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: This chapter is so hard to manage; I nearly yanked my hair out writing this…
Reply to Hikari Reizumi: Lol… a very agitated response, I know what you mean… XD I don't mean that literally, but you cannot blame Mai for thinking the wrong way. Because her memories are still fuzzy XD and for all you know, she could be mistaken since Gene refused to let her in on the fact XD Besides, this is a Naru and Mai fic :D
On a side note, a very big thank you to those whom are following this story :D – your silent support is also one of my motivation to keep this fic going.
Chapter 13 – Case 4: A dead pianist's last wish…Part 3
Day 2
Madoka Mori was in the public library digging through past records in the archives department, pertaining to the house of the SPR latest client. According to Naru, she was supposed to be looking for any form of information pertaining to the house's history. So far, she had yet to get her hands on any information relating to the case and she wondered briefly just how much further back into the history she would be required to scan through before getting any useful information from the archives.
Meanwhile, Taniyama Mai yawned as she tried her best to concentrate on her physics homework. She was currently in charge of watching the base while the rest of the SPR team members were busy keeping up facades according to the story she had weaved for them all. It was now day two of their investigation work; the previous day had gone by uneventfully. As of current, Masako had yet to spot any spiritual activity in the house.
The niece of Shinomiya Mihato whom Mai had a nagging suspicion of being possessed by the entity haunting the place was behaving quite normal for the whole of yesterday. It was as though the entity possessing the girl knew there were outsiders around and was trying to lay low hoping not to catch anyone's attention.
Feeling her eyelids drooping for the umpteen times since she started working on her physics homework, Taniyama Mai let out a huff of breath as she stood and made her way across the hall to the washroom in order to freshen herself up.
She was in the washroom when she found her surroundings distorting and then Mai found herself standing in an unfamiliar hallway again.
'…There we go again.' Mai thought with an exasperated roll of her eyes. Sometimes, these dreams of hers' picked the worst timing ever to suck her in…she had no doubt that she would be criticized by Naru again for falling asleep in the common toilet, once she woke in reality plane.
A quick assessment of her surrounding told Mai enough that she was still in the corridor-way where she always was in this series of dreams for the case. The only difference being that there was no sound of piano tune playing in the back this time around, and hence Mai figured that whatever she needed to see this time around had nothing to do with that piano or that tune of 'Moonlight Sonata'.
'Well…that's good though, I swear if I were to hear that tune again…I'll banned Beethoven's collection of music pieces to be given to me as a birthday or Christmas gifts in future.' Mai thought. Contrary to what people believes Mai does have an interest in classical music and often received music CDs from her friends residing in US as her annual birthday gifts.
In fact, one of her friend had made it a habit to send Mai CDs full of famous classical and contemporary pieces played on the different musical instruments that was self-recorded during their annual class gathering sessions accompanied by a lengthy letter of well-wishes for Mai's birthday on a yearly basis.
Shaking her head ruefully to rid her mind off such unwanted stray thoughts, Mai decided to follow her instincts and go ahead with the exploring of the place. Eventually, Mai ended up finding herself in a sitting room environment listening in on a conversation between a couple of mid-forties and a professional, most likely a doctor. Mai surmised, since the professional was dressed in the typical doctor's garb, and whatever was the topic of conversation between the trios seemed rather serious in Mai's opinion.
"How could this have happened to my dear girl…?" The woman was weeping silently as she questioned to no one in particular, the man seated by the woman's side held her silently as she wept pitifully.
"Doctor, how long do you reckon Melissa still has with her?" The man asked, still comforting his distressed wife with gentle pats on the hand.
"Give or take another month's time…the cancerous cells had spread, and it has now invaded her lungs I feared." The doctor was saying.
"Oh no…my poor Melissa…" The woman gasped before covering her face with both her hands in distress. For a while, nobody said anything until the doctor departed from sight and that was when the woman had totally lose it and started ranting and raving in agitation.
Mai could easily hear the woman cursing the gods up in heaven for doing this to her daughter, and wailing as she complaint on how cruel the heaven was to her talented and beautiful daughter who envisioned to be the best pianist in the world only to suffer now from an incurable disease eating away at her life.
A swirl surrounded Mai's vision, and the next thing she found herself staring at was the magnificent grand piano. Glancing about her surrounding, she noticed that it was empty of life…cautiously; Mai approached the piano with the intention to take a good look at it. The piano was one manufactured by the well-known company 'Steinway & Sons', it was a magnificent grand piano and one of the older versions available in the world.
