Surface Team and Underground Team finally regroup. They discuss their plans. Meanwhile, Lin's hospital stay gets a bit dicy, and Mai has an overdue chat with Weiguó.

.o0o.

By the time surface team and underground team were reunited, it was close to five p.m. The reunions were full of sighs of relief and hugs from Mai. She had immediately noticed that Lin and John were not there, and Ayako let her know that she had taken them to the hospital. With any luck, they wouldn't have a long stay.

From there, the two teams sat down and shared the information they had all gathered. Surface team reported the discovery of the tree husks being used as barriers, which prevented Ayako from damaging the bark, as well as the cauterization of the spirits by the crematorium.

Naru put a hand to his chin. "That would explain why they don't just bulldoze the whole place," he said.

Mai tilted her head. "Are you sure it's strong enough to repel a bulldozer?"

"Can't say for sure," Ayako said. "But the fact that we're here probably means they've tried."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bulldozer humping a tree right now, just waiting for our work to be done," said Yasu. His odd statement garnered several looks of bafflement.

"Didn't know you were into cargo shipping," Takigawa drawled.

Yasu stared at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw. Then he dramatically pointed in the monk's direction. "So you do have internet!"

Takigawa could only splutter in response.

Naru cleared his throat, regaining the room's focus. "If that's everything, I think we should go pick up some food. We'll need it if we want to do any effective planning."

Surface team exchanged confused glances. Naru's glare left no room for argument. It was clear to them that Naru didn't want them to talk about something, at least not right now, but they could only infer what that something was. After shifting through her words carefully, she settled on, "All of us?"

Naru nodded. "Ms. Matsuzaki, would you drive us?"

"Sure," said Ayako.

"So we're taking the van then," Takigawa said.

Ayako turned to him. "Unless you think we can all fit in your little car?"

Takigawa held his hands up. "Okay, okay, van it is."

Ayako drove them away from the house. Naru instructed her to drive to Amnity Park.

"So we're… not getting food?" Mai asked.

"After," Naru said as Ayako parked. Once the van was turned off, everyone spilled out. It was so crowded that their exodus from the van resembled something of a clown car. Naru led the group up to a set of benches on a hill. Ayako and Takigawa let out an anxious breath at the sight of those benches, and the lamppost next to it. This was where they waited during their first disastrous exploration of the woeful wood.

Once they got to the lamppost, Ayako turned around and put herself in Naru's way. "Okay, Oliver," she said, causing Naru to look up sharply. "What's all this running around for?"

"The house might be bugged," said Naru. "And since we left it unattended, so could the van, and Monk's car."

"Naru, I think you're getting a little paranoid," Takigawa said.

Naru ignored that comment. He had heard it enough times already.

Ayako scoffed. "What was so important that you had to make sure our Terrible Twos couldn't overhear us?" Terrible Twos referred obviously to Nakamura and Saito.

"If Weiguó is indeed a Chinese spy who was murdered on Japanese soil, then we need an abundance of caution when discussing this," said Naru. "We're working off too many assumptions about the people around us, living and dead. The more we understand about our situation, the less likely we end up stumbling into whatever trap lies ahead. May I remind you that we are not the police, or intelligence agents. In no way do we work for the government. Our investigative jurisdiction does not apply to international spy drama. We could make an enemy out of the state without even trying."

"Are you actually thinking that our Terrible Twos are some kind of government goon duo?" Takigawa asked.

"The alternatives to that aren't much better," said Ayako.

"And what if they're just a pair of shady land developers?" asked Yasu.

"Then we hit the jackpot of crazy luck, I'd say," said Monk.

"Naru, we were discussing," interjected Mai. Everyone turned to her. "That considering all the things that we're dealing with, it's like we're working on two different cases at the same time."

"If it took you that long to figure that out," began Naru.

Ayako leapt in to her defense. "Houshou and I came to that conclusion two days ago."

Naru glanced in her direction.

"So then which do we prioritize?" asked Yasu.

"We were hired to work on the woods," said Naru. "But the end of that case will start the beginning of whatever plan they have of getting us out of their way, maybe even permanently."

"They're not really going to un-person us, are they?" said Takigawa, voice overflowing with skepticism.

