A/N: I haven't updated for 5 days. Haha. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ghost Hunt.
[Not Edited]
-oOo-
"Astral Projection?" Naru asked after a few seconds. That question is also the same as what her friends wanted to ask.
"My intuition is telling me to run away right this instance. I'm sure this case is more dangerous than we think. The problem is not just the house but the ghosts and the cause of disappearances. I need to astral project or dream, for us to get a clue of where did Suzuki-san went." Mai answered them as she went to get her pouch on the table.
"Are you able to astral project alone?" Naru asked her, his face is looking so livid. It took Mai a few seconds to answer but she still spoke the truth.
"No. Every time I astral project, Gene is always there to protect me."
"That's is the reason why you want me to contact Gene?"
"Yes."
"What if we still couldn't contact him?"
"Then I'll do it alone."
"Mai!" Naru yelled at her. He's clearly angry but not of jealousy but her recklessness. His tone also scared the SPR a bit. But they, including Yasu also understand what Mai is going to do.
"Astral projecting without your spirit guide, do you know the consequence of that action?! Without Gene to guide and protect you, you could get lost on your plane and never come back!"
"I've done a little training with him before. Nothing will happen."
"Nothing will happen?! Do you hear what you're saying, Mai? You might not wake up! No, I can't allow this to happen. I forbid you to use your psychic abilities until we contact Gene." Naru ordered as he grabbed Mai's arm tightly.
'That scene.... Her bloodied body.... No. I can't let that happen...'
"But Naru, this isn't fair! This is life we're talking about. Ever since I heard Madoka-san's report about the previous disappearances, I couldn't help but to think that maybe something had happened to that assistant. I need to know where she is." Mai protests and struggled free from Naru's vice grip but the latter pulled her to himself.
"No. Since everyone had finished their dinner, I want you to replace the tapes. You can retire to your quarters after you've done your tasks." Naru coldly ordered while glaring at Mai, who glared back.
"And you... You will stay with me. We will do the the night duty. Lin, you can retire too."
The SPR, including Lin, heed his orders as the door slammed closed. Naru didn't let go and pulled her towards the couch. He pushed her to sit down and as Mai tried to reason our with him, his body leaned forward and gave her a warm and tight hug.
Mai stiffened and blushed at Naru's action. The excuses she made in her head just vanished without a trace as her Work Mode turned off like a switch. Her hands gripped the hem of her shirt in nervousness. Mai tried to push him but Naru tightened his hug every time she struggled. Out of her sight, Naru let out a a sad smile while he felt her rejection. Naru pulled her to himself and didn't let go.
His heart is beating like crazy with worry. The thought of her doing something dangerous again almost made him go mad. He still hadn't moved on with that incident in their last case. He can't be witnessing the same situation again! He'll really go crazy!
In addition to that, Gene also tried astral projecting when they were little. The older twin noticed that he isn't receiving the visions Noll got from using psychometry so he tried to astral project alone. He didn't open his eyes for two days straight.
If it's not because him, knocking on his 'door' and pushing him out of his spirit plane, Gene wouldn't have returned to his body. Noll and his family were worried for days with the thought of him not waking waking up again. Noll thought that he will lose his twin at that moment. His only blood kin.
But he died! Only God knows how he controlled himself back then. He had used psychometry on Gene's things twice and it broke him to see that green coloured veil twice! He hates that color of death and he loathe it even more when it's pair d with his dear brother. Gene was hurt but he wasn't even there!
And he cannot allow that to happen to Mai. She's a very precious being to him. He cannot lose her too. Gene's gone but Mai is still with him. He can't lose her. Gene have him to pull him out from his astral plane and Mai have Gene as her spirit guide but Gene is currently unavailable. The two of them couldn't even contact him after their last conversation. Naru can't risk it. His heart soured at the thought of Mai not waking up. He wanted to see her smile again and he wanted to fix their awkward relationship. She can't be in danger until I do all of that— No! She isn't allowed be hurt. Ever!
Realising his thoughts, he laughed out loud unconsciously. The brunette heard his laugh and noticed his shaking shoulders. Mai suddenly felt guilty all of a sudden. His laugh is full of self-mocking and something that pains everyone who heard his sound. For the second time, Naru and shown Mai his vulnerable side. Mai didn't know what's he's thinking but she don't want to see him like this. He looks like he had been abandoned. Mai knitted her brows and stopped struggling.
