Edited
Mai skipped into the office one afternoon after school, on an early December day. Without bothering to take off her heavy coat, she dropped her bag onto her desk and skipped into Oliver's office without knocking.
"Ne, Naru, want to go on a date in the park?"
Oliver looked up from the file he was reading. "During office hours?"
"If we go now, we can solve the case and miss Masako arriving for the same thing."
Oliver snapped the file shut and stood up. He grabbed Mai's hand and pulled her out after him, stopping only to let Lin know they were going out.
"So what is this case about?" Oliver asked as they walked down the street with Mai's arm curled around his own.
"Ah, technically my friend, Michiru, brought me this case, although it was one we did in my last life too.
Basically, six months ago, a woman got heartbroken when her boyfriend started seeing another woman behind her back. They first met at the park and it was the same place she found out he was cheating on her. So she tried to commit suicide, first by hanging, and then by overdosing. When she finally gave up, a cat startled her on her way home and she fell over the curb, hitting her head and knocking her out. No one found her in time and she passed away.
After coming back as a ghost she tried to haunt her boyfriend but he's spiritually unaware. Nothing she did worked. So she then came back to the park, where she began punishing the couples she saw around her, by pouring water over them. Something that he had done to her when she confronted him about the new woman.
To get her to move on, we just need to hear her out, help her to teach her ex a lesson and then she'll pass."
By this time they had reached the entrance of the park.
"So what does Hara-san have to do with this case?" Oliver asked.
"Last time, when I asked you to take the case, you turned me down. She came in asking you as a 'favour' and you took it straight away. Some producer was trying to film here and the ghost kept interrupting the filming by dousing the actors. He asked her and she blackmailed you into taking it."
"So how did it play out last time?"
"Everyone split up into couples to bate her. I got paired with Bou-san. You with Masako. Ayako with John. Bou-san and I got doused with water. Masako got possessed. We heard her story. Talked her into stopping dousing the random couples and into getting revenge on her ex.
Bou-san, John and Ayako creeped him out by telling him he had done something bad and was being haunted. Masako, while possessed, poured a bottle of water over him. He acknowledged his ex, freaked and left. Then she was cleansed and left."
Oliver watched Mai as she spoke. She had a smile on her face and both her arms were wrapped around one of his. Unable to resist any longer, he stopped walking pulling her to a stop beside him, used his free hand to turn her face up to his, and kissed her gently.
Which is when a large amount of water dropped over them. Mai looked over at the spirit cackling behind them as water dripped down her face by using her aura sensing to view her. Oliver turned on a tape recorder that he habitually carried around in his pocket hoping to catch the EVP on it even if he couldn't hear the spirit himself.
"Did you enjoy doing that?" Mai asked her.
"Of course! It was funny! You deserve it! Showing off your lovey dovey acts of affection in front of me when I'm so depressed!"
Mai looked at her sympathetically. "Wouldn't you rather get revenge on the man who cheated on you instead? If you stay here any longer, you'll end up an earthbound spirit."
"I tried! Nothing worked!"
"Then we'll help you confront him. When the time is right, after we get his attention, then you can possess me and pour water over him in revenge. Once that's done, you should move on to the light so that you don't get stuck here."
The spirit thought about it for a second. "Will you really help me?"
"We both will help you, right Naru?"
Naru nodded. "We will."
The three of them chatted for a while until the spirit stopped and pointed. "There he is. That jerk."
Mai looked over to where she pointed and Oliver followed where she looked. She picked up a bottle of water that they'd bought for the occasion, and one by one they walked over to the man. Oliver reached him first. As he passed him, Oliver spoke.
"Wait." The man turned back to look at Oliver, questionly, who turned to look back at him. "You've done something recently to incur the wrath of another."
"Wha... What?" The man looked at Oliver confused.
"I can sense an extremely evil aura about you."
Suddenly a girl spoke behind him and he whipped around to face Mai.
"I can see it. The spirit of a woman who died bearing a grudge against you."
"Who are you people? Stop saying such creepy things about me!"
"Don't you care that she's dead?" Oliver asked him.
"Wh... Who's dead?"
"They say that a woman's curse lasts a hundred generations." Mai said in a conversational tone while running her hand up his arm as she walked around him.
"You had better exorcise her as soon as possible." Oliver responded.
"Are you sure you're talking about me? Don't you have me mistaken for someone else?" The man asked confused and slightly panicking.
While he was looking at Oliver, Mai gave a discrete nod to the spirit to possess her. The possessed Mai then walked straight up to the spirit's ex-boyfriend and opened the bottle of water she carried.
