AN: Hello readers! Here's the next chapter!

And I am officially giving the chapters their names. I know, a little late, but I just came up with them. I know, they are a little odd... but that's all I could do for now. I might change them again later.

Thank You for all your reviews and support!

Enjoy!


To Remember


May 27, Day 2

"Good Morning there. Since you all are awake, and all my workers are here, would you like to...Are you people alright?"

Mai turned her head towards the base door, and sighed in relief when she saw Kaji-san standing there. He was watching them with confusion, and she looked around to take in the appearance of the team.

She was on the couch, bending over, hands covering her ears. Masako and John-san were sitting next to her, in a similar position. Bou-san was kneeling on the ground, his hands positioned ready for chanting. Yasuhara was crouching, and Ayako was half stumbling out of the chair she had sat in.

Only Naru and Lin-san looked unruffled, their eyes steadily looking at the contractor.

The lights had flickered back on when no one had noticed, and the room was clear again.

"Yes, we are." Naru answered the man, flicking a gaze at his sprawled team. "Are you and your people alright?"

"Eh? What do you mean?" Kaji-san asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he slowly entered the base.

Naru raised an eyebrow, "Did you not experience that?"

"Experience what?"

Frowning, Naru got up from his chair and walked towards the monitors, Lin-san following him. "Two minutes ago, the building shook, the lights flickered and there was a scream."

Kaji-san's eyes widened, and he shook his head, "Nothing like that occurred, Shibuya-san. I would know if the building shook like that. And no one heard any screaming."

"It would seem so..." Naru trailed off as he looked over the video recordings. Then he turned around, "The activity was limited to this room alone."

Mai gasped, and looked around at others, who had the same unbelievable look on their faces.

"How is that possible? The whole building shook! Like it was gonna freaking fall over!" Bou-san half screamed as he got up from the ground, and went to Ayako to help her up.

"I do not know how or why. But we will find out." Naru said, glaring at the monk. Then he turned towards the contractor, "You were asking something as you entered."

Mai shook her head at the workaholic. Leave it to him not to be perturbed by such an experience, and go back right to work. Well, not everyone can do that. It seems Ayako had similar thoughts.

"That's it? That's all you are going to say? We just had a scary experience, with no explanation! Give us some time to..."

Naru cut the miko off, "Sitting around doing nothing won't give us answers. The sooner we get on with the case, the sooner we can solve it. But if you want to slack off Matsuzaki-san, you can go home."

Ayako glared at the boy, but said nothing. Bou-san nervously patted her hand (which he was still holding, Mai noticed) to calm her down.

"As I was saying, Kaji-san, you were asking something."

"Ah...Uh...Yes," Kaji-san said as he slowly turned towards the boss, "I was going to ask if you wanted to start the interviews?"

"Yes." Naru said as he took out a paper from his black book and handed it to the man, "This is the order in which I will interview them. If you could send them over in turns."

"Of course!" Kaji-san said as he took the paper, then turned to the others with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, you had to go through that. I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been."

"It's alright, my dear Kaji-san. It was you who saved us by coming here in time. Or else, who knows what would have happened." Yasuhara smiled at the contractor, and made a move to take his hand, but Kaji-san took a step back.

"Well...If that's all...Uh..." Kaji-san looked helplessly around, his eyes finally landing on Mai, who just smiled sympathetically. Yasu had a new target, apparently, and Mai felt sorry for the older man.

"You can send the first person over after 15 minutes." Naru said, shaking his head at Yasu, who just smiled more.

"Oh, thank Go...I mean, thank you." With that, Kaji-san was out the door.

Everyone watched him go in amusement, and as soon as the door shut close, Bou-san burst into laughter.

"Man! The look on his face! You sure know how to ruffle them, Yasuhara!"

"Why, Bou-san, I was flirting you know! It was all to make you jealous." The bespectacled boy smirked, and slowly sauntered over to the monk, who immediately stopped laughing and backed away.

