A/N: So, I lied and the next case doesn't start this chapter, haha. This mini case is still technically "mini" btw. NaruMai filled up most of the gaps :3
(BTW: I will be disabling PMs except for when I reply to comments because the AI art bots are getting to be too much)
*Warnings: STRONG Mentions of SA, rape, dismemberment, murder, low self-worth*
Previously…
"This needs to go…" the girl called Yura whispered, barely audible by the microphone. "Needs… to… go…"
Her shoulders slumped forward, her sister stabilizing her. Then, she "woke up," completely unaware of what had transpired.
Yasu, who had been trying to listen in, tapped his pen against his chin. "I don't know about you, but that sounds like a conveniently timed message," he piped up.
Mai nodded, staring intently at the kotatsu as she tried to piece together what the message implied.
They sat quietly after that until Yasu broke the silence. "Say, did someone deck you in the face, Big boss?"
And then the call mysteriously lost connection.
Mini Case—Part 3
"Huh? Why'd it hang up?" Mai poked around at her phone, checking the service and wifi. "Weird."
Naru didn't reply, opting to mind his own business while picking at his takeout container of yakisoba.
Figuring that it was late anyway, Mai texted Yasu to not bother calling back. He planned to research more tomorrow, so they could just reconvene then or the day after.
Putting her phone down, she and Naru continued their dinner in peace with the lull of the TV in the background. After they were done, Mai offered to make tea to which Naru greeted her with an "about time you asked" look.
Rolling her eyes, she started the water. Feeling a hankering for it, she grabbed herself and Naru a mochi ice cream while the tea prepped. While she was fine pulling it right out of the packet to eat, she wasn't sure about her classier guest. Ultimately, she placed it on a cat-themed shoyu dish.
He tilted his head in question when she placed it in front of him.
She smirked, sitting back down in her seat. "It's like introducing a new food to an animal."
"It's not common where I'm from," he clarified, not appreciating her comparison.
"Oh, get over it. It's not like you haven't referred to me as wild-life before." She took a bite of her own strawberry-flavored mochi and hummed happily. She was nearly done eating hers while he continued to stare his.
She leaned in closer to him, mischief laden in her eyes. "If you're worried it's poisoned, I'll eat it for you."
Watching her smug smirk was the push he needed. With the gravitas carried by his name "Oliver Davis," he downed the ball of vanilla mochi ice cream in exactly two bites—making a point to stare Mai down as he did it.
While only meaning to tease him, his stare down sent a frenzy of butterflies to her stomach.
"Do you need help finishing yours?"
For no comprehensible reason, her body's reaction was to viscerally heat up. The water boiler going off was the perfect excuse to get away from him. Shoving the last of her mochi into her mouth, she scurried away to tend to the tea. Once faced away from Naru, she cupped her cheeks to calm the burning.
She asked for it… echoed what she believed was Gene's voice speaking to himself.
Shut up, Gene, she retorted, puffing out her cheeks as she finished prepping their tea.
Hey, that was uncalled for! he said before pausing. Though, I probably deserved it lol.
Shaking her head, she brought the pot over with their cups.
"I only have hojicha right now," she mumbled, serving Naru in a cat-themed cup to match the shoyu plate. She added a bit of lemon, ginger, and honey and stirred his cup. "This is a new way I've been having it lately."
He silently watched her hand's ministrations as she worked. "You usually drink this before bed on cases."
"Yup!" She grinned, pleased that he remembered. "When we first met, I was drinking it in place of taking sleeping pills to help me sleep."
"And now?"
She hummed, prepping her own cup. "It's just a habit I've fallen into. How is it?"
"Fine," he said, sipping more before gracefully placing the cup back on the kotatsu. Telling by the frequent sips, she surmised that he enjoyed it. She purposely put in less honey and lemon for him to emphasize the ginger—from learning about his preferences, it seemed he didn't mind spice.
Mai rested her cheek in her hand as she thought about her next topic. "Don't you think the history of Yamada-san's property is really shitty?"
He lifted a brow at her choice of adjective.
"I mean, I feel so bad for Tsuru-san- or is it Tsumugi-san? Either way, it makes me kind of grateful I don't have siblings to be compared to, y'know?" She was rambling to herself at this point, but Naru made a point to stay silent to let her ponder on her thoughts. "Tsuru-san was told she was boring with a personality undesirable compared to her brighter more cheerful sister. I can't even blame her for being so disheartened. Why do people have to be so judgmental? Can't people just be different? Why compare?"
