Well I updated way sooner than I thought I would. I hope to update again in a couple of weeks because I have most of the next chapter already planned out, but I want to get a head start on the case itself and plan out the details a little better than I have them in my head. This upcoming case I've have the idea for for about three years or so. I think it'll be one of my favorites and it'll bring us closer to another case that I've wanted to write for almost four years, but I needed to get to this point. What I'm trying to say is that I have a lot of things to come and a lot of exciting twists and moments. Enjoy!
Post Case 4-Wounds
January Sunday 5:12 P.M.
"You've had the journal about a week, do you feel it's helping?" Hozumi asked, offering the teen a cup of tea. Mai accepted the cup with one hand and drummed her fingers on the notebook with the other. "It doesn't seem like you've written much in it."
Mai took a sip and placed the cup on the table, trying to hide the exhaustion in her movements. Saturday morning, she had managed to get three full hours of sleep, but not a wink the next night. Nevertheless, she opened the journal and flipped through the few pages she had filled. Despite Hozumi stating he would respect her privacy and not read unless she wished, she still didn't feel that she could be completely honest with her writing. She shrugged. "I haven't written much in here, but I tend to get so busy that I forget about it."
"That's okay, but this week I want you to make a conscious effort to write down as much as you can." The young man took his seat and folded his hands after placing his cup on the table. "It's a little difficult to create the habit at first, but soon you'll be able to see the logic of how things play out."
"Logic, right…" her voice trailed off as she glanced out the window. For a cold January day, it was pretty nice. If you stood in the sun you'd be warm at least until the wind came with a chill. If only she wasn't so worried about that creature in her dreams. The one her own mind created and allowed to torture her. Even if he didn't fully manifest in her dreams, she could still hear his laughter. His breathing. Hell, she could still hear it. Just thinking about that thing made her-
"Mai?" She blinked hard as her mind came back to reality. "Are you okay? You seem a little distracted." She muttered an apologetic excuse, asking him to repeat what he had said before. "I was asking how much sleep you got last night."
"Unfortunately, not much, about three hours to be honest," she lied smoothly. Her stomach churned as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Without thinking, she pulled the device out of her pocket to see it was none other than her boyfriend. He had such perfect timing.
"Mai." She blinked again as Hozumi reached over and took the phone. He placed it on the table. "By the look on you face, that wasn't a work text. I think it can wait."
She didn't blame him for being annoyed with her phone habits. She skipped out on their sessions three times in a row and now that she's been making it to them fairly regularly, she's been distracted by the damn thing. She sighed and nodded, giving her attention back to her friend. Wait, could she even call him that? She's been coming to see him for two months now, he knew a lot about her and she knew a bit about him but she didn't think they were close. Honestly, she probably knew about him than she did her own boss-
Right, I don't really know Naru, she remembered, thinking of the last full out conversation that she had with the young man.
I thought you would know me by now!...We're no less strangers than when we first met…
She wasn't sure what hurt more, coming to the realization that she really didn't know him. Or that it took so long for her to realize that Shouta had been right. Maybe it would be wise for her to find a new job. It was obvious that she was nothing more than his assistant that he had to keep bailing out of dangerous situations. So why should she stay around?
"Mai?" Damn. Distracted again. "Mai, what's bugging you? Do you want to talk about it?"
"It's nothing really," she answered with a fake smile. "The lack of sleep has been getting to me, I've been kind of spacy lately." She put up her hands to wave away the worried look he shot her. "Nothing to be worried about, I should be able to sleep well enough tonight and I'll be better by tomorrow morning."
Monday 4:00 P.M.
Mai walked into the office out of the cold after class. She placed her coat on the rack and wordlessly entered the kitchenette to make tea. She set the kettle on the stove and pulled out the teapot along with a few cups. She hesitated as she reached into the cabinet. Aside from the dozen basic clay cups, there were two cups that were definitely made for two specific people. The cups she and Naru had given each other for Christmas, she wasn't sure if she had used hers since she received it. She knew Naru had used his, hell she made his tea. She shook her head and grabbed three clay cups as the kettle began to whistle.
