Chapter 3-Disappearance
March Day 2, 7:33 A.M.
Very carefully, Naru lifted his arm off of Mai's waist and proceeded to snake it away from her. When she stirred, he froze. So much for not having to worry about me being professional.
But she simply adjusted where her pillow was and continued to sleep. Naru let out a breath and continued to detach himself from his assistant. Once his arm was freed he was able to sit up. Mai lay still on her side, facing the window. That could have been bad, Naru thought to himself.
Who would of thought that Naru was a cuddler?
Seeing the time, Naru went to his suitcase to grab his clothes. "No..." he heard the whimper as he gathered his clothes in his hands. "No, stop..."
"Mai? Did you say something?" Naru asked, looking at the sleeping form in the bed. His first thought was that she had woken up and he had to explain himself, but she was still asleep. She wasn't as peaceful as she had been a moment ago. Her head was moving back and forth and she gripped the sheets furiously.
"Leave me alone!" She must have mean to scream it, but if only came out as a distressed whimper. She started to kick her legs as though to run, and her thrashing became violent. It reminded him of another case where he had to wake her up. He hoped he wouldn't have to resort to the same tactic.
"Mai," he said firmly as he put down his clothes and crossed the room to her side of the bed. She was tangling herself in the blankets as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mai, wake up." She was still thrashing and whimpering and...crying?
What on Earth was she dreaming about?
Naru placed his hand on both shoulders and shook them gently. "Mai! Wake up!" His voice was loud for him, but nowhere near a shout. "Wake up!"
With another shake, Mai's eyes fluttered open and she gasped for breath. She shot up to a sitting position as her boss leaned back. Breathing heavily, she gripped the sheets, desperate to calm her racing heart.
"Are you okay?" He asked as Mai finally realized who exactly woke her up.
She ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. "Yeah." Another breath. "It was just another nightmare." She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Not even eight," he answered, standing back up. "You've been having nightmares?"
"Yeah," Mai answered with yet another breath. She combed her shaky hands through her hair. She shrugged when she looked up at him. "Pretty much the reason why I'm not sleeping."
"Did it have anything to do with the case?" he asked, grabbing his clothes from the bed.
Yes, just not this one, Mai thought as she remembered her dream. Nakajima was groping her just like he did when they were exorcising him. Ugh, I still get chills when I think about it.
"Mai?"
Mai shook her head. "Sorry, and no, it doesn't have to do with the case." She sat up a little straighter and put on a fake smile. "It's just a stupid recurring nightmare I have. It's no big deal, sorry if I scared you."
She knew he wouldn't buy it, but he didn't make any further comments. He just nodded and headed for the bathroom. Mai sat still until she heard the shower turn on.
Geez, I must have been screaming or something for Naru to come barging in- And like the idiot she felt like she was, she realized she had forgotten one key part of this case, once again. God, I'm an idiot!
***
8:23 A.M.
Mai was in awe at how quickly Naru's hair dried after taking a shower. Maybe he brought his own silent hair dryer or something, she wondered as she sat on the couch between Monk and Kiko. Ayako had taken the chair furthest away from her "husband" and Madoka cheerfully sipped her tea as she sat next to the ever-typing Lin. Uh oh, I guess the Takigawas are going to need counseling.
She mentally shook the thought out of her head as Yasuhara sat on the arm of the couch on the other side of Kiko. "Well, I hope everyone slept well!" Madoka chirped earning several looks and one pretty nasty glare from the priestess in the room. "At least fake it, guys. We'll never attract the spirits here with you all being so serious."
"We aren't here for a vacation or honeymoon, Madoka," Naru replied coldly as he walked to the table of monitors and picked up his file. "Yasuhara and Kiko." The two perked their heads up. "Mr. Murakami was unable to stop by last night for the interviews. I want you two to-"
"Hunt him down like the animal that he is and interrogate him, got it," Yasuhara grinned with a mock salute. He stood up and marched out while Kiko shook her head.
"I know, I know, make sure he doesn't embarrass the company, got it," she said following him out.
