A/N: Plot bunnies won't leave me alone, so this story emerges. This is my first attempt at Ghost Hunt Fic.
Title: The Ups and Down in the Life of Taniyama Mai
Pairing: NaruxMai
Summary: Mai is not as ordinary as she appeared to be – she has a secret and a latest case taken by the SPR forces her to lay it out in the open. Follow her as she and the SPR gang carried on in their ghost hunting adventures… Eventual NaruMai.
Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt is not mine, copyright belonged to Fuyumi Ono.
Author's Note: Anything mentioned below are all made-believe, I know nothing about the real Japan shopping centre and how it looks like…
Chapter 6 - Case 2: Haunting at the Yukai Karaoke Suite 2
Day 1 - Sunday
The Yukai Karaoke Suite was situated quite near to the SPR, in fact – just two streets down from the building where the SPR office was located within.
"…How nolgastic, it has been ages since I came into this building already." Takigawa Houshou mused, as he stared up at the building where the Yukai Karaoke Suite was situated within.
"Aa… the infamous Shibuya Shopping Centre…" Matzusaki Ayako commented, as she too stared up at the building with a reminiscing look on her face.
"Ayako, Bou-san… are you sure you two should be standing around here and chatting idly? If Naru sees you now, he would no doubt flip." Mai interjected, as she helped to unload the lighter equipment onto the pavement walkway just outside the building.
The building was standing at four storeys high, lower than the newly built Shibuya City Mall that stands seven storeys in total. Shibuya Shopping Centre was first set up in the year 1950, and serves as a great shopping and entertainment location for the current middle-age group. Their client for this time, Yukai Karaoke Suite was situated at the fourth floor of the shopping centre itself.
Yukai Karaoke Suite follows the more westernized concept of karaoke entertainment system, from the design of the outlet to the karaoke system installed. Unlike the typical family style karaoke studio, whereby it involved the punching in of code numbers to the songs – basing on the song lists provided by the karaoke management. Yukai Karaoke Suite actually makes full use of the modern technology to serve their patrons.
The selection of songs can be done through touch-screen control panel situated by the side of the room, and it was controlled by the central computer system of the company operating the said karaoke facility. In this case, it helps patrons to save a lot more time than the usual traditional methods – because all you need to do was to look for a specific singer, band or you could simply search by the exact song titles. It was way better than the normal search via the alphabetical method.
The whole place was decorated in the color theme of red and black, and every karaoke room looks comfy and cozy. Basically, the whole level four of the shopping centre was utilized by the karaoke management. They have a total of 97 rooms cater to their patrons, out of which there are a total of 8 function rooms that comes equipped with a pooling table and karaoke system. 39 big rooms that can occupy a total of 15 to 20pax at one time; 20 medium size room that can fit in about 4 to 8pax at the same time and lastly 30 small size room that fits about 2-3pax.
The time now was 10 in the morning, and seeing that the karaoke usually starts its operation around noon-time. There is still another 2 hours to go before the staffs of the karaoke suite would start to punch in for work, and so when the SPR arrived at the investigation site – only the assistant manager to the Shibuya branch of Yukai Karaoke Suite was available to meet them.
"Welcome to the Shibuya branch of Yukai Karaoke Suite, my manager – Yamamoto-san has already informed me of the arrival of you lots. Come along with me, I'll guide you to the room that has been set aside for your usage as the investigation base."
"Thank you and you are…?" Mai took it upon herself to thank the assistant manager of the store, knowing for certain that Naru would never bother himself with it.
"I'm Hirokawa Emmanuel…" The assistant manager smiled as he responded to Mai's question.
"Hirokawa Emmanuel…? That's quite a unique name you have there…" Mai mused aloud, very peculiar indeed – by mixing a Christian name with Japanese family name; this was the first time Mai came across something like that.
"Why, yes… thank you. I'm of mixed origin actually; my father was an American and my mother native Japanese. Hirokawa is actually my mother's last name… Ah, here we are – this would be the room to use as your base. I hope it's big enough for you to fit in all the equipments." Emmanuel said, opening the door to the room as he addressed the rest of the SPR crew.
Mai took a look into the room and nearly had her eyes bulged out, they had actually allowed them the usage of one of their function rooms for the investigation?! Withholding the urge to request for a smaller size room, Mai hurried to scan the number of equipments they had brought along for the investigation and decided that it might be better for them to use this room after all. Between housing these computer units, and holding the seven of them all in one room – top in the fact that they still had to take into account the items that are in the room to begin with. Perhaps, it was not too exaggerated for them to use the function room.
