Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! I'm really excited that there are so many people enjoying the story so far. Sorry I didn't get this done sooner – it took a bit longer than previous chapters.

Time to see what happens next! Enjoy!

Case File #1: Skeletons in the Closet
Part 4

July
Day 1 (cont.)
9:53 PM

All Mai could think about was the voice she'd heard coming from the radio and the one she'd heard in her dream. There was no possible way that this could be a coincidence – she'd had too many experiences with her psychic dreams and her oneiric guide to readily discount what she saw in her sleep. Something was up there, and it was causing the spirits to act strangely. She didn't know what it was, but she wasn't willing to let Monk find out if it was malevolent the hard way.

She skidded to a stop somewhere in the first-floor hall and realization suddenly dawned on her: she had absolutely no idea where she was going.

"Dashing out like that and then realizing you're lost isn't exactly an intelligent act, Mai," she scolded herself aloud. For a moment there, she thought she'd turned into Naru.

"My thoughts exactly."

She let out a yelp and spun around, finding the narcissist himself standing behind her with his arms folded and glaring at her crossly. It was bad enough on a normal basis, but the lighting provided by the widely distributed floodlights left over by the work crew made his face look all the more sinister.

"Na-Naru!" she gasped. "What are doing?" 'When did he get here?'

"Making sure you don't do anything else stupid," he replied coldly, and strode up to her, eyes not even blinking. When he lifted his hand up, she involuntarily winced.

Then she felt something settle on her head.

Blinking, Mai looked upward and discovered a yellow bill poking over her bangs. She felt her face heat up upon the realization that it wasn't hers. Her hat had a few pink daisies and her signature placed under the bill so she wouldn't get it confused with Ayako's, which also sported a flower-scattered pattern (Masako's was too intricate and refined to be mistaken for anyone else's – the medium had procured the only sakura sticker packages they'd been able to find).

'Oh my god… this is Naru's hat…'

"You left your hardhat at base, dummy," he explained, pulling his flashlight from his pocket. "Now, come on. We're only a few doors away from the finished service stairwell, and that'll take us to where Takigawa is."

She took just a moment to glare at him over her newly acquired blush before following close behind. In a matter of second, they were ascending a set of concrete stairs that wound about in an eerily lit stairwell, the only light coming from Naru's flashlight and the multiple floodlights hanging from the railing. The lights were bright here, but it didn't change the fact that it was creepy. There were too many long shadows being cast about for her to feel even remotely at ease.

They were barely past the second floor when a person with dark red hair collided into Mai, followed by someone whose glasses glinted briefly before he was pulled into the pile when a pale hand flew out and grabbed the front of his shirt for support. Mai let out a loud shriek as she found herself falling, and squeaked when she felt someone grasp her wrist and yank her back sharply before the two forms crushed her into the landing. An arm slinked around her waist to give her much-needed support from the sudden movement.

Ayako let out a low moan and blinked several times before a scowl presented itself on her face. The angered look only increased when the young man who'd ended up on top of her grinned in mock lechery.

"Why, Ayako, I must say I'm surprised. Never had I imagined that you and I would find ourselves in such a predicament. What would Takigawa say?"

The bright red splash of color that went over the priestess's face was unprecedented in its similarity to the shade of a ripe tomato. But the utter fury in her eyes quashed the embarrassment of being trapped beneath the college student.

"I will only say this once: if you do not get off me Osamu Yasuhara, you will be in serious trouble," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Quickly getting the picture, Yasu jumped up and extended a hand to the self-styled miko. As she pulled herself up, he chuckled nervously.

"Let's just keep this a secret from our darling Takigawa. No need to make him wonder if his significant other is being unfaithful – which of course I'm not," he joked half-heartedly, receiving another livid glare in return from Ayako.

There was a low and almost unnoticeable groan of irritation from behind. Mai's entire body went stiff upon feeling warm breath against the exposed bit of the back of her neck, and it was only then that she realized that she was pressed up against something. A hesitating look down to the appendage still wrapped around her waist revealed a black-clad arm and a pale hand grasping onto her so she wouldn't fall.

