This is a stand alone fic inspired by a prompt by shellsan on tumblr.
It wasn't the most glamorous job in the world. In fact, her friends had squealed in disgust when she told them. But it paid well, and she needed the money. That was her response at least.
Truthfully, Mai felt honoured to be part of the upkeep of the Aoyama cemetery. This was the resting place of many souls; some famous, some known only to family or friends. All of them, Mai felt, deserved respect and for their graves to be cared for.
Which she did to the best of her ability. Even though the overnight shift wasn't her preferred timeslot, she made sure to dedicate her time and care to these memorials as she would those of her own parents.
The cemetery was never busy, those few exercising having gone home before this hour, but there were a few regulars. Mai waved welcome to Mrs. Nakamura, an older woman who visited the graves of her family every night.
"I still think you shouldn't be working this shift, Mai dear," the woman said. "You never know who is creeping about."
Mai smiled at her concern. This was a common conversation with all of the regulars who attended the cemetery late at night.
"I'll be fine, Mrs. Nakamura," Mai said. "I need to drop my bag at the office though. Stay safe."
Mrs. Nakamura smiled at her before turning to her family's graves.
Mai continued down the path. Occasionally, she would see a face she recognised and would wave. Arriving at the office, Mai fumbled in her pocket for the key. Just as she put the key in the lock, she heard voices coming up the path.
Looking behind her, Mai saw a group of people heading for the office. Frowning, Mai contemplated going inside and locking the door. Before she could act, a man's voice called out to her.
"The office is closed."
"I know," Mai responded, raising an eyebrow. "I work here."
There was silence from the group, which Mai could now see was a ragtag bunch of four men and two women. Eventually the same man from before spoke, "Mr. Tanaka is expecting us. We are here to investigate the dangerous spirits."
"Mr. Tanaka doesn't work the night shi- wait," Mia began. "The what?"
A phone call to her boss later, Mai was now standing in the office with a group of 'ghost hunters'. The one who spoke seemed to be the leader, which was odd to Mai as the guy looked barely older than herself.
Shrugging, Mai dropped her bag in its usual cubicle and began to prepare for her night.
Belt, check.
Flashlight, check.
Gloves, check.
Making sure her office key and phone were in her pockets, Mai moved to leave the office.
"Where are you going?" the talky guy, who she didn't know the name of since none of his group introduced themselves, asked.
"To do my job," Mai replied. "I'll be back in maybe an hour or so. Do what you need to, but leave my things alone."
Closing the door behind her, Mai could hear the guy being cut off in whatever he was saying. Smirking a bit, Mai started down the path to her first section of the cemetery.
As her flashlight bobbed along, she noticed a camera placed along the path. Confused, she moved in for a closer look. Peering at the device she started to make out a business label on the side when her phone rang.
Startled, Mai dropped her flashlight. Fumbling with her pocket, Mai pulled out the shrill device and frowned at the screen. Unknown number.
"Everything ok, Mai?" Mrs. Nakamura asked from several rows away.
"Oh, yes. Sorry to disturb you." Mai flustered with her phone to place the device on silent. With the quiet of the evening, noises traveled far, and she didn't want to disturb anymore mourners.
As she reached down for her flashlight, her phone started to buzz. Unknown number. With a groan, Mai answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Do not touch the cameras," an unknown voice said. "They are part of our investigation."
Mai blinked. Investigation?
"Umm, who is this?" she asked.
The voice sighed. "I am Lin. I am part of the team investigating the cemetery. Do not touch the cameras." click.
Mai gaped. How rude! And what investigation? The talky guy mentioned that earlier, but Mai had been working here for two months. Nothing had happened here that she was aware of.
Shaking her head, Mai picked up her flashlight and continued on her route. Keeping an eye out for anything that should be reported to groundskeeping in the morning, she finished this round and headed back to the office. I can't wait for a cup of tea. Both the warmth and the caffeine would be needed.
