A/N: Wow. I'm left in shock. Thank you all so much for all the great reviews left on that last chapter! I really appreciate it. Chapter three, coming at you!
Disclaimer: If I owned Ghost Hunt, volume 10 and 11 would already be out in North America, and Naru would have stopped being an arse. But that's why we love him, yeah?
Chapter 2: Introductions
"She's a smart one, this girl," the male laughed. The woman sighed, irritated.
"You really think she's going to be able to find us, you idiot? We're barely half a meter tall!"
Mai was now hesitant to enter, clutching the bag tightly to her chest. The breeze still ticked the back of her neck as if urging her to move farther inside. She refused to walk another step. "If… if I've got the wrong place, I'll just leave…" Mai stepped back, ready to face the slap of icy wind again, but both the man and woman cried out at once, their voices earnest.
"No!"
Mai was sure she was hallucinating.
After staring at the moving objects for a good thirty seconds, she felt the heat of the small three candles nearing her leg, bouncing obliviously along. The feather duster followed the candelabra. She stumbled backwards, dropping her bag on the floor.
"I'm dreaming," she gasped to herself. "I'm totally, totally…"
"Not dreaming," the feather duster said, a woman's voice echoing from its direction.
"We wish we were, too," the candelabra mumbled. The feather duster shuffled forward, and in her mind's eye, Mai could have sworn she saw the outline of a woman's face. She blinked quickly, but the image seemed to hover before the duster. As she looked back at the candelabra, Mai saw the image outlining the middle candle of the three. The man's face looked back at her with a gleam of wanted freedom in his eyes.
Was it hallucinations… or the truth?
"I'm Ayako Matsuzaki. This idiot here is Houshou Takigawa. You are the daughter of Arata Taniyama-san, correct?"
Mai nodded, still in awe. Things were happening much too quickly for her to understand. First off, a feather duster and a small candelabra were talking to her. That alone was enough to make her mind spin on end. Was someone moving them from above? Maybe they were mechanical. Or had she just tripped down a crevice on her way here and was just having delusions?
"Good luck with the master," Takigawa snorted sarcastically, derailing her train of thought.
"You're never helpful, are you?" Ayako snapped, bristling past him up to Mai's legs. "Come on, Shibuya-san will want to know you're here." Her voice pinched while speaking his name.
Mai couldn't help but notice that both Takigawa and Ayako had feelings of distaste for the master of the house, Shibuya. Her intuition had been more correct than she thought.
Hastily skidding along behind the other two… objects, Mai looked up at the dark ceilings, musty portraits, and narrow, never-ending hallways. She felt so closed in, so trapped. Takigawa seemed to be the only light given off anywhere around her.
Who knew her life could take such a turn for the worse in one single day. First, the news of her father's death. Second, her new home compared equal to a prison. What was next? A cold and antisocial overseer?
"Takigawa-san? Matsuzaki-san? Is that you?"
A deep voice reached her ears from one of the doors off to the side. From the voice, Mai expected a tall, brooding man. Was this Shibuya already? Mai peeked forward, scanning the shadows, but couldn't see the outline of a man anywhere near.
No, it wasn't Shibuya. As the owner of the voice emerged to where Mai could see him, surprise stirred in her stomach. Her ears had been incredibly misled.
What she saw was a tiny clock.
"Lin-san!"
Takigawa rushed forward, pulling the small grandfather clock with him. Again, like Ayako and Takigawa, Mai still felt she could just barely see a face adorning the front of the clock. This man looked utterly indifferent with dark, piercing eyes and face set in an angry glare. Mai almost immediately
"This is Mai Taniyama-san, the daughter of Arata-san. Mai-san, this is Koujo Lin. He's the one who orders us around and keeps us all in line… most of the time," Takigawa held back a laugh. Mai blinked. Wow. Her guess had been more correct than she thought. Lin really was the overseer, head servant, manager… whatever he was called. And he didn't seen all too friendly, either.
