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 Notes: I'll try to weave in bits and pieces of Mai and Gene's relationship into the story starting this case onward, but it's of no guarantee since this particular case weren't exactly being cooperative with me.
Chapter 12 – Case 4: A dead pianist's last wish… Part 2
Day 1 – Friday Evening
The Shinomiya estate was situated in the prefecture of Nagasaki, which required the group to travel out of town. In short, it basically also meant for Mai to be absent from school again. The sheer thought of having to approach her homeroom teacher for permission to take leave of absence from classes causes Mai to sigh aloud with dread.
Unlike the school principal, Mai finds it extremely hard to make her homeroom teacher sees everything from her point of view. She cannot let it slip to the teacher that she was working to support her own living expenses, because that would mean the teacher would call up her legal guardians which would only serves to complicate things further.
There are times she wishes she could opted to put either Ayako or even Bou-san as her legal guardians so as to prevent troubles her way, but unfortunately it doesn't work this way because she still have living kin on her mother's side of the family despite how strained their relationship with one another was.
'Gees…no point procrastinating further…' Mai told herself resolutely as she made her way to the staff room in search for her homeroom teacher with the leave application form and letter in hand.
Meanwhile, in the SPR office the investigation team members have all been assembled and were waiting for the brunette's arrival. There was no doubt that the brunette would be running in late, again. The time for the SPR team to assemble in the office was specifically stated at noon hours, and it was no wonder for the brunette to be seen rushing into the office at half-past noon.
"Sorry, I'm late…" Mai did not bother to give any reasons for her lateness, because it was the same old reason which she had been giving to Naru over the past six months since her promotion to the graduating class in school.
Her homeroom teacher was not making things any easier for Mai to apply leave from school for cases, there has already been twice the occasions whereby Mai had to work through Skype Video Call method whereby she would supply the dreams details from her end as she could not join them on an outbound trip. Seeing as her wizardry powers had been kept a secret from them at that point of time, she couldn't simply pop in and out of the investigation site whenever she pleased then.
"I assumed by waltzing in here this late of time meant that you have successfully gain permission for your absence from school?" Koujo Lin started before Naru could pinch in his opinions on the brunette's lateness for work.
"Yes, after I promised to submit all my schoolwork on time and that I would do some self-study project while working on the case." Mai responded meekly, trying to ignore the glare directed towards her from Naru's direction.
"I hope you know…that does not give you a valid reason to skive off from work." Naru warned before calling for every one's attention to start getting a move on the road.
Mai wisely refrained from throwing back a sharp retort of her own; she refuses to snipe at the narcissistic teen knowing for certain that she was no match for the former in a verbal argument. The ride to Nagasaki was uneventful to say the least; Mai was again travelling in the SPR van with the two stoic males for companionship. The journey was boring with Lin concentrating on driving, Naru reading his book on parapsychology.
Mai, as usual, took the time to nap a little and ended up in that bizarre dream of hers' comprising of hallways, pianos and 'Moonlight Sonata' for the third time around in the same week.
'…' Mai sighed aloud as she noted the well-lit corridor way and the familiar tune of Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' playing in the background. This was her third time dreaming of this scene, and up till the current point of time…she had yet to see the point behind this whole dream.
Seeing as nothing could be accomplished if she were to continue standing in her position, and with Gene nowhere in sight…Mai figured it would be best to follow the sound of the music. Thus, she decided to follow her instincts hoping to locate the source of the music and ended up finding herself in front of a room with double door.
The door was slightly ajar, hence resulted the music to travel down the hallway when it should have been soundproof. Mai could hear her own heart thumping against her ribcage as she pushes the door open such that she could see for herself what was going on behind the door.
As the door creak open, it revealed a young lady about the age of early twenties seated on the piano stool. The sound of the piano tune was disrupted with Mai's entry into the room, as it had caught the attention of the lady, presuming the one whom was playing on the piano earlier on in time.
"Yes, what do you want now?" The lady had asked in an annoyed tone of voice.
