Case 2: Can't I Even Dream

Mai's P.O.V

"There, that should do it. Are you comfortable?" Ayako asked after tucking the last pillow underneath my neck. I hum a 'yes' in response; too tired to speak and unable to nod my head.

Once I was discharged from the hospital, I was given a wheelchair and a neck brace before being wheeled out to the SPR van and driven back to the hotel. Naru had called beforehand, informing the rest of the team what needed to be done upon our return. Ayako had already prepared my bed, equipped with extra blankets and pillows for support.

"Now if you need anything, just let me know", Ayako says. She pats my knee gently before heading out. She placed a doorstop between the door and the doorframe, effectively propping the door open while also giving me enough privacy.

The window curtains were pushed open to allow the bright afternoon sun to filter through the room. The balcony door was opened halfway, a cool breeze filling the room with fresh air. It felt good; this hotel seemed to be consumed with stuffy, dust-filled air.

I look out the window at the rolling hills in the distance. The bright, pale blue sky seemed to make the green hills that much more vibrant. It was serene, peaceful. I closed my eyes and for a moment I forgot I was in a hotel sitting at an uncomfortable 90 degree angle due to a spirit that tried to kill me.

A timid knock on the door brings me from my thoughts and back to reality, "I see you haven't changed a bit in the clumsiness department."

I smile as my eyes fall on the petite girl in the doorway, "Masako!"

"Hello Mai", Masako replies, the words rolling off her tongue in a graceful manner. I haven't seen her since we dropped contact what seems like forever ago. She's only grown to look more like an adult and less like a doll.

Her once short black hair had been trimmed to just above her shoulders and her bangs had grown out to blend in with the cut, giving it one long and silky length. Her face and body had become slimmer and more defined. Her cheekbones and hips were where the most obvious changes had been made, although it was only noticeable due to the long period of time spent away from each other. She didn't look beautiful in a child-like way, with youth and grace. She looked beautiful in a adult way, with wisdom and intellect.

"I see you ditched those kimonos you always wore", I comment, noticing her sundress and sneakers. An outfit so unlike her.

"Oh this", she says with a bit of a laugh, "I just came from the airport. I was in America for a shoot. I wanted to blend in with the rest of the crowd, and a kimono is not the way to go. It's not a permanent wardrobe change, but an addition. It's quite comfy really."

"I see. It suits you, you know. Yellow is a good color on you."

Masako smiles and sits on the bed, careful not to disturb it too much. We sit in silence for a moment before she speaks, "How are you feeling, Mai?"

I sigh, "As good as I can after falling from a balcony."

Masako hums a low note, eyes directed at the floor, "What's the damage?"

"A severely bruised spine", I say, and it comes out more nonchalantly than I had intended. Masako takes note and raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, "It could have been a lot worse according to the doctor. I'm to be on bed rest for a week and a wheelchair for two more."

"Well, you've suffered worse, haven't you?" Masako replies. If this were three years ago, I would have thought she was being snobbish, and probably would have thrown a hot-headed retort. But I only laugh and agree with her. Both Masako and I have matured since our last meeting, and have outgrown the ways of the past.

"How is your first impression of the place?" I inquire after a brief moment of us staring off into space.

"There's most certainly a heavy air of anger", Masako takes a second to feel the air around her; she gazes at the empty spaces in the room before closing her eyes in contemplation, "It's a female spirit who has been wronged, there's no doubt about that. She wants revenge."

I try to nod my head, but my neck brace prevents me from doing much, "Her name is Kiri Fujika. Her father owns the hotel and she was to inherit the place when she married or he was no longer able to run it. Her husband, Hisashi Watanabe, thought that he inherited the place in her name, so he murdered her for it. But her father made it so that it stayed with her, and didn't transfer over to her husband when she got married. That way if Kiri ever decided to not marry, she would still keep the business. Hisashi never knew that until Kiri was already dead. He made her death look like suicide, that's why he stayed on as Ginji's assistant."

Masako lets the information sink in before rising from her place on the bed, "I should let Naru know I'm here, he'll probably want me to do a walk through of the hotel with Ayako."

"He doesn't know you're here?" I ask, surprise laced in my words.

