ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ AKEMI ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
"This well already existed beneath the floor. Its a pretty old one."
"To me, it feels like this well goes deep into the earth like an abyss and whoever falls in cannot leave." Masako said, her words ringing signals on Mai—
"The spirit of the woman is trapped here as well as the children," Akemi spoke up, clutching her beady necklace that Mai gave back earlier. Turns out Akemi has a few more beady accessories when she wore two more wrapping beads on both her wrists. "-she is hiding deep inside the well— calling out for more spirits of children by pretending to be their mother, however, the children wishes to go back home but they are so lost that they cannot find their way out." Akemi is glad that little by little her withdrawals due to her medication intake is starting to decrease, she can now communicate without any problem or physical conditions presenting itself out of nowhere when she tries to use her abilities.
"The woman tries to lure new spirits by manipulating the spirits of the children already trapped, that is how she is able to get the children in this house." Akemi glanced at the people with her, not really seeing much of their expressions but sensing the lingering air in the room— she could read that it felt upsetting, knowing innocent children were pulled into this mess.
"Tachibana-san's spirit is in so much pain and agony... That she just wants to stop this and go home." Masako added, relaying the feeling of the spirits.
"Who is Tomiko?" Naru asked and it took a while for Akemi to answer as she tried to process the information.
"The woman's daughter." She answered. "-The woman is looking for her own daughter and gathers the spirits of children in the hopes of finding her."
"I see."
"Naru, where are you going?!"
"I'm leaving. I'm not sure when I'll be back. Please take care of things,"
"Wait, Naru—?!"
"Ah... He's being his usual self,"
"Bou-san, Naru wouldn't be the Boss if he were not to act like he usually would, it is rather cute~" Akemi smiled with a hand on her cheek a wry smile on her lips but entertained nonetheless, especially when Naru turned to send her a cold gaze before he left, probably hearing her last words.
Bou-san saw this exchange and sweat-dropped while the others gaped at Naru's antics but it was soon discarded the moment the doors of the living room closed with Naru gone. "By the way, whose turn is it to do the exorcism this time? I have to warn you, its going to be intense so be prepared."
Ayako presented herself when none of the people with exorcist experience spoke up. "No problem," The Miko turned to the priest and monk while Akemi left to try and help Ayako with her clothes as well as inform her guard about the events and to remind her of Oliver's feeding time. "- Bou-san and John could you please go and stay with Ayami-chan?"
"Sure."
"No problem."
~~~
'Darn it, Ayako what kind of a psychic are you anyway? Since when is a Miko too scared to pray by herself?' Mai internally pouted to herself, both her and Akemi sitting behind a few paces on their knees away from the Miko.
Truthfully, Ayako asked Akemi to be with her on this exorcism but when Mai remembered that her sempai was partially blind— she couldn't help but go along with them as she worried for her sempai despite being the one that's suppose to be defenseless.
'Where is it coming from?' Mai thought to herself as she felt a few wisps of coldness touch her skin, the contact gave Mai goosebumps but when she glanced at her sempai who only gave her a reassuring smile, Mai knew she shouldn't panic.
"Ayako, keep going." Akemi reminded the Miko when she noticed Ayako stopped her prays, unaware of Akemi's view of a few children wandering around them. 'It's better for them not to know for now, it would just rile them up...' at this point Akemi didn't know if she meant it for the spirits or her friends, for now let's go with both.
"Kyah!"Ayako continued her prayer but soon let out a yelp and stared at the spot where she felt something touch her. The contact left Ayako's skin shiver with her hairs standing upright. "I just felt something!"
"Ayako!" Mai called out in concern and was about to move towards her when Akemi caught Mai's wrist, stopping her from going to Ayako's side. Mai glanced at her sempai with gaping eyes as if to ask why she stopped her but the only answer Akemi gave her was a shook of her head.
"Ayako, that was just one of the children trying to distract you," Akemi said as she gently pulled Mai down beside her. "-It's gone now." Lie. The spirit and a few others remained, surrounding them and watching Ayako and the others with weeping eyes.
