The last bits and pieces get wrapped up. The consequences of the case scatter like a fistful fo pebbles thrown into a pond. But like everything, the ripples have to calm, the dust has to settle, a new normal must be found.

.o0o.

Mai took a deliberate breath, tasting the air. There was no grand dramatic difference now that the spirits were gone. There was only a slight shift in temperature. The air was colder. Not in a way that indicated the presence of spirits—no, instead this was the absence of a crowd. The heat of bodies pressed together, the suffocation of trapped entities, had been lifted.

Nobody spoke, but the sound of leaves rustling drew Mai's attention. The SPR turned to see the policemen walking away from the scene, almost as if in a daze. But as they drew further and further away, they began chattering among themselves, their unintelligible voices carrying ever so faintly across the forest.

Mai's brow furrowed. Just like that? They were leaving? She stepped forward to stop them, question them. Didn't they have anything to say about this? A hand on her shoulder stopped her. She looked up at Monk, who gestured over to the left. Two officers were still there, the captain and Hattori.

"That's it then," said Hattori.

Masako responded. "That's it. The spirits are gone. What are you going to do?"

Hattori hmphed. "I highly doubt I'll ever leave this town. Like I said, you don't get stationed at Eastern Village because you're a good cop."

"What of us?" Naru asked, directing his question to the captain. "Are we free to go?"

The captain had a troubled look on his face. Surely he must have seen his fair share of homicides, grisly crime scenes, and gnarly incidents. But he probably had never seen a spirit dragged off to hell, maybe literally, maybe not.

Stoically, he said, "We still have a press conference to hold."

Naru frowned. "We're not available for comment."

"That wasn't what I was going to say. If we tell the truth, what will the effects be? On worlds beyond, I mean?"

"There aren't worlds beyond," Masako said. "There's this world. The one we all live in, and the one that connects all beings, no matter their plane of existence. Every little thing we do affects it and those who live in it. One wave sets a thousand in motion."

Masako didn't notice John giving her a small look of doubt. Right, the priest believed in Heaven and Hell.

"In other words, she means to go ahead and say what you need to say, just short of doxing us," Naru said.

The captain still looked troubled, so Takigawa spoke up. "If it's any help, the world has always been aware of spirits. At one time, belief in spirits and observation of rituals were how we navigated day to day life. With all the new cutting edge science that's been invented, sure, we've shifted away from the paranormal beliefs, but I like to think of it as mankind's shiny new toy."

Everyone stared at Monk, waiting for him to make his point.

"It's like how Ayako can be a doctor and a priestess at the same time. The world of science didn't replace ghosts. Or at least, it shouldn't be thought of that way. Science is a method, after all, not an actual thing you can hold. She'd explain this better than I could."

It was now clear that Monk and Ayako had been spending some time together.

A thoughtful hum came from John. "Many would say in our enlightenment, we replaced God with the atom. But it's clear to me that they both exist. It wouldn't hurt to remind people of it."

Monk turned to the captain. "Do you get what we're saying?"

The captain still looked skeptical. Hattori however was nodding along.

"Everyone's got a ghost in their backyard," Mai said. "People don't talk about it in the same way we don't talk about the fact that everybody poops." That had to be most Yasuhara thing to come out of her mouth in a long while. She ignored the looks she got from a few of the people standing around her, but her odd comment did seem to break whatever spell of formality had the policemen in its grasp. Hattori snickered.

With a smile, the captain nodded. "I will consider what you have said. You are free to go. It's probably for the best however that you don't come back to Eastern Village uninvited."

"Duly noted," Naru said.

At that, the captain began to walk back to the road.

Hattori was the only one who stayed behind. "That was wild," he said, gesturing to the plot of land where Fusei had been destroyed. When nobody humored him, he turned somber. "Mr. Lin, I know there's nothing I can do to make up for what we did to you."

The rest of the SPR looked to Lin, who was standing at the back of the crowd. He had one arm folded across his torso protectively. He looked apprehensive at being addressed by an adversary, but he remained quiet, accepting the attention.

"Is that an apology attempt?" Monk said, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Mr. Lin, I am so sorry for what we've put you through. For what I personally put you through. Is there anything—"

"No. There's nothing."

And that was that. Hattori sent Lin an unsure glance, but nevertheless he got the message to remove himself from the group. He turned around and walked out of the clearing, leaving only the SPR behind.

