Mai made it downstairs to the lobby just in time to catch the rest of the party before they left. She had taken the elevator and paced the small space, wearing her black heeled ankle-boots, and nibbled her nail while she waited for the doors to open. She had chosen a more casual outfit for the day considering her exhaustion, going with a pair of black leggings and her oversized denim shirt. She hardly expected to run into anyone else outside of their team and now that initial introductions had been made several days ago she no longer felt the need to appear as well put together as before. Masako would surely scoff at such thinking but Mai couldn't bring herself to care. She was swamped with sleep deprivation and anxiety. Her wardrobe was going to have to take a backseat for a while.
Speaking of Masako, as soon as Mai stepped out into the marble tiled lobby she found the medium waiting for her with a knowing look hidden behind a sleeve. It was a deep maroon kimono that day with an orange obi. Mai had never seen the woman wear such an expression, looking like the cat that caught the canary, but she supposed there was a first time for everything.
"I was beginning to wonder if we would even see you today," Masako teased in gentle tones as Mai reached her side and she turned to follow her out the front entrance.
"Ha," Mai let out sarcastically as the glass doors slid open and sent the wet cold air of London washing over them. Andrew had pulled the van up under the awning so the ladies could climb in without getting wet but Mai assumed it had been more for Masako's sake. She always looked like a precious doll in her kimonos, the thought of her suffering under the weather was disheartening. Mai felt the same only because she knew how much work went into wearing them. "On second thought," she murmured with a hint of mirth, "If we weren't on a case I might have considered it."
Masako shot her a wide-eyed look with pink cheeks that inspired a genuine fit of laughter from Mai. "Did you really…?" she trailed off outside of the van, the door open and waiting for them.
"I'm sure you'll find out today," Mai replied with a little less humor, "No doubt the powers that be know already."
Masako stepped up into the van with a hand from Mai and shuffled forward to claim the furthest seat to allow Mai room to sit next to her. "You mean Monk and Ayako?" Masako asked with a hushed empathetic horror. She knew just how the couple could be with Mai and it was quite overbearing at times.
"And Lin," Mai muttered quietly, pulling the van door shut and buckling herself into the seat habitually. That gossip had probably already spilled the beans to Madoka before Oliver had even hung up the phone with him. He had probably typed up an email and sent it out to her while poor Sam was on his way back to the office! She could just see it now, his fingers flying over the keyboard with his phone pinned by his shoulder. And Monk and Ayako had probably stood behind him listening in on the phone call for any clues!
"Oh my," Masako murmured through a quiet giggle.
"What's got you ladies whispering back there?" Andrew asked ruefully from behind the steering wheel. A pair of sunglasses sat on his nose and hid his eyes from view but there was a smirk on his face while Tristan tossed himself up into the front seat with a grunt. Nora came climbing in after and shuffled around Mai and Masako to claim a seat in the far back with mumbled apologies.
"Just gossip," Mai admitted dryly, earning a very unladylike snort from Masako that she dearly wished had been recorded.
"Is it about Yasuhara's unwavering love for Takigawa despite his marriage?" Tristan tossed back wryly.
"That's been going on since we were kids," Mai waved him off with a chuckle, "Old news."
"Poor guy," Tristan added with faux melancholy.
As soon as Mai stepped down into the museum lot she felt her heart twist in her chest and the sensation nearly sent her stumbling to her knees if she hadn't thought to reach out and steady herself against the car. She was beginning to wonder if her chest pains were even case related at this point and whether or not she should actually go to a hospital. Her mother had suffered more health issues than she had known how to handle, thus leading to her death, and Mai had always feared her own health was just waiting to crumble beneath her feet.
"Are you alright?" Masako asked as she stepped down out of the van behind her.
"You don't feel that?" Mai asked, panting for breath while the pain slowly dwindled away to nothing.
Masako shook her head with pursed lips, "I don't sense anything out here."