"So is everything up to your standard of expectations?" The assistant manager of the karaoke branch prompted again, when he failed to receive any response from Mai.
"Ah yes… its fine actually. I was just calculating the space needed for our equipment…" Mai responded, nodding and thanking the man for the help provided.
"Just to check, when would Yamamoto-san be coming in today?" Naru questioned before the assistant manager could leave the area.
"He will be in by 3pm today, since he was on night shift the day before." Emmanuel told Naru, politely as though treating Naru as his VIP guests.
"I see, and when would the rest of the staff be coming in?" Naru asked next, leaving Lin to decide where to set up the computer and monitor units.
"The waiters and waitress would be in by 2pm, while kitchen staff will be in by noon as they would need to prepare the ingredients for tonight's supper treat to our patrons."
"Hm..m… Is it possible for you to gather those who were affected by the disturbance to be interviewed by us?" Naru finally brought up the subject of interviewing victims of the haunting.
"Ah, yes – sure I can arrange that. What time do you need them to come over for the interview?" Emmanuel questioned.
"I think 1pm would be good enough…by then we should be done with the setting up of the base already." Naru told the former, and once Hirokawa Emmanuel leaves them to their own devices – Naru started to bark out orders to the SPR crew.
"Takigawa and Matsuaki go around and set up the cameras. Father Brown, I want you to escort Hara-san about the place to do a walk-through. Mai, Tea – and do take down the temperature of every rooms while at it."
"Okay…okay, whatever you say…" Mai sighed, too lazy to argue with Naru on the 'tea-making' ritual anymore.
Grabbing the thermometer and the temperature reading board – Mai strolled out of the base, and started walking around the place checking on the temperatures of each room. While gathering the temperature reading, Mai noticed that the rooms situated on the western part of the facility are generally cooler while the ones on the east side are warmer. By right, the temperature should be the same – as this is a shopping centre and air-condition temperature should be controlled by the centralized system.
Tap, Tap, Tap…
The sound of heels tapping on the floor caused Taniyama Mai to sprang up into an upright position, a quick glances about her surrounding – she found herself no longer in the Karaoke Suites hallway. The floor was now made up of marbles tiles, and she knew the karaoke suite had the floor carpeted – so there should not be any sound even if clogs or heels shoes were worn by the staffs and patrons alike.
"Oh great… just what I need – a dream at the worst possible timing ever." Mai muttered under her breath.
Snapping herself out from her grumpy like mood, Mai take the opportunity to really survey her current surrounding. It was dark, and the lighting in here was not that great – hence Mai cannot really see clearly. However, there was one thing she was certain and that is, the floor tiles were made up of white marbles.
Tap, Tap, Tap
The tapping of the shoes soles started echoing down the hallway again, and for some odd reasons – Mai started feeling the start of an anxiety attack. The question now was why?
Before she knew it, she was running down the hallway – and that was when she noticed it. Her foot was bare, and that she was trying to be as stealth-like as possible.
"Oh my… what do we have here?" A man voice coo-ed, while Mai could felt her body freezing mid-actions. Her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage as she cringe, feeling the foreign touch of a hand trailing down her exposed skin… and for some reasons, she felt cold all over.
"Takehito-sama, please let me go…" Mai felt herself whispering to the man and that was when she realized she was having this dream in a first person point of view.
"Let you go…?" The man named Takehito repeated, sounding quite amused although Mai could hardly find anything amusing that is – since all she feel now was unbidden fear.
"No… I don't think so. Can't have you running off to my brother now...can we?" Takehito breathe as he speak close to Mai's earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. Not of pleasure, more of the cold clammy fear…
"No, please… Takehito-sama, don't do this to me…" Mai hear herself sprouting forth foreign words, things that she personally would not say under the same circumstances. If it was up to her alone, her best bet now was to pull her wand out and start hexing the man into hell and back. However, the truth is she was now trapped in another's body – whatever words tumbling forth from the lips of the person she was occupying the conscious, it was not in her control but the victim's.
'Damn… this is why I hated first person's dream… let's hope, I won't end up being 'killed' this time…' Mai thought inwardly to herself.
The moment the thought passes through Mai's mind, she felt the hands of this Takehito man on her waist touching her from waist down. Slowly, inch by inch, the man started to reach to the inside of her thigh.
'What the hell…? Surely, he's not thinking of… Oh gods, he IS going to do it…' Mai thought, as she felt the man's fingers brushing against the inner thigh tracing patterns on her sensitive skin. She was no fool if by now she still had not make any sense out of the man's actions and her fear for the former – she could jolly well kill herself and be done with it.