'Onee-san, why are you doing this?' Akemi heard one of the ghost children beside her, ask. She turned her head to see the little boy that she saw weeping back in the hallway, the one who helped guide her towards the bathroom. She was guessing this was the 10-year old cousin that visited this house.
Akemi stayed silent— sensing something threatening seep in and so remained.
'You're hurting us-' Akemi winced at the reminder of the spirits being spirits. 'You're making her angry!'
"Stay focused you're a Miko, right—?!" Mai's voice snapped Akemi out of it, reminding herself that she wasn't alone speaking to the little boy.
"Mai...?" Akemi and Ayako frowned at Mai's sudden break.
"No..." Mai muttered to herself and Akemi leaned in and acted quickly to grab Mai's hand when she saw it. "-something's grabbing my leg—!" before Mai could finish she was being dragged, Akemi getting pulled along with her.
"Akemi! Mai!"
"Ayako! Akemi-sempai!" Mai cried out as the pull harshly pulled her towards the well, "Help! I don't want to fall in there!"
Akemi bit her lip, the sudden movement made her shoulders strain while she tried to pull Mai closer to her with all the strength she could exert with one hand, while the other focused on searching for something to hold onto in the living room in hopes to stop them from moving, but Akemi found a hard time looking for something to grab unto— it was nothing but empty space and so she uselessly slid away with Mai. Akemi went as far as letting her nails get dragged but it was hopeless.
The woman wanted them down the well and that was what she was gonna get if this continued,
"HELP ME!" Mai cried out as she finally sunk unto the well however, before they could fall in, Akemi held Mai's wrist tighter and grabbed ahold on the edge of the well— waiting for Ayako to reach them.
"Mai! Akemi!" Ayako called out to her hanging friends while at the same time, the doors for the living room opened revealing a frantic Lin who also ran after them.
"Taniyama-san! Maruyama-san!" Akemi heard Lin call out for them but there was no time, she was slowly slipping— both her and Mai were too heavy and it didn't help the fact that they were being pulled down along with gravity.
"Lin-san!" Mai yelped as Akemi finally felt herself let go and slipping but that movement didn't last long as Lin managed to catch Akemi's hand— Ayako moving beside him to grab Akemi's wrist.
"Ayako! Lin, please help us up!" Akemi pleaded and gradually Akemi and Mai started ascending little by little,
But of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
In the corner of her eyes, Akemi gaped before jerking her head to glance up at Lin and Ayako. "Aya—" Akemi didn't get to finish as the little boy Akemi saw grabbed her hand and pulled Lin's and Ayako's away.
'I'm sorry, Onee-san... she would hurt us if we don't follow...' was the last thing Akemi heard before she pulled Mai closer to her to protect each other from the fall.
~~~
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ MAI ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
With a slight groan, Mai lifted herself up only to (look around) the unfamiliar walls. "Where am I? Eh?" Mai asked herself as she surveyed the room but a movement not far from her outside derived her attention.
'That's not Ayami-chan...I wonder who she is...' Mai watched the little girl play with her ball in interest and yet suspicion. The little girl played for a while until a man walked towards the little girl,
"...!" Mai let out a disagreeing gasp as the little girl and the man talked for a few moments before he extended a hand for the little girl to take.
'No...you shouldn't talk to him...I'm not sure why but please don't go with him...wait!' Mai made frantic gestures in her head as she tried to think of ways to to stop them, Mai managed to find her voice and yell for the little girl but another voice yelled along with her.
"Don't!"
"TOMIKO!!!!"
'Huh...? Is that her mother?' Mai turned her head to glance at the woman who passed her by as if she wasn't there. The woman had her hair tied to a neat bun but stress lingered unto her crystal clear when Mai noticed a few strands out of place with her clothing like an ancient Yukata.