"That's not funny, Yasuhara! Back off!"

"Don't be shy, Hosho."

"That's enough. It's time to get to work."

Yasu reluctantly stopped at the boss's orders, and sighed. Then he sat on the ground again, and winked at the monk. Bou-san blushed (Mai had to stifle a giggle at that), and sat on the ground next to Ayako's chair. He was tensed, ready to jump away if Yasu tried anything. Mai couldn't blame him.

"Are you alright, Hara-san?" John-san asked the medium next to him, taking her hand in his (Mai almost squealed at this), his eyes concerned.

Masako turned a brilliant red and nodded her head. John-san smiled, and turned to look at Naru as he cleared his throat to get their attention, but did not let go of her hand.

Masako wasn't complaining.

"We will go as planned. I, Lin and Mai will stay here and conduct the interviews. Yasuhara and Bou-san will talk with the company. John, Hara-san and Matsuzaki-san will go into town, and talk to the local people, try to find out anything about this place. After what just happened, I do not think another walkthrough is necessary. Nor will it help." Naru said as he sat back in his chair. "Hara-san, did you feel anything when..."

Masako nodded her head before Naru could complete his question. "She was here. And she was angry."

"She?" Mai asked.

"Yes." Masako answered, and trembled slightly. John-san noticed, and he squeezed her hand.

"But Masako, when John was...acting weird yesterday, you said the spirit wasn't there." Bou-san asked, and flinched when the medium glared at him.

"I had said John-san was not possessed. The spirit had been there, but was not possessing him."

Bou-san mumbled an apology, and sheepishly smiled at Masako, who just huffed.

Naru nodded, and snapped his book shut.

"Let's get to work."


Mai sighed for the millionth time that day.

This was so boring!

After Naru had finished giving instructions, Yasu and Bou-san had left to do the work given to them (Bou-san had protested a little in wake of Yasu's teasing, but one look from Naru, and the monk had conceded. Bou-san was more terrified of the boss than he was of Yasu). Ayako, Masako and John-san had left for the town 10 minutes later (the time it took for Ayako to 'powder' her face), but not before Mai had extracted a promise from them to bring food. Soon after, the first worker had arrived, and Naru had started the interviews.

That had been three bloody hours ago.

Mai wished she could have gone with 'to the town' team. No doubt they were having fun. Well, she conceded after a thought, atleast Ayako and Masako were enjoying themselves whichever way they wanted, at the expense of Jon-san who wouldn't know how to oppose the two women wasting time, and would reluctantly go with whatever and wherever they wanted.

Poor John-san.

But atleast he didn't have to make tea every two minutes.

Well, okay, two minutes was exaggerating, but still.

Naru had asked (or rather ordered) her to make tea when the first worker arrived for the interview. She had done so, but when she went to pour a cup for the man, Naru had given her a look. She had frowned, not understanding, and had walked away. She did not have to participate; Naru and Lin-san were conducting everything.

So she had sat on the couch, a cup of the tea she had made earlier in her hand, looking over the list of employees Naru had given her. She had to tick their names off as they finished the interview, as well as take their contact information.

She was about to take a sip, when the cup was taken from her hands. Her eyes snapped up to look at her boss, who was standing over her with the cup in his hands, smirking. She glanced behind him to see Lin-san questioning the employee, and frowned up at the narcissist.

"Naru? What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Mai? Since you did not care to make any tea for me, I am taking yours." Her boss replied, and took a small sip from the cup.

Mai glared at the action, angry at having her tea taken away, "You did not ask for any."

"Of course I did. Did I not tell you to get some tea?"

"And I did. Did I not give the worker tea?"

"I had not asked you to get him tea. I was telling you to get tea for me."

Mai frowned, unable to say anything for a while, but as Naru took another sip of her tea, she glared again, "You should have specified."

"You should have understood. Have I ever before asked you to make tea for anyone else?"

He did have a point, she conceded, but that did not excuse him from taking her tea.

