Epilogue
The hospital was located in the dead of Tokyo City. Mai had been on the train for over four hours in order to get here, and now, she was standing right in front of a hospital room with the words Domjouji Ayami in front of it.
Yasuhara-san blinked at Mai's reluctance and he nodded towards the door. When Mai had announced that she was visiting Ayami today, only Yasuhara-san had volunteered to come with her. Bou-san had snorted and tried to dissuade her from the cause, but Mai was standing here anyway.
The case had officially ended three days ago. S.P.R had officially vacated the house two hours after the ceremony. After Ayami had fainted, they'd called the ambulance and she'd been rushed via helicopter to a private hospital in Tokyo. Mai had been amazed when she'd found out that there had been a helicopter on the way, but it turned out that someone had put it on hold already for Ayami. Lin-san had gotten a confirmation an hour later that told Mai that Ayami was safe. Apparently, she'd just overexerted her body.
"Taniyama-san. Oh, Taniyama-san." Yasuhara-san smiled when Mai turned over to him. "Are we going to go in? You've been looking at this door for awhile."
Mai nodded, waking herself from her thoughts. She forced a smile and rapped her knuckled on the door politely.
"Come in," Ayami called out.
Mai smiled, her mood brightening when she heard the other girl's voice. Ayami still sounded strong and bright, which was definitely a good thing. Mai pushed the door open and she saw a bright, square room pull out in front of her. Brightness spilt out to Mai immediately.
"Large, isn't it?" Ayami's voice laughed. "The last time I saw a hospital room this big, it was in a palliative care unit. Let's just say that I am a little bit worried about my location at the moment." Ayami was sitting on the hospital bed, Touya-san standing dutifully beside her as he poured some water out of a jug for her.
Ayami's smile greeted Mai, but she probably hadn't expected Yasuhara-san though, because when she saw him, a slight flicker of surprise passed through her eyes. Mai noticed that after they'd found out about Ayami being a blue-blooded psychic, she'd been a lot less guarded about her expressions.
"Domjouji-san. How are you feeling?"
There was a light shrug in response to Yasuhara-san's question. "Peachy. Just plain peachy. Note to self: arrogance never pays off. I should probably change my attitude in the future." Ayami cast a cheeky wink. "Apparently, I overdid it and completely exhausted my body."
Like the way Naru had?
Touya-san blinked once. "Master Raidon was horrified, Ayami-sama. He almost flew back to Japan himself to see how you were himself."
"Note almost as the keyword, Touya. And Raidon was horrified alright; I spilt blood onto his floors and got sand into his wallpaper. Not only is he horrified, he's also damn pissed. I just received a call while I was sleeping." Ayami added, seemingly for Mai's and Yasuhara-san's benefit. "He likes to visit me in my sleep. Then, he can crack lame jokes and say that he is literally 'the man of my dreams' before I try to knee him. It doesn't really work, seeing as the man isn't corporeal, but one's gotta give a girl the points for trying."
Mai wasn't sure what to make of Ayami's relationship with the mysterious Raidon, so she merely nodded. Beside Mai, Yasuhara-san mimicked her action.
"Thanks for visiting me though," Ayami added. "This place is dreadfully dull. Thank god I'm going home tomorrow morning." She waved the hand that had been linked to various IV tubes and needles. "I cannot wait to get this thing out of me."
Was it just Mai, or was Ayami more chattery than normal? Ayami must have noticed Mai's expression, because she smiled again. "So has everyone moved out of the manor?"
Yasuhara-san nodded. "We left on the day you left too. Shibuya-san didn't feel comfortable staying in the house if the owner wasn't there."
Ayami shrugged. "Understandable. The place isn't exactly safe to hang around." Then, she noted the flowers in Yasuhara-san's hands and her smile widened. "Are they for me?" she asked innocently.
Yasuhara-san blinked, as though not sure of what she was referring to before he looked down and realised that he was carrying flowers in his hands.
"Of course!" he said, and immediately held out the flowers to her. "Here you go, Domjouji-san."
Ayami smiled brightly as Touya-san took the flowers. The manservant took the flowers away from Yasuhara-san and exited quietly, now in search of a vase to set for the plants. Yasuhara-san volunteered to accompany the elder and left with him.
When the elder left, Ayami let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. I'm so glad we got rid of him. He has been tailing me all day and night as though he thinks I'm going to summon another goddess and cause mischief." Ayami shook her head. "Goodness, even I am not that reckless."
Mai smiled at Ayami's response before something struck her mind. "Who did you summon for the second ritual?" Mai asked. Her school friends had always been scared of these
things, and Ayako and Masako never talked about it to her either. It felt so nice to be able to talk to someone else about this thing as though this were nothing unusual.
A wide grin spread across Ayami's face and she gestured for them both to sit down. "I didn't summon anyone."