"It's probably just me then," she reasoned soothingly, more so to herself, "I haven't gotten much sleep these past few days."
"I wonder why," Masako mused with false innocence.
"You keep teasing me Masako, and I'll sit you down and force you to listen to every scandalous detail," Mai warned with a grim chuckle.
Masako hurried on ahead of her with a blush.
"That's what I thought," Mai grumbled to herself, straightening her shirt with a scoff, before she followed in her wake back into the museum. The blast of cold air served to wake her up, as it always did, and she picked up her pace down the hall with Tristant casually strolling along behind her. The elevator dinged cheerily. She was already reaching for her notebook by the time they all turned down the hall and hung a left into the meeting room. Everyone else was already gathered at the scattered tables and talking amongst themselves in hushed tones. News of Sam must have already circulated, no doubt, and everyone was feeling more than a little anxious. Mai could certainly relate.
"Mai!" Ayako called from the same table they had claimed the day before. There was a bowl of fruit, several cupped yogurts, and a selection of bagels and toppings set out on the kitchenette counter behind them and it looked as if Ayako had already finished off a yogurt herself. Mai was surprised to see her in a white button-up blouse with a floral scarf around her neck that morning. It harkened back to the old days before she had been influenced by Monk and his usual circle. But among the sea of worried faces, Monk and Ayako looked utterly devious in their delight.
Mai worked to deaden her own emotions before she strode across the room to collect a yogurt and some fruit from the counter before she joined them at the table. She dropped her breakfast haul on the surface, ignoring the horrendous clatter that arose when she pulled the chair out and it struck one of the table legs and sat with a sigh. She could feel their eyes on her even as she peeled the tin off the top of the yogurt and dumped some apple and pair slices into the cup. Ayako had braced an elbow on the table and buried her chin in her hand, eyes practically gleaming in the low light of the meeting room. It was horrible considering what had happened to Sam and the only thing these two cared about was her relationship status.
"Anything to report, Boss?" Yasu asked from the other end of the table.
And then there was that one.
Mai sent the man a carefully blank glance before she turned her attention back to her yogurt, "I think I should be the one asking you that."
Monk leaned back in his chair with a bark of laughter that momentarily drew the attention of everyone in the room. He at least had the decency to wait until everyone had returned to their own conversations before he set an arm on the table and leaned over to scrutinize her with a smirk.
"What a Naru-like response," Monk drawled quietly, "He must be rubbing off on her."
Mai felt the heat build behind her cheeks as her mind delved in a very different direction. Yasu leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, a whimsical smile on his lips. Mai knew he was going to start in on his ramblings of youth and how fortunate she was to experience it, how he remembered the good old days despite there only being two years between them, but a hand filled her field of vision and very pointedly settled a to-go cup of coffee before her.
Ayako hid her mouth behind her hand while Monk adopted a roguish grin that Mai would have taken offense to had she been in any other situation. As it was, she was utterly gobsmacked to find Oliver at her side, very purposefully making a spectacle of himself, when she had done her best to fly under the radar of literally everyone within that room. She had been failing, horrendously, but that was beside the point.
"You forgot this," he added, dropping the cherry bomb on top.
Younger Mai would have made a scene. She would have yelled and growled like the animal he often teasingly accused her of being and everyone would have had a good laugh at her expense while poking fun at them. But this Mai dropped her eyes to the innocent coffee before her and gripped it between her hands, it was still pleasantly warm, and smiled in return. "Thank you," she said with as much forced gratitude as she could muster.
And he had the gall to smirk with a hand in his pocket before moving away to greet Lin.
Mai turned back to the table and felt the burning heat all the way down into her lungs. No matter how she reacted he would have won. She could have ignored him altogether and the man would have counted it as having successfully gotten under her skin. Ugh, he'd managed to do even more than that. She lifted a hand to her face while those at the table chuckled and giggled knowingly, still getting their laugh at her expense.
