A/N: The stinger will lead to interesting things down the line lovelies. I hope everyone has wonderful winter holidays! No trigger warnings for this chapter.
Case One: Hospital Hijinx- Part Three
"What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." - Charles Bukowski
The seven of them crowded around Lin at the row of monitors, the low sound of their small generator humming from outside the window. The hospital lobby had been the only room Naru had approved as sturdy enough to hold the weight of the banks of monitors and computers.
"Was there any additional activity, Lin?" Naru asked impatiently.
"A great deal, actually. But it was so unusual I first attributed it in part to human or mechanical error." Lin replied in his deep voice that Mai sometimes imagined becoming rusty from disuse.
"What do you mean?" Mai asked, bristling a little. She had been in charge of setting up over half the cameras and thermometers herself, after all. Did Lin think she had caused the misreadings?
From across the room, John shot her a tired smile of his own, having been in charge of the other half of the equipment. Bags under his eyes made her wonder how much rest he had really managed last night.
Naru shot her a silencing look. "Please continue Lin."
"Here." Lin pointed to one monitor, then another. "And here. All night long, rooms all over the building would experience sudden drops in temperature. But it was always the exact same drop. And the thermal imaging cameras showed no movement, apparitions or otherwise. There was only a distinct, measured change in temperature."
"Ten degrees for precisely five minutes. Then on to the next room." Naru murmured, thoughtfully, studying the printouts Lin had handed him intently.
Mai realized she was staring at his profile and forced her eyes elsewhere, feeling her cheeks burn.
"Is it a pattern of some sort?" Bou-san mused, looking over Naru's shoulder.
"Like it was cycling between the rooms." Naru agreed, flipping another page.
Lin nodded curtly. "That is how it appears. In fact, it's not unlike the testing we ourselves might put the equipment through if we suspected it of being faulty. It's very methodical."
"Despite the poor conditions, the building's foundations are still stable. The place may be starting to rot, but the framework itself is surprisingly sound." Naru muttered as he looked up to study the screens.
"We've already ruled out land subsidence." John added, showing the group his own chart.
Mai was glad Naru had agreed to take John on as his second full time assistant. John might have lost his faith, but he was still smart, and his experience was useful. She'd been worried Naru wouldn't want him now that he'd left the church.
"It's like he's running an experiment." Naru spoke, almost to himself as he studied the charts and readouts.
Her teammates looked at each other in surprise. Had any other spirit in their experience tried something like that before? She couldn't think of any in her own, rather limited, experience anyway.
"The bastard's toying with us..." Bou-San marveled lowly. Behind him, Ayako's frown deepened. She tapped a crimson nail against her bottom lip musingly. Her eyes met Mai's, and Mai could see the concern there as the older woman glanced tellingly at Masako before looking intently at Mai again.
Mai found herself nodding. Naru's supposition felt dead on. That was part of what was making everything feel so eerie. For once, she was on the other side of the experiment. And so was Masako, which was something the other girl probably had literal nightmares about.
"I believe Lin may be right. The spirit seems to be testing us, our equipment, our responses, even your abilities when we first entered the building yesterday. He appears to be a scientist". Naru said, a grim tone in his voice.
Mai felt Masako glide closer to her, and she reached out to clasp the younger girl's hand. She felt the minute tremors racking the other girl's frame.
A mad scientist in an abandoned hospital.
Didn't that just bring back fond memories.
Still, a part of her was more angry than scared, frustrated that the doctor's spirit had been able to traverse her own astral plane so easily.
That couldn't happen. She'd learned the hard way that her powers could be every bit as dangerous as Naru's if they weren't controlled. Her anxiety made her feel restless. The entire group crowded in the lobby around the monitors made the already close air nearly stifling. She wished she could go back outside for a moment, but that felt a little too much like running away.
"I'm going to go hand check the equipment, just to be safe." Mai said, straightening. She knew if she didn't force herself to face the building, and subsequently the ghost, head on, her fear of him would only grow.
She couldn't let the spirit have that kind of power over her. Only prey ran, and she had no interest in being prey.
Never again.
"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Mai? You've already admitted that he can get past your usual safeguards..." Ayako said worriedly.
Mai smiled. It felt false to her, but she knew from long practice that it looked fine. She was very good at meaningless smiles.
