Auntie looked horrified at that thought while Uncle and Lin contemplated deeply on the matter.
"Martin! Madoka! They are far too young to participate in something so dangerous!" Auntie protested.
"It will be fine, Professor Luella." Madoka explained, "It would be so much easier to teach them in the field rather than at the lab. Besides, Lin will be attending this one as well, so the children will be in good hands."
Auntie Luella contemplated for a moment, then she relented. "Alright. But, Lin you must promise me you will keep my children safe." She said as she looked Lin dead in his eyes for assurance.
"I assure you, Professor, that I will keep the children safe at the cost of my own life, if I must." Lin reassured her, meeting her gaze.
Auntie tore her eyes from Lin and reluctantly agreed, "Alright." She turned to Gene, Naru, and me, knelt down to our eye level, and announced, "Children, you will join Madoka and Lin tomorrow for a case."
"Yes. Lin will pick you three up in the morning and bring over to the client's home." Modaka explained, "They've to us regarding a suspected haunting in their home. We will be arriving tomorrow morning with the equipment that other field team members that have determined we would need in the company van."
"Do we have some basic information regarding the supposed haunting?" Naru asked studiously, opening his notebook to take notes.
"Why don't we all discuss this after dinner together?" Uncle suspended our conversation.
"That's a great idea!" Madoka agreed. "Why don't we go home to freshen ourselves up, then head over to The Oak Bistro for dinner and I'll give the children all the details." She suggested. We all nodded in agreement and began heading out. We went home with Uncle and Auntie while Lin drove Madoka home. Naru wanted to take a shower while Gene decided to just change his clothes. I wanted to clean myself up, so I took a shower too. When I got out, I found a beautiful sapphire dress waiting for me on my bed with a note from Auntie Luella.
Dearest Mai,
I am deeply sorry, my darling. I know you three had a long day today. I never wanted you all to be involved with our research at such a young age. Nor, did I ever want to involve you three in field work until you were much older. I am sure your parents would be quite worried and proud of you as I am. I had been planning to give you this dress for a while; you mother and I had picked it out for you together before her accident. I hope that you'll love this dress as much as she had thought you would.
~ Auntie Luella
I hugged the note to my chess and tears escaped from my eyes. This is the first time I've cried since my mother had passed. I hadn't really had time to think about mom since her accident. Auntie and Uncle had managed to arrange for mom to be sent back to Japan and be buried with dad while they filed paperwork to adopt me, but I haven't had any time to go see her and dad. I wiped the tears from my eyes and slipped on the dress with a pair of matching shoes that I had assumed Auntie prepared as well. I checked myself in the bathroom mirror to make sure no one could tell that I cried. I splashed some cold water on my face to cool my eyes and cheeks down so they wouldn't get too puffy and headed to the living room. Everyone was just about ready to head out; Auntie wore an elegant, light yellow summer dress with a white cardigan and Uncle, Gene, and Naru all wore a white button down shirt, a blazer, and black dress pants.
"You look so beautiful, Mai." Auntie patted my head as she appraised me, "Here. The final touch to this beautiful ensemble." She said, clipping my hair with a barrette. I looked into the living room mirror to see an intricate sapphire crystal hair clip holding my bangs back from my face. It was so beautiful that I had to touch it to make sure it was real.
"Stare any longer and you'll turn into Narcissus." Naru said flatly.
I turned from the mirror to glare at him. "You're one to talk." I said sarcastically. "You're always going on and on about how smart and wonderful you are compared to everyone else." I shot back.
"Alright, children! Let's head to dinner." Uncle Martin interrupted us before our tiff could gain momentum and we headed out the door. The bistro was very elegant and quaint; it truly represented the image of England. Lin, Uncle, and the boys reminded me of adelie penguins; their black and white outfits were a perfect match to the adelie's feather pattern. Madoka wore a mauve, sleeveless sheath dress that complimented her barely tamed pink hair perfectly. We got seated quite easily and ordered our food.
