Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Manga would still be going.
Chapter 24 – Emotional Excitation
-0O0-
"Okay, Mai-chan," Yasuhara called, video camera in hand. "All set. Call Georgie out."
Mai's eyes were fixed on the upstairs landing. She couldn't see anything... but the teen psychic could feel flashes of anger, fear, and excitability all around her. Georgie was definitely here – and definitely aware of their presence. As if to reinforce her assessment, an unnatural chill drifted down the stairs and blew Mai's hair away from her face.
But the landing wasn't the only point of interest. Mai eyed the scratches trailing down the stairs. There were a whole bunch of them – as if someone's hands had dragged along the wall many times. She assumed that the living Georgie had only tumbled down the stairs once... which inferred that most of the marks had been made after his death.
As of this morning, this theory was backed by evidence. At Mai's suggestion, Lin had remotely re-positioned two of the cameras in the front hall. Instead of filming the front door and the base doorway, the cameras had been pointed at the scratch marks on the staircase and on the hallway floor.
And sure enough, new scratch marks appeared during the night. Starting at the stairs and ending at the far end of the hall, the footage captured fresh lines slowly grazing the walls and floor, the wood gouged out by invisible fingers.
Upon seeing the new marks, Naru thought to adjust the sound pick-up on the microphones. Above the frequency of the usual screams and hysterical giggles, a faint screeching sound of nails on varnished wood could be heard.
Mai had declared (tentative) victory. "So I think that Georgie's stuck," she'd proposed to the SPR team this morning. "Stuck in a loop."
Stuck in the same place he'd wanted to escape all his life. Mai's thought circled back to the present, and she prepared to address the spirit. "Georgie," she called softly, putting a foot on the stairs. "I know you're here. You've been here, all this time... going around in circles."
The anger in the house buzzed hotter. Mai could feel it burning along the edges of her body... and memories of the last time she'd scaled the stairs accosted her like a subconscious warning. So Mai waited (as unthreateningly as possible) at the bottom step. "Going around in a horrible circle," she reiterated softly. "Repeating your own path to the grave, over and over again."
She thought about the scratches along the hallway floor. That hallway led out the back door and into the yard. Yasuhara postulated that the marks reproduced the path Georgie Reed's body had taken to a hidden grave in the garden. The rest of SPR had agreed. Now that they were in the house again, maybe Mai would be able to tell for sure... she closed her eyes, and stretched out with her senses.
A brief vision lit up the darkness behind Mai's eyelids... a lifeless hand dragging along a well-shined floor. So her psychic abilities agreed with this morning's consensus.
The team had also agreed that if Mai couldn't talk Georgie down using jourei, they'd dig in the garden for his bones. But Mai preferred the emotional approach, believing that Georgie's problem lay with his feelings and not the location of his body. So she bravely ventured up another stair and tried again. "It must be so painful to be trapped in that awful moment," she offered sympathetically.
Naru stood three steps back from the stairs (as the boss required), and regarded Mai's steady voice and face with interest. If she recognized the similarity between Georgie's cycle of deadly repetition and her own troubles with repeat dreaming, she wasn't letting it show. Naru still wasn't quite sure how to feel about Mai's improved professionalism; a strange mix of pride and loneliness currently welled within him.
Meanwhile, Mai's gaze swept every corner of the staircase. Still no discernible manifestation, though Georgie's emotions were simmering like a pot about to boil. Maybe something extra was needed to spur him into going visible.
The teen psychic thought hard, replaying the main vision in her head. Mr. Reed's threat about locking Georgie up for good had caused a manic freak-out... but bringing up that episode might end badly. She needed to surprise Georgie into appearing without attacking. So no re-enactments of the past, and no trucking up the stairs into the danger zone. She needed to do something non-aggressive that could still affect Georgie's emotions...
And then Mai's memory clicked. What about the time Madoka grabbed Lin's hand and pulled him into base? Mai had felt an immediate and powerful surge of emotion – a sharp, hot stab of fear that had ripped through the house.
Georgie had wanted his parents to love him like they loved each other, she remembered. Given that he'd wanted love, Mai wasn't sure why an affectionate display had provoked the level of fear she'd sensed... but perhaps re-enacting something loving would produce a non-aggressive Georgie. "Madoka-san!" Mai whispered loudly. She kept her eyes on the stairs as she waited for an answer, feeling it would be a bad idea to turn her back.
"Yes, Mai-chan?"
"Please take Lin-san's hand and come to the bottom of the stairs," Mai requested. "But don't stand directly behind me. Stand so that someone on the landing could see you."
The team tossed puzzled glances at one another, but Madoka did as asked. She reached out for her boyfriend's hand and they walked together to the foot of the stairs. Mai felt an energy spike... but still no ghost. Perhaps Georgie required a more overt display of affection.
