Chapter 15
Case 2: Shòujīng Souls
Day 2: 3:20 P.M.
"I can because you are Japanese!"
"Are you serious?! Are you not realizing something Lin? I thought you would have noticed."
Lin took a step closer to her but Nashi didn't move.
"And what did I possibly miss about you? What is so obvious?!"
"Maybe that I'm Chinese too!"
The whole room when silent, Naru just stared at her while everyone else stared at her in shock, Mai and Yasu had their mouths slightly open.
"But your name is Japanese. So how are you Chinese?"
She crossed her arms, "Nashi is a Japanese name but what about my last name?"
"Kishiharaki sound very Japanese to me!"
"Well maybe my last name is 2 last names combined! Haraki is my mom's last name because she is full blooded Japanese. My father's last name is Kishi, which is Chinese but very unusual Chinese name but he is Chinese. Which makes me half Chinese! And my father made sure my brother and I didn't lose the culture or language. I was raised as a Chinese first then Japanese! And I thought I was helping you out since you had a delay in picking Madoka up and the snow had both of you stuck! I could have forgotten it and let Naru figure something out for translating!"
By now Madoka walked in at that moment from doing some more research on the area and house, trying to see if Yasu missed anything to hearing Lin and Nashi fighting. She was about to say something to stop them but Lin spoke quicker than her and Nashi was about to drop another bomb shell.
"Yes and I thank you for that but you should have said something or just left when Naru said you could go! You could have left even though the family wanted you to stay you still could have just left! So why didn't you?!"
"I don't know! And honestly it was probably to figure out what was going on with me since I meet you guys! Because I don't know why I'm having these dreams then Mai has the same one! I never had these before so I don't get it! I just want them to go away! Nothing like this happened before I meet you guys!"
Now it was Naru's turn to speak but both were still riled up.
"Wait, you have been having dreams about your case and this case?"
"Yes. I was sure I was going crazy but when Mai said she had the same one almost word for word! And you used it as part of the case I was sure I wasn't imagining it. Maybe I was for my own case but when I fell asleep on the way here, which I told you I never do, I had one and then Mai said she had one and it was the same as mine. I knew. I knew I wasn't making this up and this would be happening for a while."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone Nashi! This is crazy! You seem to want to keep secrets!"
Lin blew up at her again. This was crazy to Lin and disputed Naru trying to defuse it he seemed to cause even more anger in Lin. She seemed to think her being Chinese was obvious, and i guess it should have been if they did good research into her background and family more on her case. And with her last name. And why would they believe someone about dream like Mai on their first meeting with her? Not Naru or Lin.
"Would you have honestly believed me? No! You hardly believed me which is why you didn't want to take my case then once you there because on Mai, you realized it was a very good case. Plus i had no clue what was going on! I have never gotten these before! Maybe it is best if i just leave!"
Nashi couldn't even look at anyone, especially Yasu. He defiantly probably thought different of her, because like Lin said, she was keeping secrets. She just ran out of the room finally and turned to the right out of the room, wanting to head anywhere but here. Madoka didn't try to stop her, she knew how Lin was and how she looked. She looked defeated.
But no one was staying quiet for long.
"Lin what is wrong it's you?! You think she intentionally didn't tell us she was Chinese or the visions? No! One should have been obvious if you did research into her like you should do for each client. And she was confused. Maybe with her being around all of you guys who have psychic powers awakened something in her like Mai! "
Mai was next.
"She was also scared and she couldn't tell what was going on or who to tell. She was just like me! I can't believe you didn't actually change from your opinions on my from the Urado case. Your grudge against Japanese was going away and i thought it had. Well now I know you haven't changed much."
"That was uncalled for. I'm her boyfriend and that doesn't change my opinion on her. She was just trying to help, the family trusted her because she was dealing with them before you. You can't hold their reference against her. Weather got in your way and she was put in a position where she could help and she did. Just give her a break," Yasu started to head toward the door, "I'm going to go find her."
And as he was walking out the door he heard everyone start to say something about how Lin acted. Especially Mai mod and Naru was heard trying to diffuse the situation.
An hour later Yasu returned to base, and he could tell that the tensions were still high but Lin was back on the computer and Naru was reading the files Yasu and Madoka had brought him. Everyone but Lin looked over at the door, hoping it was Nashi coming in but it was just Yasu.
"Did you find her Yasu?"
Yasu was shocked that it was Naru who had asked him.
"No. I even asked the Ma's the best I could and they said no they hadn't seen her. So I don't know where she went. I tried calling her phone but it just rings and i heard it and looked in your room Ayako and Mai and it was laying on her bed."
"Let's give her a few more hours and if she isn't here after dinner before we you guys head in, we'll start looking for her."
—
A few hours later, it was finally about time to turn in. It was 9:48 PM and still no signs of Nashi. Now everyone was a bit worried because you think she would be back.
