A/N: Warning for mature content.

Case 1

Tuesday, November 10

The start of the morning was entirely uneventful. The whole team, not wishing to anger their moody boss on the first major case together, all trickled in the office a few minutes before six as he had commanded. This gave Naru just enough time to brief them on the equipments they will be needing before sending everyone out to do manual labor. After taking several trips up and down the stairwell with sizeable loads, Mai heard Ayako grumble about almost breaking her nails.

By seven thirty the team was finally ready to depart. They split into two vans as they had always done in the past: Lin taking Naru, Mai, and the equipments in one, while Takigawa taking the rest of the team in the other. The plan was to simply take the Joban Expressway out of Tokyo and drive straight into Kitaibaraki in Ibaraki Prefecture, on the way encountering nothing particular of note except wide expanse of rice paddies and untouched forestry. Although the long drive and lack of stimulating conversation would have greatly bored her out of her mind back in the day, Mai now found the silence quite comforting. It allowed her plenty of time to catch up on sleep.

When she woke up almost three hours later, they were closing in on their destination. She tried to push her disappointment away when she, yet again, still saw no signs of Gene in her dreams. Honestly she thought with the new case that everything would go back to normal, but now she knew not to expect too much of herself. She let out a small yelp when her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. She quickly took it out and smiled at receiving a Line* message from Yasuhara.

'You're probably stiff bored over there, aren't you?'

'Not really,' she replied. 'I actually just woke up from my beauty sleep.'

'Aw damn. I had hoped to make you feel bad, but now you reversed it on me. I wanted to sleep too, but it's impossible here. Everyone is so loud.'

Another smile from her. 'Well if you want we can switch cars on the way back.' Mai watched in amusement as the dots on right of her message balloon repeatedly started and stopped moving, signifying that the person on the other line was typing and re-typing their message. It took a full minute before he finally settled on a reply.

'Well I was thinking we could try to stick to the same car on the ride back?'

Her heart skipped a beat and this time, it was she who had to deliberate on her reply. Although they had recently split up on good terms, she definitely still had feelings for him. In the short time they were together, Mai came to know the real Yasuhara behind his jocular mask-that he was a boy who was keenly perceptive, lovingly sincere, and sweetly understanding.

Both knew the beginning of their romantic relationship was built on unstable footing, for Mai still had much unresolved feelings she held on to. The precarious equilibrium fully tipped over when Madoka suddenly announced that Naru was returning back to Japan, prompting a much needed conversation between them. They spoke at length about their relationship and with a brutally honest assessment of their current situation, realized that Naru's presence would surely stir up some trouble. Yasuhara conceded with humility that he knew she had loved the twins far longer than she had him, and since both of them left her behind so suddenly, he would understand if her feelings were confused. He suggested for them to break up, hopefully only temporarily, as she tried to sort out her emotions. Hearing his logical analysis, Mai was at first mad that he could be so selflessly impassive about their relationship, but Yasuhara softly murmured that it was not merely a gallant act on his part, but more of a way of protecting himself from further pain. She realized fully that he was hurt and deeply troubled, but more than anything he loved and cared about her too much that he wanted to give her the chance she deserved to sort through her inner turmoil.

Mai turned her eye to the boy in front of her, sitting in the front seat seemingly oblivious to her existence. She thought about Eugene, long dead and who had hopefully passed on to the life beyond. It really wasn't any fair to Yasuhara at all; it really shouldn't be this confusing for her at all. Yet it was.

'I'd like that. Who do you propose we throw here in my place?'

'Masako might be glad for the opportunity.'

She bit her lip. She still didn't like it when Masako had anything to do with Naru. Especially now that she had only gotten cuter as she got older. 'Hm, maybe. But maybe John is the better choice since he probably doesn't like all the noise either.'

'Well we got two options. One of them is bound to agree. Looks like we're almost here-see you real soon.'

Sure enough, Lin-san slowed the van down to a halt, parking it inside a relatively small building. Clearly it was the parking structure of the estate. The building itself looked a bit old, but it was well maintained. Naru and Lin had already gotten out of the car and began speaking with Sugiyama-san, who had also just arrived to meet them.

She adroitly jumped out of the van and ran outside to breathe in the fresh air, looking curiously around her foreign surrounding. The actual mansion was no where in sight, but Mai spotted a narrow, paved path a couple of meters behind the parking building and assumed they'd had to do some trekking to reach it. Behind her, the rest of the group in Bou-san's car finally arrived and she waved gingerly at them. As soon as everyone had gotten out of the car, stretched, popped their tired joints, and mused about the calm scenery about them, Naru and Lin rejoined the group to snap them all back to business.

"Sugiyama-san will be stepping out for a bit to make us copies of the key to garage side entrance, as well as the blueprints of the house." Behind her, Mai heard the crunch of Sugiyama-san's car tires against the loose gravel as he pulled out and drove away. Naru resumed, "The house itself may be too dangerous so we will set up the base here in the parking garage. Yasuhara-san, Mai, stay here and make the preparations. We have a limited amount of space so we may not be able to use all our monitors."

"Where will we be sleeping?" Ayako asked.

