Unhinged Nightmare

-A 'Ghost Hunt' Fan Fiction

Chapter 1

The Beginning of the Dream

…

Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick

Rrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnnggggggg

'The school bell for the second last period just went off. OH CRAAAAPPP!IT'S THE LAST PERIOD!Guess I can't escape my fate'. Acting as if she didn't have the slightest care in the world, our 16-year-old every day average phycic ghost hunter, Mai Taniyama slumped back in her chair and started staring at the ceiling of her classroom like a person who is experiencing the worst day of their life. Like in all cases, she was.

"Hey Mai! Did you study for this period's physics test? Shoko sensei said it's going to be hard. " asked Keiko, her friend from junior high.

"Tell me about it…. I HAVEN'T TOUCHED MY BOOKS SINCE 3 DAYS AFTER WE RETURNED FROM THAT MESSED UP HOKKAIDO CASE! I was so exhausted that I couldn't even think of opening my daily newspaper, for that matter."

Mai started to explain her experiences during her last case, "Me, Naru and the rest of the S.P.R. had to go to Hokkaido for a case where the people reportedthat they had seen an abundance of spirits and all related stuff, in a famous restraunt. It took 3 weeks to investigate, and in the and it turned out to be a sight bound spirit who was killed in the area where the restraunt was built and it turned out to be that, the current 'restraunt' was actually a 2-star hotel owned by the spirit, until it was cleared out to make way for the restraunt. The owner, which was the spirit, was killed by the landowner because she was not ready to give up her hotel for low price to make way for the restraunt. Her spirit became sight bound because, even after dying she thought that her hotel was still there and the people had yet to break it down, and the urge of protecting it, did not allow her to cross over."

Keiko sighed. 'Mai has become a real pro at this, isn't she…' thought the dumbstruck teenager, thinking about how Mai actually became like this. She remembered about the time when they were just normal freshman in high school, and how the sudden appearance of a really handsome, but mysterious 17 year old, turned her friend's life upside down.

Mai was still busy babbling on about their case. Now that was one case which got even the great lord Narcissus, the smartest of them all (Naru), thinking.

That was the reason they couldn't finish the case sooner. It really got the best out the gang. Especially Mai! Each and every night she had those pestering dreams, about the owner lady's past, how she was murdered, some of which genuinely scared her. She'd want to throw up every now and then because of all the gruesome scenes clouding her mind (though in the end she was able to control herself) and she'd faint more often than their infamous spirit medium, Masako! But there was one very wonderful advantage of these dreams- because of them, she got to sleep next to Naru! (For her protection, of course. The gang started to worry that the spirit might come after her. )'Hehe, I can't forget the look on Masako's face when Naru announced that I was going to sleep in his bed for the rest of the case, to everyone in the base! She almost flipped! But of course, nobody knew that while I was sleeping on his bed, he was sleeping on the couch, not the bed. "the various memories of their previous case made Mai pout as well as giggle, while she narrated more of the remarkable incidents that took place during their case in Hokkaido.

…

Half of the last period was over, but there was no sign of the teacher. Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting Mai's principal entered the class. "Students, I've come to inform you that – "

He was cut off by the sound of the school bell ringing. He sighed and continued, "Okay then, I shall tell you what I was about to tell you now, tomorrow. Please disperse."

Mai jumped out of her desk, and skipped all the way to the Michiru's desk to tell her about her recent case, overly overjoyed by the fact that there was no physics test, little did she know what was waiting for her.

Everyone was just gathering up their belongings, nobody had left the class yet, when the principal came in again. "Mai, somebody is here to pick you up." He said. A chill went down her spine when she saw who entered through her classroom door. He was extremely handsome, beyond any one's wildest imaginations, and had sapphire orbs in place of his eyes. He was cladded in black and when he entered through the door, all the girls squealed in delight. He walked right up to Mai (while the other girls were blushing for no reason, following him with their eyes) and said in his famous monotonous voice, "Mai pack up fast, we've got a case."

NARU!

*Smirk*

His smirks make her so flustered, that somebody could mistake her face for a tomato "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE NARU!?"

"There is no need to yell, I'm standing right here, I can here you clearly" he said, smirking. "Hey kiddo! I'm here too!". Monk popped up from behind the door and ran right up to me. All the girls squealed again. I dragged those 2 out of my class room so that they don't make a scene (since they both attract too much attention, which is the first and last time I'm admitting that), while everyone continued to disperse, and started the questioning. "You guys! Don't you think you should at least tell me if you're going to show up at my school, and just walk into my classroom, making all the girls blush and squeal, and ask me to pack up as if it's no big thing! Wait- what are you both doing at my school in the first place?

"Isn't it obvious Mai, we're here to pick you up."

Again.

'Jeez, I hate it when he uses 'its-obvious' voice on me! No seriously, there could have been more possibilities, right!?'

