Phoebe hugged her angel, they were in the airport and it's time for her to go home.

"Call me if you need something, okay?" Mai softly nodded, she kissed her forehead as she murmured something. Then Mai suddenly felt the familiar tingling sensation in her body.

"Phoebe... did you just put a spell on me?" She cocked her head to the side as she asked.

"Yes. It's a kind of protective spell." She answered, smiling at her confused best friend, she frown and glared at Naru who was standing behind them, with Gene. "It will protect you against those people who will try to touch you, especially him!" She pointed at the older Davis' twin.

Gene snorted softly.

Naru narrowed his eyes.

Mai blushed.

"Err... Thanks?" She didn't know if she will be grateful or not.

Phoebe stepped closer to Naru "Take care of my precious angel, you wolf!"

"Yeah, yeah." He looked at her assistant "Mai, let's go." He held out his hand and Mai gladly took it.

"See you soon, Phoebe~ I love you!" She yelled.

"I love you too, angel!" She yelled back. "Geez, try to touch her against her will idiot scientist and I will curse you." She muttered softly.

Gene chuckled "So if Mai is willing, it's okay?"

"What? Yes! But not now, my angel is still a baby..." She pouted

He heaved a sigh "You pampered her a lot. I'm glad I'm not Noll."

In the background, they heard that it's already calling Phoebe's flight number.

"That's my flight." She mumbled softly.

Gene hugged her tightly "Take care. Call me immediately when you land, okay?" She nodded.

He sadly sighed as he watched her retreating form.

"Naru." Lin called as soon as they arrived in the office.

"Yes, what is Lin?"

The onmyouji handed him a newspaper of Japan Times. The three youngsters looked at the headline that Lin wanted him to read. Their eyebrows knitted at the kanji characters, but a certain lines that were written in English Alphabet caught their attention.

"Care to explain?" Naru asked him.

"'The famous Davis Brothers are said to be in the Japan, and they are said to be officially managing the Japanese Branch of BSPR'." Lin read it for them.

"WHAT?!" Mai and Gene both exclaimed. Naru just sigh in irritation.

"Don't tell me, it's another tactics of Hara-san?" Gene muttered.

"I don't think that it's her." The men were surprised at Mai statement.

"It said 'Davis Brothers', not 'Davis Twins', do you think Masako will make such mistake?"

Naru softly smirked "I'm glad to see that you use your brain cells once in a while."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" She yelled at his smirking face.

"Tea." He simply said before leaving to his office.

"What a narcissistic with no manners jerk! Who does he think he is? Just because he's my boss, he thinks that he can order me around like that?" Mai grumbled as she went to the kitchen to make him his tea.

"Mai." The brown-haired lady jumped from her seat.

"Don't scared me like that, jerk!"

"I've been calling you for at least five minutes now." Naru raised his eyebrow at her "Did you checked your email?"

Mai still have her eyes on the TV screen "Hmm? No, why?"

Naru sighed "Idiot. Professor Dalton was reminding you about your thesis." He saw her stiffened. "How's your thesis going? I am your thesis adviser, and I didn't remember you asking me to check it."

"I'm so sorry! But I'm almost done, I swear! I will let you checked it tonight, but let me watch this first."

"What's in the news that seems so important than your undergraduate thesis?"

Mai cringed at his stern voice and deathly glare "Err... You know, the news about the dogs attacking the students in Ryokuryou High School."

Naru paused and turned his head at the television. He took a seat next to hers and watched the news with her.

"To be honest, I'm interested in taking that case. This case is also perfect to be added in your study."

"But you refused them."

"Because the school was surrounded by the media." Naru reasoned out.

They are still watching the news when the front door chimed and revealed a bespectacled man wearing a gakuran.

"Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research, how can we help you?" Mai greeted. Naru turned off the TV and focused on their client.

"Good afternoon. I'm Yasuhara Osamu, the Student Council President of Ryokuryou High School." He introduced.

"Ryokuryou High?" Mai glanced at Naru and saw him nod "Please take a seat."

Yasuhara took the seat across Naru's. He handed him a paper with signatures on it, the young boss took it from him.

"This is a petition from the students. When I heard that you rejected our principal's request, I gathered signatures from the students with the hopes that you'd reconsider. Won't you please help us? Our school is in bad shape at the moment."

"Tell us everything." Naru simply stated.

"At first it was just students telling each other ghost stories. But now, strange things are really happening every day like the dogs that you heard in the news. All of us are scared and concerned about what could happen next."