"You know, those two just might be perfect together," Monk teased, earning a glare from the priestess.
With a raised brow, Mai leaned in to whisper, "Geez, did you walk in on her changing again?"
With a scowl Monk leaned back. "No, she's still mad at me for yesterday. How was I supposed to know she was changing?"
"It's called knocking," the priestess growled, causing the two whisperers to jump.
"If you two are quite done," Naru said, obviously annoyed with the antics. He looked to the monk and priestess. "I want you two to-"
"Talk to the kitchen staff," Madoka filled in, happily sipping her tea. "When I was in there making tea I overheard someone mentioning a mess that was there when they walked in this morning. I didn't get a chance to really talk to them about it, but they did seem a little shaken up."
With an odd look to each other, the "married" couple nodded and stood up to walk out.
Naru mustered quite a frightening glare toward his former teacher. "I don't appreciate you giving my team orders," he said, crossing his arms. "Are you going to give me orders as well?"
Sensing the tension and not wanting to get in the middle of it, Lin stood up and walked to Mai. "Did you have breakfast yet?" She shook her head and took the hint to follow him out. Once the door closed behind them, Madoka crossed her arms and cocked out her hip.
"Do you remember what your father and I told you on your first case?" she asked with a sweet smirk on her face. "I mean, your first case."
Naru didn't answer. He just continued to glare. Madoka's look on him softened as she shrugged. "This is my case, so my lead." She sauntered off to the door. "I'm going to have another word with Mr. Saburo, I want to see the security footage from when he saw our missing victims."
Naru did say a word or even watch the woman as she walked out. However he did notice her ceasing footsteps as she stopped at the door. "Please have an open mind, Noll," she said as her hand lingered on the doorknob. "This is necessary."
And before he could really process her words, she was gone.
***
"You don't really want to get breakfast," Mai stated flatly as she made an extra step to keep up with the taller man's strides. "You just want to give those two room to argue."
"It was about to get pretty ugly," Lin admitted.
"Had I known, I would've sold tickets," Mai teased with a smirk and shake of her head. She could have sworn she saw him smirk.
"Shibuya! Shibuya!" A young woman, not much taller than Mai herself, ran up to the two investigators. She wore a maid's uniform and had her hair pulled back into a low bun. It took Mai a moment to realize just who the girl was addressing.
"Yes?" she replied as the young woman reached them. "Is everything okay?"
"Mr. Mizushima told me to inform you if anything was reported by our guests, but I found something in one of the rooms I was cleaning. The last guest who roomed there checked out yesterday evening, but something was left that I think you should see," she explained.
The two followed her to the elevator and made their way to the third floor. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" Mai asked, trying to maintain some sort of conversation on this too silent journey.
"Chika Hironaka." Unfortunately, the conversation ended after that until they reached a room on the third floor. It wasn't too far from the rooms that the team were staying in. "Here it is," Chika said as she used her master key to open the door.
Lin had to duck his head as he followed both women into the hotel room. It was set up almost exactly as Mai and Naru's room, but opposite. And above the headboard was a message dripping in blood. "'Pretty?'" Mai read aloud as she crossed her arms. "Very strange."
The maid nodded. "That's what I thought," she said with a shrug. "I knew Mr. Mizushima wouldn't believe me so I took a picture to show him. All of the other rooms that had messages were more threatening."
"Do you know who was the last occupant of this room?" Lin asked as he took a picture of the wall on his phone.
Chika shook her head sheepishly. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask Mr. Mizushima, Mr. Shibuya."
"I'm not Shibuya." Mai watched the quick look of panic in the maid's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-"
"No need to apologize, Miss Hironaka," Mai said with a smile. "He's Lin Koujo, my husband's assistant."
"Please forgive my mistake, Mrs. Shibuya," Chika said with a low bow. Mai held her hand up and shook her head.
"It's fine, happens more often than you think," she laughed. "Call me Mai."
"Then call me Chika." Chika smiled and bowed. "I'm afraid you must excuse me, I have some work I must get back to for Mr. Mizushima-sama. It was a pleasure to meet you both."