It was silent. Just as it had been the last week. Lin wasn't much of a talker, but he did manage a, "Thank you, Mai. How are you today?" as she gave him his cup. To which she gave a basic response that everyone seems to give. He continued to type, but she could have sworn she saw a look of worry in his eyes. Great, the all knowing silent one knows something's up. He'll probably try to get me and Naru to make nice, but I doubt it, she told herself as she headed into the narcissist's office.
She placed the cup on the desk and ignored the "Thank you" that came from it. She kept her face expressionless and walked back to her desk and went through the files of paperwork that Naru had left for her.
It was yet another silent day at the office. It was starting to get to her, not even the rest of the team had stopped by to visit the last week. Granted they had just finished up a case probably wanted to let Naru be, but the least they could do was come say hi to her right? They were supposed to be her family-
Mai isn't this proof enough? She swore she heard Shouta's voice in her mind. She shook her head of it. But it's true. I really am alone…
Ding-ding. Ding-sing.
The ring of the bell startled her. She was happy that her eyes had not gone watery, she had done a lot of crying lately, she was almost sure she was out of tears. With possibly the fakest smile she had ever given, Mai stood up and greeted the guest. "Welcome to Shibuya Psyichic Research, I'm Taniyama Mai, how can we help?"
Their guest was an elderly woman. She was short and heavy, with her gray hair tied in a bun just above her neck. Thick lensed glasses made her brown eyes look ridiculous on her small face, but she gave a toothy smile. "Hello, dear, I seem to have some paranormal issues. Will you be able to help me?"
"We will surely try, please have a seat, would you like some tea?" Mai led the woman to their living space and had her sit down. She walked over to the door closed office doors. "Guys, we have a potential client," she said numbly, and then headed for the kitchenette to make tea.
"Tell me what's been going on Abukara-san," Mai heard Naru ask as she brought over another cup of tea.
"You see, there are strange noises in my apartment at night. I'll wake up in the morning and things will be moved." She took a sip of her tea and placed the cup on the coffee table. "Oh, it's terrible! Something so terrifying happened to my little Rin and she hasn't talked to me since!"
"Is Rin a family member?" Naru asked, Lin continued to type next to him.
"Of course she is! She only came into this world a few short years ago." Something appeared out of the corner of Mai's eye. Or well, moved.
"What is your relationship to Rin-san?" Mai's eyes closed in on the purse next to the old woman. Was that what was moving?
"My dear Rin, she's such a sweetheart. I have her picture in my purse." The woman unzipped the purse and a black cat climbed out onto the couch. "Rin-chama! You followed me all the way here! Oh, you must be so frightened to stay alone in that nasty apartment! No wonder you snuck in there!"
Mai felt a sweatdrop appear on her forehead. "Of course, Rin is a cat," she muttered sarcastically. Silently, she was a little thankful that there wasn't a new case just yet. "Naru, I have some paperwork to finish for you, mind finishing this up without me?"
But she didn't wait for a response. She let her stoic boss take care of throwing the crazy cat lady out. I'm surprised we haven't had more of these nutcases around here.
Wednesday 5:30 P.M.
"Thanks for coming out tonight," Shouta said, as they sat down at a table. "I would have preferred to go out on Friday but you're going to be working."
"Yeah, sorry," Mai replied sheepishly as she looked over the menu. Another sleepless night, but what was the difference if she got sleep or not? It wasn't going to change anything. All she could do was pretend that it wasn't bothering her and try to have fun. "It's been a crazy week, we've had a lot of nutcases come in with cases that have no grounds for an investigation. Otherwise, I might have been able to get Friday off, but Naru's not happy that I made him kick out an old woman with her cat."
"Good for you, making him do his own dirty work," Shouta laughed. The waiter came over and Shouta ordered for the both of them. "And it's fine, I get that your job has to be your first priority, but on the bright side I got you a second interview at the office."
Mai almost choked on her water. But she managed a smile as she replied, "That's great! When is it?"
