Chapter 3- Pain
September Day 3, 3:21 A.M.
For a workaholic, like the manager of SPR, it truly wasn't uncommon for him to fall asleep at around two in the morning while still doing work in his day clothes. In fact, it was a common occurrence, and without his Chinese assistant chiding him to get some rest, it was something to be expected.
Asleep with his head in his arms on the table in front of the monitors, Naru still had an uneasy feeling. Just as he was calming down even further into a deep sleep the feeling became a reality.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! STOP IT! STOP!" the scream filled the air, causing the workaholic teenager to actually fall out of his chair.
"Mai!" he heard his clients exclaim.
He silently cursed himself for falling asleep and raced up the stairs. In the guest bedroom, Jinru and Nishi were hovering over the girl as she continued to scream and thrash about.
"Mai! You're going to wake the neighbors!" Nishi exclaimed trying to shake the girl awake.
Naru, acting purely on instinct, pushed past his client and leaned over the thrashing girl. "Mai!" he shouted, shaking her. "Mai!"
She just continued to thrash, he had to resort to only one option. He hit her, not hard, but enough to snap her out of the nightmare. What else could he have done?
The screaming and thrashing ceased as tears welled in the girl's eyes. She shot up and wrapped her arms around a fairly muscular torso, tears spilling over. "M-Mai?" Naru heard Jinru mumble.
Comforting. Something that was never this young man's forte. Didn't Madoka attempt to give him a lesson about this? He really should have paid attention.
He stroked her hair as she cried into his chest, why couldn't Monk be there? He'd know what to do. No. Where the hell did that idea come from? He had to calm her down. He wrapped his arms around her back and she visibly winced.
She winced.
Not of surprise.
But of pain.
"Ow..." she whimpered, gripping his shirt tighter.
He barely even applied any pressure. "Mai, I'm going to need you to turn around," he ordered softly. "I need to see your back."
Mai was shocked by his request, but nevertheless, she complied turning around. Carefully and cautiously, Naru slowly lifted up her shirt, what he saw caused his eyes to widen slightly.
"The hell?" Nishi gasped as she and her daughter covered their mouths.
"M-my God!" Jinru added, trying to look away.
"What?" Mai was scared, what did her dream do to her?
"Mai, what happened in your dream?" Naru asked as Mai shuddered.
"I'll get the first aid kit, Jinru, make some tea." The two ran out of the room, as Mai could only imagine what was on her back.
"Naru, what's on my back?" she dared to ask, as Naru pulled out his cell phone.
"Whatever happened in your dream took a physical toll on you," he replied, turning the camera function on. "Do you want to see what happened?"
She nodded, hearing his phone make a clicking sound. Once the phone was brought to her eyes she gasped. A large purple bruise was already forming on the majority of her back and the memory of her dream came rushing back.
"What happened in your dream?" he asked again, this was unlike him, he seemed kinder than his normal self. His eyes were filled with an emotion Mai had never seen before she couldn't put her finger on it. Regret? Sympathy? Maybe.
"I'm not too sure," she replied, holding her own arms, trying to remember. "It was so cold, so dark, so sad. Everything was black and I heard that lullaby again. Then something was telling me I was in danger and I needed to wake up immediately. I couldn't and the next thing I knew, pain shot through my back, my stomach, arms, legs. Like someone was burning and hitting me."
The memory coming back only made her limbs feel heavy and sore. She let out a breath, tensing as she did so. Everything hurt. "You said your arms..." he said, mainly to himself as Nishi came running back in with the kit.
Reluctantly, Mai allowed her boss to gently push up her sleeve. More bruises were present as well as scratches and what appeared to be cigarette burns. Another gasp could be heard as Naru took another picture. Knowing just what her employer was doing, Mai lifted up her pant leg. More bruises, but no scratches or burns. He took another picture.
"You also mentioned your stomach," Naru stated, Mai just sighed and reluctantly lifting the front of her top. "I see..."
Upon first glance, Mai could see the bruise on her back bleeding onto her side, more scratches and cigarette burns. Naru took another picture and showed her, she gasped.
Written on her stomach in kanji, "Stop!" several times. In her surprise she gasped the word branded over her stomach. "Stop...everywhere...stop..." she mumbled, shaking her head. She remembered that word all to well. It was in her dream, be it in her voice or another's, did it really matter?
She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Something was not right. Some sort of scent seemed to appear out of nowhere. There was a pressure on her chest and a feeling of nausea rising in her. The room felt like it was spinning, not fast, but a slow, tormenting spin. "Mai?"
She barely heard her employer's voice as she felt herself sway a little. She had had it. The room was suffocating and she was not going to last much longer. The scent made her mind spin. What was it?
