I'm surprised do many people have read my story so thanks so much.
I just took a five hour exam so I apologize if there are spelling and grammar errors
I do not own ghost hunt or any of its wonderful characters!
SPR Case File Status: Open
Chapter 10: Computer Envy
Mai chose not to say anything that morning when Lin packed the broken laptop but only now she realized he packed it unconsciously. His forlorn gaze made her regret that choice. Naru, for once, refrained from commenting on his assistant's behavior.
"Lin, leave the equipment inside the van for now. We'll get it after we see the rooms." Lin nodded. "Ah, but Mai grab one of the thermometers for temperature measurements while they show us around." Naru gave Lin a comforting pat on his shoulder before grabbing his files out of the van.
"He's never like that when I'm upset." Mai grumbled pulling one of the little machines from the box. Lin stood next to the van but he heard the brunette's complaint and a small smirk spread on his face.
"Mai stop complaining." One glance of Lin's smirk and Naru knew Mai had said something about him behind his back. He could guess what it was about too.
"How do you know I was complaining?" Mai spun around to face the overly pompous teen.
"Unlike you, I pay attention to my surroundings." Naru turned the other way to hide his own smirk.
"Taniyama, please move aside I need to get some files." Lin's smirk vanished but the amusement still shone in his eyes.
"Mr. Shibuya?" A small girl –even smaller than Mai –stood at the doors of the school. She was pretty in a nerdy way, her dull brown hair reached mid-back and her small oval glasses hid quaint features.
"Yes," Mai's opinion of the girl skyrocketed when the girl leveled an equally disinterested gaze at Naru. "Are you here to guide us to our rooms?" The girl hadn't fawned over his looks or showed shock at his age, she merely bowed to him.
"Yes, my name is Hana Kondo, please follow –!" Hana suddenly cut herself off and an intense interest lit her eyes that fixed upon… Lin. "That's –that's the newest model from China! It said to have exceptional speed and excellent graphic abilities." Hana disappeared for a moment then reappeared at Lin's side examining his side intently. "May I?" She looked back at Naru obviously asking him for some sort of permission.
"Yes…" Naru found the girl curious and that probably contributed to his answer but mostly he wanted to observe his stoic guardian's reaction. Lin managed a quick glare at the young scientist before returning his gaze to the tiny girl. She reached his elbow barely and paid no mind to his obvious discomfort at her close proximity.
Lin backed up and she stepped forward like a jungle cat stalking its prey. Before Lin could say anything Hana snatched the object in his arms and pulled away. "It's beautiful and in good shape too, perhaps a little worn but well taken care of." Hana flipped the black rectangle in her hands over.
Mai breathed a sigh of relief, she hadn't seen Lin pick up anything and now she realized he probably picked up the laptop out of habit. She worried that she might have to save the older man from the small Hana. Turns out her first hunch was right, Hana found little interest in guys and more interest in her hobbies a.k.a. computers.
"I'm sorry; it seems this masterpiece belongs to you. I should have asked you for permission." Hana's eyes never left the computer but her body turned slightly in Lin's direction.
"Ah, it's fine." Lin was still a little pale but much calmer than before. He wanted to get far away from the strange girl but something she said made him curious. "Why do you assume it's mine?"
"I just do. It's a kind of skill I have. Like dogs and their owners, computers resemble their owners as well." She glanced briefly in acknowledgement before peering into the fans of the laptop.
Naru cleared his throat loudly, "If you don't mind, I would like to see the rooms?" He enjoyed the little spectacle but now he wanted to get started on the case. Hana slowly removed herself from the laptop and made eye contact with Naru.
"Oh right, follow me." She started up the steps but stopped on the second one. "Um… Can I look at it more later?" Lin gave a small nod and tucked the laptop under his arm. "Great!"
"Here's the base room and the two rooms on either side have been cleared out so you can rest there. The cots are in the supplies closet down the hall. The vice principal wanted to apologize for not showing you around himself. He was called to a meeting about the recent incidents and will see that you are comfortable later this afternoon." Hana spoke quickly making it hard for Mai to understand all of the information.
"Thank you for showing us to our rooms, you may go." Naru nodded to Hana but she didn't move. Is something wrong, Mai thought, most people don't stick around; did she forget to say something? Hana shifted from foot to foot nervously and kept glancing at Lin. Oh, she wants to look at the laptop again, Mai realized.
"If it isn't too much trouble can I look at the laptop now?" Hana looked like a puppy waiting for its reward. Mai covered a grin at the sight of the tiny girl begging Lin for his laptop. Lin turned to Naru half pleading him to say no so he could escape but Naru's scientist nature once again took hold and he nodded to Hana.
The air's tension made it difficult for Mai to focus. Naru had left her there probably so he could ask her what happened later after he got back from prowling the school. This being a tech school probably had him overflowing with excitement; Mai could imagine Naru examining all the high tech things.
A long sigh drew Mai's attention back to what she would later have to report on. Lin sat in usual desk spot but currently a very small girl sat in close proximity poring over his precious laptop. Poor Lin had nothing to do without his laptop working and so he sat their watching the girl.
"May I turn it on?" Mai covered a giggle. Lin shifted uncomfortably under Hana's intense stare.
"It won't turn on… it broke a few days ago." Lin's shoulders slumped and he leaned heavily into his chair.
"It broke…" Hana looked as disheartened as Lin. "What happened?" Her hands stroked the laptop gently.
"At first it just lost data but when I tried to start it up there was no response." She nodded somberly to this and turned the laptop over again.
"Perhaps… If you don't mind having me in here a while, I could try to fix it." Mai saw the inner conflict Lin was having; he wanted to get it fixed but the girl made him uncomfortable.
