In this chapter, Masako finally arrives. Her presence alone makes it very clear that she should have been around from the get-go. Eh, you can't win 'em all.
.o0o.
Masako knocked on the door to Oliver's condo at precisely eight o'clock. In about ten seconds, the door opened, and she was greeted by the three grumpiest morning faces she had ever had the pleasure of seeing. None of them looked like they had gotten more than a few hours of sleep. This case must have really been a doozy.
"Come in," Naru said, getting out of her way. His clothing was wrinkled, like he had been sleeping in them. Which he probably had.
"Good morning, Masako," Mai said. "Want some tea? Sorry, we just woke up."
As soon as Masako looked directly at Mai, she saw the problem. A wretched soul was hiding in the crevices of Mai's spirit. It was torn and flayed, beaten nine ways to Sunday. It was missing huge gaps in its body, and it was so faint that Masako almost missed it. The only reason Masako saw it was because it waved in and out of Mai's body, like a reflection on water. Masako's hands flew to her mouth. What had this poor thing been through?
She relayed her find to the group. She expected Naru and Lin to be minimal in their reactions, but not Mai. Mai slumped on the couch, seeming somehow defeated and sorrowful.
"I've watched this spirit get tortured for four nights in a row now. It's always worn Lin's face, but I've seen it die too many times for these to all be memories," she said.
Masako tilted her head. "I can try to get the spirit out, but it is incredibly weak."
"What does that mean?" Naru asked.
"Meaning it might fade out of existence just through the effort of separating itself from her," Masako said.
"That can happen?" Mai blurted.
"Spirits are generally too other to succumb to mortal perils, but they are still beings that exist and need energy to do so. It's like its very essence is just being held together by willpower alone."
"Is there some way to talk to it that doesn't risk its annihilation?" Naru asked.
"It's using Mai as a channel right now. Not fully possessing her, but using her life force as a lifeline. I doubt it has the strength to fully possess anyone, really. But you say it's been talking in your dreams?"
"Showing me visions," Mai corrected. "The most we were able to speak was last night, when Lin wrote a note."
On cue, Lin produced the note and handed it to Masako. Her eyebrows rose when she saw it was in Chinese. If this spirit wasn't able to understand Japanese, her job suddenly became a lot harder.
"I think we should start from the beginning," Naru said.
And so, while Lin made a small breakfast (as Naru was a tried-and-true fire hazard in the kitchen), Naru and Mai explained the past few days to Masako. They told her of the strange men who tried to pretend to be clients, Ayako's case, the spooky woods, and the giant rolling cylinder of melted spirits that Mai encountered. They also filled her in on the dreams that Mai was having, seemingly unrelated to the case. Masako nodded along, offering a light, "That's horrible," or "That's odd," before letting Naru finish.
"I would rather not have to dream again to talk to this spirit," Mai said. "Isn't there some way?"
Masako put a finger to her chin. "There are many ways of communicating with spirits, but spirits rarely need help with their own energy levels."
"If it's too weak to possess all of me, then how about part of me?"
Masako flashed back to the Urado case. Suzuki had allowed the spirits to use her hand to write, reporting that it felt as though the pen had been pulled. Something like that was possible, but only if the spirit was strong enough for that. Beside her, Naru began to think out loud.
"So far, the spirit has been communicating telepathically, but through images and memories," he said. "It would be useful if we could somehow record what was going on in your head, but such technology doesn't exist. I suggest we try something else. Guided hypnosis."
To this, Lin and Mai turned to Naru with quizzical looks on their faces. Masako had a pretty good idea of what Naru wanted to do, but she let the boss explain to be sure.
"Essentially what will happen is that we will turn off the conscious part of your brain. Shouldn't be all that difficult." Naru ignored Mai's scowl. "So when we ask questions, the spirit will show the instinctual parts of your mind its answers. From there, your instinctual mind will copy on paper what it shows you. Since the spirit only speaks Chinese, we will have to use Lin as a translator."
Mai stopped scowling at the obvious you're stupid jab, but she did ask, "Why hypnotize me? If you just want me to copy what the spirit is showing me?"