She took an aggressive gulp of her tea before turning to look at her guest, finally noticing him watching her in amusement. "Am I right? Or am I right?"
"It's more common than you think," he said, averting his gaze toward the TV. "You become accustomed to being compared."
Mai noted the tension in his body as he stared blankly at the TV, his words echoing in her head.
Noll… said Gene, his tone taking on a solemn note.
For some reason, her gut told her to close herself off from Gene, so she listened. Her eyebrows drooped slightly as she processed Naru's last sentence. She hadn't had any dreams of his memories in a while, and only recently did they start to show Gene in them. From what she'd seen in the twins' family life, they had a healthy relationship—Martin and Luella didn't favor one or the other based on personality.
One of her past conversations with Gene did mention how people often found Naru too difficult to get along with, which implied that Gene was the one people generally gravitated towards.
Naru preferred that, but Mai wondered if it ever bothered him even just a little bit?
If she had met Gene when he was alive, would she have still fallen in love with Naru? Or would she have fallen in love with Gene instead?
Gene was a great guy, funny, personable, and kind. In a lot of ways, Takata reminded her of Gene, and she did like Takata as more than a friend. If she had met either of them before meeting Naru, would her feelings have been different?
No. They wouldn't be, her gut told her.
"Naru," she started, "I don't know what people have said about you in the past, but I like you the way you are. Gene's great, but so are you."
Even while facing away, she noticed his eyes widened a fraction before he slowly looked at her straight on, his expression unreadable.
But it would have been better if I had taken Gene's position…
Mai's eyes widened, finally realizing the voice she was hearing wasn't Gene's but Naru's. Leaning toward him in urgency, she scrunched her brows.
Without thinking, she blurted out, "Don't say that. You're not worth any less than Gene!"
He eyed her warily, instantly tensing up. "You heard my thoughts."
She blinked, fully processing that she indeed had. "I… I did. Sorry, I didn't realize until just now. It kind of popped up."
He brought a finger to his chin in thought. "Was this the first occurrence?"
Thinking back on all the times she thought Gene was talking to himself, she nearly slapped her forehead at how stupid she had been. "Um… no. You and Gene have the same voice so I thought he was just thinking to himself."
Before he could say anything else, she hardened her face, not backing down from their previous topic. "Forget about that. You weren't lying when you said that it should've been you, right?"
He didn't reply, instead turning away from her in favor of watching the TV. He was withdrawing from the conversation.
Mai's heart broke, not sure what to say to remedy the situation. Did she say too much?
"I…" she reached out to him, hesitating before gripping a small bit of his sleeve. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.
"Just know, you're irreplaceable to me," she whispered before letting go of his sleeve.
He was acutely aware of the hand that fell from his sleeve to the floor. His hand twitched. Holding back, he forced it into a fist.
"I should leave," he said, standing abruptly and bringing his dishes to the sink.
Mai's eyes followed his movements, fighting the urge reach out for him—
To ask him to stay.
She'd already inserted herself into his inner wall forcefully. While he heard her thoughts occasionally, the contents were usually basic and superficial. Meanwhile, here, the inner thoughts of Oliver Davis were far more complex than she realized. Thoughts that even his twin had no way of knowing. Thoughts that carried a heavy burden.
It was then she remembered that she was just an outsider, invading in his space. She'd always been.
When he shrugged his trench coat on by the door, she stood sheepishly, keeping her head down. "Naru, I'm so-" Before she could finish, she nearly jumped when a hand landed on her head.
Looking up in surprise, her eyes widened. Naru gently pet the top of her head, his usual straight face slowly morphing into a small but tender smile.
"Thank you," he said quietly before opening the door and leaving Mai to stand frozen in place as the door clicked shut behind him.
School the next day went by dreadfully slow. After last night, Mai couldn't help but worry about Naru. They had never addressed the fact that she was hearing his thoughts now—but was there really anything they could do about it? It was one of those situations where they just had to accept that it was happening.
Michiru and Keiko noticed her mood after she sighed for fifth time that day.
Rather than pester her about it, they both put a hand on her shoulder at the end of the day. Shaking their heads, Keiko was the first to speak up. "Don't worry, Mai. He's not worth all the worry. Just forget about him. Dump his ass."
