Frustration and Friendship?
"There's no spirits anywhere?" Monk's voice boomed incredulously as Kazuya opened the door. "That's impossible, Masako-chan."
"I didn't see any." Masako repeated firmly as Kazuya, Mai and Kurobara entered the room "I searched the entire school campus but found nothing."
"There has to be at least one spirit at that desk." Monk insisted. "There have been four accidents so far relating to it!"
"I wonder if we're being deceived?" Masako said, refusing to back down.
"By the whole school!?" Monk asked incredulously. "Is that some kind of joke!?"
Kurobara sighed at this fruitless argument. Masako couldn't see any spirits, but for some reason, she could see aura that suggests as much? Something was clearly going on with the school. She didn't know what but she did not like it one bit.
Mai glanced at her worriedly, arguing was never a good thing. She gave her a small smile, telling her that everything was going to be okay, even though she had no idea what was going on.
"Now, now…" John maintained steadily with a flustered smile, trying to calm them down before the argument became too explosive.
"This case is getting complicated." Kurobara commented dryly, her voice bringing everyone's attention to her. She was honestly too tired for this; the case was going to be a long one; she could feel it. Right now she wants to head home and spend her time alone, as much as she enjoyed spending time with Kazuya, Mai and everyone else, she needed a break.
"Kuro is right." Kazuya spoke up. Eyes moving away from her form. ""How many of those witnesses do you think were telling us the truth? Even if only some of them were, there were still quite a lot of submissions. There has to be some reason why so many people involved with this school are experiencing so many psychic phenomena. But that reason is still not apparent. We can only depend on your psychic power at this point, Hara-san, Kuro-san."
"There aren't any spirits here." Masako stated matter-of-factly. Even if it was Naru asking, she couldn't see what she couldn't see.
"I see." Naru said with a sigh. So much for that. Disappointment in his voice.
"Masako isn't always right, you know." Ayako pointed out.
Kurobara shook her head, knowing this was going to cause another argument. She was about to open her mouth and explain what she could see with her Aura manipulation skills. Unfortunately, she was interrupted.
"I'm correct more often than you are." Masako retorted coolly, holding up her kimono sleeve.
"I don't know about that!" Ayako snapped hotly. "There's no way there aren't any spirits here. I bet Kuro-san here could see them." She said pointedly, glancing at her while she awkwardly stood there, now being brought in the middle of it.
"Actually-" Kurobara started.
"No, she wouldn't be able too," Masako said. "Because there's nothing to see. In fact, Matsuzaki-san, I can't seem to ever remember a time when you were correct, can you?" She interrupted, giving her and Ayako a glare.
"Can I just-" Kuro tried, growling out.
Mai could see her friend's tense posture, she was getting angry, their mouth was twitching as were her eyes. Clenched fists. She knew how much she hated being interrupted.
"Well, I never! You may be able to see them, but you can't exorcise them!" Ayako retorted with a huff.
'Geez…' Mai thought, sweat-dropping as she watched their cat fight. Glancing back and forth between Ayako and Masako while keeping her eye on her friend. Who was getting more frustrated by the minute
Before any more could be said, Kurobara finally exploded. Both eyes turning blue with the faint orange wisps. "All of you shut the fuck up! You're acting like children." She said frustratedly, some of the equipment shook and floated up at her anger. Her teeth clinked together growling out.
Every single person became quiet at her sudden burst of anger. The objects that were shaking and floating stopped. Items thumped onto the desks and the floor. Realizing what she had just done, she sighed. "For fucksake," She grumbled out in English. She could feel a headache coming on.
"Now can I actually talk without anyone interrupting me and getting into fights?" She asked rhetorically, having exhausted tone. While glancing at everyone. Kazuya seemed impressed by her display as was the rest of them.
"Right. I was going to say that; I could see Aura on that desk we went too. It was faint, but it was there. An indication that something is going on. Around the desk, I saw three different colours. Blue, Red, and Green. There is something here, but I do not know what it is. The colours suggest an angry spirit or an angry esper/psychic. Which I have said earlier, even though it contradicts what Masako-san was saying."
"At least we have something" Monk spoke up, while Ayako gave Masako a smirk. As Kurobara had gotten more information then she did.
"Good work Kuro" Kazuya articulated out, giving her a small nod. Flashing her a small smile, making her cheeks heated up, growling under her breathe at her behaviour. Masako gave her a glare. "Lin, let's get back to work."
"John, let's go take another lap around campus, ourselves," Monk said with a sigh.
"Sure." John said with a smile, relieved that everyone had stopped fighting.
"Hmph. Make sure you look closely this time." Ayako told Masako as they followed the boys out. "Like Kuro-san did"
"No matter how many times I look, it will still be the same." Masako retorted stubbornly as they shut the door behind them.
Leaving both of them alone.
"Good luck!" Mai called after them with a nervous laugh, sweat-dropping. She exhaled as she turned around to face the table and shuffled the papers for the inquiries again before sitting down.
Kurobara sighed, sitting in front of Mai with a tired worn-out expression. She learned her head onto her hand. Eyes closed. Seeing a black void. With mostly grey Aura surrounding the school.
Mai yawned, herself being tired. "No… no" She scolded herself, for falling asleep. Shaking her head as an attempt to wake herself up. "Just go to sleep Mai" Kuro spoke up, giving her a small smile.
