A/N: Welcome back, friends! Thank you to the new faves/follows for this story!
While this chapter focuses on the case, a good portion of it is actually on "the little moments." Those moments we don't get to see during the series, so I hope it all ties in okay! Btw, can I just say I LOVE writing Ayako-Monk bickering. They're such a funny duo, hahah!
Anyhow, enjoy!
Case Two – Part 1
"Wait, hold on a minute. You're saying the doll tried to burn you?" Bou-san asked, leaning his arms against the table.
"Yup."
Ayako shivered. "Ugh, I have goosebumps. I've always hated dolls since I was a kid for this exact reason," she said, rubbing her arms.
"I've heard of this kind of thing before. What if the spirit is a child using his or her favorite doll as a vessel? And when this family got the doll, the doll brought the spirit here?" Bou-san hypothesized.
"Don't forget that there may be multiple spirits here," Naru interjected. He had his arms crossed as he leaned against the counter. "To narrow the possibilities down, we should at least rule out that this isn't a human-made poltergeist."
True to his word, Naru followed through with his test after dinner. They used a vase for this run. The test went according to plan; thus, the night went on as usual for the family.
The rest of the evening for SPR was also equally uneventful. Enough so that Bou-san had time to add comments to Mai's notebook with his now-designated olive-green pen. When given a blank stare from Naru, he defended himself with, "I'm peer-reviewing!"
He wasn't technically lying though. His comments were either recommendations or some other type of supplemental information.
The olive-green accents were a nice touch too!
Pounding footsteps interrupted their "peer development" session. At the base entrance was Kana who quickly ushered them to follow her. Upon arriving in Ayami's room, the furniture and rug had been turned upside down while the window sat shattered along the floor.
Ayami stood in the center of it all with no injuries.
Mai had never seen such an aggressive haunting like this before. When she touched the bookshelf or the cupboard for traces of heat, there was none. The furniture felt like they had been sitting in a cold cellar for months.
"Aren't you people supposed to do something about this?" Kana exclaimed out of fear.
"You sure the little girl didn't do it?" Ayako quickly defended.
Ayami shook her head, holding Minnie tighter to her chest. "Ayami didn't do it."
Mai patted her head for reassurance.
"I don't think there's a human capable of something like this," Naru said, turning over the corner of the rug. "If there was, I'd like to meet them."
"Same here," agreed Bou-san.
Before they even had time to further process, a scream was heard from Noriko downstairs. When they arrived on the scene, the living room furniture had also been turned upside down. Even the chandelier shook ever so slightly.
"How nice of it to give us a warm welcome," Bou-san said, crossing his arms.
"It's already asserting control."
As everyone investigated, Mai suddenly felt uneasy—like they were being watched. She scanned the room carefully. Maybe if she looked close enough, she could find a perpetrator or an accomplice. At first, she had difficulty making anything out. She knew they were there, but where? She raked through her brain for anything useful Gene might've said during their lessons.
"Be like the Buddha!" she heard him echo in her head.
While seemingly unhelpful, it did serve as a reminder to continue breathing. Inhaling, she urged her mind to refocus.
That's when she started to make out their forms—from the silhouettes to their more distinct features. Still unclear, but better than before her training. Peeking through the double doors was a set of two children, one boy and one girl. They hovered over the space, possibly leaning their hands on the glass panes.
Creeping away from the group, Mai attempted to approach the two without causing alarm. However, they quickly fled when they noticed her.
"I just wanted to talk…," she said, puffing out one cheek.
She could already hear Gene making a snide comment about her lack of stealth. Or was that Naru?
"Who are you talking to?" Ayako joined her out in the hall. The older female looked down the hall.
"Two little kids were peeking from out here. They disappeared when I caught them spying."
Naru and everyone else gathered by the doors, "Children you say? Are you sure one of them wasn't Ayami-chan?"
She shook her head, "Definitely not Ayami. They're both no longer alive."
Kana rubbed her arms, very clearly disturbed. "I will ask Ayami just in case."