"It's not like he did anything, though. Like Lin said, he was just testing me. Observing. He didn't actually attempt to hurt me. And while I do have a ridiculous amount of experience making tea, I still have a few tricks he hasn't seen." She raised two fingers, silently mimicking the first movement of the offensive warding Ayako had taught her years ago.
"Careful what you wish for..." Yasu murmured, pushed his glasses distractedly up his nose again. "Big Boss, I'm going to head to the nearest town, see what I can find out from the locals that we don't already have in the files, if that's alright with you?" Yasu had a nose for research, he could ferret secrets out like a hunting dog after a grouse.
He shot Mai a reassuring grin before shifting his eyes meaningfully towards Masako, and Mai nodded, easily understanding his silent request for her to look out for the other girl.
Naru nodded, seeming to already be resigned to Yasu's insistence upon calling him "Big Boss".
Naru turned to Bou-San. "Bou-san, will you and Masako please do a walk through on your own? Take a copy of the floor plan and have Masako help you mark rooms requiring exorcism. Start on the lower floor. Be careful, avoid any rooms that appear unsound. Ayako, there may be more spirits here than Bou-san can handle on his own, will you and John please survey the area outside to see if you will be capable of doing one of your Tree Spirit Cleansings if needed?"
With a last frown, Ayako nodded and turned away, John following silently behind. Only Mai saw the longing look on Bou-san's face as Ayako walked away.
Yeah, they'd brought plenty of their own demons with them.
Forcing her thoughts away from Bou-san and Ayako, Mai grabbed her clipboard and rummaged around the desktop for a pen...hadn't she just seen one here a moment ago?
Suddenly a hand hovered in front of her face, pen offered. Her eyes followed the black jacketed arm to her boss's blank face.
Though his face was the usual expressionless mask, she could swear he was laughing at her internally.
Jerk.
"Thank you..." She murmured dryly, turning to walk out of the room. She glanced back in surprise when she realized he was following her.
"Did you need something else?" She asked lightly, gripping the handrail as she began the ascent up the stairs. The last thing she wanted to do was fall on her ass in front of him.
"No one goes anywhere alone." He said simply.
She frowned. She hadn't seen any signs of escalation from the spirit yet. So why was Naru escalating their safety protocols already? Had he seen something in the readings she hadn't?
"When did we initiate the partner protocols? I set the equipment up by myself yesterday. So did John. And Lin..."
She paused as she realized that Naru must have left Lin alone in base last night for quite some time, otherwise the results the older man had relayed earlier would not have been news to him.
Had he been at the campsite with them and she hadn't realized it? It wasn't like him to leave base the first night of an investigation. She never remembered him doing so in the past.
"I was asleep at base for a while. And then I came out to check on you all. There aren't any cameras at the campsite, so someone needed to do periodic safety checks." he responded coolly.
"Hmmm.." she murmured in agreement. She considered pointing out that Lin was, in fact, alone at base at this very moment-
Suddenly her foot caught on a loose board on the top step, and she pitched forward onto the dusty floor. Catching herself on her hands and knees, she sat up to see her boss watching her with a purposefully blank expression.
Well, if she was honest with herself, nothing about this was a new feeling. She grimaced, face flushing.
"Good to see some things haven't changed." He said, reaching out a lazy hand to help her up.
She started to reach for it, then paused, this morning's troubling revelations causing her to hesitate.
Had he really not known about Gene no longer being her spirit guide? Had he thought Gene was here, with her all this time? Then where was Gene? Was Gene just...gone, forever? How did Naru feel about that?
Her own feelings about Gene were tangled. As a teen, he'd felt like her greatest source of protection and support. But she'd also begun to suspect that he'd simply been her own subconscious taking Naru's form. She hadn't known about Gene, the real person until nearly the same time he had disappeared from her life, along with Naru. Naru had accused her of being in love with Gene, but until then, she hadn't even known for sure that Gene was a real person to love. It wouldn't have mattered though. It was Naru she had been in love with, whether or not he'd ever believe it.
And now he was back, and she was beginning to feel like she was skirting pockets of quicksand with him. He'd never been easy to read, but she'd hadn't let it bother her when they were teens. Now she had no idea where she stood with him.
She had no idea why he'd returned this time, or what he really wanted.
And they weren't kids anymore. If she made the wrong choices this time, people could get hurt.