Once the police medium was out of earshot, Naru turned to Lin. The two seemed to be having another one of their silent, private conversations. The two of them stopped when a red capped crane dropped down between them. With eyes being on the side of its head, it was hard to know who it was staring at.

Everyone watched as the crane walked over to the sword that it had left in the ground. Before their eyes, the crane morphed into its monstrous humanoid form, standing on stilts, and now clutching the sword with its new set of arms. With unclear intentions, it took slow steps toward Lin. The rest of the SPR looked around, unsure of how to react. Monk reached for his belt, just in case things got hairy.

It was to their confused relief that the tengu knelt in front of Lin and plunged its sword into the earth at his feet.

Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. Or maybe the tengu and Lin were speaking, just in a manner that Mai could not hear. After a minute of silence, Lin tilted his head back and whistled. A bright tether extended from the center of his chest to the tengu. The tengu accepted it without a sound. Once connected, the Metal shiki vanished from mortal sight.

Mai held her breath, waiting for someone to say something. Lin had the barest hint of a reaction to regaining his fourth shiki—a slight quiver of the eyebrow. What was most telling was the way he turned to the broken chimney, an infinitesimal expression of hope in his eyes. Mai and the others followed his gaze. There was nothing there. Mai looked back to Lin for explanation, but his face had returned to his cool natural neutral.

"Ready?" Naru asked.

Lin just nodded.

Naru began to walk out of the clearing, followed by Lin and then the rest of the team.

As Mai walked, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the owner, Monk.

"I'm glad you're okay, kiddo," he said. Turning to include Masako, he added, "Both of you."

"Me too," Mai said.

"Thank you for your concern," Masako said.

They continued to walk. Halfway there, Mai spoke again.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Mai asked. "It reminded me of the curse that Yasu's school had made. Where spirits were devoured without a chance."

"Except in this case, Fusei wasn't devoured," said Masako.

Mai turned to her, confused. Then she looked to John. "He wasn't…"

"Dragged off to Hell?" John finished. Mai was slightly surprised to hear the gentle priest put it so bluntly. John continued. "I doubt it."

"The leftover energy of all entities returns to the earth," said Monk. "But the consciousness of the entities, well that usually depends on what they believed in life, and what they still believe in death."

"In other words, he wouldn't go to Hell if he didn't believe in Hell?" Mai asked.

Monk nodded. "That's about it."

Mai blinked. "What about people who believe that everyone goes to paradise, no matter how evil they were?"

Masako shrugged. "I don't know. Best not to think about it."

"I would say however," John interjected. "That those who walked through life with heavy and malicious hearts are unlikely to truly know the of paradise they envision."

Mai clasped her hands close to her chest. She glanced toward Lin and Naru, who were walking just a few feet ahead of them. It was all too reasonable that they could hear this conversation.

"Does that mean that… if Fusei wanted to, he could escape justice?"

Takigawa was about to respond. But upon following Mai's gaze, he seemed to realize what she was getting at.

Masako was the one to answer.

"What matters is that he's gone forever. We don't know where he went, and it's no longer our business. Best to let it go now."

Leave it to her natural apathy to offer Mai some comfort. Uneasily, she nodded along.

"Hey."

Mai looked at Monk.

"We're all gonna be okay."

He glanced in Lin's direction, signaling that he understood her worries. Then his expression turned stony. Mai recognized this as the look she got when she was in trouble.

"What?"

"This is what, the third time now you've used the nine cuts on a person?"

"I told her to," Lin said from the front.

"You told her to last time," Monk retorted. He turned back to Mai. "Look. The only reason you can get away with this is because you're weak."

Mai couldn't shake the feeling that Monk had just insulted her, but she shoved that part of her brain to the back. Now was not the time.

"You have two choices from here on out. Either stay weak and keep this up, or get stronger and avoid getting yourself into this situation. I understand that every time you've done it to a person, you felt like it was a last resort. But every time you do it, it gets easier. So don't you ever let it become anything less than your last resort."

Mai nodded. "Right."

"Especially if this press conference goes the way I think it might."

Mai couldn't help but be confused. What did the press conference have to do with this? Then she realized. If the police were about to pull the covers off of the spirit realm and all of the magics that came with it, then usage of the nine cuts could very well become a criminal offense if used improperly.

"With regulation comes safety, but the law means it's rules for everyone," surmised John.