"If you two are finished goofing around, would you care to explain why you all aren't together?" Naru's voice demanded from just behind.

Yasuhara laughed nervously again. "Ah, well… you see –"

Whatever ready-made excuse the flippant college student might have had for his narcissistic superior was instantly shoved aside as the sound of the monk's yelling interrupted them, followed by an almost inhuman shriek and loud thud.

Mai didn't have time to think twice; no sooner had they heard the noise, the entire group charged forward, crashing into the shadow-laden main hallway of the unfinished third floor. She was only barely conscious of an uncomfortable pressure on her wrist, becoming more aware of the sensation upon realizing that Naru was dragging her along in the front, flashlight moving all over in search of the source of the commotion.

It seemed like an eternity before they could make out more sounds: a low moaning and what sounded like quiet but frantic mutterings.

The source came from a small room on the left, the only indication of anyone's presence being the rolling light along the uncarpeted floor. The group rushed into the room, stopping abruptly at the scene bathed in dim yellow color:

Takigawa lay on the floor in a heap, clutching his uncovered head and shaking in evident pain, blood trickling between his fingers; his hardhat lay off to the side, the bold words Property of SPR barely visible in its position. Plastered in the corner opposite of the injured bassist was a small and nervous figure clutching a bright white pipe in their half-gloved hands. Dark eyes were fixated upon the man's pitiful form.

"H-hey, this is your fault!" the person in the corner squeaked. "If you hadn't freaked me out like that, I wouldn't have had to hit you!"

"What are you doing in here?" Naru demanded, his grip no longer on Mai's wrist as he stepped into the room. His eyes were narrowed in the perpetrator's direction. "This is private property."

The light from Naru's flashlight, along with the beams from those belonging to the rest of them (save Takigawa), hit the person in the corner, revealing what looked to be a frightened youth of about Mai's age. Their eyes widened into what could only be classified as "a deer caught in headlights" upon falling on the group standing in the middle of the room's only exit.

But the horrified stare didn't land on the group in its entirety; rather, it was focused upon one person in particular. The moment Naru spoke to the frightened person, the intruder's eyes widened even more to the point Mai thought they'd pop out. The pipe slipped out from the wallflower's violently shaking hands.

"Wh-what the… n-no way," the youth muttered, tensing visibly . "I thought…" Their voice trailed off.

Mai could only watch as some kind of intense staring match sparked between the two, her condescending boss practically boring a hole into the stranger. It was only during this exchange that the brunette suddenly realized that she recognized the frozen youth.

"Hey, you're the person from before!" Mai piped up, earning a quick and disapproving, albeit unnoticed glare from Naru. "The one Mr. Sendo was yelling at earlier this morning!"

The spell was broken. The stranger looked over in the brunette's direction, surprise evident. Puzzlement spread across the shadowed face, as well as slight apprehension. "Yeah, but how'd you know?"

"Who are you? And what are you doing on a construction site in the middle of the night?" Naru interrupted, stormy blue eyes narrowed in the perpetrator's direction once more. He'd deal with Mai later. Right now, he had an interference to deal with.

"I could ask you the same question," the intruder slowly replied with a strange but decidedly steely look aimed in the black-clad teen's direction. Mai astonished by sudden realization: not only was this person acting totally unaffected by Naru's sharp inquiry despite the earlier silent altercation, but they sounded distinctly… female.

"Were you the one singing earlier?" Mai asked, choosing to ignore the look of heightened irritation coming from her employer.

The stranger giggled nervously and rubbed the back of her (yes her, Mai was certain) neck. "Yeah, that was me," she admitted. "I tend to do that a lot. It's a habit I've had for a while now."

"Is punching people and hitting them with a piece of construction material a habit, too?" Takigawa moaned. Ayako had gotten over the shock of seeing another living person outside of the SPR group long enough to have gone to his side and was now helping him to sit up, Yasuhara aiding in the effort.

The girl gave another nervous, albeit almost hysterical giggle and cringed visibly. "No, not exactly… that was more of a reflex, actually… hehehe… You kind of freaked me out back there."

