I told you I'd work hard on this one!
Don't pull a Mai. Try to stay out of trouble.
And, YES, I'm aware of time zones. I'm not in third grade. I just have the automatic assumption that you people posted at least SOMEWHERE near the time I got the email. And, besides, you people still don't sleep.
(And now an RPG game is telling me to go save a city… too bad)
Enjoy!
BLIND
My name is Mai Taniyama, and I'm a freshman in high school. *1
Another mysterious case was brought to Shibuya Psychic Research. A girl believed that her friend was possessed by a fox and a teacher collapsed after claiming he could se ghosts. After the principal visited us we agreed to investigate the events at Yuasa High School. When we got there weird things kept happening, and the stories got stranger and scarier. What in the world is going on here?
We did discover an incident about three months earlier. A girl named Kasai was publically ridiculed by teachers for saying she could bend spoons using supernatural powers. And then… she snapped and said, "I'll curse you to death!"
Not too long after that the unexplainable and dangerous occurrences started happening. But if anything, Kasai is the one most worried and stressed right now. I have a really bad feeling about all of this. Underneath all of these strange and mysterious events, I sense a creeping darkness that's growing stronger every day…
BLIND
December
Wednesday
With the rest of SPR:
Monk was trying his hand at exorcising the cursed desk in room 2-5 while Ayako and John were also around somewhere, attempting to exorcise the evil spirits in the building.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," Naru reported as he and Lin watched the exorcisms from a nearby art storage room.
"No remarkable temperature changes to report either," Lin said as he checked his portable temperature gauge.
Why they had chosen to do this, going into a storage room instead of base… well, it had to do with the fact that they had wanted to watch the exorcisms but without the others coming in, including Mai. Naru had been feeling fidgety about this case because of the PK and circumstances involved, so he had wanted a little space in case he slipped something up. Yes, even he can screw up sometimes.
"There's no real activity…" Naru said with a curious tone to his voice.
The door slid open, revealing the only one of the group that knew their little secret, and as such, knew where they were hiding out. "Of course not," Masako said as she stepped further into the room, "because there are no spirits in this building."
"There are still unexplained events happening here," Naru stiffly replied. "It is imperative we keep investigating until we determine their cause."
"Fine, but no matter how hard you look, you won't find spirits," Masako told him in confidence.
In the hallway, unbeknownst to them, a certain Chiaki Kasai had watched their little incident. Truthfully, she had just been walking around while no one was here like she had a tendency to do nowadays. She just happened to watch Masako Hara walk into an art storage room and became curious. I mean, who wouldn't? It's not every day a celebrity comes to your school, especially one with psychic powers and kept coming back day in and day out.
Kasai actually sorta looked up to Masako. She wouldn't admit it, but she admired her for the fact that, despite all the disbelievers, she still stood her ground. It was admirable in her eyes.
Upon finding that Masako apparently didn't think there were spirits here, she went to check with one of the few she felt she could trust. Mai Taniyama. If the others were busy with exorcisms… that left three out. Since she had just found the other three out of the original group of seven, that meant Mai must be alone the team's 'base'.
… What kind of idiots are you, leaving her alone? This place is weird and dangerous, who knows what could happen?
So Kasai walked off to find their base.
BLIND
With Mai once again:
I couldn't help but think about those foxfires. So many foxfires… burning all over the building. Was it a dream, or could it be…? I trailed off on the paper.
I tried to get myself to wake up, I really did. Thankfully in the time I fell asleep none of the others came in as far as I could tell, but oddly enough I feel even more taxed than when I fell asleep.
"Wake up, Mai!" I scolded myself.
That was so weird. I've got a really bad feeling about this. I had started writing in my diary, hoping it would help wake me up and collect my thoughts. I hope everyone can do their exorcisms fast so we can get out of here.
So far, the writing was only helping a little.
I put it back in my bag and sat there,=. I sent my sense to do a sweep around the room before noticing someone at the door, peaking in.
HOLY COW WHAT THE- Oh, yeah. Kasai. Wait, what is she doing here? How long had she been there anyway?
She looked straight at me as she started to walk away again.
"Uh" I said, standing up and rushing to the door, "wait a second!" I reached the door and shouted into the hallway, "Kasai!" As she heard her name, Kasai stopped.
"Yeah?" she questioned over her shoulder.
"Um…" Well, I didn't think this one through, now did I? "Well, can I help you with anything?"
"No thanks," Kasai said coolly.
"Oh," I said, turning back to base as Kasai turned away again
"Are all those other people friends of yours?" Kasai asked, not taking a single step forward down the hall.
I turned back around in surprise. "Huh?" Which 'other people' was she talking about?
"It looks like they're trying to do some sort of exorcism," she explained further.
"Oh." She was talking about SPR, duh. Sometimes, I wonder about how my brain works. "Them. Yeah, Monk, Ayako, and John are my friends I guess. But actually they're more like my coworkers," I explained. Were we friends? I know Monk thinks we're friends. But what about Ayako and John?
"And Masako Hara?"
"Huh?" Kasai knew her? Oh, right, TV psychic. Forgot about that. "Oh, of course you know who she is. I keep forgetting that Masako is actually kinda famous."
"Yeah, I saw her on TV," Kasai played it off. "What has she said about this school? That there are a lot of evil spirits hanging around?"
"Uh-uh. In fact she doesn't think that there are any," I explained.
Kasai whipped around to face me. "Aren't any? Even with all the stuff happening here?" she asked curiously.
I nodded. "It was hard for me to believe too. But she swears she doesn't see them here."
"So what about you? Are you able to see them?"
"Oh no no no no no no, not me, I'm not a spiritualist. I've never been able to do that," I discredited as quickly as possible. Me? Psychic? No way, no how.