She mentally pouted. (Pouting in front of Naru would only earn her another one of her boss's famous smirk)

"But why did you both come to pick me up? Wait- DO YOU THINK I'D GO SOME PLACE OTHER THAN THE OFFICE? *sniff sniff* do you not have even that much trust *sniff* in me after we have worked together for 1 year already! *sniff sniff*"

She turned into a little ball and slumped down in one corner of the corridor.

"Mai, Stop jumping to conclusions and wasting your time. I thought you had shed off a little bit of your stupidity after working with me, though I guess I was wrong."

"Why you little imp! Narcissistic, tea-addict, self- proclaimed, jerk!"

I only growled at him. Saying all the things in my mind would increase my chances of getting fired.

*Smirk

"AARRRGGGHHH! Did he read my mind!? THIS IS ILL-LEGALL TELEPATHY! (wait, phycic abilities don't need a license) Ohhhh….. My thoughts are not safe…."

While she was busy thinking about useless things, she forgot that she had been staring at her boss's face the whole time.

The Narcissist started again, "Mai, why do you keep staring at me? I now I'm very attractive, and that you cannot keep your eyes off me, but please, don't you have anything better to do?"

"WHY YOU CREEP! YOU MUST BE HELUCINATING IF YOU THINK THAT I WAS STARING AT YOU ALL THIS TIME!" she yelled.

"Hey guys, do you have to fight now?" said monk, trying to cool things down. "Kid, this is about a case. We are not going to the office; we are going straight to the client's home. That is why we came to pick you up. We'll drop you to your apartment where you can change and pick up your clothes, and then we'll be off. I'll explain the details in the car." Said Monk.

"Well, ok… I guess…."

"I wonder what this is about…."

…

In her apartment, Mai hurriedly changed her clothes, quickly grabbed all the necessities she would need for this case (Naru said it would take them more than a week) and quickly stuffed everything into her medium size suitcase, then ran out her apartment and locked it shut. Then she ran towards Monk's car, where she, Ayako, Masako (yes she was not going with Naru. Hehehe, seems he has become fed up with her), Yasu, and Monk were going to use. Naru, Lin and John were going in the van along with all the equipment. She quickly put her luggage in the car's back, then got in and buckled up. Then she shut the door, and they set off.

(In the car, on their way to their destination)

Mai, who was now getting more and more curious over the fact that this time they were going straight to the haunting sight, started to fidget and shift uncomfortably, starting to fear the causes of what was happening.

"Maybe, this time, the case is going to be more difficult to solve. Maybe we will need more time to solve this one. Maybe that is the reason that Naru picked me up from school and we are directly headed to the client's home. I don't have a good feeling about this….."

Mai...

Mai…

Mai!

"HUH?" Mai suddenly snapped back to reality. "You had dozed off. Is something wrong?" asked Ayako Matsuzaki, the 24- year old priestess, who Mai considered as her subordinate mother. In a more worried voice, she asked her once again, "Is something bothering you?" Mentally yelling at herself for dozing off 2 times that day (one time in front of Naru , which earned her a smirk from her handsome, narcissistic, tea-addicted and jerk boss, and the second time that was just now) she replied, "Ayako, I am getting a feeling this one is not going to be easy on us…"

"What do you mean?" asked the worried priestess.

"What I meant was that this case. Why would Naru be going to the sight so early when he just received the case this morning, while I was in school? Normally, he goes the next day, right? Is it going to be worse than the others, and that he needs to start as soon as possible?"

The priestess replied with a comforting smile on her face, "No Mai, he is not going early because he wants to. It was the client. She wanted him to start the journey this day itself as soon as possible."

"Journey? What do you mean by that? Are we going on some conquest or something?" Mai asked inquisitively.

"I wouldn't call it a conquest, though the haunting sight is very far. Do you know how much time it is going to take us to reach there?" replied the Priestess.

"No, how much time is it going to take us?"

"It's a journey of 7 hours. That is of course, excluding the time we will be taking to rest up at some spots."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No way! If it is going to take us this long, won't it be a smarter choice to go by an airplane?! What was Naru thinking?!"

The priestess sighed in defeat. "Mai, do you think that the narcissistic overlord, who apparently is the most intelligent of us all, would make such a decision? Of course this is also the client's decision. They cannot afford air tickets for all of us, so they asked us to come in our cars instead. But they will be sponsoring all the petrol we used up in coming there. We're headed to Osaka." The priestess explained.

"Osaka? Hmmm…. So I guess, that's why we left so early. Well, I guess I doubted Naru there, for a second!" replied the embarrassed Mai. But deep inside she was worried, for what reason, that was unknown. 'I still think something is wrong here. I just can't register that everything is going be okay during this case… May be I'm just overthinking… No, no, no, that can't be… Even Naru says that my intuition is mostly right, 97 % of the times… But what about the rest 3% ... I'm overthinking! There is no way Naru would not see through it, if there even was something to worry about…Should I even dwell on this? ... I don't know what to do…'

Admist the feelings she was experiencing in her heart, Mai didn't even notice, that she had fallen asleep.

…..

Their adventure has only begun!