"I don't want to, sir." Hakuren was gripping the phone on his ears. He's talking to Martin Davis, the professor asked him to be an overseer in Oliver's case. "I think he already have enough team members for the job."
"I know, but Oliver wanted to see you in action." The professor replied. "And I also want to see what ASPR's lead investigator is made of."
Hakuren rose his eyebrow. Is he... provoking me? He mentally scoffed. "Alright, I will join them. I will only act as an overseer, nothing more nothing less. If they are going to get hurt because of their own stupidity, I will just watch them."
Marin Davis cocked his head to the side. Is this guy serious? He wondered. But then, he's the one who was asking a favor. "Yes, of course."
"Who was that?" The others asked when they heard their leader cussing under his breath after the phone call. Mai was in the kitchen helping the maids preparing the dinner.
"Martin Davis." He answered. "He wanted me to join Oliver's team on his latest case as an overseer."
Kannon and Ryuuji dropped their jaws. "Seriously?" The green-haired miko asked incredulously.
"Seriously." Their leader affirmed.
Lin drive their way to Pluckley Village in Ashford early in the morning, he noticed the silver Porsche 911 ahead of them, and it was going in the same direction as them. The car overtook them earlier at the ongoing road work on M20.
Lin paid it no mind as he continue to drive to their destination, they already saw the sign that they are now entering the said village when suddenly, the silver car before them swivelled few times before it halted on the side.
Lin was fast in stomping the brakes.
"What the!" Lin cussed. Everyone in the backseat complained when they bumped their heads on each other or on the front seat.
"Hm? Isn't that Yomozuki-san?" Yasuhara pointed at the man who got out from the car that they've following.
No wonder why it was going in the same direction as us. Lin thought.
Hakuren was just standing there, looking around, as if he's looking for something that suddenly gone. Naru decided to get out and approached the man, the others followed him.
"Yomozuki –"
"Sh!" The medium raised his hand, shutting him up. He glanced at Masako. "Can you hear it? Can you feel it?"
Masako blinked at him curiously. "When you entered the village, didn't you feel it?" Hakuren pressed on. Masako softly cleared her throat covered her mouth with her sleeve.
"I can feel few souls in the woods. They are faint, but it's there."
Hakuren control his self not to scowl. Celebrity medium? Yeah, right! He mentally scoffed.
"Be more specific, you are a medium, the lives of these people lies in your latent." He scolded. "Miko –" He stopped himself midway then he sighed. That's right, it's not his team, whenever he saw a forest or woods, he immediately thought of that rebellious miko named Kannon, and automatically asked her if there's any healthy trees around.
It was kindda of habit.
Ayako perked up when he called her. "Yes?"
The medium waved his hand. "Nothing. I forgot that this is not my team." He opened the driver's seat. "Let's continue driving. We will discuss it after we reached our destination."
SPR watched as the car slowly driving away.
"He's a medium, isn't he?" Yasuhara asked in confirmation. "What if he felt or see something?"
"It looks like he was avoiding something when he almost crashed earlier." Madoka informed them. She saw everything since she's in the front seat next to Lin with Naru.
"Hara-san." Naru called and Masako already know the drill. After all, Naru won't call her if it's not case related.
Masako took a deep breath, feeling the air around. "It's vague, but they are few spirits. They looked like high school students."
"Noll, let's get going."
BSPR's black van entered the driveway and parked in front of a detached and quite old mansion. They saw Hakuren leaning on his car, on his phone talking to someone while waiting for them.
Lin get off the car, followed by Naru and the others.
"Alright, just wait for my call Kannon." They heard him say before he ended the call. "Let's get inside, they are already waiting."
The team entered the house and a maid welcomed them, calling her masters.
As an overseer, and fellow medium, he observed Masako if she felt anything, but she only slumped herself to Naru.
"It's horrible, I can feel few angry spirits in this house." She whispered.
"Hara-san, get a hold of yourself." Naru stated sternly.
A couple on their forties greeted them.
"Dr. Davis" The man shook his hand. "I am the client who called Professor Davis, Marcus Ashford, and my wife Mellisa." The wife slightly smiled at them, the dark eye bags under her eyes are eminent proof of a sleepless nights.
"Tell us about your problem."
"After my paternal grandfather died couple of months ago, we decided to live here, in our ancestral home." Marcus started, Lin was already typing on laptop. "Grandfather already heard these rapping sounds every night but he's not bothered by it. He continue to live this house until he died days after his 97th birthday. After moved in, in our first night here was horrible, there's a strong poltergeists everywhere. We heard the clattering in the kitchen, footsteps on the adjacent rooms, knocking on our windows, and we sometimes heard screaming in the Dering Forest."
That caught Hakuren's attention. The back of the house was surrounded by the woods of the said forest. He heard agonizing screams earlier.
"How long did you start living here?" Naru asked.
"Only a week." Marcus replied. "We couldn't take it anymore on our fourth night and decided to call BSPR for help when my wife suddenly showing several bruises on her body."