Naru sighed "To be honest, I'm interested in working on this case. However, I'd rather avoid the attention from the media."

"I can understand that! We were bombarded by the media coming to our school every day. That's why we want this case to be solved as soon as possible." He bowed down at him "Please help us!"

Naru looked at their client, who still bowing at him, then at Mai. He internally groaned when he saw her looking at him with her adorable puppy-eyes.

"Call the Principal of Ryokuryou High School. Tell them that we accept their request."

Mai beamed at him "Right away, boss!"

"The principal's office? Down the hall to your right, at the very end. You can find it yourself." The middle-aged man stated when they asked where the principal's office.

Ryokuryou High School was a rather dislikable school.

"What's his problem? He was rude! We are only asking for directions!" Mai huffed, clearly annoyed.

"I think they don't like to deal with outsiders." Gene stated.

"Maybe it was his first time seeing a set of twins, or maybe, he thought Bou-san looked weird?"

"Oi! What's weird with my appearance?!" Bou-san retorted

"A monk with a long hair!" Mai and Gene both exclaimed.

Naru knocked on the principal's office. The principal was even worse. His attitude was incredibly arrogant, his tone very impolite. Furthermore, although he requested the company to do an investigation, he did not trust them and made no attempt to hide it.

"Anyway, use your expertise to stop this melodramatic nonsense! Really! How ridiculous is this for students to believe in ghosts? Matsuyama-sensei, take them to the meeting room."

"Sure."

"Are you the heads?" He asked, looking at Naru and Gene as he brought them to the meeting room that will become the base of their investigation.

Matsuyama-sensei looked at them judgmentally – "All this commotion about spirits – there's nothing more nonsensical and stupid." – and flung out such a line.

That bastard, who does he think he is? Mai angrily thought.

Matsuyama-sensei glared at them with naked contempt while they were too shocked to reply. His gaze finally settled on Naru and Gene, but he glared at Naru.

"Hey you, just how old are you anyway?" He asked.

What?! 'Hey you'?! Mai clenched her fist. How dare him talked to him like that!

Bou-san prayed that Naru will keep his self from insulting the teacher.

"Twenty"

"Are you supposed to be a college student? Why aren't you in school?"

"I'll leave that up to your imagination."

Matsuyama-sensei snorted in laughter at that and turned his head to look at Mai. The twins noticed it and become alerted, Mai might accidentally burn teacher if he will make her angry.

"And you?"

"Nineteen."

"Don't you have school today? Playing truant, aren't you? Where's your school? Let's hear it."

Should I tell you that I'm from Cambridge and I'm here in Japan for my thesis and to watch this idiot? Mai angrily thought.

"I have already been granted permission by my school, sir."

When she said that, Matsuyama-sensei showed her a hate–filled glare. But the girl didn't flinch.

Naru's glare was worse than that. She told herself.

"It's a really leniently managed school, to be so lax." He commented.

Matsuyama-sensei hurried through the school's corridors.

"Belief in the supernatural is a recent fad; when one thinks like that, one gets lazy, hence its popularity. When brats who have not even completed their compulsory education are bound by such beliefs about super powers and UFOs, they use these non-existent things to escape from reality. Furthermore, taking advantage of the situation, conmen come to mingle. Youths these days for no good reason, can't seem to do work reliably."

Gene covered Mai's mouth to stopped her from yelling, and Bou-san hold her hands. She's wanted to kick the teacher before her.

"Hey, hey, you're wearing a skirt." Bou-san reminded her.

"It's here." Matsuyama-sensei said as he violently opened the door.

When the door opened, student council president, Yasuhara was waiting for them inside.

He rose upon seeing Naru.

"I've been waiting for a long time." Naru nodded in greeting towards Yasuhara.

Matsuyama spoke up. "Yasuhara, don't you need to be in class?"

"The third year's class time has already been greatly reduced."

"No problems with exams?"

"Please do not worry." Yasuhara was clearly forcing his expression.

Looking slightly put off, Matsuyama sat heavily on the chair.

"Now what? What do you do first?" He looked at them sarcastically. "Start a fire, and then chant scriptures?"

The corners of Matsuyama's lips raised slightly in a hint of a smirk.

That's really a nice idea, why won't I start by putting you on fire? Mai mentally muttered.

He's a really irritating fellow. They decided to ignore Matsuyama's presence.

"Okay, so this will be our base for research. How shall we start our investigation now?" Bou-san asked and Naru glanced at his watch.