"All I did was walk in the room…"

"And holler loudly when you noticed I was in here," the intruder pointed out, now leaning against the wall with her arms folded. There was an odd look on her face a creased between her brows, almost as if she was assessing her current situation. "I didn't think I hit you that hard though…" She bit her lip worriedly. Mai could almost see the gears turning in the stranger's mind.

"Again, would you mind explaining why you're traipsing on private property in the middle of the night?" Naru demanded a third time, his arms now folded and fingers tapping against his forearms impatiently – a clear indication that he was not pleased with this new turn of events.

What he received in return was a blatantly cold and harsh glare. Mai had no clue what happened, but the intruder's initial fear had suddenly been converted into animosity.

"Hey, why don't you interrogate me at some other point? Don't take it the wrong way, it's just I'd be more worried about that guy, if I were you." She jerked a thumb in the direction of Takigawa, who was obviously still dazed from the blow. "I did hit him with a nice piece GRP piping, after all."

Naru's eyes narrowed in consideration. Not long after, he nodded his consent and called in over his cell phone an order for Lin to get a first-aid kit ready, as well as his laptop and some paper. Ayako and Yasu helped the injured monk up, staggering as they found his balance to be horribly off thanks to the blow to his head.

The intruder in the corner winced visibly. There was evident guilt in her features as she followed the unsteady trio trudging out into the hallway. Naru took up the rear, pushing his brunette assistant in front of him and muttering almost incoherently under his breath, although the words "interruptions", "idiots", and "breaking procedure" could be made out in amidst the near-silent ranting.

Mai couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl they'd just encountered. She was beginning to feel sorry for the others and herself as well. Judging by the look she'd seen in Naru's eyes before he pushed her out the door, he wasn't going to make things easy for any of them.

Then again, he never did.

…

Now that they were in a brightly lit area and everything had calmed down some, Mai discovered that their new "acquaintance" seemed to know just how to trick people who weren't paying close attention: even without the navy beanie she'd been wearing, it was an easy thing to mistaken the girl for being a boy, seeing as her unruly chestnut brown hair was cut short with bangs that fell into the darkest of green eyes. She sported an oversized light jacket, which was baggy enough to mislead anyone who cast a casual glance and neatly covered the blue-grey tank that subtly accentuated the fact she had a fairly decent female figure for her age. The sturdy boots she wore certainly helped to fool as well, though the legs encased in faded and torn straight-leg jeans were too nice to belong to a boy. But once a person looked beyond all that, they would see a girl who was a bit on the thin but wiry side, and looked a bit rough around the edges if Mai were any judge of appearances. She also had circles under her eyes, and looked tired despite the energy and spirit she'd shown in the room on the third floor.

And she was acting highly guarded, all traces of previous fear now traded in for a mask of the defensive nature.

Then again, Mai supposed she couldn't blame the girl for that.

"All right, now that Takigawa's being taken care of –" Naru's words were accentuated by a loud yelp as Ayako lightly dabbed at the cut on the monk's head with a cotton ball of alcohol. "– I want you to explain what you were doing up there in the middle of the night, and how you managed to slip past our cameras and audio equipment."

The suspect sitting in Obitsu Katagiri's desk chair raised an eyebrow in mild amusement. In this movement, Mai suddenly became aware of how light the girl's brows were. Certainly it wasn't a natural combination, light eyebrows and dark hair. Scratch that – it wasn't a natural combination. "You guys have cameras set up around here? Jeez, even the cops didn't do that when they were patrolling the area a few weeks ago from what I'd heard. Who are you people? Are you with Naichō or the PSIA? Or some other agency I haven't heard of?"

"Shibuya Psychic Research Center, or SPR for short," Naru replied, eyes fixated on the subject with Mai could only assume was the will to unnerve. It didn't seem to be working to its full extent, although the corner of the girl's mouth appeared to have twitched minutely before reverting back into a slightly amused smirk. The only real reaction Mai could detect was an odd flicker pass over the girl's face when Naru said they were psychic researchers. "I'm Kazuya Shibuya, the director."

"Somehow, that doesn't exactly surprise me," the girl responded slowly, observing the black-clad teen with guarded eyes. "But what's a psychic research group doing in a place like this?"

