Three hours later Mai, John, Kyan, and Ren were walking to the church just down the road. Mai dropped the children off with a goodbye and a few tears. Then she and John were off to a bar just a couple blocks away where John had set up the meeting.
When Mai and John got there they were the first. Reservations had been made by John and so the two sat at their assigned table and ordered each a cup of green tea.
Ten minutes passed, then twenty. The first of the old SPR members came at the twenty five minute mark. Matsusaki, Ayako; and Houshou, Takigawa walked through the doors, spotted their friends, and, arm in arm, walked to the table. Their faces showed surprise when they saw Mai sitting at the table with John.
"Well isn't this a surprise? Where have you been hiding all these years, Mai?" Ayako asked, not for once thinking about the fact that Mai was eyeing the bright golden ring around her left ring finger.
"I've been around. I think the more important news is that." Mai said, pointing to the rings on both Ayako and Takigawa's fingers.
"Well this stubborn fool finally took a chance after you left, the engagement just happened last week." Ayako answered with a smile. Takigawa, on the other hand, blushed.
"Well isn't that great. What did you do, knock her up Bou-san?" Mai asked jokingly. With just the three there she felt ok and safe. In fact, with just those three she felt she could be herself and not have to worry about a slip up of the tongue.
"Very funny Mai-chan, but last I looked weren't you too young to be making sex jokes?" Bou snidely remarked back.
"For your information, I'm twenty one now thank you very much. And besides-" But Mai never got to finish her sentence. The next person to step through the door silenced her like death itself.
Shibuya, Kazuya (more formerly known as Naru) walked over to the table with his assistant, Koujo, Lin. If he had even noticed that Mai was there, he didn't show any surprise. Just like the old Naru the team knew, he instantly went into talking about business.
"So as you all know, I had John set this meeting up so as to talk to you all. I assumed he had contact with everyone of you," Naru scanned the team that was there then let his eyes linger on Mai for a split second longer than everyone else before looking away, "And so we are all here to talk about the investigation."
"Before we get started," Ayako cut in, "Why aren't Yasuhara and Masako here?" Naru glared at Ayako like she had brought up something he did not want to talk about.
"Yasuhara is at college, he will be working from the extensive library at Tokyo University, feeding us information we cannot get. And Hara-san… well she won't be joining us until way later due to her new movie filming in America."
No more questions were asked of the two and Bou spoke up, "Yea yea, cut to the chase. Tell us the problem then let us drink." he said holding up a small cup of sake and almost taking a sip before Ayako nudged him, causing him to spill.
"As I was saying, a hot spring two hours away has been having problems. It seems that any happy family that goes there is the target. Usually there are two kids, a mother, and a father. The pattern is this. The kids get in a fight over the only towel left by the spring. One kid will get angry, push the other, causing them to slip on the wet rock and crack their head open. Hours later the crying is heard and the mother and father will run to the alive child to find the other dead from blood loss. That night the parents get in a fight over the child's safety and the father stabs the mother. The alive child witness' this and so runs away towards the hot spring so his father will not find him. But, the father finds the kid, holds their head under the water until they die. It seems that the entire family gets possessed and at the point where the final child drowns the father becomes un-possessed and then either checks out or kills himself." A pause filled the air. Naru was just about to continue when Mai spoke up for the first time.
"How many families has this happened to? Maybe it was just a-"
"It was not a coincidence Taniyama-san." Naru butted in before Mai could finish her sentence. "This has happened with ten different families over the past year. It also seems that the guests have seen forms of children playing in the mist at night, but there is no one out there."
It was quiet until Lin spoke up, "I know this sounds dangerous, but there are no families in this group and so we thought it may be best to call you all together one more time for this investigation."
It was quiet as they all thought. Mai's mind played the whole scene in her head only with her and her children. The investigations usually took a week when they were an hour or more away and Mai did not want the burden of her kids on the pastor shoulders for that long.
"We'll help," Ayako answered for her and Bou. John nodded to agree with the others and then all turned to Mai. Her face began to flush with a sharp tint of red.
"I-I don't know if I can get the time off my job," She said desperately.
"If I assume right, Taniyama-san, you just came back, you probably do not even have a job. So unless you are hiding something from us then I would expect you to show up." Naru looked straight at Mai, his face never showing on emotion.