Alcohol. But where was it coming from? She couldn't tell, as if it suddenly walked into the room, but...no. It was far too strong for her to have just come into the room and she was the only one to be affected by it. It was as though the scent was coming from her-
She couldn't stand it anymore. She rushed out of there, unaware of her pushing past the woman in front of her, as well as the young teen who nearly spilled the tea she had been carrying.
"M-Mai?" Jinru gasped, watching the petite girl rush into the nearest bathroom.
Naru stood and took the steaming cup from the girl's hands. He turned to the woman whom had requested his services. "I can take things from here, you two should go back to bed," he ordered, dismissing the women.
"Are you sure?" Nishi pressed, after a moment of realizing the stoic young man was not going to answer her, she complied, pushing her daughter out as well.
***
The bathroom had been very welcoming. Well, as welcoming as a room painted white with abnormally bright lights that gave you an instant headache could be. She didn't care. She simply found herself leaning over the toilet emptying whatever contents remained for the supper earlier.
She flushed the toilet once she was done and rinsed her mouth out before she proceeded to brush her teeth again. Simply to get rid of the taste. She rinsed her mouth out again, afterwards taking a drink of water, hoping to calm her splitting headache.
And just like that, the smell of alcohol disappeared. Though the feeling of dread still sat at the pit of her empty stomach, an uneasiness filled the back of her mind. It was more than sadness in this house. It was...
Despair...
What really happened in this house? she wondered, exhaling.
Shaking her head, she left the bathroom and into a dimmer lighted setting, much to the agreement of her pounding head. "You alright?"
She jumped in surprise at the voice. It was very rare for her employer to show much concern, or any emotion for that matter. She looked up at him with tired eyes and nodded, still visibly shaken. "I think so," she replied, seeing the cup of tea in his hands. She took it gratefully. "Thanks."
"We should tend to those marks," he stated in a calm but orderly tone.
"Okay..."
***
September Day 3, 9:07 A.M.
"Where is she! Is she okay?" Ayako exclaimed, frantically running into the small building to find Naru sitting at Base and sipping tea while reviewing evidence.
"Miss Matsuzaki, it may be wise to refrain from your outbursts at this time. There is still a possibility that others are still sleeping," Naru remarked coldly, barely even turning in her direction.
"Easy for you to say! Why didn't you call me as soon as this happened!" The priestess was enraged to say the least and yet the stoic teenager simply turned around, looking at the woman as though she were a child who had gone into a tantrum and he was not going to give in to her wants.
"It was the middle of the night," Naru explained as the rest of his team came in. "Our clients did not need to lose more sleep than they already have. I sent them to bed and dressed the scratches on Mai, if you are so concerned, she is asleep in the guest bedroom, check if you wish."
Ayako merely huffed and feel into the couch with her arms crossed, her mouth in a stern frown. Monk took his seat next to her while everyone else took their own seats. "What exactly happened?" Monk's voice sounded rational enough, despite everyone knowing his concern over the girl.
One look at his Chinese assistant, and Lin handed Naru his laptop. He plugged in his phone and within moments he began to explain what happened. "At around 3:30 A.M. this morning, Mai had some sort of nightmarish vision that caused her to thrash and scream, similar to the case with Urado. Once she finally came to we found these..."
Naru turned the laptop to face everyone, who instantly moved in closer in horror. "Holy-" Monk stopped himself, remembering there was a priest in the room.
"Oh my..." John crossed himself upon the sight.
"That must've been one hell of a dream..." Yasuhara noted as Naru flipped to the next picture.
"It makes no sense..." A gasp came from the medium as the final picture came up.
"Stop?" the monk and priestess noted together, looking at each other.
"After she had calmed down, Mai fell back asleep and remains that way in the room upstairs," Naru explained, handing the laptop back to Lin. "As you might think, she was startled by the impressions on her skin. Because of the shock, she might not wake up for another couple of hours, let her rest."
...
"Did Naru just..." Monk whispered to the priestess next to him.
"Allow Mai to sleep, without complaining?" she finished as Yasuhara leaned in as well.
"Quick! Are there zombies outside!" he whispered frantically, looking for a window.
"It's not the apocalypse, Yasuhara-san," Lin called to the boy shocking everyone. "I can assure you that."
***
Stiff and sore, Mai awoke to the sound of a certain priestess yelling at her employer. Or maybe it was at Monk. Who cares?
Seeing as there was no point in rolling over, especially since it would be too painful, she sat up, faintly remembering the events of earlier that morning. Glancing at the clock she figured she may as well get dressed. Naru would be wanting his tea right about now.
