s

Recap:

"Hang on!" Lin calls tossing some long noted rope down and securing it. Climbing down Lin bring his flashlight with him. Once down at the bottom, he turns to look at Naru and Mai. Ready to help them both.

Same Day

After Lin, Mai, and Naru looked around the sewers a bit and found more hedogata than they could count, they made their way out of the manhole. Naru noticing Mai being careful of her wrist turned.

"Is your wrist hurt?" Naru asks Mai. Mai looks up a little surprised, "Oh, it nothing much, I'll get it taken care of later."

"See that you do. I don't want to have to cut your pay." Naru state walking away with some of the hitogata in his arms. Mai glares bristling with anger. Lin walks past Mai, not a word passing his lips as Mai bristles at Naru's comment.

Time Skip

"Ya'know. It's kinda impressive that there are this many hitogata. I would never think to look at the sewer." Monk spoke impressed.

"There's Mai's doll, and also Miss Hara, myself, and Mr. Yoshino were found among the pile." Naru spoke out loud.

"Our names weren't there?" Monk asks.

"Hmph, well I guess that's a relief," Ayako sniffs finishing up the bandage wrap on Mai's wrist.

"I don't know, I kinda feel left out." Monk says a little miffed at being excluded.

"Now we have to burn the hitogata and throw the ashes in the river, and the power of the enmi will be broken," Naru stated.

Snapping the med kit shut, "Do you believe this will stop the hexer?" Ayako interjects.

"We're not even completely sure who it is." Monk states. Mai interrupts the stare off between Ayako and Monk, "Know who its not, it's not Kazai that's who!"

"Mai, c'mon this is really getting old." Ayako says sighing in frustration as if dealing with a child. Feeling miffed Mai looks away from Ayako.

Looking down, Naru shivers, "Hey Naru what's wrong?" Monk asks finally noticing Naru unnatural paleness.

Naru doesn't answer, and remains still. "Naru?" Monk asks touching Naru's shoulder, but then Monk felt nothing under his arm as Naru fell over onto the floor. Like slow motion. Gasping, Mai stands up and races around and checks on Naru. Lin right behind Mai with his phone in hand calling the ambulance.

Day 5

The morning had been spent burning the hitogata, gathering the ash and sending it down the river nearby. Mai struggling with her anxieties thought about Naru, and how he fainted.

We destroyed the hitogata, but we still don't who the Hexer is. Who would put a curse on me, Masako, and Naru?

Ayako pours the ashes of the hitogata into the river they stood near. Mai continued to stand there unsure of the situation itself. Her thoughts going everywhere before making a decision.

Time Skip

Standing in the Biology classroom with Miss Abusuna and Kazai, Mai faces them head on.

"How is Mister Shibuya?" Miss Abusuna asked gently.

"I don't know. I haven't heard from the hospital yet." Mai start."You know if anything bad happens to Naru, I won't forgive whomever is responsible." Mai stated.

"Oh? And you think that's me, don't you? You think I cursed you. You, and Masako Hara, and your boss, Mr. Shibuya! You think I did the same thing to Mr. Yoshima and the other people who got hurt! And then I making all these scary things happening around here." Kazai's voice raises as she continues to speak. "Why don't you just come out and say I'm guilty!"

"I can't!" Mai yells back, "Cause I never really believed you are. It's not very logical, but I can just feel it in my heart. So defend yourself it's not you! Kazai you know you're not the kind of person who would cast curse or hurt people. So why won't you say it?" Mai asks frantically.

Kazai trembles as she starts to speak only to be interrupted by another student barging into the room, "Um..Excuse me, Miss Abusuna. I just wanted to tell Mai she got a call about Mr. Shibuya."

"Naru called?" Mai asked turning around.

Time Skip to the Hospital!

"Are you sure this is where Naru is? It doesn't have his name on it?" Ayako asks as they stood in front of the door. Monk shrugs, "This is the number Lin told me it was."

Monk knocks on the door. "Come in." calls a deep voice. Lin.

Entering the room, Monk and Ayako spot Naru sitting in a hospital bed while Lin is standing a little ways away from him to the left.