"I don't know," Naru said. "What I do know is that, even though the two incidents are far apart, Weiguó and the woods are connected. I think we've gathered quite enough evidence concerning what happened in these woods. Now it's a matter of putting those spirits to rest. That leaves Weiguó."

Takigawa folded his arms and looked at Mai. He tousled her hair. "I think you're our biggest lead on that part, kiddo. You were the one who spoke to him last. Did he provide any insight into what's going on with him?"

Mai shook her head. "He yelled at me to find out. I don't think he knew a thing about why he was killed."

"Even so," Masako interjected. "We need to take care of the remnants of the feedback loop that is still in him. I'd be a mess too if my head was full of memories that weren't mine."

Mai continued. "I can try to pull Weiguó into the spirit realm again, and maybe sharing the info we know can help him on the path to recovery. But Naru, if I do this, what kind of information are we looking for from him?"

"Anything he can tell us, especially regarding identities of people he came into contact with while he was here. Right now, we're sniffing out any weaknesses, searching for any chinks in the armor… anything we can do to find some leverage."

"So we're still trying to fight these guys, huh?" Takigawa asked.

Naru looked up at him stiffly. "If it comes to that."

"At this point, we only have three known enemies, right?" Takigawa said. "Fusei, Nakamura, and Saito. And we know that Fusei has Lin's shiki."

"How do you know that?" Naru asked.

"Gene told us." Takigawa motioned to Masako.

At Naru's stunned expression, Mai spoke. "Your parents called me. None of us speak English, so Gene had to possess Masako in order to talk to them. I guess they couldn't reach you?" Naru reached for his pocket, pulling out his phone. When he tried to turn the thing on, its screen merely went white and then turned off immediately. The phone was fried. When the hell had that happened?

Eying the broken phone, Takigawa said, "Ah, that's why."

"Priority number one," Naru said, glaring at the phone like it had personally wronged him. "Get me a carrot that will keep Fusei and his crew off our backs indefinitely." He looked at Mai. "That is why we need Weiguó's account."

Mai nodded. That was an instruction she could get behind. "Okay."

Ayako's phone buzzed. She picked it up and said, "It's John." She put the phone to her ear. For a minute, she was quiet, and then she said, "And not Lin?" There was another pause. "Okay. We're not at base. We're in Amnity Park… Yes, exactly there. Do you need a ride?" The next pause was shorter. "All right, we have a working plan. Meet us here as soon as you can."

She hung up. She turned to the group. "John's coming, and they're keeping Lin overnight."

Takigawa looked toward the hospital, which they could just barely see along the skyline. "Poor guy. He's really been through it this case."

At Takigawa's statement, Mai remembered what Fire had told her, about the fear and resentment Lin still held toward Monk for what he did. It was nobody's fault, but that didn't change the way anyone felt about it. It would probably be best if the two of them resolved this issue sooner rather than later, but Mai didn't know if it was her place to nudge them toward such a discussion. So far, there hadn't been any hiccups in how they interacted, so it was clearly not something that needed to be sorted out now.

"What about the woods? How are we going to purify them?" Yasu asked.

"If it weren't such a large property, we wouldn't have this problem," Ayako said. "There aren't enough living trees anywhere nearby for me to do any kind of earth ritual."

"I could get some incense," Monk offered. "But my cleansing rituals are rusty, and again, it's a much bigger ask than simply walking through a house with some smoke and a chant."

"It almost feels like we need to… wash out the entire place," said Mai. "Like… if only it could rain holy water. Do you think John could bless the clouds?" Said priest wasn't there to confirm or deny, but it was pretty clear that this was ridiculous. But as Mai often did, her screwball theories managed to get Ayako thinking from a different angle.

"I think… Masako, in your professional opinion, would a closed feedback loop like the one we're dealing with, would it also close off the natural cycle of energy?"

Masako put her hand to her mouth, thinking. "If you're referring to the cycle of transformation, then yes. Of course. That's exactly what a closed feedback loop does, and preventing the cycle from flowing is one of the most basic ways to create one."

Yasu raised his hand like a schoolboy. "Explanation for those not in the know?"