"Why should I have to exorcise..." He stopped when Mai stood directly in front of him and lifted the bottle above his head.
"Wh... Wha... What are you doing?"
"You disgust me." Mai's voice now had a slightly dead tone to it as the spirit spoke through her. She tipped the bottle over him, dousing him with water in the exact same way he had done to her.
He stared at her stunned, as the spirit's own image shimmered over Mai, visible enough that even he could see it.
"It's you..."
"They talk about men who are dripping in good looks, right...?" The spirit responded in Mai's voice with a dead tone.
He knelt on the ground, covering his soaking head with his arms.
"Sp... Spare me. I didn't mean anything wrong! Spare me!" He pleaded desperately.
"Are you satisfied now?" Oliver asked the spirit, looking down in disgust at the begging man.
"Yes. Thank you. That was fun. I hope you've learned your lesson now." The spirit replied, looking down, equally disgusted, at her begging ex-boyfriend.
"Then release my girlfriend please."
The spirit nodded and left Mai. Oliver caught her as she dropped. The spirit shone gold for a second as the two men watched before disappearing.
"Take that as a lesson." Oliver spoke to the man as he lifted Mai in his arms in a princess hold before beginning to walk off. "The next woman may not be so kind."
Oliver left him to search out a quiet bench and sat on it, Mai cuddled on his lap with her head on his shoulder. It was a mere 10 minutes later before she began to stir.
"Is she gone?"
"Yes. Happy with her revenge."
"I'm glad." Mai said with a smile up at Oliver.
He smiled down at her. "Now, where were we again, before your spirit friend rudely interrupted us?"
He leaned down to captured Mai's lips.
...
An hour later, the pair wandered back into the office, arm in arm. They found an impatient Masako waiting for them in the seating area.
"Where have you been? Don't tell me you were on a date this whole time! I have a case for you."
"Oh, you mean the spirit in the park? We've already taken care of her." Mai quipped from her seat on Oliver's lap where he had pulled her for protection. Whether it was for her protection or his, Mai wasn't exactly sure.
"You... What?" Masako asked stunned.
"We have just come back from cleansing the spirit at the park. All she wanted was to teach her cheating ex a lesson." Oliver confirmed.
Masako huffed before storming out of the office. Mai giggled before kissing Oliver. She then got up and headed to the kitchen.
"Tea, Naru?"
"Yes, please." Oliver smiled at her, before heading into his office.
It was quiet for the rest of the day.
...
'I'm here. Right here. Come find me!'
Mai could feel herself in a crouching position. Her small child sized arms were wrapped around her knees. She was cold. Snow covered her and surrounded her. A large statue stood directly in front of her. A hard wall was placed at her back. She was up high and unable to call out to the searching men below her. She had lost her whistle and didn't have a stick to bang with. The men soon left and Mai was all alone in the freezing cold.
In the early dark hours of Christmas eve morning a gasping Mai sat up in her bed.
"Kenji..."
Calming down, Mai decided to get up and head to the office. She still hadn't decorated it for Christmas and she wanted to get it done before Oliver and Lin arrived. Not to mention she had a pile of presents for the two men that had been sent to her discretely by Oliver's parents.
She took a taxi to the office with a box fulled with presents and a box fulled with Christmas decorations. She decorated the office while waiting for the tree that she had arranged to be dropped off later. As soon as the tree arrived, she decorated that too.
She had just finished placing the presents under the tree when Oliver and Lin walked through the door at 9 am.
"Mai..."
The two men were stunned. The decorations had to have taken hours for Mai to do alone. Mai waited for a response nervously. Last time she had done this, Oliver did not respond happily. In fact he had told her to pull it all down before the others arrived and convinced him to keep it.
"It looks beautiful, Mai. How long have you been here to do all this?" Oliver asked.
"Far too early. I had a dream about today's case around 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep."
"So you came here?" Lin asked surprised.
"Yes." Mai yawned as she headed into the kitchen to make tea for her and Oliver and a coffee for Lin.
"We have a case today?" Oliver asked when Mai came back with the steaming cups.
"Yes. John is bringing it in. A lost child spirit at his church. Kenji was verbally disabled and got lost playing stick hide and seek. He was the best hider and the other kids couldn't find him. When it got late, they went back to the church orphanage. A snow storm started the blow and the adults who looked after the children couldn't find him.
They found his whistle beside the aquaduct and the scaffolding crashed in the front door. He was hiding too far up for anyone to find him and had no voice to call out.
