Brief Explanation and falling into the abyss

"So, care to explain what just happened?" Naru asked furiously.

Kurobara winced at his clear disappointment in her, it made her anxiety spike upwards in a spiral. Everyone was looking at her expecting her to answer, Mai however stayed by Kuro's side to give her some comfort as she was the only one who knew that she was a psychic. "Well? I demand an answer" Naru remarked coldly.

Kuro kept silent. What could she say? She didn't want to explain but she knew she had to, she was so screwed. Kurobara tried to stay calm, but she could feel her body reacting poorly. As her body shook she took small deep breaths to calm down her heartbeat. "I-i… I am sorry." She managed out through her shaky lips.

Mai glanced worriedly at her best friend. Naru looks at her with his icy cold blue eyes, he was getting really impatient "I did not ask for an apology. I asked for an explanation" he told her with a frustrated tone.

"Don't be so cold! Kurobara has a reason to hide it from you, have you ever thought that maybe she is uncomfortable! She could barely tell me about it when I found out" Mai yelled.

Kurobara watched her friend as she stood up clearly trying to help her out. "You knew?" Naru questioned coldly, Mai rolled her eyes at his question. Mai was about to retort to his blatant question however Kuro spoke before she could have said anything "Don't be mad at Mai. I made her promise to not tell anyone about it."

Kazuya eyes moved to her face before sighing out "I had a suspicion that you are a psychic however you kept denying it. I want an explanation." Kuro's eyes move downwards at that. "I wanted to be normal for once… I kept it hidden because the trouble it caused me in the past."

Mai sat back down and grabbed her friend's hand to comfort her. "My ESP powers have only ever caused me misfortune" Kuro stated sadly, Naru took a moment to digest what she had said. It is true that Mediums and Psychics are prone to be bullied and be abused by other people so it's hard not deduce that she was bullied.

"I didn't tell anyone because it brought back unwanted memories"

Kazuya pinched his nose, he was slightly annoyed at being lied to but he did feel some sympathy for her. "Alright. I let it go for now but you will tell me more later" he told her. She was uncomfortable that much he could see, if it was someone else he would have not stopped pushing but since it was Kuro…

"So what was that Barrier? It was pretty awesome to see" Monk asked, he was wondering what that was as he never saw anything like it. "Oh that. I manipulated my Aura into a 360-degree circle and surrounded myself with it, it is mainly for defence but I can change some attributes of my barrier to make it Hot"

"That is so cool" Mai loudly shouted, causing everyone to wince but Monk had to agree it was amazing it must have taken ages to be able to control something like that. "Is it okay to use something like that?" he enquired.

Kuro took a moment to answer, she was tired she could not deny that. She did use two barriers to protect them from harm "I should be fine. I admit that I am feeling quite tired but I will be okay to continue working."

(Timeskip)

Later that day, once the spirits had calmed down, and the coast was clear again, everyone gathered around the hole in the floor to examine it, and found that it wasn't just any old hole. The floor had been concealing an old well beneath it.

"This just reminds me of the ring" Kurobara remarked causing Takagawa to chuckle. "The Ring?" Mai asked confusedly, both Monk and Kuro looked at her with a shocked expression. "You haven't seen The Ring?" they responded with astonishment.

"This has nothing to do with the investigation. Now quit you chit chat" Naru stated coldly.

"This is a pretty old well by the look of it" Monk said. Kuro felt a chill coming from the well, her skin was prickling with small goosebumps "Kurobara. Can you sense spirits at all?" Kazuya asked. Wondering if she had the ability to sense the paranormal.

"Yes I have some Medium skills why? Want me to find out if there are any spirits? As I said before I am not really comfortable on using my Psychic abilities" Kuro affirmed cautiously. Kazuya glared at her "tell me what you sense" he told her not really caring if she felt uncomfortable, this seemed to cause her to twitch.

"I told you! I don't like using my skills" Kuro yelled.

Everybody watched them, as they rubbed each other the wrong way. Naru feeling really annoyed already stated rather coldly "did I stutter? I told you to do it and you do it. I am your superior" Kurobara growled under her breath, she was getting pretty fed up with his behaviour "Fine!" She said holding back her anger.

They took a deep breath as she shifted on the balls of her feet, eyes drooping down softly. Now that her eyes were closed she focused her senses on the Old well, feeling a small tug of her own aura she abruptly snapped her eyes opened. Her eye colour now a pale blue she fixated her gaze on the well, it seemed everyone else was watching her as she worked her 'magic.'

Everything was dark except the well. Everyone else has faded into the abyss, it was pitch black however the well was lit up like a plasma ball. Not all of it was lit up only when her eyes moved to the bottom of the well could she see the Aura, It was a darkish blue with red and… black specs.

Kurobara deactivated her abilities and looked Naru "there are defiantly spirits down there. When I first looked at the well it was pitch black but as soon as my eyes drifted downwards I saw a bright Aura. It's lit up like a plasma ball, it's that bright"

"Anything else?" Naru questioned. "Well it seems there is a lot of anger and pain by the colour of spirits Aura that's about it" Kuro told him honestly, Kazuya then switched his eyes to Masako who seemed to be glaring at her for some reason. "And you, Hara-san?" Naru asked next, making sure that Kurobara was right.

