Author's Note:
CrazyAnimeFan1228 (CAF): Hello people of earth! I'm back and better than ever! Thanks soooooo much for all your wonderful reviews! I was so happy! Literally, every time I got one, I did a happy dance, and my Mum asked me if I was feeling alright…
Naru: Yes, because of your lack of brain cells, your mother has a right to worry.
CAF: *sulks in corner*
Mai: That's really mean! *goes to comfort CAF*
Monk: Since CAF seems to be… occupied… I shall do the disclaimer! CrazyAnimeFan1228 does not own any of us, because that would be weird… though she did invent the OCs… so…
Yasu: Victoria said I would get along with someone… I'm not sure how to take that…
Ayako: *shakes head* Honestly, what am I going to do with you two…
CAF: Oh yeah, you can see who won the bet in this chapter too!
-Chapter 4-
England
"Come on! We're going to be late!" Ayako shouted, waiting at the entrance of her young friend's apartment.
"I'm coming!" Mai called back, putting her phone in her coat pocket and racing out of her bedroom, her newly bought hand-luggage rolling behind her.
"How much time have we got?" Mai asked.
"Well, the plane technically leaves in two hours, but Naru says that we need to get there early, for check in and stuff." Ayako was in front of the hallway mirror, applying some lip-stick, "Let's go, Houshou's waiting in the car and I don't want him to complain any more than he already does."
They hurried out the front door.
"Finally!" The monk called from the driver's seat of his car. It was a Honda 'Integra Type R' in red and he was very proud of it, "Let's get moving! I don't want to get an ear-full from boss man."
The three of them drove at top speed, missing four collisions from cars and pedestrians alike because the couple were arguing on whether they should follow the map or the sat-nav. Mai stayed silent the whole time, praying to any god that was listening, while holding on for dear life.
They all met up at the entrance of the airport, everyone was ready to fly. Getting onto the plane was simple enough, with the slight problem at check-in; someone's bag was too heavy. Ayako was still trying to get over the embarrassment.
"Wow!" Mai gasped, as she stepped onto the plane.
The plane was more like a hotel suit than a jet liner. Rather than rows of seats squeezed in, there were many leather couches and armchairs arranged around the walls and a large conference table could be pulled out from the wall. There was a massive plasma-screen television hooked up to a DVD player.
"Hello and good morning sir, my I take you luggage?" A pretty attendant asked Oliver, winking.
Naru's expression did not change, "No thank you, we can deal with it ourselves." And he walked away.
"Sorry about him," Mai said to the disgruntled woman, "He's always like that, with everyone."
The SPR team all settled down in the chairs for take-off.
A second flight attendant, a man this time, went through the 'normal prep talk' as John called it. He told them his name, Thomas, and welcomed them to 'British Airways Private Flight' from Tokyo Japan, to Luton, England. He said that the journey would take approximately fourteen hours and forty minutes and they would arrive at twelve forty in the afternoon, English time. He explained how to do the seatbelts and procedures in the event of an emergency.
Mai was very nervous. She had never been on a plane before, this was all so new. The talk for the emergency stuff went on for ages; this did not help in the slightest.
"Don't worry Mai. It'll be fine." Naru muttered from beside her, not looking up from his book.
"Yeah, Mai-chan! We'll be in the air in no time." Monk encouraged.
Masako reached across the aisle, patted her arm and gave her a smile.
The actual lift off wasn't what Mai was expecting. It felt as though she left her brain behind, then it suddenly bounced back to her head. Once in the air, she looked out the window cautiously. She was amazed at the view. She could see little cars, roads, houses even the city looked miniature.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached cruising altitude; you may now remove your seatbelts." Thomas's voice said through the speakers.
"Wow, our client pulled out all the stops from us," Monk sighed, accepting a drink from one of the stewards.
"It is very good." Masako was looking through the DVDs up for offer; they included new films and Paranormal Documentaries.
"There is even a collection of fine chocolates! How fantastic!" John said, choosing one for himself.
"And we're going to one of the most famous places ever!" Ayako gasped, "We just have to go shopping! Imagine all the clothes…"
Yasu, however, hadn't joined in on the celebrations. He was sitting at the very end of the plane, in his own cloud of gloom.
"Hey, what's wrong with him?" Mai pointed to the four-eyed boy.
"He's just sulking because he lost the bet," Monk was counting his money from his wallet, "Goeido won the match, so now he has to do 'that'." Said the base guitarist with an evil laugh.
"Am I the only one who doesn't know what 'that' is?" Mai asked.
"Nope, no one does! That's why it'll be so funny!"
Naru closed his book with a snap, "Now everyone pipe down, we need to sleep in order not to get jet lag."
