Ghost Hunt – Timepiece I: The Inferno
Foreword: In the first case, Mai will demonstrate the abilities she has learned over the seven month period. It will seem strong in comparison the manga ending of the original series but please bear with me. Mai is also a lot better at controlling her emotions now that she has a job as a national-level idol, this means she won't be as easily annoyed as her younger self and can hold back her jealousy. Also, there is a surprise about her "intelligence level" when Naru arrives… sometime later. This first case is a character development as well as the introduction to the OC. The OC is an important aspect of the story but does not cause the character importance to shift. Let's begin the descent to the 1st circle of Hell shall we…?
Let's just go over the font meanings once in case you do not know what's going on. Normal Font like this is used for regular perspective descriptions. Italic Font is used for thoughts from the character it pertains to. The foreword doesn't count and the pre-story/after-story italics are used for actions instead. When there is audible speech, it will be quoted like normal stories: "This is a speech". If the audible speech is of a key element in the story it will be done with quotes, italics and bolded: "This is a speech". Bolded Underlined Font is used for mentionable book/movie/tv show titles that have a special plot point.
Whenever there is a [ ] surrounding a speech, it means the character is talking to someone in a phone call. Also, if Mai's Learning Corner has (!) at the title, it means there is some important information that you might want to read.
Naru is in a Coffee shop with Mai.
Mai: I wonder where this case takes me this time… I hear that the original character Isdefelt made is showing up in this chapter.
Naru: Whoever the character may be, I hope that he or she will be at least smarter than you.
Mai: "Kuh!" *Chokes on strawberry shortcake* *cough* *cough* Hey, I'm not that dumb am I?
Isdefelt enters the Coffee Shop.
Isdefelt: Don't worry about that, I guarantee you that you'll like her Mai. Her personality is pretty similar to yours, but…
Mai: But?
Naru: …she's also more refined and cultured like Hara-san.
Isdefelt: Well you've definitely done your research~.
Naru: Because I am smart.
Mai: Both of you are jerks.
Masako comes running into the Coffee Shop, completely inelegant and opposite to her usual self. She then sits next to Mai, holding her kimono sleeve to her mouth but you can still hear her light panting from physical exertion.
Masako: …Don't ask. And Isdefelt-san does not own Ghost Hunt *Keeps her kimono sleeve to her lips, tilting her head slightly and leans to the right just a tad bit, making herself look cuter than necessary*
Mai and Naru are still staring at Masako.
Isdefelt: Okay… I guess go and start the reading….
Isdefelt has left the room.
Mai: Hey! This isn't a chat room!
Mai's head perks up as she remembers something.
Mai: Ah, almost forgot! The dreams, NOT the Astral Plane, will be in First Person Point of View in this chapter.
Chapter II – Self-Searching and the Twin Stars
]~-~._.~-~[
"Thank you for coming here on such short notice, we are very thankful that you took some time from your studies to help us with this problem of ours…"
The room wasn't very large, but it is not exactly cluttered. Mai sat on a chair at the table where Hitomiya Shizuka, the Student Council President of Seiryukou High, Vice President Akari Sana, Finance Manager Shiion Ichiro and Disciplinary Team Leader Takazuchi Kei are seated.
Hitomiya Shizuka had long, crimson-red thigh-length hair along with a pair of Bluish-Green eyes that made her look fierce yet beautiful, like an Amazonian Warrior from the stories. Her hair also has loose bangs covering her forehead and side bangs framing her face. Standing at 5"8', she's very slender and tall, managing to be one of the tallest female students in the school. Other than the school uniform, which was a medium-length onyx skirt and a crimson blouse, Shizuka also has on the Student Council Blazer, which is a black jacket with gold thread designs. An epaulet on the left shoulder reveals her status as the student council president with a gold phoenix design.