He merely raised a brow at her hesitation, reaching forward the rest of the way to clasp her wrist, pulling her nonchalantly to her feet. His easy strength shot a thrill down her despite her best intentions.
She needed to get a handle on that, ASAP.
"Thank you." She said reluctantly, turning briskly away. At least, that had been her intent. But he held onto her hand instead of releasing it immediately. With slow intention, he rotated her wrist, turning her palm upwards for his inspection.
"What-"
"Your other hand?" He said, as if she hadn't begun to speak.
Bemused, she held her other hand up. "Just a little dirty."
The skin was a little roughened, perhaps. But she wasn't bleeding.
Once Naru was satisfied, he dropped her hand as if it had never occurred to him to look at it in the first place, walking past her nonchalantly.
She gaped at him, then shook her head, following in confused silence.
The upper hall had several rooms branching off it, as well as a large window at the far end that, though dirty, provided more light than she would have expected.
They made quick work of the upper floor, and were nearly back to the staircase when Mai suddenly felt the air around them chill. Her eyes widened in surprise.
This was a strong aura.
"Naru..." She whispered, glancing up to where he stood a few feet away.
He nodded, not seeming to feel words were necessary as he calmly surveyed their surroundings.
Mai couldn't see anything, but it was now cold enough for her breath to cloud in front of her. The hairs on her arms were standing at attention, and though she and Naru both seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation, Mai imagined she could hear the sound of a third person's breathing...
The walls seem to shift, expanding and contracting softly...like lungs.
Like this building itself was breathing.
Ok, yeah. That was pretty creepy.
Suddenly, she felt a gentle tug on her hair, a ghostly hand stroking the dark locks.
Memories of her dream encounter with the Doctor flooded her mind and she froze, eyes widening as they shot to the senior ghost hunter. The action left little doubt in her mind that the spirit in the hall with them was the same as the one from her dream.
She gestured carefully towards her hair, locking eyes with him meaningfully.
Creepy Ghost Doctor with hair fetish...
Fantastic.
"Mai, I want you to calmly start moving towards me." Naru said, from his vantage point near the stairs. He leisurely reached his arm out to her, as if this was nothing more than an evening stroll and not an impromptu test of courage. Still, she could see the tension in his body language.
Whatever this ghost was, it certainly wasn't shy, which unfortunately for them probably indicated it was quite strong.
"Okay..." she agreed readily enough, anxiety pitching her voice higher, but she kept her movements slow and even; small, shuffling half steps as she eased towards Naru's outstretched hand.
Time to go downstairs, oh yes...
The ghostly grip on her hair tightened, pulling her head back uncomfortably.
"And... now I'm stopping." She said, slowly raising two fingers in case she needed to try the Nine Cuts. But where should she even aim? At this angle, she wasn't sure she could turn enough...
"Mai, I'm going to come to you." Naru said in the same calm voice, the one he'd used on her years ago, when they'd been cornered in the classroom by the curse that the teacher had placed on Naru.
"And...do what...exactly?" Mai asked, trying to maintain her own calm as best she could. The pressure on her hair hadn't increased, but neither had it let go.
She was used to being a spirit magnet, but she'd never encountered something quite like this. This spirit was bold. It didn't even seem to care that she wasn't alone. She could feel ghostly eyes perusing her and she repressed a shudder. She had the feeling it liked making her anxious.
"Like Lin said, it's just testing us." Naru slowly sidled over to her, slowly raising his hands to grip her arms just above her elbows.
His palms were shockingly warm against her skin, chilled by the spirit's manifestation. She was facing squarely into his chest now, and she could almost hear her teenage self squealing at the contact.
Awkward...
She wondered if Naru actually had a plan, or if he was just trying to put himself in the best position to deal with the inevitable shit that was probably about to hit the fan.
He took another small step into her, and suddenly they were chest to chest. His right hand tightened on her arm and his left came up slowly to cup the back of her head.
Holy shit, Naru was holding her.
So much for maintaining a professional distance. She knew the move was simply to protect her head and neck should the ghost decide to try anything nasty, like yank her backward suddenly. But there was no way for the move to not feel intimate, since she didn't exactly let the average stranger this close.
Naru's hand was tangled in her hair as well, pulling back the strands back towards her head, relieving some of the pressure on her neck. She could turn her head now a little, but the way Naru had hunched his shoulders around her stopped her from being able to see anything regardless.
