Chapter 5-Ryoukuryou
February Day 2 7:15 P.M.
"Did you know that apparently the park we passed on the drive up here, the one with the old iron gates, is supposedly haunted by a little girl who drowned in the lake?" Kiko asked, as she took a sip of her coffee. Apparently, there was an instant coffee vending machine by the elevator of the second floor. "Fell through the ice while ice-skating, I wonder if we could find a police report on that."
"I'm starting to regret giving you coffee," Yasuhara teased, turning the page of his book.
"Caffeine hasn't even hit my system yet, just you wait." She took another sip. "And I know, I know, I'm getting distracted, but you were the one who brought these in here."
"Only because we're at a loss of information." He took a sip of his own coffee. "If we weren't about to have a blizzard, I'd say we should drive out to another library and see if they have any info. But I called them and they said they would look into it for me."
"Think they'll be as tight lipped as everyone here?" she asked, but he just shrugged. "How did you convince them you needed information on any tragedies involved with the place?"
"I just told them I was doing research on Universities and controversies and tragedies to see how they might have been able to rise from the ashes."
"That's such bullshit. I'm surprised that they agreed to look into it for you." She rolled her eyes.
"Well, I hope they bought it, otherwise I'll have to go there myself and possibly wait out the storm there."
"They'll probably close due to weather."
"Yeah and we'll probably be stuck here."
"Don't remind me."
***
Just as Naru had said before, he stayed outside the dormroom while Mai interviewed their victim. "Chinatsu, I saw you were on your way to class," Mai began as she sat by the desk, while the girl sat on her bed. "I also saw that the professor approached you in the stairwell, but what happened after that?"
Chinatsu was a couple inches taller than Mai, with reddish brown hair that had been tied in a bun before her attack. She had hazel eyes that seemed so distant. She took a deep breath before she explained, "He-he's a family friend, known him since I was a kid, right? He would never do something like this. They weren't his eyes."
Numbs tears fell from the girl's face, and Mai understood her pain all too well. Her own eye throbbed in sympathy. "Chinatsu, what happened? My team and I want to help."
The girl pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I don't want to get him in trouble, God, if my family finds out-"
"I'm not with the police," Mai interrupted her and tried to look kindly on the girl. "I'm not even in college yet, all we're here for is to figure out what's causing these attacks and hopefully put an end to it." She leaned forward in her seat, and the girl looked up at her. Mai knew she was looking right at her eye. She had to put that out of her mind. "What happened when he grabbed you? He pulled you into the closet, right? Did you shout? Did you try to get someone's attention? You can tell me, I'll make sure none of the other students find out, only the team I work with. It'll be completely confidential."
She was hoping the girl would open up and tell her what happened. That's how it usually went in movies, right? Nothing could have prepared her for the question the student finally asked. "What happened to your eye?"
It startled her to say the least. She should have expected it, she knew. Though, she could use this to her advantage. "Long story short, I tried to break up with my boyfriend and he happened to be drunk," she answered flatly. It was matter of fact. Not a single lie in that sentence. But her voice was far too straight and indifferent. Damn it, Mai! This is no time to be apathetic! "Please, Chinatsu, tell me what happened, so I can make sure you don't have a similar experience." You can't make promises like that. You know that.
It didn't matter because her words must have gotten through to the victim. She let out a shaky breath before continuing, "He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the hallway and then into the closet." She bit her lip. "His eyes were yellow, that's not normal, right? That wasn't him, right? Eyes don't turn yellow when you decide to have sex with someone, right?"
It was an odd question. Looking at her, Mai knew that this girl was about as inexperienced as she was, maybe more. So she pushed the thought of a possibly really good novel idea aside, possibly to tell Lin later if he really does write novels, and answered as best as she could.
***
"He's not possessed, you can be assured of that," Masako said after standing a moment in the conference room where the young professor had just woken up. "He probably has no recollection of what happened, same as the others. But he is no longer possessed."
"What? Where am I?" the man groaned, rubbing his head. "Possessed?"
"You're in a conference room in the Academic Building," Lin answered, leaning against the door. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Possessed?" he repeated his brows knitting. "As in a ghost taking over me? God, my head."
"We found you attacking a student in a closet," Lin told him plainly.