Akari Sana, the vice president has long reddish-brown hair tied into twin tails with a yellow ribbon. She also has light brown eyes that sparkle and dance about, very childish, happy and jumpy at the same time. Sana is a little on the petite side, standing at 5'3, she, also like Shizuka, is very slender. She wears the same uniform set as the president except the epaulet has a silver phoenix design instead of the gold one on the president's epaulet, signifying her position as vice-president.
Shiion Ichiro has long golden-blond hair that is tied up into a braid that hangs down to his shoulder, indicating a mix of cultural origins. The two previous students were not racially Japanese (but are born and lived only in Japan) while Ichiro is half Japanese, half Norwegian. Although he is half Japanese, his physical features took to his Norwegian side other than his face. His eyes are a beautiful golden-amber color, sometimes mesmerizing other students of both genders by accident. Standing at 4'11, Ichiro is probably one of the shortest males in the school. On the outside while wearing clothing, he looks very petite and slender when in actuality his body is very well toned and is built like an athlete, slightly wiry and solid. The male school uniform consists of a pair of onyx paints and a white dress shirt. Instead of the standard black jacket of the male uniform, Ichiro has the student council blazer with a bronze coin design on the epaulet. If you call him short, or something similar, you won't live to tell the tale.
Takazuchi Kei has short, onyx black hair with a pair of dark brown eyes of the pure Japanese descent. He stands at 5'9, easily one of the tallest males, only beaten in height by three others in the entire school. He looks somewhat geeky and lanky, sporting a pair of glasses that make him look more like a bookworm than a sports-kendo expert. Do not annoy or taunt him: he will taunt you back with a rather insulting comeback which may make you want to strike him down. He'll probably knock your head off your neck before you're able to get within a meter of him. He is normally a lightly social awkward but has lots of girls eye him. However, when a problem arises, Kei is very devious in his actions when there is a strategy or tactic required. This has earned him the nickname of "Haraguro Megane". Typically a person described as "haraguro" is one who appears to be nice but is in fact a schemer or a scoundrel. "Hara" is metaphorically one's true intentions, and "guro/kuro" means black. "Megane" is him wearing glasses so that's probably why it stuck. Of course, Kei isn't really like that. It is only when it is needed he acts like a big bad villain, but usually for the good of others.
"I tell you, there is no such thing as psychic powers, ghosts and magic," the Disciplinary Team Leader spoke out in a stern, yet arrogant manner.
Here we go again… another non-believer strongly voicing his belief in such a bad way. It's so… aggravating. I wonder how in the world Naru dealt with such annoying people every time he has cases like this… Mai's thoughts wandered off a bit before she continued listening to incident explained by the four, and the occasional squabble between them. Mai shifted a little, flattening out some unevenness of her school uniform, a habit she picked up from being a hidden-in-plain sight super idol for the while, very perceptive of her outward look and her manners.
"…There have been several times some of our female students have claimed to have seen this dark, shadow-like figure that keeps on mumbling to itself, and walking towards the girls," Sana explains.
Shizuka continues, "not only do we have these strange sightings, there have also been some incidents with things moving around the room the figure was spotted in. At first we had thought it was just some bad prank. But when we checked the security feed, the objects suddenly moved themselves while no one was in the room!"
Jotting down the key points, Mai feels that this case might have more depth to it than most of her other cases…
I might need some assistance from someone else… I will also need some equipment to check my suspicions. Mai finishes off the last bit of the notes and turns to the President.
"Hitomiya-san, if it is possible, I wish to have a place for a base of operations for this case. I feel that this may be more than just a simple haunting and will require more time for investigation. I will ask one of my close contacts to help me with this case and…" Mai pauses as she tries to come up with a better sentence to close off this speech.
"…and keep the female students that are curious to what this investigation is for away from the room the sightings have been in. I cannot guarantee the safety of every person that accidentally trespasses into whatever the shadow is."
"And I will say it again, there is absolutely no way, that psychics, ghosts and…" The Disciplinary did not get time to finish his statement when a scream is heard in the hallways.
"Kyaaaa!"