"Tomiko! Oh no, Tomiko! Tomiko!!!" the whole view changed but Mai didn't notice it. The place around her turned dark until all Mai could see is the grieving woman in front of a well.
"No! Don't!" Mai tried to speak to the woman but a hand on her wrist made her stop her advantages.
"Tomiko!!!!" was the last thing Mai heard before darkness engulfed her once more.
~~~
"Where am I now...?" Mai let out a soft groan as she opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness, however she did finally came to a conclusion that she is laying on the bottom of the well by herself while the figure sitting right next to her, stayed beside her.
The figure gave Mai a comforting smile, it made Mai's heartbeat considerably fast at how beautiful it looked on his face. She would never get used to seeing it, "Naru?"
"Mai," Naru smiled at her— making Mai give her goofy ones. "You should wake up now, you already saw what you needed to see."
"Wake up?" Mai frowned,
The darkness that surrounded Mai disappeared and lightened up a bit, enough for how she usually sees. It saddened Mai when Naru was no longer there kneeling next to her while on her opposite side was her sempai.
Akemi staring on the walls of the well in front of her.
"Akemi...sempai?" Mai muttered, gripping the hand tighter to get Akemi's attention. Turns out that Akemi never let go of her from the beginning and it made Mai's chest swell with warmth.
Her call seemed to snap Akemi out of her daze and Akemi let out a big breath of relief. She was extremely worried.
"Mai?" Akemi called out to be sure, "You're awake? Are you hurting somewhere?"
"I'm okay, Akemi-sempai." Mai smiled, "I'm mot hurting anywhere."
"Thank goodness you're alright," Akemi smiled in relief, placing a hand on Mai's head and caressed her gently while her other hand held on on Mai's a few more seconds before letting go.
"Lin's coming down to help you both get up!" The two looked up to see Ayako peering down at them, and on cue, a rope was thrown down the well, with Lin leisurely climbing down on it.
"Any injuries?" Lin asked as he helped Akemi pick Mai up,
"Nope, I'm fine." Mai shook her head,
"How about you, Maruyama-san?" when it took Akemi a while to respond, Lin and Mai glanced at her but Akemi already shook her head at them,
"I'm fine, just a few scratches." Lin nodded before glancing up to Ayako.
"Hand me the chair,"
~~~
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ MAI ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
"A kidnapper?" Ayako repeated, kneeling in front of Akemi who was seating on the couch next to Mai.
After finally getting out of the well, Lin and Ayako dragged Akemi and Mai back to base where Ayako sat them on the couch for the Miko to tend their injuries, Akemi gratefully smiled. "Arigatou~ Ayako-chan!" Akemi said, already using a close endearment the moment she proclaimed having close relationships with the Miko.
Ayako didn't respond to Akemi's tease and only slapped her scratched arm lightly as that was the response Ayako could give. The slap no matter how gently it was elicited a slight sting but Akemi knew better than to reveal her hurt so easily, so she only chuckled.
"I think so," Mai nodded as Ayako finished tending on Akemi's scratches and turned to her, unaware that the moment that attention was no longer on Akemi, the graceful smile was dropped and back to empty. "-hey do you think my dream meant anything?"
"Yeah, right!" Ayako scoffed, " You're not a psychic so why would your dream mean anything?"
The Miko scoffed at Mai's dream while Lin placed pondering expression, speaking out his opinions. "I don't know if your dream meant anything or not, but it would all make sense..."
"Ah!" Mai yelped as Ayako lightly slapped her knee. "You think so, too Lin-san?"
"I don't know." Mai sweat-dropped at the cold disinterest, while Ayako stood straight and back to considering the problem at hand.
"What should we do now? It would be impossible for me to exorcise her. " Ayako asked Lin as she walked towards him. The two speaking in voices that sent Mai weary and sleepy.
Hearing her yawn, Akemi stood to let Mai sleep on the couch while Akemi took one of the vacant seats and placed it near Mai to watch over her,
'My whole body hurts...I wonder if I hurt myself when I fell...' Mai thought to herself before silence has lulled her to sleep.
