okay so im procrastinating right now lol i have 3 essays due this week 2pages, 4 pages and 6 pages no biggie but i wanted to get this chap out of the way i don't think this will be a very long case maybe just 6 chapters total but i should be updating again around next week if i'm lucky lol if not my semester will be over in a couple more weeks leaving only work hanging with friends and writing lol sorry this chapter is so short but enjoy!
Chapter 2-Over You?
October Day 1, 7:23 P.M.
"You've been hearing that voice?" Mai asked once the room had settled down.
"And those bangs, but not at this extent," he responded just as Monk, Yasuhara, Lin, and Naru raced in.
"Are you guys okay?" Monk inquired immediately.
"Yeah, we're fine, but I don't think the tea will be," Mai sighed, pulling the kettle to the sink. "I'll make another batch-"
"That won't be necessary," Naru answered, stopping the girl mid-motion.
Naru doesn't want tea! Mai's mind raced. What the hell is going on?
"Where is Matsuzaki-san?" he continued, looking to Monk for an answer.
"She wanted to check on John and Kiko so Shouta-kun, here said he would accompany Mai," he answered.
"What happened?" Naru asked Mai.
"Shouta and I were talking, then when we were waiting for the tea to steep, the lights were flickering and the room started to shake," Mai began, Shouta finishing her sentence.
"Then this voice started yelling for help," Shouta continued. "Then Mai said some chant and the banging and the voice stopped. And you guys rushed in after that."
"Huh, so you repelled a spirit?" Yasuhara commented as Monk bear hugged the girl.
"You're growing up so fast!" the monk exclaimed.
"Get off me Monk!" Mai squirmed, but the man only hugged tighter. "I can't breathe!" He finally let go.
"Sorry, but I'm proud!" Monk's face beamed with pride for her.
"Everyone, back to Base, Monk, I want another camera in the kitchen," Naru ordered, heading out.
"Is he always like that?" Shouta whispered to Mai.
"No," she shrugged, following her employer. "He's usually ordering me for tea on top of this attitude."
"How's Kiko?" Mai asked once everyone, minus Kiko and John, gathered in Base.
"Sleeping," Ayako answered. "She took the Benadryl, put in her earbuds and was out by the time her head hit the pillow, John told me. She hasn't woken up since."
"Shouta-san, would it be possible to have another room set up for Matsuzaki-san and Mai to stay in, seeing our situation?" Naru asked., not turning away from his folder.
"Yeah, of course," he nodded standing up. "I'll go have it prepared."
"Matsuzaki-san, perform another walkthrough of the building, take Monk with you, and Yasuhara-san, you and Lin set up a camera in the kitchen," Naru ordered and everybody obeyed, leaving Mai alone with her boss.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Mai asked as her boss took a seat in the chair across from the couch where she sat.
"Why were you alone?" Naru asked cryptically, taking Mai off guard.
"I-I wasn't alone, Naru, Shouta-san was with me, remember?" Mai caught herself as she raised a brow.
"I asked, Matsuzaki-san to accompany you."
"She wanted to check up on Kiko, you know, who could really need her? And Shouta offered to help me find my way around." Mai shrugged. "What's gotten you so uppity lately?"
"Mai, on numerous occasions, when we were on a case you have been the target of multiple spirits, particularly when you were alone-"
"You've brought up that point on every case since the Yoshimi case, and might I add that I was harmed the least on that case. What's your problem?" Mai crossed her arms and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"We already have one member of this team weakened, I don't need you going off on your own when danger seems to have a habit of following you-"
"Let's see, the incident in the kitchen happened in the presence of Shouta, and then on the last case where I received third degree burns happened when I was with Kiko, not every time I'm alone does something happen to me," Mai argued, becoming annoyed.
"Your arms are still not entirely healed." Now he was just making up excuses.
"Naru, they pretty much are, a lot of the scabbing is gone and really the bandages are just protecting the new skin. I'm fine, besides the spirit here can't be too powerful, I managed to repel it with the warding magic that Monk taught me." She closed her eyes with a sigh to prevent herself from rolling them. "Not sure if you've noticed, but I'm not the same high school girl you hired last year."