"What was that?" Mai literally launches off the chair she was sitting in and rushes out the door with Mizuki, Sana, Ichiro and Miroku hot on her heels. Mai rounds the corner of the hallway and breakneck speed and this is the order of things she sees: Two students on the ground, frightened; one of them was crying. There is a strange, shadow-like figure of humanoid man exiting the "room of incident", slowly taking steps towards the two girls on the floor and mumbling something incomprehensible. Gasps from behind her confirm to Mai that the other four people, reaching the turning point a few seconds later, are able to see the shadow-like figure. Mai was tempted to try the nine cuts that she learned from Ayako but something tells her to wait and examine the scene. The figure already reached the two girls that were huddling together in fright but it was not doing anything else, looking down at them for a moment, mumbling something and then slowly turned back. Mai feels someone is going to move from behind her and quickly raises her hand to stop them from rushing at the figure. Mai cautiously steps over to near the figure to see if she can hear what the shadow was mumbling about. When she gets literally next to the shadow, the shadow turns to look at her.
"Bad…. Bad people…. Bad people… must be…. Punished…."
Mai stares back into the shadow's demonic eyes and waits for the figure to do something. The shadow very slowly raises a hand and Mai feels it put a hand on her shoulder.
"…Punished… Bad…. Not Bad… Good girl… …. … Not Punished…"
Mai tilts her head slightly, hearing the figure mumble those words out. This is new. Already she recognizes the traces of a sickly aura that indicates the presence of a demon. The shadow figure slowly takes his hand off her and stumbles back to the room slowly before vanishing one it reaches the doorway, but not before Mai heard another voice somewhere else, a different, more feminine one:
"It's… so… empty here… … Someone… Please… help me…"
For a moment, there elapsed a silence throughout the area. Thinking about what they saw a minute ago. A few more tense seconds of silence and…
"What… was that?" The Disciplinary Squad Leader just manages to stutter out.
"Kei," the Vice President calls out to the black haired, brown-eyed Disciplinary Squad Leader, "I think you'd better go do some studies and research on your beliefs…"
"…Sana, I do not think that would be necessary…"
"That was something… new," President Shizuka states, seemingly nonchalant, "…and I don't think I want to see that again."
The finance manager's normally pale complexion did not change, but you can still tell he is shocked to see such thing.
"Did that thing do anything to you?" A flash of crimson blaze leaps into view of Mai's eyes. Shizuka was already in front of her and asking if she was okay.
It looks like the student council president has nerves of steel. That should've frightened, or at least shocked most people that seen it.
"No, I'm fine thank you," Mai continues, while musing, puts a slender hand to her lower chin, deep in thought, "but I didn't expect something potentially more dangerous than a lost spirit…. Yes, I do need some assistance for this case." Mai motions to the others that it is safe and the four student council members springs into action, with Ichiro and Sana rushing up to help the fallen girls while Kei went ahead to check for other students that may still remain at this time.
Oh? The other three immediately takes action like nothing happened? Mai thinks to herself, proud of the three for not being frozen with fright, before deciding on her next plan of action.
Mai clears her throat and speaks out to the small group now formed around her. "Alright, you four and you two girls better leave for the day since this case may take longer than a day since this is more complicated than most of the cases I've received so far. I suggest you usher all other students that remain here out as well as I do not want anyone else to get a scare."
Kei looks like he wants to argue but was quickly shot down by a sharp look from the fiery-headed Shizuka.
"Okay, please be careful though, we would all be distraught if something happened to you since this technically is our school's problem." Sana pipes up in a cheery voice to try and loosen the tension.
"I will," Mai replies with a small bow, "I'll try to fix this as soon as I can."
After Shizuka shows her room for the base to be set up in, the group says their farewells and leaves. After a while of thinking, Mai takes out her smart phone, a very new model customized with a few special gadgets for her personal use and speed dials to a certain person.
["Hello Mai-chan~."]
["Hey Koto-chan~"]
["How are you?"]
["I'm fine, and you?"]
["I'm feeling pretty good~."]