The team turned to him as Ayako explained. "Regardless of how a living thing dies, its body must eventually return to the earth from whence it came. The spirit, if it is not impeded, burdened, or otherwise called upon, will follow its mortal form through a cycle of energy. In our case, people were killed. Then they were burned. Their ashes fell into the earth, and thus their spirits became earthbound. The trees became scorched and charred from the… for lack of a better descriptor, the evil intentions. The malice. The hatred."

Masako was nodding as Ayako described the ash. When Yasu still looked skeptical, the medium spoke. "Intent is very influential on all energy transfers. When something is wrong, but you just can't tell what, that is in part due to subliminal messages that your senses pick up on, of course, but it is also the passage of intent. We as living things are sensitive to that. Imagine how it must be for a spirit, who has no such shields as their physical senses."

Yasu still looked skeptical, but he turned to Ayako and said, "So you were saying about the trees and stuff?"

"Right. Above ground, the trees were dead, charred husks. Beneath the earth, their roots were still permeable. In order to escape their ashen, earthly burial grounds, the spirits climbed up the taproots, and they have refused to come down ever since."

Takigawa whistled, impressed. "You could deduce all that from just touching that tree?"

Ayako glanced over her shoulder at him, a smirk on her lips. "Don't go underestimating me, you old coot." She looked back at the group, her sassy spirit sobering. "In all seriousness, it wasn't hard. Following the trail and the logic backwards was what led me to that conclusion. The spirits in the tree had to have come from somewhere, through the roots, and they got there because of the ash, which was the remnants of their bodies after they'd been killed."

Naru spoke next. "So then, it would seem the solution would be to restore the natural flow of the energy cycle to the woods."

Ayako nodded. "That's right. If we can unblock the dams, that would provide the wash you said we needed." She gestured to Mai, whose face was a mixture of astonishment and hope.

"You know," said Mai. "This is reminding me of something Lin told me—the Chinese elemental cycles."

Ayako smiled. Naru nodded.

"The flow of energy is a common principle in many cultural philosophies. What gets included in the cycles largely depends on cultural customs as well as how observant the influential individuals are."

"So then which element is the culprit?" Mai asked. When everyone stared at her confused, she clarified. Or, at least she tried. "I mean, which element is causing the blockage? Because it sounds like fire is giving us the most trouble. It burned the trees and the bodies, and it carried the evil intentions."

"It likely also tainted the earth," Masako said. "If we're going by the Chinese cycle."

"By any cycle," Ayako said, "The earth has been tainted."

"So how do we go about unblocking these cycles?" Mai asked.

Once again, the group exchanged unsure glances.

"I kinda feel like this is more Lin's speed," said Takigawa. "If anyone can manipulate the cycle, it would be Lin, but only because of his shiki." The monk's look darkened, and he dropped his gaze to the grass. "One of which is dead, another is gone, and the last two are being held captive by Fusei."

"Well, if Lin could unblock the energy dams, then it's no wonder he's been the target this whole time," Mai said. Nobody looked particularly swayed one way or another by her musings. She hugged herself. "I wonder… I wonder if Weiguó was trying to warn me about that?"

Masako shook her head, a firm expression on her face. "No, Mai. Weiguó doesn't know Lin, remember? His actions are independent of Lin."

Mai looked to the side. "I… I need to talk to Weiguó. Soon."

Naru nodded. "The rest of you should meet us back at base tomorrow morning, nine a.m. sharp."

The group perked up at his instruction. "What are you talking about, Naru?" Takigawa asked.

"Mai and I, as official SPR workers, will be staying at the house tonight."

"Didn't you say that place is probably bugged to the nines?"

"The reason is twofold. I would like us to keep up appearances, in case I'm right and we are being surveilled. If we aren't, then all the better for us."

"And the second reason?" Ayako asked, a challenge in her voice. If Naru was going to endanger Mai (again), he'd better have a damn good reason.

"We need to stay close to the haunt site," Naru said. "We are, after all, still on a case."

"And the rest of us?" Takigawa asked.

"Go home."

A new voice pepped up. "But I just got here!"