A cup of tea, however, was the last thing on her mind when she walked into the office.
"What?" she gawked at the changes made to the room. Instead of a mostly empty office and staff room, there was now a table full of monitors and cables. Seated in the space was the talky guy from earlier and a thin guy with hair falling in his face. As she took stock of the room, Mai wondered where the rest of the group had gone.
"They are in the cemetery," talky guy said.
Mai's eyes bugged. "Can you read minds?" she gasped.
"No," was his short response.
Then how…?
"It was obvious what you were thinking," he smirked.
Mai narrowed her eyes. Arrogant prick. After snorting, she moved to the bench along the wall and began to make tea. Minutes later, she sat in an empty chair and curled around the warmth in her hands.
As enjoyable as the tea was, she knew better than to drift into her thoughts at work. As her eyes kept flicking to the clock above the window, Mai caught the talky guy's eyes.
As she sat in silence, she continued to make eye contact with this guy. Who was he anyway? He couldn't be much older than her, yet he was the boss? At least, that's the impression she received from earlier. Running her eyes over him, she supposed he was handsome. With blue eyes and dark hair. She could just hear her friends giggling over the guy if they ever met him.
Another glance at the clock told her she needed to start getting ready for her next round. Going to the sink to wash her cup, she heard a cough from behind her. Given the cooler temperatures lately, she wouldn't be surprised if someone was sick. She just hoped no one passed it to her, she really couldn't afford to miss school and work.
Another cough. Mai sighed. Could the guy at least wear a mask like everyone else when they were sick? Placing her cup on the sideboard to drain she turned and almost smacked into the talky guy's chest.
"Woah!" she steadied herself against the sink. "What the heck?" she demanded.
"It is rude to ignore people," he said.
Mai wasn't impressed given his own behaviour and told him so.
"This coming from someone who hasn't even introduced themself," she snapped, "And what do you mean 'ignoring you'?" she demanded.
"Someone coughing behind you usually indicates they want your attention," he drawled.
"Uh, no," she rebutted. "Someone coughing behind me usually indicates that someone is sick. If they want my attention they'd say 'excuse me'." A glance over his shoulder told her that she needed to be moving.
"As you didn't say 'excuse me', and I need to do my job," at this she wriggled around his person to get to the door, "I'll be leaving."
"Wait-," the door shut on him again. Mai smiled. She wasn't normally so aggressive. But this guy rubbed her the wrong way.
Starting down a different path from before, Mai kept a look out for any regulars, and the 'ghost hunters'; whatever they were doing. Stopping in front of one of the cherry trees, Mai took a moment to look up at the moon through the branches. The cemetery was sombre, but it had it's beauty too.
"You stupid monk! Watch where you're going!" a woman screeched.
"Watch where I'm going? You ran into me! Watch where you're going!" a man retorted.
Alarmed, Mai turned to look for the couple. Moving her flashlight, she found them standing several rows away.
"Oi!" the man grunted, hiding his face, "watch where you shine that thing."
"Sorry," Mai lowered the light and moved toward the pair. As she stepped closer, Mai recognised them as two of the ghost hunters. Except, they were dressed differently now.
"Ah, why are you dressed like…" she trailed off. Standing before her the man with long blond hair tied back was dressed as a Buddist monk, while the woman with long red hair was dressed as a Shinto priestess.
"I don't care if you hunt ghosts or whatever," she growled. "But you shouldn't disrespect religious garb. In a cemetery of all places!"
"Hey, wait a mi-" the red-head startled.
"What is wrong with you?!" Mai seethed. Turning on her heel, she made her way back to the path and kept moving along.
"Wait-" the man cried out, but Mai wasn't interested in stopping.
Mai was still seething as she moved along her route. How dare they? Honestly, what is wrong with people? Muttering to herself as she moved along the graves, Mai almost missed another regular bowing before his family altar.
