Previously:

"Ah..." Hitomi said, unable to completely suppress her blushing. "Actually, I wanted to ask you about when we hugged during the séance..." Naru actually stopped writing. "Was it just an accident, or did you do it on purpose?"

"... You were scared, weren't you?" he said, avoiding direct eye contact. It was hard to tell, but Hitomi thought he might have been blushing a little.

'H-He's too cute for words... !' she thought excitedly, blushing more while she tried to still her beating heart.

"I see. Thank you, Naru!" she told him warmly, giving him a beautiful smile that could make flowers bloom. Naru looked up at her.

"Hito—"

"Hitomi-sempai!" Mai cried frantically, throwing the door open. "The printer jammed again!"

"... Well," Hitomi said, smiling wryly and rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I'd better go fix it."

Naru sighed in annoyance.


The Cursed House (Part 1)


It was a hot summer day, but the AC was on full blast in the SPR office.

"Naru's still not back from his trip?" Ayako asked as Mai and Hitomi brought out drinks and snacks for her and Bou-san.

"Not yet. All he said was that he's coming back today," Hitomi answered.

"I'm surprised he's coming back," Mai said. "It seems Naru's always going off somewhere." Lin-san was basically their office baby-sitter.

"I can't believe him. He's probably out sightseeing, don't you think?" Ayako remarked.

"I bet he's at some hot springs on a secret fountain 'expedition'," Bou-san joked as he accepted his iced coffee.

"Maybe he's at a spa..." Mai said. Hitomi could tell their imaginations were going wild on the inside.

"… N-No way! That's just your overactive imaginations," Mai told the miko and monk nervously, sweating.

'Just what on earth did she imagine?' Hitomi wondered, sweat-dropping.

"He's free to do anything thanks to his social status," Ayako said.

'What is that supposed to mean?' Hitomi wondered. Was she referring to how much money Naru seemed to have to spend on the office and equipment?

BRIIIING—BRIIING—BRIIING—

Hitomi finished setting the snacks down and walked past Mai to pick up the ringing phone.

"Hello, Shibuya Psychic research center. How may we help you?" Hitomi greeted the caller with a professional smile in her voice. "He's not in right now. Could I take a message? Yes. I'll have him call back as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience." With that conversation concluded, she hung up.

"Listen to that. You sound like a real professional," Bou-san told her.

"Even so, why didn't you answer it, Mai?" Ayako asked. "You were closer. Hitomi didn't have to go out of her way."

"I'm not allowed to answer the phone," Mai said, plopping down on the ottoman. "That's Hitomi-sempai's job."

"Huh?" Ayako and Bou-san said.

"What happens if Hitomi isn't here?" Bou-san asked.

"Then I let the machine get it."

"But, you can't just ignore clients on the phone!" Ayako said in disbelief.

"Why aren't you allowed to answer?" Bou-san asked Mai.

"Who knows?" Mai shrugged. "But Hitomi-sempai is the 'senior' part-timer, so maybe that's why?"

"Hitomi?" Bou-san asked again.

"Like Mai said, who knows?" Hitomi answered mildly. She took a seat in one of the chairs. 'Actually, it's in case someone calls looking for Naru under his real identity, so Mai won't find out. I already know who he is and why he's here, so it doesn't matter so much if I answer.' She had already guessed their SPR was actually connected to the British SPR sometime after finding out his real identity. That was when they started letting her answer the phone. She did feel a little bad about not being able to tell the others, but a promise was a promise.

"I'm not allowed to handle the mail either," Mai added. "Lin-san always checks and sorts it first."

"But Hitomi can?" Ayako asked dubiously.

"I just bring it to Lin-san," Hitomi replied. Naru seemed to prefer it that way. It seemed there were some things she still didn't know about him.

"Isn't that what your part-time job is? To take care of jobs like that?" Ayako questioned. "Just what do you do around here?"

"We're investigators!" Mai answered. "I already manned the reception desk, served tea, and Hitomi-sempai helped me clean the place… except I didn't clean the president's office because I'm forbidden from entering it. So I had to leave that up to Hitomi-sempai."

"I also do the filing, which Mai helps me with sometimes, and I help Lin-san organize the case notes," Hitomi added. Naru usually preferred to have her translate the English into Kanji for him since she was tops at it.

