Day One 7pm
Dinner was a simple meal with the seven girls and Miyoshi-sensei. Nobody was missing during dinner and nobody took a walk into the forest before dinner. The younger girls all went gaga at the sight of Bou-san with his long brown hair in a pony tail and his rather extravagant country western-style clothes. Sakura-chan found another attentive audience and was chattering to him non-stop while sweet little Rico-chan listened wide-eyed at their conversation.
I caught a few snatches of their conversation, which sounded like ,"A monk! A monk with a pony-tail?! I bet you're bald and just wearing a wig! Hey, where're your big heavy beads! A band too? What's a band? Oh, a music band?!" I caught the eye of Yoko and both of us giggled into our hands. Bou-san was looking rather harassed but he seemed to be managing well, regaling them with tales of his exorcist adventures and band gigs.
On the other hand, the older girls were rather subdued. The two girls, Hakato-san and Yamida-san, who had just returned from town were quietly talking by themselves. They didn't seem very interested in us and just nodded politely during introductions. Houyu-san was also eating quietly by herself, and not bothering to make eye contact with anyone else. Kinisuke-senpai was trying to engage Lin-san in a conversation, surprise surprise, although it wasn't at all surprising if she were actually talking to a piece of rock. Yoko-chan nudged me a bit and both of us grinned foolishly. We could see that Kinisuke-senpai seemed to have a bit of crush on Lin-san, and Lin-san was avoiding the young girl like plague. The only person I ever saw Lin-san smiling to was Madoka-san.
Yoko-chan and I got along pretty well by now. I helped her set up during dinner and we spoke a bit. I tried to find out about this demon her sister spoke about but she seemed pretty evasive about it. However she spoke quite a bit about Maiko-senpai. Apparently when her senpai was still alive, she was very interested in occult stuffs and would sometimes show them 'tricks' like being able to guess correctly what cards were shown, and could sometimes predict things happening around them. I asked her if Maiko-senpai ever made things move by themselves but she replied in the negative. Instead Yoko-chan informed me proudly that Maiko-senpai always helped them (the younger girls) out of trouble. Somehow, she could always pin-point where their sensei was and always act as their 'eyes' when they were up to mischief.
Suddenly her voice dropped dramatically into a low whisper, "Mai (we were on first name basis by now), sometimes I see Maiko-senpai in this house." Yoko looked at me expectantly. I could feel my eyes going round at her staged whisper. "Her spirit is definitely still around here and I could sense that she is still protecting us!" she concluded triumphantly. My curiosity was aroused and I wanted to ask her more but she suddenly glanced around the room guiltily and dropped her eyes to her food. I looked around the dining room too, but everyone seemed to be engrossed in whatever they were doing. We were all seated at the table, but the edges of the room were in shadows. Did the room actually felt cooler? My 'danger' sense didn't sense anything amiss, and I shrugged and decided I would question her later when there were less people around.
Yasuhara-san had not returned from town yet. He called earlier to inform Naru that he will be returning tomorrow as he had a few leads he needed to follow up on. As for Naru, he ate his dinner silently while listening to the conversation around the table. Miyoshi-sensei excused herself early during the meal saying that she was very busy.
After dinner, Naru explained that he wanted to do an experiment with all the girls. This was his usual experiment which involved hypnosis to rule out that the poltergeist activities were caused by the girls themselves. Spiritual sensitive people will sometimes use their psychic powers unconsciously. Usually these include teenagers who were undergoing puberty and were emotionally unstable. As such, there was a high chance that all the strange happenings were caused by these highly volatile teenage girls. It involved placing a strong suggestion to the girls that a certain item will move by itself during the night while the said item itself was kept locked and inaccessible throughout the experiment.
All eyes turned to the rather tacky porcelain vase Naru held in his hand when he finished his hypnosis experiment. This proved that the hypnosis was successful. As Naru dismissed the girls to their rooms, he locked up the drawing room where he placed the vase in a drawn circle on the table. After that, he informed me that Bou-san and I were to conduct interviews with the girls regarding any supernatural sightings.
It was already 8pm, and I yawned widely as I trudged my way upstairs with Bou-san to the girls' rooms.
"Can't we do this interview tomorrow?" I grumbled wearily.
Bou-san looked at me and grinned. "I thought nothing would keep you away when it comes to listening to ghost stories? This is right up your alley, Jou-chan."
I couldn't even muster up a glare but instead poke him in his ribs. "You weren't the one waking up at 4.30am. And what time did you arrive? 4pm? I bet you slept till 2pm today before dragging yourself over here."
Bou-san looked slightly abashed as my accusations hit its mark. "There, there", he tried soothing me. "I'll do the main interviewing and take down notes. And I won't tell Naru about your laziness." He finished and ducked quickly away from my fingers to avoid another poke.
I scowled at him, and suddenly remembered, "Rico-chan mentioned something about a demon and her sister, Yoko, said that she's positive Maiko-senpai is still around. Her spirit that is."
Bou-san nodded slowly, "have you told Naru about this?"
