"Mai tea! And prepare some extra, we have a client coming," a pause, Mai waits, "Please." She pumps her fist into the air. Victory.
She stands up and goes about preparing tea. Naru's favourite black tea and today, she had bought some oolong tea earlier for Lin. She smacks her head, trying to wipe the goofy grin off her face.
"Are you trying to turn on your brain? That might cause more harm than good," a condescending voice speaks.
Mai turns around to see Naru standing by the door, glancing over the shelves. She mutters a curse under her breath and says, "The cookies are there," pointing to somewhere on his left.
Her attention is diverted by the whistling kettle. She goes about dividing the water in two cups. Then she hears Naru chuckling. She whips her head around, scowling at him, "What now?"
"Oolong is his favourite," he quips then leaves as if this was a play and that was his character's parting shot.
Just like the kettle, she could feel hot steam pouring out of her ears. If Naru figures out her weird, mixed feelings about Lin then he could easily blab it to the older guy. Then whatever progress she had, regarding her and Lin's friendship, would be forever destroyed.
She places the two cups and she is about to enter Naru's room first when the door opens slightly, and a clear, feminine voice says, "Um, hello?"
She places the tray on the coffee table and goes to welcome their client. She chirps, "Hello, I am Mai Taniyama. Please come in."
"Thank you. My name is Sakura Kawaguchi," she says as she walks in. she looks no older than thirty. She has a heavy shirt on with denims. Her hair is not very elaborately styled. She looks kind of stressed. Mai frowns at her aura. It is disturbed, anxious and scared. In the two years, she has acquired an even stronger intuition that soon developed into her understanding people's aura.
Mai gestures her to come in and take a seat. First she knocks on Lin's door, "Client, Lin-san." Then she repeats the same on Naru's door. She goes back to the kitchen to prepare some chamomile tea. Miss or Mrs Kawaguchi needed it.
Mai returns to see that neither men had started interrogating but were calmly sipping their teas. Lin had a slight quirk to his lip. That manages to make her very glad indeed. She hands their client the tea and takes her seat under the window.
Naru says, "You may start Kawaguchi-san." They were waiting for her. Mai's smile just gets broader.
"Yes," she says, running one slender finger round the edge of her cup, wiping away the condensation, "I am from a small town in Kyushu. My husband, Kenji Kawaguchi and I live there with our three children." Suddenly a sob racks her body and she rummages through her bag for a tissue. Mai gets the tissue box and hands it to her. She gives Mai a grateful smile.
The men share a glance. Naru says, "Kawaguchi-san? It is okay, take your time." New Naru often tried to be considerate.
She nods. Finally composing herself, she begins again, "It is not so much that I am scared for my life. It is just that I want my children to be safe. Okay," she takes a deep breath, "the Kawaguchi family has a curse on it. Every thirty years or so, the males die in quick succession. And we don't know why. My husband and my son are in danger Shibuya-san!" The tears start flowing.
Mai sits down beside her and rubs her back in circles as she cries into her hands. She whispers, "First the writing with blood on the wall. Then the fire. Then poor Kaito-chan. Then Masao almost fell into the lake. The spirit by the shrine. But…but…my husband refuses to believe in it. He is crazy! His belief is more important than his own son!" She wipes away her tears and sits up straight. Mai resumes her previous seat. Sakura continues, "That is why I am here. Please Shibuya-san. My husband and I haven't seen eye-to-eye when I told him of my decision to come here, for your help." She pleads with her eyes.
Mai clutches her chest and fervently prays Naru would say yes. Her prayers are heard when Naru says, "Be ready to expect us in a couple of days. We need a fairly large room as a base and living quarters."
The woman was ready to cry again, but this time in happiness and relief instead.
Day One
The Kawaguchis lived in the Yufuin prefecture in the island of Kyushu. It is a charming onsen resort town. The Kawaguchis owned an onsen by a lake and also were caretakers of a local shrine there.
Mai skips down from the car and smiles up at the huge cherry tree in bloom near the entrance to the equally charming Kawaguchi house. She is impressed by the moderately sized building. She spies a one storey, long annexe building running parallel. Sakura, who picked them up from the station, spots her staring at it. She explains, "That is the restaurant. We also provide accommodations. Weary travellers usually rest there. We have two guests now since season is over. Well one of them isn't actually a guest. More like family."
Houshou enquires, "Family?"
"Yes. My brother-in-law, Sentaro Nohara is here with his son Hitoshi, and the other guest is a college girl called Kaorin Toboso," Sakura answers. Then her face darkened, "My husband is staying there too. We aren't talking." She cheers up when two girls and a young boy come running from the back of the house. Mai realises that this must be her kids.
They all try hugging their mother at the same time. Sakura kneels down. Another young woman follows the kids. She looks older than Sakura. She is dressed simply in a long skirt and shirt. She has short hair and her eyes are grey. Mai looks back at Sakura who had darker eyes. The woman smiles at the SPR gang and introduces herself, "I am Tsugumi Kurosawa. Sakura's older sister."
Sakura straightens up and says, "I called her over after my husband moved to the annexe."
Naru nods. He then orders Lin and Mai to set up base. Sakura and Tsugumi show them in. The kids latch on to John because they instantly become fascinated by a foreigner amongst them. The boy asks, "Do you speak Japanese?"
When John replies in affirmative, the girls squeal. John realises they are semi-identical twins and must be no more than four years old. One of the girls say, "I am Tomohiro and this is Noriyuki," pointing to her twin, "and this is our brother Masao," pointing to the boy. Then the girls say together, "Nice to meet you!"
