To The One I Love: Please Remember 1 - Memory Stealer

TO THE ONE I LOVE: PLEASE REMEMBER

Summary: Memories can be taken away from her mind. But a part of her would always hold a memory of him that can never be taken away by anything. He just need to let her remember it—whatever it takes to do it. Sequel to "Just Once More"

Standard disclaimer applies. You are warned that the characters might not be in their usual selves (in other words, possible OOCness).

This is actually the long overdue sequel of Just Once More, which was the very first Ghost Hunt fanfic that I wrote a long time ago. By the way, it's better if you read the story "Just Once More" for you to understand this story better since there are mentions of events here that had actually happened in the other story. Got it?

Anyway, here's the story since I don't want you guys to keep waiting. Enjoy!

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CHAPTER 1—Memory Stealer

It was a blissful morning for Mai after waking up from a dreamless sleep. Well, she wasn't saying tha every time she woke up because of a dream, it was a bad morning for her. It was just that having nothing to worry her every time she woke up from a dream gave her a little peace of mind.

Yeah, right. Like as if you'll get some peace of mind whenever you're with that narcissist Naru, a part of her mind said that only made her sigh. Not only Naru, but also the case at the Kawazumi mansion kept on giving her a lot of thinking. She knew something happened that time that was bothering her until now. But no matter how hard she tried to remember it, nothing came up. It was frustrating her big time.

It had been two weeks since then. Of course, she was bothered by it. But no one from SPR—not even Naru—knew that it bothered her. She had no plans of telling it to anybody.

A ring from her phone snapped her out of her musings. It wasn't a surprise for her to see Naru's name on the screen. But she found it weird that he would actually call her.

He'll probably scold me again. "Hello? Naru, what's up?"

"Where are you?" he asked, urgency and worry were evident in Naru's voice. Worry? For what?

She found it surprising, though. "I-I'm already on my way to the office. Naru, what's wrong?"

"Where exactly are you?" he asked again instead of annswering her question.

Her heart pounded because she was starting to get scared—even though it was just a little.

"I'm standing outside a sweets shop called—" she paused and looked up to the small building where she was standing. "—Angel's Smile."

"Don't go here for now and wait for my call. That's your signal that you can go here. Got it?"

Reluctantly, she voiced out an agreeing sound. After that, only the beeping tone of the busy line was heard. Naru immediately cut the phone call.

What was that all about? Naru sounded too worried and… too serious, as well, Mai thought before turning off her phone as she eyed it worriedly. Naru was worried, she was sure of it. But why? Why would he be worried? And why didn't he want her to go to SPR? Did something happen? Was she being fired?

She rashly shook her head at the last question. If she was fired, Naru would've told her straight to her face—which, of course, had never happened… yet. Besides, she doubted if it would happen. According to Naru, he wouldn't have any free time to look for a new assistant if he had fired her.

Okay, if she wasn't fired, why did Naru tell her not to go to SPR when she clearly knew that she would be be and he would scold her (again) for it?

"Need some sweets to perk you up a bit?"

She looked up when she heard that. When she turned to see who it was, a smile ran across her worried face upon seeing a familiar face with blue eyes and long jet-black hair.

"Satomi-senpai!" she exclaimed in glee and immediately tackled the said person to a tight hug. The woman named Satomi just laughed.

"It seems you missed me that much, huh?"

"A lot. You have no idea," Mai said and let Satomi go before looking at the shop's name. "So it's you who manages this shop?"

"I guess you could say that. But this is still a part of our family business," Satomi replied and then her face went solemn. "But putting that aside… Why do you look so worried? Did something happen?"

"I'm not really sure," Mai answered sadly. It wasn't hard for Satomi to read her like an open book. Satomi was her childhood friend, after all. Although they hadn't seen each other for six years, she knew her senior could still tell what she was feeling.

Satomi was two years older than her and they went to the same elementary school together despite the fact that Satomi could go to an exclusive school. Their age differences, beliefs, and monetary status weren't exactly enough for them not to become friends. It was like Satomi became her older sister.

But before Mai could voice out anything else, she felt an icy chill ran down her spine. Someone's watching me. Not a person but… a spirit of some sort. Of course, she could feel the difference if a spirit or a living human was watching her from somewhere. Masako taught her that. Even Ayako and Monk taught her that, too. Her hand started quivering as her heart pounded in fear.

Satomi noticed this but she remained quiet. Truth be told, Mai didn't like the feeling of being watched—especially if it was a ghost who wanted to do something which wasn't good at all.