Kenji mainly possesses a child and hides. He likes playing the stick version of hide and seek. He just wants to be found."
At that moment Masako came through the door. "Oh, what a lovely tree!"
She was followed shortly after by Takigawa and Ayako.
"That looks awesome, Mai. Puts you right in the mood for Christmas."
"Aren't you supposed to be a monk?" Ayako smirked at him before glaring when he responded with,
"Aren't you supposed to be a miko?"
Oliver interrupted their argument. "Is there a reason you're here in our office?"
"It's Christmas Eve. The day to spend time with loved ones and friends." Ayako quipped.
"Let's have a Christmas party!" Takigawa added.
The three irregulars looked at Oliver pleadingly. He looked at Mai who shrugged back.
"You may as well. It won't be able to happen until after our case though."
"We have a case?" Ayako groaned.
Mai looked up at the clock. "Yes, as soon as John gets here in 3... 2... 1..."
The door opened and John entered the room. He stopped as everyone looked at him surprise before turning back to Mai, jaws dropped. Mai smiled at John in greeting.
"Merry Christmas John. You have a case for us?"
"Ye... Yes... How'd you know?"
"It's. A. Secret." Mai giggled, head tilted with a finger over her lips. John blushed and sat down to join the others and tell them about the case.
...
It was just before Lin pulled up to the church that Mai next spoke about the information she had on the case. She sat between Oliver and Lin in the van. The others were in Takigawa's car.
"Oliver, I'm going to have to apologise. I'm not going to be of huge use to you once Kenji leaves Thanet. All I can say is that the left angel hides a huge secret.
And Lin, I apologise for everything that will occur as soon as Kenji sees you. You look so much like his father that whoever he posseses will cling to you. I know you aren't a person who likes to be touched and you don't have a huge amount of patience for children, but please keep a hold of your temper as much as you can during this case. For my sake as well as Kenji's. I'd suggest asking Kenji to show you his location as soon as possible."
The two men looked at Mai who avoided their stares to look straight ahead. Despite their questions, she refused to answer anything more. She sat stiffly, waiting for Oliver to get out so she could as well. Takigawa pulled up behind them and the two men had no choice but to give up on questioning Mai.
Every one stood in front of the church. At the front entrance above the door, there were three beautiful large angel statues. Mai stared up at them.
"Beautiful... But they hold such a sad secret."
Oliver watched her walk off. Her words echoing in his ears. He looked up at the statues curiously. 'What secret do you hold?'
"Brown-kun!" An older gentleman called out as he exited the church.
"Toujo-san." John greeted him.
"I'm glad you came." Toujo said with a smile.
"Shibuya-san, this is our client, Father Toujo." John introduced Oliver. "Father, this is Shibuya-san, the president of Shibuya Psychic Research."
"Thank you for coming." Toujo bowed to Oliver. "Please come in."
"Huh, this is somewhat psycadelic, don't you think?" Takigawa said to Mai with a grin after staring up at the angels.
Mai said nothing. She just stared with a sad expression at the small skull she could only just see peeking from behind the left statue. Shrugging at Mai's lack of response, Takigawa looked around at the children playing in the church yard.
"There seem to be children from all over the world here."
"Toujo-san watches over the children of foreign workers. He looks after them when their parents are working. He also takes in orphaned children and gives them a home."
"I see..." Takigawa responded, as Mai smiled at John and headed inside after Oliver.
"Naru." Mai called out to him from the entrance. Oliver turned back to her.
"Yes Mai, what is it?"
"I'm going to go find Thanet while you talk the case over with Father Toujo-san. Kenji has him hiding in the woods right now and I'd like to get him back in sight as soon as possible."
Oliver looked at her for a moment. "All right, but please don't take too long."
"Thanks Naru." Mai smiled at him before moving to kiss his cheek. She headed back outside and into the woods to search for Thanet and Kenji.
She found them quickly. Exactly in the same spot as she had in her past life.
"Hi Kenji-kun. Are you playing stick? Can I play with you?"
Kenji, in Thanet's small body, looked up at Mai where she crouched in front of him in surprise before he nodded. Mai smiled at him.
"Do you want to hide first?"
Kenji nodded.
"Alright, you go hide. I'll stay here and count. Let me know when you're ready for me to come looking."
Kenji gave a small grin before running off. Mai began to count. It wasn't long before a series of banging sounds rung through the forest. Mai began to head towards the back of the church where she remembered Kenji hiding last time.