["So, I guess if you're calling me while outside of work…"]
["Yes. You guessed right,"] Mai sighs and starts filling in to the person whom Mai is talking to about she has seen and what they may need with the case.
["Alright, I'll be there ASAP. See you later~."]
["Yup, see you later~."] Mai ends the call. Mai enters the room and feels a little sleepy so she looks around, spots a couch, and goes lies down on the couch and gets herself comfortable.
I'll be able to get some more information before Miyuki comes over… and with that thought, Mai falls asleep.
-Astral Plane: The Unconscious-
Oh? This is new. Or rather, it seems this time I'm completely in this new place… Mai looks about, noticing that she was on a flowery hill with a lake nearby. There are trees in the distance, marking out a forest and a small Greek-style gazebo near the lake side. She was able to see a vision of this place before, but she had never actually physically, or rather, in her case, spiritually stepped into this region.
"I guess you have more to show me," Mai states with a matter-of-fact tone in her voice, sounding a little playful and cheerful.
"Of course not, those dreams are your own. I'm just here to guide you through some dreams that you may not be able to handle on your own." The blue-eyed Naru-Twin spoke up from behind her and the two of them, Mai and Gene, faced each other and smiled.
"Well… I like to feel that you are the one showing me what I need to know," Mai counters, "it makes me feel that I'm not all alone when I must live through, or at least observe the disaster that happened in the past… though I shouldn't make someone I consider my brother to watch with me or play along in a scene…"
Gene laughs lightly, "Well I'm glad you need me that way. I'll always be there for you Mai, but you do need to make sure that, when that idiotic scientist comes back, you make it hard for him to get you. I still think he's an idiot for asking who you loved and leaving then coming back doesn't help it." Mai blushes at the comment.
"Although," Gene smirks and Mai knew that the he didn't smirk at her, "I think with your new career, you won't really have a problem with it. Oh Boy, I think I'll get to see that idiot scientist jealous!~"
Mai giggles, twirls around three-sixty degrees before striking a pose and then in a mischievous voice; "You want me? You hafta' work for it!~"
Gene laughed out at her childish play and in one stride picked her up bridal style with Mai squealing, struggling playfully but not actually trying since she knows Gene is just playing around. Gene continues walking with Mai in his arms before stopping near a lake.
"Um… one question before you sink me into another dream," Mai into Gene's twinkling eyes.
"Yes?" Gene asked gently.
"This place, what is it? I've never been here before. I've seen it a couple of times in visions but never actually…" Mai wonders out loud that doubles as the question for Gene.
"This is actually your own creation, your own inner consciousness. Your Astral Projection ability has improved quite a bit, and it looks like you are able to finally reach your unconscious self."
"Wait," Mai stopped mid thought, "does this mean… I'm in a coma?"
"Well… to answer that question, I have good news and bad news."
Mai twitched, "The bad news first?"
Gene looks at her sadly, but Mai noted something tugging upward at his lips. "Yes, if you reach this place, your body is in a coma."
"And the good news...?"
Gene starting smiling so happily that Mai just had to start smiling with him.
"You're in a self-induced coma that you can easily get yourself in and out of!"
Mai's eyes widen in surprise; this was very different from her thoughts about her own powers.
"Then…"
"Yes," Gene answers lightly before she finishes her question, "you can leave right at this moment without even peering at the dream. Not that you would try to leave before seeing it though."
"Actually, I have one more question before I go take a look at the dream," Mai ignores his sarcastic remark about leaving without getting more information and asks one more, important question:
"Why weren't you with me during the last few cases?"
Gene scoffs, "I do need to pass on before coming back to you as an "official" spirit guide you know? It doesn't matter how long, passing on still requires some… documentation to be done before I can come back on my own accord. Eh… Documentation isn't really the right word… but you get it right? Time still turns on the physical plane."
Gene, with Mai still in his arms, walks over to the gazebo and seats her on one of the white chairs while seating himself on a chair just across from her with a table in between.
"I thought you were going to toss me into another dream." Mai looks at Gene with a questioning glance.
