oooooooooO0Oooooooooo
6
ooooooO0Oooooooo
Yuki yawned as she sat in the principal's office with the others. She had no idea why she was there but was slightly grateful that she was sitting next to John. John always seemed like he was in a decent mood, but it seemed bolstered by something. She wondered if it had something to do with the breakfast, she had made everyone. She fidgeted with the ends of her hair as she studied everyone in the room. Everyone looked exhausted, having refused to sleep due to their sleep schedules already being ruined by the case. She looked at her boss, who she had been surprised to see yet pleased he had bandaged his hand up. She gathered that Gene would've been happy about that as well.
"Everyone that is involved with the case is here," Naru stated as he pulled on the curtains and shut them, "one moment, please."
He brought out a machine and placed it on the desk. Right, she knew what that was. It was to place a compulsion on someone to bring out latent abilities. It helped to make poltergeist activity centred on a single object. She couldn't really remember what the actual name was. It was auto-suggest…or something like that. She sat up straight as Naru turned on the machine. She watched as a light bulb began to brightly glow red before dimming. She felt sleepy as she watched it. Her mind turned towards the machine; didn't an Oliver Davis use the same method? Why was she having such trouble remembering?
"Please focus on the light, breathe with the light and slowly relax," Naru told them.
Yuki found herself relaxing to the point where she was starting to nod off. Naru watched their reactions and narrowed his eyes at her. He told them that the chair on the second floor of the old school building was going to move, and continued to say that periodically as the light blinked. He walked around them, and Yuki finally lost the battle against sleep and was quietly snoozing as the machine continued to work. He stood behind her and waited for a few seconds before shaking her shoulder. She jolted awake before turning to give him a gloomy glare. He supposed the group that had stayed would be exhausted. He said his statement one last time before opening the curtains and snapping them out of their trance. Yuki put her hands against her eyes as she fought the burning sensation from it. There was something else in the back of her head that wasn't what Naru had been suggesting.
'Marie, we're going to try and stop these nightmares from happening just focus on the light and let your mind relax.'
It was a male voice telling her that, it was her old therapist. Right, she used to have vivid nightmares in her previous life, but they had stopped abruptly when she was five. It was right as her father had moved her family out of Maine. She brought her hands down and watched as everyone rubbed their eyes or yawned. She turned her attention towards the old chair and wondered if it would really move due to the suggestion.
"Thank you, everyone," Naru said, Yuki stood up from her chair and put it away stifling a yawn as she did.
He packed up his equipment and she followed him as he briskly walked from the office. He sighed before turning to face her with a raised brow. He had thought that he'd lose her due to the limp she had. He was sure it wasn't as bad the previous day. She let out a quiet sound of victory before sending him a serious look.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked him.
"Yes, I heard that you were hurt," He commented.
"I'll live," She sighed, "I'm just surprised you went with the auto-suggestion experiment."
"Don't you have class right now?" He questioned as his interest was piqued by her knowledge of the experiment.
"Yes, but you calling us all into the office like that gives me some leeway as to when I have to return," She answered, "I also wanted to know if your hand was doing better."
He sighed and removed some of the bandages away from the cut and she looked it over. It had formed a scab already and she was relieved it was doing so good. She gave him an awkward nod before shifting her weight slightly.
"It looks like it wasn't serious, that's a relief," She quietly said, "I'll see you later then."
She limped off and he watched as she headed up the stairs. He wasn't that surprised she had quickly left the conversation. She was awkward at the best of times, but there was an innate sweetness that one of the nurses at the clinic had spoken of. She cared more than she's like to admit.
Yuki let out a quiet sneeze before re-entering her class and sitting at her desk. She was stuck in her chair for most of the day due to her knee and she entertained herself by staring out the window and at the old building. She forgot to bring a book, and she had chosen the one written by Oliver Davis. She frowned in thought, no wonder she had remembered the auto-suggestion experiment. The man was living in her head rent-free and she'd never admit it.
