A/N: Hello lovelies! Still working on a tablet so please forgive any formatting errors. Your reviews mean the world to me. Yasu and Mai get a little bit ornery in this chapter. This is based off of Yasu's general orneriness in the original anime whenever he would tease Bou-san, as well as my own experience with high functioning depression, particularly the aspect where people act particularly extroverted to divert attention from their emotional wounds. I think as a top student, Yasu in particular would be prone to this. Also, just super fun to write. Ayako will not feature very much in this case, but we will get quite a bit more of her in a later case, no worries.
As always, not my sandbox just my sandcastle.
-RavensGame
Refraction - Case Three Part One
"The Forest For The Trees"
" The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"Mai, did you want to ride in my car?" Bou-san offered as she walked up to the group waiting in front of the office.
She opened her mouth to reply, but Naru cut her off before she had a chance.
"I need Yasu and Mai with me. There are some protocols in place for this case I need to go over with them. As a consultant, you're not bound to the same rules, and John has already been informed. He'll drive the van and we'll be riding in Lin's car."
She and Yasu shrugged at each other.
"You already made him mad!" Yasu mouthed, waggling his brows at her.
"I haven't done anything yet!" She mouthed back, crossing her own eyes and sticking out her tongue for good measure.
"Do you have everything? Boots, jacket, compass, canteen, sun block-" Bou-san was rattling off the words in excitement- he loved the mountains.
"First aid kit, whistle, extra socks…" Mai smiled to soften the teasing. "I'm good to go Bou-san."
"Alright." He smiled sheepishly at her, then leaned forward conspiratorially "If it gets too tense in the car, just go to sleep until we break for lunch, then I'll sneak you into mine."
Mai shot him the a-ok sign on the down low, winking when Naru was facing away.
She loved her big brother Houshou.
She was about to climb in the back seat when she heard someone calling her name from down the street.
"Ren?" She said in surprise. She felt her cheeks pinken as she glanced quickly at her coworkers.
"Hey, I'm glad I caught you before you left." He jogged up to them with a grin.
Bou-san and Yasu were giving them the side eye while the other three merely stared.
"What's up?" She asked, lowering her voice.
'So, I remember you said you were having trouble tracking down the last book for the summer reading. So I brought you my copy. I stayed up all night to finish it so you could take it with you."
Now that he said that, she could see the dark shadows under his eyes.
"Wow! Thanks. You didn't have to do that." It was incredibly sweet, but for some reason, it just made her feel a little pressured.
"It's not a problem. I know you were worried about it." He said, pulling her in for a quick hug that had her eyes (and Bou-san's) widening.
"Alright, I gotta go. I'm meeting Haru. Be safe, okay? Call me."
"Reception is likely to be poor where we're going. It's time to leave." Naru said flatly before he got into the car, Lin following his lead.
"Well…..Have fun with that." Ren smiled. "I'll see you in a couple of days."
Mai slid into the seat behind Naru, looking bemusedly at the book in her hands.
Yasu slumped against her. "I thought you guys were taking it slooowww."
"Belts." Lin said from up front, and she and Yasu rolled their eyes at each other as they obediently fastened their seat belts.
"His idea of slow might be a little faster than mine." She admitted in a low whisper, biting her lip.
"Mai, if we could focus on the case for a moment, please." Naru's voice was an idle threat and she threw him a mock salute from the back.
"I read over the case notes last night. The Whispering Pines Lodge is a popular spot for people to hike the a section of the nearby mountain range. In the fall and summer school sessions, schools often bus students in for leadership conferences and orienteering. However, over the last decade they've had an escalation in incidents that local residents are beginning to claim are supernatural in nature-"
"That's not where we're focusing at the moment." Naru interrupted.
Mai gaped at him. But she'd been doing so good!
"We need to go over safety protocols for this case, especially since you're the only girl with us on the trip, Mai." Naru said, meeting her eyes in the rearview mirror.
"O-kay." She agreed warily, looking at Yasu uncertainly. He merely shrugged, as confused as she was.