Gene shrugs, "there's more than enough time for a long talk since you're now able to transport your spirit into your unconscious, your "consciousness" in this reality has been accelerated ten times faster than normal, meaning that spending one hour in here is like only spending six minutes in your sleep or coma. Dreaming however is slightly different, but we can talk about that later on. Right now, we can spend more time further developing your other abilities here if you wish to."
"This is a lot more than I expected…" Mai mused…
"Well, just for this session, let's go over what abilities you have developed so far shall we?" Gene states out in question form, although already knowing Mai would probably say yes anyways.
Mai nods.
"So here you have astral projection that breaks the rules of physical and spiritual crossovers, very vivid retro-cognitive/post-cognitive dreams, Mediumship that's probably as strong as my own if not stronger than when I was alive, and some limited control over Empathy, Precognitive visions and dreams. It also seems you've been working on being able to utilize Telepathy, Psychometry and Psionic Blasts as well, although you don't really have the talent for the first two and the third one is too unpredictable… not to mention you're now capable of utilizing demon-banishing spells that take too long to chant… what are you anyways? An anime or movie super heroine? If this goes on long enough, you might even become a candidate to become a physical god, or in your case, physical goddess…"
Mai giggles at Gene's sarcasm and joke while frowning at her long list of abilities. She then looks around at the gazebo and then out towards the lake and kind of ignores the question.
"This place is sure beautiful…" Mai murmured. Gene nods in agreement.
"This is the astral plane of your own unconscious, it represents who you are and will change according to your long-term mood. Let me explain the symbolism and the connection behind you and this place before you go to view your dream." Gene replies with a slight serious tone. Mai just nods and lets him continue explaining. Gene points to the rolling hills covered with colorful flowers, some of them in full bloom while others have not yet opened up their petals.
"To see colorful flowers in your unconscious astral plane signifies kindness, compassion, gentleness, pleasure, beauty, and gain. Flowers can be symbolic of perfection and spirituality. This may also overlap with the expression of love, joy and happiness. Flowery hills with many flowers in full bloom and some that have not opened up their petals signify that some of your talents have been discovered while some are still latent."
Mai looks very happy and cheerful to hear about this and is smiling very brightly. Gene takes a look at her and is mesmerized by her cuteness and beauty. If Noll catches me thinking about her this way, he will be seriously jealous, and I'll love teasing him about it. Gene smiles with Mai, sharing her happiness while thinking about when he'll get to start teasing the two.
Before the two were able to do anything, Mai felt a tug in her spiritual self and her face turns from being joyful to one slightly perplexed.
"Looks like this information may be very important for you to feel a tug on your spiritual body." Gene notes her facial expression and instantly makes the connection.
"I guess I should go now," Mai shrugs and goes up to hug Gene, whom hugs her back.
"See you next time Gene.~"
"Take care Mai~."
Mai focuses herself and she fell out of the unconscious, straight into the dream.
-Dreamscape-
"Ahh!" I screamed out in pain and horror as I felt the stranger throw me to the ground. The man had on a medical mask, shades, and a cap. He had dragged me into an abandoned storage shed near the school.
"You are a bad girl, you must die."
"I-Iyada!" I try to scramble to my feet and run away, but my injured ankle causes me to collapse immediately and I crack my elbow on the dirty, hard floor. I hiss in pain and feel a pressure on my back and realize the man was sitting on me, holding my wrists in one hand and trapping me under him. No! I don't want to get raped! The man seems to have read my mind and he laughed in a really creepy way.
"Hehehe… as much as I want to have you… You need to be pure for the sacrifice."
My eyes widen as I feel a stabbing pain in my left shoulder.
"Kyaaaa!" He cut into my shoulder with what I suspect to be a knife. It hurts! It hurts! No! I don't want to die! My tears run down my cheek and fall to the dusty floor. I feel as if my entire body is on fire, burning away my sense and my life. I scream again when he does the same with my opposite shoulder with another knife, the same torment that wracks my entire self. The man continues plunging knives into my body, one into my left thigh, right thigh, and one for each of my arms, two into my lower back for both left and right side. At this point, over five minutes have passed and I start feeling dizzy with the blood loss. I can hear something sucking on my body and realize that the man was drinking my blood.