Everyone turned around to see John, huffing and puffing after crossing the bigger half of Amnity Park. He folded over, one hand on his knee as he caught his breath. His other arm was wrapped tight in a sling, so as to let it heal. When nobody said anything, he looked up at them.

"Did I get here just as the conversation finished?" he all but whined.

"Sorry for giving you the run around, John," said Monk. "But we'll fill you in on the way back. Did you have a chance to check on Lin, by the way?"

"I called you as soon as I was discharged."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate some quiet."

"All right everyone," Ayako said, checking her watch. "We should get moving. The van's a bit of a walk."

John made a face. Poor guy. The group started walking.

By the time the team had split up for the night, with Mai and Naru sharing the tiny safe house and the rest of the group returned to their homes, Lin was locked in a staring contest with the hospital ghoul. Fire was still wrapped around his neck, bristling at the audacity of the thing.

"I thought we kicked your smoky ass!" it crowed.

The ghoul showed no indication that it heard what Fire had to taunt. Its grin simply stretched wider, and it began to stalk closer to the building. Lin's eyes widened. If he remembered correctly, the ghost had never tried to approach the hospital—it merely had a peeping Tom habit. The ghoul took one step. Two. Four. Seven. And then it vanished, body dissipating into thin air. From its trajectory, Lin guessed it was making its way toward the lobby of his own building. Not wanting to get caught in less than ideal conditions, he grabbed his street clothes and quickly began to change from his hospital gown into something he could fight in. Years of babysitting Naru and dealing with his several drop-of-the-hat emergencies had made Lin into a master of the art of the seven-second quick change. If this got violent, he absolutely would want a layer of clothing between him and the inevitable debris created in an ensuing fight—specifically, shoes.

Down below, in said lobby, the automatic door slid open, all by itself. A light overhead flickered, causing the attendants to pause. Shivers ran up their spines as something cold yet invisible passed them by. The only hint to the entity's location was the sudden chill it possessed, as well as the nearest light flickering, creating a trail of flickering fluorescents. The chill and the lights led to the elevators, and thus, the creature departed from the lobby.

On the tenth floor, all the lights began to flicker like a metronome. Patients and caretakers alike screamed and whispered. Lin considered calling a nurse to help remove the IV stuck in his arm, as it was the only thing between him and getting his shirt back on. He doubted anyone would come to his call, especially as the thumping started. It wasn't like banging—it was more like a heavy set of boots on hard flooring. Outside, Lin caught a frantic, "What is that!?" followed by a harsh, "Shhhh!"

Lin gingerly pulled the IV out, and he disconnected the rest of the gear attached to his arm. The footfall stopped just outside of Lin's door. A single thud rattled the room. Lin tensed. Fire snorted a small tongue of flame. "Are you ready?" Lin asked.

"Born ready!" Fire returned.

Lin addressed the door. "Come in."

The door did not open. A phantom began to take shape just inside the room, like Marley's ghost appearing to Scrooge. Its form was nearly identical to that of the doctor's ghoul from the facility. There were two major differences though. First of all, this spirit was bigger. Sure, it was difficult to tell, especially considering that the doctor's ghoul could enlarge and stretch its arms at will. But Lin could tell that this ghoul was half a head taller than the doctor. So far, its approach was peaceful, if not tense.

Lin's heart was thudding nearly as loud as the footfalls had been in the hallway. His heart monitor was screeching angrily at being disconnected from its patient. The thing thought he was dead. If Lin didn't handle this properly, that could very well become true.

"What do you want?" Lin demanded. Perhaps this could be settled without violence. After all, he doubted the hospital staff would be happy with a nine cut grid gouged out into their walls.

The ghoul extended a hand. Lin tensed. All of its fingers, save for its index, curled into a fist. The spirit was pointing, directly at Lin's throat.

"Ru… ruunnnn…"

The ghost was speaking using its mouth. That was unusual for ghosts. They generally preferred to project their emotions and thoughts as sounds directly.

Lin frowned. The ghoul wanted him to run? What was this, some kind of hunt? Was this creature trying to bait him into fleeing so that he would turn his back? The ghoul was still standing right where it had stopped. It was not moving, aside from the pulsing of its essence, which no ghost could control. Lin looked around at the walls surrounding them both, keeping them contained in tight quarters, hoping his confusion was apparent.

