Chapter Fourteen
Last time, on If you listen hard enough…
"…It's just me and Lin here. We could use another hand with the office work. If you wanted a job, that is."
"Is this charity?" She whispered, lips numb. "Because you found out we were orphans?"
"No," Naru glared. "You and your sister have been a big help in this case. And we really do need someone else to help file everything. But if you don't want the job, that's fine – I'll find someone else."
Mai swallowed, eyes wet. "Well. If you're sure you don't mind putting up with me."
Naru's lips twitched slightly. "It is fine. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah." She cleared her throat roughly. "Good night, Naru. See you tomorrow."
Monday, 28th April, 2008
Mai stepped out on to the street just as Torao was returning from whatever fight she'd had to break up, hair ruffled and a wet stain across her shoes.
"Look, I'm sorry, for before," Tora mumbled. "I shouldn't have snapped, and I shouldn't have done anything in front of Naru-ya. We always fight over this, and I don't mean for it to get out of hand, and – "
"He gave me a job," Mai mumbled, wet cheeked. "And he says that I can learn how to hunt ghosts, even if I don't have any powers."
Tora rocked back on her heels in shock, before giving a whoop and scooping her sister up into a tight embrace, twirling them both around. "Mai, that's great!"
"Lami," Mai whispered, voice choked with tears and so soft that Tora nearly missed it. "Lami, I could be like Kaa-chan! I don't need any abilities myself!"
And this was the crux of the matter. The Water D family had been in this world for over eight hundred years, and throughout that whole time, they had been hiding themselves as psychics, disguising their haki as power. For Wāterudi Himeko's firstborn to not possess that extreme kenbunshoku haki, to possess only the abilities of her Pōtogasudi husband? But instead for the child that she and her husband had rescued to have the power that she so desperately wanted and needed to pass on? It had put a lot of pressure on Mai, who possessed only her father's gifts. But Taniyama Kaoru had died to bring Torafarugā Dī Wāteru Lami across dimensions, leaving only a journal full of what it meant to be a Pōtogasudi for his daughter to study. Himeko, despite loving her daughter fiercely, had just as dearly wished for her family gift to continue. It didn't matter that Lami only dreamt of becoming a doctor, and it didn't matter that Mai loved ghost stories – Lami was the scion of North Blue, and Mai of the South, and they had a duty to the family history. Those were the teachings of the Void Century.
"Pōtogasudi Lilo," Tora whispered, shaking her head and tucking her sister's hair behind both ears. "You are something else, you know?"
Mai laughed wetly, clutching Tora's hands. "Would you have me any other way?"
"No, never. C'mon – let's go home." Tora tucked Mai's hand into the crutch of her arm, and the two slowly started the trip back to their apartment.
"Your fight went alright?"
"Mm, it was just some foreigner getting caught up in one of those big scams. They were pretty drunk, but Asoka said they'd take that person to the hospital, so it's fine."
"That's good, at least."
The walk back to their apartment was quiet and uneventful, other than the train being unusually crowded. Tora grabbed the door, letting Mai go in first; she was just locking the door behind them when Mai tapped her on the elbow.
"Hey," She murmured. "I'm sorry too, you know."
"What for?" Tora asked, kicking off her shoes and moving further in to the apartment.
"I'm always bringing up the ghost thing," Her sister said, school shoes left haphazardly in front of the door. "And the doctor thing, too."
Tora turned a suspicious eye on her older sister, hand poised halfway to the kettle. "You haven't said anything about doctors lately." She side-eyed Mai as she took it over to the sink to refill.
Mai's eyes were fierce. "I am now. I know about that internship over in England." Tora jerked, slopping water all over the sink. "I know you said no to it because of me. I know how much you wanted to go." Mai stepped forward eagerly, took the kettle away and grabbed her sister's hands. "I have a job now. Naru-chan will help me, and I can look after myself. I want you to reach out to that doctor, I want you to go to England – no, Torao, listen to me! I want you to put yourself first for once, do you understand me?!"
Tora stared at her with over-bright eyes.
"It was never your dream to become a spiritualist," Mai whispered. "You always wanted to be a doctor. So, go and be a doctor!"
Tora tugged a hand free to swipe at her eyes, answering in a hoarse voice. "If I do this, you'll be on your own for six months, you know."
