Case 6: Forbidden Pastime (Part 1)
[January, Day 1]
TING-A-LING~
The new bell Hitomi had given to Naru as part of his Christmas present for the office's door rang as someone opened it.
"Ooh, it's cold out there!" Mai remarked as she rushed into the office behind schedule.
"You're late." Naru told her, not even bothering to look up as he browsed through his books, looking for something to read.
"Yeah, sorry." Mai said as she hung her coat up, sweat-dropping. That's how he treated her first thing? He acted like a grumpy old man…
"Oh, hello, Mai." Hitomi said, poking her head out of the kitchen. "How was school? Would you like some tea too?"
"Ah, yes, please!" Mai said gratefully, glad that someone cared. Hitomi-sempai was like her oasis. "School was… well, it was school." She said with a wry smile as she set her stuff down at her desk, pausing when she noticed she still had the business card from the principal of Rokuryo High School. "By the way… they were in today's newspaper again."
"Who was?" Hitomi asked as she served Naru his tea.
"Rokuryo High School."
"Ah, right. There was another article about them this morning."
"Yeah, everyone's been talking about it lately. Some of the students started to panic because a dog bit them during class. The teacher claimed he didn't see anything, but some of the students really were injured."
"It sounds like it's getting worse… Maybe we shouldn't have turned them down." Hitomi said as she brought Mai her tea, sweat-dropping.
"Yeah, why did you turn down their request, Naru?" Mai asked. "You should've helped them."
"I try to avoid cases that may potentially attract the mass media." Naru replied calmly.
'Ah, that's right…' Hitomi thought. It was dangerous for Naru to put himself in a position where his picture could be circulated like that.
"Eh? Why?" Mai asked, surprised. "This could help us become famous! Then SPR would have many more clients."
"Fame's not all it's cracked up to be, Mai." Hitomi said with a wry smile. "What if someone saw your picture, thought you were cute, and decided to stalk you?" She asked, looking as though she was remembering something really unpleasant.
"… Hitomi-sempai… Could it be, you've had experience with that before?" Mai asked hesitantly.
"… I'll go bring Lin-san his tea." Hitomi said with a bright shit-eating grin and escaped into the research room, where Lin had been stuck for the past couple of hours. She seemed to have inflicted quite a trauma on him while she was possessed on that last case, because his first instinct was to flinch slightly every time he saw her now…
'Ehhh!?' Mai thought, paling slightly, as she stared after her. No way!?
'No wonder her family is so overprotective…' Naru thought. That was also probably why she didn't like to make too many public appearances either.
TING-A-LING~
"Hello…?" Some called in tentatively.
"Ah, yes!" Mai said, spinning around to face their visitor. "How can we help you?" She was a little surprised to see that it was high schooler wearing glasses and a very traditional black uniform.
"Yes, uhh…" He said a bit hesitantly, also looking a little surprised. This wasn't quite what he had expected for an office of psychics... "I'm the president of the Rokuryo High School student council. My name is Yasuhara Osamu." He introduced himself politely with a bow as Hitomi rejoined them.
'Really?' Mai thought, sweat-dropping.
'What a coincidence…' Hitomi thought, blinking in surprise.
–∞–
"This is a petition from the students." Yasuhara said once the four of them were seated, handing Naru a clipboard with several pages of signatures that numbered in the hundreds. "When I heard that you rejected our principal's request, I gathered signatures from the students with the hope that you might reconsider. Won't you please help us? Our school is in bad shape at the moment. At first, it was just students telling each other ghost stories… but now strange things really are happening everyday. All of us are scared and concerned about what could happen next." He explained seriously.
"…" Mai and Hitomi glanced at Naru.
"To be honest, I am interested in working on this case…" He admitted. "However, I'd rather avoid attention from the media."
"I can understand that!" Yasuhara said. "We're bombarded by journalists coming to our school everyday. But that's why we want this case resolved as soon as possible. Please, help us!" He said earnestly, placing his hands on his knees to brace himself as he bowed low. It was such a deep bow, that if he went any lower, he'd be on the floor.
The girls glanced back and forth between Yasuhara and their boss, wondering what his final decision would be. Naru started at Yasuhara as he continued to hold his bow.
"Hitomi, call Rokuryo High School." Naru said with a small sigh of defeat. "Tell them we accept their request."
"All right!" Mai cheered as Yasuhara sighed in relief.
"Are you sure about this?" Hitomi whispered to Naru while they celebrated. She was glad he had accepted, but she was still worried about him.
"It's fine." Naru replied. "I'll just have to be extra careful."
—∞—
[Day 2]
So, the next day Naru, Mai, and Hitomi went to Rokuryo High with Bou-san, but…
"The principal's office?" The clerk at the school's reception desk asked dubiously with an unfriendly glare. "Down the hall to your right, at the very end. You can find it yourself."