"The reason is twofold. One, the spirit has been most active when you're asleep, save for very specific conditions," Naru said. "Two, because its responses will likely be in Chinese, your subconscious mind will be quicker at copying and pasting. Your conscious mind will likely make mistakes in visual translation. This way, we avoid such problems."
There was a third, unspoken reason that Masako detected, and that was allowing the spirit to send telepathic messages without Mai having to remember them. So essentially, she'd be put in a dream-like state and the spirit would show her visions, but Mai would not be affected the way she had been in the past several days.
"Are we ready?" Naru asked.
At everyone's nod, they began. The four of them made a circle around Naru's tiny coffee table. Mai had a pen and a stack of paper in front of her. Naru had brought out a small red lightbulb, which pulsed in and out. Masako fixed her eyes on Mai and the intruding spirit, so as not to get lulled into Naru's hypnotic suggestions.
"Listen to my voice. Focus on the light. Steady your breathing to match it. Pick up the pen. At the word oleander, the consciousness of Weiguó Lin will temporarily take over this woman's body. And when I say the word torchbug, Mai Taniyama's consciousness will return permanently." Naru paused to give Lin time to repeat his words in Chinese. Naru stayed quiet for a few more seconds, either for dramatic effect or for the hypnotic suggestion to reach both souls in question. Probably the former. And then he said, "Oleander."
Mai's head slumped forward. Masako saw the poor spirit try its best to take control of Mai's body, but it was just too weak. An attempt to move a hand resulted in its head being unable to move, and as it leaned in one direction, it hadn't the strength to right itself. It truly could not sync up with Mai's mortal body.
Since neither Lin nor Naru could see this, Masako took over the instruction.
"Just focus on her mind. Reach her. She is yours to speak through. Show her what you want her to write, and she will."
Lin repeated.
And then Mai began to draw. Her strokes turned into abstract waves. Lin shook his head and shrugged. So she wasn't really writing anything.
Naru spoke. "Is this Weiguó Lin?"
Now, Mai's hand became focused. She pushed away the abstract drawing for a fresh sheet of paper and wrote.
"Yes," read Lin.
"Why are you possessing my assistant?" Naru asked. They waited.
"I am not," Lin said.
"Yes, you are."
Lin did not respond.
"Where do you come from?"
"China."
"Do you know where you are?"
"Japan. Hell on Earth."
"I need more concrete answers than that. Where in Japan are you right now?"
It took Lin a bit more time to respond, as the writing was more long-winded. "If I knew where I was, you filthy…" Lin paused, eyes narrowing. It didn't take a genius to realize Mai's hand had written some rather colorful expletive. "I wouldn't still be here."
Naru folded his arms. Lin's insult rolled off his back, as did most insults.
"All right then. Let's go with this. How old are you, and when were you born?"
The spirit remained quiet, and Mai remained still. Masako saw Weiguó's spirit exuding a weak yet hostile aura. It was clear he was tiring of the questions.
Then Lin spoke, asking a question in Chinese.
Mai's hand began to write with a viciousness that Masako had never seen on the kindhearted girl. "You traitor. You should be down here… tortured and slaughtered like the rest of us. I can only imagine… what favors you've done… to be working for those Japanese…"
The pauses Lin made were obvious, and with Weiguó's affinity for explicit language, it was clear that Lin was doing some heavy censoring. Masako couldn't understand a lick of Chinese, but the spirit had definitely not said favors.
Lin spoke again in Chinese, a hint of a pleading tone in his voice.
In response, Mai took the pen in her fist and drew a jagged X into the paper from corner to corner. She was pressing so hard that she broke the ballpoint. Had the pen been any harder, she would have scratched the glass beneath it. Naru, realizing how angry the spirit was becoming, snapped into action.
"Torchbug!" he yelled.
Instantly, Mai blinked and dropped the pen. She tried to shift, but her mind and her body were not fully reconnected. She fell sideways into Masako, who nearly flopped over from the sudden extra weight.
"Careful, Mai," she said. "You're not fully awake yet."
"Sorry," Mai said. She looked at the table while Lin got up and turned on the lights. Naru turned off the red bulb, bringing the hypnosis session to an end. Mai pushed all of the papers on the table so that they could all be seen. "What happened? Did I write that?"
