Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. We'd be hearing about the psychic babies.
Chapter 9 – Testing Day
-0O0-
It was Wednesday morning. Mai woke up early, like she always did after going meatless. It was like her stomach was trying to punish her for denying it the desired food. She had to skip a delicious-looking beef stew last night at the Davis mansion – and everyone made fun of her for staring longingly at the serving bowl.
At least she'd had vegetarian company. Naru and Lin had also stuck to tofu and steamed rice last night. They were starting a case today… which meant that the Professor was going to be the only observer for testing today. Mai breathed a secret sigh of relief. She was glad that she'd be able to showcase her abilities for the head of SPR without Naru around. His death-ray stare would probably cause her abilities to short out or something.
After a pleasant breakfast of tea and toast, Mai went for a walk. Bou-san and Ayako were already out, and Yasuhara hadn't yet emerged from his blanket-cocoon, so she went alone. Mai strolled through the quaint London neighborhood, smiling at the sight of people rushing around her and noticing streetlamps from which hung lovely flowers. The streets were already busy and most people struggled to make their way through the crowds – but it was nothing to Mai. She was used to Shibuya crossing – nothing could be more confusing and crowded than that intersection of doom.
Though the morning commotion didn't bother her, Mai craved a more peaceful environment. She hung a left into a black-gated park she'd noticed the other day. The green of the hilly grass soothed her mind immediately, and Mai could hear the plashing of a fountain somewhere nearby. Mai followed the sound of the water until she saw what appeared to be a long, low wall. Upon closer inspection, Mai saw that inside of the wall had been partially hollowed out and water flowed along the channel. It was a very interesting fountain. Very Zen, even.
Mai shrugged off her knapsack and sank onto the grass, her back against the fountain wall. She had always liked the sound of running water; it relaxed her. She was therefore a big fan of fountains. She especially liked fountains that shot jets of water into the air. Watching the water shoot around made Mai's childish side squeal with joy.
Yep, this was definitely where she was spending the morning. Mai opened her knapsack and pulled out some supplies – including the cherry blossom-print blanket she'd had since she was ten. Mai had specially packed it to remind her of home. She had brought The Science Behind the Supernatural, figuring she'd sit down somewhere nice and finish it. She made herself comfortable on the blanket and opened up Yasu's book. The young psychic found her page and sipped some tea from the portable container she carried everywhere. Mai became so engrossed in a chapter on residual spirits that she barely noticed the passing of time.
-0O0-
Her phone rang when she was about ten pages from the end of the text, so she ignored it. Five pages from the end, she ignored the message alarm. A few minutes later, Mai closed the finished book with a satisfied 'snap' and reached for the offending cell phone. Bou-san had called and left a message.
She hit "3" on the speed-dial keypad and waited for Bou-san to pick up.
"Jou-chan?" he asked immediately. "Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm at a park. I wanted a little alone time today."
"Well, that's fine, but could you maybe leave a note next time? We've only been in this country for a week. You could get lost and kidnapped or something."
Mai rolled her eyes. "It's the middle of the day, Bou-san. Don't kidnappers wait until nightfall to abscond with young maidens? I highly doubt someone's going to snatch me from this public fountain in a public park." Bou-san made an annoyed noise and Mai grinned to herself. 'Abscond with young maidens,' she'd heard that somewhere. Pity Naru hadn't heard her use of excellent vocabulary words. Suddenly, Mai could hear Ayako and – was that Luella? – in the background.
"She's fine. She just found a fountain somewhere." Mai heard Bou-san say to the other voices.
"I'm a few blocks away from the apartment," Mai clarified. "I'll start walking back now, I'm hungry anyway. Do you want me to pick something up for you?"
"No, we're at the Davis house. Come here."
"Alright, I'll see you soon. I'll try really hard not to get kidnapped."
"Funny, jou-chan. But remember that you have been kidnapped three times in the last year."
"What?" she heard Naru ask sharply in the background.
Mai rolled her eyes. "I was kidnapped by ghosts, Bou-san, not people."
