Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Season two would be on DVD.
Chapter 14 – Fog Thick With Blood
-0O0-
By the time Mai and Naru returned, the others had relocated to base. Takigawa was stretched out on the couch, tired and injured.
"Here you go, Bou-san," Mai chirped as she handed him the towel-covered ice pack.
Her adopted father gingerly placed the pack behind his head, right over the egg-sized lump. Naru wordlessly offered Ayako her doctor's bag, from which she unearthed peroxide and bandages. She nodded in thanks and turned to clean up her fiancé's bleeding arms.
"Alright," Madoka started – before noticing that Mai and Noll no longer appeared to be seconds away from throttling each other. She wondered how they'd managed to make up so fast… Biting her lip to keep from grinning goofily, Madoka envisioned a dimly-lit room, with Noll telling Mai that he's only so protective because he loves her… and the two of them embracing passionately, eventually falling over together onto a bunch of ice packs…
"'Alright' what?" Naru asked flatly. He recognized the dreamy look on his mentor's face; Martin referred to it as Madoka's 'Fairyland' expression. She was off in Fairyland someplace, imagining something ridiculous. Naru had no patience for such nonsense when they had a case to solve.
His mentor came back to Earth, only to regard Naru carefully – as if searching him for something. "Nah," she finally said. "There's no way you move that fast, Noll."
"Excuse me?" Naru asked, his vaunted mind at a loss.
Yasuhara's mind, on the other hand, was similar enough to Madoka's to understand the thoughts behind her words. He snorted. "Keep dreaming, Madoka-san. It's going to be ages."
Naru refocused his glare on the glasses-wearing transfer student. Ignoring whatever ridiculousness they were on about, Naru thought back to the last interaction he'd had with Yasuhara. Something about that 'foggy thing' conversation felt… wrong, somehow. He wasn't sure exactly what was wrong about it – and right now he needed to focus on the case at hand. The second ghost had become violent, and SPR's guest exorcist was hurt. They needed to figure this case out and close it before the danger escalated any further. Naru cleared his throat and stared hard at the troublesome twosome. "I'm surprised that you're both in such good spirits, given that one of us in injured and three people have failed to exorcise the spirit."
"Honestly, Noll," Madoka said, rolling her eyes.
"No, he's right," Mai said unthinkingly, staring out into the main room of the warehouse.
She didn't notice the surprised faces of the rest of the team – Mai was openly agreeing with Naru?
"We need to solve this case as soon as possible," Mai continued, sensing the dark presence slowly building beyond the door to base. "The second ghost is already pulling together his strength for another attack. And Jimmy's hiding somewhere; I can sense that he's scared. Too scared to keep us sealed in here… so the door's unlocked now, I think… But I don't want to leave without getting rid of the bad guy."
"So you think it's one of the people who tortured this Jimmy?" Madoka asked, back on task.
"Yes," Mai replied. "It would make the most sense. I mean, I've had two dreams about them. The first ghost is definitely Jimmy, and he's really afraid of the second ghost. That only makes sense if the bad ghost is one of the horrible people who hurt him."
"But one thing doesn't make sense," Naru interrupted. "If those men went to prison, as your most recent dream suggested, then why is Jimmy here?"
"What do you mean, Naru?" Mai asked, eyebrow up.
"Why is Jimmy's spirit still here? I could understand if Jimmy was killed here and remained trapped, or if the people responsible were never brought to justice and Jimmy never found peace. But he didn't die and those people were punished. So why is he here?"
Mai pursed her lips. Naru had a point. "I'm not sure…" she replied slowly. Then she brightened. "Do you want me to ask him?"
"Can you?" Naru wondered. He knew that Mai could see spirits regularly now, but her skills as a medium had not yet been discussed.
"Not always," she admitted. "I'm much better at talking to spirits in the dream world. But I don't think astral walking is a good idea right now. That other spirit is gathering power out there, and I don't want to wind up caught in the storm. But I know Jimmy's upstairs right now. In the offices. I can try to talk to him – I'll take Lin-san with me!" Mai gave Naru puppy eyes.
