Chapter 3: Mediums
October Day 2, 12:30 P.M.
"No one seems to have been attacked, and Yuina hasn't seen the 'Angel of Death' in over twenty-four hours," Mai noted on her clipboard.
"Yeah, and none of the employees experienced anything either," Shouta added crossing his arms as they stood in the kitchen.
"And the temperature seems the same as yesterday in pretty much every room," Ayako concluded. "Except for Base, but I don't think that that really has anything to do with the spirit."
"How come?" the boy wondered aloud.
"A number of things," Mai pointed out. "The window was open in there, it had been empty for a while, the heat might not have gotten to the room yet-"
"Actually, I was thinking that Naru was in one of his moods," Ayako shrugged.
"What would that do?" Shouta asked.
"When Naru was younger he used to cause poltergeists, because of his spirit energy, now sometimes when he's in a bad mood the temperature changes in the room he's in," Mai explained casually.
"Poltergeists? Like the movie?" Shouta asked a smirk on his face. "Zeiru hiiru!" he mimicked in heavily accented English.
Mai and Ayako laughed. "Sort of."
"So what now?" the boy asked.
"Off to Base and see what else Naru wants us to do?" Ayako suggested.
"Better bring a sweater," Mai mumbled making the priestess laugh.
***
The group walked into Base, Mai first, only to stop halfway through the door causing a pileup behind her. "Hey, Mai! Why'd you stop-oh," Ayako scolded, realizing what caused the girl to stop short.
"Huh? What's going o-" Shouta didn't finish as Ayako raced in to the very reason for the traffic jam.
"Kiko! What are you doing up!" the priestess scolded, feeling the forehead of the formerly ill girl.
"I'm fine, Ayako!" she laughed, removing the woman's hand from her head. "I woke up about two hours ago, ate some breakfast and after taking a shower, I felt good as new!"
"Well, alright, just don't overexert yourself," Ayako agreed reluctantly.
"If you all are done chit chatting, I assume you have come because you finished your task," Naru's cold remark, silencing the group.
"Yup, only Base was colder, all the other rooms were around the same temp as yesterday," Mai replied, handing her boss the clipboard.
"I see," he took it, glanced at the writing and handed it to Lin. "And no one was attacked last night or reported any happenings?"
"Nope, everything was quiet last night," Mai replied.
Naru was silent in thought as he turned back to the monitors. "What time is it?" he asked suddenly.
"About 12:35," Shouta answered glancing at his watch.
"Batteries need to be changed in these rooms," he handed a list to Ayako," once you're finished with that, get some lunch and I will give your more work to do."
John grabbed a bag full of charged batteries and the group left for the hall. "Okay, let's divide this up evenly that way it'll get done faster," the priestess suggested, folding and ripping the paper in half and handing one to Mai. "Shouta, why don't you go with Mai and then Kiko and John are with me?"
"Sounds good," he agreed, as John handed him several batteries that he'd need.
***
"So, is he always like that?" Shouta asked as they walked down the hall toward camera four. "I know I asked last night, but he seems very..."
"Arrogant? Narcissistic? Idiotic?" Mai offered, crossing her arms.
"I was going to say cold, but sure, by the way why do you call him 'Naru?' You never really elaborated on that."
Mai couldn't help but laugh. "I gave him that name last year, when he hired me because I accidentally broke a camera, turns out he had it insured and just wanted free help out of me, you know, I told you last night." She pouted as she remembered the arrogant way he had replied when she asked him if it were true. "Anyway, he just had this narcissistic attitude and I ended up calling him Naru, Naru the Narcissist!"
Shouta laughed when she had finished her story. "Sounds like it must have been some case."
"It was, but I learned a lot during it. Like how hauntings could be caused by people, and not hoaxes either. That's what happened on the case at my school, another girl, Kuroda, was claiming to be a psychic and that the place was haunted by many spirits. Turns out a lot of the activity was caused by her subconscious, because she was under stress," Mai chatted, as they reached the camera. "I'll do the thermal and you get the camera, kay?"