"What about Mr. Shibuya, he's a spiritualist, right?" Kasai asks some very good questions, actually. For someone outside the group, they might assume we can all see spirits. It sorta reminds me of when Naru first meets clients with at interesting cases.
"Oh, Na-" I cut myself off. Naru would kill me if he found out that more people knew his nickname! "I mean Mr. Shibuya isn't really a spiritualist, per say. He's more of a 'ghost hunter', and I think he may be an onmyouji as well."
"Is he really?" Kasai said surprised. "So that would mean he does practice onmiyoudo…" she muttered more to herself than anything else.*2
"Hey Kasai," Taka said as she walked up, making me forget about Kasai's comment.
"Takahashi," Kasai greeted politely, albeit stiffly, as she stared at her shoes.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Monk still exorcising, and didn't school end a few minutes ago? What are you sticking around for?" True enough, that damn bell had been the thing to wake me up.
Taka nodded. "Well, yeah, but it didn't seem right to leave Kasai to walk home by herself." She turned to Kasai. "So, if you don't mind, I'll walk you home. It's getting dangerous for you, and I'm getting concerned for your safety, so I'd thought it'd be better to leave a bit earlier than most of the girls, since a lot of them have clubs or cleaning duties."
"What help will you do?" Kasai said, not looking up from her shoes. "It's not like I haven't walked home alone before."
"You used to walk home with your friends all the time, Kasai. So, if it's okay, I want to be your friend, too. It seems that Mai already befriended you, so why not me?" Taka said, leaning down at an angle to try and see her face.
"… I guess…" Kasai said. Heh, Kasai's actually pretty shy.
"Great! I'll go wait at the gate, if you don't mind, so you can finish up here with Mai!" Taka beamed happily before skipping off down the hall.
"She's nice," I said, looking as Kasai started to peak up through her hair. "So, are we friends?" I asked.
"I suppose so, at least according to Takahashi," she said as she straightened up completely. I smiled at her and she looked back down at her shoes. Ah, yes, Kasai is shy.
Then I sensed something. Or rather, someone-two someones, actually.
"Naru," I said surprised as I sensed him and Lin turn the corner.
Kasai looked at me in shock before turning to see the two stoic men walk down the hall towards us. Quickly, she turned and ran in the opposite direction. "Uh," I said as she passed. "See you later?" I said as her form retreated further down the hall. Weird.
And then I noticed Naru staring her down as she left. Even weirder.
It took me a total of three seconds to decide to follow her down to the hall to make sure she was alright.
I caught up to her as she walked past the shoe lockers, presumably to get her bag to leave.
Then, she bumped into Mr. Yoshino, the nervous guidance counselor with the knocking hand bothering him. I hid behind the corner as Kasai glared at the older man. Not that I blame her. I didn't have a personal problem with the guy, but he did treat Kasai pretty poorly. Mr. Yoshino nervously gulped and regained whatever composure he lost while interacting with Kasai and went on to leave the building.
I stayed where I was at until I sensed Kasai go out with her bag. As she left, I snagged the door and sensed as she and Taka walked away, unbeknownst of my presence.
Well, at least Kasai had someone to turn to at her school other than Ms. Ubusuna. There was something about her that was starting to bother me. I usually could ignore it, it really wasn't that strong a feeling, but it got more persistent whenever her or Kasai were anywhere near me.
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and headed towards base. Naru was going to want an explanation… and some tea.
BLIND
Ayako sipped her tea leisurely in her seat. "I thought there was something fishy about that girl," Ayako stated simply. "You're saying she came in here to check us all out, right?"
I had just finished explained what happened when Kasai had shown up. I felt like I was forgetting something important, though..
Regardless, in the time I had chased after Kasai, the others had shown up at base.
"Maybe she wasn't 'checking us out'," I said, my chin gripped thoughtfully in by hand. "Maybe she was just curious or something." True enough, I suppose. It's not common for a group of ghost hunters to show up at your school. You would be curious. Then again, that's sorta how I ended up becoming Naru's servan-I mean, assistant.
"Well, Kasai is aware that the whole school thinks her curse is the cause of all this," Monk put in. "Maybe she thinks we believe it too and we're her latest enemy, you know."
"She wouldn't do that," I defended.
"Still, she does have powers," John brought in from across the room. "According to a number of her schoolmates, she was apparently able to bend spoons with her mind. Do you think it's possible she also possesses PK-LT?"
PK-L what? I read about PK-ST thanks to Kuroda, but are there other forms of PK?*3 Although, I'll admit, it sounds sorta familiar…
I asked the inevitable. "What's PK-LT?" Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and stare at my mindlessness. I get it, I'm an idiot! It's not my fault almost all the books in the office are in English!
"I'll explain it for Mai's sake," Naru cut in.*4 "PK-LT is the power to affect living creatures using only a force of will.
"The two major divisions of supernatural ability are PK and ESP, or extra-sensory perception. This is a special ability to know things that normal people wouldn't sense. Telepathy and clairvoyance are in this category.*5
"PK, however, is a force of will. Moving objects by literally thinking them into action. The three categories are PK-MT, PK-ST, and last but not least PK-LT. "
I sighed, I should have known this would turn into a lecture. Naru went on regardless of my reaction.
"PK-ST is the power to affect static targets. Spoon bending would fall here. PK-MT is the power to affect moving targets. And PK-LT, as I've said, is the power to affect living targets."
"So what makes you think Kasai is capable of doing such a thing?" I asked.
"If you can't see the connection after everything I've said then I can't help you," Naru said unapologetically.
I gasped and leaned over with my hand on Masako's chair. "I'm sorry I'm so stupid, Your Highness," I said sarcastically.
