Previously:
"A job?" Bou-san said.
"Even out here?" Mai said, sweat-dropping. Naru considered the two men in front of him. They seemed desperate.
"What is it?" he asked.
"!" Lin said. "Naru!"
"Are you sure?" Hitomi asked.
"I don't mind," Naru said.
"But..." Lin said.
"We're just going to be waiting around with nothing to do," Naru said. "Please tell us about your problem."
The Forgotten Children (Part 2)
They all went into Naru and Lin's bungalow to hash out the details.
"I am the village mayor," the man with glasses said. "My name is Matsunuma." He gestured to the other old man with him. "This is my assistant, Hatada. Actually… our village is facing some problems. And we were discussing calling in a psychic… when the manager of these bungalows… mentioned that there were people specializing in that sort of thing staying here..."
"And what is this problem?" Naru asked.
"Well, you see..." Matsunuma said. "… There's a nearby elementary school that was shut down. Ever since then… strange things have been happening."
"Excuse me, but… I still do not understand what your problem is," Naru said.
"Oh… well..." Matsunuma said hesitantly.
"This… is something I really need you to keep quiet about!" Hatada said, sitting up more.
"We protect our clients' secrets," Naru said. Matsunuma looked at Hatada and nodded.
"There are many… who have said they saw… ghosts at the abandoned school," Hatada said. "We don't know the details. But some say they saw spirits, or that there's a curse. Since it's an old building, we want to tear it down. But then there are people who say if we do that, we'll fall under a curse."
"When was the school closed?" Naru asked.
"Five years ago," Hatad said. "Five years ago in May."
"That's an odd time of year to close a school down," Naru said. He had learned that in Japan, the school year began in April and the first term ran to around July 20th, when summer vacation began.
"Yes. This is an area suffering from depopulation," Hatada said. "The number of students was small, and even though it was an elementary school there were less than twenty students in the entire school. We were in talks to merge with a neighboring school in a few years, but… it was suddenly closed down because the students in the district moved out. That is because a dam was to be built..."
"This dam?" Naru asked.
"Yes. There are actually plans to build a resort near the abandoned school," Hatada said.
'The dam… it's where Gene is,' Hitomi thought, glancing at Naru. She could see from the look on Mai's face that she had similar thoughts.
"But if the school is there and rumors go around that there are ghosts there… So that is why we need you to be discreet," Hatada said. "And we need this problem to be completely resolved. We are just a small mountain village. We don't even have any fields. The resort is our only chance at a real income. Without money from tourism, we won't be able to survive."
"I see..." Naru said. "By the way, do you have any idea why these ghosts would appear?"
"Of course not! If we knew the cause, we would take care of it," Hatada said.
"Were there any unusual accidents at the school?" Naru asked.
"No," Hatada said.
"Can we meet some of the people who claim that they saw ghosts?" Naru asked.
"No… There are just rumors. And I have no clue who saw these ghosts," Hatada said.
'What the heck?' Ayako, Mai, Hitomi, and Bou-san thought. They were this anxious because of some unsubstantiated rumors?
"So this is all based on rumor," Naru said. "You probably have nothing to worry about, then."
"Yes, that's true… but just in case..." Hatada said anxiously.
"We will investigate," Naru said. "But we cannot stay at the school. And I have some business to attend to. It's possible that I may have to cut the investigation short. Is that okay?"
"… Yes," Hatada said.
"Then… please gather these materials by today," Naru said, making a list for them.
—∞—
Hitomi watched as Matsunuma and Hatada disappeared into the woods.
"I wonder if there really are ghosts?" Bou-san said, sweat-dropping.
"I know," Mai said.
"If there are any, they'd be the ghosts of people who died at the school… Oh, I guess not. If it were, they would have an idea of what's going on," Yasuhara said. "Or it would be someone who was somehow connected to the school, but died somewhere else. But why would they appear at the school?"
"What do you mean?" Mai asked.
"If this person who was connected to the school died elsewhere, it would be weird if a ghost were to appear at the school," Yasuhara said. "You know that there are jibaku spirits that appear at the scene of their death? But the school isn't where that individual died."
"Yeah, but..." Mai said, sweat-dropping and smiling nervously. 'Someone, help.' She glanced around the room and settled on Ayako.
'Huh, me?' Ayako thought, surprised. "Let's see. When people die, they become spirits. And when they die, they go to the other world. Most of the time. If, in life, that person had some unfinished business—or doesn't understand they are dead—then they can't move on. A wandering spirit who has been trapped in this world is known as a fuyuu sprit. The spirit must resolve its unfinished business—by returning to where those problems began. Or spirits who don't realize they're dead will try to go home."