~~~
"Seriously, are we going to be okay, Naru-chan?" Mai woke up to the sound of Bou-san's worried voice but she focused more on Naru who stood not far in front of her with his stoic expression.
"-Lin please play everything that's been recorded so far." Naru said, receiving a nod from Lin.
"Okay."
'Hey, is it really him?!' Mai sat up shocked, feeling her heart jump out of her chest. She was just dreaming about him literally a few seconds ago.
"Naru, you're really here?!" Mai couldn't help but yelp out, her eyes gaping at the man in front of her who turned to face her, a brow raised in question.
"I'm here, aren't I?" Naru sarcastically asked before turning away without a second delay and began asking Akemi for tea, who took a while to respond on his request.
'It's really him...ha ha ha— huh?' Mai clenched her teeth, forcing her hand to stop getting the urge to punch.
Akemi didn't react much at the sudden spike of anger from Mai, and soon bothered herself with the tea while Mai took a double take at the sudden audience in the room.
"Wassup?" Bou-san waved at her while John worriedly watched over Mai.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"..." Masako remained stoic in front of Mai, not bothering to give her a glance but she did notice some care in the medium's eyes as Masako would often glance her way.
"I'm alrigh— Hey... If all of you came back what about Ayami-chan and Noriko-san?!"
"We left them at the hotel." Bou-san shrugged, glancing at the ever impassive boss who continued reading a folder he usually brought. "-That's what Naru told us to do."
"Will they be safe there?!"
"They should be fine, Naru says we're going to close this case tonight." Bou-san answered while Naru looked up from his folder to accept the tea that Akemi quietly gave him and left without a word.
Lin noticed the slight twitch of Naru's lips as the impassive teenager followed Akemi with his sight and soon Lin tried to control his owns but Lin's was more upward then downward, if being specific.
"Are you serious?!"
"What do you think I was doing while I was gone?" Naru spoke up, placing his cup on a vacant table, removing his gaze to glance at Mai. "-All of you were here but you've only made matters worse."
Ayako let out an offended huff. "Give me a break! You don't know what we've been through! This spirit is unbelievably difficult to deal with! It even sent Akemi and Mai down the well!"
"-That's pretty obvious judging by how intense this poltergeist has been." Naru cut off, "-The root of the problem is very clear. The mother is looking for her child. She just wants her daughter back."
"-Even I knew that!" Ayako muttered under her breath, keeping it low when she really doesn't want to face with Naru's walls of cold defense.
Naru ignored Ayako's words, hearing it completely clear. "-So we need to reunite them, but of course it would be impossible to bring Tomiko back to life and meaningless to do so anyway." Naru said, finishing his cup of tea before continuing, he had been gone for a long while. "-Tomiko would be an adult now and her mother wouldn't understand."
"-Then what..." Mai was about to ask when Naru glanced at the people able to see the paranormal.
"Akemi, Hara-san, how are the spirits doing?" Masako perked up at being asked, glancing at the room as she answer Naru's question.
"They're all in the living room and they still haven't tried to leave for the hotel."
"-Hey... Shouldn't we be worrying about our own safety too?" Ayako spoke up as she moved to stand beside Akemi on the corner of the room with a frown on her face.
"Are you going to abandon Ayami-chan?!" Mai gaped, glancing at the Miko.
"...yeah, I wouldn't want them to make me one of their spirit servants." Bou-san ignored the jab and agreed with Ayako's concern.
"You guys..." Mai frowned, feeling a slight betrayal at the sight of her friends giving up even her sempai, Masako and John remained silent.
"To think that with this many of you here, you'd act like this." Naru spoke up, not bothering to glance their way whilst he crossed his arms. "-If that is the level of Spiritualists you all are, I don't need you. You can feel free to leave any time."
"And if we leave, who will deal with the spirits here?" Ayako tried to challenge but Naru won it so easily, lifting his head to glance at Akemi.