"Well you could have just told me to get a cup for you!"

"I don't like repeating myself."

"Naru..."

"And now that you have started the tradition, you will get tea for all the employees when they come here for the interview, in addition to giving me and Lin a cup every time. That should keep you busy enough."

"What! No way am I..."

"Defying the boss, are we?" Naru smirked at her again, and took another sip from the cup.

Mai had seen red. The nerve of this guy! In all honesty, perhaps it had been an oversight on her part not to get the narcissist his precious tea, but he could just politely ask her to get him a cup, and not be a jerk about it. And now, he had told her she had to repeat the process every time a new interview started.

She was itching to punch him; but gritted her teeth against the overwhelming feeling.

He would most probably cut her pay and send her packing if she acted out. Not to mention, if she did anything in front of an outsider, she wouldn't get off with just a glare. The SPR members understood and sympathised with her situation, but a third party may not understand why she needed to hit her boss.

So she had stiffly nodded, "As you wish, sir."

The sarcasm wasn't lost on Naru, but he had just smirked, and walked back to the interview.

So, for the last three hours, all she had been doing was making tea.

She snuck a glance at Naru, as he was in the process of asking the 15th employee some questions. He looked serious, a troubled look over his face, his shoulders tense. It seems the long interviews were getting to him as well. She looked down at the list and sighed. They had 20 more workers to go.

And it was way past lunch time.

As if in agreement, her stomach grumbled and she blushed, hoping the men didn't hear it. She quickly got up to make tea again, this time to keep her hunger in check. Plus, it looked like Naru would be needing it soon.

Mai sighed yet again, this time at herself. She was so attuned to her boss's needs and moods, she always knew what to do and when. It only showed how long she had been watching him, wishing, hoping. For a long time she had kept it to herself, deciding along the way not to confess. She had been content in watching from afar, and had revelled in those few moments when the wall between them had seemed to fall away. A smile from him could make her giddy, and flush like a school girl with a crush.

Well, she had been a school girl when he had first genuinely smiled at her, but even then she had known it was not a simple crush.

She had fallen hard and fast.

Then she had confessed. And had been rejected (the reason why she hadn't mentioned Gene coming back yet; she didn't know what that would lead to).

Why did she keep hurting herself, thinking about it over and over again, she did not know.

Mai cursed her weakness. She knew even now he had the same effect on her. Given, she could hold her own now when it came to him and his teasing, but a smile or a simple touch, and she would be reduced to a blubbering, blushing goo in seconds.

Like what had happened this morning.

Mai flushed at the memory of his face so close to hers that if she had wanted to, she could have easily reached out and kissed him (she would have done so thinking it was one of her dreams, had he not spoken first, something she was very glad for!). Them lying next to each other, relaxed, uncaring was a feeling she wasn't going to forget anytime soon. But what had shocked her the most was the fleeting thought she had before she had screamed.

That how nice it would be to wake up next to him everyday.

So she had shot up, and pressed away from him as far as the couch would allow. She had panicked, and flushed even more at the amused look on his face.

And when she had asked him (or atleast tried to) about the...situation, he had told her she was the one who had pulled him down.

Mai had been mortified.

But now that she really had the time to think about it, she realized that Naru could have easily pushed her away if she had forced him down. It was not like she was that strong. But he didn't, instead he had slept by her side all night. She was a little relieved that she had not initiated anything, and a little giddy that Naru had slept next to her.

Did he like her now?

Should she allow herself to hope?

Immediately Mai quashed the idea, and shook her head. She would not, could not allow herself to feel the pain again. She may understand and anticipate certain things when it came to him, but she wasn't so naive as to think that this meant anything. Surely, when it came to him, it was all about logic. It was logical to stay in base, since she had gone to sleep there, and she couldn't be left alone with an unknown entity on the loose. It was logical to share the couch, since he did not want to risk a back pain by sleeping in a chair through the night.

Logical, with no feelings attached.