"Whatever he did to make you like this tells me he's no good. You don't need him in your life," added Michiru, a serious expression on her face as she shook her head in disapproval.
With brows up to the sky, Mai sighed and rubbed her temples. "You're telling me to dump someone and you don't even know what's going on?!"
"Aha! So, it is about a 'him!'"
Mai shook her head in disbelief, walking ahead of them. "Don't want to talk about it right now. I'll see you guys later," she said, waving.
Before she went out of earshot, she heard Michiru say to Keiko, "I bet 500 yen and a limited release persimmon ramune that it's Shibuya-kun."
"No need to bet on that one."
Mai rolled her eyes, a smidgen of a smile returning to her face.
Even though they hadn't spoken since last night, her feet brought her to the office. They could have met at the house but for some reason she felt like she would find him here instead.
And she was right.
Yasu wasn't there yet as he was currently scouting out some property records before he came in. That left the barely non-existent Lin in his office, and then Naru, the recipient of her concern.
Unlike last time, he was in his office. She knocked gently on the door to alert him of her presence before opening it. She popped her head inside, finding him at this computer.
Before she could say anything, he called out to her. "Come here."
She inched toward his desk cautiously. He gestured toward his monitor where he had a few photos pulled up.
Mai's eyes widened, moving herself directly in front of the monitor to get a closer look—unaware of Naru pushing himself away when she got too close.
"That's definitely them," she said, pointing at the people in the photo. Like in the vision, Anju had a fair complexion, round eyes, and black-brown wavy hair. Meanwhile, Tsuru/Tsumugi had midnight black straight hair and more cat-like eyes. Soujirou, their brother, had the same midnight black hair but his was shorter and slicked back, as was popular when conforming to the western style.
"According to records, Aono Anju went on to live with Nara Ryuuchirou in Nara prefecture. Meanwhile, Aono Tsumugi was reported to have been sent off to marry a distant lord. There are no records of who she married." Naru opened up other scanned documents for Mai to see. "After the incident last night, nothing of note happened aside from the the temperatures remaining low. I left thermometers in a few other rooms yesterday. The living room had a steep drop in temperature as well."
She frowned, stepping away from the computer. "Why the living room? Maybe Tsuru-san, or whatever her name is, will let me see more today," she said as she turned around to face him. She let out a audible gasp when she almost bumped right into him. How she avoided backing into him just now, she'd never know.
He seemed to notice their proximity as well, looking down at the space between them. He caught her eye briefly before stepping away.
And it took everything for her to not follow.
Clearing her throat and restraining herself from running to the door, she asked, "Are you ready to head out?"
He nodded.
That was all she needed to know before she practically skipped out, scurrying toward her coat and scarf in a frenzy to get them on. What was up with that? Their usual dynamic felt… different. Not necessarily in a negative way, but she'd be lying to say things between them were- were what?
Naru exited his office, interrupting her thoughts before she could collect her thoughts.
"Let's go," he said, heading for the door, a satchel in hand.
The two didn't say much during the remainder of their journey, a strange atmosphere hanging around them. Even the train ride was uneventful. Neither of them said a word.
When they got off at their stop and walked toward Yamada-san's house, Mai glanced over at Naru. "Um, just so you know, I haven't heard any more of your thoughts since last night." She played with her scarf for a bit before adding, "Well, it's not like I hear them often. I always assumed it was just Gene talking to himself once in a while. And um, I can try to ignore anything I hear. I don't want to intrude—actually, I didn't really mean to intrude yesterday, I just… okay, I guess I did kind of intrude."
She knew fully well that she was rambling at this point, but he didn't make any indication that he was annoyed.
"Mai," he said, instantly silencing her. "I'm not angry that you've heard my thoughts."
The silent "but" hung in the air, Mai trying to hold back her questions.
"There are aspects of my life that even Gene doesn't know about." He kept his gaze forward. "Aspects that are more troublesome than they're worth."
"Things you'd rather ignore?"
"Yes."
"I can understand," she affirmed, nodding her head. "Everyone has worries and insecurities, even the famous Oliver Davis, it seems."
He sent her a glare for saying his name out loud to which she quickly realized her mistake and covered her mouth.
"Hehe, sorry! I don't think anyone heard." She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, unaware of his eyes staring down her hand. "In any case, I promise not to tell anyone!"
She brought her index finger to her mouth to emphasize that point. Glancing around cautiously, she leaned in toward him. "And for a secret like that, I'll share one of mine."
