Chapter 12
Waking up felt jarring. Mai immediately knew it was not a natural waking. Something was wrong. She had to get up.
Get up.
Staring up at the roof of the girls' bedroom, Mai turned her head and peered over at Ayako and Masako, who were sound asleep.
But something was wrong. Something was going to happen.
Squinting her eyes at the two, Mai could see movement from Masako's bed.
Something was hovering over her.
It had no distinguishable shape or form, just a part of the air that appeared darker and obscured, like an autonomous shadow. Mai could see the sheets on her bed begin to slip from Masako's body, whisper soft and quiet.
Get up!
Mai hastily pushed the sheets away from her body, almost scrambling with the sense of urgency that was overcoming her. She had to get to Masako. Something was going to happen.
Finally slipping free, Mai sprang out of the bed and placed her socked feet on the floor. Having gone to sleep wearing only a thin, oversized shirt and long pyjama pants, Mai immediately felt the unusual cold seep through her clothes, making gooseflesh appear on her arms.
Not even pausing, Mai starting running across the room, a strangled shout leaving her mouth.
"Masako!", she yelled, breaking the dead silence of night, her feet thumping against the ground as she sprinted across the room.
Immediately, things began speeding up uncontrollably. Masako's sheets were suddenly yanked down her body before something grabbed onto her ankle and began dragging her out of the bed. Masako woke then in confusion, her eyes searching before they quickly filled with alarm as the end of the bed approached, a scream finally being pulled from her lips as her hands scrambled to grip her sheets.
Hearing rather than seeing the sliding door slam open with an invisible force, Mai finally reached the other side of the room and dived for Masako's hands with a grunt. Managing to grab both of her hands and planting her feet, they both gripped as much as they could, but it was no use. Whatever had a hold of Masako was too strong.
And it became very clear, very quickly that the spirit did not appreciate the interference.
Feeling the sudden jerk as their speed increased, Mai with all her strength yanked at Masako before falling backwards slightly to wrap her legs around her waist clumsily, guiding Masako's hands around her own waist before letting go.
She was going to need her hands soon.
With Masako screaming in her ear, she could barely make out the sound of Ayako's own panicked scream and the sounds of answering shouts coming from the boys' room as the spirit now dragged them both.
They were hauled swiftly through the room. Mai thanked God as her shirt rode up that the floor was smooth, polished wood and not rough, unforgiving carpet before they reached the doorway,
Feeling the edge of the sliding doorway scrape her back as they flew through it, Mai knew she had to get a hurry on if she wanted to save her back from scraping through another.
Letting go of Masako but keeping her legs wrapped around her, Mai leaned back and began the nine cuts over Masako's head.
"Rin! Pyo! Tou! Sha-", she began, swiping her hand through the air to create the pattern.
However, the spirit caught on quickly as it changed course, swinging them into the kotatsu. Mai curved back over Masako, grunting from the impact but leaned back again and continued on.
"-Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!" She finished in quick succession, putting as much force into her words as she could.
Whatever had hold of Masako's foot let go with a screech of pain and anger. The room seemed to shake with the force of its anger before the spectre disappeared. Mai knew it wasn't gone for good, though.
Seeing the lights turn on and hearing Lin's whistle to summon his shiki, Mai dropped her head onto the unforgiving floor, panting from exhaustion. It felt like the whole act had taken ages, but in reality it had been seconds. Turning her head, she watched as everyone ran towards them as they all shouted in confusion. Well, everyone but Naru and Lin.
Unwrapping herself from around Masako, Mai sat up and looked towards Masako.
"Are you okay?", she asked in concern.
Still blinking in shock, Masako remained laying on the ground in shock as everyone crowded among them, but Mai heard her murmur "It was a woman".
"Mai! Are you okay?" Ayako asked as she crouched by her side, lightly touching her head.
"I'm fine. Check Masako", she said, thinking Masako might be in shock. Ayako nodded before moving to check on Masako as Bou-san came to kneel by her side, his hand gently ruffling her hair while he wore a concerned look.
Waving off more concerned queries, Mai explained what happened.
"It was furious," She finished as Ayako sat Masako on the couch with a cup of tea.
"Hara-san", Naru began, "What could you sense from the entity?"
Masako stared into space, deep in thought, "As Mai said, it was extremely angry. It didn't reveal much else. It won't expose itself. It was just…evil. Dark. It wishes to harm. It's holding a grudge of some sort."
Mai could see the cogs turning in Naru's head, connecting the dots and the facts of the story.
"But", Masako continued, looking uncertain, "The spirit revealed itself for a moment. I believe the spirit is a woman." she murmured, trailing off in thought.
