When Mai came around again she was laying on her couch with a cold cloth on her forehead. She sat up slowly, pulling the cloth away and unerringly her eyes sought out Satoru who stood at her feet. She tried to shove the knowledge that her parents had been murdered into the back of her mind where she didn't have to think about it.

She needed a distraction so she could not think about it for a little while and her eyes drifted to Satoru again.

She didn't know if she really thought she believed the spirit man about being a Shaman, but learning would give her that distraction she wanted. "Why didn't any of those Shaman abilities show up earlier if I am one?"

Satoru recognized what she was doing and allowed it as he answered "They have been, but without anyone to help you channel and learn about your skills they flared wildly and manifested differently then they may have with guidance." He smirked a little. "That spirit that has been with you for so long? That was the first sign of your abilities manifesting. Didn't you wonder why it chose you out of all the people it could have? With all the different spiritually aware people surrounding you including a skilled Medium? Spirits are drawn to Shamans instinctively. Like I mentioned earlier, Shamans are meant to help spirits move on. Spirits don't always understand why they may be drawn to a person like that, but instinctively they understand that as a Shaman you can do something for them and will therefore try to communicate with you before anyone else."

Satoru paused for a moment before continuing. "Didn't you wonder why it was always you that ended up in trouble? The spirits reached for you first. Tried to communicate with you though with no training this probably didn't work too well manifesting as a Memory Bleed- which means you lived through the spirits' experiences as if you were there and would wake up feeling as if whatever you had seen had happened to you, yes? It may have also made the spirit angry that you seemingly couldn't do something for it when it thought that you could."

Mai knew her mouth was hanging open again, but she couldn't help it. Satoru was explaining a lot of things to her. She had wondered why she was always the one to get into trouble, why she had lived through all those visions as if she were present at the time they happened. "How…how did you know about Gene and Masako?" She remembered the comments made by the others about her instincts. "Is that why my instincts were always so accurate?"

Satoru smiled "Gene is the spirit I assume? I told you earlier that I've been looking for you since I pulled you out of the fire. I had to take time to recuperate after I forced a manifestation that allowed me to interact with you since I didn't have any Shaman's Spirit Energy to help me recuperate shortly after I set you down. By the time I managed to gather enough energy to look for you a few days later you were gone and another spirit had attached itself to you and shielded you from me so I had to wait for the spirit to leave before I could find you again. As for Masako- the Medium- most powerful spirits can sense them- Mediums have a certain 'feel' to them and I can feel that you have been around one quite a bit recently. Your instincts are a part of your Shaman abilities trying to manifest without training or guidance yes. The very first Shaman in your family was a monk who had Spirit Energy that he was using instinctively to help where he could and was spotted by a trained Shaman who took him under her wing. Shamans have to have instincts that tell them if a spirits is alright, if it's dangerous or beyond help so they know what to do with them- if the Shaman should help it move on, seal it, or fight it."

Mai stared at her feet.

This explained so much, but…how could she possibly be something like a Shaman? She was just Mai. The girl who followed her instincts and made tea and tripped head first into trouble without trying before managing to get out of it somehow. She wasn't special. She never had been.

But Satoru was telling her she was. Was telling her that she was part of something bigger something amazing and old. Something her parents had done.

She didn't really think anything would come out of it, but…she wanted this.

She wanted it to be real.

She wanted to learn something her parents had learned, wanted to help spirits, wanted to prevent some of the things she had seen working for the SPR. That didn't mean she really thought anything would come from it, but she did know she had some form of ability even if she didn't believe it was these Shaman abilities Satoru said she had.

She lifted her head, resolved to at least listen to him if nothing else and asked the question that would begin a new chapter in her life "What can you tell me about my family?"