July Day 4 3:30 P.M.
"Take this with you just in case," Naru offered, handing Sakura a piece of paper.
"What's this?" she replied, lifting Sakurako into the ambulance.
"It's a charm, I'll explain on the way." Masako sat down next to Sakura.
The ambulance left with most of the family in it. The excitement from earlier had left much of the team handicapped. Ayako's arms were bandaged. John was still a little woozy from being hung upside down out the window. Monk had a bump on his head, nothing serious though. The paramedics wanted to bring Mai to the hospital, but after Naru and Lin spoke with them, they settled with bandaging her up.
"Yasuhara-san," Naru started, turning toward him. "I want you to meet up with them at the hospital."
"No can do." He lifted up his left hand.
"So, you've been marked as well, I see," Naru noted, seeing the bandages. He turned to Ayako. "Are the charms in place?"
"I blocked off the second and third floors to the spirit as well as the kitchen."
"I can guarantee you Shichiro's gonna be pissed." Monk crossed his arms. "The girls and Yasuhara should stay out here."
"Even if Shichiro is trapped inside he won't show himself," came the cold reply.
"He's after Kiko, if she doesn't show neither will he," Lin finished.
"What are we going to do?" the priest asked, bible in hand.
"Takigawa, Father Brown, are you ready?" The two nodded. "We should expect the worst, I want everyone else to stay together."
"Right."
They walked inside the home, everyone aside from John and Monk were huddled with Lin ready to call out his shiki. Things were surprisingly calm, as if Shichiro knew this would be his final and only chance to gain his revenge. The exorcists looked to their young manager for orders. Naru simply nodded and the exorcism began.
A laugh filled the air, crazed and menacing, shaking the whole house. It caused everyone to take a protective stance. "Fools!" it cried out, laughing harder. "You think a little something like this can stop me? Pathetic!"
"Naru! The temperature's dropping!" Mai shouted, seeing her breath.
"And you! You're annoying! An obnoxious little bitch like you was allowed to survive that fall, but I wasn't! There truly is no God!" Naru took a step back holding an arm out to protect Mai. "However, as much as I would enjoy seeing your death, there is someone else I need to deal with first."
"Yasu!" Kiko shrieked as Yasuhara was lifted into the air by the collar.
He was thrown across the room, narrowly missing John and hitting the wall. Kiko ran to him before Lin could pull her back. "That was fun, who shall I play with next?"
Why isn't this working? Monk thought, while continuing his mantra.
"How about the priestess? How are your arms healing?" the demonic voice echoed through the air as Ayako suddenly cried out.
"Ayako!" Mai cried out lifting two fingers, while rushing to her. "Rin, pyou, tou, shah, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!"
"Annoying, obnoxious, and feisty, I don't like that at all."
The bandages around Ayako's arms were drenched in blood. Mai was constantly trying to help her. "Time for you to shut up!" Shichro screamed. A sudden pain in Mai's side made her scream and fall to the ground.
"Mai! Ayako! No!" Kiko yelled, helping Yasuhara sit up.
"How does it feel? Seeing the people you've just become close to suddenly dying at your feet?" he laughed, a gust of wind sent Monk and John flying into the wall. Lin was about to call his shiki when he was thrown as well. "There's nothing you can do about it either!"
Naru was helping Mai when she was lifted and thrown into him and they both hit the wall. "Mai!" Naru shouted, as Mai slumped over in pain.
"You're next!" Shichiro laughed suddenly materializing.
"No! You're next!" Kiko retorted, standing. But it wasn't Kiko, well, it was and it wasn't. "You're done terrorizing my granddaughter and her family!"
"You decided to show yourself. I was wondering when you would decide to intervene," Shichiro laughed. "Now I can get rid of you and your reincarnation."
"Just you try." She held up two fingers. "Rin, pyou, tou, shah, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!"
Shichiro stopped moving. "He's temporarily paralyzed, but not for long," Kiko explained, turning to everyone. "The past few days have weakened him, he can be exorcised, but I need your help."
"Nakagawa, Kiko?" Monk found himself asking.
"Listen to her!" Naru ordered.
"We don't have much time, I need everyone who is currently able to perform some spell to do it!" she ordered.
Mai slowly sat up, despite the protests from her boss and made a seal with her hands. "Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan!" she chanted painfully.
"In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God..." John joined in, standing up.
"Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan sendamakaro shata sowayata un tarata, kan man. Naumaku san manda bodaran, on boron," Monk added.
"Rin, pyou, tou, shah, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen," Ayako chanted.
"You're words have no affect on me!" Shichiro screamed, finally able to move.
Kiko began chanting in an unknown language as Lin called out his shiki. Shichiro screamed at the contact of Lin's shiki and John's holy water. Mai began to chant the nine cuts as Lin chanted his own. "Rin, pyou, tou, shah, kai, jin, retsu, zen, gyou!"
"No! Kiko must die!" Shichiro shrieked rushing toward her.