She let her thoughts turn towards Gene and his brother Naru. Somewhere in her mind, she had concluded that she believed Naru was better looking. Her thoughts halted completely for a few minutes. It was the stress; she was sure of it. She gave a quiet sigh as their math class ended. It was Monday, they always had PE on Mondays. She trudged down the stairs to the gym and got changed with the other girls. A pair of shorts and a long-sleeved grey shirt. She picked at the sleeves of her shirt as some of the other girls around her wore short sleeves. If she could get away with sweatpants, she would wear those instead.
"Hey, Rep, do you know what sport we're playing today?" A girl asked as Yuki wrapped her knee to keep it from getting injured any further.
"I don't, I'm sorry," She quietly answered, giving her a very small smile.
The girl turned a light pink at the sight of it before it vanished, and their class rep headed to the gym. She sat against the wall and soon the others joined her as the teacher walked up to them. The woman had a soccer ball in her hands and Yuki started sweating slightly as people turned towards her. Misa had her play soccer at one point back when she was still in elementary school. Well, up until the point where she had started having health problems due to her genetic disorder.
"Today you will be playing soccer," The teacher informed them, "you will be split between two teams and the captains will be Ai-Kun and Jou-Kun!"
The quiet girl from Yuki's class was Ai. Yuki had never talked to her before but found that she didn't mind her. She clasped her hands behind her back and waited to be picked. Ai pointed at her, and she went to stand behind the short teen. The minutes passed as the number of unpicked teens soon came to zero and soon, they were choosing names.
"So, what should our team be called?" Ai questioned.
"Trash, after all, it is trash can, not trash cannot," Yuki answered without thinking and she kept her face impassive as her teammates gave her looks of disbelief and amusement.
"How about the crew?" A boy with dyed blonde hair suggested with a lazy tone.
"The crew is perfect," Ai answered.
Ai informed the teacher and they headed to their spots. Yuki closed her eyes for a few seconds before getting herself into the right mentality. She was prepared to win. Her eyes narrowed at the person in front of her and she saw them back up in slight fear. The whistle blew and Yuki quickly moved forward and got the ball. She passed it to one of her teammates just as someone came by to take her down. She winced as she slammed into the ground before quickly getting up. She helped the other person up as well; her father had made sure she had good sportsmanship before she entered elementary school. He believed it was something everyone should have. They returned to the game and continued playing for the full hour.
Yuki looked at her bruised knee and saw more bruises appearing on her skin. It was probably the thing she hated most about her skin. She bruised so easily, and it always showed up no matter how light the hit might've been. She changed back into her uniform and pulled her hair loose from its ponytail. School ended after PE and she went home, a strange expression on her face. It was most likely her last day working for Naru. She quickly changed into a black shirt with bishop sleeves and a pair of black shorts. She did everything she needed to do before leaving her apartment. Bones was all suited up and wagged her tail as she walked beside her owner. Her leash was released as they came up to the van and Bones sprinted towards Naru, nudging into his leg. Naru turned and gave the dog a slight smile before scratching her behind the ears. Yuki had been right about one thing, no one could resist Bones. She was far too lovable. Naru looked up as Yuki slowly wakes up to the van.
"Did you set up the tape recorder last night?" He questioned.
"John-Kun did, I wanted to put another camera in there, but the monitors wouldn't be able to handle another without taking one down," She quietly explained, "even though your cameras are most likely insured I would rather not break one."
"You two did a good job, it sounds like we were able to record some useful things," Naru complimented as he removed a pair of headphones from his head, Yuki's heart fluttered in her chest and dread pooled on her stomach, "what's wrong?"
"I might've taken a bigger hit to the head than I originally thought, I'm not usually like this," She cryptically answered, he raised a brow in response, and she wanted to attention away from her strange behaviour, "oh, right the shoe cubby that fell on me last night was warm. I guess there is some poltergeist activity happening."
"I'm glad you put some thought into the things that happen," Naru said giving her another compliment, he gathered up some wires and a camera and turned towards a slightly off-kilter Yuki, "let's set up our equipment."
They headed up to the second floor of the building and she looked around the tilted room. Yuki had a strange relationship with the room, she both hated it and was neutral towards it. Her knee being a reminder of a reason why she hated it. She shifted a foot across the floor and noted the path left in the dust. It didn't take much pressure to move the dust around, no wonder it was easy to see where the chair had previously been.
