Post Case 3- Intruder?
January Friday 6:14 P.M.
Winter vacation has come to an end and Mai had just finished her first week back in school. She had skipped yet another session with Hozumi, and she was a little angry with herself for doing that. Her nightmares were still present, but luckily she could go back to sleep faster or just sleep through them until it became dreamless. She made a promise to the young man that she would definitely be at their next session that coming Sunday.
She was doing some paperwork while Naru was drinking his fifth cup of tea since she arrived that afternoon. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Looking up, both Lin and Naru's doors were shut and only the sound of typing could be heard from either. She pulled out her phone.
Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? It read. It was none other than Shouta.
I work until three, then I'm hanging out with Mich and Kei. Why? she responded.
Katsuo and Ren invited us to the movies for a double.
Now, Mai had met Katsuo and Ren a couple of times. Both of them were Shouta's age and went to University with him. They were both nice to hang out with, but she got a weird feeling like she was too young to be with them. Almost like Ren didn't really like her.
Sorry, I can't cancel again. We haven't hung out in a while.
You hung out during break. Besides with school back in session, you get to see them all the time. The movie isn't until 8.
He did have a point. With school and work taking all of her time, it was getting increasingly harder to spend time with him. Surely, Keiko and Michiru would understand if she left early.
Okay, I can make that work.
Great! I'll see you tomorrow! I love you!
Love you too!
Mai put her phone away as she heard the door to her boss's office open. "How's the paperwork?" Naru asked.
"Actually, I'm finished," she said, closing the file. "I even called the Ishikawa's for a follow-up. They are doing well, just a little tired with Daisuke. They want us to come and visit sometime, apparently they are going to redo the garden once spring comes, they have the blue prints all ready for it. Probably to get rid of the memory of what had occurred there."
"Did you-"
"Write up the report?" she finished for him and handed him a folder. "Typed, printed, and filed both in the computer and in this folder. The case is officially closed."
"Good work," he answered, taking the folder and examining her report briefly.
"Anything else you would like me to do?" Mai asked, sitting back in her seat. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't quite sure when her modest desk had upgraded to have a computer, along with a printer and filing cabinet, she even had her own swivel chair like her boss's. When did that happen?
"Actually, You're free to go for the night, Lin and I were planning on closing early anyway," Naru replied, tucking the folder under his arm.
"Oh?" Mai's face did nothing to hide her surprise. "Is there a reason we are closing early on a Friday night? Got a hot date or something?" She teased.
"You sound like Madoka," Naru sighed, heading for his office. "If you must know, Madoka planned a dinner with someone who is both a family friend and a friend of the business."
"A likely story," she teased as he closed his office door and she packed up her things and got ready to leave. Her backpack was packed and she was putting on her coat as she heard Lin cease his typing and most likely getting ready to leave as well. "Good night, guys! I'll see you tomorrow morning!"
"Did you need a ride?" Lin asked, poking his head out from his office.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine," she assured him, as the bell rang over her head as she opened the door. "Have fun at the dinner thing!"
***
As she walked toward the train station it began to snow again. She was regretting that she didn't take Lin's offer for a ride, but at least the snow was pretty. "Hey! Mai!" a voice broke her from her daze.
She turned and found none other than her boss's go to researcher. "Yasuhara?" she tilted her head. "What are you doing here?" She walked up to his car that he had pulled up to the side of the road.
"I have an internship nearby, want a ride home?" he offered, unlocking the door.
"If you don't mind," she accepted, opening the door and getting in.
"Not at all, besides it beats walking through the snow." Yasuhara put the car in gear and started in the direction of Mai's apartment.
"So how happy are you that you finally found out who my mysterious boyfriend is?" Mai teased.
"Well, I now need to find something else to interrogate you about? Although, I received a very stern talking to from Sakurako about interrogating over the weekend," he laughed.
"And how does she feel about you interrogating me?"
"Well, she was more upset about me interrogating Satoshi," he explained, making a turn. "Apparently, he has a secret girlfriend and kept blushing when I asked him about it."