"Alright," Mai began a few minutes later as she pushed herself to her feet and stepped away from her chair. The damned coffee cup was clutched in one hand before she remembered she'd need both to take notes and was forced to put it down. It was a little tragic considering all she had suffered for it. No doubt, by the time their meeting was over it would be cold. "I know it's been an eventful morning but I'd like to get us all caught up on the same page. There are a few pieces of info we were waiting on from yesterday. Andrew, were you able to get the layout of the museum?"
"Yes," he replied. "They're actual physical papers but the curator had them copied for our use. I left them on the desk last night."
"Great," Mai chirped in delight and checked that off of her list while everyone in the room shuffled about to get their own projects gathered and ready for sharing. It was a bit like being in a classroom again, except now Mai was the teacher. The thought sent mirth tugging her lips but she managed to keep it under control while she turned to Tristan.
"I compiled the list as promised," he assured her with a grimace, "But it's actually pretty long. I went ahead and hyperlinked informative articles on each of our possible candidates as well. I'd recommend reviewing it when you've got an hour. Or two."
"Something is better than nothing," she stated with a curt nod. She would have plenty of time throughout the day to review the email while they bounced about checking equipment and reviewing recordings. She would go so far as to think it would be the most relaxing part of her day. Almost like doing research for a blog post. She made a note in her notebook to bring that up with Yasuhara, now that she thought about it, they would have to post something soon.
"And," she drew the word out while flipping through the pages filled with her messy collection of writing in differing languages, "Nora!"
The woman in question jumped in surprise. She had been so quiet since they left the hotel that morning that Mai had nearly forgotten her, which was a shame because she was pretty amazing. "Yes?" Nora questioned hesitantly.
"Did you hear anything back on that sample of yours?" she asked curiously and set the hand with her pen on her hip.
"Oh, of course! Yes," she hurried to pull up the email her colleague had sent her on her phone. "It was pretty interesting though inconclusive as evidence, unfortunately, but the chemical makeup of the blood sample was actually carbon and phosphorus."
"Can we get that in laymen's terms?" Andrew asked with a sheepish undertone.
"Oh, apologies," Nora replied, "Basically, it was just ash."
Mai could still feel the dried blood on her hand and she shot the appendage an inquisitive look even as the room burst into awed and confused conversation around her. It was certainly an interesting development. She wondered if it was all comprised of similar components. They had never thought to collect evidence and document such things before during their cases. She cast her mind back to the past and remembered the day she had stumbled into a cold and wet tiled room to find a much younger Masako huddled in the corner, the smell of blood overpowering. It had been everywhere. An entire bathtub had filled with the substance and Uradu himself had been floating within it. She had slipped and caught herself on the operating table, dragging her arm through the congealed remnants left over from his last victim, that poor assistant that had gone missing not two days before.
Mai lifted the notebook to her face for a moment while the chatter continued. She just needed to compose herself for a moment before bringing the room back into order. The yogurt and fruit sat like a sugary mess in her stomach and she swallowed thickly, working to quell the nausea the memory stoked within her.
It hadn't all been ash.
But the team of BSPR would know nothing of that sort of case.
"Thank you, Nora," Mai cut in once she had managed to push back against her discomfort and settled her eyes on her notebook, pen working away to document their findings. "Now, with the exception of Sam, was there any other activity to report while we were away?"
"There were temperature fluctuations throughout the night," Lin offered stoically from where he stood at the back of the room, "I had noticed that they seemed to be following our teams while they swapped out batteries and reviewed equipment placement."
Judging by the ominous hush that befell the room, Lin had neglected to inform anyone else of this observation. It wasn't completely unheard of, if there was no danger it wouldn't due to panic anyone unnecessarily. But it was an alarming observation nonetheless. Mai pursed her lips and caught Yasuhara's eyes from their table. Something similar had happened to them when they found the carving in the wall. Mai had watched the temperature rise back to normal and had concluded that whatever it was had been watching them before it left.
