Case 06, Part 02

(Mai's POV)

Sympathy was good and everything, but when these girls thought it was understandable to kill yourself because of hard school life, and oblivious of how wrong it sounded to outsiders… I meant, he was the only one who had committed suicide but…

"And then I thought Sakauchi-kun must have hated the school; and since some of us have seen the ghost of Sakauchi-kun… I thought the students of the school could properly console the soul of Sakauchi-kun. However the teachers did not allow us to do so."

The nodded in unison, "Somehow teachers always think that a gathering of large group of students means we are up to no good…"

I wondered if these teachers even remember they were once teenagers, what kind of impression they had on teenagers nowadays? And again… their sympathy to the point of understanding what was going on the head of their schoolmate who had committed suicide was still disturbing…

More groups were coming, and after we interviewed them I decided to ask all of them the same question. "Do you know what Sakauchi-kun's suicide note means?"

All of them gave us the same answer, all of them understood.

Basically their answer could be summarized as, "Yeah, I think I do know what it mean. Everyone who goes to this school has thought about it. I do all the time."

So we couldn't help but think on the break before Yasuhara-san brought another group. "There must be something completely wrong in this school if all of students here hate their school." Bou-san said in tired voice. "Especially… how they treat their students."

I glanced at him, "I have heard of school timing toilet breaks… nowadays a lot of school enforced unreasonable discipline on students. Ryokuryo is one of those schools…"

Naru turned to me, "Mai… what's your purpose to ask about Sakauchi-kun's suicide note?"

Bou-san nodded in agreement with Naru. "Yeah… no offense Jou-chan but it's creepy how every times you asked none of them get weirded out with 'I am not a dog' and admitted 'I think so too' to us. I mean… they're agreeing with someone who had committed a suicide!"

I glanced at them briefly before jotting down my own notes on psychology of students of Ryokuryo High School. "It's part of investigation… well, I can say more or less I get the thought process of student body in this school."

Bou-san sighed at that, "Well… looking at how they follows dress codes and other regulation to the letter, and we have seen a lot of students… I didn't see even one bleached head here."

Naru and I resisted our urge to roll our eyes, "Uhm… just so you know, nowadays bleaching hair is not as novel as it was in your era."

"Geez Mai, how old do you think I am?" The Monk wondered in annoyed tone.

I snorted at him, "I am just joking… and I get what you're getting at, you are talking about how the teachers run their school."

He nodded, sighing exasperatedly. "They act like they're running a boot camp, not a high school."

"Yeah," I said, "you're right…" Bou-san was always sharp at this kind of thing among our coworkers. "They don't listen to their students… in fact they almost ignore most of basic right of their students." I stated bluntly. "It's a very stressful environment even without supernatural activities mixed in… "

Naru cleared his throat, "That aside… don't you find it strange appearance of Sakauchi-kun's spirit is the only activity that's not bound by location? So far all activities are restricted in one room…"

I nodded at him, "I think so too… actually spirits in this place feels weird too."

Naru frowned at me, "Weird how?"

"Well… they feel alike with summoned evil spirits in Yuasa." I ignored Bou-san's wailing in the background. "In similar… but not the same variety." It was hard to describe it.

"Not again…" Bou-san moaned, "So is this another curse again? Should we look for the hexer then?"

Naru glared disapprovingly at the Monk. "No one said anything yet on hunting a hexer, idiot…" Bou-san sputtered, "Did you listen to what Mai said? It's similar but not the same… so now we can assume a possibility this case is like Yuasa… is a situation made by a human."

I sighed loudly, "And also… even if we assume there is a hexer, this time all students share the same opinion on their school… if anything rather than cursing this school I think someone like Yasuhara-san will have better chane of success if he plot a riot against Matsuyama... or better just kidnap Matsuyama and dump him to Aokigahara."

Silence…

"Mai-chan… Don't mention it to anyone in this school please." Bou-san pleaded. "I have a feeling these stressed students won't think straight and did it in desperation."

Naru turned to me, "Why Matsuyama and not the principal?"

"Naru-bou!" Bou-san hissed at him. "That's not the part you should be concerned about!"

Trust Naru to sense something significant to my ridiculous sounding statement. "Actually… how to explain this, looking at Yasuhara-san's behaviour around principal and Matsuyama… the principal at least…"

"Yasu, you are one of our best students.
I trust you're on top of things."

"The principal at least acknowledge a reliable and talented student Yasuhara-san was... but Matsuyama… it seems to him even Yasuhara-san who is the top student of his class and a president of student council is not good enough." I closed my eyes briefly. "If we spread voting paper on which teacher you want to get rid of from Ryokuryo I bet he will be in first place."

Bou-san shivered, "Again Jou-chan… can you please don't spout scary ideas in this school? Around Yasuhara especially…" He had a feeling that boy could pull off everything Mai suggested with proper motivation.

Knock
Knock
Knock

"Come in." Naru said.

Speaking of the devil… Yasuhara came in and with him were six students from his class. It was the last case to be interviewed on today, mass poisoning. He sat on the chair with them, indicating he was involved.

"So… Yasuhara-san was also one of the victims?"

Yasuhara smiled at Naru's question. "Yes. I am also one of the 'students with weak constitutions'. Whatever the question, fire away!" He beamed at us.

I smiled back at him, sensing the sarcasm. He was referring to the quote of their teacher on newspaper.

"We believe that students with weak constitutions were brought down for some reason".

A foolish attempt to rationalize the incident, even without my intuition I could tell none of these students had weak constitutions. They were all as healthy as a horse.

Naru's expression momentarily softened, he must have sensed their frustration. "I see…"

Without further delay I began. "Very well… Yasuhara-san, then let us hear the details of ah 'Mass poisoning' that affect all of you with 'weak constitutions' and by the way… I can see all of you now are as healthy as a horse, do recommend the supplement you take to us after this interview."

Just like that their stiffness melted away and they laughed at the joke. Yasuhara grinned at me approvingly, flashing his glasses in a fashion that reminded me of Shouichi. "Perhaps you already know from reading the newspapers, the incident occurred on the 18th of December, Monday, at 2pm in the middle of class."

My… he was straight to the point and easily understood, he deserved his top student position for sure.

"Nearly half the class collapsed, to be precise there were 19 persons." He reported and I knew this interview would go on smoothly even if I didn't ask anything and let Yasuhara-san to lead the show.

"At the beginning of class I… or rather majority of our class felt there is something wrong with the air… strong stench we couldn't tell where it come from. There was already a male student who felt nauseous..."

He gestured towards his right, where a male student wearing glasses and plump nose sat. "And like any sick student he raised his hand to excuse himself…" Yasuhara-san went on, narrating what happened back then.

The student who got sick first, or rather admitting feeling sick first didn't get permission to leave the class. In fact the teacher insisted them to hold it in and even after many hands followed rising with the same reason, the teacher waived it off as them slacking too much.

The boy who first raised his hand added, "I was on the verge of vomiting… I am sweating and pale too." The others nodded in agreement and told us how instead of getting worried their homeroom teacher accused them for lying and messing with him. And how he also ignored the fact most if not all of his students were covering their nose and mouth since the start of their lesson.