Naru had always been a bit protective of her, which had made sense when she'd been a minor going on cases with him. But she was an adult now, investigating by her own choice. His habit of placing her in "over-protection" would impede their investigations if they weren't careful.
"One of the main problems the lodge is experiencing is that they keep losing hikers. There are complaints that maps go missing once a hiker goes up a trail, and that compasses stop functioning correctly. For this reason, I'm implementing the buddy system from the beginning on this case. No one goes anywhere alone. This will make it a bit uncomfortable for you, Mai, since there are no other girls for you to buddy with."
She went over his words quickly in her mind. "I saw on the case notes they had set aside two large conjoining rooms for us. I'm assuming the team is sleeping in one and using the other as base?""
She'd been camping enough times that sleeping around the guys at night didn't really bother her. And Bou-san loved hiking. He never talked about how much he missed Mt. Koya, but whenever he got really stressed, he went hiking for the weekend. He'd taken Mai and Yasu plenty of times, so even though her school had never done orienteering, she was a somewhat experienced camper. She could read a map, use a compass and make a fire. And for her last birthday, Bou-san had given her a sturdy pair of hiking boots, so she had the appropriate gear, as well.
"Are you comfortable with that?" Naru asked.
She cocked her head. "Sure, it's not really any different than camping with Bou-san or staying the night at Yasu's place."
Naru searched her eyes again, for she couldn't for the life of her say what for.
"Alright. Then, returning to the buddy system. Our rooms have a small restroom attached, as long as you're in one of those three rooms, you don't need a partner. But once you leave those rooms, you need to be with a partner. I don't want to risk anyone getting lost on the mountain. We're officially past typhoon season, but the mountains in this range are known to have unpredictable weather."
She scowled. He kept saying these protocols were for everyone, but he was talking to her. He was looking at her.
"These rules are for everyone, right? Not just me?" She asked suspiciously.
"These rules are for everyone." he confirmed looking back down at his paperwork. "So, you said you've been hiking before?"
She and Yasu nodded. They were far from being great outdoorsmen, but Bou-san had taught them the basics.
"Then this is very important. If either of you get separated from your partner, or the group, and you find yourself lost, I want you to stop exactly where you are and wait for us to come get you." Naru's voice brooked no argument.
"Sure." Bou-san had told her something similar once. The harder you tried to find the path when you were lost, the more likely you were to wander away from it, making it harder for search parties to find you. If you got lost, you should sit down and wait, unless the weather was so cold that movement was required to maintain circulation.
"I mean it, Mai. If you get lost on the mountain, stay where you are and we'll come and find you. If you get separated from the group on the lodge grounds, stay where you are and wait for me. If you get separated in one of the buildings, stay where you are and I will come and get you."
She puffed out her cheeks in irritation. His concerns were not completely invalid, since they had definitely investigated structures in the past big enough, or strange enough for people to get lost in. But this felt a little like overkill-and he was definitely directing all this at her now.
Beside her, Yasu was stifling a laugh. He was confident in his abilities as a researcher, Naru's protective measures never seemed to chafe at him the way they did her.
"Repeat it back to me." Naru ordered.
Mai smiled darkly. "If I get separated from my partner on the mountain, I will stay where I am and wait for a rescue party. If I get separated from the group on the lodge grounds, I will stand in exactly the same spot until someone retrieves me. When I need to go to the toilet, I'll take someone with me."
"They can wait outside the door." Naru replied nonchalantly. She was sure he heard the sarcasm in her voice, but since he was getting his way, he obviously didn't care.
Yasu bumped shoulders with her. "Hey Mai, wanna go out with me?"
She fluttered her lashes at him. "Why, Yasuhara-san, are you offering to be my buddy?"
She snickered as she looked out the window again. She understood that her age, relative inexperience and abilities that apparently made her ghost candy had required "over-protection" as Naru had phrased it years ago. But at some point, he was going to have to accept that she wasn't really that same person anymore.
She studied the menu with Yasu at her side. She was surprised Naru had agreed for the team to stop at a fast food restaurant like this, since she didn't remember him liking this sort of thing in the past, but perhaps the options were limited.
She and Yasu stepped up to the counter.
"Number three?" Yasu asked her.
