I do not own Ghost Hunt.
Sorry for the delay, I had a Violin concert and needed to practice like no tomorrow. So here is the next chapter and hope you enjoy.
Thank you for Reviews/favorites/and all that lovely stuff :D
Three Blind Mice
I was packed and ready by five in the morning, already having drunk five cups of coffee with lots of sugar added, to see if it would do anything to me in the first place. Hopefully I don't have a crash later on during the day. I looked at my small bag, knowing that it was full of everything I needed, which wasn't much, then my gaze went to my Cello.
I had played it for over five hours, letting all my mother's lessons come back to the forefront of my mind. Did I want to bring it on this case? My eyebrows furrowed and then I sighed. Naru would just complain it was in the way. Looking at the clock, I found it to be five twenty and glared even harder at the ticking hands. Why was it that the time seemed to go by so quickly?
I averted my gaze and grabbed my red checkered scarf today, tying it around my neck and letting the ends hang down in front of my chest. I pulled my winter things on and then thought about the earmuffs that Masako had bought me.
They were black and fuzzy, and with a sigh, I ran to my room and dug through some things on my desk before I found them. I quickly pulled them on, making sure I had my cell, and then grabbed my bag, locking up the apartment.
The street lights were still on, seeing that it was still pitch black out and I cringed at the bitter cold hitting my cheeks and nose. I walked as quickly as possible and once I came into view of the SPR building, I found that the lights were on inside and only Bou-san's car and the van were in the parking lot.
Rubbing my eyes from being tired and getting no sleep, I walked into the building, cursing at the stairs that I needed to climb just to get to everyone else. Why we didn't have the office on the lower level confused me. Shoving the door open, I was greeted with a sleepy looking Bou-san, and two stoic men.
Bou-san sent a wave toward me, not at all surprised that I was here this early while I got odd looks from the two emotionless males.
"Mai, tea."
Just like usual. With a huff, I shut the door and pulled off most of my winter things, expect my scarf before heading for the kitchen. Once I was done with making the tea, I handed the three in the room their cups and sat down next to Bou-san with a huff. I slouched on the couch, letting my head lean back and let my eyes drift shut for a couple of seconds. A frown soon found its way to my face and I grumbled something under my breath.
Ney, Jou-chan, you doing alright?" Monk asked me and I lifted an eyelid at him, eyeing him out of the corner of my vision. I knew what he was talking about and it was quite obvious for he was looking worriedly at me. I let my eyes open fully and I stared at the ceiling with a deeper frown.
"I'm fine Bou-san, just beyond tired." I whispered and felt my eyes drooping, but not allowing myself to fall asleep. It was almost like my body was denying me sleep now that it knew itself why I was trying to avoid sleep.
Monk frowned, from what I could tell and I was about to ask him something when the door to SPR slammed open and Yasuhara came treading in with snow covering him.
"I can't believe how much it's been snowing out lately." He stated as his glasses fogged up and left him blind as a bat. I found myself snickering at him and Bou-san laughed as he stood up and made two swipes across Yasu's glasses himself.
"Bou-san! You probably just smudged them!" Yasu cried while pulling his glasses away from his face and cleaning them.
It was almost six and everyone had filtered into the room, looking sleepy and just dead tired. I couldn't blame them, waking at an ungodly time when they weren't use to it. Even Masako, who was always busy, never got up before six unless she needed to fly to a movie shoot.
As everyone sat around the table in the main office area, I brought out another tray of Tea and let them take the cups with grateful responses, especially since it was cold and snowing once again. We were all talking about what kind of case this could be when Naru stepped out of his office and stopped near all of us with a scowl on his face.
"Lin and I packed the van last night so it is all set for us to leave. Gather your things and we'll be leaving now." And he turned and walked out of the SPR building, quickly followed by Lin, who had somehow joined him unnoticed.