'Hitomi is clearly getting preferential treatment...' the monk and miko thought. The level of trust seemed higher.

"How much do you get paid for doing such little work?" Ayako asked Mai.

"It's different between months when we have cases and months when we don't… but on average, about as much as a low-paid office lady," Mai answered. "About."

"!?" Bou-san nearly spat out his drink.

"What the—!?" Ayako exclaimed. "You're joking, right!? How much do you think he has to pay to rent an office in this upscale district? And you're getting full-time OL pay for part-time work!?"

"Well, our case load is heavy, so she's not going to refuse it," Hitomi said. "In Mai's case, she gets a bonus to help with her living situation."

'Does that mean she's actually getting paid less…!?' the monk and miko thought about Hitomi, surprised. Maybe Mai was the one getting preferential treatment...

"Don't we get enough in client fees and IOUs?" Mai said.

"I can't imagine we're profitable if Naru-bou has that kind of financial sense," Bou-san said.

"But, hey, wasn't his father a university professor? Isn't he loaded..." Mai pointed out.

"No, no… For starters, being a professor is not that lucrative," Bou-san told her.

"Just because you can put 'Dr.' in front of your name doesn't necessarily mean you make the big bucks," Hitomi agreed. "In fact, it tends to be the opposite where most professors are concerned."

"Well, wasn't he loaded before—"

KLIKK.

At that moment, the office door opened and in walked none other than Naru himself.

"Oh, Naru, welcome back!" Mai greeted him.

"Don't mind me!" said Bou-san. Naru hit them with an icy look and retreated to his office, slamming the door shut behind him.

'Ah… It's ended in failure again...' Hitomi thought somberly. "I'll go make some tea," she said, and got up to head for the kitchenette.

"What's with him?" Ayako asked. "Why is he in such a foul mood?"

"He's always like that after he gets back," Mai replied.

KLIKK.

The door opened again.

"Uhh, welcome!' Mai called, getting up to turn around and greet the visitor, who turned out to be a decent-looking young man with a cute little girl.

"Um… Good afternoon..." he greeted them. "You are… what one would call 'mediums', right?"

—∞—

Once they had ushered their new guests inside and coaxed Naru back out of his office, they asked the new client to introduce himself.

"I'm Yoshimi Akifumi. And this is my niece, Hazuki," he said. "I was wondering if you would examine her..." The little girl gripped her uncle's shirt tighter. Something clearly had her scared. "I was thinking of just bringing her to a hospital for treatment, but..." The little girl was startled. She immediately looked up at her uncle and protested.

"I hate hospitals!" she cried nervously.

"It's alright—we're not going to one," he reassured her.

"Naru-chan, it's alright if we examine her, isn't it?" said Bou-san. "It won't take long."

"Please help us," Akifumi pleaded.

"Alright," Naru said, deciding to give in.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Akifumi apologized. "First, please take a look at this..." He removed the bandage wrapped around his niece's neck to reveal a nasty bruise that almost looked like some kind of strange rash.

'It looks painful...' Hitomi and Mai thought sympathetically.

"This circles her entire neck," Akifumi said.

"Skin diseases like that are nothing unusual..." Naru said.

"But that's not all..." Akifumi continued. "If it were, we would've just gone to the hospital, but..." He had her turn around and carefully pulled the back of her dress down. Hitomi and Mai's eyes widened. There, on the poor little girl's back, was a line of angry red, raised wounds in the shape of kanji characters.

"… Wha—" Mai gasped, horrified. "Bou-san..."

'How horrible…!' Hitomi thought.

"… This is a kaimyou," Bou-san said, furrowing his brow.

" 'Kaimyou'… Do you mean the name you give a dead person!?" Mai asked.

"Right," Bou-san answered.

"… What does it say in the writing?" Mai asked.

"… 'Zen-getsu in rakugo dounyo'," Hitomi replied.

" 'Zen-getsu' means 'the foolishness of fearing something too much'," Bou-san explained. 'Rakugo' means 'descending into hell.' And 'dounyo' means 'girl'. The 'getsu' in 'zen-getsu' is probably taken from the same Chinese character used for 'zuki' in 'Hazuki'. The kaimyou was branded onto this girl by someone wishing her harm. It means, 'this foolish girl will descend into hell.'"

'Descend into hell—!' Mai and Hitomi thought, appalled.