"Ha. You wish. Number four." She shot back.
"Play you for it?" He said, light glinting off his glasses as he took a fighting stance.
"I don't care if you lose fast or slow." She retorted.
"One-two-three!" They said in unison.
She crowed in victory when her paper covered his rock.
"I don't know why you bother anymore." She said sweetly.
"Someday, Mai Taniyama. Someday I will re-take my throne." Yasu swore.
"If you two are done, I'd appreciate it if you'd order already." The air of irritation around Naru had the two twirling on their heels to face the girl at the counter again.
Mai smiled brightly at her. "We'll take the number four couple's set please."
"With two colas." Yasu added glumly.
The girl, who had been smiling somewhat flirtatiously at Yasu, scowled at him.
"You don't get the couples deal unless you're actually a couple." She informed him. "You guys act more like siblings."
"Oh, may the gods have mercy on us…" She heard Bou-san whisper as she and Yasu smiled at each other in delight.
It was always so much fun when someone else started it.
Without a second's hesitation, Mai suctioned herself to Yasu's side like a barnacle to a boat. Wrapping her arms around his, she looked up at him.
"Did you hear that honey? She doesn't think we're a couple. And we've been together for five years already!' Mai pouted.
"There, there sweetheart. Don't pout. It's because you look so much younger without the kids around." Yasu consoled, placing his hand on her cheek. "We shouldn't leave them home alone so much."
Mai shook her head dramatically. "But ever since I had the last baby, we never get any time alone together. The triplets can handle things for a few hours, they are four now. As parents, we should be fostering their independence."
Yasu sighed, closing his eyes. "I guess I'm just not ready for them to grow up so soon. Perhaps it's time to have another?"
"Yasu! You said we could get married first this time!" Mai put a hand to her chest. "Don't you think five children out of wedlock is too many?"
Mai turned towards the counter. "I'm sorry, do you still not have our colas ready?"
"Customer service isn't what it used to be." Yasu mourned.
The girl's jaw had practically dropped to the floor. Then she spun on her heels in a huff to get their drinks. Mai and Yasu smiled at each other gleefully and turned towards the rest of the team. Naru and Lin were staring at them in disbelief, John just looked resigned, and Bou-san had his eyes closed as he rubbed his forehead.
He might have been praying.
"You guys creep the hell out of me when you do that stuff." He said finally.
"Jealous again, Houshou?" Yasu fluttered his lashes at him.
"Why would you do that?" Each of Naru's words were coated in irritated control, the syllables bit off in precision.
She and Yasu looked at him in identical confusion. "There's a discount."
They spoke the words in unison.
"The company is paying." Naru said.
"But this is our only time away from the kids?" Mai said plaintively, unable to help herself.
"Go sit down." Naru ordered, a muscle twitching under his left eye.
"Great, you got us in trouble again, Mai." Yasu elbowed here as they walked over to their seats.
"What exactly just happened?" Lin said to the other three.
John merely pressed his lips together, shaking his head.
Houshou sighed. "They do that sometimes to get a discount."
"That seems like a lot of work to save a few dollars." Naru pointed out, eyes following the other two as they picked a table.
Houshou shrugged, looking across the lobby to where the two youngest were now sitting, blowing straw papers at each other. Something had at least one of them wound up, because that had been a bit showy, even for them.
It was a habit they had developed over the years to deflect when they were upset. But since the person who had upset one or both of them was likely to be Naru himself, Houshou didn't think he should share that with the man just yet.
He shrugged. "They don't get to be young very often. Let it go."
"We're on a case right now." Naru insisted.
"They're ordering a couples meal doesn't impact the mission. They've been doing this for years." Houshou sighed. "Money is tight for both of them. You know that."
Acting like that when they ordered a couples set had probably distracted their friends from the fact that they were hiding their money issues.
"They'll keep doing it if you press them on it. They do it to blow off steam. If you ignore it they'll stop sooner." He advised his boss.
He was surprised he needed to explain kids with abandonment issues acting out to Naru, but it was what it was.
"They've been through a lot." He said.