"Well, that was unpleasant." Hitomi said with a wry smile, sweat-dropping, as walked, following the rude clerk's directions.
"That was rude!" Mai huffed indignantly. "What's his problem?"
"Schools usually don't like having outsiders come in." Bou-san said.
"I wonder if he thought Bou-san looked shady?" Mai suggested teasingly.
"Ah, that's true. He has bleached hair and multiple piercings in his ear. Maybe he thought Bou-san was a gangster?" Hitomi added with a Cheshire cat grin.
"Why would he think that? Only someone really narrow-minded would assume something like that." Bou-san said, sweat-dropping. These girls… How dare they say such things. He leaves them alone for a little while, and they get cheeky. If anyone looked suspicious, it was Hitomi with that eye patch of hers. "By the way, where's Lin? Is he coming later?"
"Yes. Once we finish the initial inspection, we'll contact him and tell him what equipment we'll need." Hitomi replied.
"He's also bringing Ayako with him." Mai added. "And, John and Masako will be here tomorrow."
They reached the principal's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in." The principal said.
They entered the room and politely introduced themselves, but the principal did not return the favor.
"Whatever, just use your expertise to stop this melodramatic nonsense!" He huffed rudely. "Really! How ridiculous is it for students to believe in ghosts?"
'Says the man who wanted to hire us first…' Hitomi thought, unimpressed. Was he being a sore loser because Naru turned him down before?
'I hope Mai keeps her mouth shut…' Bou-san thought, sweat-dropping. This was the kind of thing that really pushed her buttons.
"…" Mai said, frowning.
"Imagine what it's like having to pay to take care of such nonsense." The principal continued. "I can imagine what our board of directors will have to say about this!"
'What's his problem!? He's the one who hired us!' Mai thought angrily as multiple vein marks throbbed on her forehead.
"Matsuyama-sensei, take them to the meeting room." The principal said after finishing his rant.
"Sure…" The stern-faced man who had been standing off to the side of the principal's desk said, eyeing their group with open suspicion.
"Hey, you." Matsuyama said rather rudely after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes, shooting Naru a sharp glare over his shoulder. "You own this company, huh? How old are you?"
'What!? 'Hey, you'!?' Mai, Hitomi, and Bou-san thought, shocked. A vein throbbed on Mai's forehead while Bou-san paled and Hitomi sweat-dropped. He was really playing with fire there…
"I'm Seventeen." Naru answered calmly.
"Why aren't you in school?" Matsuyama asked accusingly.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination." Naru replied.
"Hmph, I bet that means you're just a dropout." Matsuyama said condescendingly.
'Hah!?' Mai thought incredulously as another vein throbbed on her forehead.
'If only he knew…' Hitomi thought as the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. That Naru actually had a doctorate already…
"I don't know about this occult business, but young people these days are always looking for one form of escape or another."
'Probably because they have to deal with you.' Hitomi thought with shit-eating grin.
"And there's always someone around willing to take advantage of them. It's a dirty world, don't you think?" Matsuyama added, glancing back at them with a smirk.
"Grrrr!" Mai growled, gritting her teeth, as she raised her foot in preparation to kick Matsuyama, while Bou-san held her back.
"Oi, oi, not in a skirt!" Bou-san whispered.
"Yes, and I find it particularly sad when 'young people' can't get proper respect and support from the adults who are supposed to guide and protect them." Hitomi responded to the unpleasant teacher's comment with a positively radiant shit-eating grin as he slid the door of the conference room open.
"!" Matsuyama said, flinching. "Just what are you accusing me of?" he asked angrily, furrowing his brow.
"Oh, my! Why ever would I be talking about you, Sensei? Weren't we just speaking hypothetically?" Hitomi asked innocently as the wattage on her smile increased. 'But if the shoe fist, feel free to lace that sucker up and wear it…!' She added silently with a gleam in her eye.
"Ah, I've been waiting for you guys." A familiar voice said from within the room before Matsuyama had a chance to snap back at her.
"Yasuhara! Why aren't you in class?" Matsuyama-sensei demanded, chagrined. He didn't hear that just now, did he?
"Seniors are already on shorter class schedules." Yasuhara replied politely with a bright shit-eating grin of his own. He'd heard.
"He still finds the time to be student council president in his third year?" Mai said quietly as they entered the room and removed their coats to hang them up, impressed.
"Outstanding!" Bou-san agreed.
'Just like Ushio-kun.' Hitomi thought.
"Do you still find enough time to study for your university entrance exam?" Matsuyama questioned Yasuhara.