"That's why I'm telling you now, I need to know when you are off next week so I can schedule it for you. Do you work on Tuesday?" Mai shook her head in answer. "Perfect, would Tuesday after school work?"
"Uh yeah, that should be fine," she answered, feeling a shiver go down her spine. She suddenly, but unsurprisingly, lost her appetite. I can't keep doing this to myself.
"Hey, do you want to, you know, stay the night at my place?" The question caught the girl off guard as the waiter came around with their appetizer. "My roommates are going to be out so it'll be just you and me."
Mai's heart raced faster than it should have. She knew what he was asking and they had been dating a while… "…grab your things."
Mai shook her head. "Sorry, I spaced out for a second, what was the last part?"
"I said, after dinner we can stop by your place and grab your things and I can drive you to school in the morning when I'm on my way to class." He placed his hand over hers and stroked her thumb with his. "It'll be nice, we can watch a movie, maybe light a few candles-"
"Shouta," she cut him off, trying to hide the shakiness of her voice. She gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm quite there yet. You're the first guy that I've really been in a relationship with and I don't want to go too fast. Is that okay?"
She was expecting him to yell. To be upset. To convince her otherwise. But he didn't. "I understand," he said as he let out a breath. "I had hoped that since we were almost at three months you and I might have been on the same page as far as that goes. But I guess you need a little more time."
"Exactly!" she said a little too quickly. "Sorry, I'm sure I'll get to that point soon, but for now," she adjusted her hand's position so that she was holding his, "I like what we are. And I want to stay like this for a bit."
Thursday 3:21 A.M.
Luckily, Mai had managed to take a little nap after her date with her boyfriend. She also managed to write a little more in her journal. She didn't go into much detail, just what time she came home what she did, what time she woke up, that sort of thing. She didn't write her feelings or anything like that. That's probably what Hozumi wanted me to do…
But why should she have to write out her feelings? She already knew what she was feeling. She knew what she had felt before. She understood a lot of it. She was in a dangerous work environment and her cases were having a negative affect on her mental state. It was why she needed to find a new job-
She wasn't sure if she wanted to find a new job. But she was becoming more certain that she needed to. Shouta was so sweet to go out of his way to help her do that, but the company he was interning at wasn't going to pay her much. She had spent the last almost two years with a very decent income that allowed her to also focus on her studies, if she were to leave she would have to take multiple jobs and her grades would suffer. That was the only reason why she was hesitant about leaving-
But it wasn't. Ayako. Monk. John. Masako. Yasuhara. She would miss them. But she would probably get together with them and hang out, right? You haven't spent time with them outside of cases. Shouta had said. And it's true. What would be different? We might make an attempt the first couple of times, but then everyone will probably forget about me.
Snap out of it, Mai! She smacked her own cheeks to wake her mind of such thoughts. You haven't quit yet. Who knows? Things might change. Things might get better. This will pass. This will pass.
"Well, it's after three thirty in the morning, what would any normal high school student with insomnia do?" she said to herself as she opened her backpack that she had next to her bed. "Probably not homework, but at least I'm trying to be productive."
She pulled out an essay she had printed out at the school library and a pen. She began to make edits as she read through the stapled pages.
Thursday 4:05 P.M.
Mai walked into the office just a few minutes late. She wondered if Naru was angry with her. Normally, when she would walk in a little late, Naru would chastise her and then order her for tea. Maybe he didn't notice the time. Or maybe he just didn't care anymore. Maybe he realized that Mai knew that he only used her to be his tea slave.
She walked into the kitchenette to make his majesty some tea, when she noticed the kettle on the stove and the teapot on the counter. She tilted her head to the side and placed her hand on the teapot. It's hot. Someone made tea very recently. She noted and poured herself a cup.
She walked back to her desk. A pile of files sat there with a post-it note on top.
These are the cases that were brought to us yesterday. Complete the files just like how we do with cases that we don't accept. –Lin.
Wow, Naru must be mad at me. She told herself as she opened up the first file. Having Lin assign me my duties for the day and making him leave me a note? Japanese isn't even his first language. She shook her head. Reading the details in the first file she shook her head again. What's with the crazy cat ladies this week? This is the third one!