"So, may I hear the details of the hauntings, now?" Naru asked bluntly while we were waiting for our dinner to be served.
"Of course!" Madoka delightfully answered. "The client came to us regarding a possible haunting in their home which included knocking on the walls, barking despite the family having no dogs in the home, and some of their family members suffering scratches and dog-like bite marks." She continued, "Upon research, it seems like this family is not the first of their relatives to have experienced these instances. After interviewing them further, it seems like while they lived in the home, they would experience a pattern of financial prosperity. At its peak, the family will slowly decline financially and in mental and physical health until eventually they meet an untimely end, all appearing to be bitten to death by some sort of canine - likely a dog."
"A pattern of financial incline and decline, a dog tormenting you until it kills you, and all the victims are familially linked… Doesn't that sound like an inugami's curse?" I wondered out loud. Everyone turned to stare at me like I grew two heads. "What? Did I say something wrong?" I shrunk back at their intense gaze.
"Lin, what is your opinion on this?" Uncle turned to Lin for his thoughts on my observation.
Lin began, "Well, historically speaking, inugamis are quite rare due to the cruelty needed in their creation and their uncontrollable tendency to 'bite-the-hand-that-feeds-them', so to speak and it has been years since an inugami had been recorded." He continued as the waiter served our meal, "I will not go into further detail of how they are created for the sake of having a somewhat pleasant dinner. They are generally located in east asia; it is quite unheard of to find one this far from Japan. The incidents match other historical reports of other people who have been inflicted by inugami's curse. I will know more once I am there to assess the situation and perhaps the children can provide some insight with their latent abilities."
Uncle nodded at Lin's assessment, "Yes, I see…" he trailed off. "Well, in that case, there is no need for further discussion on this topic, so let's all enjoy dinner." He suggested, so we all dug into our dinner.
Auntie woke us up early today, not that we could sleep. We were too excited to get a good night's rest so Gene dragged his feet more than usual at breakfast. Auntie was chiding him throughout breakfast for nodding off instead of finishing his meal; I quickly scarfed down my food while Naru leisurely ate his meal. Lin and Madoka joined us for breakfast today and we headed out once Naru, Gene, and I cleaned our selves up after our meal. Lin was absolutely silent on our ride to the client's home; Gene and I drifted in and out of sleep while Madoka and Naru maintained a deep conversation on female latent psychics causing poltergeists impacting cases, use night vision cameras during cases despite ghosts dislike technology, etc. I lost track of the conversation as I slept through the last half of the ride.
"Wow!" I gasped in awe of the mansion in front of me; it was even larger than Uncle and Auntie's house and I thought that was large. The manor looked like a castle out of a fairy tale on the outside. I walked through the threshold and was greeted by a black little puppy at my feet, wagging its tail. "Hi, puppy!" I exclaimed, extending my hand to pet it. Before I could even reach down to touch it, it disappeared.
"What are you doing, Mai?" Lin asked. Everyone stared at me confused except for Gene. he wore a complicated look on his face, like he was trying to figure something out.
"I was trying to pet the puppy." I answered, confused by everyone's reaction, "It was right there by my feet!".
"Mai, honey, what puppy?" Madoka gently asked, "Did you see a puppy?"
"But there was a puppy right there…" I trailed off, confused by the disappearing puppy and by Madoka and Lin's questions.
"Mai, there was nothing at your feet." Naru said flatly.
MissTurtleGurl: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed chapter 6 of So Stupid. What is the connection between the puppy and case, I wonder? I will be back with chapter 7 next week if I can keep my roll going. I have 3 final projects coming up this month so a short hiatus may be coming. I will do my best to write faster in case I do go on hiatus, so won't leave everyone waiting too long. Please continue to support So Stupid by reading, reviewing, and follow/favoriting it. Please tell me what you think about my work by leaving me a review.