I've been inspired !
Tuesday, 11.11
Mai sat next to Gene in the back seat of the van. She found herself lost somewhere between the excitement of her first official case and the sadness she felt for her former classmate. She smoothed out her black skirt and let out a small sigh. It took a lot of persuasion, but between she and Gene they convinced Naru to leave an hour later than planned so they could attend Reo's funeral service along with their classmates.
She rubbed her puffy, red eyes and leaned her head against the window and watched the world around her go by. The busy city of Tokyo slowly turned into a much more suburban area with very little foot traffic. Mai wondered how long the train ride must have been for Reo every day to get to school. She would never get to ask.
The house was a lot larger than Mai had expected. It was very modern and expensive looking, especially for the location it was in. Mai stepped out of the van, glad to be able to finally stretch out her legs without (accidentally) kicking the back of a particular narcissist's seat.
"Mai, come carry this," Naru called from the back on the van and plopped some heavy, and probably extremely expensive, pieces of equipment into her arms. The weight took her by surprise and caused her whole body to almost fall forward, but she quickly regained her balance.
"Of course, Lin, Gene, and I all have our arms full while he is only carrying that stupid black book he brings everywhere," Mai glared daggers into the back of Naru's head, then huffed and readjusted the weight in her arms.
"Do you need any help?" Gene offered her despite having his hands full himself. She asked herself why Naru couldn't have received the same kindness genes as his brother did.
"Oh, no. I'm alright. Thank you," she said with a vibrant smile.
Reo's parents, Mrs. and Mr. Saito stood in front of the doorway and bowed to the group. Naru spoke to them, but Mai was too concentrated on not dropping whatever she was holding in her arms to listen. Quickly, they were let inside and lead to a room with a table, couches, and nothing else.
"I hope this will be acceptable," she heard Mrs. Saito say to Naru. He nodded, "Yes, this will be fine." Lin and Gene made their way over to the far side of the room and placed down their equipment, and Mai followed in suit. Relieved of her weight, she noticed the creases on the box she was carrying was now imprinted brightly red on her arms which she rubbed gently. Now that Mai could focus on something other than the equipment, she noticed something slightly off about Mrs. Saito. She did not look sad, nor happy, but she wore a sort of scowl. She assumed it was because she was skeptic of their group. Her husband was rubbing his arm nervously, but was smiling slightly.
"As you requested, there are also two rooms down the hallway for your sleeping arrangements," Mr. Saito chimed in, "If you need anything please feel free to ask." Naru nodded and bowed slightly. And with that, the couple left the room. Gene and Lin got straight to work assembling, what Mai assumed to be, shelves. Naru opened his black book and began to write something. Unsure of what to do, she walked over to Naru.
"So… what exactly is this?" She asked, motioning to the boxes they carried in and whatever the pair was assembling. Naru closed his book and responded coolly, "This will be the base for our investigation."
"Base?" Mai echoed with a slight intonation.
"The command center for our investigation," he explained looking down at her.
"Oh…" she spoke softly.
"The others will be here shortly," he announced to all those in the room. Gene made a noise in response while Lin stayed rather silent. Naru began to make this way towards the door.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Checking out the property," he replied and left the room.
"Oh, of course he leaves once the physical labor starts," she mumbled underneath her breath. She then walked over to Gene and asked, "What can I do to help?"
A bit later, everything was set up and in its place. Mai marveled at the number of screens and camera's in front of her.
"I wonder what these ones do…" she spoke to herself as she looked at the top shelves that held a few cameras.
"An infrared camera and an ultra-high-sensitivity camera," Mai jumped a bit when she received an unexpected answer and placed a hand over her heart.
"Geez, Naru. You should really make more noise when you walk."
"They are both used to shoot in dark places," he continued, "Thermography is done with cameras that pick-up temperatures. When spirits appear, the temperature where they are drop as a result of them stealing its heat to use as energy in order to manifest themselves. This gauges that," he walked over to inspect the monitors next to Mai.