"Are we in agreement then that Kasai really did invoke a curse on the school?" John said, his face serious.
"A curse?" I said incredulously. Was that what they meant? No way!
"She admitted it," Ayako responded. "She said, 'I'll curse you to death'," she reminded me sardonically.
"Oh, right," I replied.
"But it's not really a curse. It's more like using psychic powers to make people suffer. That's the PK-LT part," Monk told us. "But judging from what I've heard from a number of students, I don't think the girl has that much power. Do you guys know about the famous British psychic Oliver Davis? They say he can slam a one-hundred-and-ten pound aluminum block into the wall, but he hasn't been able to perform PK-LT." Monk walked past to the coffee machine we had. Oddly, Naru had a strange expression on his face.
"This girl can't even seem to bend spoons very well," Ayako agreed to some degree. Naru simply sipped his tea. Seriously, that expression is weird. "I remember when I was little there was sort of this supernatural craze where a bunch of kids claimed they could bend spoons and preform magic. Of course, it turned out most of them were just lying."
"Wow," Monk turned to the priestess, his cup now full. "That means you must be pretty old." Next thing we know, Ayako had hit Monk on top of his head. "Gah…" Monk groaned, holding his head in pain while Ayako held her fist in front of her in an agitated manner.
*6 John decided to cut in. "Uri Geller started spoon bending. Uri Geller is the best psychic of the century...his supernatural powers were shown to the public. He had PK, clairvoyance, and prediction abilities similar to that of a prophet. He made the impossible possible. Geller was everywhere when it came to spoon bending. All the children saw him do it too."
"Ah, you mean the Gellerini?" I said, double checking myself.
"Yes, that's right. But the Gellerini had unstable powers. When they lost their powers, they would rely on magic tricks. Some of them were exposed as cheaters," John nodded.
"I see," this time, I nodded.
"Because of that, some people began to doubt Geller's ability," John continued.
"They doubted Uri Geller?" Wow, didn't know that detail.
"Yeah. At that time, America's Society of Psychical Research had publicly announced that Uri Geller was a fake. That incident left such a strong impression on people that everyone now believes spoon bending is fake."
"But John, did you think Uri Geller's powers were real?" I asked.
John put on a tired smile. "Not really... It's just, he was too showy. At any rate, they were just illusions that garnered more attention than they deserved."
"Ah, I get it now."
Listening in, Monk leaned towards us. "I think Geller was a fake too."
"Why?" I asked.
"Hmm. Psychic ability...if it's the ability of sensing hidden things, hearing noises, or seeing things, then that's the ability to sense things that shouldn't be there. Geller was well-received at first, but he was later in a bind. He could do everything, but there was still something strange about him," the monk admitted. "There is ESP and PK, right? ESP has its two main branches, telepathy and clairvoyance, and PK has PK-ST, PK-MT, and PK-LT. Sometimes there's a mix, but often you either fall in one or the other. For example, Edgar Cayce Jean Dickson is an amazing clairvoyant, but I've never heard of him bending a spoon before. Likewise, Nina Kulagina has strong PK powers, but I've never heard of her having ESP. Only Kulagina and Davis have that kind of PK power."
"That's right," John agreed. "But for Uri Geller, assuming his PK was the best, was his ESP also the best too? If that's the case, then that means his power was unrestricted. However, I still think he was a fake."
Ayako leaned forward. "I've always wondered about that. Why does the spoon bend? If the metal bends, then what kind of spoon is it? And if PK can bend the spoon, then is it even a spoon? Isn't that strange?"
"PK-MT is also widely considered to be fake. However, the majority of people have this. This latent ability varies in power for different people," Monk cut in
"...Do I have it too?" Hey, I was curious!
"Maybe," Monk shrugged. "If someone has PK-ST, it doesn't necessarily mean that said person is a fake. Unlike the Gellerini's PK, Shelby Meyer's was fake. She bent a special type of metal. She seemed credible but terribly arrogant. Generally people with psychic abilities, like Geller, would act as a magician. In that case, he would be able to perform magic without having to put up with others' complaints. But even magicians have limits. Otherwise, people would get suspicious, right? If I remember correctly, Meyer was also a magician, similar to Rolfe-something or other, but Rolfe constantly got into conflicts and fights with others. Despite this, this Rolfe magician was eventually backed up by Meyer. In other words, Meyer had confirmed his powers."
"Oh—"
"And there was also Nina Kulagina. She was very strong. She had both PK-ST and PK-LT. PK-LT is the ability to influence living organisms, such as making them move. Such actions were often a cinch for her. She could cure illnesses with just physical contact. She stopped a frog's heart and even a human heart."
"She could stop hearts—?!" I was aghast. That sort of thing-!
"Yes. During the experiment, she aroused the researcher's curiosity. If she could stop a frog's heart, then she might be able to stop a human's heart. He got a volunteer for the experiment, and eventually the volunteer's heart was in imminent danger of stopping. The doctor witnessing this was able to save him though."
Oh my god—
"...Normally, PK is used to move matchboxes, spoons, or other little objects. But there's a big gap of power between Oliver Davis and others. Dr. Davis is more of a serious researcher than a PK-user, and as such he hasn't been publicized much."
"Wow."
"But PK is just limited that way. Neither Shelby Meyer nor Oliver Davis had PK-LT either. Despite that...Uri Geller could do all the PK types, right? On top of that, he could also use ESP. Still, he looked suspicious to me." *6
"Be that as it may," Naru came into the conversation, "it's very important to remember that in Kasai's case she truly believed in her psychic powers. She felt that she was unfairly attacked and ridiculed by her teachers in front of the entire school. And then… she cursed them to death. Strange things began happening after she said that. Those are the facts, and we can't ignore them."
