A/N~ Next chapter! Thank you guys for reviewing! It feels great to know you guys still stuck around after the long wait, so thank you thank you! As you may have noticed, this case ifs vastly different from any other before, and the team will definitely be challenged as frustrations grow. Stay tuned!

Something was amiss but it was too early to tell just what Mai had experienced. It wasn't the usual dream or vision that normally left her rambling. Monk recalled the days when Mai had not yet known of her abilities and would sit on a wealth of information until it was necessary. He was thankful those days had long since passed and she had learned to share what she had gathered as soon as the opportunity presented itself. She could still be swayed if she felt a spirit could be cleansed verses exorcised, but the team had learned some patience in that regard as well.

Monk guided her all the way back to base, the warm lights of the study pooled across the foyer floor, and only let go of her arm once he had caught sight of Naru. The man had pushed himself to his feet and dropped a clinical eye on Mai as she approached. She made to move past him while Jenna and Avery paused to watch just behind Monk, but Naru lifted his hands and grasped her upper arms. Successfully halted, Mai lifted her face to him curiously.

"Where are you going?" he asked simply.

"Tea," she responded in kind.

Naru gripped her chin in his hand and turned her head about to inspect her vacant expression.

The whole room had paused in their tasks to watch the two from the corner of their eyes. Lin had spun about in the creaking wooden computer chair to look the woman over himself from a distance. He caught sight of Monk watching from the doorway with a drawn expression.

"Hara-san," Naru called, eyes focused on Mai's.

Masako sat on one of the sofas, hands clasped in her lap, and scrutinized Mai before she spoke up: "She is not possessed."

"I'm fine," Mai assured the room quietly. She did not fight under Naru's hold but the fleetest of irritations was bubbling in her chest at the prolonged position.

"Where are you?" he asked cryptically, the slightest of wrinkles present between his brows.

Mai closed her eyes for a moment before she lifted a hand to rub at her face and meet his gaze once more, life seemingly returning to her in that instant. "I'm right here," she assured him.

"It was the ballroom," Monk spoke up, breaking the room from the hold that had fallen over it. "She spaced out, said she didn't sense anything, but she's been on autopilot since."

"It was a nice room," Mai defended lamely. It was a dumb excuse and they all knew it but she hated being the center of attention, despite how often these cases forced her into the spotlight, and she would do anything to get out of it. It sent a thrill of social anxiety rocketing through her chest and she battled the urge to run. Mai pulled Naru's hand away from her chin and gave it an apologetic squeeze before she stepped aside to lift the tea tray from the nearby table. "I don't sense anything here. The place is just lonely and I think I'm just being affected by it," she theorized as she headed back towards the door and Monk stepped aside to let her pass.

"Mai."

She paused and turned back to meet those ocean deep eyes with a slight frown.

"Make some tea, but then you should rest," he instructed her quietly. He had slid one hand into a pocket while the other hung limply at his side. It was a stance that spoke of open concern but still remained somewhat guarded under the gaze of those present. His chin lifted, ever so slightly, and she nodded once before she turned back towards the foyer.

No activity occurred that night.

Mai had surrendered to the soft ocean that was her assigned bed that night with a relieved sigh. Rocco had jumped up to claim his spot at her feet, careless of the disapproving look Masako sent him due to the fact that he was blind, but Mai only offered the medium a shrug in response. Madoka was in the bathroom partaking in the luxury bathtub while Ayako was prowling the halls with Naru himself. Mai assumed he wanted to get a look at the ballroom and had offered to join the woman on her walk-through. Mai was certain he would have avoided it otherwise as Ayako was certain to be whining about the late hours and her lack of beauty rest.

"I'm beginning to fear that we have made this trip for nothing," Masako admitted as she slid into bed gracefully, her light sleeping gown shimmering in the light filtering in through the underside of the bathroom door.