Inwardly I wondered if these students would get killed by their teacher's ignorance first before the spirits got them. If the poisoning was life threatening, someone would have ended up dead.

"So I left the class on my own accord." He admitted sheepishly, "I'd rather get a detention than displaying the content of my stomach in class."

No one could blame him for that choice.

Yasuhara sighed, "And then I was told to bring him back." He glanced at his classmate. "Although I fully intended to pretend and let Takei to reach toilet first before bringing him back…"

Takei laughed at him. "Unfortunately… Yasuhara fell too."

He nodded at that, "And only after I was on the verge of collapsing we're allowed to leave our class…" Then he continued, "We opened the windows but it didn't help."

I resisted my urge to not ask why the hell the school didn't try to move them somewhere else. "Do you know what could cause such smell?"

Yasuhara-san shook his head, "No… we tried to find the source but no luck, and also… I have experienced food poisoning so I knew how it felt and it's different from this case…" Not to mention these students weren't eating the same food beforehand, it was morning and all of them ate breakfast at their house.

"Furthermore, the school uses air conditioning, hence eliminating the possibility of a gas leak."

"Does this stench persist in the classroom?" Naru asked, his eyes narrowed in apprehension.

Yasuhara nodded. "Yes."

I frowned at that, "And… you guys didn't try to move somewhere else to study?"

He shrugged, "We tried to ask for relocation… but rejected. And soon we are all numb to it…"

It was amazing you guys just dealt with your teachers' stubbornness, I applauded you all… then again I didn't fare better against Reborn myself but my mentor in spite of his Spartan sadism never trouble us because of his sheer stubbornness and pride.

Yasuhara smiled sheepishly, "We still can tell the odor persists because whenever students from other classes visit our classroom, they would all ask, 'what's this smell?' He quoted. "And there are times when the smell would suddenly become overwhelming. After that incident, there were also instances when the teacher first felt unwell…"

Served them right… it was a relief to know they suffered too.

"At that time everyone evacuated the classroom… we're really scared although only the teacher went to the sickbay."

So they were even frailer than their own student. How pathetic… "So you guys are more resilient than your teachers."

Yasuhara and his friends grinned, "In this school, you have to be!" We laughed at 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." Yasuhara recounted.

"Were there any victims?" Naru asked again.

Yasuhara shook his head. "No… actually at first I did not believe this was a supernatural phenomenon. Our classroom is on the first floor; below... I mean what was further beneath, that is, in the stratum there is a pool of bad gas, was what I hypothesized to be the reason... however…"

Then I sensed one of the students shifted the one who sat on the other side of Yasuhara-san. I turned towards the boy, focusing on him and oblivious of how Yasuhara-san paused at my behaviour before he continued.

"Eda…" The boy nodded. "However, Eda... He would scatter salt whenever the stench grew strong. After doing so the foul smell would suddenly vanish." He nodded to himself, "So we think… What the heck, if it was explained as a natural phenomenon… that would be really weird."

Naru looked at the male student called Eda.

"Why did you scatter salt?"

Eda shrugged, "That, because don't they say that salt is cleansing? We throw salt when we return from funerals and other stuff. So I thought we could try it in school to see if it worked. After scattering the salt the stench disappeared instantly." He explained his logic.

Yasuhara nodded, "And that's how we started to think… what's wrong with our school is not because of something natural."

Naru's pale fingers lightly rapped the table. "I see…"

I pressed on, "Hm… then if anything come up to you on why these supernatural incidents started in your school?"

Yasuhara's group tilted their heads in thought. "I don't know… Nothing comes up to mind." They answered us.

"Then… when did you first notice the strange things happening here?" Naru turned to the president. "Yasuhara-san?"

Yasuhara paused slightly to think. "I started thinking 'there is definitely something wrong here' first when a lot of students didn't go to their class." The LL classroom victims…

I narrowed my eyes, he was recalling something and I gave him a push. "Then… when did you start to think 'there is something amiss around here' or something along that line?"

His eyes widened. "Oh, I had started feeling something was amiss around the period of the cultural festival..."

"The details are?" It was Naru this time who pressed on.

"Increasing horror stories in our rumour grapevine…" Yasuhara answered firmly, "You know, how it's normal to hear seven mysteries in any school, but… anyone would feel uneasy when seven stories multiplied by three in span of few months… and it persist instead of disappearing."

Yasuhara looked very serious.

I laced my fingers in thoughtful pose. "Was there any students behave strangely in duration of cultural festival then?"

He nodded, "To be exact in preparation stage… it's normal for us to remain in school until late, right? It's one event we're looking forward." No wonder in a school like this. "However… unlike previous years, majority of students became very reluctant to stay back… the girls especially."

So… we could assume whatever started this string of supernatural incidents happened before culture festival. "Thank you very much… you guys are very helpful." Then I gestured towards the form and the table, the guys were less enthusiastic on writing down story, but they were devoted in saving their school life.

"As for Yasuhara-san…"

"Hai?"

"This group is the last and if you don't mind, we would like to see your class." I informed him.

Yasuhara-san looked enthusiastic with the idea, "Sure!"

Room 3-1 (Naru's POV)

Once the door opened, a weak smell was slammed into my senses. It was stench of something rotten. Yasuhara was the first who entered the classroom, and turned to look at us. "I practically can't smell the stench anymore, what about you guys?"

I nodded, "It's not a very strong smell, but there definitely is an odour."

Bou-san disagreed, "How can I put it…" Monk said, his voice pitched because he was pinching his nose. "It smells like a fish that's been left out in the sun to rot for a couple days." He answered Yasuhara's question before bolting to the window and opened it.

Yasuhara frowned, and I noticed Mai didn't come inside the room. "Sawada-san?"

"Mai?" I called her; she was leaning on the wall beside the door. "Why didn't you come inside?"

She sighed wearily, "I will but…" She craned her neck at confused Yasuhara-san. "Please be discreet, since some of your classmates are still inside… Bou-san too, please be quiet."

We were confused at first but it didn't take long for us to understand when Mai stepped inside the classroom, frowning and then stepped aside as if to allow something to pass her.

The stench disappeared suddenly.

Bou-san almost commented on that and Mai quickly covered his mouth. "I told you to be quiet!" She hissed at him.

I sighed at her, "So… this is why you don't want to come in." She repelled the spirit; or rather… she scared them off.

She nodded, "Yes… only if I am in the same room though."

Yasuhara-san looked torn between asking and keeping it quiet as Mai asked. "Uhm… at any rate…" He cleared his throat, and without asking for explanation went on as if the stench still existed. He was sharp. "The whole classroom stinks so we can't find the source…"

Mai stepped closer to me and whispered, "Whatever escaped from here didn't go far… it can't leave the school. Most likely it will stink another room…"

"At least now we know you can't set camera… and after this, can you find the spirit that escaped this room?" I asked her.

She nodded, "It would be no problem… I think I will chase it around a little until it goes to unoccupied room."