Suddenly, the door burst open, and Taka rushed in. "Something awful has happened! Mr. Yoshino was in a bad car accident and now he's in the hospital!"
"Wait, Taka, weren't you going home?! Where's Kasai?" I asked her hurriedly.
"Someone stopped us as we were walking. As soon as we heard we ran to the school. She was right behind me…" Taka trailed off as she glanced behind her to see that there was no Kasai there.
Naru stood up. Regardless, we had to put Kasai aside for now. We needed to get to the hospital.
BLIND
Naru, Monk, and I went to the hospital while everyone else stayed behind.
Mr. Yoshino laid in the hospital bed, his head wrapped in bandages and his hands clutching the sheets tightly. Whatever had happened… it scared Mr. Yoshino pretty badly. Whatever the case may be, we still needed answers.
"I-I was driving," Mr. Yoshino started to explain, "and there it was. Right in front of me! A hand! The knocking hand! It's because of her! That girl! It's Chiaki Kasai! When I was leaving school, she ran into me… and she gave me the most evil look I've ever seen!" Apparently you haven't seen many, I've gotten worse glares from field mice. I remember her glaring, yes, but… it wasn't particularly evil, I don't think. "Oh my God, she cursed me. She cursed me to die and now it's really happening!" Then Mr. Yoshino pulled the cover over his head and started sobbing hysterically.
Soon, we started walking back to the school-the hospital is situated right near the school, similar to my school. After all, that's what saved Lin an even worse injury when he pushed me out of the way of those shoe lockers.
"What do ya think, Naru? Was it Kasai?" Monk asked. Those two walked ahead of me as I trailed behind.
"I'm really not sure," Naru confessed,*7 "but we can safely say that things seem to be getting worse." Right, the homeroom teacher who vomits blood has gotten worse recently, and he still sees ghosts in his hospital room. "Let's hurry back. We've got a lot to do and no time to waste."
Suddenly, I stopped with a slight gasp. This feeling…
Naru and Monk, upon noticing my gasp and sudden stop, stopped themselves and turned slightly to see what happened.
"What's wrong?" asked Monk.
"I… don't know," I said honestly. "I just felt scared all of a sudden." I've felt this feeling before… and I'd rather not relive it again. So why now? I'm not even remotely in the same situation. Still, I felt that there was somewhere we had to go, now.
Even so, I didn't miss the calculating look on Naru's face.
BLIND
We walked into the school, and through some weird force of will, I ended up leading the trio of us through the school to an unknown destination. I couldn't ignore it, no matter how hard I tried (and trust me, I tried), so I just started to go with it. My senses decided to be strange and start working far more than usual. Usually, I could only sense around corners when I got near them, and similarly for doorways, I couldn't usually sense more than maybe a foot beyond the opening. I guessed that would be about the same as someone who could see (although I doubt they could do that when the corners and doorways were behind them, but oh well). Likewise, I couldn't sense far up in the sky or far down below me. And, for reasons I can't explain, I've always had trouble sensing down wells or holes deeper than about six or so feet (although on cliffs I could usually sense all the way to the bottom. I suspected it had something to do with the opening of the holes, but whatever). However, as I walked down these hallways, I could sense far around the corners, almost all the way to the next corner, which was unusual for me.
To put it simply, I could read the lips of the girls surrounding Kasai far before we could hear them. I couldn't run because with every step closer I took, I became more fearful and scared. I almost wanted to hightail it out of here. Almost.
"Come on Kasai, admit it! Why don't you just stop?" one girl said rudely. Shouldn't you have gone home by now? Clubs have probably ended by now.
"Yeah, stop using your 'psychic powers' or whatever," another commented.
"What are you trying to do, scare everyone to death?" the third one said.
"No… you're wrong…" Kasai said back. Even though I couldn't actually hear her yet, I think her voice was quivering.
"You know, if poor Mr. Yoshino had died, you'd totally be guilty of murder!" the first one, the one who stood in between the other two, stepped closer as she said this. At this point, we could now faintly hear her.
Kasai turned towards the wall, trying to ignore them.
"Hey, maybe we should lay off," one of them said to the rest. "If we say too much she could freak out and decide to curse us next!" They three of them seemed to gasp and took a tentative step back from Kasai. I was about to run when an unexpected presence showed up.
"What are you girls doing?" Ms. Ubusuna said commandingly as she stepped into the scene. "Kasai?"
Kasai ran over to her teacher, breaking away from the group of girls that had her cornered. She started to cry softly onto Ms. Ubusuna's shoulder.
Then, we walked up to the hall that they were in. "Kasai?" I said carefully. The moment we stepped in, the scared feeling was gone. I had sensed the scene, but it still seemed a bit surreal to me.
"There they go again," one of them commented on the crying-student-and-only-supportive-teacher-in-this -school pair.
"It's kinda sick…"
"I don't understand how Ms. Ubusuna can stick up for her like that."
Then the three walked off, uncaring.
"Don't pay any attention to them," Ms. Ubusuna comforted Kasai quietly. "It's not your fault. You've done nothing wrong."
… Maybe there was something off about this pair. I certainly didn't feel certain about Ms. Ubusuna, that was for sure.
Especially not with that weird expression on her face.
No, I no longer know what to think.
Just what is going on at this school?
BLIND
John, Ayako, and Monk were trying their hands at exorcising…. Again.
I decided to write as I walked around the room. No one else was in base, and I couldn't find anything else to clean up. I already cleaned up around five times…
Naru better be thankful he has such a dedicated (bored) assistant to keep his base clean.