"Keep up, Mai," Naru bit out. "The spirit living rent-free in your head did, and he isn't cooperating."
"But what's all this?" Mai asked.
"We tried to get answers," Masako said. "But the spirit only gave us sarcasm and hostility. It refused to answer most of our questions."
Naru turned to Lin. "What did you ask it?"
Lin shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He didn't answer me anyways. I asked what happened to you, and then did you get our note. To the first question, he called me a traitor and wished I was dead. To the second…" Lin gestured to the big X through the last page. Masako was sure he was just repeating this for Mai's sake, whose perceiving brain was turned off during the ritual.
"But he did get our note!" Mai exclaimed. "He wrote his name on it!"
"I'm not sure how to interpret that answer," Naru said, gesturing to the X.
"Maybe there's more than one spirit inside me?" Mai suggested.
"I can only see a single spirit," Masako said. "Only the strongest of spirits have been able to hide themselves from me, and I think you would know if there was a strong spirit in you, Mai."
"So then it's likely he was just done talking to us," Naru mused. "But it did tell us some useful things. It's a Chinese spirit that is not alone in its plight. Had Mai's dreams not been enough proof, this is the nail in the coffin, so to speak. It has a rather obvious hatred of the Japanese."
"You don't think it's…" Mai trailed off.
"I'm not ready to make a committed statement," Naru said. "I want more information. I need to know when this spirit died to be sure of any ties to World War Two."
This time, Lin interjected. "Well, it did say us. Considering it thinks me a traitor and purposefully tortures me in Mai's dreams, I wouldn't be surprised if this was some war-related mindset."
Mai's brow furrowed. "Lin, do you…?"
"I can understand it. I don't condone it. There are members of my family who feel much more strongly than I do on this subject."
Masako frowned and raised a meek hand. "Wait. Mai. Didn't you say one of your dreams involved an exploding bullet?"
At this, everyone turned to her. Mai nodded. "It was more like a bomb than a bullet, really. It blew into a million pieces while it was flying."
Masako frowned. A bullet that literally exploded in mid-flight? She'd never heard of such a thing. "That sounds like futuristic military weapons. And didn't you say your first dream had modern medical equipment? That doesn't sound like a spirit of wars past."
"I wouldn't bank on any of those things," Naru interrupted. Masako couldn't help but let her shoulders slump. She was on a roll, but Oliver couldn't even let her have that. Was this how Mai felt all the time? "The spirit was using faces of people Mai knows to convey its visions. I highly doubt this Weiguó person knows any of us personally. Maybe you, Miss Hara, but only because of your media exposure. It's all too possible that the spirit was using Mai's understanding of its situation as a mask, either because it had no choice, or it deliberately wanted to torment Mai. I don't know. But just because the spirit does something doesn't mean that it was forced to do so."
"So then you're saying that all we have are its nationality and its prejudices," Masako said.
"And the fact that it wasn't alone. And yet somehow it is alone now."
"Are we going to get rid of it?" Masako asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mai clench a fist near her chest. Exorcisms had always made the girl uneasy.
"I want to try one more time, after we've had a break, to get some answers out of it."
Masako nodded. Naru stood up. "Where are you going?"
"To call the rest of the team."
Naru left the room. His voice could be heard through the walls faintly as he spoke to what sounded like John first.
As he did that, Masako became more and more aware of a feeling that something wasn't right. She scanned the room, trying to find the source of her sudden alertness. Her eyes fell on Lin, more importantly, his shiki.
Masako had trouble identifying Lin's shiki on a good day, but she could at least sense them hanging onto his body or floating lazily nearby, like a cool breeze and an extra set of breaths fogging up a room. But now she realized that there were three missing. Focusing as best she could, she shifted her vision to the spiritual plane, trying to get a look at Lin's familiars. There were only two of them clinging to his body, and one appeared half-eaten. Unfortunately, focusing her vision like this meant that now, she was absolutely staring at Lin like an angry grandma. Lin glared back, challenging her stare.
"Need something, Miss Hara?" Lin asked.
