Happy Earth Day!

Chapter Twelve:

"How does everyone feel about going to the Kyoto this weekend?"

Everyone turned to Mint, who calmly sipped her tea.

"Kyoto?" Homare repeated, pausing in setting out silverware.

"What's in Kyoto?" Rōzu asked.

"Well, apparently," Mint said as she lowered her teacup to the saucer. "Property I inherited."

And that was more or less how they ended up on the train to Kyoto that Friday afternoon.

"So, you said you inherited this place from your great-uncle?" Ryou asked Mint.

She nodded.

"Yes, my mother's uncle. Which is very surprising," Mint said. "I only met him once, at a wedding when I was maybe five years old. He was very nice, though, if a bit eccentric."

"You didn't say anything about there being a death in your family," Lettuce said with a small frown.

"He passed away five years ago," Mint explained. "So it wasn't recent."

"Then why was his will only read recently?" Kish asked.

"Well, apparently, it took three of the world's leading code-breakers to decipher it, to start with," Mint said. "Like I said, a bit eccentric. But that's not what I'm worried about."

"What are you concerned about, then?" Masaya asked.

"Inheritances, especially property ones, are usually fought over in my family," Mint explained. "Long, messy, very expensive, and I'm not just talking about the lawyer fees. That I'm underage should have definitely have set most of my older cousins and other relatives on me. But no one seems to want this place."

"Have you ever seen it before?" Zakuro asked.

Mint shook her head.

"No, and there aren't any photos at all. But the will states that I need to visit the property within a year of the reading of the will, and stay there two full nights without leaving the boundary lines before making any decisions about whether to sell it or not," Mint explained.

"That sounds like an odd request," Keiichiro said.

"Like I said, he was eccentric," Mint said with a shrug. "He had all these wacky inventions and tendencies."

"Does Seiji know anything about the place?" Shinji asked.

"Oh yeah," Mint said dryly. "He was teasing me relentlessly about it. Said the place is haunted."

"H-Haunted?" Ichigo squeaked, eyes going wide. "Like, with ghosts and stuff?"

"Please, Ichigo," Mint said, rolling her eyes. "I was eight when he told me this. He was just teasing me and trying to make me feel better because I couldn't go. Said I didn't want to see things like dancing skeletons and yokai and ghosts and the sort. I was a little girl, and little girls were their favorite treat or something along those lines. There is no way the place can be really haunted."

"Yeah, but what if it is?" Ichigo asked, still not convinced.

"Of course it's not," Mint argued. "For one, there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo challenged. She looked around the train car. "We currently have four of the highest IQs in the entire universe right here, on this train, in this car. Now, Ryou, Keiichiro, Rin, Pie, do ghosts exist?"

"Ooh, I want to hear this one," Jade said eagerly.

"That answer is easy," Ryou said.

"Obviously simple," Pie said.

"Of course they do," Pie and Keiichiro said together as Rin and Ryou said, "Of course they don't."

There was a moment of silence.

"What do you mean by that?" The four geniuses then asked the others in dismay.

"There is proof of ghosts not only appearing and affecting their surroundings, but communicating and touching living beings," Keiichiro said.

"It's not solid evidence, nor a controlled experiment," Ryou argued. "Besides, there is no way a cold breeze coming in can justify being called a 'ghost'."

"As for recordings, there are a lot of other explanations other than supernatural phenomenon," Rin said. "And, like Ryou said, there's no way any 'ghost hunt' can be considered a controlled experiment."

"Your answer is the one that surprised me, Pie," Masaya said. "Keiichiro we all kind of figured, but you?"

"I and the rest of my brethren can create mutant monsters, I have come face to face not only with Santa Claus, but a lake monster affectionately called 'Issie', and have dealt excessively with what Shinji has so eloquently termed 'magic ice' as well as two similar phenomenon involving fire and air," Pie said as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. "To believe in the supernatural, especially phantoms or 'ghosts', is not a far stretch. Besides, even though there cannot be a completely controlled experiment, much of what happens on a 'ghost hunt' can either be scientifically explained and, when there is a lack, is cause to further investigate."

"Yeah, and they did," Ryou said. "Most ghost sightings have to do with shoddy Victorian-era furnaces and gas fumes killing brain cells."

"Ghost sightings have taken place all around the world, though, by men and women of different ages, and in many different weather and housing conditions," Keiichiro argued. "And before gas leaks could ever be a problem. Explain that!"

"Anyone can make a claim to see ghosts," Rin said. "Because drama-queens far outdate the use of furnaces."

"But even animals are able to sense when there is something present," Pie said.

"And my inner-cat is saying I'm not going anywhere near Kyoto," Ichigo said, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm getting a train ticket back to Tokyo the second we arrive in Kyoto."

"Ichigo, grow up," Mint said, rolling her eyes. "There is no way the house is haunted. And remember, if you go back to Tokyo, you'll miss out on the onsen that's on the property."

Ichigo had an internal debate with herself before saying,

"Fine. I'm going for the hot spring. But I don't care how nice it is, as soon as one unscientifically explained thing happens, I'm booking it to Tokyo."

"Fair enough," Mint said with a nod.

The subject was changed, and no one thought of ghosts at all the rest of the trip.

"Okay, I've got the rental car key," Mint said, tossing the key to Ryou that the lady at the rental car desk had given her when she showed the paperwork. "It's in Lot A, space four."