"Yasuhara-san and Fu-kun will look after me," Mai said confidently. "And Naru-chan too."
"I'll miss our birthday," Tora said numbly. "The next school term over there starts in May, and I wouldn't be back until Christmas."
"It'll be fine," Mai said bracingly. "I know sixteen is a big deal, but – this is more important."
Tora laughed weakly. "You're something else, you know?"
"So you keep telling me!"
Torao drew Mai into a tight hug, and choked out, "Never change, aneue."
Tuesday, 29th April, 2008
After one too many early rises and late or restless nights, neither Mai nor Torao looked particularly appealing. The students that Torao had been tutoring had decided to blow up the sisters' shared phone and respective emails last night, trying to find out when Torao would next be free. There had also been an unexpected event just as the sisters were finally going to bed, which had made sleep almost impossible to grasp – in the end, the two had decided to leave for school just after daybreak.
"Tora?" Mai asked, looking up at the old school building.
"No," Tora sighed, relieved. "Absolutely no one is about. Ready?" Both backpacks were dropped next to Naru's van and both bokkens were unsheathed, the sisters moving away a short distance.
They counted down together, "Three – two – one!"
There was a flurry of movement as they rushed at each other, bokken cracking against bokken, each trying to knock the other in to the dirt.
In a fair match, Torao was better at kenjutsu than Mai. In an all-out brawl, however, the two were fairly well-matched, guards crashing together and wooden blades arcing towards shins, heads and chests. Tora managed to swipe Mai's feet out from under her, but the elder sister threw herself into a backwards handstand, skipping back a few paces and bringing her blade up even as Tora lashed out at her – real steel would have split her from hip to clavicle, and had even the wooden blade connected, it would have spelt an extended visit to the doctor's surgery for Mai.
Laughing breathlessly, Mai launched herself at Torao in a straight thrust – Tora skipped to the side, blade coming up just in time to turn aside Mai's redirected slash, and follow-up cut. Tora lashed out, only for Mai to somersault over the blade, her own bokken snapping out and missing Tora's head by a hair. Tora spun out to the side, blade digging into the ground and swiping dirt up into Mai's face, only to receive an eyeful herself. Both girls skipped backwards a few steps, Mai less sure than Torao. The girls paused, blades at the ready and heads cocked.
"We can – " Tora began, only for Mai to launch herself forward, going for those diagonal slashes once again. Tora rolled to the side, caught unawares by the abrupt return blows. Rolling back underneath Mai's guard, Tora launched herself up in to her sister's space, only to be headbutted back to the ground, Mai launching herself onto her sister. The two grappled on the ground, bokken's discarded and eyes still slammed shut as they rolled around.
They were so wrapped up in their brawl that the sisters missed Naru and Lin's arrival.
Tora kicked Mai off of her, rolled herself back upright, and launched herself at her older sister, fists leading. Mai came up in a handstand, lashing out with an upside-down-scissor kick that caught Torao in the chest, flinging her back on to her discarded blade. Hearing the scrape of wood on dirt, Mai launched herself to the side, scrabbling for her own blade, which she brought up in a guard position – just in time to block Torao's attack.
Both sisters sported bloodthirsty grins, eye's still tightly shut.
"Yield?" Torao asked her sister, a thin layer of sweat on her brow, breaths only slightly laboured.
"Do you?" Mai returned, breathing just a little faster than Torao's.
"What on earth are you both doing?" Naru's voice cracked across the space, causing both sisters to spin to face his voice, Mai swinging from her knees up into a ready stance.
"Naru-ya," Torao finally said, lowering her blade and scrubbing at her face. "Sorry. We didn't think you'd arrive so early."
Mai worried at her bottom lip, blade dipped to the ground and stance more casual.
"Lin-ya, I'm glad your foot is better." Tora added.
Mai dipped into a prompt bow. "I'm sorry for that! I'm glad it's healing!"
"What are you doing?" Naru growled out. "It's a school day, too, so why aren't you in uniform?"
Tora took Mai's arm and lead her sister deftly back to their bags. "We were sparring, of course we wouldn't do that in our school uniform. We'll get changed soon." Pulling a bottle of water out of her bag, Tora slipped it in to Mai's hands. Whilst her sister washed the dirt from her eyes, Tora asked, "Why are you here so early?"
