Fortune's Wheel

Chapter 3: Highly trained Monkeys

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.

16th April Wednesday 8.00 am

"We checked around where the old rides are. There's no sign of Yamashiro." The new day did not dawn exactly bright nor clear on the somber group as they wandered in slowly into the lobby. The sky remained heavy with rainclouds and the mist had returned, cloaking everything under a layer of chill. Umeko walked in, concern written on her face. "I heard what happened. Is there still no sign of Yamashiro-san?" she asked. Yuuji shook his head despondently. "No. Ishihara and Takigawa are still searching though." Ayako and Yasuhara had been consulting the map. "It looks as though we've covered almost everywhere. Once they are back, that'll be it," the student said anxiously.

"What the heck is the use of setting up all those fancy hi-tech stuff if you can't even keep watch over everyone?" Ishihara snarled with an accusatory look at Naru. "I told you it wasn't a good idea. But, no, Akio-san, you had to bring in these experts even though the Master said not to!"

"Would this be the 'Master' that in the warnings on the wall next to the back entrance of the park?" Yasuhara asked as he flipped through the folder containing the photos taken by the staff. "Way to go, genius," Ishihara retorted sarcastically. Yasuhara merely smiled beatifically. "Your genius is over there," he said. So far, Naru had remained silent. He was tapping the table he was leaning against with one finger, a habit that he adopted only when he was deeply perturbed by the evidence or stumped. "It's a pity we did not have a camera near the wall last night," he said. "I would like to see how the writings appeared there."

"The technicians promised that they would be done fixing by this afternoon," Akio-san said. "A lot might happen inbetween," Ayako said. "I believe this might be a case of abduction by earth spirits." Takigawa snorted. "And what evidence do you have of that? Or do you think earth spirits call themselves "The Master"?"

"What about that creepy pipe music?" Mai asked. "Didn't anyone else apart from me and Naru hear it last night?" To the brown-haired girl's surprise, everyone else either produced blank looks or shakes of their heads. Lin frowned. "You certainly didn't say anything yesterday."

Takigawa shook his head. "Naru. This is bad. Whatever it is might be targeting you."

"Or Mai," Yasuhara said.

"Or, it could have been a centralized phenomenon and as only Mai and I were in the vicinity, naturally, we were the only ones to have heard it," Naru added coldly. "For instance, we only have Himitsu-san's word that he saw onibi near the onsen area. Shall we also assume that he is doomed?"

"Am I?" Yuuji enquired anxiously.

"You didn't mention that earlier," Ayako grumbled.

"I would have, but you all seem eager to push your own theories first," he retorted. Naru turned away then. "Now then, if we're all done with this pointless chatting, Ayako, go and exorcise the onibi that appeared near the onsen. Takigawa. I want you and Yasuhara to go round to every camera and take temperature recordings."

The monk sighed. "You really aren't going to let last night go are you, Naru-bou?"

"Considering how you put my assistant in danger, I would say a fit punishment would be doing the tasks I set for her."

"Hai…" Takigawa muttered in gloomy defeat as Yasuhara patted him soothingly. "At least you get to work with me," he added brightly.

"Mai."

Mai, who had been in the act of sneaking away, sagged in defeat.

"We're going to examine the wall where Ishihara said the writing was."

"J-just the two of us?" she asked. Naru grabbed his coat. "Hurry up," he said as Takigawa, Ayako and Yasuhara looked on with less than healthy interest. As they exited the room, Mai turned round with an apologetic look in the monk's direction. Sorry, she mouthed.

"So… think they'll finally get that heart-to-heart talk?" Takigawa asked.

15th April Tuesday 11.42pm

"For kami's sake, Mai, will you stop pulling at my shirt? You'll ruin it!" Bou-san scolded as we stumbled around, semi-blind in the darkness. "But, I don't want to get lost," I whimpered. "And this was what they taught us to do the last summer camp."

"Well, they weren't expecting you to be exorcising ghosts did they?" he replied exasperatedly. "Keep your hands free, so you can be prepared if they attack."

"You just don't want me to spoil that shirt because Ayako gave it to you," I mumbled softly. The night was colder than I'd expected. After all, the weather forecast for Tokyo had been warm nights and I hadn't thought to bring a thicker sweater. We had been searching for the missing Yamashiro-san for over half an hour in the woods near the base, and all we'd seen so far were a couple of rats, which darted away when Takigawa shone his torchlight on them.

"This is ridiculous," Bou-san said after awhile. "If he's here, he'll have seen our light or heard us by now." "Maybe he fainted or something," I suggested. "Quiet!" he suddenly hissed. There was a faint rustling and grunting coming from behind the bushes. "What's that?" I'd asked anxiously, when a large dark shape leapt out at us. A horrid smell choked the air and I clapped a hand over my nose. The misshapen creature circled us, as if it was trying to seize us up. Even with my meager abilities, I could sense the evil aura that surrounded it. Bou-san began chanting furiously as the monkey-like creature leered at us and took a step forward on its haunches. Then, when I'd barely taken a step back, it jumped at me, teeth gnashing.