Naru had a brief thought about Mai's eyes looking particularly chocolate-colored today – before he jerked his eyes away with alacrity and looked to his mentor. "It's Madoka's decision," he noted shortly.
Madoka's eyes twinkled beneath her raised brows. "That it is, Noll. You feeling alright?"
"Fine," her emotionally constipated former student bit out. "Although I once again find myself questioning Father's decision to make you team leader."
"Yeesh, so defensive. Anyway, yes, Mai-chan. I think that's a good idea. Take Koujo with you and be careful. Stay as far away from the vortex of evil as you can, and try to keep your conversation with Jimmy as quick as possible. No attempts at jourei, just talk to him. The priority is the second ghost; we can deal with Jimmy after the main threat is neutralized." Madoka gave Mai a stern look to reinforce her words.
"Yeah, I know," Mai replied. "Jimmy will move on by himself after we get rid of the other ghost."
"You mean the 'fog thing?'" Yasuhara asked with a grin.
"You sound very sure, Mai," Naru noted sharply. He remembered what he'd found strange before. How had Yasuhara even known about the 'fog thing?' Naru was sure that Mai had only told himself and Lin about the 'foggy' aspect of the second ghost, during the interview about her last dream. How could Yasuhara have come up with a nickname for it?
"Not my words, Dr. Davis." Mai's face had blanked out for a second after she'd said that. Naru had jumped on it, of course, but her subsequent collected behavior had thrown him. Mai wasn't usually good at covering for herself. And Yasuhara had answered right away, sounding natural. That wasn't definitive, though – Yasuhara was usually pretty imperturbable and very quick on the draw. Even Naru reluctantly admired his skills.
But – how would Yasuhara have known about the fog? Had Mai actually noticed it before the dream, and said something to Yasuhara privately? It was possible, Naru supposed. But if not… then what was Mai trying to hide?
Hide. That word replayed over and over in Naru's brain. His irritating twin had been playing hide-and-go-seek with Naru for the entire case. He'd been trying to contact Gene since the first night; he'd even brought a mirror along in case there wasn't one in the warehouse. But other than a couple of brief moments on day two, Naru had not been able to see Gene. Needless to say, he had not been able to get anything useful out of the ghostly medium. Certainly nothing about Mai.
Mai… he wanted to know if she was still in contact with Gene. He assumed if she was, she would try to keep it a secret. She had already tried to hide that he was the subject of her repeat dream, after all. If they were still meeting in her dreams (cue annoying gut twist), had Mai been able to meet with Gene on this case? Was Gene the person who'd come up with the foolish nickname? It sounded like something Gene might say. He had never been as exacting with his vocabulary as Naru.
So… if Gene was unavailable for questioning, Naru would need to get it out of Mai. It would have to wait until the case was over, though. It would hardly be fair of Naru to lambast Madoka about focus and then blaze off-path himself.
Naru stared at the camera feed. He watched Mai and Lin creep slowly toward the stairs, edging along the wall. He glanced at the thermal feeds. Mai and Lin were apparently keeping as far as possible from what thermographic imaging revealed to be a strangely hot corner of the room. Heat usually indicated the presence of a poltergeist, but the second presence was definitely a spirit. He studied the area – it was the same corner into which Mai had aimed the camera the night she'd fainted. "The ghost's home location," Naru surmised.
"Yes, I agree," Madoka said from over his shoulder. "Mai likely knows that already, since she's being very careful to keep away."
"Yeah, I'm sure she does," Bou-san groaned from the couch. "Jou-chan probably figured it out ages ago and neglected to tell us. She's better about sharing information now than she was back in the day, but sometimes she still forgets."
"Of course she forgets something important like that," Naru said crossly.
Ayako studied their former boss' tense face. "I wouldn't be too hard on her about it, Naru. If I remember correctly, you had a nasty habit of not telling us about important case information." Naru scowled at the wall, but did not speak again. The shrine maiden smiled with the satisfaction of silencing Oliver Davis. She loved getting one over on him. (Not to mention that Ayako still held a bit of a grudge over the whole Oliver Davis thing. And the two years of radio silence following his departure.)
