Chapter 2: Parallel Roads
The Music Room, which was used to hold the Host Club activities, was temporarily closed for the day as the SPR team, Shibuya Psychic Research, held a short meeting with the Host Club members and a briefing for their team members as well. The student council were more than willing to find a suitable empty room for the SPR team to set up their base. Mai and Takigawa had finally set up the monitors in the shelves. The wiring and network was set up and maintained by Lin and Naru while Yasuhara discussed with Kyouya about the details of the case. Even though Yasuhara joined the team quite a few cases back, when the SPR investigate the Orikiri case in Yasuhara's school, the young man had grown perceptive and picked up the necessary skills quickly.
Mai sighed as she plopped down on her seat and propped her elbows on the table with her hands cradling her face, her eyes were drawn to the windows outside and she watched the trees swayed from the winds. The place felt too peaceful and bright for any paranormal activity to take place. A pity that John , Ayako and Masako were too busy to join them in this case. She yawned, not caring if her mouth was wide opened.
"Ooo…scary teeth you got there." Takigawa grinned as he sat on the chair across from her and tuck his chin under both crossed arms on the table. "Sleepy?"
Mai pouted at the first comment and just rubbed her eyes.
Takigawa smiled, raising one arm and tilting his head to rest on the raised arm. "Why not you get some sleep and maybe you can dream up about something." He blinked then raised his head to rest on the palm of the raised arm and turned to look at the room. "Although this place doesn't feel like it would hold any evil spirits."
"You think so too, Monk-san?" Mai exclaimed.
"Well…" Takigawa used his free hand to scratch the sides of his face as he thinks, "…although I do sense something but…"
A knock came on the door.
"Come in!" Takigawa and Mai called in unison.
"Hi…" Haruhi poked her head from the door, she carried a tray of tea and snacks as well. "I hope I am not disturbing or anything."
"Oh no…no…" Mai laughed. "We're just taking a break. Do come in!"
"That's good," Haruhi smiled as she entered. "I brought some tea and snacks for your team, I hope it's to your liking."
Mai blinked; the young boy had such huge innocent brown eyes, she found herself flustering and her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red when Takigawa noticed it too. And he was grinning.
"Say, Haruhi-kun…" Takigawa casually asked, "How is it like to study in Ouran Academy?"
"Oh, I think the study standards here are quite different from public schools." Haruhi poured the tea as she continued, "For example, school festivals are based more on a student's ability to plan ahead and have everything done according to schedule to prove that they are capable for the outside business world. The same goes for the curriculum activities."
"Haruhi-kun sure knows a lot!" Takigawa turned to Mai, "Unlike someone who's very lazy to study."
"Monk-san!" Mai pouted. "I'm not lazy, and I got permission from my school teachers to come here. Besides, I got top in the class so there's no way they would reject me from earning some extra income working here." She smirked.
"Taniyama-san is working hard to be an independent girl I see," Haruhi placed the tea snacks carefully on the table from the tray, "Your parents must be very proud to have such a good daughter."
"Um…well yeah!" Mai beamed then laugh awkwardly, "Call me Mai, and this is Monk-san. Or you can call him Uncle."
"Eh?" Takigawa stared at her and Mai stick out her tongue in reply.
Haruhi smiled, the school bells chimed softly. It was time for Haruhi's next lesson, "If you will excuse me, I will take my leave now." Haruhi bowed.
"Oh oh, Haruhi-kun, come here abit!" Takigawa grinned before he whispered to Haruhi's ears. The latter stared at him for a while before she smiled at the two and take her leave.
"Monk-san…" Mai muttered, "Just what did you say to Haruhi-kun?" She scrutinized him.
"Nothing you should know about" Takigawa shrugged as he went to inspect the monitors. The door opened again and Yasuhara, Lin and Naru entered. "Oh, hey there."
"So President-san," Takigawa leaned against the shelves and crossed his arms, "What do we do now?"