She slowly nodded to herself as she put the water in the kettle. Naru wasn't the type to do anything without a reason. And if she believed otherwise, she would be the only one to get hurt in the end. So, she would not dwell on the morning events any longer. It was just his logical mind, and his merciless teasing.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Mai whirled around to look at the young man behind her, almost dropping the kettle in the process. He was a little older than her, with sandy brown hair and emerald eyes. He was as tall as Naru, and like Naru he was good looking too. But unlike the narcissist, he had an easy smile on his face. Mai felt herself smiling back.

"How may I help you?"

"Ah, your boss told me to leave my contact information with you...?" He said slowly, glancing at Naru before turning back to her.

Mai nodded, placed the kettle down, and went towards the coffee table, where she had placed the list, "Of course. May I have your name?"

"Mamoru Ozaku."

"Ozaku-san, if you ..."

"Please, just call me Mamoru." He cut her off, and smiled.

Mai blushed, and snuck a glance at the boss and Lin-san to make sure no one witnessed her bashfulness towards the young man , and was relieved to see both men discussing something at the other end of the room.

"Well, Mamoru-kun, if you could give me your number."

"Of course..." He trailed off, and then gave her a wink, "It almost sounded like you were asking me out."

Mai flushed again, and looked at anywhere but him, "Ah... No...That...Um, we need it for..."

She stopped her stammering when he laughed.

"Please, I was just teasing, miss... I haven't asked your name."

"Mai Taniyama."

"Mai...such a pretty name. Well, I will not waste anymore of your time."

With that, he took the paper and pen from her, and wrote down his number in front of his name.

"There." He said as he finished and straightened, handing back the items, "Is that all?"

"Yes. Thank you, Mamoru-kun."

"You're welcome, Taniyama-san."

"Just Mai, please." She said, and smiled at him.

"Alright, 'Just Mai'." He said, winking again.

She giggled at the teasing, but stopped and flushed when Mamoru took her hand and kissed it.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mai."

Before Mai could answer, someone cleared their throat, and both of them turned around to look at the boss, who was currently glaring at Mamoru, his jaw tensed and demeanour hostile.

"Ozaku-san, I would appreciate it if you could restrain yourself from harassing my employee."

Mai frowned, and glared at her boss, "Naru, Mamoru-kun was only giving me his contact information."

"Mamoru-kun?" Naru asked slowly, and glanced at their still joined hands, "I did not know you had become so well-acquainted with each other."

Mai flushed and hastily took her hand back. Mamoru looked at her, then Naru, then at her again, and smirked.

"Well, we just met, Shibuya-san. And I guess we hit it off. Anyways, my work here is done. So, I will take my leave now."

He winked at Mai for the last time, before walking out of the base.

Tense silence followed, with Naru staring at Mai, and the girl avoiding his gaze. It was only broken when the base door opened again, and the next worker entered.

Mai sighed in relief as Naru turned away, but gulped when he stopped for a moment.

"We will talk about this." And he walked away.

For some reason, Mai felt like running.


It was almost evening when the other teams returned.

Yasu and Bou-san came back a little while after the last employee had been interviewed. After the incident with Mamoru-kun, Naru had increased the pace of the interviews, finishing in about half the time. And all throughout, he had been tense, not relaxing even after Mai gave him tea. He would not meet her eye, and in a roundabout way it made Mai feel a little bit guilty about what had happened. Even though it was not her fault (maybe), it was just how he refused to look at her that made her feel like pulling her hair out and screaming in frustration.

And here she had thought things like this wouldn't affect her anymore.

When he had said that they would talk about the incident, Mai had been a little wary. But now, she wanted him to bring it up so that she could confront him about his (in her opinion) childish behaviour, and demand an explanation for the same. She would atleast like to know where she had made the mistake, before she drowned in the feelings of guilt and self-pity.

But the timing sucked big time.

She had thought he would corner her after the interviews, but there hadn't been such an opportunity. Yasu and Bou-san had brought back information, and they looked sombre. And she had been effectively distracted.