"I see, I see," Mai and Yasuhara said.
"But the living can't see spirits," Ayako continued. "So even though they go home, the family ignores them. So they go to another place. Places like school they attended, or someplace that holds a special place in their heart. There are spirits who become attached to one area and won't leave. And the longer they stay, the harder it is to move away… and that's how you get jibaku spirits."
"I see," Mai said. "You are a specialist, after all."
"Some people believe that theory, yes," Bou-san said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ayako asked.
"It simply means that there are many theories in this room," Bou-san said. "Right, John?"
"True," John agreed.
"How am I wrong?" Ayako asked him.
"It's not that you're wrong," John said. "But there are things we don't know about spirits. There are many theories and it's not clear which one is the truth."
"So there are other theories?" Mai asked.
"Yes," John said. "Jibaku spirits, fuyuu spirits, and others—like haigo spirits and shugo spirits… are recognized in Japan, but not in the West. "Eye witness accounts of the supernatural are quite different in Japan and in the West. Japanese ghosts tend to do bad things and cast curses."
"Of course. They're ghosts," Mai said.
"But it's not like West," Hitomi said. "Most witnesses just report seeing the spirits."
"Right. Very few spirits cast curses… and there are even fewer accounts of possession," John concluded.
"Oh. I see," Mai said. "You know so much, John. Hitomi-sempai, too."
"Any input, Sensei?" Bou-san asked Naru with a grin.
'Is he just teasing him?' Hitomi wondered. 'Or has Bou-san figured him out?'
"The truth is that, amongst all psychic phenomena, spirits and ghosts are the least understood," Naru said. "That is because spirits don't appear in the research laboratory."
"?" Mai said, scratching her head. 'He's getting really… hard to understand again.'
"You can invite psychics to visit your lab so you can study them," Naru said. "But you can't summon spirits like that. We can only study those spirits whom we happen to have access to. For example, a spirit that a medium calls. Or poltergeists, which are easy to observe. To study other types of spirits, we must rely on field investigation and eyewitness accounts. But we have no way of verifying those accounts. Many accounts of spirit sightings have been recorded, in Japan and in the West… but as long as they are accounts from humans, we can't believe them."
"Okay," Mai said. "So Japanese spirits curse the living, and Western spirits don't. Does this mean that different types of spirits exist in the two different cultures? That just doesn't seem very likely. Just like cats in Japan and the United states would eat mice."
"That's a horrible example, but exactly," Naru said. "So you can explain it like this. It's because Westerners call those spirits who cast curses 'devils'."
"Oh," Mai said.
"So their evil spirits are known as 'devils', and the rest are called 'spirits'," Naru said.
"I see..." Mai said.
"This is only one theory," Naru said. "There are others." He looked at Hitomi. "Surely you know one."
"Okay… Let's say a spirit appears," Hitomi said. "The human who sees it fears that it might cause something bad to happen. So if the human happens to catch a cold afterward, she blames it on the spirit. That is how the story of a cursing spirit starts."
"Oh, that makes so much sense!" Mai said.
"If that's the case, then the reason why Japanese spirits curse and Western spirits don't… is because of the way Japanese people think," Hitomi said.
"So when you research things that have been filtered through humans… the truth becomes skewed infinitely," Naru said, taking over again. "Stories spread by word of mouth are so filled with misunderstandings, distortion, and imagination you don't know what is true. So since the research of spirits is based on those accounts, the research itself is inconclusive. Since the research is so complex, many people just reach conclusions based on their beliefs. Some people say that there is a 'soul' within a human, and it remains even after they die. Some people say that spirits are telepathy between the dead and the living. And there are some people who say that living things emit particles… and after death those particles linger… and some people can see those as spirits. Besides, the terms used in Japan, such as 'jibaku spirit', 'fuyuu spirit', and 'shugo spirit', are not scientifically recognized. We don't know who started using these terms. That's why we don't know what they exactly mean. There's no way to confirm them."
"Wow," Mai said. "How irresponsible."
"So it's hard to research spirits because the terminology has uncertain origins, and its meaning is invalid without questioning it," Naru said.
"So that means… we don't know anything?" Mai asked, sweat-dropping.
"Did you want the truth?" Naru asked. "We don't know anything and there is no proof that spirits exist."
"Huh? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Mai exclaimed. "Then what exactly are we doing!?"
"What you do is grunt work," Naru told her bluntly.