"What are you talking about? I would never harm anyone especially not a student here." The man shook his head. "The last thing I remember is walking down the stairs and was about to say 'hi' to Chinatsu-" His eyes widened as he realized what was meant behind the Chinese man's statement. "Chinatsu!"
He tried to stand up, but his head was still swimming and brought him back down to the chair. Monk turned to Lin. "Was that the name of the girl he attacked?"
Lin remained expressionless. "Not sure, Naru and Mai walked her back to her dorm and I believe Mai is interviewing her now."
"Is that a good idea?" Monk raised a brow.
"She insisted."
"God, with everything going on, did..." The professor rambled, rubbing his temples again. "I didn't...I didn't ra...assault her...did I?"
"No," Lin answered. "Luckily a member of our team witnessed the attack on one of our cameras and ran over here to stop it. She is with Chinatsu now."
"What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?" The man clutched his head and began rocking back and forth in his chair.
"I don't think we're going to get anything useful out of him," Masako said, turning to the two men by the door.
***
Day 2, 8:19 P.M.
"Well that got us absolutely nowhere," Ayako groaned as she and the priest came out of the headmaster's office. "No specific personal paranormal experience and claims he only called us in because the female staff were getting anxious. And he doesn't seem to like us here, was he like that when you guys came on Monday?"
"If he was, he was better at hiding it," John replied then shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Then again, we had just gone through an eight hour drive up here, so I just might not have caught it."
"True, I'm surprised I was able to function after driving here yesterday." They both walked outside into the cold to get back to Base. "I'm also surprised that I didn't snap at anyone, I was so tired."
"You did snap at Naru, from what I heard from Yasuhara," John replied watching the snow fall in front of him. "That reminds me, Mr. Yamasaki did not seem too pleased with Naru's appearance."
"Appearance? As in Naru wasn't dressed as professionally as he usually is or Yamasaki wasn't expecting an eighteen year old running the show?"
"The latter." A gust of wind forced them to stop and brace themselves for a moment. "He said he was 'expecting something different' if I recall correctly."
"Great, I hope we're not dealing with another Ryoukuryou," Ayako sighed as they made it to the dorm building. "We have enough to worry about, the last thing we need is another headmaster thinking we are incompetent and forcing us to leave before the danger's over."
John wiped the snow off of his head. "I know what you mean, hopefully Yasuhara and Kiko have found out a little more on the history of this place."
"Well, I think we might find out soon enough, I think I can hear Monk from all the way down here."
"So, now this thing is going to target and possess authority figures," Monk's voice could be heard as the pair walked into Base.
"You might want to close the door, we could hear you from down the hall," Ayako said, closing the door behind her. She and the priest took their seats on the couch next to Masako. "What happened?"
"Another student was attacked," Masako said, from the end of the couch.
"Thanks to Mai we were able to get to her in time," Naru continued from where he sat with his back to the monitors. "Mai, what did she say?"
"Mai did the interview?" Ayako whispered to the medium next to her, who only nodded.
"Chinatsu, the victim, was walking to class in the Academic Building," Mai began from her seat on the table where they had conducted the interviews. "I was keeping an eye on the cameras and after checking where you all were, I was looking for anything paranormal or in this case, dangerous." Her back was hunched over a little and she swung her legs over the edge. "I watched her come up the stairs and encounter someone. I put on the headphones and listened to the audio, when I saw and heard her being grabbed, I ran out to find them."
"You ran out alone?" Ayako raised a brow and crossed her arms. "Mai, I thought-"
Mai lifted a hand and looked directly at the priestess. "I am very well aware of the compromise we made, Ayako. I made sure to tell Naru and Lin where I was going and they followed." No one argued. "We found her in a maintenance closet with the man who grabbed her. Lin knocked him out and kept him in a conference room, while Naru and I walked Chinatsu over to her dorm.
"I asked her about what happened and found that the man who attacked her is a professor here and a family friend of hers," Mai continued, watching as the priest and priestess glanced at each other. "And just like with the other victims, she says his eyes were bright yellow and that he would never do such a thing. He's apparently been like an older brother to her and gave her a letter of recommendation when she wanted to go to this school."