"You are not going to like this, Naru-bou."

"What have you found, Bou-san?"

Before the monk could go into any explanations, the base door opened again, and 'to the town' team entered, looking as much refreshed as Mai felt frustrated.

"Ah! You all are here!" Ayako said, and slumped into the couch next to Mai, "Man, walking around in this heat is sooo tiring."

"Maybe if you didn't wear heels." Mai said in a snipped tone, peeved that they had taken their own sweet time in getting here, depriving her of her lunch, and to an extent sanity. After all, staying alone with Naru and Lin-san for such a long time, without anyone or anything to make the situation even slightly bearable, took a heavy toll on her.

Ayako raised an eyebrow at her snarky remark and smirked, but didn't say anything. Masako sat beside Ayako and looked at Mai, her eyes apologetic.

"Sorry Mai, we lost track of time. But we brought back snacks and chocolates." The medium then gestured to the plastic bags that John-san was holding.

Mai clapped her hands at the mention of chocolates, and the priest smiled, handing her one of the bags, before sitting down on the ground in front of the medium.

But before Mai could dig into the horde, Naru cleared his throat, and glared at her when she looked up, "It's almost dinner time, Mai. You will ruin your appetite."

"But Naru, we didn't even have any lunch!"

"You have had enough tea."

"Not by choice..."

Before she could finish, Naru turned away from her and addressed Yasu and Bou-san, "What have you both found?"

Mai gritted her teeth, but dropped the bag on the coffee table and sat back, her arms crossed, and Yasu began to relate the information.

"I called the Yazami Company. They said they had brought the property through a realtor. I took his number and called him too, and he said the property was sold anonymously."

"Anonymously?" Ayako asked, sitting up a little, "Is that even possible?"

"Apparently, in this case it is." Bou-san answered, "The company the realtor works for had agreed on the request by the seller to remain anonymous. Of course, they do have the information on this person, but without plausible cause we cannot demand it. We would have to involve the police if we do decide to push them, and I don't think anyone of us would agree to that. Nor would Kaji-san. And the police would just laugh us off."

The others nodded in agreement, before Yasuhara continued, "I asked the realtor if he knew about the history of this place, and he said he didn't know anything. He had only handled the transaction. I asked him if his company would tell us, and he said they wouldn't. They like to keep away from 'shady businesses'."

Mai rolled her eyes at the corporate slander. Really, selling a property anonymously sounded more 'shady' than ghost hunting!

Naru nodded, looking irritated. And Mai could understand. At every point, the case had proved a dead end. And they were not making any progress. Plus the fact that there was a ghost out there, ready to hunt and hurt, made any information all the more urgent and necessary.

"And have you found anything in the town? Or did you just waste time roaming around and shopping?" Naru asked addressing the Ayako, Masako and John-san.

Mai giggled at the look of outrage on Ayako's face, before covering it up with a cough when the miko turned to glare at her.

"Of course we asked around! We didn't just do nothing, you know!" Ayako shouted, then huffed and looked away. "But, even we didn't have much luck."

"How so?"

Masako answered him, "We asked the shopkeepers and inn-keepers if they knew anything about this place, but none seemed to know anything from before the mall was built. We even went to some houses where there were elderly people residing hoping they would remember something from so long back, but even that didn't yield anything. Instead, they only asked silly questions about what we do. However, one of them did say he vaguely remembered a house being here, but could not recall anything about the owner."

Naru nodded again and sighed, massaging his temples. They were getting nowhere.

Mai was about to suggest tea, when Naru looked at John-san, "Since we have nothing to go on, I suggest we proceed with the hypnotism. If you feel up to it."

John-san nodded, his eyes determined. He slightly squeezed the concerned hand Masako had placed on his shoulder, and smiled a little at her.

Mai hoped everything would go right.


"Focus on the light...Breathe with it...Slowly relax..."

