Nightmare School:
Chapter 7:
Naru met up with the other employees of SPR after getting a taxi from the hospital to the office. Everyone was sitting in the sofas eagerly waiting for him and he suspected that Ayako had let slip about what he had told her at the hospital.
He had borrowed Mai's flat key that had been in the pocket of her school uniform and handed it to Lin so he could enter her flat. He hadn't told her what he wanted the key for so he knew he was going to be questioned by everyone else.
He elected to prevent any questions by asking some of his own.
"Yasuhara-san, what did you find out today?"
From the way Yasuhara grinned at him he knew that the college student had found something.
"I viewed Ariade-sensei's employment records when I was at the school. It's only his second teaching job."
That made sense to Naru. He had noticed how young Ariade was.
"His education records indicate that he wanted to be a teacher all along. It wasn't a second choice or a last ditch attempt at getting employment."
That was an interesting piece of information although it didn't indicate too much in itself. Lots of people knew what they wanted to do when they were younger and stuck to it.
"I got his birthdate from the file and did some other research. As usual, don't question my methods."
Due to the increase of complex cases at SPR he had started to need more personal information about clients and related people that wasn't typically available or took too long to obtain through normal methods. Yasuhara had proved to be quite useful in that aspect as he seemed to know the places to find such information.
"I won't. Did you get something relevant from your other research?"
Yasuhara wriggled his eyebrows.
"It was pretty standard stuff to be honest- I can give it all to you later just in case. I was talking to one of his old school friends and I found out that he used to be a psychic medium."
That opened up a new possibility. They already suspected that he was being possessed by another spirit. Now that they knew he was capable of being a medium it as almost certain.
"He did a few favours for people by letting them talk to their deceased loved ones and was starting to make money from it. Then he had trouble with one that wouldn't leave him and he had to undergo an exorcism so he gave up that job."
Being possessed by a spirit that wouldn't leave was a risk of the job. His mother had protested about Gene doing it at first. If Ariade had been quite young and didn't know much it would have certainly traumatised him.
"How old was he at the time?" He asked.
"14. According to his friend he was very scarred from the experience and wished he had known more about possession before he had started it."
Masako gave her contribution to the conversation.
"The mental will of the spirits is a factor. Most will leave you after saying what they wanted to say. Others are malicious and will want to use your body for malicious things. Whoever is possessing Ariade belongs in the second category. It would also be a long term possession."
A long term possession could mean that the spirit had made Ariade apply for a job at Mai's school. That could mean that his aim was to victimise students by turning everyone else against them.
The most likely person he could think of who would want to do that would be someone who had experienced it themselves.
"It's likely that someone who died young and was bullied at school found him and decided to possess him to get revenge," Bou-san said.
John nodded. "It certainly sounds like someone quite young. An older person would be more likely to put their school days behind them. For a young person their school days is their life."
"It could also be someone that committed suicide as a result of bullying. That would explain the murderous intent he has towards Mai," Masako suggested.
Naru felt that Masako was right. The clues pointed towards the spirit possessing Ariade being a high school student that had been victimised and had ultimately taken their own life. It was sad, but they shouldn't be taking it out on the living that had nothing to do with it.
"Should I try to find out who the spirit possessing Ariade is then?" Yasuhara asked.
"It would be very useful," Naru agreed. "We have some potential search criteria. The spirit must be someone that committed suicide whilst in high school, was bullied and was probably quite clever."
He felt everyone give him curious looks so he explained.
"I have had a few lessons with him and he is very knowledgeable about Japanese literature. A high school student that knows that much has to be intelligent."
"That might help narrow it down," Yasuhara acknowledged. "I can't promise I will be able to find the exact person."
Naru checked his watch. Lin should have arrived at Mai's flat by now and with time to spare. He checked his phone in case he had missed something and found he had no new notifications.
"At this point, anything will be appreciated," he said. "Are there any other suggestions?"
Bou-san cleared his throat.
"Hara-san and I spent today observing Ariade."
Strangely enough Bou-san was not the person Naru would have pictured for the job. His ponytail and dyed hair did cause him to stick out a lot. He was interested in what Ariade did outside of lessons though.
"Did you observe any suspicious activity?"
Bou-san pulled a face. "He didn't have party poppers out if that's what you were looking for. He did look annoyingly smug though."
Naru knew exactly what the monk was talking about. The teacher did have a smug expression when he wasn't talking about a Japanese literature related subject.
"He spent most of his time outside lessons in the teachers' office today. He has a desk in the corner away from everyone else so we couldn't really see that he was doing. He had a few students come to see him. They were mostly older students," John paused. "I am sure that one of the female students that he had a meeting with is in your home room class."
That did add something to the mystery. Meeting with older students working on entrance exams weren't out of the ordinary because in the entrance exam hell climate students needed to get help where they could. Having a meeting with a younger student from his homeroom class was a little more out the ordinary.
It was Masako that delivered the bombshell.
"The female student was the one that gave us detailed information about Mai's movements. I recognised her. It looked like she was getting told off. The males with me failed to recognise her with glasses and a different hairstyle."
There were times when Naru did actually appreciate Masako's presence on cases and this was one of them.
The monk was the one to state the obvious.
"Do you think she was getting disciplined for giving it away?"
"It's almost certain," the narcissist agreed.
"I think we need to keep an eye on her then," John suggested. "She could be in danger."
"We can observe her in lessons using the cameras and someone can follow her around at break times," he ordered. "As a precaution, Hara-san needs to not leave her alone in the girls' toilets."
Sometimes that was a factor that was overlooked in stories when a character was supposed to be under protection. Naru found it strange that people would overlook such an obvious thing.
"If I must," Masako said. "By the way, where is Lin-San?"
"Mai mentioned something being under her kotatsu," Naru replied and waited for the onslaught.
"How did you talk to Jou-chan?" The monk demanded.
Masako looked at him sharply. "He didn't. Gene-san did. He heard it from him. So you took my suggestion."
"I did," Naru acknowledged. "They didn't have a chance to talk too long though. He was pushed out of her dream."
The monk looked thoughtful and Masako was frowning.
"In all honesty, dreams are not my area," Bou-San admitted. "Was there anything strange that he could see?"
"Lots of Will-o'-the-Wisps. I think there's more victims of Ariade than we know about."
Bou-san shuddered, clearly not keen on the idea of Mai never waking up and eventually becoming a spirit.
"Is she still the same?" John asked worriedly.
Naru checked the most recent update from Ayako. From her heart rate it appeared that she had stopped dreaming. He wasn't sure if that was a relief or not. At least she wasn't trapped in a dream with only Will-o'-the-Wisps for company.
"She is still the same. The person I am wondering about now is Lin."
As if on cue the omnouji burst into the office looking the most disarrayed than Naru had ever seen him. His fringe was completely askew instead of covering one eye and his hair was wet from the rain.
"Lin, did you find anything?"
The omnouji took off his bag and checked the content.
"I rushed back here as soon as I could. There was something very interesting under Taniyama-san's kotatsu."
Lin handed a stack of files to Naru. The first thing he recognised was the school logo on them. It was the logo of the school he was currently attending. He opened up the one on top and realised it was a student record.
"Why were these at Mai's flat?"
Everyone gathered around him to have a look.
"Noll, can you confirm if you have seen any of the students before? They are supposed to be in your homeroom class."
Naru's eyes widened. Could it be?
He opened up all of the files and laid them out on the table with all of the school photos showing. None of the students pictured there were recognisable, yet they were supposed to be in the same class as him.
His mind flashed back to the emptiness of the class.
Were these evidence that other students had existed and disappeared?