Dangerous Souls

Nightmare

"Thanks," Kiko said, letting the boy go.

***

"The main buildings are pretty much deserted," Masako commented as she watched the monitors. She shook her head. "But I don't see her."

"Found her!" Yasuhara exclaimed, and then sighed once he saw the time stamp. "Well, sort of. I found her leaving the Academic Building almost an hour ago."

"It's a start, we can assume for the moment that she isn't in that building. Good thing Monk and Kiko are in the other dorm building."

"Probably asking around to see if anyone's seen her. Might even help us narrow down our search," the college student said, noting the time of when Mai left the building. "Now I have to figure out which building she went into."

"Too bad we don't have cameras outside," Masako commented then shrugged. "Then again, they would be destroyed in the snow."

"Yeah, keep your eye on the Science Building and wherever Lin and Naru went." A few clicks and he was looking at a different angle with the time stamp an hour before. "They might have missed something."

"Okay." She turned her attention back to the monitors. Then a thought occurred to her. "What if Mai came to the same conclusion we did?"

"You mean that the headmaster was Nakajima's partner?" The girl nodded. He shrugged. "I don't see how. I mean, even with the research we did we're reaching."

"What if she had a vision and that's why she ran off?" Masako asked, her hands were together inside her kimono sleeves. No one would guess that from their hidden position she might have been praying. "It wouldn't be the first time."

He paused his video and looked at the medium. "You think Mai had a vision and went to approach Mr. Yamasaki." It wasn't a question. "She had a vision about what this man has been doing and she would go try to stop him herself?" That was a question.

"I'm thinking Naru's probably thinking the same thing," she said, looking at the monitor in the upper right corner. "They just entered the Tech Building, that's where Yamasaki's office is."

"I'm not going to like what I'm going to find, am I?" he asked as he switched camera angles for the same timeframe. "Nope, I definitely didn't like it. Remind me to never doubt you again. The luck of the spirits are with you."

"What are you talking about?" She never received an answer.

***

"Lin, your Shiki?" Naru asked as he and his taller assistant walked quickly into the Tech Building.

"They haven't found her, yet," Lin replied.

"How did we lose her?"

"Something blocked my Shiki and she slipped by." Lin kept his hands in his pockets. "She's not in danger, otherwise my Shiki would have found her by now."

That only made Naru walk faster. He didn't like this. He did not like this one bit. It was bad enough what Mai went through just before the case. It was worse what she had to endure now that she was here. His nightmares certainly didn't help matters. Neither did him becoming possessed.

"She's going to be okay."

"I know."

Lin was about to respond but shook it out of his head. Madoka's going to have a field day when she hears about this...

Naru's phone rang stopping both men. "Yasuhara?"

***

Her eyes snapped open and she bolted forward. She found she was sitting in a chair and rested her elbows on her knees. She felt as thought she had been holding her breath. She probably was. Her head was held in her hands as she felt the tears fall from her eyes. But why was she crying?