EDITED
Mai's head hurt.
The cool wind brushed against her, cheeks... It felt good. Her eyes fluttered open.
She was in a small, dark place. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized she was inside the van but it looked weird. She wanted to get up, but didn't have the energy to.
'That's right. The shoe cabinet fell on me.'
She looked around and realized she was in the astral plane. 'So where is Gene?'
Right when she was determined to get up, a soft, pale hand caressed her forehead.
"Gene..." Her voice was weak.
She looked up past the pale hand. In the darkness she could make out the face.
"...It's been a while, Gene. How are you?"
Gene reassured with a calm voice. "Don't move."
He said that with a warm but confused smile on his face. He had no idea that Mai even knew who he was. 'So much for pretending to be Oliver.'
"It's great to see you finally, Gene. No pretending to be Naru this time please. I know you both too well to fall for that trick again."
Gene cocked his head in question, "You know us?"
"In another life, yes."
"Curious. You'll have to explain that sometime. For now you should go back to sleep. Your head must be hurting."
"Yeah it is. Bye Gene, see you next time. Sleep well. I'll tell your brother hello for you." Mai answered softly closing her eyes.
Gene watched her fade from the astral plane with a soft confused smile.
Then she woke up.
Looking around, she realized she was in the van but in the physical plane this time. The moonlight faintly shined through. The equipment was piled up in a stack.
Her head hurt and sleeping on this hard "bed" made her back ache. She had no idea how Lin and Oliver did it.
Looking around she found the pair dozing in the van next to her, apparently having fallen asleep while waiting for her to wake up. She watched them for a while before falling back to sleep. It was was still dark.
...
When she woke again early in the morning, the other two were still asleep. Her sitting up disturbed them and made them stir.
"Are you all right?" Oliver asked concerned.
"My head hurts but I'm fine. Gene says hello."
Both men stiffened.
"What?" Oliver demanded.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Naru. He's my spirit guide. I met him in the astral plane."
They stared at her shocked.
"I need to go home and get ready for school. I assume you'll be running the test for latent psychic energy later?" Mai pushed out of the van and slid to the ground before turning to look at them.
"... Yes." Oliver answered.
"Then I'll see you later today." Mai waved before walking off.
...
The moment Mai stepped into the classroom, Kuroda called her.
"Taniyama-san... Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry to worry you."
After sitting down, Mai was surrounded by Keiko and the others.
"Mai, I heard that yesterday was dangerous."
"How do you know?"
"Kuroda said so. She was bragging about it just now."
"Ah, of course. Not to worry. I'm fine."
Yuuri whispered listlessly, "It must be so lucky having psychic powers... Things would be great if I had them..."
Michiru said, "Yeah— That would be awesome. And I would be able to hear Shibuya-san's beautiful voice."
Keiko's expression changed. "True. For a moment there, I was scared when the telephone rang."
Mai turned to Keiko, "Did he ask you about Karuda-san?"
Keiko looked at the others, then Michiru quietly answered my question. "He asked a lot of questions. Questions about the old school building. And questions about you."
"Me?"
"Yes. He also asked about the teacher and Kuroda."
Mai nodded. The teacher suddenly came in then. The moment she entered, she announced, "Kuroda, Taniyama, the principal wants to see you."
The two girls nodded and left the room.
...
Kuroda and Mai knocked on the door, then entered the room.
There were eight people.
In the middle was Oliver with Lin off to the side by the curtains.
Mai waved hello to the principal. "Sorry we're late..." Then she sat in one of the chairs arranged for them, ready for the experiment.
Oliver stood up. "Is everyone who was involved in this case here and accounted for?"
The principal nodded in response.
Oliver told everyone to relax. Lin turned off the lights and covered the windows with the curtains, sealing the room in darkness.
A light lay on the table, flashing repeatedly like a flickering flashlight.
"Please look at this light."
The room flashed from light to dark.
Oliver spoke calmly, "Look at the light. Slowly breathe in and out... Relax your shoulders..."
They listened carefully.
Oliver's voice was calm, quiet. "Listen carefully to your breathing..."
He repeated it. His soft voice rang through the air. Mai could hear the fluctuating rhythm of his voice.
"Tonight... Something will happen...
The chair on the second floor of the old school building... Will move by itself...
Tonight in the old school building... In the lab room...
The lab room... Chair"
...
"Okay, it's finished."
The room suddenly brightened.