"Think of it as a vacation, Masako," Mai drawled sleepily into her pillows, "Naru said we're only doing this because his uncle slapped down an undisclosed but large amount of money. I'm just happy for the chance to travel and at least we get to attend the gala . . ."

Masako scoffed lightly but pulled the comforter over her and quieted down as Mai drifted. Sure, Mai would think of it as a great opportunity with Naru hanging off of her the way he was. She stared up at the ceiling, gripping the blankets thoughtfully, before he eyes slid over to the prone figure in the bed next to her.

"This place isn't haunted."

Several sets of eyes lifted from their breakfast plates around the large table in base at the statement but not one pair held the smallest iota of surprise. The mood was light but a little bored due to the lack of activity. They had all been thinking along the same line, but as usual, Monk was the one to voice what everyone was thinking to the whole group without hesitation.

The camera crew had claimed seats around the coffee table and they all looked up in surprise. None of them were spiritually sensitive in the least so the news came as a surprise to them. There had been whispers about the property for as far back as they could remember, Avery himself was a local of the nearby town, and the statement came as a shock.

Naru leveled Monk with a cold look, fork poised over his own breakfast (an egg white omelet filled with various vegetables. Mai noted absently that he had started to drift away from his strict diet and she wondered if it was due to the fact that Gene was once more present in his life. She herself had similar abilities to the dead medium so perhaps she was indirectly acting as a balance in his limited state, thus allowing Naru to ease up on his strict regime.), before he spoke. "Your theory has been noted but given that we have not yet been present for so much as twenty-four hours, I will reserve judgement," he drawled quietly.

Monk stared down into the depths of his empty coffee mug casually, wondering just when he had consumed it all. He set it down with a sigh and leaned back in his chair to stretch while the others watched on knowing that there was more to come.

And sure enough:

"Would you prefer we perform our usual blessings and exorcisms to cleanse the area or would you prefer to drag this out longer so that your uncle is satisfied?"

"Shots fired," Yasuhara commented into his own coffee mug before he took a sip and smirked at the way the rest of those at the table winced and hunched their shoulders. It wasn't rare for someone on the team to butt heads with their boss, far from it, but it was rare for Takigawa to be the one in opposition of his very own hero. The monk was a good judge and the others trusted his judgement in the matters of the paranormal, at least, far more than a certain priestess's. If Monk felt the need to say something it was because he felt strongly on the matter and had thought it over for a great length of time before he even thought to open his mouth.

"You misunderstand why we are here, Takigawa-san," Naru returned fire just as calmly, "This is not some client in need of help so much as an opportunity BSPR jumped at to collect and document evidence to prove the existence of the paranormal to the world. To answer your question – We will not be performing any blessings or exorcisms today. Perhaps when we have been able to confirm a haunting and document it, and deemed it dangerous, such actions may be taken. But not at this time."

Mai had been mid sip of her own cup of coffee, needing a bit more than her usual green tea after all the traveling they had done over the past few days, but as Naru's words registered her mug was slammed down onto the table in ire. Something akin to appalment flickered across her face and she lifted her eyes to Masako, who sat across from her, and they shared a look of bewilderment.

Had Naru just implied that they would only attempt to deal with a spirit if they were able to get actual recorded footage of it and only if it had been deemed dangerous? As in, unless it was successfully documented that a dangerous spirit haunted the property they would take no action? Surely he was not saying, in the most political way possible, that they were to leave any lingering spirits to continue to suffer their purgatorial existence for the sake of science.

Mai stood abruptly, he chair skidding back across the hardwood floor, and glued her eyes to the table in front of her while she attempted to process the whirling thoughts in her head. She had reacted on pure emotion, her body demanding action be taken, and realized belatedly what she had done.

The table had fallen silent, eyes turned to her with trepidation.

"Mai."

Mai lifted her hand to put a halt to any further words. No doubt, he had been about to admonish her for her behavior but it was safe to assume, for everyone at the table, that it was not the best time.