"So far that we have gathered," Yasuhara flipped the papers that were held together by the clip board. "The sightings of this 'long black haired girl' were reported to be around the garden where the Music Room was facing, the hallways connecting to the library in the West Wing, the canteen adjoining the west room and the library." Yasuhara placed the clipboard on the table before he sat down and helped himself to a cup of tea that Haruhi had prepared earlier on. "On the good side, these activities are happening at the West Wing only so we can narrow down our investigation and not searched the whole school. On the bad side…"
There was a pause as Yasuhara sipped his tea and then continue, "Because it is a Host Club and not the school president that hired us, this investigation needs to be done discreetly. No one else who is not involved with the sightings must know about us."
"Eh?" Mai exclaimed, "Then how are we going to set up the cameras and conduct interviews?"
"Using this." Yasuhara passed them two clipped cards. Mai and Takigawa peered over it, the words read: Visitor's Pass. "Kyouya-san has prepared the paperwork for the school's administrator; we are under the pretext that we are an independent film company researching on the daily activities of an elite school life."
"Clip this card to your shirt at all times when we are in the school's premises." Naru said, he had his clipped to his coat chest pocket.
"Well so when do we conduct the interviews?" Takigawa asked.
"Tomorrow noon," Naru crossed his arms as he looked at the time. "We'll have the first batch of witnesses come in; Mai and Takigawa will do the interview. For now we will set up the cameras along the West 2nd Corridor and the first floor hallways that connect to the library."
"Um…Naru…" Mai paused.
"What is it Mai?" Naru turned to her.
"Well…it's just that…" Mai hesitate, "are you sure it's not just some school prank?" She remained silent on the other question as to how Naru actually accepted this case in the first place.
"That's what we are here for," Naru simply said, "To investigate."
'I swear..he's hiding something from us…' Mai grinned; suppressing a boiling temper. "Right…"
"Well then, let's get the cameras set up!" Takigawa stretched out.
"Where could she be…" Yuki plopped down on the couch of the hotel room that they are staying.
"We've searched the same streets twice already." Takenaga came out of the bathroom, his head still covered in the towel as he had just finished his bath. His body still glistened with drops of water before he pulled the towel from his head and wiped his body to dry.
"Where's Kyohei by the way?" Takenaga turned to Yuki, locks of damp black hair plastered to his face.
"He went to buy some instant ramen from the convenient store across from here." Yuki grabbed a remote from the coffee table and switched on the television, his hand idly turn to the various channels.
Takenaga sighed, his eyes turned to the floor as he remembered the preceding events. Two weeks ago, Sunako had won an all expenses paid trip to the Kurarugi Temple, the opportunistic Ranmaru insisted that they should all accompany her as the city nearby was famed to have many rich women. And he had convinced Aunty that the luxurious beauty salons and spas would be a great opportunity for Sunako to beautify herself with all the rich ingredients that will be used in the beauty parlours. And he even roped in Kyohei for the all-you-can-eat buffet…Takenaga sigh again.
"What are you thinking of, Takenaga?" Yuki tilt his head to look at Takenaga.
"Nothing Yuki," Takenaga smiled.
"Yo." Ranmaru entered the room. "Guess what."
"Hmm?" Takenaga looked over at Ranmaru.
"One of the girls I went out today told me," Ranmaru smirked, "That there's a ghost sighting at Ouran Academy."
Yuki stared at Ranmaru while Takenaga placed a hand on his head, "It's amazing how she ends up in the most unlikely places…."
"But then again, that's just like Sunako isn't she." Kyohei appeared behind Ranmaru and placed the groceries on the table. "Looks like tomorrow is going to be a busy day."
Back at Ouran Academy…
"Hmm…looks like everyone else did went back home…" Mai peeked into the Music Room, noticing that no one is around. "Oh well, I'll just leave this tray at the table and then leave…I don't want to break anything here…"
The sounds of her heels as she walked into the quiet room only serve her awareness as to how large the Music Room is; even in the evening the school was well lit, she did hear some noises and noticed that some students and even lecturers are staying over and busily using the internet and library books. Then again, with a school this grand, she shouldn't be surprised if she saw some famous lecturer or professor walking around. Not that she knew any of them to begin with. Mai looked around, then turned to one table and placed the tray there; that way, if any Host Club members entered, the first thing they would see is the tray and they would easily have it washed and cleared away.
Crr…e…e…a….kkk…….. The unmistakable sound of a door brought Mai's attention.
