Supernatural Investigation 101: Chronicles Of Nakashima Wakana

"What?" Sayuri shouts. "What? What? What?"

Dierre frowns a bit. She is speaking like a broken radio. Let the human complete his sentences.

"Keep your voices down, Sayuri-san. Toru is asleep." Choi Minho continues, "To be honest, he saw the memory of the place."

"She came this close." Sayuri slams the table in rage. "Why did she not enter the house and meet us?"

"She must have a reason." Choi Minho has the same question. Why did she go back there? Where did she go from that place? Is she okay? There are places where she can go, but he can't. But he needs to keep patience for her and their son's sake. Toru will be alarmed if he loses his cool. "We can only wait."

"No, we can't." Sayuri types a message on her phone furiously. "Elder Sister will look for her."

"Natsumi-san can't reach where Wakana is." Choi Minho knows that it's hard to argue with Nakashima girls. In fact, Sung Soo Hwan knows. He gets up and walks toward his bedroom, mumbling, "Do whatever you want."

"Elder Sister is going to go crazy." Sayuri sends the message. "I will put the phone on silent and sleep."

"You are so evil." Dierre shakes her head. "I thought that you would be worried about your sister."

"Wakana will come back." Sayuri winks at her. "Now, she has seen Toru. Why would she stay away? She must be trying to find some ways to return to us safely."

"And yet, you scolded my mentor." Dierre wrinkles her nose. "He is the only sane mentor I had."

"You only had two mentors." Sayuri laughs. "But you love the insane one."

"Don't say it like that." Dierre wraps her arms around herself, furrowing her brows in disgust. "I am already over him."

"Say these words when he comes to get you." Sayuri lets out a low laugh when Dierre makes a face. "Want to bet?"

"Yeah." Dierre snaps at her, "If I don't return with him, you will get me the phoenix's feather."

That's huge. Getting a phoenix feather is anything but safe. But Sayuri can get it as payment if the phoenix is happy. She wonders why Dierre needs it. "What if you lose?"

"You can have Little June." 

Little June raises his head as if to ask why he is being sacrificed. 

"I don't want a snake." Sayuri shivers when Little June squints his eyes. "I don't even like them."

"Little June is the smartest one." Dierre pets him, offended by Sayuri's reaction. "Then, what do you want?"

"You will confess to Se Joon if you lose." Sayuri smirks at him, "You will confess to him right in front of me, Toru, and Zu Zu."

"Why?" Dierre shouts. She doesn't care about that damned bird. "Toru is too young to see that."

"Toru is old enough." Sayuri grins at her. "It's not like you will start doing 18+ things right in front of us."

"That will never happen." Dierre blushes hard. She huffs at Sayuri and escapes to her room in embarrassment, trying to control her accelerating heartbeat. 

"We will see about that." Sayuri giggles. When she slept with Sung Soo Han for the first time, she couldn't get up the next day. Her body was aching all over. He was fussing over her, worried that he overdid it. 

After Wakana comes back, she will say yes to his marriage proposal. Dierre can be her maid of honour at her wedding. 

***

Nakashima Wakana is in a perplexing situation.

She is surrounded by three faceless people.

One of them seems like a woman while the other two are men

All of them have a black umbrella.

Although they don't have eyes, she can feel their intense gazes.

Now, she is wondering why she hasn't lost her consciousness yet.

"Can you speak?" She asks them with a hesitating voice.

There is a flutter in the air. A blackbird that looks suspiciously like the birds that attacked her because she was a forsaken creature sits on the man's shoulder.

"They are speaking." The bird says, "But you are deaf."

Wakana has seen enough. A talking bird isn't scary to her at all. "If I am deaf, how can I hear you?"

"If you were unable to hear me, then you would be an idiot."

"..." This bird should taste great if she barbecues it. 

"Your mind is closed to them." The bird adds, "That's why you can't hear them."

She shouldn't have followed the faceless man to this place. Now, she can't even see the exit. As far as she can see, there is only fog. She might get lost in eternity if she tries to leave without the faceless man. 

"If ghosts overstay their time in the mortal realm, they become vengeful demons eventually." The bird continues, "Alas! Some of them can be saved. There are others who have abandoned their chances at salvation. They have forsaken everything, unlike people who are forsaken by everything in the mortal realm."

The bird is speaking nonsense. Wakana shrugs, turning her head toward the female faceless person. The woman tilts her head. Wakana copies the motion, narrowing her eyes on her.

"In the end, forsaken are forsaken unless they still want to be reconnected to the world," The bird caws sharply.

In a flicker, the woman's faceless head takes a smooth oval shape. The colourless skin turns bronze. The almond-shaped, dark, and nefariously big eyes stare back at her. Her full lips are mulberry red. She looks like a goddess in a black suit, holding an umbrella. 

Her nose is slightly crooked -- the only imperfection that merely makes her seem fallible. 

Wakana takes a step backwards in shock. She looks at other men. They are no longer faceless. What just happened? Why can she see their faces suddenly? She touches her cheeks. Did she lose her face?

"To open a mind." The bird chuckles. "I should be rewarded for that, M'lord."

The shortest man among the faceless, who was still taller than Wakana, pats the bird's head. "Good job."

Wakana swallows her saliva. What did she get into?