The bright light blinded everyone's eyes.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Oliver bowed. There was an old chair beside him that everyone seemed to focus on.
After Mai left the classroom, Oliver called out to Mai before he left for the old school building.
"Mai!"
Mai turned around.
"How long have you known Gene?"
"In this life? I only just met him last night. I will only see him while we're on a case though. The rest of the time, it's like he's asleep."
"But you knew who we are before we met you."
"I knew you all for 3 years before we all died and I made my wish to turn back time. Although, I only knew who you both really were for about half of that. Until then Gene had a ball pretending to be you in my dreams and I was too embarrassed to think I was dreaming of you to tell you and get the whole twin thing cleared up."
"Will I find his body?"
"Yeah, eventually, all in good time. You have a few important cases to deal with first. Don't worry about it too much."
Oliver looked a little lost so Mai surprised him by giving him a quick, gentle hug before she ran off to class.
He didn't realise he was blushing until she was no longer in sight.
...
After school Mai went to the old school building to help finish setting up the test. She found Oliver and Lin sitting down in their van.
Oliver noticed her as she rounded the side of the van. He looked at her, his eyes dark and unsure.
Oliver stood up, then handed Mai some electrical wires. "Set up the equipment."
"Got it!"
John passed by and joined Lin, Oliver and Mai in carrying the required equipment into the old school building.
When Oliver reached the classroom on the upper floor, he placed his equipment down and told Mai to set up the tripod.
Oliver pulled an old chair from a corner. The chair was nearly broken. Then he placed the chair in the middle of the room and started drawing a circle around it.
Mai ignored him and began boarding up the windows. John and Lin joined her.
After Naru drew the circle, he left the room. He returned to the van to bring in more equipment. Oliver looked around the room for a place to put the camcorder. Mai pointed to an appropriate place to set it. Oliver's face was stoic.
Once he had finished setting up the equipment, he joined them in nailed to boards. After every surface was covered, Oliver handed calligraphic brushes to Mai and John. "Sign your name on the boards, and make sure you write big."
Mai began signing her name and John soon followed. Just for fun, she wrote her name in English much to everyone's surprise.
They left the lab room once all the boards were signed, and Oliver closed the door. After he nailed the boards onto the door, sealing it shut, he ordered them to sign it again.
Afterwards, Oliver walked towards his equipment and placed a cleansing tag on it. They signed their names on it again.
Then they all finally left.
...
The next day Mai went to school early heading straight for the old school building. She carried her thermos full of fresh tea and the two cups again. She also brought some homemade vegetarian style bentos for them to eat.
Oliver and Lin were already there, if they had ever left. They were sitting in their van, handling something.
Mai walked towards the van and knocked. "Good morning. Want some tea and breakfast? It's vegetarian."
Both men nodded and Oliver opened the van door scooting over for Mai to take a seat once she had finished pouring the tea into the cups and handed them out along with their bentos. Lin murmuring a "Thank you" for his share.
"You're here rather early today." Oliver asked as Mai took a seat next to him.
"Of course I am."
Oliver looked impatient.
"Relax, I'm just excited to see if Karuda-san moved the chair or not."
Oliver sighed. "Mai, don't you think you talk too much?"
Mai poked her tongue out him before giggling.
Oliver rolled his eyes at her giggling. He kind of thought it was cute. 'and isn't that a bazare thought. Me thinking a girl cute.' He shook his head to dispel the thought. "Wait a while. Everyone will be here soon."
"I know. Another cup?" Mai held her hand out for their cups. The two men gave them grateful for the caffeine boost. She made good tea. Her cooking wasn't bad either.
The monk and miko were already arguing and could be heard before they saw them. The others followed along not long after.
Kuroda came before class started as well.
Unlike Mai, they were pestering Oliver for answers. They wanted to know what happened yesterday and were impatient. Kuroda began to pick a fight with him.
"Then I'll stay here and wait," Kuroda announced.
"Go home," Oliver replied coldly.
In the end Kuroda won the arguement, to which Oliver sighed resignedly.
After the school bell rang, since everyone was already here, he proceeded to the door of the sealed room.
Lin carried a camcorder in one hand.
"What are you going to show us today?" Takigawa snickered.
Ayako laughed too.
Oliver showed no expression on his face.
"I just want some witnesses in my experiment," Oliver replied.
"Huh?"
Ayako and Takigawa were dumbfounded.
