Chapter 10
After preparing some tea for those that requested it, ignoring Naru entirely, the team were preparing to sit down to discuss what little they had to go off and the next steps going forward.
The room had been provided with a large kotatsu, and since the sun had fallen, the room had become a bit chilly. Taking full advantage of the heated area, Mai sat down on one of the many flat cushions, shifting her legs under the blanket after placing the prepared tea on the table, giving a sigh as the warmth seeped into her skin.
After the others noticed her chosen area, murmured agreements were given before everyone starting sitting around the table. Yasu sat on one side of Mai while Bou-san sat on her other side, tea was pored and everyone looked towards Naru who was sitting on an office chair, as was Lin.
Deciding to ignore their seating choice, Naru began the discussion, pointing out a map and floor plan of the building and the surrounding land, pointing out the various hot spots on the property for paranormal activity, most being marked on the map as now having a camera and microphone to monitor for any activity. The topic was bounced back and forth between different team members before Naru addressed the next topic.
"It seems Mai experienced some postcognition earlier", he started, before looking to Mai who explained what she saw.
"It's odd," she said, after finishing her explanation of what she saw, "I've had some odd feelings while I've been here and I wonder if Masako has felt the same-"
Masako cut her off with a laugh, her kimono sleeve coming up to cover her mouth, amusement shining in her eyes.
Narrowing her eyes, Mai centred herself before asking blandly, "What?"
Masako stopped laughing, directing mocking eyes to her. "I'm stronger than you, Mai. Of course I can feel it. Whatever you sense, I sense everything much more… powerfully."
Mai just stared back unamused, before leaning back from the table, giving her a hand gesture to take over, taking a fortifying sip of her tea. She felt Yasu lean slightly into her side, giving her some silent comfort while she heard a muttered, but not so quiet, "rude" from Ayako.
"This place carries great anger and sorrow. It's ingrained very deeply," she said very solemnly behind her kimono sleeve, her eyes directed demurely to Naru. "There is more than one spirit here, but they are hidden, I cannot sense exactly how many."
Naru nodded, making a short note in his black notebook before looking back up.
"Tomorrow we will begin conducting interviews with the staff. Yasuharu and Bou-san will be travelling to the local township to investigate", he concluded, snapping his notebook shut, "That is all".
Everyone began standing and going about their own business, Bou-san muttering something about food while heading directly to the kitchen, Ayako exclaiming in the background "You just ate a cookie! You'll spoil your dinner!"
Reaching her arms above her head in a back cracking stretch, letting out a yawn before looking towards the table. Mai noticed there were two empty cups remaining. Grabbing both and filling them with the still hot tea, Mai stood before walking around the table to the desks.
Placing one on the table beside Lin's computer, he gave her a small smile and a nod before continuing his work.
Looking towards Naru, she saw him already eyeing her and the tea.
Smiling to herself, Mai commented, "What? This is mine", before raising the cup to her lips, her eyes mischievous. Seeing his eyes narrow, Mai rolled her eyes before walking over to him and giving him the cup "Fine, fine".
As she transferred the cup to his hand, her fingers accidentally brushed his. Mai felt an odd hum under her skin when their skin made contact, however, the contact was too brief to focus on, soon leaving her mind altogether.
Bringing the cup to his lips, Naru took a sip before closing his eyes, a sigh exhaling through this nose. When his eyes opened, he looked at ease, his eyes softening slightly from the serious stare he usually wore.
"Thank you," he murmured, his eyes looking into hers.
Quirking her brow in mild astonishment, not acknowledging the small increase in her heart rate, she nodded her head. Turning before moving to the table to sit and grab her own half empty cup, Mai began flipping through one of the files until it was time to eat.
'Get out! GET OUT! GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT-'
Mai woke up with a jolt, staring up at the ceiling, her breathe coming and going in quick gasps, before she started regulating them through her nose.
Waking up in the middle of the night was disorienting. She was confused. Trying to centre her thoughts, Mai remembered the tail end of her dream, of something telling her to get out. It sounded like it was being screamed right next to her ear, she could swear her ears were still ringing.
Taking another deep breath, Mai sat up and took a look around the room. Masako and Ayako were still deeply asleep, their breathing even and calm.
Looking towards the shoji screen that separated the boys from the girls, Mai saw and heard nothing from their side.
Feeling a shiver run down her spine, Mai realized how cold it was in the room. Reaching over and grabbing her (Yasu's) hoodie and slipping on some soft ugg boots, Mai went to the main room.
Noticing Lin was awake, she bypassed him, ignoring his curious look and grabbed one of the electric thermometers before walking back to the girls room, taking the temperature there quietly before walking back into the main room and taking the temperature there. There was a significant difference, with the girls' room being much colder.
Chewing her lip in thought, she decided to quickly poke her arm into the boys' room to check the temperature, silently sliding the door open a small amount. Moving her arm out before silently shutting the door, Mai noticed the boys' room temperature was about the same as the main room.
'So it was only our room', she thought to herself in mild confusion. It was Ghosts101 that a drop in temperature was an obvious sign of paranormal activity, and she wasn't surprised that whatever it was, was appearing around the team. What was odd was it was centred in the girls' room.
Walking back over to the desks, Mai grabbed the correct clipboard before making a note of it, adding all three rooms to the sheet with the corresponding temperatures and times.
Turning to look at Lin, she saw him staring at her in question. Passing the clipboard to him in explanation, she walked into the kitchen to make some tea. Walking back in, she grabbed one of the office chairs and parked it next to Lin, passing him a cup of tea.
Seeing the appreciation shine in his eyes, Mai quirked her lips at him before pulling her legs onto the chair and crossing them, finally taking a sip of her tea.
"Mind if I keep you company?" she asked quietly.
He stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, murmuring "Not at all", before tuning back to his computer, setting the clipboard aside.
Staring briefly at the wall in thought, Mai turned to the other computer to check the recordings, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Deciding she had nothing better to do since sleep seemed to evade her right now, she grabbed one of Naru's many non-fiction books lying around, (ESP and Psychokinesis: A Philosophical Examination).
Standing up, Mai walked over to the kotatsu before crawling under the blanket, laying down on one of the large, flat pillows. Sipping her tea and reading the book with the background noise of Lin typing and sipping tea became a soothing lullaby. Eventually, she felt herself begin to nod off after only reading a chapter (Conceptual foundations to ESP - Clairvoyance), snuggled beneath the warmth of the blanket and nestled on the soft pillow, before a calm came over her mind and she drifted off.
Authors Note: Hi Guys, thank you to the few people that reviewed my last chapter: Uh no thanks, Hyuuga Senpai, celtyin, beffypoo. It did kind of break my heart a little to see so little reviews, so please review, it does keep me updating. I really lose encouragement if I don't know if you like it, so please do me the favour of reviewing! I'd really love to hear your thoughts.
Have a lovely New Years!