Chapter Text
After Mai's encounter with the rude guy, she quickly stocked up at the store only to realize the mirror was missing upon searching for her wallet. Retracing her steps back to the old schoolhouse, she cursed herself for being so unaware. She could have dropped it at any point during her run from the shrine to the market!
Come on, Mai! You gotta be better. Who knows where it could have landed? The more she thought about it, the worst she felt. If some greedy good-for-nothing pawned it off for drug money, she would never be able to live on in peace. Heck, her family and ancestors must be turning in their graves right about now!
Above all else, she felt that she had done a great disservice to Hiroko and the Tsukiyano shrine, ashamed of her obliviousness.
As it was too dark out to reasonably look further, her only course of action would be to wake up early the next day in hopes of retracing her steps. That way, she could feel like she made it up to them in some way. Or at the very least, say that she tried her best.
The next morning, just as promised, Mai woke up for school much earlier to start her search. The forecast called for rain in the late morning until evening, so she made sure to pack an umbrella.
Tucking one side of her hair behind her ear as she usually did, she said her goodbyes to her parents' portraits before heading out.
From the train station, she started her search at the shrine, once again noting the disappearance of the trail. Still feeling perturbed about the whole thing, Mai diverted her attention back to the remaining path that she had taken to school the day before. Virtually nothing was amiss, and no special treasures were found.
Mai groaned at her failure, disappointed that her venture was fruitless. At least I can say I tried, she thought to herself. She wondered if the mirror knew she would be such an inadequate caretaker that it ghosted itself back to the spirit realm.
With that chapter in her life seemingly closed for the time being, she forced herself to resume her day as normal. Her group's weekly ghost storytelling that afternoon served as her only source of solace that day.
"Mai! You ready?" Keiko asked, approaching her desk after the class had started filtering out.
"You bet I am," Mai grinned, shoving the rest of her books in her bag haphazardly. "I got a good one today. I've been thinking about it for the past week."
Michiru pulled up beside the two, a nervous smile on her face. "Can't wait to not sleep tonight," she joked. "I'm not going to lie, I completely forgot to prepare a story today."
"Too sad about your date?" Mai teased. "Just tell us about some creepy things you've heard! Doesn't have to be in story format."
After the three girls finished packing, they headed to the vending machines for Keiko to get a milk tea before heading to the usual lab that they used. The rain was pouring heavily outside, lending the perfect atmosphere to tell their stories.
While not fully aware of the extent of her experiences, Keiko and Michiru had an inkling that Mai was "one those people with a knack for spiritual stuff," as they put it. This became apparent when Mai would occasionally suggest avoiding certain places or doing certain things on a given day. She was never direct about it, always offhandedly making a comment here and there. Whenever they brushed off her suggestions, something would always happen that indicated that they should've listened.
Sometimes when they were all hanging out outside of school, Mai would be caught glancing at something over their shoulders. When they would turn to look, they never saw anything. At first, they assumed it could've just been her breaking eye contact during a normal conversation. Yet, sometimes her attention would be on whatever it was for a tad too long to just be nothing.
Whenever they asked Mai about those occurrences, she would merely shrug and say it wasn't important. At times, she almost seemed a bit uncomfortable acknowledging that she'd been caught.
She never did deny their suspicions, though.
Considering they all had an interest in the paranormal, even if only through ghost stories, neither Keiko nor Michiru were freaked out—there were plenty of stories on TV about people who could speak to spirits and whatnot! Mai just happened to be one of those few individuals.
Apparently, the girl in question had been subjected to ridicule by a few peers, and even a teacher, in the past because she said "a few strange things." To counteract the previous reactions, Keiko and Michiru opted to do what they understood was best for Mai. And that was to not react at all.
From what they knew about Mai, she liked to be comfortable. Living an uneventful teenage life, even if only for appearances, was one such comfort.
Perhaps, due to teenage insecurity or fear of the unknown, Mai preferred to not talk about her abilities much. She believed they weren't relevant to her daily life; or maybe, she just didn't want them to be relevant in her life.
Setting up the chairs and retrieving their flashlights, the girls prepared for their session to begin. They turned off the lights and got into place. Keiko took an anticipatory sip of her milk tea and tightened her pigtails before clearing her throat.
"So, this is something I heard about a long time ago on some after-midnight special. According to sources, there was this guy who inherited a huge farmhouse from a distant relative who passed away. Because the man had no family of his own, he lived all alone in this house," Keiko started, setting the scene.
