Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Volume 12 would be out in English.
Chapter 30 – Collision and Collusion
-0O0-
Lin was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Mai finish her exercises.
He didn't see her pad across the mats for their usual post-lesson discussion.
He barely registered his father's annoyance at his unprofessional inattention, and he even didn't bat an eyelash Lin Senior starting asking questions in his stead.
Eventually, an unsubtle nudge to the arm jerked Lin from his reverie... and he came back to Earth to meet his father's glare of dissatisfaction. The onmyouji felt uncomfortably like a misbehaving adolescent who'd come home late on a school night.
Once Lin Senior was certain that his son was actually paying attention, he turned back to Mai. "So, Taniyama-san. You are capable of releasing significant amounts of energy, yet you try to avoid such expenditures. Do you lack the innate ability to recover from overuse? Or perhaps a problem with controlling high levels of energy?"
In other words, Lin thought to himself, is it that my useless son hasn't taught you proper control exercises?
"My recovery time is pretty slow," Mai admitted, sounding happy that the elderly Chinese man was interested. "But I don't have the same recovery problem that Naru does, if that's what you're asking. As long as my body sucks in enough outside energy to make up for a big loss, I'm okay. It just takes a while."
And Koujo Lin froze once more. "What?" he asked tensely.
Mai was too caught up in trying to impress Lin Senior to notice her instructor's alarm. "My body apparently pulls energy in from the outside – like my senses react to outside stimuli," she explained, unconsciously quoting Gene.
Lin just stared, too shocked to respond. It was as if Mai had nonchalantly dropped a bomb onto the mat and only Lin realized it.
Mai's PK-MT abilities were receptive.
Like Gene's.
The ramifications of this discovery were piling up in Lin's head with alarming speed... until a light touch on the hand caught his attention.
"Lin-san, are you alright?" Mai asked, her gaze wide-eyed and worried.
Lin remembered Mai looking similarly anxious when they'd spoken about Noll hurting himself with PK. He had to imagine that Mai would be open to conducting compatibility trials...
But what if she got hurt? The last round of trials had been disastrous. Lin's fingers twitched under Mai's, as a vision of her eyes glazed over in pain superimposed itself over her current compassionate expression. "I'm... fine. Taniyama-san, I need to... we need to... please help me clean up."
Mai rose numbly. She had never heard Lin sound so... bumbling before. Somehow, she pulled it together enough to address Lin Senior. "Xie xie, Lin-sifu," she pronounced carefully, bowing low.
The elder Lin gave Mai a look of surprise. "Bu keqi, xiesheng," he replied, bowing his head in return. "It appears that my son's choice in students has proven most fortunate."
This acknowledgement was so shocking that both Mai and Lin paused their internal panic attacks. Mai blushed to the roots of her hair, and Lin's jaw dropped open. Before either of them could recover, Lin Senior rose from the mats and walked swiftly out the door.
Student and teacher exchanged an amazed glance.
"Did that really just happen?" Mai squeaked.
"As far as I know, there is no ghost on the property... so I doubt it was a hallucination," Lin answered slowly.
"Hold on," Mai said. "He said students, Lin-san. Are you training someone else?"
Lin huffed amusedly at the question. It almost sounded like Mai was accusing him of dating more than one woman. "He was talking about Noll," Lin informed her. And Gene, his mind added... which brought Lin back to his original quandary.
Mai scoffed. "Of course he'd like Naru," she groused. "They could probably have whole conversations in Glare Language."
The onmyouji observed Mai for a moment. She seemed calm enough to answer some important questions... so long as he was cagy about asking them. "Speaking of language," Lin interjected. "When did you learn Chinese?" He decided to start with an innocuous question to draw her into conversation. Lin also made sure to turn away and roll up the mats. He'd noticed that Mai seemed more forthcoming when questioned without eye contact.
"I didn't," Mai replied easily. She followed Lin's lead and started packing up. "Not really. My first onmyouji instructor was Chinese, remember? He taught me a few phrases."
"Your first instructor..." Lin repeated, keeping his voice casual. "Your actual first instructor was Gene, yes?"
Mai's fingers froze on the video recorder she was disassembling. "With some of my psychic abilities," she admitted. "But not with qigong." Gene hadn't taught her any of his moves until they'd decided to do the transfer. "He said I'd need a master to look me over first, to gauge what I needed."
"He spoke correctly," Lin intoned. "But your higher-level PK-MT skills... those came from Gene." That was what she'd said before, but Lin wanted to be sure.
