3rd Person, Limited, Mai Taniyama
Throughout the night, Mai had found herself thinking about the entire situation that was the evening before. It all felt so odd, to the brunette. The equipment, the cameras, everything. Perhaps it was because she wasn't used to the process, but it was certainly strange. Either way, she was more than aware that she would have to get used to it in the long run, otherwise it was going to be some long sessions of who knew what else he asked her to do.
She found herself staring at the front of the classroom the next day, in thought, much like how she ended up spending so much of her time ever since that experience. It wasn't until she felt a poke on her shoulder that she was finally roused. Blinking in slight confusion, she turned her head towards where the touch had come from.
"You okay, Mai? You've been zoning out all day." Keiko asked, her voice showing concern.
"O-oh, yeah, I'm fine!" Mai waved her hands in front of herself, smiling nervously. "I just got home later than usual last night, so I didn't get much sleep."
"Ehhh?" Saki seemed to naturally squeak out. "But you didn't have any plans, did you?"
"Not really, no." The teenager put her head on her arms, effectively laying on the desk. "At least, not until all that happened."
Michiru suddenly seemed to realize something, snapping her attention towards Mai. "Ohhh, it has something to do with senpai, doesn't it? We didn't see you after you went along with him."
Mai instantly saw where this was gonna go, and so she decided to instantly reflect it away from that possible subject. "I wouldn't call him a senpai. He isn't even going to school, from what I know."
"Ehhhhh?!" All three girls squeaked out, effectively making Mai wish that she didn't say that.
"So Shibuya-san isn't a transfer student?" Michiru asked.
"No, that was apparently a lie to get more information." It wasn't the best thing to lie about, in her opinion. But it was too late, and it wasn't as if he would listen to her if she were to suggest a different strategy, from what she could tell about him so far.
"How strange…" Keiko quietly muttered, the other two following suit and looking at one another in an attempt to figure out the intentions of Kazuya.
Mai was more than aware that she had the most information compared to the entire group, but something in her said to not give out too much information. After all, they liked the idea of being able to figure out things for themselves. It was one of the reasons why they liked her stories so much. She gave details, but they were often left to think about the possibilities for themselves. Though, she didn't want to give them a hint or two, in order to better the odds of them figuring it out-
"Taniyama-san."
The attention of not only herself, but the others all snapped towards the direction of the voice. Unlike the others, however, Mai didn't need to look to be able to tell for sure who it was.
"Hey there, is there something up?" She didn't see any reason to be rude, even though the last time they talked she was rude in regards to them telling ghost stories.
"Shibuya-san, is he a psychic?" Kuroda questioned, with Mai almost able to feel the curiously seeping from it, "Because I've heard that he came here to do research on the old school building."
"The old school building?" Saki seemed to grow even more confused than before, with all three of them going into thought about the possibility.
"Well…" Mai nervously chuckled, ready for unique reactions to what she was about to say. "He isn't a psychic… He considers himself a 'Ghost Hunter'."
"A ghost hunter?" Kuroda parroted back, but then the room became flooded with conversation from the other girls.
"What's a ghost hunter?"
"I have no clue." Mai naturally responded to Michiru, shrugging in the process.
"It's a bit strange for someone to call themselves that…" Saki quietly muttered, in thought.
"Could you introduce me to him, Taniyama-san?" Kuroda spoke up, akin to an animal trying to be noticed apart from the others.
"H-huh?!" Mai squeaked out, hands flinging up into the air. "Why would you want to do that?"
"I am a psychic, you know. Maybe I can be of help to him." She spoke with an enthusiastic tone to her voice.
Mai didn't like it all too much. It felt off to her, for some reason. Perhaps it was the way it was suddenly brought up, or that it felt as if she was trying to get into the business of someone she shouldn't, the girl couldn't tell. All she could do was attempt to warn her about the circumstances she would be getting herself into.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. He doesn't like to deal with amateurs-" She attempted to rebut it, but she was quickly cut off.
"I'm not as amateur as you are."
"But Naru-chan's a professional. He even has an office he works from. . ."
"Hey Mai, why do you call him Naru-chan?" Meiko asked, interrupting the conversation.
Mai was quite grateful that she could tell that she was getting a tad bit uncomfortable with the fact that Kuroda was so insistent on the subject. "Ah, that's because he's very narcissistic. So, I thought up Naru-chan for short, since he doesn't seem to be a nice person because of it." There were a set of 'oh's that came from the girls, as Mai continued, attempting to look over towards Kuroda. "So if you aren't into the conversation as much as he is, he isn't exactly nice…"
By the time she turned back over, something told her that Kuroda had moved on to do other things. It was strange to her, since she was previously so invested in the conversation.
"She's always been like that, even since junior high… She was known for being a weirdo." Keiko quietly commented.
"Oh yeah, Kuroda and Keiko went to the same junior high school, and were even in the same Naishin class." Michiru specified, as if just recalling that fact.
