Forgotten
"A parking lot?"
"Yes, a parking lot."
The cold stare of the young man on the couch opposite of him bored into his being.
Hirota exited the office minutes later and let out a long, labored sigh. Ruthless as usual, he thought. Perhaps he shouldn't have bothered in the first place. Since Taniyama wasn't there to give a second opinion, Hirota left without making results. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat and slowly walked back to the escalator with a bowed head.
The moment he stepped around the corner he bumped into a man's shoulder.
He sputtered. "I'm so—"
"Yo, what's with the glum face?"
Hirota looked up to see to whom the familiar voice belonged to.
Takigawa Houshou grinned at him. As usual, his hair was in a messy ponytail. It had grown out considerably since their last meeting.
"Takigawa-!"
"That's Takigawa-san to you," the monk complained with a sour face. "Don't forget I'm older."
Hirota huffed.
It was truly annoying that someone like that had to be older than him. When they first met, Hirota assumed that Takigawa was younger. The way he dressed and his manner of speaking gave him the air of someone younger than him, but it turned out to be a wrong assumption. It took him a while to get around that fact. Even now he thought of him as just 'Takigawa' and once in a while he would slip up his mouth.
"Takigawa-san…" Hirota said, correctly this time. "Have you come to see Shibuya-kun?"
He shrugged. "Well, I'm just dropping by… What about you? Did Naru-bou turn you down again?"
"Yes…" Hirota said while frowning at the last question. "Who told you that?"
"Who do you think?"
Hirota blinked.
"Mai says you always bring in uninteresting cases," Takigawa added with a small shrug.
"Taniyama-san…" he growled.
"Hey, she's an expert on what type of cases Naru doesn't take!"
Hirota sighed with resignation.
"Right."
"In any case," Takigawa pointing a finger at himself. "You've come to the right person."
He narrowed his eyes warily.
"I only bumped into you."
"No no," he said. "Let's talk. The two of us."
Takigawa took Hirota's shoulder with a small grin, and lead him down the escalator.
The two men went into the café Dolphin and ordered two coffees; one hot coffee and one iced coffee. They took their seats at a table near the window and waited for their drinks.
Takigawa folded his hands.
"That boy turns down many people. Sure, most of their problems don't have paranormal causes, but Naru-bou is also really picky about the ones that do point in that direction. So what I do is – hang out there, and offer my services to people who get kicked out."
Hirota frowned. The monk was slyer than expected.
"Is that the only reason why you frequent that office?"
"Well, I get free iced coffee? And some nice company," he said and smirked.
Hirota looked at the table.
True. The office was situated in a busy area, so it was tempting to drop by and leisure in a calm and comfortable space. It was easy to talk with Taniyama, who was warm and welcoming. The other office workers weren't bad company either. Although their boss was a different case altogether, it seemed like the Irregulars made a habit of ignoring his chilly stares and frequent complaints about them visiting the office for matters other than business.
"Taniyama-san wasn't there," Hirota said.
"Oh…" Takigawa leaned back in his chair. "Well… then there's no point in going."
Hirota was about to say something, but the waiter arrived with their coffees.
After taking a sip from their coffees, Hirota resumed.
"…Weren't you a fan of Oliver Davis?"
Takigawa's face turned white.
"W-who told you that?"
"Taniyama-san and Yasuhara."
He held a hand up. Takigawa seemed somewhat embarrassed.
"Please, don't bring it up."
Hirota shrugged.
"Alright. It doesn't interest me in any case."
"Good," Takigawa said as he stirred a spoon in his iced coffee. "Anyway, going back to our previous topic… Mai-chan is also the one who gives me tips and contacts of clients who might be in need of some help. She's never been wrong so far."
Hirota blinked. "Does she do this for everyone?"
"Huh?"
"That miko, the Catholic priest… and Hara Masako."
"I wouldn't know, honestly. But I can say Masako-chan certainly doesn't."
"That's true…" Hirota looked down at the table. Hara Masako's fame as a medium would ensure her own line of clients. Probably even a waiting list.
"I wonder what Taniyama-san would say about this problem."
Takigawa drummed his fingers against the table.
"Well… I'm here to hear you out."
He sighed.
"It's… at a parking lot. Every week since last year in summer, a car window is broken, but no valuables are taken."
"Huh. Every week?" Takigawa cupped his chin. "Sounds like a prank."
"That's what I thought too," Hirota said. "But the thing is, the glass is scattered outside the car."
His eyes widened slightly out of interest.
"Oh."
Hirota nodded.
"You get it, don't you? It's gotten out of hand, so they notified our unit."
Takigawa took a sip from the coffee, then placed the glass on the table. He was already halfway done.
"Have you looked into the background of that parking lot?" he said.
"Of course I did."
"Did someone die there?"
Hirota shook his head.
"No, I checked for records of any deaths regarding that parking lot, but nothing came up."
"I see."
Hirota sipped his coffee and looked at Takigawa. He seemed to be deep in thought.
"What do you think?"
He folded his arms.
"Hmm. We could check it out."
"Really? ...To be honest, it seems like a trifling problem… Like Davis said."
"But it still bothers you?"
Hirota nodded.
"That's enough for me," Takigawa said with a little smile.
Hirota blinked.
"That's surprising… I thought you didn't like me."
