"It is plau—Lin!" Naru shouts when he sees the onmyoji close his eyes and crash against the floor.
Mai turns her head and cries, "Lin? Lin!"
Naru checks his pulse which is beating steadily. He sighs, "Bringing you back must have drained him off spiritual energy. He will be okay. He needs rest."
Mai nods, eyes shining with tears threatening to fall any time now. She gently grabs his head and places a pillow underneath. Ayako smiles at the tender expression on Mai's face. Goodness this girl is in too deep to not even notice the weird expressions John and Houshou were giving when she started to softly stroke Lin's hair.
Naru coughs loudly, "Erm, Takigawa, Ayako and John, also," he glances at Yasu, "Yasu, we need to start working on a plan to eliminate the onryo." He gets to his feet and glares at the priest and monk, who when realising Naru has his death glare trained on them, scramble to their feet. He says, "Mai take care of Lin." He need not tell her that because he is sure she will not leave his side. He pushes everyone out of the room to give the two idiots some privacy.
When they are outside, Ayako slides the door and smiles, "Honestly, they are too cute!"
"Cute?" Houshou says, "Are you saying, they are, uh…"
"Not yet," Yasu grins.
"What the hell! He is ten years older than her!"
Ayako smacks Houshou soundly on his head, "I am two years older than you even though mentally you might be ten years younger than me!"
Yasu and John start laughing. Even Naru cracks a smile. He crosses his arms and thinks that the denouement was done. They did it. Now they need to beleaguer the spirit and set the real Nagisa free. But how? He looks at Houshou and says, "Monk, have you ever dealt with an onryo?"
The monk shakes his head, "Honestly, no. An onryo is an unreasonable spirit. We cannot simply exorcise it. We need to completely destroy it."
"Um, I have a doubt," John says, "How did Mai shift from Nanami's perspective to Nagisa's?"
"Anything goes on the astral plane," Houshou suggests, "Though I think Nanami may have been possessing Mai in her dreams for some reason."
Ayako contributes, "It could be the doppelganger effect. There are many folklores surrounding doppelgangers, some say they are harbingers of bad luck or an evil twin."
"Or Mai could be like a mirror. She can see Nanami's perspective because they look alike?" Houshou says, "Have you not heard of tales where doppelgangers are considered to be a spiritual mirror image of yourself?"
Naru, who has been contemplating, nods, "I am starting to form an idea. Say, who feels up for a summoning?"
They all look displeased at that idea.
Day Eight
While the rest of the SPR gang had drifted off in exhaustion one by one as dawn approached at the base coming up with a fool proof plan of attack, Mai wakes up with a start. Somewhere after midnight and before the witching hour ended, she had lied down beside Lin and fallen asleep. This was a peaceful, (thankfully) dreamless sleep. She remembers something warm curl around them before she dozed off. The dog familiar, she thought.
When she wakes up, a full blush colours her entire face when she realises that Lin had his arms around her and had pinned her to his side with no room to wiggle out. Not that she wanted to. No, she is very, very comfortable. Her head is tucked under his chin as her nose bumps against his neck. Yes, this is very nice. She better enjoy it before he wakes up and awkwardly makes his escape. She wraps her arms around his waist and settles in more snuggly. It pleases her how well her tiny form fit against his taller one. If she could, she would probably never leave.
But then to her surprise he mumbles, "This is very nice." Then his chest rumbles as he makes a very pleased sound in the back of his throat. He had woken up when she was trying to snuggle in closer. He had smiled by the way she moulded against him.
Mai bites her lip in consternation, "Uh, is it okay with you? I mean, what I want—"
"Mai, honestly, shut up, I am trying to sleep here, what with rescuing you had completely drained me," he mockingly scolds her.
Her heart skips way too many beats as she mumbles against his chest, "Sorry."
He opens his eyes and sighs, "Mai."
"Hmm?" she has her eyes closed and face pressed against his chest.
"Yesterday, you banished me but…I wanted to say something. I have never been in love before. So I really do not know what love is supposed to feel like. But I do feel something for you. And I have to yet to figure out if they are love…Ayako says love is simple but I am no good with all this, so can you be patient with this old man?"
Good thing he couldn't see her face because she believes all the blood in her body has definitely congregated at her face. He would think she was dying or something. She gulps and says, "I can wait, my old man."
"Yours?" he asks, with a certain lilt in his voice.
Her temperature spikes when she nods and murmurs, "Mine."
"Okay," he kisses the top of her head and closes his eyes, very content with himself and this.
Sure, physically she simply sighed. But her soul, and mind, were doing cartwheels around the room and shouting in joy. She is never quitting SPR. Or him.
Naru is rudely awoken by Sakura who shouts, "Shibuya-san! Wake up!"
Her shouting wakes the rest of them up. One by one Houshou, Ayako and Yasu wake up. They all look quizzically at her. She says, "Please! It is Tsugumi! She is behaving very strangely!"
They all get to their feet. Naru orders Ayako, "Go wake up Lin! We may need him!"
Ayako nods and takes off in the direction of her room. She hesitates at opening the door, fervently wishing no one is naked in there because that would be too much. She sighs when she slides open the door to see Lin and Mai clothed. They were spooning and Ayako had to take an "aww" break because they were looking too cute. However much she doesn't want to disturb them, she has to.
She shouts, "Lin! Wake up! Something is wrong with Tsugumi!"