Naru closed his eyes, stood up and headed for the monitors. Funny, he would normally mock her stupidity by now. "If you are insinuating that you are not a stupid as you were when I hired you, you are sadly mistaken." There it was. Cue Mai's grumpy pouty face.
"Nice to know you think so highly of me…" she muttered under her breath. As much as she was used to it, his insults still hurt her. Why did she even like him again?
"Tea."
That snapped her from her reverie.
"I thought you didn't want me out on my own," she huffed, neither one were facing the other.
"Would you rather I give you paperwork as though we were at the office?" She was out the door in seconds, never seeing that amused smirk on his face as she left.
"I fold," said the elderly man at one of the card tables in the living area. Next to him sat an elderly woman, then Monk, then Ayako, all in the middle of an intense game of poker. Yasuhara was giving some of the other elders the play-by-play mimicking the type of voice of an American baseball announcer.
"Raise 1,000 yen," the elderly woman said, tossing the money to the middle of the pile.
"Yeah, I fold, I'm not wasting that much on a poker game tonight," Ayako said, placing her cards on the table facedown.
"I'll match the 1,000 yen and raise it to another 1,000 yen!" Monk challenged.
"Are you guys really gambling here?" Mai asked as she walked in.
"And it's Taniyama Mai-san! Latent psychic and paranormal investigator!" Yasuhara exclaimed, using a remote of some kind as a microphone. "She is a second year high schooler, works part-time at SPR to support herself, and has built quite the resume for the paranormal field. Perhaps she can use her psychic powers to determine who will win this match!"
"Yasuhara-san, why are you talking like that?" she asked, and Monk shushed her.
"I'll match that, Shounen," the elderly woman said with a smirk. "Should I raise or let you keep some sort of dignity before you run off crying?"
"Ooh! This is going to be interesting, but no offense Baa-chan, there's no way you can win." The monk tossed in another 1,000 yen. "But for the heck of it."
She threw in another 1,000 yen and held a little stare down. "You're trying to swindle her out of her money," Mai noted with a shake of her head.
"For once, I think Monk might just win," Ayako said, peeking at his cards.
"Call," the elderly woman said and the Monk had a devilish smirk as he placed down his cards.
"Straight, in all spades!" Monk exclaimed, crossing his arms with confidence. The elderly woman gave a sad face and suck back in her chair.
"Oh, that's too bad, look's like I lost…" she pouted. "I may as well fold, but then again." She put down each card one at a time. Royal Flush. Hearts.
"Kuso!" Monk cursed as he slammed his head on the table.
"Sugoi!" Ayako cried out in amazement.
"Sugoi! Uzuki-san just defeated Monk with a Royal Flush! Takigawa played well but his Buddhist prayers only managed to give him a Straight in Spades, but it looks like the retired poker master still has some tricks up her sleeve and it brought her the gold!" Yasuhara rapidly spewed out.
"You're not making any sense," Mai mumbled.
"Nee! Uzuki-san! How does it feel to be back in the ring?" Yasuhara pointed the remote at the woman.
"This is poker, not wrestling…" the priestess rolled her eyes.
"Well, Yasuhara-san, I may have retired, but that does not mean I am out of practice," Uzuki laughed rounding up her winnings.
The old man laughed. "I should have warned ya, Takigawa-san, Uzuki-chan is a shark when it comes to gambling," he laughed, leaning back in his chair.
"Come on, Chuugo! It's been fairly boring around here, when we get visitors like these guys I need a little fun!" Uzuki argued, hitting the man lightly on the shoulder.
"Man, this is just for your sick entertainment!" Monk moaned, his face buried in his arms on the table.
The elderly couple just laughed. "Well, we do have a sick sense of humor!" the woman laughed, looking at the man. "Must be how we managed to keep this marriage for sixty-four years."
"I beg to differ!" the man hollered. "My sense of humor is perfectly normal! Everyone else's is just weird!"
Everyone laughed.
