"I know now why you and Tsugumi can see the writings."
Sakura's furrows her brows, "What do you mean?"
"This box belongs to your great-grandfather Yoshiro Kurosawa. Now follow me closely, come over here," he gestures her over to the chart, "This is your husband's genealogy chart. It goes all the way to 1702 from Saito Tamako to Masao Kawaguchi now. Do you see anything?"
Sakura starts reading from the top from Saito Kawaguchi. Her eyes widen in shock when she spots the one name Naru wanted her to see. "Yoshiro Kawaguchi, my great-grandfather is Saito Tamako's great-great-great-grandson. We—Kenji and I are related?"
Mai, Ayako and Yasu look on in shock.
"You are very, very distant cousins. It is really a surprising design of the universe that you and Kenji Kawaguchi married."
"Oh my god." Sakura puts a hand over mouth, still trying to understand what she just discovered.
"I think Nagisa, the spirit, has figured out by now that you are also of Tamako blood. She is not too happy about the deceit."
Sakura leaves with the intention of telling her sister everything. Lin says after her departure, "If we exorcise Nagisa, will it lift the curse? It has been going strong since three hundred years."
"I don't know," Naru mutters. He turns to look at Mai, "If you dream any further about Nanami, Nagisa and Kenji, let me know immediately."
Ayako was reading the chart diligently when she notices a discrepancy. She says, "Hey, it says here that Saito had his youngest daughter a year after his wife died in 1724. How is that possible?"
Naru snaps his fingers, "Mai? What did you say about Nanami's eyes?"
"They were grey," Mai says and then when she realises where Naru is going, "You don't mean…" She kneels beside Ayako to read the chart, "Oh gosh, Kenji died, after his third son died, at the age of forty-one in 1725. Nanami was still alive. Saito had his youngest daughter in 1725. Scandalous indeed."
"Tsugumi has grey eyes," Lin comments.
"Exactly," Naru nods, "Nanami and Saito definitely had an affair after her husband died."
"This is a weird family," Yasu says and yawns loudly.
Day Six
Naru wakes up to his phone ringing incessantly. He squints at the caller name. It is from his contact in Hakata. He picks up the call.
Twenty minutes later, he disconnects. A scowl etched across his handsome face. He wakes Lin and Houshou up. (Ayako had brought John and Houshou up to speed about the new developments when they returned before dinner)
"Lin, wake the girls up. Houshou go wake the entire family up. Also Kaorin. She is in the annexe. Get everybody at the family room on this floor," Naru orders.
Houshou leaves first, rubbing his eyes and mumbling something about "dictatorship" under his breath.
Lin leaves second. He walks upstairs. He gets to the room and pushes the door open gently. He smiles when he sees Mai sleeping with her mouth slightly open. He kneels down beside her and says, "Mai?"
A single strand of brown hair falls on her face. She twitches her nose clearly irritated by it. He hesitates first, but his fingers itch to touch her again. So he brushes her cheeks lightly with his fingers. He catches the strand between his fingers and winds it behind her ear. His fingers linger a little at her jawline. He smirks as he decides on a course of waking her up. He leans down and lightly presses his lips on her cheeks.
It is funny, and salacious. She is dreaming about a very wet, very shirtless Lin. Her mouth hangs open, and she thinks she is drooling. Then something touches her cheeks. Her eyes fly open. And sure enough, the person of her desire, the man of her dreams, and the love of her life has his face close to her own first thing in the morning. So, the something that caressed her cheeks were…his lips?
Mai furiously blushes and sits up straight. Lin leans back, taking care their heads don't bang against each other. She stutter, "S-seriously? You regret k-kissing me then you wake me up with a kiss. What is wrong with you?"
Lin sighs, "Mai—" He really needs to practice self-restraint when it comes to Mai Taniyama.
Whatever he was going to say gets rudely interrupted when Ayako wakes up, feels sick and gets out of her bed, shouting, "Shit shit shit!"