"Found you Kenji-kun!" Mai called happily as the child entered her sight, hiding in a corner, banging a stick on the ground.
Kenji smiled up at her as she crouched next to him.
"Mai, what's going on?" Oliver asked her from where he had appeared behind her. The banging noises had brought the whole SPR team around to look.
"Kenji-kun and I were just playing stick. Kenji-kun hid while I looked for him." Mai smiled up at Oliver.
Suddenly Kenji looked past Oliver to Lin.
"Daddy!" He cried out, launching himself at Lin and wrapping Thanet's small arms around Lin's waist. He stood there staring up at Lin's shocked face with a blissful smile.
"Kenji-kun, I know he looks like your daddy, but Lin really isn't your daddy. Your daddy is already waiting for you, you know?" Mai told Kenji with a soft hand on Thanet's shoulder in sympathy.
Kenji looked back at her sadly.
"You just want to be found right, Kenji-kun? Then you can go and meet your daddy up in heaven." Mai continued.
Kenji nodded sadly.
"Tell you what, why don't you let Thanet go? He's probably cold and tired by now, and we don't want to let him get sick now, right? If you want, you can possess me instead. Then you can help the nice people around us to find your hiding spot."
Kenji thought for a moment before nodding. Quickly, Thanet dropped to the ground as Kenji possessed Mai. Lin barely catching the boy before his head hit the ground.
Kenji, now in Mai's body, smiled up at Lin before clinging to his arm from where Lin still crouched on the ground. Takigawa quickly stepped in to pick up the unconscious Thanet.
Lin looked frustratedly at Oliver, who was glaring back at him in barely concealed jealousy. Oliver turned to look at Mai.
"Kenji-kun, do you know where you're hiding? Can you show us?"
Kenji nodded. Grabbing Lin's hand, he dragged him to the front of the church. The others followed behind them. As soon as Kenji got there he turned to stare at the exact spot Mai had earlier.
"... the left angel hides a huge secret."
"Beautiful... But they hold such a sad secret."
Mai's words reverberated around Oliver's mind as he stared at the spot that Kenji looked at. He could see a small skull hiding behind the left angel. He wasn't sure how he had missed it earlier.
Father Toujo, gasped in horror. "Kenji-kun, have you been hiding up there this whole time?"
Kenji nodded. Letting go of Lin's hand, he tugged on Oliver's sleeve.
"Thank you."
Then Kenji glowed gold before leaving Mai's body. Oliver caught her before she could drop to the ground. Lifting her into the same princess hold, he had after the park spirit case.
...
"I'm here. Come find me. I'm here!"
Mai was back, crouched behind the statue in the cold snow. Suddenly, it got warm as a familiar hand touched her shoulder. Mai looked up and saw a face very like Lin's.
"Daddy!"
Mai opened her eyes. She was lying in a bed in the church medical bay. Lin and Oliver talked quietly next to her. Oliver sitting on the bed beside her, holding her hand. Lin, seated in a chair next to the bed. Both men looked at Mai as she spoke, a happy tear running down her face.
"Kenji made it home to Daddy just in time for Christmas."
Oliver smiled, lifting up the hand he held to his lips. "I'm glad." The three of them stared quietly out the window at the falling snow.
Not long after the SPR team headed back to the office for a Christmas party. Ayako carried some fruit cake that she had been given by one of the carers in thanks. Mai make everyone hot cocoa, tea or coffee as per their request.
Soon the others left, high in spirits. Mai, Lin and Oliver were left alone in the office. Mai bent down to pick up the presents, placing each present in front of their respective owner. Both men looked at her in surprise.
"Luella sent it to me. Lin's family passed his presents to her, and she sent it all to me to make sure you both got them."
She passed them two smaller presents. "These ones are from me."
"Thank you Mai." Lin said softly, leaning over to kiss her cheek. He left the seating area to enter his office for a few minutes before coming back out with two small presents of his own that he placed in front of Mai and Oliver. Then he sat down to open his gifts.
Oliver grinned before getting up himself and entering his own office. He exited shortly after with more presents that he placed in front of Lin and Mai. Bending down, he kissed Mai's lips before whispering his own thanks. Then he sat down to open his own presents while Mai opened hers.
Opening her senses as she did so, Mai was a little surprised to see Gene standing next to Oliver. She smiled up at him in greeting and mouthed "Merry Christmas."
Gene smiled back and returned the greeting out loud. Both of them knew, she was the only one who could hear him. Even Lin's shiki seemed to be unaware of Gene's presence.