POV - Dianne

Silence… Peace and quiet.

It felt serene, almost too serene. She couldn't recall when the last time was that she had felt this. It felt akin to a dream. And if it was one… Perhaps she could never wake up. What a paradise that would be.

"No, no! I don't want to, I'm not leaving you! Don't you dare, I refuse!"

But then, her eyes opened, and a familiar sight fell upon her. The one of which remained in her nightmares for years. Sapphire eyes moved over towards the duo with her. Mai and Yasu, both staring at the opposite wall of the overly large room.

"It's been six years…" Dianne finally spoke, lips instantly pursing afterward as the reality of it truly set in.

"Yeah… It has been, hasn't it?" Mai responded, her gaze finally moving towards the blonde. "It almost feels like it was all a dream, doesn't it?"

"I still can't believe that none of them have met back up since." Yasu quietly mumbled, looking about the area again. "Or that something like that could even happen…"

"The fire at the office didn't help," Dianne admitted truthfully, "They recorded everything within paper files, and all of them were destroyed. SPR had to start from scratch, and with their memories gone…"

This made all of them look away from one another.

"Either way, our goals here today are clear. To see if we can get into contact with that being again. I think we're finally ready to handle a second meeting." Mai ended up putting a hand on her hip, a frown on her face. "I refuse to let them all remain apart like this… We were meant to be a family. And I'll do whatever it takes to get that family back."

"I agree," Yasu responded, "But at the same time… You said not even Naru and Gene could take that thing on. Would just the three of us even be able to do anything?"

"Certainly not." Dianne closed her eyes, in thought, "But even if we cannot, we shall still gain valuable information if we are to investigate here again, on the anniversary. We had waited this long because we were worried about the consequences, but now... The point in our coming is different."

"To see what triggers the being to come out, and any small details we may gather by witnessing the activity in a fresh light. We were young then, unaware of a lot of things. But looking back on the memories is hard…" Mai hid her face in her hair a bit, nervously swallowing, "So we need to look again, see what we possibly missed that Naru, Monk, or any of them might have noticed. Perhaps if we get all the facts, there is a solution that we didn't see before."

"You guys do have a point…" Yasu ended up getting a smile on his face. "You two have grown up, haven't you? It's almost as if you'd deserve to write a novel or something."

This made Dianne chuckle, amused at the thought. "Almost tempting, Yasuhara. Almost." But a novel would mean fame, and that would be popularity that they didn't need. It was… Too much of a risk. "But perhaps someday, does that sound fair?"

"As long as I'm mentioned thoroughly, boss."

She rolled her eyes. Of course, that was how he was going to go about it.

Looking up towards the large nature-made structure, Dianne felt a ping of anxiety crawling all over her. It wouldn't go away, no matter how much she had tried to make it do so. It was simply a case, after all, and she knew that. What could possibly go wrong?

The twins had the answers, and the others were prepared for this.

"Are you sure you want to join us, Dianne?" She heard the familiar voice behind her, and her attention moved back. A smile instantly crawled up her face.

Gene.

"I am certain. I wish to see this to its conclusion, no matter the cost. I assure you, I will be alright." She responded to him, turning to properly look at the boy before her. The one who had invited her to SPR, albeit much to his brother's annoyance. And the person she had slowly fallen in love with, as well.

He moved forward and pressed his lips gently against her forehead, an act she was more than aware of being of reassurance. "Even then, be careful. We don't know what the spirit is capable of. It's possible that something can quickly go wrong."

"I'm aware, Gene," A chuckle escaped her, "I am here not only to witness the end of it but also to protect those who may not be able to see something coming. It will be dark in there, and I have decent night vision." She didn't have capabilities like the others to exorcise spirits, but she could defend herself, and that was more than enough for her.

"I don't care what you say, Naru, I'm coming in there with you!"

Another voice erupted from the distance, causing both members of the conversation to look toward the source. It had seemed that Naru and Mai were once again going at it verbally. A small smile formed on the blonde's face.

"I do not want you in there, Mai. It will be much too dangerous for you." The tone of voice made it clear that Naru had seemed to be at this for a small while, at the very least.

"If you're going in, I'm going in. There's nothing else to it. It'd be one thing if I could watch from the base, but there won't be any cameras, and I just want to be there in case I need to contact someone for help!" Mai whined, seeming to be getting frustrated herself.

"If we don't come out after a while, then you can contact someone."

"Don't give me that! What if everyone gets severely hurt? What if my waiting is what causes some damage that can't be fixed?"