"What did Sakurako do?"
"She told me to leave her brother alone and that it wasn't nice of me to ask about his girlfriend like that. They are apparently very much in love and this 'intewogaling' wasn't good and how would I like to be questioned about liking her sister-"
"Ha! So the five year old called you out on it too!" Mai laughed.
"She's six now, and she won't let you forget it," Yasuhara laughed as well. "And call it what you will, but luckily Kiko was helping her mom with something."
"To save yourself the embarrassment," Mai rolled her eyes.
"Eh, not really, considering I then had Satoshi trying to beat me up, attempting to play protective younger brother," the college boy shrugged.
"Then Kiko walked in and you were pinned to the ground by an...eleven year old?" Mai finished for him.
"Actually, he's still ten, he'll be eleven in March," he corrected. "But yeah, that's about how it played out."
"And Kiko helped get her brother off of you while you laid sprawled out on the floor."
"No, she took one look at the situation, raised her eyebrow, and walked right out." They came to a red light. "She then told Sakurako to make sure Satoshi didn't kill me."
"Wow, she has a lot of faith in you," Mai laughed, then all of a sudden she felt somber. An ominous feeling filled the pit of her stomach as Yasuhara's face took on the same serious expression. He looked a little different too, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
The light turned green and Yasuhara started to drive the car forward.
"Well, I'm sure that-" he stopped as pure terror filled his face.
She turned her head to see a sedan racing for them. It wasn't stopping. It didn't plan to.
"Yasuhara!" Mai shouted, terror in her eyes as she whipped her head around just as the Sedan crashed into her side.
Or should have crashed.
She turned only to see a confused Yasuhara and the car still stopped at the same red light. She blinked just as the car began motion again. "Are you okay?" he asked as she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it was nothing, just my imagination," she said, rubbing her temple. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I think Naru's got a date!"
"Really?" he asked. "What makes you so sure?"
Yasuhara, you are so easy to distract, she thought to herself. "He let me leave early and apparently closed up the office early too."
"Oh really? Did he say why?" Now the college student was interested.
"He's claiming it's for a business dinner," Mai rolled her eyes as she leaned back.
"A likely story."
"That's what I said!"
***
8:02 P.M.
Naru and Lin had just walked into the restaurant after closing up shop for the day. The hostess showed them to a table where Madoka was waiting for them. She was sitting at one end of the table and on her one side sat two gentlemen. "So glad you both were able to make it!" Madoka chirped as the two men stood up and bowed. Naru and his assistant bowed as well.
"It's good to see you again, Mr. Shibuya" the older of the two men said as they all sat back down. Naru hadn't seen either of these men since he was in England, and back then the younger gentleman in front of him still had some puberty to go through. His father was a bit surprised that they hadn't had a joint investigation yet.
"And you as well, Mr. Eita," Naru returned. "How has your business been going?"
"I wish I could scold you for stealing all of my potential cases, but," the man joked. "You have been referring cases to us, which has helped us tremendously."
"And how has your assistant been doing?" Naru asked, as though the young man were not sitting directly in front of him.
"He's been doing wonderfully," Eita bragged as an order of appetizers came around. "Turns out he's been doing a side job of therapy with clients after our investigations are complete. To help then get over any trauma."
"That's interesting," Madoka piped in.
"Mr. D-Shibuya, I hear you have taken on another assistant," the younger gentleman added.
"Oh, he has!" Madoka replied excitedly. "She is wonderful!"
"She has a lot to learn, and her abilities are growing," Naru commented.
"Yes, but we've all started out that way, did you meet her on a case?" Eita asked.
"Yes, at her high school, she broke one of my cameras and nearly killed Lin-"
"Oh Kazuya!" Madoka exclaimed, shaking her head. "She wandered into the abandoned building at her school and an already unbalanced book case started to tumble over. Lin pulled her out of the way, he did get hurt, but the camera was insured. Because he didn't have an assistant for a little while, he recruited her."
"Not too much unlike how Martin recruited Luella," Eita laughed. "How does her family feel about her new job?"