"Yeah, but… That's not what I meant!" Mai said.
"We're collecting data, right?" Hitomi said.
"Right. Data of recorded video and sounds," Naru said. "There are no tapes with clear images of spirits… but there is countless footage of weird haziness. We analyze it completely to find out what it is. If we apply all the scientific knowledge available and then still can't find out what it is, then it's 'something'. It becomes a phenomenon. After collecting all the 'something' we found, we find common characteristics. Then laws regarding the 'something' are created. Only then can we find out what the 'something' is. The 'something' I'm looking for is what is commonly known as a 'spirit.' I'm collecting and analyzing data—and using that to hunt ghosts. That is what I am doing. So actually the field research and data collecting is only the first step."
"Oh. So that's why it's a 'ghost hunt'," Mai said. "And why do we exorcise them?"
"That's just a bonus," Naru said. "Since our clients are letting us investigate, we dispel the spirits to help them out. I think that's the best explanation of what I'm doing."
"I see..." Mai said. "But I saw so many spirits until now. Everyone else has, too. If everyone saw them, isn't that proof that they exist?"
"Did I ever ask everyone for official testimony… of what they saw and experienced?" Naru asked.
"… Nope," Mai said.
"I myself have seen spirits many times," Naru said. "And I know that you all believe you saw them, too. But as long as the data has been filtered through human perception, I'm not interested in it. Gathering that kind of data proves nothing."
"Sigh… I don't know if I get it or not," Mai said, holding her head. "My head is spinning."
"… Hmm. It's cold. I guess it gets cold in the mountains," Bou-san said, rubbing his arms.
"Huh?" Mai said.
"Maybe you caught a cold?" Hitomi said.
"Let's see," Ayako said, putting one hand on his forehead and the other on her own. "… You don't seem to have a fever."
"Really? I feel feverish," Bou-san said. "This might be gibberish because of my fever, but, Naru-chan..."
"And you want me to listen to gibberish?" Naru asked.
"I think you're… pretty amazing," Bou-san said.
"I think so, too," John said. Hitomi smiled at Naru.
"Thanks," Naru said, smiling a little.
"He should've just come out and said so," Mai whispered behind her hand to Ayako with a smile.
"I know," Ayako said with a grin. The two of them laughed quietly.
—∞—
They drove through the old gate to the school. They stopped when they reached the abandoned building and got out. They all stared at the school. It was eerie and worn-down, falling apart. Almost all the windows were shattered and broken. The playground equipment was rusted and falling apart as well. Mai yawned.
'It's finally seven,' she thought. "It's really lonely here."
"Yeah, I can't believe children were here, lively and all," Ayako said.
"From the looks of this place, it must have already been falling apart five years ago," Hitomi said. Masako stared at the school.
"How is it, Masako?" Mai asked. "Can you see anything inside?"
"It's a little too far," Masako replied. "How about you and Matsumoto-san?" Hitomi removed her eyepatch and had a look.
"I'm awake right now, so I can't tell," Mai said.
"Oh. That is right. You're not useful unless you're sleeping," Masako said behind her kimono sleeve.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? It's my individuality!" Mai said.
"That's a nice way to put it," Masako said.
"What!?" Mai exclaimed.
"Guys!" Hitomi said, silencing them. "I just saw something."
"!" Mai said.
"What is it?" Naru asked.
"Faces," Hitomi replied. "Just for a moment, there were faces in some of the windows, but..."
"But?" Mai asked.
"I think there was something inhuman about them..." Hitomi said.
"We'll place microphones outside," Naru said. "And we'll check the situation for one day, then maybe put cameras. And where we can, we'll place tracking cameras. Don't go inside the school."
"Yes, sir!" Mai and Hitomi said, saluting.
"So please help," Mai asked Bou-san, smiling wryly and rubbing the back of her neck.
"Sure, sure," Bou-san said with a sigh and a shrug.
—∞—
Hitomi was working with Naru and Lin to set up mikes on one side of the building, while Mai, Bou-san, and Yasuhara took care of the other.
"… Are your parents coming?" Hitomi asked while they worked.
"Yes. They're with Madoka," Naru replied. "My mother speaks a little Japanese, but my father doesn't know any… Would you like to meet them?"
"Yes, I would," Hitomi said, a little surprised. Lin had been studiously pretending to be too busy fiddling with the mike to hear their conversation, until they ran into a little snag.
"Naru, the mike won't reach," he said. "We would have to break the lower glass."