"No. Um. Your shiki. It's injured."
Lin appeared surprised at Masako's observation. He must have been truly out of it to forget that she could at the very least sense their presence. Mai also stopped and turned toward the two of them.
"It's recovering."
"And the others? I thought you had five."
"One is gone. Two are missing."
Masako tilted her head. It was unusual for anything to happen to Lin, even more so his shiki. The onmyoji was like their secret ace up their sleeve, who could do battle spirit to spirit. So for something to be able to do this to him was concerning.
"It would appear that you've been the target of this most recent case," Masako said.
"John made that observation yesterday," Naru said, re-entering the room. "He will meet us at the office at two."
"The office?" Mai asked. "I thought we were closed."
"It's easier for him to meet us there," Naru said.
"What about Monk and Ayako?"
"I couldn't reach them."
Mai frowned. "Really?"
Naru ignored her question and moved over to the table, opening his laptop.
"What are you doing?"
"Research."
Masako turned to him. "Do we have a recovery plan? For Lin's shiki?"
"First we deal with Mai's intruder problem. Then we'll see what we can do about any recovery."
Naru's tone was so dry that Masako wasn't even sure the boy cared. Like Lin's shiki were merely casualties of the job. She wondered if Oliver realized that Lin was more or less tied to him, and if he didn't want to help with recovery, then he was essentially writing them off as lost. Masako turned her gaze toward Lin, hoping for any hint as to what he was thinking, but as was typical of the man, Lin was inscrutable and unreadable.
A phone buzzed. Lin honest-to-goodness jumped. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He quietly excused himself and turned toward the window. He began to speak in Chinese. As he spoke, the spirit inside Mai began to flicker, less like fire and more like disturbed water. Right, Weiguó understood everything Lin was saying. Mai suddenly clutched her head, hunching over and scrunching her eyes shut.
"Stop it!" she exclaimed. Everyone turned to her. Lin still held the phone to his ear. "Stop it, why are you doing this!?"
Lin turned away slightly and said one last thing in Chinese before hanging up.
"Get out! Get out getoutgetoutGETOUT!"
Lin shouted something in Chinese. Mai froze. She breathed heavily, tugging on her hair. She was coiled up like a spring ready to explode. Nobody dared touch her. Nobody except Masako. She knelt beside the tense girl and put a hand on her back. She felt Mai twitch away from her hand, but she kept her hand there.
"If I swallow a gallon of bleach, will the spirit finally get the hell out?" Mai growled.
"Don't do that."
Masako looked up at Naru. His expression was furious.
"Don't you ever think of doing something like that. You can and will get through this."
"I wasn't serious," said Mai.
"Start joking like that and one day you will be."
There wasn't much Mai could say to that. She just stared at him and nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry."
Naru opened his mouth, likely to scold her some more, but he thought better of it and turned away instead.
"What happened?" Masako asked.
"I… Lin started talking, and I think the spirit freaked out. He started showing me back to back visions of Lin being killed. I didn't think there were so many ways to kill someone!"
Masako pulled the girl into a hug. Mai was certainly stronger than her, as she squeezed the medium with a bit more force than was comfortable. It was more than a cling of desperation—Mai was getting angry. Good. Maybe she would be okay with destroying the spirit now.
"We need to get that spirit out of you," Naru said. "John will exorcise it as soon as we meet him." He checked his watch. Masako looked at the clock. It was just about nine o' five. They still had five hours to go.
"If we just want the spirit destroyed, I can do that now," Lin said, stepping forward.
Mai and Masako regarded him with confusion.
"What do you propose?" Naru asked.
"Because the spirit is in such a fragile state, all we need to do is push it out of Mai, and then it will dissolve. Isn't that right, Miss Hara?"
Masako nodded. "That's what's most likely going to happen."
Naru folded his arms. "And what are some less likely results?"
"The spirit is so weak that I don't think it can pose a real physical threat. The only other result I can fathom is that separation from Mai won't be the end of it. And then it will just be here, in the house."
"Well Mai? Do you want to try it?"
Everyone turned to Mai. She appeared on the verge of agreement. But then she asked, "Can John help it move on and find peace?"