"And what was Sam doing before you found him?" she asked thoughtfully.
"Before he retired for the evening he was swapping out batteries in the nature hall, I think arachnids was his last stop," Lin mused, thinking back to the previous evening. "And then, presumably, he went to bed and suffered some sort of night terror and was found huddled in the corner this morning. Catatonic and unresponsive unless he was touched, then he seemed to come back to himself for a moment."
Mai tapped the end of the pen to her lips while she listened. She wanted to retrace his steps herself that night when she slept just to see if she could find anything. She jotted the thought down absently, her mind wandering back to Lydia's memories. Lydia, whose passion had been tracked was forced to run herself to death before their mysterious entity claimed her.
"Did he say anything at all?" Oliver questioned from where he stood next to Lin.
"He rambled a lot," Monk admitted grimly, "He kept going on about dying alone."
Oliver lifted a hand to his chin in thought, chewing over the new information with intense focus, even Mai had felt some instinctual part of her intuition catch on Monk's words. She didn't have enough information to make a judgment or conclusion of any sort but dying alone was a classic fear that many suffered from as they grew older. Even she had had the thought once or twice.
"Didn't he just move out on his own?" Andrew pondered aloud. "He seemed to be doing really well without being cramped in his family's house."
"And Lydia was on the track team, yet she now spends eternity running for her very soul," Oliver tacked on with a dark chuckle. "So it takes things that make its victim happy and twists them into fear."
"This is getting dangerous," Lin muttered while the room fell into a stunned silence.
"It does seem like a throwback to the days of old," Yasuhara drawled and leaned back in his chair with a stretch. "Almost as if it's cursing its victims to death. Driving them to the point of breaking."
"It does, doesn't it," Monk murmured with a hand to his chin.
"Are we certain it's not a person?" John asked quietly.
Mai and Masako's eyes locked from across the room and Mai lowered her notebook to her thigh with a solid slap. "But the missing person cases began when the museum opened," she countered calmly. It would have to have been multiple people then, a sort of lineage, people passing down the tradition. And for what purpose?
"This is a museum filled with artifacts from around the world from all sorts of cultures," Tristan added, "There's no limit to the possibilities of what we're dealing with."
"We've had weirder," Ayako added with a shudder.
Mai knocked the notebook against her forehead as frustration mounted. She felt the careful thread she had been weaving fall to pieces in her hands as new theories were tossed out left and right. It's not that she doubted any of them, everyone within the room was valued in their field, experts on one thing or another, it was why they had been gathered. But dammit all if it didn't complicate things. If anything, it served to stoke the flames of determination in her belly. Let the flames consume the fear while she prowled across the astral plane in search of the answer hidden among all their conjecture.
"Whether it be demonic, monstrous, spiritual, or a creepy cult sacrificing people to their benefactor," Mai cut in over the growing noise of multiple voices desperate for answers, "Equipment needs to be checked, batteries changed, and all recordings reviewed before 10 PM tonight!"
"Yes, Boss," Yasu replied for the lot of them over the sound of general grumbling and sighing. Mai offered him a tired smile in response and snapped her notebook shut with her own sigh. No wonder Oliver was always doing it, she thought to herself, it was rather satisfying. Like snapping a fan open. She smirked at the comparison.
"Remember the buddy system!" she added as the teams stood and began their trek back to base to collect the necessary supplies for their allotted tasks.
Curiously, she strode back to the table and lifted the coffee for inspection only for her shoulders to slump in disappointment. It was ice cold. It wasn't the worst fate that had ever befallen her but it was certainly an omen of some sort. Who knew what her day would be like when she couldn't even manage to enjoy a single cup of coffee?
Mai ran a hand through her hair as her eyes scanned through the pages of information on her laptop. She had spent hours pouring over what Tristan had sent out to everyone and still, nothing was tugging on her intuition. She had learned a great deal about a vast collection of creatures ranging from something called a Lethifold all the way down to a Wraith and still, not one of the tactics they utilized truly lined up with their culprit. She was beginning to reread articles while she sat at an armchair that had been pulled up to the window in the base when a new cup of coffee found its way into her hand.