She turned to the entrance of the Music Room; there was no one around. Instinctively she walked closer and paused, there was no one in the hallway either, her hands clasped onto the edge of the door and realised something: the door did not make a sound at all when she first opened it, the hinges were well oiled. She turned around to look at all the windows and noticed that all of them are shut until her eyes found the other door.
'The other door…'
She gulped.
'It's half opened.'
'I…can't see anything…beyond that door…' Her muscles tensed. 'It's too dark…'
"Taniyama-san." A voice called from behind her.
"Wah!" Mai jumped and spurn around to the caller.
Kyouya continued to stare at her. Was she this jumpy during an investigation? But then again, she is a part timer as told by Shibuya-san. "Is everything alright?"
"Tha…that door…" Mai pointed and then gasped when she realised the other door was closed.
"Ah…" Kyouya uttered, "That's the door for Nekozawa-senpai, and he has a fear for light and bright places so that door leads to the hallways connecting to some of the school's premises. It's very dark so that Nekozawa-senpai can move around easily for his lessons."
Mai blinked, noting the fact that ever since she entered this place, she had been doing that a lot lately.
"But I doubt he or any of his Black Magic Club members would do anything to disturb the peace and tranquillity of this school without any good reason." Except for school events that are related to horror and darkness and Halloween which Kyouya had already predicted that Nekozawa would get himself involved in. He smiled as he looked at Mai, "Believe me, I did not called SPR if I had already known Nekozawa-senpai or his club is involved." This was to assure the girl that he did have a pinch of credibility for what they do.
"Ah, maybe we can interview Nekozawa-senpai. Surely he must have known or seen something?" Mai asked.
"Hmm…I supposed." Kyouya pushed the rims of his glasses and then checks his watch "I'll give him a call later tonight, right now he's having a late dinner with his little sister at home."
"Eh? You mean he's not here?" Mai turned to the door again, "Then…just now…that door was half opened…"
"Probably one of the Black Magic Club members." Kyouya simply said, although at the back of his mind he found it unusual as that door is rarely opened.
"Mai! There you are!" Takigawa called from the other end of the hallway. "Oh hey Kyouya-san," The man waved casually when he noticed the vice president.
Kyouya raised his hand slightly in return then shifted his attention to Mai, "Well you better get back to your team, I have some things to settle back here so I'll be around if you or your team needs me."
"Hai!" Mai bowed and smiled, "Oh, earlier on Haruhi-kun gave us some tea so I already placed the tea cups and pot at the table over there. Please pass our thanks for the hospitality to him."
"Will do." Kyouya nodded before his hand trailed to his pants pocket and took out his cellphone which had vibrated. He closed the door after Mai, just as he answered.
"Kyouya-kun!" Tamaki sang over the other line.
"…" He could hear his sister's voice in the background as well. Kyouya sighed, walking over to the table where the teacups and pot were. "What are you doing at my house?"
"What! I can't even visit my best friend's house! How rude!" Tamaki wailed; did his sister just giggled at the Lord's antics?
Kyouya felt a vein popped, he placed a hand on the sides of his head to rub a nauseating headache. Any normal human being would visit a Normal Human Being's Best Friend's HoUsE wHeN tHe sAiD bEstT fRiEnD IS PRESENT AT THE SAID HOUSE! Kyouya paused and then took a quiet deep breathe to calm his thoughts.
"Anyways, Mommy," Tamaki prattled on, "What are you doing at the school?"
'How the hell did he…' Kyouya paused. No matter.
Crr…e…e…a….kkk……..
"Since Mommy is the one who hired them, Mommy has to make sure that they are doing their job and not slacking around and leeching on our family's hard earned funds." Kyouya simply spoke as he brought the teacups and the pot to a sink with his cellphone squeezed between one ear and a shoulder. It wasn't really necessary for him to wash and clean the tea sets as he could easily get the night cleaners to do it for him. But Kyouya had learned that when one engages in a conversation with the Lord, there is a tendency to make very grave mistakes which is why he rather keep his hands occupied with cleaning something than while tapping his laptop and having an accounts program running.