"Not necessarily," Masako said. "When spirits need help moving on, they must be open to that help. If they aren't, then they can only be destroyed."
"Sounds to me like this spirit needs a lifetime of therapy that it won't get from us," Naru said. "It's in your best interest that we destroy it."
"Wait," Mai said. She looked at Lin. "What was that call you got?"
"That was my father. I had asked him earlier if there was any record of a Weiguó in my family. He just got back to me. Apparently, I had a first cousin once removed born in the fifties by that name."
Mai shook her head. "First cousin once removed?"
"Either the children of your direct cousin, or the children of your grandparent's siblings," said Naru. He turned to Lin. "Which is it in your case?"
"The latter," Lin said.
Mai followed a mental visualization of the lineage tree with her finger: from Lin to his parents, then to his grandparents, then over to his grandparent's siblings, and then down to his grandparent's sibling's child. It took her a minute, but she eventually nodded in understanding.
"All we know is that my grandfather lost touch with his brother not long after the war started."
"Are you sure our spirit is the same person?" Naru asked.
"Not at all," Lin said.
Naru turned back to Mai, his hand on his chin. "And yet the spirit had a rather volatile reaction when you spoke about it." He paused, pondering.
"Do you think we could try talking to it again?" Everyone looked at Mai, waiting for her explanation. "It went fine last time, for me at least. If we do the same thing again, it shouldn't be too bad."
Everyone turned back to Naru for his input.
Naru folded his arms. "I think enough time has elapsed. Perhaps now it will be more cooperative."
The group sat around the table with the paper and the markers. Naru had purposefully given Mai soft markers instead of pens this time, so she couldn't damage his table as easily. Naru set up the small bulb and began the hypnotic process. He repeated the instructions from earlier, even using the same trigger phrases.
"When I say the word oleander, the consciousness of Weiguó Lin will take over this woman's body. And when I say the word torchbug, the consciousness of Mai Taniyama will return permanently."
Lin translated. Naru spoke. "Oleander."
Mai slumped.
"Will you cooperate with us now?"
Mai didn't move.
"Listen. Whoever did this to you, we are not them," said Naru. "We are doing what we can to help you find peace."
Mai's fingers twitched. She did not move. With a furrowed brow, Naru sent a look to Masako. Masako nodded. Weiguó's spirit was there.
Lin lowered his head. Even though the spirit was present and listening, it was likely still antagonistic. How were they going to get this stubborn, wounded spirit to talk? It probably wasn't a good idea to try and empathize with its plight; only it had been through that, and despite the wariness that Lin had for Japan and her people, it was nowhere near the level of hatred that this spirit clearly had. Lin wondered if the spirit remembered anything before falling into the hands of its captors. Maybe the way to its cooperation was to remind it that life wasn't all that bad. Without any prompting from Naru, he spoke.
"One of my fondest memories of my grandfather was when I was young." Naru and Masako looked at him, but they hadn't magically gained the ability to understand Chinese in the past few minutes, so this truly was a private conversation between him and the spirit. "We sat in the garden, on a bench, under a plum tree. He had me in his lap, and he told me tales of the huli jing. My siblings and I coveted our grandfather's attention, so having those moments alone with him were precious."
As Lin talked, Mai began to draw. With slow, deliberate strokes, she drew a nine-tailed fox. It wasn't professional by any sense of the word, with lines crisscrossing here and there, but it was the first non-hostile response they had gotten from the spirit that day. Mai's hand pushed the page away and started on a fresh one. The room was silent as she started. This time, she drew first a horizontal line, and then a tree and a bench. She drew two people sitting on that bench, one large and one small. The small one was facing the big one, neither of them touching. Mai's hand trembled.
"What's wrong?" Masako asked.
The spirit did not respond.
"Let us help you," said Lin.
Mai's hand wavered. Then she wrote, "Yes," on a fresh piece of paper. Lin nodded to Naru, and the boss took over the conversation.
"What happened to you?" Naru asked.
"Don't know for certain," wrote Mai. Her hand began to move quickly, like she couldn't keep up with the ticker tape running through her mind. "Kept in… cages. All of us Chinese. Experimented on. Medical. Military. Guards were sadistic. Men and women. Tortured. Raped."