"Sure thing," he replied. "That's crazy, though, I never thought that someone's mind could cause a haunting."
"I never really thought about it that way either, until I got this job that is," she replied with a frown. "Hey, is there another thermal battery in there? The one I have seems to be dead too."
"Um...I think so, this it?" He handed her a battery.
"Yeah, thanks." She replaced the battery again. "There we go, fully charged!"
"Same here," Shouta smiled back, turning back to the camera and frowned. "Hey, it said fully charged a second ago!"
Mai stepped next to him and looked at the camera. "Here," she offered, handing him another battery. "The same thing happened to me, maybe the batteries are just going, I'll let Naru know." Just to be sure she checked the thermal again. "Crap. You're kidding me, right?"
"Battery died again?" Shouta asked.
"Ten percent left," she mumbled in reply, probing her mind for answers. "There's some theory that spirits can steal energy from things like batteries and lights."
"You really think that's true?" Shouta raised a brow.
"Never really thought about it, until a few cases ago I went to change a battery and my flashlight randomly went out and then I was attacked by some spirits," she shrugged. "Once, it happens, twice coincidence, thrice..."
The two took a step back and watched the thermal camera, waiting for the battery to drain just like the other two. Nothing happened after two minute. "Well, I guess the batteries really must be going," Shouta commented with a shrug.
"Help me..."
Mai's head whipped around to where she thought she heard that voice. "What's wron-"
"Sh!" She pressed a finger to her lips as her brows furrowed and knotted. "Did you hear that?"
"Here what?" Mai pressed her finger to her lips again and they listened.
"I beg you...help me..." Shouta's eyes widened.
"That."
"Please..."
"Mai, the battery..." The two stared in amazement as they watched the little battery icon drain down to nothing.
Low Battery.
Low Battery.
Shutting Down.
"What's wrong?" Mai asked out loud. "Why do you need help?"
"It's all my fault...but it's not..."
"We can help you, but you have to tell us what's wrong," Mai told the voice. "You can tell me."
"I'm sorry!"
Silence.
"Mai, the batteries!" Shouta was kneeling next to the camera. "The camera is now half full."
"So is the thermal," Mai noted, as a shiver ran down her spine. "I didn't think they could give the energy back..."
"Well, either way, we have three more rooms to change batteries in and we only have two batteries that we know are fully charged," the boy pointed out, grabbing the dead ones. "We need to stop back in Base and pick up a few more."
"You're right," Mai agreed and they headed for Base again. Naru better not yell at us for not having another team member with us...
***
"So, why do I feel like I missed a lot while I was asleep?" Kiko asked as she handed John a new battery.
"You did,"Ayako replied with a shrug. "Monk lost a lot of money in a poker game, Shouta and Mai were attacked, Naru was jealous, Mai woke me up at two this morning and apparently she told Monk and Yasuhara that she's over her crush on Naru."
"Wow, I really did miss a lot," Kiko answered in awe. "Poor Naru, if he heard that?"
"Naru likes Mai?" John finally gave his two cents.
"Of course he does, John!" Ayako exclaimed. "They are a canon couple!"
Their guest investigator raised a brow. "You've gone on a bit of an anime binge haven't you?"
The priestess shrugged. "I had a few days off from my day job, I needed to pass the time."
"Which one?"
"Psychic Detective Yakumo."
"Interesting, I watched that back in August, what did you think of it?"
"Haruka and Yakumo are definitely canon, and I really wanted to kill-"
"Guys!" John exclaimed silencing the conversation.
"What!" The girls shouted back, surprising the young priest. "Sorry, John!"
"That's okay, guys," he laughed off. "I was trying to tell you that this was the last room. We can go get lunch now."
"Great, I'm starving!" The priestess cried, marching toward the dining hall.
"Anyway, you saw the resemblance between Haruka and Yakumo to Naru and Mai? I found that hysterical!" Kiko continued to chat with the priestess.