"There could be ghosts bent on kidnapping in that park. England's a very haunted place, you know."
"Yes, well last time I checked, ghosts are pretty nocturnal, too."
"Smart-mouthed jou-chan. See you soon."
"Hai, hai."
Mai brushed herself off and headed out. It was a long walk to the Davis mansion – she missed Bou-san having a car. She passed a sign on her way out of the black entrance gates. Kensington Park, she read. See, Bou-san? She thought. It's so close to the apartment that it has the same name!
A little while later, as Mai walked along the street edging the park, she heard a beep from behind her and turned to see Lin's car slowing to a stop. Mai blinked in surprise, but quickly ran over to the car, as Lin was holding up traffic. She could see that someone was in the passenger seat, so she opened the back door and climbed in. Tossing her knapsack onto the floor in front of her, Mai buckled up just as Lin veered back into the thick of it, honks sounding behind them.
Mai looked up front to thank him for the ride – and was extremely surprised to see Naru in the passenger seat. She had been expecting Madoka or Bou-san.
"I needed something at the office," Naru replied to her raised eyebrow. "We were going out anyway… and Takigawa was rambling about you walking around London with kidnappers."
Mai sighed. "He needs to chill. I've never been kidnapped by living people."
"You probably would have wound up lost, anyway." Mai could practically hear Naru smirking.
"I would not have, you jerk! And here I was going to say 'thank you.'" Mai huffed and looked out the window. She noticed that they were driving away from the Davis residence. "Where are we going?"
"To the office," Naru drawled in his 'you're-an-idiot' voice.
"You came to get me first?" Mai was surprised.
"Well, you told Bou-san that you were near the apartment, so I deduced that you were most likely in Kensington Park by the Princess Diana fountain. It made more sense to retrieve you first, as you'd still be close to the entrance and easier to find. And here you are."
"You're like a narcissistic bloodhound."
"You're welcome."
Mai huffed again. "What do you need at the office, anyway? Didn't you pick up all the equipment yesterday?"
Lin smiled to himself. Yes, they had.
Naru didn't miss a beat. "We need another condenser microphone."
Lin couldn't resist. "Of course we do, because twelve of them aren't quite enough."
His boss glared. "It's a large house."
Mai didn't understand the tension between the two ghost hunters. Naru had always been obsessive about equipment, so why was Lin taking exception this time?
Lin sighed – they didn't need another microphone. Why couldn't Oliver just admit that he was worried about Mai, especially after Bou-san's kidnapping diatribe? Certainly, Noll was oblivious to his deeper feelings for Taniyama-san – but surely he could at least own that he cared about her safety? He was an adult now, after all.
But as Naru and Mai promptly started a fight over the proper spacing of microphones at a haunting, Lin was forced to rethink this stance. Adults. Ha.
-0O0-
Mai grinned at Dr. Davis' delighted face. She could clearly see him through the glass that separated them from the observation room. The room was right next to the large SPR laboratory in which she and Yasuhara were currently running tests.
Mai couldn't help feeling like she had something to prove. Yes, she was a dedicated student, but her real usefulness to Professor Davis lay in her paranormal abilities. He-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless, a.k.a. Mai's ex-boyfriend, had often said that the sheer variety of Mai's talents made her invaluable to the paranormal investigation industry. And now she was giving a live demonstration for one of the leaders of the parapsychological community. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, making Mai grin. PK-MT worked better under pressure, after all.
"Test 12-53: Redirecting attacks with PK-MT," Yasuhara stated, preparing the three ball launchers he and Bou-san had adapted for testing. The launchers were hooked up to a program in Yasuhara's laptop. The program built a randomized sequence in which different-sized softballs were shot at Mai.
They ran two major tests using the launchers. In test one, Mai was supposed to redirect the softballs to avoid being hit by them. Some ghosts and poltergeists threw objects at investigators – Mai could (sometimes) block such attacks.
