Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!
"Your brother? Isn't Ryou-san your brother?"
"He is," said Mai slowly. "Shin-nii was-was my other brother. My step-brother. I-I don't know how I forgot."
"Step-brother?"
But it was Madoka who answered. "Mai's father-Taniyama-san," she emphasized, since Mai didn't seem to recall the truth of her biological father, "adopted a teenage boy a few years before marrying Mai's mother. The boy was eleven when he was adopted. Mai and her sister weren't born yet, and Ryou-kun would have been around three or so. His name was Shin. Konata Shin."
"What happened to him?" asked Naru. If he was indeed the dark entity, or at least one of them, then that meant he was dead. And considering Mai's outburst, it couldn't be good.
"Mai?"
"You-you can tell them," said Mai. "It's okay. It's-it's related to the case, so everyone needs to know." She was still clinging to Naru, her face half buried in his chest, though she didn't seem to notice.
Taking her up on it, Madoka nodded, accepting the notes Yasuhara handed her. "There was an...incident when Mai was four," she said. "This was before the one with her father and Ryou-kun, mind you, so they were still alive.
"According to a couple of newspaper articles, Mai, May, and Ryou were playing outside in their yard. Ryou claimed they were playing hide-and-seek, and Mai, who was meant to be seeking, suddenly disappeared. She'd been kidnapped-grabbed from the curb while she searched for her siblings."
No one said a word, and so Madoka just continued.
"There were a couple of witnesses who claimed they'd seen a teenage boy lurking around the area at the time of the kidnapping. Of course, and unfortunately, suspicion fell on Shin, who was sixteen at the time.
"Shin was questioned, but refused any wrongdoing. He said his siblings were playing and he was meant to be watching them. He said he got distracted for just a few seconds, and when he looked back, it was already too late. Apparently the police were under the impression that he had done it for attention or money, or maybe he was jealous of having to contend with three younger siblings all of a sudden."
She didn't have to add what she meant by 'sudden'. The others quickly understood that this would have been after Mai's mother married again, which meant Shin would have gone from being an only child, to having three younger siblings in just a few short months.
"What about an alibi?" asked John. "For Shin-san?"
Madoka nodded. "His alibi was confirmed by Ryou and May-they both said Shin was watching them, which he always did when they played outside. The police seemed to decide this wasn't good enough, and that they were only saying that to protect him. The police also claimed that Shin was uncooperative, even though everything else states otherwise."
Bou-san crossed his arms. "Seems like they just wanted to pin it on him and call it a day."
"Yeah," said Madoka, agreeing and also clearly trying to remain professional. "Shin grew angered by the continued suspicion on him, and realizing the police had no real intention to investigate, he tried doing so himself."
"Did he succeed?"
"He did. He found and rescued Mai, but was-was shot as they made their escape. The kidnapper escaped as well and still hasn't been identified, and Shin died of blood loss."
"I was checked over at the hospital after," said Mai, pulling herself away from Naru, eyes downcast. "Even though it had only just happened, I had already forgotten it all. I didn't remember until now."
"Trauma based amnesia," said Ayako. "The mind seals away select memories to protect itself from the pain of trauma."
"I guess...hearing his voice again all this time later brought it all back," said Mai quietly.
How was it, they wondered, that Mai had been through so much trauma in her short life? She was only eighteen, and had faced more death than many others faced over a lifetime. But again and again it happened to her. It was almost ironic that she had ended up joining SPR, all things considered.
How did Mai still manage to keep smiling…?
That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!