14AmyChan: okay, so here's the next chapter! Not a lot happens here case-wise, but it was still uber-fun to write~! *^_^*

Mai: What plans do you have for Naru?

14AmyChan: Plans? *blinks innocently* Whatever are you talking about Mai?

Mai: You said you had plans for him.

14AmyChan: Did I? *totally innocent*

Mai: *glares*

14AmyChan: pfft! *laughs*

Mai: I will find out, you know.

14AmyChan: I know. And until then, the readers can reassure themselves that I don't own Ghost Hunt.

Mai: So you ARE planning something!

14AmyChan: Did I ever say that? XD

Mai: AMYCHAN!

"Ko—"

"Ko—"

"—ni—"

"—ni—"

"—chi—"

"—chi—"

"—wa."

"—wa."

"Konichiwa," Mai said slowly to the young boy sitting beside her at the table. Peter scrunched up his face in concentration as he attempted to repeat after her once more.

"Coin—ee—chiwa," Peter drawled out slowly, attempting to get each syllable correct. His attempts had been going on for the duration of lunch, and Mai had found it rather adorable how the young boy kept trying with all his might to get the basic formalities down. He was doing surprisingly well.

"Th-at was… ve-ry good, Pe-ter," Mai smiled. The young boy jumped excitedly in his seat, pleased with having gotten the word correct.

"Coin—ee—chiwa! Coin—ee—chiwa!" the young boy repeated excitedly, committing the word to memory. Mai smiled as she looked around. The table was filled with children and adults alike. Peter's friend—whose name Mai still did not know—was talking with Masako along with several other children. Evidently, wearing the kimono had gotten her recognition from the children. Not from her television series, but from the book that the little girl had been showing to everyone in the orphanage. As such, the famous medium had quite the entourage.

John was also surrounded by small children. His kind nature had caused many of the children to dub him as their older brother, and the priest was more than happy to oblige in their silly requests. Something similar had happened to Bou-san, as he was helping a band of twelve year olds to play the guitar.

Ayako had not bonded instantly with a few of the children, but some of the older girls had migrated towards the fiery tempered woman anyways. Evidently, the woman had patched up one of their friends and now they were quite insistent on having the elder woman teach them how to do the job themselves, just in case someone else got hurt again. However, communication was a hurtle that Ayako was having quite the trouble dealing with.

Yasu spent a bit of the lunch teaching the ways of the prankster to some of the children. Mai feared for the sanity of Mrs. Murray after he unleased the little devils, but something inside her said the woman was more than capable of handling a few rowdy children. Even if they were trained by the infamous Osamu Yasuhara.

Luella had taken to conversing with Mrs. Murray during the lunch. Catching up on the years and reminiscing. Mai had wondered briefly how the two women had met and how they had kept a stable friendship over the years and distance, but then decided it was not her place to pry.

Martin, Lin, and Naru, however, were not actively participating with the children during the lunch. The closest they got was a young man who had walked up to Martin and sat on his lap while the men were discussing the case and when they might possibly see some action from the resident spirit and who the resident spirit might be. Mai could hear the chaos from her boss's mind from across the table and made a mental note to ask about it later. It would not do well to ask while he was working. He would probably bite her head off. Mai chuckled at the thought.

"My-Mai!" Peter called, grabbing the brunette's attention again. She glanced down at the boy with a smile, telling him she was listening. "I have some paper in my room, can you write down the words?"

"I do-n't know how to…write Engrish…" Mai admitted. Peter frowned, then scratched the top of his head. He wanted to know more! He then smiled.

"Show me how you write!" Peter demanded excitedly, a glint in his eye. Mai thought about it for a moment. She would have to ask Naru if she could go, of course. She was, after all, still working. But if he had no problems, then there would be no problem.

"I ha-ve to a-sk Naru," she admitted, but the boy only seemed to year "yes". He jumped up from his seat and ran over to Mrs. Murray. Probably asking if he could be excused. Wrong way to do it, of course, but the child's excited antics were so adorable!

"Put your plate in the sink," Mrs. Murray said. She kept her eagle eye on Peter as he agreed, padded up to his plate, and then ran swiftly into the kitchen. As the young boy left, Mai decided now would be a good time as any to ask Naru if she could go with Peter. She made her way to Naru's side and waited patiently until he gave her some attention. She had time, seeing as Peter was actually washing his dishes in the kitchen.

"Peter wants me to show him how to write kanji, is there anything you needed me to do?" she asked aloud, knowing very well that others would get suspicious if she were to ask mentally. Naru did not seem to spend more than a split-second making his decision.