Once she left, Mai crossed the room to her co-assistant. "That doesn't sound like a message from the couple that went missing six months ago," Mai said as Lin put his phone back in his pocket. "Too bad Masako couldn't make it, she would have been able to tell us how many spirits we're dealing with."
"At this point, we can safely assume there are at least three spirits," Lin said, as Mai approached the blood written message.
She watched as a drop beaded down the wall. Much like her employer on their last case, she gently pressed her index finger to it. She rubbed the crimson liquid between her finger and thumb and judging by the metallic scent, it wasn't fake. "Well, I think we can assume this isn't a hoax, unless one of the employees is sacrificing a chicken at night."
"Do you remember what the temperature reading was for this room?" Lin asked, ignoring the chicken comment.
Mai shook her head. "This floor was Madoka's and Kiko's. Ayako and I were in charge of the first and fourth floors." Her brows knitted. "Are you thinking that if this room specifically was colder then we might be able to predict which rooms will have messages?"
"There could be a pattern, unfortunately, it will take a couple days to confirm it."
"Good thing we've all planned to stay here at least a week."
***
March Day 2, 3:41 P.M.
"So our main focus is the main building but the resort also has four other buildings?" Mai asked as she followed Naru down the trail behind the hotel. She was silently grateful for the rather warm weather in the mountains. She didn't even need her jacket as they hiked up a small hill. "Does this have to do with the couple that went missing?"
"The resort has several outdoor activities for its guests," Naru explained as they came to a set of stairs. "Matsuzaki and Monk are checking the barn where Kenshin and Haruna Moto had done several trails by horseback." Together they climbed the stairs to what looked almost just like a Torii gate but was smaller and the top was slightly different. "There's a total of four buildings, including the hotel, and then there's the garden and the hiking trails."
"Well, thanks for breaking that down," she replied with a little more snarkiness that she meant. But she could have sworn she saw a smirk on his face so she didn't feel too bad. "So, Kiko and Yasuhara are at the library in town researching, Madoka and Lin are watching Base, we're here, and Monk and Ayako are at the barn. By the way, why are you still calling her by her last name?"
The question startled the young man enough to make him stop in his tracks. He turned around with a look in his eyes that Mai hadn't seen before. Curiosity? Maybe. "It's her name, Mai."
"Not anymore," she said with a shrug, as she paced past him and toward the building in front of them. "She's married to Monk now, remember?" She couldn't help but smirk and roll her eyes. "You're supposed to be the smart one in this relationship."
She walked up to the building and held the door open behind her for her "husband" to get in. Mai felt a trickle of sweat bead down the back of her neck as the humidity hit her. I feel like I just walked into a hot spring, she thought as she adjusted the collar of her shirt. How is Naru not fazed?
She smiled as a past case came to mind. Maybe Makoto was right and he has a superpower that keeps him from getting hot. She shook her head of the memory. Well, you got your wish, Naru and I are married, but we don't have a million kagillion kids. Madoka, don't you dare get anymore ideas!
"You must be the Shibuyas," a woman dressed in a pink kimono said behind a desk. She turned to Mai and smiled. "You must be his wife, pleasure to meet you both, Mr. and Mrs. Shibuya."
"Call me Mai." It was official, she would never get used to being called that.
"Are you two here to enjoy our mixed bath? It's vacant at the moment," the woman said with a smile and there was no way to control the blush that crept up Mai's face.
No! No, no, no, no, no! Mai's mind internally screamed as she remembered the argument Lin made her leave from. Naru, what the hell are you thinking!
"I'm afraid we will have to decline," Naru said diplomatically. Mai fought every urge to sigh in relief.
I'm supposed to be married to him, I can't be so obviously awkward about this sort of thing, she chided herself. I'm sure many married couples visit a mixed hot spring together. I'm just glad Madoka wasn't too pissed at our acting to actually force us to do this.