Mai opened her mouth to deny it immediately, remembering back to Ayami's tone and the woman that had circled her friend. "But you set up everything for an Egyptian summoning, you said. I saw someone—"
"You need a cat for the Egyptian summoning," Ayami cut in. "That's what I left behind, so I had to use necromancy instead. Because I wasn't dedicating myself to a certain religion, I would have needed more than two people standing at the other points of the pyramids for the summoning." Her smile shimmered. "Besides all that, I am more partial to Roman religions, so unless it was absolutely necessary, I would not attempt to summon another God."
Mai still didn't quite get it. "So you…"
Ayami nodded, a slight smile dawning on her lips. "I tricked her. She's a demi-goddess, so it wasn't overly hard to do. And since a god's powers diminish as their followers lessen, I didn't have to fret too much about Eleusis since half the world doesn't even know Demeter." Ayami leant forward and frowned when she saw that the IV was holding her back and so began fiddling with the tubes connected to her arm. "But that's not just what you want to know, is it?"
Mai blinked, startled that the other girl would realise, but Ayami laughed.
"Psychic, remember? I can sense your thoughts." Ayami shrugged. "Go on; ask."
And how did Mai approach this one? She hadn't really thought of it until she'd gotten home, but it was obvious that Ayami knew what she wanted to talk about.
"You mentioned my parents," Mai said finally. "It seemed as though you knew them."
"I didn't know them personally, but I am related to them." Ayami opened the drawer beside her bed. She took out a manila folder and passed it to Mai. When Mai looked inside, she realised that there were photocopies of her birth certificate, childhood pictures, and school reports. Mai's eyes widened and she looked back up at Ayami.
"I didn't do this up. Raidon sent me the file a day ago. Your mother was my aunt," Ayami told her. Ayami gestured sarcastically around the room. "Welcome to the family, Mai."
"I came to Japan this time to search for you. We are the last two surviving members of the Caecilius Clan." Ayami paused for a moment, as though unsure how she should continue. Then, she shrugged. "Seeing as you are with us, I may as well tell you what you need to know. You're friend Bou-san was actually wrong. There aren't three psychic families left; it's actually five. He is no doubt acquainted with the Miharu family, being the pacifistic weirdoes that they are. He mentioned our family, which is the Caecilius Clan, and Shibuya-san mentioned the Ramirez family. There are two more clans out there, but because they circulate with people who are darker than dark, we tend not to mention them when we need someone to go hand out awards, so he probably didn't know about them. I'm telling you so that you can be careful. Us blue-blooded psychics are drawn to one another; it won't bear well for you to attract their attention at all, seeing as you are untrained, and do not plan to be trained in the near future." Ayami paused for a moment. "Have you ever seen Alladin?"
Mai nodded. How did Ayami change topics like that?
"I'm adding this part because I know that this is the question you want to ask," Ayami added. "Now, envision Princess Jasmine as your mother, and Alladin as your father, but the Sultan never approved of them. Because of that, the two eloped over two decades ago and moved to Japan."
Her parents had eloped? She hadn't even known that they were psychic. Why hadn't they mentioned any of this to her?
"As you are a member of the Caecilius Clan, you have the right to know about where you came from. Your powerful psychic abilities, untrained though they are, are probably also due to our bloodline. Possibly, your parents locked your powers when you were younger and exposure to the spiritual world reversed their efforts." Ayami looked around the room now but Mai could tell that she was seeing more than the scene in front of her. "Blue-bloods of any importance live the most miserable lives, Mai, and we turn out to be incredibly bitter. I don't want you to end up like me."
Mai felt something like pity stabbed her in the heart. Ayami had never seemed bitter to her, yet she sounded so poignant when she said it.
"You're not bitter," Mai said.
The wry smile returned. "Trust me, when you've lived like me with people around you, your social skills can take the cake."
"But you've always been so nice to me, and you seem friendly with Yasuhara-san too."
"Because I can read both your thoughts, and neither of you judge me by what you see on the outside." Ayami smiled wryly. "I know you think of SPR as your family, but believe me, Mai; this is not the lifestyle that you would want to live forever. Regardless, I'll have my accountants forward you a monthly sum. That should ensure that you live a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your life. You won't need to work anymore if you don't want to."
Mai blinked. She didn't understand what Ayami was going on about. Sure, Ghost Hunting could be dangerous, but Ayami made it sound like a terribly experience. And she couldn't stand the thought of having someone else do that for her.
"There's no need for you to waste your money. I like my independence, and it's good for me to go to work."
"You have rights to the family funds too, and as head of it, I am meant to provide you with an allowance." The tension faded as Ayami smiled brilliantly. "Trust me, this family has been around for so long, we are literally richer than sin itself. Forwarding several thousand Australian dollars to your account every month should not be a problem."
And how many yen was that?