—∞—

They decided to take the case. Hitomi was at home packing. She had just finished adding a swimsuit and a pair of shorts and a t-shirt (just in case) to her bag when her aunt knocked on her door.

"Hitomi-chan, I made a bento full of snacks for you to share with your friends," she informed her with a smile. "It's waiting for you in the kitchen."

"Thanks, Momoka-neesan!" Hitomi replied, zipping up her bag. "I'll be there in a minute."

"And so, that was when I—Oh, hello, Hitomi-chan," Yamshita-jiisan, one of her grandfather's old friends, greeted her when she passed the spot where they were eating watermelon on the porch.

"Hitomi," her grandfather said, "you just saved me from another retelling of—"

"Retelling? Have I told you this one before?" his friend asked.

"Many times," her grandfather answered with a straight face that was completely done. "Off on another case?"

"Yes," she answered with a smile, "This time we're going to Yoshimi Inn at—"

"—Yoshimi!?" he grandfather exclaimed, suddenly looking incredibly grave. "Not that place! I forbid you to go there!"

"Whoa, slow down, grandpa… Why not?" Hitomi asked, puzzled.

"Hitomi-chan… That's where your great grandmother died," Yamashita-jiisan answered sadly for his friend. Hitomi's eyes widened in shock.

—∞—

BRIING—BRIING—BRIIING—

The telephone rang at the office.

"Hello?" Lin said, answering. "Naru, it's for you." He handed the phone over.

"Yes?" said Naru, holding it to his ear.

"Naru! something's come up..." Hitomi said on the other end.

"What is it?" he asked. "Everyone is here, waiting for you."

"I know, but my grandfather just told me something I think could be important… It turns out my great grandmother died at Yoshimi Inn."

"So?"

"So, it wasn't a natural death. Several others died around the same time, all under suspicious circumstances," Hitomi explained patiently. "I thought you ought to know."

"Does your grandfather know more about this?" Naru asked.

"I think so, but he's being stubborn. He doesn't want me to go, because of what happened to her. This could take another hour..."

"I told you, you're not going! Several of the others who died were all psychics, too!" he heard her grandfather shout in the background.

"All the more reason for me to go!" she retorted. "Do you really think you raised me to be the kind of person who would let her friends walk into that kind of trouble without her?"

—∞—

It did take another hour, but in the end, Hitomi won.

"So, what's the story?" Naru asked.

"Unfortunately, because he was upset, he refused to give precise details… But it happened about thirty years ago," Hitomi explained. "My great grandmother was friends with one of the Yoshimis before she married into the family, and she went to visit her. Several people died under suspicious circumstances, including a few guests who were psychic, like my great grandmother."

"Ehh!? Your great grandmother was psychic, too!?" Mai asked, surprised. "This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Yeah, I guess we don't talk about it much because she didn't like to talk about it herself… It seems she had a bad experience," Hitomi said. "Unlike me and my grandfather, she had ESP rather than PK. She was a remarkable woman. She kept the school afloat when it was in trouble during and after the war, and as a widow, she raised my grandfather all by herself. He said she often knew he was in trouble even before he had a chance to cause it. They were very close."

"Wow," Mai said, impressed.

"I guess being tough in a crisis runs in the family," Bou-san said with grin.

"Oh, I've seen her picture before, and Hitomi-sempai looks just like her, too!" Mai added. "I heard she was half French."

"Well, her hair was a darker color, and she had blue eyes," Hitomi said, deciding to get back on topic when she saw the impatient look on Naru's face. They were already an hour behind schedule, after all. "Anyway, at the time the newspapers reported the deaths were caused by accidents or illness. My grandfather never believed it because he knew his mother was as healthy as a horse and had the survival capabilities of a cockroach, for lack of a better comparison."

"Can't you be more specific?" Naru asked.

"I'm afraid not. The information was already secondhand when it reached my grandfather, so a lot of the details were lost," Hitomi replied with a sigh. "But he thinks the house is cursed, and that is not a word he throws around lightly."

—∞—

The seaside location of the Hotel was beautiful. Upon their arrival, they were shown into the room of the family matriarch. She appeared to be bedridden. They kneeled down on the tatami mat in seiza, and she greeted them with a bow from her bed.