"That's about what we got from Professor Fujita," Monk said with his arms crossed and head shaking side to side. "The fact that he was practically in tears when we told him what happened, I'm inclined to believe he was possessed."
"Was there anything different about this attack?" Naru asked, turning to his assistant. "Did Chinatsu say anything happened in addition to what we know of the other attacks?"
Mai knitted her brows and looked down at her hands trying to remember the conversation. She did say something that caught her attention, but what was it? Not the question about eyes and sex. Focus, Mai, what did she say? "He growled in her ear," Mai finally remembered. "He growled something in her ear."
"What did he say?" Monk asked, almost too afraid. Almost.
"'You're mine.'"
***
She was back in that fiery cave. Moans of agony filled her ears accompanied by evil laughter. She didn't have to open her eyes to know the demon was standing in front of her, smirking at her frozen state. She could never move when she was brought here. Usually she could never speak. She was starting to get annoyed at herself for being fearful of a dream.
"Open your eyes, darling, I have so much to show you," the hideous voice cooed, forcing Mai to open her eyes. She was only mildly surprised to find the demon sitting on a stone throne. Only mildly.
"Well? Where is this 'true evil?'" Mai boldly asked, glad she was able to speak this time. "You said I was one case away, I assume you meant this case."
"A bright thing, you are," he said, standing up. He had an almost sad look in his eye. "Too bad you might not make it through."
"And you won't be able to torment me anymore, am I supposed to be afraid?" She wasn't too sure where the words were coming from, but here they were. She still couldn't move, but at least she could speak. She earned a wicked grin from her tormentor.
"Oh, trust me, by the time I'm through with you, you'll wish you were dead. It'll be a blessing."
"And if I already wish it?" She silently prayed he wouldn't call her bluff.
But the creature laughed so loud it was ground shaking. If Mai could have moved, she would have flinched, but she stayed still. "You are definitely going to be fun to break."
"You won't have that honor if I don't make it out of this place," she told him. "Why don't you make yourself useful and tell me something that will help my friends solve this case?"
"I normally hate when my playthings demand anything from me," he said, tilting his head, "but I must say, it's nothing short of adorable coming from you." He walked toward her.
He's getting stronger, Mai noted. He's gotten bigger.
"I can wake up right now and forget everything said here. I can continue investigating with my friends and try to find answers. But if what you said is true that I'll see 'true evil' on this case, and it breaks me, you've lost your shot at your fun."
"I don't negotiate with humans."
"And I don't negotiate with demons, but we both want something out of this."
"You're looking for the wrong incident."
"What?"
"You wanted a clue, so I gave you one. Have fun."
***
February Day 3, 5:34 A.M.
Mai looked at the clock as she woke up. Three hours this time, not terrible, she noted.
She stood up and walked over to the small desk where she had placed her schoolbag. She had stayed up until almost three in the morning working on things that her teachers had noted the week before that they would cover this week. C'mon, Mai, you can't go back to school behind everyone, then you'll really be as stupid as Naru says.
She turned on the lamp and was grateful that it was in such a spot that would not disrupt Ayako's sleep. She couldn't leave her alone and go down to Base. Not after the last attack. And seeing how deeply the woman was sleeping, it seemed that Masako was right about the spirit drawing energy from their fear. Kiko looked completely drained when she and Yasuhara came back from researching. Masako herself had bags under her eyes. And Mai felt a little worse for wear when she went to bed earlier and didn't feel much better now. Despite standing up to that demon in her dream.
Mai, stop being such an idiot, you literally had an argument with a being your mind created. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. But then something hit her. She hadn't seen her spirit guide in months. And then she asked the demon for help. And he decided to humor her. What if Naru won't ever be in my dreams? What if he's no longer my spirit guide because I figured out he wasn't really Naru or something I made up?
What if that demon is my new spirit guide?
***
Day 3, 7:32 A.M.
Everyone had stumbled into Base a little earlier that morning. John walked Mai over to the lounge to make tea for everyone. Seemed that no one slept well. The charms are definitely not protecting us from drainage, Mai noted as she sipped her tea at the table. Everyone else decided being seated at the table was as good an idea as anything, Lin and Yasuhara even brought over breakfast from the cafeteria. Mai looked down at her cup. If this thing can steal our energy with these charms, is it possible the guys are still in danger of becoming possessed?