I snorted at that, it was so Mai to try scaring spirit to somewhere harmless. I scanned the room. Touching each table, and reading history contained within. 'Gene…'

'…Yes… Noll…'

He was awake but he sounded very sleepy, 'Never mind, sleep some more… we will call you again tonight.'

'Yes… alright… I will sleep…'

He had warned me that in the first few days it was easy to stay awake for him but there would be a period he needed sleep longer before stabilizing our link. I focused my mind back to my task, brushing against the table. Then I saw a flash of vision, of a group of girls sitting around this table and…

"Naru?" Mai called me.

I was suddenly stilled because of the vision so no wonder she noticed something was amiss with me. "Have you been doing anything here?" I asked, already knowing the answer to my own question.

"Um, I'm not sure I know what you mean," Yasuhara said.

My eyes landed on two girls who stood at the front of the classroom. They were in my vision. "Something like séances, perhaps?"

At my question Mai checked the desk herself, she stared long and hard at it before touching it herself. Then she stilled, "It's very weak… but there is some sort of taint in here." She whispered softly.

A taint? Something foul…

"Did he mean Orikiri-sama?" The girl whispered to her friend.

"Baka," the other girl with shorter hair denied, "After all, it's just…"

If they thought they were being discreet, their whispering was obvious enough to tell they were talking about something significant in respond to my question. Mai frowned at them, "Orikiri-sama?"

"You could hear them?"

"I read her lips."

Why I was not surprised Mai could read lips?

Mai frowned disapprovingly at Yasuhara. "Well… Yasuhara-san, what is this Orikiri-sama?"

Obviously Yasuhara knew and forgot mentioning it; he had grace to look guilty though. "Recently... starting from around beginning of second semester a popular game called Orikiri-sama was introduced in our school."

"Oh!" The girl who was whispering, the one with longer hair exclaimed. "I've got one here." She pulled something out of her pocket. "It hasn't been used yet."

Neither I nor Mai didn't notice how odd they phrased that, "Is that some sort of Kokkuri-san?" Mai wondered, "What did she mean by 'not used' yet?"

Bou-san took the paper and examined it, judging from his shocked face we could guess our hunch was correct. "Gah! Isn't this Kokkuri-san?!"

Strangely instead of admitting doing a séance the girls didn't look guilty, they protested. "No! Kokkuri-san will summon Kitsune, right? I've heard that Kokkuri-san is very dangerous, and shouldn't be done casually."

They got that part right at least.

"Orikiri-sama is summoning a god. It is very accurate in predicting love matches and helps you find true love and stuff!" She explained.

Mai face-palmed, "True love she said…"

"Idiots…" We let Bou-san scolding them sternly, crushing the paper. I was not in the mood to explain how Gongen-sama, Tarou-san, Hitofude-sama, Cupid-san, and what else Japanese came up with were all aliases for Kokkuri-san. They were all the same, séance that could go wrong when done by amateurs.

"At least now we know the culprits." Mai said in resigned voice.

Our own clients… great.

"Summoning a spirit can be done by anybody, but to send a spirit back needs practice. Don't do it anymore." Bou-san hollered indignantly, and we let him because by right a Monk like him had all the right to get angry for reckless séance.

Especially, since he was the one who was going to clean up their mess.

"But... everyone says that if it is Orikiri-sama then it isn't frightening, and it does not matter..." They still tried to deny it.

Mai rubbed her temple. "This is going to be even more painful than we thought."

Bou-san was enraged, "That's bullshit. It's because you all do this type of stupid thing that these strange disturbances occur!"

"But! Orikiri-sama is very popular throughout the school!"

Mai nodded at that, "Yeah… I could sense how popular judging with how crowded this school is." She grumbled under her breath sarcastically. "And Naru… Don't bother to ask how popular."

Bou-san who was still lecturing the girls groaned, "Gah! You guys are so lucky your school is still standing!"

Judging from her look, Mai agreed with Bou-san. Then she sighed loudly, "I am almost afraid to ask… but I guess we should."

I dreaded the same thing, "Amongst those present here…" I began reluctantly, "Is there anyone who has not done it?"

Including Yasuhara, not a single person raised his hand.

"I know we will regret asking." Mai told me the obvious. "Should we distribute a survey on this and face a statistical nightmare?"

This was one of those situations, in which you knew you would regret asking but you had to ask. "Your estimation?"

"We will have easier time counting those who didn't do this Orikiri-sama." She told me bluntly. "By the way… I have another startling realization."

"Hm?"

"There is no spirit in any room reserved for faculty members in this school I think... the principal room, and the registration on the front door too… they're clean." Mai closed her eyes; a pained expression marred her face.

Because no student had ever done this séance inside, so it was safe to assume this Orikiri-sama was indeed the source of supernatural incidents. I should have known there was something odd with how none of those rooms was affected.

On the background Bou-san let out a croaking sound of frustration. "All of you! Burn those accursed papers down!"

Great, one of our best spiritualists had blown up on the first day and I couldn't blame him.

SPR Base (3rd POV)

Considering the scale of this case, SPR team decided to take advantage of technology, and published an online poll on Orikiri-sama. Tojo already prepared a beta website that could only accessed by students of Ryokuryo-with their name and student id- and Yasuhara had spread the information around for them. Of course they also warned the students to keep it a secret from faculty members, because obviously something like online forum wouldn't be approved.

The result came in very quickly, in less than two hours.

Total students who had signed in and voted: 286
Numbers of students who had tried Orikiri-sama: 263
Numbers of students who had not tried Orikiri-sama: 23

"…"

"… As you predicted… What a statistical nightmare indeed." Naru commented, looking at ominous red chart that indicated students who had done Orikiri-sama.

Mai nodded numbly, "Small part of me was still hoping we can get 70-30 or at least 80-20… but this…"

The number of students who had not was less than 10% and only half of population had voted. Bou-san was already crying in the background when the result came in. "Hic… hic…"

"Let's just blow this school up and all the people involved." Naru suggested seriously, repeating what he said when Bou-san asked what to do to solve Yuasa case on day one.

Mai rolled her eyes, "No wonder you're Hayato's friend, but please…" Mai deadpanned, "Blowing things up doesn't alwa-" She coughed. "I mean it won't solve anything!" Mai corrected her 'almost' slip up sheepishly.

"I say, why don't we just give up and leave. In any case it is the responsibility of the students, so they should just exorcise the spirits themselves and the case would be closed." Bou-san said like a child throwing a tantrum.

Clean up your own mess, in short.

"I can't stand it. Doing Kokkuri-san and the type would call out some unmanageable spirits."

Yasuhara said "We're sorry but…"

"Right-o. I'll teach you the ways of exorcism, and you will do it."

"That..." Yasuhara seemed slightly terrified.

"Bou-san… please, you shouldn't recruit Yasuhara-san to do exorcism… you've just scolded them for amateur séance, don't drag another amateur please…"

Yasuhara-san laughed sheepishly at that.

"Beside… we're the one hired to solve this case, it would be unprofessional to make our client to solve their own problem." Mai chided him sternly. "We will get in trouble if principal and that Matsuyama thinks we're dragging their students to do nonsense as they put it." Mai pointed out logically.

