Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!
Once Ryou and Naru had had enough of trying to verbally murder one another, Ryou finally decided to explain everything he knew.
"Enough of this shit," he said with some irritation, leaning back in his seat. "Yeah, Akira, or Kiyoshi as you guys know him, is our biological father. A year before my death, when I was seven and the twins three, our parents got divorced. Even more surprisingly, mom remarried just a few months later. Can't say I know why that was either. But when that marriage happened, our last names changed to Taniyama. Don't know why that was either. Guess mom thought I was too young to know."
"So, Mai's real surname is Yaoshima…?" asked Ayako attempting to confirm. "And after the second marriage it became Taniyama?"
Ryou gave a nod. "That's right. And yes, it was Akira who killed our family. He killed both our step-father and myself when I was eight, and May and our mom a few years later. I'm not sure why, but I know it was him."
"Is that why you're here then?" asked Bou-san. "You're haunting Hide-no Akira, because he killed you?"
"Fuck yeah I am," said Ryou bitterly. "That bastard was our father. He left us, so mom married someone else. Then, he suddenly comes back and kills off the family? Of course I'm going to haunt him. Do you guys know how much trauma is locked up inside this girl? Inside Mai because of what happened?"
"What do you mean 'locked up'?" said Naru.
Ryou looked over at him. "After I died and before I came here, I watched over my little sisters. You don't know Mai like I do. When it comes to personal things, she'll never admit that she's upset. Instead, she'll lock it away and put on a smile. Mai's bright and cheerful and full of sunshine…but she's dying on the inside."
"Dying?" Ayako repeated with a gasp.
Ryou rolled his eyes. "I don't mean literally dying, y'know. I mean emotionally. She's beginning to reach her limit."
"What can we do to help her?" asked John.
"Not you," said Ryou to the priest. He looked at Naru once more. "You."
Naru blinked. "Me…?"
"Yeah, you," said Ryou in a voice that clearly said he couldn't believe what he was saying. "Mai chose you. She loves you, can't say I understand why, but 'cause of this, you need to be the one to get her to admit that she's still hurting. You're the only one who'll be able to do that."
Though Naru didn't admit it, he was actually quite surprised to hear this. He had not expected it. However, he realized that he agreed, at least to some extent.
"Now, if we go over to the reason why you're all actually here in the first place," said Ryou, rousing everyone's attention. "The dark spirit that's here-I don't know who it is, it's not me and it's not May."
"Where is May-chan anyway?" asked Madoka. "We haven't seen her yet or anything."
"You won't be seeing May anytime soon," said Ryou.
"Why not?"
"She's shy."
"…What?"
"May's shy," Ryou repeated. "She never got along with strangers, and even though she's dead, it's still the same. May and Mai are complete opposites," he explained.
"Ohh…"
"So you absolutely have no idea who this dark entity is?" asked Naru.
Ryou shook his head saying that he didn't. "But it was already here when May and I arrived."
"What do you mean? When exactly did you come here?"
"About a month or so after May died," said Ryou. "The two of us came here together after we made sure Mai would be alright."
"She wasn't alright though," said Yasuhara. "She said her aunt and uncle treated her badly."
Ryou sighed. "I didn't know that they were going to do things like that. If I had, I would've haunted them instead… So anyway, yeah, the dark spirit was already here, and it seemed like it had been around for a while. I think that might be why Akira did what he did."
"What are you talking about?" questioned Naru in faint confusion.
"Our father, Akira, was a really good person. He was the best father in the world. He played with me a lot, and even allowed the twins to draw on his face with markers in public. He was just…the best," said Ryou.
"What happened to him then?" asked Ayako.
"Everything was fine until the day of the incident."
"What incident?" asked Bou-san.
"The incident where Akira-where he got possessed."
That's it for now. Apparently in the end AN for this chapter I mentioned I was working on the M rated version of Candy Cane. Holy shit that took me a long time to write. This AN was probably around the end of December in 2011. I think I finished that mature Candy Cane version in like, 2017? Damn. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!