The Voodoo Club (self-insert #3)

Chapter 8

The next few weeks passed in a blur. Ubusuna-sensei wasn't fired, but the principal and her counselor kept a careful eye on her. Students began to open up to Kasai at Taka's insistence. The other SPR members kept Mai company as she manned the office while Lin and I took care of Naru at the hospital. I was more than relieved—and exhausted beyond words—by the time he was released and the same night I crashed the second I hit the bed.

Naru, I discovered, could be a very difficult paitient.

"In many ways, this case was a tough one." Bou-san was saying as I set the tea tray on the table. John and Mai nodded, subdued.

"Sure was..."

"Yeah..."

Ayako was a bit more insensitive. "Don't worry about it. What's done is done." She said airily.

"You're such an optimist, Matsuzaki-san."

It still confused me as to why Masako sat next to her. Ayako rounded on her with unbelievable speed. "What did you just say? I can't believe you!" She shrieked at the unfazed medium.

I sighed as I dragged over the chair from the receptionist's desk and plopped down next to Masako. Mai tried her best to regain order. "He...hey, please keep it down. Naru would scold me if..."

"Mai."

Naru stood in the doorway of his office. Mai paled but it seemed he had other things on his minds besides the 'country club' racket, as he was fond of calling it. She managed a hasty smile. "How may I help you, boss?"

"I need you to participate in a quick experiment." He barely noticed her growing anxiety as he set down a little box and a mess of wires before taking the seat opposite her. "One of the four light will light up each time on it's own. You need to guess which light will light up next and push the button first, okay?"

"A game!" I chirped. "Can I play?"

He gave me a droll stare.

Mai scooted forward, her curiousity replacing wariness. "Okay, but...what's all this about?"

"It's a psy-ability test."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and when they finally did the reaction was explosive. She rocketed to her feet. "You mean a psychic ability test?! No way! Why do I have to do this?! You know I don't have psychic ability..." A piercing glare seated her.

"Let's start." He said icily. She nodded determinedly.

It was not a game. By the end of it Mai was a sweating, exhausted, frustrated mess surrounded by snickering colleagues. "Oh, how impressive." Bou-san remarked tactlessly. "You missed them all. You're a genius."

Compared to him, she was Einstein. He didn't have much of a right.

Ayako guffawed. "See! Just like I told you!"

"As I expected." Naru said after studying the long strip of paper the box had vomited. "Mai had latent sensitivity."

That was too much for Ayako. "Sensitive? Mai?! You mean like 'delicate' and 'emotional'?!" She snickered.

"'Sensitive.' She has extrasensory perception. ESP. A person with preternatural power."

That silenced them. For a second, at least.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"This explains why she sometimes has good intuition although she's usually dumb." I winced. "Perhaps her various intuitions during this case weren't just coincidence. Out of 1000 LAN she had scored zero. When you have 1000 chances you should get a certain amount of correct answers based on probability. The number of correct answers a normal person should get is 25%. That means if you score above or below 25%, you will be abnormal."