Author's Note
Disclaimer, I do not own Ghost Hunt. This is also my first story so, sorry if any of the characters act unnatural and please don't be too harsh. Later on, there will be some NaruxMai and other pairings, but there will be a slow build until then. Italic's are Mai's thoughts.
File 1: The Crow's Head
Prologue
Mai Taniyama works at "Shibuya Psychic research" or SPR for short, a paranormal investigation office. Every Saturday Mai comes in the office and does paperwork, by organizing the old issues of Psychic research magazines, previous cases, and scientific studies by date.
Looking down at her work Mai sighed, her head sinking into her arms to rest on her desk. Today was proving to be rather boring since they weren't working a case. "How long will I have to continue doing boring work?" Mai groaned, starting to drift into a daydream.
The sound of the doorbell ringing stirred Mai from her imagination, 'it's a guest!' The client who just came in was a young woman no older than 25.
"I heard that this where they do investigations on ghosts, but".
"Yes, that's right," Mai replied chipper, really hoping that her boss, Naru, will finally take a case.
The young women looked at Mai with surprise and a wary look, which is typical of people who came into the office since paranormal phenomena were still not widely understood by people outside of the field.
"What kind of situation are you in?" Mai asked gently, as she leads the frightened woman over to the sofa. In a timid voice, the women answered "It's about my school's sports team. . . th-they were possessed by an evil spirit. Can you help them?"
'Oh, so it is about spirits' Mai was glad that this case seemed to have some potential since her boss had been turning down cases left and right. "Please wait here as I call the boss." Mai knocked on Naru's door and called out ". . . Naru?"
A bored voice responded, and Mai opened the door to Naru, the director of "Shibuya Psychic research," reading a book at his desk. His deep, beautiful gaze fell on Mai and she felt her face heat up in response.
". . . A client?" Naru asked placing his book down on the desk. "Yes, it sounds like a group of students got possessed, while on a sports trip."
Naru frowned slightly. He disliked it when people unrelated to the paranormal field mentioned anything about spirits. Reluctantly, he stood up and joined Mai in the reception room. Mai grimaced, 'Naru is in such a bad mood today, he's probably not going to take the case.'
The young women sitting on the sofa appeared very uncomfortable, sitting close to the arm of the chair noticeably tense and pale. Mai was going to offer the women some tea when Naru walked calmly to the sofa, with his head tilted down slightly he spoke.
"Nice to meet you, I am the Director of Shibuya Psychic Research."
The women looked up in a daze causing Mai to jolt with a surprise. 'I know it's surprising that a 17-year-old is the head of the office, but something about this case has set... .'
"Oh! I'm so sorry I never asked for your name. I'm Mai Taniyama, it's nice to meet you." The sudden exchange surprised the young women causing her to jump.
"Um, my name is Hana Ito-sensei"
"What are the details of your problem, Ito-san?" Naru spoke in a pointed and cold manner, caring very little about the women's apprehension.
"Umm. My school had a sports meet last month and during it, a teacher began to tell a horror story as they went through the Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel. All of the students who listened began screaming, begging the teacher to stop, but the teacher went into a kind of trance and started acting weird. When he came back to himself all the students had collapsed and couldn't stop mumbling about a crow."
"What makes you think it was a trance?" Naru asked looking up from his notebook
"He just acted strangely." Ito-san quietly said
Naru sighed softly.
"Be more specific."
The women hesitantly lowered her head. " Oh... None of the students, nor himself could remember what the story was about just that they could hear a crow. Also, a few days after the incident he started to foam at the mouth and could not stop sweating and shivering, he died not long after. . . "
Mai gasped 'H-He died?' her face distorted in concern, as she raised her hands to cover her mouth. She remembered hearing of the strange occurrence on the news and it was the only thing her classmates were talking about, but not many details were known about the incident.
"Some of the students who listened to the story have fallen into a coma. This is serious, they could die like the teacher did." The women emphasized.