"To make sure that no one had tampered with the footage again," Naru answered after a beat. "Shouldn't this sort of thing occur in a dojo or something?"
Mai blinked the last of the dirty water out of her eyes, passing the bottle back to her sister and drying her face on her sleeves. "Why would we want people to know what we can do? Isn't it better to be a surprise?"
"Why do it out in the open, then?" Naru's voice had a very clear you're an idiot tone to it.
Mai snorted. "It's six in the morning, Naru-chan. Not many people are out in this area at this time, you know. Hey, that thing you were doing yesterday – aren't you going to tell us what it is?"
Naru sighed, looking impatient. "Mai, don't you think you talk too much?"
"If you don't want me to tell anyone, I can keep it a secret!" Mai snapped.
"Wait a while. Everyone will be here eventually."
"Ah, so everyone is coming?" Mai exclaimed, picking up the sleeve for her bokken. "But, Naru-chan, that won't be for hours!"
"Well, you should have thought of that before arriving so early."
Mai growled, flicking the bokken out of its sheath and tipping it up in to a ready position, only for Torao to crack her own blade against Mai's with a frown.
"Don't be stupid. C'mon, we can go another few rounds before we need to get ready."
"Isn't the purpose of training so early, all the way out here, so that people don't know what you can do?" Naru grumbled, opening the back of the van for his assistant.
The sisters exchanged wicked grins, laughed and cartwheeled back in to the open once again. The gentlemen watched in surprise as the speed of the moves seemed to double what they had previously witnessed, the blows a concussive crack-cra-crack-cra-crack! The sisters danced around each other for another five minutes, flipping and twisting across the space and even around the van, Naru and Lin – it was clear that they were now showing off, if the increasingly flashy gymnastics were any indicator. Mai, by far the bolder of the two, even used Naru's shoulders as a spring board to dodge her sister, with the wind from Tora's passing blade causing his jacket to flap wildly. The spar came to an end when Mai tripped on a loose stone; Tora went to take advantage of Mai's fall, Mai bringing her blade up just in time for both sisters to have a sword to the other's throat.
"Yield?" Tora breathed.
"Draw?" Mai countered, grinning brightly.
The pair laughed, Tora pulling Mai up and the both of them heading over to grab their packs.
"We won't be long!" Mai called out to the bemused men. "Wait until we come back before telling anyone about last night!"
"What, are you going to run the whole way back to your apartment?" Naru scolded. "I won't wait that long!"
"Don't be stupid," Mai imitated him. "We're going to break into the track-team's showers. Ja ne!"
The sisters were gone before Naru could even formulate a reply.
Lin huffed. "And you want to hire them for receptionists?"
His young charge scowled. "Despite being amateurs, they have been competent assistants."
Lin turned wide eyes on to the younger man. "That is high praise, from you."
Naru remained quiet, readying the equipment so that he and Lin might review last night's material.
"You said that one of the girls has psychic abilities?" Lin tried again.
"The younger, Torao."
"The one who wants to be a doctor?" Lin clarified, putting his own pack back in to the van, and placing his crutches to the side.
"Apparently, it's an old family gift," Naru answered, pulling up last night's data and setting it to play at double speed. "She describes it as having very good ears, of all things." Both placed headphones on and began to watch over last night's footage.
"And the older sister?"
"Mai says she has no abilities, though I do have to wonder."
Usually, it would be very bad form to continue a conversation whilst listening to data, but in this case, both men were letting themselves just a little bit of slack. Lin side-eyed his young charge, until, with a sigh, Naru said,
"She's the one who first started calling me Naru. Torao was just as surprised by it as anyone else, so it wasn't something that she had picked up on herself. Since Mai's English is so horrible, I thought at first that she was saying Noll."
"And that's why you're calling them both by their first names? Here I thought it was because they keep feeding you."
"… It is less confusing than calling them both Taniyama." Naru deflected, eyes stubbornly glued to the computer screen. "Anyway, there was also a time when Mai said something about humans being able to move objects with their minds. From what I understand, that is not in Torao's range of abilities, which would suggest that someone else close to them has that power. Yasuhara Hiroko mentioned the sisters' old family gifts, saying that Torao's was her ears and Mai's was her mind."