"Four?" Ichigo said. "Could they have given a less suspicious number for us before we go to the ghost house of doom?"

"It's just a car in a parking spot, Ichigo," Ryou said. "No need to get worked up over—"

He cut himself off as they approached.

It was a van. Big. And green. And roughly the same make, model and color as the Mystery Machine.

Ichigo said nothing but snatched the key out of Ryou's hand.

"I don't care who drives, as long as it's not Ryou!" She declared.

"You got a problem with my driving?" Ryou demanded.

"No, but I am not going to let a blond guy drive me around in a van that is one hippie paint job away from looking exactly like the Mystery Machine!" Ichigo said. "Because that's always how Scooby-Doo starts off. Fred, a blond, driving the gang around in the Mystery Machine. And then what happens? Ghosts! Monsters! A combination of the two!"

"Look, this isn't going to be like Scooby-Doo at all," Ryou said. "For starters, we don't have a dog with us."

"Zakuro is infused with a wolf, which is too close to a dog for my comfort!" Ichigo said.

"Am I being compared to a Great Dane?" Zakuro asked.

"No, just your mutant DNA," Masaya said.

"Fair enough," Zakuro said with a shrug.

"If it makes you feel better, Ichigo, I'll drive." Keiichiro said. Apparently it did, because Ichigo happily handed the keys to him.

"I'm going to do a search for the nearest grocery store near the house." Mint explained from the passenger seat, which was more like a passenger bench, allowing her and Shinji to ride up front next to Keiichiro. "The lawyer told me that there's no food in the house. We're on our own for that, as well as cooking."

"I would have figured your great-uncle would have at least had a cook or a maid." Zakuro said from the second row of seats.

"He did, but they all found other jobs after he died. The lawyer sent a company in to do a quick dusting of the place and to take the sheets off the furniture, but otherwise it'll just be us in the house."

As they continued to drive, they entered Gion, the historical district of the Higashiyama Ward of the city of Kyoto. There was very little that was modern; even the phone lines were buried. As they drove past, they saw lots of women dressed in bright kimonos with elaborate hairstyles and make-up walking down the street, often in pairs with women who looked just as regal but with more subdued hair, make-up and kimono.

"Geisha!" Rōzu said excitedly when they first started seeing these women.

"Actually, the ones in the brighter kimonos are maiko, the apprentices." Zakuro corrected. "The white make-up they wear means they aren't 'mature' yet. And the green hair pins that they are wearing mean that they are from Gion. The ones with simpler hair and make-up are the full-fledged Geisha."

"But here in Gion, they are called geikos." Lettuce added. "And Gion is known for having the highest ranking geikos in Japan."

They soon found a small grocery store closer to the residential areas, which were sparse. They went inside there, wondering what they would find.

A tinkling bell greeted them as they entered. The store was small and didn't have much variety, but they agreed that there was enough to keep them fed for the next two and a half days. There were five teenagers in the store. Two, a boy and a girl, were wearing green aprons and were behind the counter while two other boys and another girl stood on the other side. The teenagers in aprons greeted them as they entered before going back to their conversation.

However, food and other necessities wasn't the only thing the store had.

"These are gorgeous." Homare breathed as she looked at all the artwork on display in the corner like a shrine. There was woodblock paintings, calligraphy, pottery, instruments and painted silks, including a kimono in a shadowbox that apparently had belonged to a local geisha.

"Aren't they?" Said one of the girls proudly. "Our art is the pride of our little corner of Gion. We practice and preserve Japanese traditions however we can, just like the geiko. Art is one way. Dance and music is another, as well as tea ceremony."

"Not to mention that we have a classmate who is a maiko." Spoke up one of the boys.

"You guys are really into Japanese traditions and culture." Ryou observed.

"Our community values it in the face of modern Japan, where these traditions have been forgotten or have become scarce. We want to preserve them for future generations." Explained the girl in the apron.

After taking just a little bit of everything off the shelves, the Tokyo Defenders brought it to the cash registers as the boy behind the counter began to ring them up.

"So, where are you all from?" Asked the girl in front of the counter.

"Tokyo." Lettuce answered as Mint dug through her purse for her credit card.

"'Cept for me. Osaka born and raised." Jade said with a grin.

"Just passing through?" One of the boys asked.

"No, we'll be staying in this part of town for the next two days." Masaya said as Mint handed over her card.

"Where?" Another boy asked, brow furrowed. "There isn't a hotel nearby. Are you staying with family?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes." Mint said.

"Mint Aizawa." The boy in the apron whispered as he read the name on her credit card. Then he seemed to make a connection. "Say, are you, by any chance, the great-niece of Muto Wataru? I heard his niece married into the Aizawa family."

"I am." Mint said with a nod. "My mother is his niece."

Suddenly, the teenagers started exchanging glances, looking a bit wary.

"Are… Are you by any chance the one who inherited his house?" One of the boys asked.

"I am." Mint said again, though this time her voice wasn't as confident as she saw the teens now-hard eyes.

To everyone's surprise, Mint's card was shoved back at her, as were the bags of groceries.

"Here." The boy said with thinly disguised anger.

No one was sure how to respond, so they just took the bags and headed for the door. In doing so, they missed the wicked gleam in the eye of the girl behind the counter.

"Hey, wait." She called out, making everyone pause to look at her.

"If you're staying at the old Muto place, then, certainly, you've been warned about the ghost, haven't you?" She asked with a not-very-kind smile.