"Every night, he would hear scratching sounds coming from the hallway. Of course, when he would check, he never saw anything. One night, fed up with the sounds, he followed it all the way to the end of the hall where there was only a dead-end. Hearing the scratching even closer now, he placed his ear against the wall and waited," her voice grew quiet.
"The scratching started up again, directly on the other side of where his ear was pressed! Freaked out, the man checked the nearby rooms adjacent to that wall and found nothing, not even a door to enter the space. Realizing that there was an area of the house with no access to it, he got his axe and smashed the wall down," she paused. "What he found were markings scratched into every inch of the room. 'I miss you, my darling. You're always in my thoughts. When will you come for me?' were some of the markings etched into the walls, as if someone had used a stick to scratch every single character. There was no one to be found in there. Except for a small pile of bones, hidden underneath a blue dress in the corner of the room."
Michiru let out a gasp. "Eeh, I don't like that one." Mai nodded her head in agreement, goosebumps lightly covering her arms.
"Heh, right? Isn't that creepy?" agreed Keiko. "After I heard it, I begged my brother to sleep in his room, but all he told me was to suck it up. So mean."
Keiko clicked off her light. "Okay, your turn, Mai!"
The sound of rain pelting against the window and roof provided the perfect suspense as Mai prepared her own story.
She cleared her throat, leaning into the table for theatrics. "One night, a security guard at an apartment complex is forced to come into work for the overnight shift. Like any other night, he made his rounds, nothing out of the ordinary… that is, until he saw an office lady in a white dress suit wandering the halls searching for something.
"Approaching the woman, he asked her if she needed help. She told him that she was afraid to walk to her apartment alone, because she thought she had someone stalking her. The guard surveyed the area first and then asked her which apartment she was staying in. He offered to walk her back to make sure she was safe. 'Thank you. I'm in apartment 444,' she said. He could have sworn that they didn't even have an apartment that number, but walked with her anyways. When they reached the fourth floor, she led him all the way to the opposite end where, without a doubt, was room 444."
Mai's voice lowered to almost a whisper. "The door was ajar, so the security guard told the woman to wait outside, so he could check the apartment. Upon entering with his flashlight, nothing was amiss at first, but then he saw it. The same woman he had been walking with was on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds through her head and chest, laying in a puddle of her own blood, staining her white dress suit completely. Alarmed, the guard swiveled around to the hall only to find that the woman with him was gone.
"When he turned back to where the body was, it was also gone. Terrified, he ran right out of the building. The next day, his coworker told him that on the CCTV, he hadn't been talking to anyone the whole time, and that the 'apartment' he had gone into had always been a storage room!" She said with a sinister affect, intent on spooking Keiko.
The girl in question made a high-pitched noise, backing away from the table slightly. "I hate when you use that voice!"
Mai laughed, promptly turning off her flashlight.
"Shh, don't be too loud, guys. Someone will hear us!" Michiru said, nudging her friends in the side.
"Okay, okay, sorry—anyways, it's your turn, Michiru."
"Right… I guess I'll tell the story about the old schoolhouse."
"You mean the crusty one that's falling apart across from us?" asked Mai.
"Oh, but it's not only crusty and falling apart," Michiru replied, now deepening her voice, "but also cursed. They say that even when it was still running, there would be frequent unexplainable fires, some that people claim to have seen start all by themselves. Following a murder case that was being investigated in a neighboring town, a student had found blood oozing out from under one of the stalls… when her friends dared her to opened it, they found a little girl's body from the waist down propped up as if someone had set her up like a doll.
"A teacher hung themselves soon after, being found dangling in one of the classrooms as the students began coming in for class. Finally, when the new schoolhouse opened, they had tried to take down the old building only for strings of construction workers to fall ill, all with the same symptoms. Some say that they were coughing up blood, with a few men having to be hospitalized! If it wasn't the illnesses, then it was the many incidents—when they tried to demolish the west wall, it fell through the second floor and killed everyone on the first floor. Soon after, a bus driver lost control of his bus, claiming that it ran itself straight into the schoolhouse, running over students who were outside as well as the students inside.
Michiru leaned in, as if telling a secret. "Not to mention, there was a night where my senpai was leaving her sports club late and happened to walk by the schoolhouse on her way home. Feeling like she was being watched, she glanced over at the old schoolhouse only to find an apparition of a man staring right at her through the window!"