She shook her head, "No. As soon as I landed John called and told me what happened. He told me you were back at the hotel, bu he hadn't seen you yet, so he didn't know what condition you were in. I was worried. So I decided to check in on you before Naru sent me on a walkthrough with Ayako." I swear Masako shivered at that.

I blink, letting my shock cross my face for a moment, before smiling at her, "Thank you Masako. I really appreciate it."

The medium dips her head in a prolonged nod, signaling her departure. I hear her footsteps echo softly down the hallway. I follow them until they can no longer be heard.

I hadn't realized the full scale of Masako's growth until then. Sure, she looked different. But it's one thing to mature physically and a completely different thing to mature mentally. She was worried about me, which is a sign that she cared. I honestly never thought Masako cared about me.

We had started becoming closer friends a few months before we lost touch, but it wasn't a true friendship. I think Masako liked having me around because I was a girl her age, and it made her feel more normal to have someone who wasn't spending time with her because she was The Masako Hara; we could both pretend to have a friend.

But now I feel like we don't have to pretend to be friends. We could actually be friends. I smile at the thought and gaze out the window, letting my eyes unfocus and stare at a point beyond the rolling green hills.

=LINEBREAK=

"Mai darling", Yasu's sing-song voice floated down the hallway three hours later, "My dearest Monk and I are heading out to get some dinner. Would you care for anything?"

I had spotted a book sitting on the nightstand and somehow managed to reach it. I had spent my time trying get past the first five chapters; it was obviously a book Naru must have left behind. No one else would be crazy enough to read the scientific equivalent of the encyclopedia, "No, Yasu, I don't want anything. I'll just sit here and waste away."

The bespectacled boy gasped rather dramatically, clutching his chest as if he was having a heart attack, "No, Mai! You mustn't waste away! You'll be throwing away the bright future you have ahead of you!"

By now, Yasu had made his way to the room and had thrown himself across the foot of the bed, missing my legs by mere inches. The jostling of the bed sent little jolts of pain through my spine. I tried to cover up the pain as best I could.

"Besides", he sighs, flipping over onto his back. He placed the back of his had on his forehead in a 'woe was me' gesture, "Who would make the beast his tes? Certainly not I, for my head would be ripped off or my limbs frozen together for all eternity."

I suppress a laugh and decided to play along, "And why must that be, oh distressed princess?"

"Alas the mighty beast will only accept tes from the fairest and gentlest of maidens", Yasu says. He turns to me with a grin, both of us trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. We both failed miserably.

Once we have composed ourselves, Yasu heaves a sigh, "In all seriousness though, would you like something?"

"Yes please", I say, "I haven't had anything since getting back from the hospital, and I could use at least a good cup of tea."

He nods his head and makes to leave. He stops though just as he was leaving, his hand on the door. He turns back to look at me. He wanted to say something, but he was debating on if he should say anything. He doesn't. At least, not what he wanted to say.

Instead he asks, "The usual suspect or should I shake things up a bit?"

"I think I'll stick with the usual tonight", I say, "But I'll let you decide when I'm not stuck in bed."

Yasu nods once more and leaves, closing the door all the way to the stopper. I'm left sitting there in confusion. What did he want to say?

=LINBREAK=

The golden afternoon rays of sun were fading away to a deep purple nighttime sky. I had discovered that I had just enough movement to go to the bathroom without assistance (although it was quite painful and rather difficult, but it was much better than my other option.)

There was a knock on the door. Monk was there holding a bag of takeout, "Thought I might accompany you for dinner, if that's alright with you."

"Of course", I say. He smiles and pulls up the sofa chair next to the bed. He pulls out two styrofoam boxes, handing one to me and keeping the other for himself.

We eat in peaceful silence for a moment, "So how is the investigation going? Any progress?"

"Non so far really", Monk says through a mouthful of food, "Naru has scheduled a few interviews tomorrow with some hotel guests that wrote complaints, as well as some of the staff. He was considering giving the task to you, but he'll check up tomorrow to see if you're up for it."

"I would love to do the interviews. I've been so bored all day. My only form of entertainment was Naru's book over there", I say, gesturing to the thick book laying open on the nightstand at chapter three, "I probably would have had more fun watching paint dry."

