Day 1

June 5

Mai's P.O.V

It was one of those typical days. The sun shone brightly over my brown hair, blinding my hazel eyes as I looked up, attempting to see the sun. The streets, seemingly, was filled with peoples; Children, teens, adults were all scattered all around me. Constant chats, conversations reached my eyes. Everyone here was enjoying with their friends, families, acquaintances.

While I, on the other hand, was running late to my job at Shibuya Psychic Research or SPR for short.

Today was Sunday, a holiday for everyone except for me. My boss, Kazuya Shibuya or Naru as I nicknamed him for his narcissism, had to make me work on such a day. And it's not like some huge job that needs to be done as soon as possible. It's only making tea, and nothing else. My boss would probably die without his beloved tea. In the past 16 years of my life, I have never seen anyone who was addicted to tea as he is. Along with him, there is this other guy called Lin who doesn't even bother to open his mouth unless he thinks it is very important.

I dashed through the busy roads, jealous of those who were happy. I stopped in front of a wooden door. I recognized the door as it belonged to SPR. I opened the door and entered it. I am glad that I wasn't late today since I am usually late. As soon as I entered, a command from my boss was heard.

"Mai, tea"

"Right on it" I replied to his order. "Would like some tea too Lin"

The brunette asked the other assistant the following question as he replied 'no' in his monotone voice.

I went to the kitchen and started preparing tea by boiling water in a kettle. Then patiently waiting for a whistling noise remarking that the water has boiled, I tapped my right foot.

As I was waiting, a knock sound reached my ears. Somebody was there. I hurriedly, leaving the kettle behind, went to open the door in order to let the unknown person enter.

"Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research. How could I help you?" I smiled at the stranger. At a closer inspection, I could see it was a girl with shoulder-length flaxen hair, along with moss green eyes, and a pearl white skin. To put it, she looked like some sort of doll.

"Could I speak with Kazuya Shibuya?" The girl asked, politely.

"Sure. Follow me" I smiled as she smiled back at me.

"Naru, someone came to see you" I shouted loud enough for my boss to hear.

"Send her in" was all Naru said.

I showed her to where Naru was and went to bring over the tea cups.

Third person's P.O.V

The adolescent girl sat on the couch as owner said her to do so. The girl sat, fixing her purple skirt so that it covers her knees. The girl looked down at her knees with a sad smile on her face. The midnight blue haired guy looked at the girl as if he was trying to study her.

"I presume you're Yoshina" the owner asked the blonde as the brunette that left earlier came with two cups of tea: one for Naru, and the other for the client. Kaaya took her cup of tea and nodded a 'yes' at Naru's question.

"What is this case about?"

"Well, it started a week ago. At first, I felt a presence of someone watching me. I thought I was being paranoid and ignored it. But then one day, as I was about to go to sleep, I saw a shadow on the wall. The shadow stood right in front of me. I looked behind me and found no one. Right then, the door slammed shut. I pushed the door for it open, but the door didn't open. I quickly took my phone and began to dial my friend's number and call her. I said her about what had happened and she replied by telling that it was all my imagination since past few days we watched a lot of these horror movies. I believed her and went over to open the door and it did open this time. But next day, as I woke up, I saw my clothes were all scattered on the floor. And I firmly remember, I had my wardrobe arranged before I went to sleep. I thought a robber broke in my house and searched that if I had lost anything. Everything was there; nothing was stolen. As nothing was stolen, I decided not to inform anything to the police. The following day as I was doing the dishes, one of the plates by itself, fell from the shelf. Thinking that it accidently slipped, I sat down to pick up the pieces. As I was picking the pieces up, another one fell and following that one another fell. At last, three of the plates fell and shattered. Then the other day, as I working on some projects for college, I noticed that wind was blowing in; a rapid cold wind. The window was opened, and I remembered, I had closed it. I went to close the window as I saw a shadow-like figure outside watching me with smile plastered on its face. I jumped back in fear from him and turned back. There he was, standing in front of me. I tried to scream but my voice won't just come out. I tried to run but I felt as if my body was paralyzed. It won't move. The stranger forwarded towards me with a knife in his hand as in wanting to kill me. Right then my doorbell chimed, and the figure vanished right into the thin air" The young girl explained somewhat sad and scared.

"Was this all what happened?" Naru asked the petrified girl.

"The door slams shut and open simultaneously, my house gets messed up, making it hard for me to find my things, unknown shadows whisper 'your time's up'. I don't know what o, anymore"

With that the girl broke into tears. Naru looked at the girl, deep in thoughts.

"We need three rooms: one for the girls to stay in, the other for the men, and the last one for the equipments. And make sure the room has sufficient amount of electricity" Naru stated.

"Does that mean you will take case?" the girl said, overjoyed. Naru simply nodded at her enthusiasm.

