Chapter 1

"We're waiting on Monk, John, and Miss Matsuzaki to show up." Naru said scowling slightly.

"You know if you keep frowning, your face is going to stick like that." I told him as seriously as I could. Mai cracked up laughing and Lin started laughing too, but covered it up with a cough. Naru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. I just grinned. I just love messing with him. Monk, John, and Ayako finally showed up and were shocked to see me there.

"What are you doing here Aki?" Monk asked curiously.

"Naru has asked me to step in for Masako and I agreed. So here I am!"

"That wasn't your actual reason for coming though." Mai said grinning.

"Oh?" Ayako said smiling.

"Oh yeah, I finally saved up enough money to get my own apartment."

"Congratulations, Aki!" John, Monk, and Ayako said smiling.

"Thank you!" Naru once again cleared his throat.

"Let's get back to work." Ayako and I stuck our tongues out at him as the three took a seat. He sighed. "Kazuo-san is the principal of Kisaragi Middle School. He is concerned about the things his students have claimed happened. For instance, on the tennis courts, the ball baskets suddenly fall over when no one is near them and the nets go missing and are found on the locker room roof. Also personal belongings get switched around."

"That's weird," Ayako said shivering.

"Also there are reports of the piano in the music room playing by itself, the drums falling over, chair legs brake when someone sit on a specific chair. I believe he said the chair is the one on the second row in the very middle. Also during band practice, the sheet music gets blown off the music stands even though the windows are closed."

"Ooh, that sounds interesting." I said grinning.

"It sounds like a case of poltergeist activities to me." Monk said frowning.

"Then,"

"There's more?" Ayako asked wide-eyed. Naru glared at her and she went quiet.

"Then in classroom 3-A, there are reports of writing appearing on the chalk boards when no one is around, the desks get moved, and there was a case where one of the windows broke in the middle of class. There wasn't anything there that showed what broke the window."

"That's troubling." John said frowning too.

"So who was the one that fell in their seat during band practice?" I asked curiously.

"It was a boy by the name of Fuji Kosuke. He's a second year there. That's all Kazuo-san told me."

"Do you think this could be another case like Yasu's school?" Mai asked thoughtfully.

"It's a possibility. I asked Kazuo-san if he noticed any of the students walking around with papers that looked like spirit boards and he said he hadn't."

"But that doesn't mean they don't do it." I said grinning. I love me a good mystery.

"Yes, that's why we're going to ask the students when we get to the school. We're starting tomorrow morning at 8. I've already called your school, Mai and Miss Haru, and told them you need to be excused for the next three days. I've also called your work and they gave you the next three days off." Man, he works fast.

"When exactly did you call them?" I asked confused.

"While you all were talking," He said looking at some papers. I shrugged. That's good enough for me. "I also have Lin starting on doing background checks on our clients. I don't want what happened to Miss Haru last time, to happen again. If I had known that Ichirou-san was going to be like that, I would've refused." Naru said frowning.

"Hey, it's not your fault Naru. What Ichirou-san and Ishida-san did was their own decisions. We just happened to be unlucky enough to get caught up in it." I told him sympathetically.

"I still don't understand why they would hire someone to check out the school if they were the ones causing the stuff to happen in the first place." Ayako said rolling her eyes. I shrugged.

"I don't think anyone will understand what was going on in their heads." After talking some more about the case, we moved on to another topic.

"So how's your job at the café coming along?" Monk asked me.

"I love it." I said grinning. "Suzuki-san and Hajime-san are great to me. Suzuki-san thinks if I keep going the way I am, she'd promote me to assistant manager. Hajime-san is the current assistant manager but she's been having family problems at home, so she said she might step down from it."

"That's great news, well for you anyways." Ayako said shrugging.

"Do you want to be the assistant manager there?" John asked me curiously. I shrugged.

