Disclaimer and author notes: I don't own any characters from the amazing anime Ghost Hunt. Please go easy on the reviews… but review okay? I'd love to hear from you; it motivates me to continue and finish! Oh, and thanks for the reviews so far. I'm even happier! ^_^

Chapter 4

Darkness covered the room in the most uncomfortable way possible, but under the covers Mai didn't notice a thing. She couldn't sleep but the mattress was so comfortable she couldn't get out of it either. There she was trapped in a sea of the calmest kind of storm.

"Mai, are you awake?" a voice called almost too quiet to hear.

She opened her eyes drowsily and somehow managed to pop her head above the covers. Looking around the room there was first a presence and then a flash of light. No longer was she trapped in the realm between sleep and consciousness.

"Naru, is that you?" she asked, sitting up.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. I'm coming in." he replied, sitting on the bed beside her. "Why aren't you sleeping too?"

Mai stared at him, blushing in disbelief but smiled anyway.

"It maybe crazy but I think it's because the mattresses are too comfortable." she replied.

He smiled at her and shook his head.

"You're a strange one, you know that?"

"I'm actually pretty normal; you're the one who's strange. What are you even doing in here, so late? I mean what if someone saw you? They might get the wrong idea or—"

"That's true… sorry, I guess I just wanted to see you." He said, getting up to leave. "Good night Mai. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning right?"

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere."

"So how about we meet at the beach then? We'll be able to hang out without everyone else in the way." he suggested.

"R—really? That would be great—! But what about…"

"Don't even worry. I'll take care of it, trust me."

"I do, I mean, I will."

Shibuya took another glance at her before shutting the light off again. There was a flash of light coming from the window beside her bed and then she woke up, nearly blinded by the sunlight flooding her room.

'It was all… a dream?' she thought, puzzled and unsure.

But she couldn't take any chances. She got up, dressed, and headed out to the beach. The ocean was more brilliantly blue than she'd seen on the boat. The colors of the sky came together to agree on what type of blue they would make and the sun wiggled between them in a rush to come back from the pacific. She loved it all, but she couldn't shake the tense feelings creeping around her.

Those same feelings changed from tense to angry. She knew the dream was either some sort of misunderstood vision, or, Shibuya wasn't coming to get her. She sighed, wondering why she even went out in the first place. When did her heart ask her about the guy it decided on? Had it even asked her? Besides, she was one person, how could she have communication problems with herself?

She sighed and began to return to the house when she noticed Alicia watching her from afar. The young girl bit on her nail before slowly turning away and running back to the house.

"Wait, Alice!" Mai shouted, trying to stop her.

By the time she got up to the courtyard it was empty except for Umbria who sniffed around in the grass. Still she didn't fret. With so many other strange cases to compare to, this one was no more unusual. She was simply involved.

"Where were you? We've already figured part of the case out while you were gone." Houshou said as Mai walked into the room.

Lin sat beside him and went over sound waves. He hardly glanced up when he noticed her walk in the room but seemed to shake his head in a bit of curiosity. She sat in the chairs beside them and looked over their current progress as she tried to figure out some reasonable excuse for not being there that morning.

"I didn't get much sleep. Why didn't you guys wake me?"

"We sent Lin and you were gone." Houshou replied. "Come on, look at this: the pot is still sitting at the window sill. It seems we're messing around with a real poltergeist."

Mai glanced at the screen, trying not to notice the amusement in Houshou's voice, "See, I thought so. Bet Naru's pretty worked up about being wrong isn't he?" she asked.

"I'm actually more interested in why you weren't here this morning. This is your job Mai." Shibuya said, though he didn't seem angry.

He closed the door behind him before joining everyone at the computers. Houshou grinned and turned his attention back to the other recorded footage.

"Sorry, I was…"

"You went out to the beach. I know."

"You went looking for me?" she asked. "Were you out there too?"

"Better, I've got you on tape."

Mai smiled to herself. She'd finally decided her dreams were simply misinterpreted. It had happened before and since she wasn't a professional she was happy to know she had some time to improve on her skills. Houshou laughed quietly to himself as they continued.

"Right, I'm sorry Naru. I won't miss another moment. I promise!" she said reassuringly.

"Good to hear. Lin needs help watching the tapes tonight. You can help him so he won't have to stay up so long." He said.

She didn't have time or even a reasonable reason to refuse. Instead she nodded and changed the subject. "So, what are we doing now?"

"We're researching everyone, or looking around for clues."

"Same as always." Houshou added.

"Is that what everyone else is doing?" Mai asked.

Shibuya nodded.

"You and that Alice girl seem to get along okay… maybe you should go talk to her? So far all we know about Roger is that Ms. Takeda hates him. It's like she believes in him as a person. I tried talking to the maids but they all seem new here." Houshou explained.

"All but one. Ms. Angela has been with them for six months. She should know more than anyone so go to her for information. Alicia can wait." Shibuya said.

"The one we met yesterday right? Great, I'll do my best then." Mai replied.