"She's an orphan," Naru answered.
"Well, that certainly makes it easier," Eita replied with a sad smile. "As cruel as it is, it was a nightmare trying to get my assistant's family to approve of his job, isn't that right?"
"My father, yes, my mother was easier to convince," the younger gentleman replied. "Mr. Shibuya, have you been back to England since you arrived?"
"No," he replied shortly. He seemed uninterested in the overall conversation.
"Right, that was probably a stupid question. You wouldn't be so busy with cases if you had returned home," the young man said in English.
For once, Naru was amused and not because of his brunette assistant. "Your English has improved greatly," he commented, sipping his water.
"Thank you," he continued, switching back to Japanese. "Truth be told, I was embarrassed about how little English I knew when I first met you and your family. I made it a point to practice for the next time I visited you."
"Well, to be fair," Madoka chirped in. "Luella's Japanese isn't the greatest either. But a very impressive improvement, Hozumi."
Naru nodded in agreement.
***
Saturday 7:30 P.M.
"Where's Katsuo and Ren?" Mai asked as she found her boyfriend buying their movie tickets. She decided to meet up with him there since she wasn't hanging out with Michiru and Keiko too far from the theater.
"Hey, Babe," he greeted, kissing her on the cheek. "They are running a little late."
"Gotcha," she answered, as they headed for the concessions stand.
"So how mad were Keiko and Michiru?"
Mai just shrugged, "Not so much mad as disappointed. They say they never see me or hang out with me and I'm always with you, but I see them at school all the time and barely get to hang out with you."
"And?" he asked, after ordering their popcorn and drinks.
"Like I said, they were disappointed, but I think they understood," she sighed. "I still feel bad." She shrugged.
"Damn!" Shouta cursed, looking at his phone. "Katsuo is stuck in traffic with Ren on the other end of town. They aren't going to make it."
"Oh, well, it'll just be the two of us," Mai smiled understandingly.
"I feel bad that I made you cancel your plans-" Mai just shook her head as they walked into their theatre.
"Don't worry, Keiko and Michiru are practically my sisters, they may be a little mad but they'll get over it," she assured him. "We're like a family, we get angry, but never for long."
"Speaking of, you consider a lot of people to be part of your family, right?" he asked as they sat down.
"You mean SPR?" Mai clarified. "Yeah, I consider them part of my family. I spend so much time with them it's kind of hard not to."
"But do you really know them?" he asked.
"Of course, I know them."
"How long have you known the whole team?" he questioned.
"Aside from Yasuhara and Kiko, I've known everyone for almost two years."
"How well do you really know them?" he pressed. "When's John's birthday?"
"I think it was last week, I called him to wish him a happy birthday," she replied.
"Ok, why does Takigawa have long hair if he's a monk?" Mai just found out about the answer to that question. The pain on the monk's face when everyone found out.
"I do know the answer to that one, but I can't tell you," she replied.
"Okay, when did you find that out?"
"Our last case, but-"
"So after nearly two years he finally told you?" It was harsh, but the look on his face was of concern. "Do John or Takigawa have siblings?"
That was something Mai was unsure of. She really hadn't met any family of anyone on the team. "I don't know, but-"
"And what about Kazuya? Have you met his parents? Siblings? Has he mentioned anything of them?" Mai looked down.
"He hasn't mentioned them, but-"
"Okay, you know them a little bit, but you know me more," he continued. "You met my aunt, my brother and my friends and I've only know you a couple of months."
"But I have met Kiko's family and Yasuhara's cousin and aunt-"
"So Yasuhara and Akiko, the two you've known the least amount of time, you know the most about," he argued. "You haven't spent much time with any of them outside of cases, and you barely know really anything about any of them. I'm sorry, Mai, but that's not a family."