Ichigo froze and slowly turned to Mint.

"You said there wasn't a ghost." She said somewhat accusingly.

"There isn't a ghost, Ichigo." Mint snapped in irritation.

"Oh, but there is." The girl continued, grinning as she leaned over the counter. "See, the house didn't always belong to your family, Aizawa-San. Before World War II, it was an okiya, home to some of the best geikos in all of Japan. But the grounds also house a shrine. One day, about two hundred years ago, the senior maiko—the recently chosen successor of the household—went to the shrine before leaving the okiya for the night. As she leaned over the chōzuya to purify herself to enter the shrine, her rival—who was bitterly jealous over not being chosen as the atotori—went and shoved her from behind, causing the maiko to lose balance. While it was not very deep, the maiko struck her head, knocking her unconscious. As a result, she drowned. Now her ghost haunts the house to this day, the house that was supposed to be—and is—rightfully hers."

She stopped leaning against the counter.

"Enjoy your stay." She said with a smile that was more smug than cheerful.

The bell above the door did not sound as friendly as it first had when the door was slammed shut behind them.

"Wow." Kish finally said, breaking the silence as they stared at the door.

"That was…" Lettuce said, searching for and failing to find something nice to say.

"Cold." Rin finished for Lettuce.

"Creepy." Ichigo said.

"Both." Homare said.

Mint said nothing and headed back to the van.

"Okay, but, seriously, those guys were so rude. Who do they think they are?" Jade said once they were back inside the van. "They hated us from the moment we walked in."

"That's not true." Tart argued. "They didn't seem to mind us at first, when we were admiring their art display and picking out what we wanted."

"Taru-Taru's right, na no da!" Pudding exclaimed. "They only started being mean to us when they learned who Mint Onee-Chan… oh." Pudding then looked shocked with wide-eyes, realizing she was about to say something she probably really shouldn't have. "Never mind, na no da."

"Mint, do you think your great-uncle had a bad reputation with the townspeople, by any chance?" Ryou asked.

"Not that I'm aware of. I've been told that he was actually really well liked. But… I think their problem was with me. Not my uncle." Mint said softly, her eyes on the blue arrow of her phone's GPS. She was quiet for a moment, then said, "I know I can be abrasive around people, especially unfamiliar people. Was I… Was I like that? With them?"

"No, you were perfectly decent to them. They're the ones who were jerks." Ichigo said, leaning forward slightly to put her hand on Mint's shoulder comfortingly.

"Why would they have a grudge against you—a stranger they have never met before?" Pie asked as they pulled up to gate of the house.

"Maybe the grudge isn't against Mint." Rin said with a frown. "Maybe it is against her great-uncle."

"No, I've been told that he was well liked by everyone, even if he was a bit odd." Mint said. "Pretty much all of the residents of Gion came to his funeral service. It was packed."

"Yeah, except people don't always say exactly what they really think about rich, powerful people." Ryou pointed out. "People can lie and say they like a person while secretly hating them. Or openly hate them and then after they die act like that person was a saint."

Mint sighed.

"I guess we will never know." She said. She then told Keiichiro the combination for the gate's lock.

"That's a pretty easy code to remember." Jade said as the gate slowly opened. "I was thinking it be longer or more complicated after what you told us."

"Apparently, it was. It's been reset." Mint explained. "Actually, I think it's a brand new security system altogether."

There wasn't much of a driveway. Actually, as soon as they pulled in the gate, there wasn't any other place to drive, at least not without driving over the large stones placed there. The stones did have an opening just wide enough for a person to pass through, a long, winding stepping-stone path lined with electric lamps that gave off the illusion of flickering candlelight awaited them.

"Well, uh, guess this is as good a place to park as any." Keiichiro said as he turned off the engine.

"Mint," Shinji said as they got out of the van. "Look, just don't worry about those kids back there. Who cares what they think? Besides, you're probably never going to see them again."

"Yeah. Don't let them spoil this trip for you." Ichigo added.

Mint gave a small smile.

"Alright. Thanks." She said.

They started down the winding path towards the house. Despite the lamps, it was still very dark, but they could admire the beauty of the grounds and couldn't wait to see it in the daylight.

"Is that the way to the shrine?" Rōzu asked as the path divided into three, one going straightforward, one going directly to the left and one going directly to the right. The building that Rōzu was referring to was on the left, with a large archway in front of stairs that led to it.

"I think so." Mint said. "That's weird. There's no name on the gate."

"I wonder which kami this shrine is dedicated to." Masaya said.

"We should probably pay our respects, since we don't know." Keiichiro suggested.

"Uh, I don't think so." Ichigo said, folding her arms over her chest. "That can be done in the morning. You know, when it's daytime."

"Why?" Tart asked.

"Why? Uh, because, need I remind you, we just learned that someone died up that hill in that shrine. And comes back as a ghost."

"Ghosts don't exist." Rin said.

"That is debatable." Pie argued.

"We've got a nice, family-friendly Scooby-Doo mystery situation going good for us right now." Ichigo added. "No need to turn it into an R-rated slasher film."

"Whether this ghost exists or not, I doubt it's violent." Ryou said. "We can just go up and check it out. Don't even have to go inside or anything. It'll delay getting to the house by five minutes tops."

"Yeah, that's what they all say." Ichigo snapped.

"Who is 'they'?" Kish asked.