Naru ground his teeth and ignored Matsuzaki's superior look. He turned back to the monitors and watched Lin and Mai slip through the door to the upstairs offices.
-0O0-
"Jimmy?" Mai whispered. Her eyes locked on the wispy form of the ghost. Silvery eyes met hers. The silver flashed – almost like Jimmy was crying. Mai's expression softened. "Jimmy, we're not going to hurt you. We want to help."
"I know," a thin voice whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Mai asked, surprised. "For what?"
"Trapping you here," Jimmy replied. "I thought you could destroy them. I thought they wouldn't hurt you, since you're not like me. But they did."
"They, Jimmy? So it is more than one guy, somehow…" The cherry-red eyes and the terrible voice from Mai's dreams suddenly synced in her head. "The leader of the group is the one inside the fog, right? The voice is the same!"
Jimmy nodded. "He's the man controlling them. He always was. But the rest are still here."
"You mean the other guys who hurt you are here, too?" Mai said this out loud on purpose. She knew that the rest of SPR was listening, and she was pretty sure that no one else could hear Jimmy speaking.
The ghost nodded.
"But where? Is the red-eyed guy all of them at once?" Mai asked. She hadn't sensed anybody else, though…
As if in answer, a roar from the main floor drew everyone's attention. The second ghost was ready for round two. Mai could hear Ayako yell and Bou-san start chanting.
"Come on, Lin-san!" Mai cried, running for the stairs.
They barreled down the steps; Mai felt Lin's shiki moving restlessly around the onmyouji. They felt… weaker than normal, though. Maybe they'd been weakened when they'd attacked the ghost earlier? That complicated things.
Mai wanted to make it over to Bou-san, but a huge cloud of fog stood between them. It roiled toward the stairs – Mai stopped short on the second-to-last step, Lin crashing into her back. She tripped forward, imagining all the unpleasant things that could happen to her if her body made contact with the smoke. At least I don't have 'equipment' to crush, Mai thought stupidly. She grabbed onto the rail tightly, holding on even as the weight of her falling body wrenched her arm almost out of its socket.
"Are you alright?" Lin asked, hefting Mai back onto her feet. Then the arm supporting her froze. "Noll!" Lin called urgently.
Mai looked up. Naru was standing directly in the path of the advancing smoke.
She and Lin both ran for Naru, Mai raising her arms and Lin whistling. A shiki rocketed through the smoke and the roiling mass backed off a little. Mai collided with Naru, accidentally pushing him forward a bit. He whipped around, and she had never been so glad to see him glare – Naru was alright!
Suddenly, the fog became darker and Mai felt a wave of anger sweep through the room. A burst of hot wind blew Naru's hair into her face. Mai made a surprised noise and Naru stepped backwards, pushing her further away from the ghost. The unprecedented body contact made Mai gasp, and her scars suddenly burned under her gloves. Needing a distraction, Mai's eyes searched the room and locked on the darkening fog. Deep inside the fog, Mai could see the form of a man again. She froze – cherry-red eyes speared her to the floor.
Then he spoke. "I'll make mincemeat out of you people."
Mai instantly recognized the voice. She had been right. "Naru!" she hissed into his (scar-tinglingly) close ear. "It's the leader! The guy who led the assault on Jimmy!"
Red eyes narrowed on Mai. "And how do you know that?" his awful voice boomed. "I don't remember any pretty little women there that night. I definitely would have noticed those big, scared eyes."
Mai shivered uncontrollably. Naru noticed this and edged her further backwards.
"Oh ho, this drink of water is going to protect you? Fat chance!" A wave went through the fog and all of a sudden, the smoke shot forward.
"It's going for Naru!" Mai cried, guessing that she was the only one who could hear the ghost's words. And she knew the furiously chanting Bou-san couldn't see it.