The members gasped in horror. The wife sobbed as she recount her experiences. "I was suddenly thrown in the wall, and I felt an invisible force slapped me and throw me on the floor. I couldn't take it anymore... now that I'm carrying a child."
"Then I believe that you already prepared a room for us to be our base?" Naru asked, then he remembered Mai, if she's here at the moment, she already comforting their client and scolded him for being insensitive and heartless.
"Yes, of course." He stood up, guiding them to the spacious room with lots of outlets. "Here."
"This will do." Naru said. The couple excuse their selves and leave the house until the investigation is thoroughly done. Naru ordered his team to get the equipment while he and Lin preparing the base and Masako having a walkthrough together with Ayako.
Hakuren was observing Naru's leadership. He's a capable one. When their equipment already settled in the house's hotspots, they returned one by one. Masako and Ayako are to come since the house is quite huge.
"Did your medium say anything to you earlier?" He asked the clad in black youngster. "About the woods? Did she hear the spirits scream? Or saw the wondering lost souls of several high school students? She only gave vague and unclear assessments."
"Hara-san said –"
"That's it's faint but it's there, or something along that line?" Hakuren guessed smirking at him. The base's door open as the two ladies was about to enter, they heard their overseer said. "You ought to train your employees Dr. Davis, if that's the level of medium you have, you will become a laughing stock. To think that the great Dr. Oliver Davis couldn't find a better medium, or couldn't train his medium to be a better one."
Naru glanced at the newly arrived medium. "Hara-san."
Masako couldn't find her voice, covering half of her face from embarrassment. Not only had this man insulted Naru during the party, but also her, a renowned medium. She glanced at Naru for help, or at least defending her from this man, but she only saw him staring at her, waiting for her assessment.
Hakuren's words hit some nerves on her, during her stay in BSPR, she never thought of training under the company, since she's already confident on her talent.
She swallowed hard. "T-There are several –"
"Use specific numbers." Hakuren cut her off. "Don't be vague in giving report, a slight missed at the number of spirits can cause our lives."
"I can feel around five distinct spirits, they are all female."
"Aren't you going to ask your something form your miko, Dr. Davis?" Hakuren turned his attention back to Naru.
The roomed filled with whispers of 'What could it be?' 'Naru is losing to him?' 'Is this really happening?'
"To Matsuzaki-san?" He asked, confused. Even though Ayako and Bou-san got married last year, Naru still call her 'Matsuzaki-san', Hakuren heaved a sigh waved his hand.
"Never mind. Forget it. It's your team to lead not mine." He plopped to the couch next to the blond priest and the bespectacled young man. "I never saw at the seminar's after-party, Yomozuki Hakuren your overseer."
"John Brown, a Catholic exorcist from Australia."
"Yasuhara Osamu, BSPR's junior researcher." Yasu politely bowed.
"I am his mentor in researching, Lin Madoka, and my husband Koujo, but we already used in calling him 'Lin'."
Hakuren hummed.
"Yasuhara, Madoka, what did you research about this place?" Naru asked sharply and authoritatively.
Madoka nudged Yasuhara to go first. "Well boss, this house was built around 1600's it the ancestral house of the Ashford-Kent family. Nothing really happened except that during the early 2000's William Kent, his wife, and servants were found dead one morning when their relatives supposed to visit them."
"I look in that incident deeper, and learned that William Kent is an abusive master and husband. The neighbours often heard the wife screaming." Madoka seconded.
"Is that the reason why Mrs Ashford was being targeted?" John asked Madoka.
"That's the plausible explanation."
"What about the forest?" Naru asked.
"The forest is quite famous of being haunted, they heard screaming voices everywhere, and there was incident where twenty people were found dead in the forest, mostly female high school students."
"So the girls are in danger?" Bou-san stood up at the realization. "We better sticking up in pair, I will protect Ayako, and Lin will protect Madoka, and Naru will –" Masako's eyes were about to sparkling upon hearing Bou-san's suggestions.
"– be fine alone." The young scientist stated sharply. "Let John protect Hara-san, he is more reliable than I am."
"Then who will protect you and Yasuhara-san?" Lin asked sharply.
"Only females are being targeted, it's unlikely to attack us." Naru reasoned out.
"But you can't stay complacent, we are in a haunted house, anything can happen." Hakuren announced.
"Matsuzaki-san, is there any healthy trees around?"
"Ha!" Hakuren exclaimed, smirking at Naru "You finally asked her about it."
"Eh? You are waiting for Naru to asked Ayako that?" Yasuhara gasped in amusement.
"Of course. If you are surrounded by a forest or woods, the first thing that you should think of is the miko in your team, 'cause that's her forte." He explained, everyone was silent before Hakuren asked Ayako. "So, is there any, miko-san?"
Ayako blushed and shook her head. "The trees in this area are all dead."
"Then can you make just one tree alive with your prayers?" He asked.
"I c-c-can't." Ayako answered. "I never trained enough to have such skill." She mumbled with her head hanging down in embarrassment.