"Melissa, you know what the doctors are saying… your health is deteriorating. You should be resting and not playing the piano." Mai could hear herself saying and that was when the notion of her being in another first person dream hits her.
"I know…but I just can't help it, the competition is nearing. I don't know when this useless body of mine would start collapsing but I just want to practice more while I still could." The lady, Mai believed was named Melissa said with a sad smile playing on her lips before she broke down into a coughing fit.
After a few minutes, the coughing fit started to subside but Mai could easily see that the lady was ashen pale by now and was panting heavily as though she had just run a mile of route when all the lady did was to sit and play the piano. Inwardly, Mai wondered just what kind of sickness does the young lady has to result in such a drastic reaction to a coughing fit. However, there was no way of her to know as having a dream in a first person point of view does not grants her the right to access the person's memory for hints and clues to the mystery. That was something she had to do to figure out by herself.
A sudden wave of dizziness hits Mai, warning her of the fact that her body in reality plane was starting to awake. Mai allowed the darkness to claim her without putting up too much of a resistance, when she came to…she noticed that they were nearing their client's estate ground.
Rubbing the sleep away from the eyes, Mai sat up straight in her seat. A quick dart towards Naru's direction found the teen still reading his book, and Mai had to really hand it in to her boss for his ability to not succumb to giddiness with the way the van was turning here and there as they manoeuvre their way into the front porch of the client's house. She knew she would be if she had been doing the same thing as Naru was, at this moment in time.
Shaking her head to rid her mind of unwanted thoughts, Mai was the first one climbing out from the van once it pull to a stop in front of the estate. Without waiting for Naru to prompt her, Mai went directly to the back of the van and started to unload the equipments from it. If Naru was surprised by Mai's initiative act, he did not showed it and instead simply make a move to greet their client – Shinomiya Mihato.
Shortly after the van arrived at the client's residence, another car turned into the driveway and came to a stop behind the van's location. It was the car of Takigawa Houshou, the monk of Mt. Koya. A short while later, Matsuzaki Ayako, John Brown, Hara Masako and the monk all filed out of the car and joined Naru either up front with the client or approached the van to help Mai and Lin with the unloading of equipments.
From the corner of the eyes, Mai noticed how Hara Masako was trying to close in on Naru only to have the narcissistic teen moving out of her way whenever possible and found herself rolling her eyes at the medium's acts. How blind could Masako be…? Even she could see that Naru was not at all interested in the former, and yet the medium never seemed to get the idea and kept on pestering him.
"Mai, don't mind her… you know how she's like. I am more than willing to bet the so-called date Naru promised her was just to get her off his back. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how annoyed our young boss was with her, I bet the date was only secured by her using blackmailing deed."
The sudden sound of Ayako speaking up jolted the brunette out from her thoughts as she turned her eyes towards the priestess, and smiled as she replied. "I know… I'm not bothered by her act."
"Are you sure…? You are not just saying this to get me off your back, right?" Ayako was sceptical, since when was Mai not bothered by Masako's act when it comes down to one particular narcissistic teen of their group? However, a detailed assessment informed the red-haired priestess that the brunette was quite serious in her latest proclamation and the former nearly applauded Mai for the girl's maturity at handling the situation, this time around.
There are mainly two reasons behind Mai's lack of irritation towards Masako's acts, one of which being Gene's assurance that Naru was not at all fond of Hara Masako and the elder twin had already clued Mai in on the visible signs to look out for when the medium was pestering the younger Davis twin.
Judging from the way Naru was trying to inch away from the medium discreetly and the tensed up body stance whenever the girl tried to close in on him, Mai knew enough to know that Naru was not at all comfortable with the way Masako was acting around him. Not to forget the way Naru was avoiding to look at Masako by turning his eyes elsewhere was one of the obvious hints that he cannot stand the medium brat at all.
