~~~
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ AKEMI OTHERS ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
"Please let me go..." Lin whispered towards the handsome colored boy clutching his back as the crew decided to take this predicament to Toujo-san, who so happens to be speaking with the woman Akemi saw calling out for Tanatte back outside.
SQUEEZE—!
'Kenji-kun' only resorted to hugging Lin tighter while Mai and Bou-san muttered to each other, not knowing whether to laugh or pity Lin from his expression.
"That's Lin's secret child." Bou-san whispered to Mai, frowning as she leaned closer for Bou-san to hear her words. "Lin's secret love child?"
Akemi weakly chuckled, muffled from the scarf and sweat dropping at Mai's and Bou-san's conversation— John joining in on her embarrassment.
"Is this the boy? The one you mentioned as missing?" Naru ignored the two conversing behind him about such a scandal.
"Yes that's him." Toujo, stepped near and extended his has to reach 'Kenji' in hopes to get the child away from a distressed Lin. "Here, Tanatte come to me..."
But it seemed his approach was futile as 'Kenji' hid from the priest' hand, wanting to be in his 'Father's presence longer.
Lin's shoulder tensed, awkward and weirded out. "It seems like he's mistaking me for his father, please tell him I'm not him."
"Father...?" The priest eyes widened at the sight of Lin before he started muttering. "I see..."
"May I ask why does Kenji think Lin is his father? Do they resemble in any way?" Akemi asked beside Naru, her teeth chattered but managed to speak out quite clearly.
The priest placed his gaze on a half-face-covered- scarf-Akemi and nodded, "It was over thirty years ago so my memory is not so accurate..." Toujo hesitates but sensing his emotions, Akemi stepped up.
"Any memory that concerns Kenji-kun's behavior would be helpful information, detailed or not."
Toujo nods, "When he sees someone who resembles his father he acts this way— for whatever reason you must look familiar to him."
"Even so, he couldn't speak could he? The boy just said 'Father' very clearly." Bou-san spoke up,
Bou-san's question made the priest sadly sigh, turning his gaze to a possessed Tanatte. "...Although he couldn't speak, he didn't actually lose his voice. On the spur of the moments sometimes he was able to use it."
"If it's Kenji Nagano's spirit that's been possessing the children then it's not like we could actually ask him any questions...unless— Akemi?" Bou-san turned to the heiress who was already shaking her head.
"Naru already asked earlier— I tried talking to him but he wouldn't speak, however I am confident that this is Kenji-kun's spirit." Bou-san and Mai hummed at her words, their gazes back to the possessed kid.
The woman who was quietly listening on the question, raised her hand slowly. "...ano...are you really sure it's Kenji?" The woman asked, the crew turning to glance at her.
Doubt was in her voice, but Akemi didn't bother to inhabit malicious thoughts because she was used to it— to the disbelief but unlike other people this woman's reaction was a lot more better compared to what Akemi usually faced— 'She is just curious after all,'
"She has the ability to see spirits and tons more!" Mai perked up, really in awe and seeing her genuine thoughts Akemi placed a cold hand on top of the high schooler's head before glancing towards the woman's direction who stood right next to Toujo-san.
Nodding, she answered. "Does he have black hair that matched with his eyes? A bit pale and has cute chubby cheeks... And about this tall, wearing a blue and white jacket with plain white shirt and blue short pants?" Akemi described more of Kenji's appearance in detail as she placed her hand just by the mid of her stomach to pertain Kenji's height,
By the end of her description, the woman was biting her lip and Toujo sadly smiled. "That's him..." Both were overcome by past memories.
It wasn't a while until they snapped out of it.
Shaking away his thoughts, Toujo turned to face Lin with pleading eyes. "He just came out of his place of hiding, he'll let you go soon." Toujo begged for the sake of lightening his pain in a way. "-Until then please look after him."
~~~
ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ AKEMI ʕ•ﻌ•ʔ
"That looks strange..." John whispered to the others as they leaned on the slanted doors, watching the sight of atleast four cameras rolling to capture Lin taking care of Tanatte's possessed situation.
Akemi didn't bother to peak in, seeing it futile with her eyesight as the only thing she can manage to see clearly was Kenji-kun's spirit. However, she did took a double take when it seems Kikyo was also mesmerized by the sight of Lin and the child present.
"It looks strange indeed," Bou-san snickered, tears filling his eyes. "I wonder if they'd let me make a copy of this video footage...pfft!"
'That's...that's not what I meant when I said 'strange'...' John sweat dropped,
Along with Akemi who displayed the same thoughts. 'I don't think that was what he meant, Bou-san...'
"Perhaps Lin-san is more of an at-home-daddy-type than we ever thought?" Mai laughed, unable to control her volume. Making Lin even more embarrassed as he heard the joy of the crew.
