~~~
AKEMI
Akemi stood in the middle of the falls. The cold thick droplets of water vicious on her shoulders; She felt no pain nor the heavy pull of her white robes as she remained still.
Face neutral.
Calm.
Peaceful.
The Maruyama family clan claimed the mountain lands on the backyard of the main mansion with a land rich in secret waterfalls and caves that left unexplored by curious adventurists. The mountain resided not far from the views of the mansion with its steep height, towering trees that overwhelm even the most expert woodcutters but with it was a glorious sight of fertile ground that landscapers and geologists dream of stepping yet the Maruyama family remained stoic in their decision to keep the land theirs and private not due to the advantages and treasure the land holds but protection to others who could not care for the mountain as well as they can. For the land is oppressive to intruders yet welcoming and calming for those who knows its stable ground.
The mountain that is meant to remain without a name held quite a lot of stories and tales yet the one thing that is purely clear is the sacred ground, Akemi fully remembers the trip towards their own temple; the place where her ancestors trained and filled their lives in belief as well as faith. She could feel it the moment Akemi stepped barefoot on the lands, the heart of it all beating against her chest. As though the past, present and future ran as one in this type of land and yet never exists the same.
This was where her aunt took Akemi to teach her ways, their very own nature where their 'gifts' were believed to have started as the Maruyama family used to be a band of believers living in the mountain, in return of their care to the mountain they were given lands, foods and water and in return for their belief they were given healthy children with 'gifts' to feel sacred.
Of course over time, the world evolved and little by little people changed; that is something the Maruyama family isn't immune towards.
The heiress kept her calm stance underneath the strong falls of water on her whole body, her mind focused on the warm pulse of the lands, breathing of the trees even the consistent gush of waters. In a few days time at most, the Maruyama Elders will be visiting to finish Akemi's training; seeing a gift they wished to see flourished yet the heiress present is pondering over the things that would change if she ever accepts.
Akemi gasps, her eyes opening wide to reveal shining purple. Muttering the words, "I'm not a dog." Her brows contorted, not quite sure where those words came from, and she remained in her thoughts knowing those were words spouted out of unknown forces.
"Ojou-sama," Akemi glances to the side of the falls, hearing a voice call her out— the water still ruthless on their hits. Having cut off from her trance made her feel every hit and despite the stinging hits Akemi remained innocent and elegant in expression.
On the side, stood Kikyo's gaze remained to Akemi's surroundings; A towel and extra robes on hand. Learning her guard already close by made Akemi step out under the waterfall and stepped close to where Akemi knew Kikyo stood by.
"Ara~? How long have you been standing there?" Akemi softly asks, reaching her hand out to have a towel with her lips turning purple yet her teeth never chattered during this cold.
Ignoring Akemi's prune fingers, Kikyo says: "For a while now."
With a soft hum that smoothly flowed out to the nature around them, Akemi made sure to dry her hair with the towel. Her relatives already noting her diminishing dyed hair. "What is the purpose of your sudden visit?" Her lips upturned, she chimes. "Missed me that much?"
Kikyo's detached gaze broke and sent the heiress an amused smile. "Very. However that is not my reason for coming up here this early morning." Akemi knew no one would bother hiking up the mountains would be worth anything. So having Kikyo work her way up the mountain especially with how it is usually made Akemi know how impervious her reason for coming up is.
'The ancestors must be in a good mood for Kikyo to come up without a problem.' Akemi dismissively thought as Kikyo placed a hand to her pockets.
"I came because of this." Kikyo took out the phone Akemi left behind in the mansion, clicking a button in order for the voice mail to play. The message lasted for only a few seconds and Akemi tried to suppress her grin as she engrossed herself to the voice playing the message.
Not a second after it finished, "Call the helicopter, tell them we will be going to Tokyo on the next 30 minutes." The heiress hopped down the mountain as she ties the extra robe around herself, a bright gleam present on her face.
"Are we going to stop by any shops, Ojou-sama?" Kikyo follows and Akemi paused on her step, considering her words.
"There is a new classy pastry I wanted to try... sure, why not!" Akemi smiles, continuing her trek down the mountain but not before bidding it a respectful goodbye and a beautiful journey down.
She needed to get ready; Fast.
In the back of her intuition, Akemi felt the mountain cheer her out. Almost like a playful tease, 'It seems they are in a good mood.'
~~~
MAI
Mai burst from the door, panting and a little bit sweaty. "Sorry I'm late!" the high schooler huffs while the notoriously moody Naru glared at the awfully bright and sparkly pastries on Akemi's hand, all hidden in a card box but Naru could feel the sugar taunting him. Both the illegally good-looking person standing by the waiting area when Mai barged in with a sweaty pant.