She and Noriko headed to Ayami's room but were surprised to find the little girl watching from the top of the stairs. Minnie was in tow as always.
Noriko apprehensively climbed the steps. "Sweetie, was that you down here in the hall just now? Looking through the living room doors?" She asked as she reached the landing. "It's okay, you're not in trouble."
The young girl shook her head in confusion.
"Are you sure it wasn't you? Mai saw two children peeking in, but it must have been you and Minnie, right?" Noriko persisted as she kneeled to her level. Her voice was shaky, very much shaken by Mai's findings.
Ayami shrunk away and held Minnie tighter to her chest. "It wasn't me!"
Just as her objection was made, Noriko's ankle was yanked out from underneath. She was then dragged off the landing. Kana was quick to react and tried to grab her wrist, but nearly lost her footing.
"Nori-nee-san!" Ayami yelled, dropping Minnie to clutter on the floor.
"Naumaku sanmanda bazaradan kan!"
The dragging halted, leaving Noriko halfway down the stairs.
"Are you okay?!"
Everyone moved to help her as she struggled to sit up. "S-something grabbed my ankle," she said, nearly frozen in fear.
Mai gasped. A bruise in the shape of a small hand wrapped around her ankle.
Mai and Kana helped the injured woman to her room where Ayako wrapped a makeshift brace for her. The group deemed it safest for Ayami to stay in Noriko's room for the time being.
"Don't you think that was way too aggressive for a first day?" Bou-san exhaled loudly. He plopped on the couch and leaned his head back.
"Whatever it is, it's certainly not happy that we're here," Ayako grumbled as she crossed her arms. "I think it's that creepy doll. It was there with the little girl when Noriko-san was pulled—almost looked like it reacted to her."
Bou-san nodded, "For once, I agree with you. The spirit in the doll must be connected to Ayami-chan in some way."
"Maybe an attachment?"
Strangely enough, Naru decided that they should retire for the night. Considering the multitude of occurrences already, perhaps his suggestion wasn't as generous as initially thought.
Mai would be lying if she said she wasn't a little spooked at staying in a haunted house. Her apprehension from just entering the house was multiplied two-fold now that it was time to sleep. Entering her and Ayako's guest room, she debated her next course of action. Shower at night and have something potentially screw with her? Or shower in the morning with the mental support of daylight?
The latter seemed safest. Besides, Ayako already claimed the bathroom. Her intuition told her that the other female probably had an hour-and-a-half self-care routine.
Thus, Mai promptly prepped herself for her pre-bed meditation by donning her matching set of pajamas and washing her face. The only missing piece was her usual cup of hojicha.
Luckily, she was smart to pack some before leaving her apartment that morning.
Paranoid as she was, Mai held Usa-sama's mirror in her hand as she braved the hallway. Aside from the workaholics, everyone else was likely settled in their rooms at this point. She would have to fend for herself should anything happen—and knowing her luck, something would.
Creeping downstairs to the kitchen, she passed the base and confirmed that Naru and Lin were still working. Typical.
"I'm going to make hojicha. Do you guys want some?"
"That would be nice. Thank you," Lin answered, never taking his eyes off the monitors.
Naru looked at her blankly and she returned the favor. He was still hard to read and she wondered what ran through his head at that moment. "Tea, Naru?"
"Is there earl grey?"
"Nope. We'll have to pick some up tomorrow."
"Hm." He then proceeded to return to his typing.
His answer was ambiguous as always. Shrugging, she continued her journey to the kitchen.
She wasn't about to stand there and try to figure out his game of charades.
While the water boiled, she set out three cups and poked around the kitchen for a strainer. A few moments passed when she heard the gas stove flame go out.
Eying the stove suspiciously, she cautiously inched forward. She reached out to reignite it, careful to keep herself at arms-length. The flame returned but was instantly put out with no reasonable explanation. A chill blew through the kitchen sending goosebumps up her back.
That was never a good sign.
Maybe using a flame isn't a good idea, she decided. Instead, she opted to heat her water in the microwave—she was going to have her bedtime tea regardless of ghosts.