"I don't need to know one of your secrets."
"It's more for my guilty conscience so just shut up and listen," she said, puffing out one cheek. "This is really embarrassing to admit out loud… but okay, for a long time, I was dead set on being a spinster for eternity because I thought no one would be able to accept that I talk to ghosts."
Naru was silent, not even blinking. He was silent for a few moments longer before letting out, "That's it?"
Mai turned away and covered her face. "I know. It's stupid, but that's really what I thought!"
His brow lifted a mere fraction.
"And no, I don't aspire to be a spinster anymore." She wasn't necessarily chasing guys either. It was just the least of her concerns right now. "I've met a lot more non-sensitive people who've accepted me, like Takata-kun."
And his brow dropped back down again.
"And I don't know the details of why you believe it would've been better if it had been you than Gene," she said, "but you have a whole group of people who've accepted you as you are and keep coming back despite you being an ass all the time."
When he glared at her, she shrugged. "And it's also unfair to Gene. He probably would've thought the exact same if he was in your shoes."
And then, just as she got distracted by a street cat, he fell back a few steps as her words sunk in. He subconsciously watched her, Masako's words from a few months back echoing in his head—
"Is it so difficult to believe that others may want to get closer to you?"
Gene had mentioned in the past his flaw of secluding himself from situations—the idea of secluding himself before other people could seclude him first. Well, Naru never truly cared about being "left out." It was more a case of, "why stick around if he didn't want to be there, and no cared if he was there?"
When he approached her crouched form, Mai mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. "I don't exactly know what kind of thoughts are running through that head of yours right now, but you're wrong."
"To proclaim something is wrong before knowing is presumptuous."
"I may do stupid things sometimes, but I'm not dumb. You might be intelligent, but it doesn't mean you know everything either." She gave him a stern look before presenting him with the street cat.
He glanced at it briefly before giving her one of "those" looks.
"Just pet the damn cat."
After their weird but surprisingly revealing conversation, the atmosphere between them fell back into its usual comfortable state. In fact, Mai felt much lighter as they trekked the rest of the way.
Upon arriving, Yamada-san stood in front of the house with one of her daughters, as if waiting for them.
"Thank goodness you're here," Yamada-san approached them, her hands folded to her chest in worry. She ushered them inside.
"We caught footage of the incident from last night. Did anything happen elsewhere in the house overnight?" asked Naru once they were seated in the living room.
Yamada-san turned to her daughter and they shared an exasperated look. "My daughter, Yura, can tell you. She revealed some disturbing things to me yesterday night."
Yura looked to be about Mai's age, her hair resembling a longer version of Masako's. She fidgeted with her hands as she looked up at them timidly. "Um, hello. I'm sure you saw what happened last night. That was me. I hear the spirit in that room sometimes. I've been hearing it for awhile now, but I always brushed it off 'cause I didn't wanna scare anyone else."
Mai tilted her head. "What does the voice usually say?"
"Sometimes it's just calling my name, like yesterday. Other times, it's like mumbling to itself. I'll hear it while chilling in bed reading or something."
"Has it said anything that you think could help us?" asked Naru, forgetting himself as Mai's lackey.
Yura thought hard, closing her eyes. "I think I've heard the word 'burn' before. Something about 'holding me back.'
"And your sister doesn't hear any of this? I think you guys share a room, right?" Mai glanced to Yamada-san for confirmation.
Yura frowned. "When I finally told my mom and sister what's been happening last night, they both mentioned never hearing anything."
Mai placed a hand on her cheek in through. "I guess I should get in contact with Tsuru-san again," she told Naru.
"Tsuru-san? Is that the spirit's name?" asked Yura.
"Yeah. We believe the spirit here to be daughter of an influential family during the Meiji era." Mai then went to explain her vision and Yasu's findings from yesterday.
Yamada-san rubbed at her arms nervously. "I'm amazed the records line up with your vision. How chilling," she said. "The door has stayed unlocked just like you said. Feel free to do what you need to."
Mai and Naru accepted her offer, leaving for the abandoned room, unaware that Yura followed them from behind. Once they entered the room, she called out to them quietly, making sure her mom hadn't followed.
She nudged the door closed with her foot. "Um, I have something else to tell you, but I don't want my mom to hear or she'll freak the heck out."
"What's up?"
Yura leaned in closer and whispered, "Sometimes the spirit speaks to me in my dreams."