"Mai? Are you okay?" Satomi asked when she couldn't take what she was seeing. Something was wrong and she knew that. She was about to say something when something caught her eyes and struck her when she finally realized what was going on. Mai's being watched by a ghost. And now… the ghost's right behind her!

But she was too late because the ghost already placed its hand on Mai's head and let it pass through the girl's head, as if the ghost was about to take something from inside her head. Mai's eyes turned hazy before closing as she uttered one last name.

"Naru…" Mai murmured before collapsing to Satomi's arms.

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As soon as Mai collapsed, the female ghost—now holding a white ball of light that was seemed to have been taken from Mai's mind—disappeared with a smirk on her face.

What was that light?

"Mi-chan!" Satomi heard a familiar voice called out for her. Upon looking around, she saw Madoka approaching. Surprise, shock, and worry were evident on the older woman's face upon seeing the unconscious Mai on her arms. "What happened?"

Satomi's face went somber. "The ghost got her. I don't know what she took from Mai but I do know one thing. She took something extremely important from Mai."

"I'll call a taxi. We need to take her to the hospital," Madoka suggested. All Satomi did was to nod. It was a good thing that only a few people were around that area so this wouldn't exactly cause a commotion.

Hang in there, Mai! You'll be fine… I hope.

But still, there was something that bothered her. Who was that ghost and what exactly did she took from Mai's mind?

-x-x-x-

"Naru, are you sure about this?" Ayako asked as soon as Naru put down the phone after calling Mai.

"And why would the ghost target her, anyway? Didn't we exorcise all the ghost at the Kawazumi mansion?" Monk added that only frustrated Naru but tried not to show it.

Unfortunately for them, the case at the Kawazumi mansion wasn't exactly over unlike what they thought. In fact, it just got worse. Mina and Shiro were exorcised, they were sure about it. Masako could vouch for that since she saw the couple passed on after fulfilling Shiro's wish to touch and hold Mina once again.

But there was another ghost that haunted the study room and the forest. And what was worse, Mai placed a part of herself unknowingly to both places. Her tears while watching the vision in the study room and a drop of her blood in the forest while running in order to find the five boulders… The ghost didn't have any connection to the family so they were safe. But Mai wasn't.

Naru had to do what it takes to protect Mai from that ghost. He didn't know the ghost's motive for targeting Mai—an assumption given to him by Kisaragi Takuya when he called him an hour before Naru called Mai a while back. Takuya was, surprisingly, a psychic, as well. The man visited Minako and together they visited the little girl's parents' graves the other day. But upon entering the forest, he heard a voice—a woman's voice full of regret, sadness, and hatred, to be exact—that spoke of words which only heightened the danger for Mai.

"I'll take the memories of the person you love so you won't have to love him anymore. Death will await you if you have those memories with him, Taniyama Mai…"

Those were the ghost's words. Of course, Takuya only knew one person that has that name. After some events—strange events again—at the aforementioned two places, Takuya decided to call Naru and told him what he had encountered. Naru knew too well that Takuya wasn't someone who would make some stories, even though the man was still a stranger to any of the SPR psychics. Takuya said that he could only entrust this case—including Mai's protection—to those who knew her and cared for her.

Naru took the case, not only because the case sparked his interest but also because of Mai. He had to protect her from that ghost… in any way possible.

"Hara-san," Naru called out, making Masako focused her attention to him. "Can you still feel the ghost's presence?"

Masako closed her eyes and went quiet for a few moments before her eyes snapped open. Fear and worry were etched on her face.

"Don't tell me…"

"It's gone?" John finished Monk's words.

Before Naru called Mai, Masako said that she could feel an ominous presence—the same presence Takuya had described to Naru—that was surveying the building where the SPR office was located.

Masako nodded to answer John. After that, she faced Naru. "The spirit might have heard the conversation earlier… when you called Mai a while back." Even though her kimono sleeves covered her hands, Naru could still see that Masako was quivering. Yasuhara saw this so he held his girlfriend's hand. The medium looked up to face Yasuhara who gave her a reassuring smile. In a way, it gave her comfort.

"Where did Mai say she was when you called her?" Ayako asked as she faced the expressionless Naru.

"A sweets shop called Angel's Smile," he answered even though all the while, he was thinking about the ghost who was after Mai.

"Isn't that the newly-opened shop just a couple of streets away from here?" John inquired.

