Dangerous Souls

Post Case 6

Post Case 6-Token

March Sunday, 5:45 P.M.

Mai had been a little late getting to Hozumi's office. She was trying to figure out what exactly she would tell him. She had told him about her demon the week before, so she better come clean on the investigation and the cleansing she received from John.

"You were having blackouts?" Hozumi asked as he handed her a cup of tea. "Was this happening before?"

Mai shook her head. "If they were, I didn't notice them, but when I confronted the demon about it he admitted it." She took a sip and put the cup down. "I think he wanted to convince me to not go to my friend John's on Friday. He didn't want me to get rid of him so he decided to take my memories of the case."

"Did you ever get your memories back? And how did things go with the priest?"

"Yeah, I got them back, luckily I didn't do anything crazy while he must have taken control. He even altered one of the conversations that I had," she explained, remembering the argument she had with Masako. "I remembered it getting natsy, but it turns out that the fight never happened. At least, John managed to stop us before it did get that way. And I realized who was behind the hoax at the office we were investigating during one of the blackouts, when I came to I was at the library getting proof."

She continued to explain her case and what happened at the church. She even told him about her nightmare. In doing so, she had to reveal to him what happened on the case before, which she was pretty sure she skimmed over the details on that. But Hozumi's face remained calm as he listened.

"Sounds like you're now being haunted by your memories," he determined, sitting back. "I was hoping that your Reiki session with Izumi would heal that part of your mind but I guess we needed to deal with the demon first, before you could overcome those wounds."

"So what now? Am I going to have to go through Reiki again and then hope that I start sleeping again? Even now that the demon's gone I can't seem to sleep more than a couple hours at a time."

"It'll be a start, you're also stressing over the end of the school year," Hozumi said, making a note in his notebook. "It's only been two days, your sleep has been disturbed for almost six months. You're not going to bounce back that quickly. You have exams coming up so you're going to be a little stressed out, it's okay that you're not back to where you used to be just yet. These things take time."

Mai took a deep breath and held her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "I know. I know. I just want this to be over and done with. It's just lasted too long and I'm so tired of it all."

Hozumi let out a breath and crossed his arms. "Tell you what, what's your work schedule this week?"

"Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday during the day," she said, lifting her head to rest her chin in her palms. "Why?"

"Tomorrow, I want you to meet me at the spa Izumi works at. I think it will help you balance everything now that you no longer have that entity bothering you." Mai nodded. "This weekend, I'm giving you a little homework."

"Homework?" Mai raised a brow.

"Spend time with your friends outside of school. And if you can, spend time with your coworkers outside of a case. You need to de-stress and reconnect with them. You've gotten rid of two of the causes of your depression and now you need to remind yourself who your family really is. You need to realize just how wrong Shouta was."

Mai cocked an eyebrow at him, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay. I think I can do that. Meet here next Sunday?"

"Actually," he said, uncrossing his arms. "I have a case in Okinawa, so I won't see you until the Sunday after. Unless the case goes longer than we expect, in which case I'll call you to let you know."