Lin held out the piece of wood to Akane. She immediately thought that the thing in her hand poorly resembled a person, let alone a doll. Sure it had a circle for a head and triangle-like shapes she guessed were supposed to be arms and legs. But she certainly didn't expect the hitogawa to be a flat piece of wood. Nor did she expect it to be so aesthetically lacking.

Her confusion must have been clear on her face because Lin asked. "Is something wrong?"

Honestly the tall Chinese man kind of terrified Akane a bit so it wasn't surprising that she jumped at first when he addressed her. "Er...no...it's just not what I anticipated a hitogawa would look like I guess."

"Ah, you expected something more like a voodoo doll."

She shrugged. "I suppose I did, yeah."

"Well, you have nothing to worry about. These are the same hitogawa I always work with. I haven't had them fail me yet. I don't anticipate them failing me now." Lin attempted to assure her. He wasn't sure he was succeeding however.

It became pretty apparent he was failing when she said. "So, if this doesn't work it is more likely that it would be my fault. A failed performance by the non-actress cast in her very first role on her very first job."

Lin was at a loss for words luckily John quickly swooped in to rescue him. "No one is going to expect perfection on your first time around. Besides that, I think he is more worried that Haruka won't take the bait."

"And if he doesn't take the bait then I lash out at him with my own powers." Akane stated. It was obvious she was doubting herself but she was trying to be as brave as she could, given the situation.

"Yes, consider carefully how you want to attack him before we set up the scenario. I imagine you are first thinking to attack his mind like you would a normal human."

"Considered is definitely the word. I did consider just that. Because I am not sure it will work on someone that doesn't have a corporeal form I also considered attacking his entire metaphysical form. It would probably be tricky but it's the only standby I have."

"It sounds like a good standby to me. Plus, if anything goes wrong I will be standing in that doorway where he won't be able to initially see me. I will exorcise his spirit if it comes to that. As a whole we prefer to cleanse a spirit rather than exorcise one. But sometimes what we hope for just can't come to pass."

Akane nodded in understanding. Their plan was as solid as it could be. Now they just had to get in their positions.

The only thing that hadn't occurred to her was how they were going to lure the spirit to their location.

"No, Mai. Until you have a better grasp of your astral projection, and we are sure you won't weaken yourself like you did previously you aren't going to endanger yourself." Noll was not thrilled to realize that they had overlooked something about their plan. He was even less enthused about the fact that Mai was attempting to rectify it by offer herself as bait. Now there were two team members that could easily be hurt on this case.

"So, it's okay for Akane to endanger herself?" Mai was some parts annoyed and almost equal parts angry. It was hard to say which emotion had more weight at the moment.

The old Noll would probably have grit his teeth and walked away but since years had passed and made him somewhat maturer he knew that this would be a poor decision. He also knew that it would make Mai more angry, and he definitely didn't want to do that. So instead he took a deep breath and attempted to placate her emotions. "No, I didn't say that. But, Akane does have the ability to heal herself." Mai looked like she was going to blow up at him again so he quickly added. "The only reason I point this out is because, if she gets injured she wouldn't have enough energy in reserve to heal you also if you need it after this ordeal is done."

Mai realized now that his annoyance was coming from a place of concern, and it touched her heart. She smiled up at him. "I won't have to exert energy to physically touch anything this time. It will only be me luring him here. The minute my astral projection climbs those stairs I will re-enter my body. I may not have been training my astral projection but I am pretty confident that this much is within my limits."

Noll didn't have much ammunition to argue with so he had to concede that she had a good point. "You are still to remain on that couch until I tell you otherwise. You won't get up until I know for certain you have the strength to move." He pulled something from his pocket. "Also, I want to you to hold onto this while you are under. I'm hoping it will keep you anchored to your physical form." He placed what he had been holding into her cupped palm.

Mai looked down at the object it question. It was an antique looking sterling silver pocket watch. The chain was absent, only the watch part remained. "What's this?"

"It was my father's. He lent it to me the first time I left England with the promise that I would return it to him when I got back. While he's not much for outlandish superstition and prefers things to have scientific proof my mother convinced him that it must be a good luck charm since she did not only have one of her boys return but also the one she thought she had lost. I guess that's why he let me keep it."

While the story didn't bring a smile to his face Mai knew that it had touched his heart. The same way it touched her own. "I'll keep it safe for you."

Mai was starting to look forward to meeting his parents. As long as Naru wants me to meet them. She took a deep breath and squelched that train of thought before it left the station. When it came to their budding romance it was better to take things one day at a time.

Mai's astral form materialized in the creepy room where Haruka had killed and surgically removed body parts. She felt goosebumps ripple over the flesh of her arms and the hair at the back of her neck begin to stand on end. She spun around quickly and could just make out the shape of Haruka's spirit form wrapped in a dense fog, or rather miasma. The unfortunate part was he appeared behind her so she would have to get past him to get back to her destination.