"Sup Lin?" Monk says nonchalantly before turning, "Hey Naru!"

Ayako looks to Naru, Uch, talk about a fashion overhaul, Ayako stiffles a giggle rising within her, I like him in white. Monk speaks first, "So how ya feelin' man?"

"It was just mild anemia, nothing worth talking about. What did you do with the hitogata?" Naru asks dismissing his himself and onto the next subject.

"We burned them up and threw the ashes into the river like you told us to." Monk replies, "Now all that's left is whoever made them."

"I'm almost positive I've figured that one out." Naru states. Monk and Ayako blink in surprise, "You have proof that it's the Kazai girl?" Monk questions.

"Of course, who else would it be?" Ayako asks dismissively.

"I'd like to meet with the culprit and have a little chat." Naru closes his book. "Then we can close this case and move onto something else. You two could go now." Naru finishes.

"Wait a sec! We just barely go here Naru!" Ayako burst outs whilst Monk also comments, "You mean your not even going to let us in on who we've been looking for?"

"We need to handle this carefully, that's all." Naru replies.

"Well guess what? I've made a commitment to this case just like you." Monk states loudly. "I'd like to know who the bastard is that we have been hunting down."

"You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to back out now when we are so close to the truth." Ayako also states her piece.

Suddenly before anyone could continue, Mai burst through the door, "OH NARU! You're okay…" Mai says blatantly nearly crumbling to the floor in relief.

Another student walks into the room, "Yuko? Why are you here?" Monk asks the girl.

Naru interrupts, "I asked her to come. Is Kazai with you?" Naru asks.

"Yeah, she's here." Yuko, the student moves out of the doorway, replies. Kazai enters the room and stops near the door. A chilling air in the room seems to appear, but before it could increase anymore, Miss Abusuna enters.

"Hello? Please excuse me, I hope I'm not intruding on everyone." Miss Abusuna speaks in her usual quiet manner. Naru nods to her.

"I have a couple of questions." Naru begins. "The first one is for Yuko and Kazai. Did either of you hear of me being an onmyouji from talking to Mei?" Naru asks.

"Being a what?" Yuko asks in confusion. Kazai blinks, "Yeah, I did, but so what?"

"Did you pass that information along to anyone?" Naru fires next.

"What the hell kind of difference would it make if I told anybody?" Kazai fires back. " Why are you asking me these stupid questions? Just say I'm guilty! Just say I like to curse people!" Kazai yells in anger, obviously frustrated.

"Kazai stop!" Mai speaks anxiously.

"I'm not stupid. Why else would you have asked me to come here." Kazai stated boldly.

"I need you to answer the question." Naru blinks unperturbed. "You must have told someone I was an onmyouji. Now who was it?" Naru grounds out cruelly.

"I suppose Kazai did confide to me that she'd heard that." Miss Abusuna interrupts. "But please rest assured, I haven't spoke with anyone else." Miss Abusuna gently blinks.

"I have just one more question to ask." Naru turns the page in his book. "Where are you from, Miss Abusuna?" Naru asks not looking at her.

"I'm from Fukushima." Miss Abusuna answers. "But why do you ask?" Miss Abusuna asks in curiosity her gentle demeanor remaining so.

Setting his book down, "Fukushima. Thank you very much." Naru says. "The case is solved. I believe I have a complete picture of the events at Yuasa and the person whose behind them." Naru states without emotion in his features.

A tense air in the room arises, "You know who did it?" Kazai blinks in shock, and hope lighting in her eyes, but the fear and anxiety within her squash the feelings down quickly.

"You figured it out from those questions?" Monk asks surprised. Naru nods, IT's really not that hard if you consider the facts of the case. We're dealing with Zuzo, Enmi, or if the hitogata are found and disposed of properly, the hex should be broken." Naru speaks carefully.

"Okay, so who is it?" Monk asks leaning forward in pure curiosity.

"You're trying to say it's me, that I did it. Aren't you?!" Kazai speaks out disruptively. An expression of defensive anger, but sadness and anxiety with fear was placed underneath the wall she created.