"My dear Ayaka… you smelt so heavenly…Do you know?" The man whispered trailing kisses down the exposed neck of Mai.
"No…please, Takehito-sama…" Mai found herself pleading with the man, tears rolling down her cheeks now. From fear or humiliation, she had no idea.
"Let you off the hook…? I don't think so, after all – I wouldn't want you running off to that brother of mine for comfort and protection. Not after all that troubles I've gone through to simply get you here…" The man's voice hardens to the edge, as anger taking over his emotional state – causing him to yank Mai by the hair roughly.
"Ah…" Mai unwillingly winced in pain, before she felt the sting of a slap closing in on her. The slap was so forceful that it knocked the wind out of her, sending her crashing into the wall behind. Disoriented from the concussion made when the back of her head collided with the wall, Mai tried to stand only to fall back down again.
"No…" Mai whimpered and cowered in fear, when she felt the man forcefully removing the clothes off her. The rip of cloth tearing up further strengthen the notion of what was to happen in time to come, unbidden tears came rolling down from the eyes as shame and humiliation feel flooded through her senses.
"Gods, No… please…somebody saved me. Gene…Naru…please get me out from this place!" Mai yelled out in her mind, her words coming out in a plea now.
The ability to see the past through dreams was good skills to have on hand, but the ability to not only see, but feel and experienced firsthand was also a living night-mare at times. Mai was getting desperate now, she tried to kick against her assaulter but the fact remained that this body was not hers' to control and she could only remained stuck in here while feeling the whole process of rape. Just when she was about to lose all hopes and mentally braced herself for the feel of penetration, when the man forced himself on her. She felt herself being pulled out from the body of the poor victim, and heard the comforting tone of her dream guide's voice.
"Mai…Sorry, I tried to pull you out from there earlier on but the spirit wouldn't let me." The sound of Gene's voice flooded through the senses of Mai, assuring her of her safety as he allowed the brunette to cling onto him for her dear life.
Feeling her knees buckling under her, Mai slumped to the ground weakly. Gene, having been the one supporting her weight also followed suit in her actions, and kneeled down to her eye level. His mid-night blue orbs boring into Mai's brown ones, assuring her that everything would be alright now. Slowly, the light in Mai's orbs started to return as she finally calmed down after that traumatic ordeal experienced in her previous vision trip to the past.
"Gene…" Mai whispered slightly shakily.
"Yes, Mai…" The elder twin of Naru responded his tone concerned.
"Was that man the ghost that haunt the site?" Mai asked, trying not to let her voice shakes.
"…Yes, he's one of them." Gene responded; still holding Mai in his embrace – as he comforted the girl in his own way.
"You mean there's more than one spirit here?" Mai questioned her tone more calming now as she was no longer crying like before.
"…" Gene said nothing but nodded, and then he asked. "Are you okay, Mai…?"
"I'll live… I always do…" Mai murmured softly to herself, to which – Gene merely sighed in response.
"You know, you could always rely on others for help… If you don't feel good about the case, then tell that idiot brother of mine to take you off the case. He would oblige, you know that – don't you?"
"Yes, I do know but it won't be without questions asked – isn't it?" Mai replied despondently.
"…Mai, you have to tell them about what you see in the vision. Even if you don't feel comfortable repeating the incident, at the very least – you should let that idiot scientist brother of mine know. Can you promise me that?" Gene stared at Mai with a very serious expression, that reminded Mai of her school discipline master to a certain extent.
"Alright…fine, I promise." Mai answered, with an expression of resignation on her face.
"Good, now wake up – I'll see you around next time." Gene smiled as he sends Mai back off to the reality plane.
Mai woke up to find herself on the couch in the base, sitting up swiftly from her lying position – she was immediately blessed with the feel of light-headedness.
"Aww…" Groaning aloud, Mai hold a hand up to her head and massage it slightly trying to rid herself off the giddiness.
"Don't sit up so fast, I thought your dumb mind would have realized that little detail by now." The flat tone of Naru greeted Mai's conscious state, upon her rude awakening.
"…" Mai was too weary to argue with Naru, so she settled for a half-hearted glare instead. After waiting a few moments for the light-headed feeling to pass, Mai asked.
"What happened?"
"What else but the usual – with you falling asleep on your job. Lin found you sleeping in one of the hallways out in the western part of the facility, and brought you back an hour ago. While on the subject, Father Brown had been kind enough to complete the temperature taking task on your behalf. Do remember to express your gratitude to him, later on in time. So what did you see?" Naru asked towards the end of his words, causing Mai to stare at him in surprise.
