SPR: Is This Normal - CH 6

14AmyChan: I'm baaack~!

Naru: Give me back my overshirt!

14AmyChan: Nope! Besides, you look good in a white dress shirt!

Mai: I didn't know that you wore that under your shirt...

Naru: *raises eyebrow at Mai*

14AmyChan: If I owned Ghost Hunt, so many ideas... XDDDD none of them good, so I'm glad I don't. For now. *^_^*

"Mom?" Yuuki's voice was much different than it had been when dealing with the members of SPR. Instead of cut-and-dry business, her tone held compassion and care, if not a little bit of fear. Not fear of the woman asleep in the bed. No, she was elderly and frail, and that was exactly why the younger woman was afraid. If something were to happen to her mother now, then Yuuki simply would not bear it.

The lump of person shifted around and eventually sat up. A taller woman in her late seventies or early eighties stared at her daughter with perfect posture, despite having just been aroused from a nap. Her face was long and gaunt, and her graying hair perfectly straight, yet this could not make her look stern. For her gentle smile seemed to take an invisible edge off of the air.

"Are they here?" the elderly woman asked, her voice cracking a little from having not been used for so long. Yuuki nodded and her mother made to get ready. The young woman would have offered to help had she not known how stubborn her mother could be. So she simply stood by, ready to assist if necessary. She looked around the room and noted how her mother had not put any of her personal pictures on the walls. Or they had been taken down again by who knew what.

"Did you tell them about what happened a few hours before you left?" the graying lady inquired. The sound of Yuuki's gentle facepalm, a soft paff, could be heard throughout the room.

"I completely spaced on that," she admitted as her mother came out of her closet, dressed in a cotton dress and house slippers. Her hair was left down and the kind smile never left her face.

"Well, we'll just have to tell them to be careful what they say around here, won't we?" she asked as she headed to the door. Yuuki led the way to where she had left the paranormal research team and then knocked before entering.

Lin sat at his keyboard, monitoring everything that went on. He had been the one to report to everyone that Naru had found Mai and that they were in the kitchen. He had also watched, frustrated, as everyone gathered around the pantry. He had also watched—with great amusement, mind you—as Yasuhara had dared to tease Naru about Mai, a feat Lin had barely gotten away with himself while the two had been in England. Despite frustration and amusement, the man's face never shifted in its composure as he continued to monitor the house and finish miscellaneous work.

Generally, the place looked normal. Temperature fluctuations seemed within a typical range of a house in the mountains, furniture seemed completely stable, he did not see anything wrong with the house structure or in general. So, to kill time, he was transferring the temperature readings into an excel sheet as he waited for the others to return.

A gentle knocking was heard on the door before said entrance was opened slightly. Lin did not have to turn to know who it was, but knew it was good customer service to at least address the client with a nod when they were walking into the room.

"I've brought my mother. Are Shibuya-san and the others going to be back soon?" Yuuki asked, to which Lin gave a curt nod. He had seen the team walking back to base after Naru had gotten his cup of tea. It would not take them but a few moments.

It seemed that as soon as the two women had silently situated themselves on the couches, the door burst open with a flair of noise. Almost everyone was talking. The only one silent was Naru, who spotted the two women instantly and sent a death glare to his team, wordlessly demanding that they be professional or pay the consequences. They listened to the shiver going down their backs and were instantly quieted.

"I take it you are ready to answer a few questions?" Naru asked coolly, taking a seat across from the clients. Yuuki gave as curt a nod as Lin had given her. The aforementioned man had already opened a new word file and was ready to transcribe the conversation exactly as it played out on his laptop, while Mai was standing on Naru's other side, listening intently. She had no tea to serve, but she may as well try to see if she could figure out a few things for herself concerning the case.

"This is my mother, Kagura Takanashi, and she is the one who insisted that I bring in…psychic researchers," Yuuki seemed to choose her words carefully. Her and her mother shared a silent glance that did not go unnoticed by the team. After more introductions were made, each member of the team introducing themselves and what they brought to the proverbial table, the discussion was underway. Mai noticed that the two women seemed to be even more on edge when exorcisms were mentioned, though she wondered why.

"Takanashi-san, would you explain exactly what it is that led you to call us?" Naru asked, his body faced towards the elder woman so one would not mistake with whom he was conversing. Kagura sat perfectly erect, though her voice seemed to be strained as she responded.

"I'm sure Yuuki has told you about the furniture moving and the cold spots, but I do believe she forgot one warning," the woman stated seriously. This, Mai mentally noted, and was about to ask about it when the woman continued. She seemed to have been choosing her next words wisely.

"The real trouble with these guests began last week. It was around noon and I was thinking about the blank spell I had gotten that morning—I've been getting those a lot lately. I then walked to my daughter and began to talk with her seriously about the possibility of our house being—"

"Mother…" Yuuki's voice was small, yet the warning could easily be heard. Mai watched this carefully, and mentally noted the fact that Kagura nodded her head in recognition of the tone.

"Yes, I know, dear, but I've got to tell them so they know what it is they're dealing with," Kagura stated softly before addressing the team again. "I began to seriously consider that our house might be haunted, yet when I said it—"

The rest of the woman's words, however, were quickly drowned out. For at that moment, the room began to shake and the equipment began to fall off of the tables. John, Bou-san, Ayako, Yasu, Lin, and Mai all went to make sure nothing broke or that anything heavy could land on anyone. Naru observed everything with a keen eye and sharp instincts. When no more sound emanated from the elder woman's throat, the shaking subsided, and everything was soon normal. Lin quickly caught himself up typing the conversation and what had just occurred while Mai made sure everyone was all right. The only people who had remained unmoving during that episode were Naru and the Takanashis.

"Would you kindly explain what just occurred, Takanashi-san?" Naru asked as if nothing had just happened. Rather than explain, the woman wrote a note and passed it to Naru, whose eyes scanned it; who then passed it to Lin, who typed it; who then passed to Mai so she could keep it for future reference. For the sake of everyone who had not seen the paper—and Naru who still could not read kanji very well—she read it out loud.

"This is what we have hired you to investigate, Shibuya-san. Every time the paranormal is mentioned in a direct way, these things happen. I am also sorry to say (or, in this case write) that I will not be able to speak for the next day or so. This has happened a total of twice within the past week, and I am afraid that this occurrence will soon escalate to harm either me or my daughter.

Please help us in ridding ourselves of whatever threat this may pose."

Mai looked up to Kagura, who had bowed her head at this point. Yuuki as well. Mai's attention turned to Naru, who had a look of concentration on his face. To her, it seemed his mind was already at work, attempting to figure out what kind of entity could have the power to take one's voice, or if these two women were somehow pulling his leg. Mai did not believe the latter was the case, and she would say so to Naru later.

Somehow, as Mai looked upon the two women with their heads bowed, she could not imagine anyone putting themselves through this simply for a few laughs.

14AmyChan: *holding white dress shirt* Okay, so that's the introduction of Kagura, Yuuki's mother and last living relation~!

Kagura: Why are you holding a white dress shirt?

14AmyChan: AH! Um... He kind of tossed it away, and I didn't want it to get dirty...

Yuuki: Why didn't Mai catch it?

14AmyChan: Because she was having a nosebleed.

Kagura: um... I hope you all read and review!