***
"Sorry, about that, Naru," Mai apologized, handing the bag of equipment to Shouta. "We'll finish this in a sec."
"That's fine," he replied, as the two began to leave. "Mai, I need a word with you."
"I'll be outside," Shouta smiled and closed the door.
"What's up, Naru?" Mai asked, with her arms crossed.
"Just, understand that there are audio recorders everywhere and everything you say, I can hear." A blush threatened to creep up her cheeks, but she managed to keep it at bay.
"Sure," she shrugged, leaving the room.
"What did he say?" Shouta asked once the door was closed and they were halfway down the hall.
"Pretty much that he can hear everything we say and to watch our mouths," she shrugged.
"Sounds like a real charmer..." Shouta sweat dropped.
Mai just laughed as they headed off to finish their job.
***
"Look who finally decided to get some lunch," Kiko teased as the teens made their way to the dining hall.
"You can blame the spirit here, and Naru," Mai replied, taking a seat next to John, Shouta taking the one next to her.
"What happened?" the priest asked as one of the workers took the two's order.
"We were changing batteries," Shouta began as he explained everything that happened that made them late. "Then when we went to get a few more batteries..." He decided to let Mai finish the story.
"Naru basically told me that we need to watch our mouths because he literally has eyes and ears everywhere." The brunette's eyes rolled and the priestess laughed.
"I really did miss a lot," Kiko said, raising a brow. "Are Yasu and Monk out doing research?"
"Yup, because Naru wouldn't let me go," the brunette replied, making the other teen girl sweat drop.
"This is going to be a long case," she mumbled and John nodded in agreement.
"What was that?" The priestess inquired.
"Nothing!" She waved her hand and continued to eat her sandwich.
***
"Where's Lin?" the petite brunette, currently going through some sort of personality change, piped up, as the group walked in. The never-ending click-clack of the Chinese man's fingers to the keyboard was MIA.
"Running an errand," Naru replied, standing up. "Are Monk and Yasuhara still at the library?"
The priestess nodded and flipped her hair back. "Yeah, I don't think they'll be back until-"
"All right, we're back!" Monk called, waltzing in with a Yasuhara behind him.
"We would have been here sooner, but we grabbed some lunch on the way," the college student smiled, seeing their guest investigator. "Kiko, you're awake! Feeling better?"
"Much, thanks Yasu," she smiled back.
"What did you find out?" Naru's cold voice broke the reunion.
"Quite a bit, actually," Yasuhara answered, taking a seat on the couch next to his friend. "And, Mai, you were right."
Mai's eyes widened slightly as eyes turned to her. "Mai..." Naru warned in an annoyed tone. "Care to explain."
Mai just gave a sigh and crossed her arms. "I would have told you last night if you hadn't scolded me," she remarked bitterly. "The voice Shouta and I heard last night sounded like a child, specifically a little girl. We also heard it again when we went to change the battery in camera six just a little while ago. So, before Monk and Yasuhara left I asked them to look into it."
"Anyway," Yasuhara continued, looking through his notes. "Before Shouta's aunt bought the property to build a nursing home, this place as originally a hospital."
"Well, that explains why there might be spirits here," the priestess shrugged. "It's not exactly uncommon for people to die in a hospital. If it were tragic enough, I could see why a young spirit might linger."
"You didn't let me finish," the college student interrupted. "It was originally a psychiatric hospital about thirty years ago."
The atmosphere turned grim as all attention centered on the men who were explaining the history of the ground they stood on. "That's right, before the place closed down due to lack of funding from the private organization that owned them and the mass of repairs that needed to be done, there were many reports of patients being beaten. Electroshock therapy was reportedly a common treatment for patients, as well as many testimonies of forced abortions amongst the female patients," Monk continued, scrolling through the notes he had with him.
"And there were children in this institution?" John asked, flabbergasted.
"Yeah, according to the records of patients, the majority of the children entered were girls in their mid teens," the college boy answered.