"Are you going to see if the chair moves again?" She asked as he put the wires in her hands.
He nodded before starting to put the camera up. Yuki was patient and gave a tired nod to John as he joined them. He was always happy to help where he could. He also wanted to lessen the load from the one person that had been injured multiple times. He was a bit amused to see some grass stains on her skin.
"Oh, I thought I had gotten all the grass off," She muttered as she noticed what he was looking at, "we had soccer today, apparently I'm an aggressive player."
"That's surprising," He commented.
They fell silent as Naru finished setting the camera up. He turned and grabbed some of the wires from Yuki and easily hooked everything up. It was obvious that he'd done it so many times before. They weren't left waiting long until they were given something to do. Yuki looked at the hammer in her hand and weighed it slightly. It wasn't too heavy and had a good balance. She was quite glad that she had chosen to wear the shirt with the bishop sleeves. She'd be unlikely to get caught on something. Naru was having them board up the door and windows. John held the plywood in place as Yuki hammered in the nails. They worked as an efficient unit, something that Naru needed more of. They were done within two hours and were trying to relax their sore muscles.
"That's all of them," She informed Naru as John smiled at her getting a small one back in response.
"Now, would both of you please write your names on the boards," Naru said.
He handed them permanent markers and they started to write on the boards they put up. John's handwriting was in lovely cursive while Yuki wrote in a neat script that was slanted to the left due to her dominant hand. They had both written in English, and it wasn't the strangest thing to occur.
"All right, it's all signed, the windows and doors are boarded up anything else?" She questioned.
He taped a piece of paper to the boards, and they signed that one as well.
"You can go home now, you're done," Naru told her.
"Okay," She quietly said.
She gave John a wave before heading to her apartment with Bones. She felt melancholy again and she knew the reason behind it. She really couldn't believe herself. Why would she miss working for the narcissist? She let out a frustrated sigh as she unlocked her door and let Bones inside. She went to sit on her couch and turned on the TV. It was rare that she was able to watch something for her own entertainment. She flipped through the channels before choosing one that showed American musicals. The opening notes for Grease started playing and she gained a nostalgic smile. Bones jumped into her lap and got comfortable.
oooooooooO0Oooooooooo
She was back in the water again, though this time there was a reflection staring back at her as she stared at the surface. She reached out with a hand and ended up touching a barrier. She pressed against it and found her surroundings had changed. She stood in the old school building and noted that it was empty. She walked through it and ended up in the tilted room. The chair inside was on the ground, as if someone had pushed it over.
"Oh, there you are," Gene's voice sounded behind her, and she turned to face him, "you shouldn't be here."
"I don't even know how I got here," She muttered before bringing a hand up and pressing it against her forehead, "Gene, how come you showed up in my dreams?"
"I'll explain in detail in due time," He stated, and she gained a miffed expression.
ooooooO0Oooooooo
Yuki let out a yawn as she tried to fight off her drowsiness. Her dream had been short, but strange. She had once read that the average dream lasted around 2 seconds, but she gathered that she had gone on adventures with hers. She sighed and put her hands into the pockets of her skirt. She'd just pop in to greet Naru before heading to the school to deal with some student council paperwork. She faltered in her limp when she saw the original assistant and she didn't falter under his glare. She did give him some leeway seeing that he did get injured pushing her out of the way of the shoe cubby.
"You're early today," Naru commented as she stepped up to the van.
"I woke up early and decided to go and deal with some paperwork for the student council," She said with a shrug before turning towards his assistant, "it's nice to see that you're up and about."
His glare increased at that, and she gave him an unimpressed look. She turned towards Naru as he closed his notebook. She didn't even want to know what he had been writing down before she had walked up. She moved her book bag to her non-dominant hand just in case she needed her dominant one.
"Yuki, can you keep a secret?" Naru asked her.
"Yes," She confirmed, knowing that the secret that Gene had her keeping was a heavy one.
"Wait, everyone's arriving now," He said as he looked over her shoulder, she tilted her head to the side before letting out a soft sigh.