"We were hired by the construction company to investigate the cause of unexplained incidents happening on the site."

She seemed to relax to this answer. "Oh, you mean like the frostbite and burns and how that funny room keeps popping up?"

The room froze, and suddenly everyone was staring unabashedly at their uninvited guest. The lack of typing indicated that Lin had ceased his usual activity in favor of the communal gawking as well (though in Lin's case, "gawking" consisted of sitting up a bit straighter with an eyebrow raised).

It was all very unnerving.

The girl looked around, eyebrow cocked this time with the look of amusement mixed in with slight suspicion and traces of renewed apprehension. "You guys are looking at me like I've grown a second head or something. Am I really all that interesting, or was it something I said?"

"How did you know about the strange happenings going on here at the construction site?" John asked from his position on the couch next to Takigawa.

The girl blinked incredulously. "You mean you didn't know? Everybody's been talking non-stop about the weird stuff going on around here for a long time now. Considering this is a relatively small community in comparison to the rest of Tokyo, news travels pretty fast. I've only been back in the neighborhood for a little over a week and I can tell you a whole bunch of stuff that's supposedly happened around here. And I can actually confirm some of the stories."

"Such as…" Yasu prompted from over Mai's shoulder.

"Well, I take it you guys have heard about the rooms appearing in random places and disappearing the morning after? And how they're always furnished?" They nodded. "That part is true… to an extent: I actually decided to spend the night in one of those pop-up rooms, and wound up conking out in an armchair just before the sun came up. The next thing I knew, I was propped up in the basement about five minutes later.

"I know I wasn't moved, because the room I was in happened to be on the fifth floor of the business section," she continued, eyes darting in the direction of the clacking of Lin's rapidly typing fingers. "After I got myself straightened out, I went back up and couldn't find the room again. And I never saw any of the furniture after that, either."

"Do you remember which part of the fifth floor this room was in?" Naru inquired.

The girl nodded. "Sure do. Fifth floor, business section; if you take the southern staircase – the one you guys decided to go down to get back here – you go down the corridor from there and turn into the second hallway on your right. The room's at the end of a hallway on the left, just after the third alcove they've got set up for I guess a water fountain. From the size of it, I'd say it's going to be a conference room or something – that room is pretty big."

"How long ago did this occur?" the youth questioned further.

"I'd say the night after I first got into the neighborhood. And in case you're wondering, I went back the next evening after the site shut down to see if I could find the room again."

"And did you?"

"Yeah, and I've been doing this every night since then. So far, I've noticed something that I think the construction guys missed."

"And what might that be?" asked the narcissist.

The girl leaned back in her chair and gazed at her interrogator levelly.

"From what I've heard, everyone seems to think it's a different room that appears each time, and always at random," she explained. "That's where they're wrong. I can't tell you just how 'random' the appearances are, but I can tell you that it isn't a bunch of different rooms, it's same damn room each time."

"Wait… you mean it's just one room that crops up anywhere in the complex?" Mai felt a sliver of fear begin to embed itself inside of her.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, although I can't say that it shows up just anywhere. To tell you the truth, I haven't seen much happen on the residential side of the site – it seems like most of what goes on happens on the business side. That's just from what I've observed so far, though."

"How long have you been making these observations?"

"I already told you: I've been hanging around for a little over a week or so," she said with a frown.

"Have there been any other people on-site with you? A friend or someone who happened to be 'exploring' the complex at the same time?"

"Huh? No, there hasn't been anyone around here, at least not to my knowledge. Nobody wants to come anywhere near this place at night. Maybe a few people might have a couple months ago, but not now."

"But you're positive that in your 'observations' you took into consideration all the aspects of each situation? Lighting, time, the amount of rest you had…?"

There was a hard edge taking over in the girl's eyes as they narrowed into slits. "Just what are you implying?"

"I'm merely taking all accounts into consideration and processing them accordingly," Naru replied in the tone of voice that made it sound as if he was explaining the obvious. "When an individual brings forth information without corroborating witness accounts, it's unwise to handle the information as fact until there is more evidence to substantiate the story."