"Calm down." Naru says closing his eyes slightly. "It's not you."

Nearly everyone in the room either blinks back in shock or jolts in surprise as Naru continues, "I doubt you even know how to make a have the skill to perform the curse. Therefore we can rule you out-"

"Alright, then who is it?" Ayako speaks, her impatience showing. "Yeah, quit stalling Naru, who is it?" Monk follows Ayako's words with his own.

"Our Hexer…" Naru looks up and stares at the person, "is Miss Abusuna."

"Inside a manhole on the school grounds, we found hitogata with my name, Mai, and Miss Hara as well as Mister Yoshino and many other people at the school." Naru continues to stare at Miss Abusuna. "You were the one who made them, aren't you, Miss Abusuna?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Miss Abusuna speaks quietly, "What on earth is a hitogata?"

"A straw doll used to cast a Zuzo Hex. If there are any more out there, please tell me where to find the find them?" Naru asks politely. "And I want you to promise never to make another one again." Naru states, his face a mixture of confidence and assurity.

"How could I make such a promise when I have done nothing wrong." Miss Abusuna states, her face completely calm.

"You are guilty, Miss Abusuna." Naru says still looking at her.

"There must be some confusion."

"All of the evidence points to your involvement."

"And what sort of proof do you have?"

"You're wrong!" Kazai interrupts. "I caused all of this to happen. I'm the one who is guilty!" Kazai cries out a look of cold truth seemingly in her eyes.

"The victims hurt. Rejected you. They publicly ridiculed you and attacked your psychic powers." Naru speaks carefully, no emotion in his voice. "The motivation for someone to start the curses of course would have been the Kazai Panic."

"Then correct me if I'm wrong, wouldn't that make Kazai more of a suspect then I am?" Miss Abusuna smirked, her eyes remaining dark however. "She even confessed to you just now, didn't she?" Miss Abusuna said, a feeling of betrayal passes over Kazai.

"Kazai is immediately ruled out, because of her relationship with Miraima." Naru states.

"Really?" someone asks.

"Yes, they were in Liberal Arts together before Kazai quit and joined the Biology club." Naru explains and turns to Yuko for confirmation.

"Is that true Kazai?" Yuko asks looking at Kazai.

"For a little while in my 2nd year." Kazai confessed looking down. Her emotions going astray. "It was weird when Miriama yelled at her that time." Yuko spoke up. "We were all kind of shocked to see her speak to an upperclassman in such a nasty way."

"If our culprit knew someone on a personal level she wouldn't have gone to the trouble of putting a blank curse in the desk." Naru explains. "So why did she do it? Why would someone choose to curse a seat instead of a person? It's simple the hexer didn't know Miraima nor what she looked like."

"Based on what you've just said I don't think you have enough evidence to convict me. I could have asked around if I wanted to know who it was." Miss Abusuna says a little giggle slipping out.

"Following Miraima's complaint, those who've denied the existence of psychic abilities banded together and made their feelings known. By that point you and others were made to feel isolated. Would you really have felt okay to ask around?" Naru asks, leaving the question in the air.

"We also have to consider the names used. Three people outside of Yuasa High School were targets of hexes. That would be Mai, Hara Masako, and then myself." Naru remains unblinking as he stares at Miss Abusuna. "Besides Miss Hara, who is a celebrity everyone knows of. There is a limited number of people who my name or Mai's name for the matter. Speaking of myself, I can remember disclosing my full name to the school principal, and then to you in the lab room where we first met. The principal doesn't know Mai's name. And that would leave you, as the only person who would know all three of our proper names, Miss Abusuna."

"Why would I put a curse on you? What kind of motive could I possibly have? I don't even know you." Miss Abusuna asks her expression changing to offended.

"A few minutes ago, you had said that Kazai had talked to Mai, who told her that I was an onmyouji, isn't that right?" Naru asks calmly. "Yes? And?" Miss Abusuna states back.

"Zuzo hexes come from onmyodo…" Naru starts off.