And with that, they had emerged back on the road. To their relief, both the van and Monk's car were still there. There was not a hint of a policeman in sight. The team got in their vehicles and drove away from Eastern Village, hopefully for the last time.

They didn't leave Eastern Village right away, as it turned out. The cuts on Lin's chest were still bleeding, and it was apparent that he was going to need professional attention. At the very least, John talked them into getting a doctor to tell them otherwise, as opposed to deciding that on their own and regretting it later. But because Lin wasn't on death's doorstep, they ended up seated in the emergency waiting room for who knows how long.

"For wounds like this, I wouldn't expect to get treatment for several hours," Lin explained. Mai had to purposefully look away, for if she looked, she wouldn't be able to keep from staring. "Don't blame yourself," Lin said, disregarding the stern look he was getting from Monk. "I told you to."

"Don't make it a habit," Monk said.

Lin and Monk held each other's stares. Mai couldn't tell if they were doing that silent conversation thing that Lin was so good at, but she knew from experience just the differences in their outlooks. Lin was pragmatic above all, and to him, morality was useless if all it did was get you killed. Takigawa on the other hand valued morality greatly, and judgement calls were not to be made lightly.

Monk ran a hand through his hair. He held that position for several seconds, seeming to think something over.

"The press conference will begin shortly," said Masako, drawing everyone's attention. She was sitting nearby, and she had been oddly glued to her phone since she sat there. Now Mai realized why. She was keeping tabs on the outer world.

There was a TV in the waiting room, but it was set to some talk show that nobody cared about, so Masako began streaming from her phone. They could hear the uneasy chatter of reporters, but no statements and no questions were being made.

"Naru, did you call the lawyer?" Lin asked.

"Lawyer?" Mai echoed. Lin glanced at her with a slightly disbelieving look. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Masako nodding, more to herself than anything.

Monk snapped his fingers. "Oh, was it for the briefcase—"

Before he could say more, Naru's swift glare shut him up. "Don't talk about it anymore than it needs to be."

Now Mai's memory was jogged. The briefcase of money that Nakamura and Saito had left them, and that she had hidden under the couch in the office. Yeah, in retrospect, calling the lawyer was a good idea. Who knew where that money had come from? For all they knew, Nakamura and Saito could have been part of organized crime. Or maybe they were legit. Just thinking about those two and how cold and aloof they were, it gave Mai shivers. What still had her confused was that she never really learned their history. Fusei's crimes had been brought to light, rather violently, but those two were still shrouded in mystery. Were they just as guilty as Fusei? Or were their crimes of a different nature? For sure, they had to have committed something heinous.

A hand waved in front of her face. "Yoo hoo? Earth to Mai?" It was Monk.

Mai blinked, finally looking up at him.

"Where'd you go? The moon?" he asked lightheartedly.

"Ah, no. I was just thinking about Nakamura and Saito." And she worked them through her train of thought.

"Part of it is your latent abilities," Naru said immediately.

"I'm pretty sure some of it is true though," said Monk. "I mean, who wouldn't get creeped out when two men in black come up to you and lie to your face?"

From the couch, Masako added, "And don't forget, you were possessed by the time you first met those two. It would be no surprise if your abilities were hyper sensitive."

Mai touched her cheek. "I guess that makes sense."

"We're not trying to gaslight you, in case you were worried," Masako said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but a beep from her phone drew the room's attention. "Oh, the press conference is starting."

Masako put her phone on speaker. The little phone was hardly capable of projecting loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, but it would have to do. The SPR crowded close to the screen, save for Lin and Naru, who valued their personal space more. Instead, they chose to stand in front of Masako and just listen.

On screen was the typical police podium in camera view with no one there. Off to the side, just out of frame, was an officer making some kind of animated movement with his hands. Said hands would occasionally flicker into frame. Then Hattori walked on screen, glancing behind him as though he had just been shoved on stage. Perhaps he had. He gave the tiniest shake of the head, psyching himself up for public speaking. Then he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. After one or two seconds, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Have any of you ever noticed strange things that you haven't been able to explain? A light that flickers, a room that turns icy in an instant, or a handprint on your bed? We are here to tell you today that you aren't crazy. This isn't just your imagination. The spirit world exists, as do countless others."