"My name is Yoshimi Yae," she said. "Ordinarily, I would not make a request like this… but I'm acting on behalf of my great granddaughter. "We greatly appreciate this."

"Pardon me," Akifumi said, carefully sliding the door open. "This is my father, Taizou, and my mother, Hiroe." He gestured to the middle-aged couple with kind faces that were kneeling next to him.

"We are honored with your presence," the couple greeted their guests politely.

"Please, have some," Hiroe told Mai and Hitomi, offering them traditionally served green tea.

'Eeek, I'm getting nervous...' Mai thought, unused to such fancy etiquette. 'This is the first time I've received tea like this.'

"Thank you," Hitomi replied politely, accepting her cup gracefully.

'Sempai definitely has more experience in this area...' Mai thought, sweat-dropping as she watched. You could practically see sparkles or flowers blooming around the older girl, she was so lovely. 'That seems a little unfair...'

"We humbly wish to hear the details of the case again from your grandmother," Naru told Akifumi, maintaining the polite, formal way of speaking.

"Alright," the old woman said. "If I were to speak freely and openly about it… you'd probably think me a fool… But this house is cursed." Hitomi and Mai exchanged a glance. Just as her grandfather thought. "There are horrible legends concerning the Yoshimi house. Great misfortune would occur whenever the house would change hands. Actually, when the last owner—my father—passed away, people began dying in alarming numbers. And when my grandparents died and passed the house down to my father, the same thing happened. I don't remember much firsthand because at the time I was very young… However, among six siblings, I was the only one who survived. Several days ago, my husband passed away… and soon after, those rashes began appearing on Hazuki. Not even one week had passed. The rashes appeared as kaimyou on her back and around her entire neck like a cut."

"I wish to hear about when your father passed away… When was it?" Naru asked.

"It's been thirty-two years now," she replied. Mai and Hitomi exchanged another glance.

"Do you remember how many people died in total?"

"Yes… there were eight from this house. The youngest five among the seven children… the oldest grandchild, my cousin, and my uncle… the half that survived accidents passed away due to unexplainable illnesses."

'Eight people...' Mai thought sadly.

'So many children...' Hitomi thought, feeling bad for them.

"You said 'from this house'—were there also others outside the family who died?" Naru questioned, knowing there must be at least one more.

"Yes… customers of our restaurant..."

"Mother—" Hiroe said gently, stopping her. "You should tell them everything."

"What is it?" Naru asked.

"Mother is worried that some of you might not leave here alive," Hiroe said.

"Why do you say that?"

"… Three psychics have also died."

Everyone tensed. Not just one, but three.

"Was one of those psychics named Matsumoto Setsuko?" Hitomi asked, unable to help herself.

"Matsumoto-san? You know about her?" Yae asked, surprised.

"She was my great grandmother."

The room was filled with a shocked silence on the Yoshimis' part.

"I'm sorry for you loss," Yae said with remorse. "I remember she was a friend of the family. Yes… I'm afraid she was one of the three psychics."

"… I see," said Naru.

"We very much want you to help us… but we realize the risks—"

"If it sounds too dangerous, we'll refuse and leave," Bou-san said. "We understand what's involved. It would be cowardly to leave without seeing what we're up against. But doing so would put the restaurant customers in danger. What do you say, Naru-chan?"

"Are there customers in the restaurant now?"Naru asked.

"Not right now," Hiroe answered. "Since Father passed away, we've closed it. We let our employees, and even the funeral workers take a vacation. Only our family is in this building now."

"I think that was a prudent step," Naru said. "By the way, did you feel anything abnormal, or perhaps see anything strange?"

"Oh… yes," Akifumi said. "First, the myna bird that my grandmother raised died on the day of my grandfather's funeral. Maybe three days later, two more birds and three dogs that she raised also died. The birds died in their cages… but we found the dogs all washed ashore."

'All three dogs drowned… at the same time?' Hitomi thought. That was definitely strange, not to mention the birds.

"Anything else?" Naru asked.

"Some of the workers at the restaurant said they saw the ghosts… peeking into a room from a window..."

"Do you know where that was?"

"No… but it was probably the room overlooking the cove. That's the only place where people outside can look in."

"… I see," Naru said. "In any case, we brought our equipment. Did you prepare a room for us?"

"I'll lead you there," Akifumi said, getting up to do just that.