Some of the chanting stopped to shriek her name, but Kiko stood her ground, she didn't stop her chanting. Shichiro stopped directly in front of her. "Nakagawa or Kimura you still have my mark!" The spirit raised his hand causing Ayako and Mai to yell in pain.
"Don't stop! He's weakening!" Kiko shouted. Blood was running down her arms. The initials began glowing. "The pain will be over soon!"
Lin whistled for his shiki once again, Kiko glanced at John and Monk, still chanting. They understood. It would take everything they had, but this battle would end tonight. Right here. Right now.
"All together!" Monk yelled. Everyone began their incantations at once.
The jumble of different religious methods, as well as unknown methods, filled the air, in what was almost perfect harmony. We're in synch! But how? Is this Kiko's doing? Mai thought finishing her Seal of the Immovable One, then started the Nine Cuts.
In a single moment, everyone finished their incantations, Kiko raised her left arm, the blood dripping off and the markings disappearing except for the one barely seen under her short sleeved shirt. Her eyes softened slightly. "Noriko is waiting for you," she said sweetly, catching the spirit unguarded as everything happened.
"Zen!"
"In principio."
"Gyou!"
"Kan!"
Holy water, shiki, Monk's talisman, and the Nine Cuts all hit Atarashi Shichiro at once, his final retaliation was a scream as his soul finally came to realization. She was on the other side. Waiting. "I'm sorry," were the man's final words as he began to glow a goldish color and faded away.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, Kiko turned to the others. "Arigato, all of you," she said sincerely, bowing.
"No, thank you," Monk found himself saying.
"My time in this world is coming to an end, I can't stay much longer," she started then looked at Ayako and Mai. "I'll use the last of my energy to relieve you of Shichiro's mark, however, any injury you have received that were not his initials can only be healed with time. Even Kiko herself isn't entirely free of this mess."
"Thank you, but shouldn't you use the last of your energy to talk to Kiko or Sakura?" Ayako's arms had stopped bleeding.
She smiled, then looked up. "I'm afraid my time will be up by the time she awakes, and my granddaughter isn't exactly close by."
"We couldn't risk them becoming harmed more than they already were!" Mai burst out, instantly covering her mouth.
Kiko laughed. "It's perfectly fine, I understand, I would have done the exact same thing." Kiko smiled, knowing she was nearly finished. "Please tell my granddaughter and her family how terribly sorry I am. I brought this upon them, whether it was or was not intentional, I caused this. Also, please tell Kiko when she wakes up I'm sorry I couldn't remove all of her marks, but I was able to give her a mark that will benefit her in the future. Tell Satoshi to keep an open mind, there are so many things he'll never be able to understand if he doesn't see different sides. And please, tell Sakurako I'm sorry for scaring her, I just needed her to pass on a message."
"You have our word," the priest smiled, grasping his closed Bible.
"Thank you, may you all keep an open mind about your life, I've seen too much of the opposite all these years. I wish you luck in helping other people like my family. We all sincerely thank you," Kiko said, bowing one more time. The next thing the group knew was that Kiko was hunched over, grasping her left shoulder.
"Kiko!" came a couple gasps. The girl fell over with Yasuhara to catch her.
Ayako ran over to the girl, checking her pulse. She looked back at the group with a sigh. "Don't worry, she's fine, just a little drained."
"That's good." Everyone agreed.
And that's how another case is ended, Mai thought, noticing that the screaming pain in her side had dulled to a slight pulse. She glanced at the members of her team. But I still wonder...
***
July Day 5 11:30 P.M.
"We cannot thank you enough, my husband will be happy to know that the activity is over," Sakura thanked, bowing to Naru as everyone else was putting back the equipment.
Naru simply nodded and went to help put away some of the screens. Kiko ran and helped Mai when she was about to drop hers. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Kiko." Mai finally grabbed a hold of the equipment and went back into the house with Kiko in tow. "Hey, Kiko, something's been bothering me ever since we looked up the house's history."
"Huh? Shoot," came the reply, the girl genuinely confused.
Mai thought for a moment trying to recall the day Naru decided to accept the case. "When your mother came in, she said that your house was two hundred years old, but when we looked into the history this building was only built until about eighty years ago."
"I see."
"So, why did you lie?"
"I didn't lie, and neither did my mother, we had no clue when this house was built. However, we knew that we needed help, and that usually houses that were older tend to have more hauntings, so we thought that if we said we had an older house, then we would be more likely to get help."
"Hmmm...that makes sense." The two grabbed the last of the screens and the Den was now empty again. "That's the last of it."
Walking back to the car, another question popped into Mai's little head. "Your great-grandmother mentioned about removing your marks, she said that she couldn't remove them all. What exactly happened?"
"If you look on my left shoulder, same spot where I woke up with it bleeding, there is a K and an N written the, much like the S and A. Only I feel comforted by it, not uneasy like I had been."
"Oh I see it! It looks pretty, actually." The two began to laugh.