"There were boys as well, but far more girls," Monk continued. "The institution was packed overcapacity, with minimum nurses and doctors working, many of the patients were sedated twenty-four-seven."
"Most of the symptoms of the younger patients seemed correlated to anxiety disorders, depression and a few cases of schizophrenia, however many of the symptoms recorded with the certain ages were more than likely misdiagnosed."
"Then there was the case of the youngest patient, Mai Kagome, she was only nine years old when she was thrown into the place. Nurses claimed that even sedated she struggled. Her diagnosis was schizophrenia, due to hallucinations and claims of visions. She was treated with electroshock therapy as well as other torturous treatments. Apparently when she was sedated, she would put up a fight and have to be strapped to her bed. Like the other patients, she was allowed no contact with the outside world."
"According to her file that we managed to find at the library, I guess when the place closed down the information was donated or something, she must have been malnourished, she was there for three years and grew only three centimeters in that time. She died during one of her shock treatments," Yasuhara finished, Mai felt sick to her stomach.
"The poor girl," Kiko said through her hand that was over her mouth. "She must have been terrified.
"Schizophrenia is not something that would be diagnosed to nine year old!" Ayako exclaimed angrily.
"This was forty years ago, Ayako," Kiko replied, trying to calm the woman down.
"Even so! That knowledge has been around for much longer! Whoever was running this place were a bunch of sick bastards!" The priestess could hardly contain herself as she stood up.
"Hey! Hey!" Monk stood up as well. "I know because your parents are doctors you're taking this personally, but you know yourself that the psychiatric hospitals in this country haven't exactly upgraded much in the last few hundred years." Ayako was still fuming.
"I need some air." She stormed out.
"I wasn't expecting her to storm out like that," Yasuhara said, after a moment of silence.
"Can't say I blame her, and because of that, I'd appreciate it if you kept this information from my aunt, I don't think she would be able to handle it on top of what's happened so far," Shouta requested.
Mai was oddly silent. She was only twelve or so when she died. She was imprisoned at the age of nine isolated and alone. Just like when Mom died...
"Mai? Is something wrong?" she vaguely heard the kind priest ask. She slowly turned her head, slowly waking up.
"No, I'm fine," she gave a weak smile. She never had to try so hard to smile before. No matter how sad she was.
"So, what now?" Kiko asked.
Naru had assumed his thinking pose some time ago. He finally looked up, his face stoic as ever. "We need to reevaluate these attacks. Kiko, Yasuhara, and Shouta will revisit Mr. Fukuoka and find out exactly what happened when he was attacked. John, Monk, and Mai will revisit Ms. Takara and get a description of the 'Angel of Death' she saw. Take notes of everything they say, if Takara mentions any of the other occupants that may in danger according to the entity, then visit them as well. Check on Miss Matsuzaki when she has calmed down." He opened his black notebook. "Yasuhara, Monk, your research."
"Oh, sure." They handed their notes to the young leader.
"I'll have Lin look at these when he gets back and we'll plan our next move later on," he said, dismissing the group. "There's something I need to look into." He was out of the room in seconds.
"We better get to work," Monk said as everyone stood up.
"Back to Fukuoka's, hopefully he won't have a problem like yesterday," Shouta said, grabbing the notepad from the table. "He really doesn't normally act like that."
"Act like what? What happened?" the college boy asked as they began to head out.
"I guess with everything yesterday, we never got to explain that," Kiko commented, crossing her arms. "When we went to set up cameras in his room, he went through this weird personality change." She shrugged her shoulders. "It was almost as though he were posse-a-a-choo!"
The screech of her sneeze startled the room. "I knew you should have stayed in bed," the priest commented with a sympathetic smile on his face. "You're not better, yet."
"It was just a sneeze, I'm fin-a-choo!" The poor girl sneezed again, her voice beginning to sound nasally. "It's just the dust."
Mai took a step and felt the older girl's forehead. "Uh-uh, yup, that explains why you have a fever," she gave a knowing smile. "You should go back to bed."