"Mai!" I heard Bou-san yell.

"Get it off!" I shrieked, as the creature latched on to my arm. As it giggled madly at me, I felt a surge of anger rush through me and I punched it right in the stomach. That is, if it did have one. The creature screeched and let go, but not before it had left several scratches on my hand. Bou-san rushed over. "Wow. That was some right hook," he said as he examined my hand carefully. "Your foot's bleeding too."

"It's only a scratch," I lied.

The monk was not convinced. "Stay here. I'll get Ayako to look at your foot. And Mai? Try not to move too much. I think it might be sprained," he said before disappearing back into the trees.

"Oh sure, and leave me alone. That's clever, Bou-san," I mutter at his retreating back.

16th April Wednesday 12.04 am

I limped over to where a bench was and sat on it morosely. The sound of crickets was particularly loud and I kept turning back to check that there wasn't anything going to try and jump me again. The old carousel was just nearby and I had decided to move to where it was at least a patch less creepy when I heard a soft crunch of gravel behind me. Naru! Backlit by the emergency lights of the carnival, he looked like some kind of avenging angel; only angels didn't behave like narcissistic jerks usually. He halted right in front of me. "I don't recall paying you to rest." He looked around and then seemed to finally notice that my search buddy wasn't with me. "Where is Takigawa?" I sagged into my seat. "He went to find Ayako. He thinks I strained my foot when we were attacked just now." His face darkened, and I found myself feeling a stab of pity for Bou-san, who would probably have to deal with a furious Naru later. "Why are you here?" I ask to distract myself from how Naru was now kneeling directly in front of me and examining my left foot intensely. "You ran out so fast that I didn't even manage to ask you to distribute the walkie-talkies to the search parties."

Oops.

"Eheh heh, well, so now are you going to ask?" I said lamely. Naru glared at me. "Your carelessness could have jeopardized everybody's safety," he said coldly. "Sorry," I whispered.

Then, it happened again. The strange piping music and haunting melody that I heard on my first day at the park was back! I leapt up so quickly that I nearly whacked Naru in the face with my knee. The carousel had started up again and believe it nor not, but the horses' eyes were glowing. Then, as the ride made another turn, I saw a black figure wrapped around one of the horses. I squeaked and latched onto Naru. "That's the thing that attacked me," I cried. The creature chattered madly and clambered to the top of the carousel where it began whistling in an eerie likeness to the pipes. So, well, at least Naru was right about the highly-trained monkeys being the culprits, I thought as the creature's whistling came to an abrupt halt when it realized that it had an audience. With an angry hiss, it leapt over us, barely scraping my head before lopping back into the trees.

"We should go back," Naru said finally with a look at my still bleeding foot. I nodded eagerly, glad for the excuse to return to the safety of the resort lobby, but when I tried to walk, a pain shot through my foot like an electric shock and I sat back down again. "Hey, Naru, I don't think I can walk," I said timidly. He lifted my foot to check and I blushed as his cool fingers probed the wound gently. "It doesn't seem to be sprained," he said.

"Oi! Naru! Are you proposing to Mai's foot?"

Takigawa had returned along with Ayako. Naru let go of my leg hastily and I winced again. Stupid jerk, I grumbled inwardly.

"You left an injured team mate with an unknown spirit nearby," he reminded Bou-san icily. At least, the monk had the grace to look apologetic. "Ah, well. The base is only a short distance from here, and I didn't think there would be a repeat attack so quickly."

Ayako rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, I wonder if you were dropped on your head as a baby."

"Well, now that you've mentioned it, there was once when…"

Naru quelled the imminent argument with a stern glare before issuing yet another command. "Take Mai back to the base. We'll regroup there."

8.25 am

I had thought that given the embarrassing outcome of my confession last year, Naru and I would never even be able to work together in the same way again. I was clearly mistaken. If anything, it felt as if nothing had changed. Naru was still Naru, my stupid narcissistic idiotic arrogant, too-smart-for-his-own-good boss, and he remained acting like one. To get to the patch of wall where the writing had appeared, we had to pass the carousel. Now that I was looking at it in the morning light, it hardly looked as threatening as it had the night before. However, Naru, being Naru, just walked past nonchalantly, as if neither the creature nor the music happened at all.

