Chapter 14
Case 2: Shòujīng Souls
Day 1: 6:30 P.M.
"Naru, I guess I'll be taking my leave then since Lin is here now. Is that ok?"
"Yes thank you Nashi."
Naru actually got up and followed Nashi as she got her coat, no one seeing Ying-jeou and his family walking up behind them.
"Nǐ yào zǒule ma?"
Everyone turned to see it was Kaiyue who had spoken something but only Nashi and Lin from their group understood what she had spoken. Are you leaving?
"Shì. Cóng xiànzài kāishǐ, lín jiāng chéngwéi nǐ de fānyì."
Everyone now looked at her for translation.
"They asked if I was leaving, I said, 'Yes. Lin here will be your translator from now on'."
Naru could tell the family was not happy or comfortable with this.
"Nashi," everyone turned to look at Naru, "can you ask them why they don't seem happy about the new accommodations despite being told you were only temporary."
"Nà lǔ xiǎng zhīdào wèishéme lín xiānshēng dānrèn fānyì de xīn zhùsù sìhū bìng bù gāoxìng? Nǐ bèi gàozhī wǒ zhǐshì zhànshí de, zhídào shíjì de fānyì lái dào zhèlǐ."
Najin answered quickly and first, without a doubt.
"Because even if it has been just a few hours and we knew she would be leaving, but she has made us feel comfortable and is warm in telling our stories to and Mr. Lin looks a little intimidating. I'm sure we would be comfortable with Mr. Lin if he had already been here to help translate but he wasn't. Is there any way we could keep Nashi here with Lin to help? 2 translators are better than one in case something happens. "
This time it was Lin who translated for Naru and he could do nothing but sigh at this. What else could he do? He understood the clients have a certain connection because she is a bit softer and warmer than Lin, much like how Mai and himself were different with clients.
"Yes. She can stay. Nashi would you mind staying for this case?"
Nashi was shocked none the less, and everyone was to, especially Lin, whose face, once again went to an upset face.
"Well…if you want me to, I can but I didn't bring any extra clothes with me…"
"You can borrow some of mine!"
Everyone looked at Mai.
"I always bring extra clothes with me now since I'm always targeted a lot of the time. So I got smart. And we are about the same size Nashi so it shouldn't be a problem."
Nashi just nodded and Lin told the Ma's that she would be staying and helping. They smiled and said dinner would be ready soon, and Mr. Ma would put another bed into one of the girl's rooms for Nashi. Everyone followed Naru and Lin into base and waited for instructions.
"Nashi, go over what you typed with Lin to make sure everything is clear."
"Yes."
Nashi went over to Lin, feeling the unusual aura coming from him and just showed him everything and caught him up.
"Hey Naru," Ayako started, "what are the room arrangements for sleeping? We now have an extra person for the girls."
"Lin and I will be in one room, and Yasu, Takigawa and Father Brown will be in the other. You can decides who gets the roll away bed. Then we will have Madoka and Ms. Hara will have one room to themselves and Ms. Matsuzaki, Nashi and Mai will be in the other, and again you can decide who gets the roll away bed."
Ayako was about to say something when Nashi interrupted her as she looked over to Ayako and Mai.
"I'll take the roll away bed since I wasn't supposed to be staying here. And don't worry I don't mind," she said with a smile at them then went back to what she was doing with Lin after both gave her a nod.
"Naru, are we doing anything after we have dinner? Are we doing the red light test to see if this is a poltergeist cause by one of them?" Mai asked.
"Yes. It could be the daughter doing this and not knowing. We will find out."
Kaiyue knocked on the door before entering.
"Wǎncān."
Monk's eyes lit up as he said, "I may not know any Chinese but I do know what that means. Dinner!"
Everyone headed down to eat dinner then Naru ordered everyone to head in early.
In The Girls 2nd Room
"Nashi you sure you don't want the bed? Ayako or I could switch with you."
"Speak for yourself Mai! No offence Nashi."
Nashi just laughed and shook her head.
"No worries Ayako, and no Mai, I am fine sleeping on the roll away bed, unless the ghost decides to roll me down the stairs."
Both started to laugh but Mai just looked a little shocked.
"Seriously Nashi? How can you joke about that? But ok I am going to bed. Goodnight Nashi. Goodnight Ayako."
"Goodnight."
Day 2: 9:00 A.M.
Everyone was in base after eating breakfast with Nashi and Lin translating for the family. It was an interesting breakfast, a traditional Chinese breakfast. They had Tofu Pudding, Soybean Milk and Deep-Fried Dough Sticks, red bean Congee.
Some of them didn't like the traditional breakfast like Masako, Naru and Ayako.
To others it was a nice experience and good, or a small reminder of home.
Last night after dinner, Naru had Mai and Lin assist him in giving the family the red light test to see if one of them has latent powers and is causing poltergeist. Naru selected a simple vase and in the morning Naru and Mai went to check it and it was undisturbed.
Once back in base, Naru told everyone the findings.
"Last night, we preformed the red light test to see if it was someone in the family causing these things to happen, but the results were negative. So there is some kind of spirit causing these attacks we just need to figure out who and why. Yasuhara, have you found anything out on the house and its previous occupants?"
"Yes. It was kind of hard to find any specifics on this place and area, but I found some interesting stuff that should help."
Yasu got his folder and opened it up. And he was right it was very short.
"This house specifically, was built in 1989, by the Akihiko and Mari Toshou who lived there for about 30 years till their children were grown and out of the house and Mari Toshou was killed in a car accident. The house was left empty for many years till it was bought by the Ma's in 2017. Before that it was a bit more interesting."
