Dangerous Souls

Post Case 8

Post Case 8- Weekend

Friday, Day 5, After Case, 8:13 P.M.

"So you basically kidnapped an elderly woman to solve your investigation?" Genji asked as the group wandered around the festival. Christmas lights and tents decorated the park as vendors sold their goods and music played from small bands on every corner.

"Funny, that's exactly how she described it when we got to the greenhouse," Mai answered with a smirk. She had dropped off her bag in Genji's car and was glad to not have the extra weight weighing her down. "But hey, she needed closure and so did Masaru, so everything worked out."

"That still doesn't make what you did any better," Keiko argued, giving the girl a wink.

Mai rolled her eyes. "You guys are incorrigible, you know that?"

"Hey, Mai used a big word!" Michiru cheered, snacking on dango. "You get a gold star, girlie!"

"Well, don't look now, actually do, because there goes Kuroda with her boyfriend that you keep insisting is Yasuhara," Mai said, pointing to the pastry tent where said girl and boyfriend were purchasing the same dumplings Michiru was eating.

"I told you guys we didn't know the whole story," Taiki laughed with relief. "And Mai might be right, you could use glasses if you really thought that was Yasuhara."

"That's not who I saw with her," Michiru replied adamantly. "Right, Kei?"

"Yeah, that's not who we saw with her a few nights ago." The girl furrowed her brow. "You don't think she cheating on this guy, do you?"

"Wait, there's Yasuhara!" Michiru pointed further down the walkway. "And that girl is definitely not the same girl he brought to the party."

Mai looked down the way and saw what was definitely her coworker. He was holding the hand of a girl with glasses very similar to their classmate. She squinted to see better. The lighting made it hard to really see color of the girl's hair, and she didn't appear to be quite as tall as Kuroda, but that was also hard to tell without the two standing next to each other. The girl turned a little more toward Mai, but was too far to notice she was being watched.

"That is Kiko!" she exclaimed giving a jump of excitement.

"What? Kiko doesn't wear glasses," Michiru argued furrowing her brow.

"She normally wears contacts. But she wore her glasses on our last case," Mai said grinning ear to ear.

"Well, why don't we go say 'hi' to them?" Taiki offered, earning looks from two of the girls. "Make up for your screw up earlier."

Keiko jabbed him with her elbow. "Make us feel even more awkward you mean."

Mai continued to watch the couple from afar as the boy leaned down to give the girl a peck on the lips. She couldn't keep her smile off of her face as she took one of her friends' hand and led them in the opposite direction of the couple. "Trust me, I think we should let them have their moment in peace," she said sniffing the air. "I'm starving and I think I smell okonomiyaki!"

I'm glad that you two are finally happy together, you deserve it!

***

Hara Masako wasn't quite as high maintenance as the priestess of their group. At least she didn't make complaints when their investigations went outdoors and she would end up with stains on her kimono. That didn't mean she didn't like to pamper herself after a case.

Which is why instead of continuing her studies that she missed out on thanks to Naru's case, the young medium settled herself inside a tub full of hot water and bubbles. She decided to use the bathbomb Ayako had given her as a Christmas present which gave the water a lavender hue. A CD player was sitting on the sink counter, transporting the Japanese bathroom to a mystical lake in Russia. Masako could practically see swans swimming around her.