She could see the exhale of his nose from where she was. It was clear that Mai had once again won. It was adorable if she were honest. The blonde had always considered the two of them a possibility, especially with the way that his brother would tease him about it at times. While Naru tended to have his own way of acting, she knew to trust in how Gene reacted to him and his actions. It more than proved that there seemed to be a connection of sorts between the two. Especially the initial desire to keep her safe turning into…

"Fine." Naru finally snapped back, gaze latched onto Mai. "But you will get out of the area once anything goes wrong, do you understand?"

"Fully understood, boss!" Mai grinned, looking to be more than proud of herself.

"It seems that your brother has gotten softer on her, Gene." Dianne gazed over towards him, a hand sitting on her side. "I would almost say that there is affection in the way he treats her."

"You're not wrong," Gene responded, before quietly muttering, "It seems she's no longer a pumpkin to him."

Blinking in confusion, this causes the girl to move her attention back to him. "Pumpkin?"

"Ah, it's nothing." He nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

She couldn't help but be curious, but… If he didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't going to push him. After all, everyone was here now.

It was time to go in.

With a slow inhale, she finally gained the ability to ignore her instincts and waited for Monk, John, Lin, and Ayako to start heading in before her. After herself was Masako, Gene, Naru, then Mai. They grouped together, but at a slight distance from one another. After all, sticking together in this kind of situation is mandatory.

The four that entered first remained at the front, and Naru and Gene stayed in front of her, along with Mai and Masako. She knew it made sense, the second group were the ones more vulnerable compared to the first. But even still… To her, it hurt a little. She wanted to be able to defend herself, to be able to protect others, but yet…

She simply wasn't even capable of that, was she? She could never be like how her father had once been.

Even so, she witnessed the exorcisms begin and kept a close eye on the four of them. It hadn't taken her long to notice the fact that it seemed the entrance was closing, but before she could even say it, someone else had gotten to it first.

"It's trying to close us in!" Masako cried out, kimono hiding her mouth, and fear in her eyes, looking as if she was still trying to find an opening.

"Everything should open back up when it's done!" Naru responded back, both of the twins blocking the three girls behind them for the moment in case anything were to occur. It didn't take long for their expectations to be met.

Instinctively, Dianne had covered her face when she felt a gust of wind, only to be shocked to see that three out of the four of the front row members had been swept away. Lin had been the only one able to withstand the gust.

"G-gene!" The blonde cried out.

"It's going to be okay!" He yelled back, reassuring her.

The longer they were in the closed-off space, the more difficult it became to hear one another. It was dark to the point where even Dianne was having trouble properly seeing. All she could do, eventually, was hear the events as they happened.

"Get off me, you stupid Monk!"

"That isn't me, Ayako-"

The first of many, many screams that night.

"Ayako!" The woman suddenly sat up from her spot, her hand reaching out and tears in her eyes. She could feel her heart racing… It felt nearly impossible to breathe at that moment.

Just like that night.

Putting the extended hand on her chest, she took the time to take deep breaths, slowly forcing herself to take deep breaths and calm down. After all, there was no need to get emotional so soon…

She didn't need to be overly reminded about the memories of this place.

Once she felt calm enough to be able to properly assess the situation, she took a look about the room, recalling it as the same one the boys had used as their bedroom before. A bit small for the number of guys that had to use it, but for just herself and Mai, it was a perfect size to feel comfortable. She was grateful for the smaller group in that aspect, at the least. It made it easier to deal with the room sizes.

"I wonder if Mai is still up…" Dianne quietly muttered to herself, putting one of her hands up to her bangs. Moving them aside, she cleared her vision to take a quick look around the room. Eventually, she got up and out of bed, ready to check on her friends.

She mindlessly wandered over to their base, opening the door to such a familiar sight. The screens, many wires, and many pieces of equipment reminded her of those days… Mai did take after their methods of placement, after all. But she felt a small smile cross her face, seeing the fact that her assumptions were correct.

Mai had fallen asleep yet again.

Carefully, she took one of the nearby blankets and used it to cover the other. "Goodnight, Mai." She muttered, before looking up towards the cameras. She may as well use this chance to keep an eye on any and all activity and see if she could rewind some of the cameras while still keeping up with current footage.

Sitting down next to Mai, Dianne took hold of a pair of headphones and placed them over her ears. From there, she rewinded footage of cameras she felt wouldn't give as much evidence. It was still wise to look, and she felt both of their attention should be on more important rewinds, which she shall suggest in the morning.

For now, though, she shall put the burden of being up the rest of the night to herself. There was no need for Mai to overwork herself like she currently was. But she did understand why… Both of them missed what they had, once upon a time. Whether it be a budding romance, a happy family, or simply the lack of trauma, both of them can agree on one thing.

They were going to do whatever it took to return those days back to them.

POV Swap - Mai

She could still hear the screams of those she cared about.