Time Skip Past This Long Explanation

*dies of even attempting to write everything.*

"As an onmyouji, I can counter your hexes. Therefore, this is why you went after me." Naru finishes.

"If that is true, then why would I bring Mai into it?" Miss Abusuna asks a dainty smile on her lips.

"Mai has demonstrated unusually sharp intuition on this case. For example, she was the first person to declare that Kazai was innocent." Naru narrows his eyes. "You were afraid people would start to believe her. So you put a hex on her as well."

"You have also passed on your knowledge for bending spoons to Kazai. For example, no one would have known about the bending spoons on a chair." Lin steps forward with a fairly big packet in his hands. "You have remarkable knowledge on psychic abilities and phenomena. With some interest in some specialized fields as well. I began to suspect your involvement with Kazai wasn't for philanthropic purposes. So followed my hunch and started poking around at some old papers. I found an article in Fukushima about a psychic craze of children who could bend spoons, and among them was a little girl named Abusuna Kai. But as much as the media loved them, they soon began to look down on the children and call them fakes. Questioning their legitimacy, one of the girls who came forward from the Fukushima Prefecture, her names was Abusuna Kai. A-"

"I was a fake! I really could do it! I really did bend those spoons and a lot of people saw it! It's just...sometimes it was easy, and other times it wasn't. Then he showed, a reporter, ridiculing all of us, being cruel and rude. None of the other adults said anything, including my own parents!" Miss Abusuna suddenly burst out, the anger in her eyes clear as she stared down at the floor. "I thought if I fail, my parent's would call me a liar. So just once, I thought I could use a trick one of the other kids who shared the same abilities had shown me. I was so nervous and afraid after I heard others whispering at me. No one was there to tell us it was okay to say you couldn't do it, because they wanted the attention so much...so much. All I wanted to do was prove we weren't lying or faking out abilities." Miss Abusuna whispered near the end, her hair covering parts of her face, but the sight of tears dripping from her chin was easy enough a sight.

"I apologize. It's a shame for Japan to have left the reputation of ESP and Psychic Research in the hands of the media. There were no credible research institutions at the time to determine whether there was real truth to the children's abilities or not." Naru places the magazine he held down. "This should never have been left to the court of public opinion. The media will always care more about headlines, than truth."

Kazai stares at her sensei, an expression of surprise, but something else…. "Did you really do it" she asks, her voice slightly shaking from all her tears, and stress.

"At first, I only wanted to defend Kazai's talent. But then it got crazy and people started saying things like "Why don't you really help that girl, instead of encouraging her" and asking me how I could call myself a sensei."

Naru never removes his attention from Miss Abusuna. "And so ...?" Miss Abusuna didn't reply. "About ten years ago, an unusual car wreck on a small street near a Tokyo Publishing Firm. The driver whose erratic steering caused the accident gave a detailed description to the police. He's quoted saying he saw "a disembodied hand appeared before my eyes out fo nowhere." Everyone in the room flinched, almost exactly the same as Mr. Yoshino's accident. "The man who caused the accident also happened to be the reporter who published your story."

"Are you accusing me of that too?" Miss Abusuna asked, her face shadowed in her hair.

"It certainly seems likely, but if you did cause this, then there is no way the degree of attacks from the Hitogata you made was meant to be a warning if that is what you were trying to do." Naru states. "Luckily no one has died yet, but it's only a matter of time. If we hadn't fond the Hitogata in time, someone would have been injured."

"It would have been tragic." Miss Abusuna finally spoke. "Sometimes I wonder if someone had died, they all would have learned a lesson. About respecting things that can't be explained by using science." Standing, she made her way towards a vase without flowers.

Mai stared at the woman her thoughts running wild, realizing people were afraid of things they couldn't understand, becoming divided. Creating chaos in a place where people should be learning.

"Lin!"

Everyone flinches suddenly, Lin moving quickly towards Miss Abusuna. Ripping the flowers from the vase, staring at Lin in shock, "What are you doing?! Don't ruin them!" Stopping he hands the flowers back to her, some were slightly bent. "Oh you ruined them." She spoke somberly, a little shaken at his outburst before realizing what he thought she had done.