Mai's eyes widened, sharing a look with Naru. "When did this start? Do you have dreams with other spirits?"
Yura shook her head. "It only started when we moved into this house."
"Do you think it could be psychic dreams like mine?" Mai asked Naru.
He put a hand to his chin. "While we can't rule it out, it seems you have some sort of connection to the spirit," he said, addressing Yura directly. "She calls out to you specifically and chose you as the conduit for her possession."
"Conduit? That sounds creepy," Yura said, theatrically shivering as she rubbed her arms vigorously. "Why me, though?"
"We'll have to find out," said Mai. "I have spiritual dreams and that's how I contact them, so I'm going to try reaching out."
"That sounds cool. Uh, do you two mind if I stick around? I want to know why this ghost likes to pick on me."
"Does she?"
"Yeah, whenever I pass the living room or the mirror, she shoves me."
While Naru continued to record Yura's incidents in his journal, Mai perched herself against the wall. Since she had Naru and Yura here, she wanted to try "50% mode" to speak to Tsuru. She hadn't used it much since the case at the Cathedral, so she wasn't sure how well it would work for this case.
Trying to drown out Naru's interview with Yura, she pulled her spirit out of her body half-way. Since it had been awhile, it took her a few minutes to adjust to the static-like feeling of her body—like her limbs had fallen asleep, but it was her whole body instead.
"Tsuru-san?" she asked aloud. Naru and Yura paused their chat immediately.
The spiritual outline of the house appeared before her, Naru's, Yura's, and Yamada-san's energies appearing in their respective rooms. A weak purple energy, sharing a striking resemblance to Yura's own fluttered in the corner of the room.
Aside from that foreign yet familiar energy, Mai noticed a noticeable dark energy from the living room. "Huh? What's that?" she mumbled, peering closer at the energy.
"What is it, Mai?" asked Naru.
"There's a weird dark energy in the living room. It's black at the center but magenta on the edges. I don't recognize it."
When she attempted to get closer, she was held back by the purple energy resembling Yura's. "Stay away from that," said a weak female voice.
Mai turned to find Tsuru's spirit—the whole spirit, like when she was alive. "Tsuru-san?"
The spirit shook her head. "Tsumugi."
"Wait a minute! Then, who's Tsuru-san?"
"I am," said a distorted hoarse voice. Beside Tsumugi was the slit mouthed entity that Mai had seen prior.
Mai gasped in surprise, reflexively pulling her arm away. Tsumugi had energy that resembled Yura. Meanwhile, "Tsuru" had a faded purple energy with outlined magenta.
"Uh, why are there two of you?"
She felt Naru approach her from the side, but he didn't say anything to break her concentration.
"The best way is to show you," said Tsumugi, her eyebrows scrunching in doubt. "However, it is a… most arduous story to see."
Mai tilted her head.
"You will regret it," said Tsuru. "Do you truly wish to see it?"
Mai gulped. "That's the only way to help you, right? I'll do it. Please show me."
"Remember that we had warned you," said Tsuru before darkness enveloped her.
After Mai asked the spirits to reveal their final vision, she slumped to the side, her entire body sliding off the wall. Oliver grabbed ahold of her and laid her down carefully.
Yura quickly retrieved a pillow for her to rest her head on.
"Is she asleep?"
"Yes."
While Mai dreamt, Oliver would continue the investigation. His plan was to gather information for Mai to use later for her deductions. Thus, he continued his interview of Yura, who had experienced more in the house than her family was aware of.
In addition to frequent physical harm near the living room, she had numerous experiences with the hallway mirror.
"I would say nine out of ten times, there's something that latches to my back every time I walk past it. I usually close my eyes and speed walk."
"Does it happen in both directions?"
Yura looked up at the ceiling in thought, scrunching her brows. "Y'know, it's always coming from the living room."
He tapped his pen—the pen Mai gifted him last year—against his chin. His eyes flickered to the girl in question. Would she be fine here if he investigated the mirror further? If the spirits wanted to harm Mai, they already would have. Telling from the information collected, the phenomenon here was more of an influential nature versus the malicious nature like that of the doll case.
Even then, any physical activity appeared to surround itself around the Yamada family only, specifically Yura.
"I would like to see you walk across the mirror," he said, standing up. Yura nodded, already heading out of the room. Before leaving, he etched a few objects under the door to make sure it stayed open.
Yamada-san watched in curiosity as he approached the hallway. Yura was already on the other side closest to the living room.