"Everything you showed to Mai. I assume that's a collection of memories?" asked Naru. "They didn't all happen to you?"
"No difference."
Naru looked on the verge of debating, but he decided against it.
"Tell us your date of birth," he instructed.
Mai took a new page and wrote. "June 9th, 1952."
Lin paled. That was the same birthdate his father had reported. There was still a chance that this was not that Weiguó, but the chances became all the slimmer.
"When did this happen to you? How old were you?"
"Thirty one."
1983. This happened in 1983. Some cruel underground human experimentation happened not forty years ago, and this poor spirit was one of its victims.
"Where did this happen?" Naru asked.
There was no response at first. Then Mai pulled a new piece of paper. She began to draw parallel, vertical lines, like the bottom half of a comb. It wasn't until she drew branches stemming from the top of the lines that anyone realized she was drawing tall trees. A familiar pulse of terror hit Lin. He was composed enough to do no more than shake his head, and the feeling of terror only lasted a second or so. It truly was just a pulse, as though the drawing held some but not the same amount of power as the real thing. His reaction did not escape Naru, but it was naturally lost on Masako.
"How did you get here?" said the medium. When the spirit merely continued to add branches to trees, Masako clarified. "How did you get into the body of the woman whose space you are occupying?"
Mai pulled back the paper that she had been writing on. "She left her door open," wrote the spirit. No one could hide the confusion on their faces at that statement. Naru and Lin glanced at each other, and then to Masako, who also looked confused.
"Literally?" Naru asked.
"Her mind," wrote Mai.
Once again Lin and Naru glanced at each other. Lin had a few theories as to what had happened, and he was sure Naru could out-theory him any day. But what was apparent was that this girl was going to need some serious training. Gaps in her psychic defenses were easily exploitable, and the damage could be expansive, as shown by the past few nights.
"And how did you get to Mai?" Masako pressed.
"I ran," wrote the spirit.
"From what?"
"The doctors. The cells. The woods. I was the only one. The only one. The only one." Mai's hand wouldn't stop. She kept writing the last phrase over and over again, and Lin saw no reason to keep translating. He attempted to get the spirit's attention, but Mai did not stop. He turned to Naru and shook his head.
"Torchbug," said Naru.
This time, Masako was prepared to catch the girl as she fell out of her hypnotized state.
"Did it work?" Mai asked, voice groggy as she reoriented herself.
"We got enough to work with," Naru said. "Now we should get that spirit out of you."
"Didn't Masako say it would dissolve if we did that?"
"Mai, the spirit said you've been leaving mental doors open. That's how it found you and possessed you. Do you have any idea what that means?"
To that, Mai furrowed her brow. She looked like she had some ideas, but it was clear she didn't know for certain. For this, Masako stepped in.
"For mediums, the first thing we learn is how to close our channels to the spiritual plane. Those who don't do this are easily overwhelmed by the noise that just naturally exists. Spirits can still try to talk to us, like any other person on the street. But in order for the spirit to possess us, we have to allow it by letting down psychic barriers. If you are able to even telepathically communicate with spirits, you need to learn how to make these barriers."
Mai blinked, again like an owl. Like all her prayers had been answered and she couldn't process it. "Can you teach me?"
Masako nodded. "Of course. But first, we need to get that spirit out of you. At this point, it's not viable. Without a life force to cling to, it can't survive. It's a parasite on your essence. I do not advise that we let it stay." Masako turned around to face Lin and Naru. "Unless there's still something we need from it?"
Lin turned to Naru. Naru folded his arms. It was clear they were both thinking the same thing. If the spirit was willing to keep talking, then of course Naru would want it to. There were a handful of things that Lin wanted to know as well. Though perhaps he was only deluding himself. Did he really want to know if this spirit was a member of his distant family, or was this knowledge better left unknown?