"Akemi could do it and a few more ideas at my disposal,"
'So you mean to say that Akemi was not amongst your jabs?!'
Ayako stayed silent for a while. "...Do you really think it's possible to win?"
"You either believe in yourself or you don't." Naru answered without delay and left the room with Lin following him, at his words Ayako noticed Akemi lifting up her head— staring at Naru with an expressionless daze. "-Mai, you too can leave if you wish." Naru added,
The room went silent but when the doors clicked and Naru was fully gone. The Spiritualists let out a sigh, "You're chief sure is a piece of work," Ayako pouted as she glanced at Mai, who worriedly stared at the door where Naru and Lin went.
"If Naru is willing to go that far then there's a chance of success," the people in the room turned to Akemi, who finally got out of her own world and spoke for once. 'Now is not the time to get preoccupied, Akemi!... Ayami-chan is worried to death right now..' " He worked really hard to get us this far, there is no way he'll back down so easily."
'Work right now, think later.' Akemi thought to herself, finally snapping out of it after hearing Naru's words.
Mai turned to stare at Akemi, a look of pondering written all over her face.
"...okay, maybe I'll trust Naru and stick around." Bou-san gave out sigh, "-But I hope I don't die from being over worked."
'Eh?' Mai stirred,
Ayako crossed her arms, giving the monk a teasing glance. "-If you do I'll be sure to pick up your bones at your funeral."
"Being a buddhist, I wouldn't be at peace if you had a Shinto style funeral for me, besides it's better than doing nothing, right?"
"I think so too," John agreed, agreeing on staying a lot longer than anticipated.
Ayako sighed, glancing at Akemi who gave her a reassuring smile. "Oh well... I guess there's no turning back now,"
Akemi's smile widened but she knew she wasn't fooling herself, "Arigatou~ Ayako-chan!"
'I'm relieved... we're going to save the family, Ayami-chan, wait for us!' Mai let out a breath of relief, smiling at the sight of still having friends willing to help their case.
"-At any rate, she has too many children spirits working for her for us to block." Naru spoke up as they all started planning for what is coming ahead. "-and she's the heart of the problem unless we can lure her out of the well, it's futile."
"Yeah? Then what are we to do?" Bou-san asked as they all faced Naru for answers, Bou-san, Ayako, John and Akemi are all lined up next to each other while Mai and Masako stood in the sides between Naru and the monk.
Mai didn't know whether to snicker or admire at the sight of the tall people compared to John's frame, Akemi stood a head taller than Ayako, having her height an inch taller compared to Naru's and despite their age gap— they both reach Bou-san's upper shoulder.
Even at times like this, Mai couldn't help but admire how her sempai looked. 'Definitely why she is considered an Ojou-sama...'
Naru said to Bou-san before glancing to Akemi and Ayako. "We have to disperse the child spirits, Matsuzaki-san, Akemi, please make some charms against evil spirits and hang them on all the walls in the house." Ayako and Akemi nodded in understanding, however Ayako seemed to have questions and decided to speak openly.
"The same charms I placed in the hotel room? The spirits will break through them sooner or later." Naru gave out a slight sigh, but didn't bother to ignore Ayako's question—
"No problem, it will last much longer with Akemi's energy as well as the Kekkai that we will set up inside the house." Now it was added with Bou-san and John's questioning confusion.
"-Akemi's energy? What do you mean by that?"
Naru frowned at their insisting questions, Mai could already tell he was getting impatient. Akemi wryly let out a smile as she too noticed it from him.
"Now's not the time to speak of such things— Our main goal isn't preventing the spirits from going near Ayami-chan. It's to lock them up inside the house, then we open up a Kimmon."
"-What's a Kimmon?" Mai muttered under her breath and Bou-san willingly answered her, knowing with Naru's impatience and annoyance from the time wasted— he wouldn't have the energy to spend explaining Mai things.
