Playtime (self-insert #2)

Chapter 6

While Ayako prepared for her exorcism and boys left, I plopped down at the base with a sigh. It was unusually quiet without anyone marching around and blathering senselessly, but it was refreshing and borderline comforting. I booted up my laptop and emailed Naru right away. With any luck he was at a screen by now. Why'd you storm off?

He replied quickly. The woman is looking for her daughter and won't leave until she finds her, so we're going to give her Tomiko, or as close to Tomiko as possible.

The hitogata. Right. That doesn't answer my question.

Lin needs certain information about the girl to create the doll. I wanted to ensure it's accuracy so I'm doing it myself.

I grimaced at the screen. No offense, of course.

Of course. Now let me work.

"How's the prep going?" I asked Lin.

"Matsuzaki-san and Taniyama-san have entered the living room. She'll begin shortly." Came the short reply.

Ayako's drone drifted through the speakers. I groaned.

Mai looked about as happy as I felt. I switched my gaze over to the infrared camera, watching the reddish-orange figures sitting in the pale yellow room.

A wave of blue swept over the screen. "Lin." I said sharply, catching his attention.

"There's a rapping sound." He said grimly. "Nira, I need you to focus. What's going to happen?"

No pressure at all. I scrambled for some sort of information, feeling his stare drilling into me. "Um..." I said desperately. "Hold on, hold on. Oh, this is when Mai gets pulled into the well..."

I realized I was talking to an empty chair. "Stay at the screens!" He called behind him, his pounding steps fading away.

Sure enough, Mai was being dragged at high speed towards the well by invisible hands. Lin barged in a little too late, and their hands were tantalizingly close just as Mai slipped into the darkness. I watched them call her several times before Lin straightened and touched his ear. Zzz. "Nira..."

"No, this happens in the manga too. And the light novel and anime. She needs to have the dream." I assured him.

"The dream?"

"She'll tell you when she wakes up. You might want to find away to get her out, though. Can't be very comfortable down there."

He sighed. Zzz.

He left the room and reappeared again with some rope that he tied to a doorknob and slid down. (Where did he even get it, and in that amount?) Ayako handed him a chair, and to my utmost relief Mai climbed out. They led her into the base, Ayako fussing over her like a mother hen. "You said you weren't hurt? Your knee is scraped! Here, sit down and let me treat it."

"I barely even noticed it was there!" Mai protested as Ayako bullied her onto the couch. "I was so distracted. I had this dream..."

Lin glanced at me. I grinned.

"A kidnapper?" Ayako slapped a bandage onto the scrape mercilessly.

"I think so. Hey, do you think my dream might mean anything?"

Ayako scoffed, most likely threatened by the idea of Mai being a competent psychic. After all, what would she do if even a part-timer with an administrative job was more useful than her? "Yeah, right!" She set down the first-aid kit with a decisive thunk. "You're not a psychic, so why would your dream mean anything?"