Man, they've got their hands full with this one. They exorcised the track team's locker room as well as that desk, so they've hit every place related to the incident. Still, I…
I stopped when I thought about that hand that caused Mr. Yoshino's car accident. "I wonder if… I mean hope nothing's going to pop out in this room too…" I said to myself warily. I put my diary back in my bag and sent my senses around the room for a little paranoia-induced double-check of the room.
Let's see…. The table? Clear.
Ceiling? All good.
Door? The knob was-HOLY CRAP THE KNOB WAS TURNING!
"AH!" I shrieked in surprise.
Then Naru stepped in.
"Naru!" I said happily. I've never been so happy to find that man on the other side of a door.
And of course, he walked right past, ignoring my little 'episode'. Go figure, right?
"How about I make some tea?" I asked, rushing over to the tea set without an answer.
"Fine," Naru said, looking at some of the initial case reports I had left out.
I measured out the tea leaves into the teapot and asked, "Hey Naru? I have a question about Kasai."
"I don't know yet," Naru answered automatically. That was quick! He answered so fast, seemingly reading my mind on the fact of whether he thought she was guilty or not.
Knowing Naru, he might just have.
"Okay, it's just that there's something bothering me," I said in response. Then, something flickered to the side of my vision. "What's that?" I turned, hoping it was one of the blobs messing with me again.
Nothing.
"Did you see it?" I asked, stepping closer to Naru as I tried to find that flicker again. Then I heard the lights flicker off. The hum… gone. "I hope it's not a power outage," I said. I didn't mind the dark, heck I lived in it (in more ways than one-when am I ever in the loop about things?), but we couldn't lose the equipment for long. It was our eyes (well, theirs) and ears around the school.
Strangely enough, though, Naru stood up quickly. "Quiet," he whispered. His eyes were fixed on something, but I couldn't tell what.
Then, I started to have vision of some sort of purple light through the ceiling. It seemed like… hair? I didn't know what scared me more, the fact I was having another vision episode or the fact that there was hair coming out of the ceiling. I think… both.
"What is that?" I whispered to myself.
"Now don't make any sudden movements," Naru said quietly, stepping in forward and pushing me behind him slightly, his arm in front of me for good measure. "Just stay calm," he whispered to me again.
Yeah, right, this thing could probably smell fear!
A head came out of the ceiling. A freaking head!
It opened its eyes suddenly. Pure red eyes. Blood red glowing eyes. I clutched onto Naru. And then I noticed… that woman… she isn't staring at me, is she?
Naru continued to stare her down. The woman started to creep out of the ceiling more.
It's coming towards us! I'm so scared! Won't somebody please help?!
The door slammed open and Monk ran in. He yelled some sort of chant and threw the fist he clutched his prayer beads in towards the glowing woman.
She disappeared, and I was cast into my familiar darkness once again. The hum of electricity came back on. It was over… for now.
"Ah, so the spirits have started showing their faces in here too, huh?" Monk said.
Naru brushed my hands off from where I clenched his shoulders and walked over to the monitors, supposedly to check on the equipment. "Apparently," he said.
I sighed and let my legs give out from under me like I've been trying not to do.
"Hey, are you alright Mai?" Monk asked.
I just… needed a moment…
That woman never looked at me. Not once. She only looked at Naru!
"Come on, snap out of it," Monk interrupted my thoughts.
I looked up at him. If she wasn't looking at me, then... "That spirit was looking for Naru!" I told him
"Naru?" Monk said questioningly.
I got up. "That woman just now, it wasn't a coincidence, I know she came for him!" I turned to where Naru went over to the tables again, having deemed the equipment just fine. I had to convince them that I was telling the truth. Well… here goes nothing. "I had a dream last night, and I saw foxfires all over the school! That thing we just saw was one of them." Okay, so I said last night instead of earlier. Concerned as I am, I am NOT saying I fell asleep in base. "I can't tell you how I know that, but I'm positive I'm right. That woman eyes, those evil, bloodthirsty eyes…" I was starting to slip up again, and I held my head in my hands as I started to cry. "She was looking straight at Naru!"
Why was this bothering me so much? It may sound selfish but shouldn't I be relieved that she wasn't looking straight at me? instead, I'm more disturbed that she wasn't. I tried to imagine if it was someone else. Monk. Ayako. John. Masako. Lin. Anyone. It didn't disturb me as much as it did when I thought back to that, No, not them, she looked at Naru!
…What was wrong with me?
BLIND
Thursday
We were back in base, and I made Naru his tea first thing when I showed up with Monk. Since Yuasa wasn't far, we simply went back home at the end of the day. Monk or someone would pick me up from the office, and then come here. Naru and Lin usually were here before anyone else.
I handed him his tea and noticed that the area around his eyes showed he had little sleep. So that means his eyes are red, right? Before I wasn't trying to hide that I was blind so much, but suddenly… it seemed important that I do so. The weird thing was… it wasn't SPR I was worried about finding out. It was someone in the school. But… who?
Regardless, I commented on Naru's state. "What's the matter? Your eyes are all red."
Naru turned his head away and closed his eyes, averting his eyes from anyone's gaze. "Our friend came back to visit me," Naru said as he sat down. So his eyes are red?
"Wait a second, do you mean…" that woman… she showed up again?
"Turns out your instinct was right, she appeared at my window last evening," he said as he looked down at the case reports again. Wait, did he call it… an instinct? "I thought something worse might happen if I looked away, so we spent the entire night staring at each other."
… how am I not surprised.
Lin, at some point had walked over for some reason. I'm going to presume it was to check on our dear boss because the next (and first) thing he says is, "Why the hell didn't you call me?"
"Because I wanted to see what would happen."
… and they call ME reckless.