"I- um… I guess I can come then." Giving up hope fast Mai just said whatever she could to get Naru to look away. Satisfied, Naru did look away.
Mai's heart had been pounding ever since Naru had walked through the door. And when he had called her Taniyama-san instead of Mai it had felt in her heart as if she had been stabbed and all of her breath had been taken away.
"Now that all the work is settled, let us drink!" Bou said out loud, holding up his second attempt to drink a shot of sake. This time Ayako did not hit him and make him spill his precious drink all over the place.
Everything was going merry until Mai remembered her children at the church. Already she had been gone from them for two hours and she felt like a horrible mother.
Mai stood up right whenever Bou was going to make a drunken statement about his and Ayako's wedding. "I'm sorry guys, but I really need to run. There are some things I need to take care of."
Before she could make it out the door Naru called to her from where he sat, "Taniyama-san?"
"Yes?" Mai asked, turning around.
"We will leave tomorrow at ten A.M. Do not be late."
Mai half smiled. It was just like the old days, only on this case she would have to worry about two little followers that she would have to make sure stayed out of trouble.
The next day Mai packed the bags for her, Kyan, and Ren. The night before when she had picked them up Mai had asked the pastor at the church if he could watch them while she was out of town on work. It pained her to think about this option, but Mai knew it was better to leave her kids in the care of someone who John trusted than to take them to a haunted spring.
"Oka-san? How long will you be gone?" Kyan tugged on Mai's pants leg, looking up with begging eyes.
Mai knelt to be at her son's eye level and answered his question, "Only about one week. So I need you to be on your best behavior until then alright?"
"Yep!" Kyan shouted out then smiled and ran back to where Ren was playing with some toys. Mai pulled herself into a standing position and watched her children play for the last time for a week. She kept telling herself that it was really only going to be a week, and if it was longer then she would just quite.
"Okay, Ren, Kyan, its time to go. Grab your bags and come meet me at the door. Mai yelled to the open apartment while sliding on her shoes.
In an instant the twins were there with three duffle bags each. Mai smiled, she knew that only one bag contained their clothes. The other two bags probably had toys in them that John had gotten before they had moved in.
"Guys," Mai said, putting her hands on her hips, "Only one duffle bag of toys for the both of you to share, alright? I told you that last night,"
"But Oka-san! Ren doesn't have the same toys as me!"
"And Kyan doesn't have the same toys as me!" Ren complained, making sure to stomp her foot for emphasis. Mai had to admit, no matter how much Ren took after her father, she was still a kid. This made a smile lighten Mai's face.
"You can only take one bag for the both of you. I said it before and I'm not going to say it again."
Both kids looked heart broken, but complied to their mother's wishes and walked back to the living room, leaving behind three bags and coming back with one for their toys.
"Ready to go now?" Mai asked optimistically.
"Yea!" They jumped up and down as Mai closed and locked the door, her own duffle bag in her hands. Quickly, Mai put the keys in her purse then walked down the street with her children.
The walk to the church took longer without John's help to make sure the kids did not get in trouble. But Mai made it without much delay. Too bad she had always been bad with time management. The clock at the church showed the time to be nine forty and it was a thirty minute train ride to get to the SPR office.
"Ok, Kyan, make sure to not cause too much trouble. Ren, do not try to be controlling. Be good and stay safe." Mai gave the short speech to her kids then turned to the pastor, "Thank you for taking care of them."
The pastor looked at Mai with a wise expression, "Anything for a friend of John's,"
Mai smiled one last time then kissed her kids goodbye. They smiled at her smiling face and hugged her one last time. This would be the first time the mother and her kids would be apart since they had been born.
And so, with the parting goodbyes past, Mai turned and hurried off to SPR's office, wondering how the investigation would go and after it was over how she would hide her largest secret from the team.
Thank you to all my readers! I loved reading the reviews! Its great to know that my story is loved by more than my just close friends. Keep reviewing please, I love to hear feedback. And if there is anything you think might make the story better please just tell me.
Just a heads up, with all the work I have nowadays it might take more than a day to get out each chapter. But don't loose hope, I will get out the next chapter soon.