Sighing, Mai knew they had a long night ahead of them and decided she needed a cup of tea if she was expected to stay awake and concentrate. Turning towards the kitchen to make her own cup of tea, she hummed in thought 'I wonder if I brought that Earl Grey Tea blend?'
Barely taking a step, Mai heard Ayako screech, "Mai!"
Turning in startled confusion, Mai looked at her in question.
"Mai, your back! You're bleeding!" she admonished, though she was clearly concerned.
Trying to peer over her shoulder but failing, Mai turned her back towards the mirror across the room and let out an "Oh", realising the wetness on her back wasn't sweat, but blood.
Mai became increasingly aware of the pain radiating from her back as Ayako grabbed her and sat her in one of the office chairs, making her straddle the chair backwards.
Lifting her shirt while Mai remained pressed to the chair so her shirt didn't rise anymore than necessary, she heard Ayako let out a sigh.
"Oh, Mai…", Ayako murmured.
Peering over her shoulder, Mai explained quietly to her, "I think I scraped it on the sliding door runner when it dragged us out".
As Ayako went to fetch the first aid kit, she saw the group stealing glances in her general direction. Noticing Naru absence, she looked around before jumping slightly noticing Naru standing, arms crossed, on the other side of her chair.
Raising an eyebrow at him, his face seemed to darken. Now that she thought about it, he looked particularly furious. His eyes seemed to shine with his anger; she could feel his power vibrating around him, feeling her skin prickle at the sensation.
"What's wrong?", she asked in confusion, twirling her chair around to look at him directly.
Somehow, his eyes seemed to narrow further before he seemed to deflate, one of his hands lifting to rub at his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose.
"How," He began, "is it that you always somehow manage to attract danger?", he asked in exasperation.
Feeling an old embarrassment bubble up, which quickly turned into offence, Mai replied, "It wasn't me this time! It went for Masako!"
"And yet, you're the one who comes out damaged", he countered as he gestured towards her back.
"Oh, so should I have let it happen?" she countered, "Stand still and call for help while Masako gets dragged away?"
"Yes", he hissed.
"Then you don't know me very well!", she hissed back, glaring up into his eyes while he looked down his nose at her. Mai felt her irritation grow at always being the one looking up while he looked down at her from his large six-foot frame.
Asshole.
Hearing a voice clear behind them, she realised they had steadily been leaning towards one another as they argued, nearly coming nose to nose as they faced off.
Huffing, Mai leaned away before twirling her chair away from Naru, letting Ayako tend to her back while also accomplishing removing Naru from her sight.
Leaning her head on her hands that were resting on the back of the chair, Mai heard Ayako warn her to expect a sting. Closing her eyes, she heard footsteps in front of her. Opening her eyes, she saw Lin come to crouch in front of her, his head the same height as hers since he was so tall to begin with.
Seeing him sigh slightly through his nose as he gazed at her, he came to rest a hand on top of hers that was gripping the chair. Hissing as she felt Ayako begin to clean her back, she gripped his hand back.
"I'm not a child," she whispered, not looking him in the eye, but gripped his hand a tad more.
Seeing his lips twitch from where she was staring at his chin, he didn't reply, just sat quietly as Ayako worked.
Turning her head to the side, she could see Bou-san and Yasu gazing at them with small smiles and soft eyes. Huffing, Mai turned her head back.
Sometime after Ayako has finished disinfecting the wound, Mai closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Realising she must have dozed off as she felt herself being shaken by her shoulder, she looked up dazed to see Ayako motioning for her to stand. Awkwardly manoeuvring off the chair, Ayako gripped her hand and pulled her towards their room.
"I'll be writing a scathing review on yelp about the hospitality of these spirits", Mai muttered to Ayako, who chuckled in reply.
As Ayako helped her change into a blood free shirt, Mai noticed one of Lin's shiki swirling above her bed, while another hovered over the other two. Lying down, Mai reached up and ran her fingers tips gently over the ball of light, feeling a tingling warmth erupt from it. Smiling and silently thanking Lin as she felt safety wrap around her, she was barely awake to see the shiki come to rest on the hand resting by her face before she fell asleep for the third time that night.
Hello my loves. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Let me know what you think. The more reviews, the faster I update 'cause I get all excited and write a lot more as a result! Let's aim for at least 20 reviews!
Thank you to everyone who reviewed last time; you are stars! So thanks to Yuuko, Hannah, Macel, ElizaKaz, Guest, Uh no thanks, Hyuuga Senpai, LukaLover, jhamerter, LoveLessLover6, Rebecca dawn hughes, vampgirl1309 for reviewing.