"Rrr… runneerrrrssss…"

Lin blinked. "Runners?" he echoed.

The ghoul inclined its head. As it was fused into its body, this just made it look like its form was melting into itself.

Lin wracked his brain. What on earth… Then it hit him. An electric surge of fear pulsed through both him and Fire that belonged to neither of them. Rather, it came from the dozens of spirits that Fire still had tucked around its body. The ghoul was indicating to these lost souls, not to Lin.

To Fire and the spirits, Lin asked hurriedly, "Who is it? What does it want?"

A wave of answers assaulted his senses. He picked up words here and there, all referring to the same kind of thing. "Catcher!" "Hunter!" "Tracker!" "Guard!"

The ghoul took another step forward, and Lin took a step back.

So… this truly was a different spirit from the one that he had destroyed in the facility. This was some sort of enforcer? Some sort of guard tasked with catching any prisoner who managed to escape? Several questions bounced around in Lin's mind. First and foremost: If that was this ghoul's purpose, as it had been since perhaps even wartime, then why had it only begun to terrorize Ayako's hospital now?

The investigative part of his brain shut up with a squeak as the ghoul took yet another step forward. Right, priorities. In all honesty, if it meant getting out of this alive, he was willing to give the ghoul what it wanted. He didn't tell anyone that, as that would likely bite him in the ass later, but if forced to choose either the living or the dead, he would naturally choose the living.

The door to his room swung open, revealing three nurses who had likely come in to help or check in on him. The ghoul twisted its body around, like a gingerbread cookie, to face them. They recoiled in horror at the apparition's appearance. One of them grabbed her head and shrieked.

"Get back! I can handle this!" Lin shouted.

None of them listened.

In fact, one of the nurses' eyes became vacant as she said, "I… I would never do that." It was clear she wasn't talking to him, or responding to anything he said.

Another one had turned her back completely, muttering words that Lin couldn't make out. At this, Lin realized something else. The reports that Ayako had given, that the staff had the worst experiences when set upon by the ghoul… Naru's initial conclusion had been wrong. It was not an enemy of the healthcare system. It simply knew everything that was wrong with the system, and it tormented its victims accordingly. It was an intrusive thought walking. It was also unwelcome. However…

A strategy bubbled in Lin's mind. He whistled. The ghoul turned back around. Fire launched itself off of its master's neck and spiraled around the ghoul, keeping it one step behind. It was not as vicious or as destructive as the doctor's ghoul. It still lashed out, but its nature was clearly less deranged than the monstrous doctor had been. As Fire kept it occupied, Lin fired a line of his qi from the center of his spiritual core to the ghoul. Like an extension cord, the other end of the cord plugged into the ghoul's back. Instantly, the ghoul began to writhe and fight back, sending shockwaves of force down the spiritual tether that Lin had tagged it with.

Even at full strength, taking an attack channeled directly to his spiritual core would have been immensely painful. In his weakened state, he felt his spirit pushed to the brink of exertion. It was the will of sixty spirits and his most trusted familiar that kept him alive. The spirit was strong, but Lin was fueled by the rage of the fallen, as well as the desire to put an end to this wretched creature. The ghoul had made its bed long ago, when it still walked the earth as a human and murdered its way to becoming the beast it was now. It was high time for it to face the music.

With a final push, Lin's will overpowered the ghoul's entire being. The tether solidified, binding the two of them together. The last of the ghoul's will drained out of it, leaving it truly a walking husk. It was now a true, conventional shikigami, one without a mind or will of its own, bound to its master with the bare minimum autonomy. Lin was glad none of his other shiki were around to witness this. It was a reminder of the power he held, of what he could have done to all of them, had he been any less open-minded or compassionate.

Strangely enough, Fire had watched the whole thing unfold with a satisfied glint in its eyes. The dragon-clad huli jing had enjoyed the show. Once Lin had fully enthralled his newest shiki, Fire lunged, maw open wide. Its body glowed with the fury of sixty vengeful spirits. Before it could even touch the now empty husk, Lin shouted, "Stop!"