"Well… I don't like them either." He whined.

Mai sighed again, "Bou-san… don't let them to bully you. Get a hold of yourself…"

He was still faking crying. "To be so blatantly treated as a conman; although that does happen quite often. It's really a difficult job to be a spiritualist…"

"If that's the case… Let's just send all of these spirits at Matsuyama!" Yasuhara suggested cheerfully.

"Oh, not a bad idea!" Bou-san was on board with the idea.

Mai cleared her throat, "I will even help you to plot Matsuyama's suffering but do it after this case is over please…" She was not rejecting the idea obviously. "At any rate Yasuhara-kun, is it alright with you?"

"What?"

Mai elaborated, "Helping us investigating, Matsuyama would be unpleasant to you for sure."

"No worries... I am a top student of this school!" He assured them with a beaming smile. "He said a lot in the past but since I wrote that my goal was to enter the Literature and Economics Department, he suddenly stopped criticizing me. People who abuse their power are weak in the face of power."

Bou-san grinned at Mai, "In that case…"

Mai harrumphed, "I am not interested in showing up a monkey their place."

Yasuhara looked very interested on that. "Hm… are you someone who people like Matsuyama would consider as elite folks, Sawada-san? You study at Shuutoku and have special permission to take leave for a job like this after all."

Mai smiled at him, "You can say that…" Then she turned towards Naru who was staring motionlessly out of the window. Most likely he was checking Gene's condition. "Naru… what is it?"

"I'm just a little concerned." He answered.

"Concerned? What about…?" Bou-san asked curiously.

"As Matsuyama mentioned, the Japan of today appears to have popularized the occult." Naru said, crossing his arms.

"So it appears. So what?"

"Within Japan, the schools where Kokkuri-san is popular, how many do you think there are?"

Mai narrowed her eyes at him, "Why would such strange things only always happen in Ryokuryou High School?" Mai said in a tone that sounded like she recited it from somewhere. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

Naru at this point was unperturbed with how good Mai was at reading him. "Amateur does not always succeed in summoning a spirit even if they try. In other words, the number of successes is very low…" He looked at the board, where they had pinned numerous incidents recorded. "However… let's say Orikiri-sama manage to summon a strong wandering spirit… but the damage we have seen so far suggest it's not just one or two, the numbers are also abnormal."

Mai looked thoughtful, "Hm… Would Kokkuri-san really summon spirits?"

"That should be, if it was a spiritualist… psychics." Bou-san answered her question. "If amateur did it… there is a chance but so low, it's like playing lottery." Looking at her thoughtful look Bou-san added, "Well… Jou-chan who never plays Kokkuri-san wouldn't…"

Mai laughed at that, "To tell the truth... I have done Kokkuri-san before."

At her careless statement even Naru was looking at her bewilderedly, "You did?"

She nodded. "I know… you're going to say it's pointless for me."

Yasuhara looked confused, "Uhm… excuse me, but is it something to do with how the stench in my class disappear suddenly when you came in Sawada-san?"

Mai blinked at him, "Hm… yes."

"So you're not normal people hm…" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Are you some sort of holy maiden that drive spirit away?"

Silence…

"No, I am not." Mai refuted the idea quickly. "Just think of how cats in general hate citrus smell and will avoid it…"

"So… you're a spirit repellent?"

Mai's left eyebrow twitched, "Whatever… back to Kokkuri-san I did try it for the heck of it and of course I already know… nothing will come even if I try a proper séance anyway…"

"Then why did you do it?" Bou-san asked curiously.

Mai's eyes gleamed, "I just want to scare my brother, ha ha ha~"

Naru sweat-dropped, 'Again… I didn't get their dynamic as siblings, she loves her brother but she scares him with séance and haunted house just to see his reaction. And the most ridiculous fact is…'

Technically Sawada Tsunayoshi had nothing to fear from supernatural entities, they were scared of him. Lin's shiki even flee from him and left their master.

"So… since no spirit came, I wonder… the 10 yen coin moved, and really correctly predicted a lot of things. How would you explain that?" She wondered out loud. "Is it because some bodily reaction?"

Naru shrugged. "You're right… but why don't you try it? Try placing your finger on the table. Like when playing Kokkuri-san…"

She placed her forefinger on the table, at first she stayed still but then her finger started to shake. "Hoo…"

"The human body is just like that." Naru told her. "When there are many people doing that together, under the influence of each person's shaking, the coin moved. Everyone is moving unconsciously. Because the movement is unconscious that's why the resulting movement seems mysterious…"

Mai smiled at that, "And then… human being human think something like~ 'it'd be great if the coin moved', right? Then… People would also think, 'if the answers to the questions were correct, that would be more interesting."

Naru nodded at her, she was better at predicting how human's mind work than him.

"After listening to your speech, based on what you say, neither Naru-bou nor Jou-chan believe in Kokkuri-san."

"Perhaps... Personally I don't believe in Kokkuri-san…" Naru closed his eyes, "To me spirits… the only things they know more than living human are 'death' and 'the world after death'." He glanced at Mai. "It's something your medium family members know better than anyone I am sure…"

In Naru's case, Gene had confirmed this to him.

Mai nodded, "They wouldn't know… in fact it's not rare for spirits to forget a lot of things from their life, it doesn't make sense if they can answer things like love life, future and what else…"

'If spirits are all knowing… I who have eight spirits/avatars of my ancestors with me wouldn't have this much trouble figuring out my problem.' She thought to herself.

"Especially future, it's a fickle thing after all."

Bou-san raised his hand, "So… did a seer like Yuni-chan can tell-" Love fortune.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Bou-san." Mai warned him with murderous glare, "In fact don't even think about it, if you say that around the wrong people you will regret the day you were born."

Bou-san gulped.

Naru sighed; clearing his throat as he restlessly ruffled the mountain of notes. "Summoning a spirit is similar to adjusting the frequency of a radio… for this abnormal number to gather…"

Mai hummed at that, "Oh well… let's just deal with it. Beside I have a feeling that the worst thing that ever happened in this school is still Matsuyama… somehow I feel better when thinking it's all… his fault!" Mai looked oddly satisfied about it.

Yasuhara laughed at that, "Maybe you're right about that, Sawada-san!"

Naru narrowed his eyes, Mai sounded like she was joking. However… recalling what she said carelessly before Yuasa and what happened afterward… Mai was about to jinx them unintentionally again most likely.

1st Night (Mai's POV)

I resisted my urge to roll my eyes as Ayako went on ranting about our sleeping arrangement, "Yes… there is no hotel Ayako-san, it can't be helped."

It was exactly such a situation. As this place is very far from Tokyo, we had asked the school to arrange for lodgings for us. Despite that, the school's side only prepared a workroom and two rooms the size of six tatamis for us.

Back to Ayako-san and her protest… "You mean to tell me I rode three hours in the backseat of Lin's car and now I have to sleep in a room with a busted heater for the entire investigation!?"

I narrowed my eyes at her and she quieted down in instance, I didn't have much patience today after everything that happened. Matsuyama… Orikiri-sama, statistical nightmare… Matsuyama… "Ayako-san… please be quiet, have some patience!" I snapped, "I would have tried to get our modular base we used in Kokuyo but our client won't allow it."