In the room, Mai turned back to the rest of the SPR. Monk and John's eyes were stretched as wide as they could possibly go. Masako had her mouth covered. Lin was glaring at the screen like he wanted the phone to sprout legs and jump out the window. Naru wore a tense look, like an animal deciding between fight or flight. Mai didn't know what anyone had been expecting. She had a feeling that no matter what Hattori said at this conference, he would draw the ire of the SPR for something or other.

There was no way Hattori could have known that the SPR was glaring at him, but the police medium gave an uneasy shuffle, like he could feel their annoyance himself. Or perhaps he just wasn't comfortable with public speaking. That too. Nevertheless, he continued.

"The people of long past believed in these powers. While they may have had several important gaps in their scientific development, that doesn't invalidate their experiences. There are still things that are happening now that we cannot explain with science."

That last line drew a scoff from Naru.

A reporter interrupted him. "Officer, are you saying that there's such a thing as magic?"

"Spirits, ma'am," replied Hattori. "I'm saying there's such a thing as spirits, yōkai, fae, and there are some people in the world that can work with their ways." Hattori took one more deep breath, steeling himself. "I am one of them." The crowd of reporters began to murmur and shout questions, none of which were intelligible. "You may have also heard of Masako Hara, the medium. Her power is real as well. The video that's been circulating for a few days now, the creature in it was something known as a tengu. They are real."

Questions swelled like boiling water, and it became difficult to hear anything said on the other end. Hattori shrunk away from the metaphorical hounds, and Captain Ito took the stand. All the reporters seemed to realize their improper behavior at the same time, so they quieted down and allowed one of their colleagues to speak clearly.

"Is the public in danger?"

"No more so than it has always been," replied Captain Ito. "The purpose of this press conference is to explain the video of the attack on the Eastern Village Police Station, as well as how we as a world might move forward. There have been incidents that we cannot specify, due to ongoing investigations, in which what we have called supernatural was used to abuse someone."

Mai kept her eyes on the screen, not so much because the talk was intriguing, but she did not want to look at Lin. She knew Lin would not appreciate her gaze.

"It is not unreasonable to believe that this was just one of many instances of supernatural forces being used to abuse others, and therefore, we must come to better understand these forces, so that we may better protect the people."

"I can't tell if he's talking for real or out of his ass," said Takigawa.

Mai spluttered at the crassness of his statement. She turned to face him, her eyes flicking toward Lin ever so quickly. Even then, he caught her in the act, a challenging glint in his own eyes.

"Surely this means a bump in business?" Masako asked.

Naru whipped his head toward her. "I don't know what the consequences of this will be," Naru said, eyes lingering on her as a warning. "If anything legally binding emerges from this development, we will have to be kept on our toes. When people try to regulate before they understand, people get hurt."

Monk nodded along. "There are so many things to try to understand. Just look at the people on this team. There's you, a straight up paranormal researcher," he gestured to Naru, and then himself. "Buddhist monk, Shinto priestess, onmyoji, medium, and that's just the East Asian disciplines." He twisted around as far behind himself as he could, looking at the one person he left out of his headcount. "Hi, John." John waved back awkwardly.

"The logistics may have escaped them," Naru said, motioning to the computer. "But it won't escape the rest of the world. This conversation is likely happening in countless meeting rooms right now."

"So what do we do going forward?" Masako asked.

Naru looked down. Then off to the side. His eyes made contact with Mai's.

Mai was realizing just how deep the ocean of the supernatural went, and what implications there could be for even her own skillset. The ability to astral project and phase through walls? Mai's power was a spy's wet dream. What if they found a way to shackle down her spirit? Or muted anyone who could say the nine words? What if the world went full on witch trials?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wherever your mind just went, come on back, Mai."

Takigawa's voice grounded her. She looked from Naru to Monk.

"It'll depend on how fast this catches on, or if there ends up being any suppression," said Naru.

A new voice came from across the room.

"We'll see if they've ever heard of the Streisand effect."

Everyone turned to look at Ayako. Mai's eyes widened at seeing the doctor in full scrubs, her face hidden behind a mask, and her hair pulled into a tight bun. It was the same image that Mai had seen in her very first dream regarding this case. Instead of the fear she felt then, she was relieved to see the irritated and exhausted doctor make her way over to the team. She had that look on her face, the accusatory one, flashing her glance between all of them, like she didn't know who to scold first. Whatever she was going to say, she must have pushed back, as she homed in on Lin sitting among the chaos, one hand keeping his jacket closed over his injured chest.