"If he wants to see you write, then he can go with you and Takigawa as you set up the cameras and take the baseline temperatures," Naru stated, making sure that the monk could hear the fact that he was also being assigned to work. Everyone had finished eating only a few minutes ago, so there was really no work being done. Bou-san seemed to understand and went without a fight. He simply told the pre-teens he was with that he would show them more later when he had time and made for the base.

Not even a complaint?

"My-Mai!" Peter called from her side, beaming brightly. "Did Naru say yes?"

"He sa-id you c-an come wi-ss Bou-san and m-e when we g-et temp-er-tures," Mai explained, her face scrunching up over the last—particularly long and difficult—word. Her difficulty, however, was all but forgotten when Peter looked like he was about to explode with excitement. The youthful face looked like it was about to split open with how wide he was grinning.

"Really?! He said that?! Thank you, Naru!" Peter shouted happily, hugging Naru tightly before bounding out of the room. Mai was stunned for a few moments, and was then about to say something when she heard Peter from the hallway.

"My-Mai, come on! We get to hunt ghosts!"

"He did?" Bou-san laughed as he and Mai hauled cameras down one hall. He held most of them because Mai held in one hand a clipboard to record all of the baseline temperatures. Peter had run ahead of them again, looking out for any "ghosties", as he called them. Mai and Bou-san let him. After all, the young boy did live here and knew the terrain well. Mai nodded at the monk.

"He did, and Naru didn't do a thing! He didn't even glare!" Mai explained, recalling the brief moment where the child had hugged Naru. While she knew he was not a child hater, he did not have a great tolerance for people he deemed as below his intelligence level. And this group seemed to be comprised of mostly everyone he was not forced to be in contact with each and every day.

I wonder how he puts up with us if he thinks we're so dumb… Mai wondered absentmindedly, recalling all the times the young man had insulted her intelligence or derided her at all. If it really annoyed him to be in the presence of stupid people, then he was either a liar or a masochist.

Mai was unable to decide which one it was.

"Maybe something else was on his mind?" Bou-san proposed, causing Mai's thoughts to turn a one-eighty. Indeed, he had been distracted during lunch, though Mai had not been able to decipher the young man's thoughts. He was keeping them well-guarded from her, and while she was grateful he had his privacy back again, it confused her to no end. What was he thinking about?

I don't want to know…

Where had that thought of Naru's come from? She had heard it earlier, before the lunch as Peter had dragged her out of base. What was it that Naru did not want to know? He was a scientist, and his desire to have facts and know truth had led him to Japan in search of his brother's body. The man lived to know. So what information was he so desperate not to have?

She was about to ask Bou-san when she realized he was setting up the next camera to Lin's specifications. The Chinese man had gone to the base with Mai and Monk and had been directing them since. As Bou-san was accomplishing his task, Mai took to hers, recording the temperature.

"My-Mai!" Peter's voice piped up from behind the girl, frightening her for a moment. Despite being in the ghost business, she was still frightened by such a thing. She calmed her heart rate and turned around with a smile.

"Y-es, Pe-ter?" Mai asked, smiling at the excited young boy.

"What are you doing?" he inquired, attempting to jump up to see Mai's clip board. She tilted the board a little bit so he could see what she was writing. Instantly, his little finger jutted to the first line.

"What's that say?" he asked, pointing at the first label in kanji. Mai read it over and took a moment to translate it in her head.

"Bas-u," she responded. The young man nodded hurriedly before detaching himself and running off yet again. Mai looked after him in worry.

"Do you think he's going to get in trouble?" she asked her companion, turning to look at him. Bou-san shrugged his shoulders.

"No, but we will be if we don't hurry up," he stated as he hefted the cameras back over his shoulder. Mai sighed before deciding the monk was most likely right. She finished recording the temperatures and followed Bou-san to the next room.

"Are you okay, Masako?" the red haired priestess finally asked. After passing through numerous rooms and the only words coming from the medium's mouth being "not here", Ayako was beginning to get frustrated with the girl.

Okay, you caught her, she was a little concerned. But only a little!

"I'm in perfect health, Matsuzaki-san," the medium answered promptly before turning tail and walking away. Oh no, she did not!

"I'm not talking about physically, because obviously, you're fine!" Ayako seethed, unhappy with having her concern brushed off. "I'm talking about you. You haven't been acting all prudish, you're speaking only when spoken to, and you're acting more like a freaky doll than anything else."