Fire froze. The spirits within it moaned in protest at Lin's order. Fire craned its neck to eye its master.

"Master, are you certain?" Fire hissed. For the first time, it was genuinely questioning orders. Later, it would blame the furious spirits whose power fueled it.

"You are sworn to obey me. Do not break your oath," Lin commanded silently. Fire bowed its head and let itself fade out of sight.

Lin did not linger on Fire's sudden loss of control. He turned away from the window and toward the door. The hospital room was still in one piece. Lin had ended the threat without much damage, save for the three nurses who had the misfortune of a direct psychic attack from the thing.

"Relinquish your hold," Lin ordered.

Without any emotion whatsoever, the ghoul called back the intrusions it had planted in the minds of the nurses. Overwhelmed with relief, the three women fell to the floor, hyperventilating.

Lin walked over to them, passing by the ghoul's husk. It didn't even turn to face him. He knelt down beside the nearest nurse. "Are you all right?" he asked as gently as he could.

"W-what was that?" asked one of the nurses.

Lin shook his head. "A ghost. I took care of it. It won't be able to harm anyone again."

For good measure, he called his new shiki out of the material plane. The ghoulish figure vanished.

"I'm gonna need therapy for the rest of forever," said one of the other nurses.

"Your therapist will need a therapist," said the third.

The three of them rose to standing. One of them was staring at his stomach. He realized then that his shirt was still open. He looked down and saw the fresh bloodstains blossoming on the gauze wrapped around his torso. Oh. He must have opened the stitches.

"You need to sit down," said the nurse eyeing him. With a firm yet gentle hand, she guided him back to the bed. She began to call out to the other nurses some medical jargon that Lin didn't follow. Eventually, she turned back to him and said, "It looks like you tore your stitches. We're going to have to redo them."

Lin sighed. "I dislike hospitals," was all he offered.

The nurse gave him a sympathetic look. "I get that. But I do have to thank you. I don't know exactly what happened back there, but I know you just saved all of us." She began to cut away the bandages, revealing the grisly wound he had reopened.

Lin closed his eyes. "In any case, I doubt you will have problems with the ghost encounters in the future. Would you please alert your board?"

The nurse perked up. "Ah yes! Were you with that ghost hunting group that—"

Lin nodded.

"Yes, I'll be sure to tell them. In the meantime, we'll wait for the transfer back to the treatment center." She applied pressure and a gauze pad to the wound, causing Lin to wince. "I'm sorry. I can get you some pain relief."

"Please don't sedate me," Lin said.

The nurse looked at him. Lin wasn't about to get into it, but he was in no position to lose consciousness now. He still had to contact the team and let them know what happened. Furthermore, even though the ghoul was now a mindless husk, he did not trust it to be unsupervised. He didn't trust that his battle was not over.

"I am sorry, Master. Their fury overwhelmed me."

"That is unlike you," Lin returned.

Fire merely dipped its head, accepting its master's disappointment. The sizzling peanut gallery of spirits voiced their displeasure quite noticeably. They didn't like being near the ghoul any more than Lin did. In fact, they were chomping at the bit to rip it to pieces, and, were the ghoul not still useful, Lin would have allowed them to have at it.

"Master, what is it you plan to do with this creature?" Fire asked, eyes locked on a location off to the side. That was where the husk was standing, out of sight of mortal eyes.

"It is only temporary," Lin said. "Once it has outgrown its usefulness, we shall dispose of it."

"Good," said Fire. "I was afraid you'd try to make it into a pet or something."

Once again, Lin was surprised at Fire's agreement. He was sure that it would find this unnerving, considering that Lin could very well do this to Fire should he ever want to.

"The key difference is," Fire said, reading Lin's mind. Oops, had he left the channels open? "I will never be your enemy. I trust you with everything I am, just as you trust me to guard you with my soul. With that monster, you could never trust."

Lin nodded.

Fire smirked, a cheeky glint in its eyes. "Besides, the old buttface had it coming."

Lin snorted, genuinely caught off guard. The nurse beside him turned to him in astonishment, oblivious to the silent conversation. Lin merely waved her off, allowing her to do what she needed to do.