"Please don't worry." Yasuhara said with another brilliant smile.
"Okay. So now that we've secured a base for our research, what do we do first?" Bou-san asked, getting down to business.
"Should we start by interviewing the students involved in the incidents?" Hitomi asked. Then they'd know where the all the problem areas were.
"That would be best." Naru agreed as he pulled a binder out from his briefcase. "Mai, would you go find them now?"
"How can I do that!?" Mai retorted incredulously. She didn't even know her way around yet! And why was he only picking on her!?
"Ah, I can do that for you." Yasuhara said helpfully.
"That would be faster, thank you." Naru said.
"Please hurry up. I'm very busy." Matsuyama said moodily as he planted himself in a chair by the conference table.
"Sensei, please feel free to leave." Naru told him.
'Or, rather, please do.' Hitomi thought. It would probably hard for anyone to talk with him sitting there, constantly judging their every word.
"I can't do that." Matsuyama said. "It's my job to manage the students' behavior."
'Manage…?' Hitomi thought with a tense smile as vein marks popped up on both her and Mai's heads.
'Who does he think he is…!?' Mai thought, outraged.
"As long as we're involved with this case, the students are also our clients." Naru told the insensitive teacher. "It's our policy to protect our clients' privacy."
"It's not necessary for kids to have privacy!" Matsuyama snapped.
Hitomi frowned. What utter crap! No matter what age, everyone needed some form of privacy every now and then, or they'd go nuts.
"No matter how old they are, clients are clients." Naru stated evenly. "Please leave."
"Will you be doing something you'd rather I didn't see?" Matsuyama asked accusingly. "I'd like to know what they were thinking when they decided to hire some phony psychics to come to our school."
"Then you should go to the principal's office." Naru said coolly.
"What!?"
"Pfft!" A laugh escaped Bou-san's lips as he and Hitomi both covered their mouths. "That's right. Your principal is the one who hired us." Bou-san reminded him. Good one, Naru-chan!
"Keh!" Matsuyama flinched, and his face flushed in embarrassment as he abruptly stood up. "Fine then!" He shouted as he stomped out of the room. "Whatever happens, it's on the principal!" The door slammed shut behind him.
"Kahhh! You're an idiot, baldy!" Mai yelled as soon as he was gone, pointing at the door. She had reached her maximum boiling point, and it was time to unload! "Instead of worrying about your students' behavior, you should try worrying about your own first! This is what they call the loud barking of a defeated dog!" Hitomi sighed and placed a hand on Mai's shoulder.
"It's supposed to be 'howling', Mai." She corrected the younger girl in a low voice, almost apologetically, while Bou-san sweat-dropped. How could she get such a basic Japanese saying wrong?
"… Thank you…" Mai said a bit awkwardly, blushing out of embarrassment, as Yasuhara started to laugh.
"Ahahaha, you're funny, Taniyama-san." Yasuhara said good-naturedly, taking it as a joke. Mai sweat-dropped.
"As for me, I was really looking forward to hearing Naru-chan unload on him…" Bou-san said, wondering what had stopped him.
"I don't have time for jerks." Naru replied sharply with icy eyes.
'Ah, so he's mad after all… Of course he is…' Hitomi thought with a wry smile, sweat-dropping, while Bou-san shuddered from having received the full effect of Naru's glare, even though it wasn't really meant for him.
"Wow…" Bou-san said, shivering. It felt like someone just walked over his grave…
"…" Yasuhara said, looking thoughtful and somewhat impressed. That was pretty good…
"Let's see, Yasuhara-san…" Naru said, getting back to business. "As soon as class is over, please have the students come here—"
CRASH! BANG!
"Kyaaah!"
"!" They all gasped upon hearing the scream. It sounded close.
"What happened!?" Bou-san shouted as he shoved open the door, and looked down the hall to see what was wrong. There were two girls sitting out in the hall, and they were trembling.
"Hitomi, your eye patch!" Naru said.
"Got it!" Hitomi said, removing it as she ran. "!" She nearly stumbled when her vision suddenly became severely impaired.
"Hitomi-sempai?" Mai asked, pausing to look back.
"I'm all right. Keep going." Hitomi told her, placing a hand over her blue eye to cover it again while she ran so she wouldn't trip. 'At least, I think I'm all right…' she thought, wondering what was wrong.
"What's the matter!?" Bou-san asked the girls in the hall as they reached them. Hitomi's eyes widened when she looked through the open door of the classroom they were in front of.
"The…" The girl with pigtails sobbed as she held onto her friend.
"… Dog." Hitomi finished for her.
"Dog?" Bou-san asked as they all turned to follow her gaze.
"!" They gasped when they saw the black dog standing in the middle of the room. All of the students still in the room were pressed up against the walls, terrified.