Now, she just needed to survive these next few minutes.
"Be like the Buddha!" Gene's voice once again echoed in her head.
Mai took some deep breaths. Looking over the kitchen, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The chill remained, however. She couldn't tell if there wasn't a presence, or if there were multiple.
"Hello?"
It was very faint, but she could make out little footsteps moving down the hall away from the kitchen to the living room. The chill she felt also went with it apparently. Releasing a sigh, she quickly took her water out of the microwave and prepared the hojicha.
She made a swift escape after that, practically speed-walking to the base.
If Naru noticed her hastened breathing and uneasiness entering the room, he didn't say. Her cautious glance back to the hallway did alert him that something must have happened.
However, Naru had clearly made his point known previously that she was to share any experiences she had.
He wasn't about to sit there and try to figure out her game of charades.
Despite that though, he still observed her from the corner of his eye. Aside from her initial apprehension, she showed no other signs of concern. She handed out the cups of tea as usual before sitting on the couch with a huff.
Naru glanced at his cup, now identifying the tea as a green variety. He didn't need Mai knowing that he hadn't known what kind of tea she was offering earlier.
He gave it a preparatory sniff before tasting it. It was fine—he'd have preferred earl grey, but this would suffice.
Seeing as Mai wasn't going to divulge her findings, he wasted no more time and returned to his report. Before he knew it, an hour had passed by without his eyes leaving the laptop. Once signs of eyestrain became too apparent, he closed the laptop in favor of checking on the monitors.
To his surprise, Mai was sound asleep on the couch with a nearly empty cup dangling in hand. Could she be any more careless? He removed the cup from her hand and placed it on the coffee table.
"Here." Lin approached from behind and handed him a blanket, which Naru draped over her.
Maybe if she slept here, he could study her sleep activity—there weren't many astral projectors at BSPR after all.
A noise from the camera footage redirected his attention to the monitors.
From the microphone in Ayami's room and then from the one in the living room, footsteps were heard pattering along the wood creaking the boards. Indiscernible whispers filtered through from Ayami's room, while the temperatures dropped at a rapid rate.
"Lin, more sound," he ordered, half-forgetting the sleeping girl behind them.
More than one child-like voice was picked up, but no intelligible words could be deciphered. This supported Mai's claims of multiple spirits and her findings of the boy and girl earlier. But how did this relate to Minnie? The doll itself was currently tucked between Ayami and Noriko with no inclinations of abnormal activity.
Naru deduced that the doll must simply be a vessel for a spirit within the house, not the source.
His thought process was abruptly broken by mumbling from behind them.
Mai was murmuring in her sleep.
"Leave… property… selling…" she murmured. Her eyebrows were furrowed and twitching ever so slightly.
Naru wondered if she normally slept talk when having visions. He hadn't planned on it, but the idea of starting a "Mai Sleep Observation Log" had promise. Not to mention that he would be able to get more objective data about her abilities while she was asleep—and she would cooperate this way.
Of course, he would just need to remember to get consent lest he incurred Madoka's wrath from an ocean away. Either Mai would be fine with the prospect, or she would make a big deal about it.
It was no contest, between her and Lin, she was easily the more turbulent one to deal with in terms of mood and predictability.
And to be frank, she was someone he'd much prefer to simply tolerate and ignore, like Gene and Madoka. Unfortunately, he had difficulty pretending her presence wasn't there. Especially so since she had abilities he would've liked to study more if not for his current mission.
His thoughts were once again interrupted when Mai shifted in her sleep before flinching roughly. That was either the result of her waking up, or the cause.
She groaned and covered her eyes with her forearm. "Way to send me off…" she mumbled to no one.
That likely wasn't directed toward them.
"If you're going to sleep, you should go back to the guest room," he said, once again scanning the monitors with his back to her.
She shuffled the blanket behind her. "Probably." Groggily, she folded the blanket and plopped it back on the couch. "Have we caught anything?"
"Some disembodied whispers and footsteps."