"And besides it's been sixty-five years," Chuugo smiled, looking at his wife.
"No! It can be the twenty-eighth already!" the woman chided, wide-eyed. "Everyday is the same at this place."
"Happy Anniversary, Uzuki-chan!" Chuugo gave her an envelope.
"Good grief! You should have said something earlier! I thought today was the twenty-seventh!" She gratefully accepted the card, then reached into her purse on her chair and pulled out an envelope and a small box of chocolate. "It's not much, but Happy Anniversary."
"Oh, you know my love of chocolate!" he smiled.
"Go ahead, open it!" she encouraged, completely ignoring their audience.
He opened the envelope and read the card inside. A cheeky grin grew on his face. "You mean it?"
"Forever and always," she smiled back.
"Open yours."
She did and read the card and something fell into her lap. She lifted the chain to see a bracelet with a charm and her eyes grew wide. "Where did you find this?"
"It took a while but I managed to find it when Jungo was showing me how to use the computer. Someone was selling it and it looked exactly like the one you lost several years ago. I knew you would love it," he smiled, putting it on her wrist.
"It's exactly like the one you gave me on our first anniversary." Uzuki was in awe as she stared at it. "Oh thank you, Chuugo!"
The couple shared a kiss and the priestess smiled. "That, my friend, is true love," she said under her breath as she looked at the man next to her who was still sulking about losing his money.
THUNK!
"Ow!"
"Shut up! You're ruining their moment!" Ayako scolded, crossing her arms. The couple only laughed.
"Sorry about that, we were in the moment," Uzuki laughed.
"Well, now, what next, another round of poker? Or will we play some blackjack?" Chuugo offered, shuffling the cards.
"No thanks, I'm all out of cash!" Monk declined, earning another hit from Ayako. "Seriously! This is abuse!"
"You keep asking for it!"
"Just think, one day they'll be just like Chuugo and Uzuki-san," Yasuhara laughed to Mai, earning glares from the bickering couple.
"Yasuhara!"
"I was joking!" The college boy cowered in fear.
"No you weren't," Mai corrected, behind the flames of the monk and priestess's wrath. "Why are you guys hanging out here anyway?"
"Naru said there was nothing we could do, but wait, so we decided to come in here and hang out," Monk replied.
"So, what did Naru say to you when we left?" Ayako asked, turning to face the brunette.
"He just wasn't happy that Shouta was the one to show me around," Mai shrugged, taking a seat next to Yasuhara.
"Never would have taken Naru-chan to be the jealous type," Monk commented.
"Even the Big Boss has feelings," Yasuhara added. Mai just raised a brow.
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" the brunette asked, earning sighs of disappointment from her peers.
"Oh, don't worry, Shouta is a very nice boy!" Uzuki promised with a laugh.
"I don't know, that's what you said about Benika's first husband, I knew he was nothing but trouble," Chuugo argued.
"I also said that when they were only dating, I knew there was something wrong when he asked her to marry him without our consent after they had only dated three months," she chided with a little pout. "But, Mai-chan is certainly not looking for marriage just yet, are you, Mai-chan?"
A blush grew to her cheeks as her eyes grew wide. "N-no! I'm only seventeen!" She waved her arms in a declining sort of way.
"Well, I was married at the age of nineteen," Uzuki replied, shocking the girl further. She only laughed. "Don't look so afraid! You don't have to marry until you're ready!"
"There's no way she's getting married before me," Ayako scoffed.
"Yeah right, you don't even have a boyfriend and Mai's closer to having one than you!" Monk teased, preparing for a thunk on the head that never came.
"As a matter of fact, I do have a boyfriend." The priestess leaned back and examined her nails.
"No way!" Mai exclaimed, jaw-dropped.
"It's true." She smiled.
"I don't believe you! How long have you been dating?" Monk retorted, earning a betrayed look from Yasuhara.
"Monk! You're jealous, aren't you! I thought we had something special!" Yasuhara cried out, faking a sad expression.
"Will you quit it! You know how that freaks me out!"