"Are we sure this storm is even going to happen?" Ayako said, staring out the window. It was a bright day for it being cloudy. The snow on the ground reflected the light painfully. "We've had a few little snow showers, but nothing close to what the weatherman reported."
"I think it's been delayed until tomorrow," Yasuhara replied, sipping his tea. "Yeah, supposed to start tomorrow afternoon and continue through the night and possibly into the following day."
"Jeez, we'll be here until the middle of next week!" Monk groaned. "There's no way they are going to get the plows way out here over the weekend. Not if this is going to be the storm of the century like they're predicting."
"If you're that concerned about the weather and being stuck here, you're free to leave," Naru remarked coldly. "However, we have a job to do."
"Calm down, I'm not leaving, I just think you have perfect timing with these cases."
"It's not my timing you should bring up, it's the headmaster's."
"Speaking of the case," John intervened, with a smile on his face. "Why don't we try to figure out what we know so far? We're on our third day in."
"Not a bad idea," Yasuhara said with a soft smile. "We know that something paranormal is possessing male students and raping or attempting to rape female students and staff. We also know that two of the victims of the rapes have killed themselves, along with one of the possession victims."
"We know there is one malicious male spirit here, probably in his thirties when he died," Masako added. "I also have sensed the presence of many female spirits. Once we take care of the man, the rest should cross over."
"We know this thing feeds off of our fear," Kiko commented after taking a sip. "And just speculation, but I'm not sure the charms are protecting us from being drained. I still have the same headache from yesterday and Yasu even gave me one of his charms to test out the theory that maybe three's a charm."
"Yasuhara!" Ayako scolded from across the table.
"I had another in my pocket, and it wasn't trying to drain my energy," Yasuhara explained, waving a hand. "It seems to be focusing on Kiko and the rest of the girls here. And it makes sense, us guys are a little jumpy about becoming possessed, but you are even more cautious because if one of us gets possessed, you're possibly the one to get physically harmed. It's drawing strength from your fear to be able to possess and attack."
"Let's not forget that this spirit is escalating," Monk chimed in. "Not only did it possess a professor, an authority figure for one and attack someone connected to him, but he also is giving a message to his victims."
"'You're mine,'" Mai repeated the words from the night before. "He's now claiming his victims as his. To this thing, girls and women are nothing more than objects for him use and abuse as he pleases."
"All the more reason to stop him as quickly as possible," Naru said, after finishing his tea. "We can safely assume that the male spirit here most likely died on the property or was very involved with the school. We can also assume that this person was a dark part of this school's past and they have gone to great lengths to cover it up, correct?" He looked to the researching duo.
The two nodded. "I tried reaching out to local libraries to see if maybe they have anything in their files," Yasuhara answered. "They have yet to respond."
"I say we contact the police department and see if maybe, just maybe, there was a serial rapist in the area but was never publicized," Kiko suggested. "If the case is old enough, there is no reason for them to not fill in some blanks. Or at least give us some basics."
"We can also be reasonably sure that once we find out what the school is trying to keep hidden, whether it is the reasoning behind the haunting or not, we may be asked to leave," John said.
"I think that's a bridge we'll cross once we get to it," Mai decided, leaning back in her seat. "If the haunting is escalating, like we believe it is, leaving would be detrimental to the students here."
***
"Yes, I am serious," Yasuhara said into the phone as Kiko was on the computer in their little Base. "Look, I just want to find out if there was any incident involving a serial rapist and this university." He pinched the bridge of his nose and readjusted his glasses. "No, please don't put me on-" He scowled at the phone in his hand. "And they put me on hold."
"Well you are the one who decided to tell them the truth," Kiko said with a smirk.
"You know, my parents taught me not to lie to the police." He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "And like the good boy I am, I listened."
"Very good, Yasu," she cooed, leaning over and patting his head. "But I don't think they're going to take you seriously. I mean, you did tell them that you are hunting for a ghost."
"I didn't tell them what the ghost was doing."
"No, but think about it, it sounds almost ridiculous."
"No, it sounds completely ridiculous." He kept the phone to his ear and put his glasses back on. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were tracking my phone right now to put me in a psych ward."