The Whispering Pines lodge was really beautiful. In the bright sun, the low wooden buildings scattered over the grounds looked charming and well kept. On one side, the mountain range rose up, forested in the deep green pines the lodge was named after. To the other side, down in the valley a small town could be seen.
"Welcome. Thank you for accepting our case."
A smiling man approached them. Lin and Naru started forward, bowing to the man in turn.
"Thank you. I'm Kazaya Shibuya, and this is my team. As it's summer, I'm afraid only part of them could come."
"I understand. I appreciate you working us in. Our busy season starts next month when schools go back into session. Unfortunately, if we don't do something about these rumors, our busy season isn't likely to be very busy." The man said mournfully.
"You believe the issues to be no more than rumors than?" Naru asked.
The man shrugged. "I've been the manager for four years now. I've seen some things that might be termed 'spooky', but this far in the mountains, that's to be expected."
He smiled at them again. "Would you prefer a tour first, or to unload your stuff?
"If possible, we'll do both. Naru replied.
"Mai, can you, Bou-san, John and Yasu get base set up while Lin and I go over some questions with the manager?"
Surprised, she nodded at him. She certainly knew how to set things up by now. It was just surprising that he wasn't insisting on personally looking over the base first.
"Sure. Just point out our rooms." She replied.
"Through the west door there, you'll find an entryway. If you turn left, your rooms are the first two doors on the left. No one else is staying in that hall, so you should have some relative privacy."
"Let me know if there are any issues with the space. And remember, protocols are permanently escalated on this case." Naru admonished.
"Partners. You got it boss." She replied, heading towards the van where the other guys were already unloading gear.
She saw Bou-san watching Naru bemusedly.
She grabbed a box and followed the others into the lodge. The rooms were sufficient, a smaller one with a bathroom off if where they would sleep, and a larger room with two conference tables already in it. One would be for the team to meet, and the other would hold the computers.
She was still a little unfamiliar with the new electronics, but John and Yasu showed her and the four of them made quick work of it.
Once everything was set up, they sat down to wait for Naru and Lin. Yasu had flopped on the ground in a show of exhaustion, and she laid down next to him, using his stomach as a pillow. He was reading the case file again, and she decided to get a start on the novel Ren had given her. She didn't know how much downtime she could expect to have on a case like this.
"So, Mai." Bou-san said in a teasing voice as he smiled down at them. "Do you really think your boyfriend would be comfortable with you and Yasu hanging out like this?"
She turned the page without looking up at him. "If he's uncomfortable about me and Yasu being friends, we aren't a good fit anyway. Besides, we're just dating. He's not my boyfriend."
"What exactly is the difference?" John asked.
"Critical Hit Power." Mai and Yasu answered at the same time.
Bou-san raised a brow. "Do I even want to know?"
It was Yasu who answered. "A boyfriend has more damage power than a boy you are merely dating. A boyfriend screws you over, your heart gets broken. Things don't work out with a guy you are dating, well. Those things just happen."
Neither of the two looked up as he said this, though Mai did snap her fingers before pointing at Yasu, the universal sign for "you nailed it."
Bou-san sighed. "Why do I have this mental image of you two in a nursing home together, years from now, still alone and terrorizing the staff?
"That's why Yasu is my soul-mate." Mai said cheekily as she turned another page.
"We should start saving so we can stay in a nursing home with pretty nurses though." Yasu said thoughtfully.
Bou-san just shook his head and walked away, while John watched them warily.
There was silence for a moment, nothing but the sound of pages turning, when suddenly, Mai, with a hint of laughter in her voice said, "Or, you know. You could just marry Masako and I could live in your attic or something…"
Yasu froze mid page turn, and Mai starting snickering.
"Traitor." He accused, before rolling so that her head hit the tatami mat they were laying on.
"Ow!" She continued to laugh though, the book forgotten.
"I see everyone is hard at work." Naru was back, watching them from the doorway.
Mai smiled at him. "All set up. We just weren't sure if we should start walk throughs before you came back."
He walked over to where she lay, extending a hand. She hesitated for only a second before accepting it and being pulled to her feet.