"The over-confident guy who leads them into the house with the murderous ghost despite that one girl begging them not to." Ichigo said with a defiant nod.

"Fine." Mint snapped, heading for the stairs. "Whoever wants to go check out the shrine can. And whoever wants to stay down here and be a scaredy cat can."

"Fine." Ichigo said. However, things were not fine when she realized that she was about to be the only one left behind, as everyone else was now curious about the shrine and wanted to check it out for various reasons.

"Wait for me!" Ichigo cried out as she ran up the stairs, trying to catch up.

The ascent wasn't long, but when they got to the top, everyone silently suspected that Ichigo was right, that they shouldn't have gone up there.

For starters, they were immediately looking at the chōzuya that drowned the maiko that supposedly haunted the grounds. And if they wanted to get any closer to the shrine, first they would need to approach it.

"There isn't any water." Tart said, one of the few brave enough to get anywhere close to see this fact.

"It doesn't look like it's been cleaned recently." Ryou said.

What of the shrine grounds they could see in the dark didn't look very tidy either. The grass was tall. The path to the shrine had several broken stones. But the worst was the shrine itself, they noticed as they approached. It needed paint. The wood in the door was chipped. The railing was split in two and the stairs did not look like they would hold.

The Tokyo Defenders stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, trying to figure out if they should ascend or go back down.

They wisely and unanimously decided that they would heed Ichigo's advice and head for the house. Ichigo was smug but didn't say "I told you so".

"I guess whoever took care of the house didn't take care of the shrine." Mint said, feeling both disappointed and frustrated.

"That's sad." Homare said. "Maybe we can try and clean it up in the daytime."

"That's assuming it's a lot less creepy in the daytime." Ichigo pointed out.

Suddenly, Rin froze, her ear twitching.

"Shh…" She said, frowning. "Do… Do you hear that?"

Everyone was quiet and listened.

There was a distinct clack, every few seconds.

It sounded like wooden shoes against stones.

And had the pattern of footsteps.

Footsteps going down stairs.

"They are heading down to the path." Pie said in a low voice. They all rushed to the edge of the stairs. But when they got there, they saw no one.

"Um, would the ghost of a drowned maiko wear geta?" Lettuce asked nervously.

"Well I doubt she's going to spend eternity as a ghost running around in just tabi socks!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Maybe it was a deer-scarer?" Rirī suggested as they descended back down to the path.

"I don't think it's possible for one to work that fast, and at that pace." Masaya said.

"Or to just suddenly start and stop like that." Ryou said.

"Let's just get to the house," Mint said a bit snappishly. No one said another word. They felt kind of bad for Mint, because already this trip seemed ruined between the rude teenagers, the ghost story, the deprecated shrine and now this. And Mint felt angry because she knew her friends were feeling bad for her.

The house, at least, was in much better condition.

It was also pretty large, and it was clear that most of it was additions, though the architects had used a lot of the same materials in order to do these additions so that it matched the original okiya.

They got inside without any problems. But when they flipped the light switch, nothing happened.

"That's not good." Mint said with a frown. "The electricity has been off this entire time. I was promised it'd be turned on."

"Well, there's lamps." Kish said, pointing to the lamps that lined the hall. He floated up. "Plenty of oil and wick too. If we just make sure we get them all extinguished before we go to bed and are careful, and maybe find more oil, we can use these."

"Sounds like a plan." Mint said with a nod. Rōzu then flew up and lit a few of the lamps, illuminating the halls.

Mint brought out a map.

"We should probably make sure we have running water in the kitchen." She said. "The kitchen is part of the original building, so it does have a wood stove and oven, as well as a cellar for the stuff that needs to stay cold."

"And we have a Firestarter." Tart said, rubbing Rōzu's head.

"It's just a good thing we picked out simple stuff to prepare." Lettuce said as they started down the hall.

"And if need be, we can order take-out." Ryou said.

"I have an idea." Shinji said as they sorted out the groceries. "How about we split up the cooking and cleaning duties? Guys cook, girls clean, and that way we can all go to the hot springs before it gets too late."

"Sounds fair." Ichigo said, realizing that Shinji had a slight ulterior motive behind the plan. Between the disaster at the store, the shrine in shambles and now no electricity in the house, Mint's simple trip was quickly going south and they could all tell it was taking a toll on her. The hot springs followed by a hot meal would help a lot.

"We'll take care of the rest of the groceries while you girls go get changed," Keiichiro said. "Rōzu, if you'll start a fire before you go, that'd be very much appreciated."

Rōzu quickly lit up the wood stove and then dashed off to find her swimsuit and towel. Once they were all changed, the girls headed down the path towards the hot spring.

"So, what do you think of the property so far?" Zakuro asked once they were in the hot water.

"It's very nice, but I think I'll appreciate it more in the daytime." Mint said, drawing her knees to her chest. "The house, too."

"I can't wait to explore the house and gardens." Homare said. "Both are huge…"

"Yeah." Mint said softly with a nod, glancing down at her knees.

"Hey, Mint, is everything okay?" Rirī asked.

"Yes, of course." Mint said quickly. Too quickly. Her friends quickly knew that meant things weren't.

"What's wrong?" Lettuce asked. "We know that those kids at the store were rude, but you shouldn't let that ruin this trip."

"It's not that." Mint said.

"Is it the shrine?" Zakuro asked.

"Not that either."

"That the lights in the house aren't turned on, na no da?" Pudding asked.