"Lin-san," Mai hissed, fully aware that this demand was going to make her onmyouji instructor uncomfortable. "Put your arms around Madoka-san."
"What?" Lin asked flatly. He did not do public displays of affection.
"It's just for a bit, Lin-san," Mai whispered pleadingly.
"What's the matter, Koujo? You have a problem with holding me?" Madoka asked, affecting a sad tone. She looked up at her boyfriend's embarrassed face and willed her eyes to sparkle imploringly.
"No," Lin replied starchily. "I just..." He took one look at Madoka's beseeching expression, and sighed in defeat. Intensely conscious of the people surrounding him (and of Yasuhara sniggering silently into his elbow), Lin slowly wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. Madoka smiled and relaxed comfortably into his chest.
BANG.
A huge wall of feelings slammed into Mai. Fear, anger, loathing, longing and regret all vied for dominance. The different energies blinked in and out at warp speed.
Then Mai's attention snapped back into the physical as floorboards quivered under her feet, and specks of paint peeled off the walls beside her. She looked up – and Georgie's spirit was at the top of the stairs.
"Thermographic camera's got something," Yasuhara reported from the back of the room.
The ghost of Georgie Reed didn't seem to hear him. He had zeroed in on Madoka and Lin (who bravely held their embrace at the foot of the stairs). "Why can't you just LOVE ME?" he asked them, voice trembling with fury.
"They can't hear you," Mai told him. Georgie's eyes slid sideways to meet hers, and Mai felt a jolt of fear at the crazed expression filling them. She fought to remember what she needed to say. "They can't hear you," she repeated. "And they're not your parents."
Georgie hissed and came down a step.
"Your parents are gone," she informed him quietly. "They died a long time ago."
"No!" Georgie denied hotly. "They keep coming back! LOTS of people keep coming..."
"Not your parents," Mai insisted. "Other people keep coming. This house doesn't belong to your parents anymore."
Although the spirit seemed to accept this information, it did not not have the calming effect Mai was hoping for. Georgie's eyes blazed hotter. "Then they left, after what they did?" His anger pulsed around Mai. "They did THIS to me!" The scratches along the stairs lit up brightly, and screams and crying rang through the house. Mai winced and dropped down a step.
Naru sucked in a breath and strode forward, but Madoka thrust out a staying hand. "She'll let us know if she needs us," the lead investigator said very loudly. She was both telling Naru to trust his former assistant, and reminding Mai to ask for help if she needed it.
On the stairs, Mai nodded slightly in response before addressing the spirit again. "I know, Georgie. They locked you up..."
"And threw me away!" he roared. "Down the stairs! Down the stairs when I tried to give my mother a hug! Like they were always hugging! My father wouldn't SHARE her!" The steps underneath Georgie's feet cracked.
Mai winced as debris flew by. He'd only been trying to hug Mrs. Reed? Maybe it looked like he was going to attack her – after all, Georgie flipped between emotions so easily, and the Reeds had had no idea how to deal with him.
Then Mai's breath hitched – Georgie said he'd hugged his mother 'like they were always hugging.' He meant his parents, obviously. Did that mean that Georgie had tried to embrace his mother like a lover? Her instincts rang at the thought, and Mai grimaced. But then a wave of sympathy swept through her – Georgie probably didn't really understand what he was doing. He was just using the only model for grown-up physical affection he knew. But Mr. Reed hadn't studied psychology, and he'd already shown an inability to deal with Georgie... "They didn't understand you," Mai said softly. "I'm sorry."
"ARE THEY SORRY?" Georgie shrieked breathily. The marks on the wall blazed brighter. "He put me back there," he cried, pointing back towards the garden. "And she let him! Held him while I was lying there! Are THEY sorry?"
"Yes," Mai replied with conviction. Regardless of how he felt about his 'crazy' son, there was no way that Mr. Reed didn't feel sad about what he'd done. Even if his sorrow was only for the terrible pain his actions must have caused his wife. "They left Brighton right after," Mai revealed. "They didn't sell this house. I don't think they even tried."
Naru had pointed out the first sale date of the house; it was recorded in one of the papers Yasuhara had brought from the library. It hadn't been sold until after both elder Reeds died. And that wasn't the only indicator of lasting guilt and psychological trauma – although both parents had lived long after Georgie's death, Mrs. Reed holed herself up in Bath and lived the rest of her life as a recluse.
And according to a gossip column (the fruit of Yasu's combing through local papers), Mr. Reed stayed in Bath with his wife most of the time, only coming back to London for business needs. He avoided Brighton entirely. The gossip article hazarded that the Reeds were too distraught by their son's 'disappearance' to ever return. The house was apparently shut up until Mr. Reed's death, and his beneficiaries sold it almost immediately.