Lin drew in a deep breath. "And if one twin has an ability, it is likely that the other does as well," He murmured. Because he was watching, Lin saw Naru's fists tighten in his lap.
"Yes. It is common."
"So then, why did you offer them a job?"
"Because it benefits us to have extra help." Naru said tonelessly, only to hold up a hand to Lin – the chair in the video had twitched just after nine o'clock. Both men leant forward in their chairs, eyes glued to the screen as they watched the chair rattle, and eventually jerk completely out of the circle.
Lin looked over to his charge, seeing a glint of victory in those dark blue eyes.
"The autosuggestion was a success, then." He said simply. "Now how do you prove who it is?"
"There are only three possible suspects," Naru scolded, knowing full well that Lin knew this. "It can't be either of the Taniyamas, as at that time Torao was in a fight in Shibuya and Mai was in the office with me. So that just leaves Kuroda Naoko."
By habit, the two continued to watch the night's recordings, just to see if anything else happened to the chair, returning to their discussion concerning the twin sisters. Just before the recording read eleven o'clock, however, there was a flash of light on the screen, and the wooden chair was swapped out with a more comfortable-looking piece with a cushioned seat. Naru and Lin stared in shock, but before they could react further, there was another flash of red and black sparks, and the original chair had returned to its position.
"Lin?"
"Yes?"
"What the hell did I just see?"
Before Lin even had a chance to reply, there was a shout from the Monk, followed by a cheerful greeting from the priest. Quickly, the two Ghost Hunters shut down the material, and agreed to go back over it at a later date.
Kuroda Naoko was the last of the irregulars to arrive. Mai and Torao, dressed in their uniforms and looking a lot fresher than they had earlier in the morning, had both tried to convince her to wait for Naru to be ready to reveal his research, but were unsuccessful. The class representative had been very vocal in her disagreement, and even when Naru told her to just go home, she ignored him.
With her arrival, however, they were able to finally unveil the experiments' results. Naru had asked both Mai and John to confirm that the boards were as they had seen them last, and that their signatures were their own. With Lin recording, Naru tore away the sheets of wood over the old doorway, allowing everyone the chance to peak inside.
"Shibuya-san!" John exclaimed. The chalk line that had been drawn the night before was still clear, but so too was the chair – toppled a good two and a half metres outside the chalk line.
"H-hang on, what does this mean?" Miko-san stuttered.
"Oi, Naru-chan!" Bou-san added.
Fiddling with the laptop that had been connected to the camera, he looked up at everyone. "Thank you for your cooperation." He said formally. "I will be leaving sometime today."
"You're not saying that you've solved the case, are you?" Miko-san demanded.
"That's what I'm saying."
"The ground sinking?" Mai asked. "You've proved it?"
"Yes. I believe that that explains everything about the case that the principal hired me for."
"Ha!" Bou-san interrupted. "So how do you explain the disturbance the day before yesterday?"
"That was poltergeisting, as Torao said."
"If you know that, then how – "
"Seriously, how are you a Monk?" Mai snapped, startling everyone. "My sister is never wrong. Naru-chan is not wrong. Even I know that humans can be responsible for poltergeisting! Would you just shut up and listen to him?! Just because you're an adult, doesn't mean you're always right!"
"…Thank you, Mai." Naru acknowledged. "Everyone, please." He gestured to the laptop. "Would you like to see?"
Whilst everyone was watching the laptop (or in Lin's case, filming it), Naru watched the irregulars.
Everyone's attention was caught by the screen, eyes blowing wide and half-steps taken backwards at the footage of the shifting chair. Mai clung to her sister in fright, eyes blown… perhaps too wide. There was a healthy amount of fear on the faces of the others, with the Monk making demands as to what he had just seen; Torao's face was blank but for a spark of relief in her eyes, and – yes, there it was in Mai's eyes, too. Interesting.
Naru stopped the film. "Humans are to blame for half of poltergeist phenomena."
"Such as, pranks?" Mai asked innocently. Was this innocence fake? he wondered. "But no one could get in here."
"Yes," Naru nodded, playing along. "We sealed off all of the entrances. I even had Mai and John sign everything, so we would know if someone had forced their way in."