In fact we were subjected by a lot of rules and it got on my nerve. "Beside… compared to us girls, three peoples in one six tatami mat room… the guys have to deal sharing room of the same size… Four of them..."

Tojo and Shima had volunteered sleeping on the base.

"Ugh…" She must be imagining how cramped that would be.

Actually for me who had slept in hard ground during my training this arrangement was so much better. "In fact… I don't mind sleeping somewhere else; I could camp outside like in rooftop..." The cold of January won't bother me much.

"Mai!" That was Naru, so he was paying attention.

I rolled my eyes, "What? I don't mind!"

Ayako hugged me suddenly, "Sorry Mai… it's just, three hours with Lin in closed space…" She shuddered, "Being cooped up in a car with Lin for three hours... A man, who seems to pride himself in not uttering a single word to his passengers," She shuddered again.

"It's addling my mind…" Then she added. "Actually… please sleep with me, you're very warm. I won't complain as long as you let me hug you…"

Three hours of silence was something that would drive people like Ayako-san mad for sure. Her reason was pretty reasonable to me at least.

I sighed, "Your request to use me as body pillow aside…" I knew I was warmer than normal human because of my flame but that was no excuse to use me as human heater.

"I am sorry too… it's been a hard day, we have difficult clients… complains piling up endlessly and not to mention…" I glanced at Lin-san then at…

Lin-san for once didn't look indifferent at us. "I am sorry Sawada-san…" He said apologetically.

Ayako let go of me, she looked confused. "Hm? What's wrong?"

I sighed, "Lin-san's shiki…" I rubbed my temple, "It's fine Lin-san… your shiki just find it fascinating, I mean… they're like hey~ the scary girl is not so scary today, why is that?" I rolled my eyes at Lin-san's familiars I sensed were circling me curiously, they were driving me nuts with how they were flying in circle around my head.

Lin-san whistled, calling them back.

Three returned to him obediently but the last two… they still didn't leave me yet. One of them in fact was touching my forehead and another approached me from behind. I reacted instantly, my hand shot up on reflex because the shikigami approached my vulnerable side.

WHAM!

I scared them and they flew back towards their owner, slamming Lin-san to the wall in their haste. "Ah…"

"Lin-san!" Toujo and Shima called him in worry. "Are you alright?"

He groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Ugh… I think so."

I was about to walk towards him, "Lin-san! I am so sor-"

Naru pulled me back by my arms, pulling me flush against his front body. "Idiot… you're going to scare Lin's shiki again."

I blushed at my mistake, "Right… I forgot."

I was so focused on my mishap I didn't notice 'eureka' look on Yasuhara-san's face and his 'Hooo~' at me and Naru.

Naru let me go, trusting that I won't approach Lin-san carelessly again and leave tending Lin-san-who had a bump on his head now- to Tojo and Shima. "Anyway the number of sightings is really too large and our equipment and resources are a little lacking." Naru said, looking highly dissatisfied.

"Tomorrow we will have Hara-san do an inspection for spirits, and confirm the presence of the spirits. If there are spirits, we will have the Monk, Matsuzaki-san, and John conduct exorcisms. Lin-san and I will investigate the more suspicious locations."

They nodded their affirmation.

"As for Mai… how about your search on spirit from Yasuhara-san's classroom you scared of?"

Ah… I had not reported that because Ayako's complaining and Lin-san's shiki bothering me. "About that… I followed it to North block…"

Ryokuryou High School's compound is shaped like the character "コ", to the north is the gymnasium; the staff rooms and student canteen are adjacent to each other in the North Block; turning a corner is the East Block consisting special classrooms; turning another corner is the South Block with normal classrooms. A turn away from the South Block is the West Block. It is a 3 level facility with only classrooms.

"Then suddenly it disappeared." I told him.

He frowned at that, "Disappeared?"

I nodded, "It's just… gone from my detection… which is strange, and I made sure I was far enough to not spook it. The first time, I thought maybe it's just me but then on my way back to the base… I sensed more of them disappeared… "

"They're not running away from you, were they?"

I shook my head, "Disappeared not fleeing… the seal is working, and as long as I didn't enter the room they won't flee."

Bou-san chimed in, "Is that mean if we leave them alone they will disappear on their own?"

"Don't even think to slack off unless you want to see which is going down first, the spirits or this school… and as you can see the latter is losing." Naru informed him, dashing his hope for painless solution.

Bou-san whined again. "Jou-chan~"

I smiled at him sympathetically, "Fight… Bou-san."

"I had always thought spiritualists are much darker and deeper people." Yasuhara-san chimed in.

I almost forgot he was still here, "Oh yes, Yasuhara-kun, don't you have to go home?"

"En, don't judge me by my looks, I think I am capable of the basic chores and errands. Right now I am thinking of staying to help out." Yasuhara said, smiling.

The monk's expression twisted in disgust. Perhaps he was imagining a scenario of 5 men squeezed into 6 tatamis. Guys were strange like that, girls had no problem squeezing to tight space together.

"Please don't worry; I have borrowed a sleeping bag." He assured the monk. Yasuhara was tough and determined for sure.

"Yasuhara-kun." Naru's tone was severe. "I really appreciate your offer to stay back to help, but it is better if you did not stay over. It is very dangerous at night in haunted site."

He was not deterred, "Definitely, if you feel I am getting in your way, please tell me, and I will go home."

A glimpse of a smile appeared on Naru's lips. "If that's the case… Do you have confidence in your strength?" In short in Naru-nese, would you mind to be our gopher?

Yasuhara didn't seem perturbed by the subtle challenge. "Please leave it to me." He beamed.

Naru nodded, and then said, "Then, Lin and Tojo, go and move the equipment." Then he corrected, "Mai… go with them, but make sure you-"

"Don't go inside the room…" I finished, sighing in resignation.

"Tojo… instruct Yasuhara-san." Naru ordered.

"Hai."

Half an hour later~

"It's really incredible. The modern day spiritualist makes use of this type of equipment!" Yasuhara like any boy his age who saw high tech equipment went wide eyed like a kid in toy shop.

On second thought… only boys like Shouichi and Spanner would, Yasuhara would fit right in with them. "SPR is a research company, so we're using scientific method to investigate paranormal activities... so of course these amazing pieces of technology are involved." Yasuhara and I were going to the Chemistry Lab where footsteps were heard to install a microphone.

He hummed at that, "To tell the truth, I thought spiritualist would look and feel more dangerous, they would raise their hands and chant incantations."

"Bou-san is a monk so he did chant Buddhist scripture. Other co-worker of ours that would arrive later also consists of spiritualist who uses traditional method. While some of us in SPR are psychics. It would be more apt to call us ghost hunters…" I informed him; not lying at all on the fact Naru was a psychic but not specific enough either.

"But… Sawada-san, you're a psychic too, right?" He asked curiously.

I shrugged, "Well… I am in SPR to learn more, according to our director I am categorized to ESP user."