Naru believed the Reeds' decision not to sell the house was a cover-up. Their murdered son was buried there, so they had to keep it in the family. And that was certainly possible. But telling Georgie about that wouldn't do Mai any good. So she went with the guilt option.
"Gone..." Georgie hissed angrily. There was a cracking noise somewhere upstairs. "They left – and LEFT ME HERE?"
A cold wind blew the members of SPR back slightly, and a huge crack appeared in the railing of the staircase. Lin put his fingers to his lips, ready to summon his shiki.
"Yeah, they left," Mai agreed. Then she fixed Georgie with a firm stare. "But you're leaving yourself here."
The wind, the screams, and the cracking all stopped. "What?" Georgie's raspy question seemed to come from everywhere.
"You don't have to be here anymore," Mai told him. "Your parents are gone; you don't have to stay in your room, Georgie. And you can't punish your parents if they're not here. And they're gone. There's no reason to stay."
The raging anger dropped off as Georgie considered this. His psychotic eyes were riveted to Mai, searching her face for a lie.
Mai felt the shift in the air, and pressed her advantage. "Didn't you always want to get out of the house, Georgie?" she reminded him. "You said you did – you even tried it. You always wanted to leave."
The anger bubbled back to life. "But they kept me here!"
Uh-oh, Mai thought. Her senses were scored by hot streaks of rage, and the stairs creaked beneath her feet. She had to wrench control of the situation back from the furious ghost, and she had to do it fast. "But they aren't now, Georgie. Your parents aren't here anymore. There's no one keeping you here. You can leave!"
Georgie's crazy eyes closed, and Mai felt another welcome downswing in emotional bombardment. "Leave," the spirit repeated disbelievingly.
A new emotion swept through Mai - it felt like hope. Exactly what she was going for. "Yes, leave. You're free to move on," Mai encouraged gently, summoning her Masako-voice. "Where no one can hurt you anymore."
The scratches stopped glowing. The waves of emotions calmed.
Mai gestured toward the front of the house. All of the windows and doors had been thrown open before they'd started (at Lin's inspired suggestion). "You're not trapped anymore," she reiterated.
Sensing that Georgie needed an extra push – he'd never really made his own decisions, after all – Mai smiled her gentlest smile and stepped back, giving Georgie a clear path to the open door. "You can go," she informed him, emotions choking her voice.
And she felt the pain lift away as Georgie closed his eyes and vanished.
With a sigh of relief, Mai collapsed against the railing of the staircase. She felt a hand at her back - and found Lin steadying her from behind. His eyes were a bit anxious. Mai grinned. "I'm okay," she assured him. "Just glad it's over."
Madoka smiled at the exchange. Her boyfriend looked rather recalcitrant as he supported Mai, and Madoka realized this was Koujo's way of apologizing for picking at the poor girl after her death dream.
"I hate to be the downer here," came Yasuhara's voice. "But maybe we should still dig up Georgie's body. Shouldn't we send him to rest properly in a cemetery or something?"
They all looked at one another.
"No," Naru finally said. "Firstly, if we found a body, we would have to report it to the police. At the very least, we'd have to explain to a crematorium where the body came from. Moreover, should the truth of what happened to Georgie become public knowledge, it would undoubtedly turn into an unpleasant media affair. This would greatly affect the lives of Reed's descendants, none of whom had anything to do with Georgie's death."
Mai smiled as she realized what Naru was getting at. "They shouldn't be punished for Mr. Reed's actions," she summed up.
"Yes, that's what I just said, Mai," Naru replied snarkily.
His former assistant clenched her fist, and wondered (for the umpteenth time) why Naru felt the need to hide his humanity beneath a bad attitude.
"And lastly, moving the body of a recently departed spirit is never a good idea." Naru threw Yasuhara a 'you-should-know-better' look.
"You think he'd come back?" Yasu asked doubtfully.
"I would rather not find out," Naru replied shortly.
"We should do something, though," Mai noted, looking down the hall toward the back door. "Something to honor Georgie. Yasu's right - he deserves better than an unmarked grave."
Naru observed Mai for a long moment. "We could bless the grave and mark it with something unobtrusive," he suggested, his tone gentler than normal. Then he snapped out of it and cleared his throat. "We should bless the grave," he continued in a terser manner. "To finish the job, and ensure that George Reed is at peace."
Madoka grinned at Noll's backtracking. He clearly wanted to please Mai – but still couldn't deal.
"That's a great idea, Naru!" Mai nodded eagerly. "We should probably go Christian for the blessing... oh! I can call John-kun!"
