Investigation Day 1: 3:00 PM
It didn't take the group long to get set up. Years of practice made it a swift and efficient process, and in hardly any time at all they had already rigged a couple cameras and were working on the monitors trying to hook everything up.
Mai was busy minding her own business when the first accidents started happening.
"What was that?" Naru asked abruptly, swivelling in his chair in front of his laptop. Lin was nowhere to be seen, probably waiting for the rest of SPR to come. Mai tilted her head, listening intently, unsure of what Naru had heard.
"I didn-" she began, but Naru raised a warning hand, and she fell silent.
"Listen," he hissed, and this time she could hear it. A faint thudding noise coming from somewhere in the heart of the theatre. Mai's eyes widened when she saw Naru's impassive gaze, meaning he was thinking hard.
"What do you think's going on?" she whispered, knowing he could hear.
"Something's falling."
"A lot of something's," Mai retorted, still listening to the repetitive thunk thunk thunk.
"I'm going to go check it out, wait here." Mai let out a huff of air.
"I want to come with you! We've done nothing all day but sit around listening to the stories, I want to see some real action!" Mai exclaimed. Naru rose from his seat, avoiding looking at her.
"Mai, I don't think you can handle real action." Mai didn't have time to reply before he was out the door.
Naru strode confidently along the halls, already knowing where he was going. The thudding noises were still happening, leading him to believe it was various small objects being thrown off of a height, possibly the stage cat walk. That would explain why it sounded so loud, the stage amplified any noises.
"Naru, there you are man! What's up?" a friendly voice said from behind him. Naru's eyes narrowed when he recognised it as Monk's voice. As much as he liked the boisterous man, now was not the time. He ground his teeth when he heard footsteps fall in behind him.
"Good question Monk, what is going on?" another voice added with a bit of an accent. It didn't take a genius to recognize John's voice.
"I'm going to find out," he replied, trying to sound apathetic. There was murmuring behind him.
"Say, where's Mai and Lin?" Monk asked, striding forward at a quicker pace to catch up. "And Yasu?" Now Naru could easily see him out of the corner of his eye, and John appeared on his other side.
"Mai's at base, I hope, and Lin's out doing various experiments. I assume he's already there though. Yasu is with Midori-san, he claims that he's uncomfortable with the constant feeling of being watched." Naru explained. John frowned.
"You hope Mai's at base? Why wouldn't she be?" John asked. Both Naru and Monk stared at him incredulously, and John ducked his head when he realized what he had been saying. "And besides," he quickly added, "what do you mean Yasu is uncomfortable with being 'watched'?"
"He claims that everywhere he goes it feels like something's following him. He's been bugging Lin-san because of his refusal to be alone, so I sent him to talk to Midori. Here we are," Naru said abruptly, stopping in front of the heavy stage doors. He reached out and pulled on the handle, the doors groaning as they swung open. Monk hurried to open the other one, and gasped when he saw the stage.
The heavy noises had been props being hurled onto the stage and shattered.
"What the- who did this?" Kazuko suddenly raged from behind the trio. Naru grimaced as the man pushed past the men and raced to the stage where several distraught actors were standing.
"I don't know sir, we were looking for the props when they just started falling out of the sky! We don't know who did it, we didn't see anyone," a frightened woman exclaimed. Monk studied the girl carefully, taking in her elaborate costume and long silky black hair. She had fine features, sharp and pointed, giving her an elegant aura. He assumed she was an important person.
"None of us are hurt, sir," another man added. He was tall, with short brown hair and a simple costume. John's eyebrows raised when he saw the white cotton shirt was unbuttoned all the way, revealing a very fit torso.
"Alright, everyone, off the stage. Rehearsal will be tomorrow morning instead, I expect you back bright and early to make up for lost time. For now I will clean up, but you may be without props for a couple days," Kazuko said. Naru noted the weariness on the man's face.
"Even Daishi? But he's young sir, I don't think that's-" the first woman spoke up but she was silenced.
"Tomorrow morning at six, no later. Understood?" Kazuko said gruffly. Everyone nodded solemnly before filing off the stage, muttering angrily amongst themselves. Naru, John and Monk strode forward to talk to Kazuko.
"Who do you think did this?" Kazuko asked as they advanced upon him.
"I have no idea sir, but we will find out, I assure you," Naru said calmly.
Kazuko offered him a wan smile.
Back at base Mai was spinning around in the rolling chair. So what if it was Naru's? He wasn't here, so what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Besides, she needed something to distract her, Lin still wasn't here. She gripped the desk in front of her and pulled, sending herself into another dizzying frenzy. She giggled as the room whipped by her, hair fluttering in the edges of her vision. It had gotten longer lately, something she liked, although at times it was annoying to take care of.
She gasped when she thought she saw a woman standing in the room, but when her chair spun back around she was gone. Mai halted the movements and stood up cautiously, swaying as she felt her world tilting.
"Weird," she mumbled aloud, scanning the room. She could swear... no. She was freaking herself out, and she knew she couldn't do that. It was probably the noises that had worked her up. She sighed and sat back down in the chair, getting ready to spin again, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
It wouldn't have been a big deal, normally.
Except the hand was ice cold.