She sighed and rolled her eyes before going through the file to tie up any loose ends. Everything seemed to be in order. Woman claimed there was supernatural activity, doors closing on their own, footsteps, things moving on their own, her terrified cat. Naru chocked everything up to being the cat itself. The reason why the cat was terrified was because it was sensing the fear of its owner. The woman wasn't pleased, but Naru offered her the number of a vet in case there was something wrong with the cat.
"Seems cut and dry," she commented softly as she opened a document on her computer and proceeded to type up the final report. She heard a door open, but knew it wasn't the front door, so she ignored it. If he wants tea so badly, then he is more than capable of making it himself. She continued to type uninterrupted as her employer walked past her desk and into the kitchenette.
She heard the faucet being turned on as well as the stove. Still she continued typing like her coassistant in the office at the end of the hall. Before she had finished the first file, she watched her boss carry a steaming cup to his office. "There is more on the counter." And thus his door was closed.
It should have been a nice gesture. Like when he brought her tea during the Urado case. He decides that she has enough work to do and he'll make some tea for himself and some extra for her to enjoy. Almost like a peace offering. Then why did she feel so hurt?
She pushed back the feelings and looked over the final draft making sure there were no last minute edits. All the while, she kept her face fairly close to the screen, to give her watery eyes an excuse.
Friday 12:50 P.M.
"Mai, are you working tonight?" Keiko asked as she sat with her two best girlfriends and her boyfriend and his friend.
Mai nibbled through some of her bento. "Yeah, I work until nine tonight."
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Work until five. Why?"
"Well, the four of us wanted to go ice skating. And we thought that you could come with and bring Shouta," the girl said with a smile. Mai looked between Keiko and Taiki, how happy they seemed. Was Shouta right about Taiki too? And then she looked to Michiru and Genji. An unlikely couple, but they seemed to be getting close even though Michiru said she was taking a break from relationships. How did Mai become so distant?
"I'll have to ask Shouta," Mai finally answered. "I'm not sure if he has anything planned for us already, so I'll talk to him tonight and see what he wants to do."
"Tell him you planned something for once," Genji offered. "Trust me, he might like that and it'll take some pressure off of him to do all of the planning for everything."
"Yeah, Genji's right," Keiko agreed. "It's been forever since we hung out outside of school and you don't have a case going on. So please try."
Mai just smiled. "Like I said, I'll talk to Shouta. I don't see why he wouldn't be up for it."
"Good, you better convince that ass to go," Michiru scoffed, earning odd looks from her friends. "I get that we get to see you at school and he doesn't but we need some Mai-time too."
"I think what Michi is trying to say is, we miss you, Mai," Taiki translated. "So basically, really try to come out with us, but if for whatever reason you can't it's okay."
"No, it's not!" Michiru countered, only to have the young man put a hand up.
"Yes, it is." A look seemed to pass amongst the two couples, but Mai couldn't quite read it. "If she can't because she and Shouta have other plans then we can't be too angry with them. After all, we are asking her to go on pretty short notice."
Michiru muttered something under her breath as the bell rang. The group stood up and threw out their trash as Mai wondered about what her best friend had said. "When we invited her bowling, she came without a second thought. But that was before Shouta came around."
Is she really jealous of Shouta? Mai wondered as she threw out the rest of her bento. That's ridiculous! She can't be jealous of him! She wanted us to be together in the first place. She made her way back to their classroom. If she's going to be jealous of him because I hang out with him once or twice a week when I see her at least five days a week, then maybe we shouldn't be friends-
With the venom woven in that final thought, Mai felt sick to her stomach. Nausea welled up inside her and she rushed to the restroom before she could vomit all over the hall.
Friday 2:21 P.M.
"Davis-san, it's good to see you again," the young man greeted as he sat on the couch in the SPR office. "I heard you got some free advertisement from the local production. How did you manage that?"