"No, guys I'm fine," she argued. "I'll just take a little more of the Motrin and pseudoephed, and I'll be just-"
"That explains why you were back to normal for a few hours," said the client's nephew said with a playful smile.
"Okay, kiddo, back to bed," Monk smiled as he ordered, then turned to the priest. "Mind keeping her company like yesterday?"
"Sure, I don't mind," the priest agreed.
"No!" the sick girl argued, confused eyes turning to her. "I'm fine, really, besides, it's not fair to John. He wasted yesterday by watching me sleep." She paused realized how what she said could have been taken. "Which is not as creepy as I just made it sound, Naru ordered him to. I'll just take some more of the medicine and I'll be fine." Monk gave her that older brother/father look. "Okay, I'll go to my room, but John shouldn't have to waste his time by sitting in my room bored out of his min-" Fingers snapped. "What?"
"Shouta," Yasuhara called, giving a look, the other boy somehow understood and ran out briefly. Yasuhara placed his hands on Kiko's shoulders, gently pushing her backwards toward the couch. Once there he made her sit down.
"Yasu, what are you doing?" she wondered as the client ran back in with a pillow and a blanket.
"Last night after dinner, Ayako made a few charms to put in Base. You can rest in here protected, I'm sure Lin is on his way back, so you won't be alone very long and all he ever really does is sit in here," he explained with a cheeky grin. "Now you can rest and not force poor John into the utter boredom of watching you sleep."
"Thanks, Yasu," she gave a half smirk. "But are you guys sure you don't need my help?"
"I'll go with Yasuhara and Shouta here," Monk offered. "John, Mai? You guys will be okay on your own, right?"
"Of course," John replied and Mai nodded.
"It's settled, then," Monk folded his arms and grinned. "Kiko will rest here, the rest of us will go do what Naru asked us to, I'll check on Ayako in a bit and then we'll meet back here for further orders."
"Aye aye, Captain!" Yasuhara saluted. In a flash everyone was gone and Kiko was left in the room alone.
She lied down and pulled the blanket over herself. Only now did exhaustion finally come over her and she fell asleep.
***
"Miss Takara, sorry to bother you, but we were wondering-" Mai tried to begin, but the kind old woman interrupted her.
"Oh, it's no trouble at all, have a cookie!" she smiled warmly. "And please, you can call me Yuina."
Both the young priest and petite brunette took a cookie. "Yuina, we were wondering if you could describe this 'Angel of Death' you've seen," John asked.
"Oh, she was a young girl by the looks of her," the woman began, a solemn look in her eyes. "She looked terrified, warning me that a few of my friends were going to die and to warn them."
"And what did she look like?" the priest urged as something caught Mai's eye.
"She was very tiny, my granddaughter is ten years old and 120 centimeters and this girl looked shorter," she continued. "She has this dark brown hair and it was cut in this messy sort of-"
"Did it look as though someone grabbed her hair and just cut it?" Mai asked, her eyes focus behind the woman.
"Why, yes, it did. She also had-"
"Big golden brown eyes?"
"Yes," the woman cocked her head. "How did you know?" She noticed Mai looking behind her. She turned around as well. "Looks as though we have a visitor."
"What? What are you two seeing?" John asked clueless.
"Looks as though we have another medium in the room," Yuina smiled at Mai's perplexed face.
***
The area was black with a purplish glow. A sight Kiko had seen before on her last case when she and Mai had the same dream. However, this time, she knew that she was not about to see a vision.
She decided to walk a little, glad that at least in her dreams she didn't feel as congested as she did awake. There was no dizziness as she took a step and her head felt as though a weight had been lifted. Needless to say, she was thankful for the temporary relief.
Finally she stopped walking as a figure came into view. She hadn't had the chance to speak to him for a while and was glad he pulled her into this world to speak to him.
"Glad you made it, Kiko," the figure said, and a sad yet happy smile flashed across her face. She had missed him so much.
"Gene..."