"Let's get you to a room," Ayako said. When everyone got up to follow, Ayako held up a hand and said, "Only two visitors at a time. Hospital policy."

John and Masako exchanged glances before nodding. "We'll keep an eye on things here," offered the medium.

It was obvious that Naru would accompany Lin, so it was now down to Mai or Monk.

"It should be Mai," Lin said. "She can explain best what happened."

Mai nearly protested, but then she remembered the fight that she had inside Lin's own mindscape. Yeah, Monk wouldn't be good at explaining that. Nodding, she followed behind Lin and Naru.

Dr. Matsuzaki led them into a small room with a bed. Lin dutifully took off his jacket and shirt, revealing the precise grid of angry red lines on his front, as well as the bandage wrap still around his abdomen. Ayako got to work instantly, treating the wound with disinfectant. Mai didn't miss the way Ayako's eyes flashed at her. She knew exactly what those marks were and who would have inflicted them.

"You're damn lucky that it's me treating you," Dr. Matsuzaki said. "Had it been anyone else, someone would be leaving here in cuffs. How many times have you been in and out of this hospital?"

Nobody dignified that with a response, but they all knew her words to be true. The only thing that might have saved them from scrutinizing eyes would be that the marks were so precise, that a person probably would not have been able to cut them due to human error.

"I'd rather not get stitches," Lin said.

"You don't need stitches," Dr. Matsuzaki replied. "What you need is a brain."

"Monk gave me the whole lay down," Mai said. "And I won't do it again."

"And just what were all of you thinking, going back to the woods in this condition? I don't think I need to explain just how screwed you could have been."

Mai wondered if Dr. Matsuzaki was sour about being left out.

"The situation became dire," Naru said. He then went on to explain how Lin's former shiki had kidnapped both Mai and Masako, luring the rest of the team (except Ayako) to the woods. Then he gave the briefest of explanations of the spirit trial, followed by the forceful cleansing of the woods.

Ayako huffed. "They'll probably have the bulldozers there first thing in the morning." To Lin, she said, "How are your shiki doing?"

Lin's eyebrow gave the barest of twitches, betraying his surprise that she would think to ask. "I have recovered four of the five elements that I had previously. Earth's wounds have been healed, though I believe Metal still feels guilt for what it was forced to do to its teammate."

"What about your fifth?"

To that, Lin shook his head. Ayako left it at that, tossing the last of her alcohol wipes.

"I want to check your other injury, to see how it's healing," she said, before Lin stood up. Lin froze and re-settled on the table. A gentle tap on the shoulder was instruction enough for him to lie down. He was tall enough that his knees bent off the end of the table. Ayako lifted a pair of fabric scissors and lowered it toward the bandages. Mai couldn't help but think about the irony. This was so physically similar to her dream, but the atmospheres were worlds apart. The dream of Ayako destroying Lin was nowhere near the reality, right here, right now, of Ayako gently peeling back the bandages, cleaning away the dried blood, and inspecting the slightly irritated yet healing sutures ending just above Lin's navel.

"It's healing well," she said.

Lin took that as his cue to sit up. Ayako began to apply bandages to all of Lin's injuries. First, she wrapped his abdomen. Then she applied more precise bandages on top of the grid on his chest. She gave him instructions on how to change them and when to change them, especially if he began to feel tightness around his ribcage. Then she handed him his shirt.

Once Lin was all taken care of, Ayako turned her steely eyes toward Naru. Naru's brows flashed slightly, betraying his surprise at suddenly having the full brunt of the doctor's attention.

"So. That press conference. Are you sure you're ready for your branch of science to become widely ridiculed?" asked Dr. Matsuzaki.

"I'm no stranger to ridicule," replied Dr. Davis, arms folded defensively. "What will be worse will be the flood of misinformation and regulations informed by such misinformation that will surely be on the way."

Ayako looked between Lin and Naru. "So. What do you two think of being at the forefront of worldwide paranormal acceptance?"

"There are too many changes that we will be blamed for," said Naru. "There really is only one thing we can do about it. We'll continue accepting cases."

And with that, they were discharged. Lin was given strict doctor's orders to do no heavy lifting until his follow up examination, to make sure that his cuts healed properly this time around. The trip back to the office was unremarkable, save for a single moment outside the building regarding Lin and Takigawa.