To me, it seems this well goes deep into the earth, and at the very bottom, the children are unable to leave." Masako said, holding up the sleeve of her kimono to cover her mouth. "Lurking deep inside, the spirit of a woman is trapped here… and she is calling out for more spirits of children, pretending to be their mother… The children want to return home, but they are lost and cannot find their way out."

"Then, Minnie is here too?" Mai asked.

"Minnie… who is actually Tachibana Yuki-san, is the leader of the children." Masako replied. "But the truth is, her spirit is in so much pain and agony, that she just wants to stop this go home." Kurobara would have done the same thing as Masako but she was already too tired at the moment so she could not go to the level of Masako.

"Who is 'Tomiko'?" Naru asked. Kuro looked at him with a blank face "isn't it obvious? It's the woman's child. She obviously looking for her daughter I assume that she is gathering the child spirits for the hopes of finding her child. Sad really" Kurobara said with a matter of fact tone, meanwhile Masako was childishly glaring at her.

"I see…" Naru said thoughtfully.

"Aein? Where the hell are you going?" Kuro asked when he turned and started heading for the door. Naru paused in his tracks before replying to her question "I'm stepping out." He replied calmly. "I'm not sure when I'll be back. Take care of things here."

"H-Hold on, Naru!" Mai shouted as the door slammed behind him. Kurobara roughly sighed "That's Naru for you. Not giving a shit to tell us anything" She spoke out loud as they looked to the door he went out of. "Geez! Take care of things? What does that even mean?" Mai asked, annoyed that he would just leave like that. "What's he expect us to do!?"

Kurobara shrugged not really knowing what to say "do your own thing I suppose?"

(Timeskip)

"Should we drive the spirits out until Naru gets back?" Monk questioned out loud. "Good idea." Mai said. They turned to face Ayako and John. "This time, the two of you are up." Kurobara said with a smirk.

"Which one of you is up for the challenge?" Monk asked. "I'm warning you, it's intense." Kuro sniggered watching Ayako pale considered ably "Um…" John said, glancing at the priestess. Ayako sweat-dropped, meanwhile Kurobara sniggered at them as they looked at each other; none of them seemed to want to do it.

"Fine, I'll do it!" She said. "Takagawa-san and John, you stay with Ayami-chan."

"Right."

(Later that night)

"May the heart of this house be cleansed as they interim dwelling place, that Thou may enshrine thyself here…" Ayako prayed as she kneeled in the living room, dressed in her Miko garb, a safe distance from the well.

Both Kurobara and Mai sweat dropped as Ayako was purposely standing way closer to the door obviously suggesting that she was afraid. The Miko had told them both that it was so that she could have a clearer view, Kuro called bullshit on that. They both called her buff out but that seemed to annoy the redhead.

Mai shivered when she felt a chill. Cold air was starting to waft out of the well and fill the room. Kurobara rubbed her arms for warmth as she kept two watchful eyes out for any movement, she felt the room temperature drop to below freezing.

"May the kami of this world, and Empress Oyamatomeko Sumera, ruler of the Eight Islands—" Ayako stopped when the room trembled, and knocking sounds began. It sounded like someone was running around upstairs… and down…"Can you see them!?" Ayako asked anxiously.

Kurobara huffed slightly. Now that everyone knew that she had abilities everyone expected her to use them, shaking her head as she kept her focus on the spirits. There was no ill intent. None of the spirits has done anything alarming as of yet "Keep going Ayako-san everything is fine" she told her trying to keep her from panicking.

"Ah… I know!" Ayako said, turning back to face the well. She needed to finish this in order to get rid of them. "Ah!" She gasped when one of the children's spirits reached out and touched her sleeve. "Ayako!?" Mai asked wondering what's wrong, Kuro was currently shifting closer to her friend as to keep an eye on her.

"Someone just touched me!" Ayako exclaimed.

"Keep going Ayako, don't let them distract you! They are trying to stop you from finishing your chant" Kurobara says calmly that's when she froze, feeling a hand on her foot. Mai looked at her worriedly as Kurobara was as pale as a sheet.

"What's wrong" Mai asked

"Someone has their hand on my foot" Kuro says shakily, trying to stay calm; Mai however panicked when she heard this.

Suddenly…

Their foot was yanked in the direction of the well, Kurobara head banged against the floor causing a loud groan to come out. Mai quickly grabbing Kuro's hand that was stretched out however instead of it helping it pulled both of them "Akamia! Taniyama!" a voice shouted.

It was Lin who looked at them with a panicked expression, His eyes widened when he saw that both girls were now being dragged. "Let go Mai!" Kurobara screamed scared of her friend getting hurt, But Mai only tightened on her arm "no! I am not letting you go!" she yelled back. Lin tried to grab them both however…

It was too late as they both were swallowed up by the well "Mai!" Kuro screamed as both of them fell down into the abyss of the well.

They both fell unconscious the last thing they heard was a scream. "AKAMIA, TANIYAMA-SAN!"

Kurobara may have felt screwed before but now they were fucked. Not just herself but Mai as well.

KiraLawliet here Chapter 39? Is now done, I am almost to 40 chapters guys! 11 more till I reach my 50 chapter goal! I am so excited.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter it took some time to write. I am getting my groove back to write.