John laughs, "Nice to meet you too! I am John Brown. I am a priest."
Masao says, "John-chan! Come on, you must meet our cousin!" With that they drag John in another direction. While the others were walking down a long hallway, the kids drag John down a narrow corridor perpendicular to the entrance. He opens his mouth to protest but gives up. The corridor stops at a gate, which Tomohiro pushes to reveal a small garden with a koi pond. A boy of ten or so squats beside the pond with his back to them.
"Hitoshi!" Noriyuki shouts. John sighs, no way can he leave them now. Children always find him more fascinating.
The rest of them—Mai, Lin, Naru, Ayako, Houshou and Masako—follow the sisters to their base, a fairly spacious room on the second floor. Mai and Lin instantly start arranging their equipment when suddenly Ayako realises Masako is not with them. She exits the room and retraces her steps. She spots Masako standing, staring with a blank look on her face. Ayako frowns when she feels a chill run down her spine. She whispers, "Masako?"
Masako nods, "I feel it too. Things aren't what they seem to be." She and Ayako then go upstairs again.
As soon as they reach base, Masako says, "I think the room at the right side of the wall, near the stairs, is a hotspot."
"Yeah," Ayako says, "Creepy feeling."
Tsugumi frowns, "That is Masao's room." Sakura gasps, putting her hand over her mouth. Her sister hugs her shoulders.
Naru nods his head at Lin. Lin nods back and picks up the thermal camera. Mai too gets the hint as she picks up the microphone and another camera. They go downstairs. Naru turns to the sisters and asks, "Now, give me the entire story."
Lin is the first to enter the seven year old boy's room. As soon as Mai enters, she feels as if someone had doused her in ice cold water. Then she gasps out loud. Lin turns around, "Taniyama-san?"
She stares bug eyed at the shadow she sees crouching on the ceiling rapidly disappear. Lin follows her gaze, even though he cannot see anything, he feels his shikis bristling. He says, in a solemn voice, "Taniyama-san, work quickly."
Mai didn't need to be told that twice.
When they return, the sisters have left and Naru is deep in thought. When he sees Lin, he says, "Lin, start taking notes."
Lin nods and boots his laptop up. Naru begins, "Sakura's mother-in-law, Minami Kawaguchi, was stricken with cancer about a year ago. Before she died, she told her a story: when Minami had married into the family, her two brothers-in-law, Takayuki and Seiji, died consecutively in gruesome ways. Takayuki was murdered while Seiji got decapitated by a train. Having to arrange two funerals, so close in succession, Minami's father-in-law, Hiro Kawaguchi started spouting nonsense about a curse that has plagued them. A curse where only the male members are killed. Occurs every thirty years. Minami said he saw strange writings on the wall that no one in the family could see. He blamed himself. He soon committed suicide. All this happened in 1972. Now, thirty years later in 2002, in January, Ichigo Kawaguchi, Kenji-san's brother was killed by a fire in the restaurant's storeroom, killing him on spot. The Fire Department still hasn't found how the fire started in the first place. When he died, Tomohiro Kawaguchi saw the spirit of her grandmother. Then, during Ichigo's funeral, Sakura and Kaito, Kenji-san's younger brother saw a message written on the wall. It was written 'See Tamako-chan?' in red. Kaito-san said it was blood. But by the time they went to get their family, the writing had vanished. Now, a month ago, Kaito got hit by a truck. He has been in a coma since then. A week ago, there was more writing on the wall, this time 'Curse you all to death' written on her son, Masao's, room. Finally Sakura decided to get help."
Lin perfectly kept up to speed with Naru's narration. Mai is too engrossed by the way his slender fingers danced over the laptop keys. That doesn't mean she did not hear anything. She did, and it made her a little scared. She says, "Uh, Naru?"
"Yes?" Naru says, in a monotonous voice.
"I saw something in Masao-chan's room. A shadow on the ceiling."
"Hmm, my shikis were agitated," Lin says, his hand rubbing his chin.
"Then there is a presence, I felt something too," Masako says quietly, "I feel…I feel like it might be dangerous."
"That is all right, but," John, who had joined them when Sakura was in the midst of her tale, "who is Tamako? They are all Kawaguchi."
"Hmm," Naru crosses his arms, "Masako, let Yasu know and tell him to search for any Tamakos in Kyushu."
"Gladly," Masako smiled and very eagerly left the room to call Yasu. Mai grinned at the change in Masako. She is more relaxed, friendly and nicer now that she is dating Yasu. It was adorable.
John shakes his head, "I still don't understand how Masako and Yasu happened."
"From Naru to Yasu," Houshou grinned, "Masako is a strange one." Suddenly he maliciously grins at Mai, who shrinks back, then he says, "Hey Mai, now you are rival-free for Naru's affection!"
Ayako hits Houshou, while Mai blushes and Naru smirks, "Huh, Mai likes someone else now."
Mai nearly has a heart attack. Naru smirks at her. Bou and Ayako look at Naru, both equally surprised. Then Naru says, "Anyway, Lin, Mai set up cameras in these areas." He hands Lin a list.
As soon as they leave, Bou pounces on Naru, "Naru what do you know?"
"Nothing. All of you do a walkover," he says grimly.
Ayako, John and Houshou leave, knowing very well that was how that conversation ended.
A/N. I get my information of names, honorifics and places from mostly anime and Google. If I mess up, let me know. Now on a complete unrelated note, DOES ANYBODY HERE LOVE BIGBANG?! CUZ I AM GOING CRAZY!