"Finally… a few more sacrifices and I shall become immortal!"
"I-Iya… I… don't… want… …to…"
The last thing I noticed with my fading vision was a reverse pentagram in a circle made of some whitish powdery substance on the floor where I am dying on… was it my imagination, or was the pentagram glowing in a deep, bloody red color…?
The world fell into a bluish-white haze and slowly turned into the never-ending darkness of the void.
Mai woke up with a start yet again, tears streaming down her face and shivering like crazy. Although she has toughened up a lot during the seven months, the tragic dreams still, and should cause her to cry and feel terrible for the victims that suffered the fate of whatever Mai dreamt of. It was all in the past, but still, it's terrifying to experience their deaths in first person.
Groaning, Mai rubs the sleep from her eyes and realize that someone has their arms wrapped around her, holding her in a comforting embrace. Feeling the other person's body against hers, Mai concludes there is only one person that would do that as if they knew she had a tragic dream.
"Koto-chan…. Did you…?"
The person holding her, a girl, just smiled sadly.
"You came in while I had the dream didn't you?"
"Hai…" Koto-chan, whose Mai's nickname for KotoriKyu, the stage name of Miyuki Shimiya also had tears in her eyes.
"You shouldn't do this Koto…" Miyuki silenced Mai with a finger to the latter's lips.
"When outside of work, call me Miyuki or Miyu remember? Ah… I guess that dream was traumatizing to the point of an emotional breakdown."
"…Yes Miyu-chan… but you shouldn't keep your link with me…"
"What's done is done Mai-chan, you just get into too much trouble for me to leave you alone in a case." Miyuki teases the brunette and pokes the latter's nose lightly. "Now, are you done reporting your sadness to the world? We do have a lot of work to do."
Rubbing her eyes, Mai giggles lightly as her best friend successfully cheers her up. Looking at Miyuki, the brown-haired investigator-cross-idol realizes that Miyuki had changed her hairstyle to avoid the others from noticing an idol walking in the streets.
Miyuki Shimiya's long, silky and flowing onyx-black hair stood out sharply against her white and silver dress, reaching the middle of the petite teen's back. Miyuki is nearly the same height Mai, just maybe a few millimeters shorter than the brunette. The most striking thing about the black-haired beauty is her brilliant sapphire blue eyes that shine with a dancing sparkle whenever she's happy. Miyuki's skin is as mesmerizing as Mai's, perfection even without makeup and unblemished as if acne and puberty never attacked her body. Standing in the silver-white long boots to match her dress, Miyuki's frame was slender and petite, similar to Mai, giving the newly introduced idol the title "Midnight Sapphire Princess" which used by fans and others who associated with her. The title in turn stuck to Miyuki like superglue. Miyuki is also wearing a pair of matching silver-white gloves; her entire attire indicating that she had probably come from her movie acting work. At the moment though, Miyuki has contact lenses on that makes her eyes look a dark brown instead of the usual striking blue to cover up her identity as the idol KotoriKyu.
Looking around, Mai notices the few stacks of equipment put into place around the base. There are three screens showing infrared camera feeds, three regular photographic screens, three hyperspectral imaging screens and a large screen showing ever-changing graphs, data tables and motion detection. Miyuki had just headed back to a seat with a very flashy-looking laptop and is currently recording everything into the laptop. The equipment is more compact and portable than the ones used by Naru and SPR but is more efficient and accurate to the hundred-thousandth decimal place in errors.
"You set up everything by yourself?" Mai said exasperatedly, "You should've waited until I woke up!"
"And you would've cried yourself to death while carrying things."
"You would've too!" Mai countered.