"It's the Northeastern Quarter, the direction where its easiest for evil spirits to pass. If it's difficult for them to pass through everywhere else, then they'll pass through the Kimmon." Bou-san explained, while John also nodded in understanding— not knowing there were such things as Buddhism ways is different from what he was taught.
"Bou-san, Matsuzaki-san and Akemi, I want you to wait for the spirits to come out of the Kimmon."
"-then we disperse them, huh?"
Naru nodded, "Correct, that's all you have to do."
"But won't they just go right back into the Kimmon?"
"They only need to be dispersed for a short while, if we can reduce the number of spirits around the woman spirit, it should work." Naru turned to the priest, " John, you stay in the living room and disperse the spirits in there."
"Sure."
"Well then—" Naru let out a breath,
"Hey, Wait." Bou-san quirked.
"Then who's gonna exorcise the woman spirit?" Ayako asked.
"No way..." John and the other professionals turned their gazes to Naru, who glanced at them with a smirk on his lips. Fully amused.
Akemi for once gave out a smile,
"Let's get started."
~~~
"-Dear heavenly God, please let us worship you..." John prayed, standing close to the well with the bible on his hand.
"Masako? Are you okay?" Mai turned to Masako, who was kneeling down next to her, shivering and pale. " Should I take you back to our base?"
"No...I'm fine..." Masako shook her head, the sight if her made Mai let out a tick, gritting her teeth together.
'She must just want to be close to Naru pretty badly.'
"There are two ways to exorcise spirits." Mai paused, letting Masako continue her words all the while keeping her eyes in the well. "Jorei and Jourei."
"Jourei means to talk to the spirit and help them through issues they have from a past life... But that's only something a Psychic Medium could do— that must be why Naru has Akemi but this spirit is stubborn and Naru said he would try the exorcist himself first however, without Akemi here but with the others, Jourei is not possible...."
Mai frowned, not really liking where this was going.
"-Naru is not a psychic medium, so he's trying to exorcise the spirit using Jorei..."
"What's wrong with Naru doing a Jorei?"
Masako hesitated at first, glancing towards Naru's direction who was leaning on the wall beside them, keeping his eyes on John.
"Let's say you know someone who is a trouble-maker," Masako describes, "A Jourei would be to try to talk to them so that they could reform themself... Jorei would be to just kill them mercilessly. I would prefer it if Naru didn't do Jorei, at least not in front of me."
'That's right, humans and spirits are the same in Akemi-sempai and Masako's eyes...' Mai gulped down, turning to glance at Naru. '-Masako would feel their death and pain while sempai would see it with her own eyes and even hear their screams—'
"Kyah!" Masako worriedly checked Mai over when the High schooler let out a yelp out of nowhere.
"Mai!"
"I'm— I'm alright...someone just pulled my arm."
"First there was the word and the word was with God and the word was God..."
"Hara-san, how is it going?" Naru asked as he felt the room turn colder,
"There seems to be fewer of them now," Masako answered as Mai finally stopped shivering. "-they're fleeing the living room. They're confused, they don't know what to do— they're crying."
"Hey, can't you call Akemi-sempai and let her exorcise them? Can't you do it using Jourei?" Mai pushed, narrowing her eyes at Naru, who only shook his head at her before completely responding.
"As long as the woman's spirit is around that would be impossible." Naru claimed, "This is a mother looking for her daughter, talking sense into her would be difficult..."
"Masako?"
"She's coming out." Masako uttered as she pointed a shaky finger onto the well, Mai nervously sat next to the psychic as they all turned to look at the well, seeing a full apparition of the woman that Akemi and Masako sees.
The sight of the distraught mother sent chills on Mai's spine. It was just too scary. Overwhelming.
Despite her shivering stance, the feeling of pure sadness creeping unto Masako— the psychic still persisted. "Tomiko-san is not here! No matter how hard you look , you will never find her— those other children are not Tomiko-san so please set them free! They all want to return to their own mothers so please..."