That only infuriated the newcomer even further. "Well, excuse me, but considering the fact that I'm not the only person who's seen this room, wouldn't it make sense to use it as supplementary information at the very least?"

"Being as you're the only one to have seen the room at night to the best of our current knowledge, your account stands free from the others. Until we have another nighttime encounter to compare yours to, there is no supporting evidence, though I will take any information you can provide in regards to this case."

"Why you overbearing pompous a–"

"Okay, okay," the ever-interfering college student broke through, raising his hands in protest. "Let's all settle down and get along."

"Fine, but tell the Prince of Darkness over there to lay off with the questioning and to get off his high-horse," the girl huffed, shooting another glare in the narcissist's direction – an action that was automatically returned.

"You'll have to forgive the boss here," Yasu apologized with a short bow. "It's just that you can't blame him for being suspicious – after all, you are intruding on an investigation."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," the girl sighed. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the chair, allowing herself to relax slightly from her defensive tension. "Sorry. It's just that I'm not too keen on being around strange people either, and considering our situation, it's only natural you'd all be suspicious of me."

"And vice versa," Yasu chuckled. The girl opened her eyes again and permitted herself a crooked grin.

"Yeah."

"Would you mind at least telling me your name?" Naru said, allowing himself to be overruled in favor of controlling his blood pressure for the time being. He was beginning to feel caffeine withdrawal from dealing with this nuisance.

"Katsumi Shinomori," replied the girl. "But most people just call me Katsu."

"Shinomori…" everyone turned to find Masako having at long last entered the conversation. Her dark eyes looked curiously over the sleeve of her kimono, which hid the lower portion of her face. "That sounds like a familiar name."

"Maybe, but there's probably a whole bunch of people named 'Shinomori' running around Japan," the girl now identified as Katsu said with a shrug. "But I don't usually pay attention to that kind of thing. Too many people to get mixed up when you start worrying about family names." She gave them all a curious look. "But I wouldn't mind knowing who all you people are."

"Of course. I'm Osamu Yasuhara," Yasu said with a bow. "But you can call me Yasu. Kazuya already told you who he is. This girl here –" he yanked Mai by the shoulders. She gave Katsu a shy smile and a wave. "– is Mai Taniyama. She's really nice and works as Kazuya's slave – I mean assistant." He grinned widely as Mai elbowed him in the stomach. "That tall, dark, and silent guy over at the computers is Lin Koujo, Kazuya's other assistant." Lin didn't even so much as hum a response. "The guy you hit over the head is my lover Houshou Takigawa –"

Katsu sputtered and nearly fell out of her seat. "Wait, what?"

Yasu grinned evilly. "Yup. We've been a couple for, oh, I'd say half a year now."

"No we're not! Would you cut it out already, Yasu?" Monk growled from his spot on the couch. "That isn't even funny!"

"And here I thought you loved me." The college student put on a fake pout.

"I'm John Brown," the blond young man in the back greeted her. He put a hand on the kimono girl's shoulder. "And this Masako Hara."

"From TV?" Katsu blinked. "Wow. A celebrity." She looked over to Ayako. "And you are…?"

The redhead made a move to answer, but Monk beat her to it.

"That's Ayako Matsuzaki, an old-as-the-hills fake Shinto shrine maiden who thinks everything is attributed to –" WHACK! "Hey! Cut it out! Can't you see I'm already injured?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said airily, her handbag dangling almost innocently from clasped hands. "It's just that from the way you were talking, I just assumed that you were fully recovered."

"Sure… you just assumed that with all your background medical knowledge…" the monk growled.

Katsu looked at Mai incredulously as the two continued to bicker. "Are they always like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much," the brunette admitted sheepishly with a laugh. Katsu seemed to relax a bit at that.

"Enough," Naru snapped, bringing the small business trailer back to semi-order. Silence fell again. With a mentally resigned sigh, he returned to speaking with the intruder. "Now, Miss Shinomori, about the rest of your observations…?"

"Huh?" She blinked before recalling the conversation. "Oh, yeah. I've got a few notes in my bag if you want to see them, but I stashed it under the sheetrock leaning up against the eastern fence for safekeeping, so I've still got to go and get it." Her eyes slid away and her gaze fell on the computer monitors above where Lin was sitting. The Chinese man had gone back to his habitual typing.