—∞—

He led them through the building to a beautiful traditional Japanese room.

"Ooh—Wowww!" Mai exclaimed, impressed. The room was huge! "This is amazing! It's humongous! I've never seen a Japanese style room this big outside Sempai's house!"

"Your rooms are this big?" Bou-san asked Hitomi.

"Well, the dinning room and family room are," she replied with a wry smile. "We're a big family."

"It seems sacrilegious to use it as our base of operations!" Mai continued cheerfully as she explored the room. "Wow, and the next room's even bigger!"

"We set up this room and the room next door for you… Please take advantage while the restaurant is closed," Akifumi encouraged them.

"Thank you very much," Naru said.

"Whoa!" Mai exclaimed when she opened the sliding glass door to the outside and saw the view.

"Hey, this is the room that overlooks the cove," Bou-san said.

"It must be," Hitomi agreed.

"This is definitely where ghosts could peek inside," Mai agreed, sweat-dropping and leaning on the railing to look at the long drop over the edge.

"Can you see down below?" Akifumi asked.

"Yes, we can. That's the sea, right?" Hitomi asked.

"Oh, can we swim here?" asked Mai.

"Swimming is one of our attractions, but the water is extremely deep here," Akifumi replied. "There'a beach on the opposite shore if you wanna swim there."

"Swim to the opposite shore…?" Mai asked.

"Oh, that's right. Well, form this shape with your right hand," he told her, making an 'OK' signal with his hand. Mai copied him. "That's it. This helps you visualize it."

"There's a cave here? Can I see it?" Mai asked excitedly.

"Yeah, if you like. I'll even be your guide," he answered with a smile.

"Yay! " Mai cheered.

"So, Yoshimi-san… How does a restaurant in a remote place like this stay in business?" Bou-san asked.

"Well… our house is a little different from a typical business," Akifumi replied. "Have you heard of a members-only organization?"

"Really? " Ayako said, lighting up. "Isn't this great, you two? If it weren't for this case, you wouldn't be allowed to come here," she told Mai and the monk, putting on airs.

"Ho ho… what are you implying, Ayako-sama?" Mai asked with a vein throbbing on her temple.

"Ho ho ho ho, I have to seize this gem of an opportunity! I could marry into this rich family!"

"Akifumi-san, you may want to run..." Hitomi said quietly behind her hand, so they didn't hear.

"A mere child couldn't appreciate this glamour," Ayako continued.

"Hmmm… But shouldn't you hurry up and make your move? Aren't you already thirty?" Mai retorted, knowing just how to push her buttons.

"Who's thirty! I'm only twenty-three!" Ayako snapped.

"Do I detect a touch of hoarseness in your voice~?" Mai asked slyly.

"There's nothing cute about you!" Ayako growled. "You're ticking me off."

"Hehehe..." Akifumi laughed, unable to hold it in any longer.

"You two..." Bou-san said, blushing and sweat-dropping. "We can't take them anywhere, huh, Hitomi?" Hitomi smiled wryly and sweat-dropped. No. No, they couldn't.

'Ah!' she thought, taking notice of how much equipment had already been unloaded into the room while they were chatting. She sweat-dropped again. 'Uh-oh.'

"Uh," Mai said, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry."

"Mai," Hitomi said, "We should—"

"So! Yoshimi-san, how old are you?" Ayako asked boldly, clenching her fist.

"Me? I'll be twenty soon, but..."

'So, he's still underage,' Ayako thought, letting her head fall in despair, while Mai smirked.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized, smiling wryly and sweat-dropping.

"Mai! How long are you going to play around?" Naru asked sternly, carrying more equipment.

"Yes, sir!" Mai and Hitomi said, and quickly hopped to.

—∞—

Once they had finished unloading their equipment, they joined the Yoshimis in the dining room. The SPR gang was seated together on one end, with the family filling the remaining seats.

"We apologize for calling you here now," the family greeted them formally with bows. "Thank you for your understanding."

'Let's see… That man in the suit is the oldest son, Kazuyasu-san. Then, there's the second son in a t-shirt, Yasutaka-san. And that's Eijirou-san in the collarless button-up shirt, a son-in-law,' Hitomi thought, testing her memory while she observed the different family members around the table. 'Next is Kazuyasu-san's wife, Youko-san. Then, the oldest daughter, Teruka-san… She's Eijirou-san's wife.' She was wearing a lovely kimono. 'And, finally, Nao-san, the second oldest daughter. She's just a little older than Akifumi-san. Seems like everything's in order… although, Eijirou-san looks like he's in a bad mood...'