At last, Mai seemed to recognize that she was being unofficially interrogated. "Well, yes," she said warily. "I told you that."
Lin turned back to face Mai. "Yes, you did." He watched his student's fingers tighten on the video recorder. "Did Gene teach you all of your PK-MT skills?" he asked carefully.
Mai quirked a brow in confusion. Hadn't she just answered that question? "Yes," she replied slowly.
Taniyama-san doesn't realize that she performed 'new' moves today, Lin noted. "How... interesting," he said aloud. How very, very interesting – Gene must have been thinking along the same lines as Lin was now...
The teen psychic's face grew suspicious. "Yeah, I guess that lessons from a spirit must be pretty rare."
Lin raised an eyebrow at her attempted deflection. "Yes and no. Having a spirit guide is indeed rare, but teaching you about your powers is what a spirit guide usually does."
Mai tried to smile disarmingly; her instincts were screaming that Lin was up to something. "Then I'm glad Gene takes his job seriously."
Lin's stare could have pierced armor. "One wonders just how seriously."
Danger, danger! "Um... probably just as seriously as he's supposed to," Mai replied evasively, edging backwards. It was definitely time to run for it. "If we want Testing Day to go better than last week, I'm going to need some lunch." The teen psychic snatched her jacket from the couch. "So, same time next week?" she joked weakly as she made a break for the door.
"Taniyama-san."
Her teacher's hard tone stopped Mai in her tracks. "Yes, Lin-san?" she asked, forcing some innocent-sounding cheer into her voice.
Across the room, Lin was hastily rethinking his plan to question her about PK seeding. When Mai had turned to face him, clutching her coat to her chest... her position had pulled Lin's memory backward a few minutes. He saw again Mai's unwitting performance of a catching maneuver - only this time, his imagination filled Mai's empty hands with a glowing ball of PK energy. And instead of facing an empty wall, Mai was facing Noll.
In Lin's mental movie, Noll waited expectantly as the ball of energy intensified in Mai's hands.
Finally, she launched it back... and then collapsed to the ground, unconscious and barely breathing.
Heedless of his student's worried stare, Lin stared into space. It doesn't matter if Mai's PK powers are receptive, does it? Mai could never have the freak spiritual connectivity with Noll that Gene had possessed. It wasn't possible... so why bother dragging Mai into a no-win situation?
Because it might NOT be a no-win situation, the other side of Lin's mind argued. Even if Mai could never sync perfectly with Noll, their obvious emotional connection still made Mai SPR's most promising candidate yet.
And if Mai knew there was a possibility that she could aid Noll in so important a way... she would say yes without even blinking an eye. Mai would be on the mats with her hands up, ready to go in one minute flat.
Madoka would excitedly record the test from the sidelines, Martin would eagerly attach electrodes to Mai's forehead and chest...
...and Noll would stab Lin in the neck with a pen.
And then maybe he'd toss Lin's bleeding body at a bookshelf, as a sort of perverse tribute to their first case with Mai in Japan.
Lin grimaced. It appeared that he'd been ignoring a very important component of this situation – Noll's reaction to running trials with Mai. Which even Lin's imagination seemed to realize would be really, really bad.
The onmyouji swallowed his questions for Mai – they would obviously have to wait. After all, there would be no stopping Mai once the opportunity to help Noll was presented to her. And Noll would never forgive Lin for going over his head to involve Mai in potentially hospitalizing trials, which meant Lin had to talk to Noll about it first.
Not that Lin even needed to take Noll's temperature on the subject – he could hear the resounding NO already. But he had to try, for the sake of Noll's future safety... even if the resultant drama ended with Martin preparing Mai for testing while Noll bludgeoned Lin into unconsciousness with a dowsing rod.
Decision made, Lin cleared his throat and leveled a serious look at Mai. "Make sure you don't eat any meat at lunch," he intoned seriously.
His student blinked dazedly. Mai's mind had been racing, dreading what would come of Lin's unnaturally troubled expression. That was it? "Of course not, Lin-san," the teen psychic said slowly. "Did you want me to pick something up for you to eat?" Lin definitely looked pale...
The inquiry successfully distracted Lin from the myriad ways Noll might kill him for proposing Mai as a PK test subject. His current imagining involved the electro-stimulation machine and needles under his fingers. "No thank you, Taniyama-san," the onmyouji managed to reply. "I have to discuss something with... Madoka," he lied.
The teen psychic nodded knowingly. "Yeah, you should probably tell her about having dinner with Lin Senior. She'll need time to mentally prepare."