Standing up, she realized how painful the effects of her dream had been. It seemed as though her daily life was becoming more and more dangerous with each and every case the team took on.
She undressed herself and got a glimpse of the damage in the nearby mirror. Sure, most of the scratches and burns had been covered up thanks to Naru and some bandages and ointment, but there was nothing that could be done about the bruises. She silently thanked whatever greater being that may have existed that her school was no longer wearing their Spring/Summer uniforms. She would be able to hide them easier until they healed.
She still couldn't get rid of the feeling that dream had given her. Such uneasiness. Mai tried to shake it off as she re-dressed herself in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved top. After brushing her hair, she headed for Base, where her friends continued to talk and she could eavesdrop.
Traveling down the stairs she heard something just sounded odd. "It's not the apocalypse, Yasuhara-san, I can assure you that."
"Do I want to know what you guys were talking about?" she asked, startling everyone in the room. Literally everyone. Even the two antisocial men were surprised.
"Mai!" Monk leaped from his seat to give the girl a big bear hug. She squirmed in his grasp.
"Ow...Monk...that hurts..." she gasped, feeling the strength of his arms along the bruises on her own.
"Sorry!" he exclaimed, immediately letting her go and-
THUNK!
"Idiot!"
"I said sorry!"
"That's not gonna make up for it!"
The two continued to squabble as the tiny brunette snuck away from them to sit in a chair between John and Yasuhara. After Naru cleared his throat the room became silent again. He turned to Mai. "I think you better relay your dream and the events from last night to everyone."
"Naru, I thought you already told them."
"It was your dream, not mine."
With a sigh of annoyance, she began to explain her dream. "It was dark and cold and lonely, and that lullaby began to play. It was so sad, then something was telling me to wake up, I wasn't safe in the dream. But I couldn't. My body wouldn't wake up and then I felt pain, burning and hitting my body, my arms, legs, stomach, back..."
"What was telling you to wake up?" the priest asked.
"I...I'm not sure," she lied. Now was not the time to be explaining how she has dreams of her boss, especially with said boss in the room. "But once Naru woke me up, we found those bruises I'm sure he showed you already." She stopped for a moment, remembering the events all too well. "Stop..." her voice was quiet as the marks appeared in her mind.
"It's okay, Mai," Monk comforted, placing a hand on top of her head. "You can stop."
Wrong choice of words...
"After we saw the burns and bruises, something happened," Mai blurted, catching her employer's attention. He leaned in, curious. "I suddenly felt really dizzy, like the room was spinning. Not fast like a top, but slow, like I was turning, scanning the room. Then I felt sick to my stomach and there was this overwhelming smell..."
Mai swallowed the lump in her throat, she was getting dizzy just thinking out it. "You okay?" she heard someone ask, unable to remember who it was, unable to care about it at all.
"It smelled like alcohol..." she continued, closing her eyes, praying for the dizziness to go away. "The weirdest part was that it smelled like it was coming from me, like I had been drinking for hours. After that, I couldn't handle it anymore and ran out of the room."
The room was silent as Naru assumed his thinking pose. Monk and Ayako had returned to their spots on the couch and for once remained silent. No jokes or teasing, just thinking. Naru returned to his black booklet, going over whatever the hell he kept in there. "There's one person we haven't been able to get any information from," he said finally, closing the book and looking at the group before him. "Jinru."
"Her mom said not to disturb her," Ayako retorted, looking out into the hallway in case the woman was eavesdropping.
"She left to run a couple errands, she's not here at the moment," Naru countered, turning toward the monitors, noting that Jinru was in her room.
"That reminds me," Monk blurted, turning to the college student nearby. "How is Kiko? I haven't heard from her since we were at her place."
"What the hell does Jinru have to do with Kiko!" Ayako exclaimed.
THUNK!
"Was that really necessary!" Monk chided, rubbing his head. "you could have just asked without the violence!"
Before the priestess could retort, the priest jumped in. "Yesterday, we had been talking about Jinru's shyness and Kiko came up."
"Yeah, Yasuhara said she's shy!" Monk exclaimed.
"Kiko? No way," Ayako scoffed, leaning back.
"Hey, it took forever for me to get her to talk to me," Yasuhara defended.
"Anybody else notice how we just skipped Monk's question?" Eyes turned to the petite brunette in realization.
"As an answer to your question, Monk, yes, Kiko and I had lunch last week," Yasuhara replied with a laugh.
"Lunch, huh?" Monk got a very fun suspicious look in his eyes, his tone of voice matching. "As in lunch date?" The girls in the room either rolled their eyes or shuddered at the movement of his eyebrows, wondering how on earth people found that "seductive."