He diverted his attention to her for a bit and answered, "Lin had already made reservations at the nearby hotel, twenty minutes away from here. We will check in once everything is set up." When Ayako nodded, he continued, "Hara-san, try to get a reading of the estate while you patrol around the perimeter of the house. Bou-san, you will accompany her. The rest of us will set up the stand-alone video cameras in tactical locations outside. John will accompany Matsuzaki-san; Lin is with me. Once all that is finished, we will reconvene back here." Everyone understood their parts and nodded.

When everyone else had left, Mai and Yasuhara got started on the work ahead of them, starting with putting together the shelf in which they were to stack all the monitors on. It took them twenty minutes to set the shelf up before moving on to their heavy lifting.

"So Mai," Yasuhara said in between grunts as he hefted one of the last monitors into its spot, "have you had any feelings about this case?"

She grabbed the cords and started connecting the monitors to each other and to the power supply, squeezing her way in the tight area behind the shelf. "Kind of. I don't really know how to explain it, but I'm not entirely sure we can trust Sugiyama-san."

The boy found this worrying. "How do you mean? Are we fearing he might stab us in the back, or what?"

She laughed. "No, not like that. More like I don't trust what he's telling-or not telling-us. I feel like he's hiding something. Just an intuition."

"Just an intuition, huh? So I take it Eugene Davis still hasn't shown himself in your dreams to guide you in his quizzical way?"

Mai emerged from her spot and smiled sadly. "No, unf-" she began, but stopped herself before saying anything further, wondering if it would hurt him if she were to honestly say how desperately she's been wanting to see Gene. Yasuhara looked at her kindly, understanding her sentiment.

"That must mean he really must have moved on then. That's good, right?"

"Mm..."

They were silent for a few minutes as they turned on the monitors and turned on the video cameras, making sure that the monitors were able to receive a live feed. Yasuhara managed to find out that one of the thermal imaging cameras was having issues, so he put it back in the van and took out one of the spare equipments they packed. As usual, Naru had been correct in asking them to pack extra. Yasuhara snorted and shook his head with a laugh.

"Osamu? What's so funny?"

Yasuhara shrugged his shoulders and held up the other camera in his hand. He plugged the cord in and turned it on to make sure it was working first before turning it back off to conserve battery. "Nothing, just in awe at how the big Boss seemingly could always see ahead. Fortune-telling isn't one of his other superworldly powers, is it?"

Mai laughed and shook her head. "That would be funny. And convenient. I would like to ask him a few questions about my future if that were the case." Hearing those words, both of them paused and stared at each other, not knowing how to continue the subject.

He shyly walked up to her and eyed her hands, but did not take them in his. Instead, he looked her gently in the eye and murmured, "Me too. Have you... thought about...?" When Mai bit her lip and looked away from his eyes, he nodded and backed off. He changed gears by sighing loudly and chirped jovially, "Well, looks like we finally finished! It sucks having only two people do this kind of work. How did big Boss and Lin do it with just the two of them before?"

Mai thanked him gratefully with a smile and followed his lead. "Well to be fair to you, it's like you did it all by yourself. I only did the small things." Yasuhara laughed and agreed readily.

Behind them, Bou-san's mildly accusatory voice said, "What's this, Shounen? I knew you'd be flirting around with Mai-chan! You always manage to do that whenever none of us are around."

"Come on, Bou-san, be fair. I do it even with you guys around."

The monk hung his head and chucked. "That's true."

The others soon trickled in the building. Naru and Masako were the last one to arrive, trailing behind the others while deep in conversation. Mai noted Naru's incredibly pensive mood. He seemed to have made up his mind when he spoke up.

"Hara-san saw no spirits in the grounds outside the building, but felt several strong presence coming from the house. We don't know how many there are, but it's clear that it's not just one entity. I don't like the idea of staying here until sun-down. I'd like everyone to work quickly in setting up the cameras and get a feel for the place so we know what we should focus on for tomorrow's investigation." He produced eight copies of the blueprint he got from Sugiyama earlier while he was examining the grounds, and handed it out to everyone in the group. He lifted the sleeve on his black turtleneck to look at his watch and said, "It is currently one o'clock. We will split into four groups. John and Hara-san, take the first floor, left wing. Mai and Bou-san, first floor, right wing. Matsuzaki-san and Yasuhara-san, second floor, left wing. Lin and I will take the second floor right wing. I want the thermal imaging cameras set up in corners where we can view multiple doorways."

Mai spoke up. "Hoshimi Saito-san... where was he attacked? The reports we've received were all pretty vague. Heavy footsteps, shadows, voices, but nowhere in particular stood out in these reports. I think the room where they found Hoshimi-san would be one of the best place to put those cameras."

She suddenly felt self conscious when Naru turned to look at her. She expected him to tease her, make some sarcastic remark at how she's finally shown some common sense, but to her surprise, he did nothing of the sort. Instead he answered her evenly as a colleague, saying, "I believe that as well. The room in question is in the second floor right wing. Lin and I will be checking it out. At five we will all meet back at the entrance, whether you are finished setting up or not. We leave here before the sun sets. Is everything clear?"

Once again, everyone nodded in affirmative.