We all grabbed our things and I pulled my pack on, adjusted my earmuffs for outside and buttoned up my jacket. Once everyone was out of the building, I made sure the lights were off and doors locked with a sign saying we were away on business. When I joined everyone in the semi heavy snow falling from the sky, I realized that we would all be carpooling once again, but this time, I knew Masako would be going with Bou-san and the rest, seeing that she had feelings for the Priest.
I looked longingly at the laughing group and rubbed at the red, puckered scars on my chest with a sad smile. It was becoming a habit, the rubbing of the scars, and for some reason I didn't even realize that I was doing it before it registered in my brain.
"Come on Mai, you're going to make us late." Naru monotonously called out to me and my head whipped around toward him, which caused me to slightly hurt my neck.
By the time it was eight A.M, I could feel myself starting to get sleepy, but I refrained from letting my head lean back. I was squished between Lin, who was driving and Naru, who was reading a book in the car. I would have already been car sick if I had been reading as long as him. I could read a bit, but only for about maybe an hour.
As for the car ride, we had about three more hours of driving and I just couldn't continue sitting here. My legs were getting cramped and I could feel my body getting stiff from not having a lot of room to move between the two.
With a frown, I glanced at Naru, who was currently still engaged with his book and I already knew Lin was focused on the road. Looking away, I let my leg next to Naru, slip onto his side of the car and I stretched it out, ignoring his glance that he sent my way.
At least I was wearing black skinny jeans instead of a skirt. I definitely wasn't going to wear one of those during the winter. I was lost in my train of thought when I felt my foot being nudged. Glancing down, I found Naru's foot next to mine and I looked at him, seeing his eyes going back and forth over the page he was reading. Looking forward once more, I twitched as I felt my foot being nudged again. Seems he wants it out of his space.
With a small smirk, and thinking that this was the perfect opportunity to annoy him, I nudged him back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his usual emotionless face grimace and then go back to normal. I was left alone after a couple of nudges back, which were seemingly getting a lot harder than just a simple nudge.
The rest of the car ride was boring to say the least. For some reason, I wished that Masako still harbored a crush on Naru, so I could have road in the car with the others. Once we were off the highway, I watched out the window as we passed by large estates that put my apartment to shame.
To think that such places existed and I lived in something so much tinier. It was like a punch to the gut when I actually thought about it.
Another half an hour passed by the time we got off the highway and we slowed down, pulling into a long driveway. As we followed it, we came to an opening and found many cars in the parking lot and beyond that, a beautiful hotel that was styled like a large Japanese family estate.
"This is the hotel?" I breathed and Naru gave me an odd look.
"Idiot." He murmured while snapping his book shut and putting it away. I felt my face burn with embarrassment and looked down, feeling really stupid right there.
Once we were parked, Lin was the first to get out, and with much experience, I unlocked my seatbelt and bolted out Lin's door, surprising him.
"Mai-Chan! You're alive! I thought we would never see that beautiful face again!" Yasuhara shouted as the gangs car came pulling into the parking lot. I smiled as I heard Ayako shouting about the cold weather and the fact that windows are supposed to be closed during that time. Yasuhara grinned at her and kept putting the window down until Bou-san finally pulled into the parking space next to us.
"Lin, Mai, with me. We are going to go and speak with the owners while Takigawa-san, Yasuhara, and John help carry the equipment in and Ayako, with Hara-san can look around the place to see if they find anything."
I looked over toward Naru and sighed. Same workaholic as usual.
When we arrived at the entrance of the hotel/estate, I couldn't help but gasp at the sheer beauty of this place. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wouldn't want to know how much just one room would cost for the night. It was probably so far out of my money range that I'd be jealous of everyone that actually had money for these things.
As soon as we stepped foot onto the stairs leading to the estates doors, two people came out with an air of royalty. I wanted to sneer and stick my tongue out childishly at them, but I just couldn't.
"You must be Shibuya Psychic Research. I'm so sorry to have you coming so far out, but we really must have this taken care of. Its scaring away our customers and we can't have that with this business that we run." Spoke an older woman, face painted like a geisha and hair all fancy too.