Monk chuckles and takes another bite of his food. He starts to poke around at the contents of the box, his brows knitted together in what could have been mistaken for concentration, but because I've known him for so long and so well, I know better. He's conflicted.

I set my food down a little harder than I wanted to, "Oh just say it already, please."

"What are you talking about?" Monk looks up at me, confusion and worry painted in his facial expressions.

"First it was Masako, then Yasu, and now you. You guys are all thinking something and I know its about me and probably what happened on the balcony", my tone comes out frustrated and exhausted, "So just spit it out and be done with it. I'd much rather know what you guys are thinking than getting these weird moments all the time."

Monk sighs, choosing his next words carefully, "Yes it is about what happened on the balcony. It's just", he pauses, "We didn't know what happened to you. You just wandered off. And then the next thing we know you're dangling off the side of a railing, extremely high up, and it just-"

"Just looked like I was trying to commit suicide", I finish, somewhat awestruck. The fact that my teammates, my friends, thought that I had gone that far down as to think that was my only escape, was frightening and surprising.

Monk nods, not looking me in the eye, "You've dealt with things, terrible things, things we probably won't ever understand. We just thought that maybe...you saw an opportunity. Maybe you weren't actually okay. But we didn't want to say anything, in case it wasn't true. And we ended up upsetting you further into thinking that we didn't care, or that we think of you that way."

My head was buzzing with so many thoughts that I couldn't form words. Thoughts of why would they think that to how could they to even did I do something wrong flew by at lightning speed. It was a good five minutes of silence and thought did it finally dawn on me.

"I didn't tell you what happened" I mumble.

"What?"

I turn to Monk, "I never told you guys why I was dangling from a balcony railing. That's why it looked like..well you know..suicide."

Monk was confused, anyone could see that. But he was also relieved. Relieved that there was another side to the story, a better one, one that didn't involve me being suicidal. A slow spreading grin spreads its way onto his face, "I'll go get Naru then."

=LINEBREAK=

It was obvious that everyone was on the same page as Monk; when I started explaining that it was the spirit of Kiri that threw me over the edge of the balcony, even Lin seemed to visibly relax.

"So all we have to do is prove that Hisashi is guilty of murder and then she'll leave?" Ayako questioned, "So we've gone from ghost hunters to crime solvers."

"It'll be hard to prove he had any involvement with her death considering there is no available evidence", John added, "And any evidence that could exist would be off limits to us no matter what we did to obtain it."

"So then how are we supposed to get rid of Kiri?"

"She doesn't want justice", I say. All eyes are on me. I gulp, "She wants revenge."

"Mai we can't go about doing a spirit's dirty work." Ayako says condescendingly, like she's talking to a five year old that doesn't know better.

"I'm not saying we do her dirty work", I reply, swallowing my anger, "Kiri's life was taken from her because of a another person's greed. She wants to make sure that Hisashi's efforts were in vain."

"What do you mean by that 'His efforts were in vain'?" Monk asks. I sigh. Hasn't anyone been listening to me? I can't help but laugh internally. This must be how Naru feels.

"Hisashi killed Kiri to get ownership of the hotel-"

"But he doesn't own it. He can't own it" Yasu states, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, but he's close to her father, Genji. Close enough to make influential suggestions that may sway Genji to making it so that he can own the hotel at some point", I turn my gaze to Naru, "Kiri wants that to never happen. Not to prove that he is her murderer. She wants him away from her father."

Naru was lost in thought, soaking up the information the discussion yielded. He was leaning against the desk, staying that way for a while. No one dared disturb the silence of the room.

"Good work, Mai", was all that Naru said before getting up to leave the room, "Everyone, you're free for the rest of the evening. We'll have a new plan tomorrow." With that everyone filed out, leaving me alone to my thoughts.

=LINEBREAK=

Well it wasn't a long time that I was alone; Naru had returned 30 minutes later to hand me a notebook, a few folders, and a pen.

"I want you to conduct the interviews tomorrow. There's only a few people; I'm sure you can handle that."

"Wouldn't you want someone less.." I gesture to the neck brace, "Damaged?"

