Running, she was forever running from them: the people who were chasing them. The ghosts, spirits, monsters, demons… no matter what you call them they are all the same thing in the end. My sister and I forever run from them. We find ourselves far, far away from where we started.
They chased after us, the ones who held the only key to their survival. The only people who could save them. We couldn't stop running, hiding from them, using the tactics given to us by Her. But we could only run so far before we were found out. I guess we were lucky enough to be found by people who didn't know about us, ESP or not.
We're twins. Identical twins, down to the birthmarks and ESP powers we have, every strand of hair, curve of our fingerprints, and twist of DNA… like clones. I guess it's the result of having ESP in the first place rather than a coincidence or 1 in 10 billion chances. So, I guess it's no surprise that eventually we would be found by other ESP talents or ghost hunters… but neither of us expected anything like this. This Kazuya Shibuya, who looks exactly like the kind onii-san who saved us from death as he was plowed down by an SUV, was beyond our expectations.
I didn't want to get involved, for my sister's sake. For Taniyama Mai's sake, I was going to try to get as close to this Gene look alike as possible. As Taniyama Kai, it was my duty to protect my little sister, even if she was only younger by 7 minutes.
The saying is "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
Chapter 1 -
"I'm going to tell the story of the old, haunted school building then," said the teenage girl. "There are rumors about that creepy, old building. It all started with the decision to demolish it, because of the many deaths and even one suicide by a teacher. But every time they started demolishing… something terrible would happen. The roof would collapse or, in one case, a truck went out of control and killed some students. Some of the upperclassmen even say that if you walk by it at night time you'll see spirits."
"Don't scare us so much," another of the girls screeched as the girl who had told the ghost story turned of her hand light.
This was one of the normal superstitions of the math classroom: if you tell ghost stories in the classroom with hand lights, turning one off after each story is finished, by the time all of the light are off there is will be a ghost in the classroom with you. These girls had just finished the ritual and were about to count off when two girls suddenly turned the lights on in the classroom.
"AHHHHHHH!" the girls in the room screeched. "MONSTER, GHOST, SPIRIT!"
"Oh, shut up," Taniyama Kai said.
Taniyama Kai had medium-brown hair and wide, doe-brown eyes… or at least she had before she dyed her hair inky black. Her ink colored hair made her eyes seem to be more of an amber color. It was speculated that she had gone through this change to make her standout more than her sister, but it was really to help differentiate between the two of them. At fifteen years old, Kai and her twin were small for their age. Neither topped the average height for a 15-year-old and they were both slender, the only difference being Kai was stronger and had lithe muscles while Mai was tiny with a punch… in your face.
"Haven't we told you not to tell ghost stories when it's our turn to do classroom clean up," scolded Mai.
Now, Mai had kept her brown hair and eyes that stood out for the fact that they lived in Japan. Her brown hair was natural and not dyed unlike most of the light haired teens in her school.
"Taniyama-san, I am sorry for the trouble, but Kuroda is always lingering in our homeroom saying not to tell ghost stories. After all, we all know ghost stories attract low level spirits which attract high level spirits, no?" one of the girls sarcastically asked.
"Kuroda is just full of bullshit, she just doesn't know when to stop pretending that she has a powerful ESP talent," Kai sneered.
"Onee-chan, you shouldn't be so rude to Kuroda-san when she can't defend herself from the accusations. Well, you two, we'll go get the cleaning supplies so be gone by then," Mai scolded as they left the room.
"Sorry, sorry… I'll be better next time Mai," Kai apologized heading downstairs.
"Excuse me, but I heard a group of students usually tell ghost stories in this classroom after school. Would that be you two? Or is this the wrong classroom?" a male voice sounding out from behind us asked.
"Sorry, but we've already finished today seeing as it is Tuesday," said one of the unimportant minor characters whose name I do not remember.
"Why would you finish early on Tuesday?" he asked.
"Taniyama-san and Taniyama-san have cleaning duty on Tuesday and they both hate being held up and really hate ghost stories…" the unimportant one said.
"Shibuya Kazuya, but why would they hate ghost stories?" Shibuya-san asked.
"Because they have ESP. Everybody in the school knows it, but they refuse to acknowledge the fact that we know for some reason. But they can do strange things… they are the most feared, respected, and hated girls in school. Everyone is either jealous or awe-struck. They hate either feeling so you have to act normal around them or expect hostility," the other unimportant one explained.
"Would I be able to meet with them?" Shibuya-san said charmingly.
"They usually walk to school early to stop by and eat in front of the old school building for privacy as no one dares go near there," the two girls said star-struck, conveniently forgetting that they would be back to clean in a few minutes.
"Thank you very much for your time, ladies," Shibuya-san said.
As the two unimportant females sighed star-struck, Shibuya Kazuya left the building… no pun intended.
The next morning, bright and early the Taniyama twins walked to school under the cherry blossoms. They headed for their morning spot, the abandoned school building, to eat their breakfast. However, today it looks like luck is not on their side.
Mai finished her breakfast first and got up to stretch and saw a video camera in the abandoned building… being the curious 15 year old girl she was, she got up and entered through the door. Her older sister though she saw a squirrel or something and finished eating and got up. In this few seconds, a man with black hair and darkened sapphire eyes passed by her into the building where Mai suddenly screamed out. Kai went into the building to hear about what had happened from her near hysterical imouto.
Mai scrambled to help the older man up after seeing him bleeding, but got her hand smacked away and rude questions from the younger man about a clinic.
Kai, the overprotective older sister, suddenly said, "Oi, it's not all of her fault you idiot. You're the older one here. Take some responsibility why don't you. You yelled at a curious, young, female student in a building with rumors of being haunted… what you expect her to do besides scream and do stupid stunts (HEY!). All three of you need to take some responsibility."