Naru pulled out a black folder and turned his attention to its contents before speaking. "Fine. I'll have someone go with you to collect your bag. After I've gone through your notes and the rest of your observation, however, you'll have to leave."

Katsu muttered something, but he didn't catch what it was.

"You're trespassing on private property, not to mention –" Naru looked up and frowned upon realizing he didn't have her undivided attention. "Miss Shinomori, are you even listening to me?"

"That thing wasn't there before," she remarked cryptically, blatantly ignoring her interrogator.

"Miss Shinomori…" He tried again, not at all amused at being brushed off so easily.

"No, seriously: that wasn't in that place before." Without any further comment, she pointed in the direction of the monitor she'd been staring at.

Several sets of eyes followed in the direction of her uncovered finger, all training on the monitor sitting on the third shelf, two places away from left end. The screen quivered and danced with snowy static, and the image slightly distorted. It was a camera from one of the rooms somewhere on the second floor of the business section, according to the small label Lin had placed on the frame. As the group watched, they could just make out several dark forms flitting across the static-laden screen, and the camera shook violently when several darted too close.

And then it cleared, and the room was still. The only indication of anything having happened was the camera now faced a different direction and the overhead floodlight was rocking to-and-fro.

"Uh… What was that just now?" Yasuhara asked, clearly confused by the footage. "Did we accidentally pick up the local cable channels or something?"

"No," Lin spoke at last. "That was a direct feed from the room the camera's hooked into. We shouldn't be experiencing any interference whatsoever." He looked suspiciously in Katsu's direction.

The girl threw her hands up in mock defense. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't even know you people were here – much less packing cameras and audio equipment – until just now!" He remained silent, but didn't press any further.

"And while we're on the subject, could someone tell me what that is doing in a business office?" Katsu walked up to the screen and pointed again, this time the extreme left of the image.

"What is it?" Ayako asked, leaning in for a closer looker.

John found himself the closest to where Katsu pointed, and squinted his eyes. "I think," he said after a moment, "that it's a closet."

"A closet?"

Naru and Lin had to refrain from visibly wincing at the group's loud outburst.

"Like I said: What the hell is that doing there?" Katsu repeated, turning back to the team. "That's one of the regular offices, and none of them have sliding-door closets."

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see any on the first floor…" Yasu said slowly, tapping his chin in thought.

"Neither did any of the other offices on the second floor," Ayako added.

"And the only closets I saw on the third floor were for custodial workers," Monk concluded, leaning heavily against John and Yasuhara as he looked at the screen before sinking back onto the couch. His speech came out slurred; the left side of his face was swollen from the hit Kastu landed.

Naru gave the girl a sharp look. "Was this something you'd experienced before?"

Katsu frowned in thought. "Maybe… " she said slowly. "But I'm really not all that sure. I don't think I've ever seen closets manifesting all over the place, but I could be mistaken. I was too engrossed with room-hunting, so I wouldn't consider myself to be all that reliable in answering that."

He nodded slowly, accepting the honesty of her answer. "Your input may or not be helpful, but I would like to see what notes you have immediately, and get this interview over with. Even after I do though, Miss Shinomori, I can't permit you to stay. You're trespassing, and no one outside of SPR has permission to be here. I'll have Lin escort you to the gate and make sure you walk down the block safely."

Katsu's eyes narrowed.

"Wait, you actually expect me to leave just like that? Let you take my information and throw me out without an argument? Are you kidding me? Not only is there something weird going on around here, there's an actual paranormal investigation team involved now! Like hell I'm just going to walk away when things get interesting – I want in!"

"No," the narcissist said bluntly.

The girl scowled fiercely at the black-clad youth. If glares could be given by normal individuals to the same extent Naru was able to deliver them, Katsu Shinomori was living proof that it could indeed be done.

"Look, Mr. I'm-in-Charge, I've been around here long enough to have a pretty good idea of the general layout of the complex and can confirm where a lot of the activity's been. Besides," she added, staring into his eyes as if to issue a great challenge, "I think it would only be appropriate that I offer my assistance in addition to my information, seeing as I incapacitated one of your team members nearly half an hour ago."