"I'll keep a watch for you if our egomaniac boss comes back." She added, softly as she watched her friend's sleepy expression finding it adorable and entertaining. Mai relaxed as her eyes closed, now letting out a final breathe as she fell asleep.
"How adorable"
(The Next Day)
Mai sighed as she sat at the conference table in the base, once again left behind to wait on everyone else. The dream she had the previous evening was bothering her. She didn't think it particularly meant anything special, but it sure was eerie…
Kurobara wasn't here for some reason, she was late, which worried her since she was a person who was always punctually earlier. She was hardly late. She wished she was here right now. She hated being alone; Kuro was always by her side.
She missed her. She hasn't even sent her a text message. She let out a loud sigh. She couldn't help but feel nervous without her. Maybe she relied on her too much, but she was always there to protect her and to make her smile.
'I wish Kurobara was here'
There was a knock on the door, bringing her out of her thoughts about her friend and being lonely.
"Yes?" Mai called out.
"Mai, Kuro, can I come in?" Kasai Chiaki asked as she opened the door. What she didn't know was the fact that Mai's friend wasn't there.
"Kasai-san…" Mai said, surprised. "Ah, yes, of course." Kasai-san entered the room and took a seat across from Mai.
"…" Neither girl really seemed to know what to say. It was starting to get awkward.
"Where is your friend Kuro-san?" Kasai asked, surprised that she wasn't with her, feeling a little disappointed that she hadn't been able to speak to her.
Mai sighed softly "I don't know where she is… she should be here" Her voice coming out sad and lonesome. It went silent again, it was much more depressing than before.
"How about the exorcism, how is it going?" Kasai-san asked, breaking the silence once again.
"Eh… not very well, actually," Mai returned honestly. "A psychic medium is telling us there are no spirits here."
"No way!" Kasai asserted, taken aback, "There are way too many things happening for that to be true."
"I agree with you, but we don't have anyone else on our team who can see spirits," Mai said with a sigh. "Well, there is Kurobara-san, but she isn't here at the moment."
"You and Shibuya-san, Akamia-san, are psychic, too, aren't you?" Kasai asked.
"Ah… I'm not a psychic!" Mai explained hastily. " Na—I mean, Shibuya-san is a ghost hunter. Although, I think he may actually be an onmyouji. And Kuro-san is a psychic?, she is an Aura manipulator which in itself is amazing" She said with awe in her voice.
"An onmyouji? Aura Manipulator? Wow… I'm impressed." Kasai said.
"Oh, Kasai-san, can you see spirits?" Mai asked.
"Me? Oh, no. I don't have any ESP abilities." Kasai replied frankly.
"ESP?" Mai asked, sweat-dropping. What was that? She could have sworn that she's heard of it before, from Kuro; But she couldn't remember.
"You don't know what ESP is?" Kasai asked, surprised. "Some people believe that psychic power is a type of ESP (Basically A sixth sense. ) I only have PK…, and it's only a PK-ST ability." She explained.
"Wow… you know a lot about this stuff…" Mai said, amazed. What was PK-ST? She decided to ask Kurobara and Monk about it later. Still very confused about this sort of stuff.
"I learned all of this from Kei-sensei. She is very knowledgeable in parapsychology." Kasai said proudly. Puffing out her chest slightly.
"You mean Ubusuna-sensei?" Mai asked, to make sure she was thinking of the correct person.
"I feel bad for Kei-sensei… because she tried to support me, other teachers, and now even the PTA are against her. I've seen them completely ignore her. But lately, I think things have gotten a little better. People who used to say that ghosts or ESP didn't exist are now experiencing it themselves. I hear that some have secretly come to speak to Kei-sensei about their experiences." Kasai said with a small smile.
'Ah, she smiled…' Mai thought happily. Kasai-san really wasn't a bad girl. She reminded her of Kurobara."It sounds like Ubusuna-sensei is a good person."
"Yes," Kasai said, smiling. "Even when I felt like the whole school was against me, she was always there. I've never met anyone that supportive to a stranger. It's like Akamia-san had said before about having that one person to believe in you makes the difference. I'll definitely treasure her"
"I heard she graduated from this school."
"Really? Most of our female teachers graduated from here."
It went quiet once again. Kasai sighed softly. "I was kind of hoping that Akamia-san would be here" She spoke honestly, Mai glanced at her in surprise. "How come?"
"I was hoping to talk to her… She just seemed so understanding when she spoke to me last. I feel like she understands me in some form of level." Kasai tried to explain, moving her hand as she spoke.
"She spoke about being bullied, and I thought maybe… we could have been friends since we both went through similar things. If you know what I mean," She told her. Mai seemed happy at her confession; she was glad that someone else could see Kurobara as someone special. She was giving her a grin.
"Why don't you ask her to be friends with you?" she asked " I am sure Kuro would accept it. If you want, I can ask her myself? I am really good friends with her." She exclaimed happily. Kasai seemed elated with this.
"You would really ask her for me?"
"Of course!"
Author Note
Little Sunflower here, here is a new chapter. It took a while, I am sorry if this has mistakes, i really tried. This chapter is a bit slow since it's about the case itself. So I'm sorry.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed it and want to thank you all for reading my story and writing. Unfortunately, my mental health fluctuates so writing this chapter took longer than expected.
Thank you to everyone who had read, favourite, followed and commented on this story. I'll be sure to work on the next chapter soon. Chapter 7 has been updated by the way!
Thank you-Little Sunflower.