"It's amazing that you can use all of this stuff," the brunette commented, looking closer at the cameras he just described.
"Mmm, of course I can. My brain works differently than yours," he said nonchalantly. Mai's face dropped at the insult and she looked over at him with dead eyes.
"You don't say," she muttered, "But why of all things did you choose to exterminate ghosts?"
"Because it is needed," he explained while checking a few wires.
"But there have been incidents that you couldn't resolve, right?" she walked over towards him.
"Nope. I am good at this, after all," he replied with a smirk.
"Of course you are…" she sighed. Just when she was about to ask another question, the door opened and a few friendly faces walked it. Mai's eyes lit up as she went to go greet them.
"Oh, Mai! I feel like it's been ages since I've seen you! Geez you look like Naru in all black like that! Don't tell me you've turned goth," Monk picked her up in a bear hug and swung her around.
"Monk- can't- breathe-" Mai gasped out before being abruptly dropped to the ground at the sound of a 'whack.'
"What the hell was that for!" Monk turned to the red hair next to him and coddled the back of his head which was just attacked by Ayako's purse.
"Mai was about to become the ghost we are investigating if you didn't let go of her!" she yelled at him and crossed her arms. Mai laughed awkwardly and moved away from the bickering couple and over to the other two who entered the room.
"Hi, Masako," she greeted the kimono clad girl in her 'I'm on my best behavior' voice.
"Mai," she acknowledged before moving directly passed her in Naru's direction. Mai inwardly growled at the girl but decided not to waste her time on her. She just couldn't be mad after look at the last familiar face.
"Hi John!" she chirped and gave him a small hug.
"It's lovely to see you, Mai!" he smiled back at her.
"How are the children at your church doing? I know you said you were going to see them last time we met," Mai questioned, trying to make small chat.
"They are very happy, and they loved the cookies you gave to me for them!" John's face always lit up when he talked about the children.
"Oh, I'm so glad. You know, I was just thinking that-" Mai was cut short but the sound of a throating being cleared.
"As long as I'm not interrupting anyone's conversation, I would like to begin this case," Naru said coldly, giving the pairs talking a look. Ayako huffed and turned her head. Naru ignored the priestess and opened his book for reference before beginning, "We have been called to investigate a spirit who is believe to be the late Reo Saito. A few of us have had personal connections with Saito in the past; however, we are not to let them affect our work here on this case," he stated with a quick side eye to Mai.
"It's always me," she muttered under her breath. John next to her suppressed a soft laugh.
"The activity described has been things such as cold spots, footsteps, flipped furniture, formation of scratches, and claims of being pushed down the stairs," he closed his book and crossed his arms.
"All typical poltergeist activity," Gene added.
"Poltergeist?" Mai asked.
"The name literally means knocking spirits, and they are generally characterized as mischievous or occasionally malevolent spirits," Gene explained.
"Malevolent… that doesn't sound like Reo," Mai mused the word.
"Idealized poltergeist hauntings will have a focus person, or someone who all the activity seems to surround. Research has found that most of these individuals are usually in a stressful situation of some kind, and are typically female. Our focus person in this case seems to be Mrs. Saito, who also conveniently checks out on these characteristics," Naru concluded, "Takigawa and Matsuzaki, you will be setting up cameras. Hara, please take a walkthrough of the property. Brown will accompany you."
The pairs huffed at their jobs, except for John who is too nice to ever be disappointed, and reluctantly went on their way. Gene turned around and continued to fidget with the wires behind the monitors, while Lin just continued to type away.
"Um, Naru? What should I do?" Mai asked, pointing to herself.
"Tea."
Mai sighed, even on an actual case she is just a coffee - or in this case tea – runner.
"Aye, aye captain," she mumbled and turned to walk out of the base. Once in the hallway, she realized she had absolutely no idea where the kitchen was. On instinct, she took a left down the hall and hoped for the best.
On her way, she couldn't help looking at the pictures on the walls. However, after a couple she was beginning to notice a quite strange trend.