"Oh, nice!" she said, much too enthusiastic for someone asleep no more than 2 minutes ago. "I had a weird dream just now, but I don't know if it's related to anything."
Naru didn't reply, urging her to continue.
"I'm guessing it was early Meiji, maybe. This newly widowed woman inherited this property from her husband. These businessmen were hounding her to sell them the rights to the land. Her answer was always no."
He expected her to continue the explanation, but when she stayed silent, he turned to face her—irritation radiating off his person.
She was unfazed. "And that's it. I got pulled out of the vision."
"Did someone or something force you out?"
"Probably—I don't exactly have any control over what I see right now," she grumbled mainly to herself. "I don't think it was G- my spirit guide, so maybe that's as much as I'm allowed to see."
He noted her awkwardness with the last sentence but initially brushed it off as a stutter. The rushing of the rest of her sentence and the fidgeting signaled something otherwise.
Her behavior beckoned the question of if it was something he should be remembering for future reference.
To add to that, she quickly changed the subject by reminding them to go to bed soon before escaping back to her room with haste.
How curious.
The next morning revealed that Naru's poltergeist assessment was negative—the vase hadn't moved at all.
After a quick breakfast, Ayako offered to be the first to cleanse the space. Her ritual was swift, taking no more than 10 minutes. Unlike last time, no windows were shattered this time around.
The miko left the room with her overly confident laugh reverberating through the hallway. To say that Mai and Bou-san were still skeptical was an understatement.
The rest of the day was uneventful, which was no surprise as the activity only escalated at night.
Mai, Bou-san, and Ayako either spent the day taking temperatures, helping with menial tasks around the house, or annoying Naru in the base. During her downtime, she had the chance to do some summer homework as well as more research on Gene's location.
There was a lake nearby that she could try to sneak out to visit, but she would need a better alibi than just a walk.
"I'm going to head to the store to grab some lunch. Any requests?" Bou-san announced conveniently.
Mai nearly shot up at this opportunity.
Ayako did too because she ended up following along also. They took Bou-san's car, and luckily for Mai, he took a scenic route into town where they got a good look at the lake nearby.
It wasn't the one she was looking for but at least she could now cross it off her list. This one was too small and not nearly remote enough.
"You seemed pretty interested in that lake earlier. Did you want to ditch Naru and go swimming?" Their resident monk joked as they walked around the store.
"I wish, but I don't own a bathing suit." She brushed off the notion with a gesture of her hand.
"What? No bathing suit?!" Ayako asked, clearly disturbed.
"I haven't needed one! If it counts, I do have my old school bathing suit," Mai said in thought, a finger to her chin.
Ayako shook her head in disapproval, "I think I need to bring you shopping. You're a teenager and need to have a cute bikini for the summer!"
"So, she can be like you scaring all the young guys away?" Bou-san snickered over his shoulder.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ayako challenged. She glared at him for a few seconds before the Shinto gods dawned something upon her. Smirking, she said, "Oh, I get it. You're just projecting onto me. You couldn't reel in a single girl with your gorilla chest."
"That's a lot coming from an old hag."
And… that's when Mai escaped to the tea section before she died of embarrassment. She attempted to drown out their voices from several aisles away by browsing the shelves. A box of earl grey tea and her favorite brand of green tea made their way into her basket.
Then randomly, she picked up the very faint presence of Usa-sama nearby. Ironic as it was in this field of work, it was kind of nice to never be fully alone—only with familiar and benevolent spirits, of course.
Usa-sama was difficult to sense in such a haunted house like Noriko's, but now that she was outside, the rabbit deity was ever present. She smiled to herself.
"I wonder why Gene never pops up on this plane?" she mumbled. Usa-sama showed up here and there, but her other companion stayed primarily sedentary. Maybe he didn't have enough power to materialize himself.
She'll have to inquire later.
When the trio finally returned from their trip to the store—and maybe the bakery and sweets store next to it—there was reportedly new activity caught on the cameras and microphones.
"What did we miss?" Bou-san asked as they filtered through the door.
