Disclaimer: The characters featured in this story obviously do not belong to me. They belong to their rightful owners which includes Yoshiyuki Nishi.

Notes: Another two-year old story that I'm updating as I post each part. There may probably be about seven or eight chapters which I'll have up by this week. As an off-topic comment...M&R should really get some sort of media series (drama CDs, OVA, series); though I'm starting to doubt they ever will. Plus, I'm a little worried it would get a cheap treatment (rushed, 13-episode series)

Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you like the adventure of Busujima and Umekichi!

Quick warning: Busujima and Umekichi may be a "tad" out-of-character, and this story is definitely not for the squeamish due to possible (but entirely descriptive) gore and mentions of cannibalism.

When Umekichi and I were visiting the city for some shopping, we overheard a group of kids talking about a house that lived in some sort of suburban area which was apparently haunted by a high school girl. To put things bluntly, they said the ghost ate people. Pretty interesting and a little creepy, but these kids were probably making up this "Chouko" girl…

…maybe.

Since they were in the candy aisle, which was in the same section as the chips, I couldn't help but eavesdrop on them a bit more while Umekichi did the same…as much as he didn't want to admit it once we left the store.

Anyway, they said the reason why she was called "Chouko" was because of the butterfly clip she wore to hold her long, brown bangs out of her emotionless eyes. One of them said she - apparently - continued to eat humans as a ghost because she ate them while still alive.

I heard Umekichi suppress a gulp. He has gotten better with improving his courage, but once in a while, he would still get frightened or worry about something.

"Ume, don't worry," I whispered to him, "it's jus' a rumour."

Another kid said a woman in her mid-forties went into the residence and never came out. Hm…interesting, but…like I said, these kids were - at least - nine years old. If this whole 'Chouko' thing was true, and that place wasn't bound or shut closed so no one else could go in that house…then that would be a place to check out for myself. Maybe. There wasn't much to do nowadays…

I heard the location of where the exact house is from the kid who started the entire conversation with a bit of an eager interest. Kinoshita residence, huh…?

Before checking out the house ourselves, I decided to search on the computer to see if it's true.

"Well, I'll be damned..."
"Boss...? What's wrong?"

"C'mere and look."

Umekichi took a seat beside me on the floor and peered into my laptop's screen. His eyes widened a little just like mine did at the info. There was a photograph of a girl in her early teens - fourteen as the article underneath it said - though I couldn't tell what colour her uniform was, thanks to the picture being black and white.

"Oh, that's why. Obituary."
"So...they were telling the truth."
"Looks like it, Ume."

Yep, the kids at the store were right. The young girl in the photo donned a butterfly clip and - thanks to the article - the location of where she lived and eventually died was exactly where the ghost had been seen, along with the disappearance of a woman. I had a feeling that the girl who was smiling in my face might have died for some other reason, but I couldn't be sure about it.

"Chouko Kinoshita, died at age fourteen..." I read out loud with a murmur as I placed my chin into the palm of my hand and rested my elbow on the table, "middle child of the Kinoshita family."

"I'm guessing that this is getting you interested," Umekichi spoke up.

"Yeah, a little. Think this website has more info about her and her family?"
"Maybe, but...you're not thinking of going there, are you?"

"Yep," I simply replied as I scrolled the page down.

"It's not like anyone's asking us to do this though."
"I know, but, hey...business is slow; so why not look for the business ourselves? Aren't you tired of staying at home, doing nothing?"

"A little...b-but-"

So, Chouko died last year...interesting. My brows scrunched tightly as I scrolled the page up and down, hoping to find any additional info. I made a small clicking sound with my teeth in disappointment. I shouldn't be surprised that there wouldn't be much else to read in regards to this. Still, this blows. I opened another tab in my web browser and began to search a little more while Umekichi watched me. Nothing else popped up besides the article I was looking at a second ago with other pages about butterflies or movies with the word "chouko" in it.

"Dang." I clicked back to the other page with the obituary and re-read the entire article yet again. "Well, I kinda skimmed over this before," I said, talking about the obituary, "but I think it said something about the mom going missing."

I paused.

"Wait..."

I read the section where I spotted the words "Kinoshita's mother". Sure enough, she was possibly the woman who vanished! But then I read the following sentence and took my assumption back. It said she had went into the house, but she came out. The kids probably didn't have their info straight, but that doesn't mean that a person going missing in a haunted house isn't impossible or anything.

"Wow," I heard Umekichi say beside me, his tone sounded a bit sad, "the mom and dad were going through a divorce around the time Chouko died." He sat up as a way to look at the website better. "The mom was later convicted of murdering the dad in a fit of rage, but they let her off the hook while she was on trial."

I frowned. "Huh."

My cell phone suddenly rang.

I reached a hand into my pocket, then I pressed the speaker button and sat the phone on the table. "Hey there, Roji! What's going on?"

"Oh, um, nothing much..." Roji's boyish voice replied. "Well, actually, Busujima..."

"Yeah?"
"Why are you trying to get into this Chouko Kinoshita thing?"

"Huh?" Umekichi blinked, then he looked over at me. "How did he know?" he whispered.

A light went off in my head. I shot a tiny grin to my buddy and said loud enough for him and Roji to hear me, "Whoops. I forgot I was putting all of my progress with this case down on my blog! Roji has one and follows me on it, so I guess that's how he knew!" I admit that it slipped my mind, probably since I hardly use my social media blog as much as - for example - Roji or Yoichi.

"Boss..." he dragged out the name in a whine, "why are you posting it online?"

"For progress reasons! My handwriting is pretty sloppy now and thought typing it would be better. Plus, it's a nice way to give my friends an update on how we're doing."

He immediately frowned and his eyes partly closed.

Roji spoke up again, "Hey guys...are you planning on going there? I hope you don't let this thing over your head, Busujima!"

Umekichi whispered to me, "Notice how he said your name on that part?"

"Noticed," I whispered back. I focused my attention back to the blonde first clerk on the other line of the phone. "I'll try, but this Kinoshita thing is getting pretty interesting for my taste. Besides, business for us has been pretty slow these past few weeks. Dealing with this assumed haunted house might give us something to do. Plus," I added as reassurance for Roji, "I'm an Executor. I'll be able to handle this with no problem, especially when I'll have Umekichi with me!"

"B-Boss..." my assistant blushed a little. I guess he felt embarrassed.

"Don't worry too much, Roji. Don't want ya to get sick and get Muhyo pissed at me."
"Well...alright."
"Besides, we're going to visit the house for a brief inspection, then determine if it's actually haunted or not."
"...okay. Be careful."

I chuckled. He's such a cute worrywart at times. "We will, we will! We've got to go now. Bye, Roji."

After he said a "bye" in reply, I waited for him to hang up. As soon as Roji hung up the phone, I grabbed a notepad, scribbled down the address, and then shut off my laptop. I rose from my spot with Umekichi mimicking my movement; though he looked a bit uncertain about going through with this.

"I was thinking," I said, "if we visited the area, somebody might know more about the Kinoshita family. That should help us..."

"This feels like we should be more of a mystery bureau instead of a Magic Law association..."
"Yeah...never thought of that. Think we should do that as a side project?"

Soon, the two of us prepared ourselves, gathering any items we could possibly need. Just for the heck of it, I went ahead and brought my laptop to my truck, earning me a look from Umekichi. Sorry, Ume. I'm bringing it along just in case we need it for any sort of help. We climbed inside, then I turned on the engine and then we were off.

To be continued.