Keiko jumped back from the table, her chair screeching loudly against the floor. "That's creepy! I didn't even know all that happened. I mean, Mai, you've never seen anything there, right?"
Mai shook her head. "Nope, nothing. The building looks like it could have something, though."
Michiru clicked off her light, depriving them of their only source of light.
"One."
"Two.."
"Three…"
…
"Four."
"Oh my god, one's finally here to kill us!"
The girls shrieked, nearly jumping out of their chairs with Keiko actually jumping onto Mai.
Overhead, the lights suddenly flicked on, causing Mai to squeeze her eyes shut at the brightness. She blinked several times before her eyesight corrected itself, lending to an image of a black-clad individual standing at the lab door… a familiar black-clad individual, at that.
Michiru responded first. "Oh, please tell me that was you!" she exclaimed, relief clearly written on her face as she plopped back in her chair.
"Sorry, did I scare you? I couldn't help but listen in on your ghost stories," Mystery-individual said, his voice fairly deep and smooth. He flashed an astonishingly handsome smile, instantly blinding her two friends.
"Oh, um, that's okay!" Michiru and Keiko quickly ditched Mai to go welcome the new—good looking—presence. "Are you a transfer student? What grade are you in?"
Why does he look way too used to this type of attention? Mai quirked her brow. She could admit that he was sort of handsome… okay, definitely handsome now that she could see him clearly compared to last night.
"I turn 17 this year," he said, her friends beginning to chat him up.
Mai tilted her head in thought, feeling that something was off about him. Kind of a weird answer. Why not just say second year? Finally deciding to leave her spot at the table, she loudly let the chair screech against the floor. She approached with caution, remaining a good distance away.
Catching her movement, he flickered his eyes up to her in recognition.
"What's your name?" Keiko asked.
Bringing his attention back to the two in front of him with another charming smile. "Shibuya Kazuya."
Definitely fishy! That smile is so fake.
She could always leave it to her friends to lose all reason just because some cute guy walked into the room from who knows where. Mai narrowed her eyes at him in challenge. "So, Shibuya-san, or whatever, what business do you have here?"
"I was simply running some errands when I heard your interesting stories," he said, narrowing his eyes an almost negligible amount.
"Well, you might as well get to it, since we're all done now," she challenged.
Keiko shot her a look of betrayal, quickly trying to rectify the situation. "A-ah, that's okay, Mai. A short chat would never hurt anyone." She shyly twisted the end of one pigtail in her fingers. "Um, Shibuya-kun, since you liked our stories, would you like to join us next time?"
Curse Keiko for being so thirsty.
"I'd be delighted, but only if you don't mind?"
Michiru—who was already kind of seeing a guy, by the way—immediately agreed, "Of course not! We could do tomorrow in our classroom?"
As Mai rolled her eyes as her friends shamelessly flirted, her attention was suddenly drawn to something in the hallway. Glowing with a soft ethereal light, it took the shape of a white rabbit. She walked closer to the door, trying to get a better look from around the commotion, but it had started to hop away down the hallway. It left a trail of white glowing paw prints against the dark floor that seemed to fade the further the rabbit moved.
"Shibuya Kazuya" switched his attention over to Mai when he noticed her staring intently at something behind him. At first, he ignored it, assuming another student was out in the hall—and yet, she continued to inch closer to the door, as if studying something unusual. Briefly chancing a glance back, he found nothing worth noting. Whatever it was, it piqued her interest enough that she slipped around them to head down the hall.
"I'll be back," she quickly mumbled to her friends.
"Wait, Mai, where are you going?" called out Keiko. Michiru stepped into the hallway, peering out the door.
Mai kept her eyes forward, afraid to lose sight of the rabbit. "I'm just gonna check something out. I'll be back in a few, I swear!" she said, waving her hand back at them.
Michiru brought her hand up to her chin in thought. "Wonder if she saw something weird?"
Oliver's brow twitched ever so slightly.
"We should probably grab our stuff and follow her. It's getting late, anyways," Michiru said, turning around.
Keiko nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." The two grabbed their bags, Keiko picking up Mai's bag. "Sorry about that, Shibuya-senpai! We'll see you tomorrow then? Our classroom is room 1-F!"
.
Later that night, Mai was preparing her lunch for the next day. Her mind drifted back to earlier when she had chased that spirit rabbit—or whatever it was. When she had almost caught up to it, her friends ambushed her from behind. That caused her to look away for only a mere second, resulting in the rabbit completely disappearing. Unless her school suddenly had an animal haunting, she couldn't make any sense of the whole thing!