Miyuki is, although a typical girl helping out with Mai's crazy supernatural adventures, not so normal as well. She does not have the slew of psychic abilities Mai has to her disposal, but has a very acute supernatural intuition that she trusts often and turns out correct. Miyuki also has an extraordinary talent for creating wards, barriers and other defensive-type psionic powers, relieving Mai of the stress of not being able to protect regions from supernatural influence. The final ability Miyuki is very adept with is support psionic power, branching into two separate powers. The first is psionic Amplification and Transference, which, as its name pertains, allows Miyuki to amplify and transfer powers. The transfer can be into open air, with the same effect as a supercharged ward/mantra or any other power sent into Miyuki's body. The second branch was something very unique: Psionic Link. This is a psychic ability that allows Miyuki to link her spirit and body to another person, causing the linker to feel everything the linked person can feel emotionally while awake, asleep, in a coma, or even connect herself to an Astral Projection. Due to Mai's tendency to get into trouble, Miyuki linked herself to Mai and it ends up giving the black-haired girl the same nightmarish dreams in a vision whenever Mai has them. The psionic link is still being explored by the two girls for other use but so far, other than Miyuki being able to sense if Mai's in danger or not, not much else has occurred. The only other special thing Miyuki has is her inexplicably powerful mental strength, which explains her being able to deal with the same nightmares Mai has.
"We should finish this up within two days, it feels like there's only one more sacrifice to go," Miyuki calls to Mai from where she is still recording data in the laptop, "I also feel that one of us is going to be the target of the last sacrifice and I'm sure that I do not want to end up dead and have a strange man drinking my blood like a whacked-out vampire wannabe."
Miyuki looks up and tilts her head towards Mai's cutely, "I'm also sure you don't want that to happen to yourself either."
Mai giggles again, this time at Miyuki's childish antics while delivering a seriously depressing speech, "I definitely would not like being the sacrifice and miss taunting Naru when he comes back."
Mai remembers that Gene said the dream would be important but… Something's still missing…
Mai frowns as she remembers the first dream, "but… the first dream and the one now doesn't feel connected properly… there's a missing link we haven't found yet."
Miyuki blinks, "oh yeah… the one you had before. Well that explains the sudden vision I had while resting from my acting in the movie. Wait…." Miyuki stomps her feet in frustration and whines just to alleviate the stress.
"But now we can't finish two in days! I wanted to go on a date with you to the movies after we finished!"
Mai laughs out loud this time, feeling the atmosphere of the room lighten with Miyuki's behavior.
"You can have a date with me anytime," Mai says in a mock-seductive voice while walking to Miyuki, "and when we finish, we'll go to my home and we'll…" Mai finishes off the sentence by whispering into her friend's ear.
Miyuki blushes lightly but maintains her cool. "Come on, That's not bad, if you do that, I'll do this to you…" Miyuki turns over and finishes her sentence whispering in a very alluring voice into Mai's ear.
At that, Mai feels heat creeping up her face and instantly looks like as if she was kissed.
"N-N-No fair! Why do you always win?" Mai is still flustered about what Miyuki had whispered to her.
"Because… you are just too easy to tease!~"
"Uwaah…."
*Miyuki Giggles*
Naru is back in his office, silently sulking about something. Mai and Masako are still in the Coffee Shop near the new SPR Office. The two girls were chatting excitedly about something when Mai pulled a sour face.
Mai: Gene really pushed a lot of information into my head today…
Isdefelt enters the Coffee Shop after the chapter finished.
Isdefelt: It does seem to explain your sudden moodiness. Anyhow, you girls still in the coffee shop?
Masako: Well… we are waiting for…
Miyuki crashes into the door of the Coffee Shop and sprints to where Mai is. Ducking under Mai's arm, Miyuki seems to be hiding from the windows.
Miyuki: *In a very adorable voice* Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god… HIDE ME!
Isdefelt: Your career as an idol is really a double-edged sword you know…
Masako: She sounds like Mai alright… *frowning* But how is she able to sound so composed even though she's technically hysterical…?