Lin started to nod in return – and then actually processed Mai's words. "What? What dinner?"
The look Mai gave him was so reminiscent of Noll's 'you're-an-idiot' expression that Lin almost smiled. "You know, the dinner that your dad asked you to set up with Madoka tomorrow," his student replied slowly (as if talking to a small child). "He said he's leaving tomorrow night, so he wants to spend some time with you guys." She grinned. "You were really out of it before, huh?"
Lin glared.
Unfortunately, it seemed his glare no longer had the intended effect. Mai giggled. "Maybe you should call your father," she opined smilingly.
Lin glared harder. "Go eat your lunch," he ordered.
As Mai sniggered her way out the door, Lin sighed wearily. Madoka was right, he thought. We never should have gotten out of bed this morning.
-0O0-
In an attempt to dispel the nervous energy zinging through her body, Mai chose to walk down to the office floor. She wanted to collect Yasuhara from his cubicle before heading down to the diner. Mai hated eating alone; she'd had years of it in Japan. Thoughts of lonely nights with only the television for company ran through Mai's mind as she stepped onto the landing –
And banged right into Naru.
She tried to pull herself back as quickly as possible... which naturally made Mai lose her balance completely. Her eyes had barely widened with fear when Naru swiftly pulled Mai against his body, using their momentum to fall sideways against the staircase rail.
Disaster averted, Mai tried very hard to focus on the relief of escaping injury... and not on how Naru's shoulder felt under her hand. Or how warm his face was against her forehead. Or how her breathing automatically synchronized with the movement of his chest against hers. She lost the fight quickly, and couldn't help looking up into Naru's amazingly close eyes.
Though outwardly unaffected, Naru was having similar difficulties – though he tried to reason his reactions away as best he could. Of course he wanted to keep Mai from falling down the stairs... and the soft feeling he got from looking down at her was obviously protectiveness. Which was normal. It had everything to do with his natural compunction to keep his friend from harm, and nothing to do with the way Mai was looking at him like he'd just hung the moon.
Naru shook his head to clear it, and elected to cover his internal disorder by engaging in a much more comfortable form of interaction. Dropping his arms from Mai's body, he raised a condescending eyebrow. "Incidents like this make me question whether your many staircase accidents are truly caused by spiritual interference, Mai," Naru said silkily. "Considering your deplorable attention span, I could reasonably reclassify at least half of your injuries to simple clumsiness."
It took Mai a few seconds to snap out of her trance, and a few more to process Naru's words. Then her blush of embarrassment turned into a flush of rage. "You jerky, self-important NARCISSIST!" she yelled furiously, glaring daggers into Naru.
"Calling me self-important and a narcissist is redundant, Mai," Naru informed her smugly. Then he smirked.
With a screech fueled by equal parts embarrassment and anger, Mai threw her coat at him. Naru ducked around it with ease, which only made Mai more determined to hit him. She swung the coat again... but this time, Mai threw herself too far forward, and her foot slipped backwards off the top step. Mai eeked as she felt herself start to fall. She looked for something to grab onto... and then a strong hand clamped around her arm and yanked her back onto the landing.
For the second time in as many minutes, Mai found herself pressed to Naru's chest. The only difference was their breathing – this time, hers was much faster than his. Mai's face exploded in a raging blush.
"Thank you for proving my point," Naru said softly.
Mai could almost hear him smirking... but most of her focus was locked on the way she could feel Naru's voice reverberating through his body and into hers. "What?" she asked stupidly.
Naru found himself distracted by the breathy sound of Mai's question. Of course she'd sound like that, he ranted at the increasingly dominant endocrine center of his brain. She almost fell down the stairs... again.
Thankfully, this last thought made Naru remember what he'd been talking about. "I definitely have to reclassify several of your injuries in my notes," he said, as he released Mai from his hold.
Mai's ire was up instantly, but she knew better than to go for a physical attack again. First off, she might klutz out again. Secondly, despite Naru's incredibly irritating attitude, he had just saved her from bodily injury. Twice. So she just rolled her eyes.
"Where are you rushing off to, anyway?" Naru asked idly, trying to force his brain back to normal.
"Oh, I'm picking up Yasu for lunch!" Mai replied rather merrily.
At these words, a strange hot something swooped through Naru's stomach. "Right," he managed thickly.
Mai frowned. Why did Naru looked pissed off all of a sudden? "Did you want me to pick up some tea for you while I'm down there?" she asked politely. Naru really liked the diner's tea.
"You're going to Glen's," Naru surmised.
