Five o'clock rolled by quicker than I thought. I had finished the paperwork thirty minutes ago, and was practising the breathing exercises Lin had taught me to send my mind in a meditative state, when someone knocked on the door. It was loud enough that it startled me from my peaceful state and I momentarily lost control of my PK, sending my bag flying onto Naru's door.

He was going to kill me.

But before he could appear and send me into an 'I'm sorry! It won't happen again' frenzy, the front door opened and revealed our client, he looked around 22; my age. His face was youthful, but marred by recent worry lines, and his shoulders slumped as if the whole world was placed upon it. As I took in his haggard appearance, his aura came into view; completely grey, except for the few streaks of relief. It seemed that our client had lost a lot of sleep over his ghost problem, from what the dark circles under his eyes and the exhaustion in his posture told me.

"I-I have an appointment. My name is Akio Manabe." He bowed. I instantly pasted on a smile and bowed back. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Mai Taniyama. You may call me Mai if you like." My bright smile seemed to have lifted the depression from his aura a bit, leaving his happiness at finding a pleasant person to help with his problems. "The pleasure is all mine. I will call you Mai if you call me Akio." I grinned at him, also feeling a lot better.

"That sounds acceptable." I led him over to our black leather couch and told him to take a seat. At this moment, Naru came out of his door and gave me a warning look, and received an apologetic one back. "I am Kazuya Shibuya, the CEO of Shibuya Psychic Research. Please state your problem." he said.

Now more at ease, Akio said, "I think a ghost is haunting the small town I live in." Strike one. Naru hated it when people dawdled and beat around the bush. At Naru's cold stare, he continued. "I know that this sounds like a human culprit, but-", Strike two. Naru also hated it when people whose intellect "didn't even come close to his" – in his words – assumed to know what he was thinking. Akio visibly gulped at the look in Naru's eyes, and continued, albeit hesitantly. "P-people are being found with their mouth cut from ear to ear in the early morning when the first shifts start in the factories. Three people have already died; cause of death was determined blood loss." I tried to stifle my horrified gasp and looked to Naru. His irritation gone, his mouth settled into a grim line. "Have you contacted the authorities? And how can you be so sure that it is not a human committing these murders?" Akio's eyes turned sad and he glanced at me.

"No one has contacted the authorities because you have a reputation of avoiding the media. As with the murders, I am positive that it is a ghost. I have CCTV footage to prove it, but the videos don't have any sound." He held out a package and Naru gestured for me to put the disks in the DVD player.

The screen flickered as the video began.

It was dark and a man walked alone on a deserted street. He kept looking around like he was expecting something to jump out at him, and was heading towards the camera. He turned his back to the camera and appeared to be talking on his phone, so he didn't see the shadow approaching him.

The figure had long, black hair and was wearing a trench coat.

My uneasiness returned full blast. It just wasn't possible; this was probably just a coincidence, and had nothing to do with my dreams. On the screen, the woman stalked behind the man, like a graceful cat, and whispered into his ear. The blood drained out of his face, and he answered back. The woman smirked dangerously, her back still to the CCTV camera; the man stumbled back as his eyes caught the bloody scissors in the woman's hands. She lunged onto him, and brought the blades to his face. Prolonging his torture, she slowly slid the blade over the man's face, tearing the skin straight through. Streams of blood flowed out of the cut, painting his face and colouring his clothes. Silent screams erupted from his mouth at the overwhelming pain.

Slowly. the woman turned and faced the camera, grinning dementedly. She disappeared into thin air, then suddenly her face filled the whole screen. Her mouth opened, revealing a row of blackened teeth, surrounded by rotting gums and her tongue slithered out, trailing along the lens of the camera, covering it in saliva. She spoke, but we did not hear, and then stabbed the lens with her scissors.

Slowly, the screen faded to black...

I hadn't even noticed I was crying, tears falling in hot rivers down my cheeks. An agonised wail filled my ears, and I realised I was making that heart wrenching noise. There was no doubt about it; she was the one I had been dreaming about. Unconsciousness tugged at my senses and my eyelids became heavy.

But one thing shook me most of all. She had mouthed not a sentence, but a name.

And the name she uttered…was mine.