She turned to see who had shown up. Everyone, save for Masako who was still in the hospital, had shown up. Kuroda didn't seem surprised to see her senpai and promptly ignored Naru when he requested, she went to class. Yuki rubbed the back of her neck in thought as Ayako decided to stand next to her with her arms crossed across her chest.
"Why is she here again?" Ayako grumbled.
"She wants to know what the final verdict is, she's also been a part of this," Yuki answered, and Ayako let out a quiet huff, "hey, I'm not here to tell you what goes on in someone's mind give me a few years."
"I'm almost fearful what you'll do as a psychiatrist," Ayako muttered.
Yuki gave her a peace sign with a blank face accompanying it. It was such an odd image that Ayako shook her head at her. Yuki put her hand back down and looked at the old building, a thoughtful expression on her face. The miko was starting to think that she had figured everything out. It was such an odd situation.
"You figured it out," Ayako pointed out.
"In theory," Yuki all but confirmed.
"What are you going to show us today?" Takigawa asked Naru, "Shouldn't you quit before you embarrass yourself again."
"I just need you to be one of the witnesses for the experiment," Naru answered as they all headed up to the second story classroom, "Yuki, John, please make sure the papers you signed yesterday are not damaged in any way."
The original assistant, wait his name was Lin if Yuki was remembering correctly, was taking video of everything that was going on. John and Yuki checked everything that had their names on it and shared a look. All their signatures were still in place and hadn't even been bothered.
"It looks the same," Yuki said before looking at John, "what about you?"
"Yeah," John confirmed, nodding his agreement.
Naru didn't wait to say anything else. He picked up a crowbar and stabbed it into the boards. He pulled it back and tore them from the wall. Yuki blinked in surprise, becoming impressed by the other teen who didn't look like he'd be able to do such a thing. They went into the walkway he had created and noticed that the chair had been knocked over. It was laying on its side. Yuki wasn't even shocked that her dream had been true, but she wondered if the one of someone being hit by a car was. If it was, then she might have to dream it more often to get the full story and see if she could find their body. She didn't think anyone deserved to wither away to nothing at the bottom of a lake.
"Shibuya-San the chair moved!" John exclaimed, and Naru smirked in response.
Yuki hated herself as she felt her heart skip a beat. There was something her mother said that was niggling at the back of her thoughts. 'She won't know why she likes someone until she finally figures out why she finds someone attractive.' Oh. A light bulb went off in her head and she glared at the floor in annoyance. Her mother and her friend had jinxed her. She was oddly incensed by that. It wasn't like she had been actively looking for someone she'd find attractive, it just sort of happened.
"That's right," Naru confirmed.
He moved towards the camera he had set up and rewound the footage. He continued to smirk as the chair was shown to fall without anyone touching it. Yuki leaned against the wall as she realised that he had just confirmed her thoughts. Land subsidence with a female student creating a poltergeist. She was quite pleased with how everything ended.
"Hey, no way!" Ayako exclaimed in unamusement.
"Thank you for your help everyone," Naru stated as he seemed to have found the same conclusion that Yuki had, "I'll be leaving later today."
"Are you implying that this solved the case?" Ayako questioned a frown on her face.
"That's right," Naru confirmed, Yuki sadly looked down at the ground.
"Land subsidence," She quietly stated.
"Yes, the case requested by the school principal can be explained as the result of land subsidence," Naru nodded, he was looking at them with a serious expression and she was relieved by that.
She may like his smile, but she found that his serious expression suited him better. It was his personality she liked, as odd as that was. She found that having someone there that would tell her she was being an idiot was nice. Few people did that, and she appreciated those that did. Yet, she had her rules. No attachments. She had entertained the idea of proclaiming that she was a Jedi just to have a solid basis for that rule. She looked up when Takigawa let out a sharp laugh of victory.
"But how do you explain what happened in the lab, and the poltergeist from yesterday?" He asked, Yuki, wondered if she should just do what Ayako did and refer to him as Monk it'd make her life easier.
"In my opinion, there was never a need to do any exorcisms," Naru stated, "perhaps you should take a closer look."
They rewatched the footage, though Yuki stayed in her spot. She turned her attention towards the courtyard for a few seconds before turning it back to them. She could almost see the wheels turning in their heads as they slowly figured out what he was implying. Kuroda turned her attention towards Naru and frowned.