Moving his gaze away from the pastry and Akemi's want for him to try the most pink pastry he has ever seen, glared at the high school girl. "You're late. Clean up the waiting area and rearrange the books to alphabetical order." despite Naru's neutral expression, the irritation was highly evident in his tone.
'That's how you treat me first thing in the morning?!' Mai felt a vein throb on her forehead, her eyes glaring daggers while she removed her outer coat, letting her stare try to melt Naru who was trying to ignore both Akemi's wish for him to try the pastry she bought and Mai's stinky glare.
"Have you ever considered doing it yourself?" Mai grumbles under her breath, she thought the idea of having all the books and folder color coded was quite cute so she arranged them yesterday dedicating her time making sure they follow rainbow like coordination, apparently her services weren't appreciated.
"Then what am I paying you for?" Was Naru's quick bark, Akemi lightly pouting next to him and opted to give him the usual scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. His usual English breakfast.
'I should have known not to give him French pastries in such an early day...' Akemi pouts to herself as she went to make Naru his tea and breakfast right on the kitchen office, knowing Naru and Lin never consider getting breakfast or at times they forget its essential to start a busy day. It worries the heiress at times how food seems more like an inconvenience for the two, particularly Naru. Although tea is a whole new topic,
"Yes, you're right boss!" sweat dropped and deadpan, Mai stood slouching before perking up to stare at the other closed door in the Office. "By the way Lin-san... I guess he's stuck in the research room, huh?" Mai mutters out, taking note of Akemi's figure making her way towards the kitchen.
'My lukewarm relationship with Lin-san is the same as always... I have no idea why.' Mai crookedly smiles, walking away to do what Naru had told her to do. "By the way, they were in today's newspaper again. The article about Ryokuryou High School— Why did you turn down the Principal's request? You should've helped them."
Everyone has been talking about the sudden fame of the school lately. The first newspaper article talked about a group of students who refused to come to school because of a ghost sighting in a classroom, according to the students paranormal activity has been occurring a lot either in their classrooms or the whole school building in general. It was quite a headline.
Mai continued coordinating the books back to its title sorting while Akemi finished blending the tea in the open kitchen. Lin remained closed-off in the research office while Naru opted to sit down on the vacant single seat in the waiting area, crossing his legs along with opening a book he decided to read after complaining about color coordination of the books in the bookshelf earlier. "I try to avoid cases that may potentially attract mass media." Naru plainly states and read while waiting for Akemi's tea.
"Eh?" Mai frowned at his reason, not seeing the logic of it all. "This could help us become famous! Then SPR would have many more clients!" As though on purpose— the bell on the SPR door ranged.
Hearing that a person went inside the Office, Mai and Naru lifted their gazes up and about and saw a tall student standing by the hall, looking around the area; seeing as there was no one in the reception.
"...Hello..?"
"Yes?— yes, uhh... how can we help you?" Mai straightens her back, patting her hands to remove imaginary dirt and faced the tall boy who fixed his glasses with a clean smile on his lips, friendly yet stood stiff and remained respectful to show he meant no harm.
Naru remained seated and looked back to what he was reading. Not at all caring who the guest was at the moment,
"I'm the president of the Ryokuryou High School Student Council. My name is Osamu Yasuhara." The tall boy bowed his head as he greeted Mai, the high schooler herself was stunned. Speak of the devil, the topic in the early conversation revealed itself.
'Really?!' Mai gapes, 'He's good looking... But no match for the narcissist.'
Akemi came out from the kitchen, carrying the usual blue floral tray for Naru's tea and Mai's treats. "Mai, I think I heard the bell ra— Oh, good morning~!" She turned, seeing Yasuhara who stood the same height as the heiress made Akemi switch to her graceful smiles in a blink of an eye.
A chiming laugh came off the heiress' lips when Yasuhara bowed a perfect angle towards her, greeting Akemi an equally bright greeting.
"What are you here for?" Naru asks from his seat, Akemi giving him his tea and placing a few treats on the center table, his English breakfast already at his office. Akemi thought Naru didn't want to eat at the waiting area because it humanizes him in a way that the SPR crew would faint at the sight.
Before Yasuhara could speak, Akemi turns to him with an inviting smile. Patting on the wide sofa next to her, "Why don't you have a sit? You must be tired from your travel— your school is three hours or so away from Shibuya, isn't that right?"
"Ah... yes; then pardon me." Yasuhara at first hesitated but when Akemi gave him a reassuring smile— the boy gave in and gave a short thanks. Akemi even handed him a pastry, the bright pink one that Naru refused to touch this early morning.
Being kind, Yasuhara gladly takes the pastry awfully famished from his journey. "This is a petition from the students. When I heard that you rejected our Principal's request, I gathered signatures from the students with the hopes that you'd reconsider." Yasuhara hands Naru a clip of papers, from top to back filled with signatures of probably every student present at the school. Some even held messages of reasons and pleading, any help at all they were willing to have; anything to stop the mess they were in.