"Let's start by seeking out students involved in the various incidents to understand the situation." After saying that, Naru turned to Mai.

"Ignore the case of the small fires. Go and look for the students involved in the other three incidents."

"How can do that?! I don't even know my way around yet!"

Before Naru can reply, Yasuhara cut in. "Let me do it."

"That would be much faster. Thanks."

"Sure."

"Gene, your assessment?"

He put his thumb under his chin as he think "I saw lots of spirits, I think they are being summon unprofessionally, but, there's a spirit of a boy that I can distinctly see. I think, he's a former student here." He looked at Yasuhara "Is there a student who recently killed or committed suicide?"

Yasuhara and Matsuyama-sensei both stiffen, then the teacher chuckled.

"Oh impressive, it seems that you already made a research before coming here." He muttered.

The medium ignored him and waited for Yasuhara's answer.

"Yes. He committed suicide last September." The bespectacled man answered. "Is he the one who caused this?"

Gene shook his head "No. He's just watching."

"Please hurry up, I'm very busy!" Matsuyama-sensei irritably stated.

Naru bowed slightly at the teacher. "Thank you very much for your help. You may return to your office. We do not require further assistance."

"That won't do. It is my job to manage students. These supposed students may not leave the field of vision of the teacher."

Yasuhara's expression hardened with anger. Naru, still expressionless, calmly continued.

"Anyone involved in these incidents is considered our client. We need to maintain the privacy of our clients."

"Do children have any privacy to speak of?"

"Sure they do!" Mai could not stay silent any longer. She was fuming with anger. "How dare you treat your students like dogs?!"

"You dare to talk back to a teacher? How disrespectful!" Matsuyama-sensei exclaimed.

"I will only respect those people who deserve to be respected!"

"Tell me the name of your school and I will report you!"

"Mai, that's enough." Gene warned, he squeezed her shoulders for her to relax.

Mai took several deep and calming breaths before looking at Naru. He remained calm throughout.

"Sensei, regardless of age, clients are clients. Now please leave."

"Do you mean to say you will be inconvenienced by my presence? Will you be doing something you don't want me to see?" He accused.

Bou-san said angrily. "The principal said we would have freedom to do our work."

"Even if it was freedom it would be limited. I'd like to hear what you self-proclaimed psychics are up to under the guise of mingling with our students."

"In that case, please go to the principal's office." Naru's reply caused Matsuyama to be temporarily lost for words.

"That's right. Your principal is the one who called us." Gene seconded.

Matsuyama's face was crimson with anger. He straightened his back and looked like he had something to say, but only creased his lips in disapproval and stood up. Hastily he left the meeting room and fired his parting shot as he stalked through the doorway.

"Do as you please. Whatever happens at the end of the day is the principal's responsibility!"

After that, Matsuyama slammed the door with enough violence to shake the walls, and exited the scene.

"Despicable bastard! Just because he is the scum of human society, he looks like others as though they are the same as him!" Mai could not help shrieking in the direction Matsuyama-sensei disappeared in. "Teachers are educators. Aren't teachers supposed to be role models for students?!"

Yasuhara was already looking at her, shocked. Then he gurgled with laughter. "Well said!"

Bou-san let out a sigh of relief.

"It's not like we're trying to be his friends. For me, I was eagerly anticipating when Naru's poison tongue would make its appearance."

"Yeah, me too." Gene smirked at his brother.

Naru gently shrugged his shoulders, wearing that godly expression of his. "It's meaningless to preach to an idiot." Naru said with great gravity.

He's really, really incredible when it comes to controlling an emotion. The truth was that Naru was also angry.

"Yasuhara-kun, could I trouble you to have the people involved gather here. Could you send them here in order?" He asked the high school student.

"Yes. Leave it to me." Yasuhara nodded and sprinted out of the meeting room.

The first persons Yasuhara brought in were a group of girls. They were the girls involved in the mass absenteeism, from class 2-5.

"I was told you didn't come to school because you saw a ghost. Can you tell me more about it?" Naru opened his notebook.

"Sure... umm... It happened in our classroom, actually in the language laboratory, I was reviewing the tape I recorded during a lesson, but then I started hearing a strange voice playing back. It's a child's voice." The student introduced herself as Okamura Kazumi recalled.

"Could you hear what he was saying clearly?"

"No. The voice was soft, not at the level where I could discern what was said. Subsequently..." She paused. "There was someone touching my leg."

Naru signaled her to continue.