Lin responded immediately. A shiki whipped down from the ceiling and sliced through the smoke. There was a cry of anger and the fog retreated. The ghost of Leader didn't seem any weaker, though…
"That's what I hate about people like you!" Leader snarled. "Challenging the stronger man… and then depending on others to solve your problems! Weak people like you need to be taught lessons." Two streams of fog shot outward, one at Naru, one at Lin. Both were shoved back by (weakening) shiki. Mai pursed her lips – the shiki were stopping Leader, but not actually hurting him.
"The smoke is protecting him," Mai murmured to Naru. His eyes followed the smoke backwards and Mai realized with a start that Naru could see the ghost. He had said that he'd seen many spirits before, but it still surprised her. He didn't seem to hear Leader, though.
Her former boss studied the roiling fog around the ghost for a moment, noting the way it curled inward to surround him and keep the shiki from touching him. Like… soldiers protecting a fort. Naru's eyes widened. He'd heard Mai confirm (on camera) that there was more than one bad ghost. "The smoke is made up of other spirits, Mai. Subordinate spirits – likely the workers who helped him do terrible things in life."
Leader snarled at the revelation of his secret and struck out at Naru. The fog jutted out again, and another shiki dove through it. This time, though, Mai saw a grey hand briefly emerge from the cloud of smoke. A grey hand that was not attached to Leader's body. Naru was right! The waves of something preceding attacks… they were commands. Mai realized the waves must signify Leader's orders to the fog, to his servants.
The ghost let out an inarticulate yell of rage at his peon's continued failure and started venting anew. "Still depending on others to save you!" Leader roared mockingly at Naru.
Mai clenched her fist. "Big words coming from someone who had four other people doing his dirty work!" she yelled recklessly.
Everybody stopped moving; Bou-san stopped chanting.
The young psychic locked hard eyes with Leader, refusing to show fear. "They were the ones who held your victims down and beat them into submission! You just stood there and turned the crank!" Undoubtedly the most evil job, but that wasn't Mai's point.
And the point struck home. The foggy mass actually stopped moving for a moment – and a little of it burned off! Mai pressed her advantage. "Even now, you depend on them! You tell your little lemmings to throw themselves into harm's way and save you! How weak is that?"
The eyes swung to Mai again – she felt like she'd been zapped by hot lightning. Leader yelled something incoherent and Mai felt him give the order to attack – but nothing happened. She stepped away from Naru (who allowed it, but stayed ahead of her) and continued speaking. "They're the ones taking the pain, and for what? So they can continue to be enslaved to you? Ready to do your horrible commands forever?"
The fog was dissipating faster now – Mai saw two ghostly figures break away entirely and fade away. Leader snarled again, lashing out angrily at his remaining servants. Which was stupid… because it only made another one leave. Mai figured there was only one now, remembering the original number in the group. She whispered to Naru, "One left." She saw him signal something to Lin and Bou-san.
Leader growled above her, a thoroughly inhuman sound. "Clever girl," he admitted. "But I'm sure I can take out your interfering little friend with just one left."
As an imperial arm ordered the smoky servant forward to attack Naru, Mai thought of what Hardhat had said in her dream – that Gallway should go up and sit with the receptionists.
Because the bad guys wouldn't do anything in front of girls.
As the smoke-encased servant launched forward, Mai stepped deliberately in front of Naru and stared directly at the smoky protuberance. She held her breath and her ground as danger pelted toward her. She felt Naru try to get around her, but Mai pushed hard against him to keep him back. She needed him to stay behind her…
The fog stopped inches from her chest. Mai felt a blast of heat slam into her, pushing her backwards into Naru. Her clothes tore a bit and she could distinctly smell singed hair. Her scars were burning, too, but Mai couldn't tell if that was because of the ghost or renewed bodily contact with Naru. She could feel him trying to get back around her. But her othersense could feel the indecision of the last ghostly servant. The fog hung in the air, unmoving.
"Naru! Stop! It stopped!" Lin called. Apparently Naru was so busy trying to get in front of Mai that he didn't notice the standoff. He stopped moving immediately, but Mai felt him put a hand on her hip. Naru must be planning to push her to the side if anything went south.