"Nah, I don't think they'll waste man power on a crazy kid asking questions. You haven't made any threats or anything. I think, if anything, they'll just-"
"Hang up on me?" he finished for her as he stared at his phone. "Did you have a vision about this?"
Kiko let out a laugh. "No, I used logic." She looked down at her keyboard. "To be honest, I haven't had any visions in a while. No dreams either, but I didn't really have them until that one with Mai."
"Yeah, you usually had visions of the future, right?"
She looked back to her screen. "Yeah, but we'll talk more about this after we find something to bring to Naru. Did the library ever get back to you?"
Yasuhara sighed. "No, I'm going to give them a call. Maybe I can get someone to give us something."
"Good luck."
***
"So, why are we all going into a dark and dirty basement?" Ayako asked holding a flashlight as John closed the door behind them. "We've been in this scene before, nothing good will come out of it."
"You heard Naru, he wanted us to do an E.V.P. session wherever Masako sensed the most nonviolent spirits," Monk chided. "And she said-"
"Many of the female spirits seem to hide down here, I can speak for myself, thank you."
"Can we at least turn on a light or something? It's creepy only having flashlights," Ayako complained, using her flashlight to help guide her down the stairs.
"We get better results with the lights out," Monk shrugged as they made their way to the middle of the room. "Let's just be thankful that there are chairs down here. It's better than sitting on the floor."
He handed the flashlight to Masako and pulled out four folding chairs. He opened them up and handed each to John who brushed off the dust and moved them into a circle. Everyone took their seat and Monk turned on the voice recorder. "Basement of the Science Building, Takigawa," Monk said, looking to the priestess who sat beside him.
"Ayako."
"John."
"Masako."
"Can you tell us your name?" Monk asked, knowing there were a few spirits hiding in the shadows with them.
After a moment John decided to ask, "Did you die here?"
"Were you a victim of the malicious spirit here? The one possessing people?" Ayako asked.
"Is one of the girls who committed suicide here with us?" Masako asked.
"Was there an incident here that is the cause of the haunting now?" John asked.
A shuffling could be heard, startling the group. Monk stood up to figure out what it was, but his flashlight flickered. All of their flashlights did.
Then they all went out at once. The air in the room became cold. The light on the recorder went out. Monk let out a breath. "Guess that's the end of the session, let's get out of here before things become violent."
***
"Gah!" Mai awoke with a start. She found herself in Base where she had fallen asleep with her head on the conference table. Her heart raced and her eyes were wide as she tried her best to take breaths to calm herself. She noticed with slight embarrassment that her boss and co-assistant were looking at her from their places by the monitors.
"A vision?" Naru asked as Mai rubbed her non-bruised eye. She shook her head.
"No, sorry, I must have dozed off," she replied, looking at the clock, glad to find she had only been out for twenty minutes.
Naru didn't seem quite convinced, but nevertheless went back to his work. Mai was glad. Glad that she didn't have to explain how she had a dream of Shouta. Specifically, a replay of their last conversation that ended with her shoving her knee where the sun don't shine and running across a snow covered Tokyo without a coat. A replay of the moment where Mai realized just how stupid she really was.
Jeez, after the last two years of Naru making jabs at my intelligence, there's no way I can let him know he was right. He probably already knows. Goddamn it, Mai! You have the mark on your face to prove it! You're not even trying to hide it anymore!
She felt a pang of regret for the whole situation in that moment. She should have seen the signs. There were signs right?
Really, the only sign I can think of is his hatred of Naru and how he treats me, Mai thought to herself. She thought back to the case where she met Shouta and Naru had threatened her job after disobeying him. But he wasn't entirely wrong to feel and act that way. He was right.
She unconsciously looked to her boss and then looked back down at the notes she had in front of her. She bit her lip. Fuck.
***
"Wait! Don't! Come on!" Yasuhara let out a disgruntled breath as he hung up his cell phone. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back from the table. He was already done with the day and it wasn't even lunchtime yet.
"The library hung up on you?" Kiko asked, surfing the web on the computer on the other side of their small makeshift Base.
"No, I tried calling the police station again," he replied, leaning his head back against the wall behind him. "They hung up on me...again."
"I can't imagine why." Kiko smirked. She never turned her head from the computer screen.