"Mr. Okita," she murmured to avoid startling the man. The bald head of the old man raised. When he realised who stood by him, he smiled.
"Mai," he said. "How is your evening tonight?"
Mai let out a little sigh. "Tonight is odd," she admitted.
"Oh?" the old man asked as he climbed to his feet, Mai held out an arm to help him balance.
After ensuring the man wouldn't fall, Mai shrugged. "Apparently there are 'dangerous spirits' around. My boss brought in a team of Ghost Hunters to deal with them."
Mai scowled as she thought back to the pair she'd left behind. "Some of them have no respect at all."
"Oh dear," was all Mr. Okita said.
After standing in silence for a few moments, he patted Mai's arm "I'll not keep you my dear," and then turned back to the altar. "I have a few things to finish."
"Of course Mr. Okita. Stay safe." she replied.
The old man nodded his thanks and Mai turned to continue her path. Looking at her watch, she saw it was almost time to return to the office.
Humming lightly to herself, Mai thought over what she had to finish in her next break. While the downside to this job was the hours, the upside was she was able to finish her homework and get paid while doing so.
Mr. Tanaka had been kind enough to let her use her breaks as homework times since it meant she could sleep after school before her shift.
"No one wants this shift Miss Taniyama. If you're willing to fill it, I'm more than happy to be flexible."
Mai smiled at the memory. That flexibility and the amazing pay were well worth a messed up sleep schedule.
Noting she was almost at the office, she braced herself for whatever nonsense the ghost hunters were up too now.
Opening the door, she breathed a sigh of relief at the warm air that rushed out. Walking to the cubicle that held her bag, she pulled out her homework for the night.
Immersed in her list, she moved to where the table she normally sat. Only, the table was gone.
"Wha-?" she stumbled over the empty space.
Turning her attention to the room, she noticed the table had been moved to the centre of the office and was being used as a coffee table. Scowling, she moved over to it and cleared it of the litter of mugs and food wrappers. After dragging it back to its usual place, Mai made a cup of tea and then sat to work on her history assignment.
"That was being used," Talky said.
"By who?" she murmured. She was more interested in her history text than listening to the arrogant prick tell her off in her own space.
"My team," his voice was closer and sounded frustrated.
Mai looked up from her book. "Your team," she began, "is not here at this moment. Also," she continued when he looked like he would interrupt, "you have taken every table in here. I need space too and this table wasn't being used."
Talky glared at her. Mai glared back. She was not going to be bullied by some rude stranger coming into her space and interrupting her work.
Mai was vaguely surprised when he backed down first. She got the feeling he didn't do that very often. With a pinched mouth, Talky nodded and walked back to his computer.
Mai rolled her eyes before returning to her assignment on the impact of Christian missionaries to Japan's development as a modern power.
This was far more interesting.
Stepping out into the cold air was not fun. She huffed after taking a deep breath, the feel of little prickles entering her lungs always had that effect. Moving down the path that would take her further into the cemetery, Mai rubbed her hands through the gloves. It really is cold tonight.
Coming to the edge of the foreign section, Mai rubbed at her face.
"Why is it so cold?" she moaned to herself.
"Are you cold?" a voice asked. Mai squeaked. Raising her flashlight she caught sight of a short man with blond hair walking out from behind a statue of an angel.
"I, I'm fine," she sputtered.
"I'm glad," the man walked closer and bowed. "I'm Father John Brown. Pleased to meet you."
"Oh! Ah, I'm Mai Taniyama," she returned the bow. "Pleased to meet you also."
"Miss Taniyama," the man smiled.
Mai smiled in return.
"What brings you to the foreign section?" she asked.
"I'm part of the investigating team, Miss," he answered.
"Oh," Mai stood still for a moment. He was so nice though. Then another thought occurred to her. "You introduced yourself as 'Father', are you a priest?"
"I am," he grinned.