She was almost 100% successful with the smallest softballs and at about 70% with the medium size. Redirecting the largest softballs still gave her problems – she could almost always affect their trajectory, but not always enough. She wound up getting hit about 40% of the time, and the ball's forward motion was only stopped completely about 10% of the time. Halting the forward motion was important, because TTMPI did everything in groups. Deflecting a spirit's attack on herself only to redirect it into one of her friends was definitely not ideal. She had accidentally caused a vase to hit Ayako once – it had struck her in the shoulder and the resulting scar had been nasty.
The other major test involved specialized redirection. This exercise was still in its early phases. A couple of months ago, Yasuhara had finally decreed that Mai's deflection percentages for the first test were good enough that they could add a second skill – Mai could start trying to aim the redirected balls. The first test merely required Mai to deflect the balls away from herself. The newer second test involved actually aiming them somewhere. Mai doubted she'd ever have enough PK power or control to turn an object around entirely and shoot it back at the ghost… but she could (sometimes) consciously redirect the balls to harmlessly strike the ground. It had been slow going, but she was gradually improving her success rate.
The launchers were the second phase of testing, however. To warm up, Mai and Yasu always started with an easier PK-MT exercise – Mai threw the softballs herself and aimed them at one of three targets using her PK. They started with this test because it was something she regularly did, anyway – every time she aimed a spoon at Yasu or Bou-san and thought it would miss. Her more immature tendencies had actually given her a lot of practice with her PK over the last year, she thought with a grin. Then Mai froze. 'Her' PK, she had called it.
A softball whizzed past, grazing her cheek. Yikes.
"Mai-chan? You should really pay attention. I don't how many more balls to the head your brain can take," Yasuhara joked.
At least they both wore face shields now. They had the infamous Todai counseling sessions to thank for that…
Another ball ruffled her hair, and Mai decided it was time to concentrate.
-0O0-
After another few minutes, Mai was in the zone. She had been inordinately successful today – because one of her other powers was providing assistance. Occasionally, when Mai was really in the groove, her instincts would predict which launcher was going to fire next – giving Mai a couple of extra seconds to prepare. This improved her success rate exponentially, and made her training partner very happy. Yasu was cheering excitedly at the moment.
Finally, the computer beeped and Yasuhara announced the end of testing for the day. Mai wiped a trail of sweat from her face and sighed with relief – she was very tired. Her arms were burning and the scars beneath her gloves felt like live wires in her skin. Her head kinda hurt, too. Mai needed some food and Gatorade to recover energy… even as she thought this, a wave of dizziness swept through her and she stumbled a bit.
Professor Davis had apparently noticed her fatigue, as a strong male arm slid around Mai's waist to steady her.
"Thank you, Dr. Davis," Mai groaned gratefully. She leaned into the arm, which supported her ably as she sagged.
"So much more polite than normal. You should call me that more often," a very familiar voice intoned.
Mai's head shot up – Naru's smirking face was close to hers, and it was his arm around her waist. And here she was, leaning into his body like an idiot! Mai yelped and tried to scurry away, but Naru trapped her against him and moved toward the door.
"You should let me help you to a chair. After all, if you faint, I'll be forced to carry you," Naru said flippantly, knowing that she'd probably scream with embarrassment if he carted her around SPR in his arms. He smirked more widely. Mai's reaction would be entertaining enough that he almost picked her up anyway. However… the inevitable thrashing motions she'd make (while trying to escape) might take both of them down. Naru had no desire to for his head to make contact with the floor today.
Mai's face was glowing brilliantly by the time Naru maneuvered her into a seat in the lab's observation area. A few feet away, Dr. Davis, Sr. was chatting with Lin and Madoka about the testing, which they had apparently returned in time to catch the end of. Mai felt embarrassed and excited at the same time – she was self-conscious about testing in front of Naru, but Mai was very glad that he had seen her most impressive results yet!
Lin excused himself to help Yasuhara move the ball launchers into a storage closet. Martin had told Mai and Yasu that they could keep their equipment at SPR – which was great, since lugging all that heavy stuff to the laboratory sucked.
Madoka appeared at her side. "You look exhausted," she noted. "We should get you something to eat. We haven't eaten, either – want to get food downstairs?"