"Have you talked to Mai?" Yasuhara asked. He saw his partner tense up. "Since she arrived I mean."
"No, well..." She turned to look at him in thought. "I mean we did speak briefly about the case during meals, but for the most part I've been cooped up here with you, remember?"
"So you don't know how she's coping with what happened?"
Kiko shook her head. "No, to my knowledge she hasn't spoken to anyone other than Ayako about what happened. She's been in Base with Naru and Lin and somehow I doubt she told them anything."
"Have you thought about talking to her?"
She let about a breath. "Yasu..."
***
"Well?" Ayako began as she and Monk were wandering the halls of the Academic Building. Monk turned to face her as they walked into the conference room that Professor Fujita had been placed to not grab the attention of students the night before.
"Well, what?" He raised a brow.
"Well, aren't you going to say it?" she asked closing the door behind them. Monk placed a thermometer on the table.
"Say what?"
"What a horrible decision it was to bring Mai?" She crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "You said it when we arrived, Masako is still mad at me for it. John even mentioned it. And Naru's been giving me looks since I decided to stay here with her for the duration of the case. I figured that you would be furious, especially with her deciding to stay after you asked her yesterday."
"Honestly, I'm not happy that she's here at such a dangerous case, I can definitely tell you that," he replied, noting the temperature. "If it'll make you feel better."
"It doesn't."
"Then why do you want me to say it so bad?"
"Because I have a very bad feeling." She sighed and looked down. "I really thought that she would be safer here with all of us, than in my apartment where Shouta has probably already gone to find her. But now..." A shiver went down her spine. "But now, it feels like it was a lose-lose situation. She came to me to get away from him, to protect her. She convinced me to go on this case to protect her from him. And now, I feel like-"
"You failed her?"
"More like the brittle relationship she's had with all of us lately has become even thinner and I'm not sure what will happen at the end of all this."
Monk walked up to her after picking up the thermometer. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Just like Mai said earlier, I think that's a bridge we'll cross when we get to it. The most we can do right now is be supportive and hopefully we can come up with a way to get that dirtbag to leave her alone."
Ayako managed a small smile. "I can think of a few ways we can do that."
"Are any of them legal?"
"Define legal."
***
Day 3, 1:01 P.M.
Mai found herself peering over newspapers after having a small lunch. She had finished before the others and went back to Base with Lin and Naru to continue their work. It was better that they traveled in groups of at least two, same drill as several of their other cases, no one walks alone.
She threw the paper she had been reading into "read" pile, and picked up another from her "to read" pile. It was a long shot, but Yasuhara had suggested that maybe Mai might pick up something the researchers missed.
You're looking for the wrong incident.
Now what did that mean? She wondered, skimming through an old Tokyo newspaper. What other incident should we be looking for?
Everything in the paper was only about Tokyo and surrounding small towns and cities. Absolutely nothing about anywhere near where she sat now. Then she saw it. She wished she hadn't.
It was an article about the grand opening of the office building where Shouta was doing his internship. The very same one where he tried to get her a job. Is he still trying to find me? She wondered, feeling her breathing hitch. Is he still at my apartment?
An icy shiver went down her spine. Call Tsubame...A little voice told her. She took a deep breath before standing up and walking over to the boys. "Yes, Mai?" Naru asked, once she made it up the few feet to them.
"I..." She internally cursed herself for stuttering. She let out a breath. "I left my phone at home and I have a neighbor watching my apartment while I'm here. I forgot to let her know about something, could I borrow your phone, real quick?"
"Here," Lin offered, handing her his phone. Mai took the phone with a nod.
"I'm going to make some tea, the lounge is just down the hall," she said, heading for the door. "Is it okay if I go on my own?"
"Yes," Naru decided, understanding that she didn't want him to hear the phone call.
Mai was waiting for the kettle to boil as she dialed her neighbor. She was very grateful that Lin had the settings on his phone in Japanese. "Hello? This is Tsubame Nakano."
"Tsubame? It's Mai, I'm calling from my coworker's phone," Mai said as she readied the teapot.