"Are you a clairvoyant?"

"A variation of clairvoyant perhaps… I have a very good intuition." I told him vaguely in cheerful tone, masking my discretion in the same time.

Yasuhara hummed at that as he entered the Lab. Yasuhara followed Tojo to the lab and my subordinate instructed him in how to install our recorder. "Like this…"

I was staying outside as I waited them to finish, it didn't take long and once they were out I continued. "So is Shibuya-san a psychic too?"

"If you ask Naru he will say he's just a ghost hunter." I was quoting Naru's blatant lie, but not lying myself.

"Ghost hunter, that's one interesting profession." He commented.

I perked up, "That's rare… Normally one wouldn't know this type of thing and ask... have you done a research on ghost hunting because of what happened here?" I asked.

Yasuhara's expression became unreadable for a moment, mixed emotion to be exact. He looked sad, melancholic and solemn. "We talked about it…"

Not discussing?

"Sakauchi, not long after enrolment he wrote this in the survey of his aspirations. He said he wished to become a ghost hunter in the future. Perhaps it's a joke but…"

I turned my face away, glancing to the side to observe Yasuhara from the corner of my eyes. "I noticed his death is such a blow to student population… even those who didn't know him personally at all when he was alive. Is it because he wrote what all of you are thinking about your school?"

Yasuhara looked pained. "You see… since the founding of this school, he is the first student to commit suicide. I can't help but feel… we shouldn't keep quiet. We pass each other in the same school, spend half the day in the same space, and might have unknowingly brushed pass each other in some corridor. If it was fated, we might have become friends. That's what I think…"

Ah… so their deep feeling for him was not mere sympathy, in their mind they thought. 'It could be me in his shoes.'

"I see…" I stopped on my track and turned around.

"Sawada-san?"

"Hime?"

I put a finger on my lips, shushing them. "Shh…" I looked at the darkness behind us, the corridor was very dark but I could sense something was watching us.

Then it vanished… no, more like it was walking away from us.

"It's gone now…" I said before turning around and continued to walk towards our original destination. "Well, let's see…. Next is the gym where people have been hearing cats meowing…" To be honest this place was not a priority because a meowing cat was not dangerous, but it piqued Naru's interest.

Yasuhara-san followed me with stunned look, "Just now… something was there?"

"Yep."

He shuddered. "That's scary…"

"Actually Yasuhara-san… the whole school is haunted." I informed him; the room he entered just now also got something inside. "Let's get this over with…"

"By the way Oyakata…"

I frowned at the title, "Oyakata?" I echoed him, annoyance sipping to my voice as certain blond Oyakata-sama popped on my mind.

He flailed a little, "Sorry, did I offend you somehow with that title? I mean… I am a disciple in your standpoint so…"

Another face popped up in mind, this time certain blue eyed boy who talked in ancient accent. My frown got deeper.

"I am joking!" He looked genuinely scared of me.

I smiled apologetically at him, "It's… fine. I am not offended, it's just… that title remind me of someone annoying so I just…"

"Oh!" He looked relieved. "So… should I call you… Boss instead?"

That was too close to home.

I laughed sheepishly, "That should be Naru."

"Nah~ You're the boss, let Shibuya-san be our Big Boss!"

I burst to laughter at the thought of Naru as a big bad boss. I didn't miss the irony that Yasuhara didn't notice he was talking to a real mafia boss.

Then suddenly I felt a strange pull and the last thing I heard was Yasuhara and Tojo calling me. Then the next thing I knew I was walking out of darkness… no I was walking in the school at night. Dark classrooms; dark corridors. There was not a soul in sight; it was a completely silent school compound. I did not know where I was. It was pitch black.

"Gene!" I called out.

Then suddenly my intuition urged me to run and I found a door in front of me. A cool breeze blew. It was the rooftop of building across the main school block then… Scanning the roof, I saw a figure at one side.

"Who's there?" I asked to that figure, and he turned his head towards me.

It was a male around my age. He was not tall, and looked almost frail. He glanced at me with his lifeless eyes; before he turned his attention back at the main building, his arms crossed on the railing.

I was about to ask again when I sensed familiar presence behind me and a warm hand on my shoulder. "Gene…"

Naru's twin smiled at me, it didn't feel weird anymore now to me to see face so similar with Naru's smiling so openly and warmly. "That boy… he is already dead."

I nodded at him and it didn't take long for me to figure out what was going on here. So I placed my hand on top of his and we approached the boy, hand in hand. "What are you doing?" I asked him as we walked to his side.

He whispered in reply. "I'm looking…"

We followed his line of sight and looked. He continued to stare unmoving at the main school building. For some time, the three of us, together, stared at the school building.

Dark, black windows… We could see something white floating within them. White glowing orbs passing through the windows and floated around. They appeared weightless; and it gave off eerie beauty. It was like snow falling upside down, back to the sky.

Then it midst of the reversed snow, bluish orbs leaving thin trails behind appeared. Unlike the snow it didn't go up but flying around freely around the school.

"Hitodama." Gene told me then he turned towards the boy. "Why you're laughing? There is nothing…" He paused. "Ah…"

I turned to see the boy myself, "This spirit is recalling a specific memory in his life… he is amused by this…" Definitely not lucid and unstable one, this spirit...

Gene approached the boy closer and asked him. "Do you know what are they?" He asked the boy gently, pointing at the floating hitodama around us.

"I'm very happy." He didn't answer Gene.

"Happy?" Gene echoed. "Do you know what are they?" He repeated his question and I let Gene in charge, he was more experienced in questioning spirits.

"Of course I do," he laughed. "That's why it's so fun!" He said that but his smile didn't reach his dead eyes. "Extremely happy..."

Gene smiled sadly at him, "Is that so?"

"This boy…" I leaned against the railing. "Not dangerous but he is pretty delirious."

The older Davis twin glanced at me, his sad smile persist. "This is common for spirit of people who killed themselves… they tend to be mentally unstable even if they have just passed away recently."

The boy was still snickering at the eerie sight before us.

I looked at the boy in resignation, "Ah… so this is, Sakauchi-kun?"

Gene nodded, "He is… should I perform purification now?"

Suddenly his expression was hidden by a dark shadow. He looked steadily at us, lips parting. "No way…" He was smiling. The corners of his lips rose. It was a sinister smile. "I'm extremely happy. There is no feeling better than this."

I palmed my face in exasperation. "Gene… try to talk to him, if it helps… general population of students sympathize with his plea. They understand him… it seems he is involved in this case." Try to get info from him although… Gene was in for a hard time judging at how delirious this spirit seemed to be.

Gene turned towards Sakauchi and said, "You see Sakauchi-kun, you're not alone… your schoolmates… even those who didn't know you personally understand your feeling… so can you tell us what do you know? We need to help your friends…"

He started to tremble in shock, "I didn't mean to! Sorry! Sorry… so sorry!" His mood shifted and he was crying now. He slid down, kneeling as holding the railing of the rooftop tightly… "I am so sorry everyone!"

He was banging the railing with his fist now and the metal fence shook noisily.