When they reached the front of the sealed room Oliver called for John and Mai, "Look at the equipment. Is the paper with your signature intact?"
Mai examined the paper with their signatures. It wasn't damaged in any way, and her signature was still intact.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Yes," Mai replied.
"Yes, it's the same as yesterday," John answered.
"What about the signatures on the door? Is it your handwriting?"
"Yes."
"That's right."
Oliver nodded, then proceeded to tear down the planks he had hammered onto the door yesterday.
Everyone looked with curiosity.
Oliver entered the room.
The chair was no longer inside the chalk cycle but was beside the window.
"Shibuya-san, the chair moved," John informed.
"Yes it did," Oliver said, smiling satisfactorily.
Ayako interjected, "Wait a minute. What's going on here?"
Instead of answering, Oliver headed toward the camcorder. After he saw the display screen of the camcorder, he smiled.
"Hey, Naru-chan," Ayako called out impatiently.
Oliver looked at them, a confident glint in his eyes.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Tomorrow I will leave."
"You already told us this case was over," Ayako reminded him sarcastically.
"I did say something like that."
"Land subsidence?"
Oliver nodded, "Yes."
"Haaa!"
Takigawa jeered, "You better stop while you're ahead. Can land subsidence really cause all that?"
"Land subsidence is a sufficient explanation for the case the principal presented me."
"Then, what made the windows shatter? And what caused the strange noises afterwards?!"
"That was a poltergeist." Mai inserted into the conversation.
"Look you!" Ayako and Takigawa shouted in unison.
"You can't exorcise ghosts, right? So you're just investigating a bit and then calling it a day," Takigawa said, pointing a finger of accusation at Oliver.
Oliver remained calm, "There is no need to exorcise. I believe that would be unnecessary."
Rewinding his tape, Oliver turned toward them, "Do you want to watch?"
Everyone started to watch the recording of the chair. At first the chair was in the middle of the room. They stared intently.
"What're we watching this for?" Ayako mumbled.
Oliver paid no attention to her.
"Hey..." the woman said as the chair in the TV screen began to shake.
The chair shook and shook, then it started to slide across the floor. There was no external force. It just moved by itself to the side of the window. It shook violently, then fell. It didn't move again.
Oliver pressed the stop button.
"What... Was that just now?" Kuroda asked.
"It's just what you saw."
"The chair moved?"
"Yes, it did move."
Takigawa sighed exasperately, "That was a very strong poltergeist! We must exorcise it immediately..."
Oliver replied coldly, "That would be unnecessary."
He noticed the others confusion, then proceeded to explain, "Yesterday I gave everyone an autosuggestion."
"Huh?"
"It's similar to hypnotism. The autosuggestion was that this chair would move at night."
"So that was hypnotism?" Masako asked.
Oliver nodded in response.
"...Basically, yes. Then I placed the chair here, and with Mai and John's help I locked the doors and windows, and hammered in the wooden planks. Afterwards I proceeded to seal the room. This way, no one would be able to enter. If someone were to enter, we would notice."
Pausing momentarily, Oliver looked carefully at each one of them, his eyes darker than the night sky.
"Poltergeist incidents are usually caused by human beings, namely those that are thirteen to fifteen years old. But sometimes they're caused by teenage girls under a lot of stress who want to be noticed by others."
"Are you saying that could be a problem?" Ayako asked.
"It is highly probable. However, the culprit is usually unaware of doing this."
"What?"
"In these situations, an autosuggestion will make the event actually occur."
Takigawa interposed, "So you're saying that the chair moved because of a human?"
"Correct."
"And not because of a ghost?" asked Ayako. "So the activities happening in the old school building were also caused by a human?"
"To put it simply, yes. I have not been mistaken yet."
"...Then the culprit is?"
"Is..."
Oliver remained silent.
Everyone else looked at Kuroda.
"...Me...?"
Oliver nodded his head.
"You are the prime suspect."
"So Mai was right. I caused it? That poltergeist?"
Fear showed in her eyes.
"There is a higher possibility that it is you than the others," Oliver said, looking at her.
"You were the first person to talk about the old school building. For instance, you said there were ghosts of soldiers and nurses there. But the fact of the matter is, there never was a hospital here. An air raid never occurred here, and the school was never used as a hospital before."
"But..."
"—To sum it up, you were mistaken or perhaps the rumors got to you. Didn't Ayako say that you didn't have psychic powers?"