"Oh, then I'll do it," Hitomi said, squatting down and picking up a stone from the ground. Naru and Lin moved out of the way. Her pitching form was decent, but she hit the side of the building, right next to the window frame.
"What happened to your expert marksmanship?" Naru asked. Hitomi could tell he was teasing her.
"There's a difference between shooting an arrow and throwing a rock," she said. She picked up another rock and threw it.
CRASH!
This time she hit the window, and the glass shattered and fell away.
"Ta-dah! " she said brightly.
—∞—
Hitomi finished setting the weights over the last mike's stand to make sure it wouldn't fall over.
"Okay, the weights are set!" Hitomi said, brushing her hands off. "We're done."
"Good job," Naru said.
"..." Hitomi stared up at the old school.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"Nothing. I was just thinking it was like our first case, an abandoned school," Hitomi said.
"That's true," Naru said, looking up at it with her.
"Poor Lin-san had a rough time," Hitomi said sympathetically. Lin sweat-dropped thinking about it.
'But thanks to that, Mai was pulled into the investigation...' Hitomi thought. 'It was our first investigation with this group. And maybe… this is the last investigation we'll do with this group.'
—∞—
"Do you think there's something here?" Yasuhara asked Mai as they were getting ready to rejoin the others.
"Huh? Hmm. I think it's creepy, but I don't feel anything," Mai replied. "But Hitomi-sempai said she saw something, so she saw it."
"Takigawa-san?" Yasuhara asked.
"Don't ask me," Bou-san said.
"Bou-san can't see anything," Mai said with a smile.
"Shut up," Bou-san said.
"That's odd. Don't psychics usually have to ability to see or feel something?" Yasuhara asked. "Hara-san and Matsumoto-san can see, and Matsuzaki-san is okay because she's a special psychic. And I don't think Brown-san can see all of it… It's odd that you can't see anything."
"I was able to see before," Bou-san said.
"Huh? Really?" Mai asked.
"I hit my head while I was dispelling spirits. I guess it changed the structure of my brain," Bou-san said, tapping his head.
"Things like that happen?" Mai asked. A bead of sweat slid down the side of her face. "I see."
"Ah! Now I get it!" Yasuhara said. "So that was your secret."
"Huh?" Mai said.
"I always thought this group had people with a lot of secrets," Yasuhara said.
"Well, Naru and Lin-san..." Mai said.
"Not just them," Yasuhara said. "Matsuzaki-san has a special ability. Hara-san looks like a medium, but I think she has psychometric skills. Matsumoto-san can see spirits and shoot evil-destroying arrows. Taniyama-san, you don't have parents or siblings… sorry. And Takigawa-san used to be able to see spirits but now you don't. Right? The only one left is Brown-san. Hmm."
"Oh, if that's the case… John's not an exorcist," Bou-san said.
"Huh," Mai said. Then it sank in. "Whaaat!? What do you mean?"
"I didn't ask him personally, though," Bou-san said. "But exorcising demons is not something that just anyone can do, and it's an especially complex situation for Catholics. Like you have to be a bishop or higher and such."
"So John is a bishop, right?" Mai said.
"There's no way someone that young can be a bishop," Bou-san said. "And you can only exorcise demons with permission of the higher-ups. And there is a need to fast for a certain period."
"I've never seen him do that," Mai said.
"Right?" Bou-san said. "I'm sure he's a priest. But… he must have his reasons for going around exorcising without permission. Or else he faces excommunication."
"When did you realize that?" Mai asked.
"I knew it when I first met him," Bou-san replied. "I'm sure Naru-bou knew it, too. He commented on how young John was. Hitomi didn't say anything, but I'm sure she had her suspicions, too."
'Oh yeah...' Mai thought, remembering how Naru had indeed commented on how young John was for a priest.
"The only one left is you," Mai said.
"I'm not a psychic," Yasuhara said, placing a hand over his heart. "I'm just a boy detective."
"I see!" Bou-san said.
"But there's only one of you," Mai said.
"Did you want to join me?" Yasuhara asked.
"Then let's return, Kobayashi-kun," Bou-san said. As they started walking
"Yes, Mr. Akechi," Yasuhara said.
"That would be Naru," Bou-san said.
"You think?" Yasuhara said. "Shibuya-san is more like..."
"The phantom with twenty faces!" Bou-san and Yasuhara said together.
"Maybe I'll make a BD badge," Yasuhara said.
"What's that?" Mai asked.
"It's one of the items the Boy Detective Club has," Bou-san replied.