"Wait," Mai piped up, "there's more of you?"
"Of course. You don't think the three of us could run this manor and deal with the master at the same time, do you?" Ayako threw in. Mai bit her lip and shook her head.
"So how many of you are there?" This wasn't the question she was honestly interested in. The answer she really wanted to figure out was if they were all… not human. Object-like. Supposedly inanimate. How could she possibly explain what was happening?
They ignored her and continued to pretend she had temporarily disappeared. Mai crossed her arms and huffed. Nothing was more insulting than being disregarded by three household items.
"He will want to know she's here," Lin intoned, trying to turn back around.
Takigawa caught him by the arm… or, she guessed, what was supposed to be his arm. "You're not going to let her find him on her own, are you? She'd get eaten alive. And no one ever knows where he is in this place except for you, Lin-san. So you're going to help us," Takigawa said with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Taniyama-san must be given her room first. Shibuya-san's orders. He'll come get her when he knows she's here. There's no need for me to find him," Lin replied stiffly. The smirk was yanked from Takigawa's expression. Mai scooted forward in the hall, ready leave the other three and find her room, until Lin spoke up again.
"I am, however, supposed to take her to her room. This way, Taniyama-san," Lin called out, disappearing back into the hallway he had emerged from. Mai bit her lip, unsure whether or not she really wanted to follow the standoffish clock.
"Go on ahead. Lin's not that scary… most of the time," the candelabra said half-heartedly and nudged her forward.
Mai winced, finding Takigawa's words much less than comforting. "I'll see you around?" Mai asked Takigawa and Ayako eagerly before she set off with Lin. Both responded with a yes and Mai turned on her heel to run down the dark hallway to catch up.
She had no idea a miniature clock could walk so quickly. In the two minutes she had spent talking to Ayako and Takigawa, Lin had made it so far down the corridor, for a split second Mai thought that he wasn't there at all. As she sped down the carpeted hallway, kicking up dust, she continued to notice the gloom of this manor. Cobwebs adorned the walls more than pictures and objects seemed to creak with every rushed step she took.
What exactly was this place?
"Taniyama-san, I think getting lost in this house is not the best way to start off working here. You never know what you'll run into," Lin called brusquely. Again, her thoughts were lost to more scolding. Mai approached him warily, still taking in her surroundings.
"Sorry. But this place is just…" Mai trailed off, pressing her fingers again a cold stained glass window. Dirt stuck to her fingers as she pulled her hand away, revealing a bright red piece of translucent glass behind the layer of grime. Surprised, she brushed her fingers against her sleeve and continued to discover the hidden mosaic.
"It is spectacular, if you're new to it. But if you're trapped…" Lin's deep voice seemed to echo through the hallways after he cut himself off suddenly. Not before Mai realized the intensity of his words, however.
"Trapped?" Mai turned from the window, filth lining the woolen sleeve of her maroon sweater in finger-printed marks. "What do you mean 'trapped'?"
A look of surprise and slight anxiety took a flighty leap across his features. Mai looked on with concern, taking the final steps to the clock. He again returned solemn before she could kneel down to him.
"I never said anything."
Without even hearing her protests, he shuffled forward and shoved open a door. Mai trudged forward through the entryway, but all complaints stopped at her lips, frozen in awe. Her jaw unhinged and her bag landed with a resounding thunk on the plush carpet.
This was her room?
It was three times bigger than her old house.
The gorgeously decorated four-poster bed was adorned with deep purple silk sheets and mahogany posts. With one look, she just wanted to fall asleep on the embroidered pillows. The gold thread sparkled ever so slightly in the moonlight, casting in from the open windows. The breeze ticked her cheeks. Two dressers stood on either side of the bed up against the wall, their white paint and brass handles gleaming in the dark. She was getting ready to turn to the other side of the room when a new airy voice spoke up.
"This is her, Lin-san? This is his daughter?"