This time, Madoka had to smother a snort. Noll looked rather affronted that Mai would turn to someone else for advice.
"Mai. Madoka, Lin, and I all know how to say a prayer," Naru informed her through his teeth.
"Oh, right." As Mai slid her phone back into her pocket, an idea occurred to her. "Hey, I know! I have a rosary that John-kun gave me before we left Japan! We can bury that in a box over the body!"
"Mai-chan, I think John-kun wanted you to keep that for yourself," Yasuhara noted. "You know, for when your injury-prone butt gets into trouble." He eyed her splinted finger. "Hmm... you should probably carry the rosary with you on cases. It's obviously not doing much good in your suitcase."
"Hmm," Mai repeated noncommittally. She closed her eyes, relishing in the new sense of peace that pervaded the house. "John-kun might have said something like that."
-0O0-
Madoka rapped on the bathroom door. "Mai-chan, you ready?" she called.
"Almost!" was the shrill answer. "Just trying to get my hair out of the neck of this thing!"
Neck? Madoka wondered. Swimming costumes don't have necks. Perhaps Mai was talking about the neck of a shirt she'd thrown over her costume. "Okay, Mai-chan, but hurry up! We're burning daylight!"
A giggle came from the bathroom. "Roger that, Madoka-san! At least the splint's off now, or this would probably take another twenty minutes!"
Smiling herself, Madoka turned back to face their hotel room. Everything was packed, the suitcases were ready to go, and Lin had just confirmed that the secondary base equipment was all loaded into the van. "All set," she murmured to herself.
"Me, too!" Mai skipped past Madoka into the room. "Ready to go when you are!" Hearing no reply, Mai swiveled around – to see Madoka gazing confusedly in her direction.
"Er... Mai-chan?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you in a scuba suit?"
"Huh?"
"You're in a scuba suit."
"Just the top of one! A lot of surfers wear tops like this in the water. I have a regular bikini bottom, though. See?" Mai wiggled her hips a bit for emphasis.
"But... you're not a surfer." Madoka cocked her head to the side, as if a new angle could somehow explain the pink-and-purple wetsuit.
"I can body-surf!" Mai replied gaily. "Bou-san showed me how to do it!" That had been a great day...
"Right, but..." Then it clicked. "Mai-chan, are you wearing that to hide your scars?"
"Well, yeah," Mai answered, as if it were obvious.
"But you don't have to –"
"Yes, I do," Mai interrupted, voice firm. "Madoka-san, I don't even let my family see the scars. Why would I want total strangers gawping at them all day?"
Madoka pursed her lips. "That's a good point," she admitted.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Listen, someday I'll take off the gloves - and I'm sure you'll understand my hesitation. So could we leave it alone, please?" she begged.
The master ghost hunter sighed, knowing she should give in. Mai had been through a lot in the last few days. Besides, she said she'd unveil the scars 'someday.' That was progress enough, for now. "Alright, Mai-chan," Madoka relented. "It is your body. Now, let's get going - before Noll comes up with some stupid excuse to head back early."
-0O0-
Outside the hotel, Naru leaned against the far side of the van and surreptitiously dialed Martin's office number. If he played up the results of Mai's EEG scans, his adopted father would want to see them immediately. He'd insist they return to SPR straightaway... and Naru would not have to deal with the beach.
The line picked up. "Martin Davis speaking."
"Father?" Naru asked, trying to sound normal-yet-excited. "We've finished the case, and we're almost packed and ready to go."
"Yes, Noll, I know," Martin replied. "Madoka faxed me the preliminary findings report an hour ago."
Damn it. If his father had already conversed with Madoka, the plan wouldn't fly. Martin would expect Madoka to mention any highly interesting EEG findings. However... since Madoka had faxed the report, it was possible they hadn't yet spoken. "Did she also fax you the results of Mai's EEG scans?"
"No..." Martin said curiously.
His son almost smiled. "They're very interesting," Naru said leadingly.
Silence.
Naru frowned – he had expected excitement. "You're going to want to see them for yourself, Father." He flipped a couple of pages, making it sound as though he were reading over the scans as they spoke.
"Hm," Martin noted succinctly.
Naru stared at the cell phone in his hand as if it were an alien artifact. Was Martin ill, or something?
"Noll..." the head of SPR said slowly. "You wouldn't, by any chance... be trying to get out of the beach outing this afternoon?"
Damn it.
"Madoka figured you might pull something like this," his father continued, an obvious smile in his voice. "It's just the beach, Noll."
Naru had to give Madoka more credit. She was much sneakier than him, but Naru hadn't expected her to predict his behavior so handily. "It's a waste of time."