Clack
Kyouya turned, not caring the cellphone had dropped and that Tamaki was calling out his name. He ran to Nekozawa's door and swung it wide open. There was no one at the darkened hallway. He dashed into the deep end of the corridor where it came to a junction and stopped. There was no one at both ends either, whoever it was, had already vanished.
"Hmph…" Kyouya grunted, turning back to where he came from. 'Looks like I will need to get some cameras up here too.' He thought to himself.
Day 3…
"Welcome…to Host Club." Tamaki declared.
"Uwaaa!" The girls squealed as they admired the lavish décor and the variety of priest costumes that were adorned by the Host Club members.
"Tamaki-kun…" One girl gasped, wide eyed as Tamaki bowed before her, one staff in hand as a reserve smile graced his features. The headdress settled nicely on his blond hair. "I…I have never seen The Pope looked…so…..so…"
"…forgive me, princess…" His face drew closer, "Your beauty has enticed me to break my oath to my faith."
"Kyaaa! Tamaki-kun!" The girls squealed.
"Hikaru-kun, Kaoru-kun, you two really looked so dashing in your pastor's costume!" One girl beamed.
"Thank you Karin-chan, we do feel very enlightened and pure when we wear them." Kaoru smiled as Hikaru poured the tea for the girls at their table. "Maybe we should apply as priesthood at the church too!" He laughed then noticing that Hikaru was about to pour his share of the tea cup, his hand went to the cup, "Don't worry Hikaru, let me pour…" One hand held Kaoru's firmly as Hikaru looked into his twin brother's eyes. "No…" He whispered, "Allow me…"
The girls gasped as Hikaru expertly poured the tea into the cup while still staring at Kaoru and with one hand still on Kaoru's hand. "If you say so…" He blushed avoiding the deep gaze. "Hikaru…"
"Haruhi-kun, are you uncomfortable?" Mai asked.
"Eh? Oh no no, really. I'm sorry." Haruhi smiled awkwardly, averting her gaze from the twins and towards Mai instead.
"Um…well, if I'm disturbing you in anyway…" Mai shifted slightly in her seat. "Just that, I am taking up your whole schedule…"
"Oh don't worry about it; it was Kyouya-senpai that reserved me to you for the whole day. So you shouldn't blame yourself. Besides," Haruhi sipped her green tea, "I enjoyed your company, I'm glad you're my date for today." She smiled. If she used the word designator or client, Mai would probably think she is as business-minded as Kyouya, if she used the word princess, Mai would definitely think she is some love stricken Romeo like Tamaki. Either way, 'date' has two meanings but it is innocent sounding enough.
"Oh!" Mai blushed then telling herself to stop giving such wild ideas. After all, this is a Host Club and 'date' has thousands of meanings. Her mind raced to think of changing subjects when she realise that Haruhi was fiddling with the knot of the coat that he was wearing.
Haruhi glanced up and then realise Mai was staring, "Ah…sorry I have to re-tie this again as this costume is too loose."
"Oh, no! This isn't actually how you tie them." Mai moved closer and untie the knot again. Her hands then made a quick mental measure of both of the red strings before she started to tie them. "The Miko costume is naturally large to give an elegant flowing appearance, this is to emphasize that the wearer is pure and gentle. Although the knots are meant to be tight, there must be enough space for the red strings connecting to the knot to hang loosely."
"Oh, I didn't know that." Haruhi looked at Mai's fingers working on the knot. She had lifted both hands slightly away so as not to disturb Mai. "You certainly know a lot, Mai-chan." Remembering what Monk-san had whispered to address Mai.
"That girl is so lucky to have Haruhi-kun for the whole day!" whispered one of the girls, the group blushed in half-daydreams as the glowing sun cast on the window served as a gentle radiant backdrop for Mai and Haruhi who are sitting close. "Kyaaa! I wish I can have Haruhi-kun for the whole day too!" One girl whispered.
Mai blushed hotly, knowing her cheeks are as red as tomatoes although she steeled her fingers to concentrate on the tie. Haruhi reminded her alot like Brown-san sometimes. "Well, one of our team members is actually a Miko priestess although she's not here." She smiled as she finished the knot and let Haruhi looked at it. "This is how she always ties the front part."
"Thank you." Haruhi looked up at her and smiled.