"I'll give it a try if the opportunity presents itself, but if doesn't pan out, then that's all there is to it." The rest of the day, I just hung out with Mai at the office. Monk, John, and Ayako had to go prepare for tomorrow and it was my day off, so I decided to just chill out here until Mai was done. I also went out and got some lunch from the café and brought it back to the office to share with Mai and the other two, but Lin and Naru politely turned it down. What do they eat then? Seriously... is drinking tea the only thing they do all day besides paper work? Well whatever, more food for Mai and I. Of course we didn't finish it all and stuck it inside the fridge so Mai can have lunch for tomorrow. It was nearly time for Mai to get off work before I remembered the bad news that I was going to tell Lin, Naru, and Mai. I frowned. But it's so late at night and I don't want them to be worried about it and not be focused on the case tomorrow.

"Is there something wrong, Aki?" Mai asked me as we started our walk back to Mai's apartment. I shook my head.

"No, it's nothing. I'm just being silly." I told her smiling. She frowned. "I promise I'll tell you about it tomorrow after we get settled with the case." She sighed but nodded.

"Okay, but if it's something really serious, then don't complain when I yell at you for not telling me sooner." I grinned.

"It's a deal." She smiled. As we walked, I felt like something or someone was watching us and it was freaky.

"A-Aki, do you feel like we're being watched?" Mai whispered, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, let's hurry up." She nodded and we sped up the pace. We were just around the corner of the apartment complex. I heard a twig snap, like someone stepped on it. I turned around quickly, but I didn't see anyone. The wind wasn't blowing very hard, but the atmosphere was very tense and kind of scary; like something could jump out at you any moment kind of scary.

"Let's run," She whispered, looking like she was ready to freak out. I nodded and we started running to the apartment. I hope that we're just imagining things and that nothing happens. As we were running, I heard the blare of a car horn and the squealing sound of tires and it was coming in our direction.

"Mai!" I yelled pushing her into some bushes and falling on the ground next to her. The car hit a tree a few feet away. Again I saw the shadow of a spirit and it was glaring at me as it ran away from the car. "Are you okay, Mai?" She groaned as she sat up.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"It was another one of those incidents I told you about." She frowned as I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for the police. After speaking with the officers after they showed up for about thirty minutes, they sent us home. The driver in the car came out with some bruises and possibly a concussion, but they were okay. They didn't have any passengers thankfully. Also, they didn't recall ever losing control of the car and the police thought maybe the person was drunk, but that wasn't the case. The police couldn't figure it out, but I knew the reason. It was that spirit.

"This is the second time it's happened in the last month." I said as soon as we made it inside the apartment. "But it hasn't happened as much since I've moved back to Japan, than it did when I was in America. Then again, the incidents have escalated."

"Have you told Naru or Lin about any of this?"

"No," I said sighing. "I actually planned on telling them about it today. The last time this happened, I saw the shadow of a spirit."

"A shadow?" It was obvious she was confused.

"I don't know how else to explain it. I couldn't see the spirit clearly and I saw it again this time. I was going to tell you about it tomorrow, but then this happened." She smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you told me. I was beginning to worry that your parents were trying something and you didn't want to talk about it or something like that." I shook my head.

"No, they haven't tried to talk to me since the last time my brother called. But this is getting pretty bad though. The last incident involved a car too."

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked scowling at me and smacking my arm.

"Owie," I said pouting. "It was put out of my mind as soon as I walked into work." She sighed.

"I don't see how you can forget about something like that so easily."

"Well, you have to take into account that I've been having stuff like this happen pretty much my whole life and I'm used to it. Also, I really enjoy work. It's kind of like my get away from all the crap with the incidents and my parents. Plus no one there knows that I can see and talk to ghosts. It's not that I mind you and the others knowing about it, because I'm fine with you knowing. It's just I know a lot of people don't accept people like that. For example, I never had any friends until I moved back to Japan. I did have some friends back in America but they weren't my true friends. My brother told them about what I can do and they ran away from me. They called me names and treated me horribly just because I can see and talk to ghosts." I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Aki. I realize you have gone through a lot, I just keep forgetting." She said apologetically. I smiled.

"It's okay, Mai. It's not your fault. I just have a hard time talking about it because I never really had anyone to talk about it with." She smiled and hugged me.

"Well, now you do, so don't ever forget that." I grinned.

"I promise I won't." The two of us finally got ready for bed. I'm starting to get a little more excited about the case tomorrow.