"Naru," Mai started with concern in her voice and on her face, "Nashi still hasn't shown up, and no one has seen or heard from her. Should we check every room now?"
"Yes. Let Mr. and Mrs. Ma know what is going on somehow and ask for permission to look…"
But before he could finish the door slammed open, but it wasn't Nashi. It was Mr. and Mrs. Ma and their son, Yong-min.
Lin looked over and asked, "Shénme?"
Mrs. Ma answers first, "Our daughter, Najin, have you seen her? We haven't seen her since she left to her room after dinner to finish her homework and when I went up to check on her an hour later she wasn't there. We checked all the rooms and couldn't find her so I finally called all her friends to see if she snuck off. She never had before but there is a first for everything. None of her friend have heard from her or seen her."
Lin translated and everyone was put on high alert.
"Mrs. Ma, earlier one of our members, Nashi, got into an argument with Lin here and ran out of the room to the right. We have waited to see if she would come back and Yasu went looking for her and tried to call her but found her phone in her room. Have you seen her in her search for Najin?" Naru asked them.
"Mǎ nǚshì, zǎo xiē shíhòu, wǒmen de chéngyuán Nashi dōu méiyǒu hé lín zài zhèlǐ zhēngchǎo, pǎo chūle yòubiān de fángjiān. Wǒmen děngzhe kàn tā shìfǒu huì huílái,Yasu qù xúnzhǎo tā, bìng shìtú dǎ diànhuà gěi tā, dàn zài tā de fángjiān lǐ zhǎodàole tā de diànhuà. Nǐ zài xúnzhǎo nà jīn shí jiànguò tā ma?" Lin translated for them in Chinese.
All 3 Ma's shook there heard but it was Mr. Ma who answered them.
"No none of us saw her in our search. Maybe she when back home?"
Everyone looked nervous on that answer but maybe it was possible she went to Kori and Michu's place where she has been living at.
"It's already after 10 now, let's all call it a night and in the morning we will resume searching for both girls. Is that alright with you?" Naru asked looking at the Ma's while Lin translated for him.
The all nodded so Naru gave the order for everyone to turn in, him and Lin would remain in base and watch the monitors incase anything happened of Nashi or Najin showed up.
Day 3 8:35 AM
Mai walked into base to see Naru, Lin and Yasu in there already. When she had left her room, Ayako was still asleep, so she made sure she was quiet as she changed and headed out of the room.
Yasu was on the phone as he looked up to see Mai coming into the room, assumingly on the phone with Kori and Michu. She walked over to Naru and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
"Naru, did either of them show up or by any chance any signs of where they might be?"
Naru shook his head and rested his chin on the back on his hands that were folded. "Not a sign of her. Or Najin. It's like they both just up ad vanished. Yasu is on the phone with Michu and Kori to see if they have seen her or if they could try and get ahold of her. We'll have to see what he says when he gets off the phone."
Mai heard Yasu say something along the lines of, "so you can't reach her? Nothing? Crap…" and then he said, "You really think I hurt her too?!"
Yasu looked up and saw Mai and Naru looking at him as he lowered his voice and kept talking to them.
'This is a mess. Nashi is missing, Najin is missing as well and this house is getting so strange. I wish for once I could get another vison. See more about these people and maybe do what I did to Madoka in the Urado case, astral project to Nashi. Or maybe she can astral project to me? Can she do that even?'
"Mai!"
Mai snapped out of is as she heard her name being shouted and someone touching her arm.
"Huh?" was all she could think of s she looked over at Naru. He gave her this snarky look before speaking to her.
"Don't tell me you get visons while you're awake now."
Mai would have fumed at him and yelled but with everything going on, she didn't feel it.
"No just lost in thought," she said as she looked around seeing everyone was in the room now, including thee Ma's who were standing by Lin.
"Yasu's off the phone."
Mai immediately looked at Yasu, hoping good news would come.
"So I talked to Michu and Kori and the last they heard from Nashi was when she called them before leaving for this case. She had texted them when we arrived but that's all. I was on the phone with Michu and had Kori try texting and calling Nashi, but there was nothing, and her phone in my hand, never rang. I don't know why. Lin, have the Ma's heard anything from Najin?"
Lin translated all that Yasu had said and then the question he asked.
"Bù, wǒmen hái méiyǒu shōu dào rènhé láizì Najin de xiāoxī. Tā de diànhuà zhíjiē jìnrù yǔyīn xìnxiāng, wǒmen shènzhì wúfǎ zài zhège fángzi lǐ zhǎodào tā de diànhuà," Mr. Ma said.
Lin then translated it, "No. we haven't heard anything from Najin. Her phone goes straight to voicemail and we can't even find her phone in this house."
Everyone in the room sighed. This was going horribly because the last time this happened, people started dying.
