrapped herself in the delicious feeling and hoped for his return.
In her eagerness, she caught sight of the strangely large van making its way through the forest followed by a smaller sedan. Curious, she followed them to the familiar cabin and watched as both vehicles parked in the space provided. At first, she felt only confusion as she saw a strange woman and younger, bespectacled man getting out of the sedan. Then, she couldn't help but grin as she saw a familiar figure emerge from the passenger side of the van accompanied by a taller, stoic man with hair blocking one of his eyes.
"Naru!"
The man in question turned to see her, a slight widening of his eyes the only indication that she had surprised him with her sudden presence.
"Mai," he responded after a moment's pause. Then a smirk curved his lips. "So desperate for company that you are staking out the cabin now?"
"No, you jerk!" she huffed, struggling to suppress her smile. "I saw you approach and was curious. Who are your friends?" she asked, remembering her manners.
"These individuals are the remainder of our investigative research team. As Gene and Hara cannot provide any help as you are not actually deceased, I felt that it was time to turn the investigation in another direction."
"How is it you managed to answer my question without actually answering anything?" Mai muttered, rolling here eyes as she turned to the new trio. Judging by the expressions on the woman and younger man's faces, they were both startled and amused by the exchange they had witnessed. "Hello! I am Taniyama Mai. It is nice to meet you. I am under your care."
"No need to be so formal!" the woman laughed. "I am Mori Madoka, paranormal investigator and Noll's mentor. This is Lin Koujo, our mechanical specialist, and Yasuhara Osamu, our parttime researcher/intern."
As she made the introductions, the other two gentlemen made their acknowledgements with the younger of the two smiling in an unabashedly friendly manner.
"It is nice to meet you, Taniyama-san! I don't think any of us have ever heard of someone quite like you. Thank you for cooperating with our research."
Mai laughed. "You are welcome? I don't think I've actually be asked this time around. I guess Naru just assumed I would this time after saying yes last time."
"Were you planning to change your mind?" a cool voice interrupted from the rear of the van.
"No, but courtesy is not something that should be forgotten in the modern age, you know."
"Redundancy is only beneficial in analysis and data capture," Naru replied absently as he looked over a list on a clipboard. "Lin, I would like to set up before it gets dark if possible."
"Of course," the older man commented, speaking for the first time in Mai's presence. "Where are we setting up?"
"The entrance is about a hundred meters to the northeast. We are going to want to have high frequency, infrared, and thermal imaging. I doubt we will need any microphone surveillance, but it might be a good idea." Naru paused in his instructions to look over at her. "Mai, in your experience has there been any audio when any of the phenomena occurred?"
"Not that I can think of?" she responded hesitantly. "I usually watched from pretty far away though so I could not say one way or another."
"Audio recordings would be a good idea then," Madoka broke in. "It is always better to have too much data than not enough."
"Agreed," Naru commented, turning back to the van.
Over the next few minutes, the group scurried about on their separate tasks like a well-practiced and coordinated team. Mai watched in a state of awe as they worked seamlessly on their selected tasks as she stood to the side seemingly beneath their notice. If not for Yasuhara's occasional quasi-flirtatious comments, Mai would have wondered if she had gone invisible again for as much attention she got. Rather than be bothered by it, she chose to pay close attention, curious to learn what made this little team of investigators tick.
"Mai."
Startled, she looked over to find Naru pausing in his work to look over at her.
"Yes?"
"Tea."
For a moment, she just stared at him, blinking. Then, the outrage set in.
"You narcissistic jerk! I am not one of your employees! You cannot just order me to make you tea! And even if you meant to just ask a favor, you seem to have no understanding of courtesy or manners!"
"I was under the impression that everything we are currently engaged in was for your benefit in the long term. Even if we are unable to figure out how to negotiate an end to your curse, you will have gained some fundamental understanding into how it works and how it might be negated eventually. As such, any request, polite or otherwise, that is made to you should be very little in comparative to what you stand to gain."
As he finished his cold lecturing, Mai noticed that the others had stopped to stare at the two of them. Unable to manage a rebuttal, she just nodded and moved into the cabin to make the tea, muttering that she was too old to be spoken to like that and that he was damned lucky that she was so nice. Behind her, she heard Madoka and Yasuhara burst into laughter with the woman making a dry comment about Naru's obsession with tea.
"She has nothing better to do and is very competent at the task," he responded after a moment, voice clearly tired of the topic.
Anger fading, Mai smiled. Maybe Naru did need to learn so manners. Still, having people around again made her feel better. And, he had a point. With his help, she was getting closer to learning the truth of her curse than ever before. Making tea was really not so much to ask.