"....Naru?"
"....I don't care anymore..." Naru whispered, his breath touching Mai's delicate neck as Naru snuggled her shoulder.
Mai froze at the skin contact. She didn't move nor tremble. Her eyes widened as the blood surge up to her head. She then felt something wet touching her neck. It is soft and tickling. The calming scent of tea penetrated her nose as Naru kiss and lock her neck. That sensation made Mai's brain explode.
"...N-naru!" Mai yelled and pushed his head from her neck but her young boss caught both of her hands.
Naru separated from the hug and stared at Mai's eyes. So couldn't believe what she just saw. His eyes....are looking at her softly and something.... That gaze.... It's the same gaze she saw in her mother's eyes while remembering Mai's mother. It is full of tenderness and love.
She couldn't believe she's receiving that kind of look from Naru. His cheeks are tinted with pink and his tongue brushing through his lips looks so seductive! She don't know what to do anymore. Her heart is beating so fast like she was about to have a heart attack. All she think of is Naru and Naru alone.
'But...no...this isn't right...I...'
"...N-No! Naru, s-stop....."
Mai's brain wrestled with her with her desire. Her brain tried to negotiate but her heart seems to have been bewitched by the enchanting figure that's hugging her. Her heart wants her to accept but her brain tried to reason.
'My background.... My promise.....No! Not yet....Please!'
Naru leaned down again and captured her lips with his. His tongue moved as it erased all the words that Mai's brain is telling her. Her walls collapse as she slowly ceased her struggling. Naru enjoyed the flushed and surprised look on her face.
She didn't respond to his kiss but Naru continued to deepen it. A dark glint flashed through his eyes while watching her melt and soften like jelly. Naru smirked and grabbed her waist. He keeps on pulling like to him like he wanted to absorbed her body. Naru tilted his head and played with Mai's tongue.
'I don't care who you love. I'll seduce you until you're mine.'
-oOo-
Loud knocks woke Mai up. She rubbed her eyes and turned to her phone. It's still 3AM. She didn't astral project nor dream of something last night. Why? Because Naru stole her brain last night! All she thinks of is him and she couldn't concentrate to astral project!
Another set of knocks pulled her from her own world and she was about to stand up and open the door when she felt something warm around her. She looked down and saw two arms circling her waist. Right now, she was currently sitting in front of the monitors and she felt something warm on her back.
'She's basically sitting on someone's lap!'
Her heart is beating like crazy again as she traced the owner of those arms. Her vision is a little bit blurry but she can still recognize that face. She felt her face heat up as she stared at Naru, who's attention is on the door. He looked down at her and smiled genuinely after seeing her opened eyes.
Mai blushed even more after that smile. Her mouth opened and kept hanging opened. Naru hugged her tighter and stood up while carrying her like a baby. Mai moved her lips to say something but she couldn't make out a word. Naru put her down on the couch and went to the door after kissing her forehead.
"Pardon me! Have you seen Atsugi-san? He's my assistant!" Minami-san asked with a worried voice.
"Minami-san." Naru said coldly, the tenderness he showed to Mai completely vanished on his face.
"Please! Have you seen him?! We were exorcising ghosts with Davis-hakase and Ohashi-san when he suddenly disappeared! We hadn't seen him for almost an hour already!" The old fraud said. Ohashi-san is also there with him. This sentence woke up Mai from dreamy and bashful state.
"Please, come in." Naru opened the door wider and let the two in.
"I have seen your exorcisms and I have been locating Atsugi-san's whereabouts when you noticed her disappearance. For now, I checked two footages but I couldn't find a single clue. I'm now going to check Camera 4 and Camera 5." Naru said and typed something on the keyboard before clicking the mouse with her right hand.
Mai stood up, her work mode is on, and watched the monitors with Minami-san and Ohashi-san. She was so uneasy after learning that there had been a second disappearance in just three days of staying here. Naru continued to show one footage after the other but they couldn't find any clue about Atsugi-san. Not even a shadow.
The others are also alerted with this commotion and went to the base. They woke up because Minami-san came knocking on their door before they went to the SPR base. Naru and the guys went to search for Atsugi-san while the girls stayed in the base. It was so tense that they didn't even think of asking Mai what happened with her and Naru last night. The guys inspected every room and even look for secret passages while using the blueprint Lin made. They searched again and again but they came back with nothing.