"Well, yeah," Mai affirmed. "We always go to the diner on Wednesdays – I need the large portions for energy. We have testing later," she reminded her former boss.
"You just finished training with Lin," Naru stated, as if he was telling her instead of himself.
"Yes..." Mai said slowly. What was with everyone today? First Lin's in space, and now Naru? "Did you want some lunch, too? You can come with us."
Naru considered the question. He was hungry... and his stomach seemed to feel mysteriously better at the thought of being at the diner himself. "Yes," he answered finally.
Mai beamed. Naru almost never ate voluntarily, and he'd never so easily agreed to eat lunch as a group. Maybe he was actually learning social graces! Mai practically skipped toward the offices.
"You're buying," Naru said from behind her. "Since I was forced to keep you from falling down the stairs – twice."
Then again, maybe not. Mai gritted her teeth, but she couldn't deny the charge. "Penny-pinching jerk," she muttered under her breath.
"My miserly tendencies have no effect on my hearing," Naru noted smugly as he came up beside her.
"Just on your manners," Mai shot back.
Naru chuckled – and reached over Mai's shoulder to open the door to the office area. "After you," he purred.
Mai looked up into Naru's amused eyes. "How come you only do gentlemanly things when you're being a jerk?"
"Because otherwise you'd worry he was possessed, wouldn't you?" a familiar voice asked.
Mai whipped around to see Madoka standing in front of them, wearing a worryingly Yasu-like grin.
"But really it's because I told Noll he could only train under me if he 'sweetened' his manners. So naturally, he perverted my request to suit himself." Madoka's laughing gaze was on Naru. Mai felt his arm stiffen against her shoulder.
"May we help you?" Naru asked acidly, not liking the look in his former mentor's eyes.
Madoka privately squealed at Noll's reference to himself and Mai as a collective. "Just observing some behavior alterations in the resident animal life," she quipped.
"Hear that, Mai?" Naru asked. "Madoka just called you an animal."
"And you're complaining?" Mai retorted. "You're the one who started that."
"I wasn't talking about Mai-chan!" Madoka sang, her grin widening.
Naru scowled.
"Ha!" Mai cried. "She was calling you an animal, Naru! And you don't like it, do you?" She giggled. "Feels rather degrading, doesn't it?"
"Hardly," Naru replied in a clipped tone. "Humans are classified as animals, as per the Linnaean taxonomic system. I fully acknowledge that I am human."
"Ugh!" Mai stomped. How did he always manage to turn it around on her?!
"Yes, I would have to guess that you're feeling very human today, Noll," Madoka noted, her eyes dancing.
Naru watched Madoka's gaze run from his face down to the arm holding the door open. Then she winked at him. Naru considered releasing the door – but then it would smack into Mai, and it wasn't her fault that Madoka was being an idiot. Besides, such an act would render his earlier expenditures of energy on Mai's behalf useless. "Get going, Mai," he hissed in her ear.
Madoka only giggled harder when Naru's nearness made Mai jump about a foot.
"What's going on over here?" another voice asked.
Naru almost groaned as Yasuhara walked up behind Madoka.
"Madoka's watching Naru be an animal or something," Mai replied exasperatedly as she tried to tamp down her blush.
"I'll bet she is," Yasu said smarmily. Naru was standing really close to Mai right now... and although he was obviously only holding the door open (an amazing occurrence in itself), it could look like Naru was trying to pin Mai up against said door.
As a lecherous-looking smile spread across Yasuhara's face, Naru's patience snapped completely. "We're attempting to retrieve you, Yasuhara," Naru bit out. "It's lunchtime."
Yasu's eyes widened. "You're coming with us, Big Boss?" This was new.
"Obviously," Naru replied archly. "Now let's end this idiotic interlude and go." He maneuvered Mai under his arm and back through the door.
Yasuhara noticed something unusual as Naru and Mai started down the stairs. He elbowed Madoka and grinned.
Naru didn't seem to notice that his hand was still resting on Mai's back. Mai definitely noticed, though – she was glowing like a stoplight. And unconsciously leaning closer to Naru.
"I am so going to win the bet," Yasu whispered gleefully.
-0O0-
Lin ducked into an alcove just outside of Noll's office, ignoring several confused stares from the bullpen. Even though he'd already spent an entire day debating whether to tell Noll about Mai's receptive capabilities, Lin still wasn't sure of his course.
I HAVE to tell him, he thought to himself. Noll needs to know he has options.
It's not an option, though, the other side of his brain argued. Because he won't test with her.