"And I thought it would be rude to wake you up for nothing," Naru continued after noticing Lin's unconvinced glare. Since when has something 'being rude' ever stopped you from doing it?
"You only had to knock on the wall! And what would you have done if something bad HAD happened?" Wow. This is the most I think I've ever heard Lin talk.
"Well obviously if it had I would have called. But we just had a little staring contest. Stop worrying," Naru said with a finality as he picked up some papers to look over them. Ah, so Naru can react this way too.
"Um, knock in the wall? You guys live together?" I was confused.
"… you could say that. Something wrong?" Naru glanced at me over his papers.
"Ah, no, just curious…"
All though this, Lin was glaring at Naru. Then he walked back to the equipment with a huff. I get why I work for this egoistic bastard, but why does Lin? I get the feeling Lin is think around the same lines right now.
I thought back to the curse and the spirit woman.
"Then there's no way it could be Kasai," I said, more or less thinking out loud again. Realizing that one could get lost from our exert of conversation, I explained more. "I mean, for her to cast such a big curse she would have to have a lot of that PK-whatever power, wouldn't she?"
"It's PK-LT, but you are right," Naru corrected with a hint of agitation. "If she wanted to be able to affect so many people with this curse she would need quite a lot of that power."
"When we met her the first time she wasn't even able to bend that spoon," I said thoughtfully.
"That's right, and spirits appeared to all of the victims in every single incident," Naru agreed (he actually agreed on something I said!). "The Kasai theory definitely doesn't account for these apparitions."
The door to base swung open to reveal Ayako, Monk, Masako, and John. Right, Monk had to go back to get those two after dropping me off.
"Well, maybe she's just off making ethigy dolls or something," Ayako said. Apparently they caught the tail end of the conversation.
"You mean she makes dolls night after night so she can do around cursing everyone?" Monk questioned her. "I guess that's not an impossible theory."
"But whenever you use straw ethigy dolls isn't only supposed to hurt the person where the nail is driven in?" I asked.
"She's right, and dolls do not summon spirits," Masako put in.
"Of course not. Moreover they don't possess the power to have caused repeated hauntings," said Naru. Then, it seemed as if he and Lin realized something at once. "Lin!"
"Yes, it's possible that's the answer," Lin agreed.
"Hm?" Okay, there they go being on a whole different page than me. Actually, more like a different page in a different chapter in a different book in a different series in a different section of a different library in a different country in a different world that is all in a different universe with a different language.
"Come on, fill us in," Monk insisted.
"I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner," Naru answered vaguely. He stood up to face us more directly. "We're dealing with a zuhzou."
"A zuhzou?" I questioned.
"There's an extremely powerful hex at work in this school that's calling down curses on people," Naru simplified it for the rest of us.
"Are you serious?" asked Monk.
"Okay, but what's the connection between the zuhzou and these spirits?" Ayako was getting right to business.
"This hex originally derived from the yin-yang tao. It's cast by driving a nail into a hitogata or straw ethigy doll. I'll explain this so Mai can catch up," Naru looked pointedly at me. Gee, thanks. Jerk. "In the yin-yang tao there's a certain method of cursing people referred to as enmi. It's a hex that uses either a hitogata or a possession of the one being cursed, and driving a nail into the straw ethigy doll is one of the enmi arts. The doll's function is to simply convey the level of hatred of the person driving the nail. The doll themselves can do no real harm. But when the hexer, the one preforming the curse, drives the nail into the hitogata, they call upon gods or spirits to deliver a death curse."
"Death curse?" Oh I SO did NOT like the sound of that.
"The gods or spirits accept the task and carry the curse to the unlucky subject. In other words, the hexer actually contracts these gods, spirits, and even demons by preforming the enmi arts," Naru continued regardless of my comment.
"So you're saying that the cursed desk, the hand that attacked Mr. Yoshino, and the woman that came down from the ceiling are all evil spirits with curses?" I tried to clarify.
"Someone has cast multiple enmi spells against people in this school, and evil spirits are appearing to those who have been cursed. The spirits aren't powerful enough to kill their targets immediately, so they torment and lead them to their deaths. It's a very indirect form of murder," Naru concluded.
"And if these attacks were to happen frequently, as they have at Yuasa, it would definitely have a negative effect on those people who are easily influenced," John added.
"Yes," said Naru, "an extreme example would be the girl who believes she was possessed by a fox." Oh right, one of the original reports. The girl was supposedly okay, but she wasn't allowed to leave home. "This explains both the incidents themselves and why the entire school was thrown into such a panic."
"So who performed the curses?" Monk brought up.
"All the evidence would seem to suggest the hexer is Kasai," Masako replied.
"Wait, hold on!" I said.
"It has to be Kasai," Ayako ignored me.
"You think so too?!" I asked her.
"Well, yeah. Look her abilities were rejected and in turn she was made fun of and attacked in front of the whole school, right? And even her teacher friend has been put through hell because of it," Ayako truthfully told. I was reminded of earlier, when the girls who were messing with Kasai commented on her and Ms. Ubusuna's relationship as comforting teacher to distraught student. "They pushed Kasai to the edge, so she called down a death curse on them. She's just making good on her threat."
"But it's not true," I said, almost unsure, and yet completely convinced.
"Then explain why Mr. Yoshino, who personally challenged and laughed at her in front of the entire school, is now in the hospital," Naru challenged.
"I don't know, but-"
"What reason do you have for believing that she's not to blame?" Naru continued without precedent to what I said.
"I'm not sure but… I do." After all I've seen, Kasai is just scared and shy, but not someone who would put curses on people. Yeah, it isn't something I can explain. I just know deep inside that Kasai isn't the person we're looking for. "She's not the one. I know it," I said with all the confidence I had.