"All three?" everyone queried.
"The camera for being so interest attracting and for getting broken. My imouto, Mai, for being so curious and leading to the destruction of the camera, and the older guy for yelling at her and being so rude to a person… no sorry, I am going to be biased, to my imouto for being herself," Kai finished.
Suddenly, the men looked at both of them and said, "Twins."
"Yes, so nice of you to notice. Most people don't get the clue now that I've dyed my hair. I'm so glad you're smarter than an amoeba," Kai said sarcastically.
Then, Kai and Mai noticed that the younger of the men looked exactly like Gene… not good.
"Sorry for the trouble, I am Shibuya Kazuya and this is my assistant Koujo Lin. While I agree that it is the fault of both parties, as such I am sure you agree that you need to pay for half of the repair fee for the camera. I am sure you can not afford and as such I'll offer you the job of assistant for this case as mine is out of action."
"Okay, Mr. Narcissist. We'll work as your assistants for a while. Gene says it'd be fun and Mai has been bored with just me as company after school," said Kai, watching Lin and Naru pale significantly as she continued.
"How do you know about Gene?" Naru gasped out.
"Gene told us," Kai and Mai said in twin unison.
"Gene's dead… there's no way he could have told you anything," said Naru.
"Well then Naru, we'll tell you a little story of your younger brother's adventures in Japan," Kai said.
"How do you know about Gene? And why are you calling me Naru?" interrogated Shibuya-san.
"Well, Naru short for Narcissist. We're in his debt. He saved our lives. ESP isn't so much of a talent as a curse sometimes… well Dr. Davis should know this better than we do," Mai replied quietly.
"He saved us shortly after he arrived in Japan. When he died… we were devastated. But, Gene kept on contacting us even though we tried to get him to move on. Without finding his body it is impossible for him to go to the afterlife," added Kai.
"And without clues to where the body is… it might take a while to find him in Japan. At least, Gene says that to be around his twin would be nice. That it's nostalgic to be around us two without Naru," finished Mai.
"Either they are really good fakers or they really are psychics in touch with Gene. But if they aren't then they are just going to be in the way, especially with all of the information they have on this situation," Lin whispered.
"It's fine. We need to find Gene, so we need to stay in contact with these two," Naru replied.
Suddenly, a loud creaking sound was heard. The door was opening from the outside. Terrified, Mai screeched, until she realized it was only the principal with some more guests.
There was a woman in a business suit with red hair around her 30s. A man beside her had long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a tall stature, and cowboy like clothes. A boy stood a little ways back with blonde hair and blue eyes; he looked fairly young, but was dressed in priest clothing. The famous psychic, Hara Masako, was also there with her short black hair and kimono that made her like a porcelain doll.
"Now, let's get the party started. Oh… I forgot, you don't know us yet," deadpanned Kai.
"Oh well, that isn't terribly important, but that school bell is," Mai exclaimed.
"Taniyama-san~" the principal drawled, "I'm afraid that I'd rather you and Kai help these wonderful young ladies and gents. They do so need someone who knows their way around the building and its dangers."
"What's in it for us?" Kai clipped out.
"Ten thousand yen and a get out of class free slip," conned the principal.
"Deal," Mai yelled.
"Baka imoutou, we could have gotten at least 15 thousand yen out of him and a free meal ticket to the cafeteria. When will you learn to let me deal with the bribes...?" Kai scolded.
"Sorry. Shut up, Gene. You were probably just as bad, telling me that was the best I could get," Mai pouted.
"Umm..." the blonde stuttered.
"Oh, right... we need to introduce ourselves... I'm Taniyama Kai and this is my twin Mai. You can tell the difference, because my hair is dyed black and goes down to my shoulder blades," Kai explained. "This dude is Kazuya Shibuya, but let's just call him Naru-chan. It's because he's such a narcissist. His assistant Lin-kun over there was injured by my little sis, a camera, and his own stupidity."
Seeing everybody's gapes, Kai said, "Your turn."
"Oh... excuse me. Me name be John Brown. I hail from Australia... I be a what you call exorcist," the blonde said (no more Kansai-ben for you guys; imagine it yourself).
"If I remember correctly, you have to be a priest to be an exorcist…" Naru trailed off suggestively.
"I'm 19 and already a priest..." John confirmed.
The red head said, "My name is Matsuzaki Ayako. I'm a self-made miko."
"Aren't you a little old to be a shrine maiden? I thought you had to be a virgin… I guess that's where the self-made part came from though," Kai drawled.
"You brat! I'll have you know that I am a very successful miko. Just because you cannot recognize my charm –" Matsuzaki-san was cut off.
"I'm sure you are very capable, now can we move on," Mai mediated.
Mr. Long Brown Hair said, "I'm a monk from Mt. Kouya. My name is Takigawa Houshou."
"Nice to meet you bou-san," greeted Mai.
"I didn't know they allowed long hair on Mt. Kouya now," Ayako jabbed.
"They don't. I'm on leave from the mountain," he scowled.
"Right…" the group laughed.
"I'm Hara Masako," the small celebrity divulged.
"Well, now that the greeting are nice and taken care of let us go ahead and join each other in the partaking of finding out this mystery of the so called haunted school house... it's our famous 7 Mysteries rolled into one you know," Kai punned.
[Insert deadpan]
Authors Note: I just got back into fanfiction after some years of depression and illness, so try to be nice. I only edited this one a little bit and will try to either add on to this chapter or post a new one soon, but I am about to graduate, so I am busy!