Mai's POV:
I was laying down in my dreamscape feeling the spiritual exhaustion from being possessed. 'Ugh I feel horrible, I wonder if this is what Masako goes through,' I thought to myself. "Maybe this experience will give you the motivation to continue your spiritual studies," I heard a voice next to me say. "What do you mean, what more could I have to learn," I asked my spiritual guide.
"Well for one you still don't have complete control of your power and two we are going to have to teach you to put up spiritual barriers," Gene explained as he sat down next to me. "Wait we 'we' who," I asked confused. "I would teach you here on the spiritual side and I guess Naru would be the one to teach you in the physical realm," Gene replied. "How exactly is Naru supposed to teach me anything its not like we live together where he has access to me 24/7 and besides that I have school to attend to," if it wasn't for the amount of exhaustion I had I would have jumped up and been pacing around.
This is crazy how the heck is Naru gonna get this to work he can't just keep me hostage for the rest of my life. Then again knowing him he will find a way to keep tabs on me at all times. It also would surprise me if they used what happened to me on this last case for making sure he knows where I am at all times. Heck, everyone would probably force me to move in with him or someone else so that way I was never alone since I am 'such a danger magnet'. "Yeah you pretty much hit the nail on the head there," Gene replied to my thoughts. "Wait I wasn't speaking out loud was I," I said surprised. "You forget I'm your spirit guide so I know everything about you even what you are thinking," he explained to me.
"Yeah I guess that would make a lot of sense. Oh well I guess I should wake up now and get this all done and over with," I said sounding less than excited for what was waiting for me. "Mai please try and understand that everyone worries for you and this is only to help protect you. Your gift is a blessing and a curse at the same time not only do you help people but people and spirits will try and take advantage of you and that can be dangerous," Gene explained to me. "I never really thought about it that way. I just always assumed that I was given this gift to help others," I explained.
"Well yes you were but not everyone thinks like us they only care about themselves and pursuing their goals," Gene stated. "Alright I'll be sure to give it my all then," I waved goodbye to Gene and focused on getting my spirit back to my physical body.
When I opened my eyes I saw white walls and a white ceiling. I could hear different monitors beeping and humming just further confirming where I was, a hospital. I let out a deep sigh hating being in hospitals and would do anything it took to avoid them at all costs. But imagining the state I was in I was going to be in no position to object. Suddenly I could hear some light snoring to my left.
I looked over and found Naru asleep in a chair. He was using his long sleeved shirt to cover the top of his body. He was the last person I would have expected to be at my bedside, I would have figured it would be Monk, Ayako, or John. I sat up quietly on the bed and put on the slippers that were next to the bed. I made my way over to the bathroom so that I could freshen up as much as I could.
My body felt sore probably from laying down in that bed for who knows how long. When I got to the bathroom I looked at my reflection in the mirror and sighed. I looked horrible my skin looked sickly and pale and my eyes had dark circles. This is why I hate hospitals, not only were they creepy but they made you look and feel horrible too. I started looking through all the doors and cabinets to see if I can find everything that I needed to take a shower with.
I opened one cabinet to see a towel and some of my clothes there. I turned on the water and got all my stuff ready for when I finished in the shower. The warm water felt good on my body, I could feel my muscles loosening up relieving some of the soreness that I felt. I couldn't remember much of what happened before I woke up with Naru leaning over me. The thing I could remember was the look on his face, he looked exhausted but also like he would lose control at any moment. I wasn't sure if it was real or not because the Naru I knew never even showed the slightest hint of emotion to anyone.
Feeling that I had stood under the water long enough and also noticing that my fingers were wrinkly I turned off the water. I could feel my stomach starting to grumble and hurried up my process so I can go an find something to eat. When I opened the door Naru was awake and staring outside of the window. The small rays of light were peaking in and made him look like a completely different person. I could see pieces of Gene in him especially the way the sun hit his eyes, underneath all that darkness were soft caring blue eyes.
"Are you sure you should be walking around already," Naru asked turning to look at me. "I feel a bit better, I probably would feel more better if I got some food in me," I responded. "You can eat once the doctor checks you out," he said. "So umm where is everyone," I asked. "Probably at the office I let them know I would call once you had woken up," he replied. "Hey Naru, so what exactly happened with the investigation did everything go well," I questioned. But before he could stop me a doctor walked in the room with a nurse.