Ayami's smile turned tender. "I've never had true family before, Mai, so I'm glad I met you. I just hope we don't end up estranged like the rest of the Caecilius Clan had." Mai opened her mouth to question Ayami, but then the girl suddenly spoke again.
"Speaking of which, I forgot to tell you something. I told you that there are five blue-blooded psychic families left, but not all of them are safe. I can protect you from four of the Five. But you have to be exceptionally vigilant in order to avoid the last, okay? I've never met them, so I can't tell you what they're like. I just know that they're not good people. If they approached me on the streets, I wouldn't be able to avoid them either."
Mai didn't quite get it. "But you said that you could read minds."
"There are some people who can't be read, and I don't actually go out of my way to read someone's thoughts unless I want to. It's like eavesdropping on someone's conversation; you don't need to, but sometimes you can't help it. And, I can't read the thoughts of powerful psychics; I can only sense them. The more powerful the psychic, the less I'm able to sense." Ayami smiled then. "And your employer, Mai, is one of the most powerful psychics that I have ever met in my life, and I know for a fact that he's not from one of The Five." She shrugged, now turning back to the window. "It kind of asks you what other secrets his hiding behind that face, doesn't it?"
Almost two hours later, Mai left the hospital Ayami was staying at. Yasuhara-san had needed to visit a library in Tokyo, and as he'd probably be getting back late, Mai had said that she would head home first.
A melody went off suddenly and Mai jumped, looking around as she wondered whose phone was going off. Then, she noted the stares everyone else was giving her and smiled sheepishly, realising that it was the cell in her pocket.
"Hello?" Mai greeted after she'd answered.
"Mai? Where are you?"
Only Naru could possibly sound that dry on the phone.
"I'm at the hospital Ayami was staying at," Mai said. He should know since she'd announced it in the office and asked if anyone had wanted to come with her. "Did you need me for something?"
"No," a voice next to her answered.
Mai screamed and almost dropped her phone. Naru was right next to her, dressed in his usual black. He shut his phone and closed the file that he'd been holding.
"Naru! Don't do that!" Mai let out. She rubbed her chest as she tried to soothe her heartbeat. Then, she frowned, wondering what on Earth he was doing here. Please no one tell her that their next job was at this hospital. "Why are you here? Did you come to visit Ayami too?"
His blank expression told her that she must have been pretty stupid to ask that question. Mai nodded to herself. And it was a pretty stupid question as she knew that he didn't like Ayami that much.
Naru nodded towards a black car that was parked right beside them. "I brought a car. I'll drive you back; you caught the train here, didn't you?" It wasn't the van that Lin-san normally drove, so that probably meant that it was Naru's car. It looked obscenely expensive too.
Mai nodded. "Yeah, yeah; I did." At least that confirmed Bou-san's earlier suspicions. Naru did have his license. But several hours on the car alone with Naru? Mai brightened, getting into the car. This was either going to be totally awesome or completely horrible.
"Are you done?" Naru asked dryly. He'd already strapped himself into the driver's seat.
Mai nodded quickly, her grin widening. She remembered back to what Ayami had said in the room about Naru's psychic powers. He never mentioned his powers, so would she do well not to say anything? Perhaps it wasn't a good time to ask about it now.
They travelled for about half an hour, the uncomfortable silence stretching in her brain. Maybe the train wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.
Then, she finally broke the silence. "So what job are we doing next?" Mai asked. She thought back to the hospital, not quite being able to resist the urge to gulp. "It's not one at the hospital, is it?"
"I haven't said yes to anything, but there's a possibility."
Mai nodded slowly. Then, her smile brightened as she remembered back to Ayami.
"You don't seem so miserable about the concept," Naru commented wryly.
Mai shook her head. "No; it's not that. Ayami just told me that she was related to my mother. We're cousins." She turned to look at him. "I haven't had family for the longest time. It feels nice not to be alone."
He didn't seem surprised. Naru nodded slowly, his expression dry. "That's perfect," he said deprecatingly.
Mai, as usual, had no idea what he was on about.
24.08.2008: Hey! It's finished. I actually completed this last night but then I was so sleepy that I couldn't be bothered uploading it. Thanks for sticking with me through the little epic. The sequel should be out...eventually. It should be out eventually. LOL I've been trying to work on my original stories too, but so far I don't quite get pass the first chapter before I lose interest. Hehe...anyway, thanks for everything! Cheers
Many thanks to: killbethy, Kay (lol thanks), Gabryell-P, zerosecons, yumegirl91, lunamoongoddess, canadian violet (lol no, no, she's not dead. Fell dead to the ground was just an expression. I was going to do the whole her eyes fluttered, etc. etc. but figured that Mai probably couldn't see that well seeing as there was sand everywhere ;)), and julia34 (Hey! Hope that answered some of your questions. There will be more about The Five in the future stories, and Mai gets to meet the Miharu family eventually too. But Ayami certainly does have style, doesn't she?)