Naru's fingers entwined together as he pondered the situation.
"And you want the crow spirit to leave," he said presumingly. "In some cases like this that may not help the students afflicted."
Ito-san's face quickly turned to shock, "Wh-What else can we do to help them? They could die if we do nothing."
Lifting his head, Naru looked up at her.
"My apologies but I cannot help you. Whether or not they are possessed or experiencing some form of mass hysteria I cannot say, but I do not like taking highly publicised incidents. . . I suggest you have them looked at by a doctor." He responded as he stood up.
Ito-san let out an undignified scoff, but Naru didn't take notice. He turned towards Mai and in a low voice
"Mai, please escort Ito-san out."
"But… Are you not going to help the students? Can't you at least recommend her to someone else?" Mai asked unable to hide her frustration. Without turning around, Naru continued to talk to his office.
"Um, boss! I'm talking to you, you could at least respond, you jerk." Mai crossed her arms and had started to pout at the lack of response.
Naru paused before turning around, he looked at Mai with a different expression in his eyes. Mai blushed under her boss' gaze, but held her ground on the issue 'Someone had to help them.'
"Mai, Tea." Was all Naru said before walking into his office and closing the door, leaving a baffled and flustered Mai.
"Naru! You jerk! Why don't you ever try to listen to me for a change?" Mai yelled as she pointed at the door in frustration. '...Okay, this isn't good. Naru isn't going to listen to a word I say.' Mai only turned back to Ito-san when she hears a muffled giggle come from the woman.
"Sorry. . . Things here can be a little different." Mai said with a blush spread across her cheeks at the fact that she had just yelled at her boss in front of a client.
The Ito-san laughed bitterly. ". . . If only your boss would come and see the students, then he could see how terrible it is!"
Mai smiled gently '. . . I was thinking the same thing, but Naru is so stubborn.'
"Unfortunately in this office, the director doesn't like handling cases that have a lot of attention. I'm terribly sorry." Mai bowed low and looked at the floor with an unsatisfied look.
Looking up Mai couldn't help but to notice that Ito-san looked anything but pleased. But there wasn't much Mai could do Naru only liked taking cases that he deemed important enough to drag all the equipment there, and keep them busy with the investigation.
Mai sighed before taking out a piece of paper and a pen. "Um, I think your case is interesting," she said in a small voice. "How about you give me the school location and the place of the incident so I can write up a report of your problem. We might look into it when there is less attention on the case."
Ito-san face brightened up, "Really?"
"Yep, but I can't guarantee it," Mai said as she hanged the women the pen and paper. Ito-san eagerly began to scribble down the information and looked up to Mai.
"I don't know, how much I can do to convince the owner of the tunnel, but," as Ito-san spoke her voice began to quiver. "I-I'll do everything I can to convince him t-to handle the media away from the site."
Afterward, Mai saw Ito-san out the door, 'Hmm, the students are the same age as me.' Mai thought sadly as she carefully folded the piece of paper and placed it into her pocket.
"Mai, Tea!" Naru called out again, knowing full well his assistant had forgotten the only thing he said to her. Mai groaned out in frustration having momentarily forgotten about her worry of the students.
"I'm getting your tea, you Narcissist!" Mai called out and then carried on with rest of work for the day.
Sometime later someone opened the office door, much to the surprise of Mai since SPR was going to be closing soon. In the doorway stood a middle-aged male, who appeared to be out of breath.
With great difficulty, the man introduced himself "Hello, I'm Natsu Saito. I am the owner of Iwate-Ichinohe Tunnel."
Shocked, Mai paused for a moment before introducing herself and bowing, 'I didn't think we would have more people come in about the tunnel' looking up at Saito-san, Mai's eyes widened, the man was looking at her with a look of arrogance and superiority.
"I came here for a serious problem," Saito-san said as he passed Mai not sparing her a second glance."Where is your boss?"
Hearing the commotion Naru came out of his office and looked at Mai with an indifferent look. ". . . A guest?"