Surprisingly, Masako stood as well, a kimono sleeve lifted to hide the frown marring her delicate features.

"Perhaps, you would like to explore the gardens, Mai?" Masako murmured from behind her sleeve as the other woman lifted her other hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. It was obvious she was struggling mightily with her tongue in that moment to swallow the words that were building in her mind. Mai nodded once, curtly, before the two women excused themselves while the others at the table watched them depart.

"Now that you just offended the only two lines of communication we have with any possible spirits," Ayako drawled dryly before she downed the rest of her tea, "I'm going to take a shower."

John let out a saddened sigh while Monk crossed his arms with a grimace.

"Sometimes I forget just how much Mai is like Gene," Lin murmured from Naru's right.

Madoka worried her lip and drummed her fingers over the table nervously while the temperature of the room dropped by two degrees and the young man sitting next to her tightened the hold on his fork until it bent in his hand and the pronged end fell to the table with a soft clatter. It was rare for Naru to react to other's anger at him, but when it was Mai, and she had so easily silenced him with a simple wave of her hand, and the others were left to sit there and stare at him in shock, and he denied the opportunity to correct the situation . . .well, she had no doubt he was feeling quite powerless. And, she noted with a vague hint of amusement, he was probably realizing just how whipped he was. She'd never known anyone able to cause the great Oliver Davis to eat his own foot.

Yasuhara twiddled his thumbs on the table and clicked his tongue before he suddenly pulled his laptop out and opened the word document where he contained the records of moments in which Lin laughed. Pointedly, he created a new column titled 'Naru vs Mai'.

"Perhaps we should have been more upfront with Mai and Hara-san about the nature of this case," Lin added quietly to his long time charge and friend as he laid a restraining hand on his shoulder.

Naru was silent but those remaining in the room did not miss the way in which he drew in a steadying breath and let it out slowly, shoulders relaxing, before he leaned back in the chair and dropped the remainder of the fork to the table.

"I assumed they would be professional enough to understand, apparently, I was mistaken," Naru muttered quietly.

"Oliver," John admonished quietly. The table fell silent again.

Perhaps it was the use of his given name. Perhaps it was the fact that it was John Brown who had spoken it; a kind priest who was loyal to a fault and had trusted Naru from day one to work alongside him. Perhaps it was a combination of both. Either way, Naru found himself thoroughly chastised in a way not even his adoptive mother could manage. He lifted a hand to his mouth and took a moment to gather his thoughts before he pushed himself to his feet.

"Lin, watch the base," he muttered as he strode around the table towards the doors, "I'm going to shower."

Yasuhara added a third column to his collection titled 'Angry John'.

"What just happened?" Jenna asked bemusedly from the sofa.

"A moral disagreement."

"A lover's quarrel."

Lin and Yasuhara answered simultaneously.

"Both," Monk moaned into his hands as he rubbed at his face. His fingers brushed back through his hair before he heaved a heavy sigh and worked to retie his favored low ponytail. "My fault," he stated, "Shouldn't have opened my mouth."

"Nonsense," Madoka chided gently, a small smile pulling at her lips, "Naru values your opinion and valid debate is a good way to sharpen the mind."

"If Naru-bou's mind was any sharper he'd cut diamonds," Monk muttered.

Charles had kept one pond operational over the years, Mai and Masako discovered, and later learned that ponds were one of his hobbies as he loved to raise and care for koi. It was a nice connection to home, Mai felt, as the two women sat on a stone bench and stared into the crystal clear depths filled with tens of koi. Their colors were all vibrant and their size large, hinting at the care they were provided, and when Mai curiously stuck her finger in the water she realized the pond was heated.

A gentle breeze, crisp and cool, rustled the leaves of the tree overhead while they watched the fish swimming about.

"I may have overreacted again," Mai admitted suddenly after several minutes of mulish silence. She played with the key in her hands, having taken it out thoughtlessly, and watched as the smooth metal glinted in the light.