Mai startled, coming back to reality with a deep breath that jump-started her brain after hours of beating it into a coma. She stared down at the to-go cup and noted that it was the museum logo splashed across the paper surface. It was hot in her hand and smelled as sweet as it did bitter, just the way she liked it.
"Thank you," she murmured to Oliver who stood at her side with his hands in his pockets. He looked as put together as ever, black shirt, vest, and tie all in order and not a single hair out of place. Contrary to him, she had pulled her hair into a messy bun and sat like a child with her legs crossed on the chair, hunched over her laptop for hours. Her denim shirt was wrinkled from her position and one of her boots had come unzipped. And she felt haggard.
"You can make me a cup of tea later as payment," he replied breezily.
Mai smiled in response and took a sip of the coffee, feeling some of the tension leave her shoulders.
"And I suspect you won't find your answers here," he continued and reached out with two fingers to gently shut her laptop with a resounding click.
She stared at the computer blankly for a moment, stunned and confused, before she lifted her gaze to his. "Are you saying that just because it's Tristan's work?" she prodded, eyes narrowed. The coffee had been a nice touch but if it was just his ego talking she was going to go back to researching.
"No," he replied steadily, "Your skills will get us more answers than his conjecture ever could. I simply value your work more."
Mai leaned back in the chair with a sigh. It was an easy victory for him considering her exhaustion. She lifted one hand helplessly, the other still clutching the coffee, and shut her eyes for a moment while working to compose herself. She desperately wanted a nap but she refused to walk out onto the astral plane when the museum was filled to the brim with guests. It would be a nightmare.
"I know you wanted to retrace Sam's path, why don't you sit down with Lin to review the footage and plot it out on the plans Andrew got for you?" Oliver offered a little too lightly.
Mai shifted to look back up at him with eyes narrowed again. "Oliver Davis," she began curiously, "Are you mother-henning me?"
"Nothing of the sort," he assured her but his face wore that false innocence all the same.
Mai did as he suggested but she didn't buy his act for one second and she made sure Lin was more than aware of it. The older man only chuckled when she came to join him at the bank of monitors but he wore a slight smile while Mai zeroed in on the screens and, with his help, retraced the steps that Sam had taken with a green marker. The footage was almost worse than her laptop screen so she was incredibly thankful he was willing to look over her work. She was nodding off by the time lunch rolled around and Ayako had prodded her back to life with a salad and some iced tea.
It was unsettling to watch the last moments of a man who later had a mental breakdown. She kept wondering if she could find a trace of what happened in his meanderings through the museum while replacing batteries. But no matter how many times she traced his path, watch him pause in the arachnids exhibit to stare at a few displays, there was nothing.
When she had Sam's path thoroughly burned into the back of her retinas she went out with John and Monk to change out batteries, knowing she was less likely to fall asleep when she was on her feet and moving about. Their combined antics were enough to keep her laughing all the way back to base regardless of the feeling of the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Whatever it was, it had made it abundantly clear that it was more than just aware of them. It was intelligent and it was planning, there was no doubt about it.
When the clock struck 7 PM she finally deemed it was late enough for her to shuck off her mortal coil and go hunting. While she went about preparing for bed - brushing her teeth, taking her hair down, changing into a pair of black sweatpants and Monk's band shirt - Ayako was doing her own preparations. For the first time since they had arrived, she donned her traditional attire and worked to produce some of her most powerful charms.
"This museum has several ancient trees that, though their spirits may have long since passed, still hold remnants of their power within," she explained to the team while she sat on her heels, running a brush across the paper. "I visited them when I first arrived to pay my respect so I am hoping that what remains will aid us in our endeavor from here on out," she continued.