That doesn't matter. Noll needs to know that Mai's PK-MT is receptive like Gene's. It could change everything.
Lin grimaced at the wall. It could change everything. But Noll would probably do everything in his power to stop it, no matter the cost to his future safety.
Noll's power was intrinsic – meaning that his PK-ST abilities came from his own huge qi. Gene had had a moderate amount of intrinsic PK himself, but only the lower-level PK-MT. Gene's more useful (and rare) PK ability was his receptiveness to outside energy. This receptivity had enabled him to absorb and manipulate Noll's insane amount of PK.
Of course, receptivity hadn't been the only factor. Though the twins had experimented with other PK users over the years, they'd only found success when working with one another. It turned out that Gene could absorb energy released by others, but Noll's was the only energy he could actually manipulate. And Noll... well, Noll couldn't throw his energy at any other PK user without causing great physical or spiritual injury. Noll's powers were simply too strong to be 'caught' by anybody except Gene.
SPR had eventually declared that the twins' biological and spiritual link was the key to their PK seeding capabilities. Noll went a step further, calling it 'one power shared between two people.' In any case, there was no way for Noll to safely use his powers without Gene's help. And that was now impossible.
Not that Martin had given up without a fight – by the time Noll returned to England, SPR had several possible PK seeding partners lined up. But just like before, all attempts to absorb or manipulate Noll's energy were unsuccessful.
Lin grimaced. Unsuccessful was Martin's euphemism for 'subject ended up electrocuted and twitching on the floor. 'Unsuccessful also encapsulated 'subject tossed across a room,' and 'subject screamed in pain whilst staring unseeingly at the emergency room ceiling.' A couple of prospective partners only wound up thrown to the mats after having been levitated... but Noll hadn't really been trying that day.
After five unsuccessful trials, Noll resolutely refused to continue. Though his official argument was that his powers were only compatible with Gene, Lin knew that Noll's underlying motive was to keep anyone else from being hurt. Martin reluctantly acquiesced (though his capitulation may have been less about Noll's resolve than a lack of options).
But Madoka maintained that Noll's incompatibility problem was not so absolute. She believed that the trials failed because Noll had no emotional connection with his proposed partners. After all, Noll and Gene had been very close emotionally, as well as biologically; there was no reason to discount emotional intimacy as a factor. Naturally, Oliver had scoffed at Madoka's theory – but everyone else agreed that her point had merit.
Lin stared unseeingly forward. Mai definitely had an emotional connection with Noll - a connection which would likely become even stronger in the future. If Madoka was right about emotional closeness influencing an energy sync... then Noll's chance of successfully syncing with Mai was much greater.
That decided it. Lin extricated himself from the alcove, strode determinedly to Noll's office, and knocked on the door.
Surprisingly, two voices beckoned him in. Lin was waiting on Noll's annoyed-sounding growl, but Madoka's accompanying trill was unexpected. The onmyouji's eyes found hers as he walked into the room. Maybe he should wait until she left...
"Koujo!" Madoka cried in delight. "Just the man I wanted to see! Would you please explain to Noll that –"
"We do not need your new 'gopher' to come along on next week's case," Naru denied firmly. "Just ignore her, Lin – or better yet, drag her out of here."
"Noll," Madoka remonstrated.
"I guess it's fine if I tell both of you at once," Lin decided aloud. Madoka was actually better at reading people – if there was any hope that Noll would agree to testing, she would be able to tell. "After today's lesson," Lin began, "Taniyama-san discussed her PK abilities with my father."
"How unexpectedly upfront of her," Naru mused. He'd been having trouble getting anything PK-related out of Mai lately. It was quite frustrating - and suspicious.
"Hang on," Madoka cut in. "Your father spoke with Mai-chan? On purpose?" Her face was a mix of amazement and affront. "He still won't talk to me."
"If it makes you feel better," Lin answered impatiently. "He wants to have dinner with the two of us this evening. Anyway –"
"Why would that make me feel better?" Madoka shuddered.
"Madoka, shut up," Naru barked. "Lin, get on with it."
"Don't you order us –"
"It's important," Lin interjected roughly. His bristling girlfriend fell silent immediately. "My father asked Taniyama-san about the effects of PK overuse on her body." Lin risked a glance at Noll – only to find that his former student's face curiously shuttered. Does Noll... already know? "Taniyama-san replied that she didn't really worry about overuse, as her body can draw in spiritual energy from her surroundings."
Naru gripped his pen so hard his knuckles went white.