"No, it's just…" Mint sighed. "Nothing is going right at all."

"Is there anything we can do to make it go right?" Rin asked.

Mint scoffed.

"Not unless you can somehow magically make me dance like before." She said.

"Dancing?" Zakuro said, glancing at the other girls who reflected her confusion. "Mint, are you alright? We know you've had a few injuries lately, your shoulder on Mount Fuji, your appendix before that…"

"Those injuries aren't the problem. And it's nothing physical, really." Mint explained. "It's, well, I guess it's a mindset issue."

"What do you mean?" Lettuce asked.

Mint sighed and swirled the water with her finger.

"I haven't told anyone this, except Shinji, Seiji and Oba, but that's only because they were there at the time, but…" Mint took a deep breath. "That night, at the performance, there was a scout from the National Ballet of Japan. Apparently, she was impressed with me, even more so after she learned I was dancing with appendicitis. Before I was discharged from the hospital, she came to see me and invited me to audition for the company at the end of summer. If I'm selected, I'll enter their program. I'll finish out my third year of high school, but then won't go to college to train with the ballet full time."

"Mint, that's amazing!" Ichigo said with a gasp. "Congratulations!"

Mint just nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

"So, why aren't you super happy about this, na no da?" Pudding asked.

"Did you want to go to college instead?" Homare asked.

"No, the National Ballet has been my dream since… since forever. If they told me to quit high school, I'd do it in a heartbeat. For thousands of dancers, it's a dream come true." Mint said with a wistful sigh.

"So what's wrong?" Rirī asked.

"What's wrong is I can't dance." Mint said.

"Well, I don't think they'd ask you if you can't dance." Jade pointed out.

"And you're amazing!" Ichigo pointed out.

"It's not that I physically can't dance. It's that… well, I don't know what happened, but…" Mint frowned and flicked the water irritably. "I don't know. It's not like before. Ballet isn't just about perfecting the steps. It's about emotion. Feeling. And I can't feel it anymore. So I've just been going through the motions of ballet, but not using emotion.

"My teacher suggested taking a short break. She thinks I'm stressing out about the audition, which is probably accurate, and thought taking a few days off to relax would help. Finding some way to bring that emotion back. I thought maybe coming here would be a good distraction. From what I had been told about the house and gardens, it sounded like the perfect place to get away. But now it's just been a lot more stress. Especially with pretty much everyone in my family telling me to just sell this place and be done with it. It's my property now, but everyone seems to think they can tell me what to do with it and if I choose to do so otherwise, I'll regret it later."

"I'm sorry, Mint." Zakuro said comfortingly, putting her hand on Mint's arm. "But we can try to be positive. What is a journey without a few bumps in the road?"

Mint opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, a loud snapping sound echoed throughout the garden area.

The girls froze, the water suddenly not feeling as warm as before.

"It… It was just an animal?" Homare asked in a small squeak.

"That was a rather large animal, then." Rin said, looking towards the wooded area. That was when they heard the crunching sound, coming towards them. And it sounded like footsteps. Humanoid footsteps.

Or, possibly, ghost footsteps.

But what scared the girls the most was the tall shadow that was slowly approaching them.

No one had to say a word. The girls were out of the spring and were back to the house, dripping wet and panting, within two minutes.

"Are you alright?" Tart asked. He had been quite stunned to see the sudden stampede, as he was sent out to inform the girls dinner was ready.

"G-g-ghost!" Ichigo exclaimed with a small shriek, pointing wildly behind her, nearly striking Lettuce in the face as she did so.

"My glasses!" Lettuce suddenly exclaimed, realizing that they weren't on her face, seeing that she, well, couldn't see. And she really couldn't see without her glasses. Jade had grabbed her arm and led the way towards the house. In the haste, she hadn't even thought to grab them. Nor did the other girls remember any of the towels.

"I'll go get them." Tart said. "And investigate this ghost."

He went down the path, looking around carefully and listening cautiously.

As he approached the springs, he saw the girls' towels and, more importantly, Lettuce's glasses. He grabbed those first, but as he was gathering up the towels, something caught his eye floating in the water.

Tart frowned and knelt beside the spring, watching as the object floated closer towards him. Carefully, he reached out his hand and grabbed it.

The wet object was a hair pin, he realized, with pale-blue silk flowers.

His ear twitched at the sound behind him. The sound of someone or something moving. He quickly got to his feet and turned around, making sure his back was to the water.

But no one came into view.

There was a roll of thunder, and in the distance he saw a flash of lightning.

Tart decided finishing his task and getting inside as fast as possible was the best course of action.

The hair pin was just one of the many subjects of conversation around the dinner table.

"I think they are supposed to be irises," Ichigo said. "The flowers. It's May already, and irises are this month's kanzashi."

"What's a kanzashi?" Kish asked.

"A hair pin like this, with the long trail of silk flowers, worn by maiko." Zakuro said. "Each month has a different set of flowers. The pin that Tart found matches for this month."

"And it's also nothing that belongs to any of us." Rin pointed out. "And it wasn't there before…"

"Are you saying there may be a ghost after all?" Keiichiro asked.

"I'm not saying it's a ghost, or that there are such things as ghosts." Rin said. "But I definitely think someone or something was in those woods."

"Question is, did they intend to scare us or not?" Jade asked.

However, at that moment, Mint's cellphone rang.