This outburst wakes up Masako, who looks around all perplexed. Then she sees Mai and Lin staring at her. She says, "Oh. Good morning. Wow Mai that was fast. I thought it would take ages for you to tell him you l—" her sentence gets unfinished as Mai literally jumps at her, slapping her hand over Masako's mouth.
Mai stammers, all the while cringing inside, "S-she sleep-sleep talks."
Lin says nothing more, as he gets back on his feet and says, "Naru wants everyone to congregate at the family room downstairs."
"Phew," Mai exhales after Lin leaves. Then she glares at Masako, "Don't you ever do that."
Masako sheepishly grins, "Ok-kay!"
Mai rolls her eyes. Masako is half-asleep. Chances are she will not even remember anything. That was a real close shave. She'd like to tell Lin her feelings on her own time. She does not need anyone's help, thank you very much.
Naru eyes everyone in the room. All the people living in the house were here, except for Ryo, who had a slight fever so he is resting in his room. He stares sharply at Kaorin Toboso, who shrinks back a little.
"We discovered something yesterday," Naru begins, "It has been proven that Sakura and Kenji share the same bloodline. The Saito Tamako bloodline. We ascertained as such from the genealogy chart made by Professor Watanabe and by the antique box belonging to Sakura's family. The original person cursed was Tamako, and this curse has been active ever since then. However, what the curse is and how do we get rid of it is still unsolved. But now, the real reason why I called you here."
Naru turns to stare at Kaorin again, "You knew about this family's history, didn't you?"
Kaorin gasps and says, "What? No, no! How can I?"
"You can stop pretending, Miss Kaorin Mitsui, daughter of Ono Maruyama and Kaishi Mitsui."
Kenji says, leaning forward, greatly agitated, "Ono? Auntie Ono? She is her daughter?"
"Yes," Naru nods, "I checked with her university. There are two Kaorins: Kaorin Toboso and Kaorin Mitsui. On asking, my contact said that the Kaorin Toboso is actually in India while the other Kaorin had gone home for personal reasons. I pulled up their addresses and checked. One of them lived in Nagasaki while the other lived in Matsuyama. The house in Matsuyama belonged to an Ono Maruyama. I soon realised that you had taken someone else's identity and came here for something."
"Auntie Ono was disowned by her parents when she decided to have a baby out of wedlock and live with Mitsui. I was in university then," Kenji reminisces, "I did hear from Auntie Masako that they had a daughter."
"But," Yasu says, "That is double standards. Ono and Masako's father, Koichiro, was an illegitimate child himself."
Sakura gasps, "What?"
"Yeah. He was the result of an affair between two cousins."
Lin warns, "Yasu. Not now."
Kaorin bows her head, and starts shivering, "Do you know why I am here?"
"Tell us," Naru says.
"My mother was telling me a story about her family that disowned her. She was telling how her family might have descended from a daimyo family. Apparently, her great-grandmother had this precious scroll. A painting of the original family. She was saying it would fetch millions in the market now. We aren't as well off to do like the Kawaguchis. I thought…I thought it might be in that box."
"You thought about stealing it," Naru says, "And you know you won't be caught because no one had ever seen you before."
Tears start rolling down her face. Kenji sighs, "Kaorin, the old man's dead now. I am happy to reconnect with Auntie Ono again, if she is willing to."
Kaorin gives him a watery smile, "I am so sorry."
"It is okay, I forgive you."
Mai smiles, real happy inside. She is glad that this family reunion happened amidst all the tragedy surrounding them currently.
Even though she and Yasu were supposed to keep watch over the monitor screens as Lin takes a nap, Mai wishes she was doing something else. She is chewing her nail, when Yasu asks, "Say Mai, Masako said that you kissed Lin?"
Mai rolls her eyes, even though the memory of it sends her heart galloping, "He kissed me first."
"Ooh!"
"Shut up," she cries, her face red.
"Hey!" Yasu exclaims, pointing at a screen, "What is this?"