"I was shocked and looked down. Under the table there was a boy grasping my leg." She hurried on. "There's barely any space under the table for a child. Although that's the way it should be, there really was a child there, just kneeling under the table. Even now, I still clearly recall what he looks like. A boy, about six years old, and he wore a Goosebumps inspiring smile on his face! I was shocked and jumped out of my chair, shrieking. Just as I was about to call the teacher to inform him about the boy, when I looked down again, he had already disappeared. The teacher did not believe me, but there really was someone there!"

Naru nodded. Okamura-san relaxed upon seeing the acknowledgement. Naru looked at the rest of the girls.

"Is there anyone else who has seen this spirit?" All five girls raised their hands in response.

He questioned them individually. Everyone had experienced incidents similar to Okamura-san.

"Child ghost in LL Classroom." Bou-san wrote something with blue ink on the floor plans provided by the school.

"Can you tell me about any other strange incidents that have happened at this school?"

"'The Old Man of the Furnace', when the lid of the furnace was opened, the face of an old man appeared inside. 'The Reversed Mirror'."

"Oh, yes. Doesn't the mirror in the gym's toilet often show reflections of objects that are in reverse?"

"And 'The Geography Room'? When it was cleaned, the fluorescent light fell."

"Eh? What about 'Footsteps in the Chemistry Lab' there's that, right?"

"And 'The Sickbay'? The second to the last bed would suddenly appear to have been slept in."

Everyone reported various strange incidents, and the meeting room became very noisy.

"Waaa! Hold on! I'm not Lin-san!" Bou-san cried and hurriedly scribbled all of them on the paper. Mai softly snorted.

"Whoa! It keeps on coming." Gene gasped.

"They say Sakauchi-kun has appeared in school."

"And this Sakauchi-kun is?" Naru asked.

"A first year student who died last September."

"Did you personally know him?"

"No, I didn't. I'd never ever heard of him until his death, but his suicide note became well known at one point." She explained.

"A suicide note?" This caught Naru's attention.

"Yes, it says 'I'm not a dog'."

Naru nodded in understanding. "Thank you everyone. We will investigate the situation properly."

When the students left, Bou-san made a comment "Holding a grudge against the school, huh... I think I can understand that."

Mai titled her head in confusion "Huh? How?"

"You are a female; you should have noticed the school uniforms and hair styles? Not a single student has their hair dyed, you know?" Bou-san stated.

"In Japan, some schools have a very strict rule regarding your appearance, like the length of your hair or what color your personal belongings should be." Gene explained.

"Oh, I see. So it's like that in here..."

Naru ordered Gene to have walk-through alone, Mai was making a tea while waiting for the next group of student to be interviewed.

"Mai, what did Lin and John told you when you called them earlier?"

"Hm? He said he will bring Ayako with him later, and John said, he will be here tomorrow."

Yasuhara-opened the the door "The next group of students is here."

Naru norited the bespectacled man sitting with the victims "That is to say Yasuhara was also one of the victims?"

Yasuhara smiled at Naru's question. "Yes. I am also one of the 'students with weak health'. Whatever the question, fire away."

"Oh yes, the newspaper report wrote 'we believe that students with weak health were brought down for some reason'. The correspondent had tried his best to rationalize the incident. Whether we looked at Yasuhara or any of the others, none of them appeared frail." Mai stated at her boss.

Naru's expression momentarily softened.

"In that case, let me ask Yasuhara for the details."

"Perhaps you already know from reading the newspapers, the incident occurred on the 18th of December, Monday, at 2pm in the middle of class."

Straight to the point and easily understood. Yasuhara is really an intelligent person. Mai noted on herself.

"Nearly half the class collapsed, to be precise there were nineteen persons. At the beginning of class there was already a male student who felt nauseous. Just as he deliberated leaving the class, suddenly there appeared many others saying the same thing. I was wondering what was going on, when I too suddenly felt unwell. From the start of the class, I had thought that the air in the classroom was somehow bad. There was a strange stench; we opened the windows; but we continued to discuss what the source of the smell was so everyone was restless during break, that's why that made an impression."

"So it was like that. Do you know of the cause?"

"No. The school uses air conditioning, hence eliminating the possibility of a gas leak."

"Does this stench persist in the classroom?"

Yasuhara nodded.

"We are all numb to it so we are not sure if it is still there, but even now one can smell slight traces of that stench. When students from other classes visit our classroom, they would all ask, 'what's this odor?' And there are times when the smell would suddenly become overwhelming. After that incident, there were also instances when the teacher first felt unwell. At that time everyone evacuated the classroom with a sense of dread, although only the teacher went to the sickbay. And after that, I can recall there were also several occasions when the stench suddenly became much stronger. Yes, about seven or eight times since that incident."