At 7AM, all hired psychics and investigators gathered in the lobby. They didn't even had breakfast because of their lack of appetite. Well, how could they eat properly after two disappearances?
"Two is now missing! What is happening in this mansion?!" Ayako complained as she glanced at Minami-san, who is hugging his head in frustration.
"Minami-san, can Davis-hakase help us?" Igarashi-sensei asked, also worried about this situation and about her own assistant, who disappeared. Her questions made Minami-san look up and answered in a displeased tone.
"Davis-hakase's clairvoyance had limited scope. I asked a while ago and he came up with nothing."
This made Igarashi-sensei more anxious that she slammed her hands on the table in front of her.
"Isn't this an emergency situation?? Two people disappeared and one of them is your own assistant! Or is it that the Davis-hakase sitting in fron of us is a fake from the very beginning?!" Igarashi-sensei blurted out, making Minami-san stood up in panic.
"That was an insult! You're showing great disrespect, not just to me but the doctor himself! We will solve the case ourselves! Lest go, doctor!" Minami-san angrily answered as he tap the 'doctor' and left the lobby. Igarashi-sensei cried as she saw them leave.
After calming down the teacher, the SPR returned to their base with Mai being so gloomy. Ayako and Bou-san saw her determined look and immediately knew what she was thinking. Masako, Yasuhara and John also saw it and went to stop her from getting her pouch. Ayako and Bou-san held unto her while John and Masako blocked her way. Yasu also secured the pouch.
"No, you can't Mai!"
There are talismans and religious tools inside that pouch and Yasu knew Mai's gonna use it as protection as she astral project. But after listening to Naru's explanation about consequences of astral projecting without any proper training and guide, Yasu became scared for the girl. He is her best friend and he would support her in any decisions she make but only if she's safe.
Da-ge and his parents will kill him if something bad happened to Mai while she's in his watch. Naru notices it and angrily approached Mai, who's walking towards Yasu. He yanked her arm and pulled her away from the brunette's best friend.
"I already told you not to do it!" Naru said, both his face and tone are serious and angry.
"But Naru! Not only did Suzuki-san isn't found, Atsugi-san also disappeared! We need to know what happened before any of us disappeared too! Naru!" Mai pleaded. Her face showed them that she was about to cry.
"I'll find another way to gather data. For now, focus on finding Atsugi-san together with Bou-san, okay? Don't use any of your psychic abilities without Gene." Naru said as he massaged Mai's shoulders, trying to calm her down. Though angry as he is, he understand where Mai is coming from.
"Naru—"
"Enough. Go with Bou-san. And make sure to watch her." Naru said, directing his last sentence to Bou-san.
"Okay! Mai, come on!" Bou-san said as he pulled the reluctant Mai away before they start a war.
They went back to searching. The group of Bou-san, Yasu, John and Yasu were walking near the center of the building, in the middle of a shirt flight of stairs when John saw something. It's a door. Half of it was covered with the stairs. Bou-san and the others went back down to check on him and also saw the door.
"Can you open it?" Bou-san asked as John tried to twist the doorknob that is almost touching the cement stair. With a struggle, the door opened and they saw a room inside. Mai opened the torch and shine light towards the dark room.
"Another secret room. I'll go in." Yasu said but John stopped her with a smile.
"No. I'm a bit shorter than you so I'll be the one going in. Mai, can I borrow the light please?" John said as Mai handed her the light
"Be careful, John."
"Will do."
John first entered his legs and jumped down the room while holding the flashlight with his mouth. John coughed after landing on the floor. The dusts entering his nose as they flew up after his jump. The others panicked and asked what happened.
"I'm alright! There's so much dusts in here!" John answered as his hand reached out to the flashlight in his mouth. He shone the light around her and saw the windows being sealed with woods. There are also no furnitures lying around.
"There doesn't seem to be anything in here.... Ah! I found something!" John said as he saw a portrait hanged on the wall. He quickly went to get it before going back to the opened door. John passed the portrait to Yasu and Yasu passed it to Mai. They then pull John out of the dark room.
"There's nothing in there?"
"Yeah. It was completely sealed from the inside." John answered while wiping his face with his handkerchief.