For now.
o(O)o
"So, you have two different types of visual imaging, one type of thermal, and audio equipment just to monitor the one gate? Isn't that a little…redundant?"
Oliver glanced over to where Mai stood off to one side, watching as they assembled the base. Thankfully they had managed to get ahold of a number of cords of the appropriate length so they did not need to worry about batteries while they were also afforded the opportunity to monitor in real time.
"Redundancy is the basics of science, Mai," he responded offhandedly.
"What rudesby means is that it is important to collect as much data as possible so as to be able to eliminate all alternate possibilities," Madoka chimed in, slightly out of breath from having lifted up a monitor.
"So…by over analyzing you are preventing people from saying you didn't analyze enough and that it is just 'something else' causing things to happen?" Mai responded a moment later, tone thoughtful.
"Exactly!" Madoka grinned. "It is too bad that you are cursed. I have a feeling you would make an excellent student."
Oliver wondered on that comment for a moment. While clearly prone to lighter conversation, the cursed girl had shown that she was capable of logical thought and had demonstrated an interest in learning purely for the intellectual benefits. Yet, as a researcher….
"But, then, shouldn't you be monitoring more than just one spot?" Mai asked. "I mean, if you are trying to prove something, shouldn't you have even more data?"
"So, there are braincells in that head of yours," Oliver smirked, glancing over at her.
"Naru!"
"To answer you, yes, we should be investigating more than one area. Should we decide to make this a long-term investigation, we might bring out more equipment. However, as this is still a short-term venture and we have not yet tested the phenomena, one area of analysis will be sufficient." Turning back to the monitors that Lin was in the process of turning on, he continued with an audible smirk. "Should any of the phenomena you spoke about actually exist, that is."
"Hey! I am not a liar!" Mai fumed, adding another tally to Oliver's mental card.
"Noll!" Madoka admonished.
"Taniyama-san," Yasuhara interrupted peaceably. "Could I ask you a favor?"
"Oh, yes!" Mai stuttered, clearly thrown off kilter from the sudden shift in conversation.
"I am going to be doing research on the area tomorrow. Would you mind giving me a short tour to help me find a good starting point?" the part-timer asked, smile friendly.
"I would love to! Especially since you asked so politely," Mai added, glaring at Oliver who ignored her completely.
"Shall we?" Yasuhara gestured towards the door and the two quickly exited.
Oliver tried hard not to feel put out at her sudden absence. Silently, and begrudgingly, he commended his intern for taking the initiative to find out more about the area from a true expert before he headed to the local university research library the next day. Still, the astral figure had been amusing him and he had not strictly given her permission to leave and take away his entertainment.
His lips curved up slightly at the knowledge of how angry she would become at such an idea.
"I think I will join them," Madoka chimed in after a brief moment, throwing an irritatingly knowing look in his direction before she, too, stepped out.
For a moment, there was silence in the small cabin broken only by the clacking of keys as Lin began to enter the preliminary information into their spreadsheets and Oliver mutely pored over his notebook. His mind circled around creating a more strategic plan of investigation for the following days over the decidedly vague plans that had carried the group to the location.
"Your favoritism is showing."
Lin's sudden words startled Oliver mildly – not that he would show it – so unexpected were they.
"Would you care to elaborate upon that rather leading statement?" Oliver sighed, already knowing where the conversation was heading.
"You like the girl."
"She is merely an individual of interest on this investigation. She is of special interest of course because of her circumstances, but nothing more."
"I have never in my decade of knowing you ever seen you give explanation to a novice so readily," the older man countered, finally turning an amused look on his companion. "You have ignored far more important people for half as simple a question as the ones she was asking you earlier."
Eyes narrowed, Oliver glared at his mentor. "In all such instances, the idiots in question had every means to find their own answers to their ignorance. Mai has not had such opportunity."
"Yet, she has also nagged and bothered you in other ways. I've seen you completely cut ties with people for smaller infractions."
Unable to argue Lin's increasingly sound argument, Oliver gave the man a cold look and moved away. "I would hardly call my interactions with her a sign of favoritism or affection."
"Kindergarteners are well known to tease the people they like. I believe Madoka and Luella both have commented that your emotional level is at that general level." Lin did not bother to hide his smile as he looked at the younger man.
"Enough. I would have expected this from Madoka or Gene, even Yasuhara, but not you. I am disappointed in you Lin."
"A death blow," the older man assured, turning back to his work. "However, consider that if I can see it, so can all of those others you mentioned. If you are not prepared for teasing, you may consider how you interact with her in the future."
Finished speaking, Lin resumed his work in uninterrupted silence leaving Oliver to his now murky thoughts.
