Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt isn't mine.


Chapter 9: Truth or Dare


Mai sighed and propped her head up with her fist. Naru had ordered her to interview all the Onsen guests in a quest for answers. So far, none of them had anything interesting to say beyond one woman's unexpected comment.

"Well," the young woman had whispered conspiratorially, "Is your boss available? He's hot!"

To which Mai smiled, replying, "You don't want anything to do with Naru. He's good looking, and he knows it. Total narcissist – can't get enough of himself!" The woman frowned and excused herself shortly after that little bomb shell.

Following her were numerous frightened people whose observations began to somehow blend together.

"Ghostly howling."

"Blood stains."

"Voices."

"It's so cold here!"

Wait – cold?

With the word 'cold,' memories of chilly encounters with other-worldly creatures flooded her mind. As a member of the SPR team, she had soon learned that the presence of spirits and ghosts often sent temperatures plummeting.

"Lin-san? What's the temperature like around here?" Mai asked her quiet co-worker, who busily typed away.

After receiving no reply other than the incessant clacking of keys she took another tack. "Never mind. I'll check." Mai heaved herself out of her chair and staggered over to the monitors. Both of her legs had fallen asleep. "Wow!" Mai exclaimed, "Its 55 degrees in here!"

"Mai-san. It's been 55 degrees since we got here. Haven't you noticed?" Lin asked bemusedly, quirking a minuscule smile.

"N-no!" Mai chattered. It was feeling really cold to her all of the sudden..."Wait." she peered closer to the monitor, "It looks like it's colder in the attic... that's where we found the bodies, isn't it?"

Lin came and stood next to her. "Yes. But my Shiki would have warned me if they sensed something dangerous."

"Lin-san, its only 30 degrees up there! Could that be where the evil spirit is?" Mai craned her neck up so she could see Lin's face. He seemed thoughtful.

"Again, my Shiki would have warned me. Perhaps these particular spirits are not malevolent?"

"Spirits?" Mai asked. Why would he switch to plural? "Spirits....brainstorm!" Mai shouted. "The three girls must be the ones making it cold up there!"

"Hmm..." Lin deliberated. "But why would they not have passed on to the spirit world?"

"Unfinished business," Mai said, in a semi-spooky echo of the woman in her dream. "They want revenge, don't they?"

"Revenge..." Lin repeated. "On their murderer. Might they have another motive?"

Mai once again had a breakthrough. "To protect the people here! One of the people I was talking to earlier said that she heard voices saying 'she's coming'. They must be trying to keep people away from the woman who killed them. And then the woman is trying to cover for herself by also scaring people away. So all of these scary little details are just an attempt to cover up the real problem?"

"Well... that would make sense. Why don't you call Naru back and see what he has to say about this?"

Of course, Naru had quite a bit to say on the matter. "Do you honestly want me to believe the three girls' spirits are also hanging around here? Really?" Naru said, exasperated. "We already talked about this. You mean to tell me you weren't listening to the conversation at all?"

"Huh," Mai said, and after a long pause, "Really?"

"Yes, Mai. Really. Maybe now that you've got it through your thick skull, we can move on."

"Wait. Naru. Listen to the rest of what Mai has to say," Lin advised the younger man before turning back to his computer.

"So we know that this warning stuff is just a cover up, right?" Mai began. Naru nodded in agreement. "Then we have to just ignore all of that. Aside from the warnings, all we have is the three bodies, the low temperature, the evil spirit and a woman who 'did it all for greed.'"

"So what you're saying, Mai, is that in order to solve this case we need to just focus on just those few key points," Naru interjected.

"Uh..." Mai hadn't actually thought that far ahead. She had no idea what Lin wanted her to say, so she was just kind of making stuff up. "Sure..."

"Okay, Mai," Naru interrupted. Lin and I are going to continue our research on the first family, since that's where these problems seem to have begun. You go see what Takigawa-san, Ayako-san, John-san and Hara-san have to say about this." With that Naru swiped ink-black hair from his blue eyes and turned his back to Mai, exuding a fierce I'm-done-with-you-so-leave-me-alone vibe.

"Sure!" Mai chirped, happy to get away from Naru, who was now obviously in a rather bad mood. She figured it was because she had discovered something before he had. "Who's the dullard now, Naru!" she taunted, before heading out the door.


And thus, grouped together, SPR's workers were getting absolutely nothing done.

"John," Mai mused, "I dare you....to take off your shirt and run to and from the van, screaming 'Creeper!' ten times!"

"Whoa!!" Takigawa challenged, "No way a priest'll do that crap!"

John swallowed before saying. "I give."

Mai smirked. "Okay, guys. Takigawa, Masako, Ayako and I are still in. Uh... Masako, your turn."

Masako hid a smile behind her kimono before saying, "Mai, I dare you to run to Shibuya-san screaming 'I'M ON FIRE!!!' at the top of your lungs, along with, 'SAVE ME!!!'" All this she said in a demure voice.

What was with all the screaming dares, anyway? mused Mai. Masako = pure evil, she concluded.

"No way!" Mai argued aloud. She wasn't about to make Naru think she was a crazy person.

"Then you are outta here!" Takigawa teased, in a fake TV announcer voice.

"Are you sure Mai? You'd be really helping me out," Ayako said sweetly, "Taking out my competition, and all!"

Mai growled, always up for a challenge. "I'll do it!"

Masako smiled as Mai stomped from the room. SPR's exorcists and psychic followed the running 15-year-old to Base.

"Naru!" Mai skidded to a stop outside the sliding doors before throwing them open. "I'm on fire!"

Naru looked up from his files expressionlessly. It would take more than that to faze him.

Mai continued, "I'm burning up!" before throwing herself to his feet, and fake sobbing hysterically. Naru's mouth quirked up in what looked to be the start of a smile.

"Shouldn't you be working, Mai?"

"Save me!" The raven-haired ghost hunter watched in veiled amusement as Mai proceeded to roll around on the floor, screaming bloody murder. He looked up at the rest of SPR's members.

"Are you the reason my assistant isn't getting any work done?"

Takigawa shrunk back, intent on getting out of trouble, while John stepped forward, always the responsible one. "Yes, Shibuya-san. It is our fault." The Australian added an odd little bow at the end.

"Please refrain from distracting my assistant in the future," Naru deadpanned, before adding with an evil glint in his eye, "Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll have to pick up the slack around here, Takigawa-san." Ayako grinned as Takigawa scowled.

More work. Not Takigawa's forte.

"Sorry, Naru!" Mai had picked herself off the floor and was cheerfully dusting herself off. "But, it was Masako who dared me to do it in the first place, so technically, you should be blaming her!"

Masako looked at Naru over the sleeve of her kimono. SPR's boss looked at the medium thoughtfully before saying, "Mai. Stop wasting my time. As punishment, I expect you to change all the camera film tonight. I shouldn't have to waste my time on such mundane details." Lin still did not tune into the conversation, even at Mai's anguished cry.

Takigawa, Ayako and Masako laughed at Mai, whereas John attempted to cheer her up, "It can't be that bad!"

Oh but it can... Mai despaired, the Onsen in itself wasn't large, but as there were so many separate rooms to be filmed, it would take her ages to change the film. Why don't you make Masako do it? Damn you Naru, lazy, good-for-nothing bast--!

TBC


A/N: Sorry! Filler chapter...I had to cement some ideas, and then I thought I'd add some fluff for you NaruxMai fans...stick around, because the next chapter is major confrontation with evil spirits time!

Question: Would you all like a sequel case to this story? Revisions as of 5/25/09.

^Shinigami's Lullaby^