"Moshi-Moshi?" She said answering it. From hearing Mint's side of the conversation, they realized it was the lawyer who was on the other end of the phone. "Yes, we got here with no problem. Well, there is one problem. The electricity wasn't turned on, do you think you could call the company and ask them to turn it on or give me the number to do so?"

Mint's brow furrowed as she listened.

"Are… Are you sure?" She asked. "Yeah, it must be. We'll find the fuse box. Thanks. Don't worry, we can handle it. Thank you again."

When Mint hung up the phone, she immediately said,

"The electricity was turned on."

"So, why isn't it working?" Shinji asked.

"I don't know. Maybe a fuse blew?"

"That doesn't make sense." Ryou said.

"Well, the fuse box is outside, and I don't think any of us should be messing with that in this storm." Mint said.

"Wouldn't make sense to do so." Jade said. "With the storm, there's a chance we could lose power anyways. Plus, it's getting late. We're not going to be using any electricity while we sleep."

"Maybe we should explore inside just a bit more, then go to sleep. We can figure out our electrical problems in the morning." Masaya said.

The others agreed and finished eating.

"So, what should we check out first?" Mint asked, spreading open the map of the house.

"Let's stick to the ground floor for now." Zakuro suggested.

"Well, we've found the kitchen, obviously, and we changed in this spare room over here." Homare said.

"We also found the sitting room and the entrance to the gardens." Tart said. "The dining room, too."

"There's the library!" Lettuce said excitedly, pointing to a spot on the map.

"I'm surprised you didn't go searching for that immediately." Jade said teasingly.

"Hey, that might be the best place for us to go exploring." Ryou said. "There might be more information on the house."

"If we find out more about the history, we can look into this haunting a bit more." Keiichiro said.

"And figure out if it is real or not." Rin said.

"Yeah, those kids at the store could have made up the whole story about the maiko." Kish said. "Just to scare us."

"Well, in which case it's working." Ichigo said with a shudder.

They went to the library, but weren't exactly sure where to begin. There were so many books, predominately in Japanese with a few English ones. They were surprised at the wide array of literature that was there, from difficult books on mathematics to some manga and books written for children. There didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for the way they were shelved, either. Finally, though, they began to find some that were helpful for the information they were trying to find.

"Some of these are hand-written, and hand-bound." Keiichiro observed.

"I think these were written by my uncle." Mint said, as they began to pull all books that were similar off the shelf.

"That would explain why this one doesn't make sense at all." Rirī said as she flipped through one. "Definitely in some kind of code."

"This one makes sense." Shinji said. "It's a history of the geisha of Kyoto."

"This one is about a different okiya." Lettuce said.

"We have pulled all of the hand-written ones off the shelf, but none of these have anything to do with the history of the house." Kish said as he leaned against a bookshelf, having taken a few steps back to look at all the books spread out on the table.

"Wait, we haven't pulled all of them!" Rōzu said as another volume caught her eye. Unlike the others, this one had something written in kanji along the side. A name. She gasped when she recognized the name, it was the name of the okiya! She ran over to pull it off the shelf.

As soon as she did, her ears twitched at hearing the sound of something heavy being move across the floor, quickly followed by a cry of surprise from Kish and a heavy thud as he fell backwards.

Rōzu and the others quickly turned to see that the bookshelf had moved, revealing a passage.

"Kish, are you alright?" Rin asked, coming to her brother's side as he slowly sat up.

"Fine." Kish said, accepting her hand. "Just really wasn't expecting the wall to move."

"What is this, na no da?" Pudding asked, peering into the passage.

"It's not on the map." Mint said, having quickly spread it out on the table.

"Well, let's find out!" Jade said, grabbing the flashlight and entering the passage.

It was a small study, covered in papers written in complicated codes and equations, as well as complex drawings. There was a desk in the middle of it all.

And there was an envelope lying on the top.

And the envelope was addressed to Mint.

Hesitantly, Mint picked it up and grabbed the letter opener lying beside the envelope.

She read out loud:

"Dear Mint. So they finally decoded my will, did they? I'm impressed. Even more so that you found your way into my secret study. Amazing, isn't it? If you have the money to build a sliding bookcase that leads to a secret study and don't, it's not worth being that rich, is it?

Anyways, I know you have a lot of questions. Why did this old geezer leave you this house? Why did he pick you? By now, I'm sure you've heard the opinions of absolutely every member of this family, and it is all probably the same. Sell this creaky, spooky old house."

"See, he knew it's haunted!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"The choice to do so or not is ultimately yours." Mint continued, ignoring Ichigo. "But I will give you one more thing, to help you make your choice.

"Hidden somewhere on the grounds is a treasure beyond compare. I cannot tell you where it is, or even give you a hint as to how to find it. For that matter, I cannot tell you what it is. Just know that it may not be exactly what you think it is. The only thing I can give you is my best wishes.

"Good luck and much love."

"A treasure?" Mint said, looking up at her friends.

"But no clue as to where it could be, other than somewhere inside the property." Kish said.

"Our ghost hunt just turned into a treasure hunt, na no da!" Pudding said excitedly.

"We'll start the search in the morning." Mint said. "When it's light out."

"We should start by reading the book that opened up the passage." Lettuce suggested.

"Oh, yeah!" Rōzu said, suddenly remembering the book in her hands. "It's about the house, and that should help! Maybe it'll give us a hint!" She frowned as she opened it. "Oh, it's not about the house."