"Do you feel anything at present?" he asked, turning off the lights. Luckily, the sun set early during this time of year so there wouldn't be much extraneous light from the windows.
"There's that weird feeling I get whenever I'm near the living room," Yura replied, her outline faintly visible with the low lighting.
Oliver pulled a compact infrared night vision camera from his satchel. "When I instruct you to go, you will walk. I will be to the side to capture footage of the mirror."
"Sure thing."
After a moment to ensure the settings were how he wanted, he gave her the signal.
Yura walked down the hallway at a steady pace, doing her best to not be embarrassed at being recorded. Just as she was about to reach the other side of the mirror, a piece of her hair was visibly tugged back. She jumped and whipped around, holding a hand to her head.
"My hair just got pulled!"
Yamada-san who was standing nearby quickly turned on the hallway light out of fear.
Oliver stopped the recording to view the playback. While nothing appeared out of the ordinary directly behind Yura, something about her mirror image wasn't quite right. When she spun around, her face was distorted. Questioning the low lighting, he used the camera's features to increase the exposure of the clip.
Yura peered over his shoulder and audibly gasped when she saw her face. "That makes me want to puke. Why do I look like that?"
Her eyes were slanted inward while her mouth presented with an unnatural twist.
A sudden knock on the front door had both Yura and her mother yelping. Yamada-san cautiously checked who it was before opening the door to reveal none other than Mai's school friend, Takata Satoru, or whatever his name was.
He greeted them with a grin until he looked around the house, a nervous laugh erupting from his mouth. "Wow, it's dark in here," he commented as he entered. After leaving his shoes at the genkan, he approached Oliver. "How's it going, Boss-san?"
Oliver forced an inhale through his nostrils. "Investigating."
Takata scratched his cheek before lifting the bag in his hand. "I brought tea! Courtesy of my parents."
While he and the Yamada family engaged in small talk, Oliver continued adjusting the video's playback settings.
It was after a few minutes that something white caught his eye.
Usa-sama stood beside him, gesturing his head toward the back room. Sounds of distress and a blood curdling shriek that turned into a muffled scream pushed him into a run. He sped around the corner and up the narrow steps, seeing Mai thrashing around from her place on the floor.
"Mai!"
It looked like she was trying to get something off her, her screams now muffled by what sounded like a gag yet there was nothing physical that could've acted as one.
"Mai!" he called out to her again, shaking her shoulders gently in a futile effort to wake her up. The other inhabitants of the house rushed into the room, horrified by what they saw. When she began trying to keep her legs closed shut, he knew she needed to be awoken.
"Water, quick," he instructed. It was the method Gene used to break him out of visions.
Someone ran out and got him a cup of water as instructed. Laying Mai back down, he took the water cup and stepped away from her, not keen on being slapped again. He then splashed the water on her face causing her to gasp awake and shoot up into a sitting position.
She made to cover her clothed body with her arms automatically, jumping back when she saw everyone.
It wasn't until her eyes landed on him that she relaxed, her tears now falling freely. "Naru, he did such horrible things to her," she said between sobs. "He- he ra-" She stopped herself when she remembered everyone else in the room and tried to collect herself, wiping her eyes with her uniform sleeve.
Takata scrambled for his handkerchief, crouching down cautiously, noting how she flinched. "Here, use this, Mai-chan." She thanked him, taking it to dry her face. After she calmed down some, her crying was replaced with small tremors that wracked over her body.
Takata then poured her a cup of the tea he brought, careful not to get too close should she be uncomfortable.
Something shifted inside Oliver as he watched the gesture, but he pushed the feeling away, prioritizing the situation at hand.
"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.
She nodded, dabbing at her eyes. "You woke me up before things got bad."
Despite not finishing her sentence earlier, everyone in the room had an idea of what had transpired in her vision. Takata, who had only just arrived, still looked confused but was trying to put the pieces together himself.
"I know what we need to do now," Mai said firmly, resolve laden in her eyes.
"What is that?"
"Tsumugi-san and Tsuru-san are the same person. After she was driven into insanity, she was violated by the man her father sold her off to. Her body was mutilated and dismembered. Right before she died, she- I don't know, split apart?"
"Dissociated."
"Yeah, that. Anyways, Tsuru-san is her broken half, and Tsumugi-san is her preserved half."