"Hey, Mai. Let's look at the—"
The three of them simultaneously turned to Mai and saw her ogling the portrait with gleaming eyes. They can even see her drools hanging on her mouth. Her left hand is carefully holding the portrait as her right hand held a brush and gently brushing off dusts from the portrait. The three of the sweat dropped at the sight.
'Seriously, where did she even got that brush from?'
-oOo-
Naru saw them returned with Mai holding on an old frame happily. He glared at Bou-san but the guy and his companions just evaded his gaze. Ayako and Masako are also there. They are disdainfully looking at Mai like she's some kind of idiot. Naru sighed as he snatched the frame from Mai.
The brunette whined but he ignored her and look at the portrait. He was worried that Mai was still sulking because of him but she found something that greatly irritates him.
'She's struggling when I kissed her but she's drooling while looking at an ancient item? My net worth is much more priceless than this, why can't she spare me some of her cute looks?! Is she blind?!'
"We got that from the secret room. It says, 'Meiji 32, March, self portrait, URADO'." Bou-san said as Naru flipped the portrait.
"I wonder who is Urado?" Naru muttered.
"Since it's a well-decorated self portrait, maybe a Miyama Lord or a son?"
Naru suddenly had realized something and went to the table to retrieve the ancient money from his notebook. Mai jumped in delight as she saw the money. Naru glared at her but Mai turned a blind eye to him. They're awkwardness and all that is happening between them just vanished in the girl as long as she saw anything ancient. Like all of her problems would vanish as long as it's ancient. Naru would even place a bet that Mai would go chicken dancing in exchange of the ancient money in his hands.
Naru rolled his eyes to her and raised the money against the light to read the scribbles on top of the old money.
"Look here. This character is the same as the one in the portrait." Naru said as he handed the money to Bou-san, slapping Mai's hands away from the money. Bou-san copied what he did and read the characters on the money.
"I can't see anything." He said and planned to look again but Mai already yanked his hand, that caught him off guard. Taking advantage of his inattentiveness, Mai snatched the money.
"Leave it to me!" Mai giggled as she danced towards the table. Naru glared but Yasu just laughed at them while the others disdainfully looked at Mai.
'This freak..'
The brunette took out a pair of latex gloves and wore them. Mai switched on a flashlight and laid it to the table with the light facing upwards. She placed two piles of books at the right and left side of the flashlight before she laid a white plastic cardboard on top. The light coming from the flashlight made the white white plastic cardboard glow. Mai spread the money on the glowing cardboard and she even brought out a magnifying glass from her pocket.
"Where.....did she got those tools again?" Bou-san asked, completely dumbfounded by Mai's actions. She looks like a scientist who's examining a treasure.
"I think she asked those things from Ohashi-san a while ago." Masako answered as she rolled her eyes. Nevertheless, they went to Mai's side and
"There! Now, let's see what it says." Mai excitedly said but when she read those characters, which becomes clear because of the flashlight, she paused and widened her eyes. Yasu saw it and snatched the magnifying glass from her hands and used it to read the words.
"Of course! It's Meiji Era so it's written in Meiji Era format which is reversed to how we write in the present." Yasu exclaimed but his heart began to quiver at the message he had read.
"Then, what does it say?" Naru asked while looking at Mai.
"It's a message for someone. It's says, 'Those who have come to this place have all died. Heard they were killed by Urado. Run away.' That is what it says. It's a warning." Yasu answered as he passed the magnifying glass to Bou-san for them to read.
Mai bit her lips as she went to pick up the portrait. She stared at the man painted on it. It is still dirty and she couldn't make up the face of the man. She brought out some brush and continued to clean the painting with shaking hands. The others are rushing her to go to the base to report after finding the painting so she couldn't thoroughly clean the painting but now that she's is doing that, she could see the face bit by bit.
This is the first time she hadn't felt excitement while handling an old piece. Her heartbeat began to accelerate as she clean the painting with a brush. The SPR watched her and the portrait. They suddenly had some bad premonition. Mai let out a shaky breath once she's done. Masako also gasped as she saw the face on the portrait.
"It's him! The one who attacked Mai!" Masako and Ayako simultaneously said as they pointed at the painting.
The base turned silent as they stared at the painting. No one uttered a word. But the silence was broken by a creepy set of knocks from the window.
"Aaah!" The girl screamed as they hugged each other. Even Bou-san and the other guys blanched in surprise.
"What's with those faces? You all look hilarious!" Madoka laughed after Lin opened the window.