Takigawa had waited for everyone else to leave. Naru and Mai went back up to the office; Masako and John had gone their separate ways home. It was simple to get Lin alone, really. The tall man was always following behind Naru, so all Takigawa had to do was tap him on the shoulder and then not say anything. Lin would wait. Which he did.

"I'm sorry man," Takigawa said.

Lin said nothing. It was clear that both of them knew what Takigawa was apologizing for.

"I make all this fuss about not crossing lines, but I did with you. I shouldn't have cut your tether."

"You made a split second decision," Lin returned. "There was no saving Wood. It was caught and done for."

"Yeah, but I should have known it would be better for you if I had just let it be." There was nothing to say to that. Takigawa was right on that one. Severing a tether and destroying a shikigami were two different things. The former was much more damaging than the latter, even if the latter could be more painful. "Naru was right. I could have killed you."

"You didn't."

"Only because you were strong enough to endure it."

"Once. I learned that I can endure it once."

Takigawa's eyes widened as he remembered, that bastard Fusei had cut his tether to Water and had practically succeeded in killing him.

"Dammit, Lin. I'm sorry."

Lin put a hand on Takigawa's shoulder. "I forgive you," he said.

Takigawa looked up at him, a look of vulnerable uncertainty on his face. Lin's face was full of sincerity. There was nothing to say. It was over.

The next day at the office was abuzz with too many things. First and foremost, there was a new influx of people, a third of them panicked about the press conference the previous day, one half skeptical and ready to start throwing tomatoes and bricks, and the last sixth with genuine cases. Naru had seen this coming. He knew that his business was in for a few weeks of wild riding. Thankfully, Lin was there to have his back and help get rid of some of the unruly ones. He didn't even have to ignore doctor's orders. One icy glare was enough to send the vast majority of the trolls packing.

The phone was almost nonstop ringing, like a bobblehead in a washing machine. It was Mai's job to handle it. There was a whole lot of, "Yes, that's us," "No we don't sell that," "We're not taking interviews at this time," and "Don't call us again," phone slam.

Mai eagerly watched the clock as it ticked closer and closer to noon. And once it did, she sped to the door, slapped the out to lunch sign on it, and slammed it shut, loud enough for everyone on the block to hear. Turning around, she caught Lin staring at her with an amused smirk on one side of his face.

"Don't tell me you haven't wanted to do that too," Mai said.

Lin said nothing, turning back to his computer. He often worked through lunch, and considering how much this case had kept him from this work, he was likely days behind. Then the doorknob rattled. Someone was trying to get in. Mai pursed her lips. Couldn't people read? But the client did not take the hint to leave. They decided to ignore the sign and knock rather loudly on the wood.

Naru emerged from his office and made his way to the door. Lin stood up, alert but not alarmed. Naru opened it. In walked a woman, about Ayako's height, in her mid-forties. She wore a business suit and carried with her a briefcase.

"Good morning, Ms. Shidoh," Naru said. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"You're welcome, Dr. Davis." This Ms. Shidoh scanned the room, shaking hands politely with Lin and then Mai. At seeing Mai's confused face, she explained, "I'm a legal representative of the Davises."

Mai's eyes widened. "Ohhh! Let me get you some tea."

She went to do just that, eavesdropping as the three adults got down to business.

"I'm glad to see you are well, Mr. Lin."

"Thank you."

"I spoke with the city's attorneys, and they have confirmed that the charges against you have been dropped, in light of further investigations into Haruki Fusei and the woods within Eastern Village."

"Will there be a record?"

"The records have been expunged."

"Thank you." Lin had never sounded more relieved.

"Now, about that bribe that you mentioned?"

"It's under the couch."

"Oh, this one?"

Mai emerged in time to see Naru reaching under the couch with a hand wrapped in a towel, pulling out the forbidden briefcase.

"I see you have made an effort to not touch it," said the lawyer, acknowledging Mai with a, "Thank you, dear," as she put down the tea. Ms. Shidoh donned a pair of gloves and opened the briefcase. The second time seeing those stacks of yen were less impactful. Mai no longer felt awed by its presence. Instead, it was an unsettling reminder of what the team had been put through, deliberately. In all her time at the SPR, she had never been on a case in which they'd been diabolically set up.