Oliver crossed his arms and pulled his notebook out of his coat pocket. He scanned his notes. "Yura-san reports frequent physical activity near the living room. Do you believe Tsuru-san to be the cause?"
Mai shook her head. "No, that's coming from Anju-san. Her energy, anyways." She explained in detail what she had seen during her communication with the spirit earlier—how the energy in the living room appeared differently. "After Tsumugi-san's death, she found out that her younger sister had been involving herself in weird occult activities."
"Like ouija boards?" asked Takata, engaged in the discussion even though he had no clue what was going on.
"Potentially. Oujia boards as you know them existed in other forms of communication through history. Many people of the recent past viewed occult practices as a novelty," Oliver explained.
Mai nodded. "And Anju-san had always been into the latest trends. I only saw things in snippets, but Anju-san met some kind of witch. She was the malicious kind, kind of like Onibaba. I don't know what she did, but she invoked a negative energy into Anju-san, amplifying her biggest insecurities or whatever."
She took a sip of her tea before continuing. "I think she always felt inferior to Tsumugi-san. I don't know how she did it, but her festering feelings put a curse or something on her sister." She looked down at her teacup as she thought. "Gene actually wondered if she had PK-LT and if that's how she was able to influence her sister's life so much."
Ignoring her slipping of Gene's name since no one here knew him, Oliver considered the idea. "That would explain her residual energy. So long as Tsumugi-san remains, so will Anju-san's curse."
"Not to mention, Gene said that the antiques clustered in the living room have been feeding Anju-san's energy."
"That's kind of a shitty thing to do to your sister," commented Yura. Her mom gave her nudge and a glare for her language. "But why is she picking on me though?"
Mai gave her a smile. "This might sound crazy, but you know how Tsumugi-san would talk to you in and outside of your dreams?"
Yura nodded, leaning closer in curiosity.
"You share a piece of your soul with her, like a reincarnation. Honestly, your energy looks really similar to Tsumugi-san's."
"Are you for real?"
Mai shrugged and put her hands up. "That's what she tells me. It makes sense though! She possessed you so easily too."
Yamada-san, who looked just about to faint, stepped forward. "Given all of this, what do you think was haunting my great aunt?"
Oliver spoke up this time. "She may have been suffering from prolonged exposure to the energy in the living room. More research needs to be done but there have been studies that support the idea of negative energies affecting the living."
Yamada-san nodded, perfectly content to not hear any more. Her face was entirely blanched. "Is there a way to… help this spirit move on? And get rid of this dark energy?"
Oliver nodded to Mai, reminding her to make her decision as the lead investigator.
Mai gulped, inhaling deeply as she mentally ran through her plan. "To purify Tsumugi-san, Yura-san needs to burn all her belongings." When said girl looked at her in curiosity, she elaborated. "That's why she possessed you. She wanted you to destroy her things. As her reincarnation, you can pass her along."
Oliver could have sworn he heard her also mumble something about, "At least that's what Gene's riddles implied." He couldn't help the prickle of amusement at how his twin was following along with his plans for training her. Gene read his mind.
"And for the living room," Mai started saying, "One of our specialists can come tomorrow to expel the energy."
Mai, Naru, and Takata stayed a bit longer after that to help set up a fire and burn through Tsumugi-san's items. Gene said that furniture like her desk could just be purified tomorrow rather than burnt. Even the spirit herself mentioned she wasn't that attached to the furniture.
That made the burning a fairly quick process of an hour and a half—most of the items were paper or wood, luckily.
Mai took this time to determine who she wanted to call for the purification tomorrow. Really, it mattered who was free. From Ayako's track record, Mai crossed her off the list immediately. That left Bou-san and John. Eventually, she settled on Bou-san since he mentioned having experience with clearing "bad juju" from antiques before. John would provide more of a blessing, which she figured wouldn't be aggressive enough for the level of negativity.
Just as Yura threw the final item into the flame, Mai stood next to the fire with Usa-sama to provide a prayer for Tsumugi-san to pass along in peace.
"I hope you can rest now, Tsumugi-san, Tsuru-san," Mai said with her eyes closed, her palms together. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you. I'm just glad that you can finally move on."
"Thank you for listening to my story," said a faint whisper in the wind. The ashes of the final item flew up into the air, leaving a light and calm atmosphere.
Yura shivered as the wind carried a message to her ear, "Live well."
"Mai-san, that was some of the craziest stuff I've ever heard and seen," Takata said as he walked Mai and Naru to the train station.
