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Yuki walked into the office the day she was scheduled to return and noted her Boss sitting on a couch with a machine on it. She looked down at Emrys, who was wearing a vest that showed he was a service dog in training, and he sniffed quietly. He was curious about the area that smelt of his owner and another dog. He saw the other human in the room and tilted his head. Yes, he liked the human his owner greeted with a wave. She closed the door behind them.
"A new dog?" Naru asked, the tone of his voice putting Yuki on the defensive.
"I couldn't just leave him in a situation where he'd be passed around from shelter to shelter," She muttered sending him a slight glare.
He didn't say anything else, noting that he had obviously upset her. The small puppy, really it reminded him of a living breathing cotton ball, padded up to him before sniffed his leg. He raised a brow as it sat down next to his feet, looking up at him expectantly. He sighed quietly at that; his clothing was going to have white fur stuck to it all the time.
"Do I want to ask about the machine, or should I make tea first?" Yuki's question brought him out of his thoughts.
"Tea first," He answered.
Yuki nodded and went to make some tea, she paused and knocked on Lin's door asking if he wanted some. She got a nod out of the quiet man, and she headed to the kitchenette. Naru stared down at the puppy that was still eyeing him. He raised his brow again and it simply stuck its tongue out while its tail started wagging. For some reason it liked him, and he couldn't figure out why. He heard the kettle whistle and looked towards the kitchenette. His part-timer came out with two cups of tea on a platter and, surprisingly, a cup of coffee. Yuki wasn't the biggest fan of coffee, but she would drink it if her energy was low. She placed the platter down and handed him his tea before taking a seat across from him, her new puppy getting up and taking a seat next on her feet.
"This is a Psy-ability test," Naru informed her, and she slowly nodded her understanding giving him a strange look, "I want to see if you have any psychic ability."
Yuki tensed at that, and he could almost see how hard she was thinking. She was contemplating refusing to take the test. As her boss, he could always say he needed the test so he could add it to her file and promote her to an investigator. He wouldn't, not with how uncomfortable she had suddenly become. She was chewing on the side of her cheek before stopping.
"Your mother was a well-known medium, are you aware of that?" He questioned.
She gave him a slow nod and looked away to the side. She wasn't saying anything, just trying to formulate a response. She didn't know what she could say. She let out a sigh and scratched the back of her head.
"I'd rather not do this test if that's all right with you," She quietly stated and he was slightly surprised, "I don't care if I have PK or not, psychic powers seem to bring nothing but trouble."
"Yet, you see Hara-San use her abilities and never seem to think twice about them," He commented sending her a serious look, "are you afraid, is that it?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" She questioned giving him a serious look in response, "The fear of the unknown is always a viable fear."
"You could be completely normal," He pointed out, knowing that he was telling a slight lie, "this test could confirm it."
"…Fine…" She grumbled.
He motioned for her to place her fingers on the buttons that sat below some silver numbers. She was smart enough that he didn't have to tell her what to do when he turned on the machine. She pressed the buttons, getting the first three lights in one go. The slower the machine the more she was able to get. It sped up and she made a face, getting the buttons after they lit up which said more to him than if she had gotten it. She was glaring at the machine as it went even faster. She was getting one out of fifteen at the speed that it was going.
"Is the machine supposed to be this fast?" She questioned.
He smirked at her question, and she set her glare on him. She heard the machine beeping at her that she was missing. She found that she didn't care. She hadn't wanted to take the test, but he had raised a valid point. If it was a fluke with her being able to use abilities, then she could go about her day without worry and continue to work as a secretary. She doubted that was the case. Gene was a big part of that. There were too many issues concerning the last case and the fact that she constantly created poltergeist activity in her home. She huffed as the machine stopped, bringing her hand away from the buttons and gently flexing her fingers to get them to stop being so stiff. A piece of paper came out of the machine, and she watched as he quickly read the results.
"As I expected," He quietly commented, "you have psychic ability, you scored thirty-six percent on the test, a normal person would have scored twenty-five while most psychics fall between thirty-five to forty percent. That explains why you knew of Tomiko before we did any research of the land that the house was built on."