The second reason would be Mai's internal debate of her own affections towards Naru; previously she had thought Gene to be a nicer and friendlier version of Naru and from then on encourages her own feelings for her young boss to grow. Now, she was confused by these feelings of affections…because she had no idea which Davis twin was she actually pining away for. It certainly did not help with her fuzzy-like memories of Gene, and hence she decided to push aside her affections for Naru until she figured out what her true relationship with Gene was like before acting on them.
The house of the client was two storeys high; it came equipped with a living room; study room; music room; dining room; a common bathroom and a kitchen on the first storey while the second floor was where the bedrooms were situated. The house also came equipped with a front and back yard, a garage and also a basement area for storage of items. The base allocated for SPR usage was situated in the basement, while two bedrooms on the second floor was also allocated for their usage.
"I hope the basement will suffice for your base, as I need my study room for work and there are no other rooms big enough to operate as a base for the investigation work…" Shinomiya Mihato started sounding a little uneasy, while Mai directed a small smile his way hoping to soothe the man's apprehension.
Naru and Lin took a look at the basement area, before turning to nod their approval at the client resulting in their client's obvious sigh of relief.
"I shall leave you people to see to the setting up of the base, feel free to look for me if you required any further assistance." The man said, before bowing and taking his leave from the room.
"Okay, now what…?" Mai asked, gesturing to the cameras equipment surrounding them. There has not been too much of a disturbance taking place around here, and thus far the only source of disturbance had been in the music room. However, Mai doesn't think it wise to station one of the cameras in there because if it was indeed a case of a possession down here… there is a likelihood of the cameras being destroyed by the possessed victim.
"We will leave the camera for later, for now…Hara-san. I would like to have you do a walk-through of the house, try and see if you can get anything from here. Father John, kindly escorted Hara-san about the place. Mai, Tea and get the temperatures of the place while at it." Naru instructed, as he turned towards the rest of the equipment assisting Lin to hook them up and set up the base room.
The monk was entrusted with the task of locating the client, getting him to gather the servants around for the impending interview session while the red-haired priestess was asked to go scouting in the neighbourhood trying to gain information from the nearby residence of the house itself to see if there have been any other similar incidents happening from before.
Mai decided to leave the task of getting tea for Naru last, and get down to the task of taking temperatures of the place first. With the temperature reading board and thermometer in hand, the brunette entered rooms after rooms to note down the temperature starting from the second floor and then gradually moving to the first floor of the estate. She was stepping out from the kitchen when she heard it, the distinctive tune of the famous piece of Beethoven 'Moonlight Sonata' again.
Slowly, she made her way towards the slightly ajar music room door. Despite the fact that the door and flooring looks different, somehow it still managed to give her a sense of déjà vu as she inches closer to the room's door. There was something about the way the music piece being played that seemed familiar to her…
"Who's there…?!" The voice from within the room sounded, as the music ended abruptly.
"…Sorry for intruding, I didn't mean to… but that piece you were playing. It sounds a little familiar to me but I just can't seem to remember its' name…" Mai smoothed her expression over to one of awe-struck, and pretended to be mesmerized by the tune as she responded to the voice owner's words.
The owner of the voice relaxed visibly upon Mai's response, and said. "That's the sound of Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. It's quite a famous piece, and I believed you had the chance and honour of hearing it somewhere before hence your déjà vu feel upon the sound of it."
"Ah…no wonder, are you by chance the niece of Shinomiya-san?" Mai pretended to ask as though she had no idea of it before.
"Yes, and if you don't mind me asking… who are you?" The niece of the client questioned.
"Oh…I'm part of the filming crew for a documentary project. Well, you know how well-known your uncle is in the world of archaeology – right? Either way, my brother was doing a project for his university credit and he had the intention to film and does a bibliography record for your uncle. Somehow, he managed to talk your uncle into accepting his request and for this week we would be here to conduct the interview, does the filming on your uncle daily lives." Mai responded, churning out a lie easily enough and inwardly providing them with an excuse to film in the estate ground too.
"I see… it won't be too noisy I hoped? I'm practicing for my competition piece as of current, and would like to be leave alone during this period of your filming process." The girl had responded to Mai's words, taking her excuse easily enough.