Oliver turned towards Ayako.
"Yes, that's right. I'm sure I wasn't wrong," Ayako confirmed.
"Whether Kuroda-san did that on purpose or whether she just pretended to see them... Even now I am not so sure," Oliver continued to explain.
"I wasn't lying!" Kuroda exclaimed.
"In the beginning I thought that you possessed psychic powers," Oliver said as he pulled out the tape recorder from under the table. "I said something like this earlier: half of poltergeist incidents are caused by humans. When the poltergeist activity occurred at the old school building, I was perplexed. The equipment did not show any presence of spirits. Plus, Hara-san didn't sense any."
"Yes, that's correct," Masako said, nodding her head.
"If it's not caused by a spirit, then it must be caused by a human. If this were to happen at somebody's house, then the person responsible would be whoever lives there. It could be a thirteen to fifteen year old or a teenage girl. If you are stressed out, you may unconsciously do this. You unconsciously hope that people do not ignore you and that they notice you instead. And so, the culprit may cause many poltergeist disturbances. Let's say the people in the household get into a fight. You unconsciously believe that you get attention when you are in an argument. But... No one lives in the old school building."
Silence filled the room.
"It's also possible to take it the opposite way. The person who craves attention would be the culprit of these poltergeist activities. Meaning... The only two people who fit this description is Kuroda-san and... Mai."
"If you compare the two, Kuroda-san is the more likely one."
"I don't have PK." Mai stated calmly.
After saying that, Oliver stared intensely at Kuroda, who was already blushing furiously. "I heard that your psychic powers have made you rather popular in school. Ever since middle school, you have been admired for them."
"..."
"You mentioned earlier that there are spirits in the old school building. But... What if there really were no spirits? Instead of ghosts, it's ground subsidence. What would happen if everyone found out about this?"
Takigawa replied, "Everyone would stop believing her. In the end, they wouldn't be able to trust her again."
Ayako seemed to feel sorry for her too. "...So at first, you didn't have any psychic powers, but now it's come to this."
"...That's right. In order for Kuroda-san to get everyone's attention, ghosts would have to exist. So to her, ghosts must exist in the old school building."
Everyone looked at Kuroda. Mai smiled at her gently.
"Our investigation could've made Kuroda-san's ghost sightings invalid, which stressed her. As a result, she was unconsciously under a lot of stress. In her mind she believed that there must be ghosts here, and that poltergeist activities must occur here. And then..."
Takigawa continued, "...she unconsciously made poltergeist activity."
Oliver looked back at Kuroda, a gentle look on his face. "I think she is a latent psychic."
"Psychic?"
"Someone who has psychic powers. Even though she is unaware of it, she may have some PK."
"Oh..." Ayako said, looking at Kuroda before turning toward Oliver, "then in that case, she felt more stressed because you mentioned ground subsidence. Then how do you explain me getting locked in that room? Did she do that too?"
Masako said in a low voice, "You locked yourself in."
"What, you're saying that I forgot I locked myself in?"
"Are you saying you didn't?"
Oliver halted their argument with his hand, then turned towards Kuroda. "...Allow me to explain."
Kuroda nodded forcefully.
"Now, about Matsuzaki-san being locked up," Oliver said as he pulled out a nail from his pocket.
"What about it."
"It's a nail."
"I can tell it's a nail by looking. What are you trying to say?"
"This nail was sticking out the door."
"So that's what you meant, Mai-san!" Lin interjected. Mai nodded in his direction.
"The reason the door wouldn't open is that this nail was stuck in it. I noticed this earlier, but I didn't believe it was necessary to mention it." Oliver continued.
Ayako grabbed the nail from Oliver and looked at it carefully.
"So someone put it there on purpose," said Ayako.
"Right."
"Who could've... Is it you?!" She stared at Kuroda, who shrank back. Mai couldn't help but pat her shoulder to comfort her.
Oliver continued, "It was probably a joke. Were you not mean to her earlier?"
Ayako bit her lip.
Kuroda shrank back, then apologized for what she did.
John told her in a comforting tone, "Don't worry about it. Even though it did cause a lot of trouble."
"That's not the problem here! You guys are all rotten!"
Oliver replied coldly, "It's because Matsuzaki-san insulted her by saying she didn't have psychic powers. That's why she was so angry she couldn't stand it anymore. As a lesson, do not talk carelessly in the future.