Gene winced, "I am sorry Mai… it's hard to choose the right question when it comes to delirious spirit like Sakauchi-kun."

I sighed, looking at shaken boy before us.

The elder Davis twin was as exasperated as me, "Well… we confirm one thing at least…" This boy was consumed by guilt… could it be why he killed himself was not because hard school life but guilt?

"Gene… How should we deal with him?" Sakauchi didn't seem to notice our presence anymore now. "It seems you can't convince him to move on like this."

He agreed with me, nodding. "We should wait for him to calm down… this will take a while, and by the way…" He winced, rubbing his ears. "Noll is getting noisy."

Then I heard it… Naru was cursing through our psychic link. "Wow… I know he has extensive vocabulary but I didn't realize he can curse too." He was pretty original although the part calling Gene 'Idiot Medium' wasn't. I didn't hear him talking, more like an echo from a distance in my mind.

"You can hear him?" Gene was surprised by the revelation.

"Not too clear though…" I sighed, stretching my arms as I looked at the broken boy before us. "Gene… if it's not too much trouble for you, can you keep an eye on him? I will deal with Naru…" I chuckled softly. "It seems he is worried sick for us." I could sense it from his voice.

How adorable of him…

Gene smiled at that, "Noll deep down is a worrywart." Then he glanced back at Sakauchi-kun. "Leave Sakauchi-kun to me… this rooftop is relatively safe, but it will limit my mobility so… please get Lin to set a barrier to contain him. It's a little cruel for him but…"

I nodded, "There are too many hostile spirits here… even for Sakauchi-kun who is already dead." I glanced at him. "Gene… please be careful."

"Yes… you too, be careful." He returned. "Noll could be more troublesome than evil spirits, so thanks Mai… I don't fancy dealing with temperamental Noll."

I laughed at that sheepishly, "Hey… I am the one who is going back to living world to deal with your twin."

(Naru's POV)

Mai collapsed suddenly in the middle of setting up our equipment and a panicked Tojo carried her back to our base. I dreaded the worst, but thankfully when I checked Mai's pulse and her breathing I knew right way what was happening here.

She was astral walking.

I assured them Mai was alright, it was just one of those dreams… kind of. We had everything under control. Mostly… I was worried since it wasn't normal to leave your body suddenly, judging from how abrupt it was, Mai didn't plan this astral walking.

I yelled at Gene to wake up and he did. He sounded groggy but snapped awake when I told him what just happened. Gene however didn't stay long, he said he would look for Mai and left just like that. I lost contact with him… he too, astral walking to who knows where in search of Mai.

Idiots…

Matsuzaki was woken up. She, Bou-san and Yasuhara were not sure and they watched Mai anxiously instead of going to sleep. It got on my nerves how petulant they acted tonight.

Where did you go?! I thought in annoyance as I watched Mai's prone form on the couch. Shima and Tojo always brought one around for some reason, it was useful though.

"Hm…" Mai stirred as her eyes fluttered open slowly.

I rose from my seat, hovering over her who was still struggling to fight off drowsiness. "Mai you-"

Her eyes snapped open and without warning her hand shot up to pull me down. I almost lost my balance as she used her free hand to push herself up to sitting position so her face rested on the crook of my neck, her breath fanning my ear. "Sorry for worrying you… Gene found me, we're alright… Gene is babysitting Sakauchi-kun now so he won't be around for a while and we need Lin-san to put a barrier on the rooftop ASAP." She whispered to me.

She withdrew and I blinked in bewilderment at what she just told me. "I see…" I needed sometime to process it, Mai was always abrupt and caught me off guard like this.

Then in unison we looked to the side and found Bou-san, Matsuzaki-san and Yasuhara-san were staring at us with blushing face. Yasuhara was also snickering for some reason and I swore he was mouthing, 'That was hot'

At that moment both of us thought, 'I don't even want to know what's going on their mind.'

Lin was shaking his head exasperatedly at us for some reason. I didn't like his attitude so I ordered him to go up to the rooftop to get a job done. He looked almost petulant about it, most likely thinking I was sending him away to escape his watch. So I corrected his assumption. Gene needed his help, and unless he wanted Gene to be dead for real this time, I suggested him to get to work like… NOW

That was how our first night in Ryokuryo ended and I didn't need Mai's intuition to know this case was going to go down the drain if we made slightest mistake.

Wonderful…

After consideration in pacing the mood... I put the fluffy OMAKE first. Sexy ones... later~

OMAKE: In which Mai show Naru the rope, idiot scientist can't write business proposal, and Gene sit back and watch.
Naru technically was never Mai's boss, considering her part-timing, cooking, and researching did pay for his teaching. She was more of a student than an assistant or an employee. Even so she respected him as someone with authority, most of the time anyway… when he was not in need of her curbing his less than pleasant behavior that send guest and people in general running from him.

There was a reason why Lin didn't care Mai was Japanese or even one fourth Italian, not when she was so good at keeping Naru in line.

Naru himself treat Mai with mix of respect, exasperation, annoyance and most of the time curiosity. Of course there were other emotions, but he was pretty crippled in emotion department so he couldn't name those and ignored it most of the time. He was used to be out of depth with Mai, in random moment in which Mai would pull another rabbit out of her hat. At the time like that Mai would send him reeling, mostly curious but also exasperated.

This was supposed to be one of those times.

"I am not sure how to explain this to you…"

One sunny Sunday he didn't feel sunny like the weather outside, in fact he felt pretty cloudy and Mai started the day with this line. Mai had this bad habit dropping metaphorical bomb on unsuspecting victim, and usually it was him and Lin, and by the end of it they were too confused and disoriented even to get angry at her.

She placed a manila envelope on the table, it was thick so it must contained a thick pile of paper, around an inch. It looked a little worn, no tear, so in spite of its age this envelope was stored with great care. It was addressed to V.G corp in Palermo, the one ran by Mai's family. What was this supposed to mean?

Then Mai flipped the envelope so he could see the other side and blanched. The name S.P.R was written on it, with address of the facility in London. He also recognize the smaller envelope of letter with cursive handwriting, it was Martin Davis'.

"I am not going to ask anything intrusive…" Mai assured him and Naru resisted his urge to point out Mai's ESP was personification of intrusive. That would be very cruel of him, because Mai always had aversion with that side of her ability. "But you see… I am in a pinch here."

"Very informative." He remarked sarcastically.

"Naru, I keep telling you that getting to the point is not always the best way to bring up a problem to someone's attention and… please make it a habit to let people to finish, so keep your remark to yourself." Mai chided him in practiced smoothness that would make Bou-san and Ayako clapping in awe.

He glared at her but it was never effective, it bounced off of her like a ball against a wall. She pushed the envelope to his side and made a gesture 'go ahead' so he wordlessly opened the envelope and pulled the predictable pile of paper, it was a business proposal from S.P.R to V.G Corp. Glancing up Naru found Mai had crossed her arms and had expectant expression on her face. So he began to read the proposal, he recognized as something written by his adopted father, proposing a cooperation and funding for their projects. V.G corp had developed the latest surveillance equipment and other technology that could applied to S.P.R's investigation but all of them developed for mundane purpose so it was proposed to direct it to Parapsychology.