"Hm... your mother doesn't think so," Martin sighed. "She called an hour ago, to ensure I wouldn't let you wiggle out of it."
Naru really had to give Madoka more credit.
"But I definitely want to see those scans the instant you return to London." The excitement that Naru had been looking for finally made an appearance in his father's voice.
Too little, too late. "Of course, Father," Naru hissed. "Presuming I don't lose them in the sand." He planned on reading while his idiot companions splashed around in the Channel.
"That's why we do copies, Noll," Martin remarked unsympathetically.
Naru snapped the phone shut without responding, aggravated with his father's betrayal. He glared into the distance until the roll of wheels assaulted his ears; Mai and Madoka were pulling their suitcases toward the van.
As he was also aggravated with his former teacher, Naru elected not to assist as they heaved their possessions into the van. He did notice that Mai lifted her suitcase with two bare hands. She's not wearing her gloves? And her splint is gone. "Your finger is healed, I suppose?" Naru asked casually.
"Yes!" Mai answered brightly, waving newly freed fingers. "We called the hospital, and the doctor said I could take off the splint. Which is great – you can't imagine how hard it's been to get some of my clothes on!"
"I'm sure I can!" Yasuhara called mischievously from the van's backseat. "Quite clearly!"
Madoka snorted, while Mai and Naru leveled twin glares at the grinning researcher.
"Ew, Yasu," Mai groaned. "I'm suddenly relieved not to be wearing a full bikini." She adjusted the neck of her diving top. "Who knows how that would factor into your imaginings?"
"If you'd like an explanation of my visualization process, Mai-chan, I would be more than willing to oblige," Yasuhara replied smarmily.
Madoka glanced furtively at Noll, figuring he'd be about ready to shut Yasu down – only to find him staring fixedly at Mai's unusual swimming attire.
"Mai..." Naru said slowly, "You're wearing a scuba shirt."
She giggled. "Nothing gets by you, Naru!"
His eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure they offer diving expeditions in Brighton."
"It's not for diving, Naru," Mai informed him, rolling her eyes. She brushed her fingers down the skintight sleeves...
...Where her gloves would usually be. "It's for hiding the scars," Naru surmised. "Mai, don't you think..."
"Naru, don't start." Mai's eyes turned fierce. Hadn't she just had this argument? "The scars are extensive and very noticeable. I want to go swimming today without displaying my... altered appearance to every curious beach-goer. I don't want to be stared at. Is that so wrong?"
Naru's eyes changed as they stared into Mai's. Before she could isolate the new emotion present, he blinked and shifted his focus to something behind her. Mai looked over her shoulder to see Lin approaching, hotel bill in hand. They were ready to go.
Figuring the moment was over, Mai grabbed for the door of the van.
"No," Naru's voice said quietly.
Attention arrested, Mai looked back – the strange expression was back in Naru's eyes.
Naru groaned internally at Mai's wide-eyed, uncomprehending look. He was going to have to explain himself. "No, it's not wrong to discourage unwanted attention. People staring can be... irritating." He certainly knew how it felt.
Predictably, Mai's mouth dropped open. Probably shock at his unusual expression of empathy; Naru was rather uncomfortable about it himself. He stepped past Mai with alacrity, and climbed into the front passenger seat.
Madoka and Lin walked over to find a slack-jawed, immobile Mai blocking their way. "Ah, everything okay, Mai-chan?" Madoka asked concernedly. Had Noll said something ridiculous again?
The teen psychic unfroze. "Not a robot," she muttered dazedly.
Madoka's eyebrows flew skyward.
-0O0-
The beach was an extremely crowded place. Mai dodged several teens and a couple of small sandcastles before Madoka finally located a 'good place' to set up their blanket and supplies. This 'good place' allotted them roughly seven feet of room, which Madoka seemed to regard as positively spacious.
Yasuhara promptly hooked the lunch bag to a beach chair, collapsed onto the blanket, and went nuts with the tanning oil. He somehow managed all of this without bumping any of their many neighbors. Mai doubted she'd be so lucky. She edged her way around a blanket containing several prone women, carefully placed the towel bag on the edge of the blanket, slowly lowered herself to the coarse sand... and accidentally landed on someone's foot.
After apologizing profusely to her victim, Mai elbowed a smirking Naru. "What? It's really crowded!"
"It's hot," he replied dispassionately, pulling a thick folder out of the lunch-bag.
"And by that you mean...?"
Naru ignored her in favor of flipping his folder open.
Mai waited.
Naru calmly scrutinized the first page.
Mai darted forward to knock the file from his hands.