Mai hustled over to stand beside him. "Would you by chance," she began, "have any knowledge on the impact Christianity has had on the development of Japan?"
Based on the answering grin he gave her, Mai was going to have a new perspective to work on her assignment with.
Walking her route with someone was a new experience. Not necessarily bad, but different. Having a conversation partner certainly made time move faster.
Their conversations had moved from Christianity in Japan, to the Catholic church, to growing up in Australia. Currently John, as he had asked to be called, was explaining the dangers of beach swimming in the northern part of the country.
"Wait, you're saying crocodiles surf?" Mai wasn't sure she believed that.
"They can do," John was earnest in his reply. "They're not very good at long distance swims, so they surf to move places further than they can move themselves."
"Huh," that made it official. Australia was weird. A beep split the air and John reached into his pocket. Pulling out a phone, he read the message and faced Mai.
"Looks like I'm needed back at base," he grinned and gave another bow. "It was wonderful to speak with you Mai. I hope your assignment goes well."
Mai grinned back. "It will. Thank you for your help." she then pointed to a set of stairs a row away. "If you take those stairs it's a shortcut back to the office."
Her grin grew at his surprised expression. With a wave, she watched as he started up the stairs before continuing on her route.
She hummed to herself, it was the time of evening where she was usually struggling to stay awake. However, the chill and pleasant conversation had her unusually energised.
"You look peppy tonight," a voice from behind her said.
Mai span to face the girl with a smile.
"I'm having a good night," she said.
The girl before her giggled, "With the cute blond from before?"
"Rosa!" Mai got out, before she too was overcome with giggles. The two girls stood in the moonlight, enjoying their laughter. Eventually, Rosa calmed down enough to speak.
"You don't normally have company on your walk throughs." she said.
"I know," Mai said. "But there is a team of 'ghost hunters' investigating 'dangerous spirits'." Mai complimented her words with finger quotes and an eyeroll. "Father Brown is part of the team. So far, he's the only one who seems normal."
"Father Brown?" Rosa flipped her long hair over her shoulder. "That's not a Japanese name."
Mai rolled her eyes again. "Because the blond hair and blue eyes really screamed Japanese," she said with a significant glance towards Rosa's blond hair.
Rosa giggled again. "Where's he from?"
"Australia," Mai replied.
Rosa scrunched her nose. "The penal colony? Ew."
Mai raised an eyebrow. "You didn't have a problem with him before."
"Yeah," Rosa said, "but that was before I knew where he was from."
Eyerolls are becoming a theme for this conversation. Mai thought as she completed the action.
"I have to keep moving Rosa," she said. "Stay safe."
"You too Mai!" Rosa called over her shoulder, already moving further into the cemetery.
Mai shook her head and moved down the path that would take her to the main walkway. She shivered. I could really use another cup of tea.
Getting back to the office was simple enough. Mai was hoping she might run into John again, but didn't find him on her walk. Stepping into the oasis of warmth, Mai was thrilled to see that only the guy on the computer was present.
Moving closer to the heater, Mai stood and basked in the warmth. This is so good.
Eventually, she pulled herself away to make a cup of tea. Not willing to give up on warmth, she pulled a chair close to the heater and took her tea there.
Relaxed by the heat, Mai almost jumped out of her skin when she heard an unfamiliar voice speak.
"You are not going to make tea for the rest?"
Mai startled and searched for the owner of the voice. Standing behind her was a girl in a kimono. She's so pretty! Like a doll…
The girl raised her kimono to cover her face. Her trance broken by the movement, Mai blinked as she remembered the question.
"The tea is in the kitchenette. You can help yourself." Mai answered.
"You should have offered to make tea for everyone," the doll replied.
Mai narrowed her eyes. "Why?" she demanded. "I don't work for you."
The doll sniffed and turned away.
Mai shook her head in disbelief. What is wrong with these people?