"The Moto family?" the woman asked, pulling Mai from her thoughts. "Of course I remember them, I nearly threw them out of the mixed bath because guests complained they were a little too close in there. You know?"
The look on Mai's face was enough for the woman to continue.
"We have a strict policy regarding PDA in the baths," she continued. "It's common sense for most, but the Moto couple were rather...adventurous, I suppose."
"How often would you say they came to the springs?" Naru asked, completely unfazed by the topic, unlike his wife.
"Let's see..." She tapped her finger to her chin in thought. "They were staying here for two weeks, or what was supposed to be two weeks. I'd say they came every other day if not everyday. They were only here for eleven days before they just left. Didn't even check out or anything."
"Did the police investigate?"
"Of course they did, the Motos left their luggage, but they did bring their purse and wallet. Rumor has it they both took out most if not all their savings for this trip. After the police found no trace of them other than their luggage, they even searched the forest to an extent, they determined that the couple just ran off. No one's heard from them since."
Glad to see you she's so concerned, Mai thought sarcastically. Could we be dealing with another case involving a person as our culprit? We've had a lot of them lately.
"Have any of the guests or yourself experienced activity in the springs?" Naru asked.
The woman shook her head. "No one's reported anything," she admitted, then tapped her finger to her chin. "However, several of the staff and a few guests have mentioned feeling like they were being watched while in the bath. I've had employees search to see if maybe we had a peeping tom, but never found anything."
"You said the mixed bath was vacant?" And Mai's blush slowly crept back up to her cheeks.
Naru!
"Oh, so you've reconsidered?" The woman was definitely too excited.
Madoka, I swear if you put her up to this-
"No," Naru said flatly, Mai couldn't keep her relief to herself as she let out a breath. It earned an odd look from her boss and the woman behind the desk. "We would just like a look around the bath while it is empty. There might be an explanation as to why your guests feel that they're being watched."
"Alright, I'll keep the mixed bath closed for the next twenty minutes, however," she said, bending down and grabbing something from behind the desk, "just remember if you do decide to use the bath to rinse yourselves thoroughly in the showers before doing so. Enjoy!" She handed the couple each a robe.
***
"Hey, looks like someone's a little too excited to see you," Monk teased as Ayako backed away from the stallion. The spotted horse was stuck inside his stall, but the priestess was not taking any chances.
"Great, I've managed to arouse a horse, I don't think I'll be able to get that thought out of my head now," Ayako grumbled, crossing her arms and turning away as her "husband" laughed.
"Oh calm down, Ayako," he said as he petted the horse. "We're not in some porno."
"And how do you know that that stuff exists?" Ayako rolled her eyes in disgust. "Just how many have you watched?"
"Don't have to watch them to know about them, better question is why do you know about them?" A sneaky smirk graced his face. "Got some weird fantasies you want to share?"
"You're disgusting!"
"Please forgive him, he's one of our breeders," a middle-aged man said as he walked into the stable. "We've been trying to get him to mate with one of our mares for a while now. The name's Taro Shizumu, I manage the stables. You guys must be with the ghost hunters, right?"
"That's right, I'm Houshou Takigawa and this is my wife, Ayako," Monk said, as the two men shared a bow with Ayako following a beat later.
"Pleasure to meet you both, you two are a monk and priestess, right?" Taro said coming up from his bow.
"Yes, I guess Mr. Murakami makes sure his staff stays well informed when you have guests like us, right?" Ayako asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice.
"Actually, that would be Saburo's doing," Taro admitted with a shrug. "Before every shift he makes sure that the staff has a meeting and fills us in on any important info involving our guests. Helps us provide better service, I suppose." He walked over to one of the horses and started petting it. "After some of the weird things that have happened I thought it was odd that we would have a team of married couples. Even odder that one of the couples were a priestess and monk."
"How is that odd?" Ayako asked.
"It's just, I've never heard of it before. At least not from anyone still claiming to be a priestess."