Masako sighed, a rare display of emotion, and clasped her hands together in her lap. "Maybe," she admitted quietly, "But I feel just as frustrated as you and I admire you for feeling free to openly act on your passion . . ."

Mai turned wide eyes onto the medium, surprised at the roundabout compliment, and blushed. "I just can't believe he would say such a thing after the years we've worked together. We all worked so hard to help all those in need, both the living and the dead, and to hear him so callously dismiss it all for scientific research . . ." Mai mumbled. She felt her eyes burning and was mortified at the beginning of tears.

"He is a scientist after all," Masako murmured with a slight frown and furrow between her brows. Her eyes followed a beautiful white koi with long flowing fins as it meandered around the more energetic fish that shared its home. "But still, I understand, it feels like betrayal," she added after a moment.

"I hope I don't have any dreams," Mai muttered and crossed her arms with a scowl. "You said you sensed many strange spirits here?" Mai asked urgently as the memory returned to her in that moment. She turned in her seat to eye Masako seriously as the woman lifted a sleeve to her mouth in thought.

"Yes, but it was as if they had all merged together and become weak. Like they are dissipating over time and their essence has blurred together," she theorized hesitantly.

"Dissipating?" Mai questioned curiously.

Masako leaned back on the bench and finally tore her eyes from the pond to look up at the roiling clouds above, more rain was sure to come. "You are familiar with the theory that spirits are the remaining energy that leaves the body once a person passes on?" she asked after a moment's thought.

Mai nodded once.

"Well," Masako began with a sigh, "As you know, energy cannot be destroyed, only transferred, so imagine a spirit is like hot water. If you take a cup of water and dump it into a bucket of cold water, it will eventually dissipate and while the bucket of water may warm by a fraction, over time, it will return to the same temperature given its environment does not change. The energy has left the water and moved elsewhere, so to speak."

"Could it be a form of natural cleansing?" Mai pondered aloud with a finger to her chin. "Eventually, without stimulation or additional energy provided, a spirit will naturally dissipate and pass on?"

"Possibly, though it is not something I have encountered in Japan. I believe this to be due to the fact that Japan is such a spiritualistic country and is an island far smaller than this continent. It might just be very rare to occur in our country," Masako added quietly.

"Of course, we would have no way to know, thus, study must be done to confirm," Mai grumbled darkly and crossed her arms once more with a sigh.

"Indeed," Masako stated primly, sleeve lifted once more and eyes shut against the atrocity that Naru had implied earlier.

Mai wiped at the stray tear that finally broke the surface and they soon returned to base.

Mai made tea without request and set Naru's down next to him on the table where he sat in front of his notebook and the monitors. His hair was wet and combed away from his forehead. A sure sign that he had been running his hands through it while pondering a particularly frustrating problem. Mai felt a pang of guilt upon realizing that the problem had most likely been her. She bit her lip as he lifted steady and cool eyes to hers before she opened her mouth to apologize.

"I'm sorry," Naru stated quietly.

Mai's mouth shut with a click and she pulled in a calming breath through her nose before she let it back out and grumbled; "You did that on purpose."

The corner of his mouth twitched and a small smile bloomed, "Watching you work up the nerve only to be denied your opportunity is rather amusing."

Mai scowled but a snort was soon to follow and she turned to pick up his old tea cup in order to hide the grin she could not fight. "Well, while Masako and I were cursing your name, we may have stumbled across a theory," she said lightly.

Naru quirked a brow, wordlessly requesting her to continue, while Mai took the opportunity to reach for his tea and take a sip of her own before setting it back down. He narrowed his eyes fractionally and stealthily slid the cup out of her reach while she turned to set the tray down on the table.

"Masako thinks that, due to the lack of stimuli over the past several decades, the spirits have begun to dissipate. We think this might be a form of natural cleansing but we can't be too sure until we've . . .observed it," she struggled to finish.