The lawyer pursed her lips, staring at the money. "Hmmm. I will want to send this to forensics to make sure they aren't counterfeit."

"The thing is, we still don't know whether Nakamura and Saito were ever legit," Mai said. She could almost hear Takigawa in the back of her head calling the two of them the shadiest pair of suits to walk the earth.

"I can't speak to their backgrounds specifically," said Ms. Shidoh, "But I could safely say that they are dishonest men. If they do work for the government on paper, they likely work for someone corrupt. If they work for some private company, then well, I don't have much of a way of knowing beyond that. We can go ahead and see what the forensics have to say, and if we have any teeth to hold them, if you want to pursue legal consequences."

"They were enemies of Fusei," said Naru.

"Yeah, and they were willing to get rid of us to destroy him," said Mai.

"History is just people screwing each other over on the big and small scale," said the lawyer with a shrug. "Is there anything else you want to bring to my attention?"

Naru nodded and mentioned the hospital bills they had incurred at the very start of their case. The look on the lawyer's face wasn't all that hopeful. She simply nodded and told them that she'd have to get back to them. "Look at it this way. If the money is real, you can use that to deal with this." And that was the best she could do. With that, they shook hands, and Naru showed Ms. Shidoh out.

Nobody knew what the SPR was in for during those first few days. Naru had predicted right that, after a week or so, the trolls would mostly stop trying to waste their time, leaving them with more legitimate cases than they could handle. Luella had called, checking in on the team, making sure that the lawyer had gotten to them and was going to tie up the loose ends, legally speaking.

As it turned out, the money was real, and there were no loose ends regarding that payment. So Naru kept the percentage that they would need for tax season, and then he sent the rest of it off to Ayako's hospital, in part to pay for the room they had used, and also to potentially help smooth things over with the hospital board. Even though they might never take a case there again, it paid to be on friendly footing with hospital staff.

As for Nakamura and Saito, the news was rather disturbing, though it was not at all what Mai had been expecting. The two men had well and truly vanished. There was not a trace of them left in the city. The only proof of their existence was the photograph that Lin had printed from their security camera. Even scrolling back through their own camera footage, they found that the two men's faces were oddly obscured. The resolution was now suddenly dropped, whenever the men's faces were turned toward the camera. Mai shuddered. This behavior was suggestive of spirits. Could it be so? Could Nakamura and Saito have been spirits? That didn't seem right. Lin's shiki would have sniffed them out if they were. Masako would have sensed it when the two men came to bail them out of jail. There was more to these men than met the eye, and at this point, if they wanted to disappear into the ether, then Mai was more than happy to let them.

The Eastern Village forest had been completely demolished. It took them a week. There was no publication about Site 387, and the entirety of the demolished land had been paved over. It was more than likely that the underground parts of the site had been filled in.

It was moments like those that made the SPR wish there still were spirits to haunt the place. They did not go through all of that mess just for Site 387 to vanish like it had never existed. Or maybe they had. Maybe that was what was best for that horrid place. After all, it was something of an open secret to those in Eastern Village. No matter what, it didn't feel like justice. Nobody dared broach the subject with Lin.

In terms of the way the world changed, it was neither what they had expected nor was it a total surprise. The ripple was much smaller and more scattered than they could have predicted. Spiritualism was now occupying a new branch of the scientific field. An obscure one, subject to ridicule and skepticism, as Naru knew all too well.

It did not take long for spirits to make their debuts in court, though the results were mixed. The first of the high profile cases was in Ireland, in which the parties tried to invoke the Unseelie court of the fairies in a civil case regarding land development. The jury hung, and the fairies never made an appearance.

As for the SPR, they found themselves more and more in a consultant type of role, especially when it came to death preparations. Wills were a particularly contemptuous subject, as now that proof of existence beyond the grave was here, what was to stop a would-be-ghost from legally swearing revenge, or a newly made ghost editing an already enacted will? Those cases were the worst, and Naru was quick to stop taking those. He instead would have much rather liked the more traditional case, a haunt to be exorcised, a mystery to be solved. But even then, now that the ghosts knew that the mortals were onto them, they became bolder. It was much more frequent for a ghost to come out of the woodwork sooner, either to negotiate, or to commence mischief. Ghost hunting was getting more dangerous, and Naru braved the front lines of these deep waters.

As the SPR shifted, Naru became absolutely inscrutable in his promise that, "First and foremost, my job is to keep the team safe."