But Mai needed to show him that she could do it. She would save him for a change. It was very important that she prove herself to him… since Naru would eventually need to trust her with his life.
So Mai squared her shoulders and faced Leader's remaining attacker. "You don't owe this man anything. He used you in life and he's using you now. There is nothing for you here – except eternal pain and servitude. You guys did a lot of bad things to people – you want to make hurting girls part of your legacy, too?"
The fog started to dissipate and Mai exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Attack! Attack her, you lowlife! What good is a toothless dog?" The sounds of Leader's taunts rang in the cavernous space. Apparently Leader wanted to seal his own fate, Mai thought, shaking her head in disgust.
At the word 'dog,' the grey figure in the smoke turned away from Mai. The smoke uncurled from Leader and retracted toward the servant. "Do your own dirty work, then," a new voice hissed. "That's a girl, there – and she's right…"
Leader, devoid of protection but still looking plenty dangerous, lunged forward to attack his former slave. But the servant ghost (obviously more used to attacking people) scored a hit instead. A ghostly grey hand went through Leader's blackened body. A scream ripped through the room and Leader fell to his knees. Mai could feel the repugnance in the servant's aura. "Scum," the grey figure hissed as he faded away.
Mai saw the servant disappear out of the corner of her eye and was about to say something when Naru called out from beside her. "Now!"
Lin whistled and Bou-san yelled out a chant. Three shiki ripped through Leader and Bou-san finished with a shout. With a horrible shriek that rivaled the ones he'd forced out of others, Leader vanished.
Mai felt the whole place lighten, her soul instantly more at ease. She blew out a relieved breath – and noticed the singed tips of her hair. "Oh, great," she muttered.
"You needed a haircut, anyway," Yasuhara said flippantly.
Mai glared – and shivered. The heat from the fog had been so intense that she felt really cold now. She rubbed her suddenly chilly arms and shivered again. Naru made a noise beside her, and Mai looked up into appraising dark blue eyes.
"You should know to wear a jacket in a haunted building," he noted condescendingly.
Mai's mouth dropped open. "I save you from the ghost and that's what you say?"
"Ah, Mai-chan, you misunderstand our emotionally stunted Noll." Madoka's voice came from the base doorway, camera in hand. She'd been taping everything for the professor – Martin had really wanted to see Mai in action, and the standing cameras were so close to the exorcised presence that they had probably stopped working. She grinned at a glowering Naru before locking eyes with Mai. "Noll's really saying that he considers you a competent investigator… and therefore it doesn't compute that you wouldn't be prepared for sudden temperature changes."
"Was that what you got out of that?" Naru asked coldly. "Your creativity never ceases to amaze me, Madoka."
"Your lack of civility never ceases to amaze me, Noll," his mentor shot back. "You could, oh I don't know, thank Mai-chan. She did throw herself in front of you, after all. And managed to get rid of the other ghosts in the process."
Naru glared mutinously, attempting to hide his internal disquiet. Mai had wanted him to see her in action, and he had agreed… but he hadn't imagined it would involve Mai's risking herself to protect him. Oliver Davis could protect himself… or he used to be able to. Naru gritted his teeth in frustration – he hated not being able to use his powers. But his defense was Lin's unfortunate burden, not Mai's. Naru didn't want her getting hurt on his behalf.
He did know that Mai had pulled a smart move, though – using the servants' reluctance to hit women against them. Mai had dreamed about the snitch, Gallway, hiding with the women while waiting for the cops; she had to have gotten her idea from that.
So Madoka was right – Mai had become a competent investigator. And she helped a lot on this case, re-telling highly informative dreams and actually leading the exorcism. Naru studied Mai silently and saw her shiver again. Without another word, Naru pulled off his black jacket, dropped it on Mai's shoulders, and walked back to base.
Mai gawked at Naru's retreating back for a moment before turning confused eyes on Madoka.
Madoka gave Mai a grin and a thumbs-up. "And that's how Noll says thank you!"