The screen he is pointing at shows feed from Masao's room. Both of them stare breathless at an apparition of an old man. The old man.
Yasu says, "That looks like from the eighteenth century."
Suddenly a light bulb blows up in Mai's mind. She says, "Eighteenth century! That means this is…this is Saito Tamako!"
"Huh?"
"Kenji Tamako died in his early forties! So this is no one else but Saito!"
"Holy…this is the ghost that had been trying to protect his progeny hasn't he?" Masako had told him everything.
"Yep."
When they look back at the screen, Saito is nowhere to be found. Mai takes off without warning. Pain be damned! Yasu calls her, when she doesn't stop, he curses as he follows her.
She races down the stairs at full speed. She pulls back the door to Masao's room and pants. Cold is what she feels first. Her breath clouds in front of her face. She doesn't understand why but somehow she felt this urgent need to get to this room. But fear replaces anticipation when she notices the shadow again, floating down from the ceiling. It is ominous and she knows it will harm her.
However, a force pushes her in and closes the door behind her. Yasu gets there and sees Mai get pulled into the room and the door closing behind her. He tries prying it open. With his heart sinking, he realises that it is stuck, and Mai is in imminent danger.
Mai looks dumbstruck as the shadow takes a form. A woman no older than her in a traditional kimono, glaring at her. She says, her voice like nails on a chalkboard, "Nanami."
"Wha-what? I am not Nanami. My name is Mai," Mai whimpers, a cold sweat covers her face.
"NANAMI!" she screeches. The sound cuts like a razor through the cold air. Mai falls to her knees. She puts her hands to her ears and tears roll down her cheeks. The sound reverberates in her skull making her ears hurt. She begs, "Nagisa stop!"
It works. Nagisa stops and stares at Mai, who raises her head and says, "Please. Why are you doing this?"
Nagisa's form shifts, like static on a television. She rasps, "Nanami will pay." She flies at Mai who raises her arms to protect herself.
Nagisa passes through her but to her it feels as if a knife stabs her through. The pain numbs her. She hears a sound. She hears someone calling her name. She wants to respond but she cannot. Someone holds her. Then darkness engulfs her and she faints.
Lin carries Mai in his arms. He is glad to feel her breath tickling his neck because that is how he knows she is alive. He had seen her acing penalty shots. He has seen her nearly break Kenji's hand. He has seen her knocking out Sentaro with ease. But now, bunched up in his arm, she looks a little fragile. Not that he thinks she is weak, he thinks she is one of the strongest people he has ever met. Her strength to be never dependent on anyone is something he respects and admires a lot. But right now, he only wishes she would open her eyes and say something ridiculous about her being carried by him.
When Yasu couldn't get the door opened, he had run all the way to his room. Lin had just woken up and he was talking to Naru when Yasu had flown in shouting about Mai, Lin had jumped out of bed not really hearing the rest of what was said and followed Yasu out of the room.
The door wasn't opening. That wasn't a hindrance, as one single simple order to his shikis blasted it. He was just in time to see Mai's head lolling back, about to crash against the wooden floor. He caught her in time.
He gets to the base and gently puts her on the floor. He flings a blanket over her. He hears footsteps behind him. The rest of them gape at Mai. Houshou asks, "What happened?"
"Let's watch the tape," Lin says, his voice shaky.
He rewinds the tape and sees it from the beginning: from the old man appearing to Nagisa attacking Mai.
Yasu speaks, "Mai said that the old man is Saito Tamako."
"Of course," Naru whispers, "It is credible. Maybe, the deaths that didn't occur over the three centuries could be due to Saito's interference."
"And you keep saying she is stupid," Houshou smirks.
Ayako kneels down beside Mai and checks her pulse. It is steady. She sighs in relief.
Lin peers at Mai from the corner of his eyes. Maybe, he should listen to his heart. How long does he plan to avoid his feelings for her anyway?