"Lin, get me the blueprints on the house again and Yasu bring all documents you found on this house that you and Nashi had gone through before her and Najin disappeared. Ms. Matsuzaki, Takigawa and Ms. Hara, go check around the house again and the grounds immediately near the house. Madoka, goo explore the land around the house, see if any traces of the girls can be found there that leads to a neighbor or something. Mai stay here in case we need you and so you don't disappear too. Also if you have any more visions that could help, it's better if you're here already."
Everyone quickly went out to do what they were told to do. Mai just sat on the couch, she felt so useless because the time she needed to have a vision she couldn't. Yasu came over and gave her a hug before heading over to Lin, Naru and the Ma's.
Mai just sat and stared at her hands, but someone else's hands covered hers and without looking up she knew who it was.
"Mai relax. You can't have a vision without you calming down. You stay worried and nothing will come. Shell be ok. Najin will be ok. We will find them."
Mai relaxed some and leaned back onto the couch.
-All in Chinese-
"Najin!"
"I'm ok Nashi, what on earth was that?"
Nashi looked around her surroundings to see where they were. They were separated by what seemed like bars you would see in a jail cell. The rooms were slightly furnished with a table, 2 wooden chairs in each cell, a semi comfy chair and some dressers and a mirror. It was almost as if it was made for someone to stay and live in here but no bed to sleep in.
'Creepy…'
"Najin," Nashi asked her after she fully scoped the room, "do you have a door on your set of bars like I do?"
"Yes, but the issue is the keys. They are hanging up on a hook covered a small cage by a solid metal door. I can't see through it so I assume it has no windows in it. And my door looks different than yours. Different keys I assume."
'Shit! This isn't good! We need those keys to get out of here. But where is here?'
"Najin do you remember how you got here at all?"
She just shook her head, and Nashi could see tears threatening to spill out from her brown eyes. That is when Nashi noticed her black hair was a mess. Like she had fought something.
"Then what do you remember? Your hair is all messed up so you put up a fight with someone or something."
"I thought it was Yong-min at first. We had a fight before dinner and this happened shortly after dinner. I thought it might have been him coming to apologize or talk about it or something. Only that was when I felt 2 arms wrap around me, one to pin my arms to my sides and one to grab around my neck. I fought until green and black smoke or fog surrounded me and I just lost consciousness," now Najin was crying, so Nashi stepped closer to the bars.
"Come her Najin, its ok. They will find us and get us out or we will if we have to…"
Nashi trailed off, something clicking in her head.
Green and black fog.
Dashu and Rei.
Rei had green eyes that glowed when a green and black fog rolled in around her like in the vision she saw.
Rei…
Rei!
"Rei!"
"Huh?" Najin looked up at Nashi, "Rei? Nashi how do you know that name? I heard someone whisper it before I fell unconscious. Who is Rei?"
"Not sure. She has something to do with this case and what happened to us for sure. Let us rest, my body is stich aching and I'm sure your still in pain too."
Najin nodded and sat in the small chair on her side, as Nashi started to do the same, but before she could she looked at the keys on the wall. There were 2 so the one to the metal door must have been on the outside somewhere. She felt her right hand clenching and unclenching for some reason. She walked over to the chair in her cell but not before looking at her own reflection.
And she saw something scary. She was half Japanese and half Chinese but Chinese none the less. And with unusual eyes as well, teal. Almost green. Like Rei.
Right down to having powers apparently.
'Maybe we aren't that different…'
She looked up at the keys and her right hand started to clench again.
'Keys…how do I get them?'
Which was her last thought before falling into some sort of sleep.
Mai jolted up out of her sleep for some reason, but as she sat up and looked around, she noticed everyone was gone from the room.
"Naru? Yasu? Mrs. Ma?"
But no answer, though as soon as she got her answer of silence was when she got this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Something is wrong here. This must be another vision, but…"
Mai got up, walked out of the room, and heard voices coming from the living room just down the hall but the door into there was shut. And it wasn't the TV she was hearing and it was in Japanese not Chinese.
'Funny, that wasn't shut before. Didn't even know there was a door there.'
"She is a danger! What the hell is wrong with her? Green eyes on a Chinese person and what about her powers? Green and black fog?!"
'Green and black fog? The vision before this on the way here! I saw it and her that Rei person. Then what…?'
As Mai stepped back, she stepped on a floor board that was loose and it creaked loudly and the people inside the room, you could hear them turning around and coming to the door.
'Crap! I'm one of them! But am I Rei or Dashu?'
As she went to turn around and run, the door slammed open, almost hitting her. She suddenly was jerked back and didn't know why till she felt the hair in her hair and was pulled back against the man's chest and put in a strong choke hold. She clawed at his arm, trying to get loose, it was getting hard to breath.
"Ahh!" was all she could gasp out.