"No, I wanted to get more details from them before I present my report."
"You're getting responsible, eh Mai?" Bou-san smiled approvingly at me. "Hmm, any dreams so far?"
"How could I when I haven't had any sleep yet." I scowled again at the floor. "The workaholic doesn't seem to realise that we aren't robots."
"There now, there now, let's finish this quickly then."
The girls' rooms were all on the second floor in the west wing. The two sisters Rico-chan and Yoko were in one room. Sakura-chan shared a room with Houyu-san. Obviously Hakato-san and Yamida-san shared a room. The two of them were as thick as thieves and left immediately after Naru's experiment. Like Houyu-san, those two didn't seemed to show any interest in our existence. Sakura-chan had to be pulled away by Yoko and her sister when the experiment ended. Her eyes were bright with curiosity and one could practically see question marks swimming above her head.
Kinisuke-senpai had a room to herself. I wondered aloud if she used to share a room with Maiko-senpai or was that just an advantage of being a senior. Bou-san just shrugged.
As I knocked on the door of Yoko and Rico-chan's room, the door further down the corridor opened and Sakura-chan popped her head out. Quietly she tiptoed over, grinning happily as Yoko opened the door to her room and invited all of us in. Sakura-chan immediately bounced over to Rico-chan's bed and the two girls giggled and tucked themselves in.
Yoko looked at our surprised expressions and explained, 'Sakura just recently joined us early this year and she likes sleeping with her best friend Rico.'
Sakura nodded energetically and grinned,"we always tell stories till we sleep, it's less lonely here. I can't seem to get along with Houyu-senpai. I mean senpai is nice, but I think she doesn't really see me, or notice things much in her surroundings, especially with that thick glasses she's wearing."
I could see that she was going to launch into a long story about Houyu-san and her living habits, and Bou-san appeared to be feeling a bit awkward being in a girl's room late at night.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat and interrupted. "We have a few questions to ask, and hope it won't take too long."
Bou-San nodded and said seriously, "have you girls anything to add that you have not told Miyoshi-sensei? We are here to investigate any strange occurrences, and whatever you tell us, no matter how absurd it may be, we will keep it confidential."
"You will keep it a secret?" Rico-chan looked wide-eyed at Bou-san. "You won't tell sensei right?"
"Sensei doesn't like us talk about the things Maiko-senpai told us when she was still alive." Yoko explained quietly. "We were all sad that senpai had the accident."
"It was not an accident, onee-chan!" Rico-chan sat up in bed and glared at her sister. Sakura-chan hugged Rico-chan back on the bed and patted her back to calm her down.
There were tears in Rico's eyes and she wiped them angrily away. "Senpai always told us to be careful and was always protecting us, but she couldn't protect herself."
Bou-san and I looked from her to Yoko, but she simply sighed wearily. I sat down on Rico's bed and patted her small head. Even Sakura's eyes looked solemn as Rico sobbed quietly in her friend's shoulder.
"I really don't know what it is all about," Sakura-chan said in a soft voice. "I only came here after this accident. I'm sorry, Rico, I wished I could help."
Yoko shook her head. "It's not your fault, Sakura. I'm just glad you weren't here then." Yoko sighed again and sat on her bed. I was quite taken aback by Yoko's seriousness. There was no trace of the cheerfulness on her face that was seen earlier. Yoko motioned Bou-san to sit on her study-desk chair.
"When Maiko-senpai was still alive, she would always warned us about the demon." I had to strain to hear Yoko's soft voice. "She said we must not look and must not listen. I don't quite understand what she meant, but it always seemed to frighten her a lot."
"Did Maiko-senpai act any differently before she had the ...err ... accident?" Bou-san asked quietly.
I suddenly realized that the girls were not aware that the official verdict was suicide. It would have caused them much more pain than an accident would have. I wondered who was the one who kept this from the girls.
Yoko shook her head slowly as she tried to recall. After all it had been two years ago since this incident happened. "I don't remember exactly how senpai was behaving just before the accident. Senpai had always kept to herself, but she was very kind to Rico. I guess my sister was still very young and tended to cry a lot." She looked tenderly at Rico as the little girl hiccuped into Sakura's arms.
"Go and sleep, Ri-chan."
The interview was over, and Bou-san and I stood up from our respective perches. Yoko tucked her sister and her friend in and squeezed their hands. Rico had fallen asleep while crying and her hands held Sakura's tightly. Sakura-chan yawned a goodnight to Yoko and closed her eyes.
We thanked Yoko for her time and headed to the door. As Bou-san stepped out after saying goodnight, Yoko pulled my arm back a bit.
"Mai." She whispered urgently. "Maiko-senpai said ... she said ... "
I looked at her encouragingly, but I could see her struggle with the words. It seemed she wanted to tell me something but could not quite do so because she could not quite believe in what she wanted to say.
Bou-san waited patiently just outside the door and I turned my warmest smile at Yoko. "You can trust me, Yoko." I waited.
"Maiko-senpai said the demon took her friend, and was coming to take her too."