"Well…we would have to pop by and film in here for a while. I promised not to disturb you in any way possible, or perhaps we could do it while you are not practicing in here? Say during your resting hours perhaps…?" Mai prompted, trying to coax the latter into allowing them to film the music room at some point of time.
"I thought you guys are doing a film of my uncle, why do you even need to film this room?" The girl was asking, a little suspicious now of Mai's excuse.
"Well, there are quite a number of artefacts here in this room that was discovered by your uncle's archaeologist trip to some exotic countries, right? We are hoping to get them on the film too…" Mai continued to lie through her teeth, inwardly congratulating herself on her story-churning ability that seems to have been improving with time.
"If you put it in this way…I supposed it won't hurt to spare an hour for you guys to film the room. However, just be careful not to touch the piano in anyway possible." The girl warned before shooing Mai out of the room.
"Roger that…just send someone over to inform me when it's okay for us to film the music room." Mai said, before whizzing out of the music room and back into the hallway. With that done, Mai hurried over to the kitchen to get Naru's tea ready before bursting back into the base room with her cover story given to the niece of their client.
"Okay, so in short… you feed her stories about us being a filming production crew for some university documentary project about the intention to do some bibliography thing on the client? I assume, Naru-bou over there is supposed to be your cousin or sort?" The monk stared at Mai with incredulity as he commented aloud.
"Well, yes… generally speaking, that's the gist of it." Mai responded without a bat of an eyelid.
"Right, so what are the rest of us again?" The monk prompted.
"Lin could be the professional brought in by Naru to oversee the whole production issue. Bou-san will be the senior in the media and video faculty whom Naru approached for help in producing the film, and Ayako would be your girlfriend who decided to tag along on the run. John and Masako would be Naru's extra help in this project, let's take it as they are my classmates or something." Mai throws out to the lot, assigning them roles for their cover story.
"Speaking of which, Mai…how did you know of the client's job title anyway?" The monk suddenly brought up the issue, since that was not record on the client's profile when they accepted the case.
"… I don't know actually, it just sprang to my mind earlier on when I was trying to come up with a suitable cover story for our being here to that niece of the client." Mai responded, honestly.
"It just sprang to your mind…? Was there a possibility of you knowing the client on a personal scale?" Naru eyed Mai sceptically as he questioned, since Mai did have a whole missing chunk of memories from her brain. That could jolly well be the reason behind how Mai knew of their client's job title before they got it out from the client.
"…" Mai frowned, trying to recall anything of the sort only to come up with a blank like scenario. Eventually, she said. "No…I'm quite certain I do not know him on a personal scale, because if I do…he would have bound to recognize me by now which he haven't yet…thus far. Although, I would not disregard the possibility of me having heard about him before at a certain point of my life left behind in the US."
"Right, so let's get down to work then… bring out the cameras and set up two of it in the study where our client frequent. Just so to support Mai's cover story of us doing a bibliography on Shinomiya-san." Naru commented, and then he took the camcorder out and told Lin to film it whenever possible while they were walking about the place. Especially, that would be the camera to use while filming the inside of the music room and probably the piano.
"Speaking of which, have you gotten any dreams thus far…?" Naru prompted, while Mai blanched. She had totally forgotten about the dream she had had on her way over, and thus immediately nodded and start launching into her earlier dream of the two ladies' conversation involving the piece of 'Moonlight Sonata' and the piano…
"Was that piano you seen in the dream the same one as the one situated in the music room here?" Naru asked.
"No idea, I didn't manage to get in close enough to look at the piano just now. Probably, we would have to film it into the tape when we entered the music room later on in time then. Hopefully, I would have another dream later on so to get more clues to this particular case." Mai responded with a sigh.
Date started: 21/2/2013
Date completed: 22/2/2013
P.S: I'm starting to regret my decision to pick something like that to write about, but well… I already started it, so I'm gonna finish it no matter what…