"Sure," Mai answered hazily, having no idea what 'downstairs' meant. Was there a cafeteria or something? A wave of sleepiness overcame her, and Mai rested her swimming head on the table in front of her. Her fingers encountered Martin's notebook – she noticed that he'd taken a lot of notes on the experiments.
A bottle of Gatorade was unceremoniously plonked down in front of her face. "Drink this, then we'll go downstairs and eat," Naru commanded.
Mai huffed at his tone, but obediently twisted the bottle open and drained its contents. Damn, she was thirsty.
Madoka grinned at the care that her apathetic student provided to his one-time assistant. Noll had been scrutinizing Mai intensely throughout the end of the testing, and jetted into the lab the moment that Mai first wobbled with fatigue. Then he actually helped her into a chair and retrieved the proper refreshments for her. Mai had obviously been annoyed at his commanding attitude, but Madoka knew better – Noll was worried about Mai. Well, he did know more about the potential issues with PK than almost anyone in the world, Madoka thought sadly.
The exhausted psychic was feeling noticeably better by the time by the time Yasuhara and Lin had finished with the testing equipment. Mai was thankfully able to walk unaccompanied to the elevators… although her waist still tingled where Naru's arm had held her. The whole group squished in together to save time. Mai expected them to stop at the second-floor lobby, but the elevator kept dropping.
A ping sounded, and the carload full of SPR employees (plus Mai and Yasuhara) filed out into the waiting area for a cozy-looking diner. Mai smiled happily – what a lovely place to eat and – knowing her companions – discuss the day's paranormal happenings.
The hostess grinned brightly upon seeing them. "Professor Davis! Haven't seen you all week!"
"Yes, Stacey, we've been busy with our new arrivals," Martin replied, smiling back and gesturing towards the Japanese students.
"Ah, they're finally here!" Stacey exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Hello, dears, I'm Stacey, hostess here at Glen's. Your companions are in here all the time."
Mai bowed quickly and beamed back. "Hajime – I mean, lovely to meet you. I'm Mai Taniyama and he's Osamu Yasuhara." She always seemed to default to bowing when she met new people! After nineteen years, the habit was hard to break.
Stacey's eyed widened at Mai's aborted Japanese greeting. "Ah, that's right. You've come from Japan. You speak very good English."
"It was a long, slow road," Yasuhara replied amusedly. "Six months we worked on the L's," He noted, gesturing at Mai.
"Shut it, Yasu!" Mai barked, coloring. "And L's are hard!"
There was a smattering of laughter as Stacey showed the group to a big table. Mai stared a moment; in most Japanese restaurants, one usually sat on the floor. She'd sat on these long seats before in Western-style places, but knowing it was the norm was strange.
"You look like a tourist, Mai-chan," Yasuhara commented gleefully as he sat down. Mai put out her tongue and slid into the booth. Madoka followed her. Lin, Naru and the Professor sat on the other side of the long table, and Stacey handed everyone a menu.
Mai grinned at the sight of some familiar items. Ayako and Bou-san had decided that they would all sample several English dishes, so that eating wouldn't be such a culture shock. Ayako's first try at cooking sausages had been entertaining, Mai remembered, as her eyes found the standard 'bangers and mash.'
"Are you visualizing the time Bou-san tried to make steak-and-kidney pie?" Yasu asked from beside her.
"No, I was thinking about Ayako and the sausages," Mai replied. "Remember that one that jumped out of the pan?"
"I remember the yelling that followed."
Lin and Naru were giving them quizzical glances. Mai grinned.
"Ayako and Bou-san have tried to cook western a lot lately," she explained. "It hasn't gone so well."
"'What do you mean they put BLOOD into the pudding?' And how can it be a sausage if it's pudding?'" Yasuhara cried in his best Ayako-voice.
"Well, that is really gross," Mai observed. She found blood pudding on the menu. "We are so not getting that."