"What's this all about?" She finally asked.
"There's clearly a poltergeist we need to exorcise," Takigawa stated.
"No, it's not necessary, I had auto-suggested to all of you yesterday that this chair would move last night," Naru informed them, "all of the windows and doors in the room were locked from the inside and covered by veneer boards no one would have been able to enter the room without making it obvious."
"That makes you wonder who caused the activity," Yuki stated, and they all looked towards her, Naru gave her a slight nod that allowed her to continue, "statistically, about half of the poltergeist cases that have been documented were almost all ways attributed to humans. It's a type of psychic energy, and most of the time it happens unconsciously."
"Say someone is stressed out," Naru took over, "he or she strongly desires to be noticed or wants attention from others, and is unconsciously building up energy. In such cases, with auto-suggestion, a situation like this can occur."
"You sound like a scientist," Yuki muttered, and Lin looked at her before narrowing his eyes in a glare.
"You're saying the chair was moved by a human?" Takigawa asked.
"Most likely, at least my experiment to prove this did not fail," Naru answered.
Kuroda noticed that Yuki was looking at her, and she fidgeted under the unwavering gaze. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides. Yuki knew it was her, but remained quiet. Her staring was enough to cause Kuroda to finally ask what was bothering her.
"Senpai, are you trying to say I did it?" She finally asked.
"It makes sense," Yuki stated.
"From the beginning, I had a feeling this had something to do with you," Naru said, "for example, when you mentioned that you saw the spirits of wartime nurses and victims, there were no records to substantiate that this area was attacked or that the school was used as a hospital or that there was a hospital in the area."
"Whatever…" Kuroda muttered.
"It's either you're reading too much into it, or you're simply lying," Naru informed her, and Yuki grimaced at that.
"I'm not making things up!" Kuroda yelled.
Yuki's father had once said that when people get caught in their lies that they would always try to yell to get out of the web they've insnared themselves in. A web of lies was always going to catch its weaver. She tapped her fingers against the wall and slowly moved away from it. She had sympathy towards Kuroda, but at the same time, she didn't.
"At first, I thought you were pretending to be psychic, but I honestly felt perplexed when we experienced events that were poltergeist-like although my recordings clearly indicated no spirits and Hara-San confirmed them," Naru continued without letting up on his gaze on the first-year, "so, that meant a human had to be causing it. Usually, such activity is caused by teens, young children, or a psychic female, it often happens to individuals that are under extreme stress they unconsciously end up causing the poltergeist activity."
"And the person who's causing the activity is likely to become the victim of the poltergeist," Yuki added, "if the school building had been a regular home, then a human would've been suspected immediately."
"So, who would most likely end up the centre of attention?" Ayako questioned.
"That would be Kuroda-San or Yuki, though Yuki was easy to write off due to her disliking attention and falling asleep while I was trying to auto-suggest the chair moving," Naru answered, he sounded a bit annoyed by her falling asleep.
"I had been up for twenty-four hours, lay off," Yuki grumbled at him, narrowing her eyes she didn't like the fact that he had such a clear read of her personality.
Had he been able to figure that much out by knowing her for a couple of days? It bothered her, not many people were able to do that. She crossed her arms across her chest and kept herself from fidgeting and showing her agitation. If anyone had noticed, they wisely kept quiet about how she was feeling.
"Since Junior High School you were always able to get people's attention because of your strong psychic power," Naru continued as though he hadn't been interrupted, "you said there were evil spirits in the old building, but what would happen if there were no such thing? If all of the events that were believed to be spirit related happened due to land subsidence, then you'd lose all social power that you had. You felt that pressure and started to think that the spirits were actually here, causing the poltergeist to happen."
"That would mean that she has some latent psychic abilities," Yuki stated, tapping her chin with a finger, "seeing as most students want the building to collapse during exam week."
"You might not be aware of it, but you probably even have some PK," Naru stated, "for Kuroda-San the existence of evil spirits in the building was a necessity in obtaining attention."
Ayako gained a haughty "I told you so" look and Yuki shook her head in disbelief. She quickly lost it before Yuki tilted her head to the side. She thought back to something Lilith once said about people. It had struck her as odd, but now she understood what she meant.