"He's right," John said, "Let's try to get some rest."
Mumbling and moaning, they all sat down, the lights were dimmed and window blinds pulled down. Mai was sitting next to her boss, and found that she was very tired all of a sudden.
She yawned. Maybe sleeping wasn't such a bad idea. She tried to get comfortable, but she couldn't. Finally, her head found a soft, flat surface and she was out like a light.
What Mai didn't know, that 'soft, flat surface' was her boss's shoulder. His attention was taken from his novel, he glanced down at Mai. His head was telling him to move away, but she looked so peaceful. Instead, he brushed her hair away from her eye.
Lin, being the silent man he was, gave the young professor a look. Naru just rolled his eyes and carried on reading.
Shaking his head, with a small smirk on his lips, Lin went back to typing.
.:***:.
Mai awoke again, and looked around. Darkness was all she could see. White balls of light came into view, hundreds of them, all slowly floating upwards. She knew this place all too well.
She stood up, and then a voice came from behind her.
"Hello Mai."
"Gene!" She spun around gave her friend a hug, "I haven't seen you in ages! Where were you? How are you?"
"Mai listen, and listen closely." Mai was shocked by the seriousness of his voice. Now you mention it, he seemed slightly pale, dark bags were under his eyes.
"Gene, what happened?"
"I took a great risk in coming here." Gene looked over his shoulder, as though he was expecting someone to jump out of the darkness.
"Why? What's wrong? What's going on-"
"This case you're taking, it's not like the others…" He cut in, "It's going to get very dangerous, very quickly."
"What do you mean?"
"The place you are going has an extremely dark past, terrible things are about to occur if you let the evil devour the light."
A dark howl came from the depths of the shadows, making the hair on the back of Mai's neck stand on end.
"Look," The medium said hurriedly, "Tell Noll that he needs to be careful, things are not what they seem; things will get deadly if you make a mistake."
"What the hell do you mean?" Mai's panic level was very high, what could be so powerful to affect an Astral Projection?
"All would be explained in good time, but do not lose hope Mai, you will make friends with whom you thought to be your foes, remember that."
Another growl cut through the silence, but it was much louder.
"Quick! You've got to go! It's not safe here!" He pushed her away.
"Gene! What do you mean? I don't get any of this!" Mai tried to get back to her Spirit Guild, but she felt her conscience pull her from the scene.
The last thing she saw was a black shape swallow Gene, followed by a scream of agony.
.:***:.
"Mai… Mai…"
Someone was calling her name, but she could not open her eyes.
"Mai… Mai… If you don't wake up soon, I'm cutting your pay…"
Finally, she prided open her eyelids only to see Naru's annoyed stare.
"Good, you are up. We have landed. We are getting off in a minute."
"Naru, I had a dream." Mai whispered shakily.
That was all she needed to say. He gave her a nod, and said, "Tell me every detail once we arrive at the client's house."
"Alright," Mai took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together.
The first thing that hit Mai (quite literally) when she took her first step on English soil, was the temperature. Back in Japan, it was very hot and humid, about 35ᵒC, while here… It was so cool! And it was supposed to be summer time!
They all walked into the large building, the white tiles gleamed brightly. The conveyer belt brought their bags and they rolled them out on a trolley.
Going through another set of double doors, they came to the arrival waiting area. Mai peered around, searching for Markus and Victoria, her mind still on the dream, when she was bombarded by a mass of red hair.
"MAI! It's so good to see you!" Madoka Mori cried, giving the young girl a big hug.
"Hey Madoka! I didn't know you were coming to meet us! I thought you were still in America!"
Madoka had been to see them in Japan a few times over the past three years. She had been very involved in Shibuya Psychic Research, and helped them on several different cases.
"Well, I was, but then I heard you were coming and I could not see my little Nolly-Wally." She poked her old student in the cheek with her finger, he was certainly not amused. They all laughed.
"Very well," Naru dodged another prod, "Are they here yet?"
"Yeah, they are just over there." Madoka pointed behind them.
Mai followed her finger and saw two people walking back from a coffee machine.
The first was a man, middle aged, wearing a shirt, tie and black pants. With wrinkles around his eyes, his grey hair had a bald patch at the back.
He held the hand of the woman next to him. She was about the same age as him; her hair was brown trimmed with silver. Her summer dress was white and she wore a cardigan to match.
They both looked very excited, but when they saw the group of people, the woman broke into a run.
"Oliver! My darling boy!" The lady gave Naru a massive hug, "How are you? Did you have a good trip? Was everything alright?" Then she noticed the rest of the team and Mai, "Oh hello there! You must be the wonderful young girl Madoka was talking about!"