Masako tried to explain as gently as she can, hoping at least one of her words would strike the mother but it only left the spirit triggered with anger. Seeing hatred pointed directly to the females in the room, John blocked them from the spirit's sight and was about to continue reading from the scripture only for something unseeable stopping him— throwing him far to the corner of the room.
"N-no!"
"John!" Mai and Masako called out, but their attention went directly to the quiet person in the room, watching as Naru walked away from the wall he was leaning in and facing the spirit.
"Naru! Don't do it! Please wait!" Masako pleaded, not wanting to see nor feel the pain of the spirit.
"Naru!" Mai called out, also trying to stop him but his next words silenced the two frantics.
"...You're daughter is right here." Naru attested, taking out a wooden craft that resembles a human figure. "Take the children you've gathered and go home."
'huh? What's that...?' Mai thought to herself as she watched Naru throw the wooden doll in the air with the apparition lifting her hands to catch it. That was the last thing Mai saw as she was engulfed in light— the atmosphere of the room now resemble something aching to a warm hug, it felt so kind that Mai let out a contented smile.
but as fast as it had happened, as soon as it was gone.
"They've disappeared, they all went home..." Masako spoke up, confirming the lingering question. "-There are no more evil spirits in this house...."
~~~
"What made all of them leave?" Akemi asked as she and the other two, Ayako and Bou-san came inside the now empty living room. For her that is,
"She got what she wanted," Naru said in response, "She got her daughter back."
"Huh?"
With knitted brows, Akemi looked at Naru, genuinely interested. "And how did you managed to accomplish such feat?"
'Surely John nor Masako did not have the kind of ability to come by the woman's child in a short amount of time....'
Naru frowned as he observed Akemi, who did nothing but stare. "I used a Hitogata,"
Mai tilted her head in question, her face fully portrayed the words inexperienced naivety as she asked. "You mean that piece of wood? What was that all about?"
"Exactly what you saw, a Hitogata." Naru clarified,
"I see...A hitogata." Mai nodded, giving a feign expression as if she really understood.
At the sight of her Kohai, Akemi couldn't help but give a contorted smile before nudging the monk next to her in hopes he would try and explain.
And Akemi depicted correctly as the monk soon helped the distressed yet acting high schooler.
"You take a piece of Paulownia wood and carve it into the shape of a person upon whom you cast a spell." Bou-san informed, however a perplexed frown graced his lips as he continued his knowledge. "-But I thought that would be to put someone under a curse, since Hitogata is similar to voodoo doll..."
"There are black spells and white spells. " Naru this time spoke up, as always his voice carries .and gained the attention of many. "-A white spells is used for a good curse and a black spell is used to harm people. Often times the same type of spell can be used to achieve both results. "
Ayako let out a hum, nodding along with the monk. "Right.... like the way to disperse a sworn enemy in Esoteric Buddhism can be used for both good and bad cause as well."
"But why would a Hitogata be useful in Jourei?"
"Hitogatas are a Yorishiro for the spirits,"
"-And what's a Yorishiro?" Mai wrinkled, not really understanding every word that is coming out of their mouths despite speaking the same language.
"A container for the spirit to go into." Ayako this time kindly spoke, but Bou-san made sure to add more. " - If I made your Hitogata that Hitogata would become your double,"
"-and if I were to hurt your Hitogata you would actually be hurt as well. That's how close a Hitogata becomes to the real person." Mai sweat-dropped at the information, 'So you practically hold a person's life in your hands...?'
"So that Hitogata represented Tomiko, which in turn made her think of it as her own daughter— reuniting them back together and she's left to rest in peace." Akemi placed the information together, placing a hand on her chin as she did so whilst trying to lessen the ache that she started getting while fending off the spirits back with Ayako and Bou-san.
'I guess I used too much today....' Akemi closed her eyes as she lifted a hand on her temple in hopes to massage it.