"No, you're actually a nice fellow," he said, then paused. "Apart from being a stubborn blockhead."
After finishing their coffees, Takigawa and Hirota left the café.
At that moment they spotted a short girl in a kimono who was about to step on the escalator.
"Hey Masako-chan~"
Masako turned her head. "Takigawa-san… Hirota-san…"
"Visiting the office?" Takigawa asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Only Shibuya-san and Lin-san are in the office," Hirota said.
Masako blinked and lifted the sleeve of her kimono to her lips.
"Oh, so Mai isn't there…" She whispered.
Then her eyes glanced upwards to them. "And why are the two of you… together?"
She said it as if she had stumbled into something very scandalous.
"I offered him my services," Takigawa proudly said.
"Oh my."
Hirota nearly choked.
"N-not like that!" he said.
"Whatever could you be suggesting, Hirota-san?" She looked down with a sigh.
"N-nothing."
Takigawa grinned.
"Since you're not going up there, it seems like you have free time, Masako-chan?"
Masako nodded. "Yes, do you need my help?"
"Well, there's something we want to check out."
The car started. Hirota sat in the passenger seat in the front and watched Takigawa turn on the radio.
"Off we go."
Suddenly, the sound of metal music blasted at maximum volume from the car radio.
"TAKIGAWA-SAN!" Masako and Hirota simultaneously shouted.
After a car ride of half an hour, they arrived at their destination.
Hirota folded his arms as Masako looked over the parking lot.
"An old man… in his sixties. He lingers here."
"Where is the old man?"
Masako pointed at a space next to a bush. Hirota frowned. It was nowhere near where the incidents took place.
"I'll talk to him," she said curtly.
"Alright."
Takigawa followed her and Hirota treaded on their heels. They stood next to Masako while she made a conversation with the ghost.
"Don't tell me he got buried right under here," Takigawa said as he looked down at the asphalt.
"Monk, you're getting ahead of yourself," Hirota said. "According to my investigation the problems started 20 years after the parking lot was created. Plus, there are no indications that the asphalt was broken up, as you can see."
Takigawa narrowed his eyes at the place where the ghost should be.
"Well yeah."
Masako straightened up.
"He's gone," she said.
Hirota blinked at her. That was fast.
Masako pushed her long hair out of her face with a neutral expression. It seemed like business as usual.
"The man happened to wander around in this area looking for his wife. He kept going in rounds, but he couldn't reach his home," she explained. "I told him he already passed away. He understood and quietly left."
"That's good to hear." Takigawa sighed in relief. "So it was relatively harmless huh."
Masako nodded.
"But that doesn't explain the series of car window incidents," Hirota said.
"Yeah, what about that?"
Masako looked around and narrowed her eyes at a certain place behind them.
"There's something else here. A very weak presence," she said as they turned around.
Masako walked past them and stopped.
"It's here," Hirota said, standing behind them.
"What?"
"Where the car windows keep breaking."
Masako kneeled down.
"It seems very territorial…"
A smile graced her expression.
"But fluffy."
She started petting something small.
"It's gone."
Hirota frowned.
"Already? …What was it?"
"A dog."
Takigawa muttered. "So it died here in summer…"
Masako nodded.
"I think someone left it in the car during a heat. How awful."
"Damn, that's so sad. The owner must have found it… that's why it didn't get reported, I guess." Takigawa scratched the back of his head. "In any case, it's good that it went away so quickly."
"I think it just wanted some love," she said with a sad smile.
"Yeah."
Suddenly they heard a sniff behind them.
"Hirota-san?" Masako turned her head.
"Don't look!"
Hirota spun around and wiped the moisture on his face with the sleeve of his coat.
Takigawa widened his eyes.
"What's wrong!"
"N-nothing."
"That's not nothing. Are you okay?"
Hirota gave in.
"My family used to have a dog at home…" he said. "This just reminded me of my dog."
The other two exchanged sad glances.
"Oh… I can't say I don't understand," Takigawa said, scratching the back of his head. "It would kill me if something like that happened to my cat."
Masako pulled a tissue from her bag. She held it up in front of Hirota who looked at her with a surprised expression.
He gratefully took it.
"T-thank you for everything."
"You're welcome."
They stepped in the car again.
"C'mon, let's have a drink together!" Takigawa said. "You too, Masako-chan!"
"I regretfully decline your invitation as I'm still a minor."
"Then how about some soda?"
"As much as I'd like to, I need to get back home. It's getting rather late."
"True." Takigawa admitted. "Well, your first drink is on me then!"
"I'll remember that," she said with a smile.
After they dropped Masako off near her home, Takigawa drove Hirota to a pub.
It was the same pub he frequented with Ayako, John and Yasuhara lately.
"A beer for my pal here!"
"Shouldn't I buy you one?" Hirota said.
Takigawa frowned as he sat down.
"Hey, I didn't do anything."
"No, you heard me out and drove us there."
He waved a hand at Hirota.
"That's nothing~"
Hirota shook his head.
"Please, I insist."
"Alright if you say so."
Author's note
I wrote this in response to a prompt for the Ghost Hunt Prompt Meme Challenge 1: Parapsychology on AO3. See my profile for more information on these challenges.
The prompt was:
haunting: Paranormal phenomena such as apparitions, unexplained sounds, smells or other sensations that are associated over a lengthy period of time with a specific location. Cf. poltergeist.