The way they were standing, her nose was practically buried in his jacket. He smelled…good. He'd grown taller, too, in the four years he'd been away.
And could her thoughts be any more inappropriate right now?
"What are you feeling?" Naru asked, so close his breath fanned across her forehead.
"I wonder..." Mai muttered darkly, her words trapped between their bodies.
Ghost. Hand. In. Her. Hair...
"What are your instincts telling you?" He rephrased, voice rough with annoyance and she had to repress the mad giggle trying to work its way up her throat.
"Get serious..." He muttered, gripping her arm a little tighter, belying his own tension.
She growled at him silently before closing her eyes, careful to lightly tread the line between feeling and falling. It had taken her a long time to master her ability to feel things without succumbing to sleep and full-out astral projecting every time she simply wanted to sense her surroundings.
She did not want to fall asleep right now.
Watching. Eyes watching.
Cold, clinical precision. Curiosity...
But it wasn't actually directed at her.
Her eyes opened a second later, flying to his. She had to tilt her head up to see him, and the stern expression on his face as he looked down at her hiked her anxiety up even further.
For all his apparent calmness, his eyes were hard. He looked a little pissed off.
Oddly enough, his anger helped to soothe her fear. Angry wasn't the same as worried and she'd much prefer to be angry than afraid right now.
"I'm bait..." She barely breathed the word, afraid to put any power into the syllables lest she induce the ghost to more mischief.
It felt like it was waiting for something...
Even the walls seemed to be holding their breath. Her heart pounded even faster. She felt her muscles tense.
"For me?" Naru confirmed, reading her expression somehow, his grip on her tightening even more.
Wordlessly she nodded as best she could under his grip, thinking back over the feeling of consuming curiosity she had felt, directed not at her, but past her.
At Naru.
"So he's figured out everyone but me." Naru murmured, and she could have sworn for a moment the narcissistic jerk actually looked pleased with himself.
Typical Naru.
Suddenly John's voice could be heard coming up the stairwell. Naru's shoulders blocked her line of sight, but he had evidently topped the staircase.
"Uh... am I interrupting something?" He asked, a hint of smile creeping into his voice, thickening his accent.
"Shut up, John" Mai and Naru hissed in near perfect unison.
She closed her eyes as a blush burned it's way across her cheeks. From John's vantage, it probably looked a lot like they were making out.
She couldn't wait to exorcise this stupid spirit.
"Mai?" John asked, finally picking up on their tension. "You okay there?" She heard him take a step closer.
"Mai, can you still do the warding Monk taught you back at Yasu's school?" Naru asked, looking back down at her.
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, the boys must have seen something behind her-
"Mai!" John yelled at the same time Naru commanded "Drop!"
She didn't have a chance to respond to either though, since Naru dropped for both of them, pulling her down so hard, she felt a yank as pain blossomed in the back of her head.
The damned ghost had pulled out some of her hair.
She was suddenly on her side on the floor, dust billowing in her face as Naru crouched over her. All she could see was his chest, close enough to her face to feel his body heat radiating on her cheek. She could feel the way he curled around her as he buried his face in the top of her head, the motion pushing her further under him. His arm was a steel band across her back, the other hand still tangled in her hair as he twisted to position her under his body.
She gasped in surprise and pain, the sound muffled against Naru's chest.
What was happening-
There were several loud cracks, like bullets being fired. The hallway was momentarily silent, and then there was a chorus of groaning shrieks followed by the sound of broken glass raining down all around them.
The echoing silence lasted only a second as Bou-San's footsteps could be heard racing up the stairs.
"What happened, is everyone okay?" He yelled, skidding to a stop.
Mai had to wait a moment longer for Naru to shift away from her before sitting up slowly, looking around with wide eyes. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she told herself sternly it was from fear, not from laying on the ground clutched in Naru's arms.
Every upstairs window had simultaneously blown out.
Or rather, blown in. Glass sparkled in jagged edged fragments all around them. She could feel fresh air from the gaping hole at the end of the hall where the window had been only a moment before.
"I'm okay." John said, brushing himself off as he stood carefully. Shards of glass rained down in a staccato lullaby.
Mai looked over at her boss, her eyes widening.
"Naru, you're covered in broken glass." Mai said, reaching for his hair instinctively.