"Was I talking in my sleep?" She quietly asked as she looked at her cup of coffee, a frown on her face he smirked at that question and she grimaced, "I thought that I had stopped doing that years ago."
She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose in disbelief. Naru picked up his cup of tea, placing the paper down next to the saucer. She was obviously unhappy, not liking the news of being psychic. Strange, most people would be thrilled to have abilities. She let out a quiet sigh and pulled her hand away from her face and picked up her cup of coffee. Her eyesight was horrible, but she could still pick up a cup of coffee and drink it.
"You don't seem too thrilled," His comment got an annoyed look out of her as she finally put her glasses back on.
"I'm not, my mother had made a lot of enemies by the time she was my age, a lot of them tried to harm her," She finally admitted, "I worry about Hara-San for that reason, I worry about most famous mediums that can really do that they say they can. My father did as well."
Naru was surprised by that little tidbit. Yoshida Nara. He had investigated the man as soon as he found out who her mother was. He was a lawyer that did quite a bit of investigation into his cases. Anyone who knew him had said that he was a kind man and cared deeply about his family. One picture of the man had him showing his daughter his desk and her picking up a strange paperweight that looked like a strange giraffe. She had a serious look back then as well; it was interesting that she hadn't changed in years. He watched as she sipped at her coffee, she was stressed, and he sighed before placing his cup down.
"How did your mother meet your father?" He asked, not knowing the answer.
She blinked in surprise and tilted her head to the side as she put the cup down as well. She put her hands in her lap as she thought back to the time that her mother told her the story. A small smile appeared on her face and Naru was surprised at the sight of it. She smiled less than he did.
"My father met my mother when he was still in University studying law," She quietly answered, "a nearby house was haunted and my mother had been called in to help a monk to exorcise the spirit. According to her, they didn't really end up together until he had helped her win her case against a man who had assaulted her. She said that if that hadn't happened, they would've never gotten together."
Yuki felt as though she understood what her mother meant by that. If she hadn't checked that camera in the old school building, she would have never met Naru. She was quite glad that she did, even if it had cost her so much.
"She sounded like a very spirited woman," He commented, and Yuki snorted.
"That's putting it lightly," She said, a wry smile playing on her face, "she was scarier than anyone I've ever known. Her temper was legendary, no one ever made her mad…I suppose that's why people say I take after my father in the personality department."
Moderately mild-tempered, and with a decent handle on her temper? Yes, he could see why people said that. She was mostly her mother in her looks, but her father shone through in her personality.
"I've read some of the cases that your father did, he was a good man," He stated, and a kind smile appeared on her face at that.
Her father was her soft spot, even if she seemed to be more attached to her mother. Yuki gained a thoughtful expression, picking up her cup of coffee and taking a sip. She never did understand what happened to her father. There was no ice, so how did someone skid on it?
"I never understood how someone could hit him with a car, there was no ice outside his office," She muttered with a frown.
She was starting to brood as she stared at her coffee. That day really was something that she couldn't help but brood over. Nothing really connected. She was tempted to sigh but simply placed her cup back down. Naru sighed instead, watching as she went deeper into a brooding state. Her eyes narrowed in thought, and he picked up the Psy-ability test and placed it on a nearby shelf. She jumped at the noise and snapped out of her brooding. Lin said he was a brooder.
"Sorry about that," She quietly apologised, "I'll try not to space out again."
He gave her a nod as the door opened, the small bell hanging from it let out a cheery jingle. He watched as surprise appeared on his part-timer's face as a middle-aged woman walked in. Her brown hair was mostly grey, yet her eyes betrayed a youthful spirit. It seemed as though the two of them knew each other as the woman happily smiled at the teens. Naru kept his face impassive, and Yuki did her best to keep her discomfort from hers.
"Misa-San, is there something you need?" Yuki softly asked.
"You've gotten taller, Yu-Chan," Misa commented, and Yuki flinched slightly, she never corrected her knowing that it was a losing battle, "is this your co-worker?"
"I'm Kazuya Shibuya, I'm the president of the company,"
Yuki was starting to worry that Misa would say something insulting to him. The woman had no verbal filter and could say some horrible things without meaning to. Yuki was at least aware of her ability to be horrible, it mostly appeared when she used sarcasm. Misa took a seat next to her and she kept herself from tensing up. Naru let out a quiet sigh through his nose before sitting back down.