—∞—
They all met back up again on some steps at an entrance that was still partially sheltered as part of a decrepit covered walkway. When they couldn't get a room for the base, they created a small 'spot' to substitute as the base.
"Do you think we'll get anything?" Mai asked.
"Don't know," Naru said. "I'm not expecting something to happen on the first day anyway."
"… I wonder if there really is anything here," Yasuhara said. "The atmosphere is creepy, but..."
"Don't know," Naru said again. "We'll know when we investigate. I was bored anyway, so if we get something, it's like a bonus." Mai was getting a little bored herself.
'But Naru is bored because he is waiting for something,' Mai thought. 'Waiting for his brother's body to be found. I don't know how he can stay so nonchalant. I guess his mental structure is different from mine...'
'Naru says he was bored, but… isn't it that he wanted something to keep him busy so he wouldn't have to think about it?' Hitomi thought, concerned.
"Of course, there is something that bothers me," Naru said.
"Huh?" Mai said.
"No matter how I think about it, this is just not the sort of case that the mayor would get involved in," Yasuhara said.
"Yeah," Naru agreed.
"Why? How?" Mai asked.
"Remember… how we asked that lady at the campsite?" Hitomi said. "She said 'Huh, spirits? I've never heard of anything like that...' And the other employees didn't know anything either."
"But if there really were no rumors, then you wonder why they came to ask us to investigate," Yasuhara said. "And their attitudes were a little suspicious too."
"Yasuhara-san. Do you want to do some detective work?" Naru asked.
"Sure," Yasuhara said. "I'll go around asking the people in the area."
'Boy Detective Club,' Mai thought.
"Hey. Let's take a break," Ayako said, coming back with Masako from walking around the outside of the building.
"Whoa, it's already ten," Mai said, checking her watch. "I wonder if it's going to be hot again today."
"Hm? There's wind," Yasuhara said. The leaves in the trees around the school rustled. "I'm going to check on the weights on the mike stand."
"I'll go, too," Mai said.
"Hurry," Naru said.
"And he doesn't move himself," Mai said as she walked away with Yasuhara.
—∞—
"Phew," Mai said as they finished checking the weights. "I think this should be enough.
"Aaahh."
Mai's eyes widened slightly.
"Is something wrong?" Yasuhara asked when he saw the look on her face.
"Did… you hear something just now?" Mai asked.
"No," Yasuhara said.
"Really? Maybe it was my imagination," Mai said.
"Aaaaaah."
Mai and Yasuhara looked at each other.
"Did you hear that?" Mai asked.
"It sounded like a person's voice," Yasuhara said. The trees rustled. "Let's go. I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Yeah..." Mai agreed.
—∞—
When they returned to the 'spot', Masako started handing out drinks.
"Mai, do you want juice, or oolong tea?" she asked.
"Oolong tea," Mai replied.
"I would like some, too," Yasuhara said.
"And me," Hitomi said. She looked into the cooler. "We can't drink from the water fountain here, huh? Maybe we should go get more drinks."
"Yes. We'll go buy some when we buy lunch," Masako said, handing Mai her cup. "Here."
"Thanks," Mai said, taking it.
"Can I have some too?" Bou-san asked, fanning himself with a clipboard. "It's hot when you move around."
"Good job," Mai said.
"Here you go," Masako said, handing him a cup with a triceratops on it.
"Thanks. What's this?" Bou-san asked. "It's a cup for brushing teeth."
"That is your cup," Masako said, laughing a little behind her hand.
"This is mine," Mai said proudly, showing him her frog cup. "This is Naru's." A cup with two foxes on it. "This is Lin-san's." A cup with two cows. "This one is for Yasuhara-san." A cup with two crabs. "This is John's." A cup with several penguins. "And this is Hitomi-sempai's." A cup with two tanukis on it.
"… So this is why you girls took so long yesterday," Bou-san said, staring at his cup.
"Hee hee hee," Mai laughed. "It's good because we won't use other's cups."
"They're nice and easy to tell apart, right?" Hitomi said.
««« Flashback «««
Yesterday….
The girls were at the store, buying food and supplies.
"I wonder if we need anything else?" Ayako said, double-checking the list. Mai spotted something fun.
"Look," she said, waving the others over. "This," she said with a grin, pointing at an assortment of cute little plastic kiddie mugs. Hitomi and the others grinned.
»»» End Flashback »»»
"Oh. It's cute," John said, looking at his cup.
"How nostalgic," Yasuhara said, holding up his. "It's important to never forget simple pleasures like this." Naru drank from his cup without comment.