It ended being me and Naru in a stare down. I wasn't backing out.
"Alright," Naru said, turning his head away slightly, "I believe you."
"You do?" I said happily.
"That's great, but someone could still die if we don't hurry," Masako reminded us all.
"We have to act. We can't leave the zuhzou out there. I'd like you all to search for the hitogata. Lin and I will go looking for the culprit," Naru told us.
"Uh, we're looking for dolls?" Monk said curiously.
"There are two ways to break an enmi spell. Turn the curse back on the hexer or burn the hitogata being used," Naru explained. "The doll is usually buried near the target. That means if the hexer is a student or school faculty member, it's most likely around here somewhere."
"Somewhere?! Oh great, that helps a lot. What do you want us to do, dig up the whole school?" Monk questioned incredulously. He is right, this may be tricky.
"Well the hexer must have buried my hitogata sometime after Monday when we started investigating, so that one should still be fresh and easier to spot," Naru said.
… your sympathy level… it's quite low.
"I guess, but… come on, this school is huge," Monk complained.
"Perhaps you'd like to leave?" Naru flaunted his authority. Wow. He usually only uses that card on me back in the office.
Monk blinked a few times before giving in. "Alright," he whined. Huh, he even had the same reaction I do when Naru does that at the office. Well, mostly.
And so, everyone ran off to search.
BLIND
"Wait a minute!" I said as I followed Naru and Lin down the hall towards classroom 2-5. Yep, the room with the cursed desk. "Naru! You can't just go in there! the class is in session right now! Don't!"
My attempts to stop them being completely in vain, they stepped right into the classroom.
I stepped in, prepared to apologize, to find the room void of students.
"Whew, I guess they must have switched rooms or something," I said in relief.
Then I found my two coworkers going through a desk, Lin holding the thing in place as Naru rummaged through it.
"Naru! You really shouldn't do that either!" I know we have to find the hitogata, but you can at least be organized about it!
"Here it is," Naru said before pulling out a small wooden board with the strip sound of tape pulling off of something.
That's the hitogata?
Naru handed the doll to Lin. "They did a good job on it," Lin said as he inspected it, "but it doesn't seem to be made for anyone specifically. Its only intention was to curse whoever sat at this desk."
"I think you're right," said Naru. "The hitogata caused whoever sat here to have an accident, meaning the hurt students weren't specifically targeted so much as they were just unlucky. I'll bet we'll find another one in the track team's locker room that's aimed at the entire club rather than at a single person."
So we headed to the track team's locker room. This time I didn't worry about bursting in. The locker room wouldn't be occupied during classes. Just in case, I peaked in before letting the other two in.
"The floor's concrete. They're usually buried, right?" Naru observed, meaning that the hitogata probably couldn't have been buried there.
"Usually yes, but it's quite possible they've been hidden in the ceiling," Lin responded. Them having wordlessly decided to check the ceiling before breaking concrete and therefore looking for a stool or ladder to use, I checked out the window, sending my senses out. No, even if it was done months ago nothing seems to be buried out here-
And then, I tripped as I stepped away from the window.
OW! Oh, hey, what's that?
My senses picked up a deep crack in the concrete in the corner. On a hunch, I tried to lift it up.
Surprise, surprise. Another hitogata.
"Found it!" I announced. Naru walked over to investigate. I stood and handed him my find.
"Good work, Mai," Naru praised.
"Oh, no prob." …Ah, I feel warm. Why is that?
"This one is enmi as well. The cursed desk and the track team. If we dig a little deeper we're sure to find the culprit soon," Naru said.
We headed back to base shortly after to do some research.
Then, there was a scream. I was about to run out… But then Ayako burst into the room with no warning. "It's Masako!" she yelled before heading out to check on her. I ran out after her, but then lost her. I ended up hearing another scream.
"Nooooo!" she screamed and then sobbed from in the biology room.
"Mai, come on!" Monk ran past. I nodded. Right, Masako just got hurt. Sorry Kasai, I'll be back!
And so I ran after Monk.
BLIND
Omake (because everyone loves them, right?)
"What is that?" I whispered to myself.
"Now don't make any sudden movements," Naru said quietly, stepping in forward and pushing me behind him slightly, his arm in front of me for good measure. "Just stay calm," he whispered to me again.
Yeah, right, this thing could probably smell fear!
We watched as the little toddler moved forward, giggling as he played with the teacups. Man, I actually liked that set! At least it hasn't spotted us yet.
Who thought that "Bring Your Child and/or Little Sibling to Work/School Day" would end up like this?!
It turned out that one of the little monsters had ran off and found base. Naru was all for throwing the thing out, and by now, I was too.
Why did Monk let it in?
Ayako and Lin had already suffered their dues. Ayako was washing glue out of her hair and Lin was trying to get whatever substance was on his shoe, off. Oddly, he wouldn't tell us what, but baby slobber was my solid guess.
Masako? She was smart. She saw the kid and fled like hell was at her heels. Now I see that she might have been right about that.
Naru and I came in, but didn't see it until we were on the other side of the room and it was in our way.
And how was my dear friend Monk taking all of this? He had swiped one of the cameras and was RECORDING the WHOLE DAMN THING.
"Come on, Mai," Naru whispered, and we inched along. We were almost to the door when it happened.
It spotted us. And it smiled.
"GO GO GO!" I yelled, pushing Naru as the little monstrosity started taking wobbly steps towards us.
We were almost out the door. We had it opened and we were halfway out. The toddler grabbed our legs.
"HWELLOW!" the thing said, looking up at us. I faced at it, then Naru. Oh no, I know that face. That usually appears right when he's about to do something truly evil.