But before any of them could answer, Lin's phone suddenly rang that made them focus their attention to the Chinese man. Naru's heart began throbbing fast—and he knew it wasn't something good. Still, he focused his attention to Lin. He wasn't sure who called Lin and what they were talking about. But after a few moments, Lin's face went pale—a surprised look etched on his face.

"Where is she right now?" Lin asked to the person on the other line.

From what they could see, the news wasn't good. After that, Lin turned off his phone and faced the others who were obviously waiting to hear something from him. "It was Madoka. She said that Mai-san collapsed in front of the sweets shop that she mentioned. Apparently, her friend who happened to own that shop was there when it happened. And what's worse, the ghost who was after Mai-san took something from her mind."

Shock was written all over their faces and several gasps were heard, too. Not only that, the last sentence that Lin said confused them for a bit.

"Took something from Mai's mind? Is that even possible?" Monk asked and faced the surprised director.

"That's what Madoka said. It was something that her friend told her when she asked what happened," Lin answered. After that, he looked at Naru.

"Looks like the ghost beats us to it," Yasuhara said.

"But how did Madoka's friend know that it was the ghost? Is her friend a psychic?" Ayako asked out of curiosity.

Masako suddenly remembered something so she spoke before any of them could say anything. "You said that the sweets shop where Mai-san was is called 'Angel's Smile', right?" Though confused, Naru nodded.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Monk queried.

"Like what Lin-san said earlier, Madoka-san's friend is the owner of that shop. If I'm not mistaken, the only person I know who currently manages that shop is the youngest daughter of Nishikawa Kenjiro-san."

"Nishikawa Kenjiro? You mean the famous paranormal novelist and researcher? The one that belongs to the distinguished family of psychics here in Japan?"

Masako nodded in response to Monk's question. "That's right."

"But only one of his daughters is known for being a psychic, and it was the eldest daughter—Nishikawa Sachiko," John stated.

"Only a few people knew that the youngest daughter is also a psychic. I once witnessed her psychic ability, which turned out to be a bit dangerous for her since it was undoubtedly strong."

Naru sighed. He wanted to rush to where Mai was but… what Masako was telling might give him some help. "So who is this person that you're talking about?"

"Nishikawa Satomi-san. She's famous for being a first-class patissiere but not as a psychic. As much as possible, her family had to keep her psychic ability a secret. Just like Naru, she has a natural dislike for media or any sort of publicity—especially if it has something to do with psychics. But she knew she couldn't avoid them because of her family's status."

"That's why she tried to divert their attention away from her being a psychic to being a pastissiere," Yasuhara commented. Masako nodded before facing the stoic Naru.

"She could help you in identifying the ghost. She has a photographic memory and she's also a talented cartographer. By now, she might have a sketch of the ghost's appearance." After that, she faced Lin. "Is Mai-san already at the hospital?"

Lin nodded as an answer.

"Could Satomi-san see spirits clearly?" John asked.

"Yes. In fact, every one in the Nishikawa family could. She could even feel their presence from a 500 meter radius."

"Well, that's accurate," Ayako remarked. "Anyway, we have to go to where Mai is before—" But she stopped talking abruptly when Naru stood up from his seat without a word and took off just like that. The others didn't even have time to stop him.

"Well, it's obvious that he's worried about her," Yasuhara stated.

"He always has been ever since the case at the Kawazumi mansion. Something happened to both Mai and Naru at that time. But Mai couldn't remember anything and Naru won't say anything at all," Monk added.

Despite his worries for Mai, Lin couldn't help but to let out a short laugh when he realized something. The others noticed this.

"What's so funny?" Monk inquired innocently.

"Naru took off without even knowing what hospital Mai's being confined." You're starting to get obvious, Naru. And this situation might start crumbling the barrier that you surrounded to yourself. But can he really do something to save Mai?

But even though Lin knew that Naru could, he had this feeling that this case would test Naru in ways they still didn't know how. In whatever ways, only Mai could possibly answer that. Whatever happened to her and to that ghost could be a way.

"We need to head out before that ghost attacked Mai-san again," John suggested.

Everyone hurried to leave the place but then Masako halted to a stop when she felt the ominous presence from behind.

"Masako, what's wrong?" Ayako asked but her eyes widened when she saw the dark entity floating outside the office window.

The female ghost gave a creepy evil smile followed by slightly raising her hand and a white ball of light appeared on the palm of her hand.

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There's Chapter 1—a definitely weird chapter to start the sequel of the first "To The One I Love" story. Tell me what you think about it. :)