"There's been some debate about what the actual nature of the possible haunting here is. I'd like to try a double blind study. That's why Lin and I met with the manager alone. I'd like everyone to walk through tonight and tomorrow and get your impressions. Then tomorrow night, I'll update you on what the specifics of prior issues have been."
She nodded. He had explained when SPR first reopened that sometimes he would have the team work a case 'cold' so to speak, to see if they could replicate any of the prior experiences.
She wondered if that was why he had already escalated their security protocols….
"We have about an hour before the evening meal." Naru said, looking at his watch. He began holding out small folders.
"These are maps of the lodge and the paths immediately around it. There are also maps of the mountain paths. Stay on the lodge grounds tonight, since we lose the light in just a few hours."
She nodded. Bou-san might be looking forward to going up the mountain, but she had never cared for hiking at night.
She laid her book down on the futon she had claimed as hers before walking over to get her packet from Naru. She glanced through the pages for a moment. "Any place you want us to check specifically tonight?"
He shook his head. "I'm having John and Lin set up some of the remote equipment, so the other two teams can just wander."
Hmmm. That meant he wanted to see if any of them were happy little ghost bait.
She turned to Yasu. "Hey partner, want to go find some ghosts with me."
"Sure. This place doesn't really have a library, so I can't do much research."
They headed out into the late afternoon sun. The mountains in the distance were breathtaking. They started down one of the paths. They each had a camera, and Mai panned hers around frequently.
The lodge was obviously a popular place, with couples and what looked like two or three small tour buses in attendance.
They were passing an empty lodge when Mai found her pace slowing.
"See something?" Yasu asked.
She pointed towards the steps of the lodge. "Well, there's that."
He frowned as he walked over. "I suppose it could be someone else's…"
He sounded doubtful.
She took the book from him, pulling out the picture of her and Masako she had used as a book mark. She held it up. Somehow, despite being left behind in their room, Ren's novel was now sitting on the steps of the empty lodge in the late afternoon sunlight.
"Right. Guess we'd better go inside then." Yasu said, looking the lodge over carefully.
"It seems in good order. I think it's used regularly once the school terms start." Mai offered.
She assumed if any place on the grounds was considered too hot to investigate 'blind', Naru would have told them.
"Let's give it a shot."
She slid the door open. It was a fairly basic room, not unlike where they were staying, though this one was detached from the main building. Futons were piled up in one corner waiting to be used. She flicked on the light and panned her camera around.
Nothing seemed unusual at first, so they walked further in the room. "Does it feel a little colder here to you?" Mai asked Yasu over her shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe. I'll mark it on my map for a camera to be set up, and a thermometer." Yasu agreed. Then he frowned. "Well, I would but my pen is gone."
She handed hers to him wordlessly as she looked around. There was nothing else to see though, so they exited the building. Mai flicked off the light behind her. They walked down the steps, looking around again.
Mai was certain something was here, but she couldn't really get a feel for it. At the moment it didn't seem dangerous, however, just a little playful.
She frowned. The lights in the lodge were on even though she clearly remembered turning them off a few moments ago.
"I'm going to turn the lights out again. You video from here and call if you see anything." She said quietly.
Yasu nodded, holding his camera towards the building.
Mai walked forwards slower, trying to feel for any changes in the energy around them. She still didn't sense any danger per se…
She slid the door open, and sighed. There was Yasu's pen, laying in the center of the floor. Something was definitely playing with them.
She picked up the pen and shut off the lights again, and then stopped on the porch.
Yasu was gone.
'Yasu!" She called.
There was no response. She still didn't feel a sense of urgency though. She reached into her pocket for her cell phone. It was on, but there was no signal. Naru had warned them that might happen though.
She started to walk around the building to look for Yasu-
"If you get separated from the group, stay where you are and wait for me to come get you…"
"This sucks." She whispered, stomping back over to the steps and sitting down on them to wait.
She was sure Yasu was somewhere close by. She was also sure the main lodge was just up the path. She also had a freaking map.
And here she was, waiting.
The sound of knocking echoed suddenly in the clearing around her. She panned the camera around but couldn't locate the source.