Mai stopped in her tracks, ripping her eyes away from the crystal chandelier hung up from the high, arching ceiling. Lin spoke to the voice before Mai could.
"It is."
The voice chuckled softly, cutting Mai off again. "She has his eyes."
Mai was stuck, glued to the floor, listening to the conversation. She had clamped her jaw shut when she had figured it out. They were talking about her father. They had known him. They had worked with him. They were her one connection back to him. Her one and only bond to her family lay within this manor.
She suddenly felt more at home than ever, but at the same time, felt so alone.
"Taniyama-san, please make yourself comfortable. I must go and retrieve—"
"Oh, she's here! She could, she really could! Takigawa-san was right!" a boy called out joyfully
"This is wonderful!" Next, a woman's voice loud and uplifting.
"I think she's confused."
The last voice, a young man's, chortled softly and Mai let out a heavy sigh. Even with only the first voice, she still had not managed to find its location and now adding three more seemed to prove too overwhelming.
"Eh?" she only managed out, swiveling around in every direction to finally distinguish what was going on, where the voices were coming from, and why she couldn't see anyone. She gasped. Unless…
Maybe she just had to adjust her viewpoint. Remembering slowly how small Ayako and Takigawa were, she bent to her knees – and saw them. Yes, maybe it was only two of them, but a rush of pride spread through her chest. The teacup and teapot bounded up to her, both with gleeful force.
"Mai Taniyama-chan? Is this really the pretty little girl Arata-san told us about, always ranting and raving?" the teapot complimented joyfully. Mai smiled slightly, biting her lip, and nodded. She allowed herself to fall onto the ground, tucking her knees underneath her slightly. Her feet still ached in her boots.
"Mori-san, please calm down," the little teacup said softly, peacefully. "Welcome to Shibuya manor, Taniyama-san."
"Thank you… ah…?" Mai was at a loss for words.
"I am John Brown," the teacup said. Mai nodded, smiling, and out of politeness turned to the teapot.
"Madoka Mori, at your service," she chirped. "And Yasuhara-kun and Masako-chan are here somewhere…"
"We've always been here, Madoka. Always," the boy sighed. The bookshelf shifted and Mai cast her gaze over to the other side of her bed. She had mistaken the bookshelf for a second dresser. But this time, when she saw the young man's face, happy, slightly cocky, with glasses placed over his eyes, she could not help but wince.
Was every moving object in this house going to give her the impression that a human face was in front of it? Maybe for Ayako and Takigawa it was surprising and interesting, but now that feeling just gave her the creeps.
"Yes. I have always been here, as well, Mori-san, even if we have all been forgotten time and time again." The girl spoke this time and Mai could finally place the voice. Coming from the dresser, the girl had a penetrating violet stare and short dark locks.
"It may not be too long now," John offered, his blonde hair shifting in front of his bright, naïve blue eyes. "Now that…"
"No, Brown-san. You know that. His orders."
Mai jumped. She had forgotten Lin still lingered in the room, his eyes ablaze with concern, anger, and reprimanding. The teacup fell instantly silent. The tension in the room was too high for Mai to question their words. She rubbed her sweating palms on her pants and said the next thing that came to her mind.
"Is everyone like this in the house? Are you all… objects?" Mai, now too late, felt she couldn't have put it less blunt. They shifted restlessly around her, each one unwilling to supply an answer. The tiny teacup finally spoke with mustering cheer. Difficult cheer, but cheer nonetheless.
"Only one of us is currently… human. He's…"
The double doors blew open suddenly, taking them all aback. Mai leapt up. She saw in the doorway the outline of a young man, shaggy dark hair obscuring his evidently angered eyes. The rest of the servants cowered or turned away from the noise. John was the only one to speak again.
"Shibuya-san!"
A/N: Finally, a somewhat decently-lengthed chapter! You have no idea how hard it is to describe the expressions of inanimate objects with no faces. Please review and tell me what you thought!