And guess what? I was right. Somehow he pried the bugger off his leg, onto mine, and was out the door in about half a second. I faced the door, then the thing on my leg. "Hiya, I'm Sichi!"
Three hours later, the bugger was gone and I glared at Naru as I started to wipe the marker off my face. Naru? Oh, he was smirking. Big time. Usually I was good with kids… as long as they were either 'Can't talk or walk' or 'I'm past the age of glitter glue and markers, and know the basic concept of being a halfway decent human being'. This thing that came through, Sichi? He was neither.
Remind not to trust Naru if I, oh I don't know, have to hold onto him so I don't fall down a hole and break my neck or something.
So what did I do for revenge on my boss?
Well, I hope he enjoys vinegar mixed with milk and salt in his tea.
BLIND
Okay, so this has been asked about… a lot. So I'm going to clear things up.
I plan to do my own cases but I wanted to do so after they figured out that Mai is a psychic. Why? So Mai will pay at least some sort of attention during her dreams. Plus, that would put me farther along in the series to where I feel comfortable in doing so. If Mai had figured out she was psychic during the Doll House Case, I would be writing my own case now. I could have made it where she figured out she was psychic earlier (and now that I think about it, it would be wiser), but meh, too bad. I didn't. Sorry. Plus I'm not sure how that would affect the others. So that's why I have the 'A week at the office' chapter, plus that set up quite a few things for the future. Incidentally, the timing would have been perfect to do it before this case, as they only take cases far and few. But, like I said, I sorta NEED her to know she's psychic. It has to do with figuring some things out and calling Gene 'That guy in my dreams'. It gets irritating. So I would initially put the case right after this one. However, it appears the manga writer had the same idea, and put not one, but TWO cases before the next one in the novels start.
So where and when, pray tell, am I going to put a case of my own?
Well, the first one I'm putting in is going to be after Yasu's school's case. So, about February or March in the world of Ghost Hunt. Sorry, you still have some more cases to go along in the anime, and sorry if it's like reading the whole series that you already know about. I realize that. But, on the plus side, the characters are more developed, have a more withstanding relationship level, Mai knows she a psychic (so I get to play around with that), and Yasu is there. (Yes, Yasu is one of my favorite characters, and I used to be a real solid Yasu/Mai shipper. Heck, I still do on occasion. Seriously, watch through the first episode or two with Yasu in them and watch the two interact.)
So yes, I will do my own cases, but starting it won't be until another three or four cases (depending on how you count, it could be either or). And yes, since it will be around Valentine's Day and White Day (depending on about where I place it), I will play around with that. Sorta a treat, I suppose, for making you wait so long.
I also plan to do the last manga chapter case (The Forgotten Children), and if I find any more of the White Heart series translated or the newest manga translated fully on at least one case by the time I get there, I will add it as well. If not, I will then have full reign.
We all good then?
GOOD! Here's some notes for ya!
*1 Remember that Japanese school systems are different, and that Mai is currently sixteen. Just a friendly reminder.
*2 TOTALLY guessed on spelling onmiyoudo. I think I did it right this time, though, unlike when I had to start spelling onmyouji
*3 Okay, so I just sorta realized that I can't think of any genuine PK users in the series who's names (alias or not) don't start with a K. Kuroda. Kasai. Kazuya. Although Naru's is an alias, I suppose since he goes by it enough for a hitogata made for him with the name Kazuya Shibuya on it to affect him, well, we can count it.
*4 In the novels, Monk explains it.
*5 Hopefully, you know what telepathy and clairvoyance are. Telepathy is the ability to read another person's mind, and clairvoyance is pretty broad, but basically it means you know things others don't, like if you somehow knew when my birthday is, but I never told you. Mai falls into that category, since her intuition tells her whether to trust someone or not, and Naru and Gene were telepathic, but only to each other since they are twins. Twins can have abilities that only work for each other, such as knowing if the other is in pain. Sometimes, twins will make up and use their own language. Close siblings may or may not be able to do this too. I'm not sure. Usually these abilities only show up in identical twins, presumably because they developed in similar ways, even more similar than just being in the same womb at the same time, and their brains would be wired in similar ways, including the language center of the brain (as well as the other parts). If I'm wrong on that, well, as always, feel free to correct me.
*6 So basically, other than some editing choices by me, that whole section is from the novel. I do NOT own it, I swear. I haven't done research on Meyer or Rolfe, but I have done some on the Nine K-whatever her name was (again with the K!). She did stop a frog's heart. As far as I can tell, though, she didn't stop a human's heart. At least, I haven't found that story anywhere else but in the light novels. The ASPR is the American Society of Psychical Research and it does exist, as does the British counterpart, SPR. They are very real. They have websites and everything, if you want to check those out. They're actually quite interesting. Just Google them and they should show up. Oh, and the part with Ayako talking about if the spoon wasn't a spoon? Yeah, I have NO IDEA what she is talking about. I decided to leave that up there for some odd reason that I can't recall. Hmph. Ah, also, in the manga and the novel, this is the part where they talk about Oliver Davis. AND, if you go to the manga and read the part where they mention him, the panel they do it in has Naru in it, just going through some papers. That little brat. It's so bluntly obvious now, but still! And this is the part where they mention the video with the block being slammed into the wall. During THAT panel, it has Masako huffing or exhaling quietly, and looked all sad. That, ladies and gents, is foreshadowing, and a very, VERY good use of it.
*7 Once again, I'm freaking out over the choice of words. Naru confessed… and yet, not in that context. Gotta love language. (I know this was basically useless as a star, but I decided you'd like a small one)
Uth. There. if you're in America or other participating countries… HAPPY LATE MOTHER'S DAY!
(Pst- I got a double wammy on that. It's also my grandmother's birthday)