Mai was asleep. She was standing in the dark, the astral plane, between the spiritual and mortal realms. Nobody was with her. Weiguó was not plaguing her with visions. Gene was somewhere else. Maybe he was helping to find Lin's shiki, as he had been doing recently. For a blessed time, she was truly alone with her thoughts. She stared hard at her feet, as though they had been the culprit of all of their misfortune. Her anger gave way to tears, which fell on top of her shoes.

A hand touched her upper back, gentle and light. She could see the spiritual glow illuminating her clothing from behind.

A familiar voice said, "Let it out, Mai."

She did. A wail ripped through her throat, which she aimed out in front of her. She didn't know what she was screaming about. At this point, it was just a release of stress. The events of the past few days had piled on top of each other—just one misfortune after another. Her dreams, Ayako's case, which then turned into some crazy hush hush operation by an unknown third party. And Lin, everything Lin had been through. How that man was still sane was beyond Mai.

"It's because he knows the only way out is through," Gene offered.

Mai turned to look at him. His eyes were full of sympathy. Like a tape recorder, voices played all around them. "Koujo Lin, you are under arrest for espionage."

"Espionage!?"

Mai hadn't heard this part of the conversation. She had been in the office when Lin was arrested. Regardless of when this happened, regardless of how poorly handled this entire arrest case was, Lin still had to deal with it.

"This isn't something he can run from," Gene said, echoing her thoughts.

Mai nodded. That made sense. If it were just a ghost, perhaps he could ward them away. But this kind of thing, if he didn't clear his name, it didn't matter how far he ran or how long he hid—eventually someone or something would find him.

"Lin isn't the spy. It was Weiguó," said Mai. Then she said it again. "Do you hear me, Weiguó! It was you!"

Gene offered his hand. Mai looked at it, confused. Then she took it. Gene pulled. Instead of pulling Mai forward, he pulled Weiguó out. He stopped just before the tattered spirit's hand left Mai's body.

"He's still feeding on your energy," Gene said.

"Let him," said Mai. "He and I are overdue for a talk."

She turned to Weiguó, whose eyes were closed.

"Hey. Weiguó. Wake up."

The spirit in question opened his eyes. He looked at Mai with a cold, hard stare.

"Can you understand me?" Mai asked, pointing to her mouth.

Weiguó nodded.

"Good. We have some information that you might want to know. In exchange, I want you to answer some questions for me. How 'bout it?"

Weiguó just stared at her. Mai didn't know whether to take that as a yes or a no, but then she recalled what Masako had said about this spirit's own batch of problems. Perhaps just divulging the information would get her somewhere.

"Weiguó, were you a spy?"

The spirit barely moved. The only indication that he had heard her was the slight widening of his single remaining eye. She couldn't tell whether his astonishment was due to the accusation she had made, or because she was right. Gene put a hand on Mai's shoulder, grounding her again. Right. Tell the story; ask questions later.

"We found out from your daughter that you were a secret journalist here in Japan. I've never heard of such a thing, but Ayako thinks that means you were a spy. Maybe you were investigating Site 387, I don't know. But it seemed that you met Officer Fusei? I… I don't know what the man looks like. I've been lucky enough to avoid contact with that monster. Does any of this ring a bell?"

Weiguó's eye flickered. "I… I have a daughter?"

Mai's jaw hung open. Out of all the things to latch onto, Weiguó chose that? Mai thought back to the séance they held with him. The one time they got through to Weiguó was when Lin had spoken to him personally, and then he drew the scene with a man in the garden. Focusing, Mai pulled that drawing from memory. Like a blurred image, the page began to appear between the three of them. She reached forward and took the paper, holding it out to Weiguó. The spirit stared at the amateur drawing of the child and guardian under a tree, inside a moon gate.

"I drew this for you. Remember?" Mai asked.

Weiguó's eye clouded over. He reached out, touching the page. "Mei…"

Mai almost thought he had said her name. Then she realized he had said "Mei," while gesturing to the little figure in the drawing.

Brain catching up to what was going on, she grabbed hold of the subject and pushed. "Mei? Is that your daughter's name? Mei Lin?"