"While you three were out gallivanting, we identified a rapid decrease in temperature in Ayami-chan's room," Naru said, the trio avoiding eye contact with him. "There is footage of the door rattling as banging sounds on the wall were picked up from the microphones."
"What if it was the air conditioner?" asked Ayako as she dropped her bags on the couch.
"The air conditioner had been shut off in that room last night since Ayami-chan has been staying in Morishita-san's room. If you recall, the window was shattered so the temperature should match that of outside. This drastic drop in temperature cannot be explained by human intervention."
"I'm not gonna give you all the answers," Gene said, sticking his tongue out for good measure. "This is good training for building your deductive reasoning skills."
Mai pouted, "How can you sound so much like Naru yet contradict everything he exists for?"
He grinned, "Twins, but I'm the fun one, and he's an idiot scientist."
They both sat cross-legged in Naru's astral office, which was now officially converted entirely into Usa-sama's space. Gene liked the idea of making their lagomorphic companion into the head honcho.
"Now, you remember that vision from last night? I believe that was providing context to the real problem at hand—the precursor, you could say."
She nodded, trying to make connections. "So, you're saying that I'll need to continue that vision to find the info I want?"
"For the most part, yes." He leaned back onto his arms, "But to do that, you'll need to open yourself up to allow the vision. Usa-sama has been helping to filter out what you're receiving. That's why you haven't been getting recurring nightmare visions like you used to."
"Is that why I was pulled out of it yesterday?"
"Partly, but the house also had a hand in that. So, now we will start practicing entering and exiting visions. It's the same premise as the 'anchor' exercise you've been doing."
They ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon practicing her "pull factor." According to Gene, the easiest way right now for her to traverse visions and spaces was to pull herself in the direction she wanted to go. She could accomplish this by using an anchor of her choice for each destination.
To say this next assignment was daunting was an understatement. Both brothers needed to remember she didn't have an IQ of 1000!
By the end of it all, Mai lay face down on the couch with Usa-sama on her back laboring her breathing.
"No worries! You'll get the hang of it soon," Gene encouraged.
A muffled groan was her answer.
Suddenly, the air went tense causing Mai to lift her head. "I sense a disturbance," she muttered. Like a rabbit listening for predators, she attempted to poke around with her "othersense" to figure out the source. At least she could do that here, but once she woke up, she was on her own.
"Yeah, something doesn't seem right. You should wake up, Mai."
"I should," she agreed before pausing and turning to him. "Can you come along too? Like how Usa-sama does sometimes?"
"Not quite yet," he shook his head. "Even I have things I'm not good at. Hopefully, soon though!"
"Okay, we can both work hard then! I'll see you later." She then focused her will to return to her body. The process still took a few minutes, but she was getting better at it.
When her eyes blinked open, she was greeted by the setting sun on the horizon from their guest room window. What cozy scenery for such a disturbed house.
Not even within a minute of her coming to was a scream heard from the kitchen.
Jumping out of bed, she stumbled her way to the kitchen where she found Kana sporting pinkish-red skin on one cheek. The same burner she had trouble keeping on last night was now a blazing flame.
Bou-san was quick to extinguish the fire moments after he arrived, but the damage had been done. Charred surroundings up to the wall and ceiling. Dishes lay broken across the kitchen while the cabinet doors swung gently as though there was a breeze.
"Are you okay?!" Noriko and Mai rushed over to Kana who fell to her knees out of shock.
"Y-yeah," the frazzled woman replied. "I was just washing the dishes when the cabinets swung open. Dishes were thrown and then the stove exploded into a large flame out of nowhere."
"Here, let me take a look at you," Ayako called from the entryway. She got a chair for the other woman to sit on while her cheek was examined.
Bou-san cautiously studied the gas range for defects or a gas leak. With the condition it was in, that task proved difficult. He questioned the homeowners about any gas smell recently, or other malfunctions. While they both denied these instances, Mai had to share her experience.