"And then Bou-san made it worse by saying that we could save some spilled blood from an investigation for cooking," Yasuhara continued. "Ayako whacked him with a wooden spoon and then retired to the living room, looking kinda green."
Everyone laughed. Even Naru smirked quickly (his version of laughing).
The waiter (who also knew the SPR employees) took their orders and vanished into the kitchen. While they were waiting for their food, the conversation rolled around to Mai's testing/training exercises. Lin had some good ideas about improving Mai's focus and mental state, so it was decided that he would train with Mai once a week.
Their food came just after Martin left to use the restroom. As their waiter handed Mai her plate of baked chicken (playing it safe), an enormous bruise on her upper arm became visible.
"Wow, honey, you should get that checked out," the waiter noted, "That bruise looks nasty."
"Thanks," Mai replied. She had long since stopped trying to explain her welts. After the Todai counseling ridiculousness…
Her thoughts were obviously shared by a grinning Yasu. Mai tried to kill him with her eyes as he started explaining to the group.
"Mai-chan and I don't bother defending our war wounds anymore," he started, feigning obliviousness to Mai's basilisk glare. "We started the testing about a year ago, when Mai-chan was starting her first semester at Todai and I was in my third. She had recently exhibited PK-MT for the first time and suggested that we run tests and training sessions to make her powers 'battle-ready.'"
"Taniyama-san recommended testing?" Lin asked incredulously. Naru had the same thought.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Mai muttered darkly. It had actually been Gene's idea, but Mai was not about to say that.
"She did indeed," Yasuhara replied, eager to get on with the story. "Anyway, about six weeks into the testing, Mai-chan was hauled into Todai's counseling office. We didn't wear face shields back then, and apparently, the constant facial injuries she sported had alarmed her professors. Poor Mai-chan spent a good three hours reiterating that no, she wasn't being abused by her boyfriend."
Raucous laughter erupted. Even Lin – Mai had a brief vision of Lin's reaction to her request that he not hate her for being Japanese. The laughter continued and Mai gritted her teeth.
"I didn't even have a boyfriend!" she burst out. "And I tried to them it was just from experiments!"
"But alas, they did not believe her," Yasuhara continued, hamming it up. "So, as the person who obviously spent the most time with our dear Miss Taniyama, I was assumed to be her abusive boyfriend. Ergo, I was summoned the following day and questioned along with her. Mai-chan got so perturbed that she wound up pulling up my sleeves to reveal my own wealth of bruises."
"I wasn't a very good shot back then," Mai admitted ruefully.
Yasuhara pushed up his glasses. "In the end, they let us go. But to this day, we aren't sure if the counselors ever really believed that the marks were the result of collateral damage from paranormal experiments. Mai-chan kept telling them that, but…"
"Yasu, we don't have to repeat this part of the story," Mai growled warningly.
"But it's the best part! Anyway, I'm pretty sure they just decided that Mai-chan and I were into violent sex."
Dead silence for a moment. Then Madoka and Lin cracked, both laughing unabashedly. Naru just sat there, eyes wide. Mai was very grateful that the Professor wasn't here for this.
"Did you just guess that was what they were thinking?" Madoka managed between wheezes.
"Oh, no, they sat us down and we had a 'dialogue' about safety and alternative lifestyles!" Yasuhara crowed. Apparently he still thought it was hilarious. Mai remembered his idiotic comments to their extremely serious counselors.
Mai still flushed as she remembered the suggestion that she and Yasuhara beat each other up for… fun. "I will never forget that horrifying conversation as long as I live," she groaned, closing her eyes. More laughter. "But I don't want to think about it ever again. And you are going to shut it, Yasuhara!"
Yasuhara couldn't have continued, anyway. He was laughing too hard.
"What did I miss?" Martin asked as he sat back down.
"Nothing whatsoever," Mai bit out, stamping on Yasuhara's foot under the table.
"Nothing of consequence," Naru clarified in his professional voice. "Father, did you want information about today's case?"
Martin nodded eagerly. Lin and Madoka were forced to get a hold on themselves and participate in the discussion.