But, wait.
If she remembered correctly, the pocket mirror had little rabbits embroidered into it. What if, as punishment for losing it, the animal spirit came back to curse her for all eternity?!
She groaned at the thought, fluctuating between brushing off the notion and finding it plausible enough to mourn her luck. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself a momentary pause of self-pity.
She blamed it all on that Shibuya Kazuya character, or whatever his name was.
Sure, she was being a little dramatic, not to mention unreasonable for blaming him... but if it made her feel a little bit better at that moment, then so be it. Besides, what was up with him anyway? Yesterday, he was a total ass crack to her, and then today, he was all gentlemanly and suave with Keiko and Michiru! What a fake.
The scent of moderately charred meat broke her out of her internal rant, drawing her attention back to the hamburg steak she was frying, er, burning. "Crap!" she turned off the stove and slid open her window wider to let the smell out. Sighing, she gave the steak a few pokes with her chopstick.
The sad part was that she was probably still going to eat it, anyways.
Come the next day, after she wrapped up her extra crispy bento lunch, Mai headed out for school a tad earlier than usual. The rain had stopped last night, leaving her with a crisp spring morning accompanied by the nostalgic scent of dew that she loved.
The sakura trees were also in bloom, leading to a very pleasant walk to school. She lived only a few train stops away from the school, so the journey wasn't very far.
As she passed the old schoolhouse, she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to the stories Michiru shared the night before. Were there really that many deaths here? This place never struck me as anything but a crummy old building.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked through the old school gate and approached the entrance. Noticing a camera propped on a tripod through the front door, she pressed her hand against the glass for a better look. She didn't get a particularly bad feeling, but her gut told her she probably shouldn't mess with it.
She was about to turn away when she caught sight of the rabbit from yesterday, sitting a little further into the hallway.
Her next move was likely going to be the dumbest thing she did this year, but she just had to figure out why it was appearing to her. Slowly creeping into the building, she moved a little closer to the hallway. Trying not to get into view of the camera that sat to her right, she kneeled to a lower level. Inching closer, she said, "Hello there, little guy. Is there any reason you're suddenly showing yourself to me?" No answer. "Or are you here to punish me for losing the mirror?"
The rabbit blinked, telling Mai that must have been some kind of intelligent answer.
"I can't explain how sorry I am. I'm… not the most organized person, and I probably wasn't the best person to entrust it to—well, I'm sure you're aware of that by now. If there's any way for me to make it up to you, please show me a si-"
"Who's there?"
Startled, Mai shot up in a clumsy mess, accidentally stumbling into the camera beside her and knocking it smack into the floor. She cringed at the sound of plastic and glass cracking as it hit the floor. She internally kicked herself for proving her own point!
A tall man walked towards her, immediately dipping down to the ground to inspect the, now probably broken, equipment. He glared at her through the one eye that wasn't covered by his bangs. "What were you doing in here?" he questioned coldly.
"Uh, I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to. I, uh, saw a rabbit in here and was trying to get it out of the building," she impulsively answered. Ugh, way to go. That was the single most suspicious answer you could have come up with! It wasn't a complete lie though…
Footsteps were heard approaching from behind, followed by a familiar voice. "What's going on over here?"
Mai turned to find Shibuya, or whatever, from yesterday approaching, his eyes flickering between Mai, the other man, and the camera.
The tall man inspecting the camera spoke up first, "The camera is damaged, but the footage may still be salvageable,” he said, before promptly standing from his crouch. He was easily four heads taller than her!
"I'm sorry, I knocked it over by accident," she quickly piped up, not sure who to address in this situation.
"We met yesterday, right? What's your name?" Shibuya, or whatever, asked.
She nodded her head. "It's Taniyama Mai."
"Well, I thought I should let you know that you're going to be late as the morning bell just rang for your first class."
Everything paused at that moment, the sound of the bell playing in the distance. "What?!" Forgetting the whole debacle, Mai made a quick escape, running at full speed towards the school.
Oliver watched her sprint for a few seconds, before turning his attention to the camera. "How does it look?"
His associate, Lin Koujo, shook his head. "We will have to get it repaired, or replaced. I was able to remove the footage—would you like to review it?"
Oliver nodded. "Yes. Did she say why she was in here?"
"Apparently, she had seen a rabbit enter. I had left the doors closed before leaving for the van, so that possibility is slim. It could have just been an excuse."