"Oh and Mai?" Shibuya asked.

Mai got up and turned cheerfully but her smile quickly faded seeing his unhappy face.

"Let's not make a big deal out of my nickname this time."

***

Angela wasn't as cooperative as Mai thought she'd be. In fact, she had to chase her around a while before even figuring anything out about her, much less the Takeda family. From cleaning each room to watering the garden Mai realized that she'd helped clean more than she'd found any clues.

"What's more, Ms. Takeda doesn't like you all talking to us. Why don't you just talk to her? She'll tell you everything."

"Well, you've been here a while. I was hoping you'd at least know about who Roger was." Mai replied.

"I don't, so go interview someone else."

"You really don't know anything?" Mai asked. She shuffled her feet a bit as Angela took the opportunity to refill her gardening can. "I want to help but I can't if no one tells me anything. Please Angela, if you see anything out of the ordinary let me know. I'll be around alright?"

Angela paused, as Mai began to leave. She almost said nothing. She wanted to let Mai go off and find some confused or clueless maid but something in the pit of her stomach wouldn't let Mai go.

"Mai, wait…!" Angela called running back to her.

Mai turned somewhat baffled as Angela grabbed her shoulder.

"Ms. Alice hasn't been sleeping well." She explained quietly, "She says that 'he' hasn't come to her in a while so she'll oversleep to get a glimpse of him. She may be sleeping now… here, I can't tell you about him, but Ms. Alice would love to. Just try and get along with her. She's a magnificent child and she can tell you much more than I can."

Mai smiled awkwardly and nodded saying, "Thank you, I will."

"Oh and Mai, please be careful. People who get involved with the Takeda family affairs tend to find themselves in trouble. Make sure that doesn't happen to you and your friends." She warned her.

The worry in Angela's eyes grew as she squeezed Mai's shoulder and returned to her work. Only Mai sat there staring at her, unsure what else to do. Seeing as she was done talking Mai turned then and ran off to find the others.

"It's got something to do with her sleeping." Mai explained. "She's still sleeping now, isn't she?"

Houshou nodded then turned to Shibuya, "I guess this is more of John's area. I don't like exorcizing people." he said.

"If I did I'd need some time to get approval." John reminded them.

"Well he's in her dreams. Maybe she's just dreaming about someone and then makes believe they're real. We haven't caught any ghost activity and since Naru hasn't actually been wrong before now…"

Shibuya said nothing but stared at the computer screen for some time. He frowned, watching the young girl toss and turn. She suddenly got up then and held her drowsy head in her hands, mumbling something. He looked again to Mai. "Is that all that Angela told you?"

"Yes, well, and to be careful around here. Maybe we really should just go to Ms. Takeda."

"No, this time go to Alicia. We'll be setting up more cameras room to avoid blind spots." He replied.

"So, you believe there's a ghost now?" she asked. Shibuya frowned and Mai rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll go tell her but, it's okay to make mistakes sometimes Naru."

She left in case without a response. There was nothing she could do about his stubborn issues, but she figured she wouldn't fail at saving Alicia from hers. Still there was a bit of unease in the pit of her stomach. Before then she had realized that Shibuya was never wrong. She wanted to understand how he made a mistake now after so many years of his perfect analytical processes. Or, if he hadn't made a mistake she wondered what they were still doing there or how long they would stay.

Mai sighed, turning the corner in time to see Alicia and Umbria walking down the empty hallway. She yawned and rubbed her eyes but upon seeing Mai she picked her cat up and got on her guard.

"Spying again?" she asked.

"No, I was looking for you actually. I thought I saw you this morning, why go back to sleep again?" she asked curiously.

"It's my house, I can't sleep in the daytime now?" she asked rudely.

"You can, it's just not normal for most people."

"Neither is being a paranormal researcher in middle school."

Mai paused, her mouth dropping open as Alicia turned away.

"I'm in high school!" she argued.

Alicia glanced back at her, an eyebrow raised before she abruptly started laughing, "Even I look older than you. Also, Naru looks young too. What you two doing with a bunch of old people?" she asked.

"It's a long story…" Mai said, "Anyway I wanted to ask you what you were doing spying on me this time."

Alicia's face was calm. She looked down to Umbria who seemed to ignore her despite being trapped in her arms. She scratched the cat on the head and shrugged, "You just reminded me of something."

"Roger?" Mai asked.

"No, but something like that I guess." She replied.

"You really like this guy don't you?" Mai asked cutely.

Alicia smiled to herself and shook her head lightly. She turned down the hall again and waved, "I don't have time to explain my life to you. You said to sit back and wait so that's what I'm doing; so just hurry up and finish."

"Wait, I also wanted to tell you we noticed you weren't sleeping well. Naru thinks there might be something going on so they're setting up again in your room. Don't freak out when you go in there next time."

Alicia nodded solemnly yet paid no attention to the notice, "Look all you want. You can't find something that's not there. Maybe you can fix the heater in my room though. It's always so cold in there."