Mai was about to take another step forward towards the piano when she noticed a white mist emitting forth from the said instrument and then forming a ghostly like figure. Slowly, it began to take shape and transform into the figure of Melissa – the same female character Mai had seen in one of her earlier dream.
"Hello there, young lady…" The ghost-like figure greeted causing Mai to swallow nervously. This was the first time ever Mai had experienced something of this nature, and quite honestly it sort of freaked her out a little bit.
"Erm…sorry but are you by chance referring to me?" Mai asked back in return, slightly unnerved by the situation at hand.
"Sorry for startling you, but apparently this is the only way I could speak with you without needing you to touch the piano." The ghost-like figure was telling Mai.
"I beg your pardon?" Mai questioned, feeling bewildered by the ghost-like figure's words.
"I'm haunting the piano, that much I gathered you should known by now?" The ghostly apparition commented.
"I get that part alright, but I don't get why you said this is the only way to communicate with me." Mai responded.
"Well…seeing as you need to touch the piano, in order for me to appear before you…and only when I appear to you could I manage to speak with you, isn't it? However, you are not allowed to touch the piano…I would have to find some other alternative method to speak with you." The ghost-like figure explained.
"Okay…but how did you know about this method?" Mai frowned, as she voiced her doubts across.
"My host vessel, Kaori informed me…"
"Kaori…you meant the niece of Shinomiya Mihato? So you are indeed possessing her? Why are you doing this? No wait, you spoke to her?!" Mai gushes out in a rush, a frown marred her features as she thought the name Shinomiya Kaori rang a bell in her fuzzy like memories but unfortunately, she simply could not remember where exactly did she heard the name from.
Cursing inwardly, Mai decided to push the issue to the back of her mind and concentrate on her current situation at hand first.
"Yes…well, I am indeed possessing her but rest assured that she would not be harmed in any sense with my possession of her body. Either way let's get back to the matter on hand, shall we? I'm certain that basing from the scenes which I've shown you earlier on in time…you would know enough to see that I was dying. And while part of me was resigned to fate to the idea of dying…there's another part of me that's feeling unhappy by the situation at that point of time.
I was kind of an ambitious person, and the illness finds me at the most inappropriate timing ever. I was, at that point of time, preparing for a competition that I considered a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for me to gain my one-way ticket into being a professional pianist, to be able to debut in the city of Vienna, well known for its' music achievements." The ghost-like figure said, taking a pause in between to see if Mai was still with her on the subject.
"Uh-huh…" Mai nodded in response, and although she was curious just what incurable disease did the female suffered and died from…she had refrained herself from asking. If the dreams were showing her exactly what the ghost had intended for her to see, then it would be wise not to press into the topic of the illness that kills the girl now standing in front of her.
"Right…so after I received news of my illness, I was beyond devastation. Music was practically my life, and from young my ultimate aim was to become a well-known pianist to the world. I worked so hard and strived all these while working towards that specific goal in life, only to have the gods up there in heaven playing such a cruel joke on me. I didn't want to admit the truth back then, and I attempted to run away from the reality by purposely ignoring the doctor's advice and instead continue on with my daily routine practices. I practice all day and night, not stopping at all and in the midst forgoing the idea of rest and food. I know it wasn't healthy but I didn't want to budge. I drive myself on until the very last moment that my body simply could not withstand it any further, and then I collapsed." The ghost of Melissa was saying, and then she looked over to Mai with a sadden expression on her features.
"What happened next?" Mai prompted.
"Even after I collapsed, the idea of practicing for the competition piece still existed in me. I wanted very much to continue playing the piano, but at that point of time it was impossible for me to do so any longer. I was on constant support of the oxygen tank to keep me going, and while I did not want to let my dream of becoming a pianist go…my mother didn't want to let me go either. She clings onto me desperately, but still it was to no avail. By the end of the week, I was gone."
"But you didn't move on to the afterlife…?" Mai stated her tone flat and void of emotions.
"Well, yes… in a way, I cannot move on due to unfinished business in this living realm."
"Okay... but you do want to move on, right?" Mai asked.
"Eventually, I would have to move on…I have been lingering behind for far too long and any longer, my spirit would be beyond salvation." The ghost of Melissa admitted grudgingly.