He caught her hand halfway, shaking his head a little.
"You'll cut yourself. Stay here."
Standing, he walked a few feet away before leaning over to shake his hair out, much as John was doing down the hall.
"Mai, you're the one bleeding!" Bou-San said in concern as he crouched in front of her.
She could feel the trickle of blood running down her neck, but the pain was already fading. She shook her head. "The spirit had a grip on my hair. When Naru pulled me out of the way, it pulled some of it out. That's all."
It had stung like a son of a gun, but she'd had worse. And somehow, despite her shorts and tshirt, she wasn't cut anywhere. She was covered in dust, but none of the glass had landed on her at all...
"Naru?" She said, standing to look him over a little better.
Sure enough, there were a few tiny cuts bleeding at his temple, but otherwise, his habit of wearing long sleeves even in the summer seemed to serve him well once again.
"It's nothing." Naru said brusquely as Bou-San gently started herding her and John down the stairs. "Have Ayako look at your head."
With that he moved quickly past them towards base.
"Bou-San, you and Ayako get ready to do the exorcisms. The Spirit is clearly escalating."
"Already?" Lin asked from where he stood in the doorway. It was less an actual question than a simple request for confirmation.
"Did we get any of that on tape?" Nauru asked, walking past him to study the monitors.
Lin nodded. "Several cameras were knocked over but three kept recording. All the thermometers remained functional. Audio is limited but may still be of some use."
It was one of the longer speeches she'd ever heard from him.
Nauru nodded. "I was hoping to have more time to gather data, but this will have to do. We can't risk this level of escalation every time we need to check equipment."
Mai watched the monitors closely, leaning over John's shoulders since she still wasn't that comfortable with Lin. They had made progress, the year they had worked together. At least, she had thought they had. But Lin was hard to read at the best of times and once again she found herself intimidated by the tall, silent Chinese man. Maybe it was her imagination, but she couldn't help but feel like he disapproved of her.
Naru, of course, had no such problems, leaning so close to Lin's face his shirt nearly ruffled the man's long bangs.
"Masako, does it appear to be working?" Naru asked over his shoulder without bothering to actually face the medium.
Mai found herself leaning even further over John's shoulder to study the screens better. The resolution was incredible, much better than what they had used back when she was in high school, but it was still difficult to determine if Bou-san's exorcism was having any effect.
From outside, they could hear Ayako doing her own incantations. She had called the trees here "weak" and "twisted", unusual since they were so far in the country, but had agreed to try the cleansing nonetheless. It had surprised Mai that Naru had moved so quickly to the decision to exercise the spirit without even waiting for Yasu's research, but perhaps he thought the building was simply too dangerous to risk tarrying in long. With the windows broken, the building would be open to the elements now. The rot would spread much quicker, and their equipment might get damaged if it rained, or the building collapsed.
"Several spirits have left or are leaving". Masako agreed quietly.
Standing in the weak afternoon sunlight, she looked almost like an apparition herself in her tidy gray slacks and white blouse. While she might have forsworn her more traditional garb, she hadn't started dressing as casually as Mai did the majority of the time. Beside her, Mai felt like a dirty street urchin.
Suddenly, on screen Bou-San stumbled, going down to one knee, clutching his chest. Outside a strangled yelp could be heard.
"Ayako!" Mai cried, already running out the door, John hot on her heels. Behind her, she could hear Naru and Lin running to Bou-San.
They found the miko laying sprawled in the clearing, face pale and waxy looking, her normally neat hair in disarray.
"Ayako, what happened?" Mai cried and she and John helped the swaying priestess to a sitting position. Her robes were now nearly as dirty as Mai's clothes, and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead.
"I...I don't know". Ayako mumbled distractedly. "I've had exorcisms fail before, but that wasn't what was happening. The trees were working. I sensed at least six spirits come forth and be cleansed. But then, all of a sudden I heard this…echo. It sounded like one of that stupid monk's chants. It became hard to breathe and I lost my connection with the trees. Then everything went dark."
"Just hold still." John murmured, discreetly taking Ayako's pulse. He nodded reassuringly at Mai, apparently satisfied with the results, and she relaxed a fraction.
"Ayako!" Bou-san called suddenly, half stumbling out the hospital door, a bewildered Masako and stoic Naru trailing behind. He, too, looked like he'd just fallen down a flight of stairs.