"Usually when the possessed child shows up, he leaves soon after but maybe he is feeling relaxed because he has his daddy?" John suggested, but Mai took it as an adorable situation and gushed.
"Aww that's cute~!" Kikyo could see Lin's flushed face from her position by the walls.
"There's no point in making a family video here." Mai and Bou-san flinched at hearing Naru speak out of nowhere. "John, why don't you try performing an exorcism?"
"Ehh?— Question! Why can't Akemi-sempai do it?" Mai asked, genuinely asking as she has never seen Akemi do what she used to practice. 'Itoka's are really rare from what Bou-san told me, I want to see Akemi-sempai do her thing!'
Naru sighs, glancing at Akemi's layered state before turning to Mai. "I doubt she could perform any exorcism with her freezing condition."
Mai bit her lip at that. 'Oh, right...'
Akemi didn't took it too heart and actually smiled, quite delighted at hearing Naru's words. Because if thought out, Akemi really can't do any of her Itoka practices when she continues to shiver and shake every second. Not to mention, just a bit more cold and she would start sneezing by now, so she'll gladly not do some type of exorcism with her condition if it can be helped.
But purely the whole reason was because she doesn't want to exorcise Kenji the only way she knew how— brutal, well for the heiress it would be brutal going by the screams the spirit would yell out before they disappear.
She wouldn't want Kenji-kun to experience such pain after what he has been through.
"Okay," John nodded when Naru once more asked if John could do an exorcism and changed to wear his priest outfit while Mai and Kikyo helped closing the curtains.
"All closed!" Mai said as she and Kikyo finished setting up the room,
Naru nodded, "John?"
With his fingers dipped in holy water, John signed a cross right on Tanatte's forehead, the little boy gasping at the contact. "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name... thy will be done on earth as it is on heaven, thy kingdom come..."
While on the corner of the room, Bou-san, Naru, Akemi, Kikyo and Mai leaned by the walls and watched the calm exorcism.
"I feel bad for him..." Mai frowned, Akemi sadly humming in agreement as she watched Kenji-kun's lost expression.
"Who? Kenji-kun?" Mai nodded on ther Monk's question as he leaned his head out to glance at Mai.
"He's happy because he thinks he was finally reunited with his father but we're about to separate them again..." realizing her point, Bou-san and Kikyo nodded solemnly in understanding.
"Yeah, but Tanatte's body should also be freed from his spirit soon, right?"
Mai realized the predicament they were in, "That's also true..."
"In principio..." John recites, the exorcism finished as Tanatte's body gave out— tired and exhausted— Lin willingly caught the poor boy and gave out a sigh. "It's okay now, Kenji-kun's spirit is out of his body."
Akemi frowned, her eyes still gazing at Keni-kun's spirit who looked rather angered from being separated from his father, especially when touching Lin's body did nothing to get his attention.
'Daddy...!' Akemi heard Kenji let out as the lights on the room started flickering and the room covered in temporary shaking cold.
'Here comes the sneeze—' Akemi in time felt her nose get tickled,
Kenji's angered eyes turned to contact with Akemi's and by then Akemi realized what he was going to do.
"Watch out!"
Achoo—!
~~~
"Was...was that a poltergeist?" Bou-san looked around the room, before turning to see the three girls by the floor, both quiet and blinking. "Hn, what's wrong? did you almost faint?"
Akemi slowly shook her head, "Kenji-kun was angry and tried to possess Mai."
Akemi stood up, helping Mai. " Are you okay?" The heiress asked and Mai let out a nod.
Under all her layers, the heiress kept her blessed beads on her wrists and neck so she must have been out of Kenji's reach of being able to possess, while Mai must have presented an equal wavelength that could allow him possession so Akemi made sure to surround the high schooler by pulling her away before the kid could even possess Mai.
'The question right now is where could Kenji-kun be?' Akemi frowned, seeing that Mai wasn't the one possessed.
"Are you okay?" John asked not far from them as Tanatte started waking up, still dazed.
Akemi then realized,
'Oh...no...' Akemi sweat dropped, shamefully turning to where Kikyo sat beside her only it was too late— the guard wasn't on her place anymore.
"Whoa! What are you doing?!!" Bou-san stutters as a lock of hair passed by like a whiz, Kikyo jumping unto Lin— both falling down the floor.
"K-Ki-Kikyo-san?!" Akemi weakly smiled, sensing Lin's panicked air despite the distance between them.
"So...sorry! I'm so sorry!" John freaked, before turning to face the crew with beady eyes of unshed tears. "Oh no, what have I done?!"
At this point, Akemi decided to just outright say the predicament they were in— already feeling Naru's imploring gaze towards her direction. "Kenji-kun is possessing Kikyo's body..."
And in front of Lin, the possessed guard let out a genuine smile.
Seeing such an out of place expression that they were used to, Lin blushed.