"Well. Well. Well. If it isn't the dream walker with the glorious mane of hair. Where is the other one with the lovely eyes? Or, did you come here to assist me as my nurse? I would love to hitchhike in that mind of yours and force you to do abominable things."

Mai was sure he couldn't overtake her while in her astral form. So the fact that he threatened to possess her didn't leave her worried. It was the fact that he was between her and her objective that bothered her. "I shouldn't have had to come seek you out this way."

"Oh? What other way should you have approached me?"

"I shouldn't have to had to approach you at all. You should have come to find me. I know you aren't tied to this room. You have traveled a decent amount of the years. Haven't you?" Mai began to back away a bit, coercing him into chasing her so her back could once again be at the entrance to this room.

"Ooh, do you fancy yourself a detective? Your investigative skills don't impress me. But, you aren't wrong. I could have easily seized your mind by now if I had been more direct. Oh well, you are here now."

His vapory arm reached out for her, and Mai jumped back from it. "You will just have to come get me if you want me that badly." She whipped around quickly and took off. Her astral form was faster than her corporeal one because she didn't have to stop to gain her breath. Her limbs didn't burn from exertion. But she still didn't move quite as fast a wispy spirit form. So she had to put as much distance between Haruka and herself as she could.

She reached the stairs and felt the cold tingling sensation creep up her spine. He was definitely following and rapidly gaining on her. Once she reached the landing she turned and waited for him to climb up behind her. His form cleared the secret passage, and just after Monk closed it behind him. He slapped one of the charms on the door. Gene quickly slapped several of the charms on the blank northern walls, while Ayako slapped several on the blank eastern walls.

"Looks like you won't be possessing me today after all." Mai waved at Haruka as she dissipated from view.

Waking up in her original location was initially disorienting. She took a few breaths to get her heart calmed down a bit. When she attempted to move Naru shook his head at her. "I told you that you would stay there, and I meant it. What did you think you were doing trying to antagonize him like that?"

Mai shrugged and leaned back into the comfortable prone position she had previously been in. "It was a gut reaction. Most of the time I follow what it's telling me to do because it generally is right."

"I don't know if this was one of those times." Naru turned to face the window that led out into the main part of the warehouse where the case was about to be closed., or so he hoped.

Akane saw immediately how agitated the spirit in front of her was. Her eyes traced over Ayako, Monk, and Gene watching as each one of them kept Haruka in their sights and backed out of the room. Once they were gone she pulled the hitogawa from her back pocket and attempted to smile at Haruka. "Oh, goodness. Is that really you?"

Haruka arched an eyebrow at Akane.

"Has it been so long that you don't recognize me? I knew I should have walked through the spirit gate sooner. If only to come find you and bring you back with me. You have stayed on this plane way too long, Haruka."

It was obvious that his doubt had turned into some sense of awareness. The planes of his face smoothed out and Akane now saw a very different Haruka in front of her. "Chikako?"

"Yes, Haruka, it's me. I have come to take you to our new home. We can finally begin our life together. It won't be the one either of us wanted. But, we can be happy once again." Akane was barely keeping her knees from knocking together. She could now appreciate the movies and television shows she watched more than she ever had before. This acting thing was hard. Granted hers was quite a bit more difficult with several lives on the line.

"I can't. I have work to finish here. I have to continue working."

Akane turned her mouth down at the corners in what she hoped conveyed a disapproving expression. "You mean your quest to make the perfect woman?" She could see that Haruka was going to interrupt her. She grew worried and suddenly it was as if she knew just what to say. "I know all about it, Haruka. Please don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. I may not have liked being perceived as perfect. But, over the years I have grown to understand why you thought me so. Once you lost me you blamed yourself for the accident and drowned your guilt and sorrows with alcohol. I don't blame you for my accident. I don't blame you for turning to the bottle to soothe your emotions. But those emotions tainted your soul. They corrupted who you were and once you died in that accident that taint stayed with you. It convinced you that everything you were considering doing was fine as long as it ended with you achieving your goal."

Tears welled up in Haruka's eyes and began drifting down his face. "Is that the way you really feel?"

Akane's hand that held the hitogawa lifted up and offered itself to him. To take. To hold. To escort him to his new home. Once his aery hand went to grasp hers she transferred the hitogawa to his hand instead and stepped back. Now in her vision was what Chikako must have looked like. They both smiled at each other as they stepped over the threshold and into the light.

"Wow! That was amazing! I thought you said you never acted before!" John exclaimed.

"I hadn't. I don't know where that speech came from honestly. It didn't even feel like myself standing there. It felt like someone else entirely." Akane was honestly puzzled. She wasn't sure how to properly explain what happened at all.

"Perhaps, Chikako really was talking to Haruka just then." Monk offered.

"Nothing in this world or the next surprises me." Gene smiled.

Noll peeked his head out of the conference room. "Good job, team. Let's get packed up." He turned to Mai. "Now that the case is over. I guess that means I have a date to plan." He smirked at her. "By the way, you can get up now. We need you go help pack things up."

Mai wasn't sure you smile or growl at him. But that was par for the course when it came to Naru.