After about 30 minutes of answering questions and getting looked over by the doctor he said "Well everything seems to be in working order. I have no reason to believe that we should keep you here any longer. As soon as we get all the paperwork ready you are free to leave". "Thank you very much I appreciate everything," I said bowing to him. Once the doctor and nurse had left I turned back to Naru. "Now can we please go and get something to eat I'm starving," I begged. "I highly doubt that Mai. If that were the case there would be a big problem with this hospital," Naru replied walking out of the room leaving me to follow right behind him.
Naru's POV:
I led Mai down the hallways in order to take her to the cafeteria. While Mai gets whatever she wants to eat I can get what the hospital tries to pass off for tea. We had finally made it there and it was mostly empty except for a couple of staff. "Mai I would advise getting something light. You haven't had any solid food for a few days so your stomach needs time to adjust back to food," I advised her. "Oh come on Naru I really am starving here," she said whining. "Again Mai you are not starving there are ways the hospital can deliver to your body the nutrients it needs. If they couldn't do something as simple as that they would have already been out of business. Now if you would rather spend your time complaining then eating then we can go right back to the room," I was growing tired of her antics.
The last fews days were not exactly the easiest due to the lack of sleep I was getting. "Alright fine whatever you say," she turned away from me to go grab her food. I walked over to a table in the corner of the room and waited for her to finish grabbing her food. After a few minutes had passed by I saw her approach the table where I was sitting at with a plate in one hand and a cup in the other. "I know its probably not up to your standards, but I figured it was this or nothing," She said handing me a cup of tea.
"You're right this isn't up to my standards," I replied taking a sip. "You know a normal person would just say thank you," she retorted as she put a piece of bacon in her mouth. She seemed to have taken my advice having only scrambled eggs, toast with jam, and the one piece of bacon she ate. "So Naru what exactly ended up happening with the case," she asked me. I looked at her not sure how to respond, does she not remember how she almost died.
"Mai let me ask you something, what do you think happened with the case," I questioned. "I'm not exactly sure my memory is kind of hazy. At one point I remember talking to you and then all of a sudden I was sitting in the base while you guys were getting ready for what I assumed was an exorcism. Then next thing I knew I woke up and you were there in front of me. There are a lot of gaps in my memory and I haven't been able to fill them in, that's why I was trying to see if you could help me fill them in," she explained to me.
I had heard of people not remembering certain things while they were possessed. Ms. Hara was not one of those people considering she is a professional in her practice, but Mai was another issue she had no idea how to channel spirits like a medium. "We did go ahead and perform the exorcism. The upstairs and kitchen were cleansed. When we moved over to the forrest which is where I had sent you and Monk we got no response from anyone. We looked at the video later to see what had happened it seems the spirit was in possession of your body and had you knock Takegawa unconscious.
The spirit took you through the forrest and brought you all the way to the cliff that dropped down into the river. Rei, the spirit responsible for everything, was planning on making you jump off the cliff and drowning your body. I was the one who ended up finding you before you had jumped," I stopped my story in the middle. I wasn't sure how she would feel if I told her that the spirit might have revealed her deepest personal emotions to me. Then again her personal feelings don't matter to me these were the facts and nothing was going to change that.
"Look Mai whether or not everything that was said is true or not is of no concern to me. However since you were the one who asked about the details of the case I have to present you with all the facts. It seems the spirit took advantage of the fact that you were in no control of yourself to reveal some of your personal feelings to manipulate the situation. Either way that didn't work and then you were longer possessed. You ended up falling off the cliff and landed in the river. I dove in after you and pulled you out, Ayako had to perform CPR on you since you had apparently swallowed some water," I decided to change the last little detail of the story.
"Ah yes, I remember now it was weird it was like watching everything from an outside perspective. I could see and hear everything on the outside. Oh Naru, all those things I said to you I'm so sorry. It's true that at one point that's what I used to believe and that's how I thought of you. But that's no longer true I found a way to work past all my anger and move forward. I'm sorry I really am I didn't mean to be such a burden to the case,"she said trying to convince me of some, what it was I don't know.
"Contrary to what you think your words might have done to me let me assure you they had no affect on me. As for the possession well there was nothing we could really do to avoid it. We are just going to have to make sure something like this can never happen again," I stated plainly. "That's exactly what Gene told me in my dream…oops," she looked at me as she revealed something she didn't want to reveal. "What do you mean that's what Gene told you," I asked surprised to hear she was seeing Gene in her dreams again. "Ummm yeah Gene started showing up in my dreams again. It started that night right before we left to the Shindo house," she confessed.