"-I'm impressed that you made that Hitogata. Is that why you had to leave for a while?" Naru nodded at the Monk's question, and Akemi couldn't stop her lingering thoughts, 'He sure is talkative today...'
"Right, and I needed to learn more about her past life."
"huh...and?"
"That woman's name is Hiro Oshima, this house was built where her house used to stand." Naru announced, "Tomiko was her only child but one day Tomiko disappeared and 6 months later Tomiko's body was found dead in their pond."
"-I wonder if she had been kidnapped?" Lin spoke up, Mai perking up at the sound of his voice but also more on his choice of words. "Possibly, then the woman committed suicide by throwing herself into the well."
Naru froze, frowning in thought. "I'm not positive about that part..." Naru considered before lightly shaking his head and sighed. "But anyway, I just needed Tomiko's year of birth. It was necessary to properly make the Hitogata." And with that, Naru left while Akemi followed to call up her guard and Oliver as well as help with cleaning up.
While Mai and the others stayed.
"I never thought Naru was an Onmyouji...."
"On...what?"
"An Onmyouji is a master of the way of Onmyou— I didn't think you'd know." Was all Akemi heard before she fully left the room, her eyes hazed as she can finally think by herself.
~~~
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ NARU ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
A knock on Naru's door stopped the lingering silence in his office. A few seconds after the four knocks, the door opened and Akemi leaned her head in.
"Naru...can I have a moment of your time?"
Naru remained silent for a while, his eyes staring at Akemi's stature that didn't reveal any of her expressions.
Seeing him remain unresponsive and yet not saying anything to tell her off, Akemi took that as a sign to come in and she did but remained close to the door leaving it open with a slight gap.
Akemi didn't hold any smile nor any haze and brightness in her eyes. She just looked exactly how she usually looks.
A doll.
Naru wouldn't dare admit it out loud but he could never read Akemi as easily compared to Mai. She may hold this grace and elegance, despite her eyes being bright or her smile wide even when she skips in her steps or gives out a humming tune— Naru could never read if she was truly that happy.
Despite expressing crystal emotions, Naru couldn't help but feel there was something more— or maybe something less.
The knowledge of that made him feel somewhat attentive around her.
He let out a sigh, closing the folder in his hands and placed it on his table before crossing both his arms and legs while leaning on the back of his chair. "What is it that you want?"
Akemi closed the door behind her and took vigilant steps to get further inside the room, standing in front of Naru's table.
The whole scenario was a huge deviant to how they usually were. At times, it was mostly Naru ignoring Akemi, and the heiress would continue to let out a teasing play to elicit some kind of reaction out of him.
But now, none of them were doing those.
Both were quiet as Naru isn't ignoring Akemi, this time his eyes fully focused on her without any distractions in place— guarded and yet mildly curious of the details he is about to get.
While the elegant heiress stood there in front of him without a hint of playfulness perks she often displays. She remained unmoved— sublime yet peeved.
Naru did not know which he would prefer— both of Akemi's personalities highly contradict each other and yet it all held one thing. One thing indistinguishable.
Unreadable. She remained unreadable. Akemi is still an entirely different being that Naru could not understand nor read.
"Well?" Naru raised at Akemi, the woman taking in a short breath before letting it out to calm herself.
"It's about what happened at the Doll case," Akemi started, her eyes turning considerable sharp with every letter out of her mouth. "-when Mai and I fell on the well, Mai and I saw someone..."
Naru frowned, not knowing where this topic was going.
"-An apparition that led me.... doubting a few things—That is why I am here....I want to know the reason you are here and maybe something personal as to who you are." Akemi noted how Naru adeptly changed his frown back into his indifference, trying to show his disinterest.
"Akemi–"
"Naru." Naru stopped, a frown forming his lips at Akemi's interruption. "Mai called the apparition that I saw... as Naru."
Naru unnoticeably froze, but his face remained stoic.
"And I saw that person perfectly clear," Akemi continues, her eyes considerably cold as she gazed unto Naru. "-And I know that was not you."