Across the room, Lin remembered his vision of Noll jamming a pen just like that one into his carotid artery. He winced internally, but persevered. "This implies that Taniyama-san's powers are more receptive in nature than we assumed," he finished.
"Well," Madoka said smugly. "There you go, Noll. Another sign that you should test with Mai-chan."
Lin regarded his girlfriend with confusion. "Another sign?"
"Mai-chan told us the same thing," Madoka explained. Then she glared hard at Naru. "I was ordered to remain silent on the matter. But you see, Noll? I told you it would get out anyway. And surely you see the merit in trying –"
"I don't," Naru interrupted tersely.
Madoka clucked her tongue. "Really?" she asked, in a voice dripping with disbelief. "Because I think you do, and you're just refusing to consider it."
"It doesn't matter," Naru snapped.
"Untrue," Madoka snapped back. "Because it's something you should consider."
"I completely disagree." Oliver's expression could have frozen lava.
"But if Mai's abilities are receptive to foreign spiritual energy, then she could be receptive to yours!" the master ghost hunter cried frustratedly.
Lin frowned. Noll and Madoka were obviously revisiting an earlier argument... exactly how much had he missed during the 'Lin Drama?'
"Noll," Madoka continued, her voice suddenly gentle. "Wouldn't it be nice to able to use your powers again? I know you hate being relegated to the sidelines during attacks..."
Naru saw through this new tactic immediately. "Don't you dare try to manipulate me into using Mai for my own ends," he hissed furiously.
"If you'd just be reasonable, I wouldn't have to!" Madoka retorted.
"That's an interesting reversal of perspective," Naru said archly. "Aren't you constantly badgering me about seeing the 'human' side of our clients and research subjects? And now you want me to treat Mai like an expendable lab rat, instead of a..." Naru paused, uncharacteristically unsure of what to say.
And naturally, Madoka jumped on it immediately. "Instead of a what, Noll?" she prompted.
Lin silently admired the dexterity with which Madoka could switch gears.
"A valued colleague," Naru finished lamely.
His former mentor groaned. "Cripes, Noll, can't you at least publicly upgrade Mai-chan to a friend? I highly doubt you'd be this stroppy over a colleague."
Naru rolled his eyes. "You're missing the point," he growled.
"That's because you haven't made one!" Madoka rejoined harshly.
"The point is that you're inexplicably eager to greatly endanger Mai for no good reason," Naru summed up icily.
"We'd have a very good reason," Madoka contested. "And I have no doubt that Mai-chan herself would see it the same way."
"I agree," Lin noted calmly. "I'm certain Taniyama-san would be more than happy to participate in exploratory trials."
"Of course she'd be happy to participate," Naru hissed. "She's stupid like that."
"She's selfless like that," Madoka corrected.
"Being selflessly prepared to sacrifice herself is stupid," Naru clarified.
"Don't be ridiculous, Noll," Madoka said testily. "You've never killed anyone; there's no reason to assume that would change. Besides, we'll eventually need to measure Mai's receptive capacity -"
"No, you won't," Naru muttered. "I'm sure Mai is well aware of her receptive capacity."
Lin started in surprise. Did Noll also know about Mai's unlooked-for training in PK seeding maneuvers? "What do you mean?" The onmyouji asked carefully.
"That explanation Mai offered about her PK's receptive nature... she spouted it out like a dictionary definition." Naru glared holes into the wall of his office. "In other words, she was repeating someone else's explanation."
"You mean... Gene?" Madoka's surprise leaked into her voice.
"Of course I mean Gene!" Naru said furiously. "That's exactly something my idiot twin would do! He would go and put stupid ideas in Mai's head, telling her she can help me..."
Lin reckoned that Noll was too smart for his own good sometimes.
"But maybe she can help you!" Madoka cried exasperatedly. "She would want to!"
"Gene would easily recognize the similarity between Mai's PK and his own," Naru continued, ignoring Madoka. Then a sudden thought distracted him from his rant. "I wonder if Mai's receptivity is responsible for the recurrent vision of Gene's death."
Madoka mulled that over for a moment. "I doubt it, since Mai-chan had her first real death vision at Urado's mansion. That was long before the PK-MT appeared," she pointed out. "And besides, Noll, you have emotion-syncing death visions, too – and your PK is definitely of the offensive variety."
"That's true," Naru agreed. Then his eyes hardened again. "Mai's willingness doesn't change anything," he stated resolutely. "I won't test with her."
"I can't believe you won't even consider it, Noll," Madoka reiterated. "In my educated opinion, Mai-chan is probably the best match we'll ever find. She's certainly the most promising candidate we've had in the last two years. You have to realize that."
