"Good morning, my little darling!" I heard a familiar, enthusiastic voice calling out, following three raps at the door, "Please come down for breakfast!" I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom. I decided to take a quick shower this morning, too, to wash away my grogginess. I couldn't decide if I should dress casually or more professionally, so I just threw on a dress to be on the safe side. I put on my best smile and hopped down the stairs to breakfast. To my surprise, I was the last one to arrive, even Gene was there waiting to eat breakfast. I quickly sat down and began eating.
"Good Morning, Mai." Uncle Martin greeted me. "Are you excited to come to work with me today?" He teased, "What about you two: Naru, Gene?"
"Will we be going to the University or directly to the research facility?" Naru asked straightforwardly.
"We will head straight over to the facility from, but I have a lecture to give today around afternoon tea, so you three could come over to the University or Luella could take you guys home first." Uncle Martin explained, then he asked, "So, would you three prefer to head home right after your training today or would you like to join me at the University today and hear my lecture?"
We weighed our options for a moment and we answered unanimously, "We want to hear the lecture!"
Auntie Luella and Uncle Martin laughed at our enthusiasm, "Okay. Okay. We understand." Auntie Luella chuckled again, "Finish your breakfasts first; then we will head out." We wolfed down our breakfast as fast as humanly possible; then, we ran up stairs to get ready. We brought our backpacks and some notebooks for Uncle Martin's lecture later and headed out the door.
The facility was really cool and scary at the same time. Rooms were set up with different tests to measure Naru's psychokinesis and some were also set up to test Gene and my E.S.P. They were painted white like the ones from the movies and, like the movies, they were wired with cameras from every direction pointing at the testing site. I found it kind of unsettling; it felt a little like we were test subjects. Naru and Gene felt me tense; Naru pat me on the back and Gene pet me on the head to ease my tension.
"Aw! That's so adorable!" A young lady with pink curly hair exclaimed.
"Madoka!" A flustered Lin came running after the pink haired lady. "You can go running off like that!" He chidded her.
"But I was so excited to meet them!" She pouted. A faint blush rose on Lin's face; it was a sight to behold, seeing the usual stoic and indifferent Lin blush. The pink haired lady turned to us and introduced herself in Japanese, "Hello children, my name is Modaka Mori; from today, I will also be your teacher alongside Lin." She added with a giggle, "Oh! And, by the way, I am also Lin's girlfriend!"
I paused to process everything she had said and I blushed at her last comment. "Um… It's nice to meet you. My name is Mai." I introduced myself sheepishly.
"My name is Gene!" Gene excitedly announced, "And my brother Naru!" He continued to chatter away, "I am quite surprised that you and stone-faced Lin would ever be a couple, but, you know what they say, opposites attract." Gene prattling drowned out any sense of dread that I had being in this cold research facility.
"Ok! That's enough!" Lin declared, "It's time for your lessons." he swiftly turned his back to us and walked towards the first room in the hallway. We followed after him to the room. There was a spoon, a dice, a rat in an acrylic case, a box connected to a laptop, a deck of cards, and many more tests for all three of us. "We will test your three individually as a formality and then we will begin your training to maximize the use of your abilities." Lin informed us.
"We will start with the diagnostic tests today and begin your lessons in using your abilities tomorrow." Madoka added, "I hope you three are excited about 'ghost hunting' because you three will be training under me starting tomorrow as well." Naru went first, then Gene, and I went last. The test confirmed my assumptions on Naru's abilities. He was easily able to bend the spoon; Gene wanted to assist him when Lin rolled the dice and told Naru to will a "five" one hundred times in a row, but Naru felt it was unnecessary for a demonstration so small. Gene monitored Naru's behavior closely after our tests.
"Why are you watching Naru so closely?" I asked as we walked with Lin and Auntie Luella to the car.
"Sometimes, when Naru uses too much power, he gets really sick; his body can't keep up with it." Gene explained, "That's why he needs me."
"I see…" was all I could say. I could never even come close to understanding the bond that they share. They do so much for each other that I want to, somehow, do something for them. I ran over to Lin and tugged on his sleeve.
"What is it?" he asked, looking down at me. I ran through many scenarios in my head on how to ask him, but I could never come up with the perfect way to ask.
"Will you…" I began, "Will you train me to become an onmyoji like you Lin?" A complicated look flashed across his face before he composed himself. I continued, "I want to be able to protect myself and Naru and Gene!"
Lin chuckled at my little declaration and patted me on my head. "Ok. Ok. I will teach you." He smiled a little smile and said, "You are my apprentice now, so you need to train extra hard."
"Okay!" I beamed up at him, excited at how soft Lin has been becoming.
Lin drove Auntie, Gene, Naru, me over to the university for Uncle's lecture after lunch. He and Madoka joined us in the audience; apparently, they are Uncle's students and his researchers. They studiously took notes; we tried our best to follow the presentation in its entirety, but the language used was still somewhat advanced for me to fully understand. I mostly followed the lecture through Naru and Gene's notes. Naru gave me a little smirk as I was looking through his notes for the parts I didn't understand. I kicked him under the table and continued to flip through his notes; I took notes of his notes and I handed him his notebook back.
He grabbed his notebook and laid it on my head. "Your brain is so empty, you may be able to absorb all this knowledge through osmosis." He chuckled after the lecture was over. I took his notebook and ran down the aisle to the podium where Uncle was waiting for us.
"What are you two doing?" Uncle chuckled at me speeding down the aisle with Naru at my heel.
"Careful, children! You'll hurt yourselves!" Auntie warned. She was getting a lot better at speaking japanese. She now speaks to us mostly in japanese.
I hid myself behind Uncle Martin with Naru's notebook. "Give it back, Mai!" Naru ordered.
"You gave it to me, so it's mine now!" I retorted, still using Uncle as a barrier between me and Naru.
"I said you could absorb the knowledge through osmosis, not that you could have the notebook!" He shouted back as he reached to grab the notebook from my hands.
"Ok. That's enough children." Uncle reached down to pat us on the head. He gently plucked the notebook from my hands and said, "Mai, you know better than to take someone else's things." He then handed the notebook to Naru and said, "Naru, you have to be nice to Mai. Okay?"
"Okay…" Naru and I grumbled in unison.
"Alright! Now that you two have made up, I have an announcement to make." Madoka skipped down the aisle to where we all stood. "I have a little case that I think would be beneficial for the children to participate in."
MissTurtleGurl: Hello, again, everyone! I am quite happy to bring everyone chapter 5 of So Stupid. I promise not to go on hiatus again for another 3 years after this. I will be back with chapter 6 in about a week or so. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review and/or follow/favoriting So Stupid, and if you had already done that, please continue to do so.