Madoka grabbed Mai by her suit collar and hauled her back down to the blanket. She did not fancy chasing escaped papers all over Brighton. "What I'm sure Noll meant to explain," she hissed, throwing a hard glare at her thoroughly unconcerned former student, "Is that it's rare to have such a hot, sunny day in September... much less a few hot, sunny days strung together like this. People get excited and flock to the beaches – and Brighton is close enough to London that most of the city can feasibly migrate here for the weekend."
It did indeed look like most of London was on this beach. "I see," Mai nodded. "Japan's beaches are like that, too. I just thought that the beach here would be... emptier, or something. They were emptier in travel pictures."
Yasuhara snorted.
Naru looked up from the paperwork. "They normally are emptier in September. This," he gestured to the teeming masses around them, "Is because it's a hot Sunday, like I said." He flipped a page. "Pity we won't be here tomorrow. It's supposed to rain in the morning – this place will be a ghost town."
"Well, that would give us an excuse to come back!" the teen psychic enthused.
Naru raised a questioning eyebrow.
"You know, because we'd need to exorcise the ghost town!" Mai laughed. "And then we could have the beach to ourselves!"
Naru rolled his eyes, but Mai saw the edges of a smile on his lips. Before she even had a chance to blush, Mai heard a chorus of dreamy-sounding sighs behind her. She whipped around, ready to tell off Yasu and Madoka for mocking her – and realized that they were not the culprits.
Most of the girls on the next blanket were staring gooily at Naru, including the one she'd accidentally injured. She broke ranks to spare Mai a sniffy look before resuming her blatant ogling.
Mai's cheek twitched, not exactly sure how to feel about this development. On one hand, she completely understood their fascination; Naru was very good-looking. Especially his eyes. And his face. And his fingers. And his voice. And – Shut up, Mai firmly told off her inner monologue.
But seriously, did those girls think Naru was a piece of meat, or something? Mai furtively studied him under her eyelashes. He didn't look up from his work once, even though he had to have heard all those lovelorn sighs. Plus, now the girls were whispering about Naru's hotness. Really loudly.
Naru flipped another page.
Mai twitched again as two of the Oglers started arguing over who should ask him out first. Apparently, they thought he'd like a swim, since 'he had to be baking' in his black (albeit short-sleeved) shirt and completely beach-inappropriate black slacks. (And he and Madoka had taken exception to her wardrobe choice?) The Oglers figured he had to have swimming attire on under there. Mai snorted. She doubted Naru even owned swimming attire.
An outwardly unbothered Naru slipped a pen from his pants pocket, and made notations on the sheet he was studying.
The staring girls reckoned he must be an awesomely dedicated college student. Ha, a student? Naru had a doctorate... then Mai discovered that the blanket full of girls on the other side of Naru had joined the ogling-whisper session. Twitch.
She also saw that Oglers' regard had spread to Yasuhara and Lin. Yasu was lying on the blanket with his eyes closed, which explained why he wasn't already flirting (as per usual). Lin, on the other hand, was well aware of the many eyes perusing his person. He glared straight ahead, studying the water with a tenacity he usually reserved for ghost hunting.
"Let's go for a walk, Koujo," Madoka said loudly, pulling Lin up by the hand. Mai couldn't help but giggle as the irked woman dragged her boyfriend down to the water. Mai hoped Lin didn't get wet; he was wearing slacks, too.
Fortuitously, the commotion woke Yasuhara from his doze... and he made up for lost time by engaging as many admirers as possible. Mai noticed that Yasuhara's usually-almost-undetectable Japanese accent became suddenly thicker as he introduced himself to all of the ladies on his side of the blanket.
He could only take in so much territory, though... the four Oglers on Naru's side of the blanket continued to stare hungrily in his direction. And although Naru continued to ignore them, Mai could tell he was annoyed... so she had to act fast. He already hated the beach; Mai feared this new aggravation might be the straw that broke the camel's back. She did not want to be forced home early because some of some raptly-staring girls.
And Mai's own jealous twitchiness had absolutely nothing to do with her decision to take action. Nothing at all.
Luckily, she had an emergency Naru-diversion already lined up. Mai reached into the lunch-bag and pulled out a secret thermos of tea. She'd made it as a pacifier for when Naru's irritation with the beach reached a critical level. Mai was working on unscrewing the top when a shadow darkened her surroundings.
"Excuse me, Miss?"
The transfer student looked up to see a half-naked young man standing before her. He was tan, nice-looking, carrying a ball of some kind... and apparently talking to her. "Yes?" she replied politely.
"Would you care for a swim?"
Mai's eyes went wide. Was he... asking her out?
The boy misunderstood the source of her confusion. "Oh, very sorry, Miss, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is John, and I thought it seemed like you could use a dip."