"It's from six years ago." Naru noted, "If this proposal is approved research in Parapsychology field would have advanced ten years earlier at least…"

Mai snorted, "Twenty." She corrected, "What we released to public is not as advanced as ones we keep privately…"

"And… this proposal is here for?"

"I always wonder… why Parapsychology is not on the list of field we ever funded or ever involved in…" Mai began with a sigh, "My family since industry revolution branched their business to invest on… interesting and unusual field, back in those times… you know, we ever funded expedition to moon."

Naru blinked at that, "Your family was involved on that?"

"Something about the guy who want to go win a competition we held and ask for it." Mai snorted, "He got it~"

The scientist was still didn't get where this conversation were heading to, "And… considering your family's taste Parapsychology ought to be one of those field? Is that what you're getting at?" Mai nodded, "Then I think I should wonder why this isn't approved, and frustrated over what could have been?"

"Actually, it's on my side who should feel frustrated." Mai corrected him again, a tick grew on her temple. "Aside from six years ago I was not in the office yet, in fact even if that proposal came when I am already in… it will never touch my desk."

Naru stared at her in confusion, "Why not?"

"Because…" Mai trailed off, "It's written by 'idiot scientist' who forgot he was proposing this to an investor not his fellow scientist, that's not even a business proposal… it's full of technical jargon people who never dabble on Parapsychology couldn't understand! It went off tangent somewhere in the middle and in overall NOT convincing anyone there was any point investing in Parapsychology!"

Mai was panting now, "It was no wonder my staff didn't let it pass initial screening and it was stuck somewhere in our record room until I asked them to look if anything related Parapsychology ever came to us!"

Naru wondered if he should be angry that Mai insulted his father and loss of time because of this or asked why she was the one who got angry.

"It doesn't matter who should be angry!" Mai huffed, once again pulling things out of his mind without noticing. Somehow this moment felt convenient rather than intrusive. "Do something to fix it!"

Her demand was incomprehensible, "Fix as in?"

"I don't know…" She drawled on, "The most obvious is rewriting the proposal yourself or get someone to do it! I don't really care… but that proposal is atrocious, and unfit to be approved!"

"I thought you're the boss, if you're interested…" He trailed off.

"The fact my family run the company didn't mean we can just approve anything that catch our interest… I told you we're still supervised by… ahem." She coughed, "Those with age, and with it come experience and wisdom so we… ahem." She coughed again, and Naru realized she was imitating someone. "Inexperienced and reckless youth shall not do anything rash. Do remember the last name attached to your person, so you don't bring shame to us." She quoted in lowered voice and Naru knew the person she imitated was a man and of considerable age.

It reminded him eerily of old researchers back home who saw him and Gene as interesting test subject and baffled when he himself became one of them, even more so because he was too young. They tend to doubt his credibility.

Mai had implied before that she faced the same problem. Apparently in any field wisdom was never associated with youth.

"Do you get my point?"

Naru closed his eyes, sighing. "Yes Mai… you will get in trouble if you let this proposal pass because of your personal interest, unless you can justify this proposal worth the time and money."

She snorted, "In trouble is one way to put it~ They will just call me back home, and in front of… seven old men including my own grandfather I would get a long winded lecture that by the end of the day would fry my ears and I would be tempted to throw their heavy and solid mahogany table at them for each 'Honor' and 'Family' they repeated."

"I thought your grandfather spoiled you." Naru recalled the beautiful silk gown Mai received by post last month.

She harrumphed, "You haven't met his right hand-man… Hayato-kun's grandfather! His face is stuck in permanent scowl since the first day he met me! He frowned at me just because I called my grandfather Ojii-san! I'm so glad Hayato didn't turn to that!"

"And… you bring this to my attention, why?" Naru stir the conversation back to present topic, while he understood the need to vent frustration because of close minded old men, they had a proposal to talk about.

"Are you expecting me to fly to London and demand S.P.R to rewrite their proposal?" Mai raised an eyebrow at him. "In case you didn't realize having a bodyguard means… you can't just fly anywhere by both public and private transportation as you please."

"…Mai… you're ranting." Naru pointed out, "So… since this proposal is unfit, I should fix it? Me?"

Mai eyed him expectantly, "You're a brilliant scientist… but this is perhaps out of your expertise."

"Excuse me?"

"Who answered that he has no interest in bald old man when asked about Shakespeare?" Mai said pointedly, "You're the one who lead me to believe that outside Parapsychology and other subjects loosely related to it you had no interest and your knowledge and experience on them is nonexistent." She gave him a mocking sideway glance, and a smirk at that.

That sounded like a challenge, and Oliver Davis wouldn't back down from one, especially not when Mai was the one who throw it at him.

"Then I will show you."

She had the gall to quirk an eyebrow at him, crossed her arms and waited. "Well, go ahead… impress me."

As he marched back to his office Naru suddenly had a suspicion everything went as Mai orchestrated, mainly to not get her to go through too much trouble to get the proposal rewritten, dumped the job to him, and made him learning something that was not Parapsychology but useful for their office in the same time.

He had been tricked, somehow the twenty years advancement didn't seem worth it.

Twenty minutes later Mai poked her head in to his office and dropped a small note, she wrote a list.

-Don't write a book, keep it short.

-Avoid using technical jargon, if you do please put a foot note about it.

-Please think of the person who read it, make them interested in what you write just don't tell them what you want.

-Use your real name, reputation help even if it's troublesome.

-Good luck, Naru. You can do it.

It was attached to his cup of steaming black tea. When he looked up the door of his office was closed with gentle click and he stared back at the note and the tea. He felt foreign heat in his cheek and touched the warm flesh, surprised to find it warmer than the rest of his body.

Naru sighed and began to study the outdated proposal, ignoring the heat on his cheek and accelerated heart rate. It was just another odd bodily reaction when Mai did something he couldn't comprehend, must be because of their psychic link. He should write a note on that later.

Gene who was using mirror to watch the whole ordeal, a mirror his brother so helpfully hung on his office wall couldn't help but wonder if he was really the idiotic twin if his brother was this dense. He took around five minutes to realize he fell in love with Mai, Noll after ten months had no clue and waived off the obvious sign as something scientific their psychic powers caused.

He didn't tell Noll, not because this was a competition. Simply because he wanted Noll to write down a note on all of those obvious reactions and if he was lucky… Madoka or perhaps their parents would be the one who read his notes he wanted to pass off as scientific observation. It would be interesting to see how Noll reacted when anyone who read the notes enlighten him that those signs had nothing to do with psychic power or even scientific.

This Omake has sit like... forever in my laptop he he he isn't it cute XDDD

SO YEAH... Gene has to catch up with Naru when it comes to Mai he he he~ So yeah I will balance them out ^^ Ryokuryo potentially could be the longest case at this rate. Well... I have been waiting~

Next chapter: Naru don't care of Masako's bad reception, seriously he doesn't. Crowd control is a chore Mai didn't like, no wonder Kyoya HATES crowding people, it start to make sense~ Astral walking once again is not a walk on the park~