Monk tried to hold back his laughter as he watched the priestess's face redden with rage. He cleared his throat after biting his tongue and held his hands up to calm the mood. "Okay, okay, I know my wife may not fit the traditional description of a shrine maiden, but she most certainly has the abilities of one." He smiled and crossed his arms. "Anyway, we came to ask you a few questions about the couple that disappeared a few months ago."
"Moto family? I definitely remember them." Taro took a brush and began brushing his horse's mane. "They were here quite a bit, they'd rent out two of my horses and go on the trails for hours. A nice couple really."
"Were they here the day they went missing?"
"Yes, they were, but they didn't take horses or anything," Taro said with a finger to his chin. "Haruna was a very chatty woman, if you can imagine, very much a lover of horses too. The morning they disappeared they did stop by to say hi and chat a little, but that was it. Do you think they are the ones haunting the hotel?"
"It's something we're looking into," Ayako said taking a breath, trying to ignore the smell of the animals. "Do you think they would stick around if they did die?"
The man shrugged. "I honestly can't answer that, but I will tell you this," He put the brush down and turned to the couple, "the weird stuff that's been going on didn't start after the Motos disappeared. It was going on long before."
***
"Let me guess, the Moto couple also liked canoeing?" Mai said dryly as she tried to keep up with her boss as they followed a rocky trail to a lake.
"Not to the staff's knowledge," Naru replied as they came to a small boathouse. "We're here because supposedly boats have been knocked over by something."
"Let me guess, these boats had vacationing couples in them, right?" With Naru's nod, she let out a breath. "But, couldn't it just be that a fish nudged the boat? Or maybe they got freaked out by stories and knocked themselves out?"
"The lake is manmade, Mai. The fish that are here are not large enough to tip over a canoe or a rowboat, perhaps tap it, but the likelihood of that is slim." They reached the boathouse to find the door was closed. "Because the interviews were so late, the boat keeper was unable to attend."
"So you decided to meet him here so that you wouldn't disrupt his shift, that's nice of you," Mai commented, knowing that the real reason they hiked over there was so that Naru wouldn't have to wait longer to get an interview with this guy.
"Kikuchi!" Naru called, knocking on the door.
"Hold your horses!" a voice called back as Mai heard rustling coming from the small building. After a few clanks and bangs, the wooden door opened to reveal an older middle-aged woman dressed in jeans and flannel, along with a straw hat. "Well, what do you know? Another honeymooning couple? Did you two at least graduate high school before you tied the knot?"
Despite herself, Mai's jaw dropped. She's the boat keeper? Is she always so blunt?
"Renting a boat? Just so you know, there's no privacy out on this lake. I don't want no hanky panky on one of my boats, you hear?"
That's it, I can't do this, Mai thought with an internal groan. I never should have said I would commit to this charade.
"Mom!" another voice shouted, distracting both teenagers from the boat keeper. A young man approached the group, he was probably as old as Ayako. "Are you harassing our guests again?"
"I'm just letting them know the ground rules, after all you and your girlfriend were one of the firsts to get caught!"
The young man shook his head with a sigh. "I'll take care of them, why don't you go double check the boat inventory and make sure they're locked up."
"Fine!" she decided and stalked off. "Just remember she's married and far too young for you!"
Mai took a step back and pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head. "Please, don't mind her," the young man said with an apologetic bow. "Since she turned fifty she hasn't been able to find her editing button. I'm sorry if she offended you at all, I'm Takehiko Kikuchi, I help her run the boathouse. You guys are with the ghost hunting team, right?"
"Yes, I'm Kazuya Shibuya, this is-"
"Mai Taniyama-er-Shibuya," Mai interrupted with a cringed. Sheepishly, she scratched her head. "Sorry, I'm still not used to the name change-"
"Trust me, honey! You'll never get used to it! You'll be looking for your mother-in-law whenever someone calls you!" Takehiko's mother shouted from the other end of the house.
"Just ignore her," Takehiko said with a sigh. " Pleasure to meet you both, what can I do for you?"
"We just wanted to know more about the paranormal activity out on the lake," Naru explained, completely unfazed.