He had said that at the very beginning of this case, which was now archived as Site 387. Mai was sure this was the only official record of that place's existence. For their own safety, Naru had hard copies of the case files sent back to England, in the event that anyone came after the data.

But whereas before, his main directive was to find his brother, now his directive was to be a good leader, one his team could trust. It wasn't an easy thing to do. Not for this eighteen year old adolescent. The weight of his team's lives, it had changed him. Subtly. This anxiety, the sharp temper brought on by his friends in danger, it was here to stay. There was little Mai could do about it, aside from doing everything in her own power to be as reliable as possible.

And yes, she did eventually get around to receiving those medium lessons from Masako. She was glad the two of them were friends now. Learning from her back when they were rivals? Forget it. Now, they were almost like sisters. They had each other's backs, the same way everyone on the team had each other's backs. They were in a good place, chaotic as it might be, and they rested assured that they were capable of handling whatever came next.

As for Lin's last shiki, the huli-jing, it had kept away from its former master for half a moon. It had traveled West, across the land of Japan, the channel between, and entered its homeland, China. A few select mediums noticed it as it passed through cities, towns, and villages. It traveled along the coastline, following the sea as it went Southwest. It did not stop. Not until it came across a very specific moon gate of a very specific garden, on Hong Kong Island. The garden was not all that large. A single plum tree loomed over an old bench. Even though it lay near a city, with neighbors all around, it contained an odd level of serenity. Solitude was sacred in this place.

Placing a paw on the base of the tree, the huli-jing called out to the earth. The tiniest of hums sang back to it, like voices in a temple. The voices belonged to the ancestors of the Lin clan, though it would be incorrect to say that their souls were inside this tree. No, unlike the trees in the Japanese wood, this tree merely held onto echoes of old souls long since moved on. To the humans, the tree was a natural comfort. To the spirits, it was a library, a treasure trove of recordings and stories. Since Koujo had left to go to England, the huli-jing had not been able to visit. Here now, it heard the voice of koujo's grandfather, as well as his great uncle, and now Weiguó Lin.

True, Weiguó had never lived here, but its heritage gave it the right to at least sign its name here. So the huli-jing closed its eyes and allowed all of its memories of Weiguó to pass into the bark, up the waterways, into the wind above and the soil below. Perhaps someday, Mei Lin would visit her ancestral home and sit beneath this very tree. Perhaps. It wasn't the huli-jing's intent to stay and find out.

Once Weiguó was deposited, the huli-jing depositied one last thing—a message for any Lin who would come here to listen.

"My dear family,

"I have decided that I will not be coming home anytime soon. There are practical reasons for this, but I find that staying among my colleagues, my friends, would be most beneficial to my recovery.

"I send you my love.

"Koujo."

Task finished, the huli-jing gathered its bearings. It would be a long trip East to return to Japan, to Koujo. A pair of footsteps gave it pause, and it turned toward the moon gate. Walking up the pathway was Hàorán Lin, Koujo's father. It was well established that the elder Lin was not spiritually sensitive, but the huli-jing had seen him come to contemplate here. True to form, Hàorán sat down beneath the tree and listened. The huli-jing watched as the human's face turned from elation at hearing his son's voice, followed by sadness, and then acceptance of the message. He glanced off to the side, in the direction of the huli-jing, and made his thoughts clear.

"Keep my boy safe."

Well. As a many times sworn servant to the Lin clan, the huli-jing knew orders when it heard them. Catching onto a breeze toward the ocean, the fox spirit flew back to its master.

It was dark in Lin's room when the four became five again. Metal, Water, Moss, and Earth sensed their comrade's approach. Fire needed neither a beacon nor permission to enter the dwelling. It simply came. It was welcomed with open arms and guided over to its Master's sleeping form. It draped itself atop its human, pressing its chest to his. With a quiet, peaceful whistle, like wind through crystal, the final tether was made. In his sleep, Lin smiled.

End

I did it. I finally finished this beast. Thank you all for hanging in there with me. I know I fell out of the swing of things for a while, but I can now say with finality that it is done. If there are any loose ends that did not get attention, please feel free to ask about them, and I will do my best to address any questions.

Regardless, if you had fun, I had fun. That is the main goal, aside from constantly trying to write better. In any case, I hope I was able to entertain. Thank you for reading.