A/N: To tell the truth, I am wrote this just after I posted the previous chapter. Heh. But I got a killer headache and went to bed.

Naru: Did you fix the name problem? And that's what you get from staring at the computer screen for 4 hours straight.

Bookfreak: Hey, do you see a little red squiggly line under your name? Heh, neither do I. And shut it!

Mai: Yay! You fixed it!

Bookfreak: Um, it was never really broken. I just added all your names to the 'dictionary'on the computer.

Mai: I am in the dictionary?! Wow!

Bookfreak: Not exactly…. I own my cookie. That's it. Heh. Poor me. (Btw- the cookie goes to the first reviewer! Then I own nothing!)

Ghost of a good thing

"Wow! This is one big house!" Mai walked into the Takiguchi residence.

"Yes, it is Mai-chan. Thank-you for coming so soon. This is Sumi and Satsumi." Norriko greeted the team and showed her children.

"I like you. My name is Sumi. What's yours?" The girl called Sumi ran up to Mai and hugged her leg. Sumi looked about 4 years old and had shoulder-length light brown hair. Her dress was a sky blue and stopped after her knees.

'Aww!' Mai smiled at the little girl. "My name is Mai. I like you too." Mai giggled at the girl's bright smile.

"Get off of that ugly girl. She isn't worth your time, Sumi. She looks poor." A boy looking 10 years old glared at Mai, as though she stole his favorite toy. He was kinda short for his age and had on a plain red shirt and jean shorts.

'Well, excuse me! What crawled up his shorts and died? Humph, probably the same thing that crawled up Naru's!' Mai giggled to herself and found a glaring face staring at her. 'Whoa. For a sec I thought that was Naru…'

"Mai quit playing around. Set up the equipment." Naru also gave her a glare.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa! It isn't 'glare at Mai day', is it?' Mai started to get a little uncomfortable. "Um, Norriko-chan hasn't showed us the base yet though."

"Actually, as you were making friends, Takiguchi-san showed us the base. That door." Naru frowned and got back to reading his magical notes. (You know, the one that pop out from no where?)

Mai blushed and thought hastily, 'I hate this guy so much sometimes!' Mai rushed out to help Lin carry in the cameras, screens, and microphones.

"Wait! I want to play tea party with Mai-chan! Plweeze?" Sumi grabbed Naru's leg and looked at him pleadingly. "Can she help later?"

'Aww…. Um I mean, I can't let her do that!' Naru though, but instead said "Only if you get off my leg."

"Thanks Naru! Let's go play Sumi-chan!" Mai was a little startled at Naru but got over it.

"Yay!!! My room is this way, Mai-chan! Let's have some fun! Yay! A tea party with Mai-chan!" Sumi jumped off Naru and ran down the right-hand hallway.

"Uh, wait Sumi-chan!" Mai tried to follow but ended up getting lost. 'Where am I? This place is huge!'

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"Mai-chan? Are ya coming?" Sumi didn't notice that Mai got lost behind her. 'Mai-chan disappeared! Just like Sakkiko-chan!'

Sumi ran back down the hall, checking any passages along the way, but Mai was no where to be seen.

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"Sumi-chan? Where are you? Where am I? Sumi-chan!?" Mai was freaking out. She was lost in this big house.

"Mai. Where are you? Mai!" Naru's voice was coming down the hallway.

"N-Naru?! Naru! I am here! Please save me." Mai started to run down towards Naru's voice. "Naru? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I am over here. Come on, Mai-chan!" Naru's voice carried down the hallway to her left. Mai, not noticing that the voice called her 'Mai-chan', tried to follow it.

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"Hey! Hey! Did Mai-chan decide to help you, instead of playing with me?" Sumi ran back to the main entrance. She was worried and sad that Mai didn't follow her.

"No, Sumi-chan. She ran off after you and we haven't seen her since. Why?" Bou-san bent low to Sumi's eye level. The little girl was starting to get teary-eyed.

"She didn't follow me. Or she didn't catch up with me. I hope she didn't vanish like Sakkiko-chan." Sumi started to cry and Norriko picked her up and tried to settle her.

"It's ok. She won't vanish. If she's with these people, she must have some kind of physic powers. She'll be ok." Norriko bounced her up and down on her hip.

"Actually, Mai-chan doesn't have any real powers." Bou-san informed Norriko.

"No! Mai-chan! Whaaa!!" Sumi cried even harder and louder.

"Who is this 'Sakkiko-chan'? What happened?" Naru looked up and asked Sumi the questions, but Norriko answered.

"Her name is Sakkiko Matimuri. She was Sumi's best friend and came over to our house for a sleepover. That's when this all started. Satsumi wanted to play a game that he invented, 'Locked in a closet'." Norriko took a deep breath and continued.

"You choose someone to be 'it.' And they get locked in the closet. You have to either persuade the prison master to get out or escape. If you can't get out in five minutes you lose. Sakkiko-chan volunteered to go first. When her five minutes were up, they opened the closet door and she was gone."

"Excuse me, Satsumi-san. What happened while Sakkiko-chan was in the closet?" Naru turned to the little boy.

"Well, at first, it got all cold, and then Sakkiko-chan told was she was freezing and she wanted her sweater. We both thought that it was a trick to get out of the closet. After that there were no more noises and we thought she was trying to escape somehow. We then opened the door and only found her hair pin." Satsumi looked at the floor and busied himself with his toes.

"Her hair pin? May I see it?" Naru raised his eyebrow.

"Sorry, but we gave that to her family in her memory." Norriko looked Naru straight in the face.

"It seems to me that Mai-chan is fine, as long as she doesn't get locked in anything." John put in. Everyone jumped. They all forgot that Mai was still missing.

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"Naru! Where are you taking me?" Mai chased the voice until it came to a stop.

"Mai-chan, could you please get in there?" The Naru-voice indicated the closet next to Mai.

"Naru, you're scaring me. What's going on? Why do you keep calling me Mai-chan?" Mai glanced into the closet and was filled with uneasiness. Suddenly, she was pushed and the closet doors were closed.

CLICK

'Was that the lock? Weren't the things locked up disappearing? Uh oh.' Mai pounded on the door and screamed her throat raw. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"AHHHHHH!!!!"

A/N: Was that long or what?! Sorry for the cliffhanger. I am so good! I made that game up right then and there! Heh!

Mai: (tears pouring) Am I going to die?

Bookfreak: Can't say for sure…. (Mai sobs some more) Just joking! Of course you'll live!

Naru: She better….

Bookfreak: You just want to save her. But to save her you have to be on good terms with the author…

Naru: Who's the author?

Bookfreak: Me! And right now we are not on good terms! So there!

Naru: What do you want?

Bookfreak: Well….. (Pulls out list so long that if paper was food, no one would go hungry!) Just this stuff.

Naru: o.0! (whispered) save me! (normal voice) Ok. 1) A Naru pony?! What the heck is that?

Bookfreak: I'll show you. Bend down on for legs. (Naru obeys) (Bookfreak jumps on top) Yahoo! This is a Naru pony! Please review the story while I ride the pony!

Mai, Lin, Masako, Ayako, Bou-san, John, Norriko, Sumi, and Satsumi: o.0

Bou-san: Nightmares for the rest of my life.