"Are you talking about the boats being tipped over?" The young man shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry you guys walked all the way over here just for that. I'm almost certain that those occurrences were just because one of the people in the boat stood up. There's nothing paranormal about this lake-"
"What about the little girl who died?" his mother called.
"That's just an urban legend," he chided with a roll of his eyes. "No little girl died in the lake."
"She did go missing," the woman argued, coming back into the conversation.
"When?" Mai piped in. If the was woman was right, she would at least have something to go on for Yasuhara's research. "When did she go missing?"
"Forty years ago, back before this resort was remodeled." She kept her hands on her hips as she spoke. "It was once a family resort and I didn't live too far and would play with the owners' daughter. One day I came to play with her and she wasn't here. Shortly after the resort closed down and then Murakami's father bought it about fifteen years ago."
"Mom, I think I see the couple you yelled at earlier," Takehiko said, gesturing to the woods. "I don't think your warning about poison ivy scared them off." And thus the older woman was off scolding a couple who may or may not have been there.
"How reliable of a source is she?" Naru asked, still unfazed.
"Well, she did live just a mile down the mountain when she was growing up, so she probably did come and play with children guests. And this place was once a family resort instead of a couples resort. She's spot on, on everything up until there."
"So the former owners' daughter?" Mai asked.
Takehiko shrugged. "I honestly haven't done much looking on that part of her story, but I know my grandmother thought that the girl was just an imaginary friend. And it's also possible that there was a girl that she used to play with here, but she was the child of a guest and when her family went home, so did she." He took a breath. "There's a million possibilities, but I know she believes what she said is real, so I try not to argue too much. I wouldn't put too much faith in it though."
"Understood," Naru said as he began to walk away. Mai shook her head with a breath.
"Forgive him, like how your mother forgets to think before she speaks, my husband forgets his manners," Mai sad with a bow. "Thank you for your information. If we have any more questions we'll let you know."
***
March Day 2, 7:37 P.M.
"What did you find?" Naru asked, once everyone gathered in Base. Yasuhara adjusted his pile of notes.
"Well, after interviewing Mr. Murakami, we found out that his father bought the property about fifteen years ago and then passed down the business to him about four years ago, so he is fairly new to the business," Yasuhara explained. "He confirmed that for the most part the targets of the entity here are married guests or employees who are romantically involved despite company policy. You'd think that with them knowing about the paranormal occurrences here that everyone would know there's no chance in keeping any relationships like that private."
"Juro also is not married or in a relationship therefore has not experienced any of the activity," Kiko continued. "His parents were also divorced so he never heard about the activity from them. Recently, the activity has gotten worse, such as with the shared nightmares of guests and blood written messages on the walls, which is why he called us. On top of Saburo seeing the couple who disappeared in the lobby checking in when they were long gone. That's about all we got out of Juro."
Pretty...The memory suddenly came back to Mai. Such a strange message...
"Well, take a look at this," Madoka said, looking to Lin to play a clip on one of the monitors. "I wanted to take a closer look at the security tape from the day that Saburo saw the Moto couple. Take a look." The clip played and while you could see Saburo interacting with something on the other side of the desk, there was no one there. "Pause it. Now zoom in, do you guys see it?"
The camera angle was facing the employees behind the desk, making guests' backs the only thing visible. When Lin zoomed in, the empty space in front of Saburo wasn't quite so empty anymore. "It looks almost like a mist," Monk commented, crossing his arms.
"Exactly what I saw," Madoka said with a smirk, turning to the researching couple. "Continue, what else did you find?"
"Well, going back further, turns out that this resort was not the first one built on the property," Yasuhara explained, switching to his notebook. "About sixty years ago a family resort stood on these grounds. However it closed down, most likely due to lack of business about forty years ago."
"I contacted the local police department to see what they could tell me about the Moto couple who went missing," Kiko said, turning the page in her notebook. "Because it's still considered an open case, they weren't able to tell me much. But I was able to find out that they did perform a full investigation and searched the grounds of the resort thoroughly before placing this disappearance in the cold case pile. Because information was leaked, it became known that the Motos took out most of their savings out of their accounts before taking this trip. Even though there was no further use of either of their credit cards, because they took out so much cash it's believed they simply took off to start a new life. Probably changed their name."