"..." Lin stared at his. The whole area seemed to darken.
"Oh no. It's getting cloudy," Mai said.
"Do you think it's going to rain?" Hitomi asked. "I didn't see any forecasts for it."
"If it starts raining, It'll get complicated," Bou-san said. "Let's go get lunch now."
"That's true," Masako said.
"And I'll go ask around what's going on," Yasuhara said.
"Can you buy the stuff on this list?" Ayako asked, handing them a grocery list.
'Heh. She's like a mom,' Mai thought with a smile.
"Take care!" Mai called as she and Hitomi waved goodby to everyone in Bou-san's car as he drove away. A drop of rain hit Mai on the head. "Whoa! It started raining!"
"Mai. Go to the back with John and collect the microphones if they look like they'll get wet," Naru said.
"Okay!" Mai said, hurrying off the carry out the order.
"Hitomi, can you help me over here?" Naru asked.
"Of course," Hitomi said.
—∞—
The rain was pouring down. They had to retreat into the old school building.
"Wow. It really started raining a lot," Mai said. John shook his head, trying to get dry. They were all soaking wet, aside from Ayako, who had enough foresight to grab the cooler.
"Why aren't you that wet?" Mai asked her. "And you didn't let go of the cooler."
"I wonder," Ayako said with a shrug.
"We probably can't investigate today," John said.
"… That's true," Naru said.
SLAM!
"!" Mai and Hitomi said. They looked at the door. It had been open, but now it was shut.
"Oh, the wind closed the door. It scared me," Mai said. She whipped her head around. "But we're inside. Is that okay?"
"If something happens, we just have to jump outside," Ayako said. "Don't splash on me."
"That's true. Nothing happened during the morning," Hitomi said.
"It's usually like this," Naru said.
"I see. How long does nothing happen?" Mai asked.
"Nothing can happen until we get into the actual act of dispelling," Naru said.
"I see," Mai said. "Hey, the rain doesn't seem to end. What should we do, Naru? Should we call it a day?"
"Hmm..." Naru said, holding his chin.
"Either way, we need to wait for Bou-san and the gang to come back," Ayako said. Naru headed for the door.
"Something wrong?" Hitomi asked.
"I left my file outside," Naru said. "I'll go get it."
"Huh? You'll get wet," Mai said.
"I'm already wet," he pointed out. He tried to open the door.
CLICK.
The door remained shut.
"What's wrong?" Hitomi asked.
"The door won't open," Naru said.
"Huh?" Mai said.
"You're so weak," Ayako said, laughing a little.
"Stop saying things like that," Mai told her. "It's probably because the building is old."
"Why don't you try opening it?" Hitomi suggested to Ayako.
"I was only joking," Ayako said, sweat-dropping.
"Maybe it'll be okay if we push both doors," Hitomi said, walking over to the other door. "Ready?"
CREAK. CLICK.
"… It won't budge," Hitomi said. Naru tried forcing his door open again.
"What should we do?" Mai asked. "Do you think it got locked?"
"Let me try it," John said. He traded places with Hitomi.
CLICK. CLICK. THUD. CLICK.
Hitomi watched as they struggled with the doors and continued to fail to open them. Finally, they gave up.
"It won't open," Naru said. Mai was shocked.
"Hey. Don't freak me out," Ayako said. "It's probably just stuck because it got damp. If we can't open the door, we can break glass and get out."
"Oh, yeah. We can do that," Mai said.
"I found this," Ayako said, holding up a glass soft-drink bottle. "Let's try it. Get out of the way!" They moved the camera by the doors to the side. She hurled it at the window in the door with all her might.
CRASH!
The bottle shattered to pieces, but the window was unscathed. They all stared at the door, stunned.
"It can't be," Mai said. "It didn't do anything. Oh. There are other windows. Like in the hallway. Let's try those."
"Oh yeah," Ayako said.
'But will the result be any different? This is not normal...' Hitomi thought, getting nervous.
"Don't wander around," Naru said firmly. The girls looked at him.
'Naru… He's serious,' Mai and Hitomi thought.
"Lin and I will check this floor," Naru said. "John, can you check upstairs?"
"Sure," John said.
"Mai, go with John. Don't leave his side," Naru said. "Matsuzaki-san, can you go with them?"
"Uh, sure, I'll go," Ayako said.
"Hitomi, you come with me and Lin," Naru added.
—∞—
Mai, John, and Ayako ascended the stairs.
"Huh?" John said when he spotted something.
"Uh… What is it?" asked Mai, who hadn't turned the corner yet.