Regardless of his own feelings on the matter, it was clear (if the spirit was to be believed) that something wretched happened recently, violating international and human rights laws. That was waaaaay beyond the SPR's scope of business. Whether or not they pursued this event as an organization was ultimately up to Naru, and as individuals, they had to make the decision themselves. Still, if something like this happened, there was always the possibility of a cover-up. To what degree, who knows. And who knows what kind of enemies they would make if they went too loud with their findings. Protecting Naru was hard enough as it was. Lin didn't need any John Wicks or James Bonds coming after them.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Noll, didn't Matsuzaki and Takigawa mention investigating the site by themselves?"
The alarmed look on Naru's face revealed that he had followed a similar thought trail as Lin, but he hadn't quite landed on Ayako and Monk just yet. Naru immediately stood up and opened his phone. He wasn't the one to pace around muttering—he would rather stand in a corner and let the anxiety ripple off of him like odor from a skunk. The silence from both him and his phone confirmed both of their fears—Ayako and Takigawa were not picking up.
"What's going on?" Mai asked.
Every now and then, Masako reminded Lin that she did indeed have a brain behind her doll-like beauty. She explained to Mai everything that Mai had relayed on the spirit's behalf, and then the inferences that Lin and Naru had already made about the potential international situation and possible coverup.
"And Ayako and Monk are going back to the woods? We have to help them!"
Go back to the woods. That was the last thing Lin wanted to do. But even without the unintentional nudge from Ayako and Takigawa, it was looking more and more like they'd have to finish what they started with their spooky forest.
"Let's not be hasty," Masako said. She glanced at the clock. Nine-forty. "With how late we kept them, it's possible they're still asleep."
Mai furrowed her brow. "Maybe, but they also might already be at the woods."
Naru sighed. "Lin, you said you could force the spirit out of Mai. Do that now, and then we'll head back to Amnity Park."
"Wait!" Mai exclaimed. "What about John?"
"Would you prefer John do it?" Naru asked, folding his arms. He was clearly growing impatient. Mai's lack of response was all he needed to hear. "Fine. All of us are going to the office. Lin, Miss Hara, you will wait with Mai until John arrives. I trust you can explain the situation."
"What about you?" Lin challenged.
"I will go patrol the forest perimeter for any sign of Ayako and Monk. I'll take the van, so you'll have your car."
"And if you get pulled over? You don't have a license."
Naru's silent glare was intimidating on the outside, but Lin knew from experience that this was the sign that Naru had conceded the argument.
Mai spoke next. "But we have to do something." Her voice wavered, afraid that they were going to leave Ayako and Monk to their fate. Whatever that might be.
"They're professionals," Naru said.
"Yeah, but…"
"I'll go," Lin said, drawing the attention of the room back to him. He was doing his best not to think of the woods. Despite the fact that he now realized exactly why the woods terrified him so, he couldn't do anything about it. It did not escape his notice that Mai's eyes were wide with worry. Naru shook his head.
"I need you at the office. There are a mountain of reports to do."
"If all goes well, I will be returning with Ms. Matsuzaki and Takigawa before noon."
"And if all doesn't go well?"
Lin didn't have an answer for the boy. Truly, he did not want to return to that forest, where the crippling sense of dread clawed at the inside of his ribcage. But Ayako and Takigawa had to be warned. First order of business was to locate them.
"Fire and Water."
His two shiki snapped to attention.
"One to Ayako Matsuzaki; the other to Houshou Takigawa."
"Master, that will leave you alone," said Fire. Gee thanks, Lin hadn't figured.
"Go to their nests and see if they are there. Report back if true or false."
The hackles on Fire lowered slightly, clearly relieved that it didn't have to go back to the woods just yet.
"You call us back the instance there's trouble," Water said.
"You follow my orders," Lin all but snapped. He couldn't blame his shiki for being more on edge than usual, but at the end of the day, he was commander and they were his soldiers. It was not their place to bargain. The two seemed to realize that their master was remembering his own place above them, and they sped off in different directions. Lin turned to the group and explained.
"I sent my shiki to their residences. They will report back if they aren't there."
Mai and Masako protested. Naru simply folded his arms and nodded. It was indeed the compromise between going to warn them in person and just hoping they'd be okay.
"Let's go," Naru said, silencing Masako and Mai. "There's work to be done."
And with that, the four of them went to the office.