"I wonder why Reo isn't in any of these… maybe he didn't like his picture taken," she shrugged, "he was pretty shy after all…"
Nearing the next hallway, she could hear bickering relatively close by. After coming to the dead-end, her suspicions were correct, and she found Ayako and Monk holding their equipment and arguing over the best angle for the camera.
"If this is wrong, I'm not taking the blame for – Oh, hey Mai," Ayako's attitude made a quick 180. Mai rubbed the back of her neck and walked over to them, feeling as though she definitely just interrupted something.
"Please tell me you've come to switch partners," Monk held her hands in-between his and begged her.
"Don't touch her, you old man!" Ayako whacked him with her bag.
"What do you ever keep in there!" He whimpered and held his arm. Mai couldn't help but laugh, "Will you two just get married already? You act like an old couple!" The pair's faces went beet red and the turned away from one another.
"Like I would ever marry someone like him," Ayako spat.
"Oh yeah? Well I would never marry someone who has so many face wrinkles before 60!" Ayako gasped in a hurt manner.
"How dare you! I pride myself on my perfect skin!"
"Might want to get a new mirror then," he replied wittily.
"Do either of you two know which way the kitchen is?" Mai interrupted their argument, figuring if she wasn't back in a couple of minutes she would be dead meat.
"Right," they both said simultaneously, their backs still turned to one another.
"Hey, at least you agree on one thing! Build on that," Mai patted their backs then walked down the hallway and to the right.
"Did we just get relationship advice from a teenage girl who's in love with her boss?" Monk questioned.
"I think we did."
Mai let out her held breath when she finally arrived in the kitchen. Her new problem was finding the teapot and the tea. After only a moment of searching, she found the pot in the cabinet under the sink and the tea to be conveniently place right next to the stove. While waiting for the water to boil, she finally had a moment to herself. She gazed out the window and noticed that it was dark outside. She gazed over at the clock and was surprised to find that it was already eight o'clock.
"I guess time also flies when you are trapped with your workaholic boss."
Once the tea was finished, she poured it into a cup and began walking back to the base but was stopped by a newly familiar voice.
"I'm sorry, Mai was it?" She turned around and found Mrs. Saito a bit behind her.
"Yes, that's it. Can I help you with anything?" She said with a smile.
"Dinner will be prepared soon. Please tell the rest of your team," she spoke briefly then went on her way.
"Sure…" she said, but she was already too far away to hear it.
Mai was thankful she remembered how to get back to the base. She debated leaving a bread crumb trail to the kitchen, since that's the only place she assumed she would be asked to go on this case. She entered the base and sat the steaming cup next to her boss who was watching as the monitors where slowly coming on one by one. She waited a moment for a 'thank you' but quickly realized it was never coming.
"You can sit and wait until the others have returned from their tasks," Naru said before taking a sip of this tea.
"Okie dokie. Oh, and Mrs. Saito said that dinner would be prepared soon," Mai said as she plopped down on the couch.
"Thank God," Gene said patting his stomach. Mai smiled and leaned over to rest her head on a pillow. Although she didn't feel sleepy, she could feel her eyelids becoming increasingly heavier, and heavier, and heavier…
Until she fell asleep.
Firstly, I want to thank you all for your positive and kind reviews. I sincerely mean it when I say each one brings a joy to my heart and a smile on my face. All of you inspired me so much to write this next case, which I finished the entire outline for today and completed its first chapter! Secondly, I've never truly written a case before, so I fear somethings may end up being a bit confusing. If you ever have any clarity questions, please ask them and in the next chapter I can clarify whatever needs to be! Also, these next few chapters may be slightly lengthy, I hope you don't mind! Third, thank you for being all wonderful readers and for your support for this story. I plan to write as much as humanly possible before I head off for college so I will be able to provide steady updates for you. Lastly, sorry for any grammar/spelling errors in this chapter, I'm currently finishing this at around 3:15AM and my eyes seem to be failing me a bit, lol.
I hope you have a wonderful night/day!
- Lexie