Naru watched as she grimaced at having to use such terminology and reached over to squeeze the hand she had set on the table and leaned against before he stood and slid the same hand into his pocket. "We'll discuss this with the team during lunch, in the meantime, take Rocco for a walk and then come back to do temperatures," Naru murmured.

Mai saluted him dutifully before she turned and called for Rocco and the horse of a dog climbed to his feet to trot after her, his nails clicking against the hardwood floors of the base.

"Did you get that?" Jenna asked Avery from where they sat around the coffee table. Gunner, Jamison, and Todd had already left to follow Monk and John around the upper floors of the palace.

"The hand holding or the smiling? Because I got both," Avery murmured as he set the camera down in his lap and rewound the footage to watch the short discussion once more.

Jenna glanced over to where Naru had last been standing and blanched as she was met with a cold glare that sent shivers down her spine. She quickly turned back to the tablet in her hand and poked a few buttons randomly to make herself look busy while Avery bit his lip to restrain his laughter and pretended not to notice.

The day went by quickly. There was not much to do due to the lack of activity but there were so many people working together that there was never a dull moment. New personalities were thrown into the mixing pot that was JSPR and in the process of searching out paranormal activity they were getting to know each other quite well. Many a joke was had at each other's expenses and Mai couldn't be happier. Though, it should be noted, Naru seemed to be reaching his limit. She made sure to provide him with enough tea to keep his spirits up while the raucous continued on into the late hours of the day but she could tell he needed a break.

Madoka and Yasuhara had returned from interviewing the locals of the nearby town an hour ago and the woman had thought to go shopping for some groceries so that they could prepare their own food instead of having to order out for the next two weeks.

"Why don't we take a break and I'll work on making us something to eat," Mai offered as she handed Lin her clipboard filled with temperatures from the east side of the property. Lin took it wordlessly and pulled up a document to input the information.

Naru sighed as he shut his notebook and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes swimming from all the numbers and facts pertaining to the palace that he had been reviewing all day. "Fair enough," he stated and pushed himself to his feet.

"I'll help!" Madoka exclaimed cheerily from where she sat over by a window next to Yasuhara.

"I'm not a bad cook, if you'll have me," Avery offered as he stood to stretch out the kinks in his back.

"Perfect!" Mai cheered.

"Lin," Naru called as he turned to look back at the man still seated before the monitors.

"I'll have Takigawa-san take over once he gets back so I can take a break," Lin assured the man as he continued to type away.

Naru followed the rest of the group as they shuffled out of the base and went their separate ways. The three who had offered to cook turned down a hall that ran under one set of the foyer stairs to head back towards the kitchens while the others headed up stairs to wash up and relax before dinner. Naru paused for a moment before pulling his phone from his back pocket and searched through the minuscule list of contacts for his father's number and dialing out.

With phone ringing he continued forward and out through one of the heavy front doors for better reception.

"How is it looking over there?" Martin's voice filtered through the small phone speaker. It was a bit tinny due to the lack of proper reception but Naru could make it out easily enough.

"Rather dry," Naru admitted with a sigh, "Neither Hara-san or Mai were able to pick up anything malicious though they did admit there was some sort of congregation of weak spirits. Mai's exact word had been 'dissipating'."

"Interesting," Martin murmured from the other end of the line, "I suppose Michael will be happy to hear that. It confirms his theory. If you could, I'd like you to CC Michael into all reports from now on so that he may be included."

"Of course," Naru responded curtly. "In the mean time, please watch over Henry."

Martin chuckled grimly, "I make no promises, Noll, but I can try."

Mai decided she rather liked Avery. He was a tall and quiet man with short styled sandy blond hair and glimmering green eyes that were very intelligent. But his silence was not of the same variety that Lin or Naru carried, rather, it was more observational and when he did decide to break his silence it was normally with a joke or witty comment that left those present holding their aching sides with laughter. He was an easy and approachable guy and (Mai was pleased to find out) an excellent cook.