"It's a dead end," John said.
"Wait," Ayako said, looking closer. "Isn't this a door?" It blended in almost seamlessly with the wall, but the lock gave it away.
"You're right," Mai said. "But it's locked. I wonder if it won't open..." she tugged on the padlock and screws fell out out. The whole mechanism came off. "… It came off..." She and John sweat-dropped.
"Oops," Ayako said.
"… What should we do?" Mai asked.
"Hmm. If we go in… and the door closes on us, we'll be screwed," Ayako said.
"Okay. Then can you two stay here and keep the door open?" John asked. "I'll go."
"Huh?" Mai said. "But Naru told us not to be alone."
"I'm just going upstairs and checking one of the windows," John said. "If that opens, we can get out. If that one doesn't open, they others won't either."
"So just up to there, right?" Mai said.
"Yes. Just there," John said with a reassuring smile. "I'll just check that one and come back." They opened the door, and Mai sat in its way so it couldn't close. John coughed upon entering the next part of the stairs. "Whoa. Dusty."
"I wonder if there are as many rooms upstairs as downstairs," Mai said. "There are a lot of rooms compared to the number of students. I wonder why there are so many?"
"It probably means that there were many more students when the school was built," Ayako said. John reached the top of the stairs.
"Oh, I see," Mai said. "So since there were fewer students, they closed the second floor so the students wouldn't go up there."
"Probably," Ayako said. John tried to open the window, but it wouldn't budge.
"No?" Mai called up.
"It looks like all of the windows in this building are rebelling against us," John said.
—∞—
Meanwhile, Naru, Hitomi, and Lin were trying window after window. It was no good. They couldn't get them open, and they couldn't break them. They looked for other doors to the outside. None of them opened.
"Ugh," Hitomi struggled against one door, putting all of her weight against it. It wouldn't budge.
"Don't hurt yourself," Naru told her.
"Is this some kind of supernatural lockdown?" Hitomi asked.
"It would seem so," Naru replied. They regrouped by the doors they came in. Mai and the others came back down the stairs.
"How was this floor?" John asked.
"Nothing opened," Naru replied.
"Then how about a slightly more aggressive method?" John asked.
"Aggressive?" Mai asked.
"What did you have in mind?" Hitomi asked.
—∞—
They waited outside the first classroom while Lin went in and retrieved a chair. John blessed it with holy water. Lin picked up the chair and approached the nearest window.
"Please stand back," Lin said. He raised the chair and smashed it against the window with all his might.
THUD!
The chair broke into pieces, but the window was completely unharmed.
"No way… Why!?" Ayako exclaimed. Mai approached the window. She stuck her hand out through a pane that didn't have any glass in it.
"Maybe if we break the frame... we can go through the areas with no glass," Mai said, picking up a piece of the chair. She started beating the frame with the piece of wood in her hand.
"Mai. It's no use," Ayako said.
"We're completely trapped," Naru stated. The rain continued to pour down outside. They all sat down on the floor where it dropped down to the ground by the door.
"So it means… that there is really something here," Mai said.
"I guess so," Naru said.
"So what are we going to do?" Mai asked. "Why are you so calm?"
"We can't do anything without knowing what their objective is," Naru said.
"They?" Mai asked.
"Do you need an explanation?" Naru asked. "The ones who used supernatural powers to trap us in here."
"And that's not human, right?" Mai said.
"Judging from the circumstances, no," Naru said.
"I'm sure we can figure it out," Ayako said. "The other group will be back soon. They may be able to do something from the outside."
"What if they can't?" Mai asked.
"We'll make them," Ayako said.
"Fortunately, we can get food and water from the areas with no glass," Hitomi said.
"We can stay here quite a while," Ayako agreed.
"The problem is how long we can last," Naru said.
"What do you mean?" Ayako asked.
"We don't know what they'll try to do," Naru said. "I don't think that they are happy with just trapping us in here."
"That is true," John said. "We need to think of a way to resolve this."
"Urgh," Ayako said with her brow furrowed, resting her head in her hand.
"Now, now," John said.
"We'll place those shoe shelves in the hallway to create barricades," Naru said. "And does anyone have a light?"
"I have one," Ayako said.
"Would barricades work against spirits?" Mai asked. "Shouldn't we stay in the classrooms?"
"It's better than nothing," Naru said. "We can't stay in the classrooms. We need to think of what we'll do when the sun goes down."
"Huh?" Mai said.
"Do you want to stay in the dark?" Naru asked.