"I was told that this office was the best at hunting ghost, I've come to speak to you about a case," Misa stated in a serious tone and Yuki wondered where she had heard such a thing.
Naru gave Yuki a nod and she was grateful for it as she got up to make some more tea, grabbing the empty cups and placing them on the platter. Emrys joined her, running after her as she walked to the kitchenette. She seemed amused by the dogs scurrying, though she did slow her pace down a bit. She didn't want the puppy to tire himself out. Though, he could always sleep on her lap. Yuki cleaned out the cups as the kettle warmed up again. She grabbed down a strong black tea, Assam tea one of the more popular varieties. She saw a jar of golden Monkey Tea and made a mental note to make some of that one day. It was said to be smooth and rather mild. She shook her head before drying the cups and placing them on the platter as the water boiled. She was glad that her boss had sent her to make tea so that she didn't have to be in an uncomfortable situation. Her cheeks burned slightly, she thought that she had been doing a good job at making sure her discomfort wasn't showing. She placed the infusers in the boiled water and waited for the tea to steep for a few minutes before taking them out and heading out of the room with the platter of tea.
She walked into a strange situation. Naru was tense while Misa had an amused smile on her face. She studied her boss a little closer and found that he almost seemed flustered, and a bit annoyed. It was difficult for her to tell. She placed the tea down in front of them and Misa picked up her cup with a cheery disposition, taking a sip of the warm drink. Yuki didn't even react to her doing so, far too used to Naru doing the same thing. Yuki knew what the woman was doing, she did the same thing to every boy that had started talking to her during high school. It was a waste of time, and something that Yuki herself could handle. A stupid test to make sure that they were "worthy" of her. Wasn't it up to her to decide?
"You still make a wonderful cup of tea," Misa complimented, and Yuki nodded, "but now is the time for business, the local theatre I work at is having a ghost problem.
It started a few months ago when one of the main cast members passed in a horrible car accident, that's caused so many of our workers to believe that the spirit of that cast member is now haunting the building, but I'm sure that a spirit can't cause people to go missing and then reappear with no memory of where they had been. The theatre wants to hire you and your team to try and figure out what is going on."
"Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, right?" Yuki quietly asked, thinking that was what Misa was talking about.
"No, it's the old one that the Christmas concert was held when you were a child," Misa corrected and the albino tilted her head in thought, "I had to almost drag you out of the house to go."
"It never got that far," Yuki said, obviously embarrassed by that being told to her boss, "if I remember correctly, you kept trying to bribe me with sweets before finding out that books worked better."
Naru couldn't help but be amused by that little tidbit. She wasn't swayed by sweets, but books? Strange seeing that she had more of a sweet tooth than she'd admit. Misa gave her ex-charge a knowing look before smirking to herself. As though she knew exactly what Yuki thought of her boss and how she felt. That bothered the teen more than she'd admit. Misa decided to continue embarrassing the girl, as was her duty.
"You never really gave me a good reason as to why you didn't want to go into the building except that it was 'too creepy'," Misa commented, "I've known you since you were a baby, and I couldn't figure out what you meant."
"The building is creepy, it always felt like someone was watching me but whenever I brought it up I was told it was just my imagination and that I should stop trying to get attention through such tactics," Yuki said in a blunt tone, ignoring the anger she still felt at adults telling a child that.
"If I had known that I would have called you in sick for all the concerts," Misa said before she gave a slight smirk that bothered Yuki, "then again, you enjoyed playing the violin, so it was worth it in the end."
Naru watched his uncomfortable part-timer as the woman continued to smirk at her. He brought up the cup of tea she had made him and took a sip as he thought about the case. He just learned something about his worker that he hadn't been able to find out. She never allowed her name to be in any newspapers, so he had no idea that she could play an instrument. Looking at her hands it made sense, she had a musician's hands.
"Will you take the case?" Misa's question brought him out of his musings.
"We will," Naru confirmed, much to his worker's surprise.
