Have you guys seen that there is a SEQUEL TO GHOST HUNT?! There is! I swear, and it's legit. I checked. It's a manga, which is good, but the only bad thing is that chapters are released BI-MONTHLY! Gah. I'm seriously about to die of anticipation overdose. Really, I think it just might kill me. Anyway, go, READ IT! It's called "Akumu no Sumu Ie - Ghost Hunt" and it is on mangafox . com(remove the spaces) . My lovely beta is part of the scanslating team working on this new series to cheers to her!
"What do we know so far?" Naru demanded while clicking his newfound pen with a serious expression etched on his face. All of us were gathered in what sort of resembled a circle, Lin and Naru sitting in folding chairs right next to the monitors, the rest of us set up behind the couches.
"The ghost that attacked Mai is presumed to be male," Bou-san stated after downing two tablets of aspirin himself and taking a gulp of water.
"That's it?" Naru hissed.
"Uh, there was the incident with the cameras…" I pitched in, not sure if it would really help. "And the teakettle in the kitchen…" Though, I added to myself, I couldn't even remember what had happened.
Naru remained silent, glowering at the floor.
"Maybe he was camera shy?" Bou-san joked, stretching his back.
"This isn't the time to be joking, Takigawa-san. What did you find in the files I handed you, Mai?" Naru clicked his pen again and grabbed a stack of papers behind him, thumbing through them absentmindedly. He paused his ministrations when I didn't reply right away and stared at me.
I looked down and rubbed my hands together nervously. When he made eye contact with me like that, I couldn't help but feel nervous—our situation from the morning hadn't helped that fact at all.
"Well, there were interesting things," I mumbled, "but nothing that I think that would be of value."
"Interesting?" Ayako said, speaking for the first time since the night before with a curious light to her eyes. She seemed fine after taking a load of aspirin and drinking my tea. "How so?"
"Well, first off, Susukihotaru Koizumi had a fraternal twin sister, Asuka Aoi." I looked down, refusing to glance Naru's way.
"Twins?" Bou-san's eyes widened. "There's a twist I wasn't expecting."
"Neither was I, and the strange thing is, I couldn't find any photos of her. None. But even weirder, apparently, Aoi hung herself three days after Noaki was murdered in Jinsei no Haru. Her sister, Koizumi, the wife of Noaki, is still alive and living about a half an hours' worth of a drive from here."
Naru nodded his head, I knew because I was stupid and peeked at him—he seemed to know exactly what game I was playing. "Anything else, Mai?"
I began to fidget in my chair, pulling on my skirt and looking downward, sideways, the ceiling, anywhere but Naru's general vicinity. "No," I muttered, flabbergasted.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm—I'm positive!" I insisted as I finally made eye contact with my boss. Naru may have had everyone else fooled with that nearly perfect poker face he wore—but he wasn't fooling me, I knew he was getting enjoyment out of my overwhelmed state.
"Well, I discovered," Ayako broke in, saving my butt from Naru's obvious teasing, "that the nameless mistress, the pregnant one, also went missing—though it was right after her baby was born." She folded her hands in her lap and sent me an all-knowing wink. I sighed.
Ayako's going to want to talk to me later; I can feel it. It was like she always knew when something—or someone—was bothering, and this time was no different. Ayako was probably certain that something was up between Naru and I.
Distracted with the new information, Naru's attention was drawn elsewhere and his black eyebrows pulled downwards. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "From the information gathered," he looked to his left at Lin and gave a flick of his wrist—the signal to start typing, "Susukihotaru was murdered by being stabbed and then boiled—"
"Stabbed?" Bou-san's eyebrows shot up, his lips parting in surprise. "How do you know that?"
"Considering the fact that Susukihotaru is most likely our spirit, it's reasonable to assume that Susukihotaru has a grudge against the one who murdered him; this leads to the conclusion that he torments his victims in the same manner in which he died," Naru provided, sounding like his usual smart-alecky self; the side of him that annoyed me the most.
When Naru was feeling smart, it usually meant he was picking on me in some way or another. I scowled at old memories that resurfaced.
"I never thought of that…" the red head in the room admitted with a nod of the head.
Don't add to his ego… I found myself thinking haughtily.
"It was something I hadn't expected Mai to pick up on, I thought you and Takigawa-san would have noticed at least." Naru blinked calmly; taking a sip of his tea and ignoring the deadly glares Ayako and I both sent his way.