It felt like a bullet had hit her in the chest. Was he right? The most she really knew about anyone was maybe Ayako, how she was an only child and had basically been spoiled by her parents. She technically wasn't even a real priestess. Monk's past became a little clearer after their last case, but she still didn't know that much about him other than his day job is in a band. Masako, well, the two had never been close enough to really try to get to know each other. John, the sweet priest himself was also shrouded with mystery. He was only twenty-one now, how on earth did he become a priest at such a young age? Yasuhara was a little more open with his life, but after finding out there is some huge secret as to why Kiko left the high school, Mai isn't sure of anything anymore. Then there was Lin. She wasn't even going to attempt to pretend she knew him at all. And Naru? Damn it! Shouta's right, she thought bitterly.
"Mai?" his voice broker her from her reverie, she finally shook her head and looked up. "I'm sorry, Mai, I didn't mean to burst your bubble like that I-"
"No it's fine, and you're right," she replied with a sad smile. "We are really only family-like when we are on cases, if anything you, Michiru and Keiko are more like my family." She shrugged and shook her head again. "It's probably just a coping mechanism my mind created when Mom died. But you're right, it's time I put that aside."
Shouta smiled and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in enough to kiss her forehead. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too," she replied, looking down as the lights dimmed and the coming attractions started.
Just when Mai thought things were coming together and making sense, everything starts to fall apart. Just when she thinks she knows for sure. She doesn't. Just when she thought she was getting better, she starts feeling hollow again.
She cannot miss her appointment with Hozumi. She just can't.
***
January a few days before case, 4:30 P.M.
"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" A girl with light brown hair screeched as she grabbed her face and fell backwards to the floor, writhing in agony.
A young man appeared and ran to her. "Oiwa!" the girl looked up for him to see her scarred face.
"Tamiya!" she cried, tears falling from her eyes. The man backed away in horror. "Tamiya!"
The man made a disgusted sound and stormed off.
"Cut!" the director shouted and annoyed groans could be heard all around.
"Ugh! What did Hoshiko do now!" one girl shouted from the back of the theatre.
"Ichika, it's not entirely her fault, Yuito could have improvised," Inoue answered. "Hoshiko, you were supposed to reach out and grab him and pull him to you. You are in pain! You want your loving husband to make it stop!" He turned back to the young man. "Yuito, you need to throw her off of you, you're disgusted at what your wife has become! She's no longer the beautiful woman she was before and you are revolted by her!"
"Director Inoue," Hoshiko replied. "I'll try my best, but with my knee the way it is, I can't do the scene completely on my knees just yet." She stood back up. "It's gotten a lot better, but I don't want to do too-"
"Then maybe you shouldn't have the lead role!" Ichika shouted, walking up from the back.
"What are you complaining about? You have a pretty main role too," argued one of the spotlight guys.
"I'm not complaining about my role, I'm just saying that if the actress with the lead role isn't able to perform her part to the fullest in rehearsal, how is she to perform in front of an audience?" Ichika defended.
"Ichi's got a point," a girl with burgundy bobbed hair agreed.
"If she performs to the fullest while injured and injures herself further, then how-" a girl painting a backdrop from the back of the stage argued, only to be cut off by a blow horn.
The sound was loud and piercing, forcing the actors and stagehands to cover their ears. The assistant director took her finger off of the trigger and removed her earplugs, as did the director.
"Finally, I was getting sick of that cattiness!" the assistant director declared thankful. She was a petite young woman, one of the youngest there, in her heels she was maybe just as tall as Masako, with a round face framed with curly bobbed black hair, dark brown eyes that appeared larger when behind her thickly rimmed glasses. "We are going to continue with the next Act and if you are not in the scene that we are rehearsing you will be asked to help out with painting and costumes."
"Thank you, Fuyumi," Inoue said. "Hoshiko, rest up your knee, I don't want you kneeling until that thing is one hundred percent! Yuito, I need you, Yumiko, Senna, Ibuki, Etsuro, and Katsuji."
Hoshiko sighed and limped her way to the back of the stage to help with painting, she had never been much for sewing. "Hey, Star?" Hoshiko turned around to see Fuyumi behind her. She felt like a giant compared to the petite director, silently she cursed her family's tall genes. "Inoue wasn't kidding when he said to stay off of that knee. Plus we need to confirm your sizes for wardrobe."