"Did you think I put one of those things in there? That's rude! You've no proof of your accusations." Miss Abusuna glares at them feeling offended by Lin and Naru's actions. She stomped out of the room, beckoning for the girls to follow, hesitantly Kazai, and the other student leaves.

"Are we just going to leave her?" Monk asks, pointing his finger in the direction of the door.

"She's right, we have no proof of her doing anything." Mai speaks up quietly interjecting into the situation.

"She's learned her lesson." Naru states. "She won't do anything, but if she does, all was can do it wait to gather the evidence for it."

Several Days Later . . .

Mai breathes heavily, she had been sitting there for over an hour pressing buttons. "Whoa...to miss that many." John comments, staring.

"All of them. She missed all of them." Miss Hara states, a feeling of accomplishment in her eyes as she witnesses the failure of Tachibana Mai.

"It's very impressive." Ayako sneaks in, with Monk giggling on the sidelines.

Shoulders slumping, Mai leans back slightly defeated, feeling as if she had done something wrong. "I knew it. Everyone…" Naru lifts his head up from staring at his laptop. "Mai is a latent psychic."

"A what?" Mai looks up surprised.

"You've attempted to guess which of the buttons will light up over a thousand times now and every time you've not hit it once. To not get a single hit is almost a mathematical impossibility. It's clear her sharp instincts weren't a coincidence." Naru explains, looking at Mai, a strange glint in his eyes.

"Well, I knew she was a rockstar a long time ago." Monk interjects. "There was at that time she fell into the well and had that trippy dream. Or when she saw the kid in the Dollhouse Investigation."

"Actually that could be true, Mai is extraordinarily sensitive when it comes to people with intent to do harm. She has a very natural sense of self-preservation." Naru continues to click at the keyboard of his laptop. "Much like a wild animal being able to sniff out friend from foe."

"So, while Mai looks all innocent on the outside, she's all jungle cat on the inside?" Ayako asks, teasing Mai.

Ayako laughing at her own joke, others joining in. Mai growing angry turns on Naru, an angry expression clear on her face.

"Who are you calling an animal! If that is what makes me an animal, then I guess bending spoons makes you a hairy gorilla!" Mai snorts out.

"What are you talking about?" Lin speaks up.

"Hey! Mai…" Naru says, looking up at her from his laptop.

Clearly angered, she turns her head from Naru, without an ounce of regret fro doing what she did. Take that Naru the Narcississt! She thought.

"You need to be more careful." Lin speaks, scolding Naru.

"I know…"

"Apparently you don't!"

"I know what your going to say, I won't do it again." Naru promises.

"Hold on, what's this about?" Monk asks, a silly grin on his face.

"Naru, if you have really been hiding that little ability away, I'm dying to see you do it." Ayako says, a cheeky grin on her lips. "No way are we letting you of the hook!"

Sighing, Naru leans forward grabbing the spoon, Lin jolts in his seat, "Naru!" he scolds like a mother hen catching her child doing something they've been countless times not to.

"I have no choice." He holds up the spoon and bends it in his hand.

"Hah!

"That was amazing!"

"How did you manage that."

"Alright, Naru, you may be able to fool everyone else, but you can't fool me!" Monk declares. "Check this out. You support the handle of the spoon in the palm of your hand where your pointer finger and thumb fold. Try it." Monk explains.

John picking up his own spoon does as he explains and stares in wonderment at the spoon he bends in his hand.

"The best way to play a Trickster is to know all the tricks behind the play." Naru states, as everyone in the room stares in wonder.

Mai stares, Man I thought I was starting to figure it, but now….I don't know. Mei, I wish you were here, you would have figured him in no time. Mai thought staring at the row of buttons in front of her lost in her mind.

Who was the one who aided Masako?

Was it really Miss Abusuna who made those Hitogata's?

Will Mei show herself? Who is Mei really?

What are the letters Lin writes everyday?

Will Mai ever figure out who Naru is?

Stay tuned for the next episode!

The After School Hexer Episode