Naru twitched visibly. He did realize that... but the thought of utilizing Mai in such a manner made his blood run cold. "You aren't thinking this through," Naru hissed through his teeth. "Any sort of experimentation with my powers has the potential to seriously harm Mai."
"I think you're overstating the risk," Madoka replied truculently.
"I'm not. Go and review the tapes of past experiments – they should be lying right on top of the corresponding hospital records." Naru stared Madoka down. "But again, it's a moot point – you would need me to conduct tests with my powers, and I refuse utterly. It's too dangerous."
Virtually unnoticed by either arguing party, Lin sighed to himself. He had his answer – Noll would not agree to test with Mai. The onmyouji had expected such a response... but he'd also hoped that a careful introduction to the topic and logical, dispassionate follow-up conversations would eventually bring Noll around. Unfortunately, Madoka had gotten to Noll first, and the repeated haranguing had rendered him complete inflexible on the subject. Lin groaned in vexation. This was going to take weeks to fix...
"I wonder how Martin would feel about this," Madoka threatened.
Lin groaned again. And now she's making it worse.
Naru glared. "It doesn't matter how he'd feel."
"He's your boss, as well as your father."
"Martin cannot compel me to use PK on Mai." Naru's every word was coated in permafrost.
"Not on Mai," Madoka insisted. "With Mai."
"Wrong again," Naru countered angrily. "Receptiveness to outside energy does not a partner make."
The master ghost hunter threw Noll a genuinely confused look. "I'm sorry?"
"You should be," Naru drawled coolly. "But what I meant was that just because Mai is able to absorb PK from an external source, it doesn't mean that she can manipulate my energy like Gene could. Like I keep telling you, that situation was a one-off."
"But Noll –" Lin tried.
"Gene could only do it because he was my twin," Naru persisted. "It was one ability split between two people. I got the bulk of the power, and Gene got what he referred to as the 'dimming switch.'"
"Noll –"
"Gene's body and spirit was made to handle my extremely strong energy; Mai's was not. If Mai could absorb even a portion of my extremely strong energy, there is virtually zero chance that she could stay standing long enough to manipulate and throw it back. Our energies will never match, and I would never uselessly endanger her in such a manner." Naru's voice rang with finality.
"Quite an impassioned speech," Madoka observed, her gaze piercing.
Naru's return glare was full of frosty contempt. "Your idiocy is that infuriating."
"Oliver." Lin's tone was equally hard. Enough is enough, he decided as the bickering pair finally acknowledged his existence. "Don't blame Madoka for trying. You and I both know that you'll eventually hurt yourself again. We are only attempting to decrease the likelihood of your killing yourself on a case someday."
"By killing Mai instead?" Naru asked venomously.
"No one is asking you to unleash your full power on an unwilling subject," Lin defended. "We are talking about regulated experiments using small, controlled amounts of PK with an extremely gifted psychic."
"And I don't know why you assume you'd kill Mai-chan," Madoka mused. "I was under the impression you had a great deal of control."
"That is immaterial."
"It's not," Lin and Madoka argued simultaneously.
"It is," Naru reiterated obstinately. "Again, Mai's psychic receptivity will never match my offensive capability. Ergo, testing would be fruitless."
"And you don't think Mai-chan could learn to sync with you over time?" Madoka asked. "That regular exposure to your energy could shift the manner in which her body deals with it?"
"No," Naru responded flatly. "That did not work with any of the other psychics. I don't know what makes you think it would work now."
"This time it's Mai," Madoka said intensely.
"Exactly my point," Naru retorted. "None of those trials ended well. Yet you seriously want to put Mai through that?" His voice was both incredulous and forbidding.
"No," Madoka stated vehemently.
Naru's eyes narrowed. "Then what are you –"
"My point," Madoka interrupted. "Is that I don't think you would end up hurting her! Think about it - Mai-chan is much closer to you than any of those other PK users were."
All the more reason she shouldn't wind up twitching in pain on the floor of a lab, Naru thought to himself.
"Therefore," the master ghost hunter continued, "The chances that Taniyama-san will be able to handle your energy are statistically much greater."
"That is not a fact," Naru objected. "That is an assumption – you are assuming that emotional closeness has a direct correlation to the ability to manipulate another's PK energy. But there is no evidence to support that hypothesis – in fact, all data we have on the rare successful trials reinforces that only a biological or freak physiological connection between subjects will truly work."
"Or a freak psychic connection," Lin jumped in. "And I'm sure you remember that from the reports."