"Were there any victims?"

Yasuhara shook his head.

"I see. Thank you for your cooperation." The students left except for Yasuhara, Naru told him to stay for a while.

"Do you still smell it?" Naru suddenly asked.

He nodded "Yes. It's been around for so long I guess we've gotten used to it but when students visit from another class they always ask us about it. The only thing is, sometimes the smell becomes extremely strong."

"The smell huh..." Bou-san thought for a while "Ne, Naru-chan. Can we inspect the classroom now?"

Naru tapped his fingers on the table "Let's go."

Yasuhara led them to their classroom "This is it. I'm going to open the door." When Yasuhara opened the door, a stink smell welcomed them.

"Do you smell it?" He calmly asked.

Bou-san and Mai pinched their nose.

"How to describe it... It smells like the fish you left sitting in the kitchen sink for three days in the summertime by mistake..." Bou-san grumbled.

"A perfect harmony of the smell of something that's gone bad and a drainage ditch that's starting to dry out." Mai seconded.

"BASICALLY, IT REEKS IN HERE!" They both exclaimed. They run to open the windows for fresh air.

"It doesn't even make any difference if you open the window." Mai cried.

"Exactly." Yasuhara agreed, laughing. "We've looked for the source of the smell for a while but the entire classroom smells."

Naru touched the desk. After a moment, he looked at the students in the classroom and asked.

"Did you do anything unusual here?"

"Something… unusual?" Yasuhara asked in confusion.

"For example, summoning spirits?"

I think they are being summoned unprofessionally. Gene's words earlier came to Naru's mind.

"Perhaps he's talking about Orikiri-sama?" One of the girls whispered.

"Orikiri...sama? What is that?" Both Mai and Bou-san sheepishly asked.

"I knew it!" Yasuhara chuckled "Lately or actually since the second semester, it's become popular."

"I have it right here! We haven't used this one yet." She took a paper from her pocket and showed it to them "Look, this is it! It's very popular at school right now."

Mai heart thumped loudly when she saw the paper, she immediately snatched it from the female student.

"Where did you learn this?" Mai controlled herself not to snap or she will accidentally burn the paper on her hand.

"Eh? From a friend of mine."

"Mai, what's wrong?" Naru asked.

"We're not dealing with ghosts, we're dealing with a curse!" She exclaimed, and she handed him the paper "It's a curse paper."

"WHAT? NO WAY!" The students exclaimed.

"Let me guess, after your chant, you will bury it under the shrine."

"How did you know?" The female students asked in confusion.

She read what's written on the paper, ignoring the student's question, her eyes widen. "Naru... Let's wait for Lin."

"Eh? Why?" Bou-san suddenly asked "We already have a lead that this might be a curse."

"Because this is a serious case." The monk was taken aback at her serious demeanor. And I can't read kanji really well. She mentally added.

"Alright." Naru agreed "Bou-san, Yasuhara, let's go back to the base and wait for Gene." The young boss raised his eyebrow at his assistant.

"Mai." He caught her snapping a photo of the said curse paper. "What are you doing?"

"For educational purposes only." She grinned at him and put back the phone in her pocket. She was skipping on her way to the base.

"What's with her?" Bou-san asked his young boss.

"Nothing that concerns you."

Bou-san pouted. "You're not cute at all."

When Naru opened the door, they saw Gen in his unusual serious face as he draw the blueprint of the school on the whiteboard.

"Whoa! He really looks like you when he won't smile." Bou-san mumbled.

"Indeed." The bespectacled high school student agreed.

Naru carefully studied the illustration.

"I see... So that's how it is." Both Naru and Mai stated.

"Eh? What is it? What is it?" Bou-san confusedly asked, looking back and fort at Naru and Gene.

Gene gestured the illustration that he just draw and explained "This is the reason why there are so many floating spirits around. They were trapped in the school due to its structure. Coincidentally, the school's structure closed off the gates in which the spirits can freely depart."

"Amazing! You are truly a genius, Gene." Bou-san praised as he softly smacked his shoulders.

"Thank you." The medium shyly stated.

Naru rolled his eyes.

Mai giggled.

Yasuhara chuckled.

Then a shrilling scream echoed the whole school.

[A/N]

Happy New Year!

I hope you have an joyful and memorable holidays!

xOxO

- BSOL