"Why Monk!" the college boy exclaimed in horror, shock and betrayer coating his features. "How dare you accuse me of cheating on you! I thought we had something special!" He leaped over to the older monk.
"Gah! You gotta stop that! It freaks me out!" he ordered, trying to fight off Yasuhara and his attempts to hug him or whatever he wished to do at that moment.
Completely unfazed by the goofiness of the team in front of him, the workaholic spoke as though nothing was happening. "Mai, I want you to interview Jinru," he ordered, holding out a pen and notepad.
"M-me?" she squeaked.
"Hey! You sounded just like her!" Monk declared, ruffling the girl's hair.
"Because of her current situation and the understanding that you have over the matter, she may be more comfortable with speaking to you," Naru explained, waiting for his short assistant to take the objects in his hand.
"I don't know-"
"Give it a shot, Mai," John cheered, giving her a smile. "It's worth a try, right?"
***
That's how she ended up standing outside the sixteen year old's room, trying to figure out what to say. All the while, hearing her friends downstairs ask if she was in the room yet, she knew they were looking at the monitors and knew she didn't have much time. Well, here goes everything.
Knock. Knock.
"C-come in!" she heard a voice say weakly. No turning back now.
Mai opened the door to find Jinru sitting at her desk a couple text books and papers around her. "Hi, Jinru," she greeted with a smile, walking in. "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? It won't take long."
Jinru thought for a moment before turning her chair to the girl. "F-forgive me, M-Mai-san, I would. B-but I'm not really comfortable talking about this..."
"Please, Jinru?"
"Dad..." Mai heard her whisper.
With a sigh, Mai walked over and sat on the bed. "I know what you're going through, believe me," she said, a sad smile appeared on her face. "I lost my father when I was very young, and my mother died when I was in middle school."
Shocked, the girl across the room didn't know what to say. "I-I'm so sorry..." she managed to spit out.
"You sure you don't want to answer a couple questions? Even from someone who knows what you're going through? It could help finish this case faster," Mai tried, her big brown eyes trying to win the girl over.
Feeling the atmosphere change into something that was warm and safe, Jinru walked over and sat on the bed as well. "W-what do you wish t-to ask?" she stuttered.
"Have you had any experiences in this house? We have noted all the experiences your mother has had, but none of yours."
Jinru thought for a moment. "M-my mother believes there's something malicious here, b-but I feel fine. She's been pushed and sh-shoved, I've never experienced a-any of th-that."
"You are aware that your mother claims she witnessed you levitating in your sleep correct?" Mai inquired, conveniently not mentioning the little fact that they caught that on video.
"Y-yes, she told me, i-in fact, b-before she thought it w-was some sort of-n-never mind," Jinru said, shaking her head. "W-when sh-she asked i-if I dreamt of anything, I had n-no nightmares that night, I-I felt safe."
"I see..."
***
While Mai had gone to interview Jinru, Naru had ordered Masako to do another walkthrough of the house. The atmosphere was calm and reassuring, comforting even. There was indeed a male spirit, and she was fairly certain it was Tsuyoshi, but why he seemed to be having mood swings, she could not confirm.
In the guest bedroom, she could hear Mai and Jinru talking, for they were in the room next door, then the atmosphere turned thick and heavy. The door opened.
She could hear Nishi's voice greeting the rest of the team downstairs, and by the sound of the two girls talking next door, they hadn't heard.
They also didn't seem to hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.
Masako held her breath, knowing somewhere inside that if Nishi found Mai disturbing Jinru's studies, something would happen. The medium let out her breath once she heard the woman walk into the master bedroom down the hall. She may not have been on the best terms with the brunette, but she had a feeling she had to get her out of there and down in base as soon as possible.
Calmly, she walked out of the room, the master bedroom door was closed. Guessing Nishi would be in there a while, she crossed over toward the girl's bedroom. Passing the stairway she stopped short.
There air became cold.
She felt...
She screamed as pain suddenly hit her...
***
"So, you think your dad is still in this house?" Mai asked, as their conversation seemed to go on and Jinru became more comfortable with the investigator.
"I-I believe my f-father is with me. A-almost like a guardian angel." A smile graced Jinru's face as she spoke, the first time Mai had ever seen one on her.
"Okay, what about-"
A high pitched scream filled the air, jolting the two girls. "Masako!" Mai exclaimed as Jinru stood and ran for the door. "Wait! You don't know what-"
She never finished.
When Mai reached out to stop Jinru, she grabbed onto the girl's left arm. Jinru winced upon the contact. Mai looked down at her own arm and realized something.
There was a reason why her dream had harmed her...