"I believe my emotional status is none of your—"

"Bullcrap!" Ayako interjected, holding up a finger to stop the young medium. Masako stopped and did not say another word. Being normal with Mai was okay in her book because she knew that Mai would not judge her. But everyone else… they were a different matter altogether.

Or were they…?

"You may look like a doll, but the Masako I know is far from being one. I'm not saying I like you being a little superior brat, but I'd like to know that our friend is still in there somewhere," Ayako complained, walking ahead of Masako for once. The girl scoffed.

"Friend? Last I recalled, Matsuzaki-san, I repulsed almost everyone on this team because of my crude actions," Masako stated haughtily, almost slipping back into her normal attitude with the priestess. To be perfectly honest, she did miss talking with them and acting smug, but she felt as thought she had taken one too many privileges with the team.

"Friends do that once in a while, snot," Ayako stated smugly, somewhat glad that she was getting her way. It was far too awkward working with a doll with no personality whatsoever. She would take a cranky snobbish Masako over that torture any day of the week.

"Very well, Matsuzaki-san," Masako stated. Perhaps it would not be such a terrible thing to be herself again. Not completely snobbish, but at least not overly withdrawn. Heavens knew how boring that was. "Now if you would be so kind as to be quiet. I cannot concentrate with your meaningless blather."

"Why you—!"

John Brown was walking around, being guided by the children. It was his job for now to entertain the young ones and perhaps gain some knowledge about what they knew or about what they felt they knew about their resident spirit. So far, he had gathered tales only of a playful companion who had shown no sense of harm until about three months prior.

"So you're from Australia?" one of the children asked yet again. Blessed John was so patient; he answered the repeated question with a smile as genuine as the first.

"Yes," he replied easily. He had kind of missed speaking in English, though his strange Japanese was not far from his mind. Being bilingual most certainly had its uses.

"Can you say 'kangaroo'?" one of the children queried and the priest turned to answer her.

"Baby kangaroos are called 'joeys'," he stated. The children smiled at his accent, it becoming more apparent to them when he said 'kangaroo' and 'joey'. They were not smiles of teasing, but rather, smiles of excitement. All at once, more requests were being thrown at him, and John sweat dropped. This was not going at all as planned, now was it?

"Woah, slow down, mates," John requested as he held his hands up in mock surrender. The children bustled excitedly for a few moments before taking his words meaning and applying them. They whispered excitedly amongst themselves for a few moments before John addressed them again.

"Do you have any stories that could help us find out who's here?" the blond man asked, his blue eyes scanning the group for anyone who had any information they might be willing to share. Instantly, a little girl stood out to him, her feet shuffling nervously as she obviously debated with herself whether or not to divulge what she knew. John smiled at her.

"You look like you know a thing or two," John stated, calling the girl out. Her wide hazel eyes looked up, a touch startled. Her red hair was pulled back in a messy braid and she looked to be at about twelve years old. The girl nodded her head after a moment's hesitance.

"Ooh! Tori, tell him the story you tell us!" one of the children exclaimed loudly.

"I don't think—"

"Oh, please, Tori!" another child pleaded, grasping the girl's hand and shaking her excitedly.

"But it's not—"

"Tell us about the angels again!" a third child cried out, eyes wide as saucers. John tucked away that smallest piece of information. Could the children think these disturbances were being caused by holy beings?

"I don't want to waste his time…" the girl—Tori—finally said quietly. John smiled kindly at the young girl while he looked at her and the children who had all swarmed her to retell the story.

"It won't waste my time, little one," he stated with a smile. At this gentle encouragement, the children pleaded all the more to hear the story again. "Besides, I think you'll have a miniature riot on your hands if you don't."

John's joke got the girl to quirk a small smile as she finally conceded. The children cheered with glee as they ushered the girl to a comfortable looking armchair. One probably meant for telling stories. John himself was pulled onto a sofa and had no less than three children occupying his lap by the time the girl was ready to tell her story.

"I've been in the orphanage since I was very small, and this happened when I was in the nursery of the orphanage…"

14AmyChan: Okay, so there's that chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it~! *^_^*

Mai: *glaring at 14AmyChan*

14AmyChan: *reaches off-stage and pulls out Yasu*

Yasu: I'm barely in here!

14AmyChan: But I plan on doing something with you in a few chapters…!

Yasu: *pouts, then cries* AMY DOESN'T LOVE MEEEEE!

14AmyChan: *panics* PLEASE DON'T CRAI!

Yasu: NO LOOOVE!

14AmyChan: *runs around like a chicken with her head cut off* I'M SORRY YASU I'M SORRRYYYYYYY!