Even if it had been almost six years, she could hear them as if they were still happening; a type of torture she knew she couldn't escape, even if she wanted to. The memories led to suffering and there were times when she almost, just almost, wished that she joined the others in their memory loss. But every time that thought came to mind, one thing remained obvious to her.

Dianne wouldn't be able to do this alone, and there was no reason to force her to suffer through this by herself. They both wanted their past returned to them. Or, at least for those days to be remembered. A reminder that it wasn't all just a dream, other than them simply recalling it. For Monk, Naru, and everyone else to be able to speak of it like they knew what they meant.

They deserved that, at the very least, for all this work they had put into trying to find a way to regain their memories.

Shaking her head, she snapped herself out of her thoughts. Mai looked at the footage with the blonde. It had already been two days, and there was still a lack of any evidence of there being paranormal activity. Sure, they hadn't been called here by the client for any such issue, but it still hurt. Could it be that the being left the area? If so, where would they find them from here? Was confrontation impossible now?

"I don't hear anything." She spoke up, gazing at the blonde.

"Neither do I," Dianne muttered back, and Mai could hear the woman exhale a heavy breath.

Taking the headphones off, Mai also felt herself sigh, closing her eyes. "I think it's gone. That's the only explanation I can think of."

This made Dianne also put away the headphones, going quiet for the longest moment before putting a hand up to her forehead. "I… I think you might be right, Mai. There's no way that we would have absolutely no evidence. The other option would be that the spirit recalls us, and is either remaining quiet on purpose. Or, quite possibly, saving up energy for something much bigger than we can ever hope to expect."

Mai didn't like the implications of the other options, but she couldn't deny them, either. It was, indeed, possible that the… being was up to something. "I say give it a couple more days. Until the day after that anniversary. If nothing happens by then, we should head back to Shibuya."

"Understood," Dianne responded, "We can't leave the cafe closed for too long, we'll start to worry our regulars."

At least they were both aware of that much…

"Naru!" Mai called out, having attempted to reach out to him, only to find that he was no longer there. A familiar hand grabbed ahold of her side, though, and her attention snapped towards Dianne.

"They will be alright, Mai. We need to stick together!"

Even though Dianne did say that, Mai could see the look on her face. The other woman was just as terrified as she was… And knew that Dianne had a point. So, she went back towards the wall, keeping herself attached to Dianne as tightly as she possibly could. She knew that if she lost contact with Dianne, then she would be all alone… And that thought scared her much more than anything else going on. Especially with all the screaming that could barely be made out…

"Dianne!..." Mai tried yelling out, hoping to get the other's attention. It seemed to work because the blonde's gaze moved back towards her, and she could see the other trying to respond to the other. She could make out enough… 'What is it?'

"..." She looked away, hands gripping the other's shirt tighter than before. "Is this the end?"

The question made her friend hide her eyes in her hair, but latch all the tighter onto Mai with pursed lips. Eventually, the attempt to make words was obvious to Mai. 'I don't know…'

Of course, Mai knew she should've known better than to believe that Dianne knew the answer to this entire situation-

"GENE!-"
"NOLL!-" She could make out the screams of the brothers, and it terrified her the moment she heard them.

"Naru!"
"Gene!"

Snapping herself out of it, Mai held her head in pain. The memories were coming back more suddenly than usual, which she expected. Given that they were in the place of the trauma, of course, it would all come flooding back to her. But the more she thought about it all…

Dianne was having similar symptoms, wasn't she?

And that was more than unusual. They had similar abilities, indeed, but that didn't mean they were exactly the same. They tended to have different reactions to things such as previous trauma, and it made it all the more worrisome to her that they were both acting similarly. Even Yasu seemed to take notice at times, and he seemed to be trying to focus on the work at hand. Even if he was worried about them being back here, it could be seen all over his face that he could tell what was happening…

Many questions came to mind.

Was the spirit trying to make them leave? Was there something that no one else could find but them here? Was there… Some kind of clue to help them start finding their answers, and to save the others? The way things were going… The lack of activity but constant visions made her believe this to be true.

"Hey, Mai," Yasu called out to her, and it made her attention snap over towards the other in concern. "I think you'll want to listen to this."

"Oh?" She mindlessly moved to him, gazing at the camera with slight curiosity. She was then handed the headphones, which she put on halfway to still hear Yasu for his input. But then the sound she heard made her eyes go to pinpoints.

The screams… She could recognize it anywhere…

"T-this-" She felt her throat close up and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Teeth gritting, she started to grip the desk. "Why? Why this…"

"I thought so…" Yasu looked away, having gone quiet from it all. He hated it, Mai could tell… If Dianne heard it, she would too.

It was hard for her to tell if it was just the place recalling the events, or if the spirit was trying to taunt them in some, foul way. Perhaps it was both; she couldn't tell anymore.