"Since when am I having girl talk with these two?" Ayako asked Mai who only shrugged. "If you must know, we've been seeing each other for almost three months."
"That goes all the way back to the summer camp case-no way!" Mai replied, the answer clicking.
"No way, what?" the boys asked.
"It's Daisuke! Isn't it!" Mai exclaimed. "But he's younger than you!"
"Actually he's a month older than me, he just looks young," Ayako replied nonchalantly. "Turns out he lives just outside of Tokyo, and we had a nice time together at the camp, it was no surprise that he asked me out for dinner the day after we left."
"Ayako, don't tell me you slept with him on the case!" Mai groaned somewhat appalled.
"LALALALALALALALALALA! WE DON'T NEED TO HEAR THIS!" Monk cried out, covering Yasuhara's ears.
"Monk! You do care!" Yasuhara exclaimed.
"Ew! Why would I preform such an act where children were playing!" the priestess argued, then gave a more disgusted face. "And more importantly, why would I do that outdoors?"
I can't believe this is the conversation we are having… Mai's mind wondered as she noticed the elderly couple trying their best not to laugh anymore at the group's antics. This is going to be a long case.
October Day 2, 2:36 A.M.
"No!" Mai cried as she shot up from her bed. Her body shook as she was covered in a cold sweat; her breath came in rapid short huffs as she tried to calm herself down.
"Mai? What's wrong?" Ayako was at her side in an instant. She smoothed the frightened girl's hair and pulled her in for a hug. "Was it one of those dreams?"
"I…I don't know…" Mai replied, feeling a tear fall down her cheek.
"What happened in it?" the priestess asked, knowing that unlike the Urado case, Mai didn't wake up the entire team or the entire building with her cry.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't remember, but I don't think it had anything to do with the case. I think it was just a nightmare," she explained, calming down a bit.
"Are you sure?" The girl nodded. "All right, but let's go down into the kitchen and make some tea, I don't know about you, but I don't think I can go straight to sleep now."
"Okay." She followed the woman downstairs into the kitchen. Looks like no one was woken up.
In less than ten minutes green tea was made and the two young women were seated in the dining hall. "So, you're really going out with Daisuke?" Mai asked while they enjoyed their tea. It was nice that for once she didn't have to make it.
"Yep, is it really that hard to believe?" she smirked as she stirred in some sugar.
"A little, but then again, I hardly saw you on that case," Mai replied truthfully, taking a sip. "Though, it explains why you weren't complaining even more about us investigating outside."
"I was usually partnered up with him when it came to camp activities, I actually had a good time. You know, despite the humidity and lack of air conditioning." She downed another gulp.
"I'm happy for you," Mai gave a weak smile. Of course Ayako would manage to have a boyfriend. She was pretty and pretty down to Earth. She might seem a little naggy and annoying, but sometimes it can be amusing, Monk seems to enjoy it.
"You need to go on a date." The words stunned the small chestnut eyed girl.
"Huh?" She nearly choked on her tea.
"You keep saying that school and work are stressing you out, why don't you go out on your day off and hang with friends or accept a date from whichever boy has been crushing on you in math class or whatever," the priestess offered nonchalantly. "Even after last case when you had your little break from work you still didn't go out and have fun, right? You need a sense of normalcy when you have a job as dark as this. You need to hang out with your own friends and live at least part of the life of a teenage girl."
"Easier said than done," Mai shrugged, taking another sip.
"Never said it would be easy, but it does make the job easier when you realize that despite all the horrifying things we face, all the bad people and spirits we discover, there are still good ones left in the world." She finished her cup. "We all have to do it."
"Even Naru?" Mai asked skeptically.
"No, I feel like ghost hunting might be his way of seeing the good in the bad," Ayako replied with a sigh.
"What do you mean?" Mai cocked her head.
"What I mean is, I think has reasons for being a ghost hunter, and not because he's good at it or because he can use Qigong with his psychic abilities. I think that maybe ghost hunting is like his way of going out with friends. It takes his mind off of things," the priestess explained.
"What kind of things?" Mai asked in her naivety, sipping the last of her tea.