"Perhaps we all want to be special, deep down that is," Yuki said in a thoughtful tone.
"She wasn't stressed out until you mentioned the land subsidence, so how do you explain me getting locked in the classroom and Kuroda being attacked by a spirit?" Ayako asked.
"Have you ever heard the saying "don't let your mouth write checks your ass can't cash"?" Yuki asked.
"What?" Ayako asked squinting at her before it dawned on her.
"It was caused by this in the doorsill," Naru stated as he held up the rusty nail he had been holding a few days before, "it's tiny but it was enough to cause the door to get stuck."
"A nail?" Ayako yelled as she took it from him with a red face.
"I suspected this a while ago, but I didn't think it was important enough to tell you," Naru said, and Yuki gained an amused look to her face.
"You locked me in there?" Ayako questioned as she rounded on Kuroda.
"I'm sure it was meant to be a small prank, you were giving her a hard time before that," Yuki stated, and Naru nodded his agreement.
"And the broken videotape?" Ayako pressed.
"It wasn't broken, the footage was intentionally erased," Naru confirmed what Yuki had thought that day.
"Did she do that too?" Ayako blinked in surprise.
"By the time Yuki arrived at the base that day, Kuroda-San was already there so it seems likely," He said.
"I'm sorry," Kuroda quietly apologised, Yuki brought a hand up and gave her shoulder a gentle pat.
"Is everything over now?" John asked.
"For the time being," Naru answered, and they weren't about to wait for him to elaborate.
"But what about the principal? He wanted us to prepare the building for demolition," Ayako griped, annoyed at him for not elaborating.
"I plan to tell him that many spirits of war victims existed in the building, but we were able to exorcise them all, so it is now safe to demolish the building," Naru answered, "are you okay with that, Kuroda-San."
"Honestly, the principal will fall for it," Yuki stated as Kuroda nodded, "he's not the brightest bulb sometimes."
"Why not tell him the truth?" John questioned.
"Kuroda-San's already feeling bad enough, I don't think we need to make things worse for her," Naru said as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"Are you going to tell him that this was a group project that everyone added to equally?" Yuki asked.
"Yes," He confirmed.
"Naru, you're a feminist, aren't you?" Ayako asked with a slightly flirty laugh causing Yuki to get whiplash from her change in demeanour, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"That is completely off subject," Naru stated.
"I can handle a young one," Ayako replied.
"Ahhh…she's a cougar," Yuki said, though it was obvious by her expression that she hadn't meant to say that out loud.
Her cheeks turned a light pinked as she turned away from the amused expressions sent her way. She didn't want to deal with the future ribbing from Takigawa for saying such a thing. She was the one who was writing checks her ass couldn't cash. It was a rather unfortunate turn of events.
"Thank you for the offer but, unfortunately, there's only enough room for me in my mirror," Naru declined Ayako's offer, and Yuki let out a very ladylike snort as he went to say something to Lin, "Lin, let's start clearing out."
Takigawa and Yuki shared a look. Takigawa held his hands up in a "gimme" motion and she let out a sigh before handing over her phone. He put his number in and gave her long hair a ruffle. She gently pushed his hand away with an annoyed expression on her face. They weren't the only ones meandering about.
"Aren't you all leaving too?" Naru asked them.
"Right, that wasn't such a big deal," Ayako said as she tried to save her dignity.
John smiled at that before leaving, and she quickly followed. Yuki rubbed the back of her head in thought as Kuroda left as well. Soon it was just going to be her, Naru, and Lin. She was contemplating leaving, just so she wasn't stuck in an awkward situation.
"You seem kind of upset," Takigawa teased Ayako as he hurried after her.
"Don't you have class?" Naru questioned Yuki.
"Not today, I was heading in to do paperwork and attend my first two classes," She answered, "I have a doctor's appointment at noon, I wouldn't mind helping pick up before I leave."
Naru studied her for a few seconds, and she simply waited for his verdict. He let out a soft sigh and her expression brightened a bit. She wasn't lying about the fact that she had an appointment, but it wasn't as serious as most people first thought it was. It was just a checkup to make sure she wasn't going to catch what killed her mother.