"And you decided to keep this information from me because," I asked slightly annoyed. "I don't know I just didn't exactly know how to bring that up in casual conversation. I'm supposed to just tell you hey you brother who you went home to bury yeah I started seeing him in my dreams instead of him crossing over like he should have," she added that last part with more anger than I am used to hearing from her. "That idiot brother of mine he just can't leave us alone can he," I sighed leaning back in my chair a bit. "Wait what do you mean by us," she asked me.
"Sorry to disappoint you but you aren't the only one he has visited after 2 years. He has spoken to me as well although our method of communication is different from yours," I told her. "You still don't get it do you Naru. Let's head back to the room I want to get my things ready so I can leave as soon as I am discharged," she suddenly got up from her seat and went to throw away the remaining food on her plate.
I got up and followed her back to the room and I could tell he was bothered by something I said. There was a feeling in the pit of my stomach something that I had never felt before. I didn't like this feeling especially since it was so unfamiliar to me. We got back to her room and Mai went straight into the bathroom to grab her clothes that were left for her. She didn't say anything as put everything into a backpack that she had found I would assume where her clothes were.
Mai's POV:
I was trying to do whatever I could to try and stay busy, it was all I could do to keep myself from crying or losing my temper. As it is I hardly have control over my new powers and I didn't need them getting out of hand here. Naru was just so infuriating though even after all this time he still thinks I am in love with Gene. Gene, who is a spirit in another world completely separate from us how could Naru even think something like that could even work.
Just then there was a knock on the door and a nurse came walking in with a clipboard in her hand. "Hi I just need you to sign a couple of forms and then you will be free to go," she said handing me the clipboard and a pen. "Oh sure no problem," I grabbed the clipboard and pen and signed all the forms that were given to me. "Oh before I forget is there anyway I could get a bill for everything," I asked the nurse. "There is no need for you to worry about that everything has been taken care of," Naru said walking up behind me with my bag in his hand.
"What do you mean it's been taken care of? Naru don't tell me you took care of it I'm sure my stay here had to be expensive. At least let me know how much it was so I can pay you back," I said feeling guilty. "You will do no such thing everything was paid for by the company. You were injured while out on a job and last time I checked you were still employed with me unless that suddenly changed and you neglected to tell me," he stated bluntly. I didn't even know what to say how was I supposed to argue with him after that. "Thank you," was all I said to him.
The nurse handed me a packet of discharge instructions and copies of all the notes from while I was admitted. "Just make sure you try and take easy for the next week. Other than that you can continue living your life as you normally would," the nurse told me as we walked out the room. "Thank you very much for everything," I said bowing to her. "Hurry up Mai if you get left behind it won't be my fault," Naru yelled from down the hallway as he was waiting for the elevator. I ran down the hallway after him and made it just in time as the doors to the elevator opened.
"I can't wait to go home and lay down in my own bed," I said stretching. "It would seem the your naivety has lead you to come to another wrong conclusion," Naru said. "What do you mean," I asked confused. "Well since you have a habit of attracting danger to yourself wherever you go it was discussed that it is no longer safe for you to live on your own," he replied. "Naru what the heck, how can you come to a decision without talking to be about it first," I yelled annoyed. "I didn't just come to this conclusion on my own I discussed it with the others and they agree as well," he mentioned. "Again it's not fair you guys are making decisions about my life without even asking my opinion about it first," I stated.
"There is no use in arguing about it Mai even if we discussed it with you you would be outvoted on the matter," He stated plainly. "Fine whatever, so who am I staying with," I asked him. He looked at me and smirked, I didn't even need him to speak to know the answer to my question. Great now I'm stuck living with the biggest narcissist ever, but I think he was the only option to begin with. Ayako and Monk have gotten closer over the last couple of year, you wouldn't know it by watching them argue, but they recently moved into an apartment together and I would want to be in their way. Masako is always filming so she hardly is ever home from what I know. John work with the local church and has been living in their dorms. Finally Yasu is attending the local university and is living in the dorms on campus.
"Then I guess I'm packing once I get home then," I sighed. The elevator finally reached the lobby and we both stepped out and started walking towards the parking lot. "Once again Mai you assumptions are far from correct. While you have been incapacitated I took the liberty of having the others pack up everything you need and move it into my place. Everything else that isn't completely necessary has been put into storage," he explained. We ended up finding Lin's van right away and we both climbed in and drove off to Naru's apartment I assumed.