"I don't know, Mai, that's more of his business," Ayako decided, taking a deep breath. She was sounding so wise. Since when did this headstrong nagging priestess say things like this?
"Wow, Ayako, I never thought of any of those things, what made you think like that?" Mai wondered aloud as she stifled a yawn.
"You're not the only one who has changed over the last year, Mai." She smiled and stood up. "Come on, you're tired and so am I."
October Day 2, 7:46 A.M.
"Kiko is still asleep?" Naru inquired once the other two female investigators entered Base that morning.
"Yeah, she needs it, I wouldn't disturb her," Ayako replied, taking a seat next to Monk while Mai took one between Yasuhara and Shouta. She had used makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes, but still managed to look as though she never woke up at two in the morning.
"I see, John?" Naru turned to the priest who immediately knew what was to be asked of him. "Would you mind-"
"Of course," John agreed before Naru could finish his request.
"Good, if I need you for anything else I'll send Takigawa or Matsuzaki-san," Naru replied, turning to everyone else. "Fukuoka-san was neither attacked last night, nor did he pass away. That does not mean he will not attacked later today or tonight. Our time is limited. Yasuhara-san, I need you to do research on the property, anything you find make note of it-"
"I'll go with you!" Mai offered. She remembered that voice from the day before all too clearly, she needed to know if it really was a child and why did she die so young?
"No," Naru rejected. "Takigawa will go with him, Mai, you Matsuzaki-san and Shouta-san will visit the residents and see if anyone else as had experiences as well as take down temperature readings."
"Of course he would give us a boatload of work because he is jealous of the client," Ayako mumbled to Monk who snickered.
"Would you care to share, Matsuzaki-san?" Naru called and a sweat drop appeared on Mai's forehead.
Geez…it's like I never took off from school…Mai thought with a quiet sigh. What's got him in such a bad mood?
"It was nothing," Ayako quickly covered, causing Monk to chuckle.
"Fine, once everyone has had breakfast, return to your duties." He turned back to the wall of monitors.
Everyone stood up and left the narcissist swearing the room temperature had changed. After finishing breakfast, Yasuhara and Monk were about to leave for the library, when Mai stopped them. "Wait," she said, grabbing Yasuhara's arm lightly.
"What is it, Mai?" he asked, causing Monk to turn as well.
"When you do research, would you mind digging into something for me?" Her brown eyes held a confidence that she probably never knew about.
"Sure thing, what do you need?" Monk asked.
"I need you to find out if any children died on the property, specifically any young girls." Her words shocked the older investigators.
"Okay, but why?" the college student asked.
"That spirit yesterday, it was screaming for help, it sounded like child or probably girl around middle school age," Mai explained, causing the men to look at each other.
"Mai, did you bother telling Naru-chan any of this?" the monk asked, crossing his arms.
"You're kidding right?" Her eyes narrowed a little. "He's been in one of his moods lately, after the fight we had yesterday, I never had the chance to tell him. It's part of the reason why I wanted to go and research."
"You're a piece of work, Mai," Monk sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, but don't worry, couples fight all the time!" Yasuhara pointed out cheerfully. "Monk and I have them all the time!" A blush began to creep up the girl's face as a feature of uneasiness was shown on the monk's.
"Will you leave me out of this!"
"Besides, why would Naru want to date me?" Mai shrugged as she turned around to leave.
"Jeez, girlie, you can't just leave after saying that." The monk's hand was on her shoulder.
"It's fine, Monk, you have a job to do and so do I, besides, I think I might be over Naru," Mai said, walking away before she could be stopped. She was out of sight in a second.
"What's up with her?" Yasuhara asked hands in his pockets.
"I don't know, but I don't think the week off she had from work was enough time for her," Monk added. "I also don't think now is the time to get to the bottom of it."
yup lol i had some fun with this chapter and don't worry i'm a NaruMai fan but I like to spice things up lol now my question for everyone and please respond in a review (or if you need, pm me :)) what ghost hunt character either from the anime or my fic would you like to see again?
let me know! I'll update soon! jaa nee! :D