Everyone sat in Yusuke's living room quietly. Mayumi, sitting in between Kurama and Botan, fingered her jacket with her left hand. Her right was still in her pocket.
The redheaded boy spoke first.
"So, how did you become a Reikai Tantei, Mayumi?" he asked, willing his voice to sound normal, though he felt uneasy about this girl. 'Why does she remind me of her…?'
Mayumi took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I was wounded in the Makai, wounded to the point of death. My spirit went to the Reikai and Koenma-sama offered me another chance at life. If I took the responsibilities of a Reikai Tantei, he would give me a ningen body to inhabit."
Hiei, who sat slightly away from the group, snorted. "And you chose to inhabit a ningen's body, of all things, just to obtain life?" 'And you were the one who detested the ningen,' he added silently.
Mayumi threw him a quick glance. "I was young and foolish then, Hiei," she said quietly. "I would have done anything to live again. Being a spirit is so tedious."
"Hn. Even if it meant you had to live as a cripple?"
The silence in the room could have been cut with a knife.
"I knew what I would have to go through," Mayumi said quietly. "I knew about the pain and the ridicule."
"Yet you decided to take the body."
Yusuke looked from Hiei to Mayumi. "What the hell's going on here? Who's crippled?" Then his eyes fell on Mayumi's right hand. Kurama, noticing the direction Yusuke's brown eyes were turned to, took Mayumi's hand gently out of the pocket and examined it.
Her right hand was withered and bent at a 90 degree angle from the wrist. The fingers, though long and slim, were crooked and misshapen. She looked away from it.
"It's a hand…yet it serves no purpose. I wish Koenma-sama had not given me a hand at all…" She looked up, and Kurama could have sworn her eyes were shining with tears. "Then I would have nothing to hide."
Kurama's green eyes searched Mayumi's face. "You have nothing to hide," he said gently. "Friends don't hide from each other."
Mayumi's eyes shone with relief and happiness.
"Arigato, Kurama-san…"
The redheaded boy spoke first.
"So, how did you become a Reikai Tantei, Mayumi?" he asked, willing his voice to sound normal, though he felt uneasy about this girl. 'Why does she remind me of her…?'
Mayumi took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I was wounded in the Makai, wounded to the point of death. My spirit went to the Reikai and Koenma-sama offered me another chance at life. If I took the responsibilities of a Reikai Tantei, he would give me a ningen body to inhabit."
Hiei, who sat slightly away from the group, snorted. "And you chose to inhabit a ningen's body, of all things, just to obtain life?" 'And you were the one who detested the ningen,' he added silently.
Mayumi threw him a quick glance. "I was young and foolish then, Hiei," she said quietly. "I would have done anything to live again. Being a spirit is so tedious."
"Hn. Even if it meant you had to live as a cripple?"
The silence in the room could have been cut with a knife.
"I knew what I would have to go through," Mayumi said quietly. "I knew about the pain and the ridicule."
"Yet you decided to take the body."
Yusuke looked from Hiei to Mayumi. "What the hell's going on here? Who's crippled?" Then his eyes fell on Mayumi's right hand. Kurama, noticing the direction Yusuke's brown eyes were turned to, took Mayumi's hand gently out of the pocket and examined it.
Her right hand was withered and bent at a 90 degree angle from the wrist. The fingers, though long and slim, were crooked and misshapen. She looked away from it.
"It's a hand…yet it serves no purpose. I wish Koenma-sama had not given me a hand at all…" She looked up, and Kurama could have sworn her eyes were shining with tears. "Then I would have nothing to hide."
Kurama's green eyes searched Mayumi's face. "You have nothing to hide," he said gently. "Friends don't hide from each other."
Mayumi's eyes shone with relief and happiness.
"Arigato, Kurama-san…"