"I always thought the trees have to be alive," John spoke up from where he sat next to her, curiously watching her work. Her motions were familiar after eleven years working together but it never got old to him.
"Typically they do," she admitted with pursed lips. "But there is a sequoia here that lived for over 1,300 years. Such life cannot so easily be wiped from this plane. And outside, they have a petrified tree from millions of years ago on display. The worship it has been offered since it was first displayed has preserved what was frozen in time. The power is directionless with no true will but if one knows how to manipulate it, it can be of great value."
"Wow," Nora mumbled in hushed awe. She had never seen the likes of Ayako before and now she was viewing the usually contemptuous woman in a whole new light. It was as if she simply stepped out of her perceived character like one would a raincoat, and became this ethereal being of grace and power with ease. This was a member of the original team, she was beginning to realize, the people who had delved into the danger that Oliver had not viewed them worthy of handling. She wondered what that said about Lin. They had all suspected he had some sort of ability but no one had ever been able to confirm.
Mai shuffled into the room in sweatpants and t-shirt, her baggy cardigan swamping her figure, and simply offered a tired "I'm ready" to Ayako. Seeing Ayako in her traditional garb threatened to throw Mai for a loop but she supposed this is one they all should be cautious with. Ayako was pulling out all the stops to ensure Mai's body would remain protected in her absence and she should treat this whole thing with the same amount of wary respect.
Ayako stood with her collection of charms and eyed Mai critically, "Where do you want to lay down?" she asked, eyes shifting from either side, taking in the room full of people.
"I suppose we could use the meeting room," she mumbled. She didn't exactly feel comfortable with leaving her body laying around for everyone to see. It was one thing when she had been a teenager, young and ignorant, not understanding the extent of her abilities in the least. She hadn't even known she could willfully astral project until Masako had needed rescuing during the Urado Case. As she had cultivated a better understanding of what she could do, the power she was able to harness, she was a little embarrassed that everyone had witnessed her stumbling around as a teenager the way she had.
Monk stepped out of the base to collect one of the cots from the break room and carried it over into the meeting room with relative ease. He and Yasuhara were able to move one of the large round tables to make room for Mai and Ayako to settle in their usual places. Mai dropped down onto the cot with a tired sigh and gratefully accepted the armload of comforter and pillow that Monk dropped onto her with a chuckle. Ayako scoffed but otherwise refrained from commenting on their antics while she seated herself on the floor beside the cot, legs tucked beneath her, and recited a muttered chant.
"Night, Jou-chan," Monk called quietly from the doorway, ushering everyone else out before he slowly pulled it shut.
The two women were left in a semi-darkness that did little to hide Ayako's pinched brows and small frown. She was far more worried than Mai had seen her in a long while but the priestess did not argue against her plan. It seemed even she was desperate for answers. Mai watched her from where she lay across the cot, tucked away beneath the heavy blanket, and snuggled up into the pillow. She wished there was an easier way to see the case through, an option that wouldn't involve her worrying her family, but there wasn't. With what had happened to Sam it was clear that they were at a severe disadvantage. If they were to continue stumbling around in the dark as they had been, with no clear direction, the rest of them would end up just like Lydia. They had already gotten its attention. It was only a matter of time. They had to strike first.
"It'll be okay, Ayako," Mai mumbled through her exhaustion. Sleep pulled heavily at her eyes, she was fighting to keep them open, but she could still see the smile the woman offered in return. Mai would make sure it was okay.
She allowed her eyes to fall shut in the quiet of the room. She relaxed every muscle from the tips of her ears all the way down to her toes, allowing the tension to drain from her body like water. She took a deep breath, feeling the air fill her lungs, and let it out slowly. Ayako's presence at her side faded away while Mai's mind drifted. It was pulled deeper and deeper into the depths by the cloying enticing current of the astral plane. The placid waters licked away the hurts of the real world and welcomed her soul within its folds eagerly, as if it had missed her in her long absence.