"Dialogue in English."
"Dialogue in Japanese."
Chapter 1
Storm Approach
"Eh... Nn..." Even with the entirety of two languages at his fingertips, all Kazuya could manage was a series of unintelligible grumbles. He imagined he must have looked like an idiot gaping at her with his mouth hanging open, he pressed his lips together in a thin line.
Taniyama-san lifted her chin to look at him, brown eyes curious. "Have you heard of it?"
Had he heard of it? Kazuya bit back the indignant scoff that threatened to blow his calm demeanor. He knew BSPR had a strange obsession with researching hauntings and so-called psychics. And that his brother was currently their new obsession, a 'perfect medium' they were calling him. Kazuya folded his arms across his chest. "You could... say that."
She smiled, the edge of her lips turning up, a slight pinkish tinge gracing her cheeks as she looked away.
He turned away too, gesturing to the plethora of cameras. "What are these?"
She half turned, pointing at each one in turn, "That's an infrared camera, it maps temperature, a night vision for seeing in the dark, and a full-spectrum camera."
"Full-spectrum?"
"Mhm, it can see objects usually invisible to the human eyes," she grinned sarcastically at the lost look on his face. "We should probably set up base before it gets too dark."
He blanched, "I thought this was base."
"No, this," she giggled, gesturing to the camera still in his hands, "was pre-investigational research."
Pre-investigational... Kazuya deadpanned. "You're researching your research?"
She shook her head, "It's too dangerous to walk blindly into a supposed 'haunted house'. We set these up around the perimeter to capture sound throughout the day. But we don't need them anymore."
He nodded, handing her the last microphone. She ejected the tape and labeled it. "So... is there? A spirit, I mean. Inside the school house?" He tried to keep the disbelief out of his voice, but he was almost positive the old school building was nothing more than, well, old.
Taniyama-san narrowed her eyes in thought, tapping the pen against her lips as she spoke. "I don't believe so. For a place with so many reported sightings, there is no reliable evidence. But all I know for sure right now is if there is a spirit here, it certainly isn't malicious."
"Then why investigate?"
"I'm a scientist. I don't jump to conclusions; I infer the most logical conclusions based off all evidence." He couldn't help but notice how different she seemed when she was discussing her work. Her demeanor was calm and confident, but not overly so. She was almost a different person than the girl he had met in the classroom.
"Anyway," she continued, jumping to her feet, "take these shelves to the second-floor. Classroom 2-E will function as our base."
He barely braced himself in time as she dropped the bundle of heavy wood planks and metal poles into his arms. They must have weighed well over 50 kilograms. "Do I have to?"
"Why? Are you scared?"
Naru shook his head petulantly, "There's nothing to be scared of. Ghosts don't exist."
She hopped out of the van, bringing several microphones forward and stacking them together. "Wow, handsome and brave."
He paused, searching her face with a sly grin, "You think I'm good looking?"
He watched in amusement as her cheeks tinged red and she stuttered, "W-well, those girls did seem to make quite a fuss over you."
"Right," he said slowly, sarcastically. "At least they have good taste." He knew that for a fact. At least half of them had already asked his brother out, all for naught, too. He was already taken.
She glared. "You... Narcissist."
Happy to finally have one over on her, he made his way over to the old school house. The first thing he noticed was the amount of dust in the air. He held his breath as he went, trying not to sneeze when he noticed a large overturned shoe rack, balanced precariously on top of what used to be an expensive camera but was now completely useless, it's lens shattered and wires sticking out. He thought he saw drops of blood, too.
Simply standing beside the wooden rack, Kazuya could feel a light presence emanating off of it. It wasn't strong but it called out to him, a buzz of noise in his ears. If he touched it, he held no doubts he would hear the voices clearly.
He glanced over his shoulder. Taniyama-san's thin form was half hidden by the doors of the big van. If he was quick, she would never notice. Kneeling, he carefully laid the equipment on the floor and traced his fingertips over the dark mahogany.
As he thought, there wasn't much of an imprint at all, but the voices became sharper. There were the sounds of students laughing and chatting, a school bell ringing, sounds imprinted from years of use in the school house. Then, muffled by the chatter, was another voice.