The young man's eyes seem to light up in amusement at what he just said. The blue eyes of the young man in black in front of him, however, saw no amusement whatsoever. "The only confidentiality agreement we had discussed was that we wouldn't discuss this case with potential clients or past clientele. Discussing the case was entirely up to them." He placed his cup of tea on the coffee table. "Though, I wish they hadn't decided to use our investigation as publicity."
"Crazy cat ladies?" the young man teased.
"I doubt you came all this way to discuss the free publicity my company has managed to receive. So I would appreciate it if you would get straight to the point, Hozumi-san." Naru's patience had run out, but the young man just shrugged and pulled a file out of his bag.
"Never been a fan of small talk, I see," Hozumi said as he opened the folder. "I am here on business, actually. As you know, Eita-san has flown out to England upon your father's request for a case. In the meantime, I'm running the office, I can take on cases without him present, but I don't think I have the manpower for this one." He handed the file to the young employer. "Unfortunately, I don't think this case can wait for Eita-san to get back, so I was hoping you might take an interest in it."
Naru scanned over the file, which Hozumi had made sure to translate to English. "They contacted you specifically?"
"Yes, apparently, we helped a friend of theirs and want to keep this as low profile as possible. They didn't mention exactly which client of ours they were friends with." He leaned back and crossed his arms. "They don't know that I'm asking you for your opinion, but I wanted to see if you were possibly interested. You know, before I refer them to you and you can turn them down."
Naru ignored him and continued to read through the file, trying to find any natural causes to the claims of this client. Hozumi sighed.
"Of course, someone will be taking this case. If you are not willing or interested, then I'll just have to wait for Eita-san to return."
Finally, Naru looked up. "May I keep this?" He closed the folder and set it on his lap.
"Of course," Hozumi replied, a smile appeared on his face. "That is, if you will take the case."
"Let them know that you will refer them to us and that you are sending over all of their information. If they could come in for a consultation over the weekend it would be better, but a phone call will do."
"Excellent!"
Friday 10:45 P.M.
"Thanks for agreeing to drive, Yasuhara," Monk said as he got into the front seat of the young man's car. The blonde priest had climbed into the back seat.
"Ah, Monk, my love, it's the least I can do!" Yasuhara answered. "And I can't drink yet but I can get in!"
"Where are we going?" John asked, as Yasuhara put the car in drive.
"A wonderful, magical place that I'm surprised you haven't gone to since you came to Japan," the college student said with a sense of dreaminess in his voice. Monk rolled his eyes.
"Shounen, where exactly do you plan on taking us?" But the college student just smirked and an ominous glare crossed his glasses. Soon they passed a certain bar that the monk knew all too well and Yasuhara pulled around to find a parking spot. "Are you serious?"
"What? Every foreigner deserves to have their shot at a karaoke bar!" The cheeky grin plastered on the young man's face gave the monk all the more reason to facepalm. "Plus, I know the owner and he'll let me in as long as I don't drink."
"Well, I haven't been to an actual karaoke bar before," John smiled as the car parked and the guys headed for the bar. "I'm sure it'll be fun."
The boys made it in to the bar, with only John having to get his ID checked and they headed for a man who was nicely dressed. "Osamu! Glad you came!" the man said with a bow to the college student. Yasuhara bowed in return.
"Hideyoshi-san! Thanks you for having us." Yasuhara turned to the twi men with him. "This is Hideyoshi, he's a family friend of mine. And these are Takigawa Houshou and John Brown. John hasn't had much experience with night life of Tokyo so I figured he could use a night out."
The three men bowed in greeting. "Excellent! I have a table reserve for you, and remember if I catch you drinking, Shounen, you're out of here."
"I know, Hideyoshi-san," Yasuhara laughed as the men found their table. An already very intoxicated man was belting the words to Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana, amidst drunken slurs. A waitress came by and took their drink orders. "Well? Pretty nice, right?"
"I mean, not exactly my idea of a Friday night, but after a few shots I'll probably be up there too," Monk joked as the waitress came around with their drinks. "Well, gentlemen, Kampai!"
"Kampai!" They said, as they held up their glasses in a toast. They drank a few rounds and laughed and sung along with some of the horrible singers that dared approach the stage. Several drinks in, both the monk and priest had a little more than loosened up.