"We can't start a fire in the classroom," Hitomi said.
"Oh. That's right. The floors are wooden," Mai said. "Hee hee, sorry."
—∞—
Hitomi worked with Lin and Mai to put up the barricades while the others found wood for a fire. They put two in front, flush against the walls, and one behind those two, covering the gap between them. But they left enough space for them to be able to walk between the shelves if necessary.
"We don't need the barricades to reach the ceiling?" Hitomi asked.
"It's fine," Lin said.
"Um. Can I ask… why this is okay?" Mai asked.
"There is a superstition that evil spirits can only move forward," Lin replied. "So it is customary to build walls in front or back of gates to keep evil spirits away. We call these 'folding screens'. Tape?" Hitomi handed him some. "It's just a superstition that they can only move forward. But these screens do work. To spirits, these screens look like one wall." He finished taping a talisman to the one of the shelves.
"I see. But there are spirits that can walk through walls," Mai said.
"If a spirit can walk through walls, can't they get through these screens too?" Hitomi asked.
"Yes. Then it doesn't matter if the barricades reach the ceiling or not," Lin said.
"I see," Mai said.
"Makes sense," Hitomi said.
"You said that there was a door upstairs, too," Lin said. "We should put a screen there too."
—∞—
They were all sitting around the fire. Even though it was still day, the shadows were growing deeper all around them.
"Mai, would you like something to drink?" Ayako asked. "Which one was your cup?"
"The frog one," Mai said. "I want something sweet." Ayako served her some juice from the cooler.
"Hitomi?" Ayako asked.
"I'd like some juice," Hitomi said. "I had the tanuki cup." Naru stared into the fire, thinking.
"Hey, Naru," Mai said. "There are seven classrooms on the first floor. And there were about twenty students? There are too many classrooms. I wonder what they were using them for?"
"The farthest two rooms were made into one room that was the faculty room. They were using that as a classroom," Naru replied. "Next to that is a former nurse's office. They were using it as a faculty lounge. The fourth room from the back was formerly a home economics class, and they were using it to keep birds and animals. The remaining three rooms were a former science lab, art class, and music class, but they weren't using them. And it was slightly larger before they took a part of it down to make a pool."
"How big was the district?" Ayako asked.
"I guess you weren't listening at the meeting at all," Naru said. "Out of eight settlements, three are already gone. And two of them are at the bottom of the dam."
"Wow. Depopulation in the countryside is really bad," Ayako said.
'Dam… I wonder how the search for the body is going,' Hitomi wondered. 'I'm sure it's canceled because of the rain.' She caught Mai's eye and saw from her face that she was having similar thoughts.
"Well, either way. We need to find out why they trapped us in here," Ayako said. "It doesn't seem that we can get out safely."
"Yeah… by the way, the other group is taking a long time," Mai said, checking her watch.
"Yasuhara-kun said he was going to talk to people. So it might take until afternoon," Ayako said.
"No way! They went to get our lunch," Mai said, disappointed.
"Don't tell me," Ayako said. "Either way, we can't do anything."
"They have us trapped. They'll make a move soon enough," Naru said. "No need to rush."
"The people at the campsite said they never heard of rumors about spirits, though," Mai said. Naru was scaring her.
"Well… They would hide it if there were rumors, I guess," Ayako said.
"But even the mayor's assistant said that they had no idea of these rumors," Mai said.
"They might've tricked us," Naru said. "The assistant asked to keep it a secret too, right?"
"Right. They said there were only rumors about spirits," Hitomi said. "But it might not have been just a rumor."
"So the spirits really appeared and there were curses?" Mai asked.
"Yeah," Naru said. "There must've been a serious problem. That's why the mayor came to ask for help himself."
"I see," Mai said.
"But if he told us the truth, the problem might get leaked and affect traffic for tourism. So they didn't give us details," Naru said. "He told the campsite employees to keep quiet, too. Since they need work, they might've decided to shut their mouths on their own."
"Adults are so dishonest," Mai said. "But what do you think the serious problem is?"
"I don't know," Naru said.
"We may not be the first people to be trapped in here," Hitomi said.
"D… Don't scare me like that," Mai told her.
"Sorry. It was just a thought," Hitomi said. Truth be told, she was getting scared, too.
"Let's look around the school," Naru said, standing up. "All of us are going."
"Huh? We don't have to watch here?" Mai asked.
"It doesn't seem safe to leave the fire alone..." Hitomi said.
"There are more dangerous things," Naru said. "You better be careful. Don't ever be alone."