"Can… Can you guys see that?" Hitomi asked.
"We can." Naru said as he and Bou-san moved closer to get a better look.
"Wait, it's dangerous!" Mai yelled at them.
"She's right! It's got a bad color!" Hitomi added, referring to the purple-black aura she could see swirling around it.
"!" Bou-san said, startled when he saw the evil look in the dog's eyes as it growled threateningly at them.
"Grrrr!" It suddenly lunged at them with a vicious bark, snapping it's jaws.
"Huh!?" Bou-san exclaimed, rearing back. "Naru, get back to the hall!" They spun around out of the doorway and pressed themselves up against the wall outside on either side of it just the door came leaping through the open door.
SST.
The vicious dog vanished into thin air almost as soon as it entered the hall.
"It…" Mai stuttered as they all stared at the spot where the ghostly apparition had just been only seconds ago.
"… Disappeared." Yasuhara finished, stunned.
"I can't see it anymore either…" Hitomi said as a bead of nervous sweat-dripped down the side of her face. Some movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she whipped her head around, afraid it might be the dog again. Instead, she saw a teenaged boy standing beside Yasuhara. He looked like a student, but he was wearing a summer uniform… and he was smiling, like he was enjoying himself. A chill ran up Hitomi's spine.
"Kyaaah!"
She looked away just for a moment when she heard another scream from the other end of the hall, but it was just some rubberneckers from the neighboring classes. Hitomi looked back and the boy was gone.
"Yasuhara-san, who was that boy that was standing next to you just now…?" She asked.
"Huh?" Yasuhara said, looking confused. "What are you talking about, Matsumoto-san? There was never anyone there…" He said, glancing around just to double-check.
"Eh?" Hitomi said. Did that mean…?
"Hey, are you guys okay?" Bou-san asked, coming over to check on them.
"I'm fine." Mai said. "But… this girl isn't." The girl being held by the one in pigtails had been bitten on her leg.
"We need to get her to the nurse's office." Hitomi said. "Can you stand?" She asked the injured girl.
"Oh, I can carry her." Yasuhara said, stepping forward to help.
"Yasuhara-san…" Naru said as he started to walk away with the injured girl on his back, accompanied by Mai and Hitomi. "Could you gather the students who were involved in any psychic phenomena and divide them up by the incident?"
"Sure." Yasuhara replied rather obligingly.
'Geez, Naru's such a workaholic…' Mai thought, sweat-dropping, as she turned to leave with the others.
"Hitomi, stay here." Naru said, stopping her. "I want to your account of things."
"Ah, right." Hitomi said, walking back over to him and Bou-san.
"Whew… That was really something." Bou-san remarked with a sigh. "For this one, even the teacher can't claim that he didn't see anything…" The man was still frozen crouched on top of his desk, blue with shock.
"So, what did you see?" Naru asked Hitomi.
"Well, I saw the dog just like the rest of you, and then… I think I saw an 'extra person'." She replied, sweat-dropping.
"Extra person?" He asked.
"Yes. It was only for a moment. I asked Yasuhara-san who was standing next to him, because the guy's reaction to the incident was kind of creepy, and I thought it was kind of strange that he was still wearing a summer uniform, but Yasuhara-san said he didn't see anyone." She explained.
"So you saw two ghosts?" Bou-san asked.
"Well, I can't say for sure… because Yasuhara-san could have just been too busy watching the dog to notice the other boy, and he could have left while I was looking away. And my vision seems to be really impaired right now for some reason…"
"Huh?" Bou-san said.
"What do you mean 'impaired'?" Naru asked.
"I mean, for some reason when I try to see with my blue eye, I get this weird sort of interference… I keep seeing what looks like the 'snow', and most of the time everything looks kind of like a TV that isn't quite tuned in to the right channel…" It's so bad, it's even interfering with the normal vision for my green eye." She explained with a frown, using the best analogy she could think of to try to explain it.
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Naru asked.
"No, I don't… No, wait, I did see something similar to this when I visited the cemetery my parents were buried in, just after getting my first glass eye. But it was nowhere near this thick and heavy. That was like a light mist that hung lower to the ground. This is like a bad New England fog, the kind that looks thick enough to be cut with a knife."
"Wow. That bad, huh?" Bou-san asked, sweat-dropping.
"Yeah, sorry…" She said, with an apologetic smile, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't think my blue eye is going to be much use on this case. Can I put my eye patch back on? This wonky vision is starting to give me a headache, and I nearly tripped earlier."
"I guess it can't be helped." Naru said, somewhat disappointed, although he did find this so-called 'interference' interesting. "Still, what great way to start our research case." The phenomena certainly didn't waste any time getting started, did it?