"I'll say," Monk groaned from his spot back on the couch. He grimaced as he offered the interloper a rather lopsided grin. "I have to admit, though: I'm impressed. You've got a mean right hook!"

Katsu cracked a smirk in return. "Thanks." She then turned her gaze back on the team leader. "Well? How about it? If you don't like what I have to offer, you're free to give me the boot. It's not like I'm asking to get paid or anything."

Naru paused to consider the information.

"I say let her in," Yasuhara declared after a brief moment's silence. Upon finding the whole team's eyes and those of Katsu upon him, he cleared his throat. "Look at it this way: this jobsite is over the property of an old building that appears to have had a relatively long and involved history based on the information I've collected in just one afternoon. If anything, I could really use the assistance in gathering information and sorting it out. Anything Katsu has to offer may just make things go faster."

"And let's not forget the fact that she managed to get into the complex and onto the unfinished third floor without anyone noticing it," Lin offered, though his voice held an accusatory quality to it.

"Something you haven't yet explained to us, Miss Shinomori," said Naru, giving her a probing look.

This time she slumped in her seat and sighed in exasperation. The movement gave Mai the impression that the girl was a lot more tired than she appeared. "Honestly, guys, I have absolutely no idea how your cameras couldn't have seen me. I mean, I know all sorts of ways to get through this half-cocked maze of a construction site, but I don't know where the heck you put all your equipment, so it's not like I did it intentionally. I had absolutely no idea that the company hired somebody after the cops left. If I had an explanation as to how that happened, I'd give it; but, unfortunately, I don't."

Again, Mai noticed something off: while it sounded as if the girl was telling the truth, something in her eyes spoke differently. There was a spark, almost one of fear… like she didn't want something to be found out. Or there was something she wasn't sure of.

'Odd…'

One look in his direction gave her the suspicion that Naru had noticed it as well. She wasn't sure how she knew, given his usual lack of expression. It was just a feeling, and her feelings were frighteningly accurate.

The narcissist sighed.

"All right. Tonight, I want all the information you've collected in regards to your experiences. Tomorrow, I'll have you intermittently working with Mai during equipment checks in order to get you acquainted with our routines. In-between, you'll help Yasuhara with research and information collecting."

"Sounds good to me," Katsu agreed with a nod.

"Good. Then you can start now. Mai, tea. Miss Shinomori, go with her. When that's done, I want you to go with Father Brown to get your bag."

Grumbling, the aforementioned assistant went off to the extension of the trailer. She could hear Katsu behind her, muttering something along the lines of not liking being called "Miss".

But Mai found herself suddenly grateful to be Naru's tea-serving lackey just this once, and even more so for having company. For, no sooner had the two girls walked out into the night and under the white awning that led to the kitchen trailer next door, they could distinctly hear Naru's voice saying in a pleasant voice that promised nothing less than certain doom,

"Now, if Takigawa, Ms. Matsuzaki, and Yasuhara could explain why they were all separated despite my instructions, we can get back to our investigation."

A/N: There are a few references in here that I thought I'd want to clarify to avoid confusion:

GRP – acronym for glass-reinforced plastic; referring to fiberglass piping.
Naichō – the abbreviation for Naikaku Jōhō Chōsashitsu, the Cabinet Research and Intelligence Office; it's basically like the CIA for Japan.
PSIA – Public Security Intelligence Agency; deals mostly with domestic and espionage threats against Japan, from what my understanding is.

Well, now the team's got an interloper in their midst. Originally, Katsu's family name (surname) was going to be Shinohara, but with Yasu and Masako already having that similarity I figured that might not have worked well (too many "hara" names), so I used Shinomori instead.

Special thanks goes out to TheAmateurArtist, Tbonechick2011, Foxgrl18, GhostHunt13, Cuz-im-just-that-awsum, scizzors, Aoi Kitsukawa, akjupiter, and YummyCake for all the reviews, and to everyone who added this story to their favorites and alerts – thank you so much! Until the next chapter! ^_^