Recovering slightly, Mai smiled at the name he gave. "One of my best friends is called John," she said brightly.
"Off to a good start, then," John replied warmly.
Yasuhara choked noisily beside her, and Mai looked over in concern. He appeared to be trying not to laugh... but his eyes weren't on Mai. She followed the line of Yasu's gaze to Naru – who had stopped reading his file in favor of glaring at Mai's suitor.
Who backed away a step, eyes surprised. "Oh, sorry, mate," John said contritely. "I didn't realize." He offered Mai and Naru an apologetic smile before running off.
Didn't realize what? Mai wondered. That Naru is bothered by practically any sort of disturbance? Before she could ask, Naru's file appeared under her nose.
"Mai, would you take a look at this?" he asked her in a strangely dead voice.
Beside them, Yasuhara tried very hard not to fall over in hysterics... though he did allow himself a face-palm at his best friend's obliviousness. Naru had actually gotten proprietary over Mai-chan – and she had absolutely no idea! Yasu wondered what would have happened had John not backed off... it probably would have been awesome. Yasuhara shook his head, rather disappointed that the guy had wimped out.
He noticed that some of Naru's suitors were not so easily dissuaded. Though most of them had come to the same (semi-erroneous) conclusion as the run-off John, one of the girls still looked irrationally hopeful.
A playful tug on his arm recalled Yasuhara's attention to his own interested parties. Best to let the situation fester on its own, he thought with an inward grin. Yasu returned to his chat-up session with an even bigger smile than he'd started out with.
Meanwhile, Mai was distracted from the file by the agitated waves rolling off her former boss. "You okay, Naru?" Mai asked solicitously.
"I'm fine," he said tightly. One of the many annoyances of the beach – interruption by a parade of random idiots. "I need you to recount your last dream for me." He rapped the file with his pen.
Mai sighed, and resumed squinting at the page held out to her. The sun was so bright that she could only make out some jagged lines.
"Where are your sunglasses?" Naru asked reproachfully.
"I, um, packed them in the suitcase by accident," Mai admitted.
"That was stupid."
"Yeah, well, I was still all shaky from the exorcism," she defended, snatching the file from Naru's hands to get a closer look. "I wasn't thinking straight."
She was trying to decipher the heading when a pair of sunglasses landed on top of the page.
"Madoka carries extras of everything," Naru noted casually. "She reckons things tend to disappear on ghost hunts."
Mai slid the glasses on with a shaky hand. "Th-thanks." She was powerless against the blush creeping up her face. She was equally powerless against the sudden wash of anger crashing around her... Mai looked up to see all of the Oglers glaring holes into her. What was their problem?
Then her thought processes shut down as Naru edged slightly closer, his arm nudging hers when he pointed to a slowly rising line on the paper Mai was holding. She could feel his body heat and smell his shampoo. She loved that smell.
The wave of anger burned through her daze... and Mai finally twigged that the Oglers must be thinking that she and Naru were together. Mai's blush went from hot pink to fire-engine red in a matter of seconds.
Naru's smirk radiated smugness – his mission was complete. Not only would the irritating girls around them abandon their ill-conceived plans to bother him, but a flustered Mai usually made for long-term entertainment. Naru elected to ignore his own disconcertment at the unusual amount of physical contact. "So, what are your thoughts concerning these results?"
Still rather distracted, Mai eventually noticed that Naru was looking at her expectantly. Had he said something? "What was that, Naru?" Mai asked, voice quavering.
His smirk became wider. "I hypothesize that the gradual increase in brain waves here –" He pointed to the gently sloping line. "Represents a direct relationship to your 're-syncing' with your body after an astral projection."
Yasuhara hoped that Madoka was secretly watching this. He wasn't sure he'd be able to do this moment justice with mere descriptions.
"What are you... oh, these are the EEG scans?" Mai's comprehension overcame her embarrassment, and she pored over the scan results with eager eyes.
"Yes, Mai." Naru's voice was amused.
"Oh, shut it, Narcissist." Mai hissed. "How was I supposed to know that?"
Her former boss raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a Cambridge student now?" he drawled. "Martin's very interested in EEG scanning at the moment. You're definitely going to be studying them once term starts."
"Okaaaay, but term hasn't started," Mai pointed out. "So how am I supposed to be able to recognize them?"
"I'm positive that Martin included an introduction to psychic affiliations with EEG in your reading list."
"Then I guess I haven't gotten to it yet," Mai observed icily.
"No time like the present," Naru replied. Excellent, an impromptu lesson should keep those annoying girls at bay for the duration of this useless beach outing.