"Mai! Good thing you called me! I didn't have a number to reach you, but I wanted to let you know that I locked up your apartment. Well, I did after your friend came by to grab your things. That boy came by again, Mr. Hiramoto told him you were probably away at work and would get in touch with him soon, or you'd be back in a few days. Your work must be very busy this time around since you haven't called him. He seemed so worried."
Mai fought the urge to throw the kettle across the room when it whistled. Instead she finished making the tea and avoided mentioning anything about the boy at her apartment. "Thanks, Tsubame, yeah my work is very busy right now. And thank you for not telling him anything, I'll call him after I hang up with you. I just wanted you to have a number to reach me at, you have caller ID, right?"
"Oh yes, dear! Thank you for getting in touch! Your friends from school have also stopped by, I hope you give them a call as well. I'll let you go, seeing as you probably don't have too much free time. Think you'll be back by Monday for our run? It's been freezing the past few days and without a partner I don't have the motivation!"
"I should be back by Monday, if anything changes I'll give you a call. And if anyone needs to get in contact with me, just let me know and I'll call them."
"Okay, sweetie! I'll talk to you later!" Mai hung up the phone and poured herself a cup of tea. Why did she have to be right?
She took a sip and afterwards she ran her hands through her hair. God, why do I have to be so stupid? She rubbed the back of her neck, her fingers tangling with her longer than normal hair.
Naru was right, I am an idiot, she concluded with a deep breath. And Shouta was right, Naru's put me through shitty situations. This case is just another example.
Knock. Knock.
"Mai?" Mai turned her head to see another brunette in the doorway. "Your tea smells good."
It was a lame way to open up a conversation, Kiko knew, but she had to say something. "Want some?" Mai offered weakly as she pulled out another cup.
"Please." Mai handed the cup to her and they both leaned against either the counter or the table in the lounge.
"Research hasn't been successful has it?" Mai asked as she sipped her tea.
"No, Yasu tried calling the police and said he was a ghost hunter and they hung up on them." That earned a chuckle and Kiko gave a brief smile. She bit her lip before continuing. "How have you been doing, Mai? Personally, I mean."
Mai held her breath and her heart raced. She had made it through two and a half days without having to talk about it to anyone. She really didn't want to talk about it now. "I'm fine, Kiko," she lied, closing her eyes. "I'm just fine."
"Has he tried to contact you?" she pressed, trying to read the younger brunettes face. "While on the case?"
"Kiko, I appreciate you trying to help and get me to talk about it, but I don't want to." Mai let out a breath and set her cup down on the counter. She headed for the door, hoping to leave the girl and conversation behind.
Kiko let out another breath and shook her head. "Maybe that's why you should talk about it." She bit her lip again. "The more you talk about it, sometimes the better you understand what happened."
"I already understand what happened." Her voice was harsher than she had intended, but at least it got her point across. "I was stupid. I was a naïve, stupidly in love teenager and let it get too far. I am stupid for letting this all happen. Now I don't want to talk about it." She huffed and reached the door. "We have a case to get back to."
"You're not stupid." The tone of Kiko's voice was beyond her years in a way that made Mai stop in her tracks. "You're upset. You're upset that you're in this situation."
Mai had her hand on the doorknob to close it when she left but she dared not move. "You're angry. Angry that he did this to you. Angry that you couldn't see the signs. Angry that you let it get this far."
Mai turned around, jaw dropped, and eyes wide. Kiko remained leaning against the table staring at her cup. She finally looked up at the brunette psychic, and Mai finally saw it. The look in Rina Maki's eyes when she was interviewed a couple days before, that empty, hurt, glazed over look, she had seen it before. She just never saw it when it was fresh. She was looking at them right now. An old wound was being reopened.
"Confused. Confused that you didn't see this coming. Confused as to how after all those times he said he loved you or said how much he cared about you had seemed so genuine, when he couldn't get his way he hits you. How can you hurt someone you love? He made you feel special and suddenly turns on you. It doesn't make any sense, and you're so angry and confused and upset about him and what happened, that you feel betrayed. Betrayed because you did care about him and he decides you're only worth what he can get out of you."
"Kiko, I-" Mai tried to interrupt, but stopped when she saw her friend's eyes watering. She couldn't stop what was to come. She could only close the door behind her as she finally got the answer she had asked the college student over a month before.
"It's the reason I left Ryoukuryou."