"How did you know I'd seen something?" Mai asked, her eyes widening in surprise as she regarded that narcissistic boss of hers.
"Wasn't it you who claimed that you never sleep on your job, and when you did – you would most certainly dream about something?" Naru smirked, as he quoted Mai's exact words from previous cases experience.
Mai huffed in response as she threw Naru another glare of hers, but it never seemed to affect the stoic teen in any way. Eventually, she sighed and turned her eyes away from the narcissistic teen. She knew she was merely prolonging the inevitable, and that sooner or later she would have to retell the tale about what she experienced or see in that last vision to someone else.
"Mai, I'm still waiting for your recount of that dream which you had from before." Naru prompted, silently willing himself to be patient. Although, he had no idea what the girl had dreamt about – judging from the way Mai was crying silently throughout the 'dream' scene. It was enough to let him in on the fact that it wasn't anything pleasant.
"Do you need any tea to calm your nerves before retelling the tale?" Naru's question startled Mai back into reality plane.
"…No… it is fine, I didn't have a death dream or dream of anyone dying this time around." Mai shakes her head to decline about having tea to soothe her nerves.
Naru frowned, not comprehending Mai's words. If the brunette did not have a death dream, why was she crying during her sleep then? His bewilderment must have shown on his face, because the next thing he heard was the muttering of the term 'idiot scientist' by his dead twin in his very own subconscious state of mind.
'What in the world…' Naru thought's was cut off when he heard the brunette opposite of him starting to speak.
"Naru, I can relate to you what happen in my dream before in details – but I need you to promise me one thing. Nothing that I told you can be reveal to a third party, at least spare them the details…I don't want any form of pity from the rest of them." Mai stated her expression serious and her tone flat lacing with a hint of steel.
"What is it exactly?" Naru prompted, wondering why Mai was so serious and adamant on the idea of not having the other members of the team knowing her dream content. This has never happened before in any of their previous case.
"I won't say a word until you promised me that." Mai refused to cave, not even when Naru glared at her.
'Noll… just give her your word that you won't tell already!' – Gene's voice sounded in the mind of the nineteen year old teen, again.
'Gene…? What the hell…I mean why are you here…?' Naru could felt his eyes widening without the need to look into a mirror, it has been 1 and a half year since he saw the vision of Gene's death and coming down here to Japan in search for his dead twin's body with Lin in tow.
All these while, no matter how he tried to call out for the elder boy through their psychic connection with one another – he could not get any response from the other party. Now his dead twin suddenly re-established that link between them, and it was for Mai's sake?! Just what in the world was going on between his clumsy assistant and that dead twin of his - which he had no idea about?! However, now with dozen of questions swirling about in his mind – Gene refuses to respond to any of them… this particular insight pissed Naru off to no end and yet there was nothing he could have done to turn the tables around.
"Naru, I am still waiting down here for your response. Are you going to promise or not?" Mai hissed out in frustration, completely irked by the fact of her narcissistic boss ignoring her all these while.
"…Fine, I give you my word that nobody will hear about this particular dream of yours. Now can you start your recount already?" Naru said, after pinching the bridge of his nose wearily.
And so, Mai started to recount her experience of being trapped in a poor victim of 'rape' – she describes the hallway she was in within the dream. Trying to provide as many details as possible, she cringes slightly when she reaches the portion of how rough the man – Takehito was with the victim – Ayaka, whom she had the misfortune to be occupying the body of. She also mentioned about the brother of Takehito who was only mentioned in words, she quoted all the dialogues exchanged between the rapist and the victim from her dream.
By the end of the whole recount, her face was wet with tears again. Only this time, she calmed as soon as she had gotten the worst portion of her dream out. Swiping at the tears angrily, Mai slapped herself on both sides of her cheeks to get her mind off the traumatizing ordeal that she went through in her dream from before.
This time around, Mai did not bother to reject Naru's offer of hot tea because she knew she needed that to soothe her nerves. If Gene's way of comforting was a friendly hug while allowing her to cry her eyes out, Naru's way of comfort would be settling her down with a cup of steaming hot tea. Of course, the tea offered by Naru now was anything but steaming hot – at the most, it was only by the standard of lukewarm. Mai supposed it was better than nothing, after all – beggars cannot afford to be choosers.
Date started: 2/2/2013
Date completed: 3/2/2013
Date edited: 4/2/2013
P.S: Thanks to Hikari Reizumi's review, I made some minor amendments in the structuring of the sentence. I'll go by the wikipedia suggestion on Ayako's name, going by Matsuzaki Ayako in future chapters :)