"That's it!" Naru exclaimed, his eyes widening in realization.
Everyone was a bit taken aback by someone as quiet as Naru having such an outburst. "What is it, Naru?" Mai couldn't help but contain her query. Naru flipped through his psychic research documents some more, looking for a certain page. "Dream. It was bothering me, and now I know why. It's just like your abilities, Mai. Retrocognition." Mai narrowed one of her eyes and questioned, "What? You mean... when I dream about things that happened?" Naru nodded, then Monk pitched in, saying, "Ooooh I get it. Retrocognition. Of course, it makes sense now. Izumi isn't actually being possessed by the spirits he acts out, it's just a... weird version of retrocognition."
Mai looked back and forth to Monk and Naru, then to Izumi who looked equally perplexed. Izumi, who seemed to know at least a little about real-world psychic abilities, added, "Retrocognition? That's like... seeing into the past, right? I thought those were done in visions!" Naru handed his research files to Lin, then put his hand to his chin and calmly stated, "That's usually how it is, yes. Mai, here, usually sees such things in her dreams, along with a few other abilities. Although, you seem to have an advanced version of retrocognition. You appear to gain their likeness to such an extent you act as they would in the current situation, gaining a little of their memory quite possibly."
This is bad. Naru thought, his eyes closed, trying to think of what he could do. The good news is the case is almost closed in such a short amount of time... but the bad news is...
"This could be dangerous." Lin stated, practically reading Naru's mind. "But how?" Mai asked, to which John stepped up and answered, "Well, I can see what Lin means. We're lucky of all the spirits and hauntings we came across, the person he was drawn to was someone as gentle as Gene." Lin nodded a couple of times in addition to John's observation. "Right. Probably because of his strong connection to Mai." Naru added, his eyes still closed, his lip doing a slight twitch that only Mai seemed to notice.
That was weird, usually Naru's demeanor is pretty stoic. But he almost seemed upset... could it be... jealousy?! Mai thought to herself, unable to help being at least a little happy to think up a possibility that he felt such a way for her.
"Regardless, I think it'd be best to stay here for a little while longer just in case and see what happens. The least we can do is make sure he can at least control himself in case his visions get more... violent..." Naru stated, not being as tactful as Mai and the others would have preferred, but he couldn't help but be straight to the point. "With you and your father's permission of course, Saito." Naru continued.
Izumi looked around, a little unsure of how he should handle the situation. Yasuhara gave a smile and leaned towards him, assuring, "Don't worry, we know what we're doing. It's not like we get paid by the hour, you know." He gave a light laugh afterwards, making Izumi return a small, happy smile as well. "Alright, as long as we can get to the bottom of this." Izumi said. Ayako put her hands on her hips and sighed out, "Sounds like we already have." "And that's what I'm afraid of." Naru shot back. Right at the conclusion of this debate, Mr. Saito walked in on cue. "Alright, dinner is served."
All the others sat around in the dining area, quietly slurping and eating their meal. A third person of the family joined them. She looked about twenty years old, and she also looked plenty confused. "Uuumm..." She began, until her father answered, "Oh, sorry Uki. These are the people from Shibuya Psychic Research I told you about. You know, the ones who came to see your brother after his little... incident..." Uki perked up and looked slightly annoyed. By the way she was... underdressed... you could say... and a little red in the cheeks, it was obvious she wasn't expecting anyone to come over at this time. She immediately marched out of the room awkwardly, then came back minutes later in much more clothing. Mostly white in color. "Sorry everyone." She gave a polite bow. "I'm Uki Saito, Izumi's older sister." She then growled, "And I wish Dad told me we were having guests..." Her father replied quickly, "And I wish you listened when I told you earlier today." She rolled her eyes, then muttered, "I was napping." Then decided to end the conversation, sitting next to Yasuhara, taking a cup of tea, and drinking it quickly. She must have been rather parched.
"...So... black underwear, huh?" Yasuhara couldn't contain, which resulted in Uki snapping back, "Oh be quiet..." her redness returned, ending in Uki trying to hide herself in her meal, practically. "A-Anyway..." Uki began... "What did they find out about Izu?" She asked her dad. Her father shrugged and stated, "Actually, I was hoping Mr. Shibuya could shed some light on that." Naru had his facial expression quite mellowed out, probably from the tea he was sipping. It always DID seem to calm him down a bit, regardless of his already unaffected demeanor. He put down his tea, then finally answered, "Well, Mr. Saito, your son appears to have an advanced form of retrocognition. Before you ask, sir, allow me to explain. What this means is he appears to not only mimic spirits, but adapt their personalities and possibly even their memories. Which is strange, considering most forms of retrocognition involve seeing visions of past hauntings, spirits, and events. What we're studying now is exactly what triggers these outbursts, so he can better control them. That is... if you'll allow us to stay longer."
Mr. Saito looked perplexed at first. He seemed unsure if he wanted these strangers to stay here any longer. He looked over to Izumi, who seemed confident about this. The father sighed, and gave an accepting nod. "Izu always did have an impressionable personality. Whenever he came home from his friends' houses he usually ended up sounding a bit like them, in demeanor AND tone." Uki contributed, sipping her tea a bit slower this time, trying to ignore the playful expression Yasuhara gave. "Alright, I'll agree to this, Mr. Shibuya." Mr. Saito said in a low tone, looking over to Uki afterwards. "Uki, you might have to give up your room and bunk with Izumi, since your room is bigger and would better accommodate our guests. Also the guest room isn't nearly as big as, say, our living room..." Uki frowned, and just as she was about to speak up, Naru stated, "Actually, the living room is just fine for us, sir. The women can have the guest room." Monk frowned at this and complained, "Awww why do we get the living room, Naru? Sexist." Naru then shot back, "There is four women and five men in our group. And according to Mr. Saito, the living room is bigger. It isn't about chivalry, it's about efficiency." With that retort, Monk stayed quiet, silently agreeing with his logic, as per usual. Uki seemed to have relief wash over her face about this.
"It's settled then. I... appreciate all you've told me so far. Thanks Mr. Shibuya... a-and the rest of you..." Izumi said, getting nods and small comments of assurance from the rest of the SPR group.
That is all for this Chapter. Find out what happens next in Chapter 4! Will Izumi be able to conquer this new ability, and hone it for the greater good? Or will he succumb to a darker memory that SPR would rather leave forgotten? Find out soon!