Naru was quiet, flipping each page and turning them on their back to see each signature. Each one thoroughly assessed. "Won't you please help us?"
Akemi smiles beside the customer, knowing this softens Naru's heart in a way. 'Maybe I should frame it. Proof he has a heart?' Akemi puffs a laugh.
"Our school is in bad shape. At first it was just students telling each other ghost stories... But now strange things are really happening every day. All of us are scared and concerned about what could happen next." Yasuhara continues to plead while the two girls and their boss remained quiet. Letting him voice out his worries,
Mai and Akemi turns to glance at Naru, one begging to accept; the other already knowing his decision. It was quiet, the whole ordeal of waiting for Naru to finish taking all the signatures in what looks to be quite a thick clip of papers. Nonetheless, they were patient to see what would happen next.
Naru sighs, once finished with the last page. "To be honest, I'm quite interested in working on this case... However I'd rather avoid attention from the media. "
"I can understand that!" Yasuhara brightens, a sense of hope filling his chest at the thought of Naru's interest. He leans forward, now more determined to beg. "-We're bombarded by journalists coming to our school every day but that's why we want this case resolved as soon as possible, please help us!" To fully emphasized his plead, Yasuhara lowers his body and bows his head towards Naru.
The room was quiet for a while even in the process of Naru standing up and walking back to his office. Merely pausing to call Mai.
"Mai, call Ryokuryou High School. Tell them we accept their request."
Akemi pouted when Naru didn't even finished his tea. 'I wonder what is with his mood today?'
~~~
AKEMI MAI
"The Principal's office?" The staff inside the clerk's office gave them harsh glares with a pen between his fingers like a cigarette. Yet the sight of Akemi's smile in front of his desk down turned it a bit. "-Down the hall to your right, at the very end. You can find it yourself."
"Thank you so much," Akemi respectfully smiles like the elegant woman she was. Wearing an oversized three layer-striped v-neck sweater with her hair left loose down her back, round glasses and a baseball cap.
Her sweater was overly simple; the horizontal design of plain navy blue coloring her collar and shoulders, thick white that occupied her middle and a thin red that colored the ends of her tucked sweater. The heiress opted to pair it off wearing a Korean version of black suit pants and plain white sneakers with a customized maroon sling bag from a foreign brand that fashionistas go gaga for hung on her shoulders.
Akemi kept her smile, completely hiding her internal turmoil while Mai bit her lip the moment she took sight of the pink tint covering the old man's cheeks. The area around them awfully cold as they left to look for the Principal's office.
"He was rude!" Mai states the moment the doors closed, Naru being the one to close it after making sure Akemi walked out first. "-What's his problem?!"
"School's don't usually like to deal with outsiders." Bou-san shrugs his shoulders, leading forward first. Usually being the one who has the time for the SPR, once again being with them on the first day.
"But that would give a bad rating in the future, wouldn't it?" Akemi pinches the edge Mai's coat to keep the heiress from getting lost. The school not allowing dogs— even guide dogs in their premises which Akemi highly needs on her first time visits towards places she has never been before. "I wonder if he thought you looked too weird, Monk-san?" Akemi teases.
Mai stifles a laugh.
"How dare you say such a thing? Why would he think that?" Akemi kept her smile and Bou-san scoffs, with a lift of his lips. "By the way, where's Lin? Is he coming later?"
'Oh it's cold, ' Bou-san shivers lightly, confused on the sudden lower of temperature on the halls.
"Yeah, we're supposed to tell him what equipment we need after we finish the inspection. He's also bringing Ayako with him." Mai answers Bou-san question, deciding to link her arms around Akemi's. "-John and Masako will be here tomorrow."
The monk hums in thought, his eyes landing on the signage of the Principal's Office. Without a moments hesitation, Bou-san knocks on the door and what they got at the end of it was quite a rude encounter.
"-Anyway, use your expertise to stop this melodramatic nonsense!" The Principal grumbles, dismissing them so quick like used toilet paper.
'I hope Mai keeps her mouth shut...' Bou-san glances at Mai. The sight of the high school girl gritting her teeth made the monk pray harder while Akemi remained her usual posh and Naru stayed silent.
"Really! How ridiculous is this for students to believe in ghosts?" Mai's eyes twitched at the Principal's words.
'What's his problem? He's the one who hired us!' Mai clenched her teeth, trying to keep her mouth shut but the longer she stayed in the same premises with people like the Principal and the registrar made it quite a job for such an easy feat.
"Matsuyama-sensei, take them to the meeting room." And oh Mai was so wrong for not considering one other person.
The Physical Education teacher, Matsuyama-sensei sent the crew a judging click of his tongue. His cheeks wrinkled from his constant from as well as having his forehead collect indentation from his furrowed brows, safe to say based on his looks and the condition of his skin he was not much of a smiley person. "-Sure..."