Unfortunately, Lin might have a point, even if Oliver was loathe to admit it. Sinking back into thought, he spent some time attempting to decide if it would be better to change his interactions with Mai or ignore any consequent teasing.
…He was very good at ignoring people.
o(O)0
The following morning was a beautiful clear day made slightly strange by the presence of several cameras, a table laden with handheld equipment, and a small pile of gardening utensils.
"I thought you were going to the library with Yasuhara-san, Madoka-san," Mai commented as she came up on the two. She had stopped by the cabin first to find an eerily quiet Lin who had calmly directed her towards the castle once more.
"Noll here decided it would be best for there to be three of us here, for safety," the strawberry haired woman smiled.
"Safety?" Mai asked, looking at Naru inquisitively.
"You mentioned previously that some of the phenomena had the chance of disorienting individuals. It would be illogical to assume that the chance of it reoccurring was non-existent and thus I elected to prepare for it," the way-too-handsome-for-so-early-in-the-morning man responded without even glancing at her.
"Yep! So, we have two people out here and one on camera duty, far from the possible enchantments," Madoka smiled.
"Couldn't I have just helped? I am here anyway after all."
"Have you ever tried to help anyone else who experienced it?" Naru asked, finally looking at her.
Mai shook her head. "No. I had no reason to help any of them. They seemed…gross," she trailed off, shaking off a few unpleasant memories.
Naru seemed to pause as he took in her words and discomfort. "Then how could we rely on you to help us in this instance?"
"Hey! I am pretty reliable!"
"As you have no responsibilities, that is rather had to prove," he smirked before turning back to the notebook in his hand.
"What he means," Madoka sighed with a sympathetic look towards Mai, "is that we have no proof you could actually stop us from being confused or disoriented. Noll pointed out that you cannot touch us and there is a chance that just shouting at us would not work."
"We also run the risk that you, too, could be caught up in any phenomena that may affect us. As we do not fully understand the nature of your…enchantment, it is best not to expect you to be impervious."
Mai considered this for a moment before nodding. Despite his cutting way of saying it, Naru did have a point. She had never bothered to interfere before so she really couldn't argue against what he was saying. As she thought, the conversation moved on without her.
"I take it you do not want to go in fully destructive from the start," Madoka commented, indicating the vines.
"That would be counterproductive. While the end goal would be to assist Mai, the short term is to gather what data we can on the phenomena. If we, by chance, completely bypass all if it by being overtly destructive, we will have then lost any chance of gathering said data. Small initial forays should be good for today. Depending on reactions, we might escalate through the next few days."
"Not to be offensive – which is Naru's job I'm learning," Mai cut in with a laughing look to Madoka, "but I doubt you will be able to do any real damage. I've seen people try all sorts of things and nothing happens in the end."
The two of them looked at her for a moment and the sympathy in Madoka's face made Mai wonder if her tone had been a bit bitter.
"Well, since Gene isn't here, we can't test out our crazy destructive methods anyway," Madoka commented with a smile. "Should we start out with the clippers then?"
Without waiting for confirmation – or for Mai to ask what Gene had to do with anything, the woman went to the pile of lawn equipment and grabbed a set of hedge clippers.
"Is there anything I can do?" Mai asked after a moment, hating to feel useless.
"In fact, there is," Naru answered, the smirk on his lips making her wary.
"What?"
"Tea."
"Naru!"
o(O)o
By the end of the day, Oliver was beginning to feel an appreciation for the mastery of mischief that the 'land god' possessed.
"Perhaps you were right when you said that the deity was bored, Mai," he sighed as the two of them sat at the cabin table at day's end. Yasuhara had phoned earlier to say that he had gone one town over to follow a lead and would return the next day leaving the remaining members of the investigative team to assess the findings without him. While Oliver certainly could go without the older man's sense of humor, he had wanted to know what he had managed to find. Additionally, he was a surprisingly versatile thinker and might have had a new idea on the matter at hand..
"I did say all of the 'phenomena' as you call it seemed random," the brunette agreed with a sympathetic smile.
"Is it truly random, though?"
The two looked over to where Madoka stood in the kitchenette. She appeared to have stopped her ministrations, lost in thought. When she did not elaborate on her question, Lin prompted her.
"Madoka."
"I just mean," she began slowly as she returned to cooking, "we tried a number of different things. Perhaps they merely seem random."
"Are you suggesting that we try to compare the various phenomena to the stimuli?" Oliver queried, already tired at the idea of it even as he knew it had scientific, if not practical, merit.
"Why not?" the woman asked. The sparkle in her eye might have been mistaken to be scientific curiosity, but Oliver knew her better and suspected that she merely wanted to have an excuse to rehash the day. However, he also knew better than to argue.