"We will be very busy in this room and we will probably need to bring in people for interviews but I'm sure Lin would love your help. If it doesn't particularly matter where it's done you could work on it in the girl's room." Lin's grateful look made Mai happy she decided to step in. "The others shouldn't arrive for a while so the room will be quite."
"That's great! I don't mind changing location." Hana beamed and followed Mai out of the base.
"So, how old are you Miss Kondo?" Hana didn't seem like the sort to converse well outside of her comfortable field of expertise but Mai was curious about the little girl who could shake up the ever stoic Lin.
"Just Hana is fine, I'm twenty three." Mai didn't have time to cover her shock; she looks like she could be in middle school! "I get that a lot but this is a post-graduation tech school so you'd think people would realize."
"Ah, you're right, by the way have you seen any paranormal activity?"
"Like ghosts? No, but I did watch one of the seniors take on a challenge from the mystery challenger." Mai opened the door to the girl's room for Hana. "He had to find and fix a software mistake before three hours were up; however, the mistake was in a file that didn't affect the computers working ability so it appeared to have no problems. It took too long to find and he failed."
"Wow, I didn't realize computers were so… complicated."
"Though, I saw the problem within the first few minutes."
"Why didn't you help him?" Mai had heard people got hurt from failing the mystery challenge so, why didn't she help him if she knew!?
"It's against the rule to help. Only the challenged can fix the problem, if I were to intervene he would lose automatically and the stakes of losing would double." Hana sat on the floor with the laptop in front of her.
"Oh, that makes sense… do you know if there is a pattern to the challenges?"
"What is this, an interrogation?"
"Oh sorry, I just kind of started without realizing." Mai blushed and looked down at her feet. Talking to Hana felt like talking to Naru, she was very smart and blunt.
"I guess the ghost is trying to find the smartest kid in school."
"Why not just look at ranking then?"
"We don't have set rankings in this school because it causes too much discord between the students. We do have a class genius title so to speak. The person who is considered the best by both students and teachers is called the techy." Hana started to disassemble Lin's laptop as she spoke.
"Who's the techy now?" Mai had taken her thinking pose with her hand on her chin.
"You're looking at her right now." Mai was confused but slowly it dawned on her and once again the small girl shocked her. "I'm the current techy of the school aside from me no one else has a ranking."
"Then why haven't you been challenged yet?" If what Hana assumed was the pattern was true then her not being targeted didn't make sense.
"Do I look like the techy to you? No, of course not, who in their right mind would see a girl the size of a middle school kid as a tech genius?" Hana's face scrunched up in irritation. "This challenger probably took one look at me and underestimated me like everybody else."
"I guess your size is a disadvantage." Mai felt bad but couldn't really understand enough to know what to say.
"Disadvantage? Disadvantage!? No, this is a curse! No one takes me seriously and when I send a challenge and they lose they make excuses. 'I didn't sleep well so it was hard to focus.' or 'the computer had other problems from the start that you didn't notice'. The only reason I earned the title techy was because they were too chicken to take me on again." Hana was red faced and her small hands in tight fists at her side. "I just want someone to see me for what I am, a real computer genius, and not a little kid." Hana started to tear up and hid it by returning her focus to the lap top.
Mai really felt badly for her but didn't know what to say so she excused herself and left to set up the base for interviews. Lind didn't say anything when she walked in but turned towards her and gave her a questioning look.
"She just started fixing it when I left." Lin nodded but before turning completely he turned back.
"Did you find anything out from her?"
"Uh, yeah, the ghost is trying to find the best computer genius at this school. The school doesn't have a ranking system but there is a title for the greatest genius. They call that person the techy." Lin opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything Mai cut him off. "Hana is the techy but… the ghost didn't take notice of her."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." The familiar voice made Mai jump and she turned to see Monk standing in the doorway. John and Ayako were behind him trying to see past him.
"Monk, Ayako, and John you're here!" Mai jumped into Monks open arms and giggled when he swung her around nearly hitting Ayako.
"How nice of you Mai to mention me too," that sarcastic drawl could only be one person, Masako. Mai peeked around Monk and gave her a quick apologetic smile that wasn't reciprocated. Geez what got her panties in a bunch, Mai got her answer promptly.
"Aw, Masako don't tell me your still upset Naru didn't personally call you to tell you about the case." Ayako sneered and poked Masako's side teasingly. The kimono clad girl flinched away and stuck her nose into the air with a, humph.
"He doesn't personally call me." Her shoulders slumped, a little hurt by her own words. "I'm angry because I sent him an apology because I wouldn't be able to make it and he ignored it."
"Then why are you here?" Mai's confusion was justified but Masako acted exasperated all the same.
"Obviously Mai whatever had her preoccupied was cancelled, I thought even you would realize that." Masako didn't get her chance to dis Mai because as usual Naru beat her to it. Masako should have felt satisfied but the way Naru smirked at Mai every time he managed to piss Mai off left a bad taste in Masako's mouth.
"She didn't specify that, did she Naru? She could be ditching her other appointments too!" Masako looked appalled at the idea. Naru's smirk didn't fade but he turned away to address someone behind him.
"Everyone please take a seat inside the principal would like to give us a summary of recent events." The rest of the group filed in and sat down on the various computer chairs in the room.
"Hello, I am the principal of this school Hotaka Kita." The man was tall and thin with large coke bottle glasses. He bowed to the room and when he stood up the tired loo in his eyes revealed more about the situation than his words ever could.
Sorry for the slow updates! I'm trying to battle writers block and excessive homework!