"Have you changed your mind? In Kyoto, you said my abilities didn't scare you. What about now?" She sent him as playful of a smile as she could.
He scratched the back of his head. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't get major goose bumps and that I don't plan on sleeping with my light on all night," he said, laughing. "But, I'm more amazed that you did all of that!"
Takata paused for a minute before his face dropped. "Are you really okay after seeing something like… that?"
That being the unspoken horror she nearly experienced that created Tsuru-san.
Mai's smile wavered, her hands subconsciously squeezing into fists. "I'm fine. I get used to it. Don't worry about it! So, um, have a good weekend!" She waved and hurriedly scanned her JR card to enter the platform.
Takata watched her in concern, flicking his eyes toward Naru, noting how his gaze also followed after Mai.
"Hey," Takata called out to Naru quietly. "I don't really understand your relationship, but I trust you because she trusts you. Please make sure she gets home okay."
Naru watched him for a moment, his eyes narrowing some. "You don't need to tell me," he said, before following after her.
Takata stood exasperated for a few moments before chuckling to himself.
So, that's how it was.
It didn't take long for the train to come with Naru and Mai finding seats quickly due to the later hour. Mai almost found it laughable how natural it was for him to take her home now. She was going to miss having him all to herself.
As they sat in silence, her eyes fought to stay open. She was worried about what she would dream about. Then again, it was a reasonable situation for her to use a sleeping pill tonight.
"Just rest. I'll wake you up when we get to your stop." He said with such a straight face that she almost missed the intent of his words.
Warmth bubbled in her chest as a smile graced her face. How could she disobey when he was being nice? Allowing herself a moment's rest, her head made itself right at home on his shoulder.
When her stop finally came, she awoke to the vibration of his voice against her ear, alerting her of their arrival.
Groggy as she was, she managed to keep up as he essentially dragged her home. As soon her door opened, she was ready to jump in bed without bothering with dinner but was forced to scarf down at least one onigiri.
When it came time for Naru to leave, her hand shot out without her permission and gripped his sleeve.
They both stared down at it, wondering what she was doing.
It didn't take long for Mai to realize why—the idea of being alone after her vision tonight sent her into a panic. Either she could brush it off and bear through the fear alone like she usually did… or she could be honest with herself and ask for help. Otherwise, he would be in for another meme barrage at 4 am either way.
"Naru. Can you stay? Just a little bit longer?" Her eyes practically plead as she looked up at him.
Mai rarely asked him for help, let alone so desperately. He couldn't effectively leave her alone like that, especially after knowing the contents of her vision.
And so, despite his better judgment, he stayed. They watched TV and talked, Mai doing most of it unsurprisingly. They didn't talk about what she saw in her vision, instead veering off to other lighthearted subjects. Still on the subject of ghosts, of course.
Mai shared some of her old experiences and dreams, including the experience that gifted her with Usa-sama's mirror. She also managed to ask some questions she had always been curious about—embarrassing stories about Gene, what was his life like as Oliver Davis back in London, and lastly, if he was planning on returning.
The look he gave her was unreadable, almost like the answer was unclear to even him.
Knowing the signs of a "Naru-malfunction," Mai moved onto other topics before eventually dozing off at the kotatsu while watching the TV.
With a sigh, Naru studied the rise and fall of her back as her breathing steadied. The indifferent part of him wanted to shake her awake so she could go to bed. Meanwhile, the other more humane part of him decided it was best to let her sleep.
Shaking his head at what he was about to do, he stood up and sought out her bedroom. Lifting her up, he carried her to bed, noting the amount of cute animal-themed items she had. Moving aside a white rabbit stuffed animal that suspiciously resembled Usa-sama, he laid her down and covered her with her blanket. He then cleaned up and turned off the lights and left.
But not before taking a can of tuna for the ghost cat in front of the apartment.
A/N: Hello, hello! Happy 2-years of this story's publication as of 2/12! I can't believe it's been that long already, wtf. I seriously can't thank you guys enough for sticking around to read a WIP. I know many like to read completed works (myself included sometimes), so it's really a treat that so many of you take the time to read, engage, leave comments. You're really great
I have a new cover I'm working on, but it's going to take awhile to draw. Hopefully, I can get it done soon ; ;
As always, comments, subs, favs are appreciated (for any fic you read)! You are important to writers just as Krustomers are to the Krusty Krab!