They walked back out to the car with everyone out there waiting. With the equipment all pack the only thing left was their bags. "Hey, Mai, want a ride? We'll be heading by your place," John offered. Mai looked to her boss who nodded.
"Sure." John took her bag and put it in the trunk of his car. She walked over to Naru. "Nee, Naru, something's been bothering me."
"Yes?" he replied, placing his bag into the van.
"When Sakurako came running telling us her reflection talked to her..."
"What about it?"
"Who was it?" She looked sincerely confused, her head cocking to one side.
"Nakagawa Kiko explained that one. As well did you," was his reply, causing her eyebrows to raise.
"Huh?" His assistant has become even more confused.
"Dummy," he muttered, turning to her with his arms crossed. "You even said so yourself, Nakagawa Kiko looked similar to Sakurako as a child."
Mai's mouth made an instinctive "o" shape, before she could remark on that she realized his first comment. "Don't call me that!"
Her boss simply smirked and walked away, patting her head as he left. "Jerk," she said under her breath, making her way over to the others who were saying their goodbyes to Kiko.
"I'm not gonna lie, I'll miss all of you," the young hostess smiled, as Monk patted her head.
"We'll miss you, too. Take care of yourself kiddo," he smiled back as the priestess handed the girl a piece of paper.
"Here's my number, call me if you need anything."
"Thanks!"
"Hold on! She should have my number, too!"
"Don't forget me!"
"I'm not going to be left out."
"Dog pile on Kiko!"
"Okay!" Kiko shouted, handing the group the paper so they could jot down their numbers. "Are you guys finished yet?"
"One sec...done!" Mai shouted practically throwing the paper in the girl's face. Everyone laughed.
"Okay, then, here." Kiko handed the six of them little slips of paper. "I thought it was only right if you all had my number as well."
"If you are all finished, I believe it is time we leave and stop bothering this family," an icy line came into the fun, some pouts were given in return.
"I guess it is time we left," Ayako sighed, heading to her car with Masako in tow. "Oi! Old Man! Aren't I your ride!"
"I'm coming you Old Hag!" Monk called back as the two began to bicker.
"Don't you have a license?"
"Yeah, but I don't drive."
"Why?"
The two continued to bicker leaving the remaining members of the team watching. John went to go start up the car and Mai hugged Kiko one more time, before heading to the car. "Well, I never thought that asking a ghost hunting team to come to my house would lead you here," Kiko teased, looking up to her friend.
"I never thought this job would bring me here." The two simply laughed.
Mai leaned forward in the car to honk the horn. "Yasuhara-san! C'mon!"
"Well, looks like you have to go," Kiko smiled. "Don't worry, at least this time we still have contact with each other. I'm sure we'll meet up sometime."
"I'm gonna hold you to that. We have over a year of catching up to do." With that, Yasuhara left for John's car and Kiko waved the rest of SPR off.
I'm gonna miss her, and her family, Mai thought, waving back to Kiko in the car. But I knew this would happen eventually.
The ride back to Mai's apartment was full of explanations about the case. Why did Shichiro choose to scare Sakurako with threats toward her family? One, she looked very similar to Nakagawa Kiko when she was her age, and two, if he was able to scare Sakurako then the whole family would become afraid of what he might do. When Kiko was possessed by her grandmother, she mentioned Noriko, who was she? Noriko was Shichiro's deceased wife, the woman shouting his name in Mai's dream. And why did Shichiro hold such a grudge? Kiko ratted him out with her psychic abilities, the townspeople all thought she simply witnessed him kidnap those women.
Satisfied with the answers given about the case, Mai still had one more thing on her mind, as John pulled up to her apartment. "Hey, Yasuhara?"
"Yeah?"
"Yesterday, when Naru told you to meet up with Masako and the family at the hospital, you told him you were marked by Shichiro."
"Yes?"
"You were never really marked, were you?" This statement raised eyebrows, as she opened the door and was about to grab her bag.
"How do you-?" John was even more surprised than Yasuhara.
"Hold on a sec." Mai grabbed her bag out of the trunk and walked back to Yasuhara's window. "When Ayako and I were attacked, yesterday, he reopened the wounds he gave us. After the exorcism was over, your bandages didn't have any blood on them."
"Naru needs to give you more credit," Yasuhara smiled, as Mai realized what she had just done. She smiled said her goodbyes and rushed into her apartment.
Once inside Mai couldn't help but give a little squeal of surprise and happiness, then thought about it one more time. Could it be true?
I figured something out before Naru?
***
Thank you all for reading the first case of Dangerous Souls. As I said before the story is the same I just tweaked the wording here and there a bit to make it less cringey. I will take a break before posting the next case. Not a very long one, so expect a new chapter next Sunday. In the meantime...
Case 2-Kumbaya- Naru takes on a case involving a summer camp and mysterious disappearances. What happens when a little boy keeps sneaking up on Mai?
Thanks again for reading, hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review. :)