"Okay, yeah sure," she replied, taking the girl's hand as she led her to an older woman with a tape measure.
"Hoshiko-chan, you need to stop stressing! There's only so many times I can take in your kimono!" the seamstress exclaimed.
"It's better than me gaining weight and you having to let the gown out," Hoshiko teased, lifting her arms up for the seamstress to take her measurements.
"Just lay off that knee, despite Ichika being a great actress, I'd rather deal with Oiwa herself than have her play her," Fuyumi ordered, heading out of the room. "I'm going to make sure Inoue isn't adding too much to the scenes."
"Hoshiko, feet together and stand up straight," the seamstress ordered, measuring her length. Once she had finished writing it down she sighed and smiled. "Will you go get Kuniharu? I need to get his numbers again."
"Sure thing," she replied, walking out to find the boy.
Kuniharu was the only one who really made the girl feel tiny; he was ridiculously tall. He may have been about as tall as Lin maybe even a little taller! She found him painting the higher portion of the backdrop. "Hey, you're needed in fittings," she told him quietly as to not disturb the actors on stage.
"Thanks, Star," he replied, putting his brush down and wiping the paint off of his arms. "How's your knee?"
"Still bruised, but not as swollen anymore," she replied as she walked with him backstage.
"That's good-" he replied but the girl snapped her head away. "What?"
"I-I" she stuttered for a moment. "I thought I heard something." She shook her head.
"Uh oh, is someone all of a sudden superstitious?" he teased, nudging her. She rolled her eyes and pushed him away.
"No, I just want to be sure no one snuck into the theatre," she replied, but then he snapped his head. "What? Are you now superstitious?"
Then she heard it too, she looked up and watched as one of the backup lights was falling, heading right for her. "Hoshiko! Look out!" Kuniharu grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way, just as the light crashed and shattered.
"What the hell is going on back here!" Inoue shouted as everyone rushed to the back of the stage. Kuniharu just looked up and dashed for the ladder. "Kuniharu!"
"Someone is up there!" he shouted, a couple of the guys followed him, while Fuyumi adjusted her glasses and pointed at the guys left in the area.
"If there is someone in here go to the exits," she ordered pointing at each of the men in front of her. "Front, back, side, side, and the underground exit from the basement." They just kind of stared at her unsure of what to do. "Well? What are you waiting for? You're castmate was just attacked and we have a witness who saw someone. Go and catch them!" They scurried off and the director turned to the shaken girl. "Star? Are you okay?"
"N-no one should be up there," Hoshiko muttered to herself as Fuyumi took her shaking hands. "If no one is up there, then how did the light-"
"Hoshiko, why don't you take a seat? Ichika, a chair if you will," the petite girl replied as the bitter girl from earlier did just as she was told. "Now, tell me, are you hurt? Did you get hit at all? Do you think any glass might have gotten to you?"
Hoshiko just shook her head and looked at the shattered light, the rope that should have held it securely in place was lying on the floor. One end was cut, but a little frayed. It were as though someone had started to cut the rope but let the weight of it finish the job. After having Fuyumi examine her to make sure she wasn't bleeding, the boys came back. "No one that isn't supposed to be here is here," Yuito answered.
"Impossible," Kuniharu shook his head. "I know I saw someone."
"Well, either way the rope was tampered with," Inoue declared, examining the frayed end.
"Only half of the end is frayed, the other half is cleanly cut," Fuyumi explained. "We may need to delay the show again and call the police."
"No! We will not delay the show any longer!" Inoue exclaimed. "Call the police, find the bastard that try to kill my Star!"
"Already on it," Fuyumi sighed, pulling out her phone.
Meanwhile, Hoshiko recuperated and was interviewed by the officers who were sent out. "Unfortunately, there are no prints on the light or the rope, not even one on the railing where the light was cut from," the older officer said. "There really isn't anything else we can do, other than tell you to keep an eye out and give us a call if anything unusual occurs."