It wakes up Mai who turns fifty shades of red when she realises the position she is in. She tries to get out of Lin's embrace but his hold just gets tighter instead. Ayako laughs at her predicament and says, "You know what, you wake him up. He might appreciate it more!"
Oh God, she mentally dies a little of embarrassment. Thankfully Ayako leaves. But Mai feels defeated. She has to wake him up. It sounded urgent. So she shifts and now she faces him. She has an idea and the ingenuity of it excites her. She pushes her face forward until she is in a kissable distance from his lips. She lightly presses her lips against his. Then she not-so-gently nips at his lower lip.
It works. Lin's eyes fly open. He felt something sharp on his lip. He looks down to realise that it was Mai, she had bitten him. He narrows his eyes, and she gulps, uh oh. Suddenly, limbs move and she is on her back pinned by her wrists with Lin looming over her. He dips his head and puts his lips on her neck, right above her pulse. She gasps out loud as her heartbeat races. Then he bites her. The pleasurably painful prick gets her all hot and bothered. But oh he doesn't stop there. He uses his tongue over his lovebite and sucks on it. That is it I am dead, she gasps, but it is a good death, oh yes.
He raises his head and says, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Now we are even."
Mai's brain has melted, but still tries talking, "I-uh-had to-uh wake up, wake you up! Uh, Ayako said something about Tsu-tsugumi. W-we need to go."
He ducks his head so she can no longer see his face hidden by the fringe. She can tell he was laughing though because his body is shaking. He leans back on his haunches and gives her room to sit up straight. He raises his head again and gets to his feet. He extends a hand and says, "Let's go, shall we?'
She smiles and nods. She takes his hands and jumps to her feet. When they are out in the corridor, she asks, "What was so funny back then?"
He grins, "I was thinking that why Mai Taniyama is so damn irresistible?"
She says nothing after that and simply profusely blushes.
"Where is Lin?" Houshou asks as they make their way to the short corridor beyond the stairs. Tsugumi and Sakura's rooms were in this part of the house.
Ayako smirks, "He will be here."
They enter Tsugumi's room and the first thing that hits them is the chill. "Spirit," Naru mutters.
The next thing that surprises them is the figure bunched up at the nook of the room. Her entire body is rocking back and forth. Sakura who is standing behind them says, "When I came to ask for her help with breakfast, I found her like this. I called and called but she is not answering me at all."
Houshou gasps as he senses the spirit possessing Tsugumi, "It is not Nagisa."
The others look at him in shock. A couple of minutes pass before John says, "Nagisa didn't call someone else did she? Like those samurais?"
"I am pretty sure if this was a samurai, it would have attacked us by now," Naru says, "Houshou, Ayako can you tell what spirit is this?"
"Let me," they turn around to see Lin and Mai standing beside Sakura. He sends a shiki to check. When his shiki returns and relays the information to him, he says, in a stunned whisper, "It is Kenji Tamako."
"What?" Mai exclaims.
Naru walks into the room. He stands a few feet apart from Tsugumi and says, "Tamako-san?"
Tsugumi looks up, her eyes are bloodshot. Naru continues, "What are you doing here?"
Tsugumi gets to her feet and falls down at Naru's feet which perturbs him. He crouches and places a hand on her shoulder. He soothingly says, "Tamako-san? Tell us."
"It is all our fault—Saito and mine. We were young and stupid. Now my entire family is paying. Save them!" Then her entire body spasms and she falls into Naru's arms. Sakura rushes over, "Here Shibuya-san, I will take care of her." He nods and lets Sakura take over. He stands up and jerks his head at John and Houshou who get the signal and start checking to see if Tsugumi is possession-free.
The rest of them retreat upstairs to their base. Yasu comments, "Did Kenji visit us because he felt guilty, even after three hundred years?"
"Humans make mistakes, and sometimes they keep on repenting beyond death," Naru says, crossing his arms, "I suppose it runs in this family. Mistakes and repenting. All of their souls are on their own level of damnation: Kenji for betting, Saito for instigating the bet and loving his brother's wife and Nanami feels responsible for her sister's death."
No one says anything for a while. Then Yasu's phone starts ringing. He picks it up. He listens for a few seconds then screams, "WHAT?"
Mai startles. Yasu snaps the phone shut angrily. He explains, "It is a media circus at the hospital. Some nurse recognised Masako from TV, told her friends, who told their friends, so now local and national channels are fighting for a glimpse of the unconscious celebrity spiritualist. I need to go."
Yasu picks up his jacket and starts walking towards the door. Naru stops him by grabbing his shoulder. He says, "I am sorry for yesterday."
"Yeah," Yasu ducks his head, "I am sorry too. Thanks for not hitting me back."
"I would have killed you if I did!"
Yasu grins at the smirk on Naru's face, "And here I thought Naru the Jerk was being nice! Ever so modest!"
The men smile at each other, clearly the hatchet buried. Everyone else mentally sigh in relief. Yasu leaves.
Naru then turns his head towards Lin, "Sleep well last night? Because we got work to do."
Ayako claps her hand over her mouth to stop the giggle threatening to burst. Mai wants to melt to the floor in sheer embarrassment. Lin shoots daggers at Naru who knows that the older man has definitely killed him five times in his mind. Adding insult to injury, even his shikis join in as they chuckle.
Lin clears his throat, "Ahem, what do you plan to do?"
"Destroy the onryo part of Nagisa. And, oh, Mai you have to be pretend to be Nanami."