Misa gave him a grateful smile before picking up her tea and finishing it off. Yuki gave the woman a look before sighing at the woman's manners. She sometimes acted as a rude person just to mess with someone. It reminded her of someone else.
"Thank you," Misa said as she got up from the seat and placed her hands on Yuki's shoulders, "I better get tickets to your graduation ceremony, I'll hunt you down if I don't."
Misa headed out of the office at that, and Yuki started to panic slightly. She wasn't planning on inviting the older woman. She wanted to distance herself from her. It wasn't like she was ungrateful that she had been taken in by an old family friend, it was just how she was treated by her. She had been treated better by people that were forced to be around her back when she lived in the college dorms. She rubbed the back of her neck in discomfort.
"I think that was a promise," She muttered and Naru stayed silent.
She turned to see that he was staring at the door with a frown of disbelief on his face. She felt the need to apologise for whatever Misa might've said to him. It was such a familiar situation that she felt her shoulder's slump a little. She thought that she had left such things behind when she went out on her own. Fifteen was a time where she could live on her own without any issues, and she had left the day of her birthday. There had been quite a bit of fighting, and some emotional manipulation from the woman.
"I'm sorry about that, Misa-San has always been…eccentric," She apologised.
"It's not a surprise that you've always been strange," He said and she gave him a look of disbelief.
"Wow, I'm feeling the love," She said in mock hurt, he rolled his eyes in response when it suddenly hit her, "how come you never let me join in during the auto-suggestion?"
"You'd fall asleep," He pointed out and she raised a brow, "you'd also create poltergeist activity, quite a few psychics do."
"I see," She mumbled as he sipped at his tea, "should I start packing up the equipment for the case?"
"Please do, and have Lin assist you," He confirmed.
"Right," She nodded.
He watched her do the strangest thing. Emrys was picked up and placed into the hood of her jacket. He looked at him from his new vantage point and his tail wagged happily. She walked up to Lin's door and gave it a few knocks before opening it and informing the tall man about their new task. Lin wasn't enthusiastic at their new case but joined the albino as they placed cameras and monitors into the back of the van. A container of thermometers and mics joined them. Yuki placed the materials for the shelves in the back as well before standing back and thinking about what else they needed. She couldn't come up with anything and simply sighed. She headed back into the office and noticed that Naru was reading his little black notebook.
"Go home for today, Yuki," Naru ordered, and she sent him a half glare.
"Well, if I'm not needed, I guess I can simply walk around Takeshita Street," She quietly said, it worked out for her she could possibly find some clothes that wouldn't hurt her bank account too horribly.
Naru gave her a strange look as she exited the office and headed towards Takeshita Street. It was in Harajuku, so it was a bit out of the way for her, but she didn't mind. She was a little overwhelmed by all the different types of fashion surrounding her, some of the adult women dressed in Lolita looked younger than she did! She was impressed by that and wondered if she could fit the style. She took a look at herself in a nearby window and decided against it, she was a bit too tall for it. Well, she was too tall by Japanese standards. Half the clothes wouldn't fit her. She entered a store and was able to find some new turtlenecks for a decent price. She carried the bag in the crook of her elbow, walking through the other store with a thoughtful expression.
One store even sold crystals, something she had only really seen in America. She went inside and the woman running the store greeted her. Mensore, the woman was from Okinawa. She hadn't met someone from the island in a long time. Perhaps she'd start using that to welcome people into the office. That would be a silly idea. She didn't want to make Lin or Naru angry. She left the store with a small piece of garnet. It was her birthstone. She placed it in the bag with her clothing and spared a glance at Emrys. A lot of the people walking the street had taken pictures of the puppy sitting in her hood. She supposed that he could be seen as a fashion accessory to those in Harajuku. She didn't think that way of him, but it did let her sneak him into stores. They just couldn't say no to the fluffy puppy. Eventually, she headed home and put everything away into a hamper. She had made sure to remove all the tags first.
Emrys was happily eating his dinner when she looked at the cup of tea in front of her with a frown. Just what was Misa playing at saying such things? She could easily be considered kind, but sometimes her actions didn't translate that way. She chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds before sighing. It didn't do to dwell on it.