Playtime (self-insert #2)

Chapter 5

The next day the sky was slightly overcast, but my mood had improved. I didn't have to worry about waking up to find Minnie standing over me with a cleaver. I'd done something productive that wasn't rewinding and forwarding recordings. After washing up and eating breakfast—Nutella sandwiches. Yum.—I found the others back at the base. A box full of ashes sat on the table like a trophy. "Is she...?" I asked tentatively as I plopped down on a chair after handing Naru the paper of information. He slid it between the papers of one of his notebooks without glancing at it.

"Takigawa-san took care of it early this morning." Lin answered.

"I think the true character of Minnie was the spirit trapped in this house." John was saying to Bou-san and Naru, his blue eyes sad. "I wonder if it was the spirit of all the children who died here?"

"Most likely. Their spirits are so lonely that when a child comes into this house, they try to take it away with them." Bou-san replied just as glumly. "Then those children also end up becoming spirits."

"But why would they only want children?" Naru cut in, reaching for his notebook.

"Huh?"

"If they're so lonely, why wouldn't they take anybody with them?" He elaborated. "Those who could potentially become their mothers...like Noriko-san or Mai? Why would Minnie want to get rid of the adults...Mai, how is Masako doing?"

"She's still feeling ill."

"I see." He flipped through the pages, trying to find the paper. "Let's perform an exorcism, Monk-san."

"Me?"

I grinned. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

He glared at me.

"The first child who died in this house was Yuki Tachibana. Here are the years of her birth and death, and her kaimyo." He found and handed him the sheet of paper. "She belonged to the Jodo sect of Buddhism."

"This information dates back 70 years. I'm impressed how well you researched it." Bou-san nodded appreciatively.

"It—"

"It was easy." Naru said, smoothly cutting me off as he strode over to check in with Lin.

I tried my best to rein in my temper. "That was my hard work. I should have you sued for plagiarism."

"That's ridiculous. You can't be sued by someone who isn't supposed to exist." He replied, keeping eyes on the screen. Leaning forward, he read through some of the data.

"Ever heard of a class action lawsuit, buddy?" I demanded. "The least you could do is show some appreciation."

"Thank you." He said insincerely. I huffed indignantly.

As soon as Noriko and Ayami were seen off with Ayako and John as spiritual bodyguards, Bou-san prepared for his exorcism. In no time he was waiting in Ayami's bedroom, overflowing with confidence. "Monk-san, are you ready?"

"Anytime!"

"Mai, keep an eye on him."

"Okay."

The moment he began chanting, the infrared camera displayed blotches of pale blue around him quickly growing darker. "The temperature's dropping. Especially around the bed..." Lin compared the feed to the chart. "It's already down to 35 degrees!"

Naru's gave was fixed on Bou-san. "How 'bout the mike?"

Lin slipped on the headphones and listened for a moment. "The tape's rolling but so far...nothing. It's unusually quiet." He reported, but a minute too early. "A rapping noise has started and some knocking."

It dawned on me, and I resisted the urge to bang my head against the edge of the table. Instead, I slapped my forehead. "The living room. It's the living room!"

Mai whirled around to the monitors, her eyes widening. "Naru!" Fog hung low in the living room, curling and eddying over the floor.

"Lin, what's the temperature in the living room?"

"28 degrees."

His eyes widened, shocked. "Below freezing...?" He began before snapping into action. "Monk-san, your room's not where the problem is! It's the living room!"

"The living room?!"

"Why do you have to question him? Get a move on!" I burst out. Galvanized into action, his robes swirled around him as he rushed out of the bedroom.

"Naru!"

The fog had begun to rise, swirling in the air as if it had a life of it's own. Each plume twisted and twirled until they had eyes and a gaping mouth. The wailing began.

"Hey, what's going on? Why is it freezing in here?" Bou-san snapped. Despite the situation I bit back a smile. He sounded like a cranky old man finding kids in his freshly mowed backyard. "Don't come near me, you little..." He broke off into his mantra, sending the little spirits scattering and screeching.

My child...

Mai had been watching the spirits with a mixture of pity and horror, but now something caught her attention. A shadowy woman stood at the far end of the living room behind Bou-san.

Tomiko, she whispered. Tomiko, my little girl.

"Monk-san! Behind you!"

"What? I can't see anything!"

Naru cursed. "He can't see it..." Without warning, Mai turned on her heel and sped out of the room. "Mai, don't go!"

"She'll be fine." I assured him, watching it all play out on the monitors. Mai charged in, rushing right through the shadowy woman. "There's several more books left in the series."

"What?" Thankfully, he stayed put.

Crack. Crack.

Where the woman had been standing, a perfectly round hole with splintered edges yawned up at the ceiling. Mai and Monk-san returned soon after, a little shaken. Naru got right to work. "Join me in the living room when you're ready, Bou-san. Mai, go see if Hara-san is feeling well enough."

We all gathered around the hole, Bou-san leaning gingerly over the edge. I tried, but the sheer height sent me scrambling towards wall with trembling knees. "This well already existed beneath the floor." He remarked, running a hand over the grimy stones. "It's a pretty old one."

Masako spoke from behind her kimono sleeve, her eyes fixed on the well. "To me, it seems this well goes deep into the Earth and at the very bottom the children are unable to leave. The spirit of a woman is trapped in here. She is hiding deep inside the well...and she is calling out for more spirits of children by pretending to be their mother. The children want to go out but they are so lost they cannot find their way out." Her voice shook. "The woman tried to lure new spirits by manipulating the spirits of the children already trapped. Minnie...who is actually Yuki Tachibana-san, is the leader of the group. But in reality, Yuki-san's spirit is in so much pain and agony that she just wants to stop this and go home."

I shuddered. "Good thing we sent Ayami when we did, right?"

"Who is 'Tomiko'?" Naru inquired.

"The woman's daughter. The woman is looking for her child." Masako replied. "Her own daughter. She gathers other spirits in the hopes of finding her."

Naru nodded. "I see." Without hesitating, he snatched up his coat and made for the door.

Mai's eyes widened. "Naru? Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. I'm not sure when I'll be back. Please take care of things." He said offhandedly. "Nira, keep an eye on your inbox and report anything to Lin."

The door slammed behind him.

Bou-san sighed, taking over by sheer force of age. "By the way, whose turn is it to do the exorcism this time?"

Everyone's eyes slowly moved towards Ayako.

Eventually, she sighed. "No problem, I'll do it. Monk-san and John, could you please go stay with Ayami-chan?"