"Even if they tried to replace any broken boards," John added, understanding blooming on his face, "they wouldn't have been able to perfectly duplicate our signatures."
"That more than proves that it was work of spirits!" Kuroda exclaimed.
Naru shook his head. "I placed a suggestion yesterday with everyone who is here, that in the evening, this chair would move."
The twins had both stiffened. Huh.
"In the Principal's Office…" The elder tailed off.
"I'm pretty sure – at least as of yet – as this method has never failed me."
"But no one was able to get into this room," Mai said quickly.
"Poltergeisting is a variety of supernatural ability. It's done by people who have an unconscious craving to be noticed, and for people to pay attention to them, when for whatever cause, enough stress builds up within them. In such cases, when a suggestion is planted, it then comes about."
Everybody's eyes flickered over to Kuroda, as the past few days played back over in their minds.
Finally at the centre of attention, Kuroda stumbled. 'Y-you're saying, I'm the one who did it?"
Naru took a half step closer to her. "From the start, I felt like you were drawing my attention. For example, you said that you saw spirits here from the war. But there were no stories about this area being bombed during the war, or of this school being used as a hospital. Nor was it true that there was ever a hospital built here. That would mean that you were either mistaken, or intentionally lying."
"I wasn't lying!"
"I thought you were just pretending to be spiritually sensitive at first, so when phenomena occurred that could only be considered poltergeisting, I was honestly at a loss. This, after my instruments measured no data, and with Hara-san's and Torao's judgement, I concluded that there were no spirits here. So the case had to be human. Poltergeisting is generally caused by children in their early teens. There are also cases in spiritually sensitive girls. They do it unconsciously, when extreme stress builds up. The underlying currents are – well." Here he gestured to Torao.
She nodded slowly. "The voice said, Look at me. Pay attention to me. I'm over here. Like that."
Naru took back over. "You were famous for being spiritually sensitive, ever since Middle School. Once it was proven to you that the evil spirits in the old schoolhouse could all be blamed on the land sinking underneath it, naturally you'd lose whatever faith you had in yourself in having spiritual abilities. You felt a great pressure from your intense apprehension, and unconsciously, you thought to yourself, no, that can't be. There have to be spirits here. They can't not be here. There has to be poltergeisting going on here. It has to happen. And then…"
Kuroda buried her face in her hands, eyes wet.
"She unconsciously carried it out, huh?" Bou-san finished.
"I believe she is a latent psychic." Naru stated firmly.
"Saikikku?" Mai asked, head cocked to the side. Naru couldn't tell if it was acting, or if her English really was that bad!
"One who has supernatural abilities. She may not be aware of it, but she probably has some level of PK." Here, Kuroda looked back up again, hopeful. "I'll just say this for Mai's sake, but PK stands for psychokinesis."
"Well," Mai grumbled out sarcastically. "Thank you for being so kind."
"For Kuroda-san, it was necessary that there be evil spirits here in order for her to keep garnering attention around her." Naru steamrolled over his assistant. "In order for her to be who she was."
"I can kind of understand how that would feel," Mai offered to the other girl after a moment, face soft again. "Really, everyone wants to think that they're special. That there's something special about them, that everyone else recognises. It doesn't matter what it is, they just want some special talent that sets them apart from others." Brightly, she put her hands on her hips. "Kuroda-san, for you, I'm sure it must have been your spiritual abilities, huh?"
"Aneue," Tora sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Leave the sparkling to Fusao, please. My heart won't be able to take it." Mai poked her tongue out, which her sister returned.
"Does that satisfy everyone?" Naru asked.
"Not yet," Miko-san growled. "By that explanation, her elevated stress came about after you gave your theory about the ground sinking, right? Then, what about me being shut up inside that classroom, and the video being erased?"
"Aya-sempai, think about it," Torao said with an eyeroll.
"Miko-san, in your case, it's because this was stuck into the door's grooves." Naru answered, pulling a nail out of his pocket. "I noticed it right away, but I didn't think it was worth mentioning."
"You mean, someone did it on purpose?! It was you, huh!"
"You just meant it as a little prank, right?" Naru interjected, sparing Kuroda what was surely going to be a thorough dressing down. "Just before, Miko-san appeared to have words with you, and all."
"Then, what about the video?" The Priestess demanded.