Miyuki: *Sticks tongue out while giggling, her voice back to normal but still light-hearted* Hehehe… Gomen nasai~... but you, Isa-chan, offered me a place in the storyline and so I accepted it. Anyways, what are you working on this time?
Isdefelt: Not much… I have a writer's block.
Mai: Ugh… that means you won't release another chapter soon?
Isdefelt: Naw… I just said it out loud for After-Story purposes. I'll go think of something up.
Isdefelt picks up her take-out cup of Strawberry Milkshake and leaves the Coffee Shop.
Mai: *Whispering* my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and there like; it's better than yours…~
Masako and Miyuki stares at Mai. Mai just giggles and waves at the camera.
-Somewhere else…-
Isdefelt: *Sneezes* "Uwaah…." *Sniff* *Sniff* I swear someone was talking about my breasts…
Mai's Learning Corner! (!)
Mai is sitting on classroom table, kicking her feet rhythmically while listening to music with headphones. She takes them off and turns off the MP3 she was listening to, the screen showed a title and artist; "Agony – Kotoko", before it turned off.
Mai: Minna-san! Welcome to Mai's Story and Japanese-English Learning Corner! I'm so sorry about last chapter. I totally forgot to explain what "Gomen ne" is in English. When translated, "Gomen" is "Sorry" or "I'm Sorry" in a casual way: "Ne" used to attach to "Gomen" makes the latter phrase friendlier.
Mai takes out another book and opens to a page marked with a sticky note.
Mai: "Uwaah" is simply an onomatopoeia used to show a cute voice coming out of (usually a girl) a flustered character, a thoughtful character or maybe something else… I forgot; let me come back to this in the next learning corner.
Mai realizes there's not too much to teach in this chapter and tosses the book backwards, right into the trash bin.
Mai: Looking back at chapter two, if you have not realized it yet, or you have simply forgotten, Gene, or Eugene Davis, is Naru's… erm…
Isdefelt suddenly opens the door and comes sauntering in with a gait that makes Mai raise an eyebrow.
Isdefelt: You called Mai-chan? *Grins at Mai while the latter her jaw drops in surprise*
Mai: Erm… what are you doing here and why in the world are you possessing Isa-chan's body?
Isdefelt/Gene: It sounded to me you didn't want to bring that up, so I'll explain. Hey everyone~ Sorry about using Isdefelt's body as a medium to talk to you guys *waves at audience*. I'm Eugene Davis, otherwise known as Gene. I am Noll/Naru, or you know him as Shibuya Kazuya or his real name, Oliver Davis's dead twin brother. If you don't know why I'm spirit or why I'm here, then go somewhere else to watch the anime or read the manga or some other fanfiction before you get back here. It'll do you much good to learn more about the variations of ourselves in this… ehem, world. Back to you Mai-chan~
Isdefelt suddenly looks thoughtful.
Isdefelt/Gene: I think I'll also tell what Mai and Miyuki were whispering about in the next chapter's pre-story…
Mai glares at the ghost possessing Isdefelt.
~! Mai: Don't you dare tell that…
Mai grabs Isdefelt/Gene and tosses her out the door.
Mai: Anyways… the end of this chapter is a little fragmented and may confuse you a little as the dreams of the first and second chapters do not really match. It will be explained in the next two chapters and you'll find out why this story is going to be as realistic as it is in the anime/manga. !~
Mai: Oh yeah… there were some indirect cameos in this chapter… If you can figure out who's an expy of whom, review and comment your guesses! The answers will be revealed in my Learning Corner next chapter! The character who have similar qualities and/or appearance to another are the following: Hitomiya Shizuka (Student Council President), Akari Sana (Student Council Vice President), Shiion Ichiro (Finance Manager) and Takazuchi Kei (Disciplinary Team Leader).
Mai: Questions? Ask away in a review!~ I'll answer them to the best of my ability at the next chapter's Learning Corner. Till then~
Mai gets off the table she was sitting on and happily skips out the room. You can hear the voice of Isdefelt moaning about Gene sexually harassing her on a whole new level.