"It's not?" Homare said, coming to look over Rōzu's shoulder.

"No, it's about a Geisha, one who must have lived here." Rōzu said. "And there's old photos in here, they must be of her."

They looked at the black and white photographs of a smiling maiko. There were a few of her dancing or playing an instrument or pouring tea, but most were of her looking at the camera and smiling shyly. There were more pictures as she became a mature geiko. Some were even in color.

"I wonder who she was, and why she is important." Ichigo said as Rōzu put the book back. Once it was back in place, the secret study was once again hidden from view. "I mean, she's the only specific geisha to have her own book in this library."

"Maybe she's the one who died?" Masaya suggested.

"That doesn't seem right for some reason." Rin said. "For starters, it seems that the ghost was of a maiko, she didn't get to graduate to a mature geiko like this woman."

"We'll be able to better investigate after some sleep." Jade said.

They decided to stick the ground floor, having found some mattresses in a closet.

"Weird thing to keep on the ground floor." Ryou observed as he rolled out one.

"Not really. For my uncle." Mint said. "I've been told that, due to his erratic schedule, he slept just about anywhere and everywhere. Still, a lot of mattresses."

"That's good for us!" Rōzu said as she got under the covers.

They turned off the flashlights and went to sleep.

They did not get much sleep, however.

Shortly before midnight, a tiny Cyniclon girl squeezed her way in through a window on the second floor. Then, she disappeared before reappearing with seven more Cyniclons. They were all drenched from the rain and glad to be out of it.

"So, they are definitely hunting something here?" Topaz said, frowning as looked around, wringing water out of her hair.

"According to my Chimera." Pepper said, gently petting a fluffy but slightly damp bat Chimera on its head. "And since there's only one more element, that's gotta be why they're here."

"This place is very different from the other places that the elements have been found." Cayenne pointed out.

"Maybe if it's not here, there's a map or something that could lead us straight to the next element." Chile said.

"And since the Tokyo Defenders are downstairs asleep, as long as we're quiet, we have the advantage of being able to search this entire place before they can!" Bell said excitedly.

"Alright, then, let's split up to cover more ground." Mylo said. "Jalapeno, you take Bell and Chile. Cayenne, Zen and Pepper. And Topaz, you're with me."

"Sounds like a plan." Zen said with a nod.

"Hang on, we should close the window." Pepper said, going back to the window she had entered. Then she frowned. "Wait, who closed it?"

"What do you mean?" Topaz asked, still running her fingers through her hair. "None of us closed it."

"Well, it's closed." Pepper said.

"It's a pretty old window. Maybe it just closed on its own or something with a little help from the wind." Cayenne suggested. Pepper shrugged and went to join her group as they headed for the top floor.

However, what they didn't know was that the window could not be opened again.

None of the windows could be opened.

Or any of the doors.

"Come on, we can check out the ground floor." Topaz said, tugging on Mylo's hand.

"We have to be extremely quiet." Mylo warned.

"Not a problem." Topaz said with a wave of her hand. They floated down the stairs and crept past where the Defenders were sleeping. They found a hall that parted into a T-shape, with a paper door straight ahead that lead to the porch.

"I'll go this way, you go that way." Topaz whispered. "It looks like they're both dead ends, so we can just check out each room then meet back here."

Mylo nodded and the cousins parted ways.

However, they didn't know that, behind them, one Defender was stirring.

Ichigo was not sleeping well in the haunted house.

She didn't mind the rain, but the way the wind howled sounded too ghost-like.

She had managed to fall asleep, but jumped at the smallest noises and couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually, she gave up and climbed out from under the covers. Maybe a cup of water would help, she figured.

However, as Ichigo headed for the kitchen, Topaz had stepped inside a room full of musical instruments. She cautiously stepped inside, wondering if there was any hidden closets or something. She grinned as she saw a small golden ring carved into the wood and went over to it. Cautiously, she pressed the circle and the panel spread out to reveal the porch.

She had barely stepped out when the door slid shut behind her. Topaz gasped and then groaned.

"Great…" She said out-loud.

With a sigh, she tried to teleport back inside.

Except, she couldn't.

That was really not good. How was she going to get back inside? And why couldn't she suddenly teleport?

But then she brightened. If this was the porch, getting to the door and back inside the house shouldn't have been a problem at all!

Except it was.

For Ichigo was just coming back from the kitchen as she saw a long haired, womanly figure floating along the paper door, her silhouette outlined by a flash of lightning. Ichigo froze, staring with wide eyed horror as the figure paused in front of the door and tried to slide it open.

Ichigo screamed as the door rattled. Outside, Topaz was beginning to panic as the door did not slide open. There was a large roll of thunder that added to her panic as she desperately tried to get the door open, banging on the wood in frustration.

Inside, Ichigo's scream had woken everyone up just in time to see the "ghost" trying to get in the door.

However, the "ghost" turned her head at hearing a sliding sound. Mylo poked his head out from the wall.

"Did you find a door like this too?" He asked.

"With the circle?" Topaz said, feeling relieved as she abandoned the door and floated towards Mylo. She had just stepped inside the house again and the door slid shut as the Tokyo Defenders also tried and failed to get the door open.

"It's stuck!" Masaya said.

"From the moisture?" Lettuce asked.

"That's the only explanation I can think of." Ryou said.

"Forget the door, that was a ghost!" Ichigo said in a panic. "That's it, I'm out of here!"