"Yeah… It is a bit stupid, calling herself a phychic." Keiko responded.
"I wouldn't say it's stupid, Keiko." Mai retorted, "People like that exist, so it could be possible. You never know how someone else lives, so saying something like that isn't exactly nice."
"O-oh, yeah, That is true, isn't it…" Keiko went quiet after that comment, realizing what she had said may have been a bit too much.
Mai was glad to help her notice that.
"Oh, maybe she has a crush on Shibuya! Love at first sight, that'd be something!" Saki attempted to move the conversation along, getting the other girls to join in on the speculation of such a possibility with her.
However, it was too late for Mai. She was once again in thought, but for something else this time. Instead of Kazuya, it was Kuroda that got her attention. She was difficult to figure out for her. Perhaps it was a lack of interacting with her, but despite what she said to Keiko, she still felt off to her. It wasn't a reason to be rude to her, far from it, but it felt as if it would be better to avoid her when possible.
This set of thoughts remained in her mind for the entirety of the school day. It bothered her in multiple ways, taking note of the little things she could and attempting to come up with a conclusion on her own. However, despite her attempts to do so, it felt as if nothing she thought of could be true. Her tendency to think in a story-esque way was blocking her from realistic solutions. But even when she managed to realize that and think in a serious standpoint of reality, nothing came to her by the time school ended that day.
And so, instead, she had to get back to work with the narcissistic boss of hers, if she could even consider him a boss. So, she had to head towards the same place she needed to go yesterday, as far as she could tell. Once her classes were over, she started to make her way towards that area. Attempting to flow through the crowd of students, even though she's gotten lost a number of times because of this exact method of attempting to leave school. She needed to, at the very least, get outside in a timely manner. It'd be a simple case of going around the school until she found the track field, so that she could reach the location she needed to go.
However, at one point, she could feel the crowd taking her away from the steps she would prefer to go down. The brunette attempted to grab at the railing, but was just short of grabbing ahold of it. This left her to continue down the hall to the next staircase, where the majority of the student body was headed. Feeling her nerves spike, she latched onto the nearest rail of that particular staircase and quickly hoisted herself up, far too aware that students never used the metal addition anyway. Keeping one hand ahead of her and the other behind to keep note of how much rail was left, she allowed herself to slide down.
It was far from allowed, but the teachers were anything but focused on the staircases during the after school rush through the halls, and she knew this.
Stopping just before the end of the rail, she carefully put her feet down on the stairs before doing a final hop down from the first set. Keeping up against the wall to get to the second set, she took a quiet breath beforehand. There were far more students at the bottom, and she was aware that she needed to be careful regarding it. But she hopped on, allowing herself to move down the second set of stairs with ease.
But the difficult part was going to be hopping off, and she was aware of such a fact. Keeping silent, she keeps an ear out for any students suddenly being next to her, before slowly setting her feet on the steps. With a nervous swallow, she noticed that there was a lack of students near her at that moment, and as such, less of a chance to bump into anyone. So, taking her chance, she hopped down onto the flat surface of the first floor hall.
With a sigh of relief, there was no time for her to relax, as she allowed herself to keep going with the crowd. Eventually, they got to the entrance of the school, and she let her hand out against the wall to feel for the first opening of the shoe cubbies. As soon as she felt it, she flung herself into the free space, and reached up to open the cabinet. As quickly as possible, she exchanged her school out for her home ones, in an attempt to not get bumped into.
And just like that, she was out of the school building, making a sharp turn to head towards the track.
It was a difficult thing to do, but it was better than waiting forever for the halls to clear out then being asked why she was so late to arrive at Shibuya's side for her work. Though, she did wish there was more of an accommodation for her other than simply making her shoes in an easy place to access.
Shaking her head, she decided to not question it. Once she finished her head shake, she found that she had arrived at the school building, and had even found where he was. Perking up, she announced her presence. "Hello… What are you doing?"
Without even looking towards her, he replied, "Reviewing the data we collected yesterday."
Mai couldn't help but blink. She hadn't expected him to say that they both collected the data, but it was a small detail she couldn't help but be proud of. He admitted to the fact that they worked together yesterday, and she had thought he wouldn't exactly do that. It felt nice, if she were to be honest with herself. Even so, she had to ask. "Did you find anything interesting?"
"Nothing unusual, there are either no spirits or they haven't shown themselves as of yet." His head moved up from the computer, "There doesn't seem to be any danger at this time."
Which Mai could consider a good thing. After all, for there to be danger in a place that was already half torn down would be the last thing anyone would want...
Hey there! I'm so so SO sorry about it taking me THIS long to get to writing and uploading a new chapter of this story, or any story, for that matter. The world was in a chaotic place for me and I'm still going through a lot at the moment. I can't promise a schedule, but what I can assure is that I plan to update all three of my stories I have up as soon as I can. This one is likely to get more attention, but I'll do my best to offer you all content that is worth reading!