Prologue

Boom!

The sound of thunder filled the dark, afternoon sky. All week the sky was heavy with dark grey clouds, threatening to cause a downpour. Some people found this depressing, particularly one 16-year-old brunette. She was staring out the window, bored out of her wits, which caused her to daydream carelessly, that is until a voice shook her out of her thoughts.

"Mai, tea." A male voiced called out from an office not too far from her desk. She got up from her chair and headed towards the kitchen. She was kind of glad she was doing something, but bored because it was the same thing she did everyday. She gathered up everything in a tray and headed toward the office. She knocked on the door, but entered without waiting for a reply. When she went in, she saw what she usually saw every time she went in to serve her boss tea. There, she saw her employer sitting at his desk, reading through files.

"Here's your tea." She said setting down the cup in front of him and putting the tray under her arm. She stayed there watching him pick up the cup and drink some of the tea. It had been five minutes until he looked up from what he was doing and looked at her with an emotionless face.

"What?" He asked with a cold voice.

"Naru..." Whatever she was about to say, she didn't get to finish because at that time, the phone chose to ring. She went over to her desk to answer the phone hoping that, whoever it was, would be a potential client, not that she was hoping that some vengeful spirit would start harassing a family or a group of people, heavens no, she just wanted to do something before she went crazy in there.

She picked up the phone and automatically said into the receiver, "Shibuya Psychic Research, how may I help you?" At first there was silence so she said, "Hello?" but still no answer came. Suddenly she heard someone breathing in and out heavily and she started to get a bad feeling from the pit of her stomach. She then said in an accusing tone, "Alright, who is this?" She listened intently, then all of a sudden a loud and unearthly scream reached her ear. Scared, Mai dropped the phone, screamed, and stumbled backwards and fell. Naru got out of his office and ran to her. He knelt beside the frightened Mai, "Mai, what's wrong?" He asked with a hint of worry in his voice. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking. Lin was now beside Naru.

"What happened?" He asked him. Naru then responded, "I don't know." Mai blinked a few times and stopped shaking slowly. Naru then tried again. "Mai, what happened?" Mai looked up at Naru, then returned her gaze back to the phone. She spoke softly, but her voice was full of fear. "I picked up the phone to see who it was, but nobody answered. Suddenly I heard someone breathing heavily. I asked who it was, but again noone answered. Then all of a sudden, I heard a scream, but it wasn't human. It sounded like a ghost..." she paused for a moment and then said in an almost inaudible voice, "It said my name." Naru got up, went towards the phone, and picked it up. Nothing. He then put it back. Not even 10 seconds past when the phone rang again, causing Mai to jump up almost 6 feet in the air. This time Naru picked up the phone, but instead of a scream, a woman answered. Five minutes later, he hung up the phone.

"We have an appointment tomorrow at 10:30." He then looked down at the still shaken up Mai. "Mai, I want you to call everyone and tell them to be here tomorrow, then go home and rest, but I want you to be here for the appointment tomorrow." She slowly nodded her head. Lin then helped her get up.

"About the scream," she said shakily , "Maybe it was just my imagination." Trying to her reassure herself more than them. "Yeah, it was probably just me." Naru was thinking something else because this wasn't the first time something happened to her. Lin and Naru went back to their offices, but before Naru entered his, he looked back to see her dialing a number, her hand shaking. No doubt she was still thinking about the scream. He went inside to continue what he was doing, although he was somewhat distracted by what had happened earlier.

Mai was done calling Bou-san and everyone else. She then headed to Naru's office to tell him that she was going to leave. When she went in, he was typing something in the computer. He heard the door open and looked up.

"Um...I was just going to tell you that I was going home already." she said. He just gave her a slight nod and returned his attention back to the computer. She was going to say something but decided against it and left. When he heard her leave he turned to look at the now empty spot where she had been standing in. Despite himself, he was wondering if he had done the right thing by sending her home, but now it was to late to call her back. 'I hope she's alright' he thought, then scowled at himself for thinking that and returned to his work.