It felt like all these years were wasted on absolutely nothing sometimes…

"It's almost as if it just wants to torment the two of you, nothing more." He admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "But this proves that it's here, at least."

"There's that…" Mai looked away, still despising the thought of it all. "But it could also be residual energy. It was a pretty traumatic experience, after all… Stone especially likes imprinting things like this." Especially in the West, she was fairly certain. It had been quite a long time ago, but she could've sworn that it was a topic that came up once in conversation with Naru.

"I know, but let's give it until tomorrow like Dianne suggested, alright? Even if we don't find anything, the three of us needed a break from the cafe anyway." He insisted, and she noticed the look he was giving her. One of concern, something she had seen a number of times now from him since the start.

"... I understand." She sighed, rubbing the back of her head and allowing herself to take a seat. She may as well take advantage of the time, as he said… They would continue to keep an eye out, but it seems that the case has reached its end early.

BANG!

The loud noise startled Mai, but afterward, it seemed that everything had gone silent. One by one, their voices disappeared and it was still pitch back. But Dianne still had a hold of her, and her grip tightened.

"I see it, Mai." She heard the other speak, after what seemed like forever of voices being nearly impossible to hear.

"See what? I can't see anything-"

"You two…"

A voice spoke separately from them. It wasn't anyone they knew, and Mai maneuvered into a defensive stance. Dianne seemed to grow defensive as well, but refused to let go of her. She could certainly understand the reasoning, considering the circumstances.

"What are you?!" She heard Dianne call out, "What are you planning with us?!"

A dark chuckle emitted from nothingness. "You two are special… I cannot affect you. How… Interesting."

"What do you mean by that?" Mai demanded before it clicked instantly afterward. This made her grip tighten on Dianne, a glare on her face. "What did you do with the others?!"

"Don't worry, they're… Safe, for now." The being seemed to take a moment to word it, before continuing. "I'll let them go, at a price."

This seemed to make both of them stiffen. Worried about just what it wanted.

With a sharp inhale, the brunette put a hand up to her face once again. Was she daydreaming now, even?... Perhaps this had become a bit much for her to take. Thankfully, it was the day to pack everything up and head back home. So, shaking her head, she went back to putting everything into the van.

They couldn't find anything else, so it was time to go. Their customers were waiting. Not to mention, they'd decided against saying it was leave for a case, but just a general close for a few days. She was sure the regulars already knew, but it didn't mean that newer folks needed to know their business. For all they knew, it was just that the majority of the workers were busy.

Which would only need two of the three of them to be caught up in something to pass. After all, she and Dianne were co-owners, and Yasu was their third and final employee. Even since opening, it was just the three of them. It was a small enough place, and not many people knew about it despite it being open for four years now. It was a nice way of income while providing a community for spiritualists who knew what they were doing. They were their only allowed patrons, after all.

"I suppose we have no choice… But to simply continue to try and do as what it had initially stated…" She heard Dianne speak, a bunch of cables in her arms as she approached the van. "Continue to find top-tier beings and spirits, and see if any of them have what we are searching for. If so, obtain it. If not, finish the case and move on."

"That's the easy way of putting it, and you know it," Mai responded back, taking the cables and setting them into the van. "There are a lot more steps to it, but that's the general gist of it."

"Well, we already have our quarterly S-teir case picked out," Yasu pointed out, monitor in hand, "The winner will be picked in a few days, it's only a matter of making sure they can be there."

"That's true…" Dianne muttered, "Let's hope this is finally our big break. If we don't obtain anything of use soon, we may need to use a different approach."

"Yeah, I know…" Mai looked away at the thought, pursing her lips. It had taken them six years already to set this plan into motion… Who knew how much time they had to be able to finish what they started? They were running on a timer that they couldn't see. For all they knew, it had already long passed. But yet…

Failure wasn't an option.

With that having been the last of their things, Mai slammed the back of the van shut, sighing and allowing herself to take one last look at the sight. The cliff, followed by the ocean. A place of many tales, and an abandoned hotel that had its own stories.

"If we leave now, we should make it back to Tokyo by nightfall, and open the cafe tomorrow." She heard Dianne comment as she entered the passenger side of the van.

She looked back to see Yasu in the driver's side. "Go ahead and rest in the back. The both of you didn't sleep well, I could tell."

With an embarrassed chuckle, she rubbed the back of her head while opening the back. "Thanks, Yasu. I appreciate it."

And with that, the door was shut, and the van turned on, and they left the place of their nightmares behind.

OOC

Don't mind the fact that I combined the first two chapters into one. I felt the count was off, and did some light editing to make sure that this was as good of a quality as I can now provide now that it's been a while. I might edit the other stories, I might not. Let's hope for me to have continued motivation!