Knocking could indicate poltergeist activity, though she didn't think there was anyone around here for it to be tied to. She tried to remember if either her book or Yasu's pen had felt hot when she picked them up, but she couldn't be sure.
"Mai!" Bou-san and Naru were hurrying up the path towards her. She waved gamely, making a face.
"You were specifically told not to wander off!" Naru scolded.
She shrugged. "I didn't. Yasu and I were both investigating this lodge. The lights came back on, so I went in to turn them off while Yasu videoed everything. When I came outside, he was gone. And then I sat here to wait, Just. As. instructed." She made a face.
Naru frowned. "Yasu left you here?" He asked.
She shrugged. "He wasn't here. But I don't get bad vibes or anything. I think it's just playing with us right now."
It felt a tiny bit like teasing, to be honest.
"Mai?" Yasu's voice came from around the corner of the building and they watched as Yasu, John and Lin walked towards them.
"Where'd you go?" Mai asked him.
He blinked. "I could say the same thing about you. I was waiting for a long time, so I went inside the building, but you were gone."
Mai felt a chill come over her. "That building?" She said, pointing towards the one behind her.
"Yeah. I heard knocking, so I thought you were around the corner. I met Lin and John, and when we circled back around, you guys were here."
"Mai's been here for at least a few moments." Bou-san said. "WE could see her from the bottom of the path, where the trees break."
She held her camera out to Naru, looking over at Yasu in confusion. Naru replayed her film quickly, then held out his hand for Yasu's. After watching Yasu's film, he stared at the sunset thoughtfully for a moment. "Let's go eat."
Mai walked beside Bou-san, lost in thought. Though nothing about the lodge had ever felt anything other than playful, confusing both her and Yasu was no easy feat.
"Oh, I heard knocking." She said after a moment. "But it was outside, not inside. It kind of echoed everywhere."
Bopu-san nodded. "We heard it as well, that's why we headed this way."
"Let's head back and eat." Naru said, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Mai rubbed her arms uneasily. She hadn't felt scared at any point, just annoyed, but she didn't like the fact that either she or Yasu had lost time. She could tell from the look on his face that he felt the same.
John bumped her shoulder gently. "It's alright Mai. No one got hurt. Honestly, it seems a bit like teasing to me."
She nodded. "I get the same feeling." But in her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if the same actions would have felt 'harmless' if one of them had gotten hurt while the ghost was messing with them.
Dinner had been excellent, it was easy to see why the lodge was normally so popular. Bou-san had asked Naru to release the details of the case, since they had already seen some activity, but Naru had requested one more walkthrough first, which is how she and Bou-san came to be walking through the lodge grounds in the dark with flashlights and thermal cameras.
It was unerringly peaceful. To kill the time, they took turns pointing out the constellations to each other. Since Bou-san was the one who had taught her them originally, none of her discoveries were news to him, but he seemed to enjoy the fact that she remembered them from their previous trips.
The first time he had taken her camping had been after he had learned she had missed her school trip due to financial reasons. Though she had been unusually well paid at SPR, she had still been forced to make hard choices sometimes. The school trip had just been one of those times. So one weekend when Naru was being stoic and mysterious (no real change there), Bou-san had taken her, John and Ayako camping. John had camped some as a child in Australia, but it had been one of his first times getting to see the Japanese countryside for reasons other than work.
Everyone had been surprised when Ayako had agreed to come. She had complained about the conditions, and even Bou-san's cooking. But there had been a light in her eyes every time they had walked into the woods, and she had begun teaching Mai how to identify some of the different types of trees.
"What's on your mind, jou-chan." Bou-san ruffled her hair playfully.
She sighed. She missed Ayako. She understood why the older woman was around so much less, but it didn't make it any easier. And if she was hurting over Ayako's absence, she could only imagine how much worse it must be for Bou-san now.
"Missing Ayako?" He guessed. She looked at him, startled.
He shrugged. "There isn't much you aren't willing to talk about to me. And she would have loved this place. I can't stop thinking about it, so I know you must be thinking the same thing."
She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She couldn't bring herself to ask all the questions she wanted to-
"Are you still mad at her?"
"Do you want her back?"
"Will you get back together?"