She screams. Her kosode is on fire. Kenji gave it to her. Why?
"I told you again and again, I am in love with Nanami!"
"I don't care! She must d—"
Nagisa is cut short. She doesn't see what happens to her when Kenji wraps his hands around her and pushes her in the pond. The pond was at least two feet deep. Water soaks her dress, her hair—but the fire stops. She stands up, her feet in the water, coughing and wiping her face trying to clear her blurry vision. She cries out loud when she sees the scene in front of her.
Kenji is standing at the edge. Nagisa is slumped over the podium and Saito Tamako stands over her, a sword in his hand. The blade is halfway in Nagisa's back and blood pools around Kenji's feet. She gets on the podium, tears in her eyes. It ended but still…Nagisa was her sister.
"Nagisa?" she whispers, stroking her wild unkept hair.
"Move away Nanami-san! The witch might try to hurt you!" Saito shouts.
Nanami shouts back, "Saito-kun! She is my sister!"
"She tried to kill you!"
"I don't care! You killed her!"
"Nanami," the body moves. She raises her head a little, the fire of detest still burning bright in her eyes, "I curse you! I curse Kenji! And I curse Saito! You will die and so will your children and their children!" Then life leaves her as her eyes shut and the last breath escapes her lips.
The remaining people around the stage gasp. A witch's dying words are the most powerful curse. Nanami pushes Saito away. She pulls the sword out of Nagisa's back and hugs her back. Tears roll down her cheeks. Oh Nagisa, I am so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. This is all my fault. I deserve it.
I deserve to be cursed.
Lin hears Mai mumble. There is only them both in this room. The others were cleansing the house again in an attempt to coax Nagisa out. He gets close to her. He is surprised to see her crying. She keeps repeating "I am so sorry" again and again.
He wipes away the tears and softly says, "Mai?" That manages to wakes her up. Her eyes are filled with water, her cheeks are flushed. She sits up. Then she throws her arms around Lin and sobs, her face pressed to his shoulder.
He is a little startled by her actions, but he says nothing as he wraps one arm around her and with the other strokes her hair. He doesn't say anything, waiting for her to speak first. She sobs for a long time. He holds her silently.
When she thinks she can cry no longer, she raises her head and pushes him back, slightly. She sniffs, "I am sorry for that." He still had one arm around her. The hand on her neck is making her a bit flustered.
"That is okay,"' he mutters, "Did you have a dream?"
She nods, "A sad one." Her eyes shine again as she tries to hold back the floodgates from opening.
Maybe it is the sad, haunted look in her eyes. He didn't want her to cry anymore. Maybe it was that when he cups her face and says, "Maybe I can help."
That makes her look up at him. His face is way too close to her. Her tiny gasp gets mumbled when he softly presses his lips to her. Her eyes flutter close. He increase the pressure a little. It was a chaste kiss because he pulls back soon and smiles, "Is that okay?"
Mai whispers, "Not really enough." She presses her lips against his this time.
He is surprised a little by how forward she is. He smiles under her lips and brings her closer, pressing her closer to him. The kiss deepens. But then he hears the door opening. They quickly pull back. It is Yasu who is staring at them all flabbergasted.
"Oh my God, Lin is blushing!" he shouts. His amusement gets cold water thrown over it when Lin glares at him. Mai tries to hide a grin.
Lin says, "And why are you here?" he crosses his arms. He hasn't moved away from Mai.
"Did I mention anywhere that the Tamakos were nobles? Not only were they wealthy but they were extremely popular. So Nanami basically married into royalty. And since she became quite famous too…Look what I found," Yasu waves his hand, a scroll of paper clutched in his hand. He sits down opposite Lin and rolls open the sheet. He says, "An European painter, visiting Japan drew this, because he was enthralled by her beauty. I heard the ghost calling Mai Nanami so I took a wild guess. Then I got the professor to track it to a French museum and printed it out for me last night and faxed it over."
Mai and Lin stare down at the picture and collectively gasp.