"That's exactly why I want you to do it. If they see that you've been injured, they might be more sympathetic and therefore willing to answer questions", Naru says almost monotonously. He takes a seat on the edge of the bed, "Besides you're better with people."

I smile slightly, letting my eyes glide over his form, taking in his appearance. He looks tired, there's no doubt about it. If it wasn't the hunched shoulders and paler-than-usual skin that gave it away, it was definitely the dark circles beginning to form under his eyes and the slight slurring of his words.

"You should sleep", I say quietly.

He looks up at me, shaking his head slightly, "I'm not-"

"You are tired. It's obvious", I cut him off. He doesn't say anything to defend himself. Instead he just looks at me. "When was the last time you got any sleep", I ask.

He pauses for a moment, debating on whether he should say anything or not. He could easily have just walked away and left it at that. It wasn't like I could jump up and chase after him, demanding he answered me.

"About three days now", he replies finally.

"Geez", I mumble. Three days. Since I've been admitted into the hospital, "Why?"

"You could have died you know", he says, and I don't think he registers what I said, or what he's saying. In fact, I think he's forgotten that I was even there in the room.

He looks up, focusing on some point on the wall, "There were only two moments in my life that I can recall ever feeling that panicked, that afraid. The first was witnessing Gene's death, and feeling the pain and the agony and the fear that he felt. The other was watching you hit the water and being completely unsure if you were alive; watching you fall and believing that I was watching another person in my life the I cared for die, and knowing that there was nothing I could do to prevent it."

He looks back at the ground, "Or maybe it was the fact that I was witnessing a death that I could have prevented, if I had just paid more attention."

It's moments like these that make me think if Naru was possessed by something. I reach for his hand, grazing his fingers with mine. He's pulled immediately out of whatever trance he was in and locks his gaze with mine.

"You know it's going to take a lot more that a fall like that to get rid of me", I say in a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

I didn't know if I how i felt about this emotional side of Naru. It was great that he wasn't so stone cold and emotionless now, and don't misunderstand me; I did not enjoy the emotionless Naru that much. But this is almost a complete u-turn of who he was; there was no gradual progression from Naru 1.0 to Naru 2.0. Maybe there was and I just wasn't around to see it. I guess I'll have to get used to it.

I hardly even realized that Naru had intertwined his fingers with mine, pressing his cool plam into my rather warm one.

We sat there, and the longer we sat there, the more red my face became. It became so intense that I had to look away in a vain attempt to mask my already obvious embarrassment.

Naru squeezes my hand one final time before letting go, "I should let you rest", he says. His movement of getting up from the bed brings me back to reality and my mind immediately focuses on just how cold my hand it without the presence of his. I don't like it. I want the warmth back.

"Promise me you'll at least try to get some sleep", I say before he leaves, "Or take a break from working."

He nods, turns on his heal and shuts the door as far as it will go. But not without saying, "Goodnight Mai", and smiling that lopsided grin of his first.

He must know how much I adore that smile.

AN: wow okay sorry that this chapter might be a bit random. I realize now that a) I probably should have gone back through the previous chapters to get my facts straight and b) this chapter might be confusing, I was trying to tie up a lot of loose ends and get facts straight before moving forward with the case (and the fact that I haven't taken the time to proof-read it so there's probably a ton of spelling mistakes lmao)

Future warning: There will be more content concerning language (meaning more swearing and offensive terminology) I'll put a warning before the chapter, but I thought I might as well make a warning now to get y'all prepared.

Let me just say, big thank you to everyone who's reading and commenting. I honestly didn't think there were gonna be anymore readers cause I've been gone for such a long time, but getting notified that people are following me and this story (yes I have those notifications turned on) shows me that I'm still reaching some people. And I read all comments (it's why I've gotten this new chapter out so early albeit pretty lacking in chapter focus), so please please please comment. Tell me how I'm doing, what you like, what I should change, suggestions, anything. I do take any and all suggestions into consideration (an Ayako P.O.V chapter will come up soon)

so again, thank you so much, sorry for the long AN and really out of order chapter

stay tuned

the adventure continues...

-Scarlet Skies