She wore a geisha kimono and one could tell that she had been beautiful in her previous younger years of life. Her husband stood next to her, wearing older clothing that went along with his wife's outfit. He was balding and didn't look too happy to see us, but he seemed to accept and come to terms that this was the only way they could get business going again.
"This is my Husband, Kyoto Ryuga and I am Kyoto Shizune." She stated, bowing and her husband gave a jerky bow too, not saying anything.
"I am Shibuya Kazuya and these are my assistance, Koujo Lin, and Taniyama Mai."
The woman suddenly chuckled and then looked at Naru with a smile on her lips.
"So young to be running this, but who am I to judge? We have owned and have had the hotel open since we were about the same age."
I could tell that Shizune-san was smiling at my suddenly surprised face, but Naru was the first to interrupt.
"I would like for you to show us our work space along with our rooms and we shall begin as soon as everything is ready."
"Ah, the rooms. Yes, I do recall the work space, but rooms, I must have forgotten them in my old age. Well, I'll have them ready for you in a couple of seconds, once I know how many of you are staying."
Naru seemed to be getting slightly frustrated and he answered with a clipped tone as I looked between the two. That woman was up to something.
"There are Three women and Five men. Two to each room if possible."
I then felt a chill go down my spine as the woman's and I's eyes locked on one another before she gave me a creepy smile and looked back at Naru.
"I'll be handing each of you your own key, just to make it fun on who gets who for a roommate. Also, I must see the crew before giving them out."
I felt my jaw drop at how bluntly she was speaking and then it clicked in my brain that she wasn't just going to give us the keys, but partnering us up with someone on our team without our say. I was about to say something when I felt an elbow meet the side of my ribs.
I inhaled painfully and glared at Naru as we followed Shizune into the enormous estate. The hallways were long with shoji doors leading to each room and when you actually got to look at this place, the halls were actually outside, like a large porch. The main building, which was where everyone ate, was on the inside of the halls and rooms, surrounded by them like a border.
I could feel wonderment fill my being as I followed close to everyone, and when we came to a stop outside some shoji doors, I realized that this was probably our base.
Once we had everything ready, our clients sat down at a table with Naru and Lin, who had his computer open for notes.
"Shall we tell you what has been going on then?" Shizune suggested while looking at Naru and then I, who had taken a stand slightly off to Naru's left side so I could know what was going on without being too far to hear her.
"Whenever you are ready, Kyoto-san." Naru said while folding his hands and leaning them against his lips.
"Well, not too long ago, one of our guests had been brutally killed. That's what caused us to close this place for a while. Before, it was innocent things that would happen, like missing suitcases that would show up, missing purses, jewelry and other trinkets. Some unknown force pushing us in the halls, doors opening, whispers being heard. Though, one day it all changed for the worse. One of our guests decided to head to her room early and when she went to open the door, she told us that it opened by itself and being perplexed, she went to grab the door, but it slammed closed on her fingers. She's even lucky to have her fingers. It had slammed on them so hard that it cut deeply into her skin, right to the bone."
Ryuga suddenly spoke up, having a slight rasp to his voice in his old age and a frown marred his unhappy face.
"Another incident that happened was a couple had come to stay for the weekend and when they were walking the halls, two men, in their mid twenties were fighting, only to vanish into thin air. Along with everything, people have been hurt in random ways, tripping, hitting limbs, cutting themselves on something that obviously wouldn't cause a cut in the first place, objects falling from the walls, you name it."
His wife butted in after that, her makeup making her face look ghostlike.
"And it didn't stop there. Other people claimed to have seen these men, along with another one that kept a distance from the fighting ones. Every person has had an odd experience while here. Either it be just simple, or dangerous. As for the death, I'm sorry to say that a woman was brutally beaten, raped, and hung up like a gutted pig in the freezer section that we keep stored meat in. It was… terrifying to say the least, for the freezer is always locked unless we are in there ourselves to get the meat. Other than that, it is kept off limits to guests." Shizune said with a shudder as she told us about the death.
I felt my body go cold with horror as I heard this. Maybe we were in over our heads with this case.