"Shibuya-san, would you like sake?" Taizo offered.

"No. Neither Lin nor I drink," Naru politely declined.

"Matsumoto-san?"

"No, thank you," Hitomi also politely refused.

'That's right, they're underage,' Mai thought about Naru and Hitomi. She had almost forgotten that, somehow.

"Takigawa-san, Matsuzaki-san? How about you?"

"Thank you," they accepted gladly.

'This is even better than Momoka-neesan's cooking!' Hitomi thought, pleasantly surprised. Her aunt was extremely hard to beat in the kitchen.

'Hee! This is so tasty, it makes me giddy! It's irresistible! ' Mai thought happily. This sure was a delicious part-time job!

"Excuse me," Hiroe said, placing more rice on the table for her.

"Huh?" Mai said, noticing something odd. "Why is your meal different, Lin-san?"

"I heard that Shibuya-san and Lin-san don't eat meat, so I changed their menus… was I mistaken?" Hiroe asked.

"No, you were right. Thank you," Hitomi told her with a smile. "Is this your first time noticing it, Mai?"

"Yeah. You mean it's happened before?" Mai asked, surprised.

"It's always like this when we have a case," Hitomi replied.

"Huh? Lin-san, you don't eat meat? At all? You're a vegetarian?"

"Yes," Lin answered.

"Shall we bring a little something from outside?"Hiroe asked, wondering if seafood would be more to their liking. "After all, we're so close to the sea."

"During investigations, I refrain from meat to purify myself," Lin replied, politely declining.

"Oh, my… a psychic's life is a harsh one," Hiroe said.

"Isn't it?" Ayako said as she and the monk avoided eye contact with the rest of the table, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed to be chowing down on plates full of meat so care-freely.

"Indeed..." Bou-san agreed uneasily.

—∞—

"Are you planning to start monitoring tonight?" Mai asked, looking at the monitors set up on low tables in the base.

"Shouldn't we?" Hitomi said.

"Usually, there are more clues to investigate," Naru said. "But we'll try going to the local library in the morning."

'Who's going?' Hitomi wondered. Odds were it would be one of them.

"Bou-san, do you have a protective charm for Hazuki-chan?" Naru asked.

"Of course! And I set up a kekkai around the room, boss,"Bou-san replied.

KNOKK. KNOKK.

"Thanks for your hard work so far," Akifumi said, standing in the open doorway. "Do you mind if I come in? I brought you some tea." Sure enough, he was holding a tray with a tea caddy on it in one hand and an electric kettle in the other.

"Wow, and you brought the pot, too!" Mai said, hurrying over to help him.

"Please, have some," Akifumi said, serving them.

"Thanks a lot! " Mai said as he handed her a cup. "Any place that serves tea from time to time has got to be good! Right, Hitomi-sempai?"

"Right," Hitomi agreed brightly, also accepting a cup.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" he asked them.

"It was very satisfying," Hitomi answered truthfully.

"Yeah! It's the first time I've had cuisine like that, so I was actually kinda nervous," Mai said, smiling wryly and rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh? You've had similar meals with us," Hitomi reminded her, referring to her own family.

"Yeah, but your family is a less formal about it, so there's no pressure," Mai said. The Matsumoto dinner table tended to be lively. "Speaking of which, your family sure is quiet when they eat," she told Akifumi. "Your brothers barely said a word the whole meal."

"I'm sorry…" he apologized. "They're usually quite lively, but… lately they've been moody."

"It can't be helped," Mai said, giving him a small smile. "They're worried."

"Eijirou-san seemed to be in a particularly bad mood," Hitomi observed. "Is he alright?"

"You're right," Akifumi said. "I wonder what happened all of a sudden..."

"All of a sudden? What do you mean?" Mai asked. Bou-san and Ayako looked up too.

"Kazu-niisan and Eijirou-niisan help out at the restaurant," he explained. "Originally, they had great manners. Good social manners are fundamental in the service industry. This was the first time I saw that odd expression on Eijirou-niisan."