"Mai!" Said a low, man's voice, and then a yelp. As Kazuya removed his fingers, he felt the ghost of the shoe rack as if it had fallen atop of him and the sound of shattering glass.
Head pounding, he quickly stood straight, taking the pile of equipment with him. Had that been Taniyama-san screaming? Had someone been with her when the rack fell over? Was that their blood?
He glanced back over his shoulder but she was just as she had moments before. The imprint was still fresh, no more than a few hours ago and fading fast.
Hmmm.
He skirted around the broken glass to the stairs. It wouldn't do to stand around, and he certainly did not want to draw unnecessary attention to himself, so he climbed the rickety stairs to the second floor. Once he got to the designated classroom, he deposited the heavy material onto a few abandoned desks.
Taniyama-san followed him in a few minutes later, lugging what looked like a computer tower.
"Do you usually work alone?" He asked in his best uninterested tone. From what he'd seen, it seemed someone else had been here and had gotten themselves injured. But Taniyama-san looked fine, her skirt a little on the dirty side, perhaps, but unscathed.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that's a lot of equipment for one person to carry. I imagine at the pace you're going it would take you all day." He shook his head, smirking, "unless, of course, you always request an onsite assistant."
She cut him a flat look. "Do you have to be so blunt?"
"Consider it research."
"Self-importance is an unbecoming quality." She mumbled, kneeling beside one of the bigger desks and setting the tower down, "but to answer your question, no. I don't usually require an assistant. Lin-san is more of a guardian than an assistant, but he is currently... unavailable."
He had a feeling that this 'Lin' had been quite badly injured if he had left Taniyama-san to investigate by herself.
"Satisfied?"
He nodded, "Quite."
Taniyama-san nodded spinning on her heel. "Start bringing in the rest of the equipment. I'll put those shelves together."
.
.
Three hours. Kazuya huffed out a baited breath as he staggered backward into one of the abandoned desks. The sun had disappeared from the sky by the time he was done placing the last of the T.V. screens onto the upper shelves. He glanced out the window, sighing at the streaks of faint purples and pinks that were left in the sun's wake.
At this rate, he'd be lucky if he got home before the trains stopped running.
Taniyama-san followed his gaze to the window, plugging in the last few cords. "You can go home, Naru-chan. We're done for today."
"Na...ru...?" He said slowly. No one called him that except... Gene. Who was currently visiting BSPR for the last week… If this was his idea of a joke, Naru definitely wasn't laughing. He retrieved his bag from the ground with more force than necessary, glaring. "Who did you hear that from?"
"Oh," she blushed deeply, turning from him to hide her reddened face. "Nothing. Forget I said it."
He advanced on her, "Did Gene tell you to say that?"
Her hand hesitated over one of the large cameras he had carried up earlier, "Oh, I'm sorry. Does someone already call you that?"
Naru didn't say anything but hoped his face wouldn't give him away. Did she really not know or was she faking?
"I guess it shouldn't surprise me," she babbled on, offering him a wry smile, "there was bound to be someone else who thinks you're just as narcissistic as I do, Na-ru-cha-n."
He didn't know if he liked the word 'narcissistic', he preferred to think he was confident ー with good reason, but at least he still just Kazuya Shibuya.
.
.
Naru twitched, eyes pinched shut as they darted back and forth. He kicked, tossing off the rest of the blanket that had managed to wrap itself around his waist.
His bedroom was dark save for the glowing screen of his cell phone. It buzzed across the floor, loud and persistent, the noise loud enough to stir the teen from his nightmare.
He jerked awake, sucking down a trembling breath as he blinked up at the dark ceiling. The phone vibrated twice more before he rolled over onto his side, squinting at the number displayed before flipping it open.
"Gene..." He slurred, voice thick with sleep and lingering unease. It felt odd to speak in English after so long, the words muddling in his mind as he peiced the words together, "Is something wrong?"