"All right," Naru said.
Yuki wondered if he was some sort of pushover, judging by how he treated others she doubted that. She moved to help take down the monitors and wires, and she found that she was prolonging the inevitable. As the clock neared 12 she sadly looked at the last piece of the shelf she had brought down and put away. It was time for her to go.
"It was a pleasure to work with you Naru," She said to her ex-boss, and she turned to Lin and gave a slight bow, "I'm sorry for getting you injured, Lin-San."
She took her leave and hurried to the clinic to get her visit over with. They sometimes kept her overnight for observation to make sure she didn't have inconsistencies in her stories about her health. That was something she had learned that her mother had done. She sighed as she entered the air-conditioned clinic.
"Early as usual, Yu-Chan," An elderly nurse with white hair stated with a smile.
Yuki gave her a strained smile as she stamped down the urge to snap at her. Only her father was allowed to call her that. No one else. She signed in and was led to a room. She changed into the yukata that was provided and sat on the bed, waiting for the doctor to check her out. Her vitals were taken and some of her blood was drawn.
"We would like to keep you till tomorrow, and then you're free to go," Her doctor explained as she wrote something down on her clipboard, "we want to make sure that you're hydrated and doing better than your last visit."
She grimaced at that, she had injuries due to working the case with the others. She laid back on the bed as the doctor left and she was glad she had added extra food to Bones's bowl and had placed a second water dish down. There wasn't anyone in the immediate area that would watch over her dog, and she refused to call Misa for help. She didn't want to put up with the inevitable comments about how she decorated. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before bringing out her school bag and working on her homework.
oooooooooO0Oooooooooo
The following week, the old school building collapsed. Yuki looked at the spot from her classroom before turning towards the blackboard and writing down the name of who was in charge of cleanup after class for the whole week. She pushed her hair back from her face and her bracelet got caught in some of the long strands. She had finished writing the last character when the overhead speakers went off.
"Yoshida Yuki of class 3-3 please report to the main office, you have a phone call," The voice of the woman in charge of announcements said.
Yuki placed the chalk down and headed to the office. A woman with short brown hair smiled at her as she approached her desk. Yuki didn't know who would call her, but it was impressive that they did it during school.
"Hello, I'm Yoshida Yuki," Yuki quietly said, "I have a phone call."
"Here you go," The woman said with a kind smile as she held out the phone.
"Thank you," Yuki thanked before accepting the phone and putting the receiver to her ear, "hello?"
"Yuki?" A soft voice said over the line and Yuki was tempted to hang up on them as her ears burned.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" She asked.
"Your payment," Naru answered, she hadn't been expecting payment for her help, "I'm talking about your assistant fee, if you don't want it; I won't force you to take it."
"I wasn't expecting to get paid, but I won't turn it down," She said, she had been up for long periods of time and had been injured to the point where she had to stay an extra day at the clinic.
"Do you have your bank account number?" He asked.
"No, I don't make a habit of carrying my number around or giving that kind of information over the phone," She informed him as her face turned into one of disbelief, she knew he was smart so why would he say something so stupid.
"Then I'll send a check, what's your address?" He questioned, and she could hear his slight annoyance.
She told him and she wondered if she needed to hang up. She couldn't get a read on him when talking to him over the phone. It such an odd situation. She wasn't even expecting him to contact her again, so it was a nice surprise.
"It will be sent to you within the week," He informed her, "does your school allow you to work part-time?"
"Yes, especially for students who…live on their own," She confirmed.
"I see, will you be interested in working part-time in my office?" He asked and her brain paused for a few seconds as it digested his question.
"I would enjoy that, yes," She said without thinking.
"You know where it is," He said, "you start Saturday."
"Right, I'll see you on Saturday," She said before hanging up.
She handed the phone back to the office lady and got a congratulatory smile out of her. She walked out of the office and crouched for a few seconds as she fully digested everything. She had a job, working with Naru who she was starting to develop the slightest of crushes on. There were so many ways it could end, and she would like it to be a positive one. She took a deep breath and calmed herself before heading back to class. She needed to keep her composure.