"Do you regret it?"
But it wasn't her right to ask those questions. When they'd been falling apart, she'd been neck deep in her own problems. She hadn't been able to support them.
"She would have already been in those woods." Mai said instead with a smile. "Naru's rules wouldn't have stopped her."
She smiled to soften the words, and he chuckled. "Really, though she would love the lodge, she isn't well suited to the case. People keep getting lost out here on the mountain, but Ayako never gets lost in the forest. The trees guide her out if she needs it."
"Really?" She'd noticed how calm and in control Ayako had seemed on their prior trips, but the woman had never told her that.
"Wait, Naru told you about the case?" She asked with a scowl.
"Easy there, Ma'am." He smiled. "Ayako texted me the info. She was worried about you and Yasu. She wanted me to know so I could watch out for you. At least she still trusts me to do that." The last part was tinged in bitterness, but he shrugged it off with a smile.
Mai wanted to point out that Ayako could have just texted her that info directly instead of relaying it through her ex-fiance, but she was afraid it might get Bou-san's hopes up. As much as she hoped the couple would get back together, Ayako was doing a pretty good impersonation of an impregnable fortress, and her avoidance game was apparently on point as well.
Suddenly, they both stopped, looking awound warily when knocking started echoing about the clearing they were in.
"I don't know where it's coming from." Mai yelled, raising her voice to be heard over the din.
"The east side, I think." Bou-san said, grabbing her arm. "Let's go."
The east side was the portion of the lodge John and Yasu were assigned to walk, and Mai broke into a worried run as Bou-san kept an easy pace beside her.
Naru and Lin intercepted them halfway there.
"Which way did they go?" Naru demanded.
Mai pointed down the path they boys had started down about an hour before, and the four of them jogged down it, searching either side for any side of John and Yasu.
"There." Lin pointed to a smaller building with it's door hanging open. As they approached, John and Yasu tumbled out.
"Well, that was fun." Yasu said sarcastically.
"Are you ok?" Mai said, running up to him. His clothes were covered in dust and there was a smudge on his cheek. He looked generally disgruntled.
She began dusting him off, doing her best Ayako impression as she checked for injuries.
"We're not hurt. The spirit just wanted to play more of it's tricks. We spent the better part of an hour trapped in the shed, and right before it opened the door, some boxes fell on us." John said.
Mai turned to face him and had to immediately repress a giggle. If possible, the blond looked even more bedraggled than Yasu.
"Oh, John. Are you sure you're alright?" She said, beginning to brush the cobwebs out of his hair.
The ex-priest shrugged. "Again, it doesn't seem particularly malicious, just attention seeking."
"But isn't that weird, for a spirit?" Mai shot Naru a questioning look at Naru before returning her attention to John.
He was covered in dust, and she smiled despite herself. "Alright, well, I think you get first shower."
"Where's the love?" Yasu said mournfully from behind her.
"We're soulmates, remember? I don't have to give up my shower slot to prove my devotion to you." She knew Yasu was using the teasing to work off his apprehension, and she played along without thought. It was such an ingrained reaction with them now, especially after the train wreck. There had been some media attention, and the kids at school had asked too many questions sometimes as well.
"Did anything give you and Mai any trouble?" Naru asked, from where he was placing his hand on the door.
Bou-san joined him, shaking his head. "No. Everything was calm until we heard the knocking."
Mai watched Bou-san place his hand on the doorframe, his brows raising in surprise. He shot her a telling look, and she nodded.
It was hot.
Poltergeist.
"The timing seems off." Lin surprised them with his words.
Mai cocked her head, then turned around in a circle. The shed was a little distance from the other buildings. Had the ghost released John and Yasu because it's strength was waning, or because the game was over? If they had been forced to search for the guys themselves, it would have taken some time to reach this place.
"Do you think it was because it wanted the rest of us to come and get them?" Mai asked after a moment.
Sometimes knocking could signal a ghost's frustration or anger. Sometimes it seemed to be a side effect of the ghost's escalating energy. But sometimes it could also be a signal, a type of communication.
"Let's head back to base. We have enough information now to have a meeting." Naru declared.