Does everyone understand now?"
Ayako angrily crossed her arms. "Now we understand. But now what? We can't just leave like this. The principal called on us to exorcise the ghost."
"We can just say that we exorcised the ghost."
"What if Kuroda wants to stop the demolition of the building?" Ayako snarked, shooting a sharp look at Kuroda.
"I plan to tell the principal this: There were many spirits of soldiers in the old school building. We exorcised them so now it's safe to continue the demolition project—is this okay with you, Kuroda-san?"
Kuroda looked like she was about to shed tears of happiness.
"...Dead soliders... Huh," Ayako mumbled unhappily.
Takigawa said, "So now there's no problem, right?"
Oliver crossed his arms.
"That's right," Masako answered. "But I'm a little worried. How about we tell the principal the truth? Just tell him what you told us."
"She's already under a lot of pressure. There's no need to add to that, right?" Oliver responded.
Ayako asked, "Then who gets the credit of exorcising the ghost?"
At that moment everyone became silent.
Oliver calmly responded, "Everyone helped in the exorcism. Will this be alright with everybody?"
"...Huh?"
Ayako turned her gaze toward Oliver, "...So you do have your merits. Are you going to divide the credit among us?"
With his arms crossed, Oliver shot a sharp look at Mai, "Mai, don't tell anyone about this."
"You didn't need to tell me, I already know."
Ayako seemed touched by this, "You're quite the gentleman."
"Thank you."
"Hey... Do you have a girlfriend?"
"...I don't understand."
"I can repress myself, even if it is with a young one," she purred.
"Thank you for your kind offer."
Oliver smiled slightly, "I appreciate your kind offer; however, I am already too used to looking at myself in the mirror."
Ayako's face turned stark red.
"And I already have someone I like." He added further. Mai was actually surprised by that. He never said that part in the last life.
Takigawa burst out in laughter while Ayako looked the other way.
...
Oliver suddenly lifted his camcorder and headed out the door.
Everyone looked at him in surprise. He looked back at them with his deep eyes. "Aren't you going to prepare to leave?"
"Yeah, that's right," Ayako said, standing up, "this wasn't exactly a really big case."
Takigawa injected, "But weren't you scared to death earlier?"
"Don't joke with me."
Mai watched as Oliver collected equipment. He turned around and looked at her as she started to help him. "Don't you two have to go to school today?"
"I'm not going today," Mai replied.
Oliver immediately shot her a disdainful look.
"Why don't you put more effort into becoming smarter?"
"You forget, this is my second time this life. I'm not missing anything new in class."
He turned around and called out, "If you're not going to class, then help me move the equipment back."
"I already was." She replied.
Without saying anything, Kuroda walked back to class, hanging her head down in shame.
Mai helped Oliver and Lin move the equipment back into the van.
Oliver rolled up the last of the electrical wires and lifted it into his arms. There was nothing left in the base now.
"Mai, you can go back to class now."
"Very well. It was a pleasure working with you both." Mai hugged both men before running off to class. They both stared after her.
"Think we should hire her?" Lin asked softly.
"She has a connection to my brother and having already lived this life she has a better understanding of the cases we may be taking in the future." Oliver nodded.
"When are you going to ring her?"
"In a couple of days. Once the hype has died down."
"Very well."
The two men locked up the van before heading in to see the principal and make their report.
...
A day later Mai gazed at the old school building through the window in class.
It was quiet. The old school building's windows distorted. The remaining glass was covered by white dust. A cracking sound emanated from the building, followed by the sound of shattering glass. She couldn't help but get up and walk toward the window.
The teacher started to call on Mai to sit back down, but then stopped when she heard the sound of the glass shattering. Noise filled the room as everyone started talking at the same time.
They saw the building shake. The roof on the west started to fall, followed by the rest of the building, creating a cloud of yellow dust. The west side looked like it was going to completely break down.
The building let out one final sound as it collapsed.
The left side of the building slowly sank. It was like as if a sand funnel or a hole in the ground was sucking it in. The entire building toppled like a ship sinking into the ocean.
Before the dust had cleared, Mai moved away from the window and sat back down while everyone was still focused on the collapsing building outside.
A few days later, the demolition project restarted to tear down the part of the building left standing. At the same time, rumors of Kuroda's psychic abilities spread throughout the school...
... And Mai was hired by SPR as a part time assistant.