-0O0-
Moments later, Mai felt a non-threatening presence and turned to meet Jimmy's silvery gaze. He was… wispier than normal. Crossing over, Mai realized.
"Thank you," Jimmy said feelingly.
"You're very welcome," Mai replied, smiling softly. Then she remembered Naru's questions. "But tell me something, Jimmy… why were you here in the first place? You didn't die here, and Leader went to prison for hurting you."
"We found out that, er, Leader and some of his followers were killed in a prison fight," Lin added, staring at the blank space he imagined Jimmy's spirit inhabited. He couldn't see this ghost; it wasn't very strong. "The ultimate punishment, one might say. So what tied him here?"
Jimmy regarded the onmyouji for a moment before answering. "I never really got over the… incident. That had something to do with it, but… Years afterward, I read in a paper that production in this warehouse shut down because employees suffered strange injuries. When I died, I couldn't… leave. I felt… bound to return, to help."
"He knew they were back and hurting people. He wanted to help," Mai told Lin. Her head spun with a sudden vision of a live Jimmy interfering between Leader and another worker. "Like he did in life," she said with certainty, eyes returning to Jimmy's. "That's why Leader wanted revenge on you in the first place, right? You reported him and he wanted revenge."
Jimmy smiled a sad smile. "At least I was helpful then. I haven't done much good since. We were both men then, but… his ghost was so much stronger. The bunch of them only became more frightening in death. And then I trapped you all here…"
"Don't worry about it," Mai reassured him. "We're all fine. You're a good man, Jimmy." Her voice became very calm. (Lin reckoned it sounded eerily like Masako's). "Go now, and find peace. I'm sure that people are waiting for you… and you've waited here long enough."
Jimmy smiled as he started to fade. "Give your own protecting spirit my thanks," he said.
A short bark of laughter escaped Mai. Apparently Jimmy had seen Gene the other night. She was thankful to be the only one who could hear the ghost. "I will," she replied, returning Jimmy's smile. His smile and the silver of his eyes were the last things to disappear.
-0O0-
A week later, most of their merry band was relaxing in the Davis' sitting room. Martin had been beyond thrilled at the footage of Mai's ghost hunting prowess and had watched the tapes at least five times each.
They were suffering through replays again today. Mai watched herself on camera – the Mai onscreen closed her eyes and told Bou-san not to threaten the presence. The teen psychic groaned internally, fervently desiring to be with Madoka and Luella. They had abandoned her for a walk outside.
She grinned a bit, remembering. Martin had only just turned the TV on when Luella declared that she was thoroughly sick of the tapes. Listening to Mai recount horrible dreams on camera and watching her only remaining son attacked by a ghost was (unsurprisingly) not Luella's idea of a nice day. Mai had wanted to go, too, but Martin and Naru wanted her to describe the difference between auras of live people and ghosts. So instead, Mai watched with longing eyes as Luella and Madoka waved goodbye.
The tape suddenly skipped from their first encounter with Jimmy to footage of the warehouse shot with the standing cameras. Apparently Lin had decided that losing a few minutes of psychic-powers-in-action was worth avoiding Naru's reaction to the entirety of the equipment conversation. Mai coughed and Yasuhara snickered.
"Looks like the camera went off too early," Yasuhara noted, shaking his head.
"Don't even start," Mai said severely. They were not continuing the ridiculousness in front of their professor.
"Such a spoilsport, Mai-chan."
"Perhaps the second presence overwhelmed the circuitry," Martin mused, unaware of Yasuhara's true meaning. "The first ghost was relatively weak, you'd said, but the ringleader was certainly powerful enough to take out the equipment."
"Not at that point," Mai disagreed. "Leader only wanted to observe us – he wasn't in violent mode yet. I've noticed over the years that cameras seem to hold out pretty well until it's attack time."
Suddenly, Madoka burst into the room, Luella close behind her. That meant it was almost dinnertime. Thank goodness, Mai thought. She loved the paranormal, but it was definitely time for a break. And neither Martin nor Naru understood the meaning of the word.