Mai knew that Naru had brought up the case on purpose. He'd probably done it because he didn't want to have to listen to such an absurd conversation twice, but still… When Martin questioned Madoka about the spirit's origin, Mai saw her chance. "Thanks, Naru," Mai whispered gratefully.
Naru was looking at his adopted father, but Mai saw him nod slightly. She smiled and went back to her food.
-0O0-
That night, the burning in her arms forced Mai to abandon her gloves. She made sure to lock the door to her bedroom before sliding them off and spreading cooling cream down each forearm. If she did this a couple more times before falling asleep, she'd be okay. Maybe she'd even get away with not dreaming about Gene's death… sometimes overusing PK brought the dream on. However, Mai didn't feel any of the warning signs – brief snatches of pain in her back, hearing the car horn, feeling cold all over from invisible lake water. So maybe she was safe. She should probably focus on something else, though, just in case. She needed to be alone tonight so that she could lubricate and air out her scars. She'd have to cover them up again if Ayako slept with her.
Whenever Mai felt the warning signs of her usual death-vision, Ayako slept in the same room. That way, Mai's thrashing and moaning would wake her almost-adopted mother, enabling Ayako to wake Mai before the screaming and dream-drowning started. It made for a much less harrowing night for Mai and a much quieter night for the neighbors. They had instituted this preventative measure after Mai had been kicked out of her second apartment; she caused a lot of noise complaints.
Mai looked down at her forearms, the scarring of which had coincided with the beginning of the dreams. Underneath the sheen of fresh lotion, her scars looked a bit darker than usual. She studied the angry-looking red scars dispassionately, used to their appearance by now. Mai scooted under the covers and pulled out the list of books and papers that the professor had helpfully provided for his new students. She wanted to be as prepared as possible by the first day – Mai had worked very hard to be thoroughly fluent in English, but some of the longer academic terms still flummoxed her. Yasuhara told her that some of them weren't even recognized as words outside academia. Then again, parapsychology was still denounced by many scientists, so that was hardly a surprise.
Glancing at the first title on the list, Mai scanned the stack of texts she'd borrowed from the Davis' library. She pulled the desired title from the stack and proceeded to thoroughly distract herself from the scars and from Gene. Pausing at the end of each chapter to rub lotion down her tingling arms, Mai whiled away two hours learning about the beginnings of modern parapsychology. At ten o'clock, she chirped a good-night to her parent-figures and turned out the light (Yasuhara was out – he'd invited Mai to go with him, but she'd been too tired).
Mai instructed her brain to think happy thoughts. Unbidden, an image of Naru's face – when he'd caught her that afternoon – swam into her mind's eye. Mai smiled and felt her face warm. She'd been close enough to see individual eyelashes. Apparently, her brain's interpretation of happy thoughts was 'Naru.' Shocker. That was how they'd done it, after all, she thought sleepily.
Mai twisted slightly in bed and registered faint burning in her arms as she fell asleep. Her love for Naru. That's how she and Gene had managed it.
-0O0-
"For Noll." Mai heard Gene's voice whisper in her dreams.
She remembered what she'd said before she heard it. "For Naru," her own voice came. Softly, it continued. "And all of us."
Then burning, terrible burning, her own voice screaming, the wails reverberating in unconscious ears.
"Mai-chan, remember what we're doing this for," Gene's voice crawled through her mind. Mai thought of Naru, and her love burned through the haze of pain…
Instead of feeling like wires were poking her, Mai felt burning lines slide over her skin. Fire crawled up Mai's arms, and she shook crazily at the pain, but she locked her knees and only gripped Gene's hands tighter.
Mai shot up in bed, gasping, her scars blazing again. No vision of Gene's death, but her arms' burning had followed her into dreamland after all. Stupid flare-ups.
But as Mai slathered more lotion on her arms, a sense of pride rose within her. Didn't matter how much it hurt, Mai thought fiercely. She was glad they'd managed it. No matter what Naru thought when he found out, she'd never be sorry.
-0O0-
AN: So, a hint at the mystery of Mai's scars;) More next week!