"That was intentionally erased. Miko-san, when you were shut in, we all left the base. There was plenty of time to manipulate it when no one would see."
"Can you believe this girl?"
"So, what do we do?" Bou-san asked. "The principal hired us to make this place ready for construction."
"I plan to report this to the principal: The old schoolhouse was haunted by those who died in the war. They have been exorcised, so you may go ahead with construction. Is that okay with you, Kuroda-san?"
"How very kind of you," Hara-san said. "But are you sure you shouldn't tell him the truth?"
"She is keeping herself suppressed enough, even now. I don't think it's necessary to run her down any further."
"Hmm…" Miko-san purred, sideling up to him. "Naru, you're quite the feminist, huh? Got a girlfriend?"
"Aya-sempai!" Torao squawked, she and her sister both tomato-red. "He's too young for you!"
"I'm not sure I understand the point of you question," Naru said politely, if somewhat chillily.
"I wouldn't mind putting up with you, younger though you are."
The Taniyamas were both making choked noises in the back of their throats; Hara-san had a pink spot high on each cheek, and one could almost cook an egg on John's face, he was blushing so hard.
"I appreciate you saying so," Naru said. "but unfortunately, I can't. I'm too used to looking in the mirror."
Everyone bar Lin burst out laughing. Once they had all recovered, it was agreed that they would all take equal credit for the "exorcism". Naru, Lin and the Taniyamas finished breaking camp as the others all began to leave themselves. Kuroda disappeared back to class, and Hara-san had to leave for another appointment, but the others left in dribs.
John was the last.
"Mai-san, Torao-san," The Australian began quickly. "Thank you for practicing your English with me – it meant a lot! Let me know if you ever need a partner again sometime, ok? You know where my chapel is, but this is my mobile number in Japan."
"Thank you!" Mai exclaimed cheerfully, bowing over an armful of cables. Since Torao had the camera tripod in one hand and the laptop case in the other, Mai snaked a hand free to take the paper.
Torao gave a much smaller smile in return. "John-san, I wi-ll take you up on th-at. I need to puractisu more!"
"Torao-san, your English is fine," John said happily.
The sisters looked at each other quickly, before Torao said, "Maa. I am going to England foru school soon. I don'tuh want to be laffu at. Can we practice onsu week, please?"
"Of course – and congratulations! Ja ne!" The blond waved as he left.
"Mai, Torao." Naru interrupted. "Shouldn't you be going to class?"
"No," They answered in sync.
"Mai is your assistant," Torao said with a shrug. "She's supposed to be here."
"Torao is leaving soon," Mai added. "She's going to give the school a big publicity boost for her school exchange, so they want us on their good side."
"If you get any dumber," Naru said, taking the coils from Mai. "it will be beyond anyone's control."
"Oh, is that right?!" Mai snapped. Out of the corner of his eye, Naru would have sworn he'd seen red and black sparks at her fingertips. "Well, it's too late to take it back! You watch, I'm going to be the best assistant ever, and then I'm going to be a better Ghosto Hunta than you!"
She stormed back in to the old Schoolhouse, vibrating with anger.
Torao gave him a dirty look, before putting away her own equipment. "Is my sister going to be put away for murder whilst I'm gone?" She grumbled.
"Will you be gone long?" Naru deflected.
"Six months or so. I'll leave in a few weeks, once everything is finalised."
They both walked back to the schoolhouse, stepping to the side as a still-spitting Mai stomped passed with an armful of the shelf supports.
"My older sister is very precious to me," Tora said softly, placing a vice-like hand on to Naru's shoulder. "In fact, she is all I have left. Please look after her in my absence."
"Of course, Taniyama-san. You have my word."
Translations:
Bokken – wooden training sword
Aneue – archaic for big sister
Kenjutsu – literally translates as sword technique
Ja ne – See ya!
What a monster of a chapter – once upon a time I struggled to write 1000 words, and now we have this doozy clocking in at 4815(TWELVE Word pages!)! There's a lot of dialogue here, sorry, and the random spar scene up top – I didn't even know that was going to happen here? Honestly, I was intending to use it in a later arc. Oops? YES, this chapter ending is very different to the anime, manga and novel! Mai already has her job offer, remember, but Naru will be Naru, so here we are.
Please review~!