"When I was making tea last night, the flame kept going out on me. It would light for a little bit and then completely go out on its own. This happened a few times, so I just used the microwave instead."
"Is this what made you hide in the base?" Naru questioned, taking advantage of this opportunity.
She laughed nervously with just a smidgen of guilt, "Um, yeah. I felt a chill each time before the flame went out. Then I heard footsteps running from the kitchen to the living room."
"I see." Naru adopted his thinking pose. "There was activity recorded from the living room last night as well. In addition to the furniture incident, the living room may be an epicenter for activity."
"You think another exorcism is due?" Bou-san questioned. Naru nodded, thinking the same thing as their resident monk.
The sudden feeling of being watched ripped Mai's attention away—just like yesterday in the living room—except this felt much more malicious. Her body froze while her breathing slowed down. It was as though if she breathed too fast, she would be caught. Caught by who or what, she didn't know. She tried to gulp the dry lump in her throat but felt like her muscles were too weak.
Sweat beads formed around her temples as her eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to breathe. A voice whispered into her ears, "Don't interfere." She pressed her hand to the base of her neck in a futile effort to release her airflow.
She tried to inhale but it was almost like there was a blockage.
"Mai, are you okay?" Noriko asked, panic in her voice.
Bou-san formed a mudra* with his Buddha beads laced around and started a full mantra.
She felt her throat being released a bit but not enough. Frantically, she searched for her mirror but realized in horror that she had left it on the bed in the guest room.
Naru understood her thought process. "Lin, Mai's pocket mirror!"
Lin was the closest to the exit and was able to traverse the stairs quickly to the guest room. When he returned, he handed the mirror to Mai. She held it close to her chest and prayed to her guardian deity as Gene had taught her previously. Immediately, she was released.
She collapsed to the floor gasping for air.
Everyone crowded around her, but she couldn't hear a single thing they said as her pulse beat heavily in her ears. When she was finally able to speak, the first thing she croaked out was, "Where's Minnie?"
This seemed to surprise everyone as they looked around at each other before focusing on Noriko and Kana.
"I'll check to see if she's with Ayami," Noriko said, simultaneously encouraging Kana to stay with SPR.
When she returned, her face was pale. "Minnie's not there. I remember tucking her in with Ayami, but now she's missing."
Everyone rushed into the base to check the cameras. Ayako gasped when she scanned the living room footage. "Minnie's sitting in the corner of the living room!"
Kana nearly fainted hearing that. Noriko decided that it would be best if they both retired for the night. Thus, the two headed back upstairs to their rooms.
Bou-san went to retrieve Minnie while Ayako gave Mai some water for her throat.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded, still mentally recovering.
"What happened back there?" Naru asked once Bou-san returned with Minnie. They placed her on a chair as if for interrogation.
"I don't know… you guys were talking about exorcising the living room and all of a sudden, I felt so scared. I couldn't really move my body and I was too scared to breathe," she recalled while rubbing at her neck.
"Then, my throat froze up and it was like something was blocking my airway. And I think I heard someone whisper in my ear, 'Don't interfere.' Bou-san's chant helped to release it a little, but I needed Usa-sama to free me all the way."
"What made you think it was Minnie?" Naru questioned.
She thought for a second, not sure how to answer. How did she know? Well, that was the thing. She didn't. That was just the first thing that came to her mind.
"I don't know. I guess I just knew."
"Who's Usa-sama?" Ayako asked.
Mai didn't realize she never told them about her past expenditures. "He's the rabbit deity that possesses my pocket mirror. A miko spirit I helped told me to take the mirror with me."
"Ah, so that must be the rabbit Masako-chan sensed that one time," the red-haired woman deduced.
With his hand covering his mouth, Bou-san said under his breath, "Surprising that you'd remember something that far back."
"Of course, I would remember. I'm not an old fart unlike other people," she dismissed him.
"Last I noticed, I think being in the sun added one more wrinkle to your eye bags."
Mai couldn't help but burst out into giggles at their jabs. How was Naru even tolerating this?
She spoke too soon because he cleared his throat loudly. "If you're done wasting time, why don't we get back to work."