Mai does worry if Naru would ever get the same results from his constant moods.
The door to the Principal's office closed and Matsuyama walked first to lead. Akemi marginally falling behind due to occasional stops or hesitation to move. She was having a hard time following, 'I can't see... There's too much—'
Only after the scent of fresh powder infiltrated her nose did Akemi started following with ease. A hand in her elbow lightly nudging her to the right direction.
"Keep moving or you'll fall behind." Naru lowly mutters at the time they now followed last.
"Right." Akemi inhales sharply, his scent once more touched her nose. "Thank you..."
It seemed Naru slowed down his steps because Akemi was sure he was the first to follow Matsuyama, next was monk and Mai then Akemi. Thinking about this, she couldn't stop biting her lip. She didn't enjoy getting her hopes up over little things but surely Naru making himself fall behind to help her instead of gaining information from the Gym teacher is a not so little action?
Just thinking about such a thing made the heiress blush.
STP— STP—STP
Matsuyama-sensei glances behind him as they walked. His glare quick to strike on the very back to meet Naru's indigo eyes. "Hey you...you own this company, huh? How old are you?"
Akemi, Monk and Mai froze, like in every cartoon-ish animation; A clash of lightning fell on them. 'What did he just say?! Hey, you?!'
Yet Naru remained oblivious to their thoughts or just chose to ignore their reaction as the same way he ignores the rude attempts of the Gym teacher to belittle him and his job. "I'm seventeen." Naru calmly answers,
"Why aren't you in school?"
"I'll leave that up to your imagination."
"Hn. I bet that means you're just a dropout." The Gym teacher lets out a smirk, seeing his rude jab as an accomplishment of sorts that no one but people like him would only agree and laugh with. "I don't know about this occult business but young people these days are always looking for one form of escape or another." He turns to send a smug smirk over Naru, even Akemi felt the teacher's eyes rake over her before noting Naru's hand on her elbow. "And there's always someone willing to take advantage of them. It's a dirty world, don't you think?" The Gym teacher connects his eyes towards Naru's darkened ones however it wasn't him that spoke next but the woman beside him.
The Gym teacher always held a disgustingly rude smirk as though he was above it all and got through the teenage boss; learned Naru's cunning ways to skip the difficult lessons of life without knowing of the trials Naru himself got into to manage to reach this kind of level in life. Compared to Naru, the gym teacher was nothing sort of a beginner in seeing the real world. And with that in mind, Naru didn't bother letting such an immature action get to him, but Akemi was never a good person towards people who hurt others.
And it's all due to the beauty she holds that no one could see her coming.
"I personally do agree that it is a dirty world," with feign smile Akemi lifts a hand to her cheek as though to show her pity. "I meet people every day who are just quick to judge others and manipulate to belittle their skills without knowing the talent they could do—" Akemi sighs even closing her eyes in disappointment. "I have to say I am quite disappointed to those kind of shallow creatures. If only none of them existed, maybe this world would be filled with greatness. Teenagers being free to live their lives knowing their worth and maybe less insecure creatures would live in this world." Her gaze opens and sharply cuts Matsuyama's.
'Cold.' was what Mai, Bou-san and Matsuyama thought as they saw Akemi's gaze. The teacher's smug grin disappeared and clicked his tongue. A cold shiver climbed his spine when Akemi's purple eyes stared at him like a loaded gun ready to shoot. 'This entitled brat—!'
"Another one of those opinionated ones!" The teacher grumbles under his breath, putting it as a whisper but everybody still heard him in the midst of the quiet halls.
Mai felt the last thread snap and went to kick the teacher but Bou-san manages to take a hold of her. "Hey, hey, not in a skirt." He chided as Mai growled like an angry dog, snarling her teeth behind the oblivious Gym teacher.
The teacher remained unaware of the possible attack behind him and opened the door to the Meeting Room where the SPR would set their temporary base.
"I've been waiting for you guys!" Yasuhara turned to greet them with a smile that Mai thought resembles Akemi's friendliness.
"Yasuhara! Why aren't you in class?" The Gym teacher crossed his arms, irritation and anger in his eyes. Any kind of anger could be seen present in his eyes,
"Seniors are already on shorter class schedules." Yasuhara smiles, not one bit bothered from the irritated glare from the teacher. He was used to it after all.
"Do you still find enough time to study for you University Entrance Exam?"
"Don't worry. I got it all handled!"
Mai gapes at the senior student. 'Akemi 2.0! It's Akemi-sempai male version! Akemi 2.0!'
'He still finds time to be Student Council President in his Senior year? I'm impressed...' Akemi smiles next to Naru as they one by one got inside. Completely forgetting her Student Council days and how she aced both her finals and entrance exam in the middle of entertaining school visitors all the while occasionally going into business meetings whenever she can be excused.