Given that their group was so large and they needed a lot of food to fill all of their stomachs, Avery had suggested they make something simple, and so he had recommended spaghetti. While Mai had worked to boil water and cook the pasta itself, he had whipped up a homemade red sauce, and Madoka sliced loaves of bread and slathered them in butter and garlic. The smells that blossomed under the overhead lights of that beautiful kitchen were mesmerizing. Simmering tomatoes and sizzling buttery garlic filled their noses and made their mouths water.

Avery stirred the simmering sauce before he dipped a spoon in to try a taste. He seemed satisfied with his creation because he soon lifted his fingers to his mouth, kissed them, and exclaimed "Perfezione!"

Mai giggled as she dumped the boiling water and pasta into a strainer in the sink and stepped back to avoid the resulting plume of steam. She was actually enjoying herself in the large kitchen they had commandeered and wished she would one day be able to afford such a luxury. There was two of everything! Two stoves, two ovens, two refrigerators, and so on. And, she had noted happily, enough surface space to accommodate at least a dozen people working comfortably. An island ran the length of the kitchen topped in white marble and gleamed in the bright light of the overhead bulbs cheerily.

"Maybe we should eat in here tonight," Mai mused aloud while waiting for the pasta to drain. Her gaze drifted to the large window next to the kitchen door that led out into the garden behind the building. The light was starting to dim and take on the blue hue of oncoming night. Something like a thrill of nerves shot down her spine and she turned back to the warm lighting and steam of the kitchen.

"But then someone would have to miss out and stay behind in base," Madoka spoke up. She was crouched in front of one of the ovens and watching the bread toast, sending waves of that delicious buttery garlic smell wafting throughout the kitchen. She had a bowl of squash on the counter that she had shredded and mixed a basil pesto in for Lin and Naru, though Mai knew Naru had been more lenient with his diet.

"True," Mai mumbled with a sigh, "I just think it would be nice to get everyone out of base as much as possible. This place is so big but there's so little happening I'm afraid we'll all go stir crazy."

"The gala is this Saturday," Madoka reminded in a sing song voice, "I'm sure that will be enough of a break."

Mai pouted playfully but gave in to the older woman's logic easily enough.

Once the food was ready they had piled it all onto a serving cart they found stashed away in a pantry and cheerily rolled it back to base. The majority of the group had returned to base but Naru informed them Lin would be resting for another hour at least and to set a plate aside for him for later.

"Maybe carbs weren't such a good idea," Avery muttered later from where he lay stretched out on a chase lounge by a window. His face was buried in a pillow and feet dangling over the edge but his muffled voice still managed to carry across the room thanks to the tired silence.

"It was a trap," Yasuhara moaned from the table where he sat with his head in his arms, hunched over his scribbled research notes.

Monk chortled in front of the monitors and glanced over to Naru, who still had half an uneaten plate pushed to the side in front of him. The younger man had pulled a pair of headphones on, listening to some of the recordings from throughout the day, and reached over every few minutes to take a bite of garlic bread that he had pilfered from the serving tray when Madoka wasn't looking.

Ayako was out walking about with Masako, along with Jenna and Gunner, while the rest huddled in base attempting to return from their food comas. Monk glanced back to the monitors and spotted the mentioned group traipsing down one of the many hallways on the second floor. It looked as if Masako had managed to get Ayako riled up if her wild hand movements and flapping mouth were anything to go by.

There was a shuffling sound coming from the couches and Monk turned to watch as Mai shot up with a suspicious expression on her face. She cocked her head, eyes roving around the room, before she turned to face the doorways of the base.

"What is it, Jou-chan?" Monk questioned curiously as he spun about in the computer chair to face her.

Next to him, Naru slipped his headphones off to glance back at her as well.

"Do you hear that?" she questioned quietly.

The room, quiet before, now fell into a tense silence as they all strained their ears.

The faintest sounds of music rolled in through the doorway, too distant to make out an actual melody, but the instrument itself was recognizable. A harpsichord.