"Oh shut up witch! We have put up with this long enough and this is what should have happened a long time ago. Dashu felt it just last week."
Mai's eyes went wide as saucers. Especially once she realized they had switched languages to Chinese but she could still understand every word they were saying.
'Naru? Nashi? Has to be and this means I am Rei.'
The man slightly released his grip on her so she could respond to what he just said to her.
"Dashu? What did you do with him? Where is my brother? You said her was staying at a friends for the week!" Mai asked but it wasn't her voice, it was Rei's. Mai could only hear her voice in her head.
"Let me take you to him. And don't think about bringing up the green and black smoke. Kill one, well both of us, and you'll never find him. He will die. Ill allow you to see since you will never leave where we are going."
'Mom…Miko, how could you agree with dad, well now Daishou. He will never be myfather again. Adopted or not. I hate him. I hate you both. You will pay!'
Mai was then dragged into the kitchen, back in the tight choke hold that made it hard to breathe once again. He opened the door to the large pantry and Mai got confused, as well as Rei. She could feel it.
"What…?"
The man, Daishou, moved one of the shelving units on the far back wall of the pantry and it revealed a solid metal door. He took a key of the 3rd to the top shelf on the inside of it and unlocked the metal door and revealing the long narrow staircase down to the basement or another secretive part of the basement. He put the key back before proceeding.
'The key is on the inside panel of the 3rd to the top shelf of the back shelving unit in the pantry. I must remember that.'
As he dragged her down the stairs, Mai could feel her legs getting banged up where bruises would be sure to follow, until she saw another solid metal door. Daishou took another key out from his pocket and Rei/Mai started to scream as loud as she could, but her blood ran cold with something he whispered in her ear.
"Scream, because no one can hear you outside of here."
Mai felt her body start to thrash and try to break free but once her eyes caught a glimpse of something in the first cell she screamed and felt her legs give out causing her to strain her neck in his tight hold.
"Dashu…"
The cells were aligned in a straight line, one in front of the other, and in the first cell, in a soft comfortable chair was Dashu. He had a chain wrapped around his ankle and was attached to the wall across from him. He also was unconscious and had blood dripping from his head from a large gash on his forehead.
"My brother! What did you do to my brother?!"
"He fought and lost. Don't worry he is still alive for now. Now it's time for you to go inside your new home dearie."
He opened the cell doors and pushed her into the last one, causing her to hit her head on a small wooden table in the cell. It was furnished with everything but a bed and fridge.
"Enjoy yourself down here, cause this is where you will be till the day you die."
Mai started to panic the she felt herself pulled out of this vision into another one. One where she was in front of that second metal door with the keys in her hand. She jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder and she whipped around to come face to face with dream Naru.
"Naru?!"
"It's ok Mai. Though I'm sorry you had to see that but it was necessary. You need to save them. Open the door."
Mai looked at him, tears in her eyes. She turned and put the key in the door and turned it. As it opened she heard Naru say, "Keep the key."
So Mai put it in her pocket and what she saw was terrifying. Najin was asleep in the cell in front and seemed to be ok and alive. And behind her she saw Nashi, awake and wondering around with something in her hands.
Mai couldn't help but should put to her friend.
"Nashi!"
Naru was about to say something about how she could hear her but Nashi made him eat his words even before they can out.
"Mai!" She shouted as she ran over to the bars but still couldn't get through to Mai or dream Naru, "and Naru? What…?"
"You see him to Nashi? I see him in my visions and dreams and I call him dream Naru. I haven't told him…"
"Mai shut up and you have to take these!" Nashi reached a hand out and somehow Mai was suddenly able to move through the first set of bars to the set in front of Nashi. Mai held out her hand and something cold was placed in there, 3 somethings to be exact.
"Rei is doing this! And if you guys don't come get us soon we are going to be dead! Killed Mai. We need you guys to come find us. I don't know how I got these keys from over there behind that cage by the door," Mai glanced over as Nashi pointed to where they keys should have been and were in the dream she had.
"Nashi…"
"Don't Nashi me. I don't care how you feel about me right now Mai, but you need to already save Najin. I've heard and seen Rei and I think she wants to just hurt Najin but wants to kill me. But she knows I want to protect Najin so she will kill her first."
Mai felt herself being pulled out of the dream meaning someone was trying to wake her back in base. She must be thrashing and moving around and or screaming.
"Why?! Nashi why does she want to kill you?!" Mai screamed and asked ask she was being pulled further away from Nashi, keys still in her hand. And she barely heard Nashi's answer before she was pulled out and awoken.
"Because we are both Chinese with greenish eyes."
A.N. ok I am so sorry it is very late but I think it is worth it. It is 10 full pages on word and I feel like it's my most action packed chapter yet. Next chapter's already half way done so it should be up in the week.