Looking at the clock, Mai sighed as she saw it was almost time for her to take her final walk for the night. Reclaiming her seat, she finished the last of her tea and tried to absorb as much of the warmth as she could.
Sighing, she stood and walked to the door. It opened before she reached it though, and the blond and redhead wearing religious garb walked in. Mai pursed her lips. Trying to get past them caught the blond's attention though.
"Hey," he called.
Mai cringed at the volume. Was that really necessary?
"You're the girl who works here right?" he continued.
Mai stared at him. Seriously?
At her look, he rubbed his head. "Ah, yeah. Of course you are," he backtracked. "Since you work here, you'd be able to tell us about the issues here, yeah?"
Mai frowned. "I've worked here for two months and haven't had any issues," she said. "I don't know why you guys are here."
"What do you mean?" the redhead cut in. "We wouldn't be here if there wasn't an issue."
Mai shrugged. "I don't know of any issues. And I need to get to work. So can you…" she gestured to the door.
The woman didn't look impressed, but Mai really didn't care. So far, the only one of the lot she'd met worth speaking too was John.
Pushing past the grumbling woman, Mai started down the final path for the night. Although, based on the light starting over the buildings to the east it was going to be bright very soon.
The good thing about the morning light? No need for a flashlight. Mai skipped down the path to her favourite part of the cemetery. Coming to a stop before the memorial for Professor Ueno and Hachiko, Mai waited for her morning regular to show up.
"Miss Mai!" a young boy called.
Mai grinned at the voice and called back, "Good morning Sota!"
The young boy came to a stop in front of her and gave a toothless grin. "Did you get to watch the sunrise Miss Mai?"
Mai ruffled the boy's hair. "Not the very beginning," she said. "But we can watch the rest together if you'd like."
"Yeah!" Sota grabbed her by the arm and started to pull her to where a gap in the buildings allowed the sun to shine through the trees.
Sitting there, Mai relished in the peaceful moment. Sota sat beside her with his face toward the sun. Mai enjoyed watching the shadows dance across his face. When the bustle of the city began to intrude on the edge of the cemetery, Mai stood.
Looking down at Sota, Mai gently said her goodbyes.
"Sota, I have to go now," she said. "Stay safe, ok?"
Sota opened his eyes.
"Ok, Miss Mai."
Mai smiled and began the walk through the rest of this part of the cemetery. People were already starting to move through the cemetery. Some to visit ancestors, others to move through the quiet.
Finishing her final round, Mai walked back to the office. Another cup of tea, and she needed to get to school. Hopefully she would get there in time for a power nap before the first period.
Opening the office door, Mai stepped into chaos.
The office was a mess. These ghost hunters were yelling over each other. I could slam the door and they wouldn't notice.
Deciding to ignore the chaos, Mai made her way through to her cubicle and grabbed her bag. Deciding that she would splurge on tea at a cafe instead of deal with this, Mai made her way back to the door.
"Miss Taniyama," a cold voice cut through the arguments.
Mai froze in the sudden silence. Turning to face the group behind her, Mai saw John smile at her slightly.
Talky stepped into her line of vision. "You said you were unaware of any spirits in the cemetery."
"What?" What kind of question is that?
She was stunned when he grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward the monitors. On the screens where clips of herself. Chatting Mrs. Nakamura and Mr. Okita. Giggling with Rosa. Enjoying the sunrise with Sato.
"So?" she didn't understand what his problem was.
"You said you had no knowledge of dangerous spirits in the cemetery."
"I don't." What is he getting at?
"Then who are you talking to?" Talky didn't look impressed by her answers.
Mai narrowed her eyes. Wrenching her arm from his grasp, she turned and stalked to the door.
"You asked if I knew of any dangerous spirits and I don't," she said. "This is a cemetery. Did you honestly think there aren't any spirits here at all?"
She shut the door behind her, its slam cutting off Talky.
How rude. She looked at her watch, if she got to the train quickly she might even have time for breakfast as well.