"I'm fine..." Ayako mumbled again, turning away from him. "What are you doing out here? Weren't you supposed to be exorcizing this place?"
Bou-san pulled up short, arm dropping dejectedly from where he had been reaching for the self-styled shrine maiden.
"I was worried about you." He said softly, but Ayako looked determinedly anywhere but at him.
Mai went over to him, looking him over worriedly. He shot her a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring but just looked grim. Bewildered, she looked to Masako, but the medium only shrugged, as bewildered as the rest of them.
"What exactly happened to interrupt your ceremonies?" Naru asked, eyes narrowed as he looked between the two of them. They had used the same, dual cleansing techniques in the past on jobs involving multiple spirits. Until now, it had been successful, with Ayako and Bou-san's abilities complementing each other well.
Turning away from Ayako to face their boss, Bou-San closed his eyes in thought.
"Everything was normal, at first. The spirits weren't even pushing back. They mostly seemed like they WANTED to move on. But then it got weird. I could feel a breeze in the room, but it wasn't coming from the window. I could hear the sounds of trees rustling, and bells. The noises got louder and louder, and then suddenly it felt like my spirit was being pulled from my body!"
"But that's what Ayako just described!" John said, eyes wide.
Mai stared at the two of them aghast, then turned to Naru, actually hoping for once that she was totally wrong. It sounded like Ayako had started to experience Bou-san's ceremony, and he had somehow gotten caught up in her cleansing.
"Were they..." Mai trailed off, unwilling to even finish the sentence.
"Yes. It appears the spirit somehow managed to turn Bou-San and Ayako's exorcisms against each other." Naru said grimly.
"Well, fuck." Masako said primly.
Mai agreed silently, staring up at the looming building behind them.
Once again, their team had become another one of the Doctor's "experiments".
"We need to hear what Yasu has found." Naru said, standing up.
*****Stinger********
"Mai, thanks for coming in. I've been wanting to speak to you for a while now." The counselor smiled as she straightened some papers on her desk.
"Was there a problem with this semester's tuition payment?" Mai asked worriedly.
"No, no. Nothing like that. Not at the moment anyway." The smile seemed a little false now somehow.
"It's about your major. I have some grave concerns about your ability to complete the English Languages Study Program."
Mai frowned. "My major? I want to be a translator. I like studying languages. My grades are good…"
"Hmm. Good? Yes. Great? No. And let's put all our cards on the table. You're an orphan. I understand that you are paying your tuition using the funds you received as a settlement from an accident."
Mai stiffened. "Yes. There should be enough to finish my degree."
The counselor smiled again. "On first glance, perhaps. But foreign language majors are a competitive field. I see from my notes that you haven't been able to do a semester abroad, is that correct?"
Mai shifted uncomfortably. "It isn't possible for me at the moment, no."
The counselor nodded. "Many students who can't do a semester abroad make up for it by attending one of the more prestigious cram schools for additional tuition in English, and perhaps a second language as well. That might be a way to further pad your academic resume. Is that an option?"
Mai swallowed, nervously. "No, I have to work after class." Her settlement would barely cover full tuition, she had to work for her living expenses. "But I've taken two classes in German here at the university, with good marks…"
"Hmm. Well, the problem is Mai, the German classes are just electives, and you've taken the only two classes we offer. There's nowhere else to go with the study of that language here."
"I'm sorry, are you saying I need to change my major?" Mai asked bluntly, feeling cornered.
"I'm telling you in a year and a half, you'll need to find an internship, and right now, I don't think I could help you secure one. Without experience abroad, a thorough grasp of a second language, private tutoring, or a prestigious internship, your credentials simply won't be enough for you to make a living. Every high school student in Japan can speak a little English nowadays."
Mai stared at her feet. She hated being poor, hated this office, and this woman with her fake smiles and condescending advice. But she'd seen the upperclassmen in her major stress about their internships. She didn't have the money to change majors a year from now.
She only had one chance to get it right.
But god, she was so tired of smiling and making do.
She looked steadily at the counselor. "What did you have in mind?"
The woman slid a brochure across the desk. "This is a field that is growing very rapidly, and your English courses will stand you in very good stead. In fact, once the requisite business classes are out of the way, you would definitely be a candidate for management in the future. And who wouldn't want to work at a beautiful hotel or peaceful resort?"