Weiguó nodded. "Mei Mei." A tear fell from the spirit's remaining eye. He looked at Mai with the most direct and clear contact she had ever seen in his face. "She is alive?"

Mai nodded. "She told us about you." Weiguó didn't have to know that Mai didn't speak to this woman personally. What she did say was that, "When this is all over, you can use me to call her."

Gene put a hand on Mai's shoulder again. Mai looked up at him, curious at his interruption. Gene's face was somber. It was the silent look he gave her when she was missing something, sometimes obvious, sometimes a small yet important detail. She couldn't fathom what it was this time. Eschewing what she couldn't understand for what she could, she turned away from him and back to Weiguó.

"What were you doing in Japan, Weiguó?" Mai asked.

Weiguó looked down. "Don't remember."

Mai deflated. This was going to be harder than just filling this spirit's head with happy thoughts and crossing her fingers. As she looked down, she caught sight of the wound in his abdomen, much more suited for a fish on the market than a human being. Once again, recalling what Masako had said, if the spirit's injury manifested in the spirit world, then it was an injury traumatic enough to remember.

"How did you die?"

Both Gene and Weiguó snapped their heads toward her. Weiguó stood there, saying nothing. Mai shook her hands out, as if trying to physically erase her question.

"Okay, how about this. Why did you come to me now? If you were stuck inside the woods for who knows how long, what made you finally make a break for it?"

Gene glanced at her. He couldn't hide the impressed upturned corner of his mouth. Mai tried her best not to be smug about that. Always underestimated, it seemed.

"I… saw… Fusei."

Weiguó's voice wavered with hesitation, but each word became more and more confident.

Mai tightened her fist at the mention of that name. This Fusei was a never ending well of trouble.

"The police officer?" Mai asked.

Weiguó's eyes darkened. "The guard."

Mai and Gene exchanged glances.

"Are you saying that Fusei was a prison guard?" Mai began to count on her fingers. "That would mean… forty years ago… Fusei was what, twenty?" She looked at Gene. "So this place was still in use after the war?"

Gene didn't answer, because he had no answer to give. He kept his arms folded and his attention on Weiguó.

"Who killed you?" Mai asked.

Again, Weiguó dropped his gaze to the ground. Mai lifted her hand, still holding onto the spirit's. She gripped his shoulder with her other hand and shook him gently. The spirit stared at him with a lost look.

"Think, Weiguó. You weren't like those other victims. You were specifically there to investigate something. You were on a mission! You didn't end up there by chance!"

Weiguó closed his eyes. He looked like he was about to faint. Gene, sensing something amiss, unfolded his arms and reached out to Mai. Mai had no time to react as Weiguó let all of his weight fall onto her form. He sunk forcefully back into her exact space, fusing their spirits together once more. Mai's spirit form lurched, and she began to sink. No matter how fast Gene ran, he got farther and farther away, as if carried off by a conveyor belt. His voice faded into the dark. Like an oil spill, the ground rose up, pressing against Mai's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, swallowing what remained of her consciousness.

Sometime between dusk and dawn, Hattori had devised a plan. With the knowledge that Fusei had a hold on Mr. Lin's last remaining shiki, Hattori plotted on how to approach his T.O with the charms that would supposedly give said shiki the power to free themselves. Hattori still didn't know where Fusei had put the spirits, so it was up to Hattori to turn Fusei into something of a trojan horse. Even then, he had to be stealthy about it. He couldn't just walk up to his T.O and tag him with the charms—Fusei was too suspicious a man for a trick like that. So instead, Hattori took both of Ms. Matsuzaki's charms and glued them to an identical piece of paper, face-down so that the ink was hidden completely. Now all he had to do was get Fusei to touch them. That was what Ms. Matsuzaki had said, right? Touch the prison holding Lin's shiki, and if the caster is weaker than Lin, it will break.

Hattori crumpled the papers and tossed them carelessly on Fusei's desk. In the morning, when Fusei sat down to do paperwork, he would throw away the crumpled charms, unknowingly springing the trap.

Until then, Hattori settled down in the old case file room, clicking through the closed and abandoned files, searching for any sign of one Weiguó Lin.