"Can't I call my little brother just for the sake of it?" The voice on the other end sounded amused, chuckling softly into the receiver. Naru grunted, about to tell his brother that no, he couldn't when Gene continued, "Actually, I'm surprised you picked up. What is it, 3am there?"
Just the sound of his brother's voice soothed his unconsciousness, his head hurting a little less. Naru turned over, groaning with the effort it took to open an eye and read the glowing digital clock. "3:15," he corrected in Japanese. At least he still had a few hours before he had to get up.
"I thought you'd be asleep by now."
"I was."
"Oh." There was a soft rustling sound and a creak as Naru imagined his brother collapsing onto the bed, lying lazily on top of the covers instead of beneath them. "I called earlier. You didn't pick up."
Naru furrowed his eyebrows, pressing his fingers to his forehead to ward off an oncoming headache. "I was busy."
"With what?"
Naru avoided the question, asking one of his own. "Have you met Taniyama Mai?"
"Whaー have you suddenly taken an interest in extracurricular ghost hunting, dear brother?"
"So, you have?" He growled.
Gene sighed, defeated, "No. I've been told Taniyama-san is currently traveling abroad. I'm supposed to meet the Whittlock siblings tomorrow, though. If you're interested in them."
Naru ignored the last bit, blinking at the ceiling. Was he telling the truth? Mai wasn't just a part of an elaborate practical joke? This ghost hunting thing was for real? As the truth settled over him, anger ebbing, he found annoyance replacing it. If Gene wasn't responsible for his momentary misery, than that meant his teachers were. He frowned at the speckled ceiling.
"Bad timing I guess," his brother continued, flippant, "I really wanted to meet her. I hear she's really cute."
He didn't bother hiding his disgust as he readjusted his hold on the phone. "Why are you calling me, Gene?"
Gene chuckled into the phone, "I miss you."
Naru snorted, "Goodnight."
"I'm serious, Noll," he admitted in a rush, "please don't hang up."
Naru didn't respond.
"...Noll?"
Naru shook his head, sighing into the phone, "I'm here."
There was a long stretch of silence between them as the two thought about what to say.
Surprising them both, it was Naru who broke the silence, anxiety driving him to ask the question he hadn't wanted to ask. "You don't think the old school house is haunted, do you?"
The responding laugh sounded more confused than amused as Gene tsk'd. "What's this about? Are you having nightmares againー?"
"Gene."
"No." From the sound of his twin's voice, it was obvious he was frowning. "Absolutely not."
Naru nodded, aware that Gene couldn't see him, and allowed the line to lapse into silence again, neither twin having anything to say, but not wanting to say goodbye either. With his eyes closed and his mind appeased, Naru was finding it hard to stay awake. He had begun to nod off to the even bursts of static when Gene spoke again.
His voice had grown soft, the words coming in slow, barely audible murmurs, "Luella and Martin say hi... They wish... You came..."
"Mmph," was all Naru said, finding it hard to form words in his state of half-sleep.
Gene might have said something else ー in fact, he was positive he'd probably said something important, but Naru didn't hear it. The next thing he knew, it was 4:45 and he had been startled out of his sleep by a muffled thud from the upper apartment.
Gene's soft, even breaths could still be heard on the other end of the line as he retrieved the phone from the floor where he must have dropped it in his sleep.
He held the sleek black phone in his palm, thumb hovering over the END button as he listened to his twin sleeping peacefully. It was the first time they had ever been apart for this long, on two different continents nonetheless, and Naru was finding these late night phone calls increasingly depressing.
He'd almost managed to summon the courage to end the call when Gene stirred on the other end, static momentarily exploding over the line.
"Oi... Noll?"
Naru hurriedly pressed the phone back to his ear, blinking at the ceiling as he whet his dry lips. "Yeah?"
"Love you."
"Me too." He replied quickly out of habit. He cleared his throat nervously, "We'll... talk tomorrow."
It was Gene's turn to grunt his response, yawning loudly. "...Sweet dreams."
Naru made a noise that was something between a scoff and a sigh, but the line had already gone dead.
And just like that their small, shared apartment suddenly felt very, very lonely.
Edited 3.29.17
ELV