"Madoka! Did I say you could come back?" Naru scolded but Madoka just harrumphed at him and said,
"Well, I came because I was in no danger. I'm not an idiot like Naru."
"Pfft-!"
'She called Naru an idiot! Haha. She's a queen! Go, Madoka!'
Bou-san, Mai and Ayako hid their laughter while Naru glared at them. The exorcists straightened as Mai escaped to the corner to make some tea. Madoka started reporting what she had found.
"So, I said it was no danger because the backyard of this mansion is previously children's playground. They used to play baseball and soccer in the grassy backyard but ever since the disappearances in February, they stopped coming. And none of them went missing. In other words, I find that the outside of the mansion is safe from danger."
"As for Atsugi-san.... It's the same as Suzuki-san. They hadn't ride the train nor bus. I think the two of them are still in this region. Next! I dug up a bit more about Miyama and his son. But first is Miyama Kaneyuki-shi. It seems he was a fastidious man. Apparently, there was an incident long ago in which one of the silk spinning workers was caught falsifying his wages. At first, Miyama Kaneyuki-shi only fired the worker but the worker's eldest son also worked in that factory. His third son worked in that hospital and the house they lived in was owned by Miyama Kaneyuki-shi. This lord ended up forcing them to moved out. Plus this house where his daughters and son's wives lived was also rented by Miyama Kaneyuki-shi, so they were forced out too. The worker's parents are also tenant farmers of Miyama Kaneyuki-shi so he kicked them out too."
"How cruel. Please warm up with the tea." Mai said, placing a cup of tea in front of the shivering Madoka. The gorgeous woman beamed at her and took a sip of the tea after thanking her.
"It turned into a scandal and it made Miyama Kaneyuki-shi's reputation to crumble. He retreated to this mountain villa to avoid contact with people. Since then locals always avoided this villa. He had servants but they came from another place. So since he kept almost everyone away, rumours said that he had been doing suspicious activities in this house. His son, Miyama Hiroyuki-shi become a little worried."
"Worried?"
"Yes. People began to gossip about the reason in his non-stop house renovations. They said that spirits appeared. So they believed the renovations would shut the spirits in. To trap and prevent them from coming out."
'Spirits....'
"Madoka-san. Do you know if Kaneyuki-shi had any friends named Urado?"
"Urado?" Madoka asked, wondering about the new words she encountered. Bou-san went to the table to get the portrait and showed it to the pink haired lady.
"We found this portrait and this man is named Urado."
"Oh! That's Miyama Kaneyuki-shi himself! Here is the picture I got." Madoka answered as she showed them a picture of the mountain villa with a man in the center.
"He really is Kaneyuki-shi." Mai said, her complexion is getting paler and paler. Even Masako's face is same as hers.
"This... Hey, you two, are you okay?" Bou-san worried asked the moment he saw the two teenagers.
"I-I'm sorry. Can I go back to my room? I can smell the blood again." Masako answered as she held unto Mai, signalling her to come with her.
"Okay. Ayako, John, can you come with us?" Mai answered and held Masako's hand. She is biting lips as she struggled to walk with the help of John. Ayako's the one who is assisting Masako.
"What do we do now? Should we start exorcising Miyama Kaneyuki-shi?" Bou-san answered after the door closed.
"Not yet. We don't have enough information and we don't know where Urado is. Madoka, continue investigating the Charity Hospital and I want to know more about Miyama Kaneyuki-shi and this house. I want to know if he had done any human sacrifices in this house." Naru instructed the researcher.
"Human sacrifices?!" Bou-san and Yasu exclaimed in shock and bowed their head to think.
"Well, Masako-san said there are many spirits here that she couldn't even count them so maybe the theory of human sacrifices are not that impossible." Yasuhara said while nodding his head.
But his stomach is churning and couldn't help but to shiver. He might act like an old man but he's still a teenager who didn't even witness a pig being butchered! This idea is too cruel for him! Bou-san also nodded albeit shocked. Lin stood up and help Madoka out of the window. Once Ayako and John returned, Naru began ordering them to fix the equipment or change the tape.
They then continued to search for secret passages and rooms until they retired to their room. Naru thought the whole day and decided to use it. He informed Lin of his plan after taking a shower that night. He held the contacts case he asked from Igarashi-sensei and closed his eyes. He never know that his other half would took advantage of his actions to do something.... important.