"But I saw someone up there!" Kuniharu argued. "I know I did."
"I'm sorry, but our hands are tied," the officer said, shrugging and turning to leave. "Atsuchi, we have another call."
"Yes sir," the younger officer replied, handing a card to Fuyumi. "If anything else happens call this number." He walked up to Hoshiko. "Miss Hoshiko, if another situation happens like this give me a call. If it's something like what happened to your knee, call this number." He handed her two business cards.
Numbly, she accepted the cards. "Thank you," she said weakly as a pounding in her head seemed to vibrate her temples.
"Atsuchi!"
"Coming!" the officer called back. "Have a good rest of your evening, everyone."
"Gah! The moment is lost!" Inoue exclaimed once the officers had left. "There is no point in continuing today! Time to wallow in misery!" He threw his copy of the script on the floor and stormed off.
Fuyumi shook her head and crossed her arms. "One of these days," she muttered as the cast and crew started up their chattering again. With a huff, the assistant director clapped her hands. "Okay! Everyone listen up!" The chatter ceased. "Rehearsal is over for tonight, go home, rest, go over your lines, have some tea, whatever it takes to get you ready for tomorrow. We will continue tomorrow at the same time and get through this scene. Have a great evening, see you all tomorrow."
One by one, or two by two, the cast and crew left the theatre. "Hoshiko? Do you need a ride?" Kuniharu asked, seeing as she was still packing her bag.
"No, thanks, I don't live that far," she replied.
"Star! Kuniharu!" Fuyumi called, ready to go with her burgundy trench coat that reached past her knees. "What the hell are you still doing here?"
"Sorry, I still had a couple things to grab," she apologized. The director sighed.
"It's fine, I just don't want anyone left here when I go to lock up."
"I was just leaving too," the young man said.
"Good, after tonight's excitement we could all use some down time," Fuyumi said as they all walked to the front door. "At least the medium's job is done and we can move on with the show, so long as we don't have anymore of those incidents like tonight-"
The foyer light was the only one on and began to flicker. "Star, the wires must be shot, you're closer to the light switch, turn it off," Kuniharu requested, but Hoshiko just stared wide eyed.
"It is off..."
Banging sounded against the walls. An electric sound buzzed around them. "I spoke too soon, we need to get out of here!"
"GET OUT!" an unearthly voice screeched and a wind came from all directions. It threw the front door open and was pushing them out.
"Well, let's do what it says and get out!" Kuniharu ordered as the three of them rushed out. The door slammed shut behind them. The flickering light went out. The lock turned. All while the three just stared at the theatre in disbelief.
"Are you fucking with me right now!" a shout came from behind the three. They turned to see Inoue standing outside his car, obviously stressed out. "Son of a bitch!" He kicked his tire.
"I take it, he saw the whole thing?" the young man said, turning to the petite director.
"More than likely," she responded, shaking her head. "I guess that medium didn't really help at all, but don't worry Hoshiko, I believe I heard of some ghost hunting specialists that would-" She turned around and her eyes grew wide. "Hoshiko! Come back!" But she was already around the corner.
"I'm sure she'll be fine, she lives in that direction anyway," Kuniharu rationalized, he looked down and saw something in the snow covered sidewalk. "She dropped something."
Inoue continued to have a conundrum while Fuyumi bent down to pick up a little card that Hoshiko must have dropped. "So this was the other card he gave her," she said, sliding it into her pocket and began walking. "I'll see you two tomorrow, I'm sure we'll figure this out tomorrow."
***
8:37 P.M.
It had been a relaxing evening for the young priest. He had just finished preparing for the mass that weekend and was enjoying some tea when he heard a knock at the door. He got up to answer it, wondering just who could be paying him a visit at this hour.
His question was answered when he opened the door and saw his frightened friend standing there. "John, the medium didn't work," was what she said. John ushered her inside so that she could explain the events of that night.
***
Next Case! Break a Leg: A recent case for Masako ends up needing SPR's expertise. Tensions run high as Mai finds herself losing her grip on hope she had established a little while ago.