"The ballroom!" Mai exclaimed needlessly but her statement broke the stillness that had fallen over the room. Monk turned back to the monitors and confirmed that the camera they had set up in the ballroom was providing a fuzzy feed interrupted by static on occasion.

"Lin!" Naru barked as the man himself slid to a stop in front of the doors having heard the noise from the main suite.

"Temperature in the ballroom has dropped five degrees," Monk called out to the room.

Naru tossed his headphones onto the table and strode out of base with Avery, Jamison, and Todd hot on his heels with a camera ready.

"Mai, wait!" Monk exclaimed as the young woman jumped to her feet to race after the group. He growled in frustration as she ignored his call and he turned back to the monitors to watch as half of the group hurried down the halls and threw the ballroom doors open.

The music had swelled as they approached and Naru pushed against the heavy doors without hesitation while Lin paused at his side. As soon as the doors had opened, the music cut off, and the room was still. The cold air spilled out into the hall and, at first, nothing looked amiss. Naru let out a breath and ignored it as it fogged in the air in front of him while Avery stepped up behind him to get a good view of the room on camera.

Mai pushed between the two tall, dark and stoic men and stepped into the room to look about frantically. She ignored the way her skin prickled with goose flesh and her own breath fogged before her while her eyes shot about the room in search of something amiss. She paused as she caught sight of something that had definitely not been there earlier on the monitors.

"Mai!" Naru called and lifted a hand to grasp her shoulder, preventing her from going further, but his eyes alighted on just what she had seen and he paused.

In the very center of the room a word had been carved into the checkered marble. Dust was still settling and rubble scattered about as Mai slid Naru's hand off her shoulder and they moved closer together to get a better look. Harsh strokes made by something metal, perhaps a chisel, marred the smooth surface and Mai stared with wide eyes while her mind translated the English word at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Why," she finally read aloud, brows scrunched together in confusion. It echoed with the same intense sorrow as her first dream in which a woman had simply asked "Will you stay?". She could not put her finger on the exact reason why but she was certain they were connected.

Naru crouched down and ran his hand along the carved marble, noting it was warm to the touch, before he drew his arm back and simply crouched deep in thought.

Lin joined them silently while the camera men moved about the room to document the event from every angle. He could see that Naru was lost to the rabbit hole that was his thought process and glanced over at Mai to assure himself she was alright then did a double take upon noticing that she had a trail of tears running down her face unhindered.

"Mai," he called her name quietly, not wanting to startle her, and watched as she jumped before turning wide eyes to meet his.

Naru turned to look back at her, brows furrowed, "What is it, Mai?"

Mai blinked before she registered the wetness on her face and reached up to hurriedly wipe the tears away. There was a heavy ache in her chest as something swelled over her, overwhelmingly, and she struggled against a sob caught within her throat. What was wrong with her? She waited to answer Naru, one hand held to her cheek where she had lifted it to deal with the tears while the other gripped her shirt, and analyzed the emotions she was feeling. She drew in a breath to speak but it caught on the sob and she coughed before covering her mouth to suppress the noise.

"It's, uh . . ." she struggled and then covered her eyes as more tears spilled forth, "It's just so desperate and lonely . . ." she managed to continue as her lips trembled. "I'm sorry," she hurried to apologize before she lost the battle completely.

"What is?" Naru questioned, though a bit more gently.

Lin gripped Mai's shoulder and shook his head once as he met Naru's eyes. He had all of two weeks to question her on what it was she had picked up on, he could afford her a few moments to gather herself.

Naru seemed to register this as his face relaxed and he stepped forward to lay a hand on the small of Mai's back and guided her away from the carving and back towards the main entrance of the ballroom. The sound of her sniffling echoed in the large room while camera crew followed after them at a slower pace.