"No problem!" She smiled then looked at Haruhi's overall appearance, "You know Haruhi-kun, you really looked like a girl with the hair extension and all. And the Miko costume is usually only worn by pure and innocent females only." She giggled. "Although Ayako-san has a fiery temper and not the gentle type."
"Well looks can be deceiving after all." Haruhi laughed as well; clearly nonchalant.
Random members of the Host Club thinks: 'This scenario is so…..wrong…'
"Takigawa-kun," asked one girl at the table, "What are you favourite hobbies?"
"Well if you asked me, I like to play the guitar." Takigawa, decked out in his prayer outfit, replied. "I'm a bass player. Although my family wasn't too happy about it since my father was expecting me to be a monk."
"Eh? Why is that?" One of the girls asked.
"Because my family runs a temple at Mt. Koya."
"Ah!" One of the girls accidentally spilt the tea unto her hands. "Oh dear, I was so surprised that I lost my grip on the t…"
She paused when Takigawa held her hand and gently dabbed on it with a napkin. The monk uttered a soft prayer and blew tenderly on her hand before he looked up. "All better now." He smiled.
A bright glint sparked the corner of Kyouya's glasses as he looked at the reservation book; today's bookings had exceeded the average daily quota and Kyouya smiled quietly to himself as he turned to a clearing in the room where the majority of the girls had gathered.
The girls remained silent as the two stoic men sat on the prepared mat on the floor, a few metres away from each other. Both expressions calm and unmoving as they breathe evenly with their eyes closed. One dressed in Taoist costume, the other in Shinto costume. The small tables before them held the preparations to making the tea.
Then, when their eyes opened, their hands moved with lightning speed, strainers slightly tossed in the air before landing expertly on the hands, water swirled in mid-air before diving into the pot and not a drop landed on the floor, earthenware cups twirled as they were laid out and finally the paced slowed as Lin and Morinozuka poured the tea into the cups slowly and then gently placed the pot away as their hands returned to their sides and they closed their eyes again. Honey took the cups and served the tea to the girls.
"Enjoy your tea!" Honey beamed before bowing. The girls squealed and applaud. Lin turned to Morinozuka, "You have fine finesse in tea making." He spoke. "As do you, Lin-san." Morinozuka bowed slightly, although he never spoke much to anyone he hardly know, the man before him is not someone to belittle of; judging as to how both of them execute using the same presentation and clear cut degree of moving.
The other door opened and for a moment, the commotion in the Music Room paused to a stand still as all eyes turned to the darkened door. Kyouya, who was standing nearest, smiled at the two who came out. "Have you finished setting up the cameras?"
"Yup, thanks to the map you gave us, Kyouya-san." Yasuhara smiled. "And for letting me borrow the costume as well." The chattering continued now that it was only two normal human beings that came out of that scary door.
Naru followed behind, as expected from Mai, he was the only one who did not wear the costumes. Although no one expected him to interact with the girls here but surely he should at least join in the atmosphere like Yasuhara who is decked out in a Sanzo's costume. Kyouya-san was wearing the black version of the Sanzo outfit and it reminded her of a particular manga she read awhile back.
"Don't fret over it." Kyouya smiled. "It is part of the deal that we agreed on anyway."
"Yes indeed." Yasuhara grinned as he pushed the rims of his glasses up.
"Neh, Mai-chan." Hikaru and Kaoru crept up from behind the sofa across from where Mai and Haruhi sat. "Your boss is kinda…scary…"
"Ahaha…" Mai smiled awkwardly, "So is your vice-president too…"
"Did you say something?" The two Sanzos turned to their direction and asked; their glasses reflecting the light.
"Eep!" Mai quickly turned to face the front, feeling strangely frightened for her life. Hikaru and Kaoru had already taken cover behind the couch.
"Anyways," Kyouya turned to Yasuhara. "Did you manage to get anything from Nekozawa-senpai?"
"Yes and neither he nor any of his club members were at school yesterday night." Yasuhara then gestured to Naru who was holding a thermal sensor in one hand and a clipped board in the other. "We did find some interesting readings so we're gonna get back to you once we done compiling them in computer."