"Hey, John, why don't you get up there?" The college student suggested, as he nudged the man's arm. "You know you want to!"
"I couldn't!" he laughed shaking his head. "I don't know the words."
"I have an idea," Monk said, grabbing the priest's arm and dragging him to the stage. He selected the song and grabbed the microphone. The famous harmonica tune blasted through the speakers as the words appeared on the screen in English and Japanese. "It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd stumbles in." Monk sang in heavily accented English.
As in true Yasuhara fashion, the college student pulled out his phone and opened the camera feature. "And this, my friends, is how you get blackmail," he said to no one in particular, before he pressed the record button. By the time he had done so, it was the priest's turn to sing.
"He says, 'Son, can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes.'" Choir practice had done the young man good. He may not have been the best singer, but at least intoxicated he wasn't too off key. Yasuhara did his best to contain his laughter as the tipsy men began the chorus.
"Sing us a song, you're the piano man! Sing us a song tonight!" they sang in utmost seriousness, rousing cheers from the other patrons. "Well, we're all in the mood for a melody and you've got us feeling alright!"
February Saturday, 2:14 A.M.
Mai had practically jumped out of bed. She had slept a good four hours but with the dreams that plagued her, she may as well have not slept at all. The manifestation of her fears. That damn demon. She could still feel his breath against her ear from when he had whispered to her. Won't be long, my dear. True evil is coming.
She closed her eyes and curled her legs up to her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she rocked back and forth with her hands fisted in her hair. "He's not real. He's not real. He's not real."
She could still see that hideous face and she snapped her eyes opened. "He can't be real. He can't be real."
Needless to say, she didn't write that in her journal that night.
Sunday 3:37 P.M.
Ayako had been enjoying her day off. No day job. No case to worry about. She got some errands done. And even had a chance to take a walk around the park in the snow before the storm hit. Now she was making some tea, had a cheesy chick flick playing on the TV, in sweatpants and an old T-shirt, hair up in a messy bun as well. She heard the wind howl in time with the whistling kettle as she saw the snowfall through her apartment window. She noticed how much snow had accumulated in only a couple hours and was glad she had finished her errands early.
She allowed the tea to steep and wandered to her room in search of her favorite sweater. She glanced to her bed and felt a twinge of loneliness. She shook it out of her head literally and reminded herself it was for the best. She found her sweater and as she was putting it on, she heard her doorbell.
"Who the hell could that be?" she wondered aloud and headed for the door.
She went through the list of possibilities of who could be at the door. Some kids selling magazines, but it was not exactly the best weather to be doing that. A concerned neighbor letting her know that she forgot to turn her headlights off. A neighbor wanting to borrow a cup of sugar for a recipe, Hiroe-san was always baking during a snowstorm. A friend wanting to binge watch movies like the good old high school and college days. But what she found was shocking to say the least.
Was she surprised? Absolutely. Was she happy to see the person knocking on her door? It could go either way. Did any of her ideas match the scene before her? Not in the slightest. Was she going to need more tea? Definitely.
After all, the person on the other side of the doorway was soaked to the bone from running across town. She was obviously upset, tears had stained and practically froze to her face. Her right eye was swelling and puffy and turning blue before the priestess's eyes. She shivered as the icicles in her hair melted and dripped down her face and neck. Now if that weren't shocking enough, the identity of the young woman these characteristics belonged to only made Ayako wonder what the hell happened.
But before she could even ask, Mai immediately lunged to her friend for a warm embrace.
Like I said, the healing process is sometimes more painful than the injury itself. Especially when it comes to emotions. Next chapter will start a long healing process, but I promise you that Mai will get through it, maybe not one hundred percent back to her original self, but then she wouldn't have grown. Everything will get better. And don't worry, Naru and Mai will get together...eventually.
Hope you enjoyed! Here is a preview to the next case!
Case 9-Nightmare- SPR travels to the Akita Prefecture to investigate a violent spirit targeting girls at a university. Meanwhile, Mai's world comes crashing down as her bubble finally bursts.