With an arrogant expression, Saito-san looked from Naru to Mai. "Can I speak to the person in charge?"
Facing the man, Naru with eyes as cold as ice with an expression that would stop anyone from talking, calmly stated. "I am the manager, Shibuya."
The man paled, becoming expressionless and speechless. Mai sighed, this was proving to be the normal response from clients when they learned that Naru was in charge. Looking up, Mai made eye contact with Naru, her face flushed in response and with a mocking smile, Naru led the man and Mai, who now bared the same expression over to the chairs.
Saito-san bowed to Naru who was sitting opposite to him. Naru was clearly in a bad mood and especially since the client had come in close to closing time. Mai whispered that she was going to make some tea, and quietly excused herself. 'Why is so tense in there? I thought I was going to die from the glare Naru is giving.' Once she had finished making the tea, Mai reluctantly walked back in and handed out the cups seeing that the staring match had continued.
". . . Is something troubling you?" Naru asked in the same angry tone he had used earlier. Natsu Saito lowered his head, not daring to look up at Naru, not that Mai could blame him she was also looking anywhere but there.
"...Well, I'm sure you have heard about some of the strange things that have been happening in a train tunnel I own," he admitted. "I have discussed with some of our shareholders and we decided to seek outside help." Saito-san finally looked up at Naru "We believe the train tunnel to be haunted and would like your team to investigate the matter." Naru looked down at his notes indifferently.
"Please accept our request." He bowed deeply.
Mai glanced over to Saito-san, 'Huh, I guess Naru's glare earlier straightened this guy out, he looks so defeated now. But what kind of case are we getting ourselves into?' Mai began to tremble lightly and sneaked a glance at Naru. His pale fingers were pinched together, resting on his knee.
"Regarding this situation, I have already refused another group who came in discussing the same issues about the school students." Saito-san looked directly at Naru.
"Knowing that you have rejected the teacher who came in, I ask you to reconsider, " Saito-san's fingers began to fidget and he looked away for a moment.
"The situation has gotten rather serious. Our trains are going to lose business and. . ." He looked up. "The incident has occurred again." Mai gasped, covering her mouth 'Oh, no. More students are going to end up hurt or worse.'
"If it's about the money, then rest assured that your team will be adequately compensated for your time and expertise." Saito-san retrieved a piece of paper from his breast pocket and handed it Naru. Naru took the paper, glanced at it and then placed it on the table.
Naru sighed and took a moment to consider before replying, "To tell you the truth, I am interested in the incident that occurred in the Iwate-Ichinohe tunnel. However, I would prefer to not deal with the media's attention."
"I understand where you are coming from. With the situation being how it is, there are many people asking questions and taking an interest in what occurred," Saito-san replied thoughtfully. "But with the situation being as troubling as it is I truly hope that your team can resolve it as soon as possible. Currently, there are many horrifying rumors that are being spread and I am feeling very unsettled by it."
Saito-san glanced at the paper that was lying on the table.
"The shareholders and I decided that with the atmosphere being gloomy we had little choice but to pursue this option at any expense necessary," Saito-san cleared his throat and leaned forward. "As for the media, we want this matter to get no more attention and will ensure that you have no contact with them."
With this, he Bowed yet again. "We really need your help. Please, assist us in resolving this matter.
Naru was deep in thought.
Mai was sitting on the side feeling anxious; 'Please agree to help them fix everything.' Mai glanced over to Naru but decided to keep quiet since Naru isn't the type to listen to anyone or change his mind.
Naru closed his eyes and thought about the case; Mai quietly observed Naru with pleading eyes, hoping he would take the case. Before long, Naru looked up and turned towards Mai, causing her to lightly blush having been caught staring at her boss. Looking to Saito-san, Naru coldly replied.
"We will take the case." Standing up Naru returned to his office.
Mai's heart flew with happiness 'Yes! Just like that, we have a case to work.'