Why did this guy let them feel like an idiot and failure? First, Naru, then earlier its Masako, now its Ayako.
Seeing Naru's team, Hakuren was thankful that the team members that he has were all diligent ones, even though Kannon was a rebellious miko and seldom go home to her family's shrine, but whenever she did, she still train seriously hard.
"Let me see your reports." He faced Yasuhara and Madoka.
The two automatically handed him the folders containing their reports.
"Did you go to the police and asked their records?" He asked. The two researchers shook their heads. "Let me have it for a while, I will make a quick walkthrough."
He stood up and left the base.
After their overseer left, Yasuhara snickered. "Boss, you found a formidable rival."
"No wonder why the Board of Directors wanted to transfer to us so badly." Madoko said amusingly, before grinning at Naru. "No wonder why they are comparing the two of you."
"You better step up in your game Naru-chan, or you will lose against him." Bou-san smirked.
Naru answered him with a smug. "I will gladly accept his challenge head on. I'm getting bored in dealing with idiots anyway."
"But to think that he immediately pointed out Ayako-san and Hara-san's flaws. He's amazing." John commented.
"Matsuzaki-san, can you really make a healthy tree out of the dead one?" Naru asked curiously.
Ayako nodded. "Yes, but it takes a lot of training like a year or so, you needed to stay in the woods filled with dead trees and pray, asking a god to descend from the heaven onto the tree." Ayako shivered. "I couldn't survive that! It's like a torture!"
"But if mastered it, it's really convenient." Madoka remarked.
Ayako shook her head. "I don't think so, I heard that it takes a lot of spiritual energy to perform such ceremony."
They were all silent when Hakuren entered the base.
"Did you found something, Yomozuki-san?" Naru asked.
"Yes." He answered. "But I won't tell you yet, I am your overseer, not your employee. I am not obliged to answer you, Dr. Davis." He smirked at him. "I want to see how you are going to use that brain of yours."
The SPR members' dropped their jaws.
Is he... calling Naru stupid?!
They all mentally exclaimed.
Baphomet was sitting on his throne, closing his eyes. His legions were doing their own things outside his den without disturbing him. He killed one of Elegy's legions earlier when he caught it spying on him.
"My Lord." One of his servants materialized before him. "King Asmoday has summoned you." He informed.
The Demon of Live and Death slowly opened his crimson eyes. He acknowledged that he received the message, the messenger bowed at his lord before leaving. He already anticipated that the demon king will summon him sooner or later.
He stood up, morphing his clothes into a little bit formal silky black cloak, with black long sleeve shirt and slacks underneath.
The demons on his legions and others bowed before him as he went to Asmoday's place.
Two of his servants opened the huge ornamented door for him, and there, inside, he saw a huge circular table fill with several kinds of food from the offering of his followers during Sabbath.
He smirked at his idea of inviting Mai next week after his own Sabbath Day and share the offerings with her.
"King Asmoday, I am here to as answer your summon." Baphomet bowed before the person – err, demon – sitting on an ornamented chair with three skulls decorated on the top rail.
The demon king chuckled. His crimson long hair laid down beautifully on his back, and his scarlet eyes glowed in amusement.
"Relax, you are too stiff and formal when you are facing me Baphomet, but you are so carefree when you are with that girl." His dark lips curved into a smirked when the demon before him snapped his head to look at him, gaping.
He composed himself. "It can't be helped since you ruled all over us."
"Stand and join me in the table."
Baphomet obeyed. There are two sets of plate already prepared on it.
"I called you to join me." Asamoday informed him. "It's been awhile since we talked."
"Yeah, I was busy lately." Baphomet stated.
The two ate in silence until the Demon King spoke.
"Elegy told me about this woman." He started.
"And?" He asked nonchalantly.
"She was frustrated. It's been what? Seven years? Since you last called her to indulge your pleasure." Asmoday smirked when he saw Baphomet scowled on his food. "It's the same length of year when you got involved with that woman."
"She has a name, and it's Mai." He rolled his eyes. "And with Elegy, I'm no longer in the mood to perform such act with her."
"Don't let me forsaken you the second time, Baphomet." Asmoday glared at him. "You know the rules in our world."
Baphomet heaved a sigh. "I know."
"Is it because she's related to that woman from a couple of millennial years ago? When you are still an active grim reaper?"
Baphomet halted, and Asmoday knew that he hit a nerve... a nerve from his distant past.
"Am I right... Viduus Di Inferi?" The Demon King smirked, calling him by his former and real name.
"Stop" He glowered at him. "Calling me by that name. I no longer addressed myself as such ever since you gave me this name."
"Did... Mai knew your real name? You know what kind of power she will obtain when she happen know your real name, right?"
Baphomet was silent before sighing.
"I don't want her to suffer the same fate as her ancestor. I am already content as it is now."
"Are you are its not getting serious with her?"
"No, not at all."
Asmoday hummed.
But the expression you have now says otherwise though.