"No way, Noll," an unfortunately familiar voice denied. Madoka stood at the edge of the blanket, hands on swimming costume-clad hips. "We did not come to the beach to study EEG scans. We came to go swimming. So unless you're planning on following us into the water in your skivvies..."
There was a sudden uptick in the Oglers' swooning. Mai couldn't blame them. Her blush had returned full-force from the embarrassing images rolling across her mind's eye.
"Don't be ridiculous," Naru snapped.
"Then stop hogging Mai-chan!"
"Are you serious?" Hogging her?
"As your face," Madoka replied saucily. Without further ado, she scooped Mai off the blanket and ushered her towards the water. "Yasu? You coming?" the master ghost hunter yelled back. "Bring your beach shoes, it's rocky in the water!"
The bespectacled teen didn't miss a beat. "Well, ladies, it appears that my companions have requested my presence in the surf. Care to join us?"
At least five girls followed Yasuhara to the water, giggling all the way. Naru saw his own slightly disgusted look mirrored in the face of a newly returned Lin.
"It's almost impressive," the onmyouji noted unwillingly. At least it was quieter now...
"Impressive? You've been spending too much time with Madoka," Naru replied cuttingly. His eyes left Yasuhara and his veritable bevy of co-eds in favor of watching Mai leap excitedly over a wave. Her unreasonable enthusiasm for such inane things continued to flummox Naru. Cyclic swells in the ocean should not cause shrieking excitement in a nineteen-year-old girl.
Or in a full-fledged adult, he amended, as Madoka whooped happily while sailing over the next wave.
"So your girlfriend just left you here?" a voice simpered from his left.
Her words shocked Naru enough that he responded. "I'm sorry?"
"I can't believe your girlfriend would just leave you here!" This particular candidate fiddled with the strap of her miniscule swimming costume, apparently thinking her physical assets would attract his attention. Naru barely refrained from rolling his eyes.
"I'm not interested in dating," he informed the girl flatly, cutting off her ostensible endgame.
"Then that girl's not your girlfriend?"
Naru really did roll his eyes this time. "I'm not interesting in dating," he repeated, voice firm. And people considered him socially inept – how could this simpleton think that demeaning his companion would produce a positive response? "And 'that girl' is named Mai," he stated rather frigidly.
This time, his suitor got the message. She became immediately sulky and moved away from Naru... while easing the sting of rejection by throwing some darts of her own. "Well, it's a good thing Mai isn't your girlfriend... seeing as she's all up close and personal with that guy."
Against his better judgment, Naru looked up. Mai was currently trapped in the hold of a grinning Yasuhara. Mai pointed frantically at an exceptionally large incoming wave, got loose, and attempted an escape to the shallows... but Yasuhara grabbed her around the waist and carried the struggling girl back to their original spot.
Lin sighed as his former charge froze. So much for peace and quiet. Noll's eyes, barely visible under the dark glasses, narrowed to slits, and the tendons in his neck twitched as he surreptitiously followed Mai's unwilling progress into deeper water. Eventually, she wiggled enough that Yasuhara lost his grip - and dropped her into the surf like a sack of rice. Noll's whole body tensed up when Mai crashed (screaming) into the water. As if he were about to go in after her. Lin almost smiled, and Noll shook his head at his own ridiculousness.
At exactly the same time, Lin and Naru realized that Mai hadn't come back up.
Both men stood up on the blanket and scanned the waves for Mai's brightly-colored wetsuit. Nothing. They could see an anxious Yasuhara searching the immediate area. Naru promptly pulled his shirt over his head and went for the buckle on his belt...
And Mai burst out of the water behind Yasuhara and launched herself at his back. Unprepared, Yasuhara lost his balance and fell, belly-flopping ungracefully into the waves. Mai managed to stay standing, and pumped her fist in victory.
Lin unconsciously relaxed – she had just been going for revenge.
Naru threw himself back onto the blanket, thoroughly annoyed at his misunderstanding of the situation. He retrieved his shirt, and glared daggers at the idiots in the water. At least Mai hadn't seen him panic.
But of course Madoka had. And once she was done laughing, of course she had to tell Mai... grinning and pointing the entire time.
Oliver Davis dragged his shirt back on, pulled the EEG scans into his lap, and attempted to sooth his wounded pride with some active reading and plans of swift revenge. He hated the beach.
Lin watched as Noll highlighted scan data and scribbled notes with a frightening intensity. His pen almost scratched right through the thin paper.
It was going to be a long day.
-0O0-
AN: So, the bad news - I haven't updated for a couple of weeks because I've been having some annoying health issues. I'm having surgery in a couple of weeks to take care of the health issues. The good news - Now that this case is over, we'll be back to mostly pre-written material, so I won't be starting from scratch every chapter. This should make for faster updates:)