"It doesn't matter," Naru maintained.
"It does," Lin disagreed. "Taniyama-san has a strong psychic connection with Gene."
"But not with me." Naru's voice sounded resentful even to his own ears.
Madoka hid a smile behind her hand. Jealous much, Noll? "What Lin is trying to say is that if Mai-chan has a psychic connection with Gene, logic suggests there is a much greater chance of a similar connection with his twin."
"And what if Mai does not actually have a significant psychic connection to Gene?" Naru pointed out tartly. "Yes, she can access Gene's current location – but Mai is an astral walker. She could access any spirit on the astral plane."
"Then how did Mai-chan manage to find Gene in the first place?" Madoka pressed. "His body was lost and his spirit was 'asleep.' How did she manage to contact him, if not through a strong psychic connection?"
Naru really had no answer for that, since he wasn't sure himself. His theory was that Mai had found Gene through her 'animal instinct.' Either it had steered her toward the person most able to help on cases... or it had recognized the possibility of deep emotional connection. Naru gritted his teeth. "Instinct," he finally said, "Is the most likely possibility."
"That's not definitive, Noll," Madoka argued. "Come to think of it, we should probably interview Mai-chan on the subject." She saw Noll's eyes narrow. Was he going to filibuster against a simple interview?
"Mai has been... uncommunicative this week," Naru revealed unwillingly. "All of a sudden, she doesn't want to answer questions for my paper. Ever since the day she demonstrated a visible level of PK for you, Lin... she's been acting strange." Naru's lips thinned. "Like she's afraid of something."
Lin pursed his lips. Mai was most likely afraid of her 'extra' training with Gene coming to light – but that wasn't something to talk about now. Noll looked ready to crack as it was. And if he was going to block any sort of testing, then Lin would have to get creative.
Playing PK matchmaker for Noll was probably going to involve Lin's training Mai in PK seeding techniques... right under Noll's nose.
Might as well start the set-up now. "Maybe she's just nervous about school," Lin suggested in an even tone. "You saw how frightened Taniyama-san was about starting at Cambridge."
"Yes," Naru agreed. "But that only lasted a few days. Mai has been fine since the first seminar."
Madoka grinned. "Martin says that she and Yasu were terrific."
"Exactly," Naru replied (a small flower of pride blossoming within him). "Mai isn't nervous about school anymore – so what is causing her continued reticence?"
Lin remained silent. Mai certainly hadn't been reticent with his father today... but Lin suspected that was the result of giddy nerves run amok.
Hopefully, Mai's nerves would stick around long enough to talk some more. And on that note... "Noll, I actually came here looking for your father," Lin lied. "I need to speak with him, so if you'll excuse me –"
"Don't tell him about Mai's receptivity," Naru said quickly.
The onmyouji was surprised by the discernible panic in his former student's voice. "Alright," Lin agreed. He hadn't been planning to tell Martin, anyway.
Naru didn't need Lin's surprised look or Madoka's knowing smirk to tell him he'd screwed up. He'd sounded almost pleading just now... Naru hadn't yet come to terms with the troublesome reactions Mai inspired in him; involving outsiders in his internal morass was unacceptable. "Get out," he barked. "You've both interrupted my work for long enough."
"Not nearly long enough," Madoka contradicted, "But I'll let it go for today." Maybe if she let Noll stew in it alone for a while, he'd come to an epiphany about something.
And Lin was only too eager to leave the room. He needed to firm up his plan of action.
-0O0-
The onmyouji waited until Mai decided to leave the Davis house that night. Yasuhara had gone out on a date, so she was leaving alone. Lin quickly volunteered to drive her home, and stood patiently as Mai made a last round of tea for Naru and Luella before saying goodnight.
He was quiet as they walked to the car, and quiet as he backed down the driveway and set off down the street. Perhaps he was over-thinking this, but Lin wanted to wait until they were moving too fast for Mai to jump out and escape.
Finally, Lin drove the car onto a main road. He then reached over and turned the radio off, much to Mai's dismay.
"Lin-saaaan," she moaned. "I like that song."
"Taniyama-san," Lin said gently. It wouldn't do to scare her again. "We need to talk."
-0O0-
AN: You guys are just the best. Every time I got stuck (which was a lot), I went back and read the reviews and the messages, and found the motivation to keep on going. We have obviously reached a turning point in the story, and I wasn't really sure how I wanted to handle it. Not to mention, the pieces of this chapter just wouldn't come together:/
But they did eventually (sort of), and anyway, I hope it came out okay:)