"Today is Bastille Day!" Madoka crowed as she breezed into a chair.
Everyone exchanged glances. Mai and Bou-san raised quizzical eyebrows, while Naru and Lin sported identical long-suffering expressions.
"What?" Yasuhara finally asked.
"Today is the day that the poor prisoners of the Bastille prison in Paris were freed – by an angry mob of revolutionaries!" Madoka replied gaily.
"This happened today?" Mai asked, confused. "Shouldn't that have been on the news?" They had watched the BBC afternoon report in between interrogation sessions.
"It happened in 1789, baka," Naru answered peevishly. He had reverted to calling Mai an idiot in Japanese – for whatever reason, his mother didn't reprimand him as often. It also seemed to cause a satisfying increase in Mai's level of irritation with him.
"Oh," she said, coloring. Laughter broke out, and Naru smirked. Mai's eyes narrowed.
Hoping to stop the inevitable argument before it started, Madoka launched into a history lesson on the French Revolution and the symbolic history of the Bastille, which was apparently liberated on the fourteenth of July in 1789.
But Mai was only half-listening. Today was July fourteenth. She had been so busy with after-case stuff (and Professor Davis' summer prep reading) that she had completely lost track of the date. Tomorrow was the fifteenth of July. Mai pressed her lips together and looked fixedly at the television, tears stinging her eyes. She was an adult, she wouldn't cry in front of everyone.
Unfortunately, her strange behavior did not go unnoticed.
"Mai dear, what's wrong?" Luella asked solicitously.
The teen psychic looked up, face blank and eyes sad. She seemed to snap out of something – and realized that the whole group was waiting for her response. Mai forced a smile onto her face and tried to look sheepish instead of depressed. "N-nothing, Luella! I was just thinking that I have a lot of work to do this weekend." Then she remembered that the professor who had assigned all of the work was in the room. "Not that I'm complaining!" Mai backtracked. "Um… I should probably get started on that, so I'll be upstairs in my…in the guest room." She fled, tripping over the coffee table in her haste.
Bou-san exchanged a confused glance with Martin. "She's going to start reading right before dinner? That's weird."
"Not to mention she didn't take her books with her," Yasuhara added, pointing towards the front hall, where Mai's black messenger bag sat against a chair.
Ayako sighed quietly. All eyes turned to her.
"Well," Mai's almost-adopted mother said, "The Obon festival is going on in Tokyo."
"Oh," the rest of the Japanese contingent replied.
Martin and Luella looked oblivious. Lin sighed. Naru stared silently at a wall sconce.
"Obon is a Japanese festival celebrated in Tokyo around July fifteenth," Bou-san explained in his 'enlightening monk' tone. "I guess you could equate it to the old version of Halloween for Westerners. Obon is a time to remember and celebrate your ancestors. Their spirits can return to Earth during the festival, and special food is made to welcome them. It's also a city-wide party, complete with dances and carnival rides, games, and lots of eating. Lots of people dress up in kimono… and many visit cemeteries, or prepare offerings for their departed loved ones."
Luella looked down at this, thinking of Gene.
"But there is something else," Ayako said. "Every year, Mai goes to the suburb of Tokyo where she was born and participates in the Toro Nagashi."
"What's that?" Martin asked interestedly.
"It's the official end of the festival," Bou-san replied. "It means 'the floating of the lanterns.' You're supposed to make a paper boat. Then you write the name of the person or people you are honoring on the boat in calligraphy. Finally, you put a candle in the boat to make it a lantern. At night, people float the lanterns down a river to symbolize the return of those spirits to the world of the dead. It's very beautiful."
"And Mai makes a boat for her parents every year," Ayako informed them. "She takes the train to the prefecture she lived in as a child, and brings the lantern to a river near the house she was born in." Ayako smiled softly. "She just started letting us go with her last year. We visited the graves of her parents while we were there."
The room was quiet as everyone figured out what was troubling Mai.
-0O0-
AN: Okay, so first case over! I feel like I need work on writing scary stuff Anyway, how can everybody make Mai feel better? Find out next week!