After the bickering was quelled, the group threw ideas back and forth regarding Minnie, whom they nearly forgot was in the base. They ultimately decided to place her on Ayami's bed with a camera for surveillance in case she disappeared on them again. Naru was also interested in testing her.
While Ayako went to shower, Mai and the men stayed in the base to monitor the footage. Nothing eventful happened at first. Then, the sound of Naru standing up from his chair abruptly broke the silence.
"What's up?" she asked, following his gaze. She gasped when she saw it.
Minnie had fallen forward to lay prone on the bed. She was promptly dragged by her hair toward the edge of the bed. Her head twisted off to roll along the floor to the ground-level camera.
Minnie's eye stared straight into the lens at them.
Mai gave a brief squeal, trying not to yell with consideration of the sleeping people upstairs. Naru and Bou-san ran upstairs to check on Minnie, while she trailed behind. When they reached Ayami's room, they were frightened to find the doll still sitting neatly on the bed—as if she had never been touched.
Following the whole debacle, Bou-san offered to exorcise Minnie but stated that he would have to burn the doll afterward.
As they didn't have consent from their clients, Minnie was spared another day.
Considering the incident earlier, Mai told Naru that if she was going to dream tonight, she would feel safer doing so in the base. He didn't have any qualms about that.
After getting ready for bed, she chose to forgo her hojicha that night. She was too squeamish to go into the kitchen again and didn't want to bother Ayako. The other female looked way too comfortable in bed scrolling through weird videos on her phone anyway.
Instead, Mai chose to write in her journals before going to sleep. Sheepishly entering the base with the journals in hand, she debated her options. To her right was the couch and coffee table that sat facing the monitors. In front of her was the table Naru sat at with his materials laid out.
The coffee table area was dimly lit compared to "the Naru table," while the table had, well, Naru. Despite that and there only being one chair that didn't have anyone's crap on it, the table would have to do for the sake of lighting.
When she approached said table, the dark-haired teen didn't seem to be averse to her presence. So, she bit the bullet and sat next to him.
If she noticed him giving her the side-eye for being so close, she ignored it well.
It wouldn't hurt him to be humbled occasionally.
Laying her colored pens out, her frantic writing began. Naru continued his work beside her without making a single sound. Before she knew it 45 minutes flew by—she had a lot to say apparently. Snapping her journals shut, Mai stretched her arms overhead and yawned.
No more putting it off now—it was time to project. She didn't know how this would go given Gene's instructions. At least it was his vision she projected to the last time she tried. The uncertainty of where this vision would lead left her anxious.
What if she got stuck and couldn't leave? There was a chance Gene couldn't accompany her to this one, or even find her.
Gulping, she turned to Naru.
Feeling her gaze, he looked up from his work. He was almost surprised to find a serious expression on her face.
"I'm going to try sleeping for a little bit. If… if things get bad, can you wake me up?"
He didn't say anything at first. Despite his expression remaining unchanged, he was taken aback by her pleading look.
"Please?"
What could've made an erratic and impulsive Mai fearful enough that she would be asking favors from him of all people?
He nodded, "Fine."
A relieved smile stretched across her face—one he didn't think would ever be directed toward him.
"Thank you, Naru."
Mudra* = Buddhist hand prayers
A/N: And that's the first part of the case! I usually like my chapters to be 4k-5k words, so the case may end in the next chapter or the one after. Depends on how much I want to divulge into the changes and side tidbits. I hope you guys enjoyed the changes as always!
Also, just curious, do you guys mainly use FF, or cross to AO3 also? I notice I get more active engagement on AO3, but I get more passive engagement here. I, for one, use both. I do prefer to read on AO3 if I can 'cause of the dark mode function plus no ads. I also like that authors can reply to guest comments on there!
On that note, to my guest readers so far who've left comments, thank you so much for going out of your way to do that! Let me know if you want an author's note reply to your comments in the future!
Thanks again everyone for reading, and please let me know what you think (or just to say hi)!