"I see…so you would leave on your own, once the competition was over?" Mai pressed on.
"Indeed."
"I see…so did you take over her body by force, or did she hand the control over to you willingly?" Mai queried.
"She let me used her body willingly, although I did tried the other option first but she wasn't someone I could control easily."
"I see…so when would be the competition?" Mai questioned.
"In one week's time…" The ghost of Melissa responded, before the images in front of Mai's sight started to go fuzzy on her and before long she found herself waking in reality plane.
Letting out a groan, Mai held a hand up to the side of her head attracting the attention of those in the same room as her. A quick glance about the place informed Mai readily that she was now no longer in the washroom, but in the basement where the base for the investigation was situated.
"Mai-chan, pray tell how on earth did you ended up falling asleep in the washroom?" The sound of Matsuzaki Ayako greeted the brunette's conscious state of mind as she woke.
"I apologized for that, but it was not my choice to do so." Mai muttered aloud in response, catching the attention of Lin who was currently in the midst of scanning the content of the email send to him by their resident researcher, Mori Madoka.
"Taniyama-san, did you have a dream earlier?" Koujo Lin, the twenty nine year old Chinese assistant of Naru asked.
"I sure did…you may want to get your laptop ready at hand." Mai said, and then promptly start launching into the tale of her earlier dream scene.
"Surely you are not thinking of taking the ghost's words for it, are you?" Ayako said in a tone of skepticism, narrowing her eyes into slits as suspicion crept into the depths of her eyes now.
"I don't know…okay, I'm no expert in this." Mai responded, and then she shifted her eyes over to the medium of the group and asked.
"So…Masako, what's your opinion on this?"
Hara Masako, the resident medium of the SPR team frowned before answering. "I'll say we try to conduct a session of séance before making any decision. For all we know, Mai could have been imagining things."
Mai threw a look of annoyance towards the bratty medium's direction but refraining from arguing with the kimono-clad girl. The last thing she wanted was to be involved in yet another spat with Masako and risked having her narcissistic boss looking upon her as a mere child.
"You can try your luck, although I highly doubted that you can find your way in there and get a chance to conduct that séance of yours. Shinomiya Kaori was quite adamant about not letting us touch the piano at all." Mai commented, tightly.
With that said, the brunette made a move to leave the base for the room which she was sharing with the rest of the SPR girls. Her laptop was left in the room earlier, and now she was in need of it to check some things out. She knew Lin had use for his own laptop, and she did not want to hinder the man's work.
Later that night, Mai was surfing her old school's website while pondering on the reason why she had a flashback when the ghost in her dream informed her of the client's niece name…when she noticed it. The name Shinomiya Kaori was being listed in the list of students' with high grades achievement on the school's past honorary student's ranking chart.
"Holy shit… Shinomiya Kaori's from the psychic class stream!" Mai muttered aloud, now the mystery behind why she had known of the client's occupation was solved. That man was at the graduation ceremony of his niece, and a few of her classmates had been discussing the man's choice of occupation then. That was when Mai had first heard of the client's name, and because she wasn't in the same stream of classes as the niece of Shinomiya Mihato…Mai had not been able to recognize the girl previously when they had first met in the music room.
Mai proceeded on to check her laptop battery lifespan, figuring that it would still last her for another hour or so…the brunette promptly brought the laptop down to the basement where the base was, all the while careful not to drop the device onto the floor. She had after all just gotten her newly repaired laptop back and had no qualms about sending it back for repair work. Never mind repairing, if she dropped her laptop it basically meant spending more money on a completely new unit because nothing could be salvage if the device broke into several parts upon the impact of being dropped from a height.
Unknowingly to the brunette, someone was watching her every moves from a hidden corner of the house. That someone was none other than Shinomiya Kaori, the niece of their client and the willing vessel host for the ghost of Melissa.
Date started: 1/3/2013
Date completed: 3/3/2013
P.S: Sorry for the short chapter again, but it nearly killed me writing this. Hopefully, part 4 of this case could come out more easily… *Headache* sorry for the lack of Gene in Mai's dream, and once again, I must emphasize there is no need to worry about Mai being in love with Gene. This is a Naru and Mai fic, I must remind. The reason why Mai was unsure of her feelings towards Naru was mainly because of her fuzzy memories pertaining to Gene's presence in her life, and with the way Gene was avoiding speaking of it like a plague…it was confusing Mai to no end.