''''''''''~NEXT DAY~''''''''''

Mai's P.O.V

We were on our way to Kaaya's house. Along with Naru, Lin, and I, there was Ayako Matsuzaki, a priestess, Houshou Takigawa, a monk, and John Brown, an exorcist.

All of us were cramped up in Naru's van which also included his high-tech equipments. As always, I didn't get the seat beside the window. I was in middle which made me feel suffocated. I needed fresh air. Ayako and Bou-san's constant bickering made me feel worse.

"How far is her place?" I cried out, feeling annoyed.

"If you don't feel like sitting here, you can always the whole way" Naru replied in his usual tone with a smirk on his face. He was reading some book. Doesn't he ever get tired of reading books? I silently thought.

"For your information, I don't"

"Did I just say that out loud?" I said somewhat embarrassed.

"Loud and clear" monk said, stopping his fight with Ayako.

I sighed at my foolishness.

After sometime, the van stopped. It stopped in front of a mansion. The mansion was huge to be exact. It seemed two stories high from outside. It had a garden in front of it with various coloured flowers planted in it. A fountain was there in the middle with water flowing right out of it. The sun made the water shimmers. A sculpture of a mermaid was sculpted in front of the water fountain. The mansion's windows had royal blue curtains clothed over it. The mansion's wall was painted in white colour. Bewilderment filled within me as I stared on the mansion.

"Welcome" Kaaya shouted as she ran through the doors.

"Have you arranged what I asked you to do?"

"Yes. Follow me in"

Without a further word, we followed Kaaya.

The inside was dazzling. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceilings. Burgundy doors were attached on the entrance of each rooms. Maroon carpet was placed under my leg. Teal and white tiles covered the floor all the way. The walls were stained in pale yellow paint. Two staircases leading to the upper floor, was enveloped in red carpet. Golden colour that apparently shone in the bright light was radiating from the chandeliers, and it was the one in which the railings had been coloured. The vases of flowers were placed on the small tables, beside the staircase. The flowers were mostly in lilac, pink, and white colour. The vase in which it was kept was pistachio in colour. Green leaves emerged out of the vase. Maids and butlers were all scattered around the mansion with each one of them, doing their particular tasks. Some dusted the vase, some wiped railings of stairs, while the others worked in the kitchens.

Two of the butlers came over to us, and took our suitcases most likely to place them in the rooms. The butlers were dressed in black tailcoats with corresponding black pants. White shirts were worn under the coats. Their hair was neatly brushed.

"Wow! You leave here all alone" I said astonished.

"Yeah" Kaaya replied with a giggle.

"What about your parents?" Monk asked, almost curious.

"They are overseas for business matters" Kaaya said looking rather sad. "Well, let me show you to your rooms"

At first, Kaaya took us to the room in which the equipments are supposed to be attached. Then, she showed us the ladies room.

It had its walls painted in some shade of mauve. Two futons were tidily placed in their assigned position which was the floor. A table lamp was placed beside each of the futons. Our luggage was kept at one side of the room.

Time skip~

Few moments later, we were all in the control room or the room in which all the equipments were kept. Naru ordered me to bring the equipments in as John and monk lent me a hand. The monitors were all placed on the shelves and the wires were correctly connected in the cables. Later on, John and I along with Kaaya attached the cameras and all in the rooms the attacks occurred. After all of the tasks were flawlessly done, Naru commanded me to make tea. After making the tea, I offered everyone their particular cups and took a seat next to Ayako.

Lin wordlessly observed the monitors to check if there was a reading alteration as in temperature reducing or anything like that. Everything seemed customary. But then...

"Naru, take a look at this" Lin exclaimed, shifting his concentration away from the screen to look at Naru.

Everyone including I went to take a look at the screen. There seemed to be a temperature drop in some room. The room looked well-organized. A light-haired girl walked in with some books in her hand. I recognized the girl. She was...

"Kaaya" I shouted, and then ran to the room where Kaaya was.

"Mai, stop" Ayako yelled, but I paid to heed to whatever she said and ran towards the direction of the room.

I sprinted up the stairs, dashed across all room, and went towards Kaaya's room. I slammed the door open, and the scene of Kaaya being thrust against the walls was right before my eyes. I raced towards Kaaya and pulled her up.

"Are you okay" I said, supporting her so that she could stand up.

"Yeah" she said with forcing a smile out.

Right then, Naru along with the other members walked in. Ayako came over to and handed he a glass of water. Later, she sat on her bed and took a sip of the water. I kept my hand across her frail shoulders in order to calm her down.

"Someone should be assigned to look after her" Naru stated.

"I can do it" I volunteered.

"But Mai-Okay then Mai you look after " Naru agreed whilst interrupting Monk.