Later upon review of the footage, the two sat in equal perplexity as they replayed the audio. They listened as Mai addressed something that they couldn't see. What was curious to Oliver was that she mentioned the mirror she had dropped the other day. Oliver hadn't been able to return it to her as she had practically run out of the classroom yesterday night.
To make sense of the situation, he pulled out the pocket mirror from inside his jacket, now wrapped up in his handkerchief. "Lin, I believe she was talking about this," he said, assuming his assistant understood. "Can you decipher the characters?"
Lin studied the mirror, noting the rabbit design. He took a few moments to interpret the characters written on the cover. "This is written in ancient Chinese, which I am not as proficient in. In basic terms, 'Under the protection of the moon, we shall thrive,' is what it says."
"Interesting," Oliver noted.
Perhaps, she could be of some use in this case.
.
The school day came and went, completely draining the energy out of her. When the final bell rang, Mai's head comfortably became one with the top of her desk. She stretched her arms out, practically croaking at the amount of dread flowing in waves within her knowing that eventually Shibuya, or whatever, was going to hunt her down about the camera.
A finger poked her from the side. "You okay, Mai? That sound you just made was ghastly," asked Michiru.
"I totally get it, though. The number of projects we just got assigned this afternoon should be illegal!" Keiko exclaimed, quickly sweeping the area to ensure their sensei was out of earshot lest she lost even more favor with her instructor.
Mai sat up, finally deciding to put away her books and head out. She didn't feel like telling stories today, cute guy or not—she already had her fill of him for the week.
"Wait, are you heading home? We're supposed to tell ghost stories with that cute guy, remember?"
"Nope, not interested." Mai continued to pack her bag, very intent on avoiding further shenanigans for the day.
"Oh, come on, Mai! It'll be our only chance to tell ghost stories with someone so cute!" Keiko challenged.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard approaching them from the classroom entrance. "So, it's been you guys? Telling ghost stories every day? No wonder I've been getting migraines. When you tell stories like that, it attracts groups of low-level spirits that attract stronger ones, giving me these awful headaches." Standing at the door was… Kuroda, was it? She was from class 1-C. She was someone who usually kept to herself. So, why she was here bugging them, Mai couldn't say.
"And you're blaming us for that? I don't think that's how that works," Mai retorted, not feeling in the mood for this.
Kuroda didn't take that response well, if the scrunching of her eyebrows and deepening of her frown was any indication. "I'll have you know that when you entertain yourself with these little stories of yours, it attracts hordes of spirits, putting me at risk, because of how sensitive I am!" She crossed her arms, the lights reflecting off her glasses.
Cry me a river. Mai didn't know if the Kuroda truly had powers or not—and it really wasn't her right to say, anyways—but for someone who supposedly did, she flaunted about them an awful lot.
"If you claim to be as sensitive as you are, do you sense anything in the old schoolhouse?" A voice interrupted. Everyone turned to find Shibuya, or whatever, leaning against the other classroom entrance in all his handsome glory.
Kuroda turned, redirecting her attention. "Is this your doing? Putting these girls up to telling these ridiculous ghost stories?"
"I don't quite follow," he feigned ignorance, "and, you didn't answer my question. Perhaps, your abilities aren't as you say?"
Kuroda frowned, tightening her hands into fists. "I'll have you know that there are countless spirits in there who died from the war—in fact, I have seen many injured spirits in there, so I'm positive that the schoolhouse used to operate as a hospital."
Keiko and Michiru both spared Mai a glance, almost as if to confirm. The girl in question ignored their looks and opted to study her dry cuticles instead.
"I wasn't aware of a hospital being present, but because the school was built prior to the war, perhaps, it was a medical school?" Shibuya, or whatever, inquired.
Appearing to have struck a nerve with her, Kuroda raised her voice. "Look, I don't know, but I really do see spirits. If you don't have psychic powers, you wouldn't understand."
"Um, sorry, Shibuya-senpai. Maybe we could do this another day," Keiko said, piping up before Kuroda became angrier.
Michiru nodded. "Yeah, I don't really feel like telling stories, anymore."
"Fine, perhaps another day," Shibuya, or whatever, nodded, already making his way out of the room. Mai—almost—felt a sense of relief as he began to leave, but as with her luck, he paused briefly before directly addressing her. "Also, Taniyama-san, could I speak with you for a moment?"
That's going to have to be a 'no.'