Mai turned away from the hypnotising light to look at the occupants of the room. Naru was focussed on the task at hand, and John-san looked as if he was in a haze. Masako had a sleeved hand covering her concerned face, and Ayako was next to her, staring at the light. Lin-san stood near the door in case anyone entered (human or otherwise), and Bou-san and Yasu were leaning against the wall near the light switch. Both looked tense.

"Count your breaths in your mind...You are starting to feel drowsy..."

Mai rubbed her eyes to keep awake. Naru's sombre voice was affecting her as well. She focussed instead on John-san, whose eyes had closed, and shoulders slumped.

"Slowly go back in time...go back to what happened yesterday morning...Don't fight it...Let it come."

Everyone straightened a little, in anticipation of what would happen next. Naru had never done anything like this before, trying to bring back lost memories. Although they knew the genius had confidence in his abilities, the unknown factor associated with the experiment had everyone on their toes.

Mai jumped when John-san suddenly stood up, his hazy eyes wide open. Bou-san shifted closer to him, ready to intervene if anything went wrong.

Tense moments passed, and everyone waited with baited breath for a reaction from the priest. Slowly, John-san relaxed, and his eyes cleared. He sighed, then looked at Naru and nodded. Everyone let out a breath of relief, and Yasu switched on the light.

"John, do you remember?" Naru asked, slowly moving to his chair and sitting down, while Lin-san sat at a nearby table, ready to type.

The priest nodded slowly, a sad smile on his face, "Yes. And I remember what I did."

"John-san! Please don't dwell on it! It was not your fault." Masako grasped his arm, making him look up at her.

"Yeah man! We all know it wasn't you." Bou-san said, patting the priest on the head.

John-san nodded slowly before answering, "I know."

"Explain then, John." Naru said.

John-san sighed before taking a seat on the nearby chair.

"I remember walking into the building. I was looking around for anyone who could guide me here. That's when...I saw her." He hesitated a little, the memory still causing him pain, but straightened after a moment, "I thought she was a worker. I called out to her, but she did not answer. Everything was alright...until she raised her head and I looked into her eyes. They were the colour of the brightest red."

Masako gasped, and Bou-san frowned, "That was the colour of your eyes when we found you."

"I don't know how, but after that, it was like I was no longer in control of my own body. I followed her as she commanded. I knew what was happening, knew that something was wrong, but I could do nothing. Even when...even when she told me to...to kill Hara-san..." John-san trailed off, and he covered his eyes.

Masako slowly rubbed his shoulder, trying to comfort him, "It's alright John-san. It's all in the past. You did not harm me."

Mai looked at the couple, and smiled sadly. It was so unfair to them. It was clear that both had feelings for each other, but after what had happened and the guilt John-san was feeling, it had become even more difficult now for them to move forward.

"And when Bou-san chanted, you got back control over your body." Naru said, and sighed when the priest nodded in confirmation.

"Noll, this could get dangerous." Lin-san said, frowning, as he slowly closed his laptop, "We have to be cautious."

Naru nodded, "We will, at all times, remain in teams. Nobody goes anywhere alone."

Everyone nodded.

Yasu suddenly jumped up, "John-san, tell us how she looks. That way, if she comes along, we would know to avoid her."

Mai cocked her head, impressed at the bespectacled boy's logic, but frowned when John-san suddenly stood up and pointed a trembling finger towards the base door.

"She...she looks like that!"

Everyone whirled around to look in the direction, and froze when they saw a woman in the doorway. Long black hair, midnight blue dress. Her head was down, hair covering her eyes.

Mai gasped when she realized it was the girl from her dreams, but felt a shiver down her spine when the woman chuckled darkly.

And before anyone could react, the spirit slowly raised her head.

All Mai could do was stare into her beautiful red eyes.


Again, a cliffie!

I am having soooooo much fun! But don't hate me! It's just to build anticipation, you know.

Reviews are welcome! And hope you enjoyed it.

Until next time.

Ciao!