-00000-

Mai and Bou-san had meticulously gone through every doors in the right wing, which mostly lead to small rooms filled with books and dusty miscellaneous items. They may have been bedrooms, or perhaps storage rooms, back when they were in use, and both briefly wondered whether the place could have been a hotel at some point in time. Bou-san said he will make sure to ask Naru more details about the house later. They entered the last room, Bou-san stepping in behind her.

Suddenly, a cold chill ran through her body and she froze in place. "No... I-I can't take this anymore! Please... no more...not tonight," Mai thought frantically. "I need to run away-but where?"

"It's quarter to five, Mai-chan. Ah, I see Masako and John waving at us by the entrance. Looks like Ayako and shounen are also coming down the staircase now, too. We should be finishing up pretty soon, too; just this room left. Eh, Mai-chan-?"

Mai could barely hear Bou-san's voice amidst her pounding heartbeat. "He's coming. He's coming soon! Help, please!" She looked around and tried to find a place to hide. The room was very dark; the only light was coming from a dim, old lamp by the corner so if she could somehow squeeze into a space somewhere, perhaps he would think she escaped and she can be spared tonight until she can finally leave by the morning. "No, it's no use. If I hide, he'll hurt me even more."

"-Mai-chan? What's the matter?"

She was trembling. She could hear someone speaking in the distance, but it was fast fading away and now she was stuck with no where else to go, waiting for the dreaded moment. He'll be coming in now, any minute. Her body was still aching from yesterday, and the day before that. Will this man ever become satisfied?

Why doesn't anybody ever come help her?

"I need to leave this place. I need to leave this place forever, please. Someone... No. No. I can't leave. I have no money to my name and who will believe me? I will be cast out and left to die on my own if I say awful things about him."

Click.

Mai spun her head and felt her heart stop. The door to her room opened slowly and the stench of alcohol wafted from the door. A blonde Englishman stumbled in. He had been drinking again, like he always did before coming to see her. He had said it helped him lose more inhibition-allowed him to go wilder with pleasure. He slowly entered her room and searched the darkness for her figure, and then sneered. He found her.

She stepped back and put her arms out in front of her to shield herself, although she knew it was no use. Her pupils had constricted, her ears were pounding, and she was sweating profusely despite trembling as if cold. She didn't even have the reflex to dodge out of the way when he mercilessly lunged at her, sending the back of her head to hit the wooden floor beneath her with a resounding thud. Yesterday, although he hurt her until she bled and almost choked to death, he had started gentler than normal. Today, completely inebriated by taking multiple shots of the newly imported Whiskey he bought from the Japanese-British Exhibition at the capital, he was ruthless. He had both her hands up abover her head in a vice, while he straddled and grinded his lower body against hers. He buried his face in her neck and slobbered all over her, the edges of his teeth scraping against her skin.

Tears started to fall, but she felt too weak to fight him off.

His hands ripped her dress open while he used his knee to wedge in between her legs and spread it apart. Mai violently shook her head and pleaded. "Please... please... enough. Don't touch me anymore. Please!" but the man wouldn't listen.

His hands, twiching excitedly, already glided up her leg since her dress was too easy of an access and found her undergarment. He laughed lecherously and yanked it off, sneering, "Chiriko... Chiriko... you know you'll like this very much..." He roughly plunged a finger inside of her, making her yell out in pain. In the same breath, the man bit down onto her breast and only grew hornier the more she strugged beneath him. Mai howled in agony at the pain and shame that coursed through her.

"-Mai!"

"NO!" she screamed out as the monk shook her, trying to snap her out of the vision. When she came to and saw him holding on to her, she recoiled in repulsion and instinctively slapped his hand away. She took a few steps back and then threw up. Every part of her body felt chilled to the bone and she could not stop shivering. It felt foreign to her, felt so gross, and she wanted to rip every inch of her skin off. It was only when a soft, warm hand reach for her head and pulled it to a tight embrace that she was able to realize what she had just gone through was merely one of those bad dreams. A small whimper came out of her throat as she buried her face onto her friend's chest and wailed despairingly, "Ayako!"

The miko gently patted her head and shushed her, assuring her that it was all going to be okay now. Masako had also laid a hand on her back in an effort to calm her down.

"Guys, leave us for now. Go, go," Ayako had said, presumably to the rest of the team who had by then begun to gather around them. Mai heard the faint click of the door as it closed, leaving only the three of them in the room, but she still couldn't bring to tear herself away. She remained there, sobbing, until she could no longer cry anymore.

Eventually she calmed down and she met both their eyes. "Ayako... Masako... Thank you."

Masako's eyes were gentle and reassuring. "Of course... Are you ready to tell us what happened in your vision?"

Mai nodded. She was going to have to tell them the story of the ghost whose life she experienced. With much shame, humiliation, and fury, she said in a terrified whisper, "I was... getting raped."

A/N: It's very hard to write about something that sounds so unpleasant. Anyway, do review the chapters please. I know several people had put this on their watch and favorite list (thank you so much for that!), so I know at least some people read it. It really means a lot to me when I get reviews in forms of criticisms, musings, questions, ideas, etc. Thank you again for taking the time to read this.