She ran towards the front door, only to find that it was locked too.

"It won't open either!" Ichigo said.

They even tried the key to no avail.

"This is not good." Mint said, her eyes wide.

"I'm going up to the second floor, maybe we can still see who it was." Rin said as she floated the stairs, followed by the rest of the crew. However, all they found by the window was a puddle of water.

"The ghost!" Ichigo said, pointing wildly at the puddle.

"How do you know it's not just a leak?" Ryou said, trying to find a logical reason.

"The ghost drowned!" Ichigo screeched. "And who else could have gotten in through this window? This closed window?"

"This closed and stuck window." Pie added as he tried to open the window to no luck.

"Never mind that, do you see the ghost?" Tart asked, shoving Pie so that he could look out the window. But they saw nothing.

"We were probably too late." Ryou said.

"You know, I'm not quite sure I believe in ghosts, but I definitely think something is going on here." Shinji said.

"I don't think we're going to be able to wait until morning to investigate, either." Homare said, her eyes going wide.

"Why do you say that?" Kish asked.

Homare raised her hand and pointed down the hall…

…At the kimono that was floating turning the corner, coming towards them.

The kimono suddenly dropped to the floor in front of the Defenders. Pie quickly snatched up the fabric to see what was making it float, but they saw nothing.

What they didn't see was a very annoyed bat-shaped Chimera get flung down the hall from the sudden jerk of the fabric. It quickly started flapping its wings and then went back towards its mistress in a huff, unaware of the trouble it had just caused.

"Well, gang." Pudding said seriously in the silence that followed. "It looks like we have another mystery on our hands, na no da! Time to split up, na no da!"

"No!" Ichigo groaned. "Splitting up is the worst thing we can do! Have any of you ever seen a horror movie? Or an episode of Scooby Doo?"

"I think we are all better prepared for just about anything compared to the characters in those movies and cartoons." Jade said. "Besides, we need to cover more ground."

"Jade's right. It could take forever to search the house if we stick together." Rirī pointed out.

"Oh, no, I am not going to be searching this house for a ghost and you can't make me." Ichigo said, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

"Would you do it if I promised to buy you a pair of shoes when we got back to Tokyo?" Mint asked.

"Nope." Ichigo said, shaking her head.

"How about two pairs of shoes?" Mint offered.

"Uh uh. Not happening." Ichigo said, shaking her head harder.

"Two pairs of shoes and an outfit." Zakuro said.

Ichigo considered this briefly.

"Fine…" She relented reluctantly.

"Then let's divide and conquer." Mint said.

Pie, Lettuce, Jade, Rōzu and Rirī made up one group; Kish, Ichigo, Masaya and Homare made up another group; Keiichiro, Rin, Mint and Shinji made up another; and Ryou, Zakuro, Tart and Pudding made up the last group. Once decided, they all made sure they had cellphones and a meeting place and time before splitting up.

Upstairs, completely oblivious to the awakened Tokyo Defenders, Bell stood on her toes to get a better look at a large rock on a shelf. It was pretty sparkly. Could it be an element?

"Hey, come look at this!" She said to her brothers. Chile came over to stand at Bell's side while Jalapeno silently stood behind her.

"Do you think that's the element?" Chile asked.

"Only one way to find out!" Bell said, reaching up to grab the rock off the shelf.

Unknowingly, this triggered a secret panel in the floor. A panel that Jalapeno happened to be standing on.

He had been barely able to react when the floor dropped out from under him, let alone make a sound.

His siblings, focused on the rock, didn't even notice his disappearance until Chile said,

"What do you think Jal?"

Chile turned to look at where his brother was standing… only to find that he wasn't standing there at all.

"Jal?" Chile said, his brow furrowing. "That's weird. He was right here a second ago. At least I thought he was."

"Maybe he stepped back into the hall?" Bell suggested, feeling uneasy with her brother's sudden disappearance, but hopeful he was nearby.

Taking the rock with them as they left, Bell and Chile set out in search of Jalapeno.

A floor below, Jade, Pie, Lettuce, Rirī and Rōzu had found where the strange floating kimono had come from: a large room full of them.

"They're so pretty!" Lettuce gasped as she shone her flashlight on the brightly-colored cloths.

Jade had paused to look at one of the kimonos, studying it's pattern, while the others went over to a large dressing table with lots of drawers. Inspection of these drawers proved that they were full of hair pins, much like the one Tart had found earlier.

"Do you think it came from the house?" Rōzu asked.

"It is possible." Pie said. "With half of our group outside and away from the house, and the other half in the kitchen, it is possible someone snuck in and took one."

"I hope you're wrong, Pie." Rirī said grimly. "Because that could mean someone is in this house who is not invited. And I'm not talking about a ghost."

"I wonder what's in here." Rōzu said, reaching for the large jewelry box in front of the mirror.

No soon had it been lifted from its place did another panel of the floor open…

…Taking Jade with it.

All four turned at hearing Jade's scream, but none saw where she went.

"Jade?" Lettuce called worriedly as she ran for the door. "Jade!"

"She cannot be too far," Pie said reassuringly, though just as worried as Lettuce was. "We will find her."

And they all just hoped that she was safe.


I started having ideas for this arc last year, after I read a book called "Geisha, A Life", by a former Geisha named Mineko Iwasaki. It is a truly phenomenal book and I highly recommend it!