"Anyway," the monk cleared his throat, trying to ease the tension in the room, "what else?"
"Susukihotaru was murdered, the pregnant mistress went missing and Asuka Aoi committed suicide. There is one thing all three people have in common." Naru's blank eyes hardened like sparkling bits of sapphire. "Susukihotaru Koizumi."
Day 8, 12:00 pm
"So what's up between you and Naru, eh?" Ayako pressed, leaning closer to my face as if she could read the truth in print on my forehead. She had launched her questions as soon as she and I had stepped out of the room for lunch; we had to go to the main kitchen for fresh fish because apparently, the base's kitchen had none in the fridge.
I knew this was going to happen… I sighed and rubbed my neck, rolling it to the side. "Nothing."
"Liar."
"I know…" A sheepish grin found its way onto my face.
Ayako puffed out her cheeks. "Seriously, what's going on between the two of you? I've never seen him act so…" The rest of her sentence dropped off, like she couldn't seem to find the right word to describe Naru's behavior.
"Odd?" I suggested as I cocked my head to the side.
She sniggered. "Not the exact word I was looking for, but something along those lines."
I looked down at my hands, trying to decide whether or not to trust Ayako with the confidential information I carried. Maybe I should…
"Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll tell you something." Ayako's eyes softened and she placed a hand on my shoulder. Both of us stopped walking as she brushed my hair next to my ear aside and covered her mouth like she was going to whisper a secret. "Takigawa and I slept together."
I froze, confusion seeping through my body. "But…" I murmured, placing a finger to my bottom lip in a contemplating manner. "Sharing a bed is no big deal, haven't you been sharing a bed for the past week?"
This time, it was Ayako's turn to cut short—her mouth dropped open. "Uh, Mai, you know, when I say 'slept together' I mean, you know…" She raised her hands and waved them around in circles, apparently expecting me to get the point.
"No…I don't know." I pouted.
Ayako sighed. "Sex, okay?" Her tone raised an octave, but it was still quiet enough.
My face burned, red as red could be as I finally understood the situation. She—she…and Bou-san?
Then, we both heard a startled gasp, along with the sound of footsteps. "Oh my…perhaps I should…um, leave you two alone…" Akemi's voice whispered.
"Ah…" the priestess mumbled, blinking at the sudden intrusion upon her conversation. "We were just, uh, discussing…"
Akemi hid her face behind her sleeve but Ayako and I could see her ears, red from embarrassment. "No, I'm sorry; it was rude of me to approach you two without warning…" She coughed a little and scooted backwards.
"Oh," I finally uttered, still blushing at an unbelievable level. "We were just talking about my friend, Ayako," I pointed to the older woman by my side, "and her husband…" I clarified, fiddling with my skirt again.
"Ah, that's right, you are Takigawa Ayako." Akemi lowered her sleeve and shyly glanced Ayako over. "Married to the monk, yes?"
"That's right," Ayako said with no trace of shyness or embarrassment.
Akemi nodded, her shyness easing away slowly. "Would you mind if I borrowed Mai-san for a moment?" the spring owner asked sweetly, giving that melting smile of hers.
"Go ahead…" the priestess murmured as she glanced between Akemi and me strangely. "I'll go get the fish, you stay here." It seemed as if she was looking past my shoulder, staring at down the hallway, but she shook her head. Ayako gave me a tentative smile and walked away, leaving Akemi and I alone.
"I'm so sorry to have intruded; I didn't mean to separate the two of you…" Akemi frowned, clearly upset that she invoked such a weird reaction from Ayako.
"Don't worry about it," I said. Though it was just as puzzling for me as to why Ayako gave me such a look, like she didn't want to leave me alone with Akemi. I shook my head; I was just imagining things.
"Mai-san, I wanted to let you know that the mixed baths are closed, they need to be thoroughly cleaned." Akemi smiled with a cheerful nature. "I know that a husband and wife usually use the mixed bath, but, due to the circumstances, would it be too much to ask if the both of you used the women's bath?"
"Eh?" My eyes grew wide. "Kazuya and I?"
"Of course, they'd be perfectly empty, save for the two of you, I can make sure of that if you'd like?"
I gulped.
Me or Gene?
No, I wanted to moan, no, I didn't want to think about that type of question at a time like this! It only made the situation worse. Here Akemi was, asking me if I wanted to take a bath with Naru?