"Did you find anything that might explain the activity from prior to the couple's disappearance?" Ayako asked, crossing her legs. "When Monk and I spoke with the stableman, he told us that the hotel was having paranormal issues from long before the Motos' came for their vacation."
"Unfortunately, we didn't," Yasuhara admitted with a scratch of his head. "To be fair, we really didn't have anything specific to look for. We couldn't find any records of any deaths related to the property."
"What about strange disappearances?" Mai asked, her brows knitted together.
"I didn't find anything about a disappearance, did you?" Yasuhara asked, turning to his "wife" next to him.
Kiko shook her head and shrugged. "Other than the Moto couple, I didn't find anything about a disappearance. Why?"
"When Naru and I went to the lake, the woman who ran the boathouse-"
"Is not a credible source of information," Naru finished for her, earning a look.
The rest of the group shared a look, even Lin. "Don't mind him, he's just upset that she called us out for being young and married," Mai said, then grew a sneaky grin. "Or he could be mad that she figured out that he wanted to take one of the boats out onto the lake so that he could have his way with me without interruption."
Kiko had her hand over her mouth. Yasuhara took his glasses off to clean them, while keeping his head down to hide his smirk. Ayako bit her lip and held her breath from replying. Monk was coughing from choking on his own spit. Lin was unfazed. And Madoka was a little too happy with Mai's outburst.
Meanwhile, Naru looked more annoyed than amused.
"Now, that I have everyone's attention," Mai continued on, a satisfied smile on her face. "Mrs. Kikuchi said that she grew up around here back when the family resort was around. She said she would play with the owners' daughter who disappeared shortly before the resort closed."
"You heard what Takehiko said," Naru chided, still a tad annoyed. "There are a million possibilities as to what his mother was talking about. The likelihood that her supposed disappearance has anything to do with why we're here is slim to none."
"I get that," Mai countered, giving him a look that was much different than one she would have given him a year before. "I do, but the note that was found in room 307 doesn't sound like something from the Motos. Lin, can you pull up the picture you took this morning, please?"
"At least one of them has manners," Madoka remarked softly, earning a few odd looks.
"'Pretty,'" Yasuhara read aloud. "Mai's right, that's not something from a married couple, that's almost-"
"Childlike?" Ayako finished, as she leaned back.
"Precisely," Mai said, looking back at her boss. "Either we're dealing with a child spirit or something trying to disguise itself as one, but I think it's at least worth looking into."
Naru closed his eyes and let out a breath. He turned to the researching duo. "Would you mind returning to the library tomorrow?" he asked, stunning the group.
"Yeah, no problem," Yasuhara replied with a slow nod.
"Okay, well, I'm starving! Who's up for grub and turning in early for the night?" Madoka said, standing up.
"Food sounds good," Monk agreed, standing as well.
***
10:12 P.M
While the rest of the team went to get dinner, Naru had stayed behind to continue working. After earning another scolding from Madoka, he decided to turn in for the night.
"What are you doing? You need to go to your room!" Madoka had chided.
"I'm trying to solve this case," he replied coolly. "I can't do that from my room."
"If you don't make yourselves convincing, you'll never get the spirits here to direct their attention to you." She shook her head. "The only way to figure out why couples are being attacked is to be a couple."
That woman makes no sense most days, Naru determined as he opened the door to his and his younger assistant's room.
Judging by the running water and the slight steam he could see coming from the doorframe to the bathroom, he determined that Mai must have been showering.
Better get changed now, while she's still in there, he decided as he began unbuttoning his dress shirt. He had just gotten his undershirt off when he heard it.
Crash! Thunk! Thud!
"Owww..."
That didn't sound good.
Naru rushed over to the bathroom door. "Mai?" he called.
No answer.
He knocked. "Mai?" His voice was a little louder this time.
Still no answer.
"Mai! Answer me!"