Hanging Haunted: Chapter 1

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June 25
Day 1

An array of multiple colors invaded Mai's vision as the entrance of the art studio greeted her. She gazed on in amazement, not realizing the traffic back-up she had created.

"Look, Mai, I know this is wonderful, but can we get a move on it? These boxes full of equipment aren't too comfortable to hold." Her partner's voice echoed throughout the large room.

Mai rolled her eyes at the monk and finally shifted out of park, maneuvering around canvases and glasses filled to the brink with murky water. She found herself stopped in front of the corridor that lead to their base and couldn't help but gasp.

"S–So many rooms!"

Takigawa sighed, nudging the girl in front with the corner of his box. "Move it, Alice in Wonderland."

"This place is bigger than I thought," Mai gaped at the various doors lining the hallway. There were three rooms on each side, plus one larger room at the very end. Behind them, the entrance to the corridor led to the main room where, Mai assumed, the students usually assembled. "I thought art studios were smaller than this?"

The monk shifted his weight from one leg to the other as his foot began to numb. He felt a cramp in his neck starting to form and chuckled, finally squeezing past her.

"I didn't realize there was a specific size that art studios had to be."

"Well, there's not, but…" With a frustrated sigh, Mai straightened her back and followed after the monk until they reached the base, the third door to the left.

It was slightly ajar. The brown-haired man tapped it with his foot so that he could walk through, leaving Mai to follow suit.

Everything was freshly cleaned, although the stale smell of dust still lingered in the air. Other than a lone table pushed to the far corner and a couch randomly placed in the middle, the room was practically barren. Their host sure had gone through a lot of trouble to clean it, Mi thought.

Once they set their boxes down, Mai yawned, stretching her arms into the air. "I can't believe Naru, giving us all the hard work to do. What a slave-driver!"

"Ah," was the monk's only response. He was pretty occupied being a space cadet, an empty expression glued to his face. The man slumped onto the black sofa and sighed.

A frown soon made its way to Mai's lips. Bou-san was perfectly normal this morning. It was only when he found out–

Oh…

Mai's eyes suddenly brightened as she figured the reason as to his gloomy demeanor. "Aw, Bou-san! Are you upset because Ayako wasn't able to make it? How cute!"

He was never one for being slow to react, but this time he lacked the awareness he always seemed to posses. "W–What are you saying?!" A tint of pink crossed his face, but he quickly concealed it. "Geez, sometimes I wonder what you're thinking in that tiny brain of yours…"

"T–Tiny? I'll have know that I am a straight B student (with the exception of a C in math, but that's not the point)! Just face it, you miss her don't you? Don't you?!" Mai squealed like an elementary school student playing hide-and-seek as she just barely caught the flying EMF meter.

"So what?!" The monk bushed, his gaze beginning to wander again as his mind filled with thoughts of a certain red-headed miko.

Mai sighed at the lost cause. "Hopeless," she murmured, leaving the room to return to the van.

"Wah!"

A yell sounded throughout the large room filled with various paintings as Mai and some other, smaller object came in contact.

This object was no object, though…This object was a little boy; quite an adorable little boy, for that matter. Brown, tussled hair framed his petite, scowling face and he rubbed his elbow.

Didn't Fujisaki-san say that he was going to 'off-limits' the studio until the investigation was over? In that case, why was a little kid running around?

Mai was broken out of her gaze by the kid's pained look. Her face flushed in embarrassment.

Up and off of the ground in less than a second, Mai wiped off the dust on her navy capris and extended a hand to the boy.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and…!"

"Whatever," came his hasty retort. Mai snorted in surprise.

Attitude problems, much?

She bit her tongue in fear that she might let out a frustrated yell. She was getting better at controlling her emotions, but…well, what would expect after spending a year and a half with Naru?

By the time Mai had snapped out of her thoughts, the boy was already up and halfway across the room.

"H–Hey, wait! What's your name? What are you doing in here?" Mai quickly jogged after him to catch up with his fast pace and planted her hand on his shoulder to show him that she was not someone he could just push around.

He contemplated the hand before looking her in the eye and answering. "Tetsuya. Tetsuya Fujisaki."

Mai couldn't help but shiver at the glare he was sending her. Her hand quickly retreated from his sleeve. "Fujisaki? Meaning you're the son of our client?"

"What of it? And what I'm doing here is none of your freaking business!" he snapped angrily, turning his head around to hide his irritation. Mai flinched away from him as if he might just bite her.

Sighing, she watched as the moody pre-teen stalked passed her and towards the way she had just came. It was partly true…What he was doing there was none of her business, but seriously…why the attitude? It's not like she had done anything that bad to invoke such behavior. She had only been there for, what? Ten minutes? And would it kill him to smile?

Well, then again, sometimes it's better not to ask…

-

A wave of nausea swept over Mai just as she attempted to lift the last box of equipment. She sighed and collapsed against the side of the black van. She had never been so hot in her life; it felt like she was in an oven! Freaking global warming…

A hand was offered to her, Mai noticed–a hand she didn't recognize. It was comforting and big, definitely belonging to a man. Her gaze traveled up his arm until she had to shield her eyes from the sun. "Fujisaki-san!"

Fujisaki was a nice man around his mid-30's (although his graying hair didn't exactly reflect his true age) and their current client. He had come to the office just a few days ago asking for assistance. A kind smile was plastered to his face; the exact opposite of his son. Speaking of which, they didn't look at all alike. "Mai-san, I see you're working hard," he said, his tone laced with playfulness.

Nervously, the brown-haired assistant took hold of the man's hand, allowing him to hoist her up. "I'm not slacking off, I promise!"