Okay, so maybe some tiny, miniscule, weird part of me did. But, I also reasoned to myself, that would mean that Naru and I would both be…well… My brain scrambled at the concept of the word 'naked'. And unfortunately, my heart started skipping beats every now and then. "W-while I appreciate the offer, Kazuya and I must decline," I found myself stuttering.
Akemi's smile fell slightly, as if she were disappointed. "Ah, I see…"
"Not that I—we—don't want to," I stumbled over my words awkwardly. "Kazuya and I would love to, but we're both swamped with work and we need to visit a very important person soon," I forced a sigh, continuing with; "We just can't fit it into our schedule."
She removed the kimono sleeve from her face, smiling again out of sheer politeness, and folded her small hands. "I understand. Please give Shibuya-san my regards." And then, Akemi bowed. Like, a deep, deep bow—as if she were addressing the President of Japan himself.
The action made me feel sort of guilty somehow…
"Some other time then," the young hot spring owner rose, her spine stiff as a board like the cliché saying went. She cast me an enigmatic smile before turning and making her way down the hallway that Ayako had also disappeared down. Being my absolutely flustered and guilt-ridden self, I headed back towards the base—Ayako could handle that fish business by herself, it didn't take two people just to pick up one measly fish.
As I opened the door, Naru's familiar narcissistic voice reached me from his computer chair. "Since when did you get into the practice of calling me Kazuya?"
My foot halted abruptly, midway in the doorframe. "W-what do you mean?" I coughed and stepped fully inside, pretending to be oblivious.
Naru's blue eyes narrowed.
"Mai, there was a camera right behind you. Even Matsuzaki-san noticed it." He gave an annoyed glare and folded his hands on his lap, looking even more acute than ever.
I gulped and squeezed my eyes shut. Mai! You idiot! Idiot! Idiot! I chanted to myself over and over again. How could I have been so careless? How could I have not known that there was a camera directly behind me? Gah! It was a total 'I-should-smack-myself' moment. And what was even worse, Naru knew it too.
"Why did you decline the hot spring offer?" he cross-examined.
I spluttered, going red faced before plopping down onto the nearest couch, hugging a decorative pillow tightly to my chest. "You mean to say that you want to take a bath with me?" I supplied incredulously, still very embarrassed.
Naru gave me one last look before swiveling in his computer chair and looking at the monitors, scanning them quickly over for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed that the subject had been dropped, thankfully. However, Naru then snappily replied, "I said nothing of the sort."
I twisted around into a sitting position and glared at the back of his head. "Sure," I muttered. But, then, I noticed something…rather strange. Kind of. Not really. Okay, I was probably just paranoid and curious.
But there was a crumpled piece of paper in the otherwise empty waste bin that hadn't been there before I had left. It was directly underneath the table that had all of the monitors, close by Naru's feet. And, well, it almost looked like a note of some sort—only, it seemed to have been crumpled into a ball and then smoothed out again only to be folded neatly and placed at the bottom.
I glanced at Naru curiously. Obviously he was the culprit behind the note's demise. But, what had it been to make him react in such a way? If he had taken the time to, not only un-crumple it, but also fold it sophisticatedly, it meant that it was something he had been thinking about non-stop. He always acted rashly, if it was something he didn't want to deal with, only to go back later and smooth things over in a civil manner.
"Hey, Naru," I started, "what's that?"
He looked over his shoulder at me, silently inquiring as to what I meant. When his gaze followed mine to the trash bin by his feet, he only reached inside of it, snatched the note and put it inside one of his various coat pockets.
"Nothing of importance to you," he said, turning back to the monitors.
My glare returned with a fury and I stuck my tongue out. Stupid narcissist. I snorted for good measure. As I frowned at him, I thought of the note again.
Strange, I found myself thinking with pursed lips. Naru's behavior had been strange. Obviously the note was just a harmless slip of paper. Maybe I was just reading into things too much? Or maybe…he was lying to me about something important?
Me or Gene?
The words 'lies' popped into my head shortly thereafter—it tasted unpleasant in my mouth, like sour milk and stale sourdough bread. Lies. So maybe I wasn't the only one lying. We both had our secrets.
"Mai, haven't I told you not to stare at me?"
I blinked, realizing that I had been in fact staring at him for a good few minutes. I huffed, crossed my arms and turned my face away. Stupid lying narcissist.
Yayyy I finally updated. And yes, LIES. NARU IS A DECEITFUL BEING! Or maybe he isn't...who knows? (Oh, that's right, I do :P) Anyway, review if you want to see the next chapter! Muahahaha.