Yasu turned to the next page in his report while everyone listened.
"Kawasaki in the Kanagawa Prefecture first came to be significant in the 17th century as a station on the Tokaido route linking Kyoto with Tokyo. The Ma's are in Kawasaki City which was founded in 1924 after tragedy. This area was largely destroyed by the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 and then again during the American bombing during World War II. The city was a major Allied target for aerial bombing during World War II and was largely destroyed. It was subsequently rebuilt, and large parcels of reclaimed land were added along the bay. Many families and homes were destroyed, also with any records of who may have owned this land before the Toshou's. I did find some evidence that Chinese might have been here before with some documents and articles in Chinese. "
Yasu handed some articles to Lin and some of the documents to Nashi to read and hopefully translate for him.
"The city was destroyed once again after a 1976 fire in Kawasaki, the city was rebuilt by using extensive fire-prevention techniques, including provision of fire breaks, parks, and roads. And as you can see, lots of houses were build using bricks or stone which is uncommon for Japan. Kawasaki is one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area and the main historic land route between Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyōto—before the road reached Edo. It became a city designated by government ordinance on April 1st, 1972, when it was first divided into wards. Kawasaki presently has seven wards: Asao, Kawasaki, Miyamae, Nakahara, Saiwai, Takatsu and Tama wards. Due to the area being long associated with grime, labor unrest, organized crime and pollution-related diseases, the local government undertook extensive efforts in the 1990s to revamp the area image."
"Well I found a connection to China here in these documents you handed me Yasu."
Everyone looked at Nashi.
"In this part of this document it says the Kawasaki has multiple global cities that are considered its twin counterpart. Such as Baltimore, Maryland in the USA and Croatia and United Kingdom. Not many Japanese cities have Chinese twin cities but this area does. And it's a connection to this case. The Ma's are from Shenyang, Liaoning, China and that is Kawasaki's twin city in china. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"
"She's right," Lin finally spoke up.
"In this article it references when that happened, August 18th, 1981."
Naru assumed his thinking pose and it was about 2 minutes before he spoke.
"Mai, Yasuhara, go get Mr. and Mrs. Ma for me. And Lin you will translate for Mr. Ma and Nashi you will translate for Mrs. Ma. The rest of you do a check of the house. Ms. Matsuzaki and Ms. Hara go see if you can sense anything. Father Brown and Takigawa, go check the temperatures in each room."
Everyone went right to work, Lin got his computer and Nashi grabbed a notebook.
During the five minute wait, Nashi was just surrounded with silence from Naru and Lin, but she didn't feel so comfortable around Lin anymore. Something was off about him.
Finally Mai and Yasu returned with Ying-jeou and Kaiyue.
"So we have a few questions for you two that we hope you can answer for us."
Day 2 3:07 P.M.
After the interview, they didn't really gain much insight into what happened before the Toshou's built the home and they moved in from Shenyang, Liaoning, China. They knew about the twin city which is why they had moved here from China when Mr. Ma got transferred. Mai and Yasu got a kick out of watching Lin and Nashi converse in Chinese.
Well for Yasu, he enjoyed watching his girlfriend speak Chinese.
'I wonder who taught her and how long she studied Chinese before she was fluent.'
"So we are at nothing again."
"Well Naru, Kaiyue did say the name Rei and Dashu seemed familiar in the history of the house. But they don't know what records they have that says anything about them. It was something about papers they received from the previous owners," Nashi mention to Naru, handing him her notes from the interview.
"Let's see what their papers says and hopefully we will get a lead," and Naru turned back to the monitors and Lin was just typing away. Nashi turned to Mai and Yasu only to see them smiling at her in a creepy way.
"Uhh….what is wrong guys?"
"We have some questions for you can we ask?"
Nashi looked at Mai then Yasu, then shrugged. "Sure I guess?"
Well she opened a can of worms and they were all about her knowing Chinese.
And things were about to go south very quickly.
"Nashi how did you learn Chinese? And can you teach me some?" Yasu asked her.
"Uh…I guess I could…"
A loud bang resounded in the room from the table when Lin and Naru were at.
Everyone jumped even Naru, meaning it wasn't him who made that sound. Ayako, John, Masako, and Monk we outside the room came rushing in but stood by the door.
Nashi was a bit scared by Lin's reaction.
'What the…?'
"Lin…?"
"Nashi stop!"
Lin stood up and faced her so she stod up to, unsure of what was going to happen.
"What is wrong Lin? What did I do?"
"What dd you do? Mai knows I don't trust the Japanese for what they did to mu people and I had come to trust everyone working for us."
"Then what…"
But Lin cut her off again making her a bit annoyed.
Though what he said next set her off as well.
"You don't work for us! And I don't think the Japanese have any right to learn and speak Chinese!"
Nashi clenched her fist. She tried to calm down but it didn't work.
"I can still speak Chinese Lin! It's not a language for you! It's for its people and anyone who wants to be emerged in it! You can't say I have no right at all to speak Chinese!"
"I can because you are Japanese!"
Everyone went deadly scared, Nashi was fighting with Lin and no one had seen Lin like this but Mai when he got mad at her. But that had been back on the Urado case and they had resolved that, right?
And Nashi was about to deal a big blow to Lin, Naru and the whole team.
*A.N. yay an update! Sorry ive been so busy and doing a mural in a room at my job which was fin and I was stumped on how to write some of this but I hope its good and makes snse! *