"According to Ishihara, Yamashiro Takeshi was last seen at about 11.30 pm. Yasuhara and Takigawa passed by this way at about midnight, when there was nothing at the wall. Himitsu and Ayako then passed this way again half an hour later, when the writing had already appeared," Naru explained when we had reached the wall. I shuddered. The short message, "Beware the Master!" had been scrawled on in blood, which was already gathering a thick host of flies that buzzed sickly as we approached.

"Nice attraction for the park don't you think?" a voice sneered. Three men had walked out of the morning mist and as the tallest of the group approached, I saw that he had a tattoo on his face in the shape of a black crow-like bird. The other two had vivid neon coloured hairdos and wore identical smirks. "Morning." The first man lit up casually. "Nice to see that we've admirers of our artwork so early," he said as the two lackeys snickered. "Tell your boss that it won't just be bloody writing the next time," His lips spread in a wide grin. "It'll just be blood."

"Yeah."

"Lots of it."

"Mai, stay back," Naru said.

"Oooh. Scary." The three of them taunted. The one with the tattoo on his face stepped forward. He was evidently the leader. "This park is public property." Naru continued calmly. "If you don't leave now, I will have to report you for vandalism."

One of the neon haired men began closing in on me and I found myself unable to escape while the other two faced off with Naru. He shoved me back against the wall and I whimpered when my shoulder cracked loudly against the bricks. Though my view of Naru was blocked, I could hear punches and kicks. "Naru!" I yelled. There was a metallic flick of a knife and something cold pressed against my face. "Shut up," the green-haired man snarled.

"Shibuya-san! Mai!"

"John! Masako!"

John went to where Naru was standing, slightly bruised looking but alive. "Let them go," he said in a tone that I'd never thought I would hear coming from the mild-mannered priest.

"Or you'll what?" tattoo-face sneered. "Blow me away?"

Masako drew herself up. "No. But I have two trained bodyguards beside my car who will be very glad for some exercise," she stated flatly. The two bodyguards were walking over. "Hara-sama, is there a problem?" one of them asked. The three yakuza members were clearly outclassed. Naru, on realizing that there wasn't going to be any trouble for now, began walking away.

"Yeah, that's right. Walk away while you still can, pansy boy. The next time round, it won't just be you that gets hurt." With cat calls and whistles, the three of them retreated. I watched Naru quietly wipe away the blood from his cut lip.

9.32 am.

Back at the base, Lin hovered anxiously over Naru as Ayako examined him. "It doesn't look too bad," Ayako said eventually. "Well. I never thought I'll see the day that you'll get into a fight like a normal teenager," she said. Naru, who had so far steadfastly ignored their ministrations, didn't even bother to look up from his file. "At least we now know the words on the wall were the work of the local yakuza," he said. "Akio-san. Do these men have a reason to harass your workers?" The site foreman shrugged. "Our history with them has never been pretty. They were here first, and the first thing we did was to get them off the property recently acquired by the owners. They've been here on and off since."

"The vandalism?"

"We found and removed graffiti on at least five occasions and caught one of the yakuza members in the act once since we began laying the foundation late last October."

"What was the subject of the graffiti?"

Akio-san looked at his co-workers. "I believe the last time round, it was a picture of some kind, a bird I think." Toriame nodded. "Yes, we didn't think very much of them then, since we believed it was the work of a local gang." Ishihara snorted. "Cynics. That's what the whole lot of you are. The Master won't be pleased if you talk about this now to strangers."

"Well, I say the risk is worth a shot, if we find out why or what is disrupting our work." Toriame replied and smiled at Naru. "What do you make of the writing?"

9.45am

Once again, I noticed how Naru seemed to be favouring Umeko-san. Not that I blame him or anything. She really is a lovely lady even if she totally outclasses me. As he leaned towards her to explain some detail in the picture of the writings, he seemed almost more relaxed. "Why do you believe that ghosts are behind at least some of the writings?" Naru was asking Umeko-san. The lady lowered her gaze. "I believe that there are some things in the world that cannot be explained by science or logic," she said. "And the footage that had been caught on the park's cameras shows the writing appearing on their own."

"Be that as it may be, I still do not sense any malicious spirits anywhere in the park's vicinity," Masako said with a hint of a challenge in her voice. Umeko smiled gently. "Perhaps we ought to wait till the technicians finish with the final checks of the control room before we discuss this again. What do you think, Shibuya-san?"

"I agree with Toriame-san. A medium's abilities may fluctuate and there are still the onibi that Himitsu-san saw." Naru said after a short while. "We will meet again in an hour's time at the control room. Mai, you will stay behind and start packing this list of equipment that I will require to be moved to the control room."

As Masako rose to leave, she spoke to me. "Mai. I suggest that you don't let your guard down around Toriame." And with that she glided out of the room with the rest of them. What's up with that, I wondered as I began assembling the equipment into an empty cardboard box.


Author's notes: An extra long chapter for the wait! Do remember to drop me a review!