Giving a hearty laugh, he slapped her shoulder jokingly. "Well, the most motivation I can give you is: the faster you get your work done, the faster you can get over with it."

"Ah, yes sir." Mai's lips quivered upwards into an almost pleading smile, her expression imploring him to say something–anything! She was so lonely…where were Naru, Lin, and Masako anyway?

As if he read her mind, the man smiled and sighed. "I see you're suffering from the summer heat, eh? Such an unfavorable time of year, isn't it? I'm delighted SPR took the time to travel all the way to Nagoya to investigate. Summer is our busiest time of year, but with all of these strange things going on, I simply had to close the camp."

Mai sent him a questioning glance.

"Well, your boss does seem like the type that would keep to himself, but I assumed he would tell you?"

"That guy never tells me anything…"

"Well, there's been lots of activity; everything from banging and voices to apparitions and orbs."

"Ah…Where is Naru anyway?"

"Shibuya-san said he would like to look at the attic. He took the medium and his tall assistant with him. The blond foreigner left them and is in the base with your other friend, most likely."

"Oh," she murmured to herself, "About the activity here…can you tell me something more specific?"

"See, I've had several students now that have had trips to the hospital. One of which, was my son."

Mai almost choked on her own spit as the news reached her ears. She did a double-take. "Y–Your son? But I saw him just a minute ago and he looked fine or...at least I thought he did."

"Ah, Tetsuya? He's fine now; fully recovered although he might have some scars..."

Mai leaned next to Fujisaki against the hot metal of the van and cupped her ear, her eyes showing she was willing to listen. "Would you mind telling me what happened? Why was Tetsuya-kun hospitalized?"

A droplet of sweat rolled down the man's forehead and into his eyes. He squinted at the sun. "A series of vases fell from a shelf that he was under…"

"I'm sorry," Mai whispered. "But are you sure he's alright? He seemed kind of upset when I saw him…"

"Ah, so you've met him? He's frustrating, isn't he?" The man chucked, scratching his cheek.

'How did you know?' her thoughts rang sarcastically. She smiled at his words.

Fujisaki sighed and turned to face Mai directly. "Well, Tetsuya's been like that ever since then. That's why I called you; to settle his unrest."

A smile pulled at her lips.

"You don't have to worry anymore. SPR will definitely figure out what's going on."

-

John smiled nervously, bringing the cup of jasmine tea to his lips. "What do you mean 'what do you think?'"

"About the case! Like–what's causing all of this stuff to happen, why it's happening, how we should go about getting rid of it, etc."

Bou-san sighed and slumped onto the couch (which was now pushed to the corner where the coffee table was previously) next to the priest. He yawned.

"Don't ask questions that nobody can answer, Mai. There are just so many things it could be. For all we know, those falling vases could've been an accident. Noises can be explained by creaking floorboards or doors, or passing cars, stuff like that; this building is old after all, plus it's surrounded by highways and other, taller buildings. As a matter of fact, many people mistake orbs for the light of passing cars reflecting on the walls. Anything is possible."

"Well, what if someone claimed to see an apparition? Would you be able to explain that, Mr. Know-it-all?" Mai snorted smugly, glaring at the monk from her indian-style position on the floor.

"Now, now, you two…" John laughed, playfully shaking his head.

"Hey," the brown-haired assistant defended, raising her hands innocently, "He started it." She pointed to the monk accusingly.

"It's rude to point, Mai," he shot back.

Before another word could be said, the door opened revealing Naru, Masako, and Lin. They were finally done with their walk through. Mai unconsciously wondered if they had encountered Tetsuya on their way to and from, but quickly brushed him off of her mind.

"Oh, did you hear that, Mai?" Bou-san questioned her as the three entered.

The high school girl's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Huh? Hear what?"

"Squeaking! The floor is squeaking–"

Mai frowned. "Shut up, will you?"

"Just jealous because I proved you wrong?"

"That totally does not prove you right."

Naru glared at the two as if to shut them up. Lin sighed, sitting next to him and Masako wiggled her way onto the couch beside the priest who was currently attempting to control his co-workers.

Incidentally, Bou-san bumped arms with said Australian, resulting in one jasmine-drenched medium and a red-cheeked priest.

"Oh! Hara-san," he stuttered to the mortified medium. By then, both Naru and Lin's attention had been caught once more as they looked onto the chaotic scene. Mai sat, her mouth agape, and Takigawa shivered just thinking of the hell he was going to get later. Masako knew important people.

Naru managed to maintain his stark disposition and turned around swiftly in his chair. He laughed to himself as he scribbled messy notes in his folder. Back to work.

Lin frowned, following suit. As they say: no use bothering over spilt milk.

Mai clenched her teeth to contain the laughter that was bubbling up. "Look what you did to poor Masako, you useless monk! Her kimono is all wet now!" Bou-san glared, noting the grin that began to arise on her face.

John flailed helplessly, his face still as red as an apple. "H–Hara-san, I'm so sorry! I'll get you some napkins or something–"

"Hey, Mai, this was all your fault! You were the one who provoked me!"

"So now it's my fault? You're trying to blame me for something you did? It's your fault for being provoked in the first place!"

"You guys!"

"He started it!"

"She started it!"

-

Since you asked so nicely, I decided to quickly type up this crap-filled chapter. Eh, at least it kept you entertained for a while (if you actually got this far). It might take me a while to get the other chapters up, but at least you know I'm coming along with it. Wait for me!

And a special thanks to all of those who have reviewed in my previous fanfiction and will review in this.

Ja ne!