"So you've never seen that look on Eijirou-san's face before?" Naru asked. "And the same goes for Kazuyasu-san?"

"That's right… Kazu-niisan had also been tense the last two or three days. Yasu-niisan used to be a cheerful person. In fact, my mom and dad used to scold him for being too cheerful."

"When did you notice a change in Yasutaka-san's personality?"

"I'd say ever since my grandfather's funeral. But I couldn't say why."

"Has anyone else's personality changed?"

"Yes… Youko-neesan's also… but the ones whose personalities changed the most are the children."

"As in Hazuki-chan?" Mai asked.

"No, there are two more children besides her," Akifumi answered. "Kazu-niisan has two children, Katsuki and Hazuki… and Teruka-neesan has one child, Wakako—Katsuki and Wakako are the ones who have gotten... strange."

" 'Strange'…?" Hitomi asked.

"How should I say this… Until now, they were perfectly normal… but recently, they've been clinging to each other. On top of that, they've been secretly talking nonstop to themselves. And if you try to hear what they're saying, they exchange looks and run off."

"When did this behavior start?" Naru asked.

"Around the time of grandfather's funeral, of course. Naturally, Youko-neesan was worrying a lot after that… but then, two or three days later, she seemed to have stopped..."

"I see..." said Naru.

—∞—

"Is this camera angle okay?" Mai asked through her headset while Hitomi adjusted the camera.

"It's fine. Get back here," Naru answered on the other end.

"At least it's the last one," Hitomi said wryly when Mai sighed tiredly. They stepped out into a dark hallway.

"Yikes, they must have turned off the corridor lights. It's pitch black," Mai said.

"The emergency exit light is still on," Hitomi pointed out calmly.

"Oh well, our base is just straight ahead," Mai said, giving in to the inevitable as they started to move forward together. They paused when they heard an indistinct sound, like whispering.

"Huh?" Mai said as they looked back over their shoulders in its direction. "What the…?" She sweat-dropped. There was nothing there. Just an empty corridor.

"Did you hear it too, Mai?" Hitomi asked.

"I thought I did..." Mai agreed. 'I could've sworn someone called us… but everyone's gone.' They started walking again.

"—san—"

They stopped and slowly turned to look behind them. Mai's eyes widened slightly when she saw a single human arm waving eerily at her from the wall.

'—There's...' she thought, starting to get scared, when Hitomi took a step forward. "Sempai!"

"Hello?" Hitomi called, squinting through the dark. "You can come out now."

"… Onee-sans?" a little girl called again as she and a boy around the same age stuck their heads out from behind the wall. Mai realized they must have been hiding in an alcove or something.

"… Wha—" Mai said, taken aback. The kids stepped fully into view. They were wearing pajamas. "Hey… you scared me..." Mai admitted, hugging her knees when she dropped into a squat. That was super creepy!

"You're Katsuki-kun and Wakako-chan, right?" Hitomi asked. "What are you doing here?" The kids stared at her with dead eyes and then started whispering to each other, too low for them to hear. Mai and Hitomi exchanged a questioning glance.

"… Onee-sans… how many of you are here?"

"Huh?" Mai said.

"We'll answer your question if you answer ours," Hitomi said with a smile, trying to be friendly.

"How many of you are here?" the little girl asked again with a firm voice and an unreadable look on her face. The boy stood behind her with the same unforgiving expression.

"..." Hitomi stared at them. Something definitely wasn't right about these kids.

"… Six…" Mai answered uneasily. "But..." The two children exchanged a look.

"… Six..." the girl repeated, whispering behind her hand loud enough for them to hear.

"… That's a lot..." the boy whispered back.

"That's bad," the girl concluded. The children giggled and turned to leave.

"Let's go."

"!" Mai gasped. "Uh—Hey… hey! Wait up!" she said, stopping them. "What about us six?"

"There are six of us, but why did you ask?" Hitomi added.

"Don't worry, onee-sans!" They giggled again and ran off, whispering to each other.

'—What's this unnerving feeling...' Mai wondered. "Now I know what Akifumi-san meant."

"Yeah, it's hard to pin down, but there's something off around about those kids," Hitomi agreed.

'Maybe it's nothing...' Mai thought. 'But… Hitomi-sempai thought it was strange too...'

"KYAAAAAAAA!" A screamed pierced the dark silence.