Kyouya nodded as Yasuhara and Naru took their leave out the Music Room door. Kyouya closed Nekozawa's door and proceed to turn his attention to the reservation book. His eyes caught one ill arranged chair and he walked over to tuck one chair properly under the table before he continued his attention to the book again.
"You know," Hikaru whispered from behind the couch again. "I heard the vice-president actually entered that door all by himself last night."
"Eh?" Mai remembered telling Kyouya about the half opened door last night, had he gone to investigate? "I don't think I have the guts to enter in there except for the guys in my group."
"None of us would rather not go in there too!" Kaoru whispered to Mai who was crouching behind the couch as well.
"He's not affected by the scary shadows at all?" Mai said.
"That's…" Kaoru began
"…because…" Hikaru continued.
"He's the Shadow King." They both finished in dramatic unison.
"Hikaru, Kaoru." Kyouya spoke; the trio capered, realising that he was standing behind them. "Table 3 is waiting for you two."
Haruhi twitched.
Evening…
After their little visit to the Music Room, the SPR team excused themselves to get back to their 'real' work much to the dismay of some of the Ouran girls. Mai and Takigawa calmly and thoroughly did the interviews, Lin gathered information from acquaintances on the internet, Naru continued to read some books he found on the library and Yasuhara 'interviewed' some of the students under the pretext of the documentary on elite student life.
"Have some tea!" Mai beamed as she served the tea to the SPR back in the base.
"Ugh…I'm pooped." Takigawa sank to a couch and closed his eyes as he muttered drearily. "I think I'm gonna turn 50 by tomorrow."
Mai giggled.
"This one." Mai could hear Naru softly talking to Lin who was inspecting the contents displayed inside the laptop that Lin was using. The two seemed like the only one not tired at all. Since the SPR came to Ouran, two days ago, nothing much had come up other than the low temperature readings and even then, Mai doubted it was caused by spirits.
"Mai-chan?" Takigawa opened one eye, "Any useful dreams lately?"
That's right.
"Nothing useful." Mai shook her head. She didn't even dream of Naru either. Sighs.
"Takigawa." Naru continued to stare at the laptop with Lin. "Prepare some wards tonight and have them pasted around the Music Room tomorrow but leave the Nekozawa door alone. Tomorrow night we will stay over and wait."
"Roger," Takigawa sat up and reached over the table to get the tea.
"Eh? There really are ghosts in this school?" Mai asked. And it's already past full moon too.
Naru turned his head slightly to her and smiled before he turned back to the laptop.
No.
Smirk.
'That…egoTISTICAL…PIECE OF….'
"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A scream rang out the hallway.
Footsteps thudded and echoed across the hallway and finally reached to the source of the sound. A girl was trembling on her knees with the support of her female friend who was beside her. A small crowd had gathered as well. Kyouya, who was present, turned to the SPR that had just arrived. "What happened?" Takigawa asked.
"She got scared by a pervert who was outside the window." Kyouya simply said. He then knelt towards the girl who was looking at him with wide eyes. Before she could utter a word, Kyouya smiled, "Follow this group. They're documentary film makers and they had their cameras set up in the area. Maybe if you give them a good description they might be able to help you catch the culprit."
The girl blinked; there was a moment of silence before she turned to the SPR group. "Ah...o...okay..." She finally spoke, then with the help of a friend. She limped towards them and they headed towards the SPR's base.
"Mai, you alright?" Takigawa ask.
"Y..ye..yeah.." Mai said before she walked away as well.
"Hmm..." Kyouya pushed the rims of his glasses before he turned to disperse the crowd; explaining to them that the student council will handle the matter with the help of the outsiders', SPR, who was in the process of filming the students' activity for a documentary and no they won't be needing any students for filming because they already hired some people and no he doesn't think they need to interview anymore students as they had already done some interviews with selected students and no the screening won't be until a few years time as there's still other schools they had to go and conduct their research. Afterall, Ouran isn't the only grand and prestigious school in Japan.
"Ah...Good evening Ayanokouji-san." Not that he was glad to see her but courtesy wise anyways.
"Working hard Kyouya-san." Ayanokouji smiled, her eyes gaze into his. "As expected from the Vice President of Host Club."
Kyouya smiled in return before he cast a slight bow to take his leave.