Swallowing, she nodded reluctantly, following him into the hallway as she heard her friends huff in envy in the background.
The two walked down the hall, away from the likely prying ears of the other three girls. A bit tense, Mai found the shadows in the hallway to be the most interesting things she had ever seen. With neither of them saying anything, her eyes flickered between his back, the floor, and the windows—the awkwardness of the situation fully sinking in.
"So, um, what were you two doing in the old schoolhouse?" she broke the ice.
"We were working,” he answered, continuing to walk ahead of her, giving Mai only a view of his back.
Mai nodded her head, beginning to put the pieces together. "I see! Are you his assistant then?"
"Not quite. He's the assistant and I am the boss. That camera that you knocked over earlier is part of my equipment and it's now broken.” He turned to her, eyes cold as ice.
She flinched.
"Why were you leaving a camera around like that, anyway?" she grumbled to herself, but still loud enough for him to hear. She had broken it by accident when she was startled. So a part of her felt that, in good faith, he could conveniently let her go? Or... she could be mature and hold some accountability. The latter thought leaving her with a little less guilt, she forced out, "Can I pay you back in some way?"
"If you're able to afford 500,000 yen, by all means, but I highly doubt it."
Mai's eye twitched. "Okay, then is there another option I can take?"
He paused. "You can start by working off your debt as an extra hand to my assistant and me."
The suggestion, er, demand, almost sounded reasonable. Too reasonable. "You really think someone like me with no experience should start working for you?"
"That is what I said."
Brushing off his rudeness, she instead eyed him suspiciously. "And what is this 'work' that you do?”
"I am what you would call, 'a ghost hunter,'" he answered, turning to face her fully. "I specialize in researching psychic phenomena reported through cases, and exorcising spirits. The principal at this school hired Shibuya Psychic Research to investigate the old schoolhouse."
"Psychic research…," she tested the words in her mouth. Her English was far from the best, but she was at least a little familiar with the words—Japanese people on the internet liked to use English jargon here and there on their websites and blogs. "So, you're in contact with spirits almost daily?"
"That is what the title entails," he said, condescension oozing from his tone. He studied her a few moments. "Will that be a problem?"
He's so hateful.
"Not at all!" Internally, she plead to the gods of whatever universe about why she was the forgotten one who missed their blessings. All in one day, she accidentally gained some debt, landed a for-free-labor job, and now must work with one of the most confusing people she's ever met, while also being thrown right into the slew of whatever spiritual mess was at the schoolhouse—she did have the sneaking suspicion that there wasn't anything there, but who was she to say? She was just some random girl with no real experience.
He raised a brow. "And as I am the president, you will be working for my company," he made a point to add.
Albeit still annoyed at his holier-than-thou demeanor, Mai would be lying if she said that she wasn't at least impressed. She supposed she should start addressing him as something better than, "Shibuya, or whatever."
As she was reevaluating her judgment of his character, Kazuya paid her no mind and simply reached into his pocket, pulling out an item wrapped in a black handkerchief. "I believe this is yours."
Curious, she took the item from his hand and unwrapped it, revealing the same pocket mirror that had caused her so much distress for the past few days! "No way! You had this the whole time?" She inspected it for damage, tracing her hand along the design. "And I traveled all the way back to that creepy shrine for nothing. You owe me big time," she grumbled quietly to the mirror.
He studied her in interest as she spoke to the item as though it were animate. "How a high school girl came to be in possession of a valuable artifact, I don't know, but do take care to keep it safe."
Unsure of how she should respond, she opened her mouth a few times only to have nothing to say. Should she thank him for his suggestion? Or get annoyed that he assumed it couldn't have been a family heirloom or something?
He did research this kind of thing, though… so, she wondered if it would be better to have him watch over the item in her stead?
Holding the pocket mirror to her chest, she half-lidded her eyes. The voice inside her told her that she should keep it, but her mind wondered if someone as irresponsible as her had the right to possess such a sacred item.
Kazuya having turned partially, glanced back at her, noting her internal struggle. "That mirror belongs with you. Doubting yourself is time wasted." Without waiting for a response, he began walking down the hallway, likely to begin his work at the old schoolhouse.
Mai watched his back as he walked away, resolve settling in her chest. That was kind of okay advice? Maybe he can be nice, in his own off-handed way…?
Perhaps, it would do her some good to doubt herself less and listen to her gut more.
Holding the mirror tightly in her hands, she followed after him, feeling a little more open to working with him for the time being.