"Very well," he allowed, glancing at Mai who had sat up in interest at the prospect. "I would advise on our using the whiteboard for this exercise."
"Oh!" Mai grinned. "I'll write! It may sound silly, but I like writing on them. We don't have that many here."
Oliver resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her childlike glee, merely nodding his approval instead. "Just do not overexert yourself. It would be rather pointless for us to work to get you out of your situation only for you to collapse into one of your sleeping spells and miss out."
"I'll be fine," Mai laughed. Then she shot him a look that even Oliver recognized to be flirtatious, if innocently so. "Besides, the whole idea is to wake me up anyway. I'm sure someone as intelligent as you could still manage that if I fell asleep."
"Well said, Mai," Madoka laughed, serving the fairly simple meal to the table.
"So, first Madoka tried the hedge clippers," Mai began with a chuckle.
"Which broke immediately," the woman sighed. "The heat signature does indicate that they were tampered with, but it would be hard to prove they were not just faulty to begin with."
Mai nodded and took notes on the board. Oliver noticed with a small smile to himself that she had created a chart without prompting. She had designated one column for stimuli, another for reaction, and a third to notes. A fourth had a question mark over it which he assumed indicated possible reasons or connections.
"Then, we tried the smaller set of shears," Madoka continued into her food.
"Which were somehow too dull to cut anything," Mai completed as she wrote, the laughter in her voice indicating she was remembering Madoka's rather…colorful language at the incident. "After that, you tried an electric hedge saw."
"That had no battery charge," Lin commented. As the one in charge of batteries, Oliver knew Lin would have been frustrated at that particular incident. "Again, hard to prove."
"Unless you've ever met Lin," Madoka laughed. "Though, in the future we should probably make a visual recording of the battery level before beginning."
"Finally, we attempted to utilize the gas-powered chainsaw," Oliver prompted before the curious look in Mai's gaze derailed the conversation completely.
"And that kept breaking every time it was started before it finally 'ran out' of gas," Madoka sighed.
That particular incident had been extremely frustrating and time consuming. Each time the saw had refused to work, they had dismantled the parts to see what was wrong. There had always been a different issue at hand until, as Madoka had mentioned, it finally ran out of gas, taking hours along with it. By the time they had finished, rain had begun to fall prompting them to ensure the electronics were properly weatherproofed before they moved indoors.
"So, we can summarize that if a tool is being used to attack the vines, the land god will find some sort of way to break," Mai laughed as she looked at the list.
"It would appear as such," Oliver agreed, waiting for her to make that note before continuing. "That is probably the most predictable of the phenomena if looked at logically."
"Yeah, if I was supernaturally protecting an area, breaking things would definitely be my go-to choice," Madoka agreed as she chewed. "I guess we should be grateful that the only catastrophic failure was with the clippers, which are relatively cheap."
Mai nodded. "I've seen an entire tractor break so I'd have to agree." She capped the marker and put it down carefully. "So, what are you guys trying tomorrow?"
"We have a few things scheduled on the docket. I also may have an extra task for you," Oliver commented thoughtfully as an idea struck him. "However, I will have to think on it first."
She gave him a considering look but chose only to shrug. "Well, then, I will leave all of you and see you in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive."
As Oliver watched her disappear, he could not help but notice the wistful look on her face. It made him remember that as frustrating as the day had been for him, it must have been more so for her. Even if she was used to it, watching repeated failures could only be disheartening when one's life is on the line.
Author's Note:
Well, that is another chapter done. I actually had to rewrite a lot of it because I did not like how it flowed. I'm still not 100% happy with it now, but I think that is because my brain wants to move on to some of the fluffier bits. Still, Mai is broadening her friend group.
I do apologize that Yasuhara is really only present in name. He will get a chance to shine in the next chapter (I love Yasu!), but I didn't really have a good role for him this time.
Also, some people have asked about character appearances. For the most part, it is going to be a sort of revolving door as Naru tries different tactics. He and Mai are the only ones that will appear in all of the chapters, but others will have repeat appearances as well. We will definitely see Ayako and Bou-san, but I have not really found a good way to work John in. (I just can't see him wandering into the middle of a forest. Not without prompting. Nor can I see Naru asking him for help when there is no one being possessed.) But we will see. Maybe my brain will come up with something.
Anywho, I originally intended for this part to be two chapters, but it may end up being three. It is all the technical talk that got away from me. I can't help it. I teach history to a middle school population that is largely ESL. Tech speak is not something I get to use much anymore. So…sorry if you don't like this side of it?
Thanks as always for the lovely reviews. See you next week!
Til next time!