"These are my parents, Martin and Luella Davis." Naru stated (Mai internally panicked, it was his Mum and Dad!), "Mother, Father, these are my co-workers, Houshou Takigawa, Ayako Matsuzaki, Osamu Yasuhara, John Brown, Masako Hara and Mai Taniyama." They all bowed respectively.
"Yes indeed! We have heard so much about you! Madoka says that you are all experts and know a lot about the trade!" Luella praised, "And you, Mai, are a very fast learner!"
Mai blushed a deep shade of red, "Thank you, Miss Davis."
"Oh for Pete's sake, there's no need for you to be so formal, call me Luella, or Lu for short!"
"OK…" Mai smiled, she liked Luella already.
"Have you got the van?" Lin asked.
"No, actually," Martin shook his head, "The client told us that they will take care of travel, so we just brought the car."
"That means that they would be here," Masako said.
"So where are the clients? They said they'd be here," Monk peered over the crowd of the busy airport.
"Maybe they got stuck in traffic?" John suggested.
"I dunno," Madoka said, "It wasn't that bad…"
"Markus, I told you we'd be late!"
"Well, excuse me; I wasn't the one who spent an hour in front of the mirror!"
"Stop over exaggerating! It wasn't an hour, it was only ten minutes!"
"Ten minutes more than it should've been!"
This conversation rang loud and clear over the babble of the arrival's room. Markus's head was bobbing up and down over the mass of people, he seemed to be talking to somebody.
And that somebody, turned out to be a very short someone. Barely Mai's height, the girl had chocolate brown eyes, rosy cheeks and wore a pink and green t-shirt with blue jeans and plain white converse shoes. To round it all off, she carried an owl-shaped handbag. Her long brown hair was put up in a high ponytail, and two clips, one pink the other blue, kept her side fringe out of her eyes. All in all, she was very stylish.
But she looked very annoyed.
Markus then noticed the large group. He gave a smile and walked over, the girl trailing behind him.
"Hello! How was your flight?"
"Very well, thanks." Mai said.
"Oh, hello again Luella, Martin!" Markus shook the older man's hand, "I didn't know you were stopping by."
"We just wanted to say hi, we'll be going soon." Luella chirped happily.
The brown haired girl nudged Markus in the ribs.
"Oh, yes. This is Kathy; she is also part of our family."
Her gloomy aura instantly changed, "Hey! It's very nice to meet you! I really hope you enjoy England!"
They all introduced themselves, as they started walking out of the airport.
A large van was waiting outside for then. They bid goodbye to Madoka and Mr and Mrs Davis, and clambered into the almost minibus. It was actually quite spacious, considering that there were ten of them, even all the luggage fitted in quite comfortably.
Yasu offered his hand to Kathy, in order for her to do the high step up, she accepted cheerfully. Mai sent him a look, and he just ignored her, but she didn't miss the blush on his cheeks.
Markus offered to drive, Monk and Ayako sat in the front with him, and the men immediately got into a conversation about cars, much to Ayako's despair. John even chipped in own in a while from his own seat.
Kathy asked and insisted that she would sit next to Mai. Masako was at her other side and Yasu opposite. Naru and Lin sat next to the back doors, silently listening, probably thinking about what equipment they should pick up on the way.
A long conversation started up between the girls, where they learnt that Kathy was also nineteen, her favourite colour is pink and that she loved fashion. She ranted for a full ten minutes as to why Lady Gaga's tastes were so disgusting. Ayako turned around and joined in, as she was seemingly bored out of her mind.
Mai sank into her seat and looked out the window, letting Kathy's words wash over her for a moment.
She had a bad feeling about this case, and there seemed to be something else up with Markus and Kathy.
A voice chanted in her head, "They are keeping a secret, they are keeping a secret."
She sighed softly, as a family of four passed by them on the pavement, they were currently stuck in traffic.
She remembered Gene's words, "All would be explained in good time."
"So what do you think about miniskirts, Mai?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" And she was pulled back into the talk of clothing, unease lingering at the back of her mind.
Author's Note:
OMG, I have been writing this for ever! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, life has been hectic and exams occupy my time. Oh, and not to mention I had a writer's block for a few months, I have gotten into Naruto, and it is joined first with Ghost Hunt on my anime list… Yeah, it's that good.
Also, I realised yesterday morning that I have been on for a year! Well, a year and two days to be exact. So, in honour of that, I watched half an episode of Ghost Hunt, have a sudden hurricane of inspiration and wrote three and a half pages in under an hour (while doing homework at the same time). My fingers are tired now…
So, please leave a review! I want to know what you guys think about it!
What did Gene mean in his dream? Will the team ever get to their destination? Will my fingers go back to normal? Find out in the next chapter!
CrazyAnimeFan1228