They returned back to base. Thankfully, Mai had been able to compose herself before facing Ayako and Masako, who were both confused and frantic to know what had happened while they were out walking about to do a walk through. Naru pushed Mai towards them, refusing to answer their many questions, and simply said; "Take Mai back to your room and put her to bed."

Mai scowled at the treatment but did not argue as Ayako wrapped an arm around her shoulders and dragged her back to their room in the main sweet. Ayako ushered her into the bathroom as she set about drawing a bath and made no comment as Rocco padded in after them to lay next to the inlaid tub to absorb some of the excess warmth that rose off of the water.

"Why don't you relax for a bit before you jump into bed," Ayako advised and dropped a blue and sparkling bathbomb, procured from where Mai did not know, into the water. Mai watched as the water bubbled and frothed and turned oceanic in color. Streams of flickering sparkles roiled just beneath the surface, and for a silly moment, she thought that it reminded her of Naru's eyes.

"Okay," Mai voiced absently as Ayako breezed out of the bathroom and left the door open just a crack. With a shrug she pulled her clothes off and stepped down into the hot water with a relieved sigh. She reached over to shut the water off once it rose to her shoulders and wiggled her toes about happily. The water was so dark thanks to the bath bomb that she couldn't even see her hands without bringing them to the surface. It smelled like rosewater with a hint of jasmine. "Now I'm going to smell like tea," she commented to no one in particular.

"I'm sure that brat will love it," Ayako called back to her from the room.

Mai blushed scarlet but grinned cheekily while Rocco huffed out what she could only assume was an amused sigh.

"Naru seemed to be doting on you," Masako's voice filtered through Mai's relaxed daze and she belatedly realized the woman was much closer than Ayako.

Mai glanced over the lip of the tub and spotted her seated on a vanity bench with her hands clasped in her lap. Mai wasn't a shy person but she hadn't exactly heard the medium enter the bathroom so she could not hide the startled jolt and resulting water splash as she flopped back into the deep tub with a grunt. The water was dark enough to hide her body anyways, she thought afterwards, and so sighed.

"What happened?" Masako asked from behind her sleeve, attempting to hide the amused smile at Mai's reaction.

Mai scowled, hearing the amusement in Masako's voice, but turned her gaze back to the water while she thought. "We heard music coming from the ballroom and when we got there we found a word carved into the floor," she explained quietly. Masako did not respond, knowing there was more, and patiently waited for Mai to continue. "It just said 'Why?' and for some reason, once I said it out loud, and I was crushed by this desperation and loneliness. I didn't notice I was crying until they asked me what was wrong," she finished with another sigh.

"Hmm," Masako hummed as she lifted her eyes to the ceiling, "Perhaps our presence has awoken some spirit from this dissipating daze we discussed earlier."

"Maybe," Mai mumbled quietly, brows furrowed, and dragged a finger through the sparkling water.

"I'm sure we will learn more tomorrow at breakfast once we share all our gathered information from today," Masako spoke up lightly as she stood and gracefully departed from the bathroom.

Mai watched her go before she turned back to the water and took a deep breath and dipped below the surface. The warm water washed across her face and she felt her hair fan out around her in a feathery light and pleasing sensation. If the water wasn't filled with soap and glitter she would have opened her eyes. She was certain it would have looked like she was floating in some deep and ethereal body of water, lost to the world, while she retreated within herself. Absently, she reached out for Gene, as if hoping she could share the sensation with him as it was similar to the feeling of the astral plane, but his presence was muted and distant. She wished they had worked more on strengthening their abilities together but after the Prudence case, Gene had needed a bit of rest.

Mai sat up in the tub and leaned back to stare at the ceiling, filled with ornate metal panels, and took a deep breath before closing her eyes and letting her body relax. she couldn't let the events of the day trip her up. Finding a word carved into the floor was nothing in comparison to some of the things they had dealt with before and she didn't know why it had unsettled her so badly. She just needed to keep on her toes and allow herself to learn all that she could in order to put an end to this trip as soon as possible.